respecting the nature and government of God, and the plan of redemption by the incarnation and death of Christ, which we may not be able fully to explain or reconcile with the misty surmises of our puny reason? As well might we say, that the sun does not shine upon our planet, because we do not know whether that glorious luminary is a solid mass of fire, or an opaque body surrounded by an atmosphere which emits light and heat to all parts of the solar system. As well might we deny the existence of life, because we are unable to explain its theory. As well might we conclude that there is no such thing as nature, because every single object it presents to our contemplation is to us a profound mystery. As well might a man turn sceptic as to his own existence, because one of the greatest of all mysteries is our own mental and corporeal economy. Away, my friend, with this pretended dread of mystery, and say whether it is not rather the plain and simple parts of Scripture which are most offensive to you? Is it not true that your sinful heart revolts at the idea of being held responsible to God for your thoughts, words and actions? Yet, if God has made you what you are, and endowed you with such faculties; if in Him, too, you live, and move, and have your being, Acts xvii. 28, can any thing be more reasonable than that the Author of your being and the length of your days, should have made you responsible to him for the whole of your conduct, and more particularly for a calm, unprejudiced, and anxious examination of the discoveries of himself, which he has made to you, whether in nature, providence, or express revelation? But you say, "There are contradictions in the Bible, which forbid you to embrace it as a discovery of the mind of God." This I expressly and earnestly deny, when the Scriptures are fairly and legitimately interpreted. Seeming contradictions there may be, and doubtless are, in the Bible: but, if you are really anxious to have such difficulties removed out of the way, you have only to read the works of such men as Bishop Watson, and the Rev. Thomas Scott, in answer to Paine, in order to obtain full satisfaction in reference to all the absurd charges heaped by that truly unhappy man upon the writers of Scripture. You profess to spurn ignorance and prejudice; but how will you be able to escape the charge of both, if you allow yourself to retain unworthy opinions respecting certain parts of the Bible, which have been refuted, over and over again, and which you would be compelled to relinquish, if you would only take the trouble of informing yourself, and disabusing your mind of certain false notions which have been instilled into it by ignorant or designing men. Allow me, as your sincere friend, to express my firm belief, as the result of much observation, that if you retire from evil counsellors, if you will separate yourself from all vicious society, if you will lay aside depraved habits, and sit down, thoughtfully, to read your Bible, you will speedily rise up from the interesting task, with the full conviction, that the Scriptures are the Word of God. Is it too much, then, to ask of you, in entering upon this work, that you will put up a prayer to Almighty God, that, if the Bible be a revelation from Him, he would enable you, an erring creature, to ascertain the momentous fact? Nay, is it too much to press upon you, the duty of determining to know whether God has spoken to you in his Word? Rest assured, if such be your prayer, and such your determination, light will gradually break in upon your bewildered mind. The love of truth will spring up in your desolated heart; conscience will become tender in reference to sin and duty; feelings of penitence will steal over your spirit; the wisdom, goodness, and mercy of God will be seen in the revelation he has given; your need of a Saviour will be distinctly and impressively felt; the deep stain of guilt will be washed away by faith in the blood of the Saviour, whom you have blasphemed; and, like the doubting Thomas of old, you will exclaim, with a confiding heart, "My Lord and my God." John xx. 28. Do not, I beseech you, throw aside with disdain this little tract, written with an anxious desire to promote your present and eternal welfare. Yield not to that species of silly pride and vanity, which would tempt you to conclude, that because you think differently on the subject of religion from others of your acquaintance, you are therefore possessed of greater acuteness and superior information. Take heed lest you should provoke God, by your continued blasphemies, to abandon you to your own heart's lusts. Tremble lest that awful threatening should be accomplished in your person, "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you: Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof: Therefore shail they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." Prov. i. 24-31. Listen, then, I beseech you, to the warning voice