from you the scenes of that day? But, perhaps, | last, may not sanctify the character at all. Such you are afraid to hope so freely, as I commend, or as you wish? Why? "The hope set before us" in the gospel, like the Sheckinah of the divine presence which went before the church in the wilderness, is "a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night;" neither so dim as to be indistinct, nor so bright as to be dazzling to the eye. It is, indeed, as full of immortality as the sun is full of light; but as the sun shines through an atmosphere which softens his rays, and occasionally shades them too, so the hope of eternal life takes so many of the sweetest forms of social life, and is so surrounded by the duties and trials of public, domestic, and mortal life, that it never shines too brightly to be looked at, nor too darkly to be seen. It is emphatically a hope set before us: not so far off as to strain the eye in looking for it, nor so near as to pain the eye in looking at it. And then, how effectually it is set before us!The pillar of cloud and fire came down from heaven into the wilderness, unexplained and unheralded. Neither angel nor prophet foretold its descent from the throne, nor its continuance on the footstool. It was set before the church, with only its own light and shade to commend it. Revelation did not define its nature, nor the covenant ratify its duration, nor the harps of glory celebrate its worth. It came into the world unsung, and departed from the world unmissed. Not thus is the hope of eternal life set before us. "The bringing in of that better hope," was not in silence, nor in darkness. It was brought into the world with the full chorus of all worlds. The hope of the world, like the creation of the world, was welcomed by the morning stars singing together, and by all the angelic sons of God shouting for joy. The Lord Jesus Christ is the hope of glory: and when God brought "the only begotten into the world, he said, and let all the angels of God worship him." All the patriarchs of God had typified him -all the prophets of God had foretold him-all the oracles of God had described him-all the covenants of God had guarantied him-all the providences of God had accredited him as the hope of the world; and, to crown this attestation of his character and errand, all the armies of God sang at his advent, "Peace on earth, and goodwill towards men!" Thus the hope of eternal life is set before us in the person and sacrifice of him, upon whom God has visibly set all the seals and tokens of the eternal power and Godhead: and by the ministry and miracles of men who could not be deceived, and of angels who could not mistake. Nor is the benefit of hoping in Christ set before us less clearly or less impressively, than the fact that he is the only hope set before us. The concurrent testimony of all ages, is, that "hope in him maketh not ashamed." The throne of heaven is already thronged with proofs of this. Even on earth, none have been put to shame before men, by the influence of a good hope through grace, when that hope laid hold upon the glory which grace leads to. "Every man who hath this hope in Christ purifieth himself even as he is pure?" The heartless hope of a death-bed conversion, or the halfhearted hope of just escaping hell in some way at hopers will have occasion to be ashamed before God and man, whether they own it or not now: and the shame will become "confusion of face," as well as of spirit, when they are about to exchange worlds. I would have you hope enough to make you happy in your mind, and holy in your character.For, what is the use of hoping too little, to produce this very desirable and necessary effect? It cannot be produced at all without hope; and there will never be much holiness or happiness from poor hopes. They will either produce poor spirits or poorer virtues. She who has not hope enough in Christ, to keep her spirits from despondency, will not do nor attempt much for the honor of Christ; and she who can enjoy herself without settled hopes of salvation, will content herself with still less. This subject requires to be looked into with much impartiality, and with no small degree of holy jealousy. Now it is quite as possible for you to hope too little, as for the hypocrite to hope too much. "The hope of the hypocrite shall perish" because he is a hypocrite; and just because you are not a hypocrite, your spirits may sink, or your character not rise at all in strength and beauty. This is no paradox, whatever it may seem at first sight. There is sure to be much depression, or but little diligence, wherever there is "no guile," and but little hope. And for this obvious reason. A guileless mind deals so honestly with itself, that nothing can counterbalance its self-condemnation and fear, but a full apprehension of the sufficiency and freeness of the