stranger in these parts. My horse stands in need, as well as myself, of shelter and refreshment for the night; if you could any way make it convenient to furnish my horse with a little hay, and a stand under cover, and myself with a seat by your fireside, I ask no more. The good woman, a little surprised at his request, told him she would consult her husband. After a few minutes, they both came to the door, and Mr H. repeated his solicitation, but told them he had no money to satisfy them for their trouble, yet he hoped God would reward them. They immediately desired him to alight; the master led the horse into the stable, and the mistress began to prepare something for Mr H. to eat. He told her, he was concerned to see her give herself so much trouble, he did not request either a supper or bed, but only to sit by the fireside till the morning. The mistress assured him, that for an act of hospitality she did not expect any reward, and that, though the accommodations her house would afford were but indif

ferent, he should be welcome; and therefore hoped he

would make himself easy.

"After supper, they all sat down by the fire, and the master of the house desired to know of the stranger, what countryman he was. 'I was born,' said he, 'in Lancashire, but I have a wife and family in the neighbourhood of Halifax.' That is a town,' said the farmer, where I have been; and some years ago, I had some acquaintance there. Pray do you know Mr S. and Mr D.? And is old Mr F. yet alive?' The stranger gave suitable answers to these, and other inquiries. At length the kind hostess asked him, if he knew any thing of one Mr Oliver Heywood, who was formerly a minister at some chapel not far from Halifax, but was now, on some account or other, forbidden to preach.' The stranger replied,There is a great deal of noise and talk about him; some speak well, others say every thing that is bad of him: for my own part I can say little in his favour.' I believe,' said the farmer, he is of that sect which is every where spoken against; but pray, do you personally know him? And what is it that inclines you to form such an indifferent opinion of his character?' 'I do know something of him,' said the stranger, but as I do not choose to propagate an ill report of any one, if you please we will talk on some other subject. After keeping the farmer and his wife in suspense for some time, who were a little uneasy at what he had said, he told them, he was the poor outcast. All was then surprise, and joy, and thankfulness, that a merciful Providence had brought him under their roof. The farmer said, Mr H. I am glad to see you here, having long had a sincere regard for you, from the favourable report I have always heard of you. The night is not far spent, I have a few neighbours that love the Gospel, and if you will give us a word of exhortation, I will run and acquaint them. This is an obscure place, and as your coming here is not known, I hope we shall have no interruption.' Mr H. consented; a small congregation was gathered; and he preached to them with that fervour, affection, and enlargement, which attending circumstances served to inspire. On this joyful occasion, a small collection was voluntarily made to help the poor traveller on his way." (To be concluded in our next.)

LETTER FROM THE REV. SAMUEL MURRAY, MINISTER
OF PENPONT, TO MRS BOSTON, ON THE DEATH OF HER

your loss, considering the special intimate relation
betwixt you and him, which was continued for many
years, to your mutual comfort, is, on that account, the
more heavy. But, what the sovereign Lord of life and
death hath done cannot be quarrelled. He does all
things well, and for the best to his own family, of which
I am persuaded you are. If one servant or member of
a family be sent away before another, to an infinitely
better lodging than any hereaway, even to an everlast-
ing habitation in heaven, whither the whole family is to
be transplanted at last, who can say against it? That
servant is a gainer beyond what we can conceive, and
those who are left behind should encourage themselves
in him, who, in due time, even most seasonably, will
transplant them to the paradise of God, that they may
be all together, and for ever with him, without any
danger or fear of parting from him, or one another.
They will encircle the throne to eternity without weary-
ing, and with perfect delight and joy. Those who died
in Christ will rejoice to see such as here were their en-
deared relations, walking in white, and crowned with
victory, and, through redeeming love, made more than
conquerors over all the evils they were liable to, either
from within or from without; no sin, nor any of its
consequents, will give them the least disturbance; they
will sing for eternal redemption from all these, to the
praise of sovereign grace; but yet their exceeding joy,
and the well-spring of it, will be God and the Lamb,
who are in the temple above. There is no need there
of ordinances and sacraments; in the triumphant Church
notwithstanding of degrees among them. They are
all her members are perfectly taught and comforted,
exactly like Christ, and see him as he is, which the
strongest believer cannot attain in this imperfect state.
They are favoured and blessed with such near and direct
views of their exalted Redeemer, as are unspeakably
ravishing. They all say, without one dissenting voice,
"it is good for us to be here," and therefore we may
not say it is ill for us, having a sweet comprehensive
promise that all things, even the death of dear friends,
shall work together for our good, which will be fully
accomplished, as all the promises will be, in the com-
pletement of believers, and in their enjoyment of the
chief good. This we will then clearly understand to
our everlasting comfort. The promises being confirmed
and ratified by our Surety, will not fail; they will be
made out to all that embrace them in Christ, even
though providence seems sometimes to go counter to
them, and our misbelieving haste is ready to say, "fails
his promise for evermore!" This is graciously over-
ruled in love and mercy to us, that we may believe, and
hope against hope, and that the Lord may surprise us
with his faithfulness in performing his good word. I
doubt not but you have sweet experience of this, as to
former incidents in your life, and after this great trial of
your faith, I hope you will say with pious Durham,
when his wife died, "that if all the world had said this
will work for my good, I would not believe them, but

