It is hard to kick against the pricks, Acts 9. 5; the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church. The morning star is created; Christ made the heavens, Ps. 102. 25; is of a fiery red colour. Christ is meek, a mild light; the morning star and sun are different; Christ is both. The morning star gives light only by night, Christ is an everlasting light, Is. 60. 20; the morning star enlightens only this world; Christ both worlds. The morning star shall be dissolved; Christ never, Heb. 13. 8. The Storm of God's Wrath.-Is. 25. 4. The wrath of God wreaks itself by various agencies, Deut. 28. 22; heaven is represented as our Father's house, a marriage feast, the household of God, while earth is stormy, but Christ is a hiding-place from the wind. Earthquakes have destroyed cities, as Lisbon; so the blast of the Prince of the Power of the Air blew down Eden, hence David wished for the wings of a dove, when assailed by storm of calumny, Ps. 55. 6; so many make shipwreck of faith. God's wrath compared to a winepress, Rev. 14. 19; to wiping out as a dish as God did Jerusalem, 2 Kings 21. 13. God's storm is of God's sending, as in Jonah's case, Jonah I. 4; hail showers destroyed the Amorites, wind buried the Egyptians like lead in the sea, Ex. 15. 10; brimstone was rained on Sodom, Gen. 19. 24; so Tophet was ordained of old, Is. 30. 33. The sinner first raised it, Is. 17. 15. Storms are of fearful violence, Ps. 107. 27; in a storm ships mount up to heaven and stagger like a drunken man, so the great day of wrath is come, and who will be able to stand? Rev. 6, 17, Aerial storms are fierce, but short. Who are Strangers on Earth? The righteous like strangers on earth in five points :— A traveller sat by a well in a wilderness; he had been expelled from his country because he took the part of slaves against their royal oppressors. He quenched his thirst, and showed his politeness to several maidens, and procuring drink for their flocks; invited to their house, he spent forty years there in seclusion as a shepherd. A son was born to him, named Gershom or the stranger; the father's name was Moses. David, though a king, acknowledged he was a stranger on earth, I Chron. 29. 15; saints are citizens of the New Jerusalem, Heb. 12. 22, being born from above, they have a new fatherland; they therefore rejoice as though they rejoiced not, I Cor. 7. 30; they abstain from fleshly lusts, I Pet. 2. II; take joyfully the spoiling of their goods, 2 Cor. 4. 8, 9; fall not out with their companions on the way, Gen. 45. 24. Abraham left his country because it was idolatrous, Josh. 21. 2, 3. The patriarchs lived in tents to show they were strangers. The righteous are strangers on earth as to-(1) place, heaven is their home, as they are born anew; the earth to them is like a wilderness with its brackish water, burning sands, fierce storms, such as are in Central Asia; (2) the people, worldly people have the devil as their father, believers in God bear the image of the heavenly; (3) employment, while one does the works of the flesh, the other does those of the Spirit; minding the one thing needful; their God is not their belly; (4) manners, believers are clothed with humility, roll not sin as a sweet morsel under their tongue; they have put off the old man; (5) language, believers talk of subjects which are sealed to the world, &c., they have little intercourse with worldly people. Believers as pilgrims or travellers, finding no rest for their soul on earth, carefully consider the cost, the difficulty, the danger, of their journey to Heaven; wisely they put on the light, the new, the defensive, and never worn out garments of salvation, and take to them the whole armour of God, for their safety against foes. Wisely they receive Jesus and his fulness as their gold, their treasure, to bear their expenses on the way. They receive his father for their companion; his Spirit to be their guide; his word to be their director and compass; his love, his power, and promises for their supporting staff. Carefully they ask for the good well-beaten old way of holiness, and continue walking therein; sweetly they drink out of its wells of salvation, and refresh themselves, but do not tarry in the inns of ordinances built close at hand! Now their duty is pleasant and easy; anon it is rugged and difficult. Now, they enjoy the fine weather of peace and prosperity; clear views of Jesus and his countenance, wide prospects of his loveliness and love; clear discoveries of the vanity of this world, of the happiness of their present, and of the glory of their future state; anon they are distressed