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 T 
 
 ALKS -1" 
 ABOUT 
 
 
 
 -• •- 
 
 \ '\ <^ 'Ci. 
 
 
 BY 
 
 
 REV. JOSEPH ELLIOT. ^. ^: '^cp \ 
 
 
 11 
 
 A 
 
 TORONTO: 
 BLACKETT ROBINSON, 5 JORDAN, ST. 
 
 1881. 
 
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 <>«^0- 
 
WALKS ABOUT ZION 
 
 cs 
 

 WALKS ABOUT ZION. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. JOSEPH ELLIOT. 
 
 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces. — Ps. 48 : 13. 
 
 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her : and 
 the Highest Himself shall establish her.— Ps. 87 '-s- 
 
 I 
 
 Toronto : 
 
 C. BLACKETT ROBINSON, 5 Jordan Strket. 
 
 1881. 
 
 -^/ 
 
Eiitorocl. ■.icnmWu- to tlio An of tho PurliamoTit of (■ariadn, in tho^voair Eighteen 
 Iliui.livd Miid iMiibty-oiie. by tlic Kcv. Josr.i'H Eluot, in the Oftce of the 
 Minislei- of Agricultui <i. 
 
 ♦« 
 
 •■?> 
 
r=n 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ♦'• 
 
 
 TN accordance with suggestions of several friends, 
 1 the following addresses have been prepared for 
 the press as a contribution to family Sabbath read- 
 ings, and with a view to prayer meetings held in the 
 absence of stated ministers. In this age of grow- 
 ing Christian activities, it often devolves on many 
 besides ministers of the Gospel to preside at prayer 
 meetings. Some think it well to supplement re- 
 marks of their own with readings from different 
 authors ; but difficulty is often felt in making suit- 
 able selection. Excellent printed sermons can 
 easily be obtained ; but most of them are far too 
 long for such meetings, and to read a part or parts 
 thereof is a plan that has its disadvantages. 
 
 Such are some of the considerations that have 
 had to do with the preparation of the following 
 addresses. 
 
 -3 n u ^ 3 
 
VI. 
 
 Preface. 
 
 The first soul ** received up into heaven " was 
 that of a young man ; and it will be felt an honour 
 and a joy if in any measure these contributions 
 be found acceptable and aiding to *' Young Men's 
 Christian Associations." 
 
 Having continual regard to brevity, the writer 
 has aimed to present Scripture truths in a variety 
 of relations and practical aspects, with a view to 
 the Spiritual benefit of believers, the comfort of 
 mourners in Zion, and the encouragement of anxious 
 inquirers ; and this little book is offered — specially 
 to Christian workers — in a spirit of prayer to God 
 by whose Word we are assured that *' if there be 
 first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that 
 a man hath, and not according to that he hath not/' 
 
 JOSEPH ELLIOT. 
 
 Cannington, Canada, 
 May, 1881. 
 
 > 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 » 
 
 I. — Christian Unity 1 1 
 
 II. — Human Greatness 21 
 
 III.— Moral Strength 31 
 
 IV.—" The Holy Mount " 43 
 
 V.—*' Tbf: Afflicted's Prayer " 55 
 
 VI -The Re-assurance of Peter 65 
 
 VII. — Saul's Conversion 77 
 
 VIII. — Self-inspection 89 
 
 IX. — The Fatal Dream loi 
 
 X. — Autumn 109 
 
 XI. — Winter 119 
 
 XII.— The " Resting Place " 129 
 
 XIII. — The King of Zion 137 
 
 XIV. — Mourners in Zion 147 
 
 XV. — Many Crowns 161 
 
''t 
 
 ¥ 
 
'4 
 
 l.-CHRISTIAN UNITY. 
 
f 
 
 ^ 
 
l^ 
 
 I.— CHRISTIAN UNITY. 
 
 AS we read the history of nations and 
 -^ ^ ponder the age in which we live, there 
 come in upon our thoughts an almost end- 
 less diversity of developments of spirit and 
 character— yet human nature is essentially 
 the same in all ages ; for, " as in water, face 
 answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." 
 And with equal propriety may it be said 
 that reneived human nature is in all ages es- 
 sentially the same : hence there is a profound- 
 ly appropriate basis for unity of spirit amid 
 the relationships of renewed souls to the one 
 only Hving and true God. 
 
 That our minds may be the more impressed 
 by the truth that renewed human nature is 
 in all ages essentially the same, let us, in the 
 light of Scripture, comparethe leading charac 
 
12 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 teristics of the spirit of two godly men that 
 lived under different dispensations ; the spirit 
 of David and that of Paul. 
 
 They had essentially the same state of 
 feeling as to their depravity and sinfulness. 
 Paul said, '' In me, that is in my flesh, dwell- 
 eth no good thing ;" David said, " Behold, I 
 was shapen in iniquity." 
 
 They had the same clinging of sonl to the 
 Messiah; the one to Christ as the Messiah 
 to come, the other to the Saviour that had 
 appeared. Paul called himself " a servant of 
 the Lord Jesus;" David "in spirit called 
 Christ, Lord." 
 
 They had the same feeling as to the origin 
 of tJieir godliness. Paul said, " By the grace 
 of God I. am what I am ; " David said, " He 
 brought me up also out of an horrible pit." 
 
 They had the same tone of lamentation 
 over indzvelling sin. Paul said, " I find a law 
 that when I would do good, evil is present 
 with me ;" David said, ** My soul cleaveth to 
 
 ^ 
 
I 
 
 Christian Unity. 13 
 
 the dust, quicken me, O Lord, according to 
 thy word." 
 
 They had thesamv'^ earnest desire to become 
 better, Paul said, " I press toward the mark ; " 
 David said, " O that my way were directed 
 to keep thy statutes." 
 
 They had the same consolation under trial, 
 Paul said, " I am filled with comfort ; " David 
 said, " In the multitude of my thoughts with- 
 in me, thy comforts delight my soul." 
 ^ They had the same good hope through 
 
 grace. Paul said, " And so shall we be ever 
 with the Lord ; " David said, " I shall be 
 satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." 
 
 They had the same religious patriotism.. 
 Paul said, " My heart's desire and prayer to 
 God for Israel is that they might be saved ; " 
 David says, " Rivers of waters run down 
 mine eyes because they keep not thy law." 
 
 They had the same world-zvide benevolence. 
 Paul rejoices with a great joy that " God was 
 in Christ reconciling the world to himself;" 
 
H 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 David said, " God be merciful unto us, and 
 bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us. 
 That thy way may be known upon earth, thy 
 saving health among all nations." 
 
 They had the same fraternal spirit of 
 unity, Paul said. " Brethren, be of one mind, 
 live in peace, and the God of love and peace 
 shall be with you ; " David said, " Behold, 
 how good, and how pleasant it is, for brethren 
 to dwell together in unity." 
 
 Having placed on record that glowing ex- 
 clamation at the beginning of the 133rd 
 Psalm, David was led by the spirit to assign 
 three great reasons why such unity is good. 
 
 First. — Because " it is like the precious 
 ointment upon Aaron's beard, that ran down 
 to the skirts of his garments." As the oint- 
 ment would indicate to any observer that he 
 was a Priest of the Highest, so the spirit 
 recommended by the Psalmist is an indi- 
 cation of being numbered amongst "the 
 anointed of the Lord." " By this," said the 
 
Christian Unity. 1 5 
 
 Saviour, " shall all men know that ye are my 
 disciples, if ye have love one to another." 
 
 Second.— Because, " It is as the dew of 
 Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon 
 the mountains of Israel." As the dew was 
 beautiful in the rays of the rising sun, so is 
 unity of spirit amid the light of *' the Sun of 
 Righteousness;" and as it was refreshing 
 and fructifying, so will it be found that where 
 there is a spirit of love and unity there will 
 ^ be " times of refreshing," and the more rapid 
 
 growth of " the fruit of the Spirit "—of whom, 
 in Ephesians IV., we read, " Grieve not the 
 Holy Spirit of God " in immediate connec- 
 tion with the words "Let all bitterness be 
 put away from you, and be ye kind one to 
 
 another." 
 
 Third.— Because, "there the Lord com- 
 manded the blessing— even life for evermore." 
 So acceptable to the Lord is the spirit of 
 unity in " the household of faith" that they 
 * by whom it is cherished and displayed are 
 
i6 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 IP 
 
 not allowed to be without the blessing, 
 whatever may threaten to prevent. He sees 
 to it that the blessing shall be theirs. He 
 commands the blessing ; blessing begun now% 
 and to last forever—" even life for evermore." 
 
 Having assigned these weighty reasons 
 why a spirit of unity is good, he leaves it to 
 be found out by experience in what respects 
 it is " pleasant ; " and, blessed be God, many 
 have found, and multitudes are yet to find 
 how pleasant it is, not only in itself, but in 
 connection with reminiscences and anticipa- 
 tions, for brethren to dwell together in unity. 
 
 But let us not fail to advance, from the 
 thoughts of David on this subject, to some 
 of the expressions of the mind of David's 
 Lord. Never let us forget that prayer in the 
 upper room, " Neither pray I for these alone, 
 but for them also who shall believe on me 
 through their word ; that they all may be 
 one ; as thou, Father, art in me and I in 
 thee ; that they also may be one in us ; that 
 
Christian Unity. . 1 7 
 
 the world may believe that thou hast sent me''' 
 How inexpressibly weighty this crownings 
 reason why it is good for brethren in Christ 
 to dwell together in unity! Did unity, peace, 
 and concord, as a clear moral atmosphere 
 amid which to trace the precious influences 
 of the glorious Gospel, more fully pervade 
 the household of faith, what additional force 
 would attend the call " Come thou with us^ 
 and we will do thee good ! " 
 
 In order to this spirit the great pre-requisite 
 is to be " children of God by faith in Christ 
 Jesus"— "brethren in the Lord." If we 
 would realize more fully a spirit of Christian 
 unity, it is of the utmost moment to seek 
 more and more distinctly to realize a '' spirit 
 of adoption" by which to cry, "Abba, Father,'^ 
 and our spiritual relation to one another as 
 " heirs together of the grace of life." Then 
 would the way be clear for the more success- 
 ful cultivation of a spirit of unity. And, if 
 we would be nearer in spirit to each other in 
 
i8 
 
 Walks about Zion, 
 
 the bonds of the Gospel, what need we but — 
 above all — to be nearer in spirit to Him who 
 in the hearing of the disciples said to the 
 Father, " I in them, and thou in me, that they 
 may be made perfect in one ; and that the 
 world may know that thou hast sent me, and 
 hast loved them as thou hast loved me." 
 
 . \ 
 
i^- ... 
 
 V 
 
 ^ ^ K 
 
 II.-HUMAN GREATNESS. 
 
• ii._HUMAN GREATNESS. 
 
 THE distinguished Philosopher,Dr. Thomas 
 Reid, long ago remarked that ''of all ex- 
 tremes of opinion, none are more dangerous 
 than those that exalt the powers of man too 
 high on the one hand, or sink them too low 
 on^'the oth-. ;" and, doubtless, much has been 
 written in both directions of questionable 
 
 tendency. 
 
 - What is man ? " What his origin ? His 
 relations to the seen and unseen ? His capa- 
 bilities ? His liabilities ? His possibilities ? 
 Such are some of the questions that have in- 
 tensely moved the minds of many in former 
 times, and in our own day. In his physical 
 being, God's hand made him and fashioned 
 him;'in his higher nature he is the "off- 
 spring" of ''the Father of Spirits," who says 
 -AH souls are mine." When humanity was 
 
22 
 
 Walks about Zio7i. 
 
 about to exist, God said, " Let us make man 
 in our image, after our likeness." 
 
 *• Then chief o'er all his works below, 
 At last was Adam made; 
 His Maker's image blessed his soul, 
 And glory crowned his head.'' 
 
 But, ** sufficient to have stood, though free 
 to fall," man sinned ; the glory departed, and 
 his fallen nature, alienated from God, came 
 under condemnation, and became in all its 
 faculties disordered as well as tainted by sin^ 
 Sin, however, did not, and could not alter his 
 place in the scale of creature existence, nor 
 annihilate any faculty of his immortal being. 
 
 Job seems to have had deep impressions as 
 to some kind of greatness in man when he 
 said — 7 : 17 — '' What is man that thou should- 
 est magnify him? or that thou shouldest set 
 thine heart upon him.?" In Psalm 144 we 
 read, " Man is like unto vanity : his days are 
 as a shadow that passeth away." 
 
 But, in connection with the question, " What 
 
Human Greatness. 
 
 25 
 
 \^ 
 
 is man ? " that occurs in the previous verse^ 
 the Psalmist does not say man is vanity, nor 
 that he passeth away. On the contrary, he 
 speaks in a way indicating his recognition of 
 some greatness in man, saying " What is man 
 that thou takest knowledge of him ? or the 
 Son of Man that thou makest accotmt oi him?" 
 It is true that, in Psalm ^2^ the inspired writer 
 says, " Surely men of low degree are vanity,, 
 and men of high degree a deception ; to be 
 laid in the balance they are altogether lighter 
 than vanity." He does not say so, however^ 
 in connection with the question, " What is 
 man ? " but in connection with quite a differ- 
 ent consideration, namely this : — In what 
 being may man safely put his trust ? On 
 that great matter the Psalmist teaches that to 
 trust one's interests to men of low degree 
 would be vanity, and to trust them to men of 
 high degree would be found a deception, and 
 that in the Lord alone may man safely trust. 
 Hence the frequent use of the word **only " 
 
 ^^B 
 
24 
 
 IVa/ks about Zio7i. 
 
 in this grand Psalm ; as v. 5, 6. " My soul, 
 wait thou only upon God"—" He only is my 
 rock, and my salvation." 
 
 In the 8th Psalm, David distinctly and 
 definitely deals with the question, " What is 
 man ?" and,intensely considering the heavens, 
 the moon and the stars, and man, his mind 
 goes forth to the apprehension of man's 
 essential greatness. The heavens, what are 
 they ? The work of God's " fingers ; " the 
 mere result of creative power. The moon 
 and the stars, what are they } Orbs that God 
 has '' ordained " — placed harmoniously by his 
 power and wisdom in their respective orbits. 
 But man— what is he } More than merely a 
 result of creative power and divine wisdom. 
 He is a being of whom God is " mindful," 
 whom God visits. " The heavens He stretch- 
 eth forth as a curtain, and spreadeth them 
 out as a tent to dwell in ;" and under that cur- 
 tain He ''tabernacles with man;" a being 
 greater far than the curtain of his habitation ; 
 
 ^. 
 
Httmari GreatJiess. 
 
 25 
 
 Y soul, 
 is my 
 
 y and 
 hat is 
 javens, 
 ; mind 
 
 man's 
 lat are 
 ;" the 
 
 moon 
 at God 
 
 by his 
 
 orbits, 
 erely a 
 /isdom. 
 indful," 
 stretch- 
 1 them 
 bat cur- 
 1 being 
 itation ; 
 
 >^.. /> 
 
 and the conclusion at which he arrives is this 
 — that man is a great being in the scale of 
 creation — higher far than systems of worlds 
 — so high as to be next in the scale to the 
 highest — " Thou hast made him a little lower 
 than the angels." 
 
 And, great as is his place in the scale of 
 creature existence, correspondingly great are 
 his capabilities. It were vain to attempt even 
 to name the diversified ways wherein the 
 powers of the human mind have in the course 
 of the ages been displayed. 
 
 Not only has it made a highway of the seas, 
 but, by a variety of concomitant means it has 
 made intellectual voyages to the far distant 
 past, and, corning down the stream of time 
 throughout successive centuries, has extracted 
 from the rise and fall of nations and succes- 
 sive developments of human character, much 
 in the way of warning., instruction and en- 
 couragement of a beneficial tendency in the 
 various relations of human life. Man has 
 3 
 
26 
 
 IVa/ks about Zion. 
 
 gradually detected laws of matter that had 
 long been latent, and by invention and genius 
 has turned them to such account as to render 
 air, earth, and seas increasingly subservient to 
 the interests of society. He can lay the 
 hand of science on distant worlds, and rise in 
 thought far beyond the utmost bounds of the 
 sphere of the telescope. He can wander far 
 and wide in the regions of hope, gather con- 
 tributions from the far-off future into the 
 consciousness of the present, and so feel " the 
 powers of the world to come." He can 
 receive into hi - mind great thoughts from the 
 infinite mind, and be enabled to enter within 
 the veil and commune with " the King eternal, 
 immortal, and invisible." He who came " to 
 save his people from their sins" and to con- 
 duct them to " eternal glory," wishes us to 
 think of one human being as of more import- 
 ance than "the whole world." 
 
 Now, in view of all this, %vhat an evil is sm ! 
 The more correct our apprehension of the 
 
 
 *. 
 
 i ^ 
 
 
Human Greatness. 
 
 27 
 
 
 V •^-- ^ 
 
 
 greatness of human nature, the more may we 
 be impressed by a consideration of the enor- 
 mity of that evil which wrenched it away 
 from its God, disordered all its immortal fac- 
 ulties, and tends to its utter ruin — for ** evil 
 shall slay the wicked." 
 
