unto salvation, through faith that is in Christ Jesus. I add with much pleasure, what might have been anticipated, that he was also “ a man of prayer." The first night of his taking to his straw-bed, being exceedingly indisposed, he retired before the men had left their work. Mr. S. missed him from the shop for a considerable time; and going into an adjoining store-room, in which no business was done, he found him in the posture of devotion, praying to his Father who seeth in secret. This no doubt was his constant practice; but as Mr. S. and his men usually quitted their work before the old man retired to rest, his habits of secret communion with God were now for the first time discovered. He was one of the last of men to sound a trumpet before him; so that it is impossible to ascertain to what extent he carried his habits of prayer and reading the Scriptures, in addition to those sacred meditations which doubtless cheered his mind throughout the day, in the midst of his solitary and monotonous employment. In an early stage of our acquaintance, I had learned that he had a considerable taste for versification, and that he used occasionally to. amuse his leisure hours by composing a poem. My first step therefore after his decease was to get possession of his manuscripts, of which I found two books of considerable thickness, which appeared to be duplicates. From them I was confirmed in the opinion, if indeed I needed any farther confirmation than what my own eyes and ears had witnessed, that his religious principles were strictly consonant to that holy book which he so much valued, and which he made his companion and guide. Having already occupied your pages at some length, and knowing with how much difficulty versification, except of a very high order, finds its way into the Christian Observer, I shall be sparing in my quotations; but I must plead for the insertion of the following fragments, which, under all the circumstances CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 253. of the case, appear to me far more than passable. I am not, however, so anxious to extract the best specimens of versification as some of those which shew the nature of the writer's principles. Thus, in a blank leaf of his Bible is written, "Thomas Hogg, born in Jedburgh, 1758." "Yes-dust and ashes is my proper name: Ready to perish-is my title clear. From two poor rebels, I their offspring came, My first, my native attribute is fear. Yet let Thy love on this dark void descend, All shall be safe-the Three in One my friend." The poem ends with a prayer to be "built up in wisdom and usefulness." Upon the cover of the book in which he has entered his poems, I find the following passages:-"To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men." (Prov. viii. 4.) "Hear, for I will speak of excellent things." (Prov. viii 6.) "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." (Psal. cxix.) "And they sang a new song." (Rev. v. 9.) I regret that an epitaph which he composed for himself cannot be found. He once repeated it to Mr. S. and promised to give him a copy of it; but death put a stop to that, as well as to many other intentions. His longest poem, which consists of nearly two thousand lines, is entitled "The Flower Knot," or "Guide Post." In a short preface, he states, that 66 twenty lines or thereabouts were the most I could compose in a week; and sometimes I have written none for half a year or longer." The chief subjects of his poem are thus arranged by himself: "Introduction, holiness, prudence and reason, wit, honesty and decency, sympathy, gratitude, hope, humility, temperance, chastity, passion, power, truth, wisdom, love, faith." He thus opens the poem: "The muse's ninefold dress why should I wear? Not in Apollo's name will I appear. These let dark minds with swelling words invoke: C KNOWLEDGE. "When honesty and interest seem to differ, Let interest go, and resolutely suffer; Lay all the world's best offerings in one scale, And in the other put our Father's love,' We know which side will far the heavier prove." SYMPATHY. "From God himself where being first begins, Down to the smallest thread which na ture spins, All living creatures have it for a law : In our belief 'tis call'd The Saints' communion,' Including all in one harmonious union. When one is added to the church below, The golden harps in heaven rejoice also. It makes the strongest subject to the weak, For parents hear when infant voices speak. In lifeless things 'tis gravity or attraction, In animals 'tis instinct or affection, In human nature it is friendly care," &c. "Were my pen pearl, with ink of liquid balm, On Ophir's gold to write a heavenly Psalm; Or what an angel's liberal thought could tell, I could not speak too much, or sing too well. None but true children can its form ex press, Without its power, none can its glory guess." Under the head of hope, he thus points out the object on which our "The greatest knowledge deepest woe oft hope should be fixed under severe brings, 'Tis knowledge fills all hell with bitterest stings." WIT. Pope calls it feather-does he not say right? 'Tis like a custard light; it bears no weight; But had it not that wiping feather been, The poet's lines had never shone so clean." WISDOM AND WIT. "Wisdom on foot ascends by slow degrees, But wit has wings, and soars aloft with ease." † Miltonice. We see all things alike with either eye, So Faith and Hope the self-same object spy. But what is Hope? 'Tis foresight of redress, Prospect of ease when troubles downwards press; A distant view of what is wrong amended, Pleasure to be attained, or grievance ended. 'Twixt promise and performance 'tis the line," &c. From whence comes Hope? and where, or how begun? It comes from God, as light comes from the sun. Yes, O my soul, when troubles strike thee dumb, Hold fast thy hope, thy kingdom is to renthetical, and are quoted principally with a view of shewing the pious feelings of the author. "Art thou unhealthy, or a hapless stranger, Thy spirits wasting, or thy life in danger? Go then to Jesus," &c. "Thou art the God of mercy, grace, and love! My debts forgive, my sins, my wounds remove; Number me not with those whom thou dost hate; To health add peace; restore my sinking state. My power is lost, the fault is wholly mine; Yet bid me live, the glory shall be thine." The following passage does not strictly come under any of the divisions of the poem. "Oh! that I knew, says one, where I might find One of a thousand, who could heal my mind; With haste I'd get me to his very seat, Say, then, what name, what sect should To reach security free from distress? Nor Paper-dealer-no, nor Covenanter "For all the trials which thou shalt abide, Reckon at last the odds are on thy side. Upon the earth we make but a short stay, Why should we grieve for trifles by the way? If ought give sorrow on the happy shore, 'Twill be impatience for the cross we bore." The particulars which I have been enabled to gather of my humble friend's history, in addition to what has already been related, are very