consider-you who feel that this description comes home to you-whether it can be safe thus to despise and neglect that word by which you will be judged. But to proceed to another description of hearers. Some seed fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprung up, because it had no depth of earth; but when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Our Saviour's explanation is, "These are they which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, imme Whenever the word of God is read, whenever the word of God is preached, then is the seed sown. This day has that seed been sown which might spring up to life eternal, which has had this blessed effect on thousands who are gone to the world unseen, and on many who are not yet called to their account. The passage of Scripture upon which I am now discoursing, and whatever I am saying upon it in accordance with Scripture, are the seed; and ye, brethren, are the soil. But observe what a difference there was in the soil. First, there is the way-side on this the seed has scarcely fallen before the fowls of the air came and devoured it up: of this hear our Lord's explanation:-"These are they by the way-side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately they are offended." These hearers diately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts." And are there not some in this congregation (are there not, alas! in every congregation), of whom this is a striking picture? The seed falls on the way-side-it remains on the surface-it does not penetrate. Are there not some who have paid but little attention to that portion of the seed which has already been sown-those chapters of God's word which have this day been read? Are there not some who can scarcely remember what those chapters are? And of those who do hear, some listen with so little attention, so little desire to improve, that Satan, their spiritual enemy, finds but little difficulty to wipe it away, in a very short time, from their minds and recollections: perhaps even now the minds of such persons are wandering upon other things; they hear not, they heed not what I say-their bodies, indeed, in this holy place, but their thoughts and their hearts are elsewhere. O, that God would more deeply impress upon my mind whose word I am delivering, and upon this people whose word they are hearing! It is not man's word, it is God's word, which you are rejecting, against which you are stopping your ears; that word which cannot be heard without either advancing us in holiness, or plunging us more deeply in guilt; that word which, if duly received, would spring up unto life eternal. We may come to God's house-we may listen one moment, and forget the next what we have heard- -we may return to our homes, and enjoy without thankfulness, without gratitude, the blessings he has bestowed upon us; and thus we may hear, and thus we may forget, Sabbath after Sabbath, month after month, year after year, and think that all is well, that we need not be afraid, nay, think that we have done even an acceptable service by coming to God's house at all. But consider, I beseech you, whether all can be well with such persons: are at first sight more promising than those first mentioned, but in the end they prove no better they are persons of unfixed principles, if, indeed, they can be said to have any principles: they are fickle in mind; and this very fickleness makes them more hasty in embracing the truth, and more zealous for it at first, than persons of a firmer and more steady character. Many there are such; many who, as long as religion appears easy, and its profession brings credit, are zealous and forward in every good work; they are willing and eager to bask in the sunshine of religion, and they imagine, probably, that they are settled Christians; but the least appearance of a cloud will be sufficient to reveal to them their real character. And there is much in the present age to bring such persons forward, and much to keep them in ignorance of their own character; many benevolent undertakings, many religious societies, which bring with them much credit, and enable men at once to discharge a religious duty, and to obtain the favour and respect of mankind. Great good is effected by such societies, and much do they merit encouragement; but among their supporters will be found characters such as are represented by the stony ground. It is natural that it should be so; and by saying this, let me not be supposed to discourage the promotion of such institutions, much less to depreciate those who support them. My object is, to caution persons from supposing that, because they are zealous and forward upon such occasions, they are necessarily, for that reason, living branches of Christ the true vine. This alone does not prove it; for when affliction or persecution for the word's sake has arisen, many such have fallen away. They who are wise will endeavour to discover their character, that their falling away may not be the first thing to reveal it to them. For this purpose, let them pray that God will enable them to understand that heart which is deceitful above all things, but which God can, and will, make known to those who seek that knowledge in prayer, with faith in his Son. It may aid our self-examination to mention some symptoms which should lead us to distrust our character in this respect. Such are these:-perceiving ourselves unduly elated by human applause; an anxiety to make the most of what we say or do ; a fondness of taking the lead; and, what is the worst symptom of all, less anxiety for the discharge of those duties which are more private, and which come not before the public eye. The spiritual horizon is yet, thank God, clear; there is no open persecution for righteousness' sake: but there are passing storms, there