tragedian, and the orator! Here some of the most splendid works of man have been seen in all their glory; and here the event has shewn their transitory nature! How interesting would it be to stand among these walls, and have before the mind a full view of the history of Ephesus from its first foundation till now! We might observe the idolatrous and impure rites, and the cruel and bloody sports of Pagans, succeeded by the preaching, the prayers, the holy and peaceable lives of the first Christians-these Christians martyred, but their religion still triumphing-Pagan rites and Pagan sports abolished, and the simple worship of Christ instituted in their room. We might see the city conquered and reconquered, destroyed and rebuilt; till, finally, Christianity, arts, learning, and prosperity, all vanish before the pestiferous breath of 'the only people whose sole occupation has been to destroy!'

"The plain of Ephesus is now very unhealthy, owing to the fogs and mist which almost continually rest upon it. The land, however, is rich, and the surrounding country is both fertile and healthy. The adjacent hills would furnish many delightful situations for villages, if the difficulties were removed which are thrown in the way by a despotic government, oppressive agas, and wandering banditti."

How fearfully does this description of the condition of modern Ephesus, which entirely corresponds with that of other travellers, set forth the accomplishment of the Divine threatenings! How fully do we behold in her overthrow the consequence of departure from the living God, and of inattention to his warning voice calling to repentance!

The chief accusation brought against the Church of Ephesus was, that she had left her "first love." She was in a declining state. Spiritual decay had already manifested itself. The flame of holy zeal and devoted attachment which once burned brightly, now emitted only a feeble and languid light, although there might be an external show of worship, and an outward observance of moral decency. And may not the Christian often have cause to trace with alarm the progress of decay in himself, and to exclaim in the language of Job, "O that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle." "The truth as it is in Jesus" is brought home to his heart, and for a season, perhaps, he continues to run well. Religion seems to impress his mind, to occupy his thoughts, and to govern his actions, and, under the constraining influence of its power, as of a new affection, he is full of zeal and devotion and anxiety for the furtherance of the Divine glory. But he relapses into his former state of carelessness as to spiritual concerns; and the accusation may be fairly brought against him, that he has forgotten his "first love."

Alas! how often has the believer cause to mourn over his backslidings, his inconsistencies, his declensions from the faith! How often is he called upon, in penitence and humility, to approach the throne of the heavenly grace, to implore pardon for past failings, and strength to enable him to regain and to maintain his former state; nay, rather to advance even to higher

degrees of spirituality than those from which he has declined!

The Christian state is to be one of continual progress towards perfection. It is to be a growing state; and he is to be prayerfully and sedulously cautioned, lest there should be a worm at the root, in the shape of some darling sin, some unchaste desire, some indulged propensity, which causes him to wither,-lest, through the abounding of iniquity, his love should "wax cold." Let him recollect that the state of the backslider is uniformly spoken of in Scripture as a state of imminent danger, and that "no man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

The warnings of the Bible must not be unheeded. The same Divine Being who removed the candlestick from Ephesus, and made her city a desolation, is able, and he hath declared that his purpose it is, to destroy all those who wilfully continue in a backsliding state. Let the backslider then earnestly pray that the gift of true repentance may be granted unto him; that he may return to the Lord with full purpose of heart never more to swerve from the path of his commandments. Let him take to his comfort the gracious promise annexed to the gracious invitation, "Return unto me, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings, and love you freely, and mine anger shall be turned away from you." Let him be earnest in his supplications at the throne of grace, that such a measure of divine strength may be imparted to his weakness, that, overcoming every difficulty, and being proof against every temptation, he may, through the merits of his adorable Redeemer, enter on the full enjoyment of that everlasting state of joy unspeakable and full of glory, which shall be conferred on those who overcome, and which is represented as eating" of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."

The Cabinet.

THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST.-It is God's ordinary plan to bring sudden ruin on his enemies. He gives them, indeed, a warning; he lets them know that wrath is prepared against them, if, peradventure, they will take the warning and escape: but if they neglect it, then he will give them over to judicial hardness and impenitence, till, in an hour that they think not, his vengeance is suddenly poured forth. I believe that it will be so at Christ's second coming. Already have abundant premonitions been sent; we have been told that he will come-that he is coming-that he is at hand; and some have bethought themselves in time, have set their houses in order, and are prepared to welcome his approach: but the mass of the world,-how regard less are they of the fearful summons!-how blind to the impending danger!-and they will go on so, till the terrors of his presence shall surprise them at their business, their amusements, their jollity, their sins; and the crashing storm, and echoing trump, and blazing sky, and melting elements, shall dreadfully convince them, that it is then too late to call upon the mountains to fall on them, and the rocks to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. if inspiration be true, it shall surely be. Men shall Brethren, this is no idle picture, it shall surely be ;around them shall smile in its loveliness, as though it rise to their accustomed occupations, and the world

were built to last for ever; and they shall go forth in the gladness of their hearts; and they shall lookthe young, and gay, and noble, for many years of enjoyment; and they shall say, each one in his heart, "Soul! take thine ease;" and then, even then, shall the end be. The past delay of judgment encourages multitudes in their neglect of it. Just so the apostle warned us: "There shall come, in the last days, scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" But the length of time which has elapsed since the prophecies were uttered, is a presumptive proof that their completion is not now far distant; the end, long looked for, must arrive at last; and every year, and day, and hour, that passes by, drains out the small remnant that has yet to run.-Advent, by Rev. John Ayre.

THE CHRISTIAN DEATH-BED. We look not always for triumph and rapture in the death-bed of the righteous. We hold it to be wrong to expect, necessarily, encouragement for ourselves from good men in the hour of dissolution. But if there be not ecstasy, there is that composedness in departing believers, which shews that the "everlasting arms" are under them and around them. It is a beautiful thing to see a Christian die. The confession, while there is strength to articulate, that God is faithful to his promises; the faint pressure of the hand, giving the same testimony when the tongue can no longer do its office; the motion of the lips, inducing you to bend down, so that you catch broken syllables of expressions such as this, -"Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly;" these make the chamber in which the righteous die one of the most privileged scenes upon earth; and he who can be present, and gather no assurance that death is fettered and manacled, even while grasping the believer, must be either inaccessible to moral evidence, or insensible to the most heart-touching appeal.-Rev. Henry Melvill

THE FALL OF MAN.-The offence by which Adam fell must have been a simple one-so simple, that it might be committed without inherent depravity; and yet so obnoxious to God, as to demand his instant and severest visitation. Now what offence can we imagine more simple, more free from innate depravity, than that of eating the fruit of a forbidden tree? The inducements to eat of it were powerful, and such as, in the absence of a prohibitory command, would have been not only natural, but laudable. It was a desire to become as intelligent as the angels-a desire which in Adam and Eve was natural; for, by the gratification of it, they would know more of God and of themselves; and as "the knowledge of God" is perfect happiness, it was natural they should wish to perfect their enjoyments. Springing from such an origin, the desire was sinless, and only sinful when indulged in opposition to a prohibitory command. But this command was written by the finger of God upon their hearts: "Thou shalt not eat of it." And this command they violated! Simple, of necessity, was the outward act by which they incurred the displeasure of their Maker; but the moral offence involved all the guilt which attaches to unnecessary disobedience, incredulity of God's word, and defiance of his power; and under this view we may regard the sin of Adam to have been as great as if we were to violate the whole of the decalogue: for the whole commandment which was given to them they broke. From the Worship of the Serpent, by the Rev. J. B. Deane.

CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE.-It is experience that must give knowledge in the Christian profession as well as in others; and the knowledge drawn from experience is quite of another kind from that which flows from speculation and discourse. Where a long course of piety and close communion with God has purged the heart and rectified the will, knowledge will break in upon such a soul, like the

sun shining in his full might, with such a victorious ray, that nothing shall be able to resist it. It is not the opinion, but the "path of the just," that the wisest of men tells us "shines more and more unto the perfect day." The obedient and the men of practice are those sons of light that still outgrow all their doubts and ignorances; that still ride upon these clouds, and triumph over their present imperfections, till persuasion pass into knowledge, and knowledge advance to assurance; and all come at length to be completed in the beatific vision and full fruition of those joys which God has in reserve for those whom, by his grace, he shall prepare for glory.-South.

I know from a little, but not enough, experience, that nothing tends so much to make one both agreeable and useful in company, as finding solitude agreeable to one's self.-Knox and Jebb's Correspondence.

Poetry.

