66 never go out"-for the word of the Lord shall endure for ever." It may also be viewed III. AN EMBLEM OF DIVINE APPROBATION.-Seen for example 1. In the fiery pillar which accompanied Israel through the wilderness. 2. In consuming Gideon's offering on the rock (Judges xiii. 20.) and Elijah's on Mount Carmel.-(1 Kings xviii. 38.) The fire of divine approval is an everburning one and will " never go out." Moreover it is significant as IV. AN EMBLEM OF DIVINE PROTECTION.-As it is written-" I will be a wall of fire round about them ;" and, "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him," instanced in the invisible guardian host of fiery chariots and horsemen round about the prophet(2 Kings vi. 17.) This also will be an ever-burning fire-"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee"-"when thou passest through the fire, I will be with thee;" and finally, it is significant as V. AN EMBLEM OF DIVINE WRATH. -"Our God is a consuming fire" fearfully revealed and confirmed. 1. In the instance of the two ungodly sons of Aaron, who were destroyed in their disobedience and rebellion, for offering "strange fire upon His altar. There are many, in these profligate and degenerate times, who are treading in their steps, and imitating their God-insulting perversions, substitutions, and abominations; offering "strange fire" upon His altar. Preaching upon any "strange" subject under heaven, except "JESUS CHRIST, and Him crucified." "De ceiving souls by "lies, deceits, and smooth things;" and approving of any ministry, but the ministry of the Holy Ghost. Directing poor, seeking, sinburdened souls to any fountain, except "the fountain opened"-and to any refuge, except the only sure, and safe one, i. e. Jesus Christ. 2. In the instance of the fire of God falling on the two companies of soldiers, sent to apprehend the prophet-(2 Kings i. 10, 12,) and 3. The tormenting and burning flames of this fire will ascend for ever and ever over the wicked, who are to be "punished with everlasting destruction from the pre sence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. SAMUEL A. SMITH. Warrington, Nov. 10, 1852. CHOICE CRUMBS. To read some parts of scripture requires great faith, to understand them requires deep experience, but to enjoy them, we must have the presence and power of Him concerning whom all the scripture is written. God searcheth the heart, who knoweth the mind of the Spirit, Rom. viii. 27; the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God, 1 Cor. ii. 10; and the believer searches the scriptures daily, to know whether these things are so. Acts xvii. 11. All things for believers are of God; all things to believers are in Christ; and all things believers enjoy are through the Eternal Spirit. God gives His people a new heart here, and a new body hereafter. The Spirit changes the heart now; but Christ will change our vile body then. A believer waits at the throne of grace for God, he waits in the ordinances or at the doors of wisdom for the Lord Jesus Christ, and He waits in the word for the Holy Spirit. Pslm. xxvii. 14. Divine goodness leads us to repentance, divine mercy follows us all our days, divine grace teaches us, divine love constrains us, divine truth frees us, divine power keeps us, and divine peace rules in us. Real faith is satisfied with nothing but what comes from God, which goes to the Lord Jesus Christ, and which is the operation of the Holy Ghost. Preaching the gospel is to humble the sinner, to exalt the Saviour, and to glorify God for whatsoever does not humble the sinner, is not the gospel; whatsoever does not exalt the Saviour, is not the gospel; and whatsoever does not glorify God is not the gospel. S. A. "Those who attempt to detach the people from the teachings of men, must expect for their enemies, those men who make a gain of teaching." TRUST IN THE LORD. CHARNOск. TRUST not in riches, they have their wanes as well as increases; they rise sometimes like a torrent, and flow in upon men, but resemble also a torrent in as sudden a fall and departure, and leave nothing but slime behind them. Trust not in honour; all the honour and applause in the world is no better than an inheritance of wind, which the pilot is not sure of, but shifts from one corner to another, and stands not perpetually in the same point of the heavens. How, in a few ages, did the house of David, a great monarch, and a man after God's own heart, descend to a mean condition, and all the glory of that house shut up in the stock of a carpenter? David's sheephook was turned into a sceptre, and the sceptre by the same hand of Providence, turned into a hatchet, in Joseph his descendant. Rejoice not immoderately in wisdom; that, and learning, languish with age. A wound in the head may impair that which is the glory of a man. If an organ be out of frame, folly may succeed, that all a man's prudence be wound up in an irrecoverable dotage. Nebuchadnezzar was no fool, yet, by a sudden hand of God, he became not only a fool or a madman, but a kind of brute. Rejoice not in strength; that decays, and a mighty man may live to see his strong arm withered, and a grasshopper to become a burthen (Eccles. xii. 5): 66 'the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders shall cease, because they are few" (ver. 3): nor rejoice in children; they are like birds upon the tree, that make a little chirping music, and presently fall into the fowler's net. Little did Job expect such sad news as the loss of all his progeny, at a blow, when the messenger knocked at his gate; and such changes happen oftentimes when our expectations of comfort, and a contentment in them, are at the highest. How often doth a string crack when the musician hath wound it up to a just height for a tune, and all his