comprehension of man, by using figures and emblems with which he is familiar: thus he is represented as possessing the members and senses of the human frame, as having feet, hands, eyes, and ears, as being subject to the various emotions of grief, anger, jealousy, repentance, &c; but it is evident to all, we are not to attach to these expressions the same gross ideas which exist in man's intercourse with his fellow creatures. For instance, jealousy is a subject which has occupied a prominent place in the writings of poets and moralists, but it is presented by them with a very different aspect to what it bears when viewed as one of the attributes of Him who created and governs the world. Jealousy as a human passion is the outbreaking of injured love, and is described by Solomon as "cruel as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame," but this description would by no means convey a correct idea of what is included in the awful declaration under our consideration, "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." Jealousy in man has its origin in suspicion real or unfounded, and it invariably diminishes his happiness; but not so in God, suspicion implies imperfect knowledge, and that be far from Him; and His happiness like all His other attributes is perfect and independent of his creatures.

What then, may we ask, is to be understood by Jealousy in God? and we answer, He has declared what it is in that comprehensive passage, "I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images," that glory, which had been manifested in the creation and government of the world, in all the works His hands had made, which would be manifested further in the mysterious work of redemption; in all those institutions which he ordained to maintain his honor and worship upon earth, and in the affectionate obedience of his creatures. And these are the objects on which, on examination, we shall find His jealousy is exercised with constant and unceasing vigilance.

To preserve his people from idolatry to which they were at that period addicted, to guard them against bowing down to or serving other gods, this declaration of the divine jealousy was first made, and God adds his inflexible determination to visit upon them as a nation, the sins of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation. In an early period of the world, this divine jealousy was signally manifested before the deluge, "the wickedness" of man was great upon the earth: "all flesh had corrupted his way," the earth was so full of violence, that God, jealous of His glory, destroyed the works of his own hand. When the descendants of Noah, forgetful of the awful lesson the deluge was designed to teach, entered into a conspiracy to make themselves independent of the Most High, their wickedness was detected and defeated by the confusion of tongues, and their dispersion upon the face of the earth. The Israelites were visited in the wilderness for their idolatry with sundry punishments, and because of their unbelief were not suffered to enter the land of Canaan. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram for their contempt of God's High Priest and conspiring against his authority, were swallowed up alive: ten spies brought up a bad report of the good land in contradiction of God's gracious promise, and they died; and in a later period in the world's history a heathen prince who had interfered

much in the affairs of the Church, while listening to the vile flattery of his people, who declared as he was speaking, "it is the voice of a God, not of a man," was smitten with death, and eaten of worms in the presence of the very multitude who had proclaimed his divinity.

The purity of the worship of God is essential to His glory, and in every age of the world and in each succeeding dispensation it has been identified also with the best interests of man. To pass over the vicissitudes in the history of the Jews in which this identity is strikingly visible, so that their prosperity and piety were contemporaneous, what now is the state of the seven churches of Asia, and other eastern churches in which the light of the Gospel shone, with unusual brightness, and God was worshipped in spirit and truth; their present darkness and weakness shows that God, jealous of his glory, has removed their candlestick out of its place, and visited the sins of the fathers upon the children for successive generations.

The maintenance of the pure worship of God has invariably a beneficial effect on the morals of a people, on their character, social improvement, happiness, and prosperity; but when the worship of God is neglected and his sanctuary is deserted, the morals of the people become proportionably depraved, their strength of character weakened, their prosperity checked if not annihilated, and the subsequent darkness, vice, ignorance, and wretchedness which prevail, show, how God has visited upon the children the sin of the fathers in departing from his worship.

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When God sent his Son into the world, it was not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved: the dispensation of the Gospel was eminently a dispensation of mercy, distinguished by forbearance, tenderness, and compassion to mankind; but, even under that dispensation, the jealousy of God for his glory was strikingly manifested. We may adduce as an instance the awful denunciation of the sin against the Holy Ghost. The miracles which our Saviour performed, even to be regarded as demonstrative of his divinity, he appealed to them as such, If any other man do the works that I do, believe me not," "the works that I do, they bear witness of me;" he called them the works of his Father, the glory of the Father beamed forth in all his actions; when therefore those miracles were wickedly and blasphemously attributed to the influence of Satan, the jealousy of the Lord for his glory was aroused, and he declared that that sin should not be forgiven. One great purpose for which the Son of God was manifested, was, "to destroy the works of the devil," to anniilate his power, to overthrow his kingdom, and to cast him down as Ightning from heaven; his ability to effect this purpose was demonstated by his casting out devils and conferring the same power on hisdisciples, so that to have denied his power, would have been a heious offence, but to ascribe it to diabolical influence, to assert that "htcast out devils through Beelzebub the prince of devils," was an insul to his Majesty ; a transgression which he declared to be beyond the limits of his otherwise illimitable mercy.

Nowas God less jealous of his glory in the work of the atonement. The great condemning sin of man is the rejection of the perfect sacfice and righteousness of Christ, and wherever this is referred

to, it is in language which indicates the abhorrence with which such conduct is regarded by a jealous God.

Our Saviour himself, though so distinguished by mildness and tenderness, thus speaks of those who reject his salvation, "Ye fools, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell." Verily, it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you :—he that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him."

