ertions, therefore, to bring his flock to the Cross. The result of his ministry may be readily anticipated. The parish assumed a very pleasing appearance to a mere superficial observer. The people were externally decent and moral, and attentive to the ordinances of religion; but as to all that is vital and experimental in godliness they were in total darkness. They might be thought to have a name to live, but in reality they were in a state of spiritual death. An entire change, at length came over the spirit of the young pastor. His was a mind of no common mould, and the tenacious grasp with which he seized on any new view which occurred to him, led him to ponder his past life and the deathlike coldness and icy stillness of that system of theology in which he had been reared. He repaired with eagerness to the Sacred Oracles, as alone able to solve the perplexities by which he was beset. There he learned what he had never known before the utter depravity and helplessness of man, and the grand, the only, source of pardon, peace, and eternal life. A new light shone upon his soul. He felt that he was lost and undone, and he cast himself at the foot of the cross, exclaiming, "Lord, save me, or I perish." In this state of mind, it pleased God to reveal his Son in him; and from that time and onward, both as a Christian and a Christian pastor, he walked in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
THE days of old were days of might,
In forms of greatness moulded;
And flowers of heaven grew on the earth,
Within the Church unfolded-
For grace fell fast as summer dew,
And saints to giant stature grew.
But, one by one, the gifts are gone
That in the Church resided,
And gone the Spirit's living light,
That on her walls abided,
When by our shrines He came to dwell
In power and presence visible.

A blight hath pass'd upon the Church,
Her summer hath departed;
The chill of age is on her sons—
The cold and fearful-hearted;
And sad, amid neglect and scorn,
Our Mother sits and weeps forlorn.
Narrow, and narrower still each year,
The holy circle groweth ;
And what the end of all shall be

Nor man nor angel knoweth ;
And so we wait and watch in fear-
It may be that the Lord is near!

MASTER AND SERVANT.

FABER.

AMIDST the many evils that prevail in the present state of society, there is one of a very serious nature, which cannot be too frequently brought under the notice of the public: I mean the inattention of masters to the spiritual concerns of their servants. This inattention has a most pernicious influence on all in this humble station, and especially on the young, who have but little knowledge of Divine truth, and whose religious principles are not yet established. Many parents in the lower walks of society are obliged to put their children

to service in their young and tender years, and have it not always in their power to select such a situation for them as they would desire. It is painful to the Christian parent to part with his children in any circumstances; it is doubly painful for him to send them abroad into the wide world with a strong impression, that they will find "no man to care for their souls." It is too frequently the lot even of those who have been brought up in the fear of the Lord, to enter the families of masters, who will cruelly neglect their spiritual interests. They will vigorously exact from their servants what is, indeed, most proper, the utmost faithfulness in their various employments; but they never instruct them to fear the Lord, and never remind them that they have a Master in heaven. It is, indeed, the heartless and unchristian notion of too many masters, that if they feed their servants, and pay them their wages, they have nothing more to do with them. They treat them, in short, as creatures who are merely concerned in the present state of existence.

The wholesome practice of assembling the whole household for family worship, twice a-day, is entirely banished from many rural districts of our once Christian land; catechising on the evening of the Lord's Day is neglected; much less are the young encouraged to read the Scriptures on the evenings of week-days. Too many of these unhappy children, of both sexes, are so engaged, as to be prevented from attending either church or Sabbath school; and the very remembrance of God and of religion is in danger of being banished from their minds, as they may not see the Bible in the hand of their master, or hear a pious sentiment from his lips, from one end of the year to the other. When the young and thoughtless are exposed to such an example as this, the result cannot fail to be disastrous. They are but too likely to forget the counsels and the example of godly parents, and conform themselves to the graceless and unholy practices that are constantly before their eyes. They will begin to neglect the Word of God, to omit secret prayer, to profane the Sabbath, and to imbibe a spirit of indifference or of positive dislike to all that is sacred. O how frequently do well-disposed parents find, to their unspeakable sorrow, when their children return, it may be at the end of a year's service, that they have forgotten all the little learning which they once possessed; and have, besides, contracted such a disrelish for reading, that it is difficult to persuade them to resume the labours of education! And, what is still worse, while they have ceased to address God in prayer, they have learned to blaspheme his holy name. O how many unhappy boys and girls may lay the ruin of their souls at the door of an unprincipled master or mistress! O that heads of families would take warning, and begin without delay to encourage their young servants to read the Scriptures, to be regular in their secret devotions, and to keep the Sabbath holy! Let them begin to treat their servants as rational creatures, who are possessed of never-dying souls, and who, while in their service, are as truly committed to their care as their own children.

