It pleased "the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;" he has " received gifts for men." (Col. i. 19; Psalm lxvii. 18.) Now, all the promises in the Bible are so many "bills of exchange" drawn by God the Father in heaven upon his Son, Jesus Christ, and payable to every bearer, that is, to every one that comes to the mercy-seat and offers the promise for acceptance, and pleads it in a way of obedient faith and prayer. Jesus, the high-treasurer of heaven, knows every letter of his Father's hand-writing and can never be imposed upon by a forged note; he will ever put due honour upon his Father's bills; he accepts them all, for all the promises in him are yea, and in him

amen.

In him they are all sure to the glory of the Father. (2 Cor. i. 2.) It is for the Father's honour that his bills never fail of acceptance and payment. If you apply to the blessed Jesus and offer him a bill of the largest sum-a promise of the richest blessings he will never say, "I have not so much of my Father's treasure in my hand! For he hath received all things. (John iii. 35.) "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." And may I not venture to say, this whole treasure is made over to the saints? "All things are yours." (1 Cor. iii. 22.) And they are parcelled out into bills of promise and notes under the Father's hand. So the whole treasure of a nation sometimes consists in credit and in promissory notes, more than in sums of gold and silver.

Some of these divine bills are payable at sight, and we receive the sum as soon as we offer the bill, namely those that must supply our present wants. Such as "And call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' (Psalm 1. 15.) And there have been many examples of such speedy payment (Psalm cviii. 3). "In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul."

Some are only payable in general at a distant time, and that is left to the discretion of Christ the treasurer; namely, "As thy days, so thy strength shall be." (Deut. xxxiii. 25.) And we need never fear trusting him long, for this bank in the hands of Christ can never fail; for "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. ii. 9); and, in Eph. iii. 8, we are told of "the unsearchable riches of Christ."

Sometimes Christ may put us off with a

general kind answer, or give us a note under his hand payable at demand in several parcels, instead of full payment all at once; thus he dealt with his dear friend and servant Paul. (2 Cor. xii. 9.) Doubtless, Paul, in seeking the Lord thrice for the removal of the thorn in the flesh, had pleaded several large promises of God, and had offered those divine bills to Christ for acceptance and payment. But instead of this, our Lord gives him a note under his own hand, which ran in this language, "My grace is sufficient for thee; and it

we had but the faith which that blessed apostle had, we might live upon this hope. This would be as good as present payment, for if he delay to give the full sum, it is only because he sees we have not need of it at present; he knows our necessities better than we do ourselves; he will not trust us with too much at once in our own hands, but he pays us those bills when he sees best, and we have often found it so and confessed his faithfulness. At other times he pays us, but not in the same kind of mercy which is mentioned in the promise; yet in something more useful and valuable. If the promise mention a temporal blessing, he may give us a spiritual one. If it express ease, he may give us patience; and thus his Father's bills are always honoured, and we have no reason to complain. So the banker may discharge a bill of an hundred pounds, not with money, but with such goods and merchandize as may yield us two hundred, and we gladly confess the bill is well paid.

Some of these promises-these bills of heavenly treasure-are not made payable till the hour of our death; as, "Blessed are those servants whom when the Lord comes he shall find watching," &c. (Luke xii. 37); "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved" (Matt. xxiv 13); "Be thou faithful to the death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Rev. ii 10). Others are not due till the day of resurrection. "Them who sleep in Jesus will God bring him (1 Thess. iv. 14); "I will redeem them from death (Hos. xiii. 12); "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col. iii. 4); "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body (Phil. iii. 21); and, "When the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."

Now when the great day shall come, in which our Lord Jesus Christ shall give up

his mediatorial kingdom to the Father, and render an account of all his stewardship, how fair will his books appear, how just a balance will stand at the foot of all his accounts! Then shall he shew in what manner he has fulfilled the promises to the saints, and present to the Father all

the bills that he has received and discharged; while all the saints shall, with one voice, attest it to the honour of the high treasurer of heaven, that he has not failed in payment, even to the smallest farthing.

GODLY

ANOTHER Singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To mourn most before God, for those lusts which appear least before men.

Others cannot mourn in secret for public sins, but we should mourn in public for our secret sins. That must be sought with repentance, which has been so long lost by disobedience. Outward acts are most scandalous among men, but inward lusts are most dangerous before God. Reader, if you would know the heart of your sin, then you must know the sins of your heart; for, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These streams of defilement which appear in your life, do but shew what a fountain of wickedness there is in your heart. Even the thought of foolishness is sin. When sin hath conceived, it bringeth forth death. There is no sin so little as not to kindle an eternal fire its first-born is death, and its lastborn is hell.

