OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD. felt very indignant at your touch yesterday, and was ready to make his escape;" they therefore requested me candidly to tell them if I had touched him or not. Had I answered in the affirmative, the Brahmans would forthwith have proceeded to a second consecration, which is always accompanied with a sumptuous dinner; and I should have had to pay the bill of fare. My reply was: "I shall not tell you; if the stone be a god, my touching him with a stick can have done him no harm; and if he be not, you deceive yourselves; accordingly, the sooner you throw him away the better for you, and then come and worship the true God with me." II. HINDU IDOL TEMPLES. The idol temples are, generally speaking, not such splendid edifices as our churches. Shiva's mundir, or temple, is a regular square building, surmounted by a dome or arched roof. The room in which the idol is placed, is not generally more than ten or twelve feet square. In villages, they are usually in the centre, or near the market-place, and they are surrounded by a few mango or tamarind trees, under the shade of which the natives sit down to smoke their hookahs, and converse on the events of the day. In large towns, and particularly in Benares, there are splendid masterpieces of architecture; I have particularly admired the sculptures in stone, covering the walls, most tastefully and elaborately executed; many of them representing historical pieces in their mythology. Nothing is so meritorious as the building of such a temple; all the blessings of Heaven are promised for it, especially when it is raised on the banks of the Ganges, or at Benares. In the latter city, there are nine hundred Shiva temples. Wealthy rajahs have endowed some of them in a munificent manner. Juggernath's temple, in Orissa, is said to possess an income of ten thousand pounds annually. III. HINDU IDOL WORSHIP. The ceremony of worship in the temple is this:At the time of sunrise, the officiating priest opens the door, and prostrates himself before the idol; he then takes Ganges water to wash the image; after this it is rubbed with ghee, or clarified butter; and when this ceremony of cleansing is performed, he repeats his muntrus, or forms of prayer, in a hurried, careless, undevout manner; flowers are strewn, and offerings of sweetmeats, fruits, and boiled rice, are placed before him, and the Brahman begs the idol to eat, and enjoy himself. Meanwhile, some Sudras are seen approaching; some prostrate themselves-others merely touch their foreheads in token of reverence, and walk away. When this senseless mummery is over, the priest puts the eatables together, shuts the door, and eats them for his breakfast. Being divine himself, he says his eating the offering is just the same as if the idol had enjoyed it; probably he thinks passes all into one pantheistical stomach. it So careful is he for the rest and comfort of his god, that he spreads a net over him during the hot season, lest he be bitten by musquitoes; in the cold weather, likewise, he dresses him with a shawl, to proteet him from the inclemency of the season. Sometimes, however, it happens that rats eat holes into he idols of clay and straw, and make nests in them. The idols in honour of Vishnu are laid down to sleep in the day, if the image be not too large-a poor compliment to a god, that he needs rest! If a priest want to be orthodox, he must spend at least four hours a-day in his religious ceremonies; but they are not generally very particular on this point, and get through them as fast as they can. Their conduct sometimes reminded me of the monks whom Luther 11 saw in the Church of St Peter at Rome. While engaged in their temple-service, they laugh, and joke, and gaze at every object passing in the street. 66 Anecdote. "OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD." THE founder of Philadelphia, William Penn, was completely armed with the spirit of the principleOvercome evil with good." When he visited America, he came without cannon or sword, and with a determination to meet the Indians with truth and kindness. He bought their land, and paid them; he made a treaty with them, and observed it; and he always treated them as men. As a specimen of the instance is very striking: There were some fertile manner in which he met the Indians, the following and excellent lands, which, in 1698, Penn ascertained were excluded from his first purchase; and as he was very desirous of obtaining them, he made the proposal to the Indians that he would buy those lands, if they were willing. They returned for answer, that they had no desire to sell the spot where their fathers were deposited; but to "please their father Onas," as they named Penn, they said that he should have some of the lands. This being decided, they concluded the bargain, that Penn might have as much land as a young man could travel round in one day, “‘beginning at the great river Cosquanco, now Kensington, and ending at the great river Kallapingo,' now Bristol;" and as an equivalent, they were to receive a certain amount of English goods. Though this plan of measuring the land was of their own selection, yet they were greatly dissatisfied with it, after it had been tried; "for the young Englishman chosen to walk off the tract of land, walked so fast and far, as to greatly astonish and mortify them. The governor observed this dissatisfaction, and asked the cause. 