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FIFTEENTH DAY.-MORNING

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever,' John xiv. 16.

How much of the majesty of Christ shines in these words! What a divine sweetness breathes in them! He knows his own mind, he knows the mind of his Father, he knows the mind of the Spirit, and, therefore, he speaks with a holy certainty. I will pray, the Father shall give, the Spirit will abide with you for ever. We should receive his words with the same sweet certainty as that with which they were spoken.

I. Observe what Christ will do. I will pray the Father.' This shows that Christ is not dead. He was dead, but he is now alive for evermore. The dead do not pray; the lips that are sealed in death are silent lips. But Jesus says, 'I will pray the Father.' He looks beyond his agony in the garden, and on the cross; he looks beyond his rocky sepulchre; and, as if he nad nothing to do but to step into the presence of his Father, he says, 'I will pray the Father.'

Again, this shows the constancy of Christ's love. When a friend is going away to a far land-an 'inner friend'-a praying friend, we say to him as we are going to the ship, 'Now you will never forget us,' and he says, No I never will, I will pray for you.' O! such a friend is Christ. He is one born for adversity, a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. At times we are cast down when we think of his glory, and our meanness; of his being the very Sun of heaven, and we a vile worm on the earth; but be not faithless but believing. I will never forget you, he says, even when I am at the right hand of the Father, I will pray for you.

II. Observe what the Father will do. He shall give you another Comforter.' We learn from these words the certainty of the gift of the Holy Spirit. How confidently Jesus speaks, 'No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal him.' If an angel had come and said, the 'Father shall give you another Comforter,' we might have doubted; for, how does an angel know what the Father will give? But Jesus is the true and faithful Witness,' he had come from God, and went to God;' and he says with a divine boldness, "The Father shall give.' Ah! how many Christians seem never to have received the Comforter. How many have no sweet sense of forgiveness. How many have no close walk with God. Ministers constantly bless their flocks, saying, 'The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.' How few seem really

to possess it. Why is this?

unbelief.

It is because of

have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ You do not fully realize this truth, 'We the righteous. You do not believe that the Father delights to give the Spirit, in answer to the prayer of his Son. You do not live upon that promise, Isa. xlix. 8. In an acceptable time have I heard thee.'

Again, observe that word, 'another Comforter.' Jesus was the first Comforter, He came 'to comfort all that mourn;' his words were all 'good words, and comfortable words;' his blood was peace-speaking blood. He had comforted the disciples by the way, by the well, and on the stormy sea. But now he must go his way to him that sent him. He leaves this word behind, 'I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.' 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him, also, freely give us all things.' Enter into this argument, O my soul! He that gave the first Comforter for sinners will surely give the second Comforter to his dear

children.

III. Observe what the Comforter will do. Abide with you for ever.' Jesus and his Spirit are one. He knew what is the mind of the Spirit. He also knew what is in man-the unbelieving, inconstant, unholy heart of man, and yet he says the Comforter shall abide with you for ever. Sometimes a young believer is cast down by this thought, 'How do I know that my faith shall not fail me; the vail of unbelief may cover my heart again, perhaps in the hour of temptation, perhaps in a dying hour.' Here is the answer, Jesus will pray, the Father will give, and the Comforter will abide with you for ever. Observe this in a singular instance, Luke xxii. 31. 'Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.' Be not afraid, only believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. He that was the Author will be the Finisher of your faith.

Sometimes a young believer is sadly cast down by a discovery of the plague of his own heart. When he looks into the smoking volcano that is in his own bosom, he begins to tremble lest after all he become a cast-away. Take these two directions: 1. Be humbled in the dust under your body of sin and death, but do not despair. Paul had the same, and all true Christians have the same. Make this resolution your own, Resolved never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.' 2. Believe in

Earthly fathers who are evil give good gifts to their children.

II. How much more shall God, who is a good Father, give the Holy Spirit. God excels an earthly father in two respects:

the Comforter. Keep your eye fixed on Christ, | child.
on his wounds out of which the blood flowed,
that cleanseth from all sin; on his lips that pray
so sweetly for his own, (Song v. 16). wait for
'that holy Spirit of promise.' He alone can
make you holy; and he will do it, for faithful is
he that promised.

'Beware of Peter's word

Nor confidently say,
I never will deny thee, Lord,
But grant I never may.

"Man's wisdom is to seek

His strength in God alone,
And even an angel would be weak,
Who trusted in his own.'

FIFTEENTH DAY.-EVENING.

'If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?' Luke xi. 13.

JESUS desires all his disciples to pray for the Holy Spirit. He knows that we cannot believe at the first, nor continue believing without this precious gift. He knows that our soul cannot live, love, resist the devil, mortify the deeds of the body, nor overcome the world, without this living water; therefore does he urge his people to ask, seek, and knock. He is still saying to poor sinners, 'If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water,' John iv. 10.

