BLIND JANE. for the last time, in the drapery of death; and, being quite exhausted with many sleepless nights, I threw myself down and slept. On awaking in the morning, I saw the children standing and weeping around the body of their dear mother, then, for the first time, inattentive to their cries. In the course of the day a coffin was procured from the shore, in which I placed all that remained of her whom I had so much loved; and, after a prayer had been offered by a dear brother minister from the town, the Rev. Mr Bertram, we proceeded in boats to the shore. There we were met by the colonial chaplain, and accompanied to the burial-ground by the adherents and friends of Mr Bertram, and a large concourse of the inhabitants. They had prepared a grave in a beautiful shady spot, contiguous to the grave of Mrs Chater, a missionary from Ceylon, who had died in similar circumstances on her passage home. There I saw her safely deposited; and in the language of prayer, which we had often presented together at the throne of grace, I blessed God that her body had attained the repose of the grave, and her spirit the repose of paradise. After the funeral, the dear friends of Mr Bertram took me to their houses and their hearts; and their conversation and prayers afforded me unexpected relief and consolation. But I was obliged to hasten on board the ship, and we immediately went to sea. On the following morning no vestige of the island was discernible in the distant horizon. For a few days, in the solitude of my cabin, with my poor children crying around me, I could not help abandoning myself to heartbreaking sorrow. But the promises of the Gospel came to my aid, and Faith stretched her view to the bright world of eternal life, and anticipated a happy meeting with those beloved beings whose bodies are mouldering at Amherst and at St Helena. Those dear sympathizing Christian friends who received the body of the deceased from my hands as a sacred deposit, united with our kind captain (John Codman, junior, of Dorchester) in defraying all the expenses of the funeral, and promised to take care of the and see to the erection of the gravegrave, stone which I am to forward, and on which I propose to place the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Sarah B. Judson, member of the American Baptist Mission to Burmah; formerly wife of the Rev. George D. Boardman of Tavoy, and lately wife of the Rev. Adoniram Judson of Maulmain; who died in this port Sept. 1, 1845, on her passage to the United States, in the forty-second year of her age, and in the twenty-first of her missionary life. "She sleeps on this rock of the ocean, Far away from the home of her youth Far away from the land where, with heart felt devotion, She scattered the bright beams of truth." BLIND JANE; OR, THE GAIN OF "GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT." POOR blind Jane was a frequent visitor at the house of a well-known and highly respected minister, recently deceased, by whom the following account of her was 63 communicated to the writer. He spoke of her as possessing much good sense, a mind deeply imbued with undissembled piety, and evidently much accustomed to meditation. The minister once made some inquiry into the principal events of her life, and took down from her lips the particulars of her little history, though she was unconscious of his doing it. As it is at least twenty years ago since the minister gave the account to the writer, and as he spoke of his acquaintance with poor blind Jane as having taken place several years previous to that time, she has, in all probability, long ere this passed into that world of light where there is no darkness at all, nor any obscurity of vision. Jane's simple narrative was as follows: "I was the youngest of eleven children. My father was the manager of some lime-works; he was a man of very sober and industrious habits. I knew, however, but little of him, as I had the misfortune to lose him when very yourg; and I was left, with seven other little ones, to the care of my poor bereaved mother. "To her 1 was always the source of much anxiety and sorrow, as I was blind from my birth. She felt more for me than for all her other children. I have heard her say, that as my eyes were apparently bright and good, she did not discover my want of sight till I began to walk, and that she then immediately took me to some of the principal medical gentlemen; but all their kind efforts were utterly in vain; they left me as they found me-surrounded with total dark ness. "I have also heard my mother say, that she had some neighbours who were so unfeeling and so wicked as to reproach her on account of the blindness of her child; intimating, that it was a judgment on her for her sins. She used to tell me that she felt much consolation on this subject from John ix. 2. 