the fruit be unto holiness, and the end everlast ed for us. WEDNESDAY MORNING. EXPLANATORY REMARKS. will admire the beauty of the reptile, and run te caress it. All the lower creatures being good in God's sight, must also have appeared good to the eye of man, whilst he was yet innocent like his Maker; and the worst of creatures now, might be the most winning then; for none were noxious when they came to Adam, in token of submission, to receive their names. The serpent therefore being as little dreaded as a lamb, and more subtle than any beast of the field, was selected by Satan, as the cover of his wiles and the instrument of his malice. So disguised, the arch-fiend said unto the woman, when he found her alone, Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?' God so good! why this needless restriction? surely there must be some mistake. Of a kindred spirit are those modern tempters who raise doubts either as to the amount of canonical scripture, or the meaning of any part; alleging, for the one uncertainty, the obscureness of history, for the other, the diversity of sects; and then insinuating that God has not made any certain communication of his will at all. Let every immortal soul see the necessity of diligent reading, with prayer, for the divine teaching, that he may know the truth as it is in Jesus, and be able to set his seal to the certainty of what God hath spoken; and then it will be easy, knowing what spirit they are of, to resist all such tempters. The devil, having probably observed some wavering as the effect of his first assault, proceeded to a bolder step, as tempters always do; and in direct opposition to the word of God asserted, 'ye shall not surely die.' If first there was a doubt as to the meaning of that word, there would next be less fear of the threatened punishment; and to a mind that in the smallest swerves from the firm holding of any truth, the most arrant lie against that truth, from whatever lips, will not be without effect. And having thus inspired the hope of impunity, the serpent, with consummate guile, began to reckon the immediate advantages which might be gained by eating of the forbidden tree. 'Your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil; and that, too, in the very day that you eat, as God knows; you shall see the most distant things as well as those that are near; things in heaven as well as things on earth; what peoples the remotest star, and what upholds the universe; from which grand sights you are debarred, having your eyes, as yet, but partially opened; and then, as knowledge is power, you will not be subject to God at all, but be his equal. And thus the tempter suggests, that God knowing such wisdom to be the effect of the forbidden tree, had prohibited his creatures from its taste, either because he grudged them so lofty an enjoyment, or was afraid to intrust them with a power that might rival his own. By these temptations Satan prevailed; and doubtless it was for wise and holy ends that God permitted the success of the enemy's wiles. But see now the woful consequences. The woman having consented to Satan, becomes in her turn a tempter, and prevails with the man, as the serpent did with her. The voice of God, till now their best delight, has become their terror; and on hearing his voice, they think to hide themselves amongst the trees of the garden. Wretched sinners! is this the amount of your new wisdom? to hide from God! might not He that made the sun take it as a candle in his hand to search those trees; and what then would become of you and your sheltering leaves? Their fallen and their foolish hearts being darkened, they are called to a reckoning with their Maker; and every answer they gave goes only to show that all truth and wisdom and allegiance are laid in the dust. They own no sin, but seek an excuse by false pretences, and betake themselves to a refuge of lies. What beguiling could there be with regard to a precept so plain? And whilst both of fenders shift the blame from themselves, they have the hardihood indirectly to lay it upon God. The serpent, that subtile creature of thy making; the woman that thou gavest to be with me.' When we read such a defence, let us view the deceitfulness of our own hearts; and thinking of a judgment to come, remember that all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. In such frame of spirit, when we see that in all this confession of our first parents, there is no repentance, no truth, no love to God; but ignorance, hardness of heart, and accusation of their Creator; when it is seen that these are the natural consequences, or the concomitants of their first sin; and that the act itself, by which they rebelled, was the violation of a precept remarkably plain, and which, as it respected no moral obligation, being simply a positive injunction, was more obviously, as it was more fit to be, a test of the creature's affiance; and when we perceive that not the earth only, but the universe, was concerned; that if there might be within nature's bounds, any act at once uncontrolled, and contrary to the will of her Founder, the very foundations of nature were shaken to their base; we shall, so reflecting, stand aloof in dread abhorrence of the impiety which cavils at the account of man's fall, on the ground that eating of the forbidden tree was a slight offence. Let our hearts be humbled. The proofs of our guilty origin we have not only in our Bible; they stand thick around us: the world's history written in blood; idolatry in all lands; death reigning; sin in every soul from the dawn