a captain of salvation, who, by His suffering, saves and sanctifies them. It is His only begotten Son. You see here His preparation for the work. These children of God's grace and eternal purpose, are partakers of flesh and blood and their Captain must also be partaker of the same; He must become a true man, their brother, near of kin to them, their God, having the right to redeem. He can thus lawfully enter the lists with the devil, as the Redeemer of His captive brethren, and the avenger of their blood upon the murderer. This is one reason for His becoming man. It was that He might have a brother's right to interfere in their behalf. But a second reason was, that He might be capable of suffering and death. He must have a body that could be broken, blood that could be shed, a life that | could be given for the life of the world. So he made himself of no reputation,' and took on Him the form of a man, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' This was essential, was the very hinge and turning-point of His great enterprise. It was by death that He was to destroy death. He lived a life of faith and love and perfect obedience, magnifying the law and making it honourable, by the ceaseless, loving, patient fulfilment of all its precepts in spirit and in deed. This would have glorified for ever unfallen man; but it did not suffice to justify fallen man, dead in trespasses and sins. The Captain of salvation must die in order to accomplish His great purpose. We can see how this is. It was man's sin that brought death into existence, gave it power, armed it with its sting. It was man's sin that called forth the curse of God's holy law. It was man's sin that filled the cup of everlasting wrath, which is the second death. It was man's sin that gave the devil his right and warrant to tyrannise over fallen man. It was man's sin that drove away the Holy Ghost, and left him a helpless captive and ready tool of the power of darkness. | warrant is cancelled, he has no more power to kill, the stronger than he has stripped off his armour. Then was the judgment of this | world, then was the prince of this world cast out. There is no more spiritual death to Christ's people, for the Holy Ghost abides in the souls of all who believe, and they resist the devil and make him flee. True, there are deathbeds and graveyards, but they are only a shadow. Death comes to the believer as a messenger of peace, and takes the soul to heaven. The grave is a bed of quiet rest, where the saints of God slumber till the Master comes. Christ has already triumphed, He has trainpled Satan under foot. He has spoiled principalities and powers, has made a show of them before the spiritual world, but He will come back and triumph openly. Oh! death where then is thy sting? Oh! grave where then thy victory? Death shall then be swallowed up. He shall ransom from the power of the grave, He shall redeem from death. He says, Oh! death I will be thy plagues; oh! grave I shall be thy destruction.' Then He will stand by graves as formerly He stood by that of Lazarus, but there shall be no groan on His lips or tear in His eye. He shall then be manifested in His glory, and shall gather together all His bloodbought ones. There is a This is the All unre Deliverance from fear of death. bondage through fear of death. description of all men by nature. generate unforgiven men fear death. It is a dark cloud that hangs over them, and often there is a fearful looking for of judgment. In health, prosperity, abundance of occupation, they may be able greatly to stifle it. But they have no true peace, there is a worm at the root of all their gourds, wormwood is mixed with all their pleasant draughts. Death in its fulness of import is a fearful thing. We are so shallow and superficial that we look only at the outward sign and shell. But death really means to all who are lost, devouring fire, everlasting burnings. Christ, who came to take the place of the lost and to die their death, knew well what it meant, and see how He regarded it—' Now is my soul troubled.' 'Abba, Father, take away this cup.' It is said, 'He feared.' But all that is past and over-He died and rose, He conquered and prevailed. And now He says to all that believe, 'Let not your hearts be troubled.' He says, 'Fear not, I am He that But Christ, by dying, put an end to all this. He overturned, subverted, took away the whole foundation of this terrible superstructure. By dying for sin, He made an end of it, He finished transgression, and put it out of the way. Thus death died. In as far as concerns Christ and those who are Ilis, it has no more sting, there is no more second death. There is no more curse, Christ in dying exhausted it and put it away. There is no more wrath, Christ in dying drank the cup and left none remain-liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for ing. There is no more handwriting of ordinances, which is against us, Christ took all away, nailing it to His cross. Satan has no more right to come as an executioner, his evermore. I have the keys of death and hell,' or rather Hades, the unseen eternal world, both place of glory and place of gloom. The keys are His, He opens and none can shut, He 1 'O meet me in the valley When flesh and heart do fail, But some say, 'It is a solemn thing to die.' So it is; every untried thing brings an awe with it. But resist the fear because Christ bids you think about death, speak about it, keep very near to Him who has the power of it, and who perhaps, by His own coming, may spare you the need of dying. But you say, it is not the bodily, physical, sufferings that I fear, but sometimes spiritual conflicts; good men complain of assaults of the devil. They say to God, Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the sins of my youth.' But I believe