There is a treasure, a rich and exceeding glorious treasure, within your reach; one which is freely offered to you, and which, unlike all the treasures of this world, is not subject to decay or change. That treasure is the word of God. In one sense, no doubt, it is your's already. You have the word of God in your possession; you have it in your houses; have you it also in your hearts? It is there only that it can be safely laid up. It is only by having it hidden there that you can really be enriched by it. And thus the apostle exhorts "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." You must know it as the word of your God, your own, your covenant God, or else it will be of little comfort to you to know that it "shall stand for ever." For that word contains many and grievous threatnings and denunciations of God's wrath against the rebellious and impenitent, as well as exceeding great and precious promises for his own people. His sheep, indeed, hear his voice, and they know it and follow him; but to those who will not hear his invitations of mercy, who are disobedient, and "obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness," it declares that there is in store for them, "tribulation and wrath, indignation and anguish," a horrible tempest, which shall infallibly come upon them and sweep them away, with all those refuges of lies to which they have trusted.

world is short and uncertain, and that those | learn that the "fashion of this world passeth things in which we are so apt to pride our- away?" When will you be convinced that selves, our health, our goodliness, our riches, that man only is truly wise, who is making our possessions, and all our creature comforts, preparation for a life which has no end," are, like the flower of the field, fleeting and laying up for himself a good foundation fading, beginning to decay perhaps at that against the time to come." very moment when their beauty is at its height, when they are fullest blown-and all about to pass away without leaving a trace of their existence behind them! But then the same word unfolds to our view a better world, where all is enduring-where all is substance, not shadow; where those who enjoy the pleasures which are at God's right hand, shall enjoy them for evermore. It addresses us as strangers indeed, and pilgrims upon earth, and exhorts us not to suffer ourselves to be entangled by its snares, or captivated by its allurements; but it also bids us look upon ourselves as having a home-a city-a sure dwelling-place a blessed mansion in heaven. And, whilst it calls to us, and says "This is not your rest, nor your inheritance, for it is defiled;" whilst it bids us 66 come out and be separate" from the ungodly, and from those whose whole care is for this lower world; it encourages us to come to him who is willing to adopt us into his family, and to give us in his house a place and a name better than that of sons and of daughters." And still further, whilst it plainly points out the end to which the broad and flowery road, upon which such multitudes are walking, must infallibly lead; whilst it shews the weakness and the fallacy of all those human systems, which have been devised for turning away the righteous anger of God, and for paying the debt which is due to his offended justice; whilst it says, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of," it sets clearly before us the "way of life," the ransom by which the captive is set free; the surety who has undertaken for us and paid the very last farthing of our debt; the great propitiation and atonement, which has been made for sin. It leads us to the Saviour, and tells us, that, if we wash in the fountain which he has "opened for sin and for uncleanness," our "sins," though they have been "as scarlet, shall be white as snow," and, though they have been "red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

Where, let me ask you, my brethren, is your hope fixed? What foundation are you laying? Is it on earth, or in heaven? Has this world a firm hold upon your heart and your affections? Is your whole, or your chief thought, how you may provide food for the body; or how you may increase your riches; or how you may while away that time, which seems to hangs so heavy on your hands, in levity and pleasure? O when will you

I am speaking to some who are old. Is it possible that there are any amongst you who are not yet convinced of the truth of the prophet's declaration, "all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field?" Have not you been disappointed in many of those hopes which you indulged whilst you were young? Have not many of those creature-comforts in which you once rejoiced been taken from you? Do not increasing infirmities and decreasing strength prevent you from enjoying to the same extent as formerly those which still remain? Can you conceal it from yourselves that you are very fast approaching the utmost limit of your earthly existence; and that very soon the whole world must be nothing to you? But on the other hand, in the course of your long life have you been in the habit of studying God's word? of looking into it and meditating on it frequently, and comparing the events which you have witnessed, and those which have happened to yourselves, with the declarations therein contained respecting the

manner of God's dealings with his creatures? | pleasures here below. But it holds out a light which is able to dispel the darkness, to cheer and gladden the heart of every pilgrim who has his face turned Zion-wards.

