many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John i. 11-13). "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. iii. 3). "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit" (1 John iv. 13).

One word more, and we have done. The natural heart is, we know, so prone to make excuses for not believing the gospel, that we wish to follow you still further into its recesses. Perhaps you say, "Well then, if I cannot believe but under the teaching of God's Spirit; what is the use of my trying? Had I not better wait until he makes me?" Oh ! you may rest assured that this objection proceeds from your “evil heart of unbelief” (Heb. iii. 12); and proves how very unwilling you are to "repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance" (Acts xxvi. 20). Were you willing, were you anxious, how different would your conduct be! Would you not be inquiring eagerly "what must I do to be saved?" (Acts xvi. 30). How shall I become a partaker of "so great salvation?" (Heb. ii. 3). If the man with the "withered hand," to whom our Lord said "Stretch forth thine hand," had replied, "How can I? must not God himself

enable me to do so?" Would you not at once have said, that it was quite clear that he did not wish to be healed? But no! He was but too willing, but too anxious, and "he stretched out” his hand with all his might, and while he did so, the Lord gave him the power, and "his hand was restored whole as the other" (Mark iii. 1-5). Now this is precisely your case. It is true that naturally you have no more power to believe, than had this man to stretch forth his hand; but striving prayerfully, in dependance upon God's word and promise, you will find belief in the Lord Jesus as easy as the stretching forth of this man's hand was to him. In your own strength you can indeed do nothing, but in God's strength you can do all things.

It is the Spirit of God, as we have said, who produces this belief in the soul. Can you not then ask God to give you his Spirit, to work this faith in you? Oh, God is far more willing to give than you are to ask. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children," says our Lord, "how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke xi. 13.) Can you possibly have any excuse at the day of judgment if you act not upon this word. Oh ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Luke xi. 9). "Ask"-simple believing prayer-" and it shall be given you." You shall receive the accom

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plishment of that prayer: and in connection with this subject, oh! what a mighty promise hath our Lord given us ; "and all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt. xxi. 22). "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John xvi. 24). "Seek"earnest continuous prayer-" and ye shall find”the full fruition and satisfaction of that prayer. "Seek for glory, and honour, and immortality” and you shall have "eternal life" (Rom. ii. 7). "Knock"-" striving" ('Aywvileode), or agonizing, (Luke xiii. 24), wrestling prayer; and "it shall be opened unto you"-the full happiness and glory of prayer. The first denotes the happiness of the soul, when it first finds itself in the possession of Christ as its own, in reply to heartfelt believing prayer; the second that growing and deepening satisfaction in his love, consequent on a fuller and more extended acquaintance with him, through earnest and long continued waiting upon him; and the third, that "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. i. 8), revealed to the soul in answer to a wrestling spirit of prayer, which, longing after the beloved object of its desires, pursues him, and holds him fast, nor will it let him go until he doth bless it" (Gen. xxxii. 26). Dear reader, may God grant that this experience may be yours.

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And this leads us naturally, in the second place,

to address a few words of exhortation to those who are under convictions.

Dear young people,-for youth is, in general, the time of conviction and conversion; conversion in after life is the exception, not the rule-this is indeed a critical period with you.

Perhaps the spring-morning of your young life broke softly and sweetly upon you, while your sky was clear and unclouded. The world looked bright and fair to you, and life seemed pleasant and joyous. But now, it may be, through the Lord's working on your heart through some afflictive dispensation of providence; or through some preached or written word, sent home with power to your heart by the Spirit of God, the scene is changed. The fair and specious guise, which Satan, and your evil heart, till then unknown, had thrown over the face of a fallen world, has been, in a measure, withdrawn from it, and you have seen behind the scenes. What seemed once so fair and pleasant is now seen to be but glitter and tinsel after all. You have seen something of "the end of these things," which is "death" (Rom. vi. 21). You have seen likewise that there is a "world to come,” which will live and flourish after this has been swept away into destruction. You have seen something of the hidden corruption and depravity of your own heart

-how deformed you are by nature; and the sight has humbled and distressed you. The love of the

world is, however, by no means extirpated from your spirit. Your heart still "followeth after your idols," although some of them already, it may be, lie broken at your feet. You deeply regret the blasting of your schemes of earthly joy, and are angry that your day-dream of pleasure should so soon have passed away. You are, if we may so speak, in a transition-state. You have seen a little of the world's emptiness, and of its insufficiency to supply your need; but you have yet to see the fulness and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus. You have seen something of the evil of sin, but nothing of "the beauty of holiness" (1 Chron. xvi. 29). You have seen something likewise of the evil of your own heart, but what have you seen of the tender loving heart of the Lord Jesus? You have seen something, it may be, of God's justice, and of your obnoxiousness to his wrath on account of sin, but you have seen nothing of the loving heart of God the Father, as revealed to us in his dear son Jesus Christ. You have yet to see the "loveliness" (Cant. v. 16), of that "fair" (Psa. xlv. 2), "exalted" one (Acts ii. 33, Phil. ii. 9), "the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. ii. 5). "halting between two opinions" (1 Kings xviii. 21). "under the law," and not " under grace You are (Rom. vi. 14).

You are, as it were,

You are indeed in a critical position. May the Lord help you forward. Heaven and hell seem