Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

died in the Bastile, others lived under the constant dread of being poisoned.

Meanwhile, those who have been described as composing the third class escaped unhurt. They were known to be adherents to the Jansenists partly, but were saved by their high rank. Among these the most remarkable was Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, duchesse de Longueville; "that haughty princess," as she has been termed, "whose beauty, whose wit, and whose talents, had hitherto been made subservient to the most boundless ambition; that same person who plunged her country into the horrors of a civil war to gratify her own disappointed pride-that heroine, who had so long withstood the great Condé, had become suddenly an altered character." Impressed with a deep sense of religion, and bewailing her former conduct, she now sought to devote the remainder of her days to God. Meetings were held at her house for deliberation as to the most effectual method of warding off persecution. Under her protection the Archbishop of Sens, the Bishop of Chalons, with Arnauld and Mole, drew up a plan of pacification; the duchess wrote herself to the pope upon the subject, Clement IX., a quiet and peaceable man, who had just entered on the pontificate. He had long deplored the wretched state of the Church in France, torn by factions, religious as well as civil, and gladly sought to restore order and tranquillity: he accordingly issued a brief of reconciliation in 1688.

In obedience to this brief, the imprisoned nuns were released, the confessors and deserted were restored, and Port-Royal for a season surpassed its former eminence. The greatest joy was manifested even by those who had taken no small share in the persecution. The joy of the common people was unbounded; they had always regarded the Jansenists as saints, and had admired the sanctity of their manners and the purity of their lives. The power of working miracles was claimed by them not only at the earlier but even later period

of their existence; and this circumstance added not a little to the veneration in which they were held. It is unnecessary here to point out the absurdity, if not the impiety, of arrogating to themselves such a power; and it is difficult to conceive how they could have been guilty of so doing: it cannot be denied, however, that the supposition that they possessed it, added to the veneration in which they were held. Unquestionably their piety caused them to be regarded with respect; and the many beneficent acts which they performed made their restoration to be hailed with delight.

We have much cause to be thankful to God that clearer light has been vouchsafed to us in this blessed Protestant land, with reference to religious subjects. However much the Christian may delight to commune with God in secret, and however much he may esteem it a privilege to be enabled, in imitation of his adorable Redeemer, to absent himself from the busy multitude for the purposes of private devotion, and serious reflection, and diligent self-examination, he will remember that each individual has his allotted sphere of action, in the diligent performance of the duties of which he is to bear a part. Non-conformity to the world does not imply an entire abstraction from the duties and occupations of the world; God may be as acceptably served amidst the bustle of daily life and the business of the crowded city, as in the remote valley far from the haunts of man. The great point to be attained is, the entire subjection of the heart to his authority-the aim that the life may be conformed to his blessed will. We are not to seek to be taken out of the world, but to pray to be kept from the evil that is in the world; and to endeavour in that situation in which we may be placed to testify that the leading object of our pursuit is, "the kingdom of God and his righteousness." We shall thus be qualified to act not only a consistent but a useful part. "I cannot praise,"

says Milton," a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat." Happy that Christian who while using this world as not abusing it, intent above all things on promoting the glory of God, and furthering the salvation of the soul, testifies in the various scenes of active labour in which he is engaged, that his conversation is in heaven; and that the duties of life, to the performance of which he betakes himself with alacrity, are not suffered to impede him in his journey towards the city of the living God. Y.

The Cabinet.

