As to the antiquity of this provision, thus saith the Holy Ghost, "the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting upon them that fear Him:"-" I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee:"-" who hath saved us, and called us, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." The soul seems to glow with an holy rapture at the antiquity of the truths of God! Eternally beloved!—yes, we find Jesus was, ere the depths were brought forth, or fountains abounding with water, or the mountains were settled, or the earth made, or the heavens prepared, -we find them declaring his delights were with the sons of men. The choice of God also appears more precious, more suited to God and man, in considering its date. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: according as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." The doctrine of union likewise increases in blessedness when thus considered: nay, it does not exist at all if it is not eternal: for, is Christ the Head? the church universally is the body-individually they are members in particular: Is Christ the Husband? the church is the bride. The church, in conjunction with her Head, is in scripture termed, Christ. 1 Cor. xii. 12. The Head could not exist as the Head before the body-the Husband without his spouse-the Vine without the branches.

The durability of this provision heightens its blessedness. Blessings on the name of the provider, there is no contingency, no uncertainty of its duration; he that attempts to destroy, the same must first remove the Triune God; for we have the following sayings of Jehovah: "I am God, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed:" "Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end:"-" the mercy of the Lord is to everlasting upon them that fear him." When we are thus led to contemplate the provision of the saints, it encourages us to trust more implicitly in what is promised, and to say at such moments, "my Beloved is mine, and I am his;""we are not of those that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

The price paid for this provision confirms its duration. Thus saith the Holy Ghost, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ:""the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord:"-" I will be their God, and they shall be my people." So that there is abundant reason to exclaim, "the Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation:""the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous:"- -"the right hand of the Lord is exalted, the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly:"-" I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord."

The suitability of this provision makes it doubly precious to the sensible sinner. Yes, never was water more suitable to a person nearly famished with drought, than the provision revealed in scripture is to a sin-sick sinner's case. Hence we read of it as being water to the thirsty, food for the hungry, a rest for the weary and heavy-laden, a home for the destitute, a hiding-place from the storm, a salvation for the guilty, a heaven for the hell-deserving, an inheritance for the poor,-yea, everlasting glory. And the suitability of this provision is very blessedly heightened by considering its freeness; and thus we have read, "whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." And who can tell what is contained in this one word, "whosoever?" This one thing we see, that God is no respecter of persons; but sinners of every description are welcome, both great and small, male or female, old or young, rich or poor, jew or gentile: each have deserved eternal death; and those that are saved will exclaim with the poet,

"Oh! to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrain'd to be."

But, further, we read, whosoever will;" and we are informed by some that it is the duty of all the descendants of Adam to will. "If the immediate objects of the will are a man's own action, then those actions which appear most agreeable to him he wills.-There is scarcely a plainer and more universal dictate of the sense and experience of mankind, than that, when men act voluntarily, and do what they please, then they do what suits them best, or what is most agreeable to them." And what is most agreeable to an unregenerate person needs no depth of wisdom to assert; for his mind is enmity against God, and consequently his will is averse to God, and depraved. But a soul wrought upon by the Holy Ghost to know his state by nature, and the deserts of that state, viz. eternal destruction,-his utter inability to save himself, being contaminated from head to foot - the eyes of his understanding being enlightened, so that he has beheld the means of escape;, he is then willing to be saved in the way God has appointed: nay, this is not enough, he views the provision so suitable that he exclaims, "as the hart panteth for the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God! my soul thirsteth after thee, as a weary land where no water is." And he has for his encouragement, invitations in the word, which, when applied, are the joy of his soul. "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, buy wine and milk without money and without price:". "let him that is athirst come." And they are very willing to come, especially when led by the Spirit to know it is to partake of the water of life freely.

May thou, O my soul, know for thyself the preciousness of this provision, rejoicing in the thought that thy Jesus will lose none of hisra nsomed ones; for all shall be willing in the day of his power.

Kew, Surrey, June 24, 1828.

WILLIAM.

ORIGINAL ESSAYS.

XLIII.

CHARACTER OF CHRIST, REPRESENTED BY BREAD AND WINE.

THE learned apostle of the gentile church, in expatiating on the glory and dignity of the Redeemer's person as he beheld him through the veil, bursts forth in his description of him to the Hebrews, in the simple and dignified eloquence which usually characterized his addresses; thereby evincing his supreme attachment to the exalted subject, and his intimate knowledge of its incomparable blessedness by super-human teaching. But, the divine properties on which his expanded mind dilated, being consummate in their nature, and eternal in their weight and duration, and he the finite and comparatively insignificant creature of a day, his conceptions of it could not bear so much as a resemblance of the shadow to its substance; nor, indeed, would it have been proper. The full exhibition of his beauties, which irradiate the mansions of the just, are necessarily impervious to our view, and must remain to be fully revealed, with every other secret of eternity, until time drops his sable mantle, and ushers us within its delightfully blissful and unmeasured space.

It is a mark of infinite condescension, which demands our most grateful adoration, that the Holy Ghost should, in accommodation to our finite capacities, use similitudes borrowed from inanimate objects, to represent the glories of Jesus to our faith, and to exalt him in our estimation as the chiefest among ten thousand, as far as such figures can pourtray his ravishing excellencies; but, alas! they are beyond compare, they beggar all description, they can never be fully represented by any similitude, or imagined by any conception, and language is past expression poor when employed in so blessed a theme as this. No emblem from nature can set forth his incomparable loveliness. The most costly gems may be selected, the most refined gold may be obtained, the most verdant and luxuriant evergreen from nature's garden may be sought for and procured; and, in fact, every thing which serves to denote beauty and value throughout the universe may concentrate; but, if all the value and beauty of these, and ten thousand more combined, could meet together, they could at most afford a faint shadow of his worth, his boundless glory, and his grace.

