the heart went up in prayerful entreaty, "Lord, grant that life may thus close with me, with mine, with those by whom I am surrounded. When its rough voyage is drawing to a close; when we have done and suffered Thy will here below, then, Lord, then permit us thus sweetly, gently, peacefully to glide into home-quarters; "And sing with rapture and surprise, Thy lovingkindness in the skies." Thus, dear reader, ended one of the happiest days I ever remember to have spent in this vale of tears. SPIRITUAL SONGS. II. "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.". "-MATT. xi. 29. THE Connexion in which these words are placed is very beautiful and instructive. Our dear Lord had been uttering awful denunciations against certain cities (v. 20-24); He then breaks forth into a song of thanksgiving (v. 25), proclaiming and illustrating the divine sovereignty in a most striking and effective manner, silencing the daring objections and effrontery of Arminians and all classes of free-willers (v. 27). I. "Learn of me," &c.-We are here presented with the delightful privilege and duty of believers. They are to learn and to be taught of Jesus. "Learn of me." It is indeed a high and distinguished privilege to be a scholar in the school of Christ. And who are His scholars? Babes (v. 25); which teaches us they are the ignorant, the helpless, the unwise, foolish; and, when first brought into this school, they are so indeed. Kings, princes, nobles have been brought into this school, but generally they are the poor (see 1 Cor. i. 18-21; 26-29). This is indeed the best of schools, no seminary comparable to it; yes, and it is a free-grace school, not a man's free-will academy; here all are taught free. And who is it that brings them into this sacred bower of divine and heavenly learning? It is Jesus Christ Himself, or otherwise here they would never come; it is a humbling school and all are poor in spirit. In this school the scholars are classed babes, young men, and fathers. Jesus is the Teacher, then no wonder if the wayfaring men, though fools, do not err. He ever teaches to the purpose. And all are upon an equality in this school of grace, little children at the feet of Jesus (1 John ii. 1-18; 28). Oh, that we were all such at the feet of this great Master in Israel, Jehovah-Jesus, the great infallible Teacher and Prophet of the Church. "All thy people shall be taught of the Lord" is an old and true prophecy. What sweet lessons does He teach His babes concerning His love. What sublime instructions are taught to the young men of covenant, electing sovereign love. In what a blessed manner too are the fathers grounded, settled, and established in love, and in the love of the truth! Not tossed about with every wind of doctrine, every new light. In this school there is no time for sloth or indolence, and yet, alas! how slothful and indolent the best of us; and indeed there is in this sacred college all that is calculated to call forth our utmost diligence and energies, and the exercise of all our spiritual faculties, and after all we shall know but in part, yea, it will be but little when compared with the infinite dimensions of divine truth. II. Now remark in what a sweet and affectionate manner Jesus encourages His disciples to commit themselves implicitly and entirely to His tuition: "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart." 1. How He condescends to the lowest, meanest, and most ignorant of His disciples! and the Lord knows how ignorant we all are at the bestnaturally so, and inclined to be so. We may indeed all of us adopt the expressive language of the psalmist: "So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was a beast before Thee." But He not only can, but will instruct them. 2. He is meek—the meek One. How meekly, how gently He bears with all their infirmities. In this respect none like Him; He will turn none out of His school. None so dull, so stupid, and forgetful, but He will bear with them; yea, endure their sluggishness and backwardness, their frequent perverseness, obstinacy, and their oft-wilful mistakes: for He "knows their frame; He remembers they are but dust." He has many things to say unto them, but He knows they cannot bear them all at once. He teaches them scripturally (Luke xxiv. 13-35). He teaches them spiritually (1 Cor. ii. 10, 12, 13—15). He teaches them practically: and what subjects! At many of them the carnal mind revolts-hard sayings, which none but a real child of God, a genuine disciple of Christ, can bear-hear-receive! How mortifying to the proud reason and unsanctified intellect of man! And what an extensive field of knowledge is the once poor ignorant sinner brought into, who is thus taught by Christ Jesus our Lord! The glorious doctrines of the Trinity, the wonderful work of redemption, man's complete ruin and total depravity, the absolute necessity of the new birth, justification by faith without the deeds of the law, the omnipotent efficacy and final triumph of the work of grace, grace crowned with glory, salvation by grace from first to last, the alone work of the Triune