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There are other cheap publications not so outrageous, nor, in their effects, so certainly or speedily ruinous, but still often much too dear. We refer to those which, although moral enough in their character, at least, containing nothing positively immoral or offensive, do yet studiously exclude from their pages all reference to the requirements and advantages of religion. They give sketches of history, interesting in their way, and faithful; but it is history without God-without any, even the slightest, reference to the workings of that Providence by which all its events are ordered and arranged. Personal narratives also are given; but they contain experiences altogether destitute of Christianity, and without any hint of the evils incident to its absence. Many pleasant stories also have we read in their pages-stories portraying sometimes the highest earthly happiness, and sometimes the deepest affliction-and it would be untrue to deny that we have often been delighted with them, often saddened, often, it may be, improved; but still they are stories in the happiness of which religion is sedulously prevented from having any share, and the afflictions of which religion is never called in to soothe or to sustain. They are written, in fact, not only as if religion were not the highest concernment of man, but as if there were no such thing as religion at all. Now, while we are no advocates of that sentimental piety which, in writing a history, would superinduce a sermon at every second sentence, or as, in some instances we have seen, would, in writing travels, intersperse every page with hymns, it is, at the same time, clear that an entire and systematic exclusion of all reference to the things of God and of eternity from such publications is fraught, to the reader, with effects most deadening and destructive. A man who, by regularly perusing such publications, sees God put out of his own world, will not long seek to have him in his own heart. Indeed, it is to be feared that one great cause of the spiritual apathy by which the masses in our day are characterized is just the vast extent to which this worldly and godless literature has been carried on and encouraged. And with such an issue the "cheapest" literature is surely too dear.

It is a pleasant thing to find, however, that Christian enterprise is now being stirred up to fight the enemy in this matter with his own weapons; and that magazines, tracts, and publication schemes, conducted on really sound and Christian principles, are so numerous, and so fully qualified, both in talent and cheapness, to obtain and preserve popular favour and support.

of scriptural and experimental illustration-a holy earnestness of application and appeal, which need not fear comparison with the same features of the practical divinity of any Church, or of any age. One cannot but feel, while reading any one of these volumes, that he is in the hands of a master-of a man who knows thoroughly of what he is speakingwho is acquainted with the truth of God in all its length and breadth, and who knows also the human heart, as far as man can know it, in the depths of its deceitfulness; and the effect on the reader, if he possess even ordinary natural feeling and susceptibility, cannot fail of being impressive. Prefixed to each volume is a memoir of the author, by the editor of the series. These memoirs enhance not a little the value of the works. They are written with great piquancy and vigour, and give the reader a vivid idea both of the men whose lives they sketch, and of the times in which they lived, and by which their characters and currents of thought were so largely moulded.

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THE HOPE OF THE WICKED HOPELESS. Ir is a strange impudence for men to "trust and hope in God," who are in perfect hostility against him. Bold fellows go through dangers here, but it will not be so hereafter. "They turn to me the back, and not the face; yet in their trouble they say, Arise and save They do it as confidently as if they never had despised God; but they mistake the matter-it is not "Go and cry," says he, "to the gods whom ye have chosen." When men come to die, then they catch hold of the mercy of God; but from that their filthy hands are beat off; there is no help for them there, and so they fall down to the pit. A holy fear | of God, and a happy hope in him, are commonly linked together. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him-upon them that hope in his mercy.-Archbishop Leighton.

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THE ONE LEAF.

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THERE was once a caravan crossing, I think, to the north of India, and numbering in its company a godly and devout missionary. As it passed along, a poor old man was overcome by the heat and labours of the journey, and, sinking down, was left to perish on the road. The missionary saw him, and, kneeling down at his side, when the rest had passed along, whispered into his ear," Brother, what is your hope:" The dying man raised himself a little to reply, and with a great effort succeeded in answering, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin!" and immediately expired with the effort. The missionary was greatly astonished at the answer, and, in the calm and peaceful appearance of the man, he felt assured he had died in Christ. where," he thought, "could this man, seemingly "How, or a Heathen, have got this hope ?" And as he thought of it, he observed a piece of paper grasped tightly in the hand of the corpse, which he succeeded in getting out. What do you think was his surprise and delight when he found it was a single leaf of the Bible, containing the 1st chapter of the First Epistle of John, in which these words occur? On that page the man had found the Gospel.-Children's Mission

