The love of Christ appears also in all the transactions of his life. Having engaged in the eternal covenant to die for sinners, he at the appointed season left the realms of glory. He was born in the most abject state of poverty, submitted to toil and weariness, and endured the contradiction of sinners. Malice assailed every step he trod, and his miracles were imputed to satanic influence. But intent on the work of his people's salvation he went forward; he cheerfully submitted to pain and ridicule, that they might live for ever. As the period of his mortal life drew to a close he endured the utmost grief. In the garden of Gethsemane his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. In the anguish of his soul he exclaimed, " my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death." At length he was led to the brow of calvary; his sacred body was suspended on the cross; the crown of thorns pierced his sacred temples; the nails lacerated his hands and feet, and his insulting foes derided his dying agonies: but having finished the salvation of his elect, he exclaimed, "it is finished," and shook the gates of hell. Who that reflects on the dignity of the Redeemer; who that considers his foreknowledge of all the ingratitude and rebellion which his people would manifest, but must exclaim-how great is the love of Christ!

The love of Christ appears also in all his operations of grace and mercy towards his people. Having made full atonement for the transgressions of his elect, he calls them by his sovereign grace from the world. He speaks to them as he did to Zaccheus, and they hear his voice, and receive him joyfully. He leads them into the truths of his word, and gives them that faith by which they say, " my Lord and my God." He comforts them under all their trials, and when most distressed, then visits them with the joy of his salvation. He makes a way of escape for them in times of temptation, and sends his ministering servants to speak comfortably to them. He supplies all their temporal wants, directs them in the path of providence, shelters them from all the storms of adversity, and defends them from all their foes. He opens to them the blessings of his grace, gives them faith to plead his promises, and enables them to wrestle with him as Jacob did, saying, "I will not let thee go." He intercedes for them at his Father's right hand, and demands as the purchase of his blood their eternal happiness. When we reflect on the blessings that the believer daily and hourly receives, the comforts which the Lord vouchsafes to them, the sympathy which he manifests under trials, we may well exclaim,-how great is the love of Christ!

But we must extend aur thoughts beyond the confines of this world, we must realize that glorious state which Christ hath prepared for his people, in order to form correct ideas of his love. But how shall I describe this state? It is a state of pleasure-pleasure flowing from continual intercourse with the Father of spirits, and the enjoyment of his favour; pleasure resulting from continued discoveries of infinite wisdom and love. It is a state of happiness. There the din of war, the voice of sorrow, is never heard; there is happiness coeval

with the existence of Jehovah. It is a state of uninterrupted devotion. There the saints perpetually worship God in the beauties of holiness, they pour forth their souls in grateful strains for redeeming grace, and preserving mercy. But imagination fails in describing the glories of heaven. Collect together all the various expressions respecting it, consider the happiness which must be derived in that state where there is perfect holiness, and after all we must acknowledge that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, &c. But all these blessings flow from Christ: it is his presence that constitutes heaven, his grace that brings sinners there. If then we consider all that Jesus did for sinners in eternity; all that he does in time; and all that he will do for his people when time is no more, must we not say-how great is the love of Christ! Could we at this moment view the whole elect inultitude, and see how Jesus is supplying all their wants, sympathizing with them under their trials, directing and blessing them; could we ascend to the heights of glory, and see the happiness of the glorified spirits; could we open that treasury in which blessings beyond the power of calculation are treasured up for sinners, we might well exclaim how great is the love of Christ! But what tends to render the love of Christ so precious is, that it is equal towards all the saints. A great difference may exist between them as it respects the strength of their faith, the extent of their knowledge, and depth of their experience, yet the same Lord is rich to all; all are interested in the same favour, and shall not perish, but have everlasting life. The love of Christ is also unchangeably the same. The believer may be tossed with tempests, he may be exercised with doubts and fears, but still Jesus rests in his love. He knows not the shadow of a change, and ever views his people with delight. Nor can the loving-kindness of Christ fail, for whom he loveth he loveth without end." My dear brother who art often weighed down with trials, lose sight for awhile of your trials, and consider the love of Christ. Recollect what you were in the Redeemer's view when he first undertook your cause, what love he bore towards you when he died on Calvary, what love he has manifested towards you since he first said, "thou art mine." Consider these things and wipe the tear of sorrow from your eyes, for you are all that you can be in endearment to Christ, and he is all that he can be in love and preciousness to you. Fixed in his heart you remain for ever, and though you see him not, yet with everlasting kindness he remembers

you.

