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Thus, whilst some are so sadly infatuated by the enemy of souls as not to perceive their actual lost condition, as not to receive the kingdom of God as little children, and draw near to the great Physician, by whom alone they can be healed, there are others who experience the quickening power of the divine Spirit upon their souls, whose minds are really influenced and awakened to receive the sacred truths addressed to them, and whose hearts are filled with the love of Him who they feel first loved them; so that, being "no longer conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of their minds," they have such an abiding sense of God and heavenly things as leaves no room for regret at the loss of the ancient paradise, because an actual anticipation is experienced of the time when every pain shall be removed, every doubt dispelled, and every hope realised; when the loss of things of sight shall be abundantly supplied by the possession of the things of faith, when the natural sun shall indeed be no more seen, but the glorified body shall not need its rays; " for the Lord God shall give it light," and glory, and peace, for ever and ever.

That man, originally formed only lower than the angels, but who fell from his high estate, so as even to be compared to the beasts that perish, might be restored to the Divine image, and have all his desires satisfied, by finally seeing God as he is, the Lord, who opened that gate of everlasting life which sin had closed against transgressors, was pleased also to give an example to his creatures how they should walk so as to please God; and enjoined his servants," following in the blessed steps of his most holy life," to go on unto perfection, and to cultivate those devout affections which are the incipient elements of heaven within the breast, but devoid of which, neither that present comfort enjoyed by the faithful (under all circumstances, however adverse they may seem), nor any hope of that final peace which passes all understanding, can be experienced. None who feel truly grateful to Him who died, that they might live, who paid the great debt which sin had contracted, and presented them to God justified by his righteousness; none, I say, who love "the Lord Jesus in sincerity," can fail, after dwelling upon what he has done, to derive benefit by again and again recurring to what he has said: "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." He who knew what was in man, who was well aware of the deep corruption of human nature, and the certainty that this corruption, unless counteracted by the virtue which proceeds from faith in his name, must

grow with our growth and lead at length to perdition, beautifully illustrates the temper and disposition necessary to ensure his favour and to become fitting members of his holy Church, which, as to its extent, is compared to a kingdom; for "the kingdoms of this world" (however much many of them may be now estranged from the truth, and unwilling that the Son of man should reign over them) shall finally "become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." This kingdom is said to be within the believer; it is described as progressive in its nature, and compared to the morning light, which, from small beginnings, "shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Essential duties devolve upon all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion; and, in order that these may be fully understood and satisfactorily performed, they are continually inculcated by precepts the most clear and practice the most engaging; whilst it is further impressed upon us, that except we receive and obey, with the teachable and submissive spirit of little children, every word which proceedeth from the mouth of God, we can have no pretension to address him as our Father, or to hope for admission into the kingdom prepared for the righteous from the foundation of the world.

If we refer to the parallel passage in St. Matthew (chap. xviii.), we find our Lord thus addresses his disciples: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." And yet, my brethren, how long is it before some who call themselves by the name of Christ learn of him who was lowly of heart, and thus find rest unto their souls, so frequently enslaved by sinful pleasures, so often disturbed by visions of worldly vanity and ambition! He that is in Christ is altogether a new creature; having by faith received an eternal inheritance, he has in deed, as well as in word, renounced that temporal portion which the carnal mind so highly values (but the love of which consists not with the love of the Father); and it becomes every believer to aim as much as possible at attaining the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus. The wise, and prudent, and mighty of this world may deride this counsel; they may lightly regard the simplicity above commanded; but let them hear the words of the King of kings and Lord of lords: "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: of such is the kingdom of heaven;" to those only who now so effectually believe on me as to have some participation in the graces which I have exhibited and enjoined, will I manifest myself; those who are my children are known by their docility, their meekness, their humility, their

power, and as the case may require, conviction direction, and comfort. In the case of those who, for a course of years, as he judges, have been walking in the ways of the Lord, his province, though mournful, has much of pleasure. To point to them more clearly the Lamb of God; to lead them to the promises; to cheer their minds with the glories of their future hope; to encourage them, if trembling, meekly to resign their souls to Him; or, if wearied with tedious pain, to teach them all the days of their

