theatrical spectacles of the wild beasts were finished. They then unanimously shouted, that he should be burned alive. The business was executed with all pos ent ripeness for heaven, he said, nay, my dear friend, the body of sin is not yet done away. I shall continue a sinner to the very last gasp.' In a frame of mind so calm, so enviable, did this faith-sible speed; for the people immediately gathered fuel ful servant of the Most High bid a last farewell to the world, and on Sabbath, July 19, 1761, his happy spirit winged its flight from earth to heaven. Let us live the life of the righteous, and our "last end will be like his." THE MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP. IN or about the year 167, Smyrna was distinguished by If Usher has laboured to show that he was the angel of the Church of Smyrna, addressed by our Saviour. he be right in this, the character of Polycarp is indeed delineated by a divine hand; and the martyrdom before us was particularly predicted. The admirable Polycarp, when he heard of the cruelties practised in the bloody persecution then carried on, was quite unmoved, and resolved to remain in the city, But, induced by the entreaties of his people, he retired to a village, at no great distance; and there, with a few friends, he spent his time entirely, day and night, in praying, according to his usual custom, for all the Churches in the world. Three days before he was seized, he had a vision while he was praying: He saw his pillar consumed by fire; and turning to the company, he said prophetically, "I must be burned alive." Upon hearing that the persons in search of him were just at hand, he retired to another village. Immediately the officers came to his house; and, not finding him, they seized two servants, one of whom was induced, by torture, to confess the place of his retreat. Taking the servant as their guide, they went out about supper time, with their usual arms, as against a robber; and arriving late, they found him lying in an upper room at the end of the house, whence he might have made his escape, but he would not, saying, The will of the Lord be done." from the work-shops and baths, in which employment the Jews distinguished themselves with their usual malice. As soon as the fagots were collected, he stripped off his clothes, and loosed his girdle. Immediately the usual appendages of burning were placed about him. And when they had proceeded to fasten him to the stake, he said, "Let me remain as I am; for He who giveth me strength to sustain the fire, will enable me also, without your securing me with nails, to remain unmoved in the fire." Upon this they bound him without nailing him. And he, putting his hands behind him, and being bound, offered to Almighty God the following prayer: "O Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have attained the knowledge of Thee, O God of angels and principalities, and of all creation, and of all the just who live in Thy sight, I bless Thee, that Thou hast counted me worthy of this day, and this hour, to receive my portion in the number of martyrs, in the cup of Christ, for the resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and body, in the incorruption of the Holy Ghost; among whom may I be received before Thee, this day, as a sacrifice well savoured and acceptable, which Thou, the faithful and true God, hast prepared, promised before hand, and fulfilled accordingly. Wherefore, I praise thee for all those things, I bless thee, I glorify thee, by the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, thy well-beloved Son; through whom, with Him in the Holy Spirit, be glory to Thee both now and for ever. Amen.' When he had finished his prayer, the officers lighted the fire; and, a great flame bursting out, and forming the appearance of an arch, was as a wall round about the body of the martyr, which was in the midst, not as burning flesh, but as gold and silver refined in the furnace. At length, the infuriated people, observing that his body could not be consumed by the fire, called to the officer, whose business it was, in the Roman games, to dispatch any beast that was unruly or dangerUpon this, a quantity of blood gushed out, so that the ous, to approach, and to plunge his sword into his body. venerable saint fled to the mansions of everlasting rest, fire was extinguished; and the immortal spirit of the and glory, and felicity. DISCOURSE. BY THE REV. JOHN ANDERSON, "Hallowed be thy name."-MATT. vi. 9. When he was brought to the tribunal, the pro-consul asked him if he was Polycarp; to which he assented. The pro-consul then began to exhort him to have pity on his great age, and to swear by the fortune of Cæsar, and to reproach Christ, and he would release him. Polycarp gave him this ever memorable reply: "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and he hath never wronged me, and how can I blaspheme my King who hath saved me?" The pro-consul still urging, swear by the fortune of Cæsar;" Polycarp said, "If you still vainly contend to make me swear by the fortune of Cæsar, as you speak, affecting an ignorance of my real character, hear me frankly declaring what I am: I THE name of God is a Hebraism for God himam a Christian." I have wild beasts," says the pro- self, his attributes, and