"the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand *,"-so he opens the vail so.netimes, and gives a clear affecting discovery of his glory unto the minds and souls of believers. In such seasons as these they are excited to especial invocation and praise +. So it is also of the love of Christ. This, though always the same in itself, varies in the seasons of its manifestation, and measures of its enjoyments. Sometimes it is witnessed mato us, or shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Then it is accompanied with a constraining power, to oblige us to live unto him who died for us, and rose again. And did we meditate more frequently on Christ and in his glory, these constraining visits of his love would be oftener repeated. When the Church in the Canticles has attained a sense of his love, she always abounds in invocation, admiration, and praise. Perfectly analogous to this is the conduct of the New Testament-church: "Unto him that loved us," &c. §. This, therefore, is another season that calls for this duty. 3. Times of persecution for his name's sake, and for the profession of the Gospel, are seasons which render this peculiar invocation of Christ both comely and necessary. In such circumstances two things will befal the minds of believers. 1. Their thoughts will be greatly exercised about him, and conversant with him. They cannot but continually think and meditate on him for whom they suffer. The invincible reasons they have to suffer for him, derived from his person, love, grace, and authority, from what he is in himself, what he hath done for them, and what account of all things is to be given unto him, do continually present themselves unto their minds. Wildernesses, prisons, and dungeons have been filled with thoughts of Christ and his love. Witness the case of Paul and Silas. " 2. Such persons have deep and fixed spprehensions of the especial concern which the Lord Christ hath in them in their pregent condition: and also of his power to support them, or to work out their deliverance. They know and consider, that "in all their allictions he is afflicted," that he suffers in all their sufferings, ani is persecuted in all their persecutions. That in them all he is full of pity, love, and unspeakable compassion toward them that his grace is sufficient for them;" that bis power shall be perfected in their weakness, to carry them through all their sufferings unto his and their own glory. In these circumstances it is impossible for them who are under the conduct of his Spirit, not to make especial applications continually unto him for hose aids of grace, those pledges of love and mercy, those supplies of consolation and spiritual refreshment, which their condition calls for. Wherefore, in this state, the invoca Acts vil. 66, 57. + John xii. 41. Acts vii. 56, 59. Rev.. 3.5-10. Rev. i. v, 6. ANSWER TO A QUERY. 455 tion of Christ is the refuge and sheet-anchor of the souls of them who truly believe in him. 4. The time of death, whether natural or violent, for his sake, is a season which justifies, and renders an exclusive address to him highly appropriate. Thus Stephen recommended his departing soul into his hands with solemn prayer: "Lord Jesus," said he, "receive my spirit." To the same purpose have been the prayers of many of his faithful Martyrs in the flames, and under the sword. In the same manner doth the faith of innumerable holy souls work in the midst of their death-bed groans. And the more we have been in the exercise of faith on him in our lives, the more ready will it be in the approaches of death, to make its resort unto him in a peculiar manner. This statement involves in it no difficulty with regard to our Lord's mediatorial office; and is in perfect unison with those Scriptures which require us to "honour the Son as we honour the Father." When we address our Lord exclusively, his divine nature becomes the formal object of our faith. But, in the discharge of his mediatorial oflice, through him, "our faith and hope is in God *.” Whilst these reflections serve to expose the inveterate malignity of human prejudice, the stubborn depravity of the human heart, and the spurious elevations of human intellect, they will, we doubt not, produce in the mind of every real believer sentiments of ingenuous gratitude and devout adoration. And whilst the patrons of Error exult in the idea of having extricated themselves from the shackles of those gloomy systems, by which vulgar minds are enslaved, he will stand in the ways, to see and ask for the old paths, that he may walk therein and find rest to bis soul." NUKTOS. * 1 Pet. i. 21. No. X. THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. MOUNTAINS. THOSE vast elevations of the earth which we call Mountains, may be considered as of two kinds; the former of which, from their magnitude and structure, appear to have existed from the earliest times, and were perhaps formed when the carth itself was created; and the latter have since been produced by the general deluge, or partial inundations of water, or the eruption of subterraneous fires. The first class may be called Primitive Mountains: they are usually pyramidical in shape, crowned with sharp and prominent rocks, their clevation sudden, and their ascent steep and difficult. In some places they appear like a great wall 600 or 700 feet high; in others, enormous rocks hang upon the brow of the precipices, and threaten destruction to the traveller below. Their tops are perpetually covered with snow, and surrounded with floating clouds. The primitive mountains are connected in vast chains, which succeed one another for several hundred leagues. Each chain has collateral ramifications in various directions, which gradually diminish in their height in proportion to their distance from the principal chain, which usually runs from north to south; as the Cordillerus and the Pyrenees; or from east to west, as the Alps and mountains of Thibet. The highest mountains are generally found between or near the Tropics, and in the middle of the Temperate Zones. Mount Blanc is the loftiest mountain which has ever been measured in Europe, Africa, or Asia, and was found by M. de Saussure to be 2426 toises (or fathoms) above the Mediterraneansea: St. Gothard, in Switzerland, is 1500 toises; St. Bernard 1274; Snowden, the loftiest in Wales, is only 1210 yards; the peak of Tenerife is 1900 toises. But the mountains of South America exeecd all others in height; Pinchincha being 2430 toises; Sangai 2680: Cagambeoreon, situated under the Line, 5020; Chimboraço (or Cimboraso) 3220 above the level of the sca. The last-mentioned mountain, which is in Peru, is probably the highest in the world. The extreme cold, which is experienced by those who have ascended them, near the top of lofty mountains, is a very curious phenomenon. A traveller over the Alps generally experiences, even in summer, the