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compassion of the Saviour which keeps alive the spark of Divine grace in the Christian's soul, which would otherwise be extinguished. It is to this compassion, praying for us amidst our temptations, we owe it, that our faith, though often assailed, has failed not. It is this which sustains us, and pours a flood of consolation into the soul, which enables us to bear up amidst all the trials of life, and to pass through them all, more than conquerors, through Him that loved us." The The mourning penitent who, coming to the cross, finds to his joy that Christ "casts out none that come unto him;" the returning backslider, who proves the readiness and ability of the Saviour to heal and pardon his backslidings; and the weak and fearful Christian, who knows by experience that the Saviour "will not break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax,"- can equally and joyfully attest the truth of the compassion of the Saviour.

There may and often do arise circumstances and events in the Christian's experience, which appear opposed to such views of the Saviour's compassion, and which lead him hastily and rashly to call it in question, and say, "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?" (Ps. lxxvii. 7-9.) Every Christian tempted to reason and conclude thus in the season of trial and darkness should say, as did the sufferer whose words I have quoted, "This is my infirmity." Let such remember, "the Lord will not cast off for ever; but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies" (Lament. iii. 31, 32). For our present and everlasting good, our state in this world is one of moral discipline. The chequered scenes and circumstances of joy and sorrow through which Providence leads us are alike intended for the trial and manifestation of the passive and active graces of the Christian character. Those events in providence which often appear to us the most trying and mysterious, because at the time we mark not their tendency and connexion, are the events under which we most realise the Saviour's compassion, are most fitted to glorify the Saviour, and by which our truest interests are the most effectually promoted. The compassion of the Saviour not only sends affliction to correct for sin committed, and to bring back our wandering hearts to himself, but, oftener than we are aware, sends the affliction to prepare us for meeting the hour of temptation, and to prevent our falling into that sin by which he sees our faith, our

safety, and our peace, will be endangered. "Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet mc, lest I should be exalted above measure" (2 Cor. xii. 7). That affliction, then, which has the effect of preserving from sin, as well as that which reclaims from sin, should equally be valued by the Christian as a precious gift from God, and as a demonstration to his soul of the Saviour's love and compassion. Under all his trials, let the Christian be assured, that the compassion of his Lord apportions and regulates them all in mercy and for his good; that under all he will graciously sustain him; that he will make all work together for his spiritual and eternal advantage. In the mean time, he may rejoice and say, "Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong."

BRITAIN'S FIRST MARTYR.*

IT was during the last and most rigorous of the persecutions under the Roman emperors, the first which extended to Britain, that a Christian priest, pursued on account of his religion, and wandering destitute in the neighbourhood of Verulamium, attracted the attention of an inhabitant named Alban. Alban was a pagan, but he was naturally humane; and the interesting appearance, the mild manners, and exhausted state of the Christian, excited his compassion. He offered him shelter, and took him to his own house. The more he saw of the refugee, the more he admired him.

He compared his resigned fortitude with the ostentatious morality he inculcated, with the perverted doctrines apathy of the stoic; the code of pure and unselfish of the followers of Epicurus. He saw the immortality to which his soul had so ardently aspired, and of which the best and most enlightened philosophy gave but a

glimmering of hope rather than of assurance, clearly revealed; the resurrection to a brighter and more glorious world forming the very basis, the very life of Christianity; and he became a Christian.

"You are by birth a Roman ?" said Alban to his guest, as they sat together engaged in one of those instructive conversations which were daily more and more firmly establishing his faith; "were you brought up a Christian? or are you, like myself, a convert from idolatry?"

"I was brought up a Christian," answered Amphibalus, and yet I may call myself a convert, too. If you will listen to my history, it will explain the seeming contradiction. I was born of a noble house in Rome, and left an orphan, with one sister, at an early age. We were under the care of a maternal uncle, the Bishop Caius, and educated in the Christian religion. To you, who, after having for years sought in vain any thing like certainty in the wild inventions and errors of paganism, have been suddenly brought into the pure light of the Gospel, it must appear incredible that there should be souls capable of standing in the full blaze of that light, and still remain in darkness. Yet was that my case. I was nominally a Christian; I had been baptised into the Church of Christ. The

From Tales of the Martyrs. Dean and Munday, 1837.

