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and who "turneth them as the rivers of water.” The favourable answer from Artaxerxes came to him with a singular relish, because it came under the character of an answer to prayer, and the lanpressed: "The king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me." This consideration gave a new vigour to his movements. He felt himself to be called of God to the undertaking, and he went in the strength of the Lord his God. In this part of Nehemiah's character we are taught that in all our undertakings, whether of private business or of public interest, we should not depend on our own wisdom and skill, but im

things according to the counsel of his own will.” Moreover we are taught that no elevation of rank, and no public and official station, ought to excuse a man in the neglect of the duties of piety and devotion. Nehemiah maintained his devotional spirit through life. He acknowledged the Lord in all his ways. The stated exercises of devotion received from him a regular and punctual perfor mance, while the pious ejaculations which, amid the hurry of business and the cares of government, were darted up from his soul to heaven, proved the habitual seriousness of his mind. "I have set the Lord always before me."

of aggrandizing himself and his family. But he was willing to surrender all private considerations, when a sense of duty demanded it. He improved his advantages, not for his individual good, but for the good of his countrymen. Their depressed cir-guage of his grateful acknowledgment is thus excumstances gave a wound to his heart, which all the splendours and gaieties of a court could not heal, and imprinted a gloom on his countenance which all the favour of Artaxerxes and of Esther, could not remove. Regardless of the difficulties of the undertaking, he left the court of Babylon, and undertook a wearisome and dangerous journey, animated with this one desire "to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." Nor did the difficulties he encountered, and the malignant opposi-plore the direction of Him "who worketh all tion of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem of Arabia, and the bitter taunts of scoffers around him, weaken the strength of his resolution. When charges of a very gross nature were advanced against him, and when there was at least a fear lest the minds of his own people and of his patron Artaxerxes might have been poisoned with jealousy and suspicion of his integrity, he nobly rises above the gathering storm, and appeals to a higher tribunal than that of man, satisfied that God would "bring forth bis righteousness as the light." Nor in prosecuting his plans, did he impose a burden on others to which he would not himself submit. He shared with the humblest in the labours of the wall, while he bore alone the responsible charge of superintending the whole and conducting the measures of defence. There is in this the sublime of practical self-denial; the pattern of holy, disinterested, persevering activity in a good cause. He was at once" diligent in business, and fervent in spirit." He lost sight of selfish considerations; and feeling for the humblest of the people, he gave them the full value of his labours and his influence without the smallest remuneration. That which he asked not from man, he knew God would bestow; and hence the prayer in our text. "He had respect to the recompense of the reward;" and this good hope triumphed over the secularising influence of worldly attachments. What a reproof to the selfishness of professing Christians! the cold indifference and criminal indolence of some,the carnal, temporizing, and crooked policy of others. It administers a pointed rebuke to the votaries of pride, vain-glory, ambition, and selfinterest. It draws to the life the striking contrast between all these claims and those of the Saviour, while it presses on us, with double force, the words of Him who sought not his own will, "but the will of Him that sent him." "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself."

3. Nehemiah was distinguished by his zeal for the worship and the ordinances of God. In circumstances of difficulty, Nehemiah committed his way unto the Lord. Before telling the king of Persia the causes of his grief, he makes a direct appeal to Him who is higher than the highest; and in the hope of obtaining a favourable answer from man, he darted up an earnest supplication to Him who hath "the hearts of kings in his hands,"

Nehemiah's zeal for the glory of God is spe cially displayed in his anxiety to vindicate God's ordinances from abuse, and to enforce their punetual observance. The public reading and expound ing of the law, for the edification of the people, testified his regard for God's Holy Word. The exactness with which the appointed rites in the feasts of trumpets and of tabernacles were gone about, under his superintendence, testified his reverence for the law, in all the comprehensiveness, and in all the minuteness of its requisitions. His zeal for the sanctification of the Sabbath, proved the high sense he entertained of the value of that holy institution, and its direct subserviency to the religious and civil interests of the community at large. He checked the public abuses of it, by the bearing of burdens, the performance of servile work of any kind, the buying and selling of commodities, and the neglect of public worship, Like a true patriot, and like a good man, he held the purity of Sabbath sanctification to be a matter of paramount importance to all others; and, by influence, precept and example, he recommended and enforced it upon all. Does not this speak volumes of reproof to modern professors? Does it not teach us the duty of sanctifying the name, the day, the altar, and the ordinances of our God? And does it not call upon all, whatever their sta tion or office may be, to consecrate themselves to the Lord, and to lay themselves out for the service of Religion? Keep my ordinances. Hallow my Sabbaths. I am the Lord."