with cold winters of trouble, storms of temptation, dark nights of sin and disorder, that they know not what to do, or whither to go. How oft fearfully pinched for provision! How oft the wells of promises seem dry, and inns of ordinances are found empty! How oft exposed to the gazing, ridicule, and malice of carnal men! How oft by Satan and their lusts harassed and robbed of their grace, or its evidence! How oft tempted like Lot's wife to turn back! But, through every tribulation they push forward to the city, the celestial kingdom of God, and with so much more cheerfulness, if they enjoy the company of eminent saints; they go from strength to strength till they appear before God in Zion. They are called strangers and sojourners with God on earth. How strange to carnal men is their state of union and communion with Christ! How strange their birth from S Christ their above! Their having God their father! husband! Glorified saints their principal people! In what strange, what celestial country, are their portion, their inheritance, their hopes, their affections, their thoughts, their desires! With what strange robe of divine righteousness, implanted grace, and Gospel holiness are they decked! What strange armour of God they have put on How strangely they speak the spiritual language of prayer and praise! Pour out their hearts, behave as becomes the high calling of God! Walk with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost whom the world see and know not! Feed on the strange provision of Jesus' person, righteousness, and benefits! How employed in the unknown labour of numbering their days; of considering their latter end; of ploughing up the fallow ground of their heart; of sowing to themselves in righteousness; of buying without money and without price; of denying and loathing themselves; of warring with principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness; of renouncing the profit, pleasure, and honour of this world; of extracting good from evil and sweet out of bitter; of loving their enemies, and rendering them blessing for cursing. The Sun of Righteousness with Healing on his Wings. MAL. 4. 2. In the Vedas the sun is called "ray-diffuser, deepquivering, life-bestowing, golden-handed, the eye of the universe, the soul of all that moves." In Judea every morning about sunrise a fresh breeze blows from the sea across the land; from its utility in purifying the infected air, it is called the doctor; this salubrious breeze, which attends the rising of the sun, may be considered the wings of the sun. So Christ is the one mediator, the sun of our system; he is the eye of the world, gives light to all, drives away gloom; like the sun he operates differently, hardens clay, and softens wax, eclipses the light of the stars by his own. Flowers, as the tulip and marigold, open to the solar, so do believers' hearts to Christ's, beams. Sick or delicate people generally feel worse during night, when the sun ceases to shine; the morning dawn often revives them after a bad night. All the candles in the world put together could not give a light equal to that of day; which can come only from the sun; so with human intelligence compared to Christ. The sun shines on all, penetrates deeply, exhales the noxious vapours from the earth, cheers by its light: veiled sometimes by clouds, it soon disperses them, and the light of the stars grows pale before it. The sun is the source of light and beauty; without it all is gloom and dulness. David calls it God's tabernacle; in Chaldea they worshipped the sun; we are to use it, however, to lead us unto God as our rock, as an emblem of God's unchangeableness, and of his being the foundation of inexhaustible, overflowing benevolence. As the sun is a type of God's effulgence and energy, so the term Sun of Righteousness is peculiarly applicable to Christ. Christ is like the sun in four points :— 1. The sun is the centre of the planets, his attraction is an adamantine chain which, hanging on nothing, keeps the planets in their place, so Christ is the head of the Church, Eph. 5. 23. Look not to yourselves, but to Christ. Thirty planets, with orbits millions of miles in diameter, some performing their revolution in a century, move round this sun; so Christ is the head of all principalities and of angels, Eph. 1. 21. 2. The sun shines by its own light, not so the planets; the light, though 95 millions of miles distant, comes in eight minutes. David compares the sun's rising to a bridegroom, Ps. 19. 5; so is Christ the brightness of the Father's glory, his eyes penetrate like the sun's rays, his light is |