I am spending so much of that precious time which was given me in order that I might prepare for eternity.

And if so, have you ever found that word in error? Have you ever sought for counsel there, and been misdirected? Have you ever made trial of the truth of the promises which O! then, dear brethren, suffer not yourare there recorded, and found yourselves de- selves to be deceived by the vain promises ceived? Above all, have you been led by which are made you by the world. As you the invitations which are there given, to come go hence, look at the flowers which lie witherto that Saviour who promises rest to the weary ing around you, and think, there lie the emand heavy laden, and yet found that your bur-blems of those pleasures and vanities in which den was not lightened, that greater peace was not vouchsafed to you, that you were not able to go on your journey with greater joy, caused by the expectation of reaching at last that good land which Jesus has purchased for you, with his own blood? O, my brethren, the shorter your time becomes in this world (and you know how rapidly it is every day contracting) let God's word be more precious to you. Like David, take it for your "portion and your heritage." Let it be to you, as it was to him, your counsellor and your guide, and like him you shall experience, even to the end of your pilgrimage, that all its promises are "faithfulness and truth," and that even in the dark valley of the shadow of death, it shall be a "lamp to your feet and a light to your path."

But there are others before me who are still young, or in the prime of life. Let me add a few words in conclusion to them. We

have already seen that neither the gaiety nor
the beauty of the flower of the field is able to
protect it. And have you made any covenant
with death? Have you any promise made
you of long life? The flower indeed, as long as
it is permitted to bloom and flourish, glorifies
God, and praises him by its beauty and its fra-
grance. You, too, have a work to perform for
him. He has endowed you with better gifts
than he has bestowed on any other of his
creatures, and he looks to you to employ
them in his service. And do you consider
that voice, which, by God's command is
raised to warn you of the transitory nature of
this world's pleasures, and of the uncertainty
of your own continuance on this earth; do
you consider that voice the voice of an
enemy, because it breaks in upon those gra-
tifications in which your heart is so much en-
gaged? Is it not, on the contrary, the part of
a friend to warn you that, if you continue to
"walk in the ways of your heart, and in the
sight of your eyes," "for all these things God
will bring you to judgment?" Religion does
not, as you perhaps suppose, sadden or cast
a gloom over your path; it assures you in-
deed that you cannot always continue to
"walk in the light of your own fire and of the
sparks which
have kindled;" it tells you
you
that a gloom and darkness will and must
come over the path of him who seeks his

Then go and look into the word of God, and see in it those blessed promises of immortal happiness and everlasting joy, which are there made to all who will receive them. Give those promises a place, the chief place, in your affections; let that word be rooted in your heart; and then, whilst it shall please God to keep you here, you will be enabled to show forth the praises of him by whose right hand you have been planted; and when the flower shall droop and wither and disappear from off the face of this earth, it shall be only that it may be transplanted to a more genial climate and a better soil, where it shall no longer be subject to decay and death; but where it shall bloom for ever in the garden of the Lord.

THE SERVICES OF THE CHURCH.

No. V.

"Understandest thou what thou readest ?"-Acts viii. 30. THE NINETY-FIFTH PSALM, USUALLY CALLED "VENITE EXULTEMUS."

"IT is evident," says Dr. Boys, "not only by

church history, but also by the scripture, that psalms (Matt. xxvi. 30). When ye come together, every have always taken up a great room in divine service one of you hath a Psalm' (1 Cor. xiv. 26). Let not any, then, wonder at our often psalmody, both after and before the word expounded and read, and sometimes interlaced between both; a custom continued in all other reformed churches of Scotland, France, Flanders, &c. Above all others, our church hath fitly chosen this, as a whetstone to set an edge upon our devotions at the very beginning of public prayers in the temple; teaching plainly for what matter, and after what manner, it behoveth us to serve God in his sanctuary." Some think that this psalm was designed for the public service on the feast of tabernacles; others, for the Sabbath; and, so it has been used in all the Christian world, as the liturgy of St. Basil teaches, for the Greek church; the testimony of St. Augustin witnesses for the African church; and for the Western church, all its ancient offices retain it; and in the capitulars it is called the Invitatory

