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The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fut....Prov. xiii. 4.

In the busy scenes of life, in the awful moments of death, the formal professor, as well as the profligate and profane, will desire to escape misery and woe, and enjoy heaven and happiness. But alas! how vain and fruitless are such desires! If these may be called good desires,' the way to hell is paved with them,' saith an ancient father of the church. But in this, the wisdom of the children of God is manifested. They are diligent in the use of such means, which, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, will be crowned with a blessed end. They cannot rest in desiring, but in possessing; not in wishing, but enjoying. They find and feel their souls want continual supplies of food from Jesus, support from his promises, nourishment from his word and ordinances, and life from his Spirit. And as their desires are quickened, their diligence is drawn out after these things.

Truth and wisdom declare, they shall not barely be kept from starving; just preserved alive, like Pharaoh's lean kine; but shall be fed and nourished. Yea, like healthy sheep in rich pastures, they shall grow fat. "The soul of the diligent shall be made fat." Prov. xiii. 4. Here is encouragement for thy diligence, here is a spur to thy activity, O disciple. Here is the promise of thy Lord. Where is thy faith? Dost thou perceive thy soul decline, instead of growing fat? Do lusts and corruptions gain ground? Doth the love of the world get the ascendancy of the love of the Father in thy heart? Is the edge of thy spiritual appetite palled? and canst thou not feed nor feast on the rich repast of Jesus' re- ̃ deeming love as heretofore? wherefore is this? Hast thou not reason to charge thyself with sloth and indolence? Hast thou not been sleeping on thy bed of ease, instead of seeking the food of thy soul? Indulging thy perishing body, when thou mightest have used means for feasting thy immortal spirit? If so, the word of grace, and the testimony of thy conscience, convict thee; this is not right; thou oughtest to take shame to thyself; it is thy duty to humble thyself, and to call upon the Spirit to quicken thee. Though saved in the Lord Jesus with an everlasting salvation, yet thou art called" to give all diligence to make thy calling and election sure." In this way the Lord will nourish souls in love, and make them fat in the consolations of his grace. Consider, all are busy and active around thee....Satan to tempt, the world to ensnare, and thy corruptions within to betray thee. Remember the eyes of thy dear Lord are ever upon thee to see how thou actest thy part. Yea, more," according to his riches in glory, to strengthen thee with might by his Spirit in the inner man."....Eph. iii. 16.

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Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, &c....1 Tim. iii. 16.

THE truths of the gospel are undoubtedly great mysteries to carnal reason. We have naturally no ideas of their existence; but being plainly revealed by the Spirit of truth, they cease to be hid from our knowledge. They are no longer secret mysteries, as to their matter, but plain and open truths to faith. True, the MANNER of their existence is incomprehensible to reason. So they will ever remain mysteries to us. Therefore the sons of natural pride and human ignorance reject and disbelieve them: but the children of wisdom and humility esteem the whole mystery of godliness, every bible-truth, as precious objects of their faith. Blessed be God, our comfort and salvation consists in believing, not in explaining. The christian, like the prophet, being born of the Spirit, is a man of

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strife and contention with the whole earth."....Jer. xv. 10. All in nature and carnal reason are in arms against the truths he believes. Because he earnestly contends for them, he will ever find controversy and perverse disputings from men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth. His zeal here is always commendable, only let it be in LOVE.

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What the Lord hath taught in his word, we receive as the food of our souls. This is our simple answer to the God of this world, and to the wise disputer of this age. We cannot comprehend how God dwelt in flesh, but we are fully assured he did. We have the fullest proof of it in his word; and his word is truth. And it is the very life of our souls, and the joy of our hearts, to believe our God. WHY God dwelt in flesh, and the glorious ends he hath accomplished hereby, we know. Of this also, we are perfectly assured; we believe it from the same infallible testimony. To the faith of this, we have the inward witness of the Spirit also. God, known in the flesh, beheld in human form, viewed in our nature, is the very essence of our faith; we now partake its blessings and experience its comforts. Hence springs the assured pardon of all our sins, the acceptance of our persons, the sanctification of our souls, and sure and certain hope of eternal life and glory. All this is by free promise, according to the purpose and decree of the everlasting covenant of grace, to the glory of the ever-blessed Trinity, and to the comfort and salvation of lost sinners. Thus saints are called into "one body, by one Spirit; have one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one atonement, one righteousness, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in them all."....Ephes. iv. 4, 5, 6.

