of course, the passion of our Saviour. I had heard the subject handled a thousand times: I had thought it exhausted long ago. Little did I suppose that in the wild woods of America, I was to meet with a man whose eloquence would give to this topic a new and more sublime pathos, than I had ever before witnessed.

been finished, some progress was made in composing forest, not far from the road-side. Having frequently the Catechism, and that the reducing of it to a con- seen such objects before, in travelling through these formity with the Confession, was an after thought. States, I had no difficulty in understanding that this was a place of religious worship. "We made long ago," says Baillie, "a pretty pro- "Devotion alone should have stopped me, to join gress in the Catechism, but falling on rules and long in the duties of the congregation; but I must confess, debates, it was laid aside till the Confession was end- that curiosity to hear the preacher of such a wilderness, ed, with the resolution to have no matter in it, but was not the least of my motives. On entering I was what was expressed in the Confession." And accord- struck with his preternatural appearance. He was a ingly, much curiosity has been excited respecting the tall and very spare old man; his head, which was author of the original draft. Dr Belfrage, after detail- his voice, were all shaking under the influence of a palsy ; covered with a white linen cap, his shrivelled hands, and ing various opinions, and assigning reasons for his own, and a few moments ascertained to me that he was perfectly alleges Dr Arrowsmith to be the most likely person. blind. "The first emotions that touched my breast were After weighing the evidence, by which this and seve- those of mingled pity and veneration. But how soon ral other opinions have been supported, we have not were all any feelings changed! The lips of Plato were been able to come to any other conclusion, than that never more worthy of a prognostic swarm of bees, than the matter is altogether uncertain. After the Cate-administration of the sacrament; and his subject was, were the lips of this holy man! It was a day of the chism had been finished by the committee, it was laid before the Assembly and approved of, first in so many successive portions, and afterwards as a whole. On the 5th of November, it was approved of by the Parliament, and would have been licensed by the King, had not certain hindrances occurred. It was next laid before the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. This was in July 1648. And the following was the deliverance of the Assembly:" The General Assembly having seriously considered the Shorter Catechism, agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines sitting at Westminster, with the assistance of commissioners from this Kirk, do find, upon due examination thereof, that the said Catechism is agreeable to the Word of God, and in nothing contrary to the received doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of this Kirk; and therefore approve the said Shorter Catechism, as a part of the intended uniformity, to be a Directory for catechising such as are of weaker capacity." The year following, it was also ratified by an act of the Scottish Parliament. And from that time it has continued to be in common use, generally in Scotland, and among Presbyterians and several other denominations in England and Ireland; and has latterly obtained a firm footing in the United States, in most of the British colonies, and at not a few missionary stations far hence among the heathen. And it is remarkable, that amidst all the controversies which have occurred, it has been almost uniformly approved by every party of orthodox believers, "Amidst the jealousy and rivalship of contending parties," says the late pious and judicious Dr Belfrage," it has been a centre of union, in which the faith and charity of good men have met; and in seasons of innovation, when a veneration for what is ancient is derided as the freak of imbecility or prejudice; when the march of intellect' is the pretext for every change, however presumptuous or violent, and when all the foundations of the earth seem out of course, this summary of the truth remains uninjured and revered; and it will continue to be an exhibition and defence of pure religion and undefiled, before God and the Father, to the latest age."

THE BLIND PREACHER.

This sketch is from the pen of the late William Wirt, attorneygeneral in the United States of America, and is extracted from a well written account of the literature of that country, contained in the Athenæum of last year.

"IT was one Sunday, as I travelled through the county of Orange, that my eye was caught by a cluster of horses tied near a ruinous old wooden house in the

"As he descended from the pulpit to distribute the mystic symbols, there was a peculiar, a more than huran solemnity in his air and manner, which made my blood run cold, and my whole frame shiver. "He then drew a picture of the sufferings of our Saviour; his trial before Pilate; his ascent up Calvary; his crucifixion; and his death. I knew the whole history; but never until then had I heard the circumstances so selected, so arranged, so coloured! It was all new; and I seemed to have heard it for the first time in my life. His enunciation was so deliberate, that his voice trembled on every syllable; and every heart in the assembly trembled in unison. His peculiar phrases had that force of description, that the original scene appeared to be at that moment acting before our eyes. We saw the very faces of the Jews; the staring, frightful distortions of malice and rage. We saw the buffet; my soul kindled with a flame of indignation; and my hands were involuntarily and convulsively clenched.

