first sermon-a sermon of marvel-No, God will have them that shall lous breadth and commanding power. walk in light to feel now and then Coleridge, in referring to some pas- what it is to sit in the shadow of sages in it, says: These para- death. A grieved spirit, therefore, graphs should be written in gold. is no argument of a faithless mind." O may these precious words be The following graphic picture is written on my heart! I can re- often realized by those who suffer member no other discourse that from mental depression and spiritual sinks into and draws up comfort dejection :-"We are clean crost from the depths of our being below out of God's book; he regards us our distinct consciousness, with the not; he looketh upon others, but clearness and godly loving-kindness passeth by us like a stranger to of this truly evangelical God-to-be- whom we are not known. Then we thanked-for sermon." Speaking of think, looking upon others, and real Christians in a state of spiritual comparing them with ourselves, their depression, and alluding to the tables are furnished day by day; causes of it, Hooker says: "Another earth and ashes are our bread: they cause of dejection of mind is, they sing to the lute, and see their chiloften mistake one thing for another. dren dance before them; our hearts St. Paul wishing well to the church are heavy in our bodies as lead, our of Rome, prayeth for them after this sighs beat as thick as a swift pulse, sort: The God of hope fill you our tears do wash the beds wherein with all joy of believing.' Hence we lie: the sun shineth fair upon an error groweth when men in their foreheads; we are hanged up heaviness of spirit suppose they lack like bottles in the smoke, cast into faith, because they find not the corners like the sherds of a broken sugared joy and delight which indeed pot: tell us not of the promises of doth accompany faith, but so as a God's favour, tell such as do reap separable accident, as a thing that the fruit of them; they belong not may be removed from it; yea, there to us, they are made for others. The is a cause why it should be removed. Lord be merciful to our weakness." The light would never be so ac- Hooker closes his sermon in the ceptable, were it not for that usual following beautiful and encouraging intercourse of darkness. Too much language:-66 6 Simon, Simon, Satan honey doth turn to gall; and too hath desired to winnow thee as much joy, even spiritually, would wheat;' here is our toil: but I make us wantons. Happier a great have prayed for thee, that thy faith deal is that man's case, whose soul fail not;' this is our safety. No by inward desolation is humbled, man's condition so sure as ours: than he whose heart is, through the prayer of Christ is more than abundance of spiritual delight, lifted sufficient both to strengthen us, be up and exalted above measure. we never so weak, and to overthrow Better it is sometimes to go down all adversary power, be it never so into the pit with him, who, behold-strong and potent. His prayer ing darkness, and bewailing the loss must not exclude our labour: their of inward joy and consolation, crieth thoughts are vain who think that from the bottom of the lowest hell, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' than continually to walk arm-in-arm with angels, to sit, as it were, in Abraham's bosom, and to have no thought, no cogitation, but I thank my God that it is not with me as it is with other men.'

their watching can preserve the city which God himself is not willing to keep: and are not theirs as vain, who think that God will keep the city, for which they themselves are not careful to watch? The husbandman may not therefore burn his plough, nor the merchant forsake

Family Miscellany.

247

his trade, because God has promised the very flesh of the faithful man, I will not forsake thee.' And do what is there in the world that shall the promises of God concerning our change his heart, overthrow his stability, think you, make it a mat- faith, alter his affection towards ter indifferent for us to use or not God, or the affection of God to him? to use the means whereby, to attend If I be of this note, who shall make or not to attend to reading? to pray a separation between me and my or not to pray that we fall not into God? Shall tribulation, or anguish, temptation? Surely if we look to or persecution, or famine, or nakedstand in the faith of the sons of God, ness, or peril, or sword?" No! I we must hourly, continually, be pro- am persuaded that neither tribulaviding and setting ourselves to tion, nor anguish, nor persecution, strive. It was not the meaning of nor famine, nor angels, nor princiour Lord and Saviour in saying, palities, nor powers, nor things Father, keep them in thy name,' present, nor things to come, nor that we should be careless to keep height, nor depth, nor any other ourselves. To our own safety our creature shall ever prevail so far own sedulity is required. And then, over me.' 'I know in whom I have blessed for ever and ever be that believed;' I am not ignorant whose mother's child whose faith hath made precious blood hath been shed for him the child of God. The earth me; I have a Shepherd full of kindmay shake, the pillars of the world ness, full of care, and full of power: may tremble under us, the counte- unto him I commit myself; his own nance of the heavens may be ap- finger hath engraven this sentence palled, the sun may lose his light, in the tables of my heart Satan the moon her beauty, the stars their hath desired to winnow thee as glory; but concerning the man that wheat, but I have prayed that thy trusteth in God, if the fire have pro- faith fail not:' therefore the assurclaimed itself unable as much as to ance of my hope I will labour to singe a hair of his head, if lions, keep as a jewel unto the end; and beasts ravenous by nature and keen by labour, through the gracious with hunger, being set to devour, mediation of his prayer, I shall have as it were religiously adored keep it." G. H. L.

