Strength, counsel, peace, I find in Him, unfailing truth and grace,
I worship in His holy Name, within the holy place.

Christ is the mighty bond of Life, wherein my soul is bound,
The Anchor that in every storm immoveable is found:

His pure instruction makes me know on earth the mind of heaven;
To lead me homeward, by His grace, the Comforter is given.

Apart from JESUS' precious Name, I've nothing to desire,
Of all beside, e'en were it mine, my heart would only tire;
Apart from Him there's nought of worth, created things are vain ;
He is my Glory and my Wealth, my Honour and my Gain.

What is there left to wish for now? In Him my all I find,
Whate'er I need He doth provide, so good is He and kind:
I have in Him what will suffice through everlasting days,
An ever-springing well of joy, an endless theme of praise.
My JESUS is the only Door, the Way, the Truth, the Life;
To win Himself, the highest good, be now my daily strife;
E'en death to me is but to fall asleep upon His breast,
To wake rejoicing in His love, in regions ever blest.

The Name of JESUS on my brow, that all-surpassing Crown-
Before the throne shall I appear, in rapture bending down;
Lord Jesus Christ, Thy promise hath this joy secured to me;
O day of bliss! Thy purpose there, perfected, I shall see.

I rest upon Thy faithful word, and I am satisfied,

In patience I possess my soul, though often sorely tried;
Adversity is hard to bear, it will not be for long,

Thy precious Name hath been through all my Glory and my Song.

O mine is joy unspeakable, words cannot tell it now,

No death, no devil, no distress my heart with fear can bow!
How vain, compared with bliss like mine, is every other joy!
'Tis less than nought! howe'er its praise may human lips employ.
Lord Jesus Christ, how rich art Thou to meet all earthly loss;
How strong, to bear the fainting heart beneath the heavy cross;
How full of blessing, and how prompt to succour and to save,
When tearful eyes look up to Thee, and wave mounts high on wave.

Within the casket of my heart, dear Lord, this treasure keep,
This precious Name, so richly fraught with comfort pure and deep;
In mercy shut it safely in, lest I should let it go;

Thus am I rich, for I have all, above and here below.

Were all the mighty palaces of earth's broad regions mine,
And were they taken from me now, I need not e'en repine;
No harm can henceforth come to me, for JESUS is my own,
I live in Him and He in me, I am not left alone.

Thy precious Name, LORD JESUS CHRIST! is better far to me
Than all the wealth that can be found in earth, and air, and sea.
Thou art the Paradise set forth by God's own hand of love;
Thy presence is itself the Heaven where I shall dwell above.

Thou, JESUS, art the Source of grace, the welling Fount of life,
Whose flowing streams sustain my soul amid earth's toil and strife;
Thou art the fair Inheritance prepared of God for me,
The Sun, at whose life-giving rays the mists and shadows flee.

Upon Thy Name, Lord Jesus Christ, I fearless take my stand;
In that dear Name do Thou complete the labours of Thy hand.
All that I ever undertake I would begin in Thee;

Thee first, Thee last, Thee midst, O Christ! I evermore would see.

In life, or death, oh let Thy Name in me be magnified,
And ever through this vale of tears let me in Thee abide;
By Thee I enter the domain Thou hast prepared for me,
And, gloritied, Thy service still my constant joy shall be.

O precious JESUS! come, I pray, and take me where Thou art;
And let Thy grace, whilst here I stay, console and fill my heart.
I dwell with God, I live in God, I owe it all to Thee;
LORD JESUS CHRIST, in Thee my joy for evermore shall be.
JOHANN HEERMANN, 1620.

ON THE PRE-EMINENCY OF CHRIST.
NUMBER VII.

(Continued from page 168.)

But we were next to endeavour to view Christ not only as preeminent over all, but in all renewed persons. In every heart where He is formed the hope of glory, He will be pre-eminent. "My son," saith God, "give Me thine heart." Nothing short of the whole heart will do. Christ must be all or nothing. All must bow before Him, for He shall reign until all enemies shall be put under His feet. He reigns in the Christian's heart in two ways-1. By the power of His grace; 2. In the affections,-and the second is wholly and entirely the effect of the first.

