the Holy Ghost, he looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." And so it has been in their measure with many others of the Lord's servants. We have lately read an account of the last moments of an honoured servant of the Lord, Augustus Toplady, who fell asleep in Jesus nearly one hundred years ago. We are told that "as he approached nearer and nearer to his decease, his conversation seemed more and more happy and heavenly. He frequently called himself the happiest man in the world. 'Oh!' says he 'how this soul of mine longs to be gone! Like a bird imprisoned in a cage, it longs to take its flight. Oh, that I had wings like a dove, then would I flee away to the realms of bliss, and be at rest for ever! Oh, that some guardian angel might be commissioned! for I long to be absent from this body, and to be with my Lord for ever.' Being asked by a friend if he always enjoyed such manifestations, he answered, 'I cannot say there are no intermissions; for if there were not, my consolations would be more and greater than I could possibly bear; but when they abate, they leave such an abiding sense of God's goodness, and of the certainty of my being fixed upon the eternal rock, Christ Jesus, that my soul is still filled with peace and joy.' At another time, and indeed for many days together, he cried out, 'Oh, what a day of sunshine has this been to me! I have not words to express it. It is unutterable! Oh, my friends, how good is God! almost without interruption His presence has been with me.' And then, repeating

several passages of Scripture, he added, 'What a great thing it is to rejoice in death!' Speaking of Christ, he said, 'His love is unutterable!' He was happy in declaring, that the eighth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, the thirty-third and the six following verses, were the joy and comfort of his soul. Upon that portion of Scripture he often descanted with great delight, and would be frequently ejaculating, 'Lord Jesus! why tarriest thou so long?' He sometimes said, 'I find as the bottles of heaven empty they are filled again ;' meaning, probably, the continual comforts of grace, which he abundantly enjoyed. When he drew near his end, he said, waking from a slumber, 'Oh, what delights! Who can fathom the joys of the third heaven?' And a little before his departure, he was blessing and praising God for continuing to him his understanding in clearness; but,' added he in a rapture, for what is most of all, His abiding presence, and the shining of His love upon my soul. The sky is clear; there is no cloud; come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!'

"Within the hour of his death he called his friends and his servant, and asked them if they could give him up? Upon their answering in the affirmative, since it pleased the Lord to be so gracious to him, he replied, 'Oh, what a blessing it is you are made willing to give me up into the hands of my dear Redeemer, and to part with me; it will not be long before God takes me; for no mortal can live (bursting while he said it into tears of joy) after the glories which God has manifested to my soul.' Soon after this he closed his eyes, and fell asleep."

HAPPINESS.

THIS is a soiled and blighted world!
Its joys are poisoned at their source!
Within its roses worms are curled,
Who work with sure, though silent, force;
It carries in its seeds decay,

And all its glories fade away.

How vain the thought, for man to strive,
And fix his roots for blessing here,
Where only worthless weeds can thrive,
And flaunting flowers a moment cheer;
Where all is fleeting as a stream,
And unsubstantial as a dream.

Yet I, like others, once assayed
To find on earth the flower of bliss;
I sought beneath the sun and shade,
O'er hill, through vale, by dread abyss;
But though I sought with earnest power,
I never found the unfading flower.

At length, with sad and sickening heart,
And many wounds from thorns and briers,
With nothing that could heal their smart,
Or quench my bosom's fervent fires,
I felt the weight of woe and care,
And well-nigh perished in despair.

But One there was-His name, how blest!
The Saviour-God, who dwells on high!
Who saw my bruised and burdened breast,
And looked on me with pitying eye:
He led my soul His Son to see
In death upon the cross for me.

And then He drew my eyes above,
And showed that One upon His throne;
And thus I knew that God was love,
And He had claimed me for His own.

He kissed me with the Father's kiss,
And led me to the fount of bliss.

And though awhile I tread the waste,
The desert whence no water flows,

Of heavenly joys I freely taste,

Which cheer my heart, and soothe its woes;
But soon shall I, my journey o'er,
Have joy unmixed for evermore.

T.

SANCTIFICATION.

SUPERSTITION is not faith. Human sanctity is not holiness before God. It is easy to venerate what may be hateful to God. Nor can feelings be trusted as to these things; for we know nothing of God or of His matters but what He has revealed. God tells out divine truth in His word. His love He has shown in the gift of His Son. Everything of man fades rapidly before our eyes, but the word of God abides. Happy thus to have a divine standard, a just weight and balance. Faith knows no other ground of confidence.

The popular thought of sanctification is, that God by His Spirit so works in the heart as gradually to convert an evil nature into a good one. But this is entirely untrue. As long as this wrong thought possesses the mind, the false expectation is cherished, even by sincere souls, of "getting better," "experiencing a change of heart," "improvement of the old nature," "development of the noble faculties of the mind," and such like; the consequence is, that if they have God before their souls, they go on thus for many months, or years, and do not find "peace with God." The fact is that God searches the heart, and He has pronounced

it to be not only wicked, but "desperately wicked, and deceitful above all things;" and as to its being capable of being improved, or changed, He assures us that "the carnal mind is enmity against God, that it is not subject to God's law, neither indeed can be." How clear this is! That the natural mind cannot be made subject to God's law proves its totally unimproveable, unmendable character in God's sight. No wonder, then, that it is added as a direct and substantial verity, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." How true it is, therefore, that God pronounces the tree of fallen human nature to be so corrupt, that do what you will with it, it cannot be made subject to God's law, cannot possibly bear other than corrupt fruit"cannot please God." Hence it is that God has not even proposed to mend up man as a sinner, but to give him eternal life—a new nature. "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (1 John v. 11, 12.)

And yet some people are spoken of in Scripture as sanctified, even some who were once thieves," " and

"covetous," and "drunkards," and "revilers," " and "extortioners;" and it is now said of them, "ye are washed, but ye are sanctified;" but they are sanctified. and justified, not by their old nature being improved and made better, but "in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." And this, too, not by the Spirit helping, as people say, their own fleshly endeavours; but, as before alluded to, by giving new life, and that in a risen and ascended Saviour. Hence the Corinthian believers are addressed as those who are