round it, though that involve the turning again into the wilderness, and beginning our wanderings, as it were, afresh. And to have all this journey to go over again, and nothing but Christ to feed on and to refresh us by the wayah, the whole secret comes out there. The state of heart which can say (or feel, where it dares not say), "nothing but Christ!" as though he were not ALL, whether for this world or for the next-that state of heart needed to be brought to light and judged, and hence the having to compass the land of Edom, and enter on the wilderness afresh. We might have taken credit to ourselves for being well satisfied with Christ our heavenly food, had not the mandate to make another circuit of the desert put it to the test. But for this, we had not known that it was in our hearts to loathe the food from heaven as "light bread," after subsisting on it for so many years. As it is, we have been brought to the painful consciousness of this, and have been cast on God for the remedy. What was His remedy in the case under review? "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people; and much people of Israel died." They had lost their appetite for the manna, and loathed it as light bread. They had spoken against God and against Moses; but now they come to Moses and entreat him to pray to the Lord to take the serpents from them. But (as another has said) the Lord had other and better thoughts respecting them. Had He simply granted their request, those who were already bitten must inevitably have perished. The people never thought of them. All their anxiety was that the danger which threatened themselves might be removed. "Take away the serpents," was their cry. We all know what the Lord's gracious provision was. A brazen serpent was erected, to which the wounded and dying ones might look and live. We are all familiar with the use made of this by our blessed Lord. "Like as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." It is the gospel of the grace of God for poor lost sinners. Israel, weary of the wilderness, and impatient of their continuance in it, had despised and loathed the manna. How was their appetite for it to be revived? The Lord sends fiery serpents among them, and they say, "We have sinned," and cry to the Lord. He, better to them than their own requests, does not take away the serpents, but sets up a brazen serpent, that whosoever is bitten may look to it and live. God's gracious provision for their daily sustenance they despise. Wounds and sorrows are the result, and they become glad of God's gracious provision for their healing and deliverance. And is not this, beloved brethren, the oft told tale of our declensions and restorations? Christ, as our daily food, our manna from heaven, is despised by us, and treated as light bread. The destroyer is let loose upon us, until we become glad of Christ as he was made known to us at first, God's Son, and the Gift of His love; but still, the Son of Man lifted up for dying sinners to look to and live. When we have lost our spiritual appetite for Christ, the Bread of heaven, we are made, in one way or another, to feel our need of Him as Saviour, and to feel afresh the value of the blood He shed for the remission of our sins. How precious do we then again find Him to be to our souls! Known afresh, in living power, as the Healer of our wounds, as our Saviour and our Life, He is no longer esteemed by us as "light bread." How sad, that we should need to learn thus by our falls and by our wounds the preciousness of Him who surely should be above all price to our souls for His own intrinsic excellence, and beauty, and worth. But so, alas, it is; and while nothing becomes us but to hide our heads in the dust, surely we must acknowledge, to the praise of God's infinite grace, that it is better to learn, even by our wounds, to value Christ, the only One in whom healing virtue resides, than to be suffered to go on, as, alas! our wretched hearts would do, lightly esteeming Him. O that He might, in very truth, be our only sus tenance and joy! But there are depths of mercy and grace in the Lord's dealings with Israel, in this chapter, which we have not yet noticed. How often do our unbelieving hearts seek to limit the Lord's goodness, and measure what may be expected from Him by our own failure, rather than by His infinite grace. How common is the feeling, that when grievous failure has occurred, though there may be healing from the Lord as in the case before us, still no such aboundings of joy, or power in testimony, or victory in conflict, can be looked for, as might have been expected had there been no failure. And what is all this but unbelief? And what an answer to it all we have in the chapter before us. Not only was the manna which Israel had despised continued to them-not only was a brazen serpent set up for the healing of any who were bitten of the fiery flying serpents, but they are conducted by the Pillar which guides them to the place where a springing well refreshes and cheers them, and they surround it with their songs-" Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it." How sweetly does this tell of the springs of refreshing wherewith the Lord cheers and gladdens His poor healed and restored ones. His love is not satisfied with healing and feeding those who have despised His goodness, and brought wounds and stripes upon themselves; it is in His heart to refresh, to gladden, to cheer their hearts, and draw forth fresh songs of holy joy and triumph from their lips. Yea, and more than this. They come ere long to the borders of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan. One after the other comes forth to withstand them; and they are not prohibited, as in the case of Edom, from forcing a passage through their territories. And what do we behold? These mighty kings, one of whom was celebrated in proverbs for his prowess, and the other a warrior of gigantic stature and strength, are as nothing before this company of pilgrims. God is on their side, and their enemies are destroyed before them, and they possess the land of their enemies. And all that followed in the wilderness was God's vindication of them by the mouth of him who was hired of Balak to curse them; (their renewed failure, alas! through the cunning of Balaam) but still their overthrow of the Midianites, and the division among the two tribes and a half, of the land of Sihon and of Og. Thus ends the wilderness. It ends in victory and praise. And I would leave it as a question for the consideration of my brethren, why it is we find such frequent mention made afterwards of the overthrow of Sihon and of Og? Is it not that the Lord would have this impression of His own grace to be the one left full and fresh upon our hearts by this wondrous history? May it be so by the power of His own Spirit, to the praise and glory of His name! Ꭲ. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. JOHN X.-PSALM XXIII. The Lord is my Shepherd; no want I need fear; When, vex'd with temptation, I heavily move, Though through Death's dark valley in sorrow I tread, For Thou, Lord, art with me, each step of the road- With choicest refreshments, my board Thou hast crowned, G. "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."-Eph. iii. 20, 21. No. VIII. THE THREE CROWNS. "Ought not Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory." (LUKE XXIV. 26). SUCH was the order of the divine counsels. If the Son of God humbled Himself to take the form of a servant, and to be found in fashion as a man, and to become obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross-and all this for the wondrous end of displaying the grace of God-His name of humiliation becomes His name of exaltation; and throughout the range of heaven and earth, and even that which is beneath it, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. "For the suffering of death, Jesus is crowned with glory and honour, that He by the grace of God might taste death for every one." It is thus that the worth of the humiliation of Jesus is not only to be estimated as that by which God is glorified; but the worth of His obedience unto death, even the death of the Cross, is also manifested in the royal and priestly dignity, into which those are brought who make confession unto the Crucified One, as Saviour and Lord. It is by the blood of Jesus that they are made kings and priests unto God and His Father. They enter into glory upon the sole ground of His precious bloodshedding. To Him as the Lamb they ascribe exclusively their redemption. "Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." "the crown But besides the common regal and priestly dignity so graciously secured to the believer, we find mention made in the New Testament of specific crownsof righteousness," "the crown of life," "the crown of glory." These are held out as encouragements to the saint under special circumstances of trial which meet him in his path; and it will be interesting to trace the connection between the circumstances, and the particular |