1. As

I. By the power of His grace, and this in three characters. Prophet. Prophets in ancient times were men sent by God to reprove for sin, to instruct in His will, and to pronounce the promises or threatenings of a merciful though jealous God. Thus it is also that the Great Prophet dwells in the hearts of His people by His Spirit. Does He not point out the condemnation of a broken law? Does He not present to our view the threatenings against "him who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them?" And when by His grace we are led to fly to Him as our only Priest also, and find by His blessed sacrifice an atonement made between us and God, is He not still our Prophet to instruct, to open up to us the exceeding great and precious promises He has placed in His word for the "worm Jacob," the heavy laden," "the blind," "the tempted," "the poor," and numberless other characters which He knows His people often feel themselves to be? Does He not, from time to time, reveal the riches of His grace superabounding over all our manifold sins? And does He not lead us by these things into greater acquaintance with Himself, though it may be through "dark ways" and "crooked paths;" but then it is that He may have the glory of making them straight; and there is a promise too for these (may God seal it home

upon some heart), which closes with the blessed words, "I will never forsake them?" Isaiah xlii. 16. Is he not ready also to teach us the way in which we should go? Do we need instruction? If we are led humbly to His feet, like Mary, we shall there surely receive it. “Oh, who teacheth like Him!"

But, 2. we hinted above that Christ blessedly raveals Himself in the hearts of His people as their Priest. Under the old dispensation, it was not sufficient for the victim to suffer, the blood must be applied. In the account of the institution of the passover, we read that the blood of the lamb was ordered to be sprinkled upon the posts and lintel of the door, but not on the threshold. Thus it is not enough for us that the blood of Christ was shed 1800 years ago, it must now be applied to our hearts as freshly as if He were now slain personally for us, if we are to receive any enjoyment from the fact; for until we are assured that such is the ease, until we feel it upon our conscience, the guilt of sin and fear of death still remain. Was His blood shed for me? This is the all-important question with a seeking soul. Mr. Hart says

"When to me that blood's applied,
'Tis then it does me good."

The destroying angel entered no house where the blood was sprinkled, and all fear was removed from the breasts of its believing inhabitants, for they knew that ne blood was their protection; and so now the blood of Jesus sprinkled upon the conscience can alone remove the guilt of sin and its accompanying fear. Who then is to do this but the Priest who is also both the Altar and the Sacrifice. He it is who alone can say, "Fear not, I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine." Oh, reader, dost thou know anything experimentally of this? Then thou art blessed now, and blessed to all eternity. Or art thou seeking to know it? Is it thy one earnest desire? Art thou saying with the poet,

"Assure my conscience of her part

In the Redeemer's blood,

And bear Thy witness in my heart
That I am born of God ?"

If so, the Lord shall "satisfy thy longing soul, and fill thy hungry soul with His goodness." The whole of the first ten chapters of the epistle to the Hebrews are full of this subject, and invite our most serious consideration. There the Priesthood of Christ our Lord is viewed in every light, and by the teaching of God's blessed Spirit we may learn much from this inspired explanation of the types and shadows of the Old dispensation.

But, 3. Christ rules as King in the hearts of His people. He conquers them by His grace when they are enemies, He subdues them unto Himself, He breaks their stubborn hearts and leads them to seek their peace and blessedness only in Him. He met the strong man armed once in single combat, and having conquered him and deprived him of his power, now He has but to give him His commands and he must obey. The struggle is fierce between the powers of grace and

