"The Church of God" is a vessel of original mould and bottom, but differing in the first instance from "The Christian," which, as originally fitted out, had more sail than ballast. "The Church" had more ballast than sail, and so moved forward tardily, till meeting with "The Restoration," she hoisted an additional sail, and now the three ships are all along to Jerusalem, in a league of peace and amity! But to "The Restoration." You must see, Sir, that she is a vessel of the divinest and most peculiar mould. I do not refer to any display she makes, for she makes none; but look at the length, and strength, and sturdiness of her timbers—her keel and ribs are made as for eternity, and within her capacious walls may walk at ease, if they would walk in the truth, the whole world of mankind. Who is that apostolic looking personage behind the binacle, with heaven in his eye, and gazing full upon the Northern Polar star? That, Sir, is the man who laid her beams in the Bible. Mark the height and capacity of his forehead the depth, and strength, and colour of the eye that coucheth underneath--the intellect and argument developed in the length, and weight, and mobility of his cheek the massy ear, and the veneration of his silvery locks, that now stream to the wintry winds like the bright radiations of light-and say whether, as he stands, he does not realize to you all that you have imagined of the venerable Nestor-Nestor of Sandy Pylos! Holy, vigilant, and indefatigable, and avoiding questions which engender strife, like a true servant of God, he is gentle towards all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves, if God peradventure will grant them repentance unto the acknowledgement of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive at his will. The father of believing children, and ruling well his own house, his soul looketh forth from his clayey tenement towards heaven on high. He shall die the death of the righteous-his last end shall be his! And who is that, with a strong hand upon the helm, eyeing the whole squadron of the Reformation as if he would run them down? Names are odious, Sir. The distinction and priority which he there enjoys has been well earned. Do you see his face? There is not a straight line in it; and Nature, as if she had determined there should be none, besides giving the nasal organ an elevation truly Roman, has slightly inclined the whole to one side the right side! The lip, too, and the azure eye, edged with the fire of the bird of Jove, yield in the same direction; while the well-developed frontal sinuses, the marble forehead, and the whole cinciputal region, give forth all the marks of the depth, the extent, the variety, and the fervor of which he has proved himself possessed. Why do so many keep gazing at him from the decks of the other vessels"The Presbyterian," ," "The Seceder," "The Infidel," &c.? Mark, Sir, the extraordinary development behind his ear, and inquire no more. He has run the prow of " The Restoration" into almost every ship of any size in the fleet; and these groups upon the decks are poor folks, met to deplore the disasters and the fortunes of their Clacks, and Noels, and Wallers, and Broadusses, McCallas, Jennings, &e.; and yon chasm in the hull of "The Regular Baptist," which you have noticed, and which the men aboard are tinkering at, is the hole which he hammered out, and through which he and his associates leapt forth. Valiant for the truth in the earth, and fearing nothing but God and evil, may he maintain, by honor and righteousness, till death, the high distinc tion and priority which he now enjoys; and then, having gone, his name and his fame shall be in the mouth of all saints, greater than if written on the blue firmament with a pen of gold - better than if poured in letters of living gold along the sky! Who is that lean man behind him, with his eye devouring the compass in the binacle, and whose head the pilot would raise from his bosom, whereon it had reclined? No names, Sir-if he leapt from the chasm first, bearing along with him the flag of union, he is to be borne with. It is well his purposes are divine, and founded in truth-for you cannot turn him. And who are all these joyous men, and officers aboard, crowding around the helm ? These, Sir, are all volunteers, and singing, as you hear "The everlasting Gospel has launched the deep at last; W. S. LECTURES ON EXODUS.-No. IV. The commission and authority of Moses-circumcision of his son, with reflections upon, and illustrations of, the text. MOSES, Commissioned by that Being whose power no change of circumstances can affect, and whose existence no succession of the changing periods of time can impair, it would seem, ought to have gone at once to the work entrusted to him. The charge is repeated under solemn assurances of success, but Moses staggers at the task. "The people, when I come to them, will ask, Who art thou?" To obviate any difficulty that lay in the way of his ready compliance, God vouchsafes to perform miracles, and confer miraculous power on his ambassador. As evidence of what he designed by the promise, he bade him cast his rod upon the ground, and no sooner had it fallen than it became a serpent, Moses, in terror, flying before it. He is commanded to touch it again, and anon it becomes a rod. He is enjoined to put his hand into his bosom, and in a moment it is covered with leprosy; but on repeating the injunction, it becomes clean as it was before. And, as if this were not sufficient to establish his authority, He gives him power to turn water into blood at his option. Yet Moses is not convinced. He pleads his want of eloquence, the natural impediment of his speech, which God promises to supply in an extraordinary manner. Every subterfuge was exposed, and every excuse removed out of the way. Yet will not Moses go: his inclination and disposition were not yet overcome. Will God consume him? Will the fire of the bush be turned against the sullen auditor? Yes! the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, but it melts into a further message of long-suffering and love. God informs Moses that his brother Aaron, who had already set out from home to meet him, would