I. Earthly fathers, who are evil, give good gifts to their children. This is a fact in human nature. The most wicked fathers are often kind to their offspring. In some countries it is true, Satan has shown his infernal power in destroying the parental affections, so that the Hindoo mother has been known to plunge her sickly infant into the Ganges, or even to hurry it, while yet alive, into a grave dug with her own hands, and to trample the ground over it with her own feet. 'The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.' In general, however, there is, even in the bosom of savage men, a chord of tenderest love toward their little ones. The wild Indian of America will bring home from the woods the most brilliant feather to deck the brow of his prattling boy; and the rude Greenlander will brave the icy blast to provide a scanty meal for his tender children. You must break a father's heart in pieces, before you can break asunder that mysterious bond of love that binds him to his

1. He is wise, 'the only wise God.' Earthly fathers are short-sighted men. They do not know the wants of their children, nor do they know the best time and way of supplying these wants. They often give to their children when they should withhold, they pamper their humours, and spoil their dispositions; they often withhold when they should give, and provoke their children to fretfulness. But God is a wise Father. The Father of spirits' knows our frame, and remembers that we are dust. He knows our minutest wants, and he knows the very best time and way of supplying them. Above all, he knows are naturally dead in trespasses and sins. He our need of the Holy Spirit. He knows that we knows that a vail is over our hearts he knows that our faith is weak—and that our enemies are too many for us, and too strong. He knows the temptations and afflictions to which we are called. He knows the manner and measure of the Spirit's help which we need to keep us from falling.

2. God is love. God has a natural love to a soul in Christ. Earthly fathers love their children, but O how coldly compared with God's love. In Isa. xlix. 15. it is preferred above a mother's love: 'Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.' There is no love in this world like a mother's love. It is a free, unbought, unselfish love. She cannot account for it. You cannot change it. You must break to pieces the mother's heart before you will change it. It is the fullest love with which a creature can love. She loves with all her heart. But the love of God to a soul in Christ is far above a mother's love. It is a love ingrained in his nature, and God must change before his love can change. It is a full love. The whole heart of the Father is as it were continually showered down in love upon the Lord Jesus. And when a sinner comes into Christ the same love rests upon that soul; (see John xvii. 26.) When the sun showers down its beams on the wide ocean, and on a little flower at the same time, it is the same sunshine that is poured into both, though the ocean has vastly larger capacity to receive its glorious beams. So when the Son of God receives the love of his Father, and a poor guilty worm hides in him, it is the same love

that comes both on the Saviour and the sinner, though Jesus is able to receive infinitely more. In Psal. ciii. 13, God's love is compared to a father's love: 'Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.' His love combines all the tenderness of a mother's, and all the wisdom of a father's love. How surely then will he give the Holy Spirit to every one of his children that ask him. Far more surely than an earthly father gives bread to his hungry children. This is good news for my weary soul. I am like David in the wilderness, (Psal. Ixiii. title,) 'My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. My soul followeth hard after thee; thy right hand upholdeth me.' All my grace comes from thee. Thou didst begin the good work in me when I was an enemy, wilt thou not carry it on, now that I am a child? Thou didst pour down the Spirit when I was like the dry ground, wilt thou not water me every moment now that I am a plant, though a feeble one, of thine own planting? Hear the divine answer, O my soul, and be still! I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel,' Hosea xiv. 4, 5.

'Come holy, holy, holy, Lord,

The Father, Son, and Spirit come,
Be mindful of thy changeless word,
And make the faithful soul thy home.'

SIXTEENTH DAY.-MORNING.

'All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.' Isa. liv. 13.

WHEN the Jews are brought again to Zion, and converted to God, they will be an example of a people, all taught of the Lord.' God says, Jer. xxxi. 34. They shall all know me, from the least of them even unto the greatest of them.' And again, Isa. lx. 21. Thy people shall be all righteous. They are to be the first example of a 'righteous nation?' In some of our wellordered parishes, we see a people all taught of man; but, ah! how much ignorance, deceit, and wickedness are lying below the surface, But all the children of Zion shall be taught of the Lord, and, therefore, they will be a people of great peace, and great holiness.

Such is the case of spiritual Zion at this moment. They are all taught, not of man, nor of angel, but of the Lord, and their peace passeth all understanding.

