and the more intelligent Christian of our own country | and died, departing happily to the Lord. Daniel was might learn with no small advantage. But while Daniel exhibited such proofs of his ardent zeal for the conversion of his countrymen, the salvation of his own relations, as might be expected, was especially near to his heart. The Christian is no Stoic, the religion of Christ only tends to make the natural affections purer and stronger. Daniel's soul burned with a fervent desire to see his dearly beloved father, and brothers, and sisters, partakers of the same benefits with himself and his wife. His anxiety soon became so painful, that he was constrained to open his mind to the Missionaries; at the same time, with earnest importunity, requesting their permission to undertake a journey to the north, in quest of his family. The brethren endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, on account of the various dangers that were to be apprehended, both for body and soul; but as he could find no rest in his spirit, his urgent solicitations obliged them to acquiesce in his undertaking, and they dismissed him, in the year 1753, with the blessing of the congregation, in the company of Jonas, another of the Greenland helpers. These humble Missionaries travelled about 140 leagues northward, declaring, like our blessed Saviour, their Master, the word of atonement wherever they met with any people, and especially among their relations. They soon returned to their friends at New Herrnhuth, who were anxiously concerned for their safety, bringing along with them some of their relatives. The labours of this journey were abundantly repaid, for the whole of Daniel's family followed him, were baptized, and, we are told, prospered in the congregation. In a letter of Daniel's, in which he alludes to his journey to the north, he says, "When I visited the heathens in Kangek, I could think of nothing to tell them but our Saviour's sufferings. Neither have I myself any inclination for other topics, for nothing is so agreeable to me as his passion and blood-shedding; and this is the most powerful-this is the greatest thing we can tell mankind." "I," said the Saviour, "if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Thus far the brethren had reaped much pleasure, and little pain, from this man of God. But they were now about to experience that painful feeling which St. Paul speaks of when he says, "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." Daniel had hitherto walked humbly with his God, ascribing unto him all the praise; but now the praise of man gradually infused its subtle poison into his spirit, and so benumbed the better principles of the inner man, that he was once induced to make a vain- glorious display of his powers, which was "as the breaking forth of waters," the breach becoming wider and wider. The alteration in Daniel's spirit soon became so visible, as to excite the anxious fears of the Missionaries on his account. His discourses were no longer attended with their usual unction and power. Perhaps if the reader would examine himself, his own conscience would tell him that poor Daniel is not a singular instance of such depravity. The Lord did not, however, utterly forsake him, but led him back into the way of obedience with the sharp rod of affliction. Daniel had one surviving daughter, a girl of 15 years of age, upon whom his affections rested with the fondest tenderness. She was able to read the Word of God, which she did frequently to her father; and was therefore endeared to him, not only as a child, but as an important assistant in the work of instructing his family and countrymen. The world contained no object half so dear to the heart of Daniel as his daughter Beata: his being, in every sense of the word, was, as it were, bound up with hers to wound him here, would be to wound him at the heart; but Daniel had deeply sinned, and upon this tender part his merciful Lord saw it necessary to inflict the friendly stripes. Beata sickened, so amazed and stunned at the stroke, that his self-possession seemed quite to forsake him; he even absented himself from the Lord's Supper; but he soon found that, though “no affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, it afterwards yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." He was convinced of his error, and in three months after the death of his daughter, he again, as a comforted sinner, repaired to the table of his Lord. The effect of this affliction upon Daniel's soul, appears in the following letter: "These lines shall tell you the thoughts of my heart. Last year I was not rightly happy, because one of my daughters went home. But I soon felt that all was not well in my heart, and begged our Saviour for forgiveness with tears; and before the winter came, he comforted me again with his nearness, and gave me a happy heart. Afterwards, at the great absolution and communion succeeding