Redeemer, Prophet, Priest, and King Yet came he as a child! M. form of God, emptied himself and became obedient to the death of the cross, that we might obtain by his blood redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins; that we, who could never have been saved and justified by the law, (that is, by such a perfect moral obedience as the justice of God requires of us, and of which we are from our birth morally incapable,) might obtain justification and eternal glory by faith in this Redeemer, after the likeness of whom we must be changed into new creatures. And all this is not of ourselves, but of pure grace, according to the election of God, who chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and who hath sealed us with his own image, by the power of his Holy Spirit. This "When I see an afflicted and an unhappy Holy Spirit, who is God, produceth in us at man, I say to myself, There is perhaps a man once to will and to do, according to his good whom the world would envy, if they knew the pleasure: so that we are indebted to the Holy value of his sorrows, which are possibly intendSpirit expressly and peculiarly for our sanctified only to soften his heart and to turn his afcation, as to the Son for our justification, and for our creation to the Father." From the Amulet. MESSIAH'S ADVENT. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” He came not in his people's day And conquest crowned each fight ;- To feeble man give way— Pillar and cloud Jehovah gave, High emblems of his grace; Fierce lightning veiled his face; Not in the earthquake's rending force, Not in the blasting fire, Not in the strong wind's rushing course, As Gop, his might and ire :— From the Spirit and Manners of the Age. fections towards their proper centre. But when I see or hear of a crowd of voluptuaries, who have no ears but for music, no eyes but for splendour, and no tongues but for impertinence and folly, I say, or at least I see occasion to say-this is madness-this persisted in must have a tragical conclusion-it will condemn you, not only as Christians unworthy of the name, but as intelligent creatures.--You know, by the light of nature, if you have not quenched it, that there is a God, and that a life like yours cannot be according to his will."-Coreper's Letters. THE delineator of the "Spirit and Manners of the Age" should give particular prominence to its recreations. In the amusements of men we have a valuable clue to their real dispositions. The greater occupations of life are calculated to induce a general character, in which individual peculiarity is obscured, if not lost; but when the choice is voluntary, and the taste is unbiassed, the actual state of feeling must be perceptible. This standard of judgment will demand an opinion of many professors of religion which cannot be given without pain. While it is unquestionable that the purest principles live and glow in the hearts of myriads, and that the number of faithful adherents to the Christian cause is greatly on the increase, it is evident, that many who attach themselves to it, have but few and feeble claims to such an union; and that some are destitute of all scriptural pretensions. It is only necessary to refer for proof of this to the pleasures of such persons; these it will be found are not unfrequently precisely the same as those of the people of the world; and on the ground already taken, it must be contended that their profession is incongruous and false in proportion to this resemblance. The inference is fair, that the individual most unlike, in this respect, the avowedly irreligious, furnishes the highest evidence of his picty-that he whose likeness to them is greatest has no evidence;-and that our suspicions are challenged according as vacillation between these points is discoverable. These preliminary remarks are designed to show that what follows may be extensively applied; and also to exculpate religion from the charges advanced by her foes, like so many arrows drawn from the quivers of her avowed friends, and 86 hurled against her hallowed and beauteous | Pregnant with all that makes archangels smile; frame. The facilities given, at the present time, to the employment of leisure hours were never equalled. Sound intelligence may now be imbibed by a honied draught. It cannot, however, be questioned that the effect of our literary advantages is not so great as might fairly be anticipated. A large proportion of the works most in request is formed of those principally designed to amuse. They cannot be denied some praise for ingenuity of plan, graphical description, minute delineation of character, and elegance of style. The promotion of morality may even be their professed object, nothing opposed to it may be perceived by a superficial observer, and yet their influence may be extensively injurious. A tasto may be excited and stimulated by them which will seek gratifications of a more questionable order. The mind may be gradually attracted to the portraiture of passions and the descriptions of