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THESE words of the Prophet Isaiah are applied by an Apostle to the ministers of the Gospel-the term Gospel literally signifying glad tidings ;" and its ministers being, indeed, the publishers of peace and salvation unto all the ends of the earth.

The evidence thus, and so frequently, afforded to the truth of our most holy religion by the fulfilment of prophecy, is at once convincing and consolatory; convincing, be

cause as none can foretel future

events but God, so when that which has been predicted, has come to pass, we know that it is of God; and consolatory, because it proves the greatness and endurance of God's love towards us. Isaiah lived several hundreds of years before the coming of our Lord; and yet his prophecies are but links of a chain that extends still farther and farther back, even to the garden of Eden itself. In Eden the Gospel was first preached: in Eden were those glad tidings of peace and salvation first announced, so rapturously repeated from age to age by

Rom. x. 15.
REMEMBRANCER, No. 61.

[VOL. VI.

the inspired Prophets; celebrated in the songs of angels; completed on the hill of Calvary by the atoning sacrifice of the death of the only begotten Son of God; published throughout the world by his Apostles; and to be for ever published, till time shall be no more, by his ministers, their successors, as the most glorious and most blessed subject that can engage the heart

or mind of man.

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings!" The Prophet had scarcely risen from the contemplation of the sad condition of his un

happy countrymen, exiled and oppressed for their sins, fainting and lying at the heads of all the streets of Babylon, impatiently, yet impotently, struggling in the net of their captivity, full of the fury of the Lord and the rebuke of their God; when the scene on a sudden

changes, and he hears in the Spirit the watchmen on the mountains announcing the approach of a messenger, with the glad tidings of Je

rusalem's deliverance. His wholesoul instantly takes fire, and in a transport of joy he exclaims:"Awake, awake, put on thy strength, 0 Zion! put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem! the holy city. Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion !"

B

"How beau

tiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings, the tidings of thine happy deliverance, after the seventy long years of thy mournful captivity!" In this interpretation we have the Prophet's primary meaning; the more immediate intention of that most blessed Spirit, by whom he was inspired, but neither the only nor the chief intention. Almost all the prophecies--of this evangelical Prophet more especially-have a two-fold application; the one referring to a merely temporal object, the other to one spiritual and infinitely higher-even to the coming of the Messiah, the great Redeemer of mankind, in whom all the prophecies of God are Yea and Amen, fully and everlastingly fulfilled.

This is strikingly the case in the present instance. It was not of a mere earthly messenger-the messenger of the glad tidings of a temporal deliverance only, that the Prophet spake far, far more; it was of Him, the angel and messenger of that everlasting covenant which God would make with men; yea, not the messenger only, sent from the Father for this gracious object, but Himself, the divine and glorious and willing consummator, and most gracious sealer of that covenant with his own most precious blood;a covenant, whereby not Israel only, according to the flesh, but all mankind, whether they be Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian or scythian, when admitted into the Church through the appointed door of baptism, should be delivered from the spiritual yoke of sin, restored to the favour of God, and assured on their faith and obedience of a quiet and everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of their heavenly Father. Of Him, then our most blessed Lord-and of the Apostles, his messengers, whom he sent forth to preach his word, and of the present ministers of his Church, does the Prophet speak, when in the power of the Spirit he exclaims," How beau

tiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." This is no private interpretation: it rests not merely on the united wisdom of the most learned and pious of divines. An inspired Apostle hath applied the words to the ministers of the Gospel; and in this sense they may henceforth be most fitly and exclusively taken. With how much truth we shall next proceed to consider.

The message delivered is described under the several titles of glad tidings of peace, of good tidings of good, and lastly of salvation.

