and ordinances of the church. This constitutes the primary part of the christian profession; and it is incumbent on all who make it to hold it fast without wavering. Where there is no perversion of our views of truth and duty, no alienation of our affections from God, and no contamination of our motives and purposes, we shall show the tenacity and stedfastness which the case requires. But does it not often occur that those who were the most willing and hasty to confess Christ are the soonest tempted to forsake and deny him? Their confidence is shaken. Their love loses its ardour. They become reserved and silent with reference to experimental piety. They shun the intercourse which they once sought with ministers and christians. They think lightly of the significant ordinance by which they put on Christ. They allow the merest trifles to keep them from the Lord's-table, and as for the fellowship of the church they leave it without reluctance or regret. Fidelity in the keeping of our church registers requires that we should strike out the names of many besides those who are transferred to other communions or translated to a better world, and of all the pages which pen and ink can blur and blacken none are more painful to peruse than those which mark the backsliding of such as fail to maintain their religious profession. Some lose their interest and pleasure in religious exercises: To keep alive our impressions and emotions, and to promote the work of grace within us, an order of means has been instituted by God. We have to exercise ourselves unto godliness! to read and study our Bibles, that we may be en lightened and enlivened, comforted and edified by the truth; to draw nigh to God in prayer for renewed mercy, and for more grace; to go to the house of the Lord, that we may see his power and glory; to keep a vigilant eye on the workings of Satan, on the evil that is in the world, and on the sinful tendencies of our own nature. These exercises are profitable, and they were once delighted in for their own sake, and for the sake of the benefits obtained from them. But they are not kept up. They become insipid and irksome; they are omitted and neglected. The Scriptures are seldom read. The closet is not entered. The house of God is forsaken. Ears are turned away from the truth and fables become fascinating. Science becomes more attractive than the gospel, and intellectual food is better relished than the sincere milk that nourishes babes in Christ, or the strong meat that belongs to believers of full age. Surely these are "backsliders in heart." Some discontinue their efforts to do good. Religion is not merely a belief, an emotion, and a principle. It is a service for the good of others. Being first blessed we are made a blessing. God is pleased to employ his people in spreading his truth and extending his salvation. Some are called to serve him in the gospel of his Son; some to teach the young; some to circulate the Scriptures, and religious books and tracts; while all have to pray that the kingdom of God may come. But how many grow weary in these ways of well doing? Do not some preachers vacate their pulpits? some teachers desert their classes? some tract distributors abandon their districts? and do not many, many members of churches restrain prayer before God for his blessing to establish the work of our hands. All backsliding may not reach so far as this, but some goes much farther; and so common and wide-spread is this evil that we have need to beware lest we should be personally implicated in it. Those whom God upholds in their integrity and who continue alive to him, are under obligation to care for their faltering and fallen acquaintance. It is our duty to seek the recovery of | hazard and danger of this, is as he backsliders. that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth on the top of a mast." Surely, brethren, we have a duty to discharge with respect to these diseased, distressed, and endangered souls. 66 66 66 We owe to backsliders themselves the attempt to restore them. There are three views of their condition that appeal forcibly to our benevolent activity. Their state is one of disease. The backsliding of God's ancient people is called a hurt," a wound," a "sickness." At one time the malady was so bad as to seem almost irremediable. "From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores." Can we be sensible of this disease and not try to relieve the subject of it? Will any of us, in such a case, Swear, saying, I will not be a healer." Again, their state of defection is a state of sorrow. "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own way." Israel was called to "know and see that it was an evil thing and bitter that he had forsaken the Lord his God." The first king of Israel rejected the word of the Lord," and because of this the Lord rejected him from being king. When Saul was made sensible of his state, he said, "I am sore distressed, for God is departed from me and answereth me no more." And was not his successor on the throne miserable in his backsliding. His penitential Psalms are a proof of his mental anguish. Nor was the sorrow of those royal offenders peculiar to themselves. Their plaintive utterances have found an echo in the writhing breasts of thousands who have since fallen by their iniquity. When Peter thought of his triple denial of his Lord he wept. But I may say, further, that the state of backsliders is one of imminent peril. They may revolt more and more. They may become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. "No man in such a state," says Dr. Owen, " can have the least assurance or security that he shall not fall totally and finally from God; and he who is not deeply sensible of his Our first connexion with backsliders constitutes a reason why we should seek their restoration. This connection may have been a close, an endeared, and a happy connexion. But if there was nothing peculiar in it there was enough to excite regret that it should ever be dissolved. They were once our fellow-learners at the feet of Jesus, our fellow-worshippers at the footstool of Jehovah; our fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God; heirs together with us of the grace of life. Is our interest in such persons all extinguished by the change that has occurred in their conduct and condition? Have we no sympathy for them in their state of degeneracy? Did the prophet who had warned and reproved, and sought to prevent the downward course of his countrymen alienate himself from them, and harden himself