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bridle in his hand, hesitating whether to go forward with the horse, or to return back with it and restore it to the owner. In this state he continued for upwards of an hour. At last he resolved to take the horse back again; which he accordingly did, and returned home a true penitent, determined to serve God. When he reached his dwelling, he could not rest: sleep had departed from him: the sting of conviction abided deep in his conscience, and he could not shake it off. The next day he took an ox out of his kraal (cattle place), and went to the nearest village to sell it, in order that he might buy European clothing with the money, and attend the house of God like a Christian. When he returned with his clothes, he went to the minister's house, told him all that had taken place, and requested to be admitted on probation as a church member. The minister, cheered with his statement, received him; and, after keeping him on trial the appointed time, and finding him consistent in his conduct, a short time ago baptized him; and he is now a full member of the Christian church, and adorning his Christian profession (Glasgow African Missionary Society's report).

MATERNAL SOCIETIES.-I must not omit, among the means which there is reason to believe that God has greatly blessed to the advancing of his kingdom in the United States, the maternal societies-institutions that have not been of many years' standing among us, but which have existed long enough to produce much good. These societies are composed of pious mothers, who meet, in parties not inconveniently numerous, once in the week, fortnight, or month, for the purpose of conversing on the bringing up of their children for the Lord, listening to the reading of valuable remarks or hints on the best means of discharging

this great duty, and mingling their prayers before the throne of grace in behalf of themselves and their beloved offspring. These little meetings prove very useful seasons to many an anxious, perplexed, and disheartened mother, by communicating grace and strength and support and light, for enabling her to fulfil her awfully responsible part. God has greatly blessed them. The subject is one of vast moment. The world has never yet seen the full results of the Christian education of children (rev. R. Baird's "Religion in the United States").

IRELAND. Scripture Readers.-"I take the opportunity of earnestly soliciting the society's attention to this locality (Cork). Nowhere is there a greater opening for the dissemmination of religious truth, the neighbouring parish having been the scene of Mr. Brasbie's labours as a Roman catholic priest before his conversion. This event has made a great impression on the Roman catholics of this part of the country; and a great and increasing desire for the word of God and religious instruction is daily mani

fested. I hear the reader is of the greatest possible service to us, and his time is fully occupied. The Lord is preparing his work amongst us: some are prepared publicly to abjure the errors of Rome; and many, I trust, will be led to follow their example. Violent denunciations against the bible, its readers, and teachers, are of every day occurrence; but the confidence of the people in their priests is shaken,

and they will see and judge for themselves. Such is the demand for the word of God, that we have even been obliged to give away our own bibles and testaments, retaining only one each. Could the society send us a small supply? In fact, so far as books are concerned, our wants are great ; and a large supply is needed" (Letter from a clergyman to the S. R. Society).

INDIA. A Hindoo scholar, of the first caste, concluded his essay on "The Influence of sound general Knowledge upon Hindoostan" with the following words :-" The resplendent sun of revelation hath darted forth to the eyes of benighted India. But, alas, alas! our countrymen are still asleep-still sleeping the sleep of death. Rise up, ye sons of India! arise; see the glory of the Sun of Righteousness. Beauty is around you: life blooms before you. Why, why will ye sleep the sleep of death? And shall we, who have drunk in that beauty we, who have seen that life, shall we not bid our poor fellowcountrymen awake? Come what will, ours will be the part, the happy part, of arousing India, slumbering, from her slumber" (Orlick's "Travels in India").

THE RUIN OF A RELAPSED STATE: A Sermon,

BY THE RIGHT REV. JOHN KAYE, D.D., Lord Bishop of Lincoln.

ST. MATT. xii. 45.

"And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation."

