SACRED POETRY.

FROM THE GERMAN OF NOVALIS.
WHAT had I been without thine aid?
Without Thee now, what should I be?
A mark to Fear and anguish made,
And not a friend to pity me!
No joy, or hope, on earth I had,

The future was a dark abyss,
And when my wounded heart was sad,
Who heard, who cared for my distress?
Within my breast fierce passion preyed,

Each day was dark as midnight deep,
Sadly along life's path I strayed,

Alas! only lived to weep.
No peace amid its toils was given,

Grief and despair sat at my hearth;
O who, without a friend in heaven,
Could bear to live on this cold earth!
But when the Saviour I beheld,

And knew my hope in him was sure,
A heavenly radiance quick dispelled

The gloom, and gilded the obscure.
'Twas he who taught me what is man;
His glorious destiny revealed;
And then my frozen heart began

A gush of heavenly joys to yield.
Go forth, my brethren, far and wide,

Invite the sinful wanderers in;
Stretch out your hands, their footsteps guide
To this retreat from grief and sin.
"Tis heaven here with us on earth;

By faith we know our Saviour near;
And all who share the second birth,
Shall also feel his presence dear.
Once did a fiend our souls affright,

Close to our hearts remorseless clung,
As on we toiled in sin's dark night,

Alike by joy and sorrow stung:
Each word, each work, a crime appeared,
Weak wretched man, Jehovah's foe;
We thought a voice from heaven we heard,
And ah! it spoke of death and woe.
The Saviour came-t
-the Son of Man,
A conqueror girt with love and might;
We saw, and in our breasts began

To burn a new and living light.
We saw heaven's silver portals ope,

Knew the dear land, our Sire's abode,—
Forth burst exulting faith and hope,

And told us we were sons of God. Hoddam.

THE MORNING STAR.

R. M.

BRIGHT eye of heaven, why are thy trembling rays,
Thus bent on earth, in silent saddening gaze?
What, is there here, that can so charm thy sight,
And keep thee watchful, thro' the slumbering night?
Are there not scenes beyond thee, far, which glow
With glories, never known to shine below?
And didst thou not in thy creation's morn,
Sing with the sons of God, o'er worlds new born?
Yet, thou mayst weep, fair star, at sight of earth,
Where woe hath heritage and sin had birth;
Mourn o'er thy sister sphere, man's dark abode,
Bedim'd by sin, a world without its God;
Yet, thou shalt sing again, thou shalt be told,
That God hath brought his stray'd one to the fold.
Pennycuik.

MISCELLANEOUS.

W. S. M.

Practical Effect of the Gospel.-Mr Campbell, of Kingsland, relates, that in one of his journeys in Southern Africa, he on a certain occasion entered into conversation with a young Hottentot, who was lying almost

naked on the ground, and basking in the sun.

As be was a stout young man, Mr Campbell asked him, " if he had nothing to do ?" He said, "No!"-" Cannot you dig?" said Mr Campbell-" Here is a spade."-"No," said he "it would hurt me."—" "But try," continued Mr Campbell, turning up one or two spadefuls of earth himself. The young man tried, but after one or two attempts, threw the spade away-saying, "It broke his back." Farther reasoning was fruitless. Mr Campbell left him. Here was civilization attempted in the plan of the mere moralist, and such was its result. But when Mr Campbell returned to Africa, he saw this young man again. The Gospel had been generally embraced in the vicinity; and the grace of God had reached his heart also. And was he lolling, half-naked, on the ground? No, he was clothed, and in his right mind. And how was he occupied? He was employed as writing-master in an academy of young Hottentots; and when Mr Campbell. approached him, he was in the act of mending a pen, which had been handed to him for that purpose by one of his scholars. He cut it with a composure and an address, which, had Mr Campbell witnessed them in this country, would have occasioned no surprise, but which, under the circumstances of the case, completely overcame him. The act was a simple one; but simple as it was, it betokened a high degree of civilization, and one which could not, in so short a time, have been produced through any other medium than that of Christianity.