Psalm. The Jewish doctors themselves have confessed that it belongs to the times of the Messiah; and therefore our reformers prudently placed it here before the psalms, collects, and lessons. Whatever the occasion may have been, the author of the epistle to the believers under the gospel dispensation (Heb. iii. 15). Hebrews has taught us to consider it as an address to In this psalm there is a peculiarity of composition which is not undeserving of notice; the former part to

the conclusion of the seventh verse is conceived in the first person, and contains an invitation to praise and worship God from the consideration of his almighty power and providence, by which he created the world, and still continues to govern and direct it. The subject then changes, and the psalmist, whom St. Paul, in commenting on this psalm, affirms to be David, speaking in the character of the God of Israel, cautions his people against obduracy and contempt of his word and works, enforcing the precept by a recollective admonition of what befel their rebellious ancestors in the wilderness, "to whom he sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest." If we fail of entering into the eternal rest, it is for the same reason that the Israelities were excluded from the earthly rest in Canaan, because we refuse to hear God's word, and harden our hearts against his reproofs and calls to repentance.

and, therefore, one of our reformers is of opinion that David uttered this speech upon the Sabbath; as if he should say, "O come, let us sing unto the Lord, not in private only, but let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;" as in the hundreth psalm, “O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise." The consideration of this one point, that God is in every place by his general presence, and in this holy place by his special presidence, may teach all men to pray, not hypocritically, for fashion, but heartily, for conscience; not only formally to satisfy the law, but also sincerely, to widen our love to the "Lord our maker;" giving "unto Cæsar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's;" that we may not only pray where we should, but also to whom we should; "Let us sing unto the Lord, let us rejoice in the strength of our salvation, let us show ourselves glad in him." "Every one," says the old writer above referred to, "in his merry mood will say, O come, let us sing, let us heartily rejoice; but as good never a whit, as never the better. Silence is a sweeter note than a loud, if a lewd sonnet." If we will needs rejoice, let us, saith Paul, "rejoice in the Lord” (Phil. iv. 4); if sing, saith David, "let us sing unto the Lord." Vain toys are songs sung to the world; lascivious ballads are songs sung to the flesh; satirical libels are songs sung to the devil. Only "psalms and hyms and spiritual songs are melody for the Lord" (Colos. iii. 16). Augustine says, on this latter passage, "We may not exalt, but insult over (triumph, he means,) the world, the flesh, the devil; our exaltations and exultations are due to God only."

