Spirits of heaven, and insects on their wing,
Of their delight own thee alone the spring.

Fount of rich, atoning grace!

When the two-edged sword of wrath Flashed upon our guilty race,

Hanging o'er their hopeless path,

Then from thy pierced heart burst forth the flood, To purge our guilt-thy own most precious blood.

Fount of purifying love!

Pouring forth thy cleansing waves,

Fitting for thy courts above

Sin and Satan's dunghill slaves;

*

FOUNDATION,

My Saviour is the FOUNDATION of his church, and consequently the foundation of all the hopes and comforts, all the holiness and happiness, of his people. “Behold,” said Jehovah, “I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation.” *

What more can I need in a foundation than suitableness, strength, durability, and immovableness? My Saviour is all this. Jehovah, who most perfectly knew what precise basis was needed for the covenant he designed to establish with fallen man, chose and appointed his dear and only Son, in his compound nature, for that purpose. The covenant of works, into which he entered with newly-created man, failed, through the inadequacy of the security on which it rested,

sire." *

Adam " is the Lord from heaven,” and secures upon himself the stability of the covenant of grace. Have I acceded to that covenant ? It “is ordered in all things and sure.” It shall, therefore, be “all my salvation and all my de

For, as every stone in a building rests upon the foundation, so every promise of the covenant rests upon Christ, and in him is 6 “yea, and in him Amen." f

The suitableness of my foundation I perceive in its appointment by the Father. Its strength is omnipotence. “If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong," I and able to bear up the weight of any superstructure of hope and confidence that I may repose on him. Let me raise the fabric of my expectations higher and more ample than the heavens, furnished with all the glory and bliss with which Jehovah himself can bless a soul he loves : my Saviour is a sufficient basis to support the magnificent pile, without any fear or possibility of failure. The base of an earthly building may itself decay: it may be made of perishable materials. Yes, and the foundations of all terrestrial structures, with those structures, will finally be destroyed. Babel — where is it? The prou

a

pyramids where will they be?

"THEY shall perish; but THOU shalt endure." * And I shall remain with thee. A foundation, sufficient for its purpose, strong and durable, may yet be but temporary: - it may be removed. The Roman ploughshare drove from its place the stupendous foundation of Zion's temple. But it would require more than omnipotence to move omnipotence. It cannot be. And equally impossible is my removal from him. "Coming unto him as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious," am I built up, as a lively stone, on him? Then, not in the fleshly confidence, which betrayed the Psalmist, but in the divine confidence, which infallibly secures, I may rejoicingly say, "I shall not be moved." +

Blow, ye blustering tempests, blow!
Rush, ye rapid torrents: - flow

Rough, ye angry tides below!

Reckless my fabric stands:

Based on everlasting rock,

Firm amidst the earthquake's shock,
Lo, the whirlwind's rage I mock,

Safe in Jehovah's hands.