an account of his life to the God who gave it to be employed in his honour and service!-Oh! what shall I say unto you, but that which Christ said unto all?"Watch!" for ye know not when the time is '." Sent by E. THE CHRISTIAN METHOD OF SALVATION. "BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts xvi. 31.) When the jailor at Philippi came trembling before his prisoners, Paul and Silas, and fell down before them, and asked what he should do to be saved, their answer was, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Here the Apostles laid before the affrighted penitent the Gospel plan of salvation. All have sinned; and none can remove the condemnation pronounced by the law against every kind and degree of sin. It is Christ who hath purchased the pardon, by suffering in the sinner's stead. Those who, in true repentance, desire to receive this gift of forgiveness, will be made partakers of its benefits. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ" (in the Scripture sense) means," in sincere faith to accept the Gospel offer of pardon." He who believeth not, who doth not accept the offer, is not a partaker of its benefits. Such is the efficacy of faith! not as having, in itself, a merit, leading to salvation, but as accepting the offer of that salvation, which has been wrought out by Christ's merits. There is a way of believing, different from this,—a mere acknowledgment of the truth of what is recorded, or what is called an historical belief, which receives the information written in Scripture as it would receive any other historic fact, but which has no influence on the heart and life. Now, this is the faith which St. James declares will not save us; but that faith which is seen in its influenceon the heart and conduct is the faith which doth lead to salvation. If we believe from the heart, God accepts us, through Jesus Christ, and pardons us; then His Holy Spirit sanctifies us, i. e. makes us holy, teaching us to love God, and to serve him; and thus prepares us for 1 Occasional Thoughts, by the late Rev. James Yonge. 1834.] TIMES PAST, AND TIMES PRESENT. 223 eternal blessedness. Here, then, we see the Three Persons in the One Godhead, all engaged in man's salvation. -The Saviour to be the sacrifice to procure the pardon; the Father to accept the sacrifice, and to grant the pardon; the Spirit to sanctify and prepare the soul for the enjoyment of the purchased blessedness. ON THE DUTY OF THANKSGIVING. V. VARIOUS are the terrors of the night, manifold the perils of the day, from diseases, from assaults, casualties, and accidents, which can neither be foreseen nor guarded. against. The soul has likewise her enemies, ready to attack and surprise her at all hours. Avarice and ambition are abroad watching for her in the day; while lust, like a pestilence, "walketh in darkness." In adversity, she is disturbed by terrors; in prosperity, still more endangered by pleasure. But Jesus Christ has overcome the world, to prevent us from being overcome by it. Thanksgiving, therefore, is the duty, and ought to be the delight of a Christian. It is our duty, as being the least return we can make to our great Benefactor; it ought to be our delight, for it is that of angels, and will be that of every grateful heart, whether in heaven or on earth. "The mercy" of God in promising salvation, and His "faithfulness" in accomplishing it, are inexhaustible subjects for morning and evening praises, until day and night come to an end. But more especially should this be done on the sabbath-day, which, when so employed, affords a lively resemblance of that eternal sabbath, to be hereafter kept by the redeemed in the Kingdom of God.-BP. HORNE. TIMES PAST, AND TIMES PRESENT. MR. EDITOR, TRULY does the great Apostle declare, that "all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Never is a deed of wickedness committed, not an unbecoming word escapes from the lips, nor does a sinful thought ever enter into the human heart, against which some suitable admoni tions will not be found in the pages of the sacred volume. These reflections came forcibly to my mind in consequence of meeting with the following passage in the writings of Solomon immediately after leaving a party of acquaintances railing against the present times. As it is seldom quoted, meditated on, or at any rate attended to, in modern days, I beg leave to send it to you, with the excellent comment of M. Henry. Your's, &c. O. T. K. "Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this."