more I feel sin I may trust the more, and love Christ the more, what place is left for obeying? Is not that your thought? To which I answer, The humblest man not only knows and loves most, but also obeys most. Is not grace the principle of gospel obedience, and does not God give grace to the humble-grace to do all things, grace to suffer all things? What says he who was less than the least in his own eye?" I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," Phil. iv. 13. The humblest man leans most upon Christ's strength; and therefore, through that strength, which is almighty, he can do most; he is helped up best, fights most courageously, conquers most triumphantly. TO A TRACT. Go, little messenger of peace, Bid Sion's kingdom still increase, Bid the loud laugh of folly cease, The tear of sorrow flow. Tell all, who have not sought the Lord, That they, who will not hear his word, Go, little messenger of peace, From Satan's bonds the soul release, That pines in hopeless woe. The sinner's troubled breast to calm, To soothe the mourner's care, In Gilead say there is a balm, A great Physician there! And oh! on him, whose feeble hand May every grace, by Heaven's command, That, if on sin's deceitful waves He may not, while he others saves, R. Huie. OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. UPON THE SIGHT OF A LILY. THIS must needs be a goodly flower that our Saviour hath singled out to compare with Solomon, and that not in his ordinary dress, but in all his royalty. Surely, the earth had never so glorious a king as he; nature yielded nothing that might set forth royal magnificence, that he wanted; yet He that made both Solomon and this flower, says that Solomon in all his royalty was not clad like it. What a poor thing is this earthly bravery that is so easily overmatched! How ill judges are we of outward beauties that contemn these goodly plants which their Creator thus magnifies, and admire those base metals, which he (in comparison hereof) contemns! If it be their transitoriness that embaseth them, what are we! "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. As we cannot be so brave, so we cannot be more permanent. O God, let it be my ambition to walk with thee hereafter in white. Could I put on a robe of stars here, with proud Herod, that glittering garment could not keep me from lice, or worms: might I sit on a throne of gold, within an house of ivory, I see I should not compare with TRACT MAG., THIRD SERIES, NO. 103, JULY 1842. H this flower; I might be as transitory, I should not be so beautiful. What matters it whether I go for a flower, or a weed, here; whethersoever, I must wither! O Thou which art greater than Solomon, do thou clothe me with thy perfect righteousness, so shall I flourish for ever in the courts of the house of my God. UPON A GLOW-WORM. WHAT a cold candle is lighted up in the body of this sorry worm ! There needs no other disproof of those that say there is no light at all without some heat; yet sure an outward heat helps on this cool light. Never did I see any of these bright worms but in the hot months of summer in cold seasons either they are not, or appear not, when the nights are both darkest and longest, and most uncomfortable. Thus do falsehearted Christians: in the warm and lightsome times of free and encouraged profession none shine more than they; in hard and gloomy seasons of restraint and persecution all their formal light is either lost or hid: whereas true professors either, like the sun, shine ever alike, or like the stars, shine fairest in the frostiest nights. The light of this worm is for some show, but for no use [to us]: any light that is attended with heat can impart itself to others, though with the expense of that subject wherein it is; this doth neither waste itself nor help others. I had rather never to have light, than not to have it always; I had rather not to have light than not to communicate it. UPON THE FIRST RUMOUR OF THE EARTHQUAKE AT LIMA, WHEREIN A WOOD WAS SWALLOWED UP, WITH THE FALL OF TWO HILLS. GOOD Lord! how do we know when we are sure! If there were man or beast in that wood, they seemed as safe as we now are; they had nothing but heaven above them, nothing but firm earth below them; and yet in what a dreadful pitfall were they instantly taken. There is no fence for God's hand. A man would as soon have feared that heaven would fall upon him as those hills. It is no pleasing ourselves with the unlikelihood of Divine judgments. We have oft heard of hills covered with wood, but of woods covered with hills I think never till now. Those that planted or sowed those woods intended they should be spent with fire; but lo, God meant they should be devoured with earth. We are wont to describe impossibilities by the meeting of mountains, and behold here two mountains are met to swallow up a valley! What a good God it is whose providence overrules and disposes of all these events! Towns or cities might as well have been thus buried, as a solitary dale or a shrubby wood; certainly, the God that I did this, would have the use of it reach further than the noise: this he did, to show us what he could, what he might do. If our hearts do not quake and rend at the acknowledgment of his infinite power, and fear of his terrible judgments, as well as that earth did, we must expect to be made warnings, that would take none. Bp. Hall. DWELLING-PLACES. ADAM dwelt in the garden of Eden, and never had man such a lovely dwelling-place. Fair were the trees that grew there; goodly were the fruits, and clear were the streams that watered that lovely land. Alas! that sin should enter, and the tempter lead him astray! He was driven from his dwelling-place to till the ground, whence he was takenthat ground which was cursed for his sake, and brought forth thistles and thorns. The Israelites dwelt in tents, and God was with them. He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night. He brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock, that the waters might gush forth to allay their thirst, but sin was in the camp. They tempted God; they made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the golden image. They changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, and forgat God their Saviour. They murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. No wonder that he lifted his hand against them, and gave them up to their enemies. Belshazzar dwelt in a palace, fair and goodly to behold; even the palace of great and mighty Babylon. Lords had he, and princes, and wives, and concubines, and gods of gold and silver, of brass, iron, wood, and stone; but sin dwelt in his palace, and that overthrew him. Though he could feast a thousand of his lords, and drink wine from the golden vessels taken from the temple of the house of God, he could not resist the High and Holy One. Why, O king, does thy countenance change? and why do thy thoughts trouble thee? thou hast sinned against the Lord. Go, get thee from thy dwelling-place! "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain," Dan. v. 30. The followers of Christ "of whom the world was not worthy," dwelt in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth; and better are such rude portions of the earth for a dwelling-place, with God's presence and blessing, than a palace, if visited with his displeasure. It was sin in the hard hearts of their fellow men that drove them into the wilderness; their faith failed them not in all their trials, and they obtained a good report. Mankind dwell in "houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth," Job iv. 19. And such, reader, is thine habitation. Is there a glory around it? Is God's presence within it? or hast thou chosen sin for thy companion? Sin that drove Adam out of Paradise; that kept Israel from the promised land; that hurled the proud king of Babylon from his throne, will bring a curse upon thy dwelling-place. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy," Prov. xxviii. 13. The dead dwell in the grave, the "house appointed for all living;" but what has brought them there? Man was formed in the image of his Maker; his goodly frame was clothed with beauty and strength, and the spirit of life breathed into his nostrils; but these frames are mouldering bones! Who hath done this? Sin! It was sin that brought death into the world. "The wages of sin is death," even eternal death; "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vi. 23. The wicked dwell "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Can we read this, and not tremble. Who are the wicked? "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," Rom. iii. 23. Is there no way of escape? Yes! This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," 1 Tim. i. 15. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake |