Biographical Form of Scripture. 289 human nature in all its aspects. We | Apostles contains the record of the sayings and doings-the persecutions and sufferings of two remarkable men-Peter and Paul. It embraces two circles of church historyPeter is the centre of one circle, and Paul of the other. Peter's work is preparatory to Paul's. Peter takes the gospel to the Jews, and his ministrations are almost entirely limited to the circumcision. Paul takes a wider radius. He is chosen to carry the lamp of Life to the Gentiles, and his labours are devoted chiefly to the uncircumcision. Peter's centre of influence is Jerusalem - Paul's centre of action is first Antioch and then Rome. Peter speaks Hebrew-Paul, Latin and Greek. The early history of the church-the persecutions and trials which gathered around its cradle came to us chiefly in connection with the lives and labours of these remarkable and divinely commissioned men. have in the same book, full-drawn portraits, and side glimpses of a great number of individuals. There is a life-like freshness in these biographical paintings. There is no repulsive caricature no fulsome adulation. All is true to the laws of life. Adam, Cain, and Abel impress us with their true characters. Enoch and Noah-Abraham and Isaac-Jacob and Joseph-all have their distinctive features, and each teaches us some particular lesson of life. The extended life of Moses, the expansive life of Samuel, and the still more expansive life of David, are exceedingly rich with lessons of Divine instruction. The trials, sorrows, disappointments, deliverances, joys and triumphs of life are all made to pass before us with dramatic interest. We in a great measure read the history of the nation in the lives of its leaders. Very much of the historical part of the New Testament is presented to us in a biographical shape. We stand in silent reverence, and profound awe before the simple and sublime biography of Him who was the Father of Eternity, and the Son of a Virgin, the Ancient of days and the contemporary and companion of Peter, James, and John-Of Him who built the beautiful heavens, and hung the golden orbs of light in the sapphire vault, but was found in the manger at Bethlehem as a helpless babe-Of Him who was the Prince of Life, the Lord of Glory, and yet died on the cross and was laid in the grave-God manifested in the flesh-The Lamb of God-The light of the World-The Saviour of Sinners-the Biography of Him who was, and is;-all this, and infinitely more, must possess the most transcendent interest, and contain the most inspiring and hearttouching lessons. The Life of Christ is the blossom of the Prophecies, the root of the Epistles, and the germ of the Apocalypse. It has a four-fold form-a face beaming with love for each quarter of the world. The book called the Acts of the The history of the church in the present day is to a great degree embalmed and preserved in а biographical form. As the great and the good, the active and the useful, go one after another into the darkness of the grave, and into the light of the Lamb, those who are left behind gather up with pious interest and affectionate regard the memorials of their sayings, doings, and sufferings. There are monuments of love in books as well as in marble. The life of a good, earnest, active man enshrined in a well-written book is a treasure to the individual, an honour to the church, and a blessing to the world. Such a book we have in the memoir of the Rev. James Sherman by Henry Allon. Mr. Sherman was a man of deep piety, of wide-spread influence, and of extensive usefulness. He was not so great in intellectual power, or so remarkable in intellectual attainments as some of his contemporaries. The heart was the seat of his subduing power, and the source of his great influence over the minds of the people. He was a man of strong and active | heart to God, and his over-mastering emotion. There was a fountain of desire was to give himself to the tears in his nature which never ministry. His way was made ceased to flow, while his thoughts plain, and he was admitted into were fixed on the agonies of the Cheshunt College. While a cross, and his eyes were fastened student he became a popular on the wretchedness of man. preacher. His first settlement was Keenness of sensibility,-tenderness at Bristol. Thence he removed to of affection,-a deep and yearning Reading. Here he laboured with compassion for the souls of men, great success for fifteen years. combined with a restless earnestness Hundreds were converted to God and untiring activity to secure their by his faithful and affectionate salvation were some of the qualities ministry. He built many chapels and characteristics of this large- in the surrounding villages. From hearted and eminently useful man. Reading he removed to Surrey Mr. Sherman's life was crowded chapel, and was the successor of with tokens of the providence, the the famous Rowland Hill. Surrey goodness, and the mercy of God. chapel was the great field of his He was born of humble parents, labours. For eighteen years he was and in early life he had to struggle the centre and life of a most comwith poverty. He was apprenticed plicated machinery of Christian to a master who had no sympathy activity and enterprize. All classes with his religious feelings and in- had his attention and affectionate tellectual pursuits. sympathy. His sermons were so touching and powerful that sometimes nearly a hundred were converted under one sermon. His beloved wife-a most intelligent and devoted Christian lady-was of the greatest assistance to him in helping on the cause of God. The intense mental application necessary to the performance of his pulpit duties, and his increasing labours in