SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD.

HE that will glorify God, must live in and to the will of God, and seek to reduce his own will wholly into God's, and to destroy in himself all will that striveth against God's will.

1. The disposing will of God, our owner, must be absolutely submitted to, and the bounteous will of God, our benefactor, thankfully and joyfully acknowleged. 2. The ruling will of God, our lawgiver, must be with daily study and care obeyed, and his punishing and rewarding justice glorified.

3. The final felicitating will and love of God, our ultimate end and object, that we may please him, and be everlastingly pleased in him, love him, and be loved by him, must be totally desired and sought, as the only and perfect rest of souls.

Oh! that is the holy, the joyful, the honourable Christian, who daily laboureth, and in some good measure doth prevail to have no will but the will of God, and that which wholly is resolved into it; who looketh no further to know what he should do, but to know by God's own word what is the law or will of God; who believes that all that God willeth is good, and had rather have his life, and health, and wealth, and friends, at God's will and disposal, than his own, who knoweth that God's will is love itself, and that to please him is the end of all the world, and the only felicity of men and angels; and resteth wholly in the pleasing of that will. ** Oh, what would I beg more earnestly in the world, than a will conformed wholly to God's will, and cast into that mould, and desiring nothing but what God willeth. BAXTER.

DR. CHALMERS ON INFIDELITY.

THE truth of Christianity, says Dr. Chalmers, is neither more nor less than the truth of certain facts that have been handed down to us by the testimony of reporters. Let the historical evidences on which it rests be made to pass in review, and become the subject of sober, inductive examination; let the question be decided by a patient and a fair inquiry; let the enemies of our faith show the world that their infidelity rests on higher grounds than a stale invective against the jugglery of priests, or the pertinence of a flippant witticism; let them bring along with them the spirit of cool and candid reflection, an anxiety after truth, and a ready submission to evidence. How little do they think, as they strut along in the pride of their infidel philosophy, how little of the spirit and temper of true philosophy is in them-of the humble, cautious spirit which Bacon taught and on which Newton rests the immortality of his genius!

There is a puppyism in infidelity for which I have no patience. I thought that now-a-days both gentlemen and philosophers would have been ashamed of it! At the commencement of the last century one had some credit in sporting the language of unbelief and infidelity-for they were supported by the countenance of Shaftsbury and Bolinbroke, who, in addition to their being peers of the realm, had a sufficient acquaintance with their mother tongue. But infidelity, like every other fashion, has had its day; and since the masterly and triumphant defences of our English divines, it has been generally abandoned by the superior and more enlightened classes of society, and to use the words of an Oxford Professor, "is now really to be heard but in the language of blackguards."

I revere Christianity, not because it is the religion of my fathers-I revere it, not because it is the established religion of my country; I revere it, not because it brings to me the emoluments of office; but I revere it because it is built on the solid foundation of impregnable argument; because it has im

proved the world by the lessons of an ennobling morality; and because, by the animating prospects it holds out, it alleviates the sorrows of our final departure hence, and cheers the gloomy desolation of the grave.

SIMPLICITY OF FAITH.

THE simplicity of faith was once illustrated to me in the following

manner.

I was preaching my ordinary weekly lecture in the evening, when I was sent for in great haste, to visit a woman who was said to be dying, and who very much desired to see me. I closed the service, as soon as I could, and went immediately to her house. She was a member of my church, whom I had known very well, for years; with whom I had been acquainted ever since her first serious impressions, before she became a communicant. As I entered the room where she lay, I found it filled with her friends, who had gathered around her to see her die. Making my way through the midst of them, I reached the side of her bed, and found her apparently in the last agonies of death. She was bolstered up in her bed, gasping for breath, almost suffocated by the asthma, and the whole bed shook, by a palpitation of her heart, which seemed to be shaking her to pieces. It appeared to me, that she could not live a quarter of an hour. I said to her

"Mrs. M., you seem to be very sick ?"

"Yes," said she, "I am dying."

"And are you ready to die ?"

She lifted her eyes upon me, with a solemn and fixed gaze, and speaking with great difficulty, she replied

"Sir, God knows-I have taken him—at his word-and-I am not afraid to die."

It was a new definition of faith. "I have taken him at his word." It struck me in an instant, as a triumph of faith. "God knows I have taken him at his word, and I am not afraid to die." It was just the thing for her to say. I have often tried to think what else she could have said, that would have expressed so much, in such few words.

I prayed some four minutes by her bedside, recited to her some passages of God's Word, and was about to leave her, for a moment to her friends, whom she seemed anxious to address. She held me by the hand; and uttering a word at a time, as she gasped for breath, she said to me

"I wanted to tell you that I can-trust in God—while—I am dying. You have often told me he would not forsake me. And now-I find-it true. I am at peace. I die-willingly-and happy."

