No More Learning

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? 30
THE CREATION.
" Where are you bound ? " not one* of the many thousands would say,
" I don't know. " No; they are in earnest; but, alas! how many
hundreds of thousands are sailing on the ocean of life, surrounded with
danger, and yet, if you ask them whither they are going, they would
be constrained to say, " I don't know:" for without a pilot, without a
compass, without a rudder, they are driven on by fierce winds; and,
if the Lord interfere not, ere long they will make shipwreck of their
souls.
But reflect, my dear children, on the scene before you; and with
the exception of those few steam-packets (few in comparison) which
seem to pass on regardless of the winds, the commerce of the world is
kept up by the unaided agency of the wind. I say unaided agency;
for though the sailor spreads his snowy canvas " low and aloft," yet
he is altogether dependent: the wind bloweth where it listeth; and
only as he is obedient to its dictates he prospers. One while you see
him in the midst of storm and tempest, ploughing his way through
seas that seem to threaten his destruction; and at another time, in the
light and gentle airs of summer, his vessel, like the bird, seems to
ruffle her plumagef with delight, extending her utmost sails to catch
? See a valuable little book, entitled " An Address to Seamen, by the late
lamented Dr. Payson;" which, though addressed particularly to seamen, is
equally suitable for all classes, as the language is so plain, heart-searching, and
simple. -- Wright, Bristol.
t Looking on a beautiful vessel, with every sail spread, almost seeming instinct
with life, hastening on at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, one can hardly
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? LETTER III.
31
the straggling zephyr. I have sometimes been struck with wonder
at the thought of a vessel leaving the Thames, and going the circuit
of the globe and coming back to her first anchoring, and not one
finger of man put out to impel her. The wind has done it entirely--
man has simply acted as its servant. Beautiful is the language of our
poet Cowper, when speaking of the ship that bore some missionaries
to India:--
" Heaven speed the canvas gallantly unfurl'd,
To furnish and accommodate a world;
Let nothing adverse, nothing unforeseen,
Impede the bark that ploughs the deep serene,
That flies, like Gabriel, at its Lord's commands,
With message of God's Love to heathen lands. "
Cowper s Poems:--CHARITY, line 201. ?
This is a favourite subject with me, as you know; but I must leave
it, and pass on at once to two other gracious properties of the
atmosphere.
What made those sounds come to our ears so sweet the other
evening ? or, indeed, what made them come at all, when we heard
the beautiful hymn--
wonder at the poor Esquimaux thinking that Captain Ross's ships were some
large birds about to light on their coasts.
* See Appendix.
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? . 32
THE CREATION.
" Why those fears? behold 'tis Jesus
Holds the helm, and guides the ship:
Spread the sails and catch the breezes,
Sent to waft us through the deep,
To those regions,
Where the mourners cease to weep? "
It was still the gracious agency of the surrounding atmosphere, one
of whose properties is to convey sound ; and this too, just in the pro-
portion to make those sounds pleasant: for if indeed they were
deeper, or our sense of hearing sharper, or more acute, what misery
should we be in;--or if the case was reversed, life would be a con-
tinual exertion, stretching the ear to hear; but as it is, loving-
kindness and goodness mark this gracious boon. The proof of sound
being conveyed by the atmospheric air is very simple. Now suppose
we put our large bell in any glass vessel, and then exhaust the air;--
now shake the vessel hard--all is quiet, and yet we see that the
clapper has touched the side. Why does it not sound ? The air is
gone. But now let the air in, and shake the bell, and it rings as
usual. The sound was caused by the resistance of the atmosphere,
through which it had to break its way. Suppose for a moment that
the atmosphere was deprived of this property, what consternation
would gather on every side,--all christian communion, all social
intercourse would be at an end, and the business of the world would
stand still, and every man would be as one that was dumb. Well,
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LETTER IIL 33
then, may we join in that transport of praise, and with the Psalmist
cry aloud, "Praise God in the firmament of his power. " (Psalm
el. 1. )
How fragrant the air was the other evening when we walked by
the fields where they were gathering in the hay; but why did we inhale
the fragrance so pleasantly ? Here, again, the same means that con-
veyed the sound conveyed also the scent; for if instead of the bell,
you had plucked a rose, and put it in the glass vessel, and exhausted
the air, it would wither and die, without emitting one particle of scent
to tell you what it once was.
