THE BEST INHERITANCE

A SERMON

by Mister JAMES WELLS

by Mister JAMES WELLS

Volume 13 Number 640

“Your blessing is upon your people.” Psalm 3:8

THIS was the confidence and comfort of the Psalmist when, deprived of earthly friends and earthly comforts; and that by the military operations of his own son, seeking not only his throne and his kingdom, but his very life also. Showing of what human nature is capable, when once left under the influence of sin, which, is never satisfied, and never would be until it had annihilated the Almighty himself; and that the more we know of the power of sin, the more we shall prize the sovereignty of God. Oh! what would salvation be, an empty name, without the sovereignty of God? And therefore, when men, under the influence of the misguided sympathies of their nature, are found contending against Jehovah's sovereignty in the eternal choice and everlasting security of his people, we may perhaps say of many of them, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” If it were possible to take that sovereignty away, or in any measure bring it into bondage, there would, be then but one being to have, his own way, and that would be the devil; and surely he would do nothing but bring about destruction. And therefore, it is the very, song of heaven, that “the Lord God omnipotent reigns;” and that, “his blessing is upon his people.” And this it is that makes them the objects of envy.

Now, in noticing these words, we may observe, first, the nature of the “blessing;” secondly, its progression; and thirdly, its continuation.

First: The nature of this “blessing,” which is “upon the people of God.”

Now all the blessedness they have is by Christ, Jesus the Lord, for “by him are all things;” and therefore, to understand the nature of this “blessing” we must look to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as there was a fourfold curse pronounced upon the serpent, you will find the very reverse relative to the Lord Jesus Christ and his people.

1. The first part of the curse pronounced upon the serpent was that he was to “go upon his belly.” In the Book of Job, you have an explanation of this; and indeed, in other scriptures as well. Job, speaking of the wicked man, says, “Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly.” The “belly,” therefore, signifies the conscience; and the devil “going upon his belly” signifies that he should go against his own conscience, and go on accumulating guilt to himself, and that unto the end of the world. The devil knows that in all the doctrines which he propagates, in all the persecutions which he instigates, he is wrong; he is condemned in himself, he feels that he is, and therefore while he progresses in his Satanic works they are nevertheless to him painful; yet his raging malignity drives him on. Now take the other side of the question, relative to the Lord Jesus Christ. While the enemy is condemned in all he does, the Lord Jesus Christ is justified in all he does. Hence the Savior felt, really felt (and it was one of the most blessed feelings that he had as man, and it is one of the most blessed feelings in which you and I can participate as one with Christ), the Lord Jesus Christ felt that all he thought, and all he did, and all he said, was right. He felt that he had no sin of his own; he felt that he had not committed one error; he felt that in him there was no guile. You will find, it is said of him in the first epistle to Timothy, that he was “justified in the Spirit;” and this is what I understand by it. As a prophet, he told the truth, and his words can never fall to the ground; “the heavens and the earth shall pass away, but his words shall not pass away;” his prophetic office shall be substantiated by our realizing the fulfilment of his promises, for we by him shall be justified, and in this way realize the great truth that “the blessing of the Lord is upon his people.” The Lord Jesus Christ was also justified as a priest; he felt that the sacrifice which he offered was every way adequate to the great end for which it was designed. He saw that there were mountains deeply rooted to overturn; he saw that those mountains occupied (if I may so speak) a large space; he saw that they rose very high; yet he met this tremendous scene, his great atonement reached the whole, and swallowed up the whole; and therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ is conscious that his people are brought to heaven justly. He is conscious that they have not one sin; he is conscious of the utter impossibility of one sin ever being laid to their charge. And he, being conscious of this, enjoys this; and we, being brought to know a little of the Lord, enjoy this too; and as he, by his truth, and by his great sacrifice and righteousness, justifies us, so we are spoken of as justifying him: “Wisdom is justified of all her children.” Men may revile these truths; but we rejoice in them and justify God in them, whereas those who know them not despise the Lord in them. Men may despise the perfection of the atonement; but you and I rejoice in it and feel (I say it with reverence) that the Savior himself could not feel justified as a priest until he had atoned for his people according to his covenant engagement. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” And therefore, he is justified. As a king, also, he is justified. He reigns over all worlds, and he feels it his right to do so: And he reigns on behalf of his people, that he may subdue their foes, make them willing, bring them to himself, and cause them to be as decided for him (I had almost said) as he is for them; and so they, shall be in point of sentiment, for the same truth that was rooted in the heart of Christ shall be rooted in the hearts of his people. As a King, he reigns over all worlds for them; and they by him shall reign also. And so, we come into the truth by his prophetic office; we come into its sacredness by his priestly office, we come into its dominion by his kingly office. He is justified also as the Son of God; as the Son of God and Heir of all things, he makes known his Father's will to his brethren, and brings them into that life and light and liberty and possession which he has for them. The Lord Jesus Christ, then, you see, in all he has done, from first to last, is conscious that what he has done has not only been right (if I may use the expression) but gloriously so; and therefore, he has “magnified the law and made it honorable,” made it a matter of injustice for anything to be laid to the charge of his people, yes, further, made it a matter of impossibility that they should come short of one of the mercies which God the Father gave him for them, and gave them to him for. Here, then, is the mighty difference. The wicked one will be conscious to all eternity that all he has done is wrong, and all who are with the wicked one will be conscious that all they have done is wrong; but the Lord Jesus Christ enjoys the consciousness that all he has done and does is right, and we in him get rid of all our sins and guilt and fears, and rest not in a consciousness of our fleshly, personal, legal right, but in a consciousness of the righteousness of Christ, the efficacy of his great salvation, the eternity of his glory. “Your blessing is upon your people.”