our winter-entrance, my heart was melted in a peculiar manner. Alas! the man that seeks and loves any thing else but Him, cannot enjoy his grace. But those that are poor and wretched in themselves, those that stand in need of him and implore his grace, they experience it; for he came to relieve the distressed. Therefore I will not conceal my sinfulness from him, nor from his servants. They know me, and as for him, he sees the recesses of my heart." Daniel no doubt felt anguish at the loss of his daughter, but this affliction proved salutary, for he immediately looked upon earthly things as nothing and vanity, compared with Christ. He was not permitted, however, to remain long behind his beloved child, and the hour of his departure was at hand. How well the Great Builder of the Church had prepared and polished this living stone for the place which he was destined to fill in the spiritual temple above, appeared throughout the whole of his illness. In a letter dictated immediately before his sickness, he says, "I put my confidence solely in my Saviour; he knows me best, and sees what I am deficient in. He is our Teacher, Tutor, and Comforter." The Shortly after his re-admission to the Lord's Supper, his fatal illness began with pains in the side. brethren immediately opened a vein, and gave him what they thought might be of service to him, but nothing would relieve him. When they called on him, they always found him in a happy meditation and intercourse with the Friend of his soul. On the 2d of December, he said, with a peculiarly lively and cheerful look, "Now it is confirmed to me that I shall go to my Saviour; nor will it be long delayed, for the wedding-garment I waited for is ready. Oh! how well and happy am I! But how will it then be to me, when I, like Thomas, shall lay my hand in his side, and say, My Lord, and my God!'" Oh how will I thank him that he has chosen me from among the heathen, has washed me with his blood, has given me his body to eat, and his blood to drink, and has kept me in fellowship with himself!" When Daniel was visited, December 3d, in the inorning, he was quite cheerful, and recommended his two sons and their mother to the care of the Missionaries. An extraordinary expression of love and peace exhibited in his countenance was observed by all around him. By degrees he lost his speech, and signified a wish to be blessed for his dismission, which was done by the laying on of the hands of the Missionaries, and a farewell kiss, and the whole was attended with deep emotion, and a flood of tears from all present. The Missionaries left him, and had scarce reached home, when word was brought that Daniel was at the point of death. They hastened back again, but it was only to behold the departure of this highly-favoured witness of Jesus into the joy of his Lord. All who were around him at the moment of dissolution behaved themselves as those who have a lively hope; yet they, together with the Mis sionaries, embalmed his memory with innumerable tears. His remains were, according to the Greenland custom, sewed up in a skin; and being laid upon a bier, were covered with a white cloth, over which the following verse, in the Greenland language, was legibly marked in red letters : "You bear me now to my repose, As once they bore my Lord; On the day appointed for the interment, the corpse was carried to the tomb by six Greenland helpers, and attended by a large procession of Greenlanders and people from the factory. enough for your pardon and for your justification? This A LETTER TO A LADY UNDER CONCERN tion. BY THE REV. JAMES SIEVERIGHT, A.M., | without waiting for "signs and wonders," and without waiting for fruits of holiness which are not antecedent to faith—you must begin with Christ; and O, my dear, do not make that elect and precious stone a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence-do not think you can enter into peace, or advance a step in religion, by stepping past that elect One, who is the Rock of our SalvaGo no farther without Christ-abide under the shadow of that great Rock. This you tell me it is your desire to do, but yet your soul is not satisfied nor saved. Now, if you will dismiss all prejudices, and the reasonings of carnal wisdom, and be content with what contents every saint in Heaven, and if you will simply receive, and build on, what Christ has done, as your foundation, and look unto him to make you complete, Christ will both save you and satisfy all your desire. What does God require of you but faith in his well-beloved Son, and what is faith but to believe that Christ loved you and gave himself for you, to purchase forgiveness, and to bring forth his righteousness, that garment of praise, for your salvation? O, put it on, and cast away the spirit of heaviness for ever! "Love thinketh no evil,"-think no evil of Christ, then, but cast away car many perish because they are too wise, and reasoning, and presumptuous, and