ed in that country, the Anthony of Syria; and, about the same period, into Galatia and Cappadocia by Leontius, afterwards Bishop of Ancyra. (1) From Syria the institution ere long passed into Persia, where, under the sanction of Mohammedanism, it still continues to exist. (2) Before the close of the century, A. D. 400, the system bad extended itself as far alongst the southern shores of the Mediterranean as the western confines of the modern Tunis, and flourishing monasteries existed in the provinces of Carthage, Thagaste, and Hippo. (3) To the south it had penetrated into the still less accessible regions of Abyssinia and Ethiopia, where it had been introduced, along with Christianity, by Arogavius, a disciple of the abbot of Tabenna. (4) Thus, in an incredibly short period of time, had this novel and singular institution firmly established itself throughout the whole of Christianized Africa, and in every part of that vast and populous region, which stretches from the fountains of the Nile and the banks of the Euphrates, to the shores of the Euxine and the Archipelago. THE HOUSE SPIDER. By the Rev. David Esdaile. "Thore be four things which are little upon the earth-but they are exceeding wise:-the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces."-Proverbs, xxx. 28. THE creature whose name is prefixed to this article is familiarly known as a domestic inmate, whose labours give no small trouble to the careful housewife. The mode in which it weaves its web, its voracity, cunning, and boldness in attacking its prey, are circumstances which have attracted universal attention. But there is a peculiarity in its habits which I have never seen noticed, and which affords remarkable evidence of the instinctive wisdom with which it has been gifted by the all-wise Creator. I allude to the manner in which it takes down its web, and to the reason of its destruction. One blowy evening my attention was attracted by a little black object waving in front of my study window. On getting up to see what it was, it proved to be a spider busily engaged in demolishing his net. The method taken was this:-Beginning at the circumference of the circle he grasped a certain number of the radli, or main lines, and pulling them towards him, and rolling them up in a ball, kept moving briskly to the centre. Arrived here, he clutched the collected material, and with a sudden jerk thew it away. The same process was repeated till his work was done.No human fingers could have coiled a number of ropes with greater skill. Indeed, as he rocked in the breeze, occasionally steadying himself, and throwing out his hands for support, he was the very image of a sailor in a gale; climbing, struggling, and hauling. The puzzle was to guess his motives. These I found out, by observing another web, the demolition of which was just commencing. I noticed that it was very dirty, so much so as to be visible even to a careless fly. The spider, it occurred to me, was thus in danger of starvation; he must change his quarters, or die. Whether he had a peculiar attachment to the place, or whether he found his present station a good one for casting his net, it is not for me to divine; but certain it is, that next evening he spread it exactly where it was before. (1) SOZOMEN, lib. ii., cap. 33, 34. One of the most curious parts of the proceeding was this:-After gathering up his snare till only a few threads were left, as points of attachment to the window, he walked along these and cleaned them so carefully that at last they were barely visible. The manner in which he converted his limbs into a brush, and the complete success of his exertions were both equally admirable. My conjecture that the dirtiness and consequent uselessness of the web, were the cause of its destruction, was verified by subsequent observation. In these proceedings we have a double proof of creative wisdom. The web is constructed so as to be taken down with ease, that it may be replaced by one more serviceable. The sagacity of the spider in detecting and removing an obstacle in the way of a comfortable subsistence, and the caution of the fly in avoiding manifest danger, are each of them evidence how great is the divine care in providing for the wants, and guarding the existence of the meanest thing that lives. It is hoped the observer will not repeat an experiment which I shall mention, but not for imitation, as it might prove fatal to a creature whose ingenuity should protect it from cruelty. I touched the web with various articles, in order to ascertain whether a spider, like other cunning folk, might be "taken in his own craftiness." He merely looked out, to show his wakefulness, and made no attempt to approach what was put in his way, until I suspended in the meshes, and gently moved, a fly-hook, of the smallest kind, used by anglers, and known under the name of the midge fly. This was pounced upon in greedy haste, but when, instead of a warm insect, he embraced cold steel, the disappointed glutton paused for a moment, then precipitately fled, nor could any temptation draw him from his retirement; thus reading the experimenter this moral"No wise man should twice fall into the