and how little you do actually love Him, and "He will not leave you comfortless." He "will come to you." He will so "shed abroad His love in your heart," as to constrain you to love Him, and to live not unto yourself, but unto Him who died and gave Himself for you, and rose again that he may be with you always even unto the end."

This is the true and only way to attain to a peaceful assurance. Simple trust and reliance on Christ and His promised grace, and a faithful endeavor to please Him by walking in His ways and obeying His commands, this will bring with it a peace whereof all the world cannot deprive us, and against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. The reflex exercise and sensible enjoyment, of assurance, is a gift bestowed when, and in what measure it pleaseth Christ. But this direct confidence in Him, reliance on His promise, and assurance of His all-sufficiency—this is your privilege, nay, duty, at all times,—even when you are least sensible of the happy enjoyment of faith, and hope and love. When you feel that in yourself you are nothing, cast yourself, with all your burdens, on the Lord. Do not wait until you feel as

you would wish. Do not say, if the promise and the grace were only mine, and Christ my Saviour, I could trust and believe. This is to invert God's order, and all rational order. This is to make a Saviour of your experience and feelings, and to substitute them for Christ and His promises, and to build your hope on them and not on Christ as the only foundation laid in Zion. Rather say, Christ offers Himself to me, His promise is to me, His grace is sufficient for me, all are held forth to me in the gospel, and therefore I cannot doubt or fear, since with all my heart, I receive and embrace them. "I had fainted," says David, "unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord." And so will you faint unless, in the same way, you first believe, and then expect to realize "the goodness of the Lord." Hope in the Lord first, and then "thou shalt praise Him for the help of His countenance." Add, then, to your faith, meekness, patience, diligence, activity, devotion, obedience; and in thus doing His will, you shall come to know, in your own joyful experience, the peace that passeth all understanding.

"There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

One there is above all others

O how He loves!

His is love beyond a brother's-
O how He loves!

PROV. Xviii. 24.

Earthly friends may fail or leave us,
One day soothe, the next day grieve us,
But this Friend will ne'er deceive us-
O how He loves!

'Tis eternal life to know Him-
O how He loves!

Think, O think how much we owe Him,
O how He loves!

With His precious blood he bought us,
In the wilderness He sought us,

To His fold He safely brought us-
O how He loves!

We have found a friend in Jesus-
O how He loves!

'Tis His great delight to bless us—
O how He loves!

How our hearts delight to hear Him,
Bid us dwell in safety near Him;
Why should we distrust or fear Him,
O how He loves!

Through His name we are forgiven-
O how He loves!

Backward shall our foes be driven

O how He loves!

Best of blessings He'll provide us, Nought but good shall e'er betide us, Safe to glory He will guide us

O HOW HE LOVES!

CHRIST THE ROCK OF AGES.

Rock of ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee:

Let the water and the blood,

From the wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

Not the labour of my hands,
Can fulfill the law's demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All my sin could not atone,
Thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to thee for dress,
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Vile, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,

When my heart-strings break in death,
Whem I soar to worlds unknown,
See thee on thy judgment-throne,
Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.

CHAPTER VII.

OBLIGATION AND IMPORTANCE OF A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF FAITH.

Have you, then, done this, and are you now in Christ, trusting to Him, and to Him alone, for salvation? Or are you now ready to do this? Then, if you are, it is your duty to confess Christ before men. You must make a public profession of this self-renunciation, and this devotion to Christ. You must thus put yourself under Christ's care, that he may instruct, comfort, and guide you, and that you may be useful to Him and to his cause. Without this, you are told by the Apostle your faith is not right, but dead, and that you cannot be saved. (Rom. x. 9-11.) This, as we have seen, is in perfect accordance with the constitution of our nature, the arrangements of society, and our own conduct in reference to every event and business of life. Where there is feeling and faith in the heart, it will reveal itself by words,