failings.  I am nothing; I can do nothing; yet, thank God, He has turned the bent of my heart to his testimonies, and it is the delight of my soul to obey Him.—­On my return from the Lord’s house, I dedicated myself afresh to God; fully surrendering my soul and body, my time and talents, to His service.  Praised be His name, He ratifies the surrender ‘on the mean altar of my heart.’  I feel the inward witness, ’Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.’  O God, I accept Thee as my Sanctifier, my Sovereign, to govern and direct.—­I have many mercies to record, among which health is not the least; but of higher value than that, are the favour and the peace of God.  Lately I have experienced solid happiness in Christ, sweet access to the throne, and delight in the ways of God.  In visiting the poor, and also in acting in the capacity of prayer-leader, I have had some doubts whether I was in the path of duty.  I laid the matter before God, willing to work for Him, or to be laid aside for Him.  On opening my bible, just before I retired to rest, my attention was arrested by these words, ’They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.  And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and whiles they are yet speaking, I will hear.’  Blessed promises!  They appeared very applicable.—­By the midnight mail, my husband was unexpectedly called from home, on very precarious business.  May he be preserved from everything injurious to his soul, however unfavourable to his health.  A day of much excitement, scarcely time for reflection; but in private it was sweet to pour out my soul before God.  I am desirous to know how my husband proceeds with the business he has in hand.  To know that the Lord keeps him, and gives him health, would be a cause of thanksgiving.  He is in Thy hands, Thou Preserver of men, save him fully.  For some weeks past, I have been reckoning myself ’dead indeed unto sin;’ but the last few days my children have been very noisy; I have thus been under the necessity of speaking loud, and sometimes felt a little hasty in reproving them.  This has awakened doubts of the reality of my experience.  Unfold to me, O Lord, Thy truth, for to the test of Thy word, would I subject my life and practice.”

VII.

TEMPLE SERVICE.

  “HOLINESS BECOMETH THINE HOUSE, O LORD, FOR EVER.”—­Ps, xciii. 5.

“Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.”  The command applied not only to the priest, who served at the altar, but to the Levite, to whom the charge of the sacred vessels was especially committed.  The inference is, that the humblest officer in the Church of Christ ought to possess, above every other, this essential qualification, holiness.  Purity is the secret of the Church’s power.  Wealth, talent, learning, honour, are but instruments, which