of Heaven, "Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err." Prov. xix. 27. Break off the fellowship of unbelievers and wicked men. Fortify your mind in this determination, by calling to remembrance the evils which have accrued to you from your past unbelief and contempt of God. From what you know of the characters of infidels, endeavour to conceive of a state of society in which none but such persons were found to exist; think what a compound of selfishness, turbulence, and vicious indulgence, such a state of society would present! Having nothing to regulate and control its discordant elements, but the mere restraint of human laws, it would contain in its own bosom the elements of self-destruction, and would speedily annihilate itself by the force of those hideous vices which it had engendered. "Combine," observes a great writer, "the frequent and familiar perpetration of atrocious deeds, with the dearth of great and generous actions, and you have the exact picture of that condition of society which completes the degradation of the species-the frightful contrast of dwarfish virtues and gigantic vices, where every thing good is mean and little, and every thing evil is rank and luxuriant: a dead and sickening uniformity prevails, broken only at intervals by volcanic eruptions of anarchy and crime." THE LORD IS OUR REFUGE. OH! where for refuge should I flee, When sins, and fears, and doubts assail! Had not my Saviour died for me, Too surely must my foes prevail! Beside that pure and holy Law, To find no single act unblam'd. If I relied not on his power, To save my footseps from the snare, Might almost drive me to despair. These holy feelings die away. Am I by no false hopes deceived? Be duly praised, or duly felt? To tell His love who died for me! Yet brought to stand before the throne! Of all my love-for thou wast slain! My Saviour bled and died for me! Which to his unbought love I owe. Th' impression must too swiftly fade; BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. DR STOCK. MR DAVID DICKSON, PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. BY THE EDITOR. voted to the honourable office of a minister of the Lord Jesus. He was accordingly sent to Glasgow, that he might prosecute his studies with this view. At the conclusion of his literary course, Mr Dickson had earned so high a reputation for extensive and varied acquirements, that, besides having the degree of Master of Arts conferred upon him, he was chosen a Regent or teacher of Philosophy in the College. This office he occupied for several years with high honour to himself, and great advantage to the young men who were committed to his care. Along with Boyd of Trochrig, Mr Blair, and other pious individuals at that time connected with the University, he endeavoured to combine a knowledge of religious truth with the secular learning which the students were employed in acquiring. The result was, that a spirit of piety was diffused in the College; and many issued from its walls, who becaine burning and shining lights in that dark and corrupt age. Having completed the period which the General Assembly had decreed that regents should fulfil, Mr Dickson left the University; and having been licensed to preach the Gospel, he was ordained, in 1618, as minister of the parish of Irvine, where he laboured with much comfort, and with many tokens of the Divine approbation, for twenty-three years. It was in the memorable year of his ordination that the Perth Assembly passed the well-known Acts imposed upon them by the King and the Prelates, and thus recognised the most obnoxious of the forms of the Episcopal Church, as worthy of adoption by the Church of Scotland. The forms to which we refer were as follows:-1st, Kneeling at the Communion. 2d, Private Communion. 3d, Private Baptism. 4th, Observance of holidays. 5th, Confirmation of children. The passing of the Perth Acts, as they were familiarly termed, roused the Scottish Presbyterians to a more determined hostility than ever to the system of Prelacy which had been forced upon an unwilling Church. Many who had never examined the question before, now studied it with the greatest care and attention. Among others, Mr Dickson applied his vigorous mind to the subject of Episcopacy; and, by the blessing of God, he was led to entertain very strong views in favour of the Divine authority of Presbytery. The more he became acquainted with the various points involved in the controversy, so much the more opposed was he to the obnoxious Acts; and he resolved, more especially, after recovering from a dangerous illness with which he was attacked about this time, to make open avowal of his opinions in reference to Prelacy. THIS eminent divine was born in Glasgow, about the Mr Dickson's sentiments were not long in reaching year 1583. He was the only child of his parents, who high quarters; and, at the instance of Law, Archbishop were in respectable circumstances, his father