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Meditation for Tuesday Morning.

"God so loved thee that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."— John iii. 16.

God in Christ, is a God of pity and compassion to us; a God of patience, a God of mercy, with whom is plenteous redemption; a God pardoning iniquity, and passing by transgression: loving us in our low estate, loving us, and pitying us, and pardoning us; loving us and washing us; loving us and saving us from our sins, and from the wrath to come. Such is the great love that kindles love; love breaking forth out of a cloud of anger and displeasure; abused love, provoked love, and yet forgiving love! To whom much is forgiven, they will love much! Now in Christ, we have not only a property in God, but, in some degree, a present possession. "He that hath the Son, hath the Father also." We see his light, we see his love, we taste of his goodness, we enjoy his presence, we have God with us, we have fellowship with him, he dwelleth in us, and we in him, and hence we love and herein we rejoice! No wonder, Christians, that carnal hearts are strangers to this love: but, oh! what a sad wonder is it that saints who have been so often mounted

for heaven, are yet no nearer home, that they should be still so much on the earth, whose feet are so often on the mountain of the Lord; so far from God, when God is among them. Where is your love, Christians? how is it that it is here below? what have you here? your city is above, your home is above, your God, your Jesus, your treasure is above. Oh! how is it, that where your treasure is your hearts are not also: that you send up to heaven your eyes, your prayers, your complaints, your promises, and still leave your hearts below? did we love our God more, we certainly should be more with him and to better purpose; we should not go away without his blessing, nor throw it away when we had gotten it: what is knowledge, faith, hope, patience, without love? Dost thou value thy soul? is religion, is heaven, is Christ, is God himself of any account with thee? then prize the love of God: without love God is no God to thee, Christ is no Christ to thee, heaven is no heaven for thee; better thou hadst no being than no love. O prize the love of God, prize and seek, prize and pray; pray as for thy soul, as for thy everlasting 'kingdom! love and thou wilt be holy; love and thou wilt be humble: love and thou wilt be fruitful; love and thou wilt please, praise, and enjoy thy God. O how little kindly

warmth in our spirits! Do we feel our hearts working upwards, ascending in our own flames? Wewish well to his name and interest, we wish he were ours; we wish ourselves his. Oh! if wishing were loving, what Christians should we be! But doth the kingdom of God suffer violence; the kingdom of heaven may offer violence if it will, and take us by force, but how little violence doth it suffer! We say we love God; we desire to be holy; but is there nothing we desire more? O how few hearty friends hath Christ in the world, and how little love from those few: so little that we cannot tell ourselves whether it be any thing or nothing: how many marks must we consider ere we can prove that we love him, and yet at last are still in doubt whether we love him or not; how few of us can make our appeal to him, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. O Lord, do thou kindle in qur souls this sacred fire of divine love, and then shall our mouth be opened, then will wespeak of the glorious honour of thy Majesty, and of thy wondrous works; then shall we sing of the name which the Lord hath claimed :-The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy! The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works: let thy

saints bless thee, let them abundantly utter the memory of thy goodness, and sing of thy righteousness. O our God, thou art all love, all goodness, all grace: O let thy servants be all love, and praise, and joy!

HYMN.

Come, all harmonious tongues,
Your noblest music bring;
'Tis Christ the everlasting God,
And Christ the Man, we sing.

Tell how he took our flesh,
To take away our guilt;
Sing the dear drops of sacred blood,
That hellish monsters spilt.

Down to the shades of death,

He bow'd his awful head:
Yet he arose to live and reign
When death itself is dead.

No more the bloody spear,
The cross and nails no more;
For hell itself shakes at his name,
And all the heav'ns adore.

There the Redeemer sits,
High on his Father's throne ;
The Father lays his vengeance by,
And smiles upon his Son.

A PENITENTIARY PRAYER

For Tuesday Morning.

O Lord God, merciful and gracious, who willest not the death of a sinner, but rather that he turn and live; we feel that we are sinners before thee, because we are so unlike thee the blessed God. We were born with inclinations to that which is evil, and we have too much followed those inclinations all our lives; we have lived at a distance from thee;-lived without thee in the world, forgetting our own souls, and that eternal world into which we must enter. We have been strangers to that holy and heavenly life which must prepare us for the heavenly blessedness: without love to that blessed Saviour who so loved us who wept, and bled, and died for us! With what melting and charming language did he plead with us! he called but we did not answer! he pleaded, "He that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out," but we were not moved; his bowels yearned, but our hearts did not relent; his blessed spirit awakened our conscience but how soon did it fall asleep again. Lord, we are ashamed to look back upon our lives. What a hearty sorrow and unfeigned grief do our sins call

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