will not, as the Apostle says, become fools that they may be wise,) and consult not with what others have experienced, but in simplicity of understanding say, "I am a lost sinner, ready to perish; here is Christ declaring his power and willingness to save me, and crying 'come unto me.' I come, Lord! I venture my soul on Thy love. Venture? as if it were doubtful—help that unbelief! I cheerfully commit and willingly confide my all to Thee-yea, had I a thousand immortal souls in danger, in Thy hands, undoubtedly, would I confide them all." O! give all to Christ, and be assured nothing shall be lost! Well may the soul tell to Christ— MY DEAR M— A week has nearly elapsed since I was favoured with your letter, and I am sorry at the long delay which has unavoidably taken place in replying to so interesting a communication. What a privilege it is to us that the great Redeemer is not like man, on whom, if a multiplicity of matters devolve, something will be overlooked, or less attended to than the case requires. But of the great multitude of souls looking unto Jesus from all parts of the wide world, not one is overlooked by Christ, nor is help denied beyond the time of need. From the contents of your letter I may infer that your soul is more staid on the Rock of Salva-nal reasonings and objections of unbelief, (for, alas! tion than it was the day you told me your troubles you then assured me you were thoroughly convinced of your sinful guilty state, a sense of which distressed and nade you miserable; and you seemed truly desirous to obtain relief and when is real distress reluctant to be relieved? I know you are not reluctant, for you were breathing after relief with emotions of seriousness not to be repressed. Well, lay aside the knowledge of many things you have acquired touching experience and duty, and suppose you had never heard a Gospel declaration to this day-on that supposition this letter finds a poor, contrite, broken-hearted sinner, bemoaning a lost state, and earnestly asking, What shall I do? Now, in this state it is absolutely necessary to unlearn many things, and begin with the Gospel as if you had never heard it before. You are convinced of sin-you long It is a fit replyfor deliverance-you pant for salvation as the hart panteth for the water-brooks-and what you seek, that declare we unto you, in declaring Christ. It is the Gospel record that God, out of his great love to mankind, sent his dear Son to suffer, the just for the unjust—to die, the innocent for the guilty-by the obedience of one to bring in a justifying righteousness, and by the shedding of his blood, to effectuate our redemption from the penalty of death. And justice being glorified by the death of Christ for our sins, and the law magnified by his obedience in our stead, every obstacle is removed, and grace proclaimed in the sinner's reconciliation, pardon, and acceptance with God—and it is only required of us that we believe God's love in giving Christ, and that we believe his righteousness is sufficient to justify any sinner, and his blood of price enough to redeem from any sins. Do you believe these things? I know you believe them, but let us go a step further. Do you believe the righteousness of Christ, and the death of Christ, "Nothing but sin I thee can give." "Nothing but love shalt thou receive." "I'm healed! set free! from sin made pure, I write this under the impression that you are not yet escaped from bondage, and that you do still stand in suspense; and if it is so, allow me to quote the first lines of your letter to me :-" Unworthy as I am, and feel myself, I must not allow this consideration to de ter me from availing myself of the kind privilege you hopes and joys-He comes in His own glory, and His Father's glory, and the holy angels with Him; bearing in one hand a divinely-wrought robe of righteousness, and in the other a blood-bought crown of glory; and He stands at the door and knocks--but the door is not opened to Him and He stands there day after day, waiting and knocking, but still the door is not opened; aye, that door, which was opened at once to every other guest, from earth or hell, is kept closed-barred, as with bars of iron, against Him; and He is left there standing and knocking-and knocking, but knocking tural state, been compared to the inn of Bethlehem, where every guest could find room, and every guest was welcome, except the Saviour of mankind!