Never, never before, did I feel so fully alive to the truth of that verse,

"Other refuge have I none;"

And also of that,

"Thou, O Christ, art all I want;"

And above all,

"Plenteous grace with thee is found."

Then as sufferings abound, consolations abound. Experience of the Lord's faithfulness alone is worth buying at any price.

But mark, further, the blessedness of trial! We are told that the "effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Now, our schools, inasmuch as they are open to the whole kingdom, and extend their benefits far and near, are looked upon as a kind of public property, and excite a public interest. And the consequence of this is, that prayers are offered up for us in all quarters by God's people; in churches, in the family, in the closet. What a blessing is this! a blessing yet to be fully opened out: for these prayers are not only for present support, and a removal, in God's good time, of the scourge; but, above all, for "the peaceable fruits of righteousness." Here is the grand blessing! We all want purifying. We are too often like the drowsy, sleeping virgins. And if we be only led to live more simply upon God, to work more zealously for him, and to promote his glory, it will be good for us, indeed, that we have been afflicted.

I might say much, too, of the blessedness of Christian sympathy, which trial brings to light. It has come to us in all ways, and from all quarters. Some dear friends thought that the consumption of wine would be immense, and wine was sent to us. Other dear friends sent arrow root, and others oranges, and some old linen, while money from many quarters has been freely given. So that our anxieties on the score of expense are done away. Nor is it the smallest blessing to have

had letters constantly pouring in, directing our wearied minds to suitable passages of Scripture. I conclude with one little note, which came with some old linen from an unknown friend:

"From a clergyman's daughters to their suffering sisters at Casterton, with many prayers that the troubled waters that now threaten to overwhelm them may soon pass away, and leave a rich deposit behind." Isaiah xliii. 12.

W.

THE CROSS OF CHRIST.

Here, then, we stand by the cross of Christ. Draw near and behold what your sins have done. View the Son of God dying for your offences, and go not away with the stupidity of the chief priests. Why should not that blood which is dripping from the cross dissolve your hearts? Why should not the darkness and the earthquake convince you? Shall spiteful Jews, shall Roman soldiers, shall a dying thief, sooner yield to evidence, and go into the kingdom of heaven before you? Fall down at the feet of a dying Saviour, and let your hearts bleed their life away for the treasons which have caused his death. Hasten to be baptized in his blood, and evince your gratitude by lives devoted to his service.

What did it avail the unbelieving Jews to shut their eyes to the claims of the Messiah? Could they always keep them closed? Eternity was appointed to do away their mistakes. And with what unutterable astonishment, when their eyes opened in eternity, did they find themselves at the bar of him who had stood at their tribunal! What now think you of him whom you insulted on the cross as unable to deliver himself? Who now shall deliver you out of his hands? Where are Pilate and Herod now? O how changed the scene! And such change, my poor hearers, will those eyes one day behold. When he who wept in the manger, who sweat in the garden, and bled on the cross; when he who has called in your streets, and knocked at your doors, shall come in the clouds of heaven, arrayed in the brightness of a thousand suns; when the heavens shall flee away at his presence, and worlds shall be enkindled by the breath of his mouth; when the dead shall awake at his voice, and every sinner in earth and hell shall be arraigned

at his bar; then with another mind will you behold him whom you now reject. You cannot now drop a tear at the very foot of the cross; but then to no purpose will you look on him whom you have pierced, and mourn. He will not then come to plead, but to judge; not to suffer, but to inflict, more than he endured, on the authors of his death. What grief will then rive your heart that you did not apply to him in season! By all the nameless terrors of that day; by the pleading love which now follows you in the gospel; by the pity which bled on the point of the spear, and received the spittings of Roman soldiers; by the mercy which forgave his murderers before his blood was cold on their hands, I entreat you, I beseech you to fall down at his feet, and make your peace through his blood. Now it is offered to you without money and without price; tomorrow it may be to late. Go not from your seat until you have accepted the great salvation. Why should you delay? Why need you delay? All heaven is waiting for your decision.

The authority of the eternal God presses upon you. He commands you now to repent. Infinite dangers lie hid under a moment's delay. A moment's delay deserves eternal burnings. Why will you commit that unbounded sin? Why will you throw upon a dying Saviour that measureless ingratitude? I hear a voice from the cross, saying, It is finished, if you ever come, come now.' Amen."

WHAT IS NOT POPERY?

