turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." So also, in another place, he prays for this declaration of pardon, that the anguish of his spirit might be turned away : "Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice;" adding immediately, "Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities." He had the spirit of bondage again to fear; and he sought the restoration of the Spirit of adoption, by the declarative testimony of pardoning mercy: "Make me to hear joy and gladness."

Taking the Psalms according to their evident character, as chiefly designed for the illustration of devotional feeling, in reference to the kingdom of Messiah under all its aspects, we find some strong and very lucid statements of what-using their own expressive language-God had done for the soul. Does the doctrine we believe to be taught by the passage before us harmonize with these descriptions, or contradict them? It is not enough to say, there is no contradiction. For their clear and complete explication it is necessary. It is a principle apparent in them all. Take the first three verses of the fortieth Psalm: "I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." Have we not here the spirit of bondage to fear, and the Spirit of adoption, crying, "Abba, Father,”—the one changed into the other by the consciousness of the interposition of the divine mercy? And yet more explicit is the hundred and sixteenth Psalm. Not only is the change marked from misery to happiness, but the operation of the knowledge of interposing mercy is pointed out, in language which impressively describes the sanctification which results from justification. Results from, we say; not merely succeeds: the connecting link being evidently the inward consciousness of God's goodness in these its personal applications. Let the language of the Psalmist, as exhibiting what may, in a sound sense, be termed the very philosophy of the work of salvation, be well considered and weighed: "I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplication;" "We love him, because he hath first loved us ;" ""Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, I will call upon him as long as I live ;" "Crying, Abba, Father." And here, again, is the spirit of bondage; soon, however, to be succeeded by the Spirit of adoption; the change being occasioned by the consciousness of the interposing mercy, the saving goodness and power, of God: "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord : O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me." And now mark the blessed effect. The soul, previously, and till arrested by those convictions of sin which, not obstinately cast away, had produced such a sense of bondage and fear, wandered abroad over the surface of creation, seeking rest, but finding none. Now, heard and delivered, God is felt to be the only rest and portion; and before him, henceforth, the whole life is to be governed and directed: "Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living."

It is not enough to say, that the doctrine of the text creates no discord among these and similar passages. Its removal would impair, if not utterly destroy, the harmonies which they present. Of those harmonies, as it appears to us, the doctrine is an essentially constituent part. How else is that beautiful prophecy of evangelical times to be explained?—" In that day thou shalt say," (even earlier, as we have seen, it had been said,—how much more clearly and fully after Jesus had been glorified, and the Holy Ghost given as the Comforter, to abide perpetually in the church !—) “O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song: he also is become my salvation." Here is exulting praise, suggested by the turning away of the divine anger, and the consequent reception of divine comfort: as in the conversation which occurred in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and in which our Lord so delightfully illustrated the method of salvation by free forgiveness, from that forgiveness it is that he represents the love of the pardoned sinner as proceeding: "She hath much forgiven, and therefore she loveth much." And in those promises which he had given just before he accepted the invitation to enter into the Pharisee's house, and take meat there, we find a remarkable variation in the forms of expression. It is, first, " Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden,”'—as did the woman who had been a sinner, who so soon after presented herself before him, and who most probably, by this very address, had been brought to repentance and forgiveness,-" and I will give you rest." Afterwards, he commands them to take his yoke on them, and to learn of him; and then his promise is, "Ye shall find rest to your souls." First, "I will refresh you ;" and, subsequently, "Ye shall find the refreshment" of my easy yoke and light burden. Thus does Bernard speak. He says, that this first witness of the Spirit is not always and for all things sufficient, but is as a beginning and foundation of faith. The beginning of Christian joy is that of certified pardon; but this is not all : as growth in grace advances, and devoted obedience continues, other blessings are bestowed, and additional sources of Christian happiness open in the soul. The promise is fulfilled : Thy peace shall be as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea."

