66

*

But he is the great, the supreme, the abiding Prophet of his church, who, according to the prediction of Moses, was to be raised up from amongst the brethren of the Jewish family, to make a full disclosure of Jehovah's will, and to confirm and complete the system of revealed mercy. It is my Saviour who prophesies in the goodly fellowship of the prophets "— in "the glorious company of the apostles "in the holy band of the evangelists and in the consecrated host of evangelical teachers, given and promised to his church in every age, 66 even unto the end of the world." He preached his own gospel by the lips of Old Testament seers; by his own lips, when he walked on earth; by his ministers, whom he commissioned to all nations.‡

Beloved Saviour! I thank thee for the benefits of thy prophetic spirit, which have flowed down to me through thy servants, the prophets. I adore thee, with unutterable gratitude, for the blessings of thine own personal instruction of my soul; for none can teach like thee. When I look merely to men, - uninspired, though faithwhether as writers or as vocal expos

ful men,

--

itors of thy will, I am often perplexed. I desire to take Mary's seat. Here, O Lord, teach me, and lead me into all truth. On thy lips, speaking to me in the soft whispers of thy Spirit, I would hang, in childlike docility, expecting to learn more from thee in an hour, than from human wisdom in the longest life. Be pleased to spread before me correct views of the prophetic page, that I may neither adopt the wild interpretations of the fanatic, nor sink into incredulous carelessness, with the skeptic. Diffuse the sound wisdom of thy whole truth through my soul, and manifest its influence and its veracity, by the miracles of thy grace, in my temper and life.

GREAT PROPHET of thy church, 'tis thine

To break thy word's mysterious seal
To touch with light each beaming line,

And all its glorious sense reveal.

a

My God! one lesson taught by thee

Transcends a thousand learned from men;
And now this blessed truth I see,
I'll never leave thy feet again.

15 *

*

REDEEMER.

66

or

ONE."

My Saviour is my REDEEMER. Job knew and applied to his own comfort and support the delightful import of a similar assurance. " I know that my Redeemer liveth," 66 is the LIVING

Well aware of the grandeur and immensity of the work of redemption, promised to be wrought out for man, believers of the earliest times expected no other to sustain the arduous office but Jehovah. They saw that it would

cost more to redeem their souls,” than any created power or benevolence could pay, and that no one inferior to Him could pay down the incalculable cost. The Israelitish pilgrims, reflecting upon their temporal deliverance, and upon the spiritual redemption of which that was a type, “ remembered that the High God was their Redeemer," + and reposed their trust in him when

fresh difficulties crossed their path. The essential divinity of the world's Redeemer was the frequent theme of Isaiah's enraptured strain. I may with great advantage and pleasure bring together the numerous passages of that illustrious prophet, that enforce this truth.*

Well, my soul, consider the nature of that redemption, which constitutes the "one thing needful," and see whether thy Saviour has not fully qualified himself to be thy Redeemer. "I am sold under sin."+ I feel, I lament, I acknowledge the mournful fact of my whole nature's captivity to the three supreme slaveholders, - Satan, Sin, and the World. But I rejoice in the equally certain fact, that I am "bought with a price," "redeemed without money." The ransom is paid, acknowledged, and accepted as sufficient. Christ is himself both the ransomer and the ransom. Do I mourn, as lying bound under the curse of the law? I wipe away my tears, when I perceive that" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."¶ When incipient faith begins to realize this truth,

*Isa. xli. 14; liv. 5; xliii. 14; xlvii. 4; lix. 20.

Rom. vii. 14.

1 Cor. vi. 20.

§ Isa. lii, 3.

Luke i. 68. 1 Tim. ii. 6.

Gal. iii. 13.

then I begin to experience redemption as an exercise of power — as a display of delivering

grace; sin is made to loosen, and let

go

its hold on the faculties and dispositions of my

soul. My Redeemer puts forth and glorifies the energies of his Spirit within my breast. I feel that I am free, and that as a freed man I am sweetly constrained to choose the service of

my

deliverer. I am His, who hath purchased for me, and conferred upon me, “the glorious liberty of the children of God." *

A part, indeed, and the largest part of this purchase is yet held in reversion for me, by his own faithful hand. But it is as sure as if it were already in my possession. In common with “the whole creation,” I am " waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body," the concluding act of our great salvation, when heaven itself, the forfeited, but now recovered inheritance of my perfected and glorified nature, shall be made forever mine.

Hence, to thy native hell, Despair; away!
Nor flap thy pinions near the realms of day:
Thy direful form may scare the demon host
With memory sad of bliss forever lost;