this is usually our own fault. We are so carnal, formal; we live so much in the present world, and are so little under the power of the world to come; we live so far from Christ and God, that in mercy even at the last, He visits with rods and stripes; yea, lets the old adversary loose for a little, that we may be driven wholly from our fool's paradise, and set our hearts wholly on the paradise of God. But let us be warned, let us watch and pray, let us seek to be ready, not in a spirit of bondage, but of love, and hope, and joyful expectation. Let us realize that we are pilgrims, that this is not our rest; and let us run our race, looking to the joy that is set before us. Let us learn to say In peace let me resign my breath, But Jesus died for me.' Beloved friends, I have tried to set before you two kingdoms,--the kingdom of life and that of death; of light and of darkness, of Christ and of Satan. Which do you belong to? If still in death and darkness, then I cannot invite | you to this communion-table, for it is the Lord's Supper; here is the wine of the kingdom, and if you come unworthily, it will be to you the cup of judgment, it will only harden and increase your condemnation. But why remain in the kingdom and service of the devil? Is he kind and considerate? Is his work honourable? Are his wages good? Why then continue with him? Change masters. You will be welcome. Christ longs for you, looks for you. He will draw you to Himself. I invite you, who are His servants, to come and express your love to your Redeemer. The feeling of your hearts will be, 'I want to do this in remembrance of Him.' 'Yes, I love Him, who for me Died upon the accursed tree; Died to save myself from hell, Yes, I love my Saviour well.' COMMUNION ADDRESS. God has become our brother, our fellow-man, our near kinsman. He will be this for ever. It is a great mystery, but it is full of comfort and encouragement. We know what a loving, faithful brother will do for his brothers and sisters. If they are poor, he will aid them; comfort them; if in danger, he will protect if weak, he will help them; if in sorrow, he will them. Christ feels and acknowledges this brotherly obligation. He is ever ready to comply with it. He expects that we should come to Him with boldness and confidence in all our trials; and He is surprised and grieved when When He was on earth, men saw His manhood, we hold back or come timidly and doubtingly. His brotherhood, and they came to Him boldly ; they touched the hem of His garment; they raise their dead; they took hold of Him, and besought Him to go and heal their sick, or constrained Him to turn in and abide with them. But now He has gone away, He is in glory, He sits upon the throne beside the Father, and perhaps we have somewhat lost the sense and realization of His being our brother, our near of kin. I am sure that Jesus wishes very much that our hearts and minds should be disabused of this great mistake. He wishes us to know that He is as little ashamed of us now as IIe was when on earth; that He cares for us as tenderly in heaven as He did when He was here. When He came among His apostles, after His resurrection, they were terrified and affrighted. But He said, 'Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Feel me and see it is myself; I am bone of your bone.' Does not this remind us of Joseph? They could not look at him, but he said, ‘Come near to me, I am your brother.' What a talismanic word. Then they came near. Or take another instance. Ruth crept close to Boaz's feet, in the dark, and he was startled. But she said, 'Cast your skirt over me, for thou art a near kinsman.' He complied with her request, but he said, 'I am your kinsman; but there is another nearer than me.' Come to Jesus. He will cast his skirt over you. He will not say there is a nearer kinsman.' He is your nearest of kin. He has known you longer than any, and better than any. He has done more for you than any, given more for you. He careth clad in the garb of the warrior. He hath put for you, His love, how great, no tongue can tell, He died to save your soul from hell; ADDRESS AFTER COMMUNION. Bless oh my soul, the Lord thy God.' He brought me into His banqueting house, and His banner over me was love. But what means this banner? In the banqueting house He has stayed you with flagons, He has comforted you with apples; but what means the symbol of war at a feast of love? Believer, your Beloved is a man of war. He is the Lord of armies. He took, by His sword and His bow, out of the hands of the enemy, those fruits of pardon, and peace, and joy, which you have now been eating. See, His apparel is red like crimson, and His garments as one that treadeth in the wine fat; for He hath trodden it alone, and of the people there was none with Him; for He hath trodden them in His anger, and trampled them in His fury, and their blood is sprinkled on those garments, and He hath stained all His raiment. See, He is even now on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; for He knows that this table is spread in the presence of your enemies. There are many foes watching our solemnities, and seeking to mar them. Oh believer, you have had a season of quiet peace, feel joyful. It is because the banner of love has been floating over you. The enemy would have assailed you with showers of fiery darts, with doubts, and questionings, and unbelief; but when they saw the glory over you for a defence, they gnashed their teeth in impotent rage. Oh, friends! you can never be safe nor happy but when you are under that banner. It has two sides, like the pillar that guided Israel. On the inner side is a bleeding Lamb, and on the outer side is an angry Lion. Oh! keep ever on the inner side, and no fiery dart will ever reach you. Ever keep the bleeding Lamb in view, the mark of the spear, the prints of the nails, and sin, and self, and the world, will never prevail against you. If you say from the heart, my Beloved is as the apple tree, then you must be as the lily among thorns. Grow like the lily, but remember the thorns. We shall soon be where there are no thorns! LAST HOURS OF A YOUNG STUDENT.