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and her brother looked in, and summoned them to church.

It is a pleasing sight to watch a village congregation as they assemble together by different paths, all converging at the house of God. The school-children in their neat and orderly array, descending in regular gradation from the tall boy of fourteen carrying his prize Bible, down to the little girls of five or six holding each other by the hand-the village youths and maidens in their best attire-the farmers' well-doing families and the aged men and women leaning on their staves. Many an old friend did Ridley recognise about the church-porch: and he spoke kindly and familiarly with them, feeling that, on consecrated ground, they stood on close equality; rank, station, intellect, are brought to one common level within those sacred precincts, where all must one day mingle with the dust.

The groups which lingered in the churchyard had now passed into the interior of God's house, and it might well be said of most amongst them, that they "entered into his gates with thankfulness, and into his courts with praise." And very few indeed were they who missed even the opening of the solemn service.

The Cabinet.

THE INFINITE LOVE OF GOD TO SINNERS.-Immanuel, God with us, is tantamount to "Christ in us, the hope of glory." And if Christ be in us, and with us, in this world, it is an infallible earnest, and an invaluable pledge, of our being "with Christ in God" for ever in the world to come. Thus (to use the excellent words of another), "The highest heavens are the habitation of his glory, and the humble heart hath the next honour-to be the habitation of his grace." What ground, then, for rejoicing is here! Believer, if thou hast the pledge, thou shalt have the portion. The faithfulness, the love, the omnipotence, of thine Immanuel, are engaged to bestow it upon thee, and to bring thee to its eternal possession. What condescension, what infinite and unsearchable kindness, is here! It would be thought a point of vast humility and beneficence, if an earthly king-a feeble frame, like all others, of dying clay-were to descend from his throne, and lift up a filthy beggar, to make him the partner of his crown. But the condescension of God is infinitely greater. The Lord of heaven and earth, the everlasting King of kings, not only quitted his glorious throne, but became a man like thyself a man of sorrows-a man despised and rejected a man, who, in his own created world, "had not where to lay his head"-and, finally, a man to bleed and groan and die, not for the safety of his friends, but for the salvation of rebels, of apostates, of enemies. He died for those who could never so much as have thanked him for dying, did not he add to that wonderful love the additional gift of his Spirit and grace. Almost every one would think himself bound in gratitude to pay a particular respect to a person who might have saved an earthly life; but how low is the thankfulness, how poor a return of love, is the most ardent affection of the children of God, to him, who not only hath saved them to a life of grace, and to the possession of a thousand comforts, which the world cannot know, on earth, but hath also assured them, by

• Let me observe in passing, how great a help it is to the clergyman, when any of the educated persons amongst his parishioners will relieve him from the mechanical part of the Sunday-school instruction. Except he be a man of robust health, two full services in the church are as much as one minister can well accomplish. And if, in addition to this, he has to lecture or catechise children for a couple of hours before the service, it is probable that, by the time of the sermon, his voice and energy will be much exhausted. Let me add, that the aid given by well-disposed churchmen or church women in the Sunday-school must be regular, or it will be valueless.

this earnest of their redemption, of a life eternal with him, in heaven.-Serle's Hora Solitariæ.

The

THE HARMONY OF SCRIPTURE.-Taking the Old and New Testaments as a whole, the wonderful harmony which pervades the sacred volume affords a sufficient and convincing proof of its Divine inspiration. For let it be considered-1. That this volume is evidently not the production of one author, but of many. different and characteristic style of each book, which is so marked as to be evident, even through the medium of a translation, is a sufficient proof of this. But to one who understands the original languages, this sort of argument has tenfold weight; and it leaves no possibility of doubt, that these books were written, as they profess to be, by between thirty and forty dif

ferent authors. 2. These authors did not live in the same age, but at different intervals, through a period of at least fifteen hundred years. Here, also, what is known of the progress of language would supply a powerful and conclusive argument also, even if languages entirely different were not used in the former and latter portions of this volume. They had, therefore, no means or possibility of communication and mutual agreement. They were, besides, placed under every possible variety of circumstances: some of them were kings and priests, others simple shepherds and fishermen. As widely as men could be distinguished by natural character, and by the circumstances of education and external condition-by riches, nobility, and learning, on the one hand, and by poverty, low estate, and want of mental cultivation, on the other, - so far every circumstance tended to produce all manner of differences in their habits and opinione, modes of thinking and feeling: not to mention how widely men differ whenever they come upon speculative subjects, even when, to human appearance, all external circumstances have been the same. 3. Let all this be duly weighed,

