Let us remember, that we are in no way injured when we are under long afflictions; and that whatever come of us, God is always very just: He will not lay upon man more than right' (Job xxxiv. 23). An earthly parent, in the warmth and heat of anger, may in too severe a manner correct the follies of his child; but that God that knows our frame, what is fit for him to do, and what we are able to bear, will proportion his corrections to the necessities of our case, and not suffer our troubles to stay a day longer than is needful to accomplish those excellent ends for which they are designed: he may in his anger pull us down and make us desolate; but we know not what a comely structure he intends to build from these ruins; it may be that the darkness that affrights us is to usher in an eternal and a glorious day: 'His ways are far above our ways.' So much greatness, wisdom, and goodness as there is in him, should produce in our hearts patience and resignation, though we know not what a period he intends to put to his present dark and unsearchable designs. Though we are pained, he is faithful still; and though he does not gratify our curiosity, nor suffer our blind eyes to pierce into the depths of his counsels, yet let us hold this for a certain truth, that the Lord is righteous and just in all his ways. He may say to us, as Christ said to Peter, 'What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter' (John xiii. 7). His justice should silence our murmuring complaints; and his faithfulness our discouragements and faintings. He never afflicts us but with reason; he never does it but with a design of our final good. The sword that wounds us, brings a balsam with it; it opens a passage to let out our corruptions, and then it heals and closes up the wound again: Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him' (Isa. xxx. 18).

(To be continued.)

If the twelve apostles were again upon earth, and you could hear them all every week; yet, if you were not attentive to the duties of the closet; if you did not allow yourself time for reading, meditation, and prayer; and if you did not likewise conscientiously attend to the concernments of your particular calling, and the discharge of your duties in relative life; I should be more ready to blame your indiscretion, than to admire your zeal.-John Newton.

A LETTER BY OLIVER CROMWELL.

TO MY BELOVED COUSIN MRS. ST. JOHN, AT SIR WILLIAM MASHAM HIS HOUSE CALLED OTES, IN ESSEX: PRESENT THESE.

DEAR COUSIN,-I thankfully acknowledge your love in your kind remembrance of me upon this opportunity. Alas, you do too highly prize my lines, and my company. I may be ashamed to own your expressions, considering how unprofitable I am, and the mean improvement of my talent.

Yet to honour my God by declaring what he hath done for my soul, in this I am confident, and I will be so. Truly, then, this I find: That he giveth springs in a dry barren wilderness where no water is. I live, you know where,—in Meshec, which they say signifies Prolonging; in Kedar, which signifies Blackness: yet the Lord forsaketh me not. Though he do prolong, yet he will I trust bring me to his tabernacle, to his resting-place. My soul is with the congregation of the firstborn, my body rests in hope; and if here I may honour my God either by doing or by suffering, I shall be most glad.

me.

Truly no poor creature hath more cause to put himself forth in the cause of his God than I. I have had plentiful wages beforehand; and I am sure I shall never earn the least mite. The Lord accept me in his Son, and give me to walk in the light,—and give us to walk in the light, as he is the light! He it is that enlighteneth our blackness, our darkness. I dare not say, He hideth his face from He giveth me to see light in his light. One beam in a dark place hath exceeding much refreshment in it :-blessed be his name for shining upon so dark a heart as mine! You know what my manner of life hath been. Oh! I lived in and loved darkness, and hated light; I was a chief, the chief of sinners. This is true: I hated godliness, yet God had mercy on me. O the riches of his mercy! Praise him for me ;-pray for me, that he who hath begun a good work would perfect it in the day of Christ.

Salute all my friends in that family whereof you are yet a member. I am much bound unto them for their love. I bless the Lord for them; and that my son, by their procurement, is so well. Let him have your prayers, your counsel; let me have them.

Salute your husband and sister from me:- he is not a man of his word! He promised to write about Mr. Wrath, of Epping; but as yet I receive no letters :-put him in mind to do what with conveniency may be done for the poor cousin I did solicit him about.

Once more farewell. The Lord be with you: so prayeth your truly

loving cousin,

Ely, 13th October, 1638.

OLIVER CROMWELL.

BREATHINGS FOR ZION'S PROSPERITY.

DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER in the best bonds of him that died for guilty sinners such as myself; but my hope is in his dying love and mercy, for it is of his mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.' O that I could live to him more, love him more, love his word more, and pray for Zion more! I often think of you, and at times feel a desire that the Lord may strengthen you in his cause, and bless you in your labour of love in his work. I am not able to meet amongst the Lord's people; but, bless the Lord, I can join in spirit with them at times, and beg his blessing to be poured out on his people. The poet says,

'My soul shall pray for Zion still,

While life or breath remains.'

May the Lord give us the spirit of prayer for Zion; praying breath is not spent in vain. O that we may each look to the Lord, and beg the spirit of prayer! I have great cause for thankfulness for the measure of health he gives me. I am able to come downstairs, and to remain up about eight hours in the day by lying on my sofa a little. I am thankful when any of the Lord's people call and see me, and I should be glad to see my old friend Mr. Young; but I do feel myself unworthy of any friends calling to see me.

