really was the case. At all events, it was the honest and heartfelt conviction of Paul, that he was the chief of sinners, and that his obtaining mercy was to be a ground of the richest encouragement to all looking to Christ for salvation; because, in his case were to be seen the nature of the blessings secured by Christ Jesus to sinners; and, at the same time, the infinite freeness with which God bestows those invaluable blessings on the most undeserving; that, in short, we are saved by grace, through faith in Christ. The words also plainly indicate the deep and overwhelming sense which the apostle cherished of his own unworthiness. Indeed, he seldom speaks of himself but in a way as if he felt there were no terms sufficiently humiliating for him to apply to himself: "I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God;" and, again, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given." This was no affectation of humility, but that state of mind which was the natural result of the mercy that he had obtained of God. Instead of boasting of those things which Jews and Pharisees especially were wont most to glory in, he now counted all loss for Christ; yea, "counted them but dung that he might win Christ, and be found in him." Such language implied, too, the intense abhorrence of sin in every form, every violation of the Divine law that had been created in his mind; that now sin had become to him exceeding sinful, and that the supreme desire of his soul was to be conformed to Christ, and that his life should be modelled after him. Hence it was his saying, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." We cannot imagine a greater moral transformation than that of which the apostle was the subject. The blasphemer and injurious person, the persecutor of the saints, that breathed out slaughter against them wherever they could be found, now glorying in the cross of Christ, borne along in his course by the most ardent love to the Saviour, willing to do or suffer anything, provided he might be the means of bringing sinners into subjection to Christ Jesus, and publish to the world his salvation. I may likewise add, that the apostle's personal enjoyment of the grand fact, made known to us in

this saying, was abundantly evidenced by the peace, yea, joy which he felt when looking forward to death and the judgment seat of God, confident of the all-sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour. You know what were his words: "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

Although we may not look for any such miraculous manifestations of Christ's power as a Saviour now, yet, undoubtedly, every one who is a partaker of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus must be a new creature, having Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, dead to sin, and alive unto holiness, living in fellowship with God and his people here, and animated with the blessed hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. In every instance in which the Gospel becomes the power of God unto salvation, not only does it inspire the hope of immortal happiness, and give the soul (shall I say) a title to that happiness, but brings the whole man into subjection to the authority of Christ, making him holy and impelling him onward in the path that shall finally lead him to the enjoyment of a complete resemblance to Christ, his Lord and Saviour. Let us never forget that Jesus saves his people from their sins, and thus delivers them from hell, and exalts them at last to heaven.

IV. Lastly, the claims of this saying upon all men, "That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." "It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.' What has been affirmed of the Bible as a whole, is strikingly correct in reference to this one saying, "that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its subject-matter.' The sayings of the best and the greatest men that our world has produced, whatever amount of truth or valuable instruction they may convey, are not to be compared with this Divine saying, seeing that it embodies within so small a compass the result of God's eternal counsels relating to man's highest dignity and happiness. It, in fact, involves the everlasting condition of all men; our blessed Lord gave it as his last instruction to his apostles: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be

saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned," Mark xvi. 15, 16. Your everlasting happiness or woe, then, depends upon your reception or rejection of this wonderful saying; the truth of it,-which is, perhaps, the meaning we are to affix to the word "faithful," its being credible,-is beyond all controversy. Is it not the accomplishment of prophecies and promises which holy men had uttered as inspired by God since the world began? and was not this the preaching and testimony of all the apostles of Christ Jesus? "God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will." This is not only the foundation of the church, but it is the keystone, if one may so speak, of all history. It is God's truth; let none think lightly of it. It is God's remedy for our ruin and misery, and worthy of its author; for while it secures his own glory, it ensures the sinner's complete restoration to the favour of the offended Majesty of Heaven. You are not required to do or suffer anything by way of preparing yourself for the acceptation of this saying: "Only believe," and thou shalt be saved. Receive it as not only completely meeting your own case, but as intended by infinite compassion for you. And while it provides for your salvation, oh, how glorious that it is worthy of the acceptation of all as well as of all acceptation, because there is power and grace in the Saviour whom it reveals to save all that come unto him. The most polluted his blood can cleanse, the guiltiest he can pardon, the weakest he can strengthen, the most tempted he is able to deliver. Ye fearful and trembling, listen to his voice: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls," Matt. xi. 28. And, once more, how should the fact which the evangelist has recorded encourage one and all, the poor, the rich, the ignorant, the learned, the young, and the man of grey hairs, to put their trust in Christ, and in none else: "And the whole multitude sought to touch him for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all," Luke vi. 19. Oh, may the Spirit of God so influence all your hearts, that this saying may be

