as an allusion to the customs and peculiarities of the country where the scene of the memorable conference between Job and his friends is laid. In Arabia, the common houses are for the most part no better than thatched huts, their walls being composed of clay dried and whitened in the sun; and although, with the view of giving them a little more thickness and stability, there is also added an outer covering of reeds, they are still after all but very frail and unsubstantial fabrics; the more so, that, owing to the light character of the soil in that land, a solid substratum of rock or earth can nowhere be found, and "have their foundathe dwellings almost universally tion in the dust," or sand. In serene and settled weather, these ephemeral structures do well enough, and serve all the purposes of the natives: but, amid the sudden and violent changes to which their climate is subject, when the face of the country is swept by the furious gusts of the tornado, or by the immense columns of moving sand that shift from place to place, these slight edifices are often overwhelmed, and their walls beat down with resistless force to the ground. The owners, if they do not consult their safety by timely flight, are buried in the ruins, and every thing that has life is "crushed" to death along with them. The only creature that has a chance of escape is the moth-worm, which, from its diminutive size, and the soft yielding nature of the stuffs in which it makes its bed, has frequently, on excavating the buried furniture, when the storm has ceased, been found surviving the human inmates of the dwelling. This well-known fact gives a beautiful and striking propriety to the expression, The terrible "They are crushed before the moth." convulsions of nature, which occasion such catastrophes, are of course most uncertain and irregular in their occurrence; but for the most part, when they do happen, they begin early in the morning, about sun-rise, and continue their ravages till they gradually abate about the close of the day. So that as hurricanes in those latitudes are wonderfully uniform in their character and duration, and always make fearful havoc of the property and lives of men, it is true to the letter that on such occasions "they are destroyed from morning to evening." Thus multitudes are often plunged into scenes of danger and death, before any of their neighbours are apprized of their situation; and even though they were, the wide spread devastation obliging may be freely and equably diffused through the body, prayer is With David he cries, "Return, O Lord, deliver my soul, O save me, for thy mercies' With him he also sings "The Lord hath sake.' heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer." "I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high." Full of faith and love, his bowels yearn over perishing sinners-he makes intercession for all men-stands in the gap in seasons of national judgments and pleads with his God in behalf of a "" CHRISTIAN RETIREguilty land.-THE AUTHOR OF MENT." (Christian Experience as displayed in the Writings of St. Paul. The antiquity of the Books of Moses.-The antiquity of the Pentateuch or five books of Moses, is attested by a most singular fact. It will be recollected that Nehemiah was appointed by the King of Persia to In this good work he rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. received some annoyance from Sanballat, Governor of Samaria. The Jewish patriot, however, was successful; and on the completion of this work, he provided a code of regulations for the people under his charge. Some of these were displeasing to Manasseh, son-in-law to Sanballat. This man fled into Samaria. every one to confine his attentions to home, and rendering it perilous in the extreme to go abroad, and attempt the rescue of the sufferers, "they perish for ever, without any regarding it." According to this principle of interpretation, then, each successive clause In this country he became the founder of a religious sect. He built a temple to the God of Israel on mount has a natural meaning put upon it; is shown to add a new circumstance, important in the description; and Gerizim, and provided his converts with five books of the whole, when grouped together, forms a graphic Moses as their rule of faith-concealing the later books, picture of Arabian life, as it is in the present day, and lest the respectful allusions made in them to the sanctity as it no doubt was in the days of Job and his contem-of Jerusalem should have disparaged his own temple in poraries. The argument of the context also is placed in a stronger light; and the reader is better prepared to adopt the conclusion, that if the Almighty put no trust in the angels, though they are immortal, and secure, far beyond the reach of misery or danger, far less would he repose confidence in man, whose frail nature is not only destined, in due course, to fall a prey to the influence of disease and death, but is liable at all times to be destroyed by a thousand sudden and violent calamities, from which no earthly friends, however zealous and sympathizing. can afford any deliverance. CHRISTIAN TREASURY. The Importance of Christian Unity.-Christian unity is an essential element of a healthful condition of the Church. Christ is the head from which his Church derives vital influence and energy; but in order that these Samaria. This schism, which took place several cen- were neighbours, they would hold no communication He A good Hint.