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V.

THE SHIELD OF GOD.

"BLESSED is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" Thus (according to Luke, xiv. 15.) spoke, full of anticipation, the man who sat next to Jesus at the table, and who watched the words of life as he uttered them. We re-echo them after him in a clearer view. For the sake of that kingdom, existence is a treasure. The bread of that kingdom is the real food which approximates to heaven. That kingdom is a royal domain; its ruler is Christ. It is not a kingdom of this world; not to be extended by the sword, nor to be annihilated by it. Its boundary lines rest not upon earth. Its possessions are of a heavenly nature. The foundation of that kingdom was laid in the promise of paradise; in its theocratic constitution it was prefigured in the divine government of Israel; the prophets, in spirit, contemplated and greeted it from afar in its extended development; and with the incarnation of the Son of God, it entered upon a new, and indeed the next degree of development, in which it now rests. The last stage but one of its development it will arrive at in that period in which, upon earth, there will be one shepherd and one flock; its final consummation it will receive at the last day, the day of universal resurrection, of the

longer. Before the words are uttered, our hearts feel the fact in their whole appearance. In happy days, they are the delight and pride of the people; in evil days, their consolation and stay; nay more, they hold, to a certain degree, the office of mediator. It is thought that, on their account, a threatened evil will assuredly be averted from the land. The people cling to them, as if by that they were clinging to the wings of Him to whom they give the honour, and who honours them in return. The shield of God is spread over their head. They see it glisten and they are comforted. And what shall I say of the influence of their example of this silent and yet so mighty power, which needs not the accompaniment of a formal sanction; and writes its laws at once in the heart without the aid of parchment? What shall I say of the implicit confidence which would be placed in the sincere opinion of such rulers, and which would form the most enduring bank against the billows of political discontent, the securest foundation of true adherence and national fidelity ? Yes, if a monarch wishes to behold himself firmly planted upon his elevated seat, and assured of a blessed dominion, let him fix his throne on God's word; let his glory be rooted in the fear of the Lord; let him lay his throne at the feet of God, stand before Jehovah day and night, and wear under his purple robe the sackcloth of repentance and humility. The people will perceive it, and will not omit the "All hail to the king!"

Although we have been led by Jehoram to these contemplations, we would not refer to him as to a pattern of princes. To the sackcloth on his back, his feelings are in complete contradiction. Not that in such a costume he was a low hypocrite, but he was not a

Beneath the form of the

repentant, humbled sinner. lamb there was hidden, still unsubdued, the old grim and savage wolf. For in the same moment that through the rent garments the hairy covering is revealed, there is heard to thunder forth the murderous oath : "God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall stand on him this day." Do you know of a more decided contrast than this? The king, lowly bending before the Lord, makes the confession that by this calamity he is rightly punished for his sins, and in the same moment he foams with rage against him whom he considers to be the instrument through whom God inflicts upon him the calamity. But in this trait he characterises himself as a man whose reverence for the high God does not extend far beyond that of the "trembling devils ;" and in which nothing exists of that holy contrition which gushes forth in tears raised by the Holy Spirit from a fountain of love. In Jehoram there is no love, only fear; no filial grief at having offended his God, but merely slavish anxiety at having roused his anger. He would murder God, were it in his power; but as he cannot advance against God himself, he points the dagger of hatred against his messenger. Nay, he calls upon the Almighty himself to curse him, the penitent, before His face, in case he do not, ere evening arrive, destroy Elisha, the apple of His eye. Thus in the natural man, when he feels the rod of God upon him, the ancient fable of the Titan war against heaven becomes reality and truth. Only his impotency renders him dejected; otherwise, could he do as he wishes, he would in his rage overthrow the eternal heights, and crush to pieces the throne of God. If, however, as is perhaps not to be denied,

there is in such tumult of a wretched worm of earth, something gigantic, then that may serve in some way as an index of the degree of endowment which human nature possessed before its degeneration into its satanic nature. Such a being, who, so gigantic in his amazing darkness and rage, can declare war against the Eternal, what an unlimited measure of love to God, what a burning zeal for God's honour, must it have been capable of exercising, before the virtues and powers borne within him became perverted into their all engulphing opposites.

The son of Shaphat therefore is the object of attack this day. Observe how Jehoram, whilst he curses him, at the same time confers upon him the highest dignity. For why should he aim at his life, except that in him he beholds the man who has called down the dreadful calamity upon Samaria, the man too, who, if he had chosen, might by intercession have been in a condition to ward it off. What an exalted position does he thus award unto the prophet! Does he not, in his rage against him, unconsciously impress a burning zeal of recognition upon the Divine credentials of his office? Does he not elevate him far above himself in power and influence, and does he not with his anathema, decorate him more gloriously than with the most brilliant chains of gold, orders and titles of honour? And in truth, it does not at all follow, that the faithful are discomfited because the world takes the field against them with such implacable hatred. For whatever contempt it may cast upon them, its very intensity acknowledges their importance to be of no mean degree. It necessarily betrays that at least the children of light are in various ways obstructions in their path, and that the spiritual

seriousness of the one class is a check to the other in their frivolous and carnal course; a disturbance of their frigid unconcernedness and its treacherous church-yard repose. Yea, it acknowledges by its antipathy to them. the difference of character belonging to the disciples of the Lord; tacitly accords to these people, that they represent that truth against which they are filled with hatred; the law, by which these will not be admonished, invests the children of light with the office of silent witnesses against them before God, and justifies and exalts them in the same manner as Jehoram does the prophet, whilst at the same time intending the very contrary.

How rejoiced did we feel at meeting Jehoram for once in sackcloth and ashes; and now to hear this dreadful sentence from his lips, and in that sentence to see the unbroken heart, inflamed with that double one of despair and exasperation against God, and only dwelling upon murder and revenge, instead of expiation and vanquishing of his sins! O if there exists aught better for Christian hearts, it is such delusions as we here behold, and alas! they are not rare. In general, however, they are witnessed in those very people who in appearance of godliness, greatly outshine others who do not, even like Jehoram, wear the sack-cloth under the mantle, but expose it to view, and appear always anointed, always wrapt, always agitated and praying. In such saints, I confess, I can with difficulty place confidence. Only in rare cases has the appearance of such people conveyed to me an unmixed idea of heartfelt purity. If they were not whited sepulchres, they nevertheless appeared strongly imbued with dissimulation, and it was always difficult to determine, how much was to be regarded as