and to the bats. You cast your jewels of silver and jewels of gold to those creatures, and keep your idols to worship; you make gods of earthly things, which cannot profit, and esteem as trifles the things which endure unto life everlasting. In neglecting the soul, you give it over to Satan, to be buffeted and tormented for ever. If another person should do this for you, it would surprise us; but for you to do this deed yourself leaves us, through surprise, no words to utter but David's, "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" or, "What will ye do in the end thereof?" But before the end come, which will burn as an oven, and not be quenched, let us advise, "let the sinner forsake his way, and the self-righteous his thoughts." You profess to believe the Scriptures; make it your business to act as you believe. Then your eyes shall be opened, and the day shall come when your heart shall be regenerate; and though you came late into the vineyard, you shall not fail to gain a portion now of the peace which passeth all understanding, and hereafter an inheritance with them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Amen. THE SCAPE-GOAT; OR, THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS. WE will therefore conclude with a reference only to one other instance of a legal type, which is that of the scapegoat, or of the two expiatory goats (Lev. xvi. 5, 7, 10). They typified, in a most remarkable manner, the death and resurrection of Christ, and the atonement thereby made, which we will afterwards notice more particularly. This type was in the "shadow of good things to come" (Heb. x. 1); it mystically testified of the antitype, and along with all the other ancient expiations of the Jewish Church, it prefigured the sacrifice of himself (Heb. ix. 12). Therefore this, as well as every other type, refers us to Him who is the body and substance of all the legal shadows, figures, and sacrifices (Col. ii. 17); "to what purpose else is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? saith the Lord:"-I have desired mercy, that is, purity of heart, and not mere external worship or sacrifice. "I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats" (Isa. i. 11; 1 Sam. xv. 22; Psal. li. 16-19; Hos. vi. 6; comp. Mat. ix. 13, xii. 7); which at the best are but the figures or imperfect copies of the true (Heb. ix. 24). "Wherefore, he saith (in Psal. xl. 6), sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not accept, but a body thou hast prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure" (Heb. x. 5, 6). Now in order to perform the service of this great fast of expiation, the annual purification of the Jewish nation (Lev. xvi. 29, 30, xxiii. 27, 28; Acts, xxvii. 9), the high-priest was not arrayed in his golden robes, or ephod with precious stones, but in his plain, yet holy linen garments. And this he did that he might offer sacrifices for his own sins, and make an atonement for himself (Lev. xvi. 4-6), "as well as for the people" (Heb. v. 3). In correspondence with this, the Highpriest of our Christian profession vailed his divine glory, and arrayed himself in a holy human nature, not "to present sacrifices for his own sins, and then for those of the people" (Heb. vii. 27), but that he might, in the most effectual manner, "make atonement for the sins of the people" (Heb. ii. 17). On this solemn occasion, the high-priest entered yearly (Heb. ix. 7, x. 1; Lev. xvi. 2, 34) into the holy place, or earthly (Heb. ix. 25), that is, of bulls and goats, but which tabernacle made with hands, with the blood of others could not take away or make a proper atonement for sins (Heb. x. 4). Our High-priest entered not yearly, but once for all into (the real tabernacle or heavenly hands, yet "not by the blood of goats and calves, but sanctuary, Heb. viii. 1, 2) the holy place not made with by his own blood, and by a greater and more perfect tabernacle" (the true tabernacle, Heb. viii. 2), even his own transcendently excellent manhood, which also eternal redemption for us (Heb. ix. 11, 12). Again: was not made with hands, and who thereby obtained it is said that the Aaronic priest offered up sacrifice, first for himself, then for the people (Heb. vii. 27; Lev. xvi. 11, 15). Our High-priest needed not, as those high-priests, to offer first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; for the law makes men high-priests who have infirmities which need expiation; but the word of the oath, or promise, which had an oath joined with it (Psal. cx. 4), was since the law office the Son of God, who is for ever consecrated to of the priesthood of Aaron, and constitutes to that the execution of it (Zech. vi. 13), and who is far above all need of sacrificing for himself (Heb. vii. 26-28; Dan. ix. 26). And there shall be no man with the high-priest when he goeth into the holy place to make an atonement (Lev. xvi. 17); he alone shall enter that apartment (Heb. ix. 7): and is it not written, "I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me?" (Isa. lxiii. 