as often, been as kind in forgiving mine iniquity. I, ashamed of thee;. a sinful worm, dust and ashes before thee, ashamed of thee, the great Jehovah! Do not thou be ashamed of me, Lord, but remember me, oh! my Saviour, when thou comest into thy kingdom. "And after a little while, another sees him, and says, Thou art also of them;' and Peter says, 'Man, I am not!' and about the space of an hour after, another says, 'This fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean;' and Peter says, 'Man, I know not what thou sayest!'" How varied thy sufferings, my incarnate God. God smiting thee-devils tormenting thee-betrayed by treachery-bound as a thief, or malefactor-denied by those whom thou lovest. And now, while yet speaking, the cock crows; now Peter, call to mind the word of thy Lord. Not he; hard as a stone, he yet remains. But see, the Lord turns and looks upon Peter." Oh! my adorable Immanuel, give me that look, even now, and when wandering and cold. My Jesus! in thy smile there are pleasures for evermore. Thou art the chiefest among ten thousand, the altogether lovely. And when thy first look seems to upbraid me, oh! give me a second: a look of pity, love, and tenderness. "And Peter remembers the word of the Lord, goes out, and weeps bitterly." Thus, Lord, strike the rock of my stony heart, that waters of genuine, loving repentance may flow therefrom. Oh, Jesus! oh, my Jesus!

"The high priest then asks Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine." How this pseudo high priest (for Annas was the proper one) seems to rejoice over his (as he thinks) prostrate foe. He appears scarcely able to contain his emotions, whilst with an assumed air of dignity, he enquires concerning the doctrine of Christ. Thus, thy judgment, oh my Immanuel, yea, and thy condemnation too, begins at the house of God-a mitred head was the first that declared thee guilty.* "Jesus answers him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort, and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? Ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them; behold they know what I said." And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by, strack Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest though the high-priest so? Indignity-contumely-sarcasm-reproach-shame -all endured by thee, my Jesus, for thee, oh my soul! Oh! that ever thy dear face should be so used. Previously thou didst submit to the traitor's kiss, now to the zealot's blow. Thy dear face, which is full of smiles to me. Oh Lord,

"If on my face, for thy dear name,

Shame and reproaches be,

I'll hail reproach, and welcome shame,

As thou rememberest me."

* How little use is apostolical succession if proved. The Jews could certainly have less doubt, that this man sat, as Christ said, in Moses' seat, than our bishops in the apostles-yet by him, the highest human authority, Christ was pronounced guilty.

"Jesus answers him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the veil, but if well, why smitest thou me?" Why, Jesus? Because they hated because thou art not of the world, though thou art in it, for my

thee;

sake.

And now, the day beginning to dawn, "the elders of the people, and the chief priests come together." Long had they desired to have him in their hands at last they have him. The news spreads quickly through the whole city, that their arch enemy has been captured, and thrown into chains during the night. Instantly they assemble together, each desirous to feast his eyes with a sight of the exposer of their sins-the meek Jesus. But to thee, my Lord, sleep is denied. When thou art taken, thou art not put into prison, there to await a judicial death; no, until the high priest arrives, thou art left in the cruel hands of the ruffian and rabble soldiery; then thou art forced to undergo a mock trial before the high priest, and now, thou art to stand before the Sanhedrim. Oh! thou whom my soul lovest, who art thus led from one judgment to another, oh! give me grace to love thee more and more for all that thou hast done, art doing, and will do for me.

