devoted child of nature; whereas the English Elizabeth narrates her own story, and tells it to her children simply and briefly. Her narrative is little more than a sketch, yet such as every susceptible heart, worthy of entering into the feelings of the writer, will readily fill up. "In desiring to extend the reading of this affecting narrative beyond the immediate circle of my home, I yield to the fond desire of perpetuating the remembrance of such virtuous heroism, of increasing the admiration which such exalted virtues must excite. True it is that I have not obtained permission to do so; but I need not fear the displeasure of one whose affectionate disposition will readily excuse an error, if such it may be called, which is occasioned by the devoted affection of her child. I delight myself also with thinking that my mother's heroic example may stimulate my country women, if need should be, to emulate the excellence which has added an example to the many, of devoted love and exalted perseverance. And what, by the blessing of the Most High, may not an intrepid mind, though united to a helpless body, effect? Virtue carries with it a kind of omnipotence; and often have the most sanguinary men yielded to the silent eloquence of of virtue. "What one has achieved another may attempt; and, when success has been vouchsafed to such feeble means, no one need despair. Perhaps, therefore, to the example of my excellent mother husbands and fathers yet unborn may owe both life and liberty, with all that renders such blessings most invaluable. "JANE, preparation afore death; but, God knoweth, far out of square. Some redeemed for money great plenty of indulgences from Rome; and he that bad the greatest plenty of them to be cast with him into his grave when he was buried (which I myself have seen done) was counted the best prepared for death. Others made provisions or foundations to have great number of masses said for them after death, thereby to be the sooner delivered out of purgatory. Others there were, that thought it a more reasonable and speedy way to quench the fire of purgatory afore they fell into it; and therefore they procured a number of masses and trentals (or services of thirty masses for the deal to be said for them afore death. Some of thos that have been learned (the more was the pity) bave died in an observant or grey friar's cowl and afterward been buried in the same, and so thought themselves well prepared. But, alas all these preparations were so preposteron Parchment and lead (for each indulgence was on parchment sealed with lead)-masses and trentals, were they before death or after-the grey or black colour of the friar's cowl were very slender matters of defence before God's judgment-seat These things, therefore, being not only not commanded of God, but also tending to the diminu tion of the efficacy and virtue of Christ's cross were more apt to kindle the unquenchable fire of hell, than to quench the fantastical fire of purgatory, which is nowhere. Lamentable it is to hear into what gross errors and superstitions men were carried by those that made a merchandize of religion, teaching things not convenient for filthy lucre's sake,' as St. Paul foreshowed To be brief, therefore, the true preparation to die well is to live well; a few words, but a long lesson. When I say that to live well is the very best preparation to die well, let no man think that I herein go about to extol the dignity or merit of man's works, but that I understand by living well all those qualities and virtues which pertain to a true Christian man, amongst which those that be of the first table of the command ments of God are most principal; as, namely Christian belief, the true knowledge of God assured faith in the mercies of God for the merits of Christ only; out of which, as out of a most plentiful fountain, springeth true invocation of God, true mortification of the old man, and con tempt of the world, with all the works of charity and mercy. 66 .... Almighty God, grant unto every one of u that, when the uncertain hour of death shall come we may be found vigilant and well prepared that, departing hence with a joyful conscience we may be partakers of that blessedness and fe licity which in the scriptures our Saviour promiset to those servants whom the Lord at his coming shall find watching and ready; which blessedness God grant us all, through the merits and death of the same our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour. glory, and empire, now and for ever. Amen (Abp. Grindal, Serm., 3rd Oct., 1564). H. S. JESUS CHRIST THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS: A Sermon, BY THE REV. J. B. SMITH, D.D., JER. xxiii. 6. "And this is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." Ir pleased God, in the course of that wonderful and gracious dispensation, during which the Jewish people were under his special government, to make known to them his intentions at various times, by inspired prophets, whom he raised up, and gifted with a power of predicting future events. For a period of about one thousand years, commencing with Moses, and ending with Malachi, did these holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; whilst their pretensions to be accredited as God's faithful messengers were corroborated and confirmed, as well by the holiness of their lives, as also more particularly by the miraeles they were enabled to perform; and also by the speedy fulfilment of many of their prophecies, which had reference to present times and circumstances, there was furnished a sure ground of confidence that those which God empowered them to deliver in reference to more remote periods would also have an exact accomplishment. Hence, the book of prophecy, conEtaining as it does a record of the various predictions of these enlightened servants of the Most High, many of which have already been accomplished, is a most interesting and wonderful production: it is a production whose value and importance