the safety of his people, will be felt by every believer in Christ: Ascribe ye greatness to our God; he is a rock; his way is perfect *. And so the Prophet, describing the safety of the righteous: He shall dwelt on high; his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks. The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. JEHOVAH is a great EL. The word Jehovah is expressive of Deity in an absolute sense--the eternal self-existing Being the Author and Supporter of all beings He which was, and is, and is to come. But the terms El, Eloah, and Elohim, are expressive of the divine Being considered as the object of worship-in that relative capacity in which he is, or ought to be viewed by his dependent creatures, while with adoring thoughts they look to him for protection and eternal happiness. The former term, Jehovah, it is evident, can never, in any sense whatever, be applied to any being besides God; but the latter terins may, and often are: for, though they are indeed but vain and weak Elohim, yet whatever becomes the object of the creature's religious fear and confidence, that is his God; and in this sense there are gods many and loris many. It is in comparison of these other objects of the deluded creature's worship, that Jehovah is celebrated by his grateful people as "a great God"—" a great King above all gods:" Who is so great a god as our God? Happy are the people who have the FORD for their God! In his hand are all the corners of the earth. The word we render corners signifies "the deep recess es of the earth" "the path which the vulture's eye hath not seen."And the strength of the hills is his also. Not so properly the strength, as the most elevated summits of the high mountains, which, as the word * Deut. xxx. 14. Christ. GuarÐ. VOL. VIÌ. Im seems to imply, would fatigue and exhaust the strength of mortals but to reach. These lofty eminences, as well as the deep recesses of the earth, are equally within his mighty grasp.-The sea is his. Over the whole of this terraqueous globe his power and his providence extend. And no wonder! for he made the sea, and his hands prepared the dry land. His kingdom ruleth- over all. He sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and all the inhabitants thereof are but as grasshoppers. The Lord is a true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King; at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens *. pressed with these views of the majesty of the all-powerful God, we are to invite one another to come and adore him: O come let us worship, and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. As our Creator he has just claims to our adoration: but, remark! the sacred song points out other motives: for he is the Lord our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. In this verse we clearly discover the relative meaning of the word Elohim, which we render God. He is Jehovah, God in an absolute sense, equally to all his creatures: the devils tremble at his word, and the wicked must own his power, though now they are ignorant of Him in whom they live, and move, and have their being. But in the capacity of a tutelary Being, who, when he accepts the worship of his people, graciously engages to preserve them, and crown them with everlasting mercies: in this sense, which is the proper sense of the word, he is God only to his faithful * Jer. *: 11% people. It is the language of special grace when we read, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. He is not ashamed, says another Scripture, to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. The notion of a shepherd with his flock dependent on his care, is, we perceive in this verse, associated with the term Elohim for its illustration: We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. And several passages of Scripture which speak of God the Saviour under this allusion, will be remembered here by the spiritual worshipper with delight: He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. This Thus far the Psalm supplies us with language to exhort one another, and for mutual congratulation respecting our common interest in Jehovah. But now the sacred song assumes another aspect; matter of caution and of solemn admonition is suggested. part of the Psalm has, indeed, the singular advantage of having been commented upon by St. Paul; of having been, by the word of inspiration itself, applied to the circumstances of a Christian church. The following are the Apostle's quotations and comment: "Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of tempt ation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, saw my works forty years: wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their hearts, and they have not known my way. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. While it is said, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit, not all who came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us fear, therefore, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached;" or, rather," for we also have received the glad tidings even as they, but the word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it," &c. &c. How important is the sacred Psalm before us! Not only composed under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, but by the Holy Ghost himself explained in application to us! These observations of the Apostle cannot, indeed, but give us a high notion of the spiritual meanings of the Psalms in general, of the justness of their application to the present circumstances of the church; and, by consequence, of the propriety of their adoption in the worship of Christians. To call the recitation of these Psalms a Jewish worship,' therefore, is, in my view, tọ betray an ignorance of their real meaning, and to speak contemptuously, not of the Church of England, as was intended, but of the Holy Spirit himself, who inspired these Psalms. The typical language of the Psalms may, indeed, require some explanation; but now the poorest have their Bibles, that explanation will not be searched for in vain. The Psalms, we own, contain frequent references to the history of the Jews, and to their temporal deliverances; and the superficial reader may go away with the notion that nothing more was intended; but he that studies the word of God will have learnt to find every where an allusion to Christ and the spiritual concerns of his kingdom. He has noticed the Apostle observing of those incidents of Jewish history which are most frequently the subjects of these songs, All these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Let us, therefore, take the comment of the Apostle, which we have just read, for a clue to the meaning of the Psalms in general: and let us remember the words of Christ, That there are many things in the Psalms concerning him.' We shall then find a fulness and spirituality, a perpetual newness and increase of meaning, as it were, in the words of those inspired hymns, which will abundantly satisfy us that the singing of human compositions, however well selected, falls far short of the primitive use of the Psalter, for the execution of the apostolical direction, Speaking to yourselves, admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and sacred songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord. BIBLICAL QUERIES, BY A LAYMAN. A LAYMAN, who is a constant reader of the Christian Guardian, will be greatly obliged to any person that shall furnish an answer to the following queries: 1. Have all people an unlimited right to peruse, translate, and expound the Holy Scriptures? 2. If all persons have this right, is it a natural or conventional pri vilege? 3. If they have not, by what rules and in what respects is the right limited? 4. Are the limitations universal, local, absolute, or conditional? 5. If all persons may read the Bible for their own private advantage, may they also read the bare text to others? 6. May the text be translated from the original into living languages, by any man or woman who is able? 7. Has every person a right to interpret the Bible, not only for his own private use and comfort, but for the instruction of his family? t 8. May all persons write comments on the Scriptures, and publish them for the edification of their neighbours? 9. May all men teach openly, and by any means, whatever they believe to be the true sense of the Scriptures? 10. Has any ecclesiastical or po litical body due authority to restrict the perusal, translation, and interpretation of the Bible? ORIGINAL LETTERS FROM PIOUS PIOUS CHARACTERS DECEASED. No. LXXV. From the Rev. IV-B-to Mrs. Dec. 30, 1795. MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, THIS comes not to wish you the compliments of the season; but to express my humble and fervent wish, that, on the new year's day, the Sun, the glorious Sun of rightteousness, may arise and shine bright on your countenance, illu minate your mind, and glow in your best, your warmest affections; that he may come forth to you as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoicing over you, as a strong man to run his race. Dear Madam, you know years are very rapid things, and, as we grow older, they quicken their I see it, I feel it, and there pace. fore they plainly tell me, "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might;" but what a deal of the departed year has left us, in his last will and testament, for observation and reflection! May we never remember thee but with gratitude and thankfulness to Him who gave thee birth; sent thee to visit us: loaded with so many benefits and blessings, as we know thou wast, may we be thankful for thee, and mourn over every affront we offered thee. And as for you, dear Madam, permit me to take you by the hand, and introduce you to a young and healthful, amiable and most delightful person, sitting and smiling in pleasing and awful majesty before you, brimful of solemn and delightful meanings, each of which he will unfold one by one, in a divine arrangement for 365 days. The personage I mean is the year 1796 (the first time I ever wrote his name). He comes charg How many mercies, privileges, and blessings, we have enjoyed this past year! O, how sweetly a precious Jesus has dealt with uspreserved life; continued health; supplied all our necessary wants; secured our personal safety, in a world full of his and our enemies; indulged us with his blessed Gospel, in a sound experimental way; indulged us with many sweet and delightful interviews with him in the closet, in the parlour, and in the sanctuary. O