Lastly. Nehemiah was distinguished by en lightened and consistent perseverance in the discharge of personal and official duty. How often are difficulties pleaded in excuse for the neglect

of duty, or of perseverance in a good cause? Had Nehemiah been disposed to plead such an apology, he had never left the Palace at Shushan, to embark in the mighty undertaking he had in view. Or, if he had embarked in it, would not the obstacles which open foes and false friends threw in his way, have compelled him to desist? But Nehemiah persevered, in spite of opposition, and he triumphed over it all. Even at that trying moment, when the very persons on whom he chiefly relied were dispirited, and, from excess of fatigue, were ready to retire from the wall in disgust, he remains unshaken and undaunted; and by his zealous perseverance he roused their drooping courage. In this we have an eminent example of active diligence in duty; of fortitode in resisting all temptations to apostasy; of prudent circumspection, in giving no cause to the enemy to speak reproachfully; of habitual dependence on God, and undeviating perseverance in the path of duty. "Be not weary in well-doing."

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parts of our own, and of foreign lands; by strength-
ening the hands of faithful labourers in the vine-
yard; and, above all, by the sweetly persuasive
charm of a godly, and righteous, and consistent
deportment. In these "works of faith and labours
of love," let not difficulties alarm us; let not the
hostility of some, and the apathy of others, turn us
aside from duty; let us say with Nehemiah, “we
are engaged in a great work, and we cannot come
down ;" and, like him also, let us persevere with
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." Be ye
living epistles of Christ, known and read of all
men." The cause of Christ is embarked in us, its
professors. The interests of the kingdom of hea-
ven are linked with us, its subjects. The honours
of the cross may rise or fall in our hands.
"Be
thou faithful unto death," and, "when the Chief
Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of
life, which fadeth not away."

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THE KINGSWOOD COLLIERS;

OR, THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL WHEN
FAITHFULLY PREACHED.

*

Those who are engaged in the discharge of pubc official duty, may find much in the character of Nehemiah to guide and to encourage them. NeThis pleasing instance of the effect of divine truth in civilizing and refining the most savage hearts, is selected from a "History of hemiah was an enlightened, and firm, and merci- Revivals in the British Isles," by the Author of the Memoirs of the Rev. M. Bruen.-The work will richly reward an attentive ful governor. He rectified prevailing abuses. He perusal. checked tyrannical usurpations of the rich and "KINGSWOOD, which is a district near the city of Bristol, powerful over the poor and weak, and addressed to had formerly been a royal chase, containing between the party accused this pointed interrogatory:-"It three and four thousand acres, but it had been gradually is not good that ye do: Ought ye not to walk in appropriated by the several lords whose estates lay the fear of our God, because of the reproach of round about its borders, and their title, which, for a long time, was no better than what possession gave the heathen, our enemies?" As a righteous mathem, had been legalised. The deer and the greater gistrate, he held the reins of government with a part of the wood had long since disappeared; and coal steady and impartial hand; executed the laws mines having been discovered there, from which Briswithout respect of persons; vindicated the civil tol derives its chief supply of fuel, it was now inhabited and religious institutions of his country; patron- forefathers of the forest, but far more brutal, and differby a race of people as lawless and untaught as their ized Religion by his official influence and example; ing as much from the people of the surrounding country and habitually acted on the great principle, that he in dialect as in appearance. They had, at that time, was "the minister of God for good." In him we no place of worship, for Kingswood belonged then to have a practical illustration of the truth, that an the out-parish of St. Philip, Bristol. Had the colliers pright, and pious, and enlightened magistrate is felt disposed to travel three or four miles, they could public blessing. By the impartial execution of have found no accommodation in the church of this laws; by encouraging and patronizing Religion and populous suburb; and if they could, would have felt as much out of their element as a sailor does in a city sound morals; by checking vice and promoting church. When Whitfield spoke of going to America public virtue; by a conscientious regard to all the to convert the savages, his friends at Bristol replied, claims of moral and religious obligation, he be-What need is there of going abroad for this? Have comes a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well; and thus, in him, is it substantially demonstrated, that "righteousness exalteth a people."

