envy you!" But these words were not to be confined to them. They were personally to enjoy the privilege; and they were immediately addressed-But, in receiving this assurance, they stood as the representatives of all his people, to the end of time-And you, even you, if you love and follow him, are as much included in the bequeathment, as if you were mentioned by name. Witness his following intercession"Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me: and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one."

SEPT. 5.-"I will strengthen them in the Lord."
Zech. x. 12.

THIS is the very assurance our hearts want, as we think of ourselves, and survey the duties and trials of the Christian life. And we cannot too confidently rely on the accomplishment of it; for it comes from the lips of Faithfulness and Truth. But we may err, as to the manner in which it is to be fulfilled: and therefore our expectation is to be regulated and qualified accordingly.

Let me observe, then, that the fulfilment of the promise, as long as we are here, will not exempt us from all cause of complaint. It will keep us in our work; but not cause us to cease from our labour. It secures us assistance in our conflict; but the war lasts for life. However strong our faith, and firm our hope, and long-suffering, unto all joyfulness, our patience; we shall still be sensible, and

the more sensible too, of resistance, deficiency, defilement; and still acknowledge that, when we would do good, evil is present with us and groan, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

This impartation of strength will also be seasonable, and proportioned to the exigencies of our condition-"As thy days, so shall thy strength be." What we are to look for is, not grace for imaginary purposes, but for real; not grace for future difficul ties, but present; or, as the Apostle has it, grace to "help in time of need." It does not, therefore, follow, that what is formidable in the prospect, may be so in the event. You may fear death while living, and not fear it at last. "Is this," said Dr. Goodwin, "Is this dying? Is this the enemy that dismayed me so long-now appearing so harmless-and even pleasant?"

These supplies of strength are to be sought after and expected in God's own way; that is, in the use of the means which he has ordained. So his Word deals with our hope. "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, and waiting at the posts of my doors." "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings, as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint."

And have I not found it so? In the day when I cried, has he not answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul? Have I not kneeled down with a contracted, and risen up with an enlarged, heart? When I have read his Word, hath he not thereby quickened me? Have I not found him, in his palaces, for a refuge? Has he not sent me

help from the Sanctuary, and strengthened me out of Zion?

How foolish, then, to avoid religious exercises, when I am not in a proper, and spiritual, and lively frame! The means of grace are surely, then, the most necessary: as fire is the most needful when we are cold; and excitement, when we are dull.

It is only a part of the truth, that we are to pray with the Spirit-we are also to pray for it. Witness the language of the Saviour-" If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him!" Witness the example of the Church-" Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south. Blow upon thy garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.

SEPT. 6.-" He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." Deut. xxxii. 10.

AND will not all this apply, O Christian! to thee, as well as to Israel?

Will not the finding? "He found them in a desert land, in a waste howling wilderness." And where did he find you? What was your natural state? What was the world lying in wickedness? What was the earth, as filled, from the effects of sin, with vanity and vexation of spirit? There he found you: not you him -To his Name give glory, for the mercy and the truth's sake. You did indeed find him: but how? "I am found of them that sought me not-I am sought of them that asked not for me." You did choose him: but as the cause or consequence of his choice? Hear his own language-" Ye have not chosen me, but

I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." Who can refuse to acknowledge, We love him, because he first loved us?

Will not the leading? "He led them about." There was no road, and much depended upon their movements. He therefore became their conductorand we know how he did this. It was by a fiery cloudy pillar. As this advanced, they removed. As this turned to the right or the left, they turned also. As this paused, they remained. Thus they were freed from all anxiety. The distance they had to go was not great in itself. Jacob's sons, with their asses, soon passed and re-passed between Egypt and Canaan. And the Israelites quickly reached Kadesh-barnea, which was not far from Jordan; but they were turned back. And if you consult a a map, and observe their winding marches, you will see the propriety of the expression, He led them about. And has he not thus led you? You knew, the way of man is not in himself. You cried unto the Lord, and said, Lead me in thy truth, and guide me, for thou art the God of my salvation, on thee do I wait all the day. And he said, I will lead thee and guide thee, and instruct thee with mine eye. And has he ever abandoned you? What mistakes has he prevented! How often has he hedged up your path, to keep you from going astray! From how many embarrassments, the effect of your acting without him, has he extricated you! He has always led you in the right way; but it has often been a trying one; and such as you could not have foreseen or conjectured. In your temporal affairs he has perhaps checked you, and turned you backyou have had life to begin again: and to seek other openings and labours. And as to your spiritual experience, instead of gaining more of the assurance of hope, doubts and fears have invaded you; and instead of victory over your enemies, you have been led to see

your

and feel more of the evil of hearts-while you have often asked, If I am his, why am I thus? Yet all this has fulfilled the promise, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darknesss light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them."

Will not the teaching? "He instructed them." They had the finest opportunities in the world to learn, cut off as they were from intercourse with the surrounding nations, and alone, with God as their preceptor. When at Horeb, they sat down at his feet, and received of his words. He gave them laws and ordinances. He sent them Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam. He taught them much by events, pleasing and painful. He shewed them in example the evil of sin, the happiness of obedience-yea, he gave them his good Spirit, says Nehemiah, to instruct them. And has he not instructed you? If you have been unprofitable learners, the fault has been your own. You have had every thing favourable in your situation; a thousand resources of information have opened around you-you have the Scriptures, the preaching of the Word, Christian intercourse, and that Spirit which is to teach you all things. Every thing that has befallen you has read you lessons. Some things you must have learned-that this is not your rest-the folly of trusting in your own heartsthe greatness of your unworthiness-and that it is of the Lord's mercies that you are not consumed.

Will not the protection? "He kept them as the apple of his eye" the tenderest part of the tenderest member. Did the serpents bite them? He provided a remedy, and healed them. Did enemies assail them? It was not with impunity. He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Amalek; Sihon, king of the Amorites; and Og, king of Bashan ;