are slight clouds, in our families and domestic concerns, which, by the effect they have upon us, may discover to us, unless we wilfully close our eyes, the instability of our religious character. Should any of us discover such to be our case, may we be humbled at the discovery, and may we seek strength, whence alone it can be obtained, from the fountain of God's grace. By means of that grace, which is withheld from none who ask for it with faith, out of weakness we shall be made strong, "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" (Eph. vi. 10). "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit." This our Lord thus explains: "These are they which are sown among thorns: such as hear the word; and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things, entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful." This, too, is a picture which comes home, I am sure, to some among us. The word of God, which we read and hear, was intended to have an effect upon our conduct and behaviour. Our Sabbath exercises should give a tone to our daily conduct; whereas, in too many instances, the good effect produced in the Church is gradually worn away by the cares, the employments, the pleasures, not to say the sins of the week; so that by the next Sabbath the impression is entirely effaced; and the next Sabbath a similar impression is again made, to be, during the following week, in a similar manner stifled and choked. Has it never happened to any of you, that you have in God's house been powerfully struck and affected by something that you have heard; that God's good Spirit has softened the ground of your heart; that the seed has entered it; that it has already given symptoms of springing up, as it were, in the good resolutions which you have formed; but that in the course of the succeeding week your minds have been so much taken up with other things, that your good resolutions and serious impressions have been completely-I do not say neglected, but forgotten; so much so, that the very circumstance of having formed them would never have been recollected, unless it had been recalled to your minds by some coincidence or association of ideas? And under such circumstances, can we be surprised that the word should become unfruitful? How, then, is this to be remedied? By setting apart each day some portion of our time for reading the word of God, and for meditating with prayer upon what we read and hear. Riches, indeed, are deceitful; but if we thus allow the good seed to grow up, they will be a blessing; a blessing to ourselves, and a blessing to all around us. The cares of this world are, indeed, too apt to engross men's minds, and to take up all their thoughts; but this world's necessary and useful employments will not be neglected, but, on the contrary, will be well and conscientiously performed, by those who still keep them in their proper place, and make religion their first and principal concern. It remains for us now to consider the cheerful part of the picture. The seed which fell on good ground, and yielded fruit that sprang up and increased, and brought forth some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold. "These," our Saviour tells us, "are they which are sown on good ground: such as hear the word of God, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundred." Observe, that these not only hear the word, but receive it, and so receive it, that it brings forth fruit. Of the excellence of the seed, there can be no doubt: the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword; it maketh wise the simple, it converteth the soul, it maketh wise unto salvation. The seed then is good; and if the soil be but properly prepared for its reception, it cannot fail to bring forth fruit. Do we desire to know whether our hearts are prepared and fit for its reception? How are we to discover this? Is it enough that we hear the word? No; for those persons represented by the way-side heard the word, but with such slight attention, that the evil spirit had no difficult task in taking it away, in destroying the impression made by the word on their hearts. Is it enough to hear the word with gladness, and to shew a momentary zeal for it? No; for thus much did those persons represented by the stony ground. Is it enough to hear the word, and yet take no pains so to arrange our worldly business and our amusements that the word of God may have free course, may have its due place in our thoughts, and its proper share of our time? No; for this was the case of those imaged by the ground in which, when the seed sprung up, it was choked by the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things, and rendered unfruitful. Then it is that we may feel assured that our hearts are prepared for the seed of God's word, when that word, being heard and being received, bringeth forth fruit; when it is our study to do what it commands, to abstain from what it forbids; when it makes us abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good. But this is no easy task. For this, we must not only hear, and read, and meditate upon God's word, but we must pray for his grace to soften our hearts to receive it; for the preparation of the heart of man is with the Lord. With that grace, and with an earnest and persevering contest against the temptations which assault us from within and from without, we shall be able to bring forth fruit, even fruit unto holiness. But we must not be impatient. If we have hitherto been unfruitful; if hitherto we have framed neither our thoughts, nor words, nor works, according to God's will and God's word,-the transition will be difficult, and may be slow. The fruit does not grow up all at first: there is first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. Nor when the word of God does bring