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2. There is another class of texts that may be more briefly noticed. We refer to such as contain enforcement of manifesting to others the same forbearance and kindness which God has shown to us. Let that beautiful and most impressive exhortation in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians (connecting it with the parallel passage in the third of Colossians) be attentively considered, and the force of the argument will be seen to be given by the evidently-implied personal knowledge, on the part of the believer, of his personal interest in the pardoning mercy of God: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice and be ye kind one to another, and tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

He who owed his lord ten thousand talents, had he only hoped for patience from his lord's known clemency, would have been inexcusable, had he, while desiring mercy, refused, in his own case, to show mercy. His crime was aggravated, his guilt every way heightened, by the fact that he had been admitted to his Lord's presence, and there received the joyful assurance of mercy and pardon.

Indeed, as to duty generally, its enforcement implies this fact, as in 1 Peter ii. 1-3, where the Apostle had said, "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." It is implied that if they were indeed "born again, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible, seed," and so had "come to Christ, as unto a living stone," and were themselves, as lively stones, built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," that this was their actual experience; they had truly, and for themselves," tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

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3. So also is it with those texts which speak of the soul's enjoyment of happiness in God. Most beautiful, as well as most instructive, was the ancient tabernacle-symbol of believing access to God. The holiest of all was God's dwelling-place, into which the anointed Priest had access: the existing limitation, to be removed when the great atoning Sacrifice was offered, was designed, according to St. Paul, (Heb. ix. 7—9,) to teach another lesson. God dwelt as on the mercy-seat, sprinkled with the blood of atonement, as on his throne of grace; and he dwelt there, not enshrouded in darkness, though no created light shone there : he was himself its light. The symbol was that of the manifestation of favour through atonement; and the prayer, full of meaning as used by those who were spiritual, (for "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant,") was, "Thou that dwellest between the cherubins, shine forth." In accordance with this is the language of the Psalmist, (iv. 6, 7,) "There be many that say, Who will show us any good?" They thus eagerly inquire after happiness; but, though they may find a temporary and passing gratification, yet they are not made happy. Thus, therefore, prayed the Psalmist: "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us;" immediately adding, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased."

Many similar passages will occur to the reader, with all which the doctrine of the text perfectly harmonizes. Moses had prayed, "O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." And thus did the Psalmist express his joy, and his earnest desire: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? One thing have I" (no Levite, the figurative and spiritual character of the expression will therefore be evident) "desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord," (Moses had prayed, " And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,") "and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord." And so Isaiah, especially referring to the song of the Gospel day, the foundation of which is, "Thou wast angry with me, but thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me,"-" Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." And again: Surely, shall one say, in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." And the

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same connexion between pardon and joy, with reference to symbolic access to God, is elsewhere stated by the Psalmist, (lxv. 3, 4,) "Iniquities prevail against me; as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.” And it is immediately added: "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple."

And now to this, the language of saints under the Old-Testament and comparatively inferior dispensation,-though, substantially, its blessings were evidently the same as subsequently under the New,-let that which refers to the privileges of believers in Christ be added. As washed from their sins in the blood of Him that loved them, by the true anointing of "that Holy Spirit of promise," they are made "Kings and Priests unto God," a "royal priesthood;" as such, "through him they have access by one Spirit unto the Father," and may "come boldly to the throne of grace. Thus, therefore, is their high privilege described; and let the description be read in connexion with the language of David, as already quoted, in reference to approach to God, and the lifting up of the light of the countenance of Him who dwelt between the cherubim, and beholding the beauty of the Lord, singing praises unto him, and being satisfied with the goodness of his house: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," (the way into the holiest being made manifest, thrown open to all who will obey the great command, and, instead of resting in the porch of the temple, or lingering in its outward courts, press on till by faith they obtain justification, and access into the grace wherein it is their duty as well as privilege to stand,) "by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith."

We again say, that there is not only no disagreement between the doctrine taught, as we believe, by the text, and such passages as those of which we have now given some specimens; but careful analysis shows it to be one of their constituent parts, one of their essential elements.

