: according to Christ's appointment it be shewn forth in both kinds, namely, in bread and wine." Winram immediately returned to the bishops, and, with a view of conciliating them, informed them that the prisoner solemnly affirmed his innocence of the crimes with which he was charged, and that he did not say so to avert his impending death, but only to leave a testimony to man of that innocence which was known to God. The effect, however, was quite opposite the Cardinal (Beaton) inflamed with rage, exclaimed," As for you, Mr Sub-Prior, we know very well already what you are." Winram then asked whether the prisoner would be allowed the communion of the holy body and blood of the Saviour? when the other priests, after having consulted a little together, gave it as their opinion, "that it did not appear proper that an obstinate heretic, condemned by the Church, should have any church privileges." This determination was reported to Wishart; and it does not appear that he saw Mr Winram again. At nine o'clock the friends and domestics of the governor having assembled to breakfast, he was asked whether he would partake with them; to which he frankly replied," with more pleasure than I have done for some time past, for I perceive you are devout men, and fellow-members of the same body of Christ with me, and also because I know this will be the last food I shall partake of on earth." Then addressing the governor, "I invite you, in the name of God, and by that love which you bear to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to sit down at this table a little, and attend to me while I address an exhortation to you, and pray over DISCOURSE. BY THE REV. ROBERT GORDON, D. D., One of the Ministers of the High Church, Edinburgh. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."-HEB. xii. 14. THE duties prescribed in this verse are at all times necessary, and therefore it is at all times seasonable to inculcate them. There was, however, a peculiar propriety in urging them upon the Hebrews, especially in the circumstances in which they were then placed. It appears from various notices in the New Testament, that the Jews, notwithstanding the reverses which, as a nation, they had sustained, and the degradation to which they had been reduced, still cherished an overweening idea of their own superiority, regarding themselves as the special objects of the Divine favour, and conceiving that they were entitled to look on other men with contempt. Of those among them who did not believe the gospel, we find the apostle thus speaking in his Epistle to the Thessalonians :-" They both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved." Of this spirit a very notable example is recorded in Paul's own history: for on a certain occasion, when he addressed his countrymen in Jerusalem, detailing to them the circumstances of his conversion to the faith of the gospel, and giving an account of the apostolic commission which he received from the Lord Jesus, who said to him, "depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles;" we are told that "they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live." And even with regard to those who did be the bread which we are about to eat, as brethren of Christ; and then I shall bid you farewell." In the meantime the table being covered, as is the custom, with a linen cloth, and bread placed upon it, Wishart began a short and clear discourse upon the Last Supper, and the sufferings and death of Christ, and spoke about half an hour; he especially exhorted them to lay aside wrath, envy, and malice, that their minds might be filled with love one to another, and so become perfect members of Christ, who daily intercedes that we through him, our sacrifice, may obtain eternal life. Having spoken to this effect, he gave God thanks, and broke the bread, and gave a little to each, and in like manner he gave the wine, after he himself had tasted, entreating them to remember, in this sacrament, along with him, the last memorial of Christ's death; but for him-lieve the gospel, they were so zealous of the law, self, a more bitter cup was prepared, for no other reason than preaching the gospel. After this he again retired to his chamber, and finished his own private devotions. that they seemed to think none should be admitted to the privileges of the gospel without being required at the same time to observe the institutions of Moses. In so far, then, as the Hebrews might Probably since the first institution of the Supper, it be under the influence of such prejudices and prehas seldom been celebrated under circumstances more possessions, they woua oe in danger of giving solemn and affecting. Wishart was a man of the most way to a contentious spirit; and if they did so, mild and amiable temper, of a sweet and venerable ap- surrounded as they were by enemies who waited pearance, and his manners are said to have been parti- for their halting, they would not only give increascularly engaging. He had been a kind of inmate in the ed bitterness to the hatred and opposition of gaingovernor's family for nearly two months, and during that time seems to have conciliated the affections of his sayers, but bring discredit on the faith which they keeper and attendants, the most of whom were, pro- professed, by giving the adversaries occasion to bably through his means, become "partakers of like speak reproachfully. And in like manner, they precious faith," as he addressed them, upon this occa- might stand in need of being especially reminded sion, as persons whom he knew to be fellow-members of the necessity of personal holiness. It is wellof the same body of Christ. In less than three hours he was to stand in the presence of that God and Saviour known, that