commandments, hearkening unto the voice | iv. 1), his blessing will rest upon us. But, of his word. Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure" (Ps. ciii. 20, 21). The most entire obedience is paid to the will of God in heaven. We pray that this may likewise "be done in earth." Were the dominion and authority of the Lord our Maker acknowledged and his will obeyed in this world, how happy would men be! But, alas! how commonly are all the commandments of God broken in this world! What idolatry is practised in it! How awful is the state of the heathen, who know not God! How awful is the state of those nations, which call themselves Christians, but have set up among themselves the impious worship of the virgin Mary, the invocation of saints, the abomination of wafer worship, and the adoration of images, and which indulge in the practice of profane swearing, and the desecration of the seventhday sabbath, instead of which they observe festival days of their own devising, while they set aside the Lord's day! And among ourselves, how awful is the state of the blasphemer and the sabbath-breaker, who profess to have a purer faith than others, and vet live in disobedience to what God has commanded, or in the practice of that which he has forbidden. Let us consider what is our duty towards God, as he has himself enjoined it upon us. Let us consider what our Saviour has directed his disciples to pray for, as that which is pleasing to God, and relating to the accomplishment of his will in the world. Let us not be indifferent to that which is of such unspeakable importance to every one of us; but let our prayer from the heart be that of the psalmist: Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy Spirit is good: lead me in the" path" of righteousness" (Ps. cxliii. 10), that I may walk therein, and find rest to my soul. It is the will of God that the children of men should be reconciled to him, that they should call upon him as their Father, which they are encouraged to do through Jesus Christ our Saviour, and that they should live in obedience to his holy word and commandments, under the sanctifying influence of his Holy Spirit, who helpeth their infirmities, or strengtheneth them in their weakness, when they seek his aid. Those only, who thus do his will, will be acknowledged by him as his children, and be blessed by him eternally. If" all things are of God," with us all will be well. If we refer to him every thing that concerns us, and consider every thing as it has respect to his blessed will, and are desirous "to walk" so as "to please" him, and therein to "abound more and more" (1 Thess. alas! this is not the case with mankind in general. On the contrary, "God is not in all their thoughts" (Ps. x. 4), with regard to that which is pleasing to him. As he is invisible, they have no respect to him. But our Saviour teaches his disciples, who believe in him, to look up to Almighty God with affection as their Father, to regard him as the Governor of the universe, who has all things under his control, who "sitteth above the water-floods as King for ever" (Ps. xxix. 11), ordering all things in providence and in grace for them that put their trust in him as their mighty Protector and their gracious Benefactor. He is therefore "greatly to be feared, and to be had in reverence of all" (Ps. lxxxix. 7) who approach him. Our minds are to be solemnized before him. And, while we submit ourselves to his dominion or authority, we are to endeavour to promote the extension of his kingdom upon earth by every means in our power. He is pleased to make use of means for this purpose, that the empire which his adversary Satan has erected in this world may be subverted, and "the kingdoms of the world" may" become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ", and he may "reign for ever and ever" (Rev. xi. 15). While we pray, "Thy kingdom come," it is incumbent upon us to use our best endeavours and efforts to promote it, and at the same time to pray that his blessing may rest upon all the feeble attempts which are made by his servants to set forth his glory, and to set forward the salvation of mankind. While we pray, "Thy will be done in earth," it becomes us to avoid doing that which he has forbidden. We are also to avow ourselves on all occasions to be the subjects of the great King of heaven and earth; and to remember that we are "not our own, for we are bought with a price" (1 Cor. vi. 19), that of the most precious blood of our Redeemer, and therefore are under the most powerful obligations to love and serve and please him, to live to his glory, and show forth his praise. This our bounden duty should ever deeply impress our minds. Thus we shall be enabled to look forward in hope to his kingdom of glory, that, when we shall have done with all things here below, we shall be blessed by him eternally, and shall rejoice in having the God of heaven as our Father throughout the countless ages of eternity. That this may be our happiness, may he of his infinite mercy grant for Christ's sake; to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory everlasting. Amen. NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Ост. 29. [EPISTLE.]" Henceforth, walk not as other Gentiles walk."