pains and delight marred in a moment! Nay, all these things change while we are using them, like ice that melts between our fingers, and flowers that wither while we are smelling to them. The apostle gave them a good title when he called them, "uncertain riches," and thought it a strong argument to dissuade them from trusting in them (1 Tim. vi. 17). The wealth of the merchant depends upon the winds and waves, and the revenue of the husbandman upon the clouds; and since they depend upon those things which are used to express the most changeableness, they can be no fit object for trust. Besides, God sometimes kindles a fire under all a man's glory, which doth insensibly consume it (Isa. x. 16); and while we have them, the fear of losing them, renders us not very happy in the fruition of them; we can scarce tell whether they are contentments or no, because sorrow follows them so close at the heels. It is not an unnecessary exhortation for good men; the best men have been apt to place too much trust in them. David thought himself immutable in his prosperity, and such thoughts I could not be without some immoderate outlets of the heart to them, and confidences in them; and Job promised himself to die in his nest, and "multiply his days as the sand," without any interruption (Job xxix. 18, 19, &c.); but he was mistaken and disappointed. MERCY AND JUDGMENT. HALL. GOD must be magnified in His very judgments. He looks for praise not only for heaven but for hell also. His justice is Himself, as well as His mercy. As heaven then is for the praise of His mercy, so hell for the glory of His justice. We must therefore be so affected to judgments, as the author of them is, who delighteth not in blood, as it makes His creature miserable, but as it makes His justice glorious. Every true christian then must learn to sing that compound ditty of the Psalmist, of mercy and judgment. It shall not only joy me to see God gracious and bountiful in His mercies and deliverances of His own, but also to see Him terrible in vengeance to His enemies. It is no cruelty to rejoice in justice. The foolish mercy of men is cruelty to God. THE FEAST OF FAT THINGS. What inward fear, and deep distress, grace, It is conveyed. And joyful ecstacies of soul, With pure By right divine. With princely prospects full in view, The noblest deeds we'll haste to do, Till there we shine. ROBERT BIRD. Wellingborough. And laid upon the casement here, A withered worm, you thought? "I told you that Almighty power, Could break that withered shell, And shew you in a future hour, Something would please you well. "Look at the chrysalis, my love, An empty shell it lies; Now raise your wondering glance above, To where yon insect flies." "Oh! yes, mamma! how very gay, Its wings of starry gold; "Oh! mother, now I know full well, GLIMPSES OF JESUS. CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS. "And it came to pass, that after three days, they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.”—Luke ii. 46. CHRIST went into many places where reason would never have expected to find Him. Faith herself would scarcely have thought of looking for the child Jesus among the proud doctors of Israel. Little did they suspect the character of that child who sat, simple and unpretending in their midst, or that from His lips were to fall those words of fire, which should burn up all their traditions, and expose the emptiness and vanity of their teaching to view. Who, indeed, could have thought, that the Son of God would ever have appeared among men, in the form of a child, sitting docile and humble at the feet of the Jewish Rabbis? That He, in whom was hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, would appear as a pupil in the schools of this world! or that He, who was the sun of knowledge, would be willing to receive light from the flickering tapers of earth? It is not often that Christ is found among the doctors, and it is scarcely more strange, that He should be found in a manger, than in the midst of these Jewish scholiasts. The learned cannot often find room for the babe of Bethlehem, nor is it to be expected that philosophy, so called, should see much beauty in Him, who with so successful a hand, uncovers its nakedness and exposes its emptiness to view. But how blind were these teachers of Israel! Moses was their master, but to the master of Moses they pay but little deference, save that of ignorant wonder; they listen to the servant, but recognize not the voice of his Lord! The great prophet was come, but they knew Him not; the star of Jacob shone upon them, but they beheld not its brightness; the Rose of Sharon was near, but they smelt not its perfume; the sun of righteousness scattered its rays in their very midst, yet their darkness remained ! They professed to have swallowed up all knowledge, but it brought them not to its fountain; to have studied the law, but they discerned not its great exponent; to be the eyes of the nation, yea, of the universe, but saw not His glory, who was the effulgence of the divine glory, and express image of Jehovah; and hence, He who should have been hailed with acclamation, and worshipped with reverence, sits before them as "the carpenter's son." The eastern sages, with their gold and spices, found their way to the feet of this wondrous child, and did Him homage; while the proud Rabbis of Israel suffer Him to pass unnoticed away. Exponents of the law, they beheld not His glory whom it painted forth, and while looking for a deliverer, they saw Him not, though He stood before their eyes. Oh! what an opportunity for the masters of Israel to have done homage to the great master! but they were too great to behold His greatness; His glory could not be seen, their eyes being so filled with their own. He