pear, we also shall appear with him in glory."

Aaron stood in the midst of his enemies; they were clamouring for his blood; and, now the plague has broken out, they may be more enraged than ever; but he runs into the midst of them, and endeavours to turn away from his adversaries the wrath of God.

What a type of Him, who is a High Priest for ever in things pertaining to God! Born to redeem his people, it was necessary that he should sojourn amongst them; he came unto his own, but his own received him not; his name was cast out as evil; he was hated of all men ; and yet he showed them every kindness, on all occasions displaying the dignified benevolence of his character: "When he was reviled he reviled not again."

Aaron was exposed to the plague-in the midst of it, yet it touched him not; thousands were falling on his right hand and on his left, but he remained uninfected-God preserved him.

So the Saviour appeared in the midst of the plague of sin; yet he remained pure and unspotted: "He did no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." He travelled the world, saw its impurities, mourned over its wickedness, tasted its trials, experienced its difficulties and dangers, sorrows and sufferings, and yet he was without sin.

Such was the Saviour, and such was the position he occupied. Let us now consider

2ndly. THE WORK HE PERFORMed.

Let us again refer to the type; we read: "He put on incense, and made atonement for the people." So Christ has made an atonement for his people, by bearing their sins in his own body on the tree, satisfied offended justice, turned away the threatening destruction, “stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed."

Notice, 1st. The person of the offerer: it was Aaron; he who had been solemnly set apart for the sacred office. So the great High Priest, which Aaron faintly shadows forth, was of God's own appointment; from before the foundations of the world he was set apart for the great work, and he liveth and abideth for ever a High Priest after the order of Melchisedec. Sacrifices offered through any other priest will prove abortive, and will be as smoke in the nostrils of the Almighty; but the sacrifice offered through Him shall rise with acceptance, as the fragrant incense from off the altar.

2nd. The thing offered; he put on incense. Incense was a sweet perfume used only for sacerdotal purposes, and composed of the most costly materials, the most precious spices of the land being employed to make it. But how far more precious was that sacrifice which, in the fulness of time, was offered up on the altar of the cross: "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ."

This incense was always kept in the tabernacle, before the testimony, or ark of the covenant. So in the tabernacle of the Christian dispensation, before the better ark of the new covenant, the blessed incense is ever kept; not the emblem, but the thing signified; not the shadow, but the substance: even Him whose name is a sweet-smelling savour. Take away this incense," and there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin ;" but Jesus still lives, and

"His name, like sweet perfume, shall rise,
With every morning's sacrifice."

This incense, though rich in perfume, gave out its sweetest fragrance while burning. How lovely the character of Jesus in every period of his history! what heavenly benignity beamed upon his countenance! an all-pervading element of love enveloped him as a garment; but never does the matchless loveliness of his character stand forth in such beauty and splendour, as when burning into the fires of affliction. Behold him at the grave of Lazarus; those loved ones with whom he had often taken sweet counsel were at the grave of their brother, paying their last sad homage to departed worth; their hearts wrung with anguish, and their bosoms swelling with grief. Jesus approaches; he gazes upon the distracted sisters; his heart yearned, his bosom swelled-Jesus wept!

See him again on the Mount of Olives; witness his agonized feelings as he gazes upon Jerusalem; the tenderness of his love burst forth in tears: "When he beheld the city, he wept over it." Once more, behold him in Gethsemane: his broken spirit, his agony, his bloody sweat, and yet no murmur-(Oh! Christian, come here and learn how to bear thy cross)-but the meek submission, Father, not my will, but thine be done."

But nowhere do we see displayed the surpassing loveliness of his character as on Calvary. There the fire of Divine

justice kindled around him its fiercest flames; but yet, when consuming in death, such a holy fragrance ascends to his Father, that it for ever shut the gates of hell, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. That fragrance which ascended then has been ascending ever since, and will continue to ascend, until the work of redeeming mercy shall be finished, and all the sons and daughters of glory gathered home to their eternal reward.

Reader! have you secured an interest in this sacrifice? Is the plague of sin stayed in your heart? The writer has endeavoured to point you to the cure; apply to it, and his purpose will be answered. H. B.