thou precious, precious Jesus! help us to blessed with sin and holiness, trials and thee, to praise thee, and to rejoice in thee. Help us, O Lord, from the very bottom of our hearts, to give thee ten thousand thousand thanks, and blessings, and praise, and honour, and glory, for thy great goodness and thy marvellous Joving-kindness to us through the past year. O thou dear redeeming Love and Lamb of God! how wonderfully hast thou appeared to us, to give us thy blood for our atonement, thy righteousness to justify us, thy Spirit to comfort us, thy love to cheer and warm our hearts, and thy word to guide our conduct. O what comfortable views hast thou indulged us with, of thine eternal kingdom and glory. The Lord's name be praised, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for all his goodness, which he hath this year caused to pass before us. And as for thee, thou dear departed, kind, and friendly, but too much slighted friend, thou year 1795, gone from us to return no more; no more shall thy friendly countenance smile upon us, though The spirit walks of every day deceas'd, And smiles an angel, or a fury frowns." YOUNG, comforts, life and death, heaven and hell: do not speak to him until you have first lifted up your heart and tongue to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look up to Jesu Jesus with the deepest humility and the warmest love, and beg of him (N. B. He is quite in love with common beggars) to teach you, guide you, and assist you to receive this interesting visitor, to whom I am now introducing you. My dear Madam, Jesus will hear you, he will forgive, he will bless you. O! let me entreat, let me persuadé you to begin this year with a sin-cere, a humble, an affectionate surrender of yourself to a precious Jesus; he is your strength, your riches, your wisdom, your dignity, and your eternal glory: love him, honour him, serve him, and delight in him, every day in the ensuing year. I hope I can throw in my mite to the heap of general gratitude and praise to Jehovah Jesus: he is good, very good to me indeed, though not one of his domestics has been more ungrateful, base, deceitful, and abominable, than I have been this past year; yet still he keeps me in his service, daily looks upon me, speaks very comfortably to me, and says he loves me, and will always do me good, if I will but keep near him, and do as he would have me. I shall only add, concerning the above-named 1796, let you and me say "The will of the Lord be done." I commit you, dear Madam, to the grace and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, And remain your affectionate W-B-. THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. THE POOR MAN'S GUIDE TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PRO PHECIES. No. V. [Continued from Vol. F'I. Page 424.] WE were obliged to break our communication in the last number of the Christian Guardian, in the midst of the angel's interpretation of Daniel's vision of the four beasts. We were attending to his explanation of the fourth beast, concerning which Daniel was most anxious to know. This we have traced, in history, to foretel the Roman empire; and we have seen how, according to the angel's interpretation of the ten horns of the beast, this empire came to be divided into ten kingdoms. These kingdoms we have found to be the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, the Sueves and Alans, the Vandals, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Heruli and Turingi, the Saxons and Angles, the Huns, and the Lombards. These nations parcelled out the Roman empire among them. They did not subdue it and hold it in subjection, as a foreign conquest, or an addition to their primitive dominions, as Persia conquered Babylon, and Greece Persia, and Rome all the prostrate earth; but they settled in it, and embraced in a great measure its laws, manners, and religion; and hence it is that the fourth kingdom is not considered as destroyed, or losing its domi nions, but only as being divided in itself by this revolution. It is from these nations and the remnants of the original population, that the present nations of Europe, within the boundaries of the empire, are descended. And it was necessary to mark these ten nations particularly; because it is in considering these kingdoms, the ten horns of the beast, that we must look for this eleventh kingdom-the little horn, which was to arise after them and among them. Now, the first question that will naturally be asked, is this: After these kingdoms had arisen out of the Roman empire, and held it in a divided state, does history inform us of any extraordinary eleventh power, that has arisen to great eminence in the last ages? And, in reply to this question, every person must own, that besides these ten kingdoms, " in the midst of them, and after them," there has arisen a very extraordinary power in modern Europe, that is, the papal government under the Popes of Rome. Most Protestant interpreters have accordingly pointed out the Pope of Rome as this LITTLE HORN of the fourth beast of Daniel. The evidence of this we are now to consider further. First, he is described as a little horn, coming up, as it should seem, by insensible degrees, among the other horns: for the prophet did not at first perceive it; it was |