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true testimony against his companions' iniquity! Hypocrite and cant, if he duly study his Bible and persevere in regular devotion! The least evil he has to bear, is that of being "sent to Coventry" by his school fellows: but like Daniel at the Babylonish court, if the young Valiant be enabled to maintain his innocency before God, "no manner of hurt will be found upon him," for "He who seeth in secret, will reward him openly."

Painful as these circumstances may be, they are salutary discipline, and brace up the character for more important conflicts. Having proved the armour at school and in college, the young man goes forth in the name of the Lord, so girded about with the preparation of the gospel, that the sling and the stone. only would annihilate formidable opposers. A complete panoply, however, is at hand; and with the helmet of salvation, the breast plate of truth, and the shield of faith, in addition to the sword of the Spirit, bravely does the young man fulfil the campaign of the season!

Alas! he is assailed where he least expected it! Parents have been careful in selecting his business occupation, his commercial instructors, and he is astounded that men, bearing the Christian name, members of the Saviour's visible church, should require his connivance at evading taxes-taking advantage of legal quibbles, and playing upon the ignorance of customers. We transcribe, from Dr. Hamilton, an eloquent description of such every-day tests:-

"When called to give your testimony for Christ, the flesh may be weak, and the willing word like to expire in your choking utterance. It is not Nero's hall, but a quiet parlour you are entering; but, before you come out again, you may be a poor and friendless man. The yes or no of one faithful moment may have spurned the ladder of promotion from under your feet, and dashed your brightest hopes on this side the grave. Or by the time the letter you are now penning is closed, and sealed, and posted, and the sinful assent, or the compromising proposal, or the resolute refusal is written, the Lord Jesus will have said, 'I know thy works,' with his sentence of approval or condemnation."

And so, through life, is the genuine Valiant-for-the-truth

beset. Pecuniary difficulties, or temporal allurements may beguile him into some "accommodating transactions" which will not bear the scrutiny of that Judge, who declares that the light weight and short measure are his abhorrence,-who even specifies "the false balance" as "an abomination!"

Nor are the daughters of this ancient race less exercised in their more retired sphere. In early youth, similar training awaits them; but as time brings them to maturer age, the guerdon of insincerity wears more appropriate fascination. It is no easy matter to withstand the solicitations of admiring affection, the offer of every earthly blessing, as the reward of a compromise with conscience; and in social intercourse, how much easier to adopt the fashionable phrase "Not at home,” than to risk offending influential acquaintance by any obsolete scruples as to the propriety of using words which bear not their true meaning. But the rule-"Whatsoever ye do, do it as to the Lord," decides the point; and the Lady Valiant will dare to be singular and courageously confess she is engaged, when her vocations render company inconvenient. Nor is so trifling a change to be deemed insignificant,-for once pass the Rubicon -break the hallowed bond of truthfulness-and it is easy to repeat the sin, to loosen the already-lax principle, till everything is sacrificed.

The Valiant-for-the-truth family never break-never forget their promises. Indeed they make but few; for they anticipate the probability of unforeseen hindrances to their designs.

There is an indescribable, an irresistible charm in a truthful character. It commands the involuntary respect and confidence of all around. Its possessor is raised above many difficulties; for the Tempter dares not ask him to countenance, much less to partake of, his evil deeds. Half the perplexities of human society arise from want of truthfulness. It has often been remarked, that no novel could be prolonged through the accustomed three volumes; but for some concealment, some lack of openness among the "dramatis persona." And in ordinary life, there is perpetual manoeuvring, false play, or double dealing. Few have sufficient moral courage to make their yea, yea; and their nay, nay!

In his spiritual pilgrimage too, the Valiant-for-the-truth

passes lightly over the Slough of Despond. His eyes are never too dim to see "the stepping stones." Moreover he is quite beyond the reach of Giant Despair, and Doubting Castle. He always means what he says,-how can he mistrust the promise of an Almighty helper? Prospects may lower; earthly resources be cut off; refuge fail; but it is written, "They that trust in the Lord shall not want any good thing;" and so he pursues his happy course, "resting upon the word on which God hath caused him to hope;" and like Daniel, realizing its fulfilment, because he believed in the Lord his God!

If the life of the Valiants be happy, spite of external suffering, so most blessed are their deaths! Bravely do they meet the last enemy, whether his summons be sudden and hasty, or affording leisurely farewells to accompanying friends! Truly do they enjoy an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Well may "the trumpets sound for them on the other side" of the river of death, while the Master's voice greets them with, "Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord!"

