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fallen nature with yourselves: and that un-ingly, in their daily rounds of the visitation less those natures are changed, far better had of the sick and the dying! And I say this, it been for us that we had never been born. not from any vain boasting; God forbid for "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, I am speaking of others, not of myself. May who shall prepare himself for the battle?" God give us grace to do, as well as to suffer, (1 Cor. xiv. 8.) his will from the heart. "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. xxxiii. 25).

There remains one point to be considered in connexion with the declaration of the apostle in my text, and a very important point it is, viz. the motive or reason which he assigns for the affectionate interest which he took, and the devoted zeal which he manifested, on behalf of his Thessalonian brethren. It was this:-" Because ye were dear unto

The apostle goes on to say, "So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls." Here, again, the image of an affectionate mother strikingly represents the devotedness of affection which the apostle bore towards his spiritual children. Many a mother has sacrificed her life for the sake of preserving the life of her child! Every drop of nourish-us." And here, again, the image of a nursing ment that her infant has drawn from her breast, has been, as it were, so many lifedrops, weakening her, and bringing her down to the grave. Regardless of her own health, yea, prodigal of her own life, she cares only for the health and the life of her child? And is not this precisely the spirit and the conduct of St. Paul? What was his language to the Corinthians: "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you" (2 Epist. xii. 15): and he uses this language to persons who did not value him or his services, and who made no return whatever for his kindness; for it is melancholy to read what follows: "though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." No perverseness on the part of the child can check the full tide of affection which is overflowing in the mother's bosom. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ?" (Is. xlix. 15.) So, no insensibility, no ingratitude on the part of those among whom the apostle laboured, nay, laid down his life, could provoke him to abate either one throb of his affection, or slacken his exertions towards them." None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God" (Acts, xx. 24).

Would that we could feel and manifest the same devotedness to our Master's cause, and the same love for souls! Yet, though the days of martyrdom are past-though the minister of the Gospel is not now called upon to seal his faith and his ministry with his blood-still, it is by no means uncommon to see or hear of many a minister who has sunk into an early grave by over-exertion! and, doubtless, not a few would be found, who, if their path of duty led them to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ and his Gospel, and for the good of souls, would cheerfully and thankfully do so, as they now constantly expose those lives fearlessly, yet not vaunt

mother will illustrate this feature in the apostle's character, and in the character of every faithful minister. What is it that impels the fond and anxious parent to cherish and nourish the child of her womb? Why does she pass many a restless day, and many a sleepless night, in watching and tending her child? Does she do it from any interested motives? Will she be repaid for all her care and all her labour? Not always. She does it for this simple but strong reason, because her child is dear to her. That which is a natural feeling in the bosom of the mother, by Divine grace becomes a spiritual affection in the breast of every faithful minister of the Gospel. It was love, pure, ardent, disinterested love, which glowed in the bosom of Paul, and not any other motive, still less any base one, which made him "in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft." He tells us in the sixth verse, that he "might have been burdensome to them;" that is, he might have called upon them to support him by their contributions; but he "laboured night and day, because he would not be chargeable unto any of them." "His own hands," he says in another place (Acts, xx. 34), "have ministered unto his necessities." This was indeed a noble instance of disinterested love for the souls of his fellow-creatures; and in vain do we look for any thing approaching to it among his successors in the ministry! But are we to be blamed, because we are paid for our services? or, are our motives less pure, or less disinterested, because we are remunerated for what we do? Far from it. If you turn to 1 Cor. ix. 11, you will find that the apostle insists strongly on this point, that the minister of the Gospel ought to live by the Gospel, although he, St. Paul, chose to support himself. "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" alluding here, in all probability, to the direction which our Lord gave to his first apostles:

"Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves; for the workman is worthy of his meat" (Matt.x. 9, 10). Whatever some illiberal and unchristian people may think or say about ministers of the present day-whatever base and unworthy motives they may impute to them, with respect to their being influenced by "filthy lucre's sake,"—sure I am, though I say it, the infinitely greater number of them are, in the words of St. Peter, "feeding the flock of God which is among them, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind" (1 Epist. v. 2). May we have grace given to us, to say with St. Paul in all sincerity, "We seek not yours, but you" (2 Cor. xii. 14). "Being affectionately desirous of you, we are willing to impart unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye are dear unto us." Yes, not merely because it is our business and duty so to do, and that woe will be to us, if we neglect it not from a cold calculating principle of being paid for what we do-but because we have a love for souls; because we have a compassionate feeling for the awful and wretched state of the unbelieving, the ungodly, and impenitent sinner; and because we have, we trust, an experimental and a thankful sense ourselves of the greatness and the goodness of that salvation which Christ hath purchased for us by his own blood, and of which we are the privileged messengers. "The love of Christ constraineth us." This obligation, which impels a faithful minister to labour in the service of his heavenly Lord and Master, viz. a sight of sin, and an experimental and thankful sense of his own deliverance from it, in and by Jesus Christ, is an obligation, which our apostle felt the force of, as we find from his own words in writing to the Corinthians: " Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Epist. v. 11); and, again, in the preceding chapter, "we believe, and therefore speak." Being fully persuaded ourselves of the lost and miserable state of every wilful and impenitent sinnerknowing that the words of God are not vain or idle words, The wages of sin is death" -that what he has threatened, he will assuredly execute-we would, by every means in our power, be instrumental in persuading others to flee from the wrath to come, and to lay hold of that salvation which is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus. Yes," the love of Christ constraineth us!" When once the soul has felt the sweetness and the fulness of that love wherewith Christ hath loved a world so utterly unworthy of his love-when once those precious words have been truly

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and experimentally brought home to the heart, "He loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. ii. 20), we are constrained, that is, there is a power, which we cannot resist, which we wish not to resist, of proclaiming the glorious news to others. The saving mercy which we ourselves have experienced, we are anxious to communicate to others who need it." Our heart's desire and prayer to God is, that others might be saved," as well as ourselves. Even with regard to those who set at nought God's ministers and God's ordinances, who cast our words behind them, and who hate to be reformed; hopeless, at present, as their state seems to be, we still feel great anxiety about them-daily are they remembered in our prayers at the throne of grace. We are thinking of them, and caring for them, when they are not thinking of, or caring for us: "For my love, they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer” (Ps. cix. 4).

Thus the spirit of a faithful minister of Christ is an affectionate, devoted, and enlarged spirit. And why? because it is the "spirit of Christ." It is a spark, and only a spark of that divine flame which glowed in his breast, which was full of compassion, pure, devoted, disinterested compassion! Yes, brethren, if the circumstance of a fellowmortal, like yourselves, caring and labouring for your souls, fails of producing that effect which it ought; if you suspect him of doing it from any motive but a pure and benevo lent one, I would offer one consideration to your notice, which, if it have no weight, none other will. I would have you think on Christ, and on what he hath done and suf fered for your souls. Never could man feel or do for another what Christ hath felt and done for us! He had no motive but one

love, heavenly, disinterested love! Of him, indeed, it might be truly said, in the days of his flesh, "He was gentle among us," and

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"affectionately desirous of us." you not remember the affecting and affec tionate image under which he represented himself as feeling for perverse Jerusalem? "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye not?" (Matt. xxiii. 37.) Need I remind you, that his feelings did not consist only in wishes and in words-" My meat," he says, " is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." How he did his work, and how he finished it, I need not tell you; from his lowly cradle at Bethlehem to his raised cross at Calvary, "He learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and

being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" (Heb. v. 8, 9).

