in his life, for he had been twice a widower, and had lost six children, (he has left two sons,) his habitual temper was sweet and even cheerful. He showed by his example how false it is to reproach Christianity, that it deprives life of all its pleasures. He relates how certain rationalists or infidels wondered to see him laugh. "How," said they to him, "you a pietist, and laugh?" Yes, certainly," replied Hoffman; and he laughed again still louder at their strange surprise.

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One day, some persons who dined at his table, spoke of the practice of dancing; and a high officer of State said to him, "Why do you forbid dancing at Kornthal? You are unreasonable, for dancing is an excellent bodily exercise." "Pardon me, Sir," replied Hoffman, “dancing is not forbidden here. Our brethren have, it is true, enough bodily exercise in the field; but if any of them should prefer that of dancing, I would lend him my parlour, provided he bring another brother to dance with him." "Ah!" cried the officer, 66 no one would dance on this condition; there must be a woman to dance with the man." "Well, then," said Hoffman, "you contradict yourself. For two men can dance together at their ease. It is not then bodily exercise that you seek in dancing, it is something else! And your own words contradict what you say.

دو

Hoffman had the most intrepid courage, and was a stranger to fear. Travelling once in a wood, a man rushed upon him, calling out, "Your purse! your purse!" "How much money do you want?" asked Hoffman of him, in a firm, calm, and at the same time a compassionate tone. The robber, amazed, named a small sum, and with tears told how wretched he was. Hoffman gave him what he demanded, accompanying his alms with a pious exhortation.

When he was, in 1815, King's commissioner in a province of Wurtemberg, a colonel of Austrian hussars came with his troops to demand forage for his horses. "I have received orders," said Hoffman, "not to give to any one." The colonel was angry, and threatened. "You

have 500 hussars," continued Hoffman, coolly; "there is my magazine; you can burst open the door; but know that I shall put myself before it, and I shall fulfil my duty to the last." Overcome by such unshaken firmness, the Austrian colonel desisted.

Hoffman had not less courage in confessing his faith before the great ones of the earth. A gentleman scoffing before him at a passage of the Scriptures, he begged him not to continue in that tone. "But," asked the stranger jestingly, "what do you believe will become of me after death if I remain as I am?" "What will become of you?" replied Hoffman in a solemn tone; 66 as soon as your soul shall quit your body, it will be seized by the hand of the Almighty, and shut up in the prisons of eternity." The gentleman turned pale, was silent, and some time after opened a correspondence with Hoffman on religious subjects.

A celebrated general having heard him explain the nature of a Christian's life, said to him, "You will confess at least that a soldier cannot live thus." "Sir," replied, Hoffman, "I believe that in the last day the Lord will show you a general, and more than one, not less brave than yourself, who has lived as a Christian. The saints shall judge the world; there will be of every class, of every profession, those who have been faithful to the Lord." "You hear him, husband," said the wife of the general, with much emotion. From that moment the general took Hoffman into friendship, and sought occasions to converse with him on religion.

Hoffman showed also much Christian care in the education of his children. He was not one of those who are constantly reproving and censuring. A word from him, a brief remark, a look, produced more effect than much talking. His true strength was in prayer. He often said, "My children belong to God more than to me."

It is time to come to his last moments. He reached the age of seventy years without having many infirmities, for he was temperate, regular in his habits, and always occupied. When he felt his health decline, he preserved

all his serenity of soul. He wrote, spoke, acted even to the last, and when his hand could no longer hold a pen, he dictated. The thought of Kornthal and Wilhelmsdorf pursued him even in his feverish dreams. He longed ardently to go and rest in the bosom of the Lord. If his strength seemed to return to him, he would say, "Ah! I shall not yet go to my home." Not a murmur escaped his lips. He sang in his last days the hymns which had animated him in

his mature years, and when his voice failed, he pointed out by signs the hymns he wished to hear. The 29th of January, 1846, he peacefully gave up his soul to God. Three days after, though the rain fell in torrents, five to six thousand persons attended him to his long home. All wept around the coffin of this good man: a more touching homage than the magnificent funeral orations composed for earthly princes! G. DE F.

