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tion, are secured to him by the promise the oath of the ever-living Jehovah.

that every Christian who attentively reviews his life, will find something of the same kind in his own Another means of strengthening experience; will be able to recall the faith of Christians, is meditating circumstances which once seemed on the dealings of God with others, only disastrous, and involving conand with themselves. Look at Abra- sequences perhaps fatal to his comham, and Jacob, and Joseph, and fort for a long period, which yet Moses, and see them going out at have proved to be the seed from the simple command of God, with- which both himself and others have out knowing in what circumstances reaped a rich harvest of enjoyment they were to be placed, sometimes and usefulness. Well, then, Chrisknowing, however, that the most tian, if God actually has protected fearful perils awaited them, and his people when they have been that nothing but the miraculous brought into straightened circumagency of God, would be adequate stances, if he has even appeared for to their preservation. But they thyself-from seeming evil, still obeyed; and what was the conse- educing good; delivering thee out quence? Why, the consequence of trouble, or causing it to work for was, that the arm of the Almighty thee the peaceable fruits of rightewas revealed in some unexpected ousness, then why canst thou not manner, for their safety; and the trust him in every condition? Why difficulties and dangers which canst thou not believe, if thou art seemed to threaten them, were gra- . always faithful in the discharge of dually cleared away; and they duty, that his hand will always be saw the fact illustrated in the upon thee for good? And thus bebright light of their own joyful lieving, thou surely hast nothing to experience, that it was a good thing fear, though the earth should be reto trust and obey the Lord. Nor moved, and though the mountains has this been the experience of pa- should be carried into the midst of triarchs alone. In every age, there the sea. have been those who, guided by their convictions of the will of God, have cheerfully encountered trials of the most appalling nature, and have found Jehovah faithful to his promises, in administering such an amount of present consolation as has rendered the trials themselves almost an enviable portion; and if they have died in them, he has granted them in death a foretaste of all the glory that should follow. And in the more ordinary dealings of God with his people, how often have we found that one dispensation was explanatory of another; that events which have seemed marked by the greatest severity at the time of their occurrence, have been shown by subsequent events, to have been among the most merciful visitations of a merciful God. And may I not go farther, and say,

The last of the means I shall notice for confirming a weak faith, is reading the word of God and prayer. In the Bible, we have the record of all God's dealings with his people in the past, and here we have the great plan of his providence in respect to the future; and here, also, we have the promises he has left for the support and consolation of his children in all ages. The study of the Bible, then, has a direct tendency to invigorate the Christian's faith, inasmuch as it brings his mind in direct contact with the record of what God has done for his people on the one hand, and of what he has promised to do on the other.

Prayer, also, is a most direct and efficient means for the accomplishment of the same end. It is our duty, humbly to supplicate the God of grace for every spiritual

blessing that we need; and what blessing do we need more, than a strong and lively faith? We have a right, then, to expect that our faith will be increased, as a direct answer to prayer. But there is also a tendency in the very exercise of prayer, to the attainment of the blessing. He who lives much in a devotional atmosphere, and accustoms himself to frequent communion with God, will find his faith growing stronger, as a matter of course: the more he prays, the more simple, and humble, and affectionate will be the confidence which he reposes in God, as the God of Providence, as well as the God of Grace.

Let me now suggest two or three considerations, to illustrate the importance of obtaining a stronger faith.

It is important as a means of consolation in the hour of trial. There are none but have afflictions of some kind or other before them, under which they will need powerful support. It requires not the spirit of prophecy, to predict this; it requires nothing more than a knowledge of the fact, that our lot for the present is in this vale of tears. I cannot tell in respect to any individual, whether there is before him sickness, or bereavement, or poverty, or affliction in some other form; but of the fact that affliction in some form is before him, I may speak with confidence; because none of all the dwellers on the earth are exempt. Well, then, fellow mortal, whither do you look for support under your afflictions? To the gospel, you say; but of the support which the gospel furnishes, rely on it, a weak faith will never enable you to avail yourself. You must believe in the great truths of the gospel, with a conviction so strong, that they shall have in your mind the full weight of realities; your confidence in God's promises, must be a powerful and abiding

principle of action, or it will never sustain you while your heart is throbbing and smarting under the rod of the Almighty. Cultivate a stronger faith, then, as you would be saved from sinking in the day of your trouble.

