not too much-with all her children, and all their love. You should see with what painful efforts she combats her enemies within and without. You should see with what bitter tears and with what bloody sweat she steeps the soil of her Gethsemane. You should hear the sound of her scourging; and the tumult of those who, mocking her blindfolded eyes -for in the present day she scarcely knows who are her enemies and who are her friends-cry, in derision, "Prophesy who smote thee." Perhaps you may not hear the clamour, "Away with him! away with him! crucify him!" This crucifixion is only to be seen, in certain places, in the contempt of some, and in the disdainful toleration or the derisive homage of others. Elsewhere, very far from being nailed to a cross, the church is on a throne; but examine closely, and you will discover that she is chained to it. Under

one or other of these forms, she still undergoes her irrevocable destiny: there is no respite for you, or for her, hereyou will rest in heaven! The church at the same time assails her enemies and defends herself. She extends her borders for self-protection, and goes beyond them for conquest. Go with her wherever she goes; establish yourself on the ground which she occupies; add to her empire new provinces; aid her in accomplishing the command to preach the gospel to every creature. Architects of a heavenly mansion, builders of a new Jerusalem, take trowel in one hand and the sword in the other; destroy error, and extend truth. Above all, spread everywhere the vivifying odour of the gospel by a conduct pure, holy, honourable, before God and before men, full of charity and good works, to the glory of Jesus Christ! Amen.

THE GROANINGS OF CREATION.

"THE whole creation groaneth and | gladdens in the hope of its future restoratravaileth in pain together until now." Set and shrined (as it were) in an epistle the most replete with the very strictest peculiarities of the theological creed, do we find this striking image; the creation in a state of big and general distress, giving token of some pregnant but yet undisclosed mystery wherewith it is charged, and heaving throughout all its borders with the pains and the portents of its coming regeneration. This was the aspect which our present system of things bore to the eye of the apostle; and it is its aspect still. The world is not at ease. The element in which it floats is far from being of a tranquil or a rejoicing character. It has somehow gone out of adjustment, and is evidently off the poise or the balance of those equable movements in which we should desire that it persisted for ever. Like the stray member of a serene and blissful family, it has turned into a wayward, comfortless, ill-conditioned thing, that still teems, however, with the recollection of its high original, and wildly gleams and

tion. It hath all the character, now, of being in a transition-state; and with all those symptoms of restlessness about it, which the brooding insect undergoes ere it pass into the deathlike chrysalis, and come forth again in some gay and beauteous expansion, in the fields of our illumined atmosphere. Meanwhile, it is in sore labour; and the tempest's sigh and the meteor's flash, and not more the elemental war than the conflict and the agony that are upon all spirits; the vexing care, and the heated enterprise, and the fierce emulation, and the battle-cry, both that rings from the inferior tribes through the amplitude of unpeopled nature, and that breaks as loudly upon the ear from the shock of civilized men: above everything, the death, the sweeping, irresistible death, which makes such havoc among all the ranks of animated nature, and carries off, as with a flood, its successive generations; these are the now overhanging evils of a world that has departed from its God!--Dr. Chalmers on the Romans.

CHRISTIAN GLEANINGS.

THE CHRISTIAN NAME.

THE title of Christian is a reproach to us, if we estrange ourselves from Him after whom we are denominated. The name of Jesus is not to be to us like the Allah of Mohammedans, a talisman, or an armulet to be worn on the arm, as an external badge merely, and symbol of our profession; but it is to be engraved deeply upon the heart, there written by the finger of God himself in everlasting characters. It is our title, known and understood, to present peace and future glory. The assurance that it conveys of a bright reversion, will lighten the burdens and alleviate the sorrows of life; and in some happier moments it will impart to us somewhat of that fulness of joy which is at God's right hand, enabling us to join even here in the heavenly hosanna, "Worthy is the Lamb!" "Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever."Wilberforce's Practical View.

LET CHILDREN SING.

ALL children can learn to sing, if they commence in season. I do not say, all will have the same sweet voice of the nightingale; for some have naturally sweet, mild, and soft voices, when they talk, while others speak in loud, strong, and masculine tones. The same is true in regard to singing.

In their

In Germany every child is taught to use his voice while young. schools all join in singing as a regular exercise as much as they attend to the study of geography; and in their churches the singing is not confined to a choir, who sit apart from the others, perhaps in one corner of the house, but there is a vast tide of incense going forth to God from every heart which can give utterance to this language from the soul.

