and while their ears listened to the wondrous story of His love, and of His willingness to lay down His life for their sakes, it filled their hearts with joy and true humility: such will be heaven, such the song, and such the humility. The death of Jesus necessarily begets this; the atonement received into the soul humbles it; nor is pure and profound humility incompatible with highest joy, nor perfect felicity, our loftiest triumph; in fact, heaven is the only place where perfect humility reigns,-the mystery of the dying Lamb being perfectly discovered, deeply humbles every soul. Glory and gratitude go hand in hand; a sense of His mercy, and the sight of His glory, conspire to the casting of their crowns before the throne. Thus, the suffering of Christ, and the glory that shall follow, should always stand connected; God has linked them together; and in order to sympathise with God's purposes we must suffer no dislocation in our mind of that which God has eternally bound together. From the suffering we look onward to the glory, and when that is attained we shall look back on the suffering. "As often as ye eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death till He come," conveys both ideas in their united aspect. Faith in exercise here, not only "sees Jesus made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death," but it also sees Him" crowned with glory and honour." Thus, we see from the conversation, that "His cross, the sure foundation laid For glory and renown." "His death the price, And, in his great ascent, the proof supreme Of immortality." Let not then your hearts be troubled; Jesus is gone to prepare the many mansions of the Father's house, and among them a place for you. He will come again, and receive you to Himself, and so shall you be ever with the Lord; and the glory which the Father gave to Christ, shall be given those that are His. In His ascended character He has become our advocate and intercessor, and waiteth to be gracious, that they may have His joy fulfilled in themselves. But in connection with the suffering of the Head, there is the suffering of the members. We have said that suffering and glory are linked together; Christ has suffered and has ceased to suffer, therefore, there is that which is left behind to fill up of the afflictions of Christ. -Col. i. 24. "In the world ye shall have tribulation," is the legacy of heaven. Those fearful women that stood around the man of sorrows as He hung upon the accursed tree, were but prototypes of the long train of witnesses ("of whom the world is not worthy") cheered onward by the same word of promise, "If we "If so be that we suffer with Him that we may be glorified together;" suffer we shall also reign with Him." "Therefore, inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings, it is matter of rejoicing that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye will be glad with exceeding joy;" know then, that now the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Yet we must ever bear in mind this grand distinction, that His alone are meritorious and vicarious, ours being that of simple testimony, arising from the constraining power of that love, begotten by His first loving us. Thus, we have not only honor and dignity put upon the sufferings of the church by the Lord designating them His, but it also brings to view the mystical oneness that subsists between Christ and the church, being bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh, in which sense Christ and His people are one. This is blessedly set before us in the type of the veil in the tabernacle and temple. When the Lord of life and glory expired, this veil was rent in twain; and the apostle expressly declares this veil to be in the mystery of it, "His flesh;" but interwoven in this veil were those cherubim figures,—the church, the mystical members of the mystical head, forming one body or veil. (I would just mention here, that those figures in the vith of Isaiah, or on the mercy seat, or in the veil of the temple, do not represent angels, but redeemed men; indeed, to think otherwise, is to make angels to be of the same oneness and nature with Christ, or Christ with them: the idea is now becoming exploded. At some future period (D.V.) I may venture an article on this.) This veil, when Jesus suffered on the accursed tree, was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, plainly bringing before us this unity of suffering between Christ and the church (always bearing in mind the aforenamed distinction.) But the death of Christ was not only the redemption-price of the sinner, but also of" The Purchased Possession," "-the inheritance of the saints, not merely of Ruth, but of all that was Elimelech's(see Ruth iv. 9, 10.) The field, though it had fallen into other hands, yet neither Naomi nor Ruth had lost their titleit was held only by way of fiefidure (see verse 4) and by redemption, or at the day of jubilee it returned to its rightful owners. Just so is it with the inheritance of the saints; by sin it is sold to the "god of this world," but it is redeemed. "The hidden treasure, the lost sinner, is found, and the field, the world, is bought," -(see Matt. xiii. 44.) "The land shall not be sold for ever," guarantees its return to its rightful owners, the heirs of God, and the joint heirs with Jesus,"the heirs of the world," as was Abraham, their spiritual father, through the righteousness of faith."