4. There is another class of texts to which we will now refer. Some of those we have already quoted, might have been arranged among those which we shall now adduce; but these latter very impressively refer to what is indeed the great doctrine of Scripture,-that not only may we be made happy in God, but that in him alone can we be made happy. It is not enough to say that the happiness that he imparts is superior to every other kind: we must say that there is no true happiness, except that which is found in him. He, in his manifested favour, is, exclusively, the proper good of the soul. Centuries after David wrote, human philosophy began to shine on Greece, and soon shone with a splendour which no merely human philosophy has ever exceeded; and while the lovers of wisdom were by no means unmindful of physical science, yet it was to moral science that their attention was chiefly directed; and that they 'might have a sure and broad foundation for the structure they wished to erect, their first and most anxious inquiry had reference to the summum bonum, the "highest good." Numerous and varying were the opinions given forth. Often they were right in some of their general statements. They could ascertain what it ought to be, and what it could not be. But even as to general statements, they could not be right altogether, because they could not ascertain what it actually was. They agreed on merely abstract notions. Their calculations led to no result, because their algebraic nota

tion had no known quantities just there, where known and positive quantities were absolutely necessary. The Epicureans and Stoics differed widely in their doctrines; but each began with some general truth. For want of knowing truth particularly, at the very starting-point of their inquiries, they left off, practically, no wiser than they began.

Ages before they began to philosophize, the question had been decided; and of that decision the sacred books of the Jews contained the explicit, unmistakeable record. But they who went to Jerusalem were not willing to be humble learners. The first step necessary was faith in the revelation of the divine existence. But this they refused to take, and, therefore, "the world by wisdom knew not God;" and, not knowing God, they could not know the supreme good of man; for that supreme good is God himself.

And

One passage may be selected as a specimen of scriptural teaching on this all-important subject. We find it in Psalm lxiii. Though the language is metaphorical, the figure, while highly poetical, greatly adding to the beauty of the passage, is yet strictly analogical; so as at once to illustrate the sentiment intended to be conveyed, and to heighten the significance and force of the expression. Such is the physical nature of man, that he needs a constant supply, so as to meet the demands of the continually active movements that are going on in him, and to make up for the waste occasioned by the unceasing wear and tear. A liquid supply is especially necessary, and this must come from without. He is not, in this respect, self-sufficient. And the procurement of this supply is not left to his mere knowledge of its necessity. So is he constructed, that one of the laws of his nature occasions the sensations of hunger and thirst; a painful sense of want occasioning the active desire of supply. And as he needs the liquid, a proper one is provided in water; and in reference to this particular appetite and need, water is the provided and adapted good. nothing but this, or what shall amount to the same thing, will do. His wishes will not conquer nature. A diseased appetite may exist, fixing on an improper object; but this will not make that to be suitable which is itself unsuitable. The Mohammedan, travelling in the desert, believing that he must wash his hands before morning prayer, and not wishing to lessen his supply of water for drinking, makes use of sand for the requisite ablution. This may suit the object of a superstitious opinion; but filling his mouth with gravel will not quench his thirst. The drunkard may take large draughts of the liquor which intoxicates and inflames; but it will not answer the purposes of water. The mariner, all whose fresh water is spent, is surrounded by the wide ocean, but then the water is salt, and will only increase his thirst. The law of nature cannot be altered. He must have such water as he needs, or be miserable, and perish. And as water to our physical nature, so is God to our spiritual nature. Of our highest nature he is exclusively the proper good. That nature instinctively desires good, and the desire is then only satisfied when he imparts himself in manifested love. He who knows the truth, knows the proper object of these instinctive desires; he thirsts after God, and seeks him, that his soul may live. And as there are wild, trackless, and waterless deserts, where the traveller is exposed to extreme danger, and where, without the means of supply, his wretchedness is as great as his peril; so does the spirituallyenlightened man look on the world. With all its bewildering multitude and variety of creatures, it furnishes not that which he wants. Not a single creature can do more than supply a limited and temporary gratifica,