No More Learning

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? 246
THE CREATION.
walls of Zion; but the Lord will dart down as the lightning for
their deliverance; he will come riding on the wings of the cherub;
yea, he will fly on the wings of the wind (Ps. xviii. 10); pass-
ing over, he will protect them, not a spear shall fall on his Israel,
nor an arrow light on his favoured Jerusalem. (Isaiah xxxvii. 21, 87. )
But, my beloved children, if the eagle sets forth the watchful care
of the Lord over his people, and the swiftness of his mercy to help;
other emblems bring out other parts of his gracious character.
The lamentation of our blessed Lord over Jerusalem can never be
forgotten,--" O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets,
and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings; and ye would not," (Matt . xxiii. 37. ) Perhaps
amid the rural scenes of life, nothing is more full of interest than
the mother bird gathering her brood beneath the covert of her wings
whilst the hawk is hovering nigh. Safety and warmth are combined
in that protection; and when the enemy is gone, the little family
again sally forth; but safety is in keeping close to those wings that
alone can shelter. The emblem needs no application. The Lord is
all this, and infinitely more to his people. It was a beautiful saying
of the old Jews, when a Gentile was converted, and brought to eat
of the Paschal Lamb, " This Gentile is now come to dwell beneath
the wings of the shadow of the Majesty of God. " The allusion was
in all probability to the wings of the cherubim, in the Most Holy
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247
Place; and I have no doubt, that all the references in the Psalms to
the shadowing wings of the Almighty, had a direct reference to
those cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat. (Heb. ix. 1, 5. )
In Jeremiah viii. 7, the Lord introduces the birds of passage, and
thus remonstrates with his people: " Yea, the Stork in the heaven
knoweth her appointed times, and the Turtle and the Swallow observe
the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of
the Lord. "
Thus, ever, the gathering of the swallows on our autumnal
morning comes to God's children with instruction; and is a call to
them for watchfulness of the times and seasons to fulfil his will.
The Psalmist, in the 84th Psalm, which I referred to in the fourth
day, has a beautiful allusion to the swallow and the sparrow. The
Psalm thus opens:--" How amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of
hosts! my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord:
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Yea, the
sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,) thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my
King, and my God. " The Jews, in their version of this Psalm,
and in which they are followed by some eminent Christians, put the
clause concerning the sparrow and swallow in a parenthesis, as above,
and the sense then would be, that whilst these birds have both been
careful to provide a nest to lay their young, the Psalmist had also
his rest--his place of assured confidence and strength, even the
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? 248 THE CREATION.
altars of his God. And so the child of God now has his rest; for
gazing continually on the offering that rose up before God as a sweet
savor, he has rest with Jesus. Thus^ my dear children, so trifling a
thing as the nest of a swallow or sparrow, if the heart is right with
God, will bring to the remembrance of the child of God, that he
also has a rest; for his dwelling is in the secret place of the Most
High, and his abiding place under the shadow of the Almighty.
(Psalm xci. 1. )
Many a heart in trial has found an expression for its grief in that
mournful passage of the Psalmist, " I watch, and am as a sparrow
alone upon the house top. " (Ps. cii. 7. ) The mate and brood all gone,
and the lone bird solitary and in grief. But O, how sweet to turn
from that scene, and in hope to realize the time when God's purposes
shall be fulfilled, and he will again " set the solitary in families. " Yes,
brighter days await the child of light--spring shall assuredly come;
and God will compass the lone one about with songs of deliverance.
(Ps. xxxii. 7; cxlii. 7. )
No bird is so familiar to us as the sparrow, and this makes the
constant allusion to it so very precious. " Are not," said our gracious
Lord, " two sparrows sold for a farthing; and one of them shall not
fall on the ground without your Father; but the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value
than many sparrows. " (Matt . x. 29, 32. ) How full of consolation is
this passage. I remember, in a long illness, when the sight of the
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? LETTER X.
