part is certainly not eternal, we have no ground to say that the world itself is so. Geological arguments also have been brought forward by able defenders of the true doctrine, to prove the falsity of the atheistical theory. These show that the world is not eternal, and the begining of the present system was not above six thousand years ago. Now to talk, as some have talked, that nature has created all things, is absurd in the extreme. What do we mean by the word nature? It means the order of things which has been established, except sometimes when we use it for the author of nature.

But to speak of a creator to the exclusion of an intelligent agent, is a mere fallacy, for the term 'nature' itself implies an order or law, and a law cannot be an agent; a law is formed by the exercise of mind, and without the agent the law is nothing; and so nature without the agency of God is a nonentity. Let us next treat of chance. In the first place, what is chance? In common discourse, the word expresses a want of intention; when we say that such a thing happened by chance, we mean that it was done without intention. But the chance-philosophers use the word instead of that intelligent being, by whose design we think the world is created. I am at a loss to think how chance can have produced a man, or a tree; and if chance Las produced all things that we see and hear, why do we not see such occurrences now? Shall we say any more than chance is the author of all? no, not even in our dreams.

Next, can matter in motion have produced this world, with all its laws? Motion is not an inherent quality of matter, but is produced by applying some force to it; and if so, whence comes this force?

Lastly, some persons say that we cannot discover design in the creation.

|

God, and by the strength of love to him, is far more
excellent and truly pleasant. The delights and plea-
sures of sin, religion indeed banishes; but it is to change
them for joy, that is unspeakably beyond them. It
calls them from sordid and base delights, to those that
are pure delights indeed. It calls to men,
"Drink ye
no longer of the cistern, here are the crystal streams of
a living fountain. There is a delight in the very des-
pising of sinful delights, as that in comparison with
them, the other deserves not the name, to have such
spiritual joy as shall end in eternal joy; it is a wonder,
we hasten not to choose this joy; but it is indeed, be-
cause we believe not."-LEIGHTON.

Love to God. The cultivation of the love of God, is the principal means for preserving us from dejection of every kind, and freeing us, if we be fallen into it. Worldly sorrows must, by degrees, die away, because worldly desires, their sources, will. And their progress will be much accelerated by the impressions of a con trary nature, which gratitude, hope, love to God will make upon the mind. As to the dejection which relates to another world, it generally ends in the opposite state, being its own remedy and cure, but all direct endeavours after the true and pure love of God, must assist. It is much to be wished, that low-spirited persons would open themselves, without reserve, to religious friends, and particularly to such as have passed through the same dark and dismal path themselves. These would be like guardian angels to them; and as our natures are so communicative, and susceptible of infection, good and bad, they would, by degrees, infuse something of their own peaceable, cheerful, and devout spirit into them. But all human supports and comforts are to be resigned at last; we must have "no comforter, no God but one," and happy are they who make haste towards this central point, in which alone, we can find rest to our souls."-HARTLEY.

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"The Lord is my Shepherd."-In these words, the believer is taught to express his absolute acquiescence and satisfaction in the guardian care of the great Pastor of the universe, the Redeemer and Preserver of inen. With joy he reflects that he has a shepherd, and that shepherd is Jehovah ! Where shall we find such diligence, such tenderness, skill, power, and unwearied patience? Why should they fear who have such a

The arguments against this are irresistible; because we have only to look around us, and examine the laws of nature, and the constitution of the human frame, and then see whether we can find any design in them or not. I shall select, for instance, the human eye; its formation undoubtedly shews a designing cause, for after a serious examination of the formation and adaptation of the human eye, is it possible for any man to deny a designing cause? The achromatic telescope is known to resemble the eye; and Mr Dolland, who was the inventor of it, acknowledges, that the structure of friend? How can they want, who have such a shepthe human eye was his guide; no man can say that herd? Behold us, O Lord Jesus, in ourselves hungry, there is no design manifested in this instrument; and and thirsty, and feeble, diseased, defenceless, and lost. if so, how can any man say that there is no designO feed us, and cherish us; heal us, and defend us; bear manifested in the human eye? Shall we say that Dolland was a designing and contriving being, and yet deny that the author of the human eye, whose work was the model of the achromatic telescope, is a designing and intelligent being?

