Nay, it is scarcely correct to say that he is pardoned, if he is just and righteous in the eye of the law. He may be discharged from punishment, but pardon itself implies guilt. Here, therefore, the parallel fails between the divine procedure and that which takes place among men; for those whom God pardons or forgives, he both accounts their persons righteous in his sight, and receives them into perpetual favour. This is done, as the remainder of the answer before us states "Only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone."

To be continued.)

have taken place. Bridges have fallen, not when they were crowded with passengers, but when no foot was treading on them; and houses have fallen, not while their inhabitants were asleep, but when previous warning had made them hasten their escape.

The next thought that occurred to me was this, that it was a striking emblem of old age and death.Like this tree, the aged exhibit many traces of bodily and of mental decay. The frame once fresh and vigorous, now shakes with palsy; and the countenance once fresh and blooming, is now ghastly and withered; the imagination once so luxuriant in its varied fancies, is now languid and sluggish, and yields nought but dark forebodings; the

1827.

THE OLD TREE.

In going out one morning lately to my pastoral duties, I saw by the way side an old tree lying on the ground. None had ever passed that way without being struck with the appearance of this tree in its glory. Its trunk was large, its height was great, and its branches were thick and spreading. There was no tree around so lofty and majestic. Its trunk measured no less than twenty-four feet in circumference. For some seasons past it had exhibited symptoms of decay, and last summer there was not a green spot on all its branches, except what two or three twigs presented. Its roots were rotten, and one night lately, though there was no wind to occasion the least agitation, it fell to the ground. In looking at it I thought of the kindness of Providence in ordering its fall in the night; for had it fallen in the day time, it is more than probable, that some of the numerous travellers on the foot-path which it overshadowed, might have been killed, or injured. The kindness of Providence is visible in the season in which many similar occurrences

lections is now like a broken vessel; and the affections, once so ardent, are now chilled amidst the peevishness which is produced by infirmity or neglect. To such decay in body and in mind protracted life must lead; and the vigour which some have exhibited on the borders of four score is rare, and is not strength in which a wise man would glory. It requires no violence of disease to lay the old man in the dust. The supports of life are exhausted, and so feeble is the vital principle, that, with little or no struggle, his breath departs, and he returns to his dust. To many a passenger this tree has been a monitor of human frailty. The young may have been reminded by it that favour is deceitful, and that beauty is vain; and the aged may have learned from it, that in their frailty they are the subjects of one common law with every thing that lives. It was an affecting incident in the life of Swift, that in a pleasurable excursion with some friends into the country, he fell behind, and after waiting in vain for his joining them, one of them turned back to seek for him, and found him standing gazing intently on a beautiful tree

whose top had been scathed by lightning. To the friend who interrupted his musings, he said, :pointing with his finger to his forehead, Like that tree, God will smite me here." The presentiment was unhappily realized in his mental imbecility; and he whose intellect had been so quick and powerful, became as a child.

and which perished in a night, but for ages it had been a place of refuge.

What changes have taken place around this tree! The noble proprietors of the stately mansion near it have been thrust away from it, and it is now occupied by strangers. To those who have been born to a richer lot than others, it is an aggravation of the day of calamity, that it drives them from scenes of greater beauty, and these never appear so lovely as to the eye that is gazing on them for the last time; and this is one of the pangs of the last hour, to those on whom prosperity has smiled to the end, from which the bosom of the poor man is free, How many have passed by it to the places of religious worship in the village near it, who are now silent in the grave. How many processions of joy and grief have passed under its branches;-often have the poor passed by it in quest of bread, and the wealthy in the pursuit of pleasure. During its growth, the surrounding district has improved amazingly in wealth and population, in culture and beauty; so that were those who lived when it was planted to revisit this quarter, they would recognise nought about it but the mountains which still bound the prospect, and the sea which still washes its borders. The great features of nature never vary; it is on the lesser that the hand of man works.

