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2. The precarious and fluctuating nature of our present condition also recommends this tender fellow-feeling. None are altogether exempted from weeping; none are assured that they shall always rejoice. This world is a field of battle, where the din of arms, the cries of the wounded, the groans of the dying, the lamentations of the vanquished, and the shouts of the victorious, are heard confusedly to circulate through every quarter. In this field we are all combatants, and must alternately experience the joys of victory and conquest, and the sorrows of defeat and captivity. If, then, we insult and tyrannise over our prisoners, can we expect their soothing sympathy and commiseration, when the vicissitudes of war have reduced us to similar circumstances? May not they, when victorious, be equally unfeeling, hardhearted, and cruel? If we are envious and discontented at the success of other conquerors, can we expect that they will congratulate us on our conquests, and delight in our triumph? The man who has no fellowship with others in their grief and gladness, must himself weep and rejoice in solitude.

Lastly, Every part of our holy religion recommends and enforces this fellow-feeling with mankind and with the household of faith. It abounds with such exhortations as these: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evilspeaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." All its doctrines have the same natural tendency. They level every distinction-represent all men as involved in the same guilt offer them the same all-sufficient grace-demolish pride, and jealousy, and hatred, and lay the foundations of humility, harmony, and love.

"A new commandment," says Jesus, "I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." All the privileges which the Gospel at present confers, all the precious promises it contains, and all the hopes it inspires, concur in promoting the same desirable end. The most perfect equality prevails among believers. They have all their spiritual concerns in common: one Father, one Redeemer, one Sanctifier; one salvation; the same ordinances, the same promises of supernatural influences; the Word of God in their hands; the power of God, and the throne of grace, open for their reception; a common paradise, as their eternal inheritance. What indissoluble bonds of fellowship, both in grief and gladness, are here furnished! What true believer will not be solicitous to preserve them inviolate!

Are we then really men endued with social affections? Are we all exposed to the same vicissitudes of joy and sorrow? Are we truly Christians bound by authority the most supreme, principles the most sacred, privileges the most important, prospects the most animating, to cultivate a generous fellow-feeling with all our breth

ren, and shall we resist the concurrence of so many powerful motives? Shall our hearts remain frozen with selfishness, and never glow with joy for the prosperous, and sympathy for the afflicted? Preserve us, O God, ever from becoming so great a reproach to religion, a nuisance to society, and curse to ourselves! Enable us, indeed, to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to weep with them that weep! Amen.

THE AGE OF THE EARTH.

BY THE REV. WILLIAM PATRICK.

PART II.

IN attempting to arrive at the age of the world through the science of geology, we will have recourse to the examination of some of those natural chronometers mentioned by De Luc, Cuvier, and other distinguished philosophers, who have devoted themselves to the subject with a laudable and indomitable assiduity, and have accumulated together a mass of facts, which have not yet been controverted, and which cannot be overcome. But the reader will naturally ask what am I to understand by these natural chronometers of which you speak,-in what do they consist? To this question I answer, that every natural object upon our continents is a chronometer, and that every object liable to undergo a change, or to be altered from the condition in which it originally was, in consequence of the action of physical and mechanical causes, and which is capable of measurement, is a sort of time-piece, by which the age of the continents, of which it forms a prominent part, may be ascertained. Of this description is the collection of vegetable earth produced by the decomposition of plants on uncultivated soils,the natural history of peat-mosses,-the extension of snow and ice on high mountains,-the accumulations of fallen materials under the abrupt sides of mountains, and at the foot of steep coasts, the reduction of cliffs into grassy slopes, alluvial lands formed by rivers along their courses, and maritime new lands, as on the coast of Holland and elsewhere. Here we see changes constantly going forward, we see their progress, and we can calculate their amount; and the result is, that instead of these natural operations having steadily advanced for a million or ten thousand millions of years, it is very difficult to claim for them an antiquity equal to that assigned to them by Moses. Take, for example, the tumuli or burial-places of the first inhabitants of our continents; compare the quantity of vegetable earth with which myriads of these are now covered in the continents of Asia, Europe, and America, with the vegetable covering of the steppes or wastes around them, and supposing that vegetable decomposition proceeds in both instances according to the same law, we shall find that the proportion between the age of the tumuli, and of the extensive plains around them, which are still in a state of nature, is less than could have been anticipated. Now, if the tumulus were only three thousand years old, and the plain on which it stands many millions, would not the vegetable mould which covers the one, be in the same ratio or proportion thicker than the corresponding coating of vegetable crust which covers the other? tion resolves itself into the rule of proportion; and if we test it by that rule, it can be demonstrated that our present continents cannot be older than the date as