scenes, by which it will be corrupted, and made the receptacle of ideas and impressions which it is desirable to exclude. A love may be implanted for false sentiments; aversion may be cherished for what ought always to be venerated; and disgust may be excited with the engagements of life which belong to us as residents for a time in this world, and as candidates for immortality. The annals of families prove that all this is not merely possible but Events the most degrading and disastrous must be attributed, in many instances, to the demoralizing energy exerted in the circle where the novelist, like some mighty magician, has held, by a potent spell, his enamoured but infatuated victims. A correct judgment will proscribe all those works which have a tendency, however remote, to weaken the intellectual faculty, or impair the moral taste; and will pronounce the pursuit of mere gratification symptomatic of a state of mind requiring immediate correction and incessant vigilance. Such a censorship should be assumed by every individual, and assuredly shall we have made some advancement, when the light and vapid productions of modern times are consigned to merited oblivion; and when those of a solid and sterling character, which, unless new, excite no interest, and even then only a passing regard, shall contribute their rich and costly stores to the clevation of the mind and the amelioration of the heart. At a time when the mental resources of individuals were far more limited than they are now, cards were introduced to remove the ennui of the social common. scene. A taste for literature and science has operated, it is true, to their exclusion from many companies where they were once cordially admitted; but, unhappily their influence is still very extensive. The writer has not unfrequently heard the question mooted of late, "What harm is there in cards?" Nor is he conscious of any difficulty in meeting the interrogation. Is there no harm, it may be replied, in the sacrifice of time? Are so many precious hours to be squandered with impunity? It cannot be. Time, the supreme!---Time is eternity; Who murders time, he crushes in the birth The excitement of corrupt feelings, and the "Vice is a creature of such hideous mien, That to be hated needs but to be seen; But scen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace." It is, therefore, at best but an ingenious fallacy to contend, that because persons play ry can arise; since, by so doing, an avenue is in private parties, or for small sums, no inju ments of an ensnaring and often fatal amusekept open for all the pestiferous accompaniment. Of dancing it would be unjust and injurious to speak in mild and equivocal terms. for its necessity so commonly stated, that it is Nothing can be more absurd than the pretext for many are destitute of them who have been indispensable to easy and graceful manners; who have not been, have possessed this attracinitiated by fashionable teachers, and others tion. Were it otherwise, the result ought to be inestimably valuable, to be commensurate with the inevitable sacrifice. Of what may a woman, entering the public assembly in all the charms of loveliness, so well remind us, as the victim of former times, garlanded with flowers, over that countenance so many beauteous hues, approaching the altar? Health, which casts and which gives to that step such elasticity and firmness, must suffer, and may be lost in such midnight revelrics. To this the usual attire may greatly contribute, while it cannot be as- | eclat, an unnatural air. A glimpse of a period in sumed without impairing the delicacy of its which the influence of the stage shall be greatwearer; giving scope to the feelings of pridely diminished, is truly animating to a benevolent and to the love of display which it is of vast mind. Those who are acquainted with its hisimportance to repress, and assisting to induce tory, drawn not by the hand of interested pa habits of extravagance at variance with honour negyrists, but by that of truth, need entertain and peace. Nor can it be denied that other no apprehension that a commensurate evil can emotions frequently have birth of an order, if arise from its ruins. On the contrary, when possible, more exceptionable. Struggles for the sound is heard, "It is fallen," the most precedency, the exultation attendant on perso- powerful engine ever devised for the destrucnal distinction, the proud consciousness of su- tion of man's dearest interests will have been periority in dress, in skill, or in immediate as- demolished. If it be asked on what principle sociation; the efforts at mortifying others, amusements should be selected, the words of which frequently inflame the passions, and vio- an eminent individual will furnish an approprilently agitate the whole frame, betray a state ate reply:-"If there is something wholesome of mind and of heart which every lover of his in them which almost refuses corruption; if species should strive to avert. Strange is the the advantages they produce balance their