powers of the life but just entered upon, we must speak of it. The unrenewed heart has not the faintest idea of the joys of Faith; but the babe in Christ has.

Madam Guyon said:" In the presence of the light of Faith, every other light grows dim, as the light of the moon and stars is extinguished in the broader and purer illumination of the rising sun. This light now arose in my heart. Believing with this Faith, the fountains of the heart were opened, and I loved God with a strength of love corresponding to the strength of Faith."

But we must abide in Faith if we would have our love to God made perfect. In that marvellous parable which draws the love out of our cold hearts more than any other, because it tells so vividly of the love of God; speaking of the Father's reception of the lost child, it says, " He put a ring on his finger"! A little child once remarked: "Don't you think this means the love of God which encircles us all round, and has neither beginning nor end?" Sweet thought! Yet how can any of us appropriate it, i.e., believe that our Heavenly Father has put this ring on our finger? Only by Faith. By Faith we feel the love of the Father. By Faith we take Christ as our Bridegroom, and give up ourselves to Him as to our loving Lord. When Christ is so revealed in us, then this earthly life is so beautiful; then it becomes really an outer life, when the Faith-life is close round our souls, and we can only live in external things by living first through the inner or love-life. We find then that that which concerns Christ and His kingdom becomes the business of our lives more than that which concerns this outward life, and yet we carry on all our outward concerns far better, because they are performed in reference to this. In this continual trust in God our judgment is calm and correct, and He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. Shall we go out of this world and never enjoy this sweet life, this Pathway of Power,

this heavenly way of living Faith? Some who read this, and who yet have received Christ Jesus as their Saviour, may not be treading the peaceful paths of this Faith. To these the entreaty is, "As ye have received Christ Jesus so walk in Him;" each is equally of Faith. There must be an entire surrender of self to the Lord, a constant and definite reliance on Him. "Faith is the believer's grasp of God-the calm resting of the soul upon Him in its deepest consciousness." "We who believe do enter into rest." This is the rest of Faith and why? Because it is ceasing from our own works and letting Christ work in us. We are kept in this rest of self-abandonment only through faith in God's power; we must continue in prayer and watchfulness, that that which we have committed unto Him we may not take back into our own keeping. This exercise of Faith makes it a constant reality.

In a letter from a young woman, alluding to a time of sanctification, she says, "I was enabled in a moment to lay hold on Jesus Christ, and found salvation by simple Faith. I now blessed Him who had become my Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. I know it is by Faith I stand; and that watching unto prayer must be the guard of Faith."

But although, as frail human beings, we must look to God continually for the keeping of our Faith, yet doing this we need not fear; Faith itself knows no discouragement; as an old writer says, "When God's spirit blows upon us, we go full sail towards Heaven!" The work of Faith with power," makes the hands work for our Lord Jesus Christ, the tongue speak for Him, and the feet run in the way of His commandments.

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It is also a power of defence. Having put on the "whole armour of God," in which alone we can stand in safety before the world, we have the "shield of Faith" to withstand "all the fiery darts of the wicked."

The Christian's fight is the good fight of Faith, and it is sure to overcome-it is itself the victor. Why is it called the good fight of Faith? because our sanctified will-spirit says, I can do nothing-Christ will overcome for me. The Christian's conflict is to "keep the Faith."

We are apt to think that if we entirely give up our will it will involve us in great self-denials of pleasure, and bring over us difficulties and hardships. It may be so at first, but to the entirely dedicated Christian it is not so. The gain infinitely exceeds the loss, even in this life. We lose self in this outward life only to find it again through the life of Faith in Christ. Out of self into Christ; out of the perishing life into the Eternal Life! Not I, but Christ.

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Jesus said, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.' The unseen sustenance was His life, and we can have the same through Faith. Blessed Faith! which works by love to the purifying of the heart, and bringing it into a holy subjection.

And now, in conclusion, may all those who read this simply fragmentary, or suggestive paper, inquire whether they are living this life of Faith; if not, may they learn through the teaching of the Holy Spirit and through the testimony of the Scriptures, its glad reality and its wonderful simplicity!

The Apostle Paul thanks the Lord for the Church of Rome, because "their faith was spoken of throughout the world," and he longed to see them that they might be comforted together by their "mutual Faith. (Rom. i. 8, 12). This is the communion of saints, and the "like precious Faith" is for us. The Lord is making it more and more manifest, and if we keep in the guidance of His blessed Spirit we shall be brought into it, and it will enable us to realise that we belong to a King and a Kingdom which are not of this world.

A few words from the pen of a man of great Faith, Isaac Penington, may fitly close these remarks:

"I have, and (bless the Lord) daily do still experience Faith, the heavenly Faith of the new birth, the precious gift of God to His own children, in this pure blessed light of the Son of God, which shines from the heavenly glory into the hearts of His redeemed ones. Here I cannot but believe, and know Him in whom I do believe, who is the holy power of Life and Light, who overcometh the prince of darkness, who hath the power of death. And in the light God carries on the work of Faith with power; and unbelief which stops it, is not able to enter the minds of those who are stayed upon the Lord in His pure light."

C. J. WESTLAKE.

GLEANINGS AMONGST SCRIPTURE SHEAVES.-No. 4.

1 CORINTHIANS XIII.

THERE are some chapters in the Bible which seem specially to bear evidence of Divine inspiration—internal evidence-and this chapter is one of the most striking of these.

The earnest spirit breathing through it, of purity, of sweetness, of loftiness of principle, confirms beyond question its claim to have sprung from the source of all good. Is it possible to read it and imagine an impostor, any but a good man, any one indeed but an inspired man, penning this glowing passage? It appeals to the witness of righteousness within us, convincing us that what we read in Holy Scripture is indeed the very truth of God. And yet there are few passages of Scripture which, as a test of practice, and a model, impress us with a deeper sense of shortcoming than this searching fervent description of Christian love.

Which of us can try his secret thoughts and feelings by its standard, without condemnation? And what a world would it make were its loving spirit paramount! Although, to use the words of the chapter, "We now see through a glass darkly," yet whilst reading this passage we are truly brought face to face with a monitor whose perfect picture of what Christian love is, contrasts clearly, and very sadly, with the state of the human heart ordinarily, not only in its natural and unconverted condition, but often even when it has been in some degree influenced by Divine grace.

And thus was this chapter so apt a lesson for the