same snare." CHRISTIAN TREASURY. In the vocabulary of covetousness, worldliness means Worldly Business ought not to interfere with Duty.industry; although it is obvious to every Christian observer, that the pretended industry of many a religious professor is the destruction of his piety, and will eventually form the ground of his condemnation. Idleness is his pretended aversion. Ilis time, his strength, his solicitudes, are all drained off in the service of Mammon; while nothing is left for religion, but a faint sigh, a hurried, heartless prayer, and an occasional struggle so impotent as to invite defeat. "But Providence," he pleads, "has actually filled his hands with business, without his seeking, and would it not be ungrateful to lose it by neglect?". But have you never heard, we might reply, that God sometimes tries his people, to see whether they will keep his commandments or not? And may he not be now proving how far the verdure of your piety can resist the exhaling and scorching sun of prosperity? Besides, is it supposable that God intended you to interpret his grant of worldly prosperity into a discharge from his service, and a commission to the service of Mammon? And, more than all, significantly as you may think his providence invites you to labour for the bread that perisheth, does not his Gospel, his Son, your Lord and Redeemer, call you a thousand fold more emphatically to labour for the meat which endureth into everlasting life? You may be misinterpreting the voice of his providence the voice of his Gospel you cannot misunderstand; it is distinct, im (2) SOZOMEN, Ibid. The monastic orders of Mohammedanism are, at present, thirty-two in number. The most ancient, that of the Olwamies, dates its origin from the year 706. In many respects they closely resemble the monkish institutions of Christianity, and were evidently formed after their model. For particulars on this subject, the reader is referred to a recent work, The History of Moham-perative, and incessant; urging you daily to “seek first medanism and its Sects," by W. C. Taylor, B. A., London, 1834. (3) ALTESERRA, Asceticon, lib. i., cap. 3. (4) The monks of Abyssinia and Ethiopia, many of whom exist to the present day, designate themselves as belonging to the order of Saint Anthony, but they observe no uniform system of government or discipline. They are now generally known by the name of Maronites. HELYOT, tom. 1., chap. 2. the kingdom of God, and his righteousness."-Rev. J. HARRIS. (Mammon.) Riches. When wicked men want estates, they are troubled for them; and when they have estates they are troubled with them.-DYER, SACRED POETRY. STANZAS ON SYMPATHY. WHAT is it that's bestowed on man, A sign of God's most gracious plan, Which warms our mortal clay; A precious power, that has the art When want and wailing call for aid, But, trust me, 'twill be doubly paid, Yon beauteous mother mourns the fall That helpless widow wastes in woe, Beside a husband's grave; Could counsel stop the tears which flow? Or words from sorrow save? THOU art gone to the grave!—but we will not deplore thee, Though sorrows and darkness encompass the tomb. Thy Saviour has pass'd through its portal before thee, And the lamp of His love is thy guide through the gloom! Thou art gone to the grave!-we no longer behold thee, Nor tread the rough paths of the world by thy side; But the wide arms of Mercy are spread to enfold thee, And sinners may die, for the SINLESS has died! Thou art gone to the grave!-and, its mansions forsaking, Perchance thy weak spirit in fear lingered long; But the mild rays of Paradise beamed on thy waking, And the sound which thou heardst was the Seraphim's song! MISCELLANEOUS. Special Providence. The following simple and affecting narrative is related by Dr Krummacher of Elberfield, in Prussia, in his valuable work entitled Elijah the Tishbite :"-" Who else was it but the God of Elijah, who, only a short time ago, in our neighbourhood, so kindly delivered a poor man out of his distress; not, indeed, by a raven, but by a poor singing bird? You are acquainted with the circumstance. The man was sitting, early in the morning, at his house door; his eyes were red with weeping, and his heart cried to heaven, for he was expecting an officer to come and distrain him for a small debt. And whilst sitting thus, with his heavy heart, a little bird flew through the street, fluttering up and down, as if in distress, until, at length, quick as an arrow, it flew over the good man's head into his cottage, and perched itself within an empty cupboard. The good man, who had little imagined who had sent him the bird, closed the door, caught the bird, and placed it in a cage, where it immediately began to sing very sweetly, and it seemed to the man as if it were the tune of a favourite hymn, Fear thou not when darkness reigns;' and as he listened to it, he found it soothe and comfort his mind. Suddenly some one knocked at the door. Ah, it is the officer,' thought the man, and was sore afraid. But, no, it was the servant of a respectable lady, who said that the neighbours had seen a bird fly into his house, and she wished to know if he had caught it ; 'Oh yes,' answered