of the table, and of every-day life, contribute to the | and lands, and vineyards and olive yards, having become illustration of spiritual subjects. SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL. See LAM. i. 1–16. In the pathetic strains above referred to, does the prophet Jeremiah mourn over the downfall of Judah and Jerusalem, when the great body of the nation was carried captive to Babylon. What a striking contrast is there between their former state, when they were exalted above the nations, when they had privileges bestowed upon them never bestowed upon the other nations, and when they enjoyed peace, prosperity, and security, under the special protection of the Lord their God, and the state in which they were placed, when deprived of these privileges! The land, once flowing with milk and honey, the choice of all lands, abounding in flocks and herds, in vineyards, and olive yards, and in populous cities, is laid waste, the cities demolished, the fences and hedges broken down, the inhabitants taken away. It exhibits the picture of desolation. The princes, the nobles, the priests, and the people, are carried captive into a strange land. Destitute, many of them, of suitable clothing, in want of food, bereaved, in many instances, of them, of near and dear relatives and friends, exposed to the rudeness of heathen soldiery, and to the taunts and revilings of hard-hearted enemies, who had no sympathy with them in their sorrows, but rejoiced in their calamities, they were in a most wretched condition. Every feature in the picture seems dark and gloomy. a prey to their enemies. But, above all such considerations, there was something peculiar in the nation of Israel being obliged to leave their own land, that renders the trial more severe to them than in the case of other nations. It was the land of promise which had been bestowed upon them by God himself. It was the land which was endeared to them by many signal interpositions of God's providence in their behalf, which they had there experienced. It was the land of which they fondly hoped they would have enjoyed the secure possession: and such indeed, would have been the case, had they remained faithful to their covenant engagements. Thus their being carried away captive from the land of promise, was a severer blow to them than it would have been to other nations. They were bound to their land by stronger ties than other nations were to their lands; and, therefore, the cutting asunder those ties was proportionally more severe. It seemed almost to extirguish their hopes of again enjoying God's favour, which had been manifested to them for a long course of years. We can, in such circumstances, enter more deeply into the feelings of the prophet, when he appealed to all who beheld the desolation of Jerusalem: "Is it nothing to you that pass by? Look and see, if there be any sorrow, like unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of his fierce anger." Thus, as in every case, so more especially in the case of the people of Israel, banishment from their own country was a severe trial. Second, Another painful consequence of their captivity in Babylon was the suspension of those religious ordinances, which they had been accustomed to observe in their own land. The temple at Jerusalem was the centre of their religious worship. Thither their tribes went up, at stated seasons, for the observance of their It may be thought, therefore, that, in this fourth period of the history of Israel, their seventy years cap-religious festivals; and these were very joyful seasons tivity in Babylon, there is little inviting, encouraging, or promising, and we may be disposed to turn from so mournful and depressing a subject. It is, indeed, to be considered as one of the dark periods of their history: yet it will be found, I trust, like the other periods that have been considered, both interesting and instructive. And that a just conception may be formed of this period of their history, it may be proper to contemplate it in the following aspects. First, Let us advert to some of the unfavourable circumstances in which they were involved, by their captivity in Babylon. They were banished from the land of their fathers. We are all naturally attached to our native land. It is endeared to us by a thousand pleasing associations: we are bound to it by the strongest ties. Even when, at the call of duty, or from an urgent necessity, we are induced to leave it for a time, still it is with painful regret; our thoughts often recur to it when we are absent; and when we are about to return, we have joy in the prospect; we anticipate the delight to be experienced in revisiting the land of our nativity; our eyes are on the outlook to discern the first glimpse of its distant hills; and when, at length, we set foot on our native soil, our hearts leap with joy; and the land is the more endeared to us, from our having been removed from it for a season. And if there be something revolting to our feelings in leaving our native land, even when we have the prospect of returning, and when our removing is our own voluntary deed; much inore must it be distressing to be dragged away against our will, by the hand of relentless enemies, and with little prospect of returning to it again. And thus was it with the Israelites. Many of them, those especially advanced in life, might justly conclude, that they were bidding farewell to their beloved country. Their departure was farther embittered by their being spoiled of their goods, and by their houses to those that feared God amongst them. As may be seen in the solemn celebration of the Passover, in the times of Hezekiah and of Josiah; and, as we learn from Psaim lxxxiv., which was probably one of the Psalms that were sung on the occasion of the tribes being assembled at Jerusalem on one or other of their festivals: "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are thy ways. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go on from strength to strength; every one of them appeareth before God." Psaim cxxii. refers also to those stated times of assembling at Jerusalem for the worship of God: "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord." But now the beautiful place, where their fathers were accustomed to worship, was become a desolation. Their holy vessels were taken away; the whole service of the temple was suspended; their name might be called Ichabod, for the glory had departed. Instead of the joyful assemblies, where their hearts were made glad, where, with the loud-sounding cymbals, and harps of a pleasant sound, they gave thanks to God, for he is good, and his mercy endureth for ever; and when they said, "Arise, O Lord, unto thy rest, thou, and the ark of thy strength," they were now left to weep in secret over the desolation of their sanctuary. And when they sought a retreat from the taunts and reproaches of their spoilers by the river side, where they might unite in worshipping the God of their fathers, in mourning for their sins, and earnestly imploring his returning favour, in attempting to sing his praise, their voices faltered, their fingers could not touch the strings of their harps. The recollection of their native land, of the joyful songs of Zion, overwhelmed them. Many fond remembrances of the joyful seasons of devotion they had for merly experienced, burst upon them at once. They ↑ could proceed no further; they hanged their harps upon the willows; they wept when they remembered Zion. Third, If the recollection of the past was thus painful to them, there were also circumstances, in the situation in which they were then placed, that were far from comfortable. There was a sad reverse in their outward circumstances. Many of them had lived in ease and affluence; and the great body of them, though not in affluence, had their patrimony handed down to them from their fathers, that made them, in a great measure, independent. But then the highest and the lowest of them were placed nearly on a level. They had been spoiled of their goods; and they depended for subsistence upon the labour of their hands, and the bounty of those who led them captive. They were obliged to associate with a people of a strange language and of strange manners. And this was more revolting to the feelings of the Jewish nation than of other nations; because they had been, for a long period, separated from the nations, and had been accustomed to look upon them as unclean. And what rendered this intercourse still more revolting to them, was their being thus called to witness their idolatrous worship, which they had been taught to consider as an abomination in the sight of God. their captivity at Babylon. It may be proper, in taking a review of this period, to advert to the causes that led to so sad a reverse in the circumstances of a people once so highly favoured of God; to consider also some of the wise and gracious ends that were answered by this afflicting dispensation; to notice some of the alleviating circumstances of their captivity; and finally, to close this period of their history by noticing their joyful return to their own land. These shall form the subject of another article. From the melancholy scene which we have been contemplating, the following lessons of instruction may be suggested. 1. All the perplexities, and disquietudes, and sorrows to which we are exposed, whether as individuals or nations, are to be traced to sin as their procuring cause. Had we been without sin, we should have been strangers to sorrow. It is sin that hath brought upon our bodily frames that long train of painful diseases which are continually preying upon them, and will soon bring them down to the dust of death. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and death hath passed on all men, because all have sinned." It is sin that is the cause of all those perplexities, and fears, and alarms to which we are liable, men's hearts failing them for fear. It is sin that disturbs the peace of society, producing quarrels and contentions, and bloody wars. "Whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts, that war in your members?" It is sin that occasions those awful visitations of God's providence-thunder-storms, and hurricanes, and earthquakes; they are the tokens of his righteous displeasure against sin. It is sin that has occasioned the downfall of all those mighty empires that for a time flourished upon the earth. For while righteousness exalteth a nation, sin will prove the ruin of any people. But all these fatal effects of sin visible upon the earth can give us but a very partial view of the evil of sin. To be fully aware of its dreadful enormity, of its tremendous consequences, we must contemplate that unfathomable abyss of anguish, horror, and despair, which shall be the everlasting portion of all the finally unbelieving, impenitent, and ungodly! Again, they endured much harsh treatment from their enemies. There might be some exceptions, where they were treated with sympathy and kindness; but the general character of their treatment was that of harshness. Their enemies ruled over them with a rod of iron. They held them in derision, saying, “Where is now your God, in whom ye trusted that he would deliver you?" That this was generally the case, may be concluded from the circumstance that it is mentioned as one of the causes of God's controversy with the kingdom of Babylon, and of the destruction of that kingdom, that they had evil entreated the people of Israel. Thus the prophet addresses Babylon: "Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, and gave them into thy hands. Thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancients hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever; so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst thou remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear thou this, thou that art given to pleasure, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else besides me, I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children. But these two things shall come to thee in one moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon thee in perfection, for the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abund-away sin by the sacrifice of himself. In receiving him ance of thine enchantments." I would further add, that a consciousness of guilt, and a feeling that the anger of God was manifested against them because of their aggravated transgressions, most of all embittered their distresses. Thus we find them, in the book of Lamentations, acknowledging that the displeasure of God against them, because of their transgressions, had brought all their calamities upon them : "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed, and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayers should not pass through. Thou hast made us the off-scourings and the refuse in the midst of the people. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction." Thus we have seen the very uncomfortable circumstances in which the people of Israel were placed, during 2. Shall we not, then, hate sin with a perfect hatred? shall we not account it our greatest enemy? Shall we not set ourselves in direct opposition to it in all its forms? Shall we not earnestly desire deliverance from its guilt and from its power? O wretched men that we are, while under the influence of so deadly a foe! Who shall deliver us from this body of sin and death? 3. How thankful should we be that there is a way of deliverance from this most tremendous of all evils! We have, indeed, destroyed ourselves by sin, but in God is our help. Christ hath been manifested to take as the unspeakable gift of God, we receive the forgiveness of sin, and adoption into the family of God. "And as it is appointed to all men once to die, and after death the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation." Of the Works of God and the Works of Man.—If, therefore, thou wilt work the works of God, thy sweat shall be as fragrant ointment, and thy rest as the Sabbath of God. Thou shalt labour in the sweat of a good conscience; and thou shalt sit down in the repose of sweetest contemplation. But if thou wilt follow after human greatness, thou shalt have, in thy toil, perplexity and sting; and in thy recollections, loathing and reproach. And it happens to thee, O man, according to thy desert; that when thou, who art the work of God, turnest not to him in well pleasing, thy works, too, render unto thee like fruit of bitterness.LORD BACON. (Meditationcs Sacræ, translated by James Glassford, Esq. SACRED POETRY. LINES BY THE LATE REV. JOHN MARTIN, D.D., ON THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. WEEP, weep, let all our kindred weep, Of love and duty, cold and dead! Yet what is dead? 'Tis but the dust, The vehicle, the tent, the shell; She, as a burden, from her thrust, When soar'd her soul with Christ to dwell; To dwell, where long her wish had been, Which comforts earth, and gladdens heaven, While thanks and praise to Him are given. Have kept her here from such employ? Of longings, brooking ill delay? The saint has pass'd in yonder world, And as you count, for each give praise, And be thy banner, Hope, unfurl'd— The ecstatic hope, to join her there, To learn its wonders from her mouth, In heaven's infancy her care, As we have been in earthly youth; By angels fram'd, to Jesus' name; And let thine angels camp about. To feel and yield Him all his claims. When death to heaven shall ope the gate. MISCELLANEOUS. The Conversion of a Drunkard.-Many years ago, in a regiment of soldiers stationed at Edinburgh, there was a sergeant named Forbes, who was a very abandoned man, who, everywhere that he could, got in debt for liquor. His wife washed for the regiment, and thus obtained a little money. She was a pious woman, but all her attempts to reclaim him were long unsuccessful. During one of Mr Whitefield's visits to that city, she offered her husband a sum of money if he would for once go and hear him. This was a strong inducement, and he engaged to go. The sermon was in a field, as no building could have contained the audience. The sergeant was rather early, and placed himself in the middle of the field, that he might file off when Mr Whitefield ascended the pulpit; as he only wished to be able to say that he had seen him. The crowd, however, increased; and when Mr Whitefield appeared, they pressed forward, and he found it impossible to get away. The prayer produced some impression on his mind, but the sermon most deeply convinced him of his sinfulness and danger. He became a very altered man, and proved the reality of his conversion, by living for many years in a very penurious manner, till he had satisfied the claims of every one of his creditors. Piety in a Palace.--A lady, who was in the habit of close attendance on the Princess Amelia during her last illness, described some of the later intercourses which took place between the Princess and her royal father George III., and which seldom failed to turn on the momentous topic of the future world, as being singu larly affecting. "My dear child," said his Majesty to her, on one of these occasions, "you have ever been a good child to your parents; we have nothing wherewith to reproach you; but I need not tell you, that it is not of yourself alone that you can be saved, and that your acceptance with God must depend on your faith and trust in the merits of the Redeemer." "I know it," replied the Princess, mildly, but emphatically, "and I could wish for no better trust." Nothing, we are assured, could be more striking, than to see the King, aged, and nearly blind, bending over the couch on which the Princess lay, and speaking to her about salvation through Christ; a matter far more interesting to them both, than all the world could bestow. A Terrified Persecutor.