HUSBAND, THE REV. THOMAS BOSTON, AUTHOR OF seeing my faithful God hath said it, I will believe him."

66

THE FOURFOLD STATE," &c.

COMMUNICATED BY THE REV. JAMES SMITH,

Minister of Ettrick.

The Lord may rightfully pull up his strongest cedars, while he continues the weaker, to shew that his thoughts are far above ours, and to display his strength in bearing DEAR FRIEND IN CHRIST,-Although my loss of a up the weak. According to human reason and probaworthy brother, an eininent and faithful servant of the bility, which he often baffles, that we may lean more to Lord, is very great in many respects, yet I must own infinite understanding than it, few or none thought you 1

slow to speak; slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." He further urges from this fact, taken in connection with the fact that they were regenerated, that they should lay aside every thing of a defiling nature, and permit no overflowings of evil to come from their hearts; giving a humble and sincere admission to the declarations of divine truth, which could alone make them "wise unto salvation." "Wherefore," says he, "lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the ingrafted Word, which is able to save your souls." Lest, however, they should misapprehend what he said, or attach a different meaning to the "reception of the Word" than he wished to convey, under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, he proceeds to show the necessity of a real practical obedience to its injunctions, or that they should "be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving their own souls." And in order distinctly and forcibly to impress this important truth upon their minds, he exhibits a contrast between the fruitless and forgetful hearer of the Word, and the man who attentively, conscientious

Heat is the principle of fire, under whatever modifi- | loved brethren, let every man be swift to hear; cation it may appear; and nothing can be more worthy of admiration, than the fact, that an element of such tremendous power, whose operations are on so vast a scale, and whose mastery is so fearful, should yet be capable of being subjected to the service of man, in the most menial offices, and, in that capacity, should become so mild and tractable. What human mind, in the wildest flights of its fancy, could, previous to experience, have conceived the existence of an agent, which appals nature with its angry roar, and, rending the clouds, darts its livid bolts from heaven to earth, or uprears mountains in its throws, and, opening the solid crust of the globe, overwhelms whole regions with torrents of melted rock, poured forth like water; or more amazing still, which displays its might and glory in shedding the effulgence of day over the smiling earth, and regulating the changes of the seasons, and calling the wonders of vegetation from the solid land, while it causes the liquid seas to flow,-which performs all these wonders, and a thousand more, and yet is so entirely under the control of man, and so subservient to his use, that it remains meekly glimmering amidst smouldering ashes in the grate, ready at his command, to cheer and enlighten his winter evenings, by blazing from a taper, or to employ its obsequious powers, for whatever purpose of culinary preparation, or of genial warmth, his necessities or enjoyments may require. What amazing power and wisdom is here, tempered, not less wonderfully, with all the tender condescension of paternally, and practically regards it. The former, the

kindness!*

DISCOURSE.