Settle, April 10th, 1848.

RIGHTEOUSNESS THE SECURITY OF A NATION.

THE wisest prince that ever sat upon a throne hath told us, that righteousness exalts a nation, (Prov. xiv. 34.) It is not valour in war, but righteousness; it is not policy in government, but righteousness; it is not wittiness of invention, but righteousness; it is not civility in behaviour, but righteousness; it is not antiquity of forms, but righteousness; it is not largeness of dominion, but righteousness; nor it is not greatness of command, but righteousness that is the honour and the safety, that is the renown and security, of a nation. That nation that exalts righteousness, that nation shall be certainly exalted by righteousness. It is not Ahithophel's policy; it is not Jeroboam's calves in Dan and Bethel; it is not Jehu's pompous zeal; it is not Goliath's sword; it is not rich mines of gold and silver, nor magazines, nor armies, nor counsels, nor fleets, nor forts,-but justice and righteousness that exalts a nation, and that will make a mean people to become a great, a glorious, and a famous people in the world. The world is a ring, and righteousness is the diamond in that ring; the world is a body, and righteousness and justice is the soul of that body. Ah, England! England! so long as judgment runs down as waters in the midst of thee, and righteousness as a mighty stream, thou shalt not die, but live and bear up bravely against all gainsayers and opposers; but if injustice shall grow rampant, and thou shalt brandish the sword of justice in behalf of the friends of Baal, Balaam, and Bac

chus, and turn the wheel upon the righteous; if the sword of justice shall be a sword of protection to the desperate swearer, and to the cruel oppressor, and to the roaring drunkard, and to the cursing monster, and to the gospel despiser, and to the Christ contemner, &c., and shall be a devouring sword to the upright and peaceable in the land, Divine vengeance will dig thy grave, and Divine justice will tumble thee into it, though all the nations of the earth should labour to prevent it. It is a base and ignoble spirit to pity Catiline more than to pity Rome; to pity any particular sort of men more than to pity the whole. It is cruelty to the good to justify the bad; it is wrong to the sheep to animate the wolves; it is danger (if not death) to the lambs not to restrain or chain up the lions ;--but from all these vanities the Lord deliver all our souls! And, oh! that you would for ever remember this, that as the constitution of a man's body is best known by his pulse -if it stir not at all, then we know he is dead; if it stir violently, then we know him to be in a fever; if it keep an equal stroke, then we know he is sound, well, and whole;-so the estate and constitution of a kingdom or commonweal is best known by the manner of executing justice therein; for justice is the pulse of a kingdom: if justice be violent, then the kingdom is in a fever, in a very bad estate; if it stir not at all, then the kingdom is dead; but if it have an equal stroke, if it be justly and duly administered, then the kingdom is in a good, a safe, and sound condition. When Vespasian asked Appolinus what was the cause of Nero's ruin? he answered, that Nero could tune the harp well, but in government he did always wind up the strings too high, or let them down too low. The application is easy.-Brooks,

1662.

PROOFS OF ELECTION.

"Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God," 1 THESS. i. 4.

THE margin here reads, “Beloved of God, your election." The difference depends merely on the pointing, and that which would require the marginal reading has been adopted by Halin, Tittman, Bloomfield, and Griesbach. The sense is not materially varied, and the common version may be regarded as giving the true meaning. There is no great difference between "being beloved of God"

