the country. When he was labouring under this affliction he was apprehended by a strolling party of troopers, who came upon him in his place of concealment, and the barbarous men compelled him to trudge along with them, though he could scarcely stand on his feet. They had no compassion, however, but obliged him to go with them three or four days in thus ranging up and down the country. But this was not all-they used him ill, and accosted him in rough and threatening language. In passing through a wild moorland, they came to the grave of a martyr who had been recently shot, and who was sleeping beneath in his gory shroud. In the wantonness of their cruelty they placed young Hannah, faint and staggering with weakness, on the grave, and having covered his face, told him deliberately that they intended to shoot him, and that in a brief space his blood would flow on the turf that covered that grave, unless he promised compliance with their injunctions, which were, that he should attend the curate, and leave off going to conventicles, and other things of like sort. The poor boy, being strengthened by the grace of that God whom he sought and followed, replied with all firmness, that God had sent him into the world, and had appointed the time he should go out of it, but he was determined to take no sinful oaths, and to make no foul compliances, come what might he was now in their power, and they might do as they pleased. This magnanimity on the part of the youth astonished the soldiers, who saw it in vain to attempt to force his compliance, and they desisted from their threatenings, and carried him to Westerrow, who sent him prisoner to Dumfries. Truly there was a spirit of genuine heroism in the Scottish peasantry in those days, when even women and children, not to speak of firm-minded men, could thus outbrave the scowlings of an armed soldiery, and the very terrors of death. But the trials of the youth were not yet over. He was sent to Edinburgh, and after many searching examinations, was subjected to the torture of the thumbkins, and afterwards laid in irons, which were so tightly applied to his slender limbs, that the flesh swelled over, and covered the iron that girded him. The little money with which his friends had supplied him was stolen, and at another time, he was robbed of eleven dollars-no small sum in those days to a person in his situation. He was detained in prison for a year and a-half, and then banished to Barbadoes, where he was sold for a slave. But at length the Lord turned his captivity, and he came home after the Revolution, and eventually became a minister in Scarborough. But the Covenanter's Bible, what of it? This brings us back to a veritable tradition respecting young William's father, which contains an incident worthy of notice, and for the introduction of which, the preceding sketch has been given. William Hannah, the father, besides his other retreats, had a hiding-place in his own barn. On one occasion, when he was lying among the straw, reading his Bible, which he always carried with him as his sweetest companion in his solitariness, the house was visited by a party of soldiers in search of him. In his haste to flee from the place, he left his Bible among the straw, and escaped to a distance. The troopers, in the course of their searching entered the barn, every corner of which they pried into, turning everything upside down, and tossing about the straw that had so recently been the bed of him whom they were to eagerly seeking. According to their custom, they thrust their long swords down through the heaps of straw or hay, that lay on the floor, with the view of stabbing any one who might happen to be concealed beneath. In this process one of the men pushed his sword accidentally on the Bible lying among the straw, by which means it received a deep cut, which, doubtless, its owner would have sustained had he been in the same place. The Bible was afterwards found, with the recent hack in it, and restored to Hannah, to whom it was now more endeared than ever. The same Bible is still preserved, exhibiting the distinct marks of the dragoon's heavy sword. It came into the possession of his son William, whe afterwards was settled in Scarborough, and was unformly used in the pulpit as the Bible from which he preached, holding it in the greatest veneration, for his father's sake, who had so often perused it, and derived from it much comfort, in the days of his saf fering for conscience' sake. The Rev. Mr Hannah of Scarborough, when, through infirmity, he became unfit to exercise his ministry in that town, returned to his native parish of Tundergarth, and resided in the house of one of his relatives, where he died, having both suffered and laboured much in the cause of his blessed Master. He brought his father's Bibl with him, and, after his decease, it was retained in the possession of his friends as a relic