representation of the importance of the Saviour, and the advantage his people derive from him. He is laid in Sion for a foundation"A chief corner-stone." Such a stone is designed to sustain, and on him depends the salvation of the whole Church. It also unites as well as supports. And in him are united deity and humanity, the Old and New Testament, Jew and Gentile; we are all one in Christ Jesus

"Elect"-Chosen for the place and the purpose. Nothing is casual in the common affairs of life, much less in the restoration of sinners. All here, especially as to the accomplisher, is transacted according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. God knew what the immensity of the undertaking required, and found it only in the Son of his love-"All things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ"

:

"Precious"-Deserving of the destination and the honour. Here is the difference between him and us. He chooses us, not because we are precious, but to make us precious; not because we are holy, but that we may be holy and if ever we enter heaven, it will be upon terms of mercy. But his appointment resulted from his fitness. He entered heaven upon terms of merit, pure and absolute merit : and therefore the angels proclaim with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." But if the word "precious" is significant of excellency, it also imports endearment. Hence it is said, "Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth." "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands." And as he is dear to God, so he is dear to all his people. "To them that believe he is precious." They have their imperfections and mourn over them. But if he asked them individually, "Lovest thou me?" They could all

answer

"Yes, thou art precious to my soul,
My transport and my trust;
Jewels, to thee, are gaudy toys,
And gold is sordid dust.

"All my capacious powers can boast,
In thee most richly meet;

Nor to mine eyes is light so dear,
Or friendship half so sweet."

Such is the foundation. Observe the builder: "He that believeth on him." We might have supposed that the metaphor would have been continued, and that Peter would have said, he that buildeth on him. But he conveys the same meaning without the figure. For as stones as long as they continue in the quarry or remain loose upon the ground, are not actually parts of the edifice, neither indeed can be till they are placed on the foundation; so faith, and faith alone, connects us with Christ, and enables us to derive benefit from him. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Observe the blessedness he claims: he that believeth on him "shall not be confounded." He shall not be like the foolish man, "who built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and

it fell." An emblem of those who hear the Saviour's sayings, and do them not; that is, of Antinomians: and an emblem of those who rely upon their own worthiness and works; that is, of selfrighteous Pharisees. How confounded will these be, when their hopes fail them, and they are rejected at the very door of heavenBut when they "begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us ;" he shall answer, "I say I know you not whence ye are." It is the emblem also of those who seek happiness in the world. They are sure of disappointment, if not in obtaining their desires which is frequently the case, yet in possessing them, and in the loss of them. Not so the believer. He is sure of gaining what he seeks after; the prize when enjoyed will exceed all his hope; and the good part which he has chosen shall never be taken away from him.

In the original passage from which the words before us are a quotation, Isaiah says, "He that believeth on him shall not make haste"-That is, he shall not be like a person overtaken and surprised by calamity, and in perplexed and tormenting eagerness to escape. Thus it was with the world of the ungodly at the deluge. They despised the warnings of Noah while he was preparing the means of safety; but when the torrents began to fall, and the waters to overflow, in what hurry and confusion did they run to knock at the ark! How did they rush to the hills and mountains for safety! How climb the trees, and cling to them in despair, till they could retain their weakened hold no longer, and dropped into the abyss! Into what haste and confusion are the men of the world thrown when those losses befall them which threaten their only portion. But the believer though he feels affliction does not faint under it, and his mind is kept in perfect peace, being stayed upon God. Into what haste and confusion are the wicked thrown when they apprehend a messenger of death has laid hold upon them-But Simeon says, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Into what confusion and horror will the tribes of the earth be thrown when the Judge of all shall appear in the clouds of heaven. But the Christian shall have "confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." Filled with selfcondemnation and self-reproach at the consequences of their vile and infatuated conduct, in having sacrificed their eternal all for what was worse than nothing, "many will rise to everlasting shame and contempt"-But "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation; they shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end." O visit me with" this "salvation!"

MARCH 17.-"Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Gen. v. 24.

-Took him from time to eternity, from earth to heaven, from the world of the ungodly to the innumerable company of angels, from a vale of tears to fulness of joy: took him immediately to himself without dissolution-"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

VOL. I.

14

But what was this privileged being who was saved from the way of all the earth and the house appointed for all living? who, excused suffering" the pains, the groans, the dying strife," was changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye? who, instead of being unclothed, was clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life? When an event so surprisingly and entirely singular takes place, it is natural and useful to inquire after the cause. And the Holy Ghost meets our wishes, and places before us the quality of a life that terminates so differently from that of all other men-Enoch WALKED WITH GOD.

And here we see that the best characters are the most easily recorded, and often furnish the fewest materials for history. There are not many particulars in the life of any individual very worthy of publicity and perpetuation; and generally if it be faithful, the larger the account of the actor, the greater the display of weakness, or sin, or suffering. Hence the folly of the voluminousness of modern biography. Hence the wisdom of the sacred writers in not dragging us after them through a thousand minute and uninteresting occurrences, but fixing the mind upon a few and important articles. The history of an Alexander, a Cæsar, a Napoleon, would fill many a page, and curse many a volume; while the simple, noble life of a man honoured above all humanity, is comprised in one sentence-Enoch WALKED WITH GOD.

