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ings, and all the ceremonies of the jewish ritual typified the Redeemer, and were shadows of this glorious antitype who was promised in after ages to be fully revealed. He alone is the antitypical shew-bread, and the altar on which it was laid. The pureness and value of the metal of the type, represents in lively colours the sterling merits of the antitype. How unspeakably would his dignity be degraded by the substitution of any thing in the room of so complete a sacrifice; and how would the infinite preciousness and unknown benefits of that vicarious offering be blessed by the mingling any thing with it!

All the wonders of redemption were pendant on the eventful tragedy effected on the stage of mount Gethsemane. Pause-oh pause, ye much loved saints, ye ransomed hosts-pause and wonder at the love, and grace, and mercy of your suffering Redeemer, for sins not his own!

"Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown."

How was this precious victim bruised! How was his sacred body mangled! Yet, torn as it was by the rude hands of merciless transgressors, it was thus pressed beyond measure to become living bread to his people, of the finest quality and kind. The purple torrent of his blood which gushed so freely from his opening veins from Calvary, is a cheering cordial to the drooping spirits. Both combine to prepare a rich repast for every saint who approaches the sacred table. What an exquisite felicity does the taste afford him, and, compared to the dainties of nature, which are no sooner tasted than they cloy and sicken, how refined is the sensibility it excites within him.

The bread and wine of the eucharistical feast is taken in commemoration, and in token of the broken body and blood of Jesus, which they so aptly prefigure by setting forth the two-fold blessedness of peace and pardon in and through his one offering on the tree; and also all the invaluable riches of the everlasting covenant made manifest and sealed, in his atoning blood. By faith each guest receives the sacred symbols, looking to the Redeemer whom they shadow forth; and oh! who can describe the feelings they enjoy while he sheweth them his bleeding hands and side, breaks to them the bread, and presents them the cup of salvation with a smiling aspect, which produces an inward consciousness of their welcome to his sacred feast.

The luscious juice expressed from the grape reminds us of the unutterable sweetness of the Saviour's love, exceeding all others; for he is love, and the sum and substance of all the harmonious news conveyed by the gospel. All its promises are unconditional in their nature, and pure in their source; flowing through the channel of his blood and righteousness; and consequently strikingly descriptive of unadulterated wine. Indeed, a more fit emblem could not have been selected to demonstrate that this balm is incomparably precious, and that Jesus in his person, and in his love, is a never-failing cordial and specific, in the most desperate cases of affliction, infinitely

surpassing every other in its life-giving and sustaining power, which certainly cannot apply to the natural wine from the clusters of the grapes of Eschol. This wine of the kingdom, unlike all others, is freely given to the poor and needy, and operates as a sovereign antidote to every malady, and cannot be abused. It is both exhilirating and salubrious. The enjoyments derived from its participation, tend to meekness and humility, and produce an ardour of excitement, to extol the riches of redeeming mercy; and the uniform experience of its happy recipient is minutely and well delineated by the immortal poet

"The more thy glories strike my eye,

The humbler I shall be;

Thus while I sink, my joys shall rise
Immeasurably high."

In a word, the blood of the grape points to the sanguinary conflict of Jesus when he trod the wine-press of his Father's wrath alone: of his soul travail, of his Eden pilgrimage, of the crimson dyed garments, of his sufferings, and of the glorious apparel he assumed. By this animatory metaphor, the nature of his love and gracefulness are impressively unfolded; and how truly delightful and reviving are the vital streams which reach the soul from this living source brought home to the spiritual senses, in the assurances of pardoning love, and conscious peace, by the blood of his cross. To compress the whole; Jesus is a cluster on whom is suspended all that is worth enjoying, and all that is desirable in the present life, and in the life to come.

(For the Spiritual Magazine.)

THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES OF THOSE WHO FEAR THE LORD.

"Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”

Ps. xxxiv. 11.

