The Christian repels them with the shield of faith, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. He possesses the divine word which is full of promises, and that faith which is a deep conviction of things not seen, and the substance or foundation of things hoped for. Therefore he gives no quarter to unbelief; God hath spoken, it is enough. There is a mansion for him; he will possess it. His Saviour has conquered and reigns. He will conquer and reign also. He beholds by faith, a glorious mansion, a palm of victory, a song of triumph, a crown of life. Animated by the prospect, he fights his way through all his foes, and as he fights he sings

The hapless crew upon the reef are cast;
And round them rages wild the furious blast;

Deep calls to deep with wide-mouthed thundering roar,
Loud beat the billows on the rock-bound shore;
Crash after crash is heard with fearful shock,
As the boat dashes on the craggy rock.
The affrighted crew nor skill nor courage have,
To save their bark from the devouring wave;
Russia's great Czar beholds them on the reef,
He nobly hastens to afford relief:

Boldly he plunges in the boiling waves,
And all the fury of the tempest braves;

He leaps on board, and with a skilful hand,

Through rocks and breakers, brings them safe to land.

We have here a picture of danger and of deliverance. Peter the Great, Emperor of all the Russias, had been sailing in one of his yachts as far as the Ladoga Lake; finding himself refreshed by the sea-breeze, instead of landing at St. Petersburg, he sailed down the Neva toward the open sea of the gulf of Finland. The day had been very fine; toward evening, however, the weather suddenly changed; the emperor resolved to land, but he had scarcely reached the shore, when the storm burst forth in all its fury. The waves rose and beat against the craggy rocks of the coast, and the wind roared from the wild sky with a thundering voice ; in a few minutes a black cloud, let down like a curtain, hid the scene from view. Still, however, the emperor looked and listened; he thought he heard the voice of distress mingling with the yell of the storm; his penetrating glance soon discovered a boat struggling against the rolling surge, that was driving it toward the furious breakers. The men most of them being soldiers, are evidently at a lost what to do; presently the boat is dashed upon a reef; the sea breaks over it mountains high. The emperor immediately sends a vessel to their aid, but in vain; the men on board want both skill and courage to execute the dangerous task. The poor men on the reef, seeing themselves deserted by their companions, rend the air with their piteous cries for help; the emperor can contain himself no longer, -he springs into his own boat, calling on all who have hearts to dare for their brethren, to follow him. By great exertions he

reaches as near to the sufferers as the breakers will allow-he perceives that he is yet too far off to aid them-what they need is a skilful pilot-he plunges into the raging billows, bravely he buffets the mounting surge, now floating on the topmost wave, now sinking in the depths beneath; soon he gains the boat,—he springs on board like a delivering angel. The men, resouled at sight of the emperor risking his life to save them, renew their efforts they soon get off the shoal into deep water, and the emperor guides them skilfully through the rocks and shoals, and brings them safe to land.

Now he is overwhelmed with the grateful demonstrations of those whom he had saved from the jaws of destruction, and of those happy wives and children, who, but for him, would now have

been orphans and widows; he enjoys the luxury of doing goodhe feels most truly that "it is more blessed to give than to receive."

"The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed;
It blesseth him who gives, and him who takes,
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown."

We admire, and very justly too, the surprising condescension the tender compassion, the heroic courage, and the consummate skill of the Emperor of all the Russias, in risking his life for the sake of a few poor men-but what is this compared with the grace of our Lord and Saviour "Jesus"? The emperor lost nothing of his dignity in doing what he did; he laid aside none of his titles; he assumed not a lower rank; in the boat, among the waves, and on the shoal, he was still an emperor. But Jesus laid His glory by; the glory that He had with the Father before the world was; the glory resulting from creative power; the glory of guiding the armies of earth and heaven; the glory of eternity. "He emptied himself," "He made himself of no reputation." The master becomes a slave; the king becomes a subject; the maker of worlds becomes a creature; the God becomes a worm! How surprising this condescension; how wonderful this humility :

"Bound every heart, and every bosom burn."

And O with what tender compassion Jesus pitied us as He saw us exposed to the gulf of eternal death! In the depth of our misery He exclaimed, "Behold! I come," and immediately hastened to our relief. O how He weeps, groans, prays, and dies for us, and for our salvation! He pities our ignorance-He groans for our unbelief-He weeps for the hardness of our hearts-He dies for our guilt.

What heroic courage He displays in working out our deliverance! How He grapples with the powers of darkness! How He triumphs over temptation, poverty, and shame! How He conquers principalities and thrones, making a show of them openly! He wrests from death his dreadful sting, proves victorious over the grave, and opens the gates of Paradise to all believers. What divine wisdom, also, He manifests in the work of redemption, in securing to man

his liberty, and to God His glory! How skilfully the Saviour confutes all the sophistry of the devil! how wonderfully He answers all the cavils of His adversaries! how, by His questions, does He take the wise in their own craftiness! His laws fill with admiration the hearts of His worshippers. How skilfully he guides His followers through the rocks and shoals of temptation and sin, and lands them safely on the banks of deliverance! "Verily, He hath done all things well." Hallelujah.

Peter risked

But for whom did the Saviour labour and suffer? his life for mortals like himself; Jesus gave His for beings infinitely beneath Him. Peter for his own soldiers, Jesus for those who were arrayed under the banner of His great foe; Peter for his own subjects, Jesus for the subjects of another kingdom; Peter rescued merely his friends, Jesus died for the salvation of His enemies. Herein is love," God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners," consequently enemies, "Christ died for us."

In the case before us—one rather of contrast than comparisonwe see the men, re-spirited by the presence of their emperor come to save them, labour with all their might; had they not done so, they could not have been saved, notwithstanding all the skill, power, and good-will of their prince. But we, alas! stupid and ignorant as we are, when our Deliverer comes to our aid, are found questioning His skill, denying His power, and disbelieving His kind intentions, instead of "working out our own salvation" with fear and trembling, while He works in us, helping us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Those who were saved from death by the philanthropic emperor, showered upon him every demonstration of gratitude; they invoked eternal blessings on his head, and devoted their lives to his service; and shall not we be grateful to our spiritual Deliverer? His name ought to be to us above every name. His name Salvation is; to the man that believes, Christ is precious-he meditates upon His wondrous love, upon His unparalleled condescension, upon His heroic courage, upon His tender compassion, and upon His divine wisdom, until the fire of grateful emotion burns within him, and he presents himself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable before the Lord, saying,

"Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my life, my soul, my all."