"And they lead Jesus into their council, and seek false witness against him to put him to death." His death is what they earnestly desire, nor are they anxious to keep their wishes secret. How bitter,

how inimical they are to Jesus. Surely on other occasions they would not thus act-scribes, high-priests, and Pharisees, secking false witness -but now their passions reign supreme. Blinded by zeal, his death they want-his death they will have-by what method they care not. Such was the state of thy heart towards thy Jesus once, oh! my soul. Who has made thee to differ? What love hast thou to him, that thou hast not received from him? Perhaps some of these also were among the elect of Jesus, since we read that after his ascension, a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith (Acts vi. 7). "But find none; at the last came two false witnesses, and say, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.' Since they are unable to allege any other accusation, they will misinterpret his words. What contradiction of sinners against thyself dost thou endure, oh, my Immanuel! How narrow are our conceptions of thine unutterable love. They, I say-yea, perhaps they are of thine elect, and thy heart yearning with love to them, whilst they are boiling with rage against thee. "Now the high priest arises, and says unto him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee?" Thus does Jesus patiently endure it, and as a lamb before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Thus, oh my soul, do with thine accuser, Satan. When he reminds thee of thy sins, and of thy stony heart, heed him not. Refer him to thy Husband-thy Brother -thy Immanuel-who hath made atonement for thee. The debt was paid by him, therefore when he murmurs, put the whole case into Jesu's hands." And the high priest answering, says unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the

"Jesus says,

Son of God."* Solemn words. The eyes of the whole assembly are fixed upon him. More solemn, however, the reply. 'thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto thee, hereafter shall ye see the Son of man, sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.' At last he breaks his silence-his brow brightens up at remembering the joy set before him. He replies, by declaring to them his tremendous dignity. He lays hold of their consciences by reminding them of that awful day, when no longer shall he stand as culprit before them, but when he shall come again, seated on the great white throne, heaven and earth fleeing away in consternation from before him, and every created being-man, angels, and devils-shall be summoned to his bar, when they themselves shall wail because of him. Even so. Amen.

Then come, dear Lord. Thy people long for thy presence. For thine elect's sake, hasten that day. Come thou, with the rainbow round about thy head, clothed with the vesture dipped in blood, my name engraven on the palms of thy hands. Oh! come Lord Jesus; oh! my Saviour, come! come! come!

"AFTER TWO DAYS WILL HE REVIVE US, IN THE THIRD DAY HE WILL RAISE US UP, AND WE SHALL LIVE IN HIS SIGHT"-HOSEA VI. 2.

THESE words may seem, at first sight, to refer only to the then present state of the Israelites, and to some hope they had of speedy deliverance. "After two days will he revive us; in the third day he he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Yet if we look a little below the surface, they seem to point to Christ mystical, dead-raised-living. Let us think of Christ and his church as dead (that is, of course, from the day of his crucifixion till Easter morning); there is something very wonderful in the thought-the church viewed by the Father in his beloved Son, the object of his everlasting love, now actually dead and buried. Death they deserved as the penalty of a broken law, "for the wages of sin is death," and the law is passed upon them. Christ as standing in that place could not escape; He must die unto sin; they died in Him, just as previously they died in Adam, their first federal head. Here is the penalty, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Christ took their sin, and died. Let us look

and

This was the Jewish form of putting upon oath. Silence, when adjured to speak, was construed into an acknowledgment of guilt; the person replying, was considered answering upon oath.

at the church in the sepulchre, lying low there with her covenant Head. "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness and the deeps," might Christ say, and the church in him-the Prince of life, Death's prisoner-life in the arms of death. Here let believers find peace. Does thy creditor harrass? The debt is gone-the penalty is paid; God cannot-will not-exact it again: justice is satisfied.

Again, we are hereby dead to the law the law broken by us had dominion over us till we died in it; but Christ's death, and ours in Him, set us free-it could no longer tyrannize over us. We were indeed married to the law, but, dying in it, it could no longer exercise dominion over us. See, then, a buried mystical Christ, and learn its blessed effects; the penalty of sin is paid, we in Jesus received the wages, and we are become dead to the law.