IT appears from the Psalm from which these words have been taken, that the Psalmist had experienced a deliverance from some signal trial, and that this deliverance had been granted in answer to prayer; for he says, "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." This interposition of Jehovah on his behalf, had filled his soul with gratitude and thankfulness, so that he declared that he would bless the Lord at all times, and that his praise should be continually in his mouth. A declaration that proves, the Psalmist's belief in the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints. Not satisfied with merely setting forth the praises of God himself, he declares his intention of calling the Lord's people to join him in this glorious employ, whom he variously designates as the humble, as his saints, as them that fear the Lord, as the righteous, and, in the words which stand at the head of this article, as children.

"Come, ye children," says he, "and I will teach you the fear of the Lord."

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In the first place, we may suppose the Psalmist as saying, “Come, ye children, and I will teach you the nature of this fear." It is a gracious fear, imparted by God himself, of his own sovereign will put into the hearts of his own children, and is a new covenant blessing intended expressly for them, and given only to them. It is never found in the heart of an unregenerate person; such may have a slavish dread of God as the governor of the world, and may fear that he will one day execute vengeance on them for their transgressions, but cannot have that gracious fear which God puts into the hearts of his own people, and which is exercised in them only by the indwelling and operation of the Holy Spirit. It is a sinctifying fear. It leads those who are partakers of it from the paths of sin, and when through grace it is in lively exercise, enables them to withstand temptation. It was this that enabled Joseph to say, when tempted by his mistress, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" It is described in the word of God as "clean ;" that is, of a cleansing and purifying nature; and it is likewise said of it, that it is to " depart from evil." That it is a sanctifying fear may be seen in the opposite character of those who are destitute of it, for they sin without any restraint, and their conduct but too awfully proves that there is no fear of God before their eyes. It is a lasting fear. The fear of the Lord," says the inspired penman, "endureth for ever." And God himself says, "I will put my fear into their hearts, and they shall not depart from me." In times of trial and temptation, and unbelief, it may appear to be buried, or to the christian himself seem to be entirely extinct, but still the principle is there; and when God again shines into his soul by his Spirit, when the Sun of Righteousness again rises upon him with healing in his wings, it awakes to light, and life, and liberty, and it becomes manifest that the child of God cannot willingly and habitually live in the commission of sin, "because his seed," the seed of divine grace, implanted by God himself remaineth in him."

In the second place, we may suppose the Psalmist as saying, "Come, ye children, and I will teach you the character of those who fear the Lord." They are such as keep their tongues from evil. ver. 13. Scripture informs us that by our words we shall be judged, and by our words shall we be condemned; "and that a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth evil things;" so that the conversation of a person will generally be the index of his mind; and if there were not hypocrisy in men would always be so; and notwithstanding this hypocrisy, a man's real character generally manifests itself to others sooner or later, and is always manifest in the sight of that God with whom we have to do. They that fear the Lord keep their tongues from evil, they speak not evil of others unnecessarily, much less do they speak evil of God; they are not among those who dare to arraign his dispensations,

