followed through all the history of the Israelites. Nor is this mode of acquainting ourselves with God limited to any class of men, or difficult of application. Difficult it certainly is, as is every religious exercise to our natural hearts, which would rather fix themselves on earth than heaven, on the things of this life, than on the God who gave them; which require to be dragged to the one, while they fly and cling to the other. But with this exception, which must be remedied by perseverance in prayer, meditation on the works of God is in every one's power, and everywhere. We have but to open our eyes to behold his works in nature; we have but to unclose the bible to find his works in grace. Of course higher degrees of knowledge afford a clearer insight into the former, and higher degrees of holiness deeper acquaintance with the latter. But the good hand of God is abundantly evident in earth, and air, and ocean, to even the most ignorant beholder, and his infinite mercy in the redemption of the world may furnish unceasing matter for thankful meditation to even the weakest disciple of the Saviour of mankind. It it proposed in this essay to review briefly the chief topics of meditation on the works of God, and in a following, to consider a few of the advantages to be derived from the practice. 1. On the first class of subjects, the works of God in creation, few words need be spent. They are so obvious, so beautiful, so wonderful, and meet us so constantly at every turn, that we have only to fix firmly in our minds the truth," God made all these things," to have an inexhaustible source of profitable meditation. The earth is below our feet, prolific in the varied loveliness of ten thousand herbs and flowers, and itself sufficient for a life of admiration and praise. The sky is above our heads, and in it are floating the fleecy clouds, the treasure-ships of heaven, bearing each to its appointed place the nourishment of earth's fruits. In it, too, are the stars, wheeling in their eternal orbits, or scattered at immeasurable distances throughout the fields of space, unceasing witnesses to the infinity and omnipotence of God. Or why look out of ourselves? What is the body we inhabit but a monument of Almighty wisdom?-the mirror of the eye, the ear's fine echo, and the complicated yet perfect mechanism of every joint, and limb, and organ? These things indeed are grown so familiar, that we look on them daily without any feelings of wonder or adoration. And here is our folly and our fault. Every thing beautiful and useful about us was intended as much to lead us to our Creator, as to minister to our wants. It is thus that God left not himself without witness in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness (Acts xiv. 17). We do wrong, then, when we enjoy any thing, admire any thing, pass by any thing we ought to admire or enjoy, without lifting up our thoughts to that great Being who created all things by the word of his mouth. And those especially, who by education and science may be enabled to look beyond the surfaces of things, and to descry the laws, and composition, and contrivance of the objects which surround them, are doubly inexcusable, if with the key, as it were, to God's character in their hands, they misuse their privilege, and neglect to meditate on all his works. 2. There is much matter for profitable meditation to be drawn from a review of the course of Providence. The most philosophical, as well as the most Christian light, in which to look at history, is to view it as exhibiting, upon the largest scale which we are capable of apprehending, the workings of the providence of God. Regarded in any other way, it is an inexplicable chaos of interfering events. We have before us the picture of strife and struggle, of plots and counterplots, plans falling short of their end, and new designs following each other in rapid succession, nations rising and blending, flourishing and decaying, succeeding and swallowing up each other like the waves of some mighty ocean. There is no order, no harmony, no law. But view the same scene in connection with the superintending providence of God, and you will see all things combining to fulfil some one of his great designs; elements the most adverse made to work together for good; the will of man, though still free, overruled to higher ends than the weak and passion-wearied agent himself dreams of; and the restless waves of empire and of conquest, which before seemed confusion and tumult, are now bearing forward, on their successive billows, some mighty purpose of their Almighty ruler. There are in the works of nature astounding instances of the Creator's power, and infinite must be the might of that arm which wields the thunder, and confines the ocean; but nothing so displays omnipotence as when the conflicting wills of men and nations, all following their own little schemes, and hurried along by their own engrossing passions, free and unshackled though they be, are yet overruled by a law of which they know nothing, and made to accomplish ends of which God alone is the willer and contriver. But such views as these of the works of God are, it may be said, beyond the reach of the many, and require time, learning, and research. It has been already said that knowledge mul tiplies the objects of our meditation; but it redeem a world of sinners, undeterred by can never be, that the workings of God's their opposition, and