loveth a cheerful obedience. Let your understanding, your will, and your affections be engaged in his service, if you desire to worship him in an acceptable manner.

In order to enforce this advice, and to make a deeper and more lasting impression on the mind of Solomon, his devout parent adds: "For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts." Think not that you can deceive the Almighty by mere lip-service, by any pretences, however loud and specious, or by any outward and formal professions of service, while your heart is far from him. The attempt would be as vain as it would be impious. God knows you better than you know yourself: he knows all that passeth in your inmost soul; yea, he understandeth your thoughts long before. As an additional encouragement to remember his Creator, and as a powerful argument to dissuade Solomon from forsaking him, and walking in opposition to his laws, David subjoins this awakening consideration: "If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but, if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever." If thou shalt strive sincerely and earnestly to learn his will, and to do it, if thou shalt walk in all his ways, and love him and serve him with all thy heart and with all thy soul, thou shalt surely be accepted of him; and thou shalt receive undoubted marks of his acceptance. Thou shalt experience the choicest spiritual and temporal blessings, peace of mind, worldly prosperity, and a lively hope of a blessed immortality. But, if thou shalt forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against thee this day that thou shalt surely perish. Thy disobedience will excite the just displeasure of God, and provoke him to withdraw his favour and protection, and to leave thee to thine enemies. "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker."

The history of Solomon's life abundantly verifies these declarations. So long as he continued to do that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, he prospered in all that he did, and whithersoever he turned himself. But, when he rebelled against his Maker, and burnt incense and sacrificed to the gods of the heathens, we read that "the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods; but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, "Forasmuch as this is done of (by) thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and

my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend thy kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding, in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake; but I will rend it out of the hands of thy son."

Deeply and shamefully as he had revolted from his Almighty Benefactor, it is generally supposed that.before his death he became duly sensible of his folly and ingratitude, and that, truly contrite and penitent for all his sins, he renounced idolatry, and returned to the setvice and worship of the God of his father. and that be afterwards composed the book of Ecclesiastes, in which he strikingly sets forth the vanity of every pursuit which does not tend to render a man wiser and better, or, as he himself expresses it, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole of man," his end and his duty, his privilege and his reward. "For God shall bring every work unto judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

We, beloved, as well as Solomon, are required to know and truly to serve the God of David: we have, moreover, been made duly acquainted with the beneficial effects of observing this command, and with the unspeakable danger and dreadful consequences of neglecting and disobeying it.

Do we then individually know JehovahGod the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost? And are we serving him in sincerity and uprightness of heart? or do we serve sin and Satan? One of these two masters we must serve; and "his servants we are to whom we obey."

As the service which they require is dif ferent, so likewise the rewards which they bestow upon their respective followers are very different. "The wages of sin is death:" the gracious recompence which God will award to his faithful servants is life and peace and glory everlasting. Nor can we rationally hope to impose upon the high and lofty One by hypocritical performances, or an outside profession. "I," says he, "am he that searcheth the reins and heart," and "I will give to every one according to his works."

Who, that considers for a moment, would not fear to offend him? who, that has a due regard for his own welfare, both in time and throughout eternity, does not feel desirous to be commended and rewarded by him? Is it not matter of eternal honour to the ancient patriarchs and prophets that God hath given them this testimony that "they walked before him with a perfect heart"? Can any thing

manuel's name. Follow the advice of the wise monarch of Israel: "In the morning of life sow thy seed; and in the evening of age withhold not thy hand:" and, though some "seed may fall by the way-side," and "the wicked one may catch away that which has been sown" in some youthful heart, and though "some may fall into stony places" and "by tribulation and persecution' it may be brought to nothing, and though "some may fall among the thorns" of care, and be choked by the deceitfulness of riches, yet, with fervent prayer for the divine blessing, still persevere in your labour of love. And, although it be not given to you to know which work may be successful, or what is the way of the Spirit, whether shall prosper this or that, or whether both shall be alike good, still persevere with renewed activity, and your labour shall not be in vain. The fruits, of which now you sow the seed, it may not be given you to behold on earth; but it shall be seen when these seedlings of immortality shall be called the trees of righteousness, the of the Lord that he might be gloplanting rified" (Isa. lxi. 3); and when "he that planteth and he that watereth shall rejoice together."

Then shall it be yours to inherit the fulfilment of the promise: "They that are wise [in the margin 'teachers'] shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." "For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; and by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. ix. 12-15).

MISSIONARY RECORDS.

No. LXXXV.