-WHITE. granted me of writing to you. I cannot doubt you still continue to feel the same unabated interest you expresed for my soul." Excuse the liberty of repeating your words. Now, has Christ expressed no interest for souls? What drew him from heaven to earth, from the glory of the Father to the agonies and cursed shame of the Cross? Was it not the interest he took in soulsand do not his word and works, his life and death, express the greatness of his interest in souls? and has not he left sinners the privilege of believing on him, apply-in vain! How justly has the human heart, in its naing to him, and committing their souls into his hands, and shall our unworthiness deter us from that privilege? No! Just go to Christ with such a sentiment as that transcribed above. Unworthy as I feel," &c., "I will not let that consideration deter me from believing on Thee for salvation." Why should we place such a reliance on the good will of a fellow creature, and yet be slow to confide in the Redeemer's love l-I am, &c. CHRISTIAN TREASURY. It is man Behold! I stand at the door and knock !-In vain do we look for language in which to express, or an image by which to illustrate, the stupendous condescension of the Mighty God. An earthly monarch, descending from his throne, laying aside his regal splendor, and, in the garb and attitude of a suppliant, knocking at the door of the meanest hovel in his dominions, and entreating its inmate to receive his monarch as his guest,Oh! this conveys no image of the infinite condescension of the King of Kings. This is but the condescension of one worm to another; of a worm clothed in ermine to a worm clothed in rags; and how can this even shadow forth the condescension of the Almighty to a worm-of the Sovereign of the universe to a particle of dust! Yea, more-infinitely more, the condescension of the insulted God, stooping to plead with a rebellious worm; the offended Sovereign of the universe, stooping to supplicate the sinner that has defied and despised Him; entreating him to accept a free, full, glorious salvation, even pardon, holiness, eternal bliss all purchased with that offended Sovereign's agony and blood! Is not this a sight that may well make angels wonder? And yet perhaps earth affords a sight still more calculated to fill heaven with astonishment. refusing to listen to a beseeching God; it is the creature turning a deaf ear to the entreaties of his Creator; it is the rebellious worm spurning the invitations of his imploring Sovereign; it is the sinner leaving the Saviour standing and knocking at the door of his heart, and not merely neglecting to open it, but keeping it fast closed against Him, and with cold contempt or scornful pride, refusing to receive Him as his guest. And then to think how this insult is aggravated, by the readiness with which the door of the heart is opened to every other guest that knocks for admission there. First, the objects of our earthly love, all that have a just claim on our affections, knock at the door of the heart, and the door is at once opened, and they enter in and dwell there. Then the world knocks, and the door is at once opened and the world comes with its train of lying vanities, and cheating promises, and disappointing hopes, and unsatisfying joys, and they enter into the heart and dwell there. And then sin knocks, and the door is at once opened—and sin comes in with its train of polluting thoughts, and vile affections, and unhallowed tempers, and abominable lusts, and they all enter into the heart and dwell there. And then Satan knocks, and the door is opened to him and he comes with his train of impure and accursed spirits, and they all enter into the heart, and dwell there. And then Jesus comes, attended by a train of holy and heavenly tempers and affections, Our Lord's Second Advent.-O blessed Saviour, what a strange variety of conceits do I find concerning thy thousand years reign! What riddles are there in that prophecy, which no human tongue can read! Where to fix the beginning of that marvellous millenary, and where the end, and what manner of reign it shall be; whether temporal or spiritual, on earth or in heaven, undergoes as many constructions as there are How busy are the pens that have undertaken it. tongues of men! How are their brains taken up with the endless construction of this enigmatical truth, when, in the meantime, the care of the spiritual reign in their hearts is neglected! O my Saviour! while others weary themselves with this disquisition of thy personal reign upon earth for a thousand years, let it be the whole bent and study of my soul, to make sure of my personal reign with thee in heaven to all eternity.-BISHOP HALL. Adver Needful Trials. The sufferings, which to Christ Our condition were only glorious, are necessary to us. requires this treatment. We are sick of a disease which will yield to no other application. Into what excesses should we not run headlong without this seasonable restraint! Humanity, moderation, charity, and even justice, are too seldom seen in the world, as it is: but the very footsteps of these virtues would not be visible upon the earth, if adversity were banished out of it. Eager appetites, clamorous passions, hearken to no other call. The voice of reason cannot reach them. As full of unhappiness as the world is, men still find courage to be wicked; and the little of virtue that yet remains among us, is chiefly owing to this salutary discipline. We