dwell-a wilderness intricate, puzzling, and perplexing, "I will give her her vineyards from thence." "And the valley of Achor," a place of trouble, confusion, disorder, distress, and death. "And the valley of Achor for a door of hope." O what a glorious truth! In the midst of all our doubts, fears, and anxieties, hope springs up in the heart, and the door opens through which the child of God must pass into the enjoyment of faith in the person and promises of JEHOVAH-JESUS, Son of God most high. It is ofttimes the case, that before faith is experienced, hope is experimentally possessed. There are many of God's children who possess the faith of His operation, who, if asked as to the reality of it, would ignore its existence altogether. By the light of God the child sees, feels, and is fully acquainted with the unbelief of his nature, yet will not give up his little hope. This is the "good hope through grace" given by God to Paul and his Thessalonian brethren (2 Thess. ii. 16). It was this caused the hymn writer to sing so sweetly,

"Good hope through grace the saints possess,
The fruit of Jesus' righteousness,

And by His Spirit given;

Faith eyes the promise firm and sure,
And hope expects for evermore

To dwell with Christ in heaven."

What is hope? It is belief not amounting to certainty. Lock at that precious description given of it in Heb. vi. 18, 19, where, in describing the persons who are blessed with the possession of it as refugees of hope, the apostle says, "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus." The heirs of promise and refugees of hope flee to the true city of refuge which is Christ Himself, in whom no condemnation, no death, no danger, can ever be found. To fugitives from law, sin, death, and hell, this gate of hope is opened by Zion's gate-keepers in their faithful declarations of God's glorious Gospel. Hope may appear to be a very feeble grace, yet it is a very blessed one, for it pleases the Lord to have gracious respect to those that hope in His mercy, though they will not presume to boast of any volition of their mind in the matter (Psa. xxxiii. 18). Turn with me to Col. i. 27: "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you the Hope of glory." See! Christ my Life! Christ my Hope! Christ my All! As I enter into the enjoyment of this Hope, my heart goes out to God for the little ones in His family in the

words of Nehemiah i. 11: "O LORD, I beseech Thee, let now Thine ear be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant, and to the prayer of Thy servants who desire to fear Thy name." "Begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter i. 3), "by Christ we have access into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom. v. 2). By Christ's own testimony from the lips of His sent ministers who have gone before us through the gates of regeneration and hope, we are brought to a spiritual understanding of our being citizens of no mean city, and of our progress to the palace of our King. We are now led to

The gate of faith. Where do we find this? Turn to Acts xiv. 27: "And when they were come, and had gathered the Church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." This door, or gate of faith was opened by God through the testimony of the apostles. So it is now. Zion's gatekeepers testify of Christ in His fulness and sufficiency of grace by which the gates are opened for the entrance of the redeemed into the enjoyment of their citizenship. As we read of the door of faith, we are led to contemplate faith's door, which is Christ, according to that precious declaration referred to in John x. 9: "I am the Door." If I enter into the city, it is by precious faith; yet the faith is not of my own producing, but that of the operation of God (Col. ii. 12). Without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb. xi. 6). Without holiness I cannnot see Him (Heb. xii. 14); without blood there is no redemption; without righteousness there is no justification; and without wisdom there is no understanding in the way. But Christ is the Object, Author, and Finisher of my faith, Christ is my Hope, Christ is my Sanctification, Christ is my Righteousness, Christ is my Redemption, Christ is my Glory, and Christ is my All in All. In 1 Cor. xvi. 9, Paul says, "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." Has God's faith been wrought in you by the power of the Holy Ghost, so that your hand clings to a precious Christ, your feet run to a precious Christ, your eyes look to a precious Christ, your heart longs for a precious Christ, your spirit hungers and thirsts for a precious. Christ? Then, as assuredly as Christ entered into the holiest of all for you, so your faith and hope have entered too, and are centered in Him there. As you have entered feelingly and experimentally into the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities of the kingdom of God, and rejoice even a little in the spiritual apprehension of them here below, so you will enter into His glory up yonder when all the temptations and trials of the journey are past and gone for ever.

Faith. What is it? It is the reliance of the heart upon God's testimony. It is believing that which we do not see. I have a pair of spectacles in my hand, but I do not believe they

I

are there. I know it by the evidence of my natural senses. Tell me of something I never saw, and I either believe or disbelieve. you. Tell me of something apart altogether from my knowledge, and as this is brought home with convincing proof of its truthfulness, I receive it and rely upon it as truth. thus understand spiritually the apostle's declaration in Heb. xi. 1: "Now faith is the substance," ground, or confidence, "of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the spiritual enjoyment of the person, preciousness, and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do I believe in His righteousness? It is by His faith (Phil. iii. 9). Do I believe that I possess His life? It is by His faith (Gal. ii. 20). Do I believe that I am justified before God? It is by the faith of Jesus Christ (Gal. ii. 16). Now turn to that precious portion recorded in Acts xiii. 38, 39: "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Do you say my justification is by my believing? I say it is not. It is " BY HIM all that believe are justified from all things.' Through whatever minister you have received this precious truth, the same is Zion's gate-opener to you.

