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religion, and pagans learn to ridicule the faith which seems prolific of nothing but vice. Our grand labour, therefore, should be, to teach our sailors to cast anchor within the veil; and then in all their voyages would they serve as missionaries, and not a ship would leave our coasts which was not freighted with preachers of redemption; and wheresoever the British flag flies, and that is wheresoever the sea beats, would the standard of the cross be displayed. Ay, man our wooden walls with men who have taken Christian hope as the anchor of the soul; and these walls shall be as ramparts which no enemies can overthrow, and as batteries for the demolition of the strongholds of Satan. Then, and may God hasten the time, and may you now prove your desire for its coming-then will the navy of England be every where irresistible, because every where voyaging in the strength and service of the Lord; and the noble words of poetry shall be true in a higher sense than could ever yet be affirmed:

"Britannia needs no bulwark,

No towers along the steep;
Her march is on the mountain-wave,
Her home is on the deep!"

The Cabinet.

plary bishop, moreover, of this diocese-whom | dissoluteness brings discredit on the Christian may a gracious God soon restore to full health is deeply interested on behalf of this Church. But you cannot need to be told of the great and the noble who support this cause; it asks not the recommendation of titled patronage; you are Englishmen, and the Church is for sailors. Yes, the Church is for sailors; men who have bled for us, men who fetch for us all the productions of the earth, men who carry out to every land the Bibles we translate, and the missionaries we equip the Church is for sailors: and yet, though the annual expenditure is only between three and four hundred pounds, the stated annual income--I am almost ashamed to say it is only a hundred and fifty. I am persuaded, that to mention this will suffice to procure a very liberal collection. I cannot bring myself to attempt the working on your feelings. When I plead the cause of sailors, it seems to me as though the hurricane and the battle, the ocean with its crested billows, and war with its magnificently stern retinue, met and mingled to give force to the appeal. It seems as though stranded navies, the thousands who have gone down with the waves for their winding-sheet, and who await in unfathomable caverns the shrill trumpet-peal of the archangel, rose to admonish us of the vast debt we owe those brave fellows who are continually jeoparding their lives in our service. And then there comes also before me the imagery of a mother, who has parted, with many tears and many forebodings, from her sailor-boy; whose thoughts have accompanied him, as none but those of a mother can, in his long wanderings over the deep, and who would rejoice, with all a mother's gladness, to know that where his moral danger was perhaps greatest, there was a church to receive him, and a minister to counsel him. But we shall not enlarge on such topics. We only throw out hints, believing that this is enough to waken thoughts in your minds, which will not allow of your contenting yourselves with such contributions as are the ordinary produce of charity sermons. The great glory of England, and her great defence, have long lain, under the blessing of God, in what we emphatically call her wooden walls. And if we could make vital Christianity general amongst our sailors, we should have done more than can be calculated towards giving permanence to our national greatness, and bringing onward the destruction of heathenism. We say advisedly, the destruction of heathenism. The influence is not to be computed which English sailors now exert for evil all over the globe. They are scattered all over the globe; but too often, though far from always, unhappily, their

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. The word of God, in its sim

plicity, its fulness, its uncompromising requirements, is the foundation on which the Church of England stands. She knows that she is never safe when she has not this guardian at her side; and she confidently appeals to Scripture in behalf of her sacraments, her articles, her liturgy, the ordination of her ministers; she exacts a pledge from every one who lifts up his voice within her temples, that he preach the Gospel simply, boldly, unreservedly. Her only wisdom is the foolishness of the cross.-Rev. E. S. Appleyard on the Liturgy.

THE COMING OF THE LORD.-When the Lord Jehovah gave to Abraham the land of Canaan, he said to him, "Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for! will give it unto thee." By this command minutely to survey the country, the Lord was teaching the father of the faithful how to ascertain the value of the gift so freely bestowed on him, that he desirous of obtaining full possession; for we prize might rejoice in the grant, and be more and more our blessings as we know them. One great cause why men so little regard future glory is, that the particu lars of this glory are so slightly examined. A vague and general notion of future happiness is entertained; but the prospect seems distant, and the good itself concealed in mystery. Hence any trifling present pleasure is preferred to this blessedness. Persons from ignorance lightly esteem that which, if known and examined, would be their great desire. This is particularly the case as to the second advent of our Lord. Not only do the world at large, but too generally Christians also, but slightly consider this great For although, for one portion of Scripture refound nearly fifty connected with his second, many specting the first advent of our Saviour, there may be excellent Christians have had little more than general

event.

