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is displayed in his all-prevailing intercession, and | street, nor breaking the bruised reed, nor quenchin the influences of the Sanctifier and Comforter ing the smoking flax,' but then the terrors of shed abroad in the soul, purifying the believer more and more; strengthening the pilgrim to the celestial city,' and giving him, in the consolations by which his journey is cheered, a foretaste of what is reserved for him in that happy land; 'whereas the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so thy God,' O thou follower of the Lamb, shall 'rejoice for ever over thee.'

FIFTH DAY.-MORNING.

the Lord shall be around him. On earth his sceptre was peace, and the transgressor, ‘the chief of sinners,' was warmly invited to draw near, to touch it and live; then 'justice and judgment shall be the habitation of his throne.' In his state of humiliation, his affecting words were, If thou hadst known, even thou in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Ye will not come unto me, that ye may have life: but then his language will be, O hear it now ye who are at ease in Zion,' that you may not hear it then, Who shall be punished with everlasting destruc-and wonder and perish!-Repentance is hid tion from the presence of the Lord, and from from mine eyes; vengeance is mine, I will repay, the glory of his power,' 2Thess. i. 9. saith the Lord.' The universe, through all its 'TO-DAY if you will hear God's voice, harden not bounds, shall feel the approach of its Creator 'to your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of judge the world in righteousness.' Then the temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers sublime language of the Psalmist shall be strictly tempted me, proved me, and saw my works. applicable to him, who though David's son is Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they also David's Lord, (Psal. xviii. 7—15). In such should not enter into my rest. This denuncia- awful circumstances, and with such an accumulation of Jehovah against the unbelieving, murmur- tion of horrors, will he manifest himself to the ing, and disobedient Israelites, excluding them unbelieving and the half-believing, the obstinate from the temporal Canaan, is addressed in refer- and the unimpressed, the unconvinced and the ence to 'a better country, even a heavenly,' to unjustified, the unwashed in the blood of sprinkthose who to the last moment of their existence, ling and the unsanctified by the Spirit of holiwilfully know not God, and obey not the gospel ness. Their sin is wilful, their contempt of salof our Lord Jesus Christ.' Their day of grace vation evident to all, and borne witness to, by is gone, and the time of their fearful visitation is their own conscience; and to heighten and comat hand. Messiah as judge, is 'come to be glori-plete their punishment they shall behold afar fied in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.' When he was manifested to save those given to him by the Father, in an everlasting covenant, he had no form, nor comeliness,' and when the fallen saw him, there was no beauty in him that they should desire him.' They hid, as it were their faces from him; he was despised, and they esteemed him not; he was oppressed, and he was afflicted; he was taken from prison, and from judgment, and made his grave with the wicked.' But he will appear the second time, without' suffering for sin,' as a sinner, in the sinner's room, 'unto salvation.' He will then be arrayed in his own majesty, for he and the Father are one, in all the splendour, and holiness, and irresistible power of the uncreated God. Angels shall be his adoring and ministering atten-ped with us, and we with him? He has long imdants, the clouds his chariot of conquest, and the thunders of the Almighty Triune Jehovah announce his descent. He once came the messenger of glad tidings—a free and full deliverance from guilt and its consequences, not crying, nor lifting up, nor causing his voice to be heard in the

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off,' the glory in which the saints delight themselves, in the abundance of peace, and the 'great' and impassable 'gulf fixed,' which shall separate them from the abodes of blessedness for ever. While the appalling scene is yet only in prospect, let us consider how the Judge shall appear to us individually. He has long addressed us as a Saviour; he has long told us that we are 'children of wrath,' and deserving the outpouring of wrath. He has long offered himself, in all his sufficiency, to our acceptance, and entreated us to receive him as our 'all in all.' He has long called, and have we answered? He has long stretched out his hand, and have we regarded? He has long stood at the door and knocked, and have we heard his voice, and opened the door; and has he come in and sup

plored us to put on the robe of his righteousness, as the only covering for the soul, and the only unfailing defence against the enemy, and are we indeed clothed with the garments of salvation? He has long assured us that every shelter which self can supply is a refuge of lies, and have we

