variety; and thus, with little knowledge, and no experience, of true religion, they may, in secular affairs, be entertaining, and even instructive. of comparison in the passage before us is manifestly that of temporal to eternal. The afflictions may be considered as extending It is altogether different with the illiterate man, through the entire length of the present life; whom poverty forces into a struggle for bare subsis and still, even such a continued course of suf- tence. His thoughts are occupied with the plodding fering may be regarded as what the apostle labour of his every-day life; his habits take their pronounces momentary. It is so, in comparison tinge from his circumstances; and his range of ideas with a coming eternity-with the perpetuity of are limited as they are depressed. Let this indivieverything in the state by which the present is dual become a subject of divine grace, and he is visito be succeeded. There is no comparison, in- bly a "new creature;" the difference between him and his former self is so evident, that it cannot be deed, capable of being instituted between the mistaken, while it is not to be accounted for in any longest conceivable period of time and eternity. way but one. His intellect, which was so obtuse that The longest is no more a portion of eternity it embraced nothing but the gross objects of sense, than the shortest. Eternity admits not of com- expands under the quickening influences of heavenly parison with either. If the very longest were light; and even his manners partake of the change. any portion of it, then a certain number of If he was rude before, he is now softened down; and his conduct towards those who, in the wise distribusuch portions must make up the whole-must tion of Providence, have been placed above him in exhaust eternity. A moment, then, is to eter-worldly station, is modelled upon the Gospel precept: nity the same as a thousand years. The longest life ever lived by man was to eternity less than the twinkling of an eye compared to that longest life. Though that life of nine hundred and sixty-nine years had been filled with all the variety of suffering from its first breath to its last, the afflictions might still have been called, as here, "light afflictions, which are but for a moment." The contemplation of eternity makes time shrink into nothing. I would fain have gone forward, in this paper, to the prospects of the believer, which are here set in such striking contrast with his afflictions. I fear, however, I have already written about enough for the space allotted me; and must (reluctantly, I confess, to myself, but it may be, satisfactorily to the reader) have done for the present. THE INFLUENCE OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY AMONG the many unanswerable evidences that attest No human argument seems so calculated to bring this conviction home to the mind as the interesting class of evidence alluded to; and it may be acquired by the exercise of candid observation in intercourse with our fellow-creatures. It is to be sought for chiefly among the unlettered poor, whose worldly advantages have been too scanty to cause the development of any great mental resources. It will be found that divine teaching not only purifies the heart and sanctifies the life, but improves and exalts the intellect. Education and the influence of society give a tone to conversation; and those who have had such opportunities of improvement can discourse on topics suitable to the circle in which they move; reading, and general occurrences, supply "Honour unto whom honour is due." But the Gospel has also taught him that the children of God are all one in Christ Jesus; and that although he is so vile that he can never on this earth estimate the depth of that pit whence he has been delivered, yet he is precious for whom Christ died; and his being clothed in the meanest garments here does not make him less an heir of glory; so that the grace of true humility is thus blended with that self-respect which elevates him in the scale of society. He pities the proud man who has his portion in this life, and is "without God in the world," while he knows not his own perilous condition; but he obeys those who have the rule over him in all things lawful, whosoever they be he prays for their salvation, and rejoices in their conversion. An intimate acquaintance with the Word of God furnishes matter for exalted thought, and gives dignity to the mode of expressing it. An instance occurs to me which may illustrate this. During the prevalence of cholera, some years ago, a very poor woman had left her humble hut in the hills to seek, in a neighbouring town, some necessaries for the comfort of an aged mother. Many were afraid to venture into a place where so dreadful a disease was fatally raging; and before entering it she was warned of its sad condition. She determined, however, in calm and quiet confidence, to perform her errand of filial love and duty; and her observation to her kind informant was: "Oh, if they would have the blood of sprinkling on their door-posts, the destroying angel might pass them by." One who has studied the Bible with a critical and scientific eye can talk of its unrivalled philosophy— its most ancient and wonderful history-its minute chronology-its sublime poetry, and