Thus, you see, by reversing the curse, we are led into that which is with us a reality. But you must draw a line of distinction between a moral reality and a spiritual reality. There is a moral reality, and there is a spiritual reality, Right and wrong, naturally, is a reality; the natural man feels it is a reality; he feels that to do wrong is to do wrong, and he feels that to do right is to do right. But then we may possess this moral reality without possessing one particle of spiritual reality. We cannot stop in this moral reality. This moral reality is good, and a good principle to act upon among men; but if I go to eternal things, I must go beyond this, I must come to the reality of atoning blood, I must come to the reality of saving grace, I must come to the reality of Christ's righteousness, I must come to the reality of the Holy Ghost's anointing, I must come to the reality of the love of God; and then I have something beyond a moral reality, I have a spiritual reality, which comes from him who is “the second Man, the Lord from heaven.” And this proves my interest in him who is “a quickening Spirit;” this proves my interest in a spiritual world, in a spiritual kingdom, in a spiritual family, in spiritual glory, in that which is incorruptible and eternal. There is a clear distinction, you see, between the two. And it shows us how “the Lord's blessing is upon his people;” that is to say, God is with his people in this way. And without going any further, we may say, if the Lord be with his people in this way, what is there that can separate?

2. Again: the enemy was to eat dust. “Dust shalt you eat all the days of your life.” Now this, again, is to be understood figuratively. As for the enemy and all that are with him, their attainments shall be all perishable, their attainments shall be but “dust;” their wealth, their honors, and their doings, whether profane doings or religious doings, nothing but “dust”, all perishable, all mortal, none worth having. What! say you, what! after all the labor, after all the toil of generation after generation, have they nothing but dust for their pains? Nothing. Their “foundation is in the dust;” dust is the object of their pursuit; dust is their portion; “dust shall they eat all the days of their life.” But now come to the Lord Jesus Christ and look at the blessing. Was he to feed upon perishable things? He says, No. “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work:” “I delight, O God, to do your will.” So that Christ's meat, Christ's attainments, are imperishable, his honors uncorruptible, his glories illimitable, his grandeur indescribable. While he lived in this world, he lived upon immortal things; and therefore, he says, “As I live by the Father, so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.” And if you and I have this blessing, we have a distaste for the dusty formality of mortals; we have a distaste for the miserable, long, lying prayer-books of prayerless men; we have a distaste for all those abominable systems, and our souls thirst for God, and hunger after immortal realities, so that nothing can bring us satisfaction but that bread that comes down from heaven which is incorruptible; and nothing can satiate our thirst but that river that shall to everlasting flow, and nothing can satisfy us in the way of wealth but those riches which are incorruptible and which are forever. Dust shall be the serpent's meat, but royal dainties shall be the meat of the Lord Jesus Christ and his people. Oh! what a likeness there may be, and is, between professors, in a moral sense! but oh! How great the difference in a spiritual sense! In a spiritual sense, the one is feeding upon false doctrines, and false systems, and false doings; the other passes by all this, and feeds upon the bread of eternal life, upon “the truth as it is in Jesus.”

