July 12

the law and the prophets; or reflecting on some divine subject; or praying to the God of heaven: or more probably he was indulging in all these successively, or intermingling them together; for this is the business of retirement.

Nathanael we may be assured would not turn his back on the temple of God, or forsake the assembling of himself together, with those who keep holy day, as the manner of some is; and public worship has its own undeniable claims. But he found in secluded devotion four advantages and recommendations. The first regarded frequency. Public services are comparatively few, and they should be few; and they require much time; and the seasons must be fixed, and invariable, and known, for general accommodation. But opportunities for private devotion continually occur, and ask only the momentary convenience of the individual himself. The second regarded freedom. All company is a degree of restraint upon intimate associates. Friendship longs always to resign up itself more fully to its own object. It therefore deals much in secrecy: and this is peculiarly the case with the friendship between God and the soul. There are confessions proper only for his presence; petitions to be only poured into his ear; griefs to be lodged only in his bosom. "The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger intermeddleth not with his joy." The third was self-acquaintance. Self-knowledge is the most important and difficult. Persons may live to be old, and yet be ignorant of themselves; and they may be much alone, and never meet with their own hearts, or morally converse with them. Yet surely retirement affords the best opportunity to try our state, to examine our character, to detect our mistakes, to learn our dangers, and to provide against them. The fourth was the greater evidence of religious principle. Motives of less purity may induce us to repair to places where there is much besides God to attract and to entertain, especially in the goodness of the singing or the eloquence of the preacher. It is no unusual thing in our day for the service of the sanctuary to be turned into an amusement. But it does look like conviction, like a regard for the duty itself, like real love to God, when we can readily go where God only is to be found, and we have only to transact business with him. If we were in company with a disliked individual, his presence would be tolerable if they were to continue; but if they were all to depart, and leave us alone with him, nothing would be so desirable as the door. O my soul, in similar circumstances would this be my case with regard to God and thee!

JULY 12.—"When thou wast under the fig tree, I SAW THEE."—John 1. 48.

BEHOLD here THE OBSERVING SAVIOUR—"I saw thee."

Here was a Divine observer. For how did he see Nathanael in this concealment? Not by an eye of sense; or from the testimony of others; but by the attribute of omniscience. Accordingly it produced this belief in the mind of Nathanael, who was forced to exclaim, "Thou art the Son of God; thou art the king of Israel." This perfection Peter ascribed to him when he said, "Lord, thou knowest all things." Nearness and distance, darkness and light, publicity and secrecy are the same to him. How many proofs did he

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give in the days of his flesh that he "needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man." He assured John, "All the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts." And he evinced his entire acquaintance with all their state, and the recesses of their experience. And in his times he will show that he has been about our path and our lying down, and acquainted with all our ways, words, and thoughts; for he will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.

Here was an approving observer. His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth: but much of what he sees he abhors. He sees many alone, but God is not in all their thoughts. They abstract themselves from the world, but are still in it; and employ their leisure in trifling or mischief, or, as Isaiah expresses it, in "weaving spider's webs, or in hatching cockatrice' eggs." But his heart was with Nathanael. Had his fellow-creatures peeped through the leaves of the fig tree, and seen him now reading, now musing, now kneeling, and praying with strong cryings and tears, they would have pitied or despised him. But the Lord looked on with approbation: for "the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy." Nathanael himself thought meanly enough of his performances, and perhaps feared they would be rejected. But "the Lord is nigh unto all them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord." "I have seen his ways, and I will heal him; I will restore comforts unto him and to his mourners."

Here was an acknowledging observer. He not only saw and approved, but avowed his regard. He avowed it to Nathanael himself. How must he have been affected when he heard the sentence, "I saw thee." Surely a blush spread over his face—But how would he be cheered and encouraged by such an assurance! "Ah!" you say, "he could hear his voice—But does he speak now?" Not with audible sounds in the air, or in visions and dreams—There only enthusiasm is hearkening after him. But he has access to the mind, and bears witness with our spirits. Many now living, like Enoch, have the testimony that they please God—He has said to their soul, "I am thy salvation"—"I have loved thee."

And he not only avowed his regard to Nathanael, but he avowed it before others. He might have taken him aside, or have whispered it to himself: but no; he owns and commends him in the presence of the whole party. It was a testimony to a private transaction, but it was publicly expressed; and the attention of the company was turned towards him previously for this very purpose, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee"—What an illustration was here of the truth of his own words. "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy

door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Nathanael thus privately sought; and was thus publicly acknowledged—

And by whom? Not he who commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Seek the honour that cometh from him; and remember the way in which it is to be obtained: "Them that honour me, I will honour." He can make others take knowledge of them. He can make the Spirit of glory and of God to rest upon them. He can distinguish them by the care of his providence in common calamities. He can own them in their dying moments. And he will, he must confess them before his Father and the holy angels. The concealments of Christians are only partial and temporary. Their day is coming; it is the manifestation of the sons of God. Yet a little while and every cloud will be dispersed, and they shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Then the tears they have shed over their sins and infirmities, while they were deemed licentious in their principles; the prayers they offered for those who hated and persecuted them; the alms in which they suffered not the left hand to know what the right hand did; and all the sublime and the beautiful of religion that passed under the fig tree, shall be not meritoriously, but graciously proclaimed before an assembled world. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the councils of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God."

JULY 13.—"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold."—Revelation 4:4.

A THRONE is for royalty, and reminds us of a king. The King here is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. He "hath established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all." He has indeed two thrones. The first we approach on earth. It is the throne of grace. This is the place of our sanctuary, and the source of all our relief. The way to it we know; and "we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." The second we approach in heaven. It is the throne of glory. This is too bright and dazzling for us to behold in this weak state of flesh and blood—for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." But there is a relation between these two thrones: and if we visit and value the one, and can now say, "It is good for me to draw near to God;" we shall soon be introduced to the other, and "be for ever with the Lord."

These four and twenty elders were representatives, not of the ministers, but of the whole Church: the number being made up of the twelve Patriarchs and the twelve Apostles; the former the emblems of the Jewish, and the latter of the Christian part of it.

We may observe the position of these favoured beings—Their seats "were round about the throne." God is the supreme good. With him is the fountain of life. He is therefore the centre of their attraction; and their happiness arises from their nearness to him.

We see their posture—They were "sitting." John also saw them