few. He was a name-sake of the Ettrick Shepherd, and a fellowcountryman, but I am not aware that they were related. He was brought up, I find, in a religious family; and in his youth had serious impressions of eternal things upon his mind. These, however, grew feebler by intercourse with the world, although they do not appear ever to have entirely forsaken him. He left his home at an early period of life, and for some time carried hardware about the country. This business becoming unproductive, about fourteen years since he took to the employment in which I found him engaged, making scissar-chains and skewers. Twenty-nine long years had passed, he told me, since he had visited his native place; nor could I learn what had alienated him from his family and friends. A hedge, or a stable, were to him an asylum of peace-the habitation of contentment; for he carried that tranquillity within him which was not to be ruffled by the adventitious circumstances of life. The vagrancy of his life necessarily exposed him to much hardship; and his pious soul must have been frequently "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." Whether he had the habit of boldly reproving the sinner, when he daringly violated the laws of his God, I cannot affirm, not having been present on any such occasion; but judging from his ordinary freedom in expressing his mind, and from his courage in sustaining many of the ills of life, I should imagine he would suffer few opportunities to pass of reproving or exhorting, where prudence and discretion mark ed out the duty. Sometimes, doubtless, his mind must have been depressed by anxious fears, or disappointed hopes. There were seasons when the "candle of the Lord did not shine so clearly upon his path as at other times: during such periods he used to sing Addison's beautiful version of the 23d Psalm, to which he added a verse of his own composition, which I have in vain endeavoured to find. He called it the Traveller's Song. It was peculiarly appropriate to his own case, exposed as he was, solitary and wandering, with none to look up to for support or protection, but the Helper of the friendless. Thus have I presented a faithful, although imperfect, history of a poor man, who, in the lowest depths of poverty, evinced such remarkable contentment and cheerfulness, under severe sufferings, as may well excite us to godly jealousy, and animate us to aspire after like precious faith; a man who shewed no symptoms of a desire to hurry from life, yet was ready at all times to obey his great and final summons, and the practical language of whose life was, "To me to live is Christ, to die is gain." Reader! how does this simple tale call upon you to adore the Father of all mercies, who graciously furnished a poor object, in the lowest depths of earthly misery, with principles capable, not barely of supporting him, but of enabling him to soar far above the afflictions of mortality? No one, I feel assured, can doubt whence this man obtained his transcendent faith. It was of no common stamp: it was not the spontaneous growth of the human heart: it must have come from heaven. Permit me, then, to remind you, that the same faith which supported him, the same principles by which he was actuated, may be obtained by you. The Divine Spirit, who implanted them in the subject of this memoir, offers to produce them in you. And can I wish you a richer gift? Can I take my leave of you in a more affectionate manner, than by praying that the same Spirit would make you like-minded with this humble, but examplary, follower of a suffering and crucified Saviour? W. R. FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CLXIX. Luke xviii. 37.—And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. To whom was this told; and what were the effects of the information? It was told to one, in whose bodily infirmity there was a figure of our spiritual condition; and the effects of the information were an image of the deliverance which we may have, through the Redeemer. I ask your attention to this interesting story, that you, "through patience and comfort of this Scripture, may have hope." We will first attend to the subject of the miracle, which the Gospel records. There are four things concerning him worthy of observation; first, his condition a blind beggar; secondly, his application for help, under the sense of his blindness, to Jesus of Nazareth, as soon as he heard of him; thirdly, his perseverance, notwithstanding the obstacles which were thrown in the way; and fourthly, his wonderful recovery of his sight. 1. A blind beggar!-Can a condition be conceived, more humble, more helpless, more deplorable? In a spiritual sense, it is the condition of every sinner. He sees not God; he sees not salvation; he sees not peace. By the fall, his understanding is darkened. By reason of the film which his iniquities have spread over his spiritual sight, the light of God's countenance, which shines eternally upon his creatures, is not seen. On the wayside of life, he is poor and blind, dependent for guidance upon any one who will undertake to lead him, and for gratification upon the pittance of pleasure which he begs of some passion, or the tidings which he asks of the traveller concerning vain and temporal things. "I counsel thee," says One who alone is worthy to advise, "I counsel thee to anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see; for thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind." So unhappy is the condition of this blind beggar, he sees not of whom he may ask for that when he feels his necessities, help; and when the Saviour passes by, who can restore to him his vision, and satisfy him with bread, he asks through his blindness, "what it means. And the greatest misfortune is, that he is less anxious to be delivered from his spiritual, than from bodily wretchedness; a disposition, which is illustrated and reproved, in the second thing to be noticed, concerning the beggar on the way to Jericho. 2. His immediate application for help, under the sense of his blindness, to Him who was able to heal him. They told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passed by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me." Jesus of Nazareth! His fame was now spread abroad. He was approved amply of God, by signs and wonders which he wrought. This blind beggar had heard that by him "the blind received sight, and the lame did walk, the lepers were cleansed, and the deaf did hear, the dead were raised up, and to the poor the Gospel was preached." Of his character as the Messiah, he had obtained some knowledge, for he addressed him as the "Son of David." Probably, he had heard of his wonderful compassion, that none who sought of him deliverance from misery, however poor, or friendless, or wretched, were turned away. Perhaps he recollected, without understanding the spiritual import, that in the days of the "Son of David," the eyes of the blind should be opened. At any rate, he who might heal him was passing by. He would not wait for a better op |