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and eternal weight of glory.1 How little, again, the Canaanites thought for whom they were treasuring up the superabundance of their harvests and so, how little the wicked often think how they are doing God's work; but it is thus it must be done; and ALL THINGS SHALL WORK TOGETHER for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. 2 Bradford.

RE-CONVERSION.

BY THE REV. JAMES SMITH.

"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."-Luke xxii. 32.

The interest Jesus takes in his people is intense. Here it is manifest that his eye, his heart, and his voice, were engaged for Peter, though he knew how basely Peter would deny him. Satan was plotting against the apostles, he desired to have them to sift them as wheat, but the eye of Jesus watched him, read the very thoughts of his heart, and determined to frustrate him. His eye affected his heart, and he deeply sympathised with his disciples, especially with Peter, whose weakness and folly he knew. His voice was heard before the Father's throne, that Peter's faith might not fail. What a mercy for us that the eye of Jesus watches all our enemies; his ear listens to all their purposes, plans, and designs; his heart beats with unutterable love and tender compassion for us, and he intercedes for us before his Father and our Father, his God and our God. He knew Peter would be recovered, and therefore he directs him what to do after he was restored. He was to turn his shameful fall to account, and to sympathise more deeply with his brethren, watch over them more tenderly, and tend them more wisely. "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Here see,

First, what we need, to be re-converted. We can only be regenerated once, we may be converted often. The life communicated at the new birth is immortal and divine; it never dies; conversion is the effect of that life, and the evidence of its power. Conversion is a turning to God. We hear his voice, we feel his power, and we turn from self to Jesus, from law to gospel, from sin to holiness, from the world to the church; but we often backslide, wander, and grow cold; then we need afresh the putting forth of the Divine power within us, to renew us in the spirit of our minds, and bring us back to God. Surely the church needs to be re-converted now. May the Lord confer this blessing upon us. A reconversion will produce deeper convictions. Deeper convictions of the sinfulness of our natures, the inconsistency of our lives, and our inexcusableness before God. Deeper convictions of our danger by nature, as exposed to the just wrath of a sin-hating God, and of our danger now of falling into sin, folly, and mistakes. Deeper convictions of the value of the soul, that soul which came immediately from God, which must live while God lives, and either exist in endless torment, or unspeak. able joy. Deeper convictions of the value of the cross of Jesus. cross on which our sins were atoned for, where our peace was made, and by which our old man is crucified. Precious cross, of a more precious Saviour! But for the Cross there would be no light in our dwelling, no peace in our conscience, no joy in our spirits, no love in our hearts, no hope in our souls! No one prizes the cross of Jesus like the re-converted

(1) 2 Cor. iv. 17. (2) Rom. viii. 28.

That

soul. A re-conversion will produce sweeter enjoyments. We shall have sweeter enjoyment of peace with God, that peace which passeth all understanding, and which is a foretaste of the rest that remaineth for the people of God. We shall more sweetly enjoy love to God, which will be rekindled and strengthened by the amazing love which brings us back from our wanderings, and nearer to our Father's bosom. We shall sweetly enjoy zeal for God, for we shall be all alive in his work, full of zeal for his glory, and anxious to extend his cause. A re-converted soul is always a zealous soul. We shall be ready to do anything which God requires, or to go anywhere if God bids. Then we shall be ready to say, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." "Command, Lord, and thy servant will obey." A re-conversion will produce greater power in prayer. There will no longer be dull, lifeless, dronish prayers; but, with spirit, energy, and determination, we shall go to God for blessings, like the man for the three loaves, taking no denial: we shall plead the promises, like the poor widow with the unjust judge, with the mind made up to prevail. Oh, for powerful prayer in God's church! There will be greater pleasure in praise. We shall bless the Lord with all the heart, praise him according to his excellent greatness, according to his unparalleled goodness. Praise will rise up naturally from the gratitude of the heart, flow forth in songs before the throne of God; and this shall please the Lord better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofs. There will be greater enjoyment of the Word. We shall read it with new eyes, hear it with new ears, and feed upon it with new appetites. Its promises will sparkle before the eyes, its doctrines will be music in the ears, and its very precepts will be sweet as honey to the soul. There will be greater attention to ordinances. We shall no longer deify them, or put them in the place of Christ; nor degrade them by trampling them under our feet. But we shall see their value, feel their importance, and enter into their design. The prayer-meeting, the weekly service, the Lord's supper, will be precious to us, and no trifle will be allowed to keep us from them. Lord, re-convert thy people! Re-convert my soul! Being re-converted, we

see,

Secondly, what we should do, strengthen our brethren. We have brethren who are weak in faith. Most families have one or more weaklings in them, the Lord's family has many. These weaklings are apt to be overlooked, especially by those who are comparatively carnal, cold, and worldly. Oh, how many members of our churches neglect that word, "We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." And that also, "Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed." But the renewed soul will pity, compassionate, and strengthen the weak in faith. Many are feeble in hope. They do not grasp the promises with a firm hand. They do not rest steadily on Jesus. They are not looking at things unseen, and for the coming of our beloved Lord; and, therefore, they have more fear than hope. These are weak, and need strengthening. Some faint in the way. The road is so rough. Their cross is so heavy. Their strength is so small. Their unbelief is so active. Satan is so busy. Professors are so indiscreet in dealing with them, that they become weary and faint in their minds. They need cordials, and need them administered often. Oh, how many in the present day droop under their duties, and decline, being sick! These need to be led to the great Physician. To be watched over, cared for, and strengthened. But one evidence that we need to be re-converted is, "All seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's." Whereas the command is, "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wel

fare." Oh, for grace to look out for the weak, from love to Jesus; and to be daily endeavouring to strengthen them, for Jesus' sake!

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We should strengthen them by testimony. Bearing our personal, experimental, heart-felt testimony, to the greatness, freeness, and power of God's love, as made known to our souls by the teachings of the Holy Spirit. Telling them of his wondrous faithfulness, which never falters, never fails; but remains like the sun which is "a faithful witness in heaven;" like the rock which defies the tempest and the storm. Reminding them of that precious assurance, "Though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself." Speaking of his divine power, which like the shepherd's arms gathers the lambs to lay them in his bosom, or is stretched out to repulse and drive back the foe; or like a powerful garrison which preserves the city from the invading enemy: that mighty power by which we are preserved through faith unto complete salvation. Testifying to them of Jesus. Of the manner in which he receives sinners, communicates blessings to them, restores them as wandering sheep to his fold, employs them again, though run-away servants, and makes them happy in his own precious love. How much there is in Jesus to strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees; and it is by setting Jesus before our weak and feeble brethren, that we shall be able to strengthen them as our Lord directs. To testimony we should add prayer. Prayer with them, and prayer for them. To prayer we should add example, a holy, loving, lamb-like example. Preaching Christ to them by what we do, as much as by what we say. But some may read these lines who have never been converted at all. My friend, your case is sad, for Jesus says, Except ye be converted, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Peter speaks to such as you when he says, "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." May God give you the grace to turn to him without delay! Some may read them who were converted once, and were lively, happy, and active in God's ways; but now they are cold, worldly, and unspiritual. Does such an one's eye now rest upon this page? My dear friend, let me beseech you to hear God speak. He places himself before you. He seems to put himself at your bar. He says in the most pathetic language, Oh, my people, what have I done to thee? wherein have I wearied thee? TESTIFY AGAINST ME! What has he done that will justify your conduct? What charge can you bring against him? Hear him again, Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of drought? why do my people say, we will come no more unto thee? Why do you neglect the closet, the bible, the sanctuary, the work which God has set you to do? But some happy re-converted soul may read them. My brother, my sister, I joy and rejoice with you. God has shown you great mercy. Jesus has manifested wonderful love. Realize and exercise your thoughts upon the greatness of the mercy manifested; then you will perceive that your obligations are greatly increased, and feel it to be your imperative duty to do as Jesus commanded Peter, "Strengthen your brethren." Beloved, the great thing we want is power, the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring us back from all our wanderings to the feet of Jesus, to fill us with zeal for his glory, to consecrate us afresh to his service, and make us useful and happy in his ways. As it is, we sow much and reap little, we work hard and witness few results, we employ many means to comparatively little purpose. How many sermons are preached, and not one soul converted! How many churches decline rather than increase and grow! What skeletons of christians many of us are. Verily, many of us resemble the seven lean kine of Pharaoh,-we eat up all, and are none the

better for it. May God in his infinite mercy pour out his Spirit, re-convert us one by one, until we all become full "of goodness, able also to admonish one another."

Cheltenham.

STUDIES IN NATURE.

BY THE REV. CORNELIUS ELVEN.

"Look on the fields."-John iv. 35.