-(Rom. iv. 13, 14.) The God of this world shall be cast out, and as Daniel saw it," the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." The world is yours, and ye "Shall have it back for naught, the gift of Jesu's love." Earth is not abandoned to the curse as immitigable and eternal, for, "He came to make His blessings known far as the curse is found" The glorification of the universe pervades all Scripture; the whole creation, being burthened, is groaning for redemption, but the groans of Calvary will hush her agonizing prayer, and deliver her, the blood of the Lord is infinite; its merits are sufficient to restore the lost inheritance; who then can tell of her future glorious destiny, achieved by "his decease, which He accomplished at Jerusalem:" His tears has mingled with its dust, and His blood with the ground;" and though its past history be sin, and curse, and death, by the introduction of sin, when "Earth felt the wound, and nature, from her seat, Sighing thro' all her works, gave signs of woe, That all was lost." Yet, when "the second Adam, the Lord from heaven," shall receive dominion, "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for Him." "And what sin's storms have blasted for man's revolt, He'll with a smile repair." Thus, will "all things be made new,' fitted, a glorious habitation, where shall dwell the King in His beauty, to be admired in all His saints; the last act being, as in the tabernacle and temple, to fill it with His own glory for the pure worshipers to enter in; then will the whole earth become one vast temple for His praise! Brethren, this is the hope set before us. "Yet a blasted world shall brighten Underneath a bluer sphere, And a softer, gentler sunshine, Shed its healing splendour here. Be where only wastes have been. Such as earth has never known, Exeter Quay. (To be continued.) MY BELOVED IS MINE, AND I AM HIS. Sol. Song ii. 16. Ir is the grand and glorious purpose of Jehovah, throughout the Scriptures, to unfold and display His eternal and unchanging love in Christ to His beloved church, which He has, in purely sovereign grace and mercy, predestinated to everlasting felicity. Christ loved His church, and gave Himself for it, and claims it as the purchase of His own blood. The church likewise is enabled, by grace, to claim Jesus as her own bestbeloved. This sweet union and relationship is inseparable and eternal; for, concerning the church, God says,—" I have loved thee with an everlasting love."Jer. xxxi. 3. Love, eternal love, is the bond of this glorious oneness. And, oh! what a love is God's love to His church! It is truly sovereign, almighty, and free; and no one can ever claim or deserve it. When the sinner feels this love shed 66 The abroad in his heart, then indeed will he say, "Christ is mine, and I am His!" But consider the nature and extent of this love. It is the love of God, who is love itself. Lo! He has given Himself! Christ loves His people as much as His Father loves Him.-John xv. 9. Father loves them as much as He loves Christ.-John xvii. 23. Oh! what an amazing, unspeakable, and fathomless love is this! And shall one so unworthy as me partake of this love? Truly, then, does it pass all understanding. My Beloved is mine, and I am His." "Ah!" says the weak and timid saint, "I do wish I could feel so." Yes, indeed, it is truly a sweet and most enviable privilege; and why should you not enjoy it? Jesus is thy Beloved. Fearful, dejected, dark, and tempest-tossed as thou art, yet Jesus is thine. He sees thee on the sea of spiritual trouble, toiling in rowing, the winds being contrary, as thou art almost in despair; and soon will He come and speak the mighty word,-" Peace, be still." Then indeed wilt thou feel and say, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His." And if we enjoy a real heart-felt acquaintance with Jesus, then we have all, and what else need we? Are we not royal children in Jesus? If our Father has loved us so much as to give us His Son, His own Beloved Son, will He not -does He not-"with Him also freely give us all things?" Oh! what a gracious and infinitely precious Lord! Christ is ours through faith, and we are His through sovereign and electing love, and the union is so close and inseparable, that it is eternal and unalterable. It is His almighty love that calmly embraces and effectually secures every elect vessel in the wisely-ordered covenant. Tried christian, fear not, but rather rejoice, and say, "My Beloved is mine-mine, through His omnipotent love in choosing me from everlasting, by giving Himself a ransom for my guilt, profusely lavishing His best and richest blessings on my soul. And now Jesus is my Friend, Cant. v. 16, my flesh and blood, Heb. ii. 14, my Brother, Heb. ii. 17, my Father, Isa. lxiii. 16, and my All in All, Col. iii. 11. "And I am His-His by adoption and grace-His, because He has given me the earnest of the Spirit, 2 Cor. i. 22, and by this do I know that I am His.