"Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.

"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

"Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God."

Herein we see the blessing is pronounced upon those, and those only, whose hearts are rightly and duly influenced.

As with the prophets, so with Christ and His apostles, their aim was the heart and conscience,

CHAPTER IV.

MERE PROFESSION VAIN-THE TREE KNOWN BY ITS FRUITS-JESUS

CHARITY, OR

SAMARIA-THE

APOSTLE'S PLEA FOR
GROUNDWORK

LOVE-NEW-CREATURESHIP-THE

OF DIVINE FELLOWSHIP ADAM AND HIS HEART-LESSONS UPON DIVINE FORBEARANCE, DIVINE MERCY, DIVINE LOVE PARADISE -THE ENTRANCE OF SIN-JEHOVAH'S ADDRESS TO THE SERPENT, TO THE WOMAN, TO ADAM-THE FIRST PROMISE-THE BIRTH OF FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE-THE

GROUND CURSED-CHRIST

THE CURSE-BEARER-WHAT WOULD ADAM HAVE BEEN WITHOUT THE PROMISE OF A SEED THROUGH WHICH HE SHOULD BE SAVED?-BANISHED FROM THE GARDEN, BUT BLESSED WITHALFAITH CENTRING IN CHRIST THE PROMISE SEED-HOPE IN THE GOD OF ALL GRACE, A LIVING PRINCIPLE IN ALL OLD TESTAMENT BELIEVERS.

IN the preceding chapter we insisted upon the absolute and indispensable necessity of the heart and conscience being influenced and operated upon by divine grace. We have endeavoured to show from Scripture, that all mere externals in religion are vain; if they are substituted for heart-work, they are worse than vain. Mere morality or outward rectitude and consistency may pass current among men; but it weighs not a feather's weight in the balances of the sanctuary. "Either make the tree good and his fruit good," said our Lord, "or else make the tree

corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit." “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things" (Matt. xii. 35). Again, in His conversation with the woman of Samaria, Jesus said, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

The Apostle, moreover, in the 13th chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians, and first three verses, says: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [that is, love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." Again, in enforcing this heart-work for which we contend—and which, indeed, is to be the sum and substance of this book-he says (Gal. v. 6), "In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." As much as to say, it matters not what my name or profession may be externally, but whether I am born again; for, says the same Apostle, in the 5th chapter of the 2nd of Corin

thians, and 17th verse, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

With the doctrine, therefore, of the new birth unto righteousness so clearly and forcibly laid down in the word of God, we shall proceed to show by examples from the self-same word, what is the nature and what the effects of that Divine intercourse which goes on between God and the souls of His redeemed. We shall show, upon the ground of what they have “seen and heard," what the character of that "fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ" is which they are permitted and privileged to realize and enjoy. And, inasmuch as the early books of the Old Testament Scriptures are those which are more especially assailed by men who "have not the Spirit," and who are, consequently, destitute of all vital godliness, it is to those identical Scriptures we shall call the reader's attention; and to the examples which they afford we purpose to confine ourselves.

Our key-note, we beg to remind the reader, is Experience, or heart-work.

We shall begin, therefore, where God begins-with Adam, and shall contemplate him as called to learn his first heart-lessons in Divine forbearance, Divine mercy, Divine love.

Falling as do the facts connected with the transgression of our first parents so early in the Scriptures, we are so much the sooner introduced to a cheering and blessed discovery of the practical working of the

Lord's grace and mercy towards the fallen sons and daughters of Adam.

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Mercy that sweet mercy in which Jehovah

' delighteth "—was proclaimed in Eden, for scarcely had our first parents sinned, when we read, that "they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." Most significant was this, to teach us thus early the tenderness and the forbearance of Jehovah. We are told, moreover, that "Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." A sorry and a shallow shelter this. "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" Did not Jehovah know where he was? Was it necessary for Him to ask? Why, then, did He put the question, but for the purpose of thus manifesting His tender pity and forbearance in connection with the ratification of His justice and His truth? "I heard Thy voice in the garden," said Adam, "and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat."

Now all these inquiries upon the part of Jehovah tend to show forth, in the highest degree, the boundless sympathies of His loving heart; for, considering His infinite purity, His divine veracity, and His omnipotent power, but for His tenderness and com