forth fruit, does it bring forth to the same extent in all in some it produces thirty, in some sixty, in some an hundred fold. "In my Father's house," says our Lord, "there are many mansions." There is a place appointed for the lowest of the servants of God, for those whose progress in Christian holiness has been least. But, my brethren, this we have reason to think, that some of those Christians who rank the lowest in their own opinions, and perhaps in the estimation of others, shall be ranked among the greatest and most eminent by Him who seeth not as man seeth; by Him who looketh on the heart; by Him who hath said, "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." On this occasion we may adopt our Saviour's emphatic words: "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." This day, brethren, we have heard God's word is this day to be added to those many days upon which God's word has been heard only to be forgotten; or, if retained in the head, to be inoperative on the heart? Whence is it that ungodliness, and carelessness, and profligacy, and mere outward decency, are so prevalent among us, but from hence, that we seek not God's grace to prepare the soil of our heart for the reception of God's word; that we take no pains to retain the impression which that word occasionally makes; that we meditate upon it ARCHDEACON WHITTY.* IRWINE WHITTY was a man, perhaps more calculated than any human being you have known, to make religion loved. He was tried with much bodily weakness and pain; he was gentle and indulgent to a degree which would induce you to think a bold effort or a severe expression impossible to him; but whatever it was his duty to do and his duty prescribed some arduous exertions-he was empowered to attempt and to accomplish. I can remember well how, when one among the proudest and most exalted in station of his countrymen had acted in a manner to deserve rebuke, this humble minister of the Gospel faithfully and eloquently discharged his severe duty; and I can almost fancy that I see him as, when two of the most distinguished of his parishioners, who were known to be at variance, appeared at his communion-service, he overcame the shrinkings of his modest nature, and descended on the mission, and with a face which was as the face of an angel, that in the sight of his little con gregation the parties might be reconciled. And they were reconciled; for, were it not for the manner of his departing hence, I would say it was not in man's nature to withstand his gentle solicitation. I am the more sensible now of his worth, because I have to confess that during his Christian life I did him one injustice. His house was ever open to me, and his wise counsel and his engaging and instructive conversation. I never entered his doors without a feeling as if I passed where no profane thought should come, nor returned from a visit to him without bearing with me an influence for good. For all this I am deeply responsible. But I was about to speak of the injustice. I saw that his habits of life were frugal, as far as consisted with propriety; I saw that his broken health needed relief and recruiting; and I believed his income large enough to allow of the necessary relaxation, and sometimes doubted whether it would not be well if he allowed himself the benefit he might derive by proI was undeceived curing the assistance of a curate. as to the means at the disposal of my revered friend, when I learned that his dear family were left without any provision; but I had previously learned enough to instruct me, that thus, in all human probability, it must have been. In a year of scarcity almost amounting to famine (one of those visitations by which Ireland has been not unfrequently scourged), my revered friend was left almost alone to succour the distressed within the bounds of his parish, and incurred in this charitable agency, what for himself and his family he almost superstitiously avoided, a debt, which he was dischargFrom Rev. M. O'Sullivan. ing by instalments for many years. It is not improbable that this debt may have become, providentially, the occasion of his martyrdom. In process of time I became separated from my friend, but could not lose my anxiety for his welfare. When disturbances commenced, in which Church property and the clergy were violently assailed, my anxiety was painfully increased to learn that even the life of this good man was in peril. I had an opportunity to speak freely with him, and urged the expediency of a temporary removal from the scene of danger. I said, as I thought, that it need be only temporary. I said no government could be so lost to all sense of justice or self-respect as to tolerate long the sanguinary excesses which were converting Ireland into something worse than had yet been realised on earth; and that law must soon be vindicated. He was not to be moved. He had considered well the entire extent of his dangers, and he felt that his duty was plain and direct. He would remain at his post. He was not insensible to the perils of his situation, and would gladly, if he could, lessen or remove them. As to his income in tithe, to him personally it was of small moment that it should be reduced. If he could procure peace by allowing a reduction which should affect himself alone, he would sacrifice much to purchase it; but he would not violate a sacred trust, by alienating Church-property and defrauding a successor. He was in the Lord's hand, let him do what seemeth him good. He received my suggestions as a Christian would, but satisfied me that as to the point of residence he was immovable. On this occasion he detailed to me the circumstances of the first threatening notice he had received. He was, as was his habit, after all the family had retired to rest, engaged in his sacred studies, when