MANNA GATHERED FROM THE GROUND. 21 MANNA GATHERED FROM THE GROUND. Word of eternal life does not come from "herbs, and BY THE REV. WILLIAM ARNOT, GLASGOW. INTRODUCTORY. The Works and the Word of God. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow."— "UNTO the pure, all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure." And the reason is added: "Their mind and conscience is defiled."-Tit. i. 15. The condition of the observer's mind gives a character to all that he observes. If his spirit is burdened within him, all nature seems arrayed in gloom. If his heart is joyful, wherever he looks the world answers with a Emile. The glass through which you look gives its own colour to everything you see. This law of physical nature holds good in morals too. The mind-the soul's eye-whether carnal or spiritual, tinges with its own hue all the objects of nature and all the events of Providence. In order to judge whether you get good or evil by contemplating any object, I do not care so much to inquire what you see, as how you see it. The result depends not so much on the abstract character of the object, as on the frame of the observer's mind. The same scene of vice will entice one into its vortex, and drive another away. The same beauty of holiness will to one man be a weariness, and to another a delight. If your soul be set on heaven, every breath that blows will impel you thitherward. If God's image be restored upon your soul within, God's mercy will be manifest in his works without. If Christ dwell in your heart by faith, the objects of sight will readily remind you of Christ. If you have received the light of the glorious Gospel in upon your soul, you will see it reflected from the face of the world. Again I say, the good or the evil your soul may get from converse with the material world, depends not so much on the things you meet, as the spirit you meet them in. If you are the Father's child, all things are the Father's servants. "To the pure, all things are pure." When the spiritual mind is imparted, there is abundant scope for its exercise. When the faculties of the soul are enlightened, and sanctified, and set on God, they have a wide field to go forth upon; and "the field is the world." The Word and the works of God mutually reflect light on each other. True, we would never find the way of salvation by looking on the earth beneath. That way is found, not imprinted on creation, but written in the Word-not discovered by reason, but revealed to faith. Yet, when the knowledge of God is revealed direct from heaven, the material world supplies in part the means of diffusing it. There is a language in the work of his hand, that helps to interpret the law of his mouth. The light of day issues all from the sun on high; but much of its use to men depends on its being reflected back from the surface of the earth. The dead cold stone on the mountain side is dumbit cannot speak; but it is so formed, that it echoes back the voice of a living man. So, though the plants, and fruitful trees;" yet, through them, it may come in more distinct articulation to the ear of man. In this sense, the earth helps the woman-helps the Church-to conceive of the glorious things that God hath prepared for them that love him. If you be Christ's, all things are yours; and if you be skilful in the Word of Righteousness, you may turn If the imaginaeverything to a profitable account. this fallen world. Á lamb may safely be set at large tion were sanctified, it might roam free, even over --it will not wallow in the mire, although mire be within its reach. Let a bee roam free over all the bloom of summer;-it will bring no poison home, for the instinct of a new nature, so strong that all though there be poison in some of the flowers. Oh, impurity would repel, all holiness attract it! It is not only when reading the Word, and waiting on ordinances, that believers are drawing near to God, and tasting that he is gracious. God is everything to them; and they now see God in everything. The exercise is pleasing and profitable. The Bible encourages us to engage in it, and teaches us how. It takes young Nay, it trains us into the habit. scholars by the hand, and leads them over the path oft, just that they may be able to tread it alone. How many parables did Jesus put forth, all with the same end in view-not only to lead us to God, but to lead us to God over a path cut out of creation! He made Nature the handmaid of Grace. This is the peculiarity of the parables they employ the objects and laws of nature to reveal a spiritual kingdom, and accomplish a spiritual work. A scholar in the school of Christ not only sets his affections on things above, but he lays his hand on things below, and makes them the very ladder on which he climbs. presses temporal things into his service, and makes them the instruments of lifting up his soul to heavenly things. Thus, one who is created again in the image of Christ, filled with his Spirit, and trained after his example, cannot see a hen gathering her chickens under her wing, without thinking of God's mercy shielding men, and men's madness in refusing mercy. He cannot see a fisher casting his net into the sea, without thinking of the office