year meet on L.80 per annum? but, How does he manage to spend this sum in the time referred to? I entertain a high respect for this classindeed, so far as my experience goes, I hesitate not to affirm, that in more respects than one they are entitled to the appellation of the working class, -and I feel persuaded, that there is no class in connexion with our churches who would be better pleased to see their ministers comfortably provided for, and who would be more willing to exert themselves for the accomplishment of this important end. But before we can expect to see them exerting themselves for this, or any other object, we must make it evident to them that there is need for such exertion. If, therefore, we expect them to move in this matter, we must show them that L.80 per annum is actually inadequate to the proper support of a minister. And how is this to be done? The process is a very simple one, and has been successfully adopted in a similar case. Some few years ago an application was made to our Mission Board, by the catechists in Jamaica, for an increase of salary, on the ground that the sum of L.120 per annum, then allowed them, was inadequate to their comfortable support. And how was the necessity for such an increase proved to the Mission Board? Statements were furnished by the missionaries and catechists, exhibiting the amount of their necessary expenditure, and clearly bringing out the fact, that their in

Expenditure.

Minister's Stipend,

come was unequal to it. Why, then, should not the same course be adopted in reference to ministers' stipends? A statement similar to those just referred to I shall supply.

It may be taken for granted, that our people expect us to occupy a position of respectability in society, and would feel ashamed if we did not. The truth is, our usefulness depends in a great measure upon occupying such a position, and did we cease to occupy it, our influence for good would soon be at an end. In this station, however, ministers are exposed to much expense, from which labouring men are altogether exempted. Now it is clear, that what is necessary to the maintaining of this position, as well as the various other expenses to which as a minister he is unavoidably exposed, must be deducted from the gross sum which he receives, inasmuch as these are no more to be regarded as parts of his real income, than the rent of shop and other expenses, necessary to the carrying on of his trade, are to be regarded as part of the income of a merchant, or the expense of upholding tools is part of the income of the mechanic.

The following statement, taking the minister's stipend at L.80 per annum, will show, after deducting the expenditure entailed on him as a minister, how much of the above sum is actually available for providing himself and family with food, clothing, fuel, and medicine-the bare necessaries of life :

at 5s. per week, L.13,

From this statement, drawn up from personal experience-not one item of which is over-estimated, and several of them under-stated-and which could be verified by every minister in similar circumstances, it appears, that a minister with L.80 per annum has just L.32, 6s. to be applied to the support of his family, and meet the claims of hospitality. On this sum, smaller than that received by many of our artisans, he is expected to maintain his standing in society as a gentleman. I hope the readers of your Magazine will ponder these statements; and, with such facts before them, I am persuaded there will be few indeed who will say that the minimum stipend should

* I observe, that in an excellent pamphlet, lately published, a statement similar to the above is put forth; and it is worthy of remark, that the sum which it exhibits, as available for the support of the minister, is nearly the same with that here stated. In that statement, the minister's stipend is

be less than L.100; and I am much mistaken in the opinion I have formed of our people generally, if there are not very many who will readily admit that L.120 is not too much.

It is possible that some of your readers may be disposed to regard the sum set down in the above statement, as devoted to charitable purposes, as comparatively small. They will observe, however, that this furnishes a practical illustration of that very important remark, in the excellent pastoral address issued by the Synod, on the occasion of the late auspicious union, "A niggardly church makes a poor parsimonious minister."

A MINISTER WITH L.80 A-YEAR supposed to be L.100. I do not suppose however, that in that statement there is any thing over-estimated; for it is plain, that a man whose income is only L.80 per annum, must do every thing on a much narrower scale than one whose income is L.100.

TIMES OF NATIONAL REVOLUTION.