After all, we must heartily join with the Psalmist, "the fool hath said in his heart, there is no

who says,

God."

CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

The True Influence of Religion.-Religion deters not from the lawful delights which are taken in natural things, but teaches the moderate and regular use of them, which is far the sweeter; for things lawful in themselves are, in their excess, sinful, and so prove bitterness in the end. And if, in some cases, it requires the forsaking of lawful enjoyment, as of pleasure, or profit, or honour, for God, and for his glory, it is generous, and more truly delightful to deny things, for this reason, than to enjoy them. Men have done much this way, for the love of their country, and by a principle of moral virtue; but to lose any delight, or to suffer any hardship for that highest end, the glory of The writer probably means the time which has elapsed since the deluge, or last great revolution on the earth's surface.-ED.

with us, and restore us.- -BISHOP HORNE.

The Danger of Profaneness.-Many persons have begun to be profane from mere inconsideration, and at

the commencement of their career, were no more de-
praved than such of their companions as abstained from
this sin. In their progress, however, they became cor-
rupted, much more extensively within the same period,
increased generally in wickedness, and particularly in
hardness of heart, and lost every serious and even
sober thought; all that course of thought, whence
moral good might be derived, or whence might spring
any hopeful efforts towards salvation. This is a case
which must, I think, have frequently met the eye of
every man, who is seriously attentive to the moral con-
duct of his fellow-men, and strongly shews that the
practice has, itself, deplorably corrupted them in other
respects, and set on fire the whole course of nature in
What is true of profane cursing
their minds and lives.
and swearing, as to its corrupting power, is true of ir-
reverence, in every form. Disregard to God is the
floodgate to all moral evil. He who enters upon this
conduct, ought to consider himself as then entering upon
an universal course of iniquity, and as then yielding
himself a slave to do the whole drudgery of Satan.-
DWIGHT.

THE

SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD,

CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF
THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

VOL. I. No. 25.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1836.

WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE CHIEF OBJECT

OF MAN'S EXERTION?

PRICE 1d.

hesitate to testify. "Every imagination of man's
"Be-
obvious spirit of the Bible, can a single moment
heart" is said to be "evil continually."
hold I was shapen in iniquity," exclaimed the
Psalmist," and in sin did my mother conceive
We are declared to be "dead in trespasses
me."
and sins," to have lost the image of our God, to
be filled with all unrighteousness, in short, to be
wholly depraved in thought, affection, and desire.
Now if this be the moral character which we li-
terally sustain, then, without question, that char-
acter must be repulsive to a pure and holy God
it must expose us to his righteous indignation,
and, unless previously altered, must draw down
upon every sinner at death the divine anger.

BY THE REV. J. C. FOWLER, A. M., Minister of Roxburgh Church, Edinburgh. THERE are few questions about which mankind are, in their practical conduct at least, more completely at variance, than about this important question, What ought chiefly to engage the thoughts and exhaust the energies of a responsible being? Whatever may be the creed ostensibly professed upon this question, when we look abroad upon the face of society, a very palpable variety of opinion is discoverable. In the estimation of many, the great work which, with all his might, a man Nor does Scripture alone testify that we are thus ought diligently to perform, appears to be the acquisition of power, or a right to guide the coun- guilty, that by transgression we are naturally odisels, and arbitrarily to legislate for a nation-by ous in the sight of God, and have forfeited every others, it appears to be the advancement of human plea to favour,-the whole history of mankind, as knowledge, and the handing down to posterity of well as a survey of our existing circumstances, their names as the friends and promoters of science abundantly substantiate the same truth. All na-by others, it appears to be the mingling among the ture proclaims that the Almighty is a Being of ingay and the fashionable, and the gathering around finite purity and benevolence that he delights in them of a multitude of dependent and obsequious truth and good order-that he consults, in all his ways, the welfare of his intelligent creatures,-but flatterers-by others, the living in comparative retirement and ease, or the indulgence of a consti- why, under the administration of such a Being, is man so proverbially unhappy? Why do a thoututional lethargy-and by, perhaps, the largest number in the world, the great work appears to be the sand fears perpetually invade his bosom? Why do so many disappointments wring sorrow from his attainment of wealth, and the extension of their worldly possessions. But it need scarcely be re-heart? Why does he so often fruitlessly grasp at marked, that neither one nor all of these things is that which is sanctioned by the Bible. What then is the subject which, by a responsible being, ought primarily to be pursued, and in comparison with which, every other subject upon earth should be accounted secondary or trivial? The answer is furnished by the Apostle Paul in his well-known expostulation with the Corinthians, "We pray you," says he, "in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God." To arouse mankind to secure this reconciliation, was the principal purpose for which prophets and apostles of old were selected, endowed with inspiration, and sent forth as the messengers of heaven, and for which the Sacred Scriptures have been dictated and preserved. And surely that we do all need this reconciliation, no man who ponders the workings of his own heart, the violations of conscience with which he is chargeable, or the