 Farther — What cause zve have for self- 
 '^ basement ! True self-abasement is not 
 founded on low views of man's essential 
 being, but on scriptural views of what man has 
 become /;/ character through sin. Memory 
 may be good as a faculty ; but how often it 
 is sinfully allowed to be a lumber-room or a 
 receptacle of perilous explosives instead of 
 being a treasury of truth Divine, and of 
 impulses to proper action. Reason, judg- 
 ment, and imagination may all be good as 
 faculties, but, amid the light of the glorious 
 Gospel, how sinfully the convictions of the 
 reason are often violated, the dictates of the 
 judgment disregarded, and the flights of the 
 imagination indulged in sinful instead of God- 
 
28 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 ward and heavenward d.rect.ons ! There 
 „,ay be fine susceptibility of feehng ; but he 
 
 feelings themselves how oft they cleave to the 
 dustjnstead of ascending to the ch.efgo^dt 
 
 not only as displaying great wisdom great 
 mercv, great power, and a great sacr.fice- 
 ThesacHfice of the Son of God; but as the sal- 
 vation of a grea^ being from a great ev. 
 
 Finallv.-i/.^c- great the graUiudc we all 
 o^eio GodM a nature of such grand possi- 
 bilities ; and, above all, for provision in he 
 economy of redemption for our being lifted 
 up to be even " as the angels " for ever and 
 ever. 
 
 \- A' ♦ 
 
 I , 
 
 3 1 
 
1 - 4 ■ ♦ 
 
 III.-MORAL STRENGTH. 
 
 I , 
 
 l^ 
 
^ 
 
 1 
 ■r ^, 
 
 I 
 
 4 ,^ 
 

 \- 
 
 1,^ 
 
 III.— MORAL STRENGTH. 
 
 THE love of power is implanted in oui 
 nature by Almighty God, but through 
 sin it has become converted into a thirst for 
 power with a view to the gratification of 
 self, and not at all — unless in renewed natures 
 — with a view to the honour of God. *' The 
 angels that excel in strength " are doubtless 
 joyfully thankful for the power they possess, 
 and love it as contributing to their fitness for 
 high service of the King of Kings. 
 
 It is clear from Scripture that highly to* 
 value Divine power as really as Divine mercy 
 in our behalf is acceptable to the " Eternal 
 Godhead." To Abraham, God said, " I am 
 the Almighty God, walk before me." He 
 v/ho through the inspired mind of a prophet 
 proclaimed himself " mighty to save," again- 
 and again said, " Believe ye that I am able to 
 
 BB 
 
32 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 do this ?" and the first disciples were taught 
 to value the gift of the promised Spirit as 
 ''power from on high/' 
 
 So is it acceptable to God to be concerned, 
 not only to "obtain mercy," but to be enabled 
 to "put on strength." To Joshua He said, 
 " Be strong and of a good courage." To 
 Daniel He said, " O, man of God, greatly 
 beloved, be strong ; yea, be strong." By 
 Haggai He said, " Be strong, O Zerubbabel, 
 be strong, O Joshua, and be strong all ye 
 remnant of the people, saith the Lord." To 
 Timothy Paul said, "Be strong," and in epistle 
 after epistle he said, " Brethren, be strong in 
 the Lord." Now, as God has so repeatedly 
 pressed upon souls the admonition to be 
 strong, and as the Bible contains so much 
 respecting this great matter, we may feel 
 assured that — whilst prayer for strength is 
 all-important — it behoves us to have an eye 
 to the various means of obtaining it that are 
 set forth or suggested by the Word of God. 
 
Moral Strength. 
 
 33 
 
 *v 
 
 And great, surely, is our need of increase 
 of moral strength. When we think of the 
 corrupt tendencies of our fallen nature 
 that need to be opposed, the temptations to 
 evil that need to be resisted, the allurements 
 of " this present evil world " that need to be 
 repelled, and the obstacles that need to be 
 surmounted in " pressing towards the mark," 
 and in aiming to be "labourers together with 
 God," well may we feel our great need of 
 being " strengthened with strength in the 
 soul." Now, there are many passages of 
 Scripture of peculiar value in this connection, 
 and specially important are the following : — 
 *^ A man of knowledge increaseth strength^ 
 As an instance of this take the Apostle 
 Peter. Whilst his views in spiritual direc- 
 tions continued comparatively dim, and his 
 knowledge of himself greatly defective, he 
 had not strength of spirit corresponding to 
 the ardour of his soul ; but, when he had 
 greatly increased in self-knowledge and in a 
 
34 
 
 Wa/ks about Zion. 
 
 knowledge of Christ, ''the power and wisdom 
 of God," his career became marked by moral 
 vigour, and he was so honoured of the Lord as 
 to be enabled to '' strengthen the brethren.'' 
 The more we are aware of our own weakness, 
 the more fully we apprehend truth as to the 
 all-sufficiency and graciousness of the Divine 
 Redeemer, and the depth and extent of our 
 obligations, the more shall we be in the way 
 of the increase of strength. 
 
 *'The ivay of the Lord is strength to the 
 upright." ''In keeping his commandments 
 there is great reward," and part of that 
 reward is the increase of the moral power of 
 the soul through the exercise of its faculties 
 in aiming to do the will of God. " The glory 
 of young men is their strength ;" but where 
 is the young man that would seek to grow in 
 strength by merely paying regard to the sus- 
 tenance of the bodily frame ? Physical exer- 
 cise and vigorous effort are essential to that 
 increase of bodily strength that may be ob- 
 
 <•. 
 
Moral Strength. 
 
 35 
 
 <•. 
 
 4 
 
 tained. So it is as to strength of soul 
 Hence it will be found that the more ener- 
 getically there is engagement in Christian 
 work, the more rapid will be the increase of 
 moral strength. The weak in faith and in 
 resolve are generally found to be those who 
 may indeed wait on God in the ordinances of 
 his house, but go not forth in spirit or in any 
 active service "to the help of the Lord 
 against the mighty." 
 
 " He that hatJi clean hands shall wax 
 stronger and stronger." It has been recorded 
 of a little boy that he was observed to wash 
 his hands many times in a day, and that on 
 being asked the reason why he said, " Because 
 I wish to be strong. I read in the Bible that 
 he that hath clean hands shall be stronger 
 and stronger." It was explained to him that 
 the passage was to be taken in a figurative 
 sense, meaning that they who do right shall 
 increase in strength to do right. Union is 
 strength, and there can be no harmonious 
 
M 
 
 36 
 
 Walks about Zion, 
 
 co-operation of the faculties of the soul when 
 conscience is moving in one direction and 
 inclination and purpose in another. Isaiah 
 said, "Your fingers are defiled with iniquity," 
 and the Lord said, "When ye spread forth 
 your hands I will hide mine eyes from you," 
 If, then, we would grow in strength we need 
 to seek to have " a conscience void of offence 
 toward God and toward men." 
 
 ''In quietness and confidenee shall be your 
 strength." When the "stripling" David went 
 forth with a sling and a stone to meet his 
 haughty and powerful opponent, his position 
 apparently was one of appalling danger; but, 
 actuated by high regard to the honour of " the 
 Lord of Hosts," his trust was stedfast, his 
 heart quailed not, his arm was not unnerved, 
 and, with unchecked use of his practiced skill, 
 and with firm force, "he prevailed over the 
 Philistine " to a triumphant result. In quiet- 
 ness and confidence was his strength. And 
 so it is in the various spheres of moral action. 
 
 «... 
 
Moral Strength, 
 
 37 
 
 4... 
 
 If the motive be right, and the path of duty 
 clear, and the "heart fixed trusting in the 
 Lord," the spirit will be quiet and self-pos- 
 sessed, and invigorating influences will come 
 in upon all the springs of action in the soul. 
 
 '' 77/^ joy of the Lord is your strength." 
 That the joy of the Lord tends to invigorate 
 the soul is grandly displayed by the spirit 
 and life of the Apostle Paul. How clear that 
 his rejoicing in the Lord had all along his 
 apostolic career a marked power in connec- 
 tion with his bearing of great tribulation, and 
 the accomplishment, in spite of all obstacles, 
 of a great work. 
 
 " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength." This is the crowning con- 
 sideration that should move the soul in its 
 endeavours to be strong. To wait upon the 
 Lord, however, implies, not only piayerand 
 supplication, but the pouring out of tl..' heart 
 before him, and grateful response to the gra- 
 cious proclamation, " I will commune with 
 
38 
 
 Walks about Zioji. 
 
 thee from above the mercy seat." And many 
 are the ways in which that communion tends 
 to moral strength. The very exercise therein 
 of the higher faculties of the soul tends to 
 their spiritual invigoration. And as com- 
 munion with God, who is light and is love, 
 tends to the advancement of knowledge, the 
 quickening of the soul in the ways of the 
 Lord, the purifying of the conscien'^e from 
 dead works, the increase of quietness and 
 confidence and of joy in the Lord, in all 
 these ways it tends to the increase of moral 
 strength. 
 
 But above and beyond all this, they that 
 wait on the Lord, who has promised " power" 
 from on high — " the Holy Spirit to them that 
 ask him," shall be ''strengthened with might 
 by the Spirit in the inner man." 
 
 Deeply did David feel the need of being 
 "endued with power from on high," when, 
 looking up he exclaimed, " In thine hand it 
 is to giwQ strength unto all ;" and benevo- 
 
 t 
 
Moral Strength. 
 
 \ 
 
 k 
 
 39 
 
 ;5- 
 
 
 lently turning his thoughts to the children of 
 men, said with all the earnestness of his soul, 
 " Wait on the Lord : be of good courage, and 
 He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, 
 on the Lord." 
 
;■, * 
 
IV.-"THE HOLY MOUNT." 
 
If 
 
 IV.— "THE HOLY MOUNT." 
 
 r^REATLY interesting is the fact that 
 ^ Jesus was transfigured on the mount only 
 about a week after He had begun '* to show 
 unto his disciples that He must go unto Jeru- 
 salem, and be killed, and be raised again the 
 third day." Deeply saddened in soul by that 
 intimation, how kindly seasonable the mighty 
 influence over their spirit of tht transfigura- 
 tion of their Lord. ''Jesus taketh with Him 
 Peter, James and John, and bringeth them up 
 into an high mountain, apart ; " and as in the 
 accounts of the glorious events that followed, 
 there are such special references to Peter, 
 we may feel all the more interest in the mat- 
 ters of thought we are about to consider. Let 
 us notice what Peter saw, heard, and said. 
 What did he see ? He saw Jesus'' transfigured 
 before them!' Moses had seen some great 
 
44 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 sights ; a bush " burning with fire, and not 
 consumed," and the moral law written on two 
 tablets of stone by " the finger of God." 
 Elias had seen some great sights, as we learn 
 from the Book of Kings. Peter, James and 
 John had seen some great sights ; one of 
 them was this — they had seen Jesus walking 
 on the troubled waves of the Sea of Tiberias ! 
 But, on the mount was a sight pre-eminently 
 grand and glorious. *' His countenance did 
 shine as the sun, and his raiment was white 
 as the light." Of all the grand paintings of 
 the renowned Raphael, that of the transfigu- 
 ration is regarded as the finest ; but it was 
 left unfinished. He may have felt that art 
 and skill failed to give full expression to even 
 his inadequate, however bright, conceptions of 
 the great reality. Surely the appearance of 
 the Saviour will be not less glorious in the 
 heaven of heavens than it was on the mount ; 
 and, as the bodies of the saints are to be 
 changed and made " like unto his glorious 
 
 ^^ 
 
*' The Holy Moiintr 
 
 45 
 
 ^^ 
 
 body," what a great sight will be " the mar- 
 riage supper of the Lamb," when He who 
 ''loved the church and gave Himself for it," 
 shall " present it to Himself a glorious church 
 not having spot or wrinkle or any such 
 thing." 
 
 He sazv ''Moses and Elias talking with 
 Jesus'' How the disciples knew that the 
 visitants from on high were Moses and Elias 
 we have no means of telling, but that they 
 did so seems to many minds greatly favour- 
 able to the idea of far-extended mutual reco"-- 
 nition in the ''house not made with hands." 
 
 That it pleased the only wise God to con- 
 fer on Moses and Elias the signal honour of 
 being present at the transfiguration, opens up 
 a wide and interesting field of thought. When 
 Moses had to die on Mount Nebo without 
 then entering the earthly Canaan, he little 
 knew of the greater honour of the visit to it in 
 the " fulness of time " that awaited him : and, 
 when w^e consider how closely his name is 
 
4C 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 associated with that of Jesus — as in the 
 statement "the law was given by Moses, but 
 grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," — and 
 that he was a signal type of the Saviour who 
 delivers from a bondage greater far than that 
 of Egypt, and leads to a country better far 
 than that of Canaan, can we wonder that he 
 was one of the two so greatly honoured of 
 the Lord when Jesus was transfigured ? And 
 in regard to Elias, one of the grandest of the 
 prophets, and who was taken up to heaven in 
 a chariot of fire, was he not a fit representa- 
 tive of those " holy men of God," collectively 
 of whom Peter said after the Saviour's ascen- 
 sion, " To Him gave all the Prophets witness?" 
 Such are some of the considerations furnished 
 by Scripture, whence gleams of light come in 
 upon the mind as to some of the probable 
 reasons why it pleased Him who is "won- 
 drous in counsel and excellent in working" 
 to commission Moses and Elias rather than 
 any other of the inhabitants of heaven to be 
 
 K 
 
'' The Holy Mouiitr 
 
 47 
 
 visibly present on the mount of transfigu- 
 ration. 
 
 Further— ^^ saiv a " bright cloud!' Mat- 
 thew says, " while he yet spake, behold a 
 bright cloud overshadowed them ; " and Luke 
 says, " They feared as they entered into the 
 cloud." The words in the original translated 
 in this statement by the word " they," are not 
 the same. The meaning is this : — '' They " 
 (the disciples) " feared as tJiosc entered into 
 the cloud." Outside the cloud, the disciples 
 gazed on its brightness. Beautiful and sug- 
 gestive truth — it was a ''bright cloud!'' 
 Jehovah '* maketh clouds his chariot." It was 
 so under the Old Testament dispension and 
 is so still ; but, now that " the Sun of Right- 
 eousness " has risen, a great light not only to 
 a fallen world, but in the universe at large, 
 how different the clouds ! The holy one of 
 Israel gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai 
 amid "darkness, clouds and thick darknes..,' 
 but indicated his presence on the mount of 
 
48 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 transfiguration by a bright cloud. There is 
 mystery amid the glories of Gospel day. 
 " Great is the mystery of godliness — God was 
 manifest in the flesh ; " and many are the 
 mysteries of the Kingdom that is not of this 
 world ; but they are irradiated by Him who 
 is light and love ; the clouds are bright with 
 the beams of " the Sun of Righteousness." 
 
 But what did Peter Jiear on the mount > 
 " Moses and Elias talked with Jesus of his 
 decease which He should accomplish at Jeru- 
 salem." Did Peter hear that conversation > 
 If he did, how indescribable its influence over 
 his spirit ! It indicates how transcendent is 
 the interest of the inhabitants of the upper 
 world in the sacrifice of the Son of God, and 
 in the view of the Saviour's death which 
 seems specially to have engaged the thoughts 
 of Moses and Elias — that the death He was 
 to die He Jiiniself zvoidd accomplish. True, 
 He was " crucified and slain," yet was it 
 purely voluntary. " He loved us, and gave 
 Himself for us." 
 
" The Holy Moiintr 
 
 49 
 
 But, whether Peter did or did not hear that 
 wondrous conversation, we know that Jie 
 heard a voice out of the cloud saying " TJiis is 
 my beloved Son^ in whom I am ivell pleased ; 
 hear ye Him!' Ages before that great day, 
 Moses had been led by the Spirit to say of 
 the promised Messiah " Him shall ye hear in all 
 things," and on the mount the God and 
 Father of our Lord and Saviour said to the 
 disciples " Hear ye Him : " — a charge full of 
 momentous meaning as to the superiority of 
 Jesus to Moses and the Prophets, tne author- 
 ity with which He was mediatorially clothed, 
 and the regard which " the Father of mercies " 
 wishes to be paid to the words of Him who 
 is ** the way, the truth, and the life." 
 
 But there was another voice that Peter 
 heard on the mount. After the disciples, 
 overawed, had fallen "on their face," after 
 Moses and Elias had left, after the cloud had 
 disappeared, ''Jesus said arise, and be not 
 afraid!' Precious manifestation of the mind 
 
CO 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 of the Lord, whose loving kindness is the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and forever ! To 
 the disciples on the troubled sea, to the 
 women on the resurrection morning, to John 
 in Patmos, He said, " Be not afraid," and to 
 all his disciples on earth He said, and is say- 
 ing, " Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's 
 good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 
 
 Amid the great sights that Peter saw and 
 the momentous words that he heard on the 
 mount, what did he sayf " Lord it is good for 
 us to be here , if TJiou wilt, let us make three 
 tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and 
 ojie for EliasT What he said respecting 
 three tabernacles evidentlv arose not from 
 consideration, but overpowering gladness ; 
 " he knew not what he said." But the ex- 
 pression, '' Lord, it is good to be here " had 
 in it greater fulness of meaning than was 
 realized at the time by Peter. It was good 
 on many accounts, specially as a season of 
 signal confirmation of faith in the Messiah- 
 
 r - — i 
 
" The r^oly Mountr 
 
 51 
 
 j..,. % 
 
 ship of Jesus ; as is clear from the words of 
 Peter many years afterwards, when he said 
 — 2 Peter, i. — '' We have not followed cun- 
 ingly devised fables — we were eye-witnesses 
 cf his majesty when there came to Him such 
 a voice from the excellent glory, * This is my 
 beloved Son.' And this voice we heard, when 
 we were with Him in the holy mount." 
 
 Not very long after the transfiguration, the 
 faith of those three disciples was to be greatly 
 tested. The time of the Saviour's agony was 
 approaching. Peter, James, and John, were 
 to be near Him ; and they would be all the 
 more prepared without failure of faith to be 
 eye-witnesses of his agony from having been 
 " eye-witnesses of his majesty." 
 
