age, flowers, and fruits. These we know must receive showers and dews, winds and zephyrs, light and sun-beams and shade; since to this combination they owe their colour, fragrancy, freshness, and all the variety of loveliness which renders them an ornament to the earth, and a blessing to man. Just thus it must be within the spiritual garden we now contemplate. And behold the plenteous supply-" He shall come down like showers upon the mown grass." Psalm lxxii. 6. "I will be as the dew unto Israel." Hos. xiv. 5. "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." Isa. xliv. 3. "It shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life." John iv. 14. "Awake, O north wind, and blow thou south upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." into my garden." Can. iv. 16. v. 1. a light into the world." John xii. He shall rise "the Sun of Righteousness." Mal. iv. 3. "I will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud. There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat," Isa, iv. 5, 6. Agreeing with the exulting testimony, "The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil, he shall preserve thy soul." Psalm cxxi. 5-7.

"I am come

"I am come

46.

These are the results of that covenant keeping which belongs to the Lord's inheritance, his gar

den, his property! On this blissful privilege our faith should vigorously lay hold, believing that it shall be ours in Christ Jesus. The dispensation is extended to us variously; sometimes immediately from himself by visits that gladden and assure the soul, and at other times, through the instituted means by which he promises refreshment to his people. One visit from Jesus set home by the Holy Ghost to the affections of the heart contains in it every part of the blissful provisions, for he is in himself the rain, the dew, &c. and where he dwells in manifestation to the soul, there will be bloom and beauty within. But in the means of grace we find the sure refreshment also, according to the promise, for it is Jesus' word, which comes down like the rain. Isa.lv. 10. It is his doctrine that distils like the dew. Deut. xxxii. 2. And although Paul may plant and Apollos may water, it is God that giveth the increase. 1 Cor. iii. 6.

Our part should be to seek the blessed union of all the privileged states of the believer, which has been the subject of investigation in the last few portions, that we may by the Spirit's witness find ourselves numbered with gardens of the Lord, and as such, beautified by the rich variety of supernatural productions, which adorn these his dwelling places;-that as conscious of our responsibility, we keep the garden watching thereunto with all perseverance; and that as sensible of our own insufficiency, we look with simple

affiance to him who is the omnipotent and faithful defence of his own work. In this spirit we should be enabled to apprehend the divine word as our own, and know ourselves to be interested in its testimony, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord." "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither." Psalm i. 3. And with responsive praise we shall speak his glory; and notwithstanding that we are encompassed by enemies, our boast shall be, "Blessed be the Lord, who teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight." Psalm cxliv. 4. Enemies shall fall backward from our souls, as confounded by our Lord. And beauteous plants shall thrive and decorate our souls as habitations for our God,

THE REST OF THE HEART IN AN

ALL-SUFFICIENT LORD.

CANTICLES i. 12-14.

IN connexion with that favoured experience of the believer, to which we have been conducted in our late course of subjects, there stands a point of great and interesting moment which it is our part to consider, as intimately belonging to a ripening and matured degree of faith. We have seen how by a conscious union with Christ, the soul is introduced into a state of visible beauty, comparable to a lovely and well-cultivated garden; and that the precious productions of the Holy Spirit are not only the subjects of faithful vigilance on the part of the Christian, but of divine preservation on the part of the Saviour. But high and excellent as is this blessed condition, it does not ensure the positive possession of a state of conscious bliss: and as it is the privilege of the believer to enter fully into what we may style blissful enjoyment in the Lord, we should direct our attention to this part of experience.

Reflection will convince us that spiritual enjoyment does not consist merely of spiritual increase. There may be visibly to the eye of beholders, a beautiful consistency of character exhibited by

the Christian, whilst the individual's soul is far from being in a joyous state. We have many examples recorded in the scriptures of eminent saints, who, notwithstanding their holy and suffering course in following the Lord, have uttered the language of complaint, mourning, and woe! Similar instances occur under our immediate observation, serving to convince us, that even where there is no apparent provocation or inconsistency in the life, there is the absence of high or habitual rejoicing. Neither does this arise from any secret inconsistency. The believer may possess the clearest witness in himself of an upright mind; he is unconscious of any allowed provocation; whatever he discovers to be displeasing to his Lord, he promptly resists; and in whatever instance he perceives a requirement in which God's mind is to be fulfilled, he immediately presses towards the mark, If He seems to say, make a sacrifice: the sacrifice is made. He say, embrace a responsibility; the responsibility is embraced. Nevertheless, he is not in a state of exhilaration: his bosom does not glow with conscious delight. This is not, in the case we are contemplating, the result of distrust. He has just views of the divine nature, and knows that everlasting faithfulness will be glorified in preserving the work of its own grace. He cannot hesitate as to his own participation of the Spirit's grace, for affections such as live in his breast could be produced by none but the Lord.

If