HOPE IN GOD FOR OUR COUNTRY. 27 she told the truth; more truth than she knew. It was selfrighteousness, and not salvation, that she was after! She was, however, a member of no Church; and though not so distinguished as the fashionable lady at Calais, and possibly more wealthy, it is probable that, like her, her worldly possessions, and, above all, her wondrous quantity of self-righteousness, constituted about all her preparation for heaven or fitness for the solemnity of the mortal hour. One of our distinguished governors, in one of the sovereign states of our confederacy, some years since, in his proclamation for annual - by the way, a most proper, and in some places A MOST IMPIOUSLY ABUSED OBSERVANCE!-after other things that were better said, exhorted all his constituents, assembled on the appointed day, in their respective houses of public worship, to ENDEAVOR TO MERIT from the hand of God a continuance of his MERCIES! His excellency might just as well, just as practicably, have exhorted and urged them to build a new solar system, and stock it with theological governors, who know how to "merit mercy!" THANKSGIVING But I have only to conclude this introductory inscription, asking pardon for its length, by congratulating you on the many good things that God's mercy, contrary to our deserts, hath left among us in our land. Each of us may say, with the genuine gratitude of a Christian and the appropriate piety of an American, The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. We have religious liberty, in its fullness and its perfection. We have Bibles, Christians, ministers of Christ, churches, the means of grace, much that is correct and Christian in our public sentiment, and the prospects, under God, as the GREAT CONSERVATOR of our country, the JEHOVAH STATOR of these UNITED STATES, and the MIGHTY GUARDIAN of his own cause every where, the prospects, I say, of permanency, progress, improvement, usefulness, and salvation. Amen-Alleluia ! HORE CHALMERIANE. INTERVIEWS WITH CHALMERS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE; GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH, 1833, 1846. A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.-Prov. 24: 5. He that followeth after righteousness and mercy, findeth life, righteousness, and honor.-Prov. 21: 21. The memory of the just is blessed.-Prov. 10: 7. Integer vitæ scelerisque purus. Ergo Quintilium perpetuus sopor Urget? Cui pudor, et justitiæ soror Quando ullum invenient parem?-Hor. · φανερωθεῖσαν δὲ νῦν διὰ τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καταργήσαντος μὲν τὸν θάνατον.—2 Tim. 1: 10. REV. THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D. LL.D. HUMAN greatness is often-if not always-an equivoque, an ambiguity. It is sometimes an assumption, sometimes a misfortune, sometimes the creature of circumstances, factitious, ostentatious, false. It is sometimes a crime, a fallacy, an impiety. With some men their greatness is in inverse ratio as their proximity; it requires "distance to lend enchantment to the view;" since to be acquainted with them is an effectual cure for the temptation to idolatry. Here a man is a monarch, not because he ever did or ever was any thing great, or splendid, or virtuous; but for several other reasons. He was the child of such parents; he was olderthan their other children; a vacancy occurred in the throne, and he was passively ordained the proper candidate. Among the incumbents of the clerical profession greatness is too often the result of no certainly appropriate qualities of its possessor. He was elected in the conclave—either by scrutiny, or by accession, or by acclamation, and, quem creant adorant, he is, presto, the great Father of all Christendom, the Prince of this world, the Prophet of eternity, the Arbiter of human destiny, the Vicar of the Son of God! Or, the premier of Great Britain has named him to the Archbishopric of York or Canterbury, with a stipend of imperial affluence; and the Head of the Church there-masculine or feminine-has, as a matter of course, confirmed the nomination! Or, an Irish Papist comes to the United States, works at gardening for a while, then takes the chrism of the Popish priesthood, and then, rising on the pyramid by merit or contrivance, he gets at last to be appointed by the pope |