the man, and here it is,' and the bird was carried away. A few minutes after, the servant came again. You have done my mistress a great service,' said she,' she sets a high value upon the bird, which had escaped from her. She is much obliged to you, and requests you to accept this trifle, with her thanks.' The poor man received it thankfully, and it proved to be neither more nor less than the sum he owed! And when the officer came, he said,Here is the amount of the debt; now leave me in peace, for God has sent it me.'" Having put your Hand to the Plough, look not back. In a letter to one of his children, Mr Venn says: "Terrible is the falling away of any who make profession, and act quite contrary to conviction. A lady here, (Huddersfield,) thus relates her own case: Once Mr and I were both in the right path. I drew him into the world again. I am now the most, miserable of beings. When I lie down, I fear I shall awake in hell. When I go out full dressed, and seem to have all the world can give me, I am ready to sink under the terrors of my own mind. What greatly increases my misery is, the remembrance of the dying speech of my own sister, who told me she had stifled convictions, and obstinately fought against light, to enjoy the company of the world. Sister,' said she, I die without hope. Beware this be not your own case!' But, indeed,' said Mrs 'I fear it will.' Pray, my dear children, for singleness of heart, and for such a revelation of the excellency of Christ Jesus, as will leave no place for halting or dividing your affections. May they all centre in Him!" Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, at the Offices of the SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD, 2, Hunter Square, Edinburgh, and 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; J. NISHRT & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; W. CURRY, Junior, & 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 Thou art gone to the grave!—but we will not deplore copies delivered at their own residences regularly, by leaving their thee, Whose God was thy ransom, thy guardian, and guide; He gave thee, He took thee, and He will restore thee, And death has no sting, for the Saviour has died! HEBER. 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, 18. 6d. per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 3s.-per year, of fortyeight weeks, 6s.-Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, stitched in a printed wrapper, Price Sixpence, WHETHER IS THE CONVERSION OF THE SOUL BY THE REV. W. NICOLSON, Ir men were willing to refer the settlement of this question to the plain statements of the Word of God, we should think there could be no great difficulty in coming to a conclusion concerning it. In support of the doctrine of free grace, and the necessity of divine agency to bring us into a state of acceptance with God, we may refer to the words of the apostle in Eph. ii. 8, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." It is not easy to conceive a more explicit affirmation than this, that the work of our salvation is of God's free grace; and, as if to make this matter, if possible, more plain, he immediately adds, "Not of works, lest any man should boast." Thus the apostle, both in negative and positive terms, states this doctrine, clearly evincing that man cannot merit salvation by any righteousness of his own. And, in other parts of Scripture, the necessity of the Spirit to produce the very first tendency of the soul to holiness, is made obvious by the description given of the moral state and character of unconverted men. If it could be shown that there exists in the soul of the sinner, independently of any influence of the Spirit renewing it, an inclination to love and serve God, then, by virtue of that inclination, man may be held qualified to do the will of God. But no such inclination is ascribed to him in the Word of God. On the contrary, it is affirmed that he has no such inclination. It is affirmed that his inclinations are of the very opposite tendency. He is described as wholly inclined to evil: "There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good, and sinneth not;""There is none righteous, no, not one;""And God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually;" "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?" "The carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they VOL. II. | PRICE 1d. that are in the flesh cannot please God;" "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried us away." If, then, this be a true description of the state of man, will it be maintained that he has any inclination to love and serve the Lord? The very opposite is broadly and undisguisedly taught in these declarations concerning him. Does love to God exist in that heart which the Spirit of inspiration has declared to be desperately wicked? Can he love or serve God, of whom it is here affirmed, that his mind is enmity against God? Is that man qualified of himself to do the will of God, of whom the Spirit of God says, that he cannot please God? Surely a grosser delusion never took possession of the mind of man, than the belief, in the very