more than the most discouraging and the scantiest assemblage? Has prayer, then, become so unimportant that it may be delegated to a few-and these the infirm and aged-to offer it in the name of all the church? Or do we regard the season as unprofitably spent which has been spent at the gates of heaven, and might have seen us, had we but duly estimated its advantages, almost within their threshhold, blending our voices with adoring seraphim, and the first-born children of light? Never shall we witness any great and signal reformation, until prayer shall have been elevated to its proper rank among means and privileges. It must become more distinctively the chief characteristic of our worship. From being subordinate and secondary, it must be restored to the highest place. And though it is easier to descant on such a change than to secure it, much might be effected by steady and serious determination that in our individual sphere it should never be lost sight of or forgotten. O that this spirit might be shed more abundantly upon us! Every other blessing would follow in its train. Nothing could be denied to humble, united, persevering prayer, prayer which embraces effort, embodies fervent desire, confirms pious resolution, lays fast hold upon the hand of mercy; or, prostrate at her feet, weeps, pleads, expostulates, presses on her suit, refuses to be thrust away or silenced, urges the promises, alleges the securities of an inviolable compact, and by conscious weakness, mingled with importunity, infallibly prevails.

But if the disposition to cavil or debate -or to speculate on the more mysterious principles of revelation-or to magnify the peculiarities of our individual belief -or to hear indolently or critically the word of life-or even to contribute of our labour or possessions to the designs of Christian charity, be substituted for this

66

spirit of grace and supplication," we have but too surely fallen below the just and proper standard both of relative and personal godliness. A power, like the blast from the desert, has seized upon our souls; and our blooming promise of fertility, as short-lived as it is deceitful, shall stand blighted and stricken in hopeless desolation, like a sepulchral garland, withering in solitude and darkness, and shedding its dying odours only through the regions of the dead !-M'All.

THE UNSEEN AND ETERNAL.

WHILE encompassed by the rush and bustle of the world, you must strive to preserve the calm of elevated thought, and rise to the very loftiest contemplations, amidst the interruptions of business and the intrusion of folly. While surrounded by a crowd of dizzy and bewildering shadows, you must strive to penetrate beyond them, and come into contact with the substance and reality of things. You must lose sight of the living phantoms we call men, together with all their accidents, while beholding, grasping, seeking to arrest and to renew "the hidden man of the heart." What is great to others must by you be regarded as infinitely little; and what is by them accounted little, as immeasurable in its greatness. The relations and visible proportions of all things that encircle you must thus become practically inverted, if you would escape from the illusions with which they will otherwise beguile you. Compared with this, the seeming paradoxes of astronomy, sublime and overwhelming as they aremaking the globe on which we dwell dwindle into a speck, amidst the vastness of those glittering atoms we discern in the midnight sky, or exhibiting what here seems fixed and stable as. in a condition of perpetual efflux, and what is, in our eye, a vortex of chaotic splendours, as the only scene of permanence and repose-might almost disappear. These correct the fallacies only of the world of matter; your sublimer philosophy, those of the universe of mind. Space, and magnitude, and physical dependency, are all which they affect; it is to essences, and vital powers, and the most elemental modes of being, that yours extends its operation. They depress into insignificance and meanness what every sense instructs us to value as important; but this reduces it to nothing. The one diminishes-the other annihilates.-Ibid.

CHARACTER OF ST. PAUL.

but

THE Success of his labours in the cause of Christ was, like his devotedness, beyond all parallel. No danger could quench his ardour, no difficulty abate his confidence. To hardship, opposition, delay, his spirit was invulnerable. Whatever could be achieved by effort, or acquired by perseverance, he infallibly accomplished. Where others would have fainted, or sunk in despair, he discerned

most perilous, was converted only into an omen of conquest, and an incentive to exertion. We cannot gaze on such a spectacle without practical advantage, proportioned to the wonder and delight which we receive from its inspection. Nothing is so fitted to lift us above what is feeble in sentiment, or timorous in action; while the sanctity emanating from the whole casts a glow of beauty, like its own, over the soul, which it at once elevates and humbles, till we come insensibly to partake in all its purity, as we follow in the train of all its greatness. -Dr. M'All.

