the message brought to me by thy servants. May I count them worthy of honour for Christ's sake, whom they serve. May I not linger, but obey promptly. Give me the hope of the righteous, a good hope through grace in Christ Jesus. Give me the marks of the righteous. Let me have the witness of the Spirit. Cause me to abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good. Lead me, and teach me, that I may say with thy servant, "Behold now, thy servant hath found grace. in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou

saving my life." life."

sake. AMEN.

hast shewed unto me in

Hear me, O God, for Jesus'

Hear me,

ABRAHAM REPROVED BY

ABIMELECH.

"Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

"And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? "And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

"And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. "And it came to pass, when God caused me to

wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me: at every place whither we shall come, say of me, he is my brother." GEN. XX. 9-13.

SCRIPTURE history is very faithful. It tells us men's faults as plainly as their virtues. The saints of God are never made to appear more excellent than they really are. Sometimes their failings are put before us so faithfully,

W

that we should have doubted their being God's beloved children, if it were not for the same word telling us that they were so.

We can scarcely put our finger upon one holy character that is not soiled with such blemishes. And what is remarkable is that in many cases the very faults of which they are guilty, are failings in the very graces or virtues for which they are famous. "Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth," (Numbers xii. 3,) and yet "it went ill with him," because he was "provoked in spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips." (Psalm cvi. 33.)

Lot escaped the prevailing sins in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but by the sinful influence of his daughters, in the city of Zoar, fell into the sins of drunkenness and incest,— the very same that had "vexed that righteous man," dwelling among the sinners of Sodom.

And what was Abraham famous for? Was it not for his faith? Yet, as we see in this history, a want of faith made him soil his garments with the sin of lying. He calls Sarah his sister.

But do we not see the wisdom of God in thus recording His own people's faults? The short-sighted wisdom of man often keeps quite out of sight the faults of his fellow creatures

whose lives he is recording. The consequence is we often have a mistaken view of their real character. We think of them above what they really were, and (what is more important,) above what is written in God's word they are, as judged by Him. We read their lives with an impression we cannot imitate them, they are above us: we gather false notions of human worth. Now God's word keeps us from such feelings, when pondering on its characters. It records men's failings and their falls, that we may "not think of them above what is written." Now it is written of all men, without exception, "there is none righteous, no not one." And again, "There is none good save one, that is God." And thus we are taught from whence it is any have had the goodness they had, and why they were not worse than they were. Thus do we learn to study examples profitably. They are not above us, for they were what they were by the grace of God. Without the grace of acceptance through the merits of "the Holy One," they would not have found favour with God; and without the grace of His Spirit "working in them to will and to do of His good pleasure," they would have remained in their first trespasses and sins; they never would have risen above any of their peculiar infirmities. Good men have

fallen that they might learn wherein their strength lay to stand upright. Their falls are written that we may learn the same truth, "Without ME ye can do nothing."

Moreover, because saints are seen to fail at times in the very virtues which by nature and by grace they shine in, it is that they may learn, first, that nature is not enough without grace. The "meekness," for example, which is the "fruit of the Spirit," will stand, where the meekness, which is our natural disposition, will fail and give way. Secondly, that God's children have no stock of grace independently of Him. Abraham had no such measure of faith given into his hands at the beginning of his course, which he could afterwards use or not, independently of God; but he had faith, or he had not faith, just as he was leaning upon God or not. So we are strong, or weak and powerless, in the exercise of any grace, just as we are drawing, or are not drawing, strength from Christ. The fruitful Christian is not a plant standing alone, but a branch growing upon and drawing sap from the stem. Hence, thirdly, we are hereby taught to prepare ourselves, and seek strength from the Lord as much for little trials and temptations as we would for great. bear us through either.

The same God must Without Him we are