-The reason that many men want their desires is, because their desires want reason. may do what he will, that will do but what he may.— WARWICK (Spare Minutes.) SACRED POETRY. THE DEATH OF THE COVENANTER. SLOW sank the red sun down to rest The hope by which he lived and died; My fleeting spirit now receive." Low laid within his narrow bed The martyr's form will rest, Till death shall yield her myriad dead When that last awful hour is nigh, "The Lord our righteousness!" shall be his cry. When wand'ring in the twilight gloom, Some lonely herd may spy That half-defaced and moss-grown tomb, And pause, in passing by, To lay the rude inscription clear, And read, "A Covenanter sleepeth here." MONTAGUE STANLEY, H.S.A. "THE LORD WILL PROVIDE." WHEN whispers unbelieving fear, "We'll eat our last lean crust and die," Tis sweet to think that He is near Who hears the ravens when they cry. And sweet his promises must be To parents sinking in the dust: "Your helpless offspring leave with me, And let your widows in me trust.' When Satan's chains did round us cling, When all from God astray had gone, When none a ransom fit could bring, None for his guilty soul atone, Then, blessed be Jehovah's name, He did himself a Lamb provide; From heaven the spotless victim caine, Who suffered for us and who died, Oh let us then confide in heaven, THOMAS DICKSON. MISCELLANEOUS. Self-knowledge and Self-distrust.-A striking anec dote was related at one of the May meetings, by a clergyman from the south of Ireland, in proof of the real profit derived by some of the poorest classes from a free perusal of the Word of God. At the periodical assemblage of men, generally of a very humble rank, who are employed to read the Scriptures in Irish to their poor ignorant countrymen, a series of questions are propounded by the clergymen who attend as exa miners, in order to ascertain how far the minds of these teachers are imbued with the truths that they communicate to others. One query, addressed to a very simple, unlearned man, who manifested great love for the sacred book, was to this effect: "If you were threatened with persecution and suffering for retaining your Bible, would you give it up?" A pause ensued, and the question was repeated, with a demand for some reply. "Please your reverence," said the poor fellow, "and with submission, think that question is not rightly put." "How so? In what way would you have it expressed?" Why, then, Sir, and begging your reverence's pardon, I think you should ask me, if I was threatened such things for keeping my Bible, ought I to give it up? For, Sir, how do I know what I would do if I was tempted?"-Passing Thoughts, by CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. Natural History of Scepticism.-It is curious to read the accounts which infidels give of themselves, the rather as they accord so exactly with the result of our own observation. We find that they once, perhaps, gave a sort of implicit, hereditary assent to the truth of Christianity, and were what, by a mischievous perversion of language, the world denominates believers. How were they, then, awakened from their sleep of ignorance? At what moment did the light of truth beam in upon them, and dissipate the darkness in which they had been involved? The period of their infidelity is marked by no such determinate boundary. Reason, and thought, and inquiry had little or nothing to do with it. Having for many years lived careless and irreligious lives, and associated with companions equally careless and irreligious; not by force of study and reflection, but rather by the lapse of time, they at length attained to their infidel maturity. It is worthy of remark, that where any are reclaimed from infidelity, it is generally by a process much more rational than that which has here been described. Something awakens them to reflection. They examine, they consider, and at length yield their assent to Christianity on what they deem sufficient grounds.-WILBERFORCE. (Practical View.) CONTENTS.-Hugh Cuninghame. (A Sketch.) Part II. By Rev. D. Landsborough.-Conversion of Dr Capadose, a Portuguese Israelite. Concluded.-A Discourse. By Rev. W. B. Kirkpatrick. Concluded.-Investigations into the Natural History of the Bible. By late Rev. D. Scot, M.D. No. VI.-A Scripture Illustration. By Rev. R. Jamieson.-Christian Treasury. Extracts from the Author of Hours of Thought, the Author of Christian Retirement, Steele, and Warwick.