forth fruit within them, and till they can unite | the joys and the progress of spiritual spring together. Let them remember, that as certainly as God has promised spring to the natural world, and has never failed to fulfil his promise, so certainly will he make good his assurance, that they who believe upon his Son shall not perish, but have eternal life, while the dead and the withered tree shall be rooted up and burnt in the fire.

And from what has been said, let all be taught to mark and to study the works of nature with a religious eye. These works are within the observation and the reach of all;-no science, and no experience, are required. The most sublime and devotional views lie upon the surface, and may be seen and received by every mind. Do not only study them, and find food in them for adoration, and gratitude, and praise-seek also, like the Saviour, to draw spiritual instruction from them, to perceive spiritual analogies and spiritual contrasts, and to apply the whole to your own experience seek to turn every passing season, and every passing circumstance, to the great purposes of practical godliness; and then every walk in the garden, and every walk in the fields, will acquire a fresh importance. and minister profit with pleasure.

EDUCATION IN THE HIGHLANDS AND
ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S SCHEME

No. I.

By all Protestant Churches, the subject of education has been regarded with peculiar interest, as being intimately connected both with the temporal comfort and the spiritual advantage of the people. And nowhere has this topic attracted more attention than in the Protestant Church of Scotland. Even in the earliest period of her history, the parish school was uniformly considered an indispensable appendage and auxiliary to the parish church. Hence the high character which the Scottish peasantry have ever held for superior cultivation. But, notwithstanding the favourable opinion which has been so generally entertained of the intellectual superiority of the people of Scotland, the fact is not to be concealed, that immense tracts of the country can even yet be pointed out where the benefits of knowledge have never been enjoyed. More than a century has passed since the attention of the Established Church was aroused to the destitute state of the Highlands and Islands, in point of education. In 1704 we find the Assembly enjoining a fund to be raised, by parochial and other contributions, for the purpose of remedying this great evil. Two years after, the same injunction was renewed, but the success appears to have been very limited, and at length, in 1709, the Assembly directed that the sums already procured should be handed over to the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, which had been recently established by a few individuals, and erected into a corporation by charter from Queen Anne. By that society the sums were applied for the purpose which the Assembly contemplated, and schools were established in various districts of the Highlands under their superintendence. No further efforts appear to have been made by the General Assembly, until the suggestion of the scheme which has been for some years in most successful operation. The honour of originating the measures now in progress for the accomplishment of a design so important

is solely due to the benevolent Principal of the University of Edinburgh. The circumstances which led Dr Baird to direct his attention to this subject, are chiefly these, as detailed in the Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Scheme appended to the Report of the General Assembly's Committee for 1828:

"In the year 1818, a commission had been appointed by Parliament, for the important purpose of inquiring into the existing state of education throughout the whole united kingdom. To facilitate the inquiry in the commission, solicited the countenance and aid of respect to Scotland, Mr Brougham, the chairman of the General Assembly,-suggesting that the Assembly might recommend a proper attention, by parochial ministers, to such queries as the commission might transmit to their respective parishes. The Assembly granted without delay appointed a committee to revise the Parthe concurrence requested by the commission; and liamentary queries, and to transmit them to the parishes. The result, after a short time was, that large collection of returns, above alluded to, which were received by Dr Baird, in the first instance, and by him transmitted to Mr Brougham, as chairman of the Parliamenof the whole was submitted to Parliament, and was tary commission, under whose superintendence a digest afterwards printed and published. The returns were then sent back by Mr Brougham to Dr Baird, as convener of the General Assembly's committee; and perhaps they have not at any time served a more important purpose than that to which they were now applied.

"As soon as it was made known that the Presbytery of Edinburgh had resolved to overture the ensuing Assembly on this subject, other presbyteries and synods, with which Dr Baird had very sedulously corresponded, were induced to follow the example. Among these, it may be noticed, were the low country Presbyteries of Dumfries, Lochmaben, and Kirkcudbright. A general, though vague, persuasion appears, indeed, to have existed throughout the country, that the means of education and of religious instruction were ill provided in the Highlands and Islands; and that this state of matters in these districts claimed the earnest consideration of the country at large.

