too Elisha, and which consisted of every good thing of Damascus,-forty camels' burden, (2 Kings, viii. 9.) From all these useful qualities of the camel, its capacity of undergoing labour, enduring privations, guiding to watering-places, which it smells often an hour before it reaches them, and from other circumstances, numerous to be mentioned, this animal is most appropriately termed by Job (ix. 26,)" a swift ship," a term which is still current in the language and poetry of the Arabs. A fleet of these ships of the desert, or in other words, a numerous caravan passing through the desert, is one of the most beautiful scenes which The the eye can witness or imagination conceive. merchants collected together from every region, their rich and varied costumes, their elevated position on the back of their sumptuously accoutred camels, the costly merchandise they transport, comprising all the means of life and the arts of luxury, give rise to ideas of smiling abundance and joy; and, accordingly, such a picture has been selected by the Evangelical Prophet to afford a representation of the spiritual riches and blessings which the advent of Messiah would give to the Church. "The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord."-(Isaiah 1x. 6.) It remains only to take notice of the rate at which the camel travels, which, according to Burnes, is about 3740 yards, and according to Volney 3600 yards or about two miles and an eighth per hour. Though this seems to be the ordinary pace of the camel, when pushed through fear of danger, it can run with great rapidity, as many examples from modern travels might be quoted to shew. And we find, that of the Amalekite warriors who burnt Ziklag, and on whom David took signal vengeance, not one escaped the attack of the Israelitish monarch, save four hundred young men who rode upon camels and fled."-(1 Sam. xxx. 17.) 66 makes it so impatient of restraint as to throw its rider, roll on its back to free itself of its load, and thus enjoy unencumbered the repast that is before it; yet it is capable of bearing the greatest want; and the general docility of its character is displayed in submitting with the greatest patience to the scanty and precarious fare with which the desert supplies it. "Nature," says Bruce," has furnished the camel with parts and qualities adapted to the office he is employed to discharge. The driest thistle and the barest thorn is all the food this useful quadruped requires; and even these, to save time, he eats while advancing on his journey, without stopping, or occasioning a moment of delay. As it is his lot to cross immense deserts, where no water is found, and countries not even moistened with the dew of heaven, he is endued with the power at one watering-place, to lay in a store, with which he supplies himself for thirty days to come. To contain this enormous quantity of fluid, nature has formed large cisterns within him, from which, once filled, he draws at pleasure the quantity he wants, and pours it into his stomach, with the same effect as if he then drew it from a spring; and with this he travels patiently and vigorously all day long, carrying a prodigious load upon him, through countries infected with poisonous winds, and glowing with parching and never cooling sands." To this extract from Bruce we subjoin one or two circumstances, by way of explanation. The wells in the desert are sometimes very deep, and not easily approached. One mentioned by Burnes was thirty feet under ground, to which there was a winding difficult access, and the long elastic necks of the camels were seen to be particularly fitted to help them to the precious fluid on that occasion. The quantity which a single camel is capable of containing is almost incredible; since, according to the calculation of an intelligent traveller, he takes a quarter of an hour to quench his enormous thirst, and to water a caravan of 1000 camels, at a small well, where one only can drink at a time, as sometimes unfortunately happens, would therefore require several days and nights, a delay that must occasion the greatest vexation and danger to the unfortunate traveller in these inhospitable climes. Nor is the immense quantity it is capable of imbibing at once, more wonderful than its capability of subsisting without it altogether for a considerable length of time. A camel has been known to travel four or five days without a drop of water; and when it is considered that this endurance was displayed during a fatiguing journey, and in a climate, the intense heats of which speedily absorb every particle of moisture, the power of sustaining such privation will appear not a little astonishing. It is, however, a mistake which some naturalists have fallen into, to suppose that these beasts are exposed to such extremities of thirst with impunity, as many travellers of great experience assure us that, under a protracted want of water, the camels soon languish and die. Burnes relates a story of three soldiers, who, in travelling over part of the desert, lost their way, The Gospel Scheme.