men to make a false Eden of that which God has cursed; to speak of light and beauty, where the prophetic pen has legibly written "a dark place;" and many other stratagems he suggests, to induce us to build a nest, where Jesus had "not where to lay His head." And where is our refuge under such circumstances, especially when appearances sometimes admit the reasonableness of such conclusions, but in the inspired page?-the "sure word of prophecy," the "light that shineth in a dark place." There we see the rightly exalted Prince of Life, "expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool." There we behold the Heavenly Bridegroom, preparing a place for His beloved Bride, whom He is quickly coming to receive unto Himself, to be the sharer with Him of His glory. There we learn, that the "King of kings," the " only Potentate," is soon comimg forth with His vesture dipped in blood, to take “vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel." There we discover also, that David's Son and David's Lord, is ere long to sit on His Father's throne, and to reign over the house of Jacob for ever. There faith views the "dark place," tenanted by scoffers and seducers who wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived; the love of many waxing cold, because of abounding iniquity; and hears the world's selfcomplacent utterance of "peace and safety,"-the awful signal, that "sudden destruction cometh." The "sure word of prophecy," makes manifest these things, and much more, concerning which we do well that we take heed.

THE WOMAN IN THE CROWD.

I HAVE been lately comforted by a certain feature in the story of the poor woman in the crowd, as we may call her. See Mark v.

The crowd was around Jesus. It made Him its object. Carnally or naturally, and not spiritually, I grant; but still the crowd was making Jesus its object. It was a religious movement, though there might have been little of real life in it.

Much people followed Jesus, thronging Him and pressing Him; and I ask myself, is it not so very eminently at this moment? What a stir about religion. there is! The various action of hand, and foot, and pen, and tongue, all about religion and the church.

But this crowd operated rather as a hinderance to the poor woman; it made her approach to the Lord somewhat more difficult.

Comforting, however, to see that He was as much at the bidding of faith, though in the crowd, as when He was alone with the poor Samaritan at the well of Sychar. Solitude or bustle, retirement or the crowd, made no difference in Him, though it did in the approaches of His people. The Samaritan had a great natural advan

tage; but the Lord is independent of natural advantages, and above hinderances, and this poor woman, and the son of Timeus, and Zaccheus of Jericho, shall each one for himself, prove that Jesus heals in the midst of all this religious and worldly stir.

The crowd was made up of very different materials. Jairus, with a heart full of faith and expectation, was in it. Apostles too, and disciples, as well as the large assemblage attracted and borne on the spirit of the times, or by the occasion. Morally, all like the scene of action at this moment around ourselves! A spiritled sinner is there also, having Jesus and His healing power before the thoughts and desires of her soul. And the crowd could not hinder the Saviour from personally waiting on her, and in the midst of it all, precious communications pass between them.

Is not this comfort now-a-days? What is surrounding Jesus this moment but a like religious stir? The crowd is again making Him its object. Meetings, lectures, journeyings, books, societies, conversation, activities of all kinds, are full of Jesus. And yet how well the heart knows, that most of this is carnal and worldly. And how surely it also feels, that all this is a hinderance to the soul. Often do we sigh in spirit for the solitudes of Sychar; for scenes and seasons where Jesus was less noticed by the world, less the object of public attention, more manifestly disallowed and rejected.

Let such thoughts, however, be hushed. Let faith

take up the Lord in the circumstances in which it finds Him, whatever they be, and assure itself that no natural hinderance can prevail. Crowds cannot stop the flow of His virtue, though they may perplex a little the way of approach to Him, and hinder, in their measure, our bringing our vessel to that fountain, our necessities to that fulness.

SOUL-BREATHINGS FOR HUMILITY.

O FATHER! make me little in mine eyes,
And let me not the feeblest saint despise ;
Ne'er shun my cross in Jesus' cause to bear,
But aim continu'lly His yoke to share:
Receive offence without the least demur,
And others' honour to my own prefer,
While tears with weeping saints are truly shed,
In fellowship with Christ, our living Head.
Should self-important thoughts on me take hold,
Or motes in others' eyes my mind behold;
The flattery of some my feet ensnare,
While others greet me in the scorner's chair;
With holy vengeance may my soul resist
These fiery darts of Satan; and desist
From all such hellish forms of subtle pride,
And wash my guilt in Calv'ry's cleansing tide.
O give me grace, my brethren to esteem
Far better than myself; and should they seem
Cold, or unkind, then may I imitate

The zeal of Him, who wash'd His people's feet:
And dwelling in Jehovah's secret place,

Learn more and more the wondrous power of grace
With self-abasement walk in Wisdom's ways,

And spend my life, my all, to Jesus' praise.

THE TWO COVENANTS.

THE history of God's manifestation of Himself at Sinai, stands remarkably in contrast with what Mount Calvary in after ages exhibited. At the former place, death was threatened as the inevitable consequence of even touching the mount, Ex. xix. 12; at the latter place, a fountain of life was opened for the guilty and unclean, in the pierced side of the Lamb of God; a self-condemned malefactor looked and lived; and a voice of intercession on behalf of the murderers was heard, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Luke xxiii. 34. The difference is most striking, and shews us the vast importance of "rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Tim. ii. 15.

Law differs from grace, as much as wages is unlike gift. The law proved what was in man,-" by the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. iii. 20. Grace reveals the fact that God was rich in mercy to us, even when we were dead in sins. Eph. ii. 4, 5. These two truths run almost throughout the Scriptures, preserving their distinctness and contrast. Hence we read, "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John i. 17. The law entered, that the offence