-The means employed by the blessed God to make sinners acquainted with their sinfulness and danger, and to lead them to implore his mercy, are indeed various. To some he speaks in the thunders of his law; others are attracted by the soothing sound of his Gospel; while the elements of nature itself have sometimes been the means of exciting attention and deep feeling. The excellent Isaac Ambrose, in his "Treatise on Angels," gives an account of a profane persecutor, who was brought to seek the mercy of God in a remarkable manner. He was out on a journey, with his pious wife, when they were overtaken with a storm of thunder and lightning. He was seized with great terror, and his wife inquired into its cause. Why," asked he, are not you afraid?" She replied, No, not at all; for I know that it is the voice of my heavenly Father; and shall a child be afraid of a kind father's voice?" The man began to reflect, that Christians must have within them a divine principle of which the world is ignorant, or they could not enjoy such calinness when the rest of the world were filled with horror. He went to Mr Bolton, an eminent minister, to whom he had been opposed, acknowledged and lamented his sins, and furnished good evidence of a change of heart. 66 Separate Numbers from the commencement may at all times be had to complete sets. Published by JoиN JOHNSTONE, at the Offices of the SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD, 2, Hunter Square, Edinburgh, and 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; JAMES NISBET & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; W. CURRY, Junr. & Co., Dublin; and W. M'COMB, Belfast; and sold by the Booksellers and Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; and in the principal Towns in England and Ireland. Subscribers in Edinburgh, Leith, and Portobello, will have their copies delivered at their own residences regularly, by leaving ther addresses with the Publisher.--Subscribers in Glasgow will, in like manner, have their copies delivered, by leaving their addresses at the Publishing Office there, 19, Glassford Street. Subscription (payable in advance) per quarter, of twelve weeks, Is. 6d.-per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 38.-per year, of fortyeight weeks, 6s.--Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, stitched in a printed wrapper, price Sixpence. THE BENEFITS OF SICKNESS. PART. II. BY WILLIAM BROWN, Esq., F. R. S. E., Late President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. IN my former paper, I noticed two advantages derived from sickness, and I now proceed to remark, III. Sickness puts us in mind of death. It is comparatively few "who, through fear of death, are all their lifetime subject to bondage." Most of us are forgetful and careless to a wonderful degree. We know, indeed, that death is a common occurrence; we observe, in the newspaper, the death of an acquaintance recorded; we are present at the death-bed of a friend; we attend a funeral along the streets into the church-yard; we assist in letting down the coffin into the narrow house, hear the first spadefuls of earth rattle upon it, stay till the green sod is placed on the top, and then return to our home or our business. We witness this, or assist in it again and again; when the clergyman engages in prayer in the house of mourning, we think seriously of the solemn event, sigh for a moment over the lesson of mortality, and thinking we have done enough, we speedily bid it away from our thoughts. No one is so foolish as to imagine that he is not to die, but most of us seem, with one consent, to resolve that we shall think as little about it as possible. case. This state of mind often continues during the whole of life, and the approach of death makes no change. Men live fools, and die as they have lived, believing, hoping, fearing nothing respecting a future state. But this is not always the When the disease assumes a threatening aspect, when there is long continued pain, or much langour, or much emaciation, when it is evident that amendment is not taking place, when the approved and oft-varied remedies fail in giving the expected relief, the sick man becomes anxious as to the event, and if the word "danger" should drop from the lips of his medical attendant, he feels as he had never done before. Death appears to be no such distant or visionary event as he had always fancied it to be. He thinks of his past life, which had not been regulated with reference to such a result, of his Bible, which he had read in a too careless and indifferent manner, and in VOL. II. PRICE 14d. looking forward, even as much as his diseased feelings permit him to do, he sees quite enough to distress and alarm him. How true to natur are these statements from Scripture: "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction." "He is chastened with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain; so that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen, and his bones, that were not seen, stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness: then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” Is it not good to have our thoughts directed to the event of our own death? Not surely that we should always be dwelling on it, be unfitted for the duties of life, be incapable of partaking in the enjoyments which God has strewed in our path. But is it not good that we should learn to look at things as they really are; to have it brought home to our conviction that