feast, and the slain Lamb of JEHOVAH'S providing, living souls alone can feed. From Him alone we derive nourishment and strength which satisfies our hungering souls here, and will be the feast of our glorified spirits throughout eternity. When we arrive at home, we shall see the slain Lamb in the midst of the throne and feast upon His love. Then it will be true concerning us which we can now sing of the redeemed in glory, "Those dear tokens of His passion Still His dazzling body bears, Gaze they on those glorious scars." V.-THEIR PRIVILEGES-" And their soul shall be as a watered garden." A garden enclosed and separated from this wide world's wilderness is the soul of every saved sinner. Lest it should wither and decay, He has left this gracious promise, along with that in Isa. xxvii. 3, "I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment." His doctrine from the lips of His own sent ministers shall drop as the rain, as the dew, as the small rain, and as the showers. Refreshed by these, the fruits of righteousness abound by Jesus Christ, and the desire of the living soul is, "Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits" (Song iv. 16). "The greatest delight that Christ hath in the world, is in the garden of His Church; therefore, that He might take full delight therein, He makes it fruitful, stored with precious fruits, growing from plants set by His own hand, relished of His own Spirit, and so fitted to His taste." "And they shall not sorrow any more at all." Brought to the height of Zion, and to the enjoyment of its spiritual blessings, they shall not sorrow as aforetime. Egypt and its oppressions are for ever past. The sorrows of spiritual birth cannot be repeated. Loved, redeemed, and risen with Christ, they shall rejoice before Him and know what that means, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (John xvi. 22). The time is past, and I must stop. May the Lord add His blessing, for His name's sake. Amen. "TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE." A Sermon PREACHED IN GROVE CHAPEL, CAMBERWELL, ON SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 13TH, 1878, BY THOMAS BRADBURY. "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. "For if they fall, the One will lift up His fellow but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."-Eccles. iv. 9, 10. HE three books written by Solomon by the inspiration of God the ever-blessed Spirit, set forth, according to the order in which they appear, deep and experimental truths. The book of Proverbs contains excellent advice and profitable counsel; but the spiritually-enlightened child of God, who knows himself in the light of the Divine perfections, as he attempts to act according to that advice and counsel, discovers failure, imperfection, and condemnation at almost every step. That is true in his experience which the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor. iii. 6: "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Go to the book of Proverbs, mark well its counsels and maxims, try to act according to its directions, and every one of you who have arrived at a true knowledge and understanding of yourselves according to the teaching of the Holy Ghost, will find nothing but failure and defect. But let the blessed Spirit lead you into the hidden mysteries of the Proverbs, and you come at once into the enjoyment of covenant love, grace, and mercy, which God has treasured up for you in the person of His dear Son. Apart from Him, as you have wended your weary way through the book of Proverbs, you alight upon the dreary region described in the book of Ecclesiastes, "UNDER THE SUN," where you find nought but "vanity and vexation of spirit." In every spot of this sin-benighted earth where the natural sun pours down its warmth and heat, ay, and in every spot where it shines not, death, darkness, and destruction reign. But there is a deep and spiritual meaning couched beneath that expression, "under the No. 97.-PRICE ONE PENNY. Sun." This is the Sun of Righteousness who shines with healing in His wings upon all who fear His name, and under, out of, or apart from Him the pilgrim to Zion can find nothing but weariness and dreariness. We may sometimes think, that by the grace God has bestowed upon us, the many favours we have received from His hands, the tokens for good with which He has indulged us, the many evidences of His kindness and His care He has given, we will go on our way rejoicing, and serve Him continually with cheerfulness of spirit. But in the midst of our hopes and expectations, temptations and tribulations appear with their heavy loads crushing our very hearts with doubt and despondency, leaving us, we know not where. This is in keeping with the experience described in Psa. lxii. While the Psalmist's mind was engaged with his God, he was blessed with comfort, consolation, and communion (v. 1, 2); but the very moment he was occupied with men, his enemies, those who were watching for his overthrow, he is filled with anxiety and care (v. 3, 4). He is glad to turn again to his God. See v. 5-9: "My soul, wait thou only upon God," &c. We find him again in the ninth and tenth verses having to do with men and things around him; but finding nothing but lies, vanity, oppression, and robbery, he is glad to turn away from all to his God who spoke once and for ever in the declaration of His irresistible power and inalienable mercy. As we go through this book of Ecclesiastes, we meet with dreariness, desolation, and death, but these are the sure harbingers of love, light, and life in Christ Jesus. At the commencement of Solomon's next book we meet with singing, not mourning; rejoicing, not repining. Look at its title, "THE SONG OF SONGS." Here we see Christ, our spiritual Solomon, singing His own sweet love-songs to the weary and disconsolate hearts of those who experience vanity and vexation of spirit apart from Him. Look at the 4th verse: the Church in conscious weakness cries, "Draw me." dragging or driving on new covenant ground. "Draw me," is the desire. "We will run after thee," is the determination. "The King hath brought me into His chambers," is the destiny. Here we have neither drawing nor running, but gracious carrying and conducting. These just suit me, and nothing short of these will satisfy the exercised heart of him