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deserved His wrath.

Let us not seek to search

out this love, that we cannot do, but enjoy it; that we can and ought to do by God's grace.

SEPTEMBER THE SIXTEENTH.

"The Spirit (of God) is in the (humble) people."-JOB xxxii. 8. (Ger. Trans.) "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." EPH. iv. 30. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.”ROM. viii. 9.

NONE is more spiritless than the proud man,

To the humble only does God give His grace and His Spirit; He resisteth the proud, for they have the spirit of Satan. Be full of a holy spirit ! That is as much as: be very humble! bend yourselves low before God in your hearts, and He will come down to you, and fill you with His Spirit. This is the mystery of mysteries, which the simple know, but which is hid from the proud. They are without the Spirit, and thus without true light; although they are ever learning, they never come to the knowledge of the truth, for they do not learn what makes to their peace. But let him who possesses the Holy Spirit keep Him in the way in which he obtained Him: Yet let him humble himself the more deeply below others, the more God has exalted him, by this great gift, above others. Nothing grieves and drives the Spirit from us so easily as self exaltation, or self-sufficiency, when one does not regard

His voice, nor obey His guidance. One can easily sink down from the Spirit into the flesh, become, from a spiritual, a carnal man, if he do not walk faithfully and humbly in the Spirit. Children of God, who have been influenced by God's Spirit, because ye have Him in you, O keep this incomparable good; the world can do you no such injury, as if ye quench the Spirit, or let Him be taken from you. Pray without ceasing for the Holy Spirit; abide continually in communion with Him and let Him lead, chastise, teach, console and keep you like children.

SEPTEMBER THE SEVENTEENTH.

"I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved."-Ps. xvi. 8. "He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.-A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."-JAMES i. 6, 8. "Do all things without murmurings and doubtings."-PHIL. ii. 14. (Ger. Trans.)

THE

inconstant,

THE poison, pestilence, and death of faith are, -fickleness and doubts, that come out of an wavering mind, which willingly doubts, not because it is tempted, but because it does not love the truth, and contrives the doubts itself. If doubts are only temptations, and even if they come repeatedly, they are to be regarded but as gnats, which one must beat off. But if the heart seek them out itself, and cherish them, then it is all over with faith. Such a man has occasion for earnest repentance and change of mind; he

must begin from the beginning and pray for a new heart. If doubts are temptations of Satan, who will make one afraid with a hundred uncertainties, and while he leads the eye into the future, shows the dismayed heart only its weakness and dangers, not the power and grace of God; nothing is required but that thou turn thine ear away from the speaker of lies, and return to God and God's word, which speaks courage and consolation to thee, and promises strength to the weak, and power to the feeble. Trust in Him who is mighty in the weak, who is the shield by which all temptations to despondency and cowardice can be overcome. A look to Christ on the cross, who has suffered for us, and drawn us to Himself, and hitherto has shewn us many mercies; a look of faith to the faithful Shepherd, who carries the lambs, strengthens the weak, binds up the wounded,such a look procures joy and courage, and must overcome all doubts. He who has begun, will also perfect in thee the good work of redemption and sanctification. He has foreseen who, and how weak thou art, and yet has begun. It is not thy weakness that hinders Him from making thee happy. But thy perverse will and thy unbelief can hinder His work; if thou will not be earnest, trust Him unconditionally, surrender thyself at discretion to Him, and be His unreservedly.

SEPTEMBER THE EIGHTEENTH.

"Thee will I love, O Lord, my strength."-Ps. xviii. 1. "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."-1 JOHN iv. 8, 16. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul," et seq.MATT. xxii. 37.

DOST

OST thou not wish to be loved by thy brother, thy children, and friends, not only with the tongue, not only in word but in deed, and with the whole heart? And should God be satisfied with thy lip or tongue love, which is no love, but a sounding brass? No; he who knows the tender compassion of God, the love and mercy of Christ, that were freely offered for us with body, soul, and strength, hesitates not a moment to give away so perfectly his whole heart, body, soul, and strength to the love of God and Jesus Christ, that he reserves nothing for himself. He gives himself so to Him, that he is wholly his God and Saviour's, lives and dies in Him, forgets himself, drops his self wholly out of sight and mind, and becomes full of God, full of his Saviour; in Him, and Him only, breathes, walks, and stands, wakes and sleeps, works and rests.-Also, it is not the reward, the beauty, nor the sweetness that love brings with it, or promises for the future; nor anything else, neither fear nor hope, neither punishment nor reward, neither loss nor gainthat moves and animates love-it is love alone, pure love that causes love to love. It is the intrinsic beauty, majesty, goodness, incomparable

ness, and worthiness of God and Jesus Christ, that awakens the soul to love, keeps and raises it in love ever more; the more it learns to know God, the more it learns to love Him. For its eye is ever directed to Him; it is ever in God and God in it. It dwells ever in Christ and Christ in it; they ever behold one another, and thereby become ever more inflamed with love toward each other. Love grows as the contemplation, the knowledge of the beloved one increases, the more we look on the amiableness of the loved one. Therefore, John says so truly: He who loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love-amiableness-he who knows Him must love Him; a look to God, to Christ, is overpowering to love. The soul cannot do otherwise, it must love Him. He is too fair, too lovely; it would not know how it could refrain from loving Him.

SEPTEMBER THE NINETEENTH.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."-EPH. ii. 8, 9.

N

very few attain to it. If a man, in prison for debt, ask: How can I become free of debt and bonds? and one say to him : "The man whom thou owest is the best of men, make known to him thy need, bow before him, pray and entreat him, and he will remit all thy debts, set thee at liberty, and, over and above, bestow great riches

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