There Jesus in that gloomy period, was the ark of God? Do you ask, “Where?” It had taken refuge in the deep valleys of Bohemia and Calabria. It had ascended to the cottages and huts of the Appennines, and of the Alps. There were given unto it "the wings of an eagle, that it might flee into the wilderness from the face of the dragon." There was its Kirjath-jearim; there its Abinadab and Eleazar. Christ had his worship; there the church of God was continued; and the sacred Scriptures were read by the simple and pious shepherds, who taught them to their children; and these latter again produced them before the eyes of their enemies, not only in the utterance of infant lips, but by the innocence of holy lives. See, more recently, the concluding period of the last century, when the Bible was an object of ridicule and contempt; when the literati of the age had conspired together against it; when the life-giving doctrine of the justification of a sinner by faith in the blood of Christ was rarely heard, and was confined to a very few parts of the Protestant world; where, then, was the sacred ark? It was found amongst those whom the world reviled and slandered; among the artisans and labourers from the mountains of Bohemia and Moravia. And while the enraged Philistines of Paris and Berlin were exclaiming, "Crush the wretch!" you might have seen those men (overlooked, indeed, by the world, but known of God) traverse the Atlantic, to preach the Gospel to the slaves of the West Indies; or plunge into the ice of Greenland or Labrador, to make it known to the stupid Esquimaux; and thus change, through its instrumentality, brutal and savage men into sheep of Christ's flock. In those wilds there was raised up a community of Christian men, who ardently longed for holiness, loved their enemies, sent up to heaven in prayer noble thoughts, holy desires, celestial aspirations; and who, at this day, from amidst their eternal snows, present to the throne of God, perhaps, the purest incense of worship that he receives from earth. Let me direct your attention to the noble conduct of the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, as mentioned in the text. In the midst of the general irreligion and apostasy of an entire people, remark their faith, their wisdom, and their zeal. There came messengers from Beth-shemesh, which was a city of Priests, to say, that they would no longer keep the ark of the covenant. The Jearimites, to say the least, were as willing to receive it, as the Bethshemites were to part with it. There was no delay in their movements. Although all Israel, including the Priests, were disposed to turn away from the Lord, these pious men were inclined to say, "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us." They hasten to Beth-shemesh. With a holy joy they take charge of the ark, and bring it to Kirjath-jearim. It is not upon a stone in the open fields, like the Bethshemites, that they design to place it. If they had a palace, a temple, they would think themselves honoured in bestowing it there. Where, then, do they dispose of it? Is it under the care of some descendant of Aaron? Alas! the Minis ters of the sanctuary were then strangers to the ark of the covenant. Nothing favourable to it, at that time, was to be expected from them. The lips of the Priest did no more keep knowledge, nor teach the right ways of the Lord. They chose, therefore, the most honourable man of their city, the pious Abinadab; whose dwelling, placed on the top of a hill, agreed well with the usual majestic locality of the sanctuary. To watch over the sacred deposit, they set apart the young Eleazar, fitted by the fervour of his youthful piety, or, at least, by his freedom from earthly entanglements, for such a trust. They set him apart, and sanctified him; that is, they consecrated him by a religious service, in which they implored the divine benediction upon his ministry. All the circumstances of this event are remarkable and instructive. Who were Abinadab and Eleazar? Were they Priests? No; they pertained not to the family of Aaron. It is not probable that they were even Levites; since their names do not occur in the numbering of the families of Levi. All these measures, taken with reference to the ark, were a departure from all the ordinary usages of the priestly ministration. But the disorder of the times rendered them legitimate; and by forty years of blessing, poured upon the city of Jearim, and upon the house of Abinadab, God set the indubitable seal of his approbation upon the whole procedure. What else, in fact, could be done in those disastrous times of indifference and unbelief, when the ark was disregarded, despised, and even abandoned by the Ministers of God? If the sons of Aaron will not receive it, ought not the unconsecrated children of Abraham to come forward to pay it all due regard? Happy is it for the church, when the laity rise up for God against the mighty. And if there could not be found children of Abraham to maintain his cause, stran gers or publicans would be employed; or even the very stones would be constrained to cry out. Happy that father who receives the ark of God beneath his roof! happy that son who takes the charge of it! Methinks I see them entering with the mercy-seat into that favoured dwelling. Ye are blessed of the Lord; eternally united now, by a tie closer and more endearing than that of earthly relationship. Look to the same propitiation; trust in the blood shed for you both; and fear not that life, or death, or any occurrence, should separate you again! Soon will He whom you have received on earth into your humble dwelling, receive you into his glorious palace above, and into that permanent and celestial city into which death cannot enter. My brethren, be ye, each in his own house, imitators of these holy men. While God is evidently preparing to revive his work in our Israel, be concerned that, amidst the lukewarmness which prevails, the ark of God, and the accompanying mercy-seat, may have a place in your heart, and in your house; that faith in the blood which was shed for the remission of your sins, may be the refuge of your whole family. Here is your safety, your great concern, your life,—your eternal life! And leave not a matter of such immense importance to the Priests of Israel. While you submit yourselves to those who watch for your souls, be not satisfied with thus confiding in men. They may be unfaithful in the discharge of their duty. But even if we should prove not to be clear of your blood, it would, not the less, be upon your own head. Your soul is your own; and you must give an account of it to God; and "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Imitate, rather, the noble Bereans; who, when Paul had preached to them, went and "searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Remember the saying of