own mote, and leave it to the Master to deal with him. Above all, let us practice what we preach the grace of meekness. When the Rev. John Elliott, usually called the apostle of the Indians, heard, as we often do now, his brethren mournfully complaining of the unkindness of their people, and that some especially they knew not how to manage, his advice was, "Brethren, compass them! compass them in the arms of forbearance and forgiveness! Conquer them with love!" But a greater than Elliott is our divine Exemplar, let us therefore "consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest we be wearied and faint in our minds," Heb. xii. 3. One word more. It is no strange thing that hath happened to us. "The man Moses was very meek," yet the people at one time took up stones to stone him. The great apostle of the gentiles had a kind and tender heart, for he could say, "We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children." But his love was not always reciprocated, hence his language of touching rebuke, "I will gladly spend and be spent among you, although the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved." Nor can we forget the perfection of meekness in Him, "who when he was reviled, reviled not again.” Then instead of lowering our Christian dignity and our office by precipitate retreat, or retaliating scorn, we shall live in a region of spiritual elevation too high to be reached by the annoyances which would otherwise disconcert us. Only let ministers seek to "approve themselves unto God, " although their people may despise the divine precept, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." We must have higher aims than even our just estimation from men; we must watch for souls," and work, work, work, considering that success in spiritual things as well as in temporal depends on diligence. We must not pore over our trials, this will never heal them; we could not please the devil better than by sitting down idle to complain. Up then, brethren, we shall forget our troubles, live and pray down all our obstacles by more intensiveness on our work, and making this use of our sorrows,-" Out of the eater will come forth meat, and out of the strong will come forth sweetness." And, "when the chief Shepherd shall appear we shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." OBSERVATIONS BY PLATE-HOLDERS. As pastors have peculiar discourage- their hand through to conceal whose it ments arising from their official experience, so also have deacons. One, with whose communications we are occasionally favoured, says, "You have not been pained as I have for twenty or thirty years by having to hold a plate at a collection, and to witness the shameful manner in which some who can best afford it give, with all their manoeuvres, slipping behind another and putting is, or covering their gift with their hand that its amount may not be seen. A good woman who maintained herself by her needle, and who is now in consequence of severe affliction a candidate for the pension of one of the annuity societies, was used to give her five shillings, while many ladies dressed tip-top gave only one. "I have just lighted on a choice article in the life of the late bishop of coat gave me, with all his heart, two Sodor and Man (Shirley), the account half crowns. Then came strutting he gives of a missionary collection. I hope you will consider it a word in season before our missionary collections in April :— "Sept. 16, 1820. Daniel Wilson preached here last Sunday, a very excellent sermon; I held a plate, and was vastly amused with the characters of the people who cast in. One honest Christian brother with his full brown A SONG IN THE NIGHT. No. 2. "But he knoweth the way that I take."-JOB Xxiii. 10. Thou knowest the way that I take, Its end may be hidden from me; When healthful, and active, and free, Unthinking, yet earnest, I trod But hereafter when light on the darkness shall break, The bowers, where was converse, and greeting, and My spirit, in full satisfaction, will wake Its glad hallelujahs to thee. Yet why should I wait for the light, To speak of thy mercy and truth? Oh thou, that art wont to give songs in the night, I will offer thee praise, while I bend to the blight, Which has darkened the joys of my youth. How often thou leadest thy poor, By a way which they could not expect! Its type is the desert, whose whirlwinds obscure In a moment the path they were treading secure, And leave them amazed and perplexed. They stand, like thy chosen of old, The fugitive host of the Lord, When before them the deep in its majesty rolled, And around them the mountains impassable scowled, And behind were the spear and the sword: The sword of old Egypt, and spear, And pomp of her terrible king; What could they but look to a Greater, whose ear From his throne in the heavens would listen and hear, And whose arm would deliverance bring? On Thee I am driven to hope, Shut up to celestial aid; glee, Too much of the present, too little of