If the exceeding love of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, thus living and dying for you, does not make that impression upon your hearts which, by the grace of God, it is calculated to do, it is in vain that I remind you of the above observations which I have made on the words of our text. But I would

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hope better things of you. I would hope, that when you hear us saying, "We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children; so, being affectionately desirous you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us;" when you see us, as of the ability which God giveth, "watching for your souls, as they that must give account," I would hope, I say, that you will account us, and receive us, as your best friends. Ever, then, regard your Church, of which we are the ministers, under the interesting aspect of a "nursing mother!" See her carefully tending, and providing spiritual nourishment for, her truly spiritual children, from their cradles to their graves, not only in her stated Sabbath services, but in her occasional offices. See her carrying them in her arms as infants to Christ at baptism - dedicating them afresh to their Saviour at confirmationleading them as guests to his holy tableimploring a blessing, spiritual and temporal, in the sacred ordinance of matrimony-offering up thanksgiving when the wife becomes a mother-cheering the chamber of sickness with her affectionate sympathy and holy prayers, and, last of all, following her children to the brink of the grave, and hallowing it with her solemn and affecting services! If any, or all of these truly scriptural services are abused by some, whose fault is it? If the mother does her duty, but the child neglects his; if the mother is gentle and affectionate, but the child is cross, and perverse, and unkind, and ungrateful, blame not the mother! God grant you may shew your affection for your Church and her ministers, by becoming what she wishes you to become, God's children by adoption and grace! May you ever feel and shew a regard for her, who, under God, thus cares for you! As you would cherish and protect your natural parent, venerate and protect, if need be, and as far as God permits and enables

you, your spiritual mother, the Church of England; which, under the fostering protection of the great Head of the Church, even Jesus Christ, is, I verily believe, your truest and best friend both for time and for eternity!

THE BRITISH CHURCH FROM THE NORMAN INVASION UNTIL THE REFORMATION.

[Continued from No. XIII.]

A SKETCH of the history of the British Church from

its earliest establishment until the time of the Norman

invasion, appeared in a former Number of this publication; it is the design of the present paper to carry on this outline of Church history until the commencement of the reformation. The period thus embraced is one of a dreary aspect, as far as the vital principles observed, a continued struggle between ecclesiastical of religion are concerned. It presents, as was before and civil power, in which Christianity loses its primitive simplicity, and is made subservient to the artful policy of an unbounded ambition. But even during these times of general corruption, true religion was not without her witnesses in our island; and pious men arose at different intervals-the lights of this gloomy period- who exerted their influence to expose the growth of iniquity, and to revive the piety of earlier ages. Such were Greathead, Wickliffe, Cobham, and others, whose names will occur in the course of this inquiry.

He

The Norman invasion of England took place under sanction of the Pope. William, however, used this authority only to advance his own interest, and to procure for his Norman followers those rich ecclesiastical preferments, which were in the hands of the Saxons. claimed for himself supremacy both in civil and religious matters; and increased the revenue of the crown by appropriating to its use the temporalities of bishoprics, which, to gratify his rapacity, were allowed for a time to remain unfilled. The consequences of this conduct were, opposition on the part of the clergy, and distress among a numerous train of

persons, who preferred an idle dependence on monastic charity to a life of activity and industry. Rome, it must be remembered, in furtherance of her ambitious motives, had already professed herself the universal guardian of Church interest; or, in other words, she had laid the foundations of that supremacy which we shall shortly find her exercising with impious freedom in both spiritual and temporal concerns. The suffering ecclesiastics, therefore, were glad to have recourse to her authority on any pressing emergency; and thus her power increased through the several gradations of appeal, concession, and blind submission on the part of those who admitted her interference. By vesting the decision of all ecclesiastical matters solely in the hands of the clergy, William rendered still wider the breach between Church and State; and although the ill effects of this the high offices of the Church were held by his immearrangement were but little felt in his reign, while

diate followers, it became, nevertheless, in after-times, the occasion of great licentiousness among the clergy, who were thus no longer amenable to the civil power. Under the reigns of William Rufus and Henry I., Rome gained still greater authority in this island. Anselm, who had been appointed by William to the vacant see of Canterbury, refused acceptance of it from the hands of the English monarch, and declared that the right of investiture (which was a ceremony conferring on the bishop elect the spiritualities of his office, as homage did its temporalities) belonged to the pope, as supreme. This produced a quarrel between William and the newly appointed prelate, which ended in the banishment of Anselm, and the admission of papal authority by William. Anselm retired to Rome, and while there gained considerable influence at that court. He was recalled to England by Henry, who, by his persuasion, together with the threat of excommunication from Pascal II., the then pope, was induced to make an entire surrender to Rome of the right of investiture. Anselm is