face of these announcements of holy writ, that man is not by nature wholly sinful, or that he has of himself virtue and rectitude enough to hate and resist evil, and to love and practise holiness. This is setting the authority of Scripture at utter defiance, and setting up, in opposition to its express affirmations, the arbitrary and erroneous conceivings of the human mind. Resting our convictions, then, upon these clear and unambiguous statements of the Word of God, it must be laid down as a first principle, that man in his natural state neither loves God, nor is inclined to serve him. This we hold to be one of the plainest truths of the Bible. And keeping it in view, it will serve to show the fallacy of the doctrine which they teach, who conceive and affirm, that it is only after man has himself proceeded a certain length in the path of obedience, that the Spirit of God takes him up and conducts him the rest of his way. Such a conception as this obviously arises from the erroneous belief that man can of himself turn to God, and yield to him a service worthy of acceptance. But if his mind be enmity against God, how can his actions be acceptable? If his heart be wicked and deceitful, how can his life be holy? To teach men, then, that they must repent, and believe, and obey, and then the Spirit will be given them, is just teaching the very opposite of what the Word of God teaches, as to the way of our coming to him. the self-righteous tendencies of man, but the eternal principles of truth remain stable as the throne of Jehovah, and the glory of that moral renovation, which is effected by divine grace alone, will never be ceded to the helpless and guilty objects on whom it is accomplished. Having thus seen that the conversion and reformation of fallen man is a work for which he is altogether inadequate, the next question that presents itself for our consideration, in this discussion, is, by what power is this work accomplished? Now this question receives a full and complete answer in the words of the Apostle Paul, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works."-Eph. ii. 10. Here believers are expressly said to be the workmanship of God. Now, unless it be meant that they are his workmanship, in a sense altogether different from that in which all men are his workmanship, the assertion of the apostle would be utterly point The Spirit is represented as himself the agent in producing faith and repentance. To say, then, that men can do this without the Spirit, or before they receive the Spirit, is virtually to deny the necessity of the Spirit altogether. Why promise the Spirit at all if man can believe and obey without him? But how can man commend himself to God by works performed before receiving the Spirit, if all such works be only the fruit of a carnal mind? How can our righteousness commend us to God, if that righteousness be declared to be but filthy rags ? It being evident, then, that the Word of God regards the unrenewed sinner as in a state of complete alienation from him, it necessarily follows, that to act agreeably to our natural feelings and propensities, is to act in opposition to the will of God. Hence, before the sinner can act in conformity to the will of God, his natural feelings and propensities must be changed. Now, the question just comes to this,--Can the sinner do this himself? can he change his own feelings and propen-less and unmeaning. All men are the workmansities? or must this change be effected by some other influence? They whose opinions we are now combating, must hold, either that the sinner does not require any such change, or that he can effect it himself, either of which suppositions can easily be shown to be unsound; for, to say that he does not require this change, is to deny the Scriptures, which uniformly teach the necessity of the sinner being born again, and being made a new creature. And no less absurd is it to say that this can be effected by the sinner himself, for this is supposing him to put forth volitions of which he is not possessed, and to exercise powers which as yet he has not received. This change being of a moral nature, must be effected in accordance with the will; but the very supposition that the sinner is under the influence of alienated affections, is utterly inconsistent with the idea of his having a will for effecting such a change as is here referred to. So long as the sinful tendencies remain without any counteracting influence, the sinner will act by these tendencies alone. A sinful propensity cannot resist itself, it must act according to its own nature. To say that the sinner can implant new principles and inclinations in himself, is to say that man can re-make himself, and is, therefore, to assert an impossibility. As well might we say that they who are dead can make themselves alive, or that that which is not can create itself. Thus it appears that if we are to admit the truth of the scriptural representation of the state of an unrenewed sinner, we must, upon the clearest principles of reasoning, also admit that so long as he is left to the influence of his own propensities, he will continue in that state. Reformation cannot be