every direction, in the course of time began to tell on his system. In 1854 he resigned the pastorate at Surrey chapel, and returned to a smaller sphere at Blackheath, where he formed a new church, and, by his reputation and ministry, attracted a large congregation of respectable and influential hearers. In 1861 his earthly labours were brought to a close by the hand of death. The church of God throughout the nation was touched with a mournful feeling when he fell. His large-hearted Christianity could not be shut up in denominational limits. He was willing to serve all sections of the Christian church, and there are probably persons to be found in almost all denominations of Christians who were converted by his touching and heart-searching ministry. He 'At the same time,' remarks Mr. Allon, it is likely enough that a lad like James Sherman, full of indefinite yearnings and imaginings, liking books and dreaming of the ministry, would not make a very useful apprentice. The racer will not be very effective in the mill. His work was manifestly very irksome to him, nor would any kindness of treatment, probably, have made him take to it lovingly. This was neither his fault nor that of any one else. He was endowed with a mind and a temperament altogether unsuited to any form of industry which his position seemed likely to secure. Just as in the higher circles of life some men are born with sympathies fitted rather for the stable or the workshop; so in the lower circles of life men are born with capabilities and sympathies for pursuits apparently beyond their reach. In such cases jarring and misery ensue; a yearning and a struggle after some other than the position in which they are born, and the chafing and the suffering which rebellion against it causes. God in His providence removed the difficulties and opened his way for him. He had given his Hunted on the Moors.. seemed to be free from jealousy and envy, and when he felt his strength not equal to his labours he nobly resigned his ministerial honours into the hands of another. His relations and his conduct to his successor, Mr. Newman Hall, form a fine picture of Christian nobility and large-hearted sympathy. The good man has gone to his rest. His trials are ended, his sufferings are over, but his works will live, his memory will be cherished. The results of self-sacrifice are imperishable, The benign and sancti 291 fying influences which he originated HUNTED ON THE MOORS. PASSAGES FROM THE TRADITIONS OF THE COVENANTERS. CHAPTER I.-IN WHICH THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO THE MINY, AND ITS ORDINARY AND UNEXPECTED INHABITANTS. ABOUT the close of the reign of Charles 2nd there lived in the district in Scotland known as the desert of Kyle an honest farmer and his wife, who were warmly attached to the convenanting cause. Gilbert Fleming's family consisted of himself, his wife Grizzy Grey, and a herd boy named Sandy. His cottage was known as the Miny, and stood away up the moors, as solitary as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. Various signs had betokened that the winter, which was setting in earlier this year than usual, would be long and severe. The frost had already hardened the moors and mosses like a board, and had thus made a suitable platform for the deep snow which now began to fall. shivering in the cold, cowered down in the shelter of a deep moss hag. The snow-flakes began to form a wreath at their feet, and their hiding-place soon threatened to become their grave. 'What shall we do?' said one of them, whose name was Willie. 'If we remain here all night we shall not see the morning.' 'No,' replied the other, we must at once make our retreat. It is not yet dark, and besides it is full moon. Let us hold on our way to some place of refuge.' John's words decided Willie, who replied, 'I see it all now. Gilbert Fleming has often invited me to his house, and I have not yet availed myself of his invitations. This is our time of need, and I am sure we shall meet with a cordial welcome.' On the evening of the first ap-Ay,' said John, but where shall pearance of the snow two Covenanting brethren, in full flight before a company of troopers from Muirkirk, took refuge in the district of Kyle. The night gathering its folds about them favoured their escape, and the troopers, finding that the snow was thickening, retreated with all speed to their quarters. The two worthies, exhausted with their flight, and we find the hut, even if it be hereabouts? Everything is white, and how shall we know on which hand to turn?' 'Let us try,' said Willie. 'We may not perchance be so very far from the Miny. The Lord, who leads the blind by a way they know not, has not permitted us to be chased into this moor for nothing.' The friends came out of their hiding are place and looked around over the white wilderness row stretched before them, and at length discerned a twinkling light on the snow. They looked again, when Willie replied, 'It may not be the house we are seeking, but it will at least be a shelter.' They both started off over the snow, and hurried in the direction of the light. They knocked at the cottage door, which to their delight was opened by honest Gilbert, who gave them a cordial greeting. You welcome for your Master's sake,' said the hospitable farmer: but how found you the way on such a night as this?' 'A light guided us,' they replied, flickering from the window of your cottage.' O how wonderful is that,' said Grizzy. 