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either in this world, or in that which is to come, but of holiness in heart and life: and, therefore, he would labour to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, irrespective of any advantage derived from it, either in time or through eternity. There is no measure, then, as there is no mercenary motive in his culture of holiness, and he will never sit down satisfied till he attain perfection. This he will never attain in the present life, but at death he will be made perfect in holiness, and then pass into glory, where he shall be for ever with the Lord. This leads me to direct your attention,

II. To the blessedness spoken of in the text, -"the end of the perfect and upright man is peace."

I might show, that he dies at peace with God and man, and often enjoying peace of mind and good hope through grace of everlasting salvation; but I suppose the last of these ideas is chiefly 'intended in the text. As soon as a man is justified through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, he enjoys peace with God, and does not need to look forward to the end of life for this blessing but he does not at once enjoy peace with his fellow-creatures, nor peace of conscience; and even after these have been attained, they are not uniformly enjoyed throughout life. The very perfection of a Christian's character provokes the envy and hatred of the wicked, and his uprightness in reproving their sin, and urging upon them the discharge of duty, embitters their hostility. But he may in the end overcome evil with good, acting upon the rule laid down in Scripture: "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." If, in some instances, he should fail, after all this, yet the approach of death and eternity may accomplish what he has not been able to accomplish in the course of his life. His enemies are not likely to pursue him with their hatred to the very grave. When their consciences tell them that it was a sense of duty which moved him to do what offended them, and they see him dying full of faith and hope, their hearts must be hard, indeed, if they be not melted into feelings of compassion and kindness.

But whatever be the feelings of others towards him, he cherishes no resentment towards them. A true Christian never hates any man, and can always forgive and do good to his worst enemy. And there is no time when his heart is more likely to be expanded with mercy and love, than when, through the mercy of God, and the righteousness and grace of Jesus Christ, he has the near prospect of escaping all the sin and misery of this world, and entering upon that state where "the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." He, therefore, dies at peace with all

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man passes from death unto life. For some time the faith of the Christian is weak, and he experiences much anxiety regarding his character and prospects. His peace is often broken, and his fears alarmed. But in proportion as he goes on towards perfection, he often rises above his fears, and is "built up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation." Instead of being alarmed at the approach of death, he sometimes experiences a blessed tranquillity and holy joy, fervent love, and heavenly hope. I admit that this is not universally nor uniformly the case. There are some believers who are much troubled at the approach of death, and have fearful apprehensions in the prospect of eternity. And even those who rise above these fears, are occasionally disturbed and alarmed, and complain, with the Psalmist, "Why standest thou afar off; wherefore hidest thou thyself?" Some of the oldest and most eminent believers are fearfully assaulted by Satan upon the approach of the king of terrors, as if God meant thereby to afford encouragement to young or less perfect Christians. He leaves his most distinguished servants to engage in a contest for which he has given them grace and strength, that by their victory they may cheer on those who are more unequal to the struggle. These, however, are rather exceptions than the general rule with regard to his dispensations of providence and grace. When Christians walk in darkness, and struggle with fears and difficulties under sickness, and at the approach of death, they may not have been perfectly sincere and upright in the course of their lives. They may not have maintained, with sufficient zeal, a warfare against corruption and sin, nor attained that perfection of character at which they should have aimed. It is no doctrine of mine that men must look to any attainment of their own as a ground of acceptance, or source of comfort, either through life or at death, for all our confidence and hope at all times must rest wholly on the mercy of God, reigning through the righteousness and grace of Jesus Christ. But God is equitable in the dispensations of his grace as well as of his providence; and, therefore, those who have most simply and zealously devoted themselves to his service, and have done and attained most in the divine life, usually enjoy the greatest peace and hope, light and joy, in the prospect of eternity. And, oh, what a sight is this, my brethren, to behold a man, especially if he be in the prime of life, and when about to enter on the fruits of his labours, looking round on all he is leaving with perfect complacency and resignation, and looking forward to death and the grave, to an unseen and endless eternity, with peace and joy! The world and all that it possesses have lost their charms for him, or rather he can give them all up cheerfully for the sake of higher possessions and enjoyments. Death has been disarmed of its terrors, for Christ has taken away its sting and enabled him to adopt the triumphant language of the Apostle Paul, "O death, where is thy sting; O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin

is the law, but thanks be to God who giveth us the | victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Similar to this is the song of joy and triumph, in the words of the Apostle Peter, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in these last times." The death-beds of such persons have no terrors. One, in this sinful and miserable world, might be tempted to envy them, and to wish that his soul was in their soul's stead; "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." Turn aside, then, my brethren, and contemplate a scene of this kind. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."

