It

tem involved in equal, if not greater difficulties. surely then behoves us to dwell chiefly, not on points which are far above out of our reach, but on those which are plain and intelligible; not on apparent contradictions, but on real and acknowledged agreements, the beautiful harmony and analogy of revealed truth. We are at best but noviciates in the study of divine things, and our present business is to acquire real proficiency in the elements and first principles of the heavenly science. Why should we wonder, whilst as yet we are only beginning to ascend the holy mount, if we find ourselves unable to grasp its summit? In short, our plain duty with reference to those things in the word of God which are hard to be understood, (and to these the present note is intended specifically to apply,) is rather to believe than to reason and speculate; rather to inquire, what do the Scriptures reveal? than, how can these things be?-and, in short, to receive with meekness, teachableness, and simplicity, the engrafted word; to embrace the truth, in the cordial approbation and love of it, however contrary it may be to our preconceived views, however opposite to our vitiated taste, however repugnant to our strongest prejudices, or however unamiable an aspect we may be tempted to think it has on the divine character and government of Jehovah.

SERMON V.

THE STREAMS OF GRACE AND SALVATION.

PSALM XLVI. 4.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.

A RIVER is one of the most beautiful objects in nature, and it is not more distinguished for its beauty, than it is eminent for its utility. It fertilizes whilst it beautifies the country through which it flows; it becomes the promoter of health and cleanliness; and is, more or less, the sustainer of animal and vegetable life; it ministers to the necessities and luxury of man, and is often a medium of commercial intercouse between distant towns. Cities and empires, the most renowned, have usually been indebted to rivers for much of their national prosperity and political pre-eminence. Hence it is, that

the sacred writings, which abound in the figurative style, employ with much advantage an object, at once so beautiful and useful in the outward creation, to represent to our minds correspondent excellencies in the economy of grace. Which

will account for the appropriate and striking metaphor in the text: "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." That which the Psalmist here intends to describe, is the presence of God abiding with his church, his providence watching over her, his power exerted in her defence, and his Spirit maintaining inward peace and confidence in the hearts of his people in the midst of outward calamities, and the most tremendous political convulsions. The same inspired writer speaks in language exactly similar, in the 65th Psalm, of " the river of God ;" and in the 36th, of "the river of his pleasures."

I. Preserving, therefore, the general metaphor, we may find it both interesting and useful to descend to some particulars respecting this river of God; and

1. Of its properties. It is the river of

F

the water of life, and as such possesses a quickening property-the power not only of sustaining and repairing the functions. of life, but of imparting the vital principle itself. This may be gathered from the Prophet Ezekiel, who in his vision of holy waters, (an account of which is recorded in the 47th chapter of his prophecies,) describes, in the 9th verse, the lifegiving property of which we are speaking: "And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live." This river of God possesses likewise a healing quality. The Arabs attributed medicinal virtues to the waters of the Euphrates; those of Jordan were miraculously employed to heal the leprosy of Naaman the Assyrian; and it is related of Bethesda, a celebrated pond or fountain existing in our Saviour's time, that "An angel went down at a certain season, and troubled the water; and it came to pass, that whosoever first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."* In like

* 2 Kings v. 1–14. John v. 2-4.

manner these streams, which the sweet Psalmist of Israel delighted to celebrate in sacred song, and which impart life to the dead, give renewed health and vigour to the spiritually infirm and diseased. Yes, the water of this river has power to heal the soul, to cleanse from moral defilement, and to impart fresh strength and tone to every gracious disposition, habit, and faculty. Christians, who are "trees of the Lord's planting," are hereby made pure and upright in their hearts; and in their lives fruitful "in all holy conversation and godliness." From these properties, therefore, we may infer the essential nature of the water. To produce life and purity, vigour and fruitfulness in the spiritual system, is the exclusive prerogative of the Holy Spirit; so that by the water of this river, his divine influence on the heart, with the various blessings connected with it, and resulting from it, is evidently intended. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said,