that it was given to the sons of men; and that the season is not yet expired, during which the enemy shall be allowed to sow his tares in the harvest-field of God. But, even so, the period which brought with it the knowledge of the Scriptures, is nevertheless. a period much to be remembered by us: remembered, not to the intent that it may call up thoughts of hatred against those whom we believe to be in error, but rather to the intent that we may provoke each other to love and to good works: and, above all, that we may lift up our hearts in thankfulness and humility to the Giver of all good, when we think of the noble works that He hath done for us, in the days of our fathers. And, truly, if thus welcomed, and thus entertained, the memory of that time might well nigh occupy a whole life of grateful religious meditation. one that judgeth him. The word which I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." That word is now here, to instruct, to exalt, to sanctify us; to fill us with patience, and with comfort, and with hope; to purify us, even as He is pure. What, then, if we refuse to be instructed? What, if we are strangers to patience, and to comfort, and to hope? What, if we live as if we had yielded up our members as servants to uncleanness and iniquity? Are we not thereby heaping up against ourselves the terrors of the day, when the rejected word of God, and of his Christ, shall rise up in judgment on us? When the Angel of the Apocalypse flew in the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel, what did he, but send forth a swift witness against all unrighteousness of man? And is it not appalling to think, that the same witness is now in our houses, and in our chambers, and, peradventure, on our tables,-yea, that the majesty of the everliving God is all but visibly present with us in that record of his holy will: and yet, that so many among us are living as if there were no eye to see us-no word to judge us-no hand-writing to testify of our iniquities? And will not the blood of the martyrs themselves cry out of the dust unto heaven against us, if we thus dishonour that record which they perished to unseal? In the first place, there rises up to our sight the prosperity and grandeur of our country, expanding, from that period to the present hour, in length, and breadth, and depth, and height: a spectacle, such as never hath been seen before in the history of man; and which would seem to shew that the God of the Scriptures looked graciously upon the hour of our spiritual deliverance. But these thoughts, it may be said, are of the earth, earthy and therefore I will no longer dwell upon them. And, next, there passes before us the glory which has rested on this land, Finally, then, let us not deceive ourselves. as the chief sanctuary, on earth, of the faith We look back with sorrow, and perhaps with delivered to the saints, pure and undefiled. indignation, to the days when the oracles of But neither let us dwell on this; lest it should God were locked up from us by the hand of be thought that we are speaking too much man and we do well. But we do not well in the proud spirit of them who said, "We to forget, that there still is a deceiving power have Abraham to our father;" and forgot which can shut up the volume to us as closely, that there was One who could raise up as if the seal of papal Rome were still upon children unto Abraham out of the very it. It needs not the decree of pontiffs or stones. What then remains for us? What, of councils to keep from us the unspeakable but to rejoice, indeed, when we think upon treasures of that volume. The Spirit that the work, as at this time first attempted,- ruleth in the children of disobedience will but to rejoice with exceeding fear and tremb- most effectually do that work, if we resist ling. For, that day hath laid upon us all a him not. What, then, is our wisdom, but to charge and a burden-an exceeding weight of cast ourselves upon our knees before that glory-which none can stedfastly think upon Spirit who himself dictated the book-who without feeling his spirit bowed down be- openeth, and no man shutteth--who shutteth, neath it. That day was the beginning of an and no man openeth-who alone can make age of light an age, therefore, of tenfold the record ours, by taking from us the heart shame and condemnation to them that walk of stone, and giving us a heart of flesh, fit to not as children of light, but have fellowship receive the sacred impress, even the words with the unfruitful works of darkness. of eternal life. Let us, then, with heart, and How God will judge them, who lived when soul, and mind, and strength, join in the his holy word was as a sealed volume, it prayer which the Church hath prepared for becomes not us to search. How he will judge her children :- "Blessed Lord, who hast us, now that the volume is unsealed, is a caused all holy Scriptures to be written for question that belongs to us and to our child- our learning; Grant that we may in such wise ren. And, to this question, the volume itself hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly supplies an awful answer. "He that re-digest them; that, by patience and comfort of jecteth my words," saith our Lord, "hath thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, | another," is the remark frequently heard from which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen." PASSING THOUGHTS. BY CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. NO. XV.