 To those who " have not seen, and yet have 
 believed," how pleasing and precious the 
 assurance " Thine eyes shall see the King in 
 his beauty!" To many who have believed 
 and to whom the Saviour is precious, the 
 hour of their departure, however bright with 
 
52 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 hope, is on some accounts inexpressibly 
 touching. But, " absent from the body" they 
 are 'present with the Lord "—to feel, with 
 fulness of joy, uninterruptedly and forever, 
 '' Lord, it is good for us to be here." 
 
 I, 
 
i 
 
 V.-THE AFFLICTED'S PRAYER. 
 
 ^v ..- 
 
kv 
 
V\ 
 
 v.— THE AFFLICTED'S PRAYER. 
 
 ^irHAT is the Almighty that we should 
 ^^ serve Him? and what profit shall we 
 have if we pray unto Him ? are questions 
 suggestive of animating thought to those in 
 sympathy with the spirit of David, who said, 
 " O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall 
 all flesh come." Nothing can be more highly 
 reasonable than prayer to "the Lord, the 
 true God and everlasting King," who has 
 graciously revealed a divinely appointed con- 
 nection between the offering of prayer and 
 the impartation of blessing. "The Lord's 
 hand is not shortened, that it cannot save ; 
 neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear." 
 True prayer, springing from the depths of 
 the soul, offered in the name and ascending 
 through the mediation of Jesus, enters the 
 ear of the Lord of Sabaoth, is attended with 
 
56 
 
 Walks zbont Zion. 
 
 \\ I 
 
 M 
 
 I! 
 
 the prevailing- intercession of the Son of God, 
 is received into association with the thoughts 
 of the infinite mind, and has to do with the 
 movements of the unseen hand that rends 
 veils from darkened understandings, loosens 
 fetters from enslaved souls, opens hearts as 
 was opened the heart of Lydia, pours the 
 balm of consolation into afflicted spirits, 
 binds up the wounds of broken-hearted ones, 
 and administers to immortal spirits of the 
 blessings of the " everlasting covenant ordered 
 in all things and sure." 
 
 But our special object in this address is to 
 consider the great value and importance of 
 prayer amid afflictions. We do not wonder 
 that the Bible contains so many references to 
 affliction ; for, it is not more true that "" man is 
 born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward," 
 than that " the Lord is very pitiful and of 
 tender mercy." Of the Scripture directions 
 to the afflicted there are three of very special 
 moment. One of them has reference to tJie 
 
 
 > 
 
 i . 
 

 The Afflicted' s Prayer. 
 
 57 
 
 feelmgs—'' My son, despise thou not the 
 chastening of the Lord, neither faint when 
 thou art rebuked of Him ;" another refers to 
 the thoughts—'' In the day of adversity con- 
 sider;" a third has reference to the whole 
 soul—'' Is any among you afflicted ? Let him 
 pray." Let the whole soul be thoughtfully 
 and feelingly affected thereby, and let the 
 movements of the soul take a Godward direc- 
 tion ; let him pray. 
 
 Now, in so doing, what are the special 
 objects that should be kept steadily in view.? 
 It is right to pray, in a spirit of submission, 
 for removal of affliction. It may be removed, 
 as in the case of Hezekiah ; or it may be 
 continued, as in the case of Paul, who be- 
 sought the Lord thrice that the thorn in the 
 flesh might depart from him, and to whom 
 the Lord said, " My grace is sufficient for 
 thee." It is right to pray for consolation 
 from Him who says, "As one whom his 
 mother comforteth, so will I comfort you;" 
 5 
 
58 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 it 
 
 and for support from Him who proclaims '' I 
 will strengthen thee, yea, I will uphold thee 
 with the right hand of my righteousness." 
 But, if we would " glorify the Lord in the 
 fires," and derive therefrom true and per- 
 manent benefit, we need to ponder Scripture 
 representations of the great ends of sanctified 
 affliction, with a view to the guidance of our 
 spirit m waiting upon God. And what are 
 the great ends which, according to Scripture, 
 afflictions rightly improved are calculated 
 and mercifully intended to accomplish ? 
 
 One end is instruction, " Blessed is the 
 man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and 
 teachest out of thy law." When the af- 
 flicted '' hear the rod, and him that appointed 
 it, he openeth the ears of men and sealeth 
 their instruction." Many besides the Psalm- 
 ist have felt " It is good for me that I have 
 been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." 
 Luther said, "I never knew the meaning of 
 the Word of God till I was afflicted ; then 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 w 7\ 
 
i 
 
 The Afflicted' s Prayer, 
 
 59 
 
 I 
 
 i % 
 
 the discovery of divine truth to my soul was 
 like opening the gates of paradise." So, 
 multitudes more. Let us pray, then, in re- 
 gard to lessons~\v\{\\s\. in the school of 
 affliction. 
 
 Another end is correction. Job said, 
 " Happy is the man whom God correcteth." 
 David said, - Before I was afflicted, I went 
 astray; but now have I kept thy word.'* 
 How sad when waves and billows of a sea 
 of trouble pass over a soul without loosen- 
 ing away from it any evil thing! How im- 
 portant to pray that affliction may have a 
 corrective influence over the spirit. 
 
 Another end is prevention. Paul said, 
 *' Lest I should be exalted above measure 
 through the abundance of the revelations, 
 there was given to me a thorn in the flesh." 
 A person who had been benighted and en- 
 tangled in a wood till break of day, dis- 
 covered at early dawn that he was almost 
 close to a fearful precipice; and then the 
 
6o 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 trials of a few dark hours were thankfully- 
 felt to have been merciful prevention. So it 
 may be with many of the afflictions of this 
 life. Let the afflicted pray that their trials 
 may be so sanctified to their souls as to keep 
 them from greater troubles. 
 
 Another end is preparation for greater use- 
 fulness. Such was one of the benefits realized 
 by Paul who benevolently and devoutly said, 
 "Who comforteth us in all our afflictions 
 that we may be able to comfort them who 
 are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith 
 we ourselves are comforted of God." How 
 suggestive this to Christians who ardently 
 wish to be more fitted for usefnlness in the 
 various relations of life. 
 
 Another end is the brightening of hope. To 
 this end affliction was blessed to Paul, who 
 said, " We glory in tribulations also ; know- 
 ing that tribulation worketh patience, and 
 patience experience, and experience hope;" 
 and many have become enabled in the fur- 
 
The Afflicted' s Prayer. 
 
 6i 
 
 ,»» 
 
 J* 
 
 nace of affliction to read their title clear " to 
 mansions in the skies." Let afflicted ones 
 who ** stand in doubt " as to their interest in 
 Christ pray for a benefit so great, through 
 sanctified affliction, as the brightening of a 
 hope '' full of immortality." 
 
 But the crowning end is sanctification, 
 " This is all the fruit to take away sin." He 
 ''whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in 
 Jerusalem, sits as a refiner, and purifies them 
 as gold and silver." Let us be " in subjec- 
 tion " to the Father of spirits, and pray that 
 his chastisements maybe " for our profit, that 
 we might be partakers of his holiness "— 
 " without which no man shall see the Lord." 
 There are those who are heavily afflicted, 
 and yet remain " far from God." Let them 
 pray to Him who is waiting to be gracious, 
 and who said, "I have smitten you with 
 blasting and mildew, yet have ye not re- 
 turned unto Me, saith the Lord." 
 
 Let them seek to be far away from resem- 
 
?t 
 
 62 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 blance to those of whom it is said " Thou 
 hast stricken them, but they have not grieved ; 
 they refused to return." 
 
 The writer repeatedly visited a young per- 
 son in a hospital, who had been led by afflic- 
 tion to cry "What must I do to be saved ?" 
 At length one morning he found her sitting 
 up on her bed, the tears on her cheeks, and 
 an open Bible on her pillow ; and with 
 great joy she pointed to the words — Ezek. 20, 
 37 — " And I will cause you to pass under the 
 rod, and I will bring you into the bond of 
 the covenant." 
 
VI.-THE RE-ASSURANCE OF PETER. 
 
' » 
 
 t 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 V 
 
 
 (■ 
 
1 
 
 VI.— THE RE -ASSURANCE OF 
 
 PETER. 
 
 T rERY instructive is the life of Simon, son 
 ^ of Jonas, who became Peter the Apostle. 
 When John the Baptist said, ''Behold the 
 Lamb of God," two disciples heard him speak 
 and they followed Jesus. One of them was 
 Andrew. ''He first findeth his own brother 
 Simon, and saith unto him, We have found 
 the Messias : and he brought him to Jesus." 
 Fine instance of a brother's usefulness. The 
 first instance, too, of a disciple bringing any 
 one to the Saviour. 
 
 The many striking incidents in the life of 
 Peter, his emphatic avowal of belief in the 
 Messiahship of Jesus, the abrupt, yet loving 
 and tender expression of his aversion to the 
 idea of the Saviour's crucifixion, his readiness 
 to step on the waves of the sea at the bidding 
 
66 
 
 Walks abottt Zion, 
 
 i 
 
 of his Lord, all indicated the ardour and im- 
 pulsiveness of his nature. 
 
 Never hypocritical, he was during the 
 earlier stages of his career over-confident in 
 the strength and steadfastness of his better 
 feelings and sincerely indulged purposes ; 
 and, failing sadly in reflection and true 
 humility, he had to be humbled in the dust, 
 and driven to an earnest realization of his 
 utter dependence on divine strength, before 
 he became fitted for the exalted position of 
 honour and usefulness to which he was ulti- 
 mately to be raised. 
 
 About seven weeks before the interview we 
 are about to consider, Peter, after following 
 Jesus "afar off," thrice denied Him. The 
 tenderness and love of the Saviour and the 
 mighty power of his Spirit melted Peter to 
 tears, and not only kept him from sinking 
 into despondency, but thoroughly recovered 
 his soul. After Jesus had died on the cross 
 and risen from the tomb, an angel vvas 
 
TJie Re-assiiraiice of Peter. 
 
 67 
 
 
 employed to instruct Mary Magdalene and 
 the other Mary to go and tell his disciples 
 and Peter that He was risen from the dead ; 
 and the fact that Peter was named in particu- 
 lar beautifully indicates how considerate, 
 deep and tender is the sympathy of the Son 
 of God. But Peter needed more than sym- 
 pathy. He needed faithful words to keep 
 memory in proper exercise, to deepen 
 sense of obligation, and to help his whole 
 soul to steadfastness prospectively ; and by 
 such faithfulness was he lovingly befriended, 
 as we learn from the last chapter of the 
 Gospel by John. Andrew Fuller remarks, 
 " He might expect to have lost his office, but 
 no, he shall be restored ;" and Dr. McKnight 
 says, " Peter by his late cowardice and per- 
 fidy, having, as it were, abdicated the Apos- 
 tleship, was formally restored to his office 
 through the indulgence of his kind and mer- 
 ciful Master." 
 
 When the time of the Saviour's ascension 
 
68 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 i 
 
 was drawing nigh, He spread, at once faithfully 
 and lovingly, the influence of his spirit over 
 the whole soul of his servant, in connection 
 with settling in Peter's mind the asjurance 
 that he was still to be employed in the service 
 of his Lord. The questions put to Peter on 
 that great occasion were three ; and how 
 awakening to his memory ! How striking 
 and arousing to his conscience ! How hum- 
 bling to his whole soul 1 As the Saviour, 
 instead of saying Peter, said, ** Simon, son of 
 Jonas," the memory of Peter would instantly 
 recall his life as a fisherman and the love of 
 Jesus in then receiving him, and deeply must 
 he have felt how gratitude had failed him in 
 testing times. When the words fell on his 
 ear, " Lovest thou me more than tJieseV^ he 
 would think instantly of the season when, 
 trusting more in himself than in his brethren, 
 he said, ** Though all men shall be offended 
 because of Thee, yet will not I be offended," 
 and must have felt humbled indeed. When 
 
 J ; 
 
The Re-ass2irance of Peter. 
 
 69 
 
 
 I . 
 
 Jesus said the second time, " Lovest thou 
 me?" without adding the words "more than 
 these," as much as to say, " Lovest thou me 
 at all?'' the spirit of Peter must have been 
 yet more deeply humbled. And when the 
 question was a third time pressed on his 
 mind, with what fulness of feeling he must 
 have recognized the fact that Jesus was 
 thinking of his having thrice denied Him ! 
 Three times did Peter say in reply, "Thou 
 knowest that I love Thee ;" and on that throb- 
 bing spirit Jesus laid the charge, " Feed my 
 lambs," *' Feed my sheep," " Feed my sheep." 
 In this great commission the charge was 
 threefold ; and weighty as it was, it doubtless 
 filled the soul of Peter with gladness. It 
 was pre-eminently reassuring; it involved 
 indication of full forgiveness, of a gracious 
 design to own and honour him still, to take 
 him anew into co-operation with himself in 
 the highest sphere of beneficence known 
 amongst mankind. 
 
70 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 Every part of the charge teems with pre- 
 cious meaning. The first part, " Feed my 
 lambs," tells of the Saviour's tender regard 
 to the young, and specially of his love to the 
 lambs in his fold. That Peter in particular 
 should be called on to feed the lambs may 
 indicate some '^^Q^xX\^iX fitness — from temper- 
 ament, or experience, or both — for that spe- 
 cial department of Christian work. At first 
 sight some might suppose that the loving 
 disciple, John, would be regarded as specially 
 adapted for that service ; but, however high 
 his qualifications, there were reasons in the 
 mind of Him who is "the wisdom of God" 
 why on the Apostle Peter should be laid the 
 charge " Feed my lambs." Does it not seem 
 probable that the glowing ardour of his spirit 
 was one reason, and his deep experience of 
 the danger of self-confidence another } Feel- 
 ingly indeed would he be able to speak to 
 the young in the spirit of the words, '* Be 
 clothed with humility," " Let him that think- 
 
 
The Re-assurance of Peter. yi 
 
 eth he standeth take heed lest he fall," " Be 
 strong in the Lord and in the power of his 
 might." 
 
 The second part of the charge is thus 
 translated— - Feed my sheep;" but in the 
 original the verb is different from that used 
 in the first part of the charge, and of a much 
 wider import, as recognized by Peter himself 
 where he says (i Pet. 5 : 2) '^ Feed the church 
 of God, taking the oversight thereof." The 
 third part of the charge is peculiarly interest- 
 ing on this account, that in it is a recurrence to 
 the word employed in the charge respecting 
 the lambs, by which Peter might be reminded 
 that the nourishment in the divine life of 
 more advanced Christians is as really to be 
 regarded as that of younger disciples. 
 
 In view of all this, how important that 
 under-shepherds should seek to be filled with 
 the Spirit " that searcheth all things, even the 
 deep things of God," that they may be able 
 to furnish "meat" as well as "milk," and, 
 
72 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 bringing forth " things new and old," may 
 help advanced Christian minds to be " filled 
 with a knowledge of his will in all wisdom 
 and spiritual understanding." 
 
 As this commission was to have reference 
 to the work of Peter after the Saviour's 
 ascension, it was not needful that it should 
 be given at an earlier period, and room was 
 thus afforded for such a manifestation of the 
 spirit of Christ as was calculated to be of 
 great value to all his followers. Between the 
 morning of the resurrection and the day on 
 which Peter was thus addressed, Jesus had 
 repeatedly appeared to him and other disci- 
 ples. Again and again had He said, " Peace 
 be unto you ;" but we have no reason to sup- 
 pose that He had ever, in the course of all the 
 forty days, made any reference to the conduct 
 of Peter in the Palace of the High Priest. 
 
 What a view is hereby afforded of the 
 tenderness of the Saviour, of his slowness to 
 touch on subjects painful to the hearts of his 
 
 
 I 
 
The Rt-asstirance of Peter. 
 
 n 
 
 the 
 
 Is to 
 
 his 
 
 v>^ 
 
 v-> 
 
 disciples ! Precisely the same spirit is appar- 
 ent in the messages to the seven churches in 
 Asia. Whatever he could approve in any of 
 those churches he named first ; and then, as 
 with tender reluctance, referred in faithfulness 
 to what was wanting or needed to be put 
 away. How comforting the thought of this 
 amid our manifold deficiencies, and how 
 important this part of the Saviour's example 
 to all his followers ! To be quick to notice 
 and appreciate the excellencies of others, and 
 slow to speak of their defects, unless as far 
 as faithfulness to them and to " the truth " 
 may require, is clearly according to the mind 
 of Christ. 
 
 But especially let us lay to heart the ques- 
 tion, " Lovest thou me V Sad and affecting 
 is the fact that in this probationary state the 
 affections of many immortal spirits are run- 
 ning utterly to waste. Many, amid the light 
 of nature and revelation, are more interested 
 in objects that are only types or symbols ot 
 6 
 
Hf. 
 
 74 
 
 Walks about Zioii, 
 
 the Saviour than in the Saviour Himself. To 
 some, any plant rather than the "plant of 
 renown," any rose rather than " the rose of 
 Sharon," any light rather than " the Sun of 
 Righteousness," any star rather than " the 
 bright and morning star " of everlasting day ! 
 Let us be daily looking to Jesus. Let us 
 think of the love " that passeth knowledge," 
 and may that love constrain us to love Him 
 who first loved us, and to live, not to our- 
 selves but to Him who proclaims, " Be thou 
 faithful unto death and I will give thee a 
 crown of life." 
 
 
 J 
 
 \ 
 
V J- 
 
 * * 
 
 
 VII.-SAUL'S CONVERSION. 
 
VII.— SAUL'S CONVERSION. 
 