THE BRIGHT SIDE.-In trouble, people try to persuade themselves that it will soon be over, and that it will not return again; and this they call looking at the bright side. Now the Bible tells us that "man is born to trouble," that it is his daily portion; so we must learn to get used to affliction, and not to be sur

prised at it. We need not be afraid to see things as bad as they really are, if, at the same time, we can find real and strong consolation under them. The times are bad. Yes; but if you are a Christian, my poor friend, you are looking forward to a happy eternity. You suffer pain and sickness; but there is perfect health in heaven. You have difficulty in procuring bread to eat; but the Saviour of sinners speaks of himself as the bread of life. You want clothes to wear; but he offers you the garments of salvation. You may be a wanderer without an earthly home; but in his Father's house are many mansions, and he will prepare a place for you, if you believe in him. Now is not this looking at the bright side of things? It does not want what the world calls learning, to look at

things (I would say it with reverence) even as God

looks at them. Do not think others to have no troubles, and so wrong them; perhaps the richest man you know has trials greater than any you have ever felt. Only try to be content in the state in which God has placed you, and look forward to a better world, and then you will be happy.-Job Nott.

THE WAY OF SALVATION.-Then, seeing that the heart of man is not right exactly, unless it be found in all parts such, that God examining and calling it unto account with all severity of rigour, be not able once to charge it with declining or swerving aside, (which absolute perfection when did God ever find in the sons of mere mortal men?)—doth it not follow, that all flesh must of necessity fall down and confess, We are not dust and ashes, but worse; our minds, from the highest to the lowest, are not right; if not right, then undoubtedly not capable of that blessedness which we naturally seek, but subject unto that which we most abhor-anguish, tribulation, death, woe, endless misery. For whatsoever misseth the way of life, the issue thereof cannot but be perdition. By which reason, all being wrapped up in sin, and made thereby the children of death, the minds of all men, being plainly convicted not to be right,-shall we think that God hath endued them with so many excellencies more, not only than any, but than all the creatures in the world besides, to leave them in such estate, that they had been happier if they had never been? Here cometh in necessarily a new way unto salvation; so that they which were in the other perverse, may in this be found straight and righteous. That the way of nature; this the way of grace. The end of that way, salvation merited, presupposing the righteousness of men's works; their righteousness, a natural ability to do them; that ability, the goodness of God which created them in such perfection. But the end of this way, salvation bestowed upon men as a gift; presupposing not their righteousness, but the forgiveness of their unrighteous

ness, justification; their justification, not their natural ability to do good, but their hearty sorrow for their not doing, and unfeigned belief in Him for whose sake not-doers are accepted, which is their vocation; their vocation, the election of God, taking them out from the number of lost children; their election, a Mediator in whom to be elect; this mediation, inexplicable mercy; his mercy, their misery, for whom he vouchsafed to make himself a Mediator. The want of exact distinguishing between these two ways, and observing what they have common, what peculiar, hath been the cause of the greatest part of that confusion whereof Christianity at this day laboureth.-Hooker, Sermon on the Nature of Pride.

SIN THE STING OF DEATH.-The sting of death is sin, says the apostle. And what says the history of man, throughout all the realms and all the ages of heathenism? How was it in those days which the long-suffering of God winked at and overlooked? And how is it at this day in those countries which still continue to weary his patience by the multitude of their abominations? What was it that in ancient times demanded the fruit of the parent's body, but the sin of the parent's soul? What was it that caused the children of the idolaters to pass through the fire to Moloch? And what is it which at this day prostrates the eastern pilgrim beneath the chariot-wheels of a monstrous and mis-shapen idol? What are all these atrocities, but visible commentaries on the text of the apostle? What is there but the inward sense of wickedness, and a persuasion of the necessity of atonement, which can account for those prodigies of voluntary sacrifice and martyrdom? If death had no sting but that which it inflicts upon the body; if the sufferings of life, or the agonies of dissolution, were all that mortals had to apprehend,-why is it that fathers should ever consign their children to the fire, or their own bodies to extremity of torment? Throughout the world there is, and ever has been, a deep and indelible sense of guilt, which poisons every source of human enjoyment; which makes life restless, and the end of life terrible. It knocks at the door of the peasant, and thunders at the portals of monarchs. It tells the cottager at his meals, and the sovereign at his banquet, that he is weighed in the balance and found wanting. It whispers terror even to the sage in the retirement of his chamber, and turns his boasted wisdom into foolishness. And what is all the willworship, and all the voluntary humiliation, and all the superstitious vanity and corruption, which the world has ever seen,-what are they all, but expedients to blunt the sting which can never be taken out, and to deaden the anguish which its point is constantly inflicting? Why is it that man hath ever sought to hide himself in falsehood, but that he may escape that fearful looking-for of judgment, which shakes his spirit to its inmost recesses; which makes cowards of all alike; which reduces to one wretched level him that tills the earth in the sweat of his brow, and him that is canopied in grandeur and in power; aye, and him too that is endowed with might, which surpasses the glory of the kingdoms of the earth-the might of a capacious and commanding intellect?-Rev. C. W. Le