who is great in his own eyes, may see Christ, but will never worship Him. Christ may be near, but a mind filled with its own glory will never open to take Him in. The proud schools of this world receive not Christ; His teaching is too simple for their pride, and His precepts too self-abasing for those who have the honours of this world as their goal. The temple of truth is vast, but has a small door, and he who would gaze upon the interior glory, must stoop to enter. This stoop, however, brings no mental decrepitude, but is the first step to spiritual and intellectual strength. He who will not give his reason, as an empty cabinet to Christ, confessing that sin has robbed it of its glory, shall never have it furnished; and he who will not approach the temple of truth upon his bended knees, shall stumble at its very threshold, and never behold its beauty. Christ is a precious cabinet of truth; it is the office of love and humility to lift the lid; the schools of this world not being possessed of either, Christ has often stood in their midst, as among the Jewish Rabbis, unknown. The ancient doctors had the letter of truth, and this was their plaything. They were more familiar with sounds than with sense. They thought more of words than ideas. They counted the letters of the law, but knew not its meaning, and lost the mind of God, through leaning to the comments of their brethren. Men may have much to do with religion, without being religious; and know much of the letter of truth, while destitute of its spirit. The men who had read the most about Christ, knew least about Him; and he who looks for the pearl of great price through the eyes of others, shall never find it. Commentators may be used, but should never take the place of the great teacher, nor should their comments fill the place of truth. Men may write well upon the history of Christ, who know not the mystery of Christ; but, even when both history and mystery are known, none may be followed implicitly; for the strongest minds are often leaky, and the clearest intellect, in some things, may point the wrong way. The wise, who followed the ancient Rabbis, rejected the carpenter's son, while many of the ignorant whom they cursed, found their way to the feet of the great teacher, without their instructions. Thus is it, that the reputed wise, fall by their own conceit, while the simple pass on and reach the goal. Many clothed in the panoply of words, and with weapons brightened by human art, come boldly into the christian conflict, but to stand in the way of others, or to be swept down by the stream; while others, who like David, have but a few stones from the brook of truth, and a hand directed of God, bring down the foe, and come off more than conquerors. Learning, without grace, does but becloud the intellect, and often makes the light which streams direct from heaven, appear as darkness. Few knew more of truth than the Jewish Rabbis, and few hated more deeply the Son of God. The greater the light, where love is not, the more fiercely will enmity reign. Yet Jesus sat at the feet of these men! He was willing to pay deference to their persons, if not to their principles; and we do well to mark the distinction. Error should be abhorred, by whomsoever taught, but the person of the teacher may not be hurt. The sentiments of our rulers may be, and often should be, repudiated, while for the sake of order, their office should be held in respect. Having visited the teachers of His people, He conformed to their rules; religion teaches us not to violate, readily, the courtesies of life. As a child, humility became even the great teacher, before His seniors, and He took the place of a pupil at their feet. No men had treated His Father's law with greater carnality, yet He would not condemn them unheard, but patiently listens to what they have to say. It is a shame to condemn even our enemies without an bearing; the vilest are entitled to be heard in their own defence, nor should judgment be passed until both sides are heard. As Jesus was willing to listen to His foes, he is not wise, who listens only to his friends. Love, often blinds the eyes of those who are most faithful to us, so that they see not our faults; or if they perceive them, an aversion to wound those whom they esteem, keeps them, too frequently, from administering the reproof deserved, and which it would be to our advantage to receive. Christ was willing to learn what He could, even from the sophistical doctors of Israel, whom elsewhere He charges with having taken the key of knowledge from the people. Few are so poor but that they carry some few jewels of truth; few so ignorant, but that something may be learnt from them, if we are anxious to be taught. Few carry a sack so full of chaff, but that a few grains of wheat may be found; few are so dark, but that a ray of truth will now and then break forth. Truth should be sought for at all times, and be gladly received wherever found. Gold is no less gold because mixed with dross; and a pearl is not less a pearl, in the bosom of an oyster, than when set in a crown of gold. Truth gathers no defilement from the channel through which it passes, but falls as pure from the mouth of a pharisee, as from the lips of of an angel. The meat which fed the starving prophet was not less from God, or less sweet, because carried by a raven. Truth gathers truth to itself, as certain particles of matter attract those particles possessed of most affinity with themselves. The heart of Christ was truth itself, and hence it gathered no error from the corrupt teachers of Israel. He went to the school of formality, but did not become a formalist, because His heart was alive, and His Father's law, in spirit, lived within. A pure heart is the best preser |