 AT the martyrdom of Stephen ''the wit- 
 nesses laid down their clothes at a young 
 man's feet whose name was Saul," and at the 
 death of that first Christian martyr the spirit 
 of persecution, far from being satisfied, was 
 thereby kindled into greater ardour. After 
 devout men had carried Stephen to his burial 
 and made great lamentation over him, '* Saul 
 made havoc of the church, entering into every 
 house, and hailing men and women, com- 
 mitted them to prison. Therefore they that 
 were scattered abroad went everywhere 
 preaching the word." 
 
 Now, that so many were scattered, Saul 
 casts his thoughts all around, and they 
 become fixed on Damascus, the capital of 
 Syria, where were many Jews, some of whom 
 had embraced Christianity, and whither some 
 
78 
 
 Walks about Zioii. 
 
 of the scattered had repaired. " Saul went 
 unto the High Priest and desired of him 
 letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that 
 if he found any of this way, whether they 
 were men or women, he might bring them 
 bound unto Jerusalem ;" and so commis- 
 sioned he sets off for Damascus. Reports 
 had reached that city respecting Saul, and 
 whilst he was on his way thither the Chris- 
 tians therein were full of apprehension, and 
 giving themselves to prayer. Saul entered 
 Damascus, not, however, " breathing out 
 threatenings and slaughter," but humble and 
 lowly minded, in a state of temporary blind- 
 ness, but with new light in his soul, led in 
 paths that his spirit had not previously 
 known. Three accounts of his conversion 
 are contained in the New Testament. See 
 Acts 9, 22, and 26 chapters. As Saul was 
 advancing in his journey, what intensity of 
 thought and purpose and vividness of antici- 
 pation as to what he would do, and how his 
 
Saurs Conversion. 
 
 79 
 
 return to Jerusalem would be hailed, must 
 have moved his determined mind. But, as 
 the " raging waves of the sea " had been 
 hushed into silence at the bidding of Him 
 who said " Peace, be still," so a sudden 
 change came over the spirit of Saul, remind- 
 ing us of the words of the Lord, '* Here shall 
 thy proud waves be stayed." " Suddenly 
 there shined round about him a light from 
 heaven." In reply to the amazing question, 
 '* Why persecutest thou me ?" he said, " Who 
 art thou, Lord ?" and after hearing the words, 
 " I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou perse- 
 cutest," conviction of the Messiahship of 
 Jesus seized his soul. No longer enslaved 
 by Pharisaism and prejudice, he became 
 delivered from ^'^c power of darkness, and 
 under the grace of Him who is *' mighty to 
 save," yielded his whole soul to the force of 
 truth. With thorough cotiviction came thor- 
 ough compliance. Convinced that Jesus was 
 the Christ, his judgment, hi", conscience, nis 
 
So 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 will, his whole heart, all the faculties and 
 moral susceptibilities of his soul promptly 
 went over to the side of the Saviour and his 
 cause, and the spirit of what he then said 
 pervaded the whole of his subsequent life — 
 and will pervade it for ever — " Lord, what 
 wilt thoa have me to do?" And how did 
 the Saviour deal with the self-surrender of 
 Saul ? He received him graciously and 
 placed him under further instructions. '' He 
 was three days without sight, and neither did 
 eat nor drink," and " Behold, he prayeth." 
 Rut who is to help the thoughts of a convert 
 so gifted with talent, and so distinguished a 
 scholar ? Will not some of the most eminent 
 of the Apostles be led by the Spirit of Christ 
 to perform such service ? No, no. One of the 
 Christian converts at Damascus is to be 
 employed. Ananias, with warm-heartedness 
 and all the ardour of fresh Christian affec- 
 tions, can go to him with what was exactly 
 suited to his need — a warm sympathy and 
 
Saul's CoJtvcrsioJi. 
 
 8i 
 
 fraternal welcome to " brother Saul." Acts 
 7:19. What encouragement to all Christians 
 to seek to be useful to souls ! 
 
 Lord Lyttelton and many others have very 
 legitimately treated of Saul's conversion with 
 its antecedents and subsequences as consti- 
 tuting a very powerful argument in favour of 
 the truth of Christianity, but no views of that 
 conversion advanced by any subsequent 
 writer can reasonably be expected to be of 
 such value as those that have been placed on 
 record by the convert himself. Why so ? 
 For two great reasons conjointly. He could 
 speak of it from personal experience of the 
 great event, and he has done so, not only as 
 a matter of experience, but under divine 
 guidance as an inspired apostle. 
 
 We close, then, with looking at the quca-- 
 tion, W/iat says Paul of /lis ozon conversion ? 
 
 1st. That it w?.s of pure grace — of sovereign 
 7nercy, 
 
 Repeatedly and very prominently did he 
 
82 
 
 Walks about Zion, 
 
 present this view of the great change effected 
 in his soul by grace and power divine. Many- 
 expressions of his grateful and adoring spirit 
 in that direction might be quoted, but one of 
 them only we name, i Tim. 1:13 — '*I, who 
 was before a blasphemer, a persecutor and 
 injurious, obtained mercyT Looking into his 
 past experience from amid the light of the 
 Gospel, he declared with all the truthfulness 
 of a Christian and an apostle (Acts 26 : 9), " I 
 verily thought with myself that I ought to 
 do many things contrary to the name of 
 Jesus of Nazareth." But if he really tJiougJit 
 he was right, and feels that mercy had come 
 to him, he clearly felt that man is accountable 
 for his belief. Guilty he had been ; not, how- 
 ever, from acting contrary to conviction, but 
 contrary to trutJi, and in that he regarded 
 himself as having been sinful. 
 
 In discussing the great subject of **the 
 accountableness of man for his belief," the 
 late Dr. Wardlaw said, " In the theory of 
 
SauTs ConvcrsioJi. 
 
 83 
 
 responsibility for belief there are three things 
 that appear unitedly indispensable, as the 
 only basis on which it can rest, viz.: Capacity 
 of understanding, opportunity of knowledge 
 and sufficiency of evidence ;" and every one 
 of these was either in the possession 
 or within the reach of Saul of Tarsus. 
 Amid the light of nature man is accountable 
 for his belief in God. If we may indulge the 
 imagination of a disembodied soul saying, 
 " O God, I did not serve Thee because I did 
 not believe in thine existence. In the great 
 temple of nature I did not bow down and 
 worship, because I did not know that there 
 was a divinity in it" — whether that would 
 or would not be a satisfactory exculpation, 
 ** hear ye the word of the Lord," Romans 
 1:20, ''The invisible things of him from the 
 creation of the world are clearly seen, being 
 understood by the things that are made, even 
 his eternal power and Godhead ; so that they 
 are witJiout excused And, amid the light of 
 
84 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 revelation, man is accountable for a belief in 
 God as " a just God and a Saviour," as " God 
 in Christ," who said, "If ye believe not that 
 I am He, ye shall die in your sins." — John 
 8 :24. 
 
 2nd. Paul was led by the Spirit to present 
 this view of his conversion, that his having 
 obtained mercy had some connection with 
 the fact that before his conversion he did not 
 believe in the Messiahship of Jesus. In i 
 Tim. 1:13 he says, " I obtained mercy because 
 I did it ignorantly through luibeliefT Sinful 
 as Saul had been, he never was guilty of 
 the great sin of neglecting the great salva- 
 tion after believincT in the truth of Chris- 
 tianity ; and this consideration should shake 
 to the utmost depths and fill with most 
 serious apprehension every soul that is con- 
 scious of believing that Jesus is the Christ, 
 the Son of God, the only Saviour, and yet 
 remains far from Him ! 
 
 3rd. Another view that Paul was led to 
 
 
SauVs Co7iversion. 
 
 85 
 
 
 take of his conversion was this (i Tim. i :i6), 
 " For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me 
 first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long- 
 suffering for a pattern to them who should 
 hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting," 
 The Saviour had previously said to his disci- 
 ples (Matt. 5:44), "Love your enemies, bless 
 them that curse you, do good to them that 
 hate you," and, by having mercy on Saul ot 
 Tarsus, He wonderfully added to the admoni- 
 tion the force of his o^vn example. 
 
 4th. He regarded himself as called by the 
 grace of the Lord, not for his own sake only, 
 but that he might be an instrument of good 
 to many others. The Lord said (Acts 9:15), 
 " He is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my 
 name before the Gentiles and kings and the 
 Children of Israel." He himself said (Gal. 
 l) " It pleased God to reveal his Son in me, 
 tJiat I might preach Hiin aniojig" the heathen!' 
 and need we add that all Christians should 
 habitually keep in remembrance that the 
 
86 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 Lord has called them by his grace, not for 
 their own sakes only, but to serve their gen- 
 eration "according to the will of God ?" 
 
 There seems to be a real and striking 
 analogy between the city of Jericho and the 
 soul of Saul. At an earl}*" period in the pro- 
 gress of the Israelites towards taking posses- 
 sion of Canaan, it pleased the only wise God 
 that Jericho should fall before them without 
 human instrumentality, and so did He teach 
 the surrounding peoples and impress upon 
 the Israelites that (Ps. 44 : 3) " They got not 
 the land in possession by their own sword, 
 neither did their own arm save them." So 
 at an early period in the history of the Chris- 
 tian Church it pleased Him who is " the wis- 
 dom of God " to cause that prominent oppos- 
 ing power, the soul of Saul, to fall before Him 
 without human instrumentality, and so did 
 He teach the world and impress upon the 
 Church the truth that it is not by human 
 might or power, but by higher influence, that 
 souls are won to Himself. 
 
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 VIII.-SELF-INSPECTION. 
 
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 VIII.— SELF-INSPECTION. 
 
 SOLOMON said— Ecc. 8 19—" I apply my- 
 self to every thing that is done under 
 the sun ;" and respecting one part of what 
 came under his notice he said, " Then I saw 
 and considered it well ; I looked upon it and 
 received instruction." And certainly to look 
 out far and wide on the state of the world, to 
 ponder the many specially important events 
 of our age, and to observe the signs of the 
 times that are passing over us, are habits of 
 thought that commend themselves to every 
 reasonable mind. 
 
 But, in our day, such are the facilities for 
 the flight of intelligence from different parts 
 of the world, that, amid the multitudi- 
 nous newspaper, telegraphic, and other news 
 that crowd in upon the minds of men, there 
 is no small danger of the thoughts and feel- 
 
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90 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 ings being disproportionately taken up with 
 the extrinsic, and the real state of " the world 
 within " greatly overlooked. 
 
 As our days are "swifter than a weaver's 
 shuttle," as our life is " as a vapour that ap- 
 pears for a little time and then vanisheth 
 away," and as ** every one of us must give 
 account of himself to God," very pressing is 
 the importance of self -inspection, 
 
 Richard Baxter remarked, " I have found 
 by long experience as well as from Scripture, 
 that the main difficulty lieth in bringing men 
 to be willing, and to set themselves in good 
 earnest-, to the searching of their hearts." 
 There are many passages of Scripture that 
 imply, and not a few that expressly refer to 
 the danger of neglect of self-inspection. 
 Repeatedly did Moses and the Prophets say, 
 " Take heed to yourselves." Again and again 
 did Jesus say to the disciples, " Take ye heed 
 to yourselves ;" and it would be an interesting 
 and profitable exercise of mind to trace the 
 
Self -inspection. 
 
 91 
 
 j> 
 
 A. 
 
 varied connections in which that admonition 
 is found in different parts of the WorJ of God. 
 
 Every reader of this address might say 
 with trutii, " There is one being in existence 
 that will never be saved unless in connection 
 with my personal regard to the salvation of 
 that one individual. Any or all of those dear 
 to me on earth and any of my cotempora- 
 ries may be saved without any efforts or 
 prayers of mine in their behalf, but one 
 being there is that will never be saved — what- 
 ever the efforts and prayers of others — unless 
 / be led to care about the salvation of that 
 one being — and that being is myself!' How 
 important, then, is self-inspection ! It should 
 include consideration of our state in relation 
 to the past, the present, and the future. 
 
 Ecc. 3 : 1 5 — " God reqidreth that which is 
 past:' 
 
 Some reader of this address may possibly 
 feel ; yes — and well may that warning be 
 appalling to my soul — looking back, my ill- 
 
92 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 spent time, and course of life, present to my 
 mind a most melancholy scene ; sins indulged, 
 mercies slighted, the heart hardened, the con- 
 science seared, and, I fear, that for me " there 
 is no hope." 
 
 But if the Father of Spirits " delighteth in 
 mercy" (Micah 7 : i8), and "spared not his 
 own Son, but delivered Him up for us all " 
 -(Rom. 8:32); and if " his dear Son, who hath 
 loved us, and hath given Himself for us " 
 (Eph. 5:2), " for the joy that was set before 
 Him endured the cross," and proclaims " him 
 that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast 
 out " — then may sinners, even the chief, rejoice 
 in hope, assured that " the eye of the Lord 
 is upon them that fear Him, upon them that 
 hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from 
 death " (Ps. 33). 
 
 ^* Oh, if the wanderer his mistake discern, 
 Judge his own ways, and sigh for a return, 
 Bewildered once, must he bewail his loss, 
 For ever and for ever ? No I the cross ! 
 
Self -inspection. 
 
 93 
 
 There and there only (tho' the deist rave, 
 And atheist, if there be so base a slave), 
 There and there only is the power to save ; 
 There no delusive hope invites dispair, 
 No mocking meets you ^ no deception there ^ 
 
 » 
 
 I . 
 
 — 
 
 But, to the praise and glory of his grace^ 
 many can say " we have redemption through 
 his blood, the forgiveness for sins ;" and they 
 also need self-inspection in their relation to 
 the past. Are past mercies, past warnings, 
 past lessons kept in lively remembrance ? 
 The Israelites '' remembered not the multi- 
 tude of God's mercies, but provoked Him at 
 the sea — even at the Red Sea." 
 
 Peter probably failed of self-inspection in 
 regard to the warning. " Satan hath desired 
 to have you," and how sad was his fall ; and 
 to the disciples Jesus repeatedly said, " Do 
 ye not remember .'*" To not a few, oppressed 
 with cares and painful apprehensions, it might 
 with propriety be said. Do ye not remember 
 gracious realities in your experience, that 
 
94 
 
 Walks about Zioii. 
 
 i I 
 
 I ( 
 
 warrant you to feel " if when we were ene- 
 mies we were reconciled to God by the death 
 of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we 
 shall be saved by his life ?" 
 
 " His love in times past forbids me to think 
 He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink ; 
 Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review, 
 Confirms his good pleasure to lead me quite 
 through." 
 
 But the state of the soul connected with the 
 present calls for vigilant self-inspection. It 
 was well said by Sydney Smith, " The great 
 labour is to subdue the tyranny of present im- 
 pressions ; to hold down desire and aversion 
 with a firm grasp, till we have time to see 
 where they would drive us. The men who 
 can do this, are the men who do all the praise- 
 worthy actions that are done in the world." 
 
 Let us listen to the divine word by Joshua 
 and Jude. Josh. 23:11 — "Take good heed 
 to yourselves, that ye love the Lord your 
 God." Jude 20, 21 — " But ye, beloved, build- 
 
Self -inspection. 
 
 95 
 
 ing yourselves up in your holy faith, and 
 praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves 
 in the love of God." " There are many ad- 
 versaries ;" opposing powers from within, 
 from around, from beneath ; and '' they are 
 con ^ derate against thee." What self-inspec- 
 tion, what watchful and prayerful care are 
 requisite if we would keep near in spirit to 
 " the Captain of Salvation," who says, " Be 
 thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee 
 a crown of life." 
 
 " He gave Himself for our sins, that He 
 might deliver us from this present evil world ;" 
 and what self-inspection is needed as to the 
 influence in the world of our spirit and life, 
 and as to the influence of the world over us. 
 
 But we must pass on to some brief refer- 
 ences to the importance of self-inspection in 
 our relations to the future. Can we read our 
 title clear "to mansions in the skies?" If 
 not, are we giving diligence to make our 
 " calling and election sure V 2nd Peter, i : lo. 
 
96 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 ; 1 
 
 
 Are we habitually alive to the assurance 
 that " without holiness no man shall see the 
 Lord," and that " our Saviour Jesus Christ 
 gave Himself for us that He might redeem us 
 from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a 
 peculiar people, zealous of good works ?" 
 
 In regard to the unknown future of this 
 life, do we feel like David (Ps. 71 : 15), " I will 
 go in the strength of the Lord God?" Are 
 we duly yielding our spirit to the influence of 
 the words of the Apostle Paul (ist Cor. 7 : 27), 
 "Brethren, the time is short?" Pondering 
 that truth, the same Apostle said, " It is 
 high time to awake out of sleep, for now is 
 our salvation nearer than when we believed ;" 
 as if he had said, " Brethren, we shall soon be 
 home to the house not made with hands, eter- 
 nal in the heavens ;" and let us see to it that 
 we be alive to what we should aim to do on 
 earth before being " lifted up for ever." 
 
 There were times in the life of David, 
 when he seems deeply to have felt that with all 
 
Self -inspection. 
 
 97 
 
 his self-inspection there might be mingled mis- 
 apprehension of the real state of his soul. 
 Whilst he knew and felt that in many things 
 he failed and was sinful, he was conscious of 
 aiming to pursue a right ivay ; but, knowing 
 that the heart is deceitful, and his knowledge 
 of himself was very imperfect, and that the 
 great and merciful God knew him altogether 
 and was waiting to be gracious, he lifted up his 
 thoughts from himself to the great Supreme, 
 and said, " Search me, O God, and know my 
 heart, try me and know my thoughts ; and see 
 if there be any wicked ivay in me, and lead 
 me in the way everlasting." 
 