-LOST TIME. It is a hackneyed subject, but one of such growing importance in the history of each individual, that too much stress can hardly be laid on it. The simple fact of a past hour being totally irrecoverable, would alone stamp it with awful interest; but when to this is added the equally certain truth, that it has not passed unmarked or unrecorded by the Most High, and that what is our loss, is also our theft, a robbery committed against Him, we may well mourn the past, and watch unto prayer for a right use of the future. busy idlers, who fancy that, so long as their bodies are not stretched on a couch, or their hands folded before them, they may be said to be up and doing. But what is it to be employed? Johnson defines the word "business, object of labour." We have, therefore, only to inquire, what is men's business in the world? what is the object pointed out to them as most worthy to be laboured for? If they be of the Israel of God, the answer is given by him, "This people have I formed for myself, that they may shew forth my praise." If they be not of that Israel, O how awfully startling is the cry of every squandered hour, while they linger unmindful of the thrilling call, "Escape for thy life; flee to the mountain!" That is lost time in which the follower of Christ does nothing to glorify his Master; and that is lost time, involving a lost eternity too, wherein the soul, that has not yet found Time-losers form a very considerable ma- peace through the blood of the cross, does jority in the upper classes of society, and no nothing towards seeking and finding it. That small proportion even among those on whose the angels of God take a lively interest in the daily labour their daily bread depends. The concerns of our world, is unequivocally shewn former, by late rising, by lingering at the in Scripture; and often do I think with what toilet and over the breakfast and dinner- wonder and indignation these heavenly creatable, squander so many hours, that they may tures, who, for ages that we cannot number, almost be said not to live out half their days, have been serving the Lord day and night, such inaction being unworthy the name of with an eternity of such joyous service still life. When to this is added the frivolous before them, must look on man. Limited, at employments of what are termed morning the utmost stretch of his mortal existence, to calls, the needless lounging in shops, and the a few fleeting years, to work out his own utterly useless occupation of writing letters salvation, and to glorify God, who works in full of gossip and egotism, it is fearful to cal- him both to will and to do, man, who might culate the amount of this robbery. The be expected to number his moments as a humbler sort of people appear, on a compari- miser numbers his golden pieces when comson with these, to pass a life of incessant pelled to deal them out, will fling away hours, labour; but they too are chargeable with days, months, years, as though he too had much sinful waste of what they are equally an eternity in possession, with no object but bound to improve, though happily exempt to gratify his own capricious will. Surely from many of the temptations that assail those two words, LOST TIME, will be found others. Are we, then, to stigmatise as cri- engraven on the gates of hell. minal the occasional relaxation of mind and body, that experience shews is necessary to the health of both? By no means: we do wrong when neglecting to ensure it to ourselves, and to those under our authority, or within our influence. Rest and recreation too are among the blessings provided for us, and which we have no right to reject. Un-heavenly truth, warning, invitation, consolabelief alone can lead us to sacrifice them to an over-anxious care for the morrow's supply; and I do not consider the time so spent as being lost, any more than the moments which the mechanic sets apart for sharpening the tools necessary to his especial work, is lost to him. Deduct from all unemployed hours a fair proportion for such rest and refreshment, and account only for the remainder, it will prove a formidable arrear. "I am always employed in one way or What is the remedy? For the past, none, save in the cleansing stream of a Saviour's blood, washing out the sin. For the present and future," looking unto Jesus" in a threefold light, is the remedy. Look to him as an example; watch his course when on earth, going about doing good; speaking words of tion, to all around; finding it meat and drink to do the will of his Father. Look to him as able to supply all your need, to overcome your besetting sin, to strengthen and cheer you in the struggling race. Look to him as the end and object of that race; as the great arbiter, holding forth the crown of life, not so much as a reward for the victor's exertion, as the free gift of his own grace, the purchase of his merit, the token of a love for which the devotion of our every energy, feeling, word, and thought to his service, is so poor and mean an acknowledgment, that the same mercy which impels him to confer the boon, can alone induce a reception of our praiseful thanksgivings. The Cabinet. SPIRITUAL MIND.-It is no mark of a spiritual mind to despise common-place truths or every-day occurrences. He has learnt the most of the Gospel, who looks the most for the God of the Gospel in every thing; who recognises him where others see him not; and turns all his dispensations, all events and circumstances, to the holiest and best account.