leading doctrines of the faith had, by dint of repetition, become fixed in my memory, but they sank no deeper. In mere externals alone I differed from my pagan companions. I offered no outward homage at the shrines of the false deities; I had not been taught or accustomed to do so; but my heart was a slave to the still more engrossing idols of worldly ambition and pleasure. Persecution is the refiner of the Church, the furnace which separates the dross from the gold, the kindling breath which, if there be but one sleeping spark of true religion in the soul, will fan it into a flame of devotion; except for that, I had, in all probability, been still grovelling, unmindful of my high destiny. I was present when a legion, containing upwards of six thousand soldiers, refusing to assist at a sacrifice, or to take the required oath for the extirpation of Christianity in Gaul, was decimated at the order of Maximian. Still they persisted, professing themselves in the most dutiful terms, ready to obey the emperor next to their God, but not before him; and again every tenth man was put to the sword. This second severity produced no effect; and the whole body, true to their allegiance, even while compelled by conscience to disobey, quietly submitted to the death to which they were consigned. I was unacquainted with their tenets; I had disliked them for their singularity, but I could not but admire their calm determination. I felt that the faith which strengthened them must be something more than a name. To the propagation of that faith I determined to devote the remainder of my life. I was ordained by my uncle, and the good old man gave me his parting benediction with tears. Amphibalus,' he said, 'I know your disposition. You have spent your youth in carelessness of all religion; and in the ardour of a first conviction you would glory in being allowed to endure torments, and death, for the sake of Christ: but remember that martyrdom is to be suffered, not sought-suffered, indeed, joyfully, but not sought presumptuously: frequently do I exhort my flock to be prepared for the foriner; you, I would rather warn against the latter. You are now a minister of the Gospel; to stand against the temptations of the world- -to go forth, and in preaching that Gospel stedfastly, year after year, to encounter the daily hardships of a laborious and, as far as earthly distinction goes, a lowly avocation, will give a far higher proof of the depth of your devotion than any fortitude under immediate persecution could evince. I charge you to give this proof; and as long as you can preserve life without a compromise of your faith, to preserve it for a continual offering and a sacrifice unto God. Go! and may his Holy Spirit be with your efforts for the enlightening and salvation of souls.' I obeyed him, for conscience told me he had spoken truth. I left Rome, and, pursuing the path he pointed out, have wandered to Britain; but the arm of Diocletian is extended even here for the destruction of Christianity; orders for its suppression have arrived, and I was flying from his officers, when found and sheltered by you."

Not many days after this, Amphibalus was traced to his retreat.

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Amphibalus," said Alban, "I can conceal you no longer; but I can assist your escape. Change garments with me; before the mistake is discovered, you will have had time to get out of danger; save yourself for the sake of those who, like me, may have cause to bless your ministry."

Alban hastily arrayed Amphibalus in his own habit, and throwing over himself the hair cassock of the priest, was seized by the officers, and carried before the governor. His disguise was soon penetrated; but Amphibalus had already left the house: and Alban was scourged and threatened in vain; he would give no information.

"Alban," said the governor, "were it to shield an old comrade that you were thus obstinate, I could

almost forgive you, for the sake of the motive; but to persist in suffering for a Christian!"

"Noble governor," answered Alban, "for him especially I am bound to suffer, since to him I owe more than life can repay-I am Christian." "A Christian!" was the general exclamation, and those who had pressed round in friendly endeavours to extract from him the secret, which they thought only kept out of a sense of honour not to betray a guest, shrank back at the ominous sound. "A Christian!" repeated the governor; "nay, if you avow yourself a Christian, you may even take the place of him you conceal. Lead him to the altar."

The alternative of burning incense, or of death, was offered. "I have renounced idolatry," said Alban; "God forgive me for the length of time I ignorantly preached it."

It was to a beautiful spot just without side the town that Alban was conducted for execution. A large concourse followed; for he was much loved and respected, and many a poor man felt that he was about to lose his kindest benefactor. He mounted the platform, the block was set ready, and the executioner stood beside it.