"That which the bible gives to the nations of the earth is the greatest of all instrumental blessings. It is that which is best fitted, in the providence of God, to convey life to the dead instrumentally. Accompanied by the grace of God's Holy Spirit, so brought home to the heart, it conveys life, maintains aud nourishes it."-BP. OF SIERRA LEONE.

CONTRASTED FRUITS OF ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM.-According to General La Marmora's report, the population of the island of Sardinia amounts to 547,112 souls, of whom there are 246,916 males and 265,465 females who can neither read nor write! The number therefore, of such as can read or write, does not much exceed one in sixteen! And this deplorable

state of things exists in a country, which is thronged with clergy; for they consist of 11 archbishops and bishops, 4 abbots, 693 canons, 391 incumbents, ticular churches. and 2,000 priests who are not attached to any parBesides these are a host of monks and nuns in the 88 monasteries and 13 convents of the island. Now take the Vaudesian valleys, and mark the difference. They have a population of about 22,000 souls; and the youthful part fant-schools, which are attended by 4,616 pupils, or of it is trained in 160 elementary schools, and 2 inone in every five inhabitants. In these valleys we also find a superior or grammar-school, for youth of the higher classes, and a college of 80 students, taught by 8 professors. number of the Vaudese clergy, including both pastors and teachers, does not exceed twenty-eight! Rome is indeed "wise in her generation": she and bondage; and it is the keystone of her un knows ignorance to be the mother of superstition holy structure.

Yet the total

FRANCE.-With the revolution of 1848 came a reduction in the incomes of the Romanist prelacy in France. In gratitude, however, for the support of Rome, the president has ordered amends to be made for the privation, and the budget for 18521853 has increased the grant for ecclesiastical affairs to £1,760,000. The income of the archbishop of Paris has been raised from £1,600 to £2,000, and that of each of the fourteen archbishoprics from £600 to £800 a year: in the case of the bishops, they are to have £480 instead of £400 each. Every cardinal is to have £400 a year in addition. Besides this, there are 23 bishops, who are to have a supplement to their incomes of £120 The vicars-general are to have £4 per annum a year, inasmuch as they reside in large towns. more. To the grant for Algiers an increase of £1,600 has been made. In the ecclesiastical seminaries, 30 new bursaries have been founded at a cost of £115,800; and for the maintenance of cathedrals, episcopal residences, and religious seminaries, a credit of £4,000,000 has been opened. "Annals for the Propagation of the Gospel" contain a summary of the accounts of the great Missionary Society, established under that name at Lyons, for the year 1851. The total income of the society, collected throughout the extent of the Roman church's sway, amounted to £132,955, or 3,323,893 francs. (In this country, two of our church of England societies, the Church Missionary and the Jews' Societies, collected upwards of £149,000 last year!) Still the income of the great Romish association was £9,646 more last year, than in 1850; but it fell short of the income of 1845, by a sum of £16,000. As many as 164,500 copies of the "Annals" had been distributed; and of this number, 15,000 were sent to England, 24,000 to Italy, and 100,500 remained in France.

THE ROMAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.-The

THE HOLY LAND.-Notes made on the spot, 1852. "Sunday, the 18th January, was a great festival among the Greeks, when they congratulate each other, and eat ‘kenafi,' a kind of sweet cake. Many Christians of Nablous came to see us, and among them two Greek priests from Rafidie. They are dissatisfied with the convent, being scarcely able to subsist on a salary of about £12a year. No wonder that scarcely one respectable native wishes to become a priest. In the presence

