laid on him the iniquities of us all.” His righteousness, in all its merit, is as perfectly reckoned to my account, in the sight of God, as my sin, in all its demerit, in all its guilt, was reckoned to him. Divine justice dealt with him under the imputation of sin, that it might deal with me under the imputation of righteousness. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." * My Saviour, therefore, being my righteousness, I have a clear, indisputable, and unalterable title to the favor, the love, and the eternal enjoyment of God. If these are due to my Saviour, and possessed by him in their fulness, they equally belong to me as being invested with his merit - as being in him.t When my disimbodied soul enters the Lord's immediate presence, I shall be received with a smile of complacency, because, in welcoming me to the bosom of his love, he will welcome his own reflected image.

My Saviour, when thy law demands
Full satisfaction at my hands,
Faith points to thine atonement made,
And pleads thy full obedience paid.

O God, thou art my righteousness -
A robe of light -a spotless dress;
Thyself my title to thy love,
And to my heritage above.

Guilt cannot fill my soul with dread,
When, thus attired, I lift my head:
Not angels have so high a claim
As sinners pardoned in thy name.

17

ROCK.

My Saviour is my Rock.* Beneath the shade afforded by lofty rocks, the inhabitants of Judea found refreshment during the noontide heat. In their deep recesses and caverns they sought refuge, when overtaken by the storm, or pursued by their enemies. On the solid basis of rocks they built their most durable habitations, their temple, and many of their cities. Their very sepulchres, the treasuries of their dead, were cavities made in the rocky sides of their valleys. Hence they regarded their rocks as emblems of strength, security, and durability.

With beautiful propriety, therefore, is my Saviour often called a Rock. Do I feel like the traveller, — wounded, stripped, faint, and, incapable of an effort to save himself, left to perish on the scorching sands? Christ appears as the

rock in the desert, extending a broad, cool shade around, and sending forth "rivers of living water." Let me look to him, longing for "the times of refreshing from his presence," and thirsting for the "living water" of his grace. Conscious of my weakness and inability to come where I wish to be, let me cry, "Lead me " bring me to the rock that is higher than I."+

I hear him say, "I will refresh you." He is the "spiritual rock" of which ancient Israel drank, and from which God still supplies his people. The bees of Judea often made their rich comb in the hollow of the rocks, to the refreshment of many a weary passenger. How sweet is the honey which flows out of "the rock of our salvation"! ‡

Does fear assail does danger threaten me? I will resort to Christ, as David did to the strongholds of Engedi, looking through all temporal means of security to him.

waiteth upon God: from him

"Truly, my soul

cometh my salva

tion. He only is my rock." "My God is the

Nothing but a rock will answer my purpose, since I build for eternity. I have this in my Saviour, who is the rock-basis of his church, against which the gates of hell are never to prevail. The hope built there “ maketh not ashamed.” Let it enlarge itself to the widest extent; and let it rise to the loftiest height that is sanctioned by the unlimited promises of God; and let it be assaulted by the greatest violence;

- it cannot fail, for it is “founded upon a

rock." *

Did the body of a Jewish believer repose in an excavated rock, “in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life”? In Christ my body shall rest, secure of that blissful expectation.

Thrice blessed, therefore, is thy saint, O Lord; for “ thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength,” or “ THE Rock Of Ages.”f I find in thee, my Saviour, strength, which can overbalance all the disadvantages of my own weakness, and all the violence of my enemies; security, which no craft or power of the foe can disturb ; and a durability