Saviour's grace; and, therefore, the very fidelity of the conscience must paralyze the heart or the hands in the service of God, if the riches of that grace are not clearly seen to be equally adapted and designed to meet the case. Thus there cannot be good spirits without a good hope through grace, wherever the conscience is faithful or tender; nor will such a conscience purify the character much, whilst it derives no peace from the blood of the Lamb. It must be somewhat pacified by the Cross of Christ, before it can delight in copying the example of Christ. Consider this. It is not with you now as it once was, nor as it still is with the self-righteous, that the abandonment of a wrong habit, or the commencement of a new duty, can create the hope of salvation. You know the way of salvation too well, to imagine that you can make your peace with God, by laying down sins, or by taking up mere moral duties. You see and feel, indeed, the necessity of doing both; but you see and feel equally, that you cannot be justified by the works of the law, whatever good they might do you in other respects. They are not the price of an interest in Christ, nor the direct way of finding an interest in him; and without that, you know that they will be of no avail. Thus mere duty must ever seem to you now useless labor, until you can work from love and gratitude to the Saviour.Well, thus you never will work, until you venture to hope, "that by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ you shall be saved." Waiting for the coming of this good hope, like working for it, will not bring it. You must just "lay hold upon the hope set before you in the gospel," or live in suspense, and thus in indecision too; for character will not | penitent's hope, nor the pilgrim's hope, that you settle nor rise, whilst hope is unsettled. I do not forget, in saying this, that there are some very lovely characters, who say that they have little or no hope. They have, however, more than they imagine. I do not mean that they say one thing and think another: but that they mean by_hope, much more than hope itself means. are thinking about, if you say that you can get but little hope from the gospel. What would you have, that the glorious gospel does not promise? Depend upon it, you are seeking some unpromised form of the hope of salvation, or some disproportionate degree of that good hope, if you find it almost impossible to hope for your own salvation. It would be utterly impossible for you to despair or despond, if you wanted nothing but what is promised. Hence, in speaking of their own case they use language which, however familiar, misleads themselves and others: "I cannot see my interest in Christ; cannot see my title to the promises; can- Be not offended nor surprised, if I suspect you not see my election or my calling." Now it would of wanting more. I do so, because I think favornot be altogether unfair nor unkind, to bring down ably, upon the whole, of your motives and spirit, upon such complaints the apostolic remonstrance, in attaching a very high meaning to Christian "What a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? hope. This is far wiser than taking low views of But if we hope for what we see not, then do we it. You are, indeed, quite right in feeling quite with patience wait for it." This refers, indeed, sure, that there should be a very great difference not so much to our hoping in Christ for mercy and between natural hope and spiritual hope. That grace now, as to the things hoped for when the kind of hope which you could keep up without whole creation, in common with the church, much difficulty, whilst you were careless or for"shall be delivered from the bondage of corrup-mal, ought not to satisfy you, now that you know tion, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God." the evil of sin, and the infinite value of the soul Rom. viii. 21-25. Still it is true, that hope, like and salvation. That "great salvation" deserves faith, is not "sight," nor necessarily "assurance," and, therefore, it does not follow that an humble, devout, and exemplary woman has no hope, because she says, "I cannot see my interest in Christ or the promises." In speaking thus, she is not thinking of what the gospel warrants her to hope for; but either of what she wishes for, or what she once enjoyed. This is not a distinction without a difference. It is by far too common to confound hope with rapturous ecstacy, or with perfect peace, or with spiritual and heavenly mindedness: and when these delicious feelings subside, to say,-that hope is lost. It would hardly be more unwise to say, that reason is lost. Reason had as much connection with these feelings, whilst they lasted, as hope but, who suspects that reason is fled, when rapture or holy calm is gone? Neither reason nor hope is intended to keep up high emotion for