ון

take decided measures, sent an army across the Indus, which in the space of three short months, reduced the mountain-fortress of Ghuzni (supposed to be impregnable), Candahar, with its capital Cabul, and, in fact, the entire country.

It is true that a subsequent repulse ensued, which was caused by treason, rather than by the valour of the Affghans; but the English army soon reconquered the country, and then withdrew within the natural frontier of their possessions, the River Indus.

Two years since, the alarm was sounded far and wide, and on the Continent particularly it was believed, through reports spread by the French, that the star of England's glory was about to set in India, and not a few envious hearts rejoiced at it; while some looked on it as a just retribution for the wrongs which had been inflicted on that country. Subsequent events (namely, the reconquest of Affghanistan and the peace of Nanking) have proved that these assertions were premature. The great designs of God, for which he has instituted the relationship between Britain and India, are not yet accomplished, and, until they are, no hostile powers can disunite them.-Weitbrecht's Missions in Bengal.

A STUMBLING BLOCK IN THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN.

359

plan. Yet there may be an extreme. It would be a false and superstitious notion of the sanctity of the Sabbath, which would interdict the giving of lessons in reading, in any case where they could not otherwise be obtained. Such an interdiction would assuredly have come under the rebuke of "the Lord of the Sabbath," who says: "I will have mercy and not sacrifice." The power to read is, on all accounts, so precious-and especially as the means of access to the treasures of divine truth, and thus to the blessings of salvation-that the imparting of it might fairly, in this view of it, be nuinbered amongst religious acts; and he would be a stern moralist, indeed, who, in any case of necessity, would prohibit and condemn it. It must, however, on the other hand, be admitted, that it requires necessity for its vindication. And possibly our southern neighbours have allowed themselves to slip too extensively into the practice, without having sufficiently considered the duty, as far as possibility could be made to go, of week-day institutions for the mechanical and secular department of tuition, and of reserving the Lord's-day for such instruction as is really and strictly religious. It would be at once a saving of principle, and a saving of time.-Dr Wardlaw.

us:

HEARERS AND DOERS

I REMEMBER our countryman, Bromeard, tells us of one who, meeting his neighbour coming out of the church, asked him, "What! is the sermon done? Done!" said the other, "no: it is said it is ended, but it is not so soon done." And surely so it is with we have good store of sermons said, but we have only a few that are done: and one sermon done is worth a thousand said and heard; for "not the hearers of the law, but the doers of it are justified. And if ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them. Glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good!"-Rom. ii. 10.-Bishop Hall.

MOHAMMEDANISM IN INDIA.

THE power of the Mohammedans in India is crumbled into dust, but their pride is in no way humbled. They regard the English and their religion with hatred, and are therefore far less accessible to the missionary than the Hindus. Many of the old noble families long for the time, which will never come, when the banner of Mohammed shall once more wave on the mountain-fortresses of Hindustan.-Ibid.

THE TEACHING OF READING IN SABBATH SCHOOLS.

Ix Scotland, the system of Sabbath schools is, generally speaking (for there are exceptions), on a somewhat different footing from what it is in England. The schools are exclusively devoted to the communication of religious instruction. The learning to read forms no part of their exercises. For those who cannot read, it is reckoned most desirable to have week-day evening schools, preparatory to their future attendance on the Sabbath school. And beyond question, wherever it is attainable, this is the better

SAYINGS OF OLD HUMPHREY.

beat of the heart is a rap at the door, to tell us of Our frail bodies are tottering habitations; every our danger.

Do you want to know the man against whom you have most reason to guard yourself?—your lookingglass will give you a very fair likeness of his face.

When I put my finger on my pulse, it tells me, at the same moment, that I am a living and a dying

man.

When the Infidel would persuade you to abandon your Bible, tell him you will do so when he brings you a better book.

A man should always look upwards for comfort; for when the heaven above our heads is dark, the earth under our feet is sure to be darker.

When we start back with unusual surprise at the wickedness of others, may it not be a proof that we are not sufficiently acquainted with our own hearts?

