THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Presented by 
 Stuart R. Scott 
 Champaign, Ill. 
 in 1926 
 
 244 
 
 W50a 
 
 v. 2 
 
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 V 
 
ANECDOTES, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OP 
 
 A SELECT PASSAGE IN EACH CHAPTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN WHITECROSS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF “ ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE 
 ASSEMBLY’S SHORTER CATECHISM,” &C. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 

 
2 * 4 - 
 
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 v, % 
 
 ANECDOTES, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 —»— 
 
 ry 
 
 JOB. 
 
 Chap. i. 21, 22. —The Lord gave, and the Lord 
 hath taken away; blessed be the name of the 
 Lord.—In all this Job sinned not, nor charged 
 God foolishly. 
 
 A pious lady, who had lost a very promising child, 
 was one day sitting with her little daughter of about 
 three years of age by her side, and conversing with her 
 respecting the death of her little brother. She told her 
 that God had taken him to heaven, and as she spoke 
 she wept. The little girl, after a few moments of pen¬ 
 sive thought, asked her mother, “ Was it proper for God 
 
 to take H- to heaven 1 ” To which she replied in 
 
 the affirmative. “Well, then,” said she, “if it was pro¬ 
 per for God to take him away, what do you cry for, 
 mamma 1” 
 
 ii. 10.—What! shall we receive good at the 
 
 hand of God, and shall we not receive evil 1 
 
 The Oriental philosopher, Lokman, while a slave, 
 being presented by his master with a bitter melon, im¬ 
 mediately ate it all. “How was it possible,” said the 
 
 611717 
 
4 
 
 JOB IV. 
 
 master, “ for you to eat so nauseous a fruit ?” Lokman 
 replied, “ I have received so many favours from you, 
 that it is no wonder I should once in my life eat a bitter 
 melon from your hand.” The generous answer of the 
 slave struck his master to such a degree, that he imme¬ 
 diately gave him his liberty. With such sentiments of 
 gratitude, submission, and ready obedience, should men 
 receive sorrows and afflictions from the hand of God. 
 
 iii. 19.—The small and great are there. 
 
 After Saladin the Great had subdued Egypt, passed 
 the Euphrates, and conquered cities without number— 
 after he had retaken Jerusalem, and performed extraor¬ 
 dinary exploits in those wars which superstition had 
 stirred up for the recovery of the Holy Land, he finished 
 his life in the performance of an action, which ought 
 to be transmitted to the latest posterity. A moment be¬ 
 fore he utteied his last sigh, he called the herald, who 
 had carried his banners before him in all his battles; 
 he commanded him to fasten to the top of a lance the 
 shroud in which the dying prince was soon to be buried. 
 “Go, said he, “carry the lance, unfurl the banner; 
 and, while you lift up this standard, proclaim—‘This, 
 this is all that remains of all the glory of Saladin the 
 Great, the conqueror and king of the empire.”’ 
 
 iv. 10.—The roaring of the lion, and the voice 
 of the fierce lion. 
 
 Rubens, a celebrated artist, when painting a lion from 
 the only living specimen he ever had in his power to 
 study, expressed a desire to see him in the act of roar¬ 
 ing. Anxious to please him, the keeper plucked a 
 whisker of the royal beast, and with such success, that 
 he daily repeated the experiment. Rubens, however, 
 perceived such deadly wrath in the countenance of the' 
 animal, that he begged the man to desist: the hint was 
 at first regarded, but too soon neglected. The conse¬ 
 quence was dreadful; the enraged lion struck down 
 the keeper, and lay upon him the whole day: in the 
 evening he was shot by a body of guards; but in the 
 agonies of death the keeper was torn to pieces. 
 
JOB VII. 
 
 5 
 
 v. 17.—Behold, happy is the man whom God 
 correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chas¬ 
 tening of the Almighty. 
 
 Dr. Watts, from his early infancy to his dying day, 
 scarcely ever knew what health was; but however sur¬ 
 prising it may appear, he looked on the affliction as the 
 greatest blessing of his life. The reason he assigned 
 for it was, that being naturally of a warm temper, and 
 an ambitious disposition, these visitations of Divine 
 Providence weaned his affections from the world, and 
 brought every passion into subjection to Christ. This 
 he often mentioned to his dear friend, Sir Thomas Ab¬ 
 ney, in whose house he lived many years. 
 
 vi. 15.—My brethren have dealt deceitfully as 
 a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass 
 away. 
 
 “To-day,” says Mr. Whitefield in the journal of his 
 first voyage to Georgia, “ Colonel C. came to dine with 
 ns: and in the midst of our meal, we were entertained 
 with a most agreeable sight. It was a shark, about the 
 length of a man, which followed our ship, attended with 
 five smaller fishes, called pilot-fish, much like our 
 mackerel, but larger. These, I am told, always keep 
 the shark company; and, what is most surprising, 
 though the shark is so ravenous a creature, yet let it 
 be ever so hungry, it will not touch one of them. Nor 
 are they less faithful to him; for, as I am informed, if 
 the shark is hooked, very often these little creatures 
 will cleave close to his fins, and are often taken up 
 with him.—Go to the pilot-fish, thou that forsakest a 
 friend in adversity, consider his ways, and be ashamed ” 
 
 vii. 16.—I would not live alway. 
 
 Dr. Dwight’s mother lived to be more than a hundred 
 years of age. When she was a hundred and two, some 
 people visited her on a certain day, and while they 
 were with her, the bell was heard toll for a funeral. 
 The old lady burst into tears, and said, “ When will the 
 
 1 * 
 
6 
 
 JOB IX. 
 
 bell toll for me] It seems that the bell will never toll 
 for me. I am afraid that I shall never die.” 
 
 “ How gladly my spirit would part 
 From all that around me I see! 
 
 There is but one lingering wish in my heart;— 
 
 ’Tis away from the earth and its sorrows to be. 
 
 O ! when will the bell toll for me 1” 
 
 viii. 7.—Though thy beginning was small, yet 
 thy latter end should greatly increase. 
 
 Lately died, aged 68, Richard Holt, Esq., banker, and 
 father of the Corporation of Grantham. In this gentle¬ 
 man there is a strong proof of the effect of industry and 
 persevering application to business. In early life he 
 commenced with a small capital as a grocer and tallow- 
 chandler on the premises where he died: but was rarely 
 seen except behind his counter, or in his counting- 
 house, where he continued with unabated diligence till 
 within a week of his death, leaving, it is generally be¬ 
 lieved, property to the amount of upwards of £100,000. 
 
 ix. 23.—If the scourge slay suddenly, he will 
 laugh at the trial of the innocent. 
 
 At a meeting of ministers in Leicestershire, about 
 seventy years ago, among other subjects, one of them 
 proposed the above passage for discussion. Deep seri¬ 
 ousness pervaded the conversation, while each minis¬ 
 ter gave his thoughts upon the text. When it came 
 to the turn of a Mr. Christian to speak, he dwelt upon 
 the subject with an unusual degree of feeling. He con¬ 
 sidered it as referring to the sudden death of the right¬ 
 eous; and was expiating very largely on the desirable¬ 
 ness of such an event, and the happy surprise with 
 which it would be attended; when, behold, amidst a 
 flood of rapturous tears, he took his flight, while the 
 words were still faultering on his tongue! The breth¬ 
 ren did not at first perceive that he was dead; but 
 thought the strength of his feelings had forbid him ut¬ 
 terance. At their next social meeting, Mr. Woodman 
 
JOB XI. 
 
 7 
 
 preached on the occasion from 2 Kings ii. 11. “And it 
 came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, be¬ 
 hold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, 
 and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by 
 a whirlwind into heaven.” 
 
 x. 15.—If I be righteous, yet will I not lift up 
 my head. 
 
 Some time after Mr. Newton had published his Omi- 
 cron’s Letters, and described the three stages of growth 
 in religion—from the blade, the ear, and the full corn 
 in the ear—distinguishing them by the letters A, B, and 
 C, a conceited young minister wrote to Mr. N., telling 
 him that he read his own character accurately drawn 
 in that of C; Mr. N. wrote in reply, that in drawing the 
 character of C, or full maturity, he had forgotten to 
 add, till now, one prominent feature of C’s character, 
 namely—that C never knew his own face. 
 
 xi. 10.—If he cut off—or gather together, then 
 who can hinder him 1 
 
 To a lady, who was bitterly lamenting the death of 
 an infant child, Bishop Heber related the following 
 beautiful apologue, as one with which he had himself 
 been affected.—A shepherd was mourning over the 
 death of his favourite child, and in the passionate and 
 rebellious feeling of his heart, was bitterly complaining, 
 that what he loved most tenderly, and was in itself 
 most lovely, had been taken from him. Suddenly, a 
 stranger of grave and venerable appearance stood be¬ 
 fore him, and beckoned him forth into the field. It was 
 night, and not a word was spoken till they arrived at 
 the fold, when the stranger thus addressed him: 
 “ When you select one of these lambs from the flock, 
 you choose the best, and most beautiful among them: 
 why should you murmur, because I, the good Shepherd 
 of the sheep, have selected from those which you have 
 nourished for me, the one which was most fitted for my 
 eternal fold 1” The mysterious stranger was seen no 
 more, and the father’s heart was comforted. 
 
8 
 
 JOB XIV. 
 
 xii. 6.—The tabernacles of robbers prosper, 
 and they that provoke God are secure; into whose 
 hand God bringeth abundantly. 
 
 Dr. Arbuthnot, after commenting on the great riches 
 and unparalleled iniquities of the infamous Charties, 
 concludes: “0, indignant reader! think not his life 
 useless to mankind. Providence connived at his ex¬ 
 ecrable designs, to give to after ages a conspicuous 
 proof and example of how small estimation is exorbi¬ 
 tant wealth in the sight of God, by his bestowing it on 
 the most unworthy of mortals!” 
 
 xiii. 15.—Though he slay me, yet will I trust 
 in him. 
 
 The late Rev. John Butterworth, a minister of Eng¬ 
 land, speaking of his religious experiences, says, “ One 
 day as I was reading in a book called the ‘ Marrow of 
 Modern Divinity,’ a sentence from Luther was quoted, 
 which was this, ‘ I would run into the arms of Christ, 
 if he stood with a drawn sword in his hand.’ This 
 thought came bolting into my mind—‘ so will I too ;’— 
 and those words of Job occurred—‘ Though he slay me, 
 yet will I trust in him.’ My burden dropped off; my 
 soul was filled with joy and peace through believing in 
 Christ; a venturesome believing, as Mr. Belcher calls 
 it, was the means of setting me at liberty; nor have I 
 ever been in such perplexity, respecting my interest in 
 Christ, since that time; though I have had various 
 trials in other respects.” 
 
 xiv. 10.—Man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, 
 man giveth up the ghost, and where is he 1 
 
 One Lord’s day, the Rev. Mr. Button of London, 
 preached at Harlington, from the above text. After a 
 variety of pertinent remarks on the mortality of man, 
 and the state of the soul after death, Mr. B. suggested 
 that it was possible some one or other in the congrega¬ 
 tion might be removed by death that day; and that be¬ 
 ing the case, it became each one to put the question to 
 
JOB XVII. 
 
 9 
 
 himself—“ Where am I likely to be 1 In heaven or in 
 hell 1”—Returning to the afternoon service, Mr. B. was 
 met at the meeting-house door by one of the members 
 of the church, who said, “ An affecting providence, sir, 
 has just taken place ! The congregation is assembled, 
 and a man in the gallery is now fallen down, apparent¬ 
 ly dead: he is carried into the vestry.” A medical 
 gentleman was immediately sent for, who said that the 
 person had died of an apoplectic fit. The awakening 
 providence produced a deep solemnity in the congre¬ 
 gation. “ Be ye also ready; for at such an hour as ye 
 think not, the Son of Man cometh.” 
 
 xv. 4.—Yea, thou easiest off fear, and restrain- 
 est prayer before God. 
 
 An aged person, who had been many years a well- 
 esteemed member of the church, at length became a 
 drunkard, and was excommunicated, and died in awful 
 circumstances. Some of his dying words were these— 
 “ I often prayed unto God for a mercy, which he still 
 denied me. At length I grew angry at God; where¬ 
 upon I grew slack in my acquaintance with the Lord: 
 ever since which he hath dreadfully forsaken me; and 
 I know that now he hath no mercy for me.” 
 
 xvi. 16.—On my eyelids is the shadow of 
 death. 
 
 Mr. George Moir, an eminently pious man, after 
 having been worn out by a long and painful illness, 
 was told by his wife, that the change of his counte¬ 
 nance indicated the speedy approach of death. “Does 
 it 1” he replied; “bring me a glass.” On looking at 
 himself in the glass, he was struck with the appearance 
 of a corpse which he saw in his countenance; but giv¬ 
 ing the glass back, he said, with calm satisfaction, 
 “ Ah! death has set his mark on my body, but Christ 
 has set his mark upon my soul.” 
 
 xvii. 2.—Are there not mockers with me 1 
 
 When the late Rev. John Brown of Whitburn was 
 
10 
 
 JOB XVIII. 
 
 going to London by sea, in 1814, some fellow passen¬ 
 gers of the baser sort, knowing or guessing his profes¬ 
 sion, were resolved to play oif their profane wit upon 
 him; with this design they wrote him a note, saying, 
 that as they presumed he was one that was acquainted 
 with, and could apply the “balm of Gilead,” they were 
 anxious he would prescribe for a young woman who 
 was under great distress of mind. Having read the 
 note, and perceiving at once the spirit of it, he went 
 down to the cabin from which it had been brought to 
 him, and holding it open in his hand, said, “ Gentlemen, 
 it is of little importance what insults you offer me per¬ 
 sonally, but I cannot, and will not, bear to see Him 
 whose I am, and whom I serve, insulted. Mock not, 
 lest your bands be made strong.” The effect of his 
 appearance and address were such, that during the rest 
 of the passage he was treated with the utmost respect. 
 
 xviii. 3.—Wherefore are we counted as beasts, 
 and reputed vile in your sight ? 
 