indifference to the things which the children of this world most highly value and esteem. Whatsoever, then, is in any way an occasion of offence, be it the best member which we have, be it precious as an hand or an eye, let it immediately and without hesitation (for the delay of a moment may possibly never be repaired) be cast off and plucked away; so shall that evil influence be stayed, which would else consign the whole of that body so highly valued, and for the short-lived enjoy-appointed time to wait till their change come: this, ments of which so many are persuaded to sacrifice their immortal souls, into that fire which never shall be quenched. The matter, then, is brought to this issue,- either sin must die or our souls must die; we must either receive the kingdom of God as little children, or we shall not enter therein. The offender may for a time associate with spirits more evil than himself-he may wish to believe that He who planted the ear shall not hear, that He who formed the eye shall not see; but his sin shall in the end find him out; it shall be his eternal torment, if he be not now reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. How sad is the condition of those who by wisdom know not God! How melancholy is the position of mankind when departing from the Fountain of living water! they seek for comfort beside their own self-constructed and

empty cisterns. It is the triumph of the Gospel, that it is freely preached to all, without respect of persons-that all under its influence are taught the way to God-that the babe in Christ may, by the appointed means of grace, attain the full measure of the stature in which all his desires shall be satisfied.

THE BURIAL SERVICE.

THERE is something very beautiful in the funeral service of the Church; and perhaps no part of it, if rightly considered, is more striking than its commencement. But in order to understand it rightly, we must notice that it is intended only for those of whom we have good hope that they die in the Lord. Our Church, in her liturgy and services, follows the example of the apostles in their epistles, and addresses men according to their professions: and no careless, immoral, or unbelieving person, can have reason to draw encouragement from the services of the Church, to believe that in his present state he is a candidate for heaven, any more than the false teacher, or the profane communicant at Corinth, could have reason to conclude, from the general declaration of St. Paul, that he was himself" washed, sanctified, and justified."

But, as I said, the commencement of our funeral service is very striking. The connexion between the minister and people, interesting under all circumstances, becomes peculiarly so in the case of the dying and the sick. During the sickness which precedes dissolution, he has frequently, it is to be supposed, been in attendance, to supply, as far as lies in his

in their case, is his office and ministration. And in the union of holy converse, he has often felt more love for that soul that is departing than in all the days of less intimate knowledge and less free intercourse. And when the spirit has returned to God who gave it, and the weeping relatives are following the lifeless body to the place of its rest, then, at the entrance of that last home, they are met by him who hath done what he could to cheer the last hours, and to guide the departing spirit of him who is no more. And then he, their pastor and their friend, appears to them in those introductory clauses, not simply as their minister, but as a representative to them in no ordinary manner,-first of their Redeemer, next of the departed, and then of the society of mourners. The Redeemer speaks to them from heaven: "I am the Resurrection and the Life." The spirit of the departed, who is now waiting for the consummation, answers from the place of spirits separate, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." And the Church, though she mourns, yet weeps not as one forlorn; and in

answer to her Redeemer and her disembodied member, she herself replies, in those sweet words of acquiescence, "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

But most are we struck, in this connexion, with the beautiful opening sentence of the Lord himself.

The pious among his flock are to the minister what Lazarus was to his Lord-they whom he loveth; and with peculiar solemnity of joy it is that he repeats to them the consolatory words first addressed to the sister of that beloved one: "I am the Resurrection and the Life." Let them look from the grave to the Redeemer, from the first Adam to the second; and while they mourn the ravages of death, let them calmly look forward to an endless life. In their weakness, let them rest in faith upon their Lord's

omnipotence; and remember, that "the soul of their
deceased friend, though parted from his body, is still
alive; and that even his corpse, which they follow,
shall live again as soon as ever Christ shall call it."
T. S.

The Cabinet.

CHRISTIAN SPIRIT.-While I think a Christian writer should on no account temporise or flatter, or concede the smallest particle of truth, yet meekness, and charity, and forbearance, do so much form a part of the religion, as they did of the character, of Christ, that I always lament when I see good men ably defend Wheatly on the Common Prayer.

Christian doctrines with a spirit not altogether Christian. Mrs. H. More.