yet never have discovered the "hidden manna" contained in its sacred pages. But one who has searched the Scriptures, and continues to search them because they reveal the will of God to man, and testify of Christ his Saviour as the prophets wrote of him-his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection; and, taught of the Spirit, has found the pearl of great price-although he brought to the sacred task no literary aids, can POETRY: "THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN. speak of their contents with a power and an unction that mere head learning can never confer. He can speak a word in season to the saint and to the sinner. His homely language becomes embellished; he draws his stores from the inexhaustible fountain, and we gladly turn away from the mere lettered exposition of the Bible to listen to him who speaks of sternal things, because he believes; while his soul kindles with the glowing remembrance of what he has felt, and seen, and handled of the Word of life. As an example of the truth of these observations, I submit a sketch of an individual who was a remarkable instance of this divine teaching. He was a native of the west of England, and had been, in his youth, by trade a rope-maker, but had enjoyed very few educational advantages. Before I became acquainted with him he was a feeble old man, very poor, and unable to work for his bread; but his Christian character had promoted him to the office of deacon in a Dissenting chapel, where he was intrusted with the collection of seat-rents, which might afford him a small livelihood. The old deacon had nothing in his outward appearance to recommend him; he was a very ordinary-looking person, with tender eyes, and afflicted with a complaint which, causing a frequent involuntary convulsive sort of motion in the head, sometimes impeded his speech. He was extremely illiterate, and could not, with ease, converse on almost any subject, except it was in some way connected with the "one thing needful;" but when he entered upon that ideas flowed spontaneously, and he soon became an object of interest to any person who could appreciate the breathings of a devout spirit. The cold and cloudy world had no power to call forth his capabilities; but the Sun of Righteousness" had arisen on his soul, and great was the transformation produced by his beams. The tongue of the stammerer was made to speak plainly, and his observations were apt and edifying. A gentleman, who attended the same place of worship with the deacon, was in the habit, immediately after the service, of putting to him the common question of idlers: "What news is there?" Week after week the same query saluted his ears, under the same circumstances; the old man was modest, and for a time he endured. At length, however, he took courage to reply, and on being once more asked, "What's the news?" said: "Why, the best news ever I heard was, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." From that day the question was not repeated. Deacon H- was an occasional visitor of ours; and one who now, like the subject of this brief notice, rests in the silent grave, then delighted in showing him kindness, and would sometimes, by a remark, draw forth from the old Christian a pointed and striking response. One very cold day he called, the wind was blowing from the north, and it was said to him, rather playfully, in allusion to some of us, "You know nothing good ever came from the north." "We read in Ezekiel," said the deacon, very composedly, "that there was a north gate upon the temple as well as a south, and that the children of God entered by both; those at the north entrance were driven to take refuge in the imputed righteousness of Christ, by the terrors of the law, but those 41 who came in by the south gate were those who were drawn with the cords of love.” Poor H was, for a time, laid aside by illness, and during part of the period he was exercised with considerable anxiety and depression of mind; but these mists were cleared away by the bright light he loved and sought. It was interesting to hear him relate how he was delivered out of that trial, and refer with delight to the portion of Scripture that was made the means of comforting him. "I was thinking," he said, "of the sad strait the people of Jerusalem were in when threatened by an enemy they had no power to resist. They were much afraid; they had no help in man; and the multitude that came against them was great. But they and their king cried unto the Lord; he hearkened, and delivered them. They had no need to fight-only to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. They went out and looked, and behold, where were the enemies they dreaded?-they were all dead men! What, then, had Judah to do?