No More Learning

Jasper Sapphire Chalcedony
Emerald Sardonyx Sardius
Chrysolite Beryl Topaz
Chrysophrasus Jacinth Amethyst
t See Appendix.
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? LETTER VI.
97
former years. The figure of a refiner is one of the deepest interest:
--the refiner never leaves the crucible; the precious metal is of too high
a value: as it purifies, it gets clearer and clearer, until at last the
scum or dross is gone, and the image of the refiner is reflected as in
a glass, in the molten gold; and this was the thing desired. So our
blessed Lord never puts his children into the furnace of affliction, but
to purify them; to purge away the dross, and make them more like him-
self: and this accomplished, the crucible is removed. How forcibly
does the patriarch Job allude to this: " He knoweth the way that I
take; and when he hath tried me, / shall come forth as gold. " (Job
xxiii. 10. ) The value of the word of God, and its infinite purity, is
also beautifully illustrated by this figure. The words of the Lord are
pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
(Ps. xii. 6. ) And again, the law of thy mouth is better unto me
than thousands of gold and silver. " (Ps. cxix. 72. ) So also ver. 127,
" I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. " Dear
children, is David's language yours ? can you thus speak of God's
blessed word ? This is how a man on the eve of execution would
speak of the Queen's proclamation of pardon when read in his ears--
all language would fail to tell its value. But the word of God pro-
claims tidings far above an earthly pardon; even forgiveness in the
precious blood of Jesus. And the soul that receives these good tidings
can say, passing on beyond the gold, even the gold of Ophir, " the
price of wisdom is above rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are
F
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? 98
THE CREATION.
not to be compared to her: length of days is in her right hand--
in her left hand riches and honour; her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace. " (Prov. iii. 15--17. ) And again in chap.
viii. , " My fruit is better than gold, yea, than much fine gold : I lead
in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment;
that I may cause them that love me to inherit substance. " (Ver. 19--21.
See also ii. 4. ) We have often read the 60th chapter of Isaiah*
together. It contains a passage of exceeding beauty:--the pro-
phet is evidently describing the tribes of Israel, in the last days,
rising up into the favour of God; the days of their widowhood past,
and their sorrows gone. " Thou shalt also suck the milk of the
Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know
that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One
of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver,
and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers
peace, and thy exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be
heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou
shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. " Any comment
of man on this word would but weaken it,--" Happy is the people
that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord. "
? The Canticles, or Songs of Solomon, also abound in illustrations from the
precious stones and metals; likewise the Revelation of St. John. Eph. v. 32,
where the Lord is revealed as the heavenly Bridegroom, the Church the Bride, is
a key to the former; and a deep spiritual acquaintance with the Tabernacle and
Temple service, would surely throw much light on the latter.
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LETTER VI.
99
Sometimes the figures are in judgment; and then, in allusion to
the sternness of the metals, instead of the clouds dropping the fertile
showers and the gentle dew; the earth yielding her thirty, sixty, and
hundred fold; the word concerning the obstinate and obdurate Israel
is," I will break the pride of your power: and I will make your heaven
as iron, and your earth as brass; and your strength shall be spent in
vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees
of the land yield their fruits. " (Lev. xxvi. 19, 20. )
And so in Jeremiah vi. , where, under the imagery of refuse rejected
metals, the judgments of God are thus awfully described: " They are
all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron;
they are all corrupters. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed
of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not
plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the
Lord hath rejected them. "
The Rock is a figure frequently used in Scripture to denote stability
and protection. In the song of Moses, which closed his forty years'
ministry in the wilderness, how striking are these words:--"Because
I will publish the name of the Lord; ascribe ye greatness unto our
God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are judg-
ment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. "
(Deut. xxxii. 3, 4. ) The figure is also again introduced in ver. 15,
18, 30, 31; all denoting the same thing--great stability and per-
fection. But that which gives the Rock the deepest interest to the
f2
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100
THE CREATION.
christian mind, is the application of it in 1 Cor. x. 3, 4; from which it
is manifest that the rock, the water of which followed Israel through
the wilderness, as well as the manna that came down from heaven, set
forth the Lord Jesus. Yes, my dear children, He was the angel
(the angel of the covenant) that was with his people in the wilderness,
guiding all their ways. (Acts vii. 38. ) He was also the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, (Rev. v. 5;)--the true High Priest, (Heb. iii. 1;)--the Lamb
of God, (1 Pet. i. 19;)--the Vail, (Heb. x. 20;)--the golden Mercy-seat,
(Rom. iii. 25;)--the Bread which came down from heaven, (John vi. 33;)
--and the Rock that followed. (1 Cor. x. 4. ) Truly he was the Alpha
and Omega of the church in the wilderness in type and shadow, as he
is to the church now in reality and substance. (Rev. i. 11. )
Sometimes the church of God is set forth as a temple; then the
stone--the tried stone--the sure foundation--the precious corner-stone
Jehovah laid in Zion, even that stone on which was engraven the
seven eyes, only gets its answer in our blessed Lord; for other
foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, even Christ Jesus,
(compare Isa. xxviii. 16 and Zech. iii. 9 with 1 Pet. ii. 6;) and he
that builds on this foundation can never fail; for though the storm
beat vehemently against his house, it falls not; it is founded on a
rock--the Rock of Ages. (Luke vi. 47, 48. )
The Rock is also blessedly introduced, as the emblem of protection
and shade; and the traveller in an open plain can well understand the
beauty of the text, when, reaching some towering rock, he shelters
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? LETTER VI.