those of sin; but when Emmanuel appears Satan must fall from his throne, and leave his fortress in the hands of "Him who is stronger than he." Christ having taken possession of the castle, while He reigns there feelingly the soul is fortified against all future inroads of sin. When He commands the armies of grace, Satan can gain no advantage; but let us only go to war without our King-let us only attempt to conflict with Satan in the night-and the Prince of Darkness will prove himself too many and too mighty for us. Evils still lurk in our hearts like so many traitors to the government of Emmanuel, and are constantly plotting mischief. Sometimes they obtain power and strongly rage, threatening the total destruction of the armies of grace; but still they have not the absolute power they swayed before, and though the poor soul may fall under their tyranny, yet he shall be delivered; for "grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life." "Gad, a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last. Beware lest from this glorious doctrine an Antinomian spirit come in, saying, "Let us do evil that good may come;" for Satan is ever watching to "turn (if possible) our very graces to sin.” Of such St. Paul says, “Their damnation is just." Beware then lest thou also art betrayed into this spirit. Grace teaches us not this. This comes from Satan, the father of lies; for, says he, "If I can only entrap them into a spirit of self-sufficiency and carnal security then I shall succeed. O beware! beware! of Carnal-security's parlour. Nothing drives Emmanuel away from Mansoul sooner than intercourse with this Diabolian. But what a mercy, though our sins may drive Him away from us feelingly, yet even they cannot

"Make Him His purpose forego,
Or sever our souls from His love."

Oh for more of

For "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." this Spirit in our hearts, and then we shall not depart from Him. Is it possible for one who has been plucked by the mighty power of God from the filthy slough to willingly return " as the sow to wallowing in the mire ?" No, Christ is King, and should one of His children step but one foot from the path, he will find it indeed an "evil and a bitter thing to sin against God." David fell, but though "the man after God's own heart," he read his sin in his punishment-the sword never departed from his house. Yes, Christ reigns as King to govern, and He also reigns to protect; and when He shall fall from His throne, then shall Satan be able to snatch one of His people from His kingdom; for He says, My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.” “I and My Father are one." Satan ever strives to entrap us and rob us of our spending money, and thus destroy our comfort; but, what a mercy, he cannot touch our jewels, he cannot seize our inheritance, for that is laid up in heaven, where this thief cannot "break through and steal." No, Christ the Pearl of Great Price can never be taken from His people; for He says Himself, "Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her," and this part was Himself.

MODERN DIVINITY EXAMINED.

Investigation.-Does it not appear that this is a day of great things, think you? Do not be so uncharitable! Be advised, and give way a little to the bulk of professors, and, like them, let your charity be universal; love all, take in all, and then you will act like a modern Christian.

Love Truth.-Well, but after all you have said, I can assure you that charity is not quite so extensive as you intimate; for there is one class of professors that universal charity hates in her very soul, and is warning her pupils to beware of on all occasions.

Invest.-Indeed! What sort of outlandish beings must they be? To my knowledge, she has united together some who pretend to believe in the doctrines of Election and Predestination, and others that say they are damnable doctrines-some who say the sinner is justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed, and others who say it is imputed nonsense-some who believe the Spirit must apply the Word to the mind, and others who say the word is sufficient of itself, independent of the Spirit's influence-some who profess to believe that except a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, and others who say there is no such thing as being born again-some who will say sinners are saved by grace through faith, and that not of themselves, and others who say it is of themselves-some who will say that God's people shall never finally fall, and others who say they may -some who say that God will accomplish all the good pleasure of His will in the salvation of His elect, and others who say He has willed the salvation of all men. Now all these have that one and the selfsame spirit, universal charity, united together in one bond of perfect union; so that if there are any that her loving arms cannot embrace, they must be a wonderful set of creatures indeed. Do have the goodness to tell me who they are, and what they are called.

L. Truth.-Called! Why universal charity calls them Antinomians, bigots, narrow-spirited, and many ugly names beside.

Invest.-Antinomians! Why that is as frightful a name as the term heretic was in the days of Queen Mary.

L. Truth.-You are exactly right, and it answers the very same end; for then if a servant of Christ was enabled to confront a bishop, a priest, or any other deluded Papist, with the word of God and sound experience, the strongest argument they were able to bring was, "You are a wicked heretic;" and to this moment men are taught to despise the children of God, and call them Antinomians; and many of God's weaklings are frightened at the idea of going to hear a man who has experienced a divine change, and contends earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, because they are told he is an Antinomian. I was once in company with four or five persons, all members of one church, who told me I was an Antinomian; and when I asked them what an Antinomian was, they honestly said they did not know, only their minister said I was one; thus Antinomian is a kind of bugbear, a word to frighten people from the truth.