suddenly a report of fire-arms, so loud and near that it seemed to shake the house, stunned him. Such was the signal which usually announced that a notice had been posted. "I arose," said he," and having satisfied myself that the noise came from without the house, opened gently the doors of the apartments of my wife and children, and looked anxiously to see if they had been alarmed. All were peacefully sleeping, and I thanked God for the mercy from the bottom of my heart." Towards the last days of this good man's life, his dangers seemed to have disappeared. I received assurances that his saintly life and charities had produced the natural effect: but all was hollow. He had been visiting an infirm parishioner, at a distance of three miles from his home; he had walked-I believe he could not allow himself the indulgence of a horse or carriage. Wearied with the exertion, he attempted to return by a shorter way than that of the public road. In the fields, a sense of weariness and cold overpowered him, and he approached the house of a Roman Catholic parishioner, to rest for a little and recover warmth. He was so feeble, that it was necessary to assist him over a stile which interposed between his path and the house. It appears that he was courteously invited to enter and take a seat; that he was, on leaving the house, accompanied on his way by its master; but after the lapse of many hours, late in the night, he was found upon the earth, where he had been stoned, mangled and bleeding and speechless, but not yet quite liberated from the agony of death. Thus Irwine Whitty died; a man whose countenance only, by its subdued and saintly expression, might have disarmed the wildest hatred. Thus he died, returning from a charitable office, exhausted with toil, and languishing under bodily sickness, in the fields of those who had experience of his kindness and who knew his worth; in the sight of numbers who owed to his benevolence many a comfort in a season when, but for him, their sufferings would have been extreme in their sight he lay for many a fearful | hour in the death-struggle, and none came near to minister to him, and none summoned friends to his relief. He had been ready to give, glad to distribute: he had been at the bed of fever, and in the huts where penury sought a shelter; and there was a time when blessings followed him as he went upon his offices of mercy: but in that awful day he was looked upon and deserted in his parting agony. What fell poison must have been infused into human hearts, to render them thus merciless! To him who departed, his going hence, and the manner of it, was of small account. He has had his crown; but it is an awful lesson to think, that one thus "lovely in his life" should lie on the earth, dying, where neither tear, nor tender touch, nor prayer, nor blessing soothed him-a witness, an unambiguous witness, that the spirit which seeks the destruction of the Protestant Church is of a kind which quenches the sympathies of human hearts, and is not to be charmed into peace or mercy by all the gentleness and all the virtue that is bestowed upon the most blameless of mortals. There was the show of a trial for this portentous crime. Two individuals were arraigned for the murder; and when the principal witness, as it would seem, was brought forward, he refused to give evidence. He was commanded, he said, to make oath that he would refuse; and when the judge explained to him that such an oath could not bind his conscience, and therefore that he must bear testimony to the truth, the poor man proposed the pertinent question, “Must I be shot, my lord?" and finally shewed which obligation and which government he thought the stronger; declaring that he would go to prison rather than risk his life by becoming a witness. The culprits were acquitted; and the village, from which the merciful man had been taken away, celebrated, it is said, the acquittal by a general illumination. The Cabinet. CHRISTIAN HOLINESS.-There is yet another class of persons who need to be reminded of the necessity of holiness, and who have not the excuse either of occupation or ignorance to allege,-I mean the gay and fashionable, who spend their time in one unceasing round of vanities, and never pause for a moment to think whether their course of life is pleasing in the sight of God. Yet would they deem it highly uncharitable to deny them the name of Christians, or to compare them to the heedless insect which flutters round the flame, and cannot be driven away, till at last it is caught by it and consumed. How awful is it to see human beings-beings made for immortalitybeings possessing, in many instances, shining qualities and great cultivation,-who yet go on from day to day, as if their only concern was to get to the end of life without perceiving their progress towards it, living as if there were no hereafter; living, as the apostle expresses it, without God in the world. O, that he would graciously enable the voice of truth to penetrate for once into their hearts, that some at least of these careless ones might have their attention arrested, and be persuaded to consider for what they were made, and whither they are going! Turn not a deaf ear, I beseech you, to the voice of instruction. Do not let the enemy of your souls persuade you that religion is a foe to cheerfulness; that you will be less happy for making God your friend; that your present hours will be clouded by the certainty of possessing eternal and unchangeable felicity. Neither let him persuade you that you are safe, because you may not be grossly sinful; that amiable tempers and engaging manners can supply the place of sanctity of heart; or that God will be satisfied with any thing less than the consecration of your souls to his service. Let me appeal to your consciences, whether