of thought; the sufferings and early demise of tender babes; the testimony of conscience; all conspire to prove the doctrines of man's fall. and the reality of the curse that came upon the ground for man s saxe. by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' But let our souls rejoice in the gospel promise recorded in this chap ter. The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.' When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. He was delivered for our offences; He was raised again for our justification. He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. If by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Amen. PRAYER. O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who shall not fear thee and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy. Thou art of purer eye than to behold evil; thou art angry with the wicked every day: thine eye is in every place beholding the evil and the good. Who shall stand before thee, O holy Lord God? We have all sinned and done evil in thy sight: we have provoked thee to anger, we have deserved thy wrath; we are less As by one man than the least of thy mercies. sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin ned; who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. What is man that he should be clean? and he that is born of a woman tha he should be righteous? Behold thou puttes no trust in thy saints; yea, the heavens are no clean in thy sight. How much more abominabl and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity lik water. Every imagination of man's heart i evil from his youth; the heart is deceitful abov all things and desperately wicked; who ca know it? O Lord, we have destroyed ourselves, but i thee is our help. Blessed be the Lord God Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed H people. We are encouraged to come unto the because thou art good, and ready to forgive, an plenteous in mercy to all them that call upo thee. We bless thee, O God, for thy gracio promise that the seed of the woman shou bruise the head of the serpent.' We thank the O God, for that early dawn of gospel light; a for all the grace and love which thou hast ev since manifested towards thy church and peop Blessed be the God and Father of our Lo Jesus Christ, who in his abundant mercy ha begotten us again unto a lively hope by t resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dea Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried o sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, sm ten of God, and afflicted. But he was wound for our transgressions, he was bruised for o iniquities; the chastisement of our peace w upon him; and with his stripes we are heal May our hearts be united unto him by a livi faith, that we may partake of all his benef May he be made to each one of us wisdom, a righteousness, and sanctification, and reden tion. Let thy blessing accompany all the means grace with which we are favoured. Bless retirement for prayer, and communion with thy- | his austerity, and partly by the prophecies going self; our meeting around the family altar, our before, together with the evidence of his being a sabbaths, and the services of thy sanctuary; and prophet, Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the regions may thy word not return unto thee void, but round about Jordan went out to John, and were be as the good seed sown in our hearts, that it baptized by him in Jordan, confessing their sins. That comparatively few of those multitudes did inmay bring forth in some thirty, in some sixty, deed receive Christ, and bring forth the fruits meet for and in some an hundred fold. We invoke thy repentance, will be no excuse to us in the day of reckcare and protection throughout this day. Keep oning. Let our minds be impressed with the necesus from every evil work, from proud thoughts, sity of repentance. Rend your hearts and not your and the snares of the devil. Give us this day garments,' was the constant language of the Old our daily bread, contentment with our lot, and Testament prophets. John was sent in New Testament times to declare the same thing; and Christ thankfulness for all thy mercies. Bless all men. came to give repentance to Israel and the remission Our heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, of sins. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, is that they may be saved. Thy kingdom come, and his invitation is, 'come unto me, all ye that thy will be done in all the earth as it is in labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' heaven. These our prayers we offer up in the But be it well known, that with all the plenitude of name of thy Son, our Saviour. Hear, O Lord, his power to save, and all the fervour of a love that and do for us above all that we can ask or is stronger than death, and all the pity of a brother, touched with a feeling of our infirmities, he declares think, for Christ's sake. Amen. of all men, whatever be their virtues, or their rank, that except they repent, they shall all likewise perish.' Let no man deceive himself: this is the Lord's word, and He is judge, and will show in the Judgment that His word shall stand. It is no formal repentance that is enjoined by the forerunner of Christ; but that which is proved to be genuine by its proper fruits: 'bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance.' And of this work of repentance there must be no delay; for the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Wherefore let no impenitent soul look for safety under the impending stroke; for every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. WEDNESDAY EVENING. PRAISE-PSALM XXXII. 