of

these very priests, one of our Greek neighbours spoke of the priesthood, and of the manner in which they were made priests, in such contemptuous terms, that I was quite astonished. Yet the natives kiss the priests' hands in the most servile fashion, and entertain superstitious opinions respecting them; though they have neither regard nor respect for them in their hearts. On this day the Greek priests go round in the houses, sprinkling the house and its inmates with holy water. Our good host, a decided protestant, had not yet found it expedient to separate entirely from the Greek church: he was evidently in a great dilemma, when he saw three priests come in with the holy water; but he could not otherwise than submit to have it sprinkled in his face. He felt much ashamed; stating, however, that his only excuse was that there was no protestant clergyman, no regular worship, no consolation in sickness or death, no sacramental, and no burial rite for such as abandoned communion with the Greek church. We pointed out to him from the word of God, how he should proceed, and urged him to act according to the dictates of an enlightened conscience." At Nazareth, “we went to see the Greek school, not far from the church of the Annunciation. It is probable that the Greeks built it with a view to the establishment hereafter of a convent, for which under present circumstances they cannot get a firman. It looks almost like a castle, and is evidently constructed for some better purpose than a school. The school is a large vaulted room, without arrangement inside; no tables, and no benches, but some beams laid on the floor, on which the children sit. There were about ninety present, who were reading the psalter: some had the Beyrout edition. There were two teachers. In a small room near the school we found one of the Greek priests, and the Russian priest from Mount Tabor, who is considered a very holy man here: he is tall, and a white beard gives him a venerable appearance: he dresses like the Greek priests of the convent at Jerusalem. He says that he is of a good family in Russia, and lived for some time as attached to the Russian court; but, not finding peace in the world, he abandoned its pomp, and wishes now, after living for some time on Mount Sinai, to spend the remainder of his days quietly on Mount Tabor, where he has a Greek deacon with him." "Lately a leathern bag has been received by the Latin convent, filled with the 'holy breath of the pope!' This precious element is, I hear, very dear; otherwise I might, if possible, have contrived to obtain a little bottle of it. It seems however, that they do not sell it for keeping, but have it for immediate use. The person who longs for some of this 'holy breath' goes to the priest, and,after the necessary ceremonies, prays to inhale a little of the breath: it is then blown into the face of the happy supplicant by squeezing the bag. They say, too, that this breath works like leaven; i.e., if the leathern bag is nearly empty, and the breath of any sinful man gets into it, the pope's breath leavens the whole, and makes it all holy. I know not whether the last is an invention or not; but the fact of the holy breath' arriving in the leathern bag from Rome (as it is given out) seems to be too true!" "On the 8th of April, being at Jerusalem, we went very early to see the procession or exodus of the pilgrims of the Greek confession, on

their way to the Jordan, where they perform the ceremony of immersion, without any exception to sex or age, under the superstitious belief that their sins will be washed away by this sort of baptism. The bathing gown, shirt or shift, which they wear on this occasion, is afterwards carefully preserved and destined for their shroud, to which the same cleansing power is ascribed as to the waters of the Jordan."

The number of stations is 110: of European misCHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 1851-52.sionaries, 139; East Indian missionaries, 2; native missionaries, 21; European catechists and other laymen, 27; European female teachers, 15; native teachers, 1,612. East Indian and country-born teachers, 16; and The whole number of the agents under the society is, therefore, 1,942. The communicants amount to 15,306: the baptisms of adults and children during the year were 11,807: the pupils under Christian instruction were estimated at 40,000, and the attendants on Christian worship at 107,000.

NORTH-WEST AMERICA.-The episcopate of Rupert's Land contains at present 7 stations, or parochial centres, supported by the Church Missionary Society, with 6 European missionaries and 1 native at their head; besides 19 European and other teachers. The number of communicants is 454; schools, 23; and pupils, 738. One of the stations is called the "Indian Settlement," and is under the charge of the rev. W. Cockran, who gives the following striking account of the death of one of his people: "I was sent for to visit an aged Indian woman. I had for a long time known her as a very consistent Christian. The following conversation took place: What made you first think of becoming a Christian?' 'As soon as I heard the word,' pointing to her New Testament, I believed it, and began to try to do it. The more I learned of it the more I liked it, and endeavoured to do as it told me, and felt happy when I heard it.' "You have suffered a great deal of affliction: you have followed your husband and six children to the grave: what did you think of God when you were suffering the loss of all these? Did you think him a hard Master?' 'When I had my husband with me, and was surrounded by my children, I felt myself strong: when God removed them, one after another, I felt myself weaker by every stroke; and it made me cling closer to God.' After a long conversation of the like nature, she desired me to let her son know that she looked forward to death with hope and joy, believing that through the blood of Christ all her sins were pardoned, and that for his sake she would be admitted into the kingdom of God." At Cumberland station may be found the modest parsonage, the neat church, and an affectionate and improving flock of Christian Indians. "Our Indians," writes the missionary, "are taking a lively interest in communicating what they know of Christianity to their heathen friends and relatives. Instances are constantly coming under my notice where much good has been done in this way. Thus God is using them as instruments in disseminating the knowledge of himself all round." The missionary at Lac-la-Rouge mentions the remarkable fact that in his vast, though thinly-peopled district, there

is not an Indian who is not a professed and baptized Christian.