four seasons of the year: and even within the Tropics, it is found that at the height of 2434 toises the snow is perpetual; so that whilst the people who dwell at the feet of these mountains are scorched with the heat of a vertical sun, all the horrors of winter, as it is felt in the polar regions, reign at the top. The diminution of heat is supposed to be owing to the decrease in the density of the atmosphere, which always becomes less and less the more we are elevated above the surface of the earth. Mountains of the second class are less lofty, more easy of access, and have fewer springs: nor are they found, like the primi tive mountains, in chains of such vast extent. The most remarkable one of this kind is what is called the Needle Mountain, in Dauphiny. It is a vasthill, placed, as it were, bottom upwards, . or set on its summit on the carth with its brond base elevated in the air: it is about 1000 paces in circumference at the bottom, and above 2:00 at the top. On the centre of the plain, at the top, stands another very oh hill. A few years since, some hards persons ventured to climb it, and found at the top a number of Chamois, animals not at all qualified for climbing. It is probable they had been bred there for many ages, though it is diffeult to account for their first getting to the place. It has been rashly said, "That the mountains are examples of ruin and contusion, deformities en the face of nature, and are THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 457 not referrable to any design." Some judicious writers have abundantly shewn the folly and profaneness of this assertion*, and proved that these stupendous monuments of the Creator's power, are not useless loads upon the earth. The chains of primitive mountains, like so many belts in different directions, bind round the earth, and give to its parts a greater degree of solidity. By their position and elevation they contribute to produce that variety which prevails amongst the winds. The spaces which separate the tops of mountains, are so many basons which receive the vapours and clouds when condensed into rain by the coldness of those regions; and hence innumerable streams and rivers derive their supply of water. The mountains afford a retreat to many animals which frequent them; "the highest hills are refuges for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies :" they also serve for the production of a variety of vegetables, which are nowhere else to be found: the most important medicinal herbs, and the most luxuriant species of most genera of plants, are natives of the mountains. So far from deforming the face of nature, they add to its beauty, by affording a pleasing variety of hills and vallies, and exhibiting from their tops the most delicious prospects. The sight of one of the primitive mountains, by its enormous bulk, "cloud-capt towers," thundering cascades, and frightful precipices, must naturally inspire the mind with awe and terror, and impress the heart with a sense of his greatness "who weigheth the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance!". Vast as those bodies are, when compared with the most mighty works of man, Jehovah looketh on the mountains and they tremble; "He approacheth them, and they fall down at his presence.' Time is every hour committing gradual, but constant, depredations on those surprizing monuments of almighty power. The torrents are continually washing down their sides immense quantities of soil; so that the whole tract of country situated along the northern chain of the Pyrenees is covered with earth brought down from the mountains in this manner; at other times huge fragments, frequently larger than a house, loosened from the summit by frosts, or rains, or struck down by lightning, are seen tumbling down the steep with a noise louder than thunder. Time is, therefore, only wanting to reduce every mountain to a plain. The surface of the globe is thus in a state of perpetual change, and even its most solid parts are liable to decay. What an instructive lesson does this afford on the vanity of all our creature comforts, and how should it teach us to set our affections on the things which are above! "To things immortal, time can do no wrong, And that which never is to die, for ever must be young." COWLEY. See Derham's Physico Theology, book iii. chap. iv. and Ray on the Wisdom of God, 216–220. The consolations of the gospel never fail, the love of Christ is a well-spring that ever flows. The mountains shall depart and the hills be removod, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee t." T. P. B. + Isa. liv. 10. ON THE DEATH OF A CHRISTIAN. "The chamber where the good man meets his fate, Is privileged beyond the common walk Of virtuous life, - quile on the verge of Heaven." YOUNG. NEVER were these lines of the poet more strikingly illustrafed than in the death of Joachim Curæus, a German physician, of eminent talents and singular piety, who was one of the burning and shining lights of the Reformation. The narrative of his last moments I extract from the Memoirs of the Rev. Peard Dickinson, a book which no young minister should be without : — "This excellent man died of a burning fever, in which he evidenced, as in life, the subjection of his soul to the divine will, attended with fervent breathings after Christ in the exercise of divine love. The state of his soul at this solemn season, will best appear from some of those divine and weighty sentences which he then uttered:-"Lord, I am oppressed, but it is enough for me that thy hand hath done it. My body now suffers because of sin, but my soul is raised and comforted with the assurance of eternal life. I will wrestle with Jacob till the brightness of thy sight shall appear. Come, Lord Jesus, and let all that love thee say Come; and as for him that loves thee not, let him be Anathema Maranatha. Thou knowest, who searchest the heart, that I love thee. With thee I shall be at the beginning of the New Year; and shall be satisfied with thy sight, and drink of the wine of that everlasting joy, which is in thy Father's house, where are many mansions, one of which is there reserved for me." He then cried, "My heart glows at the prospect of life eternal, the beginning of which I now actually feel within me. I have learned to know thee, and my aim hath been that others should know thee aright. Son of God, acknowledge me also, and take me to thine embraces! To come to thee, my soul with desire leaps for joy; and because it is yet withheld, I think the time long: I desire to be dissolved! O dissolve me, that I may be with thee! I am overwearied by continuing here! I groan for that dwelling above which thou hast revealed to me! As the traveller in a dark night looks for the sun, so do I earnestly look after the brightness of that light which is in the vision of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I |