The gate of righteousness. Now turn with me to that resurrection and regeneration Psalm, the 108th, where the Lord Jesus Christ says, "The LORD hath chastened Me sore: but He hath not given Me over unto death. Open to Me the gates of righteousness, I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD. This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter." It is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ who calls, "Open to Me the gates of righteousness." What are these gates? The gate of regeneration, the gate of hope, and the gate of faith through which the Head of the Church passes with His members. Through them He must pass with all those whom the Father gave to Him, whom He redeemed with His most precious blood, who are the fruit of His soul travail, the joy of His heart, and the delight of His eye. Oh, my dear friends, God does nothing in unrighteousness. He is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works (Psa. cxlv. 17). He was righteous before the worlds were framed, when, in the decree of election, part of the human family was predestined to eternal glory, and the other part left to wander to eternal perdition. He was righteous when, on Calvary's cross, His precious blood redeemed His own elect, and left the rest to perish in their sins. He was righteous when, from Bethlehem to Calvary, He gave a perfect obedience to His Father's righteous law for all His elect and redeemed ones in which they shall stand everlastingly complete before His face. On righteous ground He takes possession of His own, and in His adorable person brings them through the gates into the city. It is no mean city where they find their names

enrolled, and its glorious freedom is conferred upon them. This is the glorious liberty of the children of God. Here are found no legal shackles, no fleshly fetters, no carnal cords to bind the free-born citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. Within these gates the whip of small cords prepared by the legal driver is scorned by those who are let loose to range the heights of covenant favour in blessed association with their Redeemer and their God.

III.—THE GRACIOUS PRIVILEGES "That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in." This is the reason given for the command, "Open ye the gates." It is mine then, and the blessed privilege of every God-sent minister to open these gates testimonially by the declaration of His truth, the proclamation of His promises, the opening up of the mysteries of grace, and by tracing the experience in which a child of God enters into the strong city by spiritual regeneration, a good hope through grace, and the faith of God's operation. Entering in this way, the subject of Divine grace knows and feels that he forms a part of the righteous nation mentioned in the text. What nation is this? Some point to the Jews, but that will not do for me. Turn to Psa. xxxiii. 12: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance." The Holy Ghost describes this in 1 Peter ii. 10: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation." A nation holy in its great and glorious King. A nation righteous in its righteous Head. "Which keepeth the truth." All the truth designed for each citizen must, and will be, kept by Him. Some poor children will say, We are not so clever as to be able to do that. Wait! Is the deserter clever who keeps the brand burned into his flesh? The citizen of Zion who receives the truth of the Father's electing love, the Son's redeeming grace, and the Spirit's regenerating mercy, receives it in the furnace of affliction, where it is so burnt in, that neither sin, Satan, nor suffering can ever obliterate it. The living child of God may ofttimes lose the remembrance of it, but the covenant Remembrancer will bring it to light in His own good time. All the elect and redeemed of God shall enter into this no mean city by the means which God has in His own hands, and shall know feelingly what that means as expressed in those lines of dear old Joseph Irons:

"We have listened to the preacher,

Truth by him has now been shown;
But we want a greater Teacher
From the everlasting throne.
Application

Is the work of God alone.

EXPERIMENTAL INUNDATION.

A Sermon

PREACHED IN GROVE CHAPEL, CAMBERWELL, ON SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 30TH, 1879, BY

THOMAS BRADBURY.

"When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him."-Isaiah lix. 19.

N this chapter we have the total depravity, utter incorrigi

bility, and universal corruption of human nature strikingly set forth. As my eye scanned the chapter this morning before coming here, much questioning arose in my mind as to whether or no I should read it. The greater portion displays the awful malady, sin, with only here and there a word about God's remedy. Here we can see sin abounding, and the chariot wheels of salvation apparently dragging heavily. The opening words are an expostulation of JEHOVAH to His ancient people. He says, "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save: neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear." These words were addressed to a people who were at a fearful distance from God, yet professedly nigh. Outward privileges secure not nearness or communion with God. In the midst of the corrupt mass of the Jewish people a remnant was found who mourned over their felt distance from the God they loved, and ofttimes they could call into question the reality of their love. Look at the second verse: "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." Sin, through the convicting power of the Holy Ghost, and felt in the conscience of a living child of God, forms a dense, black cloud, hiding a loving Father's face from view. In this night of desertion the sweet recognition. of a covenant Parent is withheld, when the child turns inward and after great searchings of heart comes to the just conclusion so aptly described in the following verses. Terrible, trenchant, and unmistakable is the declaration of JEHOVAH concerning

No. 151.-PRICE ONE PENNY.