* better land' occupied much of his thoughts, sustaining and cheering him in the midst of affliction, and in the prospect of death. He thought of heaven as a place having all earth's beauty in infinite excellence and variety, but with nothing of earth's sin. In God's presence there was 'fulness of joy;' at His right hand there were 'pleasures for evermore.' There was a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God;' there was the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits,' and the leaves of which were for the healing of the nations;' there his eyes should see the King in His beauty; they should behold the land that is very far off; there he should be near and like Jesus. One moment's realization of the security and happiness of heaven would, he felt, far more than outweigh all earthly sufferings and regrets. No doubt he had the Jordan to cross ere he could enter Canaan ; between him and the 'sweet fields' of the heavenly land' there was 'the swelling flood.' But he had, along with the injunction Fear not,' the comforting promise (Isaiah xliii. 2), When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee." IS views of the scheme of mercy were full and accurate. He saw that he could suffer or do nothing, and had nothing to suffer or to do, to acquire either exemption from punishment or a right to life; that this, in human nature, on behalf of those who deserved to suffer and from whom obedience was due, had already been done by Christ; that Christ being Divine, there was infinite merit in His spotless life and expiatory death, of which God in His Word, and by the resurrection and exaltation of Christ, had testified His acceptance; that all were invited, nay, commanded to appropriate the benefit of what Christ had done; that he had just to trust God's word about His Son's atonement, and on the faith of that word-what a solid foundation!-to rest on that atonement for salvation, and that in doing so he had God's promisewhich was to be relied on without looking for any sensible evidence or sign-that he should never perish. The mercy and love of God in His compassion for sinners, in the gift of His Son for their salvation, and in His assurances of forgiveness to those who, confessing and forsaking their sins, sought His favour for Up till the closing weeks of his life, he Jesus' sake-all this deeply affected him and continued, in general, calm and peaceful, and excited his adoring gratitude. He had no even when he felt that he could not venture to sympathy with the views of those who exhibit speak very favourably of his spiritual experiGod merely as a Being of stern, exacting jus- ence, still he was not apprehensive about the tice, whose wrath is appeased only when Christ future, or as to the reception he should meet interposes and bears the stroke of vengeance. with from God, not regarding Him as a Being On the contrary, he ever considered the Father to whom he yet required to be reconciled. As as first in the work of man's redemption, as his illness increased, however, and he was having, under the influence of His paternal visited by repeated prostrating turns of weaklove, gone in quest of the means of saving us, ness, his bodily affliction-of which Satan, and as making a gift to us of that mediatorial doubtless, took advantage to trouble himrighteousness which we can now confidently occasionally affected his spirits, partly darkenpresent at His sovereign tribunal as full com- ing his mind, and latterly for a while filling his pensation for all our transgressions, a complete soul with terror. Complaining at one time of answer to all the demands of His holy law. It a want of assurance, he was reminded that was sweet to him to meditate on the fulness assurance was not necessary to salvation, and the freeness of the Saviour's accepted work; though faith was, and that even faith was not to think that in Jesus there was provided all required in any particular degree. We might he could possibly need to commend him to God have a very imperfect estimate of Christ; we -that He, the Propitiation for sin, the right- might not see IIim to our comfort; but with eous Advocate, appeared in the presence of Christ, and what He had done on behalf of God, and that in thought he could approach sinners, God was infinitely well-pleased, and and ask, and expect from God every blessing in that lay our safety. Like the disciples of which Christ was worthy-claiming every-during the tempest on the Lake of Galilee we thing on the ground of the Redeemer's merits, simply because Christ had deserved it for sinners, of whom he was one-that in Christ, as in a City of Refuge, the Ark of Safety, no avenger could ever reach to smite him, no flood could e'er o'erwhelm. might fear we were about to perish, but having Christ with us in the storm, we could not be lost. He was urged to place the word of the truth of the gospel' right before his mind, to cherish as true all that the Gospel told him of God's love and of the safety of those who believed on Jesus, and to rely on that testimony in spite of all the accusations of conscience and the suggestions of Satan. If he could not triumph as some saints had done, let him at all events trust, and he should be saved, even as they.' The experience of God's people was not all alike; there was as much variety in grace as in nature, and it was with Christians reaching the eternal shore as it was with those who suffered shipwreck with Paul (Acts xxvii. 