-EPH. iv. 13. OUR "walk" is but a brief pilgrimage, so short that there is but a span between the cradle and and the grave. The one indeed is but the gate of the other; we do but wake up in time to lie down in eternity. How intensely concerned should we then be to be taught of him, who is the divine "Doorkeeper" of the heavenly mansions! to learn of him, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! For, to be ignorant of him and his truth is not only blindness, but madness; not only madness, but self-murder; because it is alienation from the life of God, which is destruction for ever. In vain shall any be for us, if God be against us. It is to give place to the devil, to assign that place in our hearts, where the Prince of glory would have built up his beautiful temple, as an altar to the prince of darkness, whose wages are the destruction of body and soul in hell. If, then, we would have no part in the ignorance, and blindness, and madness and alienation, which are the coin he gives us for present wages, however silvered over with all that can impart earthly contentment, or gilt with that which may lure and bloat the vanity of our mind; if we deem eternal ruin to be too costly a price to pay for a few brief years, or it may be, as God hath appointed, for a few more moments, of "enmity" with the Lord of life, let us cease to walk as "other Gentiles walk," and come out at once from among them. Let us put off the "old man,' and put on the "new man." And let us lose no time. The youngest among us may be the first among us to be summoned to render up his soul; yea, this very day, this very hour, and die without having put off the "old man;" yourg though he be in his own eyes, old in the Judge's, because full, alas! of years of ungodliness. Choose we then betimes, both young and old, the "better part:" suffer we the "loss of all things, and count them all dung, so that we may win Christ, and be found in him" (Phil. iii. 8; second lesson for evening service); so that we may hear him say to our souls, "This my son was dead, and is alive again: he was lost, and is found..... Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him" (Luke xv. 24, 32; second lesson in morning service). This it is to put on the "new man," to be renewed in the spirit of our mind by the sanctifying Spirit, which dwelleth and liveth in the soul of the penitent. And, if he dwell and live in us by repentance and faith, the Father will not only give us the robe, the best robe, the garment of the Son's righteousness, as clothing for our nakedness, but the Son himself will perfect his strength in our weakness. To God and to our neighbour, even unto ourselves, we shall appear as new men;" full of truthfulness, haters of all lying and deceit, working that which is good in our whole conversation and dealings, putting away all bitterness and wrath, and evil speaking and malice; being kind one to another, and tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. But our new birth unto Christ is the forerunner of a new war 66 fare: it engages us to a warfare of prayer and watching and wrestling, daily and hourly, against the obstinate strivings of the "old man' within us, which dieth only when grace is made perfect in our death; which can be resisted and subdued only in the power of that Spirit whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption. "O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen" (Collect for the day). THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF APOSTOLIC PREACHING*. APOSTOLIC preaching involved warning or counsel. It did so to the unconverted. The gospel is, by necessary implication, a message of warning. It is a message of salvation; and salvation implies danger. "Unto you is born a Saviour," is an announcement never made in heaven; for the angels in heaven are unfallen. "Unto you is born a Saviour" is an announcement not made in hell; for the angels of hell are fallen, without hope or remedy. The gospel is God's message of mercy to fallen man. "He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness:" thus Paul preached, thus we preach. preach, as Paul preached, Jesus who delivereth from the wrath to come. But we To believers also was apostolic preaching often in words of warning. Look through the epistles. The chapter which immediately succeeds our text is one of warning: "Beware lest any man spoil you let no man beguile you." The Corinthians are warned of the devices of him "who beguiled Eve by his subtilty," and who is sometimes "transformed into an angel of light." The Galatians are warned that, if they yield to the seductions of Judaizing teachers, they must fall from grace. In the epistle to the Hebrews are found warnings against apostacy of the most thrilling character, unsurpassed for their solemnity, even in the divine word; that so they might "hold fast the beginning of their confidence stedfast unto the end." And does not this portion of our text present but too humblingly to our consciences a branch of our ministerial work in which we have been peculiarly deficient-our work of warning? When error sweeps across the church, and our flocks are in danger of being driven about by its blasts, are we (not always nor often by a controversial tone of preaching, but by the bold, plain statement of antagonist truth) zealous, watchful for their stedfastness and safety? Or do we so trim our sails, in fear of man and of injury to our prospects of preferment, as that we leave them in danger, an easy prey? Nor may we imagine that we stand acquitted of ministerial unfaithfulness, so long as our warnings descend not to the peculiar sins of our own people. There is danger of great sophistry in this matter. We may deem ourselves faithful because * From "Preaching:" a sermon preached at the visitation of the ven. the archdeacon of Coventry. By the rev. John C. Miller, M.A., rector of St. Martin's, Birmingham. London: Hatchards. Birmingham: Hall. A very valuable discourse.