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Nehemiah, in his private and in his official charicter, was zealous for the public interests of Relion. He loved Zion;" he desired its prospery; he prayed for it; and he did much to promote Like him, we may reverence God's Sabbaths, cd promote their better observance in our own families, and in our own community. Like him, ve may encourage our religious institutions, our Loly ordinances, our charitable foundations. Like him, we may build up the walls of Jerusalem, by Countenancing the preaching of the Gospel; by spreading abroad the lively oracles of God; by encouraging seminaries for religious education; by sending the heralds of life and peace to the darker

we not Indians enough at home? If you have a mind to convert savages, go to the colliers at Kingswood.'

Towards these colliers, Whitfield, from this time, felt

his heart yearn, for they were very numerous, and yet as sheep having no shepherd. On the afternoon, therefore, of Saturday, Feb. 17, 1739, he stood upon a mount in a place called Rose Green, his first field pulpit, and preached to as many as came to hear, attracted by the novelty of such an address. I thought,' says he, it might be doing the service of my Creator, who had a mountain for his pulpit, and the heavens for a sounding board; and who, when his Gospel was refused by the Jews, sent his servants into the highways and hedges." Not above two hundred persons gathered round him, for there had been no previous notice of his intention; and these, perhaps being no way prepared for his what they heard. Yet Whitfield was cheered by this exhortations, were more astonished than impressed by first step, and says, in his journal, Blessed be God, the ice is now broken, and I have taken the field.

Oliphant and Son, Edinburgh, 1836.

Some may censure me, but is there not a cause? Pulpits are denied, and the poor colliers ready to perish for lack of knowledge.'

"Having once taken the field, he was not only encouraged to persevere in such a course by the multitudes that flocked to hear, but he was shut up to this as his only opportunity of proclaiming the Gospel, as these new and irregular proceedings were the means of excluding him from all the pulpits of the Established Church, in which he held deacon's orders. He therefore soon went again to Kingswood. His second audience consisted of two thousand persons; his third, from four to five, and they went on increasing to ten, fourteen, and twenty thousand. To behold such crowds,' he says, 'standing together in such an awful silence, to hear the echo of their singing run from one end of them to the other, was very solemn and striking. How infinitely more solemn and striking will the general assembly of the spirits of just men made perfect be, when they join in singing the song of Moses and the Lamb in heaven? Yet, as the scene was new, and I had just begun to be an extempore preacher, it often occasioned many inward conflicts. Sometimes, when twenty thousand people were before me, I had not, in my own apprehension, a word to say either to God or them. But I never was totally deserted, and frequently so assisted (for to deny it would be lying against God), that I knew by happy experience what our Lord meant by saying, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters.' The first evidence he observed of having made any impression on his rude auditors was their deep silence; the next and still more convincing was, his observation of the white gutters made by the tears which fell plentifully down their cheeks, black and unwashed from the coal-pits. open firmament above me, the prospect of the adjacent fields, with the sight of thousands and thousands, some in coaches and some on horseback, and some in the trees, and at times all affected and drenched in tears together;' to which was sometiines added the solemnity of the approaching evening,' was almost too much for, and quite overcame me.'