The fruits of the unhappy training, referred to above, are seen in after life. When servants grow up in a habitual disregard of religious observances, and especially with low ideas of the sacredness of the Lord's Day, they will be very irregular in attending public

worship, and will deem it perfectly allowable to visit their friends on that holy day; and thus they not only lose every serious impression that might have been made on their minds in the house of God, but contract unspeakable guilt by "thinking their own thoughts, and speaking their own words, and finding their own pleasures," on God's blessed Sabbath; not to mention the injury which they occasion to others, in leading them to misspend the precious hours that should be devoted to the service of their God and Saviour. Were masters as careful in looking after their servants on Sabbath as on week-days-were they as jealous of the honour of their Divine Master as they are of their own interests this crying evil might be greatly diminished, if not altogether removed. Had masters a true reverence for the Sabbath as the Lord's Day, and a day, therefore, which is not at their disposal, they would not only give no encouragement to Sabbath visiting on the part of their servants, but they would refuse to take any one into their service who would not come bound neither to pay visits, nor to receive visitors on the day of sacred rest; and, to encourage their servants to enter into so reasonable an engagement, they would cheerfully agree, on their own part, to make the trifling sacrifice of allowing them, from time to time, to visit their friends on week-days. This

is, indeed, all that any master or mistress can do without sin. To say to a servant, I will allow you to visit your friends on Sunday," is just saying, I will authorise you to disobey God, or rather, I will compel you to violate the fourth commandment-seeing no other time will be given you for recreation but the Sabbathday. Let masters reflect on the impiety towards God, and the injustice towards a fellow-creature involved in such conduct, and let them cease from giving to others a portion of time which does not belong to themselves. They will thus do their duty to God and their neigh

bour, and "hide a multitude of sins."

ISRAEL SELF-DESTROYED:

A DISCOURSE.

BY THE LATE REV. JAMES FRENCH,
Minister of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire.

“O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself."-Hos. xiii. 9. THE Gospel of our salvation serveth at once to humble and to exalt us. Like certain medicines for the body, it first opens and searches the wounds, which it is intended to heal. The former of these operations is as necessary as the latter, though far from being so pleasing. It is painful for us to reflect on our natural character and state, and from that very consideration some are prevented from accepting the Gospel for the remission of sins. They are afraid to look into themselves, lest they should discover what would mortify and alarm them. They hate the light, and will not come unto the light, lest their deeds should be reproved." But it is certainly much wiser for us to submit to all the pain, which a reflection upon our past conduct may now occasion to us, while there is yet hope of deliverance, than to shut our eyes against real danger, and to flatter ourselves with a vain imagination of safety, saying,

"Peace, peace, when there is no peace." We are this day assembled for the special purpose of humbling ourselves before the Lord our Maker, in the prospect of the solemn sacrament of the Supper. I hope, therefore, through the blessing of God, it may not be unprofitable to the purpose of our present meeting, if I attempt to illustrate the important, though melancholy, truth delivered in our text, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.” The words, you see, are addressed by God himself, not to the heathen, "who knew not God," nor were possessed of suitable means of knowing him, but to Israel, his chosen people, who possessed the most precious privileges, and who, particularly, had the law of God in their hands, which ought to have been "a light to their feet and a lamp to their paths." Yet, notwithstanding all their valuable privileges it is declared, even to them, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself." This declaration contains two parts, which it may be proper to consider distinctly.

I. Israel is in a state of destruction and of misery.

II. He is himself the author of his own destruction.

I shall not now consume your time by illustrating the application of this heavy charge to the ancient Israel. I believe, none here present will dispute the application of it in that view. But it is of far more consequence for us to consider, whether the same charge may not be brought home to ourselves; that, if it should be so, we may be duly humbled on that account, and may, by the blessing of God upon our convictions, be persuaded to prize and to accept the remedy provided in the Gospel. Considering it then in that general view, not with regard to any particular nation or individual, but with regard to all mankind, I say,

First, They are in a state of destruction and of misery. And surely, one should think, we need not go far for a proof of that assertion. If the misery be real, it must be felt. It may be felt, however, and yet not be acknowledged. Men are often ashamed to confess their real feelings upon this subject. "While each man walks in a vain show, they vex themselves in vain. He heaps up wealth and doth not know who shall gather it." But I appeal to the experience of every man, whether this world be not in itself, independent of the Gospel, one continued scene of misery and woe? This at least is the testimony of Solomon concerning it, that "there is no profit under the sun, that all is vanity and vexation of spirit." "It is by the sweat of our brow that we must earn our bread," and when we have earned it, we have but little satisfaction in the enjoyment of it. But, besides the necessary and felt insufficiency of all earthly things to afford complete, or indeed any enjoyment, how many direct and positive ills molest human life? Is not "man born to trouble as the sparks fly upward ?" To how many distresses and calamities are we continually subject, in our persons, in our substance, and in those who are