In a few minutes I left her, uttering to her such promises of the Saviour as I deemed most appropriate. However, she did not die. She still lives. But that expression of her faith has been of great benefit to me. It has aided me in preaching, and in conversation with inquiring sinners very often. It gave me a more simple idea of faith, than I ever had before. It put aside all the mist of metaphysics, speculation, and philosophizing. It made the whole nature of faith plain. Everybody could understand it"God knows, I have taken him at his word."-Pastor's Sketches.

FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO GOD.

HOWEVER early in the morning you seek the gate of access you find it already open; and however deep the midnight moment when you find yourself in the sudden arms of death, the winged prayer can bring an instant Saviour near. And this wherever you are. It needs not that you

ascend some special Pisgah or Moriah. It needs not that you should enter some awful shrine, or put off your shoes on some holy ground. Could a memento be reared on every spot from which an acceptable prayer has passed away, and on which a prompt answer has come down, we should find Jehovah-shammah, "the Lord hath been here," inscribed on many a cottage hearth and many a dungeon floor. We should find it not only in Jerusalem's proud temple and David's cedar galleries, but in the fisherman's cottage by the brink of Gennesaret and in the upper chamber where pentecost began. And whether it be in the field where Isaac went to meditate, or in the rocky knoll where Jacob lay down to sleep, or the brook where Israel wrestled, or the den where Daniel gazed on the hungry lions and the lions gazed on him, or the hill-sides, where the Man of Sorrows prayed all night, we should still discern the prints of the ladder's feet let down from heaven-the landing place of mercies, because the starting point of prayer. And all this whatsoever you are. It needs no saint, no proficient in piety, no adept in eloquent language, no dignity of earthly rank. It needs but a simple Hannah, or a lisping Samuel, It needs but a blind beggar, or a loathsome lazar. It needs but a penitent publican, or a dying thief. It needs no sharp ordeal, no costly passport, no painful expiation to bring you to the mercy seat; or rather, I should say, it needs the costliness of all: but the blood of atonement-the Saviour's merit, the name of Jesus, priceless as they are, cost the sinner nothing. They are freely put at his disposal, and instantly and constantly he may use them. This access to God in every place, at every moment, without any price or personal merit, is it not a privilege?

REV. JAMES HAMILTON.

A TALK WITH MY SOUL.

WHAT, my soul, dost thou desire? There on high is what thou desirest, what thou seekest. Dost thou gaze after beauty? The righteous shall shine as the sun in its beauty and lustre; they shall be as the angels of God. Art thou desirous of long life and health? There is a healthful eternity and an eternal health; for the righteous shall live for ever, and the Lord is their salvation. Dost thou desire satisfaction? They shall be satisfied when they awake in his likeness. Dost thou delight in music? There the angels sing unto the Lord a new song. Dost thou seek pure pleasures? The Lord gives them to drink of the river of his pleasure. Dost thou rejoice in honour and riches? God will make his good and faithful servants rulers over many things; they will be made children of God and heirs with Christ. There can one find everything elevated and good which can be conceived-wisdom, love, concord, power, and security. O thou human, destitute heart-heart full of cares and sorrows, how wouldst thou rejoice, if thou shouldst have an abundance of all these blessings! Ask thyself whether thou couldst contain so great a joy.

In this dark and bitter life, can there be any thing more excellent than longing after eternal joy and blessedness-than fixing the heart where pleasure is surest to be found? When shall I enter the mysterious and glorious place where rejoicing and triumph shall resound in the tabernacles of the righteous? Happy are those who dwell in thy house, O Lord; they shall be for ever praising thee. The saints shall flourish before thee like the lily. They shall be satisfied with the abundance of thy house, and drink of the river of thy pleasures; for thou art the fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see light. One thing have I desired of thee, that I may dwell in thy house all the days of my life. When shall I come and appear before thee? When shall I see my God, for whom my soul thirsts ?-Anselm.

THE TRANSITORINESS OF LIFE.

Ar, my friend, there is a greater difference, both in the stages of life and in the seasons of the year, than in the conditions of men; yet the healthy pass through the seasons, from the clement to the inclement, not only unreluctantly but rejoicingly, knowing that the worst will soon finish, and the best begin anew; and we are desirous of pushing forward into every stage of life, excepting that alone which ought reasonably to allure us most, as opening to us the Via Sacra, along which we move in triumph to our eternal country. We labour to get through the moments of our life, as we would to get through a crowd. Such is our impatience, such our hatred of procastination, in every thing but the amendment of our practices and the adornment of our nature, one would imagine we were dragging Time along by force, and not he us. LANDOR.

PROCLAMATION FROM SINAI.