of the ministry, instituted to draw forth sinners from a sea of wrath. He cannot see a vine branch laden with its fruit, without thinking of Christ sustaining believers, and believers abiding in Christ. He In this sense, already the earth is "full of the knowledge of the Lord." Although it is a wilderness through which they are travelling, the Israel of God may gather manna from the ground they tread on; but though they gather it on earth, they know that it did not grow there-it has fallen from heaven all. The great things of God's law-the things that concern man's salvation-appear not in the laws of nature, but in the covenant of grace. From the analogies of nature we cannot get any new light on the things that belong to our peace; and yet it may be good to trace the analogies that exist between things temporal and things spiritual-the works of the same God. If we receive from the Word a spiritual thing, and, by means of a natural law, fix it for a longer period before the mind, for a more leisurely contemplation, we have not lost our labour. Although these analogies do not make known new religious truthsalthough they do not even throw any additional light on religious truths already known-they are not useless, if they serve as a handle to detain a little longer those unseen things which fit so quickly past, and leave so slight an impress on our minds. Let us try this exercise. Let us take our theme from the Word, and, under its guiding light, let us range over nature seeking food for faith. Confining our view, in the first instance, to the vegetable department of creation, let us try so to arrange some of its facts and laws, as to make them teach spiritual wisdom. Taking the Bible in our hands as our guide, and looking to the Lord for the blessing, we shall adopt the converse of Jeremiah's exclamation (xxii. 29), "O earth, earth, earth, speak the word of the Lord." The earth, as well as the heavens, may declare his glory. A SABBATH AMONG THE WALDENSES. ALL our readers must have heard of the Waldenses, who, in the retirement of their mountain fastnesses, "kept the faith," when the whole of Christendom besides was " faithless"-and for so long a time suffered such fierce and relentless persecution at the hands of their Popish oppressors. The following account of a Sabbath spent last July, in one of their valleys-that of Angrogna-is taken from an extremely interesting volume,* lately published by Dr Henderson of Highbury College, already well known to the public as the author of "Travels in Iceland," &c.: On Sabbath, July 21, 1844, I accompanied Professor Revel to Angrogna, where he was to officiate for the day. We commenced our walk about eight o'clock, and, after crossing the Angrogna torrent, proceeded up the gorge through which it emerges a little above the Catholic convent. The scenery through which we passed was sublime and lovely, occasionally presenting to view immense rocks and profound chasms along the torrent below us on the left; but it burst forth into all the beauties of mountain landscape as we prosecuted our walk farther up to the church of Serre, in which the former of the two services was to be performed. The ruggedness of the rocky glen gave place to the varied terraces of chestnut, walnut, and cherry trees, along which the pathway winded; and, in many places, I could have imagined myself taking a promenade in the walks of a nobleman's park in England, rather than traversing the mountain districts of Angrogna. As we arrived at the church, we had to pass through crowds of the Vaudois, who were exchanging salutations and communications with each other; many of the latter of which, doubtless, had reference to the occurrences of the past week. This practice of loitering about the church doors till after the service has commenced is, I was sorry to learn, too common in the Valleys, as it is in many parts of my native country. It may, in some measure, be accounted for on the principle, that this occasion is the only one on which most of the people have an opportunity of meeting each other; but it unquestionably argues the absence of a due sense, in those who indulge in it, of the importance of divine worship, and of the sanctity of the Sabbath. Some of the pastors have endeaThe Vaudois. Snow, London. voured to do away with the scandal; but bad habits are not easily reformed, especially if there be the absence of the true spiritual principle to which an appeal can be made. In the course of a short time the church filled, though it was not crowded, owing, I was told, to many of the inhabitants being away in their distant summer chalets upon the mountains. The service was begun by the regent, who ascended a desk in the table-pew before the pulpit, and read the first three chapters of the Epistle to the Ephesians, subjoining at the end of each, the words, "Ici suivent les observations;" and then read the practical reflections of Ostervald, whose large folio Bible is used in all the Vaudois churches. He next read the Decalogue; and concluded with the substance of the law, as given by our Lord, Matt. xxii. 37–40. engaged in prayer, gave out some verses of a psalm, The minister then ascended the pulpit, and having which were sung by