good effect is to be expected from scriptural knowledge and wisdom, it must be from the whole, and not a part only of the Divine system-that we are not at liberty to abridge and select from those communications which come to us under the broad and authoritative recommendation, "all Scripture is given by in

With reference to the introduction of Christianity and its early propagation in Arabia, many extraordinary and interesting accounts have been handed down. Of these, that which is most worthy of attention, is the cause assigned for the conversion of the king of Hira, and for which we are indebted to Mr. Taylor's History of Mohammedism. "Al Nooman, king of Hira, had, in a drunken fit, ordered two of his faithful companions to be buried alive; when he recovered his senses, and found that his commands had been fatally obeyed, he was overwhelmed with grief. As an expiation, he erected for them a magnificent sepulchre, and dedicated two days in the year to their memory. On one of these, called the Fortunate day, the king loaded the first stranger he met with magnificent gifts; but whoever presented himself on the second day, was sacrificed at the monument. On one of these days, Al Nooman met an Arab of the tribe of Tay, by whom he had been once hospitably entertained; and found himself in a great strait, being obliged either to violate his oath to the memory of his friend, or to break through the laws of hospitality, which the Arabs religiously observe. At length he offered the Arab a reprieve for a year and a day, provided that he could find a surety for his return. One of the prince's court, moved with compassion, presented himself, and the Arab departed. When the last day of the stipulated term arrived, and the Arab had not appeared, his surety was led forth to suffer; but the courtiers remonstrated, declaring that he could not legally be executed until the sun sunk beneath the horizon. In the midst of the debate the Arab appeared, and offered himself to the executioner. Al Nooman, astonished, asked him what religion enjoined such a scrupulous observance of faith? and was answered, the Christian; whereupon he ordered the doctrines of Christianity to be explained to him, and became a convert. He and his subjects were baptised, the lives of the Arab and his surety spared, and the barbarous custom by which they had been endangered completely abolished."

B.

NECESSITY OF SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE.† THE benefits derivable from scriptural knowledge can then only be rationally expected when the whole scheme of revelation is exhibited in all its fulness and proportions. This is the more important [to be pointed out], because an opinion is too prevalent, that Christian morals may be successfully inculcated apart from Christian doctrine. Now, at the very first view, what can be more evident than this, that if any practical

See the Scripture Gazetteer. Edinburgh Printing Company. 1836. Art. Asia.

+ From Notes to "Scriptural Knowledge the Source of National Stability: a Sermon preached in St. George's Chapel, Kidderminster. By the Rev. J. A. Baxter, M.A., Assistant Minister." Hamilton and Co., London; Brough, Kidderminster.-The reader will find here much light thrown on the evils likely to result from any general mode of education which is not founded on the Bible. Many of the remarks are as forcible as they are just. The subject, at the present moment, is one of great interest to those who are anxiously desirous that sound religious principles should take deep root in all classes of the community.

reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Is it reasonable, when the scriptural system combines the statement of certain truths, the exhibition of certain motives, the offer of certain aids, the injunction of certain precepts, in order that man may acceptably serve his God, benefit his fellow-men, and be eternally happy, to expect these results from the precepts alone, when the truths, the motives, the aids, are mutilated, withheld, discarded? Human corruption is a mighty mass of evil to be rolled away from the heart of man and from the world; and in the Gospel of Christ God has placed within our reach the force, or rather system of forces, adequate to its removal. If, therefore, the principal part of that force be abstracted, will not right reasoning conclude, that the remaining part will, as to cfficacy, not merely be impaired, but destroyed-that the portion retained will fail to produce effects even commensurate with its apparent value in the system, will by itself do nothing towards purifying the heart and regenerating the world.

