grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it."1 Not only does this verse express the same desire, but the samé enjoyment. For where is this communion of the church with her Lord to be found, but in the way of his "judgments?" "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways."2 In contrasting this with the church of Laodicea, under a brighter dispensation, "neither cold nor hot; " 3-which state, we may ask, most nearly resembles our own ?-We may remark also not only the fervour, but the steady uniformity of this religion. It was not a rapture, but a habit ; constant and uniform; "at all times." With us, such enjoyments are too often favoured seasons, happy moments; alas! only moments-why not days, and months, and years? The object of our desires is a continual spring that can never be exhausted. The affection-the longing of the soul, can never overreach its object. If therefore the desire is cherished, it will become the established habit-the element, in which the child of God lives and thrives. What then is the cause with us of the low ebbing of spiritual desire? Perhaps the throne of grace is not frequently visited. Or at least prayer for the influence of the Spirit is neglected. Or we have been unwatchful against a light, vain, and worldly spirit, than which nothing more tends to wither the growth of spiritual things. Or probably the workings of unbelief have been too faintly resisted. And this is of itself sufficient to account for much of our dulness, since the rule of procedure in the kingdom of grace 1 Can. v. 8; viii. 6, 7. 3 Rev. iii. 15. 2 Isaiah lxiv. 5. is-" According to your faith be it unto you.' "1 Grace is indeed an insatiable principle. Enjoyment, instead of surfeiting, only serves to sharpen the appetite. Yet if we are content to live at a low rate, there will be no progress in fruitfulness or in comfort. We know, desire, and are satisfied with little, and therefore we enjoy but little. We live as borderers on the land, instead of being able to say-" surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it." This is not the thriving, the cheerfulness, the adorning of the gospel. It is rather the obscuring of the glory of our Christian profession, and of the happiness of its attendant privileges. Perhaps, however, the fervour of desire expressed in this verse is conceived by some to be out of reach; or by others it may be expected by some sudden manifestation or excitement. Rather let us look for it in a patient, humble, and persevering waiting upon the Lord. We may have still to complain of coldness, weakness, and wanderings of spiritual affections. Yet strength to wait will be imperceptibly given ; faith will be sustained for the conflict; and thus our souls will make their boast in the Lord," even though we should never be favoured with an excited flow of enjoyment. At all events let us beware of resting satisfied with the confession of our lukewarmness to our fellowcreatures, without " pouring out our heart before the Lord." There is a fulness of grace in our glorious Head to strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die," as well as at the beginning to "quicken" us when "dead in trespasses and sins." Abundant, also, are the promises and encouragements to poor, " 1 Matt. ix. 29. dry, barren souls. "I will heal their backslidingsI will be as the dew unto Israel- he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon." 1 For what purposes are promises such as these given, but that we may " fill our mouth with arguments," when in the contrition of faith we again venture from a backsliding state to " 'order our cause before God?" And "will he plead against us with his great power? No-but he will put his strength in us "2 and we shall yet again 'run the way of his commandments "3 with an enlarged heart. 21. Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments. 4 LET the histories of Cain, Pharaoh,5 Haman,6 Nebuchadnezzar, 7 and Herod, 8 exhibit the proud under the rebuke and curse of God. He abhors their knows them afar persons 9 and their offerings: 10 he off: "11" he resisteth them: "12" he scattereth them in the imaginations of their hearts." 13 Yet more especially hateful are they in his sight, when cloaking themselves under a spiritual garb-" which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me: for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day." 14 David 15 and Hezekiah 16 structive beacons in the church, that God's people, 1 Hosea xiv. 4-6. 2 Job xxiii. 4-6. 3 Verse 32. are in 5 Exod. xiv. 15-31. 6 Est. vii. 7-10. 8 Acts xii. 21-23. 7 Dan. iv. 29-33. 14 Isaiah lxv. 5. 9 Prov. vi. 16, 17. 11 Psalm cxxxviii. 6. 13 Luke i. 51. 15 2 Sam. xxi. 1-15. 16 2 Kings xx. 12, 18. 1 Chron. xxxii. 31. 1 whenever they give place to the workings of a proud heart, must not hope to escape his rebuke. "Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance on their inventions." Something of pride probably influences all that "do err from the Lord's commandments;" yet doubtless "the Righteous Judge" will mark an infinite difference between those errors, which arise from remaining imperfection of the renewed nature, and those which have their source in the obstinacy of the unrenewed heart. Those who are ever ready to confess collectively-"Who can understand his errors?" and individually-"I have gone astray like a lost sheep" 3-are widely different in character from the subjects of this rebuke and curse of God— "Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes; for their deceit is falsehood.” 4 In meditating on this verse, let us observe the expression of the mind of God concerning pride. There is no sin more abhorrent to his character. It is as if we were taking the crown from his head, and placing it upon our own. It is man making a god of himself-acting from himself and for himself. Nor is this principle less destructive to our own happiness. And yet it is not only rooted, but it often rears its head and blossoms, and bears fruit in the hearts even of those who can truly say, they "hate and abhor" its influence. It is most like its father, the Devil, in serpentine deceitfulness. It is always active -always ready imperceptibly to mix itself up with every thing. When it is mortified in one shape, it rises in another. When we have thought that it was gone, in some unexpected moment we find it here still. It can convert every thing into nourishment, even 1 Psalm xcix. 8. 2 Ibid. xix. 12. 4 Verse 118. And God's choicest gifts-yea, the graces of his Spirit. Let no saint therefore-however near he may be living to God, however favoured with the shinings of his countenance-consider himself beyond the reach of this temptation. Paul was most in danger when he seemed to be most out of it; and nothing but an instant miracle of grace and power saved him from "the snare of the devil." Indeed the whole plan of salvation is intended to humble the pride of man, by exhibiting his restoration to the Divine favour as a free gift through the atoning blood of the cross. there is no more offensive display of pride in the eye of God, than that resistance to this humbling doctrine of the cross, and the humbling requisitions of the life of faith flowing from it, which makes the sure foundation" of the believer's hope a stone of stumbling" to the unbeliever's ruin. As regards also the means of salvation-when can pride dare to lift up its head in the view of the Son of God taking upon him the form of a servant-that he might bear the curse of man ? 3 Behold, the soul that is lifted up, is not upright in him." 4 66 66 But can a sinner-can a saint-be proud?-one that owes every thing to free and sovereign grace-one that has wasted so much time-abused so much mercy-so grieved the Spirit of God-that has a heart so full of atheism-unbelief-selfishness? Nay the very pride itself should be the matter of the deepest daily humiliation; that the remembrance of it may, under the gracious influences of the Spirit, prove an effectual means of subduing it in our hearts: thus we shall overcome corruption by its own workings, and meet our adversary with his own weapons. And if we should 1 See 2 Cor. xii. 7. 3 Phil. ii. 5, 8. 2 Rom. ix. 32, 33. 1 Peter ii. 7, 8. 4 Hab. ii. 4. |