STANZAS.

Truth, mercy, grace, and love divine
In all their brightest rays,
Through the whole life of Jesus shine,
In one refulgent blaze:

From Bethlehem, where angelic bands
Sang anthems at his birth;
To Calvary, where unholy hands
Closed his career on earth.

"Father, forgive them!" was his prayer,
E'en with his dying breath;
These attributes shone brightly there,
In the dark hour of death.
"I go," unto his own he said,

When they were weeping by, "To the lone chambers of the dead, "To certain victory."

Expedient 'tis that I now go""Tis but a little space;

A mansion to prepare for you,
"And all my chosen race.

"Think not my kindness can remove,
"That it can never do :
"I love thee with unchanging love,
"And faithful am, and true.

"I'll come again, and thou with joy
"Shalt meet me in the air:

"Praises shall then be thine employ, "A happy spirit there.

"Freed from all sorrow, sin, and pain, "Your tears all wiped away;

"Faith chang'd to sight, pray'r turned to praise,

"And night to endless day."

While here, my soul, be this thy theme,
And ever, ever sing,

Of God-like love unspeakable,

To thee so vile a thing:

Love, that first took its rise in thy
Almighty Father's breast,
Which like Himself eternai is,

In which He 'll ever rest.

Love, that from realms of endless bliss
Did bring thy Jesus down

To earth, to suffer, bleed, and die
In agonies unknown.

Love, that could move the Holy Dove,
In hearts as black as hell,

To form a temple, where he may
Shew forth his praise and dwell.

But, fear thou not, the Lord thy God
Is faithful to his sov'reign word,
And wise and good is He.

His saints on earth are his delight,
He wills (and what he wills is right)
Their happiness in heav'n :

Who shall withstand the purposed grace,
Or rob them of the righteousness

Which by the Lord is giv'n.

Before all time his love begun,
When Christ his dear and only Son,
Their Head and Husband stood:
That union ratified and seal'd,
In after-time became reveal'd,

And seal'd afresh with blood.

Then shall not those who love his name,
Unite to spread the matchless fame

Of such a friend as this?
Who has engag'd and will not fail,
Who intercedes and must prevail,
To bring them all to bliss.

While blind professors lead the way,
In this our dark and cloudy day,

And make their fetters strong;
May all thy children, taught of thee,
Show all the world whose sons they be,
That they to Christ belong.

Smile on all efforts that are made,
And give thy ministers such aid,

As hell shall not withstand;
Give tongues to speak, and ears to hear,
And hearts to understand and fear,

Thou sov'reign great I AM.

Without thy blessing all must fall; 'Twas not Apollos nor a Paul,

Though blessed saints they be:
They only had what they receiv'd,
And every saint who has believ'd
Receives his faith from thee.

Blest Paraclete! thy grace bestow,
Thy sweet refreshings may they know
When they their voices raise :
And to the Father and the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
Shall be ascribed the praise.
Swaffham.

LEBANON LEAVES.

J. E. C.

"And every eye shall see him”—Rev. i. 7.

IMAGINATION shrinks,

It cannot grasp the vast tremendousness O that dread day, when on his great white throne

The Mighty God, the Saviour shall proclaim

The final destiny of listening worlds.
Not then, as once he came, will he appear:
No more a man of griefs, despised no more,
But robed in all the majesty of heav'n,
Attended by innumerous angel troops
Who watch his bidding, and elated fly
His least command to execute. Think, my
soul,

When he who once was raised 'mid heav'n and earth

A bleeding sacrifice for human guilt,
Again 'mid heav'n and earth is visible,
How will the scoffer, who contemptuous
asked

"Where is the promise of his coming?"

gaze!

How then will Arius and Socinus meet The eye of HIM, from whom they sought to steal

His rightful dignity! And the proud man
Who could not brook to take salvation's robe
Priceless, but spent his little thread of life
Seeking to weave a garb of righteousness,
Dying at last unclothed! And he who made
Boist'rous professions of grace, never felt,
That he might sin the more abundantly!
How will they strive to avoid His piercing
glance,

The scorn'd, abus'd, insulted Deity!
But "
every eye shall see Him," and his eye
Each individual of the assembled mass
Shall rest upon, as though that one alone
Were the sole object of his look!
And thou, my soul,

Thou too must realize this awful day,
Must stand at this tribunal. Go and muse
In thy mind's solitude, and ask thyself
Will the Judge be thy friend?

