to receive their warnings of any fault, or spiritual danger, with meekness and gratitude; and also to follow their godly admonitions with a teachable and reverent mind. And be it our care to pray that their eyes may be opened to see what we are all so much concerned in their rightly understanding; so that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; as knowing that "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

XXXVIII. THE GRAVER'S TOOL.

"Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!"-Job xix. 23, 24.-See also Exod. xxxii. 16; Jer. xvii. 1; 2 Cor. iii. 3.

How deeply and indelibly have those sentences

been cut in the solid stone by the graver's tool! They may be exposed for ages to the changes of the climate, without losing their sharpness and precision. The most violent and ceaseless rains will not wash away those deep and enduring characters for centuries to come. They are well calculated for the purpose which they are intended to answer, of conveying to coming generations a solemn and important record.

It is thus that we should wish that the truths of Scripture, and especially the Law of God, might be so deeply engraven on our hearts that nothing might ever efface the characters. We know that

that Law was written of old on tables of stone; and the Apostle intimates that it is now written by the Spirit, not on tables of stone, but on "fleshy tables of the heart.' And thus our Church teaches

us to pray that God, in compliance with our earnest supplication, would write all these His laws in our hearts.

Be pleased, O Lord, to write them, not so that the characters may be washed out by "the floods of ungodliness," and temptation; but so that they may endure through the many changes of joy and sorrow, of difficulty and trial, to which we may be exposed in this mortal life. Write them so that they may be "known and read of all men," by the unmistakeable character of a life led after the example of Christ, and reflecting something of His image.

How glorious and consoling was that truth, with especial reference to which Job wished that his words might be graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! Its preciousness may be now less felt because its certainty is more generally

12 Cor. iii. 2.

acknowledged; but it is indeed that truth, in the power of which every Christian must wish both to live and die. "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another."'1

XXXIX. PERVERSE CHILDREN,

And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the market-place, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept."-Luke vii. 31, 32. See also Isa. v. 4; Luke xiii. 34; 1 Cor. ix. 19--22.

WHO that notices the ways of children has not seen instances, in which some perverse and sullen

humour has spoilt the innocent glee of a festive occasion? A few children, it may be, of a wayward and wilful disposition, have marred the enjoyment of a whole party by their perverse unwillingness to enter into the efforts that were made to please them and though such of the company as were sweet-tempered and yielding have tried every means to win the others to be social and happy, yet these have persisted in their sullen humour, and have refused to answer to the touch of affection, or the persuasions of reason.

He who was ever intent on drawing lessons of wisdom from all that came before Him, perceived the resemblance between the temper of such perverse children and the way in which too many, who are no longer children in years, receive all the efforts of their Heavenly Father to win them to happiness. "Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children.”

The use of pipes was common, both on festive and on mournful occasions; and our Lord, in this similitude, seems to have before Him the case of children representing in their play, first, the festivity of a marriage, and then the lamentations of a funeral; but unable to get their companions to join them in either pastime. He thus implies

how various are the means by which God endeavours to awaken us to repentance, and to draw us to Himself. He strikes, as it were, on various chords! He touches many a spring, in order to rouse us from our stupid unconcern, and win us to be happy. He sent, first, John the Baptist, a man of secluded life, and most austere habits; knowing that such habits in their minister have influence with some who would hardly listen to a person of a different turn of mind. On the other hand, since many are prejudiced against religion, when set before them in its austerer character, our Blessed Saviour was pleased to conform Himself in a greater degree than was the case with John, to the ways and usages of common life; and He exhibited religion under a milder and more winning aspect. And thus does He still adapt His dealings with us to our various tempers, characters, and circumstances. He touches some chord that should move us to godly sorrow, or some other that should raise us to sacred joy; or displays His awful Majesty, to excite our reverence, or His winning mercy, to awaken our love.

But under this image our Lord implies, also, how perversely we receive His gracious endeavours; even like fretful children, who will not be pleased or persuaded. Some wrong construction is put upon all that He does; just as the Pharisees of old misrepresented both the austerity of John, and our Lord's conformity to common usage.

We are indeed as children, foolish and trifling; eager, like children, after present things; like children, sitting idle in the market-place, and playing, when God bids us "work in His vineyard;" and, what is more, perverse, like children, unwilling to be won, and still finding some reason or other for dis