Though repentance be the act of man, yet it is the gift of God: it requires the the same power to melt the heart as to make it. As we are deeply fallen from a state of innocence, so we should rise to a state of penitence. Those sins shall never make a hell for us, which are a hell to us.

When godly sorrow takes possession of the house, it will quickly shut sin out of doors. There must be a falling out with our lust, before there can be a genuine falling off from our lusts: a loathing of sin in our affections, before a true leaving of sin in our actions. It is a hearty mourning for our transgressions, which makes way for a happy funeral of our corruptions.

O sinner, you have filled the book of God with your sins; and will you not fill the bottle of God with your tears? Remember, that when Christ draws the likeness of the new creature, his first pencil is dipped in water. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Godly sorrow is such a grace, as without it, not a soul shall be saved, and with it, not a soul shall be lost.

Think not that the tears which in hell are offered, will in the least abate the torments which in hell are suffered.

Repentance is an invaluable grace, for it is the bestowment of an invaluable Saviour. Him hath God exulted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins, As a prince he gives repentance, and as a priest he gives pardon. Our humiliation is the fruit of his exaltation: as he was abased for the creature's advancement, so he was exalted for the creature's abasement. Remember, sinner, if your heart be not broken in you, your guilt is not broken from you. If you lay not your sins to heart, that you may be humbled; God will lay your sins to your charge, that you may be damned. Though repentance be not a pardon's obtainer; yet it is a pardon's forerunner.

He that lives in sin, without repentance, shall die in sin, without forgiveness. There is no coming to the fair haven of glory, without sailing through the narrow strait of repentance. Christ Jesus rejoices over those as blessed, who mourn over themselves as cursed. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Out of the saltest water, God can brew the sweetest liquor. The skilful bee gathers the best honey from the bitterest herbs. When the cloud has been dissolved into a shower, there presently follows a glorious sunshine. The more a stone is wounded by the hand of the engraver, the greater beauty is superinduced thereon. By groans unutterable, the Lord ushers in joys unspeakable.

None do more sing in the possession of Christ, than such as most lament the departure of Christ; usually their joys are commensurate to their sorrows. A tender heart is like melting wax: ah, what choice impressions are made upon such dispositions!

A Christian should mourn more for the lusts of the flesh, than for the works of the flesh for the sin of our nature transcends the nature of all our outward sins. Carnal

sins defile the soul by the body; but spiritual sins defile the soul in the body. Many people can mourn over a body from which a soul is departed, but they cannot mourn over a soul whom God has deserted: alas! what is the bite of a fly, to the stinging of a scorpion ? or a spot in the face, to a stab in the heart? Inward diseases are least visible, and yet most fatal. A man may die of the plague, although his spots never appear.

Sin in the soul, is like Jonah in the ship; it turns the smoothest waters into a troubled ocean. We must mourn for sin on earth, or burn for sin in hell. It is the coldness of our hearts, which kindles the fire of God's anger. They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only son; and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.-Christians! the nails that pierced his hands, should now pierce your hearts: you should now be deeply wounded with goldly sorrow, for having so deeply wounded him with your deadly sins. It should grieve your spirits, to remember how much you have grieved his Spirit.

A believer puts on the sackcloth of contrition, for having put off the garment of perfection. As the sugar-loaf is dissolved, and weeps itself away, when dipped in wine; so do our hearts melt under a sense of divine love. Our language at such a season is, O that we should be such base children to so blessed a Father!

Man must be convinced of sin, before he can truly repent of sin: unbelief in the heart is like the worm in Jonah's gourd, an unseen adversary; it is least visible, but most hurtful. Infidelity is the worst of robbers; it both plunders and wounds the soul: Christ may dwell in the heart where it lurks, but not where it reigns. If Christ destroy its armour, it becomes weak as ,other men. Its chief strength wherein it trusteth, is ignorance; and no wonder why men sigh so little for sin, when they see so little of sin. They have tears enough for their outward losses, but none for their inward lusts: they can mourn for the evil which sin brings, but not for sin which brings the evil.