This is the duty enjoined in the text, and I have now only, in this application and improvement of the subject, to impress the duty upon your minds. You are here enjoined to mark the perfect and behold the upright, not that you may detect some remaining corruption in them, as a ground of condemnation, not even as the subjects of barren admiration and useless praise, but that you may imbibe their spirit and imitate their conduct; that you may choose their God for your God, and their Saviour for your Saviour,-may be as zealous and useful as they were through life, enjoy as much peace and hope in death, and the same glory and felicity throughout eternity.

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But as every lesson is more powerfully enforced by example than precept, I cannot better improve the lesson taught in the text, than by reminding you of the example of him, who for sometime laboured in this place in holy things, but "has now rested from his labours, and his works do follow him." I am sure that every one of you must have felt how suitable all that has been said was to his character and conduct. Integrity and uprightness preserved him." Never did you meet with a more sincere and simple hearted Christian, nor one more steady and conscientious in the discharge of his duty. And seldom, if ever, have you seen one attain greater perfection of character. I feel that what was said after the death of my much loved and dearly lamented friend, the late Rev. Mr Geddes, was eminently applicable to him. doubt," said Dr Brown, in his funeral sermon, in some such words as these, "No doubt, he must have had his imperfections and corruptions, his errors and sins, like every fallen son of Adam, but, I confess, I never saw them." In like manner, am bound, in justice to Mr Whyte, to say, that after the closest and most frequent intercourse with him, so long as he lived among us, I never saw any thing offensive either in his conversation or conduct, and the longer and more intimately I knew him, the more he rose in my admiration and affection. And how agreeable to all this was his death! The language of the text describes it most

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accurately and graphically; "The end of that man was peace." He complained occasionally of weak faith and cold affections, but the serenity of his mind and its habitual tranquillity beamed through his very countenance, and prognosticated his transition to that place where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.

SKETCH OF THE

HISTORY AND CHARACTER
OF THE ANCIENT CULDEES.
No. II.

BY THE REV. DONALD FERGUSSON,
Dunnichen.

HAVING briefly described in our former article the doctrines, the habits, and the ecclesiastical policy of the ancient Culdees, we now proceed to inquire into the success which attended their labours.

The centuries which have elapsed, and the assiduity with which, at an after period, the partizans of the Romish Church attempted to efface all memorial of any system purer than their own, render it a matter of some difficulty to trace out the progress of these primitive missionaries; nor does it appear necessary for our present purpose to do any thing farther, than barely to enumerate some of the districts where they had planted settlements, and acquired an almost unlimited authority.

Columba had done much during his life of devotion, for the cause of Gospel diffusion, among the tribes of Caledonia; and we require no stronger testimony of the ardour with which his successors prosecuted the same grand object, than the widely ramified interests of their body. We have only to glance at the number,the widely separated situations and the importance of their religious establishments, to be convinced both of their energy and of their sagacity; for traces of their exertions are to be discovered in almost every important station and commanding locality, from the Pentland Frith to the Solway.

Abernethy, long the seat of the Pictish court, seems to have been one of the most important of the Culdee establishments on the mainland, as early as the beginNext to it, perhaps, in ning of the 7th century. dignity was Dunkeld, which rose to importance under Constantine, king of the Picts, about a century later; and on which the honour of the Culdee primacy was conferred, after the repeated desolations of Iona by the Danes. Situated in the gorge connecting the southern and the northern districts of Scotland, it had a hold upon both; but never, until episcopised by Rome, does it seem to have assumed any dignity, or exercised any authority, except those which it had received by

translation from Iona.

Monasteries were at different periods reared throughout the whole country; of which the most prominent were those of St. Serf in Lochleven, founded about the commencement of the 8th century, Dumblane, Brechin, Mortlach and Monimusk in Aberdeenshire, St. Andrews, Kirkcaldy, (Kirk Culdee,) Dumfermline, Mailross, Cramond, Kirkcudbright, (Kirk Cuthbert ;) while in the Orkneys and Hebrides, almost each island having its own religious establishment, shone with the light of Christianity, like so many bright jewels in an

ocean coronet.