their unbelieving countrymen looked whose dying love they were commemorating, and to be upon themselves as a holy people, in virtue of honoured, to glorify his name, by passing through the their descent from Abraham, and their separation flames to heaven. With what energy would he address from the rest of the world by their being in posthem, with what reverential attention would they session of a Divine revelation, and a divinely inlisten! Scarcely can a scene of deeper interest be ima-stituted form of worship; and that, resting in their gined, excepting, perhaps, some which followed, when, "Leaning on his spear, The lyart vet'ran heard the word of God.". distinctive privileges, they were disposed to substitute this, what they considered hereditary holiI ness, for that purity of heart and life which it was the great end of all their privileges to produce. | If, then, the Hebrew Christians, previously to their conversion to the faith of the gospel, had been accustomed to cherish the same delusion, they might still require to be warned against it; and there was therefore a peculiar force and propriety in the apostle's admonition as addressed to his countrymen, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." But the precept, as we have already remarked, is at all times a most important one, and can never therefore be unseasonably urged. In Old Testament prophecy, Christ was foretold as the Prince of Peace," in "whose days the righteots should flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth ;" and when the fulness of time was come, his birth was announced as "peace on earth, and good will towards men." In fact, peace is frequently used in Scripture to express every thing that is comprehended in Christ's salvation. When, by his death, he bore the penalty of our offences, made reconciliation for iniquity, and opened up a new and living way of access to God; it is said that he made peace for us by the blood of his cross. When, through faith in this atonement, our reconciliation to God becomes a matter of experience; the blessed fruits of our justification or acceptance with him, are represented as consisting of "peace and joy in believing,"even "the peace of God that passeth all understanding." And the ultimate design of all this is declared to be, that by the indwelling of the spirit in our hearts, we may be united to Christ and to one another in the bonds of love and affection, as members of the same spiritual body, children of the same family, and heirs of the same heavenly inheritance; and that being thus made perfect in one, we may, by our example and our influence, diffuse among men that peace which Christ came to procure and to publish. And if it be the great design of the gospel thus to give us peace with God, with ourselves, and with one another, then the gospel is practically known and felt, only in so far as it has produced this effect: and professing Christians cannot more palpably belie their principles, than by cherishing an angry, contentious, or vindictive spirit. Did they regard one another as children of the same Heavenly Father, and did they really hope to spend together an eternity of holy fellowship with God; it were impossible that they could give way to such a spirit without feeling, on serious reflection, that they had betrayed and brought discredit on the cause which ought to be dearer to them than life: for however little ungodly men may know, or be able to conceive of the comforting, elevating, and purifying influence of the Gospel, they are quick-sighted enough to perceive the revolting inconsistency of men who profess to be pilgrims on the earth, and fellowtravellers towards a better, even a heavenly country, "falling out by the way," or, in the emphatic language of the apostle, biting and devouring one another." And even though Christians may be able, in justification of an angry and irritable spirit, to plead that they have sustained injury, and it may be at the hands of men who make no profession of Christianity; still if they did but reflect on the forbearance and long-suffering patience with which God endured their innumerable provocations; they could not fail to be humbled by the melancholy contrast between the mercy which had forgiven them ten thousand talents, and their unwillingness to remit to an offending fellow-creature his hundred pence. But the precept in the text goes much farther than merely to inculcate a sort of passive avoidance of giving offence-a meek and patient endurance even of unprovoked injuries, rather than being the cause of dissension or discord. We are required to "follow peace with all men," or, as it is elsewhere expressed in Scripture, "to seek peace and ensue it"-to follow it as a thing which is not easily attained, and which we are ever in danger of losing. And did men really act in the spirit of this precept-were they so deeply and so habitually affected with a sense of their own obligations to God's forgiving mercy, as to feel that it is the true honour and dignity of their nature to imitate his forbearance and compassion— and had they such a lively anticipation of the holy and blessed society to which they hope hereafter to be united, as to awaken and keep alive in their minds, an ardent desire to see something o the same love and harmony characterising mankind on earth: What a different aspect would professedly christian communities exhibit, from what, I fear, they but too frequently present! How often would they suppress those angry feelings with which they are so prone to resent a real or supposed injury! How easily would they be brought to an amicable adjustment of differences, which too often terminate in irreconcileable quarrels? How cheerfully would they at times sacrifice