-Rev. Charles Bradley. POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO OPEN THE MIND OF MAN. Our reason is shut up, and buried with various appetites, humours, and passions, against Gospel-truths; nor can we admit them into our hearts, except God, by his Spirit, do set open our mind, and work a free passage for them into us. It is he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that must, as St. Paul speaketh, "illustrate our hearts with the knowledge of these things." An unction from the Holy One, clearing our eyes, softening our hearts, healing our distempered faculties, must, as St. John informeth us, teach and persuade us this sort of truths. A hearty belief of these seemingly incredible propositions must indeed be, as St. Paul calleth it, "the gift of God," proceeding from that Spirit of faith whereof the same apostle speaketh: such faith is not, as St. Basil saith, engendered by geometrical necessities, but by the effectual operations of the Holy Ghost. It is true some few sparks or flashes of this divine knowledge may possibly be driven out by rational consideration. Philosophy may yield some twilight glimmerings thereof. Common reason may dictate a faint consent unto, may produce a cold tendency after some of these things; but a clear perception, and a resolute persuasion of mind; that full assurance of faith and inflexible confession of hope, which the apostle to the Hebrews speaks of; that full assurance of understanding; that abundant knowledge of the divine will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, with which St. Paul did pray that his Colossians might be replenished; these so perfect illustrations of the mind, so powerful convictions of the heart, do argue immediate influences from the fountain of life and wisdom, the Divine Spirit. No external instruction could infuse, no interior discourse could excite them, could penetrate these opacities of ignorance, and dissipate these thick mists of prejudice, wherein nature and custom do involve us; could so thoroughly awaken the lethargic stupidity of our souls; could supple the refractory stiffness of our wills; could mollify the stony hardness of our hearts; could void our natural aversion to such things, and quell that carnal mind which St. Paul says "is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ;" could depress those lofty towers of self-conceit, reared against the knowledge of God, and demolish those bulwarks of self-will and perverse stomach opposed against the impressions of divine faith, and captivate every conceit and device of ours to the obedience of Christ and his discipline. Well, therefore, did St. Paul pray in behalf of his Ephesians, that God would bestow on them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the acknowledgment of him, and that the "eyes of their mind might be enlightened, so as to know the hope of their calling;" that is, to understand and believe the doctrines of Christianity.—Dr. Isaac Barrow. CHRIST CRUCIFIED.-The affectionate apprehension of God is the life of virtue throughout the intelligent universe. Immortal spirits are good and happy so far only as they are drawn, with increasing ardour, towards the infinite Fountain of goodness and happiness. As they increase in knowledge and love, they grow proportionably in resemblance and enjoyment; and they feel that they shall thus grow for ever, because their model is infinite, and their means of improvement inexhaustible. When, therefore, this life and joy of the universe has, as it were, moulded its perfections into the form of human excellence, in order that it might at once reach our lowest depth, fill our utmost capacity, and communicate to us, not only radically, but in kind, every ingredient of worth and happiness, can we spiritually live, or grow, otherwise than by adhering to this root, and uniting ourselves to this fulness? Would we be wise? In Christ crucified is truth. There is not a deceit of the world, the flesh, or the devil, which is not here detected. There is not a moral evil which has not its infallible antidote, nor any moral virtue which has not its spring and sustenance in Jesus Christ, and him crucified. To apprehend HIM with every faculty of the mind, and with every affection of the heart, and to grow daily in that apprehension, is to emerge from every thing that enthrals, to surmount all that can contaminate. The affectionate apprehension of Christ crucified cannot but conform us more and more to his spirit; and to be conformed to his spirit, is to participate in his conquest: by hating what Christ hated, and loving what Christ loved, we not only die with him unto sin, but rise with him again unto righteousness; and in the growth of this conformity, we ascend with him more and more into the heavens, and enter, with increasing depth and fulness, into the foretaste of that rest which remaineth for the people of God.— Alex. Knox, Esq. Poetry. UPON THE EPIPHANY, And the Three Wise Men of the East coming to worship Jesus. And told the wise men of a king, To draw towards that blessed hemisphere. In this blest infant King's propitious eye, It was idolatry no more. But, Lord, with what shall we WHERE IS IT MOTHERS LEARN THEIR LOVE?* "Where is it mothers learn their love? In every church a fountain springs, O'er which the Eternal Dove Hovers on softest wings." KEBLE'S Christian Year. AND say, doth our Isis minstrel count And yet said the palm-decked minstrel true; To behold her babe a babe of heaven; For faith rejoiceth in outward sign She had learn'd her love at love's own mart, Where God hath planted a mother's heart; She had loved him early, she loves him long, From the Rev. S. C. Wilks's Rosebuds Rescued. But oh! if it be that aught can impart Miscellaneous. DOMESTIC CHAPLAINS.