'The walker cheated us,' said the Indians. Ah! how can it be?" said Penn, did you not choose yourselves to have the land measured in this way?" "True," replied the Indians, but white brother make a big walk. Some of Penn's commissioners, waxing warm, said the bargain was a fair one, and insisted that the Indians ought to abide by it; and if not, should be compelled to it. Compelled,' exclaimed Penn, 'how can you compel them, without bloodshed? Don't you see this looks to murder? Then turning with a benignant smile to the Indians, he said: 'Well, brothers, if you have given us too much land for the goods first agreed on, how much more will satisfy you? This proposal gratfied them; and they mentioned the quantity of cloth and number of fish-hooks with which they would be satisfied. These were cheerfully given; and the Indians, shaking hands with Penn, went away smiling. After they were gone, the governor, looking round on his friends, exclaimed, O how sweet and cheap a thing is charity! Some of you spoke just now, of compelling these poor creatures to stick to their bargain that is, in plain English, to fight and kill them, and all about a little piece of land."" For this kind conduct, manifested in all his actions to the Indians, he was nobly rewarded. The untamed savage of the forest became the warm friend of the white stranger; towards Penn and his followers, they buried the war-hatchet, and ever evinced the strongest respect for them. And when the colony of Pennsylvania was pressed for provisions, and none could be obtained from other settlements and which scarcity arose from the increasing number of inhabitants not having time to raise the necessary food-the Indians cheerfully came forward, and assisted the colony by the fruits of their labours in hunting. Daily Bread. FRIDAY. "Lovest thou me ?"-JOHN xxi. 16. "Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought- Am I his, or am I not? Thou who art thy people's sun; Let me love thee more and more, Help me to begin to-day. They that love Christ, love to think of him, love to hear of him, love to read of him-love to speak of him, for him, to him. They love his presence, his yoke, his name. His will is their will-his dishonour is their affliction-his cause is their care-his people are their companions,-his day is their delight,-his Word is their guide, his glory is their end. They had rather ten thousand times suffer for Christ, than that he should suffer by them.-Mason. SATURDAY. "Grow in grace."-2 PET. iii. 18. How many years hast thou, my heart, Leafy, and fresh, and fair, Enjoying heavenly dews of grace, And sunny smiles from God's own face- Learn, O my soul, what God demands But fruit of heavenly hue; By this we prove that Christ we know, If in his holy steps we go Faith works by love, if true. It is some hope of goodness not to grow worse; it is part of badness not to grow better. I will take heed of quenching the spark, and strive to kindle a fire. If I have the goodness I should, it is not too much-why should I make it less? If I keep the goodness I have, it is not enough,-why do I not seek to make it more? He never was so good as he should be, that doth not strive to be better than he is; he never will be better than he is, that doth bear to be worse than he was.- Warwick. SABBATH. "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy."— EXOD. XX. 18. May I throughout this day of thine Be in thy Spirit, Lord; Spirit of humble fear divine, That trembles at thy Word; Spirit of faith, my heart to raise, And fix on things above; Spirit of sacrifice and praise, Of holiness and love. When a believer lays aside his pen or loom, brushes aside his worldly cares, leaving them behind him with his week-day clothes, and comes up to the house of God, it is like the morning of the resurrection-the day when we shall come out of great tribulation into the presence of God and the Lamb. When he sits under the preached Word, and hears the voice of the shepherd leading and feeding his soul, it reminds him of the day when the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed him and lead him to living fountains of waters. When he joins in the psalm of praise, it reminds him of the day when his hands shall strike the harp of God "Where congregations ne'er break up, When he retires, and meets with God in secret in his closet, or, like Isaac, in some favourite spot near "Cleanse thou me from secret faults."-Ps. xix, 12. Dear Lord! accept a sinful heart, Which of itself complains, And mourns, with much and frequent smart, The evil it contains. ⚫ There fiery seeds of anger lurk, Which often hurt my frame, And wait but for the tempter's work To fan them into flame. Oh! cleanse me in a Saviour's blood, And make me thy beloved abode, Is there, in the best, a strong proneness to sin? What cause have we, then, to long and breathe after heaven! for not till then shall we be free from it. Indwelling sin hath taken a lease of our souls, and holds them by our own lives: it will be in us to the last gasp, and as the heart is the last that dies, so also is that corruption that lodgeth in it. But yet die it must, and die it shall; and this is the comfort of a child of God, that though he brought sin with him into the world, yet he shall not carry it with him out of the world. As death came in by sin, so also shall sin itself be destroyed by death.