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either of providence or grace; they are not amongst those who take his name in vain, neither dare they, when their interest invites them, pervert their tongue to falsehood and lies; they know that such characters, unless grace prevent, will have their portion in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone for ever and for ever. They are such as depart from evil. Not only do they under the influence of divine grace keep their tongue from evil, but, under the same benign influence, they depart from it; they flee from the paths of temptation, and are anxious to keep their garments unspotted from the world. They love neither evil actions, nor evil companions, and the language of their heart is, with regard to the latter, "O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united." They are such as do good. Being influenced by that faith which worketh by love, they are anxious to live not unto themselves, but unto him that died for them; to consecrate themselves, body, soul, and spirit to the service of their Redeemer and their God; to be conformed to his beauteous image who went about doing good; to serve him continually here, and eternally to do his will perfectly and completely in the heavenly world hereafter. Such being the disposition of their souls, a disposition implanted and nourished by God himself, no wonder that their characters, though they see many evils and deficiencies in themselves, answer to the description here given they are such as do good. They do good to all men as they have opportunity, and especially to such as are of the household of faith; and their anxious desire is by well-doing to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. They are such as seek peace. They seek peace and reconciliation with God; they are anxious to know thoroughly that mighty scheme by which God is reconciled to sinners and rebels through the sacrifice of his Son; anxious to know it in its origin as devised by the God of peace, arranged in the council of peace, in its completion by the Prince of peace, and its application by the Spirit of peace. They are anxious to know these things not only notionally, but savingly and experimentally, that they may live in the sweet and experimental enjoyment of them. Having already tasted what it is to have peace with God, it is not surprising that they are amongst those who seek this peace, and are looking for further enjoyments of it. They seek too, to be at peace with those around them, they are wishful as much as in them lies to fulfil the apostolic exhortation, and to live peaceably with all men, and thus to manifest that they are the children of peace. But whilst they are exhibiting this temper and disposisition, they are frequently constrained to say with one of old, “I am for peace, but they are for war," and to wish that they had wings like a dove, that they might flee away and be at rest. They are such as are of a broken heart and of a contrite spirit. Their hearts are broken on account of their sinfulness, vileness, and unworthiness, on account of their actual transgressions against the God of all their mercies, and their backslidings from him, and especially on account of the internal depravity of their hearts, that root of bitterness which is continually springing up within them and troubling them. They are

melted down into true contrition of soul when they consider what they have been, and what they still are, particularly when they contrast these with that distinguishing grace and kindness which has been exercised towards them, and thus are made partakers of that godly sorrow which worketh repentance not to be repented of, and which is accompanied with an holy abhorrence of sin, and a desire to be delivered from it;, which desire they expect to be fully accomplished when they arrive at that bright world to which they are hastening. They are such as trust in the Lord. They are such as fear the Lord with a filial fear; a fear which leads them to place their trust and dependance in Jehovah, and Jehovah alone, to place it in him as a reconciled Father in Christ Jesus, to trust to him for every blessing which they need, and every blessing which he has promised to bestow; thus they look to him for the supply of all their wants, for grace to bless, to support, to guide, to comfort, and to defend them here, and for everlasting rest and blessedness in the presence of their Saviour and their God hereafter. This through grace is their general character, though it must be acknowledged that at times they forget him who is the fountain of living waters, and hew out to themselves broken cisterns which can hold no water. But by so doing they lay up for themselves sorrow of heart, and can find no true peace to their souls till they return to that covenant Jehovah who is the source of blessedness to his people, and the only object worthy of their confidence and trust. "Blessed is the man that feareth always."

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In the third and last place, we may suppose the Psalmist as saying, come, ye children, and I will teach you what are the privileges of those that fear the Lord." The eyes of the Lord are upon them. Yes, this is one of their privileges, the eyes of the Lord are upon them; they are upon them in a way of mercy, favour and grace. He beholds his children with a gracious eye, he sees them at all times. He beholds them not as a careless spectator, but as one interested in their welfare. Does he see them in times of darkness and difficulty?-it is that he may guide them with his eye. In times of danger?—it is that he may deliver them. In times of want?-it is that he may supply their wants. In times of spiritual enjoyment ?——— it is that he may rejoice in his own work in them. He watches over them that he may guide them safely through this waste howling wilderness, and do them good in their latter end, and bring them to that place where not only he shall see them, but they shall see him for ever and for ever; for the apostle says, we shall see him as he is. Another of their privileges is, that the Lord heareth their prayers. Whilst the prayers of the wicked are an abomination unto God, the prayers of them that fear him come up with acceptance before his throne. His ear is ever open to their cry; he has invited, encouraged, and commanded them to come to him; and has pledged his faithfulness to grant them every thing that they ask, if it be consistent with his holy will; and if it be not consistent with that, we are much

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