O people, saved by the Lord!" for truly they are a happy and highly-favoured people, having Jehovah for their defence and help, and who, in time of need, sweetly whispers, "Fear not, I am with thee," to the comfort and joy of their souls. Happy is the man, whatever arises from without or within, who finds the Lord to be his helper, and who, enabled to recline on the all-powerful arm of his God (destitute of any strength in himself), proves Jehovah to be all-sufficient to strengthen, succour, and support. Such a one dwells in the secret place of the Most High, and, consequently, no plague can come nigh his dwelling. O blessed abode! O how favoured the inhabitant! The dwellingplace is the Lord Himself; may He enable us to meditate upon it to the comfort of our souls, that, while from eternity he has been, now is, and ever will be the dwelling-place of His loved, redeemed, and accepted children, He may, by the sweet influence of the Spirit, reveal something of the secret and sacred mystery unto us, and so cheer our hearts, by uplifting them in adoring wonder, love, and gratitude, for the provision He has made in Himself for sinners so needy and helpless as we daily feel ourselves to be. Jehovah Jesus is the dwelling-place of the Lord's accepted, and He dwells in the bosom of the Father (John xvii. 21). Here He ever did dwell, with all His chosen people, in indissoluble union-oneness. What, then, can harm the Church? Though hell opposes, the Lord is her shield; though all the powers of darkness rage, the Lord is her defence; if she walks in darkness, He is her light. The Lord God Omnipotent has engaged to protect her all the journey through the wilderness, and often does He give her tokens of His love that she is constrained to sing : "Christ and my soul are now entire, I'm smoking flax, His love's the fire, Thus I am His, and He is mine. Blest with such proofs of His esteem, My soul, is it not sweet to realize, by faith, something of the blessedness of having Christ for thy dwelling-place! Though an outcast here, thou hast a home above; though an exile in a foreign land, thou hast a mansion on high, and, as a member of the body of Christ-evidenced by thy love to and desire for Jesus-art a dweller in the temple of the Lord. This is a dwelling above the reach of sin-beyond the power and malice of Satan. He hath ascended on high, and He hath led captivity captive, God the Father exalting Him, with His own right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, far above all principality and power. He, having triumphed over the power of sin and hell, by the strength of His own Almighty arm, and, in the salvation of His people, spoiled principalities and powers, could well say, "Now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies." May we not say, then, in the realization of the sweetness of it, "I will not fear?" Being so blessedly kept, guarded, and succoured, what can man do unto us? "What shall hurt, or who distress thee, Or thy walls of fire break through? "'Tis His own, He dearly bought her, Through the pains of hell He sought her, Paid in blood her ransom too." Who would not gladly part with all the pomp of state for a dwelling in Christ? An inhabitant of the Rock of Ages: O how safe! A member of the body of Christ : how near and dear the union! A son or daughter of the King of kings: what an exalted privilege! Lord open our eyes, that we may see fresh beauties in Christ. O, enlighten our darkness, that we may behold the King in His beauty! Give us, dear Lord, to admire the wisdom that provided such a dwelling-place, and bless the love that takes us in. The dwellers here are the chosen of the Lord. Chosen in Christ Jesus, and in Him accepted, they are fitted for the abode. Here He rejoices over them with singing, rests in His love, and declares He hates to put away. for "The mountains from their seats may start, And sink beneath the sea; But such the affections of His heart, He hates to put away. Should Nature alter in her course, His love admits of no divorce; How privileged, then, are the saints of the Most High God! One with trembling heart, in reading this, may say, "It is sweet to trace Jehovah's settlements in securing His people in Himself, but my doubts are many, and my fears rise high, whether I share in the blessedness of the children of God, my life seems but a spark, and sin abounds within me. Is it possible that I can be a dweller in the Lord ?" Fear not, thou trembling one, it is a choice favour that is bestowed upon thee: giving thee an anxiety to know thy interest in Christ. May the Lord the Spirit give you to remember the sermon preached, upon the mount of love, by a precious Christ, wherein He pronounced the blessing upon the hungry and thirsty, with a promise that they should be filled. Never did we read or hear of His begetting an anxious desire in a sinner's heart for a manifestation of His redeeming love, without crowning and fulfilling it with Himself. Nothing short of Himself can satisfy a heaven-born longing; and, bless His dear name, " He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him." Wait on Him, then, thou trembling saint. O may we be kept waiting upon the Lord, for never has He proved a barren wilderness or a dry desert unto us, but has rather been as springs of water in a dry place; ; yea, as streams from the desert." What though we go trembling all our days below, with a hope so heavenly in our souls, we may joyfully look forward for an abundant entrance to be administered unto us into the kingdom of the Lord our God, while the Father smiles upon the Son of His love, accepts His blood-bought bride at His hands, and Jesus, being satisfied with the travail of His soul, exclaims, "Here am I and the children whom thou hast given me." "His voice will sound sweet and sublime Through heaven's high concave, When He presents, in garments fine, There, in His light, we shall see light, behold the full beauty of His lovely face, and contemplate, with holy wonder and admiring love, the near and dear relationship in which we ever stood, that from all generations we have been near His heart; not because we were likely to prove, or have proved, more worthy than those who do not share in the same blessedness, but that all should be to the praise of rich sovereign grace. "The Lord is pleased for His righteousness' sake," we read in prophecy, which portion was fulfilled when that voice came from the excellent glory, saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Here, then, is our acceptance before the throne of the eternal Father, and in Him alone the Lord becomes our dwelling-place. "Founded in Christ, secure we stand, His love will order all things well; Hastings, Dec. 8th, 1858. ZEBADIAH. NEW YEAR'S HYMN. O'er the past, my soul, now ponder, O no! His love's beyond recounting, Lord, enable us to enter Gratefully the op'ning year; To our heart Thyself endear. CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH. BELOVED IN JESUS.