ALLEGORY. No. III.

RACHEL'S CURE.

WHEN they arrived at the tent in the wilderness, Esrom spread the skin of the young lion, which had perished in the swellings of Jordan, for a couch to Sheshbazzar. The patriarch said, as he sat down upon it, "An old lion would not have rushed over the precipice after his prey, when the Jordan had overflowed all its banks. He would have couched when he heard the roar of the waters; or hunted in another direction, until they had subsided. ESROM! you have often pursued your speculations into the swellings of a river, which, like the Jordan, discharges itself into the DEAD Sea. It is of the Lord's mercies, that you were not swept by the wild waves of conjecture, into the dark Asphaltic of idolatry. You may well say with David, of the God of your fathers, He sent from above, he took me he drew me out of many waters.' But for this, the proud waves' of Philistia, Egypt, or Babylon, had come into thy soul' for all their billows went over thee, and even their water-spouts had thee often under their wings. You despised idols; but you worshipped the powers of nature, and all but consulted the powers of darkness. You would have divined with the cup of Pharaoh, or stipulated with the witch of Endor, for the secrets of the future; and for the secrets of the invisible, you would have questioned, alternately, the oracles of Babylon, the graves of the dead, or the stars of hea

ven."

proud to be a debtor to grace. He took for granted, that the little mercy he needed (for, how could it be much, after all his morals ?) must, as a matter of course, be quite sure. For, what had he ever done, that his soul should be in any danger? He had, indeed, been rather free in his inquiries: but then, truth was his object! Thus Esrom reasoned; and thus he felt too. He had not borne "the yoke in his youth." Like Moab, he had "been at ease, from his youth;" and thus, his conscience had never been confronted with the terrors of the law or eternity. Nothing had ever disturbed his self-complacency, until Rachel's penitence, on hearing the parable of the grapes of Gomorrah, compelled him to pause and ask himself,-"If Rachel weep, can I be right, or altogether safe? Her spirit is both purer and humbler than my spirit: and yet she trembles before God! Is this wisdom or weakness, on her part? Weakness! Who ever saw Rachel weak? Her spirit has towered in strength and majesty, ever since its roots, like the cedars of Lebanon, dipped their feet in the oil' of the olive valley. Can I be safe

if she was in danger until then?" This question went to his heart: and whilst it lodged there, Rachel was won, and Sheshbazzar conciliated, and Esrom himself somewhat humbled. Still, his "eye was not single." It caught occasional glimpses of the genius of Judaism, as the religion of a sinner, and as the shadow of good things to come; but it never looked steadfastly to the substance of the system, nor to the simplicity of his own motives. He became a great "doer of the law," just that he might be a less debtor to the covenant. He threw the whole weight of his influence into the synagogue; but chiefly, that he might conciliate the elders to Rachel. He beautified the building, and placed new copies of the law upon the desk; but not until he found out that Rachel was preparing splendid hangings, of her own needle-work, for the tabernacle. He often led the choir, when the great HOSANNA was sung, if Rachel was present: but when she was not there, his voice was sure to be out of tune, owing (as he said) to his being out too early amongst his reapers, or too late amongst his sheep-folds, in a day of rain. Thus his eye was not single, even when his hand was most active and liberal.