Bas.

GOD'S JUDGMENTS.-Though God's judgments may be secret, yet they cannot be unjust; like the great deep, indeed, an abyss unfathomable: but though we have no plumb-line of reason that can reach it, our faith assures us there is justice at the bottom. Clouds

and darkness are round about him, saith the Psalmist; but, as it follows, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne: so much we may easily discern through all the veils and curtains that envelope him, that justice stands always fast by his judgmentseat.-Archbishop Sancroft.

Poetry.

ELIJAH IN THE DESERT.

"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice... And behold there came a voice and said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?" -1 Kings, xix. 11-13.

(For the Church of England Magazine.) UPON the mountain stood

Elijah once, the holy man of God,
Watching the fitful blast

That bow'd the lofty fir-trees as it past;
Watching the hallow'd gleam

That bathed the landscape in a fiery stream,
And touch'd the dazzl'd eye with glittering light,
Too pure and bright for all but consecrated sight.

Thither, to meet the Lord,

The Tishbite came, led by his holy word:
Snares for his life around

Were spread, and all to him was dangerous ground;
Yet there the prophet stood,

Confiding in the Lord to aid the good,

And anxious watch'd the wind and light to see Whether the Lord of hosts, perchance, in them might be.

The blast swept o'er the plain,

And bent the trees, and cleft the rock in twain ;
And as the whirlwind past,

He sought the Lord within the roaring blast;
But as its angry course

It urg'd along, he heard its murmurs hoarse, That fill'd his heart with awe and holy fear"If that thou seek'st the Lord, prophet, he is not here."

The earthquake roll'd around,

And shook the hills, and rent the solid ground;
And from the mountain's height

Burst the volcano, with its blazing light:
But it was not the Lord,

Who in that earthquake shook the verdant sward;
And though the bright volcano's mighty glare
Might seem to veil a God, Jehovah was not there.

Then came the "still small voice"
That oft has bid the wicked not rejoice
Before the eternal God:

Elijah sunk abash'd upon the sod;
For in that voice He came,

Who was not in the blast, or the volcano's flame: Then struck the awful words upon his ear, "I am the Lord thy God; prophet, what dost thou here ?"

DEVOTEDNESS.

My heart I, Lord, devote to thee entire ;
The victim light with thine own heavenly fire ;
Preserve, employ, and form it as thine own:
O, change my frozen to a torrid zone!
Knowledge divine into my mind instil;
Be thou the constant magnet of my will;

[blocks in formation]

VENTILATION.-In the construction of houses and public buildings, there is, for the most part, but little care taken to provide for due ventilation; which is capable of being regulated on the strictest scientific principles. Who has not experienced the ill effects of this neglect, in headaches, flushings, languor, and debility, incurred by attending meetings of large numbers of persons? These evils are caused by the inhalation of air from which much of its oxygen has been abstracted, and which is thus unfit for the purposes of respiration. Persons of delicate health, especially those whose lungs are weak, ought to beware of frequenting numerous and crowded assemblies: the theatre, the ball-room, and other fashionable places of resort, have destroyed many a victim.-Curtis on Health.

THE FLIES OF EGYPT.-Swarms of flies came "into all the land of Egypt, and the land was corrupted by reason of the flies." The Hebrew word arob denotes a mixture; and hence St. Jerome, in the Vulgate, translates it omne genus muscarum, "all sorts of flies;" from which, in our version, is the phrase grievous swarm (Ex. viii. 24); for the critical reader will observe that the words of flies are printed in italics in our version, and are not in the original. We are thus left to conjecture what kind of fly is meant, or whether the plague really consisted of flies. Bishop Patrick, after observing that flesh-flies, or dog-flies, are very troublesome and venomous, says, that some think the Hebrew word means a mixture of different insects, as Jerome has translated it; and those who adopt that father's view are supported by Josephus, who observes, that God "filled the country full of various sorts of pestilential creatures, with their various properties." "Perhaps," says Bruce, "this is the insect called zimb in those countries. As soon as this plague appears, and its buzzing is heard, all the cattle forsake their food, and run wildly about the place, till they die, worn out with fatigue, fright, and hunger." The fly of Egypt became proverbial; and Isaiah, in one of his predictions against Ahaz, says, "It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt;" but if we attend to the reading of the passage in Exodus (viii. 24), "the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm," recollecting that the word flies is always inserted in italics, and is nowhere in the original, we must admit that it can hardly refer to a fly, properly so called. We have indeed various historical facts proving that flies are an intolerable plague; many places near lakes and pools having on their account been deserted and rendered desolate. Such, according to Herodotus, was the fate of Myus in Ionia, and of Atarnæ; the inhabitants being compelled to abandon those cities, unable to withstand the swarms of flies and gnats with which they were infested: the emperor Trajan was obliged to raise the siege of a place in the Arabian peninsula on account of the swarms of those insects; and Moses, in a much more early period, informs us that the hornet drove out the Canaanite; which means that before the conquest by the Israelites several cities had been deserted from terror of this insect. But in the 78th Psalm the arob is described as devouring the Egyptians, which is not applicable to a fly: "He sent divers sorts of flies among them,

which devoured then, and frogs, which destroyed them." Some recent commentators accordingly are of opinion that the Egyptian beetle (blatta Ægyptiaca) is denoted in this plague. The beetle, it is well known, is every where a nuisance, and is particularly so in Egypt. All the allusions in different parts of the sacred Scriptures concerning the arob apply to this species. It devours every thing in its way, even clothes, books, and plants, and does not hesitate to inflict severe bites upon man. And as it appears to have been one of the great objects of the plagues to chastise the Egyptians through their own objects of reverence or abhorrence, the beetle might have been fitly employed for this purpose. Although it cannot be determined what place it held in their religious system, it is evident, from its figure occurring so frequently in Egyptian sculpture and painting, that it occupied a conspicuous place among the sacred creatures. In the British Museum there is a remarkable colossal figure of a beetle in greenish-coloured granite, and it is also delineated in various specimens of Egyptian antiquities preserved in that national institution. At the same time, if the popular reading of flies be retained, the preceding observations are equally applicable. The Egyptians, we learn, were worshippers of Zebub, or the god-fly. "The land of Egypt," says Bryant, "being annually overflowed, was pestered with swarms of flies. They were so troublesome, that the people were in many places forced to lie on the roofs of the houses, which were flat, where they were obliged to cover themselves with a net-work. As the country thus abounded with these insects, it might be thought that judgment was effected in a natural way, if it were not that it was brought about, as was also that of the frogs, in the coldest and most ungenial season of the year in Egypt. These noxious animals could not have been produced at such a season by natural means; it was contrary to all experience. They used to be produced at a different, and for the most part an opposite time of the year; and before this season they were either diminished or extinct."Edinburgh Scripture Gazetteer.