of her resources to maintain foreign ecclesiastics. Edward the First, on his accession to the throne, turned his attention towards Church property, as a means of supplying the expenses of his government. He demanded one-half of the annual revenue of the clergy, and enforced this enormous exaction with such rigour, that they were compelled to submit. In 1275 a law also was passed, which made the king's consent necessary for the transfer of all property to an ecclesiastical body. This statute was called mortmain. But, although under the active reigns of the Edwards the civil power seems to have gained ground, the vices of the clergy, and the licentiousness that per vaded the whole ecclesiastical system, continued unchecked, until they encountered the powerful preaching of Wickliffe. It was the abuses of this period, both moral and political, which called into action the energies of this zealous reformer. Wickliffe was edu cated at Oxford, and had early rendered himself con

allowed to have been a man of great genius, and deeply versed in the dialectics of his age; but his blind attachment to the interest of the pope gave an injurious tendency to his extraordinary talents and acquirements. By his influence a law was passed to enforce the celibacy of the clergy. In the reign of Stephen, most ecclesiastical causes were referred from this country to the tribunal of the pope, and many of our religious houses submitted themselves to the sole direction of his authority. Such were the means by which the jurisdiction of the see of Rome was extended, and the patrimony of St. Peter enriched. By a special grant from the pope, Henry II. added Ireland to his dominions. He formed, however, the wise project of bringing the clergy of his own kingdom under the jurisdiction of the civil courts, on account of the scandalous abuse which they had made of their immunities, and the crimes which the ecclesiastical tribunals let pass with impunity. The constitutions of Clarendon, consisting of sixteen arti-spicuous for his learning and freedom of discussion.

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cles, were drawn up for this purpose. To these laws, Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, refused obedience. He regarded them as prejudicial to the divine right of the Church in general, and to the prerogatives of the Roman pontiffs in particular. Upon this violent debates arose. Becket fled for protection to Pope Alexander III., who, together with the King of France, procured his restoration to the favour of Henry. But his rebellious obstinacy in maintaining what he called the privileges of the Church, eventually proved fatal to the haughty prelate. assassinated before the altar of his cathedral by four persons, who considered they were doing the pleasure of their sovereign. But historians in general acquit Henry of any connivance in this sanguinary act. was in the reign of John that the despotism of pontifical insolence seems to have attained its highest pitch: our island was laid under an interdict; the churches were closed; a stop was put to divine service; the dead were buried in the highways, without the usual funeral solemnities, and this because the king took upon himself to appoint to the vacant see of Canterbury, John de Gray, in opposition to the wishes of Pope Innocent III., who had ordered the election of Stephen Langton to that dignity. The interdict, moreover, was followed by a sentence of excommunication against the person of the English monarch; this, by a bull, absolving all his subjects from the oath of allegiance; and in 1212, to consummate these impious proceedings, the pope declared the throne of England vacant; and wrote to Philip Augustus, king of France, to undertake the conquest of John's dominions. The weak king of England was thus compelled to submission; and on May 15, 1213, he received at Dover, as a dependent on the pope, that crown which he had laid at the feet of Pandulf, the legate of Rome. By this act, England became subject to pay one thousand marks annually in acknowledgment of papal supremacy and jurisdiction. This period also is marked by further corruption in points of doctrine. By the fourth council of St. John Lateran, 1215, transubstantiation was declared to be a tenet of the Church. The exactment of annates, or first-fruits, which was a tax of one year's income on all preferments when they became vacant, now formed an additional revenue to the papal throne. Moreover, many of our rich benefices were at this time filled by Italians, who resided in their own country, and exhausted our island of its wealth. Pope Innocent IV. named his nephew, Frederic de Lavanca, even while quite a child, to a canonry in the church of Lincoln. Such an abuse of power, however, could not proceed uninterrupted. Greathead, bishop of Lincoln, was the foremost who ventured to raise his voice against this system of iniquity; but death shortly after put a stop to his exertions: nor did the barons quietly submit to see England drained

