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should be the theme, the only theme of preaching; and every intnister, faithful to his commission or usefulness, like Paul, should determine not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.— Then we may judge of the happiness of Christians who can realize him in all these glorious blessings as their own; and infer, how resigned, and glad of heart, and thankful, they should always live.— And what says the subject to those who despise or neglect him? What do they lose! What will be their doom! How intolerable! How unavoidable! And yet how righteous!

Let me therefore be wise enough to choose this good part, and seek after an interest in him. If ever I am saved, he must be all my salvation-May he be all my desire. May a union with him be not only my supreme, but immediate concern-knowing that the gracious opportunity afforded me is short and uncertain, and—that I cannot be happy too soon. He who has the Son has life; and is prepared for every thing!

MAY 19.-"Noah walked with God."-Gen. vi. 9.

THE same thing is testified of Enoch; and will be exemplified in every partaker of divine grace. Two questions may be asked concerning it: the one regards the nature; and the other the excellency, of this walk.

Now as to the former of these, walking with God includes the following things. It supposes that we are on terms of concord and friendship-"How can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Here we see the necessity of a mediator. By the fall we had revolted from God, and our access to him was cut off. But Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. He made peace by the blood of his cross; and we are accepted in the Beloved. But it is not enough that God is thus reconciled to us; we must also be reconciled to God; reconciled to his nature, to his law, to his gospel, to his government. As sinners we have no sentiments of affection, gratitude, or obedience, towards God, but feel a spirit of enmity against him-How then can we walk with him, till this alienation and aversion be subdued? This change is effected by the Holy Spirit. The love of God is shed abroad in the heart, and then our desire is to his name. What we ⚫ dreaded to part with before, we then resign with ease: and what was once irksome in the performance, becomes delightful. His commands are not grievous; his yoke is easy, and his ways pleasantness and ease.-It also implies nearness. If you walk with any one, he must be with you. God is not far from any one of us: he is about our path and our bed, and is acquainted with all our ways. And as God is present with us, so we are present with him

I am continually with thee." By faith and reflection we bring ourselves consciously under his eye; feel, wherever we are, Hagar's impression, "Thou God seest me;" and upon every temptation to sin, however secret, say with Job, "Doth not he know my ways, and count all my steps ?"-It also takes in communion. We do not walk with God as a madman with his keeper, or a servant behind his master, or as a stranger in the distance of reserve. God is

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our father and our friend; and when we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Many a conference passes between us. Sometimes he begins. He addresses the soul, and the soul replies-" When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart answered, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." At other times we begin. We have much to divulge and much to implore. And we are allowed to deal freely and familiarly with him; yea, we are required in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, to make known our requests unto God.-It also expresses mutual progress in the same direction. When we walk with another we recede, and advance together; we move towards the same place or object. When therefore we walk with God, we pursue the same end with himself. And what is this end, but his own glory? This is his aim in all his works, and in all his dispensations. And the Christian has the same bias and the same movement; and whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, he does all to the glory of God. Hence one moral maxim serves as a short and sufficient rule to govern his conduct-He will fol-· low wherever the Lord goes, for he cannot lead him astray: but he will not be found where the Lord refuses to accompany him, or he cannot consistently invite his presence to go with him. Let us pass from the nature to the excellency of this course.

In walking with God there is honour. It is the dignity of man, that he alone, of all creatures in this world, is capable of it: but the Christian only actually enjoys it. In consequence of this, the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour. He is raised up from the dust and the dunghill, and placed, not only among princes, but in company with God himself. How would the poor deem themselves honoured if permitted to walk at liberty with their Sovereign! But such honour have all the saints-They walk with the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.