Such had been the character of Esrom, until the master-spirit of Sheshbazzar, and the meek spirit of Rachel, threw their joint spell over his prying curiosity. Even then, he bowed his head only, to Judaism. His understanding yielded to the arguments of the patriarch, and his heart to the influence of the virgin of Beersheba: but upon his spirit, the truth, not the grace of Judaism, had all the power. It was the logic of the system, not the mercy of the dispensation, that affected him. Its external evidence was a hook in his jaws; but its internal glory, as the only hope of a sinner, had no charms for him. The rays of that glory fell upon the scales of his selfrighteousness, as the winds of heaven on the scales of Leviathan, and the bones of Behemoth, Rachel was the first to discover his mixed mounfelt; "one was so near to another, that no air tives, and not slow to arraign them. With equal could come between them." Job xli. He had promptness and point, she asked him, when his bowed at the side of Sheshbazzar, amidst the mantle of "flax and wool," would be ready to thousands of Israel, when the high-priest went wear before the Lord in Zion? and, why he did within the veil with the interceding atonement; not offer "swine's blood," as well as the firstlings but, although the veil of the temple shook with of his flock, at the altar? Her parable, as she the intensity of their emotion, Esrom's heart nei- applied it, told upon his conscience, as "The ther beat with suspense before, nor burned with Grapes of Gomorrah" did upon her own. He was gratitude after, the answer of peace came from shocked by the discovery of his mixed motives; the mercy-seat. "The system must be true; and and, from that time, began to pray, "Unite my therefore it ought to be respected," was the heart to fear Thy name." The impiety of serving whole amount of his worship. "Its miracles the CREATOR for the sake of the creature, unveil counterbalance its mysteries," was his only rea- ed to him all the ungodliness of his spirit; and son for believing. The eyes of his understanding, made him smite upon his breast, in all the bitterlike the eyelids of the morning, opened without ness of self-condemnation. Sheshbazzar had fear; and his hopes, like the wings of the morn-marked this revolution, and resolved to train Esing, expanded without effort; whether he thought rom for the ELDERSHIP of Beersheba; and as his of life or death, time or eternity. He was too own successor in the guidance of the pilgrimages rich, to feel dependent on Providence; and too to Jerusalem. For this he had often "wrestled

until the break of day," with the angel of the covenant. For this, he had long watched and prayed daily. It was to this he referred, when he said to Esrom, in the wilderness, "But for your sake Rachel would not have been restored."

He repeated this in the tent; and added, "The Shepherd of Israel intends thee to feed his sheep and lambs, and therefore he will spare the help, 'meet for thee. Thou art not fit to be trusted alone yet, with such a charge. Thou couldst not be calculated upon for prudence or fidelity, if thy betrothed were taken away at this time. It is not, therefore, for thy merit she is spared; but in pity to thy weakness, and in consideration of the work thou art called unto. Give thy heart to that work, from henceforth; and thus render unnecessary such visitations as I incurred. God had to write me childless,' and then widower' before I gave all my heart to his glory. He had to make my soul forget prosperity,' before I would identify my interests with his cause, or seek my happiness in 'the good of his heritage.""

Then, turning to Rachel, who sat leaning her head upon the ark of her covenants, the old man said, "Rachel, I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet; but I have studied the past, and thus can anticipate the future, in some of its certain wants. It will always want Sarahs for its Abrahams, Rachels for its Jacobs, and Deborahs for its Lapidoths. Whilst SAMUELS are wanted at the altar of the Lord, there must be Hannahs in Ramathaimzophim. Even whilst SAMSONS are needed in Israel, there must be Mothers in Israel, like

the wife of Manoah: and all such wives and mothers must bear the yoke in their youth.' God has laid his heaviest yoke on thy young neck; and thou has not been, as a bullock unaccustomed' to it, impatient, or obstinate. Ye can both say, our hearts are not turned back, though Thou, O God, hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and

covered us with the shadow of death.' Ye have

"Whilst he was yet speaking," Rachel was recovering.

No. IV.

VARIETIES, FROM INATTENTION.

Too much importance cannot be attached to a
right creed, except when it is put in the room of
a holy character, or of an humble spirit. Then,
however, there is something equally awful and
Not that a sound creed
ominous in orthodoxy.
itself is a dangerous thing. Far from it! Indeed,
there can be no true holiness nor humility, with-
out soundness in the faith, upon all cardinal points.
There may be virtues of character, which are in-
tended for holiness: and virtues of temper, which
are intended for humility: but, as both holiness
and humility have their chief reasons in the re-
vealed character and will of God, the conduct and
spirit (however good) which are not chiefly influ-
enced by these reasons, are not those virtues.-
She who goes no further than the general princi-
ple-"I ought to be holy because God is holy;
and humble because God is great," is certainly
wiser than the woman who merely avoids vice and
pride because they are vulgar: but still, the for-
mer is almost as far from being "wise unto salva-
tion," as the latter. She assigns, indeed, a much
better reason than the latter for her conduct and
ever, is not enough, so long as it is her only rea-
That, how-
spirit for it is a scriptural reason.

