resolved no longer to attend mass, but to make
an open separation from the Church of Rome,
an example which was followed by many others
in town and country. In vain did the queen, the
widow of James V., who was now regent of the
kingdom, try to stem the torrent. The clergy
sunk every day in public estimation, and various
causes contributed to accelerate their downfall.
Instead of setting themselves to reform the noto-
rious abuses of the Church, they made an os-
tentatious display of the most puerile of her
ceremonies; instead of prudently bending to
circumstances, they rose to a higher pitch of pride
and arrogance than ever. The very year of
Wishart's martyrdom, Cardinal Beaton and the
Archbishop of Glasgow had a mortal quarrel in
that city, the point of dispute being which of
their crosses should be borne foremost in a pro-
cession. The cross-bearers happening to meet, a
scuffle ensued, which issued in both of the crosses
being thrown to the ground. Some time after, a
momentous controversy arose about the propriety
of saying the Pater-noster to the saints. A
monk, called Friar Totts, in a sermon preached
in St. Andrews, at the request of some doctors
in the university, engaged to prove that all the
petitions in the Lord's prayer might, with great
propriety, be addressed to the saints. "If we
meet with an old man in the streets," said he,
"we will say, Good morrow, father; how much
more may we call the saints our fathers. And
seeing we grant they are in heaven, we may say
to every one of them, Our father which art in
heaven," &c. This stuff might have gone down
a few years before, but the temper of the times |
was changed; the preacher set his audience a-
laughing, and he was glad to leave the town, to
escape from the persecution of the boys on the
street, who cried after him, "Friar Pater-noster."
A scene of a different kind occurred in our
own city. St. Giles, it seems, was the patron
saint of Edinburgh, and on his feast-day it was
the custom to carry his image through the town,
with drums, trumpets, and all sorts of musical
instruments. When this day arrived in the
year
1558, (just two years before the Reformation,)
the clergy resolved to have it kept with all due
solemnity, and the queen, fearing a tumult, agreed
to honour the scene with her presence. But lo!
when the hour of the procession arrived, the
saint was missing; some evil disposed person had
stolen him out of the receptacle in which he was
usually kept. This occasioned some delay, till
another image, of smaller dimensions, was bor-
rowed from the Greyfriars, which the people, in
derision, called "Young Saint Giles." All now
went forward peaceably, till the queen retired to
dinner, when some young fellows, provided for
the purpose, came forward and offered to assist
the bearers of the image: "Young Saint Giles"
was soon justled off into the street and smashed
in pieces.
The result was an Edinburgh riot;
and the priests were glad to save themselves by a
hasty flight. Down went the crosses, off went

"Such an up

the surplices, caps, and coronets.
roar," says Knox, "came never among the gene-
ration of antichrist in this realm befoir!"

There was only one thing needed to seal the
ruin of the Popish clergy in Scotland, the con-
tinuance of the cruelties by which they endeavoured
to put down the opposition they had excited. And,
like those beasts of prey whose dying struggles
are more formidable than their first attack, Popery
expended the last efforts of its expiring power
in a deed of brutal cruelty. Walter Mill, an old
decrepid priest, who had been condemned as a
heretic in the time of Cardinal Beaton, but had
escaped, was at last discovered by the spies of
his successor, Archbishop Hamilton, and brought
to St. Andrews for trial. He appeared before
the court so worn out with age and hardships,
that it was not expected he would be able to an-
swer the questions put to him; but, to the sur-
prise of all, he managed his defence with great
spirit. He was condemned to the flames; but
such was the horror now felt at this punishment,
and such the general conviction of the innocence
of the victim, that the clergy could not prevail
on a secular judge to ratify the sentence, and
not an individual in the town would give or sell
a rope to bind the martyr to the stake, so that the
archbishop had to furnish them with a cord for
the purpose from his own pavilion. When com-
manded by Olyphant, the bishop's menial, to go
to the stake, the old man, with becoming spirit,
refused. "No," said he, "I will not go, except
thou put me up with thy hand; for I am for-
bidden by the law of God to put hands on my-
self." And the wretch having pushed him forward,
he went up with a cheerful countenance, saying,
"I will go unto the altar of God." "As for me,"
he added, when tied to the stake, "I am fourscore
years old, and cannot live long by course of na-
ture; but a hundred better shall rise out of the
ashes of my bones. I trust in God I shall be the
last that shall suffer death in Scotland for this
cause." So saying, he expired amidst the flames,
on the 28th of August 1558. He was indeed
the last that suffered in that cause, and, as Spot-
tiswood says, his death was the death of Popery
in this realm. This barbarous execution roused
the horror of the whole nation to an incredible
pitch. The citizens of St. Andrews marked the
spot on which the martyr died, by rearing over it
an immense heap of stones; and as often as the
priests caused it to be removed, the sullen and
ominous memorial was restored by the next morn-
ing. The knell of Popery had rung; and Scot-
land was prepared to start up, as one man, and
shake itself free of the monster which had, for
so many centuries, prostrated its strength and
preyed upon its vitals.

Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, 2, Hunter Square, Edinburgh; J. R. MACNAIR, & Co., 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; JAMES NISBET & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS, & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; sold by the Booksellers and Local Agents in all the Towns and W. CURRY, Junr. & Co., Dublin; and W. M'COMB, Belfast; and Parishes of Scotland; and in the principal Towns in England and Ireland.

Subscribers will have their copies delivered at their Residences,

THE

SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD,

CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

In a former paper on this subject we considered | two reasons for the Rejection of the Jews. The first to which we adverted was the Divine sovereignty, and the second was the perverseness of God's ancient people, and their obstinacy in unbelief. We now proceed to observe,

:

annulling of their national covenant, the abrogation of their law, and their dispersion among the nations, seems to have been thus far necessary, in order to pave a way for the admission of the Gentiles into the Church of God. The provisions of the Jewish economy, narrow and circumscribed as it was in its local restrictions, though admirably suited to the circumstances of the nation for whose special use it was appropriated, were altogether inadequate to meet the spiritual wants of the world at large; but while that eco"Inomy lasted under the full operation of the divine sanction, there was no room for the establishment of any other upon a similar footing. To make way, therefore, for the introduction of a better system, a system whose provisions should be commensurate in their extent with the exigencies of the human race, it was of necessity that that economy should be done away; and the Gospel having been established by its removal, the door of the Church was thrown open for the entrance of the faithful from every tribe and nation of the earth. Besides this, let it be observed that the Jews, in their present condition of rejection and judicial blindness, dispersed among the nations, yet distinct from them, a fact which can be regarded as nothing less than a standing miracle, being so different from the ordinary fate of a conquered people, occupy the character and function of a living witness of the truth of their ancient prophecies, and consequently of the truth of the Christian dispensation, which is so minutely and amply delineated in these prophecies. Their present marvellous position in the world is a literal fulfilment of the predictions that are recorded in their own sacred writings, and in the judgment of sound reason, therefore, can be estimated in no other light than as the seal of heaven stamped upon the current transactions of Providence, in testimony of the divine origin and authority of the system of Gospel grace.

III. The rejection of the Jews was designed, in the purposes of Divine Providence, to serve as a means of bringing in the Gentiles to a saving knowledge of the Gospel. This, in part, is the doctrine that is distinctly inculcated by the apostle upon the subject. say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles." Rom. xi. 11. In going on with his argument, accordingly, in the discussion immediately subsequent he takes it for granted as an established principle," that the fall of the Jews is the riches of the world," "the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles," "the casting away of them the reconciling of the world." And we are farther informed, that "blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." How such a process should be requisite in accomplishing this desirable end we may not be competent fully to understand, inasmuch as we are unable to perceive and estimate, in all their extent, the various bearings, and relations, and exigencies of the case; but since God has been pleased so to arrange his plans in working out the designs of his mercy in the redemption of the world, we have ample reason to rest satisfied with the perfect wisdom and equity of the arrangement. The fact we know for certain is, that the salvation of the Gospel was not systematically tendered to the Gentiles till it had first been offered to the acceptance of the Jews and rejected by them. And the rejection of them by God in their turn, in consequence of their rejection of the Gospel,-involving in it the disNo. 10. MARCH 9, 1839.-14d.]

[SECOND SERIES. VOL. I.