In walking with God there is safety. Wo unto us if our adversa ries find us away from him, for without him we can do nothing. But what confidence and courage should not his presence inspire? He is not only for me, but with me; he is at my right hand, therefore I shall not be moved. If the enemy assails me, it is in sight of my almighty helper. Yen, if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for he is with me. When I first fled to him breathless, from a thousand dangers at my heels, he said to me, as David to Ahimelech: "abide with me, for he that seeketh thy life seeketh my life; but with me thou shalt be in safeguard."

There is pleasure in walking with God. For with him is the fountain of life, and in his light we shall see light. If the journey would prove discouraging, our intercourse with him relieves the tediousness of the road, prevents weariness, revives our droopings, and renews our strength. With him we can dispense with things, the loss of which would otherwise destroy all our peace and comfort. When the fig-tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit in the vine, we can rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our salvation. In all our personal and relative trials, his presence opens a retreat; and we enter where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest.

There is profit in walking with God. Where is the believer

who cannot acknowledge, "It is good for me to draw nigh to God?" The mind is powerfully affected by the objects with which we are very familiar. He who is much engaged in ignoble pursuits will soon be debased: but we are elevated in the presence and contemplation of greatness and sublimity. The things of earth tend to sensualize us; but when we are with God, the inroads of the world are checked; we stand on holy ground; impure desires and vain thoughts fall off. Our attention is fixed upon the perfections and blessedness of Jehovah, and we admire, and adore, and love, and resemble him. We feel the transforming views of his character, and are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. People take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus; and our profiting appears unto all men. And as the nearer the fountain, the purer the stream, the nearer the centre the more powerful the attraction; so, the nearer we are to God the more will all our religious principles be influenced, the more we shall grow in grace, the more will our conversation be in heaven.

Let us not then sacrifice our highest welfare in disregarding this attainment. The vessels of mercy are afore prepared unto glory. We must be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. What would many find heaven, if they were admitted into it, but a melancholy and miserable state? Could they enjoy the perpetual presence of God who cannot endure even the occasional thought of him? How wise as well as merciful is the scheme of God in the Gospel! He never advances us without making us capable of the promotion! A king may elevate a slave to a superior station, but he cannot give him the suitableness and sufficiency for it. But God, when he changes our condition, changes our nature too. Before he brings us to heaven, he makes us heavenly: he draws forth our desires after it, and enables us to delight in the elements and beginnings of it-We walk with him in a way of grace, in token of, and in preparation for, our walking with him in glory; according to the promise, "THEY SHALL WALK WITH ME IN WHITE, FOR THEY ARE WORTHY."

MAY 20.-"There standeth one among you, whom ye know not."-John 1. 26. THIS was the language of John at Bethabara beyond Jordan, where he was baptizing. It was addressed to many of the Jews who were assembled before him, among whom were Priests and Levites from Jerusalem, sent to inquire who he was. After disclaiming that ne was any thing more than "the voice of one crying in the wilderness," he intimates the arrival of a personage on the spot, very superior to himself, and for whom he was unworthy to perform an office the most menial-“ There standeth one among you, whom ye know not."

It is needless to mention who this wonderful Being was-But we see that our Lord had nothing in his outward appearance to distinguish him from others. As to his character, he was fairer than the children of men, and altogether lovely but he was "clothed in a body like our own ;" and "in all things" was "made like unto his brethren." Had we passed him upon the road, we should have taken him for a common man. No rays of glory encircled his head. No

surprising beauty marked his features-"His face was marred more than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men." Least of all would he have been distinguished by a particular garb. His coat was indeed seamless, woven from the top throughout: but this was no observable thing. Wisdom is an enemy to affectation and eccentricity; and real greatness is never anxious for a show, being satisfied with the consciousness of its own claims without the acknowledgments of others.

There is much excellency in the world that is unknown. In nature there is many a rich vein of ore concealed beneath a rude surface; and many a flower that blocins unseen in the woods, and sheds its fragrance on the desert air." Learning and genius are often buried in obscurity. The same may be said of moral and religious qualities. We are not to measure or number the instances of godliness by our personal observation. God has his hidden ones. Who has not been surprised as well as delighted in travelling to discover frequently individuals walking in the truth in situations the most unlikely and unpromising? Abraham said of Gerar, "Surely the fear of God is not in this place;" but he found it there. Elias said, "I am left alone;" but there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." "Who," says the Church, "has begotten me these ?" These, where have they been ?"

