believer, who has been bred in a christian country, figures to himself a Being of perfections like those of the Christian's God: and he flatters himself that he has discovered the existence of such a being by the mere effort of his natural faculties. But if this be the case, how comes it to pass that, before life and immortality were brought to light by the gospel, generations of the most enlightened and cultivated persons on the earth, his inferiors neither in divine learning, so far as nature can supply it, nor yet in acuteness of understanding, could never attain unto such knowledge, being too high and excellent for them? The existence of God, and the broad distinction of right and wrong are, indeed, evident from natural religion; and those who think themselves supporting Scripture by the denial of such a religion are indeed overturning it; for the language of St. Paul respecting the heathen is express." The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse; because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful." But although such a knowledge of God as this may be and is attainable by natural reason, there is one difficulty which the modern unbeliever vainly endeavours to escape from, but which the ancient heathen more consistently never attempted to explore. If God be perfectly pure and just, he must punish all sin; if all sin be punished, the purest life which man can lead must deserve punishment, and therefore the most virtuous and most vicious of mankind will only differ in the degrees of their sufferings. Rewards must be wholly out of the question. The difficulties of this supposition caused it to be universally rejected, and the idea being once admitted that sin was in its own nature pardonable, a door was opened for the permission of every kind of wickedness. But Christ, "the new and living way," has not only shewn us how the justice and mercy of God could be reconciled, but has been himself the reconciliation. "Through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." If He had not suffered, the courts of God must have been for ever shut against us; we must have lived "without hope and without God in the world;" and have passed from our condition of mortality into a state of punishment due to our sins. But now our circumstances are widely different; we are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; his Spirit enables us to keep the way which he discovers, and his example teaches it without mixture of error.

But Christ is not only the way; he is the truth. Not only is he set forth to us in Scripture as the great means and instrument by which we receive every blessing, but he is only, especially, and preeminently the truth, and every other object of interest, every other means of approaching God, every other mode of seeking deliverance from ruin or exaltation to glory, must utterly fail. The Jews sought to procure justification by a strict observance of the law, and an undoubted descent from Abraham, to whose seed the promises were made. But Christ was the real Passover-Christ was the true temple, in which dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily-Christ was that seed of Abraham to whom, in his believing members, all the promises were fulfilled. The law was merely a shadow of good things to come; but the truth was by Christ-in him terminated all the types of the law

in him centered all the visions of prophecy-in him all the promises of God are yea and amen. And when he stood before the tribunal of Pilate, and was asked, "What is truth?" no answer was necessary but his presence, for he was the truth himself. And with us Christians nearly the same thing may be said as in the case of the Jews. The moral law, to which we as well as all others are subject, however carefully fulfilled, can never save us. Not that we shall ever be saved without doing those things which Scripture requires, without a diligent perseverance in holiness, and an endeavour to fulfil the will of God to the best of our power; but still we must not look to these as the causes of our salvation; after all we have done, the truth will still be Christ; in his merits we must appear before the Father; and as the branch cannot bear fruit, except it abide in the vine, no more can we bear fruit unto salvation, except we abide in him. Every other object of human pursuit must fail; if it be earthly, it must perish with the present life; if it be heavenly, and be not sought through Christ, it will be equally unsuccessful. "There is salvation in no other; there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we may be saved."

Lastly, Christ is the life. God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. This is the end of his ministry, and the object of his mediation. He has not simply brought us to the favour of the Father, but he has also brought life and immortality to light. The dispensation of justice has been satisfied, and the dispensation of mercy is begun. "In that Christ died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God."

Such is a brief, but, I trust, a scriptural view of this comprehensive text. Let us proceed to make the application to ourselves.