IN order clearly to understand the meaning of these words, it is necessary to consider the circumstances which gave occasion to them. In the twenty-second verse of this chapter the evangelist tells us, that Christ had healed one possessed with a devil, and deprived of the faculties both of sight and speech. This exercise of supernatural power produced, as might be expected, a strong impression upon the bystanders; and, as a persuasion was generally prevalent among the Jews, at that period, that the time appointed for the appearance of the Messiah who was to spring from the seed of David was at hand, they concluded that he who was invested with such extraordinary power could be no other than the promised Saviour, and asked, "Is not this the Son of David?" The Pharisees, the hollowness of whose pretensions to piety Jesus had exposed with the keenest severity, felt that, if it once came to be generally received among the people that he was the Son of David, there would quickly be an end of their authority. They endeavoured, therefore, to counteract the effect produced by the miracle upon the minds of the multitude, by representing it as wrought, not through the divine aid, but through the agency of evil spirits =

"This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils." In reply to this blasphemous assertion, Christ first appealed to their common sense, and inquired whether it was likely that Beelzebub would weaken his own cause by acting in opposition to the spirits whom he himself employed? Ought they not rather to conclude that one endowed with greater power than Beelzebub, and destined to overthrow his kingdom, had come unto them? Ought they not to recognize, in the wonderful work which had been performed, the finger of God?

Having thus exposed the weakness of the attempt made by the Pharisees to evade the inference to be drawn from the miracle in favour of his title to be received as the Messiah, our blessed Lord goes on to denounce its wickedness. He describes the offence of speaking against the Holy Ghost-which can, as is evident from the whole connexion of the passage, mean nothing else than the offence of ascribing to the agency of evil spirits miracles wrought by the Spirit of God-as an offence of so heinous a nature, that he who committed it must not hope for pardon. Not that there is any guilt of so deep a dye that the precious blood of the Lamb of God will not wash away the stain, any crime so heinous as to leave the criminal no place for repentance, to remove him beyond the range of that mercy which God is pleased to exercise towards man in consideration of the obedience and sufferings of his beloved Son. But the meaning of Christ's denunciation is this, that to ascribe the wonderful works which he had wrought to the power of Beelzebub bespoke an obstinate resistance to the will of God, a deliberate determination to reject the truth, a callousness and obduracy of heart which were proof against the ordinary influences of God's Holy Spirit, and which nothing but the exercise of a miraculous power, greater even than that which had been exercised in the expulsion of the evil spirit from the blind and dumb man, could subdue. There was, consequently, no hope that one, who had so entirely abandoned himself to the dominion of his passions and prejudices, so wilfully hardened himself in unbelief, could ever be brought to that humble and penitent and contrite frame of mind which alone could render him meet for forgiveness and restoration to God's favour.

The language of the author of the epistle to the Hebrews is equally strong on this point. He says that "it is impossible to renew unto repentance" those who, having been "enlightened, and having tasted of the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost," afterwards "fall away;" when he must not be

understood as speaking of an absolute impossibility, but as describing the condition of such offenders to be one of most imminent danger, one affording no ground on which, judging according to the ordinary course of God's dealing with man, we can build a hope of their return to the truth.

But neither the reasons urged by our blessed Lord, nor his awful denunciations, were sufficient to overcome the prejudices or silence the cavils of the Jews. They required further evidence of his divine mission, evidence like that which had been given in the case of their own lawgivers and prophets. They asked for a sign from heaven; that is, as we collect from the corresponding passage in St. Luke, some such display of the divine glory as their fathers had witnessed when the law was delivered on Mount Sinai, some exercise of extraordinary power, like that exhibited by Joshua when he commanded the sun to stand still, or by Elijah when fire fell from heaven at his call, and destroyed the companies of soldiers sent to seize him. Thus, with the arrogant presumption always attendant upon unbelief, they ventured to prescribe to God the evidence which he must furnish, in order to satisfy their doubts and exercise their understandings. Our Saviour, knowing that expostulation and argument would avail nothing with men so stubborn and self-willed, contents himself with replying that their unreasonable demand would not be granted, that no sign would be given. Then, having contrasted their obstinate impenitence with the conduct of the Ninevites, who had repented at the preaching of Jonas, and their perverse rejection of his preaching with the docility and desire of instruction displayed by the queen of the south, who came from a remote country to hear the wisdom of Solomon, he introduces the parable, of which the words of the text form the conclusion, a parable evidently suggested by the case of the man possessed with a devil, which had given rise to his conversation with the Jews: "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and, when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with him self seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation."