So then, you see, the Lord is not only with us in justification by Christ Jesus, in opposition to that condemnation which we deserve; but he is with us also in these infinite provisions, in opposition to that destitution, that famine, that state of misery, which we deserve. This “blessing,” therefore, overcomes a great curse. This justification has overcome our condemnation; this provision has overcome our destitution. While dust shall be the serpent's meat, our bread shall be royal dainties.

And therefore, said Jesus, “Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Oh! Compare, contrast the blessing of the eternal God with all other things. All other things are swallowed up; and well might the Bible say, “God shall be all in all.” “Your blessing is upon your people:” it is a needed blessing, justification, and provision.

3.   But this is not all. The serpent was to be cast out. There was to be “enmity between him and

the woman, and between his seed and her seed.” This enmity was to meet; they should come together, and one or the other must prevail. It is in this way, friends, that you are to understand the intercessions of the psalmist against his enemies; you recollect those scriptures, “Let their table become a snare and a trap,” and so on; and this is the meaning of it. Here is a class of men, under the influence of the prince of darkness, bringing a certain system against the truth of God, and the truth of God comes against that system; now that system, be it Popery, Church-of-Englandism, or moderate Calvinism, or heathenism, or what it may, coming against the truth of God, either the truth of God must be destroyed, or that system must be destroyed; they cannot both stand together. Then what is to be done? Why, says Christ, let them be destroyed. It is in that way I understand those psalms; that here are truth and error meeting, and one or the other must be overcome and destroyed; and Christ says, “Rather than your truth should be destroyed, rather than your children should be destroyed, rather than your counsel should be overturned, rather than your covenant should be made void, let them be destroyed, O God, and go down quick into hell.” These are the solemn intercessions of Christ on behalf of God's truth and of God's people. For my text must stand eternally true, “Your blessing is upon your people;” and therefore, those adverse systems shall not overcome that truth, but the truth shall overcome those adverse systems. The serpent shall be cast out. “Now is the prince of this world cast out,” says the Savior. There is a beautiful scripture, which reads thus: “O Judah, keep your solemn feasts,” the Passover and so on; “perform your vows,” acknowledge a salvation by grace, “the enemy is utterly cut off, he shall no more pass through you.” He passed through us in the first paradise, robbed and spoiled and plundered and ruined us; but he cannot touch us as we stand in Christ. He passed through us in the first Adam; but he cannot touch us in the last Adam. And therefore, says Christ, “The prince of this world is cast out.”

Then shall the people be cast out? Yes, when Jesus himself is. Not before. “Accepted in the Beloved.” What! do you think the Lord would turn us away? We have no idea how welcome we are to the love of his heart, the light of his countenance, the provisions of his mercy; we have no idea how welcome we shall be when we reach the gates of heaven. Why, it is in Christ Jesus that we are received, and he is our worth and worthiness; and therefore, the Savior says, “No man comes unto the Father but by me, and him that comes I will in no way cast out.”

Here is another blessing, you see. First, the blessing of justification; the Lord is with us in that. Then, provision; the Lord is with us in that. And then, the enemy cast out; the Lord is with us in that. No more is there? Yes, more than this.

4. The next is, that the serpent's head should be bruised. Here is the confusion, the final defeat of all his plans. But can confusion ever reach the infinite mind of Jehovah-Jesus? Can his great plan of eternal love and mercy be defeated? Shall not “his counsel stand for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations”? Is not his “covenant ordered in all things and sure”? Is not his oath immutable? It is true the serpent should “bruise the heel”, should persecute the human nature of Christ and persecute the members of Christ; but his scheme shall be destroyed, the counsel of the Lord shall stand, and we shall have everlasting victory.

Now this is a little of the blessing of the Lord resting upon us. The Lord is with us in justification by Christ Jesus; he is with us in ample provision by Christ Jesus; he is with us in approving of us and accepting us in Christ Jesus; he is with us in his universal and eternal dominion. And if the Lord be with us in his universal and eternal dominion, what can harm us? what can touch us? Well might the Old Testament saints, and New Testament saints too, use such strong language concerning this blessed subject; “I will not fear what man can do unto me;” “he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you; so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

Now if the Lord were with us in dissoluble ties, not in indissoluble, but in dissoluble, as he was with the Jews as a nation, then indeed our vineyard might be broken up, then our covenant might prove ineffectual, then our rest might be lost, then our union might cease, then our glory might fade, then our crown might fall from our heads, our palms drop from our hands, and we be left to wander in eternal solitude. But there is “a better covenant, established upon better promises,” a covenant which is “from everlasting to everlasting.” There is no danger here; “Your blessing is upon your people;” and I feel I am well off when I am looking at these things and feeling their transforming power.

Many scriptures illustrate this; but go to the first Psalm, and you may see there the difference which this grace, of which I have been speaking, has made. You have there a person “delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating in his law day and night.” Now who made this difference? If you and I are not “walking in the counsel” of the flesh, the counsel of men, if we are not “standing in the way of sinners,” going in their way of things, if we are not “sitting in” the free-will “seat of scorn,” pouring contempt upon the truth, it is because grace has made the difference. And grace brings union with God, and God is with us here; and we “are as trees planted by the rivers of water, that bring forth their fruit in their season, whose leaf also shall not wither.” You know, there is a great part of the year when there is no fruit; and so with the children of God, though I know some people speak as if they were always bearing fruit, in the pleasurable sense of the word. Not but the tree of life does bear fruit all the year-round; but we find that there are seasons when we seem to have neither fruit nor leaves. Well, but, say you, does it not say, “His leaf also shall not wither”? Yes, but it does not say it shall never be out of sight. I have known many an evergreen covered with snow; but it appears again and lives. “The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away;” nothing can hold them. But “Your blessing is upon your people.” You are not to understand; that the man who is thus favored is blessed conditionally, if he does so and so; no, the man “is blessed,” and blessed he remains forever.

Well, friends, there is no subject like this. The Lord is with us in justification; we shall not be condemned. The Lord is with us in provision; we shall not want. The Lord is with us in approbation; it matters not who. disapproves, he approves, and that is everything. He is with us in his dominion; and consequently, we shall prevail

Second. Now let us step on to the second part of our subject, the progression of this blessing. For it has been progressing from age to age; and nothing has met with so much opposition.

Now just look at some typical circumstances; and watch the progression. See the promise made, and then look at its fulfilment; and look at the circumstances which took place between the manifestation of the promise and the fulfilment of it. There were a great many things that took place between the manifestation of the promise and the fulfilment of it; that really seemed to contradict it; and yet that blessing was progressing all the time.

If you come, in the first place, to Joseph, you recollect his dreams; they were prophetic, and therefore, may be looked at as promises, that his brethren should bow down to him and that he should he exalted. But his being sold in the way he was, did not look much like it; his being accused in the way he was by that pious woman, Potiphar's wife, did not look much like it; his being put into prison did not look much like it; the butler forgetting him, did not look much like it. Do you think Joseph had no fears relative to his future exaltation? Some will say, No, I do not believe he had. Do you think he had an infidel nature? Do you think he had a carnal nature? Do you think he had an unbelieving nature? If he was a man like us there is no doubt, that between the manifestation of the promise and the fulfilling of the promise he had doubts and fears. And yet the promise had its fulfilment; yes, the very things that seemed to hinder were the means of fulfilling it. And his brethren came to him, and he rejoiced to see them, and they rejoiced to see him, and all rejoiced in the goodness of God; for “his blessing is upon, his people.”

Come next to David. David shall surely come to the throne; this was a promise made to him. I need not enlarge upon the many apparently narrow escapes that he had of his life, between the time when he slew Goliath and the time when he was proclaimed king of Israel. He had many things to go through. Yet, you see, he came to the throne, conquered his foes, and rejoiced in the goodness of the Lord; the blessing went on.

