No More Learning

v. 29. ) In the
prophet Daniel, chap. xii. 1--3, the figure of the firmament is intro-
duced with great force and beauty; the scene is the resurrection, and
the prophet says, " And those that be wise shall shine as the firma-
ment ; and those that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever
and ever. " In the margin it is " those that are teachers;" but in either
sense it is very beautiful. But what makes the firmament so bright
--so transparent--so dazzling? The Sun has his tabernacle there, and
the firmament is bright in his brightness. Oh, never forget His love
that purchased that glory! (for it is a glory of redemption) and remem-
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? LETTER IV.
39
ber, that to secure it He gave that brow, now surrounded with glory,
to be encircled with thorns; and that we might cry " Abba Father "
in the spirit of adoption, He uttered the piercing cry, "Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani? --My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? "
(Mark xv. 34. ) " He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. " (2 Cor. v. 21. ) I
know not how to stop on this subject. The love of Christ is infinite;
it has lengths and breadths and depths and heights which pass know-
ledge. Eph. iii. 19. " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. "
(2 Cor. ix. 15. )
How fertile the fields looked the other day after that long and
painful drought. The rain came down the previous night, and we
could almost see the arid and parched field change its colour as we
gazed on it . Such is the blessing of the word of God when minis-
tered by God's Holy Spirit to the soul. His gracious presence is like
the showers upon the mown grass! How beautiful the language of
Moses,--"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak: and hear, O
earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain,
my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender
herb, and as the showers upon the grass. " (Deut. xxxii. 1, 2. ) And
again in that most interesting chapter of Isaiah,--" For as the rain
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may
? give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be
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? 40
THE CREATION.
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I send it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led
forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth into
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead
of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall
come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. " (Isa. lv. 10--13. ) Here the
illustration is exactly the same as in Deuteronomy, and though the
ultimate extent of the prophecy looks forward to a period when all
shall be joy--the times of the restitution of all things, when Creation,
delivered from the bondage of corruption, shall rejoice in the reign of
its rightful King who has redeemed it--the second Adam, the Lord
from heaven, yet doubtless now there is an earnest of it in those who
have the first-fruits of the Spirit, (Rom. viii. 23,) for where the Holy
Spirit dwells, the brier and the thorn, the angry and cruel passions, are
exchanged for the myrtle and the fir--so beautifully emblematic of
the fruits of the Spirit, (see Gal. v. 22,23,) for though sin is not eradi-
cated, it is subdued; and God's Holy Spirit, and not Satan, has the
dominion, and reigns in, and over the new-born child of God.
(Rom. vi. 14. )
Another beautiful figure in nature is the Deir, and none is more fre-
quently used--but I will mention three especial allusions to it. Do
you remember the other morning, in our drive to H. , it would have
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? LETTER IV.
41
been in vain to have sought to count the glittering dew-drops of the
morning: the sun was up, and every drop seemed a radiant gem upon
the indescribable beauty around. I thought of that multitude which
no man could number, and it seemed to me at once to expound the
sublime description in Psalm ex. " thy people shall be willing in the
day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the
morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. " Hebrew scholars
say the word " willing " is used in the highest degree, it is most willing,
and the last clause is literally " thy progeny shall be as dew from the
' womb of the morning. " Bright and glorious will be the morning of
the Resurrection of the just: then the Sun of Righteousness shining on
the dew, every drop shall glisten and be resplendent in His brightness.
But not only is the dew thus used, but it has also a second order of
illustration; when speaking of Israel's captivity being turned, in
Hosea xiv. 5th verse, the Lord says, "I will be as the dew unto
Israel: he shall grow (or blossom) as the lily, and cast forth his roots
as Lebanon. " Last year, if you remember, I told you of my visit to
the great synagogue in Duke's Place, London, at the feast of the
Passover; and how I was struck with astonishment at the number of
the prayers offered to the Lord as the Father of the Beu; entreating
him to be as the dew to Israel. I asked an aged Jew by me what it
meant, and he said it was all a figure, but I said of what ? and he looked
at me as if disinclined to answer. Poor Israel! yes, you shall again be
visited by the dew, the Lord shall indeed return to Jerusalem with
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? 42
THE CREATION.
