loured carnations, streaked with red, and roses of a rich golden yellow. Even the commoner varieties-auriculas and anemones, and the party-coloured polyanthus-grew better with Willie than with anybody else. A Dutchman might have envied him his tulips, as they stood, row above row, on their elevated beds, like so many soldiers on a redoubt; and there was one mild dropping season, in which two of these beautiful flowers, each perfect in its kind, and of different colours too, sprung apparently from the same stem. The neighbours talked of them as they would have talked of the Siamese twins; but Willie, though it lessened the wonder, was at pains to show them that the flowers sprung from different roots, and that what seemed their common stem was in reality but a green hollow sheath formed by one of the leaves. they had learned that he was dying, and the feeling had deepened immensely with the intelligence. They found him lying in his neat little room, with a table bearing the one beloved volume, drawn in beside his bed. He was the same quiet, placid creature he had ever been-grateful for the slightest kindness, and with a heart full of love for all-full to overflowing. He said nothing of the Kirk, and nothing of the Baptists; but earnestly did he urge on his visitors the one master-truth of revelation. O to be secure of an interest in Christ! there was nothing else, he assured them, that would stand them in the least stead, when, like him, they come to die. As for himself, he had not a single anxiety; God, for Christ's sake, had been kind to him during all the long time he had been in the world; and he was now kindly calling him out of it. Whatever He did to him was good, and for his good; and why, then, should he be anxious or afraid! The hearts of Willie's visitors were touched, and they could no longer speak or think of him as "the poor lost lad." A few short weeks went by, and Willie had gone the way of all flesh. There was silence in his shop, and his flowers opened their breasts to the sun, and bent their heads to the bee and butterfly, with no one to take note of their Proud as Willie was of his flowersand with all his humility he could not help being somewhat proud of them-he was yet conscientiously determined to have no miracle among them, unless, indeed, the miracle should chance to be a true one. It was no fault of Willie's that all his neighbours had not as fine gardens as himself-he gave them slips of his best flowers, flesh-coloured carnations, yellow rose, and all; he grafted their trees for them, too, and taught them the exact time for raising their tulip roots, and the best mode of preserv-beauty, or to sympathize in the delight of the ing them. Nay, more than all this, he devoted whole hours at times to give the finishing touches to their parterres and borders, just in the way a drawing-master lays in the last shadings and imparts the finer touches to the landscapes of a favourite pupil. All seemed impressed with the unselfish kindliness of his disposition; and all agreed that there could not be a warmerhearted man or a more obliging neighbour than Willie Watson, "the poor lost lad." little winged creatures that seemed so happy among them. There was many a wistful eye cast at the closed door and melancholy shutters, by the members of Willie's congregation-and they could all point out his grave. Need we point out the rationale of the story, or the moral which it carries? Willie had quitted the north country a respectable Presbyterian, but it was not until after meeting in the south with some pious Baptists that he had become vitally reli- | Everything earthly must have its last day. gious. The peculiarities of Baptist belief had Willie was rather an elderly than an old man, no connection whatever with his conversion; and the childlike simplicity of his tastes and higher and more generally entertained dochabits made people think of him as younger trines had been rendered efficient to that end; than he really was; but his constitution, never but, as is exceedingly common in such cases, a strong one, was gradually failing; he lost he had closed with the entire theological code strength and appetite, and at length there came of the men who had been instrumental in the a morning on which he could no longer open his work; and so, to the place which he had left shop. He continued to creep out at noon, an unconverted Presbyterian, he returned a however, for a few days after, to enjoy himself converted Baptist. Certain it was, however, among his flowers, with only the Bible for his though until after his death his townsmen failed companion; but in a few days more he had de- to apprehend it, that Willie was better fitted clined so much lower, that the effort proved for Christian union with the truly religious portoo much for him, and he took to his bed. The tion of them in the later than in the earlier neighbours came flocking in; all had begun stages of his career. Willie, the Presbyteto take an interest in poor Willie; and now | rian, was beyond comparison less their Chris A CHAPTER ON PRAYER. tian brother than Willie the Baptist-maugre their diversity of opinion on one important point. And in course of time they all lived to see it. We may add that, of all the many arguments promulgated in favour of toleration and Christian union in this northern town, there were none that told with better effect than the arguments furnished by the life and death of Willie Watson-" the poor lost lad."* A CHAPTER ON PRAYER. FOR YOUNG PERSONS. NO. II. BY THE REV. J. FAIRBAIRN, ALLANTON. IN a former paper on the subject of Prayer, you was told what prayer is, to whom we are to pray, what things we are to pray for, and how we ought to pray. There are a number of other points about prayer that should be spoken of, and now we are to speak of them. The subject is so large a one that all that it would be proper to say about it cannot be said now. Only a few matters in addition to those which have been already noticed can now be considered. The questions might now be asked, Where are we to pray? -When are we to pray? Let us attend to this. That a foundation may be laid for the answer to the question, Where are we to pray?