March 16

weak but ignorant—How much you need a guide! How earnestly did David pray for divine direction; “Lead me in thy Truth and guide me.” How did he rejoice in the prospect of it: “This God is our God, for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death.” The Jews left to themselves could not have found their way in a large pathless desert; but “the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them in the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day or night.” Thus his goodness met their necessity, and relieved them from all anxiety. This guide determined the direction, and the continuance of all their journeyings; nor ever disappeared till by a strange and varying but always a right way, it brought them to a city of habitation. Events are not this pillar to us, but the written word. This is “the lamp unto our feet, and the light unto our paths;” to which we do well to take heed. How much depends upon a wrong step! How liable are we to err! How often have we gone astray! How much have we suffered from our perverseness or rashness! How much more should we have suffered had he dealt with us according to our desert in not asking counsel of him! Let us not lean to our own understanding. Here is the commandment with promise; “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Thirdly, Set the Lord always before you as your example. The advantages of example are great; and God himself comes down and condescends to go before us, calling upon us to be holy as he is holy; to forgive as he forgives; to be merciful as he is merciful. We were made in his likeness, and our renovation in Christ is our being renewed after his own image. Our happiness results from the perfection of our nature; and the perfection of our nature consists in its resemblance to the divine—“Therefore be ye followers of God as dear children.”

Fourthly, Set the Lord always before you as your observer. Nothing escapes his notice. All he sees he records; and all he records he will bring into judgment. Do we believe this? It is true, whether we own it or deny it, that he is about our path and our bed, and understands our thought afar off—But do we believe it? Surely faith in such a truth must have some influence. And how useful must that influence be! A heathen philosopher admonished his disciples to imagine that the eye of some illustrious personage was always upon them. What was the eye of Plato, or Cato, to the eye of God? If while you were careless in company some prominent individual should enter, whose approbation it would be important for you to acquire, how would his presence regulate your behaviour, and correct your speech! What a stimulus would it be to zeal; what a check to sin; what a motive to sincerity; what a relief under reproach; what a solace in affliction; what a duty: what a privilege—to realize Hagar’s conviction, “Thou God seest me!”

MARCH 16.—“Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious: and be that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”—1 Peter 2:6.

“BEHOLD,” is a note of attention and wonder. It shows that the subject introduced is worthy of our regard. The subject here is a

representation of the importance of the Saviour, and the advantage his people derive from him. He is laid in Sion for a foundation—

"A chief corner-stone." Such a stone is designed to sustain, and on him depends the salvation of the whole Church. It also unites as well as supports. And in him are united deity and humanity, the Old and New Testament, Jew and Gentile; we are all one in Christ Jesus—

"Elect"—Chosen for the place and the purpose. Nothing is casual in the common affairs of life, much less in the restoration of sinners. All here, especially as to the accomplisher, is transacted according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. God knew what the immensity of the undertaking required, and found it only in the Son of his love—"All things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ"—

"Precious"—Deserving of the destination and the honour. Here is the difference between him and us. He chooses us, not because we are precious, but to make us precious; not because we are holy, but that we may be holy: and if ever we enter heaven, it will be upon terms of mercy. But his appointment resulted from his fitness. He entered heaven upon terms of merit, pure and absolute merit: and therefore the angels proclaim with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." But if the word "precious" is significant of excellency, it also imports endearment. Hence it is said, "Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth." "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands." And as he is dear to God, so he is dear to all his people. "To them that believe he is precious." They have their imperfections and mourn over them. But if he asked them individually, "Lovest thou me?" They could all answer—

"Yes, thou art precious to my soul, My transport and my trust; Jewels, to thee, are gaudy toys, And gold is sordid dust.

"All my capacious powers can boast, In thee most richly meet; Nor to mine eyes is light so dear, Or friendship half so sweet."

Such is the foundation. Observe the builder: "He that believeth on him." We might have supposed that the metaphor would have been continued, and that Peter would have said, he that buildeth on him. But he conveys the same meaning without the figure. For as stones as long as they continue in the quarry or remain loose upon the ground, are not actually parts of the edifice, neither indeed can be till they are placed on the foundation; so faith, and faith alone, connects us with Christ, and enables us to derive benefit from him. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Observe the blessedness he claims: he that believeth on him "shall not be confounded." He shall not be like the foolish man, "who built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and

it fell." An emblem of those who hear the Saviour's sayings, and do them not; that is, of Antinomians: and an emblem of those who rely upon their own worthiness and works; that is, of self-righteous Pharisees. How confounded will these be, when their hopes fail them, and they are rejected at the very door of heaven—But when they "begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us;" he shall answer, "I say I know you not whence ye are." It is the emblem also of those who seek happiness in the world. They are sure of disappointment, if not in obtaining their desires which is frequently the case, yet in possessing them, and in the loss of them. Not so the believer. He is sure of gaining what he seeks after; the prize when enjoyed will exceed all his hope; and the good part which he has chosen shall never be taken away from him.

In the original passage from which the words before us are a quotation, Isaiah says, "He that believeth on him shall not make haste"—That is, he shall not be like a person overtaken and surprised by calamity, and in perplexed and tormenting eagerness to escape. Thus it was with the world of the ungodly at the deluge. They despised the warnings of Noah while he was preparing the means of safety; but when the torrents began to fall, and the waters to overflow, in what hurry and confusion did they run to knock at the ark! How did they rush to the hills and mountains for safety! How climb the trees, and cling to them in despair, till they could retain their weakened hold no longer, and dropped into the abyss! Into what haste and confusion are the men of the world thrown when those losses befall them which threaten their only portion. But the believer though he feels affliction does not faint under it, and his mind is kept in perfect peace, being stayed upon God. Into what haste and confusion are the wicked thrown when they apprehend a messenger of death has laid hold upon them—But Simeon says, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Into what confusion and horror will the tribes of the earth be thrown when the Judge of all shall appear in the clouds of heaven. But the Christian shall have "confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." Filled with self-condemnation and self-reproach at the consequences of their vile and infatuated conduct, in having sacrificed their eternal all for what was worse than nothing, "many will rise to everlasting shame and contempt"—But "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation; they shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end." O "visit me with" this "salvation!"

MARCH 17.—"Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Genesis 5:24.

—Took him from time to eternity, from earth to heaven, from the world of the ungodly to the innumerable company of angels, from a vale of tears to fulness of joy: took him immediately to himself without dissolution—"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

VOL. I.