accepted without doubting, and without delay. Give it your immediate as well as your most earnest attention, and let not the sneers of the thoughtless, nor the indifference of multitudes professing Christianity, tempt you to neglect so obvious a duty. Is it not pitiable to see men bestowing an amount of thoughtfulness and anxiety upon some trifling matter, in which the gain or loss of a few shillings may be in question, that would be much more in accordance with the consequences depending on faith, or the want of it, in this Gospel saying? Ponder it, then; let it sink deep into thine heart, and be concerned to evidence its holy and blessed influence on your whole life. Leeds. E. BROWN.

STRENGTH AND PEACE. ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE NEW YEAR.

"The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace." -PSA. xxix. 11.

THE blessings here promised are two, Strength and Peace. Let us consider them separately. "The Lord will give strength unto his people." To estimate the value of this blessing, we must understand the need which the Lord's people have of it; with how many powerful enemies they have to contend; and what utter weakness they have in themselves. They have to contend,

1. With the Powers of Darkness. They wrestle not "against flesh and blood," that is, against those only, but "against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Their "adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour," Eph. vi. 12; 1 Pet.

v. 8. And if he failed not to assault the Lord himself when on earth, much less will he fail to assault his people, over whom he is so much more likely to prevail. These indeed are the chief objects of his attack. Over the rest of mankind, who are "the children of disobedience," "taken captive by him at his will," (Eph. i. 2; 2 Tim. ii. 26,) he rules with absolute dominion. But the Lord's people are, as it were, rebels against the government of Satan. They have escaped from his tyranny, and are setting his power at defiance. Against them, therefore, his utmost fury, malice, and subtlety are directed.

2. They have to contend with the world. The world is a continual snare to the people of God. In every view it is an enemy greatly to be dreaded. Its smiles and frowns, its promises and threatenings, are equally dangerous to their peace and safety. It draws them from the path of duty by flattering prospects of pleasure, of wealth, of honour, of ease or power. It strives to shake their firmness by the dread of poverty, shame, or persecution. If it fail of drawing them into compliance with its own evil maxims and practices, it regards and treats them as enemies; it represents them as hypocrites and deceivers; loads them with reproachful names, and holds them up as the objects of ridicule and scorn.

3. They have to contend with their own natural depravity, and with remaining sin in their hearts. This, while it proves their sorest enemy, shows the utter weakness they have in themselves. Assaulted at once by the world and the devil, they have, at the same time, a traitor within, who secretly plots their ruin. By grace, indeed, they have received a new principle of spiritual life. But still the carnal principle is not entirely cast out. It is broken, but not destroyed. It does not reign, as it once did; but it gives way unwillingly, and still struggles for the mastery: "The flesh lusteth against the spirit." Still they "find another law in their members warring against the law in their mind," Gal. v. 17; Rom. vii. 23; so that "when they would do good, evil is present with them."

Such is the need which they have of the promised blessing. And hence we Surrounded may estimate its value.

as they are by dangerous enemies, assaulted from without and from within, having no strength in themselves, what precious words are these to the people of God: "The Lord will give strength unto them."

But the Lord will not only give strength unto his people; he will also "bless them with peace.' Peace is the great blessing of the Gospel. It is the legacy which the Lord has left his people. He said to his disciples, when he was about to be taken from them, "Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you," John xiv. 27.

