are far beyond our view, and above our reach. It is not for us to speculate on the feelings of the Divine Being, when his own co-eternal Son was made a sacrifice and an offering for sin. Nothing but ignorance or impiety could venture to push the parallel between the type and the antitype so far, as to look for the anguish and the agitation that must have shaken the soul of Abraham, in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is enough for us to know, that greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend, and that God hath commended his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, enemies to God in our hearts, and by wicked works, Christ died for us!

In a good old age, that eminent servant of God, whose faith I have been endeavouring to illustrate, died. By faith he had sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; but at length he entered on the rest of that better country which remaineth for the people of God. And if Abraham's faith was so firm and unwavering, surely it was not misplaced, for not one of all the great and precious promises concerning either himself or his seed which God had given, has failed of its accomplishment. "Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." We have the same promises on which to rest, the same faithful and covenant-keeping God still pledged to perform them all. But how weak and unstable is our faith! How does the humble constancy of Abraham, under trials so many and severe, rebuke the murmuring and impatient spirit we have so often displayed! How much cause have we continually to pray, "Lord increase our faith!" The promise dimly revealed to Abraham, has been fully and gloriously presented to us in the Gospel of Christ. The everlasting inheritance to which that promise ultimately referred, we have been freely and cordially invited to possess and enjoy. "Let us then lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us:" Looking, not only unto Abraham, but unto the seed of Abraham, even Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God." And, let us be comforted with this assurance, that in due time we shall reap if we faint not, "obtaining the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls." Amen.

COMMUNION WITH GOD.
LED by a Father's gentle hand
Through this dark wilderness of woe,
We long to reach that peaceful land,
Where streams of lasting comfort flow.
O may our meetings here be blest,

To fit us for that holy place;
May faith and love inflame each breast
With zeal to run the heavenly race.

Here may the Spirit shed the light

Of truth to guide us on our way; God's Word upon our conscience write, And teach us how to watch and pray. We would dismiss each worldly thought, When thus we commune with our God; Our theme shall be, the love that brought A Saviour from his blest abode. We'll think how Jesus lived and died,

The pains and sorrows that he bore,The blessing which his love supplied,The home to which he's gone before. There we will hope to rest ere long,

And gladly change before his throne The pilgrim's for the conqueror's song, Saved by redeeming grace alone.

BATHURST.

CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

What is it to be a Christian?-Let us consider, for a

little, what is implied in the name Christian. Surely it

can mean nothing less than one united to Christ,-one who is Christ's property, who follows Christ, as his leader and guide, and obeys him as his master. It is customary for men to call themselves after the name of the founder of their sect or party, in politics, in philosophy, leaders, whose names have been venerated, whose steps or in religion; and many have been the renowned followed, and their very vices copied, by admiring multitudes. But, alas! how mortifying is it to compare, in these respects, the professed followers of Christ with the professed followers of Mohammed, and many other from avowing the religion they profess, in proportion false teachers. It would really seem as if men shrink as it resembles true religion.-Let us visit a heathen land, and we are left in no doubt as to the nature of its worship, or the qualifications deemed essential to salvation; we are affected by witnessing the extraordinary patience and fortitude with which the poor votaries of a false faith endure tortures, the most lingering or violent; the eagerness with which they rush on bodily destruction, in hopes of saving their spirits; and the resolution wherewith they sacrifice all the joys of life, at the call of a mistaken duty. Then let us go to a Mohammedan country: see, at the voice of the Muezzin, every head is prostrate on the ground; all, of every rank and condition, absorbed in at least the semblance of devotion. However they may be engaged, whether in traffic, in conversation, or in indolent repose, all instantly obey the summons from the minaret, and half an hour is devoted to prayer. Then listen to their common discourse, to the salutations of courtesy, to the transactions of business, in short, to the general tone of society, and you hear a constant acknowledg ment of God, and of that mediator through whom they vainly worship him. But, to advance many steps in the scale, let us next visit a Popish land. Let us look at those who indeed worship God in Christ, but join, with his true mediation, that of creature-mediators; with his pure and simple doctrines, the traditions of men ; with his holy precepts, self-imposed austerities, and vain pompous ceremonies. And here, too, we find an open, nay, an obtrusive, avowal of the religion of the country. None are ashamed of their devotions, though in presence of those who they know despise them. Nor is it in public alone that they are religious; their punctuality in secret exercises, their self-denial, and obedience to every thing pronounced necessary by their Church, may well excite our admiration.-Lastly, let us come to a Protestant realm, yea, to our own be loved though guilty land; and, if we could take the survey of a stranger, should we not be inclined to think,

