To the truly religious mind nothing is more precious and important, especially in the more advanced stages of life, than a patient, hopeful trust in God. For such of our beloved friends as have occasion to speak well of his fatherly care, in the provision which they have been helped to make for their latter days, we tenderly desire that their minds may not be harassed by any of these temptations, and that nothing may be allowed to interrupt that quietness and confidence with which they may be blessed of the Lord in the evening of their day. "Some of the speculations by which individuals have been betrayed into haste to become rich, may appear for a time to have been prospered; yet, if by these undertakings they have been leavened into a worldly mind, and the ease of affluence has deadened their sense of the transcendent excellence of heavenly things, instead of their having been fruit ful to God, (we speak it with sorrow,) leanness has entered into their souls, (Psa. cvi. 15). We are, therefore, engaged to offer the word of pressing exhortation to Friends, and particularly to our younger brethren in their outset in life, that they endeavour to be satisfied with the moderate gains and profits of the ordinary course of trade, that they be not ashamed of those lawful callings in which Divine Providence may have placed them, and that as honest Christian tradesmen, their uprightness and circumspection in all things, may adorn the high profession we make of our obligation to serve the Lord in our outward concerns. We cannot doubt but these will be blessed in their endeavours, and ample opportunity be granted them for the performance of all their religious duties, and that in many ways they will be helped to contribute to the good of those around them." THE SEASON AND LOCALITY OF THE SAVIOUR'S ADVENT. THERE is something interesting in the time and place selected for the advent of the Saviour. This earth being a globe, of course has not-that is, its surface has not-any geographical centre; but if we take into view its moral and political condition and history, it has some parts far more suitable to be radiant points from which any extraordinary message from heaven is to be disseminated than others. It would be difficult to find a place more suitable for such a purpose than the very country chosen by Jehovah, as the scene of the sufferings and death of Christ. Look upon the map, and you will find that the land of Canaan is situated upon the eastern coast of the Mediterranean sea; and if you look east, west, north, and south, at the various connections of this spot, you will find that no other on earth will compare with it for the purpose for which it was selected. Egypt, and the other regions of Africa on the south, are balanced by Syria and the Caucasian countries in the north. There were the Persian and Assyrian empires on the east, and there were the Grecian and Roman empires on the west. India and China, with their immense multitudes, are upon one side, and the modern France, and England, and Germany, with their vast political power, upon the other. Then look upon the Mediterranean sea, on the borders of which Canaan lies, bathing, as it does, the shores of three quarters of the globe, and bearing upon its bosom a large proportion of all the ships that have sailed for the first five thousand years of this earth's history. VOL. XXV. It is astonishing how much of the interesting history of the human race has had for its scene the shores of the Mediterranean sea. Egypt is there. There is Greece. Xerxes, Darius, Solomon, Cæsar, Hannibal, knew no extended sea but the Mediterranean. There is not a region upon the face of the earth so asso 3 B ciated with the recollection of all that is interesting in the history of our race, as the shores of the Mediterranean sea; nor a place more likely to be chosen by the Creator, as the spot at which he would establish his communication with men, than the land of Judea. The time selected is as worthy of notice as the place; I mean now the time of the advent of the Messiah. The world had been the scene of war and bloodshed for many centuries. Empire after empire had arisen upon the ruins of the preceding. At last the Roman power obtained universal ascendency, and all was at peace. A very considerable degree of civilization and knowledge prevailed over a very great part of the then known world, and everything was favourable to the announcement and rapid spread of a message from heaven. The message did come, and it was properly authenticated, and the peculiar suitableness of the time and place selected was seen in the very rapid spread of the gospel over almost all the globe.—Abbott, A FEW THOUGHTS ON CHALMERS'S BURIAL-PLACE. "CHALMERS is no more! Scotland mourns! A shadow of darkness has fallen on the earth! Who, of all our teeming myriads, is now arrayed in like manner with the godlike attributes of grace, and truth, and love? What living genius of the same magnitude is devoted so faithfully, so unreservedly-alike in theory and practice-by high and holy unremitting daily labour-to its noblest end, the service of the Highest? Of Chalmers it might be said, if of any of the sons of men, that he was wholly sanctified in soul, body, and spirit. Great writings spread throughout the worldgreat schemes for his country and humanity-great labours for his God; these were the parts of his existence. “And this man, this large and beautiful embodiment of the divine life, sustained by the Spirit of God, has gone from us. We shall meet him no more, seeking with unwearied footsteps the abodes of misery, bearing the glad tidings of everlasting hope; we shall gaze no more on that countenance so fraught with the light of heavenly love; we shall no more feel the warm pressure of that hand which thrilled the heart with the sympathy of so exalted a goodness. Surely if, by God's grace, man has ever enriched his fellows with the knowledge of himself, that man is THOMAS CHAL MERS! The heart is divided between that bereaved and yearning love, which folds the beloved image closer and closer within itself, drawing around it the veil of the inner sanctuary of affection, and that profound admiration which places it at a distance, and elevates it to the most commanding position, in order that it may receive a mute and distant homage. "Even