As said the patriarch in his hour of gloom,
Thou writest bitter things against me, Lord,
But such thou writest for me, and my soul
Sinks often 'neath the draught, although
assured,

And fully confident 'tis for my good.
I can remember when in earlier days,
The world was opening to me, fresh and fair,
It seemed a vista of delights, and glad
My young soul bounded at the lengthening
joy.

Ere long arose in the blue hemisphere
A little cloud: presage of many a storm,
I lightly heeded, careless in the strength
Of youthful energy, and buoyant hope.

Ah! 'twas a messenger from heaven, and thickening fast,

It taught me soon my helplessness, and soon, Praise to the Lord; he taught me where to look

And where to find deliverance, guidance,
And supply. Often I've thought,
Surely the sable messenger, his work
Hath amply now fulfilled, and much I've
wished,

To separate companionship. All gracious
Lord,

Who seest it fit, a cup of bitters still,
To mingle for thy servant, grant therewith
Patience, submission, and unwavering love;
And then, although my pathway in the world
Be chill and dreary all along the vale,
Give me to know, that when the hill is
gained,

The sunbright summit of yon heavenly home.
I shall attain thy smile, and dwell with thee,
And I will kiss the dispensation now,
And then will praise thee for them.

ASCENSION.

REZENEB.

THE first bright purple streak of day,
Shoots from its eastern home;
Gilding the place where Jesus lay,
The rich man's virgin tomb.
Oh, glorious hour, transcendent view,
The Saviour bursts the grave;
Snaps Satan's brazen chain in two,
And soars with power to save.

Faith! lend thy strongest pinion now,
And let my panting soul;

Mounting the rainbow's golden brow,
Survey without controul.

Let me from heaven's bright turrets see,
The conquering God ascend;
Radiant in all his majesty,

Our ever-living Friend.

Surrounded with unnumbered throngs,
He marches to his throne;

And mid the praise of countless tongues,
Assumes his place thereon.
Israel's Jehovah owns well pleased,

The mighty mission done;
And publishes the grand release,
Salvation through the Son.

I faint, I fall, these lofty scenes
To reach, I vainly strive;
With clouds and cares, earth intervenes,
And tells me where I live
Still in the wilderness I move,

A pilgrim seeking rest;
Lord, who hast taught my heart to love,
Oh, take me to thy breast.

DELTA.

ZION'S

CASKET.

66

THE GOSPEL PULPIT.

THE REDEEMER'S VOICE.

A Sermon.

"Behold I stand at the door and knock."

Rev. iii, 20.

BEHOLD, is the first word in the text, and none of the least in signification. It is a star to direct; and the index of the Holy Ghost, pointing out some weighty and important matter. Behold, is set down in the Scriptures for various purposes.

1. To awaken our faith. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

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2. To rouse up our hopes and expectations. Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

3. To excite our love. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."

4. It is recorded to alarm our fear. "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him."

5. To stir up our joy. "Behold, June 1846.]

6. To call forth our gratitude. Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord."

7. To stir up our compassion. "Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow."

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8. To awaken our attention: that we may advert to the incomparable excellencies of any subject: as here in the text, Behold, I stand at the door." What a group of wonders are here, that the God of all glory should stoop to man who is altogether vile that man, who is a mass of uncleanness, a mere polluted rag, should be made the temple of the living God. What infinite distance is here, between God and man! yea, what rueful quarrel! yea, what indignation! But oh, beatific union, that God and man should be brought under the same roof, to the same table: this is wonderful in our eyes. It is meet and right that the word Behold, which is so copiously significant, should be prefixed in this place. If this star takes its stand above the door, we may be well ascertained that Jesus is within: princes and nobles wait, wherever this star darts its rays. The fruits of that

paradise must not be plucked off precipitantly, where this cherub may guard the road. If Behold is written upon the box, you may take it for granted that the ointment which it contains is very precious.

