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knew, were in a few short hours, to raven like wolves for his blood; ---nay, which, even when actually suffering intolerable agonies of their infliction, cried out, not for himself, but for them, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!-the unutterable love of that heart, who can attempt to fathom! Yet it is from this compassionate Saviour we are to turn, with doubt and apprehension, and to "beg of Mary to intercede with him on our behalf!" And we are to ask such a being as Dunstan,

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or Dominic, or Joseph, his influence" with Jesus, to induce him to listen to our petitions! Intolerable insult! horrible blasphemy! God-dishonouring_profanity! What words shall I use, rightly to describe this awful system of delusion!

Rom. You are getting too warm; it will be better, perhaps, that we part for the present. On our next opportunity you will, I hope, be ready to admit that your zeal has somewhat exceeded its due limits in this day's argument.

LIGHT IN DARKNESS.

EARLY in the year 1836, a little incident occurred, reminding us of those points of faith so beautifully described by the apostle, as he had seen them exhibited in the early Macedonian Converts-2 Cor. viii. 1-5.

In common with many of our clergy; the minister she was in the habit of hearing, pleaded from the pulpit the cause of his suffering brethren in Ireland, setting forth their claims on our sympathy and assistance, in terms that found their way to many hearts. The following morning poor Bcame to me for the little supply of needle-work she usually received weekly, and on which she depended as one of her chief means of subsistence; and when about to leave with it, said, with some hesitation, 'If you please, Ma'am, I have been thinking a great deal of what Mr. told us yesterday about those poor ministers in Ireland; and I know what it is to want bread; that it is bad enough for us that are accustomed to it; but it must be a great deal worse for gentlefolks, and I have been thinking God has done so much for me, that if you would not mind taking such a trifle, I might leave just a penny a week with you for

them, whenever you pay me for my work.' It may be well imagined how sweetly these simple accents fell on my ear; though I felt it desirable to receive the proposal with little more than a ready assent to take charge of the pence, whenever she found herself able to spare them. I own, that knowing how often her weekly earnings seemed insufficient to meet the absolute necessities of life, I felt not only that it would be impossible for me ever to ask the continuance of this her free-will offering, but also that it was improbable such an impulse of kind sympathy would outlive a few weeks at the utmost. But I believe I wronged the source whence it sprang; for while many weeks the humble penny was utterly beyond her power to give, I was invariably appealed to, as soon as she rose again above the barest necessities and little debts of the passing day, to tell her "how much she owed;" till at the close of the year, I had four shillings thus willingly cast into the treasury of the Lord, from the hard-earned pittance of one whose heart He alone could have opened thus to spare of her penury.

Extracted from Light in Darkness.' A District Narrative.

EXTRACTS FROM A CORONATION SERMON.

PREACHED JULY 1, 1838.

"And he brought forth the King's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and they made him King, and anointed him, and they clapt their hands and said, God save the King. And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people; between the king also and the people."-2 KINGS Xi. 12, 17.

THE late event which has taken place in the metropolis, is well calculated to excite the most lively attention. It would not be void of interest, even in a foreign land, to witness the coronation of a youthful Queen, with all its splendid pageantry, amid the acclamations of her people. But our interest and sympathy are increased a thousand-fold, when the scene is laid in our own country, and the female on the throne is our lawful sovereign, and when a mutual compact is entered into between the reigning monarch and her subjects. If these particulars are duly weighed, the coronation of our beloved Queen is no longer to be viewed in the light of a state solemnity, where the immediate attendants alone are concerned, but rather as a great national Act; a ceremony which concerns our fellow-countrymen, to the remotest corner of the land, and binds them all in the same engagement. That such a season should be kept with joy and gladness by the nation at large as a great national festival, in which all classes of her Majesty's subjects might at once testify their dutiful and loyal attachment to the throne, is a reasonable and necessary consequence. can I forbear, (upon this occasion) from expressing the satisfaction we have had, to behold men of different sentiments on other important subjects, and of various ranks in society, laying aside their several distinctions, and uniting themselves together, as the heart of one man, in demonstration of respect and affection towards their youthful sovereign.

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But, in addition to these very natural and pleasing effusions of loyalty, we would desire that the present season may not pass away without a due improvement, that we may take occasion to consider our corresponding duty and responsibility.

