of such stories he only laughed, or perhaps expressed his astonishment at the fertile invention which could coin anecdotes so baseless; but on one occasion, when told that it was currently reported, that he had made from the pulpit some remarks on Mrs. Hill's dress, he exclaimed, with unwonted indignation, "It is an abominable untruth, derogatory to my character as a Christian and a gentleman."

Miss Tudway was exceedingly anxious that Mr. Hill should be qualified by episcopal ordination to labour in the gospel as a regular minister of the Church of England; and so far as he could do it without wounding his conscience," he expressed himself willing, with a view to the forwarding of this desirable end, to " withdraw from more public labours, so as not to give immediate disgust." Any difficulty which might exist with reference to Mr. Hill's ordination, respected only deacon's orders; for the then Bishop of Carlisle had promised him priest's orders whenever he should apply for them. Though ready, however, to walk according to prudent counsel on this most important occasion, the brief period of "idleness and almost total loss of time” which ensued, was a severe trial to the ardent mind of Rowland Hill. He honestly desired ordination, but he dreaded lest the steps necessary for its attainment, should detain him during an undue length of time from the work which "he was fully persuaded that the Lord had blessed;" and notwithstanding the prudence which he felt to be necessary, he was not to be dissuaded from undertaking, during the spring of this year, a short preaching expedition. Miss Tudway justly feared that this journey might prove a hinderance to his admission to orders; and in consequence of her affectionate and judicious entreaties, Mr. Hill, though much fearing that his "silence and apparent change of conduct should disgust or dishearten the dear children of God," was induced to abstain, for a short time, from that "preaching which," as his wife subsequently said, "was his element, and an exercise necessary to the health and vigour of his mind."

All, however, was eventually ordered aright. On the 23rd of May, 1773, Rowland Hill was married to Miss Tudway, at Mary-le-bone Church; and having immediately afterwards proceeded with his wife into Somersetshire, he was, on the Trinity Sunday following, ordained deacon by Dr. Wills, then Bishop of Bath and Wells. His title to orders being the parish of Kingston, in that county, and his stipend forty pounds a year.

His own record of his ordination is in these words:

"On Trinity Sunday, June 6, (1773), through the kind and unex

pected interposition of Providence, I was ordained by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, without any promise or condition whatever.”

THE REV. ROWLAND HILL preached his first sermon, after ordination, in the church of the Rev. J. Rouquet, his text being, "Come out from among them," 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. His subsequent history, the best records of which will remain secret till he shall appear at the great day among those who have turned many to righteousness, must form the subject of another paper.

FLOWERS! fair Flowers! where are ye now?
Garlands which deck'd Summer's glorious brow,
Green leaves and boughs of the shady trees,
Bent at the breath of each gentle breeze,
Fields spangled o'er with the daisy fair,
Where have ye hidden your jewels-where ?
Honey-bee say are thy labours o'er ?

Birds shall we hear your glad chorus no more?
Your homes have ye left in the forest green,

Your nests, which no human eye hath seeu?

Are ye weary so soon of our island fair?

Where are ye, bright ones? Oh! answer me-where ?
And thou, gentle warbler, with rosy breast,

Art thou still content in thy home to rest?

Have no songsters woo'd thee to join their band?
Have they told thee no tales of a brighter land?

Of roses that bloom o'er the far-off seas?
Of the sweet-scented myrtle and tall palm-trees?
Faithful art thou, little Redbreast, and true!
Winter-birds, even like friends, are few!
Glorious Sun! Art thou faithless found?

Dost thou hide thy face from earth's burial-ground?
On Nature's dull shroud shall no beaming ray
Fall, as of yore, in the summer's day?

Hearest thou not, through the leafless trees,
That dirge-like moan in the passing breeze,
Sighs breaking in on Night's silence deep,

From Nature's chill'd heart, at her children's sleep?
She mourns that the scent of the rose is fled,
She mourns that the lily so fair is dead;
For the waving corn in the golden fields,
For the purple clusters the rich vine yields :-
But mourn not, Oh! Nature! the lily and rose
Shall awaken once more from their long repose;
The bee shall come forth to her summer toil,
And return to her hive with the honied spoil;
Sunbeams shall gladden the morning once more,
And singing-birds come from the distant shore.

