minister of Newbattle felt ashamed, rather than arrogant or querulous, when speaking in the presence of men who were prepared to do, and actually did, what his love of contemplative ease never would suffer him to attempt, even to apply" Christ and eternity to the whole breadth of their age and society, until the world could not bear them.

We admit, that there is a way of preaching to the times,' little adapted to secure either the glory of God, or the edification of man; and we admit that it is a style of discourse for which it is not every one that is qualified. On the other hand, however, we must be permitted to say, that as it is the highest of all ministerial efforts, so is it, perhaps, the most sacred of all ministerial obligations. Either as it regards temper, or ability, or courage, it is no easy achievement, and as many fail as succeed in it. But it is the faithful watchman's duty, and to it in all ages have the servants of truth boldly addressed themselves. It was not evangelical doctrine simply, that prophets, and apostles, and martyrs preached, else would they never have been hated or slain. They applied Christ and eternity' to the men before them,-the age in which they lived. And this was their offence,-it was for this they suffered. A higher than these did the same. The Master did it even as the servant. Through all his public course, Jesus watched the times, and his discourse was according to their signs. Men could have borne even his heavenliness of life and temper, had he moved among them as a shadow. But each look, and act, and voice of Jesus, threw the awe of eternity' on every event, and enveloped the entire present in God. It was for this they crucified Him.

It is, therefore, mere affectation, if not spleen, in men to be ever re-echoing the sentiment of Leighton we have quoted above, and estimating a preacher's consciousness of eternity,' and love to Christ,' in the inverse ratio of his preaching to the times.' They who act upon the maxim, as well as quote it, we allow, are prudent men, very prudent men. There is little fear of their being molested. All will speak well of them. Their righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. The world will love its own. But what we can forgive as, perhaps, pensive melancholy, -at the worst, wounded vanity, in the Bishop of Dumblane, we cannot be expected to tolerate in those who, for his genius and unction, can show nothing better than pedantry and grimace; and we will take leave openly to say, that it is they, and they only in this our day, who are fit to be watchmen upon the towers of Zion, who, in utter opposition to Leighton's principle, are preaching Christ Jesus and eternity in application to the times.'

Mr Bickersteth and Dr Candlish are watchmen of this descrip

tion. They have not walked by Leighton's unmanly policy; but traverse Christ's highway in the steps of Rutherford, and Henderson, and Binning,-of Renwick, and Durham, and Gray,-of Owen, and Reynolds, and Baxter. And they have acquitted themselves, it is almost needless to say, in a manner that shows them to be no unworthy successors, either in boldness or talent, of the master-spirits we have named. Both the productions that we have placed at the head of our article, are characterized by calmness and depth of observation, much knowledge of God's word, and a high tone of spiritual sensibility. Mr Bickersteth's work is, of course, from its size, the more copious of the two in regard to information; but, at the same time, the reader cannot but feel, that all the facts and views adduced, revolve round a principle that gives them at once unity and interest. Dr Candlish rather glances at the events he deals with, than brings them forward in detail. But no one can read his sermon, even by itself, without having information enough for the point he has in view; whilst we cannot fail to notice with admiration and gratitude to God for raising up so noble a champion,-his singular mastery of diction,-his profound insight into the depths of man's soul,-his capacious survey of eternal Providence, and, above all, that quenchless love of Jesus, which assimilate him so much to our Reformers.

The great merit, however, of these little works is this, they speak not of Jesus and eternity' merely,-they speak of them as bearing on this age,-as applicable to our circumstances. It is to "the present truth' that both writers apply themselves. And in this way, if these productions are good intrinsically, they are even better as a sign of the times. They lead us to infer, that now are the Redeemer's watchmen lifting up their voice, as well as inquiring, What of the night? And just the farther we enter amid the gathering shades of that judgment which has already begun at the house of God,' the more general and solemn will this tendency become.

We sympathize with it, and gladly shall we do what lies in our power, from time to time, to help it forward. As yet, the friends of our Church do not possess, we are convinced, just ideas of their position and duty. This is much to be lamented. For the fact is, that the present truth' is nothing else than the atmosphere of influence which surrounds us; and unless we know, therefore, how it is impregnated, we cannot direct our way, so as to serve our generation, ere we fall on sleep. No man stands still in the world; no man is a pure blank in existence. Every one, as he moves along the earth, is alike moulding it, and moulded by it. At each step we take among our fellow-men, we at once dispense and imbibe an influence either for evil or for good. And all the

influence we may have shed forth,—be it poisonous, or wholesome, -whether created by speech, or writing, or action,-is irrevocable. No deed of ours, or others, dies in the act. There is no partitionwall through which the responsibility of one day cannot pass into the next. The spirit of a former year tarries not among its shades; but goes onward with us, for ruin, or for bliss. Nay, it is a great truth, that we of the present time live under the collected influence of all the past; and whilst upon us have come the accumulated impulses of preceding ages, in our hands are placed lines of interminable relation to all the universal future."

6

It must be a point of concern, then, how to live in the age in which we live, so as to resist its influence for evil, and impart an influence of righteousness. We read of a scientific eye, of a poet's eye, by which is meant that every incident, or aspect of creation, is subordinated to his especial use, and wrought into his particular system by the artist, or the man of taste. A vulgar eye will roam over all the riches and variety of an Italian landscape, and gather nothing that will draw a single line upon the mind. But even from the sternest scene of Lapland, the eye of genius will derive some noble conception. In the same way, there is a devout eye, a Bible eye, a spiritual eye, which, finding its way beneath the surface, and through the confusion of earthly things, seizes, as if by instinct, on those aspects, and relations, and hues which suit a hallowed taste, and accord with the mind of God. This is not the difference of taking the world in mass, or in detail,—the world as a whole, or in parts. The mere thoughtful man does this. This is discrimination simply, not spirituality. It is the sagacity of a shrewd mind, not the unction of the Holy One. The eye of which we speak separates every thing under a special reference, and measures them by a standard, and proves them by a special relish.

