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4 (172) THE
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MUSINGS ALONG NEW RIVER.
O for a poet's pen to wield.
An artist's brush to hold,
That iNature might her secrets yield,
Her beauties might unfold!
With skilful hand I would portray
The grand old rocks and rills;
The riveis in whose mirrored depts
Lie the majestic hills.
The hills from base to summit claa
In red and green and gold,
The loving touch of Autumn ere
Iflnir Winter's Irv hnlil
The distant mountains, peak on pean,
A panorama grand,
Seeming to tne enraptured gaze
Lnrolled by God's own hand.
Enchanted still, the eye beholds
'the waters far below.
Now rippling genuy, tailing now,
in cascades white as snow.
Above, below, the mighty crags
Stand out. each one alone,
As it had been, in ages past,
By giant 'iitau thrown.
O Lord, how manifold Thy works!
In wisdom all were made;
Thy wondrous love and mignty power
Are in them all displayed.
Summeisviue, \v. Va. Mary Patton Kincaid.
THE BELIEVER'S SECURITY.
Several times recently we liave read articles
or treaties on tiie subject oi tnc security ol tne
believer in Christ. Some of them iiave been
marked by greut cogency of reasoning and
beauty and tenderness of thought and expression.
All of them have shown much of the
reasonableness of the belief that those who are
in Christ Jesus have a title to the saints' inheritance
which is beyond ail question, and that
God will see to it that they shall enter into their
own when the time is ripe.
The best article on the subject, however, is
and ever will be that unsurpassable one which
Paul gives iu ins splendid treaties on justmcation
by laith. lie has logically proved bis point,
that the Gospel is the power ol God unto salvation,
to Jew and Uentiie alike, lie has beautifully
and strikingly illustrated the principle by
the history of Abraham. He has shown the
effects of it, in the peace, patience, experience,
hope, and love of the believer, lie has passed for
a moment to scan the bearing upon his subject of
the priuciple of imputation. He has removed
the practical objections to his doctrine and has
snown mai it does uot tend towards lessening the
obligations of the law, and has shown the elfect
of the doctrine in the cases of the unregenerate
and the regenerate. Then he concludes the whole
study of the etfects of the doctrine by showing
how rich an assurance of complete redemption it
gives to all who have accepted Christ.
Paul bases his argument upon the relations
which the believer sustains. There is first his
relation to the law. The law of sin and death no
longer prevails or dominates the case. There is
to them which are in Christ Jesus no longer any
condemnation. They are free from the law of
sin and death. They are in God's sight the same
that they were before sin appeared. Christ has
fulfilled for them "the righteousness of the
law." lie is "the end of the law for righteousness"
to all who believe.
Then there is their relation to the new life.
The carnal mind, which is enmity to God,' is
gone, and th? spiritual mind, which is of God,
has taken its place. But "to be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded is life
uad puM." The presence in the bgliever of this
i x*
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S <
headings |
%
disposition towards God and holiness is an earn-,
est of life and thereby a ground of peace.
The author of this change, from conditions
which are unto death to conditions which are
unto life, is the Spirit. He dwells in believers.
"Without him they are none of Christ's. "But if
the Spirit of him that raised nn Jesus frnm Mm
dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." The power
and invincibility of the Holy Spirit are the
ground for the believer's hope of eternal life.
But immediately connected with the last two
points in his reasoning, Paul would have believers
to know that being debtors not to the Hcsh,
to live after the flesh, but to the Spirit who
dwells in them, they are to feel themselves under
obligation and ability alike to mortify the deeds
of the body and to live the new life. Led by
the Spirit, they both desire to be different and
are given grace to accomplish this desire. The
holy life should be and can be a reality to them,
not a theory merely.
But advancing now, the apostle states the
splendid truth that as many as are led by the
o-:-:* *1 -
opim are mereoy proved to be 111 a new relation
to God. "They are the sons of God." Their
own inner condition testifies to this, in that it
tells them that they have no longer the spirit of
bondage to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, by
which they are justified in calling God "Father."
The Spirit himself confirms this testimony,
in the witness he bears with their spirit that they
are the "children of God."
Next, the conditions surrounding them, in
their new relation to law, to the new life, to the
Spirit, to spiritual desires, to adoption, become
a part of the means for securing their complete
deliverance and joy. Creation itself is sharing
in the evils of sin but is yearning for the same
deliverance from the bondage of corruption intc
the glorious liberty of the children of God,
which the latter possess. The whole physical universe
enters into a sympathetic struggle with
the believer for that which will emancipate it
and him from the thralldom of sin.