increaseth with every age, inasmuch as every age exhibits increasing and accumulated evidence to its truth. When the people of Israel, my brethren, saw with their own eyes the competion of those things which the lips of their prophets had uttered years before they came to pass, then they saw in each transaction of that kind an evidence of God declaring his truth, and demonstrating his prescience, by the organs of mortal men; and hence they regarded all declarations proceeding from God's acknowledged prophets as absolutely true in themselves, and assuredly to be fulfilled in God's appointed time. And, as each revolving age brought forth the completion of additional predictions, so would this confidence be strengthened. When not only years, but centuries even, had intervened between a prediction and its fulfilment, the admiration thereat would be heightened still further; and well might they be led to ex claim, "This is the Lord's doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes." In this respect, my brethren, we have a decided advantage over the Jewish people of old; inasmuch as every generation develops something further of that mysterious plan of God's providence, whereof he had empowered his prophets to communicate certain portions to those in days of old. And herein it has been truly said that prophecy is a "growing evidence": it increaseth in weight and perspicuity with advance of ages: it is even as a "light shining more and more unto perfect day." We can take up the holy volume, and, reading therein, can trace out the marvellous coincidence of facts with predictions: we can behold not only the completion of those wonderful events, on which was built the faith of the Jews; but still more, we cau (now that a judicial blindness hath fallen upon the understandings of the Jews, for their wicked obstinacy)-we can trace the completion of many signal prophecies in their case. And in the awful destruction of their city and temple, in the desolation of their country, and in the sad and strange dispersion of themselves amongst all the nations of the earth, we can behold most strikingly the finger of God, and can hear, as it were, the very voice of the Almighty sounding in our ears, and riveting our reverent attention to the declarations of his sovereign will. Our belief in the truth of God's holy word is thus irresistibly confirmed by a "cloud of witnesses," whose testimony is of that strong and striking and overpowering character that nothing can oppose or withstand; and the declarations of prophecy are impressed on our believing minds as convincingly and clearly as if written thereon with the very vividness of a sunbeam. Thus the word of the Lord becomes "precious" to the true believer: it is his delight to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest its sacred contents; and he rises from its perusal with a renewed spiritual vigour; refreshed, as it were, with the supplies which the fountain of life continually affords to his soul; and, cheered and supported thereby, he is enabled to travel on in his earthly pilgrimage, in faithful and willing obedience unto the end. Having made these brief introductory remarks on the office of the prophets generally, and on the results that necessarily spring from a due and serious consideration respecting them, we will now turn our attention to the words of our text, and to the prophet Jeremiah in particular. He was an illustrious and faithful prophet, called at an early age to his sacred office, and commissioned by God to deliver to his peo ple the intimations of his will, and the denunciations of impending punishments for their transgressions. For, at the time wherein he lived, the people of Israel had sadly revolted from the Lord: there had been a great national defection; and the deluded people in general had given themselves up to idolatry. Though having the word of God to enlighten their path, and the messengers of God to direct their way-though God had made himself specially known unto them, and had chosen them and separated them from the heathen world, to be a distinct and peculiar people unto himself yet, under all these high spiritual privileges, they had shamelessly and ungratefully forgotten the Lord Most High, and turned them unto other gods, which indeed were "no gods": in the depravity and obstinacy of their wicked hearts, they had provoked a good and gracious Lord unto anger, and had changed the pure worship of the glorious Jehovah into a degrading, senseless form of superstitious idolatry. This sad and lamentable defection is thus strikingly adverted to in the words of Jeremiah himself: "Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be ye very desolate (or sad), saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Yes; notwithstanding their high privileges, they had thus lamentably fallen, and had grievously merited the emphatic expostulation that God puts into the mouth of his prophet: "I had planted thee, a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into a degenerate plant of a strange vine, unto me! For, though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God." But we need not multiply quotations on this point: the whole of the book of Jeremiah is full of mournfully-striking passages respecting the degrading national sin of idolatry, and of the severe punishments which the infatuated people of Israel were treasuring up for themselves against the day of wrath, and of vengeance from their righteous God. So faithfully and boldly, indeed, did this holy man deliver his message, that eventually the conscience-smitten people, in the anger of their unsubdued and proud hearts, persecuted him to a horrible death, and stoned with stones this prophet of the Most High. But to return. The holy prophet had in some previous predictions denounced that sad and lengthened captivity, under which th Israelites should suffer the punishment o their wicked doings, and the penalty of their revolt from God. For seventy years