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signed them by Moses. Take our peat-bogs as another

chronometer. Some of these are of vast extent, and cover immense districts of country; but probably few of them can be traced farther back than two or three thousand years. The age of many of these mosses has

The remarks of M. de Saussure on this subject, in reference to the Glacier des Bois, in the valley of Chamouni, are extremely important, and may be considered as of general application in all similar cases. "The blocks of stone with which the bottom of the

been ascertained by the property they possess of preserving entire the organized bodies deposited in them. In some of the most extensive accumulations of peatearth known to exist, we also find ancient implements of labour, warlike instruments, and Roman coins, and that not in the middle or bottom of the mosses them-glacier is loaded, lead," he says, "to an important selves, but in casting trenches in the subsoil on which they rest, showing that there could have been no moss there at the date when the coins were deposited. De Luc mentions a very striking example to that effect, to which the reader is referred. Now, had the earth been as old as some pretend, could such things have been? If two thousand years can cover vast plains, and overtop extensive dones and hillocks of sand with peatearth, what would the same principle in nature (if it had been in operation for a hundred millions of years) not have accomplished? Some districts in Europe would, by this time, have been changed from plains to solid mountains of peat. A striking example, proving the rapid growth of moss, is mentioned by Mr R. C. Taylor in his interesting geological dissertation on the eastern part of Norfolk. Speaking of the Roman causeway, supposed to have been made by the Emperor Severus, which extended from Denver to Peterborough, across the fens of Cambridgeshire, he says, "It was composed of gravel three feet deep and sixty feet broad, but is now covered with moor-peat from three to five feet in thickness." Now, if a period of little more than sixteen centuries is sufficient to increase the surface of these moorlands at the rate of,-say four feet, (or one-fourth of a foot per century,)-in one hundred thousand years, if the world were as old, there would be an increased elevation of surface equal to two hundred and fifty feet. Similar data are supplied in the case of the ancient anchors, in the Gariensis, for measuring the extent of the duration of that proDe Saussure has also found an equally striking chronometer in the glaciers, and icy accumulations of frost and snow upon the summits of the Alps. In these elevated Alpine solitudes a process is now going forward, which has its foundation in the partial melting of the snows, and the recongelation of the liberated water into ice, which in the course of ages accumulates, and forms the mighty glaciers, and extensive fields and mountains of frozen matter, which, like the icebergs of the Arctic regions, are continually increasing in number and magnitude, and are the "tyrant lords" of these wild and inhospitable regions. If these masses of ice had arrived at their maximum, or greatest magnitude, it is evident they could afford us no insight or indication respecting the time of their commencement, and consequently respecting their cause; but if they are still sensibly increasing, it is evident that the same process could not have been going on for ever, or even for any considerable lapse of ages; and for this plain reason, that it would long ago have been completed, and would not be in a rapid state of progress as at present; and this formative process must have been the less ancient in proportion to the greater acceleration of the progress which the ice is observed to have made.