Family Miscellany.

"I ONLY CRIED WITH HER." | kindness have you shown?': 'I THE widow's mite was of more value don't know, mother.' The mother, in the Saviour's eyes than large touched with the tone of her answer, contributions by the wealthy, be- resolved to unravel the mystery; and cause of the willing heart and the the little sensitive thing, when reseanty means. The following beau- assured, went on to say: Going tiful incident shows how even chil-to school this morning, I found little dren can do good by a little tender Annie G., who had been absent some sympathy.

days, crying very hard. I asked her, mother, what made her cry so, which made her cry more, so that I could not help leaning my head on her neck, and crying too. Then her sobs grew less and less, till she told

"A poor widow, the mother of two children, used to call on them at the close of each day, for the report of the good they had done. One night the oldest hesitated in her reply to her mother's question, 'What me of her little baby-brother, whom

she nursed so long, and loved so Thither the shepherds of the Alps much-how he had sickened, grown drive their flocks to partake of the

pale and thin, writhing with pain, rich pasturage and breathe the pure until he died, and then they put him mountain air. The ascent is difficult, from her for ever. Mother, she told over icebergs and torrents. At one me this; and then she hid her face point the rocks rise almost perpenin her book, and cried as if her heart dicularly; when the flocks arrive at would break. Mother, I could not this point, none appears bold enough help putting my face on the other to venture, but the shepherds gather page of the book, and crying too, the lambs in their arms and toss as hard as she did. After we had them up on the plain; the whole cried together a long time, she hug- flock clamber after them, and soon ged me and kissed me, telling me I is feeding upon the rich herbage, or had done her good. Mother, I don't ruminating beneath the rose tree of know how I did her good, for I only the Alps. cried with her.'"

Bereaved parents, the lamb of your love has been carried up, and beckons you to follow where are flowers sweeter than those of the Alps, and air and sunshine purer

HIGH up the mountain slopes of and brighter than is found up in Chamouni there is a beautiful plain, Chamouni. covered with verdure and flowers.

We have not wings, we cannot soar;
But we have feet to scale and climb
By slow degrees, by more and more,
The cloudy summits of our time.
The mighty pyramids of stone
That wedge-like cleave the desert airs,
When nearer seen, and better known,
Are but gigantic flights of stairs.
The distant mountains, that uprear
Their solid bastions to the skies,
Are crossed by pathways, that appear
As we to higher levels rise.

The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
Standing on what too long we bore

With shoulders bent and downeast eyes,
We may discern-unseen before-

A path to higher destinies.
Nor deem the irrevocable Past,
As wholly wasted, wholly vain,
If, rising on its wrecks, at last
To something nobler we attain.

General Correspondence.

SINGING IN THE RURAL
DISTRICTS.

MR. EDITOR

My attention was called to this statement yesterday by a friend whose

judgment Mr. Spurgeon would respect

shall see how everything happened according to that hidden roll wherein God had written, with his own wise finger, every thought which man Dear Sir,-In the discussion at the should think, every word which he Conference held at Castle Donington, should utter, and every deed which he on Whit-Tuesday, May 17, on the best should do. Just as it was in the book mode of sustaining Nonconformist of decree, so shall it transpire in the churches in villages, reference was roll of human history." made to the style of singing. My impression is that the speakers laboured under great delusion in recommending the village churches to adopt the same as much as I do. It had filled him method of singing as is now generally with consternation, and he was carryused in the large towns. I have my ing the sermon about in his pocket in self been a singer in a village choir for order to keep it from falling into the the last ten years, and am fully con- hands of his young people. Respect vinced that the plan, if adopted, would for the author and regard for the best prove an entire failure. Country peo-interests of his children, induced him ple generally like tunes that have some as far as possible to prevent it from I have since read life about them, which is the kind of meeting their eye. singing that has so great a tendency the entire discourse carefully through to attract young people, while the effect of a monotonous style would be myself, chiefly with the hope of disjust the reverse. My opinion is that covering some explanation or modification of this extraordinary and startling the towns' people are nearly half a statement, but, I regret to say, without century behind the country in this There it stands, apparently respect. the matured opinion of the preacher on the deep and awful subject to which it relates. It is put categorically and dogmatically, without any "ifs," or "buts," those horrors of Mr. Spurgeon's theology and eloquence.

Yours very truly,

HONESTY.

MR. SPURGEON AND THE
DIVINE DECREES.

