BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH-REV. DR BALMER. The part he ensued he did not live to see. took in them was invariably distinguished by that spirit of meekness and humility which ever characterized him-which, now that he is gone, those who opposed him are forward as any to acknowledge and honour. Having attended the meeting of Synod in May 1844, and having taken a part in its exciting, but to him uncongenial controversies, he returned home in the beginning of June, and died as the month had closed. The following account of his latter days is from the pen of Dr Brown:- "On Thursday the 27th June, he began seriously to anticipate as all but certain a fatal issue to his illness. To a friend who saw him on the afternoon of that day, he said, evidently meaning to be understood, that he felt that he had not long to live. Few have had a happier life than I have had, upon the whole; and though, looking back, I see much cause for humility, many errors, and much imperfection in my conduct, both in public and private life, yet I must say I have had great pleasure and satisfaction in my labours.' On his friend, who did not like to hear him speak in so leave-taking a strain, for which he was quite unprepared, stopping him here with an expression of confidence that, from the strength of his constitution, he would soon rise superior to this attack, and be restored to his usual labours, Dr Balmer replied: Well, it may be so, I am in good hands in good hands; I only wish it to be understood that the same truths I have preached to others are now the grounds of my confidence and peace.' 66 During the night of Friday the 28th, his extreme pain showed itself by frequent distortions of the countenance, and Mrs Balmer was induced to ask if all was peace and comfort within. He replied, with great animation: Cheerful, cheerful. Don't think I suffer so much. Many have suffered more who have deserved it less.' very "On the morning of Saturday the 29th, he expressed a desire to see the two daughters of intimate friends belonging to the congregation; and on their coming to his bed-side, he looked at them with a most benignant smile, and said: "I am glad to see you, my dears-you are the children of many prayers of many prayers; but that will not avail you unless you pray for yourselves. Read your Bible You see me here a poor often, and pray much. stricken man; but I'm in perfect peace. I found that "He sent the following message to a young man in 201 elders of the congregation, had been long labouring of him.' "On Saturday night, he said to his wife: Don't think I have to settle my accounts with God now: that was done long ago;' adding with animation, When she could not help showing her long ago." deep anguish in the prospect of soon parting with You will be him, he said, with great confidence and elevation of spirit: 'I have no fears about you. provided for--you will be provided for. Thy Maker is thy husband. You will have a better husband than ever I have been.' "A little after, he said: 'I have prayed first for you, then for my afflicted brother, then for my sister and her family, and then for my dear congregation, that the Lord would give them a pastor in his own time. But there are two things they must attend to; first, let them implore divine direction earnestly; and second, let them not make haste-let them look well about them, and avoid rashness.' The interests of his people, individually, and as a body, lay much upon his heart. He often spoke of them, and dwelt with delight on the evidence they had given him of their esteem and affection, and the comfort he had had in the midst of them. "On Sabbath morning he desired Mrs Balmer to read to him the 103d Psalm. After listening to it he Bless the Lord, O my said: "That's my psalm now. the afternoon said: This has been no day of rest to soul, and forget not all his benefits." Mrs Balmer in you.' He replied: "O but it has. No rest, indeed, for my poor body, but great rest to my mind.' Towards evening he said: If I could, I would accelerate rather than retard the issue, rather than suffer may mourn, may moan, but this torture; but instantly added: Not my will, but thine be done. I never murmur-no, not for a moment." A few hours before death, when suffering a severe paroxysm of pain, he said: This is awful. I could almost say with Job: O that God would let loose his hand, and cut me off; but that would be wrong. I trust "Not many hours before his death, a friend had that I am resigned-that I am not impatient." repeated that passage: Fear not, for I am with thee,' &c., and part of the hymn, Jesus, lover of P (naming a young lady, the wife of a my soul. After listening, he said: 'I am like Mrs respected brother in the ministry, who had been passages of Scripture best which contain short prayers suddenly taken away) when dying. I like those 'Lord remember me when thou -short prayers. comest to thy kingdom.' 'God be merciful to me a sinner.' 'Lord save me.' 