plores with an energy of thought and expression which has perhaps never been equalled, and most unquestionably has never been surpassed. Never was grief for the sins and calamities of others more deeply or acutely felt, and never was it more patriotically and touchingly expressed. His whole soul is absorbed. There is a complete

abandoned it as spiritually destructive, and sought | He collects the most striking incidents from and found a hiding-place from the storm,' in the their interesting and varied history, and combinone strong-hold, where alone the prisoners of ing all by his splendid and sanctified talents, hope can enjoy safety, security, and undisturbed he remonstrates, he reasons, he threatens, he imrepose? Let us put these questions to ourselves in the presence of God, and remember that the Omniscient is the witness of this our appeal. How then do our consciences authorise us to answer them? Now, and now only is the time, when they can be asked and replied to, so as to avoid the effects which must follow from inability to give satisfaction to our own minds, in the self-identification of himself, with the objects on examination to which they are intended to conduct us. Let thy meditations, O my soul, rest on these truths, of unspeakable and directly personal importance; Christ, now thy Saviour, shall come as thy Judge, in majesty ineffable; and art thou prepared to stand before him without fear, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God?' This is the question of questions. Put it not away from thee. Delay not to ask it. Every thing essential to thy happiness depends upon it. Today, if thou wilt hear his voice;' to-morrow, may be incapable of hearing it. Death may have shut my eyes, and sealed my doom for And what must that doom inevitably be? Heaven or hell, and no after change possible. All fixed, fixed unalterably and eternally. The soul won or lost for evermore, God in Christ be merciful to me a sinner!

ever.

'When thou, O Lord, shalt stand disclosed
In majesty severe;
And sit in judgment on my soul,

O how shall I appear?'

FIFTH DAY.-EVENING.

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‘Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there?' Jer. viii. 22.

THE prophet was commissioned, by the God of Israel, to expostulate with his people, on the conduct which they had pursued and were still pursuing, and to set before them the consequences which had followed and were still following, from their apostacy. For this purpose he employs all the powers of his pathetic and persuasive eloquence. He pours out the feelings of his troubled soul in language worthy of the subject, and with an earnestness which displays at once the peculiar characteristics of his genius, the strength of his religious principles, and the warmth of his social affection. He adverts to every circumstance particularly calculated to make a favourable impression on the minds of those whom he addressed.

account of whose 'treacherous dealings' his harp
strings sound only lamentation, mourning, and
woe.' 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved. For the hurt of the
daughter of my people am I hurt.
astonishment hath taken hold on me.' In this dark
day of my country's visitation for her sins, I feel
that she has deserved it all, but I feel at the
same time that she is still my country. Is there
then no balm in Gilead?-O is there no physi
cian there? Yes, O sinner, there is balm of
sovereign virtue, an infallible Physician, who can
apply it in all its healing efficacy to thy diseased
and dying soul. The balm is the blood of Jesus,
of which the celebrated production of Gilead was
the type, and the physician is Jesus himself, who
by his Spirit applies the unfailing remedy-un-
failing because it is his blood, and because it is
thus applied. It is the high privilege of the
Christian teacher, to point out to the sinner the
alarming symptoms of his disease, and to assure
him that if he will use the means provided, and
indispensable for his particular desperate case, he
shall be rescued from spiritual death, and restored
to spiritual health, and translated at last to that
happy land where the inhabitant shall not say
I am sick, because the people that dwell therein
are forgiven their iniquity.' But how often, like
the prophet, does the watchman on the towers
of Zion' call, and warn, and admonish in vain!
The balm is here, the physician is here. But the
one has no value, and the other is regarded as not
worth the inquiring after. Thus are the messen-
gers of Jesus met in their anxious endeavours to
rouse attention, and affect rational creatures suf-
fering under a malady that must bring them to
hell, and yet boldly maintaining that all is well
with them. Thus is the Spirit of God grieved and
constrained to strive no more with man deter-
mined on self-destruction; and thus are millions
of miserable souls lost in the full blaze of gospel
light, and in the very midst of Christian ordin-
ances. Place the great bulk of a professedly
religious community within reach of a contagious

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dise.' And O let us examine carefully our own state, that we may know whether we have had the healing balm applied to our wounds, and thus have satisfactory evidence that He who is now our physician, shall rejoice over the souls that he has redeemed from destruction, and crowned with loving-kindness and tender mercies' for ever.