[We have reason to know that the Maga-
zine devoted to the dissemination of the
peculiar theology of Mr. Spurgeon is
circulated in some of our churches to

We have
the exclusion of our own.
moreover heard, just recently, that one
or more of our churches have actually
been in negotiation with young men from
Mr. Spurgeon's college with a view to
their settlement over them as pastors.
It cannot, therefore, be deemed inoppor-
tune that the following letter from the
Freeman, of June 1st, should be trans-
ferred to our pages.-ED.]

success.

Now the first thing that occurs to one to ask on reading such a passage is, How does Mr. Spurgeon know this? Has he access to some source of information not open to other intelligent men? He cannot find it, or anything like it, in the Bible. If he can, he can tell us where, and so place the matter The truth is, the beyond dispute. Bible is very reticent on this subject of the Divine decrees; while I believe. there is not one of its writers who would not have shrunk with horror from identifying the contents of that "hidden roll" with the black and troubled history of this bad and miseraBut has Mr. Spurgeon ble world.

Dear Sirs,-In a sermon preached by Mr. Spurgeon, in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, on Sunday morning, May 8, and subsequently printed and widely seen the "roll" himself? Or has some circulated, the following passage oc-one else seen it, and told him all that curs:-"God wills a change, but he it contains? In either case it is no never changes his will; and when the longer a "hidden" roll, and it must be last great day shall come, you and I competent to Mr. Spurgeon, if he

chooses to use the power he has Nay, if this doctrine be true, God's acquired, to make the whole world revealed will is a mere make-believe, acquainted with its contents. That to save appearances, with which the would indeed be a new revelation, and such as would throw utterly into the shade the Book which God has given us to be our guidė.

thoughts of His heart and the decrees of His government are in perpetual antagonism. What a foundation for the universe to rest upon!

But if Mr. Spurgeon does not know Did it never strike Mr. Spurgeon this, his assertion is a very bold, and I that this whole manner of speaking for one think it a very daring, one. about the Divine decrees and a book in If "God had written down with his which they are recorded is merely wise finger every thought which man metaphorical, and a condescension to should think, every word which he the limited power of human faculties? should utter, and every deed which In simple fact, with God there is no he should do," then He had so written future. Why, then, draw plans for down all that Mr. Spurgeon was the future, and write them down in a thinking, saying, and doing, at that book? Would it not be wholly unmoment. Mr. Spurgeon's sermon, necessary? Nay, is it not impossible? therefore, is nothing more than a copy taken from that "hidden roll" and first preached to his people, and then handed to Messrs. Passmore and Alabaster, for the purpose of a wider circulation. And not only so, but all the worst thoughts which men have indulged, all the vilest words they have uttered, and all the wickedest acts they have performed, are traceable to the same paternity. Let the world once come to believe that, and there is an end of conscience and duty together.

Since the present and the future are the same to God, His acts and His decrees take place at the same time. What then? Why, according to Mr. Spurgeon's doctrine, God thinks, speaks, and does all that we think, and speak, and do. That is to say, that God does everything in all His creatures; and that is to say, farther, that there are no creatures, but that God is all, and all are God. How far this is from pantheism, and from the fatalism which is for ever wrapt up in pantheism, I leave Mr. Spurgeon to judge.

The friend to whom I have referred already, so strongly objected to the If this is Mr. Spurgeon's God, I can passage because it makes God to be neither accept him nor wish others to the author of sin; and it plainly does accept him. My whole nature revolts so, if on such grounds sin be possible. from a being who can thus play fast But the fact is, that on such grounds and loose with his poor, weak, depensin is clearly impossible. Sin is oppo-dent, anxious creatures. Of one thing sition to the will of God. But accord- I am sure, that this is not the God of ing to this teaching, everything ema- the Bible. It is not the God that nates from, and is but, the carrying loveth the righteous and is angry with out of that will. Except, therefore, the wicked every day. It is not the God has two wills opposed to each God who swears by Himself that He other, one a vocal and uttered, and the has no pleasure in the death of a sinother a hidden and secret will, so that ner, but calls to guilty men, "Turn ye, you may violate the one and obey the turn ye, for why will ye die?" It is other by the same act, there can be no not the God who looked upon a fallen disobedience in this world. God, how-world, and repented that He had made ever, has uttered a will which He has man on the earth, and was grieved at made it every man's duty to obey. his heart on account of human sin. It Then, on this showing, God is at war is not the God who "so loved the with himself. When you are on the world that he gave his only begotten side of His revealed will, you are in Son, that whosoever believeth on him opposition to His secret will; and should not perish, but have everlasting when you are obedient to His secret life." It is not the God who condemns will, you are in rebellion against His men because they love darkness rather revealed will. In either case, you are than light. It is not the God who a rebel and a loyal subject at the same yearns over His guilty prodigal, and time. Most loyal when most rebel- who, with all the love of a father's lious, most rebellious when most loyal. | heart, embraces and welcomes him on