misinfatuation which conceals the fact, that every chief, if corrupted; if, by scattering their oils departure from the appropriate sphere of mo- around, they contribute to smooth, without ral principle makes way for others; and that poisoning the waves of life; if their direct or the most fearful consequences may result from chance expense does not break in upon that an aberration which once seemed inconsidera- treasury which every man keeps for his neighble. Still more so is it when it is not seen, bour; if they are not so closely allied to the that having proceeded far from the line of rec- amusements of the bad as to break down the titude, the individual is in imminent danger of wall of partition between us and them; if they a lapse, which once would have been deemed have no tendency to wean society from more impossible. Not unfrequently do the public profitable employments; if, lastly, they do not journals describe to us some of the miseries of encroach on that handful of time bestowed on violated engagements, and heart-rending scenes man to do the business of eternity.-If all this of pollution and wo, which had never met the be true of any of them, I will say of him eye of the mind, had it not been for the vain who uses them, he may be a Christian, and a imagination that a small part of what is mani- good Christian, but I shall think him the most festly evil may be good;-had not circum- distinguished Christian who uses them the stances been permitted and applauded in which least. The good, like the great man, (why, they undoubtedly originated. The limits of alas! are not the terms convertible?) will ever this paper will allow of but few remarks on seek his pleasures in the field of his duties, theatrical representations, and indeed, they and, though he suffers mere amusement, will would be inappropriate to its subject, since they seldom court it." * have no solid claim to the character of amusements. For recreation we must repair to other sources. The stage can neither relieve the mind from severe attention, nor recruit the animal spirits by an agreeable suspension of effort; its effort, on the contrary, is the excitement of the passions, which is always attended by a feverish restlessness, and followed by painful exhaustion. A sanguine hope is entertained by many that the attractions of the theatre are on the decline. It is an interesting feature of the present age, that notwithstanding every exertion on the part of managers in our provincial towns, they often receive much less en- That "every good and every perfect gift couragement than they have been accustomed cometh down from above," must readily be to experience. And there are reasons for think-acknowledged by all who ground their opinions ing that this will be increasingly the case, from upon the written word of God. But as it is the want of dramatic materiel. Tragedy has an error, and a grievous one, the ascribing to long been on the wane, and Comedy is now secondary causes only, that which owes its exrapidly declining. Not a few characters which istence or continuance primarily to a great first amused the play-goers of thirty or forty years Author-so is it no less an error, the speaking ago, are too gross to be tolerated now, when or thinking of the things which happen either the licentiousness, of speech and composition, in our physical or moral world, as though they then so common, is becoming extremely rare. were the immediate results of God's direct In the lapse of years there has been not only agency, without the intervention of appointed an improvement in delicacy of feeling, but also secondary means of their occurence. He who a diminution of those personal peculiarities, to governs the impulses alike of matter and of the embodying of which the actor looks for his mind, who regulates at once the rushings of highest fascination and applause. In the inter- the whirlwind and "the madness of the peocourse, and especially the mental improvement ple," and who, whether a navy is engulfed beof society, a sort of homogeneity of character neath the brimming flood, or the foundations has been induced which will render difficult of a civil polity swept away by the inbreakthe comedians finding new parts, and which will give to many of those now exhibited with From The Christian Examiner. CRITO. ON MEDITATION. Ir is a subject of lamentation with many professing Christians, too notorious to require proof, that they do not find themselves profiting in their religion, and making that advancement confessedly so desirable in spiritual things. *World without souls. ings of anarchy, still amid the apparent confu- whether they will or not? May we not set sion "Walks dreadfully serene" He has subjected all things here below to the great law of cause and effect, and to the operations of this law he has bidden men to look, and by its actings to be guided. The Divine Being formed man to be a labourer, and set before him as a proper object of his effort the field of intellect, which is to be reclaimed from sin and