motion of the good cause, he contributed liberally of his substance; he instituted various meetings for prayer, and in every way he laboured zealously to advance the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. In the course of his duties at Darwar, Mr Cathcart had often to perform the very unpleasant task of attending the execution of natives convicted of murder. On such occasions he used every endeavour, along with some missionaries from the neighbourhood and a converted Brahmin, to instruct these unfortunate men in the truths of the Gospel. The following extract gives an instance of this: opinions. We both felt estranged-we felt we had sinned, and required to seek pardon of our heavenly Father. Truly his ways are not as our ways. He cometh over the mountains of our transgressions, and morning, we had found the comfort of seeking peace in filleth our hearts with praise. When we met in the our common Father. I asked him to take the morning service, which he did; but when he came to offer up a petition that our corruptions might be removed, his voice faltered, and he burst into tears,--he could only ask me to go on. How sweet to be thus reconciled in Christ Jesus! We arose from our knees with feelings very different from what we had felt the preceding evening. But I grieve for the hardness of my heart. While this servant of the Lord was melted before his God, how little did I feel as I ought,-humbled in the dust: and how little of gratitude to our long-suffering Lord. What joy will be in heaven, when our corruption shall be done away, and the prison bonds that now hold us shall be burst for ever. No lure to tempt, no art to stay, In the course of the following year he thus notices the sudden death of one of his servants, in consequence of the bite of a serpent: "On Sunday last Mr Beynon, the Missionary, went with me to see the one who was to be executed first; he exhibited a very softened state of mind, and frequently repeated that he had no hope but in Jesus Christ. We saw him again on Monday, when he followed the Brahmin in prayer with much devotion. On Monday evening he was removed to the village where he had committed the murder. Mr Beynon and I saw him at night: we returned at the time appointed for proceeding to the place of execution; the Brahmin repeated the Lord's Prayer, which he followed. We then intimated that the time was come; his grandmother was standing near, and wished to see him, but he said it would only agitate both. On the preceding "We have been enjoying much of the loving-kindday, he had shown much anxiety that several small ness of the Lord since I last wrote to our dear parent. sums due to him should be paid to his sister and bro- We had the day before yesterday a very sudden call to ther; but now, when he understood that the people be ready, for at an hour that we know not the call may objected to part of the sums he had stated, he very come. It was in the case of my head servant's wife. meekly said, Let them have what they object to, and I had been detained from going to Cutchery, by a visit let my sister have the remainder;' which, in a native from Dowdappa and some of the natives, and did not of this country, was great self-denial, and we may hope leave the house till nearly twelve o'clock. She was it was the practical effect of grace in the heart. The then in perfect health. I had not been an hour in last words that were distinguished were, 'Jesus, save me.' Is there not cause of thankfulness here, that one Cutchery when they came to me to say that she had who was far from God in ignorance and sin, should who followed me to the hospital and saw her, but saw been bit by a serpent. I immediately wrote to Hay, thus have been brought to cry for mercy?" at once there was no hope, and the poor woman died in my palankeen while he was with her. She was in daily expectation of having a little one, and it seems she had been sleeping in her house. She awoke, and thought she saw something glide away, and immediately felt her ankle pain her. She called in her mother and them her mouth became affected and filled with foam. sister, who were outside, and while she was speaking to Her husband was from home; when he came she was able to speak to him, but before Hay saw her she could not speak; the foaming at the mouth continued, and she had one spasm, after which she lay quiet, and the soul quitted its frail tenement without a struggle." Mr Cathcart's mind was cheered about this time by the arrival of a most devoted Christian at Darwar, who had been appointed judge of the district. They became very intimate associates, and held weekly meetings together on the Thursday evenings for prayer and reading the Scriptures. On the first Monday of every month, also, they met to pray for the conversion of the heathen and the extension of Messiah's kingdom. To these meetings he alludes in the following extract from one of his letters : "We had a sweet meeting on Monday evening, being the first Monday of the month. Let us give the Lord no rest until he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. These meetings, and those on Thursdays, are very refreshing; they break the engrossing worldly occupations of the six days. I have seen more of love lately in the character of our heavenly