3. Our Lord's disciples asked, him saying, 'Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be manifested in him.' This, my mother said, she hoped would be the case with me. My poor mother struggled hard to procure us a living. She laboured diligently through the day, and often through the night, and fared hardly too. She made gloves, and took in knitting, and I used very early to take care of the neighbours' children. My mother used every morning to take me and my little brothers and sisters, and read a chapter or two, and then she knelt down and prayed with us. She was accustomed to say that prayer never hindered anybody, and that she found it fitted her for the labours of the day. I was about twenty years of age when she was taken with the fever. She was very happy in her affliction, till three days before she died, during which she was delirious. Her memory will be ever dear to me; and I earnestly hope to follow her to glory. I well recollect kneeling down, and commending her departing spirit into the hands of my dear Saviour. "The Lord early sought me, and taught me to love his great and holy name. When I was about ten years of age, I was deeply convinced that my heart must be changed by the grace and Spirit of God, or that I could never be happy. I also saw that I must flee for refuge to Jesus Christ as my only Saviour, and have an interest in his love. I knew I was a sinner, and I was greatly alarmed lest I should be cut off in my sins, and finally perish. I employed many hours of the day, and of the night too, at a throne of grace, crying to God that he would have mercy upon me through Jesus Christ. One evening, as I was particularly overwhelmed, I cried with great earnestness to the Friend of sinners. Suddenly hope sprang up in my heart, and I thought I heard a voice repeatedly uttering the promise: I will not, I will not leave thee; I will never, never, never forsake thee.' This gracious declaration afforded me much comfort; this, I thought, was all I wanted; and very often since, this passage of Scripture has been matter of pleasing meditation and grateful joy. Which promise oft I call to mind, As through some lonely path I go; And strength to fight with ev'ry foe.' "I shall never forget this period of my life: it was a season of peculiar joy to me. I often rose at four o'clock in the morning, and walked in our little garden for prayer and meditation. I was delighted with the singing of the birds; and what I had heard of the work of creation occurred to my recollection, and raised my thoughts to God. "After the death of my mother, a brother who resided at B- wished me to live with him. He was always very kind to me; but his wife treated me very cruelly, often denying me the necessaries of life. Even when exceedingly ill, she refused to bring me a little water. For five or six years my sister-in-law did all she could to make my life miserable. But God brought me out of this house of bondage. A person who knew my situation, invited me to live in her family. I went. There were five children; I endeavoured to make myself useful, and I taught them to repeat many chapters in the Bible, and to knit. Here I was indeed at home; but the husband of my friend, through the imprudence of a partner, was cast into prison, and died soon after. The widow and children were then in much affliction, and I was obliged to leave them. But I hear that God has appeared for them, and they are now in very good circumstances; so true is the promise, Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." -Jer. xlix. 11. "The blessed God provided for me another habitation. A person who lived in the neighbourhood with my brother, was inclined to give me house-room, on condition that I would help him in the family affairs. The mistress used sometimes to read the Bible to me, which was a great privilege and comfort. "Soon after this I took unwell, and went into the hospital. I thought I should have died, but God had mercy on me, and raised me up again; and a poor family gave me lodging for three months. I was then advised to go into the country, when came into this neighbourhood, where God has raised up many friends, as you well know. "I got much better from my visit, and about a fortnight after I heard that, through the interference of some kind friends, there was a room allotted to me in an alm-house. I had been seeking this with much anxiety for five or six years, but had, for some time, given up all hope of obtaining so desirable a home; and now, without any effort on my part, God sent it me. It is, I assure you, a very comfortable, nice, clean place, for which I am very thankful. How merciful, and how astonishing have been the ways of Divine Providence! "You have often been so kind as to pity me on account of my blindness; but I am not so helpless as you imagine. There is a poor old woman who lives in the next room to me in the alm-house, who cannot do much for herself; but I wait on her, wash her clothes, sweep her room, light her fire, cook her victuals, and pour out her tea for her. I am able, too, to mend my own clothes, and in every way to do for myself. Perhaps I am more thankful than I should be even if I could see. When I have made a fire, and it burns up without my having been ון FRETFULNESS UNDER TRIAL. IMPATIENT fretting, murmuring, and quarrelling against God's dispensations-this was poor Jonah's great stumble. Peevish man! "Doest thou well to be angry," and that with thy God? Yea," saith he, "even unto death."