against them, when his motives were misrepresented, when his efforts were frustrated, and when "the time of their visitation was come?" Mark his emotions as depicted by his own pen: For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me." It is the will of God that backsliders should be restored. If they forget the rock of their salvation He does not forget them. If they are "bent to backsliding" from Him, he does not abandon them, but asks, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim." He might act vindictively and decree that the wanderer shall never return: that the rebellious shall never be pardoned; and that the fallen shall never be restored. But so far from this is his manner of proceed ing that he follows them with his eye through all "their crooked ways," pities them in all the misery which they procure to themselves, and sends his servants to the place of their exile with the alluring entreaty, "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and bring you to Zion." "He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel." His invitations and promises to backsliders and his recorded dealings with them, clearly show what is our duty with respect to them. A few observations may be added on the proper means to be resorted to in seeking their restoration. And my first remark is that the most friendly attention should be paid to them when they are accessible. It may be feared that in the greater number of instances they are slighted and shunned-viewed as renegades and outlaws, and regarded with feelings of aversion and hostility. In other cases they are simply left to their own inclinations and reflections, as if all effort to reclaim them would be an obtrusion and a failure. But is this right? Does not the guardian of a hundred sheep "leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it?" Was it not an instance of criminal neglect that when God's flock was scattered, "none did search or seek after them?" And were not the shepherds threatened with woe because they had not "brought again that which was driven away." The restoration of backsliders should be sought by encouraging their renewed attendance on the public means of grace. Their restoration should be a matter of united supplication. Ministers should frequently preach to them. Few sermons are probably so useful as those which are addressed to this unhappy class. When Thomas, the brother of the late William Knibb of Jamaica, was a candidate for missionary labour in Bristol, he often preached in the streets of that city. One Sunday evening he took the subject of backsliding, which few perhaps would have chosen for such an auditory. One of his hearers, however, was arrested by it. At the close, a man more than eighty years old came forward, weeping like a child, and stated that he had been brought to the knowledge of the truth when a young man, under the preaching of Whitfield, but that he had long since returned to a course of sin, and had not for many years entered a place of worship. The impressions now made were abiding, and the old man died a few years afterwards rejoicing in Jesus.* When backsliders are addressed either in public or in private our treatment of them should correspond with the directions and precedents furnished in the Bible. They should be treated with strict fidelity. If they go on frowardly in the way of their hearts we must faithfully remonstrate with them, and ask what they will do in the end thereof? If they are disposed to deny their delinquencies, we have the pattern of an appeal to them in the words of the Omniscient: "How canst thou say I am not polluted? I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done." If they deem their departure from God a venial and trivial offence, they must be told its true character and consequences, and be made to blush with shame for it, and to deplore it, as "an evil thing and bitter." Let us not deal falsely, and heal the hurt slightly by saying, "Peace, when there is no peace.' We must urge their immediate return to God, that they may find renewed acceptance and favour with Him. There is not a hope, but a certainty of this, if they come with weeping and supplication, and depending on the atonement and intercession of Christ, the great High Priest. If there be humility and penitence, and the prayer of faith, the happy transition will not long be waited for. "After two days will he revive them; in the third day he will raise them up, and they shall live in his sight." Let all christians, as well as ministers, evince a lively interest in the cases of backsliding which are known to them. Let an affectionate solicitude for the return of the wanderers be displayed. Let prayer for their recovery be made continually, and let no available means be left untried whereby they may be turned, and healed and saved. James v. 19, 20. * Hinton's Memoir of Rev. W. Knibb, p. 10. SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY.-THE OSTRICH. In the writings of Moses the winged tribes are divided into three classes, denoting their respective elements, Birds of the Air, Land Birds, and Water Birds. The ostrich belongs to the second class, and may be considered as one of the wonders of God's creation. The ostrich is remarkable for its great size, being the largest bird that is known to exist. The size of a full grown ostrich is from seven feet and a half in height, from the top of its head to the ground, and nearly four feet from the back to the ground. When the neck is stretched out in a right line, it measures about six feet from the head to the rump, and the tail shoots out one foot more. The largest and most beautiful of its feathers are found at the end of the wings and tail, and are generally of downy character, and snowy white. The feathers obtained from this bird have always been much and deservedly admired, and in great request, and form a source of considerable profit to those who trade in them. As an ornament for the bats of grandees in Spain, and head-dresses for semi-barbarian chiefs, as well as for polished European ladies, they are highly valued each party, having some of this poor bird's feathers stuck in their head-dress, become frequent ly the admired of others, and great admirers of themselves. are often found on the great Karroo, keeping company, in perfect harmony, with the wild Quagga-a species of zebra-which animal, although it never unites with that species called "Burchell's Zebra," manifests no disinclination to feed, and to roam the far extended plains, in company with the ostrich. Some