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give up, but felt compelled to hope on, even if I died in despair. What could I do? Return to the love and practice of sin I could not, and, lost or saved, I could do no more to help myself. Here, then, was my last refuge-at the foot of the cross. Here I must lie till Jesus bade me rise and live

"Resolved-for that's my last defence

If I must die, to perish there.'

"And how often I was favoured of the Lord while in a waiting position! What encouragement I got under the ministry; and what a nearness I seemed to have at a throne of grace, when I went there to pour out my many wants! How many times, while under the ministry, has my heart felt ready to burst under a sense of Christ's preciousness and suitability to me in my wretched condition; and I have had hard work to keep from shouting out that He was worth more than a thousand worlds to a self-despairing, sin-sick soul. Here I saw a fulness for His people's varied wants; but was I one of them? I trusted that I was, and I could not help feeling myself solemnly persuaded, on Scriptural grounds, that this precious Christ would at length appear for me; and, in my foolishness, I then thought that my life would be one continual scene of praise and rejoicing; but I have had to learn, by painful experience, that it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.' Well, strange to say, after this I fell into a cold, dead, and indifferent state, in which I remained for some time (until the beginning of 1870). Oh, what a dark night this was for my poor soul! What a wretched time! What a sleepy, unconcerned state I was in! And to my shame I confess it-I seemed to enjoy the world and the things of it more than I had ever done in my life before, but in spiritual matters there was an icy coldness that nothing but divine grace could reach. Oh, Lord, do grant I may never get into the same state again—

"For more the treacherous calm I dread
Than tempests bursting o'er my head."

"I am truly a mystery to myself. To think that God should, in His infinite mercy, not leave me to fill up the measure of my iniquity, and then send me to that place where hope and mercy can never come-this is a mystery that I think I shall never be able to fathom here below, and I trust this feeling will ever keep me humbled in the dust. Well, here I was, in this unconcerned state, where none but an almighty hand could reach me. But the Lord knows best how to manage such a

case, and what means will be most effectual for His people's good and His own glory; and so, in this case, He brought on a severe illness. My health for some time rapidly declined, until, to all appearance, my time on earth was short. Oh, bless the Lord for this affliction, for 'before I was afflicted I went astray.'

"One day, while thinking on the things of God, these words came powerfully to my mind: The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;' and truly the time had come. What a view I had by faith of a crucified Saviour, suffering for my sins, and these words were impressed powerfully on my heart: 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love;' 'I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.' Oh, what rich, free, eternal, everlasting love was this, and to be poured out on one so vile! For several weeks I had a most blessed time-a rich foretaste of heaven

"If such the sweetness of the streams,
What must the fountain be,

Where saints and angels draw their bliss
Immediately from Thee?'

"What a happy time I had! Jesus was with me of a truth, and His everlasting arms were underneath. I was truly fixed on the Rock of Ages, and was willing for anything-for life or death, whichever should be the most for the glory of Him who had done so much for the vilest sinner out of hell. Oh, what sweet and glorious promises were brought home to my poor soul! The Bible seemed unsealed, and all its promises were mine. Never did I think God would condescend to bless such a worm as I in a glorious way like this. I expected every hour to be my last; and oh, what an abundant entrance I thought I was going to have into the kingdom! I felt I had done with earth; there was nothing I wanted to stay for. All my work was prayer and praise. Christ was my All and in all;' and sometimes I felt that my soul could no longer remain in the body, but longed most earnestly for the time when I should see a precious Christ without a veil between, and when I should, with all the ransomed throng

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"Cast my crown before the throne,

And shout free grace, free grace alone.'

"How truly I felt that 'for me to live was Christ, but to die was gain.' Now I know how He will be with His people in a dying hour, for I, that had been so afraid of death, when the time seemed near, could meet it as a conquered foe, and felt that he was but a porter at the heavenly gate to let the pilgrims in.' God's people don't need dying grace in a living hour; it is needed

in a dying hour, and then He will give it, and abundantly too. I had given up all hopes of getting better; and what a trial it was when I began to improve! What a trial to go down the mount into the world again, to be harassed by sin and Satan, doubts and fears, unbelief, and a hard heart! These I felt I should have to endure; but how I begged that, if I was to be in the world, I might not be of it!"

(To be continued.)

A BRIEF MEDITATION ON GENESIS XXII. How full of blessed instruction the types in the Old Testament are, when any degree of spiritual light and understanding is given! The touching account of Abraham so promptly obeying God's command to offer up his son Isaac sets before us more than one glorious Gospel truth, the leading one being the substitution of the innocent for the guilty. It is recorded, "God did tempt Abraham"-i.e., proved his faith and obedience by the command, "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, and offer him up," &c. (Gen. xxii. 2.) Abraham's ready and willing obedience sets forth the infinite love of God the eternal Father, who did, in the councils of eternity, plan, and in the fulness of time carry out that plan, of giving His onlybegotten and well-beloved Son to be a redemption price for guilty sinners. "Herein is love" (1 John iv. 10).

