"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end."

Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan is the only one found of the house of Saul. How generously David behaves to him. He restores him all the possessions of Saul, and adds, "Thou shalt eat bread at my table continually......as one of the king's sons." This needs no comment. Here is enduring love. This is using power in a way worthy of the leader of God's people. The butler forgot Joseph when he was raised up. David, in the day of his exaltation, remembers Jonathan.

In after years, when David is in affliction and flees from Absalom, and then returns to his throne and house, how beautiful is the behaviour of Mephibosheth. As David had sown so now he reaps.

"The king said unto him, Wherefore wentest thou not with me, Mephibosheth?" (2 Sam. xix. 25.) Mephibosheth explains the cause, by exposing the treachery of his servant Ziba. He rehearses the great kindness of the king to him, in taking up a dead man and setting him at the king's table; and declares that he cares not about the land, but for the king his benefactor. "Yea, let him (Ziba) take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house."

Love begets love. The gracious dealing of the king towards Mephibosheth has so won his heart, that all he cares for is to see the king restored to his house in peace. Such an one is worthy of a son's place at the king's table, whilst Ziba passes before us as a traitor to his master, and having only an eye to his

own temporal advantage. The Spirit of Christ fills the one, the spirit of the world the other.

How affecting is all this as a type of the Church and Christ. He takes us up who were dead men, places us at His table as king's sons, restoring to us lost possessions. He, our beloved Master and Benefactor, is an exile from His throne and kingdom. We long for His return. We, like Mephibosheth, mourn His absence. The marks of our sorrow are upon us. But when our beloved Lord returns, we are ready to meet Him, to answer for our conduct during His absence, to show the tokens of our sorrow, and to hail His return with joy. If He speaks to us of possessions, we reply, we need no more than to see His face, and to be for ever with Him.

THE FIELD OF THE SLOTHFUL.

"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down." (Prov. xxiv. 30, 31.)

WHEN We think of the wondrous mercy of God that has met us, and saved us, in the death and resurrection of His beloved Son, it is marvellous that we should ever need warning or exhortation to remind us that we are not our own, but bought with a price, and that therefore we should glorify God in our body, and in our spirit, which are God's. But so it is; and feeling our proneness to err, we often cry out with the Psalmist, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?-by taking heed thereto according to Thy

word." Sometimes we find ourselves the subjects of carnal zeal and a spirit of self-confidence; at other times we are in danger of indifference to Christ's honour, carelessness as regards the state of our souls, the character of our walk, and the quality of our service. It is the latter condition that our Lord so solemnly warns us of, when He says, "While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." (Matt. xxv. 5.) Fearful falls and disappointment may be connected with fleshly energy, as we see in the case of Peter, but "slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep;" "by much slothfulness the building decayeth, and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through." (Ecc. x. 18.) May we solemnly and prayerfully weigh these Scriptures before the Lord, and exhort one another to dedicate ourselves unreservedly to Him who has purchased us with His own blood, that when He comes again He may have to say to each one of us, "Well done, good and faithful

servant!"

There are many exhortations in the word of God to "be diligent," to give "all diligence," to "abound in diligence," &c., and many solemn warnings against slothfulness. Among the characteristics of the latter, we may notice first, that the slothful soul hesitates to lay hold of the grace of God in Christ, and to live by the faith of the Son of God as its daily bread. "Be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land." (Judges xviii. 9.) A loss of relish for the flesh and blood of Christ, a lack of appetite for the sincere milk of the word, little inclination to draw nigh to God, slowness to apprehend our standing in grace as

seated in Christ in heavenly places, are marks that indicate a slumbering and slothful state of soul.

Outward energy is only real when it is accompanied with secret fellowship with God. Spiritual affections, zeal, and intelligence, find their proper element only in the presence of God. There is nothing really spiritual apart from God. Those who do not abide in Christ, do not bring forth fruit. The very life and power of our souls is enjoying all the fulness the Father has given us in Christ. Let it not be said of us, then, "How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you?" (Josh. xviii. 3.) Our God is "a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Heb. xi. 6.) Dissatisfaction and want will be found in that bosom which is a stranger to the blessings connected with diligently searching the holy Scriptures, and obeying the word of the Lord. "An idle soul shall suffer hunger." (Prov. xix. 15.) Our God would have us to receive His word, hide His commandments with us, to incline our ear, and apply our heart to understanding, to cry after knowledge, lift up our voice for understanding, seek her as silver, search for her as for hid treasures; then shall we understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. (Prov. ii.) "The soul of the diligent shall be made fat." (Prov. xiii. 4.)

A spirit of bondage also is connected with slothfulness-"The slothful shall be under tribute." (Prov. xii. 24.) From the soul not dwelling in God, not living upon Christ, not feasting in the banqueting-house, there is no enjoyment of "the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." Men and things, therefore, have

authority upon the heart, which rightly belongs only to Christ; hence their place is found in following in the train of good men, rather than in walking simply before the Lord, with an exercised conscience "in the sight of God the Father"-they are "under tribute," instead of living as free-born citizens of heaven. To follow Paul only as he followed Christ is not being "under tribute," bat is true fellowship of saints; for they unitedly, and together, glorify God. "The hand of the diligent maketh rich." (Prov. x. 4.)

Another mark of a slothful spirit is, that if the mind be occupied at all with the truth, it is satisfied with new discoveries, instead of feeding upon the truth, and being anxious that every fresh revelation should be sealed upon the heart. The mind only is exercised, and neither the affections nor the conscience acted upon. "The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting." (Prov. xii. 27.) Their pleasure is only in taking possession of what they sought after, and not in using it for personal refreshment and profit. The indolent man has had his desire gratified in obtaining what he wished, but he has no heart to treasure it up in his soul, to taste its sweetness, or to realize the strength and comfort it is able to minister. It is by patiently and perseveringly meditating upon the truth of God, mixing faith with it, and having it written upon our hearts and minds by the Spirit, that we find that scripture fulfilled in our experience. "Much increase is by the strength of the ox." (Prov. xiv. 4.)

Great fear, self-consideration, and a desire for overrating difficulties, are further accompaniments of a