bed of languishing: Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." He may be laid on the bed of languishing. If so, God will sustain him there. The everlasting arms will be laid underneath and around him. God's grace will be all-sufficient in the time of trial.

If God have more work for his servant to do, then the affliction shall not be unto death, but to the glory of God and the good of his soul. If his work is accomplished, and the servant is about to be called home, the passage shall be made pleasant; for "Jesus can make a dying bed soft as downy pillows are." God will cause the chamber of the dying good man to be "privileged above the common walks of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heaven." Having lived a useful and happy life, he shall have a peaceful and joyful death.

In conclusion. We have the poor with us al

ways.

An opportunity this day is presented to do them good. Nay, shall I not rather say, we have the opportunity to receive the greater good? For it is more blessed to give than to receive. "Let us not, therefore, give grudgingly, for God loveth a cheerful giver." "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again."

If therefore, beloved, ye approve of the security offered in this agreement of God, make a good investment to-day, and thereby lay up for yourselves "treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal."

BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY, October 3, 1848.

CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.

"I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST; NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVETH IN ME; AND THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH, I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON of God, WHO LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME."-Galatians ii. 20.

N the chapter of which our text forms a part,

IN

we have an account of the controversy had

at Jerusalem, years before, between Peter and the courageous and evangelical Paul. Peter's course of conduct was blameworthy, would militate against the cause of Christ, and should be withstood. He seemed to favor the Judaizers, who would fain bring the Gentile Christians into bondage to the Law. Paul stoutly opposed this. He says of them, "to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour"; and again, of Peter, "I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed." But Peter also showed a proper spirit; for being reproved, he did not dis

pute, and when the question was decided against him by the council, he nobly submitted.

Paul then proceeds, in the context, to show, that, through Christ, and not by the Law, are sinners justified; consequently, Jews and Gentiles occupy the same ground: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God"; and "by the the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified, but by the faith of Jesus Christ."

The apostle then, in confirmation and illustration of his views, presents us with an exhibit of his own experience; in which we discover the experience of every true Christian. It is in this

part of the Epistle that our text occurs. examine it, by considering:

Let us

"I am

I. In what Christian Experience consists. 1. It implies death by crucifixion. crucified with Christ."

(1) The Christian, like Paul, is dead to the ceremonial law. He hopes not for salvation by obeying its requirements. He views it as but the shadow of good things to come, as but the schoolmaster to bring him to Christ. Now that the substance has appeared, the shadow is no longer his guide. Now that the great Teacher has come, he is no longer under the school-master. The coming of our Redeemer to teach, and His Sac

rifice on the Cross, put an end to the old dispensation and introduced the new.

law is the

66

"I," said

the law."

(2) The Christian is "dead" to hope of salvation by the moral law. By this knowledge of sin, but not its cure. Paul, "had not known sin but by The law discovers sin in its most secret and remote hiding-places. It subjects the transgressor to the penalty of death, and it provides neither help nor hope for the sinner, but leaves him under sentence of condemnation. And, though the Law is holy, and the commandment just and good," and, as a rule of life prescribing what is right conduct, is obligatory upon the Christian, yet does it not justify the guilty nor purify the contaminated. The hope of the believer for salvation, present and eternal, is only in Christ Jesus. For there is none other name under Heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."

(3) The Christian is dead to sin. As death temporal implies a separation between soul and body, and in the society and relations that did exist, and a ceasing to be after the manner in which we have existed; so the believer is separated from sin, and has ceased to live after the manner in which he once lived. He is dead to