short-sightedness of man. O how different is the course which the humble Christian pursues ! With his Bible in his hand, and prayer in his heart, he searches into the will of God, and enquires into the mind of the Spirit; and he finds the promise true," they that seek shall find." Yes, if we knock at wisdom's door it shall be opened, and her treasures unfolded to our view. God has said, "I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way in which thou shouldest go."

But equally was this truth manifested in the deplorable ignorance then displayed as to the true source and spring of national prosperity. If certain measures were carried, and certain men returned, it was thought by each party that all things would go right again, trade would flourish, commerce be extended, riches flow in, and happiness and honour follow in the train. But amid all, God was forgotten, no allowance was made for the bestowal or withdrawal of God's blessing, there was no reference to his will, and no remembrance of his power. They thought not of Him who sitteth in the heavens, laughing to scorn the counsels of the wise men of the earth, and having in derision the plans of the mighty ones of this world. They thought not of the Israelites, of their conduct towards God, of God's dealings with them, they took not warning by their history, though it was written for our admonition. No, they thought scorn of the help afforded them in God's word;-the Bible had nothing to do with statesmen and rulers, the Bible was the book for the clergy; their business was with foreign alliances, and treaties, and wars, and domestic government, and in such things alone they need concern themselves. Ah, they saw not the misery which their unbelief and ungodliness are bringing on their country, and the wrath which (if they

repent not) they are treasuring up for themselves; for their eyes are thickly blinded by the prince of darkness. O my country! dost thou not hear the lingering sounds of Judah's knell yet echoing in thy ears: “If thou wilt walk contrary unto me, I also will walk contrary to you, in anger and in fury, and I will punish you seven times for your sins?" O that thy sons would learn the close connection between sin and sorrow, duty and prosperity. O that my voice could warn every Englishman, no longer to trust in men and measures, but in the living God ;-no longer to lean on an arm of flesh, but on the mighty strength of Jehovah ; -no longer to follow the counsels of Ahithophel, when he has begun to fight against the Lord's Anointed. Think, O my countrymen! what dreadful words those would be!" England is joined to idols, let her alone." By the late famine, and by the present plenty, God has shewn us that he has not yet forsaken us. He still lingers about us; his mercy hovers over us; he is slow in taking vengeance; he waits for our return. O let us return to our God, to our prosperity; our duty; let us cleave to the Lord, and put every idol away from the midst of us; let us keep the commandments of the Lord," Cease to do evil, and learn to do well ;-then shall our land yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall give us his blessing."

LAMED.

THE

CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE.

DECEMBER, 1847.

THE TREASURES OF WISDOM.

No. XV.

THERE is a strong tendency, in the present day, to magnify the discoveries of human science. And certainly it is not surprising that such feelings should prevail, even in the heart of the Christian, or that they should degenerate into vain boasting in the lips of worldly men. When we contrast its actual progress with its infancy in former ages, the busy activity of scientific research, with long intervals, in former time, of sluggish indolence, the difference may well be thought immense and wonderful. Yet, amidst the sounds of exultation, we must remember how vast a range is still before us, unknown and almost unexplored. To borrow the words of Newton, the greatest of modern discoverers, we are only children, gathering up a few pebbles on the shore of a wide ocean of truth. To be proud of our attainments would be one of the plainest signs of DECEMBER, 1847.

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continued ignorance and blindness; for "if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."

The true antidote for this dangerous and epidemical disease, the pride of science, consists in fixing the eye stedfastly on our risen Lord. We are sure that in His bosom there lie hidden all the treasures of natural, as well as spiritual knowledge, deeper and more vast, by infinite degrees, than modern science has ever explored. But He, who owns all these varied and infinite treasures, and whose birthright they are, is meek and lowly in heart. No thought of pride mingles with His clear and full insight into these mysteries of the universe. Our science, with all its vaunted triumphs, is only a drop from that ocean-fulness of truth which he treasures, like the waters of the natural ocean, in the hollow of His hand, and comprehends in the balances of His unsearchable wisdom. To look on it in this light is an effectual remedy for human self-conceit. All Natural Philosophy will thus receive a purifying influence, a lustration from the river of life, to cleanse away the moral pollution brought on it by the pride of scorners, and to render it a worthy offering for the golden incensealtar in heaven.

A few glimpses of these hidden treasures have now been gained from the various fields of human science. We have endeavoured to contemplate the wisdom of our Lord, as the Supreme and Perfect Geometer, and in every other domain of the works of nature, ending with the higher mysteries of animal life. We have seen that this wisdom becomes still more mysterious and unfathomable, when we consider the new purpose of the lower creation, since the fall of man, to supply images and memorials of corruption and decay; and being thus

made subject to vanity through the sin of Adam, to minister to the great purpose of redeeming mercy. It remains, finally, to trace the same truth in the light of the coming redemption, and to see the deep wisdom of our Lord, as it will be displayed by all the lower creation, in the restitution of all things, when He that sitteth on the throne shall say—“Behold, I make all things new!"

Let us dwell, for a moment, on the case of a human sculptor, who designs to execute some beautiful work of art. A rude and shapeless block of marble is placed under his hands. Stroke after stroke of the chisel is spent upon it; and, at length, some general outline of a human form becomes visible. Then the care of the artist is increased. Every stroke of the chisel is now aimed with exact foresight, and with a view to the precise effect which is to follow. The features, the drapery, gradually reveal themselves, answering the original idea of the artist, and the model of human beauty which he had conceived in his mind from the beginning. We admire the grace and beauty of the perfect figure; but scarcely less, the wisdom which has guided ten thousand delicate touches of the sculptor's tool, so as to co-operate in producing such a noble triumph of skill, taste, and imitative or creative power. What a knowledge is implied of the nature of the material, the power of every tool, the effect of every stroke, the intellectual influence of every delicate shade in the contour and expression of the human countenance! The marble seems almost to be alive with beauty; but the soul which animates it is the soul of the artist, and not its own.

Let us rise still higher, and reflect once again on the birth-week of creation. How dark and gloomy the abyss of waters must have appeared, when the Divine