"Christianity,"-trite as is the observation, it cannot be too frequently repeated,--" is a religion of motives." What matters it then that all agree in the duties it enjoins? Let these be inculcated on the ear with the most untiring assiduity, without the impulse of sufficient motive, how shall they be performed? Are the Divine goodness displayed in creation, and the solemnities of a future judgment, sufficient? Had St. Paul thought so, he would scarcely have said "the love of Christ constraineth us," and denounced an anathema on all by whom that love is not felt. What warrant, indeed, have we to separate the love of God from the grace of Christ and the communion of the Holy Ghost? If redemption be the highest display of God's love, and if our estimate of that love must necessarily be proportionate to our views of the Redeemer's person and glory, how can we venture to presume, when we remove this consideration from our list of motives, that the portion which, in our wisdom, we choose to retain, shall be adequate to produce the desired effects on character? It is indeed from these very doctrines the true Christian draws his most powerful persuasives to holiness. Take away the corner-stone of his faith, the Deity of his Redeemer, "the gift" is no passeth knowledge," the mystery of the cross no longer longer "unspeakable," the love is not "a love that excites astonishment, humility and condescension lose their pattern, and all the graces which adorned the Saviour shine with diminished lustre. If, moreover, Divine illumination be required to know aright our duty, and Divine aid be indispensable to its performance, and if Scripture reveals God's Holy Spirit as the sole and only agent whereby the Christian graces (or moral virtues of the ethical philosopher) can be produced, what can we reasonably expect from a system which excludes this agency, by denying the very exist

ence of the agent? When moral virtues are inculcated from inferior motives, from abstract rectitude, general expediency, or suitableness to the constitution of man, and when the only agency which can produce them is kept out of sight, what can we look for at best but a spurious imitation, which may pass current for awhile, but whose intrinsic baseness the hour of temptation, if not the ordinary wear of life, will reveal. If it be said notwithstanding, that there is much morality in the world unconnected with these doctrines and sentiments to which we attach so much importance, we do not deny the fact; infidels have been moral, and so have heathens,-much more may it be expected in a land where all the motives of the Gospel are constantly held forth by an authorised clergy, not to mention a numerous dissenting ministry which independently advocates the same essential doctrines, that the reflection of these truths cannot but be to a certain extent influential, even where they are not personally embraced. When truth is exhibited in all her majestic proportions, error is compelled to assume its most imposing form, Satan is clothed as an angel of light, and while his aim is to seduce those who hold the truth to hold it in unrighteousness, his no less uniform object is to recommend pernicious principles under the garb of a correct practice. But let the character of public instruction be changed; let youth be placed under a system of inferior motives; let the number of those who are directly influenced by the sanctifying doctrines of our holy religion be materially diminished; and the standard of public and private morality will be gradually, but certainly, lowered, till we sink into a nation of practical, if not avowed, infidels.

Most important, then, are principles. It would be easy to go through the circle of Christian truth, and shew that there is not a single doctrine which has not a direct bearing on the sanctification of man. Purity of practice, therefore, we regard as inseparable from purity of faith; and none who recognise this connexion can justly impugn the wisdom of our Church in not leaving open the door of membership, much less of her ministry, to a vague profession of scriptural principles, without ascertaining what those principles are.

LITURGICAL HINTS.-No. CLXIV. "Understandest thou what thou readest?"-Acts, viii. 30.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. August 24th. THE original Latin collect is obscure, but its meaning seems to be as follows: "Almighty, everlasting God, who hast appointed a reverential and holy joyfulness to this day, upon occasion of the festival of thy blessed apostle Bartholomew; grant, we beseech thee, to thy Church, both to love what he believed, and to preach what he taught through our Lord."

(1.) "O Almighty and everlasting God, who didst give to thine apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy word." The qualities here spoken of as marking Bartholomew were faith and fidelity. Both these spring from the same root; but their precise character is not the same. Faith enabled the apostle, whom the Church now commemorates, to give a full belief to Christ's Gospel: fidelity to his Lord prompted him to zeal in " speaking" that which he "believed." To assure ourselves that each

of these excellent qualities had a place in the character of Bartholomew, we need only recur to the facts of his history. "This apostle, like the rest of the apostles, was a Galilean. St. John speaks of him under the name of Nathaniel; whilst the other evangelists call him by the name of Bartholomew, or son ('Bar' in Syriac means 'son') of Tholmai. He was eminent for his labours among the heathen, and extended his preaching even to India, whither he took the Gospel of St. Matthew, and left it. He proclaimed the Gospel in Phrygia also and Lycaonia. He thence journeyed through Armenia into Albania, where, finding that the inhabitants were deeply sunk in idolatry, he so powerfully proclaimed to them their sin, and so boldly denounced against them its punishment, that they accused him as a teacher of false gods, and procured a sentence of condemnation against him. He died a dreadful death, being flayed alive, and crucified with his head downwards.'