the congregation sitting, each having a psalm book, with the musical notes under the lines. They joined in full chorus, and sang with good taste, evincing that they are not only fond of sacred music, but that they are diligent in its cultivation. The tune was plaintive in its character, and required the promunciation of the mute vowels at the termination of words, as is customary in the Protes ended, another prayer was offered up. tant psalmody of France. When the singing had The professor then preached on the marriage supper (Matt. xxii. 1-14), setting forth, in a very lucid and interesting manner, the provision which God, in his infinite love and mercy, hath made for the salvation of the guilty; the extent and freeness of the Gospel invitations; the proneness of mankind to plead any excuse, rather than embrace the blessings of divine grace; and the fearful doom which awaits all who reject them. The sermon was characterized by a style adapted to the meanest capacity; an earnestness and pathos admirably calculated to rivet the attention and move the passions; and a searching discrimination of character, which rendered it next to impossible for any of the hearers to go away without having had some intimations of conscience respecting his state before God. It was neither read nor delivered with the assistance of notes, but preached from memory, having been previously mandated with care-while extemporaneous sentences and passages appeared occasionally to be thrown in, according as some apt or striking idea happened to be suggested to the inind of the speaker. This mode of preaching is universal in the churches of the Vaudois, and is regarded by them to be so important, that they would on no account listen to a minister who should read his discourse. Immediately after sermon, the ordinance of baptism was administered. We are told that his arms a child, over which, and pinned to his A young-looking man stepped forward, holding in brocade, ornamented with bows of ribbon at the shoulders, was spread a square piece of red silk corners. He was accompanied by two females, towel. When they had taken their station in front one of whom had a small phial with water, and a of the pulpit, in the attitude of kneeling, the minister addressed him as follows: "You present this child that it may be baptized?" to which he replied, "Yes." A short discourse on the nature of the ordinance was then delivered, to the effect, that our Lord teaches us the necessity of our being born again, if is meant, that a great change takes place in us when we would enter into the kingdom of God; by which we are received into the communion of our Saviourrite of baptism. For, as water cleanseth the impuria change which is very sensibly represented by the ties of our body, so we shall find in communion with A SABBATH AMONG THE WALDENSES. 23 walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and holdeth the stars in his right hand! And brighter, and still brighter, may they shine, till the perfect millennial day, when the light of the stars shall be as the light of the moon, and the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be as the light of seven days! Christ all that is necessary for cleansing the pollutions of our soul; and as God offers us his grace in the pardon of our sins, and the assistance of his Holy Spirit, when he receives us into covenant with himself, so we, on our part, engage to purify ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God! Such are the sacred engagements into which we enter by baptism. And we cause our children to enter into them, so far as depends upon us, when we consecrate them to God by this sacred rise, and present them to him to be received into his Church. And when they come to the years of discretion, they are bound to fulfil these engagements, if they would participate in the bene-worthy; and who, during a long succession of ages, fits of the covenant of God, which are destined for none but true believers. Having adverted to the readiness of God to extend his favour to children as well as to their parents, and to the circumstance of our Saviour's putting his hands upon them, and blessing them, the minister called upon the whole congregation to unite in devoting the child to God, and commended it to His grace in prayer. The vows were then laid upon the father and accompanying relatives; and The minister having added: "God give you grace to fulfil your promise," came down from the pulpit, and holding out both his hands, placed close together, into which one of the females poured the water she had brought with her in the phial, he poured it upon the child, pronouncing, at the sametime, its name, and repeating the words of the institution: "I bap tize thee," &c. The rite having thus been performed, he returned to the pulpit, and offered up another general prayer, which was followed by the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, rehearsed by the minister alone. Some verses of a psalm were then sung by the congregation, and the service closed with the Benediction. There was much about the appearance of the congregation that reminded me of scenes which, in my early days, I had witnessed in Scotland. The men and