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THE AGENCY OF THE SPIRIT.

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makes no new revelations. The canon of Scripture is complete: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you." Neither does the Spirit force men into religion. It is a "reasonable service," and the command is, "Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve." In acting directly on the mind, he convinces of sin, its dreadful nature, and its ruinous consequences; he enlightens the mind in the knowledge of Christ's person, and work, and blessings; he renews the will, so that while it formerly preferred evil, it now prefers good; and he shuts the sinner up to the faith and obedience of the gospel.

"Come, Holy Spirit! come with energy divine;

And on my poor benighted soul with beams of mercy shine.
Oh, melt this frozen heart, this stubborn will subdue;
Each evil passion overcome, and form me all anew !"

He strives by means.-The grand and only instrument of conversion is the word of God, and this is called "the sword of the Spirit." "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." Subordinate to the word of God, but leading to it, the Spirit strives by providential dispensations. Judgments, afflictions, bereavements, poverty, often drive the sinner to the word, and make him think as he never thought before. He strives by the ministry of the word: "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher ?" "It pleases God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe." He strives by the conversation and example of Christians. Christians speak and act for Christ, and the Holy Spirit speaks and acts with them, that others may be influenced. Christians pray earnestly for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and sinners, without knowing it, reap the benefit of their wrestlings.

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THE AGENCY OF THE SPIRIT.

He will not always strive.-God pleads with the sinner; he disregards or resists, and he does so frequently and perseveringly, when the Spirit is grieved and quenched; hence, when the Spirit ceases to strive, it is the sinner's fault. "Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me." When he ceases to strive, the sinner's day of grace is ended. Thus was it with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when Jesus wept over them. "They that plow iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same." Delaying sinner! wilt thou longer delay Resisting sinner! wilt thou longer resist? How soon may the deserved, the dreadful, and the eternal doom of the impenitent fall upon thee; when the exultations of devils, and the groans of thy lost spirit, shall resound through the regions of despair!

MAY 29.

It is Well.

"Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well."-2 Kings, iv. 26.

THE Shunammite's only child went to see his father, who was busy with harvest-work. Probably he had a sunstroke when he cried, "My head, my head." He was carried home to his mother, and died on her knee at noon. What a severe stroke to a father and mother! Their only son is dead, yet the mother says, "It is well." What is implied in this fine saying? and what may we learn from it?

What is implied in this fine saying?" It is well," because, though he is dead, God hath done it. When death is the result of violence or misconduct, it is a heavy blow to friends; but when the hand of God is manifest in it, survivors dare not complain. "I know, O Lord,

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that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." "It is well," because the deceased is removed from evil. The living commit much sin, endure many trials, and are exposed to many dangers, but death takes them away from all these. "It is well," because he has gone to heaven. A child has no actual sin, and cannot be guilty of unbelief; hence, "your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it." Surely, if God saved Nineveh for the sake of its infants, how certain is it that he will save the infants themselves! "It is well," because the bereaved parents shall meet their child again in happier and better circumstances. "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

What may we learn from it?" It is well" with the dead in Christ. "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." They are in heaven, and happy there; for all evil is absent, and all good is present, and their happiness is without end. "It is well" with the living in Christ. Though still in a sinful world, though afflicted and bereaved, they have a sweet and certain hope of heaven, a hope founded on Christ himself, and blessed promises which are yea and amen in him.

"A few short years, of evil past,

We reach the happy shore,

Where death-divided friends at last

Shall meet, to part no more."

"It is well" with those who are anxious about the salvation of their souls. They desire to be in Christ, and if they seek him in his word, and seek him on their knees,

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they will be sure to find him and find life. "It is well" with the wicked. They are still living, and out of hell. The voice of mercy is not yet silent, the door of hope is not yet shut, but it is time to seek the Lord. "Arise, O sleeper, and call upon thy God." "It is high time to awake out of sleep."

MAY 30.

Good and Ebil.

"If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door."-Gen. iv. 7.

WHAT good man may do what he shall receive-what evil man may do-and what guilt he shall incur, are the subjects that demand our attention.

What good man may do." If thou doest well." Man is a sinner chargeable with original and actual sin, lying under a sentence of condemnation, and utterly unable to help himself. A great sacrifice has been provided for him by Jesus, in which he sees God reconciled, and reconciling the world to himself. This sacrifice is the only way of acceptance. It was so to Abel, and it is so to every other man. This sacrifice is presented in the gospel, and must be believed in, and pleaded, in order to find peace and acceptance with God. Abel looked forward to it, and was saved; and whosoever looks back to it as his way to God, shall be saved in like manner. Every one in possession of the word of God, is responsible for the way in which he treats the sacrifice of Christ.

What he shall receive." Shalt thou not be accepted?" The ground of acceptance is Christ's sacrifice, represented by Abel's lamb; and not man's faith in it. The acceptance includes divine favour, pardon, peace, salvation, and eternal life. The acceptance will be manifest. Abel knew he was accepted, and Cain knew he was not; and believers have

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the witness of the Spirit, and make their light shine before men. The acceptance of the believer is certain from the promises of God, and the hatred of wicked men.

What evil man may do." If thou doest not well." Some trust to reason, and serve God as if they were innocent. Thus acted Cain, the first deist that ever was in the world, who thought he did well enough if he was grateful to God for temporal blessings. Some trust to error, and make the general mercy of God, without any regard to his justice, their way to heaven; some trust to frames and feelings, and look into themselves, instead of out to Christ, for a stepping-stone to the better land; and some trust to works for salvation. Works are good as an evidence, but cannot be a ground of acceptance with God. Besides, all the indifferent and careless who trouble not themselves about religion are evil-doers.

What guilt he shall incur.-" Sin lieth at the door." The evil-doer is guilty before God, and his sin will certainly find him out. His case, however, is not hopeless; for, like Cain, he has a sin-offering at hand, if he would make use of it, for acceptance with God. Since God demands blood, let me plead the blood of Jesus. The sinner's guilt is his own, if he refuses or neglects; and he will not be able to blame any one but himself. The punishment of his sin is near. Death and judgment may be at his door, and how can he stand before the Judge unless he is under the covering of atoning blood!

MAY 31.

The Sufferings of Christ.

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God."-1 Peter, iii. 18.

ALL must be in the furnace, and it is better to suffer for

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