5. PRACTICAL REMARKS. The Bible being a history of God's church, and a record of the divine will, has small regard to man's curiosity. The gratification of this would, in a human composition, naturally be a first object; in the sacred scriptures it is evidently the last. Of such glorious persons as Christ and John the Baptist, it would be interesting to know many things concerning their early days; but whilst the preceding chapter speaks only of the Saviour's infancy, this begins with a time when he is nearly thirty years of age; and of John, this Evangelist says nothing, till he presents him preaching in the wilderness of Judea. That was the dawn of a new day in a valley without vision, and after a night of 300 years without a prophet. Well might the people long for, and much their darkness needed the appearance of, Him who was the expectation of Israel, and came to be the light and the life of the world. And as the rising sun sends first a fainter ray, to prepare the eye for the brightness of his coming; so the Lord of glory had in John a forerunner, who, like the modest dawn, bore witness to the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The description of his person, meanly attired and poorly fed, and crying in a desert, was becoming alike the preacher of repentance and the herald of a king whose kingdom was not of this world. Such mortification, not of body but of spirit, and well proved by an earnest and godly sincerity, unlike the mendicant cloak of knavery, too frequently worn, is of great power both to attract the regard and overawe the minds of those, who have the witness of conscience that they are lovers of pleasure more And hence, moved partly by than lovers of God. It is a great encouragement to this repentance, and to a cordial reliance on Christ, that He is at once so condescending and exalted; so careful to fulfil all righteousness, and so witnessed in his baptism, by the opening of heaven, the descent of the Spirit, and the voice of His Father: saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Beloved of God, because He was faithful as a Son, and wrought so great salvation for us; and shall we not love Him with all our hearts, as the most amiable being ever presented to the eyes of men; and who in His love, and in His pity, laid down His life for our sakes. The opening of the heavens showed that they were no longer as a canopy of brass over the prison house of a guilty and godless world; but that a way was opened, that as the eye of God followed his Son in His exile, it would rest with complacency on all who should embrace Him; and as the Spirit descended on Him it should descend also on us, that He who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified might be all of one; and He their Lord not ashamed to call thein brethren. The Spirit is holy, and the dove-like figure betokened peace. Let us follow peace with all men, and holiness; without which no man shall see the Lord. PRAYER. We bless thee, O God, who at sundry times and divers manners didst speak, in time past, unto the fathers by the prophets, that thou hast in these last days spoken unto us by thy Son. with gratitude, thy goodness in the day that is THURSDAY MORNING. PRAISE-PSALM LV. 21. PRACTICAL REMARKS. God created not the earth in vain, but to be in We have all sinned and come short of thy glory. We have forsaken thee, the fountain of living waters, and have hewn out to ourselves, cisterns; broken-cisterns, that can hold no water. Alienated from thee by wicked works, we have followed our own devices, and deserve to be filled with the fruit of our doings. Receiving from day to day the gifts of thy providence, and hearing the calls of thy gospel, we have lived unmindful of thee, and have neglected the great salvation. Lord, what shall we render unto thee, for the gift of thy Son, and all the goodness thou art making to pass before us? Yea, rather, what shall we answer unto thee, for the mercy we have despised, and the grace we have received in vain ? All souls are thine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son habited. Adam's forfeited life therefore is prolongis thine the soul that sinneth, it shall die. of the depths would we cry unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear our voice; let thine ear be attentive to the voice of our supplications. Thou hast promised that a new heart thou wilt give us; that thou wilt put thy Spirit within us; and cause us to walk in thy statutes, to keep thy judgments, and do them; yet, for this, thou wilt be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. We ask, O God, and trust in thy grace, that we shall bountifully receive. Give us repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; fill our hearts with that godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. We have been as sheep going astray; let us now, with grief for our sin, and godly sincerity, return unto the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. May we be owned and accepted in the Beloved; may we be brought nigh by the blood of Christ; may we taste and see that thou art gracious. Shed abroad thy love in our hearts, that loving thee, we may love thy law, and delight to do thy will; that, waiting upon thee in all thy ordinances, we may renew our strength; that we may lead lives of faith in thy Son; that we may bring forth fruits meet for repentance; and glorify thee in our body, and in our spirit, which are thine. Outed, and his seed begin to