THE LATIN AND THE GREEK CHURCHES. -It is to the great rival chairs of Rome and the Kremlin that the eye of the modern contemplatist of religious centralization is now particularly directed. The head of the Sclavonian race is not only a hero or a conqueror, like Tamerlane or Napoleon, but also a deeply-imbedded religious idea. As far back as the year 1594, Ranke tells us that the pope of Rome sent an embassy to invite the czar to throw down the wall of partition between Rome and Moscow, and to acknowledge the supremacy of the Roman city. But Borus Godenoff sent back word to the pope that he considered himself the only true head of the church on earth, and the city where he dwelt as the spot around which the homage of the nations was to concentrate. Since the time of Borus Godenoff Rome has lost much, and Russia has gained much; and a modern German writer has predicted that "the old continent of Europe" will not long have room and accommodation for those two rival systems, this "great church-politic dualism;" but admits that Rome's joint supremacy will probably be tolerated until the day when restored Byzantium shall become a centre of unity more glorious and all-controlling than the present decadent and imbecile city of the Tiber (rev. W. B. Wright's Sketches of Modern Irreligion, &c. 1851).

THE NESTORIANS OF CENTRAL KURDISTAN. "They are continually embroiled in quarrels. Now the strife is about a pasture-ground, which the inhabitants of different districts claim; and now it is about the privilege of irrigation-water being scarce. My very soul was made sick by their endless strifes. Sometimes they would fly at each other like tigers, apparently ready to drink the life-blood of their enemies, raising their voices to the highest pitch, and screaming till their very hoarseness arrested them. Sometimes blood is shed on account of supposed trespasses on begging ground. The inhabitants of the two Jeloos, for example, have divided the country, far and near, into regular begging districts, going to Bagdad in one direction, Damascus in another, and Salmas and Oroomiah in another. It sometimes happens that the people of one village overstep their proper bounds in their begging excursions; and the consequence is contention and bloodshed." Another hindrance to the progress of the gospel is described in the subjoined extract; "I was very much struck with the wandering habits of the people; and to my mind these form a serious obstacle to their thorough evangelization. The Nestorians of Tekhoma and Tiary, indeed, are less migratory than their neighbours; but even they are now venturing down to the plains in the winter for the purposes of trade, &c. The inhabitants of some districts, during a part of the year, are scattered to the four winds. In the summer they are with their flocks on the mountains, wherever pasture can be found. A part of them attend to the work of the dairy; while some follow their flocks, spinning as they go. The young men gather grass and wood for the winter; and the women carry it in astonishing burdens to their villages, in some instances a day's journey. Thus they toil through the summer months, from village

to pasture-ground, and from pasture-ground to village; while a few remain at home to till, with nicest care, the few inches of earth which have been scraped together. Others work, with untiring diligence, at their rude looms. In early autumn the flocks begin to turn homeward from the tallest heights, till all are gathered at length into the winter's fold. The infirm and the feeble remain during the winter to take care of the flocks, subsisting upon the meal which they obtain from their stinted grounds. The others gather up their wares, and go to warmer regions to traffic" (Letter from the rev. M. Coan). H. S.

SKETCHES.

BY THE REV. DENIS KELLY, M.A.,

Minister of Trinity Church, Gough Square, Fleet

street.

No. LIX.

THE BANKER.

"Friend to truth, of soul sincere,

In action faithful, and in honour clear."

POPE.

IT is interesting to observe the peculiar influence which religion exerts on the character, in the various professions and avocations of life. One circumstance has often struck me-I know not whether it has been noticed by others-that, when an individual comes under the influence of Christian principle, his character usually becomes remarkable for qualities which are the opposite of those which distinguished him (and which distinguish the men of his peculiar calling or profession) in his previous state of mind and feeling. Take for example the military man. Let him be called by God's grace to the saving and practical knowledge of divine truth, and you will find him that had been haughty and supercilious before, the vassal of fashion, punctilious, jealous of casts, scornful of all that looks like "seriousness" or singularity, become remarkable for unaffected humility and docility and sober-mindedness. Take one of the legal profession. Let him come under the influence of vital religion, and the keen, shrewd, sagacious, self-confident, quick-witted lawyer, the man of intellectual pride, the declared foe to every thing like enthusiasm or fanaticism, becomes a self-diffident man; none more ready than he to learn, none more slow to dogmatize, none more candid to determine the true province of reason, none more devoutly adoring the mys teries which that reason cannot comprehend, none more willing to "lay down every high thought which exalts itself against the knowledge of God," no one, in short, of a more simple or stronger

faith.

The same remark applies equally to men in the commercial walks of life. The change produced in their characters by religion is perhaps even more striking. I can scarce conceive of any stamp of mind or character which, I should say, was naturally more alien to the meek, humble, spiritual frame of the Christian's mind, than that which is