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pray. He will have us pray. However positive his promises, however calculated to glorify his name, however beneficial to our fellow-men, he says, "I will be enquired of to do it for you." If we agree among ourselves to ask the blessing, if we meet together for the purpose, if we persevere determined to prevail, saying as Jacob did, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me," then, without hesitation, doubt, or qualification, we may say, The God of heaven, he will prosper us." 4. We must keep the eye steadily fixed on his glory. This is the mark we must aim This is the object we must constantly keep in view. When we aim simply, singly, and alone at God's glory, "we may ask what we will, and it shall be done for us." But losing sight of this, we "ask and receive not, because we ask amiss, that we may consume it on our lusts." 5. We must actively employ every talent for God. There is a vast amount of unused talent in the church. How much speaking talent, writing talent, teaching talent, influencing talent, there is in God's church that is never used for God's glory. Never were there so many napkins in God's church, we think, as now; and they wrap up, conceal, and render useless, an extraordinary amount of talent. Our talent must be brought out, our Master's money must be put into the bank, that at his coming he may receive his own with interest. 6. We must make sacrifices out of pure love to Jesus. Who makes sacrifices now? Many give much to the cause; but do they ever sacrifice fashion, taste, or appetite, for that cause? Let our dress, furniture, and meals, reply. But are we willing to sacrifice our feelings, our tastes, our habits, our indulgences, if the cause of Christ requires it? Are we? If, then, we rest alone on Jesus for our acceptance with God,-if we depend wholly on the power of the Holy Spirit for success, if we are much in prayer for the Divine blessing,—if we keep the eye steadily fixed on the Lord's glory,-if we actively employ every talent for God,-and if we make sacrifices out of pure love to Jesus, then, without hesitation, doubt, or fear, we may say, The God of heaven, he will prosper us.'

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But if God prosper us, Satan will oppose us; as a serpent, he will wriggle in among us; or, as a lion, he will go round and roar at us. Man may be jealous of us, and even persecute us; but right-minded saints and angels will rejoice over us. Oh, for soul prosperity! Oh, for the prosperity of God's one church, and every separate church that goes to make up the one great whole! But if God do not prosper us, no one else can; nor shall we ever succeed. Let us then, beloved, set our hearts on prosperity. Let every christian set his heart upon the prosperity of his own soul; and let every church-member set his heart upon the prosperity of the church to which he belongs. Oh, that indifference were buried in the depths of the ocean! Oh, that every member of God's church were filled with faith, fired with love, and glowing with zeal, for the honour of our beloved Saviour. May the divisions of Reuben soon cause great searchings of heart, anxiety of mind, and distress of soul, until they are healed and done away for ever. Let us enquire, Why is it? if we do not prosper. It was a worm at the root that caused Jonah's gourd to wither. It was a Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold, that caused Israel to flee before their enemies. And if we do not prosper, is there not a cause? If there be a cause, may it not be ascertained? If it may be ascertained, ought we not to "light the candle and search diligently until we find it "? O Lord, thou hast said, that thou wilt "search Jerusalem as with candles, and wilt punish the men that are settled on their lees;" search, oh, search thy church, and let all that hinders her prosperity be discovered, condemned, deplored, and removed! Let us carefully avoid everything that would hinder our prosperity. Paul was

very careful and very accommodating, lest he should hinder the gospel of Christ. Let us imitate so excellent an example, and take care that there be nothing in our creed, conduct, spirit, temper, or deportment, likely to grieve the Holy Spirit, or prevent the truth from having free course. Let us not only carefully avoid everything likely to hinder, but let us diligently employ every means to secure it. Prosperity flows from God; it is a free-grace blessing; but it flows in a certain channel, and is generally attracted by certain means. Oh, for such a measure of grace to be given to the church of Jesus, that there may be no rest until God arise and have mercy upon his Zion, or until we can confidently say, "The God of heaven, he will prosper us!"

Cheltenham.

JESUS A MECHANIC.

BY THE REV. W. A. POPLEY.

"Is not this the carpenter?" Thus asked some of Christ's neighbours. He was anxious to do them good, but they were unwilling to be instructed or influenced by one they deemed beneath them, or at best only their equal. That he possessed superlative wisdom, and performed stupendous wonders, was nothing, as compared with his not having passed through a certain routine. It is astonishing, however valuable routine may sometimes be, that the mere form of the thing should be often so much idolized.

But we quote this interrogation because it suggests the idea that Jesus belonged, in some way, to the labouring classes. All the Jewish children probably learned a trade. But it is likely Jesus needed a trade. All we know of his family would seem to intimate that they were poor. Whether Joseph was a small tradesman or a working man, we think he may fairly be classed among the mechanics; and so we imagine may Jesus.

