BIBLE QUESTIONS.

1. Who was the first man who was stoned to death?

2. Who was the king who, when on the point of death, had fifteen years added to his life by God?

3. What was the name of a river which a great man once thought much

better than the Jordan?

4. What was the name of the building which was intended to be the highest ever built?

The first letters of the answers to each of these Questions, placed in order, will give the name of a man, who, though of high rank, has the Scripture reputation of being one who gave himself up to sin with more zeal and determination than any man that was ever known. How is this expressed?

"PEACE; BE STILL."

THE Ocean is fair, when its azure vest
Is tinged with the gold of the glowing west;
When the moonbeam trembles upon its wave,
And the winds are asleep in some coral cave:
'Tis quiet and clear-a picture given

Of the heart that is blest with the peace of heaven,

But how alter'd the scene when the winds are high,
And the waves whirl up to the frowning sky,

And, swollen with fury, the mast o'erleap,
Then thunder and dash on the trembling steep:
'Tis troubled and dark, like the storm-fraught soul,
When the billows of frenzied passion roll.

But there dwelleth in glory, above yon sky,
A Being too bright for mortal eye;

And He ruleth in earth and heaven and sea,
And His power is felt by all that be:
The ocean is held in His hollow hand,

And its storms are hushed at His command.

And eternity vast is His mighty throne,
And infinity's depths are His alone,

And the "heaven of heavens" is His dwelling bright,

Yet He stoops to earth from that boundless height;

And enters the contrite sinner's breast,
And cheers the heart with grief opprest,

And speaks to the tide of human ill,

And the troubled spirit, "Peace; be still."

THE

FRIENDLY VISITOR.

THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

THE wonders of the Exhibition are now at an end. And such is life, and all the boast of life, and all the good things of life! They attract, and please, and engross; but, whatever can be said in favour of anything in life, it can only be with this addition-it soon comes to an end. The brightest day is soon shrouded over with the darkness of the night; the pleasantest prospect soon fades. But it is not so with all the glory that the greater than Solomon has to display. The wonders of redeeming love are not only for us sinners to gaze upon, but to make our own. We may take away with us what we please from this wonderful exhibition. We may take for ourselves from Christ's Cross, and from Christ's Word, and from Christ's hand on His throne in heaven all we want. Yes; and what a thought it is! we may go through the valley of the shadow of death to take to ourselves a kingdom and a crown that fadeth not away. Oh, that all the thousands who have hastened up to London to see this wonderful sight would think of this, and form this contrast for themselves!

And they who could not go may well be content not to have seen it, when they think that all that is so much more wonderful and blessed may be seen and enjoyed at home. Our prayer to Jesus must be, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." He will open out His treasures to the humblest soul and in the meanest cot. Nay, He only dwells with the humble and contrite heart.

But in some hints and cautions which I gave some months

M

ago, I expressed my fear that some would be tempted to go to the Exhibition who could not afford it. Alas! this has been the case to a sad extent. I read, only the other day, that some pawnbrokers say they have baskets full of watches that have been pawned for the purpose. This is sad. And many a heavy heart will there be this winter, for which all the fine thoughts of what was seen in London will not make amends.

Well one grieves that wisdom is only to be had in many cases by dear-bought experience; yet it is well if anything will so convince us of the vanity of all earthly pursuits as to drive us to that only source where true joys are to be found.

W.

THE FULNESS OF CHRIST.

THERE is not a want in the
sinner, but there is a correspond-
ing fulness in our blessed Re-
deemer. Is the sinner hungry? |
-let him come to Christ, and he
shall be made to partake of the
Bread of Life. Is the sinner
thirsty?-let him come to Christ,
and he shall be permitted to
"drink of the wells of salvation."
Is the sinner sick?-let him come
to Christ, and he shall have life
and vigour infused into his soul.
Is he naked?-let him come to
Christ, and he shall receive a
beauteous robe. Is he blind?
let him come to Christ, and he
shall have his eyes opened to see
wondrous things. Is he deaf?
-let him come to Christ, and
his ears shall be unstopped, to
hear the voice of uncreated har-
mony speaking peace to his
happy soul. Is the sinner bur-

dened?-let him come to Christ,
and his burden shall be taken
away. Is the sinner longing for
rest?-let him come to Christ,
and he shall have sweet repose.
Is he trembling under the appre-
hension of future wrath ?-let
him come to Christ, and he will
find that "there is now, there-
fore, no condemnation to them
which are in Christ; " for, ac-
cording to the Scriptures, "being
justified by faith, he shall have
peace with God, through our
Lord Jesus Christ."
Yes; no
matter what may be the sinner's
wants or woes, Christ is suited
to his case in all things; only,
therefore, let him come to Christ,
and he shall be made rich and
happy throughout all time and
throughout all eternity. As sur-
edly, then, it is the sinner's in-
terest to come to Christ.

