conduct, he "sent fiery serpents among the peo ple, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died." But, upon their repentance, God bade Moses make a serpent of brass, and set it on a pole; "and it came to pass, that, if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." Who would believe that looking at a brazen serpent would cure a mortal wound? Yet God decreed it; and all who depended on his word were cured. Our Lord Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have eternal life." It was not merely looking at the serpent, but believing that God had made means of cure that saved the people. So it is with respect to our Lord. Many looked at him when he hung on the cross, and many to this day look at images and pictures of who will never be the better for it. this And him, a It is not seeing with the eyes, but believing with the heart that is meant in the encouraging invitation "Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth.' God, not man, appoints the way in which the soul is to be healed; and, if we depend on man rather than God, we shall have cause to lament our folly, in neglecting the counsel of him who has said, "Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Well, Naaman was content to wash in Jordan, and you find that his disorder was cured; no other means could effect it. He was persuaded to try; and he not only got rid of his frightful leprosy, but his skin came unto him again, as the skin of a little child. Just so must we become as little children, before we can enter the kingdom of heaven; and a new heart and spirit must be given us, as pure and as clean as Naaman's new skin. Nothing in the world can do this but the power of Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other: "For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." The history of Naaman is among those Scriptures "given by inspiration of God; and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" and may it prove so to you, dear reader, and lead you to reflect on your state, and to enter on the way that leads to your eternal salvation! The Lord often works by the most unlikely means, to produce surprising effects, and gives us his blessings in the disguise of afflictions. Who would have thought that when the little maid was carried away captive, and torn from her sweet home, her dear friends, and all that she loved, and made a servant in a foreign land, it was that she might become the instrument of a signal mercy to the great general of the King of Assyria; of sending him into the land of Israel as a supplicant to the prophet of that God whom he knew not, and through him to make known the great and glorious Jehovah, the God of Israel, among the Syrian people; compelling Naaman to declare there was no other God in the world but him? even We find that Naaman, meaning to build an altar to the Lord, asked for some of the earth of Israel of which to make it. been thing I have often astonished to see people regarding one more holy than another which was as just like it-whether it was a day, or any thing Indeed, there is one day that I should else. be very glad to see them keeping far more holy than they do-the Sabbath-day, which the Lord hath hallowed, but which, in general, they shockingly profane. And there is one book, the Holy Bible, which I should rejoice to observe them more frequently praying over, and showing more reverence and attention to; and one holy place, the house of God, which I wish they would frequent with deeper impressions of its sanctity, and the blessing promised to sincere worshippers, those who worship God in spirit and in truth. But, as to the particular virtue of one handful of earth, or one piece of wood or paper, or one building above another, I can find no warrant whatever for it in the Word of God; but I am convinced that such things are among what the apostle alludes to, when he bids us turn from these vanities, to serve the living God. The day will soon arrive, when this earth, and all its works shall be burnt up; and it will then be found, that he alone is safe whose hope is fixed on the foundation of our faith, the Rock of Ages-"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Wherefore should I mourning go I have heard of one who stands Jesus, see my pain and guilt; Sin and sorrow, pain and fear, Lord, and help my unbelief. Let me, then, beseech those who read these pages who are, like all others, polluted by sin, to Jesus Christ, that they may be - to apply cleansed from all iniquity through his most precious blood; and to lift up their hearts to God in earnest prayer, power and defilement. for deliverance from its |