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As might have been expected from people so utterly untrained, except in the savage sports of bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and other works of the devil, as were the colliers of Kingswood, in no place was the preaching of the Gospel accompanied with more unrestrained outward demonstration of feeling. Convulsions, cries, in some few cases blasphemies, which led to the idea of demoniacal possession, were exhibited. Occasionally, even Wesley, who was accused of being more prone to credulity than his colleague, suspected that the emotions were feigned, and treated them accordingly. But in general, a great mass of the people were savingly converted, and stood well the test of being tried by their fruits. Whit- | field was about to leave them in prosecution of his purpose to visit Georgia. He prevailed on Wesley to come down to Bristol to occupy his place, and introduced him to his many congregations. Wherever he took his leave, there was loud weeping. Oh,' he exclaims, 'these partings!' An exclamation which, from the day when they whose hearts were knit to Paul at Ephesus wept sore, and sorrowed most of all that they should see his face no more,' till now, has repeated its painful echo in the hearts of Christians, and will continue to repeat it, till partings shall cease for ever in the general assembly and Church of the First-born. When he forced himself away from Bristol, crowds were waiting at the door to give him a last farewell, and nearly twenty friends accompanied him on horseback. Blessed be God!' he exclaims, for the marvellous great kindness he hath shown me in this city. Many sinners I believe have been effectually converted; numbers of God's children greatly comforted; several thousands of little books have been dispersed among the people; about two hundred pounds collected for the Orphan House;

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"His road lay through Kingswood. It must have been very gratifying to him to find these people, so recently possessed with all the selfish and stormy passions, waiting to greet him with an entertainment prepared without his knowledge. He had preached to them on the duty of educating their children, and urged them to subscribe for the erection of a school-house; and he himself was surprised to witness the cheerfulness with which they parted with their money on this occasion. On his farewell visit, they earnestly entreated Mr Whitfield to lay the first stone, which he did; after which he knelt, and prayed that the gates of hell might not prevail against the design, to which petition the colliers said a hearty Amen!

"Mr Wesley succeeded him, and after a considerable struggle against his previous habits and ideas of order, took to the highways and hedges, with as much success as Mr Whitfield. His account, a part of which we ex. tract, corroborates all that has been previously said of the state of these people. [November 27, 1739.] Few persons have lived long in the West of England who have not heard of the colliers of Kingswood, a people famous from the beginning hitherto for neither fearing God nor regarding man; so ignorant of the things of God, that they seemed but one remove from the beasts that perish, and therefore utterly without desire of instruction, as well as without the means of it. Many, last winter, used tauntingly to say of Mr Whitfield, if he will convert heathens, why does he not go to the colliers of Kingswood? In spring he did so. When he was called away, others followed to compel them to come in; and, by the grace of God, their labour was not in vain. The scene is already changed: Kingswood does not now, as a year ago, resound with cursing and blasphemy. It is no more filled with drunkenness and uncleanness, and the idle diversions which naturally lead thereto. It is no longer full of wars and fightings, of clamour and bitterness, of wrath and envyings. Peace and love are there. Great numbers of people are mild, gentle, and easy to be entreated. They do not cry, neither strive, and hardly is their voice heard in the street, or indeed in their own Wood, unless when they are at their usual evening devotion, singing praise unto God their Saviour. That their children, too, might know the things which make for their peace, it was some time since proposed to build a school-house in Kingswood; and after many foreseen and unforeseen difficulties, in June last the foundation was laid. The ground made choice of was in the middle of the wood, between the London and Bath roads, not far from that called Two-mile-hill, about three miles from Bristol. Here a large room was begun for the school, having four small rooms at the end for the schoolmasters (and, perhaps, if it should please God, for some poor children) to lodge in. Two persons are ready to teach as soon as the house is fit to receive them, the shell of which is nearly finished; so that it is hoped the whole will be completed in spring, or early in the summer. Thus we see that in the middle of February, Kingswood was a wilderness, and that when the month of June arrived, it was already blossoming like the rose.'