64

THE

PASTORAL CARE OF ISRAEL'S

SHEPHERD.

Being some Observations on Psalm xxiii.

THIS Psalm may justly be called a breast of consolations and gospel privileges, at which all the sheep of Israel's Shepherd may suck and be satisfied. It is a compend of gospel privileges, wherein both the Old and New Testament saints are enriched. Here is a glorious bundle of rich privileges winded up in a few lines, by infinite wisdom that knew well how to do it.

The Psalm very obviously divides itself into three parts. 1. An enumeration of blessings respecting time. 2. Blessings respecting death. And 3. Blessings respecting eternity. These are very large and comprehensive blessings, and yet they are contained in this noble Psalm.

1. We have blessings respecting time in the first three verses-the leading privilege upon which all the rest depend being, "The Lord is my shepherd." Faith takes its flight to the highest branch, and says, “Jehovah is my shepherd;" now if we are able to say this, we shall say all that follows with great joy. It is an amazing condescension in the Lord to take upon himself the relation of a shepherd to his people; it is a very October, 1838]

humble character. If any earthly potentate were called a shepherd he would take it very ill, he would think you degraded his majesty: but the God of glory, the King of all earthly kings, does not think it unbecoming his majesty to be a shepherd. And to whom is he a shepherd? To the poor mad and distracted sheep of Adam's race, that were stricken with such a spiritual phrenzy, that they ran away out of God's fold into the fold of Satan, to be ruined and pillaged by him, Alas! the sheep of Adam's family were all scattered, and there was none to help them. The whole flock were dead in trespasses and sins, and none but a soul-quickening Shepherd could seek and head them: and this the Lord Jesus Christ did. The Lord is my shepherd:" this my is a my of faith: it is not enough to say, the Lord is a shepherd; the greatest infidel may say that, yea Satan may say it, but he cannot say The Lord is my shepherd," this is the appropriating act of faith.

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Christ is revealed in the promise of the word as a Shepherd, and the soul that is enabled thus to embrace him, does it by reason of the light of the Spirit shining within him.

A privilege consequent on faith in this endearing relation, is "I shall

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not want." There is more understood here than expressed: I shall not only not want, but I shall have all things for time and eternity, for soul and body, so far as shall be for God's glory and my good; every thing that is profitable for me I shall surely have. But, you may say, does not the believer want a great many things? Does he not often want peace and ease? Does he not frequently want comfort, support, joy and strength? Be it so, but the Shepherd knows actually what the sheep want better than they do themselves; and if he sees it will promote his glory and their good, he will bestow what is needful upon them. Though the saints have little in hand yet they have much in hope. Though thou, O believer, mayest possess but little of this world's goods, and be exposed to hardships and difficulties not a few; yea, though thou shouldst be persecuted and harrassed, and like the cloud of witnesses in Heb. xi. be forced to wander about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, through the rage and fury of persecuting tigers; yea, be afflicted, destitute, tormented, and counted as the offscouring of all things yet thou shalt not want. What thou wantest in external enjoyments, shall be made up in inward peace and comfort and the full inheritance of the purchased possession awaits thee. Yet a little while and thou shalt be carried to the land where the inhabitants want nothing, but are filled with affluence and abundance of all things they can seek or desire.

:

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters." The Holy Ghost speaks to us in our own language, he speaks metaphorically, illustrating heavenly things by earthly similitudes and resemblances. There are many sorts of pastures the sheep of Christ feed in. There are outer pastures and inner pastures where they are fed: the outer pastures are the ordinances