R. T.

FIGURES derived from the art of husbandry or the practice of agriculture are frequent in the Scriptures. Thus: "The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel." And Paul tells Christians they are "God's husbandry." "The field is the world." In this field there are various labourers with various gifts. Some plant, others water, but God alone gives the increase. The prophet Hosea, a plain-spoken, thorough reformer, thus speaks in the name of God, "Israel is an empty vine; he bringeth forth fruit unto himself." "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." Fallow ground is that which has remained for some time uncultivated. It may have been cultivated, and once brought forth fruit, but now lies waste, overgrown with grass, weeds, and thistles. The fallow ground is the Church, and the Church is as the hearts of its members. Now, here is work for us.

1. Let us plough up all the weeds of self-indulgence.

These have grown thick and rank, while the Church has slept and slumbered. A wise man in his circumambulations "went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns; nettles covered the face thereof. Then I saw; I considered well; I looked upon it I received instruction." And what was the instruction? Why, that self-indulgence leads to spiritual ruin. If an angel, under a commission from the court of heaven, were now passing through the churches to inspect them thoroughly, would he not see many, many lamentable things? But the Lord of angels is scrutinizing the whole field.

"All

the churches shall know that I am he who searches the reins and hearts, and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." Solemn declaration! How few heed it! Where, in this busy age, is that lead

ing trait of Christianity-the spirit of self-denial? Of what assemblage of professors can it be said, "None of us liveth to himself"?

2. The stumps of indifference must be removed from the fallow ground.

The deep and wide spreading roots of trees that have been levelled, present solid obstacles to the farmer. He may plough over them and around them, but still they are there. Ordinary culture does not reach them. They must be eradicated by a violent effort of a powerful machine. Now what is more fatal than the indifference of professors? Indifference on such a theme! when heaven, earth, and hell are awake to its tremendous importance! Yet how has the Church now become "rooted and grounded"—not in faith and love— but in stupidity. Can you wonder that sinners are indifferent-that the broad road is so crowded with passengers, rushing with infatuated haste to the ruin that yawns before them?

3. The thorns and tares of controversy must be pulled out.

It is impossible to cultivate the soil of a heart in which there is any "root of bitterness." Differences of opinion may be entertained without injury, but differences of feeling ought to be avoided. Love is the golden chain which should be thrown around us all; peace, the heavenly bond which should grow strong under the unity of the Spirit. "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another." If any have aught against any, go and settle it without delay. Let nothing rankle in that bosom, which should ever be a fit temple for the Holy Spirit. "If thou wilt return, O Ísrael, saith the Lord, return unto me." Then comes the command to "break up the fallow ground: sow not among thorns." You can thus expect little fruit. Thorns may also symbolize the state of that heart which is so oppressed with the cares of the world, that the word is choked, the good seed is smothered, and he who thus receives the seed among thorns, becomes un

fruitful, while he that receives it into a kindly heart, brings forth fruit many fold. Like the iniquities of the Amorites, our sins will still "dwell in the land;" and if, as God told Israel, we will not drive them out, "those which ye let remain of them will be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell." Let me remark,

4. In breaking up a fallow soil, the prolific and hurtful thistles must be removed.

These, indeed, are light, nor do they lacerate like thorns, but they fly about and scatter their minute seeds

in every direction. So there are many light matters against which the Christian must guard. The besetting levities of the times are among the most dangerous influences operating against the Church. Not only should the speech of Christians be "always with grace, seasoned with salt," but their whole conversation, especially in these times of declension and worldliness, should be as becometh the Gospel of Christ, Satan makes great onsets on the Church, tempting her members, especially in cities, and in large towns that are ambitious to catch the spirit and reflect the fashions of cities, to hover about that disputed boundary which separates the Church from the world; which, in fact, is with many only an

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'imaginary line," drawn to suit their own perverted inclinations.

5. We should take away all the little stones of stumbling.

These, though not so firmly fixed

in the earth as larger obstacles, are very troublesome, and should be ejected from the field. Little matters sometimes give offence, that might just as well be dispensed with. In things not essential either to the principles of rectitude or to our individual happiness, it is a good rule to yield the point, and sacrifice our partialities. Paul acted on this noble principle. (1 Cor. viii. 13.) A practice may be in itself lawful, while the highest Christian expediency and propriety demand abstinence. But if unlawful, then expedience is changed into imperative obligation.