his works. When the consul; "I will expose you to them, unless you reJews meant to describe the person, character, or pent." "Call them," replies the martyr. "I will office of tame your spirit by fire," says the pro-consul, any one, they frequently made use of the you despise the wild beasts, unless you repent." "You term, Name; and we find it often employed in threaten me with fire," answers Polycarp, "which each of these senses by the writers of the New burns for a moment, and will be soon extinct; but you Testament. Thus we find it expressly conare ignorant of the future judgment, and of the fire of ferred upon individuals, because of certain exeternal punishment reserved for the ungodly. But why cellencies of character, qualities of condition, or do you delay? Do what you please." The pro-consul then sent the herald to proclaim thrice, in the midst of circumstances in life, on account of which they the assembly, "Polycarp hath professed himself a had already been distinguished, or were yet to be Christian." Upon this all the multitude, both of Gen- so in their future history;-for example upon Noah, tiles and of Jews, who dwelt at Smyrna, with insatiate as a husbandman-upon Abraham, as the father of rage, shouted aloud, This is the doctor of Asia, the many nations-upon Isaac, with whom the covenant father of Christians, the subverter of our gods, who hath was to be established-and upon Jesus, "for He taught many not to sacrifice nor to adore." They now begged Philip the Asiarch to let out a lion against shall save his people from their sins." And so, in Polycarp. But he refused, observing that the amphi-the instance under consideration, the name of God 66 "since is put for the inherent excellencies and attributes of | holy, which would be to pray for an impossibility; his nature, when, as the all-wise, all-powerful, and all-gracious and merciful Jehovah, we are called upon to address Him as "our Father in heaven," who supplies all our wants, pardons all our sins, and carefully superintends all our affairs. "Hallowing" the name of God, is an expression of the same import with sanctifying the name of God, and it is applicable either to persons or to things. Both are said to be sanctified or made holy, when they are set apart from a profane to a sacred use, and in this sense, the vessels of the temple, as well as the priests under the law, were sanctified or made holy, when they were dedicated to the service of God. But, as it was of vital importance to preserve persons and things thus consecrated from whatever might defile and pollute them, the terms sanctified and holy soon came to signify what is clean and pure; and as a mind untainted by sin constitutes the most valuable species of cleanness and purity, they were at length employed to denote internal rectitude, in opposition to moral deformity. In this sense the expression is used, when true believers are said to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost; sanctified in Christ Jesus; sanctified by the blood of the covenant; and when they are called upon to "sanctify the Lord God in their hearts, and cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." but we are desired to entreat, that his nature and perfections may be better known and understood; that he may be more exalted, and revered, and loved by the creatures whom he has formed in his own image, and created for his own glory; and that we, and all men, may be led to think, and speak, and act, as becomes his transcendent excellencies, so fully revealed in his Word, and so strikingly manifested through all his works. Ignorant of the very existence of one living and true God, the heathens, even among learned and civilized nations, at the time that our Lord dictated this prayer, had no suitable apprehensions of divine perfection. They believed in a multitude of gods, and to all of them they ascribed not merely the weaknesses, but the errors and pollutions of inferior beings, the debasing passions and desires of sinful men. Even the Jews, though they knew of, and believed in, the existence of the Great Sovereign Creator and Governor of the world, entertained very unworthy notions of his attributes, representing him as limited in the protection which he afforded to the children of men, and as a being whose mercy did not extend beyond their own nation. And, even now, amid all the advantages which men enjoy, God is not regarded with becoming reverence, while there are whole nations who still sit in darkness, who neither know of, nor adore the One Universal Parent of naBut besides implying, in a secondary sense, to ture. When we pray, therefore, that his name be made holy, and to be set apart for a sacred use may be "hallowed," our petition bears, that his and designation, the phrase is employed to denote, glorious perfections may be exalted in the eyes of in its first and highest sense, holiness itself, or all intelligent creatures; that the veil may be what is essentially and absolutely holy. To God taken off from the eyes of the heathen; that the alone it can be so applied; and when it is said of worship of idols may be everywhere abolished, and him, that he is holy, the meaning is, that he is that all men may be led to separate from their conpossessed of inherent excellence of