and they love us again for the same reason: whereas, when we were yet enemies Christ died for the ungodly," and shewed himself the Friend of sinners. When there was nothing congenial with the divine nature, but when every heart was full of rebellion, and every faculty was rising up in blind hatred against its Maker. And now that the love of God in Christ to man has appeared, the multitude are still found to rise up, and say practically or literally, "We will not have this man to reign over us." Yet he who while on earth was (not falsely) accused of receiving sinners, continues his work of mercy at the right hand of the throne of God the Father, and pleads there with all-prevailing importunity for those whom he died to redeem, and who are one by one, or thousands by thousands, just as he willeth, brought out of the world which he purchased for their sakes.

O let us beware that no exercise of our affection usurp that place in the heart which such a Friend demands for himself. Human friendship, after all, is to the Christian but a refreshment by the way, and to him it will only be refreshing when drawn from the right source. The danger to our naturally idolatrous bearts is, mistaking the stream for the fountain, the very evil complained of by the mouth of Jeremiah (ch. xi. 13), " They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water; and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." Jer. xvii. 5.

O that young Christians would maintain their friendships in the spirit of David and Jonathan; that

they would use their influence mutually for each other's benefit, strengthening their hands in God, and provoking one another to the love of God and to good works, the fruit of their love to him. It is to be hoped that many do this, and these may expect the blessing mentioned in Mal. iii. 16, and that enjoyed by the disciples on their way to Emmaus; the enjoyment of the presence of Christ, though only now in spirit, yet as an earnest of the blessedness of His actual presence hereafter; when every faculty will be drawn out in adoration of the Saviour who washed them with his blood; and, lost in amazement at the dear comprehension of infinite mercy, then for the first time fully appreciated; and when the eternal burden of the soul's meditations will be

THY LOVE TO ME WAS WONDERFUL!

M. W.

IN reading God's word, he not always most profiteth that is most ready in turning of the book, or in saying of it without the book; but he that is most turned into it, that is, most inspired with the Holy Ghost, most in his heart and life altered and changed into that thing that he readeth: he that is daily less and less proud, less wrathful, less covetous, and less desirous of worldly and vain pleasures.-Homily on reading Scripture.

ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF THE REV. JOHN NEWTON.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

IF inclination alone had dictated to my pen, I should have written sooner; but inclination must often give way to duty and circumstances. If you had most needed a letter from me, you should have had the first.

As much of my external comfort depends upon the state of Mrs. Newton's health, when I tell you that time passes very pleasantly, you will infer that she is pretty well. I want a more thankful frame of heart for temporal mercies, and yet I am more affected by these, than by those of the greatest importance. If I duly prized the blessings and wonders of the gospel with respect to smaller concerns, I should in every thing give thanks, and rejoice, yea, glory in tribulations also.

I have little new to mention from hence. My turn for woods, and walks, and prospects you know here I am gratified. London is filled with the littlenesses of man-here I am surrounded with the works of God. O, for spiritual senses in more lively exercise, that I might see him in the light, hear him in the winds, contemplate his wisdom, power, and goodness in the trees and the flowers, and feel his presence everywhere! Frequent experience has taught me, though I am a dull scholar, that the frame of my

spirit has no necessary dependence upon local circumstances. I can sometimes be alone in Cheapside; and at other times, when by myself, on the top of a hill, or under a tree, I can be as much crowded and embarrassed as if in the midst of Bartholomew fair.

Some people know but little what it is to be subject to the power of a wild imagination. However, I would not complain, though mine often exposes me to inconveniences, and sometimes makes me cry loud for mercy. I am sensible there are seasons and occasions when it is serviceable to me. It is what I cannot do well with, and what perhaps I should not do so well without; but I am grieved to think I am not more ashamed and humbled under the sense I have of its irregularity and defilement. It would be a noble faculty, if duly regulated by grace, and always exercised upon proper objects: to me it is like a horse which I have not skill to manage. Sometimes I travel pleasantly, but by and by I am run away with or dismounted, and dragged as with my foot in the stirrup. If I had a more sober nag, I should avoid many a fright and many a fall.

This has been a memorable year for public occurrences, and memorable in my private history. Seldom have the strings of my heart been more sensibly wounded, and never surely have I been favoured with more singular and unexpected relief. Thus it is these things are set one against the other, and the one are preparatory to the other. If I had not been so sharply tried, I should not have had much to say of the Lord's goodness. If Pharaoh had complied with the first message-if there had been no distress or danger at the Red Sea, the deliverance of

Israel would not have been so strongly marked by the strong hand and outstretched arm of the Lord in their favour. All might have seemed a matter of course. We are prone to lose sight of him, and to settle upon the lees, if our attention was not now and then roused by dispensations which make us feel our dependance, quicken us to prayer, and thereby make a way for his interposition, when the help of man is found to be utterly in vain. And thus we must expect to go on to the end of the chapter, for insensibility and depravity are so deeply rooted in our hearts, that the lessons we sometimes think we have learnt will surely be forgotten, if we were not called by new emergencies to learn them over and over again. Who can express the condescension and compassion of our Lord, the patience which he exercises towards such dull and perverse scholars -how unwilling to afflict until there is an absolute need-be for it-how ready to afford relief, as soon as we can safely bear it? What wretches are we, to be often at the point of complaining of his dealings, when we not only read and profess to believe that all his paths toward us are mercy and truth, but actually find it so in our own experience!

Blessed be his name, though we believe not, he remaineth faithful-he will not deny himself. He will do us good in despite of ourselves. He will choose that which is best for us, whether we choose it or not; and will not, such is his mercy, leave us to be ruined by our own management, though we are foolish enough to desire it. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth us; and like as weak and wayward children mistake the views of a wise and tender parent, so do we too often complain of him