But, my dear children, I think I never wrote you so long a letter
before, and I must hasten to relieve your attention by only just briefly
recapitulating the seven properties of the atmosphere I have en-
deavoured to explain to you.
1st, Its power of sustaining life, whether animal or vegetable.
2nd, Its being the reservoir of the rain,* snow, and dew, &c
.
3rd, Its gracious properties of refraction and reflection of light.
4th, Its gracious property of reflecting light.
5th, The wind or agitated atmosphere;--the great preserver of
health; and the means of all commercial intercourse.
6th, Its being the medium of sound, and therefore that by which
all social communion and general intercourse is kept up.
7 th, The medium of scent.
? See Appendix,
c3
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? 34
THE CREATION.
Think of these properties, beloved children, and remember that you
always enjoy the first, and continually one or more of all the other six;
and so may you in everything be led by God's Spirit to give thanks;
and thus living in a continual state of dependence, you will live in a
continual state of peace.
Believe me,
Ever your affectionate Father.
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? THE CREATION.
35
LETTER IV.
AND THEY THAT BE WISE SHALL SHINE AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT.
Daniel nil. 3.
My dear Children,
Though the Scriptures say to us but little of the firmament itself in
the way of illustration, yet in a variety of ways it is alluded to; for if
I were to mention and enlarge upon all the passages that introduce
the rain and hail and snow, in this way, my letter would swell out
to a very long one.
Now suppose you turn to your Bibles, and look at Gen. i . ii. ; there
you will see the order of Adam's creation to be thus;--first God
formed him from the dust of the earth, and then breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul; and from
that time his natural life was sustained, according to God's appoint-
ment, by means of his inhaling, as we do, the vital air. But both his
spiritual and natural life depended on his obedience to the command
to eat not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Gen. iii.
tells us, that listening to the counsel of Eve, who before had been
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? 36
THE CREATION.
beguiled by the serpent, Adam ate of the tree, and instantly, dying,
he died:--that is, his soul died; his body became mortal or dying;
and body and soul exposed (when the day of judgment should come)
to the second death. Gen. v. records, that Adam begat a son in his
mcn likeness:--not God's, but his own; the likeness of a dead man--
a man cut off from God: and to this St. Paul alludes when he says,
. --" by man came death:"--but though man was thus cut off from
God, yet still, as St. Paul testified to the gentiles at Athens, " In
Him we live and move and have our being,"--that is, we depend
every moment for our existence on God;--He takes our breath, we die.
This, my dear children, brings strikingly to our minds the omnipresence
of God, or God being always present, in all places and at all times;
and I know of no figure that so fully illustrates this as the all-pene-
trating, all-pervading atmosphere; so that, when light itself in vain
knocks for admission, (as in a cavern or darkened room,) the air comes
in as the rightful occupant and dweller in all things--day and night,
place or distance, makes no difference, and there is no possibility of
putting it away but by artificial means, as I have shown in my pre-
vious letter; and then, wherever its absence is--there is death,
reigning and ruling in all its power. There was one scene once acted
upon the earth, the first (and oh that it might be the last) that affords us
the most solemn and awful consideration on this subject: I allude to
the French Revolution of 1793, of which we were reading some time
since. There it was that a nation of 20,000,000 of people, priding
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? LETTER IV.
37
themselves on being the most polite nation of the earth, and whose
language was spoken in most of the courts of Europe, proclaimed by
an edict of its national assembly two awful decrees,--first, that there
was no God; and second, that death was an eternal sleep. Like the
fool that said in his heart, they said openly, " Tush, there is no God
and the Lord left them for a little, and France was as if there was no
God. And, oh! who can describe the horrors of that awful period ?
Historians, by common consent, have marked that era in the world's
great chart of time as the "Reign of terror. " Scenes too terrible
to describe followed each other in rapid succession! The rulers of
to-day were the victims of to-morrow! The prince of the power of
the air seemed the alone monarch of that unhappy land; and the
various forms of government that arose, were but as his vassals, till
at last, drunk with the blood of her own children, (if God had not in
mercy interposed! ) the whole empire seemed threatened with annihilation.