EARLY INSTRUCTION. For the Church of England Magazine. MOTHER, watching o'er thy child, Father, fill'd with anxious care, In the soil by sin defil'd

Sow the seed, and sow with prayer: Though through many an anxious year Neither fruit nor flower appear, Though the winter o'er it spread,

Hard and frozen, and the seed Seem for ever lost and dead,

Only seen the noxious weed, Yet refrain not in despair; Though it sleep, the seed is there, And the spring of grace will shine

With the Spirit's sun and shower, And the heart in warmth divine

Feel its vivifying power; Haply late, yet surely so,

Though thou see not, it shall be; Though thou live not, it shall grow,

Certainly and fruitfully:
Sacred lessons thou hast taught

Burst the ground and wake to life,
One by one each word and thought
Springing vigorous and rife;
First the blade, and then the ear,
And last the ripen'd corn appear,
Till the golden harvest stand
Ready for the mower's hand,
Though perhaps it meet thine eyes

Only when 'tis gather'd in,
Hous'd and garner'd in the skies,

Safe from every blight and sin. Parent, friend, the soil prepare. Sow the seed, and sow with prayer. JAMES EDMESTON.

THE MARIGOLD.

WHEN with a serious musing I behold
The grateful and obsequious marigold-
How duly, every morning, she displays
Her open breast, when Titan spreads his rays;
How she observes him in his daily walk,
Still bending tow'rds him her small slender stalk;

How, when he down declines, she droops and mourns,
Bedew'd as 'twere with tears, till he returns:
And how she vails her flowers when he is gone,

As if she scorned to be looked on
By an inferior eye; or did contemn

To wait upon a meaner light than him,-
When thus I meditate, methinks the flowers
Have spirits far more generous than ours,
And give us fair examples, to despise
The servile fawnings and idolatries
Wherewith we court these earthly things below,
Which merit not the service we bestow.

But, O my God! though grovelling I appear
Upon the ground, and have a rooting here,
Which hales me downward, yet in my desire
To that which is above me I aspire;
And all my best affections I profess
To him that is the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Oh! keep the morning of his incarnation,
The burning noontide of his bitter passion,
The night of his descending, and the height
Of his ascension, ever in my sight;
That, imitating him in what I may,
I never follow an inferior way.

GEORGE WITHER: died 1667.

Miscellaneous.

MOUNT ARARAT.-We travelled an hour and a half in one of the clearest and most beautiful mornings that the heavens ever produced; and passing on our left the two villages of Dizzeh and Kizzel Dizzeh, we came to an opening of a small plain, covered with the black tents and cattle of the Elauts. Here, also, we had a view of Mount Ararat; the clouds no longer rested on its summit, but circled it round below. We went to the largest tent in the plain, and there enjoyed an opportunity of learning that the hospitality of these people is not exaggerated. As soon as it was announced at the tent that strangers were coming, every thing was in motion; some carried our horses to the best pastures, others spread carpets for us; one was despatched to the flock to bring a fat lamb; the women immediately made preparations for cooking; and we had not sat long, before two large dishes of stewed lamb, with several basins of yaourt, were placed before

us.

The senior of the tribe, an old man (by his own account eighty-five years of age), dressed in his best clothes, came out to meet us, and welcomed us to his tent with such kindness, yet with such respect, that his sincerity could not be mistaken. He was still full of activity and fire, although he had lost all his teeth, and his beard was as white as the snow on the vener

able mountains near his tent. The simplicity of his manners, and the interesting scenery around, reminded me in the strongest colours of the lives of the patriarchs; and more immediately of him whose history is inseparable from the mountains of Ararat. We quitted our hospitable friends (who appeared to be almost more grateful for our visit than we for their kindness), and passed along the plain. Mount Ararat bore N. 40 E., and extended itself completely to our view. Its N.W. ascent is not so rapid as its S.E., and I should conceive that in this quarter it might be possible to ascend it. The height of Ararat can best be understood by considering the distance at which it may be seen. Chardin mentions that it is visible at Marant; Bruce that he saw it at Deerbend; Struys describes his visit to a sick hermit at the top; Tournefort, one of the first of travellers, has stated so fully the difficulties of his own attempt, that probably they have never yet been overcome. The mountain is divided

into three regions, of different breadths; the first, composed of a short and slippery grass or sand, is occupied by shepherds; the second, by tigers or crows; the remainder, which is half the mountain, has been covered with snow since the ark rested there, and these snows are hid half the year under thick clouds. The common belief of the country may well be admitted, that no one ever yet ascended the Ararat of the Armenians.-Morier's Embassy to Persia.