ever. and requires a "good hope," in more senses than the goodness of either its practical influence or its humble spirit: it ought also to be gratefu! and joyful. Well; it may be both, without being all that you mean by "a good hope through grace." Let me explain myself freely on this point. We are very prone to fix the meaning of hope from our first taste of the joy of salvation. But this, however well meant, is unwise. It is unwarranted. This is more than hope, in the relief which is usually obtained from the first sight of the glory and grace of the Saviour. The Holy Spirit often renders that discovery of the cross so cheering, or so charming, that the whole soul is absorbed and transported with it. We can think of nothing else. We can wish for nothing more. It is heaven on earth. We could take an eternity of it. "That holy calm within the breast, Seems the dear pledge of heavenly rest." Thus we ought to be very careful how we speak and think about the hope of salvation. It is, remember, a sinner's hope,—a penitent's hope -a pilgrim's hope: and, therefore, it must not But although this be hope, it is also much more be expected nor desired in such a degree, as than hope. It is that joy of salvation, by which would banish all painful feelings. We are fully God revives and wins the heart of the contrite warranted, and quite welcome, to hope in Christ ones. It is that manifestation of Himself, by for present grace and future glory: but we are which he proves to us that he "giveth grace to not warranted to expect such grace as would the humble." It is that "demonstration of the leave nothing in our nature to humble us; nor Spirit," which places beyond all doubt, both the such foretastes of heaven, as would render us in-reality and the blessedness of vital godliness. In sensible to trials or temptations on earth. We a word; it is the strong consolation of a dying may be really happy, notwithstanding outward saint, given to a sinking pénitent, that she may trials, and inward struggles; but the perfect hap-know and never forget the worth of Christ. piness of being without any of them, does not belong to time; it is the bliss of eternity. I am not contradicting nor forgetting myself, by thus guarding you against hoping for too much. I repeat, with more confidence than ever, that you are not hoping enough in Christ, if you are unhappy in your mind, when you think of judgment or eternity. You have too little hope, if either your spirits sink, or your efforts relax, in following holiness. I must go still further, and say, it is not exactly the sinner's hope, nor the (14) 63 Now we ought to be very thankful for this timely and complete discovery of the all-sufficiency of the atoning sacrifice. It is a fine security, for ever after, against false doctrine and superficial experience. It is not, however, a security against practical error. Accordingly, one of two errors is often fallen into, when this high state of enjoyment falls away. It does subside and then, we either count nothing hope, which does not come up to it; or we do no more in religion, than just enough to be somewhat in the way, or not exactly out of the way, of finding it again. And thus it is, that some sink into despondency, and others into heartless formality. One becomes sad, and another inconsistent and both from the same cause, they cannot hope as they once did. The hope (as they call it) which first cheered the spirits of the one, and inspired the diligence of the other is gone: and because they cannot get it back, they both go back; the one into the region of doubts and fears, and the other into the region of declension. Now, which of these states are you in? Which ever it be, there is but one remedy. You must regard something else as the hope of salvation, than a return of the precise kind and degree of joy which you first called hope. I do not say, that that joy will never revisit your spirit. I do not think (as Sheshbazzar would have said) that the candle of the Lord will never shine upon you again, as it did when it was first lighted. But I do both say and think, that it will not do so, whilst you are merely waiting for it. You must be humble enough to begin with the sinner's hope, and to go on with the pilgrim's hope, if you would be happy in your own mind again. And, why not be thus humble and content? What right has any one to make terms with God, for faith or obedience? most solemn and tender manner, "Take the sinner's hope: for as a backsliding child, no line of the scarlet thread' of adoption will save you, like Rahab, now that the ark of the covenant is sounding its ram's horns around your walls." I say, in plainer terms, “ The hope set before you in the gospel,' may well suffice you. It would ill become you to stand out or stipulate with God for your first joy. He deserves your first love,' and your first