A military despotism succeeded the reign of terror; and this (bad as it
is in itself) was hailed with acclamation by the people. I did not
at all, when I commenced this letter, intend to have introduced this
subject to your minds, (though I am sure, in the present day espe-
cially, every child should know it,) but as it brought so forcibly
before me the blessing to man of the omnipresence of God, I could not
forbear. Oh, how full of consolation is it to that child who loves God,
and who is at peace with him in the precious blood of Christ, to know
that God is as much about his every footstep invisible, as He was
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38
THE CREATION.
visible about the tents of Israel when marching through the wilder-
ness I We have our cloud by day, our light by night; we have our
manna, our bread of life, in this desert wilderness, and water flowing
from the rock that follows; we have a robe that never wears, and a
foot that never swells; and above all, far above all, a Lamb, even the
Lamb of God, which (like the heavenly pattern seen by Moses in the
mount, and shown out in the altar of burnt-offering) is as a sweet
savour unto God, and bears away the sin of the world. While, then,
beloved children, you breathe the air of life so freely and happily, oh,
think of Him who is yet nearer still to you: for not only as his crea-
tures " do we live and move and have our being in Him," but if adopted
into his family, then are we partakers of the divine nature: for the
word is full of grace which speaks of the oneness of believers with the
Lord Jesus,--" No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it,
and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. " (Eph. v. 29. ) In the
prophet Daniel, chap. xii. 1--3, the figure of the firmament is intro-
duced with great force and beauty; the scene is the resurrection, and
the prophet says, " And those that be wise shall shine as the firma-
ment ; and those that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever
and ever. " In the margin it is " those that are teachers;" but in either
sense it is very beautiful. But what makes the firmament so bright
--so transparent--so dazzling? The Sun has his tabernacle there, and
the firmament is bright in his brightness. Oh, never forget His love
that purchased that glory! (for it is a glory of redemption) and remem-
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? LETTER IV.
39
ber, that to secure it He gave that brow, now surrounded with glory,
to be encircled with thorns; and that we might cry " Abba Father "
in the spirit of adoption, He uttered the piercing cry, "Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani? --My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? "
(Mark xv. 34. ) " He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. " (2 Cor. v. 21. ) I
know not how to stop on this subject. The love of Christ is infinite;
it has lengths and breadths and depths and heights which pass know-
ledge. Eph. iii. 19. " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. "
(2 Cor. ix. 15. )
How fertile the fields looked the other day after that long and
painful drought. The rain came down the previous night, and we
could almost see the arid and parched field change its colour as we
gazed on it . Such is the blessing of the word of God when minis-
tered by God's Holy Spirit to the soul.
His gracious presence is like
the showers upon the mown grass! How beautiful the language of
Moses,--"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak: and hear, O
earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain,
my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender
herb, and as the showers upon the grass. " (Deut. xxxii. 1, 2. ) And
again in that most interesting chapter of Isaiah,--" For as the rain
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may
? give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be
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? 40
THE CREATION.
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I send it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led
forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth into
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead
of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall
come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. " (Isa. lv. 10--13. ) Here the
illustration is exactly the same as in Deuteronomy, and though the
ultimate extent of the prophecy looks forward to a period when all
shall be joy--the times of the restitution of all things, when Creation,
delivered from the bondage of corruption, shall rejoice in the reign of
its rightful King who has redeemed it--the second Adam, the Lord
from heaven, yet doubtless now there is an earnest of it in those who
have the first-fruits of the Spirit, (Rom. viii. 23,) for where the Holy
Spirit dwells, the brier and the thorn, the angry and cruel passions, are
exchanged for the myrtle and the fir--so beautifully emblematic of
the fruits of the Spirit, (see Gal. v. 22,23,) for though sin is not eradi-
cated, it is subdued; and God's Holy Spirit, and not Satan, has the
dominion, and reigns in, and over the new-born child of God.
(Rom. vi. 14. )
Another beautiful figure in nature is the Deir, and none is more fre-
quently used--but I will mention three especial allusions to it. Do
you remember the other morning, in our drive to H. , it would have
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? LETTER IV.
