"Why do you,"exclaims the prophet, "spend your money for that which is not bread?" alluding to men in this world, who think of nothing else but their intemperate appetites, and expend their property on their poor frail bodies; and instead of nourishing, they destroy it by sickness; for this luxuriant living lays too often the foundation of the worst of diseases. Now bread was given by God for the nourishment of the body; so that for which they spend their money is not bread, but poison; and consequently they labour for that which satisfied not. Why do you not come to the fountain, and feed of that bread, which is the Spirit of God, which shall nourish your souls, not only for a time, but for eternity, and teach you temperance, sobriety, and self-denial? Labour for that, and you shall be satisfied: consequently, God the Spirit is often put under the type of bread, and it is eaten in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, where bread is eaten as the Lord's spiritual body which was crucified for us. This was pure and holy, and was for our nourishment indeed. So that if we eat of this, the fruits of the Spirit will be in us, temperance, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, and meekness. But, if we eat of the bread which satisfieth not, the works of the flesh will be manifest, which are, intemperance, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,

witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings. "Hearken unto me diligently,” therefore,continues tne prophet," and eat that which is good;" for surely that spiritual food which is to be purchasea without money, without price, must be inestimably good, which leads us to partake of the things of the world temperately and soberly. "And,” adds the prophet, "let your soul delight itself in fatness." What a powerful metaphor of the temperate man, rising from his meals, full of praise to God, full of love, joy, peace; the grace of God is in his soul; the gifts of God are so valued by him, that all he receives is more than “fatness!” O, his soul is lifted up to the glorious heaven, and he beholds there the Giver of these gracious gifts, and he exclaims in ecstacy, "O my soul, let us never cease to feed on our glorious fountain." The prophet tenderly invites to "incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live." Now in this line is the grand office of the atonement described, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Of course we could never know God without hearing of him; therefore we are invited to incline our ear, that is, our hearts also: to incline is, to wish for something; so that the literal meaning is, to wish for God, to wish for his holi ness. We incline our ear to hear, even as he

who dearly loves, inclines his ear for her assenting voice to grant him all his earthly desire. The prophet, therefore, invites to come with that inclination for the Holy Spirit," and your soul shall live." Now this is the point to which I long, my dear child, to draw your attention. You must be aware, that death means a loss of life, not a decay of body, sight, or strength, as from sickness. In a religious point of view, when Adam lost the Holy Spirit, he lost life, and the sentence of death, according to the judgment of God, was passed upon him.

I do not understand that, Mamma ?

Now, my love, the Holy Spirit was life, so that when that was taken from Adam, he died. He was no longer alive to God, nor to the things of God, but he was dead to God. As it is expressed in the Scripture, he was dead in sin. He had, however, all his powers left him; intellect, voluntary and involuntary actions, sense of pleasure and pain, with all the various human affections; and the body he was then in, was permitted to sojourn on earth for a certain period; but towards God, he was dead in sin, because he had lost the life which was in the Holy Spirit; for the Holy Spirit is eternal. Men, therefore, have various dispositions ; some are far better than others; some, indeed, appear amiable in every relation of life, while others

are quite the opposite, like the various species of the same genus of plant; some thrive, are useful, and desirable; others are the reverse. But they are still of the same genus, and may have been taken by shoots from the plant; but some grow better than others. Like animals; some horses are mild and tractable, others are furious and intractable; but still they are horses. So it is with men ; some are ill-tempered, some suspicious, cunning, vindictive, irascible, selfish ; some good, some candid, peaceable, good-natured. They are, as an anonymous writer has declared, scrupulously honest; some tricky, knavish, and deceitful; we have the quiet and peaceable; the noisy and pugnacious; the simple; the obstinate; the quick and ready; the slow and sure; the naturally gay, the melancholy; the mercurial, the sober, the sombre, the clever; the obtuse; the idiotic: so that mankind are full of various dispositions, inclinations, propensities, powers, and faculties, constitutional and peculiar, and characteristic of individuals as much as the temperaments, as permanent and distinctive as the sorts of complexion. Inasmuch, however, as there is this great variety, there is no difference among men who have not drunk at the fountain ; they are all dead in sin. Now, my love, there was an apostle on earth, who was a man at one time

who endeavoured to keep God's commandments after the law; that is, he thought he obeyed every one, and he was honest in all his dealings, and appeared very religious, for he was always praying to God. His name was Paul. But he was proud and high-minded, and hated other men, because he thought they were all sinners, and that he himself alone was righteous; besides, he actually stoned and sought the lives of those who were not of the same opinion with himself. And when he saw a man who was a sinner, he despised him, and would not go near him, not even to give him advice. This want of charity shewed, therefore, that he had not received the Holy Spirit, as he had not the fruits of the Spirit, which I just mentioned; for as by the fruit of a tree, a tree is known, so is a man who has received the Holy Spirit, by the fruits of the Spirit. Then, Mamma, what became of Paul?

Why, my love, he was sincere before God, and his whole life was given to his service; therefore God sent him his Holy Spirit.

And then, Mamma, was he different?

He was indeed, my love. In a letter which he wrote to the Romans, which you will find in the Holy Bible, he says, "I was alive without the law once;" meaning, he paid no attention to the extent of its spiritual meaning, nor the severity of its threat