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit.' I like these, and such as these.' W "Just before he expired, his eyes were resting on his beloved partner. She bade him raise them to ceive my spirit. A sweet smile irradiated his pallid heaven, and repeated the words: 'Lord Jesus, recountenance. He looked steadily upward, and then his eyes, with a very peculiar expression, slowly reverting to the object so dear to them, gradually settled into the inexpressiveness of death; while his dearest friends could not help, amid their sorrows, giving thanks in their hearts that the agony was over, and that a peaceful dismission had been granted "Dr Balmer died on the morning of Monday, by the Lord to his servant." The sacrament of the Lord's July 1, 1844. supper, according to previous arrangements, was to be dispensed to the congregation on the first Sabbath of July; and when the elders consulted their minister, during his illness, whether it should not be put off, he said: "No; what ever becomes of me, let my Master's work proceed." The Rev. Joseph Brown of Dalkeith, who had been engaged to assist, accordingly conducted the communion services on the Sabbath after Dr Balmer's decease, in very trying circumstances to himself, and such as to produce very solemn impressions on the people. But the scene at the funeral, on the Tuesday after that Sabbath, was altogether overwhelming. The crowded and sobbing audience at the religious services in the chapel, where the coffin, containing the remains of him who had so long ministered there lay, covered with a pall, before the pulpit-the long and solemn procession down the street which led to the burying-place, while every place where a view of it could be obtained was crowded with spectators-the deep silence that was maintained amid the mournful tolling of the bells-all scemed to testify the universal feeling that a great calamity had befallen, that a common bereavement was mourned."* His resurrection from the dead, and His charge to twelve of his followers. They, and those after them, brought it to white men in England. The same charge is given to us, his ministers. What, then, is the Gospel ?Good news for lost man. I speak in the name of the great God. It is not the headman of Sierra Leone, nor of England, but God that sends us to you. Children! I speak to you. Headmen and Soosoos! to you. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. WHATEVER be the opinions of Biblical expositors regarding the native country of the Queen of Sheba, the Abyssinians themselves find no difficulty in the matter. Their Chronicles of the Kings of Abyssinia speak in high terms of Iber Hakin, or Menilek, the son of Solomon; and they believe that the 45th Psalm is a prophecy of the journey of their queen, whom they call Maqueda, and of the future glory of her and Solomon's son, who should one day occupy that this Queen of Sheba, or the South, left her the throne of a Gentile country. It is also asserted country a pagan, but that, in consequence of Solomon's replies to her hard questions, she returned a convert to Judaism; and that Menilek, after residing seven years with his mother, was sent by her to his father, Solomon, to be instructed; that he then took the name of David, and was anointed and crowned in the Temple of Jerusalem as King of Ethiopia. After this ceremony, he is said to have returned to Sheba, accompanied by a colony of Jews, and by a high priest, Azazias, who brought with him a Ĥebrew transcript of the law. The queen now proceeded to carry out her favourite project-the conversion of all her subjects to Judaism; in which, say the Abyssinian Chronicles, she fully succeeded. Before her death, she enacted that the throne should be hereditary in the family of Solomon for ever; that no woman should be capable of ascending | the throne, and that the heirs-male of the royal house should always be kept imprisoned on a high mountain, there to remain until their death, or until they should be called to the throne. Maqueda died in the year 986, B. C., and in the fortieth of her reign, leaving the throne to Menilek, whose posterity have occupied it ever since. It is curious that the heraldic device of the Abyssinian monarchs is a lion passant, with the motto "Mo ansaba am Nizelet Solomon am Negade Juda." "The lion of the race of Solomon and tribe of Judah hath overcome." The Koran also makes mention of this journey of the Queen of Sheba; but, as usual, renders the occasion ridiculous, by involving it in a tissue of the most silly legends and other absurdities. - Missions in Western Africa. YOUTH. I MUST tell you there is not such a glassy, icy, and slippery piece of way betwixt you and heaven, and seal what I assert. The old ashes of the sins as youth. I have experience to say with me here, of my youth are now fire of sorrow to me. I have seen the devil, as it were, dead and buried, and yet rise again, and be a worse devil than ever he was. Can any of you tell me, when a man has done bad, Therefore, my brother, beware of a green, young devil, how God can pardon him? The Gospel tells us this. Is it not good news? To whom does it belong? To every man-black, white. Some learned men (men that know books much) say we must not come to teach black men; but God teaches us better. Memoir by Dr Henderson of Galashiels, from which the above sketch is abridged. that hath never been buried. The devil in his flowers (I mean the hot, fiery lusts and passions of youth) is much to be feared; for in youth he findeth dry sticks and dry coals, and a hot hearth-stone; and how soon can he with his flint cast fire, and with his bellows blow it up, and fire the house! Sanctified thoughtsthoughts made conscience of, and called in, and kept in awe are green fuel that burn not, and are a water for Satan's coal. Yet, I must tell you, all the saints now triumphant in heaven, and