The keen night vapour, or the driving sleet; And then the low, damp bed, and yet the best The homely hamlet yields its weary guest; And more than all, and worse than all to bear Trial of cruel mockings every where; Which hunt his followers still from place to place. Such are the hardships that his sickly frame Endures, and counts it joy to suffer shame. "Salt is good."—Luke xiv. 34. GoD is good. His mercies are great, they are many, they are new every morning, and repeated every evening. Eternal love is the fountain whence they flow; the atonement, the channel in which they run; the Bible is the book in which they are revealed, and undeserving sinners the objects on whom they are freely bestowed. Let all praise be ascribed to that God," in whom we live, and move, and have our being." Among our mercies, salt is not one of the least, for “that which is unsavoury cannot be eaten without salt," Job vi. 6. This valuable article is either digged out of mines, or it is formed by the heat of the sun exhaling the water from it on the sea shores; or by the boiling sea, or salt spring water. It is in these and in other ways that providence provides us with this useful article. Salt was used with the Jewish offerings. As it As it is written, "Every oblation of thy meat-offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat-offering; with all thine offer. ings thou shalt offer salt," Lev. ii. 13. I will not say that this salt (which was a symbol of the perpe. tuity of that covenant which is called a covenant of salt) was a representative of Christ; but I do say, that all our offerings are in vain without Christ, for it is his person, blood, and righteousness alone, that must render them acceptable to God. Eph. ii. 18, Salt is an emblem of the grace which Jesus displays in his mediation before the throne of God. Oh, that all our offerings may be seasoned with grace, as with salt, that .6 Prayer may bear a quick return, May we ever plead in the name of Jesus, for whatever we ask in his name believing, God has graciously promised to grant. John xvi. 23. Having made these remarks, I proceed to speak of the qualities of salt. 1. Salt possesses an incorruptible quality. It is used in the scriptures as an emblem of the grace of God, which is from everlasting to everlasting the same. We poor creatures are always changing, but the grace of God knows no change. We who are the subjects of grace here, must be the partakers of glory hereafter. "The Lord God is a sun and shield, he will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly," Ps. lxxxiv. 11. Tried they may be, but glory is sure, for He who has begun will perfect the good work, and grace shall be consummated in everlasting glory. Phil. i. 6. 2. Salt is a preservative. It preserves from putrefaction that to which it is applied. Grace is the salt of the heaven-born soul, thereby it is preserved from sin, from the curse of the law, from the unbending claims of divine justice, from this vain world, and from a dreadful hell. Oh, that we may have salt in ourselves, that we may be kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." The saints are the salt of the earth; but" if the salt hath lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men," Matt. v. 13. This is illustrated by Maundrell, (Journey, p. 162.) who tells us that in the valley of salt near Gebut, and about four hours' journey from Aleppo, there is a small precipice occasioned by the continual taking away of salt. In examining a piece which was bro. ken off, and exposed to the rain, sun, and air, he says, it had the particles of salt, yet had perfectly lost its savour; but that which remained in connection with the rock, retained its savour. Are we the salt of the earth? the Lord grant us grace to cleave to the Rock of Ages by faith and prayer, that we may ever retain a savoury experience of his grace, and bring forth fruit unto God. John xv. 4. For, "From him divided each is dead, When most he seems alive;" You Every blood-redeemed soul is a particle of salt, for whose sake the world is spared. Hear what the Lord said to Lot, Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither," Gen. xix. 22. see the Lord could not proceed to destroy the place, until he had taken praying Lot out of it. The Lord has his praying Abrahams and righ. teous Lots in this world, and so long as there are any of them in this world, it will be spared for their sakes; but when the last elect vessel of mercy is gathered in, and the whole blood-redeemed family taken up to heaven, then the world will be destroyed by fire, the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and all the enemies of God shall go to their own place. See the following scriptures. Gen. xviii. 24 -33; Matt. xxiv. 22; 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, 26; Acts i. 21; 2 Pet. iii. 10. savour. 3. Salt possesses a very agreeable It gives to our meat an agreeable savour, and we know that what is unsavoury cannot be eaten without salt. Christ is the bread and meat of the gospel. John vi. 27 -51. He is food for the hungry soul. It is grace that gives to the soul an appetite, and enables the soul to feed on him as the slain Lamb, and renders him precious to those that believe. Besides, there is a sweet savour in the offerings which are offered up by faith in his dear name, who " gave himself an offering to God, a sweet smelling savour,' through whom christian offerings are acceptable to God. Gen. viii. 21; Eph. v. 2. It is through what he has done and suffered, that there is a sweet savour in the gospel of his salvation. 