43, 44): some were able to swim, others could❘ not, and had to cling to boards and broken pieces of the ship, but it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land. This illustration seemed greatly to please him, as did also the lines-which formed, as it were, a practical application of the illustration, and were quoted more than once in his hearing When the eye of faith is dim, Still trust in Jesus, sink or swim.' If, to himself, he seemed to sink, he should certainly rise again-for 'none perish that Him trust.' Visiting him on another occasion, he was found in a somewhat desponding state. He had been looking away from Christ, the object of faith, and the sight of whom is so well fitted to inspire confidence, to faith itself, and the question arose, whether after all he really was believing in Jesus, and was warranted in appropriating the scripture promises of forgiveness and acceptance which are connected with faith in Him. To prove to himself that he was a believer, and that he ought to take the comfort of such promises, there was quoted to him 1 Peter ii. 7, Unto you therefore which believe He is precious.' He was asked, 'Do you not feel Christ to be precious? Is He not at this moment, above all others, the One on whom your soul sets the highest value?' He smiled sweetly, and answered, 'O, yes!' 'Then you could not so regard Him if you were not a believer; no unbeliever can have any such consciousness. Again, are your hopes of acceptance and salvation founded on anything except the mercy of God in Christ?' O, no! on nothing else.' Then what does the Scripture say of such as you? Psalm cxlvii. 11-The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.' Thus, you see, you are an object of God's complacent regard. He looks upon you with the loving countenance of a reconciled Father in Christ. These thoughts greatly comforted him, and seemed very much to restore his confidence. He was also reminded that the serpent-bitten Israelites, in looking upon the brazen serpent, were taken up, not with the act of looking, but with the object before their eyes, and the promise of God, that if they looked they would be cured. In like manner, sinners should not be taken up with faith as an act of the mind, but should look to Jesus, believingly contemplating Him in all the fulness of His character as a Saviour, and, knowing that those who thus looked became thereby interested in the promise of life, calmly await the issue, expecting salvation on the authority of God's promise. Man was so constituted that if he wished to maintain any particular affection his attention must be kept directed to the object by which it was excited; for if he turned his thoughts from that which caused the feeling to analyze the feeling itself, the feeling would cease to exist. It was thus that thinking about faith would never give us peace, or make us believers, while thinking about Jesus would do so-thinking of God's testimony that in the cross of Christ He has seen an all-sufficient atonement for sin. The thought of this imparted a peace to the soul which nothing else could afford, the possession of which was an evidence of our faith-(1 John v. 10)—and the proof to us that we were warranted to appropriate the promises of salvation in Him. The injunction was not, 'Look unto faith, but Look unto ME;' and the effect which would follow such looking was indicated in the words immediately added, and be ye saved' (Isaiah xlv. 22). They looked unto him, and were lightened,' said David (Psalm xxxiv. 5). It is narrated of a sailor than when first he went to sea his captain told him, as he sent him up the rigging, that whatever he did he was to look up; for if he looked down and saw the waves rolling, and the ship rocking, in all likelihood he would fall into the occan. So if we look at our faith and imperfections we are sure to get into distress; but if we constantly look up, and fix our gaze on Christ, on whom, in all His infinite meritoriousness, we are warranted to rest, our fears are hushed, and we can look forward to the future without alarm. About this time he received letters from the Rev. John M'Auslane, Congregational Church minister, Stretford, near Manchester, which very much pleased and refreshed him. One of these pointed out how the purpose he had had in his heart to serve God in the Gospel of His Son was graciously accepted by God as a thankoffering for His own rich grace towards himself; and that the education he had received was not lost, but would fit him for higher service in the kingdom above. It also referred to what the Saviour had done for him--with which his thoughts would now be occupied more than with anything he had done or intended to do for Him and for His cause on earth, showing how he was encouraged and commanded to rely on Christ's righteousness as on a firm and enduring foundation. It was when our thoughts about that righteousness were the same as God's thoughts that we saw and felt its value; and as we looked on it as our own, as God's gift, and made ours on believing, then we could say"Thou, O Christ, art all I want; More than all in Thee I find.' 'This is the will of him that sent me,' said Jesus, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day." In another letter Mr M'Auslane urged him to place as much reliance on the written word as he would on the spoken word of the Redeemer, supposing He were visible to him on earth. Jesus was the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' All He ever said on earth to seeking souls He would say again were He coming down among us in body. He had nothing to retract of all He said, for He could not change; and what is written in the 'testimony' was immutable truth. The written revelation was just God and Jesus speaking to us; so that when certain questions and doubts |