teachings, profound and sublime as are the truths she unfolds; not in science, revealing as it does the simplicity and harmony, the grandeur and power by which the whole universe is governed. These are not enough for me they are but the picture, and I can have the reality. They are necessary to aid my contemplations and to form my conceptions of the Infinite, but they are only the letters by which I may spell his name, and not the Spirit that my spirit yearns to reverence and adore. I am astonished at the astronomer, at the chemist, at the geologist, at the historian, when I see him pursuing his studies with such enthusiastic ardour as to be ready to sacrifice health and even life itself rather than forego the pleasures of knowledge; and then, when he has ascertained the laws of matter and of mind, refusing to the great, the glorious Lawgiver himself, a solitary thought, a moment's homage of the heart. Marvellous infatuation! the flower admired, the Artist despised; the universe contemplated with wonder, the great Artificer scorned! How shocking to behold! I can share the delight he experiences, as the wonders of the visible creation are unfolded to his view; but I must rise immeasurably higher than this; and in the Creator of that sun himself, in the Maker of this earth and of all things in it, in Him to whom the wonders of philosophy and of science owe their being, find my delight. And if I am but permitted to think of him, if I am able to understand any part of his ways, and joy can come to the human spirit from any contemplation, it must surely be from the contemplation of Him.

Yet this is the lowest view of God; power, wisdom, the chief attributes displayed in creation, form but a portion of his character. He has richer and nobler attributes. God is love. His name is holy. He loveth righteousness, and hateth iniquity. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; yea, our God is merciful. Truth is the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins; the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Now he is the only such being in the universe. The heavens are not pure in his sight; even the angels that stand before him, are chargeable in comparison with folly; and as for man, his flesh is grass, his breath is in his nostrils, his beauty is consumed like a moth, in his best state he is altogether vanity, his promise fails, his heart is deceitful above all things, he is full of iniquity. How delightful to turn to him who is GOD ALONE! How satisfying to concentrate the thoughts, to fix the heart on that Spirit, who is thus "infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his holiness, justice, goodness, and truth," not less than in his wisdom and power! If an Archimedes, a Newton, or a Dalton, when the first conception of that grand physical truth which he discovered, burst on his mind, could not help giving utterance to the evрŋka of his joy; if the pleasures of science could reconcile a Galileo to his dark prison-house, and its pursuits restore peace to the spirit of a Cuvier, when torn and agonised by domestic

woes; must not the character of God himself possess far greater power? Can I dwell amid the uncreated glories of his nature; can I look upon the beauties of his holiness; can I be surrounded by the effulgence of his righteousness and grace; can I be engaged in the survey of the breadths and lengths, and depths and heights of that love which passeth knowledge; and care corrode, and sorrow depress, my spirit, as though I sat in darkness and the shadow of death? Will my trials be made no lighter, my fears be unrelieved, by thoughts like these? It cannot be: and in the moral glories of the God I worship, there is a balm for my wounds, and an antidote for my griefs, so that though sorrowful I can alway rejoice.

I will joy in the God of my salvation,—of my deliverance. True, he is the Author of these calamities that threaten Israel; but he is its Saviour, too. They will last no longer, they will fall no heavier, than his most merciful purposes require; whilst on me, his servant, his eye rests in love, and the shadow of his wing defends me. They may speedily be removed: it is he alone can remove them. Their continuance, however, may be necessary, their pressure be increased, and the reason of them be concealed. But what of that? he is still my deliverer. He gives me faith and patience now to bear them; he imparts to them both a subduing and purifying power; he shows himself the tenderest of parents, in adjusting them to my infirmities and exigencies: they will endure only for a moment; they will then pass away for ever, and leave me complete-yes, complete-in the image of his dear Son. Now is it true that the good man stands to God in this relation, and God to him? It is true; for his own mouth hath spoken it. In the glory that followed the sufferings of the Son of man, we are taught it. The saints that are before the throne, clothed in white robes, attest it. We ask the worldling, then, the sceptic, the despiser, if, in such considerations, the good man has not cause to rejoice? or if, though his soul is troubled and in heaviness, confidence in God, as his deliverer, is not sufficient to keep his mind in perfect peace?

I will joy in the God of my salvation. When we come to think of the salvation of the Bible, in its widest and highest sense, how greatly multiplied do the grounds of the good man's joy become! It originated entirely in the riches of God's mercy. It is provided by him for rebel creatures. It passes by angels, yet reaches man; it reaches the chief of sinners. It covers all our iniquities; not one remains unpardoned, to rankle in the conscience, and break its peace. It leaves us under no condemnation : we are accepted in the Beloved, and permitted to call God our Father. It restores our soul, and secures, even to hearts evil, and depraved, and deceitful as ours, the return of righteousness and true holiness. What sorrows does it abate, what fearful apprehensions allay! What hopes does it inspire, what consolations

does it impart, what rich Divine delights! It takes these vile bodies, and promises to fashion them like to the glorious body of Jesus; and on us, who were the heirs of indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, it confers glory, honour, and immortality,-eternal life! The price at which all this has been procured, is no less than the incarnation and abasement, the temptation and the fasting, the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and passion, the death and burial, of the Son of God, who gave himself for us; whilst its conveyance is secured by the donation of the Holy and Eternal Spirit, who shows us the glory of Christ, who creates us anew, and will never suspend his preserving and sanctifying operations, till he has built us up a holy temple, a suitable habitation of God. Yet how little do we know, though we thus speak, of this great salvation! Till we can apprehend the glory of Christ,-till we can know the capacity of the human spirit for happiness or woe,-till we can tell what the lost will endure in hell, and the ransomed enjoy in heaven,-till we can measure eternity itself,-its wonders must remain untold. But it is assured to us by God. He has already brought it to our hearts and hopes; and his promise, his gift, his oath, make its consummation sure. Suppose, then, that for a season, if needs be, I am in heaviness; will no gladness be put into my heart by such a view of God? Can I fix my soul upon him-can I see him-realise him as the God of this salvation, and not receive a higher and diviner joy, than that which the wicked know, when their corn, and wine, and oil increase?

