to the voice of praise, but your voice is silent; you listen to the voice of supplication, but a sigh is all that escapes you; you hear the preacher, but his word fails to touch any of those chords which once produced the music of your soul. Your harp is unstrung, hanging on the willows, and you cannot sing the Lord's song in a strange land. Now listen once more to God's word: “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord; say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously." And hear, too, what the gracious words of the Lord are: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him." Now what are these words but the horns coming out of his hand? they are for you to take hold of; the hiding of his power you will find in the restoration of your peace and joy; it is at present concealed from you, but he reveals his love and grace. O may the Lord bring you to his feet with weeping and with supplications, and cause you to find rest in coming to his mercy-seat. “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein." (Hos. xiv. 9.) 5. There is also another point which may be illustrated by the words of our text-" He had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power.' This will be seen in the preservation of the saints' bodies whilst in the grave. The doctrine of the resurrection is plainly revealed in the word of God. The resurrection of Christ is an indubitable truth; it is the pledge of ours; what a longing there is in the renewed soul for it. Why is this? is it for the sake of immortality? is it for the sake of incorruption? Not simply for these things, for these are but means to an end. We have no desire for immortality unless we have strong hopes that our life, divested of its corruption and all its sins, shall rise into the likeness of the image and into the enjoyment of our ever-adorable Redeemer God. The resurrection of Christ is the pledge of a truth which has an influence in us desiring to realise it. The Saviour we love is the risen Saviour; the Saviour we have fellowship with is the living Jesus, he is our everliving friend; in this present life we are planted spiritually in the likeness of his resurrection; in the influences of his resurrection we are desirous "if by any means we may attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Phil. iii. 11.) Now there are two things which set the longing soul to realise this great truth; the first is, a complete and final separation from the world; the other is, to be for ever with the Lord: "With him is the fountain of life, in his presence is fulness of joy; at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' In the first he is striving now to attain unto this resurrection of our Lord; when he rose from the dead, it is to be observed, he never more mixed with the world; the unregenerate never more saw his face or heard his voice; his resurrection glories were confined exclusively to his church. This is what believers would like to attain unto if it were possible, a complete and total separation from the spirit and tendencies of this world in this time state, for now it is we are the sons of God; there is displayed to them in the hand of God, his truth and power, such glories of the resurrection life as fills the soul of the believer with holy longings to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better; these glories which they view by faith are as horns coming out of his hand, and there is the hiding of his power, truths for them to take hold of. As the identity of the risen Saviour's Person was fully proved to the disciples, so we believe that the bodies of the saints will be preserved to and restored at the day of the resurrection in all the identity and personal consciousness of each individual. Our present hope is that we shall be like him, and see him as he is, and shall be satisfied when we awake in his likeness. O what a hiding of his power is here, the truth we take hold of, as he rose so will all his followers ; he is our forerunner, and where he has entered we shall enter too. He will preserve every atom of our sleeping dust during our incarceration in the tomb; those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Marvellous power, inconceivably great and glorious, it is hidden until the morn of the resurrection; he reveals the truth that it shall be so, and by faith we take hold of it as the horn coming out of his hand; for Jesus has willed that all his saints shall be where he is, to behold his glory. (John xvii. 24.) Here is our hope, our horn, something for us to take hold of, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast, which entereth into that within the veil. Happy souls, who with a well grounded hope can say "My flesh shall slumber in the ground, 6. But before I conclude I must advert to one more illustration of our text; it contains a gospel truth which has not been sufficiently and distinctly set forth in the preceding particulars-the Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ is the believer's horn of salvation, in which there is the hiding of Almighty power. The hand of redemption which is displayed in the Scriptures of