"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."-MATT. xi. 28. HAVE you sins, or have you none? -If you have, whither should you go, but to "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world?" Have you souls, or have you none?-If you have, whither should you go, but to the Saviour of souls? Is there a life to come, or is there not? If there is, whither should you go, but to Him who only hath the words of eternal life? Is there a wrath to come, or is there not?-If there is, whither should you go, but to Him who only can deliver from the wrath to come? And will he not receive you? If he yielded himself into the hands of them that sought his life, will he hide himself from the hearts of them that seek his mercy? If he was willing to be taken by the hand of violence, is he not much more willing to be taken by the hand of faith? Oh, come, come, come! I charge you to come, I beseech you to come. Come, and he will give you life. Come, and he will give you rest. Come, and he will receive you. Knock, and he will open unto you. Look to him, and he will save you. Come as you are; come poor, come needy, come naked, come empty, come wretched; only come, only believe. His heart is free, his arms are open, it is his joy and his crown to receive sinners. Oh, did we but know ourselves, and the Saviour! We are poor, but he is rich; we are dead, but he is life; we are sin, but he is righteousness; we are guiltiness, but he is grace; we are misery, but he is mercy; we are lost, but he is salvation. He ever lives, ever loves, ever pities, ever pleads. He loves to the end, and saves to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him. Nothing grieves God more than to have his love slighted; nothing pleases him more than to have it accepted. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," 1 Tim. i. 15. 4. Is it because I am afraid that I shall not be accepted?" Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." 5. Is it because I fear that I am too great a sinner?" The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." 6. Is it because I am afraid that I shall not hold out?" He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 7. Is it because I am thinking that I will do as well as I can, and that God ought to be satisfied with that?" Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." 8. Is it because I am postponing the matter without any definite reason?" Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." 9. Is it because I am trying to save myself by morality, or in any other way of my own?-"There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." 10. Is it because I do not clearly see the way to be saved?- 'Repent ye, and believe the gospel." "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii. 16. THE DEITY OF JESUS THIS may be proved from the fact that Divine attributes are ascribed to him, Divine titles are applied to him, and Divine works are attributed to him. We propose now, however, to examine the direct testimony of Scripture on this subject, by looking at a few passages in the Old Testament, which have immediate reference thereto. Take Isa. ix. 6: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Can language stronger than this be used? Could a mere man be called "the Mighty God?" Could one of the highest orders of angels be spoken of as "the Everlasting Father?" If this does not proclaim the Deity of the Messiah here predicted, what language could be used which would convey that idea? Isa. xl. 9, 10. In each of the four Gospels it is stated that the third verse of this chapter has reference to John the Baptist as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the ninth and tenth verses we find it said concerning the Being whose approach he announces, "Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand;" and then, without any intimation that another being is spoken of, there follows one of the sublimest passages in the Bible, descriptive of the majesty of the incomprehensible and eternal One. Take one other instance. Zech. xiii. 7: "Awake, sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." That this applies to Jesus Christ we learn from Matt. xxvi. 31, and Mark xiv. 27. Yet he is here called the fellow or equal of the Lord of hosts, who declares himself "a jealous God," and who says of himself, "My glory will I not give to another." From a consideration of these and other passages, we learn that not only did the followers of Christ believe him to be Divine, but that he was expressly spoken of in prophecy as being equal with the Father, God over all, blessed for RELIGION OF THE AGE. THE religion of the age is an easyminded religion, without conflict and wrestling, without self-denial and sacrifice; a religion which knows nothing of the pangs of the new birth at its commencement, and nothing of the desperate struggle with the flesh and with the devil, day by day, making us long for resurrection deliverance, for the binding of the adversary, and for the Lord's arrival. It is a second-rate religion; a religion in which there is no largeness, no grandeur, no potency, no noble-mindedness, no elevation, no self-devotedness, no all-constraining love. It is a hollow religion, with a fair exterior, but an aching heart, a heart unsatisfied, a soul not at rest, a conscience not at peace with God; a religion marked, it may be, by activity and excitement, but betraying all the while the conscious ness of a wound hidden and unhealed within, and hence unable to animate to lofty doings, or supply the strength needed for such doings. It is a feeble religion, lacking the sinews and bones of hardier times; very different from the indomitable, much-enduring, storm-braving religion, not merely of apostolic days, but even of the Reformation. It is an uncertain religion; that is to say, not rooted on certainty; it is not the outflowing of a soul assured of pardon, and rejoicing in the filial relationship between itself and God. Hence there is no liberty of service, for the question of personal acceptance is still an unsettled thing; there is a working for pardon, but not from pardon. All is thus bondage, heaviness, irksomeness. There is a speaking for God, but it is with a faltering tongue; there is a labouring for God, but it is with fettered hands; there is a moving in the way of his commandments, but it is with a heavy drag upon our limbs. Hence the inefficient, uninfluential character of our religion. It does not tell on others, for it has not yet