"In order, however, that the grievance might be precisely understood in its proper form and magnitude, Dr Baird employed himself in communicating very extensively throughout the Church the substance of such information as had been supplied by the Parliamentary returns. From these he prepared a statement of facts, which he transmitted to many of the provincial presbyteries and county meetings, and to many influential proprietors in the Highlands. In all projects of the kind in question, much, it is evident, must always depend upon the energy and assiduity with which the first steps are followed out. In this case, accordingly, nothing was omitted to create at once a popular inclination to the proposed measure, and to secure the sanction of the Assembly. It was certain that the overtures could have no grounds equal in authenticity and completeness to what were afforded by the Parlia mentary returns; but in what manner were these indigested masses to be made available before the house, and their contents to be presented as an argument upon the instant of deliberation? To insure this, Dr Baird, a few weeks before the meeting of Assembly, (1824) undertook to abstract the substance of the returns, so far as they might illustrate the more striking deficiencies both in education and religious instruction throughout the Highlands and Islands; which abstract was, in due time, prepared and printed. It was circulated largely among the members of Assembly during the first days of the session; and there can be no doubt that, by furnishing a most instructive memorial upon the subject, it created a decided predisposition in favour of the object of the overtures.

"With such industrious preparations the matter came at length to be considered by the General Assembly; and there it was entertained as cordially as any proposition ever submitted to that house."

Ministers from various parts of the Highlands confirmed the truth of the statements contained in the returns, and the Assembly entering warmly into the subject, appointed a committee to make still further inquiries as to the best mode of attaining the great object, and to ascertain whether the heritors and landed proprietors in the unenlightened districts were willing to lend their co-operation and assistance. Much had already been done for the establishment and support of schools in several places, by four different education societies, who had been labouring zealously in the good cause; much had been done by the judicious application of the sum annually allowed since 1725 by Government to the General Assembly, for the maintenance of missionaries and catechists in the Highlands and Islands; but, notwithstanding all this, it was satisfactorily established by the returns laid before the General Assembly by Dr Baird, that large districts of country were, still, in point of intellectual and moral cultivation, a desert waste. The facts were strong, and they produced a powerful effect. By a curious but beautiful coincidence, the Assembly had that very day come to the resolution of establishing a mission on the shores of heathen India; and, actuated by a similar spirit of Christian benevolence, they resolved to take immediate steps for the religious and moral improvement of our countrymen at home. The same principles which led to the unanimous adoption of the one resolution, prepared the members of Assembly for the equally unanimous adoption of the other. And it is impossible, perhaps, to point to a more memorable day in the history of the Church of Scotland, than that which witnessed the simultaneous formation of the India, Mission and the Education

Scheme.

DIVINE GRACE EXEMPLIFIED IN THE CONVERSION OF A SINNER.

BY MR ALEX. TOUGH, JUN., Elder of the Middle Parish, Greenock. CIRCUMSTANCES which are in themselves not any way peculiar or extraordinary, often obtain an importance in our estimation, and make a deep and lasting impression on our minds, because of the manner in which we became acquainted with them. Such is the case in relation to the events recorded in the following narrative:

In the autumn of the year, on retiring to rest one evening I thought I heard a peculiar sound, which, on examination, I found to be the voice of a female proceeding from behind a hedge, which was within a few yards of the window. She was engaged in prayer, crying unto the Lord from out of the depths of conscious guilt and misery, into which her sins had brought her: "Deep calleth unto deep; at the noise of thy water-spouts all thy billows are gone over me, thy wrath lieth bard upon me, thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves; the sorrows of hell encompass me; the floods of ungodly men make me afraid. O Lord, in this night of sore distress, I will call upon thee; and though laden with guilt and iniquity, thou hast promised to be a refuge, and a very present help in the time of trouble. Hear me, O Lord, and save me for His sake who died on the cross for my salvation." This prayer was uttered with such a tone of simplicity and fervency, that, in connection with the time and circumstances, it made a deep and lasting impression on my mind. Having observed whither she retired after prayer, I sought an early opportunity of introducing myself to her, and shall now give a few particulars of her history,

She was a native of Argyleshire. Her mother having died when she was about fourteen years of age, she was left in charge of her grandmother, who was a pious woman, and who instructed her carefully in the doctrines of our holy religion. When about nineteen, her grandmother died; and having no other means of support, she came to Greenock in the capacity of a servant. The family with which her lot was cast, was destitute of even the appearance of religion, and instead of prayer and reading the Word of God, there was every thing directly the reverse. Good impressions, which had been early imprinted on her mind, soon began to vanish "like the morning cloud, and the early dew, which passeth away.” Exposed to those things that were detrimental to a life of godliness, her conscience lost its sensibility, and in time became seared as if with a hot iron; for having formed acquaintances of a loose and immoral character, she went to great lengths in wickedness, which she wrought with greediness.

