We have thus sought to trace the progress of that helpless frame of mind of which we have an example in the miserable imbecility of Herod. We have followed out to its legitimate issue this poor habit of self-justification, which leads you to shelter yourselves, as if you were the passive victims of an irresistible fatalism, under pleas of strong necessity and constraint, compelling you, in a manner, to give in. We close with two brief remarks. How unsatisfying, at the best, are these pleas! And how unsubstantial!

In the first place, Whom do they really satisfy? Not yourselves; for you are not happy and at your ease, so long as you have so many scruples about yielding, and in yielding are so "exceeding sorry.' Nor are your tempters satisfied. They hail your concession, no doubt, so far as it goes, and are glad to have you taken in their wiles. But your remaining reluctance is a vexation to them; and they will not rest until you go with them freely and joyfully, instead of being so "exceeding sorry." Far less will your God be satisfied. If your own hearts condemn you in urging your excuses, and convict you of secret guileGod is greater than your hearts, and knoweth all things. You are labouring in vain, and spending your strength for nought. Come, try a more excellent way; especially since,

In the second place, these pleas of necessity that embarrass you are as unsubstantial as they are unsatisfying. They have no real force in themselves, nor is there any where, in any one, any right or power to enforce them. On the contrary, there is one not far off, but "standing at the door and knocking;" and if only you will " open to him," he will put an end at

once to this miserable strife; he "will come in unto you, and sup with you, and you with him." Call John out of his prison; let him be your friend once more. Call on Him of whom John bore witness; or rather hear him when he calls on you. Jesus will speedily cut the knot of all your worldly entanglements, and take you to be altogether his own; "ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." There is no halting or hesitating with him; no drawback, no reserve, no-" but yet" in the whole history of his dealings with poor sinners among men. No such word is upon his gracious lips; nor is the thing it signifies in his large and loving heart. When was he ever found qualifying, or guarding, or hedging the boundless liberality of his calls and offers in the gospel, by such a poor afterthought and cautious reservation as this "but yet?" "Come unto me!" "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come unto the waters!" "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely!" "Whosoever

cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out!" Is there ever any" but yet" appended to any of these gracious invitations? No! you are complete in Christ. Believing, you have all things in Christ, unconditionally, unreservedly, assuredly, and for ever, without "if," or "but," or any such thing. Then believe, and have done with this" but yet"-at once, and once for all. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive him as he is freely offered to you in the gospel.

I do I try-I would, you answer-" But yet"What! O sinner, perishing as thou art, wilt thou still harp on this poor evasion! When it is thy Saviour, thy God, who is speaking to thee, giving thee eternal life, holding forth to thee, as thine for the taking, all

that thou canst need for the forgiveness of all thine iniquities and the healing of all thy diseases-is it for thee to cavil and question any farther thwarting the full and free grace of his proposal with this subterfuge of thine-this equivocating "but yet?" You would fain believe, and have peace in believing, and be all that Jesus would have you to be—" but yet—” Nay, whatever you are going to add, whether you are about to complain of coldness, or deadness, or unworthiness, or unbelief-whatever is to follow this "but yet" of yours -stop, pause, be ashamed and confounded. Whatever it may be that you are on the point of pleading, can it be any thing else than an insult to your Saviour and an offence to your God, to put in any plea whatever in bar of the mercy and grace he so freely gives? Come, rather close with him now, unconditionally, unreservedly. Let "ifs" and "buts" have place no longer in your surrender of yourselves to him, as they have no place in his giving of himself for you, or in his giving of himself to you. Then, "with enlargement of heart, you will run in the way of his precepts: you will walk at liberty when you have respect unto all his commandments."

X.

MARTHA AND MARY-THEIR COMMON GRIEF.

"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. . . . . Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."-JOHN xi. 21, 32.

PART FIRST.

"Ir is better," says the wise man, "to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." If this be true generally of the effect which should be produced by familiarizing the heart with the devout contemplation of death, and of the grief which death occasions, it must be especially true when we have Jesus as our companion.

It was our Lord's custom, in his visits to Jerusalem, to retire in the evenings, after the toils and trials of his daily ministry in the temple, to the quiet village of Bethany, and the peaceful abode of Lazarus,

that he might there repose amid the holy endearments of a congenial family circle. That house is now the house of mourning. Let us visit it in the company of Jesus, and observe how he is received there, and how his presence cheers the gloom.

But

The sisters, Martha and Mary, greet him with the same pathetic salutation, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died;" and this might seem to indicate an entire similarity in their sorrow. if we look a little closer, we see a striking difference of demeanour, corresponding to the marked difference of their characters generally. And this difference is marked in our Lord's different treatment of them. In every view it is an interesting study, from which we may learn, in the first place, How much sameness there is in grief; secondly, How much variety; and, lastly, How much compass there is in the consolation of Christ, as capable of being adapted to all varieties of grief to grief of every mould and of every mood. We speak chiefly throughout of the grief of true Christians; for we think we are warranted in assuming that, notwithstanding their great contrast in respect of natural temperament, the two sisters were partakers of the same grace.

At present, we advert to the similarity of their common sorrow-the sameness of their grief. For it is remarkable, that two persons so different in their turn of mind, as we shall afterwards see that these sisters were so apt to view things in different lights, and to be affected by them with different feelings -should both utter the same words on first meeting the Lord Jesus-"Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." It shows how natural such