mercies, (Zech. i. 16,) he will yet be as the cloud of dew in the heat
of harvest; for Israel, with the Spirit poured out from 011 high, shall
blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isa. xxvii. 6 ;
Micah v. 7; Zech. viii. 12, 13. ) There is yet one more use of this
gracious figure; it occurs in Psalm cxxxiii. , and sets forth the love
that brethren in the Lord should have one to the other; the scene
of the Psalm is supposed to be " the whole Levite family attending in
the service of God. " " Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment
upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard:'
that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon
descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded
the blessing, even life for evermore. " The dew of Hermon descended
upon all the mountains of Zion; the little hill, the Mizar, received it,
as well as the lofty Lebanon; so in the sweet offices of brotherly
love, the least disciple is not to be overlooked, and the gracious One
that watches the whole family, says that a cup of cold water given in
the name of a disciple, shall not be forgotten of Him. It was the
remark of a Pagan nobleman, that the early Christians sang hymns to
Jesus as God, and that they loved one another; blessed testimony to
their faith and practice; for truly where the Lord Jesus is not acknow-
ledged as one with the Father over all, God blessed for ever, there is
no saving faith: and where brotherly love is wanting, there is no
evidence that the Faith is genuine.
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? LETTER IV.
43
It is a singular fact, that when the manna fell on the ground around
the tents of Israel, it fell on the dew, (Numb. xi. 9,) and when the dew
was exhaled or drawn up by the heat, (Exod. xvi. 14,) the manna re-
mained in sight, to look upon like the coriander seed--small as the
hoar-frost. I do not attempt to explain at large, dear children, the
connexion between the dew and the manna, but it seems beautifully
to set forth, that we only know Christ as the True Manna, by the
teachings of the Holy Ghost given to us; thus when the poor leper
was brought into the camp at peace with God, the blood was put on
his right ear, right hand, and right foot, and the oil was put over the
blood, setting forth the same truth, for so the Spirit of God consecrated
him to serve God. (Lev. xiv. 14--18. )
The Clouds are often used in the Scripture as the symbol of the
presence of God: thus it was in the cloudy pillar that the Lord mani-
fested himself to Israel in mercy--to Egypt in judgment. It was
the cloud of his presence that overshadowed the camp. (Exod. xiii. 21;
Ps. cv. 39. ) Clouds and darkness are also said to be about him. --
The Lord ascended from Olivet, and a cloud received him out of his
people's sight. He was brought in the clouds of glory to the Ancient
of days, (Dan. vii. 13,) and he shall come again in the clouds of glory.
(Matt. xxvi. 64. ) When, then, you look on the clouds, dear child-
ren, think of those wondrous scenes, and of that day, especially called
the day of the Lord. (Luke xvii. 24 ; 2 Pet. iii. 12. ) In the Epistle of
Jude there is a figure used concerning the clouds, that I am not aware
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? 44
THE CREATION.
occurs in any other place;--false professors of the religion of Jesus
are called " clouds without water. " And so it often happens; clouds
here and there present themselves, but they pass over our heads,---
there are no gentle droppings from them--no refreshing showers;
they are floating clouds without water. Such are those who have a
name to live, and are dead before God: you may meet them in society,
and they will speak of the world, and its amusements, and vanities,
and pleasures. They have indeed a Sunday's form of godliness: but
a religion that is confined to times and seasons, and that does not
breathe through the every day circumstances of life is a poor thing.
Such professors are as clouds without water, and awful is their state
if they repent not;--" to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
for ever. " (Jude 12, 13. )
I think I must mention one passage more to you--about the Snow;
it is in Job ix. 30, 31:--"If I wash myself with snow water, and
make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch,
and mine own clothes shall abhor me. " You remember that Job was
a man that feared God and eschewed or avoided evil, (i. 8;) there
was none like him on the earth. This God said of him, (i. 8,) but
when Job thought of himself as standing before God, he said, how shall
a man be just with God ? if He will enter into judgment with him, he
cannot answer him one of a thousand, (ix. 1--3 :) see also ver. 15, and
then the one I have quoted,--" though I wash me with snow water. "
Now there is no water so cleansing, so purifying, as the snow water,
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? LETTER IV.
45
and the Patriarch alludes to this. Though he said, I was cleansed and
cleansed again from every visible defilement, and no one single blemish
could be detected on me by man, yet when He looks on me, whose
eyes are as a flame of fire, searching to the inmost thought, not only shall
there be specks here and there, but like one plunged in the ditch,
" mine own clothes shall abhor me. " So, my beloved children, man can-
not stand before God in his own righteousness; for in his sight can
no man living be justified: see especially Zech. iii. 3, and compare
Ps. xxiv. 3, 4, with Ps. xviii. 20, and in each see the Lord Jesus
as the One and the only one who had clean hands and a pure heart,
and who, in the virtue thereof, having not only obeyed the law,
but magnified it and made it honourable, claimed the right of entrance
into the holy place; and as the obedient man who was God, sat down
at the welcome of the Father at his right hand, (Ps. ex. 1,) angels,
principalities, and powers, being made subject unto him. (1 Pet. iii. 22.