249
sparrow, and the application of this passage, in the power of the Spirit,
to my heart, gave me a comfort I cannot describe. Truly we may
say, in the midst of every trial, " I will not let go my confidence; for
I am of more value than many sparrows. "
But perhaps the bird the most frequently alluded to in scripture is
the Dove. The first mention of it is full of interest. It bore the
olive-branch to Noah ; and was God's messenger to the Patriarch, to
tell him that the waters were abated. (Gen. viii. 11. ) And when the
Spirit of God descended on Him who came with the olive-branch
from the throne of God, proclaiming peace and good-will to man,
(Lukeii. 14,) it was in a bodily shape like a dove. (Luke iii. 22. )
And again, when our blessed Lord would choose the emblem, by
which he might call his children to harmlessness, the dove was the
figure:--" Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. "
(Matt. x. 16. )
The rapid flight of the dove, and its love for home, is also beauti-
fully used in Isaiah, where the Prophet, in the glory of the latter days,
sees the rapid return of Israel, to their long desolate, but not forgotten
Jerusalem; and exclaims, "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as
doves to their windows! "* (Chap. lx. ver. 8. )
The dove is also continually used as the emblem of mourning.
? The word means "an aperture;" and here, evidently, the allusion is to the
dove-cot. --Lees Hebrew Lexicon.
M3
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? 250
THE CREATION.
The following are some of the passages with this allusion:--Isaiah
lix. 11; Ezekiel viL 16; Nahum ii. 7.
But there is one passage more, that in no wise must be omitted.
It occurs in Psalm lxviiL 13:--" Though ye have lain among the
pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and
her feathers with yellow gold. " The scene of the Psalm is Israel
inarching through the wilderness. The first verse was always uttered
by Moses when the camp moved. (Numb. x. 35. ) The first six
verses are introductory; and then the song takes a sublime and rapid
retrospect of the Lord's dealings with his people. It looks back on the
sorrows of Egypt, and forward to the glories of Canaan. But scenes
of brighter glory burst upon the vision of the Prophet;--he sees the
ascension of Israels great Deliverer, leading captivity captive. It is
no longer the many thousands of Israel; but the chariots of God,
even thousands of angels; and all is triumph. This being the order
of the Psalm, the deliverance of Egypt is but the type of the greater
deliverance: and in the verse above quoted, we see, under one of the
most beautiful figures that can be conceived, the glory of the resur-
rection of the Lord, the first-fruits; and of his church, the harvest.
AVhat more descriptive of the grave, than the potsherd cast aside ? --.
what more sublime emblem of the resurrection, than the " wings of a
dove, covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold ? " Like
the chrysalis,--to-day all silent in death--to-morrow, ascending in
the sunbeam with wings of inconceivable beauty.
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251
The pathetic cry of the Psalmist, in the fifty-fifth Psalm, which
seems indeed to be the utterance of our Lord in the garden, gets its
emblem in this bird of peace:--" O that I had wings like a dove! for
then would I fly away, and be at rest! Lo, then would I wander far
off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape
from the windy storm and tempest. " (Ver. 6--8. )
In the Song of Solomon, (sometimes called the Canticles,) love and
truth, both in the Lord and his people, are beautifully set forth under
this figure. See, especially, chap. i. 15; ii. 14; iv. 1; v. 2; vi. 9.
But sometimes, beloved children, the birds of heaven are used as
the emblem of judgment: and though there is not the same pleasure
in referring to these passages, yet we must remember that both are
equally the word of God, and each most useful in its place.
No one thing is more strongly insisted on in the scriptures, next to
the fear and love of God, than the obedience of children to their
parents. It was embodied in the Ten Commandments, and written
by God himself on the tables of stone. " Honour thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy
God giveth thee. " (Exod. xx. 12. ) This is called, when reiterated by
the apostle Paul, the first commandment with promise. (Ephes. vi. 2. )
Therefore, with this solemn declaration of the Lord's will, one is not
surprised that the stubborn and rebellious son, the glutton, and the
drunkard, should, at God's command, have been stoned to death with
out the camp. (Deut . xxi. 18, 21. ) And the figure taken from this
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? 252
THE CREATION.
day is equally strong. It occurs in Proverbs xxx. 17,--"The eye
that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the
ravens of the valley shall pluck it out, and the young eagles shall eat
it. " See also chap. xx. ver. 20. If these pages should meet the eye of
a disobedient child, may God in his infinite mercy, ere it be too late,
bring such a one back--the prodigal to his father's house. (Luke
xv. 21. )
Some children are very fond of money, and love to get little boxes,
and hoard it up; and many grown-up children have the same pro-
pensity: but the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim. vi. 10);
and covetousness is called idolatry (Eph. v. 5.
) How striking is the
word of Solomon, "Labour not to be rich; cease from thine own
wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not ? for riches
certainly make to themselves wings, they fly away, as an eagle towards
heaven. "--This moment in possession, the next gone. The rich man
is a steward; and if faithful to his trust, he feeds the hungry, clothes
the naked, and sends portions to them for whom nothing is prepared.
