him, but I think he was not more severe than his Lord and Master, in whose cause he was engaged, when I find him pronouncing eight woes in one chapter against the very same characters. Would to God we had alive such noble champions for truth in our day. I often think if there was more contending for truth than there is, there would be more persecution. My soul abhors this compromising system, for God has made "Sarah to laugh," and she cannot allow the son of the handmaid to dwell under the same roof with her beloved Isaac. It is often tauntingly said-A woman was first in the transgression! and what has she to do to declare the statutes of the Lord, or what business has a woman in the field of action? I have heard they are very useful subjects in the army. Be this as it may to the word and to the testimony. We find the first promise was made to a woman: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." This made "Sarah to laugh, though in the tent door;" and Miriam the prophetess to sing "The Lord hath triumphed gloriously." Deborah the mother in Israel sang in the places of drawing water, there she rehearsed the righteous acts of the Lord and blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber be, for she brought forth butter in a lordly dish, she put her hand to the nail and her right-hand to the workman's hammer. Hannah rejoiced, and went away with her countenance no more sad." Ruth, though a poor Gentile, "gleaned among the handfuls of purpose;" and we find her name recorded among the genealogy of Christ. As also that of Rahab the harlot, who " received the spies in peace, and bound the well-known scarlet thread." Esther went into the presence of the king, not according to the law, but according to the eternal purpose of Jehovah, who had raised her up for such a day as that. 66 The Shunamite entertained the prophet, and you know the result. And when the fulness of time was come that the promised seed should be born, that a virgin should conceive and bring forth a son (that man should have no hand in the work of redemption), we find Mary and Elizabeth magnifying the Lord together." And when redemption work was completely accomplished, we find Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Lord had cast seven devils, first at the sepulchre of her Lord, and then went and preached Jesus and the resurrection to his disciples and to Peter. The woman of Samaria "left her waterpot and straightway preached Christ. And Lydia entertained the apostles. Here then is a list of honourable woman, not a few who never turned back in the day of battle; and whose names are recorded among the list of worthies. With such a cloud of witnesses, then, shall I be ashamed to own my Lord? or to defend his cause? What. "Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend, In whom alone my hopes depend? No sooner far, Let midnight blush to own a star." When I consider him who endured such a contradiction of sinners against himself; and stood in my lawplace, room and stead was not ashamed to own my worthless name in the presence of heaven, earth, and hell; having engaged my debt to pay, and bear my load of sins away, and in the cross he even dared, the bitter pains of death to bear. Oh" herein is love, not that we loved Him, but that he loved us, and gave himself for us. Sing oh ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it: shout, he lower parts of the earth; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel." woman without the man in the Lord." No, and here is our sweet mercy, "in Him there is neither male nor female; but we are all one in Christ Jesus." And as we have no right to strive for the mastery, except we strive lawfully, by coveting earnestly the best gifts, may this be the only strife among us; which shall glorify God most and most adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in our day and generation. Ah here it is I daily cry, "Hold thou me up, 0 Lord, and I shall be safe; and preserve my garments unspotted from the world. Oh lead me into all truth, and give me a wise and understanding heart; make me wise, and teach me where my victory lays. Thus "When I am weak, then am I strong, Christ is my strength, and grace my song." We often think of you on a Saturday evening, when we suppose you are mending your nets. And we earnestly pray, that he who called the fishermen, and sent them forth to preach; may give the needle and the line to mend them with; and then on the Sabbath enable you to cast the net on the right side of the ship. Oh, may the Lord preserve you faithful in truth and valiant for it in this awful day of abounding errors; when so many are turning back to cunningly devised fables. I hope the continued coming of the Shunamite with her " long metre" will 66 not weary you; as you know when her heart is in tune, she pays no regard to new moons, or sabbaths." Cease not then, beloved, to make mention of us always when favoured with a court visit; and when you see our best beloved, tell him we long to see him too." Oh may you have many court days; so that the blessing of the upper and the neither springs may be enjoyed by thee. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding rest upon you; is the prayer (Concluded from page 46.) "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them; who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, the rain also filleth the pools."-Psalm lxxxiv. 5, 6. We have already looked a little at the blessedness of the character, the man of whom the Psalmist here speaks; that he is not one in a state of nature, in a state of unregeneracy, but one who is made the subject of a mighty change by the power of the Holy Ghost; that he is one to whom God hath manifested his pardoning mercy; that he is one to whom is imputed the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who is distinguished by the Psalmist, in the passage before us, as having his strength in the Lord Jehovah. God in Christ becomes such a strength to his dear people, that there can be no lack of help, no want of other assistance, having such a strength at hand. God has positively declared that he will be the strength of his dear people, and what God promises he will surely perform. "I will be a strength (says he) to the poor, to the needy in his distress." And if God says he will, who can prevent it? Nothing can not all the powers of earth and hell combined can ever make void one promise of our God. Well then he who has his strength in God need not fear, no harm can befal him since God is on his side. The Psalmist could say when possessed of confidence and faith," I will not fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the depths of the sea.' A man must be blessed that can adopt such lan guage, and none can but the man whose strength is in the Lord God of Israel. "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee," says the Psalmist; and he goes on to say, "in whose heart are the ways of them," or, as it ought to be rendered, "in whose heart are thy ways." The religion of Christ is more than notion, wherever possessed its seat is in the heart of that man, in his inmost affections, in the soul. The ways of Christ and the paths of Christ, are paths and ways which are delightsome to the renewed, to the heaven-born soul. The service of the Lord is not a mere formal thing with such, it engages their hearts; the mind fixes on