That a weak faith should be confirmed is also essential to a profitable improvement of the dispens sations of Providence. Let the hand of God be laid upon you in affliction as often as it may, even though your life should be an uninterrupted scene of adversity, it would do you no good-nay, it would only serve to increase your insensibility, unless you should receive your afflictions in the exercise of a humble confidence in God. You must realize from whose hand they come, and for what end they are sent, and your need of God's spirit to give them their legitimate effect on your heart. But without such an impression-in other words, without a humble and lively faith, you will never be able to say in receiving your trials, that it is good for you to be afflicted: You will never be able to realize that they are working out for you an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

And finally, it is important that a weak faith should be confirmed as α means of glorifying God. What honour does the exercise of a strong faith put upon the perfections and government of God, in scenes of adversity! Behold that Christian whose earthly friends are dying around him, or perhaps have been dying till the last one is gone; and see how calm and cheerful he is, because he stays himself upon God! What practical testimony does he render to the wisdom and goodness, grace and faithfulness of that Redeemer who is chastening him with one hand, and pouring the oil of gladness into his soul with the other! And not only is a strong faith in itself a means of

glorifying God, but it accomplishes the same end in the humility, the self-denial, in every virtue and every grace, the growth of which it is its tendency to promote. Would you desire then, Christian, to glorify God to the extent of your power, to glorify him by causing the light of a pure example to shine around you, to glorify him by exhibiting a spirit of humble resignation and Christian cheerfulness amid your various trials, to glorify him by exhibiting the almighty and sustaining influence of his grace in the hour of death-by showing how a Christian can die, and how a Christian ought to die. then be not contented to live with a weak and trembling faith: be not contented till you can cast your whole soul upon God, and stay yourself in any circumstances on the strong arm of Redeemer. your

The reader of the following lines, will doubtless remember, that the author of Pilgrim's Progress, had a daughter born blind. His grief on her account is spoken of by one of his biographers, as excessive. Some portion of the lines will be better understood, by calling to mind the fact, that his keeper occasionally indulged him in interviews with his family, on condition of his return by an appointed hour.

For the Christian Advocate.
BUNYAN'S LAMENT FOR HIS
BLIND MARY.

Oh! I have left a poor blind one,
A hapless child, that never knew
The rising from the setting sun,

Or morning from the evening dew.
When maidens nimbly speed their way,
To pull the rose, or emerald leaf,
She spends in night the summer's day,
Nor tottering begs a scanty sheaf.
She hears her mother's wheel go round,
Till night has hushed its noisy hum;
Then, at each passing footstep's sound,
She lifts her staff-" has Father come?"
Ch. Adv.-VOL. X.

At eve, the shepherd quits his sheep,

At eve, his scythe the mower leaves; The harvest man has ceased to reap, And homeward bends, with copious sheaves.

No yellow sheaf, nor golden grain,

I homeward bear; nor vernal flower, Nor ruby grape; but seek my chain, E'er watchmen cry the midnight hour. Let pity once my misery feel,

Let justice set the guiltless free; Then shall this hand, now wreath'd in steel,

Like velvet to my Mary be.
To smooth her staff, and guide her feet,
When fruitage bands together meet-
Or often wheel her lowly chair,

All this shall prove a Father's care.

To strip from nutted fruit its shell,
And tune her reed, that she may tell
Unchain the grapes in vineyards found,

Her vintage joys to all around.

Ah! more: 'twill lift to faith's desire, That ladder which the patriarch saw, Now more replete with steps of fire, Whence heavenward feet new swiftness draw.

Its top is in yon clouds of blue,

On which I see night's stately queen, That leads her vesper stars in view,

The earth and orange sun between. How many moons, in twelve long years, Have waxed, and waned, and suns have set,

Then rose again; but still with tears, These links at morn and eve are wet.

THE AUTUMN EVENING.

B.

By the Rev. Mr. Peabody, of Springfield,
Massachusetts.

Behold the Western evening light!
It melts in evening gloom;
So calmly Christians sink away,
Descending to the tomb.

The winds breathe low; the withering leaf
Scarce whispers from the tree;
So gently glows the parting breath,
When good men cease to be.

How beautifull on all the hills

The crimson light is shed!
'Tis like the peace the Christian gives
To mourners round his bed.

How mildly on the wandering cloud
The sunset beam is cast!

'Tis like the memory left behind,

When loved ones breathe their last. 2 H

And now above the dews of night,
The yellow star appears;
So faith springs in the heart of those
Whose eyes are dimmed with tears.

But soon the morning's happier light,
Its glory shall restore;
And eye-lids that are sealed in death
Shall wake to close no more.

Miscellaneous.

THE MORAL OF RURAL LIFE.

IN ESSAYS.

Ego laudo ruris amœni

Rivos, et musco circumlita saxa nemusque. To the Editor of the Christian Advocate.

The following essays were written more than seven years ago. They have been recently condensed, with a view to their appearance in your useful pages. The time which has elapsed since they were written, would not have been mentioned, had it not been for the recent publication of Howitt's Book of the Seasons." Without making this disclosure, it might be supposed that the hint of my essays was taken from that pleasing work.