SENSE feels I am a sinner here:
REASON this truth could ne'er explore;
That God in flesh should cleanse my soul
By shedding his own purple gore.

By FAITH I view LOVE's mystery,
Gon liv'd and dy'd in human flesh,
My hope, my heav'n, my joy is this;
No stronger proofs of love I wish. M.

I keep under my body; and bring it into subjection....1 Cor. ix. 27.

THE neglect of this brings on leanness of soul. If this enemy gains ground, it is alarming; if he prevails, it causes mourning; but when he is kept low, and supplies are cut off, his power is weakened, and victory over him is easily gained. Such are the sensitive powers, carnal affections, and sinful inclinations which compose part of our present frame, the body; a body of sin and death. To gratify and fulfil them is very pleasing and delightful to nature and sense. But how awfully subversive of the comforts of faith, the peace of the mind, and the joy of the soul, thy own sad experience, O disciple, hath proved. Nor can it be otherwise; let us not deceive ourselves; we cannot indulge and pamper the life of the flesh but to the hurt and injury of the life of the soul. There is an irreconcileable enmity between the flesh and the spirit, the old man and the new. The variance and strife will ever subsist while we are in the body. It is the Lord's sovereign will to leave the Canaanites still in the land, and to drive them out by little and little: For "behold a King shall reign in righteousness."....Isa. xxxii. 1. This is our beloved Jesus. Here is the exercise of faith in him, the touch-stone of our love, and the proof of our allegiance to him, in striving daily for the mastery, to conflict with and fight against every inordinate affection and corrupt lust of our fallen, sinful nature, and to keep them under, and bring them into subjection to him. It is hard work to fight with an enemy that is part of one's self; but Jesus' banner hath this motto, "Deny thyself, take up thy cross daily, and follow me." Though the work is ours, yet thine, O Jesus, is the power..

.. Faith in Jesus not only accepts his imputed righteousness for justification, but has also a lively dependence on Christ for every supply of his Spirit for further sanctification. It leaves not the soul in a lazy languid state, but causes it to aspire after greater delight in and conformity to God; it eyes God as its centre; enjoyment of him as its happiness, and full conformity to him as its perfection. To indulge, pamper, and gratify the flesh, is contrary hereto; therefore mortification and self-denial, and subjecting the flesh to the spirit, will be the exercise of living, believing, loving souls. But why all this? not from legal principles: not from slavish fear of hell and damnation; not through dread of being reprobated and cast away for ever; No: Paul had not so learned, nor did Christ teach so. Believers act from love to Jesus, being assured of perfect salvation by him. "Eternal life is the gift of God."....Rom. vi. 23.

What diff'rent pow'rs of grace and sin Thus will the flesh and spirit strive,
Attend this mortal state!
And vex and break my peace;
I hate the thoughts that work within, I long to live a glorious life,
And do the works I hate.

When sin shall ever cease.

The Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance....Psalm xciv. 14.

THEREFORE, drooping soul, cast not off thy confidence in him. A meteor will expire when the earthly matter is spent that maintained the blaze for a time. Profession may carry to an high elevation. Persons may appear as fixed stars in the church of Christ, but time may discover them to be no other than shining meteors, or shooting and falling stars. Yea, angels kept not their first estate. But the Lord's chosen people is his portion. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church of Christ. "All those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God.".... Psalm xcii. 13. Here is the consolation of Christ, the comfort of love, the fellowship of the Spirit, "He that believeth in Jesus shall be saved;" not for days, months, years, but saved with an ever. lasting salvation. For all such are the objects of the everlasting love of an unchangeable God. He never casts off nor forsakes them. Even when in the furnace of trials and afflictions, hear the declarations of love concerning them: "They SHALL call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, it is my people." Hear the claim of faith: "Then shall they say, The Lord is MY God."....Zech. xiii. 9.

