the Father's delights hath put me to great loss. Oh that he would take a loan of me, and my stock, and put his name in all my bonds and serve himself heir to the poor mean portion which I have, and be accountable for the talent himself! Gladly would I fut Christ into my room to guide all; and let me be but a servant to run errands, and act by his directions -let me be his interdicted heir." To an unusual degree the heart of this good man was drawn out towards the coming of the King in his glory. His experience in this respect set a deep seal upon the apostle's words, "We know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every one that hath this hope in Him, purifieth himself even as He is pure." * The heart is as certainly clarified under the influence of this blessed anticipation, as linen is whitened out under the shining of the sun. Holiness is woven into the affections, while love keeps up the sweet interchange between the soul longing for sinlessness, and him who is to "appear a second time without sin unto salvation." Tractice this much neglected apostolic grace, oh reader; train faith's eye to "the habit of looking upw rd * 1 John 3: 3. all the day, and drawing down beams from the reconciled countenance." Waiting for the Son of God from heaven fixes our position on earth, and gives us that true separateness and unworldliness which are so essential to a holy life. He who has learned to say, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we look for a Saviour,"* has an unanswerable reason for not investing his affections or laying up his treasures on the earth. This blessed hope has kindled the hearts of saints to the highest fervors, and touched the lyres of poets with the loftiest strains. † It took such hold of Rutherford that it made him live and act ever as an inhabitant of heaven, rather than as a citizen of earth. Hear his heart's longings after the King of glory: "Watch but a little, and, ere long, the skies shall rend, and that fair, lovely person, Jesus, will come in * Phil. 3: 20. ↑ "I looke for Thee, my lovelyle Lord, therefore For Thee I wayte, for Thee I tarrye stylle, George Gascoigne, 1549. the clouds, fraught and loaded with glory. O, wher shall we meet? Oh, how long is it to the dawning of the marriage day? O, sweet Lord Jesus, take wide steps! O, my Lord, come over the mountains at one stride! O, my beloved, flee like a roe, or a young hart, on the mountains of separation. Oh, that He would fold the heavens together like an old cloak, and shovel time and days out of the way, and make ready in haste the Lamb's wife for her husband. Since He looked upon me my heart is not mine own, he hath run away to heaven with it."* No holiday sanctity, no holiness of the folded hands and dreamy heart was that of "Seraphic Rutherford." He longed after lost souls with the heart of Christ, and labored for their salvation night and day. If he did not say with the apostle, "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh," he was constantly declaring that his joy and rejoicing would be doubled in every soul he might bring to Christ. To his dear flock of Anworth he writes: "My witness is in heaven, your heaven would be two heavens to me, and your salvation two salvations." Most excellent pattern of » Lettura, p. 94^ 276. godliness! How our hearts are stirred to emulate his example! If we cross from Scotland to France, and study a life which partly overlapped that which we have just considered, we find a type of consecration quite opposite in its character. Rutherford's piety was ecstatic; Madame Guyon's was mystical; the one went out of self to the Christ upon the throne and in the clouds; the other went into self to Christ within the depths of consciousness. Since the Scriptures use the words, "Christ in you the hope of glory," we may be assured that the latter method is not altogether erroneous, though from our want of clear vision it may expose us to serious perils. It is a natural experience that souls should find relief in going in an opposite direction from that wherein they have found trouble and sorrow. And we wonder not that after this earnest spirit had been occupied so long and so painfully with the outward sacraments and symbols of Christ, it should have found glad tidings in the words of a pious confessor, “Accustom yourself to seek God in your heart, and you will not fail to find Him." It would have been false and useless advice to an unrenewed soul. But there is every evidence that this earnest woman had already appropriated the work of Christ for her on the cross and on the throne, and been saved by it. It was the witness and indwelling of the Spirit, which she longed for and yet hardly knew it, and now found; and as in the parallel experience of John Wesley, it was this which henceforth furnished the secret of abounding joy, and abounding service. What a change was thus wrought, we learn from her own words:— "These words were to me like the stroke of a dart which pierced my heart asunder. I felt at this instant deeply wounded with the love of God—a wound so delightful that I desired it might never be healed. These words brought into my heart what I had been seeking so many years, or rather they made me discover what was there, and which I did not enjoy for want of knowing it. Oh my Lord! Thou wast in my heart and demanded only the turning of my mind inward, to make me feel thy presence. Oh infinite Goodness! Thou wast so near, and I ran hither and thither seeking Thee and yet found Thee not. My life was a bur den to me, and my happiness was within myself. I was poor in the midst of riches, and ready to perish with hunger near a table plentifully spread and a continual feast. Oh Beauty ancient and new! Why have |