The scheme named at the head of this short paper was, we believe, the first of the kind which was started, and is a truly admirable and deserving one. We have spent portions of many Sabbath evenings very pleasantly, and we trust profitably, in reading several of the works which have been issued under its auspices. They are not void of denominational peculiarities, but the great burden of their thought and teaching is Christ. They are evidently the productions of men of masculine minds, and deal of divine truth with a strength and spirituality of thought a vigorousness of expression - a powerary Newspaper.

THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

109

THE UNBELIEVER IN A STATE OF CONDEMNATION.

A Sermon.

BY THE LATE HENRY DUNCAN, D.D., MINISTER AT RUTHWELL.

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

-JOHN iii. 18.

THIS is a part of the remarkable conversation of our Lord with Nicodemus, in which he teaches the necessity of being born again. In the verses immediately preceding, he shows how wonderfully God has manifested his love to man in giving his only begotten Son for the salvation of our fallen world; and then, in the words of the text, he proclaims the utter condemnation of all who refuse to believe in him. If we believe, then we are born of the Spirit; that is to say, we become new creatures -new as to our sentiments respecting our own character and responsibilities-new as to our views of happiness and longings after immortality-new as to our knowledge of God and the love which we ought to cherish toward him. But there is another view which we are required to take of our condition. We are to consider not merely what is to become of us in the event of our believing in Christ, but what we are by nature, and what we must remain if we do not believe. And this is the view presented in that part of the text to which I propose to direct your particular attention: "He that believeth not is condemned already."

It would have been more pleasant to me to speak to you on the first part of the verse-on the happy state of those who believe; but I have not come here to-day to speak smooth things to you. I have come to arouse you; for I fear many of you are yet in a state of condemnation.

This implies two things :—

that all have sinned.”—Rom. v. 12. And again : "We were by nature children of wrath, even as others."-Eph. ii. 3. More frequently, however, this doctrine appears in a somewhat different form, as connected with the rejection of the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. Thus it is said by our blessed Lord himself: « He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

John iii. 36. And still more expressly, perhaps, in the language of the text: "He that believeth not is condemned already."

Observe, dear brethren, the force of these solemn words: "The wrath of God abideth on him!" and, "condemned already!" It is not on the last day that the condemnation of sinners is suspended. It is not at the final judgment that the wrath of God is to reach them for the first time. In one sense, their condemnation is already past. The wrath of God "abideth" on them. Even now they are in this awful state. They are "born in sin" and are " under condemnation." Unless their natural condition come to be altered by grace, the wrath of God must continue to abide upon them, and they must finally "perish.” consider what these plain declarations imply, "Condemnation!" this is a dreadful word-even when it refers merely to the sentence of an earthly judge. A condemned criminal is doomed, perhaps, to suffer an ignominious death. He is remanded to prison, that in his miserable cell he may prepare for the gallows. Death stares him in the face, and its horrors are aggravated by the thought of his guilt. Had he but followed some honest calling he might still have been free and prosperous-happy amidst his

Now

1st, That all who do not believe in Christ lie family and friends-useful, respected, honoured.

under condemnation.

2d, That through Christ alone may this condemnation be removed.