M 
 
 <f- 
 
 I i 
 
IX.-THE FATAL DREAM. 
 
 « 
 
( I 
 ' : t 
 
 I I 
 
IX.— THE FATAL DREAM. 
 
 THAT there is much in this life like a 
 dream, is an idea that has extensively 
 pervaded the thoughts of men. 
 
 " The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 The solemn temples, the ^. • U globe itself, 
 Yea, all that we inherit, shall dissolve : 
 And, like this unsubstar^iai pageant fnded, 
 Leave not a /ack behiim. We ar such stuff 
 ^s dreams are made on: and cur little life 
 Is rounded willi a sleep." 
 
 Lord Chesterfield had some miserable 
 moods and sometimes considerably thought- 
 ful ones: and in one of them he expressed 
 himself thus in a letter to a friend : *' When 
 I reflect upon what I have seen and heard, I 
 can hardly persuade myself that all the pomp 
 and pleasures of the world can be a reality. 
 But I look upon all that is past as one of 
 those thousand dreams opium commonly 
 
I02 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 fi ! 
 
 occasions, and I do not wish to repeat the 
 noxious dose for the sake of the vagaries oc- 
 casioned thereby. Shall I tell you that I 
 bear this melancholy state with that man- 
 liness which most people boast of? I bear 
 it because I must bear it whether I will 
 or not. I think of nothing but of killing 
 time the best way I can. It is my resolution, 
 therefore, to sleep in a carriage during the 
 remainder of my journey." And so it was his 
 resolution to get all the ease and comfort he 
 could connected with dreaming away a life, 
 the proper object of which would have been 
 — shaking off slumber — to prepare to meet 
 God. 
 
 Of the ungodly man we read in Job 20 : 8, 
 '•He shall fly away as a dream." While it 
 lasiSy the life of such is like a dream. 
 
 In a dream the faculties of the mind, neither 
 fully awake nor utterly locked up in uncon- 
 sciousness, are in a state of partial activity, 
 and more or less afloat in the regions of fancy ; 
 
The Fatal Dream. 
 
 103 
 
 ^5 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 but the great peculiarity of a dream is this, 
 that the highest reason is asleep. 
 
 In a dream memory often looks into the 
 past, hope and fear into the future, pleasure 
 or pain may be the consciousness of the pres- 
 ent, and there often is, too, a sort of judging 
 and choosing; but the highest reason is 
 shrouded in slumber ;— so that, in a dream, 
 what would astonish the person, if awake, 
 leaves the mind calm, and inconsistencies that 
 in a wakeful state could not be believed for a 
 moment, do not at all similarly affect the 
 mind in a dream. 
 
 So in the life of an ungodly man. Memory 
 may turn to the past, hope or fear to the 
 future, and there may be a sort of judging 
 and choosing also ; but what astonishes heav- 
 en astonishes not the dreamer. In his soul 
 can be harboured the most flagrant inconsis- 
 tencies whilst he continues to hope on that all 
 will be well. He can walk on in the broad 
 road, and have visionary ideas of at last being 
 
I04 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 found at the end of the narrow one. He can 
 continue moving on amid darkness, and all 
 the while anticipate the world of bliss, where 
 there is no darkness at all. He can serve 
 sin, and have the idea of being at last with 
 the Saviour — whose name is called Jesus be- 
 cause " He shall save his people from their 
 sins." He can slight the cross, and hope to 
 wear the crown. He can sow the wind, and, 
 amid the shadowy delusions of his soul, he 
 can be free from serious apprehensions of reap- 
 ing the whirlwind. Is it not like a dream } 
 At its closCy it is so also. 
 
 The great peculiarity of the close of a 
 dream is this — that the dreamer has no power 
 of preventing himself from being awoke out 
 of his dream. He may be awoke by some 
 alarming event or by some trifling occur- 
 rence : by the crash of a mansion in flames 
 or by the buzz of a fly. So the ungodly man 
 has no power to prevent himself from flying 
 away as a dream. When Jehovah, who slum- 
 
r ♦ 
 
 The Fatal Dream. 
 
 105 
 
 He can 
 , and all 
 5S, where 
 ;an serve 
 last with 
 Jesus be- 
 •om their 
 1 hope to 
 Arind, and, 
 s soul, he 
 nsof reap- 
 a dream ? 
 
 :lose of a 
 s no power 
 awoke out 
 e by some 
 ling occur- 
 [1 in flames 
 ngodly man 
 from flying 
 1, who slum- 
 
 
 bereth not nor sleepeth, may be pleased to 
 send the summons, and whether the summons 
 come by some imposing or scarcely observ- 
 able messenger, the moment it comes the 
 dream is gone. 
 
 "Ah ! whence is that flame which now bursts on his eye? 
 Ah ! what is that sound that now larums his ear ? 
 'Tis the lightning's red glare, painting hell on the sky ! 
 'Tis the crashing of thunders, the groan of the sphere ! " 
 
 In the retrospect it is like a dream. 
 
 In a dream all seems reality ; but, after it 
 is gone how unsubstantial it appears. And 
 whatever an ungodly man may think of his 
 present life, if he were suddenly to awake out 
 of that dream into eternity, ''all the days of 
 this his vain life," how unsubstantial would 
 they appear ! with what bitterness of spirit, 
 what remorse, what woe, would he remember 
 the misimprovement of his probationary state 
 as an immortal being ! 
 
 If awake to newness of life, let the incense 
 
 of grateful praise ascend to God. " You hath 
 8 
 
Walks about Zion. 
 
 106 
 
 '—^ "" u^f cViall be said to 
 
 . y «^ " "Rut what snail \j^ 
 
 "^ '^"^'t; deep sleep of an unregenerate 
 ''""^'stlU be said " sleep on now, and 
 T ur St -Awhile the soul is unrenewed 
 take your .est ^^ ^g^^^^s 
 
 s>n-P-nVhowoldwishtobeawoUe 
 n^aybenear? ^ho w ^^^ Would you not 
 by the "king of terro s _ ^^ ^.^ ^^^ 
 
 rather wish to ^^^^^^ f /^^^.^ of the wicked, 
 hath no pleasure m ^e ^e^^^ .. a not 
 
 who waiteth to be ^^^^^^^^^^ ^ us all," 
 his own Son but del-ered H.m P ^^^ ^^.^_ 
 
 and in whose Wor we -^J^,, he 
 
 ten, that ye "^'S^^^. that believing ye 
 Christ the Son of God , and tna 
 
 u . life through his name, 
 might have We tnruuj. 
 
 ,f 
 
 %\ 
 
jaid to 
 -nerate 
 
 )W, and 
 snewed, 
 terrors " 
 e awoke 
 you not 
 lim who 
 z wicked, 
 Dared not 
 or us all," 
 i are writ- 
 sus is the 
 iUeving ye 
 
 ^'ii 
 
 X.-AUTUMN. 
 
I ■ ,1 
 
 if i 
 
 !■■ t: 
 
 M 
 
 i I 
 
 'i\ 
 
 t 
 
 
' 
 
 I 
 
 X.—AUTUMN. 
 ^S time flies, we should listen to its voice. 
 
 "Redeem mine hours, the space is brief, 
 
 Whilst in my glass the sand grains shiver ; 
 And measureless thy joy or grief, 
 
 When time and thou shall part for ever." 
 
 As day unto day, so season after season 
 "uttereth speech;'^ whence may be gathered 
 suggestions and analogies of a useful tendency 
 for both worlds. 
 
 '• These as they change. Almighty Father, 
 These are but the varied God. The rolling 
 Vear is full of Thee." 
 
 Let US view autumn as a season 
 
 I.— OF GRATIFICATIONS. 
 
 Remembering the recent "plenteous har- 
 vest" and the favourable weather for the 
 ingathering of the fruits of the earth, what 
 
no 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 % 
 
 \^ 
 
 % 
 
 w 
 
 cause have we all to feel thankful gratifica- 
 tion. 
 
 The earth and the fulness thereof are the 
 Lord's, who crowneth the year with his good- 
 ness ; and the feeling expressed by the poet 
 Thompson may well be widely cherished in 
 this favoured land — 
 
 " Think— O grateful think- 
 How good the God of harvests is to you." 
 
 The autumn of human life, too, may be a 
 season of gratification. They who in youth 
 sow to the Spirit, and in whose moral nature 
 is first the blade, then the ear, and then the 
 full or filling corn in the ear, may anticipate 
 true gratification in the autumn of life from 
 grateful recollections, from ripening fruits of 
 the Spirit, and from the well-grounded char- 
 acter of their hope of glory everlasting. In 
 view of all this, how blessed is early piety ! 
 Should the eyes of any one in the reshness of 
 early life fall on these pages, let such feel 
 assured that whatever else may be matter of 
 
Atituinn. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 [ica- 
 
 the 
 ood- 
 poet 
 d in 
 
 be a 
 routh 
 ature 
 n the 
 :ipate 
 from 
 its of 
 char- 
 
 In 
 
 piety ! 
 
 2SS of 
 h feel 
 tter of 
 
 L. > 
 
 
 regret some future day, or of lamentation in 
 eternity, there is no danger of any one ever 
 being sorry for feeling like Obadiah— i Kings, 
 I8:i2— "I fear the Lord from my youth." 
 " He that gathereth in summer is a wise son " 
 — Prov. 10 : 5 — but, if you would do so, you 
 must sow in spring ; and '' If thou be wise, 
 thou shalt be wise for thyself," Prov. 9:12. 
 
 II. — OF LAMENTATIONS. 
 
 It was so in Judah and Jerusalem when the 
 lamentation was uttered, Jer. 8:20 — "The 
 harvest is past ; the summer is ended ; and 
 we are not saved." Jehovah had said "Amend 
 your ways and your doings, and I will cause 
 you to dwell in this place ;" but "no man re- 
 pented of the wickedness, saying, what have 
 I done.?" Persisting in sin, they brought 
 judgment on themselves ; and, with infatua- 
 tion like that of holding up conductors to 
 thunder clouds, they added sin to sin ; till at 
 length — "the snorting of horses was heard 
 
112 
 
 Walks about Zion, 
 
 I 
 
 from Dan " — the Chaldean cavalry were ap- 
 proaching — "the whole land trembled." Then 
 came the lamentation — mainly, however, on 
 account of what was threatening from with- 
 out — little, if at all, over their ow7i conduct. 
 
 How much of similar lamentation in the 
 experience of many in the autumjt of life ! 
 But, as such lamentation was then of no avail 
 in Judea, neither is it now unless in so far as 
 it becomes lamentation over sins. Those in 
 the autumn of life who are yet '* without God 
 in the world " should consider how much they 
 might have had of blessing now wholly 
 beyond their reach. How much they have 
 lost is known only to Him who proclaims 
 " O that thou hadst hearkened to my com- 
 mandments, then had thy peace been as a 
 river, and thy righteousnesses as the waves 
 of the sea!'* 
 
 But they should also consider what grati- 
 tude they owe to God for sparing mercy. 
 Though " not saved," they are not yet " with- 
 
 'V 
 
Autumn. 
 
 113 
 
 / 
 
 ^ i •' 
 
 out remedy." God is long suffering and hath 
 "no pleasure in the death of the wicked;" 
 and to those that have long slighted his offered 
 mercy He still proclaims in his great forbear- 
 ance, Isaiah i — " Put away the evil of your 
 doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do 
 evil, learn to do well. Come 7iow and let us 
 reason together saith the Lord, though your 
 sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow ; 
 though they be red like crimson they shall be 
 as wool." 
 
 in. — OF BEAUTIES. 
 
 Whilst spring is beautiful with promise, and 
 summer with divine bounty, autumn has its 
 beauties also. The richness of hue, the ex- 
 quisite variety of tint and shade, the mellow 
 fruit on the bending branches, and much else 
 on the face of nature in autumn present a 
 mature expression of real beauty. Now, there 
 is a moral beauty analagous to this, observ- 
 able more or less frequently in the autumn of 
 the life of those who are trees of the Lord's 
 
if 
 
 1 '. 
 
 1 1 I 
 
 114 
 
 Walks about Zion, 
 
 right hand planting. When their Christian 
 character becomes more and more enriched 
 in its different branches by the ripening 
 " fruits of righteousness," what observer can 
 fail to discern that, amid the signs of bodily 
 decay, they are becoming beautified with sal- 
 vation, and prepared to be transplanted to 
 " the paradise of God ? " Not a few instances 
 of such moral beauty are now observable, 
 but, under divine grace, they will yet appear 
 far more abundantly in the Church, the garden 
 of the Lord. Let such as rejoice in believ- 
 ing that they have become " trees of righteous- 
 ness, the planting of the Lord that He may 
 be glorified," consider this matter, and do so 
 in connection with earnest reference to the 
 words of Jesus — " Herein is my Father glori- 
 fied, that ye bear much fruit." 
 
 1 1 
 
 IV. — OF MEMENTOS. 
 
 Viewed in that particular li^ht, moralists 
 and poets have from age to age extracted 
 
AutuniJi, 
 
 115 
 
 "fe 
 
 from it pleasing and profitable thought. But. 
 let it specially be noted that the God of 
 nature and of all grace led one and another 
 of his inspired servants to refer to autumn as 
 a season of mementos— presenting to view 
 much that may profitably remind us that we 
 too are changing and in a transition state. 
 Many in all grades of society would do well 
 to take heed to the faithful but withering 
 words of the Divine proclamation " Woe to 
 the crown of pride, whose glorious beauty 
 is a fading flower;" and they that have 
 weathered many a storm and are yet fresh 
 and vigorous, should never allow an autumn 
 season to pass away without laying to heart 
 the words of Isaiah, ^^Ye shall be as an oak 
 whose leaf fadeth "—and the strong and the 
 weak, the high and the low, the old and the 
 young, are all taught to feel " we all do fade 
 as a leaf." 
 
 How precious the truth that there is much 
 in this changing world that is tnifading. Of 
 
ii6 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 the godly we read " His leaf also shall not 
 wither;" and "they that be planted in the 
 house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts 
 of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit 
 in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing ;" 
 and after being lifted up for ever, the " inheri- 
 tance," the " crown of glory," the " beauty of 
 holiness," will " never fade av/ay." 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
11 not 
 in the 
 courts 
 li fruit 
 ling ;" 
 inheri- 
 .uty of 
 
 XI.-WINTER. 
 
_i... 
 
 w 
 
 /'i 
 
 I f 
 
XL— WINTER. 
 
 THE seasons of the year are highly sugges- 
 tive. So felt the devout and sweet singer 
 of Israel when he said " Thou renewest the 
 face of the earth " — " TJioii crownest the year 
 with thy goodness " — " TJioii hast made sum- 
 mer and winter." 
 
 In Spring, when genial warmth, and vege- 
 table life, and the blossom and the bud, and 
 the songs among the branches, come in upon 
 the human heart with their welcome influences, 
 how well to consider w^hether " the dayspring 
 from on high" has had a welcome to our spirit, 
 and the coldness of our moral nature been 
 removed by the rays of " the Sun of Right- 
 eousness." 
 
 In Siirnincf\ when '* the valleys are covered 
 over with corn," how important to consider 
 what growth is advancing in our souls. " The 
 
I20 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 '//M 
 
 mind untaught's a waste— where fiends and 
 tempests howl ;" and the soul, not taught of 
 God, yields not " the peaceable fruits of right- 
 eousness." 
 
 In Atatimn,\when the leaves wither and fall, 
 and the fruits of the earth are gathered in, 
 forcibly may we feel reminded that " we all do 
 fade as a leaf," and that " whatsoever a man 
 soweth, that shall he also reap." 
 
 And in Winter, when the fragrance of the 
 natural world is far away, and man left all the 
 more to himself, to the world within, how im-i 
 portant to indulge sober thought, to cherishj 
 those principles that are according to god- 
 liness,to cultivate those spiritual tastesofwhicl 
 heaven will be a never-ending gratificatioi 
 and to indulge those bright prospects whicj 
 no change in the seasons can materially affec 
 and which a change of v/orlds cannot impaj 
 
 There are three particular directions 
 thought to which winter peculiarly tei 
 to turn the mind : old age ; seasons of ad^ 
 sity ; the state of the unrenewed. 
 
\ 
 
 Winter. 
 
 121 
 
 % 
 
 \ends and 
 taugW of 
 itsoftigW- 
 
 her and faU, 
 gathered in- 
 l^ .. we all do 
 ioevet a tnan 
 
 ,,,-P of the 
 ,an left all the 
 .ithin.howivn- 
 .ght. to chensh 
 ording to god- 
 atastesofwh;ch 
 „g gratificatton. 
 Kpects ^.hlch 
 l^aterially affect, 
 is cannot tfl^P*^'^- 
 L, directions ot 
 
 ,i!arlv tends 
 pecuhariy 
 
 „ nf adver- 
 seasons ot au 
 
 C^/(^ ^^^. — How common to speak of old 
 age as the winter of life. 
 
 "And now dread winter spreads his latest glooms 
 And reigns tremendous o'er the conquered year : 
 
 Behold, fond man ! 
 See here thy pictured life : pass some few years, 
 Thy flowery spring, thy summer's ardent strength. 
 Thy sober autumn fading into age. 
 And pale concluding winter comes at last, 
 And sheets the scene. 
 
 Virtue sole survives, 
 Immortal, never failing friend of man, 
 His guide to happiness on high." 
 
