THE RESTING-PLACE.

Oh! rest in the Lord, and his love shall sustain thee,
When fainteth thy spirit in fear and dismay;
Shall tenderly soothe when adversities pain thee,

And keep thee when pleasures allure thee astray.
Oh! trust in Him truly, confide in him wholly,

And his peace o'er thy heart as a balm shall be poured;
In patience await though the night watch pass slowly,
And long be thy darkness-yet rest in the Lord!

In the hour of distress, in the time of thy sadness;
When storms darken o'er thee and hope waxeth dim;
And alike in life's turbulent glory and gladness,

Look thou for thy resting-place only to Him.
For He giveth quiet, and who shall make trouble?
He stilleth, and who may awaken the sea?
And if youths' sparkling visions dissolve as a bubble,
Faint rays of heaven's glory still brighten for thee.

Where else wilt thou turn thee? The gay world inviteth—
In the haunts of its business or joy wilt thou rest?
As safely the bird that in greenwood delighteth

May build on the crown of the billow her nest.
For, as waves of the ocean, uncertain, unstable,
Are life and the solaces earth can afford;
Their smile an illusion, their promise a fable;
Oh! trust not their falsity! Rest in the Lord.

H. F.

SPIRITUAL LIBERTY.

THE sinner imagines himself to be free. He exults with the Pharisees of old in asserting, We were never in bondage to any man. Yet he is the slave of sin, and the captive of Satan. The fetters may be

gilded, or wreathed with roses, but they are fetters still. Christ came into our world to proclaim freedom for all prisoners, even "liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound." He died, that He might lay down his life as a ransom. He died, that by death He might destroy the Devil and his

works.

The great Agent in actually effecting this liberty is the Holy Spirit. By his blessed operations the sinner is brought into the glorious liberty of God's dear children. His abiding presence in the believing soul secures the permanence of this freedom; "for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," 2 Cor. iii. 17.

"There is liberty"- what liberty? We will investigate. We will search the Annals of Spiritual Freedom, and ascertain the immunities of the enfranchised soul.

There is liberty in access to the Divine presence. We have boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus. The Spirit teaches us to exclaim, Abba, Father; and it is therefore as children, with filial fear, if you will, but also with filial confidence, that we approach the mercy seat. There sits, not our Creator, not our Judge, so much as our Father.

There is liberty in gracious obligations to obedience. By the Spirit the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts; and this constrains us, by a sweet impulsion, to run in the way of God's commandments. Were our obedience rendered through fear, we should be in bondage; but love makes the yoke easy, and the burden light.

There is liberty in grasping the precious promises. The Spirit breathes upon the Word, enlightens its pages, unfolds the fulness, sweetness and perpetuity of the promises, strengthens the "laying hold" of faith, and enables the believer to take God at his word, promptly and unquestioningly.

There is liberty in conversing about spiritual things. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. While we are musing, the fire burns within, and the words burn without. It is the Spirit which reveals the things of Christ to us, so that our lips move as the pen of a ready writer, while we are inditing a good

matter.

There is liberty in making known the Gospel to others. Not great learning, not natural eloquence, not laborious study are so needful as the qualification for a preacher, as a large measure of the Holy Spirit. Moses professed to be of a slow speech, yet God sent him to preach to Pharaoh; and, many years subsequently, Stephen said of the ancient lawgiver, that he was mighty in words as well as in deeds.

But now we will give you some cautions.

First then, this liberty may be real, yet not as full as it is possible for it to be. When Lazarus came forth from the tomb he was undoubtedly free. Yet, not perfectly. His liberty was real, but partial; the grave-clothes yet hampered his movements. A child may have his limbs free, yet not be able to use that freedom as perfectly as a man can do.

Again, this liberty may be real, yet not uninterruptedly realised. Unbelief inconsistencies-wrong views-ill-health may have enthralled; or have caused the Spirit to withhold his blessed vouchsafements.

