Should any sinners melt into tenderness, penitence, and prayer before them, and cry, "Lord, save us; we perish," a load of distress is at once removed from their hearts, and they lead them to the fountain of the Redeemer's blood, rejoicing more over these penitents than the conqueror who has obtained great spoil. "They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy." Those only who supremely love God, and sincerely love man, feel anything like this deep distress of soul which causes any to "sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the land." Those who are destitute of the love of God and of their fellow-creatures, never feel any deep distress on account of the abominations which surround them. This sorrow does not, cannot exist in a carnal heart, for it is enmity against God, and also indifferent to man's spiritual and eternal wellbeing. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to all who believe in Christ, produces that concern for God's glory and that compassion for the souls of men-those "bowels of mercies," which cause men to sigh and cry for the sins and miseries of others. Therefore, there can be no genuine religion in that man's heart who is never distressed at the sight of the crimes, the cruelties, and the woes of the unregenerate. Whoever "seems to be religious," and does not sigh and cry for the abominations that are done upon earth, deceiveth himself, and his "religion is vain;" for his conduct is entirely at variance with the conduct of the pious mentioned in the Scriptures. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, cried out against the abominations of the Antediluvians, and proclaimed to them the coming of the "Lord with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all." Noah was deeply moved by the ungodliness of the Antediluvians; for he was "a preacher of righteousness;" and by his conduct he "condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." Lot was "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked" Sodomites. Moses, by his sighs and tears and fervent intercessions, frequently turned away the wrath of God from Israel, when he would have consumed them for their abominations. "Rivers of tears ran down David's eyes because men kept not God's law." Isaiah said, "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." Jeremiah says, "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" All the pious in Jerusalem, in the times of which Ezekiel writes, sighed and cried for all the abominations done in the midst thereof; and all the prophets of the Lord at his command, proclaimed the judgments of heaven against the Jews for their sins, and cried, "Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate." St. Paul was a sincere mourner over the abominations practised both by Jews and Gentiles; for he says, "I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Writing to the Philippians, he says, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is 66 in their shame, who mind earthly things." When the Man of Sorrows came near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes ;" and when he entered into the temple he cried, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." With these lofty examples before us, we must conclude that those who do not mourn over the abominations in the land, can have no religion; for religion is the same in every age and in every person: like its immaculate, immutable, and compassionate Author Jesus Christ, it is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." There are numbers to be found in this country, and in other countries also, who "have great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart" because of the abominations that are done in the earth. Some think, and some say— "The faithful, whom I seek in vain, Are 'minished from the sons of men." This is rash judgment and inconsiderate speech. Elijah judged thus rashly; for, when asked by the Lord, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" he said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away." He, however, was greatly mistaken; for God said unto him, "I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him,"-1 Kings xix. 10, 18. We ought to be careful how we think and speak in this matter. Could we read all hearts, as God reads them, we should behold many, who are little in our estimation, cherishing supreme love to God, and boundless compassion to man. Were we present in every place, as God is, we should behold many a saint pouring forth his soul to God "with strong crying and tears," on account of the earth's abominations, and praying, "Oh! let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end! Have respect unto the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as in heaven. Cut short thy work in righteousness, O Lord." God saw seven thousand of his own children, where Elijah could not see one; and we believe there are now many more thousands upon earth than there were then who supremely love God, and who sincerely sigh and earnestly cry for the abominations that are done in the world. know many both in Great Britain and Ireland, and in America also, who sigh and cry for the earth's abominations; but it is impossible for us to know all. Many noble mansions, many tradesmen's houses, and many of the cottages of the poor, that we little dream of, contain those who are exceedingly jealous for the Lord God of hosts; whose greatest burdens are the sins and miseries of their fellow creatures; and whose daily prayers are for the rapid spread of truth and love, righteousness We and peace in the earth. Though Jerusalem, at the period spoken of by Ezekiel, presented both to the eyes of God and of man, scenes the most impious and revolting, and a finite creature might have said, "Surely the fear of God is not in this place; there are none righteous here, no, not one," yet God saw many righteous persons there, and his ear heard many bitter sighs and earnest cries for the removal of Israel's abominations. Therefore, before he gave the command to the six men to slay utterly old and young, "he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side, and said unto him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." We firmly believe that the revival of religion, which has taken place recently in some of our Churches in this country, is attributable to the existence of this spirit of concern for the glory of God, and the welfare of men; and were all God's people to humble themselves, and begin to sigh and cry as they ought for the abominations done in the land, we should soon see them swept from the earth with the besom of destruction. Reader, do the abominations of the wicked excite any painful emotions in your heart? and do they lead you to sigh and to cry unto God for their removal? do they lead you to warn, to reprove, and exhort those who commit them? Do your painful emotions, on account of the earth's abominations, cause you freely to give of your gold and silver, of your time and talents, and to exert the weight of your character and position, to aid in removing these abominations? The distress you should feel on account of the abominations of the land, is no cheap emotion; if genuine and hearty, it would lead a man to risk his all to remove these abominations from the earth. "The love of Christ" would "constrain us." No man possesses any more religion than he feels distressed on account of the earth's abominations; and if we examine ourselves, we shall soon perceive, by this true standard, that our piety is defective. "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the heart, consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" Are