standing before the throne, are nothing but Christ's forlorn and beggarly MISCELLANEOUS. bankrupts, What are they but redeemed sinners? But their redemption is not only past the seals, but completed; and yours is on the wheels, and in doing. Christ hath an advantage of you, and I pray you let him have it; he shall find employment for his calling in you. If it were not with you as you write, grace should find no sale nor market in you; but you must be content to give Christ somewhat to do. I am glad that he is employed that way. Let your bleeding soul and your sores be put in the hand of this expert Physician; let young and strong corruptions and his free grace be yoked together, and let Christ and your sins deal it betwixt them. I will be loath to put you off your fears and your sense of deadness (I wish it were more). There are some wounds whose bleeding should not be soon stopped. You must take a house beside the Physician; it shall be a miracle if you be the first sick man he put away uncured, and worse than he found you. Nay, nay; Christ is honest, and, in that, freely arguing with sinners: "And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Take that; it cannot be presump-John vi. 37. tion to take that as your own, when you find your Presumption is ever whole at wounds pain you. the heart, and hath but the truant-sickness, and groaneth only for the fashion; Faith hath sense of sickness, and looketh like a friend to the promises, and to Christ therein-is glad to see a known face. Samuel Rutherford. A GOOD MINISTER. GIVE me the priest these graces shall possess: A guide's dexterity to disembroil; A prophet's inspiration from above; A teacher's knowledge, and a Saviour's love. KEN. THE STORM AND THE RAINBOW; OR, A SPECIMEN OF THE PREACHING OF WHITEFIELD. BEFORE he commenced his sermon, long, darkening columns crowded the bright, sunny sky of the morning, and swept their dull shadows over the building, in fearful augury of the storm. His text was: "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, "See that emblem of human and shall not be able." life," said he, pointing to a shadow that was flitting "It passed for a moment, and conacross the floor. cealed the brightness of heaven from our view; but it is gone. And where will you be, my hearers, when your lives have passed away like that dark cloud? Oh! my dear friends, I see thousands sitting attentive, with their eyes fixed on the poor, unworthy preacher. In a few days we shall all meet at the We shall form a part of judgment-seat of Christ. that vast assembly that will gather before the throne; and every eye will behold the Judge. With a voice whose call you must abide and answer, he will inquire whether on earth you strove to enter in at the strait gate whether you were supremely devoted to God -whether your hearts were absorbed in him. My think how many of you will blood runs cold when then seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Oh! what plea can you make before the Judge of the "You, O false and hollow Christian! of what avail And you, rich man, wherefore do you hoard your for Him whom you every day crucify in your love of silver? wherefore count the price you have received drop of cold water, your beloved son may be rolled gain? Why? that when you are too poor to buy a to hell in his chariot, pillowed and cushioned around him?" His eye gradually lighted up as he proceeded, till, towards the close, it seemed to sparkle with celestial fire. "O sinners!" he exclaimed, "by all your hopes of wrath of God be awakened. Let not the fires of eterSee there!" said he, happiness, I beseech you to repent. Let not the nity be kindled against you. pointing to the lightning, which played on the corner of the pulpittis a glance from the angry eye of Jehovah Hark!" continued he, raising his finger in a listening attitude, as the distant thunder grew louder and louder, and broke in one tremendous crash over the building "it was the voice of the Almighty as he passed by in his anger!" As the sound died away, he covered his face with his hands, and knelt beside his pulpit, apparently lost in inward and intense prayer. The storm passed rapidly away, and the sun, bursting forth in his might, threw across the heavens a magnificent arch. Rising, and pointing to the beautiful object, he exclaimed: "Look upon the rainbow, and praise Him that made it! It speaketh peace. Very beautiful it It compasseth the is in the brightness thereof. heavens about with glory; and the hands of the Most High have bended it." Miscellaneous. AFFECTATION.-All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich.-Lavater. TRIALS.-Reckon any matter of trial to thee among thy gains.-Adam. THE REASON OF AFFLICTION.-When God makes the world too hot for his people to hold, they will let it go.-Powell. NOBLE ANCESTRY THEY who on noble ancestry enlarge, WEALTH AND POVERTY.