accompany him and be his speaker. Moses is subdued, he takes up his powerful rod, and sets out to meet his brother. Without giving the reason for his sudden departure, he obtains leave of his father-in-law to visit Egypt. He took his wife and his children, and as he was proceeding on his way, he was met by the angel of the Lord at the inn where he lodged, who, with a flaming sword, threatened his destruction for the neglect of the circumcision of his son. His wife instantly seized a flint, and performing the rite, threw the foreskin at the feet of her husband, reproach ing him as aman of blood. The angry vision disappeared, and Moses resumed his way to Egypt. He meets with Aaron, according to the divine intimation, near Mount Horeb, to whom he imparted all the divine instruction he had received, and the knowledge of the miraculous power entrusted to his hands. The brothers proceeded to Egypt, and called the assembly of the elders of Israel. To them Aaron makes known the message of God sent by Moses, who confirms his mission, and performs the miracles which God had appointed. They were convinced that he was the servant of God, and that God had compassionately regarded their afflictions, and commissioned him as their deliverer, in attestation of which they bowed down and worshipped. I. The hesitancy of Moses to receive the commission of God claims our attention. He felt, no doubt, that he had little or no influence with his brethren. They had shown their ingratitude to him before he left Egypt. They had formally rejected his services. Besides, he lay under the ban of the government of Egypt, and was exposed to capital punishment. The task, too, was a very onerous one, and required an amount of capacity and energy from which, in fearfulness, he shrank. These considerations may, in some measure, excuse the hesitancy of Moses, but they do not wholly account for it. Its origin is to be seen in the general disposition of man to refuse submission, by irrelevant excuses, to the divine will. His conduct betrays humility, but it also betrays diffidence and distrust. He who calls men to perform his will, can impart to them both wisdom and strength to meet and overcome the greatest obstacles. It was well for Moses to plead his incapacity to perform the wondrous work, but it exhibited a lack of faith, and an amount of obstinacy that was highly culpable, to refuse to go after so many assurances that God would be with him, to direct and lead him to a successful achievement of the mighty work. But what I would have you observe is, that Jehovah dealt with him not according to his deservings, for had he done so, he would have taken him at his word, and rejected him for another. But the divine forbearance was magnified, and Moses, whilst made to see the anger or indignation of the Lord at his culpable conduct, at the same time is selected and sent. We are taught here to do the will of God, however we may distrust our own incapacity, or fear the multiplied difficulties that intercept our way. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" "If the Lord be our helper, why should we fear what man can do unto us?" "God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." It is difficult to bring the whole mind in subjection to the will of God. There is always some excuse, some hindrance to our being wholly separated to God-body, soul, and spirit. II. The passage which details the meeting between Moses and the angel Jehovah at the inn, and the circumstances there detailed, are hard of explication. It is almost impossible to arrive at certain knowledge of the sacred writer, although the practical lesson there, as elsewhere, is easily to be gained. Thompson translates the Septuagint as follows: "Now, when he was on his way at the resting-place, an angel of the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Whereupon, Sephora took a sharp stone and circumcised her son. Then she fell at his feet and said, the blood of the circumcision of my son has stopped me. So the angel departed from her, because she said the blood of the circumcision of my son has stopped me." This obviates the difficulty, and shows us that the disapprobation of the angel was removed when the mother performed the neglected rite, and piously acknowledged her neglect, The practical lesson is three-fold. 1. We cannot with impunity dispense with any ordinance of the Lord's appointment. No views of propriety, or prudence, or convenience, can afford us an excuse. The authority for positive institutions cannot be set aside, any more than that of moral obligations. By these God tests our loyalty to his will; and it is plain that whatever we allow to take the place of obedience, is a usurper of the place of God, and by the law which says, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me," must be brought down. Is it a false notion of decency, or a love of ease and convenience, which prevents us from obeying the commands of God? Then that notion of decency, that love of ease, has become a god in the place of the I AM, and we may expect to be met as was Moses by the way, with inevitable destruction, if we do not at once comply with the will of heaven. 2. When we do obey, the anger of the Lord is appeased. He desires not to avenge himself, but to secure our obedience. 