I. That all who do not believe in Christ lie under condemnation, is clearly proved by numerous passages in Holy Writ. Sometimes it is asserted generally as the condition of the whole family of Adam, as when it is said: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for No. 10. *

But now how different! Few, short, and miserable, are the days allotted to him. He must forfeit his life to the violated laws of his country, and his memory shall rot. This is condemnation! Can that man experience hope, or enjoyment, or ease? Must not the very domestic affections which might have cheered his heart become bitterness to him? His wife and children-where are they? What are they doing? Can they think kindly of him who has

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ruined them Are they not cursing him in their hearts-This is to be condemned by the law of man; but far, far more miserable is it to be condemned by the law of God. Yes! ye who neglect the great salvation, it is more miserable far, if you but knew it. But you are bold and senseless, and you hug the chains that bind you down in the condemned cell of your original and acquired estate. It is more miser│able still, just because you know it not! Ah! if you knew it, you would ask pardon of God, and you would obtain it. How awful, to see a man wallowing in wretchedness, and turning everywhere for relief but in the right direction-everywhere in rain! to see a man ready to perish amidst a raging flood, and recklessly turning away from the hand that is stretched out for his deliverance ! And such is the state of misery in which those are" already" sunk who are under spiritual condemnation-slaves of the world-slaves of their own passions-slaves of Satan, and they know it not !-who, while they join with their fellow-criminals in brutal mirth and folly, hate and avoid those who would open their eyes and bring them deliverance!

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earth, earthy-all blighted, low and grovelling, as the very place of his banishment itself.

But instead of exile, the sentence of condemnation may be death. And is there not here, too, a resemblance to the condemnation under which the soul by nature lies. The sentence pronounced on our first parents was: “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Under this sentence all their children lie. Over every man death temporal asserts its right to reign. The moment we are born we are on a journey to the grave. We are mortal ourselves, and all are mortal around us. Mortal are the' objects we cherish-mortal the friends we love. Decay and death are written on everything that lives. The flowers bloom only to die. The trees spread their branches only to fall beneath the tempest. The birds fail from the air, the beasts from the forest; and man, the lord of them all, "cometh forth as a flower, and is cut down." Nay, "there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and the tender branch thereof will not cease;" but man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more they shall not awake nor There are many points of resemblance be- be raised out of their sleep." But what is tem tween him who is condemned by an earthly, poral compared with eternal death? Under and him who is condemned by a heavenly this condemnation also man labours. His soul judge. If banishment be the lot of the one, survives his body; but it is only to suffer a banishment is also the lot of the other. The second and far more terrible death-a death man who is condemned by human laws was that lives, that" abideth" like the curse. He is! happy once. So was Adam in a state of inno- cut off for ever from heaven-from the society cence. Paradise was his home-his Creator of the just made perfect, of the holy angels, of was his friend-within and around him all God the Father, Christ the Saviour, and the was beauty, and sunshine, and joy. But he re- Holy Spirit the sanctifier. He is sentenced to belled he was condemned-he was banished! a miserable existence among condemned spirits, Then what a change took place !—a change in "where their worm dieth not, and their fire the dire effects of which all his posterity are never shall be quenched." While they remain involved! Every impenitent sinner is to be re- on earth, then, the condemned only await their garded as banished from the presence of God, final and appalling doom. They exist, indeed, his best, his only friend-banished from the but they exist in a prison-house. Their senbeauties and delights of Eden-banished to the tence hath gone forth. Every day, every hour, barren wilderness, where all is blighted with a is bringing them nearer and more near to final curse where his food is unblest-where hatred judgment. Then how awful shall be the voice rages-where wickedness abounds-where the of Him who sitteth on the great white throne: heart is dark, the faculties enslaved, and he "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting himself "sold under sin." He labours, but it fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Ah! is " in the fire," and in chains, without any pro- brethren, will not the misery of that sentence fit, any enjoyment, any hope. If he looks back be aggravated by the recollection of means neto a state of innocence, it is but to increase glected and grace abused? You might have despair. The way is guarded by a fiery sword. obtained heaven, but you have preferred earth. Paradise, if he could regain it, would be no gar- The Father has called you-the Son has died for den of bliss to him; for his whole moral and the very chief of sinners-the Holy Spirit has spiritual nature has undergone a change, and offered you his aid-the ministers of the everconsequently its enjoyments would to him belasting Gospel have been commissioned to invite weariness and pain. His affections are of the you" without money and without price;" but all

RUSSIA AND THE GREEK CHURCH.