JAPAN. The Japanese are quite intolerant to Christianity. The Catholic priests, who formerly lived in Japan, enjoyed every possible freedom, and converted a great number of the natives; but, at last, the progress of the new religion gave rise to a dreadful civil war. For this reason, after the extirpation of the Christians, the following inscription was placed at the head of the stone tablets of laws, which are fixed up in all public places. "Whoever knows any individual who has taught Christianity, and can convict him thereof, shall receive a reward of five hundred silver pieces." There is likewise a law which prohibits masters from hiring servants, until they receive from them a written assurance of their not being Christians. In Nangasaky, where Christianity had made the greatest progress, there is a staircase, on the steps of which are laid various ornaments and utensils of the Catholic Church, and on the first step a crucifix. On new-year's day, all the inhabitants of Nangasaky are obliged to ascend these steps; and, as a proof that they are not Christians, to trample on the articles. It is said, that many Christians who live at Nangasaky comply with this regulation from interested motives.-These facts, we presume, are true; but it is mournful that the intrigues or bad conduct of these papal missionaries should be identified with Christianity.-Christian Observer.

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.

[merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

when, speaking to the Ephesians of their

THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD. being sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

BY THE REV. J. FAWCETT, M.A.

Perpetual Curate of St. Cuthbert's, Carlisle.

II.

he calls it "the earnest of their inheritance?" (Eph. i. 14.) Some must have it in a greater, some in a less, degree; but in all who were thus sealed, it was the earnest of that in

forehand. What else does Peter mean when he asserts of the dispersed and afflicted Christians, "that believing in Him, whom having not seen they loved, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory?" (1 Pet. i. 8.) Or what views of the Divine glory had David, when he said, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee?"

SUCH a manifestation as that referred to inheritance, something of heaven enjoyed bea former essay is not made to one in a thousand, I might even say, not to one in ten thousand; yet if we want to examine an object correctly, we should contemplate it where it is found in large dimensions just as when we want to ascertain the exact form of a minute insect, we magnify it. The parts thus magnified are seen distinctly; yet they are nothing else but the very same parts, in the very same shape, and with all the same appendages, which exist in the creature so small as to be invisible to the unassisted eye. So, though not a man in ten thousand has so bright a manifestation of the glory of God as Brainerd had, yet every man, who has any manifestation at all, has one of the same kind. If his views and feelings could be increased to the same intensity as those of Brainerd, they would be like his; and if they could be increased still further, and made more and more intense, without being at all changed in their nature, they would be like the views and the feelings of saints in glory; for what else is it that Paul means when he speaks of "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding?" (Phil. iv. 7.) What else means he, when he tells the Corinthians, that we, "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord?" (2 Cor. iii. 18.) What else does he mean,

VOL. VII.-NO. CLXXXVIII.

Let not, then, any man despise such manifestations as enthusiasm; but let him greatly court them, and diligently seek them: they are akin to the joy of heaven itself, and a preparation for it. Nor let any one who is seeking thus to be visited with God's salvation be discouraged, though he seem very far from it-cold, and dark, and even unable to pray. Let him still breathe out the desire, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory;" and when he feels himself in the deepest darkness, he may be on the confines of a marvellous light, which will ere long break in upon him, to the joy and refreshing of his soul.

It remains only, that I shew the blessed effects of such manifestations.

In the first place, wherever there is any degree of such manifestation, and in proportion to the degree of it, there will be an inward reverence for God; it will be a reverence not unmixed with awe, but chiefly a delightful blending of admiration and love.

(London: Robson, Levey, and Franklyn, 46 St. Martin's Lane.]

S

Now this is the very best state of mind in which a creature like man can be; it is one which becomes his condition and character. It humbles him; it exalts God.

It makes him see how mean and evil he is; how great and holy, God. The approaches of such a one to the footstool of the Most High will be such as suit his circumstances, and the relation in which he stands to so gracious a Being. He will wonder almost that he is permitted to draw nigh, and will say, "Behold, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes" (Gen. xviii. 27).