 “The present number in the girls’ school,” says Mrs. 
 Mault, in a letter from the East Indies, “ is fifty-eight; 
 and some of them are interesting children. About one- 
 third of these girls are slaves; and as the children of 
 slaves here are always the property of the mother’s 
 master, we have formed the resolution, that each girl, 
 by her own industry, shall purchase her freedom be¬ 
 fore she leaves the school.—It will give you some idea 
 in what light slaves are viewed by the higher castes, 
 who are their masters, when I mention one circum¬ 
 stance. A girl in the school had become big enough 
 to work in her master’s field; he therefore came to 
 make his claim to her. I asked him if it would not be 
 well for her to learn to read 1 and whether he should 
 not allow her to do sol He replied, “It may be well 
 for you to instruct her, as you will get a better place 
 in heaven thereby; but it is enough for me if my bull¬ 
 ocks and slaves do the work required in the fields!” 
 Here you see man, who is immortal, classed with the 
 brute which perisheth. And this is not a solitary in¬ 
 stance ; for the lower classes in society here are not 
 
JOB XXI. 
 
 11 
 
 allowed to enjoy even the same privileges as cows, and 
 some other of the brute creation !” 
 
 xix. 25.—I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
 and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the 
 earth. 
 
 “I have seen,” says Mr. Hervey, “Dr. Glyn’s poem, 
 entitled, ‘The Day of Judgment/ It is not without 
 elegance and pathos; but its chief deficiency is, that it 
 neglects to ascribe proper honour to Christ. He is, 
 indeed, slightly hinted at in one chosen line; but he 
 should have made the most distinguishing figure 
 throughout the whole piece. All judgment is com¬ 
 mitted to him. It is Christ who will come in the clouds 
 of heaven; we must all appear before the judgment- 
 seat of Christ. This, to the believer, is a most delight¬ 
 ful consideration—My Redeemer is my Judge! He 
 who died for me, passes the final sentence. Look! 
 how great is his majesty and glory, so great is my 
 atonement and propitiation.” 
 
 xx. 22.—In the fulness of his sufficiency he 
 shall be in straits. 
 
 “I knew a man,” says one, “that had wealth and 
 riches, and several houses, all beautiful and ready 
 furnished, and who would often trouble himself and his 
 family by removing from one house to another. Being 
 asked by a friend why he removed so often, he replied, 
 it was to find content in some one of them. ‘ Content/ 
 said his friend, ‘ ever dwells in a meek and quiet soul/ ” 
 
 xxi. 12, 13.—They take the timbrel and harp, 
 and rejoice at the sound of the organ.—They 
 spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go 
 down to the grave. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. G-, who lived in the state of New 
 
 York, had risen from poverty and obscurity to wealth 
 and distinction. Their prosperity appears, however, 
 
12 
 
 JOB XXII. 
 
 to have been unsanctified, and they were led to indulge 
 in those amusements which tend to banish serious re¬ 
 flection, and to bring the whole soul under the debasing 
 influence of this world. One evening, memorable in 
 the annals of amusements in the place where they 
 
 lived, Mrs. G-was present. All was hilarity and 
 
 mirth around her; but from some cause, Mrs. G- 
 
 had not her accustomed flow of spirits. She had been 
 slightly indisposed, but was now apparently well. She 
 did not, however, fully participate in the general mirth 
 that surrounded her. A gentleman present, who was 
 an intimate acquaintance, attempted to rally her: 
 
 “Why, Mrs. G-, you seem rather sober; are you 
 
 becoming serious, or are you growing old!” “I am 
 
 not very serious,” replied Mrs. G-, “ and not so old 
 
 but that I can dance, and if you doubt it, I will dance 
 with you.” The offer was joyfully accepted. “Give 
 place, ladies,” said the gentleman, as he led her into 
 
 the forming circle, “ Mrs. G-is going to join with 
 
 us.” New joy animated all countenances; the music 
 gave forth its thrilling strains. ‘ On with the dance !’ 
 seemed the impulse of every heart. The dance went 
 
 on; Mrs. G-moved a few steps, and sunk down a 
 
 lifeless corpse! 
 
 xxii. 7.—Thou hast not given water to the 
 weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread 
 from the hungry. 
 
 An Indian, who had not met with his usual success 
 in hunting, wandered down to a plantation, among the 
 back settlements of Virginia, and seeing a planter at 
 his door, asked him for a morsel of bread, for he was 
 very hungry. The planter bid him “Begone, for he 
 would give him none.” “ Will you give me then a cup 
 of your beer!” said the Indian. “No; you shall have 
 none here,” replied the planter. “ But I am very faint,” 
 said the savage; “ will you give me only a draught of 
 cold water!” “Get you gone, you Indian dog, you 
 shall have nothing here,” said the planter. It happened 
 some time after, that the planter went on a shooting 
 party up into the woods, where, intent upon his game, 
 
JOB XXIII. 
 
 13 
 
 he missed his company, and lost his way, and night 
 coming on, he wandered through the forest, till he es¬ 
 pied an Indian wigwam. He approached the savage’s 
 habitation, and asked him to show him the way to a 
 plantation, on that side of the country. ' “It is too late 
 for you to go there this evening, sir,” said the Indian, 
 “ but if you will accept of my homely fare, you are 
 welcome.” He then offered him some venison, and 
 such other refreshments as his store afforded, and hav¬ 
 ing laid some bear-skins for his bed, he desired that he 
 would repose himself for the night, and he would 
 awake him early in the morning, and conduct him on 
 his way. Accordingly, in the morning they set off, and 
 the Indian led him out of the forest, and put him on the 
 road he was to go. But just as they were taking leave, 
 he stepped before the planter, and turning round, stared 
 full in his face, and bid him say, “whether he recol¬ 
 lected his features.” The planter was now struck with 
 horror, when he beheld in his kind protector, the In¬ 
 dian whom he had so harshly treated. He confessed 
 that he knew him, and was full of excuses for his brutal 
 behaviour; to which the Indian replied, “ When you 
 see a poor Indian fainting for a cup of cold water, do n’t 
 say again, ‘ Get you gone, you Indian dog!’ ” The In¬ 
 dian then wished him well on his journey, and left him. 
 It is not difficult to say which of these had the best 
 claim to the name of Christian. 
 
 xxiii. 12.—I have esteemed the words of his 
 mouth more than my necessary food. 
 