-Jonah iv. 9. The most foolish answer that ever dropped from the mouth of a holy man! Humble Aaron was better instructed. He knew it was no safe kicking against the pricks; that nothing was to be got by striking again, by repining against God, but more blows; and therefore, when God had killed both his sons at a blow, he humbly holds his peace," his heart and tongue were both silent.-Lev. x. 2, 3. True, indeed, we may not be senseless and stupid under sufferings. Had all the martyrs had the dead palsy before they went to the stake, their sufferings had been far less glorious. But yet, though we may not be stupid or stoical, we must be patient and submissive. Though we may not be like the Caspian Sea, that neither ebbs nor flows, yet wo must take heed of being like swelling, roaring waves and billows. Though God's turtles may, through infirmity, flutter, yet they may not be like bulls, when caught in a net, raving. I was dumb." saith David, "because thou didst it."-Ps. xxxix. 9. Away, then, with those surly looks, that do, as it were, enter a protest against what we sutter; nay, more, beware of these murmuring echoes and replies of spirit within, against God, who, though they seem to yield and run, yet, with the flying Parthian, shoot their arrows backward in discontent against God.- | Lye. THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY. 85 THE MISSION, THE TRIALS, AND THE CLAIMS, OF THE EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. A Sermon. BY THE REV. W. M. BUNTING, LONDON. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him, beauty, and make us" exclaim, with sympathat bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvathizing and grateful emotion, “How beautiful are the feet of him, that bringeth good tidings!" tion, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! ISAIAH lii. 7. "WE preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus THE LORD, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.' Yet will it be readily allowed, that, for Jesus' sake, the Christian Ministry should be honoured by all who enjoy its advantages, and even "magnified" and commended by those who not having chosen their Master, but having been chosen by Him-sustain its responsibilities. For, still, we commend not ourselves unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf." Now, viewed in its secondary, but expressly authorized, application, in the 10th of Epistle to the Romans, to the Preachers of the everlasting Gospel, the text describes, or suggests, Their public ministry-Their personal hardships and humiliations in the faithful exercise of it-And the respect which is due to the latter, in consideration of the former. I. The purport, the character, and the method of their PUBLIC TEACHINGS demand our chief attention. 1. The Purport of their message is thus described: they "say unto Zion, THY GOD REIGN ETH!" Proceeding on such grounds, and regarding right feelings towards what may be termed the central institution of Christ's Church as both significant and promotive of a mature piety, we invite you, "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling," to join in the glorying of the text. Glorify God in His faithful servants. Believe them-esteem them in love-for their works' sake. Yea, as you would prosper in your own souls, drink more and more deeply into the spirit of the sentiment, "How beautiful are the feet of him, that bringeth good tid-proclaim to all the certainty, in due season, of ings!" Perhaps the energy of the sentiment is not generally perceived. Campbell, M'Knight, and other eminent critical commentators, agree in the following exposition of it, which we recite nearly in the words of the first-mentioned: "The prophet's design undoubtedly was, to deliver it as an universal truth, that the message of peace to those, who had been long afflicted by the ravages of war, was so charming, that it could transform a most disagreeable into a pleasing object. The feet of those, who have travelled far over rough and dusty roads, present a spectacle naturally unpleasing to the beholder. Nevertheless, the consideration, that the persons themselves are to us the messengers of peace and felicity-and that it is in bringing those welcome tidings that they have contracted this sordid appearance can in an instant convert deformity into No. 8. * Their great business, honour, and delight is, to proclaim to the Christian Church the reign of Jehovah in the hearts of its happy members to proclaim to those who statedly or occasionally assemble with the Church, though not yet sacramentally and spiritually incorporated with it, His willingness to reign in them-to His universal dominion over mankind. (1.) Observe, first, that, as proclamations are mostly made at the commencement of a new reign, or else on the occasion of a great and general revolt, so the very announcement of this spiritual dominion implies the previous estrangement from it of those to whom it is announced. In man's original state, a formal law was given forth; but the principle of the Divine government was assumed - not asserted, or pleaded for-because the principle of a duteous and loving obedience was then natural to man. Now, on the contrary-sin having