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calculation was at an end, and space seemed lost in infinitude: and yet this is the language of Scripture concerning those illimitable heavens: as a vesture shalt THOU fold them up, and they shall be changed." Consider this figure, “as a vesture." That starry sky shall be folded up, shall be changed; whatever this in its extent may signify, it conveys at one glance the most vast and sublime conceptions of the power of God; yes, those hands once suspended on the cross of Calvary, shall one day fold the azure sky together: "they shall perish, but Thou endurest; they shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed." The quotation of Psalm cii., by the apostle in Hebrews i. 10, most explicitly applies this act to that blessed One who died for us.

I will again recur to this subject at the close of this letter, but will now seek to bring before your young minds some of the scriptures that draw their illustrations more especially from the fourth day's creation. Let us first then turn to the Old Testament, and remember that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, (Rev. xix. 10;) to him gave all the prophets witness, (Acts x. 43;) and thus whether in Moses, in the Prophets, or in the Psalms, (Luke xxiv. 44,) we shall, (if we search, by the Spirit's guidance,) find HIM THERE, even Jesus, the Alpha and Omega-the beginning and end-the first and last of all Revelation. (Rev. i. 8.)

How beautiful is the nineteenth Psalm, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto

day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." Now we are not left to conjecture in the application of the figures of this Psalm; the Spirit of God, in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, (chap. x. ver. 18,) explains it to us, and shows, that as the heavenly bodies visited all parts of the globe in their circuit; so had the gospel gone out to every creature, yes, to every creature, for there is no limit to "these glad tidings of great joy to all people," (Luke ii. 10,) none are to be hid from its blessing. But what is the great character of the gospel message? It is Jesus. Philip went down and preached Christ at Samaria, and testified to the eunuch of Jesus, (Acts viii. 5, 35;) this was the name wherewith he was named by the angel, (Matt. i. 21,) because, as the name implies, he should save his people from their sins; you remember, I believe, all of you, the sweet hymn of Cowper :

"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

In a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

"It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast,

"Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest.”

Yes, this is the name which is above every name, (Phil. ii. 9;) and this Psalm most beautifully sets it forth. Now suppose we look again at the fifth verse, "In heaven hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming forth of his chamber; and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." Jesus, the true Sun of Righteousness, (Malachi iv. 2,) is the heavenly bridegroom; and he, by the Spirit, dwells ever in his church, (1 Cor. vi. 19,) and manifests through her his own light. The church is his tabernacle, "the goodly building fitly framed, (Eph. ii. 21,) and her office is to make the circuit of the globe, to go to every creature and preach Jesus-and Jesus only, as the way the truth-the life, (John xiv. 6;) she is to proclaim the blessed message of mercy far and wide, nothing is to be hid from the heat thereof. The church of God is essentially missionaryher field of operation is the habitable globe, and “ every creature" her only limit, (Matt. xxviii. 19;) she has received the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, (2 Cor. iv. 6,) not to hide it, but to manifest it; not to put her light under a bushel, but to place it on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house, (Matt. v. 15;) but we must read the whole portion through, for it beautifully shows forth how the Lord

by the ministry of the word, converts, enlightens, makes wise, makes glad, and establishes a people unto himself; and the last verse is one of the sweetest and most blessed of prayers for the child of God to use: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” Commit this Psalm to memory, dear children, and whenever you find the Old Testament quoted in the New, know that you have God's exposition of his own truth; cherish it, and may his whole mind be to you, as this Psalm says, more precious than gold, yea than much pure gold, sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb, (Ps. xix. 10;) but, as I said, all the Psalms testify of Jesus, and for your instruction I just subjoin a little selection on the life of our Lord, with New Testament references.*

The eighty-fourth Psalm has also a beautiful illustration drawn from this fourth day, "how amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!" This Psalm is evidently the meditation of an Israelite absent from the courts of the Lord, in one of the intervals of the three great feasts (Exodus xxiii. 14.) I shall have, however, again to recur to this Psalm in my observations on the fifth day's creation, and will therefore now simply allude to the closing verses. "The Lord God is a SUN and shield, he will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly; whatever the sun is, to gladden the day, to make fruitful the harvest, to cheer the traveller, * See Appendix.

such is the Lord to his children. The early blessings of grace, and the final blessings of glory, the seed time now, and the harvest hereafter, are all from Him, who delighteth in the happiness of his children.

The sun, moon, and stars, are introduced very strikingly in the second dream of Joseph, which he told to his brethren; and Jacob's application, or unfolding of the dream, shows us that he understood the sun to set forth himself the head of the family; the moon deriving her light from the sun-his wife; and the eleven stars-his family. And one may hereby get a key to the understanding of these figures, in this relation; for our Lord himself, the head, the bridegroom of his church, is called the Sun of Righteousness; and the church deriving all her light from him, is called the moon; and the children of God are said to shine as the stars for ever and ever, (Daniel xii. 3;) though in the passage of the Canticles that speaks of the church as the moon, it also compares her to the sun. "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" (Song of Solomon, vi. 10;) so also (Matt. xiii. 43) the children of God are said to shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father: but this blessedly sets forth the people of the Lord under another figure, even as the sharers of his glory, (Eph. v. 30;) sitting with him-his bride-his elect one, in whom his soul delighteth. (Ps. xlv.)

The vision of the Transfiguration, again, most strikingly introduces this figure of the sun: the Lord had said to his disciples that there