 " Virtue sole survives " says the poet. But 
 is it always so ;' Alas, not seldom how sadly 
 different. The old age of some is desolate in- 
 deed, friend after friend having passed away 
 till scarcely one friend of youth or middle 
 life is left. In some cases no loved or loving 
 one, no warm affections are near, to cling like 
 ivy to the falling fabric, to cheer the withered 
 heart ; and saddest of all, no spiritual life, no 
 joys from the upper world, no gladdening 
 associations with a bright hereafter. The 
 9 
 
Walks about Zion. 
 
 h 
 
 122 
 
 — -^ jTsuch a state— like 
 
 heart of an aged person ^^^^^^^^ ^^ 
 
 a nest in ^'^^^X'tTl^^y' Py^ess. But 
 an old tree-is cold J ^^^^^^^ ^^^,. 
 
 there is an old age °f ^ ^f J.^ ,ho is " the 
 --• -^^^Vv^o" and forever." "Shall 
 same yesterday,^ to day 
 not be desolate." ^^^ j^ea of 
 
 Seasons ^/ -^^^■'"^f-'^d in this direction 
 
 -■--^^"'^tdtatdby the commonness of 
 ofthought,tsmdicated y_^^^^ ^^ ^^^ 
 
 the expression- tn ^^^^ advanced. 
 
 AS chemical and othe^ -en _^^^^^^.^^^^^^^ 
 
 the importance of wi ^ ^.^^j ^.^n- 
 
 soil, its P-^-^'^";::tecome more full, 
 stitution of man. ha appreciated 
 
 -^^^^\°'lral venter, with its storms a. 
 and as the natural w ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^y t 
 
 frosts and snows is ot g .^ ^^ ^, 
 
 the winter of adversity. eh , 
 
 dom, faithfulness and --^;^,.,p,„3atio 
 -P^°^'^^"tX'pe-anentgoodofth< 
 with a view to tne v 
 
Wi?iter. 
 
 * 
 
 ate-ViVce 
 rancl:tes oi 
 less. But 
 erent cbar- 
 ,bo is " t^'^ 
 ver," " *=^" 
 
 the idea of 
 tbis direction 
 ►mmonness ot_ 
 
 l,f adversity- 
 ,ave advanced, 
 
 eUtion to the 
 
 J more fuUy 
 fy appreciate"!- 
 \ its storms and 
 ,aiue,somaybe 
 
 123 
 
 that are exercised thereby. " Whom the Lord 
 loveth He chasteneth." In the winter of adver- 
 sity, consider. Commit thy way unto the 
 Lord who " stayeth His rough wind in the day 
 of the east wind." Commit thy way and thy- 
 self to the Lord, who is a stronghold in 
 the day of trouble ; and speedily the dark 
 clouds will either pass away or become gild- 
 ed by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, 
 in due season to disappear forever, leaving 
 you forever to feel — " It is good for me that 
 I have been afflicted." 
 
 Like an evergreen in the natural winter, 
 true friendship is peculiarly beautiful in the 
 winter of adversity. And this is partof the me- 
 al beauty of the '' Friend that sticketh closer 
 than a brother." In Proverbs we read that " a 
 brother is born for adversity ;" and how pre- 
 cious is this truth as we trace it in the charac- 
 ter, the life, the death and the whole media- 
 torial work of Him who came to befriend 
 humanity in its great adversity, and who — 
 
 
Walks about Zion 
 
 'f I 
 
 :r>- 
 
 124 
 
 — "" f ^^n— is not ashamed 
 
 n,ade in the I'^eness of me" ^^^^,, 
 
 ,0 call his ^i'-fXeSto Christians, when 
 of the winter o^ -^J-^'^f^ ,,„fiding reliance 
 it leads them to ^°'\ ^ unfailing 
 
 on the fathomless syn^pathy and ^_ ^^^ 
 
 faithfulness of Him who w- ^^ ^^^ 
 
 . " and is ever reaay ^u ^ 
 
 of sorrows, and ^^.^^^ ^^^^^^^ 
 
 consolation of Israd t .^^^^^^^ ^^ 
 
 ti^e of troub e. Bl^-<i ^^^ ,^5,^^ of 
 
 the winter of ^^^^'''l -^ i^ads them to 
 
 wanderers from God. wh-^^^^^ 
 
 hear his voice who is a^ a ^ ., 
 
 the wind, and a covert ^^-^f^'^Z^ ,i,try 
 rke state of the ^^"renewe'i:-^^^^^, ufe, what 
 
 state of soul,what want o^^^^^^^^ 
 
 coldness to sP-'t^^^/;;^ ^'^^^ striking would 
 ^iliarity with the «'J°^^,,„ ,i„ter and 
 
 ^'''^' '" L nltura worW. A person born 
 spring in the natura .^ ^.^^^^^ 
 
 blind, and havmg ^^^^ g^eat sight 
 :^. a^d^fd ;t. BJt When all nature 
 
Whiter. 
 
 125 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 '.;".* 
 
 ashamed 
 ed result 
 ,ns, when 
 , reliance 
 
 ' unfailmg 
 ^ a a man 
 
 to be the 
 
 . thereof m 
 
 influence of 
 
 ^e spirit of 
 
 lads them to 
 
 g place from 
 
 tempest-" 
 
 n that wintry 
 
 fual Ufe,what 
 
 ^ut for our fa- 
 
 [triking w^^^^ 
 
 '.en winter and 
 ^ person born 
 bned in winter, 
 
 [he g^eat sight } 
 l.hen all nature 
 
 VT" 
 
 % 
 
 'S 
 
 seemed changing in early spring, how peculiar, 
 intense and admiring would be the feelings of 
 his uplifted heart ; and what an idea it would 
 give such an one of some unseen power or 
 powers producing the great and gladdening 
 change. 
 
 Now, the power by which the face of the 
 earth is renewed is the same divine power 
 which, in mercy and through the mediatorial 
 interposition of Christ " the power of God," is 
 quickening souls far and wide among the 
 nations, and ever contributing towards the 
 fulfilment of the great promise, " Israel shall 
 blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world 
 with fruit." 
 
 Every winter we feel certain that spring 
 will follow it ; and that feeling of certainty 
 w^e may associate in our minds with three 
 particular facts — viz.: that God has thousands 
 of times renewed the face of the earth ; that 
 He is able to do so in the future as He has done 
 in the past ; and that He has expressly prom- 
 ised to do so " while the earth remaineth." 
 
126 
 
 IVaiks about Zion. 
 
 Those in a wintry state of soul should be 
 animated and encouraged by the analagous 
 truths that will readily occur to the mind. 
 God has in thousands of instances quickened 
 souls to " newness of life " — He is able to do so 
 in the future as He has done in the past — and 
 the following admonition and assurance have 
 been conjointly proclaimed "Awake, thou that 
 sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ 
 shall g\M^ thee light." " As the Father hath 
 life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to 
 have life in Himself." "Verily I say unto you, 
 the hour is coming, and now is^ when the dead 
 shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and 
 they that hear shall live." 
 
 *ii! 
 
tiould be 
 malagous 
 he mind, 
 i^uickened 
 
 le to do so 
 past— and 
 •ance have 
 2,thou that 
 and Christ 
 ather hath 
 , the Son to 
 ty unto you, 
 en the dead 
 [ God ; and 
 
 XII.-THE ''RESTING PLACE. 
 
 )? 
 
 
;i - 
 
 II 
 
 
 H 
 
^7. 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 f 
 
 J 
 
 XII.— THE "RESTING PLACE." 
 
 OB said, " Where shall wisdom be found ?" 
 and what he added is equally apposite to 
 the question, Where shall nrst be found ? 
 " The depth saith, it is not in me ; and the 
 sea saith, it is not in me. It cannot be gotten 
 for gold. It cannot be valued by the gold of 
 Ophir." But, " without money and without 
 price " sinners, even the chief, accepting the 
 reconciliation, may " rest in the Lord." 
 
 The people of God have a " resting place." 
 They are " a people near to Him," " made nigh 
 by the blood of Christ," their life ''hid with 
 Christ in God," and in the divine favour they 
 find a resting place. " He that dwelleth in 
 the secret place of the Most High shall abide 
 under the shadow of the Almighty." " We 
 have boldness to enter intO the holiest by the 
 blood of Jesus;" but to be in spirit "within 
 
■1 
 
 I30 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 I / 
 
 the veil " is to occupy a position never dis- 
 covered and obtained by the unaided faculties 
 of the soul. "No man knoweth the Father 
 save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son 
 will reveal Him." '' The things of God know- 
 eth no man but the Spirit of God." What 
 cause then for grateful joy if we have received 
 the " Spirit which is of God," and have been 
 led by the Spirit into the secret place of the 
 Most High, and abide under the shadow of 
 the Almighty as our resting place. What- 
 ever may assail the understanding, the heart, 
 and the imagination, yet may the whole soul 
 — amid the moral disorders of this world, and 
 the mysteries of the universe — calmly and 
 confidingly rest under the shadow of the 
 Almighty, whose assurance is this — " My 
 people shall be satisfied with my goodness, 
 saith the Lord." ** This is the rest wherewith 
 He causes the weary to rest, and this is the 
 refreshing." It is as the people of God abide 
 in this resting place that, amid the waves and 
 
The ''Resting Placer 
 
 131 
 
 r dis- 
 :ulties 
 father 
 le Son 
 know- 
 Wbat 
 eceived 
 ve been 
 e of the 
 adow of 
 What- 
 he heart, 
 hole soul 
 orld, and 
 .mly and 
 of the 
 
 js— ' My 
 [goodness, 
 
 therewith 
 
 Ihis is the 
 od abide 
 aves and 
 
 % 
 
 billows, the storms and wrecks of the troubled 
 sea of human life, they are conscious of hav- 
 ing " an anchor of the soul both sure and sted- 
 fast " — that, looking forward to the remainder 
 of their life on earth, they may feel '' In the 
 time of trouble He shall hide me in his pa- 
 vilion " — and, looking beyond death and the 
 grave, may ponder with faith and lively hope 
 the precious words " The work of righteous- 
 ness is peace ; and the effect of righteousness 
 quietness and assurance forever. And my 
 people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, 
 and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting 
 places." 
 
 But the people of God are prone to forget 
 their resting place. Of this we are often re- 
 minded by the word of the Lord. " Have I 
 been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of dark- 
 ness .^ Yet my people have forgotten me 
 days without number. My people, ave turned 
 away on the mountains ; they have gone from 
 mountain to hill, they have forgotten their rest- 
 
132 
 
 Walks about Zion, 
 
 ing placel' Jer. 50 : 6. Who shall say how 
 many tears have flowed, how many hearts 
 have been wrung with anguish, how many 
 have had to mourn in bitterness of soul over 
 sad and deplorable falls, from forgetdng the 
 resting place ? The alienating tendency of 
 the remains of indwelling sin, the lo^e of the 
 world, and the want of watchfulness unto 
 prayer, have greatly to c' o with the sad prone- 
 ness to forget the resting place. 
 
 To have done so is matter for lamentation. 
 " This is a lamentation, and shall be for a 
 lamentation," It is so to "the Lord our 
 God," who says ** O my people, what have I 
 done unto thee ? and wherein have I wearied 
 thee?" and should it not be so to all who 
 have reason to feel " O that it were with me 
 as in months past !" 
 
 To those who are being enabled by the 
 grace of God to abide in the resting place we 
 say " Hail ye highly favoured of the Lord !" 
 "Rejoice in the Lord alway ;" but "rejoice 
 
The ''Resting Placer 
 
 133 
 
 y how 
 
 hearts 
 ' rrany 
 )ul over 
 dng tl^e 
 lency of 
 e of the 
 .ss unto 
 .d prone- 
 
 nentation. 
 be for a 
 .ord our 
 at have I 
 I wearied 
 all who 
 with me 
 
 d by the 
 place we 
 Ihe Lordl" 
 t " rejoice 
 
 with trembling," and lay to heart the words 
 of Barnabas to the Christians at Antioch, 
 " who, when he came and had seen the grace 
 of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that 
 with purpose of heart they would cleave unto 
 the Lordr To such as have forgotten their 
 resting place we say " Hear ye the word of 
 the Lord." " Return unto me ye backsliding 
 children, and I will heal your backslidings." 
 How gratefully and promptly should this kind 
 call be hailed and accepted ! David, who had 
 forgotten his resting place, considered his 
 ways, mourned before the Lord, expostulated 
 with himself saying " Return unto thy rest, O 
 my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully 
 with thee ;" and was enabled joyfully to fe*^l 
 '' He restoreth my soul." And, " whatsoever 
 things were written aforetime were written for 
 cur learning, that we through patience and 
 comfort of the Scriptures might have hope!' 
 
 But what shall be said to such as have not 
 found, and perhaps have neither the eyes nor 
 
t 
 
 134 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 I f 
 
 the heart in any degree toward the true rest- 
 ing place ? " Give glory to the Lord before 
 He cause darkness, and before your feet 
 stumble upon the dark mountains, and He 
 turn it into the shadow of death, and make 
 it gross darkness." Of some we read " They 
 repented not, to give God glory." Jehovah 
 proclaims " In returning and rest shall ye be 
 saved ;" and il so proclaims "This is my 
 beloved Son ; hear ye Him." Come — O come 
 without delay — in spirit and in truth to Jesus, 
 and hear his words : " I am the way, the truth 
 and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father 
 but by Me. Learn of Me, and ye shall find 
 rest to your souls T 
 
le rest- 
 before 
 ur feet 
 nd He 
 I make 
 " They 
 ehovah 
 I ye be 
 s is my 
 come 
 3 Jesus, 
 le truth 
 Father 
 all find 
 
 XIII.-THE KING OF ZION. 
 
,? 
 
 i^ ]' 
 
 > 
 
 m 
 
 ill 
 
 ■ 
 
XIII.— THE KING OF ZION. 
 
 IN our walk's about Zion, we have consider- 
 ed how good it is for her children to dwell 
 together in unity, and that in connection with 
 their relation to Zion's King they are lifted 
 up from the high place they occupy as crea^ 
 tures in the scale of creation to a position 
 higher still — to be " as the angels " " for ever 
 and ever.'* 
 
 We have considered the moral strength they 
 need on their way to glory everlasting, and 
 the prayerful spirit they should cherish to- 
 wards Him "whose fire is in Zion." 
 
 In the history of Peter and Paul we have 
 found instances of fulfilment of the promise 
 " of Zion it shall be said, this and that man 
 was born in her; and the highest himself shall 
 establish her." 
 
 We touched upon the self-inspection neede J 
 
 10 
 
I ! 
 
 138 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 by all her children : and, " going round about 
 her," have pointed to the appalling position 
 of somnambulists in the dangerous distance 
 — walking abe at in their dreams in the deep 
 sleep of an unregenerate state, unmoved by 
 the words " O God thou art terrible out of thy 
 holy places." 
 
 In connection with references to autumn 
 and winter, we have noticed truths that 
 should be regarded by Zion's children at 
 successive periods in human life ; and have 
 considered the resting place in Zion under the 
 shadow of Him who " is known in her palaces 
 for a refuge." 
 
 And now let us give our minds definitely 
 to the consideration of Zion's King. The 
 writer of these lines well remembers walking 
 about Windsor Castle and Buckingham Pal- 
 ace, and how much there was to lead to the 
 thought of our beloved Sovereign, Queen 
 Victoria. But who shall attempt to say how 
 much there is in, and in association with Zion, 
 
TJie King of Zion, 
 
 139 
 
 about 
 osltion 
 listance 
 
 he deep 
 3ved by 
 
 utoftby 
 
 ) autumn 
 uths that 
 ^ildren at 
 
 and bave 
 
 under tbe 
 
 Let palaces 
 
 definitely 
 
 ,ang. T^^^ 
 [ers walking 
 Ingbam ^^1- 
 llead to tbe 
 
 ngn, Q^^^^ 
 to say how 
 
 5nwitb2.ion, 
 
 « 
 
 that tends to lead our thoughts to Zion's 
 King ? The sublime Isaiah was led by the 
 Spirit to proclaim " Unto us a child is born, un- 
 to us a son is given ; and the government shall 
 be upon his shoulder ; and his name shall be 
 called wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God'' 
 Well may his name be called "wonderful;" 
 for, whilst partaker of our nature as the man 
 Christ Jesus, He is " Immanuel, God with us." 
 
 We have often mused on the insuperable 
 difficulties with which they have intellectually 
 to struggle who, amid the teachings of Scrip- 
 ture, deny the divinity of Christ. Let us look 
 at some of their difficulties. 
 
 I . He is represented as possessed of Divine 
 attributes. He must be present in different 
 places at the same time who could truthfully 
 say " where two or three are gathered together 
 in my name, there am I in the midst of them." 
 *' No man hath ascended up to heaven, 
 but He that came down from heaven, even 
 the Son of man who is in heaven." He must 
 
(1 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 44 
 
 140 
 
 ending, saith the Lotd^w j^^y,,, 
 
 was, and which is to com. the ^^^^^^ 
 
 3. In Scripture He is e P ^^ ^^^ ^^ 
 
 ••G.^." "W'^°^^^'^^'e^esh Christ came, 
 
 -^^"^ ^^ "Xood blessed for ever," Rom. 
 who is our all Ooa j^^b. i •■ 8. 
 
 3. He is representea J" ^.All things 
 
 Crltor of .« creature ex.ste^-^^ 
 
 weremadebyH-^-^ ^^^^,,3,,„,3. 
 
 not anything «^^'*^j'^!'7^f ,u things. " He 
 ,. He is the uphold" of a ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 - before all thmgs, and^^y^^.^^ ^^^ ^^.^^^ 
 
 consist," Col. I. /• ^^ - 
 
 bythewordofhispower Heb^^^^^^^^ 
 
 5. Works were P"^"'*""; . ^ power that 
 Christ indicating ^-^-^l^T^^.l ^ent virtue 
 He Himself po-essed' f- ^^^ „ 
 
 out of Him, and He he jed^^^^,,^. Tho- 
 6. He approvmgly accepi 
 
The King of Zion. 
 
