Surely the inhabitants of our isle have reason to turn the prediction of Moses, concerning the tribe of Joseph, into a devout and grateful acknowledgment: Blessed of the Lord is our land. Blessed with the precious things of heaven, with the dew, and with the deep that coucheth beneath; with the precious things brought forth by the sun, and with the precious things thurst forth by the moon; with the chief things of the ancient mountains, and with the precious things of the everlasting hills; and with the precious things of the earth, and the fulness thereof.'t May we also enjoy good-will of Him who dwelt in the bush,' and the grace of Him who hung on the tree! May the eternal God be our refuge, and his everlasting arms underneath both us and our interests! Happy then wilt thou be, thrice happy, O England! Thy temporal advantages, and thy spiritual privileges considered, it may truly be said, who,' or what nation, is like unto thee?" ⚫the Is, (so I would translate the original) not be, in the predietive, nor precatory form. This implies a fulness of faith, and distinguishes prophecy from prayer; best suits the extraordinary illumination of Moses, and does most honour to the omniscient Spirit. + Deut. xxxiii. 13-16. Here seems to be an exact summary, and a poetical description of the riches of nature. The precions things of heaven,' or rain which descends from the upper, and dew which is formed in the lower regions of the firmament. The deep that coucheth beneath;' seas, rivers, fountains, wells, which lie in the bosom of the soil, and are sources of fertility and plenty. The precious things brought forth by the sun, must certainly denote the herbs, plants, trees, and all manner of vegetables, with their respective fruits. The precious things thrust forth by the moon,' may probably refer to the mineral kingdoms, in the formation of which that ruler of the night may have a considerable influence. The moon is confessedly the parent of tides, and may put in motion those bituminous and saline fluids, which, circulating through the pores of the earth, and fixing in beds of homogeneous matter, are supposed to commence minerals. As our sacred philosopher has already specified the vegetable tribes, and (if I mistake not) the beds of fossils, the principal things of the mountains and hills,' should signify the sheep, and goats, and other valuable animals, which feed upon those vast declivities. Then, the precious things of the earth,' may express those herds of larger cattle which have their pasturage in the plains, valleys, and lower grounds; a sense, which recommends itself from this consideration, that the wealth of the ancients consisted chiefly in cattle. The fulness thereof,' may be a kind of recapitulation; a comprehensive term, including the whole produce of the terraqueous globe; the magnificent liberality of Jehovah to his people. 1 Deut. xxxill, 16. This for my country, now let me wish for myself: Nor fruitless view my days and months return. You see, Aspasio, I have been studying the volume of nature, endeavouring to read its capital characters, and learn some of its instructive lessons. The sea has been the page, but how superficial is my perusal, and no less scanty my knowledge. Little, very little have I seen or conceived relating to those works of wonder which the vast unfathomable deep contains ; the plants it produces, and the creatures it nourishes; its stupendous rocks, and subterranean caves; the heaps of pearl which are its native growth, and the loads of gold which it has gained by shipwreck. So superficial are my views of Christ, so scanty is my acquaintance with the gospel. You, I presume, are sitting at the feet of that sublime Teacher, and attending to the dictates of his mouth, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.'t Let me promise myself a communication of your thoughts, as I have freely transmitted a specimen of mine; and I will make no scruple to acknowledge the superiority of the exchange, that I receive :' Χρυσέα χαλχειων, εκατόμβοι εννεαβοίων. Or as the eloquent Isaiah speaks; for brass you will bring gold, and for iron you will bring silver: rendering me, by this intercourse, your more obliged, though it is scarce possible for me to be, more than I already am, Your affectionate THERON. Should the reader desire to see this subject more largely opened, and more fully improved, I would refer him to Contemplations on the Ocean, lately published by my ingenious and plous friend, Mr. Pearsall; in which a refined fancy and a dellcate philosophy compose a chaplet for evangelical divinity; uniting some of their beautiful and fragrant flowers to adorn the gospel of God our Saviour, to quicken and refresh the spirits of his people, to invite and win the hearts of the disobedient. Isa. Ix. 17. † Col. ii. 3. P. S. Monsieur Paschal, who was remarkably fond of brevity, makes an odd excuse for transgressing, on a particular occasion, his favourite rule. He entreats his friend to pardon the unusual length of his epistle, by assuring him that he had not time to make it shorter. I cannot, it must be confessed, adopt this philosopher's apology, for I have purposely lengthened my letter, with a view of setting, in this one circumstance, a pat tern for my Aspasio. LETTER X. Aspasio enumerates the much richer Benefits resulting from the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness-Shews their happy influence on Holiness of Heart and Obedience of Life. Aspasio to Theron, DEAR THERON, I THANK you for your