-Sacred Poetry. "The Covenanter's Death." By Montague Stanley, H.S.A. "The Lord will Provide." By T. Dickson. Miscellaneous. ration of both soul and body from God and from ON THE FEAR OF DEATH, AND VICTORY happiness for ever! And all this, in the view of OVER IT. BY THE REV. JOHN GLEN, Minister of Portobello. THE universality of sin implies the universality of death as its penal consequence. In all past ages of the world, it has been, acordingly, true of nearly every individual of our race, that "he died." We know, indeed, but of two exceptions to this law of mortality, namely, Enoch and Elijah, who were translated bodily to heaven without undergoing dissolution. But these exceptions were, doubtless, intended to give to the righteous, at the times when they respectively occurred, an evidence both of the immortality of the soul, and of the future and everlasting blessedness of the whole man in the immediate presence of God. And never, we have reason to believe, will a similar favour be conferred till the sounding of the last trumpet, when the living "shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." The severing of the tie which binds soul and body together, with the consignment of the latter to the gloomy territory of the dead, is fitted to excite in the mind an instinctive aversion. However slight may be the impression which, from its frequency, is produced by that solemn event, considered merely in reference to others around us, the matter assumes a very different aspect when it comes directly home to our own individual experience. In this case, it carries with it an awfulness and an interest which we can no longer exclude from our thoughts; and the supposed pain of dying, with the succeeding silence, corruption, and loathsomeness of the grave, conjures up a class of ideas from which we naturally recoil. But the dislodgment of the spirit from its clayey tenement, and the reduction of the corporeal frame to the dust of the earth, are not the only, nor even the principal, grounds of apprehension to man. With these are associated consequences which greatly increase the alarm,-consequences of the most dreadful import to all who feel their guilt in the sight of Holy Omniscience. For, besides involving the separation of the soul from the body for a season, they involve also the sepaVOL. III. the awakened sinner, arrays death in its most appalling form, investing it with an ascendancy which the most reckless and hardened transgressor, if he at all adverts to the subject, cannot calmly and peacefully contemplate. For conscience there performs her proper part, And writes a doomsday sentence in his heart." Thus death, however revolting in itself, is by human disobedience "more dreadful made." As sin first brought it into the world, so sin also gave it a poignancy, a bitterness, and a woe, which even imagination cannot now fully picture, far less enhance by its liveliest conceptions. The whole man is exposed to its destructive power. "Guilt points the tyrant's spear," to pierce and ruin the soul as well as the body; not, indeed, so as to deprive it of existence, for it is destined to immortality, but to dry up its every comfort, and to plunge it in that hopeless misery, which is the second death. And how awful, how distracting is the thought of an undone eternity! There a rightcous God pours out the vials of his wrath on the wicked and impenitent; and there the agonies and wailings of the wretched sufferers receive an accession of sorrow from the very consideration that they will never end! But what renders sin so potent to destroy? To this an apostle answers, "The strength of sin is the law." An infringement of the rule of duty which God has established involves moral culpability, and moral culpability exposes to corresponding punishment. If "where no law is, there is no transgression," or if, as elsewhere expressed, "sin is not imputed when there is no law;" then, conversely, when there is a law authoritatively made known to us, demanding our cheerful, uniform, and perfect obedience, the violation of that law brings us under a sentence of condemnation, from which there is no escaping by any efforts of our own. Thus the very ordinance of heaven, which forbids evil, under the threatening of a penalty, not only sets before sinners temporal and spiritual death, but embitters the prospect with a just and overwhelming fear of the judgment which follows. For "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish" are denounced against "every soul of man that doeth evil," and "obeys not the truth, | death and the grave. And, if we believe and obey but obeys unrighteousness." Such would have been our deplorable condition had we been left, under the burden of sin, to the tyranny of the king of terrors. As every day brings us nearer to the grave, the apprehension of death, with its decisive results, would have subjected us to the most severe and distressing bondage, till we should, at length, have sunk down as helpless captives amid the horrors of the tomb. But, blessed be the Father of mercies! light has sprung through the darkness of despair, and a voice, in cheering accents, has proclaimed, "Deliver from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom." Yes, God sent into the world his own Eternal Son to abolish death, to burst asunder the bands of the grave, and to bring life and immortality to light. The great Captain of salvation appeared in our nature; and having "girded his sword upon his thigh," he confronted the grim tyrant in his own dominions, and having challenged him to the field, overcame him in the mighty conflict. And, by despoiling him of his pointed weapon, and blasting his destructive energies, he has calmed the fears of believers, and irradiated the tomb with the animating hope of the heavenly glory. Thus "Through nature's wreck, through vanquished agonies, By his atoning blood, then, the Son of God has achieved our triumph over the king of terrors. And, though it be still appointed unto all men once to die," yet, in our case, as genuine disciples of Christ Jesus, the law of mortality operates, not as a punishment, but as a