mighty works and His magnificence and majesty can only so far astonish us as to make us dumb before Him. We are astounded and lost in the multiplicity of His perfections and cannot utter a word: it is only in the wonders of redeeming love that our tongues are loosed and we can praise God as we ought. The very stones would cry out if we held our peace, when, as desperate and deformed sinners, we behold Jesus and our salvation: it is to this good I must call your attention. All other things are, in comparison with this, of very minor importance. The word of God, the Son of God, Jesus the Lord Jehovah, became incarnate, took our nature into His, and made atonement to our offended God for our sins. Oh, "acquaint yourselves with Him and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." Acquaint yourselves with Jesus, read of Him in your Bibles as "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"-as the destroyer of the devil in every man's heart, whosoever he may be that perisheth not-as the author and finisher of our faith. Think upon Him as conducting, through ages upon ages, the things of this world and bringing about the promised salvation. By faith in Him Enoch and Elijah walked with God, and were translated into heaven without dying; and by faith in Him, Moses, Samuel, and all the prophets performed the great work of God's appointment, and died in that hope of salvation in which I hope we all live. Behold Him and acquaint yourselves with Him as the Author of your lives and never far from you, always ready to assist you, and to promote your good. "Acquaint yourselves with Him and be at peace" every other peace is but sorrow; for it is

not the peace of God, but false peace, unfaithful and soon ended. Riches will not give peace: they profit not in the day of wrath-therefore seek not after them. The only real and substantial good which man can obtain is contentment, and he can never gain this without the satisfaction of that internal peace which the forgiveness of his past sins, his reconciliation with God, and his hope of happiness to come, can give him. These are not to be had without Jesus: acquaint yourselves with Him. He brought you forth out of your mother's womb-He gives the hearing ear, the faithful heart-He prepares the wings of the Spirit beneath the soul of the faithful, and helps him to fly away when his time is come to the regions of eternal peace. What good can I offer you that can be greater? Oh, taste and see how gracious the Lord is! Be satisfied, but only with the living stream of life. "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." "Ho! every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters" come to Jesus-" acquaint yourselves with Him and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto you." This and this only could comfort the poor destitute Job: his friends might offer him the good of this world: the word of God only could heal his wounded spirit; and what shall comfort any soul conscious of its diseased state and desirous to be healed? "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight in fatness. Incline your ear, come unto me, hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David "

(Isaiah lv. 2, 3). Jesus is the sure mercy of David. "Acquaint yourselves with Him, commune with Him

in your heart and in your chamber, and be still;" for He is the peace of God-that which alone can give a sinner satisfaction-and induce him to say, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." May God grant you all a daily increasing acquaintance with your Saviour until the time of your departure is at hand, and you may find Him, for ever and ever, your heart with God, your object of eternal worship, and the employment of everlasting glory.

Believe me, your

affectionate friend,

THE COMFORTER.

ADDRESS XXIV.

O LORD, who trieth the heart and reins of man, and maketh him fit thereby to work the work thou hast appointed him to do, grant us grace in all our trials, that we may come forth as pure gold from the furnace, fit for the service of thy Church on earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord-Amen.

He knoweth the way I take: when He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.-JOB xxiii. 10.

MY DEAR FRIENDS-Trials are appointed for all men—trials of the flesh, trials of the soul, trials of the spirit-that the man of God might come out perfect, thoroughly moulded by his Master's hand, and fit for the station He may appoint him in His Church. To attempt to enumerate the various kinds of trial to which man is subject would be to present you with a catalogue of his infirmities from the day of Adam's fall to the present moment in which we live. This moment, now our own, is worth more to us than all the riches of the world; and the glory of them, if we, knowing our trial, knowing our temptations, aware of our danger, flee to the Lord for help. I cannot describe to each of you your own peculiar trials, by which the Almighty in His wisdom sees fit to suffer you to be tempted: they are many and various, according to the age and circumstances in which your lot may be cast; but this I know, that

no temptation can take away any man but such as is common to man-none so great that it may not be subdued-none so powerful but that it may be conquered. And do you ask me how? I answer, by faith. We go on from strength to strength by virtue of those trials of life appointed for us all; and, if we have faith in God, we rejoice in each succeeding struggle with our adversary, and become stronger and stronger in proportion as we discover our own weakness and cry unto Him for help. I might as well attempt to describe the temper of every individual's trials: all are tried from childhood to old age. Through every state of life, as long as we are in this world, there is some sin in each of us to be resisted, before we attain that perfect obedience in faith, which shall prove that we are in perfect submission to the will of God. Among the best of us, we find infirmities of temper and disposition which serve to keep us humble: which, if indulged in and not subdued, would produce, as they often do, sins which, to our calmer judgment, appear too horrible to contemplate, especially when the consequences are observed. If this be the case with unsubdued tempers, what a frightful prospect lies before the man who does not yet know that he will have to give an account of his whole life to God! But let not the Christian imagine that he is afflicted otherwise than for his everlasting benefit. God has no pleasure in afflicting the children of men, however hard their lot may appear to them. Harder we can scarcely suppose any man's trials to have been than those of Job; yet he says of God-" Will He plead against me with His great power? No; but He would put strength in me." This is the reason why God per