nature-of un- ceptions every low and debasing attribute, and uniswerving rectitude of conduct-and is infinitely re- formly entertain suitable apprehensions of his moved from all possibility of purposing, or think-power, wisdom, goodness, holiness, justice and ing, or approving evil. When our Saviour, therefore, teaches us to pray that the name of God may hallowed," he, undoubtedly, does not mean we should request that additional holiness may be conferred upon God. In his nature, improvement can have no place; already he is infinite in holiness, as well as in every other perfection. Nothing can add to, and nothing can diminish from the rectitude of the Supreme Being. Creatures may rise or fall in the scale of perfection; they may acquire new degrees of sanctity, or they may contract a greater share of moral defilement. But God is in this, as in every other quality of his nature, without "variableness or shadow of turning," and he must ever continue absolutely and transcendently holy. be truth. "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy 1. We sanctify God's name, in the spirit of this petition, when we attend upon the ordinances of Religion; and offer up the praises of our hearts in the services of his House. These ordinances were appointed by God expressly for this purpose; and in the "rest of the original Sabbath, is represented the sacred and hallowed calm by which all hearts should be pervaded, when, on "the day of the Lord," men are reminded of the existence and perfections of Him who made the worlds and all the host of them, are admonished of the suborWhen we are directed, then, to address God in dination of all things in heaven and earth to Him, the petition," hallowed be thy name," we can and their subserviency to the purposes of his understand it in no other sense than as the ascrip- glory; and are thus given to understand that they tion of holiness and purity, as essentially belong- are employed in the noblest and most exalted exing to him; and as a request that our own hearts ercise of their spiritual nature, when they unite in may be suitably affected by the knowledge of his the solemn and public acknowledgment of His being possessed of both these qualities. We are" name," before whom angels worship and veil not directed to pray that God may become more their faces with their wings. Religion, even amidst the desolations of the fall, is still, in some measure, natural to man; a sense of Deity is inseparable from his nature; and nowhere, and never, has that nation existed, among whom religious ceremonies and rites have not been observed. They are the proper and spontaneous effort of the human mind to rise above its earthly condition; to connect itself with that mysterious, celestial origin whence it sprung; and as the only tribute which it has to offer, and the only return which it can make for the goodness by which it lives, it would thus recognise its connection with, and obligations to, that invisible and almighty power who rules and reigns over all. Superstition, in all its forms, the foulest and cruelest rites of heathenism, are nothing else than this sentiment of religion struggling to express itself; and, while from blind, ignorant, and corrupted man, left to himself in the worship and homage which he pays, nothing can be expected but error, deformity, and imperfection; yet, he who causeth the very wrath of man to praise him, will so arrange the events of his providence, that his name shall be magnified and extolled, and his justice made known among the heathen. The Jews were early initiated in the knowledge and worship of the one true God. "One thing," said David," have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." The "beauty," or holiness, of the Lord had there a symbolical representation, and in the warm and fervid imagination of that people, the whole building, upon which had been lavished all that the taste and treasures of the kingdom could afford, became the type of every thing sacred and divine. The Christian service is still more exalted and refined, and now that we know we have not been redeemed with corruptible things of earthly value, with the blood of goats, or of bulls, but by the precious ransom of God's own beloved Son; how deeply incumbent is it upon us, to repair to God's House to hear what he will speak to our souls of things pertaining to life and salvation, and to pour out the gratitude and devotion of our hearts for all the wonders of redeeming love! While we thus worship him, he sends a blessing down to hallow and attune our services to the praises of his name; he strengthens and sanctifies our purposes and resolutions of living to his glory; he draws our desires and affections upwards to himself; and, deriving nourishment and grace from that pure and heavenly source, we are enabled by the exercise, at once to love him more and to serve him better. When Moses ascended unto the Mount with God, we are told that his countenance, on his return to the people, bore marks that he had been in the heavenly presence; so when we come to the altar of the Lord, we go back to the world, with a portion of the odour of the sanctuary upon us, with our hearts better fortified against sin, and our affections glowing with purer and holier aspirations. 