(2.) "Grant, we beseech thee, unto thy Church, to love that word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." No less powerful a principle than this love to God could, for so many past ages, have supported the Church, under the divine blessing, in its arduous work of preaching the cross of Christ against the prejudices of some, the indifference of others, and the various obstacles by which ignorance and infidelity, "false doctrine, heresy, and schism," have from time to time opposed "the word," and arrayed themselves against its progress. The same principle is now required to support both the ministers who preach the word, and the people who receive it. In these our days, as in times of old, difficulties will occur to the preachers of the Gospel of Christ. And such difficulties vary with the changing habits of mankind, and their different degrees of social advancement. In our own country there is, indeed, rapid advancement in knowledge of every kind; but increase even of religious knowledge is not followed by a proportionate increase of religious practice. Christians by profession, men know their duty, but neglect it. Hence the object of preaching now is not so much to inform as to improve. Hence, too, the severer and peculiar difficulties of the ministerial office in these days of light; for it will ever be a harder task to improve the heart than to inform the mind. Equally, if not more necessary it is, that love to God should be an abiding feeling in those who are to "receive" the word. Hampered as they too often are by the world, daily entangled with its cares, allured by its pleasures, or alarmed by its difficulties, they need a counteracting influence of no moderate power, ere they can so far withdraw themselves from things present as to heed tidings of the invisible things of God, and the concerns of futurity. This influence can flow only from an ardent love of God.

Happy the people and their minister when, thus knit together in the bond of peace, they severally "love the word" which the one "preaches" and the

other "receives!"

For the EPISTLE of this day is appointed Acts, v. 12-16, which describes the flourishing state of the early Church in the power that attended the preaching of the Gospel. Many miracles, confessedly signs of a divine presence and power, were wrought" by the hands of the apostles among the people;" who could therefore narrowly examine into them, and, had there been any fraud or collusion in them, would certainly have discovered it. The apostles met for religious purposes in the temple, in the open place that was called Solomon's porch, unanimous in their doctrine, worship, and discipline. "Of the rest" of their company "durst no man join himself unto them" as their equal, or an associate with them; but the "people magnified them," and had them in great veneration. Multitudes

James on the Collects.

of both sexes were added to the Church, chiefly of the common people. The celebrity which the apostles had gained through their miracles, induced the people to bring forth their sick into the streets and lay them upon beds and couches, hoping that the shadow of Peter, as he passed by, might reach and cover some of them. The Romish Church makes much use of this passage, as contributing to the dignity of Peter above the other apostles. But it is not expressly said that Peter's shadow cured the diseased; "but that the diseased were brought in hopes that his shadow might produce such effects. If it did so, Almighty God put thereby honour upon the Gospel and upon all the apostles, without any particular respect or special regard to the person of St. Peter."* From the country towns also multitudes came to Jerusalem, bringing those who were afflicted in body and troubled in mind, "and they were healed every one."

The GOSPEL (Luke, xxii. 24-30) describes the strife that was among the disciples for precedency, with our Lord's admonition thereupon. The dispute was "which of them should be accounted the greatest." Our Lord mildly shewed them the sin and folly of affecting worldly pomp. He tells them that supremacy and dominion belong to secular princes, not to Christian pastors, who ought to be so far from affecting a domination and superiority over their fellow-brethren, that, in imitation of Christ their Lord and Master, they ought to account themselves fellow-servants : "I am among you as he that serveth." Jesus then makes an honourable acknowledgment of the constancy of his disciples' affection towards him, and assures them that they should, in his kingdom, partake of honour and dignity with him and from him. Possibly the apostles, and all the faithful and laborious ministers of Jesus Christ, shall be nearer his throne in heaven than either saints or angels; nearer than the angels, because, by Christ's assuming the human nature, they are more nearly allied to him; nearer than other saints, as having done more eminent service for Christ.

