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with an everlasting salvation." "Preserved in Christ Jesus." The ark contained the whole church of God representatively; so the whole church is in Christ. Not only were they seen in him by God the Father from all eternity, but by virtue of his resurrection, life communicated to them, they are made very members incorporate of his mystical body, "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." As Noah and

his family were in the ark when the flood came, so the church were in Christ at the time the storm (of God's wrath) fell upon him." They were so in Him, as that they are reckoned to have died when he died; to have risen when He rose, and are now sitting in heavenly places in Him."

But to consider the ark a little more particularly. It was made of wood. Wood, I believe, in a typical sense, sets forth the human nature of Christ, while gold is used to represent his divine nature. This may remind us that it is said, "A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." "Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He likewise himself took part of the same." Christ could not have been a Daysman between God and man, so as to lay his hand upon both, without taking our flesh. Sin must be atoned for, and the law magnified, in the very nature in which that sin had been committed, and the law outraged. And had it been possible (which, with reverence be it spoken, it was not) for God to pardon guilty rebels and receive them into his favour again by a free act of sovereignty, without the incarnation of Christ, still we could never have approached him as our Father, nor could we have known Jesus in those unspeakably endearing relationships in which, by virtue of his manhood, He stands to us, as our elder Brother, our Bridegroom, our Husband, our Fellow; as Ps. xlv. 7. And how little, comparatively speaking, should we have proved of the depths of his love, or the tenderness of his sympathy. But viewing him in his complex nature, seated on the throne, though he be "God over all, blessed for ever," yet may we look up and say, "The man" at God's right hand, Jehovah's fellow, "is very near of kin to us." And oh! with what holy boldness should this thought fill us in our approaches to the Father.

The ark was of gopher wood. The word used by the Septuagint translators signifies perfect wood. This may remind us of the Lamb without spot, who was perfect God and perfect man, uniting in his one person all the perfections of both natures. It was pitched within and without with pitch. This seems to suggest the idea of impenetrability. The whole curse and wrath of God fell upon Christ, and He, in the power of his godhead, sustained that infinite weight of wrath, so that not a particle shall reach those in Him.

Jesus says,

"Rooms shalt thou make in the ark.” "In my Father's house are many mansions"-abiding places. "Abide in me." "Make me" your dwelling-place. This is the only "peaceable habitation," the only "sure resting-place." Let this then be our daily

prayer, resort.

"Be Thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually

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"The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits." The ark indeed was an extraordinary size, and capable of containing very many, still it only faintly shadows forth the largeness of the heart of him who says, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden." Ho, every one that thirsteth." "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." They who make Christ their habitation shall never have occasion to say, "The place is too straight for me." Much rather in the contemplation of the vastness of that inheritance they have in Jesus, they shall exclaim, with the Psalmist, "I will walk at liberty," for " thou hast set my feet in a large room." The window appears to have been in the roof of the ark, so that when those within looked out, they could only see what was above them; not the earth, or the waters of the flood. This may teach the believer, even in the fiercest storms, ever to be looking upward; not like Peter, to be looking at the boisterous winds and waves, but to have his eye steadily fixed upon Him, who "sitteth above the water flood;" who "ruleth the raging of the sea;" who will not suffer the waves of affliction, or the floods of temptation, to rise higher than he has ordained, and who, at the right moment will say, "Peace, be still." We find that ample provision was made for all the creatures in the ark, which may remind us of 2nd Peter, i. 3, "His divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness." God hath laid up in Jesus a fulness of every grace for the daily and momentary supply of all his children. "It hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; fulness of life, pardon, peace, hope, joy, strength," &c. Jesus is the great storehouse of his church. Not a want can arise to any of them but provision has been made in him for that want. My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

66

Z. Z. Z.

AFFLICTIONS-A KIND GRANT.

Ir is far above nature to regard afflictions of every sort and degree as a kind and merciful grant, included in the inventory of good things, which Jehovah, of his boundless love, bequeathed to his people in Christ Jesus before the world began (Eph. i. 3, 4, &c. ; 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22, &c. ; 2 Tim. i. 9). Such they really are, inasmuch as they flow from paternal love, and have a sanctifying effect upon the souls of the faithful (Heb. xii. 6, 7, 10; Rom. viii. 28). And a sweet writer says, "Love cannot

wrong us. It blesses, but cannot curse.

Its utterance and acings are

all of peace and gladness." Its chastenings may be grievous to the flesh, but they, nevertheless, yield the peacable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby (Heb. xii. 11). They try the faith and patience of the saints; enlarge their experience of the vanity of all creature good; discover to them the reality and extent of the Spirit's work upon their souls; and effectually check all tendency to settle down in this world, or to rest in anything short of Christ for the comfort and satisfaction of their being (James i. 2—4; Rom. v. 3—5; 1 Cor. iii. 11-13), &c. No wonder that the apostle Paul gloried in afflictions, distresses, and persecutions (2 Cor. xii. 16). He knew the blessed results of such visitations, and instead of deprecating them, he received them with joy and thankfulness. While they made him deeply sensible of his own weakness as a creature, and his utter insufficiency for every good work, they also furnished the opportunity for the strength of Christ to rest upon him (2 Cor. xii. 9). It was in tribulation that the choice consolations of the gospel were enjoyed by him in all their

sweetness.