"But when he came to touch on the patience, the forgiving meekness of our Saviour; when he drew, to the life, his blessed eyes streaming in tears to heaven; his voice breathing to God a soft and gentle prayer of pardon on his enemies, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, the voice of the preacher, which had all along faltered, grew fainter and fainter, until, his utterance being entirely obstructed by the force of his feelings, he raised his handkerchief to his eyes, and burst into a loud and irrepressible flood of grief. The effect is inconceivable. The whole house resounded with the mingled groans, and sobs, and shrieks of the congregation. It was some time before the tumult had subsided, so far as to permit him to proceed. Indeed, judging by the usual, but fallacious standard of my own weakness, I began to be very uneasy for the situation of the preacher. For I could not conceive how he would be able to let his audience down from the height to which he had wound them, without impairing the solemnity and dignity of his subject, or perhaps shocking them by the abruptness of the fall. But no: the

descent was as beautiful and sublime as the elevation had been rapid and enthusiastic. The first sentence, with which he broke the awful silence, was a quotation from Rousseau: Socrates died like a philosopher; but Jesus Christ, like a God.' I despair of giving you any idea of the effect produced by this short sentence, unless you could perfectly conceive the whole manner of the man, as well as the peculiar crisis in the discourse. Never before did I completely understand what Demosthenes meant by laying such stress on delivery. You are to bring before

you the venerable figure of the preacher; his blindness, constantly recalling to your recollection old Homer, Ossian, and Milton, and associating with his performance the melancholy grandeur of their geniuses; you are to imagine that you hear his slow, solemn, well-accented enunciation, and his voice of affecting, trembling melody; you are to remember the pitch of passion and enthusiasm, to which the congregation were raised; and then the few moments of portentous death-like silence which reigned throughout the house: the preacher, re-join that happy choir who rest not day nor night, saymoving his white handkerchief from his aged face, (even yet wet from the recent torrent of his tears,) and slowly stretching forth the palsied hand which holds it, begins the sentence, Socrates died like a philosopher' then pausing, raising his other hand, pressing them both, clasped together, with warmth and energy, to his breast, lifting his sightless balls' to heaven, and pouring his whole soul into his tremulous voice but Jesus Christ-like a God!' If he had been in deed and in truth an angel of light, the effect could scarcely have been more divine. Whatever I had been able to conceive of the sublimity of Massillon or the force of Bourdaloue, had fallen far short of the power which I felt froin the delivery of this simple sentence.

"If this description give you the impression, that this incomparable minister had anything of shallow, theatrical trick in his manner, it does him great injustice. I bave never seen, in any other orator, such a union of simplicity and majesty. He has not a gesture, an attitude, or an accent, to which he does not seem forced by the sentiment he is expressing. His mind is too serious, too earnest, too solicitous, and at the same time too dignified, to stoop to artifice. Although as far removed from ostentation as a man can be, yet it is clear, from the train, the style, and substance of his thoughts, that he is not only a very polite scholar, but a man of extensive and profound erudition. I was forcibly struck with a short yet beautiful character, which he drew of your learned and amiable countryman, Sir Robert Boyle he spoke of him, as if his noble mind had, even before death, divested herself of all influence from his frail tabernacle of flesh;' and called him, in his peculiarly emphatic though certainly extravagant language, a pure intelligence: the link between man and angels.'"

CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

Sickness and Death.-And are you very weak? Is sickness in the chamber, and death at the door? Come then, and let us sit down, with death and eternity in view; and encourage one another from the word, the precious word of God. What is there frightful in death, which our ever blessed Redeemer has not taken away? Do the pangs of dissolution alarm us? Should they be sharp, they cannot be very long; and our exalted Lord, with whom are the issues of death, knows what dying agonies mean. He has said, in the multi

tude of his tender mercies: "Fear thou not, for I am
with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will
strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee; yea, I will up-
hold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
(Isa. xli. 10,) This promise authorises us to say
boldly, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art
with me, thy rod and thy staff comfort me." (Psalm
xxiii. 4.) Are we afraid to enter into a strange, invi-
sible world? It is the world into which our Divine
Master is gone; where he has prepared everlasting
mansions (John xiv. 2, Luke xvi. 22.) for his people,
and has appointed his angels to conduct us thither.
Having such a convoy, what should we dread; and
going to our eternal home, where our all-bountiful
Redeemer is, why should we be reluctant? Are we
concerned, on account of what we leave? We leave
the worse, to possess the better.
If we leave our

earthly friends, we shall find more loving and lovely companions. We shall be admitted among the innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first-born, that are written in heaven. (Heb. xii. 22, 23.) Do we leave the ordinances of religion, which we have attended with great delight? leave the Word of God, which has been sweeter to our souls than honey to our mouths ?— We shall enter into the Temple, not made with hands, and ing: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." (Rev. iv. 8.) And if our Bible is no more, we shall have all that is promised, we shall behold all that is described therein. If we drop the map of our Heavenly Canaan, it will be to take possession of its blissful territories. That city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God does lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof." (Rev. xvi. 23.) Oh! my friend, blessed, for ever blessed be the grace of our God, and the merits of his Christ! we shall exchange the scanty stream for the boundless ocean; and if we no longer pick the first ripe grapes, we shall gather the full, the abounding, the never-ending vintage.-HERVEY.

66

The Condescension of Christ.-Oh! with what veneration, and gratitude, and wonder, should we look on the descent of Him into this lower world, who made all these things, and without whom was not any thing made that was made. What a grandeur does it throw over every step in the redemption of a fallen world, to think of its being done by Him who unrobed him of the glories of so wide a monarchy; and came to this humblest of its provinces, in the disguise of a servant; and took upon him the form of our degraded species; and let himself down to sorrows, and to sufferings, and to death, for us! In this love of an expiring Saviour to those for whom in agony he poured out his soul, there is a height, and a depth, and a length, and a breadth, more than I can comprehend; and let me never never from this moment neglect so great a salvation, or lose my hold of an atonement, made sure by Him who cried, that it was finished, and brought in an everlasting righteousness. It was not the visit of an empty parade that he made to us. It was for the accomplishment of some substantial purpose; and, if that purpose is announced, and stated to consist in his dying, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God, let us never doubt of our acceptance in that way of communication with our Father in heaven, which he hath opened and made known to us. In taking to that way, let us follow his every direction with that humility which a sense of all this wonderful condescension is fitted to inspire. Let us forsake all that he bids us forsake. Let us do all that he bids us do. up to his guidance with the docility of children, overLet us give ourselves powered by a kindness that we never merited, and a love that is unquelled by all the perverseness and all the ingratitude of our stubborn nature-for what shall we render unto him for such mysterious benefits-to him who has thus been mindful of us-to him who thus has deigned to visit us ?-CHALMERS.

God acts as a Refiner.-Although in afflictions, especially in national or public calamities, God oftentimes seems to make no distinction betwixt the objects of his compassion and those of his fury, indiscriminately involving them in the same destiny; yet his prescience and intentions make a vast difference, where his inflic tions do not seem to make any: as when on the same test, and with the self-same fire, we urge as well the gold, as the blended lead or antimony; but with foreknowing and designing such a disparity in the events, as to consume the ignobler minerals, or blow them off into dross or fumes, and make the gold more pure and full of lustre.The Hon, ROBERT BOYLE,