-1 John iii. 24. I am Christ's. He is my righteousness, I am His poverty; He is my riches, I am His weakness; and He is my everlasting strength. In a word I am nothing, and Christ is all. Christ, a whole Christ, and nothing short of Christ, can fill my soul. "My Saviour is the heaven of heaven, And what shall I Him call? My Christ is First, my Christ is Last, My Christ is All in All." R. CORNALL. Stacksteads, Sept. 7, 1853. SPIRITUAL APHORISMS. IT may be said of the weakest and meanest believer, as truly as it was of the great "father of the faithful" himself, that he is "the friend of God." For, when God's right hand of mercy is once clasped in man's right hand of faith, the two are friends for evermore. The promises of God are like the sweet flowers in some fair partérre; and faith goes from promise to promise, as the bee from flower to flower, till it finds the honey and sweetness that it wants. Mercy and Truth had oftentimes met together; but Mercy hung down her head, and Truth looked stern and uncompromising; and never till the happy day on which they met on Calvary, beneath the shadow of Immanuel's cross, were they truly reconciled-never till then did they "kiss each other." 66 We may reason from Scripture, but we may not reason on it." Thus, saith the Lord," is, to the christian, the severest logic, and the most infallible demonstration. We must study truth as a system, (taking heed that it is as clear as possible of human tradition) and as a system we must receive it. Single truths, however precious, if isolated and alone, are like unset jewels; but the same truths in connection, systematized, are like the jewels in a royal diadem; they set off and increase the beauty and splendour of each other. Would you know what God is? Behold Him manifested in full-orbed glory in the cross of Christ. Would you know what sin is? Behold its vileness and malignity in the cross of Christ. Would you know what truth, justice, holiness is? Behold them all illustriously displayed in the cross of Christ. Would you know what GRACE is? Behold it, where alone you can behold it, in the cross of Christ. The vegetable life in the grass upon the house-top is as real as that in the stately cedar; the animal life in the smallest insect is as real as that in the mighty whale; and the spiritual life in the weakest babe in grace is as real as that in the most experienced father in Christ. There is no difference in the nature of spiritual life, however great may be the difference in the degrees of its manifestation. "I go," said the unhappy Sterling, when dying, "I go the common road into the great darkness." Alas! it might be so; for the road that leadeth into the great-the "outer darkness," is indeed the common one. Yet is there another, though a narrow way, which leads (not as this, down into the dark shades of everlasting night, but) up into the blaze and splendour of the eternal day. Oh! may we have grace to take the upward road. We know what God can do, and we do not know what He may do. This should be a ground of consolation to the christian under all circumstances. There may be faith in an unseen Christ ("Whom having not seen ye love," 1 Pet. i. 8) but not in an unknown Christ. "I know," says Paul, "in whom I have believed."-2 Tim. i. 12. In heaven our manifold joys shall fill a vast and mighty circumference; yet, as from every point, our lines of happiness shall meet IN HIM and radiate from HIM, who is the centre of our joys, and the sun of our happiness. Liverpool. M. M. GLIMPSES OF JESUS. JESUS EXPOUNDING THE WORD.-LUKE iv. 17. The world has frequently beheld men standing as finger-boards, pointing to themselves, but who, when looked at, have exhibited little to admire, less to imitate, and scarcely anything to love. The character of man has been so blurred by sin, that he can really teach but little by precept, and for the most part less by example. As made by the hand of God he stood like a golden column in the universe, exhibiting many precious truths, and which were easily read, but as ruined by sin, he stands like an Egyptian obelisk covered over with mysterious hieroglyphics, which the wisest find it difficult to decipher either to satisfaction or profit. Much that is now seen about man, and in man, even the best, like the mystic writing on the walls of Belshazzar's palace, serves but to excite dismal apprehension that something has been wrong in the past, and sad forebodings lest something should prove wrong in the future; and when the Holy Spirit, like another Daniel, comes and imparts His light to the mind, the mysterious symbols become instinct with life, and terribly significant of that utter ruin, desolation, and woe, which sin has written upon him from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. While man retained his innocency, he stood like a lucid mirror reflecting the glory of both worlds. His soul might have been compared to the garden in which he was placed, a fair and lovely spot, filled with various forms of beauty, and fruit and fragrance, and if paradise might have been said to be the gold ring of nature's finger, man was the precious stone which adorned its centre, through which the divine perfections shone with brightness and glory. Sin, however, soon robbed paradise of its jewel, and the soul of man of its glory; so that now he stands like a tree stripped of all its beauty, and fit alone for the fire; and this being the true state of man, the really wise seldom care to look at those who seem intent upon the exhibition of themselves; knowing that men seldom point to themselves for the benefit of others; that few can preach themselves without pride, or proclaim their own merits without egotism. was not so, however, with Christ. It was for the benefit of others that He preached Himself, for the advantage of others He made Himself known. It was not for praise He went into the synagogue, opened His Father's book, and directed the eye of His hearers to Himself as described upon the sacred page. Here there could be no egotism, for the perfection of beauty needed no praise, and the glory portrayed was above the reach of words; surely, It then, where vanity could not disclose itself, and pride have no place, the prince of perfection may describe Himself; for if He does not, who can, or will dare to make the attempt. Here self could be displayed without selfishness, and man exalted without dishonouring God. Here the sermon might be filled with the preacher, while the more it contained of Him the sweeter it would be, and the more the hearers would be profited and blessed. Oh! marvellous teacher! Surely it was meet that thou should'st be thine own expositor! Oh! sweet singer of Israel, how right it was that thou should'st portray thine own excellencies, and point to the sacred page where the beams of thy glory shone forth. But while speaking of Himself, Jesus conducts to the word: He was not anxious to be seen simply, but to be seen through the truth-to be heard, but His voice must be the echo of truth. Happy day for the church, when all her teachers shall thus imitate her Lord; direct their hearers to the word of God, and proclaim Him only to whom all the prophets gave witness. Oh! interesting scene, to behold Jesus as the good shepherd, leading the flock into the green pastures of truth, and conducting them to the exact spot where the sweetest herbage grew. And what else indeed could He do? He was the substance of truth, the Alpha and Omega of the book He was expected to expound. Upon its very page He beheld a picture of Himself: He would recognize the tracery of His own fingers, the outline of His own person, the reflection of His own excellencies, the burden of His message, the tale of His own sufferings and death. From the earliest dawn of man's calamity He had preached Himself by the ministry of His servants,― as the only antidote of man's miseries, and sovereign balm of all his woes. Age after age had the heavens opened, and page after page of God's book come down, bringing the portrait of the coming Saviour as sketched by His own hand; and now that He has come, and stands "in human form revealed," what more natuIral than that He should take these sketches into His own hand, point to Himself, and ask men to mark the resemblance? Heaven itself could not contain His glory; some scattered rays would escape down to man bringing some feature of His person, and now that He Himself, following these bright intimations, appears before men, He seeks to gather these rays of truth together in Himself, to authenticate His mission, and prove the faithfulness of God to the promises made to His ancient servants, and patriarchs of His people. And how solid was the rock on which He stood in the midst of this unbelieving synagogue! He builds not His claims upon great sounding words of pomp and vanity, selforiginated and full of pride; the orator's art He spurns, and leaves the witchery of words to other men and other aims; and though by birth the king of Israel, no earthly court hears His appeal for help to convert His auditory, or enforce His claims. He seeks not aid from man, and though He spake to steeled hearts, and held up truth to eyes that would not see, yet comes He to THE BOOK, and through that book upon the conscience, He boldly makes His claim: He sought not to blind the mind that He might force His claims, but seeks both mind and conscience through the truth. Oh! ye whose apostolic claims are great, is this the plan which ye adopt to reach men's hearts, and shew your commission to teach and bless them there? Do you point to the sacred page where your credentials are described, and Christ is seen, and Christ alone? Love you the open eye of the mind, and to step through it into the heart, to carry truth and Christ, and not yourselves? Or do you watch, Delilah-like, to see it close beneath your opiate influence, your floating incense, rounded periods, and pleasing song? Love you the inner Samson of the soul,-reason lighted up by God and truth; and to see Him come fresh and strong with David's lamp, Ps. cxix. 105, to scrutinize your claims, as Christ would have the people look at His? Or would you have the strong man lulled to sleep, that you may put out both his eyes, and through his blindness steal his conscience and his purse? What say your deeds? that like the mole you burrow out of sight, and love to hide beneath musty tomes, scholastic lore, dead creeds, and vain tradition ?-that in the light of God's eternal truth you cannot live, and |