 “Being in company,” says one, “with a young officer 
 in the East India Company’s service, lately arrived, he 
 mentioned that one of the seamen died on their passage 
 home, and when that happens, it is a custom among 
 shipmates to sell all their clothes by auction, and this 
 was done to the person alluded to. In his chest was a 
 Bible, which was put up by itself at sixpence; it pre¬ 
 sently got up to twelve shillings, and the captain de¬ 
 sired the auctioneer to knock it down, as it was too 
 much for it, he said. And my informant added, he had 
 no doubt but it would have sold for a guinea, if they 
 
 2 
 
14 
 
 JOB XXVII. 
 
 had been let alone. He also said, that a Bible was 
 considered a valuable acquisition by many of the sea¬ 
 men on board that ship ; and that frequently, at leisure 
 hours, one person read the Scriptures to^many of his 
 shipmates, who were all attention to hear.” 
 
 xxv. 4.““How then can man be justified with 
 God? 
 
 About the year 1100, amidst the almost universal 
 darkness of popery, there was a form of consolation to 
 the dying, said to be written by Anselm, archbishop of 
 Canterbury; and in the year 1475,printed in Germany. 
 It was in the following words :—“ Go to, then, as long 
 as thou art in life,—put all thy confidence in the death 
 of Christ alone,—confide in nothing else,—commit thy¬ 
 self wholly to it,—mix thyself wholly with it,— roll thy¬ 
 self wholly on it; and if the Lord God will judge thee, 
 say,‘Lord, I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 between me and thy judgment, otherwise I contend not 
 with thee and if he say, ‘ Thou art a sinner,’ reply, 
 4 Put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me 
 and my sins:’—and if he say, ‘Thou hast deserved 
 damnation,’ let thine answer be, ‘Lord, I spread the 
 death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my de¬ 
 merits ; I offer his merits for the merits I should have 
 bad and have not.’ If he still insist that he is angiy 
 at thee, reply again, ‘Lord, I put the death^of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ between me and thine anger.’” 
 
 xxvi. 14.—The thunder of his power who can 
 understand ? 
 
 “ Were I fully able to describe God,” says Epictetus, 
 «I should be God myself, or God must cease to be what 
 he is.” 
 
 xxvii. 20.—Terrors take hold on him as waters. 
 
 Yolney, a French infidel, was on board a vessel du¬ 
 ring a violent storm at sea, when the ship was in immi¬ 
 nent danger of being lost; he threw himself on the 
 
JOB XXIX. 
 
 15 
 
 deck, crying in agony, “ Oh, my God! my God!” 
 “There is a God, then, Monsieur Volney']” said one of 
 the passengers to him. “ 0 yes,” exclaimed the terri¬ 
 fied infidel, “ there is, there is! Lord save me.” The 
 ship, however, got safely into port. Yolney was ex¬ 
 tremely disconcerted when his confession was publicly 
 related; but excused it by saying, he was so frightened 
 by the storm that he did not know what he said, and 
 immediately returned to his atheistical sentiments. 
 
 xxviii. 28.—Unto man he said, Behold the fear 
 of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from 
 evil is understanding. 
 
 Mr. Hervey, in a letter to a friend, gives the following 
 account of his views and feelings, when brought to the 
 gates of death by a severe illness:—“Were I,” says 
 he, “ to enjoy Hezekiah’s grant, and have fifteen years 
 added to my life, I would be much more frequent in my 
 applications to a throne of grace. We sustain a mighty 
 loss by reading so much, and praying so little. Were 
 I to renew my studies, I would take my leave of these 
 accomplished trifles—the historians, the orators, the 
 poets of antiquity—and devote my attention to the 
 Scriptures of truth. I would sit with much greater as¬ 
 siduity at my Divine Master’s feet, and desire to know 
 nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. This wis¬ 
 dom, whose fruits are peace in life, consolation in death, 
 and everlasting salvation after death—this I would trace, 
 this I would seek, this I would explore, through the 
 spacious and delightful fields of the Old and New Tes¬ 
 tament.” 
 
 xxix. 13.—The blessing of him that was ready 
 to perish came upon me. 
 
 A gentleman from the country, passing through the 
 streets of the metropolis, saw a poor man who had for¬ 
 merly been employed by him as a labourer, and his cir¬ 
 cumstances were those of extreme poverty and distress. 
 He had come up to London to seek employment, but, 
 failing to obtain it, was reduced to a state of extreme 
 
16 
 
 JOB XXX. 
 
 destitution. The gentleman gave him a shilling, and 
 passed on, perhaps scarcely recollecting the circum¬ 
 stance, till it was recalled to his mind by the man him¬ 
 self, whom, about twelve months afterwards, he met 
 again, and whose decent clothing and cheerful looks 
 indicated a favourable change in his circumstances. 
 “Sir,” said the poor fellow, “I am bound to bless you 
 and pray for you as long as I live; that shilling you 
 gave me has been the making of me: bad enough, I 
 wanted it for food; but I was resolved first to turn it 
 round: so I went up and down one of the principal 
 streets, and collected as many hare-skins as it would 
 purchase; these I disposed of, and contented myself 
 with such food as the profits would afford, still reserving 
 the shilling as my stock in trade. By degrees I saved 
 a little more, and to you, sir, I am indebted for the foun¬ 
 dation of it all. But for your timely aid, I might have 
 perished. May a blessing attend you as long as you 
 live.” 
 
 xxx. 25.—Did I not weep for him that was in 
 trouble ? was not my soul grieved for the poor ? 
 
 One Sabbath evening, as Mr. Cruden, the author of 
 the Concordance to the Bible, was returning from a 
 place of worship, he accidentally fell in with a man 
 whose appearance betrayed anxious sorrow, fixed mel¬ 
 ancholy, and deep despair. This was too interesting 
 an object to the sympathizing mind of Mr. Cruden, to 
 be carelessly neglected, and making up to the man, he 
 tenderly accosted him, and in course of conversation 
 learned that the extreme poverty of his family, together 
 with some other causes, had driven him to the desperate 
 resolution of committing suicide. With the most af¬ 
 fectionate tenderness, Mr. C. expostulated with the man 
 on the wickedness of his intention, counselled him 
 against the perpetration of the deed, administered such 
 friendly consolations, and accompanied the whole with 
 present pecuniary assistance, and promises of future 
 support, that the poor man was prevented from his 
 horrid purpose, and returned home to his family in the 
 most cheerful state of mind. 
 
JOB XXXIII. 
 
 17 
 
 xxxi. 16.—If I have withheld the poor from 
 their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow 
 to fail. 
 
 When Sir Thomas More was Lord Chancellor, he 
 decreed a gentleman to pay a sum of money to a poor 
 widow, whom he had wronged; to whom the gentleman 
 said, “Then I hope your lordship will grant me a long 
 day to pay it.” “I will grant your motion,” said the 
 chancellor, “ Monday next is St. Barnabas’ day, which 
 is the longest day in the year; pay it to the widow that 
 day, or I will commit you to the Fleet.” 
 
 xxxii. 14.—Job hath not directed his words 
 against me; neither will I answer him with your 
 speeches. 
 
