dulged in, by all that is sacred and precious in the memory of the past, and by all that is solemn and real in the prospect of the future, I implore you to return! By the faithful promises of God, by the tender yearnings. of Jesus, by the gentle drawings of the Spirit, by all that you will experience in the joy and peace and assurance of a restored soul, by the glory of God, by the honor of Christ, by the nearness of death and the solemnity of the judgment, I entreat, I implore, I beseech you, wanderer, prodigal, to return!

"Return, O wanderer, return!

And seek an injured Father's face;
Those warm desires that in thee burn,
Were kindled by reclaiming grace.

"Return, O wanderer, return!
Thy Saviour bids thy spirit live;
Go to his bleeding side, and learn
How freely Jesus can forgive.

"Return, O wanderer, return!
Regain thy lost lamented rest;
Jehovah's melting bowels yearn
To clasp his Ephraim to his breast."

CHAPTER IX.

THE LORD, THE KEEPER OF HIS PEOPLE

"The Lord is thy keeper."-Psalm cxxi. 5.

How frequently, clearly, and solemnly does the Holy Ghost unfold this great truth in his word, that salvation is entirely in and of God, irrespective of all worth, worthiness, or power of the creature; and that as the salvation of his covenant people is supremely and solely his own work, so in every respect it is infinitely worthy of himself. God can do nothing but what harmonises with his own illimita ble greatness: he can never act below himself. All the productions of his creative power in nature, all the events of his directive wisdom in providence, bear the impress, from the smallest to the greatest, of his "eternal power and Godhead." But in salvation, it is supremely and pre-eminently so. Here, the whole Deity shines; here, the entire Godhead is seen; here, Jehovah emerges from the veiled pavilion of his greatness and glory, and by one stupendous exercise of power, and by one august act of grace, and by one ineffable display of love-before which all other revelations of his glory seem to fade away and well-nigh disappear-walks abroad among men in his full-orbed majesty: "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle

of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God." This glorious "tabernacle" that is "with men," what less is it than the manifestation of Jesus in our own nature-God manifest in the flesh? Truly may we say, "His glory is great in our salvation." Is he the only-wise God?-his salvation must needs be the most profound result of that wisdom. Is he most holy ?-his salvation must be holy. Is he just? his salvation must be just. Is he gracious?-so must be his salvation. It bears the imprint of every attribute; it embodies in its nature the manifestation of every perfection. No other conception of his wisdom, no other product of his power, no other revelation of his greatness, gives any adequate conception of God, but the cross of his beloved Son. "It is here that he appears under the new and unequalled aspect of the God of our salvation; and hence that he desires a renewal of praise, not only for his excellent greatness, or his marvellous works, but for what he is in his inherent and illimitable goodness, and for what he imparts in the fruitions of his love. The very thought of such a discovery, is itself a new creation. It is the product of inspiration, not of mortal intelligence: it could proceed only from him by whom it is to be substantiated and accomplished; it constitutes its own evidence, it authenticates itself. Divinity is not more its object than its essence: incommunicable majesty is impressed on every feature, and diffused over all its form. Well may it be said of such a system, even as of Him who is its author, that herein

God is manifested in the flesh, beheld in his express image and his uncreated brightness."

Now this salvation, thus so completely and entirely out of the creature, in God, takes in all the circumstances of a child of God. It is not only a salvation from wrath to come-that were an immeasurable act of grace—but it is a present salvation, anticipating and providing for every exigency of the life that now is, including deliverance from all evil, help in all trouble, comfort in all sorrow, the supply of all want, and through all conflicts, assaults, and difficulties, perfect safety and final triumph. But the single point with which we now have to do, is, the present and certain security of the believer, provided for in the covenant of grace, made sure in Jesus the covenant head, and revealed in this glorious covenant plan of salvation. We have, in the preceding chapter, been considering the inherent tendency and the constant liability of a child of God to departure from God; we now would look up to the Holy Spirit to unfold to us this great and consoling truth, that in the midst of all their weakness, waywardness, and tendency to wander, the Lord is the keeper of his people, and that they whom he keeps are well and eternally kept. "The Lord is thy keeper."

We cannot rightly discuss our subject, without laying its foundation in the perfect weakness of the believer himself. If this were not so,-if there were aught of self-power in the believer, any ability to keep himself,-if he were not weakness, all weakness, and nothing but weakness,-then the Lord could not in truth be said to be the keeper of

his people. This truth, we repeat, is the groundwork of our subject, and of it the believer needs to be perpetually put in remembrance. The principle of self-confidence is the natural product of the human heart: the great characteristic of our apostate race, is, a desire to live, and think, and act, independently of God. What is the great citadel, to the overthrow of which Divine grace first directs its power? what is the first step it takes in the subjection of the sinner to God? what, but the breaking down of this lofty, towering, independent conceit of himself, so natural to man, and so abhorrent to God? Now, let it be remembered, that Divine and sovereign grace undertakes not the extraction of the root of this depraved principle from the heart of its subjects. The root remains to the very close of life's pilgrimage: though in a measure weakened, subdued, mortified, still it remains; demanding the most rigid watchfulness, connected with ceaseless prayer, lest it should spring upward, to the destruction of his soul's prosperity, the grieving of the Spirit, and the dishonoring of God. O how much the tender, faithful discipline of a covenant God, may have the subjection and mortification of this hateful principle for its blessed end, who can tell? We shall never fully know until we reach our Father's house, where the dark, and to us, mysterious dealings of that loving Father with us here below, shall unfold themselves in light and glory, elevating the soul in love and praise!

That no mere creature, angelic or human, can keep itself, is a truth fairly written out in the word