-just to gather up the spoil," continued the old man, with a delighted countenance; SO I took courage. I saw that the work I could not do for myself was done for me, and I-why, I was privileged to reap the fruit of it." 66 My humble acquaintance, H-, now rejoices in the presence of that Saviour whom, having not seen, he loved. Memory, aided by a few incidental notices, has enabled me to recall a few of his sayings. Years have gone by since I beheld it, but I can still picture to myself the happy expression which the calling to remembrance of God's loving-kindness produced on a face much more indicative of suffering than pleasure; for this world brought him far more of the former than of the latter. He was a consistent and devoted servant of his divine Master; and it may be said that his works do follow him in the form of that testimony his life bore to the immutable truths of the Bible. I cannot help thinking that such as he supply an internal evidence of the power of divine grace upon the human mind, which may be externally seen by those who will but lend themselves to the inquiry, and honestly apply the result of their experience. No night distils Its chilling dews upon the tender frame; with such and such persons- they led me to Sabbath-breaking first, then to drunkenness, No moon is needed there! The light which fills and then to poaching, and even to house-break That land of glory from its Maker came! No parted friends O'er mournful recollections have to weep! Or withered bud celestial gardens know! No scorching blast or fierce descending shower Scatters destruction like a ruthless foe! No battle word Startles the sacred host with fear and dread! Let us depart, If home like this await the weary soul! With Faith our guide, White-robed and innocent, to lead the way, ANON. ing. I quite lost all sense of religion; and if I A BRAND PLUCKED FROM THE BURNING. said: "You can be of no service to me-my About the year 1816, he was called on by one of his hearers, who requested him to visit a man named T, who was very dangerously ill, and in a most horrible state of mind. Mr C, who never for a moment delayed in such cases, immediately went to the bed-side of the dying man. He found an emaciated body, and a countenance which indicated a mind bordering on derangement, through the influence of dreadful apprehensions and deep despair. At first the poor dying creature appeared uneasy and disturbed by his presence; Mr C, however, knew as well as any man of God how to meet a case of extremity, and, by the kindness of his inquiries, soon drew from him the state of his mind. I cannot now pretend to give a full detail of the conversation, and therefore will not attempt to insert it; but the following circumstances are too deeply engraven on my mind ever to be erased while memory lasts. Ttold Mr C- that nearly thirty years before soon after Mr C became the settled minister at Maidenhead-he used regularly to attend his ministry. "Ah!" he said, "then I was moral and happy; I used to enjoy the prayermeetings, and had obtained a considerable acquaintance with the truths of the Bible. This, however, did not last long; I became acquainted, case is beyond remedy." All this, and much more to the same effect, he said with a certain horrible indifference, which deeply affected Mr C's mind. Mr C inquired: "You do not wish to be damned, do you?" The question struck him: "No Sir, no; but I shall be, and very soon." Mr C endeavoured to show him that he could perceive far deeper aggravations in his sin than the sinner himself could, because his mind was so darkened by long habits of iniquity that he, could not see God, and that God saw infinitely more malignity in his sin than the wisest or holiest man or angel could, and yet he said: "Your sin is pardonable, if you are enabled to repent and to believe in the Lord Jesus." The poor man appeared by this visit to be brought to have at least a ray of hope, and begged Mr C-to come again. Mr Cbriefly stated to him some leading truths which, doubtless, he had once known and had now forgotten, and left him with a charge to think them over, and to cry to God for mercy. The next time he saw him, he found a very visible alteration in his countenance; and on inquiring what sort of a night he had passed, "Oh," said he, "I could not sleep-I did not wish it-my time is short. The things you told me kept me awake; and while I was thinking on them, light seemed to come into my mind, and all the impressions I had thirty years ago were revived. Yes! this is what I knew then. O! how have I lain on this bed day after day, and tried in vain to recall these things I seemed sometimes almost to catch some THE BIBLE AND THE DEATH-BED. thing, and then it was gone again; but now I have it-I have it." C ance. It pleased God to give him, so far as Mr could judge, unfeigned and deep repentHe was enabled to cast himself, as the very worst of sinners in his own apprehension, on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus; and it was a matter of astonishment to himself, that, in so short a period, he should be brought from the very border of hell to have a lively hope of heaven through the blood and righteousness of the Redeemer. He only lived three days after Mr C's first visit to him; and Mr C felt justified in saying concerning him: "Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" What an affecting lesson does this teach on the danger of endeavouring to forget the truths which render a course of iniquity uncomfortable, as this poor man said he had endeavoured to do, when he first forsook the way of God to walk in the counsel of the ungodly! Truly, in such cases, God in just judgment suffers "the wicked one" to take away the word. First steps in sin are usually opposed by convictions, or reviewed with distress and remorse; but if conviction be trampled under foot, and remorse