The great end of the declaration in the text is to call off the attention of the human mind, generally distracted amidst a great variety of pursuits, and aiming at a vast multitude of attainments, from every thing unprofitable and unworthy, and to fix it on the one sufficient and satisfactory object, alone adapted to the vastness of its wants, and to the extent of its infirmities. Such is the restlessness implanted in our very nature by God for the wisest purposes, though often miserably abused, that all will find themselves some ruling occupation, whether useful, injurious, or negative. Some find their contentment in the occupation itself, and contemplate no further object; to these their employment may be called a "way"-it is a road on which they are perpetually travelling, without any determinate end of their journey. The road is pleasant, and, unconscious whither it leads, they persist in treading it to the end of life. These are triflers, who dread a serious reflection as an intrusion on their happiness, and treat with ridicule, if not with insolence, the friendly monitor who would attempt to insinuate a syllable of duty and hereafter. Others there are who spend by no means the life of their choice, but sacrifice the comfort and pleasure of every day to the distinct acquirement of some favourite speculation. They are content to tread a drear and thorny way, that they may at length come forth upon some imaginary paradise, which is to compensate all the labours of a toilsome life. But to both these classes alike the language of their Saviour is, "I am the way;" "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

"This is the way, walk ye in it." The energies of the human mind here meet at once a worthy occupation, and a worthy object. A worthy occupation; because, "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;" "old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." He views the most ordinary business and common concerns of life under a light entirely different from the worldling; he thinks in every thing how he may best please his Master in heaven; and in this pleasure he finds his own, nor can he find it in any other. And Christ too is a full and satisfying object for the cravings of the most restless ambition that ever stimulated the breast of man. The love of a being who can protect from every danger, remove every evil, and bless with every good which the most insatiable desires can covet, who has done already for mankind all that Omnipotency itself can do, is an object and a reward for which every engrossing passion may be cheerfully resigned, every ardent propensity even eagerly sacrificed. Such a way as this is not only the way, but the truth; every thing else must appear to us, if we would be Christians, worthlessness and falsehood; every thing which cannot be made conducive to our advancement in "the way," must be regarded as pernicious deceit; every employment, object, study, amusement whatsoever, which does not advance us in the way, and cannot be pressed into the service of the Captain of our Salvation, must be viewed by the christian traveller with distaste and detestation, as the dank vapour of the marsh land, which would lure him from his safe and blessed way into the toils of sin and destruction.

But there are others whose minds are set on objects beyond the grave; who are convinced of the folly of devoting all their thoughts and endeavours to secure things in their own nature transitory, to the neglect of concerns inevitable and imperishable. Life, eternal life, is with them the sole object of inquiry and exertion. Such, my brethren, you all profess yourselves to be; and may you all receive abundantly of the Spirit of God to enable you so to continue. But if you would succeed in the object of your search, look to Jesus! Look to Him, not simply as the way, and as the truth, but as the life! As the way, follow him; as the truth, believe him; but as the life, embrace him! You will meet with those who profess his religion; and would yet seek to enter life without his sacrifice. Appeal to his own words! "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." But how believeth? Believeth that He in whom was life, and who is especially termed the life, and who expressly says, "No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down myself; I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again;" that this everlasting being was merely a man, of the same nature precisely with ourselves? In this sense all who have ever read of Christ may be called believers in him, for it would be scarcely worth the time to argue with a person who should deny the historical fact of Christ's existence, or the beauty of Christ's morality. But to proceed to the belief that we are to receive eternity at the hands of a mere man like ourselves, is an inconsistency which requires little ingenuity to overturn; yet such is the avowed belief of some who seek to enter heaven by their faith. But ye, my brethren, have not so learned Christ. In the words of the Apostle John, "We know that the Son of God is

come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."

And once believing Jesus to be "the truth and the life, the true God, and eternal life," "keep yourselves," as the same Apostle subjoins, "from idols ;"-from the idols of the heart-from whatever that may be which would force itself into that sanctuary where Christ should reign alone. Even your good works, necessary as they are, have no business here. Do not think you are to be saved without them; none shall rest upon God's holy hill but he that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Work as though your salvation depended on nothing but your works; but yet do not look even to these for salvation. Narrow is the way by which all believers must enter, for it is Christ alone: truth is single, and it is Christ alone; and your life is hid with Christ in God. Secure then an interest in his blood through faith, working by love; but remember that it is neither faith nor works which are your redemption, this is an operation which no merely human power could effect-it is the work of God only, of Christ the way, the truth and the life; and so surely as you trust in any works independent of him, so surely shall you miss of the way; for no man cometh to the Father but by him.

