WHO IS ELECTED? OR THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE. I CHANCED to be at the house of some dear friends, in an inland city, at the close of a contested election. Without being indifferent to the issue of the struggle now being carried on by the three, or more parties, that divide our political world, I know but little of these matters; and, though I have a vote, which I should rejoice to give in support of men of principles which I could approve, yet as such men are not in the field, I take no side in the contest, but maintain a calm neutrality, desirous only that men may be chosen who will faithful servants not to prove a faction of any name, but to their country. I asked my friends, 6 Well, who are elected? Who are the successful candidates?' I was told. ، And what are their principles ? ' Scarcely was this question answered, when the sounds of music and of popular shouting, announced the approach of the new members, who were doomed to undergo the envied degradation, misnamed honour, of being chaired, carried about in laurelled chairs, like ، Jack in the bush. The procession arrived. The members smiled and bowed most courteously: the drums and clarions sounded: the people made the air ring with acclamations. I looked again. A few gentlemen led the train ; behind came the poorer electors, like a company of jaded bacchanalians, with tottering limbs, and inflamed countenances, and swollen, watery eyes, the wretched effects and proofs of successive days of debauch. Many looked like demons, let loose for a time from their prison-house, but having brought their misery with them. I looked again. A species of madness seemed to have possessed the entire population, and gave too sure prognostication, that, before the midnight bell echoed from the A cathedral tower, the mass of the people would be buried in loathsome vice. There were not, indeed, any symptoms of violence. degree of good humour pervaded all parties, which presented a fair contrast to the diabolical fury that raged in other places. But the whole scene was disgusting to a mind that looks beyond an hour. I took one more view. It was a glance at the triumphant members. I turned away in loathing pity, and hurried from the house of my friends towards my own distant and peaceful home. And this,' said I to myself, as I paced across the deserted and silent fields, ، This is an election ! This is to be called and chosen to take a seat in the council of the greatest nation upon the face of the earth. These are some of the first steps of the successful candidate towards the temple of honour. Thus men, who are to legislate for a Christian land, and for a Christian Church, are borne to their high eminence upon the flood of popular licentiousness. Surely, it is as if men, when on their way to a consultation about the best means for securing a land from inundation, were to cut through the existing dikes, and open all the sluices.' These led to other reflections, which spontaneously gathered round, and acquired strength from the oft-quoted words. of St. Peter-" Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be administered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Here, also, is mention made of a triumphant entrance upon the possession of exalted honours-the honours not of an earthly senate, but a heavenly kingdom. Who is elected to this distinction? Who are the successful candidates for They are invited, this palm? and with mild, but effectual power, constrained to seek it: and they are elected to the final possession of it by Him,, whose gift it is. With what scriptural fidelity and clearness is this stated by our church! 6 Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God's purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they, through grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.' The penitent believer in Jesus, the regenerate child of God is the subject of all this mercy. On him the choice of God is unalterably fixed. "The Lord knoweth them that are his," and their ultimate exaltation to the seats in the heavenly places, prepared for them by the Father, is sure as the purpose, the faithfulness, and the power of God can make it. But very much of the comfort, the joy, and the vital alacrity of the elect people of God' themselves, must depend upon their possessing an assured interest in the result of their faith. HIS they may be-His they undoubtedly are, whether their sensible comforts ebb or flow. St. Peter, or rather the Spirit of God, who speaks through the apostle, affectionately exhorts those, who ultimately will and must succeed, to "make sure their calling and election," to labour after a firm and settled confidence of their being actual partakers of the Lord's renewing grace, and the destined participants of life eternal. Many of those around us are blinded by the sands of the desert through which they are passing. They forget their principles as Christians, and return to and pertinaciously embrace the old sins' from which they, by their creed, profess to be cleansed. A seat amidst the enthroned sons of God, the being numbered with his saints in glory everlasting, is only the dreamy hope of their vagrant imaginations. It is not the object of wakeful and ever active life. "Wherefore,' on this very account, we should "give all diligence," to the acquirement of a settled and wellfounded confidence in our own security, that we may neither leave ourselves nor others in doubt as to our prospects. The candidate for earthly honour is restless, unwearied, persevering, sparing of no expence, until he has made sure of his election, though a considerable length of time may elapse between the close of the poll, and his being summoned to take his place in parliament and the negligence of some, and the eagerness of others prompt him to keep up his exertions to the last. O the guilty sluggishness of our souls! the miserable indolence of our most active diligence in matters which cannot descend from their exalted height to a comparison with the poor concerns of this world! : Am I sure, from an undeniable and unquestionable change of heart and life, that God in his mercy hath called me out of darkness into marvellous light? Am I, not in a legal and self-justifying spirit, but with all the affectionate solicitude of a reconciled child, giving all source. If I find the river I may be sure of the existence of the fountain, though from various causes I may not be able myself to trace it. The very earnestness of the Apostle's exhortation implies, that an establishment of the certainty of our privileged state, is not a work, which easy indolence or a remiss activity may accomplish, or a work, which like the prophet's gourd may be expected to reach perfection in a few hours. The racer has his eye upon the prize. He grasps it in his heart. He assures himself of success. But he does this only while he is straining every nerve, and putting forth all his strength, and pursuing his object to the goal. Thus St. Paul felt, when he wrote the last Epistle he ever penned. "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day." Thus steadfastly pursuing his course, the Christian candidate for glory cannot "fall." "He is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." Then comes the triumph. The successful candidate for temporal elevation may die between the die between the announcement