Another effect which will follow from such manifestation, and proportioned to the degree of it, is self-surrender. He who has this knowledge of the glory of God will rejoice to see himself, and all his concerns, in such hands. When troubles come upon him, the bitterness will be almost taken out of them when he looks upon them as the appointment of so glorious a God. Can such a God err? Can he ordain any thing but what is wise, and right, and good? Would his weak, erring creature dethrone him, and alter his arrangements? Far from it. He feels so sure that all which proceeds from God is as it should be, that he would not change one thing. It is his satisfaction to lie in his Father's hands. He accepts willingly the good or evil of the present time; and resigns himself confidently for the future, prepared to receive, with meek and cheerful submission, whatever a God so glorious shall appoint. Nor is it for time only that he thus resigns himself to God; it is for eternity-his soul, as well as his body and estate; his soul to be accepted in Christ, sanctified by his Spirit, preserved from falling, and at last made perfect in glory.

It is easy to see that obedience will follow. The will of that Being, whom the favoured soul sees to be so glorious, will be sacred to him. He will be sure that every command proceeding from him will be excellent; the line of duty enjoined by him the best and the happiest that could possibly be. He will be sure that he cannot depart from it a hair's breadth, but he must depart for the worse. He will not only obey from gratitude, because God is his benefactor, though he will feel this; or from love, because God is his Redeemer, though this will be a constraining motive; or because the path of obedience leads to heaven, though this consideration may worthily weigh with him. But he will also obey, because he is well pleased that so glorious a God should in all things command him. He feels it an honour and happiness to be doing the will of such a God; and longs to do it perfectly, even as the saints and angels in heaven.

[ocr errors]

Lastly, I would remark, that he who has had a sight of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ will be able to conceive of nothing higher or better in heaven itself than to have God for his everlasting portion. He can enter into the meaning of David, when he says, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Ps. xvii. 15). He can understand the language of John: "We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John, iii. 2). Nothing can be imagined by him as promising such a fulness of joy as to be at God's right hand, to see face to face, to know even as he is known. Every pleasure of sense, all the glory of this lower world, seems poor and beggarly in the comparison, and God alone capable of filling the soul with substantial bliss.

If such a glimpse of the Divine glory as he can catch on earth be so ravishing, what must the perfect vision in heaven be? Then the blissful communion will not be interrupted by withdrawment or desertion on the part of God, or by dulness of understanding and coldness of affection on his. The joyous,

[ocr errors]

holy fellowship will not be disturbed by temptation, nor saddened by affliction, nor polluted by sin; it will be a perpetual light— an unclouded brightness a sun which shall never go down - a moon which shall not withdraw itself; for the Lord himself shall be the light of his people, and their God their glory. Thus in heaven the view of the Divine glory will not be, like the best that good men are favoured with below, a transient vision, a momentary glance; it will be eternal; the days of mourning will be ended; every enemy being put under the feet of Jesus, death, the last of them, will be destroyed; and the victory and triumph of the redeemed complete and everlasting.

ZEAL FOR GOD'S GLORY.*

IN meditating on the Lord's prayer as containing the expression of the primary elements of piety, we have found that it gives utterance, in the first place, to that

elevating sense of confidence in God's relation to us,

the enjoyment of which is so prominent a characteristic of the children of God.

But they who recognise God as their Father-their heavenly Father-cannot but be filled with filial zeal

as well as with filial confidence. The relation of parent and child, as it is the closest which can exist, so it most entirely identifies the interests of each, and makes the desires, purposes, and plans of the father, to live again, as it were, in the son. Him whom we love, we reverence and obey; and him whom we rever

From a very interesting work, just published, entitled "The Lord's Prayer; contemplated as the Expression of the Primary Elements of Devoutness." By the Rev. Thomas Griffith, A.M., Minister of Ram's Episcopal Chapel, Homerton, author of "The Spiritual Life," &c. &c. London, 1889. Burns.

« AnteriorContinua »