David knew that friends had cast him off: yea, father and mother might forsake him; his frames and feelings had forsaken him, his joys had withered, and his comforts seemed all blasted in an hour. But says he, age and observation have fully confirmed me in this truth, "I never saw the righteous forsaken of his God:" "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down." Why so? Truly, saith he, "The Lord upholdeth him with his hand."....Psalm xxxvii. 24. Falls may wound the soul, bruise the spirit, cause sinkings of heart, and dejections of mind. Satan may sadly daub and bespatter the poor child of God, and endeavour to persuade him that he is in such a filthy condition, that his Father doth not know him, will not own him. The Lord help us to fear such a state, and to watch and pray that we may stand! Yet the Lord will not cast away his people whom he did foreknow, nor forsake his chosen inheritance. There is balm in Gilead. Jesus is the skilful physician; he will heal and restore his beloved members; he knows them, he loves them, they are his property. O how should this endear Jesus to our souls! cause us to cleave unto him with full purpose of heart; embitter sin, and cause us to cry continually, "Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not."....Psalm xvii. 5.

Praise to the goodness of the Lord,
Who rules his people by his word,
And there, as strong as his decrees,
He sets his kindest promises.

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Whence then should doubts and fears
Why trickling sorrows drown our eyes?
Slowly, alas, our mind receives
The comforts that our Saviour gives.

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer....Rom. xii. 12.

THE gospel brings us from a hopeless into a hopeful state; but not into an independent one. We are never to expect freedom from trials and tribulations in this vale of tears; they lie in our way to the end of our hope, the enjoyment of God in glory. Faith takes hold of something that is material, and maketh the soul triumph in hope. Hope makes the soul joyful, and excites to patience. Tribulations cause a throne of grace to be prized, a covenant God in Christ to be sought unto and delighted in. In the rough waves of difficulties, in the storm of affliction, in the boisterous sea of temptation, hope is an anchor to the soul; when that is cast within the veil the vessel shall safely ride out every storm; though tossed, it shall not be driven from its moorings; it keeps the soul safe and steady.

The grace of patience is ranged between the joy of hope and the constant exercise of prayer, as though it could not exist without either, but is supported and strengthened by both. Jonah sleeps sound in the ship, but prays hard in the whale's belly. Distress and hope raise an importunate cry. A hopeful soul will be much in prayer; and the more in converse and communion with God, the soul will more thrive in every grace of the Spirit. "Ask, and ye shall receive," is the grand charter of heaven. Yea more, lest children grow remiss, be sparing in their addresses, and content themselves with any portion, when the exuberance is necessary, saith our munificent Lord, "Ask and receive, that your joy may be full."....John xv. 11. Sip not at the streams; but drink large draughts at the fountain-head.

Ever remember, christian; the life of sense is contrary to the life of faith. Walking after the flesh, gratifying its lusts, conforming to a sinful world, deadens the life of the soul, indisposes it to prayer, makes hope decline, impatience prevail, and all the graces wither. And canst thou delight to live at a distance from thy Saviour? What! without a sense of his peace and love? Wouldst thou not fear to die in such a frame?" Keep yourselves in the love of God," is an evangelical exhortation....Jude, ver. 21....looking unto Jesus under every circum stance....avoid every thing contrary to love....study to be diligent in those means which tend to excite and strengthen the liveliness of faith, the comforts of love, the joy of hope, and the patience of the soul. "If ye do these things, ye shall never fall."....2 Pet. i. 10.

Saints, at your Father's heav'nly word,
Give up your comforts to the Lord;
He shall restore what you resign,
Or grant you blessings more divine.

Just in the last distressing hour,
The Lord displays deliv'ring pow'r;
The mount of trials is the place
Where we shall see surprising grace.

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