When the word Behold goeth before, sublime and ponderous things follow, as here-the great God bows the heavens, and steps to the sons of men—not armed with thunder, nor clad with unapproachable, majestic glory; nor covered with thick darkness, as when he made his descent upon Mount Sinai before the children of Israel: nor does he come as once he did unto the sanctuary, where the voice of pleasure and melody did resound, “The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after: amongst them were damsels playing with timbrels," Ps. lxviii. 25 : this would have been a beautiful sight to every eye-but he comes "sub forma pauperis," in all respects poor, as one that craves a little alms for God's sake. He stands at our doors. "He that can break to pieces the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder," Ps. cvii. 16; he whose breath rends the gates of the infernal pit, and with one blast tears up the mountains from their roots, with all their unsupportable burden of craggy rocks and tremendous ridges; whose eye directs the lightning, whose nod arrests the storm, and the furious tempests wear his yoke; whose mighty acts are the terror of hell, the joy of heaven, and 'the wonder of eternity-he it is that stands. Behold, here is patience and humility to a degree, surpassing amazement. "He stands at the door:" every word is big with wonder.

1. Observe who it is: "I stand." Was it not sufficient that I should be only a created angel, the guardian of some mighty monarch, or one of the holy prophets? Was it not sufficient to be one of the least of the winged

seraphs? But it is I. I, the Prince of Peace, the King of Glory, the supreme Lord of heaven and earth.

2. "Behold, I stand." Not sit on a royal chair, or rest myself upon a soft pavillion, but I stand, to manifest my intention to come in; I stand without, to shew my unparalelled patience.

3. "I stand at the door;" not in the parlour, solacing myself in the diffusive exhilarating warmth of the fire, or in some commodious apartment reclining upon an ivory couch; but at the door, without covert or shelter, where the cold frost pours its penetrating influence, and the stormy tempests beat upon me. "Where my head is filled with the dew, and my locks with the drops of the night," Cant. v. 2.

4. "I stand and knock." Not like the harlot in the Proverbs, who sings to enchant travellers to folly, Prov. ix. 14-18; nor like the Sodomites that would shed innocent blood.

5. "I stand and knock." Not with my hands in my bosom, as the idle loiterers who gaze about in the market, but knock; not a stroke and away, but I stand till by my Spirit and grace I constrain them to open. Lord, what is man, yea the greatest of men, that the omnipotent God, before whose presence the heavens melt, out of whose mouth proceed devouring flames, whose voice rends the rocks with all their marble substance, and makes bare their waving forests, and their tall cedars are vered to pieces; yet He stands at the door and knocks. How many rounds of wonders are there in this ladder! how many golden mines are there in this enriching quarry! By thy help, O Lord, I will dig for some of them, and the first I find is the 66 I." person that stands:

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1. Consider that he is the mighty God, in comparison to whom the sun itself is a globe of darkness: he is

without compare. All the shining myriads of glorified angels in heaven, nor all the men upon earth, cannot shew any like him, who is the great Messiah, God-man.

1. View him when conceived. He that is very God, became very man. God of his father without a mother. Man of his mother without a father, the true Melchizedeck.

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2. View him in his birth. He that inhabiteth eternity united himself to frail flesh; dwelt for some months in the womb, and was born unto the world. The everlasting Father became a child of a span long. The Word unable to speak. Wisdom itself not distinguishing between good and evil. He that bears the pillars of heaven, and supporteth all things, is carried in the arms of a woman. The invisible seen by a company of poor shepherds. Luke ii. 15, 16, 17. He that satisfies every living thing, sucks the breast! David's Lord, became David's Son. The Lord of all, becomes a servint to all. In the beginning of the creation, man was made in the image of God; but now, behold God appears in the form of man! yea, is very man. This is the greatest wonder our eyes ever beheld. The sun was once stopped in its career, Josh. x. 13 and its shadow turned back

ten degrees; this was a just object

of astonishment: but behold! the Sun of Righteousness is come down from haven to earth; "and abhorred not the virgin's womb." Moses saw the bus on flames, but not consumed; but here is a far greater wonder! Aaron's dry rod did bud and blossm; here Jesse's dry root and witheed stem, notwithstanding its mean riginal and unpromising appearance hath flourished and became replet with fruit; hath reared its head to he skies, and extended its shade uno the end of the earth, Isaiah xi. 1. Manna came out of the

clouds; but Christ from the bosom

of the Father. John i. 18. Elijah was taken up to heaven, without tasting death; behold a greater than he came down from heaven: John iii. 13; therefore let us say with one of the fathers, I shall wonder no more at the extent of the earth, nor the boundless dimensions of the sky, through which numberless worlds take their route; nor wonder at the fruitful soil of the earth, the increase and decrease of the moon; but shall wonder to see God in the womb! and the Almighty in a cradle.'

