us some comfort to have it in our power to perform to their immortal remains the last sad offices of affection-to close the eyes which had so often looked on us in sympathy and love, and the lips which never uttered the word that could give pain to our heart. We may find some relief in still fondly calling them our own-treasuring in our memories their expression of endearment, and keeping as the apple of our eye the tokens of their regard. It may allay, in some measure, the agony of grief, to rear the monument which records their worth, and to cherish the idea that when we die our dust and theirs shall mingle. But nought can inspire us with resignation under the melancholy bereavement, save the good hope through grace, that we shall see them again that they have only gone before us to the house of our Father, that, though separated from us, they are now with Christ, which in so far as they are concerned, is far better, and that while their spirits have winged their way to the Paradise above, their bodies rest in their graves, in the sure and certain hope of a resurrection to life. Yes, this does reconcile us to our loss; this does impart a heal Many as are the ills which embitter the life that now is, we are yet unwilling to leave it. To have our purposes suddenly broken off ;-to have no more a portion in any thing that is done under the sun;-to pass at once and for ever from the land of living men ;-to be rudely torn from all that we love and value in life;-to lie down in the grave, with the cold earth for our covering, and the unsightly worm for our companion-this is a prospect at which nature shudders. But if we belong to Christ; if we are united to him by faith; if we are relying on his merits, and are conformed to his image; our hearts need not be troubled at the thoughts of death, neither need they be afraid. For as sure as the Gospel is the Word of the living God, there is life and immortality for us beyond the grave;-there awaits us in the presence of our God and Saviour, and in the society of angels and glorified spirits, a fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore. We may have no previous intimation of the approach of death; he may come to us at a time when we think not-he may come to us as a thief in the night. But what then? Jesus, in whom we believe, and whose image we bear, will not suffering balm to the wounded spirit. For we shall our soul to be put to shame, nor our hope to perish. He will stand by us and sustain us in the last awful and agonizing struggle; and, that struggle o'er, he will waft our disembodied spirits to the mansions of our Father's house. Our bodies must indeed go down to the grave, and a long period may pass away before they are recalled from their gloomy abode. But in that abode, gloomy as it is, they are perfectly safe. Christ will keep that which we have committed to him against that day. And when that day dawns-the day which no night shall follow, he will call them forth from their narrow house, that he may conduct them in safety and in triumph to that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And oh is it not consolatory to know that death cannot separate for ever between us and the pious and beloved friends whose departure we bewail? Closed, indeed, is the eye which never looked on thee in anger, but the spirit which lighted that eye with sympathy, and joy, and hope, is now rejoicing before the throne of God. Cold is the hand, and stiffened in death, which ministered so readily to thy wants, and supported thee so kindly in thy weakness, but the spirit which prompted it to every tender office is mingling with the spirits of the just made perfect. Silent are the lips whose soothing accents so often quieted thy fears, but the spirit which animated them is singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. The body is fast crumbling into its kindred dust, but the spirit is flourishing in youth immortal. What but this hope the hope which is full of immortality can sustain the afflicted who lie low in grief, and give ease to the heart that is bleeding in the dust? What but the assurance that our departed friends still live, and that we shall live with them, can support us amid the loneliness which their death has produced? It may yield see them again, and our hearts shall rejoice. We shall meet them, and we shall know them among the unnumbered multitude who surround the throne on high. And oh! the joy, the unutterable joy of that blessed moment, when, as they hold us to their pure and enraptured bosoms, we shall hear them exclaim, "We part no moredeath has no more dominion over us. The inhabitants of this country never say that they are sick. In the city of our God no mourners are seen going about the streets. The days of our mourning are ended. Sorrow and sighing have fled for ever away." CHRISTIAN TREASURY. A new Heaven and a new Earth. The huge sauroid fish was succeeded by the equally huge reptile,-the reptile by the bird,-the bird by the marsupial quadruped. And at length, after races higher in the scale of instinct had taken precedence in succession, the one of the other, the sagacious elephant appeared, as the lord of that latest creation which immediately preceded our own. How natural does the thought seem which suggested