My friends," said Alban, "you are doubtless surprised at my situation: in the countenances of not a few I read sorrow at seeing me so placed; but I call upon you rather to rejoice. I, as you all know, worshipped the deities of the Romans; I bowed down before idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold; but my spirit revolted at the idea, and I said, 'How can they, who cannot help themselves, help me?' I consulted the ignorant: he made use of reason when he cultivated his land, or followed his trade; but I spoke to him of the impotence of his gods, and he said, Let the learned see to that.' I turned to the learnedto many I appealed in vain; they were too deeply engaged, each in his favourite subject, to spare a thought upon that: at last one answered, 'We worship not the images, but those they represent.' Then I sought to find who those were: opened the page of the poet, prepared to reverence these rulers of the world; I closed it in disgust, and I cried, Better to adore the senseless block with the multitude.' I gazed upon the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and I could have knelt to them; but I saw the sun still walking his daily path, and the moon her stated orbit. Nightly the stars, ranged in the same order, beamed upon me from the same quarter of the heavens; and I felt that some superior hand had placed them there. I examined the earth, the inanimate stone, the living but unconscious plant; I traced still onwards, till from the worm I arrived at man, and man stood preeminent and alone. Did he make the world? Did he call forth this beautiful universe, and give the first impulse to creation? There is a God!' I exclaimed ; and my soul bowed before him.

"Thus far the light of reason and of nature led me; thus far has it led many before me, and will lead all who seek its guidance. But I was not yet satisfied; I longed to know God more perfectly, to know how to please him. Then came the Christian: he taught me how God made man in his own image, but he by transgression fell; thus were the wickedness and misery of the world accounted for. He told me how the Son of God came down from heaven, and by his death redeemed us from the eternal punishment we had incurred and I rejoiced; for the offended God, before whom I had trembled, was become a reconciled Father. O how beautiful then did all creation appear! Methought the sun shone with still brighter beams, for my own heart was glowing with gratitude and love. The gladsome lark mounted as before into the cloudless sky, but to me his song thrilled with redoubled sweetness, for my heart arose with him in praises to our great Creator. Better than ever do I love my lifeit is his gift; more than ever do I love the earth-it

is his work; yet I stand before you condemned to part with both; and I am happy, most happy, for I know that death is but the gate of entrance to a higher state of being; I know that I am leaving this fair world only to dwell for ever in one still fairer. My friends, my fellow-townsmen, let not prejudice close your eyes to the truth I entreat you to search for yourselves; listen to the teachers of Christianity, and then decide between them and the priests of your idols. Of my own sincere belief in the crucified Lord of the Christians, I am about to give you the last and most decisive proof." He knelt down, and, commending his soul to Jesus, laid his head upon the block. The executioner was raising his hand to strike, when his resolution appeared to fail, and it dropped powerless at his side. Again the signal was given, and he seemed preparing to obey, but the axe which should have descended upon the neck of Alban, was cast to the ground, and the executioner fell upon his knees beside him: "Holy man," he said, "your God be mine; I am ready to die for you, or with you: pray for me, that I may be accepted by Him."

A murmur rose in the assembled crowd. "Pardon, pardon!" began to be distinguished. "Ah," exclaimed the officer, "we have done wrong to let the Christian speak." He looked round at his soldiers; one of them came forward and took the axe. "Death to them both!" and the weapon, yet stained with the blood of Alban, drank that of his new convert.

To the memory of the first British martyr a magni

ficent church was erected about the time of Constantine the Great. This edifice, destroyed in the Saxon wars, was rebuilt by Offa, king of Mercia; and the town in Hertfordshire, formerly Verulamium, is still, in honour of the same circumstance, known by the name of St. Alban's.

SUNDAY REFLECTIONS.-No. IX.

BY MRS. RILEY.

"For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."-John, v. 4.

AMONGST the blessings of Providence and the wonders of nature may be reckoned those mineral springs which in different parts of the world minister strength to the weak, or relief to the cripple. The metal and the mineral, the acid and the alkali, are prepared and combined by nature in her secret laboratory, and then poured forth, fraught with healing virtue: and though no angelic messenger is now commissioned to endow the streams at intervals with miraculous powers, a compensation is found in the advanced state of medical science, which, analysing their component parts, and discovering their properties, adapts them to the various disorders of man. It is, indeed, an additional incentive to our gratitude to reflect, that from the most noxious weeds, and the most dangerous poisons, their great Creator enables man by science to derive some hidden quality beneficial to his fellowcreatures: thus even in wrath remembering mercy; for there are few of those diseases which sin has entailed upon mortality, incapable of alleviation or remedy by the skill of the physician and the power of medicine. To the poor, indeed, the knowledge of

The deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna), the henbane (byoscyamus nigra), the foxglove (digitalis purpurea), with many other plants of less destructive tendency, are now successfully employed in medicine, as well as arsenic, prussic acid, and other deadly poisons.

this fact may sometimes add bitterness to sorrow-for to be assured that the sufferer might obtain relief, had he but wealth sufficient to command it, must add poignancy to the grief with which he watches over

the sick-bed of those he loves. It is the honour of our native land that it possesses so many of those noble institutions, where the highest skill, and the utmost care, combined with the most proper treatment, are provided for the poor in their hour of need; and thus sympathy and gratitude strengthen the bond by which the rich and the poor are united.

