June 3

eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast." David cries, "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me that I cannot look up." Ezra said, "O my God, I am ashamed to lift up my face to thee, for our iniquities are over our head, and our trespass is grown up into the very heavens." Blessed experience! If painful, it is salutary. It attracts the divine regard: it is a time of love in which he says unto us, "Live." "He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light." "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord."

JUNE 3.—"Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad." Acts 11:23.

GRACE means divine influence; and is so called because it is derived from the free and undeserved communication of God. But is not this grace an internal principle? How then could Barnabas see it? He could see it only in the effects. We cannot see life in itself; but we can see the sparkling eye, and the ruddy countenance, and the outstretched arm, and the moving foot! We need not cut down a tree, and lay open the body, to see by the grain of the wood of what sort it is. There is another and a better way—it is to judge by the bark, the leaves, the blossoms, the fruit! "For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes." God says, "I will put my spirit within you"—But how can this be seen? "And cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them"—This is discernible enough. James says, "I will show thee my faith by my works;" that is, I will evince my creed in my conduct, and my principles in my practice—And this is the most satisfactory mode of showing them.

God determines to get himself glory by his people in this world; and therefore it is said, "all that see them shall acknowledge that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." But if his grace is to be thus seen and owned in them, there must be something in them more than experience. We are far from undervaluing experience. There is no real religion without it; and it is from your inward dispositions you must chiefly assure your own minds before God: but as to others, they cannot read your hearts—but they can read your lives; and therefore in your lives your godliness must appear. Therefore it is said "to the prisoners, go forth; to them that are in darkness, show yourselves: they shall feed in the ways, and their pasture shall be on all high places." And again: "Let your light

so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Much of the minds of persons may be discovered, by the objects which awaken their attention and desires when they first enter a place. Some look after natural scenery. Some after curiosities. Some after kinds and modes of trades. Some after machinery, and buildings, and libraries. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the Spirit. Barnabas, as soon as he came to Antioch, looked about for displays and instances of divine agency; and when he saw the grace of God "he was glad." The sight would not have been pleasing to all. The enemy of souls would have been enraged at the prospect. The elder brother would not go in to share the joy of the father and the family: and was offended at the Prodigal's return and reception. So are Pharisees now—

"While the wide world esteems it strange, Gaze and admire, and hate the change."

But salvation is "the pleasure of the Lord." Angels, in the presence of God, rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. And every convert may say with the Royal Penitent, "They that fear thee will rejoice when they see me, because I have hoped in thy truth"—

Love to God made Barnabas rejoice. What is every sinner called by grace, but an accession to his subjects; an enemy turned into a friend; who shall show forth his praise by living to his glory, and by being a monument of his mercy and power? "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Benevolence made him glad. And Barnabas was a good man, as well as full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. What generous mind can see without feelings of pleasure, the hungry fed, the destitute clothed, the sick recovered, the captive loosened from his chains? But what is every other deliverance, compared with salvation from the evil of sin? What is every other acquisition, to the gain of that godliness which is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come? He prospers whose soul prospers and is in health. He is free indeed whom the Son makes free. He is rich who has the gold tried in the fire. And every subject of divine grace is not only blessed in himself, but is made a blessing to others. He is now become one of those who, by their prayers, example, and endeavours, are the greatest benefactors of the human race. They are a dew from the Lord; as showers upon the grass. "For them the wilderness and solitary place shall be made glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." When we see a sinner turned into the way of life, who can imagine what he may become? That persecutor now asking, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? may preach the faith that once he destroyed. That profane tinker now beginning to weep and pray, may become a writer, and, by his Pilgrim's Progress and Holy War, may charm and edify the Church to the end of time.

Barnabas rejoiced as a minister. Some enter the sacred calling, only looking after support, emolument, or fame. The salvation of souls is nothing to them. But with "a man of God" it is the end