And what is the Gospel but the annunciation of peace between God and man, through the atoning blood of our most dear and blessed Lord? “Whilst we were yet sinners," saith the Apostle," Christ died for us; and he is our peace, the author of our peace, who hath reconciled both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and has come into the world and preached peace to the Gentile which was afar off, and to the Jew that was nigh, that through him both might have access, by one Spirit, to the Father." What words can set forth in its full terror the wrath of an offended God, from which we have been hereby delivered? Shall we think of that piteous cry of the wicked in the Apocalypse, when they said to the mountains and rocks: Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? Or, shall we reflect on, and endeavour to collect, the full import of those words of the Apostle, Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil? or of that fearful denunciation by our Lord of the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not

quenched? No image, however vivid,-no language, however strong, can come up to this single consideration, that the reconciliation between God and man was effected at no less a price, than that of the death of the only begotten of the Father! Nothing can picture to the mind more strongly the heinousness of sin, and the severity of God's wrath! But (thanks be to the love of Christ,) He hath borne our sins-the punishment of our sins-in his own body on the tree; and that punishment once borne, pardon hath been granted, and peace established, by his blood; -a peace, never more to be broken but by our own waywardness and impenitence. Be not afraid, said the Angel, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace! My peace I leave with you, said our Lord, when on the point of shedding that blood, which was to be the means and seal of our peace; my peace, the reconciliation that I have effected for you with the Father, I leave with you, to be a source of neverfailing hope, and comfort to the penitent. My peace I give unto you; (for this reconciliation is the effect of the Father's free mercy towards us in accepting, and of our most blessed Redeemer's unbounded love, in offering himself for us ;) my peace I give unto you; that peace, whereby you are reconciled to the Father; that peace, whereby you shall be comforted beyond all the power of words to express, (for the peace of God passeth understanding), and enabled with the assistance of my Spirit, calmly to bear the trials, however great, of this your earthly pilgrimage."

The practice of that holiness, which has its root in the death of Christ, brings with it a comfort in the performance, and a satisfaction in the reflection, that shed a peace and tranquillity over the soul far above every earthly joy that can be named. By our deeds of

holiness, by which I mean every good word and work, done through the assistance of God's Spirit, and out of a lively faith in Christ, our fellow-creatures are benefitted, and they bless us. By our deeds of holiness, God is glorified before men; and we cannot but rejoice in being the effectual, though lowly, instruments of advancing his glory. By our deeds of holiness, God's commands are obeyed; and to strive to obey these, is to shew our gratitude to Him from whom all blessings flow; and gratitude is ever delightful to the honest and ingenuous heart. By our deeds of holiness, God's intentions in our redemption are fulfilled, for Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. To become holy, therefore, through the assistance of the ever-blessed Spirit, is at once to fulfil the gracious intentions of God in our redemption; to shew ourselves duly impressed with a sense of the unspeakable lovingkindness of our Lord towards us; to obey the commands of our heavenly Father, by which endearing name we are emboldened, through Christ, to address the God of heaven and earth; to glorify his name, and to render ourselves, through Him, a blessing to all around us; and, surely, these are considerations fully calculated to produce (and the righteous will tell you that they do produce) a peace in the soul, which the world cannot give, and which can be derived only under Christ and his Spirit, from the ha bitual practice of Christian holiness. Justly, therefore, is the minister of the Gospel described by the Prophet as the publisher of peace!

With equal justice is he farther represented, as the bringer of good tidings of good; for what can be more for our good than to be reconciled to the never failing fountain of goodness unspeakable? What more for our good than to be delivered by the Holy Spirit of God,

from the dominion and evil practices of sin, and restored to the freedom of righteousness? What more for our good than to be placed above this world by the hope of a better; to be taught how to live in it by the example and rules of God himself; and to be kept unspotted from it by the promised assistance of an almighty Spirit? What, lastly, can be more for our good, than from enemies of God to be made his children; from outcasts to become his heirs; and to be assured, on His own most faithful promise, that if we labour by his grace to do our duty now, and put our trust in the atoning blood of our Redeemer, death itself shall be but a passage into a life of unspeakable happiness; and this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, and death be swallowed up in an everlasting victory. What earthly good can be put in the balance against these? But the watchman, whose voice the Prophet heard in the Spirit, was a publisher moreover of salvation. And whom do we preach unto you but Jesus the Saviour? This is the first and the last, the beginning and the ending of all our preaching: warning every man, that by the assisting grace of God, he run with patience his race of duty, looking unto Jesus as the author and finisher of his faith; inculcating by every means in our power, and with fervent prayers to God, that he would write the truth deep in the hearts of our hearers, that there is salvation in none other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

