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and that you were peace within. Furthermore, the silly dove is the pet of the household still. What amazing grace is displayed in the fact that the favourites of heaven are poor undone sinners! He " came not to call the righteous, but sinners;" and Ephraim, with all his faults, is loved still. Oh, what a stronghold for us is this unchangeable love of Christ! We are fickle, faint-hearted, and faithless, but His love is a power which rides over all our frailties and proves him to be "mighty to save." We know that some are aiming at human perfection; let our confidence be upon almighty power, and our rest in divine love. Oh! beloved, these are facts that just suit such poor needy ones as you and I, who cannot for a single hour of one's life depend upon oneself. And then the silly dove, after all, cannot live without her mate. If taken away from her side or removed by death, she soon pines and dies. Is it not so with Christ and His bride? She cannot live without Jesus, and Jesus will not live without her. As we heard dear Mr. Gowring say the other evening, "there is no Christ without the Church, there is no Church without Christ." And this endearment always appears to the writer to be the most precious test of relationship and of the new birth. Ah! that relationship which nothing can sever, and that life which will live out all changes and partings. It is everlasting; and therefore will find its proper development in eternity. True, here on earth a veil hides, clouds obscure, distance separates, and circumstances hinder; yet what is realized shows its divine origin, and would not be given up by the Christian for ten thousand worlds. And again, silly as the dove is, she loves the shelter of the rock :-" "O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth” (Jer. xlviii. 28). Reader, do we not know what it is in divine experience to shelter oneself in Christ, to feel that, with all our cares, sorrows, and afflictions, we have yet the sweet consolation of knowing that we are "found in Him?” Ah! precious standing and secret hope of the soul; come what will through life's changes-come afflictions and trials, the inevitable lot of man-all is safe if found in Him! This, too, will do to meet that last enemy, death. Nay we have nothing to fear from any enemy either in life or death. Oh, to realize the fulness of this expression, "found in Him!"

"saved with an everlasting salvation," and it was

But further we remark, the dove has a cry of its own. True it is mournful, peculiar to its tribe; and is it not so with the children of God? "Who shall Ĩay anything to the charge of God's elect," "who cry day and night unto me?" Oh, that precious, heartfelt cry! it reaches the throne and calls down blessings from above. But how often, like the dove, is it uttered in mournful tones! There is so much in surrounding circumstances which causes it to be so. Ah! "the heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy."

But a few words, beloved, upon the last expression in our passage"Ephraim is like a silly dove WITHOUT HEART." How truly descriptive of the frequent feelings of the child of God! The pluck of the worldling is all taken out of him; and, in connection with earthly things, he feels the truth of our Lord's assertion: "The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." But it is more especially in facing fresh difficulties by the way that he lacks courage, and begins to fear he shall make shipwreck of faith and fall by the way. Ah!

when this is the case, there is not a "looking unto Jesus;" that is to say, a looking off everything else. If we attempt to ascend a ladder placed against some lofty erection, the advice given us by the experienced is, Look up. If you look down, you will become giddy and liable to fall to the ground. Keep the eyes upwards, and the hands grasping well the rounds of the ladder-a lesson for us in spiritual things. We shall lose heart if we keep looking down upon earthly care; we shall, by the Lord's grace, retain our courage if we firmly grasp His almighty arm and look up in confidence to Him who has arranged and ordered every step of our ladder of life. Would that in the future we could do so! But how oft is

it otherwise?

"How far from Thee our daily life,

Ever disturbed by anxious strife,
By sudden wild alarms;

Oh, could we but relinquish all
Our earthly props, and simply fall
On Thine Almighty arms!"

May the Lord the Spirit give us "heart" so to do.