-Ecclesiastes vii. 10. WE must make the best of that which is. Take it not for granted that the former days were better than these, nor inquire what is the cause that they were so, for therein thou dost not inquire wisely, since thou inquirest into the reason of the thing before thou art sure that the thing itself is true; and, besides, thou art so much a stranger to the times past, and such an incompetent judge, even of the present times, that thou canst not expect a satisfactory answer to the inquiry, and, therefore, thou dost not inquire wisely; nay, the supposition is a foolish reflection upon the providence of God in the government of the world. It is folly to call out of the badness of our own times, when we have more reason to cry out of the badness of our own hearts; for, if men's hearts were better, the times would mend; and, when we have more reason to be thankful that they are not worse, but that even in the worst of times we enjoy many mercies which help to make them not only tolerable, but comfortable. It is folly to cry up the goodness of former times, so as to derogate from the mercy of God to us in our own times; as if former ages had not the same things to complain of that we have; or, if perhaps in some respects they had not, yet as if God had been unjust and unkind to us, in casting our lot in an iron age compared with the golden age which went before us, which arises from nothing but fretfulness and discontent, and an aptness to pick quarrels with God himself. We are not to think there is any universal decay in nature or degeneracy in morals; God 1834.] REFECTIONS ON THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. 225 has been always good, and man always bad; and, if, in some respects, the times are now worse than they have been, perhaps, in other respects, they are better. M. HENRY. REFLECTIONS ON THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. THIS Psalm, so beautifully expressive of God's tender care and protection, was composed by David, the Son of Jesse," who once kept his Father's sheep." To which circumstance, probably, we are indebted for this, and many other beautiful portions of the Psalms. The pastoral language, in which it is expressed, frequently occurs in the sacred writings, and was made use of by our blessed Saviour, who speaks of Himself and his followers under the endearing character of a shepherd and his sheep. 99 Psalm xxiii. 1, 2.-"The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.' (Prayer-book translation.) In the Bible translation, it is, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, (Hebrew, pastures of tenderness). He leadeth me beside the still waters, (Hebrew, the waters of quietness)." In what beautiful harmony with these two verses is that passage in the Revelation, "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." (Rev. vii. 17.) And again in Ezekiel,—“I will feed them in a good pasture; and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: then shall they lie in a good fold; and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God: and I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David: He shall feed them, and he shall be their Shepherd. And ye, my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God." (See Ezek. xxxiv. 14-32.) Extract from a little work entitled, "Difficult Passages of the Psalms familiarly explained, by a Clergyman of the Church of England." REMARKS ON AN ARTICLE SENT BY D. I. E.; WITH THE article in our last number (page 185), called “A Minister's Visits to his Parishioners," sent by a correspondent signed D. I. E., cannot fail to bring to the minds of the readers of poetry the case of one who was about to fall from his religious stedfastness, by a similar idolatrous affection for a child, born to him in his latter days, as described in Parnel's beautiful poem, the Hermit. That poem is indeed full of instruction, and shows us, in a skilful allegory, how those dealings of Providence, which seem to us the most mysterious, would, if properly understood, be confessed to be proofs of the greatest wisdom, joined to the greatest mercy. - In this poem, a stranger is supposed to accompany the Hermit; and after visiting the habitations of several persons of very different habits and manners, commits, in every house which he enters, some act which seemed to the hermit to be quite different from what might have been expected, altogether contrary to equity, justice, and mercy. The guests were received into one house with every mark of the most liberal and extravagant hospitality; the stranger secretly carried away a rich and splendid cup. A storm overtakes them, and a miserable and unwelcome shelter is hardly afforded them by a rich miser; -the stranger gives to him the cup which he had taken from the liberal host. They were afterwards lodged and treated with all kindness by one whose hospitality arose from a real wish to contribute to their comfort. The stranger, on leaving this house, contrived to kill an infant which was lying in a cradle. The hermit could bear this no longer; but was preparing to utter the most violent expressions of indignation and rage, when it was suddenly shown to him, that what he had seen was a sort of vision, intended to show him, that what appears strange to man is often intended to bring about the most merciful purposes of Providence. The stranger was a messenger from above. The divine hand was not seen in the acts performed by this heavenly instrument. The child, for instance, appeared to others to die in an ordinary manner |