having of Glasgow, he was summoned to appear before the been very successful in business as a merchant. Great High Commission Court, on the 19th January 1622. attention was paid in his childhood to David's religious This citation he readily obeyed, and on the appointed training; and, indeed, he may be said from his very birth, day he made his appearance at the bar of the Court. to have been dedicated, like Samuel of old, to the ser- The summons having been read, he gave in a paper, vice of the Lord. Being naturally endowed with ex- firmly but yet respectfully declining the jurisdiction of cellent talents, he made rapid progress in his education, the Court. An attempt was then made to persuade until, by a severe attack of illness, he was interrupted him to withdraw this paper. In answer, however, to in his studies. It was in mercy, however, that the the urgent requests made to him to take it up, he reAlmighty had sent his afflictive dispensation. No plied calmly, "I laid it not down for that end to take it Sooner was the young man reised from his bed of sick- up again." Spottiswood, Archbishop of St Andrews, ness, than his parents, filled with a sense of the Divine asked if he was willing to subscribe the document, to goodness, resolved anew, that their son should be dewhich he readily responded in the affirmative. The with the full consent of the minister of the parish, still continued to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation with as much energy, and with as much frequency, as he had ever done while at Irvine. His friends and attached parishioners made many applications to have him reponed. Law, who had originated the persecution against him, declared his readiness to remove the sentence of banishment, provided the paper, declining the jurisdiction of the High Commission Court, were withdrawn. This, however, he positively refused to do. He would neither consent to withdraw the paper himself, nor to permit any of his friends to withdraw it. He was sent for to Glasgow, that his friends might, if possible, prevail upon him to make concessions; but, although in obedience to their wishes he undertook the journey, no entreaties could move him from his purHe returned to Turriff, resolved rather to suffer than to swerve from what he believed to be a sound scriptural principle. pose. paper was then read by the clerk, but scarcely had he | banishment. During his stay in Turriff, Mr Dickson, finished two or three sentences, when Spottiswood, turning to Mr Dickson, burst forth into the most furious reproaches. "These men," he said with the utmost vehemence, "will speak of humility and meekness, and talk of the Spirit of God; but you are led by the spirit of the devil. There is more pride in you, I dare say, than in all the bishops in Scotland." This language, so unworthy of one who was sitting as a judge, was met by the accused with the most patient magnanimity. "I am not a rebel," he calmly replied, "I stand here as the King's subject; grant me the benefits of the law, and of a subject, and I crave no more." These words, uttered as they were with a manly firmness, which only the consciousness of innocence could have inspired, silenced the infuriated bishop. His brother, of Aberdeen, then commenced his interrogatories at the pannel. "Will you obey the King or not?" "I will obey the King in all things in the Lord," was Mr Dickson's instant reply. It was obvious to the Court, and Archbishop Law called their attention to it, that in using this language, the accused did not assert that he would yield unlimited obedience to the King; and accordingly the Bishop of Aberdeen pushed his inquiries still further. May not the King give his authority that we have, to as many souters and tailors in Edinburgh, to sit and see whether ye be doing your duty or not?" In reply to this interrogatory, Mr Dickson referred the bishops to the paper which he had given in, denying the authority of the Civil Court in things sacred; and proving the truth of his opinions on this subject by quotations from Scripture. Spottiswood then broke out into the most opprobrious language. "The devil himself can quote Scripture," he exclaimed, and taunted the pannel with having a better knowledge of Aristotle than of the Bible. All this the amiable young minister bore with unruffled serenity, lifting up his eyes occasionally to heaven for grace to be faithful to his Master's cause. Throughout the whole examination be conducted himself with the most exemplary dignity and mildness. The mock trial at length closed, and by the decree of the High Commission Court, Mr Dickson was deprived of his ministry at Irvine, and banished to Turriff, in Aberdeenshire, to which place he was ordered to set out within twenty days. On hearing the sentence read, the young minister rose and addressing the bishops, said, "The will of the Lord be done; though ye cast me off, the Lord will take me up. Send me whither ye will, I hope my