orkman, takes account of what
material he has to work with. "Have I," he says, "any thing that
others have not had, or can I hope to find any thing that has not been
before?" At once he is struck with that "law of circuit" that is
stamped on every thing: generation follows generation; but no new
earth, _that_ remains ever the same; the sun wheels ceaselessly in its
one course; the winds circle from point to point, but whirl about to
their starting-place; the waters, too, follow the same law, and keep up
one unbroken circuit. Where can rest be found in such a scene? Whilst
there is unceasing change, nothing is _new_; it is but a repetition of
what has been before, and which again soon passes, leaving the heart
empty and hungry still. Again, then, let us use this dark background
to throw forward another scene. See, even now, "above the sun" Him who
is the Head and perfect Exponent of the creation called the _new_. Is
there any law of constant unsatisfying circuit in Him? Nay, indeed,
every sight we get of Him is _new_; each revelation of Himself
perfectly satisfies, and yet awakens appetite for further views.

"No pause, no change those pleasures
Shall ever seek to know;
The draught that lulls our thirsting
But wakes that thirst anew."

Or, again, look at that blessed "law of circuit" spoken of in another
way by one who has indeed been enlightened by a light "above the sun"
in every sense of the word, in 2 Cor. ix. It is not the circling of
winds or waters, but of "grace" direct from the blessed God Himself.
Mark the perfection stamped upon it both by its being a complete
circle--never ending, but returning again to its Source,--and by the
numerical stamp of perfection upon it in its seven distinct parts (or
movements) as shown by the sevenfold recurrence of the word "all," or
"every," both coming from the same Greek word.

1. "God is able to make _all_ grace abound unto you." There is an
inexhaustible _source_. We may come and come and come again, and never
find _that_ fountain lowered by all our drafts upon it. Sooner, far
sooner, should the ocean be emptied by a teacup than infinite "power"
and "love" be impoverished by all that His saints could draw from Him.
_All_ grace.

2. "That ye _always_." There is no moment when this circle of
blessing need stop flowing. It is ever available. No moment--by day
or night, in the quiet of the closet or in the activities of the day's
duties, whe