In furtherance of this design, it may be proper to shew, first, the nature and antiquity of the ceremony in question; and secondly, what it is designed to imply. First, the nature and antiquity of the coronation ceremony. It is obvious, that when any particular office or dignity is conferred upon an individual, there must of necessity be some form or ceremony observed in token of his appointment; and in proportion to the exalted nature of the office, the ceremony will be more or less splendid and august. In less civilized ages, indeed, a simpler form of election sufficed; and amongst our Saxon ancestors, it was often deemed enough, to elevate the Prince whom they had chosen upon a shield, in the sight of all the people; of which custom some vestige still remains in our present mode of returning members to parliament. But in countries advanced in civilization, a far more gorgeous ceremony has prevailed in conferring distinguished honours, even below that of the royal dignity. When Pharaoh, for instance, would do honour to Joseph, for having interpreted his dream, "he took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vesture of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck, and he made him

to ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, Bow the knee! Mordecai went out from the presence of King Ahasuerus, "in royal apparel, with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple." Daniel also was arrayed in scarlet, and had a chain of gold about his neck, when the proclamation was made concerning him, that he should be the third Ruler in the kingdom. Upon one occasion, when the people would have taken our Saviour Christ by force and made him a king, they received him with hosannahs, and spread their garments in the way, and cut down branches from the trees, to greet his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And this they did in imitation of the ancient Jewish custom upon such occasions. Thus we read that when Jehu was proclaimed king over Israel, by God's command, the people took their garments, and put them under Jehu at the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.

Besides this mark of respect and general proclamation, we read of the ceremonies of unction, coronation, and the kingly sceptre, at a very early period. Jotham mentions the anointing kings long before any example of anointing is elsewhere remembered,—about two hundred years before the beginning of the kingdom under Saul. Saul was anointed; so was David his successor, and king Solomon, and Joash, as recorded in the text. So was the king of Syria, Hazael; and Cyrus king of Persia, in the holy prophecy is called "the Lord's anointed," which is a frequent expression of kings in scripture.

The most ancient mention of a royal crown is in the history of the Amalekite's bringing Saul's crown to David. It appears also that David had a crown of gold and precious stones out of the spoils

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of the Ammonites, while royal erowns were placed on the heads of the kings of Israel and Judah, by the High Priest, who anointed them. The sceptre is of far older memory than even the crown, and is spoken of as an ensign of royalty by the most ancient heathen writers, and by one still more ancient than they: for Jacob said, "the sceptre," that is, a king or supreme governor, "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, until Shiloh come."

All these and other emblems of the royal dignity, have been used in England for more than a thousand years, at the coronation of our kings and queens; the ceremony of which is briefly this:-The Queen being received into the church and presented unto the people for their approval, they signify their willingness and joy by loud acclamations, while the trumpets are sounded. Then followeth

the Litany, the commandments, the sermon, the oath. After which the Archbishop anointeth the Queen with oil; presents her with the sword of state; invests her with the imperial robe, and with the ring; delivers to her the golden sceptre, and puts on the crown. Again the trumpets sound, and the guns are fired, amidst the repeated shouts of the people. Then the Holy Bible is presented to the Queen; Te Deum is sung, and the Archbishop pronounces the benediction upon her Majesty. After this, the Queen is lifted up into the throne by the Peers assembled

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exalted station, and wielding the sceptre of this mighty empirewhile all the assembled people concur with one voice to testify their approbation. Such a scene exactly agrees with the spirit of my text, when the High Priest "brought forth the king's son, when he was but six years old, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, God save the king."

But are we to consider this merely as a splendid spectacle? Was there nothing signified in the transaction recorded in my text, and is there nothing signified in our day by the act of crowning her Majesty? This is the second point for our consideration, viz. What the ceremony in question is designed to imply.-"And Je

hoida made a covenant between the Lord, and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people; between the king also and the people." Here is a double engagement-a covenant between the Lord and the nation at large-a covenant between the king and the people, and this double engagement was entered into at the coronation of king Joash. The same is implied in the ceremony we have been considering. The assembling in God's house of the three estates of the Realm-the religious nature of the business to be transacted-the oblation of the Queen in humble acknowledgment of God's sovereignty-the charge delivered to her gracious majesty to keep and to do the things contained in the words of the holy Bible--the benediction pronounced upon her in the name of the Lord-and the solemn appeal to the merciful superintendency of the Divine Providence, by whom king's reign, and the people enjoy peace and prosperity-and more especially the sealing ordinance of the Lord's Supper-all show the

