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"What have you to say of your own heart, Josephhave you closed with Christ by acting faith on him?" "Ah, no! Joseph can act nothing. Joseph has nothing to say for himself, but that he is the chief of sinners.' Yet seeing that it is a faithful saying, that Jesus Christ who made all things, came into the world to save sinners, why may not Joseph be saved?" And because he enjoyed such comfort in the love of Christ, he gave the savings which he had laid by to keep him in his old age, into the hands of the minister, from whose lips he had heard of this precious Saviour, begging him to divide it among the poor friends of the Lord Jesus; "and tell them that Joseph gave it to them for his sake who came into the world to save sinners, of whom he is the chief." Poor Joseph has never seen a catechism, nor does he know the meaning of that hard word, faith-he cannot draw an inference to save his sinful soul-but he dies rejoicing with assured confidence of the mercy of God to him a sinner. Where is the man who would take his joy from him? Where is the man that would stand by his bed-side and say, "Ah, Joseph, this is presumption."

Such clear perception of the infinite fullness of Christ, and entire confidence of his power to save unto the uttermost, we often see in the hour of death. Self is in the dust, and Christ the Lord is exalted in that honest hour. If the soul looks to the law of God

as that by which it must stand or fall, it sees now in the light of eternity, more clearly than ever, that it has every thing to fear. There is not an act or a thought of the whole life

that can stand the test of

that holy, spiritual law. But it looks to Christ, and sees that there is nothing to fear. Jesus has said— he that was from eternity, he that shed his own blood for the chief of sinners, he that cpeneth and no man shutteth, he into whose hands all power is given in heaven and earth-has said, "Him that cometh unto ine, I will in no wise cast out." That is enough. All is well!

A holy quiet reigns around,

A calm which life nor death destroys;

Nothing disturbs that peace profound
Which his unfettered soul enjoys.

The soul may be so absorbed in its contemplation of the grace of Christ, especially in its application to personal sin-so absorbed in its anticipation of the glory that shall be revealed, as not to think of the correspondence of its own act and state of confidence with the requirement of the Gospel, or if the thought at any moment presents itself, the disposition to rely wholly upon Christ, and the fear of mingling something of its own with his precious merits, may strong, that it is not entertained; and yet in the sight of God, to look to Christ, and not to fear, is to believe simply and fully as he would have us all believe.

be so

"There is no room for fear with such an advocate," was the reply of a dying youth to the question, whether he was afraid to die, as his clear, bright gaze met the loving eye of an anxious father. He was thinking only of Christ, but that bold, confident, selfforgetting, self-disclaiming thought of Christ, was faith!

CHAPTER XIII.

Assurance of Faith-Continued.

WHILE the Holy Scriptures need no confirmation from reason, it is not always so with our impression of their meaning. If there is a doubt in any mind of the correctness of the views expressed in the last chapter, we think that they are abundantly confirmed both by reason and experience.

1. As a preliminary observation to the further discussion of the point before us, we may suggest, that even if there is no assurance belonging to the very act of faith and necessary to its completeness, yet it is, no less clearly and immediately, the duty of every man so to believe the Gospel, that there shall be no doubt upon his mind of the reality of his faith. In view of the nature of the truth, upon which our salvation depends, and the clearness and certainty of its evidence, to believe less decidedly is to sin against

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