BY THE REV. JAMES NOBLE, A. M.,
Minister of St. Madoes.

"If any man be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer,
he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in
a glass, for he beholdeth himself and goeth his
way, and forgetteth what manner of man he was.
-JAMES i. 23, 24.

AT the eighteenth verse of this chapter the apostle refers to the " Word of truth," which Paul, in his epistle to the Ephesians, identifies with "the Gospel of Salvation, as the instrument through which God, in the exercise of his own good pleasure, had regenerated those Jews to whom he addressed his epistle. And while he states that the object for which they were thus regenerated was, that they should be consecrated to God's service and glory, "as a kind of first fruits of his creatures;" he urges from this that they should be ready to listen and submit to the instructions laid before them, by that "Word through which they had been begotten to newness of life;" cautious in delivering their opinions about matters of faith, of which that "Word" was the only standard, and wary in the suppression of their displeasure against those who might differ from them. "Of his own will," says he, "God begat us by the Word of truth, that we should be kind of first fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my be

forgetful hearer, he describes by comparing him to
a man who beholds his natural face or appearance
in a glass, and who, though he discovers defects
that might be remedied, instead of allowing the
discovery to make any settled and becoming im-
pression upon his mind, turns away his thoughts
from it, and instantly forgets "what manner of
man he was." The latter, the attentive and con-
scientious hearer, he describes by representing him
as "stedfastly looking into the perfect law of liberty,
and continuing therein," or contemplating him-
self in the mirror of the Gospel, so that he may
impartially discern his defects, and obtain the know-
ledge requisite to secure their removal; and, in-
stead of forgetting what he has learnt, he remem-
hers it, that he may reduce it to practice, and he
has his reward for so doing; "being not a forget-
ful hearer, but a doer of the Word, this man is
blessed in his deed." Now, that to which the
words of our text most obviously point our atten-
tion, is the description which they give of the
forgetful hearer of the Word;" but there is also
a figurative representation set before us of that
« Word," which is calculated to disclose a peculiar
aspect of its character, and, at the same time, to
is this peculiarity of the Gospel which we are de-
suggest some very important instructions.
sirous of illustrating in the present discourse.

It

The Word, in reference to him who hears but forgets it, is represented under the figure of a glass or mirror, the general use of which, you are aware, is to exhibit by its reflective power, or by the formation of a correct image, what we cannot otherwise perceive by the eye; and thus a person is enabled to discover whatever is disordered or unsuitable in his outward appearance. When a man looks into a mirror, his own image is placed views which it contains, and from the extensive range of valuable before him, he sees a true representation of himself;

*In presenting to our readers the above extract, we cannot refrain from stating our sincere conviction that the present work of our able and accomplished correspondent, Dr Duncan of Ruthwell, will prove no slight accession to our popular religious literature. It is publishing in four quarterly volumes, illustrating each of the seasons, and, the first which has just appeared, does the greatest credit to the piety, ability, and learning of the author. Formed somewhat on the plan of Sturm, it is far more interesting, from the sound scriptural

facts, selected both from science and natural history.

traces the descending footsteps of those who have thrown off all regard for divine authority, and all deference to human opinion; if they hear it testifying of them that the "imaginations of the thoughts of their heart are only evil, and that continually;" that "they drink up iniquity like water;" that "being past feeling, they have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness;—that they sport themselves with their own deceivings, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, being cursed children, which have forsaken the right way, and gone astray;"-and that "though they know the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them,"—if, I say, they hear "the Word of truth" thus testifying of the conduct and progress of those that have abandoned themselves to the ways of vice, can they fail to perceive that it is just describing themselves? Must not their consciences, though they have ceased to exercise any decided authority over them, still make them to see, in the Gospel's delineations, what Nathan made David to see in the parable, even that they are the realities of the picture? and must they not feel, that, as in a glass, their moral image has been made to

and whatever may be the defects that externally disfigure him, they are brought into his view, and in this way he becomes acquainted with what requires to be amended, as well as with what requires to be removed. Now, what a mirror is to the outward man, the "Word of truth" is to the inward man. What a mirror is for the discovery of deficiencies or stains upon the countenance, the “Word of truth" is for the discovery of deficiencies and stains in the heart and conduct, and he who carefully listens to and ponders the statements of that " Word," can no more fail to have a correct image of his spiritual condition brought before him, than he who looks into a mirror can fail to behold the similitude of his outward man. He must see himself as a moral being, represented in all the reality of truth. The picture of his character must arise upon his mind's eye fully and faithfully portrayed, and it only requires his steady contemplation that he may see what defilement pollutes him, and what is the reformation, both in its kind and its degree, that is required. "The Gospel," says one, "is distinguished by a power peculiar to itself,-the power of revealing their true character to all who will consent to give attention to its announcements. To vicious men, -to men of mere worldly virtue,-to men of pretended religious principle, as well as to Christian men, it is fitted and intended to act as a self-pass before the eye of their mind with all its dedetector, that being by its instrumentality made aware of the error of their ways, they may be induced to come also to its light for correction."

Now, in order to illustrate the general view which I have stated, we may not unprofitably dwell upon some such examples of the self-disclosing power of the Gospel, as those just suggested. We may take the case of a licentious profligate, a man within whose bosom there is nothing to be found bearing any resemblance to moral far less to religious principle. He is the slave of his passions, and following no dictate but that of corrupt and depraved inclination, he lives as far from God and from the recognition of his authority, as it is possible for a human being to do. If, perchance, there be a pure emotion that struggles but for a moment for existence within him, he is restless until its efforts be smothered and destroyed. To every evil propensity he gives unrestrained indulgence. He delights to revel amid the impurity and darkness of vice. Every intimation of the beauty of virtue he loathes as the most nauseating and revolting of all subjects. His employment is to devise, and his delight is to execute guilty schemes, and thus he lives as it were in the atmosphere of hell, while he is still upon the stage of earth. Now, although it may not be a common thing that such victims to debased feeling and profligate habits should place themselves within the hearing of the " Word of truth," yet we know that sometimes they do hear the Gospel proclaimed; and when this is the case how can they escape from seeing the picture of their own character which it unfolds? If they listen with any degree of attention while it describes the features and

formity distinctly and vividly brought out? Now, this is not mere speculation or fancy. We have the sanction of Scripture to bear us out in what we have been stating; for what was it that led the profligate and licentious Felix to tremble at the words of a poor, unbefriended, despised prisoner? What was it that so appalled his mind, but just the view that he obtained of his dissolute and deformed character in that faithful mirror which the apostle presented to him when he "reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come?" And how is it that many a daring and high minded sinner has been stunned in the midst of his guilty career, and made to sink down as if heaven's lightning had smitten him to the earth, but by a truthful and startling exhibition of his depravity and ungodliness, through the instrumentality of "the Word of truth."

But, again, in illustration of the power of the Gospel to discover their true condition and character to those who listen with any attention to its declarations, we may contemplate another and a very different class of persons, when brought under its reflective influence; I mean those who may be characterised as men of virtue without godliness-men who are distinguished by a strict regard to the morality of the world, and are ready to exult in the selfrighteous thought that, as they stand well with their fellow-men, they cannot have much to dread from God. They are, doubtless, endowed with many amiable and attractive qualities. They can appeal. without any fear of contradiction, to the decency of their outward conduct, and refer to many an action that bears upon it the aspect of

templated themselves on account of their fancied virtues, though it might find food for itself in their superiority to many around them, should be converted into the deepest humility when they compare themselves with the standard of God's holy law, and that, though from the mere dictates of their own nature, they have been prompted to benevolence, and high-minded honesty, and upright dealing, they never knew the love of God to operate as a principle of action upon their minds? Yes; whatever be the amiable feelings, the kind

able motives, which the man of worldly virtue may be ready to claim for himself, so long as pride or any other earthly affection holds ascendency in his heart, he is destitute of that supreme regard to God, which can alone consecrate and ennoble him into a truly virtuous and moral man; and however little he may be impressed by it, it is a truth, that as often as he attends to the declarations of the Word of God, he not only sees in it, "as in a glass," the reflection of his own moral image, but also distinguishes the stains, the deficiencies, the blemishes, by which it is defaced; and thus it is, that many who have spent a long period of their life in the conviction that the moral decency of their conduct, and the unblemished character of their reputation, had placed them beyond the reach of danger, and given them a title to think that no displeasure from God could be resting upon them, have been brought at length to pronounce themselves "unprofitable servants," and to exclaim, with all the anxiety of guilty criminals, "God be merciful unto us sinners!"

