I now saw God in everything, and I delighted to contrast my former conceptions of God with those which I now enjoyed. Then he was all terrible, the God of wrath, to be feared and fled from, so that I "did not like to retain him in my knowledge." Now I felt him to be my God, my Father, free of access at all times, more ready to hear than I to pray, more willing to bestow than I to ask. I could pour out my soul before him in prayer at the throne of grace; or, if I felt my heart too full for utterance, I could remain in that posture waiting, without words. And when I oftentimes could utter nothing else than "Abba, Father," God has sent forth an answer of peace into my soul, of that peace that passeth all understanding, filling me with the assurance that "being justified by faith, I had peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," Rom. v. 1. I looked with unfeigned pity and compassion upon the world around, striving and toiling for the unsubstantial pleasures of this life, and careless about that to come, and I trembled when I thought that I was once as blind as they. I looked back upon many circumstances of my recent life, and felt astonished and ashamed at their remembrance; I seemed to have been walking blindfold on the verge of an awful precipice, and one step further would have hurled me headlong down; but, just when about to take that step, my eyes were opened, my danger shown me, and the only way of escape revealed. I felt how utterly impossible it Iwould have been for me to have been saved had I not been arrested by the hand of God, and I could not help admiring that love and mercy that had led me on so gently and made me anchor in still waters, instead of causing me to feel the anguish of despair before I received the comfort of pardon.

My conviction of the existence of Satan, from whose servitude I had been delivered, was equally strong with my belief in the existence of a reconciled God. I had been going with the stream till thus arrested, and had, therefore, not felt the contest of opposition. It was now otherwise; but I was protected by a suit of armour which bade defiance to the attacks of my enemy; my trust was in the Lord my God. I sheltered myself in Christ, and a single text from the Word of God would on these occasions most effectually quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. "It is written," was sufficient for me. I drew my defence from the Bible, a book of facts and truth, and not of theory and speculation.

During this stage of my spiritual progress, I deeply felt the vital importance of constant, earnest prayer. I felt it, indeed, to be the nourishment of my soul, without which my newly awakened feelings would wither and die. I could often

feel a sudden disposition for prayer, even in the midst of worldly business; and at such moments, as well as when walking in the streets, or in the midst of crowded thoroughfares, it was permitted me to hold communion with my God, to lift up my soul to him, and to enjoy the assurance of his love to me. Many an uplifting of the soul on high, and bounding of the heart towards God at the recollection of his unspeakable mercy, did I feel amidst the busy throng of London streets, and at such times the feeling of being alone with God has been more sensibly enjoyed, than often since, after long and stated prayer, in my secret chamber.

The danger of my unconverted relatives preyed much upon my mind. My own eyes had been mercifully opened to flee from the wrath to come; but theirs were still blinded, and I felt they "could not escape, if they neglected so great a salvation,' Heb. ii. 3. I desired that God should be glorified as much as possible. I made no efforts to conceal the change, but wrote to my parents, and fully narrated all the circumstances connected with it, and entreated them to "glorify God in me" for what had taken place; I wrote also to other relatives near and dear to me, telling them what God had done for my soul, and urging them with anxious affection to look to themselves, and see how it stood between God and their souls.

I now daily feel more and more my utter inability to uphold myself. "When I am weak, then I am strong," 2 Cor. xii. 10. Since the day of my conversion to the present time the Lord hath sustained me. My chief source of sorrow arises from the sense of my own ingratitude, and the feebleness of my love to him, compared with the great love wherewith he hath loved me. Each day's experience fully proves to me that in myself I am nothing, my sufficiency must be from God. In myself, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, Rom. vii. 18. I thought, at first, I had received a fund within myself to draw upon for spiritual support and sustenance, but I now see such is not the case; I am as helpless as before my conversion; it is out of myself that my strength lies-namely, "in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto me wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30.

The design of the preceding narrative has been to point out the reality of what is generally termed conversion. The necessity of it our blessed Lord himself declares, Matt. xviii. 3, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Conversion is God's own work, John vi. 44: it is the re-creating of the heart

after a spiritual mould, Ezek. xxxvi. 27; the implanting of a living principle in man's dead nature- —a principle to be acquired only by the inward application of gospel truths to the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost.

