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accordingly, thus this light discovers a man to himself, Mun's Disease, and the Gospel Remedy.-Man, in and lets him see his own natural filthiness, makes him his original state, was the object of the kind regards of loathe himself, and fly from himself,-run out of him- the Supreme Being--he knew and loved his Creatorself. And the excellency he sees in God and his Son he was innocent, obedient, and happy. His state and Jesus Christ, by this new light, inflames his heart with character were in perfect harmony, and calculated to their love, fills him with estimation of the Lord Jesus, perpetuate each other. His intellectual and moral faand makes the world, and all things in it that he esteem- culties were in complete unison. He was good and he ed before, base and mean in his eyes. Then, from this was happy and his goodness and happiness were plainlight arise " spiritual joy and comfort," which are fre- ly fitted, by their re-action, to secure an indefinite proquently signified by this expression, as in that verse of gress in both. "How is the gold become dim-how the Psalinist, (the latter clause expounds the former,) is the pure gold changed!" Man the sinner, is the obLight is sown for the righteous, and joy for the up-ject of the righteous displeasure of the Moral Governor right in heart!" Psal. xcvii. 11. As this " kingdom of the world. He misconceives the true character of of God's dear Son," that is, this kingdom of "light," God, and hates him-he violates his law, and renders hath righteousness in it, so it hath " peace and joy in himself miserable. Guilt, ignorance, error, depravity, the Holy Ghost." Rom. xiv. 17. It is a false preju- misery-these are the leading characteristics of man in dee the world bath taken up against religion, that it is his present state. These circumstances bear the same a sour melancholy thing; there is no truly lightsome relation to each other that their opposites did in the and comfortable life but it. All others, have they what primeval state. Ignorance, and error, and depravity they will, live in darkness; and is not that truly sad lead to guilt. Guilt perpetuates and increases ignoand comfortless? Would you think it a pleasant life, rance, error, and depravity; and all work together with though you bad fine clothes, and good diet, never to see a fearfully systematic regularity and certainty of result, the sun, but still to be kept in a dungeon with them? in sinking man in a bottomless pit of degradation and Thus are they who live in worldly honour and plenty, wretchedness. The machinery of man's constitution rebut still without God; they are in continual darkness mains, in a great measure at least, unaltered, but it has with all their enjoyments. got under a malignant influence and works as steadily and powerfully in destroying, as under a happier influence it would have done in perfecting his moral nature.

It is true, the light of believers is not here perfect, and therefore neither is their joy perfect; it is sometimes overclouded; but the comfort is this, that it is an everlasting light, it shall never go out in darkness, as it is said, in Job xviii. 5, "the light of the wicked shall;" and it shall within a while be perfected; there is a bright morning without a cloud that shall arise. The saints have not only light to lead them in their journey, but much purer light at home, "an inheritance in light." Col. i. 12. The land where their inheritance lieth is full of light, and their inheritance itself is light; for the vision of God for ever is that inheritance. That city bath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of the Lord doth lighten it, and the Laub is the light thereof." Rev. xxi, 23. As we said, that uncreated Light is the happiness of the soul, the beginnings of it are our happiness begun; they are beams of it sent from above, to lead us to the fountain and fulness of it. "With Thee," says David, "is the fountain of life, and in Thy light shall we see light." Psal. xxxvi. 9.-LEIGHTON.

Effects of Faith.-If I look into the Gospel glass, my looking is a figure of my faith; for unless I look I can neither see Christ nor myself. When I look, what do I see? Christ crucified, and God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. My eyes, my soul, are fascinated with wonder and solemn delight. My heart res, my eyes overflow; my head is as water while I Jook on Him whom I have pierced. The burden of guilt gently unlooses and rolls into his quiet sepulchre, and the peace of God calms all the tumult of my breast. For a season, I am so engaged in the contemplation of the heavenly vision, that I have no leisure to consider Eself; but at length I catch a glimpse of my own Countenance and image. I recognise the same features, but tow wonderfully are they changed; what a spirit is lighted up in these faded eyes! Peace is enthroned on the brow so lately wrinkled by care-celestial splendours play upon my temples-all my gaping wounds are healed, and not a scar is left behind. My tattered filthy Tags are exchanged for a robe made white in the blood of the lamb. Immortal vigour braces every nerve, I tread in air, and Abba, Father, bursts spontaneously from my loving heart.-MELVILLE HORNE.

