die? Am I prepared for the judgment? If this night my soul shall be required of me, shall I go to heaven or to hell? O Lord God, thou knowest; my hope is in thee. SEVENTEENTH DAY-MORNING. 'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,' John xvii. 3. The eyes of all wait upon him—and he gives them their meat in due season. He opens his liberal hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Specially he is the Shepherd of his people, and they never want. All the circumstances of their lot most graciously and wisely he orders: yea, he makes their very troubles work together for their good. Now, it is indeed possible that to some measure of such knowledge as this to some such knowledge of God as my Creator and Preserver, I might rise by my own native energies. In the book of nature the blindest may trace him: in providence his love and bounty are daily felt by all. Ah! but the grand question is, How may God, as a just God and righteous, deal mercifully with sinners? I know that he hath made me, and that he upholds me-but how can I know him as a Saviour-how can I be brought to know him, and to confide in him as at once vindicating his law and extending forgiveness to a guilty world? This knowledge unaided nature never in all time could have reached. It is derived solely from revelation; it comes exclusively through Jesus Christ whom God hath sent. Out of Christ God is either looked upon as an inexorable Judge, taking sure vengeance on every transgressor, or more falsely still, as a vacillating Judge, exercising his pity at the expense of his truth and to the confusion of his government. It is only in the gospel of his Son that his Godhead is fully exhibited to the world: no where else than in the gospel can we know God as a Father, a reconciled Father-just, yet justifying the ungodly-with all his attributes united, and harmonised, and glorified in the salvation of men. Of all attainments, the first and the highest is the knowledge of God. Without this all other knowledge is worthless-not the less worthless utterly, that the proud and the learned boast of it. 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth the Lord.' But how can weak blind nature attain unto such understanding? Never, never by its own strength. The poor heathen lived in darkness, and in darkness died. With all his toiling, with all his painful incessant searchings, his natural eye could not penetrate the thick mists-thick as midnightthat hung between him and the throne of heaven. He was as a prisoner groping wearily round and round his dungeon wall, but incapable of catching anything more than a dim and scattered glimpse of day. Yea, the more he thought of God—as himself sadly confessed-the darker, the more incomprehensible, God appeared. Ah! but thanks be unto Jesus Christ that the Almighty is now clearly revealed in his word to man. The simplest child in a Christian land' He who commanded the light to shine out of knows more of him than the wisest wits of old Greece or Rome! darkness,' says Paul, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' • All things are delivered unto me of my Father,' said Jesus himself, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, and he to whom the Father will reveal him.' This knowledge of God, revealed in the face of his Son, is called by John 'eternal life'—and well may it be so. It is the way to eternal life Come and let us meditate on God in the gospel: would that we felt aright what a privilege it is to be able to look up to heaven, and say, 'Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer!' I have been taught in the bible to know God as the Creator of all things. The heavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth his handywork-by his wisdom he founded the earth, and settled the mountains, and strength--'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; ened the fountains of the deep. The gods of no man cometh to the Father but by me.' It is the heathen are idols: He alone is from everlast- the earnest of eternal life—'We all with open ing to everlasting-the only living and true God. | face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, I have been taught in the bible to know God as the Preserver of all things. He sits at the helm of the universe which he made, and directs it at his will. No one can stay his hand from working or say unto him, What doest thou? are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' The full fruition of it hereafter constitutes the essential glory of heaven- Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear | have already been vouchsafed to us that he has we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he not forgotten his promises. Even now there is. O that the saving knowledge of God were are green spots in the wilderness. The plant of vouchsafed to us, that we might worship him renown is budding beautifully, and spreading and serve him aright-yea, love him too with abroad its branches. Already the Sun of righteour whole heart! Blessed Jesus, do thou teach ousness has arisen on the horizon of heathenism us! Show us the Father-and it sufficeth us. 'Whoso hath seen me hath seen the Father.' Reveal thyself therefore to us and help us with Thomas to cast ourselves down at the foot of thy cross, and cry, 'My Lord and my God.' Here we are but pilgrims and strangers-our best days are but vanity-few and evil, and soon gone. Ah! but the life begun on earth of thy believing followers never ends: the life of faith issues in a life of glory. Lord, we believe; help thou our unbelief. Deliver us from the power of the grave: ransom us from death. SEVENTEENTH DAY.