-Now, the Bible, as containing and their supply of water failed. Two of their horses sunk amid the parching thirst. All their camels died many gracious communications from the divine government to the children of men, is addressed to them as but one; and the unfortunate men, fearing that the other would die also, opened a vein of the surviving camel, guilty, condemned, and helpless by nature. It comes to us as a message of mercy from the God we have inand obtained a little water from its stomach, on which they subsisted till they reached a place of safety. The sulted, assuring us, upon divine authority, that the Lord same traveller relates that the Khan of Orunje, in Jesus Christ," the only begotten Son of God," gramarching over the desert, lost upwards of 2000 camelsciously undertook the redemption of sinners from both through the failure of water. The burden which a camel will carry amounts to 500 pounds weight, which it will bear for ten, and sometimes fifteen hours in succession; and the knowledge of this circumstance may enable us to form some idea of the rich and splendid present which Hazael brought from the King of Syria to The plant called "the camel's thorn" is not, as may be readily parts that surround it, There is a species of camel, called the dromedary, which is light and slenderly made, and which, on that account, has always been used in the East in preference to all other animals when swiftness and despatch were required. Dr Shaw mentions a Sheik who rode upon a creature of this kind, and who diverted him and his fellow-travellers, by riding on to various parts of the caravan, and passing them and repassing them every now and then; and Morgan, in his history of Algiers, describes one which outran the fleetest horses that were brought to match it, and which was kept for purposes of state. The knowledge of this circumstance will satisfactorily account for the employment of dromedaries to carry the messengers of Esther to the most remote provinces of Persia, on an emergency which demanded the greatest expedition, being a matter of life and death to thousands. CHRISTIAN TREASURY. the punishment and the enslaving power of sin. That, as "the Lord our righteousness and strength," he has made an adequate provision for recovering us from our fallen condition, and securing our deliverance from the wrath to come. That, as Surety and Redeemer of man, he has fulfilled the violated law, in our nature and stead,-made atonement with his blood for the guilt of human offences, and "poured out his soul as an offersupposed, to be found in the desert, but rather in the more fertile ing for sin "_declaring on the cross, that he had “finish ed" the work of reconciliation-while, by his resurrection from the tomb, and his ascension into glory, he has afforded the surest evidence of his victory over death and sin, and given us ample warrant for entrusting to him the eternal interests of our souls. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly; for scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet, peradventure, for a good man some would even dare to die; but God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." With such discoveries and Issurances of the divine regard and compassion towards our fallen race, we are warranted to approach the offended Lord, as a reconciled and gracious Creator, through the all-prevailing mediation and atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. "A robe of righteousness' has been thus prepared, sufficient to conceal for ever the deformities of the vilest sinner-even the merits arising from the voluntary and perfect obedience of the divine Surety and Redeemer. Clad with this, as "with the garments of salvation," the sinner, without alarm, may appear at the bar of judgment, and, relying on the divine faithfulness, plead for an inheritance with "the saints in light." This gracious provision of divine mercy is in the sovereign gift of the Redeemer. Sinners, even the chief, are affectionately invited in the Gospel to avail themselves of the gracious boon, free of any price or recompense. "If we then believe in God, who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead, and gave him glory,' and if, renouncing all dependence on any thing we ourselves can either suffer or perform, as constituting a warrantable ground of recommendation to the divine regard, we confide exclusively and implicitly in what Christ, as Redeemner, hath done for sinners,-the righteousness which, as surety, he wrought out in our nature, shall be imputed to us. The meritorious efficacy of his vicarious suffering shall be considered as ours. We shall be freed from the charge of guilt, relieved from the yoke of legal bondage, and warranted, as by divine authority, to cherish hope and confidence towards God. For the Scriptures assure us, that the Lord Jesus submitted to a course of human suffering unto death, as the surety of his people; that he endured the curse of the broken law for them, and cancelled its claims against them, as a covenant. And we further learn, as from the Redeemer's own