If every thing around us bear some traces of majesty, and if it be equally obvious that all inanimate nature, as by common consort, has become vocal in her Creator's praise, shall the precious vessels of mercy, who are irreversibly interested in all the stupendous wonders of redemption-shall these monuments of favour, who are justified

freely by the grace of the Redeemer, and heirs of all things remain silent? No; it must not, it cannot be.

The formation of nature's parterre, the refreshing rivulets with which it abounds, the spacious amphitheatre of woods, and fertile valleys, and the numberless shrubs and plants which heighten and animate the delightful prospect, and serve both to ornament and enrich the scene; add to these, the mighty ocean, and all the incalculable riches with which it is embedded; and, above all, the wondrous formation of man, who is, in himself, a world in miniature. These are the subjects which call loudly for the most humble and sacred contemplation; but their lustre grows dim, as the Sun of Righteousness appears. He is the dawn of nature, and is nature's God. He it is that is "all over glorious." He is wonderful in his person, excellent in council and purpose, and exuberant in his love. How wonderful, past comprehension, was his love and purpose connected with his incarnation, his active obedience, and agonizing conflicts! Here is a field so expansive, that the strongest eye of faith can never measure its boundary; and so truly attracting is the prospect, as to render a single glimpse of it unutterably blessed. Look at his unequalled humility and meekness, and behold his career from his cradle in Bethlehem to the very consummation of his sufferings-to the last pang he endured on mount Gethsemane to expiate transgression, and reiterate if you can, ye beloved objects of mercy, the amazing condescension of your sovereign Lord in this wondrous stoop. "He, who was God, became incarnate! made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross!" Surely it was the very acme of grace and mercy in the Redeemer to shroud his essential glories within the habiliments of clay, that in that nature he might fulfil all righteousness, and possess a kindred feeling to his saints.

The grandeur and importance of his resurrection from the tomb, as a mighty conqueror, in the character of a representative, as it is an event worthy of the highest celebration, is no less a token of the supremacy of his affection for the objects of his choice and favour, and the omnipotence of his arm. This mighty monarch, who engages the highest estimation of his saints, is the sublime anthem of their song, their life, their joy, and consolation. Oh, for some sacred flame to enkindle our devotion to him, and to excite anew our warmest admiration of him.

The figures which are here introduced as the burden of our theme, to represent the Redeemer, are very expressive. Of literal bread we may say, it is the staff of natural life, it is a mean of nourishment, vigour, and support to the body. Of the ever-blessed Jesus, it may as properly be said, that he really is as he is emphatically denominated in holy writ, "the bread of God," the "bread of life." What natural bread is to the body, that Jesus is in a greater and VOL. V.-No. 56.

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more exalted degree to the soul. Every member of his mystic body is solely and entirely supported by the life they have in him, and the communications they unceasingly derive from him.

Our glorious Redeemer most beautifully introduced himself to the notice of his disciples in the days of his sojourning on earth, by this appropriate emblem, "I am the bread of life." This analogy is suited to illustrate his character and condition. In every stage of its progress, from the first appearance of the original grain, to its formation into bread, how does it illustrate his goings forth, to the completion of his mighty errand of love and mercy. He was the precious grain which became steeped in an ocean of dolorous sufferings; who meekly endured in his own person all the pangs and bitter accusations ignominy could cast upon him, and the more poignant shafts of incensed justice. Did he undertake our cause?" he was wounded for our transgressions;" our transgressions wounded him ; "he was bruised for our iniquities," our iniquities were the potion of his bitter cup. He was the pure and unadulterated grain which was cast into the earth to vegetate and die, that he might produce in full perfection, the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear.

The shew-bread placed upon the golden table in the jewish tabernacle by the priest under the Mosaical dispensation, and the golden table on which it was offered, were lively symbols which very beautifully exhibited the fulness of gospel blessings treasured up in Jesus. The shew-bread thus offered was made without leaven. So Christ, the Paschal Lamb, though made under the law, and, in consequence, amenable to all its curses on account of the objects of redemption, guile was never found in his mouth. In the eye of that law, Jesus was doubtless beheld as a transgressor, yet only so by imputation. His life was unsullied, and without spot, and his reputation irreproachable and blameless. He was entirely freed from the leaven of sin, though, to accomplish the salvation of his chosen, he bare all the penalties, and paid the full appointed price due to their iniquities.

And, as the shew-bread was placed conspicuously on the sacred altar every sabbath day, so should the ambassadors of the cross, instrumentally hold up, and exalt the Redeemer in the preaching of the word, as the life, and light, and glory of his people; as the only true spring of spiritual animation and comfort, and the source of nourishment and support throughout the desart.

Jesus not only becomes the victim of sacrifice, but is also the very altar on which it is offered up and the priest who offered it. The table, or altar, in the tabernacle, was burnished gold, tried, and refined in the fire. Its composition was not of inferior quality. It did not consist of either wood, or hay, or stubble; it was not a mixture of clay and wood, of silver and gold, like the image shewn to Nebuchadnezzar by vision; nor did its component parts consist of gold and brass; but, on the contrary, of the most refined gold. The golden table, the shew-bread, the fragrant incense, the burnt-offer