2. We sanctify God's name, in the spirit of this petition, when we live devoted to his will, and regulate our conduct by the tenor of his law. When God created man, he created him for his own glory. This, we are repeatedly told in Scripture, was the motive which induced the Almighty to give birth to the human race, and to endow them with all the high powers and faculties of whicn they are possessed. The end which he had in view in our creation ought, undoubtedly, to constitute the chief employment of our lives. Our devo.. tions and our actions should always correspond, and both should ever be conformable to the views of our divine Author. To us the inspiration of the Almighty has given understanding, and taught us more than the beasts of the field. He has constituted us supreme in this lower world, and amply provided for our princely dignity. We have been crowned by him "with glory;" and whoever attentively considers his nature and condition,-the structure of his body and the constitution of his mind, the provision that is furnished for the supply of his animal wants,-the objects that are provided for the entertainment of his intellectual faculties. and the scope that is afforded for the exercise of his moral affections, must acknowledge that if the glory of God be manifestly displayed in the other works of his hands, it shines with peculiar lustre in the creation and preservation of man. And in the doing of all this, has not our Creator plainly declared that while, in gratitude, he claims the homage and devotion of our hearts, and in the use of the gift we ought to sanctify the name of the Giver, we will then only best fulfil the end of our being, and reap the glory and felicity for which we were formed, when we dedicate ourselves to his service, and live in habitual subserviency to his will and pleasure? When such is the case, we fall in with the general plan of divine providence; our minds, if I may so speak, are in unison with the mind of God; and therefore it is, that an apostle thus exhorts, "whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." And what nobler design can man propose to himself in life, in the exercise of all the highest and most exalted endowments of his nature, than thus to manifest his sense of dependence by studying to reverence the Author of his being? While we walk then in the paths of God and Religion, we walk also in those of nature and providence; we are vessels of honour, as discharging the office which our all-wise Creator has assigned us; man is an echo to the voice of God, and the earth revolves in harmony with the course and the will of heaven. The obligation incumbent upon Christians, however, to devote themselves to the service of God, and thereby to "hallow his name," is both more extensive and binding than any thing that can be urged from the relation in which we stand to him as the Author and Preserver of our being, as the Father of our spirits, or as the bountiful and never-failing Source of all our comforts. The argument founded on the scheme of re sentiments ought to be present in every human breast, whatever be the aspect under which we contemplate ourselves. Every thing we owe to God; and without his blessing and presence with us in all our undertakings, in nothing can we prosper, or bring to a successful issue any of the works of our hands. How much more ought feelings of abasement and self-distrust to fill our minds, when we consider ourselves as sinners, and reflect upon the amazing exhibition of divine love, in the we to regard ourselves as wholly and entirely in the hands of God, and receive with humble, though assured faith, the perfect work of righteousness which he has planned and executed, and is alone able to complete for us in Christ Jesus. We then truly exalt his goodness, when, viewing ourselves as utterly lost and deserving of being so, we acknowledge his wisdom in receiving his own Son as our substitute,-the efficacy of his grace, and the all-sufficiency of his power in raising us, through the agency of his Spirit, to newness of life, his righteousness in admitting none to his favour but the pure in heart, who are enabled to serve him with a willing mind,-his infinite mercy and love in fully qualifying and making us meet for the heavenly inheritance, and in all this we do honour to the riches of his grace by accepting of his unspeakable gift, and rejoicing in him as our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and complete redemption. demption is, "that ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Hence, to lead holy and virtuous lives, and in all things to conform to God's will, who has "called us out of darkness into his marvellous light," is a duty more incumbent upon those who acknowledge this his unmerited loving-kindness, than upon the rest of mankind. The favour is greater which prompts to the duty, while the condition in which we are placed renders the performance of it both practic-work of our redemption? Here, above all, ought able and easy. Heathens can only conduct themselves by the direction of a blind and perverted reason; but Christians are in possession of the unerring instructions of the Father of Lights. From them no part of his will lies concealed, they know it in the full extent of its demand-they know it