 141 
 
 : am 
 I the 
 ^hich 
 
 T. 
 
 :alled 
 id of 
 came, 
 Rom. 
 
 as the 
 things 
 m was 
 
 tm 1 : 3- 
 ''He 
 
 1 things 
 I things 
 
 • 
 
 larth by 
 >wer that 
 int virtue 
 
 )j 
 
 1 
 
 lip' 
 
 Tho- 
 
 mas said to Him, *' My Lord and my God." 
 *' Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because 
 thou hast seen Me thou hast believed ; bless- 
 ed are they that have not seen and yet be- 
 lieved." 
 
 A most interesting instance has come to 
 the knowledge of the writer, of a very thought- 
 ful man who was brought to accept the 
 doctrine of the divinity of Christ under the 
 influence of these words of Scripture over his 
 spirit. He thought and felt thus, and most 
 justly : — " If Jesus accepted worship. He can- 
 not be a truthful and good man unless He is 
 also divine ; but I believe in his truthfulness 
 and goodness, and now thankfully feel Thou 
 art the truth and the life, O Christ, my 
 Lord and my God." 
 
 7. If Christ were not divine, Scripture 
 representations of heaven would be repre- 
 sentations of splendid idolatry ; for certainly 
 He is represented as worshippe*^ on high by 
 the redeemed and all the angels. 
 
 -j^m^' 
 
 
Walks about 7Aon. 
 142 
 
 T^m^uperable difficulties 
 
 •m the way of ^^^f j^" ,,nd and impreg- 
 Christ ; but to us they -eg .^ ,, ^^^ 
 
 -^^!^"^-^?\tern the children of Zion 
 our Saviour Then j^^.t his love 
 
 be joyful m the r King w , 
 .. passeth knowledge, is mign y 
 
 and "mighty to ^-^J ,,,^,i "yet 
 
 He of whom the l-atne v ^^ 
 
 ,ave I set my ^i"^ "f^^ Jfjs c.ndren. 
 
 ^'°"'" '^ : f "of'he ho that is " full of 
 -^1^^^-"^^^! Lord our Righteousnes 
 
 immortality. ah « righteousness 
 
 ,„ Him true haeversh^^^^^^^^ 
 
 and strength. They ar ^^^ ^^^^_ 
 
 of the power by which theun ^^^ 
 
 and by which it .s upheld hey ^^ 
 
 the wisdom whicn 1 ^.^^ ^^^j^ 
 
 sociated in ^^^^f^f/^ldge utterly 
 reason eternally right an ^.^^^^ 
 
 boundless ; their eternal mterests 
 
The King of Ziott. 
 
 143 
 
 ilties 
 ty of 
 preg- 
 God 
 ' Zion 
 s love 
 )rotect 
 
 d " yet 
 ' hill of 
 iiildren. 
 " full of 
 usnes 
 iousness 
 otection 
 as made, 
 lave the 
 > come of 
 ich is as- 
 Zion with 
 ye. utterly 
 ire linked 
 
 by an invisible hand with the unfailing faith- 
 fulness, the everlasting love, and the Almighty 
 power of the King of Zion. Since Christ is 
 divine, to feci " we will not have this man to 
 reign over us" is the most heinous ingratitude. 
 
 Were an earthly sovereign, after sending 
 ambassadors of peace to a rebellious province^ 
 to lay aside for a season the robes of royalty, 
 to leave the palace, and clothed in a garb 
 like that of an ordinary subject, to go per- 
 sonally to the rebels and press upon their 
 acceptance most rea^ onable and forgiving 
 terms of reconciliation, what ingratitude as 
 well as folly to turn away from them ! 
 
 But such condescending kindness would be 
 as a drop to the ocean compared to the 
 measureless condescension and abounding 
 compassion of Him who ''being in the form of 
 God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
 God ; but made Himself of no reputation, and 
 took upon Him the form of a servant, and 
 was made in the likeness of men ; and humbled 
 
 -ii0^' 
 
^fc ■■'-».;-! 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 the death of the cross , 
 
 , J vuof " at His name every knee ^nou> 
 exalted that at H.s ,,^passion- 
 
 bow: who ts Kmg of Z ,^ 
 
 .tely procla^ms^ '^d ye shall find rest to 
 ^"' ^^"i;' f Any relder of these lines is 
 your souls. it any , 
 
 conscious of not having as yet Red to a P 
 
 A fh^ ^centre of the Saviour s auuiu y 
 under the scept e ^ ^.^ ^^^^^ 
 
 and love, may such be lea oy 
 to feel — 
 
 ''Lord take my heart just as it is; 
 Therein set up thy throne ; 
 So shall I love Thee above all. 
 
 And live to Thee alone. 
 
 t I 
 
\ 
 
 even 
 ighly 
 lould 
 jsion- 
 i you 
 est to 
 nes is 
 . place 
 :hority 
 t truly 
 
 > 
 
 XIV.-MOURNERS IN ZION. 
 
r 
 
 I ' 
 
XIV.— MOURNERS IN ZION. 
 
 JEREMIAH said— "Know therefore and 
 see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that 
 thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God." A 
 sad proportion of the feelings of humanity in 
 this sinful world have been and are of a sor- 
 rowful character; but sorrowful feelings are 
 far from being confined to mourners in Zion. 
 What mourning in Sodom and Gomorrah 
 when the Lord "rained on them brimstone 
 and fire ;" and in Egypt when "there was not 
 a house where there was not one dead ;" and 
 in Babylon when "one post ran to meet an- 
 other, arid one messenger to meet another, to 
 shew the king of Babylon that his city was 
 taken at one end ; " and in Jerusalem when 
 " the city was destroyed, and the sanctuary 
 and the people brought into desolation ! " 
 And many are the sorrows of thousands far 
 
r " 
 
 I I 
 
 ^J^alks about^ZJon^ 
 
 U8 ^'^'""I^P wi*°''* * 
 
 ^^""^ f'urble any «^°"t in so«ow never 
 
 to be turned tntow ^^^^^^ ^f /.^« ..^ 
 
 Let not then the .^^„ ,vnnk ^^ 
 
 4-Vielr '^-y ot.p> ever ua^i^ 
 
 strange ^J"^ as they are b ^^^^ ^f 
 
 "^^'^^ °; the better land, where ^^ ^^^ 
 
 pared for the ^^ ,„ded. ^^^^ ^i. 
 
 their n.°« "^f ^f ,he "gWeoUS. *" ^, , 
 
 ,he afflicuons o^ ^^^^^^3. Some 
 versified are the^ ^ ^^^se of the ^^^ 
 bear bitter sorroj , ^^^^ed, O > ^^ 
 afflicted f atber w^vo ^^^^lotn . w J 
 
 1 ^ my SO"' ^^ ^ Absalom, my ^ J 
 ;Vbsa\om, rny ^^^^_ q Abs ^^ 
 
 r^ A\ had G^ea tnournei^ i 
 
 ^""^ ^ , .. Many are the m ^^.^^^^ u 
 
 my son'. , .,,ed Christian 1 
 
 ol of endearea -orrowf^J^y 
 
 removal 01 ^bo soi 
 
 Martha and ^ary ^,,e, my b 
 
 A if Thou nadst o over 
 
 "^°' ' V,ed- -Not a few mo 
 had not died. ^, ^^^^ --as 
 
 outside " tbe g*^« 
 
Mourners in Zion. 
 
 149 
 
 i 
 
 3Vtf never 
 
 00 v^VvUst 
 link it " * 
 :, Uab^e to 
 
 :o«ving P'^^' 
 tVve days ot 
 .< lilaoy a'^^ 
 and very d^^ 
 
 oC the deeply 
 
 ■^'" my son. 
 ^-^tC'rtbe 
 
 .an -^^-;f .id. 
 
 , bete, n^y ^^ose 
 
 -rr^id^-id 
 
 when he said, " Rivers of water run down 
 mine eyes, because they keep not thy law," 
 and Paul when " he ceased not to warn every 
 one night and day with tears." 
 
 But they who are referred to in Scripture 
 as mourners in Zion are mainly those that 
 mourn over their own state ; and three of such 
 classes are the following : — 
 
 I. They who have become awakened to a 
 realization of alarming deficiejir.y. For years 
 they may have been coming before God ai 
 his people come, and sitting before Him as 
 his people sit, and hearing his words, and ap- 
 proaching his table who says, ** do this in re- 
 membrance of Me/* But they have been of a 
 negative character — sadly neglecting the sec- 
 ond part of the charge, " Depart from evil a7id 
 do good!^ They have not been living a life 
 of active response to the claims of the divine 
 Redeemer. They have been trusting that 
 they were not in the broad way, but they have 
 not been cultivating a daily concern to ad- 
 
iValks about Zion. 
 
 150 -— — 
 
 • They have had the 
 
 vance in ^e "^^^^^^ the light, but they 
 idea that they were n ^^^ ^.^^^ ^^ ,, 
 
 have not been ""'f *f_ ^ay." They have 
 tnofthehgbtan;ff^^^^^^^^^ 
 not been seekmg to V^^ ^^^ ^^^ e 
 ,, "press toward thj any heartfelt 
 
 They have not been re ^. ^^^ 
 
 IteLt in the extens'on;^^^ .^ ^^^^^^, ^ 
 3,id " He that IS not wrth ^^ ^ ^^ 
 
 and he that gatberetW ^^ ^^^^ i.e 
 abroad." They -^ ^^.^fieiency ; and not 
 to see their portent- .„ 3 t 
 
 -^^^^^TdeTtrw"a\"Woetothernthat 
 
 as they ponder the ^ J 
 
 areateaseinZton Am ^^^^^f,, they 
 
 No tongue can *^' .^ g^ch a realization 
 ..ould feel to be brought o s^^^ ^^^ 
 of their state. J° ^^^"^ ,, ,// f And should 
 occurs, Am I a Chn^^n a ^^ 
 
 any reader ofth^elin^sbe^^^^^^ 
 
 uncertainty m that g -^ this-whethe 
 
 principal thing we would say 
 
 W ^^ 
 
had the 
 )ut they 
 t as chil- 
 ^hey bave 
 minded, 
 
 he pnz^-" 
 y heartfelt 
 
 ,gdom wl^o 
 gainst Me ; 
 e scattereth 
 they awake 
 y ; and not 
 ;ved in spirit 
 to them that 
 
 aankful they 
 h a realization 
 h the question 
 ? And should 
 ^scious of utter 
 ter, to such the 
 this— whether 
 
 ^ 
 
 Mourners in Zion. 
 
 151 
 
 9 
 
 
 or no there has ever been any good thing in 
 you towards the Lord God, the wise course 
 would be to begin mieiv. " Now is the accepted 
 time ; now is the day of salvation." Whether 
 your self-consecration be renewed or for the 
 first time real, yield yourself ^low to the Lord. 
 He is waiting to be gracious, and saying *' If 
 ye will inquire, inquire ye ; return, come." 
 What matter for praise if now you realize 
 under grace, not only brokenness and contri- 
 tion of heart which God will not despise, but 
 peace with God through Christ, and a holy 
 and happy resolve to live a new life to his 
 glory. 
 
 2. They who feel " O that I were as in 
 months past ! " 
 
 They mourn that they have left their first 
 love ; that the love which warmed and glad- 
 dened their hearts when they first knew the 
 Lord instead of growing warmer seems to 
 have declined, and their graces to have corres- 
 pondingly drooped instead of growing and 
 
n. 
 
 ]Vaiks about Zion, 
 
 T-'^Tnto the beauty of holiness under 
 
 developing nto^ Righteousness, 
 
 the rays of the bu ^^^^__ 
 
 Mourning m Zion, tn y 
 
 • .K, Messedness I knew, 
 
 . Where .s the We^ Lord? 
 
 '^'^'" ;h oTrefreshing view 
 Where IS the soul , 
 
 Ofjesusandhis WO' 
 
 seeking to depart rom ^^ ^^^ ^^^^__^,. 
 perfect holiness m the te ^ ^^ ^^^ .^.,^^j,y 
 „.embering the words ^ ^^„ ^et 
 
 i„ „yheart the Lord vil^^"^^^^^^^^^^ 
 them search and try ^^^^^^^ ^, 
 
 detect °"-f ":;,L ;e wo'-i^ "^^ *"' " t 
 v^^^^-fVetCnl be humbled in sP^^^^ 
 
 a cause? L^^ ^bringeth low and hfteth 
 Z' ,:. holy SPH. of pro»-.=- 
 
 n HoW Dove, return, 
 i« Return Ohoiy ^ , t; 
 
 sweet messenger o^ ^^^^„ 
 
ess 
 
 ss. 
 
 under 
 
 \ 
 
 .* 
 
 Mourners in Zion. 
 
 So shall my walk be close with God, 
 Calm and serene my frame, 
 
 So purer light shall mark the road 
 That leads me to the Lamb." 
 
 153 
 
 w 
 
 J have been 
 ^uity and to 
 ^e Lord— re- 
 gard iniquity 
 arme." l^^t 
 ays-seek to 
 leglect of pri' 
 »* Is there not 
 bled in spirit 
 ,w and Ufteth 
 ^otedness pray 
 
 
 ^ee mourn 
 breast. 
 
 3. A third class of mourners in Zion are 
 those who are in bitterness of soul as they 
 look back to grievous falls into temptation 
 and great transgressions. It seems clear that 
 David had a pious mother ; he must have 
 thought so when he said " I am the son of 
 thine handmaid " — " Save the son of thine 
 handmaid." We may regard him as having 
 begun in early life to live to the Lord who 
 took him from the sheep-folds ** to feed Jacob 
 his people, and Israel his inheritance." But, 
 amid his royrJ prosperities, he yielded to 
 temptation ; and, adding sin to sin, was guilty 
 of adultery and of the death of an injured 
 husband. Had he been left to himself after 
 those great and " presumptuous sins," can 
 there be any doubt that there would have 
 been fatal blindness of mind, searedness of 
 
 II 
 
Walks about Zion. 
 
 ^^i__ " Tv^^art' How 
 
 conscience and ^^f^^^J^o have re- 
 amazingly unmoved he ^^^^^_ ^^^^ 
 
 „,alned until God, m ^;^/.„^,,,^entallty of 
 up his soul through the ^^ , 
 
 Nathan the P-^^P^^'' „,„,„« In Zion. Agan 
 became thoroughly a -^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ,,„!, am.d 
 and again he felt h>m ejt ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ,, 
 
 a sea of sorrow. ^^ I' . ^j thy waves 
 • » nf thv waterspouts , a / ^^ 
 
 the noise of tny ^^^^ ^j^g. 
 
 and thy billows a- ;°^, Hath He in anger 
 ^1,^-Lord cast off fot ever. ..jam weary 
 
 tu^up his tender ^rneraesj^^^^^^^ 
 
 .ithrnygroamn;^^,^^^,,,.//.//.^^/-/^ 
 compassed -le, ye and sorrow. 
 
 upon m; 1 f°""'j'^°;3 ..after a godly sort 
 "^That his so^'^JJ^^^ repentance unto sal 
 __godly sorrow, working J „, ^fe, an 
 
 J,on--is clear/r- h^ssu ^ 
 
 ^as markedly indicated y ^^^^^^^^y d 
 
 player, ^-^tnedta^to be purified frc 
 :r;tSt:tonnectionwiththepra: 
 
 I! 
 
 k 
 
\ 
 
 ttow 
 
 have re- 
 ;y, awoke 
 ntaUty oi 
 limse^f . ^^ 
 
 on. Ag^^" 
 sink amid 
 nto deep at 
 
 me. 
 
 L Vie in anget 
 » 1 am weary 
 .ows of de-* 
 
 ^ /..« gf '""^ 
 sorrow." 
 
 stance unto sal- 
 
 nuent life, and 
 
 "^ nirit of his 
 the spirit 
 
 e earnestly a/^ 
 be purifi«<^ ^'°"^ 
 
 Mourners in Zion. 
 
 155 
 
 "O God, blot out my transgressions," he said 
 ** Wash mj thoroughly from mine iniquity 
 and cleanse me from my sin." By the power 
 of the Spirit he was brought to true repent- 
 ance, was graciously forgiven by Him who 
 ** is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that 
 any should perish, but that all should come 
 to repentance ; " and was enabled to feel with 
 grateful joy " Thou forgavest the iniquity of 
 my sin." So was there graciously given to 
 him ''beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for 
 mourning, and the garment of praise for a 
 spirit of heaviness," Isaiah 61 : 3. 
 
 What merciful help is hereby afforded to 
 the hope of any who after having been de- 
 livered by the God of all grace from the power 
 of darkness, and " translated into the king- 
 dom of his dear Son," have yielded to temp- 
 tation and fallen into some great sin ! Let 
 them earnestly pray to be enabled thoroughly 
 to realize a sense of the greatness and aggra- 
 vations of their guilt ; let them pray impor- 
 
 
ft 
 
 1 
 
 ifSi 
 
 J -6 Walks about Zion. 
 
 Z^ior "a right ^"-^^l^Z 
 
 abasement and godly sorrow, and d ^'^e^ ^^^^^ 
 
 " newness of life "-and let them return to the 
 
 Lol who graciously proclaims '« unU> 
 
 Me ye backsliding children, and I will heal 
 
 ^7ur;'ottDavid Obtained mercy, what a 
 .a^ni'gs furnished by the fall of such an 
 1 Ind by the remainder of his life on earth 
 !!L:houghmercifullydelive.d"from^^^^^^^^ 
 down to the pit." his transgression was v si ed 
 with a rod and his iniquity w.th stnpes. 
 