. But, in proceeding secondly, to the interesting and important question which the apostle proposes, who shall separate us, &c. This question is of the utmost importance, for if any thing could separate from the love of Christ, then all the hopes and prospects of believers would be vain, and the glory of the Redeemer in presenting his people as a glorious church before the Father, wholly done away. ČLERICUS.

(To be concluded in our next.)

ORIGINAL ESSAYS.

XLV.

CHARACTER OF CHRIST, REPRESENTED BY THE ROSE AND LILY.

THERE is no exterior subject can form so pleasing a theme for contemplation as the fair adorning of nature, when she is arrayed in her richest vesture," when the pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are covered over with corn; when the little hills rejoice on every side and shout for joy." The reflective mind experiences new delight as he views the grand expanse around him, and, while the dazzling splendour and enlivening charms which surround him are totally lost to the busy crowd, and disregarded by the heedless passenger, the bleating of the flocks in the mountains, the little purling stream at its foot, the fine azure of the vaulted roof above him, and the lively and umbrageous green on which he treads, and which environs him about, with a thousand other beauties too multifarious to mention, are avenues through which he receives a refinement of transitory pleasure. Hither the limner resorts to copy the fair landscape on his page. If his mind be tranquil he enjoys the scene, and describes it in proportion to the maturity of his art: but his every effort to give originality to his painting, and to define the liveliness of hue which embellishes the animating scene, must fail. He may emulate, but can never truly resemble the beauties which enchant him, much less express the rays and motion which add additional radiance to the whole. He may attempt to illustrate life by his variegated hues, but cannot exhibit it as it is, and even when he has exhausted all his store of genius and wisdom in representing it, however elaborate and attractive to the eye his picture may be, it will be devoid of animation, which is the chief property which gives relish to the view.

So it may be said of Jesus, his loveliness cannot be pourtrayed. Vain and fruitless will be the purpose, and useless will be the endeavour to speak of him who is exalted above all blessing and praise as he is. What that marvellous assemblage of beauties is which rests in this grand centre, can only be fully revealed in the beatific vision. We wish not, nevertheless, to be surpassed in our description of him, whose resplendant beauties constitute, irradiate, and heighten the charms of animated nature by the pencil which so aptly pourtrays the created scene. We would not that the mere casual or stated observer of nature's magnificence should feel more interested therein than we are to extol the infinitely superior glories of their divine original; we would not be outvied in our ravishing contemplations of this celestial grandeur, by the inferior and comparatively insipid joys which accompany finite satisfaction. We, therefore, under the mighty VOL. V.--No. 58.

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influence of conscious weakness look upward by the eye of faith, hoping to receive some precious gales of heavenly grace, sonie delightsome breezes of the Holy Spirit to re-produce our admiration, and waft our flight to Calvary, that our spiritual sensibilities may be quickened afresh by the unction of his love, and be embalmed by the exhilirating sweets which, like ambrosial fragrance arises from the life, and death, and sacrifice of Jesus. We are not dispirited because we cannot to the full explore his boundless beauties, but rather rejoice in the sweet thought that they rise infinitely above all figures to represent them, and are far beyond the utmost soar of the most extended meditation even to conceive of them, more than by a glimpse but dimly seen. Notwithstanding, we feel a heavenly flame enkindling while we gaze on his surpassing loveliness, and as he is pleased to discover himself in the communion chambers of his love, we esteem him more to be desired than rubies. It is our most sacred delight to feel a oneness of spirit with him, and to have our minds imbued with the fruits resulting from these meditations into which the Holy Ghost so happily leads the soul. With such attractions as his solar rays inspire, it would be surpassing strange did we not covet, as our highest honour, a seat low at his blessed feet, there to exult in him, and to exalt him as the "chiefest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely.”