She left her former service, and removed to a respectable family, where she was allowed on the Sabbath to attend Church. But, instead of entering the house of God, this sacred day was spent with ungodly companions in sinful amusements. We now arrive at a deeply interesting period of her history. By the special providence of God, on her return from the neighbouring village of Gourock, one Sabbath evening, she met with an acquaintance, who asked her to accompany her to the class superintended by the late Mr John Caird, in the session-house of the Gaelic Chapel. This Sabbath evening school was taught in the place just mentioned by the venerable John Caird for many years, and consisted of individuals of both sexes from eighteen to thirty years of age. His manner of teaching was chiefly in the catechetical style-plain, practical, and personal

from some portion of divine truth. He conducted this class with the greatest efficiency and success, as is attested by the fact, that many who obtained their first religious impressions in it have died in the faith, while others of considerable respectability and influence are ornamenting the Gospel, and some of them are officebearers in the Church of Christ.

The passage which Mr Caird, on that occasion, explained and applied, was Isaiah liii. 6, "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." He compared sinners to wandering sheep, which she, through the influence of the divine Spirit, perceived to be a striking image of her condition. He said, sheep wandering without a shepherd, are an exposed, a defenceless, and an easy prey. This she found actually to be her case; for, notwithstanding her early pious instruction, her former good impressions, and all that she had suffered in the slavery of sin, she continued to wander from the Good Shepherd. That part of the address she considered so peculiarly adapted to her con. dition, that she thought Mr Caird had been acquainted with her whole history; and, being unable to continue longer under the influence of the emotion produced by the address, she retired from the place to give utterance to her sorrow, and to cry to the Lord for deliverance. She continued in this state of mind for above three months, scarcely able either to eat or work, and was about this time visited with a slight affliction. She spent much of her time in reading the Scriptures, and in prayer to God that he would enable her to perceive the way of salvation from the guilt, and power, and pollution of sin. No man appeared to care for her soul, and she felt the anguish of an awakened conscience, and was ready to exclaim, "A wounded spirit who can bear!" At length the time of her gracious deliverance drew nigh. She was advised to apply to Mr Caird for instruction and comfort; and after describing to him her state, he explained to her the Gospel of Christ in all its fulness, freeness, and suitableness, He taught

her, that help was laid upon One able and willing to save, even to the uttermost, all who come to God by him. He explained to her the nature of the work of Christ that work by which atonement had been made for the sins of men, and in connection with which, mercy could flow to the most worthless and guiltiest of our race, in strict harmony with his justice. He shewed her, that by faith she might be interested in that atonement, and, through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, be delivered from the guilt of her sin, and accounted as righteous in the sight of God. He taught her the necessity of repentance towards God, and of the regenerating influence of the Word, applied by the Spirit of God. His instruction was blessed; for old things began gradually to pass away, and all things became new. Despair gave place to hope, and fear to bumble confidence in the mercy of God.

Her companions and pleasures, her pursuits and aims, were all changed. And this change was so evident, that it was soon noticed, and she became marked, pitied, and derided, by her former companions. But she bore all patiently, being now willing to suffer, and enabled to endure the reproach of Christ's cause. She ascribed this delightful change to the grace of God. It was now her delight when it was said, "Let us go up to the house of the Lord." She regularly heard the Rev. Kenneth Bain of Greenock; but was much attached to the Rev. Dr Love of Anderston, from whose ministry she derived much instruction and profit.

Prayer was her chief delight. She held much intercourse with God; and this was the reason why she had retired late in the evening, under the hedge, when I first heard the sound of her voice. There she had reared many an Ebenezer to the Lord, and she often, in ardent prayer, poured out her soul to God.