that the Founder of the Christian religion had laid | down no fixed rules, either for faith or practice; but that to be a Christian, one has only to believe and to do whatever pleases one's self? O the immense latitude given to this name, in our modern charitable phraseology! A man may deny the divinity of our adorable Lord, yet call himself a Christian. His spirit, temper, and conduct, may be in direct opposition to those of Christ, and yet we must acknowledge him a Christian. What is there, in the ordinary routine of society among us, to remind a stranger of the religion we profess? Nothing but a few conventional forms, which are quite detached from the general tenor of our lives. It may, indeed, be argued, in defence of Protestants, that it is the very essence of their religion, to substitute inward principles and affections for outward show. But has Christ, our leader, ever dispensed with outward tokens of subjection and love to himself? Did he not rather require us to confess him before men; and denounce woes on them that refuse to do so? Did he not preacribe such rules of conduct, as cannot be obeyed without the observation of others; such as love to the brethren, active charity; such a separation from the world as must expose us to the world's hatred and scorn; self-denial, meekness, peaceableness, and, above all, godliness? Did he not positively command us to let our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father in heaven? After all this, shall it be thought a feature of true piety, to keep our religion as carefully concealed as if Christ had commanded us to hide it under a bushel,--to live as nearly like the world as possible,-to avoid every act, word, or deed, that could offend the world, or remind it of His sovereign authority and constraining love? | But do the advocates of an exclusively secret piety, make up in secret devotion for their deficiency in public acknowledgment of Christ? This must of course

rest with their own conscience; but let them remember who has said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." And if they hate hypocrisy, let them reflect whether to call themselves Christians, and yet not to do the things that Christ says, is not the worst hypocrisy.-ISABELLA GRAY MYLNE.

Christ Crucified,-To create man, nothing was required but a word, he spake and it was done. But to recover him from the ruin in which sin had involved him, it was necessary for the eternal Son to become incarnate, and the Lord of life to expire upon a cross. This is the mirror which reflects the true features and lineaments of moral evil, and displays more of its demerit than the most profound contemplation of the law, of the purity of its precepts, or the terror of its sanctions, could have conveyed to any finite mind. In pouring its vials on the head of that innocent and adorable victim, it evinced its inflexible severity, its awful majesty, to an extent, and in a form never conceived before; and we may well suppose, that superior intelligences turn from the contemplation of such a spectacle, with a new impression of the Great Supreme, as a just God, and yet a Saviour. He who derives from this doctrine the smallest encouragement to sin, has never either felt or understood it as he ought; and however he may be persuaded of the death of Christ as a fact, he is a total stranger to the doctrine of Christ crucified.-ROBERT Hall.

demnation of the Pagan world; scanty as was the light they enjoyed, compared with the light of our meridian day, that they "were not thankful." And still more, the people of God were threatened with being cast off if they should not serve the Lord their God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. How much more then should our hearts overflow with continued gratitude. I doubt not the want of this blessed disposition will constitute one of the leading articles in the condemnation of the unholy; and I have found rustics unassailable in every other quarter, feeling their weak and indefensible state in this point, when I put it to themselves, whether they have been in any due degree grateful to the God who gave them all their present blessings, and who gave his only Son to die for them; and to the Saviour who, for their sakes, endured the agonies of his bitter passion and cruel death.-Life of Wilberforce.

The sure Record. It would be endless to enumerate the names of the sufferers in this case, and it has not been possible for the author of these collections, to come at the certain number of those ministers, or others, who died in prisons and banishment upon account of these persecuting laws, there being no record preserved of their persecution in any court of justice; nor could any roll of their names be preserved in those times of confusion any where but under the altar, and about the throne of the Lamb, where their heads are crowned, and their white robes shine, and where an exact account of their number will, at last, be found."-DANIEL DEFOE. (Memoirs of Church of Scotland.)

Christ made unto the Believer wisdom, righteousnESS, sanctification, and redemption.— Christ is made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; tendered and held out as all these in the promise of the Gospel; not only declared to be really furnished and fit so to be, but offered to be so, and we warranted, yea, invited and entreated to receive him as such.

But he is effectually made to be this to usto me, by believing, the promise being brought home and applied of God; and faith, wrought in the heart to entertain and unite to him. All our right knowledge of him, and belief in him, flows from himself,-is derived from him, and sent into our souls. His Spirit is conveyed into ours,-a beam of himself, as of the sun. This Sun of Righteousness" is not seen but by his own light; so that every soul that is made "wise unto salvation," that is brought to apprehend Christ, to cleave to him, and repose on him, it is by an emis sion of divine light from himself that shows him, and leads unto him. There is no right knowledge of the Father but in the Son; God dwelling in the “ Christ," will be found or known nowhere else,—and they that consider and worship God out of Christ, do not know or worship the true God, but a false notion and fancy of their own.-LEIGHTON.