-That we may not think yea, to the choicest, the chiefest, the very best of riches evil, God gives them to those who are good, good men-to whom he never gives anything that is in itself evil. And lest we should think riches the chief good, God gives them to those that are evil-to whom he never gives the chief good. How happy is the pilgrim's lot! From worldly hope and fear! It helps to make a journey pleasant to go upon a good errand. He that is brought up a prisoner in the hands of the ministers of justice, whatever conveniences he may be accommodated with, cannot have a pleasant journey, but a melancholy one: and that is the case of a wicked man; he is going on in this world towards destruction; every step he takes is so much nearer hell, and therefore he cannot have a pleasant journey. But he that goes into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, whatever difficulties may attend his journey, yet the errand he goes on is enough to make it pleasant: and on this errand they go that travel Wisdom's ways; they looked for a kingdom which cannot be moved, and are pressing forwards in the hopes of it.-Henry. SATURDAY. "Take hold of my strength."-ISA. xxvii. 5. Could I of thy strength take hold, And always feel thee near, Confident, divinely bold, My soul would scorn to fear. Though you are weak in yourselves, and so weak that, were you left to your own strength, you would faint in the most easy service, yea, the weight but of one holy thought would sink you-for "we are not sufficient," says the apostle, as "of ourselves to think any good thing:"-yet, when we consider those mighty auxiliaries that are afforded and promised-as comfort when we droop, support when we are weak, that we shall rise when we fall, recruits when we are worsted, omnipotency to supply our impotency, all-sufficiency to make up our defects when we consider these things, then may we triumphantly say with the apostle : "When we are weak, then we are strong."-Hopkins. SABBATH. "I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia."-REV. xix. 1. Thine earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love : Let your worship this day below, put you in mind of that more perfect worship above, where you shall see him whom you worship, and enjoy immediate communion with him. O the difference betwixt that worship there and ours here, is great! There is no weariness there in beholding God-no wanderings nor excursions of the heart from God-no inclination there to drowsiness or sleep in worship-no dull or low conceptions of God-no deadness of heart or frame; their harps are never out of tune, their hearts are always up, and fit for the high praises of God. There is no note lower there than Glory to God in the highest; " every saint sings his hallelujahs on the highest key.-Willison. MONDAY. "The day of the Lord will come."-1 PET. iii. 10. Woe to the men on earth who dwell, When God doth all his wrath reveal, And shower his judgments down! Ungodly men fear no wrath, because they feel no wrath; because the sin is unpunished, they think there is no punishment for their sins; because He goeth on to spare them, they go on to provoke him; as he adds to their lives, they add to their lusts; because he is very merciful, they will be very sinful; because he is very good, they will be very bad; be cause Justice winks, men think he is blind; because he doth not reprove them for their sins, therefore they think he doth approve them in their sins. Justice will avenge the quarrel of abused Mercy: the longer God forbears, not finding amendment, the sorer he strikes when he comes to judgment.-Dyer. TUESDAY. "The Captain of our salvation."-HEB. ii. 10. Captain, thy strength-inspiring eye And makes the host of aliens fly. When Antigonus heard some of his troops rather despondingly say: "How many are coming against us?" he asked: "But, my soldiers, how many do you reckon me for?" And whenever we think of our foes, and then of the Captain of our salvation, we may truly say, More are they that be with us than they that be with them. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Who goes before us? Who teaches our hands to war, and our fingers to fight? Who provides for us? Who renews our strength? What limits have his wisdom and power? Did he ever lose an action yet? or a single private in his army? Jay. WEDNESDAY. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit."JOHN XV. 8. Lord dig about our root, To thy great praise abound. The branches ingrafted in Christ, growing aright, do grow in all the several ways of growth at once. They grow inward into Christ, uniting more closely with him, and cleaving more firmly to him, as the head of influences, which is the spring of all other true Christian growth. They grow outward in good works, in their life and conversation; and they not only, with Naphtali, give goodly words, but, like Joseph, they are fruitful boughs. They grow upward in heavenly-mindedness and contempt of the world; for "their conversation is in heaven." And finally, they grow downward, in humility and self-loathing. The branches of the largest growth in Christ are, in their own eyes, "less than the least of all saintsthe chief of sinners."-Boston. THURSDAY. "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation."— 2 Cor. vi. 2. Sinners, obey the Gospel word; And hear the voice of Christ the Lord; Be wise to know your gracious day; All things are ready, come away! You cannot repent too soon. There is no day like to-day. Yesterday is gone-to-morrow is God's, not your own. And think how sad it will be to have your evidences to seek, when your cause is to be tried to have your oil to buy, when you should have it to burn!-Mason. Edinburgh: Printed by JoHN JOHNSTONE, residing at 2, Windsor Street, and Published by him at 2, Hunter Square. London: R. GROOMBRIDGE & SONS. Glasgow: J. R. MNAIR & Co.; and to be had of any Bookseller throughout the Kingdom. THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY. 205 THE CHURCH OF LUTHER. BY THE REV. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, SALTON. FEW of our readers can need to be told that Germany was the country of Luther, and that to it belongs, in connection with him, the honour of recovering the knowledge of divine truth from the mass of Romish superstition, and diffusing the blessed light of salvation through the bounds of Christendom. As the Protestant Church of Germany was the parent of all that now own the name of Protestant, we cannot but take a sort of filial interest in its past history and present condition. A melancholy interest, however, it must in many respects be; for though it has never wholly lost its original character, and its history down to the present day exhibits many of the brightest ornaments of learning and piety; yet, as a whole, it soon fell from the high position it held in the days of Luther and Melancthon, and has been the prey of discord, heresy, and corruption. How, we naturally ask, did the Church of Luther, in which the pulse of spiritual life once beat so strong and vigorous-the Church from which the light of divine truth beamed forth with such power and majesty, that it might be said, without a figure, "nations came to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising"-how did she so soon lose her noble distinction? and so lose it, as never till this day to have regained it? There must have been some fatal defects in her constitution, or some grievous errors on the part of those who had the chief management of her affairs, to produce so unhappy a result. It is our purpose to point out the more important of these, and to gather from their existence and operation abroad, a few lessons of practical instruction to ourselves. 1. It may be regarded as a fundamental error, lying at the root of the Reformed Churches in Germany, that an improper place was given to the civil magistrate in matters of religion; for the civil was from the first mixed up with the ecclesiastical. "The civil sovereigns," says Mosheim, when describing the original constitution and government of the Lutheran Church, possess the supreme power in ecclesiastical affairs. This power they claim, in part, from the very nature of the civil constitution; and it is in part, I conceive, surrendered to them by the silent consent of the Churches." He goes on to say, that the ancient rights of Christian communities were not wholly subverted and destroyed; but, guarded and trammelled as they were by civil control, they could not possess either the freedom or the energy of action which, as Churches of the New Testament, they ought to have exercised. The evil might be little felt, perhaps, so long as such men as Luther and Melancthon lived-men to No. 18. whom the princes who embraced the Reformation looked up for counsel and direction, and whose word was sufficient to prevent any flagrant interferences from such a quarter; but, in the hands of ordinary men, and in regard to the regular working of the government of the Church, it could not fail to exert an unfavourable influence. For, as all history testifies, the Churches in which the civil is thus mixed up with the ecclesiastical, and the supreme place is yielded to Cæsar in things spiritual, never for any length of time retain a living piety and an effective discipline. There may be many particular instances found in them of everything that is pure and good; but as a whole they can attain to little life and vigour-the coldness and secularity of the world leavens the mass. It is true, that when the great defection from sound doctrine began, which goes by the name of Neology, and of which we shall speak by and by, some of the princes of Germany exerted themselves against it; and one of the Fredericks even made a decree, that no one holding Neological opinions should be admitted to a ministerial charge in his dominions. There are degrees of heresy, and excesses of impiety, which shock even worldly men, and which, for prudential and political reasons alone, they may endeavour to check. But the spiritual deadness and formality which always precede such times of error and corruption, and give rise to them, the powers and princes of this world have no care to prevent, but rather foster and protect; it is but too much in harmony with the spirit they themselves commonly possess. And the Protestant Church of Germany, being from the first a State-ridden Church, allowing and sanctioning at many points an undue interference from the civil magistrate with things spiritual, it was only according to the natural course of things, that first a cold and languid state of religion should have ensued, and then deadly corruptions of doctrine, without life and power in the Church itself to put them down. 2. There was another error, however, in the original constitution of the Protestant Church of Germany-one that sooner began to manifest a pernicious influence, and had a more evident and direct bearing upon the fearful defections which at last took place. This was connected with the standards of doctrine, or symbolical books, as they are called. Creeds, confessions, or symbolical books, may be of great service, if judiciously framed and thoroughly scriptural, in conveying to the members of, the Church a clear and consistent view of divine truth, in withstanding the entrance of dangerous innovations, in presenting a testimony against the June 27, 1845. |