HYSSOP.

As

This

A GREAT variety of opinions have been entertained respecting the plant translated "hyssop" in the authorized version both of the Old and the New Testament; but as yet no satisfactory investigation has been made, so as to enable us to fix with certainty on the plant intended. The difficulty appears to have arisen from the similarity of a Greek to a Hebrew name, whence the former seems, from an early period, to have been considered synonymous with the latter, and used for it in referring to the passages of the Old Testament where it is mentioned. the word used by the Greek authors is generally acknowledged to signify the common hyssop of botanists, it has been inferred that it must also be the plant of the Old Testament, as well as that referred to in the New Testament. inference has not, however, been universally acquiesced in; for the different plants which have been adduced by various authors, as the hyssop of Scripture, are enumerated by others under no less than eighteen heads. The first notice of this plant in the sacred writings occurs in Ex. xii. 22, where a bunch of hyssop is directed to be dipped in blood, and struck on the lintels and two side-posts of the doors of the houses in which the Israelites resided. It is next mentioned in Lev. xiv. 4, 6, 52, in the ceremony for declaring lepers to be cleansed; and again, in Num. xix. 6, 18, in preparing the water of separation. To these passages the apostle alludes in Heb. ix. 19: "For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people, according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people." From this text we find

that the Greek and Hebrew names for this plant were considered synonymous, and also, from the preceding passages, that the plant must have been leafy, and large enough to serve for the purposes of sprinkling; and that it must have been found in Lower Egypt, as well as in the country towards Mount Sinai, and onwards to Palestine. From the following passages we get some information respecting the habits and the supposed properties of the plant: thus in 1 Kings iv. 33, it is said, "Solomon spoke of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall;" and in the penitential psalm of David (li. 7), "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." In this passage, it is, no doubt, considered by some commentators, that hyssop is used in a figurative sense; but still it is possible that the plant may have possessed some general cleansing properties, and thus come to be employed in preference to other plants, in the ceremonies of purification. It ought, at all events, to be found growing upon walls, and in Palestine. In the account of the crucifixion of our Saviour, the apostle John records (John xix. 29), "Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth." In the parallel passages of Matthew (xxvii. 48) and Mark (xv. 36), it is stated that the sponge filled with vinegar was put upon a reed or stick. To reconcile these statements, some commentators have supposed that both the sponge and the hyssop were tied to a stick; and that one apostle mentions only the hyssop, because he considered it as the most important; while, for the same reason, the other two mention only

the stick but the simplest mode of explaining the apparent discrepancy is, to consider the hyssop and the stick to be the same thing; in other words, that the sponge was affixed to a stick of hyssop.

A great variety of plants have been adduced by different authors as that alluded to in the

above passages, though some do not seem to think it necessary to reconcile the plant which they prefer to more than one or two of the passages, and seldom take the trouble of proving that it is found in the localities where the hyssop is stated to have been employed.-Cyc Bib. Lit.

THE BIBLE IN THE FAMILIES OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS.

NOTHING in the history of the early Christians is more worthy of our respect and imitation than their profound reverence for the word of God, and their familiarity with its truths. Many are said to have learned the entire Scriptures by heart. A martyr in Palestine is mentioned, who could from memory repeat passages from any part of the word of God, as exactly as though he had read them. Eusebius describes such a man in these words: "Whenever he willed, he brought forth, as from a repository of science, and rehearsed either the law of Moses, or the prophets, or the historical, evangelical, and apostolical parts of Scripture. Indeed, I was struck with admiration when I first beheld him standing amidst a considerable multitude, and reciting certain portions of holy writ. long as I could only hear his voice, I supposed that he was reading; but when I came close up to him, I discerned that, employing only the eyes of his mind, he uttered the Divine oracles like some prophet." It was customary, day by day, for each individual of a family to commit portions of Scripture to memory. In the evening these were repeated to one another.