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Now we are assured that the extent of these ice-fields so sensibly increases, that the life of a man, a chamois-hunter for example, is sufficient for him to observe the progress of it, insomuch that generations transmit from one to another the dates when certain spots began to be covered with permanent ice, and when certain passages existing before were obstructed by its progress. This circumstance," says De Luc, "will not permit us to carry its origin back to a very remote epoch." Before we quit this subject of the ice, we may also remark, that there often fall upon the upper parts of these frozen masses, blocks of granite, detached from the surrounding rocks; and these blocks, being carried down by the ice, at length arrive with it in the valley below, where they are left as it melts.

reflection. When we consider their number, and come to think that they are deposited at this extremity of the glacier in proportion as the ice melts, we are astonished that there is not a more considerable heap: and this observation, which agrees with many others which I will report in succession, induces me to believe, with M. De Luc, that the present state of the globe is not so ancient as some philosophers have supposed it to be." (Voyages dans les Alpes, Sect. 625.) But to enter into a full detail of all the evidences which geology affords of the recent date of the present surface of the earth, would lead far beyond the limits of the present essay. I shall, therefore, only mention one or two farther examples. It is remarked by the Rev. Joseph Townsend, that the great lakes exhibit accretions at the entrance of rivers into them, similar to deltas at the mouths of those which discharge themselves into the sea. "Thus," he says, "it is in the lake of Geneva, as particularly noticed by various philosophers. This forms an excellent chronometer. For had our continents existed myriads of ages before the period assigned by Moses, the lake of Geneva had been long since filled with the sediments of its waters, and had become an extensive plain; because not an atom of its sediment either escapes out of the lake, or is deposited at any considerable distance from its entrance into it. The Rhone, at its departure from Geneva, having deposited all its impurities, is perfectly limpid, and although thirty feet deep, does not appear to have the depth of thirty inches.' The history of deposits of this kind has been admirably illustrated in M. Cuvier's Theory of the Earth.' The proofs he advances to show that the period at which they began to be formed cannot have been exceedingly remote, perhaps not farther back than the era of the deluge, are so decisive, and by the excellent notes and commentaries of Professor Jamieson, so plainly and so satisfactorily explained, nay, even demonstrated, that the comparatively recent birth of our present continents may now be said to be all but universally acknowledged. Take, for example, the recent deposits of the river Po in Italy, which in a few centuries have been so considerable, as to raise the present bed of the river to a level which completely overtops the roofs of the houses in the city of Ferrara. The ancient city of Adria was originally a sea-port of the Adriatic, but it is now twenty miles from the shore. In the twelfth century, Adria was about six miles from the shore, the Po having added fourteen miles of alluvial soil since that period. venna and Spina were also built on the sea shore, but at the present time the first is four, and the last ten or twelve miles from the water. The deposits at the mouths of the Ganges are accumulating to an enormous extent, and also at the mouths of the Nile. The celebrated delta of the latter of these famous rivers is the residue of alluvial materials continually brought down by its waters. The sands are also accumulating around that part of the coast in rapid succession, and to an

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enormous amount.

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The site of the ancient city of Alexandria is no longer on the sea shore. The lake of Mareotis, which once communicated with the Mediterranean, forming the tongue of the Egyptian sea, is now an inland insulated body of water far from the sea: and according to all appearances, the mouths of the Nile itself will soon be overwhelmed, and totally filled up with the encroaching and insidious approach of the sands of the desert. Thus fulfilling the prediction of Isaiah the prophet: "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his

part to render a return of gratitude on account of bene fits both important and most seasonable, conferred upon us by your country and your Church, in very troublous times. The vigorous aid which you gave towards carrying forward the work of reformation in these lands, to which we were once and again pledged by solemn covenant, by supplying our temporal need, and ministering to the revival of our souls; your zeal, constancy, and faithfulness in asserting the sacred truth of Jesus, and warning all men to beware of the impious devices of those who shamelessly belied his name; your kind and hospitable entertainment of many of the servants of our God, who found a refuge from oppression and cruelty at home, in your asylum of freedom and of peace; these, and many other such tokens of your good disposition towards us in times past, greatly urge us to

mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, | and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. And there shall be an high way for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." M. Denon, in his Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt,' gives still farther proofs of the almost daily and hourly fulfilment of this prediction, though it was not with any such view that he wrote. "The sands of Lybia," he says, "driven by the west winds, have left no lands capable of tillage on any parts of the western banks of the Nile not sheltered by the mountains." The encroachment of these sands upon districts which were formerly inhabited and cultivated, are evidently seen. The summits of the ruins of ancient cities, buried under these sands, still appear externally. "Nothing can be more melancholy," says Denon," than to walk over villages swallowed up by the sand of the desert, to trample under foot their roofs, to strike against the summits of their minarets, to reflect that yonder were cultivated fields, that here were even the dwellings of men, and that all have vanished." Now if we fix our attention on this fact, and reflect on the consequences which would have attended it, if thousands, or only some hundreds of centuries had elapsed since the existence of our present continents, does it not evidently appear that all the country on the west of the Nile would have been buried under this sand before the erection of the cities of ancient Egypt, how remote soever that period may be supposed, and that in a country so long afflicted with sterility, no idea would ever have been formed of constructing such vast and numerous edifices? When these cities, indeed, were built, another cause concurred in favouring their prosperity. The navigation of the Reded, in the purpose and providence of God, to enter into Sea was not then attended with any danger. At present, however, all its ports are nearly blocked up with reefs of coral, where vessels formerly had a safe and easy access. The vessels laden with merchandise and provisions could then enter them, and depart without risk of being wrecked on these shoals which have risen since that time, and are still increasing in extent: so that if the Red Sea were some millions of years old, it would long since have been filled up. Thus the reefs

of coral which have been raised in the Red Sea on the east of Egypt, the sands of the desert which encircle it on the west, and at the mouths of the Nile, give a fearful force to the words of Isaiah; and are of themselves a sufficient proof that our continents are not of a more remote antiquity than has been assigned to them by the sacred historian in the book of Genesis.

the renewal and confirmation of our old and close alli-
ance of mutual brotherhood. Nor are there wanting
reasons now, in our present relations with one another,
such as should make us desirous of cultivating your
fellowship. The ministers of our Scottish Church,
whose seats and the fields of whose assiduous labour
are among you, constitute a bond of friendship of the
most intimate kind, inasmuch as our desire and yours
also equally must be, that in all things they may be
fellow-workers with you, in advancing the cause of the
kingdom of God, and the eternal salvation of the souls
of men.
And in reference to those foreign and distant
colonies, where, in many instances, we have been call-

your labours, we deem it of the utmost consequence that there should exist between us a good understanding and happy agreement, the fullest sympathy in all good things, sentiments, in fine, of the fullest mutual confidence. Moved by such considerations, as well as by a just and strong regard for the universal communion of the body of Christ, we have resolved to address to you this letter, for the purpose of opening up a friendly, pious, and brotherly communication between us; and our hearts' desire and prayer is, that grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, may be with you.

We most gladly extend to you the right hand of fellowship as to a Church holding in its standards a form of sound words, admirably agreeing with our own, in

LETTER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO respect of doctrine, discipline, worship, and govern

THE DUTCH CHURCH IN 1838.

And

VERY Reverend and Dear Brethren in the Lord,-In the times of the holy Apostles, the Churches of Christ, in different countries of the world, were accustomed to comfort, refresh, and edify one another, as well by mutual greetings and exhortations, as by friendly and brotherly counsel and communion, on matters affecting the common cause of their Lord and Saviour. Nor in later days has that practice gone out of use. especially after the memorable and glorious era in which the worship of God and the institutions of our common religion were so auspiciously and happily reformed and restored, it tended much to knit together, in the bonds of a pure faith and holy love, those every where who were called out of the world to bear fearless testimony against most cruel tyranny and foul error. We call to memory the friendly intercourse which was of old between your fathers and ours, when it was our

ment.