they were to groan under the miseries of slavery, and to mourn and pine for the land of their fathers, whence the king of Babylon should carry them away captive, and should, as the instrument in God's hands, be permitted sorely to smite and chasten them; whilst their city should be destroyed, their temple broken down, and their land made desolate. So strikingly was all this to take place, that the surrounding nations were to have their attention arrested thereby, and to perceive in these wonderful transactions the power of the Most High, and to acknowledge therein the very finger of God. "I will deliver (saith the Lord) Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his servants and the people, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life; and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword: he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy": "And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his wea pons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire; and many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say, every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.' Whilst thus, however, they were doomed to endure this sad and fearful chastisement under the hand of the Almighty (a chastisement which in his appointed time was strictly inflicted), yet a gracious and good God in his very wrath remembered mercy. This is indeed a consolatory truth, my brethren, to every faithful believer, that the God of Israel is a God of compassionate love," whose mercies fail not"; and, though he punish for our sins, yet it is even as a Father who feels for his children whilst he correcteth them. And verily thus was it in this case, whereof we are now speaking. In the midst of the denunciations of woe and chastisement, the prophet was directed to foretell unto the people a period of peace and refreshment-a time when, their iniquities being purged, God would be gracious unto them again, and visit them with his loving-kindness, when he should restore them to their own land, and bless them with spiritual blessings, and heal their afflicted souls with the consolations of his true and faithful word. "I will gather the remnant of my flock" "And (saith the Lord) "out of all countries whi- | Abraham's line all the nations of the earth ther I have driven them, and will bring were to be blessed; or, as to our offending them again to their folds; and they shall be parents, the consolatory promise was given fruitful and increase. And I will set up that the "seed of the woman should shepherds over them which shall feed them; bruise the serpent's head," even so shall and they shall fear no more, nor be dis- the time come when all shall be fulmayed; neither shall they be lacking, saith filled; and the righteous "Branch" shall the Lord." shoot forth, in the metaphorical language of scripture, that shall bring healing unto the nations and salvation unto his people: a King shall rise, and a divine Ruler shall appear, of whom the illustrious governors of God's people in former times were only the prototypes and forerunners. "He shall execute justice and judgment:" his kingdom shall be founded upon the princi ples of immutable truth, justice, and righteousness; and to him shall be given power to execute judgment and condemnation upon those that oppose his rightful authority or reject his heavenly message. "In his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely." Under his government the people were to be secure from their enemies, to dwell in peace and safety, through his divine power and protection, that would shield them from every source of alarm. this is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." Though according to the flesh he was descended from human progenitors, and from the royal stock of David king of Israel, yet he was in reality to be of a far loftier character and an infinitely sublimer nature than any of the sons of Adani. He was to be that "Immanuel," God with us, to whose coming the patriarchs and holy men of old had looked forward with pious earnestness and joy: he was to be that exalted Personage of whom David in prophetic spirit spoke when he called him Lord, saying, "The Lord said unto my Lord:" he was to be the " Messenger of the covenant" of grace and mercy, in whom Malachi foretold it that "all should rejoice." In short he was to be the incarnate Divinity, "God manifest in the flesh;" who in that flesh should make atonement for the sins of the world, and thus exhibit himself as the "Christ Jesus," the anointed Saviour, through whose blood our offences might be cleansed, and through whose imputed righteousness we might be accounted righteous before God: "This is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." And such was indeed the case. The Lord did graciously fulfil his promise: the Jews after their long captivity of seventy years were established once more in their own land. God raised up instruments to promote and accomplish their return: he put it into the heart of the great monarch, Cyrus, to release them from captivity, and to enable them to rebuild their city, to repair its waste places, to rear once more a glorious temple unto Jehovah, and to worship the God of their fathers with a pure and holy worship. We must here, however, remark that it was not an unusual practice with the prophets of the Lord to connect or combine two separate and distinct subjects under one and the same prophecy: one of them of secondary importance, and having a more immediate, or at least earlier fulfilment; and the other referring to higher and grander results, but which were to take place in remoter times, and to have their exact accomplishment in ages hereafter to come. And thus it was in this prophecy which we are considering. From the prophetic view and mention of the returning peace and prosperity of the Jewish people after the Babylonian captivity, the prophet is led to advert to that still more sublime and glorious period when the Redeemer