untired by their obprovidence in human affairs can be too obstinacy; the means which, even from the scure or too difficult for any to trace, as long as the bible is within the reach of all. In the scriptures, the providence of God, concealed in all other histories, is laid bare, as it were, to us. We see, indeed, the outward machinery with which it works, the nations, and kings, and events, and human passions, and human purposes; but we also see clearly defined, the great designs of God, using and directing the whole mass. For instance: in the history of Joseph, we find jealousy, hatred, and crime, the disappointment of ungratified lust, and the wise policy of a prince, all pursuing their own ends, while plenty and famine seem the usual accidents by which all nations, in their turns, are visited; but we also discover the wisdom of God making all these discordant means work together to his own purpose of forming a peculiar people, to be the depositories of the knowledge of himself, and the stock of whom, after the flesh, was to come the promised Saviour of the world. To the great design of preparing and establishing the gospel kingdom tended, though man knew it not, the rise and fall of empires which, as far as they so tended, are brought before us in the bible; and the Assyrian, Babylonian, Grecian, and Roman monarchies chased each other off the world's stage, as each had performed its part in hastening on that consummation. These remarks will, perhaps, be more easily understood if we read with attention the history of our Saviour's crucifixion, and observe the motives which swayed with the different parties who thus, unknowingly, performed God's eternal counsel, and set forward the salvation of sinners-the avarice of Judas, the envy of the priests, the fickle inconstancy of the multitude, and the irresolute cowardice of Pilate. They all followed their own ends, but God had willed the death of his Son, that we might live; and these wicked men performed his will. The bible abounds in such instances of the providence of God; and it is these which are especially recommended to the Christian's deep and devout consideration, when he would look on God's works in the records of the past. 3. But wonderful as are the ways of Providence, and admirable the operations of nature, the Christian's dearest objects of meditation, if he be a Christian indeed, will be the work of God, the riches of his grace in the redemption of man. And here again the bible is open to all, and the meanest believer is permitted to behold in its pages mysteries which angels once in vain desired to look into. The eternal purpose of God to fall itself, were set working together for its fulfilment; the prophecies, the miracles, the choice and establishment of a peculiar people; the great mystery of godliness, God, the Son of God, taking upon him the nature of man, and born of a pure virgin; his life, his goodness, his teaching, his miracles, his sufferings and agony, and death; these are works, to which the universe does not contain nor can the imagination conceive the like. And shall a rational being pass day after day, and never meditate upon these things? If, in some furthest corner of the universe, there was a world beyond the reach of vision, or of calculation, for which the Son of God had become man to die, we could not, surely, hear the tale of mercy without admiration and praise. How much more, then, when the visited and rescued beings are ourselves! And this brings us to another topic of this subject of meditation, the redemption of man: the work of God on our own souls. It is not enough, we know, that the word should be preached, the gospel should be true, the Saviour should have died; we must believe it, and believe it in such a way, that our faith shall show itself in our lives. And this is the work of God, the Holy Spirit. The conversion and renewing of the soul by the waters of baptism, and power of regeneration; by Christian education and the church's instruction; by holy precept or holy example; by misfortune, or sickness, or sorrow; or by the thousand means which a God of love is constantly employing to drive into their forsaken fold the erring sheep of his pasturethis is surely a work in which they who hope that it is being wrought in them, can never want a subject of meditation and thankfulness. And the gradual subjection of the world. and the flesh, and the devil within us, the passions restrained, the affections purified, the whole man strengthened, renewed-and all this by a power clearly not our own-furnish a still more exhaustless topic for those who would, with David, muse on the work of their Redeemer's hands. But then, it cannot be concealed, that this is not a subject into which all can enter. The book of history lies open to all; the wonders of nature at times must touch all; the blessings of redemption are offered, freely offered to all-but do all receive them? Do you, for instance, who may be perusing this page, can you, muse upon the great work of God in making you a Christian in heart, and in hope, and not merely in name? Are you such a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?