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"The effect of the leaven which had been thus placed in this mass of barbarism was made conspicuous in the following year, in the case of a riot, of which Mr Charles Wesley gives the following account: Being informed that the colliers had risen in consequence of the dearness of corn, and were marching for Bristol, he rode out to meet them and talk with them. Many seemed disposed to return with him to the school which had been built for their children; but the most desperate rushed violently upon them, beating them, and driving them

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away from their pacific adviser.' He adds, I rode up to a ruffian who was striking one of our colliers, and prayed him rather to strike me. He answered, Nonot for all the world,' and was quite overcome. turned upon another, who struck my horse, and he also sunk into a lamb. Wherever I turned, Satan's cause lost | ground, so that they were obliged to make one general assault, and the violent colliers forced the quiet ones into the town. I seized one of the tallest, and earnestly besought him to follow me. Yes, he said, that he would, all the world over. I pressed about six into the service. We met several parties, and stopped and exhorted them to follow us; and, gleaning from every company, we increased as we marched on, singing, to the school. From one till three o'clock we spent in prayer, that evil might be prevented and the lion chained. Then news was brought us that the colliers were returned in peace. They had walked quietly into the city, without sticks or the least violence. A few of the better sort of them went to the mayor and told their grievance; then they all returned as they came, without noise or disturbance. All who saw it were amazed. Nothing could have more clearly shown the changes wrought among them than this conduct on such an occasion. I found afterwards that all our colliers to a man had been forced away. Having learned of Christ not to resist evil, they went a mile with those who compelled them rather than free themselves by violence. One man the rioters dragged out of his sick-bed, and threw him into the fish-pond. Near twenty of Mr Willis's men they had prevailed on, by threatening to fill up their pits and bury them alive they did not come up and bear them company.' It was a happy circumstance that they forced so many of the Methodist colliers to go with them, as these, by their advice and example, restrained the savage fury of the others. This undoubtedly was the true cause why they all returned home without making any disturbance.'

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“ And now, after nearly a century has elapsed, Kings. wood has its humanized population, its Christian ministers, its schoolmasters, its libraries; and it not only cherishes the Gospel in its own bosom, but it forms its societies for extending the blessing, and possesses preachng stations where collections are made for the behalf of the heathen whom they themselves but recently resemWed. The school which Wesley here describes is not now in the centre of a wood, but has a high road running close by it. It did not succeed well on his plan, perLaps in part from the style of education being too high for the inhabitants, but chiefly on account of the rules of monkish austerity with which he caused it to set out. For Wesley was in character a stern and high disciplinarian, and, mistaking the nature of youth, he exacted rising at five in the rigour of winter, and ceaseless appligation to some grave pursuit during all the waking hours. This failure of Wesley's school is only mentioned lest rainsayers should suppose the fact was purposely conealed. It does not in the least detract from the evidence that a great and sudden change was wrought, and continues to be visible, among the colliers of Kingswood."

CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY.

No. II.

THE SUN THE SOURCE OF LIGHT.

BY THE REV. JAMES BRODIE,
Minister of Monimail.

LIGHT proceeds from various sources. Among natural phenomena, lightning, meteors, and volcanoes, all emit it in a greater or less degree; and man has devised various means by which to dispel the gloom of night and fill his habitations with artificial day. But the sun is the great source whence the cheering rays proceed,

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and when we look on him "coming as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man to run his race," or pouring forth his noon-day flood of light, or sitting beneath his gilded canopy in the West, we cannot but account him the most wonderful of all material things, and the best emblem of his Maker's glory. When, however, we come to consider the nature of this brilliant orb, as that has been exhibited to us by modern science, the view becomes yet more sublime. We strive in vain to grasp the truths that have been clearly demonstrated, and fruitlessly endeavour to imagine the probabilities that are founded upon them.

The sun's distance from the earth is no less than 95,000,000 of miles, his diameter is 882,000 miles, and his bulk 1,384,472 times that of the globe which we inhabit. When viewed through powerful telescopes, provided with coloured glasses to take off the glare of light, which would otherwise injure the eye, it is frequently observed that there are large and perfectly black spots upon his surface, surrounded with a kind of border not completely dark. When these spots are watched from day to day, or even from hour to hour, they appear to enlarge and contract, to change their form, and at length to vanish entirely, while others break out in places where none were before. Even those portions of the solar surface, where no spots are visible, are far from being uniformly bright, and constant changes seem to be going on. These appearances have led astronomers to conclude that the sun is not, as was long supposed, an immense ball of fire, but a dark and solid mass surrounded by a luminous atmosphere; a globe, in short, like the earth, clothed in a mantle of shining clouds, which, opening up from time to time, form the spots above described, by exposing to view portions of the solid ball which they enclose.

