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Master, carest thou not that we perish?....Mark iv. 38.

SAINTS in all ages have experienced, that their extremity of distress has been God's opportunity to deliver; so these disciples found it; they were in the most imminent danger and in the greatest fears and distresses. Their vehement address to Jesus bespeaks it. "Jesus was asleep." We believe in our Saviour, as a MAN like unto ourselves: we adore him as the sovereign Lord whose "eyes are over the righteous, and his ears are ever open to their prayers.".... 1 Pet. iii. 12. Of this we have the clearest evidence, the fullest proof. Jesus awakes as a man, and with the power and sovereignty of Jehovah he rebukes the boisterous wind, and says to the raging waves, "Peace, be still;" and instantly all nature obeys its Creator; all is hushed into a profound calm.

While others are pleased with the feats of a Cæsar, or the conquests of an Alexander, it is our delight to meditate upon the wonderful works of our God-man and blessed Saviour. Transporting to know this awful God is ours, our Jesus, and our friend! But art thou not ready, O believer, sometimes to say, "My Lord hath forsaken, and my God hath forgotten me!" It seems as though he cares not; even though I perish. I am in the wide ocean of difficulty and distress. Corruptions rage, temptations assault, the fiery darts of the enemy fly thick around me; I groan under the sense of a hard heart and an absent God. Hear the voice of thy Lord, “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted: for a smail moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee."....Isa. liv. 7, 11. Judge not of God's love by thy sense and feeling, but by his word and truth, the stability of his promises, and the security of his oath. He may be battering down thy life of sense to make thee strong in faith, strong-in the Lord, and in the power of his might. These disciples, though in a terrible storm, were safe, because Jesus was in the ship, though asleep; so is every disciple where Jesus dwells in the heart by faith. The affections of God's love never cease, though storms surround us, and the sense and comfort of love may seem to us as it were asleep; and as with these disciples, so shall it be with thee, O christian; thou shalt find thy loving Saviour ever near to hear, and ever almighty to deliver thee; God's moment is thy mercy; in the deeps of distress are God's wonders known. "In the moment of the Lord, Jehovahjirah (the Lord will provide) it shall be seen." What saith the Lord? "Call upon me in time of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." It is the joy of faith to reply, "Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance."....Psalm xxxii. 7.

Go, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him....Mark xvi. 7. ·

How different is the gospel from the law; one is the voice of condemnation, terror, and wrath; the other speaks nothing but grace, peace, and love. God's children only murmured for water in the wilderness, and even the meek Moses is in wrath with them, and calls them REBELS. Here, though the poor disciples had acted most base and ungrateful to their loving Saviour; for they added sorrow to his distress, when they all forsook him and fled, and Peter above all the rest; for as though Jesus was the most abandoned wretch, Peter with oaths and curses denied that he even knew him. What could they expect, but that the first message from their Lord should be full of upbraiding? Was it, Go tell those apostate REBELS I am risen from the dead, they shall receive their just deserts; vengeance is mine, I will repay them? No: be astonished, O heavens! Hear, wonder, and love, O ye backsliding children: devils are not permitted to terrify, but angels commissioned to comfort them. Tell his disciples, amazing! Disciples still! How unworthy of the very name! Yet more, lest this message should prove a dagger to poor Peter's heart, lest he should write bitter things against himself, "I am no disciple; though all the rest forsook and fled from Jesus yet not one of them sinned with so high a hand as me. I not only forsook him, fled from him, but denied him, denied him with oaths, cursed and swore most bitterly that I did not know him. Ah! woe is me: the Lord told me satan had desired to have me, so it must be." No, no, Peter, "whom thy Lord loves, he loves to the end;" he hates putting away; his loving heart cannot bear it. Not all that sin or hell can say can turn his heart, his love away. Peter is included in the commission of comfort, by name. Did Peter sin above the rest? Yet grace super-abounds; therefore behold, he is particularized above the rest by name. "He goeth before you to Galilee, there shall ye see him." O, but for this comfortable message, poor Peter would have dreaded to meet with and see Jesus. O soul, Jesus is gone before to glory, there shalt thou see him. But for the comfortable message our souls have had from him, of his love and salvation, we might dread the sight of Jesus. But who shall set bounds to the love of Jesus? Will any poor trembling disciple say, the Lord hath forsaken me, my Lord hath forgotten me? True thou mayest deserve it; but thy Lord deals with thee not after that manner; though thou art a sinner, a backsliding sinner, a hell-deserving sinner, the chief of sinners, yet still his name is Jesus the Saviour, his nature is love; and it is the joy of his heart and the work of his life "to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."....Heb. vii. 25.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed....John viii. 36.

OUR most glorious sovereign Lord and King, Jesus, like some mighty conqueror whose subjects have been taken captive by an enemy, delivers them from their captivity, sets them at liberty from the dominion and tyranny of their enemies, and restores them to all the rights and privileges of his kingdom and government. Alas! in what a deplorable state doth our great deliverer find our souls! taken captive by the devil at his pleasure, slaves and vassals to his will and power, under worse than Egyptian bondage, "tied and bound with the chains of our sins," bond-slaves to our corrupt lusts and carnal passions.

