"*

moment, until I see him, embrace him, and exclaim, in a much fuller sense than the Patriarch used the words, when he heard of Joseph, “ It is ENOUGH.'

Then will the sentiment of the inspired Proverbialist be completely verified 166 When the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” + The indulgence of irregular desire f led to the forfeiture of the tree of life in the first paradise. The encouragement of spiritual desire after my Saviour, will lead me to the full enjoyment of “ the tree of life" in the second paradise. Indeed, the state of the believer on earth is always that of desire, rather than of attainment. In heaven, this will be completely gratified, and the attainments of the soul will be commensurate with, and even largely exceed, its more expanded and ardent desires. In the interim, since the character of my desires is really the character of my spiritual condition, let me, by prayer and the habitual exercise of faith, live in communion with those who say,

“ The desire of our souls is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee.” ||

Ah! whence that soothing sound that came

So soft, yet burthening the wind ? It kindles, like some latent flame, The ardent longings of my mind. It is the Spirit's voice,

Still as the evening breeze,

Just sighing through the trees,

Breathing celestial joys:
It fills me with unwonted fire,
With tender, strong, yet pure desire.

But say, my restless, beating heart,

What object draws thy soaring thought, That thou with worlds wouldst freely party And deem thy purchase cheaply bought? Jesus, my Saviour God!

Him my touched soul desires;

His are these bosom fires,

Panting to sound abroad
The name he bears — the love he shows
The grace that from his bounty flows.

The Indian turns his pensive eye

In silence to the azure deep;
Or glances at the crimson sky,
Or where his fathers' ashes sleep:
A sigh escapes his breast,

The tear begins to flow,

And fond desire to glow:

He sighs — he weeps for rest. 5 Ah! who can point — who tell me where My soul may flee to shun despair ?

“ The God who framed yon lamp of light,

And filled that ocean with its flood; That garnished o'er the vault of night, And satisfies our tribes with food; Where is he? tell me where!

I'll rush through flood and flame

To learn his unknown name ;

Where is he? tell me where! Creation's universal Lord ! 0! speak one word — one beam afford!”

He will — he will, lone child of sighs;

Thou shalt not long for light in vain; E'en now his angel cleaves the skies, To waft thy teachers o'er the main. DESIRE OF NATIONS, hear!

The world awaits thy day;

O! hasten on thy way

To dry the mourner's tear.
The many crowns shall deck thy brow,
And every knee in homage bow.

ELECT.

MY SAVIOUR is the Elect of God: he is the Elect of my soul; and I am elect in him.

1

My Saviour is the Elect of God. Let me observe how solemnly the Lord, by his prophet, declared this, and claimed attention to the declaration. "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine ELECT, in whom my soul delighteth." I cannot be mistaken in applying this to my Saviour, because an inspired evangelist has authorized the application. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Elect of God, in his covenant relation to his church. Chosen from eternity, as the head of a body of redeemed sinners, through whom eternal glory was to accrue to the Godhead, he was the object of Jehovah's entire delight. His being thus the Elect and the delight of God, manifests the perfection of his fitness for the work he was

a

to accomplish. The unerring wisdom of the divine mind could not be mistaken in the choice of its agent; nor could that agent be otherwise than fully adapted to its purposes.

My Saviour has, indeed, been “ despised and rejected of men.”* It was predicted that he should be so; and the accomplishment of this, as well as every other prediction respecting the chosen one of God, proves that Jesus was that chosen one.

66 Wherefore also it is contained in the Scriptures, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, ELECT, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient." +

But is the Lord Jesus precious to my soul ? Has he made me willing to obey his word, and to take him as the corner-stone of my hopes and my happiness? Has he given me a unity of will and choice with the Father, to whom he has reconciled me? I am, then, privileged to say, ,