thank God, perhaps, when we do thank him, for prosperity; for health, plenty, success and honour. We do well. They are the gifts of God's Providence, and demand our acknowledgments. But they are not the only blessings his goodness confers on us. sity should be added to the number of his favours, and remembered in our most devout thanksgivings. Blessed be God for pain, sickness, disappointment, distress; and every one of those various evils with which the life of man is filled, and which are the subjects of our hasty complaints; evils, which are our greatest good; which afflict but purify, tear and harrow up the soul, but prepare it for the seeds of virtue. Blessed be God that he is not so unkind as to try us by the most dangerous of all temptations,-uninterrupted prosperity: that we are not undone by the accomplishment of our wishes: That he is pleased to chastise us with his legitimate children, and with his dear and only begotten Son; whom we hope to follow through the gate of the grave to a joyful resurrection; and to be received by him into those mansions whch he is now preparing for us in heaven; where he liveth and reigneth, with the Father and Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.-OGDEN. Though our enemies are potent, and we impotent, yet our God is omnipotent; and though we have a mighty foe, yet we have an Almighty Friend.-WEST. SACRED POETRY. THEY SING THE SONG OF MOSES."-REV. xv. 3. DARK was the night, the wind was high, The way by mortals never trod; When faithful Moses stretched the rod. Stood like a massy tott'ring wall, The depths of that mysterious way; That shone for them with fav ring ray. The flower of Pharaoh's chivalry. Their wonder burst into a song. And anxious watching with their sleeping. The path no human strength can tread; Heaven's light upon our path to shed. And tread yon golden strand at last, How grace hath led us safe along; And ev'n on earth, though sore bested— That hope may all my breast inspire. MISCELLANEOUS. M'CH. Archbishop Usher.-A friend of this worthy prelate repeatedly urged him to write his thoughts on Sanctification, which at length he engaged to do; but a considerable time elapsing, the performance of his promise was importunately claimed. The bishop replied to this effect: I have not written, and yet I cannot charge myself with a breach of promise; for I began to write, but when I came to treat of the new creatures which God formed by his Spirit in every regenerate soul, I found so little of it wrought in myself that I could speak of it only as parrots, or by rote, without the knowledge of what I might have expressed, and therefore I durst not presume to proceed any further in it." Upon this his friend stood amazed, to hear such a confession from a man so eminent. The bishop then added, "I must tell you we do not well understand what sancti fication and the new creature are. It is best for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his own will to the will of God, and to live in the offering up of his soul continually in the flames of love as a whole burntoffering to Christ; and Oh! how many who profess Christianity are unacquainted experimentally with this great work upon their souls." Testimony to the Value of the Bible-Dr Leechman, Principal of the College of Glasgow, had a great veneration for the sacred oracles. When on his deathbed, he said to the son of a worthy nobleman, “ you see the situation I am in; I have not many days to live; I am glad you have had an opportunity of witnessing the tranquillity of my last moments; but it is not tranqullity and composure alone, it is joy and triumph, it is complete exultation!" "And whence does this exultation spring?"" From that book," (pointing to a Bible that lay on the table,) "from that book, too much neglected indeed, but which contains invaluable treasures -treasures of joy and rejoicing; for it makes us certain that this mortal shall put on immortality!" Sabbath. Coleridge looked forward with great delight to the return of the Sabbath, the sacredness of which produced a wonderful effect on the temperament of that Christian poet. To a friend he said, one Sunday morning, "I feel as if God had, by giving the Sabbath, given fifty-two springs in every year." Let A Christian Officer.