Christ through the ministry of the Spirit therein. Christ is seen to be superlatively precious and altogether endearing. Christ is spoken of as dwelling in the heart by faith. Paul prayed (Eph. iii. 17) that this blesssng might be enjoyed by the section of the christian church at Ephesus. So these persons are blessed by having Christ dwelling in them by faith. The faith in Christ which such persons are the subjects of, brings home to the mind the comfort arising from the fact of Christ being with them and dwelling in them. But further, the Psalmist says concerning the man whom he declares to be blessed, "whose strength is in the Lord, and in whose heart are the ways of them; who (says he) passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, the rain also filleth the pools." The valley of Baca was it seems a barren place, and wells or pits were dug therein for the reception of water. The expressions in another translation read, "Who passing through the valley of Baca make wells therein, the rain also covereth the pools." And wells or pits in Baca's vale, made for the reception of water, were deemed no ordinary blessing by the thirsty traveller in that country, when he met with them, where he could quench his thirst and be refreshed to renew his journey. The valley of Baca being so barren a place in itself, is a true figure of what this world is to a christian, the blessed man of whom the Psalmist speaks: Baca's valley could not be more barren and destitute in itself of natural supplies, than the world positively is in itself to supply the wants of the christian. He The Psalmist says, "O God thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is," Psalm lxiii. 1. But what a blessed and precious promise is it where the Lord says, "When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them," Isa. xli. 17. In this beautifully figurative language we have set forth, the ample supplies spiritually with which God blesses the objects of his everlasting love. It is expressly said, "There can be no want to them that fear him." causeth his dear people to drink water out of the wells of salvation, and that with joy (Isaiah xii. 3): and all the great blessings which he confers are all sovereign blessings and sovereignly conferred. eignly conferred. Every spiritual blessing that descends from his kind hand, comes down sovereignly according to his will. The rain which filled the pools of Baca's vale, came down sovereignly according to the will of God. We cannot command the rain where it shall fall, nor when it shall come; God does all this just as he pleases. And it is just so spiritually. He opens rivers just where he pleases in high places, and streams in valleys just where it seemeth him good. Happy souls are they who are made through rich, distinguishing grace, the favoured recipients of the great blessings of his precious salvation. What a profusion of blessings does the Lord shower down upon his people, even while they are travelling this wilderness through. God of old promised that it should be so, that there should be showers of blessings, and with these blsssings, which he sovereignly showers down, he doth refresh his spiritual inheritance when it is weary. What a mercy that all who feel their need of these spiritual blessings are invited freely to come and take; to take of the water of life freely," Rev. xxii. 17. And again, it is said, that Jesus in that day, that great day of the feast, stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink denoting the sacred influence of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the doctrines of the gospel are compared to water. It is written in the xxxiiird of Deuteronomy, and 2nd verse," My doctrine shall drop as the rain; my speech shall distil as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb, as the showers that water the grass. The blessings of grace in the person of our glorious and precious Jesus are also compared to water. The Psalmist says, "Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; thou greatly enrichest it, with the river of God, which is full of water," Psalm lxv. 9. The Psalmist also speaking of Christ, in another place, says, "He shall come down as rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth," Psalm 1xxii. 6. In the prophecies of Jeremiah the Lord says, My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewn out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns which can hold no wa ter," Jer. ii. 13. Many passages besides might be quoted, of parallel import with those which are brought forward. All of which go to show that Christ is alone the source from whence all spiritual (living) waters flow. They all lead the mind of the believer to Jesus. He invites his dear people to come and drink, yea to drink abundantly (Cant. v. 2). They are invited to "drink and forget their poverty," Prov. xxxi. 7. Jesus the precious Saviour of his people, favours them with sweet drinking seasons, and with sweet communion seasons, whilst they are travelling through the barren wilderness of this world. What a mercy, Christian, that although the world is a barren land, a wilderness, thou hast a fulness to repair to in Christ thy Lord, which can know of no dimunition of its stores. This is a river which truly maketh glad the city of God. Millions have drank of it, millions are drinking of it now, and will drink of it to all eternity, for it can never dry up. All created streams of comfort at times dry up; the joys of earth are all uncertain: there is nothing permanent and durable in these things. Streams of joy and comfort, ever flowing, never ceasing, come alone from Christ. They can be found no where else. The Christian believer, it is for thy joy and comfort to remember, that the peace and happiness thou art favoured with, whilst thou art passing Baca's vale, the wilderness of this world; these delights which thou art now favoured, by thy ever dear Lord, are foretastes of joys far greater to come. Such joys as while in the wilderness you can form no conception of. songs of praise which thou mayest sing now, in this house of thy pilgrimage, though shalt sing ere long in far more elevated strains, when thou enterest the paradise above. Oh think of these things, think of thy privileges, think what a God thou hast, think what a Saviour, one who has promised to be with you all the way you go, and to supply all needed mercies on the road, for the Lord will supply all your need, out of the vast treasures of his grace; he will conduct all his people safe to glory. Such are the blessed of the Lord; blessed while passing through Baca's vale, and shall be blessed at the end. Ipswich. T. B. POETRY. THE FRUITS OF GRACE. "This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise."-Isaiah lxiii. 21. THIS people, saith the God of grace, I chose them in my first-born Son, My well beloved Son I gave, To suffer, bleed and die; And they shall full salvation have, And when by grace they 're formed anew, The world shall see the wondrous change, While cursed envy hates the men By my own Spirit I will make, They all shall know what 't is to fight, But they shall find, both day and night, I'll cause them every one to be I'll near their souls in trouble be, There, free from sin, their souls no more Shall mourn its cursed sway; I will cause them oft to mourn, I will give my own to know, I will give you faith and hope, |