sorbed; and (1 Pet. i. 3.) "Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to
his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and unde-
filed, and that fadeth not away." "God," reconciled
in Christ, "shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Herein
is mercy; therefore, in Christ there is
mercy. Yes!
we shall meet to part no more!

But does she feel the coffin cramp?
Or shiver in the cold grave's damp?
Or writhe with pain, and anguish know,
While thus she's mouldering below?

No more to me can she impart
The language of her feeling heart;
Beyond my care she's soar'd away,
To regions of serener day.
Yes, blessed spirit! while below
My eyes with daily tears o'erflow,—
You're with the Saviour of your soul,
Beyond the dark cold grave's controul,
Enrob'd in light above the sky,

Where realms of bliss before you lie :
On shining wings you swiftly move,
From hills of peace to streams of love;
Inhaling joys that never tire,
That never fade, nor can expire.

O! take me, blessed Lamb of God,
And wash me spotless in thy blood;
Wash every stain of guilt away,
Then let me leave this shelt'ring clay.
An orphan now to Thee am I,
Now, in the moment gliding by ;

O! to my prayer do Thou attend,
Be Thou my father, Thou my friend.
Yes! take me from this earth away
To realms of everlasting day;

O! to my mother me restore,

And suffer us to part no more.

You

But, whither has feeling carried the writer? may say you do not reject Christ; you believe the Son is God; that He is the Redeemer of the world, and in Him there is mercy. O! that every member of our Church felt this. There is a practical as well as a theoretical scepticism; and the one is much more delusive, and dangerous, and general than the other. The anxious inquirer and dissatisfied sceptic may find doubt to be the vestibule of truth; but the nominal professor, never. He is encased, as it were, in selfrighteousness, and impenetrable in his self-satisfaction. And, if there be a character throughout the Bible that ever Omnipotence appears to despair of awakening, it is the complimentary, the lifeless, follower the nominal disciple of his Church. The members of the Church of Ephesus, of Smyrna, of Pergamos, of Thyatira, and of Sardis, are all called to "REPENT;" but to the Laodiceans no such call is at first made, but it is said, "I would thou wert cold or hot; so then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Yet mercy lingers in pity to their ignorance of their own spiritual wretchedness, misery, poverty, blindness, and nakedness; and in surveying those manifold evils, he uses the tender and (as it were) interested language of advice; "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed,

and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see." May the writer and the reader, through the mighty grace of God, be enabled to follow the "counsel" given; and, from henceforth, in the solemn service of our Church, may the language of their hearts reiterate" O God the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners."

SECTION III.

O GOD THE HOLY GHOST, PROCEEDING FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON, HAVE MERCY UPON US, MISERABLE SINNERS."

THE Covenant between the Father and the Son was fulfilled. Christ had died to redeem us; and God had accepted his atonement for sin. But, had the plan of salvation ended here, man would have been as far from heaven as ever. The sinner's sins might have been "blotted out;" but continually sinning, could he remain united to his Creator? Impossible! There must be some applicability of Christ's death and righteousness to the sinner; some application of the link of union between the created and the Creator. This is at once self-evident; and even unassisted reason recognizes the necessity of a third person to apply the mercy of Jehovah, or His atonement availeth nothing. And this leads to the all-important question, can human invention supply the needed applicability? Never. Can man take, as it were, the death of Christ, and apply it to himself? Never. And, if it were possible that God could descend from Deity, and cease to abhor rebellion and sin; if it were possible that the transgressions of the rebellious could be absorbed in the atonement made, and the unrenewed sinner admitted into heaven, could he apply the glory of that place to himself? Could he give himself happi

ness there? Never. Could he participate in the unspeakable blessedness of those heavenly joys, and feel the thrill of angelic praise to his Maker, ever echoing throughout these eternal regions? Never. Man, while he continues unholy, cannot feel, or enjoy, any congeniality with holiness. And he who hated the praises of his Saviour on earth, would hate them ten thousand times more in heaven. Our compilers felt this; they knew the forgiveness of God the Father, and the atonement of God the Son, were insufficient without the sanctifying influence of God the Holy Ghost.

The being of a God might be proved without any reference to Scripture. But the divinity of the Son, and the nature (or, to use common language, the personality) of the Holy Ghost, can only be established by Scripture-subjects so infinitely beyond a finite mind, above all conception, and beyond all explanation, that thought wanders up and down with breathless intensity, and reason reels in considering the suspended fact; and no foundation offers itself as a starting point, but that Revelation which the Holy Ghost indited.

The Holy Ghost is God: which may be proved by His titles of Godhead, and attributes of Deity, as eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and all-powerful. The Holy Ghost is called God (1 Cor. iii. 16.); and Peter's words (Acts v. 3, 4.) clearly attest the same: "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God."

Creation is ascribed to the Spirit. (Gen. i.) The Spirit is eternal. (Heb. ix. 14.) Similarly, the Spirit