The exertions of the Culdees, however, were by no means confined to Scotland, At a very early period, there are accounts of Christians existing in the South of England, resembling the Culdees in character; and who disclaimed communion with those Romish emis

Church of Rome. Upon his return to Iona, he used every endeavour to induce his brethren to follow his example, but without success; "for," says a Papal writer, "he (Adomnan) was not able to reduce to a better mind the monks who lived in the island of HI, over whom he presided as ruler." Some instances may be found, in after times, of leading Culdee ecclesiastics, who joined the Romish Church, but these both rare and isolated; so that we read of David I. being necessitated to appoint foreigners to vacant benefices, as the native clergy would not conform to the Church which he was determined to uphold.

saries, who were crossing over from the continent for | duced to conform to the rites and doctrines of the the purpose of reducing Britain to an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the holy See. About the commencement of the 7th century, however, we have authentic evidence of a Mission of the Culdees into England. Oswald, king of Northumbria, established a monastery in Lindisfarne,-and having been himself educated by the Culdees, he invited the abbot of Iona to supply a superior for the infant institution. From that time forward, Lindisfarne served as a nursery for Christian teachers to disseminate the truth of God throughout the less enlightened districts of the south; and through the exertions of Missionaries from that monastery, England seems to have been Christianized nearly as far South as the Thames. The era of Culdee ascendancy in England, however, does not seem to have been of long continuance, after this period. The Romish Church was making strong efforts to gain such a fair province to her spiritual empire, and as the Culdees refused to defer to the Papal authority, either in point of doctrine or discipline, its partizans employed all their subtlety to undermine the authority of the native clergy among the people, and to destroy their influence with the nobles and the king. And at a synod held at Whitby, for the purpose of debating their points of difference in the presence of king Oswy, Colman, at that time the head of the establishment in Holy Island, "perceiving that his doctrine was rejected, left his bishoprick at Lindisfarne, and returned into Scotland."

Failing thus in the attempt to allure the family of Iona to apostasy, the next expedient tended to weaken the hold which the native clergy had on the public affection and the national esteem. And this the Popish emissaries attempted to effect, by lessening the temporal power of the Culdees,-by divesting them of their public influence,-by increasing the number of Episcopal Sees, and by presenting an incessant contrast bewixt the unostentatious simplicity of the native forms, and the imposing pomp of the Romish ritual. When, however, these gentler measures failed of effecting the purpose intended, the Romish priesthood began to employ means less congenial to the spirit of that Christianity, of which both parties were professors.

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It is recorded that some few years after the death of Adomnan, Nethan, king of the Picts, the third of that name, instigated by one of the Popish ecclesiastics, There are abundant proofs, in the history of these expelled the family of Iona beyond Drumalbin," (the times, of the irreconcileable differences, in form and Grampians,) " and established at Iona an abbot and doctrine, that existed betwixt the native Church and monks more submissive to the Papal authority." Several Romanism, and of the unbending resistance which the years afterwards, however, upon the demise of Nethan, Culdees opposed to the encroachments of Papal supre- the family of Iona, (as the original Culdees were macy. Almost all the Culdee clergy in England re-styled,) seems to have recovered their ancient resisigned their livings, and returned with Colman to dence and privileges, and to have enjoyed comparative Scotland, and many of them afterwards bore the brand tranquillity, until, during the 9th and 10th centuries, the of excommunication, some even the flames of martyr- Danes, by repeated descents, once and again ravaged dom, rather than apostatise from the faith of their the island, plundering the monastery and murdering the fathers. Nor does this opposition seem to have ecclesiastics, after which the remains of Columba were existed in Britain merely, but in Ireland also, where removed from Iona to a more secure resting-place; the aid of a foreign tyranny was found necessary, in and although notice is found of Culdees resident there, order to establish a throne for Popery, over the ruins until about the beginning of the 13th century, yet had of the native faith. the importance of the establishment declined, until nothing remained except the expiring twilight of its once glorious sunshine.

Such being the doctrines and dispositions of the Culdees, it was not likely that a policy, so unscrupulous as that of Rome, would long brook such a rivalry, without putting every engine in exercise for overthrowing opposition. At an early period, measures were planned for the purpose of subjecting the Culdees of Scotland to the Papal sway; but unhesitating and unprincipled as the partizans of Papacy have ever been, in the measures which they have adopted, yet were their schemes, in their origin, generally characterized by a caution, which, although it might render their movements more tardy, did not, by any means, render them less fatal;-affording sufficient evidence of their possession of a full share of the serpent's wisdom, however slender their claims to the harmlessness of the dove. Perceiving that the public mind would not brook the immediate and violent expulsion of a religious body on whom the nation had looked for centuries, as their spiritual directors, the Romish policy at first tended rather to undermine than to overthrow-to weaken gradually, in order the more effectually to exterminate. The simplest mode of procedure, and one to which the sagacity of the Papal agents failed not to have recourse, was to employ all those arts, (and nobody knew better how to exercise them than they,) which appeared most favourable for seducing the simple minds of the British clergy from the primitive faith. The success of this plan seems to have been very limited. Adomnan, indeed, at one period abbot of lona, was during a visit to England, A. D. 702, in