His riches are a blessing to himself and to others. Learn, then, my
beloved children, to compassionate the poor,--help them with the
little you have; and show mercy with cheerfulness: and never speak
unkindly to the poorest person. A penny given with cheerfulness
and compassion is more welcome to the heart, than a much larger sum
given with chilling coldness.
In the terrible judgments on Edom, in the last days, all the most
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? LETTER X.
2o3
forbidding of the birds of prey are introduced as building their nests
in its ruins:--"But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it;
the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out
upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. They shall
call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all
her princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her
palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be
a habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the
desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr
shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find
for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest,
and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow; there shall the
vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. Seek ye out of
the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall
want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it
hath gathered them. " (Isaiah xxxiv. 11--16. )
How awful is this description; and one turns from it with delight
to the next chapter: for the same hour that brings judgment on Edom
is full of blessing to Israel. " The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom
as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy
and singing. " But read the chapter throughout: it is full of triumph,
full of blessing.
I might, my beloved children, enlarge yet more; but you can search
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? 254
THE CREATION.
out yourselves other passages, where the creatures of this day's crea-
tion are used in illustration. Indeed, to the mind seeking for instruc-
tion, everything around ministers to it . May you be found among
the Israel of God; and then, when the Lord shall come in his glory,
you shall be caught up to meet him in the air, and so be ever with the
Lord. (1 Thess. iv. 17. ) This is the earnest prayer of
Your affectionate Father.
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? THE CREATION.
255
LETTER XL
*' AND GOD SAID, LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH THE LIVING CREATURE AFTER HIS
KIND, CATTLE, AND CREEPING THING, AND BEAST OF THE EARTH AFTER HIS KIND:
AND IT WAS SO. AND GOD MADE THE BEAST OF THE EARTH AFTER HIS KIND, AND
CATTLE AFTER THEIR KIND, AND EVERY THING THAT CREEPETH UPON THE EARTH
AFTER HIS KIND : AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. AND GOD SAID, LET US
MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE, AFTER OUR LIKENESS : AND LET THEM HAVE DOMINION
OVER THE FISH OF THE SEA, AND OVER THE FOWL OF THE AIR, AND OVER THE
CATTLE, AND OVER ALL THE EARTH, AND OVER EVERY CREEPING THING THAT
CREEPETH UPON THE EARTH. "--Gcntsitl. 24--26.
My dear Children,
We have now arrived at the last day of Creation. The Lord had
called the world into being, and had shed his light upon it,--he had
also surrounded it with an atmosphere graciously adapted for the
beings he had destined to live upon it. --He had caused the dry land
to appear, and covered it with fertility and beauty. --He had made
the heavens to glow with the brightness of the sun by day, and to be
illumined with the gentle rays of the moon, and with innumerable
stars by night. --He had filled the air and sea with animated life. --
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? 256 THE CREATION.
And now, on this sixth day, he calls into existence a race of beings of
a superior order to the birds and fishes; but yet merely animal; and
all this being accomplished, there seems a pause in Creation. --It is no
longer the simple fiat, or word of God, " Le^ it be;" but there is
counsel between the Holy Ones that bear record in heaven;* and the
all important word is, " Let tig make man in our image, after
our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created
he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them,
and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon
the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb
bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree,
in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for
meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air,
and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life,
I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God
saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the
* Compare Genesis iii. 22, xi. 7, Isaiah vi. 8, with Matt. xxviii. 19, 2 Cor. xiii.
14, 1 John v. 7.
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? LETTER XL?
257
heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And
on the seventh day God ended his. work which he had made; and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And
God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he
had rested from all his work which God created and made. " (Gen. i.
26--31; ii. 1--3. )
I have quoted at large the order of the Creation of the sixth day;
and the institution of the primeval or first sabbath--the rest of God,
(Heb. iv. ;) and as I attentively perused the verses in copying them, one
thing forcibly struck me--the absence of death. Now, indeed, death
reigns on every side, as we have abundantly seen in the fish of the
deep and fowl of the air; but then all animated being subsisted on
the herb of the field. All was sinless--all was deathless: for had there
been no sin, there could have been no death; because death is the
effect of sin. There was no beast or bird of prey in Eden--the
leopard and the lamb lay down together, and the lion ate straw like
the ox; and nothing did hurt or destroy in all God's vast creation.
And in " the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken
of by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began,"
(Acts iii.