Regard to property: "Thou shalt not steal." Regard to character: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." "A good name, is better than precious ointment." And, lastly: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's."

How manifestly we have to do with the living God who made us, in this declaration of the glory due to Himself, and the regard for His creature man! How well our nature is apprehended, our sympathies and affections, how thoroughly understood; and in these statutes, how paternally cared for! God, the Creator, understands the wants and feelings of man, His creature.

The Lord Jesus illustrates His Father's care when teaching His disciples: "Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them." "How much more are ye better than the sparrows!". "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord."-Ps. cvii. 43.

66

EXTRACT.

According to Bengel (born 1687), the Christian has not so much to wait for death as for the appearance of Jesus Christ, and the most important business for every man is to come from a state of sin into a state of grace, and afterwards not to look for death, but for the Lord. Death had originally no place in the economy of God and was only introduced afterwards.

Bengel did not think highly of the artificial mode of dying, and followed his own ideas thereon. He would not die with spiritual pomp ;* but in a common way, and was employed to the last with his proof-sheets. It was as if he was called out of his room during the hours of work."

*He did not agree with those divines who consider the whole of divinity to be nothing more than the art of dying.

84

No. VII.

"LET US HOLD FAST OUR PROFESSION."

We all know, and acknowledge the value of having a fixed purpose, which gives a character to our life and ways. Our need demands a purpose, which promises to meet it sufficiently and perfectly; and the more distinctly the purpose is apprehended and embraced, the more all our acts must bear characteristic impression of it. -Our God, therefore, knowing this need of ours, provides us with a purpose; but does so, by attracting us to His purpose, for us, as the goal of all our hearts need or seek, and thus makes it our purpose too; purposed of Him for us, and presented by Him to us, as appointed, and as the provision of His love, to satisfy our utmost need or expectation. The sense of need, first engages us with the value of the purpose, and the purpose is enhanced, when we find that it is not only a measure for our need, but that it is also according to the measure of the love of God for us. God's purpose must be reached, ere our necessities can be satisfied. The purpose of the prodigal, in seeking his Father's house, was to relieve his famished state; but, when that was attained, he found out, that the purpose of the Father (even that the unworthy son should enter into the common joy with Himself), was also accomplished, and until he had reached this, his own need was not entirely or fully met.

In every revelation which God made to man, His purpose or call always defined the perfect blessing, which He designed for man, and this alone could meet his condition. Man may never (as indeed it has happened), have fully responded to this call; but, according as he was fixed on it, followed it, and partially reached it; so

was his blessing; nay, every faithful soul, in every dispensation, embraced his calling, and the purpose of God; and, proportionate to his pursuance and enjoyment of it, was his testimony and strength. Ignorance or misapprehension, as to the true nature of the purpose or calling, must necessarily affect the walk and spirit of the professionists of it. My profession is strictly in accordance with my aim or purpose; if I decline from or misapprehend the latter, the former must suffer; and if I "hold fast my profession," it is easy to comprehend my purpose, for my profession is nothing more than the assertion of the principles, which the attainment of my purpose would establish. God's purpose, respecting us, is our calling, as He reveals it. We hear the calling, and adopt it, and if we adhere to it, we "hold fast our profession;" if not, we lose sight of our calling, and are manifestly irresponsive to it. In every dispensation, God's purpose of blessing for man is unfolded, and man's testimony, and victory over surrounding difficulties, were always proportionate to his embracing it, and "holding fast his profession," according to it.

To Adam, God announced that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head; his profession, accordingly, must be, that he expected such an event, and hence, instead of perpetuating the reproach on his wife, as, in strict justice, he might have done; he called her name, Eve, "the mother of all living.' So that Adam's profession, when, driven from Eden, he entered on his exile, was, that the source of his fall, would, through God's grace, be the source of his life. He believed and acknowledged the purpose of God, which Cain, on the other hand, would not accept; and, in doing this, Adam merely assumed the position, which God, in His grace, proposed to him. Death might fall on every creature in Adam's sight, but his profession was registered in the name which he had given to her who had introduced death.

So also in Abraham; his profession was, that he was a stranger and a pilgrim, that he "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is

God," and he held fast his profession, because he believed in the purpose of God. The moment he swerved from the one, he was, necessarily, inconsistent in the other. Lot lost sight of the purpose, and, in a little time, bore no evidence of the profession; but, in judgment, lost the blessing, which the maintenance of the profession obtained for Abraham. We cannot evade the respon sibility of holding fast our profession, on the plea of weakness; for it is not an assumption on the part of man, nor a legal demand on him, but a practical acknowledgment of the pre-ordained, pre-determined purpose of God respecting him; and if this acknowledgment be refused, it amounts to disbelieving and disregarding the counsel of God, for our blessing. It is, I repeat, the path of testimony and blessing. Lot forfeited both in Sodom. Abraham was honoured with both, though less surrounded with natural advantages. If Lot had held fast his profession, it would have preserved him from the snares of Sodom. He, no doubt, would have felt it trying to maintain his ground, as a stranger and pilgrim; and he might allege, that he had not strength enough to do so, but, surely, abandoning his profession, did not increase his strength. On the contrary, it is very plain, that if he had maintained (however feebly in spirit), the profession which led him from Charran, in company with Abraham, he never would have been found in Sodom, or, consequently, have shared in its judgment. To adhere to a profession, where ourselves, and every one can mark our inconsistencies, is harassing and humbling; but still, there is safety therein, if there be godly intention to fulfil it; whereas, there is none if we surrender it; and, what is worse, such surrender is a practical refusal to acknowledge God's gracious purpose, respecting us. The calling is always in accordance with the purpose, and our obedience to the one, indicates our appreciation of the other; the more the calling is pressed on me, the more are my ways measured by the rule of it; being measured, I am humbled, and, necessarily, cast on God, not to refuse His calling, but to obtain strength to uphold it.

Israel sang of themselves to the Lord, after they had passed the Red Sea: "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance." They thus celebrate the purpose of God, respecting them; their profession, accordingly, as long as they believed His word, was, that they were not for Egypt, but for Canaan; and, come what will, to Canaan they must go; for, in the Wilderness, a land of drought, it was plain they had no rest. Their calling was to "go up, and possess the land; " their profession, that they were set on this, and nothing else; their song declared how they had accepted it, as the truth of God, in which they rejoiced. Every step they took in the Wilderness, towards Canaan, told how they "held fast their profession;" how they had heard the word mixed with faith. To require an inspection of the Promised Land before they attempted to possess it, was a falter in their profession, and it proved fatal to them. They had lost faith in the word which once infused such spirit into their song, and difficulties (which in this evil scene must exist) are reported by the spies, the majority of whom are as unbelieving as the people themselves. When faith falters, and great difficulties are foreseen, man must be discouraged, and the more so, if he be in the path of God's calling, for the work of God, can only be accomplished by God. The difficulties were too great for man, without faith; though sure to be surmounted with faith. The calling to "go up and possess" measured their faith, and being measured and confounded, they turned back to Egypt, in the spirit of their minds, recanted their song, and ignored the profession they had made. But what was the penalty? Their carcases fell in the Wilderness, and they were "destroyed of the destroyer;" they despised the pleasant land, and it was closed against them. And we find in 1 Cor. x., where the various failures of Israel are recounted for our warning, this murmuring or faltering of faith at Kadesh Barnea, is adduced last by the apostle, although it occurred early in their actual history. I believe this to be so given designedly, shewing the moral order in Corinthians, as we have the historical order in Numbers.

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