As

During their meals the early Christians were accustomed to listen to the reading of the Scriptures. When the appetite for the food "that perishes with the using" had been satisfied, each member of the household having washed his hands that no stain might fall on the sacred volume, and having put himself in a becoming and reverential attitude, took his roll and joined in the exercises of family worship.

In the training of children, great care was taken to instil in early youth the truths of the Gospel. The first thing that was taught was the Bible. The following passage from Jerome's Epistle to Lota, on the Education of her Daughter, may well close these remarks: "Let her first learn the Psalter, and give her hours of leisure to those holy songs. From the Proverbs of Solomon she will gather practical instruction; Ecclesiastes will teach her to despise the world; in Job she will find examples of virtue and endurance. Then let her go to the Gospels, and never lay them down. The Acts of the Apostles, with the Epistles, must be imbibed with all the ardour of her heart. When her mind is thoroughly stored with these treasures, she may commit the Prophets to memory, together with the Heptateuch, and the books of Kings and Chronicles, with those of Esdras and Esther."

Would that modern Christians were as

"mighty in the Scriptures" as these men of old: Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee."

He

A GREAT DISCOVERY. IN D'Aubigné's "History of the Reformation," we have a great graphic account of the discovery which Luther made of the Bible, at the time when Providence was preparing him to be the grand instrument of a resurrection of the religion of the Bible. He had been two years at the University of Erfurth, and was twenty years of age. One day he was opening the books in the library, one after another, in order to read the names of the authors. One, which he opened in its turn, drew his attention. He had not seen anything like it till that hour. reads the title: it is a Bible, a rare book, unknown at that time. His interest is strongly excited. He is filled with astonishment at finding more in that volume than those fragments of the Gospels and Epistles which the church has selected to be read to the people in their places of worship. Till then he thought that they were the whole word of God; and here were many pages and many books of which he had no idea. His heart beats as he holds in his hand all the Scriptures divinely inspired. With eagerness and indescribable feelings he turns over the leaves of God's word. He returns home with a full heart. Oh! thought he, if God would give me such a book for my own! He soon returned to the library to find his treasure again: he read and re-read, and then, in his surprise and joy, he went back to read again. The first gleams of a new truth then arose upon his mind.

This event had a sublimity in it, because that the impulse which the discovery gave to Luther's mind, was to be communicated to the millions of other minds; because the whole Reformation lay hid in that Bible. This book on the unknown shelves of a dark room, was, through his mind, to become the book of life to nations. It had now fallen into the hands of its translator, who was about to give it tongues to speak to all Europe:

THE BIBLE.

THE writer recently asked an intelligent traveller for some striking testimony to the value of the Bible. He replied, that some years since, at the meeting of a country Bible Society, a very wealthy infidel, the president of a bank, presented the society with a sum of money, saying that he did it not because he had any belief in the Divine inspiration of that book, but because, in his estimation, it contributed above all other books, and all other influences, to make men

honest, faithful, kind, and happy. Now this was a noble specimen of ingenuousness, reason, and philanthropy; and probably nine-tenths of our intelligent citizens would say, Amen: but will they go and do likewise? Will they lend their whole influence, so far as is consistent with other duties, for sustaining the hallowed rights and benign influence of the Bible?

THE BIBLE IN EUROPE. AT the Anniversary of the Worcester Auxiliary Bible Society, Lieutenant Wilson gave many interesting details of the progress of the Society on the continent of Europe, especially in France and Belgium. In the former country 145,000 copies of the Scriptures had been distributed during the past twelve months, in spite of the increasing opposition of the Roman Catholic clergy; and he cited one instance, where, through the dissemination of the Bible in a particular parish, a great majority of its inhabitants, the mayor of the town, and a priest, all expressed their determination to come out from the Catholic communion, and they claimed the parish church for Protestant worship. This was conceded to them, and the Roman Catholic clergymen were obliged to perform mass in a barn they purchased for the purpose; but they could not get a single individual to attend its celebration.

In Belgium the demand was unprecedented; and the decree which the Bishop of Rome issued against their being read had only excited the curiosity of the people, and made them anxious to procure the book which the Pope was so much afraid of.