-trust in him, and love him as your unpleasant state of a borrower; for, generally speaking, he, who is the most worthy of pecuniary assistance for a season, is the person who feels most pained in requesting it; and even many a hard-working and honest man often finds it impossible to procure money which is absolutely necessary. This not very indirectly leads us to the consideration of the many benefits vouchsafed by savings' banks and benefit societies, founded on strictly legal principles. Suppose a person thrown out of work by the failure of his employer, or the slackness of trade, and to have no means of sustenance for himself or family, it would scarcely be said he acted dishonestly in pawning his only hope and refuge? Do you set God's will before you as your rule, and his glory as your end? Do you, day by day, dedicate yourself to his service, sacrificing your own desires and fancies to him, and in the power of a constraining love taking up your cross to follow him? If not, why do you not? Is it not better to be a son of God than a slave of sin?—a follower of the Spirit, than a lover of the flesh?-an heir of heaven, than an heritor of hell? Why are you not saved? The way is open; Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. goods for the support of his family, in the hope that The promise is made-" Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." RECOLLECTIONS OF A TOWN PASTOR. No. VII. THE PAWNBROKER'S SHOP. THERE is something excessively painful in the sight of pawnbrokers' shops, and often, as I have passed their windows, so sadly numerous in the metropolis and its vicinity, have I been led to reflect how many tales of joy and sorrow may be connected with the jewels, and the portraits, the plate, and other articles. tastefully arranged to attract the notice of the passer by, and willingly sold at a price often much under their real value; but on which the broker makes an ample profit. The outside of the shop forms, in many cases, a striking contrast to the inside. There rooms will be found crammed, with furniture, not unfrequently of the most miserable description; with dresses of the most heterogenous and squalid character; and a stranger could scarcely credit the number of the various articles which may have been pledged, even at one shop of no extraordinary size. The value of the property thus lodged as security, is almost incalculable; and the wealth amassed by their proprietors is often very great. I am far from saying it has been dishonestly amassed. The pawnbroker's shop is the resort, too frequently, indeed, but by no means invariably, of sin. Many an honest man, reduced to misfortune, has there deposited, bit by bit, his little property, in the vain hope that he might be enabled to redeem it in due time, and has laboured day and night to do so, but to no purpose. Many a pledge of affection has there found its way, left by the person whose heart was bursting-but left as the only resource for deliverance from prison, or starvation, or from guilt. "Marriage and mourning-rings sold here, second-hand cheap," so conspicuously displayed in the windows, might fill volumes with the details of the circumstances which compelled their owners to part with them; and the very character of the articles pawned testifies that they must have once belonged to persons far above the lowest ranks in life. Nay, not unfrequently such articles are deposited by those of high respectability, from temporary pressure of difficulties. In some points of view, then, these shops are useful, and, could they be confined to their legitimate purpose, might doubtless be productive of much good, and might save a person from the difficult and always he might regain employment, and very soon redeem these goods; and this was precisely the case of the paupers referred to in my last paper. Still, how different would have been their situation, as far even as their temporal matters were concerned, had the money spent in sabbath desecration been laid up against a day of need; much, if not all of their misery might have been spared; and cases upon cases have come under my own notice, when the only means, by which a parent's wants on a sick bed could be supplied, was the gradual parting with a few articles of furniture, until all were pledged. This deserves very serious consideration, and affords an additional argument to many others which might be adduced in support of such excellent institutions as those referred to. But if the shop of the pawnbroker could tell many tales of misery, how many more could it relate of sin -of sin in the shape of theft, gambling, sensuality, drunkenness, fraud, and many others. If it is calculated to remind us of ruined property, is it not more calculated to remind us of ruined souls? Let the characters who enter the pawn-shop be observed, in certain districts especially, and they will generally be perceived to be the squalid and licentious, the same class that resort to our gin-shops. I was scarcely ever more disgusted than by one day observing two females, half intoxicated, and with children in their arms, enter a pawn-shop in Shoreditch, with their bonnets on, and immediately leave it with bare heads, to grope their way-for in fact, they could with difficulty stagger along, into a neighbouring gin-shop. The children they carried were doubtless their own. How fearful the reflection-that they were mothers-that they were responsible for the instruction, by precept and example, of those whom God had given them; and what a miserable fire-side-if fire was to be found-in the wretched rooms they inhabited, where vice ruled with unbounded sway. Scenes such as these rarely offend the eye, depress the spirits, and sadden the heart of the