Father; it was he who loved us with an everlasting love, who chose us as the monuments of his grace, and who gave us his only begotten Son to die for us. We are too apt to view the Almighty, as the Judge of all the earth, as unwilling to receive us, and overcome by the Saviour's love; but he is more willing to receive us than we are willing to believe. He accepts of us and our poor services in Christ with all the feeling of paternal love. O, then, let us come unto him, and, 'Boldly resting on his love, Cast our full burden only there."" The following incident, which occurred in autumn 1829, is at once interesting and instructive :"I had a visit of some days from His visit has been most useful to all of us. He and I differed upon some points, and I was too warm in defending my The fidelity with which Mr Cathcart discharged his duties at Darwar was not long in leading to his promotion. In July 1832 he received the appointment, from the Chief Secretary, of acting additional sub-collector at Salem. Shortly after entering upon his new situation, he was called upon to do an action which was at complete variance with his duty as a Christian. In his mind there was no doubt whether he should obey God or his fellow-men. He firmly but respectfully declined to sanction idolatry and superstition. And while we mention this, we cannot refrain from expressing our earnest wish and prayer that Government may be induced to discountenance, by every means in their power, the idolatrous, and in many cases cruel and inhuman, rites of our heathen fellow-subjects in India. The conduct of Mr Cathcart in regard to this matter was quite in accordance with his whole character and deportment. He thus alludes to it : "Among the first official letters I received on coming to Salem was one sanctioning fifty rupees to be ex pended, in each of the three Talooks or districts under me, for the invocation of rain. Rain is indeed much required; the crops have been almost lost in consequence of the deficiency. I called the Talook servants to give a report of what was done; some Brahmins were to engage in prayer to one of their gods for ten or twelve days, standing up to their necks in water, that their devotions might, I suppose, be instant. Others were to be employed to avert the anger of certain planets; and some to propitiate other gods, the whole to be fed at the expense of Government, to be superintended by Government servants, and to be, in every respect on the part of Government, seeking for the attainment of its revenue by these means. I could not order it. It does seem to me most gratuitous to engage in such an open violation of the laws of God; while the money belonging to Pagodas is regularly paid to them, and not appropriated to any other object, which would be esteemed robbery, while no obstruction is offered to the natives in worshipping what they choose, it seems sinning without a cause when we thus uphold other gods. The Revenue Board sanctions disbursements to be made on this account in every collectorate when required; well may we rather look for the withholding of the rain we seek. How long-suffering is God in ever again granting rain after such idolatry and worshipping of gods, to whom the subsequent goodness of the Lord will be attributed! I have written ⚫to the collector privately that I cannot issue such orders. O Lord, forgive our national sins, and turn our hearts unto thee. The orders were subsequently issued in my three Talooks by the collector, as well as in his own. There are fourteen Talooks in the district; each received fifty rupees for it, so that seven hundred rupees were thus expended in the dishonouring of God, and giving his glory to another. O Lord, forgive our iniquity!' A short time after this he met with an accident, which injured his right arm, and interrupted for a little his correspondence with his friends at home. In May 1833 he was called to leave Salem, having received an appointment to another department at Chingleput, to the south of and near Madras. Mr Walton, Missionary at Salem, thus writes in the prospect of Mr Cathcart's departure: "We are threatened with a painful dispensation (I call it so), by the expected removal from this station to Chingleput of that blessed man of God, Mr Cathcart, the sub-collector. He is one of the most pious gentlemen I was ever acquainted with, nor do I expect to see his like on this side the grave: his excellence is, that he is perfectly dead to the world, and he is truly eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a father to the fatherless. It would astonish you to see in what veneration this young saint is held at Salem by all classes of the people, and how they weep at his expected removal from them. Christianity is truly respected here from the light which emanates through this child of God. God bless him wherever he goes, and preserve him blameless to the end. Deadness to the world in a Christian is the method of gaining triumph over sin and Satan, which I see exemplified in the life of Mr Cath cart. His self-denial, fasting, and abstinence, amaze me: the grace of God is truly magnified in him." And again, in reference to the same period of his life, Mr Walton adds, in a communication written after Mr Cathcart's death : "During his residence at