1. Meditate on the great teacher, the Lord. He alone knows divine things as they are. Ministers have but glimpses into the eternal world. They see but little of sin, of the shortness of time, of the depth of hell, of the love of God, of the person, work, and grace of Christ. Therefore they cannot teach effectually. Books also are infinitely imperfect. The best of them are but sparks from the bible, mingled with human darkness. But the Lord knows all things as they are. 'All things are naked and laid open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.' He knows our infinite guilt; hell and destruction are before him. He knows the Son. 'No man knoweth the Son but the Father. He knows, 'The love of Christ, that passeth knowledge.' He then can make it known. O my soul hast thou been taught of the Lord! Again, he alone can teach the heart. Man can speak to the ear, to the understanding, to the memory, God alone to the heart. The reason why human teaching does not convey saving light to the soul is, that the heart is dead. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and against everything that comes from God; and, therefore, when the truth is presented, the worldly heart draws the mind away from beholding it. But when the Lord is teaching, he touches the heart, and it melts under his hand. He awakens concern in the dead soul, so that the person runs to hear the word preached. He makes the soul willing in the day of his power. He makes salvation, by

Christ, clear to the mind, and sweet to the heart, in the same happy moment. None can teach like God. He can teach a child, or an idiot, or an old man. O send forth thy light and thy truth, let them Is any thing too hard for the Lord? lead me, let them guide me.'

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2. What is divine teaching? It is not mere head-knowledge of divine things. Many have great knowledge of the bible, have read it all, studied much of it, learned much of it by heart; they know the Catechism well, they have a just notion of divinity; some have great knowledge of books, of Boston, and Willison, and Flavel; some may be great judges of sermons, able to discriminate between legal and evangelical preachers; alas! all this may be, and more, without one spark of divine teaching. Alas! how many ministers have there been like the fingerpost that points the way, but does not go. No doubt Judas had a clear knowledge of divinity, and could preach well, yet Jesus said he was a devil. We know that Satan has great knowledge of the bible, and yet he only trembles.

What then is divine teaching? It is God giving the soul a sense of the wondrous beauty,

SIXTEENTH DAY.-EVENING.

'By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.' Eph. ii. 8.

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excellence, and sweetness of the way of salvation by Christ. 'Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Take an example in one of the most eminent saints that ever lived. "The first instance that I remember, of that sort of inward sweet delight in God and Most men try to lay God under debt to save divine things, that I have lived much in since, them. They work for salvation instead of workwas on reading these words, 1 Tim. i. 17. "Now, ing from it. They go about to establish their unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the own righteousness. In this way worldly people only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and seek eternal life: What shall we do, that we ever. Amen." As I read these words, there might work the works of God?' John vi. 28. came into my soul, and was as it were diffused Although in words they renounce all pretence of through it, a sense of the glory of the divine any worth in themselves or in their duties, yet Being; a new sense, quite different from anything they have a secret hope of recommending themI ever experienced before. Never any words of selves to God by their decency, sobriety, and scripture seemed to me as these words did. I religious performances. In this way those who thought with myself, how excellent a Being that have a little concern for their souls, like the was, and how happy I should be if I might enjoy young ruler, seek for eternal life: 'Good Master, that God, and be rapt up to him in heaven, and be what good thing shall I do, that I may have as it were swallowed up in him for ever! I kept eternal life?' Matt. xix. 16. His earnest desire saying, and as it were singing over these words of was to make himself appear righteous before scripture to myself; and went to pray to God God. In this way, also, those who are under that I might enjoy him; and prayed in a manner the deepest concern often wander in search of quite different from what I used to do, with a pardon and peace. Perhaps there may be traces new sort of affection. But it never came into my of this feeling in the anxious question of the poor thought that there was anything spiritual or of a jailor, Sirs, what must I do to be saved,' Acts saving nature in this. From about that time, I xvi. 30; and in the piercing cry of the prostrate began to have a new kind of apprehensions and Saul, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?' deas of Christ, and the work of redemption, and Acts ix. 6. Certain it is that self-righteousness the glorious way of salvation by him. An is the worst and longest-lived viper in the human inward sweet sense of these things, at times, breast. Most men under convictions are very came into my heart; and my soul was led away unwilling to throw away all self-confidence. They in pleasant views and contemplations of them.' are not willing to despair of ever being fair in the sight of God in themselves. They shrink back from the idea of being lost and undone, for anything that they can do. They do not like to venture to lie helpless and without a plea at the feet of a sovereign God. How solemn to a sinner in such a state should these words be, 'By grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God!'

Ah! this is divine teaching. This is the teaching that brings us to the foot of Christ, like the woman which was a sinner. Before, we are perplexed about coming to Christ, believing on Christ, closing with Christ; but now it is all sweet and easy; we cannot but believe on Jesus. This is teaching that fills the bosom with all joy and peace. It gives 'great peace,' 'peace like a river,' 'joy unspeakable and full of glory.' This is the teaching that sanctifies. A man may have the head-knowledge of an angel, and the heart of a devil. But when God touches the heart he makes all things new.