SHORT SERMON ON JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.

"What shall we then say that Abraham, our father as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt; but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered: blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.' -ROм. iv. 1-8.

way of salvation cut off all occasion of boasting, and was equally suited both to Jews and Gentiles; and that, instead of invalidating the law, as at first sight it might appear to do, it did in reality establish the law. Having thus proved his point by argument, he now comes to confirm it by example; and he adduces such examples as the Jews could not but regard as of the highest authority. We must bear in mind what the point is which he is endeavouring to maintain: it is, that the justification of the soul before God is not by works of any kind, but simply and solely by faith in Christ. This he proceeds to prove from the

THE mind of man, however open
to conviction from the plain de-
ductions of reason, is susceptible
of peculiarly strong impressions
from that species of argument
which, at the same time that it
addresses itself to his intellect,
has a tendency to engage his
feelings, and to enlist his preju-
dices in its favour. All the pre-
judices of the Jews were in favour
of Abraham, their father, and of
David, the greatest of their mo-
narchs, and one of the most dis-
tinguished of their prophets; and
if the conduct of these two could
be adduced as precedents, there
would need but little further
argument to convince a Jew that
the thing which was so recom-
mended was right. Of this pre-examples,
judice St. Paul availed himself in
the passage before us. He had
proved, beyond all reasonable
doubt, that the justification of a
sinner was, and must be, solely
by faith in Christ. He had
proved it from the guilty state of
al, both Jews and Gentiles,
(which precluded a possibility of
their being justified by any works
of their own, chap. iii. 20); and
from the Lord Jesus Christ hav-
ing been sent into the world to
make an atonement for sin, and
thereby to reconcile the demands
of justice with the exercise of
mercy. He had shown that this

I. Of Abraham.

What, he asks, did Abraham, the great progenitor of the Jewish nation, find effectual for his salvation? This he answers,

1. "By an express declaration of Holy Writ." The manner in which he appeals to the decision of Scripture is well worthy of notice. "What saith the Scripture?" It matters little what this or that man may say; we must abide by what God hath spoken. His word shall stand, though the whole universe should rise up to contradict it. On that,

therefore, we must found our sentiments, and that alone. If men speak according to His word and testimony, it is well; "if not," whatever may be their pretences to wisdom, "there is no light in them," Isa. viii. 20.

works, his reward would come to him as a debt, and not as a gift. However great the distance may be between the work and the reward, it will make no difference with respect to this point. If the work be proposed as the ground of the reward, and be performed in order to merit that reward, then is the reward a debt which may be justly claimed, and cannot with justice be withheld. Moreover, if works be thus admitted as purchasing or procuring the reward, then may the person who performs them have a ground of glorying in himself: he may say with truth, This I earned; this I merited; this could not justly have been withheld from me. But had Abraham any such ground of glorying? No; the Scripture denies that he had, in that he ascribes his salvation, not to any righteousness of his own, but to a

Now the Scripture declares that "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." In the passages referred to, there were two promises made to him: the one was, that one particular "seed should be given to him, in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed;" and the other was, that a spiritual seed should be given him, who should be "numerous as the stars of heaven." These promises he firmly believed, and so believed them as actually to repose all his hope and trust in that promised Seed, who was to be the Saviour of the whole world. "This faith of his was counted to him for righteous-righteousness imputed to him, ness; or, in other words, this Saviour, on whom his faith reposed, was made the source of righteousness and salvation to his soul. This particular declaration of Holy Writ. is referred to by the apostle a great many times, on account of its singular importance; but, as its importance will more fully appear in the sequel of our discourse, we shall proceed to notice how St. Paul answers his own questions :

2. "By arguments founded upon it." He justly observes that, when the Scripture thus represents Abraham as justified by faith, all works are of necessity excluded from any participation in the office of justifying for, if it be supposed that a man is justified, either in whole or in part, by his

and apprehended by faith only.

But whilst the apostle argues thus strongly and incontrovertibly on the passage he has cited, we must not overlook the peculiarly forcible language which he uses, and which, if it had not been used by him, we should scarcely have dared to use. In declaring who the person is that is thus justified, he tells us that it is the person "who worketh not" (with a view to obtain justification by his works), "but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly." Of course, the apostle is not to be understood as saying that the justified person will continue " 'ungodly," or that he will "not work" after he has been justified; but only as saying that he does not work with a