consider

man,

The Importance of Salvation.-You came to this life about a necessary and weighty business-the eter nal salvation of your soul. I exhort you then, while you have time, to make a reckoning of your life, and in you as to think what an ill conscience will be to you your ways. O that there were such an heart when you are upon the borders of eternity! O then ten thousand thousand floods of tears cannot extinguish these flames, or purchase to you one hour's release from that pain! Consider the necessity of salvation. What is so needful as salvation? O if there were a free market of salvation proclaimed in that day when the trumpet of God shall awaken the dead, and when so many thousand thousands shall stand wailing before Christ, trembling, shouting, and making their prayers to hills and mountains to fall upon them, and hide them from the face of the Lamb, how many buyers would be then! What are all the sinners in the world in

that day when heaven and earth shall go up in a flame of fire but a number of beguiled dreamers! Every one shall say of his hunting and of his conquest, Behold it was a dream! This is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation. Why will you die and destroy yourselves? Time, like a flood in motion, is carrying you out of this world; and you know not when your sun shall go down and eternity benight you. Consider, in this your day, "the things that belong to your peace before they be hid from your eyes." O betake yourself to Christ without further delay; you will be fain at length to seek him, or do infinitely worse. RUTHERFORD.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST CRUELTY TO THE ANIMAL CREATION.

THE following able pleading in favour of mercy to the brute creation, is drawn from an excellent work on this subject, which has recently appeared under the title of Essay on Cruelty to Animals.'* To this Essay which was awarded the prize given on this subject in Dr Chalmers' class, is written with a masterly pen, and indicates a mind possessed at once of vigour and refinement. It abounds with much interesting information, and will well repay an attentive perusal.

Much has been written on the question as to the future condition of the brutes; and while a great deal of ingenious speculation has been foolishly thrown away upon a point which cannot be decided by argument, the motives to humanity are equally strong, whatever opinion may be held on the subject. If, as many wise and good men have supposed, they are destined not to perish at death, but to enjoy a state of immortality, we ought to be thereby all the more impressed with their importance in the economy of the universe, and to feel the responsibility of our relation to them the greater. Or, if we regard them merely as a passing part of the present system of things, a portion of the scenery in which it has pleased the Almighty that the great moral drama of this world should be acted, then, in knowing that the death of their body is also the end of their existence, we have the strongest motives for regarding their present happiness as more sacred, and cruelty as a more dreadful injustice.

The fact of their being the creatures of God, ought to secure our kind and benevolent treatment of them. For, have we not all one Father, and hath not one God created us!" Malachi ii. 10. "Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee: who knoweth not in all these that the Lord hath wrought this? in whose hand is the breath of every living thing." Job xii. 7-10. The arm of Omnipotence was required in the creation of the meanest animal, and man ought not lightly to take away that life which he cannot restore, and which God only could have given. And it is presumptuous in him to suppose that the divine love, manifested in the fair scenes of nature, has been made to work solely for his necessities and enjoyments. God has made the sun, the skies, the air, free to all his creatures; and man should not wantonly abbreviate the little day of pleasure, nor interrupt the lowly bliss of those on whom God has condescended to bestow a portion of his boundless love.

Another claim is founded on the providence of God manifested to the lower animals. In the very beginning of the record of the relations between God and his creatures upon earth, we read of the provision

Essay on Cruelty to Animals.' By James Macaulay, M. A. Published by John Johnstone, Edinburgh.

made for them as well as for man. "To every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat." Gen. i. 30. And, as they experienced his benevolence at their first creation, so their wants are ever before "the Lord, the preserver of man and of beast." Psal. xxxvi. 6. "The eyes of all wait upon Him, and he giveth them their meat in due season. He openeth his hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing." Psal. cxlv. 15, 16. "Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp to our God; who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains; He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry." Psal. cxlvii. 7, 9; Job xxxviiii. 41. "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man. He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches...... O Lord, how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all. The earth is full of thy riches: so is this great and wide sea wherein are things moving innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships; there is that leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein. These all wait on thee that thou mayst give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust." Psal. civ." On such passages of inspired Scripture no commentary is required.

After the judgment of God had passed upon the old world, so that every living thing was destroyed from the earth by the flood, God, it is said, "remembered Noah and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark; and he made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. And after the waters were off the face of the earth, every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark." Gen. viii. And then the covenant was made, not between man and his Maker alone, but between God and all creatures. "And God spake to Noah and to his sons that were with him, saying, And I, behold I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you: neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a token of the covenant." "The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." Gen. ix. 8-13, 16.