ignorance, as well as that ground on which he treads, and which is to yield him bread only "by the sweat of his brow." If man do not exert himself, therefore-if, when any defects are to be removed, or any benefits produced, he content himself by saying, "God is all in all, He will produce the effects," he puts himself out of the very appointed way of attaining the desired results. before us the solemnities of judgment-the fearful doom of the condemned-the last scene of our existence-and the many other themes which tend to check the idle sallies of the soul, and bid it pause and think? Unquestionably; and persevering in so doing may, with God's grace, produce much habitual sobriety of thought. And so with other feelings of the mind; their growth and permanence may be promoted by careful, constant bringing forward into our contemplations those peculiar objects and trains of thought which help to foster them. There is no person almost, we believe, who can enter a fine cathedral without feeling solemnity amounting in some cases even to awe, while looking upon "The high embowered roof, Now we do not by any means assert that the sensations which such a place produces are in themselves religious; but we must confess our While, therefore, every professing Christian should have it deeply impressed upon his mind, that whether a Paul plant, or an Apollos water, it is God who giveth the increase; he should keep in mind that the planting and the watering must still be resorted to. And we think it is to a neglect of this that so many go on hope-belief that they may produce susceptibility to lessly complaining of their want of spiritual improvement, who, were they to employ that time in seeking for and cultivating the various Christian graces, which is spent by them in lamenting the absence of them, would soon find, under God's blessing, that "the hand of the diligent maketh rich," whether it be in the matters of time or of eternity. The great attainment of the Christian mind may be expressed in one word-spirituality. And to the possession of a thing so desirable, many helps might here be mentioned. But we shall for the present confine ourselves to one, which is, stated meditation; convinced as we are, that the legitimate use of it is eminently calculated for the advancement of the life of God in the human soul. All religion is manifestly the result of impression. But to analyze this word, and look at it when not metaphorically employed, what does it convey to us? That a harder body being brought into contact with a softer one, the latter has yielded and adapted itself to the shape and fashion of the former. The point is then, may not men, by deliberate and successive acts, succeed in producing peculiar impressions upon their own minds? We think it may be done, for we know that it has been. It is certain that every one acknowledges the effects which occasional circumstances produce upon him. A man to-night is all frivolity and gaiety-he is summoned to attend the funeral of a near friend the following day, whose death he never dreamed of, and he returns from the scene saddened and sobered into deep thought. Is it that any new truth has been brought before him? Is it that he has now learned for the first time that human life is uncertain, and that "time and chance happeneth to all?" By no means. But his mind has now been brought forcibly into contact with an old and wellknown truth, and has by the contact been impressed. Here is the whole matter. Now may we not voluntarily do that for our minds, which is thus occasionally done for them, religious impressions. The Roman Catholics undoubtedly make too much of those things, and treat the occasional effects of cloister gloom as though they were the very essence of piety itself. But have not we of the Protestant religion made too little, perhaps, of them, and because we would not allow men to be treated as though they were all body, have acted towards them too much as though they were all spirit, completely independent of all impressions derivable from sense? Never could we allow that the iron-studded doors of the cloister could of themselves shut out the busy world, and insure to the pale inhabitant within their foldings, that security from sinful thoughts, and that holy communing with God, which some have vainly fancied they could; but we must think, that to a soul inclined to the regulation of its spiritual concerns, and anxious to produce abiding impressions of the emptiness of this world and the preciousness of the next, the "long withdrawing aisle," hung round with the momentos of a frail mortality, and showing in the shadowy returns of its ribbed arches, only some bending statue stooping in the fixed coldness of its monumental grief over the relics of some once mercurial being, now unconscious as itself, would prove a useful walk, and be calculated to solemnize the mind into a pondering upon the deep things of God. As then, outward things do tend frequently to the disposing the soul to meditation, we believe that what may