ი because God had so determined it, that the former should have his treasure and happiness here, and the latter should have his treasure and happiness hereafter. O the agonizing declaration!" He is comforted, and thou art tormented." What must Dives have felt when he saw Abraham afar off? but how much more must he have felt when he beheld Lazarus in his bosom? Yea, how great must his misery and torment have increased, when he was reduced to cry out with overwhelming agony and inexpressible and inconceivable torments, O let a drop of cold water fall upon my parched tongue for I am tormented in this flame! His sumptuous living, and his purple and fine linen, could not keep the flame from him, nor give him comfort or consolation in the trying hour. Send for Lazarus, is now the cry of Dives, yea, that Lazarus that laid at my gate, full of sores-O send for that beggar which desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from off my table. O Abraham! send for him whose sores the dog licked, that he may touch my burning tongue, with only the tip of his finger dipped in cold water. my soul, what must this rich and wicked Dives have felt!-how insupportable must have been his state of suffering, when Abraham replied to his pressing intreaties, "Remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." Besides, there is no passage, if we would pass to you to comply with your request, for, "between us and you there is a great gulf fixed," and it is this gulf of God's sovereign will, purpose, covenant, and decrees which ever did and ever will, separate and come between the precious and the vile. Thus we see, though "clouds and darkness are round about the Lord," while in time, with regard to the outward prosperity and indifference of the naked, and the apparently or even real and continual adversities of the righteous; yet when we cast our eyes beyond the limits of the grave, then we are enabled to return and discern between the righteous and the wicked; and are led to see the righteousness and judgment of the Lord in all his ways, words, and works. But clouds and darkness are round about the Lord," to us poor short-sighted creatures, when increas. ing difficulties surround our path, when we are led into fresh, but no less trying circumstances, and when the general dispensations of the Almighty towards us, confounds our wisdom, by crossing all our plans, defacing all our gods; till our minds like Job's, is filled with confusion; like Daniel we often cry, "O my Lord, What shall be the end of these things?" the answer we receive sometimes checks. though by no means satisfies our curiosity. "Go thy way."-Yea, our auswer from the Lord may be such as was the case with Daniel; to cause us to rest by faith upon the Lord for further answers and deliverances. "Go then thy way till the end be, for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." Thus then have I shown how in three particulars, clouds and darkVOL. IV.-No. X. 3 N ness to our view, may be said to be round about the Lord, as regards his acts in providence.—I will now point out three more particulars wherein clouds and darkness are round about the Lord, to the views of his people. 2.-In Acts of Government.-And more particularly as regards his forbearance, his gifts, and his visitations. When we consider the great, continual, and increasing recklessness of the world we seem astonished that the Lord has not consumed the world and all the people and things that are in it. O the forbearance of the Lord, both as regards ourselves and others also. O the daily provocations of rebellious man! surely in the midst of wrath he remembers mercy, or we had been as Sodom and Gomorrah; with regard to his own people, how great is their weakness, how prone to depart from the ways of the Lord, how subject to murmur and rebel when passing through the fiery trials which is to prove and try them, but not to consume them, how indifferent to things of God, how captious in our tempers and dispositions, and how perverse in all our ways; how great is our unbelief, how proud in our imaginations, looks and desires, how ignorant, base, and light and trifling in ourselves. O how altogether sunk in sin and shapen in iniquity. And yet notwithstanding all these things and provocations, how wonderful, good, and gracious is his forbearance to us; so much so, that clouds and darkness are round about him, when we are brought to think correctly of our great provocations on the one hand, and the Lord's great forbearance on the other. He bears and forbears with us continually, and why? because in the midst of judgment he remembers mercy, and as sworn he will never depart from his people to do them good; because he will never break his covenant, nor alter the word that has gone out of his mouth. When we take a view of the gifts of God, even there to our views, clouds and darkness are round about him. Why should the Egyptians and other nations be rejected as a body, and the Israelitish nation, be the only chosen of the Lord? I ask, could there be a more wicked, ungrateful, and rebellious set of people than the Israelites were, taken as a nation? Why should the Lord love Jacob and hate Esau? Why should two be grinding at the same mill, and one be taken and the other left? Why should the Philistines carry away the ark even and live, and Uzzah only touch it and die? Or why should one nation be left without the gospel light, and the influences of the Holy Spirit; while another nation is blessed with the true gospel of salvation, and with the celestial rays of the Spirit's sweet and sacred illumination? and especially seeing that all mankind are born in sin, shapen in iniquity, and by nature the children of wrath !!! Does not I ask such a sovereign display of the gifts of God, cause to our view, (particularly at those times, when left to follow the guidance of our own reason) clouds and darkness to be round about the Lord? In this as in all things else, as touching God's ways to man, we know but in part, and we see but in part. He is his own interpreter, and will in the end, make all things plain. All we can say is, yea, all we dare say is, the Lord is righteous in all his ways. He has He has a right to bestow favours when, where, and how he pleases, and to deny them as seemeth him good. We know the fact is so, but to account for the why and wherefore, is a fruitless, if not a wicked inquiry. "O my soul if truth's so bright, Should dazzle and confound thy sight, And wait the great decisive day." O let us rather adore the distinguishing mercy of the Lord in causing light to be in every chosen Israelite dwelling, even though darkness may hang over every other nation and people on the earth. O let us bless him who caused the light to shine out of darkness, that he has condescended to cause the saving light of his truth, as it is in Jesus, to shine into our hearts. O rather let us praise him that he has picked us up from the ruins of the fall, that he has snatched us as brands from the everlasting burning, and made us kings and priests unto God and the Lamb. O let us rather praise him that he has promised to come a second time without sin unto salvation, to receive us unto himself; and so place us beyond the reach of every sorrow, sin, grief, and care, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Again, though