In pursuing my walk, I thought of the care of Providence over this tree. Often had the blasts of winter shaken it, but not a branch had been broken; often had the light ning of heaven moved over it, but had not been permitted to strike.Hostile armies have passed by it, but they had not done it the least injury. For three hundred years it had stood, and for as many springs had the hand of the God of nature renewed it. And if God is thus incessant in his care of such objects, will he cease to interest himself in his rational and redeemed offspring? Such is the argument which our Lord employs to repress solicitude, and its power has been felt in many trying situations. In beholding the tender plants safe after a tempestuous night, the fury of whose winds we thought no shrub could withstand-in seeing them neither torn up nor broken, the reflection has been excited, how God will strengthen his people for enduring the severest affliction; that the feeble and the delicate he can fortify against the fury of disease, and that amidst the pressure of calamity he can maintain the patience and the hope of virtue. My mind was led to the consideration of the benefits which it had yielded. Year after year it was a lodging-place for the fowls of heaven; often too has it sheltered the traveller from the tempest, and from the scorching beat.

It was not like the gourd of Jonah which sprung up in a night,

We believe that Swift's expression, as reported by Dr. Young who heard it, was, Like that tree, I shall die at top."

Editor of C. Adv.

A plantation not far distant, was the scene of a suicide awfully instructive. The wretched victim once seemed destined to a happier fate; he received a good education, and was settled in a respectable line of business; but he was enticed by loose companions to scenes of dissipation; his morals were debauched by their vile conversation, and his principles were ruined by their infidel sophistry. He became embarrassed in his circumstances; the profligates who had corrupted him were unable or unwilling to aid

him, and the sober and the virtuous felt that in him they could put no confidence. Too proud to labour for his support, and to accommodate himself to his altered circumstances, and destitute of contrition for his folly, and of that hope in God which would have led him in tears to his footstool, he resolved to terminate his mortal existence, and he did it there. Nothing can show more strikingly the influence of infidelity in hardening the heart to every emotion of benevolence and commiseration, than this circumstance, that his associates lamented nought about his exit but its vulgar mode; and said, with an air bordering on derision and contempt, that he ought to have died by a pistol-bullet like a gentleman, and not like a felon by a halter. The feeling heart will listen to the warnings of such a scene. For many a day the remembrance of his fate filled the passer-by with horror, and amidst the gloom of night it seemed a spot where the demon of despair had triumphed.

There were some tender plants growing near this tree, which were crushed by its fall; and I could not but be reminded by this circumstance of the miseries in which men are involved by their connexion with the calamities of others. The bankrupt has reduced to poverty the simple who confided in him, and he whose seemingly prosperous establishment gave employment to workmen of various descriptions, has in his fall brought them low. Few are so insignificant or obscure as not to implicate others in their misfortunes or their crimes; and this operates as a powerful motive to keep parents from indulging in sloth, and from the commission of iniquity, that by their indolence they may not bring misery on those whose happiness is dear to them, nor entail disgrace on those to whom they should transmit an unsullied name. It is one

of the sweetest rewards of benefi cence and wisdom in this world, when others are enlightened and purified by their influence; when the young learn to fear God from a parent's prayers, and to resist the enticements of sinners, by the happiness prepared for them in a sweet home.

The next time I passed that way, there were person's employed in cutting this tree in pieces, that what of it was still sound might be turned to some account. At a former period it might have formed part of a ship, and have ploughed the ocean, or have been used in the erection of a building, but now it is fit only for some humbler purpose, and thus it teaches us not to throw aside as useless what cannot answer any great object; but to improve it for advantage, so far as it will go. Gather up the fragments that nothing be lost. The old may learn from this, to be content with the humblest offices of utility. Let them not say, because to others are allotted the tasks for which they are no longer competent, "I will do nothing; but let them say, "I will do what I can." It will be a most delightful reflection, amidst the infirmities of age, that you are not altogether useless; and to the eye of heaven an old person dedicating his remaining strength to the means of support, or to the lessons of experience, is as pleasing an object as any of the pursuits of active manhood, or laborious zeal. He hath this hope amidst all his weakness, that he will soon be made a pillar in the temple of his God. I have never passed that way since the fall of this tree, without feeling that there was a blank in the spot: in how many scenes of life are we reminded of objects whose loss has not been supplied to us, whose counsels we have found in no hu man wisdom, whose support we have felt in no human arm, and whose kindness we have seen in no human heart. Such blanks remind