effected by the volition and agency of a moral being, all whose affections and desires are opposed to reformation. And, therefore, whenever a change from sin to holiness is effected, it must be by the operation of a power distinct from, and superior to, the moral agent on whom the change is produced. The soundness of this reasoning may be overlooked, or it may be denied by ship of God by creation, but to have asserted this in the passage quoted, would have tended, in no degree, to illustrate the doctrine which the apostle was teaching. The workmanship here referred to, therefore, must imply a work altogether different from man's creation by God. And this is put beyond all dispute by the apostle's own words, for he not only says, "we are his workmanship," but he adds, "created in Christ." So that the workmanship here mentioned, refers to our union with Christ by regeneration, and implies a work through which they who are not in Christ have never passed. The apostle is teaching that our salvation is of grace, and in proof and illustration of this, he asserts that the very first step of this work of salvation, in its application to the sinner, is an act of divine power, even a new creation, a making of the sinner a new creature in Christ. This declaration of the apostle, then, strikes at the very root of Arminian doctrine, and overturns it as an unscriptural figment. It draws a line of demarcation between the clean and unclean, the whole and the maimed, and fixes the commencement of all acceptable obedience as the important period when the sinner is created anew in Christ Jesus. And if any thing more were necessary to explode the one opinion we now advert to, and confirm the other, it is contained in these words, "unto good works." The saints are created anew in Christ Jesus to this end, and for this purpose, that they may perform good works; clearly implying that their works are not good until this change be produced upon them. If, without this divine agency, good works may be performed, it never, surely, would have been taught by the Spirit of God, that these good works are the fruits of this divine agency. It would be utter vanity to attach such importance to this work of the mighty power and free grace of God, as is done by the apostle, were it true that good works could be performed without it. True repentance and holy obedience, then, are the fruits of a divine influence in the soul. It is God, by the Spirit, who begins the good work within us, and it is he who carries it on unto perfection. "It is by the grace of God that we are what we are." "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory." BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE REV. HUGH BINNING. COMMUNICATED BY THE REV. WILLIAM BURNS, Minister of Kilsyth. THE subject of this memoir was born in 1627. His father, John Binning, was proprietor of the lands of Dalvennan | and Machimore, in Ayrshire. His mother was Margaret M Kell, a daughter of the Rev. Matthew M'Kell, minister of Bothwell. Alexander Binning, the second son of John, to whom he had assigned Machimore, was married to a daughter of Alexander Crawfurd, Esq. of Kerse, the mother of John Binning, a writer in Edinburgh. The circumstances of the family were thus favourable to the obtaining for Hugh the great advantage of a liberal education, "the good effects of which appeared very early upon him, the greatness of his spirit and capacity giving good grounds to his parents to conceive the pleasing hopes of his future eminence. When he was at the grammar school he made so great proficiency in the knowledge of the Latin tongue, as to excel most of his fellows, even such as were older than himself. When his companions went to play, he chose to employ himself either in secret duty with God, or conference with religious people, having an indifference to youthful sports, not from any moroseness or melancholy of temper, being rather of an affable and cheerful disposition, but from a preference to the more grave and serious pursuits, and a deep sense of the preciousness of time. Religious exercises were his choice, in which he spent the time he could spare from his studies." "He began to have sweet familiarity with God, and to live in near communion with him, before others had begun to think seriously of their condition as sinners." When he had attained to his thirteenth year, such was his experience in the ways of God, that the most judicious and exercised Christians in the place, confessed they were much edified, strengthened, and comforted by him; nay, that he provoked them to diligence in the duties of religion, being abundantly sensible that they were much outrun by a youth. He had scarcely reached his fourteenth year when he entered on the study of philosophy in the University of Glasgow, wherein he made very considerable progress, outstripping most of his fellow-students, so as to be taken notice of by the professors and students; and while he made proficiency in the liberal sciences he advanced also in religion. Notwithstanding his surprising attainments, his remarkable acumen, and ready apprehension of things, whereby he was able to do more in one hour than many