 Mr. Newton of London was a very candid and 
 friendly critic, and was often applied to by young au¬ 
 thors for his opinions and remarks, which he would 
 give very candidly, and sometimes under the name of 
 ? libblings. On one of these occasions, a practical 
 essay was put into his hand which he approved; but a 
 letter was appended, addressed to an obscure and con¬ 
 temptible writer, who had said very unwarrantable and 
 absurd things on the subject, and whom therefore the 
 writer attacked with little ceremony. The following is 
 a specimen of some of Mr. Newton’s nibblings: “ Were 
 
 the affair mine, I would take no notice of Mr.-, 
 
 but, if I did, it should be with the hope, at least with 
 the desire, of doing good, even to him. This would 
 make me avoid every harsh epithet. He is not likely 
 to be benefitted by calling him a fool. The Evangelists 
 simply relate what is said and done, and use no bitter¬ 
 ness nor severity, even when speaking of Herod, Pi¬ 
 late, or Judas. I wish their manner was more adopted 
 in controversy.” 
 
 xxxiii. 15, 16.—In a dream, in a vision of the 
 
 night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slum- 
 
 2 * 
 
18 
 
 JOB XXXIV. 
 
 berings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears 
 of men, and sealeth their instruction. 
 
 “A poor man,” says the late Rev. Thomas Scott, 
 
 “ most dangerously ill, of whose religious state I enter¬ 
 tained some hopes, seemed to me in the agonies of 
 death. I sat by his bed for a considerable time, expect¬ 
 ing to see him expire; but at length he awoke as from 
 sleep, and noticed me. I said, ‘You are extremely ill.’ 
 He replied, ‘ Yes ; but I shall not die this time.’ I asked 
 the ground of this extraordinary confidence, saying, 
 that I was persuaded he would not recover. To this 
 he answered, ‘ I have just dreamed that you, with a 
 very venerable-looking person, came to me; he asked 
 you what you thought of me: What kind of tree is it 1 
 Is there any fruit! You said, No, but there are blos¬ 
 soms. Well, then, he said, I will spare it a little longer.’ 
 All reliance upon such a dream I should, in other cir¬ 
 cumstances, have scouted as enthusiasm and presump¬ 
 tion ; but it so exactly met my ideas as to the man’s 
 state of mind, which, however, I had never communi¬ 
 cated to him, and the event, much beyond all expecta¬ 
 tion, so answered his confidence, by his recovery, that 
 I could not but think there was something peculiar. On 
 his recovery, this man for a time went on very well; 
 but afterwards he gave up all attention to religion, and 
 became very wicked; and, when I reminded him of 
 what has now been related, he treated the whole with 
 indifference, not to say with profane contempt. But ^ 
 have since learned, from very good authority, that, after 
 I left that part of the country, (the neighbourhood of 
 Olney,) he was again brought under deep conviction of 
 sin; recollected and dolefully bemoaned his conduct 
 towards me, and with respect to his dream, and became 
 a decidedly religious character.” 
 
 xxxiv. 29.—When he hideth his face, who 
 then can behold him 1 whether it be done against 
 a nation, or against a man only. 
 
 The late Rev. Ebenezer White, a pious minister in 
 Chester, was subject to frequent depression of spirits. 
 
JOB XXXV. 
 
 19 
 
 In a letter to bis mother some time before his death, he 
 says,—“ In addition to my bodily evils, I am the subject 
 of great darkness and stupidity of mind. I can hardly 
 think on divine things, or indeed any thing, for my 
 mind is as feeble as my body. I have, however, sense 
 enough left to hear some awful voices in this rod. God 
 seems to say, ‘ Who sent thee into my vineyard 1—What 
 hast thou to do to declare my statutes 1 —Give an ac¬ 
 count of thy stewardship!—Cast out the unprofitable 
 servant!—Let another take his office!’—I have many 
 other dismal impressions ; and my confidence is far too 
 weak to efface them. My only hope is the broad ground 
 of the gospel declaration, as that,—‘ Christ came to save 
 sinners—His blood cleanseth from all sin—He is able 
 to save,’ &c. And sometimes, but very rarely, I have 
 a humble hope that God intends to save me, though it 
 be as by fire.” 
 
 xxxv. 11 .—Who teacheth us more than the 
 beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the 
 fowls of heaven ? 
 
 Luther tells us of two cardinals, who, as they were 
 riding to the council of Constance, saw a shepherd in 
 the field weeping. One of them being affected with it, 
 rode up to him to comfort him, and coming near to him, 
 desired to know the reason of his weeping. The shep¬ 
 herd was unwilling to tell him at first, but at last he 
 told him, saying, “Looking upon this toad, I considered 
 that I never praised God as I ought, for making me 
 such an excellent creature as a man, comely and rea¬ 
 sonable. I have not blessed him that made me not 
 such a deformed toad as this.” The cardinal hearing 
 this, and considering that God had done far greater 
 things for him than for this poor shepherd, fell sense¬ 
 less from his mule; his servants lifting him up, and 
 bringing him to the city, he recovered his senses, and 
 cried out, “ 0, St. Austin! how truly didst thou say, the 
 unlearned rise and take heaven by force, and we, with 
 all our learning, wallow in flesh and blood!” 
 
20 
 
 JOB XXXVII. 
 
 xxxvi. 5.—Behold, God is mighty, and despis- 
 eth not any. 
 
 The late Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, North Wales, 
 in a letter to a friend, remarks:—“You say that you 
 are without all sense and feeling in religion. I might 
 ask you as the Lord did Jonah,—‘Doest thou well to 
 complain V Is there not abundantly more cause to be 
 thankful 1 Think of the Lord’s goodness, love, and 
 mercy; and this will effectually give you both sense 
 and feeling. I often find myself in the frame of mind 
 you describe. But when so, if I can but take (and I 
 have been often able) even an obscure view of the 
 Lord’s goodness to me, so unfeeling a creature, then 
 my heart begins to melt, and I recover in some degree 
 my spiritual senses. It was so with me a few days 
 ago, when the words of Elihu affected me exceedingly: 
 —‘ Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any.’ I 
 did not know, previously, what to do with myself, feel¬ 
 ing myself totally devoid of every thing good. But 
 these words—‘ despiseth not any’—so much affected 
 me that I could not but go to the Lord, notwithstanding 
 my coldness and insensibility; and I repeated the 
 words as my apology for coming. ‘Thou despisest 
 not any, therefore I will and must come to thee.’ He 
 did not frown upon me for my boldness, but filled me 
 with good things. Think as ill as you please of 
 yourself; but be sure to think well of God.” 
 
 xxxvii. 6.—He saith to the snow, Be thou on 
 the earth. 
 