3, 5). All his disciples, it is said, forsook him-left him alone, and fled (John, xvi. 32; Matt. xxvi. 56); so that he his own self exclusively bare our sins in his own body on the tree (1 Pet. ii. 24). The atonement made by the Jewish high-priests only averted temporal evils, and respected the time then present; extending to that dispensation only (Heb. ix. 9). That of the antitype High-priest, and the efficacy of his blood, extends to all believers from the foundation of the world; and its virtue will be continued to all who shall hereafter believe on him to life everlasting (comp. Heb. ix. 15, 26; Rev. xiii. 8). Therefore it was not necessary that he should offer himself often, as the Jewish highpriest entered into the holy place yearly on the day of atonement (Heb. ix. 25); moreover, his blood is still considered as in the act of being continually poured out (comp. Rev. v. 6). The atonement made by the ancient high-priest pertained only to the congregation and children of Israel (Lev. xvi. 7, 21). That of our High-priest is not for their sins only, but for the sins of the Gentile world also (1 John, ii. 2). Beside offering a bullock for a sin-offering for himself, and a ram for the people (Lev. xvi. 3), Aaron was also to take two kids of the goats for a sin-offering (Lev. xvi. 5); but not kill both, yet to cast lots upon the two, which should be sacrificed to the Lord, and which should be set at liberty, or be the scape-goat (Lev. xvi. 8). He that was determined by lot to be sacrificed was put to death, and offered for the sins of the people (Lev. xvi. 9, 15). He that was to be set at liberty, was to be presented alive before the Lord (Lev. xvi. 10). The former being put to death, prefigured our Lord's death, which was the consummation of a full, perfect, and sufficient atonement (comp. Heb. ix. 26, x. 14; Ephes. v. 2): the latter, which escaped, pre • From "Christ the True and Faithful Witness of the Everlasting Covenant." By Henry Bourne, Esq. 8vo, pp. 284. London, Seeleys; Nisbet and Co. 1838.-A work manifesting no small assiduity and biblical research on the part of the author. Copious notes and a complete index are added. In a more especial manner it is recommended to the notice of students in theology; but the general reader will find much interesting information, figured his triumphant resurrection (1 Cor. xv. 3, 4 ; Rom. iv. 25); and may we not add, our resurrection also, through him, from sin and death to eternal life? (comp. Ephes. ii. 1, 5, 6; Col. ii. 12; 1 Cor. xv. 20; John, xiv. 19). Aaron, by the blood of the goat, entered into the holy place within the vail (Lev. xvi. 15). In like manner, "Christ entered within the vail (Heb. vi. 19, 20), even into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us," with his own blood (Heb. ix. 12, 24), and there stood a lamb as if it had been slain (Rev. v. 6). Its body was to be burned without the camp (Lev. xvi. 27; Heb. xiii. 11); so Jesus, with his own atoning blood, suffered upon Mount Calvary, without the gate of Jerusalem (Heb. xiii. 12; Luke, xxiii. 33; John, xix. 17, 18). And are not we likewise to go out to him without the camp, and bear his reproach? (Heb. xiii. 13.) It was presented at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord and all the people (Lev. xvi. 7); so Christ willingly presented himself to do his Heavenly Father's will before God and the people (Heb. x. 9), when, at the solemn anniversary of the general atonement, he went to Jerusalem to offer himself as a sacrifice to God (Luke, xviii. 31), and to be delivered (agreeably to prophecy, comp. Psal. xxii.; Isa. liii.) unto the Jews and Gentiles (Mark, x. 33; Luke, xviii. 31-33). It was chosen by lot (Lev. xvi. 10), which though casual to men, is determined by God (Prov. xvi. 33); so Christ, the chosen of God (Luke, xxiii. 35), was delivered by the determinate counsel of God, into the hands of sinners (Acts, ii. 23; iv. 28). And this ordinance shall be a statute for ever unto you (Lev. xvi. 29), or so long as the tabernacle shall stand (Heb. ix. 8), or until the ceremonies of the Mosaic law be superseded by the glad tidings of the Gospel (Dan. ix. 27; Heb. ix. 10). And when the Messiah maketh his entrance into the world, the type shall be merged and lost in the antitype (John, i. 17; Heb. x. 5), the first shall be taken away, that the second may be established (Heb. x. 9). The vail which gave way to the priest when he entered into the most holy place to make the annual and typical atonement, returned to its former place and use when he went out again (comp. Lev. xvi. 2, 16, 17, 23, 34; Heb. ix. 8, x. 4). But when the Antitype had made and completed the true and real atonement (John, xix. 30; Heb. x. 12), and was to enter into the heavenly sanctuary, the vail not only yielded to him for a time, but was for ever rent in twain from the top to the bottom (Matt. xxvii. 