What, then, is the peace here meant? It is peace with God. All men being

of

born in sin, are "by nature children of wrath." They are "enemies to God by wicked works," Eph. ii. 3; Col. i. 21. Sin is directly opposed to all his glorious attributes, and justly provokes his displeasure and vengeance. So that sinners in their natural state can have no peace with God. But Christ brings his people into a state of peace. He heals the breach which sin has made between them and God. By his cross he has slain the enmity, and has reconciled them to God by his own blood: "The chastisement their peace was upon him, and by his stripes they are healed," Isa. liii. 5. Their sins being laid on Christ their surety, and the Divine Justice being fully appeased by his infinite sacrifice, God no longer regards them with wrath. His anger is turned away. He freely "accepts them in the beloved," Eph. i. 6. For Christ's sake he receives them into favour; gives to them a name, and a place among his children; and bestows on them a title to heaven and to eternal life.

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But this is not all. It is peace of mind. Without this inward peace, the blessing of peace with God, so far as the present life is concerned, would be little understood or valued. Sin brings with it guilt, and shame, and fear. And though conscience for a time may sleep under the weight; yet, when awakened, it will feel the burden to be intolerable: "A wounded spirit who can bear?" The sinner, under a sense of unpardoned sin, can know no peace. But Christ gives it to his people. He heals the wounded spirit, and binds up the broken heart: He speaks peace unto his people and to his saints." He 'gives to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," Isa. Ixi. 3. He leads them to rely with an humble confidence on his merits, mercies, and promises. He teaches them by faith to "behold him as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." He enables them through grace to look up to God, no longer as an offended judge, but as a reconciled and loving father. Thus are their guilty fears removed. Thus is the burden taken away from their conscience. Fully convinced of the Divine wisdom, goodness, and mercy, they "commit their ways unto the Lord." They "cast all their care upon him," knowing that "he careth for

them." In an humble hope that "all things shall work together for their spiritual and eternal "good," they wait for the events which may befal them here, with confidence and composure. Though they may be "troubled on every side," yet are they "not distressed;" though "perplexed," yet "not in despair," 2 Cor. iv. 8. Death, which is so frightful an object to others, to them has lost its terrors. They look forward to it without dismay. They leave to the Lord both the time and the manner of their departure out of life. They see his hand, they own his wisdom, they submit to his will in every dispensation. In the darkest season of trial and affliction, they are yet enabled "in patience to possess their souls," and with even something of a triumphant air to say, "We know whom we have believed," 2 Tim. i. 12. Many are the marks which the Bible gives of the Lord's people. Are strength and peace the blessings promised? Then the Lord's people are they who value these blessings; who feel their need of them, and are earnestly seeking of him an interest in them. Man naturally feels no need of the strength here promised. He is unconscious of the dangers with which he is beset, and of his own inabilities for meeting them. He has no knowledge of the many spiritual adversaries which are ever present with him, and are leaving no means untried of destroying his soul. As for the world, far from regarding it as an enemy of which he has just reason to be constantly afraid, he looks upon it with delight, and gives to it the first place in his heart. Instead of anxiously watching against the temptations to which it daily exposes him, he embraces with eagerness its deceitful offers, and rushes without fear into the snares which it spreads for him. Very different is the case with the Lord's people. They have been taught of God to see their danger, and to feel their weakness. They "not altogether ignorant of Satan's devices; of the delusions of the world; of the deceitfulness of their own hearts.

are

Hence they value the promise in the text. The strength which it proposes

to bestow, is the very thing of which they stand in need. Has the Lord promised to bestow it? To him they apply for it. They seek it of him in humble and constant prayer. They

wait upon him for it in all his appointed ordinances. Their earnest desire is to be "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man," to be made strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus;" and thus to be fitted for every good work.

Again, men naturally feel no need of spiritual peace. Not being convinced of the guilt and misery of sin, they cannot estimate the value of this blessing. They have no knowledge of that awful breach which sin has made between their soul and God; they think not of the dreadful curse which disobedience to the Divine commandments has brought upon them. They have lulled their conscience into a fatal sleep. If a doubt concerning their salvation sometimes arise, they soon get rid of it. What though they have some faults: yet they have many pleasing qualities to make amends. They need not fear. "Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink,

and be merry." Puffed up with such high notions of themselves, they value not the offer of peace. They have peace already. Can they desire that for which they feel no need?