in dying, what a series of pictures has he left us, all in exquisite harmony with himself! Let us recal them for a little in this cemetery where he sleeps-this quiet spot so beautiful, that he coveted for a last resting-place, but a few days before his departure. The bright summer scarce pours its tide of sunshine into a fairer nook. Here it lies, nestling in a hollow, girdled with beauty as with a living framework. Rich pastures, noble trees, luxuriant with the foliage of high midsummer, form of this framework the inner border. Above them rises the picturesque city, its outlines clear against the sky. The Castle rock, with its timeworn battlements, occupies the middle distance, its features rugged or softened, according to the changing humour of the sky. The Athenian profile of the Calton is just retiring into the shadowy horizon; while green, and bold, and beautiful, Arthur's Seat, and its sister crags, stand out on the nearer verge of the city. On the opposite side rise the swelling heights of the Pentlands, clothed with verdure; the nearer and softer slopes of the Braid Hills are here gracefully - wooded, and there rich with corn and pasturage. Between these opposite landscapes there is a view of a wide and noble campaign. flame, which was, the breath of his spirit! "And he was not, for God took him.' The last evening he traversed his garden pathways, made fragrant by the breath of summer flowers, his soul went out in longing aspirations after God: 'My Father! my heavenly Father!' And God was there to reply. No longer,' said He, 'shall this child-like spirit be exiled from a Father's bosom. This night it shall find its home.' And in the silence and darkness of night God came. He smote the stern waters of Jordan,-they parted hither and thither-and the feet of the saint felt not their icy chill as he passed. No human hand wiped the damps of death from that expansive brow. No affectionate bosom received the last sigh of a heart of that heart, loving, as great. An awakening-a call-the thrill of being's transition-one ineffable glance on earth and heaven, recorded in the majestic smile which sat on the countenance "All this he surveys from the acclivity, scarce more than a man's height above the spot where Chalmers rests. Below, the mind is not disturbed even by nature's beauty. It is a lovely place of groves, lowered, as it were, a few feet beneath the level of the gorgeous landscape. Here one can, without difficulty, gather all memory, and thought, and fancy, around the shade of the illustrious departed. All of this great life with which one has been privileged to come in contact-his looks, his words, his accents, so vivid, that it seems as if they could not die;-his mind of such wonderful variety, uniting so many oppo--all with him is over! site qualities of the greatest man, that it becomes in itself a profound intellectual study. For the poet, or the philosopher, or the man of contemplative science, lives in the world without being of it. His mind, like a plant, draws its nourishment from a grosser atmosphere than that in which it lives. The histories, the doings, of other men, the aspects of the external world and society, must needs be revealed to it, but its expansion is above these, and not in the midst of them. Between that mind, dreaming and still-searching, combining, transforming, like the fine and hidden processes of nature, and that other, living in passing events, attaining its end by a constantly varying adaptation of means there is a native antagonism. Stilness a certain kind of inertia-is the condition of the one; movement is the condition of the other. Yet who has at once dreamt, thought, learned, and done, as Chalmers has? Let us adore Jehovah in his noblest work-a man great by nature and renewed by grace-that lamp of exquisite construction, the workmanship of Deity; that sacred brilliant "With the morning in that dwelling came confusion, distress, dismay. There is a family, whose hearts, wrung with anguish, can neither realize the blow, nor separate themselves from the beloved remains; there are friends who come, gaze, depart, with souls bewildered, yet entranced by wonderful vision; there is a church in the city, which meets in solemn assembly, to separate, stunned, heartstricken, well-nigh abased, as if smitten of God. In the midst of all is that halfupright figure, reclining majestically in its last repose-the materials for earthly labour placed around, while the hand that should have used them was lifeless, yet disposed with a graceful ease, as if it regretted not that its work was done. 'Again, another day we see a mourning city-a long, dark procession, the half of which the eye cannot embrace. This churchyard and all around it is veiled with a gray, softened light; the funeral fills it with the ranks of an army. Adown the midst a coffin is borne, while the multitude stand with uncovered heads. Men of God do honour-do honour to God's servant; men of genius render homage to genius; and there are few who do not pay the tribute of their tears. "Behold the sum of mortal honours! Dust to dust. Chalmers is not. "Yet let us take comfort. Here all is not over. God likewise has a part to perform, and it is yet to come." THE ANTAGONISTIC TEST; OR, DIVERSITIES OF OPINION AND PERSECUTIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS NO ARGUMENT AGAINST THE DIVINE CHARACTER OF THE GOSPEL FOR eighteen centuries, it has been the singular fate of Christianity to attach to itself, and yet to separate from each other, those who have professed to embrace it as a religion from heaven. Its promulgation has been uniformly marked by this twofold character of unity and division. The most violent zealots for opposite or different opinions have yet ranged themselves under the common standard of the faith; they have all strenuously adhered to the name of their founder, while they have strangely used that name as the watchword of dissension and persecution. So remarkably has this anomalous exhibition of the Christian religion prevailed, that there has scarcely been a moment during its progress in which its friends-because they were its friends, have not been the opponents of each other. Thus, the odium of engendering strife, and every uncharitable and antisocial feeling in the human bosom, has been fixed, not upon any particular