strictly country pastor; and yet they are such as continually present themselves to him who is called to labour in town, and who is not unfrequently the object of envy to some one located in a far remote rural curacy, who thinks himself extremely unfortunate, and his talents buried, because he is not privileged to attend the meetings of our great societies, and to minister to the inhabitants of some densely populated or fashionable neighbourhood. How frequently, on those who have been committed to our prisons, and in searching the dens of infamy, abounding in every part of the metropolis, have numerous pawnbrokers' duplicates been found? and how often by means of these, have the murderer and the thief been detected and brought to punishment. So far this is well. But this only goes to prove how much vice and wretchedness are connected with the whole system. The legislature, indeed, requires that such shops as those referred to, should be licenced. It is to be regretted, however, that it cannot, or if it can, does not further interfere to prevent, as far as may be, the evil system as now carried on, a system which renders great facility to the indulgence of vice. Thousands pawn their property, like the women referred to, in a state of half-intoxication; for the first glass of stimulating liquor generally leads to strong desire for indulgence in a second, which is rapidly followed by a third, and so on. The habitual thief too often finds it an easy method of disposing of what he has stolen, and the fraudulent servant or apprentice has little difficulty of turning his master's property into money. When the temptations to vice in the metropolis are 30 great, and that vice cannot be indulged in without money, there is little doubt that a vast deal of property is surreptitiously removed, and finds its way into the pawn-shop, which is never inquired after; and that the entrance money paid at the theatres, and other scenes of vice and immorality, is obtaned by these means. I believe most London clergymen will fully bear testimony, from their parochial experience, that the evils arising from the pawnbroking system infinitely outweigh all its (under certain circumstances) supposed benefits; and some late trials, of no common interest, which it were unnecessary here to detail, have fully demonstrated the truth of the above remarks; and may, and I trust will, be instrumental in putting the pawnbroking system on a footing more respectable to itself, and in reality more beneficial to the community. THE MISERY OF FORSAKING GOD: A Sermon, or, let me add, more truly affecting, than the delineations of the moral character of the Almighty Governor of the universe, afforded to us by scripture. Immensity of power, combined with the most unrestricted condescension to the wants of the meanest of his creatures; and purity, which charges the very heavens with comparative uncleanness, united with that plenitude of compassion and forbearance which, amid the daily offences of mankind, waits, with more than a father's love, for an opportunity to be attributes of the divine Being are spoken of. gracious, meet us in every page where the Perhaps, however, there is no passage in the book of the Old Testament more completely to this purpose than the striking extract which I have chosen for my text. To attempt to lay before you all the others which might be quoted on the same subject, would, in fact, be to transcribe no small portion of the sacred volume; I will, therefore, on the present occasion, recite only one other similar clause, and will pass on. It will be familiar to most of you. The words are those of the Almighty himself, as proclaimed to Moses amid the thunders of mount Sinai. "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty." It is observed, in the articles of our church, that the Old Testament is not contrary to the New. On no topic is this observation more obviously correct than on that now before us, namely, the delineation of the character and attributes of our almighty Creator. Now, be it remembered, that a correct theory of the divine Being, and sound views of practical morality, are as closely connected with each BY THE RIGHT REV. P. N. SHUTTLEWORTH, D.D., other as cause and effect. A true religion Lord Bishop of Chichester. JUDGES X. 10-16. "And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not deliver thee from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you, and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned; do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." I KNOW not, my brethren, how anything can be imagined more sublime, more edifying, (and such both the Jewish and Christian covenants respectively are) must conceive of God as he really is, or otherwise all the conclusions derived from it for the regulation of man's actions must be false. Accordingly we find that, however the subject matter of the Old and New Testaments on other points may vary according to circumstances, the great first principle of religious faith, involved in the description of the moral nature of our great Creator, is invariably the same. Christianity is a scheme for the final salvation of mankind by the development of the self-same awful and lovely characteristics which had been previously delineated in detail by the Jewish scriptures. The expiation of sin by the death of Christ, and the sanctification of the human soul by the Holy Spirit, are but harmonious continuations