The Benefit of Early Piety.-The learned and pious Beza, one of the great Reformers, who lived in the sixteenth century, when he was very old and saw his end approaching, often used to say, "I have lived long and have sinned long ;" yet, among other things for which he thanked God in his last will and testament, the first and chief was, that at the age of sixteen years, he had taught him to love and to serve Him; and thus had he been prevented from committing many sins, and enduring many sorrows, which would otherwise have overtaken him and have made both his life and his death less happy.

A Pithy Remark." Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend, Smart, shewed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all than to pray as Smart did; I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question." Dr JOHNSON.

The Bible a comfort in Trouble.-A German and his wife had been for many years settled at Paris, as shoemakers; at length the husband was disabled by illness, and the wife became blind. A lady visited them, and was struck with the calmness with which they were enabled to endure their trials. She asked if they had a Bible, and they showed her the sacred volume, stating, that it had long been their only consolation.

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VOL. I. No. 10.

PRICE 1d.

SEPARATE FROM THE WORLD.

BY THE REV. JAMES LEWIS,
Minister of St. John's Parish, Leith.

No duty is more universally acknowledged, and none less understood, than the Christian duty of separation from the world. While the duty is admitted by all who profess to understand the Gospel, few have defined to themselves its requirements, or are furnished with fixed rules, by the prompt application of which, they may on all occasions practically determine whether they have been guilty of conformity to, or maintained separation, from the world. It may serve to give a distinct and practical shape to this Christian duty, to answer with some minuteness the question: In what does conformity to the world

consist?

In reply to this question, we remark, first, -That the separation from the world enjoined upon Christians does not consist in their living out of the world. By a neglect of the spirit, and a too exact and literal adherence to the words of certain commands of Scripture, its authority has been sometimes pleaded to sanction, on the part of Christians, an entire abandonment of society, that, remote from human intercourse, they might nourish the spiritual life in secrecy and solitude, by meditation and prayer. Such a separation is incompatible, however, with the discharge of the active duties to which Christians are called; it is inconsistent with the nature which God has given to man; it would engender melancholy, not Religion; fanaticism, not Christianity; and would he no certain defence against those temptations which are dreaded in the world; for in the wilderness may Satan tempt, as he tempted our Lord, as well as in the populous city,-in the desert and the place of tombs may the evil spirit abide, and be so exceeding fierce that no man can bind it, as well as in the crowded haunts of society. By placing the Christian in society, God has, with sufficient clearness, pointed out his duty to be, not to go out of the world, but to live in it so as to live above it; and that it is the divine purpose that the world should be overcome by the Christian in

We remark, secondly, That as separation from the world does not consist in living out of the world, neither does it consist in assumed or affected difference of manners from the world.

Many are deceived into the belief of the purity and elevation of their Christianity, simply because they are not as other men. They deem themselves supe rior to the crowd, and sit in their imagination upon a hill apart, because they differ from it in certain manners or fashions they have assumed. How often have men identified Religion with moroseness and austerity, with a disfigured countenance and an unsocial melancholy! How often have they mistaken an aversion to, or the sudden relinquishment of, the usual innocent pursuits or recreations of society for the infallible marks of a heaven-born spirit! How often have they attributed the very extravagancies and singularities, and varying impulses of a weak and ill-regulated mind to the ardours and fervours of devotion! These, and similar errors, are currently adopted from mistaking singularity for separation from the world. They are errors into which especially young Christians fall, when, under the first impressions of the truth, they seek to break asunder from all the ordinary occupations, engagements, and duties of social life; identifying the religious life with the life of the visionary, the recluse, or the contemplatist, and consequently, testing their Christianity by their singularity, and deeming the evidences of their faith just the more distinct and unquestionable, by how much the more strange and peculiar they have become.

If separation from the world consists, then, neither in living out of the world, nor merely in differing from it, how shall we ascertain in what it does consist? It has been supposed, that this question would have been easily answered, and that weak and hesitating consciences would have obtained direction and assurance in duty, had Scripture specified the particular things in which Christians ought to distinguish themselves from the world; had it told them in what things they might resemble the world and go along with it, and from what things they must stand aloof, and touch not, and taste not, and handle not; had it

