526

ISRAELITES, AND THEIR INHERITANCE.

qualification for that service; and without one evidence that God has
called them thereto. Let all such read the warning which Moses gave
to their prototypes, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, "The Lord will
show who are His, and who is holy, and will cause him to come unto
Him, even him whom He hath chosen will He cause to come near unto
So notoriously offensive was the conduct of
Him" (Num. xvi. 5).
these pretenders to the things which pertained not to them, that it is
referred to again and again as the very climax of wickedness; and the
apostle Jude was taught to give the finishing touch to their awful por-
traiture, which makes the exact likeness of the modern carnal priest-
hood, "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and
ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the
gainsaying of Core" (Jude 11). Whether it be rulers or dignitaries,
or clerical officials, or nonconforming teachers, who rush into sacred
things which pertain not to them, and which they never possess in their
own souls, they are but Satan's agents to deceive souls-religious auto-
matoms, moving mechanically without life, and incapable of the society
of the living, especially of the living God.

One thing more in this statement of our privileges, and that is the "To whom pertaineth the adoption, and extent of the promises. the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God and the promises." Better still. After all that is possessed, and all that is enjoyed, and all that the Israelites are enabled to feel when they enter into the spiritual service of God, yet are there promises exceedingly great and precious in store-promises yet to be fulfilled, promises yet to be enjoyed, promises adapted to every case, promises suited to every circumstance-promises for birth, promises for life, promises for elevation, promises for humility, promises for health, promises for sickness, promises for death-" For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him, amen, unto the glory of God by us." I wonder how you can be so presumpAnd thus they pertain to us. tuous, some of my hearers may think, but it is of no very great conseIf I turn over my Bible I would write my name against quence. I have it from God-that promise every promise, as each seems to be just suited and adapted to the peculiar exigences of the moment. pertains to me, it pertains to my soul, I will bring it to be cashed, I Nay. will bring it to be fulfilled. I turn it upside, and down, and in all directions, and read, "Yea and amen," and I cannot find " It is truly mine. It describes exactly what I want, and I love God for it, and present to Him in prayer my requests.

"

If he were here I III.-Now, in the last place, let us personally inquire, Who are Israelites? Paul said, "Are they Israelites? So am I. would say, Let me stand side by side with thee. If I am an Israelite, I hear what the apostle says by the Holy Ghost-" Even so we should That is the Scripture phrase. It is not "Even so also walk in newness of life.' one of my coining. The Holy Ghost has set it before us. we should also walk in newness of life." Now do not let us have the old life so conspicuous-worldly-mindedness, earthly-mindedness, "Nothing selfishness, pride-but a newness of life, a new atmosphere. I hear people sometimes say, when they are a little indisposed, will do me good but a change of air." I think all Adam's race so indisposed that nothing will do them good but a change of air; and would that God would bring multitudes into the atmosphere of His

living Church, into communion and fellowship with Him; and then they will walk in newness of life, new company, new associations, new employments. It is written, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," or, as it might be rendered, "a new creation;" and then it is said that "old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." What is there about you and me in the eye of the world, in the eye of the Church, that amounts to walking in newness of life, devoting our powers, our energies, our time, our influence, all we possess, to the glorifying of Him who has newly created us? Even so we should also walk in newness of life. Surely if all the things I have been enumerating pertain to us as Israelites, in the covenant of grace, nothing ought to be reserved from Him who has bestowed all these things upon us. It should be our deep concern to ask whether all our powers are wholly yielded, surrendered, and employed for the glory of our precious Christ. If the service of the Lord pertaineth to you and to me, let it be not merely in acts of worship, but in acts of devotedness to His glory, in using every effort to extend the triumph of Christ and of His kingdom.

Acts of worship must be pure and spiritual to be acceptable to God; and in order to this, they must not only be inspired in the soul by the Holy Ghost, but they must pass through the censer of the great High Priest above, within the veil, in whose merits alone they can be received at the throne; and where such acts of worship are habitual, they will fan the flame of affection to the one great object of worship, and consequently such worshippers cannot but feel a lively interest in the cause of God upon earth. It is a shame for the slaves of Satan to be more active and liberal in his interests than the servants of God are in advancing His kingdom. What! shall Philistines bestow more upon Dagan than Israelites do upon Jehovah's cause? God forbid. What! professing Christians spend more time and money in dress, in gossipping, or in scraping together sordid dust, than in spreading the truth of God, promoting the worship of God, or in assisting the people of God? Oh, "tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice!"

Shall Ammonites and Moabites, who only mimic the worship of Israelites, be more diligent in their superstitions and idolatries than the chosen tribes are in their holy ordinances of Divine appointment? Shall Papists, Puseyites, and pharisees, who only ape Christianity, be more zealous in practicing their deceptions and spreading their delusions than real Christians who possess the life of God in their souls, and who are interested in the adoption and the glory, the covenants, the services of God, and the promises, are in their efforts to spread vital godliness and diffuse pure truth throughout the world? Oh, that the Spirit were poured out from on high upon the living Churches and the living people of God, so as to constrain them to attend to the Saviour's injunction, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness;" and to the apostle's exhortation, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God with your body and with your spirit, which are His." Then should we witness more of that newness of life which distinguishes believers from unbelievers, and which puts to silence the ignorance of foolish men, bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, which are, by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.