We have only to review the history of the Jewish people, in order to recognize the correctness of the application which Christ makes of the parable to their case: "Even

so shall it be also unto this wicked generation." That history is little else than an account of their rebellions against the Most High. Scarcely had they escaped from the bondage under which they groaned in the land of Egypt, than they began to murmur against those whom God had commissioned to be their leaders; and during the whole of their journey through the wilderness they continued to exhibit the same marks of a perverse and discontented temper. Sometimes, indeed, when either in his goodness he had delivered them from some imminent danger, or in his displeasure he had visited them with some heavy chastisement, they acknowledged his power, and humbled themselves in the language of penitence. But the deliverance and the visitation were alike speedily forgotten, and they relapsed into disobedience. Under the government of their judges and their kings, up to the time when they were carried away captives to Babylon, they continued to present the same alternations of reformation and transgression, now deprecating the wrath of God, now renouncing his worship, and joining in the idolatrous practices of their heathen neighbours. If the evil spirit was for a time expelled, it was only that he might return to re-occupy his throne, and to exercise a more absolute and uncontrolled dominion.

At the time of our Saviour's appearance on earth, their character had undergone no change it was still marked by the same inconsistency, the same inability or disinclination to persevere steadily in the path of obedience. When John the Baptist began to preach, they seem to have awakened to a sense of their danger, and to have been loud in their professions of repentance and promises of amendment: they flocked eagerly to receive his baptism, and were willing for a while to rejoice in his light. But the effect upon them was transient. It produced no permanent alteration in their practice: they quickly relapsed into their worldly and sinful habits; and, at last, as if to show how utterly unprofitable to them had been his preaching, they rejected his testimony on the very fact to which he declared himself especially sent to bear witness, the fact that Jesus was the Christ. Nor was their treatment of our blessed Lord himself different. If at one time they listened to his preaching, and confessed that the works which he performed testified of him that he was sent by God, and even hailed him as the Son of David, as their long-expected King, we shortly after find them rejoicing in the unjust sentence by which he was condemned to death, and embittering his last moments by insults and re

vilings: so aptly did the parable illustrate the spiritual condition of the Jewish people. The carnal and malignant passions, which had been repressed for a while by the preaching of our blessed Lord and his forerunner, quickly burst forth with increased violence, and raged with greater fury. Thus was the prediction in the text exactly verified with respect to the Jews: their last state was indeed worse than the first.

Never did human nature exhibit itself under a more awful or disgusting form than among that unhappy people during the interval between the crucifixion of Christ and the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans. They seemed to yield themselves up to the dominion of the prince of darkness, and to be prepared to commit the most atrocious crimes without hesitation or remorse. Such was their guilty infatuation, that, even when the Roman armies were encompassing their walls, instead of uniting their efforts to repel the common enemy, they were torn by internal divisions, and separated into parties and factions, inflamed with the bitterest enmity against each other, and restrained from the use of no means which could lead to the accomplishment of their selfish purposes. But, great as was their guilt, it was almost surpassed by the severity of the calamities which fell on their devoted heads. The account, which has been handed down to us of the sufferings experienced by the Jews during the siege, and after the capture of their city, has scarcely a parallel in the history of mankind. There was, according to our Saviour's prediction, a great tribulation, such as had not been since the beginning of the world, no, nor ever should be; and thus was the last state of the Jews, whether regarded in a spiritual or temporal point of view, worse than the first-than any previous state during the whole of their national existence.

