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sess it? Let us love God above all things. This surely is no hard precept, no heavy service. What is it that Christianity enjoins us?-to con template that which is most perfect; to admire that which is most lovely; to imitate that which is most excellent; to cultivate feelings and affections which are essentially amiable, suited to our nature, and the sources, even in this world, of almost all the happiness we can enjoy or bestow; to be matured for everlasting bliss; and, by the perfect sanctification of our souls, become meet for that kingdom, where faith shall be lost in knowledge, and hope in possession, but where charity, unextinguished and unextinguishable, shall reign and triumph for ever.

I conclude with a passage which should be graven upon every heart: -"God is love; and be that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."

CRITO.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THE Ode of Habakuk, says a Hebrew critic*, is a truly sublime one; in which Jehovah is described as coming forth in judgment against Judea, and all the neighbouring Countries; whose measure of iniquity

being full, Nebuchadnezzar is raised up as the rod in the hand of God, and Jehovah comes forth in power and great glory as in war against them. All nature trembles before him: the mountains shake, and, with their altars upon them, bow themselves at his feet: the rivers, their symbolical divinities, are dried up: the sun and moon, so long the rivals of God, stand abashed at his presence, stop in their career, and then flee before him: the nations, their worshippers, are scattered like chaff; and nothing can abide the majesty of his presence, whose brightness eclipsed the heavens, and filled the earth with his glory.

It appears to me, Mr. Editor, that this much-admired chapter, called the Prayer of Habakuk, stood originally in lines, or hemistichs, as some other parts of the Divine poetry are arranged in the Hebrew copies at this time. I have attempted a translation of this prophetic ode from the original Hebrew, in exactly seventy Babylonian Captivity; and have enlines, according to the years of the deavoured to exhibit the whole of it in language more descriptive, and, I flatter myself, conformable to the sacred original, than you will find in the common version. I am, &c.

ODE OF HABAKUK.

O LORD, I have heard of thy fame:

O LORD, I was afraid at thy work:

In the drawing nigh of the years, revive it;

In the drawing nigh of the years, make it known;

In wrath remember mercy.

GOD came from Teman †,

And the HOLY ONE from Mount Paran :

His glory covered the heavens,

And the earth was full of his praise.

His brightness shone as the light,

Bright beams issued forth from his place,

And there was the pavilion of his strength.
Before him went a fiery stream,

And thunder-bolts went forth at his feet:

He stood, and measured the earth;

Mr. Julius Bate, author of a Hebrew Lexicon.

A country in Arabia.

T. Y.

Heb. The Mount of Glory; because there God appeared to Moses, and glorified it with

is Divine presence.

CHRIST, ORSERY. No. 131.

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He beheld, and gave bounds to the nations:
The eternal mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills did bow themselves.
His ways are everlasting!

I saw the tents of Cushan* under affliction,
The curtains of the land of Midian † did tremble:
Was the LORD displeased against the rivers?
Was thine anger, O LORD, against the floods?
Was thy wrath, O LORD, against the sea,
That thou rodest through with thine horses,
And with thy chariots for victory?
Thou didst openly display thy bow;

The bows charged at thy word,

Thou didst cleave them as the earth with rivers ↑

The mountains saw thee, and shook;

The inundation of waters passed through:

The deep gave his voice,

And lift up his hands on high:

The sun stood still

The moon stayed in her course!

At the light of thine arrows, they went forward,
At the shining of thy glittering spear.

Thou didst march through the land in indignation,
Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger:

Thou wentest forth for the victory of thy people,

For victory with thine Anointed;

Thou woundedst the head of the house of the wicked, Thou didst rase it even to the foundation thereof.

Thou didst strike through with his bows,

With his bows, the head of his villages.

They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me,
Their triumph was to devour the poor,
To devour the poor secretly.

Thou leddest thine horses through the sea,
Through the heap of great waters!

I heard it, and my body trembled,
My lips shuddered at the sound,
Rottenness entered into my bones,
I was in dread, and trembled
Where I should find a rest,
A rest in the day of trouble;

When he cometh up upon the people,
When he shall invade them with his troops!..
Although the fig-tree shall not blossom,

Nor fruit be found in the vine;

Though the labour of the olive fail,

And the fields yield no meat;

Though the flock be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls:

Yet I will triumph in the LORD,

I will rejoice in the GoD of my salvation.
The LORD GOD is my strength,

And will make my feet like hind's feet;
He will make me to walk upon my high places
With my songs of victory.