E. W. P.

REASON AND FAITH.

EVERY day's experience shews us what a common and easy thing it is to believe, whilst at the same time it convinces us how difficult and uncommon it is to believe rightly. In nine cases out of ten, "the wish is father to the thought." We are disposed to think that true which we desire should be so. Many statements are received without the least enquiry into their common sense, and a habit of speaking, and hearing, and reading carelessly, is thus encouraged. This is just what God intended should not be the case when he gave us the faculty of Reason, that we might think, associate, compare, and analyse. The lower animals have no power to do this, and yet they are not half so credulous as man. It is really easier, wilfully or unintentionally to deceive a fellow-creature, than a horse or a dog. This, though a true, is so strange a state of things, that at all events it deserves investigation. There must be a fault somewhere: let us, if we can, trace it out and amend it.

To believe on proper evidence is a right thing; but to believe blindly, a very dangerous one. We ridicule the heathen for believing all the impossibilities recorded of his gods; and the catholic for yielding implicit obedience to the unauthorized and ridiculous dogmas of his spiritual advisers; but in many things the professing Christian is equally foolish, and his cre dulity as unsubstantial and unenlightened.

The Bible is most decidedly opposed to such faith as this. "I speak as unto wise men," said Paul, "judge ye what I say."" "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." The nobility of the Bereans consisted in their staid, and advised, and cautious reception of even apostolic preaching-" they searched the Scriptures" before they agreed to give it full credence, and are commended for it by the evangelist who records the fact. Nothing can be more open and manly than the appeals of the Bible, whether it addresses us by fact, or narrative or precept. The great teachings of that book will not only bear, but actually demand, the light. "Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord." Sovereign as he is, he commands in no despotic tone. The whirlwind and the fire are not his accustomed channels of communication: he is in the "still small voice" of Reason, commending itself to the conscience, working in us and out from us, and not impelling us by any extraneous power to blind or unwilling submission. The lively hope to which His Word begets us, is not enough; we must be able to give "a reason" for it. Yet how few even of those who profess and call themselves Christians can do this.

We can imagine that it will be argued against all this, that there are many things in the Bible which Reason cannot understand, and that therefore, if believed at all, they must be bclieved ignorantly. Many well-meaning persons will urge, and have urged, that these truths are not contrary to Reason, though they are certainly beyond or above it. But if a thing be beyond Reason, it cannot be measured by it, to know whether it is, or is not, consistent with it. So that this plea will not stand. What then is to be done? The answer is very easy.

Reason is well defined to be "the power by which man deduces one proposition from another, or proceeds from premises to consequences." Beginning therefore with the proposition,

"God is Truth," we proceed to the inference that His Word partakes of the same character; and all that Reason requires, is to know on good evidence that a thing is true. Of course we assume here that the Bible is the Word of God, and believing this, it is not inconsistent with Reason to receive implicitly all its statements however deep, mysterious, awful, and apparently inexplicable we may esteem them.

Perhaps there is no proposition less open to dispute than that on which we have based our argument. Yet the Atheist, who makes Chance his god, will be sure to cavil at it. And with such a man it is foolish to argue. The Bible puts him in the proper category when it describes him as the fool whose inclination occupies the place of reason. He speaks and acts from the heart, instead of the understanding. He is joined to the idols of his own corrupt will; let him alone.

The Deist allows both the proposition and the inference; but he tells us that the visible universe is God's Revelation, and not the Bible. We admit the first part of this assertion, but deny the last. It by no means follows that because the universe is a revelation, the Bible is not. Both are volumes from the same Great Author, but the first having been written before man's Fall, is legible only by the light of his primeval innocence, and consequently inadequate to the salvation of a dark and ruined soul. The second comes therefore to the rescue. Diametrically opposed to all systems of natural religion which begin in selfrighteousness, and end in crimes of which it were a shame to speak, the Bible makes the very sin of man the occasion of his salvation, and lifts him at once from the horrible pit and the miry clay of his utter degradation, to glory, honor, and immortality, through the righteousness which is in Christ Jesus.

It is surprising how many difficulties vanish when once we have arrived at a full belief in the Divine authority of the Scriptures. Too many leap at once to this persuasion-assuming rather than proving, this first principle of the Christian faith; and many more are startled if we ask the poor and the unlearned to give us a reason for their faith in the sacred oracles. To us there appears to be nothing unreasonable in this requirement. Every man believes something-believes much; and we seldom hear of any one so ignorant as to know nothing of the

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