that no longer than that object is present to their minds, can they be said to "live by faith."

Man walks either by sense or by faith. He walks by sense so long as he is actuated by merely human motives, or governed by wordly maxims, having recourse to no higher authority, or being stimulated by no other incentive than the dictates of reason, and the invitation of carnal gratifications. The word and will of God are not supreme with him, but are held in such subordination to inferior motives, as to constitute no influential part of his mental character. He is, for default of this supremity of the word and will of God in his heart," without God and without Christ." "God hath not shined into his heart to give him the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

The man that walks by faith is ever contemplating another object that has been revealed to him, to the testimony of which he gives implicit credit. That object is Jesus, the Saviour of sinners; and on what the Scriptures testify concerning him, he places perfect reliance. An habitual regard to him constitutes the life of faith; and faith is not in the heart when Christ is not there. Now this life of faith characterizes the believer through every stage of his Christian course; as he begins, so he continues and ends"he looks unto Jesus." There is no new principle for his conduct at every stage of his progress; or one rule for the young Christian, and another for the more advanced or aged Christian. "Having begun in the Spirit, they are not to be perfected by the flesh." No, "the just (from first to last) shall live by faith." When a Christian is first made to feel the plague of

his heart, and the burden of his iniquities, he finds no peace to his burdened soul, and no relief to his wounded spirit, but by " looking unto Jesus as the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." He sees in his sufferings an ample atonement for sin, and in his perfect obedience a sufficient ground for justification. He receives therefore the reconciliation; he believes, he adores, he loves. But this is not one solitary act of the believer, once done and never more performed. Though the guilt of sin is believed to be for ever removed, and there is perfect and eternal redemption through the blood of the Cross, yet sin still lives in the heart. The tree may for a time seem to be cut down, yet its roots remain, which, being surrounded with congenial aliment, suddenly and vigorously shoots forth afresh. And now is the trial of the believer's faith, the consistency of his creed, and the strength of his grace. The odious, fearful, and abominable thing has again appeared, and driven peace and holiness from their seat, or rather mingled itself with them, (Satan among the sons of God) tainting the atmosphere around. What is now to be done? Where shall the soul, conscious of its pollution, find another fountain for uncleanness? and many are the attempts of the untried to obtain other refuges than that before possessed. Ah! there is no balm but in Gilead! No other refuge but the Cross! No other peace-maker but the crucified Nazarene! He again then “looks unto Jesus;" fresh oil is immediately poured on the troubled conscience; peace is again restored, and joy again abounds. And this is the oft-repeated, yea, the daily, the continued exercise of the Christian's heart. The law of sin reigns in his members, but the law of

the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus quenches the terrors of sin, and disarms it of its power. The sight of Christ crucified gives the assurance of pardon, and this assurance obtains the victory, "for this is the victory, even our faith." The conviction of the death of the guilt of sin by the sacrifice of the Cross, dispels the fascinating influence of sin; for the knowledge of our death with Christ, the Apostle argues (Rom. vi.) will cause us to live with him. If we are indeed dead and ascended with him, our affections will be crucified to the world, and will be set on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. As then the Christian cannot but sin while here below, (for what man is there that sinneth not? "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" "Oh wretched man that I am") he must feel the necessity of still "Looking unto Jesus." He went there at first, and there he must go last,-"Yesterday, to-day, and for ever." There is the proper place to go; there he is commanded to go; and in going there he glorifies Christ, and honours the Father. That a Christian through infirmity sins, is the law of his nature; that a Christian hates and detests his sins, is necessary from the holy seed within him: and that he carries his sin fearlessly and boldly to the sin-bearer, is the glory of faith-for the glory of Christ-and to the glory of Him who hath appointed the all-sufficient and infallible remedy. If this be not according to truth, what then are we to do with the daily, the hourly, the momentary sins of our heart? How can peace be for a moment enjoyed! How can hope ever enter the breast! How can joy ever animate the soul! Impossible! Oh, then, fellow sinners, and fellow saints, let us "look unto

Jesus!" Look to Him through our sins; burst through these our enemies that would obstruct our way to Him; lay your sins at His feet; receive His forgiving love; drink of his peace and joy; and go on your way rejoicing-rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh. "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died." CHRISTIANUS.

As the interest which one feels in a narrative is proportioned to the reality and truth of that narrative, I warn thee, my reader, that the present is not one of my own imagination, but a tale of real life, which fell under my own notice. The subject of it was a person who moved in the middle class of society-a Farmer. He was brought up in great ignorance; for although he could read and write, he was ignorant of the only

true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent : ignorant of sin and its deserts; ignorant of the only way of salvation; and this was to be traced to his never having learned these truths from God's word, the Bible. Wherever there is ignorance of God's word, it is always accompanied by a life of folly, and practical. atheism; for atheism includes in its meaning a living without God in the world. Such was the life of him whose case I would urge you now seriously to consider, in order that you may draw from it this lesson that as men live, so generally do they die; that death beds, of all other places, are the most unlikely for a man to be recovered from the sins of a mis-spent life.

As every man, however depraved, forms to himself some particular creed in which he trusts, some refuge of lies in which he thinks himself secure, so had the subject of the present memoir. Are you auxious to know what it was? I must tell you it was a creed very generally received, a creed in which the far greater part of mankind trust. He considered the business of his farm the one thing needful, and worshipped a golden God,-the god of gain. With this his whole thoughts were engrossed, his whole man engaged; this glued him down to the earth, and transformed him into a very brute; yea, this lowered him beneath the brute. (Isai. i. 3.) He possessed a soul in common with you, but it became the slave of his body, and the subject of that perishing lordling. The Sabbath-day, which was a day of rest to others, was no day of rest to him; then he settled up his accounts, and transacted other business; then he journeyed, visited, and received his company. The house of God was neglected, and that knee which would so