with abhorrence, and the necessary determination employed could be properly used by, and to, no to punish as an accursed thing,' that which his other. While we remain in our natural state of soul hateth with a perfect hatred.' Let us pray alienation from God, the eyes of our understandearnestly, that the same mind may be in us, ing being darkened, we are utterly incapable of which was also in Christ Jesus,' who magnified spiritual vision. The Lord with whom we have the law, and made it honourable; and then we to do, though we rightly know it not, is a being shall regard it as a perfect system, and see that who hideth himself from us, and we engage in * offending in one point,' necessary infers that we any pursuit, except that of seeking after him, are guilty of all.' It may be that before we if haply we may find him.' The primeval curse attained to the knowledge which we now have, resting on us, and displaying all its corrupting much precious time was lost which we thought and blinding effects in us, we are dead in treswe were improving; many golden opportunities passes and sins, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, passed away which we supposed had been use- and of the mind, the children of wrath even as fully employed, and deeper additional guilt con- others.' Terms more precise, cannot be found tracted of which we had no idea there was the whereby to describe that state of mental darkness least fear of accumulating. Still, 'there is hope and moral perverseness, in which the ‘home-born in Israel concerning this thing.' The bible is yet slave' is placed; and it is a convincing evidence open to us: the Holy Ghost is still the great of our having been rescued from this state, when teacher: the throne of grace is still occupied by we are able to perceive that this is the condition the Mediator; the mercy-seat is still without a of every man, and still more, that it was our own. cloud upon it, and the breathings of the humble By the new light which has dawned on us from and contrite spirit,' still rise in sweet memorial above, we have been led to see what we were before God.' Self is now annihilated, and the before the Lord, who pitied and brought us from Lord alone exalted. The scales of ignorance a fearful pit, out of the miry clay, and set our feet having fallen from our eyes, because of the upon a rock, establishing our goings. It is a anointing, we are enabled to see all things further proof, that God has been merciful unto clearly'―the absolute purity of the divine nature, us, and redeemed us for his name's sake, that so and our own spiritual wretchedness; the com- far from rejecting the doctrine of original sin, as prehensiveness of the divine law, and our own derogatory from the dignity of man, we believe liability to punishment as the effect of our vio- and receive it just as it is revealed in the word, lation of the least of its commandments; the and confirmed by our own experience. Pride of all-sufficient remedy provided, and the way in intellect, and the exalting of natural reason, to a which it must be applied in all its healing efficacy sphere in which it is altogether unfitted to move, to our souls; the reality of heaven's blessedness, are two of the most fatal effects of our inherited and the means whereby we are to become pre- depravity, and contribute very materially to pared for 'glory, honour, and immortality.' We establish the melancholy fact, without the belief are now satisfied that whosoever is not for God, of which there can be no salvation, because there is against him,' and that 'whatsoever is not of is no felt need of it, that we personally, with all faith is sin.' We are now, but never till now, our faculties, and aspirations, and excellencies, ‘are qualified aright for the performance of duty, and children of wrath even as others.' How dreadknowing whom we have believed, and in whom ful this state appears to those who have been is all our confidence, for time and eternity, we made acquainted with it, as the very state in which hope continually, and will yet praise him more they were born, and from which they have been and more.' delivered, not by human power,' or created 'might, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.' Such persons, and such only, see it in all its sinfulness, misery, and danger, and the more clearly do they see it, in proportion as they are removed farther, and yet farther from it, by being enabled to die daily unto sin, and to live unto righteousness.' How careful should we be to apply these truths to ourselves, that we may fully ascertain, whether we have passed from death unto life, and are in Christ Jesus new creatures! Has a complete revolution then been effected, in the moral empire of our understandings and THIRD DAY.-MORNING. 'Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,' Eph. ii. 3. THE apostle, as a converted man, speaks here to those who had been also converted. The language THIRD DAY.-EVENING. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief! 1 Tim. i. 15. bearts? Have old abuses been done away, and inveterate corruptions cut up by the roots? Have the tyrants who ruled us with a rod of iron, been banished, and their unworthy ministers along with them? Have new privileges been granted to us, as fellow-citizens with the saints, and new rights secured to us, as our own certain possession, So deep is the sense of sin in the enlightened conand our children's inheritance, as 'the seed of the vert, that knowing it in his own heart, as he blessed of the Lord!' Is our Deliverer now our cannot know it in any other, he is willing to King, mighty as he is merciful, and in his days, regard himself as the chief of sinners. And if and he shall reign for ever and ever,' shall this was the state of the apostle Paul, who among righteousness flourish, and abundance of peace, the disciples of Jesus, stood, and stands, and will while the moon endureth? And when the sun ever stand, pre-eminent for holiness, self-denial, and the moon shall be blotted out from the things and devotedness to his Master's cause, how much which are, have we the promise that the Lord more must it be the state of us, who can lay no shall be our everlasting light, and our God our claim whatever to his 'revelations,' his peculiar continually increasing glory? If such be our privileges, and his direct communication with the state beyond the reach of change, because he Lord of glory, who in his sovereignty, and from who hath begun the good work in us, will per- eternity, had made him a chosen vessel unto form it unto the day of Jesus Christ,' then have himself, to bear his name before the Gentiles, and we the animating and ennobling assurance given kings, and the children of Israel.' How precious, us by Him, who hath perfected that which con- because faithful,' then, is the saying,' that cerneth us,' that we are adopted into the house- Christ Jesus came into the world to redeem the hold of God, and built on the foundation of the guilty, and how still more precious, because it is apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being worthy of all acceptation,' that he was manifestthe chief corner-stone, in whom all the building ed in the flesh to save me, who am the chief of fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple sinners! Did the eternal Son of God leave the in the Lord.' We now recollect with a joy glory which he had with the Father from everwhich the Christian feels, but is unable to ex-lasting ages, and descend to the earth, inhabited press adequately, the time when we lingered' by a fallen, condemned, and perishing race of among our worldly pursuits and pleasures, un-intelligent and immortal beings, that he might by willing to leave what had been so long dear to humiliations without a parallel, and sorrows, us, and when Jesus laid hold on us with his which he alone could endure, satisfy the righteous saving right hand-the Lord being merciful demands of insulted and incensed Deity, and open unto us,' and 'brought us forth, and set us with-up a way of reconciliation, for the chief of out the city' of destruction; and that it came sinners,' to the holiness which they had defied. to pass,' when he had placed us in the way of And was I, O my soul, in the number of the safety, he said unto us, with all the earnestness apostate, the revolted, and the obdurate, who of one that watched for our souls, Escape for called forth the exhibition of such astonishing thy life, look not behind thee; neither stay thou condescension, and such unutterable love! Were in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou my sins of every shade and dye among the causes be consumed.' And O what praise is due to the of all that Emmanuel endured in the days of his riches of his grace, that when we were without flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplicastrength, incapable of self-motion, and might have tions, with strong crying and tears, unto him that stood there a monument of his just indignation was able to save him from death,' and drew these for ever, the everlasting God the Lord, the words from his bursting heart, Now is my soul Creator of the ends of the earth, who fainteth troubled: and what shall I say? Father, save me not, neither is weary, enabled us to run and not from this hour; but for this cause came I unto be weary, to walk and not faint,' till we arrived this hour?' I bless God, who has revealed his at Zoar,' our house of refuge, and our souls did Son in me, that I am at last enabled to see guilt, live.' where I never saw it before, and to feel that I ought 'to hate, even the garment which is spotted with the flesh.' I rejoice that I am now led to take a very different view of myself; my condition, principles, motives, and prospects, and to experience my spiritual destitution, poverty, and 6 was any sorrow like unto that sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce anger,-O when we dwell on such scenes as these, and know that sin in general, and our sins in particular, were the cause of them all, shall we henceforth take pleasure in or countenance any thing which contributed to such an accumulation of woes, or wilfully be guilty of any one transgression that added to the anguish of Him who heart of unbelief, in all its modifications, is ruin. Let us pray fervently and perseveringly, that the Lord the Spirit may take every 'root' of it entirely away; that we may taste and see that God is good, and be more and more established in the present truth,' that it is indeed a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom we feel that we are the chief.' FOURTH DAY.-MORNING. wretchedness, that I may thus be constrained to the agony of his last moments, when there never have recourse to the almighty Physician, and to say from under a deep sense of my indwelling corruptions, of my exceeding weakness and dangerous disease, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean' I exult on hearing his voice uttering the reviving words, and at the same time increasing my faith, and supplying me with strength to lay hold on his promise, 'I will: be thou clean.' I adore Him that 'standeth in the midst of the throne, having the appear-saw that there was no man, and wondered that ance of a Lamb as if it had been slain,' that he has there was no intercessor, therefore his own arm completely satisfied me of the utter insufficiency brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness and worthlessness of my own fancied 'righteous-it sustained him?' Let us remember that the evil ness, which I went about to establish, not submitting myself to the righteousness of God, even that righteousness which is of God by faith,' and that he has brought home to my understanding, and securely lodged there, the belief that if I would see his face in mercy, and 'be for ever with the Lord,' I must cast myself unconditionally on his grace, depend unreservedly on his infinite merits, and take him alone for my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.' Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.' I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.' Shall I any longer continue in the commission of any thing which the bible declares contrary to the law of God, or in the neglect of any duty which the same authority pronounces to be indispensable as the evidence of faith, when it has been made known to me by the teaching of the Spirit, that I am inexcusable, and can expect nothing but greater condemnation, if after I have been 'made acquainted with the truth, and escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I am again entangled therein and overcome, and thus the latter end shall be worse with me than the beginning, convinced as I am that it had been better for me not to have known the way of righteousness at all, than after I have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto me?' When we behold Jesus in his incarnate statewhen we think on the persecutions to which he was exposed; the dangers through which he passed; the calumnies that were heaped upon him; the injustice to which he was subjected; the cruelties which he experienced; the mockings by which he was set at nought; the malignity of the spiritual enemies by whom he was assailed; The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?' Is xxxiii. 14. IT is indeed a melancholy fact, that there are sinners in Zion, hypocrites among the sincere servants of the living God. None are more regular perhaps in the observance of ordinances, and none more apparently serious and attentive when engaged in the services of the sanctuary. They join in celebrating the praises of God for his creating power, his preserving goodness, and redeeming mercy. They unite in the prayers offered up as if they really felt all the spiritual wants expressed, all the unworthiness confessed, all the guilt deplored, all the anxiety for pardon breathed out, all the desires for conformity to the will of God uttered, and all the confidence in Jesus, as alone able to redeem, professed by him who acts as the interpreter of their thoughts at a throne of grace. They hear the word read as if they were intimately concerned in its declarations, and as if God's statutes were the joy and rejoicing of their heart. They listen as if they were interested in the truths drawn from the sacred records, and explained in simplicity, and pressed upon them with earnestness and solicitude for their edification. They do not confine their religious | the heart, that 'sinners are' no longer at ease duties to the temple or to the Sabbath. They in Zion,' and 'that fearfulness hath indeed surprisstatedly, it may be, engage in family worshiped the hypocrites.' We know; yes, the most imduring the week. And yet they are hypocrites perfectly informed among us know the threatenstill, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. They have private ends to serve. They see that a religious profession gives respectability. They are in hopes that what it has done for others it may do for them. Self, in some of its forms, is the centre of attraction, and draws towards it every scheme in which they embark, and every plan that they either devise or assist in carrying into effect. 6 ings denounced against the obstinate sinner; But such a course, though often successful for a time, must end in detection. The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.' Conscience has long been quiet, and its possessor imagined that its deep sleep was peace. But at the command of its Lord it has shaken off its slumbers, and the dreadful conviction of having dealt treacherously with the Omnipotent, fills the stoutest hearted sinner that ever was at ease in Zion' with terror, and causes' fearfulness to surprise' the completest hypocrite that ever said, 'How doth God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?' What consternation will seize the guilty soul when God's threatenings against Jerusalem shall be fearfully executed! What then will ye do in the time of visitation? To whom will ye flee for help, and where will you leave your glory?' Escape is impossible; for the Lord himself has awaked to judgment, and guards every avenue by which the doomed objects of his displeasure might hope to find a way of deliverance. They had made him to serve with their sins; they had wearied him with their iniquities.' He is now about to bury them in the ruins which his outstretched arm is undermining, and causing to totter to their fall. And over whose heads are the crumbling and trembling masses impending? Over the heads of those who were perfectly aware of their danger, for they had been unceasingly warned by the Lord's messengers to avoid the spot on which, if they continued to stand, they must inevitably be crushed, and hidden from the face of the living world, and from the face of God in mercy for ever. Extend thy thoughts, O sinner, to that state where the Lord hath forgotten to be gracious, and mercy no longer rejoices against judgment. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is Think what it must be to 'dwell with the devour-The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing,' Zeph. iii. 17. THE Being here so beautifully and affectingly described is the Messiah, the Branch, the Lord ing fire, what they are enduring who dwell with everlasting burnings.' Could we draw aside the veil that covers futurity, with what overwhelming force would the truth be presented to the mind, and press closely on every feeling of 6 FOURTH DAY.-EVENING. 6 our righteousness, and as is very usual in pro- | tains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but phetic language, he is spoken of as if he were my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither already come, and actually engaged in his glorious shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith and gracious undertaking. His supreme divinity the Lord, that hath mercy on thee?' 'Since thou is recognised in the title given to him. He is 'the wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourLord thy God,' the Father's equal, who was from able, and I have loved thee.' Who is this that everlasting by him as one brought up with him, cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from and daily his delight, rejoicing always before Bozrah?' The brightness of the Father's glory; him. He is therefore mighty to save' them the Head of all principality and power; the 'who are at ease in Zion, hypocrites, and the Angel Jehovah, who conversed with man in chief of sinners.' How striking and attractive is paradise, when man was holy and happy; the prothe picture here presented to the mental eye, and mised seed of the woman in the hour of sorrow; conveying its spiritual charms to the renewed the messenger from heaven to the patriarchs who heart! Every expression shows not merely the rejoiced to see' the day of his incarnation ‘afar intensity of the Redeemer's love, but also the off,' 'the Redeemer who liveth, and is to stand pleasure which he felt in its manifestation. He at the latter day upon the earth;' the King had from eternity 'set' his people as a seal upon who is set on his holy hill of Zion, and declares his heart, as a seal upon his arm;' and his desire the decree, The Father hath said unto me, Thou to save them was as unchangeable as the nature art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask and attributes of himself, 'the same yesterday, of me, and I will give the heathen for thine to-day, and for ever.' He foresaw their fall and inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth its consequences. But he had predestinated for thy possession;' 'the Lord,' in short, 'whom them unto the adoption of children.' His love his people had long sought, the desire of all to them, then, was an everlasting love, and,' nations, who was to come suddenly to his temple, therefore, with loving-kindness did he' determine in whom they who waited for consolation in to draw them' unto himself, that they might Israel delighted, and of whose fulness the chilbe one with him, even as he and the Father are dren of his adoption, sanctified through the truth, one.' But with what a price must their ransom his own by purchase, in every age of his church be paid? The Son of God must appear in the were to receive, and grace for grace.' Can there likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemn sin be love like this, any where else? Can there be in the flesh.' 'He came to his own, but his own one more able and willing to redeem all the received him not.' Still he knew whom he had pledges of his love?-love that was felt for us chosen, and his thoughts were still thoughts of when we were altogether unlovely, and meriting love. 6 Many waters could not quench it, neither any thing but love?-love that was awakened in could the floods drown it.' Grace, sovereign, the breast of him who was in the beginning with free, all-subduing grace, when the hour of the God, and who is God,' for creatures degraded, sinner's redemption has arrived, must lay the foun- lost, and ruined; and the influence of this love so dation; grace must raise the building; grace must mighty, all-conquering, and overpowering, that strengthen the bulwarks, and grace must crown to express, satisfy, and gratify it, 'the Creator of the battlements, for they are the Lord's. Such, all things visible, and invisible,' became a man, and O my soul, is thy Redeemer's love, eternal, im- as a man submitted to and endured every trial by mutable, and innextinguishable. And who is which the world could testify its hatred of godlithis that cometh up from the wilderness, whither ness, and its firm determination to die the death,' he had descended in the fulness of time, that he rather than turn from its ungodliness and live. And might turn the dry land into water springs, to if we have formed any thing like an adequate idea give drink to his people, his chosen; that the soli- of this love which, in its whole extent, is 'untary place might be glad for them, and the desert searchable and past finding out,' is it possible to rejoice and blossom as the rose; that the glory conceive of any fact recorded, in the history of of Lebanon might be given unto it, the excellency heaven or of earth, so admirably calculated to of Carmel and Sharon;' that they, his eternally constrain us to believe that 'the Lord our God in loved and elected ones, might see the glory of the midst of us is mighty; that he has saved us, the Lord' in their immovably fixed redemption, that he rejoices over us with joy; that he rests and the excellency of our God,' satisfied with in this love, that he joys over us with singing. the meritorious sufferings of the Heir of all Love is as powerful as ever in the heart of things, and therefore repeating and confirming the glorified Saviour in his heavenly kingdom, the declaration of his purpose, that the moun-thrones and dominiors be subject unto him,' and |