be triffed with, very soon conscience will be silenced, and the heart will become hardened. How loudly does this fact enforce the importance of immediate attention to the sick and dying! "Perhaps now or never" was a motto with the excellent man who was employed as a messenger of mercy to this guilty creature. Once," he told the writer, "I delayed till the morrow to visit a dying sinner, and he died in the night; therefore I now say, Perhaps now or noter." What encouragement does this fact afford to the ministers of Christ, and the visitors of the sick, not to despair of any who are on this side eternity, and are willing to hear. Death-bed conversion and repentance are, it is true, to be looked at with suspicion; but who can say how many shall appear as trophies of unbounded grace and mercy who found salvation in the eleventh hour? And surely this man's short history may be placed as a beacon to warn the young, lest they, too, yield at first to the invitations of the ungodly, forsake the means of grace, and become hardened in iniquity. One step from God is a fearful thing. Who can say, when a young sinner turns his back on duty, conviction, and God, to follow the call of Satan and the world -who can say whither he may not be conducted, and where the scene may end? THE BIBLE AND THE DEATH-BED. "The Word of the Lord is tried." MR S was an old and consistent professor of the Gospel. Some few circumstances attending his last illness were interesting to the writer, and illustrate the above text. The disease which proved the messenger of 43 death to him, was an inward inflammatory complaint, which caused the body to swell almost to bursting, and rendered the skin so hot, that the hand could scarcely press it for a moment. In this fire patience had her perfect work; and lively faith in the grace, compassion, and wisdom of the Redeemer sustained the mind. I had been reading in the newspaper an account of the trial of some of the infidel scribblers of the day, and as I walked to the house of the suffering Christian, a multitude of thoughts crowded my mind in relation to the objections brought against the truth of revelation, and especially, what a miserable condition the world would be in were it so, that the Bible was a fable. On entering the house, Mrs S said, "Mr Sis sinking very fast, and I fear he is too far gone to know you; but, perhaps, you would like to take a farewell look at him?" I went to his bed-side-his eyes were closed; but I perceived his lips moved a little. Mrs S-wished me to try to catch the faint words he seemed to utter. I leaned over him, and by putting my ear close to his mouth, caught distinctly, "Not one stroke too many, Lord; not one stroke too many." Soon after he recovered a little, and made signs to have his lips moistened. Ilis wife then said, "Here is Mr -, my dear." He opened his eyes, looked full in my face with ardent affection and pleasure. I said, "When thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee; and when thou walkest through the fires, they shall not kindle upon thee; I will never leave the--I will never forsake thee." His eye kindled up with joy, and new life seemed to animate his dying body; and with a strength of voice which surprised his wife, and an emphasis which spoke the power of truth on his mind, he exclaimed, "O that does me good! thank you thank you." "Then," I said, "I need not try to prove to you, by a train of argument, that it is truth-the truth of God." "No," he said, "no; I feel it-I feel it. I can live on it-I can die on it." He did so; and he found the word like a solid rock beneath his feet, and could sing, "Thy word, which I have rested on, Shall cheer my heaviest hour." But to myself, this short interview brought a most delightful and convincing evidence of the certainty, power, and glory of the words of truth. To see a sensible and enlightened Christian, with reason clear, and the impression of an eternal world vivid and strong, with a body fast sinking into the arms of death, and all the best feelings alive to the interests of a neverdying soul to see him venturing all on a promise, and feeling that that promise was divineO! this was indeed a lesson which the house of mourning alone could teach; this was a demonstration of the Spirit that the Bible is the God-breathed book, which Infidels may treat with scorn, but which shall, I trust, endear to my soul the heaven-inspired lines, and en "And to those hands my soul resign, Worcester. G. R. ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES. courage me, under their influence, in a dying the hostility towards the nomad shepherds could day to sing, not have arisen from this source, as the Egyptians never killed cows for food, and rarely even oxen. The worship of the bull Apis by the Egyptians was restricted to an individual animal. The monuments show that other bulls were used in sacrifices. The priests themselves eat beef and veal without scruple. Heads of black cattle are represented in the sculptures, and there was even a caste of herdsmen among the Egyptians. Pharaoh himself was a proprietor of cattle; and if the employment itself had been considered degrading, he would scarcely have offered the superintendence of his cattle to the brother of his prime-minister. THE MONUMENTS OF EGYPT.