-ED. we preach the doctrines of the gospel faithfully-receive the tidings that such a one from among set forth, that is, the person, natures, work, offices, our stated hearers has been called hence, his day and character of Christ as the Saviour of sinners; of grace ended? Are our consciences clear? Do and preach ruin by the fall, redemption through they testify that our preaching was so plain and grace alone, renewable by his Spirit. This our full and clear, that, if his soul be lost, his blood is people may hear, and hear gladly; and our fame in no measure on our heads? may be noised abroad as faithful preachers. But the while, the besetting sins of our parishes or congregations, covetousness, worldliness, strife, bitter tongues and tempers, drunkenness, fraud in commercial dealings, self-indulgence, may be unfaithfully passed by. Let us be in earnest, and we shall preach in earnest. "The most, I fear, in all our congre gations," said the devoted M'Cheyne, “are sailing easily down the stream into an undone eternity, unconverted and unawakened. Brethren, they will not thank us in eternity for speaking smooth things, for sewing pillows to their armholes, and saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. No, they may praise us now; but they will curse our flattery in eternity." We observe, further, that individuality of appli cation was a prominent characteristic of apostolic preaching: "warning every man," he repeats it. I have named covetousness and self-indulgence. In this our day, and in our manufacturing and commercial districts, it becomes the ministers of God to take heed lest they be timorous and unfaithful on this point. We must not be cowards in our pulpits, for fear of offending leading merchants and manufacturers and men of wealth in our congregations, and fail to warn them that" and teaching every man," he reiterates it, "that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God"-to remind them of their stewardship, their Master, and their reckoning-to charge them, "that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches .... that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate"-to point to their "ceiled houses," their luxurious elegances, and costly viands, and to press on them a high standard of Christian liberality, at a crisis in the world's and the church's history, when doors of duty are opening on every side, both at home and in foreign lands, and the advance of the Redeemer's gospel kingdom is hindered by the selfishness and the covetousness of the Christian church. So with the unconverted generally. As we compose our sermons, as we ascend our pulpits, as we address our congregations, we must do it as first impressed ourselves, and then desiring to impress them with their present imminent, urgent danger. We must beware of falling gradually into the habit of regarding our Sunday's sermon as a matter-of-course composition, which is to occupy a half-hour or more of the time allotted to divine service; which may be planned or penned hastily on a Saturday, without thought or care, and preached perfunctorily on the Sunday, without earnestness or anxiety. Let us realize in our studies, on our knees, and at our desks, that we are preparing to speak for God and for souls-in God's name to souls in danger, souls sunk in the varied form of worldliness and sin, souls on the brink of eternal glories or eternal burnings. Let us realize this as we prepare: let us realize as we preach. Our spirit indeed may be that of the apostle, who elsewhere speaks: "I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." It may be, should be tender, but yet earnest. We need not scold our people, nor rant at them; but we must warn them earnestly. There must be no withholding of the solemn truth, that the Christless sinner must spend his eternity in hell. We must preach to them as realizing that that man in yonder pew, who is now sitting listlessly and sleepily under my sermon, in a few hours may be prostrate in racking pain, or wild delirium, upon a bed of sickness; if he drop not (as men do drop) in an instant into eternity. How do we we may present every man." Our people will and dangers. The apostle's teaching was "in all wisdom." What this wisdom was, we gather from 1 Cor. i. 21: "We preach Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom of God ;" and ii. 6: "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory;" the same mystery of which he writes in the verse preceding our text, "the riches of the glory of this mystery," and this is Christ. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 3). The gospel is the revelation, not of the grace alone, nor of the power, but of the wisdom of God; "to the intent that now unto the princi palities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." It is the wisdom of God displayed in combination with his every other attribute and perfection-his holiness, his truth, his justice, his power, his love-in the solution of the great problem. How shall man, a fallen rebel, a creature become corrupt by sin, be restored, in consistency with the divine character and perfection, to God's favour and God's image? And the "principalities and powers in heavenly places" admire the solution given to that momentous question in the glorious gospel of Christ; the exceeding riches of the wisdom no less than of the grace, which peoples heaven with the family of saints-every saint a fallen sinner saved! It is the wisdom of the preacher to preach "the wisdom of God." Paul had been brought up at Gamaliel's feet. But Paul took even to philosophic Athens and to refined Corinth, not the wisdom taught by Gamaliel, but the wisdom taught by the Spirit of God. "The deep things of God," even the things freely given of God to sinners in his gospel, these, learned by the deep revealings of the Spirit, were his wisdom and his theme. Nor were his words the words of carnal wisdom, the rhetoric of the schools: "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." We, brethren, preach not infallibly, as did Paul, because God vouchsafes not to us the same plenary inspiration. Yet is God's wisdom our theme. In Christ we open up "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." We must desire to have our flocks well instructed in Christ; every doctrine, every duty, every hope, drawn from him, centred in him. And he preaches most wisely, who most fully and most simply, with simplicity of words no less than of doctrine, makes it his one great aim to unfold Christ to sinners and to believers; showing, alike to sinners and to believers, that in Christ is all the knowledge necessary to their salvation. But this wisdom may be understood as cmbracing not only the great subject-matter of our preaching, "Christ the wisdom of God," made of God wisdom unto us, but every subordinate point connected with the preparation of our sermons, and with our preaching, choice of subjects and texts, composition, manner of delivery, and the like." He that winneth souls is wise." We, if we be wise stewards and preachers, shall deem nothing wholly unimportant, the neglect of which may hinder, attention to which may promote, our usefulness and efficiency, by avoiding needless prejudice or distaste. And, reverend brethren, to those among us, who are younger in the ministry than myself, I may without presumption or offence address words which become me not to others: I have selected the subject of this discourse under the deep conviction that we have great need to be reminded of the large measure of our prayers, of our studies, of our diligence, and of our time, which this momentous branch of our ministerial commission demands. We must preach "in all wisdom." Not crude and hasty sermons on texts hurriedly chosen, and on subjects super ficially examined; not sermons driven off to the last moment on Saturday, but sermons prayed on and thought on, from texts prayed on and thought on. To this end we must be resolute in resisting a temptation which the youngest amongst us must have experienced-the temptation of imagining that we are never labouring for our people, never in our work, but when we are traversing our parish, busy in our committees, bustling to and fro. Our sermons are no bye part of our work. They must not be slurred. It is not a question whether we can spare time for them. They are not every thing; but they are much, very much. Other things must give place to them. Nor to the very sermon itself only, but to the storing of our minds with such knowledge as shall make us, un ler divine teaching, as wise scribes instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. Is it not not greatly to be feared that the effects of our busy out-door activity are already telling upon our preaching? Our studies being deserted, not other books only, but our very bibles hastily read (not searched and studied): our sermons lack variety, richness, clearness, adaptation, power. We, in this town and neighbourhood, are peculiarly exposed to this danger; but it behoves us to remember that no success in other branches of our ministry can compensate for the enervating of this, "Preach the word." And specially is it to be borne in mind, that we have to do with a thinking, a reading, an inquiring age. Poetry. BY RICHARD HUIE, M.D. (For the Church of England Magazine). As when 'twas first begun ? I strive its breadth to grasp; Or bid on column sweep the plain Time was, I on my parents' knees Time is, I woo the mountain breeze Time will be, leaves from quivering trees And trees and all are gone; But ah! when nature is no more, And dropt this body's load, On what unknown, untravelled shore Shall I have mine abode? Or with what new-born powers explore The mysteries of God? I know not, and I ne'er shall know, And with him live and reign. There, there, where death shall ne'er destroy, Nor suns shall set at even; New strains of everlasting joy Shall to my tongue be given ; Miscellaneous. CATTLE HUNTING.