their joy may be full, so it may be constant, even in this vale of tears. It is their own fault if they are not glad all their days, for his mercy will furnish them with joy in tribulation, and nothing can separate them from it. A CHRISTIAN'S BELIEF. I assure you, in the most solemn manner, that I entertain this moment the fullest conviction that the Bible contains a true record of the revelations of God; more especially, I believe in the supreme divinity of Jesus of Nazareth. Him I regard daily, with renewed satisfaction and joy, as the immediate object of religious worship. Him I revere as the utmost perfection which human nature can exhibit, and as the express image of the God-head. I believe, with increasing intuitive knowledge, that no man can come unto the Father but by and through him. I believe that, through his person and mediation only, the human race can be conducted to its destination, restored to its original dignity, and attain to the complete purpose of eternal love. It is He on whom I am daily more and more constrained to place an entire dependence. As a mortal man, as a helpless sinner, as a philosopher, I stand in need of him. The more I examine all the different systems of philosophy, the more I am led to adore Jesus Christ as my Lord and my God. Christ, or despair, is my only alternative. His incarnation, his sufferings, death, and resurrection, his close affinity to mankind, serve, by faith in Him, to dispel all my darkness, to supply all my defects.-Lavater. EFFECTIVE PREACHING. A religion without a Saviour, is the temple without the Shekinah, and its worshippers will all desert it. Few men in the world have less pretensions as a preacher than myself, my voice, my look, my manner, all of a common kind, yet I thank God there is scarcely a corner in our little church where you might not find a streaming eye and a beating heart. The reason is, that I speak of Christ; and if there is not a charm in the name, there is in the train of fears, and hopes, and joys; which it carries along with it. The people fecl-they must listen.-Cunningham. WELSH ADVICE. The following counsel, given by Cativy the Wise to Taliessin, the chief of bards, when he was a scholar, has in it sufficient practical wisdom to claim a place in our pages. Cativy was the principal of a college in South Wales, that flourished about the fifth century. Think before thou speakest, 1. What thou shalt speak. 2. Why thou shalt speak. 3. To whom thou mayest have to speak. 4. About whom thou art going to speak. 5. What will become of what thou mayest speak. 6. What may be the benefit of what thou shalt speak. 7. Who may be listening to what thou shalt speak. Put thy words on thy fingers, and before thou speakest, turn them these seven ways, and there will never come any harm from what thou shalt say. Cativy the Wise delivered this to Taliessin in giving him his blessing. DIRECTIONS FOR SPENDING THE DAY. 1. Begin the day with God. 2. Be conscientious and diligent in the business of the day. 3. Be moderate and innocent in the recreations of the day. 4. Carefully remark and wisely improve all providential dispensations. 5. Guard against the temptations of the day. 6. Govern your thoughts when alone. 7. Guard your tongue well in company. 8. In everything depend on the assisting grace of God. Whatever be the work in hand, whether sacred or civil, whether temple work, domestic work, public work, or closet work, seek Divine assistance. 9. Close the day with self-examination and prayer. Doddridge. THE SCRIPTURES. A mud cottage with the Scriptures in it, is more ennobled in the view of an angel than the palace of the richest emperor on earth. David would have decended from his throne, and passed his days in a poor-house, to have enjoyed our advantages; Abraham, at the distance of thousands of years, rejoiced to see our day, saw it, and was glad.-Jay. DIVERSITIES OF GIFTS. The Lord hath saints enough to divide into three bodies; some to suffer for him, some to destroy Babylon, and some to be for seed-corn to sow again in the earth.—Powell. FEELING AND FAITH. We do not live by feeling, but by faith. It is the privilege of a Christian to begin with faith, and so rise up to feeling.-Bridge. KNOWLEDGE. Religion begins with a knowledge of a man's self, and is perfected with the knowledge of God.-Mason. REDEMPTION. God is said to have repented that he made man, but he is never said to have repented that he redeemed man. Mason. COMMUNION WITH GOD, The Christian's fellowship with God is rather a habit than a rapture.-Cecil. "WATCH AND PRAY." I would pray unto watching, and watch unto prayer. UNITY. Chalmers. Unity in anything but the truth is not concord, but conspiracy. POETRY. THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE IN DEATH. When sickness in the whirlwind rides And death sits brooding o'er the land, When the destroying angel guides His arrows by divine command. Unterrified he meets his doom, Nor calls for shelter to the hills, Unshock'd he views the opening tomb While death cries out for men to kill. To whom nor sickness hov'ring nigh, When persecution walks abroad, And thunders loud with pois'nous breath, Charg'd with a monstrous vengeful load, Of wheels, of racks, of wounds, of death. When glittering arms tremendous shine, Behold the hero fix'd as fate, As in the foaming waves the rock, Collected, firm, resolv'd, sedate, He braves the dread impending shock. With tow'ring thoughts to heaven elate, The sceptre, and the painted crown. Untouch'd with guilt he mounts the skies, And bids grim danger do its worst. He views below the tedious maze, Where sins, and pains, and horrors meet, He smiles where forked lightnings blaze, And thunders roar beneath his feet. Uprearing on seraphic wings He cuts the glad ethereal way, LOVE OF COUNTRY. Old England! I love thee, in childhood and youth, Thou homestead of honour, religion, and truth; Thou land of the brave and the free: giving birth To the fairest, and boldest, and best of the earth. Till reason, affection, and memory depart, I fling thee my blessing, dear home of my heart. Where'er I go, whatever realms I see, October 22nd, 1856. |