of the gospel: such as the preaching of the word, the supper of the Lord, prayer, and spiritual conference; there are also the inner pastures of conviction, conversion, sanctification, comforts, &c.: in all these does the Shepherd of Israel cause his sheep to lie down, They are pastures that are green, and will be eternally so: since the first opening of the pastures in the earliest gospel promise-"The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," they are still green and fat pastures. Though many thousands of believers have fed on them near these six thousand years, yet they have not impaired them in the least. They are as green as ever, notwithstanding all the persecutions, afflictions, and winnowing winds of error that have blown upon them, and they will always be so, Oh, sirs, were you ever taken out of the flock of Satan to the pasture of conviction, that was like to scorch you to death? And were you ever led to the inner pastures of divine, refreshing manifestations of Emmanuel's glory and beauty? If this has been your entertainment, then you may infer that you belong to Christ's sheep; and if you are of the flock of Christ, you will be longing to be transported to the place of glory, where you may see your Shepherd face to face, and be filled with all the fulness of God, Oh, sirs, these pastures are green: the rain of heaven's influences makes them green; the shinings of the Sun of Righteousness make them green; the Holy Ghost when he waters the word read or preached to the believer, just makes it a green pasture to him.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:" but why might not the Psalmist have said, He maketh me to stand or walk in green pastures? it is well worded by the Holy Ghost, for to lie in them imports the highest pleasure and satisfaction in them. The believer is as well satisfied with the pastures of grace, as a hungry man is with a plentiful meal. When

Christ opens the pastures of his grace to the believer, that are just like a spring shut up or a fountain sealed to the devil's goats, he finds inexpressible sweetness and satisfaction in them. He is just like a man lying at his ease, discomposed by no disturbance or uneasiness, eating a plentiful meal, and well satisfied with it. When the believer, under the lively actings of faith, is admitted into the inner pastures of grace, he finds inconceivable delight and pleasurable satisfaction in his food.

But the Shepherd not only gives his sheep food, but drink too: "He leadeth me beside the still waters." You may ask what is meant by these still waters: we are to understand by them the Holy Spirit in all his gifts and graces, and all his quickening, strengthening, nourishing, and comforting influences. But why are the influences of the Spirit compared to water and to still waters. The influences of the Spirit are compared to water, because they are common to all the Lord's family. Water, you know, is a very common thing; rich and poor are equally free to take it. Just so the influences of the Holy Spirit are a common blessing to the children of God; high or low, prince or peasant partake of them. It is true they were for a long time confined to the Jewish nation, and none but those of the commonwealth of Israel had property in them; but since the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles was broken down, both Jew and Gentile share in the rich benefit, and partake of the same invaluable blessing.

2. The influences of the Holy Spirit are compared to water, because of their cooling nature. The influences of the Holy Spirit are delightfully cooling to the soul which has been long scorched and burnt by the terrible flashes of fire issuing forth from mount Sinai, or with the fiery arrows of divine wrath and terror. Oh, believer, if you have experienced

the fire of law convictions, and have been scorched with the flames of divine indignation, the first thing that thou wilt be crying out is, O thirst! thirst! O for a drink of the water of life, to quench this fire. Nothing will quench this thirst but those cool and still waters, whereunto the flock of Christ are led by their mighty Shepherd. Again, the sheep of Christ get many a sting from Satan, who goes about roaring and ravenous in this dark wilderness, and no where can they obtain relief but at these still waters; the fiery bite of this old serpent can never be assuaged, if these invigorating streams which flow through the sanctuary and city of God, were not applied unto them.

3. They are compared to water, likewise, because of their refreshing quality. Give a man that is weary a draught of water, and how it will refresh and strengthen him: but this is a faint comparison to the wonderful virtues which are in the water of life. The fainting believer that has been long conflicting with the body of sin and death, the temptations of Satan, and various personal and family trials, when he is enabled to betake himself to the quiet and still waters which flow in God's spiritual sanctuary, he there gets all the hell-floods that are poured on his conscience quenched: there is no temptation proof against the medicinal quality of these waters. When the believer gets a draught of this water, then he is recreated and refreshed; yea, infinitely more so than the worldling, even when his corn, and wine, and oil, and other perishing things do most abound. All the wine that was ever squeezed out of the grape will not be a cordial to a sin-sick soul; nothing can revive in such a case, but a draught of these still waters of the Spirit.

4. As water hath a mollifying and softening virtue, and moistens the hard and parched ground, so the influences of the Holy Spirit soften and subdue the hard, rocky hearts of