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and we shall see, that it was utterly impossible that the productions of such, and so different authors-of so many scattered, diversified, and uncommunicating individuals, could have combined to form an harmonious and consistent whole; unless each and all of them had written (as they profess) by inspiration of one and the same all-wise, all-knowing, and unchanging God, who sees the end from the beginning, and who, in the development of a wonderful and eternal plan, has been pleased at different periods, and by different instruments, to make known the various portions of a system of religion to men, till the whole was completed. And, setting aside for the time all external evidences, any reasonable man must receive the Bible as given by the inspiration of God, upon the internal evidence of its own perfect self-consistency alone. order to see the force and truth of this argument, we must, however, keep constantly in view the great, fundamental, and essential principles of religion, and give them always their due and paramount importIf these are lost sight of, I cannot suppose that the harmony and consistency of which I speak should be discerned or acknowledged. For it requires much longer study, more frequent perusal of, and thorough acquaintance with, the contents of so large a volumea more patient comparison of one part with another, -to discover the agreement upon points less important, more abstruse, and which ought only to be viewed in their subservience to the grand principles which pervade the whole. But let any man begin and conduct his inquiry with a special reference to those, and I will boldly put the challenge: Find me elsewhere, in the whole compass of theological or philosophical writings-not thirty or forty, but ten or five (or, might I not say, even two?) authors, whose works, diligently compared, will exhibit the same harmony and consistency which pervades the Scriptures,—and then I will acknowledge that this argument is weak and inconclusive. In the mean time, I must be allowed, while I behold and admire this divine consistency, and feel

ance.

the force of the unanswerable argument which it supplies to the believer, to observe, that those who assume the title of philosophical unbelievers, and pretend that, upon consideration and inquiry they believe the Bible to be a mere fiction, and the work of man, are open, not only to the charge of ignorance, inattention, and unfairness, but of blind credulity. Add to this, the proud and bitter spirit in which they oppose that which, if true, is so unspeakably important; and we have in their conduct one of the most awful and lamentable proofs and illustrations of that deep moral depravity, which is charged upon all mankind by the sacred writers.... Do not unbelievers themselves thus afford the strongest confirmation of one fundamental doctrine of that religion which they reject and deny, and become, in more than one respect, living evidences of the truth of the Bible?-From "The Essentials of Religion briefly considered."

AM I A CHRISTIAN ?-The important inquiry which I propose is this: "What marks do I bear, which may satisfy, and not deceive my conscience, that I am a Christian indeed, a child of God, and an inheritor of everlasting life?" Here we tread on ground where no footsteps are to be found, save those of the followers of the Lamb. No evidences can be admitted, but "the marks of the Lord Jesus." It will not do to say, "I am temperate, prudent, chaste; I love my neighbours, friends, and kinsmen; I am a good husband, father, and friend." To all this, it may be answered, "What do ye more than others?" To be a Christian is to be what none but a Christian can be. It is, being justified by faith, to feel ourselves at peace with God, and calmly to repose in the blood of Jesus: it is to be partakers of a divine nature, cleansed and sanctified by the Spirit of our God: it is to be crucified to the world, dead to pride, to sensuality, and to self; and, at the same time, to be "not slothful in business," active in every duty, alive to every sympathy, rejoicing with them that rejoice, and weeping with them that weep. To be a Christian is, in a word, to be a new creature, with whom old things are passed away, and all things become new; whose life is hid with Christ in God, and whose citizenship is in heaven. Reader, does this description suit thy case? Art thou a Christian? If not, go to Him who can make thee one-who can forgive thy sins, change thy nature, and impress his own image and superscription on thine heart.-Rev. H. Woodward.

ANCIENT TESTIMONY,-I shall speak to you but what St. Jude hath already spoken to the whole Church. "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, that we should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints." If it were so needful for him then to write, and for them to whom he wrote to contend for the first faith, it will appear as needful for me to follow his writing, and for you to imitate their earnestness, because the reason which he renders, as the cause of that necessity, is now more prevalent than it was at that time, or ever since. "For," says he, "there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation; ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." The principles of Christianity are now as freely questioned as the most doubtful and controverted points: the grounds of faith are as safely denied as the most unnecessary superstructions: that religion hath the greatest advantage which appeareth in the newest dress, as if we looked for another faith to be delivered to the saints. Whereas in Christianity there can be no concerning truth which is not ancient; and whatsoever is truly new, is certainly false. Look, then, for purity in the fountain, and strive to embrace the first faith, to which you cannot have a more probable guide than

the creed received in all ages of the Church; and to this I refer you, as it leads you to the Scriptures, from whence it was at first deduced; that while "those which are unskilful and unstable wrest" the words of God himself "unto their own damnation," ye may receive so much instruction as may set you beyond the imputation of unskilfulness, and so much of confirmation as may place you out of the danger of instability.Bishop Pearson.