you believe the Scriptures to be the word of God? If you do not believe them, why do you mock him by attending on his ordinances? why do you call yourselves the disciples of his Son? If you do believe them, to what part will you refer for a vindication of your conduct? To what part, rather, will you refer and not find yourselves condemned? Do you not read, not only that the wicked shall be turned into hell, but also all they that forget God? Is not a woe denounced against those who have "the harp and viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands?" Does not our Lord inculcate on his disciples poverty of spirit, sorrow for sin, purity of heart, renunciation of the world? Does he not teach them to aim at being perfect, even as their Father which is in heaven is perfect? Do not his apostles condemn those who are " lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God?" Do they not say, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth? Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him?" Such, undoubtedly, is their language; you must therefore take your choice. You must be holy, or you must renounce the name of Christians; at least you must renounce the promises and hopes of Christianity.-Rev. T. White, Welbeck Chapel. CHURCH OF ENGLAND.-No man can justly blame me for honouring my spiritual mother, the Church of England, in whose womb I was conceived, at whose breast I was nourished, and in whose bosom I hope to die. Bees, by the instinct of nature, do love their hives, and birds their nests.-Archbishop Bramhall. Poetry. THE HOUSE OF GOD. BY REV. G. BRYAN. (For the Church of England Magazine.) O, well I know that thou art there, Then lead my heart to seek the grace And if I must return again Miscellaneous. SUPPOSED SCEPTICISM OF MEDICAL MEN.*-With reference to an opinion which I have heard some entertain, that the medical profession is inclined to scepticism, may I not consider this a false and malicious slander? For who can be so well acquainted as From "Chancellor Law's Address at the First Anniversary Meeting of the Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery." yourselves with the admirable structure and mechanism of the human body; with the beauty of its symmetry, and the justness of its proportions? Little as I know of those delicate organs, the eye and ear, I am filled with admiration at the proofs they afford of contrivance, and aptitude of means to an end. Who can observe the beautiful mechanism of the eye, by means of which a distinct picture, occupying a space of many miles in circumference, is exquisitely formed upon the minute surface of the retina, which is scarcely half an inch in diameter; and impressions of persons and things, varying and succeeding each other with astonishing rapidity, are conveyed thence to the brain :who can observe the care that is taken of that wonderful organ; how it is lodged in a place of safety, within a deep and hollow socket, formed of bones smoothed at their edges to afford it a soft bed; how it is defended by the eye-lid, which also serves as a curtain or covering to it; and how it is continually moistened to preserve its freshness and brightness, by a mucous secretion or limpid fluid, which, having spread itself over and washed the delicate surface of the orb, is carried off by a channel which seems purposely cut through a bone, till it meets and mixes with the current of air we breathe: who can notice all this, and remain unmoved? who can notice all this, and proclaim himself a sceptic? Chance cannot have done this; for chance is ever varying, uncertain, blind, and reckless. To maintain order, harmony, stability, consistency, and due proportions in the almost boundless space which teems with life, there must be a presiding Intelligence; there must be a Power, supreme, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent -i. e. there must be a God!-yea, a God of love— a God of mercy-a God of tender compassion and infinite goodness towards us, his creatures. Not only have the leading members of the medical profession,those who have been "decus et tutamen," the glory of their order,-gone the full length in confessing all this; further, they have come forward as public advocates, they have published in favour of Christianity. No one can doubt the consummate skill and pre-eminent learning of the illustrious Haller: he was a defender of revelation, and an opponent of materialism and scepticism in various learned works. England is justly proud of the name of Mead; and he was a champion of our common faith. Harvey will be remembered as long as the blood flows in our veins; and he had a profound veneration for the great God on high. Boerhaave was even desirous to have taken upon himself the duties of a priest in the house of God. He asserted on all occasions the divine authority and sacred efficacy of the holy Scriptures. So far was he from being made sceptical by philosophy, or vain by knowledge, that he ascribed all his abilities to the goodness of God. And in one of his works, (an oration, or sermo academicus, before the University of Leyden,) he dwelt expressly on the very subject to which I have just alluded, proving the power and wisdom of the Creator from the wonderful fabric of the human body; in the course of his remarks exclaiming, "Let all the chiefs of science meet together; let them take bread and wine, the food out of which nature forms the blood of man, and which by assimilation contributes to the sustenance and growth of the body; let them exercise all their knowledge and ingenuity; they shall not be able from these materials to produce one single drop of blood. So much is the most common act of nature beyond the utmost effort of human skill and science!" London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 46 ST. MARTIN'S LANE. |