"After two days will He revive us ; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight," Here then is Christ's resurrection; the church views her resurrection in the Messiah's. " He will raise us." What a gracious announcement!“ risen with Him." God the Father viewed all the elect as raised with Christ. As Christ mystical died, and was buried, so was Christ mystical raised. This was that corn of wheat which fell into the ground and died, and abode not alone, but bore much fruit. This was the germ of all resurrection life, both to our souls and bodies; this is the certain pledge, to all the elect, of a new life or birth here, and a resurrection life to the body hereafter. "He will raise us." And have not the words proved true? Has he not done it? Has not a faithful God raised us from a death of sin to a life of righteousness? He did virtually revive us with his Son on the first Easter morn; thus it was true, "After two days will he revive us "—-we being counted and reckoned as in Him. And perhaps in another sense it may be said, "After two days will He revive us." One day is with the Lord as a thousand years; and it may be, when 2000 years are expired from his birth, he will raise up the bodies of his people. We could hope it were not so long to come as this; but it may be, when the world's week is gone, and not till then, our God will usher in his everlasting Sabbath, and raise the saints in glory.

It is added, "We shall live in His sight." Even now, Christ's people live in the sight of the Father; the elect unborn are known and viewed of Him; and the elect, dead in sin, are in Him viewed as living; hence God loves them even when they are yet sinners; and certainly the saints live in his sight. His fatherly eye is upon them; He never turns his regards from them. "He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous." "We shall live in his sight." "Because I live, ye shall live also." And we shall live in his sight, soul and body united, when the last trump wakes the sleeping saints. Now, we only half live; we have still a body of death-then we shall live-live in the sunshine of His smile; live in the air of heaven; live on the bosom of Christ; live in the fruition of God.

A SERVANT OF THE CHURCH.

LETTER TO A FRIEND.

MY BELOVED Brother,

I feel greatly refreshed in my spirit by your epistle, and constrained to thank our covenant God for your love and affectionate remembrance. There is indeed a great oneness in our views of the glorious majesty, adorable fulness, and perfect salvation of the Lord Jesus; that we are no longer strangers and foreigners to each other, but fellow-citizens, brethren, members of Christ's body; begotten by the same Father, predestinated to the same inheritance, and "bound up in the same bundle of life with the Lord our God." I esteem it a privilege to have intercourse with one to whom I can speak with spiritual freedom and joy. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the marvellous things he has revealed to me by his Spirit." I can and will sing, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid." The angel of the covenant has taken a live coal from off the altar, and laid it upon my heart, and so inflamed my soul with love to God, that all the waters in the ocean can never extinguish it; " for many waters carnot quench love;" and I am fully persuaded nothing can separate me from the love of God-God has loved me and will ever love me. As to all my sins and iniquities, guilt and transgression, all these were laid to the account of, and imputed to, my Surety Jesus: and so became his own. And He (O glorious Lamb), has placed to my account, and actually put me in possession of, all his merits, obedience, and righteousness. So that being arrayed in this "best robe," I am purer, holier, more beautiful, and more transcendantly glorious than the most exalted seraph.

"Angels have not a robe like mine,

A robe like Jesu's righteousness."

Not because I am

And how is it that my soul can thus triumph? looking at my heart, sensations, or experience, but because I am relying on the "faithful testimony of God." Can it be presumption (ye advocates for doubting) to believe my Father's own inviolable promises. "Justified from all things." "Accepted in the Beloved." "Complete in Him." "All glorious within," "having no spot," washed, clothed, hid, sheltered, and for ever passed from death unto life, Thus I am for ever saved, and by looking to Jesus only, I shall always be happy. The moment I look either at self, or these graces the Spirit has implanted, for comfort, I sink into gloom, fear, and bondage. Blessed be God, he has delivered me free from "the hidden things of dishonesty."

O what a mercy to be upright in the sight of God, to be clothed with humility, and to be possessed of that sealing of the eternal Spirit which is the pledge and earnest of everlasting felicity. May Jesus bless you. My love to you can never abate, whilst I remain your servant, for Jesu's sake,

Forthend, near Dunmow.

H. W.