Yet both at Rome and Corinth the apostles of our Lord proclaimed the doctrine of salvation through the cross, and called upon men to renounce their crimes, and to live godly, soberly, and righteously, in the world; and their preaching was effectual in the conversion of multitudes of the poor who once were the votaries of guilt and crime, but now were "washed, and justified, and sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of the living God." The sacred historians give us a lively and interesting picture of the change that was effected by the manifestation of the truth, accompanied by the influences of the Holy Ghost, upon the dispositions and conduct of the primitive Christians.

Honest and industrious in the discharge of the active duties of life, they seized upon every opportunity of engaging in devotional exercises, of hearing the Word of God, and of encouraging each other in the faith and practice of true religion. The drunkard abandoned his intoxicating cup, the unjust renounced the gains of dishonesty, the avaricious became generous and liberal, the cruel, benevolent and gentle, and the unchaste, patterns of purity and virtue. The spirit of Christ dwelt in every mind, and his law was the guide of every life.

Amid the severest insults and injuries the disciples of Christ were mild and gentle, and, like their Divine Master, with their dying breath they implored the forgiveness of heaven to their inhuman persecutors. St. Luke tells us that "they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all as every man had need. And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people." After the Apostles of our Lord had slept the sleep of death, Christianity still continued to extend its triumphs and to obtain many proselytes, both among Jews and Heathens Comparatively few individuals of rank and learning joined themselves to the number of the followers of Jesus, but multitudes in humble life embraced the knowledge, and exhibited the practice, of genuine godliness. Striking is the appeal which one of the first apologists of our holy religion makes in behalf of his Christian brethren : Among us," says he, "the meanest labourers, though unable to discourse or dispute for the utility of their religion, demonstrate its

excellence by their lives and good works. They do not critically weigh their words, and recite elegant orations, but they perform honest and virtuous actions. Being buffeted, they strike not again, nor sue those at law who spoil and plunder them; they give liberally to such as ask, and they love their neighbour as themselves." "Your jails," adds another, " swarm with criminals of your own religion, but you will not find in them one Christian, except he be there because he is a Christian, and purely on account of his faith." Even the most inveterate enemies of the followers of Christ bore testimony to the excellence of their morals. Pliny, a Roman magistrate, who was actively employed in their persecution, thus writes concerning them to the Emperor Trajan: "The whole of their guilt or error is, that they meet on a certain day before it is light, and address themselves in prayer to Christ as to some god, binding themselves by a solemn oath, not for any purposes of wickedness, but never to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor to deny a trust when they shall be called upon to deliver it up." Julian the Apostate, in like manner, in an epistle to a heathen pontiff, strongly recommends the imitation of the sanctity, the charity, and other virtues of the Christians. "It is," says he, "a disgrace to the Pagans to disregard those of their own religion, while the impious Galileans, (as he is pleased to term them,) do kind offices to strangers, and even to enemies."

After public religious instruction has subsisted in a country for many generations, it is more difficult to trace its direct operation upon the opinions and habits of the humbler orders of society. It gives birth to valuable institutions, which in their turn unite and co-operate with it in producing the most beneficial effects upon human character. Still we are daily permitted to observe its Divine influence in that patient industry, that sobriety of manners, that conjugal affection, that attention to the duties of social and domestic life, and that cheerful contentment with their lot, which in general mark the conduct of the poor in those countries where Christianity is preached in its primitive simplicity and beauty.

That sacred ordinance which inspires them with the fear of God, renders them, at the same time, loyal and patriotic citizens. In the sanctuary they are taught to honour the king, to be subject to the powers that be, not only for wrath,

but also for conscience' sake, to obey magistrates, and to lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.

And it is an important fact, that at the present moment, as in former periods, the very same individuals who have attempted to sow the seeds of sedition and anarchy in our native land, have also laboured with unwearied assiduity to destroy the altar, to render the ministers of religion objects of contempt and abhorrence, and to poison the hallowed. fountain of our purity and our bliss. To the influence of public religious instruction we owe in a great measure that energy of mind and freedom of thought and discussion which have preserved us from the calamities of despotism, on the one hand, and that industry and contentment which have delivered us, in some measure at least, from the still greater evils of popular licentiousness on the other.