The prayer of all should be, "Lord Jesus, as thou hast got death, and him that hath the power of death, under thy feet, even so, Lord, put them under ours.' ROMAINE.

If these views are correct, it follows, of course, that there must be system and order in any dispensation, or series of dispensations, which has for its object the restoration of human nature,-there must be something, which, according to the laws of the divine moral government, shall lay a foundation for a change of man's relations in reference to the supreme Being there must be something, which, according to the laws of the human constitution, will effect a complete transformation of the character and these, whatever they may be, may be expected to have a close connection. The Bible is substantially a revelation of such a restorative dispensation,-an account of the way in which ignorant, guilty, depraved, miserable man may, in a consistency with the perfections of the divine character, and the principles of his own constitution, be forgiven, and be made truly wise, and good, and happy for ever. that revelation which contains a detail of those divine dispensations, which have the restoration of man for their object, we are led to anticipate, and we do not anticipate in vain, certain grand principles which bind together what, at first view, may appear unconnected statements, and give a character of consistent regularity to the whole.-REV. JOHN BROWN.

In

Edification. I read in a learned Physician, how our provident mother, Nature, foreseeing men (her wanton children), would be tampering with the edge-tools of minerals, hid them far from them in the bowels of the earth, whereas she exposed plants and herbs more ob. vious to their eye, as fitter for their use. bold empericks, neglecting the latter (as too common), have adventured on those hidden minerals, oftimes (through want of skill), to the hurt of many, and haz

ard of more.

But some

rical and practical matter (needful for Christians to God, in the New Testament, hath placed all histoknow and believe), in the beginning of the Gospel. All such truths lie above ground, plainly visible, in the literal sense.

The prophetical and difficult part comes in the close. But though the Testament was written the end thereof. in Greek, too many read it like Hebrew, beginning at How many trouble themselves about the Revelation, who might be better busied in plain Divinity! Safer prescribing to others, and practising in themselves positive piety, leaving such mystical minerals to men of more judgment to prepare them.

THOMAS FULLER,

THE

CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

THOUGHTS ON THE DEATH OF
THE RIGHTEOUS.

BY THE REV. JOHN A. WALLACE.
Minister of Hawick.

PRICE 1d.

not live always, for my days are vanity;" nay, rising superior to the horrors of death and the grave, "For I 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: whom I shall see for myself, and not for another, though my reins be consumed within me." Words these which are followed up by the language of the noblest apostle, under a clearer and a more glorious dispensation. "Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death:" "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." In fact, there can be no relief for the Christian but a complete change of scene, as well as a complete change of nature. He must not only be regenerated in the spirit of his mind, but he must be taken away from the evil of the present world. Therefore, there is a breaking down of the mortal tabernacle, a separation of the spiritual from the material,-a disruption of the soul from the body, that the one may return straightway unto God who gave it, and the other be purified in the grave for the glories of a new

CONSTITUTED as this world is, the true believer cannot remain here, and at the same time be completely happy. He may have undergone a most decided change of mind, through the regenerating influence of God's Holy Spirit ;-he may have escaped in a great measure from corruptions, by which, at a former period, he was held in a state of the most galling bondage ;—and, through the power of a vigorous faith, he may have gained many signal victories over the world, and the Besh, and the devil;-and by these means, the highest principles of Christianity may have been brought to a state of great maturity within him; but still, it is quite clear, that no succession of victories which it is possible for him to gain, and no degree of advancement which it is possible for him to reach, can exempt him altogether from the manifold evils which are incident to this present state of existence. Even though his faith should be as strong and as stedfast as it has ever been in the case of the noblest Christian, there will, nevertheless, be much in his own experience to convince him, that this is not his rest; that his heaven is not to be found on this side of the grave; that the consummation of his peace is to be reserved for the perfection of a loftier and a holier Behold, then, the righteous man and the merciworld. Indeed, it is one of the great laws of ful conflicting with the troubles of this mortal Christianity, that just in proportion to his pro-state-harassed, and tempted, and dispirited—toilgress in the path of holiness, will be the clearness of his perception in regard to the evil and hatefalness of sin. Thus, the man who is the most distinguished Christian, who has risen to the highest and the holiest walks of the Christian life, and reached to the remotest distance from the vanities and the pollutions of the world, and breathed most freely of the spirit of heaven, is just the man, who, of all others, is the most sensitively alive to its intolerable abominations. And were he to be doomed to live for ever in the present world, and at the same time, to be perpetually advancing in the graces of the Holy Spirit, it would be to him a *ate of the most galling and insupportable bondage. Hence, we hear of an ancient saint exclaiming, amid the darkness of an ancient dispensation," I would

