May 20

who cannot acknowledge, "It is good for me to draw nigh to God?" The mind is powerfully affected by the objects with which we are very familiar. He who is much engaged in ignoble pursuits will soon be debased: but we are elevated in the presence and contemplation of greatness and sublimity. The things of earth tend to sensualize us; but when we are with God, the inroads of the world are checked; we stand on holy ground; impure desires and vain thoughts fall off. Our attention is fixed upon the perfections and blessedness of Jehovah, and we admire, and adore, and love, and resemble him. We feel the transforming views of his character, and are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. People take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus; and our profiting appears unto all men. And as the nearer the fountain, the purer the stream, the nearer the centre the more powerful the attraction; so, the nearer we are to God the more will all our religious principles be influenced, the more we shall grow in grace, the more will our conversation be in heaven.

Let us not then sacrifice our highest welfare in disregarding this attainment. The vessels of mercy are afore prepared unto glory. We must be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. What would many find heaven, if they were admitted into it, but a melancholy and miserable state? Could they enjoy the perpetual presence of God who cannot endure even the occasional thought of him? How wise as well as merciful is the scheme of God in the Gospel! He never advances us without making us capable of the promotion! A king may elevate a slave to a superior station, but he cannot give him the suitableness and sufficiency for it. But God, when he changes our condition, changes our nature too. Before he brings us to heaven, he makes us heavenly: he draws forth our desires after it, and enables us to delight in the elements and beginnings of it—We walk with him in a way of grace, in token of, and in preparation for, our walking with him in glory; according to the promise, "THEY SHALL WALK WITH ME IN WHITE, FOR THEY ARE WORTHY."

MAY 20.—"There standeth one among you, whom ye know not."—John 1:26.

This was the language of John at Bethabara beyond Jordan, where he was baptizing. It was addressed to many of the Jews who were assembled before him, among whom were Priests and Levites from Jerusalem, sent to inquire who he was. After disclaiming that he was any thing more than "the voice of one crying in the wilderness," he intimates the arrival of a personage on the spot, very superior to himself, and for whom he was unworthy to perform an office the most menial—"There standeth one among you, whom ye know not."

It is needless to mention who this wonderful Being was—But we see that our Lord had nothing in his outward appearance to distinguish him from others. As to his character, he was fairer than the children of men, and altogether lovely: but he was "clothed in a body like our own;" and "in all things" was "made like unto his brethren." Had we passed him upon the road, we should have taken him for a common man. No rays of glory encircled his head. No

surprising beauty marked his features—"His face was marred more than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men." Least of all would he have been distinguished by a particular garb. His coat was indeed seamless, woven from the top throughout: but this was no observable thing. Wisdom is an enemy to affectation and eccentricity; and real greatness is never anxious for a show, being satisfied with the consciousness of its own claims without the acknowledgments of others.

There is much excellency in the world that is unknown. In nature there is many a rich vein of ore concealed beneath a rude surface; and many a flower that blooms unseen in the woods, and sheds its fragrance "on the desert air." Learning and genius are often buried in obscurity. The same may be said of moral and religious qualities. We are not to measure or number the instances of godliness by our personal observation. God has his hidden ones. Who has not been surprised as well as delighted in travelling to discover frequently individuals walking in the truth in situations the most unlikely and unpromising? Abraham said of Gerar, "Surely the fear of God is not in this place;" but he found it there. Elias said, "I am left alone;" but there were "seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." "Who," says the Church, "has begotten me these?" "These, where have they been?"

From hence Christians need not wonder at the little notice frequently taken of them. They are princes, but in disguise. The day of their manifestation is coming; and then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. But now they are seen poor, and afflicted, and despised; and little do the multitude imagine that they are heirs of God; the charge of angels; the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof; the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. And herein the members are only conformable to the head. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not"—"Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."

There are many, we have reason to fear, who are in the same condition with John's attendants. Jesus is "among" them. And he is "standing" among them—a posture of attention—and a posture of readiness to depart. But they "know" him "not." They read of him, and hear of him; but they do not "see the Son, and believe on him." They are not spiritually and savingly acquainted with him. If they were, they would put their trust in him; they would love him; they would obey him; they would count all things but loss for the excellency of his knowledge; and be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now this ignorance is very deplorable; and the reason is because of the unspeakable importance of the object. We may be ignorant of many things, and yet be safe and happy: but to be ignorant of Christ is as if the pursued manslayer of old had been ignorant of the city of refuge; or as if a dying patient was ignorant of the only remedy that could cure him—People perish for lack of this knowledge. It is also criminal. Hence Paul says to those who are destitute of this knowledge, "I speak this to your shame." Their ignorance could only be their shame, as it was their sin; and it could not have been their sin unless it had been avoidable. The knowledge therefore is