Beloved, thus have we reviewed in some little measure, as space would allow, the comparison of the children of God to the "silly dove." Looking back into the pages of the Church's history, we find Jacob, Israel, David, Solomon, Peter, and others of the family, like ourselves, falling under the comparison; but, though this is the case, we have seen there are yet precious things mentioned concerning Ephraim: namely, that the Lord's faithfulness changes not if theirs does; that, according to the meaning of the word Ephraim, "He shall grow," let the discipline be what it may; that it was this tribe that on Gerizim exclaimed, "Amen to blessings;" that, although they could not drive the Canaanites out of the land, they made them their servants; that a large number of them were at the coronation of David; and that Ephraim was the leading tribe of the kingdom of Israel; facts which we have tried to show have a highly spiritual meaning in reference to the Lord's Ephraims. Then, that though for their unwariness, &c., they are compared to a "silly dove," they are yet preserved by the unseen hand of a Covenant God. Again, that the dove, though silly, is yet an emblem of the Church of Christ, and that it was the dove that bore the olive-branch into the ark. Furthermore, that the "silly dove" is the pet of the household, and that she cannot live without her mate; and that, lastly, she loves the shelter of the rock, and, though her cry is mournful, it is well understood at the throne of grace. And then we have briefly dwelt upon the fact of how often the children of God are without heart: "Ephraim is also like a silly dove without heart." May the Lord the Spirit bless the meditation to the comfort and encouragement of our souls. Sings dear John Newton to the point

"Is Ephraim banished from my thoughts,

Or vile in my esteem ?

'No,' saith the Lord,' with all his faults,

I still remember him.'

"Is he a dear and pleasant child?

Yes, dear and pleasant still;

Though sin his foolish heart beguiled,
And he withstood my will.

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Oh, dear Lord, do "strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees," and "say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong;" and, though Ephraim be like "a silly dove without heart," have mercy, save, and succour still for Thy name's sake.

Wanstead.

Amen.

G. C.

66

FEAR AND FAITH.

'What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee."-PSA. lvi. 3.

WHEN all within is grief and fear,
When every earthly ill is near,
When down my cheek steals many
a tear,

By faith I'll cling to Thee.

To Thee I'll fly in sorrow's hour,
When crushed is every earthly flower;
For Thou wilt give my soul the
power

By faith to cling to Thee.

When anguish is too deep for speech,
My faintest sigh Thine ear can reach;
For Thou my inmost soul can teach
To lean, by faith, on Thee.

When anxious thoughts disturb my

rest,

When, e'en in prayer, I am distressed,
Oh! Thou canst calm the throbbing

breast,

By giving faith in Thee.

Oh! yes, to Thee, belongs all power,
And Thou canst brighten sorrow's
hour,

And bring forth many a lovely flower,
By giving faith in Thee.

Oh! give me, then, by power divine,
A heart that is entirely Thine;
In Thine own image may I shine,
By faith which lives in Thee.

AN EXAMPLE OF GREAT LOVE.

A NOBLE-MINDED negro had been a faithful servant to his master from a little boy. His master was a captain of a large ship; and, having one day left his own ship to breakfast and dine in another at a distance, soon after a storm arose. The captain made every effort to return to his own ship, but found it to be impossible. What was his agony in seeing it tossed with the waves, and battered to pieces, while he was unable to save it! That ship contained not only his property, but his children-two little boys of four and five years old-whom he had left under the care of this black servant. A boat was got alongside the sinking ship, and the people were jumping and tumbling into it as fast as they could. The black servant among the rest was ready to get in. On his back was slung a great bag, containing the two children, with a pot of sweetmeats to comfort their little hearts. He was just going to step into the boat, when the chief man in the boat called out, "There is no room for you and that bag. You can come in without it; but, if you bring it in, you will sink the boat!" The poor faithful and loving negro did not leave the bag, and save himself, but, without a moment's hesitation, he threw the bag into the boat, saying, "Bery bell; den gib me love to massa, and tell him I beg his pardon for all my faults." He was soon seen to go down with the wreck!

This poor negro's love led him to die for his master's children; to save their lives he sacrificed his own.

Pilgrim Papers.

THE GOSPEL OF GRACE.

THE Gospel is to be preached, and that not partially and by piecemeal, but the whole of it. The commission runs, Go, preach the Gospel, the Gospel itself, even all the Gospel, without exception or limitation; for, so far as the Gospel is maimed, or any branch of the evangelical system is suppressed and passed over in silence, so far the Gospel is not preached. Besides, there is scarce any other distinguishing doctrine of the Gospel that can be preached in its purity without this of Predestination. Election is the golden thread that runs through the whole Christian system. It is the leaven that pervades the whole lump. It is the bond which unites and keeps together the whole Christian system, which, without this, is like a foundation of sand, ready to fall to pieces; it is the cement which holds the whole fabric together; nay, it is the very soul that animates the entire frame. It is so blended and interwoven with the entire scheme of Gospel doctrine that, when the former is excluded, the latter bleeds to death. An ambassador is to deliver the whole message he is charged with. He is to omit no part of it, but must, on his peril, declare the mind of his sovereign fully and without reserve. He is to say neither more nor less than his instructions, else he comes under displeasure.