who now speaks to you. No Let us now look at the teaching which Solomon by the Holy Ghost sets before us in the various sections of this 4th of Ecclesiastes. In the first four verses we learn that "Vanity is increased unto men by oppression." Where will you go in this wide world of ours and find no oppression? You cannot discover a spot which sin has defiled, but self will assert itself and oppression will be felt in some way or another. If you see one man raised up above his fellows, if that man's heart is not either softened by Divine grace, or restrained by Divine power, he is sure to be an oppressor. It matters not whether he be a prince, priest, or pauper, unrestrained by sovereign power, some poor wretches will be sure to feel his oppressing hand. Show me a person who holds any office in connection with the professing Church, who labours to make his responsibility appear, and I will show you one who will display his empty dignity, and make others smart under the rod of his authority. Look now at the nations of the earth, and what find you in the present state of affairs, with all that our political economists and would-be philanthropists have done? An era of universal peace and good-will was to be ushered in by the Exhibition of 1851, a subject which so operated upon the mind of the now glorified Joseph Irons, as to drive him almost mad with the thought that the Pope and his crew would again gain the ascendancy in this our land. But, where is the peace? Where is the prosperity? Lacking amongst the nations of the earth. Politicians may boast about "Peace with honour," but where is it? Oppression reigns on every hand, while the policy of the nations is self-aggrandisement, seeking for an extension of their possessions, and, as they think, an increase of their power. The 4th verse shows that vanity is increased by envy. My dear friends, where will you go where envy does not dwell? Solomon asks the question, "Who is able to stand before envy?" (Prov. xxvii. 4). Well, I am confident that I cannot stand before it, only as I am blessed with the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it is said that Pilate "knew that for envy they had delivered Him" (Matt. xxvii. 18). He endured all the envy of Satan, for Satan envied Him His high and exalted position. He bore all the envy of Satan's brood, and He puts up with all the envy His poor weak disciples manifest during their pilgrimage below. We may well cry out, "From envy, hatred and malice, good Lord deliver us." Envy is a terrible dish for the child of God to feed upon, especially when he has been privileged to sit at the feet of the Master with a desire and a will to be anything or everything for the glory of God, and for the comfort and consolation of God's children. To find the tongue of envy, jealousy, and suspicion wagging against him is anything but pleasant. In the 5th and 6th verses we see vanity increased by idleness. A man who sighs for quietness looks around him, and as he sees envy, jealousy, and strife reigning rampant, a feeling of indifference steals almost imperceptibly over him, drawing him to the conclusion that it is better for him to fold his arms, and take no active part in the affairs of God's Church and people upon earth. But such an one may rest assured that he will find vanity and vexation of spirit increased thereby. The 7th and 8th verses declare that covetousness is the cause of the increase of vanity to the poor wretch who is tormented by it. See! "Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the There is one alone, and there is not a second: yea, he sun. hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches, neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail." Well, it is enough to put a man's mind on the rack, and draw it to its utmost tension, when he has one near and dear to him and eight lumps of dust to provide for; but with all the trials and perplexities attending such a state, let me have it, rather than that of the poor mortal who eats his morsel alone, who gathers together with one hand and grasps tight with the other: I would sooner be where I am. The words of my text show that vanity is increased by solitude: "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the One will lift up His fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth: for he hath not another to help him up." Now, in humble dependence upon the guidance and leading of God the ever-blessed Spirit, we will try to find a little comfort and counsel in this portion. May He make a little oasis in the desolation which appears all around. "Two are better than one." God, in the creation of the world, and in the forming of man and placing him upon it for the display of His redeeming grace, never intended him to spend his days alone, or to live a life of monkish seclusion. This is evident from the whole tenor of His blessed Word. We find JEHOVAH in His Trinity of persons revealed, if I may be allowed the term, a sociable God. God in counsel, communication, and communion. Turn with me to Genesis i. 1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." In the word God, we have, in the original, a plural noun, which sets forth the plurality of persons in the Godhead. Now turn to Psalm xxiii. 6: "By the Word." That is one person, the Son. "Of the LORD." That is another person, the Father. "Were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Breath of His mouth." That is another person, even the Spirit. Now run through the whole of the first chapter of Genesis, and you will see that in the production of the whole of the minor creation you have simply the words, "And God said." Did He call for light? "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." Did He create the firmament? "And God said, Let there be a firmament." Did He separate the waters from the land? "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place.' Did He call forth the vegetable kingdom into existence? God said, Let the earth bring forth grass," &c. Did He create the sun, moon, and stars in the heaven? And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven." Did He create the inhabitants of the sea? "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly." Did God create man upon the earth? See! There is a difference and a distinction. "And God said, Let us 66 And |