lips, that, "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," and the Israelites, who, in compliance with the divine command, looked at it in all the various stages of their disease, were immediately cured," even so was the Son of Man lifted up upon the cross, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "He that believeth shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be condemned." "He that believeth on the Son hath life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." The provided benefit is thus connected with the belief of the atonement by which it has been secured. While believing sinners, by the promise and oath of God, are encouraged, as "the heirs of promise, to have strong consolation, having fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us in the Gospel; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec."-SIME. On fellowship with Christ.-To be one with the Son of God in our predominant thoughts and affections and features of character and sources of happiness, to have the heart elevated above the rounds of earthly drudgery by the feeling of connection with the realities of the heavenly state, to be performing every duty from reverential and grateful regard for the authority of the Highest, and sustaining every load, however burdensome, because we recognise and trust on the wise hand that lays it on; to have in exercise, the faith which carries us beyond the most fascinating scenes of the world's pleasures as offering no allurement to us, and the hope that transports us over the most humiliating scenes of the world's distresses, as an affliction which is but for a moment;" whatever be the bitter stream of cares and anxieties which the events of life send into the soul, to have yet an under-current, which, springing from religion, sets out to the ocean of eternal good, and as it flows onwards, is purifying and sweetening the whole tide of human ills and sorrows; whatever be the eminences of the present possessions and enjoyments, to have still before us those heights of glory and blessedness on which the light of the celestial sun is shining, and which, extending in immeasurable distance, cherish the ardour of the aspiring soul, even for eternity; O! to be thus spiritually minded, is life, is peace," is the honour and happiness of our nature, and both solves and dignifies the design of human life, by rendering it the entrance and training for immortality.-MUIR. 66 Communion with God.-Why are we not more intimately acquainted with the benevolent duty of intercession for others? and why are we not more sweetly familiar with a throne of grace? Communion with God, how ineffably delightful, how unspeakably honourable? It is one of the most precious drops of heaven that bedews this dry and distant land, the lenient soother of care, the mighty solace of immense distress. It gives a rich zest to all the numerous blessings and enjoyments of life. O, what an import do these words convey, "Our fellowship is with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ."-FANNY WOODBURY. They who "killed the Lord Jesus."-They cried with clamorous voices and unrelenting hearts, “ crucify him, crucify him!" and "with wicked hands," they crucified the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory, who was both "Lord and Christ.' They caused his head to be circled with thorns, his hands and feet to be pierced with nails, and his side with a spear. To the pain and ignominy of the cross they added the sting of ingratitude, which entered more deeply than "the iron into his soul." If the Roman Cæsar, who had waded to the heights of his ambition through the tears and blood of thousands, was moved with generous grief when he saw among his murderers the friend (Brutus) whom he had loved and honoured, and when he felt at his heart the point of a sharper weapon than even that of the deadly steel;-Oh! What must He have felt who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them, when he beheld his own, whom he came to redeem, conspiring against a life which had been devoted to their best interests? What must the King of Zion have felt when, from the cross on Calvary, he saw Jerusalem, over whose doom he had lately shed tears of generous sympathy and sorrow, pouring forth her idle crowds of cruel scoffers to gaze on his agonizing frame, and, by fresh insults, to wound his ingenuous mind? What must he have felt when he saw those who had heard his gracious words, and seen his mighty works, who had mingled their glad voices with the hosannas of applauding thousands, now swelling the raging floods of the ungodly, and joining in the bitter invectives which, like so many sharp arrows, were showered upon him from every side?) -WIGHTMAN. Hypocrisy. When Christ is in court, and Religion in fashion, then the hypocrite will put on some fits of diligence. O what will not a hypocritical Jehu do, when there is a crown to be had for following Christ and Religion: "O come, then, and see my Religion, and zeal for the Lord of Hosts." But bring Christ to the Hall of Caiaphas then will he soon quit him, and scatter Religion.