November 10

And this is the very image the prophet applies to the Messiah: "He shall see his seed." "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." Paul and his companions call the Thessalonians their "glory and joy." Yet they were only ministers by whom they believed. If converts are the glory and joy of those who are only the instruments of their conversion, how much more are they the glory and joy of him who is the author of it!

It is the joy of benevolence. No pleasure is so unselfish; so pure; so blissful in prospect, and in review, as the pleasure of doing good. But this pleasure will always be in proportion to the degree of benevolent disposition in the benefactor. Who then can imagine the measure of delight in the communication of his favours He must enjoy, "whose heart is made of tenderness," who, when he was rich for our sakes became poor, and died that we might live? O that we were as willing to be blessed as he is to deliver and to indulge us. Then the giver and the receiver would rejoice together.

The joy is encouraging. The awakened and convinced sinner feels his need of strong consolation. But why should he despond? Why should he ask, will he receive me if I apply to him? Does not the Saviour command him to look? Does he not invite him to come? Does he not complain that he will not come? And does not his application afford him pleasure? In pleading with you therefore, O sinner, we have to urge his interest as well as your own. You have long enough dishonoured him, and grieved his holy Spirit. Surely now you ought to delight him; and there is one thing by which you may be sure to do it. Retire with weeping and supplication to his footstool: and cry, Lord, save, I perish; and thy sorrows and sighs will yield him as much satisfaction as the songs of angels—"The prayer of the upright is his delight."

The joy is exemplary. As Christians we must not only depend upon him, but resemble him: not only glory in his cross, but tread in his steps. We are commanded to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us: and are assured that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Let therefore his grief be our grief: let his joy be our joy: and let his joy be fulfilled in us. Let us spare no exertions, let us grudge no sacrifices in our concern to save sinners. Let the work be its own reward. Let the very doing of it be our pleasure. It is what he himself enjoins and expects. "And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." The persons intended are angels and saints. The former readily comply: "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." And can the latter refuse? They who have themselves been recovered and restored? They who have known the misery of sin, and the joy of his salvation? Can they see the grace of God and not be glad?

NOVEMBER 10.—"Unto you therefore which believe he is precious"—1 Peter 2:7.

YET there are many to whom he is not precious who yet believe, and would be offended if they were called infidels. Peter cannot therefore refer to every kind of belief. There is a faith which is

without works, and dead, being alone. But "the faith of God" is operative. It "worketh by love;" and especially love to the Saviour.

When we consider how much depends upon faith; that it is the principle of all genuine religion; that it is the medium of our justification; that we are saved through faith; and that by faith we live and walk; it must be of great importance to know whether we are the subjects of it: and accordingly we are commanded to "examine ourselves whether we be in the faith." And here we are furnished with one of the most pleasing and convincing evidences of the fact. It is the endearment of the Lord Jesus. Is he in our view fairer than the children of men? Is he altogether lovely? all our salvation and all our desire? our glory and our joy? He is so to them that believe—To them "that believe he is precious."

But if this preciousness be the evidence of faith, it is no less the consequence of it. The saints in light do not require faith to endear him. They no longer walk by faith, but by sight. Ah! ye spirits of just men made perfect, in whose number we now reckon many of our own connexions, you see him as he is, and are satisfied by beholding his face in righteousness! But if he is made precious to us in this world it must be by faith. For, first, it is by faith that we gain our information concerning him. We cannot love him without knowing him: but it is faith alone that reveals him to the mind, and tells us where he is, and what he is, and what he possesses, and what he has done, and suffered, and promised. And, secondly, it is only by faith we can, when he is known, make use of him for all the purposes he is ordained to accomplish. He is the refuge, and he is the food of the soul: but a refuge cannot secure us unless it be entered; and food cannot nourish us unless it be eaten: but this application to him, and of him, is the work of faith. It is not a mere notion, but an actual experience, that attaches the Christian to Christ. He has "received him," and received him "full of grace and truth." He has found him infinitely suited to all his wants, and adequate to his relief. Yea, he has healed his broken heart, he has calmed his troubled conscience, he has made him free indeed, he has given him boldness and access with confidence into the holiest of all. And he does not need to be told that all this is the effect of believing on the name of the only begotten Son of God. Thirdly, without faith we have no complacency in him. We cannot esteem and rejoice in any thing unless we feel some congeniality with it. "They that are after the flesh do mind," that is, love, savour, and relish, "the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." And to "be spiritually minded is life and peace." Christ is a holy, spiritual, heavenly Saviour. He was named Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins: and he gave himself for them, that he might redeem them from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. A natural man therefore can have no delight in him or communion with him; "for what communion hath light with darkness, or what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" But to a believer he is precious because he has this principle of conformity. He has the Spirit of Christ; and he received this Spirit not by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith.