JANUARY 14.

For they know his voice.-JOHN X. 4.

WE cannot have a better evidence of belonging to Christ, than knowing his voice in our hearts: for as no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost, so is it by the Spirit of Christ only that we can recognize the voice of Christ in our hearts; speaking peace by the blood of his cross, and encouraging us from time to time to come unto him, that we may find rest. This is that peace of God which passeth all understanding, and which is to keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This is that presence, which is to go along with us, and give us peace, and truly it is ever present with true believers, even when they least perceive it, saying, "this is the way, walk ye in it; when they turn to the right hand or to the left. They find that no other voice will speak peace to their souls, no other voice will calm their troubled thoughts, nor will any other quell their corruptions. But no sooner is the voice of Christ heard within, than the turbulence of passion is at an end. He says,

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peace! be still!" and immediately there is a great calm. It is no wonder, therefore, that believers should know his voice, and should know it from any other, for they find that no other, however refined, has the same effect.

JANUARY 15.

Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal : the Lord knoweth them that are his.-2 TIMOTHY II, 19,

OUR consolation is not that we know God, but that we are known of him, for our best knowledge after all is only ignorance, but the knowledge which God has of believers is a knowledge of complacency, founded on what they are in Christ, and which cannot be disturbed by any want of fitness in the subjects of it. The Lord knoweth those that are his, and he has made them his with a perfect knowledge of what they are in themselves : sinners, guilty, helpless, but saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. So that no after discoveries of unworthiness can disturb his purposes of grace toward them; because he hath chosen them in Christ with the fullest apprehension of their infirmity, and their utter unworthiness of his favours. What a calm does it bring upon the mind when we can see our salvation secured, in the person of Christ, by the foreknowledge of God, and out of the possibility of danger. "My Father which gave them me is greater than I, and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand! Yea, Lord, we believe, help thou our unbelief," and enable us to rest with perfect assurance on thy word, that none shall pluck us out of thy hand.

JANUARY 16.

And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.-PSALM Xxxv. 28.

THIS is not the only place in which righteousness and praise are coupled together? For it is said in Isaiah, "As the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring up, so will I cause righteousness and praise to spring forth out of the earth," or out of our hearts, which by nature are earthly; a disposition which we inherit from the first Adam. But as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we also of the heavenly. We shall be renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created us,-Christ Jesus ;-in righteousness and true holiness. Then shall a new song be put into our mouths, even a song of thanksgiving unto him our God. For how can we apprehend his righteousness, or rather be apprehended of it, without a sense of thankfulness. There is no day of our lives in which we have more cause for joy than that in which we are brought to the knowledge of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is our riches and the length of our days, that which assures our prosperity and happiness. Judge us, O Lord, according to thy righteousBehold us as clothed in it. Look upon us in the Beloved; and look not upon us in our blood. So shall we be safe from the paths of the destroyer.

ness.

JANUARY 17.

When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel.— HOSEA xiii. 1.

THERE is nothing more true in divinity, whatever it may be in human policy, than that before honour goeth humility, and a haughty spirit before a fall. If we look back to our own experiences in times past, we may always trace the footsteps of pride before a fall, and we shall as invariably find that honour has been preceded by humility. "God upholdeth the humble in spirit, but beholdeth the proud afar off.” And because we sometimes disregard his warnings, he makes us feel the consequences of our own pride in some sensitive part, through the instrumentality of He causeth the proud to ride over our heads; -for the wicked are God's rod, with which he chasteneth his people: but when we humble ourselves again, then he throws away his rod, and punishes the wicked for their presumption; or even corrects his own people, as he did Job's friends, who may not vex each other with impunity. He punishes the rod and exalts the sufferer; for whosoever humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased.

man.

JANUARY 18.

Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.-HEBREWS Xi. 25.

THERE is nothing but a real and a thorough persuasion of the love and favour of God can cast out the love of the world: "For if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him;" by which it is clear that these two cannot consist, and that where the love of the Father really is, it not only can, but actually does, cast out the love of the world. It makes the world seem as nothing in comparison of the joy that is set before us; and it makes us willing to encounter the afflictions which belong to the people of God. Not that we are to understand by this, that the people of God have no enjoyments in this life. Far from it. They have the presence and peace of God, which as far exceedeth all earthly pleasures, as it passeth our own understanding. We feel it, but we cannot conceive it till we do feel it. It is an inconceivable quietness of spirit, engendered by a sense of the forgiveness of sins, and of our being in perfect friendship with God. Thus, God and we being agreed, we become of one party, and make head against the world. The love and fear of God takes place of the love and fear of man. And then we may be said really to enjoy life, when we cease to live unto ourselves and to the world.