ad
consecrated it to the Lord, and now in seeing it vanish out of her
sight, she could feel that it was not her own. The one returned to her
empty home with her heart full of sorrow, the other returned in the
comfort of Him who comforteth us in all our tribulations. She had paid
the price of =her all=, and now she enjoys the blessing of =Jesus'
all=--the abiding of his glorious presence, which comforts her heart
and home, and fills the emptiness with himself and his bountiful grace.

Oh, how beautiful and reasonable to consecrate everything that our
affections have held sacred and dear, to him. We all know very well that
all these treasures of earth are of no enduring substance. No matter how
much they may be to us, they in due time will either vanish out of our
sight, or else we will have to leave them. How much better, and how much
more satisfactory it is to yield them all up to Jesus, to whom they
rightly belong, and who has only loaned them to us in the first place.
He is justly entitled to all of our affections, for what has he not
yielded up that was due to himself, that he might purchase this glorious
grace for us? Now he wants the supremacy in our hearts' affections, so
that he can fashion us according to himself through and through, and
impart his own nature into our affections, that we may henceforth love
with his love, those sacred treasures around which our affections have
so entwined, and claimed as ours. Before our consecration we loved him,
but these other objects of our love were between us and him. They
hindered our love towards him, and equally hindered his love from
perfectly flowing into our hearts. We loved him, and realized that he
loved us, but it was not perfect; there were objects in our way, and
there were objects in his way. These objects were our sacred treasures.
Depravity had affected our affections so that we could not hold these
treasures as we should. But now what a satisfactory change! We yielded
all these objects to him, and took him in their stead. Now he occupies
the place. He owns our treasures, and we own him. But what of our
treasures? We have them all back again, through him. Before our
consecration, they were between us and him. Now he is between us and
them, and with him he freely gives us all things. He can use all of
these things according to his own good pleasure, making any disposition
of them which might seem good in his sight, for they are his, not ours.
If he should plac