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A DISCOURSE, ETC.

CUNNING.

PSALM 137, VERSES 5, 6.

IF I FORGET THEE, O JERUSALEM, LET MY RIGHT HAND FORGET HER IF I DO NOT REMEMBER THEE, LET MY TONGUE cleave TO THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH; IF I PREFER NOT JERUSALEM TO MY CHIEF JOY.

I HAVE prefixed to the following Discourse these heart-felt expressions of the inspired poet of Judah, not with the intention of explaining them theologically, but from a wish to commence my present address, by alluding to those sentiments of which the words of my text are so vivid an expression. They describe with a pathos which cannot be surpassed, the feelings with which a Jewish captive, serving a hard master in the river-fed plains of Mesopotamia, recurred to the scenes of his earlier years, to that mountain girdle which encircled and still encircles his native Sion, and where he still loved to dwell at least in the pleasing illusions of imagination. The feelings which suggested the words to the lamenting exile, are holy in their nature, and among the purest which God has implanted in the heart of man, and their violation by some act of treason against our kinsmen according to the flesh, has in all ages and in all countries been regarded as an offence not easily to be pardoned, not soon to be forgotten; they have been cherished by the wise as a strong stimulant to honourable action, and the good have regarded them as no slight protection of social happiness.

Yet it has been alleged that the Gospel dispensation allows no place for these feelings, that in the Christian code of duty there is a deficiency under this head, and that the

virtue of patriotism in its original signification is not inculcated as a portion of His system, either by the Saviour himself or the chosen interpreters of His will.

As a general truth, we may perhaps accept this allegation, for it would be easy to imagine cases in which it might be the first duty of a Christian to abjure all such feelings, and to look upon his kinsmen according to the flesh as the fiercest foes to his spiritual progress. Yet admitting this, it may be justly said that independent of direct precepts the Christian has other guides in the performance of his relative duties, that in the example of the greater saints described in Holy Writ, and especially in the perfect model placed before us in the life and actions of our blessed Saviour, lights are held out to us, by which we may direct our course in all doubtful circumstances.

Should we therefore look to our Saviour's career on earth, we must conclude that He regarded His brethren according to the flesh, as entitled to higher privileges, as far as His own personality was concerned, than any other descendants of our common father Adam.

It was a daugther of Judah and female representative of the house of David, the most glorious and renowned monarch who ever reigned over Israel, who was chosen to be the blessed mother of the Lord of life. It was to Bethlehem, the native village of the same great king, that the honour was assigned of becoming the birth-place of "the Prince of Peace," and henceforth a hallowed spot in the memory of all Christian believers.

It was to Jewish Shepherds, who in the adjacent plains were carefully watching their flocks by night, that the announcement was made, stating that to them was born a King greater than either Solomon or his father David, a Shepherd of souls able to save his chosen flock from all extraneous attacks. It was to these sons of Judah, the descendants of Israel and Abraham, that the most glorious of all Anthems was sung, by a multitude of the Heavenly Host, who announced in harmonious strains the glad tidings of salvation,

and that thenceforth there were to be "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace, good will towards men." It was to His kinsmen according to the flesh, that He almost exclusively confined His ministrations upon earth, to them in all His actions He assigned a marked preference, so that every individual chosen during His earthly ministration belonged to the favoured race; and after the resurrection, and after the communication of the Holy Spirit, with all its spiritual and intellectual gifts, when a thirteenth Apostle was to be selected as a special messenger to the Gentile world, that honourable mission was entrusted to the learned disciple of Gamaliel, to Saul, the Benjamite.

Even His very travels after entering upon the active duties of his office, were usually confined to the ancient limits assigned to the possessions of the house of Israel, so that no other portion of this earth was hallowed by his divine presence, except that country, which in consequence of the limited extend of His visitations, has since been called by all Christendom, the Holy Land.

With these impressive facts before us, we need not wonder that in the New Testament there are not to be found any direct precepts, calling upon Christians to practise as a duty those actions which spontaneously spring from the feelings with which every healthy-minded man regards his native land, feelings which if extravagantly indulged, are far more likely to hurry men into excess, than to confine them within the bounds of moderation. But God does not seem to have set his seal of reprobation upon them, when carried apparently to something like a culpable excess, as may be exhibited in the case of Moses, who, although brought up in the Egyptian court, and adopted as a son by the daughter of the Pharaoh of that day, found no pleasure in his courtly position and the privileges accompanying it, but reserved all his sympathies for his oppressed kinsmen, and willingly sacrificed all his worldly prospects rather than betray their cause. And with his feelings in so acting, the inspired author of the Epistle to the Hebrews appears to coincide when he thus

writes;-"By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer afflictions with the children of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king."* We need not wonder that St. Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to whom was especially entrusted the superintendence of the Israelites according to the flesh, who were also Israelites in spirit, should have confined his first Epistle general to those strangers among the Gentiles, the dispersed Israelites of his day, but it is a very impressive fact that the Great Apostle of the Gentiles, that man of zeal and energy, whom Christ selected as his chosen instrument for the diffusion of his faith among the nations, not included in the covenant with Abraham, should have exhibited so devoted a love and attachment for his unbelieving kinsmen according to the flesh, that he has given utterance to a sentiment, with which we in our cold-blooded selfishness can hardly sympathize; his very remarkable words are these, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart; for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." These are very strong expressions, and without entering into the theological meaning of every word of the quotation it may solely be inferred that his love for his kinsmen, grounded on his connexion with them by race alone, was of the most binding nature. That there might be no mistake respecting at least one source of this predilection, he states the reasons, why his affections were so warmly stirred up in their behalf, by adding, "Who are Israelites, to whom pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the pro

Hebrews chap. xi, verse 24.

Rom. chap. ix, verses 1, 2, 3.

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