Another consideration is derived from the benefits which man procures from the lower animals. I need not speak of the various ways in which they are made to minister to the physical necessities and comforts of life, for these are sufficiently obvious. I refer, especially, to the instruction which the mind may derive from them; a motive, extending not only to those with which we are directly in relation, and whose toils and fidelity should command our kindness and See also Psalm 1. 10, 11: Job xxxviii. 41; Luke xii, 23; Matt, vi. 26.

vent any misconception as to the motives to this precept, the saine duty of compassion and relief to the distressed was enjoined, although the creatures be"If thou meet thine enemy's longed to an enemy.

"Many a good,

And useful quality, and virtue too,
Rarely exemplified among ourselves:
Attachment never to be weaned or changed
By any change of fortune; proof alike
Against unkindness, absence or neglect:
Fidelity, that neither bribe nor threat
Can move or warp; and gratitude for small
And trivial favours, lasting as the life,
And glistening even in the dying eye."

COWPER.

It ought to be also remembered, that all their sufferings are owing to the fall of man, and that, as we are thus the cause of their misery, they are entitled to our sympathy and kindness. For we read, that for the sake of man the ground is cursed, and that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together, under the oppression of sin. Gen. iii. 17; Rom. viii. 22. * The weight of this consideration ought to be greatly increased, when we know that, notwithstanding their present condition is the effect of our misconduct, they may often, though unknown to us, be the means of averting judgment, or bringing blessings on man. We have a striking illustration of this in the history of Jonah, where we find that the innocence of the little children and of the cattle of Nineveh was regarded by the Almighty, when he averted his judgments from its guilty inhabitants. And shall not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons, that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, AND ALSO MUCH CATTLE." Jonal iv. 11.

Many other reasons for humanity might be added, but I now proceed to notice some of the positive precepts and declarations of Scripture. And although these are commandments originally given merely for the government and direction of the people of Israel, yet they manifest the will of God on the subject, and bear on them the stamp of divine authority. First, then, the Sabbath was appointed as a day of rest for beast, as well as of rest and holiness for man. "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy, .... in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.' Exod. xx. 8, 10. "Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest; THAT THINE OX AND THINE ASS MAY REST, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed." Exod. xxiii. 12; Deut. v. 14.

There are several special precepts in the Jewish code of laws, by which mercy to animals is enjoined. For example,"If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young; but thou shalt in any wise † let the dam go, and take the young to thee: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." Deut. xxii. 6, 7. Again, "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to

See Psal. cvii. 33, 34; and Jer. xii. 4.

"Whether you take the young or not, thou shalt in any wise let the dam go. Thou shalt not add one affliction to another. The tender mother is bereaved of her children, and is not this sorrow sufficient? but wilt thou cruelly deprive her of her liberty likewise, and of the pleasure or possibility of having other young in their stead ?"-DR PRIMATT.

ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again; if thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him." Exod. xxiii. 4, 5. In Deuteronomy xxii. 10, we read, "Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together;" a rule of mercy, in which we are taught that the amount of labour or work should always be adapted to the strength of the animal employed. In Deuteronomy xxv. 4, the precept, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn," teaches that, while engaged in the service of man, animals are entitled to his indulgence and kindness. St. Paul quotes this law, (1 Cor. ix. 9, and 1 Tim. v. 18,) and shows that God did not appoint it for the sake of oxen alone, but that every labourer is worthy of his hire; and thence deduces the obligation of men to exercise justice, in properly rewarding those who labour for their advantage, and specially those who labour for the good of their souls. The application which he makes of the passage, so far from weakening, seems to me to confirm its obligation in reference to our present subject, inasmuch as it displays to us that, in the eye of God, the same principles of equity are expected to prevail among all his creatures, and that they are not to be confined to our dealings with our fellow

men.

These and similar passages of Scripture open up new views of the divine government, undiscoverable by human reason. We learn that He who is high above all nations, and whose glory is above the heavens, even the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth. Psalm cxiii. 4-6. We are taught that the meanest of his creatures are ever the objects of his watchful providence, and that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father, or is forgotten before God. Matt. x. 29; Luke xii. 6. So far is this merciful regard of the lower animals carried, that in the covenant with Noah, they are specially mentioned; and they are allowed to partake of the privileges of the Sabbath in common with ourselves. And, the case of Nineveh, we are told that the innocence of these despised creatures stood in the breach between man and his offended God, and rescued their tyrants from impending punishment. Such considerations may hurt the pride of man, but no one who believes the Bible to be a true revelation of the will and govern ment of the Creator of the universe, can reflect on these facts, without acquiring higher views of the duties of the relation in which he stands to the lower animals, and being inspired with that benevolence which is thus widely diffused over the creation. One more remark I may add, that many of the most beautiful representations of the interest which God takes in our welfare, and of his love to mankind, are given under the figure of the kindness due on our parts to the lower animals. The love of Jesus to our lost world is denoted by that of a gentle and good shepherd,— He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Isaiah xl. 11; John x. 11.

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