We have now considered the parable in the sense in which Christ intended to apply it, as descriptive of the state of the Jewish people. For a while the dominion of the prince of darkness over them had been shaken by the preaching of the gospel: he had been compelled to depart from them; but it was only to return with greater power, and to fasten his chains upon them more firmly than ever. But does the description apply to the Jews alone? Is it not equally applicable to many Christians? What was the peculiar feature in the character of the Jews which drew forth our blessed Lord's awful denunciation against them? Was it not their inconstancy of purpose, their want of fixed and stedfast determination to adhere to the worship and to walk in the commandments of God? When his displeasure was heavy upon them, they hum

bled themselves before him, and professed the deepest sorrow and contrition; but, scarcely had the words fallen from their lips, before they relapsed into sin: the first disappointment was sufficient to call forth their murmurs, the first temptation was sufficient to make them forget their promises of obedience. But in this description of the Jewish character may not too many Christians see a faithful picture of their own? How often do we meet with men, whose whole life is marked by similar inconstancy, who repent of their sins only to relapse into them, who mourn over their transgressions only to repeat them, who are scarcely delivered from the presence of the unclean spirit before they invite him again to take up his abode in their hearts! If, then, there are Christians to whom this parable is no less applicable than it was to the generation of which Christ spoke, have they not reasonable cause to apprehend that they are involved in the same sentence of condemnation, that their last end will be worse than the first?

Yet, dangerous as is the condition of those who are thus fluctuating between repentance and sin, is there not too much reason to fear that it is the condition of a large portion of the Christian world? And whence does this arise? In a great measure from the inadequate and imperfect notions, entertained among Christians, both of Christian repentance and Christian obedience. A man, who has been living in the habitual indulgence of some sinful appetite, is suddenly made either to feel in his own person, or to witness, in the person of one of his companions in sin, the pernicious consequences of such indulgence. His own health, perhaps, is broken, or his worldly prospects blighted, or he sees another visited with these temporal afflictions: his eyes then begin to open to the folly and danger of the course which he is pursuing; and he resolves to abandon it. The world sees this change in his outward conduct, and, unable to penetrate into the motives by which he is actuated, puts a favourable construction upon it, and pronounces him a reformed character. Let us turn to other passages of the New He has himself been little accustomed to look Testament, descriptive of the peculiar case into the state of his own heart, or to examine of those who, having been awakened by God's his principles of action, and therefore readily sense of the vanity of earthly persuades himself that he is what the world things, and of the necessity of an unreserved pronounces him to be. But does this renundedication of themselves to his service, after-ciation of a single bad habit, this expulsion of wards repent, so to speak, of their repentance, a single unclean spirit from his bosom, come and again give themselves up to the sinful up to the notion of Christian repentance? practices which they had renounced. I have Far from it. Repentance must necessarily already quoted the strong language used by be accompanied by sorrow; not by that which St. Paul in the epistle to the Hebrews, where the apostle terms "the sorrow of this world," he speaks of those who, having tasted of the a sorrow produced only by the temporal evil heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the consequences of sin, by the loss of health, Holy Ghost, afterwards fall away. But the of fortune, of reputation; but a sorrow arising words of St. Peter so closely resemble the from the consciousness of having offended language used by Christ in the parable, that him "whose eyes are purer than to behold they almost seem to amount to a command iniquity," and from a hatred of sin on account upon it. "If," he says, "after they have of its own deformity and its hatefulness in the escaped the pollutions of the world through sight of God. Doubtless, repentance must. the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus be accompanied by a reformation of the outChrist, they are again entangled therein and ward behaviour; but that will avail little, if overcome, the latter end is worse than the there be not also a renewal of the heart, beginning. For it had been better for them unless the affections and thoughts are purinot to have known the way of righteousness, fied, and the desires turned from earthly to than, after they have known it, to turn from heavenly things. In like manner, Christian the holy commandment delivered unto them." obedience is not a merely outward compliance Nay, on one occasion, our blessed Lord him- with the letter of the law, a constrained obself goes still further, and includes in this servance of its precepts, a constrained absti condemnation, not only those who actually nence from the actions which it forbids: it is relapse into sin, but those also who cherish an obedience springing from a living prina secret love of the world, and cast back a ciple within the heart, from the love of God, lingering look upon its vanities. "No man," which causes us to love whatever is good he says, "having put his hand to the plough, and pure and lovely, on account of its and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of resemblance to his nature, and to aim God"-is fit for that kingdom, admission continually at attaining to a greater coninto which implies an unreserved dedication formity to the image of his beloved Son, of the will and affections to God. who was given unto us not only a sacrifice

for sin, but also an ensample of godly life. | feeble creature like himself to fulfil it. But It is because men form low and unworthy notions of the Christian character, that they display so little consistency in their conduct, that they fluctuate, as I have already said, between repentance and sin, nay, even altogether abandon particular vicious habits, without, however, making the slightest advance towards a truly Christian obedience, towards the attainment of a truly Christian frame of mind.