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confession? It is a general principle in nature, that every thing partakes of the nature of its original. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the spirit is spirit." That which proceeds from impurity must itself be impure; and that only can be pure which hath a pure origin. For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet waters and bitter? Can the fig-tree, my brethren, bear olive-berries? either a vine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh." "What then is man, that he should be clean? or he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous ? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints! Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight! How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water!" That reasoning is clear and convincing. But let us appeal to fact and experience, and see whether these do or do not confirm the argument. What is the history of every nation under heaven hut a history of the crimes of men? Do we read of any one nation, whatever have been the privileges bestowed upon them from on high, who have yet served God perfectly in their generation? "Have they not all gone astray from the womb? Have they not together become unprofitable? There is none that hath done good; no, not one." Nay, have not those nations, who have advanced farthest in human science, been distinguished only by their swerving so much the farther from the ways of truth and of righteousness? As for Israel, who were more highly favoured than any nation, the text itself is immediately addressed to them; so there can be no doubt with respect to them, that they had "destroyed themselves."

But

But it is possible that large bodies of men may be very corrupt, and yet some few individuals may be found among them, who are of a different character. But is that indeed the case? Setting aside the consideration of nations, hath there ever appeared any single mere man who hath served God perfectly in his generation? Different degrees of corruption there may be in different men. where was ever man found who was entirely without sin? who could lay his hand upon his heart and say, "I have made my heart pure, I am clean from sin?" On the contrary, do not the fairest characters owe our admiration of them only to our distance from them? On a nearer inspection, doth not their lustre fade, and do they not discover blemishes and imperfections, which greatly diminish our respect for them? Hath not that very circumstance given rise to the known proverb, Familiarity breeds contempt.

But, to bring the matter a little nearer us, let each of us put the question to his own breast, Canst thou plead exemption from that general corruption which hath universally infected the buman race? Have "all flesh" besides "corrupted their ways?" And art thou the only exception? Is it not reasonable to presume, that that cannot be the case ? and that, if we imagine

it to be the case, the false imagination proceeds from some vile deceit lurking in our breast, and concealing the truth from our view? Thus, at least, thought Job: "If I say, I have no sin, mine own mouth shall condemn me; if I say, I am perfect, that also shall prove me perverse." Thus also thought the Apostle John: "If we say, we have no sin, we lie and do not the truth; if we say, we have no sin, we commit a very great sin; for we make God a liar, and his word is not in us." In judging with respect to ourselves, we must beware of forming our judgment by a false standard. We must not judge of ourselves in comparison with other men; for we may not have gone such great lengths in wickedness as they, and yet we may still be "far from righteousness." There may be circumstances in their case which may make their most heinous sins more tolerable than our smaller transgressions. Neither ought we to judge by the opinions which others entertain of us; for they look only on the outward appearance, and even of that can see but a small part, but cannot look upon the heart. The only standard by which we ought to form our judgment is the Law of God-that perfect rule of righteousness by which we shall be justified, and by which we shall be condemned. Now "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" Dost thou read this as "the first and great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength?" And canst thou indeed say, that thou hast acted fully up to that "first and great commandment?" thou never at any time loved any thing else more than God? Hath he indeed been always supreme and unrivalled in thine affections? Ilast thou at all times yielded an implicit and universal obedience to his commandinents and submission to his will not suffering thyself to be in any respect deficient either in gratitude for mercies received, or in resignation under trials endured? Thou readest also, that it is ranked as "the second commandment of the law," and declared to be “like unto the first, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Apply that, therefore, as a test to thine own conduct, and see whether or not thou hast completely fulfilled it. Hast thou, indeed, at all times borne that sincere and unfeigned good-will to thy neighbour which that cominandment enjoins? Have malice and envy never found any place in thy breast? Hast thou never been angry with thy brother without a cause? Hast thou loved not only those who were kind and friendly to thee, but those also who have offended thee? Hast thou "loved even thine enemies?" Hast thou "blessed them that cursed thee, done good to them that hated thee, and prayed for them that despitefully used thee and persecuted thee?" Hath thy love been "without dissimulation ?" Hast thou loved, "not in name only, but in deed and in truth?" Hast thou never "spoken evil against thy brother, nor slandered thine own mother's son?" Hast thou never withheld good from