Salem, his reverential behaviour in the house of God was especially noticed by the natives. In a conversation at which I was present, a native said, 'Sir, that gentleman behaves in the house of God as if he were actually in the presence of a Supreme Being;-I never saw any one so devout.' He was a sincere friend to missions and missionaries in general, of which there are not wanting substantial evi dences. During his short stay in Salem, he contributed to our mission more than one thousand rupees." On In a very few months after his removal from Salem Mr Cathcart received the appointment of acting subcollector of Nellore. This change in his destination was the more agreeable to him as his sister, Mrs B and her husband, were at that station, and another of his sisters from Britain was expected to join them. the arrival of his sister in India he thus wrote to her :"Dearest J-Two lines from my uncle last night announced your arrival. We rejoice in the goodness of the Lord; may we soon meet in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace! I trust that you have found that the Lord is good, and that your song rises for all his mercies hitherto. May he direct your way: and, as Mr Sieveright said to me, May you take India on your way to a better country.' May you see many, many happy returns of this season, in the enjoyment of every blessing, and find the glories of another world more present at every stage." At this time Mr Cathcart entered into communication with the Directors of the Scottish Missionary Society, with the view of having a Missionary sent out to Madras, more particularly to instruct the children of the natives in English. To promote this desirable object he himself, with a liberality truly refreshing, promised that, if they would accede to his request, one hundred and fifty pounds a-year would be at the disposal of the Society during his continuance in India. His feelings, in reference to the duty of Christians to honour the Lord with their substance, he thus expressed on one occasion: "I feel more and more that we have nothing here for ourselves; that we must give an account of the use we make of all we receive; and I feel that I cannot lay aside any thing with a clear conscience: I would just wish, monthly, to bestow as the Lord shall call for it, whatever he sees good to give." Mr Cathcart was now drawing near the end of his earthly pilgrimage. Though considerably weakened by a severe attack of fever, he was unexpectedly ordered away on a particular service to the district of Ganjam, about seven hundred miles to the north of Madras. The part of the country to which he was sent had been lately in a state of rebellion, and was still under martial law, a circumstance which increased the difficulty of many of his duties. It was while engaged in an excursion along with another gentleman of the civil service, to procure information about one of the rebels, that Mr Cathcart was seized with cholera, and cut off after only two days illness, in the twenty-eighth year of his age. It is to be lamented that no friend was present to witness the peaceful end of this youthful servant of Christ, but the testimony of his attendants reports him to have been "perfectly resigned and contented." This Sketch has been necessarily brief, but the published Memoir from which our materials have been obtained is so interesting, that we sincerely trust it will meet with an extensive circulation. THE HAPPY LAND. In imitation of Goethe's Gluckliche Land. KNOW'ST thou that land whence living water flows, The tree of life midst of the garden grows, Where streams of pleasure from the sacred spring Gladness to all the flowery landscape bring? Know'st thou the way? Then come! then come! Give us thine hand-we'll seek that happy home. BY THE REV. ROBERT GORDON, D.D., "And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully," &c.-LUKE Xii. 16–21. In considering the character of the person described in the verses now read, it is particularly worthy of remark, and necessary, I apprehend, to be kept in view in the practical application of the subject, that he is no where charged with having been openly and grossly profane, and that nothing is said of him from which we are warranted to suppose that he had been guilty of dishonesty, injustice, or oppression in the accumulation of his wealth. He was rich, and his ground brought forth plentifully; but the first of these facts goes only to intimate that he had been enterprising and successful in his professional pursuits, whatever these might be, and the second, that the providence of God, true to the general principles on which the administration of the world is conducted, and faithful to the pledge long ago given to our race that, while the world endures, "seedtime and harvest, and summer and winter shall never cease," had rewarded his labours with an abundant return of the fruits for which he laboured. His success, it is true, did not prove that his heart was right with God, nor was the fruitfulness of his ground necessarily an expression of the divine favour; for God is kind even to the unthankful," he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, he sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." But neither did his being ich necessarily imply that his