a multitude of controversies, and greatly delighted with metaphysical and scholastic writings; but the older I grew, the smaller stress I laid upon these controversies and curiosities, though still my intellect abhorreth confusion, as finding far greater uncertainties in them than I at first discerned, and finding less usefulness, comparatively, even where there is the greatest certainty. And now it is the fundamental doctrines of the Catechism which I most highly value, and daily think of, and find most useful to myself and others. The Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, do find me now the most acceptable and plentiful matter for all my meditations. They are to me as my daily bread and drink; and as I can speak and write of them over and over again, so I had rather read or hear of them than of any of the school niceties which once so much pleased me. And thus I observed it was with Bishop Usher, and with many other men. The two great voluminous writers of the Puritan age, Owen and Baxter, terminated their literary labours, the one with his "Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ;" the other, with "Dying Thoughts," of the same noble tenor. Fitting close was this of life-long labours for the advancement of Christ's kingdom on earth. Owen's letter to Fleetwood, written the day before his death, is very characteristic of the man :-"I am leaving the ship of the Church in a storm; but while the Great Pilot is in it, the loss of a poor under-rower will be inconsiderable. Live, and pray, and hope, and wait patiently, and do not * Orme, vol. ii., p. 457. despond: the promise stands invincible, that He will never leave us nor forsake us." It is affecting to find him, amidst the strife of tongues in which he himself was a perpetual actor, sighing for some lone mission station amidst the Indians of the Far West, where he could preach Christ without controversy. It is clear that the best men in all ages have not regarded their lives as their own, but as belonging to God and mankind. They used their faculties for the accomplishment of an end beyond the interests of themselves or their families; they acted and endured in order to establish and exhibit the reign of God on theearth. The gloomy days of the Bartholomew Act were relieved in the west end of London by the active piety and winning manners of Mrs. Baxter, who was indefatigable in renting, buying, or building, chapels and schools, distributing books, and collecting the poor together to hear the Gospel. When all her efforts to obtain a peaceful shelter for the preaching of her husband were frustrated, she got others, less obnoxious to the rulers to supply the truth she so much loved. She was one of those ardent, active, devoted, winning, accomplished women, whose admirable example has never been wanting, in any period of our history, to grace the progress of the Gospel on the earth. She possessed in an uncommon degree the faculty of attracting people's affection, and, whilst unwearied in her schemes of evangelical philanthropy, did not neglect the cultivation of her own communion with God. Her lot was cast amidst jars and discords, but personally she everywhere brought music and peace. A period of decadence is often diversified by the occurrence of some rare temporary instance of prosperity, like a rich autumnal flower blooming beyond its time amidst the decays of the fading year. Thus Flavel, who lived on until after the Revolution of 1688, published, during the godless times of the Restoration, his fine treatise on the Soul;-seeking to win the attention of society, by pathos and persuasion, to the great argument concerning the Unseen. The title-page runs thus :- "The Invaluable Preciousness of Human Souls, and the various Artifices of Satan (their professed enemy) to destroy them, discovered; and the great duty and interest of all men seasonably and heartily to comply with the most great and gracious design of the Father, Son, and Spirit, for the salvation of their souls, argued and pressed." His earnestness and eloquence were not in vain the nooks and corners of South Devon witnessed many a happy transformation in answer to his appeals: but the fervour did not spread,—the frivolity of the age overcame it. In vain he sought to impress society with respect for the presence of God in their midst. They were unworthy of such exquisite remonstrances as the following:-"No man would light and maintain a lamp fed with golden oil, and keep it burning from age to age, if the work to be done by the light of it were not of a very precious and important nature. What else are the dispensations of the Gospel, but lamps burning with golden oil, to light souls to heaven!" Some unknown voice, about 1683, thus pours forth the soul's aspiration for a better-that is, a heavenly country : * On the Soul, p. 338. 66 "THE PILGRIM'S FAREWELL. (HEB. XIII. 14.) Farewell, poor world! I must begone; I'll take my staff, and travel on, Till I a better world may see. Why art thou loth, my heart? Oh, why "I come, my Lord, a pilgrim's pace; "I come, my 666 Lord; the floods here rise, These troubled seas foam nought but mire; My dove back to my bosom flies : Farewell, poor world !-heaven 's my desire. 'Stay, stay,' said Earth; whither, fond one? "Thus the ancient travellers, thus they, Weary of earth, sighed after thee: "Put on, my soul, put on with speed; We have again to note that the history of religion furnishes instances in which piety has become hereditary, through a belief in the promise, coupled with correspond * Christian Lyrics, p. 277. ing life and prayer. This was the case in the family of Philip Henry of Broadoak, where, amidst some strictness, rendered necessary by the shameless dissoluteness then becoming common, the household of the Puritan exhibited a notable example of orderly godliness mingled with intelligence and affection. Among the family muniments still in existence, is a series of formal baptismal covenants, each in the handwriting of the child who subscribed it. Matthew Henry in his Life of his father states that he drew up the following form for the use of his children :"I take God the Father to be my chiefest good and highest end. 666 "I take God the Son to be my Prince and Saviour. "I take God the Holy Ghost to be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter. "I take the word of God to be my rule in all my actions; and the people of God to be my people in all my conditions. 66 6 "I do likewise devote and dedicate unto the Lord my whole self, all I am, all I have, and all I can do. "And this I do deliberately, sincerely, freely, and for ever.' "This he taught his children; and they each of them solemnly repeated it every Lord's Day in the evening after they were catechized, he putting his Amen to it and sometimes adding. So say, and so do, and you are made for ever.' "He also took pains with them to lead them to the understanding of it, and to persuade them to a free and cheerful consent to it. And when they grew up, he made them all |