-Hopkins. Edinburgh: Printed and Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, Hunter Square. London: R. GROOMERIDGE & SONS. Glasgow J. R. MNAIR & Co.; and to be had by order of all Booksellers throughout the Kingdom. THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY. 13 ON THE EQUITY AND BENIGNITY OF THE DIVINE LAW. Tuz object of the following remarks is to prove A law that is inconsistent with truth and right, that infringes the rights of any being, is not a holy law-it is an unjust law. A law the native tendency of which, is not to prevent or remove, but to create and increase misery, is not a holy law-it is a mischievous law; but a law which unites in it the character of righteousness and benignity, which is at once "just and good"—that is a "holy" or faultless law. That this is the character of the DIVINE law, is the proposition which I mean to demonstrate; and, in doing so, I do not at all feel as if I were undertaking an unnecessary work-wasting my labour, spending my strength for nought, in proving what no one denies; for though few will make the denial in so many words, the great body of mankind-all men, indeed, until they are taught of the Spirit-cherish doubts of the righteousness and benignity of the divine law; and, under the shelter of these doubts, try to shield themselves from the conviction that they are unprovoked and utterly inexcusable offenders in every instance in which they have violated that law, that every sin is equally foolish and wicked, and that it possesses both these qualities in a degree to which we can set no limits. Till these "refuges of lies" are entirely swept away-till the sinner's mouth is entirely stopped, and he is constrained to bring in himself guilty before God-till he is made to see that, in the quarrel between him and God, he has been uniformly and entirely in the wrong, and God uniformly and entirely in the right, he never will, he never can, be made to perceive the value and excellence of the Christian salvation, or gladly and gratefully to receive what is freely given him of God, but which can never be obtained in any other way-pardon, peace, holiness, hope-"the salvation which is in Christ with eternal glory." The law is a revelation of the will of God, for the regulation of man as an intelligent and active being, with this proviso, that if man refuse to regulate himself by this revelation, he exposes himself to such punishment as is adequate to the offence in the estimation of the Lawgiver. The law thus defined may be viewed in its PRINCIPLES, in its PRECEPTS, and 2. in its SANCTION; and it is my object to show, that in all these, however rebel man may attempt to persuade himself to the contrary, the law is "holy," faultless, excellent, being both JUST and GOOD." I. First, then, the PRINCIPLES of the law are just and good. The principles of the divine law are three; first, That the will of God should be man's rule; secondly, That if man violate this rule, he should be punished; and, thirdly, That the punishment should be such as appears to the Lawgiver adequate to the offence. Now, all these principles are just and good. Is it not just and right, that the will of the Being who is infinite in knowledge, in wisdom, and in moral excellence, should be the governing rule of all intelligent beings, especially as he is the Creator and they the creatures, entirely dependent on him for all they are and all they have? Is it not right, so far as HE is concerned? Does he not deserve this honour? And is it not right in reference to THEM? What right of their's does it invade? How can they have a right to govern themselves apart from, or in opposition to, his will? And is it not obviously as good as right? What can so directly tend to, what can so completely secure, the greatest possible happiness, as the execution of the will of Him whose nature as well as whose name is love? Just in the degree in which any will is concerned in the production of events, unregulated by, unsubjected to his will, must there be happiness prevented or misery induced. Then, is it not right that the violation of the righteous, benignant will of God, should be punished? Would it not shock all our ideas of right, that he who regards, and he who disregards the law and the Lawgiver, should stand on the same level? The justice of this principle is universally practically acknowledged; for all human laws are sanctioned by penalties. And is not this good as well as right? Is not the threatened punishment fitted to deter all from violating the law?-and is not the inflicted punishment fitted to furnish those who have not offended with an additional motive to keep the law, the breaking of which, they see, leads to such painful consequences! And, then, as to the third principle. Is it not right that the punishment should be appointed by God? He is the Supreme Sovereign, and, properly, too, a disinterested Person. His essential happiness and glory are not, cannot be, affected by the sin of man. He is infinite in wisdom, and knows exactly what is the degree and form of punishment which will best serve the great end in view-the exhibition of his own moral excellence in the order and happiness of intelligent being; and his essential March 7, 1845. benignity secures that no unnecessary suffering shall be produced. It is obviously good, too, as well as right, that this prerogative of sovereignty should belong to, and be exercised by, God. In what hands in the universe could such a power be safe but in his, whose infinite power is not