The Cabinet.

SCRIPTURE APPEALS.-Whenever Scripture and the cases are not rare-strives to move us by allusions to the inferior creation, there is a force in the passages which should secure them our special attention. When Jeremiah uses the language-" Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord"-he delivers a sterner rebuke than if he had dealt out a series of vehement invectives. To what end hath man been gifted with superior faculties, made capable of observing the dealings of his Maker, and receiving the communications of his will, if the birds of the air, guided only by instinct, are to excel him in noting "the signs of the times," and in moving and acting as those signs may prescribe? And could any severer censure be delivered, when he gives no heed to intimations and warnings from God, than is passed on him by the swallow and the crane, who, observing the changes of season, know when to migrate from one climate to another? Is there not again a very peculiar force in this well-known address of Solomon to the indolent man ? “ Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." The sagacious king might have given us a long dissertation on the evil of slothfulness and the duty of industry; but he could not have spoken more impressively than by simply referring us to an insignificant, but ever

* Burkitt on the Acts of the Apostles.

active, insect, and leaving that insect to put us to shame, if disposed to waste hours in idleness. And who has not felt, whilst reading our Lord's discourses to his disciples, that never did that Divine Being speak more effectively or touchingly than when he made, as it were, the fowls of the air and the flowers of the field utter admonitions, and reprove want of faith? It ought to assure us, nobler and more important as we manifestly are, of God's good will toward us, and his watchful care over us, to observe with how unwearied a bounty he ministers to the winged things that range the broad firmament, and in how glorious an attire he arrays those productions which are to wither in an hour. And could our Saviour have composed a homily, which should have more keenly rebuked all mistrust of God, or more persuasively have recommended our casting on him our cares, than this his beautiful appeal to the birds and the flowers? "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and God feedeth them. Consider the lilies, how they grow; they toil not, they spin not: yet I say unto you that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these."-Rev. H. Melvill (Sermons, vol. ii.)

ETERNAL LIFE.-Think often of that everlasting life whereunto thou art even landing. Death is the haven that carries thee unto this land, where is all that can be wished, yea, above all wishes and desires; for in it we shall see God face to face, which now we can in nowise do, but must cover our faces, with Moses and Elias, till the face or fore-parts of the Lord be gone by (Exod. xxxiv). Now must we look on his backparts, beholding him in his word, and in his creatures, and in the face of Jesus Christ our Mediator; but then we shall see him face to face, and we shall know even as we are known (1 Cor. xiii). Therefore let us often think on these things, that we may have faith heartily and cheerfully to arrive at the happy haven of death, which you see is to be desired, and not to be dreaded, by all those that are in Christ; that is, by such as believe indeed, who are distinguished from those that only say they do believe, by their dying temporally, that is, by labouring to mortify, through God's Spirit, the affections of the flesh: not that they should not be in them, but that they should not reign in them, that is, in their mortal bodies, to give themselves over to serve sin, whose servants we are not, but are made servants unto righteousness (Rom. vi.), being now under grace, and not under the law; and therefore God hath mercifully promised that sin shall not reign in us; the which may he continually grant, for his truth, power, and mercy's sake. Amen.-John Bradford.

Poetry.

THE MASSACRE OF THE PROTESTANTS AT PARIS, AUGUST 24, 1572.

(For the Church of England Magazine.)

ST. BARTHOLOMEW's day! we remember the time,
So fearfully dark in the annals of crime,
When France saw her thousands who worshipp'd the
Lord,

Fall, hewn to the ground by Rome's treacherous sword; When her blood-hounds raged fierce to unpeople the land,

When a king on his flock turned his butchering hand;
And the old and the young, and the weak and the brave,
Undistinguish'd were cast into one common grave.