Master will go with me; and as he has been with me heretofore, He will be with me still, as with his own weak servant." Mr Dickson gladly availed himself of the very limited period allowed him by the Court, and employed himself in almost daily preaching the Gospel. At the expiry of the twenty days, he was about to commence his journey to the north, but the Earl of Eglinton having applied to the Archbishop of Glasgow, he was permitted to preach for a time in the hall and cou-yard of Eglinton Castle. The fame of the young n.ster of Irvine, thus early separated from his flock by the strong arm of law had spread far and wide, and thousands flocked from all quarters to hear him. These opportunities of doing good, however, were soon interrupted, for at the end of two months he was ordered without further delay to set out for the place of his Mr Dickson was much beloved by the people of Irvine, and they never ceased, assisted by the Earl of Eglinton, to importune Archbishop Law that their banished pastor might be restored to them. The haughty Prelate for some time resisted their urgent entreaties; at length, however, he yielded, and the beloved young minister was permitted, without any condition, to return to his anxious flock about the end of July 1623. His ministrations were accompanied with many evident tokens of the Divine approbation. Many were, through his instrumentality, aroused from spiritual insensibility and death, and made alive unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Seasons of refreshing from the Lord's presence were not unfrequent under his ministry, particularly at communion seasons. So highly were his labours prized, that many came from all the neighbouring parishes to hear him; and various instances were known of families coming from a distance to settle in the town of Irvine, that they might enjoy the privilege of his pastoral care. Amid all this popularity, however, he was enabled to maintain an humble, unaffected deportment; and, instead of boasting of his success, he was heard to declare that the vintage of Irvine in his time, was not equal to the mere gleanings of Ayr in Mr Welch's time. As a preacher, Mr Dickson stood very high in the estimation, not of his own people alone, but of the country generally. And not more eminent were his pulpit talents, than was his tact in dealing with cases of Christian experience in private. Often, on Sabbath evenings, would a large hall in his house be crowded with persons wishing to consult him on the state of their souls; and to every one he spoke as the circumstances of their cases required. Every Monday being market-day in Irvine, he held a week-day service in the church, which was generally attended by a crowded audience, who hung upon his lips with the utmost avidity. The most prominent cases of conscience which were brought under his notice on the previous Sabbath evening were then solved, and suitable remarks made, for general edification. It was chiefly by those weekday services that the revival was brought about in the year 1630, which is well-known to have occurred under this worthy minister of Christ. On that occasion, many who had been sitting in darkness were made to About the year 1650, Mr Dickson was translated from the chair of divinity in Glasgow to that in Edinburgh, where he taught theology with much benefit to the young students under his care. That his lectures were sound and scriptural, is evident from the published specimens which are still extant. The prelections which he delivered in Latin have been translated into English, and they certainly give a very favourable view of his mode of conveying instruction on theological subjects. In all the public affairs of the time, and in the hot controversy which was maintained between the Resolutioners and Protesters, he took an active share, publishing several pamphlets in favour of the former party. In the laborious discharge of his duties, Mr Dickson continued until the Restoration of Charles the Second, when, for declining to take the oath of supremacy, he was, along with many others, driven from his charge. The melancholy events of that eventful period, and the eager determination with which the King sought to establish Episcopacy in Scotland, seem to have deeply impressed the mind of the good man, and seriously affected his health. At the period to which we have now arrived in Mr Dickson's history, Prelacy was carrying matters with a high hand, not only in Scotland, but in Ireland. Many of the godly ministers, such as Livingstone, Blair, and others, who had settled in the north of Ireland, were prevented from the exercise of their ministry by the influence of the Irish bishops; and compelled, by the force of persecution, to pass over into Scotland. With these faithful and devoted men Mr Dickson held frequent intercourse, and employed them to preach for him in his pulpit. This, of course, gave mortal offence to the Prelatic party in Scotland, and