only regulated by infinite wisdom, but by infinite righteousness; and in all its operations influenced by infinite benignity? That the fundamental principles of the divine law are just and good, is so evident, that it may seem to require an apology to have made even these few observations, for the purpose less of demonstrating the fact, than of showing that it needs no demonstration. II. I go on to remark, in the second place, that the PRECEPTS of the law are just and good. Now, what are the precepts of the divine law? They are very numerous, for the law is very broad, and reaches to every part of man's nature-regulating his opinions, his dispositions, his actions, in all the variety of relation and circumstances in which he can be placed. But numerous as are its requisitions, we have a complete summary of them in the following very comprehensive words: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and strength, and mind. This is the first and great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Now, are not both these commandments right? Would there not be an obvious violation of right if they were otherwise than they are? Is it not right to love, to love supremely, Him who is supremely lovely, who is infinitely kind-to fear supremely Him who is supremely venerable, possessed, as He is, of infinite power, wisdom, and righteousness-to trust entirely Him who is supremely trustworthy? And could He, with out injustice to himself, have demanded less of us? Would it not have been incongruous and monstrous for Him to have enjoined less than the love of the whole heart, and soul, and strength, and mind? And as to the second great commandment, which is like the first, is it not right also? Does not its rectitude stand out in strong relief, when we contemplate it in the form our great Master exhibited it: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them?" Would the law have been right if it had required anything else, anything less, than this? imperfection in obedience, there is a non-fulfilling of the law-that is, there is disobedience; and what kind of a law would that be which makes provision for being satisfied with disobedience? And as to the second, though it is not right for human laws to interfere with internal principles, for two reasons-that they cannot afford the means of obedience, and they cannot certainly discover disobedience, so as to punish it-yet, for the same reasons substantially, viz., that God can furnish the means of guiding the internal principles, and can discover when these means are honestly applied, it is right that the divine law should regulate conviction and dispositions, as well as actions. Indeed, it would not be right were not God, who is a Spirit, requiring worship in spirit and in truth. For HIM to be satisfied with mere external services would be obviously incongruity. That the preceptive part of the law of God is good, calculated to produce happiness, may be very easily made plain to the mind of every reflecting person. Yes, we may truly say, with regard to all the ordinances and commandments of the divine law: "The Lord hath commanded us to do all these statutes for our good always." To love, fear, and trust God in the manner the law requires, lays a deep foundation for true, permanent happiness. Without obeying these commands, man cannot be happy. In the degree in which he obeys them he is happy, and he makes others happy. Is it not evident, that to pay a strict regard to the laws of truth, justice, and benevolence, is the shortest road to happiness? Is not by far the greater part of the misery of man the direct effect of violating God's law? Are not all the commanded affections pleasurable? Are not all the forbidden, malignant passions, painful? Is not a benevolent man generally a happpy man? Is not a malignant man always a miserable one? Would the world have been happier had God permitted or enjoined gluttony and drunkenness, instead of temperance; and if, instead of checking natural appetite, had given it loose reins? Fleshly lusts war against the soul, and the body too, and the abstinence from them which the law of God requires, is necessary for the comfort of the life that now is, as well as to the happiness of that which is to come. entirely conformed to the law of God, would be as happy as it is possible to be out of heaven. There seems no gainsaying these statements. And what a delightful scene would society preYet there are two things in reference to the sent, if the laws of piety, truth, justice, and precoptive part of the divine law, that many benevolence, were universally practised! "Vioare disposed to think scarcely consistent with lence would no more be heard in our land, what is right-what is reasonable in the whole wasting nor destruction within our borders." circumstances of the case. The first is, the There would be universal, permanent peace demand of absolute perfection in the perfor- among nations, and mankind would attain to mance of every duty; the other, the extending a height of civilization, a measure of happiness, the preceptive part of the law to the inward which the most sanguine philosophical philanprinciple, as well as to the external actions.thropist has never dared to anticipate. But, with regard to the first, who does not see that for a law to permit imperfection, is to destroy itself? In the degree in which there is A man III. It only remains, now, that I endeavour shortly to