itself to the profound mind of Cuvier, when indulging in a similar review! Has the last scene in the series arisen, or has Deity expended his infinitude of resource, and reached the ultimate stage of progression at which perfection can arrive? The philosopher hesitated, and then decided in the negative, for he was too intimately acquainted with the works of the Omnipotent Creator to think of limiting his power; and he could, therefore, anticipate a coming period, in which man would have to resign his post of honour to some nobler and wiser creature,-the monarch of a better and happier world. How well it is to be permitted to indulge in the expansion of Cuvier's thought without sharing in the melancholy of Cuvier's feeling; to be enabled to look forward to the coming of a new heaven and a new earth, not in terror, but in hope; to be encouraged to believe in the system of unending progression, but to entertain no fear of the degradation or deposition of man! The adorable Monarch of the future, with all its unsummed perfection, has already | passed into the heavens, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, and Enoch and Elias are there with him,fit representatives of that dominant race, which no other race shall ever supplant or succeed, and to whose on ward and upward march the deep echoes of eternity shall never cease to respond. HUGH MILLER.( The Old Red Sandstone; or New Walks in an Old Field.) The dealings of God with the believer.-At three remarkable seasons God is pleased to hold communion with his people. First, before affliction, to prepare them for it; as with Jacob, in that memorable night when his angry brother was marching against him; and with Paul, who was bid to be of good cheer, for as he had testified at Jerusalem, so he should at Rome. Again, in the time of affliction, to support them under it; as when Moses was mourning and going heavily under Israel's grievous idolatry, then God spake face to face with him, as a man speaketh unto his friend,-and he made his goodness to pass before him; so Stephen's face, from heart-felt joy, shone like an angel's amidst his foes, and near his death. And, thirdly, after some afflictive dispensations, and mournful providences; so the apostles, after they had been apprehended, examined, and severely threatened, are filled in an eminent manner with the Holy Ghost, while the place of their abode, as a symbol of the divine presence, is remarkably shaken.MEIKLE. (Solitude Sweetened.) Ninth Edition, just published. The privileges of the Christian.—How great and honourable is the privilege of a true believer! That he has neither wisdom nor strength in himself is no disadvantage; for he is connected with infinite wisdom and almighty power. Though weak as a worm, his arms are strengthened by the mighty God of Jacob, and all things become possible, yea easy to him, that occur within the compass of his proper duty and calling. The Lord whom he serves, engages to proportion his strength to his day, whether it be a day of service or of suffering; and, though he be fallible and short-sighted, exceeding liable to mistake and imposition, yet while he retains a sense that he is so, and with the simplicity of a child asks counsel and direction of the Lord, he seldom takes a wrong step, at least not in matters of consequence,-and even his inadvertencies are overruled for good. If he forgets his true state, and thinks himself to be something, he presently finds he is indeed nothing; but if he is content to be nothing, and to have nothing, he is sure to find a seasonable and abundant communication of all that he wants. Thus he lives, like Israel in the wilderness, upon mere bounty; but then it is a bounty unchangeable, unwearied, inexhaustible, and all-sufficient. REV. J. NEWTON. Draw nigh to God.-There is a drawing near to God in all the exercises of private devotion; every lifting up of the heart, and the expression of inward desire, is an approach to God. The tendency of sin is to alienate the heart, and destroy all desire after him: this is seen in the conduct of the prodigal, who left his father's house, and went into a far country: the tendency of grace is to bring us back, and bring us near. Coming to him is not only expressive of love and confidence, and of the going forth of the soul after God; but it includes the whole of religious worship. Those who worshipped at the altar, are described as "the comers thereunto;' and of believers, in reference to Christ as the foundation, it is said, "To whom coming," as unto a living stone. Our whole life should be a continued coming unto God by him. Duties should closely follow one another, like the successive products of the field, and even our ordinary concerns in life should be so conducted as to bring us nearer to the Lord. The great object of the Christian life is to maintain an habitual spirituality, to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, as well as when we are in the immediate discharge of holy duties, that so our intercourse with heaven may be uninterrupted. REV. B. BEDDOME. THE LIFE OF CYPRIAN, The general persecution of the Christians during the reign of Decius was followed by that terrible plague in the reign of his successor, Gallus, that ravaged at once both the Eastern and the