September 26

is nothing but you may communicate to him. He enjoins you in every thing to make known your requests unto him.

Are you a backslider, and after knowing the evil of sin, and tasting that the Lord is gracious, have you turned again to folly? Have you said, I have loved idols, and after them will I go? "Oh! turn! turn again." "Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord." You will find him where, and what he was—the change has been only in you—

"Behold, great God, we come to thee, Though blushes veil our face; Constrain'd our last retreat to seek In thy much injur'd grace."

And O thou sinner, just awakened to look into thy condition; and pressed with a sense of thy guilt, and depravity, and danger, art asking, "What must I do?" Go thou to him. Wait for nothing to recommend thee.—He looks for nothing. Throw thyself at his footstool. Say, "Lord, mine is a pressing case; I must obtain relief, or be undone for ever. Other refuge have I none. In thee is my help—Leave not my soul destitute." And he will not, he cannot reject thee; for he has said—HIM THAT COMETH UNTO ME, I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT.

SEPTEMBER 26.—"He hath given all things into his hand."—John 3:35.

LOVE is always generous. It delights to heap favours upon its object; and never thinks it has done enough. But what munificence is here! "The Father loveth the Son, and HATH GIVEN ALL THINGS INTO HIS HAND!"

How far does this universality reach? If we compare the assertion with other passages of Scripture, especially with the words of our Saviour after his resurrection, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth;" and with the words of Paul, "He ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things:" we shall see that it cannot be taken too extensively.

It takes in all in nature. To him, as we learn from the application of the Apostle, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, David refers when he says, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Accordingly in the days of his flesh all creatures confessed and obeyed his power. He made summer and winter. The day is his, the night also is his. The silver and the gold are his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. The world is his, and the fulness thereof—He is unworthy the name of a Christian who does not acknowledge his rights and agency in all the scenes of creation around him; walk with him in the bounties of the field; and the beauties of the garden; see him in the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys; and hear him in the voice of every bird, and the breeze of every wind.

It takes in all in Providence. All that is devised and carried on in our world is under his rule. The government is upon his shoul-

der. There is not a being to be found but is either his servant or his slave; who does not obey him voluntarily or by constraint. He doth according to his own will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand. He changes the times and the seasons. He removeth and setteth up kings. While they deal proudly, he is above them. While they follow their own passions they fulfil his designs. When they move in the line of his purpose they are resistless; and when they turn from it, and attempt to go forward, he has a hook for their nose, and a bridle for their jaws. The wrath of man praises him, and the remainder of wrath he restrains—like the owner of the mill, who admits the water as long as the grinding requires, and then drops the hatch. In all our temporal concerns he decides our successes or disappointments.

"If light attends the course I run, 'T is he provides the rays; And 't is his hand that veils my sun, When darkness clouds my days."

Sickness and health, the changes of life, the time, place, and manner of our death, are all regulated by him who "careth for us."

It includes all in grace. The resources of the natural and providential worlds are his, to enable him to accomplish the work of grace. He could not make all things work together for the good of his people, unless they were put under him, and subjected to his control. But they are. He has power given him over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him. He is made head over all things to the Church. Hence all his ways towards them are mercy and truth. He is also king in Zion. Every thing there is committed to his authority. He is the only Lord of conscience. He has the appointment of his own ordinances. He has given prophets, apostles, pastors, evangelists, teachers. All the influences of the Spirit are dispensed by him, and from him. Pardon and peace, righteousness and strength are in him—in him all fulness dwells. Therefore to him shall men come: to him shall the gathering of the people be.

It includes all in glory. At death he comes and receives the souls of his people to himself, that where he is there they may be also. At the last day he raises their bodies, confesses them before his Father and the holy angels, and ushers them into the joy of their Lord. That better world he viewed as his own, even here, and disposed of every thing in it as the owner and governor. "I appoint unto you," said he to his disciples, "a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed me." "This day," said he to the dying thief, "thou shalt be with me in Paradise." The righteous Judge, says the Apostle, shall give me the crown of righteousness: and all the rewards bestowed upon the churches in Asia were conferred by him—"The Father hath given all things into his hand."

Therefore let his adversaries tremble. They may make war with the Lamb; but the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords. Escape is impossible. Resistance is vain—but submission is not.

And therefore if the Father has given all things into his hand, let us do the same. He is worthy of the surrender, and our interest

VOL. II.