opened a window into the heart of Jesus, and let you see the fountain-head of that love that “passeth knowledge?” Then you will be able to say, “ To me lle is precious.” If you see plainly that all your standing before God is in Him, that He is your foundationstone, your fountain, your wedding-garment, then you will feel Him to be precious. Most people refuse to come to Christ. Read Luke xiv. 16–24.—They all with one consent began to make excuse. Why is this? Just because they do not see and feel that He is precious. But oh! if you, my dear friend, feel that He is your only righteousness — your only fountain of living water-your High Priest—your Shepherd—your Advocate, then you will say, “ He is precious !” You will never say, “Have me excused.” I carry to you the sweet invitation, “Come, for all things are now ready.” Jesus is ready to wash and clothe you in His own blood and righteousness. The Holy Spirit is ready to come into your heart and make it new. The Father is ready to put His arms round your neck and kiss you.—Luke xv. 20. The angels are ready to give thanks for you, and to love you as a sister for eternity. Now, will you come, for all things are ready? Are you now saying in your heart, “I cannot but believe I am the chief of sinners, and Jesus offers to be my refuge, my Mediator, my all in all; I feel He is precious ?” Oh! dear friend, I trust you do. This only will make you happy in living, and blessed in dying. This is a poor dying world. Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. There is no part here that death cannot take from us. But if you have Christ, you have the only imperishable portion! Oh, may the Holy Spirit give you a firm hold of Jesus! Then we shall meet in that sweet place, where there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. The Lord deal kindly and gently with you, both soul and body. Farewell, dear friend. Ever yours, etc.

TO THE SAME.-No. V.

Be found in Christ.

December 8, 1841. DEAR FRIEND, I send you another line to tell you of Him who is altogether lovely. I have a very dear boy in my parish, who is dying just now. He said to me the other day, “I have just been feeding for some days upon the words you gave me, “His legs are

like pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold' (Song v. 15); for (said he) I am sure He is able to carry me and all my sins." You may say the same, if your eyes have been opened to see the beauty, fulness, freeness, and compassion of the Lord Jesus. Nothing but the hand of God can open your eyes to see your lost condition as it truly is. Flesh and blood cannot reveal Him unto you, but my Father. Oh! call upon Him to do this for you. A spiritual discovery of yourself and of Jesus is better than a million of worlds to you, and to me also. Remember, you cannot be fair in yourself before God. Song i. 6 must be all your prayer : “ Look not upon me.” Take yourself at your best moments, you are but a vile worm in Jehovah's sight, and so am I. Remember, you may be “ perfect in Christ Jesus." Allow yourself to be found in Christ. Oh! what will come of you if you are found in yourself? Where will you appear? You will shrink back, and call on rocks and mountains to fall upon you and cover you. But if you are hiding in Jesus—if your eye and heart are fixed upon his wounds made by our sins-if you are willing to be righteous in his righteousness, to lie down under the stream of his blood, and to be clothed upon with the suowy fleece of the Lamb of God -- then God will love you with his whole soul exceedingly. The pure, full love of God streams through the blood and obedience of Jesus to every soul that is lying under them, however vile and wretched in themselves. Have you tried-have you tasted the holy love of a holy God? Thy love is better than wine. It is better than all creature love or creature enjoyments. Oh! do not live-oh! do not die, out of this sweet, sweet, sin-pardoning, soul-comforting love of God! Remember, Jesus is quite willing to gather you under his wings.—Matt. xxiii. 37. Put that beyond all doubt. Remember also, the present is your only time to be saved.-Eccles. ix. 10. There is no believing, no repenting, no conversion in the grave—no minister will speak to you there. This is the time of conversion. We must either gain you now, or lose you for ever. Oh that you would use this little time: Everv moment of it is worth a world. Your soul is very dear to me dearer far to Jesus. Look to Him and you will be saved.-Ever yours, etc.

TO THE SAME.

Go up, leaning on Jesus. DEAR FRIEND,-I have heard of you from ---, and have been praying for you, that your eye may rest on Jesus, and that your soul may lie in perfect peace under his blood shed for the sins of many. I have been thanking my Father, too, for dealing 60 bountifully with you. “He is the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts.” I will give you a sweet verse to meditate upon : “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon the beloved ?"-Song viii. 5. Do you think this is your position ? Truly this world is a wilderness if you have seen it rightly. It is a place of guilt and shame. Every natural heart is a wilderness—a dead place without a drop of living water; and then all natural hearts put together make up a wilderness world. The whole world lieth in wickedness. There are few that know and love Jesus, and these few are panting to get more of the living water. But if you have truly fled to Jesus, you are coming up from the wilderness. Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” Have you found Jesus truly? Do you feel willing to be all vile, all helldeserving in yourself, and to let God's dear Son be all your shield and righteousness? Oh! make sure of this. Never mind what man thinks of you. I would not give a straw for the opinions of men, as to whether I was safe or no. It is not what man thinks of us that will cover us on the judgment-day. Oh no! You must be in Jesus, sitting at his feet, allowing Him to wash your stains away, allowing IIim to enwrap your guilty soul in divine righteousness. If you were lying at the bottom of the sea, no eye could see your deformities : so when the infinite ocean of Immanuel's righteousness flows over the soul, you are swallowed up as it were in Christ. Your blackness is never seen, only his fairness; and thus a God of truth can say, “Behold thou art fair ; behold thou art fair, my love. Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.”—Song iv. 1-7. Keep this always in memory; and when guilt comes on the conscience, as it will, lie down again beneath the righteousness of Jesus. Never lose sight of this. Jesus must be seen by the Father instead of our guilty soul. It is no change in our black soul that is to be our covering. You must leave self, and stand in your Elder Brother. Hide behind Him. Let the Father's eye fall on Him, not on you. This is what Jesus wants. He died to be a shelter for such as you. This is what the Father wants; for He is not willing that any should perish. If you are seen by the Father a naked, guilty sinner, you must die; there is no help for it. But if Jesus appear for you—if you hide in his wounds like the dove in the cliffs of the rock, and under his snowy raiment—then the Father himself loveth you, and now you are coming up from the wilderness. Every hour that strikes, that is