6. We must remove the great rock of unbelief.

Nothing can be sown, or if sown, nothing can be expected to grow among rocks. Unbelief chills the heart; takes from motives their life and power; ties up the hands; grieves the Spirit; excludes from heaven. "They could not enter in because of unbelief." Strongly does the Saviour state the truth: "They on the rock, are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away." Unbelief is a cold, dead, heartless thing. It is as closely connected with disobedience as faith is with obedience. As in the time of Christ, so now, it is a capital difficulty in the way of the Gospel. "He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Thou omnipotent Spirit! remove it from the Church and from the world! Amen.

1ST. It seems requisite, as a preliminary, to consider the true sense of the original commission given by our Lord to his apostles. (John xx. 21-23.) "Then said Jesus to them

again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."

2nd. The Council of Trent, in its fourteenth Session, and in its declaration of the doctrine of penance and extreme unction, has the following

canons:

Canon III. If any shall say, these words of the Lord our Saviour, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit," &c., are not to be understood of the power of remitting and retaining sins in the Sacrament of penance, as the Holy Catholic Church from the beginning hath always understood them, but shall distort them contrary to the institution of this Sacrament to the authority of preaching the Gospel-let him be accursed.

Canon IX. If any shall affirm the sacramental absolution of the priest not to be a judicial act, but barely ministerial, pronouncing and declaring the remission of sins which are confessed, or the priest not seriously, but in jest only absolving, he believeth himself to be absolved, or shall say, that to be able to be absolved of the priest confession is not required of the penitent-let him be accursed.*

3rd. It appears from these canons that the Church of Rome insists upon the words in question giving power, not only to the apostles, but also to Romish priests of every age, judicially to forgive sin after confession in the sacrament of penance. Some members of the Church of England also claim for its priests a power of absolving from sin privately after confession. This view presupposes an authority to have been given to, and retained in, the Church, by imposition of hands, of binding and loosing independently of the Scriptures, and

*Canon III. Si quis dixerit, verba illa domini salvatoris " Accipite Spiritum Sanctum," &c., non esse intelligenda de potestate remittendi et retinendi peccata in sacramento pænitentiæ, sicut ecclesia catholica ab initio semper intellexit, detorserit autem contra institutionem hujus sacramenti ad authoritatem prædicandi evangelium: anathema sit.

Canon IX. Si quis dixerit, absolutionem sacramentalem sacerdotis non esse actum judicialem, sed nudum ministerium pronunciandi et declarandi remissa esse peccata confitenti: modo tantum credat se esse absolutum : aut sacerdos non serio, sed joco absolvat: aut dixerit non requiri confessionem pænitentis ut sacerdos eum absolvere possit; anathema sit.

by which even the Scriptures themselves must be controlled. The revelation of God, according to the Council of Trent, is in written books and in unwritten traditions which have come down to us, "and the aforesaid traditions," it says, "pertaining to faith and manners, whether received from Christ himself, or declared by the Holy Spirit, and preserved in the Church by continued succession, and no one confiding in his own judgment shall dare to wrest the sacred Scriptures to his own sense of them, contrary to that which has been held, and still is held, by holy mother Church, whose right it is to judge of the true meaning and interpretation of sacred writ, or contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers, even though such interpretations shall never be published." Hence it appears that the Church of Rome, and, it is presumed, those who think with it, contend for a power by which the Scriptures can be made to say anything which the parties calling themselves the Church, think proper for their purposes. Upon this undefined and uncertain power they build their ecclesiastical structure, and when they quote the Scriptures, it is not to receive light from them, but to give light to them!!!

4th. Any power of the description last referred to, is totally repudiated by the Church of England. In her ordination service, the bishop says to the person about to be ordained priest, "Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity to eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? And are you determined, out of the said Scriptures, to instruct the people committed to your charge, and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture ?"

The 6th Article declares that "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation."