avarice of his father-in-law imposed seven additional years of servitude, he, without murmuring, "served with him yet other seven years," "for he loved Rachel more than Leah."

The love which Jacob bore for Rachel engrossed his whole heart, and though Leah, her eldest sister, through the device of Laban, was given him as his first wife, his soul was bound up in her younger sister, and every feeling of admiration was so much expended upon his beloved and amiable Rachel, that the comparative neglect with which he must necessarily have treated Leah is designated as hatred.

The unfortunate and reprehensible cupidity of the father occasioned both daughters to be visited with trials. The eldest suffered distress and anxiety of mind, and probably personal hardships, from being slighted, neglected, and hated by a husband upon whom she was foisted by the artifice and avarice of a selfish parent, and the soul of the younger and beloved wife was grieved and in bitterness by the sneers and reproaches of her jealous sister, in addition to the circumstance of being in a situation proverbially one of reproach among Jewish

women.

The dispensation of Providence, in respect to his two wives, was doubtless intended by God as a temporal chastisement to Jacob for the inordinate affection bestowed upon Rachel. Rachel was also brought, under these trials, to call upon the name of the Lord, who alone can fulfil the desires of his creatures. When the minds of his creatures are brought into a proper sense of their dependence upon his mercy and blessing, that mercy and blessing is never withheld; "And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened unto her." The hearts of both Jacob and Rachel were now filled with gratitude, and truly was he able to say, I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me."

Jacob had come from the land of his father without any substance, and he now rose up to return thither rich in flocks and herds, with his two wives, and numerous children and servants. But one of the heaviest blows with which Providence could at that time have afflicted him, awaited upon that journey. For his beloved" Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem, and Jacob set a pillar upon her grave."

It will often be remarked that death is sent to visit us in the midst of our greatest happiness, and that at such periods his hand is laid upon that object nearest our heart, and which, in human estimation, could be spared least. That grim messenger, terrible at all times, is never more so than when unexpected; and among all the members of a family the removal of an amiable and tender mother, crowned with youth and beauty, from the society of an affectionate husband, and a young offspring, is the most affecting, and when this takes place unexpectedly and in circumstances similar to those of the beloved Rachel, the dispensation is truly overwhelming.

The Scriptures do not inform us what were the feelings of the bereaved Jacob under this heavy blow inflicted by the sovereign Disposer of all events, but the history of his love leaves us no reason to doubt that his grief was deeper than could be expressed by word or tears. It was of that heartfelt character which is best exhibited by silence, and which, while it dries up every avenue of moderate grief, swells and agitates the afflicted bosom with unutterable woe.

"Jacob set a pillar upon her grave." This pillar indicated to the people of that and succeeding ages the spot where reposed the remains of a deeply loved, and long and deeply mourned, wife. It was a simple pillar, yet it was a memorial of his affection. It was the last tribute he could pay to departed excellence, and no doubt set up by his own hand; it was also watered by many a bitter tear, and saluted with many a heavy

and long-drawn sigh. The object for whom he had toiled and drudged, with cheerfulness and delight, through fourteen years of hard servitude, and with whom God had blessed him with a bountiful share of this world's goods, was but a few short years endeared to him by the beloved name of wife, when the cold turf lay upon her lovely form, and the rude winds sported with the dust of her grave. Ah, sad must have been the heart when the last stone was put upon that pillar, and sad and long must have been the last look with which he viewed that melancholy spot ere he turned to continue his journey, and "spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar."

There were circumstances in the lot of Jacob calculated to moderate the weight of this heavy dispensation, which exist with very few that are similarly visited. He had numerous friends and relations, a large offspring, and a perfect abundance of the good things of this life. These have all a wonderful influence in assuaging grief, and weaning the mind from its own bitterness. In the case of a poor hard-working husbandman, mechanic, or any individual pinched by the chill grasp of poverty, or setting a bold front against a hard lot, and whose principal encouragement in his humble career is the daily returning smile of his affectionate wife and children, the removal of his partner is to him like the removal of his candle out of its place, his soul is broken down by the calamity, and he goes forth to his daily toil with an humbled and wounded spirit.

The

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a Gospel or peace, and the soul which is sustained by the blessed hopes and promises contained in that Gospel, though earthly calamities must affect our weak human natures, will be enabled to repose in quiet, though the hills should depart, and the mountains be removed. Christian influence of the Gospel has a tendency to raise the mind above earthly things, and the practical effect of all temporal afflictions, to a Christian, is to wean his affections from the earth, to lift them from the creature to the Creator. Afflictions, for the present, are not joyous but grievous, nevertheless they work out the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby." Affliction is necessary to remind us of the duties which we owe to our God and our Redeemer, and are, beyond question, intended to keep us in remembrance of our mortality, and the obligations we are under to prepare for eternity.