an hour less between you and glory. Oh! do not grieve to part with the world if you are in Christ : an hour with Christ will make up for all your griefs and pains. Half an hour in the presence of our God will make us forget a lifetime of agony. “Leaning on her beloved !” Is this the position of your soul? Do you feel empty, weak, and helpless; and do you see Him mighty to save, able to save to the uttermost? “His legs are like pillars of marble.” This is Christ's glory, that He justifies sinners who have no righteousness, and sanctifies souls that have no inborn holiness. Let Jesus bear your whole weight. Remember, He loves to be the only support of the soul. He is a jealous Saviour. He wants to be entirely trusted. There is nothing that you can possibly need but you will find it in Him. “All my springs are in Thee." Do you want righteousness? He has the spirit of a weaned child to give you.-Ps. cxxxi. Do you want love? He is the fountain of love: all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him amen. I am sure, if you get a glimpse of Him, you would lay your head in His breast and die there. May the Spirit anoint your eyes to see Him more and more, and soften your heart to lean on Him. Those that have leaned on Him through the wilderness shall sit with Him on the throne.—Rev. iii. 21. Farewell, dear soul! the Lord feed you sweetly, as he feeds the flowers, by silent drops of dew.-Ever yours, etc.

TO THE MEMBERS OF A PRAYER-MEETING.

Parable of the Sower. MY DEAR FRIENDS, -It has been a matter of great joy to me to hear that you meet together from time to time to read the word of God and pray—to pray for a blessing on yourselves and families, that you may be brought to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to pray for ministers, that they may be filled with the Holy Spirit, and made insatiably greedy for the salvation of souls, and that the word of God preached on the Sabbath may rise and be glorified till the whole world bow the knee at the name of Jesus.

Oh, you that have had your eyes opened to see your lost condition by nature and by wicked works,—you that have been drawn by the Father to believe in Jesus, to wash in the blood of the Lamb, and to put on the righteousness of God, -oh! pray with all your heart that your dear friends may be brought to take the peace you feel, that your enemies may be brought to the same Saviour, and that all the world may be brought to know Him, whom to know is life eternal.

If you look at Matt. xiii. 3-9, you will see how much of our preaching is in vain, and what need there is to pray that God would open the hearts we speak to.

Many among you, I fear, are like the hard wayside, so that, when the seed falls, it cannot get into your hearts, and the devil plucks it all away-vers. 3, 4. Is it not true that some of your hearts are like the footpath, trodden all the week by wicked thoughts? “ Free passage this way" is written over your heartscommon worldly thoughts—busy covetous desires of moneymalicious thoughts-impure, abominable thoughts. Oh who can tell what a constant thoroughfare of wicked imaginations is passing night and day through every unconverted mind! Oh, look at Gen. vi. 5, and weep over the Bible description of your own hard hearts. Now, when you come to the church on Sabbath, your heart is like a footpath; the seed cannot fall in, it lies upon the surface. You do not understand the minister. Perhaps he preaches of the desperate wickedness of the heart, and the danger you are in of going to hell if you be not born again. You feel it to be a dry subject, and turn your head away. Perhaps he is preaching of the love of Jesus, in tasting death for every man; and that He will in no wise cast the vilest sinner out. Still you feel no interest, and perhaps you fall asleep during the sermon. Oh, you are the wayside hearers, the devil plucks all the seed away. When you turn your back on the church, you turn your back on divine things; and before you have got half-way home, the devil has carried off every word of the sermon. Yea, often, I fear, before you have got a sight of your own cottage, or the trees before the door, the devil has filled your hearts with abominable worldly thoughts, and your tongue with evil talk, unworthy of the Sabbath. O Satan, Satan! what a cunning fiend thou art! Even when the hard hearts will not receive the word, thou wilt not suffer it to remain ; lest it should come back in a time of sickness or darger, thou carriest all away.

Dear believers, pray that it be not so with you, nor with your friends; pray for a soft heart and a retentive memory; and often speak together of the sermons you hear, and get them harrowed into your hearts, that Satan may be cheated, and your soul saved.

Many, I fear, among you, are receiving the seed into stony places (Matt. xiii. 6)-receiving the word for a while, but soon