happiness and enjoyment? Was a creature of this helpless and degraded kind the original workmanship of God? Did he, whose name is Goodness, make a race of beings opposed to all good? Did he, who created the angels of light, those pure and blessed spirits with whom he is ever well pleased, people this whole globe with inhabitants destined only to pine in suffering, to languish in affliction, and, at length, to expire in agony? Look at the smiling infant, before one deed of actual sin has been committed, before it can even discriminate between right and wrong, suffering by calamity, convulsed with pain, and, at length, overcome by death. Is this the spontaneous, the original intention of a God whom all creation declares to be boundless in wisdom and goodness? It is impossible. Then why is this the actual condition of man? The fact stands prominently

to

at some favoured moments we feel! What happiness in humbling ourselves in the dust, and confessing our sins and unworthiness."

In the month of August 1806, Mr Payson relinquished his charge of the academy in Portland, and returned to his father's house, there to prepare for entering on the ministry, Here he made the Bible the subject of close, critical, persevering, and, for a time, almost exclusive attention, his reading being principally confined to such works as tended to its elucidation. In this manner he studied the whole of the inspired volume, from beginning to end, so that there was not a verse on which he had not formed an opinion. He read the Bible too with prayer: and his biographer says, "he prayed without ceasing." "He felt safe no where," he goes on to say, "but near the throne of grace. He may be said to have studied theology on his knees. Much of his time he spent literally prostrated, with the Bible open before him, pleading the promise, I will send the Comforter.' His seasons for fasting were injuriously frequent. So far did he carry his abstinence from food, that his family were alarmned for his safety. Often has his mother, or a favourite sister, stood at the door of his chamber, with a little milk, or some other refreshment, equally simple, pleading in vain for admission." Some may be apt to think that, in this respect, he was running into an extreme, but, as his