too precious to be lost. The congregation of Scarborough, to which M Hannah ministered, recently became desirous of pos sessing this Bible as a memorial of their first minister, and on application being made for it, it wa found, and purchased by the congregation. This Bible was printed in the year 1399, and is a Geneva translation, with full marginal and explans tory notes by Francis Junius, with Sternhold and Hopkin's version of the Psalms. The Rev. William Hannah died sometime about the year 1725. When, in his youth, he was banished to Barbadoes, it is said that Dalzell proposed that bis father should also be banished, and that when the old man entreated that he might be allowed to spend the few short years he had to live, in his own coul try, as he was too old and infirm to be of any use fer manual labour, "If," said the ruthless man, "you are too old to work, you are not too old to be hanged, and by the gold that is in my hand, you shall be hanged to-morrow." Before to-morrow came, however, Dalzell himself was in eternity. The old man was afterwards set at liberty-returned to his home, and ended his days in peace. Thus lived and died the two Hannahs of Tunder. garth, the father and the son, who, by the grace of God, were honoured to bear witness to the truth in the dark and cloudy day of Zion's affliction. They continued stedfast amidst all the distresses to which they were subjected, that they might maintain a good conscience, and now, delivered out of all tribulations, they have entered into the joy of their Lørd. BIBLE RIVERS AND LAKES. 345 BIBLE RIVERS AND LAKES. NO. I. BY THE REV. J. W. TAYLOR, FLISK AND CRIECH. The Lesser Jordan-Waters of Merom-Lake of Gennesaret. To follow the silver stream of the Jordan-to trace the tiny rivulets of Arnon, Jabbok, Besor, Kishon, and Kedron to visit the broad expanse of Gennesaret, and to wander by the sluggish waters of the Dead Sea, is the pleasing exercise to which our subject calls us. Rabbinical lore, in their places of study, which are called Yishvioth. LUSH DAN SAPHET CAFERTAUN MINUTT IN At the foot of the snow-clad Anti-Libanus, near to where the ancient Laish or Dan nestles under the mountain ridge, the River Jordan takes its rise. It is from this city of Dan, the most northerly of the Israelitish cities, that the river derives its name. The name is a compound of two Hebrew words, and signifies the River of Dan. From its source, until it mingles with the Lake Merom or Samochonites, the river is known as the Lesser Jordan.* The Jordan continues to flow in a southerly direction, furnishing few materials for remark, until it joins itself with the Lake of Gennesaret. To the west of the opening of this lake, the town of Saphet attracts the eye of the traveller. All visitors speak of the romantic situation of this town. It stands on the brow of a hill; it and as its houses are built of a white limestone, it is seen from afar. Tradition has particularized it as "the city set on an hill," to which our Lord pointed, when, seated on the Mount of Huttin, and surrounded by his disciples, he announced, in the divine discourse recorded in Matt. v., vi., and vii., the principles of a morality pure and pervading as the sunbeam. Saphet is regarded with great veneration by the Jews. It is one of their holy cities. The past and the future combine in investing it with this peculiar sanctity. In its neighbourhood lies the dust of many of their distinguished Rabbins, especially of Rabbi Simeon, the author of the Book of Zohar, in the composition of which he was engaged for twelve years, and was assisted, as they ignorantly believe, by the Prophet Elijah. Devout Jews resort in pilgrimage to his tomb. Sir Moses Montefiore did not neglect the pilgrim's part, when on his late mission on behalf of his oppressed countrymen. But traditionary belief has yet higher honours in reserve for Saphet; for this is assigned as the place where the Messiah is to appear and reign, during the space of forty years, before he assume the government at Jerusalem. At present it is possessed of some celebrity as a seat of Jewish education. About thirty Jewish youths generally reside there, for the purpose of receiving instruction in TIBERIAS KEDRON L.MEROM A which We are now arrived at the Lake of Gennesaret. This interesting lake lies in a deep valley. Its length is about fifteen or sixteen miles, and its greatest breadth about seven. It is bordered on each side by dark barren mountains, throw their shadows over its surface, imparting to the scene an air of gloom. This is greatly increased by the unruffled calm of its bosom, and the dead silence which reigns throughout its wide extent. The signs of animation and of industry which gladdened it in our Lord's time, have disappeared. Few fishermen are now to be seen mending their nets upon its shores, or prosecuting their craft upon its waters. The smiling villages, which