of this celestial plant! Search out and remove the cause of the declension and decay of this precious grace of the Spirit; rest not until it is discovered and brought to light; should it prove to be the world, come out from it, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; or the power of indwelling sin, seek its immediate crucifixion by the cross of Jesus. Does the creature steal thy heart from Christ, and deaden thy love to God?-resign it at God's bidding; he asks the surrender of thine heart, and has promised to be better to thee than all creature love. All the tenderness, the fond affection, the acute sympathy, the true fidelity, that thou ever didst find or enjoy in the creature, dwells in God, thy covenant God and Father, in an infinite degree. He makes the creature all it is to thee: that fond smile which thy fellow-believer beamed upon thee, was but a ray from his countenance; that expression of love was but a drop from his heart; that tenderness and sympathy was a part of his nature. Then possessing God in Christ, you can desire no more,-you can have no more: if he asks the surrender of the creature, cheerfully resign it; and let God be all in all to thee. This suggests a second direction :

Draw largely from the fount of love in God. All love to God in the soul, is the result of his love to us; it is begotten in the heart by his Spirit,— "We love him, because he first loved us.:" he took the first step, and made the first advance," he first loved us." O heart-melting truth! The love of God to us when yet we were sinners, who can un

fold it? what mortal tongue can describe it? Before we had any being, and when we were enemies, he sent his Son to die for us; and when we were far off by wicked works, he sent his Spirit to bring us to him in the cloudy and dark day. All his dealings with us since then-his patience, restoring mercies, tender, loving, faithful care, yea, the very strokes of his rod, have but unfolded the depths of his love towards his people: this is the love we desire you to be filled with. "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God." Draw largely from this river; why should you deny yourselves? There is enough love in God to overflow the hearts of all his saints through all eternity; then why not be filled? "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God;" stand not upon the brink of the fountain, linger not upon the margin of this river,―enter into it—plunge into it; it is for thee,-poor, worthless, unworthy, vile, as thou feelest thyself to be,—this river of love is yet for thee! Seek to be filled with it, that ye may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and that your heart in return may ascend in a flame of love to God.

Deal much and closely with a crucified Saviour. Here is the grand secret of a constant ascending of the affections to God. If thou dost find it difficult to comprehend the love of God towards thee, read it in the cross of his dear Son. "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his

Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John iv. 9, 10. Dwell upon this amazing fact; drink into this precious truth; muse upon it, ponder it, search into it, pray over it, until your heart is melted down, and broken, and overwhelmed with God's wondrous love to you, in the gift of Jesus. O how will this rekindle the flame that is ready to die in your bosom! how it will draw you up in a holy and unreserved surrender of body, soul, and spirit! Forget not, then, to deal much with Jesus. Whenever thou detectest a waning of love, a reluctance to take up the daily cross, a shrinking from the precept, go immediately to Calvary; go simply and directly to Jesus; get thy heart warmed with ardent love by contemplating him upon the cross, and soon will the frosts that gather round it melt away, the congealed current shall begin to flow, and the "chariots of Amminadib” shall bear thy soul away to commune and fellowship with God.

Do not fail to honor the Holy Spirit in this great work of revival. The work is all his; beware of taking it out of his hands. The means we have suggested for the revival of this waning grace of love, can only be rendered effectual as the Spirit worketh in you, and worketh with you. Pray much for his anointings; go to him as the Glorifier of Christ, as the Comforter, the Sealer, the Witness, the Earnest of his people: it is he that will apply the atoning blood, it is he that will revive thy drooping graces, it is he that will fan to a flame thy waning love, by unfolding the cross, and directing your heart into the love of God. Take not your eye off the

love of the Spirit; his love is equal with the Father's and the Son's love. Honor him in his love, let it encourage thee to draw largely from his influences, and to be 'filled with the Spirit.'

Lastly remember that though your love has waxed cold, the love of thy God and Father towards thee has undergone no diminution: not the shadow of a change has it known. Although he

has hated thy declension, has rebuked thy wandering, yet his love he has not withdrawn from thee. What an encouragement to return to him again! Not one moment has God turned his back upon thee, though thou hast turned thy back upon him times without number: his face has always been towards thee; and it would have shone upon thee with all its melting power, but for the clouds which thine own waywardness and sinfulness have caused to obscure and hide from thee its blessed light. Retrace thy steps and return again to God. Though thou hast been a poor wanderer and hast left thy first love, though thy affections have strayed from the Lord, and thy heart has gone after other lovers, still God is gracious and ready to pardon; he will welcome thee back again for the sake of Jesus, his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased, for this is his own blessed declaration,-"If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." Ps. lxxxix. 30-33.

CHAPTER III.

DECLENSION IN FAITH.

"Lord, increase our faith."-Luke xvii. 5.

EACH grace of the Spirit must be considered by the believer as forming an essential element of his Christian character, and as such, inconceivably costly and precious. He may not be sensible of possessing them all in the same degree: for as we only know the extent of our mental or physical powers, as circumstances develope them, so a believer knows not what graces of the Spirit he may possess, until the dealings of a covenant God call them into holy and active exercise. Thus do infinite wisdom and goodness unfold themselves in all the transactions of God with his people. Not arbitrarily, nor wantonly, nor unnecessarily, does the heavenly Father deal with his child;-every stroke of the rod is but the muffled voice of love; every billow bears on its bosom, and every tempest on its wing, some new and rich blessing from the better land. Ọ that we should ever breathe a sigh, or utter a murmur at God's covenant dealings, or for one moment mistake their holy and wise design and tendency!

If, then, every grace of the Spirit be thus indispensable and costly, the declension and decay of that grace in the believer must attract the especial notice