son. God has laid down other reasons than his
Own holiness, why we should be holy; and other
be humble. He enforces these graces of charac-
reasons than his own greatness, why we should
ter, by the purifying virtue and design of the blood
of Christ, and by the sanctifying influences of the
Holy Spirit, and by the sublime perfection of hea-
venly bliss. Now, although all these reasons may
be resolved into the glorious holiness of God, as
their original fountain, or moral cause, it is cer-
tainly not as such, that she sees the matter, who
is less influenced by the love of Christ, than by the
law of duty. ANGELS only are able to be holy,
"because God is holy." She is, therefore, both
heedless and heartless in religion, who satisfies
herself with this single motive. Alas, all the mo-
tives and reasons furnished by all the wonders of
redeeming love, produce but too little holiness,
even in those who admire them most; that morali-

ty, therefore, which can subsist without them,

must be very meagre indeed.

both gone astray like lost sheep; but ye both returned to the shepherd of Israel, the moment he employed his guardian crook as a chastising rod; and now, it is over you as a pastoral crook again, and will soon guide you back in peace, to all the green pastures and still waters of Zion. This leprosy will give place to health in thy countenance; and this lowness of spirits, to the joy of salvation. But, my children! let the dawn of this hope, as it brightens unto perfect day, bring all your responsibilities, as well as your prospects, distinctly before you. You are about to be blessed again, that, like Abraham and Sarah, ye may be a blessing, in your house and neighborhood. Know therefore, and remember, that if ye dare to live unto that, in some things, the character and spirit of It is, however, a very solemn and startling fact, yourselves' again, a worse thing will befall you."" females, who act only from a strong sense of proThere was no occasion to prolong the conversa- priety, or upon a vague principle of duty, surpass tion. Rachel's leprosy was rapidly passing away. those of some women who profess "godliness," The composure and tenderness of Sheshbazzar, upon evangelical principles. This is a sore evil had created a crisis in her spirits, which led on under the sun!" It proves that there is a way of her health, as if Lot's angel had taken her by the believing "in vain," or of "holding the truth" hand, and whispered a message of peace from the without the love of it: a state of mind and conthrone, in tones and terms of heavenly sympathy; science, of all others the most ruinous! For, if for Sheshbazzar closed the evening with prayer. the glorious gospel is believed, without being And, what a prayer! Never, since Jacob wrestled obeyed, one of two things is certain: either that with the angel on Peniel, had such petitions been the person is verging towards a reprobate mind, poured from the heart, or pressed into heaven.or that she was never renewed at all in the spirit

of her mind. The latter is, indeed, the more likely supposition; for "a reprobate mind," or abandonment to judicial hardness of the heart, is a curse but rarely incurred by "women professing godliness." Those of them who are very inconsistent, may be safely regarded as unconverted.— Still, it is a very awful thing, when a woman can give herself credit for being converted to God by the Holy Spirit, whilst all her religion consists in talking about religion. Unregeneracy is dreadful, even in a woman who is utterly ignorant of the great truths of the gospel of salvation: but it is absolutely horrible, when found in connection with the knowledge and acknowledgment of these supreme truths. The very devils tremble at what they believe. The man or woman, therefore, who can believe all that is peculiar, inspiring, and solemn in the gospel, and yet not obey that gospel, is less affected by it than even Satan and his angels. They, indeed, hate it with perfect hatred; but still they stand in awe of it, and yield to it the homage of fear. How infatuated then must she be, whose religion begins and ends with hearing and talking of the truth as it is in Jesus!" That truth is intended to rule both the tongue and the temper; to subdue the love of the world, and the love of ease; to turn sloth into activity, and selfishness into cheerful benevolence; and thus to make all whom it blesses, "a blessing" to others, to the full extent of their ability.

courage to avow and evince your faith;) and to courage, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But (she) that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that (she) was purged from (her) old sins. Wherefore the rather give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."