THERE are times when the moral world seems to stand still; there are others when it seems impelled towards its goal with an accelerated force. The present is a period more interesting, perhaps, than any which has been known in the whole flight of time. The scenes of Providence thicken upon us so fast, and are shifted with so strange a rapidity, as if the great drama of the world were drawing to a close. Europe never presented such a spectacle before, and it is worthy of being contemplated with the profoundest attention by all its inhabitants. The empire of darkness and of despotism has been smitten with a stroke which has sounded through the universe. When we see whole kingdoms, after repos

ing for centuries upon the laps of their rulers, start from their slumber-the dignity of man rising up from depression, and tyrants trembling on their thrones-who can remain entirely indifferent, or fail to turn his eye towards a theatre so august and so extraordinary? These are a kind of throes and struggles of nature to which it would be a sullenness to refuse our sympathy. Old foundations are breaking up; new edifices are rearing. Institutions, which have long been held in veneration, as the most sublime refinements of human wisdom and policy; which age hath cemented and confirmed; which power hath supported; which eloquence hath conspired to embellish and opulence to enrich, are falling fast into decay. New prospects are opening on every side, of such amazing

variety and extent, as to stretch further than the eye of the most enlightened observer can reach.-Hall. A.D. 1791.

EXCESSIVE DILIGENCE IN BUSINESS.

AFTER our real need has been supplied, no employment should be followed to the neglect of mental and moral improvement and cultivation. That pursuit of business, which gives no time for reading or for thought, is inordinate. No employment should be pursued, to the neglect of friendship and of society. That engrossment of time which gives men no seasons for intercourse with their neighbours, is excessive; and much less should business be pursued to the neglect of the soul, and of the kingdom of Christ. After a man has supplied his wants by business, the first concern is his soul's salvation; the next concern is the instruction and salvation of those around him; the next is the cultivation and improvement of his mind; and, if the accumulation of property be right at all, it is lawful only in this subordinate position.Rev. S. Martin.

THE CHRISTIAN YOUTH'S RECREATIONS.

?

SETTLE the lawfulness of recreation, and of that kind of recreation which you pursue. Do not drink pleasure by stealth. Whatever enjoyment you allow, be willing to take it in broad open daylight. Decide on the nature of recreation by the calm exercise of your judgment; being careful that your mind is illumined by God's truth, and your heart purified by God's spirit, with respect to your decision in this particular case. Endeavour, as a point of duty, to secure some recreation, and of the best kind; and when you have decided what is right and what is best, clothe it with godly aspect. (James v. 13: "Is any merry let him sing psalms.") Connect your recreation with the glory of God; and while you make health, mental improvement, the culture of the heart, the improvement of the character, and other such subjects, proximate ends, let the ultimate end be God. Never forget there are temptations in recreation. Some men, when merry, are tempted to cruelty (Judges xvi. 25); others are tempted to lust; and to all there is danger of carelessness and lack of circumspection. Be firm in refusing invitations to forms of recreation which are evil, or which wear the appearance of evil. (Heb. xi. 24, 26.) And learn to make a high recreation of the quiet rest of the Sabbath, of the communion of saints, and of the public worship of God. Let such things be a delight, and such times seasons of

refreshing. Avoid giving the world the impression that Christianity deprives of recreation. Show that your religion allows pleasure, and forbids only that which is defiling and defiled.-Rev. S. Martin.

REQUISITES FOR A STATE-CHURCH BISHOP.

No talents, no learning, no piety, can advance the fortune of a clergyman whose political opinions are adverse to those of the governing party. The utmost that is permitted to a bishop, is moderation in his manner of maintaining the orthodox political faith; any hesitation in his vote is an unpardonable sin. He may be a high Calvinist, or a controversial Arminian, or an enlightened friend of toleration; but if he shows himself of a different creed from his patrons in civil concerns, and is guilty of political heresy, his further rise is stopped for ever.-Lord John Russell.

THE Rev. John Dodd, who died in Northamptonshire in 1645, at the advanced age of ninety-six, used to say to his sick friends, "Afflictions are God's potions, which we may sweeten by faith and fervent prayer; but we, for the most part, make them bitter, putting into God's cup the evil ingredient of our impatience and un belief." "In all cases of suffering, the people of God should consider-1. God wills them and sends them; now the will of God is perfectly righteous, and what he does is so well done, that it could not be done better. 2. There is need of them, or we should not have them. 3. Their number, measure, and continuance, God determines; and, comparatively speaking, they are but for a moment. 4. The Lord will be sure to support us under them. 5. They are not too many, too heavy; or too long, as Satan would have them, nor too few, too short, or too light, as our corrupt nature

would have them to be. Their end is a weight of glory, and the crown that attends them is everlasting.'