Hence he was enabled to comfort the faithful who were in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith he himself was comforted of God (2 Cor. i. 4). Such are the inestimable advantages of sanctified affliction to all the heirs of grace.

Harewood.

JOSHUA LAYCOCK.

God never pardons one sin, but he pardons all; and we dishonour Him more by not trusting in Him for complete forgiveness, than ever we did by sinning against Him.

What a fool am I, to be always laying the weight of my salvation upon myself, instead of Christ.

Remembrance of sin, and sense of redeeming mercy, will be the ground of praise and thanksgiving to God and the Lamb for ever in heaven. Why should it not be so now, seeing I have as good warrant from the Word of God to believe that my sin is wholly taken away, as if I was actually in heaven?

Some sins I have forgot; many I remember, and these so heinous, that I cannot forgive myself for them. It is well for me that God, who forgets none, forgives all.

The Gospel is a powferful engine for raising the fallen nature of man, but then God must have the working of it.

THE BELIEVER'S PEDIGREE, DIGNITY, AND FINAL DESTINY.

TALK of pedigree! why there is none worth a farthing but that of the Lord's family. While the proudest of England's nobles can trace their descent no higher than William of Normandy and his needy fellowadventurers, the humblest believer in Jesus Christ can trace his higher than Adam, even as high as eternity. Startling as it may appear to the worldling, the believer is a son of God by eternal predestination, as the apostle Paul teaches in Eph. i. 5; and if a son, then an heir; an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ, of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, being reserved in heaven for him (Rom. viii. 16, 17; Gal. iv. 6, 7; 1 Peter, i. 4). He is manifestly one with the incarnate Son of God, and thus exalted far above the angels; for their Lord is his eldest brother (Heb. ii. 16, 17; John xx. 17). Mutual imputation flows from the mystic union which exists between Christ and him. Christ is made sin for him, and he, the believer, the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. v. 21). He is now a partaker of the life, blessedness, and glory of Immanuel, his model and pattern: and the sublime destiny which awaits him hereafter, is that he shall be fully like him wholly freed from sin, and assimilated to his glorious image (Eph. i, 3, &c.; Rom. viii. 29). In the sure and certain hope of this blissful consummation he lives, looking upon the spiritual gifts, which he receives from the Father of lights, as the earnests of his glorious inheritance (Eph. i. 14). The dignity conferred upon the believer, though not discerned by the godless worldling, is truly divine, and of unspeakably more value than sovereignty over the principalities and powers of darkness. Accordingly the Redeemer said to his disciples, " In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven (Luke x. 20). The apostle John, addressing his fellow-believers, exclaims, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John iii. 1).

Amazing love passing all understanding! Every believer is descended from the King of kings; he is of the blood-royal of heaven; and despite the meanness and poverty of his external condition in this world, he is an heir of God (Gal. iv. 7; John i. 12, 13; Eph. iii. 14; James. i. 18.) Here he knows God but in part, but hereafter he shall know him even as also he is known (1 Cor. xii. 12). In his most privileged moments, he ardently longs for the happy period when he shall see God as he is, and be made like him (Ps. xvii. 15; 1 John iii. 2).

Harewood.

JOSHUA LAYCOCK.

THOUGHTS ON THE SONG OF MOSES. EXODUS. XV.

WONDERFULLY great are Jehovah's works, whether we behold him as the Creator," the Word "speaking, "Let there be light, and there was light" (Gen. i.), or that we see him as the gracious Saviour, who, 4000 years after, should take into union with himself the human nature, and bleed, suffer, and die for the children "whom the Father had given unto him" (John xvii.) to atone for all their guilt, and lead them to glory everlasting; or that we behold him as the eternal Spirit, working in the children whom the Father gave unto the Son, all things needful, from their spiritual birth, through all the changing scenes, trials, tribulations, troubles, and afflictions, both inward and outward, supporting them in the hour of death, even until their entrance into glory everlasting.

Behold, again, the great Father of mercies, in the work of universal providence, swaying the sceptre of might and power over all creatures ; and we see sovereignty displayed in all and in everything, so that not a sparrow can fall to the ground without his will, nor does he forget the very hairs of our head. What a blessed proof that, even over the most minute thing, his providence watches, creating an obstinate Pharaoh, "raising him up to show forth his power," forming a hard-hearted, stiff-necked, disobedient people, that He might show forth his Almighty sovereign power, which destroying the one, saves the other; or view that Almighty sovereignty in God's dealings towards the chosen of his love, equally sinful, springing from the same degenerate root, according to the flesh, a nature prone to evil, and saying unto the Most High, "We will not that he shall reign over us." Truly the Lord as a Sovereign, "shuts the eyes of the wicked, that they cannot see, and stops their ears, that they cannot hear," whilst he gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and eternal life to them whom he loved before the foundations of the world." What a mercy to be led to behold that Almighty Ruler of the universe, with omnipotent sway, "raise the beggar from the dunghill, and cast down princes from their throne "-to know that with him it is nothing to work by few or by many; his counsel shall stand in spite of Satan's machinations, and the wolf's sneers or smiles, He, the Eternal, the Almighty, will perform his good pleasure. Oh, the unspeakable blessing to know that Jehovah is my Father in Christ!

We read in this chapter the song of Moses, a song which we find the Church triumphant (Rev. xv.), engaged in singing, standing on the sea of glass, transparent as the truth itself, mingled with fire, emblem of the Lord's power going out against the enemies of God and of

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