JANUARY 24.

I ascend unto my father and your father, and unto my God and your God.-JOHN XX. 17.

God our It is by God being

HENCE we learn by what right we call God, and how he becomes our Father. virtue of our relationship to Jesus Christ. his God and Father, becomes ours in him; and what a privilege is this to have the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for our God and Father, bound by the same covenant engagements to us as to him; for all the promises of God are yea and amen in him, to the glory of God by us. His is the glory, and our's the benefit, we receive all the blessings of adoption into the family of God freely on our part for the sake of Jesus Christ. And because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father, and enabling us to plead the love which he bore to his only-begotten Son, as the groundwork of all our blessings and hopes toward him. "For he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things." Lord Jesus! keep us evermore in remembrance, when we would give way to any despondency or doubt of God's love, that he loves not for any thing in ourselves, but that he is our Father because he was thy Father, and our God because he was thy God.

JANUARY 25.

Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.-1 TIMOTHY VI. 17.

GOD not only gives us all things, but he gives us also the enjoyment of them, and gives us them for this very purpose, that they may be enjoyed. We should never, therefore, be so far out of conceit with his gifts or so far undervalue them as to think them not worth the enjoyment; for this is a disparagement of the grace and intention of the giver. If he gives us them to enjoy, it is as much our duty to enjoy them as it is to fulfil any other of his gracious provisions towards us, so far as that fulfilment rests upon us. I do not frustrate, says the Apostle, the grace of God. I do not endeavour to make void the gracious purpose of God.

For if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain. To endeavour to establish our own righteousness is to make void the righteousness of God. So, not to enjoy the benefits which God bestows upon us, is to make void the purpose for which they were bestowed. There is no duty more incumbent upon us, (if duty it may be called) than that of cheerfulness-to serve God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; and above all cheerfully to contribute of such benefits as we possess to promote the cheerfulness of others. Lord! open thou our hearts and our hands for this purpose, and grant us that we may lay up for ourselves a good foundation for the time to come.

JANUARY 26.

At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched.—NUM. ix. 18.

WHAT a blessing is it to have all our movements under the direction of Providence, and not to move till the cloud moves-to have the divine favour always accompanying us, even a sense of that peace which passeth all understanding-and which is promised to all those who by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let their requests be made known unto God. It was in this manner that believers of old regulated their conduct, and ordered all their affairs. Abraham when called out of his country, obeyed; but he did not move till he was called. Isaac also, and Jacob, were watchers of divine providence, and found their account therein, being heirs with Abraham of the same promise that they should inherit the land wherein they were strangers. How much more, then, does it become believers of the present day, who have so many more assurances of the good will of God towards them, and who have seen the accomplishment of those great promises relating to the coming of Christ, and heard the words and seen the things which many prophets and righteous men desired to see and hear, and saw them not-how much more does it become us to repose with perfect confidence on the providence of God, and to believe that he who spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all, will with him also freely give us all things. Christ hath commanded us to commit our way unto the Lord, and to put our whole trust in him, believing him to be our Heavenly Father, who will take care of us, and perform all things for us. Amen and Amen.

JANUARY 27.

God is not the God of the dead but of the living: for all live unto him.-LUKE XX. 38.

YEA, all owe unto him, life and breath and all things; -not only the life of the body, but, what is of infinitely more importance, the life of the soul. It is Christ who liveth in us, and enableth us to live a life of faith on the Son of God. By his Spirit he renews us again, and gives us spiritual faculties to discern his glory, “ the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Without these faculties we see no comeliness in him that we should desire him; we see nothing in his life and death more than in a history or tragedy, which may move admiration or pity, but does not conciliate love. But when Christ takes possession of the soul, as the law of the Spirit of Life, he makes us free at once from the law of sin and of death, and the same life which he lived in the flesh he perfects according to our measure in us, teaching us," that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and righteously, and honestly, in this present life." Above all, he gives us a spirit of meekness and lowliness of heart, that we may find rest unto our souls, and we do find rest accordingly. Yea! we find that the life of faith is the death of pride, and of the thousand vexations and troubles which spring out of pride, whereby we are "kept secretly in his pavillion from the provoking of men."

JANUARY 28.

For the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.-NUMBERS X. 29.

The

How much is implied in this short sentence ! Lord, even Jehovah, he who hath all power in heaven and on earth, hath spoken good concerning his people. And what is this good that he hath spoken. It is contained in those many promises which are scattered up and down the Bible, like so many gems and precious stones upon the face of the earth. Let him that will gather them, and let him that will take of the waters of life, even of the living waters which Christ giveth, freely. He has promised us his Spirit, to abide with us for ever, and to be in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life. He has promised us all things pertaining unto life and godliness; and he hath promised to be gracious unto us at the voice of our cry. Let our hearts answer for God, whether he hath not in many things answered even our desires; yea, he hath promised us that whatsoever things we desire when we pray, believing, we shall receive at his hands. He hath promised us an exemption from care and fear, our two greatest enemies; and this he gives by revealing unto us his blood and righteousness, as infinitely transcending all our wants, and swallowing up all our demerits. All these good things hath he spoken concerning Israel, who alone is able, but who is abundantly able to make them all good. Unto him be glory for ever and ever. Amen,