sect, church, or denomination, but upon the gospel itself; and superficial objectors have inferred, that, because professing Christians in all ages, and of all parties, have been the persecutors of each other, that Christianity is nothing more than a mischievous delusion, designed to impose upon the credulity, and to awaken into active energy the worst passions of mankind. Assuming the facts to be true, can it, indeed, be shown that Christianity is in the slightest degree responsible for the conflicting opinions and persecuting animosities which have so unhappily disgraced its disciples and tarnished its glory? It is a favourite dogma with some, that a revelation from heaven ought to be so clear, distinct, and luminous, as to render uniformity of sentiment on the subject of its discoveries the almost necessary consequence of its promulgation. This notion, as applied to Christianity, has operated very differently upon different minds. It has induced infidelity in one class, and intolerance in the other. The sceptic waits for the perfect agreement of all Christians before he will admit their religion to be divine. The bigot contends that, among true Christians, this agreement is indispensable;-that the most trifling departure from his own opinionswhich are, of course, the only opinions founded in truth-is a mark of heresy, in the suppression of which he suffers himself to be hurried into all the extravagances of remorseless persecution. The favourite position of both is, that diversity of sentiment regarding the contents of an alleged divine revelation, is fatal to its pretensions; perhaps the only point in which the infidel and the zealot are agreed, the practical influence of which is to make one the enemy of himself, and the other the enemy of all mankind. But this argument for two of the worst things in the world-infidelity and bigotry-be it observed, is subversive, not only of revealed, but of natural religion. If everything assuming the character of a revelation from heaven, is to be rejected simply on the ground of the differences and contrariety of opinion which may prevail among its advocates, then there is nothing true-nothing divine in the universe. For what is there in the whole range of philosophy that has not very satisfactory reasons for the admisoccasioned disputation, and divided the sion, that the Bible does not reveal the most acute and sagacious reasoners? Uni- truths of Christianity in a consecutive formity is, and ever has been, confined form, or, according to a strict logical within the narrow limits of self-evident process, laying down principles, and truths and mathematical demonstrations. drawing corollaries, but that it employs There are no duplicates in human na- history, narrative, poetry, the inspiration ture; no classes where individuals possess of genius and supernatural wonders, as an exact resemblance. It is not, there- the media through which it conveys its fore, possible-unless the capacities of varied and infinitely momentous subjects; different minds could be equalized, and concealing the links of connexion betheir circumstances rendered precisely tween them, and spreading them at dissimilar, that they should entertain iden- tant intervals over the events and transtical opinions, and contemplate, under actions of four thousand years. But we the same aspects, and with the same con- deny, that, amidst the partial obscurity victions, the doctrines which they believe and seeming contradictions which a reto be true. Universal concert and per- velation so conducted was intended to fect agreement are utterly unknown in involve, that there is any want of clearthis world of ignorance, prejudice, and ness as to the grand scheme of providence passion, where a thousand influences con- which it develops, or the cardinal docspire to obscure the most glorious truths, trines which it is its principal object to and to diminish the force of the most make known. On the contrary, we are powerful arguments. While we thus re- prepared to show, that the simplicity of pudiate uniformity of opinion as a test of the Scriptures, their plenitude of staterevealed religion, we are far from in- ment, their diversity of illustration, their sinuating that the unhappy divisions and prominent and frequent recognition of enmities which prevail among Christians, the same fundamental principles, comare not to be deplored, as greatly inju- pletely exonerate them from every imrious to themselves, and to the cause putation of culpable obscurity; and the they maintain. They furnish a dark errors, the conflicting opinions, the almost page in the history of human nature; infinite diversity of schisms and heresies, and, as abuses of the most valuable boon which have from the beginning agitated that Heaven has conferred upon man- the Christian world, are not chargeable kind, are deeply to be regretted and upon the vagueness or insufficiency of severely censured. But as affecting the the Christian record. They are to be real character of Christianity, either as a sought for exclusively in the corrupt unDivine revelation, or a system of moral derstandings, vitiated passions, and ininfluence, they ought not to weigh a veterate prejudices of men who degrade feather in the scale. Christianity is re- the Scriptures, while they profess to sponsible only for what it effects by its reverence their Divine authority. The direct and legitimate tendency. It is true same may be affirmed of the persecutions that it attaches infinite importance to the which nominal Christians have carried belief of its fundamental doctrines, and on with such exterminating fury against to a spirit and deportment corresponding each other. The men, and not the syswith the lofty and hallowed requirements tem, are alone responsible for their deeds of that belief; but it is not true, as in- of cruelty and blood. Frederick the fidels allege, that the imperfect and un- Great, a subtle and inveterate infidel, systematic mode of its communication once declared, that "none but a novice renders divisions unavoidable, while its would impute crimes to Christianity,"exclusive spirit inflames them into the evidently insinuating that to attack it on hatred of intolerance. such a ground betrayed ignorance of its We admit, and shall presently assign real character, which would certainly re |