we,-that I individually am to die; that my connection with this world in its employments, its friendships, its relationships, is to be broken up; and that I am to enter upon an untried state of existence, respecting which no one can report any information on his own experience? Besides, death terminates that period of probation and trial which has existed during life, and places the individual before the tribunal of the Judge. We cannot look forward to this without a serious feeling, without an anxious desire to have every thing right for such a reckoning. Who can look back upon his life and feel assured before God? Will any thinking man ever satisfy himself that his life has been faultless? Has he nothing to fear from the decision of a righteous Judge? Many are the known duties which he has neglected; often has he ventured on known and the recorded experience of God's saints abounds with many instances of this kind: "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." transgression; many unadvised words have es-ed in the dust. This is often done by sickness; caped from his lips; many have been the thoughts which his own conscience disapproved of; seldom has God dwelt in his thoughts as the one object of homage and delight; seldom has the will of God been the rule or the motive of his actions; little has the redeeming kindness of Christ been the animating principle of his conduct. Now, sickness often has the effect of making a man think seriously of his past conduct, of his danger as a sinner, and of the preciousness of Christ as a Saviour. When the soul is led to rely on Christ, he obtains peace, because he has found safety for eternity; and if he is raised up from his sick-bed again to engage in the duties of life, he has learned a lesson which he never forgets; he performs his duties with more conscientiousness, he is more upright, more humble, more kind-hearted; he is more of a real Christian, and therefore he is a better man. Surely, then, sick ness is a benefit. I have now mentioned three benefits which often proceed from sickness; and I doubt not but many of my readers, who have experienced these, will bear their testimony, that the preceding remarks are, in no respect, over-stated, or overcoloured. Sickness had found them in an unhealthy state of moral feeling, and it was blessed, by the Spirit of God, to bring them to a right state of mind. They had been, in a greater or less degree, careless about their eternal welfare, forgetful of the kindness of God, and indifferent about the interests of their fellow-creatures. Now, they are alive to the magnitude of eternity, they feel their obligations to God, and they view their ellow-men with feelings of duty and affection. But sickness not only rouses to serious thought for the first time those who had previously been careless and ungodly: its benefits are felt also by those who, though Christians before, have sunk into indifference and worldliness. There is frequent reference in Scripture to the benefits of affliction in this respect; and sickness is just one of the common forms of affliction. The quaint, but expressive Poems of George Herbert, offer one interesting illustration : : "Your heart was foul, I fear. For aught I hear, your Master shows to you But this is not always the case. There are many who pass through sickness, long continued and dangerous disease, but who have derived no benefit from the discipline to which they have been subjected. God has graciously preserved their lives, and restored them to health, but they think no more of him than they did before their illness: they do not seem to consider that their lives ought now to be devoted to his service in a very special manner. They had been very near death, and their recovery scarcely expected be their attendants and friends; but they think no more of eternity than they used to do, and they speak of the situation in which they had been, with a levity more like that of the infidel than the feeling of the Christian. They have experienced unwearied attention at the hand of others; but they are as selfish, as haughty, as hard-hearted, as unkind to others as they ever were. This is a melancholy statement, but it is too true; and it is the more melancholy, because many of the persons referred to, when suffering from illness, and when uncertain of recovery, had seemed to be seriously impressed, and gave promise of permanent mental improvement. Many such have eagerly asked a visit of the clergyman, have wept under his conversation, have directed their attention to the study of the Scriptures, have made prayer to God a regular habit, and then, when recovery of health has been established, have thrown aside their penitence and their piety, and furnished another illustration of the true proverb, "The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire." Upon an interesting occasion, our Lord said to the subject of a miraculous cure, art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Whether or not this man's disease had been inflicted as a punishment for his sins, at least we know, that, in not a few cases, disease is the unequivocal consequence of sin; and in every instance of the kind, it is the wisdom of the individual to listen to the admonition as addressed to himself: "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." The quiver of the Almighty has not yet been exhausted. It contains arrows of greater sharpness: if one does not make the sinner feel, he will send another; and "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." May his grace make us all to feel! May his Spirit incline every heart! "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF Behold, thou THE LATE REV. ELIAS CORNELIUS, (Concluded from p. 758.) FROM the popularity which Mr Cornelius enjoyed a a preacher, he was not long in receiving two different |