But are such the feelings of the Lord's people? Is such their language? Are these their notions? Far otherwise. Their consciences have been awakened. Their eyes have been opened to see their real state. They have seen that they are sinners. They have trembled at the thoughts of that misery which sin has brought upon them. They are convinced that there can be no real happiness but in the favour and love of God. They know that without reconciliation with their offended Maker, they must for ever perish. Peace with him is the blessing for which they long. A sense of his forgiveness only can give peace to their hearts. With transport, then, they receive the promise in the text. the Lord give peace? What glorious tidings! How exactly suited to their wants! "Lord," they cry, "unworthy as we are, bestow on us this blessing. Reconcile us to thyself through the blood of thy cross. Put away our iniquities far from us. Grant to us a comfortable hope of our pardon and acceptance. Speak peace to our troubled souls. "Make us to hear of joy and gladness, that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice," Psa.

li. 8.

Will

E. COOPER.

PERSONAL EFFORT.

As believers in the religion of the Bible, and as those who have been made, through grace, the subjects of its redeeming and sanctifying power, we are expected to put forth personal endeavours to bring those around us under the influence of that truth which has saved our own souls. No connection with a ministry, with a church, with an association, or with a Missionary Society, can free us from individual responsibility to Godand to our fellowmen. Any attempt to purchase our freedom from the obligation of personal effort, is an abomination in the sight of a holy God. We are aware that many a man would sooner give a pound, or even a five pound note to a charitable institution than to visit the chamber of distress where poverty dwells, and where the cloud of despair hangs heavily upon the brow; but the Son of God will treat our offering of gold and silver as mockery and insult, when given under the influence of a motive so foreign to the claims of the Gospel of Christ. The tendency in every case is to serve God by proxy, and to lose our identity by associating with the multitude; but direct personal effort is the great demand of the age. We have the ministry, we have churches, we have organizations in great variety; but we are prone to forget that these are made up of individuals, and that they are powerful for good only in proportion as the gifts and graces of these individuals are called into healthy and vigorous exercise.

Every child of God should feel that his special business is to devote himself to the diffusion of the blessings of the Gospel among mankind. He must not trust this work in the hands of his minister, or the deacon, or anybody else. The labour which he has to perform can be accomplished by no other being. It must be done by him, or it must remain undone, and he must answer for the omission in the judgment of the great day. In apostolic times the disciples that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word; and what was the result? Why, in the short period of one generation the vast Roman Empire, embracing the then known world, was filled with the light and knowledge of salvation. Apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists, deacons, and private members, one and all, felt that their mission was to preach

the Gospel to every creature; and hence, in the majesty and dignity of their high calling, they went forth to bear the celestial message, and to beseech sinners everywhere to be reconciled to God. These men did not wait for a church or Missionary Society to take them up and make provision for their temporal support before they would enter upon their heaven-authorised mission, but without purse or scrip, they pressed on in the fulfilment of their high vocation. And is the primitive law, which called these early disciples of Christianity out into the great harvest-field to labour fora world's redemption, defunct? Nay, there it is upon God's statute-book; read for yourselves: "Always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

Do you ask believers what is to be done? Go into the nursery, and inquire there. Go into the family circle, and inquire there. Go into the church, and inquire there. Go into the Sabbathschool, and inquire there. Go into the social meeting, and inquire there. Go into the chamber of sickness, and inquire there. Go into the abodes of poverty, and inquire there. Go into the highways and hedges of ignorance and depravity, and inquire there. Say not four months, and then cometh the harvest. See, the fields they are white and waving, and calling for the sickle, and inviting thy labour.

Do you reply, What can one so feeble as I accomplish? Remember the age calls not so much for sparkling genius and brilliant talent, as for self-sacrificing devotion to the work of saving souls. The tale of redeeming love, as exhibited in the cross of Jesus, is easy to repeat, and yet how potent to subdue the heart to the obedience of the faith. Is there no bereaved, sorrowing heart that thou couldst make glad? No acquaintance or stranger that thou couldst guide to the sanctuary of God? No one that will receive from thy lips the message of mercy when uttered in the accents of melting love? Christian professor, if you would see the church rise to the full exercise of spiritual power, inquire, "What am I doing to awaken her to her duty, and to aid her in the accomplishment of her mission?"

It is true that the Christian law-book authorises a paid ministry in the