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purposes indeed did they come. thren, what surpassing power, wisdom, mercy, and love, appeared in this wonderful manner of effecting man's redemption! When the eternal God is contemplated in Christ, we then see the incomparable grace and glory of the divine character. We behold compassion without parallel, and love that passeth knowledge. We see mercy and truth meeting together, and righteousness and peace kissing each other. And which of the sons of men was ever like unto the man Christ Jesus? Where was there ever found in human form and nature such spotless purity, such ardent zeal, such unbounded and diffusive love, such unwearied patience, such gentleness and meekness, such lowly humility? Or who, like him, can deliver and save? Who like him can give peace and happiness? Who can bestow such temporal and spiritual blessings as he? Well did one of old exclaim, "None but Christ, none but Christ," and while we listen to the song of Moses, "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun," let our hearts respond,

and our voices resound, there is none like to Jesus, our Saviour, not one that can compare with him.

The prophet proceeds in admiration of the majesty and glory of the Lord, "who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky." You see the kings of the earth riding in their splendid chariots of state; the conquerors of the world proceed with pomp and pageantry in their triumphal cars; the adventurous mariner rides aloft upon the billows of the mighty waters in his noble ship; but the Lord rideth upon the heavens; the clouds are his chariots, and the cherubim and seraphim his attendant followers. "He rode upon a cherub and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." Thus is he celebrated in the eighteenth Psalm; and in the hundred and fourth the Psalmist says, "O Lord my God, thou art very great, thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain; who layeth the beams of his chambers in

the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind: who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire." Thus all the elements are used for his pleasure, and brought together to form his triumphal state. How magnificent the description, yet how incapable of affording a full conception of his glory. Thus he proceeds in his excellency displaying all his divine perfections; and thus he proceeds for the help of his people, to deliver them in danger, to bring instant help in trial, to avenge them on their enemies, to receive their souls to heaven. Cannot he

who thus rides upon the heaven become a very present help in every time of need? Cannot he come swift as the lightning's flash to his people's rescue? Cannot he bear them far away beyond the reach of every evil, and place them securely in the realms of perfect peace and uninterrupted joy? Oh! yes, my brethren, the Lord can do all these things, and every thing else which his people may at any time need. And he has promised that he will do thus for

them, and he will be faithful to his promise.

For, I now observe, that this great and mighty God, so incomparable, so infinitely. superior to all, is a covenant God, and by his covenant has engaged himself, with all his power and perfections, to the people who have embraced his covenant. These were of old the nation of the Jews: these are now the various members of the Church of Christ in all parts of the earth. I do not mean the whole body of nominal Christians, but I mean those who having been enlightened and converted by his grace do truly love honour and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses here turns and applies himself to his people. Christian believer, I do the same to thee. I say to thee, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them." The eternal God is thy refuge. The word refuge here means properly a habitation or dwelling place, wherein the inmate lives in safety and peace: and

his home to which he returns for quiet and rest from the toilsome business of life, its cares, distractions, and dangers. In the first verse of the ninetieth Psalm we read in the prayer-book version, "Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another." We read the same verse in the translation of the bible, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." From the two we perhaps gain a more correct idea of the meaning of the term than from either alone. It implies a fixed, wellknown, abiding place of protection, rest, peace, and happiness. God is this unto his people. In him they find a refuge from all the storms and troubles of life, a rest from their anxieties and earthly cares, a solace in their troubles, and safety in their dangers. This is sweetly expressed in the fifth verse of the twenty-seventh Psalm, "In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock." Yes, believing brother, if the eternal God be thy refuge, and he will be thy