But in thus pursuing the fate of Iona, we have somewhat overstepped the regular progress of the history of the Culdees. The reign of David I. seems to have been the most disastrous to their power. From the moment of his accession to the throne, his leading object was to crush the native form of worship, and erect the Papacy upon its ruins. For this purpose, he loaded the Romish ecclesiastics with favours, and the Romish establishments with grants of land to such an extent, that he also well earned the title of being a sore saint to the crown: and that he might accomplish his purpose the more effectually, he introduced canons regular into all the Culdee abbacies, in order to lessen the influence of the primitive possessors, in those districts particularly, where their authority was predominant.

By degrees the canons, protected by court influence, and with the sanction of the royal authority, began to assume the internal management of the convents; for David I. enacted, that where the Culdees conformed to the Romish rule, they might be allowed to retain quiet possession of their benefices, but that in the event of their resisting, they should either be summarily ejected, or at least that, whenever vacancies occurred, these should be supplied by ecclesiastics inimical to the Culdee interest. Such was the course pursued in the different Culdee establishments, particularly those of Monimusk, Abernethy, Brechin, Dunkeld, and St. Andrews; and to such an extent was the practice per

sisted in, that the Culdees, at last, feeling themselves | degraded, by continuing as mere subordinates in situations where their right to rule had formerly been undisputed, not only retired in great numbers from their charges, but withdrew altogether from the ecclesiastical profession, so that the bishop of St. Andrews address ed letters to clergy and laity throughout the realm, prohibiting them from countenancing or harbouring such as had thus returned to the secular life.

But subtle and vigorous as were the measures employed by the Papal power, to crush Culdeeism and gain ascendancy in Scotland, yet such were the spirit and intrepidity of the native preachers, and such besides was the hold which they had of the affections of the great mass of the community, that bridled and curbed as they were by the influence of the court and the nobles, yet did they long repel with success the yoke of Papal superstition: nor have we any evidence of the authority of Rome being acknowledged, or any Papal legate being received in Scotland, until De Crema came in that capacity as far as Roxburgh, where he received the submission of the monarch himself, and a few of the nobles; but even at that time, very few indeed of the people of Scotland seem to have participated in the act; nor does there appear any instance of an appeal being made, by the clergy of Scotland, to the See of Rome, until the meeting at Norham, to decide the question of the claim of the archbishop of York, to be metropolitan of Scotland. Even then the clergy of Scotland seem to have adopted submission to Rome, as the least dangerous of two alternatives; and young Murray, while claiming the protection of the holy See, hurled against England the charge of ingratitude with great power, and with most honourable reference to the former exertions of the Culdee preachers: "It is true, English nation, thou mightest have been noble, and more noble than some other nations, if thou hadst not craftily turned the power of thy nobility, and the strength of thy fearful might, into the presumption of tyranny, and the knowledge of liberal science into the shifting glosses of sophistry; but thou disposest not thy purposes as if thou wert led with reason, and being puffed up with thy strong armies, and trusting in thy great wealth, thou attemptest, in thy wretched ambition and lust of domineering, to bring under thy jurisdiction thy neighbour provinces and nations, more noble, I will not say, in multitude or power, but in lineage and antiquity; and to whom, if thou wilt consider ancient records, thou shouldest rather have been humbly obedient, or at least, laying aside thy rancour, have reigned together in perpetual love; and now with all wickedness of pride that thou showest, without any reason or law, but in thy ambitious power, thou seckest to oppress thy mother, the Church of Scotland, which from the beginning hath been catholique and free, and which brought thee, when thou wast straying in the wilderness of heathenism, into the safeguard of the true faith and way unto life, even unto Jesus the author of eternal rest. She did wash thy kings, and princes, and people, in the laver of holy baptism; she taught thee the commandments of God, and instructed thee in moral duties; she did accept many of thy nobles, and others of meaner rank, when they were desirous to learn to read, and gladly gave them daily entertainment without price, books also to read, and instruction freely; she did also appoint, ordain, and consecrate thy bishops and priests; by the space of thirty years and above, she maintained the primacy and pontifical dignity within thee on the north side of Thames, as Bede witnesseth. And now, I pray, what recompense renderest thou now unto her, that hath bestowed so many benefits upon thee? is it bondage, or such as Judea rendered unto Christ, evil for good? It seemeth no other thing. Thou unkinde vine, how art thou turned into bitterness? We looked for

grapes, and thou broughtest forth wilde grapes for judgment, and behold iniquity and crying."

After this, however, appeals to Rome became more common, and nearly a century afterwards, we find an appea! carried thither by the Culdees themselves, against the canons regular, regarding the management of St. Mary's Church, in St. Andrew's; which, as might have been anticipated, terminated in the success of the popish party, and tended to hasten the overthrow of the already tottering fabric of Culdeeism. Their submission to Rome seems only to have been extorted, after the body had been so stunned by the violence and duration of the contest, as to be almost on the point of expiring; and after the close of the thirteenth century, they ceased altogether to be spoken of as a distinct and separate society.

Isolated and petty establishments may have existed,— and a few of the youth may even afterwards have continued to be trained up in the "good old way of their fathers," and some expiring struggles for independence may have been attempted; but they were only the struggles portending dissolution, hourly becoming fainter and fainter, until the living principle became at last utterly extinguished.

Almost at the moment, however, that the crafty and crooked policy of Rome had compassed their ruin, and trampled on the purity of the primitive faith and worship in Scotland, we are furnished with a striking evidence of the wisdom of the great Head of the Church, in not "leaving himself without a witness," in any land.

The Culdees, as we have seen, ceased not to exist as a body, until nearly the beginning of the fourteenth century. By that time the great Reformation was dawning on the continent, and even in England, and at a very early period afterwards made its appearance in the more remote districts of Scotland: men, professing scriptural opinions, appearing, in great numbers, and testifying against the corruptions of the Church of Rome May we not suppose, that although, to all outward appearance, the Culdees had been exterminated, yet had there been preserved a goodly residue, "who had never bowed the knee to Baal;" and whose children trained up in the purity of the faith, took the earliest opportunity of uprearing the banner of the Reformation? And may we not also consider it probable, that the remains of that spirit, which had induced their fathers to contend so gallantly for the independence of their Church, and the simplicity of her worship, may have been the spark, which, at a future day, awoke all the national energies of Scotland to resist the yoke of Prelatic servitude?

Thus have we touched briefly upon the early establishment of Christianity in Scotland by Columba,of its progress under his successors, and of the subjugation of the ecclesiastical independence of the nation to the Papal Supremacy. We hope to prosecute the subject still farther, by inquiring into the history of the reign of Popery in Scotland, and of the moral and spiritual darkness which, under its tyranny, overspread our land. In the meantime we rejoice if, in any degree, we have assisted in recalling to memory a page in our history not inglorious or uninteresting, because almost forgotten,-but well stored with details of the struggles and triumphs of our ancestors, in the cause of the "faith once delivered to the saints;" or in leading attention to a body of ecclesiastics, who have been traduced by Papists, misrepresented by Prelatists, and too much neglected by Presbyterians.

We look back proudly, and with good reason too, to the age of our Reformation struggles, and boast of the faithfulness which characterized the martyred defenders of our Covenants ;-we need not however be ashamed to extend our researches beyond such modern limits, but may find our Church's annals emblazoned with records

of earlier triumphs and of earlier toils, and read registered therein the name of many a spiritual hero, whose memory ought to be embalmed in the hearts of their grateful posterity.

A CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER'S VIEW OF
PRAYER.

EULER, a highly gifted man and true philosopher, gives
many excellent warnings against pretenders to science,
who go adrift, having no anchor for their soul:

"Or, shipwrecked, light upon the coast
False fires that others may be lost."

We are not the inhabitants of a forsaken and a father-
less world. Our God is the hearer and the answerer
of prayer. The following extract from Euler's Letters
to a German Princess, shows how simple a thing it is
for a mind truly enlightened to believe, not only that

God is, but also that he is the rewarder of all them that diligently seek him.

"Before continuing my remarks on philosophy and physics, it is of the last importance to show your Royal Highness their connection with religion. However absurd and foolish the sentiments of a philosopher be, he is so headstrong that he will not admit of any religious sentiment or doctrine which is not conformable to his system of philosophy; thence most of the sects and heresies in religion have arisen. Many systems of philosophy are really in contradiction with religion; but divine truths might well bear down human reveries if the pride of philosophers offered no obstacle.