And do we not here see wherein lies the true dignity of man, and what it is that supremely attracts the divine approbation? It is not worldly grandeur, riches, or power-Enoch was not famed for these. It is not even gifts-Enoch was indeed a prophet, and announced the Lord's coming to judgment. But his greatness in the sight of God arose not from his inspiration, but from his moral excellency, holiness, and grace. The low estimation in which God holds great talents and endowments may be inferred from his imparting them so sparingly. Were they so necessary as some imagine in the affairs of the world and the Church, he could easily furnish them— and he would do it; for in his economies-things are common in proportion as they are indispensable. It also appears from the character of those on whom they are frequently conferred. They are not dear to God, nor can he take pleasure in them though he employs them. What was Balaam with his sublime predictions? or Judas with his miracles and signs? "Though," says Paul, "I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." Here we are always erring-we covet earnestly those gifts which are confined to a few, and are seldom sanctified to the possessor, while we are careless of those graces which are accessible to all, and which always accompany salvation. That life which was so distinguished by the judge of all; that life which was only one remove from glory; that life which opened at once a passage for soul and body into the heaven of heavens, was not placed in circumstances above our reach, nor did it consist in any thine unattainable by the poorest and meanest among us-It was WALKING WITH GOD. Real greatness does not depend upon the

things we do, but upon the mind with which we do them; and the Lord looketh to the heart. The career therefore of true glory lies open to all; to the servant as well as to the master; to the subject as well as to the monarch. All cannot be learned; but all may be taught of the Lord. All cannot enjoy civil freedom; but all may possess the glorious liberty of the sons of God. And the poor of this world may be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

Yet the life of Enoch by no means passed in abstraction from society and business, or favoured that superstitious sanctity which refuses the allowed enjoyments of nature and providence. A proper use of our creature comforts is compatible, not only with the sincerest, but the strictest godliness; and falls in with the design of him who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Enoch, who sustains such an exalted character, was not an ascetic, or recluse-he married earlier than any of his patriarchal brethren, and had sons and daughters. It is not the religion of the Bible that drives men into caves and dens of the earth, or that teaches them to counteract the destinations of Providence, or to oppose the nature that God hath given them— It is the religion of anti-christ that represents as impure what God has declared to be pure; it is a seducing spirit that decries what God not only permits but enjoins as honourable in all; it is a doctrine of devils that forbids to marry, and commands to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thankfulness of them which believe and know the truth-Is a wretched dronish monk in his cell, with his horse-hair, skull, and hour-glass, a more amiable, a more useful, a more holy being than Enoch at the head of an early family, filling up his station, and serving his generation by the will of God?

If however some entertain ideas of his life too rigid, others may have views of it too lax, limited, and low. His religion was not confined to morality. Morality is not to be undervalued. There is no piety without morality, but there may be morality without piety. We commend a discharge of the duties we owe to our fellow-creatures: but this is only our walking with men. Our greatest relations connect us with another Being; with him we have principally to do-Godliness consists in our walking with God. Some are not vicious, but they never reverence the Sabbath, or attend public or private devotion. They owe no man any thing; but they rob God. They are good neighbours, but God is not in all their thoughts. They have no confidence in him, no communion with him. They are not renewed after his image. They are not followers of him as dear children, nor walk in love as Christ also loved us.

Such was the religion of Enoch. And blessed are they who, like him, walk with God. They must not indeed expect to be translated as he was. Yet as to its sting and its curse, Jesus has abolished death. He tells his followers, "If a man keep my sayings he shall never see death." With regard to him death is so changed in its nature, and so blessed in its effects, that it does not deserve the name -No, he shall not die, but only go home; only fall asleep in Jesus; only depart to be with Christ, which is far better. His body also will be changed and fashioned like the Saviour's own glorious body; and so will he be for ever with the Lord. The issue therefore is the same--And this is the grand thing. And if I am not to reach

the blessedness by a miraculous transformation, but by an accident, or a disease-it is enough. "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

MARCH 18.-"Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield.” Psalm xxxiii. 20.

THERE may be the form of godliness without the power. But the religion of the Bible has to do with the "soul." The true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth—And

"In vain to heaven we lift our cries,

And leave our souls behind."

In noticing the subject of the exercise here encouraged, it may be observed that it is said-not our souls-but "our soul"-as if they all had only one. And what is the language of God by the prophet: "I will give them one heart and one way." And thus the two disciples going to Emmaus exclaimed, upon their discovery and surprise, Did not our heart burn within us?" And thus in the beinning of the Gospel it was said: "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul." We have seen several drops of water on the table by being brought to touch running into one. If Christians were better acquainted with each other they would easily unite. What wonder that those should be one-minded who, under the same influence, are feeling the same wants, pursuing the same good, employing the same means, looking for the saine destination? And how suitable and wisely enforced is the admonition-"Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

But the exercise itself is "waiting for the Lord." An exercise frequently mentioned in the Scriptures, and well understood by all believers. Their character as the heirs of promise, is derived from it; "blessed are all they that wait for him." It includes conviction -a persuasion that the Lord is the supreme good, the fountain of life, our exceeding joy; all in all. It includes desire-it is expressed by hungering and thirsting after righteousness, by panting after God, by fainting for his salvation. It includes hope-the degrees of this may vary, but some measure of it is necessary to the commencement and continuance of the exercise; and the exercise will be always influenced and enlivened accordingly as our hope is possibility, or probability, or confidence. It also includes patience-God is never slack concerning his promise. He never tarries beyond his own time; but he is often beyond ours: and in a state of expectation hours seem days, and days seem weeks, especially if we are pressed with difficulties, and our eagerness for enjoyment is great-Then hope deferred maketh the heart sick. Here is the trial; and here is the need of patience. But patience will restrain us from the hasty use of improper means of relief; and preserve us from charging God foolishly, censoriously, or unfaithfully; and from sinking in the day of adversity; and from abandoning the throne of grace; and saying,