Moreover, this liberty is not necessarily evidenced by fluency in prayer, conversation, or preaching; nor by ecstatic feelings. How then shall we distinguish between the presence of nature and the presence of the Spirit? It is often difficult to do this. But it may help, if we inquire, "Was the liberty (which seems to be enjoyed) supplicated for? Is it accompanied by low views of ourselves? Or, Is it in contrast to our natural disposition ?"

Let me now put this important question, ARE YOU FREE? Do not evade it. Endeavour to answer it

candidly. If you are still "in the bond of iniquity," pray that the Son may make you free indeed.

Are you free?-Do not abuse your liberty, or convert it into a cloke for licentiousness. Do not employ it uncharitably, or render it a stumbling block to weak brothers.

Are you free?-Stand fast in your liberty. Contend earnestly for the faith delivered to the saints.

Are you free?-Compassionate the slaves of sin and Satan. The slavery of the body is degrading and terrible; but it is nothing in comparison to the slavery of the soul. In such bondage were some of you. Think then of those who are not yet rescued. Pray for them. Speak to them. Labour for their emancipation.

W. M. W.

EVENINGS WITH THE EDITOR.

EVENING THE SIXTH.

Ed. I SUPPOSE you have not examined many books since we last met.

Aug. No, we have been too busy, attending May meetings. Mrs. M. Do you not think, Mr. Editor, that the Meetings this year were better than usual?

Ed. Decidedly so. They were more practical, more earnest, with less of that levity which has too frequently disfigured some of our noble gatherings.

Mrs. M. It has always seemed to me most incongruous that when Christians meet to hear what the Lord has done in the conversion of souls, the speakers should condescend to utter feeble puns, or indulge in a mistimed pleasantry.

Aug. I suppose the speakers are afraid the audience will become tired, and so they strive to be witty, in order to keep up their attention.

Emm. Ah, but if people are really in earnest, they would prefer "the words of truth and soberness" to "foolish talking and jesting."

Mrs. M. One great fault of all our religious meetings is that they are generally too long. Shorter speeches, less verbose, and

stripped of all self-depreciating remarks, or adulatory comments on other speakers, would be a vast improvement.

Aug. Not forgetting the long reports, read in a peculiarly dry tone, full of statistics which nobody can remember, or of exhortations which would more properly come in the speeches.

Mrs. M. When we ladies eat spunge cakes, or crochet with becoming industry.

Aug. Worse than that-when you ladies read books with all the self-abstraction of a Quakers' meeting. What good can the reports do such hearers ?

Ed. I have often thought that it would be a comfort to the audience, and a considerable economy of time, if the report instead of being read at the time, were, previous to the meeting, partially distributed, in a printed form, in the hall.

Mrs. M. But how then, could the people be asked to "adopt" and order the printing of the report?

Ed. That is a mere form, and something of an equivalent resolution could easily be fabricated.

Aug. Apropos, are not all the resolutions matters of form, which leading speakers more commonly ignore, than take for their texts?

Ed. Generally they are. Long-winded paragraphs, of most involved construction, to which docile audiences usually give implicit credence.

Aug. One society however ventured to innovate upon this ancient custom, by assigning topics to the speakers.

Ed. This would be better, provided that the speeches-upon topics, which of course had been for some little time in the speaker's possession,-did not become long and ponderous essays, instead of brief, terse, racy and practical effusions, which best answer the qualifications of a "speech."

Emm. That's enough about Exeter Hall. please, about the books.

Ed. Have you read QUEECHY ?*

Let us talk,

Emm. Of course I did. I was too enchanted with the "Wide Wide World," not to fasten like an epicure upon another book by the same authoress.

Ed. Were you equally enchanted the second time.

Emm. By no means. "Queechy" is all very well; indeed if I had not read the other, I should have been charmed with it. But it is too much the same kind of story, without equalling in interest, or in the unity of the story, the touching narrative of Ellen's trials.

Aug. Well now, I like "Queechy." It is not so childish.

* London: Nisbet & Co.