looked forth from amid the embower all ing gardens and vineyards which once adorned its plains and terraced hills, are now ruins; and the fruitful field is a wilderness. Various names have been given to this lake at different times. Moses mentions it under the name of the Sea of Chinnereth or Cinnereth. It was afterwards called Gennesareth, from a town of the name of Gennesar, and latterly the Lake of Tiberias, from a city which still stands upon its shores. In the Gospel history we find it spoken of as the Sea of Galilee, from the district of country in which it is situated. The waters of Merom was the scene of the muster, and of the discomfiture of the confederated kings of the north, by Joshua. They had taken counsel against the Lord and his anointed; and in allied strength they went out-they❘ and all their host with them, much people, even as the sand which is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many, and came and pitched together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel. But God delivered their gathered host into the hand of Israel, and they smote them with a great destruction, and Joshua houghed their horses and burned their chariots with fire.-Josh. xi. 1-10. In reading the accounts which modern travels furnish of the general appearance of this lake, the interest is not a little increased by the varying impressions which were left on the minds of the visitors. It is as if, in a party of pleasant friends, ourselves had visited its shores, and, unbending to the free play of familiar conversation, had listened to the agreeably varied pictures which Fancy might draw of the same scenery. Buckingham represents the gloom of the scene as oppressive; while Carne, finding solemnity where the other perceived only sadness, speaks of the hallowed calm and majestic beauty which rest there. Rae Wilson calls in the aid of poetry to describe its loveliness, applying the following lines to it: Woos me with its crystal face; "It The mirror where the stars and mountains view The stillness of their aspect, in such trace Its clear depth yields of their fair height and hue," Yet we greatly prefer the account furnished by our own deputation, in 1839, to that of all other travellers. They overlooked not the natural beauties of this sweet lake. Their recording pen tells you of its calm repose-its pleasant plains-its steep mountains-its wild wadies-its oleanders, and reeds, and shady nabbok-tree. But their hearts were taught to see in it a loveliness far above what nature can bestow. They saw it in the hallowed light of Scripture. It was the fact that Jesus often walked on its beach that lent to it a surpassing beauty and interest in their eyes. "How pleasant to me thy deep blue wave, For the glorious One who came to save They have succeeded in embodying the cast of their feelings in two little sentences: "How often Jesus looked on this scene, and walked by the side of this lake! We could feel the reason why, when harassed and vexed by the persecution of his enemies, Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea."" "The day we spent at the lake," writes Mr Bonar, "at the very water's side, was ever memorable; it was so peculiarly sweet. We felt an indescribable interest even in lifting a shell from the shore of a sea where Jesus had so often walked." Mr M'Cheyne describes a distant view-the appearance which the Sea of Galilee presents, as seen from the heights of Saphet: "O what a view of the Sea of Galilee is before you at your feet! It is above three hours' descent to the water edge, and yet it looks as if you could run down in as many minutes. The lake is much larger than I had imagined. It is hemmed in by mountains on every side, sleeping as calmly and softly as if it had been the sea of glass which John saw in heaven. We tried in vain to follow the course of the Jordan running through it. True, there were clear lines such as you see in the wake of a vessel, but then these do not go straight through the lake. The hills of Bashan are very high and steep where they run into the lake. At one point, were the tombs in the rocks where the demoniacs used to live, and near it the hills were exactly what the Scriptures describe: 'a steep place where the swine ran down into the sea.' On the north-east of the sea, Hermon rises very grand, intersected with many ravines full of snow." A melancholy tenderness rests upon this description. It is impossible to read it without remembering, that the heart which felt it, and the hand which penned it, are now mingled with the dust. And we know not any place in which we would prefer to meditate upon the memory of him who wrote it than by the waters of this much-loved lake. The scene is congenial to the subject. It was because the form of Jesus had been mirrored in its waters-because Jesus had wandered by its shores, and had taught there-that this lake possessed a