NATIONAL BALLADS.-No. XI.

BY MISS M. A. STODART.

(For the Church of England Magazine.) THE TENDER MERCIES OF POPERY.

HIE to the battle-field!

And mark the soldier who hath stood the foe, But who at last hath reel'd,

Drag his faint limbs where cooling waters flow: Mark him, in torturing pain

And feverish haste his parched lips to raise,Then bid his toil be vain,

And cast him far, in hopeless thirst to gaze.

Haste to the sinking ship!

Listen the crashing planks, the rushing wave, While from a neighbouring steep

One rope descends a drowning man to save: But as with eager speed

His hand is stretch'd that friendly rope to clasp, Then-shrink not from the deed

Sever, mid yawning waves, his death-like grasp. Turn to the prisoner's cell,

And see "a sunbeam, that hath lost its way," Fall where thick vapours dwell,

And o'er the captive's forehead cheering play :

With joy long time unknown,

Sunshine and youth beam with that sparkling light; Heed not the lonely moan,

But shroud him once again in darkest night.

Thence to the poor man's cot

Hear famish'd babes on weeping parents call, And parents curse their lot,

As one by one they see their children fall:* And stand thou by the while,

And grasp unflinchingly thy loaf of bread, And count with joyous smile,

As one by one the victims bow the head. Shrinkest thou from the task?

These are as tender mercies, heartless Rome! We rend away the mask,

We view thy workings in our sea-girt home.

From the pure living word

'Tis thine to turn away the thirsting soul; 'Tis thine to snap the cord,

When troubling waters o'er the spirit roll.

It is but just to acknowledge that Dante's description of the death of Count Ugolino's children by famine was in the writer's mind while penning the seventh and eighth stanzas. One line has been directly borrowed;

"Come tu mi vedi

Vid' io cascar li tre ad uno ad uno."

'Tis thine heaven's precious light
With thy false mists to darken and becloud,
And-fearful, devilish sight-

From souls of babes withhold their daily food.

From thee with hate we turn,

And count thee, Rome, as our most deadly foe; Thoughts, feelings, in us burn,

Though faintly in our words those thoughts and feelings glow.

STANZAS.*

'Tis grace alone which lifts the mind

From meaner views the Lord to please; And prompts the soul in him to find

All that the soul can taste of ease. How blest such hours serenely glide, Midst wrecks and horrors all around! Nor shall death's rough and rushing tide That placid sense of life confound. Pleas'd with his Father's sovereign will, Who best can choose and best decree; His word he trusts him to fulfil,

With patient eye and waiting knee. He sails o'er time's tumultuous main, Dependent on eternal care; And cannot doubt the port to gain, For God hath sworn to bring him there.

MOZART.

Miscellaneous.

When Mozart was at Rome, at the age of thirteen, Ganganelli, who then filled the pontifical chair, invited him to the Quirinal Palace, where he had the honour of performing privately before his holiness. This was just before Easter. In the course of the conversation, the approaching performances in the Sistine Chapel were spoken of, particularly the famous Miserere of Allegri. Mozart, with the naïveté of his age, requested a copy from the pope, which he declined giving, explaining, in kind terms, that compliance was out of his power, because the piece was forbidden to be copied under pain of excommunication. The young musician, however, obtained permission to attend the single rehearsal which preceded the public performance. He listened with the most earnest attention; and on quitting the chapel, hastened home, and wrote down the notes. At the public performance he had the manuscript concealed in his hat; and having filled up some omissions, and corrected some errors in the inner parts, he had the satisfaction to know that he possessed the treasure so jealously watched. The next time he was invited to play before the pope, he ventured to mention what he had done, and produced the manuscript. The pope listened with amazement; but said, with a smile, "The prohibition cannot extend to the memory; and I think you may escape the penalty of excommunication." This composition, afterwards published from a copy sent as a present from Pope Pius the Sixth to the Emperor of Germany, was compared with the manuscript of Mozart, and it was found that there was not the difference of a single note. Hogarth's Musical History, &c.