51; Ephes. ii. 14), and a new and living way or entrance into heaven was thereby opened for Jews and Gentiles, through the vail of his own flesh, or human nature, in which he vailed his divine glory (Heb. x. 19, 20). The blood of the goat was to be sprinkled "upon and before the mercyseat;" and so that blood remained in the holy of holies (Lev. xvi. 15). In correspondence with this, the Antitype stands before the throne as a lamb slain (Rev. v. 6), and appears always in heaven with his blood, "the blood of sprinkling," which pleads for and speaketh mercy and life eternal to all who believe in him (Heb. xii. 24). An atonement was also to be made by blood for the holy place itself, and for the tabernacle of the congregation (Lev. xvi. 16, 27). And does not this prefigure to us that God's indwelling in the sinner man cannot be in a holy manner without the sacrifice and blood of the Antitype, who is the foundation of the Christian temple (1 Cor. iii. 11, 16), and that the celestial temple itself, if it were possible, would be polluted, if sinners were to be admitted there without an atonement, even that better and infinitely more excellent sacrifice and blood of God's only begotten Son? (Heb. ix. 23.) Moreover, the high-priest was to lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat (which ceremony was also observed on other occasions, Lev. i. 4, iii. 2, iv. 4), and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, putting them upon the head of the goat; thereby denoting the typical translation of guilt from him by the imputation to the substituted animal (Lev. xvi. 21, i. 4). În like manner, the Lord hath laid upon him, the Antitype, not merely the punishment due to the offender, but the iniquity of us all, whereby the guilt of our sins, metonymically viewed, was translated or imputed to him, and a real atonement made. It was exacted, and he was made answerable (Isa. liii. 6); and thus were our sins vicariously borne away in the person of Christ. The mystic goat, being thus ladened with sin, is sent into the wilderness by the hand of a fit man, or one appointed by the high-priest for the purpose, bearing all the iniquities of the children of Israel into a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness, never more to be looked after or heard of (Lev. xvi. 21, 22). In analogy to this, the Antitype was led by the strong impulse of the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, as the true scape-goat, who bore away our infirmities, and carried off our diseases, never more to be heard of to the condemnation of God's true Israel (Mark, i. 12; Isa. liii. 4, 6, 11; Heb. ix. 28; 1 Pet. ii. 24). Behold, in all this, the Lamb of God, the Antitype of the paschal lambs and daily sacrifices; even the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. xiii. 8), who by the sacrifice of himself (Heb. ix. 26) taketh away the sin of the world (John, i. 29); who fulfilled all the ancient types and prophecies, and made an end of sins and sin-offerings (Dan. ix. 24), and did that in one day (Zech. iii. 9; Heb. x. 10-14), which the ancient high-priests and all their sacrifices on their yearly days of atonement for ages could not do (Rom. viii. 3; comp. Heb. vii. 19, x. 1-3; Acts, xiii. 39); therefore the sins of his believing Israel, though sought for, shall not be found (Jer. 20). They are blotted out (Isa. xliv. 22, xliii. 25; Col. ii. 14), and cast into the depths of the sea (Mic. vii. 19), and shall "never more be mentioned against them" (Ezek. xviii. 22). They are answered for by the divine surety (Isa. liii. 6; 2 Cor. v. 21; Rom. v. 10), who will remember our iniquity no more (Heb. viii. 12, x. 17), who was slain to expiate our guilt (Rev. v. 9), and raised again for our justification (Rom. iv. 25), and ascended once for all into heaven, for our eternal redemption (Heb. ix. 12). THE POOR-LAWS.* To honour the powers that be, to respect the laws, and to remember the poor, are duties so clearly incumbent on us all, that it will be generally agreed that we ought to perform them ourselves, and enforce their performance on others. The care of the deserving poor is the question to which I am anxious to direct your attention, that you may unite and assist in such a considerate and mild administration of the new poor-laws, as shall at the same time promote the moral and social improvement of our country, and so provide for the deserving poor, that their support shall not be considered burden some. I have already set forth some important principles on this subject, in "A Letter to the People of England in behalf of the deserving Poor," which it will be unnecessary for me here to repeat. Only, I would strongly impress on the country the fact, that the new poor-law does not suitably provide for the deserving poor, nor do I believe that it was so contemplated by the legislature. Parliament, on the whole, has done well, as