others could do by hard study and close and continued application, and though on these accounts, he was much respected by the eminent ministers of the city, and learned professors of the university; yet he was ever humble, never exalted above measure, nor swelled with the self-conceit which is but too often prominent in youths of pregnant parts, and which is so injurious to themselves, as well as distressing to their best friends. He passed Master of Arts with great applause, and having his mind stored with an uncommon measure of the knowledge of literature, which is said to be the handmaid to religion, he began the study of divinity, with a view to serve God in the holy ministry. At this time there happened to be a vacancy in the College of Glasgow, by the resignation of Mr James Dalrymple of Stair, who had been Mr Binning's master, afterwards the great Lord Stair, the author of the Institutions of the Law of Scotland, of a System of Physics, valued greatly at that period, and of a Vindication of the Divine Attributes, possessing great force of argument and sound knowledge. Mr Binning was determined, after much entreaty, to stand as a candidate to succeed his late teacher. The professors of the college, according to the usual laudable custom, gave public notice of the vacancy to all the universities of the kingdom, inviting such as had a mind to dispute for a professorship of philosophy to sist themselves before them to compete for that preferment, giving assurance that without respect of persons, the place should be conferred upon him who should be found "the more worthy," and "the more learned." The ministers of the city of Glasgow, considering how much it was the interest of the Church, that well qualified persons should be put into the professorship of philosophy, and that universities by these means would become most useful seminaries for the Church; and knowing that Mr Hugh Binning was eminently pious, and one of a solid judgment, as well as of a bright genius urged him to sist himself among the competitors, and at last prevailed upon him, with great difficulty, to enter the lists before the professors. There were two other candidates, one of whom had the advantage of great interest with Dr Strang, principal of the college, and the other was a scholar of great abilities, and of the same sentiments with the doctor, in some problematical points of divinity, which, with great subtlety, had been debated in the schools. Mr Binning so managed the dispute, and so acquitted himself in all the parts of trial, that to the conviction of the judges, he very much excelled his rivals; and as to the precise point of qualification, in respect of literature, there was no doubt of his superiority. The principal however, and some of the faculty who joined him, though they could not allege that the candidates they appeared for had an equality, much less a superiority in the dispute, yet argued that, other things being equal, the person they inclined to prefer was a citizen's son, having a good competency of learning, and a person of more years and of greater experience, than Mr Binning could be supposed to have, and consequently more fit to be a teacher of youth; that Mr Binning being but yesterday a fellow-student with those he was to teach, it was not to be expected that the students would behave to him with that respect which should be paid to a master. To this it was replied that Mr Binning was such an able scholar, so wise and sedate, as to be above all the follies and vanities of youth; that he knew well so to act as that no one should "despise his youth;" that what was wanting in years was sufficiently made up by his singular endowments. A member of the faculty perceiving the struggle among them to be great, (indeed the affair seems to have been very fairly argued on both sides,) proposed a dispute between the two candidates extempore, upon any subject they should be pleased to prescribe. This put an end to the division, when those who opposed Mr Binning not being willing to expose their friend again in the lists with such an able antagonist, yielded the question, and Mr Binning was elected. Mr Binning was not full nineteen years of age when he commenced regent and professor of philosophy, and though he had not time to prepare a system of philosophy, having to commence teaching the class almost immediately on his election, yet such was the quickness and fertility of his invention, the tenaciousness of his memory, and the solidity of his judgment, that his prelections to the scholars possessed much depth of learning, and perspicuity of expression. He was among the first in Scotland that began to reform the philosophy of mind from the barbarous terms, and unintelligible distinctions of the schoolmen, and the many vain disputes and trifling subtleties which rather perplex the minds of youth than furnish them with solid and useful knowledge. He continued in this professorship for the space of three years, and discharged his trust so well that he gained the general approbation of the university for his academical exercises; and this was the more wonderful, that having turned his thoughts towards the ministry, |