Now whatever else you fear or feel on reading this very solemn and heart-searching oracle, you are deeply conscious of, and concerned about one thing;-that you may "never fall." That has fixed your eye, and affected your heart. You cannot bear the idea of falling away from God entirely and finally. You may not be so fascinated by the prospect of "an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," as for the sake of that, to add "all these things to your faith." You may even be so heartless about heaven, as to care little how you enter it, if you are only admitted at last: but you are not so lost to all right feeling, as to care nothing about missing that kingdom, or falling short of it. Well? make the most of this feeling, if it thus be the best and the strongest of your present religious emotions. It is a good feeling in itself; and, accordingly, the fear of falling away is often appealed to in the Scriptures. Rom. xi. 17, 22.

I want, by these hints, to make you as much afraid of not following the Lord fully, as you are of denying the Lord who bought you; as much shocked at partial obedience and heartless devotion, as at open infidelity. Now, you would not You do, then, fear apostacy. You are neither for worlds be sceptics nor scorners. Rather than so "high-minded," nor so earthly-minded, as not apostatise from the truth as it is in Jesus, or than to fear falling: nor so "double-minded" as to prehold it in unrighteousness, you would do, give, and tend to be fearless. Well; so far, you are not pray more than ever you have tried hitherto.-" blind," even if you "lack" some of those things Yes; were you quite sure, or even very suspicious, that the degree in which you are now following God in duty and devotion, was no security against final apostacy, and no conclusive proof of saving piety, you would bestir yourself at once, and make a new effort to act up to your avowed principles.

Are you, then, quite sure that you have gone further in the narrow way, than "those who draw back unto perdition?" Is it beyond all doubt that you are following the Lord far enough, to prove that you have been "drawn by the cords of Love," and "led by the Spirit?" I do not at all question your sincerity, nor the correctness of your principles, so far as you do follow the Lord. My inquiry is, are you fully persuaded in your own mind, that you are diligent enough to "make your calling and election sure?" Does your own conscience bear you witness, that you are doing all those things, of which God saith, if ye do them, "ye shall never fall!" Do read again the list of these essential things. 2 Peter i. 5-11. What; is it enough for you, that you remember the outline of the passage I have thus noted? Do, then, remember that clause of it, (changing the pronoun,) she "that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that she was purged from her old sins." If you have any pretensions to sincerity, you will read again, now, the list itself; "Add to your faith virtue; (that is,

which constitute the security against falling. You do not, however, "see afar off," (are not longsighted-do not look without winking) if you imagine that you can safely continue to lack any of these things. Each of them is an essential feature of that "Divine nature" or holiness, without which you cannot see the Lord. It is by having them all in you, so as to "abound" in them, that "calling and election are made sure," and "never falling" certain.

Are you beginning to tire of this process of reasoning and remonstrance? It is not mine, remember! Alas, I feel it, like yourself, to be very strict, and even somewhat stern too. Again and again I have been tempted to shut my eyes upon some of the many things, thus inseparably linked together, and then laid altogether upon me, as necessary to keep me from falling. I have caught myself asking, "Cannot calling and election too be made sure, without adding so many things to faith?" Can I not "stand" at less expense of time, thought, and effort? Who gives all this diligence, to make sure against falling! Do all fall, who "lack" any of these things? Have I not stood for years, although I have not abounded much in some of these virtues? Do I not see around me not a few, who are doing even less to stand than myself, and yet not at all afraid of falling, nor thought to be in any danger of it?"

Thus there are moments of temptation, and

nor did he say, "Sanctify them by thy threatenings;" but "by thy TRUTH: thy word is truth." Thus all truth, consolatory and conservative, cheering and checking, belongs to the means of sanctification. Accordingly, the great promise of the Holy Spirit, as the Sanctifier, is, "he shall lead you into all truth."

weight with you. They are too solemn to be trifled with, and too just to be disputed. No admission of their truth, however, will answer any good purpose, unless they both reconcile and determine you to war and watch against your besetting sin. Nothing is gained by this heart-searching, yet, if your heart still rise against a diligent cultivation of that fruit of the Spirit, which you lack most. There is still another preservative against fallYou may feel ashamed; you may be very sorry; ing, which I must bring under your notice, and you may even condemn yourself very bitterly for which you must lay to heart, if you would not fall. your past neglect, and earnestly wish that what is It is just as necessary that you should “take unte wrong would "take wings and flee away:" but you the whole armor of God, that you may be all this will not mend the matter. You may try a able to stand," as that you should add to your faith, thousand plans to get clear of it; but it will cleave the virtues and graces we have been contemplatto you, until you are humble enough and honest ing. "For," as Sheshbazzar would have said, enough, to take the Saviour's plan-"cut it off, "fruit trees must be protected, as well as cultivatand cast it from thee." No besetting sin, no dar-ed. No wonder if a tower is wanted in a vineling idol, was ever overthrown, until this rough handling was applied to it. "This kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting."