far as was its province to go; it has raised an excellent system as a check to pauperism. Perhaps our legislature have erred in not more fully impressing on the minds of the people, that as the system did not profess to provide for the deserving poor, the country ought the more to exert • From "A Letter to the Bishops and Parochial Clergy, in behalf of the deserving Poor." By Herbert Smith, B.A. her energies to supply their wants, by the aid of the voluntary offerings of real charity, instead of by the compulsory tax of poor-rates, as heretofore. The new poor-law and union-workhouse system has been objected to as prejudicial to both the Church and the poor, by destroying that endearing bond of respect and affection which has ever existed between the pastor and the poor of his flock. The parochial clergyman has very properly been regarded as the leader, guide, and dispenser of that true Christian charity, which has an equal reference to the necessities of both the body and soul. And as the ministry of that pastor will be found very defective, which neglects the temporal wants of his people, so will any system established for the relief of the poor be objectionable which tends to lessen the obligation of the clergyman to attend to the temporal wants of his people. It will be found that the gain of a public and legal provision for the poor will but ill compensate for the loss of the private and voluntary offerings and kindnesses of the truly charitable, dispensed under the influence of a Gospel ministry. Such, however, is not the character of the new legislative measure for the relief of the poor: so far from checking the bounty of private charity, its very success depends upon its increase; all that it aims to decrease, is the burden of a compulsory provision. Hence private benefactors, and the benevolent who are actively engaged in the promotion of works of charity, are the most valuable coadjutors to the administrators of the new poor-law. And should pure benevolence increase and abound as it should in this Christian country, it will very shortly provide for all the necessities of the deserving poor: then their reasonable complaints will cease, and contentment and gratitude will take the place of murmurings and discontent, and once more union and peace and goodwill will be restored between the different classes of society. Many reasons unite to make our union-workhouses wholly unfit asylums for the deserving: the distance at which they are placed from most of the parishes with which they are connected, removes their inmates far from their homes and from all that ought to be dear in social life-friends and neighbours; and above all, it removes them from the watchful eye of their pastor, whose happiest employment must always be to administer to the wants of the poor of his flock by influencing the best feelings of the rich in their favour. In my intercourse with the inmates of the workhouse, as their chaplain, I have always endeavoured to keep up the feelings of endearment for home, and especially of respect and attachment to the clergy of their respective parishes; as it appears very desirable that the poor should continue to regard in the office of their clergyman the person of their friend. It will be pleasing for the clergy to know, that I have always heard their visits to the workhouse spoken of with gratitude by their poor parishioners; and I trust by such occasional visits of kindness such a feeling may long be preserved. Because the poor-laws do not achieve all that might be expected or wished by many, let it not be supposed that they are of little benefit; since by them the state has taken upon itself the charge of the most difficult part of the work-to provide for the undeserving, the slothful, and the vicious. The work which the state has left to be done by the voluntary exertions of the charitable is comparatively light and easy; for so the charge and management of the deserving poor is, when compared to the others. The division of labour which the new poor-laws ought to make, should also be considered as lessening the burden to each; as "when Moses chose able men out of all Israel," to assist him in judging the people-" the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves." In other words, let the hard causes be brought unto the board of guardians, but let every small matter be provided for by private charity. Such a division would very greatly aid the administration of the new poor-laws, and be a considerable benefit to the poor, as the distress of the deserving would be relieved in a much more desirable way than at present. DRUNKENNESS. THERE is no case so truly and awfully deplorable as that of a confirmed and habitual drunkard. A prey to the worst passions of our fallen nature, lust and anger, he is hurried onward to the commission of the most dreadful crimes, at which humanity shudders; without the power of asking himself, "What am I doing?" Nay, should a friendly hand be interposed to snatch him as " a brand out of the fire," and arrest his mad career, he resents it as the intrusion of an enemy; and is ready to vent his fury, like some injured savage of the forest, on this new assailant. The voice of persuasion and remonstrance are alike lost upon him; he is "like the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear, and will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely" (Ps. lviii. 