November 1

and, like the man before us, be found in the temple giving glory to God, and be always inquiring, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?"

Maintain a carriage becoming your privileged condition. You were darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light. It would be shameful in you to strike against the stumbling blocks over which the blind fall. See your danger and your duty. Be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Pity and pray for those whose eyes are not yet opened. You would be concerned in other cases of far less moment and misery. You feel even for the blind beggar that sits on the bank, or is led along by his faithful dog. How much more would you be distressed at the sight of a brother, or sister, or mother, or child, in this groping and comfortless condition! Where are your feelings when you behold sinners incapable of spiritual action and enjoyment, and approaching senseless the verge of the bottomless pit?

You were once in the same state yourselves, and can therefore sympathize with those who are still in it. O tell them what you see and enjoy. Tell them light is sweet, and what a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun of Righteousness. It would not indeed be kind to do this unless there was hope for them. But there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. You cannot open their eyes for them. And they cannot open their own eyes—But there is One to do it who is able, and is equally willing. Tell them what he has done for you. Tell them that he is now within call: that he is at this moment passing by: and never yet refused the prayer of the destitute.

NOVEMBER.

NOVEMBER 1.—"And he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God."—2 Chronicles 33:13.

—By an experimental and practical knowledge of him, the effect of converting grace. He had been a monster of iniquity, and seemed beyond the reach of mercy. But he obtained forgiveness, and by his graciously overruled exile and imprisonment, as the means, he was induced to seek the Lord God of his fathers, and he was found of him.

The change was real and amazing, and verified the language of the prophet: "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, and for an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off." All conversion is a turning. In religion it means a change of views, dispositions, and pursuits, so that we become the reverse of what we were before. With some who use the term, it seems to mean much less than this, and to signify only an impression, a change of opinions, a strong persuasion—not a transformation of mind, not the renewing of the Holy Ghost, not a transition from one moral state to another. When we have heard some per-

sons talking of their conversion under a preacher, and at such a time—for they are often very particular in the date, we have been ready to say, we know not what you were before your conversion, but we know what you are since! But if a man was proud, and revengeful, and covetous before his conversion, and remains so after it, where is the change? What should we have thought of Manasseh's conversion, had he, whatever professions he made, continued in his former ways? But there was a change in the whole of his character, conversation, and conduct. He ceased to do evil, and learned to do well. By two things the reality of his conversion showed itself.

First, he lived some years after it, and thus his religion had time to be developed. This is generally the case with the Lord's people. He calls them out of darkness, that they may walk as children of light. "This people," says he, "have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise." Many seem to view repentance as a preparation, not for life, but only for death. We must not limit the Holy One of Israel. He may call a man at the eleventh hour: but we have reason to believe the cases are very rare; and too much stress is laid by some preachers and some periodicals on these late appearances—conversions which take place a few days or weeks at most before dissolution. Even when persons have obtained that repentance which is unto life, and have died immediately after, though they have died safely, the change must have been less certain to themselves, and less satisfactory to others.

Secondly, by a peculiar turn of Providence, the hand that wounded him also healed, and he "was brought again to Jerusalem into his kingdom." And now is the time to observe him. Many have quickly left the religion of a sick chamber after their recovery. The serious attention to Divine things which abasement produced, prosperity has soon dissipated. But see the triumph of this man's principles among the snares and dangers of returning prosperity. No sooner is he seated again on the throne than he sets an example becoming it. He purifies the temple, restores the worship of God, and endeavours to bring back those he had led astray. "And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel." Never was there a true convert without zeal of the same kind. As soon as we feel the value of our own souls we shall prize the souls of others; and be concerned to teach transgressors his ways, and to convert sinners unto God. The earnestness we discover may offend the formal, and even the persons we strive to reclaim may deem us intermeddlers, and tell us to keep our religion to ourselves—But this is impossible. This is telling the fire not to burn, and the spring not to flow. "If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And if we bless those who consider the poor, and endeavour to feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, how much more should we applaud the man who tries to save a soul from death, and to hide a multitude of sins.

"Ah! Manasseh could be useful. He had opportunities and