perhaps in vain! To be condemned! O my beloved friends, think of it-lay it seriously to heart! To live under the frown of the Holy One!-to lie down and rise up and labour all the day long with out the Father's blessing!-to have the heart always pressed down under the intolerable weight of the curse of God, so that fulness of bread cannot satisfy you, so that ease cannot give you rest, so that the pursuit of enjoyment cannot give you security or peace! Compared with your case, how blessed was that of Daniel when the mouth of the lions' den closed upon him!-how blessed that of Paul and Silas when the wounds of their stripes were festering, and their feet fast in the stocks !-how blessed that of the martyr Stephen while the stones fell in showers around him, bruising and breaking every limb of his body! Daniel trusted in God-Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God-Stephen saw the heavens opened, and he was enabled to lift up the prayer: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." But what can you do? You have cast away your only hope of reconciliation. Ah! why have you rejected the Fountain of living waters?

How sad your condition if you are just so far awakened that the very name of a seared conscience should alarm you, and that to bid you pray seems as if it were to mock you! How sad, if you know just enough of your condemnation to make you fear to approach God-just enough, and no more, to make you wish to forget him-to induce you to deny him, to rebel against him in your hearts, and to call him a hard master! This is misery! But there is a greater misery still. When you have succeeded in all your wishes-when you have hardened your hearts and shut your eyes against the truth-when you can live in God's world and be insensible to his presence-when you can go down to destruction without an effort to save your souls. This is the misery of miseries-this is to be condemned! And why, dear brethren, why is this the greatest of miseries? I reply, Because it is hopeless. As long as you know and feel that you are under condemnation, there is hope for you. Conscience is the voice of God speaking in the soul. While you hear, while you listen to that voice, though it be unwillingly, hope has not altogether ceased to shed its radiance on your path. You are still within the reach of the appointed means. But O! if you have suc ceeded in stifling the voice of conscience, how near are you to everlasting perdition! Yet who may limit the mercy of Him who sent his

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Son to die upon the cross? It may be that sovereign grace may visit even an enemy and a blasphemer-it may be that the grace which touched the heart of Paul the persecutor may reach even the very wretch who seems to have sold himself to the wicked one. Yes! my beloved friends, that grace is all-sufficient; but the promise is only to those who seek it with all their heart. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him turn unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him: and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." I should now proceed to consider, as I proposed, in the second place, that through Christ alone can this condemnation be removed. But this, with what remains, shall form the subject of another discourse."

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RUSSIA AND THE GREEK CHURCH.
BY THE REV. ANDREW THOMSON., A.B., EDINBURGH.

I HAVE been induced to select Russia and its
religion as the subject of some statements and
reflections, partly because I feel it to be a com-
paratively untrodden field, and partly from a
conviction, which subsequent investigation has
only served to deepen, that the degree of inte-
rest in the religious condition and prospects of
Russia generally existing in this country, is
very strangely disproportioned to the over-
whelming magnitude of the subject.

In more than one respect, however, I place myself, by this selection, at serious disadvantage. The information supplied by either native or foreign writers regarding the ecclesiastical condition of Russia is scanty, and what has been supplied is, in many cases, seriously deformed by silly legend and superstitious fable. Moreover, the Russian Church displays no splendid roll of martyrs-no death-struggles between truth and tyranny-no voice of devoted and inextinguishable energy stirring up its multitudinous tribes and tongues to life, and proving itself too mighty and awful for the fiat of despotism to crush it. It is different with Western Europe: its states and kingdoms look back upon a Reformation rich in glorious remembrances, in noble characters, in faithful testimonies, in heroic martyrdoms, in blessed and undying fruits; indeed, the most splendid and profoundly interesting page in the history of every kingdom in the West, is that which records its Reformation struggles. But the Russian Luthers and Calvins have yet to arisethe revival and purification of the Eastern

The above was the last sermon preached by the vene. rable and lamented author, of whose life and labours we expect to be able shortly to present a sketch to our readers. He was summoned to depart from the scene of forty seven years of faithful labour, without discoursing on the other part of the text, as he had intended,

Churches have yet to be enacted and recorded. The natural consequence is, that there can be little history where there have been few great events; and very imperfect development of character where there have been no overwhelming impulses, or great crises to draw it forth. There is magnitude in the Russian annals, but seldom sublimity; there is colouring, but not pictorial effect. In short, my subject must draw its chief interest rather from its intrinsic importance, than from outward attractions-from its prospects, than from its history. But looking at it in this light, its interest is truly overwhelming. To prove this, let me call the attention of the reader, in the present article, to a few introductory details respecting the territorial extent, the population, and social relations of the Russian Empire.

