For, while it is true that we could not do without the tenderness of His humanity, it would be utterly impossible for us to do without the strength of His eternal divinity. What love in our dear Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from all iniquity, when Jehovah laid upon Him the iniquity of us all! Hence, no elect vessel of mercy can be excluded from participating in the benefits arising from union to Jesus : "All that the Father hath given to me shall come to me; and he that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." Seeing, then, believer, "that we have an High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For WE HAVE NOT an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was IN ALL POINTS tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Such endearing language as this is expressive of the greatest sympathy, and, under the anointing of the Spirit, productive of inexpressible consolation to all the tried and tempted followers of Jesus. “Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Christ hath said to all His own quickened family, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This dear truth has been experienced again and again by the blood-royal family of heaven, who have been enabled to carry their burdens to the Lord at a throne of grace, and have obtained mercy, and found grace to help in every time of need by believing in Jesus; "for we," saith the apostle," which have believed, do enter into rest ;" and, blessed be God, we also read, "There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God." This eternal rest and everlasting bliss will not be fully realized till "this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality;" then we shall have been raised from the dead, and our mortal bodies fashioned like unto His glorious body, by His own Almighty transforming power. "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord; wherefore, comfort one another with these words." " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

5, Cambridge Terrace, Grosvenor Park, Camberwell.

C. D. GAWLer.

A WORD TO THE WISE.

In every age it has been the great aim of speakers and writers to extol the creature, raising, as on a pedestal, poor, proud, fallen, and undone man, uplifting him to the skies, and placing upon his unworthy head the crown, and in his hand the sceptre of righteous rule, though his heart has been at enmity against God, and his actions diametrically opposed to the revealed will of God. "But that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God." While the creature of a day is eulogized and idolized, the Creator is trampled under foot; while grasshoppers of the earth have been applauded, the God who rideth upon the heavens has scarcely been recognised. Are these things indeed so? Truly they are, even in this age

Is

of so-called light and knowledge. But ought these things thus to be? man, because gifted with natural skill, and blessed with natural wisdom, to be raised above all that is called God? Surely it may, with strictest propriety, be said in this God-dishonouring and Christ-despising age, "Man in his best estate is altogether vanity;" yet, "vain man would be wise, though he be born like a wild ass's colt." We read, in the Word, "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God;" and, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" Paul, there is no doubt, had no small share of natural wisdom, when journeying to Damascus, but it never elevated him above nature's level; never lifted him higher than the perishing vanities of this sinful world. But where was his wisdom when that light beyond the brightness of the sun fell upon him? It was totally and for ever eclipsed by Him" who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," that it might be fulfilled which was spoken, "Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord." The apostle Paul was, therefore, contented with being a fool for Christ's sake; and unless a man is thus brought by the Spirit of the Lord to give up all his own wisdom, and make his boast only in the Lord," he is proud, knowing nothing as he ought to know."

There is no doubt but what the SERFENT'S SEED,-the generation of vipers, the empty and carnal professors,-have a far greater share of wisdom. than the seed of the woman, the chosen generation, the despised and outcast children of God; as we read, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen; yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in His presence.' So that by these things the creature is debased, and God alone exalted. In another sense the seed of the woman has a far greater share of wisdom than that of the serpent. For Christ is made wisdom to the former, while the wisdom of the latter is but foolishness with God. How awful, then, is the position of the non-elect! But how blessed that of the elect! The one becomes a fool for Christ's sake, and is safe for ever; the other is wise above what is written of Christ, and perishes in his foolish wisdom (1 Cor. iii. 19).