Concerning the mechanical life of the Lord Jesus we have no information. From the way, however, in which he passed through his mediatorial life we may gather much that will possibly indicate the character of his earlier life. If as mediator he would regard some things as specially congenial to his high nature, he would also meet with much that would be uncongenial. And so, only perhaps conversely, would he find things as a mechanic. Neither as mediator nor as mechanic could his position be otherwise than a privation.

We remark, then, Jesus as a mechanic was faithful. He certainly was so in his mediatorial undertaking. We read that he "was faithful to him that appointed him." Nor could this have been the commencement of his faithfulness. His fidelity to Him that appointed him would methinks involve his fidelity in all matters preceding the mediatorial. Only thus would he "have a good report of them which are without." And this undoubtedly he possessed. Else how could he have challenged his malicious, eagle-eyed opponents, "Which of you convinceth me of sin ?" Whatever the inhabitants of Nazareth felt or manifested of indignation, they alleged nothing detrimental to his moral character, to his general fidelity. As a youth he "increased in favour with God and man;" and it was only his fidelity to God in a way the people could not well understand that prevented, on their part, his continued enjoyment of that favour. He was unquestionably faithful. Only think of Jesus purloining material committed to him to be manufactured, of his promising what he knew could not be performed in the time, of his using for his own business time that belonged to parties for whom he was working,-how

incongruous the supposition! His whole after life contradicts its possi bility. He who as a teacher said, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," and who was at the same time a living exemplification of his own injunction, must have been eminently conscientious, and as a workman must have been highly appreciated by those who had to do with him.

This we may also infer from the fact that Jesus as a mechanic was industrious. "My meat," said he during his public life, "is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." And right diligently did he toil therein. Busy days were frequently followed by busy evenings, and these by watchful prayerful nights. Did a ruler of the Jews apply for instruction even by night, he was not repulsed. It may be said he knew his day was short, the night was coming, and hence he toiled. True; and this must have influenced him who knew that every minute had its appropriate duty, as well in the earlier as in the latter period of his earthly existence. "Be not slothful in business," was a part of the Father's will, as much as laying down his life to save the lost, as much as manifesting God's name to those who were entrusted to him. His example could not otherwise have been complete; neither could the Father have well testified his complacency in the Son, nor the Son have said at the last that he had finished the work given him to do; for this work certainly included the example. Jesus was, indeed, a diligent workman. His later diligence must be regarded as an illustration and specimen of his earlier. And as such it was true diligence. It was not bustle. It was steady, prolonged continuance. We may warrant that if he took an order, he understood what he was doing. We may depend on it that in the sweat of his face he ate bread, rather than that such an order should be improperly executed. We may be quite sure that whatever earnest, quiet pains-taking could effect, was not wanting in aught that came from under his hand. His was a true industry.

Jesus as a mechanic was pious. It is true the human nature of Jesus was perfect. But so was Adam's. It is also probable that the divine nature in Jesus aided the human. But the man Christ Jesus was what he was, principally because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Inex plicable as this peculiar indwelling may be, it is as positively a fact as anything revealed in Scripture can be, and that not for Jesus the man alone, but for any other human being seeking it. "If ye," said Christ, "know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.” Working men, then, any more than other men, are not so far off from the resources for promoting piety. There is not such a disproportion in this respect between the man Jesus and themselves. In him, indeed, there having been no sin, while in them there is a corrupt disposition, there arises hence a great difference. But as far as the mechinery and the agency for promoting piety are concerned, they are very nearly alike. There is the book of God. There are the opportunities for private application to Jehovah. There are the public means of grace. There is, above all, the power of the Spirit. Why, then, should not the working man be pious! "Oh," some would reply, "we have so many anxieties to occupy our minds, so many masters to please, so much hard work to do, what time can we find for attending to religion?" But Jesus was in very much the same position, and yet he found time. No time for seeking to be pious! Surely working people find time for eating, for sleeping, for breathing, for thinking of those for whom they feel concerned. Why not time for piety? If giving attention to the statements that tell us about God, his nature, and his wishes, does occupy some time, does not a right feeling

towards God, and so afterwards towards man, nerve the mind, sharpen the mind, adjust the mind? is not the man all the fitter for his position here as well as for his destiny hereafter? Can reverence for God, love to God, obedience of God, confidence in God, together with true benevolence and integrity towards men, be otherwise than serviceable to the working man? If there are some drones among pious people, are they drones because they are pious Does not the piety they may have rather check the evil tendency, and not in this respect only, in all others also? Ah, methinks observation and conscience testify that genuine piety is not a hindrance but a help to the party possessing it.