Science, however, has been unable to discover the means by which this unceasing blaze is sustained, without any perceptible diminution either of his size or of his splendour. We may still exclaim with the mountain bard, " Whence are thy beams, Oh Sun! thine everlasting light!"

The brilliancy of the solar beam must have been observed by all, yet it is not until we come scientifically to consider it that we can form an adequate idea of its power. Repeated experiment has proved that though much of its strength is lost in passing through our atmosphere, the most vivid flames disappear, and the most intensely ignited solids are seen only as dark spots on the disk of the sun, when held between him and the eye. Even if it sustained no loss in its passage to the earth, when we take into account the law of decrease, (formerly spoken of as proportioned to the square of the distance) we find, that at the surface of the sun, light must have three hundred thousand times the intensity of an Indian noon!

Of all objects that the eye can see on earth or in heaven, by night or by day, the sun is thus the most wonderful and glorious; and not more glorious as an object for the eye to gaze on, than useful and necessary for the support of life and continuance of comfort. From him we derive that light which enables us to labour; that heat which changes the cold of winter into the genial warmth of spring, and that life-giving power which makes the ground bring forth its fruits, and ministers food to every living thing. Thus brilliant in appearance and beneficial.in influence, the chief of the visible works of God, and the best emblem of his Creator's majesty and beneficence, we need not wonder that unenlightened man has bent the knee to the sun as God, that "beholding him walking in brightness, his heart has been secretly enticed, and his hand hath kissed his mouth."

But if the sun be glorious, how much more so must he be who " set him in the firmament to rule the day," who appointeth "his rising, and his going down," and

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who, if he see meet, can extinguish him as a spark! | cess, but be filled with the Spirit ; speaking to yourselves When we turn our eye to Christ the Creator and Gover- in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and nor of the universe, “by whom all things were made," making melody in your heart to the Lord." That it is and unto whom "all judgment is committed," the source intended to be a mean by which believers should inof all the light that shines on matter, and of all the struct others, is also evident from Col. iii. 16., “Let knowledge that enlivens and sanctifies the mind, how the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in ail wisdom, appropriately is he termed “the Sun of Righteousness." teaching and admonishing one another in palins, and Like the sun in the firmament HE STANDS ALONE. hymns, and spiritual songs; singing with grace in your The highest effort of any creature, yea, of all creation hearts to the Lord." That it is intended to be the combined, could neither add to his brightness nor dimi-channel through which the believer's mirth should flow, nish his glory. When he appears, the morning stars of is manifest from James v., 13., "Is any merry, let him the spiritual heaven are lost in his radiance. "For sing psalms." That it is intended to cheer the believer who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord, who in his saddest moods, to chase away the gloom and among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the pain of the present hour, is plain from the example of Lord?" Excellence in every attribute is his peculiar | Paul and Silas, who, when confined in the inner prison, property. One creature may be compared with another, with their feet made fast in the stocks, yet, at nicbut no creature may be compared to the Creator; we night prayed and sang praises unto God, and the pri may measure the strength of the strongest man by that soners heard them." That it is intended to animate the of the weakest babe; we may say with propriety of believer's bosom in the near prospect of sorrows and the archangel's comprehensive intelligence, that it ex- trials, and even of death, is manifest from the example ceeds by so many times the infant's feeble thought; but of our Lord. We often read that Christ wept. We when we reach the highest point in the scale of created never read that Christ laughed. And we read but being, we are as far as ever from comprehending infinity. once of Christ joining with his disciples in singing. la Compared unto Jehovah all creatures are alike; the that night in which he was betrayed, when he had given seraph and the worm are equally insignificant. to his disciples broken bread and poured out wine, to be the memorials of his dying love till he should cou again; when his hour of dark and mysterious agony was full in his view, it is recorded by two Evangelists, that, when they had sung an hymn, they went out.