should set up his kingdom upon earth, and gather unto him all nations; when mankind should be delivered from worse than any temporal bondage, aud the gracious Prince of Peace should visit them with the joyful tidings of spiritual salvation. "Behold, the days come" (saith the Lord)" that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch; and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." "I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch:" that is, I will raise up from the royal line and family of my chosen servant David an illustrious descendant, in whom shall be fulfilled all the gracious promises made to him, to his forefathers, and, since his time, to the faithful ones of my people. "rod was promised to spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch was to grow out of its roots;" even as in the patriarch Even as a But, it may be asked, how can these things be? We know, indeed, that Jesus Christ did come we know that, in the fulness of time, thus much was completed of the declarations of prophecy, that the Rod did shoot from the stem of Jesse, and the Branch did flourish from the line of David. But we also know that the people of Israel as a nation rejected him, refused him to reign over them, crucified and slew him. We know also that thus much of prophetic declaration was fulfilled-that he did execute judgment upon them; and thus far exercise the office of king-that he punished his rebellious people with a sad and sore punishment, a punishment under which they groan to this very day, being outcasts from their land, and vagabonds on the face of the earth. But then how is that part of the prophecy fulfilled which says that "In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely?" My brethren, you must bear in mind that in scripture language there is always a spiritual meaning as well as a literal one. And thus it is said, that "all are not Israel that are of Israel: neither because they are of the seed of Abraham are they all children of Abraham" all are not reckoned the Israel of God who are Israelites by natural generation, but only such as in humility and faithful obedience resemble their pious progenitors, the faithful patriarchs. Looking at the passage then in this sense, we may at once perceive that already, in reference to the Jewish people, this prophecy has had an accomplishment. To all those humble and pious Jews, that looked for the consolation of Israel, and received the lowly Jesus as their promised Messiah; to all those that, being convinced by his miracles and persuaded by his words of wisdom, who spake as never man spake; to all those Israelites indeed, without guile, who, laying aside proud, presumptuous thoughts, were glad to receive the tidings of salvation in God's appointed way, and to acknowledge themselves as willing subjects of a King whose kingdom was not of this world, and the devoted followers of Messiah whose lowly pretensions in temporal matters overthrew all the fancied glory and pomp, wherein the carnal hearts of a worldly people had led them to expect he would appear to all those he was indeed a "Saviour which was Christ the Lord," and a Prince of Peace, under whom " Judah was saved and Israel dwelt safely." For here again we must remark that a spiritual interpretation must be put upon these words of "safety and of peace." It was from far worse enemies than mere mortal ones that they were to be delivered: it was into a far more delightful condition than a worldly peace and rest that they were to be introduced. Even from the foes of their soul, from the spiritual enemies, sin and Satan, were they through him to be delivered; and into the joyful state of peace with God by him were they to be introduced. a And in this view indeed were the words of the prophecy fulfilled. Look into the records of the gospel, my brethren: take up and peruse the accounts in the New Testament, and you will see how, in the lives of the blessed apostles, of the faithful disciples, and of all the thousands and tens of thousands of the stock of Abraham, that in primitive times were converted unto the faith, you will see how unto them this gracious prophecy was fulfilled. Rescued from the guilt and dominion of sin, delivered from the power of the evil one, they were enabled to walk before the Lord blameless, and to enjoy a peace and satisfac tion in their own hearts which passed all sinful understanding. At peace with God in Christ, at peace in their own consciences, and in peace and charity with all men; trusting not in themselves, but in the "Lord their Righteousness," they indeed were delivered from their spiritual foes; and thus was the true Judah in his day saved, and the real Israel did dwell in safety. This is, however, but a limited application of the subject; and time permits not at present to enter into it more extensively. My brethren, think upon what has already been said, and pray to God that it may be blessed to your soul's health, and that in putting your believing trust in the "Lord your Righteousness" you may experience the blessings here spoken of, viz., pardon, acceptance, and peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Even that it may so be, may God of his infinite mercy grant. THE TWO PATHS*. PART OF A CONVERSATION BETWEEN A CLERICAL REGINALD Darcy and the clergyman entered ance, "It is gratifying to me," said his new acquaint"whenever I meet with a young man who can fearlessly say he sees nothing in the popish ceremonies to captivate or to please; for it is melancholy to see how constantly the young are perverted to that faith, or, at least, to what is a near approach to it. And yet one can hardly understand why; for the spirit of ridicule which pervades so much in the present day would, one would think, be sufficient to deter them; but it is a remark I have often had occasion to make, bow insert this extract, as sent us by a valued correspondent: From "The two Paths." Nesbit, 8vo, 1852. We the book itself we have not seen.-ED. |