 In a work, called “Voyages aux Alpes,” which has 
 recently been published in Paris, a curious account is 
 given of an avalanche which occurred in Switzerland 
 many years ago. During the absence of a Swiss farm¬ 
 er, his cottage and stable were, by the fall of the ava¬ 
 lanche, enclosed in snow; his wife and daughter were 
 at the time in the stable. Six weeks afterwards, the 
 snow having melted a little, an opening was effected, 
 and the two females were found alive, having been 
 supported by the milk of the cow during that long pe- 
 
JOB XL. 
 
 21 
 
 riod. The space left free from the snow was sufficient 
 for air, and there was a good winter’s stock of provi¬ 
 sions for the cow near the stable. 
 
 xxxviii. 30.—The waters are hid as with a 
 stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. 
 
 A missionary who had brought over a native from 
 India, was surprised one day by her saying to him,“0, 
 sir, what wicked men these sailors are! What do you 
 think they have been telling me 1 They have been 
 telling me that in England, sometimes the water gets 
 so hard that men can stand upon it; but do you think 
 I believe them; no I don’t!” The missionary replied, 
 “ But I assure you it is so, and now you believe it, don’t 
 you 1” “ Yes,” said she, “ I believe it, because you say 
 so; but how can it be V’ 
 
 xxxix. 28, 29.—She dwelleth and abideth on 
 the rock.—From thence she seeketh the prey. 
 
 Sir Robert Sibbald relates, that a woman in the Ork¬ 
 ney Islands having left her child of about one year old, 
 in a field, while she went to some distance, an eagle 
 passing by took up the infant by its clothes, and carried 
 it to her nest on a neighbouring rock; which being ob¬ 
 served by some fishermen, they instantly pursued the 
 eagle, attacked her nest, and brought back the child 
 unhurt. 
 
 xl. 4, 5.—Behold, I am vile ; what shall I an¬ 
 swer thee 1 I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 
 —Once have I spoken, but I will not answer; 
 yea, twice, but I will proceed no farther. 
 
 “It has been often observed,” says Dr. Owen, in his 
 “ Doctrine of Justification,” “that the school-men them¬ 
 selves, in their meditations and devotional writings, 
 speak a language quite different from that which they 
 use in their disputes and controversies ; and I had 
 rather learn what men really think on this head from 
 
22 
 
 JOB XLII. 
 
 their prayers than from their writings. Nor do I re¬ 
 member that I ever heard any good man, in his prayers, 
 use any expressions about justification, wherein any 
 thing of self-righteousness was introduced. Nor have 
 I observed that any public liturgies, (the Mass-Book 
 excepted,) guide men in their prayers before God, to 
 plead any thing for their acceptance with him, or as 
 the means or condition thereof,—but grace, mercy, the 
 righteousness and blood of Christ alone.” 
 
 xli. 25.—When he raiseth up himself, the 
 mighty are afraid. 
 
 “I have to report,” says a Protestant clergyman in the 
 county of Donegal, in Ireland, “a most awful and un¬ 
 paralleled event, which took place in Inverbay, on Satur¬ 
 day last. Five men in a yawl were in pursuit of a shoal 
 of sprats, for bait, with hand-loops, when a whale in pur¬ 
 suit of the shoal, with open jaws, came in immediate con¬ 
 tact with the yawl. Feeling the yawl, the monster closed 
 his jaws and crushed it to pieces, with the exception 
 of the two ends, in one of which was a young lad, in 
 the act of putting out his loop; he was the only one 
 out of the five that escaped. One man was found 
 crushed, and fastened to a piece of the floating wreck. 
 This sad accident took place within seventy yards of 
 the deep shelving shore of Ballysigad; a hundred boats 
 were at the time fishing about a mile distant. A bunch 
 of hair from the gills of the whale, fastened in a shiver 
 of the wreck, confirmed the idea that the boat was de¬ 
 stroyed in the way described, which those on shore, 
 and those in the boats, agree in attesting.” 
 
 xlii. 10.—And the Lord turned the captivity 
 of Job, when he prayed for his friends. 
 
 “I was lately informed,” says a missionary, “by a 
 pious and able minister in Somersetshire, that on the 
 evening when the first permanent impressions were 
 made on his mind, his pious mother was detained at 
 home. But she spent the time devoted to public wor¬ 
 ship in secret prayer for the salvation of her son; and 
 
PSALM II. 
 
 23 
 
 so fervent did she become in these intercessions, that, 
 like our Lord in Gethsemane, she fell on her face, and 
 remained in fervent supplications till the service had 
 nearly closed. Her son, brought under the deepest im¬ 
 pressions by the sermon of his father, went into a field 
 after the service, and there prayed most fervently for 
 himself. When he came home the mother looked at 
 her son with a manifest concern, anxious to discover 
 whether her prayers had been heard, and whether her 
 son had commenced the all-important inquiry, ‘What 
 shall I do to be saved?’ In a few days the son ac¬ 
 knowledged himself to be the subject of impressions of 
 which none need be ashamed; impressions which lay 
 the foundation of all excellence of character here, and 
 of all blessedness hereafter.” 
 
 ♦ 
 
 PSALMS. 
 
 Psalm i. 1.—Blessed is the man that walketh not 
 in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the 
 way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the 
 scornful. 
 
 “ I have considered it as a great favour of God,” says 
 Dr. Hopkins of America, “ that I was born and ed¬ 
 ucated in a religious family, and among a people, in a 
 country town, where a regard to religion and morality 
 was common and prevalent; and the education of 
 children and youth was generally practised in such a 
 degree, that young people were generally orderly in 
 their behaviour, and abstained from those open vices, 
 which were then too common in sea-port and populous 
 places. I do not recollect that I ever heard a profane 
 word from the children and youth with whom I was 
 conversant, while I lived with my parents, which was 
 till I was in my fifteenth year.” 
 
 ii. 9.—Thou shalt break them with a rod of 
 
24 
 
 PSALM IV. 
 
 iron ; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s 
 vessel. 
 
 Felix, Earl of Wurtemburg, one of the captains of 
 the Emperor Charles V., being at supper at Augsburg, 
 in company with many who were threatening the sorest 
 punishments on the persons of the pious Christians of 
 that day, swore, before them all, that before he died, he 
 would ride up to his spurs in the blood of the Luther¬ 
 ans. That Same night he was choked, probably by the 
 bursting of a blood-vessel, which filled his throat, and 
 at once removed him from the world. 
 
 iii. 3.—Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me. 
 
 Luther, when making his way into the presence of 
 Cardinal Cajetan, who had summoned him to answer 
 for his heretical opinions at Augsburg, was asked by 
 one of the cardinal’s minions, where he should find a 
 shelter, if his patron, the elector of Saxony, should de¬ 
 sert him 1 “ Under the shield of heaven!” was the 
 
 reply. The silenced minion turned round, and went 
 his way. 
 
 iv. 8.—I will both lay me down in peace, and 
 sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in 
 safety. 
 