of the same original design. We recognize in them the same uncompromising | passing over, I say, these extreme cases, it denunciation of everything that is unholy; the same willingness to be reconciled; the same desire to shew mercy and to restore the sinner, which pervade almost every page of the earlier covenant. The gospel, indeed, contains the history of the divine justice and benevolence in its more advanced state, but the whole book of revelation gives us the workings, through a lengthened process, of that wonderful contrivance by which the waywardness of human free agency, and the tortuousness and perversity of man's actions, are made eventually compatible with our highest notions of an all-perfect Providence. It is, I repeat, obviously impossible that any views of practical religion can be sound, which have their basis in inadequate conceptions of the divine nature. All real morality being the adaptation of our actions to some authentic first rule, and that rule being the presumed will of the great Being who has an undisputed claim to our obedience, it follows as a matter of course, that, in order that our standard of morals should be high, our notions of him to whose approbation that standard is referable, should be high in a like proportion. We might as well expect the subsequent course of a stream to be more elevated than its fountain, as imagine holy and perfect actions to proceed from belief in an imperfect or impure deity. This consideration will at once shew us that spiritual debasement is a necessary result of false worship; and will point out the fallaciousness of that favourite assertion of the unbeliever, that accuracy of our abstract notions respecting the Deity is of no consequence, provided our practical theory of morality be correct. And now, then, by this infallible test let us try the Christian revelation, comparing it with all that the most plausible surmises of pagan philosophy, or of modern infidelity, have at any time suggested in opposition or rivalry to it. Has, I ask, any delineation of the moral attributes of the Creator of the universe ever been attempted by any other system of doctrine, from which the highest possible conceptions of him, through whom we live and move and have our being, together with a system of the holiest practical morality, and with the sublimest anticipations of our eventual destination in a future state, result as a necessary consequence? We may confidently say, there has been none such. To say nothing of those gross and revolting fables of heathen mythology, to which it can scarcely be imagined that any human being could, at any time, have seriously attached any belief; under which the adulterer, the drunkard, or robber, might have retorted his own crimes upon the professed object of his worship; may still be confidently questioned whether any speculative theory of an over-ruling and retributive Providence has ever existed (with the single exception of the Jewish and the Christian), which has embraced perfect and practical rules of duty for our guidance in this life, or held out any probable reversion, any prospect of immortality in a future state. The question is easily asked, and, let me add, it is as easily answered. The more substantial theories of paganism on this subject lie in very small compass. It is true that the better disposed heathens in all ages have, from an instinctive feeling of religion, been ready to admit the occasional intervention of Providence with the affairs of mankind, and something like a general system of rewards and punishments, having reference to the morality of human actions. These opinions, however, so far as they went, were, I believe, on all such occasions, rather the spontaneous suggestion of the moral feeling within them, acting against theory, than the result of any deliberate assent of the understanding, founded upon rational inquiry. In fact, I know only of two views of the great question, "What is God?" or, "What is the great moral sanction for the guidance of man's actions?" as taken up after mature deliberation by the philosophers of antiquity, which can lay claim to the character of a regular system; the one is that adopted by the Stoics, which pronounces virtue to be so intrinsically lovely in itself, as, under all external circumstances, to prove its own reward; the other, that which, though not formally avowed, would, if strictly reasoned out, necessarily result from the principles of the Peripatetics, which, considering the Creator of the universe as the summit of all possible perfection, would represent him as eternally wrapt up in the contemplation of his own transcendental nature, and consequently indifferent to the vicissitudes which may befall inferior beings. Now it is obvious that both these views, either if entertained as physically true, as affording a substantial first principle of religious morality, are quite unsatisfactory and inoperative. The former theory, which considers the reward of virtue to consist in its own intrinsic loveliness, without any necessary reference to the declared will of the supreme Being, or to a state of future reward or punishment, in fact makes the whole of morality and religion to depend upon an abstract idea, called into imaginary existence by a mere conventional phraseology. The latter is almost equally unsatisfactory, by its proving too much. In attempting to refine and elevate our notion of the supreme Being |