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SCRIPTURES. | pronounced to be of infinite moment, than to al

ruling the schemes and enterprizes of many successive generations of men to the accomplishment of purposes previously foretold; thus exhibiting his power and wisdom in actual operation, guiding, with infinite facility, all the complicated movements both of the natural and moral world to the result which he had from the beginning determined. While they tell us that he is a God of truth, even the faithful and covenant-keeping God, they detail at the same time his dealings with the Church, his ancient chosen people, where we see him, after much forbearance and long-suffering patience, and after many warnings addressed to them by prophets commissioned for the purpose, visiting them with severe chastisements as if he had utterly forsaken them, yet returning again and remembering the covenant which he had sworn to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And while they declare of him that he is righteous and holy, a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, they do not leave us with these general statements. They record the most impressive and intelligible illustrations of this truth in the banishment of our first parents from Paradise-in the destruction of the old world by the flood-and in innumerable other immediate visitations of righteous judgment on the workers of iniquity. The Scriptures, then, do not consist of a mere statement of certain abstract truths, about which, when they are once carefully perused and afterwards remembered, nogether within our reach without effort or foremore is to be known. They contain a treasure thought on our part. On the contrary, every of heavenly wisdom, which the more it is ex- thing essential to our subsistence and comfort replored the more inexhaustible it will appear: quires more or less exertion; and the most refinthough its statements are level to the understand-ed of our present enjoyments, those which maning of the simplest, and fitted to arrest the most inattentive, comparatively little of it will be krown from a single reading, however careful; and they who have read it most frequently, and drunk most largely of its spirit, will be the first to discover new sources of admiration and delight on every new perusal. And if the Psalmist, therefore, who possessed but a small portion of the Sacred Volume, took "the testimonies of the Lord as an heritage for ever, because they were the rejoicing of his heart," how much greater reason have we to make these testimonies "our songs in the house of our pilgrimage," and to " meditate upon the Lord in the night season!"

to be found every where in the pages of the Sacred Volume, mixed up with many other subjects, which, though full of interest and instruction, do not immediately refer to the one great subject of Christ's mediatorial work. It is in this way that "all Scripture, being the inspiration of God, is profitable" as the apostle declares, “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works;" because the enlightened reader will find that all Scripture, so far as he has means and opportunities of understanding it, serves to convey to him more enlarged views of those truths which do most nearly concern his everlasting well-being: and it is upon this ground that creeds, and confessions, and catechisms, and other forms of sound words, have been employed in all ages of the Church, and with incalculable advantage, as aids to the great body of readers towards the right understanding of saving truth. And in adopting such a method of communicating to men that which it is necessary for their salvation that they should know, God has acted in perfect and beautiful accordance with his procedure in other matters. In the natural world, on which we are dependent for our daily subsistence, neither the luxuries, nor the comforts, nor even the necessaries of life are produced spontaneously, or placed to

But it is not merely as containing a great deal respecting the character and government of God, that the Scriptures ought to be precious to us, and therefore made the subject of our constant study. Even with regard to the main subject, that which constitutes the essence of the Gospel,—I mean the way

of pardon and acceptance, and eternal life, we must give ourselves to the daily and devout perusal of the Word of God, if we would have our faith to be steadfast, our peace and comfort undisturbed, our consolations in the time of trouble abundant, and our obedience cheerful and uniform. Saving truth, that is to say, the portion of Divine Revelation which is absolutely necessary for salvation,—has not been put down in the Bible in the shortest and most systematic form, but is

kind generally seek most earnestly, and value most highly, are procured by an almost incalculable amount and variety of labour. Yet no man complains of this ordination: nay, every man who entertains any enlightened views of the divine administration, or of the constitution and condition of mankind as the subjects of that administration, will see proofs of divine wisdom and beneficence in such an order of things; inasmuch as the very skill and industry which are so expended, while they minister largely to human enjoyment, constitute also a system of wholesome discipline for the powers and faculties of our nature. And is it not a still more striking proof of the wisdom and beneficence of God, that the same order should obtain in spiritual things-that diligent application to the study of Scripture should be necessary, if we would attain to any enlarged and enlightened views of the ways and works of God and that we should be subjected to that discipline of our faculties, the direct tendency of which is to prepare us for the enjoyment of the blessedness opened up to us in the Gospel of his grace? It is indeed a delightful thought that the saving truths of the Gospel are so simple, and may be brought within so small a compass, as to be comprehended even by those who are the least gifted with the capacity of laborious investigation, and have the fewest means and opportunities of carrying it on. But it were a melancholy proof of indifference to