We shou... be able also to make David's appeal as to the dispen sations of Providence. His way is in the sea. The reasons of his conduct are inscrutable. Let us not attempt to correct what canno be imperfect; or to criticise what we do not understand. Let us b still, and know that he is God. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are hi judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath knows the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor ? AUG. 7.-"Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child."--Psalm cxxxi. 2. WEANED from what? Self-sufficiency, self-will, self-seeking. From creatures and the things of the world.-Not indeed as to their use, but as to any dependance upon them for his happiness and portion. The desire of his soul was to the Lord, and the rememErance of his Name; and his language was, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth that I desire beside thee" "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness""There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.". No wonder he could say, "My soul is even as a weaned child." Yet this experience is no easy attainment. The very form of expression "I have behaved and quieted myself" reminds us of some risings which were with difficulty subdued. There is a difference here between Christ and Christians. In him the exercise of grace encountered no adverse principles; but in them it meets with constant opposition. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and when we would do good, evil is present with us-Hence the warfare within. So it is with "the child that is weaned." The task to the mother is trying and troublesome. The infant cries and seems to sob out his heart-He thinks it very hard in her, and knows not what she means by her seeming cruelty; and the mother's fondness renders all her firinness necessary to keep her to the process and sometimes she also weeps at the importunity of his dear looks, and big tears, and stretched out hands. But it must be done--And therefore, though she pities, she perseveres-and after awhile he is soothed and satisfied; forgets the breast; and no longer feels even a hankering after his former pleasure. But how is the weaning of the child accomplished? By embittering the member to his lips-By the removal of the object in the ab sence and concealment of the mother-By the substitution of other food--By the influence of time. So it is with us. We love the world, and it deceives us. We depend on creatures, and they fail us and pierce us through with many sorrows. We enter forbidden paths and follow after our lovers: and our way is hedged up with thorns -and we then say, Return unto thy rest O my soul-and now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. And what says the Saviour? He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth in me shall never thirst: meaning, not only that they shall no hunger and thirst after spiritua. blessings in vain but also that they shall not hunger and thirst after other things, as they once did, before they tasted that the Lord is gracious. The enjoy. ment of a greater good subdues the relish of a less. What are the indulgences of sin, or the dissipations of the world, to one who is abundantly satisfied with the fatness of God's house, and is made to drink of the ri ers of his pleasure? This is the blessed state we should seek after. The want of this weanedness is the source of apostacy and backsliding. It was because her heart was left in Sodom that Lot's wife looked back. It was because he love the present world that Demas forsook the apostles. Owing to the want of this we have so many inconsistencies in professors of religion. They are yet attached to things from which they are restrained; and in the sight of God they are considered as still pursuing them. Give me a Christian that is weaned from them, having found something infinitely superior. He who lives nost in the enjoyment of his heavenly privileges will be the most secure from the evil of temptation, and walk most worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called. We should also be concerned to exemplify this disposition with regard to our state and circumstances in life. The secret of happiness is not the enlargement of our means, but the limitation of our desires. Let us consider ourselves as only strangers and pilgrims on earth. Let us say with the Shunamite, "I dwell among my own people." Let us learn in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content. Let us say, "The Lord shall choose our inherit ance for us"—leaving all to his wisdom and goodness-and desiring nothing that he withholds "Pleas'd with all the Lord provides; Wean'd from all the world besides." AUGUST 8.-" There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek."--Isaiah xi. 10. THESE words lead us to observe three things with regard to the Messiah. First, his coming in the flesh. "There shall be a root of Jesse." Some contend that the expression establishes the divine nature of our Lord, and refer to his own authority when he said, "I am the root and the offspring of David." As a root bears the stem, and not the stem the root, so, say they, our prophet would signify that he is the source of Jesse's being, and not that he derives his being from him. If we do not yield to this reasoning it is not from a disbelief of our Saviour's divinity, or because we think it of little importance in the Christian scheme; but because we are persuaded every passage of Scripture should have its own proper meaning, and no more stress should be laid upon it than it was de signed to bear; for a bad argument always injures a good cause. If we wished to prove what we fully believe, that he had a divine nature, according to which he made Jesse and all other creatures, we would go at once to the testimony of John-" All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made;" or to the decision of Paul-" By him were 'l things crea a root of ted, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visille and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." But " Jesse" means a scion, a shoot springing out of one of his roots; or as it is expressed in the beginning of the chapter, "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. "" The phrase marks the family from which he should arise. This was not known for a long time, and was the effect of a gradua' discovery of him. First, he was revealed as the seed of the woman or a partaker of human nature, then as of the seed of Abraham, then as of the tribe of Judah, and, lastly, as of the house of David; and this was so familiarly known when he was on earth, that beggars addressed him as the son of David. It also shows his hun ble estate. The Scripture often sets forth the various degrees of human condition by trees and plants. We find Nebuchadnezzar's greatness represented by a tree, whose height reached to heaven, and whose shadow covered the earth: while his abasement was expressed by the cutting it down to the ground, and leaving only the stump in the ground. Jesus is not described as a fine tall tree, full of boughs and leaves, but as a sucker from an unpromising, and seemingly dead root. He was poor and mean in the estimation of the world; for though he had real and unspeakable worth, though in him were