comfort diminished by the lapse of years. As the sun in the heavens has the same quickening and cheering power over the material world, as in the day when God first formed it, and set it in the heavens; so have the beams of the Sun of righteousness the same efficacy to heal the wounded conscience, and to comfort the afflicted soul, as when they first shone upon His humble followers.

Remember that we need the daily influence of that cheering presence, as much as the natural world requires the daily action of the returning sun. And if we ourselves know the value of that spiritual health which can be attained only by His blessed influence, we shall earnestly pray and endeavour that the same Sun of righteousness may arise on all nations which are yet unacquainted with His healing power; and that, as the Ruler of the spiritual heaven, He may sway the hearts of men in all parts of the world, drawing them unto Himself,' and ordering all their unruly wills and affections.2

1 John xii. 32.

2 Collect for Fourth Sunday after Easter.

XXV. THE WASTE HOWLING WILDERNESS.

"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness."-Deut. xxxii. 10.-See also Isa. xxxv. 1; xl. 3; Rev. xii. 6.

THE warm feelings and the lively fancy of youth lead us to imagine this world a place of endless pleasure; where light toil is followed by fresh amusement; where each new candidate for happiness is received with frankness, and assisted with ready zeal; where every wish is crowned with success, and there is no time for sorrow in the perpetual round of interest and occupation. Holy Scripture represents the world as a "waste howling wilderwaste, "because it bears no fruit that is really healthful or satisfying; and "howling," because it is peopled by those who are as the wild beasts of the desert in unruly passions and mutual injury. Its dark places are said to be full of the habitations of cruelty. The terrible wilderness in

ness:

1 Isa. lv. 2.

1

2 Ps. lxxiv. 20.

which the children of Israel wandered forty years on their way to Canaan, is the Scriptural type of the world. And experience soon shows that the account which Holy Scripture gives of the world is the true account. Its pleasures are tempting in appearance, but bitter to those who eagerly seize them. Instead of receiving the new comer with cordial welcome and frank assistance, its inhabitants seek only to take advantage of his simplicity, and to keep the start of him in the race for those things which they count desirable. The weak, the afflicted, and the friendless, are scornfully passed over, or oppressed with cruelty.

Such is the wilderness which we have to cross on our way to Heaven. God finds us in it as infants who have been exposed by their parents, and are lying in their blood, and perishing.' He saves us by His sovereign grace, and adds us to His Holy Church. He gives us His word to be "a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path," so that on "the dark mountains," and beside the dangerous pits, our feet may not stumble; but that we may be able to make out the true way, though sometimes (it may be) only a step at a time.

2.

Not even this lantern, however, will avail "to keep us from falling," unless we lean always on that invisible, but ever present, Friend, who "sticketh closer than a brother." 5 Our wisdom will be to remember at all times the true nature of this place in which our pilgrimage is appointed; that so we may never be tempted to linger on the road by anything that seems fair on the right hand or on the left. We shall pity those who are looking for a home, where all is so hollow and so

1 Ezek. xvi. 6.
* Jude 24.

2 Ps. cxix. 105.

3 Jer. xiii. 16.

5 Prov. xviii. 24.

dark; and we shall seek occasions for persuading them to join us, as Moses persuaded Hobab,' by saying to him, "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord hath said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel."

XXVI.-THE CHOICE GARDEN.

"How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar-trees beside the waters."-Numb. xxiv. 5, 6.-See also Gen. ii. 15; Isa. li. 3; lxi. 11; Jer. xxxi. 12.

As the waste wilderness is the emblem of the world, so a choice garden is set forth in Holy Scripture as an image of God's Church. A garden is a place enclosed out of the common waste ground, and set apart for special culture and fruitfulness.

:

Its site is chosen for advantage of soil and shelter ; and for that abundant supply of water, which is so needful for the health and produce of its plants. Care is ever taken to screen it from every rude blast to maintain or improve the natural goodness of the ground, and to make the water flow in such channels as may conduct it most easily to the several plots and borders. In their happy garden, which God separated from the world around, for our first parents, we read' of a river that "went out of Eden to water the garden;" and that "it was parted, and became into four heads." In laying out a garden, it is divided and arranged, just as in that happy place, according to some well-ordered pattern, so as to bespeak an unity of design; and he who is set to "dress it and to keep it," is ever careful both to remove whatever is common and unsightly, and to fill every nook and angle with the choicest flowers, and the most useful and delicious fruits. The owner of the garden delights to come into it, when the tender shoots are first showing themselves above the ground, or when it is in all the pride of summer beauty or autumnal fruitfulness. Its sunny stillness and repose invite him to peaceful meditation. Its exact order, and its smooth lawns, and its many-coloured borders, and cool shades, and clear waters, are soothing to the eye that is wearied with the glare and confusion of the crowded marts; and the soft breeze that whispers among the fruits and flowers is laden with the most grateful fragrance.

It is thus that God has chosen out of the world a Church or "peculiar people," to be His own portion and inheritance. He fences3 and protects it from the enemies that seek its ruin; and sets in

1 Gen. ii. 10.

21 Pet. ii. 9

3 Isa. v. 2.