In this hopeless, helpless, deplorable state, we all continue with-out power, yea, without will or desire to be set at liberty. Nay, we are naturally pleased with the drudgery of sin and satan, in love with our bondage, fancying ourselves at liberty, and enjoying the most perfect freedom; but when our mighty deliverer comes, he makes us free indeed: he bursts our bonds asunder, and casts away the cords wherewith we were bound. Jesus snatches our souls as a prey from the mighty, and the lawful captives are delivered. He invests us with the "freedom of citizens of the New Jerusalem," and gives us the privilege of adoption, to be the sons of God through faith in him. Then are we the Lord's free-men; made free from sin, satan, the law, and death. How great is Jesus' power! how rich his love! how free and sovereign his grace! it came unmerited and unsought by us; it is a freedom unbounded in its nature, and the happy subjects of it shall find it so in a blissful eternity. But here, though free, made free indeed in our spirits, yet we shall find by daily experience enemies and opposers to our uninterrupted enjoy. ment of it. Sin, though its guilt is washed away in Christ's blood, and its power destroyed in the soul, will yet rage and war in our members. Satan, though like a strong man armed, is overcome and cast out, will often rally his forces and wage war against us As Luther says, he who hath Christ for his King and God, let him be assured he hath the devil for his enemy, who will work him much sorrow, and plague him all the days of his life. But let this be our comfort and great glory, that we poor sinners have the Lord of life and death and of all creatures, clothed with our flesh and blood, sitting on the right hand of God, ever living, ever praying for us, who ever defends and protects us.' The law, though its demands are all fulfilled, and its curse is taken away, though there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; and death, though disarmed of its strength and sting through the victory of Jesus, yet the sweet sense and comfortable experience of all this is enjoyed by us only while we "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and are not entangled with any yoke of bondage."....Gal. v. 1. VOL. I.

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We wrestle, &c....Eph. vi. 12.

It is too common for the children of God, when exercised with sharp conflicts of soul, to write bitter things against themselves. But we do well always to remember we are travellers through the territories of an implacable and powerful enemy, whose malicious spirit delights in harassing and distressing us in every part, soul and spirit, as well as flesh. That herein we are not alone; it is the common lot of all the children more or less. Take, my brethren, the prophets and apostles as an example herein. We shall find them at times, under severe trials and sore conflicts of spirit. But know, satan our adversary is a conquered foe; he can go no farther than our own loving Saviour permits him. Our exercises last. not one moment longer than our dear Lord sees needful; none of them shall issue in our destruction but in satan's flight, our soul's deliverance, and our God's glory; and, like every thing else that befalls us, "they work together for our good."

Our enemies are spiritual powers, princes, rulers, who for number may be stiled LEGION. Their nearness to us, and easy access to our spirits, in a way of striving and struggling for the mastery in order to cast us down, is justly styled WRESTLING. Here the combatants are closely joined, and grapple with each other. Our greatest danger is from our feet being tript off the ground; whereby we may be maimed and bruised by a fall. Happy for us, we stand by the power of God through faith. We stand upon this sure foundation, "The Lord knoweth them who are his." Jesus knows that his people will be exposed to onsets of the enemy, but no power, subtilty, or malice shall prevail. Says our dear preserver, "none shall pluck them out of my hands:" I as man and Mediator, hold them by LOVE. "My Father is greater than I;" he keeps them by his irresistible and almighty power. Yet, alas! it must be owned, that conflicts for the season are grievous. To be attacked by a powerful, invisible foe, whose element where he rules, as well as the time of battle, is always in darkness; therefore most afflicting to the children of light. One blessed end of our trials, is to teach us that we should not trust in ourselves, but cry to the strong for strength. O, what a soul-strengthening, heart-reviving, and spirit-refreshing voice speaks from heaven to us! Hear, O soul, it is the voice of the captain of thy salvation. Wast thou ready to think he had left thee to thy own weakness? No: "Fear thou not, for I am with thee. I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”.........Isa. xli. 10.

Jesus the Lord shall guard me safe

From ev'ry ill design,
And to his heav'nly kingdom take
This feeble soul of mine.

God is my everlasting aid,

And hell shall rage in vain;
To him be highest glory paid
And endless praise, Amen.

Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice.... Phil. iv. 4.

THE wise man saith, "He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast."....Prov. xv. 15. Every believer in Jesus hath a continual feast; therefore has always reason to be of a merry heart; when he is not, he lives below his privilege, and forgets the command of his loving Lord. Though we daily experience enemies to our spiritual joy, yet none can destroy our ground of rejoicing; that is fixed as a rock, permanent as the mountains, and standeth fast for ever and Paul well knew this by his own experience: "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing," he describes the christian's motto. Though with him thou art daily crying out, "O wretched man that I am," according to the flesh; yet thou hast the same reason always to thank God and rejoice in Christ Jesus as Paul had: though in thyself cause for mourning and humiliation, yet continual matter of joy and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus.

ever.

IN.

Here is the wisdom of a christian, to understand aright, and to act suitable to his character; "as having nothing in nature, yet possessing all things by grace." Being united to Jesus, in whom all fulness dwells; and "blessed with all spiritual blessings by Godthe Father IN him," it is therefore our sweet privilege always to rejoice in Christ Jesus. In experience, we find believing views of Jesus cause rejoicing in him. In the Lord; mind that little word The exercise of thy faith is ever to be on thy Lord. All cause of spiritual joy is IN JESUS: our word is BELIEVE AND BE JOYFUL. If we search the scriptures, which testify of Jesus; if we dwell much in meditation on his person, his offices, his blood, his righteousness, his intercession, we shall perceive never-failing springs of joy. Day by day be looking and praying, O soul, that through the Spirit thou mayst see and maintain a comfortable knowledge and settled assurance of thy own interest in Jesus, and salvation by him. O, this will cause thee to rejoice indeed, with joy unspeakable and full of glory. So that even though the face and appearance of outward things put on a gloomy countenance to nature and sense, yet shall we be like the stedfast prophet: "Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls." What then? Does he hang down his head like a bulrush? Does joy of heart forsake him? No, says he, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."....Habak. iii. 17, 18.

Then let our joys abound,
And ev'ry tear be dry;

We're marching thro' Immanuel's
To fairer worlds on high. [ground,

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