The friend that lightly flatters thee is an enemy; the enemy that justly reproves thee is a friend.

He who neglects religion prepares for himself a bitter draught, and a meal of wormwood; a nightcap of thorns, and a bed of briers; a life of vexation,

and a death of sorrow.

If you want to get a spiritual appetite, walk often in the green pastures and by the still waters of God's promises to his people.

If the world knew what passes in my heart, what would it think of me? I do know it; what then do I think of myself?-Visitor.

Daily Bread.

FRIDAY.

The Lord is our lawgiver."-ISA. xxxiii. 22.

Thy nature be my law-

Thy spotless sanctity;

And sweetly every moment draw
My happy soul to thee.

'God hath written his law three several ways. When he first created man, he wrote then upon his heart by his creating finger. Man was the transcript of God. As he was his handiwork, so he was his hand-writing also; man was then the only copy of the law extant in the world. This copy was perfect; but yet it was such as might be blotted and torn. Next, God wrote his law in his Word. The Holy Scriptures exhibit to us an entire system, both of commands and duties; and this copy is both perfect and durable; such as neither hath suffered, nor can suffer, any decays from length of time, or from the rage and malice of men or devils. And, lastly, God hath again written his law upon the heart of man, in his new creation; and this copy is eternally durable; but yet it is but as a writing upon sinking and leaky paper, which in this life is very obscure and full of blots.-Hopkins.

"Now

ye

SATURDAY.

who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ."-EPH. ii. 13.

Oh! what is man, when grace reveals
The virtue of a Saviour's blood?
Again a life divine he feels-

Despises earth, and walks with God.

In a state of nature, we stood in a threefold sad and wretched relation to God; we were strangers to God, rebels and enemies, and also guilty malefactors; and as such, were liable to eternal condemnation. But, the grace of God intervening, makes a blessed change in all these relations; of strangers, we are brought near, and enrolled in the family of heaven, and so are made children of God and heirs of glory, by the grace of adoption; of enemies, we are made friends and intimates, and accepted through the Beloved, through the grace of redemption; of guilty malefactors, we are acquitted, and pardoned, and accepted to eternal life, by the free and absolute grace of justification.-Ibid.

SABBATH.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart."-Ps. cxxxix. 23.
Let earth no more my heart divide-
With Christ may I be crucified-

To thee with my whole soul aspire.
Dead to the world and all its toys,
Its idle pomp and fading joys,

Be thou alone my one desire.

That man is for heaven, and heaven is for that man, who makes it his greatest business in this world to watch his heart to guard his heart. The hypocrite looks most to externals, but the sincere Christian looks most to internals; the hypocrite's main watch is about his lips, but a sincere Christian's main watch is about his heart; the hypocrite's main work lies without doors, but the sincere Christian's main work lies within doors.-Brooks.

MONDAY.

"Your iniquities have separated between you and your God."-ISA. lix. 2.

Since thou would'st have us free from sin,

And pure as those above,

Make haste to bring thy nature in,

And perfect us in love.

to blot and blur their evidences for glory, by committing this or that heinous sin; and then his next work is to rob them of their evidences for glory, that so, though at the long-run they may get safe to heaven, yet, Jacob-like, they may go halting and mourning to their graves.-Brooks.

TUESDAY.

"Faith as a grain of mustard seed."-MATT. xvii. 20. Poor, guilty, weak, and helpless worms, On thy kind arms we fall;

Thou art our strength and righteousness

Our Saviour and our all.

The least degree of true sanctifying grace is sufficient to entitle the soul to heaven and glory. Let weak and doubting Christians, therefore, know this for their comfort, that the promise of eternal life is not made to the degree of their grace, but to the truth of it; not to grace as strong, but to grace as true. Now the truth of grace may be in the least and in the weakest degree. That grace to which it is not said, He only whose faith is so strong as to our salvation is principally ascribed, is our faith; now overcome all temptations and all doubts, and to flourish up into assurance, he only shall be saved; but, Whosoever believes shall be saved, though his faith be very weak and very wavering.-Hopkins.