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These essays are not intended to be strictly theological. The writer sees much to commend in "Burder's Village Sermons," and he has given his humble influence towards sending them far and wide. But it is obvious, that except their title and their plainness, they have nothing in them better suited to the country, than to the city. It is impossible that the writer can feel any thing but veneration for Burder, when, within a very few steps of his abode, he daily reads his usefulness, in the example of an humble but pious cottager, an emigrant from near Coventry, England.

If the writer then be asked to express in few words the object at which he aimed, in composing these essays, he answers, to apply a mere outline of revealed religion to polished rural life. It has long been a subject of regret, that in Thomson's Seasons we often meet with

the devotion of nature, but seldom with that of Christianity.

B.

Christianity in its General Application.

ESSAY I.

"I am made all things to all men." The apostolick declaration here expressed, has not entirely escaped animadversion. But it means nothing more, than an innocent accomodation of himself, on the part of its author, to the various circumstances in which he was placed. He did not urge the same reasoning on a Gentile, which he urged on a Jew. He employed different ways of exhibiting truth at Ephesus, Athens, and Jerusalem. He did not approach unlettered men, by the same methods which he used in gaining influence over men devoted to intellectual pursuits.

If the determination to be made all things to all men needed defence, we might liken the course of conduct to which it gives rise to the conduct of the painter, who turns an inquiring look on each countenance he depicts. He affixes to each individual, the drapery characteristick of his rank and his occupations. No one censures him for placing a sceptre in the hand of a king, or a crook in the hand of a shepherd. He would not pourtray the hermit in a city, nor the miser in the act of relieving human woe. We look for a dif ferent effort of the pencil, when it arranges the perspective of herds roving deep in the meadows, and when it shows the waves of an agi

tated sea. It may softly steal the charms of some greenwood rècess, but it must at times inake the canvass vocal with the shock of arms. The accommodation of himself to the prejudices of men, here spoken of by Paul, is an accommodation frequently used at the present time. But in using it, many are influenced by motives supremely selfish. They employ it as the means of personal elevation, expecting thereby to be borne along, as on a triumphal car, to the consummation of all their schemes. The apostle, however, made it subserve the best of purposes; for an entire consecration of himself to the good of his species, was a thought never absent from his mind. For this state of feeling, the apostle was indebted to Christianity. There is a contrast between Judaism and Christianity. The one was intended for a nation, the other aspires to unlimited influence. If then there was a difference in these systems, we may suppose there was a difference in the conduct of Paul, whilst influenced by each of these systems. This contrast has been made plain by Lord Lyttleton, of Hagley Park; by Hannah More, of Burley Wood; and by Fletcher, of Madeley. Under Judaism Paul was ready to put the furnace of persecution into a glow, that he might consume the followers of the Saviour. But under the latter system, he was will ing to employ the softest persuasion, or the terrors of rebuke, the staff of the shepherd, or the rod of an indignant apostle, if by any means he could gain Jews or Gentiles. He appeared, alike in the garden of philosophy or in the marble palace of the Cæsars, the humble, but the dignified advocate of Christianity.

After these preliminary views, it becomes a question, whether the same obligations which Paul felt, rest on the ministry of this day, to

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apply Christianity to the varied circles of society, and to the varied pursuits of men. To this question there can be but one answer, and that is, Christianity is the same now as in the days of Paul. Centuries have left upon it no additional seal of sanctity, and hoary time has worn no traces of decay on those channels through which inspiration is conveyed to man. There is the same diversity of ministerial gifts as in the days of Paul, by the agency of which the Christian system may be enforced. Though these endowments are not extraordinary, they are supplied from a common source. Men of imagination cannot plead that the scriptures are a wilderness, the solitude of which is never disturbed by the ode of some pensive exile, or by the anthem of some descending choir of angels. Nor can men of eloquence plead that all the living expounders of the scriptures are destitute of exterior recommendations. Some ministers have talents suited to action. Some can persuade and others can command. Some can fill the chair of science, or still the assemblies of a metropolis, whilst others would rather linger among the green lanes of the country. But a girdle of consecration may be cast around such varied gifts.

There is a diversity, not only in ministerial talents but in ministerial duties. Every thing is appropriate in its season. "Let me go, said the angel to the wrestling patriarch, for the day breaketh ;" and to this or that duty may we say, let me go, for scenes of usefulness are brightening in some other quarter. The sick man is beckoning us to his chamber. The dying Christian has reclined on the velvet pillow of faith, and he speaks in life, nothing half so sweet as he proclaims in death. Pope, in the grotto of Twickenham, has recorded his dying notes, and the minister cannot

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