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they greatly degenerated; but to the last, they, in many things, adhered to the simplicity for which their Church had been from the beginning distinguished, and it was their reluctance in receiving the ceremonies to which they had not been accustomed, that ultimately proved

their ruin.

means most inconsistent with their saintly character. Oswald expelled the married canons from the cathedral of Worcester, by what a monkish historian calls a most holy and pious stratagem, which he has not put upon record; Ethelwald's conduct was still more infamous; and that of Dunstan shows his hypocrisy to have been equal to his ambition. Several councils were held on The independence of the majority of the Scottish the subject of the celibacy of the clergy; and Dun- clergy may be inferred from a variety of occurrences, stan was so overpowered by the arguments of the secu- which were well calculated to try their stedfastness. lar canons and their friends, that he had recourse to About the end of the seventh century, certain natives some of those stratagems which can only be called holy of Scotland, actuated by avarice and ambition, went to and pious by the utmost perversion of language. A Rome to obtain preferment in the Church. This object council, held at Calne in Wiltshire, was attended by at was best secured by advancing the supremacy of the least one representative from the Church of Scotland. Bishop of Rome in their own land. Accordingly, there It is not improbable there might be more, at least the was a continual intercourse kept up between Italy and language of some of the historians admits of this conScotland, with a view to bring the Scots to obey the struction: but the name of Beornelm stands conspicu- Pope, and conform to the practices of that Church. ous among those who made a manly resistance to the Boniface was sent to Scotland as agent or legate of the designs of Dunstan and his associates. He pleaded the Pope, and was most diligent in executing the commiscause of the married clergy with true eloquence; and sion which he had received, but he was stoutly opposed his arguments, which were suited to the natural feel- by the Scottish divines, especially Samson and Clemens. ings and secret wishes of the assembly, made a power- They maintained that "he and those of his party studied ful impression upon the minds of all present. Though to bring men to the subjection of the Pope, and to the unmarried himself, he defended the right of permitting slavery of Rome, withdrawing them from obedience to the clergy to exercise their liberty in regard to mar- Christ." They reproached Boniface and his coadjutors riage; and he seems to have been charged with the sen- with being corruptors of Christ's doctrine, establishtiments of all bis brethren in Scotland. Dunstan ing a sovereignty in the Bishop of Rome, as the only suc became alarmed; and to gain his point, had recourse to cessor of the apostles, excluding other bishops; that they a stratagem, which is perfectly illustrative of his char- used and commanded clerical tonsure, that they forbade acter. The room in which the council was held, was priests, marriage, extolling celibat, that they caused much crowded; and it was so contrived, that the part prayers to be made for the dead, and erected images in of it on which the married canons and their friends churches; to be short, that they had introduced into stood, should suddenly fall, while the part on which the Church many tenets, rites, and ceremonies, unDunstan and his friends were, remained firm. This known to the ancient and pure times, yea, contrary to occurrence broke up the council; for some were killed, them."* Now, for these bold declarations, Samson and and many wounded. Whether Beornelm ever returned Clemens were excommunicated in a council held at to Scotland is entirely unknown: there is some reason to apprehend that he was a sufferer by the unholy stratagem of Dunstan. From this period the yoke was laid upon the clergy; celibacy was not merely enjoined, but enforced; and it continues to our times in the Church of Rome, at once a bond of the strictest union, and a source of the grossest profligacy.