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thinkers affirm, rather increases our confidence, teaching us the consoling truth that all our prayers have already been presented, from the beginning, at the foot of the throne of the Almighty; that they have their place in the plan of the world as data, according to which, events should be ruled agreeably to the infinite wisdom of the Creator. Would they suppose that our condition would be better, if God had no knowledge of our prayers before we offered them, and then to reverse the order of nature in our favour; that would be very contrary to the wisdom of God, and would weaken his adorable perfections. Would there not be reason, then, to say that this world was a very imperfect work? That God might indeed wish to favour the petitions of the faithful, but that not having foreseen them he was obliged to interrupt the order of nature every moment, if he would not altogether neglect the wants of intelligent beings, who form the most important part of the world. For to what end create this material world, full of the greatest wonders, if there were not intelligent beings capable of being attracted to the adoration of God, and to the closest union with their Creator, in which, without doubt, their greatest happiness consists? Hence, we must absolutely conclude that intelligent beings and their welfare must have been the principal object with God in fixing the arrangement of this world, and we may be assured that all the events which take place in the worid are in the most wonderful union with the wants of all intelligent beings, in order to conduct them to true happiness. No constraint, however, can take place, on account of the liberty which is as essential to spirits as extension is to matter. Thus, we must not be surprised if there are intelligent beings who never arrive at their happiness. It is in that union of spirits with the events of the world that divine providence consists, in which every one has the consolation of participating; so that every one may rest assured that from all eternity he is included in the plan of the world, and that even all that happens to him is in the closest connection with his most pressing wants, and which tend to his safety and salvation.

"How much should this consideration increase our confidence in, and our love for that divine providence, on which all religion is founded! Hence, your Royal Highness will see, on these grounds, philosophy can make no successful assault on religion.'

CHRISTIAN TREASURY.

"If true philosophy sometimes appear contrary to religion, that contradiction is only apparent, and we must never allow ourselves to be blinded by objections. I am going to lay before your Royal Highness an objection which almost all philosophical systems furnish against prayer. Religion prescribes to us this duty, with the assurance that God will grant our wishes and prayers, provided they be conformable to the precepts he has given us. On the other hand, philosophy teaches us, that all the events of this world happen conformably to the course of nature established from the beginning, and that our prayers cannot cause any change unless it be maintained that God works continual miracles in favour of our prayers. This objection is all the stronger, since revelation itself assures us that God has established the course of all the events in the world, and that nothing can happen which God has not foreseen from all eternity. Is it then credible, say they, that God will change this established course in favour of all the prayers that the faithful address to him? It is thus that unbelievers try to shake our confidence. But I observe, first, that when God established the course of the world, and arranged all events which were to happen, he had respect at the same time to all the circumstances which should accompany each event, and in particular to the dispositions, to the wishes, and prayers of each intelligent being, and that the arrangement of all events was made quite in accordance with all these circumstances. When, therefore, a believer now addresses a prayer acceptable to God, he must not imagine that that prayer has only now arrived at the knowledge of God. He has already heard that prayer from all eternity, and since this merciful Father has judged it worthy of being regarded, he has arranged the world expressly in A true saying.-Better men reproach thee for thy favour of that prayer, in such a manner that the fulfil- conversion, than conscience reproach thee for thy obment might be a consequence of the natural course of stinacy. The reproaches of an awakened and wounded events. It is thus that God grants the prayers of be- conscience, will be very terrible, not to be denied, not lievers without working miracles, although we have no to be answered, not to be endured. As long as Job's reason to deny that God has worked and may still work heart did not reproach him, but witnessed his integrity, true miracles. This fact, that the order of the world he could bear his unfriendly friends' censures and reis fixed, far from rendering our prayers useless, as free-proaches the better.—An Öld Author.

Resignation.-Real heartfelt submission to the will of God in pain, sickness, crosses, every thing, never was the work of a man's own spirit; and when it comes from above in answer to prayer, is full amends for all we can suffer. By pain God drives me to prayer, teaches me what prayer is, and inclines me to pray. Why should a man complain, or think his lot hard, when he has God to live with, and order all his affairs in this world, and to do so when he dies? Submission to the will of God, with experience of support in pain, sickness, affliction, is a more joyous and happy state than any degree of health or worldly prosperity. If chastisement is a token of God's love, why should I faint under it, or so much desire release from it, till it has done its work? I must suffer and die,-with the help of God I will suffer and die.-ADAM. (Private Thoughts.)

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