goodness and virtue. They can complacently point | to the benevolence of their dispositions, the active charities of their life, and their prompt endeavours to benefit, relieve, and comfort their fellow-men. They can compare themselves, without suffering from the comparison, with many around them. And, in the pride of their spirit, they are often ready to declare, that no stain has ever darkened their reputation that no suspicion has ever attached to their character, and, like the lawyer who came to our Lord to ask how he could inherit eternal life?" they may be found, after a self-com-dispositions, the upright conduct, and the honourplacent view of their fancied attainment, virtually exclaiming, "What lack we yet?" With all these lofty claims, however, to moral excellence, and all the anxiety which they manifest to maintain a character for untainted rectitude and honourable dealing in the intercourse of this world, they may yet be chargeable by the God that made and that sustains them, with an alienation of heart from him and his authority, no less guilty than that of the licentious profligate; and when the question comes to be put to each of them, "What hast thou done unto me?" they may, every one, be as little able to give a satisfactory reply, as the most daring and ungodly of our rebellious species; and thus there may be, in the sight of a holy and heart-searching Judge, chargeable against them, deficiencies of as fatal a nature as those with which the characters of the most abandoned are degraded and deformed. Now, when the Gospel is proclaimed to such persons, if they duly consider what it says, it will not fail to reveal to them a faithful picture of their condition before God, and to summon up before them a lively representation of blemishes, from which they perhaps imagined themselves to be free. It will shew them what they are, and it will lead them to see how far short they have come of what God requires, by telling them what they ought to be. When it brings within their hearing those distinctions which it constantly recognises between the decencies and observances of mere outward morality, or the offspring of natural disposition, and the fruits of that "pure and undefiled religion," which has had its vital principle imparted in a renewed and sanctified heart-when, for instance, it lays before them the history of the young man whose amiable deportment and external conduct were such as to call forth an expression of the Saviour's kindness towards him, but whose love to the world and its possessions was such as to exhibit the weakness and imperfection of his character, they must see a very obvious likeness of themselves; and when the divine law, in all its extent and spirituality, is brought to their notice when its high, and holy, and uncompromising demands are urged upon them, or when the example of Christ as a living exhibition of the law, and as a standard to which every Christian is bound to seek conformity, is spread out in all its fulness and in all its excellency to their view, must they not feel that their best and most beauteous moralities are sadly defectivethat the pride with which they have often con

Let us advert to another illustration of the detecting power of the Word of truth, which is to be seen in its bearing upon the hypocritical formalist. He is a man who, under the guise of an outward sanctity, and from a regular observance of all the external rites of religion, endeavours to impress upon the minds of those around him the belief that he is in earnest upon the subject-who, though he is in appearance sincere, is a dissembler at heart-and who, while he is noted for his punctuality and seriousness of aspect in waiting upon the formalities, is utterly destitute of the essentials of religion. He makes a fair, sometimes a bold, sometimes a most flaming profession. He is familiar with the language of piety, and loud in the expression of attachment to its every prescription. Whatever homage he can pay with the lip, none more ready to give it than he; whatever sacrifices he can offer with the outward man, none more forward to present them than he. But all the feelings of his heart contradict and belie the intended meaning of such offerings; and though there may be nothing discoverable in his actings to bear out a charge of wilful imposition against him, in the hidden recesses of his bosom the base motive lies masked, the unhallowed purpose is covered up, which constitutes him a false professor-a hollow pretender a hypocritical formalist. Now, when the "Word of truth" falls upon the ears of such persons, like the licentious profligate and the man