and indistinct ideas upon this most interesting subject. They have thought that there would be a season in which the Lord Jesus Christ would return; but they have viewed it as occurring at so distant a period as to take but little pains to become acquainted with the particular blessings of that day. They have not gone through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it." They have not observed how many circumstances the Scriptures mention, which, like fruitful trees, or rich pastures, or refreshing streams, or mines of precious gold, gladden and enrich the country. They pass on, satisfied if they contemplate their own departure, but pay little regard to the coming of the Lord.-Rev. J. H. Stewart.

WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN ?-To be a Christian is to be allied to Christ; and this, not only by his sharing our human nature, but by our own participation in his divine nature. It is to have his Spirit within us; to be made in the image of God; to aspire after the lofty and inestimable privileges of the brethren of Christ, a share in his righteousness, an admission through him into the presence of the most holy God, a fellow-inheritance with him in eternal glory. To be a Christian is to believe the humbling doctrines of the cross, which lay low the pride of man, and bring us, as needy supplicants, to the throne of mercy; it is ever to follow the self-denying precepts, the meek and lowly example, of our Saviour. Compare, then, my brethren, this character with that of too many in the world, calling themselves Christians. Are they Christians, who are too proud to confess, and much too fond to forsake, those very sins, from which Christ came to redeem them; still, however, perhaps trusting in themselves to be saved by works of righteousness which they have done, not according to that mercy which he hath purchased for us by his own blood? Are they Christians, who choose, in preference to himself, the things which Christ has taught us to despise; who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? Are they Christians, whose ambition terminates in the poor and low attainments of this present state; who seek the honour of men, not that which cometh of God only? Are they Christians, who follow closely and precisely, not the rule of the Gospel, which they have in profession assumed, but the practice and opinions of men, which they have professed to forsake? In short, are they Christians, whose example is not Christ, but the world; and who, when both are clearly and plainly set before them, will choose the course which makes for their present interest, rather than that which tends to the glory of Christ, or assimilates them to his divine image? My brethren, examine yourselves conscientiously, and as if before God, by these tests; and according as conscience decides, so place yourselves, or not, amongst those who were, in the first ages of a pure Church, called Christians."-Archdeacon Hoare.

Poetry. STANZAS.*

PEACE is a sweet and sacred calm,
That earth can ne'er impart;
A soothing and celestial balm,
To heal the wounded heart.
It is an angel sent from heaven,
An earnest by th' Almighty given
Of happiness beyond the sky-
Eternal, infinite, and high.
It is not loud, tumultuous joy,

Nor wild and transient mirth: Alas! these beam but to destroy, False meteors sprung from earth.

From Christian Lady's Magazine.

It is a deep and silent feeling;
Its holy origin revealing

By heav'nward hope, by fervent love
To man below, to God above.
Peace was the song by angels sung,

By wond'ring shepherds heard,
When heav'n with highest praises rung,

And Christ on earth appear'd:
His mission o'er, and parting near,
To chase away dismay and fear,
To smoothe the passage to the grave,
Peace was the gift the Saviour gave.
And oh! how sad this nether sphere,
A wilderness of pain,
Without sweet peace to comfort here,

And point where pleasures reign-
The bud that tells the spring is nigh,
The star that cheers the seaman's eye,
The streak of light when all is grey,
A herald of approaching day.

And like the orb that rules the night,
And smiles on man below,
Peace gently sheds her soothing light
In sickness and in woe.
Though earthly clouds may intervene,
To dim the splendour of the scene,
They rise not to her heav'nly sphere-
Her beam, though veil'd, is bright and clear.
And fatal were unclouded peace;

This world is not our rest-
The mortal warfare must not cease
While sin's within the breast:
Her chain around the heart is bound;
And oft we hear its thrilling sound,
Even while the spirit seeks to prove
The joys of faith, and hope, and love.
M. A..

THE HOUR OF PRAYER.
My God! is any hour so sweet,
From blush of morn to evening star,
As that which calls me to thy feet-
The hour of prayer?

