ger; in life and in death, - be this

my

consolation, that “the Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

Where can the wayworn pilgrim roam
The soul whom earth denies a home,
But angel-legions round him tend,
To comfort, succor, and befriend?
They waft him o'er the stormy deep,
Or strengthen up the mountain-steep;
Amidst ten thousand deaths they shield
His sacred head in war's red field;
And when at last he sinks to rest,
On some fond arm, on some fond breast,
His disencumbered soul they bear,
Life's everlasting crown to wear.
But all their ministries of love,
To draw them from their seats above,
The saints to succor, watch, and guide,
Through earth's dark wilds, or ocean's tide,
Are nothing, to the Saviour's cares
Expended on salvation's heirs.
And will the Lord of glory deign
An angel's office to sustain ?

Amazing love — unequalled grace,
To men of Adam's fallen race!
Blest Saviour! since such love is thine,
I gladly all to thee resign:
My every step and thought attend,
And guide and guard me to the end.

FOURTH MEDITATION.

ARM

OF

THE

LORD.

My SAVIOUR is the “ ARM OF THE LORD.” Under this title Isaiah invoked the long-tarrying Messiah: “Awake, awake, put on strength, O Arm of the Lord! Awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon ? Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over ? "* Now, these were “the redeemed of the Lord.' The Arm of the Lord, therefore, which made their way for them, is synonymous with Jehovah, the Redeemer of his people, the Saviour of my soul.

It hath been justly observed, that “God speaks in our way, but acts according to his own.” By his ARM, then, we are to understand the extent of

*

his power; as his stretched-out arm, or infinite might, reaches to all things; by his hand, the most minute, exact, and perfect workings of that power, which descends to the arrangement of the least of his dispensations equally with the greatest, at once kindling the glimmer of the glowworm, and the blaze of ten thousand suns, and sustaining alike the movements of seraphs and of babes; "and by his right hand, the brightest display of his omnipotence and majesty.” If the finger of God,* or the least exertion of his strength, could create the heavens, who can prescribe bounds to the reach of his ARM, or what is impossible to the strength of his divine right hand ? But these terms do not merely imply the omnipotence of Jehovah; they frequently signify JEHOVAH himself; so that I am fully justified in declaring that the ARM OF THE LORD is Saviour.

Thus Moses, in his book of divine reminiscences, told Israel well to remember the mighty HAND, and stretched-out ARM, whereby the Lord their God brought them out of Egypt +.

an office which I have seen to have been discharged by the Angel of the Lord, the Saviour of the world.

my

For, says the Psalmist, "thou hast with thine ARM redeemed thy people,"* and I well know by whom alone this was or could be effected. Of whom, again, does Isaiah speak, in that remarkable portion of his prophecies, which he seems to have written as on Mount Calvary, in view of the bleeding cross? Of whom can he speak but of my Saviour, when, with impassioned energy and sorrow, he asks, “To whom is the ARM of the Lord revealed? "+ He can mean no other than the divine and glorious personage who "was wounded for our transgressions, who poured out his soul unto death, who was stricken for the transgression of his people." The same prophet tells us, "that the Lord hath sworn by his RIGHT HAND, and by the ARM of his STRENGTH," in confirmation of his promises to his people. But "as he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself; "§ and therefore we see all the engagements of God established in Christ.

"Not only the power and Godhead of Christ are revealed under the denomination of JEHOVAH'S HAND, but also the MEDIATION of Christ

*Ps. lxvii. 15.
† Isa. liii. 1.

Isa. lxii. 8.
§ Heb. vi. 13.