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The purity of God's word is another subject upon which his jealousy is exercised. When we consider the importance of preserving the word of God in its purity and integrity, to individuals, to the Church collectively, and to the world, we cease to wonder that it has occupied the unceasing vigilance of its author, that in every succeeding dispensation he has guarded it from corruption, at the same time that he has preserved it from destruction, and that finally he has closed the canon of scripture, with this awful warning," For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

Finally, God is jealous of the affections and services of his creatures. True religion has its seat in the heart, and is manifested in a devoted consistent life. My son give me thy heart." "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and mind, and soul, and strength," is the firm inflexible demand of God himself, from which there is no appeal, and lest there should be any attempt to elude the force of the requirement our Saviour expressly says, "If any man love houses or land, brethren or sisters, more than me, he is not worthy of me; he cannot be my disciple."

But probably the most fearful proof yet remains of the jealousy of God, in the tremendous manner in which, according to his own declaration he will punish, at the same time that he will silence those who have obstinately denied his truth and rejected his mercy, "Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fears cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind: when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early but they shall not find me: Fo that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lor They would none of my counsel: they despised my reproof. Therfore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled wth their own devices." Truly the Lord our God is a jealous God.

THE RITE OF CONFIRMATION IN THE
NORWEGIAN CHURCH.

(Abridged from Laing's Residence in Norway)

It is a peculiar characteristic of the Norwegian Church, that there is no dissent from it,-no sectarians; one cause of which is the great consideration in which the rite of Confirmation is held.

There is here a strict examination by the Bishop, or the probst, or rural dean, into the young person's knowledge of his moral and religious duties, acquirements, and character, and it is only after a long previous preparation by his parish minister, equal almost to a course of education, the confirmants being instructed singly as well as in classes, that the individual is presented for this examination. I was present lately at a confirmation of about twenty young persons in our parish church by the probst. The examination, in the presence of the congregation, occupied nearly two hours. It was not merely asking, and replying, by a string of short questions and answers from the church catechism. It resembled more the kind of examination used in teaching the reading classes in the Sessional School in Edinburgh. It was a sifting trial to know if each individual attached the real meaning to the words he was using, and actually did understand what he had been taught upon the subject of religion. It was evident that considerable pains had been taken with the instruction of each individual. To pass such a confirmation, implies that the young person is well grounded in the principles of his moral and religious duties, and is of good character and understanding. It is, in common life, equivalent to taking of a degree in the learned professions, being in fact a certificate of a capacity for discharging ordinary duties and trusts; and amongst the lower classes the not being confirmed would be held equivalent to not having a character, either from want of conduct, or of ordinary capacity. Something similar prevailed formerly in Scotland, but not to the same extent. A young man of the labouring classes, usually took a certificate of his good character from the minister when he removed to a different parish. The confirmation in Norway certifies muchmore; as, in the face of the congregation, the confirmant has shown that he can read and has the use of his mental faculties to an ordinary degree, according to his station, and has moral and religious principles to direct him. It is extraordinary that the Church of England has not, like this Lutheran Sister in the North, kept fast hold of a rite which connected her so closely with society, its education, and its business. This simple discharge of an unexceptionable duty shuts out dissent from the Norwegian Church.

THOUGHTS ON THE SABBATH.

THE observance of this blessed institution, like the religion to which it belongs, has been associated with the formation of some of the most cherished attachments in life. It reminds the prodigal of the services that once welcomed its advent at the paternal family altar. Those morning and evening sacrifices were more sweet and devotional on that holy day. He may now be an abandoned outcast in the wide world, and his sinful career may have led him far from the dear domestic circle with whom he once worshipped; but the Sabbath, as a faithful remembrancer, brings him to think of the scenes of more happy and innocent days, and of the loved forms with whom he once bowed. It tells him of the earnest prayers of a pious mother, which perhaps at that sacred hour are ascending for her absent son.

The pleasing remembrance of these hallowed days of rest has mingled even with our love of country. How dear was the Sabbath of our native land! The stranger, far from the place of his birth, can never forget its charms; its recollection comes freighted with the memory of joys departed. Perhaps he was once permitted to share in the calm delights of a happy home in which he was early trained to keep the holy day with religious strictness. Regularly as the Sabbath came he mingled in the quiet, neatly-clad throng who then assembled in the house of God. His dwelling may now be in some distant colony, and he may still worship in some rustic forest sanctuary, but the recollection of the ancient village church and its loved associations often comes like a dream of his youth. Though years may have passed away, and many new ties may have bound him to his adopted home, yet his thoughts still fondly linger amid the scenes of his early pilgrimage. Perhaps, after a lengthened absence, he is again permitted to visit the place of his birth. There is no time that then calls up so many pleasing reminiscences as the Lord's Day. He enters again the time-worn sanctuary where, in former years, he was wont to worship, and the very seats seem dear to him. There he was often blest. As he looks around, he finds that many venerable forms that once knelt beside him are not there. But their fervent prayers and their pious admonitions are still remembered by him. In the adjoining burial-place he reads their names. And though his eye may be dim with tears, as he listens to the affecting story of their death-bed sayings and their triumphant exit, yet it is soon brightened again by the sweet hope that when the earth and the sea shall give up their dead, and the ransomed shall be gathered from different climes, he shall meet those devoted ones in his Father's house above, to go no more out for ever.

The Sabbath is a beautiful type of Heaven. It is a precious earnest of a better inheritance. These days of sacred rest, in the midst of the weariness and afflictions of life, are like green spots in the desert, that remind us of the promised land to which we are journeying. There is something 'heavenly in the calm stillness of this hallowed season. As it comes undisturbed by the noise of the early husbandman, the busy artisan, or the more boisterous sounds of mirth