101
himself beneath its shade from the fervent heat of the sun. Such is
the Lord: " the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. " (Isa. xxxii. 2. )
Sometimes in our walks in Ireland, we came between two heights,
where the impending rocks seemed to threaten us with destruction;
nothing could be more awful, and we were glad to escape; and yet,
when the sixth seal opens, and the Lamb of God is manifested, that
countenance that beamed with compassion when he said, "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do," (Luke xxiii. 34,)
shall then be covered w ith wrath; and so terrible will be the sight,
that the wicked, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, shall call
on the mountains and rocks to fall on them, to hide them from the wrath
of the Lamb. (Rev. vi. 12--17. )
The wrath of the Lamb! There is something inconceivably awful
in this scripture; indeed, the three characters in which the Lord Jesus
was and is now manifested in mercy, will then be changed into
judgment; for the Son will be angry, (Ps. ii. 12,) the Lamb will be
wroth, (Rev. vi. 17,) and the Man will be Judge. (Acts xvii. 31; Rev. xx.
11, 12. ) 0 my beloved children, may each of you "to-day, while it is
called to-day," flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you.
Now is the day of grace, and now there is rejoicing in the presence of
the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke xv. 10. )
I alluded to the Harvest in my last letter, and promised to enlarge
on it a little in this. We saw the High Priest wave the sheaf of first-
fruits the morning after the sabbath, which sheaf had been reaped
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102
THE CREATION.
previous to the sabbath, and laid up during the sabbath. This the
Spirit of God, in 1 Cor. xv. 23, explains to us ; and passing beyond
the offering of thanksgiving for the temporal harvest, (though that is
most blessed in its place,) we see in that wave sheaf the Lord Jesus
raised from the dead;--gathered previous to the sabbath--laid up during
the sabbath--and raised up on high the morning after the sabbath, the
first-fruits of an abundant harvest. To this the Psalmist alludes, for
the original word is the same. There shall be a handful, an omer of
corn in the earth, on the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall
shake like Lebanon. (Ps. lxxii. 16. ) Jesus was the true corn of wheat
that fell into the ground and died, and brought forth much fruit. If
he had not died, he would have remained alone; but he died, and
rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
(Rom. xiv. 9; 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. )
If you search the Scriptures, my dear children, you will find abun-
dance of passages where the figures taken from the creation of this
third day, are used by the Holy Spirit to set forth divine truth, but
perhaps in none more than in the Psalms. I would call your attention
particularly to those commencing at Ps. xcvi. and extending to Ps. c.
Ps. xcvi. and xcviii. , and xcvii. and xcix.
, seem to go together; the
two previous ones being the exhortation to the church to sing the
hymn of triumph; and the two latter, the song itself. The scene is
explained by Rom. viii. 22, 23: " For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only
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LETTER VI.
103
they, but ourselves also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even
we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit,
the redemption of our body. " But when the Second Adam, the Lord
from heaven, shall be manifested, and all his saints with him, he will
take unto himself his great power and reign, (Rev. xi. 15,) and then will
all creation rejoice. Nothing can exceed the triumph of the Psalms
I have alluded to:--" Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be glad ;
let the sea roar and the fulness thereof; let the field be joyful and all
that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the
Lord; for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge
the world with righteousness, and his people with truth. " (Ps. xcvi.
11--13; see also Ps. xcvii. 6--9. ) You remember, my dear children,
how beautifully our favourite poet Cowper speaks of this glorious
period--the times of restitution. (Acts iii. 21. )--
" O scenes surpassing fable ; and yet true!
Scenes of accomplished bliss ! which who can see,
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel
His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy?
Rivers of gladness water all the earth,
And clothe all climes with beauty: the reproach
Of barrenness is past: the fruitful field
Laughs with abundance; and the land, once lean,
Or fertile only in its own disgrace,
Exults to see the thistly curse removed;--
The various seasons woven into one,
And that one season an eternal Spring. "--Winter Walk at Noon.
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? 104
THE CREATION.
But not only do the Psalms, under these sublime similitudes, thus
speak of the glories of the latter day; they also set forth the more re-
tired walk of the individual believer. How sweet is that description in
Ps. i. of the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord:--" He shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit
in his season: his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth
shall prosper. " (Ver. 3. ) In winter, as in summer, the Christian bears
his leaf; and the Lord ever watches over him, and prospers him in his
ways. One more Psalm I cannot but refer to, as it is among the
earliest in my remembrance:--" The righteous shall flourish like the
palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those 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; to shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock,
and there is no unrighteousness in him. " (Ps. xcii. 12--15. )
The &ew Testament does not so abound in figurative language as
the prophetical parts of the Old, though indeed the instruction of our
blessed Lord was greatly after this order. The parable of the sower,
and all the parables of Matt. xiii. --the scenes of every-day life--are
used in spiritual instruction. And in that solemn word spoken on the
Mount of Olives, but a few hours before the crucifixion, how forcible
is the instruction from the similitude of the vine ! Christ is the true
Vine; the Father the Husbandman; his people the branches. There
is no fruitfulness but by continually abiding in him. Fruitfulness is
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? LETTER VI.