fully told upon ourselves. It falls short of its mark, for the arm that drew the bow is paralyzed. ALL IN CHRIST. MAN, or woman, or child! do you want anything? Are you anxious about the matters of your soul? Are you disturbed? are you ignorant? Do you feel, "It is wisdom I want," or, "It is righteousness I want," or, "It is peace I want," | joint-heirs with Christ? It is that or, "It is power I want," or "It is we may have liberty to serve God, heaven I want?" Well, it is all in and glorify the name of our ReChrist. In the knowledge of him deemer. Thus all that salvation is eternal life. And do you under- implies is in him, all that salvation stand, it is all with Christ? You implies is with him, and all that do not receive it from Christ; you salvation implies is for him, in time receive it with Christ. "He that and eternity. My brethren, Christ hath the Son hath life." There is is a root, Christ is a rock. He is a no salvation out of him. We become root, of which flows the sap of bound up in him by faith, and then grace, through the branches, and all that belongs to him is ours. As the soul that is united to him as a it is all in him, it is all with him. branch, receiveth it. He is the Once more, it is all for Christ. Do Rock of ages; and the soul that is you understand that everything we based on him the gates of hell canreceive is to go back to him? It is not prevail against; it shall rise up given to us that we may glorify his a mighty tower unto the skies, a holy name. Are we justified? Are building that shall manifest the we sanctified? Are we blood- wisdom, the power, the grace, and bought? Are we temples of the the glory of God throughout eterHoly Ghost, heirs of God, and nity. Biblical Illustration. ANCIENT DIVINATION. "Their staff declareth unto them."-Hos. iv. 12. THE terms "stock" and "staff" may possibly be terms of contempt and derision, applied to idols, which were often of wood. The allusion is, however, more usually applied to a species of divination by means of rods or staves, which was much in use among the ancient heathen. There are notices of very various practices of this description, to more than one of which the prophet may possibly refer. Theophylact illustrates this text by noticing a very common practice, to which he supposes it may allude. The diviners set up rods, and began to mutter verses and enchantments, and when the rods fell, they drew their presages from the manner and direction of the fall. The Hebrew writers, however, thus describe the custom which they suppose to be intended. When a person began a journey or commenced any other undertaking, he desired to know whether the result would be prosperous or otherwise; and, to this end, he took a branch of a tree, or rod, and stripped off the bark on one side, and left it on the other. He then threw up the rod twice, and if the side with the bark lay upwards the first time, and the peeled side the second time, the omen was good, and he proceeded in his undertaking; but if the reverse happened, the sign was bad, and the matter in hand was for the time discontinued. If either of the sides appeared uppermost at both throws, the sign was neither good nor evil, and the man decided as he judged best. Another way was for a man to take a rod and measure its length by spans, or by the length of his finger, saying each time, "I will go," "I will not go;" or, "I will do," "I will forbear," alternately; and he decided according to the alternative which was associated with the last span or finger's measure. The method of divination by rods, as in use among the ancient Germans, was not much unlike one of the modes of divination by arrows, as noticed under Ezek. xxi. 21. They cut a twig of a fruit-tree into several pieces, and, having distinguished the pieces by marks, threw them promiscuously into a white cloth. Then the priest of the community-if information was desired concerning a public event, or, if a private one, the father of a family -addressed a prayer to the gods, and, looking towards heaven, took up each piece thrice, one after another, and from the order in which the marks presented themselves, he drew inferences for the solution of the difficulty, or for the prediction of the future. Herodotus also describes the original and common divination of the Scythians as by rods; but the application of the details given by him are not very clear. Things not very unlike some of these, and at least equally absurd, are done daily by ignorant people in our own country. The difference is, that with us such persons only are addicted to these practices, whereas anciently they were matters of solemnity and ceremony, by which not only the uninstructed people, but the educated, the learned, and the great, were guided, and by which important measures of public and private conduct were often determined. Yet all men think they act with reason; and they satisfied their understandings with such conclusions as these: "If the power of the gods proceeds in pre-manifestation as far as to things inanimate-such as pebblestones, rods, pieces of wood, stones, corn, or wheat-this very thing is most admirable in the pre-signification of divine prophecy, because it imparts soul to things inanimate, motion to things immovable, and makes all things to be clear and known, to partake of reason, and to be defined by the measures of intellection, though possessing no portion of reason for themselves." From this it seems that it was understood that the gods being appealed to, used these things as instruments for making known their will. But for this belief no reason is given, and we know well that none existed. The Counsel Chamber. SPEAKING AND WRITING. NEXT to religion, every young man should aspire to a perfect knowledge of his mother tongue. To this end let him procure a copy of Walker's Dictionary, and give it three or four times a careful perusal. It will become delightful reading! Let him next master one of our best grammars. This done, let him attend to his daily conversation. We advise all young persons to acquire in early life the habit of using good language in speaking, and to avoid the use of slang words and phrases. The longer they live the more difficult the acquisition of such language will be; and if the golden age of youth, the proper season for the acquisition of language, be passed in its abuse, the unfortunate victim of neglected education is very probably doomed to talk slang for life. Money is not necessary to procure this education. |