and "being chosen of God." The sense, then, is, "Knowing that you are chosen of God unto salvation." The word "knowing" here refers to Paul himself, and to Silas and Timothy, who united with him in writing the epistle, and in rendering thanks for the favours shown to the church at Thessalonica. The meaning is, that they had strong confidence that they had been chosen of God as a church unto salvation, that they might say they knew it. The way in which they knew it seems not to have been by direct revelation or by inspiration, but by the evidence which they had furnished, and which constituted such a proof of piety as to leave no doubt of the fact. What this evidence was, the apostle states in the following verses. It was shown by the manner in which they embraced the gospel, and by the spirit which they had evinced under its influence. The meaning here seems to be, not that all the members of the church at Thessalonica were certainly chosen of God to salvation-for, as in other churches, there might have been those who were false professors; but that the church, as such, had given evidence it was a true church-that it was founded on Christian principles-and that, as a church, it had furnished evidence of its "election by God." Nor can it mean, as Clarke and Bloomfield suppose, that God "had chosen and called the Gentiles to the same privileges to which he chose and called the Jews; and that as they (the Jews) had rejected the gospel, God had now elected the Gentiles in their stead;" for a considerable portion of the church was composed of Jews, (see Acts xvii. 4, 5,) and it cannot therefore mean that the Gentiles had been selected in the place of the Jews. Besides, the election of the Gentiles, or any portion of the human family, to the privileges of salvation, to the neglect or exclusion of any other part, would be attended with all the difficulties which occur in the doctrine of personal and individual election. Nothing

is gained on this subject, in removing the difficulties, by supposing that God chooses masses of men instead of individuals. How can the one be more proper than the other? What difficulty in the doctrine of election is removed by the supposition? Why is it not as right to choose an individual as a nation? Why not as proper to reject an individual as a whole people? If this means that the church at Thessalonica had shown that it was a true church of Christ, chosen by God, then we may learn,

1. That a true church owes what it has to the "election of God."-It is because God has chosen it, has called it out from the world, and has endowed it in such a manner as to be a true church.

2. A church may give evidence that it is chosen of God, and is a true church. There are many things which it may do which will show that it is undoubtedly such a church as God has chosen, and such as he approves. There are just principles on which a church should be organized, and there is a spirit which may be manifested by a church which will distinguish it from any other association of men.

3. It is not improper to speak with strong confidence of such a church, as undoubtedly chosen of God. There are churches which, by their zeal, self-denial, and deadness to the world, show, beyond question, their "election of God," and the world may see that they are founded on other principles, and manifest a different spirit from other organizations of men.

4. Every church should evince such a spirit, that there may be no doubt of its "election of God." It should be so dead to the world, so pure in doctrine and in practice, and so much engaged in spreading the knowledge of salvation, that the world will see that it is governed by higher principles than any worldly association, and that nothing could produce this but the influence of the Holy Spirit of God.

THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. "And upon all the cedars of Lebanon," ISA. ii. 13. THIS is a beautiful specimen of the poetic manner of writing, so common among the Hebrews, where spiritual and moral subjects are represented by the grand or beautiful imagery taken from objects of nature. Mount Lebanon bounded Pales

tine on the north. It was formerly much celebrated for its large and lofty cedars. These cedars were said to have been from thirty-five to forty feet in girth, and very high. They were magnificent trees, and were very valuable for ceilings, statues, or roofs, that required durable and beautiful timber. The roof of the Temple, of Diana of Ephesus, according to Pliny, was of

cedar; and no small part of the Temple of Solomon was of this wood. A few lofty trees of this description are still remaining on Mount Lebanon. "After three hours of laborious travelling," says D'Arvieux, "we arrived at the famous cedars about eleven o'clock. We counted twenty-three of them. The circumference of these trees is thirty-six feet. The bark of the cedar resembles that of pine; the leaves and cone also bear considerable resemblance. The stem is upright, the wood is hard, and has the reputation of being incorruptible. The leaves are long, narrow, rough, and very green, ranged in tufts along the branches; they shoot in spring, and fall in the beginning of winter. Its flowers and fruit resemble those of the pine. From the full-grown trees a fluid trickles naturally, and without incision; this is clear, transparent, whitish, and, after a time, dries and hardens; it is supposed to possess great virtues. place where these great trees are stationed is in a plain of nearly a league in circumference, on the summit of a mount, which is environed on almost all sides by other mounts, so high, that their summits are always covered with snow. This plain is level, the air is pure, the heavens always serene."