he was again summoned to answer for his conduct before the High Commission Court. It was too late, however; the power of the bishops in Scotland was on the wane, and they saw it to be their interest to stop short in a course of conduct which would, as it actually did, ere long bring their authority into contempt. To the deposition of the bishops, and the establishment of the Second Reformation in Scotland, which soon after occurred, Mr Dickson was in a great degree instrumental. It was he who prevailed on the Presbytery of Irvine to apply, in 1637, for the suspension of the Service-Book; and he was one of those who were deputed to urge upon the ministers and people in and around Aberdeen, to renew the Covenant. And in the following year he was proposed by some persons, previous to the meeting of the General Assembly at Glasgow, to fill the chair on that important occasion; and although the choice fell upon Mr Alexander Henderson, Mr Dickson took an active share in the proceedings. At the next Assembly, which met at Edin-hind him, are marked by great vigour of thought, and burgh in August 1639, he was almost unanimously chosen Moderator, and he discharged the duties of the office with the most marked discretion and impartiality. In the course of this Assembly he was invited to accept of a charge in Glasgow; but such was the resistance made to his removal by the Earl of Eglinton and his beloved parishioners at Irvine, that the General Assembly refused to sanction his translation. After labouring for nearly two years longer among his attached people, he accepted of a call to the professorship of theology in the University of Glasgow. For this high office in the Church his eminent attainments as a divine singularly qualified him; and under his tuition many young men were trained up, who afterwards distinguished themselves by their erudition, piety, and usefulness. While thus engaged in discharging the laborious duties of his professorship, he preached also in the forenoon of the Sabbath in the High Church of the city. Mr Dickson now stood very high in the opinion of his brethren; he was accordingly employed in any matter of importance which concerned the public affairs of the Church. Thus, he was appointed by the Assembly to form one of a small committee, which was named for the purpose of executing a draft of the " Directory for Public Worship." He was also the author, conjunctly with Mr Durham, of "The Sum of Saving Knowledge," In December 1662 he was seized with a severe illness. Mr Livingstone, who visited him as he lay on his sick-bed, has left on record the memorable saying which the worthy professor of theology uttered in the solemn view of death. "I have taken all my good deeds, and all my bad deeds, and have cast them together in a heap before the Lord, and have fled from both to Jesus Christ, and in him I have sweet peace." Feeling that his end was near, he summoned his family to his bed-side; and having addressed a few words to each of them, concluded with solemnly pronouncing the apostolical blessing, after which he lifted up his hand and closed his own eyes, yielding up his soul without a struggle, into the hands of his Redeemer. The works which this eminent divine has left be simplicity, and clearness of style. They are numerous, and many of them rare, but there are some of them, particularly his commentary on the Psalms, which we are glad to see reprinted. His commentaries on Matthew's Gospel and the Epistle to the Hebrews, well deserve to be also brought under the view of the public; but none of all his writings would we prefer to his "Therapeutica Sacra," or "Cases of Conscience Resolved." THE CHARACTER AND TRANSLATION OF ENOCH: A DISCOURSE. Preached in St Mary's Church, Dumfries, 27th December 1840, on occasion of the death of the Rev. Peter Thomson, one of the ministers of the parish. BY THE REV. ROBERT CRAWFORD, THERE are characters in the Sacred Volume, so have lived and died; they stand as distinctly out | before our view as if we had been personally conversant with them, and were recently parted from them. Yes, and when the memory of the unregenerate, however fascinating their genius, or ilustrious their deeds, is forgotten, or rots, they (as the Word of God is diffused) will only be the more widely known; and when the earth and all things therein are burnt up, will be held in everlasting remembrance. Among these, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, holds a conspicuous place. In an age somewhat prior to his, "men began to call upon the name of the Lord,"-openly associated for his worship,-were distinguished for their enlightened and holy zeal. He caught the sacred fire-received "the morning star,' and shone with peculiar radiance, flashing conviction on the minds of some-cheering others forward in the path of duty-and leaving those without excuse who continued to walk in darkness, and repented not to give God the glory. While many gazed with