Children, sing! yes, sing with your whole hearts! David sang before the

VOL. XXVI.

Lord, and it is meet that you should do the same; and always, when angry feelings rise in your breast, curb and check them by singing sweet and cheerful songs.-Phrenology for Children.

THE BIBLE THE BASIS OF EDUCATION.

To constitute a sufficient moral system, there must be a recognition of one Supreme, the original Source of being, authority, and wisdom, duty to whom includes, harmonizes, and makes binding all other duties; for else there will be a conflict of duties, rendering virtue uncertain, variable, and inconsistent. To establish sufficient moral principle, there must be proposed motives to do right, convincing the mind and controlling the heart, superior at all times and in all circumstances over every possible motive to do wrong. To direct in moral conduct there must be an exhibition, by actual example, of the highest moral perfection. All these can be found only in Christianity. Hence we affirm that, though there are some auxiliary means, the BIBLE is fundamentally essential to the proper training of the young. Every attempt to build a sound education, except upon evangelical truths, will be a failure. For, besides that the Holy Scripture is a library of itself, containing the most ancient, authentic, and satisfactory account of things in their causes, narrative the most simple and impressive, biography the most honest and useful, eloquence the most powerful and persuasive, poetry the most sublime and beautiful, argument the closest and most profound, politics the justest and most liberal, and religion pure from the throne of God; it alone teaches mortals with sufficient authority, motive, and example

the authority of God, the motives of eternity, and the examples of Jesus Christ, God-in-man. Thus we find that, in exact proportion as the Bible is read, useful knowledge, civil liberty, and sound morals prevail.-Dr. Bethune.

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THE PRESENTS OF THE WISE MEN TO

CHRIST:

"Gold, frankincense, and myrrh."-Matt. ii. 11.

SOME of the ancients are of opinion, that in the presents which these eastern sages made, they had a mystical meaning, and were designed to signify their acknowledgment both of the divinity, royalty, and humanity of our Lord; for the incense, they say, was proper to be given him as a God, the gold as a King, and the myrrh as a mortal Man, whose body was to be embalmed therewith. It is certain that the eastern people never came into the presence of their princes without some presents, and that their presents were usually of the most choice things that their country afforded. All that they

meant, therefore, was to do homage to a new-born Prince of a neighbouring nation, and in the best manner they could: and, if what naturalists tell us be true, that myrrh was only to be found in Arabia, and frankincense in Sæba, which is a part of Arabia, and that this country was not destitute of gold, (2 Chron. ix. 14,) and at the same time was famous for men conversant with astronomy, it makes a very probable argument that the wise men came from thence."-Burder's Oriental Customs.

The true moral derivable from this statement is, to inquire, what do we offer to Christ? Do we present our hearts, our time, our influence, our gold-in a word, our entire selves to his cause and his glory?

Poetry.

LOOK UP.

WHEN summer leaves lie wither'd and scatter'd o'er thy path,
When all is sad and lonely around thy cheerless hearth,

When memory loves to linger on joys for ever past,

And shadows of the future the present overcast;

From all this gloom and sadness look upward to the sky,

A Star there is to cheer thee,-oh, only raise thine eye,

The bright and morning Star is there, whose mild and beauteous rays
Will turn thy mourning into joy, thy heaviness to praise.

The soul that ne'er looks upward can never see its light;
Fear not that mists of woe or sin will hide it from thy sight;
Look up-through tears of penitence its beams will seem more fair;
Look up-'t will raise thy drooping heart and dissipate thy care.

Though storms are raging round and waves and tempests roar,
And hope that once beguil'd thee can cheer thy heart no more:
Look upward-there's a beacon to guide thee from afar,
A sure and certain refuge, the bright and morning Star.

When Death's dark shadows gather, with thick and threat'ning gloom,
Look upward-and thy fainting soul shall triumph o'er the tomb:
Nor death nor hell nor aught beside thy confidence can mar,
If the eye of faith is fix'd upon the bright and morning Star.

Oh blessed, bright, and glorious Star! we bow our souls to thee,
In thy pure, changeless light alone may we accepted be!
On every dark, polluted soul may thy sweet lustre shine!
Our notes will then be victory, but all the praise be thine.
August 29th, 1848.

M. A. S.