put a mark upon every object, and company, and place of resort, and written visibly upon them of this object the Christian may partake, of that he cannot partake; here he may enter and join with the society, there he cannot enter; at this table he may sit, at that table he cannot sit and partake of its festivities; this proportion of his substance he may lawfully expend upon himself or his family, that proportion he must dedicate to the service of the Church, and to the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom:-to many it has appeared that such an exact and minute specification of duty would have made plain the Christian's path, resolved a thousand perplexing questions, and enabled him promptly to decide when he was guilty of conformity to the world, or when he had observed the prescribed separation from it. Why Scripture has not so minutely legislated as to give a rule and precept for every step we should take in life, is sufficiently obvious. The multitude of such directions would have perplexed instead of making plain the path of the Christian. It would have converted the Bible from being a brief comprehensive summary of human duty, into a voluminous depository of moral and spiritual casuistry. Besides, if every act of the Christian's life had been made the subject of express law, Christian love would have wanted scope for its exercise, and occasion for proving its genuineness and warmth, it would have wanted both opportunities for its manifestation and means of testing its sincerity.

But while Scripture has not furnished so minute a directory as to many appears desirable, it has given what we conceive to be better. It supplies the Christian with certain great principles to instruct and enlighten his conscience, and which, if faithfully applied, will infallibly preserve him from guilty compliances and worldly conformity. Instead of perplexing the understanding, and oppressing the memory, by the infinite variety and minuteness of its directions, it has at once, by a few general principles, taken up the Christian to an eminence, from whence he may survey his path, and distinguish the road upon which he ought to travel, from all the cross-ways and bypaths of the world. These great principles may be reduced to three separate rules. The first is comprised in the following passages of Scripture:-"Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price, even the precious blood of Christ." "I have espoused you to one husband, even to Christ." "None of us liveth to himself." "Seek not your own, but the things which are Jesus Christ's." These passages variously express the same rule. They establish a clear and easily applied principle of Christian conduct. The rule is, that before Christians engage in any action, adopt any plan of life, associate with any circle of society, resort to any company, they must inquire whether they can do so consistently with their obligation to ad

vance the Redeemer's cause, or, at least, without injuring that cause, or compromising its interests. This is a rule sufficiently plain for every Christian to walk by, provided there be but fidelity, Christian sincerity, and honesty in its application. To observe it, it is not necessary that a man should entirely sequester himself from human society. It speaks to every Christian where it actually finds him in society, and tells him how in the crowd of the world, how, occupied as he necessarily is with its varied business and engagements, he may yet live as separate from it as if he lived on a mountain top, or in the centre of a desert. It assigns as the characteristic mark of the Christian, that he lives not to himself. The world seeketh its own,-this is its mark, its badge and its insignia. The Christian seeken the things which are Jesus Christ's,-this is the badge and insignia of the Church. To every Christian there is committed, as a sacred deposit, the honour and the cause of his Lord. It is the jealous guardianship of this deposit that distinguishes him from the man of the world, as the presence of the ark distinguished the Israelites wherever they journeyed from the surrounding heathen.

With what heroic resolution would a company of ancient Jews, stationed as the guardians of the ark in the field of battle, have defended that sacred symbol of Jehovah's presence! Every sword would have been unsheathed for its protection, and not until the faithful band had given their lives for their trust, would that symbol of their national faith have been yielded to the foe. By a like jealous and affectionate guardianship of the deposit committed to him by his Lord,-by his not shrinking from the recognition and defence of his name, nor compromising the peculiarities of his Religion, by his presenting that Religion, when necessary, in all its breadth and fulness of statement, and defending it from every aspersion or epithet of scorn or ridicule that might be cast upon it, will the Christian manifest his separation from the world. He is stationed around the ark in the field of battle,—the ark is the honour of his Lord,—the field of battle is the world. If from this station he suffer himself to be driven off, and resign his trust, he need be at no loss to know his character; it is written in his actions, he is a conformist to the world.

The second rule by which Christians may test their separation from the world is embodied in the following passages. "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." 66 Ye are chosen, that ye may be blameless and without rebuke until the day of the coming of the Lord." When God implants the seed of a new spiritual life in the soul, he constitutes the believer a fellow-worker with himself, in cherishing and watching over the growth of this heavenly plant, in defending it from the rude and chilling blasts of the wilderness, and fostering it into strength uni it effloresces and bears the lovely fruits of holi