105
the effect of union, not the cause of it. The barren, fruitless branches
are cut away; and men gather them, and they are burned: but he
that abideth in Jesus bears much fruit. The true Christian delights
to do his Father's will; he delights to abound in good works; but he
does not do them to be saved; but being saved he does them ;--it is
his meat and drink to do his heavenly Father's will. There is no
true morality but by union with Jesus, and then it abounds; and the
Christian's standard is found in the Lord's exhortation, " Be ye there-
fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. "
(Matt. v. 48; John xv. )
But ere I close this letter I must call your attention to one most
beautiful figurative passage in the prophecy of Ezekiel, chap. xvii. ,
as it so vividly sets forth the glory of the Lord Jesus in the latter
days:--under the parable of two great eagles, long winged and full of
feathers, the one cropping a sprig of the loftiest cedar of Lebanon,
and transplanting it to a city of merchants, and then sowing the seed
of the kingdom in a fruitful field, and it springing up a vine of low
stature; and the other strengthening this vine, which shot forth her
branches towards him: the Lord sets forth the vain* attempts of the
king of Babylon to raise up, and the king of Egypt to succour
another branch of the house of Judah, when the Lord had, in Jehoia-
kim, (who had filled up the cup of his iniquity, by burning the word
* The temporary reign of Jeboiakim, for three months, (who was then led captive
to Babylon, according to the fourth verse,) was Satan's subtle but vain attempt
to thwart the purposes of God.
F3
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? 106
TIIE CREATION.
of God, Jer. xxxvi. 22 -- 32,) closed up the kingdom until the Shiloh,
the true Son of David, should come with Jehoiakim. The first
parable of the two great eagles, having been thus explained by the
Lord in ver. 12--15, and the destruction of Zedekiah (the vine of low
stature) plainly prophesied in ver. 19--21, the Lord again resumes
the language of similitude, and introduces the dominion of the true
Son of David, the rod out of the stem of Jesse. (Isa. xi. 1. ) " Thus
saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the
young cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young
twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent:
in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall
bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under
it shall dwell all fowl of every wing: in the shadow of the branches
thereof shall they dwell. " (Ezek. xvii. 22, 23. *) This was the glo-
rious One, who should be God's salvation to the end of the earth,
whose dignity the angel Gabriel thus announced, -- " He shall be
great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign
over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be
no end. " (Luke i. 32. )
? " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a
Righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judg-
ment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall
dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our
Righteousness. " (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. )
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LETTER VI.
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I might, my beloved children, mention numberless other passages
from the Prophets and the Psalms; but, as I told you in my second
letter, it was not so much as a concordance, but as a little help to your
memory, that I purposed these letters on the illustrative language of
scripture. Therefore I will now conclude with an earnest prayer that
the Father of mercies may, by the power of the Holy Ghost, give you
a part and lot in that heavenly country; and that, gathered either in
the great harvest, when the Son of Man shall be revealed with the
golden crown and the sharp sickle, (Rev. xiv. 15,) or as a shock of
corn, ripe in its season, (Job v. 26,) you may shine forth as the sun
in the kingdom of the Father. (Matt. xiii. 43. )
Believe me,
Ever your affectionate Father.
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108
THE CREATION.
LETTER VII.
PRAISE YE THE LORD. PRAISE YE THE LORD FROM THE HEAVENS : PRAISE HIM IN
THE HEIGHTS. PRAISE YE HIM, SUN AND MOON : PRAISE HIM, ALL YE STARS OF
light. --Ptalm cxlviii. 1, 3.
Dear Children,
Three days the earth had revolved on its axis, and now the fourth
morning opens with exceeding glory. The trees and herbs and flowers
had indeed covered the earth with beauty, but yet without the gracious
Creation of the sun they could not continue: for just as the second
day provided them beforehand air to breathe, so did the fourth send
forth the bright and fervent rays of the sun, to open every flower, and
to give the state of absolute perfectness to the trees, bearing fruit and
seed after their kind.
The ordering of the fourth day is thus described in Gen. i. :--" And
God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide
the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and
for days and for years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of
the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God
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-itTM DAY.
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? 1
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? LETTER VII.
109
made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the
lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God
set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the
light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the
evening and the morning were the fourth day. " (Ver. 14--19. )
Instantly the sun glowed in the firmament of the heavens, and the
moon and the stars also, each in its own appointed orbit; and the
creation (I should gather from the verses I have quoted) not only
embraced what is called the solar system, i. e. , the sun, moon, and
planets, but the whole of the celestial luminaries--" the starry host"
--whether fixed or planetary.
The light of the first day was indeed glorious; but it had no glory,
by reason of this glory that excelled; for the sun, the future source
of light, was all glorious, and came forth on this, the first day of
its creation, as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoiced as a
strong man to run his race. (Ps.