41
been in vain to have sought to count the glittering dew-drops of the
morning: the sun was up, and every drop seemed a radiant gem upon
the indescribable beauty around. I thought of that multitude which
no man could number, and it seemed to me at once to expound the
sublime description in Psalm ex. " thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the
morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. " Hebrew scholars
say the word " willing " is used in the highest degree, it is most willing,
and the last clause is literally " thy progeny shall be as dew from the
' womb of the morning. " Bright and glorious will be the morning of
the Resurrection of the just: then the Sun of Righteousness shining on
the dew, every drop shall glisten and be resplendent in His brightness.
But not only is the dew thus used, but it has also a second order of
illustration; when speaking of Israel's captivity being turned, in
Hosea xiv. 5th verse, the Lord says, "I will be as the dew unto
Israel: he shall grow (or blossom) as the lily, and cast forth his roots
as Lebanon. " Last year, if you remember, I told you of my visit to
the great synagogue in Duke's Place, London, at the feast of the
Passover; and how I was struck with astonishment at the number of
the prayers offered to the Lord as the Father of the Beu; entreating
him to be as the dew to Israel. I asked an aged Jew by me what it
meant, and he said it was all a figure, but I said of what ? and he looked
at me as if disinclined to answer. Poor Israel! yes, you shall again be
visited by the dew, the Lord shall indeed return to Jerusalem with
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THE CREATION.
mercies, (Zech. i. 16,) he will yet be as the cloud of dew in the heat
of harvest; for Israel, with the Spirit poured out from 011 high, shall
blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isa. xxvii. 6 ;
Micah v. 7; Zech. viii. 12, 13. ) There is yet one more use of this
gracious figure; it occurs in Psalm cxxxiii. , and sets forth the love
that brethren in the Lord should have one to the other; the scene
of the Psalm is supposed to be " the whole Levite family attending in
the service of God. " " Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment
upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard:'
that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon
descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded
the blessing, even life for evermore. " The dew of Hermon descended
upon all the mountains of Zion; the little hill, the Mizar, received it,
as well as the lofty Lebanon; so in the sweet offices of brotherly
love, the least disciple is not to be overlooked, and the gracious One
that watches the whole family, says that a cup of cold water given in
the name of a disciple, shall not be forgotten of Him. It was the
remark of a Pagan nobleman, that the early Christians sang hymns to
Jesus as God, and that they loved one another; blessed testimony to
their faith and practice; for truly where the Lord Jesus is not acknow-
ledged as one with the Father over all, God blessed for ever, there is
no saving faith: and where brotherly love is wanting, there is no
evidence that the Faith is genuine.
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? LETTER IV.
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It is a singular fact, that when the manna fell on the ground around
the tents of Israel, it fell on the dew, (Numb. xi. 9,) and when the dew
was exhaled or drawn up by the heat, (Exod. xvi. 14,) the manna re-
mained in sight, to look upon like the coriander seed--small as the
hoar-frost. I do not attempt to explain at large, dear children, the
connexion between the dew and the manna, but it seems beautifully
to set forth, that we only know Christ as the True Manna, by the
teachings of the Holy Ghost given to us; thus when the poor leper
was brought into the camp at peace with God, the blood was put on
his right ear, right hand, and right foot, and the oil was put over the
blood, setting forth the same truth, for so the Spirit of God consecrated
him to serve God. (Lev. xiv. 14--18. )
The Clouds are often used in the Scripture as the symbol of the
presence of God: thus it was in the cloudy pillar that the Lord mani-
fested himself to Israel in mercy--to Egypt in judgment. It was
the cloud of his presence that overshadowed the camp. (Exod. xiii. 21;
Ps. cv. 39. ) Clouds and darkness are also said to be about him. --
The Lord ascended from Olivet, and a cloud received him out of his
people's sight. He was brought in the clouds of glory to the Ancient
of days, (Dan. vii. 13,) and he shall come again in the clouds of glory.