Thou smilest, proud harlot ! perchance at the thought
Which Bartholomew's day to our memory hath brought;
And high on thy throne, in thy purple and pride,
The woes of our martyrs canst calmly deride.

But deep on thy heart lies the guilt of that day;
The shrieks of the dying have not passed away,
The cry of their blood hath ascended to heav'n,
And a day for dread vengeance will surely be giv'n.
Strangely flushed is thy cheek, but it is not with wine;
Thy hand grasps a cup, and thy brow bears a sign;
Thine eye glares with hatred, thy proud lip is curled
With a smile of contempt which defies the whole world.
But, mark it, thou drunken with holiest blood!
The day of thy plagues will come in as a flood;

The of the Lord's purchas'd people draws nigh,
year
And the light of his coming will flash on thine eye.

We look on the blood which thy right hand hath spilt; We joy for our martyrs, we mourn for thy guilt; Though thy brow is as brass, and thy heart is as steel, And thou laugh'st at our words-for thy woes we can feel:

The smoke of thy burning to heav'n will ascend,

The shrieks of thy tortures the deep hell will rend;
While loud hallelujahs triumphant proclaim,
God hath punished thy guilt, and avenged his great
M. A. STODART.

name!

THE MARTYR.

(For the Church of England Magazine.)
Of hope and joy was the martyr's song,
As he pass'd the arena's space along ;
As he rais'd his fetter'd hands on high,
And came in his Master's cause to die.
There was no fear in the Christian's mien,
In his cloudless brow, or his eye serene;
No trace, in that calm and stedfast air,
Of a groundless hope or a wild despair.
For how could he fear who still relied,
With a stedfast faith, on the Crucified,
And knew that the blood on Calvary spilt,
From his soul had wash'd away its guilt?

O, it fires with joy the martyr's eye,
To be counted worthy thus to die!
He
prays with the prayer of faith to heav'n;
And strength to endure that hour is giv'n.

And is not the crown of glory worth
A few short hours of pain on earth?

O God, upon us bestow thy grace, That we may endure, and win the race! Drypool.

Miscellaneous.

SERPENT-EATERS.

J. A. W.

The true serpent-eaters are never seen in Europe. It was on account of the great service which some of these birds were to the ancient Egyptians, by ridding them of many noxious reptiles, that this wicked and idolatrous generation, not knowing the God of the spirits of all flesh, who made them, were led to "worship the creature more than the Creator," and to bestow religious homage upon the ibis, punishing all with death who were even unintentionally the cause of its destruction. To such a pitch did they carry their reverence for this bird, that it was admitted within their temples, and dignified after death with the honour of embalming. To use the language of Cuvier, "it was a bird whose form the gods would have assumed had they been

forced to adopt a human figure, and into which Mercury really transformed himself when he had a mind to traverse the earth, and instruct men in the sciences and arts." Many doubts have existed as to the true nature of this bird; but that great naturalist has at length proved that the true ibis was a species of curlew.-C. M. Burnett, Esq.

LORD EXMOUTH.-Young as he was when he first entered the service, and though good principles and feelings could not be supposed then to be very strongly fixed, yet he was guarded in his conduct, and always prompt to check any irreverent allusion to serious subjects. His youth was passed in camps and ships, at a time when a coarse and profane conduct too much prevailed, now happily almost unknown; but he was never deterred by a false shame from setting a proper example. On board his first frigate, the Winchelsea, the duties of the Sunday were regularly observed. He always dressed in full uniform on that day, and, having no chaplain, read the morning service to his crew, whenever the weather permitted them to be assembled. Advancing in his brilliant career, the same feelings were more and more strikingly displayed. It was his practice to have a special and general service of thanksgiving after every signal deliverance or success. Too often is it found, that with the accession of worldly honours, the man becomes more forgetful of the good Providence from which he received them. From this evil Lord