in the full extent of its sanction-they know it in the full extent of its spirituality-and, "constrained by the love of Christ," and knowing what is "the hope of their calling," they aspire after the loftiest heights of holiness, by endeavouring to have Christ "formed in their hearts the hope of glory," "that they may be pure even as he is pure," and by striving to shew forth the praises of God, in studying "to be perfect even as their Father in heaven is perfect." The view, in short, which is here exhibited of the divine nature and conduct, the account which is given of the present state and condition of man, and the prospects which are opened into a future and eternal world, are calculated, more than all other considerations and reasonings put together, to interest the active powers of the soul on the side of duty, and to engage all the finer feelings of the heart in its behalf. God, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself; Christ, the just suffering for the sins of the unjust, that he might bring them unto God; and the Holy Ghost descending from above to instruct, and comfort, and strengthen the heirs of salvation; are truths that afford the most powerful persuasives to godliness and virtue which can possibly be addressed to the mind of man. He who can shut his eyes from beholding their force, and steel his heart against being moved by their influence, must not only be destitute of all sense of duty, and all feeling of gratitude, but utterly regardless about his own happiness, and the perfection of his nature. They urge to eminent and universal holiness, by every argument that can convince; by every consideration that can attach; by every representation that can allure; by the mercy of God; by the love of Christ; by the example of his life; by the propitiatory efficacy of his death; by the consolations of his spirit; by the terror of eternal misery, and by the offer of everlasting happiness. 3. But in order that we may duly and reverently hallow the name of our Father in heaven, we must live under a habitual sense of our dependence upon his mercy and grace, for strength and ability to serve him, and cordially acquiesce in the full extent of a method of salvation which implies absolute helplessness on the part of man, and ascribes the glory of our recovery to God. These Praying, therefore, that the name of God may be hallowed, let us study to live in obedience to his holy will, and to sanctify him, not only in our hearts and by our mouths, but also by the whole tenor of our deportment. Men, unquestionably, do then only glorify their Maker, when they make his moral perfections the model of their conduct, and it is then that the character of the Supreme Being becomes truly illustrious in the eyes of the world, when his servants discover that their belief in his attributes has an influence on their actions and behaviour. Hence it is enjoined upon them, that they are to let their light so shine before men, that others seeing their good works may likewise be led to glorify their Father in heaven. But while God is the greatest, the holiest, the most august being in the universe, it becomes us also to rejoice in him as the most gracious, most compassionate, and merciful, out of whose fulness we receive all our supplies,-grace to sanctify, mercy to pardon, wisdom to direct, strength to nourish and support us; and never should we take his name into our lips, or breathe a prayer at his throne, without feeling that, as rational beings dependent upon his bounty, and sinners whom he has ransomed from destruction, and new creatures whom he has formed after his own image, our highest praises are due to him, and that it is not merely our duty, but our most distinguished privilege, to aim at a resemblance of His holy and righteous attributes, who perfects strength in our weakness, and aids us by his Spirit, that we may "become holy, even as he is holy." Finally, God's name is hallowed, when we yield | appearance, every thing, indeed, in her dwelling, seemwith submission to the dispensations of his provi- ed to partake much of the character of her mind though dence, receive his mercies with thankfulness, and plain, all was comfortable, and even respectable. The soften our hearts under the chastenings of his hour I spent in her little room, passed quickly over, but it was unusually interesting. The conversation took a afflictive hand. "We have had fathers of our high range. She spoke with surpassing clearness, intelflesh," observes the apostle, "which corrected us,ligence, and precision, and with a peculiar fervour, of the and we gave them reverence: shall we not much general Church of Christ in the world; that portion of rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits, it existing in Scotland, with which she was connectand live?" Were God a tyrant, and the evils of ed; the leading spirits or pastors of that Church in the life the instruments of his wrath, prudence would West, in her younger years Russel, M'Kinlay, Balfour, &c., onward, till her last communion with the Church teach us to receive them from his hand with silent in Oldham Street. She did not hesitate to speak of acquiescence. But when we discover evident herself, but it was with characteristic and becoming difmarks of kindness