Without controversy these are astonishing things, here is just cause for rejoicing. Rejoice father Adam, thy spouse Eve hath brought forth the promised seed, who bruised the Rejoice Abraham, serpent's head. thou venerable patriarch, the day is come which thou didst long for, thou sawest it, and was glad, John viii. prophecies are accomplished, Luke 56; rejoice ye holy prophets, your i. 70; rejoice ye men, for the Son of God is made man! Gal. iv. 4; rejoice ye women, a woman has become a mother of God! Luke i. 48; rejoice ye virgins, for a virgin hath conceived, and brought forth her Son! Isaiah ix. 6; rejoice ye young men, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given!" Mal. iv. 2; rejoice ye that sit in darkness, for the Sun of Righteousness is risen; rejoice ye hungry, for the bread of life is come down! John vi. 41; rejoice ye sick and wounded, for the physician is come! Matt. ix. 21; and oh ye sinners, the chief of sinners exult and leap for joy; a Saviour, a Saviour is come! sing, sing, sing praises to God in the highest; hear how the silver tongued Chrysotom sings, O, the height and depth of God's mercy! O the bowels of the love of Christ! O lovely Redeemer, thou art a lovely plant of the heavenly paradise, what finger drew thee from thence? who forced thee from the Father's bssom? none but

thyself, nothing but thine own infi

nite love. O the profound depths of thy goodness; see then who it is that stands, &c.

2. Pause a while and consider why he came; not to increase and amplify his own happiness: he came to do us good, and to make us happy. He could propose no advantage to himself, otherwise he would have formed his creatures sooner. Who could stop his hand? what is the sun the better for the earth? is it warmer or brighter in its rays? no: the noisome vapours and smoke that ascend from the earth, strive to eclipse the glory of the sun; but its penetrating heat scatters them. What can God receive from us? "our goodness extendeth not unto thee," says the royal Psalmist; thy bliss is incapable of any addition; he was perfectly happy before we ever had an existence. The Father rejoicing in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and both mutually in the Holy Ghost, Proverbs viii. 30. The sun shines not the brighter, because our eyes behold it. The great God demonstrates how little need he has of man, in Psalm 1. 9.-12. He stands in no more need of the help of man, to make him glorious or happy, than the whole starry train stands in need of an insect to whirl them round through the wide extended circuit of the sky; or the sun of the assistance of a glowworm to help its radiant beams. Had we all perished, the great God would have sustained much the same loss as a nobleman would, at the death of a hundred, or a thousand beggars, that daily lived upon his bounty; his grand design in erecting so many stately fabrics, and replenishing them with so many tribes of inhabitants, was, that he might transfuse his kindness, and impart happiness. He formed us, not to receive from, but that he might freely communicate of his inexhaustible beneficence to us; behold then a wonder!

3. Consider for whom he offers up himself, not for fallen angels, but for men, whose matter and frame is base earth; this is a humbling thought. But he offers himself for sinful men, polluted dust, abundantly more contaminated than the beast of the field, like the Augean stable of old, full of all filthiness. Miriam was not more unclean by reason of her leprosy, nor the Ethiopian more black, nor the leopard more full of spots, than we are upon account of of sin. Homer represents Thersytes as a lump of deformity, with much more propriety may we be termed so. Our best garments are filthy rags: we are blind cripples, full of bitterness and enmity, vile caitiffs, a genuine brood of vipers, enemies to Christ in our thoughts, in our lives and actions. We hate him without a cause, and that with mortal hatred; and cease not to hate him, until the whole heart is taken. Ezek. xi. 19. Hear what the great Jehovah says, "As for thy nativity, in the day thot wast born, thy navel was not cut neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not saltd at all, nor swaddled at all; no ye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast into the opendeld to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born; and when I passed by thee, and saw the polluted in thine own blood, I sad unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live! Ezekiel xvi. 4,—6. O conscience, conscience, conscience! be surprized and astonished! what! will the eternal Immanuel rty those whom none else will pity yea, pity those who have no pity for themselves? behold, here is ompassion to sinners, the chief of inners, the worst, the basest that tread upon earth, or dwell in hel either: if men will not wonder atthis, heaven and earth will be struc! with astonishment.