(Matt. xxvi. 64. ) When, then, you look on the clouds, dear child-
ren, think of those wondrous scenes, and of that day, especially called
the day of the Lord. (Luke xvii. 24 ; 2 Pet. iii. 12. ) In the Epistle of
Jude there is a figure used concerning the clouds, that I am not aware
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? 44
THE CREATION.
occurs in any other place;--false professors of the religion of Jesus
are called " clouds without water. " And so it often happens; clouds
here and there present themselves, but they pass over our heads,---
there are no gentle droppings from them--no refreshing showers;
they are floating clouds without water. Such are those who have a
name to live, and are dead before God: you may meet them in society,
and they will speak of the world, and its amusements, and vanities,
and pleasures. They have indeed a Sunday's form of godliness: but
a religion that is confined to times and seasons, and that does not
breathe through the every day circumstances of life is a poor thing.
Such professors are as clouds without water, and awful is their state
if they repent not;--" to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
for ever. " (Jude 12, 13. )
I think I must mention one passage more to you--about the Snow;
it is in Job ix. 30, 31:--"If I wash myself with snow water, and
make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch,
and mine own clothes shall abhor me. " You remember that Job was
a man that feared God and eschewed or avoided evil, (i. 8;) there
was none like him on the earth. This God said of him, (i. 8,) but
when Job thought of himself as standing before God, he said, how shall
a man be just with God ? if He will enter into judgment with him, he
cannot answer him one of a thousand, (ix. 1--3 :) see also ver. 15, and
then the one I have quoted,--" though I wash me with snow water. "
Now there is no water so cleansing, so purifying, as the snow water,
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? LETTER IV.
45
and the Patriarch alludes to this. Though he said, I was cleansed and
cleansed again from every visible defilement, and no one single blemish
could be detected on me by man, yet when He looks on me, whose
eyes are as a flame of fire, searching to the inmost thought, not only shall
there be specks here and there, but like one plunged in the ditch,
" mine own clothes shall abhor me. " So, my beloved children, man can-
not stand before God in his own righteousness; for in his sight can
no man living be justified: see especially Zech. iii. 3, and compare
Ps. xxiv. 3, 4, with Ps. xviii. 20, and in each see the Lord Jesus
as the One and the only one who had clean hands and a pure heart,
and who, in the virtue thereof, having not only obeyed the law,
but magnified it and made it honourable, claimed the right of entrance
into the holy place; and as the obedient man who was God, sat down
at the welcome of the Father at his right hand, (Ps. ex. 1,) angels,
principalities, and powers, being made subject unto him. (1 Pet. iii. 22. )
The Scriptures afford abundant illustrations on this subject, but I must
not fatigue you; but you will find it a profitable exercise, if the next
week, at breakfast, each one brings some passage from the word of
God, in which the rain and dew and snow are used in illustration.
Some months ago, if you remember, you did so, and we were all much
interested.
Believe me to remain, dear Children,
Ever your affectionate Father.
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? 46
THE CREATION.
LETTEK V.
AND GOD CALLED THE DRY LAND EARTH; AND THE GATHERING TOGETHER OF THE
WATERS CALLED HE SEAS: AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. AND GOD SAID,
LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH GRASS, THE HERB YIELDING SEED, AND THE FRUIT
TREE YIELDING FRUIT AFTER HIS KIND, WHOSE SEED IS IN ITSELF, UPON THE
EARTH: AND IT WAS SO. AND THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH GRASS, AND HERB
YIELDING SEED AFTER HIS KIND, AND THE TREE YIELDING FRUIT, WHOSE SEED
WAS IN ITSELF, AFTER HIS KIND, AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. AND THE
EVENING AND THE MORNING WERE THE THIRD DAY. -- Genesis i. 10--13.
My dear Children,
Two day a of the history of our globe had now run out, and the third
came full of blessing. The character of this day's creation was two-
fold, as the account in Genesis i. fully manifests. The first part was
a call for the dry land (which evidently had been created in the begin-
ning) to appear;--the second, the Creation of the three great orders
of vegetation--trees, herbs, and grass; but I know of no part of
Scripture that brings out the character of this day's creation so
strikingly as the 104th Psalm. The inspired Psalmist looks back
3000 years, and brings the whole subject most blessedly before our
minds in the 104th Psalm, from 1st verse to the 6th:--"Who laid
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 14:33 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044024073470 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 14:33 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. 32044024073470 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
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