Blest be that tranquil hour of morn,
And blest that hour of solemn eve,
When on the wings of prayer up-borne,
The world I leave!

For then a day-spring shines on me,
Brighter than morn's ethereal glow;
And richer dews descend from thee
Than earth can know.

Then is my strength by thee renew'd;
Then are my sins by thee forgiven;
Then dost thou cheer my solitude
With hopes of heaven.

Words cannot tell what sweet relief
Here for my every want I find,

What strength for warfare, balm for grief,
What peace of mind.

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LIKE to the falling of a star,

Or as the flights of eagles are;
Or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue,
Or silver drops of morning dew;
Or like a wind that chafes the flood,
Or bubbles which on water stood-
Even such is man, whose borrowed light
Is straight called in, and paid to-night.

The wind blows out; the bubble dies;
The spring entombed in autumn lies;
The dew dries up; the star is shot;
The flight is past-and man forgot.

Miscellaneous.

C. E.

BISHOP KING.

THE LITURGY.-I have often thought, when I have perused the Liturgy, that it appeared to be made for a time of suffering and sorrow; and, as an individual, I can say, that, when in sorrow, I have most prized and valued that Liturgy. It appeared as if a spirit of martyrdom pervaded all its pages; and it will be more highly valued by us if we are called to testify our zeal for the truth by our individual sufferings and sorrows. -J. Poynder, Esq.

SELAH. With respect to the word "Selah," which occurs about seventy times in the Psalms, and three times in the prophet Habakkuk, it is derived from a Hebrew word or root, "sel," which signifies to raise or elevate. Selah was most probably a note of music, or a direction to the singers in the temple-service to raise their voices or instruments where it is inserted. Thus the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, constantly renders it by a word which signifies a variation in singing and melody. Perhaps you may wonder at a word of this sort occurring in a prophetic writing; but you will recollect, that many of the Psalms themselves are prophecies, containing predictions of the future kingdom of the Messiah, and also many allusions to the future fortunes of the Jews themselves; and it has been well remarked, that nothing can be more interesting than to observe the worshippers in the temple chanting in the service of divine worship the hymns in which their own history, in times to come, was portrayed by the hand of inspiration. Of the nature of a psalm or divine song is the third chapter of Habakkuk, in which this word "Selah" occurs three times, verses 3, 9, 13. In the first verse, you will observe, that it is called "a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth." This hard word is derived from a root signifying "to run wild" (as a plant), "to expatriate" (as an exile). You will see in the title of the seventh psalm a word derived from the same root, 66 Shiggaion," signifying wanderings," the psalm being composed at the time when David was flying from the persecutions of Saul. The word "Shigionoth," in Habakkuk, seems to allude both to the deviations of the Jewish people from God's law, and also to their wanderings, or being removed from their land, on that account; and that the "prayer" was designed for the temple-service we learn from the last verse, in which it is directed to the chief musician. The term "Shigionoth" is preserved in the text of our Bibles, because, I believe, it was taken, on account of the words of the last verse, to signify some instrument of music, as "Neginoth," and many

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other like terms; but in the margin you will see, 'according to variable songs or tunes;" and you may not perhaps go far wrong if you were to read the "a prayer or intercession of Habakkuk the prophet, on the wanderings or transgressions;" a version which will express every allusion contained in the word. On looking again at what I have said about Shigionoth," I find that I have one more observation to make; and that is, that if the marginal translation in the Bible be correct, and the "prayer" be "according to variable songs or tunes," you will see at once the propriety of the word "Selah," marking the change of song or measure. It is singular that in the Septuagint, which is a translation of the greatest authority, no notice is taken of "Shigionoth," nor of "the chief musician" in the last verse. The word "Selah" is rendered as usual, and the whole called simply "the prayer of Habakkuk.”—Bishop Sandford.

ST. COLUMBA.-Such was the sanctity of Columba, the Apostle of the Highlands, who was born in the year 560, that King Adrian, not being able to detect any thing that appeared wrong or useless in his conduct, had the curiosity to ask him, whether he had so much as any inward motive or propensity to sin? To this question Columba answered as became a saint, That, like all men, he had certainly such motives and propensities; but that he would not take the whole world, with all its honours and pleasures, and consent to yield to one of them.