WHAT FRANCE GAINED BY SUCCESSFUL PERSECUTION.

THE Gallican Church, no doubt, looked upon it as a signal triumph, when she prevailed on Louis XI. to repeal the Edict of Nantes, and to suppress the Protestant religion; but what was the consequence? Where shall we look, after this period, for her Fenelons and her Pascals? where for the distinguished monuments of piety and learning which were the glory of her better days? As for piety, she perceived she

had no occasion for it, when there was no lustre of Christian holiness surrounding her; nor for learning, when she had no longer any opponents to confute, or any controversies to maintain. She felt herself at liberty to become as ignorant, as secular, as irreligious as she pleased; and, amidst the silence and the darkness she had created around her, she drew the curtains and retired to rest. The accession of numbers she gained by suppressing her opponents, was like the small extension of length a body acquires by death. The feeble rcmains of life were extinguished, and she lay a putrid corpse, a public nuisance, filling the air with pestilential exhalations.

Hall.

EXPOSITORY DISCOURSES on the FIRST EPISTLE of the APOSTLE PETER. By JOHN BROWN, D.D., &c. In three vols.

Edinburgh: W. Oliphant & Sons.

WE have long wished that Dr Brown would give to the church a specimen of New Testament exposition, adequate to his known abilities and attainments in this department of theological study. We have had from him interpretations and illustrations of particular passages and subjects, but nothing sufficiently indicative of his varied and surpassing qualifications in the interpretation of the Word of God. Such a fruit of his labours, we have no doubt, however high he already stands, would elevate him still higher, among sound and skilful interpreters of scripture, and be of very great service to religion. Our desire has, indeed, been mainly grounded, not on the accession to the well-merited fame of Dr Brown which such a work would bring, but on the benefit which would be conferred by it on the Pulpit and the Church of our country. Scotland has been long favourably distinguished for that species of pulpit ministrations commonly called Lecturing; and in this, we doubt not, lies the origin, in a great measure, of the acknowledged superiority of its people in religious knowledge and discernment; but it can hardly be denied, that much of what goes under the name of lecturing in Scotland, is far from coming up to the proper idea of that service, the clear, simple, interpretation and enforcement of the real sentiments of the inspired writers. It cannot be denied that much loose, crude, heterogeneous material, is often to be found woven to

gether in the texture of a professed exposition of scripture; and that the artificer gives but little evidence that he has caught the mind of the Spirit of God in the passage he expounds, or has had the distinct and earnest purpose of seeking that mind. He has aimed, perhaps, at saying good things, profitable things,-nay, powerful things; but they were a hundred miles away from the sense of the writer in the passage he has taken for his text, or they might have been as appropriately said in connexion with a hundred other passages of scripture as that. Now, such a mode of lecturing is certainly not exposition; and one good service which a specimen of Dr Brown's ordinary pulpit expositions would tend to perform, would be to bring this mode of lecturing into greater disrepute, and furnish a pattern of that earnest, studious, effort to ascertain and bring out the mind of the Spirit in any passage, with all the clearness and force the lecturer could command,which is at once the most honest and the most profitable way of handling the Word of God. Dr Brown's ministrations have sometimes been thought chargeable with excess in this respect They have been spoken

of as too critical, and overlaid with too full an array of the different views taken by others, of the passage he is discussing. Were this the proper place, we think we could satisfactorily oppose the opinion on which such a charge must rest, and show it to be false. Suffice it to say, that we have often both felt and observed the powerful influence of his mode of exposition, in giving the hearer a deep interest in the passage, never before felt, and in impressing its meaning indelibly on the memory;