And shall gladness rise out of Nature's tomb?
Shall trees be re-clad, and shall flowerets bloom?
Then where are our loved, and our lost ones-where?
Our early-nipp'd blossoms, our flowerets fair?
Sad does it seem that the balmy breath

That awakens the world from the sleep of death,
That colours the daisy which grows o'er his head,
Awakes not the sleeper within his low bed!
Yes! sad, were it true-but the same holy power
That quickens the seed, and that colours the flower,
That gives to the summer its radiance and bloom,
Can speak with a voice that shall sound in the tomb.
Oh! live-giving truth! that our Saviour arose,
A truth which should wrap troubled souls in repose.
If we sleep but in Jesus, our spring-time shall come,
A spring everlasting shall reign in that home!
There the sun shall set never, the moon wane no more,
Wintry blasts sweep not over that heavenly shore,

The music of birds is not heard in that land,

But the song of a saved and a glorified band.
Fear not, then, believer!-to sleep 'neath the sod
Is but to awaken to glory and God.

H. R. G.

GOD, AND MAN.

BY THE REV. ROBERT MONTGOMERY, M.A.

s Christ was God "manifest in flesh," so, (in a manner reverentially guarded,) it may be asserted, that the Bible is God manifest in language; and while, at all times, the supremacy of scriptural revelation is to be maintained, our own age, with most awful emphasis, seems to cry out from the very depths of its tortured heart and tried spirit,-The Word of God, like the Christ of God, "is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever!" And why do we venture, on this occasion, thus to magnify the absolute glory of the Divine Word? Because, in a period of chaos and convulsion, of crisis and of change, of fainting monarchies, falling thrones, and departing systems, while "men's hearts are failing,"-we believe that the texts of written inspiration are the intellectual thrones of the HOLY GHOST, set up among the darkness and difficulty of the times; and that, if with profound reverence of heart, and loving simplicity of mind, we prostrate ourselves before these thrones of infallibility, we shall be guided and guarded in the hour of political conflict and social disorganization. In this respect, let us remember how the seer of old acted, some six hundred years before the advent of the Incarnate God. Then (as now) the professing church of God was plague-smitten with heresy and schism; then (as now) the entire framework of society, in all its manifold relations and functions, was shattered and perturbed; finally, then, (as now) the instruments of national chastisement and ecclesiastical correction, which the mysterious Governor of the Universe wielded, were debased into direr forms of wickedness than even the wicked apostates they were employed to punish! But, in that hour of perplexity, when God appeared to recede from the earth with infinite abhorrence, and the earth seemed to avert its unbelieving soul with increasing alienation from the principles and precepts of Jehovah,-how did Habakkuk act? Did he resort to the oracle of reason, to the conclusions of philosophy, or, take a blind and miserable refuge in the cold negations of physical science? No; he

acted then as Christians ought to act now. He went at once to God in language; and intelligibly realized the governing wisdom and guardian love of the MOST HIGH, in answer to the application of faith. We do therefore most earnestly direct the devout attention of the reader to the first and second chapters of the prophet Habakkuk. Unless we are utterly mistaken, he will there find a political, ecclesiastical, and social parallelism, between the realities which encircled the ancient seer of God in his time, and the relative facts which encompass the believer in Christianity now. Human nature being generically one in every age, though the forms of its development are specifically various,-it follows that all history is virtual prophecy. Hence, the nationality of Israel, as unfolded in its historic connection with the ancient world, has been expressly recorded in the pages of the Old Testament, for the sublime purpose of instructing the Nationality of modern times, touching the true principles of Divine government in its relation to the responsibility of nations, churches, and peoples. And are we asked to state, in brief, what was the light which the consulting prophet derived from mental communion and moral fellowship with his Maker? We will answer in the express words of the bible—“ Behold! his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith," (Habakkuk ii. 4.) "Lifted up," and not "upright!" Behold the true characteristics of the age! In contrast with this, "the just," the saintly man, who "lives by faith," is the noble type and personified representation of God's children, few and far between,-who are witnesses for Divinity and Eternity at the existing hour, against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

But let us now, in a brief and transient way, apply these hasty, but, we believe, scriptural thoughts, to our own sinful but privileged country. It will be seen, then, that we have headed this essay "GOD, AND MAN:" our intention by that title, is to indicate this fact, that practically, as a nation, church, and people, we have during the last thirty years forgotten the LIVING PERSONALITY of the one, and the REAL CONDITION of the other. Now, before any deeper analysis might be entered on, a thoughtful person must intuitively perceive, that, GOD and MAN are the two GREAT IDEAS which conditionate all history, and underlie all consciousness; and according as they are just and holy, or the reverse, must be the ruling tendencies and reigning dispositions of mankind. True, there is, in every age of the church, a despicable class of Materialists, who idolize physical cause, and contemn all views of humanity as unreal, which are not clothed in the palpable embodiments of social facts, or visible forms.