wealth had been the fruits of dishonesty and fraud; nor was it charged against him as a crime that his ground brought forth plentifully. In estimating his character, therefore, and in determining the ground of that sentence which our Lord passed upon him, we are not required, nor are we warranted to suppose that his conduct had been, in any respect, so flagrantly vicious as to incur the disapprobation of the world at large, or that he was regarded in any other light than as an example of persevering and successful industry. It is indeed said of him, that having gained the object of his ambition, having accumulated what he conceived to be a satisfying portion of this world's goods, he said unto his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." But the expression does not necessarily imply what could generally be esteemed excess in sensual indulgence; nor can any more, I think, be inferred from it, than simply that he was to give himself up to the enjoyment of ease and comfort that he was to lay aside the anxiety and care which he had formerly experienced while his schemes were yet unaccomplished, and the success of his enterprises in some respects still uncertain, and that he was to surrender himself to the quiet possession of the multiplied gratifications which he flattered himself he had now secured beyond the possibility of interruption. All this, however, might be perfectly consistent with his being a man of respectability and fair reputation in the eyes of the world; and it is of great importance, I conceive, to avoid attaching to the character here delineated any charge beyond what is justified by the language of the text, inasmuch as our doing so would, in some measure, divert our attention from what constituted the real ground of the condemnation which was passed upon him, and would, moreover, confine the practical application of the subject within limits to which, I am persuaded, it was not the design of the Spirit of God that it should be confined. And what then, it may be asked, was the delinquency with which he was chargeable, and on account of which so fearful a sentence was pronounced against him, as we find recorded in the text? The answer to this question is simple and obvious. God was not in all his thoughts; he was making the gold his hope, and saying to the fine gold thou art my confidence; he had chosen the enjoyments of a present life as his chief good, neither seeking nor desiring any other portion; and the moment, therefore, that he was separated from these, he was separated from the only kind of happiness that he had ever conceived of or longed for. However reputable, therefore, he might be in the eyes of the world, whatever credit he might have as a man of honour, integrity, and even in some respects of benevolence, still he was, in the sight of God, an idolater. His great concern was how he might multiply the sources of his enjoyment, and make his wealth subservient in the greatest variety of ways to his gratification; the growing accumulations of worldly possessions wherewith the providence of God had loaded him, had failed to awaken any desire after the enjoyment of the bountiful Giver; and it was in this state of utter estrangement from his Maker, and ignorance of all that constitutes the blessedness of an intelligent and immortal creature, that his righteous Judge saw meet, in his infinite wisdom and rectitude, to terminate the period of his probation, at the very moment that he was rejoicing in what he thought the consummation of his happiness: "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose sball those things be which thou hast provided?" | pleasure, or seeking their enjoyment in practices -a most emphatic intimation that, notwithstand-that would be offensive and revolting to the general ing all the abundance of his possessions, he was left sentiments of the community in which they live. wretched, and miserable, and peor, and blind, and On the contrary, they may, like the person denaked: "and so is he," said our Lord, "that scribed in our text, maintain a respectable characlayeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich ter in the estimation of the world; they may have towards God." recourse to no means for the advancement of their The view that we have thus taken of the cha-worldly interest but such as universal practice has racter delineated in the passage before us, is war- sanctioned and approved; and throughout the ranted, I think, by the letter, and in accordance whole course of their most active and laborious with the spirit, of the text; and if so, then it service they may carry along with them a most admits of a very obvious and extended application. becoming and respectful attention to what are In making that application, and in seeking for commonly called religious duties. But it may examples of the principle here condemned, it is nevertheless be true that God is not in all their not necessary that we should have recourse to thoughts, in the way in which he ought to be in that class of men who make no pretensions what- the thoughts of his intelligent creatures. To seever to a religious character,-whose whole con- cure his favour may never have been an object of duct and conversation bear witness that their great real and serious concern