SIXTH DAY.-MORNING.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,' Matt. xxv. 41.

FAITH, when really the gift of God, and otherwise it has no right to the name, looks to a dis

disease, which is raging around them, and carrying off its victims in rapid succession, and laying families desolate, and covering the population of the district where they reside with mourning. How anxiously are inquiries made respecting the progress of the malady! How tremblingly alive are the inquirers to every new report of its increasing inveteracy! How strongly is alarm depicted on every countenance! How crushingly does fear master and subdue every heart! How quickly they hasten from the scene of danger, and if they are seized, or imagine they are seized by the frightful pestilence before they reach a place of safety, how eagerly do they implore advice, assistance, and relief? The plague spot has appeared, it is spreading, and what would they not give or do that it may be removed? They would spend their all, they would beg-only let their life be spared, and they ask no more. But how melan-tance, and views, as the proper objects of its choly and humbling the reflection forced on us by observation, yes, and by our own experience, that the soul may be sick, sick unto death, without awakening any fears for its state! The moral leprosy has commenced, for the seeds of it are naturally in our frame. Every hour is adding to its virulence and establishing its power. The vital parts, the heart and conscience, the understanding and the will, are deeply infected, and eternal death is unavoidable except by the prescriptions of the one physician, and the application of the one medicine. The mind becomes more and more alienated from God, the conduct gradually darkened with deeper shades of corruption, and the soul by steps accelerated in proportion to their number more irretrievably sunk in guilt. The harvest is past' with sinners of this description; the summer is ended, and they are not saved.' But while they are yet 'in the land of the living,' and within the reach of mercy, let us pray that the Lord in Christ may visit them in the multitude of his compassions,' and by his Spirit convince them of their sin and danger, and lead them to the cross, and enable them to behold there the 'man' Jesus suffering and dying, 'the just for the unjust, that he might bring them unto God.' Affected with the scene presented to the eye of their faith, may they say with the gospel penitent, Lord, remember us when thou comest into thy kingdom,' and hear Emmanuel replying in answer to their prayer, uttered with a full recognition of his divinity and power to save to the uttermost, and unreserved reliance on his merits as the only ground of their pardon and acceptance, In the day when I call you to leave the world, which you now feel is not to be your home, you shall be with me in para

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exercise, the realities of eternity. If a man die, shall he live again?' This question has been asked with feverish anxiety by every thinking being, since death, through the fall of Adam, established his despotism over a sinful world. And it has been answered in the affirmative, in proportion to the degree of knowledge attained by the accountable creature, who felt that much of his happiness or misery depended on the kind of response which could be returned to the important inquiry. But though the immortality of the soul, in some form or other, has found a place in every creed, except the atheist's, with which history has made us acquainted, the doctrine of a general judgment is peculiar to the Bible. The resurrection from the dead, and the appearance of the world's inhabitants, past, present, and to come, at the bar of the world's Judge, were truths too vast for unaided reason to discover, or to comprehend. They formed part of those 'secret things which belong to the Lord,' and have ceased to be mysteries to such favoured lands, alone, as have been visited and enlightened by the day spring from on high.' The certainty of judgment is an object of faith, as the substance of things not seen,' because it was taught to the people of God under both the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations. See Jude xiv. 15; Job xix. 25, &c.; Psal. ix. 7, 8; Dan. xii. 1—3. When we turn to the evangelical records, we have the particular Person of the adorable Trinity pointed out, who is to be the Judge; and a sublime and minute description of the 'great day of dread, decision, and despair,' given by him who is ordained by the Father to conduct the awful proceedings. See Matt. xxv. 31, &c.; Acts i. 10, 11; xvii. 31; 2 Cor. v. 10; Rev. i. 7. The sureness of judg