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VISITATIONS.-The relaxation of discipline into which our Church has gradually fallen, tends in some From "Serle's Hora Solitariæ."

degree to weaken those feelings of interest with which the stated seasons of visitation were anciently regarded. If the original purposes of this solemn meeting were more strictly kept in view; if all the parties concerned in its duties were more intent on converting it into a season of ministerial improvement and friendly conference,-much that is now merely formal might become instructive-much that is deemed repulsive might be rendered interesting; what is at present tolerated in compliance with custom or in deference to authority, might be welcomed with delight, and regarded as a privilege. Visitations were designed, not more for the convenience of the bishop than for that of the clergy. The Church doubtless expects that he to whom a certain portion of ecclesiastical authority is delegated, for the due administration of her important interests, should avail himself of these occasional meetings to inquire into the actual state of his charge; to provide that all things be done decently and in order; in a spirit of purity as to doctrine, of unity as to external forms, of conscientious and unfeigned zeal as to the general functions of the ministry. But, on the other hand, the Church expects from her clergy, not a mere passive attendance, not a bodily appearance only, at a stated time and place, but intelligent participation in the business of the day, and a readiness to promote its useful objects; she requires them to meet, not as men having no calling or pursuit in common, but as brethren of one large Christian family, conferring with each other, and with their diocesan, respecting the state of their parishes, and taking sweet counsel together in whatever concerns the fulfilment of their pastoral office.-Bp. C. R. Sumner's Charge to Clergy of Llandaff.

THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. "The crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming" (Jer. viii. 7). The migration and periodical flight of birds, instinctive as they must certainly be considered, are yet peculiarly demonstrative of the providential superintendence of the Creator. The natural history of the crane furnishes striking evidence of this assertion. Immediately after landing, we were surprised and delighted with a flight of birds, which we discerned at first like a thick dark speck in the heavens, which gradually enlarged as it approached, and discovered at length the array and order of their flight. They wheeled along their airy movements in the form of a semicircle, enclosing within itself numbers of smaller circles; the component parts of which were constantly shifting their relative positions, advancing to the front as if by a sudden impulse; then falling back to the rear, alternately occupying and giving place to others. The lively competition was constantly maintained; each of them every instant passing or passed by his fellow. All was grace and harmony, not one discordant movement throughout the whole array; every thing appeared as if regulated by a preconcerted plan, in which every member understood and performed his part with freedom and precision, alike the subordinates and the superiors. They were too high in the air for us to hear any noise from the steerage of their wings, or to know what species of birds they were; but we judged them to be cranes. They held on their steady flight from north to south, following the course of the river, as far as the eye could accompany them.-Richardson's Travels.

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THE POOR IN THE LAND. BY THE REV. ROBERT ARMITAGE, M.A. THE poor seem to be highly exalted in Scripture; and against the words of Scripture who would contend? When it pleased God to send his dear Son into the world, what was the state to which he appointed him? It was that of a poor man, who had not where to lay his head, far poorer and more distressed than the vast body of the working classes in this country. Does not this at once exalt the state of the poor? The Saviour said, "Blessed are ye poor :" from among the poor he chose his disciples; they were poor and miserable on the earth, although they had heaven in view. St. Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none;" and the poorest man now may possess virtues inferior to St. Peter, but far superior to all the silver and gold of the whole world. The tribe of Levi had no portion allotted them in Israel, but they were honoured of the Lord. What is a highsounding title or a large estate to a man who must soon fade away like the grass? What the whole of this world, and none of the next? And we are assured by One who cannot lie, that the poor man may be in Abraham's bosom, when the rich man shall be laid in the flames of hell; and that the poor man shall be welcomed and comforted, when the rich man shall " weep and howl" for the misery that shall come upon him.

Now is there not one very sufficient reason at least, why God should speak so kindly of the poor; and cannot we easily discover it? It is this: the Gospel-invitation is sent to all men, and to every man of every nation it is

VOL. VIII.-NO. CCIV.

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proclaimed, that "God will have all men to be saved, and is not willing that any should perish." But in every nation the vast multitude of men, women, and children, are poor; and, moreover, they must always be poor. Poor men sometimes become rich, but then rich men also become poor, and no man can point out the nation in which the rich are not as a handful compared with the multitude of the poor. And it shall always be so; for God has said, that "the poor shall never cease out of the land:" and our Saviour said, "the poor ye have always with you;" shewing that, after he was gone, the poor would still remain.

"The poor shall never cease out of the land." Can we prove this to be true from our common view of common life? To be sure we can, if we use but common sense. And we prove it in this way, people must have food and clothing. But these cannot be obtained without labour; and the weaver, the tailor, the butcher, the baker, the cook, &c. must be employed. But would these tradesmen work, unless they needed wages in exchange for their work? And what makes them need wages? Why, their poverty. So that, unless these good tradesmen were poor and needed money, the rich would be compelled to work for themselves.