-EVENING. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,' Hab. ii. 14. WHEN these glorious words are realized, how beautiful will the earth be-how beautiful and blessed! A seraph's pen were required to describe it; no human fancy can worthily conceive it, or language of man picture the wondrous transformation. Eden will be restored again; earth will reflect as in a mirror the fairest hues of paradise. And is it so that this can ever be? Yea, verily it shall be-it must be for the Lord God hath willed it and predicted it. Jehovah is truth itself: our God is the Lord omnipotent, and he cannot be withstood. Whatever he hath spoken must come to pass; heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one tittle of his word shall fail. Come then, and amid the ridicule of the infidel, and the sneering of the world's wise men, and the despondency of our own fainting and faithless hearts, let us solace ourselves with the promises of the King of Zion. It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flock unto it. And again, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.' And again, The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.' Blessed be God, many tokens and many a dark heart and rocky, on many a distant shore, has been melted and enlightened by his rays. We will rejoice in what has been done-and take it as a pledge of the more abundant glory that yet remaineth to be fulfilled. That little cloud not bigger than a man's hand shall yet cover the heavens. Yonder stone cast out of the mountain without hands, shall yet become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. And let us not forget that it is by human agency that the wondrous work is to be wrought. Not to angels but to men has the commission been given to extend and to perpetuate the gospel kingdom. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed: and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard: and how shall they hear without a preacher: and how shall they preach except they be sent?' And let no one say that it is idle to expect a few such weak human agents to achieve the conversion of the world. It is not in their own strength that they labour-but in the strength and through the grace of Jehovah. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might manifestly be of God. When it seemeth good unto him he may cause whole nations to be born in a day. And surely it were grievous sin in us to keep back in unbelief or despondency from this work. It is a general law of the gospel, that those who have experienced its power themselves will not and cannot rest till they have sought to bring others to experience it also. There never lived a single sincere follower of the Lord Jesus Christ who did not desire earnestly to have as many as he could united with him in the faith. Christianity is essentially communicative and diffusive-it grows by means of free distribution. Look to the dark ages of the church, when no efforts were made to dispel the torpor that hung over the nations. She grew cold, and torpid, and inert, and poor. How emphatically were the words verified in her history, 'There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; there is that withholdeth, but it tendeth to poverty!' And it holds exactly so with individuals. The liberal soul shall be made fatand he that watereth shall be watered also himself.' I look to the state of those to whom the gospel has never come-and I prize the more my own privileges-I am filled with deeper gratitude to Him whose grace alone hath made me to dif- | I cannot penetrate; the more I meditate on it fer. Ay, and it is impossible to contemplate the the more mysterious it appears! labours of patient and devoted missionaries without being made better myself. How can I read of them without feeling keenly how weak in comparison has been my zeal in my Master's cause! How can I look to the lives and deaths of such men as Schwartz, and Elliott, and Carey, and Martyn, without desiring to catch somewhat of that holy flame which burned so brightly in their bosoms? And in what way may I aid in the missionary work? I may contribute of my money towards it. I may unite in social meetings with those who seek to stir each other up in its cause. Specially I can pray. It is by petitioning that the windows of heaven are opened; prayer moves the hand that moves the universe. And that I may be ready to distribute, and willing to communicate, and more zealous in prayer, let me cast my eyes abroad and survey what yet is to be done. Let me look to whole continents, over which the shadow of death is hanging. If this be too vast and too general a prospect, let me take a single solitary soul-without one ray of light from the gospel of Christ to irradiate the gloom in which it is shrouded-in life and death. Having contemplated this single soul, let me multiply it ten thousand thousand thousand times, and try to sum up the arithmetic of such misery. And O surely hard, hard as adamant will my heart be, if it be not touched with pity for the poor heathens, plunging race after race, geneneration after generation, into a dark and unknown eternity at a venture! Blessed Jesus, take unto thyself thy glorious power and reign. See of the travail of thy soul and be satisfied. Let thy kingdom come; let thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. EIGHTEENTH DAY.-MORNING. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn,' Luke ii. 7. DRAW near, O my soul, and behold this great sight! The Lord of heaven and earth hath descended from the height of his sanctuary and tabernacled with dust and ashes! See the 'everlasting Father' a weeping babe-the 'Holy One and Blessed' a man of sorrows in the likeness of sinful flesh—the Lord of glory the despised and rejected of men! There is mystery here which Mary came up from Nazareth to Bethlehem, great with child—she sought admission to an inn but was repulsed from it-weary and sad she betook herself to the stable-and as the days were accomplished that she should be delivered, there she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger. And so was born the Lord Jesus Christ! So poor, so mean was the nativity of the Son of God! The town was full of strangers from all quarters of Judah-but neither rich nor poor took any interest in this event, the strangest, the most astonishing which the world ever saw. The birth, like the character of Immanuel, was humble and lowly-his entrance into the world was a fitting emblem of the reception which awaited him in it-too true an earnest of the humiliation manifold in which his days in it were passed! And this was He-lying down with the beasts of the stall, on whose vesture and thigh the name is now written, 'King of kings, and Lord of lords.' This was He without a place where he might lay his head, whom nations now delight to honour, at whose altar every knee through all the earth shall yet bow, and every tongue confess! Who can declare the end from the beginning? From how small beginnings do the mightiest and most magnificent results issue! Unto what is the kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and cast into his garden-and it grew and waxed a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.' Jesus was born in a stable, and laid in a man ger! Let us contemplate, with adoring reverence, his marvellous love to men. All this strange humiliation he underwent for us-poor miserable sinners. That we might be forgiven-that we might be reconciled to offended justice, who were aliens and rebels-that we might be raised from death to life, and instead of heirs of wrath should become partakers of the blessedness of heaven, Jesus took on him our nature, and submitted to a degrading birth, and lived a life of poverty, and died an accursed death: 'ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich.' And can we think of his love 'passing knowledge' without in return being filled with love towards him? Is it possible to survey with careless and cold hearts the manger of Bethlehem, and the cross of Calvary? O no! our hope is in thee, gracious Jesus, who If EIGHTEENTH DAY.-EVENING. For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him,' Mat. ii. 2, SAD as was the humiliation of the Lord Jesus in his early years, there were ever some scattered rays that broke forth from the cloud, betokening his inherent glory. Angels heralded his birth,— Jesus was born in a stable, and laid in a man- Simeon and Anna, in the Spirit, testified of him ger! while yet a babe in his mother's arms, and as we read here, a preternatural star shone over the place of his nativity, and guided philosophers from afar to do him homage. It is interesting to inquire into the motive. which led these men to undertake such a journey. Let us be convinced of the vanity of earthly distinctions. We are strongly tempted to give too much of our thoughts to the riches of this world. Its greatness and glory fascinate the carnal eye. As we gaze on them from afar we envy and repine. Ah! but how insignificant they appear in the light of the manger of Bethlehem! What contempt does it cast upon them! How can we stand beside it in faith, and court them any more? If it had seemed good to Jesus he might have invested himself with all the trappings of outward magnificence which the weak and vain idolize; but he rejected them-he cast them from him. And does not this strikingly manifest their worthlessness in his eye? How can we call ourselves the followers of Christ, and yet seek great things? Jesus was born in a stable, and laid in a man- that, as it was a common opinion among the anger! Let the proud man, therefore, humble himself. O why should pride dwell in any of our hearts! How inexcusable is it especially in the disciples of the Son of Mary! He condescended to men of low estate. Yea, though in the form of God, and counting it no robbery to be equal with God, he made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And shall we be puffed up who have nothing save what he has given us? How dare we count any one as too mean for our regard, or any service too humble, by which we can benefit the poorest brother, and glorify our God? It is well known that, about this time, over all the East the expectation of Messiah's speedy coming prevailed: in this expectation doubtless the sages shared, and it might have been strengthened by a partial acquaintance with the writings of the ancient prophets, or with some of the dispersed Jews. But it was a star which more particularly attracted them; we have seen his star in the east.' What this star was we cannot tell. Probably it was a meteor hovering over Judea. But how came they to connect it with the birth of Christ, -to pronounce it 'his star?' Some have thought cients that great events, such as the birth or death of princes were betokened by strange sights in the sky, they were induced to consider this meteor as referring in some way or other to that glorious person of whose coming there were so many rumours throughout the world. But this plainly cannot account for their conduct. Some have thought that they