Still, there is one disease for which the world presents no hospital - for which earth contains no remedy; it is a leprosy too deep for its hottest springs to eradicate -a palsy too severe for its strongest remedies to reach. From this disease the abstemiousness of poverty is no security- the comforts of wealth are no protection. Born with its seeds in our very nature, they find in every heart a soil congenial to their growth; and though at times they may appear inert, their vitality will never be destroyed till the heart itself shall cease to beat.

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Is there, then, "no balm" for this fatal malady,no physician" to whom we can apply with hope of relief? The same God who, in his providence, has poured forth the healing spring for the disorder of the body, in his mercy has provided a remedy for the disease of the soul. There is a "fountain opened for SIN." Fatal as are its effects, dreadful as are its consequences, the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin. Here no wealth is necessary to obtain relief, for poverty of spirit is the surest plea: "ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," which are bestowed" without money and without price." Here no recommendation is essential to the sufferer's reception; the Saviour's complaint is, "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life:" no previous discipline is necessary, willingness to be healed is all Christ seeks: "Wilt thou be made whole ?" the

remedy is given, "I will: be thou clean."

For every moral disorder is this one precious stream available; it allays the delirium of passion, removes the palsy of selfishness, calms the fever of earthly ambition: it is offered to every age; to the feeble infant at the baptismal font, to the man oppressed with the infirmity of sin for thirty and eight years, and to him who, on the verge of eternity, discovers that threescore years and ten have passed away like " a tale that is told."

The same qualities which would entitle an earthly physician to our confidence, are possessed by the heavenly One in their highest degree; insight into the nature of the disease, knowledge of the remedy, and sympathy with our sufferings. He who exists from all eternity can alone compute the value of the undying soul. He in whose sight "the heavens are not pure can alone estimate the heinousness of sin. He who saw that there was no other intercessor, and whose own arm brought salvation to man, can with "for there is none certainty point out the remedy; other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." And do we delight in sympathy? our heavenly Physician is not one who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; for he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

THOUGHTS ON HISTORICAL PASSAGES OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. No. IV. Jacob's unwillingness to part with Benjamin,* BY THE REV. JOHN MENZIES, B.D. Rector of Wyke Regis-cum-Weymouth, Dorsetshire. If we look to the account which is given us in the Scripture, we shall see, I think, that when Jacob cried, in unbelief, "All these things are against me," he had lost sight of the sovereignty of God. In other words, he no longer regarded God as the sovereign Disposer of every event, and the almighty Ruler of all that is ordered for the sons of men. He no longer saw the finger of God in that which befell him, but was ascribing it all to some second cause. Mark how he said, "Me have ye bereaved of my children; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away;" ye will do it all-forgetting that they could do nothing, save only what God permitted them to do. True, he might have some misgivings that their wickedness had been the cause of the loss of Joseph; still he should have remembered that even the wickedness of man is made subservient to working out the good purposes of God-that even Satan himself has his appointed bounds, beyond which the sovereignty of God will not allow him to pass-and that the wickedness of a fellow-sinner cannot work out one single trial for us without the permission of God. It is the privilege of the servant of God to know that his trials, no less than his mercies, are all ordered for him by the God" who careth for his people," who "loves them with an everlasting love"-who "knoweth whereof they are made"-and who will "not suffer them to be tempted above that they are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that they may be able to bear it." He who regards not God in the character of a father and a friend cannot thus trace up all which befalls him to the special providence of God; he is ever looking only to some second cause, and saying, If this or that had not been done, it would have been otherwise with me--just as Jacob looked to second causes, when he cried, in the hour of unbelief, "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?" But he whose faith is strong will see, in all, the special providence of God. It is his privilege to rest assured, that, however complex and unintelligible the dealings of God's providence may appear to be, they are, in some mysterious and hidden way which shall hereafter be revealed, working together in accomplishing his good. It is the privilege of him whose faith is in lively exercise to feel thus, not merely when all is fair and prosperous, but even in the darkest hours. Jacob doubtless knew this truth, but he now practically disregarded it, like many of those truths which we ourselves know full well, but which we so often practically forget. Jacob remembered not the source whence even his trials came; and we, too, when we are ready (as we so often are) to say of the trials and perplexities which beset us, "All these things are against us,"-we, too, forget the source whence they come, and are not as mindful as we should be that God is the sovereign • See Genesis, xlii. 36: "All these things are against me."