Jehovah. III. The blessedness of being taught by Jesus, "And ye shall find rest for your soul." 1. All doubts and mere conjecture removed, He begins with the first principles, and gradually leads them onward to higher attainments in the divine science" line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little." Then His dear child goes on from one degree of knowledge to another, following on to "know the Lord," increasing in the knowledge of his Lord and Saviour, growing in grace until He sweetly and blessedly attains (1.) to a full assurance of understanding (2.) to a full assurance of faith (3.) and a full assurance of hope. He has the inward witness in himself of the truth he has learned, he knows in whom he has believed. Thus has he learned, in some small degree, what Paul learned (Phil. iii. 8—14). Admirable Paul, may thy example be ours! be mine! Lord, thus teach us all. 2. Rest and quiet from the accusations of conscience. The blood of Jesus only can effect this. 3. The fears of death, judgment and eternity, will cease to agitate the soul thus taught, by this meek, lowly, and divine Teacher. And, when He has taught you to suffer, and to do all His will here, He will take you hence, encircle you in His embraces, place you upon His bosom, there to rest for ever. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all. Amen." Wayside Notes. "PRECIOUS THINGS." DEUT. Xxxiii. 13. WITH What avidity do men often pursue (comparatively speaking) worthless things! For instance: a man is determined to acquire a large amount of human knowledge, and by dint of great perseverance he passes successfully some important examination. He has achieved his object, but, alas, long wearisome nights of study have told their tale: his constitution has become impaired, and his slim fingers and wan pale face show that consumption has marked its prey, and the student is cut off and carried to an early grave, having learnt that, after all, human wisdom is a worthless thing in comparison with that wisdom which maketh wise unto salvation. Or, take the case of one whose ambition is to obtain a great name and position in society. By influence and other means he attains his object, but to prove that he has been grasping at a shadow. One who has arrived at a high position in society told us that he was far happier when he was moving in the more lowly sphere-that he had lost many of his best friends, and those so-called friends by whom he was then surrounded were only so for expediency-sake. Or take the case of the man who is determined at any sacrifice to become rich. He rises early and sits up late, and eats the bread of carefulness to attain his object; he is successful, and he says to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease-eat, drink, and be merry;" but, alas for earthly plans, God says unto him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" So is he that layeth up treasures for himself and is not rich towards God. We are reminded of a very striking circumstance to the point. A large ship at sea had become very leaky; she had encountered very adverse weather and contrary winds; all hands had been kept at the pumps, but still the water gained upon them to such an extent that the captain determined to abandon her. This was no easy matter, for a fearful sea was rolling at the time; one boat was lowered, only to be dashed in pieces, another was more successful, when there appeared on deck a lady clutching in each hand a bag of money; she was making for the boat, when the sturdy seamen bid her cast away her money, for her life was the chief thing, but she held them still with a firm grip. They had scarcely called to her, when a huge wave separated the boat from the sinking vessel, at the same time washing overboard the lady and her bags of money, which were only as millstones around her neck helping to sink her in the deep abyss. Oh, what was the use of earthly riches in the face of death? Well, then, when we come to great things of eternity, what a worthless thing is human wisdom, or a great name, or accumulated riches. But we turn, beloved, from worthless things "to precious things," and want to bring before you, at this season, things that are truly valuable and worth possession. Now, Moses, who had been the appointed leader of the children of Israel through the wilderness, was not permitted by God to go with them through literal Jordan into the promised land, and the reason why the Lord would not grant him this privilege is told us in the following command: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab; and H H : behold the land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee, but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel." So that we see how sin and rebellion had robbed him of a literal privilege which must have been greatly desired by him; but God granted him the spiritual blessing of passing safely through the Jordan of death into the glorious land of promise, flowing with the milk and honey of eternal blessings. And now, in anticipation of that blissful joy, he gathers around him the tribes