وو

To which party does my reader belong? The question is fraught with importance; even involving eternity. We ask not in idle curiosty, but under a feeling sense of your being identified with either. You are at this moment under the curse or under the blessing. You are walking under the sweet shade of the Tree of Life, or under the burning blaze of Sinai's Mount. You are under the "Do and Live "covenant, or in the covenant ordered in all things and sure; if under the former, and with no interest in the latter, all your religion is vain show; all your profession an empty boast; you are still "in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." The statement is true, though it is solemn. How, then, dear reader, stands the case with thee? Have you a good hope, through grace, that you belong to Christ? Is Christ and salvation the theme of your heart? the boast of your tongue? Is the creature-humbling, God-glorifying, and Christ- exalting way of salvation the

one you approve of,—the only one you have any hope in? Are you willing to hang entirely upon the finished work of Emmanuel, stand upon the Rock of Ages, shelter under the Tree of Life, refuge in His riven side, harbour in His atonement, and clothe in His righteousness? Again, have you heard the voice of the Good Shepherd? Can you sing from the heart,

No other voice can calm my breast,

Or still the raging sea;

But, when He whispers, "In me rest!"
I'm lost in Deity?

If so, you are of the seed of the righteous, even Christ, and shall never come into condemnation, but are passed from death unto life.

London, April 28, 1859.

РЕКАН.

NOTES FROM DAVID'S HARP.

"Hermon's dew and Zion's blessing." PSALM. cxxxiii.

PARCHED as the withered plains of the east beneath the scorching beams of a vertical sun, and desolate as the land of Idumea, Zion is found by nature, her sons and daughters, in and of themselves, but "children of wrath even as others." How gloriously shines that sovereign grace, and how stupendous is that electing love which, like the vast and secret chambers of the heavens, is the wonderful repository of the gentle dew and small rain, as well as of those weightier showers (Deut. xxxii. 2) of blessings, which, descending upon the hill of God, Mount Zion, cause her to " rejoice and blossom like the rose!"

And what is this gentle dew? this small rain? these refreshing showers? Are they not all embodied in that "chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely" One-Jesus? The glorious covenant of a triune Jehovah is filled, in the shape of boundless blessings, for the peculiar people, with "Jesus only," the water of life everlasting; for even as the terms, dew," "small rain,' and "showers," differ only in their quantity, and not in their nature, being alike water, so, whether Zion-chosen, redeemed, and quickened-receives the blessings of grace, silently and imperceptibly asthe dew which is the case in conversion, when spiritual life penetrates the heart in the night of nature's darkness, and is maintained in the night of soul-despondency and doubt; or whether that grace is received like "small rain upon the tender herb," which is manifest to the eye, but not sensibly powerful to the feelings, and beautifully descriptive of the effect of the invitation and promise applied by the Spirit to encourage the hope of the soul, without bringing full assurance of faith; or, whether it descends in the showers of blissful communications of love divine, the "grace being exceedingly abundant," and causing perfect liberty and triumphant delight ;-it all comes from one fulness, the fulness of Christ. "For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." It is He that "comes down like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth;" and it is His own inconceivably glorious Self that exclaims, "I will be as the dew unto Israel; He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth His roots as Lebanon."

Well might David compare the blest estate of Zion, in and with Christ, to the dew of Hermon, and that which descended upon the mountains of Zion, where the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore;" for his theme is union to the Son of David and David's Lord, with the rich effects thereof. Behold," saith he, "how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity," the unity of Christ and His Church; He the elder brother, they the younger brethren, unto whom it became Him in all things to be made like, is beautifully described as, resembling "the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments." And wherefore? Because, where there is union, there will be communication. The great Head of the Church being anointed by the unctuous Spirit of the Father, who gave it "not by measure unto Him," it flows, according to His own covenant purpose and good pleasure, gradually down His sacred person, reaching each of the members of His mystic body in that order of time decreed by eternal love, and the very skirts of His garments-those who belong to the last days of old Time-must receive the quickening power, the all-powerful grace, the constraining love, that the indissoluble union may be manifested, and that the headship of Jesus may be glorified in its divine influence over the whole redeemed body. Hence, what the divine Head possesses mediatorily, is communicated to the body," according to the measure of the gift of Christ," by the power of the Holy Ghost; and thus is that wondrous mystery realized, As He is, so are we in this world." He is the life, His members the living. He the Saviour; they the saved. He the glorious; they the glorified.