ment being thus established on the ground of the divine testimony, its righteousness follows as a matter of course, when we consider the attributes and character of the Judge. In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;' and, therefore, the actions of every subject of God's government are known to him, and their 'most secret sins,' or 'labours of love,' placed in the light of his countenance.' Their thoughts, words, and deeds, will be examined and estimated according to the opportunities which they have enjoyed, of becoming acquainted with the will of God, and the improvement which they have made of the privileges wherewith the Lord, in his wisdom and goodness, has been pleased to bless them. 'From them, to whom much has been given, much will also be required; and it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment,' than for us to whom the Lord has been, and is so peculiarly gracious, if we do not listen to the invitations of mercy, and close with the Redeemer's offers on his own terms, and take fast hold of his covenant.' The inhabitants of those guilty cities sinned in a great measure through ignorance; but we who have the light of the gospel shining on us, who acknowledge that to us 'the word of this salvation is sent,' and have long heard 'the joyful sound,' can have no excuse for our indifference, and 'no cloak' whatever 'for our sins.' 'Our own mouths condemn us' as well as the law of God. Yea, our own lips testify against us' in fearful accordance with the declarations of the Most High. From the sentence then solemnly pronounced there is no appeal. The jurisdiction of the court is supreme; for he who presides in it is God over all.' 'His throne is for ever and ever; the sceptre of his kingdom is a right sceptre. He loveth righteousness, and hateth iniquity. He hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.' And while 'God, even his own God, hath anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows,' that even in the judgment' his followers may rejoice; yet out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he may smite the nations,' and the individuals, who would not that he should rule over them;' when he spoke to their hearts, and entreated them by all that was dear to them here and hereafter, to take upon them his yoke, which is easy, and his burden, which is light.' Considering, then, the certainty of judgment, the perfections of the Judge, the righteousness which shall distinguish all his procedure, and the impossibility of any appeal from the decision then finally given, let us weigh well the awful words of the declaration before

us, and see how the terror rises at every step of the dreadful denunciation, 'Depart from me,' who once made myself known to you as a Saviour, 'not willing that any of you should perish,' and imploring you by my Spirit, and my ambassadors, to be reconciled unto God. 'Ye cursed,' ye devoted without shelter, and without hope, on whom the wrath of the Lord, as a mighty terrible One,' is just about to fall, 'into everlasting fire,' kindled by the breath of the Omnipotent, and decreed to burn while he that changeth not exists, prepared for the devil and his angels,' made completely ready, by your sins, your spurning away from you offered grace, and your perseverance in ungodliness for associating with those rebellious spirits who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, and are reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of this very day.' 'These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.' Imagination has often been employed in attempting to describe the place and the torments of the damned. But what fancy can pourtray what is indescribable, and even inconceivable? The Lord grant that we may be kept in a state of ignorance on the subject from our own experience for ever! Emmanuel 'came to seek and to save that which was lost.' Lord, lead us to thyself, and enable us to rest in perfect security on the Redeemer's blood for taking away our sins, and laying sure the foundation of our peace with thee! 'O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.' O by thy Spirit working in us mightily, make us feel the full import of the words, death, judgment, and eternity!

SIXTH DAY.-EVENING.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little,' Psal. ii. 12.

THIS psalm is expressly applied to the Messiah by his own inspired servants in the gospel, and we must fail entirely in seeing its true meaning, if we are not convinced that a greater than David is here.' In the midst of his threatenings against the mighty of the earth, who set them selves, and took counsel together against the Lord and his Anointed, he forgets not that the great object of his mission was to pity, and to save. He therefore exhorts rulers and judges, whatever may be the extent of their dominions, or the irresponsibility of their authority, 'to be