'Behold! I change all human things,
Saith he whose words are true,
Lo! what was old is passed away,
And all things are made new.'

I. Salvation is by grace. When a man chooses an apple off a tree, he generally chooses the ripest, the one that promises best. It is not so with God in choosing the soul he saves. He does not choose those that have sinned least, those that are most willing to be saved; he often chooses the vilest of men, 'to the praise of the glory of his grace.' This is proved by the instances given in the Bible of brands plucked out of the burning. Why did God choose Manasseh, who 'caused his children to pass through the fire,' set 'a carved image in the house of God,' and filled Jerusalem with the blood of holy men, while many of his deluded people, who had sinned far less, perished? 2 Chron. xxxiii. Why did

God save Zaccheus the hoary-headed swindler, | a fiery dart to keep poor

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Why did Jesus tell the Pharisees, the publicans, and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you? Why did Jesus enter into the pearly gates of paradise with a poor thief, who had never done anything but sin up to his last hour? Luke xxiii. 43, comp. Matt. xxvii. 44. Why did he leave the other thief, who was no worse than his fellow (both were hell-deserving), to sink into perdition within an arm's length of an Almighty Saviour? All these things happened unto them for ensamples, to show us that God saves according to the good pleasure of his will, not for our goodness, but to show his own free adorable grace.

sinners away from

'the chief of the publicans?' Luke xix. 1-10. Christ. The only way really to know what faith is, is to experience it. In one part of the word it is described as 'knowing.' This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,' John xvii. 3. A true realizing knowledge of God, and of Christ as the sent of God, is saving faith. Have I this knowledge, O my soul? I was born like a wild ass's colt. God was not in all my thoughts. I did not like to retain God in my knowledge. But it pleased God to reveal his Son in me. Flesh and blood could not reveal Him unto me, but my Father who is in heaven. He has opened to me the way of salvation, so that I see its wisdom, excellency, and freeness. I cannot but believe, and this I humbly trust is that faith which is the gift of God.

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The same thing is proved by the experience. of every child of God. Who that has ever 'tasted that the Lord is gracious,' does not feel a response in their bosom to the declaration of a simple believer, 'Had he not chosen me before I was born, he had never seen reason to choose me afterwards.' There was nothing in me to attract the love of God. Behold, even to the moon and it shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight; how much less man that is a worm, and the son of man which is a worm.' He loves what is pure, holy, heavenly; but I am carnal, sold under sin.' There was everything in me to drive God away. God is angry with the wicked every day,' Psal. vii. 11. He was angry with me. His whole nature abhorred me, for I was under Adam's sin; I was shapen in iniquity; every member of my body, every faculty of my soul, had been only the servant of sin. Yet he came over all these mountains to my soul. I said, Art thou come to torment me before the time? I desire not the knowledge of thy ways. But he made me willing in the day of his power. Glory, glory, glory, to the Father who chose me, the Son who died for me, and the Spirit who quickened me. Salvation is of the Lord, and it is all of grace.

Again, it is described as discovering the beauty and excellency of Christ: In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel,' Isa. iv. 2. A real discovery of the glory, suitableness, and freeness of the Lord Jesus Christ in the soul, is saving faith. Natural men know what it is to get a discovery of a beautiful countenance, and the natural heart immediately glows with admiration. None but believers know what it

is to get a discovery of the fair face of him who is 'fairer than the children of men,' and to have the heart filled with all joy and peace in believing. Has this discovery been made to me? Can I say, 'Whom, having not seen, I love; in whom, though now I see him not, but believing, I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.' Once I saw no form nor comeliness in Jesus, no beauty that I should desire him. But he came like a roe or a young hart, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills. He stood behind our wall, he looked in at the window, showing himself through the lattice. He showed me his hands and his feet pierced for sinners. He showed me that there was room beneath his shining righte

He showed me his heart, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and now I cannot but say, He is to me beautiful and glorious, excellent and comely. If there were ten thousand other ways of pardon, I would pass them all by, and flee to him. He is altogether lovely. This I trust is saving faith, which is the gift of God.

II. Salvation is through faith. When David Brainerd was under conviction of sin, the corrup-ousness. tion of his heart was dreadfully irritated by this, that faith alone was the condition of salvation. Of this very text he used to say, 'It is a hard saying: who can bear it?' Another thing that kept him in misery was this, I could not find out what faith was, or what it was to believe, and come to Christ. I read the calls of Christ to the weary and heavy laden, but could find no way that he directed them to come in.' This is a difficulty which almost every inquiring sinner feels. It is probable that Satan often uses it as

'Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound!)
That saved a wretch like me :

I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

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