In the ancient Church it was usual when any difficult matter occurred, particularly in regard to the discipline and government, to lay the matter before a council. In relating the operations of Aidan and his successors in Northumberland, we had occasion to mention the Council of Streaneshalch, and, latterly, of Calne in Wiltshire. But there is good reason to believe, that councils, at various times, were called by the kings both of the Scots and Picts. Of these no memorials now remain, and their acts for the regulation of the Church have perished. There are indeed some faint traces of a council held by the authority of Kenneth Macalpin, under whom the Picts and Scots became one kingdom. In this council several laws were made, for the regulation both of the Church and State. For example, it is decreed, that altars, churches, cells, oratories, images of saints, priests, and all persons in holy orders, shall be held in great veneration; that all fasts, festivals, vigils, holidays, and ceremonies of every kind, which had been appointed to be kept in honour of King Christ and his holy militia, shall be strictly observed, and that it is to be held a capital crime to injure a priest either by word or deed. Were these decrees genuine, it must be admitted that Popery had made greater progress in Scotland, in early times, than we have been disposed to allow in these pages. But Lord Hailes, who studied the history of Scotland with a critical eye, thinks that these canons were the composition of a later age, when superstition and priestcraft generally prevailed. From the preceding sketch it appears that certain practices of the Church of Rome were gradually introduced into the churches of the Culdees, and, in the course of ages,

Rome, and condemned as heretics. The quotations now made may give us an idea of the working of the mystery of iniquity at this early period, and they show the comparative purity of the doctrines of the Culdees. These searched the Scriptures, and derived religious instruction from the clear fountains of the water of life. They readily decried all merit of their own, and hoped for salvation in Christ alone; and faith in him, as a living root, was to produce the fruit of good works, and without these faith was barren and dead, and consequently useless. They did not pray for the dead nor offer supplications to the saints. Indeed many of the innovations introduced at Rome into the worship and belief of Christians were entirely rejected by the Culdees.

Re

The number of Culdee colleges throughout the country had diffused a love of education, for which the Scottish people have been in all ages distinguished. Buchanan the historian has recorded a fact which may be considered as an indirect proof of the successful labours of the Culdees. He states that Charlemagne wished to procure from Scotland professors to teach philosophy, Greek, and Latin, in the college at Paris. Thus learning and true religion go hand in hand. ligion directs learning to its proper objects, and learning is the instrument, in the hand of Providence, for maintaining religion in all its purity. The time came when the establishments of the Culdees were suppressed, and Christianity appeared in a new garb, and surrounded with a multitude of gaudy ornaments. But though they no longer inhabited the buildings which were originally erected for them, traces of them were still to be found till the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the disciples of Wickliffe, "the morning star of the Reformation," appeared in Scotland.

In drawing up these hasty notices of an obscure period of Scottish history, it will be found that little is said of the errors and faults, which must have belonged both David Buchanan's Preface to Knox's History,

to the establishments and individuals. Abuses must have crept into the best regulated societies; heresies must have occasionally appeared in the course of four hundred years, the love of accumulating property and the quarrels connected with it no doubt occupied the place of the ancient simplicity and frugality. But time, the universal destroyer, has buried in oblivion the excellencies and defects of these once famous establishients. In like manner a number of individuals conspicuous for religion and science are unknown to fame, and their writings, which, perhaps, instructed successive generations of men, are no longer to be found. Even those who, in their day, were perverse, profligate, or heretical, are forgotten, and their sins and crimes live not in the memory of their distant posterity. We have no wish to hold up the Culdees as perfect; from some of their practices we have expressed our dissent, and if their excellencies and defects are not more minutely pourtrayed, it is because materials are wanting to fill up a portrait which would have presented the usual features of human nature, only varied by the manners, customs, and occupations of that particular age.

CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

The necessity of Christian Education.-The human soul, without education, has been likened to marble in the quarry. This is a truth, but persons are often disposed to rest too much weight on the effect of education, supposing that it is the only necessary means of imbuing the mind with a love of truth. One would think that the frequent examples to the contrary, would demonstrate the fallacy of this belief; but loving theory better than practical result, many still cling to the proposition, that human creatures may be made just what they ought to be, by systematic rules and moral precepts, much in the same manner that one forms an automaton to dance, to play, to write, and to do many other things. Why is it then, that we see members of one family, brought up under the same paternal roof, receiving the same privileges of instruction, subjected to the same control, taught the same lessons of heavenly wisdom, come out into the world as different in conduct and disposition, as though half a world had separated them till that moment? When the polisher uses his art, he brings out the varied tints of the marble in greater and more marked beauty, but it is beyond his power to change a single spot from its original hue. Surely, it is an erroneous philosophy that speaks of the infant mind as a blank tablet, on which we may inscribe whatever we please. "The Christian turns to the book of inspiration," says the author of Lectures on the History of Jacob; "he there discovers that the infant mind no longer resembles the unwritten tablet, but the tablet, wofully blotted, and deeply inscribed with Adam's guilt, and with Adam's sin; that the imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually;' that the grace of God, and that alone, can erase the natural impressions of evil, and give the new heart and the right spirit' which are able to know, to love, and to obey God." The use of appointed means is a paramount duty; but God will have all the glory of man's conversion. The heart wants renewal, and nothing short of divine power can sanctify a thing so vile. The wise man said, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it;" and often has it been seen, that, after many years of heedless folly, the child grown to man's estate has cast a look behind, and the lessons of his youth have risen up in review before him, and by the blessed application of the Holy Spirit, those seeds early planted by a pious father or mother, which had lain long dormant, choked by many a noxious weed, have at length sprung up, blossomed, and borne fruit. Many prayers had arisen before the throne on his be

When we

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half, those prayers were not disregarded, and in due time the Lord answered them in teaching him to pray for himself. Paul may plant, and Apollos water, God alone gives the increase. What can uneducated people know of the nature of religious truth? is a question often in the mouths of many. It is absurd to think, say they, that illiterate men and women can understand what the Gospel is, so well as the better informed. This might be true, were the Gospel learned like mathematics or logic; but it is not so. want to find a heart deeply impressed with the all-important truths of the Gospel, shall we travel to any one of the seats of learning, and there seek out the ablest disputant, the best versed in Hebrew lore? or rather, shall we not go to yonder cottage, and, lifting the latch, view the humble inmates, each at their varied occupations, or haply at their devotions, for the hours of labour are gone by, and the "big ha' bible lies open on the table? Can these simple ones give a reason of the hope that is in them? Yes. You will find that, if the grace of God do indeed dwell there, that silver-haired man can talk with true scriptural eloquence on your immortal interests, and that homely housewife recount what the Lord has done for her and hers. I would not be misunderstood. I do not mean to assert that learning and piety are incompatible. We have many bright examples to the contrary, but the former is not the cause of the latter; and there never is found a man from the halls of science, who has been made a subject of divine grace, who does not declare that all his literary acquirements are as dust in the balance, contrasted with that in which he places his interests for eternity. As far as outward accomplishments go, he has the advantage; he can add to the native dignity of truth the charms of eloquence; but, after all, he himself is well aware that such extrinsic decorations are but the setting to the jewel.-Mrs COLONEL MACKAY. (The Family at Heatherdale.)

The insensibility of Spiritual Sickness.-As I see in the body, so I know in the soul, they are oft most desperately sick, who are least sensible of their disease; whereas, he that fears each light wound for mortal, seeks a timely cure, and is healed. I will not reckon it my happiness, that I have many sores, but since I have them, I am glad they grieve me. I know the cure is not the more dangerous, because my wounds are more grievous; I should be more sick if I complained less. WARWICK. (Spare Minutes.)

Responsibility of Infidel and Licentious Writers.When genius degrades itself into the auxiliary of scepticism and licentiousness, and taking advantage of the perpetuity which art has given to thought, is employed not only in corrupting the present generation, but in disseminating impurities for the thousands of a future age, an instrument of evil is then at work, almost as powerful as can be wrought by the enemy of human happiness, and which, in proportion to the effects arising from its operations, entails on the person who has successfully used it, the corresponding measures of criminality. Think on the mischievous effects which may flow even from a single copy of a profane and immoral writing. Observe it when it has found its way into the bosom of a family, the members of which have been reared up in the faith of religion, and in the love of virtue. It seizes on the attention of one of them. It is at first read secretly and by stealth. Its specious reasonings insinuate themselves into the understanding of its victim. Its polluting maxims leave an impression on his heart. Not at once are its arguments yielded to. Not at once are its guilty principles tolerated. The book may even at times be shut with the feeling of aversion and fear at the daring conclusions to which it points. But it is again opened. Curiosity perhaps to know the extent of its wild inferences, may tempt to another and a third inspection, till the repeated perusal