-They are not to be oversubmissive and base, but to keep up with the lord and lady of the house, and to preserve a boldness with them, and all, even so far as reproof to their very face when occasion calls; but seasonably and discreetly. They who do not thus, while they remember their earthly lord, do much forget their heavenly; they wrong the priesthood, neglect their duty, and shall be so far from that which they seek, with their over-submissiveness and cringings, that they shall ever be despised.-Herbert. FAMILY CONVENTS IN HANOVER.-There are in Hanover eleven Protestant convents, where young ladies may retire who have survived the bloom of youth, and have arrived at single blessedness, and may pass down the stream of time, in each other's society, in uninterrupted tranquillity. Each of these institutions is under the direction of an elderly lady, corresponding, in some degree, with the abbess of Catholic convents. The young ladies receive annually from two to three hundred rix-dollars, with which they are enabled to live genteelly. The restraints of the institution are not severe. They receive visits from their friends, usually in the presence of the governess, though that is not required, or has been for a short time only. It is not necessary to reside here constantly; a few weeks of each year being sufficient to entitle them to the pension. Some of them accordingly pass most of their time with their friends, and whenever they are thrown out upon the world by the dissolution of their families, they have a refuge to which they can retire, without experiencing those mortifications which are so frequently attendant upon adversity. These asylums are under the direction of government, to which parents, wishing to procure such places for their children, apply. It requires some influence at court to obtain them, as the number of applicants is much greater than that of vacancies. Parents not unfrequently solicit them while children are quite young, and some of them receive the promise of them even from the cradle, although, I believe, they do not enjoy the emolument until they approach the shady side of twenty, unless they reside in the convent at least a part of the time.- Dwight's Travels in Ger many. The information desired by Clericus, of November, will be obtained, if possible, and appear in the Supplement for the month. We beg to say, that a dozen correspondents adopt that sig nature. We thank G. B. We agree with the remarks on the Canadian Church. LONDON:-Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 46 ST. MARTIN'S LANE. SUNDAY TRAVELLING. THERE are few ways in which the sanctity of the Sabbath is more frequently encroached on, more especially by those in the upper walks of life, than by unnecessary travelling, whether by land or water. Cases there are, doubtless, where travelling may fairly be regarded as a work of necessity, or even of mercy, as in the sickness of others: but these form the exception. Persons who reside in or near the metropolis, more especially the latter, cannot but be aware of the nuisance of what are termed short stages, many of which run a greater number of times on Sunday than on other days of the week, not unfrequently filled with the most dissipated characters, who swarm in the country villages, and are a complete moral pest. The same holds good with respect to steam-boats on the river, the proprietors of which put forth every inducement for " Sunday excursions." By means of long stages, an immense traffic is carried on throughout the country on this holy day, although many proprietors have now ceased to allow their coaches to run. While those who employ post-horses too often select it for their journeys, because it is one on which no public business can legally be transacted, or because they are glad to get rid of its "weariness;" for a weary day the Sabbath is, except it be spent in business or amusement, to the man who has no taste for spiritual enjoyments. As far as the individual who travels is concerned, it is obvious that he breaks a positive injunction of the Almighty. And nothing can be more certain, than that he who feels no scruple in thus desecrating the VOL. II. NO. XXXV. PRICE 1d. Sabbath, can have no real desire for the glory of God, for his own spiritual welfare, or the good of his fellow-creatures. His view of the requirements of the moral law must be radically defective. He can have no desire for the glory of God; because he breaks one of God's express commandments, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy"-a commandment, be it remembered, as binding as any other in the decalogue; not abolished under the Christian dispensasation, as it has sometimes been maintained, but to be obeyed in the strictest sense; and every man who wilfully transgresses in this point, testifies that he has cast off allegiance to his Sovereign Creator; that he ridicules by his actions, whatever he may do by his words, the sacred institutions of the Divine appointments, and cares not how much he may lower them in the estimation of others. If every action that is performed by us is to have reference to the glory of the Creator, and such is the injunction of the apostle,surely it needs no argument to prove, that the wilful transgressor of God's appointed institutions is verily guilty in pursuing a line of conduct, the direct tendency of which is to detract from that glory. He can have no real desire for his own spiritual welfare; for he places himself under circumstances the least likely to induce serious reflection, and solemn self-examination. He absents himself from those means of grace, attendance on which, in a humble and prayerful spirit, cannot fail to become instrumental to his soul's good. By the very disobedience which he testifies, he exposes himself to the Divine displeasure; and that displeasure cannot be more awfully felt, than D |