WEDNESDAY.

"Come, Lord Jesus."-REV. xxii. 20.
Happy he whom Christ shall find
Watching to see him come;
Him the judge of all mankind

Shall bear triumphant home.

Be frequently looking out and longing for Christ's coming. As Abraham stood in his tent-door ready to go forth to meet the angels that were sent unto him, should the believer keep himself in a waiting posture at this time. It is the character of believers--they are such as love his appearing.-2 Tim. iv. 8. They desire his coming. "Make haste, my beloved."-Cant. viii. 14. "Even so, come Lord Jesus, come quickly," The Lord is gone! my Saviour hath left the earth, and entered into his glory; my friends and brethren are gone to their blessed rest, where they see God's face, and sing his praise for ever; and how can I be willing to stay behind when they are gone! Must I be groaning and sighing, when they are triumphing and dividing the spoil? Surely I will look after them, and cry, O Lord how long? When shall I be with my Saviour and my God?— Willison.

Whether

Death may separate chief friends; but to separate them from God-this is impossible! living or dying-in time or in eternity-in this world or in any other-a good man is equally under the kind care of the Father of mercies. It is his eye that watches the sleeping dust. It is his favour that animates the glorified spirit. It is his gracious hand that supplies its wants. In all worlds, and at all times, he is the wisdom that directs, the power that upholds, and the goodness that satisfies his people! -Wilkinson.

361

"Thou wilt show me the path of life."-Ps. xvi. 11. THESE words had originally a double application, as is the case with many Old Testament statements. They were uttered by David, king of Israel, and embodied an assertion of his confidence and triumphant hope; but they also referred to David's Son and Lord, as is clear from what is stated by the Apostle Peter: "For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried; . . . . but he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ."

As it ought to be the earnest desire of all true Christians to be "followers of Christ," so, in this respect, they should especially desire to resemble him, that, amidst all the discouragements and cares of an uncertain world, and amidst all the privileges and enjoyments of the sanctuary below, they may ever look forward to that which is within the veil, and say: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." The topic of great importance suggested by these words is this: The assurance which David had of future blessedness, teaching us that such an assurance is attainable, and highly to be desired: "Thou wilt show me the path of life." The language is figurative, and sets forth the Christian life under the emblem of a way in which the Christian walks-a very frequent figure in Scripture. All men are there spoken of as strangers and pilgrims upon the earth; they are spoken of as ever in motion, whether they believe it or not, drawn forward irresistibly, whether sleeping or waking, towards an eternal world; nay, it is declared, that they are by nature drawn forward on a path called No. 31.

emphatically "the path of destruction," strewed everywhere with the wrecks of the dead and dying, and at the end of which opens the jaws of perdition to receive condemned sinners into the region of the "second death." It is clearly stated, that it requires no effort to secure a passage along this way. The gates to it are wide open continually-the way itself is broad and crowded with passengers: "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” We have merely to be let alone in our natural state, and we shall infallibly be pressed forward amidst the crowd, and as sure as we sit in this house of prayer, so surely shall we be "driven away in our wickedness," and have destruction and death for our everlasting companions. There, is no secret in all this. There is no guide required but Satan, who is ever ready, and our own wicked and deceitful hearts. But, on the other hand, David spake of something altogether supernatural and glorious, when he spake of "the path of life"-of a great secret which had been revealed to him, and called in Scripture "the secret of the Lord," which is only with them "that fear him, and hope in his mercy"of an exercise of omnipotent power to drag him back from the downward steep of ruin, and to set him upon a rock, establishing his goings," and open to his admiring gaze the King in his beauty, and the land that is afar off." The confidence which David here expresses was the result of saving, divine power, and was not only to him the assurance of heaven when he died-it was heaven begun-the bright foretaste of an everlasting inheritance.