Is

but some heartless services which the world could
spare, and which were the leavings of the flesh.
my heart now turned another way? Have I a new
design, and a new end, and a new train of holy affec-
tions? Have I set my hopes and heart in heaven? Is
it now the design and bent of my heart and life to get
to heaven, and to see the glorious face of God, and live
in his everlasting love and praise? When I sin, is it
against the habitual inclination of my heart? Do I
conquer all gross sins, and am I weary, and willing to
be rid of mine infirmities? This is the state of a con-
verted soul, and thus it must be with me, or I must
perish. Is it thus indeed with me, or is it not? It
is time to get this doubt resolved, before the dreadful
Judge resolve it.—BAXTER.

complete the ascendency of its bold and bad speculations. Then, alas! how speedily those safeguards which wisdom and affection equally had raised against the influence of vice are overturned; how the mind swells with the proud and foolish thought of emancipation from what are now named idle scruples and doting prejudices; how the look of scorn is turned even upon that kind instructor, the lessons of whose paternal experience had formerly been received in reverence; how the modesty and piety of the youth "remembering his Creator," are supplanted by the arrogance and scoffing of the disputatious and blustering infidel; and falling a prey to the men "who lie in wait to deceive," how zealously he becomes in his own circle the promoter of irreligion and libertinism! But shall these men themselves shall the well gifted sceptics whose genius has been employed to promote over the young and inexperienced the ascendency of evil principle,-shall they escape responsibility for that long train of ills, the origin of which is traceable to their daring specula-message of salvation by free grace, but to whom that tions? Say, if the hopes of families-if the glory of nations, which as with the assassin's weapon they have slain, shall never be inquired after at their hands? There is blood in their hands. They have destroyed They have gone in the way of Cain," and shall they not be brought to an account? Ah! could they themselves bring back every copy of their profane and immoral writings, and obtain a recital of all that has been achieved by each for the vitiation and wretched

souls. "

ness of mankind, the most volatile and cold-hearted among them might surely be disposed to seriousness, and might be induced to gaze on the extended ruin which has been wrought, as the incendiary would on the city which he had wantonly fired, when he beholds smoking in one promiscuous and dark heap the dwellings and the ashes of its inhabitants! If, however, he relent at the miserable sight, does he not condemn himself? If pity be incited in him, is not the feeling akin to self-reproach? Yes. The conviction must smite him that he partakes deeply of other men's sins, and that he justly shares with them in their woe.REV. DR MUIR. (Discourses on Jude.)

A Searching Inquiry.-Beloved friend, as ever you believe the Word of God, and as ever you care for the salvation of your soul, let me beg of you this reasonable request, and I beseech you deny me not, that you would, without delay, enter into an earnest search of your heart, and say to yourself, Is it so indeed? Must I turn or die? Must I be converted or condemned? It is time for me then to look about me, before it be too late. O why did I not look after this till now? Why did I venturously put off so great a business? Was I awake, or in my senses? O blessed God! what a mercy is it that thou didst not cut off my life all this time, before I had any certain hope of eternal life! Well, God forbid that I should neglect this work any longer. What state is my soul in? Am I converted, or am I not? Was ever such a change wrought upon my soul? Have I been enlightened by the Word and Spirit of the Lord, to see the odiousness of sin, the need of a Saviour, the love of Christ, and the excellencies of God and glory? Is my heart broken and humbled within me for my former life? Have I thankfully entertained my Saviour and Lord, that offered himself with pardon and life to my soul? Do I hate my former sinful life, and the remnant of every sin❘ that is in me? Do I flee from them as my deadly enemies? Do I give up my soul to a life of holiness and obedience to God? Do I love it and delight in it? Can I truly say that I am dead to the world and carnal self, and that I live for God, and the glory which he has promised? Has heaven more of my estimation and resolution than earth? and is God the dearest and highest in my soul? Once, I am sure, I lived principally to the world and the flesh; and God had nothing