-GRAY, SACRED POETRY. PARAPHRASE OF CANTICLES II. 1-5. SWEETER is Jesus' love to me That in the valley grows. I sat in his refreshing shade, His fruit revived my soul again, And sweet was to my taste. He brought me to his banquet house, And lo! the banner of his love He over me did spread. Cheer me with wine, with odours sweet, VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF A YOUNG LADY, WHO WAS CONFINED TO A SICKBED FOR MANY YEARS. BY MISS ANNA L. GILLESPIE. FAREWELL, Sweet maiden; fare thee well: Relieved from ling'ring years of pain, Forgive the sighs of grief that swell Our earthly loss, thy heavenly gain. From memory fade; thy fervent faith; To God, in sickness and in death. Oh! thou wert good, and fair and young, Around thee prospects of delight. The moonbeams on the welt'ring wave. All nature's glowing imagery Of hills and vales, and woods and streams, Were greeted by thy raptur'd eye, And woke devotion's holy themes. The term is past,-the trial o'er,— The ransom paid, the prisoner free,The prize is given, and evermore, My Christian friend, 'tis joy with thee. MISCELLANEOUS. An Infidel's Servant.—The Abbé Barruel, in the account he gives of the closing scenes of Diderot's life, tells us that he had a Christian servant, to whom he had been kind, and who waited upon him in his last illness. This servant took a tender interest in the melancholy situation of his master, who was just about to leave this world, without preparation for another. Though a young man, he ventured one day, when he was engaged about his master's person, to remind him that he had a soul, and to admonish him in a respectful manner not to lose the last opportunity of attending to its welfare. Diderot heard him with attention, melted into tears, and thanked him. He even consented to allow the young man to introduce a clergyman, whom he would probably have continued to admit to his chamber, if his infidel friends would have suffered the minister to repeat his visits. Let us be encouraged to attempt good under the most unpromising circumstances, and, in our different stations, to remember we are commanded to labour for the welfare of those with whom we are connected. 66 Have you a Mother?-Mr Abbott relates, in his "Mother at Home," that, some time ago, a gentleman in one of the most populous cities of America, was going to attend a seaman's meeting in the Mariner's Chapel. Directly opposite that place there was a Sailor's Boarding-house. In the door-way sat a hardy weatherbeaten sailor, with arms folded, and puffing a cigar, watching the people as they gradually assembled for worship. The gentleman walked up to him, and said, Well, my friend, won't you go with us to Meeting?" No," said the sailor bluntly. The gentleman, who, from the appearance of the man, was prepared for a repulse, mildly replied, "You look, my friend, as though you had seen hard days: have you a mother?" The sailor raised his head, looked earnestly in the gentleman's face, and made no reply. The gentleman, however, continued: "Suppose your mother were here now, what advice would she give you?" The tears rushed into the eyes of the poor sailor; he tried for a moment to conceal them, but could not; and hastily brushing them away with the back of his rough hand, rose and said, with a voice almost inarticulate through emotion, I'll go to the meeting." He crossed the street, entered the door of the chapel, and took his seat with the assembled congregation. 66 Lord Bacon. When the French ambassador visited the illustrious Bacon, in his illness, and found him in bed, with the curtains drawn, he addressed this fulsome compliment to him:-" You are like the angels, of whom we hear and read much, but have not the pleasure of seeing them." The reply was the sentiment of a philosopher, and language not unworthy of a Christian: "If the complaisance of others compares me to an angel, my infirmities tell me I am a man.” Subscribers in Edinburgh and Leith will have their copies de livered at their own residences regularly, by leaving their addresses with the Publisher, or with John Lindsay & Co, 7, South St. Andrew Street.-Subscribers in Glasgow will, in like manner, have their copies delivered, by leaving their addresses at the Publishing Office there, 19, Glassford Street. Subscription (payable in advance) per quarter, of twelve weeks, 1s. 6d.-per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 3s.-per year, of fortyeight weeks, 6s.-Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, stitched in a printed wrapper, Price Sixpence. Printed at the Steam-Press of Ballantyne & Co., from the Stereotype Plates of T. Allan. ON PROVIDENCE. BY THE REV. WILLIAM SCOTT MONCREIFF, PRICE 1d. an accurate view of, and a settled belief in, God's providential government of this world, is a point of the very first practical importance. It is not easy, indeed, to conceive a more THERE are few words introduced in conversation deplorable state of mind, than that in which this to which so little meaning is attached, as that finds no place. It is, to use a Scripture phrase, which stands at the head of this article. Many, "a living without God in the world." It is to who talk of Providence, seem to consider it as have no confidence of protection, or even of synonymous with chance or fortune; others would support, for the present, and no ground of hope appear to adopt it as a convenient veil for the real for the future. What can be more cheerless than atheism of their views; while a still more nume- to be threatened with dangers, and see no power rous class employ the term at second hand, be- superior to our own which can avert them? to be cause they hear it frequently used by the learned overwhelmed with sorrows, and discern no hand and the serious, without giving themselves any able to relieve us from their pressure, or sooth us trouble as to the propriety of their use or appli- under their infliction? or to suspect, that after all, cation of it. The number is small indeed of those virtue is a mere delusion, that might alone is right, who employ it with a clear comprehension of its that deceit and violence are the surest methods of real signification, or a due recollection, that, if acquiring or securing the enjoyments of life? to they mean any thing at all by it, they must ex- suppose that we are abandoned to the casualties of press thereby the holy, wise, and powerful will of nature, the violence of mankind, or the caprice of God, acting in the operation of all causes, and the our own passions? to be incapable of perceiving determination of every event; or the daily and any order, harmony, or beauty, in the history or hourly government of God, exercised over us and progression of human affairs? to feel no security all our actions. But admitting that the term Provi- in the character of our great moral Governor, that dence is liable to much abuse, it is not in itself objec- the triumph shall not ultimately be given to untionable; for, though it is not a word of scriptural righteousness over truth and virtue ;—such a state authority, it is still a very appropriate and happy ex- of mind, to a man of any seriousness of reflection, pression for that general idea of the divine agency cannot fail to prove one of the most unhappy dein and over all the objects and events of nature. scription. We find, however, that even the most But then, if we are to employ it, let us see that we do highly favoured of God's saints have occasionally so correctly; for, otherwise, we may thereby come been reduced to this deplorable state of mind. to exclude from our own regards, and those of The Psalmist found, as he informs us, the Proothers, the very being, whose perpetual and uni-vidence of God a subject too painful for him; he versal superintendence it is designed to express. confesses that he was envious at the foolish, when We need not seek to find any better definition of he saw the prosperity of the wicked, because he Providence than that given in our Shorter Cate- observed, "that they were not in trouble, as other chism. "It is God's most holy, wise, and power- men, but had more than heart could wish." It ful preserving and governing all his creatures and would appear that he felt this temptation the more all their actions." This is a short and simple ex-strongly, from the circumstance, that in his days, a planation of a term so general and abstract; but it presents us with a distinct, accurate, and comprehensive idea, widely different indeed from the confused and indefinite notions of Providence, which are in general entertained. Endeavouring to carry this idea along with us, let us now attempt to point out some of the practical uses of the doctrine which it expresses. It must be very evident to every one, that marked change had taken place on the character of God's providential dealings with Israel. In the age immediately preceding his own, the Lord had governed his people directly, so to speak, often without the agency of secondary causes, but solely through his own visible, or audible, and immediate direction. No Israelite, therefore, in those days of miraculous dispensation, could, for one moment, misconstrue or reject the doctrine of divine Pro vidence; for the righteous were then obviously rewarded, while no less distinct and unequivocal was the judicial retribution on the wicked. But, in proportion as the Israelites withdrew from God, he removed farther and farther from them, till at last, the impious began to hint their hopes that he had entirely withdrawn himself, that he would neither do good nor evil, and had left them to themselves; while the godly were often disconraged, when it was asked of them, "How does God know; is there knowledge in the Most High?" and when, as in confident reply to the question, the impious enquirers pointed to themselves, and said, "behold the ungodly who prosper in the world, and increase in riches." At that time the Christian's doubts and misapprehensions were removed only by his having recourse to the light of Revealed Truth: "when I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end." And thus it is still. These clear views of God's