and endless life.

ing amidst the storm, and crouching beneath the agonies of death, and let your prayers and your sympathies be his. But behold him with his eyes closed, lying in his loneliness on the bed of death, sleeping in Jesus; and rejoice ye with exceeding joy. For the man truly hath gone to his rest. His day of trial, and of conflict, and of suffering, is past for ever. Even the frail and mortal body-the occasion of so much anxiety-the instrument of so much sin, is ransomed from all its troubles; and though sad be the transition through which it is destined to pass, that nevertheless is the cause of no annoyance to the spirit itself. The spirit hath left it to its rest, "in the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection from the dead." And the spirit itself, freed from the gross impedi

In penning these thoughts, we cannot refrain from adverting to a very solemn and most affecting dispensation of divine Providence, to which our attention has been lately called, and which ought to make a very deep impression on the mind of every one. We refer to the death-the sudden death of one of the brightest and the most illustrious ornaments of the Church of Christ-one of the most eminent and distinguished men of God-tary domain of the grave, marking and numbering a man, certainly, of whom it may be truly said, that he hath entered into peace, that he is now resting on his bed, that he is walking in his uprightness.

But when I canna sleep, I can think; and it is never but some word is given me to comfort me."

From my first interview with this humble Christian, I felt strongly drawn to him; and as his advanced age and shattered frame precluded all hope that I should know him long, I left him with the purpose of soon repeating my visit.

Receiving this as an intimation that a visit from his pa- | nish minister would not be unwelcome, I went next day to his cottage, and found him laid in an enclosed bed, where, on first entering from the clear light of day, he was but dimly visible. The first sound of his voice was enough to awaken an interest in him. He spoke in a soft and placid tone, and his words were in the language of Canaan. As my eye gradually adapted itself to the After a brief interval, accordingly, I went back to his light of the cottage, I perceived by and by an old man, cottage, and found that the violence of his disease had verging upon fourscore years. His tremulous frame passed away. He was now seated by the fire, in his showed that the hand of God had smitten him with wooden chair, a fir table at his side, and his Bible, his palsy, while his countenance reflected the expression of constant companion and counsellor, laid upon it. His an inward serenity and benevolence. Having been pa- conversation on this and other occasions, has escaped ralytic for three long years, he met every repeated stroke my memory. I remember well, however, it was always of his disease as the messenger of death, and at the time such as to evince, that his devotion was not like I saw him, he conceived that his departure was at hand. that of some who may be met with confined to a sick Yet the prospect excited in him no disquietude or dis- or dying bed, but the fixed habit of his renewed nature. may, and his blessed composure, as soon became appa- Though he was not given to speak of himself, but rent, was not the effect of stupor or insensibility, but of would have dwelt continually on the Scriptures, their that precious faith in Christ, who hath overcome death, gracious Author, and his great dependence on them for and who alone can deliver men from the fear of death. occupation to his mind, and encouragement to his hope, Having learned, during our conversation, that he had I became acquainted by degrees with his simple history. passed many sleepless days and nights, I asked him how He was born in the parish where he lived and died. In he occupied his thoughts the while? "In meditating on his eleventh year he was left an orphan, and was reHis Word," was his reply. "On what part of Scriptureceived into the house and service of an uncle, who aphave you more recently been meditating?"" On the pears to have been a man of piety, and attentive to the sixth and seventh of John's Gospel-a part of Scripture Christian education of his children and household. From which I have often found very comfortable." These this early period, John received no more schooling. He chapters he had perfectly committed to memory, as well continued in his uncle's house till his seventeenth year, as many other favourite passages, and when unable to when he left it for another service, which, as the counread, was wont to recal them, to nourish and refresh try phrase goes, "promised to do more for him." In his soul. After repeating a few of those verses with a this humble capacity he spent his life, and, like a man of propriety and simple pathos, which marked beyond unambitious and contented mind, made very few changes the possibility of mistake his relish of the Truth, he in the course of it, his terms of service being ten, or added, "That is a comfortable Scripture. I have thirteen, or seventeen years. Indeed he said to me, often been instructed and comforted by it in the night that he never was in the place in which he was not comfortable. And why should his experience in this respect be so widely different from that of thousands and tens of thousands in the present day, who are "given to change," who find nothing right, and none who use them well, go where they will, and who flit from one service to another, in the vain hope of "bettering themselves?" The cause was not in his condition, but in his disposition. He possessed a humble mind. He had learned, in whatever state he was, "therewith to be content.' "It is no every thing that puts John about," said one of his neighbours. Another, in somewhat peculiar, but expressive phrase, said of him, "He is a contented piece of flesh." This disposition might, to some degree, be the gift of nature, but in the beautiful and blissful extent in which it reigned in his bosom, it was the result of Christian principle, the fruit of his filial confidence, and of his heavenly hope.