In Holland great quantities were being disposed of; and in the Carpathian Mountains, where the people were steeped in poverty, the Society had given away a great number, at the urgent request of a clergyman there.

In Spain they had not been able to do much, owing to the state of the country, and the influence of the priests; but a few friends of the cause had circulated a considerable number privately, during the past year.

CRUSADE OF CHILDREN. THE following is a note to Mills' " History of the Crusades :"

"Some of the best witnesses for the history of the Middle Ages affirm, that, seduced by the preaching of fanatics, the children of France and Germany, about the year 1213, thought themselves authorised by Heaven to attempt the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, and ran about the country, crying, Lord Jesus Christ restore the cross to us!' Boys and girls stole from their homes. No bolts, no bars, no fear of fathers, no love of mothers, could hold them back, and the number of youthful adventurers was, at one time, thirty thousand. They were organised by some fanatical wretches, one of whom was taken at Cologne. The children drove down France, crossed the Alps, and those who survived their hunger and heat, presented themselves at the gates of the sea-ports of Italy and the South of France. Many were driven back to their homes; but seven large ships of them went from Marseilles. Two of the vessels were wrecked on the Isle of St. Peter; the rest of the ships went to Burgia and Alexandria, and the masters sold the children into slavery. These singular events are mentioned by four contemporary writers."

POPERY IN INDIA.

THE natives of India who have attached themselves to the Romish church, are in the habit of alleging that there is not much difference between their circumstances and those of their heathen brethren. On one occasion I was crossing a ferry in the west of India, the boatmen being natives and members of the Roman Catholic church. I put to them the question, "What is your religion ?" The reply was, "We are Christians." I then asked them, " In what respect does your religion differ from the Hindoos?" "Oh!" replied they, "our religion is a great deal better than theirs. The gods of the Hindoos are ugly monsters, with a variety of heads and hands; but our gods are fine men and women, and we have a fine virgin for our chief god."-Dr. Wilson.

PUSEYISM.

DR. M'ILVAINE thus describes it: "The whole system is one of church, instead of Christ; priest, instead of gospel; concealment of truth, instead of manifestation of truth;' ignorant superstition, instead of enlightened faith; bondage, where we are promised liberty;—all tending to load us with whatever is odious in the worst meaning of priestcraft, in place of the free, affectionate, enlarging, elevating, and cheerful liberty of the children of God.

TWENTY-SEVEN OBJECTIONS TO

ROMANISM.

1. It claims infallibility.

2. It has always been a persecuting power. 3. It has generally made men worse. 4. It degenerates civil society. 5. It is opposed to private judgment. 6. Employs compulsion to religion. 7. It is opposed to the liberty of the Press. 8. Denies the Bible to the common people. 9. Administers only half of the Lord's supper. 10. The system rests on the ignorance of the people.

11. It is supported by craft and tyranny.
12. It uses images in worship.

13. It teaches to pray to the saints.
14. It has altered God's word.
15. It is the Mother of Harlots.
16. It is destructive to civil liberty.
17. It is a system of falsehood.
18. It usurps the place of God.

19. It makes religion consist in attachment to
the church, not in love to God.
20. It is destructive to all true religion.
21. It means to subjugate this country to a
foreign power.

22. It is Satan's master-piece-ruin to the soul. 23. It has overrun all modern nations, except ours. 24. It has never proved a blessing to a people. 25. Its bishops and priests are not citizens of this country.

26. It aims to destroy all who do not embrace it. 27. It has shed the blood of nearly 70,000,000 Protestants, and we dare not trust it. INCREASE OF ROMAN CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND.

IN six years there have been built in England five new Catholic churches, on the largest scale of parochial churches. The one at Nottingham is the largest built since the Reformation. St. George's, when completed, will be the largest church in London, except St. Paul's. In the same space of time, nineteen communities of nuns have been established, and nine of religious

men, while nine clergymen of the English Church have gone over, and a large number of students. A million and a half of Roman Catholic publications have in the same time issued from their press at Derby; not for gratuitous distribution, like many Protestant establishments, but for sale. Of these facts there is no doubt, for they are derived from the Rev. Dr. Wiseman, a man of integrity, one of the most learned men of the day.