privilege. For, united to him by a principle of living faith, and thus interested in his finished work, the moment we are "absent from the body," we are "present with the Lord." Hence, on departing into the land of spirits, we have nothing to fear, since over death and the grave we are "more than conquerors through him that loved us." Yes, reposing on his righteousness, and looking to him as all our salvation and all our desire, we know and believe that we "shall not perish, but have everlasting life." The satisfaction which Christ made, and the victory which he gained for us, were sufficiently evinced by his resurrection from the dead. When, as our substitute, he expired on Calvary, and descended into the sepulchre, the curse of the law lay as fetters on his tomb; and, had he not fulfilled all the demands of justice to the very uttermost, he must have continued a captive for ever in the bosom of the earth. But, in accordance with his own prediction, he emerged in triumph from the dishonours to which he had submitted; thus affording a convincing proof that the divine law was amply vindicated, and that the claims of the strictest equity were fully answered. And hence the emphatic meaning of the apostle's declaration, "He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." The fact is, therefore, indisputable, that the blessed Redeemer has obtained for us victory over the Gospel-if we can say we are Christians, not in name and profession only, but in deed and in truth, then "all things are ours," whether they be "things present, or things to come,”—time, as the season of our spiritual improvement, and eternity, as the duration of our bliss. So that, amid the multiplied afflictions and trials which beset us in this changeful scene, we are encouraged to look forward to a better world, " rejoicing in hope of the glory of God." Our bodies, though doomed to dissolution, shall, through the conquest thus achieved for us, spring anew from the dust of the earth, purified from all their pollutions, and fitted for that high state of immortality, which is the certain portion of all who believe. Such are the cheering prospects which we are now led to entertain, as the friends and followers of Jesus Christ; such the imperishable dignity and honour to which we shall be advanced, when he shall come, in the clouds of heaven, to raise his people from their slumbers, and take them home with himself to the mansions of everlasting joy. "Thus at the destined period shall return He, once on earth, who bids the comet blaze, And with him all our triumph o'er the grave." But be it ever remembered, that ere we can join in the song of victory over death, and breathe the life-sustaining atmosphere of heaven, we must embrace Jesus as the Lord our righteousness, "and walk in the way which he has opened before us." Can we say, then, that this is indeed our charact Have we been "renewed in the spirit of our minds?" Have we "put off the old man with his deeds," and "put on the new man which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness?" Unless we have experienced this transforming change, we are still without God, without Christ, without the witness of the Spirit, and without the well-grounded hope of the heavenly inheritance. But if, through the operation of divine grace, we have been led to see the Redeemer's beauty, and his suitableness to our circumstances,-if, in contemplating, by faith, the cross of Christ, the world has been crucified unto us, and we unto the world,-if it be our earnest desire and prayer to be more and more conformed to the image of God's Son, then we rise superior to all the fears which a broken law is fitted to awaken, and exult in the prospect of a blessed immortality. To follow our exalted Lord to the celestial glory, we must tread in his steps. For it is only when "planted together in the likeness of his death," that "we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." And as he now lives and reigns in heaven, so shall we also live and reign, through him and with him, to all eternity. THE DEATH-BED EXPERIENCE OF THE REV. MR THOMAS WARDROBE, Formerly Minister of Bathgate. BY A CONTEMPORARY. UPON the 2d of May 1756, the Rev. Mr Thomas Wardrobe, just as he was going out of the door to preach, being the Sabbath morning, was suddenly seized with a violent disease which cut him off in a few days. About two hours after he was attacked, I saw him indeed in the greatest agony, crying out under the most intolerable exhausting pains, but entirely resigned to the divine will, this sentence being often repeated by him, "Just thou art, O Lord, and wilt do all thy pleasure, Thy will be done." Sometime after, in an extremity of pain, he cried out, "O, for patience, O, for a faith's look of Christ. This clay tabernacle cannot long subsist.' During the first three days of his illness, he often complained of darkness, deadness, and want of spiritual appetite, unable to think or speak, often breathing the warmest desires for faith, praying for light, life, and love. He was much impressed with the apprehensions of death, the views of which seemed even easy to him, and though clouds sometimes darkened his prospect, yet his faith failed not. It is true, the powers of darkness evidently exerted their mightiest efforts to shake his faith, to raise unbelieving doubts; but his God showed