We hold it to be indispensably necessary, if we would secure the favour and blessing of the Great Head of the Church on our measures and our councils, that we witness a good confession before all men; that we maintain pure and uncompromised the truth as it is in Jesus; that we continue stedfastly and strictly in all things that are laid down in his infallible Word, for the regulation of all our affairs in life. At the same time, we are not less thoroughly persuaded, that the soundness of our faith, however accurately set forth in our public confessions, will in itself be of little avail, unless all our pastors and teachers individually adopt both its letter and its spirit, and live and act always under its divine influence. The doctrine of the Gospel-the supreme divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christhis existence from all eternity as the Son of God-his manifestation and advent in the flesh-the pure, sinless, and immaculate holiness of his human nature, in and from his very birth-his perfect obedience and fulfil

ment of the law in the room of sinners-his death, as a propitiation for the sins of the world-his ministry and intercession, as our High Priest in the Heavensand his second coming in great glory to judge the world; -the grace of God the Father, altogether free and sovereign-electing, in his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, unto everlasting life, such as shall be saved and according to his good pleasure also, when and how it scemeth good unto him, calling them, justifying them, glorifying them; the work of the Holy Ghost, the third person in the ever blessed Trinity, convincing those elected by the Father, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment-converting, renewing, sanctifying them; -the original guilt and entire depravity of man's nature since the fall of Adam;-the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the sight of God;-the way of sinners finding acceptance with the most righteous God, not by any❘ works of their own, but solely by his free, gratuitous mercy, through the righteousness of Christ, imputed to them, and received by faith alone; the necessity of regeneration, and the obligation upon all to follow holiness, even as God is holy. This glorious and gracious doctrine we hold it by no means enough that any Church has recognized and professed in its public standards; what we ever desire and seek is, that every one of its ministers, individually, shall receive it for himself, with his whole heart and mind, cherish and embrace it as one who believes, and therefore speaks. Our constant prayer, therefore, at the throne of God, for you, for ourselves, for all the Churches, is, that every leaven of infidelity and unsoundness may be purged away; that whatsoever is dark may be enlightened, and whatsoever is dead or dying may be revived; and that the ancient and unsullied purity of the Reformed faith may more and more every where prevail.

We maintain it to be a most sacred duty of all rulers, as ministers of God for good, to respect and recognize, in all their acts and councils, the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom kings reign and princes decree justice; and to make provision for supplying the external means of grace to all the people under their rule and authority. And we consider that the Church of Christ is bound, without sacrifice of its own independent rights and liberties, to accept of whatever countenance and support the State may give; and to employ most conscientiously the increased facilities thus afforded, for the

temporal and eternal benefit of the community. But while we thus endeavour always strenuously to testify that allegiance and obedience are due to Christ on the part of all States, and that every body politic, as well as every individual man, is bound to be on his side, to honour his name and advance his cause; on the other hand, we feel persuaded that we are commanded and required, by the same authority, to protest with all constancy and perseverance, and to contend against any usurpation, whether by civil or by ecclesiastical power, of authority over the consciences of men. When any State receives into union with itself any branch of the true Church of Christ, and bestows upon it protection and assistance, we are so far from regarding that com

pact as likely to diminish or endanger the liberty of

those who differ from it, that we consider such an alliance, if it be based on right principles, to be the very best security of that liberty; inasmuch as by it,

the rights of conscience are most surely and effectually preserved to all, when to all the equal privilege is left of worshipping God after their own fashion, each under his own vine and his own fig-tree. We protest, therefore, most solemnly, as our fathers often at the utmost hazard of their lives protested, against intolerance and persecution of every kind on account of religionagainst all proceedings and plans whose object is to impose restraints, or pains, or penalties, on men, for conscience' sake: or in any other way to coerce or constrain their sentiments concerning the truth of God. And deep, indeed, would be our regret, if we were compelled to believe that any Church of Christ, in these our days, especially one which once itself contended nobly against the cruelty of those who sought to vex the Church of God, by the yoke of an unjust servitude, and which sheltered in its bosom many exiles from their own lands, victims of that unrelent ing tyranny, had either sanctioned or silently suffered the adoption of oppressive and vexatious measures against any of the followers of the Lamb of God, or any severities exercised against any who worship the one true God, and preach the Gospel of our Lord, the only hope and Saviour of sinners.