nature of a covenant between the Lord on the one side, and the queen and people on the other. Moreover the different ceremonies observed are all designed to have a reference to spiritual things. The anointing with oil teaching the sovereign to look for the anointing of the Spirit of God, that she may be confirmed and established with the free and princely Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and government, the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness, and holy fear. The presentation of the sword of justice shews the sovereign how she ought to be the minister of God for the terror and punishment of evil doers, and for the protection and encouragement of those that do well. She is not invested with the imperial robe and orb without being warned of the necessity of having on the robe of righteousness, the garments of salvation; without being told that the whole world is subject to the power and empire of Christ our Redeemer, the Prince of the kings of the earth, King of kings and Lord of lords and that if she would reign happily, she must direct all her actions according to His laws. The delivery of the sceptre indicates the importance of ruling with equity and mercy; that her majesty be so merciful, that she be not too remiss; and so execute justice, that she forget not mercy. When also the crown is put on her head, she is reminded of having her heart enriched with heavenly grace, and of being crowned with princely virtues; and even when seated on the throne, she is told that the throne must be established in righteousness, that it may stand fast for evermore.

But the second part of the engagement entered into upon the late occasion refers to the covenant between the Queen and her people.

We are not to suppose that these solemn rites were instituted for vain ostentation, to please the

spectators. The peers must know that in the performance of these rites the commonwealth is committed and recommended to the Queen as to its supreme earthly head and protector; and again it is committed to them as coadjutors and assistants to her majesty. The very act that the peers of the realm and officers of state are required to assist in these solemnities, in bearing the sword of state, the golden sceptre, and the crown, are a sign that still more they are required to lend their aid in the administration of the government; in bearing the cares of the regal office, by the wisdom of their council, the valour of their arms, the constancy of their allegiance.

But the solemn compact between the Queen and her subjects is still more clearly comprised in the oath of the former and the homage of of the latter. Before the Queen is anointed she maketh oath to govern the people according to law, and to maintain the Protestant reformed religion and the true profession of religion to the utmost of her power. And when the Queen is at length placed upon the throne of her ancestors, the lords that are there present promise to be faithful and true to her majesty as their sovereign lady; in making which declaration, they are supposed to represent all the people of the realm.

You see then, my brethren, the nature and antiquity of the coronation ceremonial, and what it is designed to imply. The burst of loyalty which has just broken forth throughout the kingdom must be most gratifying to every rightminded Briton; but let it not evaporate with the present season.

Remember the covenant engagement which is now entered into between the Queen and her people. At present this is an easy duty: all is calm and smooth; the opening of the new reign is exceedingly auspicious. Her Majesty appears

to rule in the bearts of all her subjects. The expression of our loyalty is both an easy and agreeable duty. Long may she so reign, over a free, united, and happy empire! But we cannot foresee the future: difficulties may hereafter arise; the vessel of the state may by and by have to be steered amidst the rocks and storms. Our now youthful, beloved, and popular sovereign may be viewed with other eyes less friendly, as she advances in life; and then, my brethren, then is the time to remember your covenant engagement, and still to be faithful and true to your allegiance. That you may be enabled to be so, remember the other part of the engagement just alluded to, -the covenant between the Lord and the nation at large. We ought never to forget that the Most High ruleth over all the kingdoms of the world; and that if we would be truly prosperous, either as individuals or as a nation, it must be by having the Lord on our side.

It is the more needful to be reminded of this important truth in the present day, on account of the vast improvements in science, and the spirit of enterprize which every where abounds. Even the great obstacles to exertion, time and distance, which have hitherto impeded the works of man, have almost disappeared by the use of recent inventions; so that men are wellnigh tempted, in the spirit of infidelity, to say in their proud, ambitious projects, "My wisdom and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth!" My brethren, watch against so awful, so dangerous a species of vain reasoning. Know this, that it is the Lord only who can give you power to get wealth; it is the Lord only who can impart his blessing to any of your designs; it is the Lord only who can make the reign of our young Queen long and prosperous, or cause wisdom and righteousness to be the stability of our times. Under this persua

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