"And Abraham rose up early," &c. No parleying, no excuse. He took the wood of the burnt offering, the fire, and the knife. The Apostle, in Hebrews xi. 19, tells us that "Abraham accounted that God was able to raise Isaac again from the dead," so sure was he that God would fulfil His promise respecting his seed (Gen. xvii. 7, 16). Abraham was "strong in faith, giving glory to God" (Rom. iv. 20). Isaac goes forth, patiently submitting himself to his father's will. This gives us one aspect of the willingness of the Lord Jesus to obey His righteous Father's will in becoming the sinner's Substitute; but Isaac more fully types out the Church, and thereby represents the guilty, for he was one of the fallen sons of Adam (though a saved one), and therefore his life was a forfeited life. He had doubtless been taught by his father, Abraham, the need of a sacrifice for sin, and to look forward for that great sacrifice which should finally supersede all the "blood of bulls and of goats;" therefore he said, "Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Yes, Isaac as truly needed the great atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as any of us poor sinners do, and, as such, fitly represents the Church, which is composed of a company of ruined, guilty sinners, who are amenable to the holy law of God, bound

by the cords of divine justice to be consumed thereby. God literally provided a substitute for Isaac, in the ram caught in the thicket; but what unfathomable depths of love and grace are revealed to us in the ram's Antitype-He who came to lay down His life for His sheep (John x. 15).

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Our lot is cast in times when Abraham's prophecy, "God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering," has been fully accomplished. God has "sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law (Gal. iv. 4, 5); and He has been led as "a lamb to the slaughter' (Isaiah liii. 7); and now one part of our blessedness consists in being taught by the Holy Spirit our need of just such a Saviour and Surety as the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in the Word to be. For instance, "we are born in sin, and shapen in iniquity (Psalm li. 5). He was that holy thing that was born of the Virgin and "called the Son of God" (Luke i. 35). This is a needful part of our salvation. We, by nature, have gone astray from our birth, "speaking lies," manifesting our evil nature by evil passions and deeds. The infancy of the Lord Jesus, as well as all the life of His humanity, was one continued stream of purity, issuing from a pure untainted fountain within: "Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Heb. vii. 26). He could say to God His Father, "I delight to do Thy will; yea, Thy law is within My heart" (Psalm xl.); while those He came to redeem are described by the Word of God (Jer. xvii. 9) as having a heart "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; and every convinced sinner proves this is a true description of his case, and that that corrupt fountain is the source of all his inward trouble and grief; and, as years roll on, and his knowledge of himself increases, he can adopt the Apostle's language, "I find a law in my members warring against the law of my mind; when I would do good, evil is present with me;" also, "In my flesh dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. vii. 18). This teaching of the blessed Spirit makes the doctrine of Christ's suretyship so exceedingly precious to exercised souls. His was a pure and spotless life, such as an infinitely holy God can accept, and be well pleased with; and that spotless life, put to the account (or made over) to the convinced sinner, is the only ground such souls can hope upon for acceptance with God. And when this great truth is realized by a divine power in the soul, it becomes the Gospel's "joyful sound" to that soul, and blessed are all they who thus hear and know it (Psalm lxxxix. 15).

A.

THERE cannot be a better being for us than to be with the Best of Beings.-Dr. Goodwin.

LETTERS FOR THE YOUNG.-No. XXIV.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND,-I am very pleased to hear that you arrived safely at your uncle's. I hope, dear, that the change will do you good; and, if the Lord will, I shall be pleased to see you return home quite restored to health. But, my dear girl, remember that it is the blessing of God upon the means used which alone will benefit you; and, while I hope the blessing will be granted in restoring you again to health, I pray God to bless the affliction to your soul's eternal good. This is the most important matter. You know, dear, that the Bible says, "Ye must be born again ;" and without this great change no one can enter heaven. Do you ever feel concerned about these things? If not, I hope the Holy Spirit will lead you to think earnestly about your soul, which can never die. I often think about these things for you, and for the other dear girls in my class, and I try to ask the Lord to teach you, for without His teaching, mine will profit you nothing. But, my dear girl, my prayer for you is not enough. You must be brought to feel your need of a Saviour, each one for yourselves, and cry to God for mercy, or you will never enter heaven. How is it with you, dear? You know our short lives will soon be ended, and then where shall we be? Shall we live for ever with Jesus, or shall we be for ever banished from His presence? Do not think me unkind; I write thus in love to your soul. Yesterday poor Lizzie M- was buried by Mr. G—, and he spoke about her at night. His text was, 1 Peter i. and last two verses. You will like to read it, I know. He spoke very solemnly to the young, and he said he believed dear Lizzie was gone to heaven. What a mercy if we should have to say so of others in our Sunday-school!

I hope you will write to me soon, as I shall be anxious to know how you are, and I shall be pleased to receive a letter from you. Before I conclude, I have one request to make. It is that you will try and read a portion of God's holy Word every day; but do not forget that the Holy Spirit alone can bless it to your soul's good. I pray that He will do so, for Jesus Christ's sake. With kindest love, dear,

I am, your affectionate friend and teacher,

Coventry, May, 1867.

M. B.

I WOULD not wish to be without feeling of my sins, and think that I have no need then of remission; for, if that were the case, all the treasure of Christ were lost on me, seeing He saith Himself, "He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."-Luther.

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