tronage, bluster, or noise; and so counted his income by pence instead of pounds.

SPIRITUAL PRIDE.

SPIRITUAL pride often has a modest face and demure look. He says he likes to be unknown, yet publishes all his little doings, and makes the religious world ring with his fame. In almost every religious magazine and newspaper you see his name. Popularity out of his own pale he affects to despise; but within his own he appears to live upon its very breath. He is a staunch advocate of liberty of conscience, but does not understand how any can differ from him. Christians may read their bible, but his interpretation must be received. He knows nothing, and yet he knows everything. He is full of verbal humility; but impatient of contradiction, and savage under the influence of reproof. Now he blows hot, and anon he blows cold; now he bleats like a lamb, anon he roars like a lion; now he is so strong that he appears to triumph over all the ordinary feelings of humanity; anon he is led captive by a little fulsome praise. Who can understand Spiritual Pride? Its sophistries are infinite; its disguises, of every colour, shape, and form; its cruelty, insatiable; its false

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Do you think they are the best servants who are all for what they can get from an earthly prince, or those who study most what service they can do for him?

Are they not the best servants the Prince of Life has, who study how they can best serve and minister to him? When asking the Lord for more grace, the thought sometimes has rushed into my mind-"What do you want an increase of grace for?" Is it for the purpose of laying it up, or laying it out, that thereby the Giver may be glorified? "Occupy till I come."

"With even mind thy course of duty run;
God nothing does, or suffers to be done,
But thou wouldst do thyself, if thou couldst see
The end of all events as well as he."

The faith of Rahab Defended. By Mr. JAMES WELLS. London: G. J. Stevenson. IN our January number we entered at some length into the controversy growing out of the sermon of which the present is a lame defence. We sustained against Mr. Wells the charges which his best friends have made :-that it was excessively vulgar, justified lying, made God accessary to crime, and was the essence of Jesuitism.

We now propose to consider a few additional points.

Irony. "I now come to Rahab," says Mr. Wells, and I hold that Rahab uttered these words in what I call irony." First, he tells us they were "good lies," then they are metamorphosed into "lawful evasions,' and now, with the magician's wand, they are juggled into irony. "Irony," Mr. Wells tells us (quoting Walker), "is a mode of speech wherein the meaning is contrary to the words." Very good. The Hon. H. Home Kames says, under " Figures of Speech," ," "Irony turns things into ridicule

in a peculiar manner. It consists in laughing at a man under disguise of appearing to praise or speak well of him." (Vol. i. p. 294,5.) If we were to say, "of course Mr. Wells is a sound theologian; no man disputes his orthodoxy, &c.,' all our readers would know that we were using the figure of speech called irony. If they, not knowing that it was a figure of speech, received it literally, it would be to them a falsehood; and if we thought we could cheat the devil by cloaking our crime with the name irony, we should be guilty of falsehood also. With what gusto Mr. Wells seems to enjoy Rahab's lies. Listen to the following profane and blasphemous passage, as he represents the spies asking, "Will the Holy Spirit of God inspire her with those evasions that shall save our lives?

She has done them; she has deluded them: a woman is just the one for it. See the fools, how they are running, going off in pursuit! depend upon it Rahab had a good hearty laugh at the last." (p. 398).

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Can there be any thing more horrid than this in the whole compass of the English, or any other language. In the infidel literature of France or England, can anything more atrocious be found? Is Mr. Wells really sane? Or are we discussing the ebulitions of a disordered mind? If so, we deplore his condition, and pity him; but supposing him sane, we carnestly bescech him to look the horrid monster of his own creation in the face. Good lies, lawful evasions, delusions, the Holy Ghost inspiring those lies, jubilant joy at their success, and to crown all a roar of laughter at those fools she has deluded by the Holy Ghost! And "this is the best part of her conduct"!!! Does Mr. Wells need to be told that figures of speech were never made to facilitate lying? Suppose a missionary were to tell a heathen that "God is a rock," in such a manner as to convince the poor fellow that God was made of granite, or limestone, and then indulged in a hearty laugh at "the fool," would any one attempt to justify him by the miserable subterfuge that it was only a figure of speech,-a metaphor. In that bold irony of Elijah to the prophets of Baal, the very force and point of it is in the fact that they knew he was speaking ironically. "And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud, for he is a God; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. (1 Kings xviii. 27.) Had he stated this in such a manner as to make them believe that such infirmities were the suitable attributes of God, it would have been deception and lying, of which the prophet could not be guilty; but as fine and keen irony it poured contempt and ridicule upon their vain and delusive worship.

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But where is the proof that Rahab spoke ironically? If she did, will it make matters any better? Did she not in plain words deceive the messengers? and is not deception lying? If not, a servant need have no qualm of conscience in denying her master or mistress. There's a rat-tat at the door. "Is your master at home, Mary?" 'No, sir; he went out about an hour ago, and won't be home till late." "Say that Mr. So-and-so called." The door closes. Mary has a good hearty laugh, and exclaims in an under-tone, "Did not I deceive him nicely? master will be pleased." But, BUT, can conscience say, that was right? Yes; Mr. Wells says those lies are only irony, and a good cause sanctifies them; and the Bible says servants must please and obey

their masters. No doubt Mr. Wells will use to this what he calls the "old woman's" exclamation, and say "how awful!" True; but it is only the carrying into practice of his own doctrine. But Mr. W. will exclaim, "the cases are dissimilar: Rahab was inspired." Indeed! who told him so? where is his proof? We never heard of her inspiration at all; but to be inspired to tell lies requires a great amount of proof before it can be received by any well-balanced mind. This is the most miserable petitio principii or begging the question we ever met with.