Present a stone to a mineralogist, and he will tell you that it is talc, or spar, or quartz. Present the same to a chemist, and he will tell you that it is earthy, inflammable, or metallic. Present it, again, to the lapidary, and he will tell you how it cuts, and polishes, and sells. Bring, in like manner, a certain course of events under the eye of a merchant, and he speculates on their bearing upon trade. Exhibit the same to a politician, and he will descry the use he can turn them to against his opponents. Unfold them to a statesman, and he will apprehend how they affect the balance of power. But show the same to a devout, a Bible, a spiritual, an anointed mind, and as with intuitive light it fastens upon the principles, or issues, that bear upon Jesus Christ and eternity." philosophical mind penetrates, indeed, far into the causes and essence of events, even as does the spiritual. But the difference betwixt the two is this, and it is wide,-the aim of the philosopher is

but to connect events with one another, like strung beads; the aim of the spiritual mind is to run up the thread to the throne of God, and place it in his hands. It is enough if the philosopher can show the link that binds his phenomena together, as a system of causes and effects. The man of faith is not content unless he sees the current of omnipotence passing through them all, and can read in them the fiat and the finger of God.

It is, then, spirituality alone, which, like a chemical test, will discharge all evil from the influences that load our atmosphere, and collect to itself whatsoever is pure, and sound, and godly. Men have various receipts and substitutes of their own. Acuteness of mind will do it, or refinement of taste, or delicacy of feeling, or acquaintance with the Bible, say they. Any of these they deem sufficient to carry a man evenly through the labyrinth of our present scene, and land him in a well-watered region beyond. But after all, it is the man with the eye of faith, with Christ's eye, who only is able to discern good from evil; godliness in the heart is the alone principle that will enable us to interpret aright the providence of God.

The Church, we are afraid, is, for the most part, not alive to these truths. If it knows its position by this time, it even yet does not know either its privilege or its strength. But let it be remembered in support of what we have said, first, That the spiritual Christian looks on all things under the light of the Spirit. The Spirit does not merely shed his influence over him,--he dwells with him, and reigns over him. He is to him life, and light, and liberty. In the power of life, accordingly, the man is able to feel what is holy, and resent what is not so. Emancipated into liberty, the man is able to judge, not according to appearance, but as the reality is. Walking in the light, he is able to pronounce God's judgment upon all circumstances, and decide upon their eternal issues, as well as their immediate bearings. In a very small matter, a great principle and an endless result may be involved; and hence, even in things the most ordinary, reason is wholly inadequate. But the spiritual eye is versed in the realities of things, and by its holy tastes sees far beyond what the wise and prudent can reach. The world looks on the surface; and however keen its glance, it is but the outside it descries. The Spirit shows the interior, the principle of the thing, and gives us the perception of it as it is estimated by God.

The spiritual mind is thus more than a sound mind-it is the mind of God. The spiritual eye is more than a sagacious eye-it sees as God sees. We are dark in ourselves, and have no power of piercing beneath appearances. But Satan has increased our disadvantage. He has spread a veil of delusion over all that we look

upon. He has covered up every footstep of God in his world with the sand of earthliness. No wonder, then, that we never see things in their reality-never see them in their essential principles, in their infinite relations, in their everlasting consequences. But all this is open unto him who yields himself to be taught from above. The darkness has left his mind. To him the covering has been removed from the world. With God's eye he sees all things; with God's mind he judges them! It is the same panorama of life and motion on which he looks, and others look. But whilst it is but the crust and threshold of providence which the world's eye can reach, the Christian's eye embraces all the counsels of the Almighty, whilst his soul delights in them.

After all, however, the Spirit only gives the taste whereby to relish, and the light to see the things which are of God. Besides this, men need a standard by which to prove and measure all that is brought under their notice. And this they likewise have in the recorded mind of Jesus. In heaven, Christ's character is the standard by which all things are tried; his glory is the focus on which all things converge; his mind is the pattern, after the fashion and temper of which all hearts are moulded. We know it is an undoubted fact, that above there is but one mind and one employment, and that is, ceaseless admiration of the Lamb that was slain. God has declared that the occupation of the hosts around his throne, is the discovery of himself in the person and work of the Redeemer. Here, accordingly, is the true definition of a spiritual mind, and the only way of attaining to it. A spiritual mind is a mind holding fellowship with God in all things. And unto this fellowship can we alone reach, through the knowledge of the Son. Our dignity and privilege is to have the mind of God, to ascertain his thoughts, to understand his feelings, and apply them to circumstances around us. But our impressions and estimates will ever be according to appearance only, and without regard to truth, until we recognise Christ as the measure and exponent of all things. It is natural for us to try all things by convenience and interest; and we cannot fail in knowing what is good or bad in God's view, unless we make the incarnate Son the standard, and are taught by him what is specious and false, what is true and real, what is ephemeral and everlasting. No other way is there for finding a righteous path, amid the confusion of this world, than by realising the judgment that Christ would have formed on whatsoever we witness, and taking the position he would have, in our circumstances, assumed.

The idea is common, that because Christ's history has been long in our country, his mind has gotten possession of it also. And no doubt many things are viewed in a light, and spoken of in a way, different from what would have been the case, had God not