works' too, for the hope still before you in the gospel. And it is this, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' This is hope enough to make any one happy, who believes it: yes, and holy too: for what could bind you to follow holiness, if the assuring promise of salvation, from the lips of a God who cannot lie, do not? Look now at another case. There is a woman, Just look at such conduct in two cases. What not worldly minded; not exactly averse to devowould you think of a woman who could say in tion or diligence; and not at all wishing for any words, "I have not that comfort in religion, assurance of hope or faith, which would be a pilwhich I had at one time; and, therefore, I have low to sloth or inconsistency. But she has lost neither heart nor motive to be very devotional in all her hope; as she calls her first enjoyment at my closet, or very exemplary in my family, or the cross and the mercy-seat. She can neither very liberal to the cause of God, or very much glow nor melt, think nor feel, there, as she once attached to the means of grace? I was all this, did: and just because she cannot, she says, that whilst my comfort lasted: but, as that is gone, it she cannot see one ray of hope for herself. The would be a kind of hypocrisy on my part now, fact is, she means by a ray of hope, a beam, if not were I to do all that I used to do, just as if no- a burst, of that joy which shone upon her soul, thing had happened to discourage or disconcert when she was first enabled to commit her soul me. I know very well, that I am not doing right into the hands of Christ: or she wants a degree at present: but I know too, that I am quite wil- of hope which would put down at once all the ling to return to my first love,' and to my first plagues of her heart; and keep out all temptaworks' too, whenever God returns my first hopes tion and vain thoughts; and make all duty deto me. He has only to shine and smile upon my light, and all trials easy. She says, indeed, that soul as in the days of old, in order to my becom- she would be thankful for a single and the slightest ing again all that I was in the days of old. This, ray of hope. But, tell her that God is sure to I am waiting for; and I hope it will come in answer her cry for mercy; and that, although a course of time. Accordingly, I do not go alto- fixed day-star of hope does not cheer her. It is gether out of the way of meeting with it. I do not that form of hope which cheered her formally. not pray much in secret, certainly but I still It does not warm or melt her heart at a glance, keep under a faithful ministry, and keep up my as her first believing views of the Lamb slain did. connections with the church and sacraments of She is also too agitated, or too depressed, to grasp Christ. This, indeed, is my chief reason for hop- with her understanding, the sublime fact, that ing at all for if God do not meet with my soul God's command, "Call on me," is God's comagain there, I am not likely to find him again at mand to hope in him. He means "hope," when home. I have no heart to seek him at home he says, "Pray;" he means, "Pray," whenever now; but, could I only get such another strong he says, "hope." But the very simplicity of this impulse from the sanctuary, as that which first way of setting hope before us, seems mystery, if sent me to my closet and my Bible, I make no not mockery, to a sad spirit, when sadness has doubt but I should go on again as well as ever. been long indulged. "Would not God show some And, is not this new impulse likely to come?token for good' at once, (it is said) if he intended Surely, my soul will not be required' of me, whilst to be gracious? But he sealeth up even the it is in this unprepared state, nor before God has stars!" Yes; but just that the desponding may healed my backsliding! If it should be re-look at the sun. It is not breaking a "bruised quired of me this night'-or this year- reed," to say so. She will never hope, who does what?" not see that the command to pray, is a sun "shining in its strength." How truly Paul says, “We are saved by hope!" · What would you say to a case like this? Sheshbazzar would have said at once, and that in his ALLEGORY. No. III. RACHEL'S CURE. WHEN they arrived at the tent in the wilderness, Esrom spread the skin of the young lion, which had perished in the swellings of Jordan, for a couch to Sheshbazzar. The patriarch said, as he sat down upon it, "An old lion would not have rushed over the precipice after his prey, when the Jordan had overflowed all its banks. He would have couched when he heard the roar of the waters; or hunted in another direction, until they had subsided. ESROM! you have often pursued your speculations into the swellings of a river, which, like the Jordan, discharges itself into the DEAD Sea. It is of the Lord's mercies, that you were not swept by the wild