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From hence Christians need not wonder at the little notice frequentlyken.of them. They are princes, but in disguise. The day of their manifestation is coming; and then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. But now they are seen poor, and afflicted, and despised; and little do the multitude imagine that they are heirs of God; the charge of angels; the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof; the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. And herein the members are only conformable to the head. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not"-" Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."

There are many, we have reason to fear, who are in the same condition with John's attendants. Jesus is "among" them. And he is "standing" among them-a posture of attention-and a posture of readiness to depart. But they "know" him "not." They read of him, and hear of him; but they do not "see the Son, and believe on him." They are not spiritually and savingly acquainted with him. If they were, they would put their trust in him; they would love him; they would obey him; they would count all things but loss for the excellency of his knowledge; and be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. (Now this ignorance is very deplorable; and the reason is because of the unspeakable importance of the object. We may be ignorant of many things, and yet be safe and happy: but to be ignorant of Christ is as if the pursued manslayer of old had been ignorant of the city of refuge; or as if a dying patient was ignorant of the only remedy that could cure him-People perish for lack of this knowledge. It is also criminal. Hence Paul says to those who are destitute of this knowledge, "I speak this to your shame." Their ignorance could only be their shame, as it was their sin; and it could not have been their sin unless it had been avoidable. The knowledge therefore is

attainable. Happy they who possess it, and can say, "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ; this is the true God, and eternal life." But why should any despair? The blind man could not open his own eyes: but the Saviour was passing by; and he cried, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me;" and "straightway he received sight, and followed him in the way." You must be taught of God; and it is the Spirit alone that can guide you into all truth. But "if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

MAY 21.—“ And from thence we came to Philippi.”—Acts xvi. 12. "I SAY unto you, that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Nothing can more powerfully imply, or express the importance of conversion, than this declaration of the Saviour, the faithful and true witness. However lightly or contemptuously conversion may be thought of among men, celestial beings, proverbial for their wisdom, and incapable of mistake, always behold it with wonder and delight. With them, the improvements of art, the discoveries of philosophy, the exploits of heroes, the revolutions of empires, are comparatively nothing to the salvation of a soul. In their view, the release of Israel from the land of Egypt and the house of bondage, and their march through the wilderness to the land of Canaan, was a sight far less glorious and impressive, than the deliverance of a sinner from the power of darkness, and his translation into the kingdom of God's dear Son. At the first creation, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy: but they sing a new song, and with peculiar rapture, at the second, when old things pass away, and all things become morally and spiritually new.

Luke the historian was like-minded. He here speaks of his coming with Paul and Silas to Philippi. Philippi was built by Philip, the father of Alexander. From the beginning it had been noted: but within comparatively a recent period it had been rendered exceedingly remarkable, by the two great battles which the Romans fought in its plains. In the one Julius Cæsar vanquished Pompey. In the other Octavius Augustus defeated Brutus and Cassius. Though every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood, and produces so much misery, it is painful to think what a power it has always had to excite and interest the attention. What traveller that has passed through Waterloo has been able to forbear speaking of the 18th of June! But Luke says nothing of the work of Philip, of the prowess of Cæsar, of the fortune of Augustus!But he mentions what would immortalize the place in the annals of the soul and eternity-The conversions of two individuals-Lydia and the jailor. Lydia was amiable and moral; a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and a worshipper of the true God. The jailor was a heathen; an idolater; vicious in his disposition; as rude and savage in his soul as in his office. The conversion of the one was in answer to prayer, gentle, gradual, imperceptible in the progress, but obvious in its result. The conversion of the other was sudden,

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