3. That he who goes forth to enforce the law upon others, ought himself to be a keeper of that law. III. From the account of the wonder-working power of the rod of Moses, the classic writers of antiquity have written many things that go to confirm the truth of the record before us. Dr. Clarke has collected a few specimens of these, which, as they are made out to our hand, we use: "From the story of Moses' rod, the heathens have invented the fables of the Thyrsus of Bacchus, and the Caduceus of Mercury. Cicero reckons five Bacchuses, one of which, according to Orpheus, was born of the river Nile; but according to the common opinion, he was born on the banks of that river. Bacchus is expressly said to have been exposed on the river Nile; hence he is called Nilus, both by Diodorus and Macrobius; and in the hymns of Orpheus he is named Myses because he was drawn out of the water. He is represented by the poets as being very beautiful, and an illustrious warrior; they report him to have over run all Arabia with a numerous army of both men and women. He is said also to have been an eminent lawgiver, and to have written his laws on two tables. He always carried in his hand the thyrsus, a rod wreathed with serpents, and by which he is reported to have wrought many miracles. Any person acquainted with the exploits of the poetic Bacchus, will at once perceive them to be all borrowed from the life and acts of Moses, as recorded in the Pentateuch. It would be losing time to show the parallel, by quoting passages from the book of Exodus. "The Caducæus, or rod of Mercury, is well known in poetic fables. It is another copy of the rod of Moses. He, also, is reported to have wrought a multitude of miracles by this rod; and particularly he is said to kill and make alive, to send souls to the invisible world, and bring them back from thence. Homer represents Mercury taking his rod to work miracles, precisely in the same way as God commands Moses to take his. Cyllenian Hermes now called forth the souls "Virgil copies Homer, but carries the parallel farther, tradition having probably furnished him with more particulars: but in both we may see a disguised copy of the Sacred History, from which indeed the Greek and Roman poets borrowed most of their beauties. But first he grasps within his awful hand The mark of sovereign pow'r, the magic wand; With this he seals in sleep the wakeful sight, And eyes, though clos'd in death, restores to light. And drives the racking clouds along the liquid space.-Dryden. "Many other resemblances between the rod of the poets, and that of Moses, the learned reader will readily recollect. These specimens may be deemed sufficient." J. B. F. HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION. HOUSEHOLD PRAYER.-No. II. OUR first article indicated the manner in which we propose to present this subject. Let us look at the nature and responsibilities of the family relation. I suppose we may assume, without contradiction, that the family is a Divine Institution. This assumed, we are at liberty to contemplate what would naturally result from this institution, were it penetrated and pervaded by the Spirit of Christ in its natural heads. We will state facts, and leave others to account for them. 1. We have sometimes seen homes which were left without sorrow, and reverted to, in recollection, without joy; the memory of which was gladly drowned in other scenes. Who that has come in contact with such a disposition, has not witnessed it with sadness-has not felt that it was unnatural? And who ever left a home blessed by religion-a home where love to God, and a reverent regard to duty--where a religious faith and consistent Christian principle, were early infused, faithfully cherished, and cheerfully expressed-with such a disposition? Who ever had such a home that awakened within him disgust or hate? Parents may have been poor-may have had few of the advantages of learning, or books, or cultivated society; but if their home were made religious, were made something more than the place for the development of mere natural affection or present gratification, they have blessed it to the memory of all who ever left it down to the last hour of their existence, and, perchance, throughout eternity. 2. The dearest place to the heart upon earth is, or should be, HOME. We have no affected sentimentalism to indulge upon this subject, though we hope to write so that we would, in a most Christian spirit and sympathy with all our readers, sing a hymn to home, and before God bless its memory. What do we mean by home? "God sets the solitary in families." This is the Bible definition. Family, then, is the prominent idea. The intimate union of moral, intellectual, and destined-to-be immortal beings, in the interchange of affectionate emotions and offices, and the mutual exertion of unspeakably important influences, developing and strengthening what may be perpetuated for ever. The home we speak of, is the nursery of spirits destined to immortality-the field in which, in spring time, the seed that bears the fruit of everlasting life must be sown. Infancy-innocent, attractive, the first opening of mysterious life, is there. Childhood-artless, playful, full of life is there. Youth-confident, bold, full of air-built castles, and chafing the bit that holds it back from the conflict of life, is there. Manhood and womanhood, with ripened faculties and stores of half-tried information, the guides and guardians of others entrusted to their care, are there. Age, hoary with years, and feeble in body, but ripened in character and experience, is there. Such is the home we wish to contemplate. Penetrate it with religion, and what have we? That infancy which, without it is regarded as the trifle of the hour, or the pest of an irresponsible pleasure, is viewed as having entered upon a deathless life, the life of an accountable being. That childhood finds those who will often speak of its active soul within, and the means by which it may learn to fledge its wings for a heavenward flight. That youth finds wise counsels and watchful protection, generous aid, and devout prayers, and inviting example, to point to better aims than the wealth, or pleasure, or glory of this world-an aim in, but also above, the earth-a course through the world, but for a goal beyond it, which goal is heaven. Manhood and womanhood are pointed to prudence, fidelity, and the serious purpose of a useful life, when otherwise their hearts would be engrossed with the vanities, frivolities, and irreligion of the world, to fill the opening rose-buds of childhood with the poison of sin, and thus blast the fruit that might have been gathered to God. And Agenot feeble in virtue, not wanting in goodness, not hoary with vice-but mellowed with affections, weaned from the earth, with spirits ready to bless and departleaving the blessed influences of a life well spent; a life of refreshing piety, of unwavering and long-tried faith, of single-hearted devotedness to Christ. Such is home-a home of spirits fit for the duties of earth, and ever ready for the |