, who had been young and then
was old, had not seen such a thing; and to suspect such a thing, is
to suspect the perfection of the Fatherly character of God; of whom
our blessed Lord said, "Your Father knoweth you have need of all
these things," and, therefore, "all these things shall be added unto
you." As to capital and estates, after knowing that our loving Father
will supply us in every need, the sooner we are disencumbered by
disbursement, for His honour, and His service, the better; for then
we shall have the happiness of seeing it spent for the glory of Him
chose it is, and for whom we are only stewards; whereas were we to
die to-morrow, we do not know whether the capital and estates may
fall into the hands of a wise man or a fools so that we may be cut of
after spending part of a year's income for God--say one hundred, out
of a thousand pounds, and this, I think, would be called Christian
devotedness by many--and the fool comes in and spends the whole
residue, twenty thousand pounds perhaps, for Satan and the corruption
of the world. But some may say, Are not all things given us richly to
enjoy? Yes; but it would be degrading indeed to the members of the
Kingdom of Christ, to make their rich enjoyment appear in consuming
on their own lusts like the members of the kingdom of Satan, those
things which they are permitted to apply to the exaltation of their
Lord and Redeemer. Be assured, my dear friends, the sooner we can see
it appropriated to God's service and glory the better. For then it is
gone for the Lord; and the world, the flesh, and the devil, cannot,
though combined bring it back, and the Lord will not allow us to wish
it were, so graciously will He receive our weak services and so
kindly and overwhelmingly repay them with the light of His
countenance, and the secret assurance in our own souls, that our
dedication has been acceptable at our hand.

A. N. G.

London, May 16, 1829.

CHRISTIAN DEVOTEDNESS, ETC.

The writer of the following pages has been deeply affected, by the
consideration of the strange and melancholy fact--that Christianity
has made little or no progress for fifteen successive centuries: and
having, as he trusts, perceived, in an attentive perusal of the
Gospel History,[1] that primitive Christianity owed much of its
irresistible energy to the open and public manifestation by the early
disciples, of their love to their Redeemer and King, and to one
another, by the evidence w