show, thirdly, that the SANCTIONS of the law of God are just and good. The divine ON THE EQUITY AND BENIGNITY OF THE DIVINE LAW. 15 law is not a mere injunction of duty; it includes in it a provision that, if this injunction be neglected or disobeyed, the transgressor shall be visited with adequate punishment. This is ordinarily termed the penal sanction of the law. We have already seen, in our remarks on the first department of our subject, that it is just and right that the divine law should be thus sanctioned. My object at present is to show that the sanction adopted is a just and good one. The sanction of the law is stated in such passages of Scripture as these: "The soul that sinneth shall die;"-"The wages of sin is death;""Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law, to do them." And they who are finally condemned for disobedience, are doomed to the "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; and are said to "go away into everlasting punishment." Every sinner exposes himself to the displeasure of God, to be manifested in the manner which seems fit to his wisdom and justice; and, unless pardon is obtained "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," this displeasure will continue to be manifested during the whole eternity of the transgressor's being. Doubts have often been thrown out as to the justice and goodness of this arrangement; and, on this ground, some have been rash enough to call in question, and even to deny, a doctrine very clearly stated in Holy Writ-the eternity of future punishment. With what justice such doubts are cherished will appear from the following remarks:-Few will deny that sin deserves punishment; and as to the degree in which sin is to be punished, assuredly the sinner is not the most qualified judge. Sin-any sin, every sin--includes in it an amount of moral evil, and, therefore, of criminal desert, which no human mind can fully estimate. There is in it unnatural conduct towards a father-ingratitude towards a benefactor rebellious conduct towards a sovereign; and all these heightened inconceivably by the infinite excellence and the innumerable and inappreciable benefits of Him who wears all these characters. He who reflects on this will be cautious how he asserts that sin cannot deserve unending punishment. It is also worthy of his consideration, how far suffering can remove blameworthiness; and he would do well to ask himself if the statement does not seem agreeable to right and reason, that while just desert of punishment remains, there can be no injustice in inflicting the deserved punishment? When a sinner can stand up before the Eternal Judge and say, I have suffered so much and so long, that I am become perfectly innocent, he may, on the ground of justice, plead that his sufferings should terminate; but not till then. Besides, there is reason to believe that the finally condemned * Smalley. will continue for ever to sin; and, on that ground, it must be just that they should for ever continue to suffer. The goodness of the penal sanction of the divine law may seem less susceptible of satisfactory proof than its justice. Yet we believe it to be capable of being shown, beyond the possibility of rational contradiction, that this awful appointment is not only consistent with, but illustrative of, the divine benignity; not, certainly, of his permanent benignant regards to those who have abused so much goodness, and drawn from the reluctant hand of Jehovah the thunderbolts of his wrath-all proofs of love to them (and they were neither few nor small) are past-but of his benignant regards to the great body of intelligent moral beings in the universe. In punishing irreclaimable offenders, a wise and benevolent government discovers its benignant regards to its subjects generally; not to punish such offenders adequately would, in a variety of ways, be injustice and unkindness to their fellow-subjects. The manifestation of the true character of the Supreme Legislator and Judge of all worlds, is the ultimate end of the universe; and it is the grand means, too, of securing the order, and holiness, and happiness, of the intelligent part of it. This manifestation is made by appropriate works. By works indicative of design, he shows his wisdom; by deeds of power, he shows his omnipotence; by wonderful works of kindness, he shows his benignity; by awful judg ments on the workers of iniquity, he manifests his holiness and righteousness. All these works are intended, and fitted to produce in the minds of intelligent beings, such impressions of the all-perfect character of Jehovah, as go to form, in rational beings, that character which is necessary to their permanent happiness. That man gives clearer evidence of arrogance than of penetration, who, after reflecting on these statements, denies that the penal sanction of the law is not only consistent with, but illustrative of, benignity as well as righteousness. The effect which such a manifestation of the holiness and righteousness of God is calculated to produce on holy intelligences, is strikingly illustrated in the Apocalypse, where the smoke from the ruins of the mystical Babylon, rising up for ever and ever, is represented as giving new energy to "that undisturbed song of pure concert, aye sung before the sapphirecoloured throne, to Him who sits thereon, with saintly shout and solemn jubilee."* "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and Milton. |