-it may be right to consider some of the examples of good men recorded in the Scriptures, and to learn from them both where we are to pray, and when we are to pray. We stand in need of being taught both by precept and example. When we read the Scriptures, we find that those who truly feared the Lord, who felt their need of his assistance, who felt their own helpless state, who believed the willingness of the Lord to help them, and knew, moreover, that the Lord only could help them-we find that they were not very nice about the place where they prayed. They did not wait till they could come to the temple of God, or to some place where prayer was wont to be made till they had opportunity of retirement into their chambers, or into the bosom of their own families; but, as their wants were great and their necessities pressing, they prayed unto the Lord from the place wherever it might be-where they happened at the time to be. We learn from this, that whilst some places are more suitable and convenient for prayer than others, yet there is no place out of which a believer may not call upon the name of the Lord, and make his supplication to his God. In the Book of the Prophet Jonah we read many striking things-a short book, but containing abundance of most precious and profitable matter. It contains, amongst other things, one of the most gracious instances of the mercy of God anywhere upon record. It is his merciful dealing with the people of Nineveh. O that ye would all turn unto the Lord, and make trial of His saving mercy in The above exquisite sketch is from the classic pen of Mr. Hugh Miller, and appeared some time ago in his newsDaper-the Edinburgh Witness. 399 Christ Jesus! But the mercy of the Lord to the people of Nineveh is not the point to which our subject at present draws. It is to the punishment which the Lord inflicted on the Prophet Jonah for his disobedience, and the conduct of the prophet under the visitation of that stroke of providence. Jonah's sin, as you know, was, when he was commanded to go to Nineveh, and threaten its inhabitants with the judgments of God, he refused to go. Instead of going, he took ship, and would away to some other place, and upon some other business. Where were the faith and obedience of the prophet? Were it not for what we afterwards learn about Jonah, we would be apt to conclude that he was no true servant of the Lord-no true prophet of the Most High God. It surely was a time of great spiritual darkness with him, when, in the first place, he refused to go upon the errand the Lord put into his hand; and, in the second, when he attempted to remove himself as far as possible from the place to which that errand would have carried him. Well, he has got safely on ship board, and the ship, loosed from her moorings, is speeding on her course. What thoughts might be passing through his mind we cannot tell. But his sins soon found him out. The storm blows a hurricane, and all in the ship are at their wits' end, except Jonah, who had gone down into the sides of the ship, and was fast asleep there. Observe what the shipmen do during the tempest. They were poor ignorant Heathens, but taken in this sudden fear, they cry unto their gods. Jonah's conduct might well fill them with amazement. They come to him. What! art thou asleep? It is no time for sleep; it is a time for prayer. "What meanest thou, O sleeper, arise; call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." We are told, farther down in the chapter, that these seamen prayed to the Lord. If any infer from this their conversion, the inference is not to be blamed. But the shipmen are dismissed from the narrative, and we hear no more about them; but concerning Jonah we hear a good deal more. He is cast over the ship's side into the sea. God prepared a great fish tc swallow him up. The fish's belly has become, for the time, the oratory of the prophet-a place of prayer. He does not appear to have been fully recovered to the fear of the Lord till he was shut up there-till the deep closed round about him-till the weeds were wrapped over his head-till he went down to the bottom of the mountains-till the earth, with her bars, was about him. Now he is brought to his right mind-his faith revives. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." Jonah felt it to be so. Out of the belly of hell he cried unto the Lord. His crying marks the fervour of his prayer. The Lord heard him, and delivered him. He was far beyond the reach of man's help; but the Lord was near. At Philippi, Paul and Silas are cast into prison. Their feet are made fast in the stocks. The jailer, mindful of the special charge he had received to keep them fast, thrusts them into the inner prison. What was their employment there? At midnight they prayed and sang praises to God. We have here both the where and the when. The place, the prison; the time, midnight. It has often been the care of God to make the loathsome walls, and the weary watches of the prison house, stately palaces and golden opportunities to his persecuted servants-places in which, more than elsewhere, they have enjoyed most comfortable tokens of his presence. What prayers, and answers to prayer, have been exchanged in prisons between the Lord and his servants! Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi-Joseph in the Egyptian prison, had such experience. Besides them, multitudes of the Lord's servants have had the like experience. From the prison, to come to the cross, the scaffold, the stake these have often been the only outlet from prison to believers under persecution. We find them there engaged in prayer. So much is prayer the exercise of a Christian soul, that we find Christians watching unto it-always delighting in it-always engaging in it. Our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross set his followers the example. He prayed upon the cross. Stephen, the first martyr, follows his Master's example. "These fires," say some martyrs, at the stake, "be the fiery chariot and the horses of flame, which Christ has sent to fetch us to heaven;" meanwhile, praying for their enemies that they might be converted, and for the Church that it might have a breathing time given it. From the above examples, and many others that might have been brought forward, we may learn an answer to the question, Where are we to pray? and the answer is, Wherever God is present to hear us, there we are to pray. God is the hearer and the answerer of prayer. Wherever, therefore, God is present we are to pray. There is no place in which any one can be, whether in the house or by the way, in the bosom of his family or amongst strangers, in the city or in the solitude, at liberty or in the dungeon, on land or on the sea-no place where we may not, where we should not, pray. If there be any place where God is not, that is no place for prayer. But where shall that place be found? "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." We are next to consider When we are to pray? Let us get our answer from Scripture-" Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I," &c. (Ps. Ixi.) He prays to the Lord and calls upon him in the time of trouble-when his heart is overwhelmed. The time of trouble, therefore, is a time when we are to pray. Trouble may be of body or of spirit. The body may be oppressed with disease, or in danger of perishing by some sudden calamity. The spirit, when all is well with the body, may be in great perplexity, and under great temptation, about its state, about its salvation. Whether it be in the body or in the mind, the time of trouble is a fitting time for prayer. The time of bodily affliction is without doubt a fitting season for prayer. We are to pray earnestly to the Lord that, if it be his holy and gracious will, we may be re covered out of our affliction; above all, that it may be made useful to us, in the way of making us live nearer to God, and of devoting ourselves more to his service. Affliction of spirit is a truly fitting season for prayer. What a time for prayer is such a state! "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." What a gracious and merciful God we have to go to! What a compassionate, all-sufficient Saviour! He has opened up our way to the mercy-seat. He has paved it with promises. Every promise of inestimable worth: the smallest of them more precious than all gold and silver! purchased by the travail of the Redeemer's soul-by his precious blood! The time of health is also a fit time for prayer, most fit and seasonable. There are many to whom prayer is a burden. They think they would be well content to call upon the Lord in the time of trouble, if only they might be allowed to forget him in the season of health and prosperity. They much deceive them- ( selves. If you do not pray when you are in health, how shall you pray when you are in trouble? Trouble is not a light, inconsiderable thing. In trouble, one has not so much command over his mind as in health. Bodily affliction shakes and tosses the soul. To neglect prayer in the day of health, how can that be| help to a praying spirit in the day of affliction? If you do not feel your need of prayer when your mind is in its best state, how shall you do so when it is in its worst state? If you look upon prayer as a burden now, you will be likely to feel it far more burdensome when the Lord lays his hand upon you, and puts you in the furnace. Instead of drawing an unregenerate soul nearer to God, trouble is likely to drive it farther from Him. You would suppose that as one comes near to the borders of eternity, he would be filled with the concerns of eternity; but facts show that it is not so. As unregenerate men are drawn near to death and eternity, they are anxious to draw their minds farther off from them. How often do we find from Scripture that the season of health is a season for much prayer! We are commanded, "Trust in Him at all times; ye people pour out your heart before Him." "At all times;” ¦ that is, in health as well as in sickness-in prosperity as well as adversity.-"Continue in prayer"-" Pray without ceasing"-" Continue in prayer, and watch unto the same with thanksgiving." That which makes every season a proper season for prayer is, that we are at all times dependent upon God—we . always stand in need of his assistance, counsel, direction, and comfort. It is impossible to go a step in the Christian life, without the gracious assistance of the Lord. As to place, we may pray wheresoever the Lord is present to hear and answer. As to time, we are to pray whensoever we stand in need of Divine " THE SUCCESSOR OF THE APOSTLE PETER. 