The

Maundrel found only sixteen cedars of large growth, and a natural plantation of smaller ones, which were very numerous. One of the largest was twelve yards six inches in girth, and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs. At six yards from the ground it was divided into five limbs, each equal to a great tree. Dr. Richardson visited them in 1818, and found a small clump of large, tall, and beautiful trees, which he pronounces the most picturesque productions of the vegetable world that he had ever seen. In this clump are two generations of trees; the oldest are large and massy, rearing their heads to an enormous height, and spreading their branches to a great extent. He measured one, not the largest in the clump, and found it thirty-two feet in circumference. Seven of these trees appeared to be very old, the rest younger, though, for want of space, their branches are not so spreading. The cedar, so large, lofty, and grand, is used in the Scriptures to represent kings, princes, and nobles. Thus, in Ezek. xxxi. 3, it represents Assyria; comp. Dan. iv. 20-22; Zech. xi. 1, 2; Isa. xiv. 8. Here it means the princes and nobles of the land of Israel. The Chaldee renders it "upon all the strong and mighty kings of the people."

LIKE WAGES, LIKE WORK.

THE ill-paid man has usually been an inferior workman. Of this the following homely illustration, mentioned at a late farmer's club, is an instance: Whilst inspecting a farm in one of those pauperized districts of England, an able agriculturist could not help noticing the slow, drawling motions of one of the labourers there, and said, My man, you do not sweat at your work.' 'Why, no, master,' was the reply; 'seven shillings a week is not sweating wages!"

·

TRUTH.

TRUTH Courts investigation, but error shrinks from scrutiny. Truth fears no evils from the most rigid examination, but error always fears the consequence. Truth is immutable, and will stand criticism. Truth, like its Author, is eternal, and will exist amidst the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds, while error will be swept away with the refuge of lies. The more you examine truth, like gold, the brighter it shines. Truth is never tarnished by inspection, but discovers the more splendour. Any system which shrinks from scrutiny, discovered corruption in its premises, and is unworthy the attention of an intelligent mind. A certain writer has said, with the utmost propriety:

"He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; and he that dares not reason is a slave."

EXAMPLE-LOOK TO IT.

LET every parent look well to his daily and hourly example; for children, says an able writer, make more use of the eye than the ear; and the expressions are clearer and stronger from the one than the other-they will not be

influenced so much by what you say as by what you do. In vain do you exhort them to be spi. ritual while you are worldly; in vain do you point them to the narrow path which leads to heaven, while you decline to walk in it; in vain do you warn them from carnal indulgences in which you seek your gratification. You must live what you teach; you must be what you desire them to become. This is the necessary price of a happy state of religion in the family; and it is, alas! a price many parents decline to pay.

WAR.

THE following advice was given by Dr. Benjamin Rush, an eminent American physician and philanthropist, who died about thirty years ago:

"In order to impress more deeply the minds of the citizens of the United States with the blessings of peace, by contrasting them with the evils of war, let the following inscription be painted on the sign which is placed over the door of the War-office at Washington, namely: "An office for butchering the human species. "A widow and orphan-making office. "A broken-bone-making office. "A wooden-leg-making office. "An office for creating public and private vices.

"An office for creating public debt. "An office for creating famine. "An office for creating pestilential diseases. "An office for creating poverty, and for the destruction of liberty and national happiness. "In the lobby let there be painted representations of the common instruments of death; also human skulls, broken bones, hospitals crowded with sick and wounded soldiers, villages

on fire, ships sinking in the ocean, rivers dyed with blood, and extensive plains without a tree or fence, or any other object but the ruins of deserted farm-houses."

GRAVITY OF BREAKFAST. WHETHER breakfast is the most serious and silent meal, because it is first, or because it is the soberest, it is difficult to say; but it does generally pass without much talk, or, at all events, without much talk that is worth recording. Punsters very seldom pun at breakfast; and the narrators of long-winded stories are at that time more sparing of their tales. There is then seldom any argumentative discussion or any play of wit. Breakfast is altogether a matter of business, an affair of life and death; because, if people did not break their fast, they could not live.

Dinner is quite another thing; that is, more a matter of pleasure than business; and they who speak of the pleasures of a table, are supposed to allude to dinner, and not to breakfast. A man may dine with Duke Humphrey five days in the week; but it is a much more serious matter to breakfast with Duke Humphrey.