something of their worldly interest, rather than give occasion to a dispute, the consequences of which, it may be impossible to foresee! And in how many instances might they not succeed, even in disarming the opposition of gainsayers, and constraining them to acknowledge that the tendency of the gospel is as happy as it is holy! All this, it is true, implies a degree of humility, self-denial, and regard for the interests of others, which, it is to be feared, is not frequently exemplified; and would lead to a line of conduct, which, in many cases, might be esteemed too humbling to be reasonably required or expected. The objection, however, is the dictate of pride; for whatever may be the maxims and opinions of the world on the subject, the most honourable and becoming course is that which the apostle has prescribed :-" Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.' Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him; if he thirst give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Is the apostle's precept then to be understood in an absolute and unqualified sense? Does it re- point of fact the guilty passions of men have often quire us at any expense to follow peace with all converted the Gospel of Peace into an occasion of men? In reply to this question, I would refer to animosity and strife. And all this was foretold the same precept as it is elsewhere stated in Scrip- by our Lord himself; for we find him, on a certure, when the apostle says to the Romans, "Iftain occasion, saying to his disciples, " Suppose it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peace- ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell ably with all men." The injunction as thus ex- you, nay; but rather division: for from hencepressed, obviously assumes, that there may be forth there shall be five in one house divided, three cases in which it is not possible for Christians to against two, and two against three." Christians, live in peace with all men; and every one who then, are neither required nor permitted to follow knows any thing of the world or of the Christian peace with all men, at the expense of compromiswarfare, must know that such cases do frequently ing any Christian principle, or relinquishing any occur cases in which peace can be attained, only Christian duty: for whatever quietness they might in a way in which it must not be followed. The thereby secure, they would only be contributing to Christian, for example, may be brought into con- the temporary and deceitful stillness of spiritual nexion with men who will not permit him peace-death-leaving men undisturbed in the fatal indulably to maintain his religious profession-men gence of sin. Holiness, in the Scripture acceptawho will take offence at many things in his cha- tion of the term, will always be offensive to ungodly racter and conduct, which they feel to be a silent men-for besides comprehending in it the practice reproof of their own-and who will not be back- of all those virtues, and the faithful discharge of ward, therefore, to manifest their dislike in such a all those duties, which are essential to the temporal way as may be sufficiently annoying to put his well-being of society, and which most men, therestedfastness to a severe trial. There is reason to fore, are able in some measure to appreciate, and believe, that in all ranks of society, the young disposed to approve,-it implies also such a devout especially are frequently exposed to such a temp- sense of the Divine presence-such a reverential tation; and that no efforts on their part will be regard for the Divine law-and such a spiritual successful in disarming the opposition of such tone of mind and character, as cannot fail to lead gainsayers, unless they consent to abate somewhat those who witness it to think more frequently and of their rigorous adherence to Christian principle, more solemnly of God and of eternal things than or, it may be, run into a participation with them they feel it agreeable or easy to do. But, however in their unholy practices. It is plain, however, offensive it may be, no part of Christian holiness that peace is not to be purchased at such a price; must be left uncultivated. Till we are brought and our text plainly intimates that it is not; for into a state of entire conformity to the Divine while the apostle admonishes Christians "ear- image, we cannot be in a state of preparedness for nestly to follow peace with all men," he adds, the full enjoyment of the Divine presence: and if " and holiness, without which no man shall see we are not now in the way of being transformed into the Lord." It is evident, indeed, in the case of this likeness-if we are not conscious of a growing the Hebrews, that without this qualification, the capacity for spiritual enjoyment, even delighting command to follow peace with all men must have ourselves in God--but if, on the contrary, we feel led to an open renunciation of their christian pro- aversion to that spirituality of character, which the fession; inasmuch as nothing short of this could Scriptures do everywhere ascribe to the saints, then have disarmed the opposition of unbelieving and what is the blessedness to which we professedly look ungodly men, at whose hands they had already forward in another world? If here we can see nosuffered bitter persecution, and endured a great thing to admire in the Divine character, as revealed fight of afflictions. But in fact, the peace here in- to us in Scripture, or in the Divine image, as it is culcated, is itself a branch of that holiness, "with- partially reflected in our fellow-men-and if now out which no man shall see the Lord;" for inasmuch we can find no gratification or delight in holding as it implies on the part of those who follow it, for- fellowship with God; it is obvious that a more bearance, compassion, and affectionate concern for vivid manifestation of his perfections, and a nearer the well-being of others, it is that in which they do approach to his presence, such as the Scriptures most clearly reflect the image of their Divine Mas-represent heaven to be, would only prove infinitely ter-of Him, "who patiently endured such contradiction of sinners against himself"_"who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." But this very holiness, so far from securing for Christians peace and goodwill with all men, may sometimes be the very means of rendering them objects of suspicion and secret dislike, if not of open hatred for though our Lord's birth was announced as peace on earth and good will to men-and though the tendency of every thing in his life and doctrine was to reconcile them to God and to one another, yet in more distasteful to us: and it follows, therefore, from the very nature of things, what is here announced as the unalterable ordination of God, that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." MISSIONS. THE advantages which the Christian mind derives from a constant intercourse with Missionary subjects, are very many and very great. BY THE REV. ROBERT M'CHEYNE. I. A spirit of intercession in behalf of the heathen is encouraged. It was "when Jesus saw the multitudes that he was moved with compassion, and bade his disciples pray the 66 Lord of the harvest to send fortan labourers into his | the more it is conversant with its object; increase o harvest." (Matt. ix. 36.) This shews how completely appetite seems to grow by what it feeds on; and the the Son of God was also the son of man, for with us it sure effect of increasing and abounding love toward all is always the sight of the object that calls forth the men, is a surer establishment in personal holiness. emotion. We come we see we are conquered. It (1 Thess. iii. 12, 13.) The very effort of sending a was "when Paul saw the city wholly given to idolatry man to convert others, makes us ask the question, “ Am that his spirit was stirred in him." (Acts, xvii. 16.) I myself converted?" The very sight of so many milThe eye affected the heart. Just so will it be with lions left in ignorance of "the only name whereby we every Christian mind. Set him down, like Buchanan, may be saved," whilst we have heard it from our inamong the myriads that shout around the car of Jugger- fancy, overpowers the believing mind with an abiding naut; or, like Gutzlaff, among the more civilized idola- sense of the sovereignty of God, and the freeness of his ters of China,—the man who is the follower of Paul, electing love. Privileges are used more ardently, as he was of Christ, will be "stirred in spirit," and thanksgivings are offered more feelingly," What have "moved with compassion," and one vent of the full I that I did not receive," is graven more durably upon And if God does bless the efforts of our heart will be in prayer to the Lord of the harvest. But the heart. we who sit at home cannot see the spirit-stirring sight, Missionaries, how is every grace of the new nature we are cut off from this blessed influence to drive us to stirred into a burning flame! When the Greenlander, our knees. Nor can any written information wholly the Hindoo, or the Chinese becomes a believer in make up this deficiency. The hearing of the ear will Jesus,-when the same gracious feelings which sparknever produce so powerful an effect as the seeing with led in our bosoms "when first we saw the Lord," the eye. Yet, in the absence of the greater influence, have evidently got possession of these barbarian souls, how dare we neglect to use the less? When we cannot see, how dare we refuse to hear? If we live in ignorance of the state of the heathen world, how can we pray intelligently on its behalf? If we content ourselves with general notions of its idolatries, and barbarities, and struggles against the Light, shall not our petitions be general, unfervent, and ineffectual? On the prayers of the children of God depends the coming of the kingdom and the conversion of the heathen, as it is said in the 2d Psalm, "Ask of me." Should not every child of God then bring himself under those influences which shall bind him to intelligent, fervent, effectual prayer on this behalf. Ccme, then, true child of God, who art bound to the service of Christ in thy native soil, come and let us gather from the records of faithful men who have jeoparded their lives in the high places of heathenism, food for meditation, and incitement to prayer. Let us give ear to these spies of the land of darkness, that when they tell us of some spot where grace is beginning to drop from above “like the first of a thunder shower," our prayers, mingled with thanksgivings, may arise with interest and intelligence on this special behalf: or, when they tell us of some stronghold of Satan, fortified on every side by the triple brass of superstition, self-righteousness, and lust, our united cry may ascend into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth," Have respect unto the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." II. Intercourse with Missionary subjects helps forward personal holiness. We find in 1 Thess. ii. 16, that "forbidding the preaching of the word to the Gentiles," was looked upon by God as the filling up the cup of sins,-the crowning transgression of the Jewish people; and conversely, the bidding and enabling faithful men to preach the word to the Gentiles, is one of the essential virtues of the child of God. And if it be a good and gracious thing to send grace, it is but the continuation of this grace to look after them,-to