shall undertake for us? If we compel him to
leave us, willing as he is to stay with us, and to
'justify us freely,' all is over with us; and unre-
penting, unforgiven, and utterly unprepared for
meeting with God, we must enter into eternity.
If he cease to intercede for us, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sin, no other name whereby
we can be saved. Reflect then, O my soul, if
such be the peril of the sinner, when the anger
of the Son is kindled 'but a little,' what must be
his dreadful condition, when the remainder of his
wrath he doth not, and will not restrain. Hast
thou then made up thy peace with him? Hast
thou formed a just estimate of what this peace
really is? Hast thou beard, by faith, the words
of thine own Redeemer describing it? 'Peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth, give I unto you.' Hast thou
experienced the richness of the blessings which
go to its composition; pardon of sin, which lies at
the foundation of spiritual joy; all thy transgres-
sions forgiven, and thine iniquities covered; Jesus
made of God unto thee wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption?' Thou hast felt
what it is to be tortured with a sense of guilt, and
to anticipate that 'fiery indignation which shall
devour the adversary. But blessed be his glori-
ous name to all eternity; thou hast felt, also, what
it is to have the assurance of pardon given thee
by him who is unchangeable, and a promise left
thee of entering into that rest which remaineth for
the people of God.' Thy sins, like 'the hand-writ-

instructed by him,' the only infallible Teacher, and to learn that wisdom which leadeth unto salvation. He entreats them to humble themselves before the Lord, who is their Master, and to cast their crowns and their sceptres at the foot of the cross. He counsels them with warm solicitude for their everlasting welfare, to 'serve the Lord,' Christ as the King of Zion, with fear, and to rejoice,' even in the plenitude of worldly glory, 'with trembling.' It was love to man, fallen and miserable, that brought Jesus from the Father's right hand. It was love to man that made the accursed tree' an object of desire to the only begotten Son of the Eternal. It is love to man, which still glows in the heart of the exalted Intercessor, and graciously constrains him to say unto us, who have long thoughtlessly and contemningly turned a deaf ear to his invitations, 'Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way.' The expression here used, 'Kiss the Son,' takes it for granted, that we are in a state of alienation from him, and are become his enemies, and the exhortation implies that we listen to his voice entreating us to be reconciled to him as our best friend. When enmity had for years existed between Jacob and Esau, and the wrath of the latter subdued, by time, had passed away, a 'kiss' at meeting was at once an evidence of all former animosities having been forgotten, and a seal of fraternal amity and love restored. Our own interests as rational, but sinful creatures, are intimately concerned in our complying with the reasonable and tender injunc-ing of ordinances that was against thee, and contion here expressed, or in our disregarding it. When we compare the state of our hearts and affections with what the word of God declares it should be; when we think on our continued impenitence, on neglected opportunities, on unheeded warnings on particular providences, on unimproved afflictions and solemn calls to be 'ready, because we know not the day nor the hour' when the summons shall be put into our hands, peremptorily commanding our immediate appearance before God, can we entertain a doubting in thee? Hast thou felt him to be the silent of 'the Son being angry,' and of the extreme danger of our 'perishing from the way?' Do we not feel that we have given just cause for his wrath being kindled,' not only ‘a little,' but to make it 'burn with a most vehement flame?' And if Jesus, even the meek, the long-suffering Jesus, with all his 'bowels of compassion,' and all his yearnings of love, be sore displeased, and about

he has not already said it, 'I will go and return unto my place,' to whom shall we flee for help, and where, O where can we seek and find a shelter? If he abandon us, who

trary to thee,' have been taken away by the dying Redeemer, who triumphed over them openly, nailing them to his cross.' As the effect of pardon, hast thou experience of the delightful truth, that thou art now in favour with thy God, and canst say with the saint of old; 'O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me?' Hast thou the influences of the Spirit of all grace shed over thee, and the Sanctifier himself dwell

and unseen, but Almighty Agent in thy regencration and progress in holiness, the Implanter of right principles, and Inspirer of pious dispositions, the Giver of every good gift, and thy Comforter in all the trials, difficulties, and conflicts of thy spiritual warfare? And being thus privileged, endowed, and blessed, art thou cheered with the belief, that thou art an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ of immortality? O! magnify his name, who has thus rescued thee from destruction, and is sustaining thee with the certainty of a better country, an eternally enduring inheritance, pur

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