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in that memorable day, a day longed for by the lovers of his name, acquits his saints before an assembled world, they shall rise to heaven, walk the streets of glory, mingle with angels, and dwell for ever with God.

MEDITATION LXXVI.

THE NEEDLE.

May 5, 1759.

OF what excellent use is the compass to the mariner in his course from one country to another! It is his guide over the trackless ocean, so that the darkness of the night shortens not his sail, nor turns him out of the way. By this he reaches the remotest parts of the world, and adventures out into the unmeasurable main, By this the trading nations stand and flourish, and kingdoms share mutually the commodities of one another. Even such is the everlasting gospel, such the word of God, to the rational world. By this we reap the blessings of paradise, and are enriched with the productions of the better country. By that mariners plow the wide ocean; by this we launch into unbounded eternity itself.

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The usefulness of the needle rises from the magnetic virtue with which it is impregnated, and which makes it point always to the pole; so the excellency of the scripture is, that it came not by the will of men, but holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; and therefore it leads all who will attend to its instructions only out to God. Now, as one piece of metal, capable of receiving the magnetical influence, will communicate it to another piece of the same me

tal; yet, whatever way the virtue is received, when properly suspended, it points not to the load-stone, but to the true pole; so the scriptures and the ordinances never teach men to rest in them, but to rise to God, the chief good, and ultimate end of all; and to this purpose all inspiration points, and all teaching and preaching tend.

How deplorable were a ship at sea without its compass! and no less so were the world wanting revelation, without which they could not find the haven of glory. What, then, must the misery of those nations be, who sit in gross darkness! and the cruelty of those who will not let the poor people look into the words of eternal life!

But, alas! for all this noble assistant of navigation, how many ships perish in storms, or mistake their reckonings, and are dashed on rocks! Even so, in the Christian world, for all this divine guide, how many make shipwreck of a good conscience, perish amidst the storms of temptation, in the dark night of defection, and, by opposing error to truth, dash against immoveable rocks, and are lost for ever.

The load-stone is in no respect so useful to the seaman, as the scriptures to the Christian, by which errors are discovered, dangers disclosed, doubts discussed, darkness dispelled, and our eternal concerns laid open to our view. They are our cloud that covers us in the desert, a light to our path, our companion by the way, our counsellors, and our song in the house of our pilgrimage.

The compass is of little or no use at home, when we take up our fixed residence, and pass no more from shore to shore, from pole to pole: So, when the saints arrive at heaven, and take up their last abode in the

divine presence, of gospel ordinances and the scriptures, they shall stand in need no more.

But again how does that needle give a lively idea of the soul that is truly united to Christ! it seeks its centre, and the saint says to his soul, "Return to thy rest, O my soul!" Take the compass to whatever part of the world you please,still it turns to the pole; so the saints, in all conditions, and in all places, still seek to Christ; and like the Jews in captivity, who prayed with their faces toward Jerusalem, so the saints in their pilgrimage have their faces towards Zion, their hearts heavenward, their conversation in heaven.

Indeed it is possible to toss the needle from its pole, but see in what confused motion it agitates, and never rests till it has reached its centre again; so the spouse may miss her Beloved, but she rests not seeking him every where, and asking at every one she meets, "Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" nor gives over the inquiry, till she find him, and, with all the vehemency of divine affection, embraces him in the arms of her soul, with a resolution never to let him go again.

The attractive power in the magnet is a secret in nature,for no visible change is in the needle more than before; it is by the effects that we know it has been touched by the load-stone, in its attracting, and being attracted, and turning to the pole: So the new birth, the spiritual union between Christ and the soul, is an unsearchable mystery that no finite creature can explain; for there is a glorious change made in the man, yet the man is not changed; he continues still a man, human, frail, changeable, mortal, possessed of the same feelings, powers, passions, only they are all directed into a noble channel, and by this the change is known.

Finally (to add no more) as the needle is always in a tremulous motion, though pointing toward its pole; because of the restless ocean on which it is, and the false attraction with which it meets; yet, when the ship is laid up and the compass set on solid ground, the needle will point to its pole for ever, without the least hair-breadth of variation: So is it with the saints. They endeavour to make God the rest and centre of their souls; yet in this day of sin and sorrow, in this vale of misery and tears, where false attractions surround them, their dependance is not so entire on him, their faith not so firm, nor their communion so close as they could wish; but when they are translated to the highest heaven, a three-one God shall be the rest of their souls, their centre and sole delight for ever.

MEDITATION LXXVII.

IN A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

May 18, 1759.

AH! what a poor figure does human invention make in the worship of God! Where a superstitious shew prevails, godly sincerity decays. The expences here are great, but the profit none. They have lifted up the graving tools of human invention on the altar of God, which renders it polluted. To what purpose are all these statues, images, and paintings? to what end so many representations of a suffering Saviour? The new life is begun by the operation of the Spirit of God, and not by an inspection of pictures; and Christ formed spiritually in the soul is the end of revelation, but not to cut him out by the tool of the statuary. It is true, here he stands with all the

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signs of agony and pain, the pricking thorns are wreathed about his head, and the blood is streaming down on every side! but who is this? did I not know the story, did not the superscription tell me, I should take him for some great malefactor that was so cruelly used? A man, indeed, in all imaginable anguish, is cut out to the life, where the skill of the artist, but the folly of the contriver, eminently appear; but nothing more appears, not one beam of his divinity shines forth. If he were no more than what this statue sets him forth, a poor, infirm suffering mortal, our hopes would have died with him, but had had no resurrection: it might excite our sympathy as to a fellow-creature,but never claim our faith as a Saviour, Christ the Lord. The union of the two natures in one person, and his substitution in the room of sinners, is the interesting mystery, and basis of religion. Now, what painter or limner, what sculptor or artist can exhibit this? how vain, then, their incentives to devotion! Yea, though our Saviour were yet alive, his humanity could not be the object of adoration; hence he reproved the young man for calling him "Good Master," seeing he considered him not as God-man, but only as man: and so says the apostle, "Yea, though we have known Christ, after the flesh, yet henceforth know we him no more." Streams rise no higher than their fountain, so that their unwarrantable representations give me at most but a faint view even of human sufferings. The dumb statue emits no melting cries, no throes and twistings of the body, or varied distortions of the countenance, no affecting sighs, or agonizing groans; still the tears stand in one place, and the falling blood is not succeeded by more, because the tears have no fountain, and the blood no veins to afford a supply; so that to read the

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