IV. The rejection of the Jews was intended in the councils of heaven to serve as a step subsidiary to the final salvation of the Jews themselves. This may seem to be little better than a paradox, but it is one of those paradoxes which have their apparent contradictions reconciled in the marvellous economy of the Gospel. Though the Jews have been cast off, it is not irrevocably, and for ever, it is only for a time. Their restoration to their own land in a condition of more than primeval prosperity, the revival of their faded glories to a degree of splendour far surpassing all that signalized the brightest period of their ancient history, have been foretold by the prophets in numerous passages,-Jer. xxx. and xxxi.; Ezek. xxxix. 25; Amos ix. 14. And in the following passage the apostle affirms that a limit in due time shall be put to their present outcast and degraded condition: "I would not brethren," says he, "that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." And when "the fulness of the Gentiles" shall have "come in," then their blindness shall be removed, their dispersion gathered together, and they shall turn to Him from whom they have revolted. But how shall this glorious restoration be effected? One expedient that shall contribute to the happy event is their own previous rejection. "Through their fall," the apostle tells us, "salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy." Rom. xi. 11. By their rejection the Gentiles have been admitted to the participation of the privileges and blessings of the Gospel, and the effect of the admission of the Gentiles to these shall be to stir up in their hearts a feeling of jealousy as to their own exclusion from them. When the triumphs of the Gospel among the Gentiles are more and more widely extended, when one kingdom after another is brought, through the faith of Christ, into the possession of the blessed hopes of a glorious immortality, and when the power of a spiritual and moral reformation is seen to rest upon the converted nations in all the attractive characters of true evangelical holiness and charity, the influence of these events upon the minds of the Jewish people may reasonably be expected to be, that their attention shall be roused to an intense consideration of the claims and truths of the Gospel, that the spirit of a chastened but ardent emulation shall be awakened in their breasts, that, with an eager longing after the enjoyment of the privileges and excellencies of the Christian character, they will press their inquiries into the mysteries of the Christian faith, and that thus seeking after the Lord with unfeigned earnestness of heart, he will, according to his own gracious promise be found of them. To this it may be added, if we may be permitted to judge from their past history, that the afflictions with which the Jews have been so signally visited will of themselves, in due time, operate in such a manner as to produce in them the healing work of a thorough repentance. The

fire of the furnace through which they are now passing will, by the grace of God, have the effect of purifying them at length from the dross of their infidelity. By the prolonged continuance of their rejection, and the growing hopelessness of their long looked-for recovery by the instrumentality of a temporal Messiah bearing more and more heavily upon their hearts, they will be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and led with a searching inquiry to reflect why it is that God is thus dealing with them. And just as their captivity by the king of Babylon of old proved, in the hand of Divine Providence, the means of curing their morbid attachment to idolatry, so their present dispersion among the nations shall contribute to the happy consummation of their deliverance from the thraldom of unbelief

The practical instruction which the doctrine we have been illustrating is fitted to convey is of the most important description.

1. It calls loudly upon us for an adequate return of gratitude to our heavenly Father. God's ancient people were cut off from the blessings of his covenant that we, who were not a people, might be received in their place. Behold, therefore, the goodness of God,-goodness how rich, how free and unmerited! We, who were far off, have been brought nigh; we, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, have been made fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; we, who were branches of a wild olive, have been brought to partake of the root and fatness of the olive-tree. And who, and what were we, that we should have been honoured with such high distinction? It was not because we were better than those who were rejected,—it was not because we could lay claim to any superior worth or excellence in ourselves, that we were preferred; no: we were poor and miserable, guilty and depraved, without help and without hope, when God looked upon us in pity, and received us into favour. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the glory.” By thy grace it is alone that we are what we are.

2. God's treatment of the Jews warns us to watch with unwearied vigilance over the integrity and stedfastness of our faith. This is the very lesson which the apostle proposes to inculcate tipon us by explaining to us the mystery of their case. His declared object is to check in us the spirit of pride, arrogance, and self-sufficiency, to guard, "lest we should be wise in our own conceits," lest we should presume to triumph over our fallen brethren, as if we had any higher security for the possession of the divine favour than they had before us,-lest we should follow their self-willed and godless example, and suffer their miserable fate. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and we stand by faith. Let us not then be high-minded, but fear for if God spared not the natural branches, we have just reason to take heed lest he also spare not us.

3. In the present circumstances of the Jews

we are, in a peculiar manner, called upon to testify towards them the kindly feelings of Christian sympathy, and actively to apply the resources of Christian benevolence for their conversion to the faith and hopes of the Gospel. Too little have the sorrows and sufferings of that singular people engaged the interest of the Christian world. Too long have they been left to pine away under the infatuating influence of an unhappy delusion, and a hardened estrangement from the God of their

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"The

POPISH INTOLERANCE IN FRANCE.

ALTHOUGH much has been said and boasted of the new era of religious liberty in France, and although full and

free liberty of conscience in matters of religion, appears

against which the servants of God have yet to contend in France.

"The following is a piece of melancholy intelligence, which we have received from Tournus :