THE ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.-I suspect that few are precisely in this state; few are insensible to the fact of their being in some sort the servants of sin; whilst many, very many are ignorant how entirely they are so. They sport with their chains as if they were garlands to be worn for an hour and cast off at pleasure, till they find them to be bonds of eternal thraldom. They flatter themselves, too, with the delusive hope, that these chains may be hidden under the folds of the mantle of Christian holiness. They weave a scanty web of prayers and alms-deeds, and trust to it as a cloak for their sins; or perhaps think that they honour the righteousness of Christ by wearing it over the stained and spotted garments that mark the servants of a far different master. Away with the thought! That robe belongs not unto slaves. It is the robe of freemen-at least of men who are struggling to be free. It has, in a spiritual sense, the property which belongs to this favoured soil. No slave to man can stand upon the one; no slave to sin can clothe himself with the other. Rev. J. Marriott.

THE LORD'S SUPPER.-When a natural eye looks upon the sacrament, to wit, of the Lord's supper, it finds it a bare and mean kind of ceremony. Take care there be not any of you that come to it, and partake of it with others, who prize it little, have but few conceits of it, and do indeed find as little in it as

you look for. But what precious consolation and grace doth a believer meet with at this banquet! how richly is the table furnished to his eye! what plentiful varieties employ his hand and taste! what abundance of rare dainties! Yet there is nothing but One here; but that One is all things to the believing soul: it finds His love is sweeter than the richest wine to the taste, or best odours to the smell; and that delightful word of his, "thy sins are forgiven thee," is the only music to a distressed conscience.-Archbishop Leighton.

Poetry.

THE VISION OF ELIPHAZ.
(For the Church of England Magazine.)

HUSH'D was the midnight hour,
Deep was the slumberer's rest;

The soft breeze stirr'd not the leafy bower,
Nor the still sea's silent breast:
The haunts of man were drear

As the dwellings of the dead;
And earth, it lay as a mighty bier,
With its pall of darkness spread.

A lonely watch I kept

With the wand'rers of the sky,
When from the womb of darkness swept

A shadowy spirit by;
Formless and dim it stood

In the gloom that gave it birth,

And it startled the night's deep solitude
With echoes not of earth.

"Shall man, condemn'd to dwell
In fabrics of the dust,

Ilis Maker's purity excel,

Or be than God more just?
Before him powerless stand
The chosen of the blest;
Yea oft his radiant seraph-band
In weakness stand confess'd

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DANCING GIRLS.-The practice of stealing and selling female children has prevailed to a fearful extent in the south of India, for the purpose of being brought up as dancing-girls, who form a part of the establishment of every Hindoo temple. One instance came under my own notice at Coimbatoor. A man and his wife were converted to the Christian faith through the preaching of a Protestant native priest from Tranquebar in my employment. Some time after their being impressed by his preaching, and before their admission to the Christian Church, the woman came to the catechist, and confessed to him that, during the famine which prevailed in the Carnatic in 1824, she had been induced to sell her child for this purpose: they came to make the confession, and, if possible, to recover their child. I made application to the person who had purchased her, offering the money which she had paid for the child, if she would restore her to her parents; but without effect. I then applied to the Tassildar, a Hindoo, to assist me in obtaining the child, but he declined interfering. I found, unwilling as I was to trouble the collector of the district, that that was my only course to pursue : therefore applied to that gentleman (Mr. John Sullivan), who, shocked at the circumstance, immediately interposed, and required that the dancing-woman should give up the child whom she had so obtained on receiving the pecuniary remuneration which she required. In this way we recovered the child.—Rev. J. Hough.

I

RELIGION AND SCIENCE.-It has been well said, that the truths of religion and of science can never be at variance, and that, whenever they appear to be so, the cause is to be sought for in the ignorance or errors of men occasioning belief in that which is false or has no existence. But since we have an unerring guide to religious truth in Divine revelation, whereas we have no means of discovering scientific truth except our own weak reason informed by fallible sense, it is certainly more reasonable, in the case of any such apparent variance, to seek for the error which gives rise to it in the department of science, rather than in that of religion.-Burnett on the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God displayed in the Creation of Animals.

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1838.

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