To the Aged. There are some of you. I fear, whose limbs are trembling, or whose heads are hoary with age, and to whom one pastor after another has addressed the

message has been addressed in vain, and who are con

tinuing to live as if there were no justice to punish you
for your guilt, or as if there were no grace to redeem
Once more I bring this message to you,
you from it.
and beseech you to listen to it, before your feet stumble
on the dark mountains, and death approaches to put his
seal upon your everlasting fate. Long have you been
wandering away from God, mocking at his judgments,
and despising the compassionate counsels which he has
given you in his word, and sent you by his servants,
and if you persist in this thoughtless and stout-hearted
course, you may never again hear a warning to flee from
the wrath to come, and it is but a short and passing
hour when you must go into that place where God has
forgotten to be gracious, and where his mercy is clean
But, if you will allow yourselves to be
gone for ever.
persuaded, and even at this latest hour, will repent, and
believe, and obey the Gospel, long and obstinately as
you have been fighting against the authority of God,
and resisting the calls of his pity, I am warranted to
assure you of acceptance and salvation, because the
blood of atonement, on which he beseeches you to rely,
cleanses from all sin, and his mercy reaches far enough
to embrace even the chief of sinners. O then be re-
conciled to him by the death of his Son.
Cast your-
hold of salvation as his free gift. And let his redeeming
selves upon his unmerited, but never-tailing love. Lay
grace be your confidence, and your rejoicing, and your
hope during the short evening of your pilgrimage, that
it may bear you comfortably through the agonies of
your departure, and carry you away as trophies of its
riches and its power, to the glories of a better world.-
REV. DR A. THOMSON. (Sermons.)

The Imputation of Adam's First Sin.-That all men were not present with Adam in the garden, when he broke the covenant, we readily grant; but, since the apostle asserts, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that all human beings, even from the earliest period of their existence, are sinners, there must be some sense in which he is right. This takes place by imputation. He says, accordingly, "as, by one man's disobedience, many were made, or judicially constituted, sinners; so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made, or judicially constituted, righteous." Hence the merit, or demerit, of one man's actions may be imputed to another, and judicially attributed to him. Thus, men who, without Christ, having no connection with him in the covenant of grace, can do nothing pleasing in the sight of God, are, in consequence of Christ's righteousness imputed to them, considered and treated as righteous; and so men, in consequence of their connection with Adam, though they did not eat along with him the forbidden fruit, may have the guilt of that sin imputed to them.-REV. DR CORMACK, (Inquiry into the Doctrine of Original Sin.)

SACRED POETRY.

THE SONG OF THE ANGELS AT BETHLEHEM.

HARK! what mean those holy voices, Sweetly sounding through the skies? Lo! the angelic host rejoices;

Heavenly hallelujahs rise. Listen to the wondrous story, Which they chaunt in hymns of joy: "Glory in the highest, glory!

Glory be to God most high! "Peace on earth, good-will from heaven, Reaching far as man is found; Souls redeem'd, and sins forgiven :Loud our golden harps shall sound. "Christ is born, the Great Anointed; Heaven and earth his praises sing! O receive whom God appointed, For your Prophet, Priest, and King! "Hasten, mortals, to adore Him;

Learn his name, and taste his joy;
Till in heaven ye sing before Him,
Glory be to God most high!
"Let us learn the wondrous story
Of our great Redeemer's birth;
Spread the brightness of his glory,
Till it cover all the earth.'

THE LILY.

CAWOOD.

How withered, perished seems the form
Of yon obscure, unsightly root!
Yet from the blight of wintry storm
It hides secure the precious fruit.
The careless eye can find no grace,
No beauty in the scaly folds;
Nor see within the dark embrace

What latent loveliness it holds.
Yet in that bulb, those sapless scales,
The lily wraps her silver vest,
Till vernal suns and vernal gales

Shall kiss once more her fragrant breast.
Yes, hide beneath the mouldering heap,
The undelighting, slighted thing;
There in the cold earth buried deep,
In silence let it wait the spring.
Oh! many a stormy night shall close,,
In gloom, upon the barren earth,
While still, in undisturbed repose,
Uninjured lies the future birth.
And Ignorance, with sceptic eye,

Hope's patient smile shall wondering view; Or mock her fond credulity,

As her soft tears the spot bedew. Sweet smile of hope! delicious tear!