 A gentleman states, that many years ago he was pre¬ 
 sent at the opening of a dissenting place of worship, in 
 the town of Beaconsfield, in England. After hearing 
 the late Mr. Cook of Maidenhead, and spending the day 
 very agreeably, he took up his lodgings at the princi¬ 
 pal inn. When he entered the house, he found the late 
 Rev. Matthew Wilks in the traveller’s room. Before 
 supper, Mr. Wilks rang the bell, and inquired at the 
 master of the house if he had a Bible 1 He replied 
 that he had. Mr. Wilks said, with much kindness of 
 manner, “It is always my practice to return thanks to 
 God for the mercies of the day, and to entreat his pro¬ 
 tection at night; and if you, and your wife, and serv¬ 
 ants, will come in, I shall be glad.” The master of the 
 
PSALM VII. 
 
 25 
 
 house made no objection, and his wife and servants, 
 and other persons present, came in. Mr. W. read the 
 Scriptures, and engaged in prayer, in which he mani¬ 
 fested much spirituality and fervour. 
 
 v. 3.—My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, 
 O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer 
 unto thee, and will look up. 
 
 “In the days of our fathers,” says Bishop Burnet, 
 “ when a person came early to the door of his neigh¬ 
 bour, and desired to speak with the master of the house, 
 it was as common a thing for the servants to tell him 
 with freedom,—‘ My master is at prayer/ as it is now 
 to say, ‘ My master is not up.’ ” 
 
 vi. 9.—The Lord hath heard my supplication; 
 the Lord will receive my prayer. 
 
 A minister of the gospel, in the north of England, 
 had a dissolute son, who was an officer. The father 
 had long sought the eternal welfare of his wicked child, 
 but apparently in vain. On one occasion a remark 
 was made to the father on the hopelessness of his son’s 
 condition. He replied by expressing his confidence, 
 that so many prayers would not be lost. At length the 
 father died. The son was still a profligate. Some 
 time after his father’s decease, the son was riding the 
 horse on which his father had been accustomed to tra¬ 
 vel to preach the gospel, when a thought to the follow¬ 
 ing effect darted into his mind:—“Poor creature, you 
 used to carry a saint, and now you carry a devil.” 
 The issue was, he embraced religion, and his father’s 
 prayers were answered. 
 
 vii. 4.—I have delivered him that without cause 
 is mine enemy. 
 
 When Bruce the traveller was in Abyssinia, one of 
 the governors, according to the custom of the country, 
 sent him twelve horses, saddled and bridled, desiring 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 PSALM VIII. 
 
 him to fix on one for his own use. The groom urged 
 Bruce to mount one of them, assuring him it was a 
 most excellent animal, and very quiet and safe to ride. 
 It proved that the horse was extremely vicious, of which 
 the man was well aware, and apparently had selected 
 him with a malicious intention. The traveller, how¬ 
 ever, was well skilled in horsemanship; and, after a 
 severe contest, he successfully curbed the unruly ani¬ 
 mal, completely exhausted him, and descended unhurt. 
 The governor expressed the greatest surprise and con¬ 
 cern at the transaction, and most solemnly protested 
 his entire innocence of any design in it, adding, that 
 the groom was already in irons, and before many hours 
 passed, would be put to death. “ Sir,” said the travell¬ 
 er, “ as this man has attempted my life, according to 
 the laws of the country, it is I that should name his 
 punishment.” “It is very true,” replied the governor; 
 “take him, and cut him in a thousand pieces, if you 
 please, and give his body to the kites.” “Are you 
 really sincere in what you say!” asked Bruce, “and 
 will you have no after excuses!” He swore solemnly 
 that he would not. “Then,” said Bruce, “I am a 
 Christian; the way my religion teaches me to punish 
 my enemies, is, by doing good for evil, and therefore, I 
 keep you to the oath you have sworn. I desire you to 
 set this man at liberty, and put him in the place he 
 held before; for he has not been undutiful to you.” 
 Every one present seemed pleased with these senti¬ 
 ments ; one of the attendants could not contain himself, 
 but, turning to the governor, said, “Did not I tell you 
 what my brother thought about this man! He was just 
 the same all through Tigre.” The governor, in a low 
 voice, very justly replied, “A man that behaves as he 
 does, may go through any country.” 
 
 viii. 8.—Out of the mouth of babes and suck¬ 
 lings hast thou ordained strength. 
 
 E. R., a little boy not more than four years old, hav¬ 
 ing been accustomed, from a very early age, to bow at 
 the throne of grace, while his parents engaged in do¬ 
 mestic worship, feels so lively an interest in that holy 
 
PSALM X. 
 
 27 
 
 duty, that whenever he is absent from the service, he 
 weeps, and discovers much concern. He has been 
 attached to the exercise from his infancy. One morn¬ 
 ing, when he was but fifteen months old, his father, hav¬ 
 ing some particular business pressing upon his atten¬ 
 tion, was preparing hastily to leave the house, without 
 discharging his duty as the priest of his household. As 
 soon as the child perceived this, he ran to a chair, and 
 knelt down. His father still proceeding to go out, he 
 rose up, ran after him, and took hold of his coat to 
 conduct him from the door to the usual place at which 
 he knelt while engaged in social worship. This affec¬ 
 ting deportment of the infant, brought the father to 
 tears, and compelled him to stay and perform the duty 
 devolving upon him. 
 
 ix. 10.—They that know thy name will put 
 their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not for¬ 
 saken them that seek thee. 
 
 During Mr. Legh Richmond’s last illness, a friend 
 was speaking to him of the immense value and impor¬ 
 tance of their religious principles, when he raised him¬ 
 self upright in his chair, and with great solemnity of 
 manner, said,—“Brother, we are only half awake—we 
 are none of us more than half awake !—The enemy, as 
 our poor people would say, has been very busy with 
 me. I have been in great darkness—a strange thought 
 has passed through my mind—it is all delusion. Broth¬ 
 er, brother, strong evidences, nothing but strong eviden¬ 
 ces, will do at such an hour as this. I have looked 
 here and looked there for them—all have failed me— 
 and so I rest myself on the sovereign, free, and full 
 grace of God, in the covenant by Christ Jesus: and 
 there, brother, (looking at his friend with a smile of 
 tranquillity quite indescribable,) there I have found 
 peace.” 
 
 x. 4.—God is not in all his thoughts. 
 
 A child, instructed in a Sabbath school, on being 
 asked by his teacher, if he could mention a place 
 
28 
 
 PSALM XIII. 
 
 where God was not, made the following beautiful and 
 unexpected reply,—“Not in the thoughts of the wicked.” 
 
 xi. 4.—His eyes behold, his eyelids try the 
 children of men. 
 
