standing, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And behold I have given with him Aholiab, and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they make all that I have commanded thee.” Now surely if it required the Spirit of God to inspire the workmen of the tabernacle, and if ordinary mechanical skill be, in reality, derived from the revelation of God, why should the higher streams of human wisdom flow from a lower fountain, and be considered as mere produc. tions of men, in which God has no concern? We are the more anxious to press this point, because some pious individuals object to human means and human remedies, just because they say they are human; and think, that in rejecting medicine, they are showing their faith in providence, and honouring God. Now the reverse of all this is the case. No remedy is of human origin or human discovery. Food is from God, as the remedy of hunger; medicine is from God, as the remedy of disease. Food does not always preserve life, but we do not therefore refuse it: medicine does not always remove a disease, but we are not thereby warranted to reject it.

Our object, therefore, shall be to direct our readers to both classes of remedies-the divine and the humanthose revealed by the word, and those revealed to investigation and experience.

We begin with calling attention to the ninety-first psalm. This is evidently a psalm for the time of pestilence. Accordingly it contains the following most suitable and encouraging promises :-"Surely he shall deliver thee from the noisesome pestilence.-Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day.-There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."-Verses 3. 5. 6. 10. The extent and the comfort of these promises are obvious; the only question of difficulty regards their applicability to these times, and their present appropriation by believers. We therefore entreat to the interpretation of this psalm the special attention of our readers.

1. It is obvious to those who interpret Scripture by

comparing "spiritual things with spiritual," that this psalm, with all its promises, in its primary application, belongs to Christ. This will be obvious, if we compare the 11th and 12th verses of the psalm with Matt. iv. 6, in which the tempter applies to Christ the promise-" He shall give his angels charge over thee-they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." Since our Lord admits the correctness of the application to himself, and protests against the abuse of the blessed and consolatory doctrine of special providence upon which it is founded, we have thereby the evidence of Christ himself, that to him belong all the promises of preservation from plague, pestilence, and evil, that are contained in the psalm.

2. The Christian will have no difficulty in receiving this interpretation, when he remembers the statement of the apostle, that "in him (Christ) all the promises of God are yea and amen." 2 Cor. i. 20.-The meaning of which passage we take to be as follows:-Yea is the word of answer to an inquirer searching after the consolation of the promises, and who, examining every possible recess in which they may be discovered, asks of each in turn, "are the promises here?" He asks the earth, are God's promises here? and it answers, no. He asks the sky, and it an. swers, no. He asks the peace-giving grave, and it answers, no. He asks the fiery law, and it answers, no. Disappointed at every door, he at last asks of Christ, and here, for the first time, he is answered, yea: the promises are all concentrated here.

But in Christ it is not only said, all the promises are yea; in him they are also amen. Now the word amen does not necessarily signify "so be it," as it is commonly interpreted, as any one may perceive who considers our authorized translation, in which amen is rendered by the word " verily," which does not wish that a thing may come to pass, but merely affirms that it is true. Amen literally signifies-truth. It is the motto, as it were, of the seal of God, confirming the accuracy of his statements, ensuring the certainty of their accomplishment.

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3. Having now ascertained where the promise of tection from plague and pestilence is found, and the certainty that the promise will be graciously fulfilled, our next object is to inquire-how far is the believer, in our days, to benefit by a promise, not to himself, but to Christ?

Does not our interpretation, it may be said, tend to deprive the believer of all idea of protection, seeing we declare that to him no promise is given? We so repeat our deliberate judgment-the believer in our days has no promise to himself directed in all this psalm; and yet it is from this very circumstance we would teach him to draw all his protection and comfort. In Christ all the promises, without exception, are yea and amen. But let the believer recollect that blessed description, John i. 14-16, "The word (who was God, verse 1) was made flesh and dwelt amongst us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." In Christ dwells all fulness. The fulness of the Godhead bodily, the fulness of all gracious purposes, and the fulness of all true accomplishments. We are accustomed, however, to look to Christ merely for spiritual graces: the psalm under consideration teaches us to look to him for all temporal graces. And with one single explanation the promise of protection from plague is to be received and depended on in all its length and breadth. We mean that explanation given by the Psalmist in the 10th verse- "No plague," saith the Lord," shall come near thy dwelling;" but it has been previously declared, "no evil shall befall thee"-that is to say, no plague, as an evil, can come near the dwelling of the Christian. And should it come, it comes changed in its character. It comes in the form of an invitation, not of a summons; of a blessing, not of a curse. And as "to the pure all things are pure," so to the sanctified all things are good.