401 assistance. Put both together, and we are to pray speaking of the power of prayer, says: "No poet durst at all times and in all places. A man who is really a Christian is a man of prayer. One man is characterized by one quality, another by another quality. We say of some men, they are men of wisdom-of others, they are men of skill; but a true Christian may always be described by this characterstic-that he is a man of prayer. I do not mean that all who call themselves Christians are men of prayer. That is quite a different matter. I am not speaking of what men call themselves, but what they are. Many call themselves Christians who scarce pray at all. From what many who call themselves Christians do in regard to prayer, you would suppose that prayer was no part of Christian duty. They disregard and neglect prayer. They could not disregard and neglect it more though God had told them expressly in his Word to disregard and neglect it. Yet they call themselves Christians! The true Christian is a man of prayer. He, indeed, often finds, and he is grieved for it, that there is little of a prayerful spirit in him; that he is often sorely assaulted by vain, wandering, and evil thoughts, and that, too, when engaged in most solemn duties. But he is not put past his purpose on that account. He remembers many texts suitable to his case-" Give not place to the devil"-" Resist the devil, and he will flee from thee "_" 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"-"My grace is sufficient for thee; I will perfect my strength in your weakness." He remembers these encouragements, and many others which God has graciously set down in his holy Word-he believes them and so perseveres. Remember this, that you are not, and cannot be, true Christians unless you continue in prayer. The encouragements to prayer are many and strong. There are various kinds of encouragements. They have often been arranged under different classes. It is useful to arrange them, and think upon them so arranged. I can only mention one kind of encouragement to prayer. It is that which arises from the fact that the Lord has pledged himself to hear and answer prayer-one of the strongest of the many strong encouragements. I conclude with quoting one or two passages to this purpose. Samuel Rutherford writes: "Christ acknowledgeth that instances of praying in faith will overcome God, and Satan, and all the saddest temptations that can befall the child of God. Hence, observe what acts of efficacious power, instant and earnest prayer putteth forth upon God, and how the clay creature doth work upon, and prevail with the great potter and former of all things." Prayer is a messenger, and a swift and winged post despatched up to court." "Prayer putteth a challenge upon God, for his covenant's sake and his promise. It putteth God to great straits and suffering, even to the moving of his soul. When God seemeth to sleep, in regard that his work and the wheels of his providence are at a stand, prayer awakeneth God, and putteth him in action." All these he illustrates by suitable examples cut of Scripture. Another author, 66 have fetched his fancy so far as to call prayer the manacles of the Almighty,' had not God himself confessed it, when he saith to Moses, Let me alone. O powerful privilege allowed for poor man! that the Almighty's justice must take out commission for execution from the intercession of his saints. If Moses hold not his tongue, God cannot move his hands. O blest obstructor of justice! I will never doubt thy power in procuring mercy, that canst hinder a provoked Deity from proceeding to execution of a daring worm." THE SUCCESSOR OF THE APOSTLE PETER. DR. BUSHNELL tells some curious tales of what he saw and heard of Popery at Rome. Take the following illustrations. In a letter addressed to the Pope, he says: It is also a favourite representation of your office that you are the lineal successor of St. Peter. It is not within my object to deny that you are. I only say, that if you are the successor of St. Peter, there is certainly much for you to do-a large reform to make in order fully to justify your claim of successorship. Until then, it must savour too much of irony. I saw your three magnificent palaces, seats of regal majesty which the most splendid monarch in the richest and most populous empire of Europe might envy. I remembered that the money which sustains this royal ostentation is wrung out of a small State and a poverty-striken people, who have also to support the splendour of the cardinals, and the golden liveries that flame about the gate of the Vatican. Did I see in this the unambitious manners, and the tender ministry of the fisherman of Galilee? I turned to his words; I found him saying, "Feed the flock of God." Do you call this feeding the flock? I visited your palace on the Quirinal: I travelled through the halls adorned with regal splendour, and more than regal art; I looked out from the terraced gardens which overhang the city as proudly as the palace of the Caesars in the days of the Empire; I noticed in particular, the paraphernalia of luxury and pleasure on every side your billiard tables, your grottoes of statuary, your closeted bowers, your musical fountains, and ingenious follies you have prepared to frighten the ladies;-but pardon me, if I could not bring myself to regard this kind of machinery as exactly fitted to the serious and responsible office of one who keeps the souls of the world; least of all, to the successor of that humble unambitious apostle, who took the legacy of poverty and fiery trial his Saviour left him, bore it in rough carnest as a rough man only could, and therein greatly rejoiced. The stores of artistic wealth you have gathered round you, in the Vatican, have a high dignity. A cultivated sense of beauty is at least an accomplishment, and one which in itself is innocent. But whosoever has wearied himself, day after day, in exploring the streets of the Vatican Palace-that city populated by the palette and the chisel-will not think of you merely as exercising the dry paternity of a monk towards the forms of beauty congregated around you; but he will think of these accumulated stores as a pageant of ambition-he will fancy the priest engaged to rival the prince, and not displeased with his victory. anointed successor of an apostle, even the Apostle When it goes out, therefore, that you are here as the Peter, what has Peter to do with the Vatican, or the lord of the Vatican with Peter? What bond of connection is there between the apostle of the fine arts and the Apostle Peter? Nor will your worship in the Sistine