-Sir Charles Middelton, afterwards well known as Lord Barham, whose management of the navy when first Lord of the Admiralty in times of unequalled difficulty, will ever be mentioned to his honour in the pages of British history, was highly com mended for his prompt services by Lord Nelson, and the navy of England reached the acmè of fame, when a man, ridiculed as a saint, presided over its affairs. this for ever silence those who assert that religion incapacitates for the use of this life. But another point deserves to be mentioned. Lord Barham permitted no Sabbath labour in the dock-yards; yet he managed to comply with the urgent and rapid demands of the hero of the deep, whose circumstances and uncommon movements required no ordinary energy in the supply of his resources. Neither nations nor individuals will ever lose by the dedication of the sacred day to the worship of a God who prospers those who serve him and obey his commandments. Repentance. Some people, said the excellent Philip Henry, do not like to hear much of repentance; but I think it so necessary, that if I should die in the pulpit, I wish to die preaching repentance, and if out of the pulpit, practising it. And sold by the Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; and to be procured of every Bookseller in England and Ireland. Subscribers in Edinburgh and Leith will have their copies delivered regularly at their own residences, every Saturday morning, by leaving their addresses with the Publisher, or with John Lindsay & Co., 7, South St. Andrew Street.-Subscribers in Glasgow will, in like manner, have their copies delivered, by leaving their addresses at the Publishing Office there, 32, Glassford Street. Subscription (payable in advance) per quarter, of twelve weeks, 1s. 6d.-per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 3s.-per year, of fortyeight weeks, 6s.-Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, stitched in printed wrapper, Price Sevenpence. ON INDUSTRY. (Extracted from a Manuscript, Dated Aug. 9, 1807.) BY THE LATE REV. SIR HENRY MONCREIFF Wellwood, Bart., may PRICE 14d of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." OUR separate duties, like our different conditions, are not the effects of any arbitrary arrangements, devised by men, but are universally the consequences of the wise and perpetual decrees of God, who gives to every man his place, and selects for every man his peculiar occupations. The distinctions created by wealth and poverty, by power and dependence, are inseparable from the condition of human nature, and of civilized society; but they are as intimately embodied with the peculiar duties which every individual, in his own The advantages, condition, is required to fulfil. This analogy is perfectly correct, as it applies suited to the place which God hath given us among our brethren, are only to be enjoyed in to the different duties and conditions of mankind. connection with the employments and the duties The labour of the statesman, of the soldier, of which it prescribes to us; and he who will not the mariner, of the profound inquirer, of the public perform the duties of his station, can have no instructor, of the teacher of children, of the skilful right to expect that he can possess its advantages. physician, of the enterprising merchant, of the acIndustry, or labour, is the indispensable duty of tive manufacturer, of the industrious mechanic, is, every individual, whatever his situation or capacity in each of them, labour demanded for the general be; and this, as much from the law of Re- order, security, and happiness of mankind; and not ligion, as from the interests and arrangements of more essential to public prosperity than to the comthe present life. It is not confined to any rank fort and tranquillity of the lowest situation. The or condition. The lower orders of the people great communicate to the small, and the wise to the are often apt to imagine, that all the labour is ignorant, the opportunities, the knowledge, or the with them; and that they who occupy the su- protection which they require; and they receive perior, and even the middle ranks, live above the from them, in return, the means both of their prinecessity of personal exertion, on the industry of vate comfort and of their public usefulness. The those below them. Nothing can be farther from wealth and activity of the rich produce bread and the truth. The different departments, and the employment to the poor, while the industry of the variety of stations in human life, are essential to poor lies at the foundation of all the prosperity the general happiness and prosperity of mankind, and wealth of the rich. Every man's labour is and depend so universally and so closely on one suited to his own talents, and to his own place; another, that there is not one of them, which can and there it is essential, not only to his separate either exist, or become a source of prosperity, duty, or individual happiness, but to the general without the rest :-an idea, which the apostle interests of human life, and to the progress and Paul illustrates, with regard to the different offices prosperity of human affairs. and talents in the Church of God, by their analogy to the members of the human body. the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?" "God hath set the members every one They who occupy the higher departments of so"Ifciety, are not at liberty to neglect their duties to those below them, or to forget that they depend on them, every moment, for all the external means of their comfort and prosperity. It is their labour to |