Nor, and is the Gospel to be preached only to some, but preached to every creature;" that is, promiscuously and at large, to every state and condition of life, high or low, rich or poor, old or young, learned or illiterate; no matter who they come across, let them preach the Gospel. "Preach it," says Christ, to " every creature," no matter who or what they may be,-publish it abroad, be its criers and heralds, proclaim it aloud, tell it out; keep back no part of it, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet. Now, a very considerable part of this Gospel is the doctrine of God's eternal, free, absolute and irreversible election of some persons in Christ to everlasting life. The saints were singled out, in God's eternal purpose and grace, to be endued with faith, and thereby fitted for their destined salvation. By their interest in the gratuitous, unalienable love of the blessed Trinity they come to be subjectively saints and believers; so that their whole salvation, from the first plan of it in the divine mind to the consummation of it in glory, is at once a matter of mere grace and of absolute certainty. While they who die without faith and holiness prove thereby that they are not included in this elect number, and were not "written in the Lamb's book of life." The justice of God's procedure herein is unquestionable; out of a corrupt mass, wherein not one was better than another, He had a right, as God, to choose whom He pleased, and as many as He liked. The elect, therefore, have the utmost reason to love and glorify God for what He has done for them, which is the strongest motive to obedience. And why should not this doctrine be insisted upon and preached in public? A doctrine which is of express revelation; a doctrine that makes wholly for the glory of God; which conduces in a most peculiar manner to the conversion, comfort, and sanctification of the elect, and leaves the godless without excuse.-Toplady's Works.

A WORD ABOUT WILLING ONES.

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In the first chapter of Solomon's Song, fourth verse, are three “ used by the Church in respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. 1st, "We will run after Thee; 2nd, "We will be glad and rejoice in Thee;" 3rd, "We will remember Thy love." Running, rejoicing, and remembering. From whence does the power and will to run proceed? "It is God who worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure." It is "His good pleasure "His people should come to Jesus. He draws them unto Him: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." It is not natural to have a will to run to Jesus, but from Him: "All we like sheep have gone astray." The Lord says by the prophet Hosea, "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love." These cords and bands bind very fast, so that those must come who are drawn with them. No drawing, no coming. No real coming on the part of the dead sinner without drawing on the part of the living God. Christ says, "No man can come to me except the Father who hath sent me draw him" (John vi. 44). Jesus drove some out of His house, the temple on earth. The Father draws all who enter the temple above, the "house not made with hands." The Father loves whom He draws, and such love Him. Says Jesus, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John xii. 32). Running is an act that requires strength to perform. Divine strength is needed to run after Jesus. It is an act which only a living person can do. The running one is a living one. No living, no running. It is by virtue of having life in, by, and through Jesus that a poor sinner runs to Him or after Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is full of attraction to the renewed will—the will of the new man of grace. Our natural will is attracted by natural things-that which is earthly. So "that which is born of the Spirit"-that which is Christ-like, spiritual, and heavenly-attracts the new-born soul. All these blessed things are "foolishness" to "the natural man." Oh, how many books there are printed, how many sermons preached, and how vast the number and variety of publications issued by the press tend this way-to please and flatter "the natural man!" If all such publications were going to be burnt, what a large fire they would make! Really, I for one would rather help to burn them than encourage any one to learn them. When the saving power of the glorious Gospel of Christ was applied with divine energy to the hearts of some we read of in the Acts of the Apostles (xix. 19), they became book-burners; before this they were booklearners. Book-burning may be looked for upon a great scale if the blessed Spirit be richly poured out from on high, and thus give effect to the preached Word. When a person runs he needs good lungs, ability to breathe, and plenty of fresh air. He also needs firm ground to run on or in. It is trying work for some poor weak and feeble people to run; some, "through manifold infirmities," could not do so. This running, therefore, after Jesus shows that the runners have in them spiritual lungs, inflated with the breath of eternal life, and that they are running "the race set before them, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of their faith." It shows, also, that such are being helped by the Holy Ghost, for He helps His people's infirmities. Running circulates the blood, warms the body, exercises the members thereof, and greatly fits one to enjoy rest. So the running one to Jesus has his heart warmed, his spiritual faculties

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