PROTESTANT CONSISTENCY.-In the thirteenth century, a woman, resident at Liege, either pretended or conceited that she had received a Divine revelation, enjoining the institution of an annual service, in honour of the change wrought, according to popish authorities, of the sacramental elements into the corporeal substance of Christ. This fraud or folly being well adapted to keep alive a superstitious reverence for the mass, did not long wait for ecclesiastical patronage; and upon the strength of it, in the year 1264, Urban IV. instituted the festival known as that of Corpus Christi; upon which the members of his church exhibit one of their most elaborate displays of ritual pageantry. Amidst these ceremonies, usually deemed so imposing, Charles [V.] determined to make his appearance in Augsburg. But in forming this resolution he grievously miscalculated. The Protestants utterly refused the sanction of their presence to the splendid procession. "I will instantly offer my head to the executioner," said the Margrave of Brandenburg, " rather than renounce the Gospel, and approve idolatry." When attempts were made to shake this embarrassing determination, the conscientious prince told Charles publicly, "Christ did not institute the holy supper with any view to furnish materials for a holyday show, and for popular adoration. When he delivered the bread to his disciples, he said, ‘Take, eat;' but he did not add, Put these sacramental elements into a magnificent vase, which bear aloft in triumph through the streets, and let every man fall prostrate on its approach."-Soames.

JEWISH TESTIMONY TO PROTESTANTISM. - The writer of this article happened some time since to meet with a converted Jew, a Polish gentleman; and inquiring with much curiosity as to his feelings on religion, and the steps by which he was brought to see the truth, he stated, that for years he never thought of even inquiring into the nature of Christianity; that having been taught by his own religion to abhor idolatry, and seeing all the Christians of Poland bowing down before crosses and images, and particularly before the picture of the crucifixion, he at once concluded that Christianity was idolatry, and that Jesus well deserved to be put to a disgraceful death for teaching mankind such unscriptural practices. His statement I heard afterwards confirmed by a German Jew. When they came to England (this highly favoured country), they soon perceived a very different spirit in Christianity, and both are now true Christians. Nothing can be more unfair than to conclude that religion is not a good thing because superstition is a bad one. It would be like refusing the assistance of a medical practitioner because you disliked a quack -like flinging away the kernel from a dislike of the husk-like refusing the use of a razor because your neighbour cut his throat with one; or, in a word, like arguing from the abuse, or misuse, or perversion of any good thing, against its use and advantage.-The Witness.

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ON THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT AMONG
CHURCHMEN.

BY THE REV. THOMAS ENGLAND, M.A.

Curate of St. Mary Newington, Surrey.

Ir is well worthy of remark, how much the aspect and character of the piety of one age of the Christian era has differed from that of another. In one age, vital piety has sought retirement; in another, its light has shone forth upon society, and eventuated in an active and enlarged benevolence. In the darker ages of Christianity, religious vitality ran in hidden channels, and few efforts were made to dissipate the death-like torpor that oppressed the nations of the earth. Again, among the Reformers, the Christian spirit was pure and vigorous, but still, in a manner, contracted. In truth, they had so much to employ them at home, as to have little or no spare strength for aggressive operations upon the darkness abroad. The Puritans also, though deeply imbued with the personality of religion, confined their attention principally to themselves: it apparently was not ordained for them, when silenced in Britain, to go forth to the Gentiles. The age of Missions, indeed, had not yet arrived.

Now, however, an era of a widely different character, has, to all appearance, commenced. The arm of the Lord is now being revealed, stretching itself over the nations in the attitude of fostering care; and the Voice has gone forth, in accents of beseeching tenderness, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." The God of missions, therefore, has inclined the hearts of Christians to contemplate the perishing condition of the heathen; and his people have begun to feel, that by a

VOL-NO. XIX.

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combination of effort, they have had power given them to accomplish much. Let them then "thank God, and take courage;" proceed to new efforts; and do their utmost, as "fellow-workers together" under Him, to realise the time when "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters," which, in their collapse, admit of no internal vacancy, 66 cover the sea."

