us.

I am what I am." Yes, it is of grace, not of works, and so no one can boast. If we are of God now, let us walk answerably. Let us walk as children of the light. Let us walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he hath called us, in all godliness and honesty. If we are of God, let us live godly, soberly, and righteously in the present world. If we are of God now, then Satan will try and test He will desire to have us, that he may sift us as wheat. He will tempt us to doubt, to presume, to despair, to trifle, to sin secretly, and to be proud of our privileges. He will inject evil thoughts, excite evil passions, and try by all means to get us to indulge in evil practices. We must watch him, resist him, and refuse to give him place; or he will fill us with gloom, fire us with lust, or beguile us into frivolity. He goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. May the Lord make us grateful, watchful, and prayerful; and give us grace so to walk and so to talk, that all who see us may confess of us, that "WE ARE OF GOD."

Witness of Christ within my heart
My interest in his love display;
My interest in that better part,

Which none can ever take away.

Thy word and Spirit doth conspire
To tell thy Church she is forgiven;

O lift me daily higher,―higher,

"Till all my joys are crown'd with heaven.

BLOOD-GUILTINESS.

SIN always brings sorrow, whether it be the sin of omission or of commission. The believer suffers in this world, the unbeliever in the world to come. David sinned; but how acutely and how long David suffered. His psalm of repentance was introduced into the temple service, and has soothed, assisted, and comforted many a penitent since his day. There is one point in this psalm on which I wish to fix my attention for a few minutes, as it appears suitable to me, and I fear it is suitable to many besides me. He has just been praying that he may be made happy, in order that he may be useful in converting sinners ; and then his own past conduct coming up before him again, he cries, O how plaintively, how piteously, with what energy: "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation!" Ps. li. 14. He had no dread of hell before his eyes, for mark,

THE TITLE HE EMPLOYS. "God of my salvation." "O God," the great, the good one. The omnipotent, the benevolent. What a mercy that power and benevolence are united in the Divine nature and character.

His goodness and omnipotence are linked together. "O God of my salvation." The gracious One, for salvation flows only from grace. God is the author of our salvation. The thought of it arose spontaneously in his mind, the purpose was formed in his heart, the plan was drawn by his wisdom, and all the means were from his resources. God is the giver of our salvation. He does not set us to work for it, or ask us to purchase it, but he freely bestows it. He bestows it at once, so that the moment we believe we are saved. Faith brings us into vital connection with himself, and so we "are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.". Nothing can be more gratuitous than salvation. It is only, "Ask, and have." Believe, and it is yours." God is the end of our salvation. He saves us for his own honour, for his own praise, to get himself a glorious name. As it was said of Israel, it may be said of us, "He saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known." By becoming the author, giver, and end of our salvation, he has laid us under the deepest obligation. We should live for him. We should act for him. Our whole conduct should be regulated by his precepts. He has saved us, to use us as instruments in saving others, and when we lose sight of this, we lose sight of one of the grand ends of our salvation. Our vocation is, instrumentally

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to save souls from death.

notice,

This leads us to

"Deliver me from

THE DREADFUL CRIME. blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation." The guilt of blood. That is, literally, from murder, the murder of the body. Murder is the greatest crime that we can commit against our fellow-men, and it is a crime that calls for punishment, both from God and man. David was guilty of Uriah's blood, whom he had slain with the sword of the children of Ammon. But there is soulmurder, and it is a most awful thing in any way to be accessory to this. Souls are murdered directly by false doctrine, as in the Church of Rome, and by others; who teach dependence on works, instead of the merit of Christ; and inculcate trust in a creature, instead of trusting in Christ alone. There is alvation in the name, and by the perfect work of Christ alone; and, therefore, to teach salvation by sacraments, ceremonies, duties, prayers, or penances, is to poison the soul, and destroy instead of saving it. But we may be accessory to soul-murder indirectly, as for instance if we saw a fellow-creature attempting to commit suicide, and did not endeavour to prevent it. If we stood and looked on, or carelessly passed by on the other side. Now sinners are destroying themselves all around us, and we by our negligence, our unholy walking, our misrepresenting the gospel in our lives, or by our

unfaithfulness become accessory to their destruction. We see them destroying themselves by sin, but from a false shame we neglect to warn or caution them. We know that the only means of saving them is the gospel, and yet from the indulgence of a natural shyness, or some other cause, we neglect to present that gospel to them, or press that gospel upon them. We hide the remedy, and the patient dies. What is this? We conceal the pardon, and the criminal is executed. What is this? Ought we not to have endeavoured to get the patient to take the remedy? Ought we not to have carried the pardon to the criminal's cell? In a word, ought we not to have set the gospel before those who are perishing around us, and have tried by all means to bring them to Jesus? But we have been careless, prayerless, and comparatively indifferent: may we not have the blood of souls upon us. Think of being guilty, directly or indirectly, of the destruction of a neighbour, friend, or relative! To have laid to our charge the blood of a son or a daughter, whom we neglected to train up for the Lord! The blood of a sister or a brother, whom we neglected to warn and invite to Jesus! The blood of a mother or father, for whose salvation we never agonised with God, or sought by every means in our power to save! Well, well may we cry out with David, "Deliver me from blood