and these are, unquestionably, among the very highest ends to be gained by lecturing. Besides, ministers ought to remember, that not only are they "stewards of the mysteries of God," but all God's people are; and that one part of their ministerial work, and a very important one, is to teach them how to bring out of the word for themselves things new and old. The minister, then, must not only open the treasures of sacred truth, but aim at instructing his people how to open them for themselves. He must not only take the proper key from his girdle, and unlock a passage in their hearing; but, unless they all be "babes," it will be profitable also to show them the key, and how to find it, and why other keys will not suit, and so train them to interpret scripture for themselves. How profitable Dr Brown's pulpit expositions have been, especially in the case of many who are now themselves ministers of the gospel, both in our own and other churches, and who had the privilege of being for a time under his ministry, it would be impossible we believe adequately to estimate. Many a fervent and useful labourer in the vineyard, we doubt not, with reference to such a privilege, could truly say of Dr Brown"Inde usque repetens, hunc video mihi principem et ad suscipiendam et ad ingrediendam rationem horum studiorum exstitisse." And many a bright Christian also, we doubt not, could say of his expositions, as one said of Henry's annotations, that "she first lighted her lamp" by reading the Holy Scriptures with his help.

In the above observations, we have not had in our eye the book now before us, but earlier specimens of Dr Brown's labours in the interpretation of the New Testament, -such as his lectures on the Epistles to the Romans, the Hebrews, and the Galatians; and the appearance of these expository discourses on Peter has not satisfied, and therefore not altered, our desire for the publication of one or more of them. We believe that few services which Dr Brown could do for the church and cause of Christ would be more acceptable and useful, than the preparation and publication of his lectures on the Epistle to the Romans. The work before us, however excellent, and however worthy of him, is, in our view, of a widely different character from what these would be; and, though not less suited perhaps to the instruction and edification of the generality of Christians, is hardly so well fitted, we apprehend, to improve and elevate the Pulpit. His aim, evidently, in the volumes now before us, has been not exclusively accurate interpretation, but on the foundation of accurate interpretation-a foundation not often prominently exposedto give such an exposition and discussion of

Christian doctrine and practice, as would minister to the spiritual intelligence, and faith and holiness, of all classes of the people of God. Whether he was led to this aim by the choice of the epistle, or chose the epistle because he had this aim, we know not; but unquestionably the choice and the aim are very harmonious. With such an aim, he could not have fixed on a more appropriate portion of the inspired volume; or, fixing on this epistle, he could not, we believe, have more appropriately treated it than in the way he has done. He has denied himself, we doubt not, in aiming to be as little as possible critical in his mode of exposition, that he may be as widely as possible useful. And, to our minds, it is exceedingly pleasing,—while we find a junior professor of theology in our church, descending from his professorial chair to give lectures to children about the precious volume, of which he knows so much, to find a senior professor also appearing before the church and the world, in a field in which the humblest believer may follow him, and where, if he gather fewer laurels, he will, we trust, edify more souls.

The general character of these Expository Discourses on First Peter must be too well known, from the descriptive advertisement given of them beforehand, to require to be stated here. They are at once exegetical, doctrinal, and practical; but the exegetical parts are, as we have said, much less critical than those who are familiar with Dr Brown's mode of lecturing, and acquainted with his attainments, would naturally have expected; and the whole work acquires something of the character of a System of doctrinal and practical divinity. Dr Brown would doubtless disclaim this title, and say that he had no purpose of framing such a system; but if any one look into the table of contents, or glance over the index of subjects at the end of the volumes, and then turn to any topic to see how it is discussed, he will agree with us that the name is not altogether inappropriate. The statements of Christian doctrine, and the expositions of Christian practice, are necessarily mingled together, as in the epistle: both are viewed with a leading reference to the Christians to whom the epistle was addressed; and the intention of the inspired writer is never for a moment forgotten: yet, withal, the discussions are so full and expansive, as to be applicable to all times and circumstances; and there are comparatively few of the doctrines of the Christian faith, or duties of the Christian life, which have been left untouched. In practical divinity especially, the volumes are rich,a magazine of Christian morals and philosophy, extensive, varied, and truly valuable. That the work will be very popular we cannot