but briefly, we observe, "clouds and darkness are round about the Lord," as respects his visitation. The wicked have neither bands (fears) in life nor in death, but the righteous in many instances are continually perplexed and harassed with them, so true it is "those who have no changes fear not God." In the Lord's own family, with respect to his visitations upon them, there is much mystery to us: Why is one called in the prime of his days, or almost in infancy, like Samuel and Timothy, and others in their latter days, like Abraham and the dying thief? Or why does the Lord so visit some of his children with such heavy trials and convictions, while others are comparatively, of so gentle a nature? Why should the Lord bless some of his children with such precious, continual and uplifting visitations of his gracious presence to their souls; while others are permitted to go mourning, dissatisfied and doubting and fearing almost all their days? Yea why should the Lord's truth prosper in one part, while in another part it appears to fall to the ground, even though the same truths may be preached by the servants of God in the one place as is in the other? In all these particulars there is much confusion to us, and we are brought to confess," that clouds of darkness are indeed round about the Lord; and become somewhat pacified when we can say and feel notwithstanding all, that "righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." But there is clouds and darkness round about the Lord." 3.-In Acts of Grace.-And that as respects more particularly under this head, the individual experience of the believer. I have not a desire to be tedious; therefore I observe without further pre. face upon this particular; when the believer is led to reflect upon by gone days, and takes a retrospective view of all his past trials, afflictions, and bereavements, for the truth's sake on the one hand, and how the dear Lord has supported, comforted, and delivered from them all, what a mystery it appears! When he considers how mysteriously the Lord has appeared for him and to him, in keeping him from all errors, in point of truth as also in practice,-when he reflects how Satan has tempted his soul and almost baffled him out of the truth as it is in Jesus-and when like a lighted torch he has applied his infernal cunning to the tinder of his corruptions, in order to draw him into sin, and thereby bring guilt and condemnation upon his conscience. When the believer contemplates upon these things, and reflects upon the gracious deliverances of the Almighty God from such scenes of trial and temptation, does not "clouds and darkness appear, to him, to be round about the Lord?" As also when he thinks of his own unworthiness and sin, and contrasts the same with the Lord's unbounded and overflowing goodness?-Yea, when he considers that his nature is so firmly rooted in the love and practice of sin, how foud he his of the world and its pleasures; as also of himself, and yet what a change the Lord has wrought in him, in causing him to hate sin with perfect hatred, to deny self, and flee from the world, and long for the time of his dismissal, it does appear to his sense, bis reason and his feeling, that "clouds and darkness are round about him," for he cannot conceive how so much goodness, mercy, faithfulness and love could have followed all the days of his life, so poor, so miserable, so hell-deserving a sinner. Yea, clouds and darkness appear round about the Lord when the believer is called to do business in deep waters; when called to walk in crooked paths, through dark lanes, and over rough places. For myself, had I my way, I should pave my own streets with smooth stone-I should paint my own dwelling with fair coloursand furnish my own house with tapestry and fine gold; but the Lord has seen fit to order it far otherwise with me. I appear to get tired of the "old shoes and clouted," and would fain sit in my arm chair, and take my case while others did the work, bore the cross, and encountered the burden and heat of the day, and yet my work is only just began. But these are only the desires of the flesh, as such they will not be granted. The old shoes and clouted' must be put on again and again, and so continue, till death is swallowed up in victory. O Lord, do but go before-support and deliver and all will be well. O how often does our duty to the creature lead us one way, and our conscience and the word appear to lead us another. How great is the host of enemies before us, and how apparently small are the means of resistance. By these things how are our souls filled with perplexities-how our faith and patience is tried-and yet in the end how are we brought to see that "righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." God is omniscient, he can see through the dark designs of our enemies-He can see the darkness of our souls, and the dark. ness of our paths. Amid all this darkness his love to us is the same, no state or condition alters his state of mind, nor our interest in the eternal covenant ordered in all things and sure. Although clouds and darkness were about the Lord when wrapt up in the clouds of types, shadows, figures, promises, prophecies, and sacrifices; yet life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel.". The way into the holiest of all is now made perfect and known, the veil of Christ's flesh is now rent; the law is now fulfilled. Sin is now removed. Satan's head is now mortally wounded, and has vanquished the hosts of hell and triumphed over the grave, death, satan, and sin. Soon the time will come, when no longer to our view, "Clouds and darkness will be round about him." No; we shall soon behold him indeed the brightness of the Father's glory. We shall soon awake up in his likeness. We shall soon bow before him day and night, for in him there is no darkness at all, and in the full blaze of celestial light, we with all the host above, shall continually shout, salvation to God and the Lamb. ·000 ASPIRATIONS OF DEVOTION TO JESUS, THE ETERNAL SON. I adore thee, O ever-blessed God! the Redeemer! Thou art possessed of eternal power, and unbounded goodness and love. Thou art the living effulgence, the bright emanation of God the Father: the pure immortal beam from God who is the source of light, in whom is no darkness at all! Thou art the co-essential and uncreated beam of the self-existent glory of God. Thou dost necessarily flow without any voluntary cause from, and in the Eternal Godhead. In thee, O Son of God! O God the Son! dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Thou art the image of the invisible God, the brightness of thy Father's glory, and the express image of his person. In the absence of worlds of matter and spirit, thou didst eternally exist; and the volitions of thy will gave existence to all matter and spirit at the first creation. Matter was without form, it had no beauty, order, or perfection: it was void of all furniture, riches, and ornament; but thine understanding, taste, and volition, gave being to the visible empire of God! Thine hand stretched out the vast expanse of the heavens, and gave existence to all the thousands of worlds of light. Thou, the eternal and omnipresent God, didst create time and space, which are only portions taken out of the unbounded oceans of immensity and eternity. |