Let me fix your thoughts, for one instant, on the striking designation here given of a Christian's path: "The path of life." Death was the great curse of the law, which "hath passed upon all men, because all have sinned." Its dark shadow has come over the whole generations of a fallen world. And herein consists the fearful essence of man's degeneracy, that his soul is dead, and that even the external body-those eyes that look out on the glories of nature those ears that are awake to the sounds of melody- that living, moving frame, is only the habitation of a dead soul, whose moral perceptions are blunted, across whose eyes a veil of darkness hath been drawn, and which is "alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in it." The man is "dead even whilst he lives; for to be carnally minded is death." But the first impulse of the divine Spirit removes this veil of darkness, September 26, 1845.

quickens this insensible conscience, and starts this soul into spiritual life. "Old things pass away, all things become new." The whole soul is now alive, and that germ of life expands, brightens, and increases, till it reach the glory of the perfect day. Satan can never quench itsin can never finally overcome it-death, instead of destroying it, merely destroys the tabernacle in which this immortal spirit is confined, and sets it free into a region of brightness and endless purity. Every step, therefore, taken by such a soul, is taken by a soul alice, along a way irradiated with life, towards a region where death is unknown. And no sooner does a soul once see and enter on this path really, than it is quite certain that it shall hold on its way, and wax stronger and stronger: "They go from strength to strength, every one of them appearing before God in Zion."

Having made these explanations in regard to the terms here employed, let us now consider the thing itself which David asserts, viz., that he possessed a certainty of his own salvation: "Thou wilt show me the path of life." It was the homely but striking statement of another, that much theology is often contained in pronouns; and you observe there is no vagueness here: "Thou," the God of heaven and earth, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "wilt show me the path of life"-clearly intimating that David himself possessed a firm assurance of his own salvation. Many other portions of the Psalms contain evidence of the same truth: "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness"-" Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." And his last words make it clear that he died exulting in the same confidence: "He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire." The same confidence had Job: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." Thus also we find the great Apostle of the Gentiles saying, in triumph, when about to be offered: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

That an exulting assurance of salvation is, therefore, one of the privileges of God's people cannot be doubted. But that it is not always attained, and that, even after attained, it is often interrupted by doubts and darkness, is quite clear from the Word of God. Like the varying aspect of the sky, so is the experience of a Christian's life. Not always sunshine, but sometimes gloom and darkness; and "the clouds return after the rain." This is clear, not merely from the fact that David sometimes was left in despondency: "Hath God forgotten to be gra

cious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?"--that Job was left to bewail his darkness: "O that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined on my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness"-that Paul was left to doubt, that, after having preached to others, he himself might be a castaway;-but from such texts as, "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God;" and from the fact that the Apostle John encourages those to whom he wrote, as being already Christians, to seek to "know that they had eternal life;" whilst the other apostles desire Christians to give all " diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end"proving that the mere existence of personal Christianity does not always make assurance certain.

At the same time, it is quite clear from such passages as our text, not only that such an assurance is attainable, but that it ought most earnestly to be sought after by all Christians as the great sheet-anchor of comfort: "Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure." And most assuredly if the man who possesses an earthly estate, not merely walks round the boundaries of it with eager eye-not merely makes it as sure as parchment and the power of law can make it-not merely places the title-deeds in a strong record chest, and registers them beyond the reach of destruction

but even after he has done all this, can scarcely rest upon his bed till he is convinced that all is secure, and that no one designs to interfere with his property or challenge his title, although all must soon pass from him by death, and these titles and these estates be burned up amidst the conflagration of the world-O surely it becomes the Christian to make sure of his title to that inheritance which is

incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, which shall burst upon his sight when he enters the eternal world.

We must, however, discriminate with care between a true and a false assurance. We may imagine ourselves to be rich, and increased in goods, whilst poor and miserable-standing in need of all things. For there are dreams in the spiritual world as well as in the natural; and as the "hungry man may dream, and behold he eateth, but he awaketh and his soul is faint;" so a man may dream that everlasting glory shall be his, but death may break up the dream like a thunder-clap, and his soul be exposed to everlasting famine. "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness." And, consider the dreadful consequences of delusion on such a subject. The greatest prince or proprietor on earth has not one foot of land in heaven; and though he harass himself and spoil others for the purpose of swelling out his possessions here,

1