The sun, the shower indeed shall come; The promised verdant shoot appear,

And Nature bid her blossoms bloom. And thou, O virgin queen of Spring!

Shalt, from thy dark and lowly bed, Bursting thy green sheath's silken string, Unveil thy charms, and perfume shed. Unfold thy robes of purest white,

Unsullied from their darksome grave;
And thy soft petals' silvery light,

In the mild breeze unfettered wave.
So Faith shall seek the lowly dust,
Where humble Sorrow loves to lie,
And bid her thus her hopes intrust,
And watch with patient, cheerful eye;

And bear the long, cold wintry night,

And bear her own degraded doom, And wait till Heaven's reviving lightEternal Spring!-shall burst the gloom. TIGHE.

Scoffers effectually reproved. In a hitherto unpublished letter from the late Rev. Thomas Davidson, of Braintree, Essex, to a friend in Edinburgh, dated Braintree, 15th December 1773, the following fact is stated, which Mr Davidson mentions that he "had from a worthy gentleman who was present when the thing happened." "It was at a trial of a man at

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in England, for a robbery committed on an aged gentlewoman in her own house. The judge was Baron Smythe, a man of an amiable character for religion, as well as abilities as an upright judge. He asked the gentlewoman if the prisoner at the bar was the person that robbed her? Truly, my Lord, I cannot positively say it was he, for it was duskish when I was robbed, so dark that I could hardly discern the features of his face.' 'Where was you when he robbed you?' 'I was in a closet that joins to my bed-chamber, and he had got into the house secretly while my servant had gone out.' What day of the week was it?' 'It was the Lord's day evening, my Lord.' 'How had you been employed that day? or how was you then employed when he robbed you?' My Lord, I am a Protestant dissenter; I had been at the meeting that day, and had retired into my closet in the evening, as I commonly do, for prayer, and meditation on what I had been hearing through the day.' She had no sooner uttered these words than the court, which was crowded with some hundreds of students, rang with a peal of loud laughter. The judge looked round the court as one astonished, and, with a decent solemnity, laid both his hands on the bench as if he was going to rise, and, with no small emotion of spirit, spoke to the following effect: Where am I! Am I in the place of one of the universities of this kingdom, where it is to be supposed that young gentlemen are educated in the principles of religion, as well as in all useful learning, and for such to laugh, in so indecent a manner, at hearing an aged Christian gentlewoman tell that she retired into her closet on a Lord's day evening for prayer and meditation! Blush and be ashamed all of you, if you are capable of it,-well you may; and if any of your tutors are here, let them blush also to see in how irreligious a manner their pupils and students behave.' And then turning to the lady, he said, 'Don't be discouraged, Madam, at this piece of rude and unmannerly, as well as irreligious usage. You have no reason to be ashamed of what you have on this occasion, and in this public manner, said. It adds dignity to your character, and shame belongs to them who would expose it to ridicule.""

CONTENTS.-On Christian Watchfulness. By Rev. J. Watt. Biographical Sketch. Esdras Edzardus.-Scriptural Researches, No. XIII. By Rev. J. Esdaile, D.D.-The Atmosphere, viewed in some of its Relations to Animal and Vegetable Life. Part 1. By Rev. A. Robertson.-Discourse. By Rev. H. Fraser, A. M. — A Sketch of the Early History of Christianity in Scotland. By Rev, J. Bryce. Period V.,- Concluded.-Christian Treasury. Extracts from Mackay, Krummacher, Muir, Baxter, Thomson, and Cor. mack. Sacred Poetry. The Song of the Angels at Bethlehem. By Cawood. The Lily. By Tighe.-Miscellaneous.

Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, 2, Hunter Square, Edinburgh; J. R. MACNAIR, & Co., 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; JAMES NISSET & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS, & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; W. CURRY, Junior, & Co., Dublin; and W. M'COMB, Belfast; and sold by the Booksellers and Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; and in the principal Towns in England and Ireland.

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THE

SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD,

CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD, THAT IS WISDOM."

No. 116.

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1838.

A PASTORAL LETTER TO HEADS OF FAMILIES,
ON FAMILY WORSHIP.

BY THE REV. WILLIAM BURNS,
Minister of Kilsyth.

MY DEAR FRIENDS, who occupy the responsible and interesting situation of heads of families, I would most earnestly and affectionately address you, on a subject second to none in importance and interest, I mean family worship. As a ground-work or text, I might take the example of the father of the faithful, in his erection of the domestic altar, and presiding as the prophet, priest, and king of his numerous family, attracting the special approbation of the Almighty, (Gen. xviii. 19,) as "commanding his children, and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord;" or of his godly grandson Jacob, who so instructively and wisely connects family reformation and worship, as detailed Gen. xxxv.; or the example of the noble-minded, patriotic, decided, singlehearted Joshua, who, on the plains of Shechem, at the gathering of all the tribes and elders of Israel, near the close of his glorious career, publicly declared his adherence to his long-before firmly formed resolution, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Josh. xxiv. 15. Or I might bring before you an Aquila, a Nymphas, or a Philemon, having each a "church in his house," in other words, after the manner of all holy and Christian masters of families, assembling daily their household to prayer, and praise, and religious instruction.

All these subjects, doubtless, have been often illustrated, and have been presented to your consideration, both from the press and from the pulpit. You have read, you have heard, you have probably assented, to the good instruction, and the well conducted argument; but you have, it may be, continued, as before, to do little more than read a sermon to your family on the Sabbath evening, or at most, on that one day, you have approximated so far to the goodly practice, as to have bowed your knees before the Lord and King. I would fain draw you farther on in the good way, and, by the divine blessing, determine you henceforward not to deny yourselves, or your beloved children and domestic train, the pleasure and the benefit of VOL. III.

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PRICE 10.

regular, solemn, and affectionate joint worship at the throne of heavenly grace.

Let me then urge upon your consideration at the outset, my dear friends, who are all of born you to trouble, and whose family relationship brings certain care, and uncertain comforts, that family worship is fitted to soothe and comfort your hearts in the midst of your severest domestic trials. Even the careless and the worldly are known to flee to religion as a kind of last resort. But the religious and worshipping family have the remedy at hand. They know where to look. They do not at random turn over the leaves of the Bible, and feel at a loss where to begin; neither do they need to run for aid to the prayers of others, although they do esteem such Christian fellowship as valuable. Does sickness stretch any member of the family on the bed? the sweet melody of psalms is grateful in his ears, and soothing to his heart, while his attempting to join in the song of Sion, stirs up all around to worship with renewed ardour of soul. The Spirit of power and of love comes down at such seasons; uncommon interest is felt in these exercises; and the psalms sung, and the chapter read, and the prayers offered up, at such seasons, are never altogether forgotten. And when some of the members are, it may be, in a far distant land, the idea that the family circle at home remembers them at the stated seasons of family prayer, is peculiarly soothing. From the attacks of enemies, whether spiritual or corporeal, the best defence is that which is drawn around a family, by believing, united prayer. In the desert the circle of fire kept blazing is the best mode of scaring away, and keeping at a distance, the beasts of the forest; and such we have often conceived family prayer to be, as a defence from the enemy and his legions; whereas a family without prayer is like a house without a roof, exposed on all sides to the inroads of the enemy. But "the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." And when death enters such a habitation, and removes, it may be, one of the heads, or any one of the members, affecting as the bereavement is, the cheering consolation is the hope that, having often met together at the throne of grace, in the anticipation of such a parting, the same exercise and the same joys are felt on

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