4, 5). The only hope that remains for this miserable and degraded creature is, that when at length he comes to himself, and is able to reflect upon the folly and madness of his conduct, he will be ashamed of such criminal excesses, by which he is sunk below the level of the beast, and will no longer indulge his vicious propensity. But, alas! this hope, reasonable as it may appear, has too often proved deceitful. The very nature of the poisonous draught produces a craving appetite for more; and when once the habit of indulgence has been formed, the greatest uneasiness is felt in the want of it; so that the deluded sufferer by his own misconduct will rather undergo the severest penalties, and risk all the dreadful consequences of intemperance, than be without that cordial so grateful to his present feelings, and now become, in his mistaken idea, almost necessary to his existence. Not that it is absolutely impossible to reclaim the drunkard; many happy instances are on record of the contrary; but the great difficulty, and we may add the improbability, of its being accomplished, when once the habit has been formed, and the moral character become thereby depraved, should impress on us the importance, in the first place, of removing and lessening the temptations to the commission of this vice; and, secondly, of putting difficulties in the way of practising it; so that, if we cannot banish intemperance from the land, and drive it out of the country entirely, the evil may be at least so limited and circumscribed as to hide its head in darkness and obscurity, instead of stalking through the length and breadth of the land, as at present, with a bold and unblushing face, even at broad noon-day. Drunkenness is, indeed, the curse of this country, the pest of society, the peculiar disgrace and stain of Englishmen, which has brought shame upon us as a nation, and made us the scorn and reproach of foreigners, who have beheld with surprise and abhorrence the gross extent to which this vice has become common and habitual amongst us,-from the crowded From "The Claims of Christian Philanthropy," &c. &c. By Robert Whytehead, B.A., late Incumbent of St. Peter's, Ipswich. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., 1839, pp. 258. The Essay to which the first prize was awarded by the Philanthropic Society, Dec. 20, 1838.-The Essay, in the terms of the prospectus, consists of four sections: National religious education the imperative duty of a Christian government-Inordinate competition in trade and worldly pursuits productive of cruelty to animals-The baneful effects of intemperance, &c. The design of Christianity impeded by these evils. The author's reasoning is forcible, and well illustrated by facts. Important notes are appended to each section. The profits of the work to go to the funds of that valuable institution, the Philanthropic Society. streets of our great metropolis, the chief city in the world, to the most retired village of our island kingdom; and with justice have they reprobated the inconsistence of a nation which boasts of her science and philosophy, the land of arts and commerce, the country of Bacon, Locke, and Newton, being given to so degrading and besotting a practice, which takes away the use of the rational faculties, and deprives a man of the honour and prerogative of his nature. It need scarcely be added, that intemperance is directly opposed to the formation of a moral and religious character, and to all that culture of the mental faculties and inward principles of action which is the object and business of moral and religious education; and which (in a former section) we have endeavoured to recommend and enforce, as that which it is the great and important duty of the government to provide. So far is drunkenness from being compatible with morality, that it saps the foundations of all rational instruction, and makes it worse than useless; since, if it can be employed at all in such a state, it will only be in a way to injure and annoy, not to improve and benefit another. So deeply convinced was the great Spartan lawgiver, Lycurgus, of the evil influence of this sin upon the national character, that he taught the Lacedæmonians to give their children a disgust of it in their youth, in a manner sufficiently barbarous, and in accordance with the tyrannical spirit of his age, and the character of the system which he adopted-namely, by making one of their Helot bondsmen drink to intoxication, and