and

us that this is not the place of our rest. There is only one Being in whom the human heart can be fully and for ever blessed, for he is God all-sufficient and unchangeable, band in no situation shall they that trust in him be desolate. There are seasons in a good man's life when he can say, I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste; but there is none in which God leaves himself without a witness, and in which piety seeks his shade in vain.

*

There are three texts of Scripture which have occurred to me in thinking of this tree. Solomon saith, "If the tree fall toward the north or towards the south, in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be." This text has been justly considered as an intimation that man's state after death is unalterable, and that grace will issue no pardon for the damned, nor make the least effort for the sanctification of those who have died in their sins; and how desirable then is it that when death comes, we may be found united to the person of the Lord Jesus, formed to righteousness, and pointing to heaven.

In the book of Job, it is said, "There is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease; but man dieth and wasteth away." If the soil is moist, branches will shoot forth from the stock, and in process of time may become a large tree; but no breath, no dew can revive the bodies of the dead, and till the resurrection morn they must abide as dust among dust.

I shall only refer to another text, and it is to a passage in the Prophecies of Isaiah, where in describing the duration of the millennium, and the health, peace, and felicity of that era, he says, "As the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and mine elect shall long en

Christ made himself like to us, that he might make us like to himself.

Christ must needs have died: how else could sin be expiated, the law satisfied, the devil conquered,

and man be saved?

They that deny themselves for Christ, shall enjoy themselves in Christ.

Men had rather hear of Christ crucified for them, than be crucified for Christ.

If Christ denied innocent Nature out of love to us, shall not we deny corrupt Nature out of love to him?

Christ, by his death, appeared to be the Son of Man; by his resur

rection, he appeared to be the Son of God.

Christ was the great promise of the Old Testament; the Spirit is the great promise of the New.

Christ's strength is the Christian's strength.

If we would stand, Christ must be our foundation; if we would be safe, Christ must be our sanctuary.

In regard of natural life, we live in God; in regard of spiritual life, Christ lives in us.

He that thinks he hath no need of Christ, hath too high thoughts of himself; he that thinks Christ cannot help him, hath too low thoughts of Christ.

Presumption abuses Christ, Despair refuses him.

Christ satisfied God to the uttermost, and therefore can save sinners to the uttermost.

The blood of Christ, which satisfied the justice of God, may satisfy the conscience of an awakened sin

ner.

If sin was better known, Christ would be better thought of.

If sin doth not taste bitter, Christ cannot taste sweet.

When sin is hell, Christ is heaven. There is no passage from sin to holiness, till we are passed from sin to Christ.

Christ may have an interest in us, though we may not be able to see our interest in him.

Christ hath entreated God to be reconciled to us, and now he en treats us to be reconciled to God.

God will give us nothing for our sakes; but he will deny us nothing for Christ's sake.

None are so low as Christ was none so lowly, none so loving.

We may know what Christ hath done for us, by what he hath done in us.

Creatures die, that our bodies may live; Christ died that our souls may live.

Our Judge, instead of condemning us, stepped from the bench, and died for us.

Christ is to be a believer's Judge; and if he was to choose his judge, he could not choose a better friend.

As God glorifies Christ in hea ven, so the Spirit glorifies him on earth, in the hearts of believers.

A believer's comfort in living, is to live to Christ; and in dying, it is that he should go to Christ.

The blood of Christ upon the heart is the greatest blessing; upon the head, is the greatest curse.

It matters not who are our accu sers, if Christ be our advocate.