THOUGHTS AND MAXIMS.

REMORSE is the worm of death that never dies. The needle that is divinely touched ever after trembles towards its pole, and rests not but in its meridian.

The knowledge of evil may help to good, and assist us in the measure of its value; every new idea should be to us as a new feather in the wings that bear us upward. All creatures in their utmost sum, beginning from least, and going onward from first to last, are but shadings, jots, and tittles of the ONE GOOD; that is so beautiful, so great, so good, that nothing else can be so, but in the proportion of its likeness to it.

No beauty strikes so deep, or leaves such work done, as that of the mind and heart. It delights not more than it improves us, and the more it is gazed on, the more shall we be drawn to it, and become as one with it.

It is reported of the wife of Louis XIth, of France, that, while walking forth with her ladies in the evening, "she saw one of the king's chaplains, a silly, old, hard-favoured man, fast asleep, and kissed him ;" and, on turning and seeing the young ladies laugh at her, she replied, "that it was not his person that she did embrace, but the Divine beauty of his soul." There is a magnet in good things, drawing them to one centre at last, and that centre is the power that vitalizes all good within us.

Truth is the highest style of charity. Truth always justifies itself in events, but all compromises of it issue in proofs of our folly.

FORGIVENESS.

SHE went up to her husband, and, as it seemed, spoke lovingly, saying, that she would defer to him in everything, and would consult his wishes and obey them; and they might be very happy if he would be gentle with her. He answered with an imprecation, and-with a blow! Yes; stern truth against the base-souled villainwith a blow! No angry cry, no loud reproaches. Even her weeping and her sobs were stifled by her clinging around him. She only

said, repeating it in an agony of heart, "How could he-how could he?" and lost utterance in an agony of tears. Oh, woman, God-beloved in old Jerusalem! the best among us need deal lightly with thy faults, if only for the punishment thy nature will endure in bearing heavy evidence against us on the day of judgment!-Dickens.

PARSIMONY NOT ECONOMY.

SIR WALTER SCOTT tells of a kinsman of his, says the North British Review, who, on being told that a family vault in the parish churchyard was decaying and like to fall in, and that £10 would make the repairs, proffered only £5. It would not do. Two years after he proffered the full sum. A report was then made that the breaches were now so much increased that £20 would scarce serve. He hesitated, hemmed and hawed for three years more, then offered £20. The wind and rain had not awaited his decision, and not less than £50 would now serve. A year afterwards he sent a check for £50, which was returned by post, with the intelligence that the aisle had fallen the preceding week.

THREE FAULTS OF NURSES.

1. To lisp in a baby style, when the same words, in an endearing tone, would please as well; the reverse should be-the voice clear, emphatic, and each syllable distinctly articulated for imitation.

2. To tell of witches, ghosts, and goblins; such superstitions, impressed upon young minds, are rarely got rid of.

3. To direct a child to act like a man; whereas it is not often becoming for a little boy to ape the man, but only to conform his demeanour to his age: every age has its own peculiar decorousness.

WONDERS OF ART.

THERE is a man in London, who has a glass eye and spectacles, a wig, one arm, and both legs of wood, a nose which is fastened to the skin of the forehead, a lower jaw of silver, an artificial set of teeth, a part of the skull of caoutchouc, and a palate and both ears of the same substance as well as a large part of the abdomen. We learn that he was formerly employed in supplying a steam-engine with coal, and, in an explosion of the boiler, was most horribly mutilated. Dr. Kemble succeeded, almost by a miracle, in saving his life, and made him what he now is-almost an artificial, yet breathing man.

THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. WHEN Christ feasted that great multitude with five loaves and two fishes, it is observed that the five loaves were of the baker's making, and the two fishes of God's making. The papists stiffly maintain seven sacraments in their churchviz., Baptism, the Eucharist, Matrimony, Orders, Penance, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction. But most sure it is, that the two first only are of God's making; in the other five appears the knavery of the baker. They are of the pope's making, and not of God's.-John Boys.

HOW TO TAKE PLEASURE SAFELY. IIE that handles a hedgehog, takes him by the