thee, My chosen, my portion, my God. Then didst thou this passage devise Through the desert of sorrow and pain? Didst hide the gay beams of earth's treacherous skies, And turn its sweet music to penitent sighs, That I should have wandered again ? Yet happy I am-in the thought, That joy is not bidden away; It lives in the silence to which I am brought, Thou hast opened up wells, that o'erflow With the water of life from above; And since it has pleased thee to order it so, Some drops of delight thou dost daily bestow, The tokens of infinite love. And happy I am-in the trust, That tried by a method divine, At length thou wilt bring me again from the dust, Refined like the silver, and made like the just, More bright in thine image to shine. And happy I am-in the faith, That the way which thou knowest I take, With the foes that are round, thou, Lord, only canst Yet is fresh with the morning's etherial breath, cope, Or scatter the night, thro' whose shadows I grope, Uncertain, astonished, afraid. And on it the sunbeam will break, The sunbeam of glory-the joy of the blestWhen the desert is passed, and the pilgrim at rest. CHRONOLOGICAL PAGE FOR APRIL, 1850. SUN RISES & SETS. FAMILY BIBLE READING. MEMORANDA. Leviticus xxvi. Acts xviii. 1-11, 1 Thess. i. Leviticus xvi. 6 29 Acts xvii. 1-15. Leviticus xxv. 6 31 Acts xvii. 16-34. 1 Thess. ii. Numbers xi. 6 36 1 Thess. iii. Moon sets, 10 min. past 8, morning. Moon's last quarter, 44 min. past 3, aftern. Sunday School Union Lessons, Acts xviii. 24-28, xix 1-22. 1829, Royal Assent to Catholic Relief Bill. 6 43 10 W 5 19 6 44 11 Th 5 17 Moon rises at noon. Moon sets, 17 min. past 2, morning. Sermons for Baptist Missionary Society. Sunday School Union Lessons, REVIEW S. An Introduction to the New Testament; | which he possesses of acquiring in containing an Examination of the Most Important Questions relating to the Authority, Interpretation, and Integrity of the Canonical Books, with reference to the latest inquiries. By SAMUEL DAVIDSON, D.D. of the University of Halle, and LL.D. Volume I. The Four Gospels. Volume II. The Acts of the Apostles to the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. London Bagster and Sons. 8vo., pp. xxvi., 430, and xxx., 466. 66 these approved volumes the most comprehensive digest of biblical erudition extant in English literature." At length, in 1846, the ninth edition of successive revisions and additions of came out, bringing with it the results various kinds. At that time Dr. Davidson was a frequent contributor to the Review we have referred to, and several of the sections of his present work had appeared as separate articles in its pages. A critique immediately followed, the design of which was to point out the deficiencies of Mr. Horne's book, his incompetence for the undertaking, and the desirableness of a new work to supersede it. It is necessary to advert to this in order to show the propriety of that estimate of the present performance which we think it our duty to express. To assert or to imply that Dr. Davidson wrote that critique would be wrong; we do not know who wrote it; nor is any opinion on this subject essential to our purpose, it is enough that it was written by some one conversant with the same studies as Dr. Davidson, having the same tastes, and holding the same opinions. What Dr. Davidson has now done is what that reviewer desired to see performed. If we take the liberty to print in italics one word which occurs repeatedly in that critique, the spirit of the whole article will be apparent. some of the reviewer's allegations :"It embraces an extensive range of subjects, more indeed than belongs to the department of 'introduction,' according to the German idea of it." "It is apparent to us, A LITTLE more than thirty years ago, a work was published by the Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, entitled "An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures." Nothing at all comparable to it having previously appeared in this country, it was welcomed with great delight by the lovers of biblical science of every denomination. "This work," said the journal which was then universally recognized as the literary organ of the evangelical dissenters, we bring for ward with confidence to the notice of our readers as the very best introduction to the critical study of the holy scriptures in the whole compass of English literature. It is a comprehensive digest of the labours of the most eminent writers, both foreign and domestic, on subjects of biblical criticism." Three years afterwards a second edition was brought out greatly enlarged and improved, when the conductors of the same journal took an opportunity to reiterate this high opinion of the compiler's qualifications for authorship, and the excellencies of his work, saying, "Its merits will support any commendation; and every biblical student may be congratulated on the opportunity that the author is not acquainted with VOL. XIII.-FOURTH SERIES. These are 25 |