As death is a reality, so must our faith in Christ, if we would be saved, be a reality also. This faith is not born with us naturally-it is produced in us spiritually. As the special gift of God, it must come from Him. Compare Jas. i. 17, with Ephes. ii. 8. No faith is real, or of saving value to the soul, but that which is the produce of divine operation. The faith of an unconverted man is powerless to save the soul; it may receive the scriptures at the hand of God, and acknowledge Christ to be a Saviour—this is but the assent of the understanding to that which is incontrovertible; "the confession of the mouth," but not "the belief of the heart," Rom. x. 9. It does not influence the life, conduct, and conversation of the man. Such a hearty reception to gospel truths as is evidenced by a holy life is that which God requires, and this must be sought for from God, There must be the "asking," the "seeking," the "knocking," to which the several promises of ready answers are attached.

May those who have received this precious gift-more valuable than a thousand worlds, the believing, loving, and consecrated heart-be grateful, watchful, humble, and abounding in fruit; and may those who are still "walking according to the course of this world," and "fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind," Ephes. ii. 2, 3, remember that "the end of these things is death," Rom. vi. 21; and repent and be converted, that their sins may be blotted out, Acts iii. 19. A faithful God still promises in his word to those who earnestly seek his face, "A new heart will I give you, and a right spirit will I put within you," Ezek. xxxvi. 26.

J. F. SHAW, BOOKSELLER, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, LONDON; AND W. INNES, BOOKSELLER, SOUTH HANOVER STREET, EDINBURGÉ.

J. & W. Rider, Printers, Bartholomew Close, London.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST.

It is an undoubted fact that many have some knowledge of God, who cannot be said, in the sense in which the expression is used in scripture, to know Christ, Phil. iii. 10. They acknowledge God as the creator, sustainer, and director of the universe. They see his wisdom in the formation of the little flower we crush beneath our feet, as well as in those stupendous orbs which move through space obedient to his will; and, with the poet, they exclaim

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,

Almighty; thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair: thyself how wondrous then!"

They know him also in some of his divine attributes as the moral Governor; and, as such, they pay him the homage they consider due to the great Supreme. Some go farther than this: they receive the Bible as the word of God; their judgment assents to many of its leading doctrines; they strictly attend to religious ordinances, and scrupulously discharge religious duties;-yet they cannot be said to know Christ.

A man may indeed proceed much farther than the limit which we have just supposed. His knowledge may be accurate as to the history of Christ, as to the declared object of his mission, as to the indubitable evidence upon which his claims rest; but then we must affirm, that the individual whose knowledge of Christ is confined to the head-who knows him only in theory-who has never felt his need of him as a Saviour, who has never fled to him for pardon-who is looking to his own strength to obey the laws of God-who is depending on his own righteousness;-in fact, he who is resting on anything short of that atonement once made for sin on Calvary-that man, whatever else he may know, knows not Christ.

The truth of the above remarks was strikingly illustrated in the experience of an eminent minister of the gospel, the Rev. Legh Richmond. He entered upon his ministerial duties with a conscientious desire to discharge them faithfully; but he was not then acquainted with the power of religion in his own soul: he did not know Christ. Shortly after he was settled in his living, a book was put into his hand by a friend, who was himself a candidate for the ministry, with a request that he would read it, and tell him what he thought respecting its contents. It was Wilberforce's "Practical View of Christianity;" and God made it the instrument of enlightening his mind. He was so much impressed by the truths it exhibited, that he could not lay down the book until he had finished its perusal, and the night was spent in reading and meditating upon it. "From that period," says his biographer, "his mind received a powerful impulse, and was no longer able to rest under its former impressions. A change, as decided as it was influential, was effected in his views of divine truth. He was no longer satisfied with the creed of the speculatist; he felt a conviction of his own state as a guilty and condemned sinner; and, under that conviction, he sought mercy at the cross of the Saviour. There arose in his mind a solemn consciousness that, however outwardly moral and apparently irreproachable his conduct might appear to men, yet within there was wanting that entire surrender of the heart, that ascendency of God in the soul, and that devotedness of life and conduct, which distinguish morality from holiness, an assent to divine truth from its cordial reception into the heart, and the external profession of religion from its inward and transforming power."

"The carnal mind is enmity against God,"-this is the testimony of scripture, Rom. viii. 7. A want of the knowledge of Christ, then, arises not only from ignorance of him, but also from an unwillingness to know him. To acknowledge a mighty hand in the magnificent works of creation, and in the mysterious movements of Providence, is an act which does not necessarily involve personal humiliation. It does not take from the sup