With this explanation we are privileged to come to Christ for protection from plague and pestilence in the day of God's judgments. The promise of protection "in the days of his flesh" was made absolute and sure to him: a share in that promise, "so far as it may serve for God's glory and our own good," belongs, in right of Christ, to every member of his mystical body. It is of great importance to practical godliness that we learn this truth. It is a truth that has nearly passed out of the remembrance of the church; and perhaps, among his other reasons for sending the present judgment, God may intend to revive the knowledge and power of this truth in our breasts. We have retained and felt it, no doubt, in the case of spiritual blessings. We have been accustomed to "come and

look unto him" for light, faith, mercy, pardon; for strength in arduous duty, and for all the promises and gifts of the Spirit; but we have forgot his right and power over the flesh; his commission to destroy "all the works of the devil," of which disease of every form is a part. The Lord has therefore commissioned his judgment to recall the attention of believers to this neglected truth, and to bring them to Christ, for the health of their bodies as much as for the health of their souls. It will also serve to recall the attention of Ministers, and Elders, and people to one great purpose of Christ, in organizing his church-we mean that it might afford lite. rally constant medical attendance on the sick. James i. 14, Is any sick among you? let him call for the Elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." In this Scripture we learn-1. That an essential part of the medical ordinance of the church (if we may so phrase it) is, that the sick call for the Elders. Many people who desire religious visitation in sickness, are yet ignorant of this point, and expect to be visited without calling or sending for any one; nay, many will be offended if Ministers do not discover that they are sick, and visit them without one word of call. This is a gross neglect of the Scripture ordinance, which requires the call of the sick as well as the visit of the Elders. 2. We discover the propriety, if not necessity, of more than one Elder visiting at one time. The word does not say, send for an Elder, but for the Elders. 3. We find prayer to be the spiritual remedy, and anointing with oil the visible remedy. This doctrine of James has been sadly perverted by the Church of Rome, and, accordingly, oil has been laid aside by the Protestant churches. We are sure that Rome is wrong in her perversion, but we are not sure that the Protestant Churches are right in their neglect. There are several medical remedies incidentally mentioned in Scripture.* We may instance the case of the man who fell among thieves, and who lay a considerable time with his wounds exposed. The healing of these wounds by the first in

* Examples of the surgical and medical receipts of the Scriptures may be found-2 Kings xx. 7; 1 Tim. v. 23.

tention, as it is called, was therefore hopeless. Our Saviour describes the Samaritan as "pouring in oil and wine," in which he gives an admirable mode of treating such wounds, while he, at the same time, honours the art of surgery, and sanctions the adoption of what we call human means.-Luke x. 34. Now in the same way James, while giving instruction for prayer, prescribes, yes literally prescribes, a human remedy-anointing the body with oil. And an admirable remedy it is, especially in all warm climates. We are sure of its efficacy in relieving what is called nervous pain of the head, when poured and rubbed in small quantity upon the crown. We learn from unquestionable authority, that, when plague rages in Constantinople, and sweeps off all other persons, the Coolies, or oil porters, are never attacked-the oil with which their clothes are constantly saturated, and which is constantly applied to the skin, seeming to form an impenetrable barrier, through which the infection cannot pass. Why the use of oil applications has been so generally rejected from European medical practice, we need not inquire; in eastern countries it still occupies a place of eminence, such as is assigned to it in the prescription of the Apostle James.* 4. We learn from this passage that the anointing of James is not the extreme unction of the Church of Rome. James anoints to raise up the sick man, Rome anoints for his death. But the Priests of Rome replyour Saviour was "anointed for his burial," Mat. xxvi. 12; yes, Protestants reply-not by a Priest, but by a woman; therefore that anointing was not the extreme unction of Rome. 5. We learn from this Scripture the duty of the Elders of the church, (in which term, Elders, we include › Ministers and all other rulers of the house of God,) to attend the sick when called, in all forms of disease, contagious or otherwise. We believe in contagion as surely as we believe in our own existence; but we believe in the power of Christ to protect his servants in every discharge of duty. And we rejoice in being able to say, that all the terrors of Cholera, real and imaginary, (for there are both,) have not prevented Protestant Ministers from freely visiting the sick. We feel induced to mention this fact, as it has

The Medical Gazette states, as a certain fact, that the cotton mills of Glasgow have been absolutely free from Cholera. Is this owing to the extensive use of oil in such places?