women were all dressed in their best clothes: the elder men with their coarse but white shirt col lars rising above their neckerchiefs, and the young men with theirs folded down, and simply buttoned, or tied with a ribbon in front. The females wore their hair turned back under plaited caps, and had cotton handkerchiefs in the shape of small shawls. The sexes sat separately; the women in front of the palpit, which is placed against one side of the church, and the men to the right and left on either side. Just under the pulpit is a large square pew without doors, which is reserved for the elders and any stranger who may happen to enter the church. There are no close pews in the Vaudois churches. The worshippers sit un benches with backs, which are open to the poorest equally with those who may be in somewhat better circumstances. No one has occasion to envy his neighbour on account of superior accommodation. No one is put to shame by being compelled to give way to another. All distinction of persons is lost in the presence of Him who looketh not upon the outward appearance, but upon the heart, and to whose omniscient eye each, while uniting with all, ought ever to regard himself as specially the object of inspection. Smiling countenances and a hearty shake of the hand on the part of the elders, and others of the congregation, assured me that I was welcome among them as a brother in the faith. For myself, I could not but feel that I was in the company of the descendants of a race of men of whom the world was not have borne testimony on behalf of the truth as it is in Jesus-witnessing to his sole priesthood, in opposition to a sacerdotal order of purely Antichristian invention, and to the claims of his universal headship, in opposition to the usurped authority of the pretended successors of one of his apostles. We now returned to St Laurent, accompanied by most of the congregation, and had not been long at the parsonage when the hour of service at the larger church arrived. Before entering, I repaired to the being performed. It was the interment of a child. cemetery, which is close by, where a funeral was The regent read a selection of the following passages of Scripture, appointed by the Synod to be used on such occasions: John xi. 25, 26; Job xix. 25–27; 1 Tim. vi. 7; Job i. 21; Ps. xxxix., xc., vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx., cxliii.; 1 Cor. xv. 20-58; and concluded with prayer. On the repetition of the Lord's Prayer and the Benediction, the assembly, which was numerous and very attentive, dispersed,. and proceeded to the church. The afternoon service was nearly the same as that remaining chapters of the Epistle to the Ephesians, in the morning at Serre. The regent read the threewith the accompanying reflections of Ostervald. The text which M. Revel selected as the basis of his discourse, was Matt. xi. 28-30, from which he took occasion to expatiate on the various classes to whom the invitation of our Saviour is addressed, the nature of the rest to be found in him for the guilty, and the happiness of all who cordially choose his service. Another baptism was celebrated precisely in the same manner as in the morning. The congregation was large, and the deepest attention appeared to be paid to the interesting discourse to which they listened. After service we returned to the presbytère. It was pleasing to observe several of the young people of both sexes proceeding shortly afterwards to a prayer-mecting, which was about to be held high up on the mountain. They were accompanied by a venerable patriarch, of upwards of eighty, who climbed up the pathway, with the New Testament under his arm, at a pace which not a little surprised me. ment. In this way many of the Vaudois spend the evening of the Sabbath; while others, unimpressed with a sense of its sanctity, and of the importance of the objects to which it should be devoted, congregate for trifling conversation, or worldly amuseAs we returned through the hamlet of St Laurent, we observed several persons, partly Roman Catholics and partly Vaudois, playing at ninepins, without any apparent consciousness that they were The churches are extremely simple. The only doing wrong. It was formerly the custom to shoot decorations exhibited in some of them are passages of at the tirata, or target, in order to keep up the chaScripture, or the ancient insignia of the Vaudois-aracter of expert marksmen; but the practice is less candlestick with a light shedding its rays across the surrounding darkness, encircled with seven stars, having the motto, "Lux lucet in tenebris." Anything more appropriately descriptive of the position and destination of the people it is impossible to conceive. Long may they be preserved by Him who common than it was, and takes place on Catholic holidays, when the Vaudois are interdicted work, rather than on the Sabbath. After family worship, I retired to rest, in no ordinary degree gratified at having enjoyed the pri vilege of spending a Sabbath among the Vaudois. Daily Bread. FRIDAY. "It is appointed unto all men once to die."