"SINAI proclaims, How depraved is man! Behold him at the foot of Sinai in all his meanness. That Hebrew, kneeling before yon golden calf, is but the type of every sinner. Such would we all become if left to ourselves. Alas! for poor human nature! Let it come in its dignity, and see itself in the camp of Israel, and then go away and fling that dignity to the dust. Is it not humiliating to think of it? God had delivered them from bondage; God had parted the waters of the sea, that they might safely pass over; he had sweetened the waters of Marah for them, and brought them to this mount in safety; here he had exhibited his awful majesty in a form the most appalling the most fitted to produce impressions, even on hearts hard as Horeb rocks; and yet, while Sinai trembles and smokes, and awful thunder rolls; while the echoes of Jehovah's voice are yet pealing among the mountains; and while the terror that whitened their faces, and made their knees shake, the one against the other, has scarce forsaken them, they demand an idol; they manufacture a calf out of the gold of their earrings, and dance around it in the madness of profane mirth. O man, thou art fallen by thy iniquity! pride ill becomes thee! If there is a spot on this sin-stained soil more lowly, more obscure than another, thither go, and prostrate thyself before the most high God, and exclaim, Unclean! unclean! woe is me! for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips?

"Not one good interest in humanity can be served by pampering the pride of our nature, and yet nothing is more disrelished by the carnal man than allusions to his utter vileness. To yield to this weakness in him is cruelty; inasmuch as our giving him credit for being better than he is, does not actually make him so; and he is thereby tempted to think more highly of himself than he ought, and to be hurried into speech and action, by which his miseries are augmented, and his difficulties increased. It is always best to tell the truth, however disagreeable it may be; for this tells best, alike on our well-being and well-doing. Besides, the Gospel remedy can never be valued, nor applied, while self-righteousness retains its seat in the human mind. The very first step to salvation is to become nothing in ourselves; to feel and own the truth of the depravity of our nature, and the worthlessness of our own works, and to rely with confidence on the righteousness of Christ for our acceptance before God. Happy is the man who is emptied of self; that man is soon to be full of Christ. But to be emptied of self, we must study the history of our fall, and of our fallen

race. If we do this with docility of mind, guided in our researches by the Word of God, we must be convinced that the imagination of man's heart is only evil, and that continually;' that if left to ourselves there is no extremity of sin to which we will not go; and that nothing is so sure of propitiating towards us the Divine approbation, as to admit the need of Divine grace, to form within us every good thought, to teach our lips every good word, and to lead our feet into the way of every good deed. 'The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps! We are all by nature children of wrath.' Behold, we are shapen in iniquity, and in sin did our mothers conceive us." MCFARLANE.

HINTS ON SABBATH SCHOOLS.

No matter whether we look at home or abroad, in the Establishment or among Dissenters, in the church or the world, we see a mighty array of disorganized elements. The existence of such a state of things should stimulate us to do our utmost to support every means by which the interests of morality and religion may be promoted. Fervently ought we to pray that our youths especially should be preserved from the contaminating influences of vice, that peace may be restored to those churches which are troubled, that rejoicings may be heard because of the peace of Jerusalem, and that the Gospel may have free course, run, and be glorified, Among the many controversies of the present times is one of a very important character. Many, doubtless, of the readers of this Magazine are aware, that a publication has been issued, bearing the title of "Voices from Prisons and Penitentiaries," in which important statistics are introduced, and a desire expressed, that Sabbath-school children should be recommended to adopt the principles of total abstinence from intoxicating liquors; and remarks have been made on this subject reflecting on the Sunday-school Union. I need hardly add that the remarks referred to have occasioned a lengthened controversy. Without committing myself to the arguments of either party, I would just observe that I have been many years connected with Sabbath-schools, and have also been a teetotaler for a very long period; nevertheless, sorry should I be to countenance any thing that would tend to the injury of Sabbath-schools, which have my best affections, and which have been instrumental in my conversion. I should very much like, however, to know the opinions of my brethren on the subject, through the medium of our Magazine. I cannot however refrain from expressing it as my opinion that, by the use of proper means, our Sabbath-schools may be greatly improved. How that is to be effected? and how Sabbath-schools are to be made more efficient? are questions of great moment, which I desire others more competent to answer. These enquiries ought to be proposed and considered in a friendly and courteous manner, and then no possible harm could arise therefrom. It becomes us to use the best means to advance the interests of Zion, and one important item in the catalogue of means is, an impartial enquiry into causes and effects connected with Sabbath-schools, in the advancement of the religion of the Lord Jesus. Without at all imputing the want of piety to Sunday-school teachers, or the good done in our schools, I believe there is a great want of efficiency in the system, considered in a general point of view. Just glance for a moment at many neighbourhoods abounding with Sabbath-schools, and what do we behold! Abominable gin-palaces, public-houses, and beer-shops, abound; scores and hundreds of those that were once Sabbath-school scholars, frequent those dens of iniquity, are devoted to the service of Satan, and are pests to society. I reproach no one, I reflect upon no school, but I