Consumption had at this time taken a strong hold of her frame, and she was soon after this taken out of the world to her Father's house above. She bore her afflictions with patience and resignation, evincing the power of Christian principle, and met the last enemy, Death, with composure, displaying the influence of divine grace to support the mind even in the hour of nature's dissolution. Her last words were: "Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth!"

Thus we have another trophy of the Redeemer's triumph in the humbler walks of life. And though the aspiring worldling may see in this nothing to attract his attention, or to excite his admiration; nay, though he may even sneer at this as savouring of affected sanctity, still it is a case over which angels rejoiced, and disdained not to convey the ransomed, the purified, and the disenthralled spirit to Abraham's bosom.

From this narrative, simple and unadorned as it is, we are taught some lessons of important instruction.

We cannot but perceive the evils resulting from bad company. Here we have presented to us a simple country girl, who had received a pious education, and who was uncorrupted by vice, brought in contact with those who feared not God, and who lived in open violation of his righteous law. In her is strikingly displayed the truth of the apostolic assertion, "Evil coinmunications corrupt good manners." Her religious impressions soon vanished. She became an adept in the school of vice, and is an additional instance of the weakness of human nature to resist evil when brought in contact with powerful temptation.

Parents may perceive from this narrative the necessity of care in the choice of the situation which they make for their children. Too often it is the case that they manifest an anxious solicitude for the temporal comfort and prosperity of their children, and are all eagerness and avidity about their worldly advancement, while they neglect altogether any inquiry regarding their spiritual good. If there be but a favourable opening, in

relation to their worldly prospects, they rarely inquire whether this be a family where the worship of God is observed, and where the morals of their children will be safe; but too often, by criminal negligence, recklessly place their children in the very focus of temptation, and then wonder why they have to mourn over the dissipation and vice of their offspring. O! what heartless, what criminal indifference is manifested on this subject, by many parents! The subject of the present narrative, traced the first commencement of her open departure from the ways of piety to her entrance into an ungodly family.

But we also perceive that, when temptation is yielded to, there is a progression in vice. This young woman did not arrive at the height of her wickedness all at once, but by remaining in contact with temptation, and yielding to its influence, she became worse and worse. Her remaining good feelings and principles gradually gave place to others of a directly opposite character, and she became less and less able to resist the power of the current of temptation by which she was carried away. In her case, also, we have a striking display of the speciality of divine providence, in connection with the salvation of sinners. Little did she think, when on the Sabbath she went in pursuit of unhallowed amusement, that the purposes of God towards her were those of mercy not of wrath. And in the way, apparently casual, by which she is brought to hear "words whereby she might be saved," we perceive that God brings the blind by a way they know not. Thus his providence and his grace harmonize in their operation to save the children of men.

We have also a proof of the power of divine truth when stated in plainness, fidelity, and affection. The Word of God is quick and powerful. It is that by which we are quickened, and regenerated, and made new creatures in Christ Jesus. Of this the case above narrated is an interesting example. The simple statement of the truth was that by which she was brought to the knowledge of salvation, and the reality of the change was evidenced in her love of prayer. She was eminently a woman of prayer. Prayer was her delight, and it was this which induced her to seek opportunities of communion with God, when no eye beheld her, and which led her to the place where, in this sacred exercise, I first heard her voice.

"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,
His watchword in the hour of death;
He enters heaven with prayer."

But, lastly, we have an example of the good of Sabbath schools, when properly conducted. It may be that there is, and we believe there actually is, a diversity of opinion, even among good men, as to the propriety of Sabbath schools, and we must admit that if parents were found doing their duty and adopting the good old Scotch custom of Sabbath family instruction, Sabbath schools would be hardly, if at all, needed. But then, alas ! many parents neglect this duty, and others are found who perform it inefficiently. Hence arises the necessity of such an institution to supply the lack of parental instruction, and to stem the torrent of impiety which rushes through our land. And happy is it when Sabbath schools are conducted with as much prudence, and order, and ability, as was the one superintended by Mr Caird. In proportion to the efficiency displayed in the mode of conducting these schools, may we rationally expect that they will obtain the divine blessing. The Word of God ought ever to form a prominent part in the routine of Sabbath school tuition; and the more plain, and faithful, and affectionate, and judicious is the explanation of that Word, the more confidently may we expect success. Let Sabbath school teachers be encouraged, when they recollect that she whose case is recorded in this paper, received her first religious impressions at a Sabbath school,

SACRED POETRY.

