Immunity from combat-(b) that will come
When comes triumphantly the Prince of peace; (c)
But now at Mahanaim it is war,

The gathering of two armies-Good and Ill.

(b) 2 Cor. vii. 5.

(c) 2 Thess. i. 7; Heb. iv. 9, 11.

MEDITATIONS

ON

CHAPTER VII.

"THE King's daughter is all-glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold."-PSALM xlv. 13.

"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."-ISAIAH lxi. 10.

MEDITATIONS.

CHAPTER VII.

VER. 1.-" How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman."

OH! prince's daughter! by adoption His
Who reigns omnipotent o'er every rule, (d)
The virgins bless and welcome thine approach,
As fraught with tidings of astonishment,
Thou o'er the desert wending, makést known
Redemption mercies to a rebel world!

How beautiful thy feet (e) when thus employed!
Not bare in bondage, (f) and quiescent not
As in thy days of mourning in the dust;
But sandall'd and equipped for toilsome march,
And painful journeying-That tale of peace (g)
Thou hadst the blest commission to reveal (h)
Prepares thee for the perils of the way;
Makes thy steps stedfast o'er the pathless ice,

(d) Gal. iii. 26.
(g) Ephes. vi. 15.

(e) Isa. lii. 7.

(f) Isa. xlvii. 1, 2.

(h) Rom. i. 5.

And o'er the glowing, sinking sands, secure-(i)
Unkindness may distress, (k) and rigour chill,
And disappointments hover still around-
Pain and disease may meet thee with the scourge,
Famine may meet thee with her haggard frown,
And day by day thy failing flesh consume,
But oh! not one-not all combined, can change
Thy firm support, (7) nor drag thee from thy Lord. (m)
Ah! not with tottering, vacillating step (n)
Movest thou forward, nor with ill set limbs
Unfitted for thy work-As jewels ranged
By skilful artist with symmetric grace,
So are thy joints (o) compacted perfectly,
Thy limbs for progress, exquisitely knit
In the whole body, by its will propelled. (p)

Thy missionaries run where they are sent,
And act harmoniously-They make no halt
Of indecision, but with even gait

Move through the dangers both of ill report
And-greater still—of good—(q) alike composed :
How beautiful thy feet! So gathered throngs
Once at Pisidian Antioch (r) confessed,
And at Phenicé-(s) met to hear the things
Commanded thee of God. How many still

(i) 2 Cor. i. 8-10.
(1) Ps. lxxiii. 26.
(n) Acts iv. 33.
(p) Acts xi. 22, 23;
(r) Acts xv. 30, 31.

(k) 2 Tim. iv. 10, 16, 17.
(m) Ps. lxxiii. 25.

(0) Col. ii. 19, "All the body," &c.
Rom. x. 14, 15. (q) 2 Cor. vi. 3, 4, 8.

(s) Acts xv. 3.