Western world; and of this heavy calamity the city of Carthage had no inferior share. Such, indeed, was the frightfulness of its ravages, that the Christians imagined that the end of the world was at hand. The houses were soon silent, or only filled with cries of lamentation; the streets were heaped with the bodies of the dead; and instead of burying them, the heathens fied even from the remains of their dearest friends and kindred, and left them to fester where they had thrown them. But in Carthage, as in Alexandria, the superiority of Christian principle was illustrated upon this trying occasion. Cyprian assembled his flock, and explained to them the duties of charity and mercy. It was not now that they were to limit their kindness, and do as others did, by confining it to their own party, but to extend it to beathens, and to publicans,-to overcome evil with good; and imitate the example of Him who causes the sun to rise, and the rain to descend, upon the just and the unjust. His heavenly appeal, delivered to the living in the midst of the dead, was effectual; those who were possessed of substance brought it out, to be distributed among the sufferers; and those who had nothing, cheerfully gave their personal labour, and toiled in the midst of contagion. What a silent but eloquent rebuke to the Gentiles, as well as a refutation of the calumnies they had heaped upon the Christians!—and yet it failed to convince them; for as soon as the pestilence had ceased, they referred it to the anger of the gods, excited by the prevalence of Christianity. This absurd accusation was promptly refuted by Cyprian, in a letter he addressed to Demetriaus, the proconsul. He then traced the evil to its undeniable source, the guilt of the world at large; and above all, to the virulence with which Christians had been persecuted, for no other crime than their love to God, and the purity and uprightness of their lives. After these events an interval occurred, during which the Church was unvexed by foreign enemies; but while Cyprian improved the opportunity to reform the discipline of the African congregations, which had become more lax than those of Italy, he was also assailed with controversy, the chief of which was connected with infant baptism. Fidus, an African Bishop, had started the doctrine, that as infants were not circumcised under the Mosaic economy until the eighth day, therefore the same rule ought to be followed in the Christian Church, instead of baptizing them upon the third or fourth, as was frequently done. A Synod of sixty-six bishops was convoked upon this subject; and it was decided, through the representations of Cyprian, that it was unnecessary to defer so long the grace and mercy of God towards any, and much less those who were newly born into the world. Another debate afterwards occurred upon the propriety of administering baptism anew to those who had been baptized by heretics; a question that was agitated with great keenness both in the Asiatic and African Churches. In the Synod which was held by Cyprian upon this occasion, the necessity of rebaptism was approved of. But Stephen, Bishop of Rome, so bitterly resented the exertions of Cyprian upon this question, that he hurled at him the titles of "false Christ, pseudo-apostle, deceitful worker," and such other epithets-reproaches which, as the Bishop of Carthage knew nothing of an infallible popedom, produced, we may believe, no influence upon his sentiments. In fact, Cyprian turned sharply upon him of Rome, and charged him with injustice, indiscretion, impertinence, and peevish childishness, thereby showing that he did not even dream of the strange claims which were afterwards set up by the successors of the Apostle Peter. The same procedure against the Bishop of Rome was adopted by Firmilian, Bishop of Cæsarea, who charged Stephen with rending the Church of Christ asunder by an audacious, insolent, and malignant spirit, which he had manifested in the expression of his hostility to their decrees. It is painful to be compelled to advert to the phraseology of good and holy men thus opposed to each other in matters of faith and discipline; but we merely allude to it in this place, to show, that the utmost equality still prevailed among the bishops of the Christian Church, and that the Papal assumptions of superiority had their origin in a later, and more corrupted period. A change was now at hand in the external history of the Church. Valerian, the successor of Gallus, had cherished the Christians for three years with a degree of kindness which they had experienced from no former emperor; but after that period his sentiments were changed by his favourite Macrianus, a man given to magical studies, who was wont to murder children and new-born infants, that he might discover futurity in their entrails. This wretched juggler represented the Christians as an impious race who destroyed, by their spells, the prosperity of the emperor; and in an evil hour the latter listened to his suggestions. The consequence of this was, a persecution more relentless than even that of Decius, which commenced A. D. 257, and continued during the rest of Valerian's administration. At the commencement, Cyprian was summoned by Aspasius Paternus, the proconsul of Africa, to appear