When nature is left free to work, it will ever go as far away from God as it can. This is true since the day when man said, "I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid and I hid myself" (Gen. 3:10). But when grace is left free and sovereign to work, it will ever bring the soul "nigh." Thus it was with Levi. He was by nature "black as the tents of Kedar ;" by grace, "comely as the curtains of Solomon :" by nature he was "joined" in a covenant of murder ; by grace " joined " in a covenant of "life and peace." The former, because he was "fierce and cruel ; " the latter, because he feared and was afraid of the Lord's name. (Comp. Gen. 49:6, 7 ; Mal. 2:5). Furthermore, Levi was by nature conversant with the "instruments of cruelty;" by grace, with "the instruments of God's tabernacle:" by nature God could not come into Levi's assembly; by grace, Levi is brought into God's assembly:by nature, "his feet were swift to shed blood; " by grace, swift to follow the movements of the cloud through the desert, in real, patient service to God. In a word, Levi had become a " new creature" and "old things had passed away," and therefore he was no longer to "live unto himself," but unto Him who had done such marvelous things for him in grace. C. H. M.