There are two volumes open for our inspection, the works and the word of God. There are who maintain the sufficiency of the former for all the purposes of moral instruction; they affirm that the utterances of the voice of nature are so articulate and intelligible as to supersede those of a divine and special revelation. Yet wherever the light of revelation has not shone, it is an undeniable fact that "the people are sitting in darkness, and in the shadow of death." And most triumphantly may the friends of revelation demand a single instance from the world's history, of any tribe or people, or of a single individual, ever having attained to a knowledge of the true God, in the absence of revelation. Do we enquire of the savage and untutored tribes ? When did any such emerge from their barbarism by the light of nature? Do we ask of the sages of Athens? Alas, they built an altar with this inscription, "To the unknown God!" Nevertheless, nature, baptized in the crystal stream of revelation, and irradiated by the beams of the "Sun of righteousness," is full of emblems which do indeed "lead us through nature up to nature's God." In the bible we have a key to the volume of nature,& hand-book by the aid of which we may walk through its heaven-built palace, and luxuriate amidst its beautiful and divinely authorised illustrations of the "truth as it is in Jesus." It is thus, at the close of an abundant harvest, we propose to "look on the fields,' ," which through this medium will be looking on our own hearts, according to the apostolic declaration, "Ye are God's husbandry" (1 Cor. iii. 9).

First, then, look on the uncultivated field, and there you have an emblem of the unsanctified heart. Sin has brought its curse alike on the natural and moral field; of the former it is written, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth" (Gen. iii. 17); of the latter, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur. ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt. xv. 19). Reader, art thou in thy natural unconverted state? Then consider another inspired declaration, "That which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned” (Heb. vi. 8). Nor is this true only of the outwardly profane. The scriptures of unerring truth declare, "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." This may seem a sweeping declaration, but it is made by the Searcher of hearts. And know, therefore, that whatever superficial cultivation there may have been by civilization, education, or moral restraint, it is "stony ground," still "they that are in the flesh cannot please God." There are great diversities on the surface of the earth,-here the wild prairie, and there the "fields white unto harvest;" here the beautiful garden, there the Arabian desert; yet, as geologists tell us, everywhere, if we go deep enough, we shall find the substratum of the old granite rock; so among men, whatever there may appear of external loveliness, there is in every human breast the "heart of stone." And are you anxious to ascertain your real state in the sight of God? then go to him and cry,—

"Oh, make this heart rejoice or ache,

Decide this doubt for me;

And if it be not broken, break;

And heal it, if it be."

But we must look also on the cultivated field. "For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns." It is said to be very conducive to our physical health to follow a ploughman and inhale the exhalations from the fresh up-turned soil, and certainly such a walk may conduce to our spiritual instruction. Well, then, look upon the ploughed field, and ask, "Is my hard heart broken by the plough of the Spirit ?" Some who read this may be farmers and husbandmen; you may be very diligent in your natural husbandry, and it is to your credit to be so; but we want you to feel as a good old christian did, who said, "I would rather neglect my farm than my soul." So that the question must not be dismissed; you must not "beg to be excused," or talk of a "more convenient season.' Oh, no, we urge you now to seek for "a broken heart and a contrite spirit!" It is rending and tearing work that ploughing, and so is the Spirit's work on the soul in conviction. It made the publican cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner," the penitent on the cross pray, "Lord, remember me," and the Jerusalem sinners, when pricked in their hearts, "Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" It separates between the soul and its darling lusts. It spares nothing. The right hand or the right eye must be given up if they offend. Faithful ministers are the ploughmen, and their commission is, "Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." And when the Word and the Spirit plough together, there will be such a discovery of the hidden evils of the heart, however previously concealed beneath the unbroken surface of a fair and moral life, as shall give you to understand and appropriate the language of David, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul” (Ps. cxvi. 3).

But let us now look on the field that is sown, for that is the next process in husbandry. "A sower went forth to sow." Ministers, Parents, Sunday School Teachers, Religious Tract Distributors, Visiters of the Sick, you are all sowers. Take care that you sow nothing but "the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." Be deeply impressed with the absolute necessity of Divine influence. Pray for it. It is promised. "For as the rain and snow cometh down from heaven, and watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth." Be not discouraged if the seed does not immediately spring up. It may lay buried long, but it will not be lost. There is an extraordinary vitality in natural seed; grains of corn have been found in the hands of Egyptian mummies which must have been entombed at least two thousand years, yet upon being put into a congenial soil, and nurtured by the rain, and dew, and sunshine of heaven, they have in due time appeared, first as "the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear." "Be not therefore weary in well doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not."

Another step will take us into the fruitful field. Now lift up your eyes and see, for here is a sight worth beholding. A heart broken up by the Holy Spirit, sown with the good seed, watered by Divine influences, and now yielding the fruits of righteousness. What a change has this spiritual cultivation made. Once it yielded nothing but the "works of the