truth, is the hand of God; the horns coming out of it are the blessings of the atonement by the sacrifice of his only begotten Son, the taking hold of which is the salvation of all who come unto God by him. This is the seeking sinner's great mercy: he has been wounded, but it was in the house of his friends; his conscience bears him witness of aggravated sins, of an accumulated load of guilt too heavy for him to bear; he goes about seeking deliverance but finds none. The arrow of truth which has pierced his soul "was quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," and only he who gave the wound can heal it and make the spirit whole. This is the work of God's Spirit in the heart; the entrance of his words giveth life. Here is repentance towards God; faith in Jesus Christ leading the believer to find that there is forgiveness with him that he may feared. He finds in Christ the only way of salvation, his atoning blood is the price of his redemption from the curse of a broken law; it is the propitiation for his sins; he has no hope in himself, merits he has none; he looks for all in Christ, he is the sinner's only hope; his blood and righteousness stand out as horns in the hand of Jehovah, whose covenant of redemption is everlasting, ordered in all things and sure. The believing sinner, whose conscience has followed him close, as the avenger of blood pursued the manslayer, lays hold of these horns; here is his certain salvation; justice cannot strike him here, mercy holds him fast, he is made nigh by the blood of Christ, he is saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. But O what a glorious and divine power is concealed in the horns of the sinner's salvation! Redemption is the work of Almighty power "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 99.66 so that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." Here is still more concealed than is revealed. He saves to the uttermost all who come unto God by him; and him that cometh he will in no wise cast out. The strength of Israel will not lie. Here is power to save from a host of sins, from the worst of sins. O if there is here a trembling sinner seeking mercy, here is room, here is hope; take hold of these horns, "trust ye in the Lord Jehovah, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." And this is the believer's mercy,—that through all his iourney in the wilderness state, the blood of the atonement is available for his hope and comfort. Not only is the truth that "Christ died for him" a horn of salvation to him, and on which he holds for eternal life, but it is a source of everlasting consolation to him; though saved from the curse of sin, and saved from the power of inbred sin, he still sins and will be liable to sin as long as he is in the flesh; this is his grief and sore wounding, but the precious blood of atonement is the healing balm of all his sorrows and the cordial of his cares; he seeks no healing but in and through atoning blood. Oh what a hiding of Jehovah's power is here; again and again, through all life, to its latest moment, the blood of Jesus Christ is allsufficient to cleanse from all sin; it is infinite in value, infinite in strength, infinite in its efficacy. Atoning blood is the glory of the gospel. It is the mercy of God to fallen man, the horn of salvation in his hand of redeeming love, and there is the hiding of his power. Now may the Lord command his blessing on such remarks as may be in harmony with his own word of truth for his great name's sake. Amen. THE DIVINE ENGRAVING OF SEVEN EYES ON ONE STONE. A SERMON, BY CHARLES GORDELIER, PREACHED AT HEPHZIBAH CHAPEL, DARLING PLACE, MILE END GATE, On Lord's Day Evening, March 11th, 1866. "For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes; behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts."-ZECH. III. 9. Ir may be said of Zechariah's prophecies, as Peter said of Paul's epistles, "in which are some things hard to be understood." This seems to have been felt by our laborious and painstaking Puritan commentators, for scarcely any, as I am aware, have left us any distinct or elaborate exposition of this choice and remarkable book. Perhaps the reason may be that within the transparent outer covering of prophecy and vision is perceived deep spiritual truth which is difficult to unfold. That there are evidently many precious truths displayed to us in these prophecies there can be no question, but they are like choice fruit on the topmost branches of trees, which way-side travellers can see as they pass, but being out of their reach they can do no more than look at it. This prophecy is designated SEPHER ZECHARIAH, or the book of Zechariah, from its being written by him. His name signifies the memory of the Lord, or the Lord remembers. His prophecies singularly accord with his name, for there is indeed a wonderful remembrance of God's covenant love and promises of the Messiah's coming and of salvation by him. While there are many dark and obscure prophecies, yet we find a cluster of prophets almost contemporary in their prophetic work, confirming the authority of each other's prophecy, and thereby No. 23. |