Here is Mordecai. The Jews must be delivered. And let me make a moment's digression here: you cannot understand the Book of Esther unless you take one thing into consideration, implied in that book, but nowhere expressed, namely, that Hainan and some of his colleagues had been plotting secretly the destruction of the Jews, who were there with their laws and ordinances contrary to heathenism, and Hainan watching an opportunity to carry the plan into effect. I must not stop to remind you of the various circumstances, such as the king's commanding a feast, the queen refusing to obey his orders, the choice of Esther, and then the exaltation of Hainan, which Haman thought went to favor his plan, and made sure of it; but God was all this time making a way for his own people, for the defeat of his foes and the glory of his own name. And I scarcely need remind you of the way in which the matter turned out. Haman made sure that he was securing his own dignity all the time when everything he was doing was made by the Lord to have the tendency to secure Haman's own degradation and destruction. Oh! it is an awful employment, depend upon it, friends, to be fighting against the truth of God, and fighting against the people of God. Mordecai must be exalted and made great among his people and speak peace to all his brethren; the blessing went on.

Then come to the great Redeemer himself. You know, “exceeding great and precious promises” were made to him; and we know a little, and but little, of what he had to go through in order; to attain that height. Clouds overhung him all his days; and yet, you see, nothing could stop him; the blessing still travelled. Why, talk about a man being taken hold of by the Lord in order to get the man to heaven at last! surely if this blessing could have been stopped anywhere, it must have been when it met the wrath of God. The wrath of man is very great, and the wrath of devils is very great, when let loose; but Christ met the wrath of God, and even that could not stop him. The blessing has overcome the curse; and therefore, “death is swallowed up in victory,” and “there shall be no more curse,” and the blessing goes travelling on and on.

Now I will remind you of the progress of it in two individual cases in the Bible, because they are expressive of our own. The first is that of Jeremiah, and the second is that of Paul.

With respect to Jeremiah, read the first chapter of his book. The Lord says, “I have made you a defended city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you.” But look at the experience of poor Jeremiah after this, expressed in the third of Lamentations. So, you and I sometimes muster up all these feelings against us; whereas the truth is, if there were no life in the soul, if there were no struggle against sin, the devil and sin would not thus struggle to deprive us of the promises. But did they prevail over Jeremiah? It is true they prevailed over his person, so as to thrust him into a dungeon; but did they prevail over him as a prophet? did they falsify any of his prophecies? did they turn him from the truth? No, indeed. And so, it is still. Christians have been, and may be again, much persecuted, but nothing can falsify the truth, and nothing can separate us from the truth. “The blessing of the Lord is upon his people.” They did not prevail against him. If you asked Jeremiah where he was when he died, he would say, In the love of God; if you asked Jeremiah what he was when he died, he would say, An heir of eternal glory; if you asked him how it was, he would say, The devil and sin have done all they can to prevail, but all in vain, for God has prevailed at last. Again; “Fear not, Paul, you must be brought before Caesar; there shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you. God has given you all them, that sail with you.” But the wind began to blow, and the ship to whirl about, and they began to throw this out and that out and by and by they come to a place where two seas meet, and the ship ran aground, and the fore part is fixed, and the hinder part breaks to pieces. Why, Paul might say, “The Lord said that not, a hair of our heads should perish it seems to me quite the reverse, that not a hair of our heads shall be saved, but we are all going to perish together.” “And some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship,” well, what is the end? “they escaped all safe to land.” And now Paul is put into another ship, he gets safe to Rome, and there he is bearing witness in Cesar's palace; as it was said, “You must bear witness of me at Rome.” And his people must bear witness in heaven.

So, you see the work goes on. “He that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

It is remarkable that there is this striking difference between providence and grace; the blessings of providence go backward, but the blessings of grace go forward. Grace is progressive, but providence is retrogressive. The fruit we had last year is gone; that which we shall have this year is going; but the grace we had when the world was created we have now, that which we had when the Lord first called us we have now, that which we have now we shall have in a dying hour, that which we have in a dying hour we shall have at the judgment day, that which we have at the judgment day we shall have to all eternity. None of it passes away. But providential things, temporal things, are all passing away. Yes, in nature youth passes away; but in grace it does not: we shall be young to all eternity, In nature the strength of manhood passes away; but in grace it does not; we shall be strong to all eternity. In nature the wisdom of age dwindles into imbecility; not so in grace; for “we shall know even as we are known.” “Your blessing is upon your people.

Third. Now having reminded you of the nature of this blessing, and the progression of it (though we have said nothing compared with what might be said on this second point, which includes regeneration, perseverance, a dying hour, raising us from the dead at the last great day, carrying us by its own internal power into the realms of bliss, and filling us there with “fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore”), we come now to the last idea of this blessing, continuation.

The continuation of this blessing originates chiefly in the manner of it. Such is the manner of this blessing, that there is no way in which anything contrary thereto can enter into the vitals of this blessing, or into the union which the people have with Christ, to affect that union. If I speak of their standing, it is upon the Rock of eternal ages. Nothing can undermine that: it is an everlasting foundation; therefore, they must be borne up: “Trust you in the Lord Jehovah, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” Then if you look on the right hand, they have justification and acceptance with God. If you, look on the left hand, the Lord is round about them, “as the mountains are round about Jerusalem.” If you look to what is over them, it is said “The Lord shall be seen over them.” If you look behind them, there is mercy behind them from everlasting; “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” And if you look at what is before them, eternal life, eternal salvation, eternal glory. So that from the very manner of this blessing, no curse can come in.

I was very much delighted the other day with the apostle's idea of “grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life.” I thought: Why, a man may possess an immensity of wealth, but that wealth may dwindle away, and after it is gone something may come in to make him very uncomfortable; but here is “eternal life,” there is no end. Sin may say, “Stop till they get to the end of their life but that will never be, it is “eternal life.” Satan may say, “Stop till they get to the end of their righteousness;” that will never be, it is “everlasting righteousness.” “Stop till they get to the end of the love of God;” that will never be, for nothing shall “separate us from it.” “Stop till they get to the end of their salvation;” that will never be, for it “shall be forever, and shall not be abolished.” “Stop till they get to the end of their kingdom;” that will never be, for it is “an everlasting kingdom.” “Stop till they get to the end of their heirship;” that will never be, for they are “heirs of God,” and he is the “ everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” And therefore, sin and Satan may wait, but they shall never be able to come in; for these are eternal realities. Amen and amen.

The following lines were inserted in the “Spiritual Magazine, in the year 1840.

A PRAYER for the Restoration to Health of Mr. James Wells, - the beloved Minister of the Surrey Tabernacle.

Look down, dear Savior, from on high.

And listen to your suppliants' cry; We come oppressed with anxious care, Regard, O Lord, our earnest prayer: We come your favor to, implore, Our Under Shepherd, Lord, restore,

The sheep within this fold are thine, Lord, then on our affliction shine;

And though, your purpose to fulfil, Clouds may obscure our little, hill, Revive with healing beams once more, Our Under Shepherd, Lord, Restore.

Oft has he brought us richest food, Opening the mysteries of your word;

Oft on the wings of faith and love Raised us earth's fleeting, things above, On heights of covenant love to soar: Our Under Shepherd, Lord, restore.

Oft when perplexed with self and sin, With cares without, and fears within;

When darkness seemed to veil the throne Oft has he Zion's landmarks shown; Pointing our faith to yonder shore: Our Under Shepherd, Lord, restore.

Blest by the Holy Spirit thus, Our pastor, Lord, is dear to us;

Feed by his means with finest wheat, For him we seek the mercy-seat: Revive and strengthen as before, Our Under. Shepherd, Lord, restore.

Though sick in body, firm, in soul,

Your glory he would yet unroll;     . '

Give, therefore, Lord, more copious showers, Feed him that he may nourish ours: And let him while his health is gone, Dwell very near the eternal throne, Enjoy communion with the Lord, And frequent hear a cheering word.

May breezes from the heavenly hill In strengthening fragrancy distil;

May leaves from the celestial tree Soon set his frame from sickness free:

Established more than heretofore,

Our Under Shepherd, Lord, restore

Moses G.