Hast

them to whom it was due? Have thine ear, and thy heart, and thy hand, been always open to the cry of the destitute? When it was in the power of thy hand to do it, hast thou always "delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him?" These, my brethren, are some of the questions by which we ought to try ourselves; and happy, indeed, should he be whose conscience should enable him to give a satisfactory answer. It doth not follow, however, that they whose conscience checks them not are not liable to the charge of transgression. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" The young man in the Gospel answered, with great confidence, "All these things have I kept from my youth up; what lack I yet?" But our Lord soon repelled his presumption, and made manifest the secret deceitfulness of his heart. "Go then," said he, "and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow me, that thou mayest have treasure in heaven." "When the young man heard that," we are told, "he went away sorrowful, because he had great possessions." But some one perhaps will say, True, indeed, I feel I am destroyed. I feel that I have offended against God and my neighbour, and that I am wholly unable to abide the test of the divine Law. But I cannot think myself chargeable with my own destruction. For have I not brought that corruption into the world with me? And how can I be chargeable with that which I have no power to prevent or to amend? In answer to that objection, let me beseech thee to consider what sort of inability it is thou art under to keep the law of God. Is it a natural, or only a moral, inability? Is it that thou hast not faculties wherewith to serve him? or is it that thou hast no inclination to employ those faculties which thou dost possess in his service? If the former be the case, thy excuse is just. If God doth indeed require that of thee which thou art under a natural inability to perform, in that case thou art not chargeable with guilt in any part of thy conduct. In that case, indeed, God would be-let us speak it with reverence-" an austere Master, reaping where he hath not sown, and gathering where he hath not strawed." But who will presume to say that? Who will charge the great Judge of all the earth with such a piece of injustice? Hast thou not an understanding, a will, and affections? Hast thou not a tongue, and hands, and feet? And what hindereth thee from employing those powers of thy mind, and those members of thy body, in the service of the Lord thy Maker, as well as in the service of other and worse masters? Art thou under any constraint to disobey God against thy will? or rather, doth not the consent of thy will go along with every offence thou committest? Dost thou not feel thy duty to be thy burden, and that it is the surest desire of thy heart, that the law of God were not in the way, that there were no threatening denounced against sin, that so thou mightst proceed

| in the commission of it without constraint or control? And canst thou plead it as an excuse for thy conduct that thou hast no inclination to serve God, that thy heart is estranged from him, and that it is wedded to another? Would such an excuse as that be admitted at any human bar? And dost thou imagine that it shall be admitted at the bar of Infinite Justice? Nay, but "out of thine own mouth shalt thou be condemned, thou wicked servant." Do not thine own heart and conscience condemn thee? When thou wilt allow them to speak, are not they thy bitterest accusers? Do they not sometimes, in spite of all thy devices to put them to silence, present to thy troubled mind the awful forebodings of future judgments? And, "if thine own heart condemn thee, how much more he who is greater than thy heart, and who knoweth all things." Besides, what advantage dost thou derive from it, although thou shouldst justify thyself, since that can never alter the nature of things, nor procure thee any release from that misery which thou hast brought upon thyself by thine iniquities? If thou art far from God, thou must perish, be the cause of thy distance from him what it will. Least of all can such excuses be sustained, when the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is taken into view, which, being a complete remedy for all our spiritual maladies, must take away every shadow of excuse for continuing in sin. It maketh excuses for the guilt of sin wholly unnecessary; because it proclaimeth pardon and reconciliation to the chief of sinners, if they will only believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. It also leaveth us wholly inexcusable in the commission of sin; because it offereth effectual aid to enable us to resist it. Where then, O sinner, are all thy excuses for the commission of sin? Thou sayest, thou art unable to keep the law of God; here is ability provided for thee, if thou wilt only accept it. "Thou hast indeed destroyed thyself, but in me," saith the great God, "in me is thy help." Thou art indeed "insufficient of thyself to think any thing as of thyself; but thy sufficiency is of God." If thou reject the remedy, thou must be wholly inexcusable for so doing, and canst have no reason to complain, though thou be thyself also rejected of Him whom thou hast despised, and "whose counsel thou hast rejected against thyself." In particular, thou mayest no longer complain of thine inability to serve God, seeing that, when his grace was offered to be made sufficient for thee, thou hast utterly despised it. Thou hast said in effect unto the Lord, "I will not have thee to reign over me; depart from me, I desire not the knowledge of thy ways." But will ye indeed still resist the offer of divine grace? The Lord calleth, inviteth, beseecheth, and commandeth you to come unto him; and will ye indeed say unto him, We will not come unto thee, we will abide in our sins, however earnest thou mayst be to deliver us from them. We choose death rather than life-eternal misery rather than eternal happiness? Will ye indeed thus address