His first work, which was levelled against the covet ousness of Rome, was published in 1356, and entitled "The last Age of the Church." This was soon followed by an act of open opposition to papal authority; for he advocated the cause of the king in resist ing the demands of Pope Urban the Fifth, who claimed the arrears of the tribute conferred by John on the papacy, and which had remained unpaid for many years. This, and other instances of resistance to the court of Rome, together with his continual reprovals of the infamous lives of ecclesiastics in general, called down upon him the thunders of the Church. By a bull from Pope Gregory II., he was cited to appear in St. Paul's church, to answer for his conduct before Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury, and Courtney, bishop of London. But the party in favour of Wicklitte had gained such influence, that no proceedings were entered into, and the death of Gregory put a stop to the commission. His opinions spread far and wide, and the opposition of party daily increased; but the health of the reformer rapidly gave way under his great mental and bodily labours. In 1382, on account of the persecution of the friars, from the earnestness with which he opposed their favourite doctrine transubstantiation, he was compelled to retire from Oxford to his living, Lutterworth, in Leicestershire; and, in 1384, while engaged in divine service, he was seized with a fit of palsy, which terminated his earthly career. Some time previous to his retiring from Oxford, Wickliffe published eighteen articles, containing a declaration of his faith. The admission of purgatory, as also the utility of praying for the soul detained there, and his rejection of episcopal government, seem to be the main points on which his opinion differs from the reformed Church.

The storm of papal vengeance, which Wickliffe escaped by death, burst forth in full violence on his numerous followers. They were in reproach termed Lollards; their tenets became the subject of an inquisitorial commission; and Henry IV., on his coming to the crown, authorised the bishops to arrest and detain in prison any one suspected of preaching these heretical doctrines; and, in default of recantation, to deliver him to the secular power to be burnt. Saw trey, a clergyman of London, was the first who suffered at the stake, because he refused to worship the cross and denied the doctrine of transubstantiation. After him the most illustrious of a numerous train of mar tyrs was Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham,* noted alike for his private virtues and his open adherence to the true faith. The cause of the Reformation was also greatly promoted by the prudent conduct of Reginald Pecock, who was appointed bishop of Chichester in 1444. He moderated the views of the more * A detailed account of the trial and martyrdom of Lord Cob ham appeared in his biography in the Twelfth Number of this

work.

zealous followers of Wickliffe; and although he was not so fully cleansed from the leaven of papacy as were some of his predecessors, his milder reasoning was, perhaps, at that time, capable of producing more beneficial effects than their violent oppositions to the errors of Rome. But persecution continued with unabated vigour; and, in the period between the death of Cobham and the accession of Henry VIII., Fox gives a detailed account of about twenty individuals who were burnt for heresy. Thus was the purity of the Church purchased by the blood of her saints. But the time was at hand which was to limit the dominion of spiritual tyranny. As the follies and vices of our sovereign were the main cause of papal influence in this island, so the overgrown insolence of that power became the leading step towards a reformation in the Church. We turn from the dark clouds which overhang this period of our history to hail the approach of a brighter era, wherein religion shines in purer vestments freed from the infectious corruptions of Rome, wherein the Bible is laid open for every one, and the simple, unmutilated intelligence of a divine revelation becomes the sole rule of faith and guide of conduct. Oxford.

The Cabinet.

Our

APOSTOLIC CONSOLATION.-The manner in which the apostles comforted believers under their trials can only be accounted for from the authorised expectation of the second advent of the Lord Jesus. great consolation to distressed Christians is the comfort that death will relieve them from all their sorrows, and bring their happy spirits to the presence of the Lord. This is the mode in which we-I mean Christians in modern times-console our afflicted brethren. But this was not the apostolic mode. We may not, perhaps, have noticed this; but such is the fact, that death is very rarely introduced by the apostles in the way of consolation; their comfort was, the coming of the Lord. Thus St. Paul, when addressing the Christians at Rome, says, "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in

us."