-In our ever-the-same most gracious Lord, I greet you once more in the wilderness. From my long silence you might have thought me forgetful, but it has not been so, for I have been thinking of the time you first entered this house, when you were led to expound the 139th Psalm, setting forth Christ therein, in which my soul had a good benefit, and peace flowed like a river. Oh! He is an endless feast, and when by the blessed Spirit faith is enabled to find the Incarnate Word in the written word we are satisfied with marrow and fatness. I have been blest in observing that under the Levitical dispensation both the fat and the blood were strictly prohibited from being eaten (Lev. iii. 17; vii. 23; xvii. 10, 12). But now under the Gospel we feed upon the fatted calf-the fatness and fullness of a precious Christ, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed. Under the law all the fat was the Lord's, and the blood was poured out in type of that atonement which could not be made without blood, "for withont shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. But now the sword of Justice has been made fat with fatness, and bathed in the blood of the Lamb without blemish and without spot. God's altar has been satisfied with pure fat and pure blood. The atonement has been made, the price has been fully paid, and all prohibitions are at an end; we may therefore eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing was prepared." Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved;" "I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly;" He that eateth me, even he shall live by me; for, "except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man, ye have no life in you." "Out of (our heavenly) Asher His bread shall be fat, and He shall yield royal dainties." I marvel greatly at such provision for such guests-the fare so rich, and the receivers so poor and mean; this is not the manner of man O Lord, God. Oh! for faith to to live as it becomes royal children, not conformed to this world, not turning to its beggarly elements, but shut up unto and into Christ, finding in Him crucifixion for the OLD man, and the crown of life for the NEW. The Lord of Hosts shall be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of His people." I had got thus far when your poem arrived, to show that the reaper has not forgotten the gleaner; together in spirit we will crown our Jesus "Lord of all." The crowning is mutual between the Heavenly Bridegroom and His bride, for as He is a crown of glory to her, so is she to Him; for thus it is written: "Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." Amazing mystery! Well may the angelic host stand in amaze to see the Lord of Hosts choose to Himself such a crown! Well may they desire to look into these things-even into the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow; thus to learn the costly price at which our Beloved purchased His crown, and the glory which shall redound to Him in wearing it; for He shall be eternally admired in His saints and glorified in all them that believe. And can it be true that such a worthless worm as I-so feelingly vile and abased in the Adam-fall-transgression, and in my own personal guilt, that I shall be raised above it all, being loved with an everlasting love, bought with such a price as His own most invaluable blood, raised up together with Christ, and shall have such glory revealed in me? Yes! It is even so, Father, because it seemed good in thy sight. Marvelous, matchless love, and condescension of the freest kind! No motive for it could be found in the creature; nay, none was sought, for He found all the motive in His own Almighty mind, and came forth towards unworthiest me in the sovereignty of His own will; yea, and so also towards the whole Church-for all his thoughts and acts of love had their source and rise in Himself; and, as all the rivers run into the sea from whence they came, so all the love He makes known to, and bestows upon His people, flows back to Himself, the great ocean of love; and this continual outflow and return, in a mysterious and blessed manner, is now, and ever will be going on, as those best know who dwell in love, and thus dwell in God, delighting themselves in Him—realizing the precious truth that He infinitely delights in them. Dear Lord, enlarge this contracted, narrow soul into thyself, and all the fulness of thy Head, that as a member of thy body I may be filled with all the fulness of God. I am not straitened in thee, but am straitened in my own bowels. O the depth of thy love !—sink me into it. The more we are filled with it, the deeper we sink into it. "And they filled both the ships, and they began to sink." This was literal, but it has been to me a beautiful figure. Oh! may both of our little vessels be filled, and delightfully sink into the fathomless abyss of love, where sin and self are lost, and Christ is all in all. I have had a deal of close exercise in personal trial, lately. To everything there is a season, and everything is beautiful in His season, and we feelingly prove that he changeth the times and the seasons; but He doeth nothing in vain. Oh! to rest in His love, and in His will is heaven begun below. The Lord bless you and annoint you with fresh oil, and cause you to walk in the Spirit, and to be spiritually minded, which is life and peace. Farewell, dear brother. In Him I remain Your ever affectionate Sister, RUTH. It SELECTIONS FROM GOOD AUTHORS. may be thou seest another abound with that joy which thou wantest, and art therefore ready to think his grace is more, and thine less than it really is; while, perhaps, thou mayest have as much real grace as he, only thou wantest a light to shew thee where it lies.—Gurnall. Is it possible for us to imagine that Christ came into the world at random, that He died sixes and sevens, and that the efficacy of what He did and suffered depends on a peradventure? No, He died for elect persons; and all shall be saved for whom He died. Was the business of salvation suspended on the the will of man, or the devil, not a single soul would ever get to Heaven.-Madan. A heathen could say, when a bird, scared by a hawk, flew into his bosom for refuge, "I will not kill thee nor betray thee to thy enemy, seeing thou fliest to me for sanctuary." Much less will God either slay or give up the soul that takes sanctuary in His name. The dread and dislike of death do by no means prove that a person is not a child of God. Even a strong believer may be afraid to die. We are not in general fond of handling a serpent or a viper, even though its sting is drawn, and though we know it to be so.-Martin. It is from the devil that weak Christians make a rack to themselves of the strong, and to yield to this temptation is as unreasonable as for a child to dispute away his relation to his father, because he is not of the same stature with his elder brethren.-Boston. Men are believers because they are elected; not elected because they are believers.-Sladen. The gift of prayer may have praise from man, but it is the grace of prayer that has power with God.-Dyer. |