We profess ourselves, dear brethren, to be very destitute of certain and exact information regarding many things that are going on among you. Such information we greatly desire to have supplied, that we may with greater earnestness and solicitude bear your state upon our hearts at the throne of grace. We assume no prerogative, no right of pronouncing judg ment on your affairs. But we desire faithfully and affectionately to set before you those sentiments which, as an allied Church of the living God, we have deeply fixed in our minds. To his grace we heartily commend you, supplicating in your behalf, that in all the dangers and difficulties which may press upon you, you may be guided by the help of the only wise God, to such measures as He himself may crown with a happy issue, to the glory of his own name, and the establishment of the security, the liberty, the unity, the purity-in fine, the peace and felicity of that Church which his only begotten Son has redeemed with his

own blood.

CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

The Re-union of Saints in Heaven.-If the mere conception of the re-union of good men in a future state, infused a momentary rapture in the mind of Tully; if an airy speculation, for there is reason to fear it had little hold on his convictions, could inspire him with such delight, what may we be expected to feel, who are assured of such an event by the true sayings of God! How should we rejoice in the prospect, the certainty rather, of spending a blissful eternity with those whom we loved on earth; of seeing them emerge from the ruins of the tomb, and the deeper ruins of the fall, not only uninjured, but refined and perfected; "with every tear wiped from their eyes," standing before the throne of God and the Lamb, "in white robes, and palms in their hands, crying with a loud voice, Salvation to God, that sitteth upon the

throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever!" What delight will it afford, to renew the sweet counsel we have taken together; to recount the toils of combat, and the labour of the way; and to approach, not the house, but the throne of God, in company, in order to

join in the symphonies of heavenly voices, and lose
ourselves amidst the splendours and fruitions of the
beatific vision! To that state all the pious on earth
are tending; and if there is a law, from whose opera-
tion none are exempt, which irresistibly conveys their
bodies to darkness and to dust, there is another, not
less certain or less powerful, which conducts their spi-
rits to the abodes of bliss, to the bosom of their Father
and their God. The wheels of nature are not made
to roll backward; every thing presses on towards eter-
nity; from the birth of time, an impetuous current has
set in, which bears all the sons of men towards that
interminable ocean. Meanwhile, heaven is attracting
to itself whatever is congenial to its nature; is enrich-
ing itself by the spoils of earth, and collecting within
its capacious bosom whatever is pure, permanent, and
divine; leaving nothing for the last fire to consume,
but the objects and the slaves of concupiscence; while
every thing which grace has prepared and beautified,
shall be gathered and selected from the ruins of the
world, to adorn that eternal city," which hath no need
of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the
glory of God doth enlighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof." Let us obey the voice that calls us
thither; let us "seek the things that are above," and
no longer cleave to a world which must shortly
perish, and which we must shortly quit, while we ne-
glect to prepare for that in which we are invited to
dwell for ever.
Let us follow in the track of those
holy men, who have taught us by their voice, and en-
couraged us by their example, " that, laying aside every
weight, and the sin that most easily besets us, we may
run with patience the race that is set before us." While
every thing within us and around us reminds us of the
approach of death, and concurs to teach us that this is
not our rest, let us hasten our preparations for another
world, and earnestly implore that grace, which alone
can put an end to that fatal war which our desires have
too long waged with our destiny. When these move
in the same direction, and that which the will of hea-
ven renders unavoidable shall become our choice, all

things will be ours; life will be divested of its vanity,
and death of its terrors. Rev. ROBERT HALL. (Ser-
mon on Dr Ryland's Death.
The slow progress of Christianity a recommendation
of it. However much we deplore the circumstance,
we need scarcely wonder at the slow progress which
the Gospel has made among men. Its slow progress,
indeed, has been much dwelt upon by objectors;
those who are unfriendly to its divine origin having
often asked, with a smile of malignant triumph, why a
religion, given by authority of God, should be so very
tardy in its advances over the earth? One cause, how-
ever, is plainly a recommendation of Christianity. It
is received with difficulty, and why? Its principles are
pure, and the multitudes to whom it is sent are corrupt.
It is opposed by sinners, because it will yield no coun-
tenance to their sins. A covetous man cannot endure

rest assured, never would have been resisted by the world. This would have gained partizans. Whole continents of devotees would soon have yielded their assent to this dominion. The experiment, in fact, has been made, and the success of Mahometanism was owing, among other causes, to the indulgences which it gave to the revenge, and brutality, and lust of our fallen nature.-REV. DR MUIR. (Discourses on Jude.)