before him; and on his attendance, he was informed, that letters had been received from the emperor, commanding all who were of a foreign religion to worship according to the Roman rites. The proconsul now desired to be told what the bishop meant to do upon this occasion. "I am a Christian, and a bishop," replied Cyprian boldly; "and I acknowledge no other gods but one who made heaven and earth, and all that is therein. This is He whom we Christians serve, to whom we pray day and night for ourselves and for all men, and to whom we address ourselves for the happiness and prosperity of the emperor." "If you persevere in this disposition," cried the proconsul, "you will die the death of a malefactor." Cyprian answered, "That is a good disposition which fears God, and therefore it ought not to be changed." "It is the will of 66 our Prince then," said Paternus, "that for the present you shall be exiled." 'He is no exile," returned the bishop, "who has God in his heart, for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." "But before you go," said the proconsul, "inform me where are your Presbyters; they are said to be in this city." Cyprian here reminded the magistrate of the edicts of former emperors against those who betrayed or impeached the Christians, and added, "They ought not, therefore, to be discovered by me; and even yourselves do not approve of men who offer themselves voluntarily to you." Paternus threatened that he would extort the discovery by tortures; but the bishop declared, that torture would have no effect. The proconsul did not dare to proceed to extremities; it might be, that the high character of Cyprian for charity and benevolence, even among the idolaters, would have made an act of severity impolitic; he therefore contented himself with banishing the bishop to Carubis, a little town about fifty miles distant, situated by the sea, and opposite the island of Sicily. Here the place was pleasant, the air healthy, and his entertainment kind and courteous; and he was cheered by the frequent intercourse of Christians, who had free access to his society. While Cyprian thus dwelt in security at Carubis, the persecution was heavy not only upon his own flock, but the African Church; and tidings were brought to him of the merciless orders of Valerian, which were, that bishops, presbyters, and deacons, should be forthwith put to death; that senators, and persons of distinction, should forfeit their rank and property, and, on persisting in Christianity, be beheaded; and, that matrons, after having their goods confiscated, should be driven into exile. He also understood that these harsh mandates were as harshly executed; and as there was reason to fear that he would be involved in the general ruin, several Christians of rank urged him to withdraw into concealment, and offered him a comfortable asylum. But the venerable bishop, according to the narrative of Pontius, had been forewarned by a dream that farther flight was useless, and that his martyrdom was about to be consummated. The particulars of this vision are the following:-As he was retiring to rest, there appeared to him a young man of gigantic stature, who seemed to lead him to the tribunal, and present him to the proconsul, at that time seated on the bench. The proconsul began to write busily in a book, and the young man, looking over his shoulder, watched every word; but not daring to speak, he secretly made a sign to Cyprian, by extending one of his palms, and making a stroke across it with the other hand-a silent intimation of a violent death. The history of the age abounds with such premonitions, but shall we, who live in seasons of peace and security, be justified in coldly rejecting them as delusions? At all events, Cyprian, who himself related this dream, believed that it was a warning of his approaching end, and he therefore prepared himself to meet it. At last, indeed, when he heard that the officers of justice were coming to carry him to Utica, he yielded to the importunity of his friends, and left Carubis; but it was only from his desire to suffer at Carthage, rather than any other place; for he was anxious that his people, who had enjoyed the labours of his life, should also be instructed by the example of his death. This he announced to them, in the last | cession, weeping and lamenting all the way, arrived at The character of this truly Christian and apostolic bishop stands out in bold relief from the ecclesiastical history of the third century. Although his career commenced at a late period in life, yet he reached the goal, and obtained the crown; and notwithstanding the short period during which he held the episcopal office, his labours were abundant, not only in his own sphere, but throughout the Christian world, as is attested by his numerous epistles, and the synods at which he presided. In examining his intellectual character, through his numerous writings that have reached us, we find nothing of that philosophising spirit which so much distinguishes, and at the same time disfigures, the works of his cotemporaries. He was an eloquent orator, rather than a philosopher; and the clearness of his ideas, as well as the elegance of his style, were eminently fitted either to instruct or per suade. His private virtues, as