Pharaoh more lamented the hard strokes that were upon him, than the hard heart which was within him. Esau mourned not because he sold the birthright, which was his sin; but because he lost the blessing, which was his punishment. This is like weeping with an onion; the eye sheds tears, because it smarts. A mariner casts

overboard that cargo in a tempest, which he courts the return of when the winds are silenced. Many complain more of the sorrows to which they are born, than of the sins with which they were born: they tremble more at the vengeance of sin, than at the venom of sin; one delights them, the other affrights them.

The sinners in Sion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Why, what is the matter? Who amongst us shall dwell in everlasting burnings? They feared corruption, not as it was a coal that defiled, but as it was a fire that burned them. stroke from justice broke the heart of Judas into despair; while a look from mercy melted Peter's heart into tears.

A

There are two things in our sins; the devilishness of them, and the dangerousness of them. Now take a saint and a sinner; the first says, "What have I done?" the last says, "What must I suffer?" One mourns for the active evil; the other for the passive evil. The former grieves because his soul is defiled; the latter, because his soul is condemned. Water may gush from a rock when it is smitten with a rod; but all such streams are lost; for they neither quench the flames of hell, nor fill God's bottles in heaven.

Our whole life should be a life of repentance; and such as needeth not to be repented of. While the vessel is leaking, the pump may be going. Reader, it is an unfavourable symptom, if you can wipe away tears from your eyes before God has washed away guilt from your conscience. Is it not better travelling to heaven sadly, than to hell securely? Give me a sorrowful saint, rather than a merry sinner.

ness.

Did the rocks rend when Christ died for sin and shall not our hearts rend for having lived in sin? If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousDid ever words like these drop from the lips of any being, except God? Here, the sinner is desired only to acknowledge the debt, and the bond shall be cancelled. Is it not therefore better to be saved by divine mercy, than to be sued by divine justice? As soon as we are oppressed, and groan under our own burdens, we are sure to be eased by Christ's shoulders. If we remember our offences with unfeigned grief, the offended Lord joyfully forgives and forgets them all.

Where misery passes undiscerned, there mercy passes undesired. Why should God show him mercy, who never acknowledged himself guilty? A saint's tears are

better than a sinner's triumphs. Bernard saith, "The tears of penitents are the wine of angels."

When a sinner repents, the angels rejoice and give me such a mourning on earth, as creates music in heaven. Many are battered as lead by the hammer, who

were never bettered as gold by the fire. Sometimes, that repentance which begins in the fears of hell, ends in the flames of hell. (From William Secker's "Nonsuch Professor" lately re-published by R. D. Dickinson, Farringdon Street, London.)

The

Nehemiah had obtained leave from Artaxerxes to pay a visit to his beloved Jerusalem, which city, he had been given to understand, was in a miserably ruinous condition. Arrived there, he determines on a secret inspection. The night fixed upon has far advanced when, accompanied by one or two faithful followers, he emerges from one of the many gateways, and silently and slowly paces round the once proud walls of the city. His heart swells with grief as now and again he stumbles over masses of stone and cement in his pathway, and casting up his eyes, sees huge gaps in the mighty wall, showing whence they fell. gates, too, that had for so many years been the pride of his forefathers, were either entirely gone or so charred by fire as to be hideous to look upon and useless for purposes of protection. Now, pausing for a few moments as if not knowing which way to go, he takes a road that will lead him, he hopes, to some scenes which in his younger days caused him to rejoice over the beauty of the place. In this, also, he is to be disappointed. "Then," says he in his own touching account, "I went on to the gate of the fountain and to the King's Pool; but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass." Strewn with rubbish the once lovely spots are scarcely recognizable by him in their aspect of desolation. Unable to pass by, he turns his rein and picking his way by the brook makes a survey of another portion of the wall. Still no consolation all is of a piece, and traces of wreck and ruin meet

him at every turn. It is a sorrowful night's journey, but shaking off the feeling of despair that is creeping to his heart, he turns back and, as the day dawns, re-enters the city by the gate of the valley, with a determined expression on his countenance, hardly comprehensible under the circumstances but perfectly understood when, at mid-day, he gathers the citizens together and in eloquent language points out the miserable condition of the city compared with its former glory, and dilates on the dealings of God which had led to so vast a change. Then, declaring his own willingness to assist them by God's help in restoring the holy city, he concludes a heart stirring oration, amid a universal cry from his audience of "Let us rise up and build!"

Sanballat and Tobiah have heard that one Nehemiah had visited Jerusalem and induced the people to rebuild the walls. They scarcely believe the rumour for they think (tho' doubtless "the wish was father to the thought") that those feeble and Godforsaken Jews would never attempt such a work. To convince themselves of its truth or falsity we may suppose they proceeded towards the city. As they approach it their ears are assailed by a confused sound of many voices and clashing of implements. Their worst fears are confirmed when they see the usually desolate walls alive with people engaged in all manner of laborious work. The two wor thies burst into a laugh of derision, and with scorn and despising ask "What is this thing that ye do, will ye rebel against the king?" Nehemiah is mouthpiece for the people and answers the sneerers in the following high-spirited terms: "The God of heaven he will prosper us, therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but YE have no portion nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem." If they were not put to silence by this righteous rebuke, they must have been so by the extraordinary spectacle they witnessed. From the least to the greatest, all were doing something

in the national work. There, in the part that lies between the towers of Meah and Hannaneel, were the whole of the priesthood, including the high priest, with hatchets, bars, and saws in hand, busily engaged in restoring the "Sheep-Gate" and the parts adjacent thereto. Next to these, the members of some of the highest families in the land were seen working, and carrying on their shoulders, instead of the rich garments they were accustomed to wear, materials of every description for building purposes. But at a little distance a sight even nobler presents itself. Shallum, the ruler of half the city, works with a will; and well he may, with the helpmates he has on either side. His own fair daughters are the labourers from whose hands he receives the rough material for his work. It must have filled his heart with fatherly pride to find himself thus assisted, and we will venture to say no portion of the wall was more firmly built than that allotted to Shallum and his daughters. What a rebuke must this sight have given to those mean spirited Tekoite nobles who are above such work, and lazily look on with their hands wrapped in the folds of their silken gowns. Surely, these so-called nobles, who "put not their necks to the work of the Lord," must in very shame have bent their heads when they saw these truly "noble" girls working with bare hands on the encumbered ground, and hastily have turned away their coward faces from such a living sarcasm on their aristocratic pride and indolence. With such a leader as Nehemiah was, and such co-workers as he possessed, no wonder that improvement is daily apparent. Sanballat and Tobiah perceive it, and as they cannot prevent the progress of the work by sneers and ridicule, they try to incite the Samaritans to an armed interference. Nehemiah,

however, is equal to the emergency. He knows how to combat both craft and violence. He appeals to God. With the exception of a few left on guard, all the people are on their knees and faces, and in their midst stands Nehemiah with eyes lifted to heaven, while a fervent prayer for help and protection rises from his lips. Having solemnly commended themselves to the care of God, they rise, and Nehemiah thus addresses them: "Be not ye afraid of them remember the Lord which is great and terrible, and right for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives and your houses." No general ever appealed to higher motives to animate his

men to deeds of valour. These words have an electric effect on the workers, and they go again cheerfully to their labour with a prayer to God in their hearts, the burning words of Nehemiah ringing in their ears, and implements of industry in their hands, while each man is provided with some weapon for defence.

So day after day the work goes on, and, notwithstanding numerous obstacles, the wall gradually presents its old appearance, and on the 25th day of the month Elul (fifty-two days in all) a loud shout of joy and of triumph proclaims the completion of the glorious work.

The scene we have thus attempted to pourtray suggests many themes for profitable reflection.

(1.) What a noble example of fortitude and strong christian courage is presented in the person of Nehemiah. Had he been at all weak in his decisions or less persevering in his endeavours, failure would have been stamped on his proceedings. How many there are who, having like prai-eworthy objects to serve, have proved themselves deficient in moral courage when the time of trial has approached. They waver in their actions, and the enemy, ever on the alert for such opportunities, takes advantage of their weakness and spoils their work. They then give up in despair what they desired and hoped to accomplish. But Nehemiah also well knew the worth of prayer, nor did he fail to put the faithfulness of God to that test; with what results we have seen. To his example all may turn and find elements of success in any laudable work, however difficult of attainment it may seem to be.

(2.) In the futile attempts of Sanballat and Tobiah we see that no weapon that is formed against those who desire to spend and be spent in God's service shall really prosper. Let enemies threaten, as those did Nehemiah; let them sneer, scoff, and ridicule; let us not be turned aside from our purpose. Their oppositions shall return as coals of fire upon their own heads, and shall not really injure us. Few ever yet attempted a good work but had more to damp than to encourage their zeal. But let us work on in continual prayer and with the end desired constantly in view, and in spite of all, we shall, like Nehemiah, bring our work, begun in hope and carried on in God's name, to a successful issue.

(3.) The workers on the wall point the lesson that no condition in life should prevent our engaging in good and useful