On the subject of Christian missions, and in pressing upon every reader the duty of supporting them, we may take our stand on, and our start from the express command of Christ, given originally, like his other commands, to his apostles; but which we cannot interpret as restricted to the eleven men who heard it, otherwise their immediate successors would have had no authority to act as they did, in widening the sphere of Gospel illumination. It was a command plainly meant to accompany the Gospel wherever it went, like the gracious promise which we find annexed to it; and thus to bind the Church of Christ as closely in these latter ages as in the first, to attempt the universal extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. "Go," said the Saviour, " into all the world, and preach the Gospel unto every creature; and, lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

Again, in addition to the never-failing virtue of this command, we can base our argument for Christian missions on the character of the religion itself, as highly diffusive. The compassion for souls which it invariably breathes, the obedience to Divine commands which it imperatively requires, the zeal for Christ's honour which it always enkindles, and the rich experience it affords of

U

the infinite value of heavenly blessings, all unite to induce its possessor freely to give what he has so freely received. A necessity is thus laid on every believer in the Son of God to cultivate a missionary spirit, the constituent principles of which are produced in the new creation of his own soul, and for whose range "a world lying in wickedness" opens an extensive and deeply necessitous sphere. It is true that the degree of ability, and the opportunities for the exercise of that spirit, are alike various; but still we dare to affirm that, in this age, there is an impeachment of individual piety, an accumulation of personal guilt, and a falling short of the beneficent purposes of a benevolent God, in proportion as the means actually possessed are not duly improved.

Surely opposition to the principle of Christian missions can be consistently made only by the infidel. Not that we bring the charge of absolute infidelity upon every man who has spoken against the cause; good men may have done so by mistake: but if the word, "go ye forth," is truth, what but that spirit of disobedience to Divine authority which infidelity sanctions, and that heart-chilling indifference to the spiritual interests of immortal men which infidelity never fails to generate, can place a man in opposition to the precept it enjoins?

It is now, I hope, a rare occurrence to find any professed Christian absolutely opposing the principle of missionary undertakings; but I must say, a state of feeling still widely obtains among us, which, if not decidedly hostile, yet renders the person influenced by it as inactive and as useless to the cause as if he were an enemy. There is, extensively, in our Church, still a blindness to the natural condition of mankind,-- an ignorance of the real nature and extent of sin,

of the true character of God, of the scheme of salvation through Christ Jesus, as applicable to a man's own individual case;— and hence the man is indifferent about the propagation of saving truth among others. For, it is constantly remarked, that in proportion as any one has obtained an insight into the value of his own soul, so he manifests anxiety for the salvation of others.

The conductors of this publication, in their "Introductory Address," professed themselves warm friends to missionary enterprise. In consequence of this announcement, I have penned the foregoing observations on the general subject; and ere I conclude, I cannot do better than call up the attention of my brother-churchmen to the cause, by giving a short account of that excellent institution in connexion with our Establishment, "the Church-Missionary Society."

This society was formed in the year 1800, by members of the Church of England, who felt the obligation to seek the conversion of the heathen nations to Christianity, according to the discipline, and as exhibited in the formularies of that Church.

In the prosecution of this, its sacred object, through a period of thirty-six years, it has had to encounter numerous difficulties and trials; but its labours have been blessed with much success.

Like "the mustard-seed," it has arisen from a small beginning, but has, year by year, increased, and has now "become a great tree," through the genial influence of" the Sun of Righteousness," and the fertilising "dew of the Spirit of grace;" and has extended its branches over considerable portions of the heathen world; beneath which, many immortal souls, once wandering abroad, but happily restored by its instrumentality, have found a temporary refuge, leading, it may be safely hoped, to a restingplace for all eternity.

Throughout the country at large the society has met with a very considerable share of public patronage and support. For the first few years, indeed, its pecuniary resources were very limited; but in proportion as its principles and objects became known throughout the land, an enlarged and rapidly increasing measure of support was obtained. The receipts of the past year amount to 70,7177., of which sum, 52,0937. was derived from its numerous "auxiliary associations," formed in every part of the British empire. And it has been computed that nearly 40,000l. arose from congregational collections, and from subscriptions, among the less opulent members, of a penny a-week, or a shilling amonth.

The society has at Islington an "Institution" for the education of its missionaries; many of whom are annually admitted by the Bishop of London into holy orders as priests and deacons. They are then sent out among the heathen, to increase the number and efficiency of the stations in various parts of the globe. It has at present 64 stations, supplied by 70 European, and three Indian clergymen; 71 catechists and other lay teachers, assisted by 463 native schoolmasters and readers, of the various nations among which it operates. It has stations in West Africa, the Mediterranean, North, South, and West India, Ceylon, New Holland, New Zealand, the West India islands, and North-West America; comprehending within their circles 431 schools, and containing 16,328 converts and scholars of both sexes. It is computed that the whole number connected with the society's missions abroad amounted last year to 21,648 souls.