ROMAN RELIGIONISTS IN THE UNITED

STATES.

WE gather the following facts from the Catholic Cabinet: There are in the United States 21 Roman Catholic dioceses, and in Oregon Territory a vicariate apostolic; 26 bishops; 701 priests, of whom 508 are seculars, one hundred and three are Jesuits, 30 are Lazarists, 25 are Redemptionists, 12 are Dominicans, 8 are Augustinians, and 15 are of other orders; 36 religious brothers, not of the priesthood; 1143 religious sisters, of sixteen different orders; 675 churches; 22 ecclesiastical seminaries; and 15 colleges, besides schools and academies without number.

What a plea have we here for Home Missions!

EPITOME OF RELIGION IN FRANCE. BEFORE the end of the second century Christianity had obtained an extensive prevalency in France; but during the period of the ten Roman persecutions, that country was the special object of their fury, notwithstanding which Christianity triumphed for three centuries. Then was the "Man of Sin" revealed, and for 300 years, or till the thirteenth century, pure Christianity was hunted down by the blood-hounds of Popery. The Albigenses, foremost among the witnesses for the truth in France, were, as a people, annihilated; and for the next 300 years the midnight of Popery settled on the land.

The reviving power of the great Reformation was then felt, but the freedom enjoyed was mingled with much persecution. In 1598, Henry IV. published the edict of Nantes, which gave liberty of conscience and security in enjoying religious privileges. But persecution was revived in the reign of Louis XIII., and in 1685 Louis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantes, when half a million of Protestants fell like grass before the scythe; another half million fled to other countries; and about the same number, unable to escape, secreted themselves in the country villages and the fastnesses of the mountains; and the Man of Sin reigned undisturbed for more than a century.

Infidelity then commenced her reign, and at the revolution of 1789, the sabbath, the immortality of the soul, and the Deity himself were formally legislated out of existence. For 117 years, Protestants, though not far from one million in number, had no temple in France.

In 1799 Napoleon re-established Christianity as the national religion; placed Protestants and Catholics on an equality, provided churches for the former, and supported ministers of both from the public treasury. In 1815, with the restoration of the Bourbons, the Protestants were again opposed; and at the Revolution, in 1830, when Louis Philippe was placed on the throne, religious liberty was again restored to all, which is still enjoyed, though under some

The dioceses which subscribed the largest sums were, Lyons, 175,057f.; Paris, 92,371f.; Cambria, 89,806f.; Cologne, 82,465f.; Tuion, 61,000f.; Nantes, 60,168f.; Rennes, 54,637f.; Toulouse, 54,218f,; Rome, 52,415f.; Dublin, 49,435f.; Naples, 47,883f.; Le Mans, 44,714f.; Ghent, 43,639f.; Strasburg, 41,883f.; St. Brienne, 41,010f.; Bordeaux, 40,982f.; Angers, 40,038f.; &c. Belgium, with her six dioceses, figures in these returns in the following proportions: Ghent, 43,639f.; Mechlin, 36,330f.; Liege, 33,615f.; Tournai, 31,635f.; Bruges, 22,249f.; and Namur, 10,216f. The Low Countries subscribed, viz, the diocese of Bois le Duc, 31,169f.; Limburg, 15,528f.; Luxemburg, 11,168f.; Breda, 5,714f.; other districts, 33,356f. Among individual donations the four largest were sent from the following dioceses, viz., Alby, 10,000f.; Basle, 7,887f.; Toumai, 5,847f.; and Savona, 4,336f. The Annals of the Association are published annually, to the number of 171,900 copies; viz., in French, 94,000; in Italian, 30,000; German, 24,000; in English, 14,000; in Flemish, 4,800; in Portuguese, 2,500; in Dutch, 1,100. The donations sent from France and Belgium for the redemption of Chinese infants, amounted to 14,811f. The funds of the Association were distributed as follows in 1844, among the different missions of the globe: