science. "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. That thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right hand, and hear me." Abiding by the standard is cleaving to God incarnate; and cleaving to the banner is believing the love that God has to us in Christ; and by viewing, abiding, and holding fast there, is the only way to overcome this world, and the god of it; for "What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall persecution, tribulation, nakedness, famine, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that hath loved us."

The great work of a good soldier of Christ is that of abiding by the standard; and this abiding by the standard is, according to John, knowing and believing; "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us," 1 John iv. 16. This is the touchstone, the highest and the establishing act of faith; and it is difficult for a poor sensible sinner to believe that God has loved him in Christ with an everlasting love, notwithstanding all the frowns and chastisements with which God has exercised him. Against this banner, and this fold of it, the devil always labours.-Can this cross, this frown, these trials, these corruptions, these disappointments and chastisements, stand with the everlasting love of God to you? And then

he raises a cloud of doubts, musters up a troop of fears, spreads a dismal gloom upon the mind, and sets an army of terrors against us, and summons carnal reason, which is as blind as a bat, and calls for unbelief, which is to have faith. in nothing but lies: these all agree together; then the poor creature begins to fret; and that which winds it up is, Satan telling us that all this is the anger of God against us; until God comes and disproves the lie, and brings both us and his work forth to the light again.

Abide by the standard, Thomas; God never loved any child in this world as he loved his holy child Jesus; and sure I am that no child of God ever suffered like him. He arraigned him, condemned him, cursed him, poured all his wrath upon him, drew his sword against him, and cut him off. He was chastised, he was stricken, that we might be healed. It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hid his face from him in the worst of all his conflicts. Let the devil deny this if he can, and prove that God did not love him all this time. This argument, Thomas, will baffle the devil himself, and make him sculk off like a dog that has burnt his tail.

Take one hint more. When God shews us our utter unworthiness, we being brought to loathe ourselves in our own sight, Satan will often tempt us to believe that we are as loath

some in God's sight as we are in our own. But we are not to let our self-abasement run away with all the comforts of faith. If we do, we shall think that God is displeased both with us and with all our obedience: but God views us complete in Christ, and loved us before the world was, and preserved us in him, and calls us his delight, his jewels, his peculiar treasure, his wife, his daughter, and his children; and takes a pleasure in all that hope in his mercy; yea," the prayer of the upright is his delight:"

he declares that our voice is sweet, our countenance comely, and that we are for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty in the hand of our God. He calls us his portion, his inheritance, the apple of his eye, the joy of his heart, and the darling of his soul; and what God says is true, hearty, and sincere, and shall never pass away, or come to nought; and all the love, comfort, peace, and heavenly smiles, revivings and refreshings, that we have felt, are infallible proofs of it.

Beloved, adieu!

Ever yours in him,

W. H. S. S.

CXCIX.

Dec. 11, 1801.

Dear Brother in Christ,

Christ took "Behold my

"BETTER is he that is despised and hath a servant, than he that honoureth himself and lacketh bread," Prov. xii. 9. Despised every one must be that hath a servant. on him the form of a servant. servant, whom I uphold!" He was born under the law; and all that are under the law are servants. Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a bond servant that had been gored to death by the horus of a beast, Exod. xxi. 32. Fat bulls of Bashan, and the horns of unicorns, gored the Saviour; read Psalm xxii: and his price was thirty pieces of silver. But what is most strange is, that he is our servant: "Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." Yea, take it from his own mouth: "I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Which is greater, he that serveth, or he that sitteth at meat? is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as he that serveth." And what is the work of a servant? nothing meaner than to wash the feet; and he washes us all, or we should never be

clean. And who cooked the cakes for Elijah? the Angel of the covenant; the same that baked the bread and broiled the fish at the sea of Tiberias, and that provided every morning and evening that which the ravens carried in the days of old. And what says the Lord to this? "I was as one that drew them with the cords of love; and I took the yoke (of unbelief) from their jaws, and laid meat before them." And is it not Wisdom that kills her beasts, mingles her wine, and spreads her table? Yea; and he puts on our clothes too. "The Lord hath clothed me with the garments of salvation," says Zion, "he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels:" yea, he puts the robe on our back, the ring on our hand, and the shoes on our feet. Nor will this service be finished till the last day: "Blessed are those servants whom, when their Lord cometh, he shall find watching: ve rily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and come forth and serve them," Luke xii. 37.

Now he that is despised, and hath this ser vant, is better than the Pharisees that have honour, and lack the bread of eternal life. “Come, eat of my bread,” says Wisdom, "and drink of the wine which I have mingled." "Aye; but,' says my brother, 'how are we to get this