I. We have, in verses, 1, 2, 6, an exhortation to praise God: "Let us sing, let us come, let us worship." David is not content alone to praise God, but exciteth all other about him to do the same : "Let us sing with our heart, heartily; with hands and knees, O, come, let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker." David may be considered as a private man, or as a public character, embracing the offices of priest and prophet. Here then is a threefold pattern in one; an example for masters to stir up their families; an example for preachers to exhort their people; an example for princes to provoke their subjects unto the public worship of the Lord. It becometh great men, especially, to be good men, as being, as Nazianzen says, "unprinted statutes," and "speaking laws" unto the rest. This "affection was in Abra- "Let us worship, and fall down, and kneel before ham, Paul, and Joshua," and ought to be in all "ex- the Lord our maker" (v. 6), not before a crucifix, not horting one another while it is called to-day." We before a rotten image, not before a fair picture of a hold it a good rule in worldly business not to say to foul saint-these are not our makers-we made them our servants, come ye, go ye, arise ye; but, let us -they made not us. Our God unto whom we must come, let us go, let us arise. Now shall the children sing, in whom we must rejoice, before whom we must of this world be wiser in their generation than the worship, is a a " great King above all gods;" he is no children of light? Do we commend this course in god of lead, no god of bread, no brazen god, no worldly affairs, and neglect it in religious offices? As- wooden god; we must not fall down and worship our suredly if our zeal were so great to religion as our love "Lady," but our "Lord," not any martyr but our is towards the world, masters would not come to Maker, not any saint but our Saviour. Let us heartily church, as many do, without their servants, and ser- rejoice, let us fall down and kneel, with all that is vants without their masters; parents without their within us, with all that is without us, let him that children, and children without their parents; hus- made all be worshipped. Here let us make a stand bands without their wives, and wives without their and behold the wise choice of the church assigning husbands; but all of us would call one to another, as this place to this psalm, which excites us to come to Isaiah prophecied (Is. ii. 3), “Come ye, and let us go the temple of God quietly and jointly, "O come let up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the us sing," and when we are come to demean ourselves God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and in this holy place cheerfully, heartily, reverently. I we will walk in his paths:" and as David here pracwould fain know of those who despise our canons, as tised, "O come, let us sing unto the Lord, let us not agreeable to the canon of the holy bible, whether heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation." sitting in the time of divine service be this "kneeling," "Let us come before his presence, &c.” (v. 2). God whether standing be this "falling down?" "I would," is everywhere," whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or says an old writer, "that such as do imitate the Turks whither shall I go from thy presence?" True: God is in habit (who are luxurious in dress) would likewise a circle, whose centre is no where, circumference every follow them in humble comportment while they pray; where: yet is he said in holy scripture to dwell in hea- it is said of them that they exhibit great ceremoniousven, and to be present in his sanctuary more espe- ness, and are very attentive in their sacred rites." cially; manifesting his glory from heaven, his grace Think of this, ye that forget God, he will not be in the church principally. For he said in the law mocked, his truth is eternal, “heaven and earth shall (Exod. xx. 24), "In all places where I record my pass, but not one jot of his word shall pass." If an name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee:" angel from heaven, or devil on earth; if any private and, in the gospel (Matt. xviii. 20), "Where two or spirit shall deliver unto you rules of behaviour in the three are gathered together in my name, there am I church, contrary to this canon of God's own Spirit, let in the midst of them." Although every day be a Sab-him be accursed. David having exhorted us to praise bath, and every place a sanctuary for our private devotions, according to the particular exigence of our occasions, yet God hath allotted certain times and places for his public service (Levit. xix. 30), “Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary; I am the Lord." God is to be worshipped ever, and everywhere; yet, the seventh of our time, and the tenth of our living must more specially be consecrated to that honour which he requires in the temple;

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God in the congregation, next gives

II. Reasons why we should praise him (v. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,), which are drawn from his mercies in general as the Creator and Ruler of the whole world; and, in particular, for his election of the church. "The Lord is a great God," in himself so great that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, much less any "barren brain inwomb him;" and therefore David, unable to describe his greatness in the positive degree, shows

what God is in comparison of others: "a great King
above all gods;" tha nall things that is, which have the
name of God, whether they be such in title as angels in
heaven and princes on earth. ("I said, ye are gods :")
or in opinion, as gold to the covetous; to the epicure,
his appetite; to the superstitious man, his idol. Of
all gods in title, the Lord is the King, for he made
them; of those which are such in opinion he is Lord,
for he can destroy them. "In his hand are all the
corners of the earth," subject to his power and provi-
dence; "and the height of the hills," which are out of
our reach is his also. This may, possibly, be taken
figuratively; the most mighty monarch on earth is
king, as it were, but of a mole-hill, a lord of some one
angle, but in God's hand are all the corners of the
earth and the strength of the hills, that is of powerful
potentates, in comparison of whom, all others are low
valleys-both these are his, "the sea is his and he made
it." David names here first and principally the sea,
for a reason which may be given in Pliny's words,
who says, "God, who is wonderful in all things, is
most wonderfully wonderful in the sea," he gathered
its waters and fixed its shores," and his hands pre-
pared the dry land," when his word, at the creation,
made the dry land to appear. As this is a psalm of
evangelical reference, we inay transfer these praises to
Christ, since it is he that sets one foot on the sea and
the other on the earth as Sovereign Lord of both
(Rev. x. 2). Another class of reasons for praising God
is that drawn from God's judgments upon the ancient
Israelites who failed to offer unto God acceptable wor-
ship (v. 8-11) "To-day, if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, &c." If you will yield obe-
dience, for this is the scripture import of the word
"hear," to God's word, and profit by what you hear,
then do not obstinately settle yourselves in sin, as did
the Jews, in the provocation; or in Meribal, the place
where they quarelled with God and Moses, (Exod.
xvii. 2-7); and in the wilderness, notwithstanding
the many sensible proofs of God's power and tokens
of his favour bestowed upon them: "Forty years long
was I grieved," &c. God kept an account how often
they had distrusted him (Numb. xiv. 22), and this
really grieved him, for the sins of those who profess
to know God, not only anger but grieve him, and he
passed upon them a dreadful sentence, "since they
erred in their hearts," and would not interpret aright
the way of his providence and of his commandments,
a sentence which thus recorded: "Unto whom I
I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into
my rest." In his just and holy displeasure against
their sin, (not in passionate revenge) God sware that
none of them who were enrolled when they came out
of Egypt, should be found written in the roll of the
living at their entering into Canaan. To the universal
execution of this sentence Caleb and Joshua were the
only exceptions. These things are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come."