of his being chosen, and the hour of his popular triumph. The heir of glory triumphs in death. The grave and gate of death is the very entrance of his triumphal path. Poor pageants of earth! What are they? Could all the splendour of Grecian and Roman triumphs be joined together, with all the pomp of victory that has ever swelled the train of conquerors in battle, or successful rivals in civic contests for honour, and then be centered in one grand spectacle, it would be inferior to the sports of children, in comparison with the entrance of the lowliest servant of Jehovah into his everlasting kingdom. The objects for which they have contended, the honours to which they have attained, where are they? or where will they soon be? Gone-' the froth upon the waters not so light.' But, O my soul, thy object is an "everlasting kingdom!" belonging to Him, whom thou lovest above all, and who has engaged to administer thine entrance-to be at all the cost, and to supply whatever is needful to render thy triumph blissful to thee, and honourable to him. Every happy spirit in heaven shall take a part in the scene, and the full light of God in Christ shall surround thee with unimaginable glory. Or, to use the words of one who has long since realized his own language, thou shalt enter that blessed state, as a ship comes into harbour richly laden from a prosperous voyage, with a fair gale and a full tide, carrying it above all impediments, and terminating all its dangers.' VIATOR. THE SWISS CABIN. A TRAVELLER'S TALE. FROM "THE SOWER"-A FRENCH PERIODICAL. WE had quitted Chamouny in the scene. com ; Our little company was posed of four persons united by the bonds of friendship and of faith. We took a lively interest in all the beauties which met our sight, and in regarding them, we were happy to think, that each of us discovered there the powerful hand of Him who created all things, and could see him as the eternal, the mighty, the wonderful, the awful, and also as the God of mercies, the Redeemer, the Saviour. For several days we had visited together the most charming spots, and we had always found, that after having admired God in his works, it was infinitely more sweet and precious to us to seek him in his Word, where he reveals himself in ways a thousand times more affecting than in nature. When we halted we delighted to sing the praises of our Father. Our guides drew near to listen, and sometimes they said, in their homely speech, that they liked our singing. During our short stoppages, we often began some good and serious talk with them, which we afterwards continued, while we rode on our mules. They seemed to say, these are singular people, but they look as if they were happy.' We experienced throughout the truth of the observation, that a Christian is never reduced to his own company. Send a learned man, an author, or a person who has devoted his days to some particular branch of human science, on a journey, with his thoughts occupied entirely by his favourite subject, and make him pass a few days only with poor and ignorant persons, who know nothing about his science, he will feel himself out of his element, he will find no means of making his ideas known, and will have nobody to speak to. But the Christian has always something to say, because he has always a work to do. He has words for the poor as well as the rich, for the learned as well as the ignorant. Whatever the companions of his journey may be, he has a subject which interests himself and is calculated to interest them, not perhaps all at once in the same degree, or in the same sense, but still in some manner. He knows that man has gone astray, and he who has found the way, loves to tell those who are wandering farther and farther, how they may return to it. This it is that gives a peculiar interest to every step he takes. He is never obliged to stifle his ideas, or cast aside the subjects on which he likes to dwell. He finds an occasion every where of bringing them forward, and all that is wanting is not to let it slip. This is what we particularly found at the Nan-Bourant. After having rested a little in the hut, we were desirous of profiting by the last hours of the day, to admire the wild and gigantic scene which expanded itself around. The sun was set. A thin vapour formed a veil over every object. The forest of firs was no more distinct than a dark heap in the midst of snows. Every rock, every peak appeared to assume a more threatening attitude. We heard nothing but the sound of the torrent (the Nan-Bourant) which gives its name to the hut, and the bells of some goats which a young herdsboy was conducting to their stable. He was a youth of twelve years old, with an intelligent look. He stopped near us, looked at us with a curiosity that had nothing strange about it. We made him a friendly sign, and he approached us. asked if he was tired with his I a day's work. 'Oh yes,' he said, this troublesome goat has given me a deal to do. She fled up there, as high as that, (shewing us height at some distance) and I have been obliged to climb after her to fetch her back.' 6 • You have acted like the good Shepherd: do you know who is the good Shepherd?' It is Jesus Christ,' he replied, without hesitation. 'Do you know how to read, my dear young child?' 'Yes, sir.' Well then, I will give you a little book, in which you will find a great many excellent things.' I then took out of my pocket a little book, entitled POOR JOSEPH. (Paris Religious Tract Society, No. 10.) My name is Joseph, too,' said the herds-boy, as he looked at the first leaf. Well then, my friend, I hope you will be like the person you read about FEBRUARY 1833. I here. Come, read me the beginning of the history, since it is still light enough.' When Joseph came to the passage of the Bible which is introduced, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief," I stopped him, and asked him if he understood what he had been reading. At first he hung down his head without answering, and then said in an under tone, I know very well what sin is.' And who has told you any thing about it? who has told you there is any such thing?' 6 6 Ah, it is my own heart that told me so; it has told me a hundred times that I do evil, and love evil.' That is what Joseph in the book knew well also; but then he knew the remedy for this evil. Do you know it as he did?' The boy pointed out with his finger the name of Jesus Christ, and read over these words slowly again, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." And how are you to know this to be true?' But, sir,' answered the child with surprise, God has said so.' We looked at each other, admiring the artless faith of the young herdsboy, and after a moment's pause I observed, You are happy in believing what God has said.' 'Sir, this is not the first time that I have heard such things spoken and know they are true. We have our curate down there in the valley, who often tells me what you have just been saying.' "God be blest, my child. Do not forget, that there is evil, and a great deal of it in your heart, but there is a mighty physician who knows how to cure all evils, and that physician is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God blessed for ever. Dear child, we shall probably never see each other again on earth. You will remain among these mountains, and we shall set off at day-break to make our way over |