'Like Mary, at his feet I lay,

And found it sweet to praise and pray;
Content with Mary's choice.

Under the metaphor of an apple tree, the Church commends her beloved, (Cant. 11. 3.) and ́says, I sat down under his shadow with great delight; (marginal reading, I delighted and sat down ;) first delighted, and then sat down; from which I may observe, that rest and composure from soul-trouble is the fruit of that delight with which Jesus favours his elect: and, this delight in Christ may be considered the time of our first love, which (though most of God's people, in one sense, neglect,) our dear Redeemer does not forget: as it is written, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Believer! does not Jesus afford thee most manifest proofs of his being the true Tree of Life? Does he not afford thee both shelter and fruit? (Hos. XIV. 8.) And even when the most persecuted by the seed of the bondwoman; and the most pursued by fiery temptations; when thy fears have increased, and thy strength declining has made thee bitterly cry out, Undertake for me, O Lord! for I am oppressed; when a sense of thy soul-barrenness has made thy way

.

appear full of pit-falls and difficulties; and still thou couldest not help desiring the first-ripe fruit: I say, has not the adorable Lord afforded thee both sap and fruit, and healing too? What was said of Joseph, the type, is substantially true in the anti-type, Jesus: "a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. (Gen. XLIX. 22.)

5.

SOVEREIGN GRACE.

By Grace ye are saved.---Eph. 11. 8.

1. HALL! blest Immanuel, God with us,
My ever-living hiding place;

All praise to thee who teaches thus,
To magnify thy richest grace...

2. Grace is an ocean, deep and wide,
And mercy is a flowing stream:
I've seen it flowing from his side,
A guilty rebel to redeem.

3. I saw by faith the ransom paid,
And heard my Saviour deeply groan;
""Twas all for thee, my love," he said
"And soon I'll raise thee to my throne.

4. Here's a display of richest grace! Tell it, O Zion, far and wide!

That Jesus for his chosen race

Appear'd, and wrought, and groan'd, and died.

It is beautiful to observe the way that electing-grace flows to a guilty sinner; and, also, the consequence of that grace when discovered unto the heart. Jesus, as Mediator, has in himself all grace, by the free donation and mercy of Jehovah; and whatever grace is in him, is deposited there for his Church, which is his body: the grace which was poured into his lips drops like the honey from the comb in answer to the prayer of faith; and while the object and author of faith is seen by the believer, he enters sympathetically into the nature of Christ's sufferings; and while he beholds Justice punishing his dear surety, he rejoices with deepest humility, under the sweet sense of that rich and sovereign grace, flowing unto him through Jesus, unmerited and free; this constrains him to sing: Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!

6.

CHRIST SEEN BY FAITH.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.---Heb. 11. 9.

1. SEE, my soul! with sacred pleasure,
Jesus for thy ransom die!

He, thy sacrifice and treasure,
Shed his blood to bring thee nigh,
And exalt thee

To thy rest, prepar❜d above.

2. Suff'ring for thy vile transgression,
See him charg'd with all thy sin!
All the streams of free salvation
From this op'ning fountain spring:
His obedience,

And his death, shall be my plea.

3. Soon, releas'd from death's cold prison, See the mighty victor rise;

Sing, my soul, thy Lord is risen!

And gone up above the skies;

There exalted,

As thy ever-living Head.

4. Crown'd with glory and with honor, When the heav'ns did him receive;

Now of grace to thee the donor,
And to sinners who believe;
E'en for rebels!

O the wonders of his love!

5. What, tho' satan oft accuse thee,
And thy crimson sins abound;il / I
Jesus never will refuse thee, k

Nor shall e'er thy sins be found:
By one off'ring

Jesús bore them all away. Did

To what a state of humility and degradation did our Immanuel submit made lower than the angels! of whom he was the Creator and Preserver: numbered with the transgressors, and treated as the vilest; though he had done no evil, neither was guile found in his mouth: smitten of God, his Father, and afflicted: hated, tempted, and, in various ways, harrassed by devils: despised by man, and most despised by those who had received most from his bountiful hands! And why all this? To fulfil the Scriptures; and to demonstrate the fellowship of the mystery which had been hid in God.--My soul! cease to marmur under thý present cross; for what is it, when compared with the complex trials of thy glorious Lord.'