was brought to a better mind. With his condition of soul, already noticed, the Lord had a controversy. In the Divine ear there was discord. Piping had been answered by lamentation. The Lord, therefore, wrestles with him, contends with him, rebukes him; and Jacob is put into another state of mind. This happy process begins at once. Jacob does not faint under the rebuke: he holds the Wrestler of the night fast. The Divine Stranger then tries his faith by withering the hollow of his thigh by a touch: Jacob still holds on, "faint yet pursuing.' Then the Wrestler tries his faith again, asking for liberty to go, shewing that He was ready to put an end to the strife: Jacob will not hear of that; he acts in the understanding of this secret-that our blessing is God's purpose. therefore makes his profit, rather than the Stranger's pleasure, his rule, and refuses to let Him go till He blest him. was " He O happy understanding of the heart of Christ! This dancing," indeed, in the spirit of his mind. All is harmony now. The "piping" has got its due answer; and Christ blesses him, instead of wrestling with him; and Jacob pursues his way in the light of the face of the Lord. He crosses the plain, calling it Peniel, the face of God;" glorying in that mystery, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 66 Was not that dancing? Was not that journeying with so light and triumphant a heart, as suited the piping of the Lord in the angelic salutation? All is harmony now, where all before had been discord. The exercise of soul under the wrestling had rejected every thing, The fearless footstep of the patriarch over Peniel was the due responsive dance to the music at Mahanaim. This discipline or wrestling had not to correct or change the path which Jacob was treading. He pursues it still the very same path which he had trod before; but it had to correct the spirit in which it was pursued. "The Father of spirits" is our disciplining God. SELF-JUDGMENT.-How necessary it is for each of us to have much personal dealing with God, to keep out the flesh in its various insidious ways of approval to the hidden man of the heart. There would then be less running after men, less judging of others, less chattering and sceing others' failings, and more judging of ourselves; and our souls and consciences would be kept more alive, and thus we should be able to pray for those who labour and rule, strengthen their hands, and walk in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Those who labour and rule, too, should be watching, if they who rule well are to be counted worthy of double honour: they should recollect they have double difficulties, and dangers, and snares. The Lord help us! The longer I live, the weaker I find myself, and the more help I need. The secret of being happy and safe, is keeping always before us the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is His work for us that is the only foundation for His working by us. PEACE AND LOVE. Ephes vi. 23; Jude 2. Peace, what a precious sound! Christ hath made peace. Our souls are brought to God By the atoning blood, And crown'd with every good: Yes, 'twas the dying Lamb, Jesus, the great "I AM," This peace who made. 'Twas His own life He gave, Bowing beneath the grave, Our guilty souls to save: He peace hath made! Love was the spring of all, My soul, this love adore, And praise for evermore, Yea, sound from shore to shore, Lord, teach me line by line, Its depths, its heights to know, To mortals here below Thy love so rare! Thus I shall peace enjoy, Who can its course destroy, When He speaks peace? While trusting in my God, For He speaks peace! SIN AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. ALTHOUGH it be true that we have to do with One who "declareth the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done;" yet has there always been a question at stake, between God and man, which in its results has only served to bring out into clearer view man's utter ruin and inability to respond to the voice of God. ness. Until the coming of the Holy Son of God, the dealings of God with man were about Sin and RighteousBefore the law was given, "the wickedness of man was great in the earth;" under the law, "sin became exceeding sinful," and righteousness could not "Who shall ascend into the hill of the come by it. Lord? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." And Christ came, offered Himself without spot to God, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself: settled the question, by receiving the wages of sin in His own person. It was enough-and God no longer seeks righteousness from sinners, nor charges home upon. them the penalties attached to His broken law. The testimony of the Holy Ghost, sent down from heaven, is unto One who was once offered to bear the sins of many; to declare the righteousness of God, that He might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Man, who by nature could not render to God the righteousness which He sought, thus stands before Him perfect and complete in Christ, made the righteousness of God in Him. To His blessed name the Holy Ghost bears witness. He takes of His things and shews them unto us. But if that name be rejected, the office of the Spirit is still to convince of sin-not merely on account of the flood of iniquity which rises up in the heart, or the deeds of darkness men have done,-but 66 OF SIN, because they believe not on Me." This now is the question between God and man-the reception or rejection of God's dear Son; and on those who receive Him not, the wrath of God abideth (John i. 12; xii. 48). But not so with the Church. From such God seeks righteousness, the conscience void of offence, the unsullied garment, the washen feet. His word is, "Holiness becometh thine house for ever;" and if any man defile the temple of God, judgment shall begin there, him shall God destroy. For our God is a consuming fire. Oh! that our souls had so gazed upon the beauty of holiness, so loved Him in whom it shone forth in perfect excellency, that our hearts might be rivetted upon Him in the love of it, expand in the liberty of it, and shrink unceasingly from the touch of evil. It is in the love of holiness that hatred of sin grows. If we are living in the light of heaven, our souls will sicken in the darkness of this world: if we are drinking of the pure river of water of life, we shall have no taste for the pleasures of sin: indeed, our standard will rise, we shall grow in the perception of what becometh saints. What yesterday we could do with a free heart, to-day will be sin to us; we shall go on to the end, like the leper after he was pronounced clean, cutting off many a natural thing, which has scemed to belong to our existence; putting off many a habit, which has formed part of our character; with |