The Mystery of Death.-In this sceptical age, which questions almost every thing, it is still owned as certain, that all men must die. If there were any place for disputing this, there are not a few, who would spare no pains to bring themselves into the disbelief of a truth that gives them so much disturbance in the courses they love and seem resolved to follow. But the case is so clear, and the evidence of this principle so pregnant, which is every day confirmed by new experiments, that the most resolved infidel is forced, when it comes in his way, though unwilling, to give his assent, and moan out an Amen. "The grave is the house appointed for all the living." Some arrive sooner, some later; but all come there at length. The obscurity of the meanest cannot hide him, nor the power of the greatest screen him from the impartial hand of death, the executioner of fate, if I may be allowed the use of a word so much abused. As its coming is placed beyond doubt, so its aspect is hideous beyond the reach of thought, the force of expression, or the utmost efforts of the finest pencil in the most artful hand. It, in a moment, dashes down a fabric, which has more of curious contrivance than all the celebrated pieces put together, which the most refined human wits have invented, even when carried to the greatest height, which the improvements of so many subsequent generations, after the utmost of application and diligence, could bring them to. It puts a stop to many thousand motions, which, though strangely diversified, did all concur, with wonderful exactness, to maintain and carry on the design and intendment of the glorious and divine Artificer. How this divine and wonderful ma

chine was first erected, set a-going, and has for so long a tract of time regularly performed all its motions, could never yet be understood by the most elevated understandings. "Canst thou tell how the bones grow in the womb of her that is with child?" is a challenge to all the sons of art, to unfold the mystery. Many have accepted it, but all have been foiled. Something they could say; but, in spite of it all, the thing they found a mystery, they left so still. How can one then look on the dissolution of so admirable a contrivance, a machine so curious, and so far surpassing human art, without the deepest and most sensible regret! It untwists that mysterious tie, whereby soul and body were so fast linked together, breaks up that intimate and close correspondence, that entire sympathy which was founded thereon, dislodges an old inhabitant, and while it lingers, being unwilling to remove, death pulls that it, because of its announcing to him the necessity of his curious fabric, wherein it dwelt, down about its ears, and so forces it thence, to take up its lodgings, it can parting with every earthly treasure, rather than run scarce tell where. And upon its removal, that curious the hazard of losing the heavenly pearl of great price. fabric, that a little before was full of life, activity, viA selfish man is adverse to it, because of its leading precept of self-denial. A proud man revolts at it, be- gour, order, warmth, and every thing else that is pleacause of its inculcations of humility. A sensualist and sant, is now left a dead, inactive cold lump, or disordered mass of loathsome matter, full of stench and corruption. debauchee, because of the holiness, the essential purity that belongs to it. But what is the great mass of Now the body is a spectacle so hideous, that they who mankind, but a compound of covetousness and selfish-loved and who embraced it before, cannot abide the ness, and pride and sensuality. To have formed a system, therefore, which, by corresponding with their ruling desires, might have gained ready access among them, it must have been a loose system of rule and manners, such as would have left the rein easy and light upon the neck of natural desires and passions. No stern morality, no unbending principles of self-mortification, no righteous discipline in it! And this, you may

sight or smell of it, but shut it up in a coffin; and not content with that, away they carry it, and lodge it amongst worms, and the vilest insects, in the bowels of the earth, to be consumed, devoured, torn, and rent by the most abominable vermin that lodge in the grave.HALYBURTON. (Natural Religion Insufficient.)

Self-will.-Self-will is the greatest idol in the world, It is an Antichrist, it is an Antigod.-OLD AUTHOR.

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