letter, because it entertains and improves me: I thank you for your postscript, because it is my encouragement and my apology. I am set down to write with a copious stock of materials. It will be far more difficult to contract than to enlarge. I must therefore acknowledge myself obliged to your candour for assigning me the easier task: that prolixity, which in others might be ungenteel and faulty, is in me an act of complaisance and matter of duty. Though absent from you, I went with you in your late ramble. Your descriptive pen has made me par taker of the ideal delight: may divine grace enable me to share in the spiritual improvement! When you displayed the beauties of the morn, breaking forth from the obscurity of night; when you adopted that noble aspi. ration from our philosophic poet, I could not forbear adding, Thus may the gracious God, who commands the light to shine out of the midnight darkness, shine into our hearts, and give that incomparably glorious knowledge, the knowledge of his blessed Self! which, though discernible through all the tracts of creation, and derivable from every work of his Almighty hand, yet no where beams forth with such complete and such amiable lustre as in the person of Jesus Christ." Here we behold all the sublime perfections of the Deity, not only manifested with inimitable splendour, but operat ing for our own advantage. We behold them, as Job speaks, for ourselves,'t and cannot but receive inexpressible refreshment and joy from the view. When you walked beneath the shade of those, huge, horrid, and enormous cliffs, both amused and alarmed at their stupendous magnitude and frightful irregularity; when you cast your eye upon the wide-expanded surface of the ocean; when you surveyed the far more unmeasurable arches of the sky, and meditated in that awful solitude on the wildest and most magnificent appearances of nature, I felt the same kind of devout astonishment with yourself. While the soul was wrapt in pensive stillness and pleasing dread,‡ methought I heard a voice, or something like a voice, from the silent spheres, as well as from the sounding seas. It seemed to echo back what the mighty angel, whom John saw flying in the midst of heaven, once proclaimed, Worship Him, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water. Worship him who stretched out that azure pavilion with such amazing grandeur; who measured yonder world of waters in the hollow of his hand; and before whom this immense range of mountainous cliffs is but as dust upon the scale,' When you described the dismal situation of a wretch, exposed on the edges of the tremendous precipice, hanging over the ragged rocks and the unfathomable gulf, and cleaving only to a slender, treacherous, breaking bough, how heartily did I join in your adoring acknowledgments to that kind, interposing, blessed hand, which rescued us both from an infinitely more threaten+ Job xix, 27. 2 Cor. iv. 6. It seems to have been such a kind, not of anxious, but of pleasing dread, which seized the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration noav yap expoßol, for they were struck with a profound but delightful awe. Delightful, otherwise it is not easy to conceive why Peter should propose to build tabernacles there, or how he could wish to continue in those circumstances, Mark ix. 6. Rey, xiv. 7. ing and dreadful danger! rescued us as slaves from the dominion of the devil; snatched us as brands from the inextinguishable burnings, and bid us, (O marvellous, superabundant goodness!) bid us possess the liberty of righteousness; bid us inherit the kingdom of heaven. When you mention the past indolence, and the present fervour of your prayers, I could not forbear reiterating my praises to God on your behalf. This is a proof, my dear Theron, that you are going in the way everlasting; for it is written, They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them." This is the work of the Holy Ghost dwelling in your heart: for what saith the Scripture? I will pour upon them the Spirit of grace and of supplication.' And our Lord himself mentions this as the indication of a true conversion: Behold! he prayeth.' Had not Saul prayed before? Yes; and made long prayers too; but he never till that instant was sensible of his undone and damnable condition: never cried to God from the depths of his distress, or from the depths of his heart; nor ever solicited the throne of grace in the all-prevailing name of Jesus Christ. His prayers till then were somewhat like the motes, which fluctuate to and fro in the air, without any vigorous impulse, or any certain aim; but in that hour they were like the arrow which springs from the strained bow, and quick as lightning flies to the mark. I was pleased to find you, in the process of your let. ter, insensibly forgetting the narrative, and so engaged by the subject, that you spoke not as the relater, but as the beholder. Thus may we always be affected when we study the oracles of truth! study them, not as cold unconcerned critics, who are only to judge of their mean. ing; but as persons deeply interested in all they contain; who are particularly addressed in every exhortation, and directed by every precept; whose are the promises, and to whom belong the precious privileges. When we are enabled thus to realize and appropriate the contents of that invaluable book, then we shall taste the sweetness, and feel the power of the Scriptures; then we shall know, by happy experience, that our di Jer. xxxi. 9. + Zech. xii. 10. Acts ix. 11. |