however, divine ordination. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.' If I say to others, ‘Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good'-it must be because I have myself tasted that the Lord is good. The ministry of the Gospel is 'the ministry of reconciliation;' its great subject is God in Christ, and that God hath made Christ to be sin for us. It is telling what God hath wrought. Compared with the ministry of the law, its transcendent glory is, that it is the ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness, whereas that of the law was unto death and condemnation. 66 Before I received your note I had seen your father on busi ness, and talked with him about you. I mention this, because you say you are afraid to inform your friends of the real state of your feelings. I think you would find relief by freely communicating with your parents. It is God's order to honour them; although if Christ puts in His claim, father and mother are to be left; but then it must be very clear that it is Christ's will, and not our own which we are following. THE BELOVED PERSIS. "The beloved Persis, who laboured much in the Lord."-ROM. xvi. 12. SUCH is the precious record of a long-departed Christian sister, and we know nothing more; but heaven's chronicle will tell us much about her. This passage was brought to remembrance by the account received of a young believer who recently fell asleep at the age of twentythree, leaving a sweet savour of Christ behind her. There are many young Christians beloved in the family circle as was this one, but their influence does not extend beyond it, and we would seek to stir up such to follow in the steps of this young sister, whose memory is fragrant with the interest and sympathies she manifested in the assembly with which she was connected. Not only has she left a void in the happy little family circle, but in our church circle her valuable help in visiting, and in gospel and Sunday school work, will be greatly missed. A brightly burning, steady, shining light has been removed; and alas! there are few such left. It was her highest joy to lead souls to Christ, and her deep desire for this was not only shown in her own earnest efforts, but she was ever encouraging others in the work of the Lord; indeed she has often cheered us when we have been cast down because of hindrances to the Lord's work. Her joyful confidence in God, which never seemed to waver, was not only her own strength, but it strengthened others also. Her patience and kindly consideration of others was especially seen during her twenty weeks' confinement to her bed. She never once complained of her sufferings, and when brethren who had become cold. hearted visited her, and had their sympathy drawn out and their souls restored, she would say, “I would gladly suffer more if I could be the means of blessing to others." She much enjoyed the thought of Col. i. 24, sharing the "afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, which is the Church." Gifts of fruit and flowers, which were sent to her in profusion, she regarded as the Lord's goodness in affording her opportunities of ministering to others, and one of her last requests on the day of her departure was that some grapes which had been received that morning should be sent to some sick and dying ones whom she named. The last few days her enfeebled mind could not bear much truth, and she said, "I am just resting on Himself; it's all faith, believing, not seeing." But the Spirit fixed the words of 1 John i. 7, and Deut. xxxiii. 27 on her heart. She often quoted them, and said they were all she could remember. The "blood" was her password, and the "eternal God" her refuge and comfort. She mentioned the former word shortly before she departed; then putting her hand on her breast she whispered, "Put off Lord; then slowly but emphatically she uttered the sweetest name on mortal tongue-“Jesus." her last word, and she gently fell asleep without even a sigh, in "perfect peace. The funeral was attended by fully four hundred people, and the Lord gave us a solemn and very blessed season, and we committed her precious earthly tabernacle into the keeping of Him who has the "keys of death." The sky was perfectly cloudless, reminding us of the time when we shall meet again in the "morning without clouds." In the bosom of the Eternal, Cleansed and sheltered by His blood: This was Thus, in perfect peace, she bade us With the Lord we'll meet at home. H. G. "THE LORD HATH NEED." Thy Lord hath need? Oh! sleeping soul awake, And tell Him thou couldst nothing find so sweet Where is thine alabaster box to break As perfume for His head? Thy gift to greet His coming with? Thine eager haste to meet His steps along the weary path they take? "The Lord hath need." My soul, miss not the grace His loving hand has portioned out for thee : Go, seek the poor, the sad, the lost, the base, Thy bright reward, when thou shalt see His face, A. L. B. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. THE grand fact of the absolute sovereignty of the eternal God is no mere theory to be reasoned about, but a blessed truth to be bowed to and rested upon. It is a truth that always provokes the rebellious will of fallen man, while it is the stay and unfailing support of those who are taught of God. In like manner it must be the terror of fallen angels, while those countless multitudes of holy angels who delight to do the will of God rejoice in the fact that His will is supreme. He Himself hath declared, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isa. xlvi. 10), and the answer of the believer to every taunt of the infidel is, or should be, "Our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased." (Psalm cxv. 3.) The great monarch of the Gentile world, to whom God gave the kingdom which Israel had forfeited, was taught by severe discipline what all creatures must learn sooner or later, even that God "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" (Dan. iv. 35.) The first expression of God's sovereignty in His dealings with man in grace, was given in that solemn moment when man, having by disobedience forfeited the measure of sovereignty which God had committed to him, stood in the presence of his Maker as a sinner under just sentence of death. What could man do in that terrible moment? What could God Himself have done for man had He not been most absolute in His sovereignty? There was no provision in creation for man as a sinner; and there seemed no prospect save for the solemn sentence to take its course without remedy. What could the creature-the mightiest, wisest creature-have proposed or looked for in that hour? What but the immediate execution of the dread sentence -judgment without mercy? But GOD was there, God, who had reserves in Himself that no creature could have dreamt of, and who had fully provided for what He had perfectly foreseen. His first utterance therefore in man's altered circumstances was an intimation of what He would bring to pass, the bestowal of unspeakable blessedness to man through the eternal victory which the Seed of the woman should, through suffering, gain over the serpent. He gives expression to the deep purpose of his heart, a purpose that was before creation and above creation, and yet needed creation as the platform on which alone it could be carried out; and the very fall of man only led to its accomplishment. Not that God brought about the fall of man, for the author of sin He never can be; but it is His prerogative to leave the creature to pursue his course, and yet make all that course subservient to the fulfilment of His own high purposes. As the first word of grace spoken in the hearing of the guilty pair displays the actings of one who can be limited. by nothing but His own perfections, so in the carrying out of the threat to the serpent, that the Seed of the woman should bruise his head, we see the working of the same mighty hand. Christ the Son of God was taken, and by wicked hands was crucified and slain. Under no constraint but that of their own natural enmity, and the guidance of Satan, whose willing slaves they became, Jews delivered up and Gentiles crucified the Lord of Glory; yet did He die by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and upon that wondrous death the fulfilment of all God's purposes depended, and His glory in the new creation |