of his heart, gave utterance to his desponding fears, he not only forgot the overruling providence of God in a general point of view; he also lost sight of all the particular attributes of God, which he might have remembered to the stay and comfort of his soul. God's faithfulness, for instance-his never-failing, unchanging faithfulness to his word and promise, was at this time little thought of. God, we know, had given him many precious promises; he had plainly said, "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; and behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." What could be more plain or more express than this! Yet Jacob had now forgotten this plain promise, or had begun to think that God would be unfaithful to his word; else, when trouble was nigh at hand and sorrows overwhelmed him, he would not have said, "All these things are against me;" but rather, with faithful David, would have cried, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort and uphold me." So, also, he regarded not the power of God; he forgot that nothing is too hard for the Lord, and that God can make the most unpromising circumstances work out his own good purposes and plans. "All these things," he cried, are against me;" as if he had said, a combination of evils is set in array against me, which I can never break through; my way is hedged in on all sides, and where can I obtain release? He looked only to his own weakness and helplessness, instead of the almighty power of his God; no wonder, then, that he was cast down, for truly he was involved in a chain of distressing events, from which he had no power to free himself, but from which the power of his God could at once have set him free. So, too, the wisdom and the love of God were overlooked; he forgot that every event is not merely ordered by God, but is also marked by a wisdom which cannot err; he forgot that God has his own way for bringing about the blessings which he designs to bestow; that he is not tied to only such expedients as even short-sighted man may see will bring about a good result. Truly, at this trying hour, all was very dark to Jacob; and when he looked only to those results from the painful circumstances in which he was placed which man could foresee, we can hardly wonder at his cry; for they did indeed seem to be against him. It might have seemed as though it were impossible that these things which had come upon him should produce any thing but sorrow and trouble; still, had he remembered the wisdom of God, that God's judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out; or had he stayed his mind upon the love of God; had he remembered that God is gracious as well as wise; had Jacob looked in simple faith to the character of that God whose he was and whom he served, instead of looking to the trying circumstances which crowded around him,-this bitter cry would never have escaped his lips, but he would have acknowledged that, however dark were present circumstances, however unpromising present appearances, all must be well at last, all must be ordered aright. But, looking only to himself and the evils which so sorely beset him, in the weakness of faith he cried, All these things are against me." Here is the reason why Jacob thus dishonoured God; and here, too, is the reason why we ourselves so often dishonour him, by our own rebellious murmurings against the trials which God sees fit to send us.

What, then, are the practical lessons which we may learn from the cry of Jacob on this trying occasion? 1. It reminds us to be very careful in the judgments which we form of God's dealings with us. Jacob cried, "All these things are against me!" and he thought he

judged correctly when he said so. It seemed, indeed, as if every thing were ordered exactly contrary to what would have tended to his good; it seemed as if the tide of adversity had set in full upon him, and would sweep every thing before it with resistless force: but the sequel of the story shews clearly how very erroneously he judged. The evils which he anticipated either did not exist, or never came to pass. "Joseph," he cried, is not, and Simeon is not;" but all the while Joseph was alive and in prosperity; and Simeon, too, he was alive, and under the care of a kind and tender brother. "Ye will take Benjamin away, and mischief will befall him by the way;" but Benjamin went down into Egypt, and returned in safety: nay, more; these very things which Jacob thought to be against him, were all for him; they were all working out good, for which he longed most earnestly. Not one of them could have been left out, without breaking the chain of providential mercies, by which God was providing a means of deliverance for Jacob and all his family; and by which he was bringing them down into Egypt, in order that they might partake of this deliverance, and be blessed there. Jacob little knew it at the time; but all the while God was "leading him by the right way, in order that he might bring him to a city of habitation." And is it not thus very often with ourselves? have not we again and again found, that the evils which we dreaded, have never come to pass; and that the very circumstances which we had been ready to pronounce most against us, have, in fact, been working out for us a good for which we had little hoped.