Exmouth was most happily kept; and additional distinctions only the more confirmed the unaffected simplicity and benevolence of his character. Finally, after the last and greatest of his services, a battle of almost unexampled severity and duration, and fought less for his country than for the world, his gratitude to the Giver of victory was expressed in a manner the most edifying and delightful. — Osler's Life of Lord Viscount Exmouth.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. When Dr. Price preached a celebrated sermon at the Old Jewry, in which he expressed his gratitude to God that he had seen the day when the French king was led in triumph, and an arbitrary monarch surrendered himself to his subjects, he declared, "I could almost say, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." With reference to this extraordinary and almost blasphemous avowal, Mr. Burke thus eloquently expressed himself: "I find a preacher of the Gospel profaning the beautiful and prophetic ejaculation (commonly called Nunc dimittis) made on the first presentation of our Saviour in the temple, and applying inhuman and unnatural rapture to the most horrid, atrocious, and afflicting spectacle that perhaps ever was exhibited to the pity and indignation of mankind. This leading in triumph,' a thing in its best form unmanly and irreligious, which fills a preacher with such unhallowed transports, must shock, I believe, the moral taste of every well-born mind. Several English were the stupified and indig nant spectators of that triumph. It was, unless we have been strangely deceived, a spectacle more resembling a procession of American savages, entering into Onondaga after some of their murders called 'victories,' and leading into hovels hung round with scalps their captives, overpowered with the scoffs and buffets of women as ferocious as themselves,-much more than it resembled the triumphant pomp of a civilised martial nation-if a civilised nation, or any men who had a sense of generosity, were capable of a personal triumph over the fallen and afflicted."

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SAVINGS-BANKS.

THE utility of life-insurance, and of benefitsocieties for the sick, have already been noticed; another most important institution, which claims our attention, is that of savingsbanks, which, though existing on their present firm footing of government security little more than twenty years, have now invested in their funds more than twenty millions of pounds.† This fact alone is sufficient to shew that their influence must have been and now is very great; that their strong claims on the notice of the labouring classes and servants of various kinds, for whose benefit they were chiefly intended, have not been unheeded; and that their originators may fairly be ranked among the benefactors of their race at the same time, there are thousands who neglect to benefit by these institutions, and before whom their advantages should be placed in the very strongest light.

Life-insurance, though in some instances within the reach of the lower orders, is more

especially beneficial to those in the upper and middling ranks of life. Benefit-societies have a more peculiar reference to seasons of sickness, and are necessarily limited in their application. The Savings-bank affords to all persons in the humbler walks a sure and safe means of providing, not simply a sum payable

at death or in the event of sickness, but whenever circumstances may arise to require the withdrawal of the whole or a part of the sum deposited. Various savings-banks may have different rules, applicable to the peculiar cir

Nos. 76, 100.

It must be borne in mind, that the sum now actually deposited in the savings-banks falls very far short of the sums paid in; large withdrawals having been made, as the depositors required.

VOL, Y.--NO. CXX.

PRICE 1d.

cumstances of the part of the country in which they are located. All, however, must be conducted on one general principle, according to the regulations of an act of parliament, and all a barrister specially appointed for the purpose. must have undergone the careful revision of It will be generally found, that the utmost facility is afforded, by the trustees and managers of the various banks, for the depositing of even the smallest sum allowed by their rules; and as the services of these officers are wholly gratuitous, their attention to the interests and working of the institutions can only arise. low-creatures, and to induce those especially from the simple desire to benefit their felhands for subsistence, to provide against the who are dependent on the labour of their various exigencies which, from time to time, may present themselves. The secretary or actuary will be at all times ready, when the bank is open, to give every information to those who may wish to deposit.

As to the SECURITY of the savings-bank, a point of no little importance to the depositor,

and which sometimes causes him to hesitate it is unquestionable. Reference is, of course, as to the propriety of investing his earnings, here made to banks enrolled and sanctioned by act of parliament, the rules of which have been revised; and not to any private comof individuals, who may, on their own pany and the depositor should be exceedingly cauresponsibility, set such an institution on foot; tious not to invest his money in any other, save those thus enrolled and sanctioned. He

is then absolutely certain that his money is safe; that, being invested in the funds of the country, no bankruptcy on the part of the trustees or managers can affect him in any way.

K