It requires not extraordinary skill in an artist, or the maturity of a finished judgment to discover the due effects of light and shade upon his painting, nor the stretch of superior sagacity to select a proper situation to exhibit its colours to advantage. He knows full well that the richness of their hues will best appear by lively contrasts happily interwoven, and that the measure of light which would overpower the fruition of his toil and eclipse its lustre, must be excluded. Hence he surrounds it by twilight shades, that its vivid colours may assume a brilliancy more attracting and manifest to the observant eye. Is such the wisdom of the artist? How immeasurably so is the wisdom of Jehovah exemplified in his appointment of the blessed mission of our salvation.

"The God shines gracious through the man,

And sheds rich glories o'er the whole."

The essential and underived perfection and lustre which the inimitably blessed Redeemer possessed, are properties which he eternally possessed in himself, being co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Ghost. That his glories might be revealed in a way connected with the eternal happiness of his chosen people so as to redound to his glory, the ever-blessed God, in the person of his Son, laid aside the splendid robes of deity, and assumed their nature. Beholding him in this habiliment of clay, he is represented as the rose of Sharon, being full of delight and communicable graces to his redeemed, and like the oriental lily, is exalted in majesty, spotless in purity, and complete in beauty.

The retired and lovely situation where roses and lilies grew in

Palestine, very suitably conveys to the spiritual mind some faint conceptions of the Redeemer's grace and fulness. The plains of Sharon, so called from their fruitfulness, were admirably adapted to exhibit the native charms of the ruddy rose, and the valley of Engedi from no less a cause, is suited to shew the modest purity and grace of the unassuming lily. Never did roses assume so bright a hue, or lilies appear so lovely as in their native soils. There was a peculiar property in the air, and an adaptedness in the earth in which their fibrous roots were embedded, to produce their comeliness of complexion, and gracefulness of shape and beauty, and perfume the atmosphere with balmy sweets.

The church compares her beloved, in her song, to these figures, to denote his exceeding riches, incomparable sweetness, and immeasurable fulness of every thing that is blessed. And how infinitely more luxuriantly does the ever glorious Jesus extend his roots in an insalubrious soil? How gracefully does he unfurl the beauties of his vesture, as he grows from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood. The very surrounding shadows which are designed by men to becloud his lustre, serve as mediums to reveal them: witness Gethsemane. Even there, though his very disciples forsook him in his midnight hour, amidst the howling tempest he expanded his blossoms to the full, and conveyed an odoriferous fragrance throughout the valley which environed his sacred person, and impregnated the spiritual atmosphere with reviving influence, more costly and inesti mably precious than the grateful frankincense of the merchantman. Like the lily his situation was lowly he commenced his career in a manger, he finished it on a cross, where his humility shone conspicuously in the zenith of perfection. Here he opens up to his saints the lily-like purity of his bosom, and shews them his cabinet of love, rising superlatively lovely as he terminates his work. Blessed contemplation! with what majestic sweetness did this illustrious lily recline his beauteous head on Calvary's brow, when, mantled in the awful gloom of stern wintry blasts he fell a noble sacrifice to justice, and took possession of the last asylum of mortality. Sacred employ ! His redeemed, in the performance of his funeral obsequies, from the rugged tree to this gloomy receptacle of the dead, sing of his beauties in animated strains, which never appeared to them more lovely and resplendant than when he suffered, bled, and died.

Astonishing love! Was the situation of this beloved antitype, whom the figures typify, among friends? no; he was surrounded by the brambles of a perishing world, and annoyed by bitter foes and opposing enemies. The recital of his life has furnished evidence of the unfriendly soil in which he grew. But thus it became him to inherit the curse none but himself could sustain. Active in the fulfilment of all righteousness, and passive in the endurance of the weighty sentence due to transgression, he passed onwards to his heavenly courts despised and rejected of men, where he at length