waves of conjecture, into the dark Asphaltic of idolatry. You may well say with David, of the God of your fathers, He sent from above, he took me he drew me out of many waters.' But for this, the proud waves' of Philistia, Egypt, or Babylon, had come into thy soul:' for all their billows went over thee, and even their water-spouts had thee often under their wings. You despised idols; but you worshipped the powers of nature, and all but consulted the powers of darkness. You would have divined with the cup of Pharaoh, or stipulated with the witch of Endor, for the secrets of the future; and for the secrets of the invisible, you would have questioned, alternately, the oracles of Babylon, the graves of the dead, or the stars of hea ven." proud to be a debtor to grace. He took for granted, that the little mercy he needed (for, how could it be much, after all his morals?) must, as a matter of course, be quite sure. For, what had he ever done, that his soul should be in any danger? He had, indeed, been rather free in his inquiries: but then, truth was his object! Thus Esrom reasoned; and thus he felt too. He had not borne "the yoke in his youth." Like Moab, he had "been at ease, from his youth;" and thus, his conscience had never been confronted with the terrors of the law or eternity. Nothing had ever disturbed his self-complacency, until Rachel's penitence, on hearing the parable of the grapes of Gomorrah, compelled him to pause and ask himself,-" If Rachel weep, can I be right, or altogether safe? Her spirit is both purer and humbler than my spirit: and yet she trembles before God! Is this wisdom or weakness, on her part? Weakness! Who ever saw Rachel weak? Her spirit has towered in strength and majesty, ever since its roots, like the cedars of Lebanon, dipped their feet in the oil' of the olive valley. Can I be safe if she was in danger until then?" This question went to his heart: and whilst it lodged there, Rachel was won, and Sheshbazzar conciliated, and Esrom himself somewhat humbled. Still, his "eye was not single." It caught occasional glimpses of the genius of Judaism, as the religion of a sinner, and as the shadow of good things to come; but it never looked steadfastly to the substance of the system, nor to the simplicity of his own motives. He became a great "doer of the law," just that he might be a less debtor to the covenant. He threw the whole weight of his influence into the synagogue; but chiefly, that he might conciliate the elders to Rachel. He beautified the building, and placed new copies of the law upon the desk; but not until he found out that Rachel was preparing splendid hangings, of her own needle-work, for the tabernacle. He often led the choir, when the great HOSANNA was sung, if Rachel was present: but when she was not there, his voice was sure to be out of tune, owing (as he said) to his being out too early amongst his reapers, or too late amongst his sheep-folds, in a day of rain. Thus his eye was not single, even when his hand was most active and liberal. Such had been the character of Esrom, until the master-spirit of Sheshbazzar, and the meek spirit of Rachel, threw their joint spell over his prying curiosity. Even then, he bowed his head only, to Judaism. His understanding yielded to the arguments of the patriarch, and his heart to the influence of the virgin of Beersheba: but upon his spirit, the truth, not the grace of Judaism, had all the power. It was the logic of the system, not the mercy of the dispensation, that affected him. Its external evidence was a hook in his jaws; but its internal glory, as the only hope of a sinner, had no charms for him. The rays of that glory fell upon the scales of his selfrighteousness, as the winds of heaven on the > scales of Leviathan, and the bones of Behemoth, Rachel was the first to discover his mixed mounfelt; "one was so near to another, that no air tives, and not slow to arraign them. With equal could come between them." Job xli. He had promptness and point, she asked him, when his bowed at the side of Sheshbazzar, amidst the mantle of "flax and wool," would be ready to thousands of Israel, when the high-priest went wear before the Lord in Zion? and, why he did within the veil with the interceding atonement; not offer "swine's blood," as well as the firstlings but, although the veil of the temple shook with of his flock, at the altar? Her parable, as she the intensity of their emotion, Esrom's heart nei- applied it, told upon his conscience, as "The ther beat with suspense before, nor burned with Grapes of Gomorrah” did upon her own. He was gratitude after, the answer of peace came from shocked by the discovery of his mixed motives; the mercy-seat. "The system must be true; and and, from that time, began to pray, "Unite my therefore it ought to be respected,"-was the heart to fear Thy name." The impiety of serving