And what is the salvation that he hath purchased for us at the price of his own most precious blood? Salvation from the evils and afflictions of this life? far otherwise; the Christian is often called to suffer these that he may be proved; and on his patient endurance of them, through the aid of the Spirit, may

be more abundantly rewarded. Salvation of the body? This must die, that we may be clothed with upon our house, which is from heaven. Salvation, as confined to this world? This world shall pass away, and all the fashion of it. Salvation for a time only, and from an evil of but little moment? Not for such did the divine Word, the only begotten of the Father, become flesh, and lay down his life for our sakes on the Cross. The salvation that he hath graciously wrought for us, is a salvation, on our faith and repentance, from the awful and just anger of God, and from the horror of everlasting death. In this world, our Lord infuses hope-to save us from despair: He holds forth his example before our eyes, He proclaims his laws in our ears: He sheds abroad his Holy Spirit in our hearts, to save us from the heavy bondage of our sinful habits: in the hour of temptation, he saves his faithful servants that pray unto him, from falling away from their stedfastness: in death, he saves their bodies from the power of the grave, which at the sound of the last trump shall be forced to render up her dead: and at the day of final judgment, he shall graciously save them from the torments of everlasting punishment, and bid them enter, through his merits, into the joy of their Lord; there to live for ever and for ever in everlasting glory and blessedness, triumphantly saying unto the heavenly Zion, in the full meaning of the prophetic address: " Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth; let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour unto Him."

These considerations will convey but a faint outline of the blessedness of the Gospel; but it will be for yourselves, through the assistance of God's Spirit, to fill it up by a patient and hearty study of the Scriptures, and frequent meditation on the same. It was to perfect this Gospel, that the only begotten of the Father left the glories of heaven, and become man, and laid

down his life on the Cross. It was to preach it to the world, that the Apostles went forth, counting all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. Foremost in this noble band was the Apostle of the day. It was his glorious privilege, first to follow our Lord; first to seek the blessedness of his conversation; first to acknowledge him to be the Messias; first to point out, even unto Peter, the long-expected Redeemer of the world. It was the Apostle Andrew, that straightway left his net, and gave up every earthly consideration at the call of his Lord, that he might become a fisher of men; and true and faithful was he, even unto death. Let not

This Sermon was preached on the festival of St. Andrew.

then his example, his eagerness to follow Christ, his noble sacrifice of every earthly consideration, his faithful and undaunted preaching of the truth-let not these be lost upon us. That Gospel, the Gospel of peace, the glad tidings of good, the Gospel of salvation, let us receive into our hearts; there let it take root and spring up, and bring forth, under the dew of God's blessing, the fruit of righteousness; and Him, whom, when on earth, the Apostle St. Andrew so readily followed, let us endeavour, through his grace, to follow also in all the acts of a pious, and holy, and charitable life; that through His merits we may finally follow him, even into heaven, where he now sitteth, as a most gracious and powerful intercessor for us, at the right hand of his Father.

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BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.

Acts ix. 11.

And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.

AFTER the Mesku, there is, nothing worth speaking of in Damascus, excepting the via Recta, or the Great Street, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. It extends

from the eastern to the western

gate about a league, crossing the whole city and suburbs in a direct fine on both sides of it there are shops, where all the rich merchan. dize is sold that is brought every year by the caravans from Europe, Armenia, Africa, Persia, and the Indies."-Green's Journey from Aleppo to Damascus.

Deut. xi. 10.

For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs.

"Such vegetable productions as require more moisture than what is

occasioned by the inundation (of the Nile) are refreshed by water drawn out of the river by instruments, and lodged afterwards in capacious cisterns. When, therefore, their various sorts of pulse, melons, sugar canes, &c. &c. all which are commonly ploughed in rills, require to be refreshed, they strike out the plugs that are fixed in the bottom of the cisterns; and then the water

gushing out is conducted from one rill to another by the gardener, who is always ready, as occasion requires, to stop and divert the torit, by his foot, and opening, at the rent, by turning the earth against same time, with his mattock, a new trench to receive it." Dr. Shaw,

from Harmer's Illustrations.

Gen. xxxi. 40.

Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.

Doubdan, travelling in the evening of the 28th of March, N.S. from Jaffa (or Joppa) to Rama, tells us he passed near two or three companies of Arabs,

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