"It sometimes pleases the Lord to chastise his children on account of certain failings, to which they are disposed to shut their eyes, in order to render them

more circumspect in the fulfilment of their duties:-a sad accident lately took place at Tournus, which may

illustrate this truth. A poor woman of our flock was tempted to go out a-gleaning on the Sunday. Not having sufficient strength to resist the allurement of gain, she allowed herself to profane the Lord's Day, and

fathers, without sharing that measure of pity and to form a prominent feature in the Constitutional concern to which their circumstances are so justly entitled. While in every direction the eye of Chris- Charter, our readers and friends must not suppose that tian charity has been turned, and the hand of Chris-France is like England in this matter; the municipal tian charity stretched out, to seek and to save the authorities have frequently the power of completely anapostate children of Adam, they have, in a manner, nulling the provisions of the Constitutional Charter in the article of religious liberty. The Mayor of a Town, been overlooked and neglected, as if they were a proscribed exception from the purposed objects of acting in concert with, or at the instigation of, the God's redeeming love. And why should we show Priests, can effectually prevent the Colporteurs and them this despite? Though they have provoked ing the people, and can even outrage the feelings of Evangelists of the Societes Evangéliques from instructthe Majesty of heaven, to us they have given no offence; though the uplifted arm of Jehovah Protestants, where they are but few in number, or too poor in circumstances to seek redress. The following presses hard upon them, we have no right to incident will illustrate at once the truth of these obserassume the divine prerogative, as if we had been vations, and at the same time show the difficulties commissioned to avenge upon them the quarrel of his insulted authority; though they stand forth as a curse, and a taunt, and reproach among men, and all this because God has decreed it to be so; yet it shall not always thus be with them. The decree against them is not absolute and unlimited. No prohibition from on high has been issued to restrain our efforts for their spiritual welfare, or to foreclose the hope that these efforts may be crowned with a competent measure of success. Nay, rather, the prospect that lies before us is of a different aspect. God hath commanded his messengers speak comfortably to Jerusalem.” thoughts" of his heart "towards Israel are thoughts peace, and not of evil, to give them an expected end." They shall yet be a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth;" and even now "a remnant of them shall be saved according to the election of grace." The soil is already prepared for the reception of the heavenly seed, the field is white to harvest. The command, too, has no restriction; "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," is the authoritative injunction of our Lord. Let us, then, commiserate their sorrows, and labour to alleviate their misery by pouring into their wounded spirits the oil and the wine of saving truth and heavenly hope. Nor is it the force of pity, or the influence of Christian love, or the devotedness of Christian zeal alone that should prompt us to active and unwearied diligence in the hallowed work of seeking their conversion; if we have any sense of justice, any feeling of gratitude alive in our hearts, we cannot refrain from putting ourselves forward to discharge, by some suitable return, the heavy debt of obligation we owe to them as the channels of conveyance through which we have received the most inestimable blessings and privileges which we ourselves enjoy. Of them, "as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed

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66

also took with her two of her children. There they were, in the fields, occupied in their work, whilst the preaching of the Word was going on in the Church.

She

It happened that one of her children absented himself,
with some other boys of the same age, to go and bathe
in the Saône. The poor mother did not perceive that
her son was absent, for a while; but afterwards, having
missed him, and suspecting all was not right, ran to the
bank of the river. But, alas! it was too late.
found her child's clothes, but nowhere could she find
him. She inquired of his companions, who artlessly
related to her that they went to bathe with little John,
(for that was his name,) but all on a sudden they miss-
ed him, and knew not what had become of him. Dread-
ful tidings for the distracted mother! She ran back to
the Town, called on the people for help, and entreated
them to run and save her child; but, alas! the child
had totally disappeared in the water, and all the pains
they took to find him were in vain. It was not until
four days after that the child was found, at the distance
of one league down the river, washed upon the bank.
As this child belonged to the school and to 'the flock,'
we proceeded with the father to the spot, for the pur-
pose of interring the body. The child having been
found on the territory of Prêty, it must necessarily be
interred there. We addressed ourselves to the Mayor
of the Commune,' who had no sooner understood that

IT has seldom been our privilege to peruse a narrative of more intent interest, than one which has recently issued from the press, under the title of " Sorrowing, yet Rejoicing; or, Narrative of Recent Successive Bereavements in a Minister's Family." It is a small but valuable piece of Christian biography, by the Rev. Alexander Beith of Glenelg, Inverness-shire, and we take the liberty of selecting a small portion, that our readers may participate in the high gratification, and, we trust, spiritual benefit which we ourselves have derived from a perusal of it. We sincerely hope, that this little book will find its way into the hands of many readers whose hearts may, by the Divine blessing, be refreshed and edified by the piety, as they will assuredly be touched by the pathos of such a heart-rending tale of woe :

It was a day or two after I had left home, that Matilda disclosed, for the first time, the whole state of her feelings. Occasional expressions had fallen from her to myself before, which, with her intelligence, and the general tenor of her conduct, had produced in my mind the happiest anticipations; but the unreserved avowal of her experience had not been made till now.

Her mother had concluded their usual exercise of reading the Scriptures, and had sat down beside her. Matilda began by saying, that she had for some time back been anxious to open her mind to her, but that she could never find resolution to do it. This she deeply regretted; and particularly, that she had not spoken to me before I left home. She stated, that she