ostriches are so strong, that the Arabs ride upon their backs. Hence, they not only resemble the camel in form and structure, in habit and place of abode, but also in the use to which they are appropriated. The family of the ostrich is of great antiquity. It was known in the remotest ages, and was mentioned in the most ancient books. Indeed, an animal like the ostrich, so remarkably large, and so peculiarly suited to the climate, could not remain unknown in central Africa and Asia-countries peopled from the earliest ages. Wherefore the ostrich, inhabiting the deserts of Arabia, living chiefly upon vegetables, leading a social and inoffensive life, the male assorting with the female with connubial fidelity, is mentioned by Aristotle, Pliny, and other writers of antiquity, as well as by the Bards of the Bible. The ostrich is famed for its identity. In the course of ages it has not varied or degenerated from its native purity. It has always remained on its paternal estate; and its lustre has been transmitted unsullied by foreign intercourse. It is among the birds what the elephant is among the quadrupeds, a distinct race, widely separated from all the others by charac ters as striking as they are invariable. This bird is very prolific, laying forty or fifty eggs at a clutch, which are deposited in the sand. The first egg is placed in the centre, and the others ranged in circles round it at convenient distances. The eggs are very large, some of them measuring above five inches in diameter, and weighing twelve or fifteen pounds, The ostrich seems to have less affection for her young than most other animals, and frequently abandons them as soon as they are hatched. Dr. Shaw obK The ostrich may almost be considered as belonging to the class of beasts. The points of analogy between it and the camel are so many and so striking, as that the ancients have given to it the name of "camelbird." The thighs, the feet, and the eyes, bear a striking resemblance to those of the camel. Not only do those strong affinities exist between the ostrich and the camel in form and structure, but its habits and destined places of residence are also alike. Beneath an ever-burning sun, it roves the vast and all but boundless desert. In the sandy plains of Arabia and of Africa, from the north to the south, this celebrated bird is found. In South Africa, vast numbers of them VOL. 1,-N. S. forward in a direct line, like most other pursued animals, but whirls round in circles of greater or less extent as danger may appear to it more or less evident; in consequence of which, its pursuer, by activity and skill, is enabled to dash across the fugitive's path, and entangle it by his djerid, or wound it with his gun. serves, "Upon the least distant noise, or trivial occasion, she forsakes her eggs or her young ones, to which, perhaps, she never returns; or if she does, it may be too late, either to restore life to the one, or to preserve the lives of the others." This bird also evinces a lower degree of instinct than most others. This is particularly manifest in the choice of her food; In the following passages of Holy or rather in the entire absence of Scripture the prominent characteristics discrimination and choice. She swal- of this bird are delineated with all lows greedily and recklessly whatever the truthfulness of a natural history. comes in her way, often what is de- "Gavest thou wings and feathers unto trimental and pernicious, as pieces of the ostrich? which leaveth her eggs rags, leather, wood, stone, or iron. in the earth, and warmeth them in It seems as if her optic, as well as her the dust, and forgetteth that the foot olfactory organs were less adequate may crush them, or that the wild and conducive to her preservation and beast may break them. She is harsafety than in other creatures. It is dened against her young ones, as so unclean as to eat its own ordure as though they were not hers; her lasoon as it voids it. This was one of bour is in vain without fear; because those birds which, under the Mosaic God hath deprived her of wisdom, economy, was deemed unclean; and neither hath he imparted to her untherefore forbidden the Hebrews as derstanding. What time she lifteth food. The ostrich is very foolish, and up herself on high she scorneth the easily deceived. It is said, that if it can horse and his rider."-Job xxxix. hide its head in a thieket, or even in the Jeremiah, in bewailing the pitiful sand, it imagines all is quite safe. If estate of Zion, says, "The daughter a man put on an ostrich's skin, and of my people is become cruel, like hold out fruits or seeds to it, it will the ostriches in the wilderness."receive them, and so be taken. The Lam. iv. 3. The yahhannah rendered ostrich is extremely vigilant and shy; ostriches in the above passage, is renon the first alarm, the female espe- dered owl in the following passages: cially, betakes herself to flight, mak--Lev. xi, 16; Deut. xiv. 15; Job ing a fearful, screeching, lamentable noise. Wherefore the Hebrew writer calls her "the daughter of vociferation." Unlike other birds, with few exceptions, the ostrich is not endued with the ordinary powers of flight. The wings are too short in proportion with the body to raise it from the ground, but they serve as oars to cut through the air, and increase, accordingly, the swiftness of the motions produced by their prodigious legs and feet. Its speed is amazing. With a rapidity which mocks the efforts of the swiftest Arab steed to overtake it, the ostrich skims the sandy desert, leaving the panting horse and anxious rider far behind. There is one peculiarity in the flight of this extraordinary creature, to which alone may be imputed the success of the hunters; that is, the fact that it never darts 66 XXX. 29; Isaiah xiii. 21: xxxiv. 13; xliii. xx; Jer. 1. 39; Micah i. 8. 'Now, it should be recollected," says the author of 'Scripture Illustrated,' "that the owl is not a desert bird, but rather resides in places not far from habitations, and that it is not the companion of serpents; whereas, in several of these passages the word is associated with deserts, dry, extensive, thirsty deserts, and with serpents, which are their natural inhabitants. Our ignorance of the natural history of the countries which the ostrich inhabits has undoubtedly perverted the import of the above passages; but let any one peruse them afresh, and exchange the owl for the ostrich, and he will immediately discover a vigour of description, and an imagery, much beyond what he had formerly perceived." Measham. G. S. |