• Ethiopia.

† A country bordering on the Red Sea.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I HAVE hitherto considered the word type in the sense, Dr. Johnson puts upon it, namely, as "an emblem," that "by which something future is prefigured;" but in the course of my reading through Dr. Clarke's Comment on the Bible, I have met with a passage which perplexes me: it is in his notes on Numb. xxi. 9. But in order that all your readers may have an opportunity of considering it, I will, if you please, transcribe the whole.

"The brazen serpent was certainly no type of Jesus Christ; but from our Lord's words we may learn, 1. That as the serpent was lifted up on the pole or ensign, so Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross. 2. That as the Israelites were to look at the brazen serpent, so sinners must look to Christ for salvation. 3. That as God provided no other femedy than this looking, for the wounded Israelites; so he has provided no other way of salvation, than

4.

faith in the blood of his Son. That as he who looked at the brazen serpent was cured, and did live; so he that believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life. 5. That as neither the serpent, nor looking at it, but the invisible power of God, healed the people; so neither the cross of Christ, nor his merely being crucis fied, but the pardon he has bought by his blood, communicated by the powerful energy of his Spirit, saves the souls of men.”

Now, in this passage, Dr. Clarke evidently allows, that the brazen serpent was a prefiguration of Christ's crucifixion; and that the people's being healed by looking at it, was an emblem of the believer's obtaining pardon for his sins by looking unto Jesus with faith in His atoning blood. And this expressly agrees with Dr. Johnson's definition of a type, as before-mentioned. But Dr. Clarke says, << The brazen serpent was certainly no type of Jesus Christ." The only reason why

Dr. Clarke hesitates at admitting the brazen serpent as a type of Christ, appears to be, from his own words, that it would be "the most. exceptionable one that could possi bly be chosen.",

Now, the same argument would apply for refusing to acknowledge the goats offered in sacrifice as types of Christ; for our Lord himself, in speaking of the day of judgment, says, "He shall separate the sheep from the goats;" meaning by the goats those who are devoted to destruction. And surely if it be im proper to use a serpent as a type of Christ, because it is the emblem of Satan, it would be equally improper to use a goat as such, since our Saviour has made it an emblem of the servants of Satan.

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FAMILY SERMONS. No. XLVII. Ephes. vi.1-Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit; and watching thereunto with all perseverance.

(The second Sermon on the Text.) II. THE next lesson taught by St. Paul, in the text, is this; That de votional duty should be performed with fervour and earnestness; in dependence on the assistance of the Divine Spirit. While our lips utter the prayer, our thoughts must be intensely fixed upon its subject. It is a difficulty, especially to the inexperienced in religion, to preserve the mind, when in the act of sup plication, from wandering to other things. Advanced Christians them selves, at times, are strangely per plexed and disquieted by their roving attention, which they wish to be stedfastly fixed upon God. This state of the heart is a source of grief and humiliation to them.

It is, however, very possible to possess a good ability to pray; that is, to speak the language of the closet, but without the consent of the heart. We may be what may

be called devotional orators, in point both of copiousness and propriety of expression; but this, in many instances, may arise less from feelings of contrition and resignation, than from a fair acquaintance with religious truths. It may be a mere effort of memory or of the understanding, and no evidence of a devout mind. More than this; one. person may be deluded into the strange sin of being proud of his prayers, while another is glorying in his riches. A chief thing to be sought in prayer is, that it may simply be a matter between God and a man's own soul. Therefore, when we address ourselves to the throne of grace, we should endeavour to be honest with ourselves, and examine impartially into the extreme deceitfulness of the heart. We should be willing to know the worst. It is not enough to pray in a set of general expressions, to be taught to understand and lament our errors; but we must seriously try to ana lyse our character, and to find out what our sins really are. It is an easy matter to confess ourselves to be sinners; but it is not an easy matter to know how we are such; particularly, no easy matter to search out our inward obstinacy, our plausible selfishness, our humbling va nity, and our unwillingness to be convinced of the extent of our du ties. It is no pleasant thing to be detected in the sins we have hitherto contrived to hide from others, and in a sense from ourselves. We are not well contented to part with the religious character we have ac. quired in our own circle. We pray to be humbled; but we should shrink from the means of humiliation. We would be relieved from the guilt and consequences of sin; but the pain of mortification in the necessary pro cess of this relief is what we cannot consent to endure. We want an answer to prayer; but it must be an answer suited to the views and wishes of a formal devotion.

