peared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, will, to those who wait for him, appear a second time without sin to salvation'."

We should notice too, that it is not in anger, nor in any dissatisfaction with his espoused, that the bridegroom departs: quite the reverse." Thou art all fair, my partner, there is no spot in thee." Let this encourage the believer, when, after a season of extraordinary joy, without any of those culpable causes on his part, noticed in some other parables, the presence of the Saviour seems again to be withdrawn.

"Thou art all fair, my partner, there is no spot in thee." As seen in Christ, viewed as apprehending that, for which he is apprehended in Christ Jesus, the believer is perfect in holiness-he is put in the way to attain perfection, the leaven is hid in his heart which is to assimilate the mass; and Christ is his surety and his strength. And, moreover, "he is not under the law, but under grace."

As called to self-examination and repentance, the people of God do find, indeed, that in many things they offend all; and they judge themselves, that they may not be judged according to that discipline which is to take away their sins: that they may not smart under that chastising rod which the heavenly Father, though unwilling to afflict, some

1 Heb. ix. 28.

times sees it necessary to use, in order to make his adopted children " partakers of his holiness." But spared through mercy, till the sovereign remedyChrist set forth to be a propitiation for sins-our sanctification, as well as our righteousness, shall be applied to the cure of every corruption, as well as the pardon of every sin, they are now in the eyes of God what the blessed Jesus is: "He is well pleased for his righteousness saken." And taking it for granted, what none can call in question, that Christ will fulfil his engagement, accomplish his undertaking, and redeem his pledge, we may, in confident anticipation, say with the Apostle, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love"."

In addition to the declaration of his entire acceptance, the beloved in the text honours his chosen partner with the title of Espoused, or Bride, and promises one day to take her with him to his distant abode in the mountain of myrrh, and the hill of frankincense. "With me from Lebanon, espoused, with me from Lebanon shalt thou come. Thou shalt look from the top of Amana, from the

top of Senir and Hermon, from the Lions'-dens, from the Leopard mountains."

Lebanon, and the mountains here mentioned, formed, as we have observed above, one of the boundaries of the Holy Land:-the border, in fact, which, from its situation, would be most frequently passed by the Israelites in going and returning from foreign countries. They were eminences also, which commanded extensive prospects, perhaps, over all the land of promise. The recollection of these circumstances will, I conceive, guide us to the true interpretation of this beautiful imagery. When we consider the metaphorical language of Scripture in general, and remark how every thing relating to this extraordinary people, and their habitation in the land of Canaan, is constantly allegorized by the sacred writers, to typify the concerns of Christ's church and kingdom, it seems very natural, that the passing of this celebrated boundary, and looking from the tops of these mountains in their progress homeward, should be considered as emblematical of the true Israelites entering into that rest which remaineth for the people of God.

Imagine to yourself the Jew, with his known love and superstitious reverence for his native country, returning from his sojourning, or captivity, among the hated Heathen; suppose him to reach at length these celebrated spots, where, after a long

absence from the scenes of his youth, "the glory of all lands" is first disclosed to his view or recall to your recollection those disconsolate captives, whose sorrows are so pathetically described in the hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm: "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof." Suppose them to have been addressed, by some one compassionating their distress, in the language before us, Ye shall pass again the borders of your beloved country, ye shall look from the top of Amana, from the summits of Senir and Hermon, from the Lions'-dens, and from the Leopard mountains." In this point of view, how beautiful and striking is the allusion, considered as emblematical of the Redeemer's purpose and promise of one day taking his "pilgrims and strangers," as they appear on earth, "his banished ones," home to his blessed abode in paradise and glory!

"Let not your hearts be troubled," was one of the actual farewell declarations of our gracious Lord; 66 ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye may be also"."

P John, xiv. 1, 2, 3.

And perhaps it will be permitted us to include in our interpretation of this allusion to these spots, so celebrated as we conceive for the prospects they afforded of the Holy Land, an intimation of those anticipations of hope, which disclose to the believer's view the distant landscape of the brighter world above. The time of the bride's departure to the beloved of her soul, was not yet arrived, but she might go occasionally to these well-known spots, and gladden her heart with a prospect of that pleasant land, which contained in its remote horizon all that was most dear to her.

So the Christian, who is waiting for his Lord from heaven, and sets his affections on things above, has, through Christ," access by faith into that grace wherein he stands, and rejoices in hope of the glory of God: he receives those joys of the Spirit, which are "the earnest of his inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." -We may compare his situation to that of the Jewish legislator, who, though he might not go over Jordan "to the good land, and that goodly mountain and Lebanon'," yet, before he dies, he is permitted, from the top of Pisgah, to behold it with his eyes.

"Thou hast affected my heart, my sister, espoused, thou hast affected my heart, with one look of thine eyes, with one turn of thy neck." These