admiration on his course; and not a few, perhaps, with envy and hatred, he suddenly disappeared-his light seemed to be quenched in night-he was eagerly sought for, and nowhere to be found. He was plucked by the hand of God from this lower sphere, and fixed in the heavenly one, there to shine for ever and ever, free from all disturbance, or waning, or setting. "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." There are two things in these words deserving of our notice, and forming a theme for meditation, suited we think to the mournful circumstances in which we are now placed; first, The course; and then the departure or translation of this remarkable man. We shall endeavour, in humble reliance on the blessing of Christ and the working of his Spirit, to trace each of these— I. His course. He walked with God. What a testimony! so simple as to be intelligible to all; so full as to imply every thing good, and so high as to cast into the shade the most eloquent and impressive tribute of praise ever paid by man to man. The high rank to which the patriarch was raised, and the holy life which he led, are brought in the same instant vividly before us. We are not informed when he entered on his heavenly walk. There was doubtless a period in his history when he underwent a change,-when the spirit of holiness was imparted to him,-when he was brought into an intimate union with "the Lord our righteousness." Had he not welcomed the first dawn of Gospel light emanating from the promise, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent;" had he not believed the record which God had even then given of his Son, comparatively faint and obscure as that might be; had he not based his hopes of acceptance on Him who was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the sentence of death would not have passed away from him the enmity of his heart would have remained for ever unsubdued, constituting alike his guilt and his punishment. He would have walked as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, and would have been an heir of wrath, even as others. We have reason to think that he began his walk with God in early life. He was comparatively young when God took him. He had not completed half the usual term of human existence. His eye, like that of Moses, when he died on Mount Nebo, within view of the promised land, was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the lustre of his course was, unquestionably, all the more bright and attractive from beaming, as it did, through the freshness and ardour of youth. What sight upon earth more lovely-more edifying-more fitted to awe the unbelieving-to melt the obdurate to win the prejudiced, than that of one consecrating his first and best days to the service of God, careless of ease, deaf to the voice of pleasure, indifferent to the praise or the censure of man, firm amid the current of idolatry, or infidelity, or profaneness, or profligacy. "Them that honour God" intent on magnifying Christ, whether by life or death; and yet oppressed with a sense of unworthiness"he shall honour," by giving them a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters, even an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. We have no difficulty in tracing the course of this godly man; in filling up under the guidance of the written Word the striking and interesting outline here presented to us by the inspired historian. We may clearly gather from his words that the patriarch maintained stated communion with God. There was, in his age, a fixed season for devotion. The Sabbath which began in paradise, survived the fall as a day of spiritual repose, a mean of sanctification, a pledge of peace, a type of heaven. There was a place, too, where God indicated his special presence in a way that Cain who was stained with the blood of his brother could not endure; and where he communed with his people, testifying his acceptance of their gifts, and fulfilling the desires of their hearts. And there was a mode of approaching unto God, prescribed by himself, without the due observance of which the worshipper could not please him. By faith," we read, "Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain." His was at once an acknowledgment of his guilt, an act of obedience to the revealed will of God, and an expression of desire for the continuance of his friendship, as well as of entire dependence for every blessing upon Him, who in the fulness of time was to give his life a ransom for many. We may be sure then, otherwise the testimony before us would never have been borne to him, that Enoch waited upon God in the way of his own appointment that he counted the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, that he listened with deep interest to every intimation of the Divine will; and that he dwelt upon the precious promise given to our first parents; and was thereby inspired with peace, smitten with self-abasement, kindled into |