Nor is this all; could we multiply the excellence of the noblest creature, even by infinity, the comparison could not be made. There is a difference in kind as well as in degree. To God alone belongs original selfexistent glory; all beside him shine by borrowed light. Whatever wisdom or power is found in any other, flows from him alone. If man is more noble than the beasts that perish, it is because the Lord hath more richly endowed him. If angels move in a still higher sphere, it is because he sustains them there. Whatever excellence is possessed by the creature, it is but a portion that Je hovah has lent him of his own; and at most we can only compare it to the Creator's, as we liken the glitter of the dew-drop to the full blaze of the sun, from which its ray is derived.

SINGING PRAISES.

BY THE REV. ROBERT M. M'CHEYNE. "Praise is comely for the upright."-PSAL. xxxiii. 1. THERE is, perhaps, none of the means of grace which is so much neglected by believers in the present day, as that of singing the praises of God; and yet there is none in which the wisdom and kindness of the Great Head of the Church is more mamfest. Since the fall, how craftily hath the great enemy of souls made use of the enchanting power of music to be the insidions vehicle of all things vain, vile and licentious! What worldly passion hath the melody of voice and harp not been used to inflame? What scene of vice or of vanity has been left ungraced by the fascinations of music? Is it not the case now, as it was in the days of the prophetic herdsman, that they who "are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, yet chaunt to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David?" Truly "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." Do the children of God really know that our Lord hath consecrated to his own service this most blessed power, not only to carry the thrill of holy sympathy from bosom to bosom in the crowded congregation, but to blend the kindred voices and kindred hearts of families into one swell of devotion, to cheer the pilgrim of faith, when he droops in his solitude, and, above all, to train up little children to love that Lord Jesus whose praises they sing.

That psalmody is intended by God to be one of the believer's private and personal enjoyments, is manifest from Eph. v., 18, 19, where, contrasting the pleasures of the world with the pleasures of the Christian, Paul says," And be not drunk with wine, wherein is ex

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The testimony of experience to the uses and importance of psalmody, may be briefly added to the testimony of Scripture.

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1. In the surprising work of God and revival of Region, which took place about a century ago in New England, of which Jonathan Edwards was the zealous promoter and defender, he remarks, that one frit of the extraordinary degrees of the sweet and joyful is fluence of the Spirit of God, was the great disposition to abound in the divine exercise of singing praises, not only in appointed solemn meetings, but when Christians occasionally met together at each others houses." deed, he mentions this as one of the things which some had found fault with, the abounding so much in singing praises. And he admirably defends it, on the ground that the more the saints on earth are like, in their dis positions, to the saints and angels in heaven, who sing hallelujahs day and night, without ceasing, the more they will be disposed to do like them. He even gives his cautious but decided approbation of a practice which was proposed during that happy period, of companies singing psalms in the streets, going to, or coming trou, the places of public worship. It is peculiarly interesting to see that man of soberest and profoundest judgment thus happily expressing himself:-" When God's people are going to his house, the occasion is so joyful to a Christian in a lively frame, that the duty of singing praises seems to be peculiarly beautiful on such an occasion. So that if the state of the country were rige for it, and there should be frequent occasions for a considerable part of a congregation to go together to the places of public worship, and there was, in other respects, a proportionable appearance of fervency of devotion, it appears to me that it would be ravishingly beattiful, if such things were practised all over the lan, and would have a great tendency to enliven, aniinate, and rejoice the souls of God's saints, and greatly to pro pagate vital Religion. I believe the time is coming when the world will be full of such things." Wh such days come, shall not the words of the prophet Ly fulfilled: "The ransomed of the Lord shall return at d come to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon the heads."

2. Some interesting facts relative to psalmody are to be found in the account of the Moravian mission 1 Greenland. When after fifteen years of sowing the

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