entered, and its curse having descended, in a corrupt nature, not less than in a doomed and dying life, to the whole race of Adam-and yet, wonderful to tell! "thoughts of peace" having broken from their secrecy in the Divine bosom on the very day of condemnation, (for that sun went not down on the Creator's wrath), and a new April 17, 1846. ון call to submission, as well as to favour, having been sounded through all the rebel-ranks-now, alas! it has become necessary for the great God Himself to vindicate His right, and to proclaim His will, to reign. Let this thought always impress us, when "the word preached" strikes on our ear. The provision of a Gospel, even apart from the peculiar duties and bless ings which it reveals, pre-supposes, and entirely arises out of, the fact of man's defection from God, and attempted independence of His government. And hence, this fact, disgraceful and mortifying as it is to human nature, forms the matter of one of the first and fundamental doctrines of the Gospel and its ministry. Even when they address their converts-when they "say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth"-they are careful to premise, "Ye were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works;" ye yourselves also "were sometimes foolish, disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures;" and "when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness!" this whole passage to have been threefold. First, His proper and eternal Godhead, inde. pendently entitling and empowering Him to sus tain, in both the old and the new creation, the charge of universal empire. Secondly, His Divine Sonship, which is represented as having, in some ineffable sense, entailed on Him, by the will of the Father, the inheritance of all things, and especially the love and allegiance of all sanctified intelligences. For "the Father loveth the Son;" and delighteth to honour Him as such, and to endow Him, having become incarnate, with rights and riches suitable to that uncreated relation. The same collocation of the kindred ideas of Sonship and Heirship is observable in the Second Psalm. Then, thirdly, His obedience unto death, by which He has "purchased” back the long alienated “possession," and acquired a new and most affecting title to rule those whom He has redeemed. And this claim is freely allowed in the court of Heaven. God hath highly exalted Him, and placed both the governing of the Church and the judging of the world, immediately and ad ally, therefore, gave all the prophets witness, in their innumerable predictions of the coming kingdom of God. The Baptist prepared His royal way in the wilderness, when he preached, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." With the same announcement did Christ commence, and continue, His own incomparable ministry. And soon, His "baptism” of blood having been "accomplished," and Himself "brought again from the dead," and "received up into glory," Peter pointed to the moral miracles of Pentecost in proof of His being actually "exalted with the right hand of God," and by Him “made both Lord and Christ." This perfected Gospel--the Gospel of His attained supremacy, as well as of His finished righteousness-the other apostles took up, and embodied in every sermon they preached; they committed it to their ministerial successors; and, blessed be God! the feeblest aud meanest of those ministers is still found preaching Christ Jesus THE LORD. (2.) Observe, next, that this disastrous state of things-the now natural alienation of all man-ministratively, in His hands. To Him personkind from their rightful Lord, and the enormous amount of criminality incurred in consequence, (so destructive of complacency on the one side, and of confidence on the other)-renders mediation indispensable to re-union. Hence, the Lord, with whom there is mercy, proposes to re-establish His dominion among men "in the hand of a Mediator." "The kingdom of our God" is, by special delegation, "the power of His Christ." And who is He? "His Son, whom | he hath appointed Heir of all things; by whom also He made the worlds; who, being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Unto the Son," therefore, "He saith," first declaring His Divine dignity and rectitude, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom :" and then ratifying His Mediatorial claim, "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity"-(O Jesus! who" knoweth either love or hatred" of Thine, till taught by the Atonement? Where was sin ever so condemned, or the majesty of the law so enthroned, as on THY CROSS?)" Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." The ground and reason of Christ's inauguration, as the official "Lord of all," would appear from ...... This, brethren, is one of the great characteristic truths of an apostolical ministry, by whomsoever exercised. We do not show you the dead body of Jesus, that your dead souls may "touch" it, and at the touch "revive;" but we lead you into the presence of a risen and living Lord— "ever living" to claim, and to dispense, the blessings which he "died once," and needs “die no more," to obtain-almighty to mediate with THE MISSION, &c., OF THE EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 87 and touched by faith, gives both life and law to the believer. Let us "walk in the fear of the Lord" Christ! Let us "kiss the Son, lest He be angry!" And let those of us who, lately, in the skirts of a noble army of His more loyal, or more enlightened, subjects, have rallied for the rights of His crown-and who, unfeignedly scandalized by the prevailing opposition or unfaithfulness to them, have felt as if the pure and passionate loyalty of England's old churchmartyrs, or even of Scotland's twice-chosen martyr-church, had kindled its altar-fire on our hearts-dear brethren, let us bear to be reminded of what the most ardent in this holy controversy are just in the greatest peril of forgetting; that the first and dearest of all the crown-rights of the Redeemer, and that, in the disregard of which ecclesiastical theory and national enthusiasm would alike be a "flattery" and an offence to Him, is His claim on each one of us for a personal submission-in repentance, in faith, in holiness-to the laws, and to the grace, of His government! God, almighty to succour redeemed man. We bid you, beloved penitents, look towards His blessed Cross, and behold it still stained with atoning blood, yet now happily vacant; but, thus emboldened and assured, we bid you go to His gracious Throne, and kneel for a present pardon, and be sure He lives and listens to you, and expect His answer in your hearts. Enter a mass-house, and you feel as if the priests were keeping guard over a dead Saviour, lying in state, amidst pomp, and perfume, and funeral twilight,—and the people, as they approach and retire in slow succession, mistaking solemnity for worship, and sympathy with human suffering for faith in the impalpable and immortal Sacrifice. And it may be feared, that minds under some considerable measure of Evangelical training are, nevertheless, not wholly proof against the delusion of looking for comfort and acceptance, rather in the act of weeping over the Crucified, than in that of believing in the Glorified, Redeemer. Now, "we preach Christ Crucified;" but by that we intend and declare his crucifixion as long past, and the whole virtue (3.) More briefly,ou the nature of "the reign of of His Cross as drawn up into, and to be spiritu- God," as re-established in the souls of men. It ally drawn forth from, His living person, and pre-supposes their formal reconciliation to Him priesthood, and propitiation. Turn to the 10th by the blood of the Cross, the free pardon chapter to the Romans, and compare the 9th, of all their past traitorous rebellions against 12th, and 13th verses with the 15th, which Him, and the renewal of their forfeited right simply recites our text. "We preach-that if of access to His gracious presence. For a rebel, thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord unreconciled to His favour, would be unconciJesus, believing in thine heart that God hath liated to His future service. Besides that he raised Him from the dead,” raised Him again for would not be in a judicial position to render an our justification, "thou shalt be saved. . . acceptable obedience, while yet answerable for For the same Lord over all is rich," in the rights, past sins, and under the custody and curse of the resources, and the tender mercies of a the law-the spirit of bondage were fatal to the Saviour, "unto all that call upon Him. For very impulse and principle of obedience, which whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord is a trusting love. They only are freed from shall be saved. . . . . . How beautiful are the the dominion of sin, who are no longer "under feet of them that preach" this "Gospel of peace; the law," but "under grace." They only " serve that say unto Zion, Thy Saviour-God, Jehovah- God in righteousness and true holiness," who Jesus, reigneth!" can serve Him" without fear," their" conscience being purged from dead works," and that, simply by the applied "blood of Christ." They only are "translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son," who "have redemption in Him," not provisional merely, but appropriated, actual, and assured-"even the forgiveness of sins." "I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart." This is a vital truth of Evangelism; omnipresent in the system of the holy Apostles Paul and John; and, after ages of comparative obscuration, brought out with surprising luminousness, as well as with unweariable energy, by John Wesley in the last century, and by the greatest living ..... At the same time, "our Gospel" teaches that the Lord liveth to govern, as well as to bless; and that only "unto them that obey Him is He the author of eternal salvation." He reigns for us in vain, unless He reign over, and among, and within us. "He shall rule upon His throne," says the Spirit of prophecy; while yet, in condescending provision for our infirmities and fears," He shall be a priest upon His throne:" yes, and "the.counsel of peace" is as essentially connected with Ilis government as with His mediation. That hand, on whose pierced palm is graven the unknown number of His redeemed, holds a sceptre, which, extended, |