2 Cor. ii. 14, 15, 16. May a precious Christ be a savour of life unto life to our souls, in life and in death, and for ever, that where he is we may be. 4. Salt possesses a healing quality. We are told that the city of Jericho was pleasant, but the water was naught, and the ground barren. When Elisha beard this, he took salt and cast therein, and the waters were healed, and there was no more death nor barren land. This was a wonderful miracle, and shewed the mighty power of God. 2 Kings ii. 19-22. So the grace of God removes the curse, and heals the wounds which have been inflicted by sin. The world is a barren wilderness; the heart of man is full of wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores, and 5. Salt is a symbol of hospitality. In the days of Ezra, the people are said to have had their maintenance from the king's palace. Ezra iv. 14. In the margin it reads, We are salted with the salt of the palace." So it may be said of christians, that they are salted with salt from the palace of the King of kings, for in him we live, move, and have our being. Acts xvii. 28. The bread that perisheth, and the imperishable bread of righteousness, are daily given by our God, for " He will abundantly bless the provision of his house, and satisfy his poor with bread," Ps. cxxxii. 15. Oh, what rich hospitality. 6. Salt is a symbol of concord or agreement. Baron Du Tott, speaking of one who made an agreement with him, says, he took a little salt and a piece of bread, and eat it with devout gravity, and then said, Now you may rely on me. In the Scriptures we read of a covenant of salt. This covenant respected the priesthood, which was to stand fast with Aaron and his posterity as long as the priesthood lasted. There is a cove nant between Christ and his people, which stands fast for ever, being ordered in all shings and sure. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. When an individual joins a church, he enters into an agreement with that people to walk with them in the ordinances of the Lord's house. Now, my dear friends, let us have salt in ourselves, and walk together in love. Behold how good and plea sant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Ps. cxxxiii. 1. 7. The punishment of the wicked in hell is set forth hy this figure. See Mark ix. 47, 48, 49. In hell the wicked are salted with fire as salt preserves from putrefaction, so this dreadful fire of divine wrath will preserve the soul in being for ever. That writer and reader may through grace escape this, prays A COUNTRY MINISTER. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN MR. O. AND MR. T. ON SPIRITUAL SUBJECTS. BY THE LATE REV. JOHN RUSK. O.-Well, my dear friend, how do you do, it is a long time since you and I had an opportunity to converse together about spiritual things, providence having placed us at a distance. T. It is indeed so, my brother, and glad I am that we are once more met together, for as iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a man his friend by hearty counsel; my mind has been rather hurt lately by meeting with a brother of ours in the faith, who has a great deliverance in soul and soars very high, and as I never was so fully delivered, neither have risen so high in confidence, I sometimes fear that after all I am deceiving myself. O. It would be well for you and me to abide by the word of God: measuring ourselves by them we are acquainted with, is not like our trying ourselves by the word. Paul tells us that such are not wise; it is true that to endeavour to settle a soul short of a full deliverance is a wicked thing, as Timothy Priestly has in a book which he wrote, called " A Looking Glass for Weak Believers," &c.; which is a book of false evidences and contradictions, and I am satisfied in my mind with W. H. who wrote against him in a book called "The Barber," that T. P, was never taught these things by the Spirit of God, because the Scriptures are against him all through the book. T-But, my friend, must every individual of God's elect come to the very same experience alike in order to their eternal salvation, or are there different degrees and stages of experience in the church of God, so that the weak may be encouraged, and yet not in a false, but in a true scriptural way to the glory of God, and yet exhorting such to press on, for you know we are to covet earnestly the best gifts. O. In the church of God there are four sorts; babes, little children, young men, and fathers. 