The finner, finking, stunn'd by Sinai's fhock,
By Sinai's lightning, now beholds the Rock;
With glad furprife, more clear his moral fight,
He fees befides, a crofs of heavenly light
The Rock he clambers, to the cross he clings,
And saved from danger, of Salvation fings.

A SHORT time fince, and that vessel was failing calmly and fecurely over the foft blue wave. The voice of fong arose, and mingled its melodies with the light air around. Home, sweet home, was the theme which gladdened every heart. But ah! thou treacherous fea! Thou deceitful wind! How changed the fcene! The voice of fong is departed; joy and gladness are no more. Instead of the mufic of foft symphonies, are heard the clamours of despair, the thunder's mighty roar, old ocean's harfh founds, and the howling of the storm. The fhip is driven. fiercely before the gale, fails are rent, one of the mafts is gone by the board, ruin fteers the ill-fated fhip; fhe ftrikes upon a reef, the billows roll over her, the crew are washed overboard. Night thickens around with his ftormy horrors; manfully the drowning wretches buffet the waves; the lightning flings its lurid glare around, and fhows them their awful condition; again it lightens, and they descry a rock, lifting its head above the billows, and promising a place of fafety. Hope revives-they fwim for the rock, foon "they make it." See, they have got upon it. Now they are fafe.

The veffel, failing joyfully and fecurely before the gale began, may represent the fafe and happy

condition of our first parents before they were affailed by the storms of temptation; the drowning mariners denote the deplorable state of mankind fince the fall, who are finking amidst the waves of guilt and woe; the tempeft overhead denotes the storm that howls over the head of every finner, in confequence of the violation of Jehovah's law. Sinai thunders forth its curses, and flashes its lightnings around the finner's path, in order to show him his weakness, his guilt, and his danger. As the lightning points the drowning failor to the rock, fo the law directs or opens the way to Chrift, that the finner might be justified by faith in the atonement.

The rock, rifing in the troubled ocean, affording a fhelter from the fhipwreck, reprefents Chrift, the Rock of Ages, who has borne all the fury of the ftorm for man, and who, by his crofs, giveth life and light to a dying world. The penitent finner, feeling himself finking in the mighty waters, and tremblingly alive to the dangers of the tempeft above, and to the more fearful dangers of the rolling waves beneath, efcapes to the Rock, embraces the cross, and is safe, i. e., he believes in the Lord Jefus Chrift, and is faved.

JESUS, lover of my foul,

Let me to thy bofom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the ftorm of life is past,
Safe into the haven guide,
O receive my foul at last.

"And having done all, to ftand."-EPHES. vi. 13.
THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER.

The Chriftian hero here has made his ftand,
Obedient to his Captain's great command;
In panoply divine, equipped complete,
No danger dreads, no foe he fears to meet :
Truth wove the girdle that his loins adorn,
This bears him fcathlefs through the battle's ftorm.
A fenfe of pardon guards each vital part,

And forms the Breastplate that defends his heart.
For brazen Greaves, obedience he takes,

Through thorny paths his onward progress makes.
Hope of Salvation" is his helmet fair;
Though oft perplexed, it faves him from defpair.
He wields, and not in vain, a trusty sword,
A right good blade it is, Jehovah's word;
The Spirit's weapon, 'twill each knot untie,
Each foe difarm, and make Apollyon fly :
O'er all the rest he grafps Faith's mighty fhield,
And onward rushes to the battle-field.

As foon as one enlifts himself as a foldier of Jefus Chrift, that moment the world becomes his enemy. It happens to him as it fell out to the Gibeonites; when they made peace with Joshua, the neighbouring nations were highly offended, and faid to one another, "Come, let us unite our forces that we may fmite Gibeon, for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Ifrael."

But there are other foes, more mighty and fearful, against whom he has to contend. Satan, after 6000 years' practice in the art of destroying fouls, is a powerful opponent. "He goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour," for we wrestle not against flesh and bloodmerely-but "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." "Wherefore," on this account, "take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to ftand."

There are two kinds of armour, offenfive and defenfive; one to attack the foe, the other to protect ourselves. It is remarkable, that but one weapon is mentioned by the Apostle as belonging to the offenfive kind, viz., the fword; all the reft are defenfive. Among the Grecian warriors there were at leaft nine different weapons with which they affailed their enemies, yet the Apostle thinks that for the Chriftian this is enough.

The Captain of our falvation has provided us with all that is neceffary for the Chriftian warfare. Is our head expofed to the affaults of the devil? he has furnished us with a "helmet" to guard it; this is called in another place, the hope of Salvation. This good hope prepares the foldier for the warfare, upholds him in it, and brings him off a conqueror. Is the heart liable to be pierced? there is a breaftplate provided to protect it, it is the breastplate of Righteousness; this is a consciousness not only of his own fincerity, but also of his favourable acceptance with God. He feels that he is honeft in his profeffion of attachment to the Saviour, and that Chrift, his Captain, acknowledges him for a true foldier.

The feet being exposed to injuries, a pair of brass boots are given to protect them. It would not have answered any good purpose to protect the head, oftentimes, unless the feet likewise were provided for. If the feet were wounded, the foldier could not ftand to fight the foe, neither could he purfue him if conquered. The greaves fimply prompt obedience to the Captain's commands; with this, rough places become as plain, and the crooked as straight.

The girdle is given to keep the rest of the armour in its place, and to ftrengthen the loins. "Truth" accomplishes this for the Chriftian foldier. By this he discovers who are his enemies, their mode of attack, and the best way to refift them. A fhield alfo is provided; it is called