in the severest dispensations of fidence. She could not point to any period in her his providence, it becomes us to submit to the Christian experience, of which she could say, I was hardships of our condition, not with acquiescence born on such a day,' but she was brought up from her infancy in the light of the Gospel, and her expressions only, but with gratitude and reverence. To murof thankfulness on this account were abundant,mur and repine at the circumstances of our lot, is, goodness and mercy,' she said, had followed her all in effect, to set ourselves in opposition to God, the days of her life.' She reverted also to her present and to distrust his power, wisdom, and goodness. situation and circumstances, under the certainty of fastPlaced, as we are, under the government of the approaching death; but to her death seemed stript of all its terrors its sting already and for ever taken away. greatest and the best of all beings, we should not barely be silent in the season of affliction, but It appeared a subject familiar to her thoughts, while the deepest awe sat upon the spirit as she spoke of it; and should embrace the calamities that are sent us the peace she experienced manifestly arose from a clear, from on high with cheerfulness. However pain- unhesitating, yet humble and rejoicing conviction of a ful to the feelings of nature our condition may be, personal interest in the glory that is to follow. Thankour spirits should rejoice in the conviction, that fulness seemed the prevailing disposition of her mind— we suffer by the appointment of our Heavenly expressions of it mingled with every mercy and faith was Father, whose name we should hallow, both when pearing, at times, to lose itself in a flickering enjoyment. obviously its living principle-her unwavering hope apwe are abased, and when we abound. When the When speaking of the love of God to the world; the fintide of adversity runs highest, conviction of an in- ished work of Christ, as the ground of her confidence; the terest in his favour, through Jesus Christ, should sufficiency of the atonement; the depth of the Redeemprove to us an anchor, both sure and stedfast, ander's sufferings; the preciousness of his name; her own in the darkest night of our affliction, it becomes us to take up the confidential hymn of the Prophet:-" Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines,-the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet we will rejoice in the Lord; we will joy in the God of our salvation."-Amen. OLD SUSAN. unworthiness, side by side with her personal interest in the covenant, ordered in all things and sure,' I shall never forget her solemn but elevated appearance, and the appropriating fervour which seemed to breathe in every word. When about to take leave of her, for a time, I was startled at being told that she was to be sent to the Infirmary on the following day. Whatever I thought respecting this movement, when contrasted with her present quiet and retired comfort, I said nothing beyond expressing my surprise; but she, as if guessing at what was passing in my mind, laid her hand, very solemnly, on mine, and said, It is the Lord's will, and what have you or I to say to it? While I could, I worked, and maintained myself, and even saved a little for the God saw good to lay Re-day of trouble, but it is all gone. me under his afflicting rod; I felt it was his doing, and, for the future, I must be dependent on others; shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil also?' Why should a living man complain?" There was not the slightest misgiving in her countenance; she made me feel as if it were a decided matter, and that if I interposed, I must be cautious how I did so. "To the poor the Gospel is preached," and it is often 66 66 Immediately after leaving her, I called upon a respectable innkeeper in the neighbourhood, who had taken "In the month of May I was appointed to visit a a great interest in Old Susan,' as she was usually poor woman, supposed to be dying, residing in the neigh-styled, and had arranged for, and procured her admis bourhood of London-road. I called upon her in the afternoon of the day on which I received my instructions. She was ill of dropsy. On my entrance into her room she was sitting up in bed, having just taken some refreshment. A living countenance so wasted, I think I never saw; but I was soon made to perceive that the spirit which animated her calm and vivid eye, was as unaifected by the state of her body, as if it had no relation to it. Her mind was of an order and character difficult to reconcile with the humble occupation of her life—a washer and dresser of clothes; and her personal sion to the Infirmary. He stated, among other things, all shewing the regard he had for her, that the Infirmary was proposed, only because she would have the best medical advice and treatment there; and added, that he intended keeping her house for her, in the event of her return to better health. I also called upon a respectable physician, who had been attracted to Susan by her excellent character, and gratuitously attended her through out the period of her illness, who assured me it was his conviction that she would be better taken care of there, than she could be any where else. I then saw, as Susan |