Jane and myself join in love to you, Mrs. Young, and family.— Yours in him,

Grittenham, Nov. 13, 1874.

JACOB BURCHELL.

MERCIES.-Beware of abusing the mercy of God, nothing can be sweeter when improved, but nothing fiercer when abused. It is not for them that sin, and fear not; but for those that fear, and sin not; such may go and receive the cream of his mercies.-WATSON.

PERSECUTION doth but mow the church, which comes up the thicker for it, 'tis unholiness that ruins it; persecutors do but plough God's field for him, while he is sowing it with the blood they let out; but profaneness is that which roots it up and lays all waste, conscience and churches also.-GURNALL.

WHATEVER runs against God and religion, will be run down at last.-HENRY.

EXPOSITION BY JOHN CALVIN ON 2 THESS. II. 14-16.

(Concluded from p. 285.)

In sanctification of the Spirit, says he, and belief of the truth. This may be explained in two ways, WITH sanctification, or BY sanctification. It is not of much importance which of the two you select, as it is certain that Paul meant simply to introduce, in connection with election, those nearer tokens which manifest to us what is in its own nature incomprehensible, and are conjoined with it by an indissoluble tie. Hence, in order that we may know that we are elected by God, there is no occasion to enquire as to what he decreed before the creation of the world, but we find in ourselves a satisfactory proof if he has sanctified us by his Spirit,-if he has enlightened us in the faith of his gospel. For the gospel is an evidence to us of our adoption, and the Spirit seals it, and those that are led by the Spirit are the sons of God (Rom. viii. 14), and he who by faith possesses Christ has everlasting life (1 John v. 12). These things must be carefully observed, lest, overlooking the revelation of God's will, with which he bids us rest satisfied, we should plunge into a profound labyrinth from a desire to take it from his secret counsel, from the investigation of which he draws us aside. Hence it becomes us to rest satisfied with the faith of the gospel, and that grace of the Spirit by which we have been regenerated. And by this means is refuted the wickedness of those who make the election of God a pretext for every kind of iniquity, while Paul connects it with faith and regeneration in such a manner, that he would not have it judged of by us on any other grounds.

Ver. 14. To which he called us. He repeats the same thing, though in somewhat different terms. For the sons of God are not called otherwise than to the belief of the truth. Paul, however, meant to shew here how competent a witness he is for confirming that thing of which he was a minister. He accordingly puts himself forward as a surety, that the Thessalonians may not doubt that the gospel, in which they had been instructed by him, is the safetybringing voice of God, by which they are aroused from death, and are delivered from the tyranny of Satan. He calls it his gospel, not as though it had originated with him, but inasmuch as the preaching of it had been committed to him.

What he adds to the acquisition or possession of the glory of Christ, may be taken either in an active or in a passive signification-either as meaning, that they are called in order that they may one day

possess a glory in common with Christ, or that Christ acquired them with a view to his glory. And thus it will be a second means of confirmation, that he will defend them, as being nothing less than his own inheritance, and, in maintaining their salvation, will stand forward in defence of his own glory; which latter meaning, in my opinion, suits better.

He deduces this exhortation on good grounds from what goes before, inasmuch as our steadfastness and power of perseverance rest on nothing else than assurance of divine grace. When, however, God calls us to salvation, stretching forth, as it were, his hand to us; when Christ, by the doctrine of the gospel, presents himself to us to be enjoyed; when the Spirit is given us as a seal and earnest of eternal life, though the heaven should fall, we must, nevertheless, not become disheartened. Paul, accordingly, would have the Thessalonians stand, not merely when others continue to stand, but with a more settled stability; so that, on seeing almost all turning aside from the faith, and all things full of confusion, they will, nevertheless, retain their footing. And assuredly the calling of God ought to fortify us against all occasions of offence in such a manner, that not even the entire ruin of the world shall shake, much less overthrow, our stability.

Ver. 15. Hold fast the institutions. Some restrict this to precepts of external polity; but this does not please me, for he points out the manner of standing firm. Now, to be furnished with invincible strength is a much higher thing than external discipline. Hence, in my opinion, he includes all doctrine under this term, as though he had said that they have ground on which they may stand firm, provided they persevere in sound doctrine, according as they had been instructed by him. I do not deny that the term napadóσes is fitly applied to the ordinances which are appointed by the churches, with a view to the promoting of peace and the maintaining of order, and I admit that it is taken in this sense when human traditions are treated of (Matt. xv. 6). Paul, however, will be found in the next chapter making use of the term tradition, as meaning the rule that he had laid down, and the very signification of the term is general. The context, however, as I have said, requires that it be taken here to mean the whole of that doctrine in which they had been instructed. For the matter treated of is the most important of all—that their faith may remain secure in the midst of a dreadful agitation of the church.