sacred interest in M'Cheyne's eyes. It was the reflection of the image of Christ from his own sanctified character which forms its beauty, and which causes us to hang with interest over his engaging memoir. Even in the outlines of the scene, we may, without much fancy, trace the features of his charac ter; for as the mountains gracefully meet around this placid lake, so in him the gentleness of a Christian spirit was encircled with the bold attributes of faithfulness and high moral courage. He now rests in that land whose hills are salvation, and its rivers are rivers of life; and with his harp in his hand, and seeing Jesus face to face, he sings a higher song than that strangely prophetic one which he sung on the borders of the Sea of Galilee :— "O! Saviour, gone to God's right hand! Graved on thy heart is this lovely strand, O! give me, Lord, by this sacred wave, That I may feed till I find my grave Thy flock-both thine and mine." This Lake of Gennesaret was the scene of many Bible incidents. It was as he walked by this lake, shortly after his baptism, that Jesus met Simon and i Andrew, and James and John, mending or casting their nets; for they were fishers. He called them as he passed; and straightway, moved by a sweet, yet irresistible impulse, they leave all and follow him. "The first men that our Saviour dear Did choose to wait upon him here, WALTON. In connection with this, it is interesting to note. that Hasselquist, the Swedish naturalist, observed many of the fish which spawn in the Nile tenanting this lake. On the side of one of those hills which skirt the lake to the east, did Christ feed five thousand with five barley loaves and two small fishes; and in the fourth watch of the same night, did he walk to his disciples, when they were in the midst of the lake, and when the ship was sore tossed the fluid wave affording a firm pathway to the tread of its LordMatt. xiv. 22; John vi. 1-21. It was when he sailed on this lake, and when he was asleep in the hinder part of the ship, that one of those squalls which descend from its mountains, or blow with violence through its openings, tossed the sea into a tempest, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves. The Lord arose from the sleep which weariness had made sound, and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.Matt. viii. 23. Here, too, did he show himself again to the disciples after his resurrection. He was desirous to pay a farewell visit to this beloved lake before he should leave the earth. It was the morning, when he was seen standing on the shore, although the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. All night had they toiled and caught nothing; but at his direction did they cast their net anew. The miraculous draught of fishes revealed to them the unknown stranger. L H DROPS FROM "CANAAN'S FLOWINGS." John was the first to discover his Lord. All the disciples gathered around him with affection mingled with reverence; and Simon Peter had his commission renewed by the side of that lake where it was first bestowed. THE HAPPINESS OF CONTENTMENT. ENOUGH, I reckon wealth; That mean the surest lot That lies too high for base Contempt- My wishes are but few All easy to fulfil; I make the limits of my power I feel no care for gold— My clothes more fit than fine; No change of Fortune's calm Can cast my comforts down: And when, in angry mood, She proved an angry foe, SOUTHWELL. TWO WAYS OF OBSERVING THE (From Sermons by Dr Chalmers.) CERTAIN it is, that the Sabbath-day may be made to wear an aspect of great gloom and great ungainliness, with each hour having its own irksome punctuality attached to it; and when the weary formalist, labouring to acquit himself in full tale and measure of all his manifold observations, is either sorely fatigued in the work of filling up the unvaried routine, or is sorely oppressed in conscience, should there be the slightest encroachment either on its regularity, or on its entireness. We may follow him through his Sabbath history, and mark how, in the spirit of bondage, this drivelling slave plies at an unceasing task, to which, all the while, there is a secret dissatisfaction in his own bosom, and with which he lays an intolerable penance on his whole family. He is clothed in the habiliments of seriousness, and holds out the aspect of it; but never was aspect more unpromising or more unlovely. And, in this very character of severity, is it possible for him to move through all the stages of Sabbath observancy-first, to eke out his morning hour of solitary devotion; and then to assemble his household to the psalms, and the readings, and the prayers, which are all set forth in due and regular celebration; and then, with stern parental authority, to muster, in full attendance for church, all the children and domestics who belong to him; and then, in his compressed and crowded pew, to hold out, in complete