HEAVEN.

Oн, talk to me of heaven! I love

To hear about my home above;

For there doth many a loved one dwell,
In light and joy ineffable.

Oh! tell me how they shine and sing,
While every harp rings echoing;
And every glad and tearless eye
Beams like the bright sun gloriously:
Tell me of that victorious palm

Each hand in glory beareth;
Tell me of that celestial calm
Each face in glory weareth.

Oh, happy, happy country! where
There entereth not a sin;

And death, who keeps its portals fair,
May never once come in.

No grief can change their day to night;
The darkness of that land is light.
Sorrow and sighing God hath sent
Far thence to endless banishment.
And never more may one dark tear
Bedim their burning eyes,
For every one they shed while here,
In fearful agonies,

Glitters a bright and dazzling gem
In their immortal diadem.

Oh, lovely, blooming country! there
Flourishes all that we deem fair.
And tho' no fields nor forest green
Nor bowery gardens there are seen,
Nor perfumes load the breeze,
Nor hears the ear material sound,-
Yet joys at God's right hand are found.

The archetypes of these;

There is the home, the land of birth
Of all we highest praise on earth.

The storms that rack this world beneath

Must here for ever cease;

The only air the blessed breathe

Is purity and peace.

Oh, happy, happy land, in thee

Shines th' unveiled Divinity,

Shedding thro' each adoring breast

A holy calm, a halcyon rest,

And those blest souls whom death did sever,
Have met to mingle joys for ever.
Oh! soon may heaven unclose to me!
Oh! may I soon that glory see!
And my faint, weary spirit stand
Within that happy, happy land!

MISCELLANEOUS.

BOWLES.

night, having been guilty of his usual intemperance, had been found dead in his bed in the morning. Dr Donne then asked "Had he a wife?" The answer was in the affirmative. "What character does she bear?" The sexton said, "A very good one, only she was reflected upon for marrying immediately after the death of her husband." This was enough for the Doctor, who, upon the pretence of visiting all his parishioners, soon called upon the woman in question; and in the course of conversation he inquired of what sickness her husband had died. She gave him precisely the same account as the sexton had given before her. But the Doctor produced the skull, and pointing to the place, said, "Woman, do you know this nail ?" The unhappy criminal was struck with horror at the demand and the sight, and instantly owned that she had been the perpetrator of the deed, which had hurried her husband, in a state of intoxication, into the eternal world.

Revivals of Religion." A serious man from a neighbouring parish," says Dr Latrobe, "being one evening at my house, on secular business, took occasion to inform me that there was a great revival of religion in his neighbourhood. I expressed much pleasure at the intelligence, but asked him in what manner this happy revival discovered itself, whether the people appeared more humble, more peaceable, more kind and charitable, better united in their social relations, more virtuous in their lives, &c. He could not answer, particularly, with respect to these things, but said, "People were much engaged in attending religious meetings,-they had private lectures as often as a preacher could be obtained,

and they had conferences almost every evening." I observed to him that an attendance on the word preached was highly important, and a hopeful sign; but asked him how it was on the Lord's day; whether they attended on the instituted worship of that day, better than they used to do? (for I knew they had been shamefully negligent in that duty.) Why no,' said he, we don't go to meeting on the Sabbath.' What,' I inquired, do you neglect God's institutions to observe your own? The prophet marks this as a token of decay in religion.'

Christ the Believer's all in all in Death.-When the pious Bishop Beveridge was on his death-bed, he did not know any of his friends and connections. A minister with whom he had been well acquainted, visited him; and when conducted into his room, he said,"Bishop Beveridge, do you know me?' "Who are

you," said the Bishop. Being told who the minister was, he said that he did not know him. Another friend came, who had been equally well known, and accosted him in a similar manner,-"Do you know me, Bishop Beveridge?' "Who are you," said he. Being told it was one of his intimate friends, he said, he did not know him. His wife then came to his bed-side and asked him if he knew her? "Who are you," said he. Being told it was his wife, he said he did not know her. "Well," said one," Bishop Beveridge, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?" "Jesus Christ," said he, reviv

"Oh yes, I have known him these forty years; precious Saviour! he is all my hope."