with them, as it has been object is to make the most of what this world can to secure a certain portion of this world's goods, afford them in the way of gratification, and who sel- and to enjoy that favour may never have occupied dom make any allusion whatever to the concerns of any definite place among the objects which they eternity, or do so only for the purpose of showing suppose would satisfy and make them happy. The with what hardihood they can set all such considera- multiplied comforts of which wealth would give tions at nought. Such persons do, no doubt, ex- them the command, may in reality be the supreme hibit a very fearful exemplification of that estrange-object of their desire and their pursuit ; while in the ment from God which is set before us in the text; objects that are presented to them during the seaand were it permitted us to look but one day or sons of religious observances, they may see nothing one hour into futurity, it might, perhaps, be found that can possibly contribute to augment their hapthat many of this description are in the very cir- piness: and thus engrossed with the one great cumstances in which the rich man in the parable question-how they may best secure a new accesis represented, that while they are devising their sion to their worldly possessions-it may be said schemes of pleasure, and looking forward with of their religious duties as it was formerly said with sanguine anticipation to the accomplishment of a reference to the house of Israel and Judah; them, the irreversible sentence is going forth," They come unto Thee as the people cometh, and "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required they sit before thee as my people, and they hear of thee." But there is reason to fear that the case thy words, but they will not do them: for with in the text finds many a parallel among those who, their mouth they show much love, but their heart to outward appearance, stand very far removed goeth after their covetousness." And if such be indeed from the class to which we have been re- the state of their heart and affections, if all the ferring, that multitudes who are not chargeable energies of their nature are in active operation, with any gross abuse of the bounties of God's while spiritual and divine things have scarcely any providence, or any thing like an avowed disregard assignable place among the objects of their regard, of spiritual subjects, are nevertheless cherishing and if they are looking forward to the success of the sentiments, and acting upon the principles, their undertakings as that in which they are to find exposed in the parable, and that the observation peace and repose; then how can they be more truly applies both to the spirit in which they undertake or emphatically characterized than in the words of their worldly enterprises, and the manner in which the text, "They are laying up treasures for themthey enjoy the fruits of their success. With re-selves, and are not rich towards God?" gard to the first of these, are there not many who enter upon the business of life under the impression that a certain measure of success, and a certain accumulation of wealth, more or less distinctly defined, perhaps, to their own minds, is essential to their happiness? is not the hope of this success the one great motive whereby they are stimulated to exertion, emboldened to meet danger, and encouraged to encounter and to surmount difficulties? and are they not looking forward to it, not only as an ample reward of all the toil and the privations which they may undergo, but as that which will infallibly yield them all the happiness which they have ever desired or cared for? They do not, perhaps, contemplate ever surrendering themselves to un unrestrained indulgence in ungodly I fear, that the truth of these remarks is but too obvious, and too frequently exemplified to admit of being disputed; and that the same observations will be found to be but too applicable to the manner in which multitudes enjoy the fruits of successful exertion. If the eagerness with which worldly schemes have been pursued, does not generate such a state of mind as renders the mere accumulation of wealth its chief, and almost only qualification-an effect which I believe does not unfrequently follow a long course of worldly prosperity-it will be found that, in many instances, the relinquishment of the more active and laborious concerns of life, is only a repetition of the experiment which was so quickly and so fatally terminated in the case before us; may have been convinced, that vanity and vexation of spirit must be the portion of all who make the world their chief good, either in consequence of the utter failure of their fairest and most reasonable hopes, or by the infusion of that bitterness into their enjoyments which, without any peculiar or very severe trial, may render every gratification utterly unsatisfying. But whatever may have been the cause, it will be the subject of their admiration and thanksgiving, that amidst the multiplied comforts which the bounty of God has provided for the accommodation of his children during this their pilgrimage, and which, with a father's blessing, may minister so largely to their enjoy of them, which renders it altogether insufficient to