Not that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the felicity we shall enjoy at death, but with the glory that "shall be revealed in us," or that shall be made manifest at the fulfilment of that blessed promise, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." So when he writes to the Hebrews, "who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that in heaven they had a better and an enduring substance," he does not refer to their death, as the short interval only for which they were to wait; he says, "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." It was in this manner, also, that he consoled those who mourned over the death of their Christian friends; them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him, "therefore, comfort one another with these words," with the hope of a coming Saviour. This mode of consolation never would have been adopted by the apostles but upon this consideration, that the Church of Christ was always to be exercising this blessed hope. But for this, how much more soothing would such words as these have been, especially at a time when the lives of Christians were in constant jeopardy; "Fear not, beloved brother; death will relieve you from all your trials; and, in our present persecutions, that friend may very soon visit you. Even before the setting sun, a decree may be issued, which shall send you to your Lord." But such was not their method. He in whose footsteps they had trod had directed differently. He had taught his

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people, as their brightest hope, ever to be expecting his return.-Rev. J. H. Stewart.

USE OF RICHES.-If God hath given thee riches, thou mayst not think that he hath committed them unto thee for thine own use only, but that he hath made thee a steward over them, to distribute them to the profit of the commonalty. For indeed thou art not the very owner of them, but God is the owner, which saith by the prophet Haggai, "Gold is mine, and silver is mine;" and he hath committed them for a season to thine hand, to see whether thou wilt be faithful in distributing this wicked mammon according to his commandments. And that it so is, thou mayst well note by the parable of the rich man which was clothed in silk, and fared delicately in the world, and after was burned in hell. Whereupon St. Gregory noteth, that he was not damned because he despoiled any other man's, but because he did not distribute his own, as the process of the text doth also well declare. Wherefore, if we must give accounts of all that is given us, then have we little cause to glory, but rather to fear and tremble, and to count him most happy to whom least is committed; for God, to whom this account must be made, cannot be deluded, although the world may be blinded. - A Mirror or Glass to know Thyself, by John Frith, burnt in Smithfield, July 4, 1533.

MAN'S MORAL INABILITY.-Man is now, what he ever has been since the fall, a feeble being; ignorant by nature of his God and his duty; living daily in trespasses and sins. While he remains unenlightened by the communications from on high, darkness encompasses his mind. When this darkness is dispersed, and the points of true excellence are clearly revealed, to raise himself to them by his own strength is not in his power. It is with anguish and humiliation, that, in proof of this, I point you to the heathen sage, perceiving, admiring, celebrating the virtues which in the practice of life he abandons. It is with fear and trembling, that, for the same purpose, I point you to the arduous struggles, and the many defeats, by which the Christian, in endeavouring to maintain his heavenly course, is taught his dependence upon some superior strength. Man's moral powers are so weakened by corruption; his affections are so prone to evil; the holds which temptation has in him are so numerous and so deep; his spiritual life is so far gone,-that, in sacred language, he is represented, with awful emphasis, as dead while he liveth. And as soon may he raise himself from the iron slumbers of the tomb to the life and glories of immortality, as rise, by his own strength, from the moral decay and corruption of his nature, to the purity, spirituality, and holiness, of the new and eternal life.-Bishop Dehon.

Poetry.

THE INVITATION.*

"Come with us, and we will do thee good."-Num. x. 29.
OH! come with us!-the mazy round
Of pleasure hath been tried,
And all her promised joy been found
To pain and guilt allied.
The varied stores of human lore

Have lost their power to please;
And there's a void ne'er felt before,
A sigh for peace and ease.
Have I not read thy secret thought,
And scanned thy hidden pain?
Then let the voice in mercy brought
Not plead with thee in vain.

• From the Christian Lady's Magazine,

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