64

The greatest possible satisfaction which the believer, placed in the situation of Jacob, can experience, must be the assurance or belief that his partner in life had fallen asleep in Jesus. The perfection of love is the. happiness of its object, and though separation from that object must bring a cloud upon every earthly pursuit, how pleasant the reflection that a life spent in the fear of God upon the earth has been consummated by the enjoyment of his love in heaven,-that, though we weep and are sad, angels are rejoicing in the society of the emancipated spirit, and that that spirit is for ever happy in the bosom of its God. Who would not long to join its society, and to rejoice to run in those ways of peace and righteousness which will infallibly lead to the same blessed home? There is yet one more cheering thought left to the bereaved mortal, and that is the probability that the spirit he so loved upon the earth, may, in its now emancipated and unfettered state, be occasionally about him, even in this world, though invisible, or at least may, from its happy rest, be looking with interest and delight upon his heavenly course in the world.

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had so long kept the nations under the power of delusion were struck dumb; prejudice vanished before the beams of the Sun of Righteousness; and the lowest of the people formed the most elevated conceptions of the character of the Almighty, and of the duties which he requires from his intelligent offspring. Seminaries of learning were instituted under the care of Christian teachers, and a spirit of enlightened and liberal inquiry was cultivated among men of every rank and condition who had become converts to the faith of Jesus. So powerful were the effects of preaching in the early history of the Christian Church, in elevating the intellectual character of mankind, that the Emperor Julian, who had renounced Christianity, and who laboured with the utmost industry to check its progress, and to subvert its interests, determined to introduce into the temples of idolatry a system of public instruction, after the model of the Christian Church.

During the middle ages a thick gloom overspread the moral horizon; the preaching of the Gospel was laid aside; the laity were strictly prohibited from reading the Holy Scriptures; prayers were offered up to God Almighty in an unknown language; relics of saints became the objects of unbounded veneration; the power of the priesthood was greatly increased; and indulgences for the commission of crimes of the most atrocious kind were exposed to sale with the utmost publicity. While our early Reformers feared not to exhibit in the presence of princes, of nobles, and of councils, the unscriptural character of the Romish faith, and boldly to vindicate the principles of pure and undefiled religion, they, at the same time, diligently employed the appointed ordinance of preaching to arouse the poor from their lethargy, to unveil the magnitude and danger of those errors by which they had been so long deluded, to make known to them the peculiar and distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel, to restore the purity and spirituality of Christian worship, and to lead them to a simple reliance on the merits of Christ, and to the cultivation of that holiness of heart and life without which no man shall see the Lord.

It is not easy to estimate the value of the labours of these great and good men, but all of us must acknowledge that their instructions from the pulpit powerfully co-operated with their learned and able writings, and with the translations of the Holy Scriptures which they circulated, in promoting not only the diffusion of religious knowledge, but also those improvements in the arts and sciences, in literature and philosophy, which have characterized the history of Protestant States. In those countries where public religious instruction has been discontinued, or but seldom employed, we uniformly behold the poor, illiterate and barbarous; and I have no hesitation in asserting that the superior intelligence which is possessed by the peasantry of our native land, is chiefly to be traced to the perusal of the Word of God, and to the information which they receive in the sanctuary.

It is this which affords them more exalted views of divine truth than were ever entertained by the wisest and the best of the ancient sages. It is this which leads to the exercise of the faculties of judgment, attention, reasoning, and memory, which produces an accuracy of conception, a freedom of thought, and a patience of investigation, which extend their influence to the various objects and pursuits of ordinary life. And it is this which induces them, in many instances, rather to deprive themselves of the necessaries of existence, than to allow their children to remain ignorant of that art by which they are enabled to peruse the inspired volume. It was from the indefatigable and unwearied zeal of the Scottish Reformers to promote the interests of religion and literature, that our parochial schools first emanated, and it is under the guidance and direction of the ministers of the Gospel that they have maintained and preserved their life, and strength, and vigour. And while we justly consider these admirable institutions to be the glory of our country, the bulwarks of our faith and of our liberties, were they to be stripped of their Christian character, and were the young left to follow the wild vagaries of their own imaginations, unguided by that light which shines from the paradise of God, they would, in all probability, soon become the nurseries of impiety and vice. Knowledge is power; but knowledge divested of those sacred principles which are derived from the Gospel of Christ, is the power of doing evil, the power not only of ruining our own souls, but those also of our brethren of mankind.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

MISS MARTHA REED. PART III.

BY THE EDITOR.