-The muster of a large herd of cattle is a very stirring business, and may be described as a scene characteristic of "the bush" of Australia. Preparations are made for a day or two previously, and word sent to the adjoining cattle stations, as it is customary for neighbours to assist each other; and at such a time as this there can scarcely be too much help, the most indifferent performer on horseback serving at least to "stop a gap." Operations commence at an early hour, as soon as the sun has acquired sufficient power to draw the cattle from the forest towards the water. The horsemen separate into parties of two or three together, and skirt the boundaries of the pasture, driving down the cattle in every direction towards the "rendezvous" by crack of "stockwhip," an implement of peculiar construction, the handle being little more than a foot in length, while the thong, which is made of plaited hide, varies from twelve to seventeen feet: it is only used in New South Wales, and, when cracked, makes a report which may be heard at a very considerable distance, while its powers of flagellation are formidable even to a wild bullock. The cattle, thus roused, make off towards the low grounds, where they are met by other horsemen, whose business it is to keep them together upon the rendezvous until the whole party are re-assembled; and then, after a few minutes breathing time, they again start off for the enclosures. The labour now begins in earnest, for cattle seem to have some instinctive anticipation of what is in store for them; and when they are inclined to be refractory, nothing but the most persevering exertions will drive them to their place of destination. As they proceed, the scene becomes more and more animated. From the main body of the herd, dimly seen through a dense cloud of dust, a succession of furious animals break off on all sides, some making back towards the "rendezvous," others to their old haunts in the forest: these are instantly pursued, and hunted back by the stock-men, who inay be seen belabouring them with their long whips in every direction, until, driven to desperation by over-driving and the severe discipline of the lash, they frequently turn the tables, and be come themselves the pursuers. The air, meanwhile, is filled with the report of the stock whips, the barking of dogs, and the cries and shouts of the men, mingled with the heavy tramping sound of many thousand hoofs, as the herd rushes on towards the enclosures. The speed and activity displayed by these half-wild cattle would astonish a stranger, who had been brought up in the belief that the ox is naturally a slow and clumsy animal. On a level plain, or down a gentle slope, which is most favourable to the action of cattle, it is often as much as a horse, and a tolerably fast horse too, can do to head some of them for the first hundred or two hundred yards; and as for agility, it is no small leap that a cow or bullock will "refuse" when hotly pursued. In many herds there are animals whom the enclosures will not hold, though six or seven feet high, even at a time when the yards are so filled with cattle that they are obliged to take a standing jump. Some of them show excellent bottom; and instances are known of horses having been run to a stand-still by them, even in open country. In addition to the gallop, which is their usual pace, they have a long, swinging trot, which enables them to get very fast over the ground. Cattle-hunting in Australia is excellent sport, and many go out merely with the view to a day's amusement: with less speed than in horse-hunting, there is more variety; and, from the constant sharp turning and close contact to which you are brought with the animal pursued, greater skill in the saddle is requisite. Serious accidents are not so frequent as might be expected, and generally occur from fool-hardiness or want of expe rience. However, it is never safe to trust the halfwild cattle too far: if closely pressed, they are always apt to wheel round and charge at a moment's notice, when, as their pursuer is close behind, some disastrous accident may occur, if his horse should chance to be hard in the mouth, or unused to the work; but this seldom is the case, for perhaps no animal in man's employment more thoroughly understands what he is about than the "stock-horse" of New South Wales. From the earliest period of his breaking, he ground; and, from the innate sagacity which horses is taught to wheel instantly when at full speed, on any have in discerning their rider's object, one that has been "after stock" for a year or two reaches such perfection in this point as almost to justify the ordinary recommendation of an Australian horse-dealer, that he can 66 exemplification of this faculty is in the process of turn upon a cabbage leaf." The best driving, or, as it is called, "cutting out" a single bullock, to which he will not submit without a sharp tussle, from the instinctive dislike to separation which all the bush cattle exhibit. At first starting he trusts wholly to his speed; but finding, after a trial of two or three hundred yards, that his retreat to the herd is still intercepted, he doubles short round in the rear of his pursuer, who, were he to continue his onward career, would thereby lose a great deal of ground; simultaneously wheels round, and still keeps on the but such is the agility of the stock-horse that he inside, without losing an inch: this sort of thing is repeated again and again, until the baffled animal, by this time exhausted with rage and well scored with the whip, is fain to single out, and take any course that his tormentor may direct.-Haygarth's Bush Life in Australia. London: Published for the Proprietors, by EDWARDS and HUGHES, 12, Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY JOSEPH ROGERSON, |