of the children of Israel, and, in the spirit of prophecy, gives each of them a parting blessing. "And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death." Read, beloved, at your leisure this precious thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy, wherein is recounted the parting words of the dying patriarch to the various tribes. We can only in the space allowed us dwell upon those that have reference to Joseph. "And of Joseph, he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. Now, from the fulness of this deep and mysterious cluster of blessings that should fall upon Joseph's prosterity we take these two words,— "Precious things." It is a short expression, but it is as a casket of jewels; may the Lord the Spirit unlock it, and enable us to bring out some excellent ornaments with which the bride, the Lamb's wife, may see herself adorned, and we take I. Precious things of earth. II. Precious things brought forth by the sun. III. Precious things put forth by the moon. V. Precious things of heaven. I. THE PRECIOUS THINGS OF EARTH. And we might mention 1. God's beautiful creation is replete with precious things. And we see His handiwork from the tiniest leaflet of the field to the sturdy oak of the forest; and our Lord when on earth encouraged us to take notice of the precious things of earth. He used them as emblems to inculcate great and important Consider," He said, "the lilies how they grow they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was truths. 66 not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morow is cast into the oven; how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith?" God, then, has outspread His beautiful carpet of nature for man to tread upon and to see His work in all around. Surely that religion must be apostate that would deprive human beings of this privilege, snatch them from the precious things of earth and shut them away in the cloistered monastery or gloomy convent. Surely such is not the teaching of Jesus, but the treachery of Antichrist. But we must not forget that while God has placed man upon this beautiful carpet of His handiwork, how sin has marred it. This fact was forced upon us the other day while standing upon a slight eminence overlooking a beautiful extent of country mapped out before us. There was the undulating pasture at our feet, and beyond hedgerow and field, and here and there studded the farmstead with its cluster of whitewashed buildings and hayricks, while in the background the hills melted in the distance and seemed mingled with the clouds. It was a fair scene. But presently the ear caught the sound of a human voice. We listened more attentively, and found it proceeded from the mouth of a ploughman, who was calling upon God, with bitter imprecations, to curse his horses because they did not move as he desired. Oh, we thought, here is a proof of the fall of man! God has outspread this earthly paradise, but man has sinned and marred its beauty! But further 2. Among the precious things of earth is earthly relationships. How endearing the tie between husband and wife-parent and child, and how telling and touching is the expression used often by the child, my mother! Now the religion of Jesus never lessens that tie, although it is ordained that death shall sever it as far as the flesh is concerned; but our blessed Lord encouraged earthly relationship. Was He not found at the marriage supper of Cana cheering the guests? Did He not love Martha and Mary and Lazarus? and was He not frequently giving injunctions concerning the relative duties of husband to wife, and wife to husband, of parents to children and children to parents, showing by His teaching how He valued earthly relationships? But now, see how different to such teaching is the Church of Rome: she would separate the endearing tie that binds child to parent, and tear from their embrace the object of their love; and only think, reader (if you are a husband and parent), of a priest sitting at your table and having more power and influence over your wife and children than you possess yourself, and cruelly and wilfully separating dearest bonds. Does not the Church of Rome in her every action prove herself to be the apostasy? Well, then, among the precious things of earth are earthly relationships, and the beauties of God's creation which is full thereof; but let us not rest here, many make nature their religion, and realize God only as the God of nature, but this will never bring to a saving knowledge of Christ. We must get beyond and above this-which leads us to think of II. THE PRECIOUS THINGS PUT FORTH BY THE SUN. We all know that that luminous body above us which we call the sun is the centre of the solar system, and from it the moon and other planets derive their light; so is it with regard to spiritual things. The centre of the solar system of divine truth is Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, and that we are not using unscriptural language, mark the words of Jehovah by the prophet Malachi: "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." н н 2 |