It is doubtless well to be upon the look-out for error, and to do what we can to avoid it ourselves, and to prevent its spread amongst others; but in so doing, we must take care that we do not give too wide a range to our fancies, and conclude that we have found error where really no error exists.

In these days of excitement, in which freedom of thought and opinion is abroad, religion, in its forms as well as doctrines, is sifted in every possible manner, and every one thinks himself competent to decide on what is right and what is wrong. And to what varied attacks is our Established Church exposed! Now, our church lays no claim to being infallible, and therefore it would be strange indeed if no spots could be found. Every thing human is more or less faulty: it is only the church triumphant in heaven that will be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. If, therefore, men quarrel with a church because of its imperfections, or wait to join

one until they discover one that is in all respects entire, lacking nothing, they act very unreasonably. But sure I am that many things which men point at as grand defects, are really not such. Thus for instance: there are some who condemn our established church as very popish. Nothing can be less true. There may be certain members who seem to favour popish practices and views; but we must distinguish between the church and her members. No church can guard against false friends, or, with all its care, prevent the inroads of error. Do not therefore point at this or that professing churchman, who thinks or acts wrong, and then say, See what a corrupt church the Church of England is! No, the question is, what is the character of the church itself? Does it, or does it not, encourage popery? Now, says the dissenter, look at the surplice! is not that a "rag of popery"? I always think that men who quarrel with such things as these, though they cry out against the formality of others, are convicted of the very essence of formality themselves, because of their making such objections to outward things. If the worship be right, of little importance it is in what clothing the minister conducts the worship. If the heart be in the spirituality of devotion, a man will think comparatively little of these lesser points. And if a dissenter chooses to wear a black gown, I do not see why a churchman may not wear a white one. That ministers of religion should wear some distinct habits, seems as reasonable as that princes and magistrates should: and if churchmen choose to wear white, I can only say that the priests under the Jewish law did the same. The Levites also, who were singers, were arrayed in white clothes. Oh! but it is "a rag of popery!" Now, the fact is, as St. Chrysostom and others tell us, the very first Christians wore white gowns in their churches, long, long before popery was ever known or thought of. If popish priests wear them likewise, this is no argument against them. You might as well quarrel with the dissenting minister's black gown, which the popish priest wears also.

So much, then, in defence of the surplice. Then comes the charge of kneeling at the Lord's Supper. I wonder how any one can for a moment suspect any thing popish in this. I know the papist worships the sacrament, and kneels as an act of adoration of the very elements. Our church abhors the idolatry of such an act: but still she would send her members, feeling the burden of their sins to be intolerable, and the remembrance to be grievous,

she would, send them bending under their burdens, and to receive in the most becoming posture the blessings of redemption, of which the sacrament is the token and pledge. And the church is right in so doing. Shall I go to my sovereign, and receive on my bended knee some token of royal favour, and shall I be less supplicant in spirit and in posture, when going to receive from my Redeemer the blessings of his salvation?

Then comes the charge of popery in the giving the sacrament to the dying. I allow that there is much ignorance and abuse in this matter. Some clergymen may be very incautious in giving the sacrament in sickness, and some dying persons may regard it as a passport to heaven; but is the Church to blame for all this? Surely not. She only allows the sick and dying of her flock to have the comfort of this ordinance, and gives directions for the purpose; but no where does she encourage the idea that the sacrament is a passport to heaven, and that a man's salvation is sure, if he only gets the sacrament. No; this is, indeed, the very essence of popery. But our church is not chargeable with this. And the more the Church of England is calmly and candidly examined, the more she will be found to be not only not popish, but, as the name "Protestant" denotes, a church, throughout, protesting against popery. In her articles, and her homilies, and throughout her formularies, it is impossible to say that there is a popish tendency.

But I will tell you what is of the very essence of popery: to put human merit in the room of Christ, and to think that Christ is only wanted to make up the defects of erring man. It is of the very essence of popery to lay undue stress on the externals of religion, and to overlook its vitality—the life of God in the soul.

It is not the number of prayers-it is not the fasting days-it is not the position and character of external things in the Church; but it is the real spirituality and devotedness of the soul to God, which is all essential.

Oh! these are dangerous days! and Satan is laying snares of all descriptions, suited to men's tastes and tendencies; and it cannot be denied that some in our Church are aiming to bring in a popish leaven. But this is not the fault of the Church, and every faithful member will not cease to protest against it, and to have his whole soul more entirely put into her beautiful petitions against heresy and false doctrine.

W.