)
The Scriptures afford abundant illustrations on this subject, but I must
not fatigue you; but you will find it a profitable exercise, if the next
week, at breakfast, each one brings some passage from the word of
God, in which the rain and dew and snow are used in illustration.
Some months ago, if you remember, you did so, and we were all much
interested.
Believe me to remain, dear Children,
Ever your affectionate Father.
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? 46
THE CREATION.
LETTEK V.
AND GOD CALLED THE DRY LAND EARTH; AND THE GATHERING TOGETHER OF THE
WATERS CALLED HE SEAS: AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. AND GOD SAID,
LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH GRASS, THE HERB YIELDING SEED, AND THE FRUIT
TREE YIELDING FRUIT AFTER HIS KIND, WHOSE SEED IS IN ITSELF, UPON THE
EARTH: AND IT WAS SO. AND THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH GRASS, AND HERB
YIELDING SEED AFTER HIS KIND, AND THE TREE YIELDING FRUIT, WHOSE SEED
WAS IN ITSELF, AFTER HIS KIND, AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. AND THE
EVENING AND THE MORNING WERE THE THIRD DAY. -- Genesis i. 10--13.
My dear Children,
Two day a of the history of our globe had now run out, and the third
came full of blessing. The character of this day's creation was two-
fold, as the account in Genesis i. fully manifests. The first part was
a call for the dry land (which evidently had been created in the begin-
ning) to appear;--the second, the Creation of the three great orders
of vegetation--trees, herbs, and grass; but I know of no part of
Scripture that brings out the character of this day's creation so
strikingly as the 104th Psalm. The inspired Psalmist looks back
3000 years, and brings the whole subject most blessedly before our
minds in the 104th Psalm, from 1st verse to the 6th:--"Who laid
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? 3". D WAY.
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? LETTER V.
47
the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood
above the mountains. "--The mountains were there, but the waters
covered them. --"At thy rebuke--that is, at thy word commanding
them--they fled; at the noise of thy thunder they hasted away," and the
dry land appeared. And then how striking the description of the
rivers and fountains of water, and the great sea:--" They go up by
the mountains, they go down by the valleys, unto the place which
thou hast founded for them--(evidently the great ocean);--thou hast
set a bound* that they may not pass over, that they turn not again
to cover the earth. He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which
run among the hills, they give drink to every beast of the field. " But
we must go back a little to the scene before us. --When the dry land
appeared, it doubtless presented all the varieties of mountains,, and
valleys, islands, and continents; and the waters likewise, all their
varieties of oceans and seas, lakes, rivers, and streams. At first the
earth must have looked barren, but this could have been but of short
duration; for no sooner had the command gone forth, than verdure
and beauty covered the face of the land, and this, too, in a state of
maturity, all having seed in themselves; so that every tree, and every
shrub, and every flower we now see, had its first parent there; for
* Some have applied this ninth verse to the promise to Noah, that the waters
should no more cover the earth; but Creation is surely the subject throughout
the whole Psalm.
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? 48
THE CREATION.
though the vegetable world has branched out for man's happiness in
almost endless variety, yet doubtless the heads of all the respective
families sprang into existence that third day. Some have supposed
that this creation was confined to one place, the Garden of Eden; and
that the winds and waters, and fowl have from age to age carried out
the seeds to other lands. Others, that the great leading orders of the
three divisions sprang up in the countries where God had destined
they should flourish; so that the oak and the pine, and all the hardy
families had the north for their first home; and the palm, the vine,
the olive, the myrtle, and the more tender trees, the south; and this
last idea seems to me to be much the more probable, and this I have
endeavoured to exhibit in the plates, though of course, from the
smallness of their size, I could but very imperfectly accomplish it.
Having thus endeavoured briefly to explain to you what seems to
me to have marked the order of this day's creation, I must now seek
to tell you something of the blessings connected therewith, and also
enlarge a little on the natural history of the metals and minerals
within the heart of the earth, and of the trees and grass on its surface.
In the twenty-eighth of Job there is a beautiful remark on this, " As
for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and under it is turned up as it
were fire; the stones of it, the place of sapphires, and it hath the dust
of gold ;" and in the first verse, " Surely there is a vein for the silver,
and a place for gold where they fine it. Iron is taken out of the
earth, and brass is molten out of the stone. " In these few verses,
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? LETTER V.
49
what an amazing quantity of information is given to us! and, considering
the antiquity of the book of Job, it is of increased interest; and
in the close of this chapter, when, inquiring the value of wisdom,
he introduces all the precious metals and gems of the earth,
and then puts them all aside; for the value of wisdom--the wisdom
of God, even Jesus--is far above all the glory of the earth. But
the verses are so beautiful that I quote them: and they tell us
how well the value of these things was known at this early period
of the earth's history: --"It cannot be gotten for gold, neither
shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued
with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.