be called the meditative habit may be produced. And to the regular use of fixed meditation upon divine things we would direct many souls who are desirous of increase in spirituality, as to a powerful helper. It is an objection, however, to the use of meditation, that some cannot command their thoughts that they should occupy themselves upon a chosen theme. And undoubtedly at the first many will find a difficulty. But by perseverance, and the continued endeavouring to keep the current of the thought turned on a selected subject, the faculty will be ultimate ly produced. For as doves, which of themselves like not their first introduction to a new habitation, are yet by gentle confinement for a time, with feeding and kind treatment, brought to account that their pleasing haunt which at the first was but their prison, so the thoughts of God and of his works in redemption, in themselves foreign indeed to man's heart, may by Christian industry be brought to love and to frequent the place. As we think, then, that meditation in the general is a great promoter of spirituality, so we would recommend to those who would adopt the practice, the use of settled times "Stated times," says Richard Baxter, "are a hedge to duty"--and, indeed, that to which no fixed period is appointed is often in danger of having no period allotted to it at all. We would recommend, therefore, to all to fix during the day some time when they may deliberately shut to, not only the door of their closets against strange feet, but equally the door of their hearts against strange thoughts; when they may scrutinize their actions, look how their title stands for heaven, examine the state of their graces, act over the great scenes of death and judgment, and having thus reviewed their spiritual concerns, go with a better knowledge of their hearts, a clearer sight of their wants, and a more elevated conception of the divine essence, to that footstool of grace, where the voice of supplication is ever successfully poured out, being uttered into the ears of the great High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Meditation will give fervency to prayer, and fervent prayer will bring down upon the soul abounding blessings, so that it shall grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." From The Christian Examiner. ON THE MOTTO TO AN ARMORIAL PRESUMPTUOUs mortal, dost thou dare The false and mean, though proudly born; Rel. Mag.-No. 1. To walk with purpose firm and high, And, more than all, prepar'd to die: Return to dust, beneath earth's sod, Art thou prepared to meet thy God? And canst thou lift thy guilty hand Before the bar where all must stand? And there with fearless front defy The judgment's searching scrutiny. Ah! mortal, tell how thou hast dared To say, that thou art thus prepared: Hast thou been washed in that pure fountain, That flowed on Calvary's holy mountain; And art thou covered with His dress, Who clothes the sinner's nakedness? Hast thou been born from on high,— Thou art indeed prepared to die. Down, like the stream, thy peace shall flow In joy or sorrow, weal or woCast on the mountain's barren steep, Or fettered in the dungeon deep; On raging.ocean's tempest tost, Thy home afar-thy pathway lost, Through every change, in every place, Thou shalt possess thy soul in peace; Nor lives there under heaven's wide span, A calmer or a happier man: Above all ills thy mind is lifted, And thou a happy man art gifted With choicest blessings from on high, Prepared to live, prepared to die. From The Christian Examiner. ON CONVERSATION. W. G. Ir was a remark made, we believe, by Dr. Johnson, of the celebrated Edmund Burke, that one could not take shelter along with him under a shed from a shower of rain without going away either the wiser or the better. We do not quote this saying of the great Lexicographer as a testimony, either to the abilities or principles of the individual concerning whom it was uttered, the truth being, that at present we do not purpose in the least, to meddle with the consideration of either; we quote them as a testimony to what good may be done in a very simple way, which is the way of con versation. It was in conversation that the subject was proposed of writing an article in The Christian Examiner, upon Conversation: whether that will be considered ultimately as productive of good, inasmuch as having given birth to these following remarks, remains as yet for our readers to determine. But certain it is that the right use and proper direction of our conversational intercourse with each other, as they are but too much neglected, so they demand imperatively our consideration, that whatever is ill therein may be amended, and whatever things are weak therein may be strengthened, and that in this as in every thing, we may do all to the glory of God." We would premise, then, that we address ourselves to those only, who, holding themselves accountable to God for the employments in which every day finds them engaged, hold themselves in course, responsible for the man M |