Now, as the lofty peak of Hermon's mount rose in towering grandeur above the summit of Zion, and, covered with the richest moisture, caused the dropping of the dew to descend upon it beneath, well may Jehovah's spiritual Zion rejoice that her glorious Hermon, Jesus, "is above all," and overcaps her sins and fears, and doubts and foes; and that, however drought and desolation belong to her, "His head is ever filled with dew, and His locks with the drops of the night;" and from Him the dew shall fall, to make her soul "like a watered garden." From Him the blessing, "life for evermore,' perpetual verdure and fruitfulness, shall flow; so that His rich and inexhaustible supply, as Zion's Hermon, exalted Head, and "Advocate with the Father," shall be her safety through eternal union; and the descent of His dew-drops, granted according to her daily need, or shall command the blessing, until glory crowns all grace,

Hail! truth divine! The dead in trespasses

And sins, redeemed by Jesus' blood, must live!
Parched as an arid waste, like burning sands,
Scorched up and desolate; a wilderness
Of briars and thorns; countless iniquities,
By nature, as thou art, Zion beloved,

Thou yet shalt bloom and blossom like the rose!
Thickly shall hang each bough with precious fruit,
Laden with gifts and graces from thy Lord.
Thy lofty Hermon, thine eternal Head,
Rules for thy glory, advocates thy cause,
And fills His Father's ears with music sweet.
'Tis like the sound of many waters heard;
He speaks, and lo! the dew begins to fall,
In answer to His prayer, upon thy soul;

And now, thou livest! never more to die!
Thy soul is tost with anguish and distress,
And cries for pardon. Lo! He speaks again!
And dew-drop promises descend on thee;
Satan accuses, law condemns, sin rages.
And now the drops of bloody sweat, like dew,
Reach thy despairing heart! O Zion, shout!
From Hermon is thy fruit of mercy found,
And fruits of righteousness, and endless peace,
And boundless glory!

APELLES.

THE FATHER HONOURED AND THE CHILD BLESSED.

DEAR SIR,-Feeling a little encouraged by your expression of regret on Sunday that I did not, as intended, send the letter on Friday last, I venture to address a few lines to you now, trusting you will pardon the liberty, for I cannot help feeling a little timidity in writing to one of God's dear family so deeply and so blessedly taught by the Spirit of God; yet it seems to me right that a minister of the Lord should have it made known to him, if possible, how the Lord works by his ministry in comforting and establishing His people in the truth as it is in Jesus.

My soul had been in great bondage and distress for some length of time previous to the Lord's leading me to hear a stranger in the flesh at Beulah Chapel. I had heard much preaching, but it was not such as my soul was longing for. I was in a starving condition, and wanted to hear of a full and free salvation by Chirst, such as I heard from that dear servant of God, Mr. Triggs some time back; and how my heart was gladdened the first day I heard you preach! At once I felt an union of spirit; and my affections were again going out after Jesus. Those words came with much sweetness to my mind, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto The Lord did exalt Himself in my soul in that Day, as He hath said, I will be exalted among the heathen :" and such He has made me feel I am. Bless His name for taking so such pains to teach me my native vileness in some degree; my lost and ruined condition by the fall; my complete helplessness; and, that "in me dwelleth no good thing;" therefore there is no room for boasting. But I must bless Him for giving me an heart-felt desire "that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection." He has given me to see there is death in everything short of Himself. I have no other refuge; and I can say, that,

me.

"Though earth and hell my way oppose,
Still after Him I pant;

And say amidst my raging foes,

That Christ is all I want.

times

He has endeared Himself to my soul, and instructed me many many through the preached word at Beulah Chapel; to Him be all the praise. May He continue to bless you in your own soul, and make you a blessing in His hands to others, strengthen your body, stand by you at all times, enabling you to preach the Gospel of Christ faithfully, is the earnest desire of one who feels herself to be the least of all.

3, Belle Vue Cottages, Camden Street.

E. NICHOLLS.