A man who prays" in the spirit" really means to rise from his knees

and go and do precisely as he has prayed. He also confesses himself to be a sinner; but he descends into the dark depths of his conscience; willing to be ashamed and confounded at the sight and conviction of his guilt. The young ruler who applied to Christ, in order to learn the true method of salvation, asked, "What lack I yet?" But when Christ convinced him of his deficiency, and described how it might be remedied, he went away sorrow. ful. His question was fully answered; but he was confounded by the reply, and retired in disgust. He was sufficiently ready to pray; but he was utterly unwilling to go and obey the command which his prayer procured. The fervour of our devotion, and the earnestness of our spirits, must mainly depend upon self-knowledge. We must first feel ourselves sick, and then say, "Lord, help us!"

For

Farther; when we are required to pray" in the spirit," the Apostle may be supposed to urge us to pray in entire dependence upon the assistance of the Holy Ghost. "the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." The meaning of this may be, that "the spirit which God hath given us," if we are devout persons, " helpeth us against our infirmities of hope and prayer, and under our sufferings and distresses; for we are unmeet judges of our own necessities and condition, and the flesh is too prone to desire its own ease and safety. But the Spirit of Christ in us, teacheth and inclineth us to go to God as to a merciful allsufficient Father; and to pour out our souls' complaints before him, at least with groans, when we cannot utter them with words; and to say, Abba, Father; and to refer ourselves unto his wisdom, and cast our case in trust on him*." As the Spirit of God influences the soul in regard to Baxter, in loc.

all religious duties, it especially discovers its power in the great duty of devotion. By this Spirit alone can we gain and exercise a right judgment in all things, and understand the proper seasons, subjects, and effects of supplication. In an age prior to that of the Gospel, a prophet wrote, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication;" a promise amply confirmed by the Gospel, and fulfilled on every humble petitioner. Jesus Christ, when on earth, described the spiritual nature of devotion when he assured the woman of Samaria," the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." In proportion then as our supplications really come from our hearts, and are offered up in submissive reliance on the aid of the Holy Ghost, we pray "in the Spirit."

III. The Apostle adds, in the text, "watching thereunto with all perseverance."-By this we may under stand, generally, that all the spiritual anxiety and caution of the Christian have an immediate connection with his prayers. As the faith and obedience of such a person are main tained in their vigour by devotion, so all which he believes and practises helps forward that devotion. In the chapter before us, St. Paul exhorts the Ephesians to "put on the whole armour of God;" to invest their loins with truth; to defend their vital parts with righteousness; to put on the sandals of evangelical peace; to bear the shield of faith; to brace on the helmet of salvation; to wield the sword of the Spirit: and then, having so far finished his description of the Christian armour, he concludes by enjoining the duty of prayer, as that which would give completeness to the whole. Thus truth, righteousness, peace, faith,

and, lastly, the very influence of the word of God itself, are to be strengthened and perfected by prayer.

But here is required persevering vigilance. We must labour to maintain such a guard over our inward thoughts, our secret desires and hopes, and, farther, over our conduct in life, as that our devotion may not be lost to us. A sincere petitioner must evidence the truth of his profession by living as he prays. How possible is it to pray without heartily wishing to be heard! A covetous person who implores God to make him spiritually dead to the world, does not really hope that his request may be granted. One reason of this is, because, when he rises from his knees, he does not seriously set about watching his own heart and way of life. He does not pray that he may watch; neither does he watch that he may pray. The rule holds equally in the case of all sinners whatsoever. The sabbath-breaker, the unclean person, the drunkard, the idler, and the scorner of religion, do not inwardly desire that they may really observe the Sabbath, or become pure, or sober, industrious, or lovers of godliness; so that their prayers mean little, perhaps nothing. They are unwilling, perhaps they are determined, not to surrender the sins against which they pray. In each case, there is wanting that watchful and ready state of mind, which, in the economy of the Gospel, accom panies and strengthens the spirit of devotion.

How many among us, like the father referred to in the former discourse, are afraid lest our petitions should be granted! lest we should actually be required to abandon our favourite sins, notwithstanding we sometimes so humbly confess them before God to be vile, and with equal fluency desire him to mortify them. Oh, let us here be honest with ourselves. Let us, when we pray, ask whether we mean to go and do as we pray God to make us do. Sincere devotion, and sincere self-watch

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