Self-knowledge will produce self-annihilation. Selfvindication will be at an end; and we shall condemn ourselves. Self-complacency will be at an end; and we shall loathe ourselves. Self-dependence will be at an end; and we shall have no confidence in the flesh. "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Hence will arise the endearment of the Saviour. How precious is the refuge, now the danger is seen! How inviting the healing fountain appears, now we feel our disease! For want of this sensibility, many read and hear of the Lord Jesus with indifference. How can it be otherwise? They that are whole, need not the Physician, but they that are sick. The full soul loathes the honeycomb; but to the hungry, every bitter thing is sweet.

Hence, also, submission, under afflictive dispensations. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, said the Church, because I have sinned against him. Why, says Jeremiah, should a living man complain? Aaron's recollection of his making a calf just before, kept him dumb in the loss of his sons. And David felt, from his adultery and murder, how well it became him to say, in Absalom's rebellion, Here I am; let the Lord do what seemeth him good. If a Christian has nothing criminal in particular to fix upon, he will see enough, in his general temper and walk, to keep him from thinking that God deals hardly with him. The wonder with him will benot that his trials are so many; but so few-not that so many of his comforts are taken; but that any are left.

Another advantage, will be habitual gratitude. The proud are never thankful. Heap whatever favours upon them, and what reward have ye? They think they deserve it. You are only doing your duty-You are doing justly, rather than loving

mercy. But when we are humble, in the same proportion we shall be grateful. When we feel that we are not worthy of the least of all God's mercies, how thankful shall we be for the bread we eat, and the water that we drink!-What, then, for the Word of his truth! and the Son of his love!

Finally. As we are sensible of our depravity, we shall be tender towards others. Faithful dealing with ourselves, will always be accompanied with candid dealing with our fellow-creatures. When we are much at home, we cannot live much abroad. When we are employed in pulling the beams out of our own eyes, we shall not have much time for finding beams in those of others. If there be a difference between us and them, we shall ascribe it, when we know ourselves, to the mercy and grace of God-He has made us to differ-and we have nothing but what we have received. If we meet with things which are really wrong, and which we cannot deny, we shall not rejoice, but weep. And if a brother be overtaken in a fault, we shall restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted.

Maundrell, in his Fable of the Bees; and Rochefacoult, in his Maxims; and many Infidel writers; have shewn great acquaintance with the depravity of human nature. But they learned it from the Devil-and the scholars felt like the teacher. They delighted in the subject. They loved to expose it. It was their interest to degrade and vilify human nature, to draw from it arguments for hatred, injury, selfishness, and distrust. But God teaches us the depravity of human nature, principally through our own depravity. And, with his teaching, he communicates his own Spirit. We therefore pity our common nature. We mourn over its dishonour. We pray for our fellow sinners. We long to save

them.

DEC. 5.-" This man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land." Micah v. 5.

THAT the Messiah is the person here intended, will not be denied by those who read the verses immediately preceding; and which speak so expressly of his incarnation and glory. The word man, indeed, as the italics apprize us, is not in the original. The sentence therefore reads, "And this shall be the peace"-i. e., this person, of whom the Prophet had been just speaking; he who was born as the ruler in Bethlehem, and whose goings forth were from everlasting-"He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth." The translators, therefore, should rather have put in the word Ruler or Shepherd. But, whatever be the supplement, it all comes to the same, provided He himself be understood; who is all our salvation, and all our desire For "this shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land." But who is this Assyrian? The word cannot be taken literally. The Assyrians never entered Judea after the birth of Christ. It is therefore used, metaphorically, for some enemy; nothing being more common than for the Sacred Writers to express, by the name of Egypt, Assyria, or Babylon, any significant adversary; as those powers had distinguished themselves, by their hatred, oppression, and enslaving of the Jews. The intimation, therefore, is better than if it had been more definite; as we may now include every thing that annoys and alarms; every thing that would injure or destroy-Be the case what it may, he is our principal, our only relief. He does not exempt us from trouble and conflict; but he affords us assistance, comfort, and deliverance. Storms may arise; but he is our strong-hold-Enemies may assail us; but he will give us victory at last, and

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even now keep our minds in perfect peace, being stayed on him.

Let us think of several of these Assyrians; and see how, when they invade us, and would swallow us up, he is our peace.-Does the broken Law of God threaten us? I say, the broken law of Godfor a man has nothing to fear from it, when it is perfectly kept; For the man that doeth these things, shall live in them. But the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The curse enters through every breach of transgression. And who is not, therefore, exposed? Who can be so ignorant as to imagine, that he has continued in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them! Now here is a condition to be in! The commandment coming-sin reviving-hope dying and nothing expected, but a certain fearful looking-for of judgment! But he is our peace, who died for our offences, and rose again for our justification

"Go, ye that rest upon the law,

"And toil and seek salvation there;
"Look to the flames that Moses saw;
"And fear, and tremble, and despair.

"But I'll retire beneath the Cross--
"Saviour, at thy dear feet I lie;
"And the keen sword that justice draws,
"Flaming and red, shall pass me by."

Or does our adversary the Devil terrify? Oh! you say, when I think of his wiles, and strength, and his successes for near six thousand years; and when I consider myself-here is enough to fill me, not only with dread, but despair-what am I, to the powers of darkness? No more than a "worm to a mountain!" Well, be it so: the promise is, "Fear not, thou worm Jacob; for thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small as the dust." In the Lord you have not only righteousness, but strength. Think of him-and take courage. In all

these things you are more than conquerors, through him that loved you.

Or do we complain of the sin that dwelleth in us? A Christian must feel this, and ought to feel it, and be deeply humbled before God on the account of it. Paul felt it; and felt it more than all his sufferings "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" But where does he find relief? "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord"-"He will save me from my sins; and not only from their dominion-but their very being. He has begun a good work in me, and he will finish it. My sanctification will be as complete, as my justification now is. He is not only able to keep me from falling, but to present me faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy."

In

Or do we consider the troubles of life? accordance with this very case, he said to his disciples, In the world ye shall have tribulation; but in me ye shall have peace. And they found it so. They could acknowledge, "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." Modern Christians may not be called to suffer persecutions as they did; but they may be the subjects of personal and relative trials, which require the same support and solace; and they equally belong to him; and are never dearer to his heart than in the hour of affliction: and he will not leave them comfortless. Is it nothing to know, that he has removed every thing penal from thy sufferings-that he will never leave thee nor forsake thee? -that his grace shall be sufficient for thee?—and that all thy sorrows shall yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness?

rors.

But death! Death is called the King of TerWho can wonder that we should feel at the approach of it? And where would be the triumph of faith, if we did not? But it is possible to rise