you, my reader, an unconverted person? Then you share in the guilt of the abominations that are done in the land. By holding communion with those who commit them, you encourage them. "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God." You, "knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." You say there are formalists and hypocrites in the Church; and to you the Saviour replies, "What is that to thee? follow thou me!" It ill becomes you to find fault with the professors of religion, seeing that you are destitute of both its form and power. "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." "He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad." Rest not till Christ has delivered you from your personal sins; then join his people, and unite with them heartily in endeavours to remove the abominations of the earth. MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES, ANECDOTES, &c. MIRROR OF MISSIONS. THE LATE BISHOP OF CALCUTTAHIS CHARACTER-HIS SUCCESSOREXERTIONS IN BEHALF OF INDIATHE INDEPENDENTS- THE WESLEYANS-THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND OUTRAGE IN SYRIA -DR. LIVINGSTONE. THE year 1858 has not proceeded far on its course, yet it has already registered events many of which are of a memorable and some of a melancholy character. Since it began England's Princess Royal has been united in marriage to Prussia's royal heir; -a dastardly attempt to assassinate the Emperor of the French has excited all Europe, and brought undeserved censure upon the sacred right of asylum possessed and gloried in by England; the Cabinet of England has changed hands, and Derby is at the helm which Palmerston has for three years energetically and skilfully moved;-and last, but not least, many persons of distinction have left the ranks of time for the regions of eternity. Among the latter, Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta, deserves honourable mention. He died on the 2nd of January, at the advanced and venerable age of eighty years, "in a profoundly humble view of himself," writes a near friend," and in full reliance on the mercy of God, in Christ his Saviour." In early life he fell into good company; and through the intimate friendship of the Rev. John Newton, and the influence of the sermons of Romaine, he obtained an evangelical faith, and resolved to devote himself to the ministry of an evangelical religion. He studied at Oxford, and became first the curate of the pious Cecil, and afterwards his honoured successor. His influence there, and glimpses of his character are finely given in a letter from Judge Wylie, dated Calcutta, Jan. 7. "His influence at St. John's Chapel, as Mr. Cecil's successor, during sixteen years, reached and affected men like Wilberforce, Charles Grant, Zachary Macaulay, Lord Teignmouth, and Henry Thornton; and in private life he was the associate of Thomas Scott, Hannah More, Bishop Ryder, Lord Gambier, John Venn, and all the noble band of evangelical ministers and laymen, whose names are familiar in our mouths as household words. Being associated with them, it was impossible that he should not acquire great influence with them, if not a complete ascendency: for his mind possessed extraordinary vigour, and he had great courage, constancy, and sagacity. His gifts as a preacher were exceeded by few, if any, of his generation. In later times, out here, his physical strength had abated; but I believe I may say, that there never was such a sermon preached before the Church Missionary Society, as he preached when in England in 1845; and I remember his course of Lent Lectures here, in 1850, on the Christian Armour, as by far the grandest and most masterly series of discourses I ever heard. His words were as goads.' Sometimes an abrupt sentence, rapidly enunciated, in one of his instantaneous transitions of thought, would startle and perhaps excite a smile; but I treasure up some of those very sentences as among the most pregnant I ever listened to. "As an expositor of Scripture, I never met his equal. It was his habit at evening worship, to add a few observations on the chapter read, and those words were ordinarily worth long sermons by other men. In the morning, in his chapel, he was frequently more elaborate, and frequently exceedingly striking-never commonplace, never verbose, never cloudy. When we were staying with him in 1856, he received daily some young men who were being examined for ordination, and expounded the Epistle to Titus in order to them, with consummate skill and power. Afterwards, be fore sitting down to breakfast, he usually, by some short address, would give a tone of solemnity to the meeting, and always ended with a hymn. On one occasion, as we stood round the breakfast table, he said, 'Fénelon was reminded on the day of his ordination, that that was a very different day to the day on which he would be called upon to give account!' And this was uttered with so profound a feeling, with such commanding force and solemnity of manner, that the whole party was subdued into serious reflection !" He was made Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India in 1832, and has left behind him valuable works of his pen. Among these are "Evidences of Christianity," in 2 vols., "The Divine Authority and Perpetual Obligation of the Lord's Day," and 2 vols. of Sermons. In his death the Church Missionary Society has lost a friend of fifty-four years standing, and one who did good battle in its favour in days when, within the Church itself, it did not receive the favour it now enjoys. While, therefore, new and living friends are welcomed, let not old and departed friends be forgotten. As might be expected, the appointment of a successor to Bishop Wilson was a subject of solicitude 66 to many. No ordinary gap was to be filled up, at no ordinary crisis in India. Archdeacon Pratt, the chaplain of the late Bishop, was generally expected to receive the appointment, as from his piety, ability, and experience there he is thought to be eminently qualified for the vacant place. But it turns out that in a very high quarter the Archdeacon does not stand very high, a prejudice having been raised against him by one in the Government House at Calcutta; and the election has fallen upon the Rev. Dr. Cotton, Head Master of Marlborough College. "An Evangelical Clergyman," writing to the Record, observes: "He is quite a kindred spirit with Bishop Tait. Both are considered as rather leaning towards Broad Church, but both are men of personal piety, as well as of rare endowments. The best thing that we can do is to pray for Mr. Cotton that the mantle of his predecessor may fall upon him, and that he may be endued with a double measure of the Spirit of God." It delights us greatly to notice, in what are considered to be bad times, the liberal response which the churches of the country are giving to the appeals on behalf of India. The "London Missionary Society," convened a special meeting in Exeter-hall on the 19th of February, presided over by Lord Shaftesbury, when it was decided to send twenty additional missionaries to India within the next two years. This enterprise will involve an outlay of £6,000, and an annual expense of £5,000. At the close of the meeting it was announced that £3,000 were already subscribed. The Wesleyans are preparing to send ten extra agents into the same field; and, in the present notice, the committee say "We are indebted to those friends who, following the dictates of their own generous hearts, and the example of the supporters of other societies, have sent special contributions for this object. We rest in the conviction that Divine Providence will not allow the church |