66

AN EXHORTATION TO THE LORD'S TABLE.* You have assembled this day in God's house of prayer and praise, and you are invited to draw still nearer to him at that altar which commemorates the dying love of the Redeemer, and presents to us his body broken and his blood poured forth for man. Here then is another command, which as Christians you cannot doubt, and yet of which alas! so many are neglectful. Why, let me ask, are any of a Christian congregation, except those whose professional duties oblige them, absent when we assemble round the altar of Christ? Do we not all acknowledge, and ought we not all to love the same Saviour? Ought we not all to be looking to the same blood to cleanse, Rev. Henry Blunt.

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the same righteousness to clothe, and the same Spirit to sanctify us? Should we not all equally tremble at the thought of being excluded from the same table hereafter? Why do we then make a separation here?

YOUNG MEN is it because you possess some feelings of a false and unholy shame at being seen to be so engaged? We honour the scruples of a tender conscience, however mistaken; but we are afraid too many have no better and no wiser reason than false shame, for absenting themselves from a duty equally binding upon all. When the "Canaanite was in the land" then, you would not have stood with Abram at his altar; you will not be found ranged on the Lord's side in the day of battle; neither then can you hope to be among his people when they rejoice in the day of his great and final victory, "as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." Or must we attribute your absence to another motive? Is it because the licentiousness of your habits in private tells you too plainly and too truly, that while you thus live, the altar of the Lord is no place for you? O, if it be so, pray, earnestly, faithfully pray, that God may grant you a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within you.

YOUNG WOMEN: why do you absent yourselves Is it because you have from the table of the Lord? suffered the trifles, the worthless trifles of the world, vanity, pleasure, dress, so to occupy your thoughts and hearts, that you have no real feelings for these high and heavenly ordinances, no heartfelt love for If it be so, may he Him who appointed them? open your hearts," by whom you have forgotten, the gentle influences of his grace, as he did the heart of Lydia of old, to "attend to things belonging to your peace, before they are hid from your eyes."

MEN OF BUSINESS AND OCCUPATION: why do you absent yourselves from the table of the Lord Is it because your whole time and thoughts are so engrossed by the perishing things in which you are engaged, that you have never yet so far reflected upon the purpose for which you were sent into the world, as to feel that you are sinners, and to fly to the Saviour for relief? May it please God to write these solemn words upon your consciences-" What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

PERSONS ADVANCED IN LIFE: why are you absent? Is it because you have so long neglected this ordinance or the Saviour who instituted it, that you cannot rouse 'yourselves from your lethargy, though the opening grave be yawning at your feet? May you be brought to know that the "hoary head is a crown of glory" only "when it is found in the way of righteousness!"

My beloved brethren, I do not, God knows, say these things in bitterness of spirit, but with a single, heartfelt desire for you and for your salvation. I would, if your time would permit, address you thus separately and individually, and would ask you all and each, why you thus trifle with a positive command of your dying Lord, the obligation of which I am certain not one among you would venture to dispute.