In the spring of 1815, Martha's health, which had long been delicate, became evidently much more feeble. After having been subjected for three months to constant medical treatment, she improved so much as to be able to spend a few weeks at Frampton in Gloucester

shire. Here she met with some kind Christian friends

in whose society she found much satisfaction. On her return to town she took up her residence at her brother's house, where, by her prudence in the management of his domestic concerns, and the increasing anxiety she showed for the promotion of his comfort, she exhibited the tenderness of a heart under the genial influence of Christian principle and motive. And when, at length, the place she occupied in her brother's family was about to be occupied by another, Martha displayed nothing of that petty jealousy which less amiable minds would have felt. "There was no meanness, no selfishness in her love. She simply desired the object of it to possess the utmost possible degree of happiness, without making it a condition that she must be either its source or its medium. She knew that her brother would still have all the happiness which his sister could impart, and she looked at a more intimate connection as multiplying the means of securing to him a full and overflowing cup of gladness."

The following winter Martha spent in town, and principally under her brother's roof. Her health being somewhat restored, she resumed the charge of the Sabbath school with which she had been formerly connected. In the office of an instructor of the young she was peculiarly successful. The winning kindness and ease of her manners, the simplicity and earnestness of her explanations of divine truth, and above all the deep impression of the importance of religion which evidently pervaded her own heart, was attended with the most beneficial influence upon her youthful charge. They loved, they esteemed, they revered her. In the midst of these exertions, however, among the young of her brother's congregation, she was prevailed upon to pay another visit to her friends in Gloucestershire. A short time after, her brother went to fulfil some ministerial engagements in Herefordshire, and while there an event occurred which exhibits Martha's character in such an amiable and affectionate aspect, that we cannot forbear quoting it in Dr Reed's own language.

"While I was in Herefordshire, I received tidings of the death of our second child, an infant of a few weeks old; and of course, my remaining engagements were set aside, and I sought to return by the most direct line to London. Martha's affectionate heart could not allow her brother in affliction to pass within twenty miles of her without an effort to see him. She knew that I must go through Gloucester, and that I must change carriages, and that probably the exchange could not be effected without some short detention. She therefore induced a friend to drive her over, that she might take the chance of a meeting. Amidst the bustle and excitement of hasty travelling, I arrived at the expected inn, and was anxiously inquiring for my next conveyance. A friend's hand seized me. I followed its leading into an adjoining little parlour, and my sister was instantly in my arms. My wants had been thought of, and refreshments were nicely prepared ready to my hand; we exchanged a few words, but spoke not of the event which was nearest our thoughts: she covered my hand with her kisses and her tears; and again I was a solitary stranger in the corner of a stage-coach. Few things that are traced on my imagination have so much the air of a vision as this; it came and it went so suddenly !"

On her return to London, after a short stay in Gloucestershire, her general health was decidedly improved, but her insidious disease was taking root, and towards the autumn of 1818 it broke out with alarming violence, baffling all the exertions of her medical attendants. She was again ordered to leave town, and accordingly she set out for Cheshunt, never more to return to London. The separation from her friends was intensely painful. Her bodily strength was now much reduced, and she felt that there was little probability of her

The at

Situated as Martha now was, it might have been supposed that she was shut out from every opportunity of doing good to others. But it was not so. The children of the neighbourhood she invited to come to her apartment once or twice in the week, when she endeavoured to instruct and impress their minds, And not only did she direct her attention to the children; she devised means of reaching the hearts of the parents. For this purpose, she formed a little library of wellchosen books, which she lent to the children with the view of being read in the family. Martha soon became an object of interest in the whole neighbourhood; and when she was able, leaning on Maria's arm, to take a short walk, every cottage-door was opened with an urgent invitation that she would enter and rest for a little. If indisposition or the weather prevented her taking her usual walk, the most eager inquiries were made after the state of her health. In every way, in short, the simple villagers evinced the warm interest they took in one whom they were accustomed to speak of by the honourable appellation of the "good young lady." To promote the spiritual welfare of these kindhearted people, Martha prevailed upon a minister, then staying at Cheshunt, to establish a religious service in her sitting room every Wednesday evening. tendance at these meetings was most encouraging, and there was reason to believe that many were brought, by the divine blessing, to a knowledge of the Gospel who had previously been strangers to its saving and sanctifying influence. The impressions excited by these services Martha endeavoured to deepen by distributing religious tracts, and when she herself was unable to leave the house, by sending Maria, or the widow under whose roof she resided, to converse with the villagers on the concerns of their never-dying souls. While thus caring for others, she herself was drinking deeply of the cup of suffering. The pain arising from her disease was often acute and excruciating; and though she strove to divert her mind by engaging in study, it was difficult to endure, without murmuring, the bodily anguish to which she was subjected. At this period, also, her heart was severely wounded by the melancholy intelligence that her beloved parents had sustained severe losses in their pecuniary affairs. She was deeply grieved on hearing the tidings, and she instantly wrote them a letter full of consolation, urging them to entertain not the slightest anxiety on her account, as she hoped to be soon sufficiently recovered so as to earn a livelihood for herself, and perhaps to assist them, by employing herself in teaching. The wish, the design, was generous and kind. But the Almighty had otherwise ordained. Her brother, Dr Reed, who had been meditating some improvement in Martha's circumstances, availed him