a Father of the church: "Those who will believe only by deputy, may finally fail of being saved in person." God will not have our faith (even when correct) to rest on the witness of men, but on his own testimony, which cannot fail. This, and this alone, is faith. (To be concluded in our next.) BELIEF OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE ESSENTIAL TO ONE great reason of the influence which the belief of a God hath upon the minds of men, is found in the nature and character of his providential government, without which we are no ways concerned nor interested in him. For a God without a providence is a solitary kind of being, that lives alone from the world, altogether retired within himself, and never looks abroad nor intermeddles with anything without; and what have we to do with a Being that hath nothing to do with us or our affairs, but lives apart from us in some inaccessible retirement, where neither we can go to him, nor he can come to us? So that it is by his providence that all correspondence and intercourse between God and his creatures is maintained; which being taken away, he is as nothing to us, and we are as nothing to him. To what purpose should we pray to a God that is not at leisure to hear us, or hope in a God that is not concerned to help us? What should move us to love a God that bestows no good, or to fear a God that inflicts no evil, or to obey a God that hath no regard of our actions? Why should we thank him, if we receive nothing from him? For what should we praise him, if he be not beneficial to the world? And wherein should we imitate him, if he sits still and does nothing; exercising neither wisdom, nor goodness, nor justice, nor mercy, towards anything without him? Thus does the denial of God's providence directly cut in sunder all the ties of religion.-Dr. John Scott. MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. DR. WILLIAM DODD. In the year 1777 the public mind was strongly excited on finding a Clergyman of celebrity and superior abilities convicted of felony, and placed under sentence of death. That unhappy man was Dr. William Dodd, whose preaching and authorship had long rendered his name familiar to all classes of people. His publications were numerous, amounting to upwards of fifty, among which was a valuable Commentary on the holy Scriptures, in three folio volumes, which he had compiled from various sources, especially the inedited papers of Dr. Cudworth, which he by mistake attributed to Locke, and those of Dr. Waterland. He took a very active part in the erection of the Magdalen Hospital, for which he acquired a just popularity; and his ministry attracted many hearers. Vanity, accompanied by a lavish expenditure, was his ruin. Being pressed with pecuniary difficulties, he committed an act of forgery upon the Earl of Chesterfield, who had formerly been his pupil, for which he was condemned to be hanged; and all attempts to obtain for him even a commutation of punishment were unavailing. No class of people under heaven had a livelier interest in the compassion of Mr. Charles Wesley than the guilty victims of law, among whom the humane and once-popular Dr. Dodd now took his place. In the days of his prosperity he had often cast a slur upon Mr. John Wesley and his creed; but in his trouble and humiliation he sought the counsel and asked for the prayers of the itinerant and field Preacher. Mr. Wesley visited him in prison, accompanied by his brother Charles. They found him with every mark of true penitence, and both had a cheering hope that he obtained mercy at the hands of God, though the law and with him on the all-important subject of his personal salvation; and few persons were better qualified to give him the advice and encouragement that he needed. Mr. John Wesley intimated to the Doctor in his cell, that perhaps some such humiliating process was necessary to bring him to repentance, and to a belie ving acceptance of Christ as his Saviour from sin; and it is edifying to see the critic, the orator, the commentator, the elegant scholar, meekly receiving instruction from a sensible and devout lady, who from her own experience could explain to him the nature and fruits of justifying faith. She knew "the sinner's short way to God:" a secret which many an erudite teacher never understood. He highly appreciated her Christian services, and for her satisfaction sent her the following note : "June 25th, 1777. "MY DEAR FRIEND,-On Friday morning I am to be made immortal! I die with a heart truly contrite, and broken under a sense of its great and manifold offences, but comforted and sustained by a firm faith in the pardoning love of Jesus Christ. My earnest prayers to God are, that we may meet and know each other in that kingdom towards which you have been so long and so happily travelling. I return you my most affectionate thanks for all your friendly attention to me; and have no doubt, should any opportunity offer, you will remember my excellent but most afflicted partner in distress. I do not know where to direct to worthy Mr. Parker, but beg to trouble you with my dying love and kind remembrance to him. The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits! Amen.” The importance which Mr. Charles Wesley attached to this document may be learned from the fact, that he treasured up among his papers a copy of it in his own hand-writing. On the morning of June 27th, 1777, the day of the execution, he wrote the following impressive stanzas : Refuge supreme of sad Despair, The outcast's Hope, the sinner's Friend, For him we breathe our latest prayer, Whose life hath reach'd its shameful end: The mercy which he sought from man, Lover and Saviour of mankind, Give him the sting of death to feel, So dearly bought, so dearly loved; What Mr. Charles Wesley thought of the Ministers of State, who turned a deaf ear to the cry for mercy in this most melancholy case, may be learned from the following lines, which he wrote "after the execution : " Ah, who the ways of Providence can know, come, And every soul receive his equal doom. It will be observed, that Dr. Dodd, in his last note to Miss Bosanquet, requests her, should it ever be in her power, to befriend his bereaved wife. With this touching request there can be no doubt that Miss Bosanquet would be ready to comply. But her aid could be of little avail. The loss of Dr. Dodd's character, his imprisonment, his trial, his condemnation, the suspense connected with the unsuccessful attempts to obtain a commutation of punishment, and, above all, the terrible execution, were too much for the affectionate and sensitive mind of Mrs. Dodd to sustain. Reason fled; and this unfortunate lady died a maniac, at Ilford, in Essex. Such were the bitter fruits of unsanctified pulpit popularity !-Life of the Rev. Charles Wesley. VOL. XX. Third Series. NOVEMBER, 1841. 3 R |