they were evidenced in his life, were of a nature well fitted to recommend the faith in which they grew and flourished; so that he seems to have been a general favourite, beloved both by Christian and Pagan. In his public capacity, we have already noticed the modesty with which he shunned the office of a bishop, as well as the zeal and fidelity with which he discharged its duties, when he was constrained to accept it, and the discretion with which he avoided every extreme in his demeanour, and blended the courtesies and elegances of a refined life, with the purity and simplicity of the Christian character. So fondly was the remembrance of his worth cherished in Carthage, that two churches were erected as memorials of him, one of which was upon the place of his martyrdom, and the other upon the spot where his ashes reposed. But his most lasting monument is to be found in the records of the Christian Church at large, where his labours and worth are recorded in characters that shall never perish. Printed and Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, 2, Hunter Square, Edinburgh; and sold by J. R. MACNAIR & Co., 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; JAMES NISBET & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; W. CURRY, Junior, & Co., Dublin; W. M'COMB, Belfast; and by the Booksellers and Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; and in the principal Towns in England and Ireland. Subscribers will have their copies delivered at their Residences, THE SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD, CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. PASTORAL ADDRESS TO THE CONGREGATIONS IN THE TOWN OF ARBROATH ON THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. We fear that, while generally the truth is admitted, that there is an incumbent obligation upon you to remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy, the heart, which is so cunning in its devices to reconcile a sense of duty with the actual disregard of it, has suggested in regard to this commandment, certain doubts, both as to the nature and extent of the obedience which it claims, and certain excuses for what you may regard as minor" violations of its sanctity. CHRISTIAN BRETHREN AND FRIENDS,-It is in his Church of old, God visited the transwith unfeigned and heart-felt sorrow we havegression of this commandment with his special learned, in the course of our official inquiries, that displeasure, he will act in the same way with the sin of Sabbath-breaking is on the increase the Gentile Churches, if they fall into the same in the town of Arbroath; and we entreat you to transgression. suffer from us, whom God hath appointed to watch over your souls, the word of exhortation, which we desire to speak in sincerity and in love. All our observation leads us to believe that the way in which the Sabbath is observed affords a correct idea of the state of vital religion; and | when we learn that the desecration of that holy day is increasing, we cannot doubt, however humiliating and painful the conclusion may be, that there is amongst you a decay of godliness, whereof this sin is at once the indication and the result. Need we remind you, brethren, of the solemn injunction, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy?" We do not suppose you ignorant of such a plain and oft-repeated commandment of God, nor would we willingly believe you prepared openly to deny your obligation to keep it. It is the only one of the Ten Commandments, which God gave us as an everlasting rule of duty, which expressly sets forth its former claims to obedience. The children of Israel were not taught it for the first time from the mount; they were familiar with its obligations, and even then only instructed to remember it. And if you are acquainted, in any measure, with the history of God's dealings with his ancient people, whether as contained in the narrative of the events that befell them, or as expressed in the language of prophecy, you cannot have failed to perceive that the favour of God, or his righteous judgments, were especially and emphatically manifested according to the measure of their obedience to this commandment. But it is incumbent on you to remember that, in the history of the children of Israel, God has presented us with a pattern or type of the method of his dealing with any people. You are, therefore, taught to believe that, as No. 137. AUGUST 14, 1841.—14d.] : Our Church, in the Shorter Catechism, has given a very plain and scriptural statement of the extent of meaning embodied in the words, "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." The Catechism declares, that "the Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days, and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy." And with this agree the yet more searching words of the prophet,"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a Delight; the holy of the Lord, Honourable: and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." You will observe, from this declaration of God's Word, what it is that you are enjoined to do on the Sabbath. You are not only to refrain from your ordinary employments, but from your worldly pleasures. You are required not only to rest, [SECOND SERIES, VOL. III. |