THE ARABS." And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him." Gen. xvi. 12. About midnight (the soldiers being in the head of the caravan) the Arabs assailed our rear; the clamour was great; and the passengers, together with their leaders, fled from their camels; I, and my companion, imagining the noise to be only an encouragement unto one another, were left alone, yet preserved from violence. They carried away with them divers mules and asses laden with drugs, and abandoned by their owners, not daring to stay too long, nor cumber themselves with too much luggage, for fear of the soldiers. These are descended of Ishmael, called also Saracens, of Sara, which signifieth a desert, and saken, to inhabit; and not only of the place, but of the manner of their lives, for Sarack imports as much as a thief, being given from the beginning, as now, unto theft and rapine. They dwell in tents, which they remove like walking cities, for opportunity of prey and benefit of pasturage. They acknowledge no sovereign: not worth the conquering, nor can they be conquered, retiring to places impassable for armies, by reason of the rolling sands, and penury of all things: a nation from the beginning unmixed with others, boasting of their nobility, and, at this day, hating all mechanical sciences. They hang about the skirts of the habitable countries; and, having robbed, retire with a marvellous celerity. Those that are not detested persons frequent the neighbouring villages for provision; and traffic without molestation, they not daring to intreat them evilly. They are of mean statures, raw-boned, tawny, having feminine voices, of a swift and noise. less pace, behind you ere aware of them. Their re ligion is Mahometanism, glorying in that the impostor was their countryman, their language extending as far as that religion extendeth. They ride on swift horses, not mishapen, though lean, and patient of labour: they feed them twice a-day with the milk of camels; nor are they esteemed, if not of sufficient speed to overtake an ostrich.—Sandys' Travels, &c.

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PROTESTANT PRIVILEGES.

THE Fifth of November is an important day in the annals of our country, whether viewed in a religious or political light. The base design to destroy, at one blow, the constituted authorities of the state, in the reign of James the First, sets before us, in the most appalling colours, the bigoted and intolerable character of the Popish religion; for the whole evidence of history goes to shew, that the majority of those engaged in the horrible plot verily thought that they were doing God service in the desperate attempt,-for that they were furthering a plan for the eradication of heresy from these realms, and for the complete ascendancy of the papal see: while the arrival of William and Mary, at a later period, and on the same day of the year, overthrew the projects of those who entertained the delusive hope that Britain should again return to the bondage of Popery. The recollection of these events cannot fail to call forth feelings of devout gratitude in the heart of every genuine Protestant: and it may be well, therefore, to consider one or two of his peculiar privileges.

One great blessing intimately connected with Protestantism is that of civil liberty. Where, it may be asked, is this blessing to be found in Popish, to the same extent as in Protestant countries? The very essence of Popery is tyrannical. It delights to go hand in hand with arbitrary power; and hence the emancipation from its thraldom is almost universally accompanied with a decided change for the better, as regards the personal rights and the civil liberty of the persons so emancipated. A comparison of the condition of our

VOL. I.-NO. XXIV.

PRICE 1d.

country in this respect, previous and subsequent to the Revolution in 1688, will powerfully illustrate this fact. The case of Spain will give additional weight to the truth of the assertion, that "the Reformation has ameliorated. the state of government and society in all the countries into which it was received. By exciting inquiry and diffusing knowledge, it led to the discovery and correction of abuses; imposed a check, by public opinion, if not by statute, on the arbitrary will of princes; generated a spirit of liberty among the people; gave a higher tone to morals; and imparted a strong impulse to the human mind in the career of invention and improvement."— "Spain boasts of having extirpated the reformed opinions from her territory; but she has little reason to congratulate herself on the consequences of her blind and infatuated policy. She has paid, and is still paying, the forfeit of her folly and crimes, by the loss of civil and religious liberty, and by the degradation into which she has sunk among the nations."*

Religious liberty is a blessing also intimately connected with Protestantism. In our own land every man may worship the God of his fathers in the manner of which his conscience best approves. There is with us no compulsion to adopt any ceremonial of worship-any peculiarity of creed-the adoption of any set of opinions. Persecution is unknown in Protestant Britain. The legislature, indeed, wisely takes heed that no man shall presume with impunity to disseminate principles subversive of what is holy, and just, and good. Would it be a Christian legislature if it did not? It justly restrains