array, the demureness of spirit that sits upon his own counte 347 nance, and the demureness of constraint that sits on the general face of his family; and then to follow up the public services of the day by an evening, the reigning expression of which shall be that of strict, unbending austerity-when exercises of patience, and the exercises of memory, and a confinement that must not be broken from, even for the tempting air and beauty of a garden, and the manifold other interdicts that are laid on the vivacity of childhood, may truly turn every Sabbath, as it comes round, into a periodical season of sufferance and dejection? And thus, instead of being a preparation of love and joy for a heaven of its own likeness, may all these proprieties be discharged, for no other purpose than that of pacifying the jealousies of a God of vengeance, and working out a burdensome acquittal from the exactions of this hard and unrelenting task-master. * This wretched Sabbath history, which we have already offered to your notice, is quite another thing from a history which bears to it a very strong external resemblance, but is impregnated by wholly another spirit, and is sustained throughout all the stages of it by another principle-the history not of a Sabbath drudge, but of a Sabbath amateur, who rises with alacrity to the delight of the hallowed services that are before him-who spends, too, his own hour of morning communion with his God, and from the prayer-opened gate of heaven catches upon his soul a portion of heaven's gladness-who gathers, too, his family around the household altar, and there diffuses the love and the sacred joy which have already descended upon his own bosom-who walks along with them to the house of prayer, and, in proportion as he fills them with his own spirit, so does he make the yoke of confinement easy, and its burden light unto them-who plies them with their evening exercise, but does it with a father's tenderness, and studies how their task shall become their enjoyment-who could, but for example's sake, walk fearlessly abroad and recognise in the beauties of nature the hand that has graced and adorned it; but that still a truer charm awaits him in the solitude of his own chamber, where he can hold converse with the piety of other days-with some worthy of a former generation, who, being dead, still speaketh--with God himself in the book of his testimony, or with God in prayer, whom he blesses for such happy moments of peace and of preciousness. And so he concludes a day, not in which his spirit has been thwarted, but in which his spirit has been regaled— a day of sunshine, to the recurrence of which he looks onward with cheerfulness-a day of respite from this world's cares--a day of rejoicing participation in the praises and spiritual beatitudes of the future world. DROPS FROM "CANAAN'S FLOWINGS." GOD hath two dwelling-places-the highest heavens, and the lowest hearts; that is the habitation of his glory-this of his grace. There are two choice mercies-1st, To have a broken heart for sin; 2d, To have a heart broken off from sin. If Love find fault, it is that there may be no fault to be found. God, on this ground, finds fault with his people, that his people may be without fault. The Son of God became the son of man, that the sons of men might become the sons of God. The love of God doth not know what it is to be idle, and idlers do not know what it is to love God. Christ is the Son of God, and therefore beloved.— Matt. iii. 17. We are beloved, and therefore the sons of God.-1 John iii. 1. Daily Bread. FRIDAY. "This is not your rest."-Mic. ii. 10. Save, till all these tempests end, All who on thy love depend; Waft our happy spirits o'erLand us on the heavenly shore. Rest is desirable; but it is not to be found on this side the grave. Worldly troubles attend all men in this life. This world is a sea of trouble, where one wave rolls upon another. They who fancy themselves beyond the reach of trouble, are mistaken: no state, no stage of life, is exempted from it. The crowned head is surrounded with thorny cares. Honour many times paves the way to deep disgrace: riches, for the most part, are kept to the hurt of the owners. The fairest rose wants not prickles, and the heaviest cross is sometimes found wrapt up in the greatest earthly comfort. Spiritual troubles attend the saints in this life. They are like travellers travelling in a cloudy night, in which the moon sometimes breaks out from under one cloud, but quickly hides her head again under another.-Boston. SATURDAY. "Now is the day of salvation."