'We never put a light in the window for fear of leading the enemy to us; but this evening I felt an unusual prompting to put the candle there; and you see what has come of it. The snow might have been your winding-sheet, had you not found our house. This is the Lord's doing, and to Him be all the praise.' The wanderers were glad to find a shelter, and the inmates were as glad to receive them. Hospitality on the moors in those days was common, and especially among the farmers and cottagers who favoured the cause of the Covenanters. The promise of the Master, A cup of cold water given to a disciple in the name of a disciple shall not lose its reward, was one that men devoutly believed. Old Gilbert believed it, and his shrewd wife, and they were soon to find it fulfilled, as will hereafter appear. The evening was spent in talking over the troubles of the times, and especially those which the people of God were suffering. Nor did they forget that the experience of David had been verified in more than one instance-Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive tence of a joy they did not feel; but the grave and solemn talk of simpleminded and trusting hearts. The day's toil brought sound sleep to the wanderers. Gilbert saluted them heartily in the morning, and congratulated them on the fact that the snow had drifted to a great depth over all the face of the moorland. There was now no fear of being assailed by the troopers, who were besieged in their own garrison by the storm. ་ 'But,' said Willie, 'who can tell how long this storm may last? If we are shut up here the whole winter, we shall eat you up. Our appetites are keen, through our irregular living of late, and it may be they will not be easily satisfied.' Eat us up!' exclaimed worthy Gilbert, no fear of that; and even though you should, you shall be welcome to share the last morsel wi' us.' And then, like all good Scotsmen when under deep excitement, Gilbert broke out into a torrent of the broadest vernacular. 'Na, na, lads, there's nea fear o' being eaten up here. Last week I brought o'er the hard surface o' the frosted muirs a whole melder fresh frae the mill; besides nae lack o' barley flour for the scones.. The big beef boat is fu' to the brim. We ha'e plenty o' buirdly kebbocks o' our ain making, and we ha'e rowth o' maut for a brewst, to serve us when the cows in the byre are yell. And I canna but look on this as a very particular Providence; for twa things were before us which we didna forsee-your coming to the house, and the visitation o' this storm. If either of you had come before the inlaying of our winter's provisions, what could we have done? But the Great and Kind One who foresees all, has now supplied us before hand, and I consider myself honoured that He has sent you to board with us for a season. I have my own forebodings that the storm is not to continue for a day only, or for twa, but for weeks, and we are, God be praised, prepared for it.' The Inmates of the Miny in Perplexity. Gilbert was right. The storm lasted nearly four months. Many of the upland farmers were completely ruined. Sheep and cattle were destroyed by hundreds. Hunger and sickness seized many households, and was followed by a pestilence which carried off whole families at one fell swoop. As the friends looked out from the door of the Miny on the first morning of that terrible hurricane, the like of which is now rarely known in the same region,-for the windows were literally blocked up by the snow-they were astonished at the appearance of the waste. Not a single object or feature of the former landscape was now to be seen. The drift' was pouring in streams along the surface of the snow, and so dense was the smoking trail that to face it would have ended in blindness and suffocation. Gilbert's 'stock' consisted of three score of sheep on the moor, four cows in the byre, and two horses in the stable. On this he was able to support himself and pay his rent. As he saw the storm raving wildly without, he exclaimed in grateful exultation, 'How happy am I to think that the cows and horses are so snugly housed! We have abundance of fodder, gathered in the warm days of summer: and as for hay, I think we never had the like of it in quality. Providence foresaw what we were to need,' 'But maister, maister,' cried the herd boy, 'what o' the sheep? Ha'e ye forgotten them ?' "The sheep, callan', the sheep,' said Gilbert; it never entered me mind we had sheep. Alas! my saxty puir sheep, they are a' buried deep 'aneath the snaw, and what to do I wot na.' The two friends smiled at the perplexity of their host, for they were both shepherds, and stout and stalwart men. Many a sheep had they exhumed from the lairy moss hag, and many a score had they dug out from beneath the drifted snow. They thought the task of rescuing 293 their host's sheep was not at all an impossible one. Ye Ye are smiling, I see, my the sheep as you please.' sheep to be found? 'I gathered them into the hollow between the twa knowes to the east there,' said Sandy, and they cannot be far off.' The hollow alluded to was filled with drifted snow, and it was obvious thatitwould require no small exertion to dig out the flock. The men, however, with little Sandy, succeeded in making an opening on one side, where the snow was several feet deep; and having extricated one sheep, another followed, and then another, until after long and exhausting toil they set free the whole. The men were beyond measure gratified that they had saved Gilbert's flock, and Gilbert again and again expressed his unspeakable satisfaction. On the forenoon of the next day acircumstance occurred which threw the little garrison at the Miny into great perplexity. The snow was still hurrying before the blast, and had already gathered to the depth of three feet, for in the higher part of the country the storms rage with double fury and pile the snow in heaps such as are never seen in the lower parts. The cause of the perplexity |