means are much more simple and natural. The subject was canvassed by the rich man in hell, who expressed a wish to have some supernatural minister sent to his brethren; but the reply was, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." Jesus heard that they had cast out the man whom he had healed, and he sought him; "and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he who talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe; and he worshipped him." This is the account of his conversion, full of pathos "Jesus sought him when a stranger, Interposed his precious blood." "Who is the Son of God, that I might believe on him?" "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." It was necessary he should be taught before he could act faith, otherwise it would have been a blind faith. I always considered the appeal to his newly created sight as a touching instance of sympathizing pleasure. What a merciful and gracious High Priest is ours; how worthy of our affections. Reader, have you given him your heart? Be assured he will not reject it! He greatly prizes your love, although you are his sin He says, ful creature; he desires it; he asks for it. Give me thine heart? Oh, then, do not withhold for the sake of anything earthly. He will never slight your love, but will make much of it; he will never tell you "his affections are otherwise engaged." Try him, I beseech you. We may learn something from the carriage and sayings of this poor blind man ; and if not slow to discern, we may see something in him to imitate. He believed in God, and in God's providence, before his information amounted to spiritual knowledge; but as soon as he became better taught, he did not for a moment withhold his assent to Jesus Christ being the promised Messiah. And why was he so ready to yield an assent to this point, when the learned doctors of the Jewish church, who had witnessed so many more of the Saviour's miracles than he had, withheld theirs? Simply because the blind man had seen the Messiah with spiritual eyes, the eyes of his mind, and they had not. And it is just so in our days; the Pharisees and the learned doctors having acquired a little human learning, and their studies having engendered a few humours in their eyes, their vision becomes so much obscured as to prevent their perceiving the nature of, or being charmed with, the radiance of that light which came into the world; they therefore remain in dark ness. He was an example of instant obedience! We read of no hesitation or doubt being expressed respecting the efficacy of the remedy directed by the Saviour, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam;" he did not stay to argue that there were no medicinal virtues in those waters, that they had never been instrumental in opening blind eyes; but he evinced faith in the word of e; Jesus, and came, seeing. Faith and obedience never fail of their reward. We may frequently be placed in situations where, knowing our duty, but not being able clearly to discern the result of doing it, we hesitate but let us remember the blind man's eyes would never have been opened had he been disobedient to the Saviour's direction; and I judge that thousands who attend the means of grace remain spiritually blind because they do not fulfil the Saviour's command, "Do this in remembrance of me." If the cured man had not shewn a different spirit from the Pharisees, he would not have evinced that he had been in the company of Jesus; but having been greatly privileged, he had caught a Christian spirit: it subjected him to the taunts of the Pharisees, and this it will ever do ; but Christians do not mind that; rather they count it to be an honour to suffer reproach for Jesus' sake. Believers are bound to exhibit a different spirit from the world; they are bound by the principles they profess and entertain; indeed, it forms part of their nature so to do; if their hearts are changed, it could not be otherwise; it is the chief evidence of genuine Christianity. There are other proofs, but the spirit and disposition are the principal. Are we not surprised at the courage of the cured man? Not long since, he was sitting by the wayside begging, and would have been thankful for the smallest pittance; but presently he was standing in the midst of the great council of priests and Jewish doctors, defending the innocent, and proving that Christ was from God, with a resolution and strength of argument that all their learning could not confute. This was a marvellous change of circumstances; but it was accounted for, in that he had seen Jesus. It was thought to have been a high honour to have seen Jesus in the flesh; and greatly should we think ourselves privileged to see him; but there is a time coming when you and I, reader, shall see him: we shall see him for ourselves, and not another for us; let me ask you, WHERE SHALL YOU STAND ON THAT OCCASION? THE COVENANT TOKEN. NOAH and his sons having witnessed the deluge, in which the waters had prevailed exceedingly, so that all the high hills that were under the whole heavens were covered, might naturally be supposed to fear that the like would occur again, and therefore, in order to allay any misgivings, God assured them, saying, “Behold, I establish my covenant with and with your you, seed after you; I will not again curse the ground, with this kind of curse, with an universal deluge, any more for man's sake." Jehovah did not hereby engage that he would not destroy particular lands, for there have been inundations since that have overwhelmed towns and countries, and swept away their inhabi tants. The words of the promise were, "Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth." This promise is repeatedly expressed, that the faith of all men might be strengthened, and especially of Noah and his |