-HEB. ix. 27. Only this frail and fleeting breath Preserves me from the jaws of death: Soon as it fails at once I'm gone, And plunged into a world unknown, Value not yourselves on the blossom of youth; for while ye are in your blooming years ye are but ripening for the grave; and Death gives the fatal stroke without asking any body's age. Glory not in your strength-it will quickly be gone: the time will soon be when ye shall not be able to turn yourselves on a bed; and you must be carried by your grieving friends to your long home. And what signifles your healthful constitution? Value not yourselves on your beauty, which "shall consume in the grave. Remember the change Death makes on the fairest face: "Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away." Death makes the greatest beauty so loathsome, that it must be buried out of sight. Could a looking-glass be used in the house appointed for all living, it would be a terror to those who now look oftener into their glasses than into their Bibles. And what though the body be gorgeously arrayed? The finest clothes are but badges of our sin and shame, and in a little time will be exchanged for a winding-sheet.-Boston. SATURDAY. "And after that the judgment."-HEB. ix. 27. Must hear the Judge pronounce my fate, Believers! let not the terror of that day dispirit you when you meditate upon it: let those who have slighted the Judge, and continue enemies to him and to the way of holiness, droop and hang down their heads when they think of his coming; but lift ye up your heads with joy, for the last day will be your best day. The Judge is your Head and Husband, your Redeemer and your Advocate. Ye must appear before the judgment-seat, but ye shall not come into condemnation-his coming will not be against you, but for you. It is otherwise with unbelievers-a neglected Saviour will be a severe Judge.-Ibid. SABBATH. "This day is holy unto the Lord your God."-NEH. viii. 9. The King himself comes near, Here we may sit, and see him here, One day amidst the place Where my dear God hath been, When you enter this day into the sanctuary, or into your closets, shut the door of your hearts, so that worldly thoughts may not enter to trouble you. Set solemn obligations and charges upon your hearts, that they wander not from God; bind the sacrifice with cords to the altar's horns; and if the birds of prey come by surprise down upon the sacrifice, then, like Abraham (Gen. xv. 11), drive them presently away," and summon every thought to attend your main business. Retract every vain thought with a sigh, and chide with your hearts for vain excursions; check them as Christ did his drowsy disciples-What? cannot you watch with Christ for one hour? how, then, will you like to be engaged in heaven's work to all eternity, where there is no interruption?-Willison. MONDAY. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts."-GAL. v. 24. O for a heart to praise my God, A heart from sin set free A heart all sprinkled with that blood A heart in every thought renewed, Perfect and right, and pure and good A copy, Lord, of thine. Oh! never suffer sin to live any more in you, that would not suffer your Saviour to live in the world: never allow that a room in your heart, that would not allow him a room among the living on earth. O beware of crucifying Christ afresh! Never dispute any more, when a temptation is presented, whether Christ or Barabbas should be preferred-your lusts denied, or Christ crucified; but presently cry out against your lusts, "Crucify them, crucify them."-Willison. TUESDAY. "Be clothed with humility."-1 Pɛt. v. 5. I shall as my Master be, Simple, teachable, and mild, Changed into a little child; Pleased with all the Lord provides, Weaned from all the world besides. The casting down of our spirits in true humility, is but like throwing a ball on the ground, which makes it rebound the higher to heaven. Note was ever so high and glorious as Christ, yet none so meek and lowly.-Mason. WEDNESDAY. "Search the Scriptures."-JOHN V. 30. Does the Word of God afford! All I want for life or pleasure, Food and medicine, shield and sword: Let the world account me poor, Having this I need no more. frequency, with seriousness, with diligence, and with Hold fast and close by your Bible. Peruse it with self-application. . . and your song by night. Let it be your companion Let it be your study by day, in society, and in solitude. Though you abandon everything else, keep your Bible; believe it, love it, read it, and you shall be happy. It is the light of your souls; it is the source of your joy; it is the ground of your hope; it is the well out of which you are to draw the waters of life and salvation.-Rev. Dr Andrew Thomson's Sermons. O may I ne'er my silence break. I would never wish to be in a company in which there is not room for my Master, as well as for myself.-Hervey. Beware of vain, flattering, and proud speeches. Beware also of much speaking. An open mouth is a sign of an empty heart, as a chest open is a sign that nothing is in it. When money or jewels are within, it is kept locked. Be not hasty in speech, and as the best rule of all-commit the guidance of your tongue in prayer to God.