• See M'Crie on the Reformation in Spain,
2 B

the voice of blasphemy. But is this persecution? As well might it be regarded as an act of oppression to restrain the sale of deleterious drugs, under the specious affirmation, that they contained wholesome nutriment. We hear, indeed, of the persecution, in our own day, of those who do not conform to the Church established by God's mercy amongst us. By whom is the complaint made -the accusation brought forward? Not by the candid, spiritually-minded nonconformist; but by the turbulent, the dissatisfied, the disaffected. Liberty of conscience is sacredly guarded by Protestantism, which presumes not to interfere between a man's soul and his God. Liberty, not liberalism, she scrupulously maintains. She insists on the unalienable right of every individual to make religion a personal concern, to search and try which is the right way, to pray for a right direction; but true Protestantism is utterly opposed to the monstrous notion, too widely spread, that a man may think as he chooses, and admit or reject what he chooses, of the record of God's truth, without endangering his soul's everlasting happiness.

Protestantism, moreover, calls upon men to search the Scripture. The Bible, indeed, stands unopened on the shelf of many a Protestant. Nay, even where there is a vehement opposition to the tyranny of the Church of Rome, there may be a sad disinclination to meditate on the records of eternal truth; and cases may not unfrequently have occurred, where the language of the Bible has been most grievously misinterpreted, and the most pernicious deductions, through man's natural blindness, may have been drawn from its declarations: but this is no argument at all against its unfettered and unlimited circulation, every attempt to impede which, may be traced to a Popish principle that principle which labours to keep the mass of mankind in darkness and in bondage. There is, perhaps, no point which shews the true tyranny of the Church of Rome in stronger colours, than in her denunciations against those who seek to open the fountains of life eternal, and to cause the streams of salvation to flow throughout every land. "The Bible only is the religion of Protestants." The truth is readily admitted in theory: but yet there is reason to fear that not a few, even with the Protestant's name, are unwilling practically to allow it. Is there not often an unscriptural clinging to human authority in matters of religion? Is there not a desire to bring the Bible to the standard of human interpretation? Do we not perceive a shrinking from the good old maxims of our Reformers? "The voice is Jacob's voice, but

the hands are the hands of Esau."

Charity towards every child of Adam is the golden rule of the Gospel: the charity that thinketh no evil, that beareth all things, that believeth all things, that hopeth all things; and such charity we should desire to exercise towards members of the Church of Rome. We should pray for their spiritual illumination, for their emancipation from their slavish trammels, for their being brought to a clear perception of the truth as it is in Jesus. Very far are we from maintaining, that, amongst the votaries of that corrupt Church, there may not be myriads who have drank of the wells of salvation; but we must not forget our Protestant principles, that the system of Popery is in itself a souldestroying system, and that it is to be opposed by every effort, and its dangerous bearings to be distinctly set forth. We must not only remember our Protestant privileges, but we must seek to improve them. In this, as in every thing else, the greater the blessing bestowed, the greater the responsibility to improve that blessing; and it is not enough for us to inveigh loudly against Popish ignorance, tyranny, and superstition, to constitute us real Protestants: for they only are entitled to the name, on whose hearts the sacred truths of the Gospel are engraven by the Spirit of God.

There exists in the minds of many an unwarrantable supposition, that the Popery of the present day is not the Popery of the dark ages: the Popery which brought our martyrs to the stake, which lighted the fires of persecution in the reign of Mary, which waded through oceans of blood on the massacre of St. Bartholomew, which reigned with relentless Satanic sway amidst the dungeons of the Inquisition. True, Popery in England now is far different in appearance from what it was in the ages that are gone by, and from what it will be found to be, should it ever, in the inscrutable ways of Providence, be suffered again to predominate amongst us. Whatever may be its appearance, however incongruous its allies,-for its enormities are now palliated by men of different creeds, and by men of none,-its spirit is the same. Its shout of triumph over every other communion is, "Down with it! down with it even to the ground!" And most wretchedly are they deceived who judge of Popery from her appearance and professions in a land of religious light and civil liberty, and recollect not what she has been, when that light has been extinguished, and that liberty trampled under foot.

Let Protestants of all classes beware of the insidious progress of the power of the "man of sin." Boldly and unflinchingly let them resist every attempt to compromise

the

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