seasons."

The secret of its happy influence upon his heart was soon explained, "For," said he, "I make a point, in reading or remembering Scripture, to take every word as from the mouth of Christ; this fills up the gap between the dead letter and the living Author, so that it comes with greater power and preciousness to the heart." This observation struck me as indicative of great simpacity and strength of faith in his own mind, and as plying a most useful hint to every one for the more impressive and profitable reading of the Word of God. I do not doubt, but that every man who is taught of God, and reads the Bible in the exercise of a true faith, wont, like this good old man, more or less closely to Connect divine truth with its divine Author. But it aust be feared, also, that many set themselves to read ir evening and morning portion in the closet or the ily, without being careful to bring God near while ey read, or bearing solemnly in mind that it is God speaks to them. As many as complain that the Scripture has little power over their conduct, and little feciousness to their hearts, will find, if they inquire, that experience is to be referred to this cause; and the Len who will adopt the method of this simple peasant, ad "make a point" of hearing the voice of Christ in every command, and invitation, and promise of the writ-peated to me, and which, if they exhibit the deficient tea Word, will find himself bound by its commands, encouraged by its invitations, and comforted and refreshed by its exceeding great and precious promises. It was Lo doubt owing to this truly Christian exercise of mind, that, as this man told me, and often repeated to the praise of God's love and faithfulness," he was never eft without something to comfort him." He found > full and unfailing consolation in meditating on God's Ward, that those sleepless nights, which are so often the Fect of complaining among the old and infirm, were im seasons of positive enjoyment. I enjoy want g sleep," said he to me on one occasion, "for when I dover, my thoughts wander, and are unprofitable.

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From various little circumstances which he mentioned to me, I have reason to believe that his mind had been brought under the influence of Christianity in early life. He told me, indeed, "he did not remember the time when he was without the fear of God." How far it was allowed its just practical influence upon him through life, I am not able to determine. I remember one or two little incidents of his early life, which he re

power of right and conscientious principle, serve at the same time to evince the presence and operation of grace in his soul. On one occasion, he broke through a garden hedge to steal gooseberries, but ere he had completed his transgression, conscience resumed its power, and he drew back his hand already stretched out to the tempting bush. His own words were, "restraining grace held my hand, and I went back the way I came without touching a berry." Men who estimate sin by its visible effects rather than by the sanctity of the law it violates, or the majesty of the Lawgiver on whose authority it tramples, may be apt to ascribe the feelings of this good man for his deliverance from this sin to a