Finally, let me conjure you to remember that Christ has himself said, "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." No union with Christ is more intimate than that which we receive in the holy communion. Omit not, therefore, any opportunity which He has given you of strengthening the bonds which unite you to him; but do all in his name, and seek all from his power; and "when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." H.T.

MISCELLANEOUS.

CONTINENTAL CHURCHES:

With Observations on the Romish Worship, and the State of Religion Abroad. No. III.

THE BEGUINES, AND THEIR CHURCHES.

THERE is a curious monastic Institution in Belgium, unique in its kind, and altogether unknown in other countries, called the Order of Beguine Nuns. They derive their name from their founder St. Beghé, the sister of Pepin of Landen, and the mother of Pepin-le-Gros, who died in the year 689: or, according to others, from Lambert Lebégue, a priest of Liége, who was canonized about the year 1170. It is certain, however, that an establishment of them had settled at Vilvorde in the preceding century; and their existence, in all probability, dates from a much earlier period. The duties required of them are few and light; they make but one vow, that of chastity, which is no longer binding than it is found to be convenient; they can quit the order, and marry, at pleasure; and, during their residence in the Beguinage, they are permitted to go out unattended, and to receive visitors in the

convent. In 1250, the Grand Beguinage was founded at Brussels, and endowed with considerable privileges in 1254; so that, considering the easy conditions upon which they were received, it is not surprising that the number of the sisterhood rapidly increased. During the ascendency of the Calvinists in the sixteenth century their convent was totally distroyed, and their rights were for a long time withheld. Again the order was suppressed in 1796, and again restored in 1800. The number of the sisterhood, however, has now become comparatively small, not perhaps exceeding 600 in the whole of Belgium. They are still distinguished by that peculiar remnant of the old Spanish costume, called the faille; which is a long black silk scarf, reaching from the head to the feet, and which is capable of being so adjusted as to exhibit advantageously the grace and elegance of the wearer. Attendance upon the hospital de la Vieillesse Malheureuse attached to the convent is their principal employment.

Though the church of the Grand Beguinage at Brussels is by no means one of the most beautiful in the city, it has attractions for the connoisseur as great as those of architectural excellence. From the unsightly columns which support the roof, he will turn with satisfaction to the splendid pictures in the several chapels, which have been fortunately recovered from the French. Among the rest, a Christ, by Crayer, and a Holy Family, by Van Loo, are worthy of minute attention. The present edifice dates from the year 1657. It was rebuilt after the destructive attack of the Calvinists, at the cost of 331,318 florins, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The front is of the composite order, highly ornamented, and surmounted by a statue of St. Beghé, the foundress of the Beguine order.

Since the modern division of the city, the church of the Beguines has been used as a chapel of ease to that of Notre-Dame-de-Finisterre, the parish church of the fourth district. This handsome building is so called from the inscription over the portico, taken from the Psalms, with reference to its situation in the lower part of the town-LAUDABUNT TE GENTES IN FINES TERRÆ. The original structure was of wood, and its demolition by fire is said to have been attended with circumstances somewhat marvellous. During a storm of prodigious violence, which shook the tottering temple to its foundation, the curé, a man of extraordinary sanctity, persevered in concluding the mass which he had commenced, though the congregation had fled in terror from the place. While he was pronouncing the prayer of consecration, the building, struck by the lightning, was enveloped in one continuous flame; but the priest remained unmoved before the unfinished sacrifice. At the foot of the altar the fire was instantaneously extinguished; and the pious curé passed unhurt over the burning ruins, bearing the consecrated vessels in his hands. Of this same individual many other histories are on record; the scene of his ministerial labours bears the name of La Rue du Curé du Finisterre. One day a wandering monk was driven to seek the shelter of his house, to whom with ready hospitality he offered a portion of " his humble fare, his blessing, and repose." Rising at break of day for the performance of his accustomed duties, he left the traveller in bed; and, entering the church, he was asked an alms by an old mendicant, seated at the door. "Alas! my good woman,' ," he