whole amount of his worship. "Its miracles the CREATOR for the sake of the creature, unveil counterbalance its mysteries," was his only rea-ed to him all the ungodliness of his spirit; and son for believing. The eyes of his understanding, made him smite upon his breast, in all the bitterlike the eyelids of the morning, opened without ness of self-condemnation. Sheshbazzar had fear; and his hopes, like the wings of the morn-marked this revolution, and resolved to train Esing, expanded without effort; whether he thought rom for the ELDERSHIP of Beersheba; and as his of life or death, time or eternity. He was too own successor in the guidance of the pilgrimages rich, to feel dependent on Providence; and too to Jerusalem. For this he had often "wrestled until the break of day," with the angel of the covenant. For this, he had long watched and prayed daily. It was to this he referred, when he said to Esrom, in the wilderness, "But for your sake Rachel would not have been restored." He repeated this in the tent; and added, "The Shepherd of Israel intends thee to feed his sheep and lambs, and therefore he will spare the help, 'meet for' thee. Thou art not fit to be trusted alone yet, with such a charge. Thou couldst not be calculated upon for prudence or fidelity, if thy betrothed were taken away at this time. It is not, therefore, for thy merit she is spared; but in pity to thy weakness, and in consideration of the work thou art called unto. Give thy heart to that work, from henceforth; and thus render unnecessary such visitations as I incurred. God had to write me 'childless,' and then widower' before I gave all my heart to his glory. He had to make my soul forget prosperity,' before I would identify my interests with his cause, or seek my happiness in 'the good of his heritage.'' Then, turning to Rachel, who sat leaning her head upon the ark of her covenants, the old man said, "Rachel, I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet; but I have studied the past, and thus can anticipate the future, in some of its certain wants. It will always want Sarahs for its Abrahams, Rachels for its Jacobs, and Deborahs for its Lapidoths. Whilst SAMUELS are wanted at the altar of the Lord, there must be Hannahs in Ramathaimzophim. Even whilst SAMSONS are needed in Israel, there must be Mothers in Israel, like the wife of Manoah: and all such wives and mothers must bear the yoke in their youth.' God has laid his heaviest yoke on thy young neck; and thou has not been, as a bullock unaccustomed' to it, impatient, or obstinate. Ye can both say, our hearts are not turned back, though Thou, O God, hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and 6 covered us with the shadow of death.' Ye have "Whilst he was yet speaking," Rachel was recovering. No. IV. VARIETIES, FROM INATTENTION. Too much importance cannot be attached to a both gone astray like lost sheep; but ye both returned to the shepherd of Israel, the moment he employed his guardian crook as a chastising rod; and now, it is over you as a pastoral crook again, and will soon guide you back in peace, to all the green pastures and still waters of Zion. This leprosy will give place to health in thy countenance; and this lowness of spirits, to the joy of salvation. But, my children! let the dawn of this hope, as it brightens unto perfect day, bring all your respon sibilities, as well as your prospects, distinctly before you. You are about to be blessed again, that, like Abraham and Sarah, ye may be a blessing,' in your house and neighborhood. Know therefore, and remember, that if ye dare to live unto that, in some things, the character and spirit of It is, however, a very solemn and startling fact, yourselves' again, a worse thing will befall you."" females, who act only from a strong sense of proThere was no occasion to prolong the conversa- priety, or upon a vague principle of duty, surpass tion. Rachel's leprosy was rapidly passing away. those of some women who profess "godliness," The composure and tenderness of Sheshbazzar, upon evangelical principles. "This is a sore evil had created a crisis in her spirits, which led on under the sun!" It proves that there is a way of her health, as if Lot's angel had taken her by the believing "in vain," or of "holding the truth" hand, and whispered a message of peace from the without the love of it: a state of mind and conthrone, in tones and terms of heavenly sympathy; science, of all others the most ruinous! For, if for Sheshbazzar closed the evening with prayer. the glorious gospel is believed, without being And, what a prayer! Never, since Jacob wrestled obeyed, one of two things is certain: either that with the angel on Peniel, had such petitions been the person is verging towards a reprobate mind, poured from the heart, or pressed into heaven.or that she was never renewed at all in the spirit |