multiply. But soon, alas, Observe, again, the character of Bless us as a family, and bless every individual apart; bless our basket and our store, and the fruit of our labour; may our souls prosper and be in health. We would acknowledge, L pride and his cherished hatred. It breaks out in murderous violence, and the earth opens her mouth to receive his brother's blood. Alas, what dispeace, and distrust, and sorrow, had already invaded this first family, whom God's law, if kept, would have knit together in bonds of love and peace. Do we mourn the fate of righteous Abel, and brood over the mysterious providence which suffered him to be slain? But, is not his death happy and honourable, who, by whatever means, dies in peace with God? who dies for the sake of righteousness? and whose death has distinguished him as the first of martyrs, and the first of redeemed and saved sinners in heaven? Why should it be thought a mystery, that when ripe for their change, however early in life, men should be taken away to enjoy God? Much rather may we pity the life of Cain. Alas, he lives a vagabond on the earth, the victim of agonizing remorse, yet of obdurate impenitency; striving to flee from God; to forget the memory of his sin, and to exclude the anticipation of the judgment when God shall make inquisition for blood. How bitter and deadly are the native fruits of sin in the first-born of men. How infinite our obligations to converting or restraining grace, which keeps in check the evil passions of our fallen nature, and prevents the world from being turned into a field of blood. even as we and we believe, that we too may be saved, even as they. O thou God of grace and salvation, assist and direct us to come in the spirit of thine accepted worshippers. We plead the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world; over it we confess and bewail our guilt; and on the ground of its all- atoning merit, we entreat thee to receive us graciously, to heal our backslidings, to love us freely. Having an High Priest over the house of God, even Jesus, the Son of God, we long to have all the distrust of guilt dispelled, and all the distance to which it has driven us from thee overcome, and our minds filled with the peace of God, and restored to a life of communion with thee. Mercifully deliver us from the dominion of sin, from the unbelieving and impenitent heart, from the proud, and envious, and uncharitable spirit, and from every forbidden and fatal way. Enable us to cultivate obedience to thy good and holy law. Clothe us with humility; open our ear to thy rebukes. Make us truly penitent for all our sin. Replenish us with all the graces of the Spirit, and let us be filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and the praise of God. Cain's family multiply and learn of their father his evil ways. Yet, though debased in morals, they are skilful both in the useful and elegant arts which minister much to earthly enjoyment, but are little helpful to the higher ends of our moral and immortal nature. There is great obscurity in the speech of Lamech. But it plainly intimates, that deeds of blood were not unknown, and that lighter sins already abounded among the posterity of Cain. Why? may some ask-Why was not righteous Abel pre-mestic circle may live as an alien from God, and served to raise up a godly seed? For this, among other reasons, that God might show that he is not dependent on any; that though Abel die, God shall Thou God of all the families of the earth, and of those families especially who call upon thy name, be thou the God of this family. O that we were all united in the same mind and in the same judgment, that family affection may continue and increase; that not one of all this do not be without a seed to serve him. Hence, Seth is born to fill the place of Abel, and is made the father of a pious family, to revive the neglected worship, and to testify for the rightful honours, of their God. PRAYER. O Thou who wilt be sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto thee, enable us, on the return of the hour of prayer, to approach the footstool of thy throne with true hearts, and with unfeigned faith. We know that thou hearest not sinners, and how then may we hope that thou shouldest hear us when we call upon thee? We do not forget, O God, that we are sinners in thy sight that we are the degenerate children of a fallen father; by nature, children of disobedience, and therefore children of wrath. Yet from the beginning thou hast been known as the Hearer of prayer. Thou hast had respect to the perBons and offerings of men, born under sin, a stranger to those Christian sympathies which at once hallow and endear the bonds of social life. May one and all of us have one faith, and be found, in all our intercourse, adding to our faith, godliness, and brotherly kindness, and charity. O Lord, let the blessed power of Christian love gather strength and prevalence throughout this fallen world. Let all enmity between man and man be slain by the power of the cross. Let Jew and Gentile be united in the bond of Christian brotherhood. Let all divisions in thy church be healed, and let all, with one mind and one mouth, unite in ascribing salvation unto Him who hath redeemed us out of all nations by his own blood. We unite in presenting to thee our thanksgivings, for our preservation to another day. Let us all this day live as becometh brethren, in unity. Keep us from all evil, help us in all our duty, and preserve us all by thy power unto eternal life, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. |