The blood of Christ the sin

faction, and refreshment, and rest. Christ takes away the curse of sin; bearer bears away the load or the burden of sin; and that Holy Spirit whom Christ gives to them that believe on him dwells in the heart, subdues the powers, breaks the sceptre, destroys the influence of sin, and sanctifies them who are weary of sin, just as he relieves them of their burden who are weary with sin. And thus justified by Christ our only Saviour, we are sanctified by him by his Holy Spirit, and made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

I ask, if these be the mercies, privileges, and blessings that flow from trust, faith, reliance, confidence in this blessed Saviour, is he not worthy of all the epithets that are here applied; a man that is "a hiding-place from the wind," so that its fierce force shall not annoy you; "a covert from the tempest," so that it shall not sweep you away till you perish. Also "as rivers of water in a dry place," refreshment, exhilarating, and renewing. Also as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Are you weary with persecution, reproach, trouble, affliction? "In the world," that is, in the desert, "ye shall have tribulation, but in me," the shadow of a great rock in the midst of it, "ye shall have peace." Are you in sorrow? is the delight of your eyes taken away? do you mourn over the loss of those that you loved? does the grass no sooner grow green upon the grave than it has to be opened in order that the grave may receive another? Are you in affliction, in distress, grief, sense of bereavement, desolation? There is one great Comforter, there is one Rock

whose shadow is shelter, there is one river whose streams make glad the city of our God. "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." If needs be you are in trouble, but you may in me be comforted. Let not your hearts be troubled; believe alone on me as a hiding-place from the wind, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Are you tempted and tried? "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Is Satan your accuser? Christ is your advocate. Satan as the roaring lion, going about seeking whom he may devour? Christ is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, stronger than he. Are you in the desert, under the scorching beams of the vertical sun, treading the burning sand of a desert plain, ready to faint, and weary and way-worn? Here is your resource; here is the place of shelter, of refreshment, and of peace.

Is

Let us bless God for such a Saviour; let us thank him that in this world there is one spot where all is sunshine, and gladness, and assurance, and peace for ever: and as sure as we go to him, as sure as we take the leaves of that tree, and eat of its pleasant fruit, and sit down under its shadow; as sure as we drink of this water freely, seek this covert from the tempest, that is, as sure as we look to Christ, and look through him to his word, and trust where he bids us, and hope where he warrants us, so sure we shall find a hiding-place from the storm, a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

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BEAUTIFUL PICTURES.

ISAIAH XXXIII.

Ir is somewhat difficult to comprehend the thread that runs through such a chapter as this; not because itself is indistinct, but because the divisions by which it ought to be marked and parcelled out are not rendered as those divisions actually exist in the original. It is more a sublime ode than a simple narrative; sometimes God speaks to Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, who was then invading Israel; sometimes God's own people lift up their voices, like the chorus in the ancient Greek drama, and speak to him; and sometimes God speaks of what shall befall the foes of his people; and finally, what shall be the glory and the grandeur of that rest that remaineth for them and for all the people of God.

In the opening part of the chapter God speaks from heaven to Sennacherib, probably the historical person, but also to every persecutor and assailant of his people from that day to this: "Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee;" that is to say, retribution always follows crime the heathen poet tells us that it may follow

with a limping foot, but overtake it will. He that sins against God sins against himself; the rebound of sin against God is injury, and calamity, and distress to one's own soul. And very often the law of God's dealings with nations, and with his church, and with the world, is to punish or to chastise them in the line of the sins which they have committed; he shows it to be not an obsolete maxim, but a great truth-"the sinner's sin will find him out;" and it will find him out by letting him see the bitter and acrid fruits that all sin bears, even in this world of imperfect retribution and judgment.

In the second verse God's people are represented in chorus saying, "O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee; be thou their arm," the arm of thy people Israel, "every morning, our salvation. also in the time of trouble." And then there is a description in the third and fourth verses of judgment and destruction upon the enemies of his people. "At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered." And their spoil shall be gathered up as fast as a whole crowd of caterpillers eat up the leaves, or a whole army of locusts destroy every green thing. The imagery is splendid and expressive, and is meant to convey an idea of the rapidity with which God's judgments will destroy them who, with open eyes and obstinate hearts, provoke those judgments by their consciously sinful conduct.

God's people are represented in the fifth and sixth verses again as stepping in and saying in chorus, "The Lord is exalted, for he dwelleth on high; he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness;"

and then, announcing a grand sentiment, as fresh in 1861 as it was then, and as applicable, "Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation." In proportion as Christianity saturates a people with its principles, in the same proportion does wisdom regulate its policy and knowledge guide all its movements. It is a remarkable fact, and it might be followed out with great success, that the most Christian nations have invariably risen highest in literature, in science, in all the outward and material elements of national greatness. I do not say that the grace of God in the heart is in any way connected with clear views of astronomy, or geology, or chemistry; but, some way, true religion seems to let a people loose from those trammels, and those restraints, and that bondage, in which superstitious nations are, and they rise to a degree of prosperity, social, material, and national, which no nation. attains where either superstition, or Paganism, or Mahometanism prevails. Take our own country: I do not believe that there is very great difference between Saxon flesh and blood and muscles, and Italian muscles and flesh and blood; yet what a contrast! what a contrast is England to Italy! Italy with a delicious clime, to which the invalid flies in order to breathe a balmier air, with a soil teeming with wealth, fit to bring forth the fruits of almost every belt of latitude or longitude, or climate; and yet what has it been for generations? The miserable pontiff at the head of the once mistress of the world terrified at the sound of a railway whistle, as if it were the upsetting of his throne; protesting to the last against the introduction of such heretical things