Rev. Seth Payson, D.D., pastor of the church in Rindge, a man of piety and public spirit, distinguished as a clergyman, and favourably known as an author. To the Christian fidelity of his parents, to their instructions, their prayers, and their example, Edward Payson attributed his religious hopes, as well as his usefulness in life. From the first developement of his mental powers, his mind seems to have been more or less affected by his condition and prospects as a sinner. It is narrated of him, that at the early age of three years, he was frequently observed to weep under the preaching of the Gospel. And at this early age, too, he was wont to call his mother to his bedside, and ask her numerous questions about God and a future world. To what interruptions this seriousness was subjected, does not clearly appear; to shew, however, that they were not mere transitory impressions, we may state the fact, that his mother was always inclined to the belief that he was converted in childhood. At the time, however, when he had finished his studies, preparatory to entering the college, the evidences of his piety were far from being conclusive; and on this very account his father hesitated to send him thither; for, said he, give you a liberal education, while destitute of religious principles, would be like putting a sword in the hands of a madman." This decision, however, was not peremptory and unalterable; for he was allowed to pro-anonymous biographer admirably remarks, "if the sub. secute his studies at home, and in his seventeenth year he entered Harvard College, where he was conspicuous among his fellow students for his ardent thirst for knowledge. He was what is called "a great reader," and every thing he read he made his own. Soon after leaving college, he was, on the recommendation of some of his professors, engaged to take charge of an academy, then recently established in Portland, where he remained for three years. Here, says his biographer," he indulged himself in such amusements as were fashionable, or were considered reputable; and that too with a gust as exquisite as their most hearty devotees." He was, however, in the year 1804, aroused as if from sleep, to take a solemn view of his relations as an accountable and immortal being. The occasion of this new or revived concern for his soul, was the death of a beloved brother. Soon after this he writes, "I feel inclined to hope that I am progressing, though by slow and imperceptible degrees, in the knowledge of divine things." On the 25th of July 1805, being his birth-day, he commenced keeping a diary, as a check on the misemployment of time." On that day he thus writes:-"Having resolved this day to dedicate myself to my Creator, in a serious and solemn manner, by a written covenant, I took a review of my past life, and of the numerous mercies by which it has been distinguished. Then, with sincerity, as I humbly hope, I took the Lord to be my God, and engaged to love, serve, and obey him. Relying on the assistance of the Holy Spirit, I engaged to take the Holy Scriptures as the rule of my conduct, the Lord Jesus Christ to be my Saviour, and the Spirit of all grace and consolation as my guide and sanctifier. The vows of God are up-"Was quite dull and lifeless in prayer, and in conseon me. Subsequent passages in his diary show an ever-active zeal to perform "the vows which his lips had uttered." Shortly after receiving the holy sacrament, which he did at Rindge in September 1805, he writes to his mother, "I did not intend to say another word about my feelings; but I must, or else cease writing. I am so happy, that I cannot possibly think nor write of any thing else. Such a glorious, beautiful, consistent scheme for the redemption of such miserable wretches-such infinite love and goodness joined with such wisdom! I would, if possible, raise my voice, so that the whole universe, to its remotest bounds, might hear me, if any language could be found worthy of such a subject. How transporting, and yet how humiliating, are the displays of divine goodness, which

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was so

jection of the heart and mind, with all their powers, to
Christ, could not otherwise be effected, he was un-
questionably right; for no sacrifice or suffering, which
is requisite to this, can be too great. If thy right hand
offend thee, cut it off; if thine eye cause thee to offend,
pluck it out."" We do not mean to say that he acted
rightly in suffering his health to be injured by fasting as
he did, and that to a great degree; if he was to blame
at all, it was not for fasting, but for fasting too long.
Except in things strictly enjoined in the Scriptures, he
never made his own practice a law for others. If he
“bound heavy burdens and grievous to be borne," he
did not
"lay them on other men's shoulders," but made
his own bear their oppressive weight.
"The influence of habitual prayer upon his studies,"
to use the language of the published memoir,
certain and so operative, that the strength of his devotion
seems, for the most part, to have been the measure of his
progress." There were few requests which he urged more
frequently than those for assistance in study, and he found,
to his joyful experience, the truth of that promise, "ask
and it shall be given you." When we find it mention-
ed in his diary that he had great freedom in prayer, we
almost invariably find likewise recorded there, that he
received great assistance in his studies. There are many
passages in his diary of a similar nature with the fol-
lowing: "Was much assisted in my studies this even-
ing, so that, notwithstanding I was interrupted, I was
enabled to write twelve pages of my sermon.
It was
the more precious, because it seemed to be in answer to
my prayer." On the other hand there are entries of a
different character, of which the following is a specimen :

quence had no success in study." During all this time
he was making great progress in the knowledge of his
own heart, which he found, and every one who searches
must find, to be "desperately wicked." His first care
was to have it "right with God," but instead of being
bound up in self, he was constantly exerting himself for
the good of others. "Uniformly," says his biographer,
"his war is with himself, and not with God. And if,
to prevent the night watches, that he might meditate
on God's word;' if, to love the habitation of his house,
and the place where his honour dwelleth;' if, to ac-
count himself, and all things else, as nothing for Christ's
sake;' if, to know in whom he had believed,' and to
draw near to him in full assurance of faith;' if, to be
satisfied as with marrow and fatness, while remember-