-2 COR. vi. 2, All who groan beneath your load; If much of your time be past, let no more of your time be waste; how much the longer our time hath been, the shorter our time shall be. Oh! that every step our souls take might be towards heaven; and that you would make sure of God to-day, because next day you are not sure of yourselves. For the Lord's sake, improve your time; for your soul's sake, redeem the time. The lawyer will not lose his term, the waterman will not lose his tide, the tradesman will not lose his exchange time, the husbandman will not lose his season—and will you lose your precious season? If you lose your season, you lose your soul. -Dyer. SABBATH. heart of a man. A holy God will never divide with an unholy devil. The true God is a righteous God, and he will never share his glory with another. The true God must be served truly, heartily; he loves neither halting nor halving. Such as divide the rooms of their souls betwixt God and sin, God and Satan, God and the world-that swear by God and Malcham -that sometimes pray devoutly, and at other times curse most hideously-that halt betwixt God and Baal-are mere heteroclites in religion, and such whom God abhors.-Brooks. TUESDAY. "And Peter went out, and wept bitterly."-MATT. XXVI. 75, Jesus, let thy pitying eye believing. Call back a wandering sheep; Nothing breaks the heart of a sinner like All gracious mourning flows from looking-from a look of faith. All tears of godly sorrow drop from the rises and falls. Faith and godly sorrow are like the eye of faith. Godly sorrow rises and falls as faith fountain and the flood, which rise and fall together. The more a man is able by faith to look upon a pierced Christ, the more his heart will mourn over all the dishonours that he has done to Christ; the more deep and wide the wounds are that faith shows me in the heart and sides of Christ, the more my heart will be wounded for sinning against Christ.Ibid. WEDNESDAY. "Affliction yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby."-HEB. xii. 11. When we have our grief filled up, And we shall share his throne. false glasses. As there are some glasses that will Carnal Reason often looks upon troubles through make great things seem little, so there are others that that thou lookest upon thy afflictions through one of will make little things seem great; and it may be them. Look upon thy afflictions in the glass of the Word-look on them in a Scripture dress-and then they will be found to be but little. He that shall look "The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour."- into a Gospel glass, shall be able to say, Heavy afflic PROV. xii. 26. Rests secure the righteous man! At his Redeemer's beck, Sure to emerge and rise again, And mount above the wreck. What, in the wreck of property-in the loss of relations and friends-in the failure of health and comfort-what will you do without "the consolation of Israel?" While your cisterns are broken, the fountain of living water is far off; while your lamps are extinguished, no Sun of Righteousness is nigh. But if you have an interest in Him who is the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, your trials will be all sanctified and alleviated: at what time you are afraid, you will be able to trust in him-in the multitude of your thoughts within you, his comforts will delight your soul. "I am cast down, but not destroyed." I feel my losses, but I am not lost. The waters are bitter, but this tree heals them. The cross takes away the curse; yea, the curse is turned into a blessing.Jay. MONDAY. "The Lord he is God, there is none else."-DEUT. iv. 35. Master, I own thy lawful claim Thine, wholly thine, I love to be; Thou seest at last I willing am Where'er thou go'st to follow thee; Thine, wholly thine, to live and die. God is a just and a jealous God, and he will never endure co-rivals or co-partners in the throne-the tions are light, long afflictions are short, bitter afflictions are sweet, and great afflictions are little2 Cor. iv. 16-18. It is good to make a judgment of your afflictions by a Gospel light, and by a Gospel rule.-Ibid. THURSDAY. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord."-REV.xiv. 1 They die in Jesus and are blestHow calm their slumbers are! From sufferings and from foes released, And freed from every snare. In death nothing dieth of thee but what thou When the mayest well spare-thy sin and sorrow. house is pulled to pieces, all those ivy roots in the wall shall be destroyed. The egg-shell must be broken that the little chick may slip out. The body must be dissolved, that thy soul may be delivered; yet thy body doth not die, but sleep in the grave till the morning of the resurrection. The outward sp parel shall not be utterly consumed by the moth of time, but locked up safe, as in a chest, to be newly trimmed, and gloriously adorned above the sun in his greatest lustre, and put on again, when thou shalt awake in the morning, never, never to be put off more.-Bishop Hall. Edinburgh: Printed by JOHN JOHNSTONE, residing at 12. Windsor Street, and Published by him at 2, Hunter Square. London: R. GROOMBRIDGE & SONS. Glasgow: J. R. M'NAIR & Co.; and to be had of any Bookseller throughout the Kingdom. |