Do these remonstrances seem to you at all legal, or too rigid? Would you be more pleased to be plied only with motives drawn from the love of Christ, and from the hope of salvation, and from the holy designs of free grace? You and I too have great need to be very careful how we speak upon this subject. Neither cutting off, nor casting away, what is wrong, will be of any saving benefit, if not influenced by these saving truths. Indeed, the crucifixion of the lusts of the flesh, or of the mind, will not be willingly attempted nor long continued by any one, who is not glorying only in the cross of Christ. But then-if our glorying in the cross alone has not crucified us to the world in certain things, which we know to be wrong, how are we to get rid of them? Are they to be left standing out against law and conscience, because they do not yield to love or hope? May a bad temper or habit safely remain unsanctified, because a good hope through grace has not conquered it? True; nothing but more grace will ever conquer it effectually; but, letting it alone in the meantime, is certainly not the way of obtaining more grace. God "giveth grace to the humble," and she is not very humble, who will not employ fears as well as hopes, and threatenings as well as promises, in order to promote her santifi

cation.

But do not take my opinion on this subject. Look again at Peter's argument. He gives the first place to the holy influence of the promises, upon the sanctification of believers. "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature." Thus the apostle had no idea of any real sanctification, apart from the sweet influence of the sweetest consolations. But then, he immediately says, “BESIDE THIS, give all diligence to add to your faith, virtue," &c. &c. Thus there are things to do, as well as promises to believe, in order to the acquirement of a holy character. He even warns as well as woos believers to give all diligence.

How finely this agrees with both the letter and the spirit of the Saviour's counsels to his disciples. He warned them not only by the fear of falling, but also by the fear of hell-fire. Even in his great intercessory prayer for their sanctification, he did not say, "Šanctify them by thy promises;"

yard, seeing a lodge is needed even in a 'garden of cucumbers.""

Now, however different our times and circumstances may be from those of the first Christians, they are not so different as to change the character or the spirit of personal piety. Neither the work nor the warfare of Faith ended, when Faith had no longer to "stop the mouths of lions" in the amphitheatre, nor to "quench the violence of fire" at the stake, nor to hide from the edge of the sword in "dens and caves of the earth." Piety did not cease to have enemies in the world, when the lions of persecution died: nor to have intimidations, when the fires of martyrdom were extinguished; nor to have hinderances, when the obscurity of the wilderness was exchanged for the publicity of the city, and the fellowship of mankind. That was, indeed, a great change of circumstances, for which we cannot be too mindful and thankful. The lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places. We have "a goodly heritage," compared with that of the first followers of the Lamb. They had to follow him in "a howling wilderness," through fire and water. Compared to this, our lot is in a garden of Eden, where we can sit or walk with equal safety under our own vine and fig-tree; none daring to make us afraid. But still, if there be nothing in our national Paradise to hurt or destroy the body, there is much to peril the soul. There is both forbidden fruit and a tempting serpent in our Eden. And, alas, more disciples are drawn away from Christ now, by the pleasures and profits of the world, than seem to have been driven away from him then by persecution. More "fall from their steadfastness" in this time of peace, than in that time of war.

Why is this? Many reasons could, no doubt, be assigned for the melancholy fact. The chief reason, however, is, that so many have either no deep fear of falling, or no adequate sense of what is necessary in order to enable them to stand. They do not exactly care but little whether they stand or fall. They are neither reckless, nor altogether heedless, of consequences. It is their wish, "to stand against the wiles of the devil," and to "withstand in the evil day" of trial and temptation. They even hope to do so. And they are so conscious of meaning well, that they almost think ill of any one who is afraid lest they fall. "Fall, indeed! Why should they be suspected of treachery or unsteadiness? Did they not give good evidence, at their outset in the ways of God,