MY DEAR FAMILY,-You may, and will be, tempted to ask unbecoming questions respecting the Gospel. Your understandings will be tempted to rebel against the Divine truth as it is in Jesus; but the remedy must be earnest prayer, to be taught, that though in outward. appearance Jesus was only the Son of man, yet that He was also the Son of God, with power to do for man more than he could ask or think, and to finish fully and completely the great work He came to do to the glory of the Eternal Trinity in Unity, and to the everlasting joy of all honest, humble, and faithful people, that take Him for their Saviour.

MARK XII. 1-12.

The history of the Jews, my dear family, should not be lost upon us, who stand in very like circumstances to them in their former state, when God was pleased to make them the keepers of his word. But the Jews as well as the Gentiles have proved themselves to be under sin, by this, that they hated truth, and loved lies. (See 1 Thess. iii. 14-16.) The Jews hated religious truth, and loved men's commandments and the deceitful imaginations of their own hearts so much, that they killed

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and persecuted the Lord's faithful prophets, till at last the Lord of glory, God's only Son, who came to save their souls, became the object of their hatred and vengeance, because He told them the truth.

Dear friends, it depends much upon the people of this country, under God's holy inclining and perfecting Spirit, whether the truth of the Gospel shall remain amongst us in its present purity, or whether the Lord Jesus shall again suffer persecution in the persons of his faithful ministers, who are valiant for his truth. Now, in order to your being among them that shall stand by God's truth in the day of persecution, you must first love the truth as it is in Christ. You must not be angry with it because it does, as indeed it must, speak against you as it did against the Jews. You must suffer the word of sincere declaration that you are wicked sinners, and that by nature you are enemies of God, and cannot please Him without faith in Christ, whom the builders refused, but who in spite of man's unbelief and persecution of Himself and his saints, is the head corner-stone of the Church, from whom, and by whom only, the Church is sanctified; for the Holy Ghost will not come to them that hold not Jesus in all his offices, as the head of all things to the Church. The simple Gospel is very offensive to unconverted man. It must be so, from its very nature, and from its effect upon the heart and life, as seen in the lives of the saints in all ages, copied from that of Jesus Himself; therefore, pray much, pray earnestly for hearts meek and submissive, so that you may not take offence, as did the Jews, at God's simple, true, and humbling, yet saving message of peace, and his holy, and yet most reasonable example in the person of his well-beloved Son. Some of you may think that you can put out truth, and get rid altogether of a faithful witness against your sins, smother your own convictions, and get through life and death smoothly; but not one of these things will you be able to do. The Lord Jesus, in spite of the ignorant malice both of men and devils, will be the chief corner-stone, immoveable, and the consciences of his persecutors (for such are they that try to banish Him and his truth) will bear awful witness against them,

as against Judas Iscariot, that they have betrayed the innocent, whose doctrine is pure as He Himself, who is Lord over all, God blessed for ever, and whose service is only disliked because it is so holy, and because men are so unholy. Depend upon it there are no such fools as the despisers and persecutors of the true Gospel. Verily they "forsake their own mercy," for if they will not have the Gospel of God for their rule of faith and practice, they must have "lying vanities;" (see Jonah ii. 8.) Christ being "the Truth," that is, the only true Saviour and perfect example; He being both God and man. A LAYMAN.

GODLINESS PROFITABLE FOR ALL THINGS.

(Continued from page 8.)

IN considering the goodness of God, in giving us the many earthly and temporal blessings which we enjoy, as well as in so mercifully providing for the well-being of our immortal souls, we also are led to seek after the real cause of our unhappiness in this world; for though the Apostle tells us most truly that godliness has the promise of the life which now is, as well as of that which is to come, yet we look around and see many unhappy persons, and perhaps we are of the number, and we are led to call this world a miserable world, and talk as if God indeed had promised to save our souls, but that He cared not for our bodies, and that the salvation of our souls must be purchased by much suffering and discomfort of our bodies. If this were indeed the case, still great, infinitely great, would be our gain; for "our light affliction, which is but for a moment," in comparison, "worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. iv. 17.) But do we not find, my friends, that our own sinfulness, or the sinfulness of those with whom we are connected, is in truth the cause of our sorrows and cares, and not our love to God, nor our diligence in following the commands of our blessed Lord and Saviour? No: that blessed Saviour says, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." But our sins separate us from Him.

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As we before remarked, we find this to be the case, when we are not happy in married life, and when marriage instead of a blessing proves a source of misery to us. We find it, too, in the case of children, when they press upon us as a burthen, instead of proving a help and comfort. Let us now see how it is with two other of the most common sources of misery in this world-poverty and sickness. Many hundred years ago David said, "I have been young, and now am old: and yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread." (Ps. xxxvii. 35.) Now I know that he said this, speaking to the Jewish people, the chosen of God, who were living under a different dispensation to what we are, and to whom earthly reward and earthly punishment were more immediately dispensed, in proportion as they followed or forsook the commandments of God. But my own experience, and I have lived some time in this world, and have known a great many among rich and poor,-my own experience tells me just the same as King David's experience told him. I have with great sorrow witnessed great poverty, great suffering from want of the common necessaries of life, and it has been one of the greatest pleasures of my own life to minister to those wants and relieve those necessities; but my hand has been continually checked, and sometimes drawn quite back, because sin was there, working this want, this cruel poverty, and I could not relieve the one without encouraging the other. But you do not know me, and you may think I judge harshly, so I will rather ask you what your own experience is, when you hear "such a family is starving, his children are in rags, his wife is ashamed to be seen outside the cottage door." Do you not also hear "What is the wonder? The father is always drinking, and when he does do a day's work, he spends more than half at the beer-shop." Or, it may be, some other vice is proved; but I think drunkenness is the chief cause of that utter destitution which leads to children begging their bread. The good and the industrious may, from some accident, from sickness or from death in the family, or from being thrown out of employment, become distressed and suffer much, but it does not amount to destitution; some friend

is found, some relief is sent, and this, with their own exertions, and above all with God's blessing, brings them round again. But more than this, the godly man, when he finds misfortune at hand and poverty entering the door, is never thrown into despair; he has placed his trust too firmly and too safely to feel afraid. He can say with Job, "though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." (Job xiii. 15.) He will be quite sure that God will not forsake him, and this assurance will enable him to pray to his heavenly Father in full confidence: he will remember that his Saviour bade him ask his daily bread from that Father, and what He has bid us ask he will know God will not fail to give. If he can make no other exertion, he will patiently wait an answer to his prayer, nor will he wait in vain. How many instances have I heard of such prayers being answered by relief being administered through means perhaps of which the sufferer had never thought! Have you not heard of such instances, my friends? Perhaps your own experience may tell you of such. But there are other cases in which poverty and want come upon us, and when, alas! our own consciences must or ought to add a bitter sting. When persons are thrown out of work, does it not often prove to be their own fault? "I had a few words with my master, or my mistress," or, "I did not like to be put upon by my fellow-servant," or, "I thought I might better myself and get higher wages. Now if we put these reasons in other words, does it not come to this: "I could not keep my temper; I forgot the Apostle's exhortation, servants, be subject to your masters with all fear: not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward;' and I made a rude answer when I ought to have been silent and patient;" or, "I gave way to feelings of pride and anger with my fellow-servant, and forgot to exercise that Christian charity which 'suffereth long and is kind;"" or, "I indulged in feelings of discontent, and was covetous of this world's goods, forgetting that God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him;' forgetting that the devil especially tempts us by the love of this world to fall down