"It may be all very well," some are thinking, "but see what circumstances we are placed in." Was not Jesus placed in awkward circumstances ? The neighbourhood in which he lived was low and bad; quite as bad, if not as badly drained and ventilated, as any that working people now live in. The whole of the land was occupied by a frightfully vicious population. In that land, Galilee was deemed the worst province. Of that province, Nazareth, Christ's place of residence, was considered one of the worst towns. Said Nathaniel, a native of Cana, also in Galilee, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ?"

Nor was this all. The Romans had conquered the country. Those who, under the Romans, governed the people were ever encroaching. Nothing was steady. No one was safe. Partizanship, in various forms, ran high. Working men could no more escape all these political and pressing difficulties then than they can now. Yet amid them all Christ was steady, he was pious. We have no reason to believe that he ever swerved from principle, or that he ever rushed into the arena of strife. He knew how to render to Cæsar what was rightfully Cæsar's, and to God what was really God's, and he did this. And he did it amid the common struggles pertaining to a working life. Hard as it might be while having around him unprincipled work fellows, unreasonable employers, and probably reducing wages, he did render to all their due. He was the truly pious workman.

Is not Jesus, then, just the man for working men? Little reason have they assuredly to say, he may do for the wealthy, for the great; he is the man, the exalted man, for them. He is acquainted with their position, he knows their needs, and, unlike many who have risen from the ranks, he can remember so as to cherish still a fellow-feeling. If, then, any may be expected to rally round the ensign of Jesus, people of the labouring classes are precisely the parties we might suppose might do it. Thus was it in his lifetime; "the common people heard him gladly." Shall it not be so still ? Do they not need him? They may talk of being independent. But can they be independent of God, of Jesus? Can they do without him who came, and that first to their own class, to describe God, and to point out the way to God? Can they do better than submit to his terms? Has he not earned a right to prescribe terms? Are they not most suitable terms? What other plan but his has proved sufficient to elevate and bless the whole man? The intellectual part may have been otherwise improved, though even that but partially, as compared with what it might have been with his assistance, but what elevation has the moral part attained without him? Immoral people may be found among those who profess to call him Master, but are they doing more than calling him Master? Would they be immoral if he were indeed their Master? Can working men submit to the insult put upon themselves, that one risen from their body shall be maligned? Will they not show, by a thorough surrender to him, a cordial appreciation of him, a fair imitation of him,

what a glorious Being he is? If other classes slight, distrust, and dis obey him, surely they will not. Whatever others do they will be hearty in his cause. The more readily will they do this, because he has gone back to the glory whence he came. He honoured them, by being one of them; he ever will honour them as having been one of them. Shall they not be of the number who will ever honour him by relying on him as their Emancipator, by obeying him as their Lord? Will they be too proud to accept from his hands that which they really need, and which only he can bestow? Are they not sinful, are they not exposed to condemnation, are they not likely still further to degenerate? Can any one but he secure to them pardon, purity, peace, power? Will they not say to him, "Anything from thee, anything from thee"? May He who is the working man's model be the working man's Saviour, and so may he at length present the working man faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Lymington.

TRUST IN GOD.

By David Kinghorn, father of the late Joseph Kinghorn, of Norwich; written 1787.

Peace, my soul, no more complain,

Jesus cails thee to his arms;

Rise above all grief and pain,

He shall keep thee free from harms.
Trust his promise, on him rest,
Freely he does for thee care;
Lean upon his loving breast,-

In his heart thou hast a share.

Should fond mothers monsters prove
To the infants at their breast,
Yet th' eternal God of love

Keeps the souls that on him rest.
Tho' the mountains should depart,
Hills be cast into the sea,

Still the kindness of his heart

Yearns, provides, and cares for thee.

Why dispute his tender love,

While he such assurance gives?

Can his promise e'er remove?

Can'st thou die whilst Jesus lives?

Can'st thou want while he supplies?
Can'st thou fall while in his hand?
See, he listens to thy cries,

Guides, upholds, and makes thee stand.

Should both foes and fears assail,
Sickness waste, and sorrows rise,
Storms descend, and rattling hail,
Clouds and darkness veil the skies;

On the stormy cloud he rides,
Swift pursues his wondrous way,
For thy safety still provides,
Turns thy darkness into day.

Mighty God, thou great and good!
All thy creatures wait on Thee;
Thou provid'st them daily food;
Shall I doubt thy care for me?
Thou hast kept from dangers past,
Bid my troubled soul be still,
On Thee all my care I cast,
Patient wait my Father's will.

Wilkin's Memoir of Kinghorn.

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