Chapel any better assimilate you to your supposed predecessor and the manner of his time. Women cannot enter there; a screen, lest her presence should disturb the flow of your sanctified emotions. No profane laic can enter save in a dress coat. The judgment of the world is artistically transacted over your altar, that you may not forget, I suppose, at your altar, the judgment of the world. Sitting on your throne, as the successor of the fisherman of Galilee, your august person and the altar of the Lord are incensed again and again with the common honours of worship. The cardinals float about you, in stately trailings and gyrations, to pay you their homage, and kiss your golden phylacteries; and your slipper receives the humbler homage of those who can stoop lower. What now could Peter make of this? What part of this pageant, what single item, do you imagine, ever to have been seen in the churches of the apostles? the wife of Peter himself could not enter save behind MIRACLES. (From the Princeton Review.) THE idea suggested by some, in opposition to Hume's definition of a miracle as being a violation of the laws of nature, that, for aught we know, miracles may be as truly natural events as any other, is not a new thought. It was brought forward by Bonet, the philosopher of Geneva, in his excellent work on the Evidences of Christianity. As far as we recollect, for we have not looked into the work for some years, Bonet maintains, that in the comprehensive plan of Providence, provision was made for miracles; so that they are produced by natural causes, as truly as other events. And he seems to teach, that the proof derived from a miracle in favour of the inspiration of any person, arises from his previous knowledge that such an event will take place at a certain time. An opinion of the same kind seems to have been entertained by Mr. Babbage in his ninth Bridgewater Essay. But we confess that we are by no means satisfied with this view of the subject. If it be correct, then there never has been a miracle since the beginning of the world. It is not that an event rarely happens, or that it is of a wonderful nature, which renders it miraculous; it may possess both these characteristics, and yet be entirely natural. Nor is it necessary to suppose, that in the production of a miracle a greater power is exerted than in the production of common events. Sometimes, a miracle is effected by the mere cessation of a power which acts uniformly, unless interrupted. Common events take place according to established laws, but a miracle is produced by the operation of a new cause which does not commonly act. It is the immediate interposition of the Deity, to produce an effect which would not be produced unless this extraordinary power were exerted. For a man to be born, and to be sustained by food, is natural; but for a man to be raised from the dead, is miraculous. The author justly observes: "That if men rose from the dead as statedly, after a year, as they now do from sleep in the morning, one would be as natural as the other." But this is only to say, that the established laws of nature might have been different from what they are. Taking these laws as they exist, the rising from the dead is miraculous, not natural. There seems to us to be danger in this concession. One of the most plausible objections to the argument from miracles is, that we are not sufficiently acquainted with the laws of nature to be certain that any event which seems miraculous is not produced by some natural cause not before observed, or only developed in some peculiar circumstances. "That miracles were provided for, in the vast cycles of God's moral government," as our author expresses it, is a matter not disputable. As they are important events, no doubt provision was made for them; but that does not make them natural events. They were decreed to come to pass as miracles, and not by pre-established laws, but by the exertion of the power of God at the time, distinct from his operations in nature. It does not appear to us, upon this theory, how what is called a miracle can furnish any conclusive proof of a divine revelation. If the event be natural—that is, in accordance with the laws of nature-how can it furnish evidence that the man who declares that it will occur at a certain time is commissioned of God? When Christopher Columbus predicted an eclipse of the sun to the savages of America, they were induced to believe that he acted by supernatural authority; yet there was no miracle. And now, if some person should predict that a comet which had never been observed before, would appear on a certain day, this would be no more a miracle than an eclipse of the sun. The best method of bringing this opinion to the test, is to consider it in application to some of the miracles recorded in the Bible. When Moses, by divine command, struck the rock in Horeb, the water gushed out in such abundance as to form a river. water existed in the rock before, here was a striking miracle, requiring the immediate exertion of Omnipotence. How could this be considered a natural event? It was contrary to nature, and therefore miraculous. Again, when our Lord called Lazarus from the tomb, there was an exertion of Omnipotence, and an event was the consequence which was contrary to the common laws of nature. In what sense, then, could this event be considered as a natural event? If no The argument from miracles, in proof of a divine revelation, is perfectly simple. Some person declares that he has received a certain communication from God, and as a proof of it works a manifest miracle; and this evidence all impartial persons consider conclusive, because God is a God of truth, and will never exert his power to confirm the pretensions of an impostor. By enabling the individual to counteract the established laws of nature, in a case where these |