 'wit'a'cltrast between the bright pros 
 
 pelty of David previous to that dismal era m 
 h Wstory when he so greatly sinned agamst 
 t^e Lord and the cloudy and dark days along 
 W Subsequent life on earth ! Soon after h. 
 great tralgressions came the ^epl-b J^J 
 Liation and shame and de^p hs - 4 
 his daughter Tamar and b ^ murd J 
 brother in his own family. A lit -le 
 
1 
 
 Mourners in Zion. 
 
 157 
 
 V 
 
 \ of self- 
 sires after 
 urn to the 
 eturn unto 
 1 wiU heal 
 
 :rcy, ^^^^ ^ 
 of such an 
 
 life on earth 
 "fromgo*^"S .^ 
 ^was^wislted 
 
 ith stripes, 
 
 bright pros- 
 t dismal era m 
 
 sinned against 
 ark days along 
 Soon after his 
 . deplorable hu- 
 
 e^P list»^^°f 
 tnurdenng » 
 
 ,V little f-'ther 
 
 on in his history, and he bitterly feels " Lord, 
 now are they increased that trouble me ;" and 
 from his own ** beautiful " son Absalom who 
 sought to dethrone him, fleeing for his life 
 **he went up by the ascent of mount Olivet — 
 and wept as he went up." What changes had 
 come ! Royalty that had been radiant with 
 prosperity is " barefooted " and in tears, in 
 great adversity, 2 Sam. 15:30. Such were 
 some of the heavy troubles that rolled in 
 upon his soul ; and the relation of his great 
 sins to his great sorrows is clear from the 
 words of the Lord by Nathan — " Thou hast 
 killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and 
 hast taken his wife to be thy wife. Now 
 therefore the sword shall never depart from 
 thine house, because thou hast despised Me, 
 and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite 
 to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, 
 I will raise up evil against thee out of thine 
 own house," 2 Sam. 12 rQ-ii. In view of all 
 this, how important the prayer " Let not any 
 
M 
 
 1 1 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 " ." and how 
 
 iniquity have dominicn. over ^^^, ^ ^^ ^^^^^ 
 in^portant attention to t ^^^ .^^^ 
 
 "Watch and pray, that y 
 temptation." ^^^^u have been 
 
 The mourners m Z'°"; j^ns wiU as 
 
 restored from S^^f """ ^^ildren be lifted 
 ,eallyastherest.Z-- 3..X.m 
 
 up for ever by H'ni wn v ^^^ ^^^^^^ 
 
 gather them that -e -"owiul ^^ ^^^^^^ 
 
 assembly, «-/.- '''■^// ^^'^'^^^ ^f the Lord, 
 as the rest ^^ ;^.%""X h-g^t of Zion ; 
 .. shall come and smg n the g ^^ ^^^ „ 
 and they shall not sc.rrowa^^^^ ..^,^ 
 
 .. Be glad, ye c\^^^^'^^ -^ eighty, 
 
 Lord thy God in the m.d of* ^^^ 
 
 He will save ;" -"<^J'^;;^He will rest in his 
 ,epice over tjee ^^^J ^e with singing." 
 love, He wiU joy ov .^^^^ess of 
 
 And so, in the boundl ss ^^^^.^^3„,33 
 
 the King of f-^ -jXeasing capacity 
 ^according to the ^^^ .^ ^e " fulness of 
 of all the redeemed-tnere w __ 
 Joy and pleasures for evcmo e. 
 
. N ; 
 
 ind how 
 of Jesus 
 not into 
 
 aave been 
 s will as 
 i be lifted 
 
 tis '' 1 w^^^ 
 the solemn 
 
 y, as really 
 the Lord, 
 ht of Z'^on ; 
 >re at all.' 
 Ion." ''The 
 ee is mighty, 
 ed, " He will 
 all rest in his 
 /ith singing." 
 ^sciousness of 
 consciousness 
 
 ising capacity 
 be '' fulness of 
 
 
 '#*- 
 
 M 
 
 XV.-MANY CROWNS. 
 
 >» 
 
XV.— MANY CROWNS. 
 
 *' "11 THEN the Son of man shall come in 
 *» his glory, and all the holy angels 
 with Him, then shall He sit upon the Throne 
 of his glory ; and before Him shall be gath- 
 ered all nations. . . . Then shall the King 
 say to them on his right hand, Come ye 
 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you from the foundation of 
 the world." Then shall be verified in the 
 glorification of the great multitude that no 
 man can number the divine assurance, "when 
 the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall 
 receive a crown of glory that fadeth not 
 away." 
 
 But in this closing address, we wish mainly 
 to refer to the glories of the King of Zion. 
 
 When we think of *' Solomon in all his 
 glory," we do not only think of his reign, 
 
\' 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 '" u- u « there was peace from Dan to 
 under which *«^^/* ^^ Solomon." We 
 Beersheba all the .^^/^^Jtis riches, and 
 
 think also of his ^^f °"^' ^-^t^^^ his fame, 
 "the house that he haobmUand^^^^^^ 
 
 and the influence of h.s name ^^^ 
 
 United land of J"<^-- ^:l,t7;7sheba but 
 -Id-for not on^ f^^l^H^,,^^ presence 
 
 " A" f '^'" t h 'a W^wisdom, that God had 
 of Solomon, to hear nis 
 
 put in his heart." ^ ^ion 
 
 And so when we tl»>«^.°f *; f ^ J ^^ his 
 
 i„ aU his Slory. we thmV. ^ t oj^J ,, 
 
 •"^nteTh^s tlto- that He is 
 unsearchable riches, ^ ^f 
 
 building-the living ^e-^ ;J *t renown." 
 .hichHeisto-bear he glory > ^ ^^ 
 
 and the inflience of his nam 
 this world, but far and wide in 
 
 of God. rmwns''—^^^' 
 
 >^0n his head are many Oowns. 
 
 19:12. , . „f rv>rist is that of 
 
 1st. One of the glories of Christ 1 
 
 •4 
 
 i 
 
Many Crowns, 
 
 \6\ 
 
 )an to 
 We 
 
 -s, and 
 \ fame, 
 J in the 
 e in the 
 eba but 
 Dresence 
 
 L 
 
 God had 
 
 cr of Zion 
 ly of his 
 dom, his 
 at He is 
 i Lord of 
 ''renown" 
 
 Dt only in 
 e universe 
 
 >' 
 
 ms. 
 
 —Rev. 
 
 1^ 
 
 St is that of 
 
 being Himself a revelation of God to fallen 
 humanity. He is the visible expression of 
 Him whom "no man hath seen, or can 
 see." Whilst the heavens declare the glory 
 of God, they afford only a few glimmering 
 rays of the light ineffable ; only gleams of 
 the glory of which Christ is the brightness. 
 Finely was it said by Plato that " light is the 
 shadow of God ;" but Christ is "the express 
 image of his person." He could say "He 
 that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." 
 God is love, and in Christ who loved us and 
 gave Himself for us, and whom the Father 
 spared not, but delivered up for us all, we see 
 love divine "manifest in the flesh." Honour 
 to Lord Bacon, who by the inductive system 
 of philosophy, undermined the foundations 
 of science " falsely so called ;" honour to Sir 
 Isaac Newton, who has rolled away from so 
 many minds false views of the material uni- 
 verse by the discovery of the great law of 
 universal gravitation ; honour to the illustrious 
 
f 
 
 .. 
 
 I i 
 
 ill 
 
 ., Walks about Z ion, 
 
 .„d Himself as the «ay to the Father 
 
 """'"".TrHe t.my..ic"ladde," 
 
 that position. He ^ 
 
 the foot of which, in his h-am^y^ - 
 
 .0 sinful hu.an na^ure^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 in his div.mty .^h ih - ^^ ^^ ^^^^^.^^ 
 
 And how IS It that ^""^ "= , He does 
 
 that sublime mediatorial P^^^^'^^' ^^^ p,. 
 so, according to the --"rf ^^^ ;J, ,. He 
 th;r..../.-^/f-2;^,t^:rs{eri.ce 
 
 r sS ir^it own body on the tree, met the 
 
Many Crowns. 
 
 \6 
 
 en- 
 
 and 
 
 nour 
 
 oods 
 
 ities; 
 
 Tiself, 
 
 nd to 
 
 is that 
 men. * 
 pcupies 
 idder" 
 IS close 
 • which, 
 of God. 
 )ccupies 
 He does 
 the Fa- 
 ;elf. He 
 , sacrifice 
 bearing 
 met the 
 
 claims of eternal justice, magnified the law 
 that man had broken, condemned sin in the 
 flesh, and opened up a way by which God can 
 be just and the justifier of them that believe 
 in Jesus. What a bright crown of glory this 
 on the head of the King of Zion ! 
 
 3rd. Another glory of Christ is that of con- 
 dud iftg to its grand consummation the great 
 ivork for which He became Mediator ; the 
 "bringing of many sons unto glory;" and 
 the great multitude of the redeemed will be 
 so many gems in that crown. 
 
 In his accomplishment of that great work, 
 think of his glorious power over the under- 
 sta'iding, the heart, \Xi^. will, the whole soul. 
 The King of Zion " casts down imaginations, 
 and every high thing that exalteth itself 
 against the knowledge of God, and brings into 
 captivity every thought to the obedience of 
 Himself." 
 
 Think of his power — 
 
 (i) Over the understanding. By exhibit- 
 
1 66 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 ih 
 
 ih 
 
 ing truth, spiritual and saving, by quickening 
 to spiritual perception, by guiding to spiritual 
 thought, by raising spiritual thought to the 
 higher character of true wisdom, He renders 
 souls " wise unto salvation " through faith in 
 his name. 
 
 (2) 07'er the heart. By the cross, by the 
 love and compassion there displayed, He slays 
 the enmity ; and, by subsequent influences of 
 his truth and grace, He wins the affections of 
 human hearts to joy in God through Him — 
 and multitudes, the love of Christ constraining 
 them, are from age to age led to feel — 
 
 '* Here fix, my roving heart, 
 
 Here rest, my warmest love ; 
 Till the communion be complete, 
 In nobler scenes above." 
 
 (3) Over the will. The will is a mighty 
 power in man. It is the main -spring in his 
 intellectual and moral system. It is the 
 motive power in relation to the whole soul ; 
 and, when that is wrong, all else is not merely 
 
 U 
 
■^ 
 
 Ma7iy Crowns. 
 
 167 
 
 ning 
 itual 
 ) the 
 [\ders 
 ith in 
 
 y the 
 I slays 
 ices of 
 ions of 
 Bim— 
 raining 
 
 mighty 
 
 \<g in his 
 
 is the 
 
 Die soul ; 
 
 >t merely 
 
 wrong, but moving or tending to move in 
 wrong directions. Now, to the King of Zion 
 belongs the glory of triumph over the human 
 will. By checking the sinful tendencies of 
 depraved souls, by delivering from this evil 
 world, by breaking the fetters of sin and 
 Satan, and by making willing in the day of 
 his power. He restores the human will to 
 cheerful compliance with the will of God. 
 
 (4) Over the ivJiole soul. He who said 
 *' For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they 
 also may be sanctified, through the truth " is 
 from age to age, as Head of the Church and 
 Head over all things to the Church, advan- 
 cing in the household of faith the great work 
 of sanctification. By his Word, and Spirit, 
 and providential dispensations, He is restor- 
 ing the lost image of God in souls ; and, as 
 an architect is admired in a building, and a 
 great artist in a fine painting, and the power 
 and wisdom and goodness of God in the 
 works of creation, the Saviour will for ever be 
 
r •!! 
 
 1 68 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 "glorified in his Saints, and admired in all 
 them that believe." — 2 Thes. i : lo. 
 
 4th. Another of the glories of Christ will 
 forever be that of replenishing the heaven of 
 heavens. "In all things," He is to have the 
 " preeminence ;" and can we doubt that the 
 great multitude of the redeemed will out- 
 number " the angels that kept not their first 
 estate." 
 
 5th. Another glory of Christ will forever 
 be that of Jiaving di^ninished more than men 
 or angels can tell the collective amount of 
 moral evil in the universe of God — that 
 '' abominable thing " that God hates ; hates it, 
 not only as opposed to his holiness, but, as 
 the Father of Spirits, hates it as opposed to 
 the well-being of " his offspring." 
 
 6th. Another glory of Christ is that of ex- 
 panding the viezvs, increasing the joySy and 
 elevati?ig the praises of all the Sons of Gody 
 the holy angels that never sinned. When the 
 foundations of the earth were laid, " the 
 
Many Croivns. 
 
 169 
 
 »^ 
 
 ired in all 
 
 Christ will 
 ? heaven of 
 to have the 
 bt that the 
 d will out- 
 )t their first 
 
 will forever 
 re than men 
 amount of 
 God— that 
 es ; hates it, 
 ess, but, as 
 opposed to 
 
 that of ex- 
 he joySy and 
 sons of Gody 
 When the 
 laid, "the 
 
 % 
 I 
 
 % 
 
 morning stars sang together, and all the sons 
 of God shouted for joy ;" and, in the course 
 of successive periods of duration before the 
 fall of our first parents, much may have en- 
 gaged angelic thought, telling more and more 
 vividly and fully of the power and wisdom 
 and goodness of God. 
 
 But when the first ray of Gospel light fell 
 on the minds of our first parents through the 
 medium of the intimation that the seed of 
 the woman should bruise the head of the 
 serpent, and from that era onward as the 
 light of the long dawn increased before the 
 brightness of the rising of the great and 
 glorious " Sun of Righteousness," into those 
 revelations the angels ever " desired to 
 look ;" and as they have observed the pro- 
 gress of the great work of human redemption, 
 and, in Christ the King of Zion, Mercy and 
 Truth meeting together. Righteousness and 
 Peace kissing each other, they have all been 
 sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning of 
 12 
 
■■ 
 
 ii 
 
 l\\ 
 
 170 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 Him. We read of the "intent that unto 
 principalities and powers in heavenly places 
 might be known by the Church the manifold 
 wisdom of God ;" and not only from benevo- 
 lent joy in the salvation of a great multitude 
 of fellow-immortals, but from adoring ap- 
 preciation of the exalted views of the wis- 
 dom and love of God they have derived from 
 the work of Christ as "a Prince and a Saviour," 
 they worship the King of Zion with grateful 
 joy, saying ** Worthy is the Lamb that was 
 slain, to receive power, and riches, and wis- 
 dom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and 
 blessing," Rev. 5:12. 
 
 7th. The highest glory of the King of 
 Zion is this — that from the mediatorial work 
 and reign of Christ is ^' glory to God in the 
 highest!' 
 
 After the great announcement to the shep- 
 herds on the plain of Bethlehem, " Behold, I 
 bring you good tidings of great joy which shall 
 be to all people. For unto you is born this day 
 
Many Crowns. 
 
 171 
 
 at unto 
 yr places 
 [nanifold 
 i benevo- 
 nultitude 
 •ring ap- 
 
 the wis- 
 ived from 
 
 Saviour," 
 h grateful 
 
 that was 
 and wis- 
 
 glory, and 
 
 King of 
 mal ivork 
 :od in the 
 
 the shep- 
 
 Behold, I 
 
 ^hich shall 
 
 |rn this day 
 
 ri*^ 
 
 the 
 
 of 
 
 David a Saviour which is Christ 
 the Lord, "suddenly there was with the angel 
 a multitude of the heavenly host, praising 
 God, and saying Glory to God in the highest." 
 We do not think they meant in the highest 
 heaven, but in the highest degree. Of Zion it is 
 said " Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in 
 the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the 
 hand of thy God," Isaiah 62 : 3. " When the 
 Lord shall build up Zion He shall appear in 
 his glory," Psalm 102 : 1 6. 
 
 The highest glory of "the Father of spirits," 
 " the Father of mercies," " the God and 
 Father of our Lord and Saviour " is that of 
 " bringing many sons unto glory " in a way 
 by which the Divine mind is more gloriously 
 expressed, and the Divine attributes and per- 
 fections more brightly and fully displayed 
 than in any other department of Divine 
 manifestation in the universal empire of the 
 King of kings. In so transcendent and 
 exalted a sense is it true that " Christ is Lord 
 to the glory of God the Father." 
 
h! 
 
 172 
 
 Walks about Zion. 
 
 jfi ^ 
 
 '* My meditation of Him shall be sweet ; I will be glad in 
 ihe Lord.^^ — Psalm 104:34. 
 
 Thou first, and last, and living One, 
 The Son of God, and Son of man ; 
 As in the past thy love we see, 
 'Tis sweet to meditate of Thee. 
 When from the cross we raise our eyes, 
 To Thee, our Lord, beyond the skies ; 
 Thy power so great, thy grace so free ! 
 'Tis sweet to meditate of Thee. 
 And when we look along this vale. 
 And feel that heart and strength must fail, 
 And think of immortality. 
 How sweet to meditate of Thee ! 
 O that, to glory raised by grace. 
 We may on high behold thy face ; 
 From every sin and sorrow free, 
 To dwell eternally with Thee. 
 
KRRAIA. 
 
 i 
 
 Oil pn.^f no, third I'ne from '; itt' m, in^'ead of "rn^hncss" r^ad 
 "fresVr.'.'i';." On p.i^" i.m, .-^t tenth line from top. f:r " >-lic<.-ts " read 
 "shuts." 
 
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