their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Rom. i. 21.

'The oaks (in our translation rendered plains) of Moreh and of Mamre, where Abraham pitched his tent and reared altars, were Bethels, or places of worship, where God met with, instructed, and revealed to him the promise of CHRIST, who should come of his flesh, and for which purpose, or end, Abraham kept whatever was implied in God's charge, commandments, statutes, and laws, (Gen. xxvi. 5.) and which (being of the same name) may very justly be concluded to be similar in substance to those delilivered afterwards more expressly through Moses to the church of God. Hence we find, long before Moses the usage of minchas or rest-offerings, burntofferings, sacrifices, and drink-offerings. Gen. iv. 3; viii. 20; xii. 7, 8; xv. 9; xxii. 2, 7, 8, 13; xxvi. 25; xxxi. 54; xxxv. 14.

'The perversion of this worship under the oaks, is spoken of in Isaiah ii. 12, 13-15. "The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low. And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every tower, and upon every fenced wall." And again, "Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.” Zech. xi. 2. In the margin, the deferred forest.'

461

ISRAEL'S TRUST;

FROM THE Rev. a. Boyd's COMMEMORATION SERMON.

AND all this was not the product of a momentary excitement, it was not the sparkle of the first fervour of preparation; it was more, far more, than the acting of that glowing but transient enthusiasm which spreads, like an electric stream, from soul to soul in a spirit-stirring crisis; it had in it that substance and vigour which endured the continuation of the trial, and carried the sufferers through it, undepressed in courage, unshaken in resolution. It enabled Israel not only to build, to plan, and to fortify, but to survey calmly the aspect of the danger, and to listen unmoved to the menaces and taunts of the invader. On the battlements of Jerusalem did the besieged receive the message of Sennacherib-a message intended "to affright them and to trouble them;" (2 Chron. xxii. 18.) and they received it without the emotion of a reply. When the voice of the insulter ceased, there was deep silence on the walls of the city of David. It was not the silence of fear the effect of a terror which crushed down the heart, and denied to the lips the power of utterance; it was not the silence of unconcern, or the stillness of apathy;-it was the eloquent answer of contempt; the collected reply of men who had learned to laugh to scorn the boasts of the adversary ;-the king's command had gone forth, " Answer him not!"

But besides this, we may observe that the temper in which this danger was encountered was one of implicit confidence in God. This, in truth, was the spring of that marvellous courage which Israel exhibited at this crisis. It was a courage emanating from Him who had ever been a refuge and strength, and it was drawn out of the treasury of Deity by the hand of faith in his promises. To no other source can we trace this collectedness of mind, this striking calmness at a season of almost stunning perplexity. Every thing around Israel was dark, every section of their sky mantled in the deepest gloom. They were feeble in themselves, they were forsaken by their friends, they were literally girt in by the thousands of their enemies. They knew that, under such circumstances, the arm of flesh was utterly insufficient for the encounter; they knew that, if the result was to depend upon an unsupported measurement of their own prowess with that of the invader, the handful must be scattered before the multitude, like the chaff before the rush of the tempest. But in the midst of all this gloom, dark and portentous though it was, one star still shone brightly in the firmament, an omen to them of safety, cheering as the beacon-lamp to the bewildered mariner-the Lord of Hosts was with them. Forgotten, it may be, in seasons of prosperity, He was thought of, He was appealed to, he was trusted, in the hour of disaster. Oh, it is beauteous to observe how Israel, in the time of rebuke and trial, was thrown upon her allegiance towards God; how his deeds of old came crowding back upon the recollections of his people; how his promises, long unapplied, rose upon their view, and spake assurance to their hearts, as the pillar of light which was the

token of security to their forefathers in the desert. It is glorious to see a nation, from the monarch to the poorest subject, prostrate at the throne of Omnipotence, looking to a strength which had never been impaired, to a faithfulness which never had wavered; and it is no less cheering to observe how the cry of the destitute was heard, and the might of the Powerful One allied to their weakness. It sheds a golden flood of instructive light upon all this transaction to accompany the suppliant king to the temple of Jehovah, to witness him upon his bended knees, interceding for his country and his people; acknowledging to the full the magnitude of the danger, but admitting as fully that it was as dust in the balance before Omnipotence; confessing that the kings of Assyria had swept nations before them in the march of their conquests, but pleading that the God of Israel was

he who dwelt between the cherubims; the God alone of all the kingdoms of the earth." This was faith wrestling for a blessing, mortal weakness stayng itself upon the exhaustless resources of Deity. It was the power of this faith which enabled Hezekiah to descend from his interview with the Lord, filled with an assurance of victory himself, and burning to impart the grounds of a like confidence to his people. It was this which moved him to gather his comrades in distress into the streets of Jerusalem, and to "speak comfortably to them." It was this which dictated that address, perhaps unrivalled in the annals of warfare, "Be strong and courageous, be not afraid, nor dismayed, for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us than with him; with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God." And it

was the mysterious and elevating power of the same faith which rested as brightly upon the hearts of the men of Judah as it had upon the spirit of their monarch, which prompted him to speak, and “the people to rest themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.” 2 Chron. xxxii. 8. (Page 21.)

OH Seigneur Dieu! Jésus mon Sauveur! est-ce possible que Tu ais mouru sur la croix, pour nous obtenir des bienfaits si inestimables, éternels; et que Tu ais ordonné cette sainte cêne pour nous en assurer, et pour nous en faire part? et soit-il possible que les hommes, les pêcheurs, ne viennent dans Ton temple que pour mépriser Ton sang? pour dedaigner Ton sacrifice? pour tourner le dos à Ta table sainte?— Dean of Jersey.