There are, indeed, some vicious habits, of which it may be more truly said that they leave the sinner, than that the sinner forsakes them. As he advances in years, his growing infirmities either altogether incapacitate him for partaking of his former enjoyments, or he so quickly feels the injurious effects of indulgence on his "enfeebled frame," that the dread of the penalty to be incurred prevents him from yielding to his appetites. But, because this man can no longer violate certain of the divine commandments, which for a series of years he habitually violated, has he on that account any reason to congratulate himself on the improvement of his spiritual state? Is not, on the contrary, the description in the parable strictly applicable to his case? One unclean spirit may have been driven out, the spirit of luere, intemperance, or ambition; but he is still the slave of anger, or avarice, or selfishness; and his state is the more hopeless, because he is neither alive to the extent of the danger, nor feels any desire of improvement.

We have seen how dangerous is the condition of those who, having once abandoned the paths of unrighteousness, afterwards return into them; and we have seen that this tendency to relapse originates for the most part in imperfect views of Christian repentance and Christian obedience. But it avails little to ascertain the cause, and to point out the dangerous nature of the disease, unless we at the same time point out the remedy. Thanks be to God, that remedy is within our reach; for he has promised, through the enlightening and sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit, both to teach us what our Christian duty is, and to give us strength to perform it. It is through these influences that the believer is first brought to a clear perception of his spiritual state. But he sees, on the one hand, that, although he has by baptism been made a member of the church of Christ, and brought within the covenant of grace, yet that the corruption of his nature still remains, and that he is, in consequence, prone to evil and averse to good: he sees on the other the perfect purity and holiness of God's law, and the consequent inability of a frail and

this perception of his real state, which but for the gracious promises made to him by his Saviour would overwhelm him with despair, causes him, in reliance on those promises, to seek for aid in the assurance that it will not be denied. The very consciousness of his weakness becomes to him a source of strength and security; for it keeps him on the watch against every, the least appearance of evil, and makes him feel the danger of relaxing for a moment in his exertions to attain to a greater degree of holiness. He knows that, if he ceases to go forward, his subtle enemies will not fail to renew their endeavours to drive him back: hence he is frequent and urgent in his petitions to God for a more abundant supply of grace, that the heavenly things, which are unseen, may not only be realized unto him through faith, but may be rendered more attractive to his affections, and become the objects of his love. It is only by attaining to this state of mind, in which faith is a living principle working by love, that man can hope to be secure against the dangers described in the parable. He who has attained to it has not only expelled the unclean spirit from his breast, but has taken effectual measures to guard himself against future assaults. He has not only banished earthly, but has supplied their place by heavenly desires. He has substituted spiritual for worldly pleasures. Temptation has no longer any power over him: it can set before him nothing so attractive as the delight which he experiences in religious exercises, in prayer and holy meditation, in secret communion with God. He can say of himself, with David, that his "delight is in the law of the Lord:" in that he "exercises himself day and night :" all his faculties, all his hours are employed in the service of God; and there is, consequently, no avenue through which his ever-watchful adversary can gain admittance into his heart.

Let it be our endeavour, my brethren, to attain unto this holy frame and temper of mind, which gives its possessors, even while on earth, a foretaste of the blessedness of heaven. Let us not be satisfied with sweeping and garnishing the chambers of our heart, and then leaving them to be occupied by any tenant who may choose them for his dwelling; but let us earnestly pray the Holy Spirit to take up his abode in them, to fence them round with devout thoughts and affections and desires, so that nothing sinful or unhallowed may enter, but that they may be pure and undefiled, as the temple of him to whose service they are dedicated ought to be. Let us put up this prayer not for ourselves only, but for all Christians, especially for those

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