providence are, occasionally at least, to be found clouding the peace and darkening the prospects of sincere Christians; nor are they otherwise to be dispelled, than by a simple minded recourse to the sanctuary of God's Word. Natural religion throws little, if any light on the mysteries of Providence. To the man who stands on its heights of observation, God's ways are indeed "in the sea, and his paths in the great waters ;" and it is only from the sanctuary that we can perceive that they are all " mercy and truth, unto such as keep his testimonies," and that, through the intricate mass of events, he is causing "all things to work together for good to them that love him." The Providence of God must, therefore, be ever read and interpreted by the Word of God. The inspired history, it may be observed, in that Word, resembles all other history, in being the annals of Providence. It differs from human compilations chiefly in this, that with a detail of the events, there is also a revelation of the motives and influences of that all-pervading mind, which determines every event. For example, the restoration of the Jews to their native land, after the Babylonish captivity, considered as an event, might have been recorded by a profane historian as accurately as it has been by the inspired Ezra. The circumstance, doubtless, surprised many persons of reflection at the time, and would be ascribed, by the Assyrian moralists, to a variety of political motives. The inspired historian alone discovers to us the real cause, when he says, "that the Word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom," &c. Ezra i. 1. And had it pleased God to give us an inspired historian for our own times, a similar key would have been thereby furnished to all the events which now occur. This has been wisely withheld, for if it be presumptuous in a child or a subject to require a reason for every domestic or civil appointment, how much more so for us, to demand the why and the wherefore of the steps of the divine government. Yet ignorant though we confessedly are of the extent and minuteness of the arrangements of the Almighty, we are in constant danger of so far forgetting our own weakness and shortsightedness, as to limit the agency of the divine mind in the detail of Providence. Many serious persons shrink from the idea of ascribing the minor details of the world's history directly to God, as if it were unbecoming his dignity to refer them to him. They are willing to ascribe al works of creation to his sole power, but they conceive, that it is a derogation from his dignity to order his creatures' affairs. They would not encumber him, after so great an obligation as their creation has laid them under to him, with the care of them. And yet what is this but to limit the Most High, by conceiving of him as of ourselves? it is to forget, that by no possibility can any thing be too hard for him; or, that as nothing is too vast for his control, so nothing can be too minute for his superintendence. Our blessed Lord, with the force and simplicity of truth, when impressing on us the fear of God, rebukes this inconsideration, by reminding us that there can be nothing hid from his knowledge. He states, in the most distinct manner, the direct superintendence of the divine mind over all,-" even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Now, if we allow God's omniscience, it were foolish in us to deny his Providence. To suppose that he could foresee any contingency against which he could not provide, were to reduce him to a lower level than that which we occupy; and, doubtless, it is just from his foreseeing and providing for all events, that his ways often appear to us, who foresee nothing, so very complex and mysterious. We must remember, that " He sees the end from the beginning;" "knows all things that are not as though they were ;" takes into one clear, simultaneous view, all events throughout all ages, the past, the present, and the future," one day being to him as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Once grounded and established in this faith in the Providence of God, we shall never look on any thing to be so mighty or so minute as to lie out of its precincts. It is not that all events are indifferent to the divine mind, that God is as much concerned about the hairs of our head, as he is about the care of our souls, and that to him all things are of equal importance, or rather are alike disregarded. This were a most dangerous view of Providence, and certainly a false one, as may be distinctly perceived from the words of our Lord: "are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God." And what doctrine do we deduce from this? That God is as attentive to a sparrow as to the soul of man? Far from it. "Fear not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." "God feedeth the raven, how much more are ye better than the fowls?" Because God's Providence extends to every thing, it does not follow that all things, be they great or small, share alike in his attentive regards; but it does follow, and that |