But he is the God of my salvation; and when faith can make such appropriation, the joy of the heart is still enhanced. Behold that assemblage of men, and see that one in their midst, distinguished by his colour and his garb from those around him he is one of those illustrious philanthropists, by whose efforts their brethren, so lately in bonds, have been set free; and they are met to welcome him to their shores, and give vent to their acclamations of delight. But there is one in the crowd, down whose furrowed cheek the tears are rolling fast, whose emotions are too strong for utterance, and who seems to be in an agony of joy. Ask him its cause. Ah, sir! he says, you never were in bonds-I was; and that man broke my chains, purchased my freedom, and restored me to my wife and child. Were I to hold my peace, these stones would testify against me. You cannot know what I feel, as I look upon his sacred form. And when it is permitted to the good man thus to say, the God of my salvation, how rich his satisfaction! how pure his inward peace! it is unlike all he knew before; it stands alone in the experience of the human soul; it is peculiar and Divine. There is no sorrow it cannot mitigate, no condition it cannot bless.

There may be some who will call this a selfish joy. They tell us we are to love God for his own sake, and that unless we are conscious

:

that what he is in himself, rather than what he has done for us, affords us satisfaction, our piety cannot be genuine, and ought to excite our suspicion. We confess we do not understand either this divinity, or this philosophy. Not this divinity, for an apostle has said, "We love him, because he first loved us;" nor this philosophy, since, as it is not as he is in himself, but only in his relation to us, that we can possibly know him so it is in those relations alone we can admire and love him. And we deny that the love of God, thus excited, is chargeable with selfishness: it is a strictly lawful affection; nor do we know any other way in which it could be awakened in the human breast. To refine on the Gospel, after the manner of some, may distress the meek, and harass the diffident and fearful, without profiting any. It is the transcendental in religion, rather than the sober, the practicable, the true; and if, with Isaiah, we can but say, "I will praise thee, for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me," we may well be assured of finding mercy of the Lord in that day.

How surpassing, then, the value of the religion of the Bible! its Author, how glorious and great! Where can his like or substitute be found? All things else, though good for their intended use, are in comparison vain; whilst he, in the absence of all things, is the sufficient portion of the soul. O Lord, I take thee to be my God. In sorrow thou shalt comfort me; and in sickness make my bed. I will not trust in man; neither strength nor riches shall be my confidence: thou alone art Jehovah, and my mind shall stay itself on thee, and dwell in perfect peace. When man betrays, when Satan tempts, when the world deceives me,-in the city and in the field, in the day time and at the night season,-under the pressure of disease, and the burden of sin,-in the hour of lonely woe, or beneath the lowering cloud and bursting storm;-shouldst thou enter my own habitation, and smiting those I love, break in upon its peace,— shouldst thou visit my country for its sins, and cause the pillars of the social fabric to tremble, so that every man in the violence of his own grief should become insensible to the woes of others, shouldst thou enter thy church, and bring judgment to thine own house, and fill the hypocrites in Zion with dismay, and make the saints afraid;-in that solemn hour, when heart and flesh faint and fail, when death approaches, and the judgment is nigh;-then, and at all times, O God of my salvation, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will I come to thee, and will trust thy name: I will rest on thy promise, and be at peace!

MEMORABLE DAYS IN JUNE.

June 2, 1489. Archbishop Cranmer born.

2, 1738. The conversion of Kajarnak, the first-fruits of the United Brethren's Greenland mission.

,, 11, 1559. John Knox's sermon at St. Andrew's, after which the cathedral was

destroyed.

14, 1661. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, executed.

15, 1520. Leo X. issues his bull against Luther.

,, 16, 1530. The Margrave of Brandenburg's declaration at Augsburg.

,, 17, 1630. John Howe born.

17, 1722. The Moravian fugitives commenced the building of Herrnhut. 19, 1623. Blaise Pascal born.

,, 20, 1530. John the Constant, Elector of Saxony, refuses to adore the host at

Augsburg.

,, 20, 1837. Queen Victoria ascended the throne of Great Britain.

21, 1630. The remarkable revival of religion at the Kirk of Shotts.

,, 22, 1679. Battle of Bothwell Brigg.

,, 22, 1714. Matthew Henry died.

,, 24, 1485.

,, 24, 1519.

,, 24, 1629.

Bugenhagen born.

Theodore Beza born.

Mr. Higginson and his brethren, of the Massachusetts Bay colony, landed at Salem.

26, 1752. Cardinal Alberoni died.

28, 1681. Mrs. Margaret Baxter, wife of Richard Baxter, died.

,, 30, 1637. Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick pilloried.

A VERY general survey of the preceding list is sufficient to convince us that the present paper must consist, almost wholly, of extracts. Our readers will neither blame us for this, nor regret it. It naturally follows from the very great interest which attaches to a few of the events above recorded.

Agreeably to the method observed in former papers, we direct attention, in the first instance, to civil matters. Our list contains one event of this character, the anniversary of which most of our fellowsubjects, however much they may differ on other points, will hail with satisfaction-the accession of our Queen to the throne of the United Kingdom. It is not our object to discuss the political advantages which attend a limited monarchy like that under which we live, or to