JNo discounting is to be made of the believer's
assurance from the fact that he has infirmities
and trials. As to the infirmities, the Spirit himself
will help in them, liut for them some of the
sweetest passages of life and most happy work
of the Spirit in their behalf would be lost to
those who trust Christ or would be impossible.
If there were no cloud there would be no rain
drops. As to the trials, they are but a part of
the weaving of the wondrous web, the working of
the wondrous pattern, that is to clothe the people
of Christ, the glory of which cannot be revealed
until it is complete. "All things work together
for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to his purpose."
And the fact that there is such a working
brings us to the next great link in the apostle's
logical chain. God has a glorious purpose, and
a Dlan bv which tn wnrlc it nnt on^ oil
universe cannot thwart him. That purpose is
not thought of to-day. It is.from eternity. His
infinite will has devised it, and his infinite power
has provided for it, and his infinite mind has
seen all of it, from the beginning. To us there
may be steps or development in it, but to him it
is one and eternal. It cannot be changed. The
only question with us is, Are we hisT If we believe,
we are. The rest is in his hands. Heaven
and earth and Hell combined cannot defeat him.
3 U T H [ February 21, 1912
And so, crowning th? whole argument, there
comes the fact that the love of Christ is not to be
cast away from us. "Who shall separte us from
the love of Christ?" That love itself is unconquerable,
and it makes its objects also more
than conquerors, through him that loved them,
over every enemy or force that would loose their
hold upon Christ or his hold upon them.
A SCOTTISH LADY SONG WRITER.
Caroline Oliphant, better known as Lady
Nairne, famous for the exquisite songs she
wrote, died on October 27, 1845, at Qask,
Perthshire, in the house in which she was born
in 1766. Next to Robert Burns, Lady Nairne
is generally conceded to have been the greatest
song writer Scotland has produced. Seven
years younger than Burns, whom she outlived
nearly fifty years, she was one of the first to
perceive ami appreciate his earlier productions,
and her brothers, at her solicitation, became
a subscriber to the first edition of his collected
poems in 1786. Lady Nairne came quite
naturally by her ardent Jacobite sympathies,
her father, the Laird of Gask, being a devoted
adherent of the royal house of Stuart. She
was even named after "Prince Charlie," Caroline
being a modihcation of the Latin name of
Charles?"Carolus." She was married in
18UU, to her second cousin, Major, afterwards
Baron Nairne. Lady Nairne's great poetical
powers were not fully displayed till, following
the example of Burns, she essayed to improve
old Scottish songs, in pursuance of this work,
she contributed many selections to "The Scottish
Minstrel," which was published in 1821-24.
Lady Nairne's songs vary greatly m character
ana subject, displaying m some exquisite tenderness
and paiiios and in others a fine sense
Of llUlUOr. A innnir t.h? l/nnum ...l ?
?0 v?w wuv uuv/nu auu iiiU5t
famous of her songs are "Jdonnie Charlie's Noo
Awa," "The Aula noose," "The Laird o'Cockpeii,"'"The
Land o' the Leal." The estate of
Cask was sold not long ago, and a modern
mansion has been reared near the ruins of the
"Auid iioose." The house where the sweet
Scottish singer was born and died has fallen
#into decay, but no lapse of time has dimmed
her fame or lessened her popularity.?Scottish
American.
IDEAL WOMEN.
In the Lady Chapel of the new Liverpool
Cauicdiai ineie is a sonexue oi stained gmso windows,
comuieuiuialjUig inc deeds ol good women,
liesiucs tne ruinous women ox ine mine, tne xoilowing
aie commemoiuied:
Mary oodet una uu prayerful women.
Louise fctewart and air um nolue army of
mai tyrs.
Christina liossetti and all sweet singers.
Grace leaning and all courageous maidens.
iJr. Alice Maivel and all wiio Have laid down
tlieir lives for their sisters.
Gnzabeth Garrett Growning and all who have
seen tiie iunnite?in things.
Catherine Gladstone and all loyal hearted
wives.
.InKpnliina Unflnw orirl *>11 !>* ??- ?
-? "uuw wiu qu uiavc cuumpiotLS OI
purity.
Anne ilinderer and all missionary pioneers.
Margaret Godolphin and all who have kept
themselves unspotted in a corrupt world.
Angela Burdett-Coutts and all almoners of the
King of heaven.
Mother Cecile and all women loving and
large-hearted in counsel.
Elizabeth Pry and all pitiful women.
Agnes Jones and all devoted nurses.
Queen Victoria and all noble queens.
Lady Margaret Beauford and all patroneasM
of sacred learning. , ^