Borrowing of the Egyptians. Mr. Wells attempts to defend the doctrine of the suspension of the moral law by the case of the Israelites borrowing of the Egyptians. "Now," says Mr. Wells, "I am going to show that the usual law of honesty was on that occasion suspended." IS THAT TRUE? We emphatically deny it. What is the meaning of the word Shaal, in our translation rendered borrow? Parkhurst gives its primary meaning, to ask, to interrogate; secondly, to ask, demand, require; and only its fifth meaning, to ask as a loan, to borrow. Ray gives its primary meaning,

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asked, required, demanded." Mr. W. says, Learned men have tried to make the Hehrew word translated borrow say something else, but they can't do it.” (p. 395.) * In Gen. xxiv. 47, and many other passages it could not be rendered borrow. Take Mr. W's. translation, "And I borrowed her, and said whose daughter art thou Could anything make greater nonsense? Again, in Deut. x. 12, And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God (Shaal) require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, &c." How could require be rendered borrow? Just try it with borrow: "What doth the Lord thy God borrow of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, &c." We could give a number of other quotations to shew the various meanings of the Hebrew Shaal, but forbear. The whole of the sermon is full of the most shallow criticism, and loaded with the most dangerous error and. God-dishonouring assertions. Of sound argument there is scarcely a particle, the ad captandum vulgus to satiety, and fulminations enough to satisfy the admirers of Pope Hildebrand.

*The fact is, however, on the contrary, just this: the word is translated "borrow" in only three other passages, while it is rendered "demand" or "require" in TEN. Ainsworth translates it in this place 66 ASK,' " and in the LXX. the word is AITEO, to ask, request, require, beg.

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setting up the idol of science in the place of revelation, which the present age has yet seen. At the first lecture, the place of meeting, St. Martin's Hall, was crammed. The lecturer was Professor Huxley, whose "discourse" was virtually a deification of natural knowledge at the expense of revelation. The lecturer studiously refrained from any recognition of Divine power or Divine providence; God was, as it were, bowed out of his universe, and human intellect enthroned in his place. The second lecture was by Sir J. Browning, upon the progress of Pagan nations in religious knowledge apart from christianity.

of

THE "INDEPENDENT BAPTISTS Jamaica form distinct communities from the regular Baptist churches founded by the labours of the Baptist missionaries of this country, and have scarcely anything in common with them except the practice of immersion. Mr. T. Hands, Baptist minister of Luton, Beds., who resided in Jamaica many years, states that they are communities of native negroes, tainted with many wild and violent ideas, and that it was amongst these Baptists that the negro outbreak at Morant Bay took place, no native member of any regular Baptist church being in any way implicated therein. Respecting Mr. Gordon, Mr. Hands says that he knew him personally as an educated gentleman, a man of property, and a consistent, God-fearing man, foremost in works of christian usefulness amongst the negro population, deeply concerned for their welfare, but utterly incapable of urging them to any acts of violence or bloodshed.

BISHOP COLENSO has at length got back to his Cathedral at Natal, though not without a "scene." He had to apply to the Chief Justice for an interdict to prevent the churchwardens closing the doors against him. The Dean publicly adjured him to depart from the building in the name of the Lord, and yet stayed to hear him preach. Obviously the best plan would have been to let the heretical Bishop officiate to empty benches. Natal will doubtless be kept lively by the contest between the rival dignitaries, for some time

to come

MEDIEVAL SYMBOLISM.-The churches devoted to the Tractarian party have formed, during the recent Christmas season, the scene of such a display of Romish trumpery as has never before been witness

ed. The very names of the dresses worn by these priestly votaries of Rome are clearly marks of an apostate church: Chasuble, dalmatic, tunicle, cotta and cassock. What are they but relics of a dark age brought forward to the nineteenth century? The system suits well for impressible young ladies wanting religious excitement, but is alien to all true protestant feeling. Dr. Miller, Mr. Goodhart, Mr. D. Wilson, and other Evangelicals have formed themselves into an association to oppose these innovations, but they will never succeed except by such means as they shrink from using. They will in time become accustomed to the ideas of secession and disruption.

ST. PAUL'S.-The special Sunday evening services were commenced on January 4th. The Bishop of London preached the opening sermon, from Rev. i 19. The Cathedral was crowded to the doors.

UNION. The present appears to be a time of fraternizations. Thus the Bishop of Oxford and his friends wish to fraternize with the Greek church; Dr. Pusey advocates union between the church of England and the church of Rome, upon certain concessions being made by the latter; and strangest of all, the Rev. Archer Gurney, a noted High Churchman, writes to the "Patriot" to urge a union between Puseyites and Protestant dissenters to resist the very union that Dr. Pusey desires to see established. Of course Protestant dissenters who are worthy the name will consent to no union of the kind. They will remember the lesson taught them by that memorable passage in English history, when the church of England held out its hand to dissenters, to form a league to resist the Romish designs of the reigning monarch, and then rewarded them by enacting against them some of the severest laws under which they have ever suffered.

Druth.

BICKERS.-- Died at Laxfield, Suffolk, Dcc. 28th, 1865, Jonathan Bickers, aged 86 years; he was the senior deacon, and for more than 50 years a member of the Baptist Church in that place; during that long period his christian life was most exemplary. His end was peace.