were influenced by the prediction of Balaam, a prophet of the East; 'There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel.' But neither can this account for the strength of conviction which they manifested. The true explanation of the secret is, that they were brought to associate the star with Jesus, by the very same influence which leads Jesus was born in a stable, and laid in a man- still every sinner to his Lord,-the influence of ger! Let the poor man, therefore, be patient, and contented, and resigned. The low condition in which our Saviour appeared, was intended to sanctify poverty to his followers in every age, and to ennoble it, even amid its worst humiliations. To the poor the gospel is preached-out of the ranks of the poor most have been chosen to paradise. And who can murmur or despond in the memory of these most touching words: Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head?' the Spirit of God. God kindled a meteor in their sight to testify to them of his Son,—and himself revealed to them in some way or other, about which it were idle to speculate, what it meant. These wise men then, on the appearance of the star, left their native land,—and after the expense and fatigue of a long journey reached Jerusalem; and then not in doubt, not in conjecture, but with the fullest conviction of the truth, they put the question, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have come to worship him.' And we read in the remainder of the narrative how Herod the king was troubled at the inquiry, -how he gathered the chief priests together, and found from them that Bethlehem was predicted as the birth-place of Messiah,-how he sent the strangers to Bethlehem with a treacherous injunction to return and tell him what they saw,how they went to Bethlehem and worshipped Jesus in his mother's house, and presented to him gifts, gold, and frankincense and myrrh,— and how being warned of God in a dream, they disregarded Herod's injunction, and in faith, and hope, and joy, departed into their own country. 1. Let us see in this little history a proof that Jesus was the light of the Gentiles as well as the glory of Israel. In old prophecy he was sung of as the Shiloh unto whom the gathering of the nations should be, the root of Jesse which was to stand for an ensign of the people, the star to whose light the heathen should come, and kings to the brightness of its rising. And scarcely is it known that he is born than prophecy hastens to its fulfilment. See from the far east, the land of idols,—a company of heralds seeking Messiah,—proclaiming him in the very streets of Jerusalem,-worshipping at his feet! Are not these witnesses before all men of the truth and faithfulness of God's promises? These are the first-fruits of the Gentiles, the tokens and earnests of that plentiful harvest which the Lord shall go on gathering, till the whole earth be one vast field resplendent with his glory. 6 succeeded: he is now at our doors,—his word is in our hands;-sabbath after sabbath in our sanctuaries his gospel message has been ringing in our ears. Ah, unto whom much is given, of them much shall be required! I fear that against many of us,-glorious as our privileges are,-these eastern pilgrims will rise up and testify in the day of judgment. NINETEENTH DAY.-MORNING. The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head,' Matt. viii. 20. A CERTAIN scribe one day came up to our Lord and said, 'Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest!' It was an excellent salutation; no words could betoken a better spirit. But instead of accepting his offer-instead of encouraging the man-Jesus replied, 'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. There are two views which may be taken of the scribe's character. 1. We may suppose that his determination to follow Christ was hasty and inconsiderate. He was charmed by what he had seen and heard of the wonderful works, and blessed lessons, and holy, benevolent life of Jesus-and grew suddenly in love with his religion. Without inquiry, without contrition, without humble 2. These wise men opened out their choicest prayer-in a moment of excitement and entreasures to Jesus. O how doth it become each thusiasm-he cried, "Lord, I will follow thee one of us to put the question to ourselves, what whithersoever thou goest.' Jesus knew that he have we given to the Lord?' If we must answer, had not counted the cost-that he was looking nothing,-vain are our professions,-vain utterly. only at the fair side of the Christian life-that Even now he is saying, 'son, daughter, I died for he was influenced by a temporary impulse, and thee, give me thy heart.' O God put it into our not by deep settled conviction. Jesus saw the hearts to respond to the touching appeal. Blessed disease of his heart-and instantly stirred it and Jesus I will present thee with gifts of the good-laid it bare. In the simplest and most affecting liest things I possess,-'the gold of faith, the frankincense of devotion, the myrrh of humble obedience;' whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth whom my soul desires besides thee. 3. Let us remember how far more highly favoured we are than these strangers. They were guided by a flickering star to Bethlehem, we live in the full light of gospel day. They saw him but as a babe,-we can look to him now as he that is gone to his kingdom,-with the name on his vesture and his thigh, 'King of kings and Lord of lords.' They undertook a long and weary journey to find him, and with difficulty language he spake of his poverty and humilia- |