found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, all this is less than nothing and vanity by the side of guineas and ribbons, in the eyes of the multitude. Therefore says our Prophet, "He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." Hence it is not said, a root of" David who had been a mighty monarch, but of "Jesse" whose name was unrenowned; implying that at the time of his appearing the house of his lineage would be reduced to its original obscurity. And so it was. Joseph, that son of David his reputed father, was a carpenter, and his mother a poor virgin, probably working with her hands when her honours were announced to her by the angel. Thus the King of kings and Lord of lords was born-not in the city of Jerusalem, but in a village in the north of Galilee, little among the thousands of Judah-not in a palace, but in a stable. Thus, as he advanced in life, he had not where to lay his head; his hearers were the common people; and the ministers of his kingdom, fishermen from the lake of Galilee. This has always scandalized the pride of reason: but "Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Secondly, his destination-" Which shall stand for an ensign ef the people." Here is a new metaphor, for no single image will do him justice; yea, all that we can employ must fall short of his glory. But each figure aids our conception of some particular par of his character and office. Of old it was customary in time o war for the prince or commander to elect an ensign on a mounɩain or hili. there to summon the inhabitants of the province to place them in military condition, by furnishing them with arms, training them, assigning them their rank and place, and giving them their orders. Thus Jesus was lifted up on the cross that he might draw all men unto him; and thus he is lifted up in the preaching of the Gospel, that he might gather together in one, the children of God that are scattered abroad. Therefore it was said, to him shall men come;" "to him shall the gathering of the people be,"-as the inhabitants of a town gather together at the only well that supplies them—as pupils assemble around the only master that can teach them-as soldiers repair to the oriflamb suspended over the chief's tent. The allusion is just and suitable. The religious life is a warfare. Christians are good soldiers of Jesus Christ. He is the Captain of their salvation, the Leader and Commander of the people. He conducts them not to carnage and infamy, but to glory, honour, and immortality. His warfare is not carnal, but spiritual; and it is a good warfare; and they need not be afraid to follow his movements; he cannot err. With him they are always safe. He will teach their hands to war and their fingers to fight; he will renew their strength; he w'I make their way prosperous-Yea, in all these things they are more than conquerors through him that loved them. Thirdly, his successful influence-" To it shall the Gentiles seek." In his quotation of the words, the Apostle varies the language, and says, "In his Name shall the Gentiles trust." But there is no inconsistency between this seeking and this trusting; the one is the cause, the other the effect; or rather, each is alternately both cause and effect too. Because we trust in him we seek him; and when we seek him we find how worthy he is of our trust. for they that know his name will put their trust in him. The trusting is the seeking in the principle; and the seeking is the trusting in the exercise. But who were to be the subjects attracted? "The Gentiles." Nothing could have been more unlikely when this assurance was given. The whole world was lying in wickedness, and abandoned to the most abominable idolatries, "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." What probability was there that these should believe in one who was crucified, and become followers of the meek and holy Jesus? But it had been announced, and it was to a surprising extent accomplished. We may see the change in our own country. We were heathens, led away of dumb idols, and enslaved by comfortless and cruel superstitions. But what a prevalence, and what triumphs, for ages, has the Gospel attained here! And yet without miracles; and by the blessing of God upon means far inferior to those we possess, and upon exertions made under far greater disadvantages than we have to contend with. How groundless is missionary discouragement! What has been done-may be done. Is any thing to hard for the Lord. And we here see not only the power of God, but we see the naure of the Gospel dispensation. It forbids none, however unfaourable their condition and character. It cries, Peace, Peace, to aim that is far off, as well as to them that are nigh. The Gentiles were called dogs by the Jews; and our Saviour himself s eaks of them as inhabiting the highways and hedges, and as the por, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. Yet for these there was room. These were to be compelled to come in. The Saviour excludes none out those who exclude themselves; and he even complains of their conduct-" Ve will not come to me that ye might have life." Let the vilest or the vile, let the chief of sinners seek to him, and try the graciousness and truth of the promise that has been the sheet-anchor of thousands-" HIM THAT COMETH UNTO MTM I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT." AUGUST 9.-" The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.”—Psalm xvi. 6. We may put this acknowledgment into the mouth of an INDULGED CHILD OF PROVIDENCE. David seems to refer to the division of the land of promise by lot. What fell to the share of his tribe had some special advantages, for which he expresses himself with gratitude and joy. He had also been raised up from an obscure and contracted station to the possession of honours and resources, which filled him with wonder and praise, and led him to exclaim, Lord, what am I, and what is my father's house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ?" There are many who are similarly favoured, though not in an equal degree. They have independence; or if they have not abundance, they have competency, which Agar deems far preferable. They have an agreeable calling. Business prospers, and exceeds their wants. They have a peaceful dwelling and affectionate connections. They have health, and power to relish the beauties of nature, the bounties of earth, and the endearments of social life "Not more than others they deserve, And far more--Their cup runneth over. "the Only let them remember that these indulgences are not one thing needful;" and that it becomes them to say with Watts, Or, with Cowper, "Without thy graces and thyself, I were a wretch undone." "Give what thou canst, without thee we are poor, Whatever these outward blessings may do for them, they cannot reach their principal exigences. They profit not in the day of wrath, nor deliver from death, nor evince the friendship of God, nor relieve the burdened conscience, nor heal the wounded spirit, nor content the cravings of an immortal mind. Yea, they should also remember, that they are in peculiar danger from these enjoyments. The peril is, that they trust in uncertain 1 ches, and not in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy-That they make the greature a substitute for the Creator-That they lose the heari |