One word more. If to us pertain all these privileges, surely the tribute He Himself demands in one short sentence, cannot be withheld, if we are living like Israelites. And if you join with the apostle, "Are they Israelites? So am I"-I ask whether that one sovereign claim has been conceded, "Come out from the world, and be separated-touch not the unclean, and I will receive you." Blessed be God's name that He will receive us at last, as Israelites in the land of promise, there to be employed in His praise, to enjoy the privileges I have named, to the fullest extent, and to be owned the Israel of God through all eternity. Israelites were commanded of old to preserve their distinction, from all other nations, sacred; and thus the Divine injunction runs, “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter shalt thou not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son, for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods" (Deut. vii. 3). How little is this solemn injunction regarded, especially when the golden bait is held up to view! How often is conscience, creed, and comfort, sacrificed at the shrine of Mammon, and the most fatal connections formed for lucrative purposes! Oh, ye Israelites, mingle not with the heathen, lest ye learn their ways, and become idolators! Your God is a Spirit-your family is spiritual your privileges are spiritual-your prospects are spiritual. Then do remember, that, to be carnally-minded is death; but, to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.

May the Lord God of Israel keep you near to Himself, and distinct from the world, until you reach the heavenly Canaan, where none but Israelites dwell, and His name shall have all the praise for ever and ever. Amen.

38TH SONG IN MR. IRONS' NEW VERSION OF THE PSALMS.

THE Lord has secrets to disclose

To such as fear His name;

The cov'nant people whom He chose
His glory to proclaim.

The secrets His decrees record,

His secret plans of grace;

The life that's hid with Christ in God,
For all His chosen race.

His secret work within their hearts-
His secret living springs—

The secret strength His hand imparts,
In secret heav'nly things.

The man in whom these secrets dwell,
Is safe in cov'nant love;

Shall triumph over earth and hell,
And reign with Christ above.

Integrity, the fruit of grace,
Preserves him in the way;

And he shall dwell in Christ's embrace,
In everlasting day.

Delivered in Grove Chapel, Camberwell, Sunday Morning, March 25, 1849, BY THE REV. JOSEPH IRONS.

"And God spake on this wise, that His seed should sojourn in a strange land."-Acts vii. 6.

THIS sentence is a part of the opening of Stephen's apology before the council, or rather his defence, before he was to be stoned to death. He refers the Jews to their own history, to their own origin, and to their own covenant Head; and when addressing the High Priest and the Jews at large, he says, "Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken: The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.' He thus carries them back to their origin as a nation, and specifies expressly their relationship to God, as His covenant people, typical of those elect souls who stand in the everlasting covenant in union with, and in relationship to, the Most High God. "Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran; and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on yet He promised"-I beseech you to mark here, that long before the possession comes the promise"yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child." So that God's promises are never made dependent upon contingencies, and matters already having an existence, for when there was no seed, when there was no child, nor probability, speaking after the manner of men, in the course of nature; no, nor the possibility of their being one, God's promise met improbabilities and impossibilities. He promised that his Published in Weekly Numbers, Id. and Monthly Parts, price 5d.

22

530

seed should inherit Canaan; and, in order to make it sure and certain to him, he "spake in this wise, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and there be evil entreated." But this sojourn was not to interfere with the promise; it was not to alter God's purpose of grace; neither was all the evil treatment they were to receive from their enemies to interfere with the possession of the heritage, the inheritance, the promised gift, the land of Canaan, the joy prepared for them. Just so when Jehovah opens this precious volume of inspiration to the view of an awakened sinner, and gives him to think seriously of his soul's concerns, and puts the cry into his heart, "God, "there is the promise of the Lord Jesus be merciful unto me, a sinner; Christ meeting him, that He will give grace and glory; there is the promise of justification and acceptance in the Beloved; and yet between the speaking of the promise and the period of its being made known to the soul and fulfilled, there is a sojourn in a strange land, where the Lord's people meet with strange things; and their privilege then is, to keep the promise in view, to keep the fulfilment of the promise in view.

This portion of Scripture has been fastened upon my thoughts from the circumstance, that almost every day that I pass along this wilderness, and almost every Christian I meet, confirms the statement that it is a strange land we live in. It has followed me since we read Doctor Hawker's portion the other morning-"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land;" and I am anxiously desirous that the Lord's people should live as in a strange land, as if they were mere visitors, and not as if they were settling here at home, and the inhabitants were their kindred. You are mistaken if you think this to be so; and therefore the apostle Peter was commissioned by the Holy Ghost to say, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." It would be a strange thing indeed if all were smooth and easy in a wilderness state like this; for "God spake on this wise, that the seed of Abraham should sojourn in a strange land."

First of all, then, I wish to invite your attention to Abraham's seed ; and this is of vast importance as regards understanding the text, and appropriating the comforts of it; because, if we made a mistake here, and attempted to place our hand on the blessings of Abraham, whilst we did not belong to his seed, it would be a fatal mistake indeed. In the second place, I would detail some of the circumstances of their And then, in the third place, cast forsojourning in a strange land. ward a thought to the kingdom to which we are journeying; for we do not like to content ourselves with always journeying, with always remaining in a strange land. It would be a painful thing indeed to the Christian, if he were to think that his sojourn here was to continue long; but the shortness of it, and the blessed prospect before us, cheer our hearts, and "give us a song in the house of our pilgrimage."

I.-Let us first say a little concerning Abraham's seed. I read the third chapter of the epistle to the Galatians at the commencement of the service, that you might have a key to it, and particularly to notice and dwell upon the fact that faith distinguishes them. And the only distinction that I wish to impress upon your minds this morning, between Christians and worldlings, is just this, that the former are possessors of saving faith, whilst the latter are altogether destitute of