sympathise with their difficulties and encouragements,-to weep with them when they weep over obstinate sinners,-to rejoice with them and the angels, when they rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. But love increases and abounds, -when we can trace a kindredness of sentiment and 66 watch more anxiously the coming of the kingdom. "When the world shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them." To them "the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night." But the children of God" are not in darkness that that day should overtake them as a thief." Does not this Bible truth imply that the saints are watchful and intelligent as to the signs of the times? And is not the state of the Jewish and heathen world the very page to which we must chiefly look for signs of the latter day glory? "When the branch of the fig-tree is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, we know that summer is nigh." So likewise shall there be infallible signs of the coming of the season when the Beloved shall speak and say unto his bride, "Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo the winter is past, the rain is over and gone." These buddings and premonitions of the coming summer of our world, none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." And why? Just because" the wise," the taught of God, are not fools nor slow of heart to believe all that is written concerning the coming of the kingdom of Jesus; and they are on the watch for the first vibrations of that shaking of the earth and the heavens that shall usher in the kingdom "that cannot be moved." Where is the intelligent child of God who is not even now looking with most intense interest upon the movements now making in Hindostan, and upon the strange spirit of enquiry that within these few years has caused such a shaking in the Jewish community, like the shaking of the dry bones in the open valley? As upon the first streaks of the eastern sky before the breaking of the day,—the day when "the fulness of the Gentiles being come in, all Israel shall be saved," the day when the whole temple being completed, of which Christ is the foundation-stene, corner-stone, and top-stone, the Lord shali "be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them | north to south, cannot be traversed in less than about that believe." Child of God, sleep not thou as do others, but having thine own heart established with grace, be ever moving the anxious question, " Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night?" And then shall the answer be returned to thee,-" The morning cometh!" ISHMAEL IN THE DESERT.* THE story of the young and adventurous Ishmael forms This beautiful illustration of Sacred Scripture is extracted from an interesting work recently published, under the name of " Eastern Manners; illustrative of Old Testament History." Edinburgh: Oliphant and Son, 1836. forty days; and it is so wild and desolate a region, that "There no spring in murmurs breaks away, COLLINS. in that part especially where Ishmael wandered, a travelThe springs are but few and scanty all over the desert, ler who crossed it having found only four in the space of a hundred and fifteen miles, situated at the distance of four, six, and even eight days' journey from each other; and, besides the danger of missing them, always liable to happen in a trackless solitude, but particularly full of rugged and precipitous cliffs, around the base of so in the wilderness of Paran, which in many places is that after the greatest exertions have been made to reach which the traveller has to seek his way; it may happen, moving sand, or that they prove, to the mortification these springs, they are found entirely choked with the qualities, from the beds of sulphur or salt over which of the luckless traveller, so impregnated with brackish they roll, as to increase, instead of allaying, his already insufferable intensity of thirst. And then follows a scene of the most dreadful and protracted sufferings which a human being can experience. dered more violent by the fierce heat of the glowing The burning thirst, renin every part of the frame, and the dry and contracted firmament and the fiery sand, produces an intense agony feeling of the skin, the eyes appearing like balls of coagulated blood, the unnatural swelling and hardness of the tongue and lips, increasing difficulty of seeing and hearing, the total loss of speech, together with the most painful sensations in the throat; all these, which are invariable consequences of unalleviated thirst, indicate a universal derangement of the bodily system, produce sufferer, after many a struggle, to drop on the ground, langour and insensibility, and at last bring the unhappy happy if, like Ishmael, he can purchase a brief respite from his misery, by sheltering his scorched head under one of the dwarfish acacias that are strewed around. lars have been given for a draught of water. In such circumstances, it is said that five hundred dolgeneral, where one is placed in such extremities, all But, in who are with him are, more or less, in a similar state of distress; and then no bribe, however great, no en Thevenot found a person in precisely the same circumstances as Ishmael, having, in his agony, thrust his panting head under a small bush, to smell any damp that might be there. These small bushes were probably the very cause of Ishmael and his mother not being able to see the well which was so near him. Mr Campbell was once in this predicament. Having travelled the whole day without water, and halted about sunset in great distress from thirst, he found in the morning that he had been spending the night within a few yards of an abundant supply of the precious duid. |