mercy. Sometimes he would lament his want of faithfulness, zeal, activity, and diligence, complaining thus, "O how little have I done for Christ, who hath done so much for me!" Many sentences fell from his mouth during these three days, evidencing a variety of exercises of mind, extremely suitable to one so near the kingdom of hea ven. On Wednesday he was so ill, that all around him despaired of his life, and thought his dissolution would be soon, as he himself also did, and observing his friends weeping, he said, "O live like Christians, live so as we may meet shortly in our Father's kingdom; as to me, mortality shall soon be swallowed up of life." When he heard a vast number of people were waiting in the next room, anxiously solicitous about his recovery, he desired to see them, that he might wish them farewell; to his friends and elders who were there, he stretched out his hands with his usual smile, and said, Farewell, farewell, I am going home to my Father's kingdom; this mortal shall put on immortality; O pray, watch unto prayer always, you know not what a powerful efficacy prayer hath, nor what good fruits may flow from it both to yourselves and me; pray for yourselves, and pray for me," To some Seceders, his neighbours, who came to see him with tears in their eyes, he spoke thus, Well, I am just lying waiting for my Lord's coming, I am fast going home;" and with a remarkable joy and serenity of mind, he said, "this mortal shall soon put on immortality, and this vile body, so full of corruption, shall shine with lustre like Christ's glorious body; O live like brethren, let your works justify your faith, and heartily unite in promoting the works of faith, holiness, and peace; Ithank you for all your kindness to me, the Lord reward your labours of love; pray for me, and I will pray for you as I can, farewell." He was much in the exercise of prayer this afternoon, complaining that for some time past, he wanted much the spirit of prayer, and often breathed out earnest desires for faith, love, and hope. At one time he was heard repeating these words, "who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases." He spoke a little, and then said, in a kind of soliloquy, "O my soul, hast thou faith to be healed?" to which he soon answered, "I doubt not." To one that came to see him, after a patient exhortation to seek God, and be instant in prayer; "Remember," said he, "I have given you some warnings as the Lord enabled me; O that they may impress the mind." One said, "how great, Sir, is your comfort! You, I hope, are now able to adopt the apostle's triumph, 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."" "Yes," said he, but faintly. On Thursday afternoon the violent pain returned; he was in distress, but in the midst of the greatest agony, he said calmly, "Well, if my Lord see it meet to put me to more pain, let him do his pleasure, I am pleased." To one who mentioned his great usefulness in the Church of Christ, and the glory that would of course be bestowed on him, as one who had been instrumental in turning many to righteousness, he said, with a kind of displeasure, "mention not that, we know not what kind of spirits we are of, many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? Why? to be seen of men." Next morning, the day on which he died, being a little easier, he called a friend to the bed-side, and pleasantly said, "Sit down, Sir, let us talk of the work of patience and hope; is it not surprising, that the light of another day has dawned upon me? I thought to have got away last night. God has just shown what he can do in a way of mercy. If I am spared a little longer it will truly be a wonderful deliverance;" then he fervently prayed, "Lord, if thou spare me, make me more diligent and zealous for thine honour, that I may declare the whole counsel of God, and be faithful to the consciences of sinners, let them think and say of me what they will." Then he earnestly prayed for the prosperity of Zion, that the Lord would yet appear in his glory; and for the gracious illuminations of the Holy Spirit, that his own soul might rejoice in hope. A little afterwards recollecting the kindness and affectionate regard shown him by so many friends and neighbours, the most of whom he mentioned in an affectionate aspiration of soul, he spoke thus, "Magnify the Lord, O my soul, and bless his name, that any body takes notice of me for Christ's sake, I am sure I have no personal worth." Soon after, calling for a draught of water, which refreshed him a little, he said pleasantly, It is beautiful to see the hand of God reaching us our provisions, a very cup of cold water. But O! how surprisingly delightful to see all coming streaming in the blood of the Lamb." 39 Mr Adams asked how he did? he said, "I am just lying like a ship-wrecked mariner upon a plank, ready to be swept over by every wave." To a lady who came to see him, he expressed himself thus, "O how much more happy in a cottage than a prince in a palace;" during this forenoon he complained of an excessive burning heat through his whole body, which made him uneasy, attended with an intense thirst, often calling for cooling drinks, which gave him but little relief, and occasioned the reflection that nothing but a draught of the well of the water of life could refresh a soul scorched Mr Adams was minister of Falkirk. |