exposing him, in this state of brutal insensibility, to their scorn and abhorrence. As Christians, we cannot approve of such an example, which is in direct contradiction to the precepts of our holy religion, which teaches us to "love our neighbour as ourselves;" but we may learn from it, how truly disgraceful is the nature of this offence; and it may lead us to warn our children betimes to beware of its seductive influence, which creeps upon the mind before we are aware; and when once it has thrown its noose over the head of its unsuspecting victim, and entangled him in its fatal snare, usually leads him on from bad to worse, a helpless and hopeless captive, to be given over to the chains of ignominy and irretrievable ruin. From the first recorded case of intemperance (Gen. ix. 21) to the present time, this poisonous and deadly pest has insinuated itself, like a viper hid in the grass, unseen and unobserved, under a specious guise of social pleasure and innocent gratification; and thus has obtained an entrance into our bosoms, and fastening on its wretched victim with its envenomed fangs, has inflicted a deadly wound. We must therefore guard against the approaches of a sin, which, when frequently committed, may prove to be beyond the reach of a remedy, and defy all our endeavours to effect a cure. The greatest misconceptions have long prevailed respecting the nature, necessity, and use of those intoxicating liquors, which are the fertile sources of so much evil and misery to mankind. No doubt they have their proper service, which renders them, when judiciously applied, highly valuable; even as the most acrid and deadly poisons are found to constitute the materials of the most potent and successful medicines which the skill of the apothecary has discovered. Thus chemistry informs us, that all fermented and distilled liquors contain a portion, larger or smaller, of pure spirit of alcohol, which is a pungent stimulant and slow poison, and of a nature utterly disqualified for nutriment, and calculated to produce the greatest injury to the human frame. • If Lycurgus did not directly teach this practice, it was in accordance with the rest of his instructions, and grew out of them. The Cabinet. KNOWLEDGE AND IGNORANCE.-Much cause as we have to praise God for our knowledge, we have as urgent reason to bless him for our ignorance; for in a world of suffering and sin, how seldom, how very seldom, would prescience and misery be disunited! How often would the mother's heart be filled with sorrow, and her eyes with tears, if while she pressed her little one to her bosom, she could read in its peaceful and innocent countenance the trials, the sufferings, and the wretchedness of the future man! How often, while the parent watches with joy the first tottering footsteps of the child, would his spirit sink within him, as that dark day passed in sad and sorrowful anticipation before his eyes, when the course of nature should be inverted, and he should follow to the sepulchre the remains of one whom he fondly hoped would be the comfort and solace of his own declining years; or even worse than this, when he should live to see him a profligate and a reprobate, every early lesson forgotten, every good example cast aside, the fairest prospects of his youth for ever blighted, and his maturer age dishonoured by a course of reckless dissipation, and hastening the footsteps of those who gave him being with sorrow to the grave! But why do we particularise? Where is the festive scenewhere is the social meeting where even is the domestic and family circle, upon which a knowledge of the future (we speak only of the future which this world's horizon bounds and limits) would not cast a deep and gloomy shadow? Let, then, our praises ascend to God, that all here below is to us unknown and uncertain-that if afflictions and distresses, if sorrows and disappointments, be gathering around our path, there is no darkening cloud to portend, no ominous howling of the elements to proclaim the coming tempest. But still louder and more heartfelt should be our thanksgivings, that this uncertainty has its boundary, this ignorance its limit, even though that boundary and that limit is the grave. The foreknowledge which would be our bane and curse, as regards the events of time, is our highest joy as respects those of eternity. Of the better and nobler things which God has prepared for all who love him, our heavenly Father suffers no ignorance to dull our minds, no uncertainty to mar our prospect; and we, poor children of the dust, whose eye can penetrate but little deeper into the events of the day which passes over us than the worm we tread upon, can see as angels see, and know with a certainty that the highest archangel cannot emulate, events which shall befall us, and blessings which await us, when time itself shall be no more. Yes, every true child of God is here a prophet, and has inherited the prescience of holy Job, and may say with the same assurance and the same humble confidence, I also "know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”—Elisha, by the Rev. Henry Blunt. SPIRITUAL DEATH AND LIFE.