-Philip Henry. Edinburgh: Printed and Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, Hunter Square. London: R. GROOMBRIDGE & SONS. Glasgow: J. R. M'NAIR & Co.; and to be had by order of all Booksellers throughout the Kingdom. THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY. 25 SCRIPTURE COINCIDENCES AGAINST POPERY. BY THE REV. JAMES BEGG, EDINBURGH. markable, as connected with the corruptions of the modern Church of Rome. There POPERY has been called the "masterpiece of Satan," and no one can have studied its character or marked its striking success without seeing First, The Epistle to the Romans contains the how eminently fitted it is to adapt itself to all fullest connected exhibition to be found in Scripthe various moods and phases of depraved ture of the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, and human nature. It appeals to all the senses-- especially of that doctrine of a sinner's justificacalls in the aid of all the arts-suits itself to tion by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the tastes of men; it provides indulgences by the imputation of his all-perfect righteousfor the sensual-brilliant pageants for the gay- ness upon the denial of which the whole supergloomy retirements for the morose-princely structure of Romish delusion is based. honours for the ambitious-promises of heaven was thus, therefore, not only a protest given in for the generous devotee. It is literally "all by anticipation against the corruptions that things to all men." It meets man at all the were afterwards to spring up in the Romish most tender and interesting periods of his Church, but the means of escape from error history-at his cradle-at his marriage-in sick- were divinely provided, if Rome had not ness-at death-at the grave, when weeping over hid the key of knowledge. If her deluded the remains of friends; and for all these cir- votaries were permitted to read the Book of cumstances it has plausible and appropriate God, a professing Christian at modern Rome promises. It lays hold of the teacher, the poli- might have abundant means of testing the tician, the author, the statesman, the dema- truth of the dogmas of Antichrist, and of seeing gogue, the king, and strives to turn them all how far the professing Church to which he now into its obsequious instruments. It seizes the belongs has removed away from the truth of press. It loves, especially, to dwell at the the Gospel, as maintained by the pen of incentres and sources of earthly power. If spiration, and originally professed at Rome that power be a despotism, Popery has its itself. And, meantime, every Christian has the most accomplished agents at the despot's ready means of applying the same test to the ear. If it be a democracy, Popery, whilst la- overthrow of that system of will-worship and bouring to overthrow all forms of human free- superstition which has, under Popery, usurped dom, has its busy agents everywhere wielding the place of the simplicity of truth; so that, the masses towards the accomplishment of its amidst all vain rites and ceremonies of modern ends. It has already achieved mighty triumphs; idolatry, we can hear the still small voice of and the Word of God and the signs of the truth, as addressed to ancient Rome: "Being times seem to point to victories yet to be won, justified by faith, we have peace with God before it is destroyed "by the spirit of Christ's through our Lord Jesus Christ." mouth, and the brightness of his coming." The man who despises it is equally ignorant of Scripture, of history, and of the human heart. To it the striking language of our Saviour may be justly applied: "If it were possible it would deceive even the very elect." And yet God, in great mercy to his people, has not only drawn at full length the features of this great apostasy in his Holy Word, so that "he that runneth may read," branding it with the stamp of his deepest abhorrence, and fore- | telling its fearful overthrow; but there are certain striking coincidences in Scripture which seem to have been designed specially to warn Christians against the snares of the Man of Sin. It is no part of our intention, at present, to enter into an argument at large against Popery, but simply to refer to a few important Scriptare facts which, as it were, lie on the surface. I. There was an ancient Church of Rome, to which the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, wrote a lengthened epistle; which forms part of the canon of Scripture. In this epistle there are two points very reNo. 3. But, Secondly, The same epistle to the Roman Church contains a very solemn and striking warning of the danger of apostasy, to which the subsequent history of that Church has now appended a commentary. To almost no other Church is such language addressed; and with what feelings must a true Christian, standing at Rome amidst spiritual desolation, read the following passage: "Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee." - Rom. xi. 19-21. II. The coincidences to which we have referred are still more remarkable in the case of Peter, the apostle who was afterwards to be falsely set forth as the head and representative of Romanism. To cover the fearful imposture of him who sitteth in the temple of God, claiming divine infallibility and universal dominion in the Christian Church, the Pope professes to be March 14, 1845. |