satisfy the soul; and though it may have been by repeated and even painful privations that they have been taught this lesson, they will be ready to say with the Psalmist, "In very faithfulness hast thou afflicted me." THE EXTENT AND LIMITATION OF BY THE REV. JAMES ESDAILE, D. D., Minister of the East Church, Perth. DISMISSING all such unfounded fancies as those, to which we have adverted in our former paper, and all the opinions that rest upon them, let us consider, on rational principles, whether there be any cruelty in killing animals for food. This practice will, no doubt, tend and that the sentiment which lurks in the heart, | and appears but too palpable in the general tenor of the life is, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." They might, perhaps, at a former period of life, have had occasional doubts whether all was right with their spiritual concerns, and they might probably quiet their suspicions by some indefinite hope, that they might afterwards have a more favourable season of leisure wherein to give their attention to the subject, and some indistinct resolution, that when this season did arrive, and when they were set free from the pressing urgency of their temporal avocations, they would then give themselves, in sober seriousness, to the consider-ment, there is nevertheless a want about every one ation of their eternal interests. But, in the meantime, their insensibility to the importance of these interests was continuing to gather strength; conscience was every day becoming more and more reconciled to the hazardous delay of the momentous question; and now, that the period which they once contemplated has arrived, they are not only more disinclined towards the subject than before, but their growing indifference, conjoined, it may be, with the regular observance of external forms, and the growing sobriety of advanced years, may have lulled them into the conclusion, that they have really no important question to determine. It is quite possible, and indeed more than probable, that all their hopes of happiness have not been realized; that, in spite of the variety which they may give to their enjoyments, these may occasionally, or even frequently, pall upon them; and they may, at times, be a prey to disquietude and restlessness, which they cannot account for, and know not well how to relieve. But still they may be seeking relief from the very objects that have already failed to satisfy them; the happy discovery of some new application of their means of enjoyment may for a time lift from their spirits the weight that oppressed them; and they may thus continue, in spite of every such disappointment, as much wedded as ever to present things, contented with such views of the Gospel as may quiet their apprehensions, though it has never sensibly ministered, in any degree, to their happiness. All this, is on the supposition, that they have actually had time granted them to try the experiment, whether the goods that they have laid up for many years, can really make them happy; and even in this view of the subject, their condition is a very lamentable one. But how much more deplorable does their infatuation appear, when we bear in mind, that before they have actually commenced that experiment, or begun to taste the pleasures which they had so long anticipated, it may be said, concerning them, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee?" And with what gratitude does it become those persons to contemplate the grace and mercy of God, who have been prevented, even though it has been by the painful discipline of disappointment, from placing their happiness on the abundance of the things which they possess! They to cut short the life of animals; but it has also a tendency to multiply their numbers, and to increase their comforts. As man finds their flesh to be a pleasant, a wholesome, and a nutritious food, he is led to take a stronger interest in protecting defenceless animals, in sheltering them from the inclemency of the weather, and in protecting them against the desolating effects of famine, and the violence of beasts of prey. What would become of the bulk of our domestic animals were they left to provide for themselves a preca rious subsistence, without the fostering and protecting care of man? In him, they have only one enemy; and they do not feel him to be such, from the care which he takes to provide for their comfort; there is a kind of mutual attachment and confidence between him and them; any creature attacked by a beast of prey will seek protection from man; as the price of this protection, he is permitted to use it for food; for his own interest he attends to its comfort; and as it has been expressed by the poet, "Till he ends its being, makes it blest." There is mercy, then, and no cruelty in that ordinance by which God gave permission to man to eat of animal food; and we may rest assured that nothing but human ignorance prevents us from seeing mercy and goodness in all the ordinations of heaven. Man is evidently at the head of the visible creation; but the loving-kindness and tender mercies of the universal Parent are also over all his other works. This is the declaration of his own Word. Is it any contradiction of this that such vast numbers of beasts of prey have |