But, besides the articles of food and clothing, much domestic service is necessary. There is much hard and dirty work to be done, which nobody would do, if they could avoid it; and every one will avoid it who needs not to be paid for it: how then could it be done, unless there were poor persons to do it? Unless there are a vast multitude of poor persons, sufficient to meet the great de

[London: Robson, Levey, and Franklyn, 46 St. Martin's Lane.]

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mands of labour (and how vast is the demand for most laborious work in this great commercial and agricultural nation!), and others rich enough to pay them for labour, there would be little comfort, cleanliness, peace, or happiness in the world. Poverty is the very soul of industry; it is the pendulum that keeps in motion the business of the nation; and the main care should be, that it be duly regulated. If the poor ceased out of the land, the whole machinery of the nation would be stopped, when its workmen were gone, and what comforts could we have then? Without labour, nations cannot rise, but remain in a savage state; and if the poor were all gone, we should get no work done; and then, having to make our own clothes, our own shoes, our own guns, and cook our own victuals, we should soon be desirous of wearing clothes as easily made as possible, of very ordinary shoes, &c., until we should get back to the state of savage life; and instead of clothes, we should wear the skins of animals; instead of shoes, we should tramp on our naked feet; instead of guns, we should be content to have a spear; and instead of cooking victuals, we should rather eat it raw; and thus having gone back to savage life, we should gain savage dispositions and manners also we should kill and plunder-and we should see England as England was hundreds of years ago and I do not believe that those who seek to make the poor discontented with their condition would be in love with the change, but rather they would be the first to agitate for a change back again-the first to draw up a primitive charter the first to acknowledge, that without law there can be no liberty; and that in proportion to the strength of the law is the strength of liberty. And recollect, even in our barbarian state, that 66 the poor would not cease out of the land."

If a nation was deprived of that poverty which takes common labour off the hands of some, we should have no men giving themselves up to those higher labours of learning and science which are so conducive to the happiness and welfare of the poorest man living, as things at present are constituted; and without our men of learning and genius, we must run back, like a broken clock, to savage life. Surely, in all this we must see that poverty is a special appointment of almighty God.

But in addition to the above plain reasons for the wide existence of poverty, we know that all the men of all the world, all the kings, and princes, and presidents, and all the armies and navies of the world-in short, all the wisdom, and power, and cunning, and labour of all the men of England, France, Russia, China, America, &c., could never

drive poverty from the earth. Kings might combine, religious men unite, and the people conspire, and all these work in harmony together; and yet they could not succeed in establishing a world in which the vast number of its inhabitants should not be poor. He that sitteth in the heavens would laugh them to scorn. The banishment of poverty is beyond the power of man. The Queen, and her Houses of Lords and Commons, and all her rich and poor, might enter into a league together to banish poverty from one town or county of England-and they could not do it. As long as this earth is spread out under heaven, such must be the case. And just let us look round. We see inequality reign in all the works of nature under God; and as one man is ignorant and another learned, so is one strong and another weak. And whether we look to the laws of nature, or the laws of reason, or the laws of religion, to the laws equally of God or man, we know that one man will be rich, and another will be poor. So fixed and unchangeable is this, that if all, by any contrivance of man's ingenuity, were put equal to-morrow, some would be unequal again before the night. As long as dispositions and abilities are unequally given, so long the fruits of these dispositions and abilities must be unequal. So that it is plain, that if all were put equal to-morrow, unless we had the power to equalise men's various natures, the equality must soon be undone by the men themselves who were equally placed. And it would be undone in this way: one man would be strong and another weak; surely then the labour done by the one (and some labour must always be done) would be greater than that done by the other, and there would be inequality, in some way, at once,-one man would be industrious, and another idle; one man drunken, and another sober; one man more ingenious than another; different trades would arise, and some seek more payment than others; two men would get fighting, while others were working; one would rob another; one would have a family, and another not even marry; one would be charitable, another a miser; the children must be poorer than the father:-so that equality is a mere dream, an idle vision, a madman's talk, until that time when the grave shall strip us of all our worldly advantages, and we shall stand, kings and beggars alike, naked, and poor, and blind, and miserable, as regards all earthly power, wealth, and distinction, before God. Seeing then that these things are fixed, that our common sense, equally with the revealed word of the Gospel, tells us not only "that the poor shall never cease out of the land," but that the vast multitudes of every

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