The dealings of God are necessarily very imperfectly understood by us; and even when we take, what has well been called, the telescope of faith, the tears which sorrow will cause to flow so often bedim the eye, that our vision cannot reach very far: but there is a time, when we shall see "face to face;" when all shall be made clear and plain. "Now we know only in part,

but then shall we know even as also we are known." Let us patiently wait that time, and "judge nothing before the time."

2. Again; let the example of Jacob teach how foolish it is to be impatient and cast down, because relief does not come at the first moment we seek for it; or, because the trial is not removed immediately that we begin to feel it. The medicine, it is well known, takes time to work its cure; and during that time it often seems only to increase the pain and uneasiness of the disease. So there must be a time for the dispensations of God to produce their proper effects upon the heart; and "no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." Believe that the reason why he often prolongs the time of trial is, that we may gain the greater good from it. He knows better than we do what really conduces for our good; and though now we think the trial unnecessarily prolonged, we shall in the end find, that the trial was continued exactly so long as was needed to effect the good for which Cod designed it.

3. Meanwhile, it is very important we should learn to take up our cross and bear it-whatever may be the cross which our heavenly Father sees fit to order for us; for until we can take it up and cheerfully bear it, no deliverance is at hand. This also we see exemplified in the case of Jacob. So long as he was ready in rebellious murmurings to cry, "All these things are against me," and did not acquiesce in the trial to which God had called him, there was no ray of consolation to relieve the darkness which seemed only to thicken around him. The famine still continued; the corn which his sons had brought from Egypt was spent: there seemed no hope of deliverance. It was not until he had bowed before the chastening rodit was not until he had consented to part from his son,

to whom he so fondly clung, but from whom God in his wisdom called him to part,-it was not until Jacob's will was thus made subject to the will of God, that the whole mystery of God's providence began to clear up, and the voice of joy was again heard in the dwelling of Jacob. So will it be with ourselves. The trials which God sends will not be removed until he has taught us not merely to submit to, but to acquiesce in, his providential government and gracious discipline; until he has compelled us cheerfully to resign ourselves into his hand.

4. In order that we may be brought into this happy state of mind, which will enable us to resign ourselves and all that we have into the guidance and care of God, it is very important that we should grow in the knowledge of God, and be able, by faith, to rest upon him at all times. We have seen that the reason why Jacob cried in murmuring unbelief, "All these things are against me," was because he did not realise God's presence and God's dealings in that which befell him. It is so with ourselves. Imperfect knowledge of God, and weakness of faith, are the true grounds of all that anxiety and sorrow which torments us. We do not know God aright; we do not view him in all the tenderness of the relation in which he stands to us, as a father and a friend; hence we do not rely upon him. No wonder, then, that we possess not the comforts which he so freely offers, and which he yearns to bestow upon his people. It is our infirmity that we are anxious and perplexed; good need have we, then, unceasingly to pray that we may know more of God.

And while we pray that we may know more of ourselves, more of the evil of sin, let us pray also that we may know more of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ; more of his power and willingness to save; more of his love, more of his grace, more of the excellency and truth of his promises. Let our prayers be, that "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give unto us the Spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of him; the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, that we may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints; and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe." "Lord, increase our faith:" according to our faith so shall it be done unto us; if faith be strong, and in lively exercise, the mind will be kept in perfect peace. Whatever be the outward circumstances, and however great may be the changes which await us here, if our faith be strong in Jesus Christ, our peace will be unbroken, because it shall rest on, and flow from, Him who changeth not"the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

The Cabinet.

MISSIONS. The believer, anxious for the furtherance of the glory of God, and the eternal good of his fellow-creatures, will delight to extend the knowledge of a Saviour's name to the utmost limits of the world. Having himself been fed with the bread of life, he will seek to impart it freely to others. Apathy on the subject of Christian missions is a sure index of the want of vitality in the soul. And yet, how many will withhold their hand from the good work, and view it with suspicion! How many are ready enough to administer to the temporal wants of their fellowcreatures, who yet never think of their spiritual, and who urge, as a ground for withholding their contributions from societies, the object of which is the dissemination of Gospel truth in foreign parts,-that there is sufficient to be done at home- as if it were not notorious, that they who are most distinguished for the spiritual improvement of their benighted fellowcreatures in other lands, are especially remarkable for the ready zeal which they testify to ameliorate the condition of those who have a strong claim to their