And the services of the sanctuary have operated, perhaps more powerfully than any other cause, to preserve unimpaired the inestimable political advantages which we and our forefathers, have so long enjoyed. But it is in the private character and habits of the humble follower of Jesus, who has been taught, by the energy of Divine grace, to imbibe the spirit and imitate the example of his blessed Master, that we obtain the most convincing proof of the salutary influence of a preached Gospel. Ignorant of ancient lore, or of the various improvements in art and science which have marked the history of modern times, one precious volume is the treasure of his heart; he reads it with unwearied interest and attention, and he derives from it his rules of conduct, his sources of enjoyment, his consolations, and his hopes. When the morning sun arises, when the curtains of darkness are drawn around him, and often amid the bustle of active life, he ascends, in thought and affection, to the Author of his being, the Redeemer of his soul, and the Sanctifier of his heart and life; he unbosoms before God his wants, his sins, and his sorrows, and asks those heavenly aids which are requisite to fit him for duty, to preserve him from temptation, to prepare him for trial, and to render him meet for the enjoyment of heaven. His purest and highest delight is to assemble around him the children whom he loves with the fondest affection, and to teach them, by the force of example, by the influence of persuasion, and by the voice of affection,

to know the God of their fathers, and to serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind."

The sacred incense of domestic prayer and praise continually ascends to heaven from his holy dwelling. The day of the Lord is hailed as a season of holy rest and gladness; while in the temple of his God he listens to the message of reconciliation and mercy, he experiences a "peace which passeth all understanding." The ordinances of religion appear to him like streams from the fountain of bliss, intended to refresh the weary pilgrim, while he wanders through the wilderness of life to the land of rest. Under their purifying and comforting influence, poverty is turned into riches, and affliction into joy: and even amid the convulsive agonies of expiring nature, the good man is heard with holy exultation to exclaim, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where ie thy victory? Thanks be unto God, who giveth me the victory through Jesus Christ my Lord!" This is no ideal picture,—it has probably been witnessed by many whom I now address; and it teaches us, in language the most impressive, that the preaching of Christ crucified is indeed the wisdom and the power of God unto salvation.

[From the Scottish Christian Herald.]

OLD JOHN.

As I was walking, when the ground was covered with snow, in the cold January of 1838, I was accosted by a voice saying, "Poor John is gone, then." I turned, and saw a woman whom I knew as a neighbour of the old man she mentioned. I had not time then to stop and make inquiries. I knew that in a little while, if I myself should live, I should hear every incident relating to his death; and now I mean to retrace some of my interviews with him, and to record what I know of this faithful servant of the Lord.

A district visitor would imagine the pleasure with which, on entering a house I had known as the abode of sin and misery, I found it tenanted by one very different from its late inhabitants. I am not going to conduct my reader to some retired and elegant cottage, nor even to a picturesque hut in the midst of some wild scenery; no,-those who go with me to visit old John, must, in fancy, approach one of the meanest

and most abject rows of houses which they have perhaps ever seen; they must turn at the back of this row, and walk on a narrow pavement between these houses and a high wall, and at the end of that narrow pavement, enter a lowly door, then wind up the steep narrow stair-case.-But how shall I describe the room they will enter? I might call it triangular, but that the door-way projected far into the room; the walls were blackened with smoke: there was but one chair in the room, and on that the old man used to sit, close to the fire: it was with difficulty he could be persuaded to retain his seat when a visitor came in, but the visitor could find a seat on the low heavy bench. An old table, and a block at which his son sat mending shoes, nearly completed the furniture; the bed was in a smaller inner room.

The poor old man's treasures were his books: "I was given to divinity books," he says, "from a child.” The Book of books, well read, is here; tracts without number stitched together in volumes; and the New Poor Law Act, which he bought as soon as it was published, that he might know "what he had to expect, and how he was to be treated." He had been an inmate of the parish workhouse for many years; but when the new act was passed, and a union formed between this parish and two others, the workhouse in which he had long found his home, was appropriated to the children belonging to the union, and the poor aged people removed to a distant parish. I do not think it was a dissatisfied or selfimportant spirit that induced him to prefer ending his days in some poor dwelling that he could call his own: he had his choice, and he was not to be blamed, though his friends could not but think he would have been better off in the poor-house. But it was not for long, and now it matters

not.

I lost sight of my poor old friend again soon after I had first met with him; for he was very ill, and the first kindness he needed of his visitor was an infirmary ticket; and in the infirmary he remained for many weeks, or perhaps months. And when he came back again, I saw a great change in him; he was sent out, he said, incurable. Yes, old age was not to be cured, and he came home to linger out a few weeks, and then to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. His expression the first time I saw him suited well with all he said afterwards, "We have not done what we ought