-Now, touching our spiritual death and life, these sayings of the apostle should be thought upon: "We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again" (2 Cor. v. 14, 15). 66 O God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ" (Eph. ii. 4, 5). "And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Col. ii. 13). "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. ii. 20). From all which we may easily gather, that if by the obedience and sufferings of a mere man, though ever so perfect, the most sovereign medicine that could be thought upon should have been prepared for the curing of our wounds, yet all would be to no purpose, we being found dead when the medicine did come to be applied. Our physician, therefore, must not only be able to restore us unto health, but unto life itself; which none can do but the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for ever. To which purpose these passages of our Saviour also are to be considered: "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (John, v. 26). "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me" (John, vi. 57). "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John, vi. 51). The substance whereof is briefly comprehended in the saying of the apostle: "The last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor. xv. 45). An Adam, therefore, and perfect man, must he have been; that his flesh, given for us upon the cross, might be made the conduit to convey life unto the world; and a quickening spirit he could not have been unless he were God, able to make that flesh an effectual instrument of life by the operation of his blessed Spirit. For, as he himself hath declared, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth" (John, vi. 63); without it the flesh would profit nothing. Immanuel, by Archbishop Usher, edited by the Rev. J. N. Pearson. CASTING OUR CARE UPON GOD.-The children of God have the only sweet life. The world thinks not so, rather looks on them as poor, discontented, lowering creatures; but it sees not what an uncaring, truly secure life they are called to. While others are turmoiling and wrestling, each with his projects and burdens for himself, and are at length crushed and sinking under them-for that is the end of all that do for themselves,-the child of God goes free from the pressure of all that concerns him, it being laid over on his God. If he use his advantage, he is not racked with musings, Oh! what will become of this and that? but goes on in the strength of his God as he may, offers up poor but sincere endeavours to God, and is sure of one thing, that all shall be well. He lays his affairs and himself on God, and so hath no pressing care; no care but the care of love, how to please, how to honour his Lord. And in this too he depends on him both for skill and strength; and, touching the success of things, he leaves that as none of his to be burdened with, casts it on God, and since he careth for it, they need not both care, his care alone is sufficient. Hence springs peace, inconceivable peace. "Be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus" (Phil. iv. 6, 7). -Abp. Leighton. Poetry. NATIONAL BALLADS.-No. VI. AN APOLOGY. BY M. A. STODART. (For the Church of England Magazine.) YE bid me stay my rapid hand, When the loud thunder's voice is heard, Who heeds, ye ask, the warbling bird? I know, I know that stirring strain The stones would forthwith speak: Tempests, we see, are gathering round; Why hush a faint but faithful sound? I glance on England's sons of song Silent in England's dark'ning hour! O, for some hand, bold, firm, and free, Such hand could glowing truths declare, Might rouse the lion from his lair. Sad, silent o'er my harp I bend; I strike its feeble strings; But faintly, though the sounds ascend, To warn of England's waning day, My country's threatening hour: 'Tis when the thunder's voice is heard, We hear the cry of fluttering bird. THE NIGHTINGALE-FLOWER. FAIR flower of silent night, Unto thy bard an emblem thou shouldst be; His fount of song in hours of garish light Is closed like thee. But with the vesper-hour, Its hidden springs, like thy unfolding flower, Were it not sweeter still To give imagination holier scope, And deem that thus the future may fulfil A loftier hope? That, as thy lovely bloom Sheds round its perfume; at the close of day, With beauty sweeter from surrounding gloom, A star-like ray ; So, in life's dark decline, When the grave's shadows are around me cast, My spirit's hopes may, like thy blossoms, shine Bright at the last; And as the grateful scent Of thy meek flower, the memory of my name : Oh! who could wish for prouder monument, Or purer fame? |
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