1st. Babes; as new born babes desire the sincere milk of thy word, that ye may grow thereby. Now if the Lord is pleased to call home to himself this babe, such a babe is fit to go out of the world; and the word of God will bear me out in this assertion, for being regenerated and born again, he shall see the kingdom of God. In the first place such are delivered by having a real love to the image of God in the saints, they are passed from death unto life by this love to the brethren; then they must be delivered from death; now I need go no further for a proof of this than the child of Jeroboam; he sends his wife with a present to Ahijah the prophet, disguised, to know whether their son should live or die, for he was then sick; the answer was that he should die, and all Israel shall mourn for him, and shall bury him, and he only shall come to his grave, because that in him is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam, 1 Kings xiv. 1-13. This good thing which he had was regeneration, he was born again of the Spirit of God, hence David says, Thy spirit is good; and if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things (or as ano ther Evangelist has it, "give the Holy Spirit) to those that ask him." And having regeneration or a spiritual birth, this good thing in him toward the Lord God of Israel, such never can be lost, for this spirit is never to depart from Christ and his seed from henceforth and for ever. There are issues or offsprings from death, he that is our God is the God of salvation, and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. But again we have an account also of the child which David had by Bethsheba; it is said, that the Lord struck the child, and it was sick; and David besought God for the child, he fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the earth, but on the seventh day the child died; after this David arose from the earth, washed, anointed himself, changed his apparel, and eat bread; this surprised his servants, but he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted, &c., but the cause was, I could not tell whether God might be gracious unto me that the child might live, but now he is dead wherefore should I fast, can I bring him back again? I shall go to him but he shall not return to me, 1 Sam. xii. 15–23. But what comfort is there in particular in the thought of death, at which nature shudders? As Mr. W justly ob serves, If God had not given him a promise of the child, that they should be together to all eternity; he is gone first, but it is only for a little while, and then I shall return to him; this shews that God has secretly done this good work in the child, and that there was some good thing in him also, toward the Lord God of Israel. Once more, if we take notice of those children that became martyrs through Herod's cruelty; we read of Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they were not, but God gave her a promise, and said, Refrain thyself from weeping, &c., for there is hope in thine end that thy children shall come again to their own border. Thus God's work was perfected in these children, which were only two years old and under, which shewing some are taken away too young ever to be capable to tell others what the Lord secretly does in them. T-All this I believe is true; but still babes in scripture are not confined to babes literally, but sometimes to some who are grown up to the years of maturity, who have been going on many years in God's ways. 0.-Yes, and such were some of the Hebrews that Paul wrote to; and it signifies one that, although a child of God, has had little or no exercise, or knows but little of the trial of faith to what others do; talk to such about eternal election, the witness of the Spirit, God's unchange able love, of being pardoned, justified, and being made partakers of the Holy Ghost, this they cannot come up to, so as to find that food in it that others do, and they have need of milk; they cannot trust God in the dark; hence Paul says, For when from the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and have become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat, for every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe; but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” 66 on as Paul did; there is no danger in what I have asserted, for the scripture bears me out, and we are told to feed the lambs as well as the sheep. Our Lord carries the lambs in his bosom, and he gently leads those that are with young. Lastly upon this head, we read that when Christ rode upon the ass to Jerusalem, that a great multitude went before him, and cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest; and when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things which he did, and the children (mark that) crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna, they were displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea, have ye never read (Ps. viii.) Out of the months of babes and sucklings, thou hast perfected praise. Matt. xxi. 1-16. From all which we may learn, that a babe spiritually is born again, he loves Zion, tastes that the Lord is gracious, feeds upon milk, for he is unskilful in the word of righteousness, and yet at times feels a heart to praise the Lord, and, as all God's work is perfect, Christ who is the lip of truth calls it perfect praise: and such are in a safe state. But I must not pass over sucklings. These sucklings live entirely on comfort, which comfort arises from the sweet consolations of the Holy Spirit. He sucks and is satisfied with the breasts of Zion's consolations; he milks out and is delighted with the abundance of her glory; he is comforted in Jerusalem, which is the covenant of grace, as Paul tells us in Galatians. He sees this, his heart rejoices, and his bones flourish like a herb, &c. Now all this may be, when as yet there has been but shallow convictions, and when such have had as yet but little law work; as you may clearly see in Job xxix. He says, God's candle shined on his head; by which I understand, that E E |