About the fifth century, a horde of those tribes called Slavi or Slavonians, having advanced eastward from the banks of the Danube, established themselves in those regions which stretch along the borders of the Dnieper, where they built the city of Kief, and formed it into their capital. These laid the foundations of

the Russian monarchy.

It is believed that another tribe of the same people had, about the same period, settled still farther to the east, in the province of Novgorod, where they founded the city still known by that name, as their metropolis. Nor is it improbable that other tribes, following their example, formed themselves into other principalities; at all events, we find various Slavonic princes uniting their arms, and carrying their conquests, and extending their territories northward to the shores of the Baltic.

This extension of territory, however, proved in their case, as in that of mightier nations, the means of their subjection. Along the coasts of the Baltic there lived a piratical people called the Varages or Varagians-supposed to form a part of those Scandinavian tribes who, under the name of Danes and Saxons, successively made themselves masters of England. Having been employed by the Novgorodians as mercenary auxiliaries to repel the encroachments of neighbouring states, they succeeded; and pushing the advantage which their bravery and energy had thus gained them, they reduced the Slavonians themselves to subjection, settled in the country around Novgorod, and reducing the various principalities or tribes under one government, proclaimed Ruric, their leader, king. This event took place about the year 860, and from this period the Russian monarchy dates its birth.

It does not consist with our object to trace the farther history of this kingdom from its cradle on the banks of the Dnieper to its present colossal magnitude, when, through vast accessions of territory, by war, intrigue, and diplomacy, it has in three centuries multiplied its extent more than twenty fold, and now casts

its dark shadow over nearly half the world. Nor is it for us to do more than remind our reader of what every thoughtful observer of events must have discovered for himself, that Russia, ever retaining with iron tenacity what she has already acquired, only waits the convenient hour for absorbing Turkey within herself, while she advances with steady and stealthy step upon our own Indian territories, not content to sway the regions beneath the frigid, but aiming also at the most splendid dominions under the torrid zone.

Suffice it to mention, that even at the present moment the empire of Russia extends, in one connected territory, from the frontiers of Germany and Prussia and the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, eastward to the sea which separates Asia from America. She thus embraces nearly one-half of Europe, while all the north of Asia is her own. The islands which border on the arctic circle own her sway; while, passing beyond Behring's Straits, we trace her sceptre over considerable regions of the north-western territory of America. Losing herself towards the north in the impenetrable polar regions, where nothing but eternal winter disputes her empire, Russia extends her sway southward to those sunny climes where the vine is owned and cultured as a native of the soil. How vast an empire! Even to this hour we speak of China with a sort of vague and mysterious sense of magnitude, but the whole of China does not equal two-thirds of Russia; while the Roman Empire, even when it had reached the culminating point of its greatness, did not embrace more than one-fourth of the territory that now owns the awful authority of those ukases which pass from the winter-palace of the Czar.

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"And on his sledge

The Laplander, that nightly marks the bear Circling the pole; and those who see the flames Of Hecla burn the drifted snow; the Russ Long whiskered, and equestrian Pole,"— and all these increasing at a rate that equals that of any other country in Europe. Even to the eye of a mere politician or statist, what an overwhelming interest thus encircles Russia! but who that looks at man with the intelligence and interest of a Christian-as an apostle, as an angel, as Jesus Christ looked at him-in other words, who that invests him at once with the grandeur of immortality, and the peril of impious revolt from God, does not anxiously inquire, What are the religious condition and prospects of this vast empire? Is Russia leavened with the Gospel in its renovating, elevating, ennobling, life-giving power? Do her

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