- -(Second Article.) BY THE REV. JAMES TAYLOR, ST ANDREWS. THE illustrations which the Mosaic history derives from the monumental sculptures and inscriptions of Egypt may be divided into two classes-those which corroborate the historical events related or alluded to in Scripture, and those which illustrate the notices that the Inspired Records contain of the manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians. The latter are by much the more valuable of the two; but, before proceeding to their consideration, we may give a few specimens of the former. It appears, from the Scripture narrative, that the pastoral occupation, at a very early period, had become odious in the eyes of the Egyptians, and that the nomad tribes, by whom it was followed, were the objects of intense dislike. Every shepherd," we are told (Gen. xlvi. 24), "is an abomination unto the Egyptians." And again it is said (Gen. xliii. 32): "They set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians which did eat with him by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination to the Egyptians." The monuments afford a striking corroboration of these statements, and indisputably establish that the wandering tribes were regarded by the Egyptians with thorough detestation. They are constantly brought before us in the most humiliating and degrading situations. We find them crushed under the chariot wheels of the kings, trampled beneath the feet of the warriors, and massacred without mercy. Captives of the hated race are represented as the most degraded of slaves. They are figured as Caryatides, supporting vases and other articles of domestic furniture, particularly the foot-baths. They are even painted on the soles of shoes or sandals, as if to intimate that they should be for ever trodden down under the feet of their enemies. We see them on the monuments represented as the supporters of a throne or chair of state; and the artist has indulged the national enmity, by adding to this degradation, chains, fetters, and a most painful posture. Various causes have been assigned for this intense aversion towards the shepherd race. Some have supposed that it was the animal worship of the Egyptians which made them entertain a dislike to persons who fed on animals which they accounted sacred. But this cause will not account for the general existence of the feeling referred to. The usage of the Egyptians was by no means uniform in regard to the objects of their veneration. The inhabitants of one district worshipped goats and fed on sheep, while those of another district fed on sheep and worshipped goats. Of the larger cattle the cow alone was considered sacred; but Taylor's Illustrations of the Bible by Egyptian Monuments, p. 6. Notes by do. to Hengstenberg's Egypt, p. 24. It would appear, therefore, that the hatred of the Egyptians to shepherds could not have arisen to any great extent from religious prejudices. Indeed, it would be contrary to all experience to ascribe such intense and pertinacious hatred to anything but a long continuance of national injuries and hostilities. The probability seems, therefore, to be, that the aversion of the Egyptians was not so much to the rearers of cattle, as such, as to those wandering tribes, whose habits and pursuits rendered them equally an object of hatred and fear to a settled and refined people like the inhabitants of Egypt. The shepherds who fed their flocks on the borders of Egypt, were in general of Arabian or Libyan descent; and their turbulent and aggressive disposition, and their impatience of the restraints of a regularly organized society, are sufficient to account for the hatred and scorn with which they were regarded by their civilized neighbours. The Egyptians suffered long and severely from the ravages of these pastoral tribes, whose plundering propensities have varied very little during the course of three thousand years; and at length, in the reign of Thamuz, they invaded and conquered the country. Their usurpation lasted two hundred and sixty years, during which they exercised a degree of cruelty and oppression which left an indelible sense of hatred upon the minds of the native Egyptians. They were at length expelled from Egypt, after a war of thirty years, and proceeding northward they settled in Palestine or Shepherdland, a name which the country derived from them-and became the Philistines of the sacred history. This event, according to Dr Hales, was about twenty-seven years before the commencement of Joseph's administration, and, as the memory of the tyranny which they had suffered must have still been fresh in the minds of the Egyptians, this seems sufficiently to account for the fact that every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians." Their dislike must have been the more intense, too, against persons who, like the Hebrews, came from the country to which their expelled enemies had withdrawn. They might not unreasonably have suspected that their Hebrew visitors were a party of the same people; and the harsh reception they met with from Joseph, the strict examination which they underwent, and the charge of being spies come to see the nakedness of the land, is probably just what would have happened if they had really been personally unknown to the governor of Egypt.* 66 Illustrated Commentary on Gen. xlvi. 34. |