 A man who was in the habit of going into a neigh¬ 
 bour’s corn-field to steal the ears, one day took his son 
 with him, a boy of eight years of age. The father told 
 him to hold the bag, while he looked if any one was 
 near to see him. After standing on the fence, and 
 peeping through all the corn rows, he returned and 
 took the bag from the child, and began his guilty work. 
 “ Father,” said the boy, “ you forgot to look somewhere 
 else.” The man dropt the bag in a fright, and said, 
 “ Which way, child'?” supposing he had seen some one. 
 “ You forgot to look up to the sky, to see if God was 
 noticing you.” The father felt this reproof of the child 
 so much, that he left the corn, returned home, and never 
 again ventured to steal; remembering the truth his 
 child had taught him, that the eye of God always be¬ 
 holds us. 
 
 xii. 2.—With flattering lips, and with a double 
 heart, do they speak. 
 
 When a flattering priest told the emperor Constan¬ 
 tine, that his godliness and virtues justly deserved to 
 have in this life the empire of the world, and in the fu¬ 
 ture life, to reign with the Son of God; the emperor 
 cried,—“ Fie—tie for shame ! let me hear no more such 
 unseemly speeches, but rather suppliantly pray to my 
 Almighty Maker, that in this life, and in the life to 
 come, I may be reckoned worthy to be his servant.” 
 
 xiii. 3.—Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the 
 sleep of death. 
 
 A little daughter of Charles I. died when only four 
 years old. When on her death-bed, she was desired by 
 one of her servants to pray. She said she could not 
 say her long prayer, meaning the “Our Father;” but 
 
PSALM XVI. 
 
 29 
 
 that she would try to say her short one. “ Lighten my 
 darkness, 0 Lord God, and let me not sleep the sleep 
 of death.” As she said this, she laid her little head on 
 the pillow, and expired. 
 
 xiv. 3.—They are all gone aside, they are al¬ 
 together become filthy; there is none that doeth 
 good, no, not one. 
 
 An influential country gentleman, and patron of a 
 church, who, in his way, showed great kindness to a 
 clergyman, was hearing the minister preach on a sub¬ 
 sequent Sabbath. When the patron had reached home 
 immediately after attending church, he said, “ Here is 
 gratitude for you; here I and my family have shown 
 this man the greatest kindness, and the return he makes 
 when he gets into the pulpit, is to tell us that we are 
 great sinners unless we repent. He preaches that our 
 good works go for nothing before God. This sermon 
 will do very well for a penitentiary, a Newgate; but 
 before a genteel and respectable audience, to tell them 
 that they are sinners, is the most extraordinary conduct 
 that I ever met with.” 
 
 xv. 3.—He that backbiteth not with his tongue, 
 nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a 
 reproach against his neighbour. 
 
 “No man,” observes one of the friends of the late Dr. 
 Waugh, “was more careful to defend the character of 
 his brethren in any thing defensible. On one occasion 
 a minister, then a young man, having animadverted, in 
 a company where Dr. W. was present, on the talents 
 of another minister, in a manner which he thought 
 might leave an unfavourable impression on the minds 
 of persons present, he observed, l I have known 
 
 Mr-many years, and I never knew him speak 
 
 disrespectfully of a brother in my life.’ ” 
 
 xvtt 3.—To the saints that are in the earth, 
 
 and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 
 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 PSALM XVII. 
 
 “ On Saturday, about ten o’clock,” say the Rev. T. 
 Charles of North Wales, in a letter, “I set out from 
 Bristol. Just as I came to the outside of the gate of the 
 city, I met a dear friend, and one whom Jesus loves. I 
 was exceedingly glad to see him; for I never expected 
 to see him this side of eternity. He had been in a dan¬ 
 gerous decline for this half-year; but now, through 
 mercy, he is wonderfully recovered. He has nothing 
 to depend on but providence; and the Lord put it into 
 the heart of a rich merchant in the city to support and 
 provide for him amply during the whole of his illness ; 
 so that, though possessing nothing, he had every thing 
 to enjoy. He turned his horse back, with the intention 
 of accompanying me a mile or two. We talked; and 
 our horses carried us one mile after another, till we had 
 ridden fifteen miles; and both ourselves and our horses 
 wanted some refreshment. His conversation was ex¬ 
 ceedingly savoury, and truly profitable ; suited to one 
 who had been, in his own apprehension and that of oth¬ 
 ers, on the borders of heaven. I cannot look on our 
 meeting, but as a particular appointment and blessing 
 from providence. We stayed two hours together at the 
 inn, and parted at last with much regret. You would 
 have smiled to see our eyes fixed on each other, till dis¬ 
 tance obstructed our sight. Communion of saints is a 
 blessing indeed. I would not, for any thing, have it 
 expunged from our creed.” 
 
 xvii. 15.—As for me, I will behold thy face in 
 righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, 
 with thy likeness. 
 
 A young man who died some years ago, when feeling 
 the approach of death, is said to have uttered these 
 rapturous words—“I find nowit is no delusion! My 
 hopes are well founded! Eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to 
 conceive the glory I shall shortly partake of! Read 
 your Bible! I shall read mine no more!—no more 
 need it! Can this be dying 1 This body seems no 
 longer to belong to the soul! It appears only as a cur¬ 
 tain that covers it; and soon I shall drop this curtain. 
 
PSALM XIX. 
 
 31 
 
 and be set at liberty! I rejoice to feel these bones give 
 way, as it tells me, I shall shortly be with my God in 
 glory!” 
 
 xviii. 29.—By thee I have run through a troop; 
 and by my God have I leaped over a wall. 
 
 During the rebellion of 1745, Colonel Gardiner ac¬ 
 companied the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine of Stirling to a 
 meeting of the gentlemen of the town; and when en¬ 
 deavouring to inspire the company with the same ardour 
 of patriotic heroism which glowed in his own bosom, 
 he proceeded to state the deficiencies of the enemy’s 
 force in arms, in numbers, and in military talents ; and 
 affirmed that, were he at the head of a certain regiment 
 which he once had the honour to command, he would 
 not be afraid to encounter their whole army. Mr. 
 Erskine standing by him, and marking his expressions, 
 tapped him gently on the shoulder, and thus whispered 
 in his ear, “ Colonel, say, under God.” That great man, 
 whose piety was equal to his courage, replied, smiling, 
 “ 0 yes, Mr. Erskine, I mean that, and having God for 
 our general, we must be conquerors.” 
 
 xix. 10.—More to be desired are they than 
 gold, yea, than much fine gold. 
 
 About the beginning of January 1818, four workmen, 
 belonging to the Custom-House in Paris, who had often 
 
 occasion to work for Mr. W-, a member of the 
 
 Society of Friends, went to receive their new-year’s 
 gift. On seeing them, he informed them that he had 
 provided for them fifteen francs, (twelve shillings and 
 sixpence,) or, if they preferred it, which he would 
 strongly recommend, a Bible. “Fifteen francs,” said 
 he, “are of little consequence, you will soon have 
 spent them ; but the word of God will remain with you, 
 and you will always find in it consolation and advice.” 
 The eldest of the four said< “ As for me I should very 
 much like the word of God, but it would be useless to 
 me, as I cannot read; and if it makes no difference 
 -” “ Oh,” said Mr. W-, “ if thou prefer the 
 
32 
 
 PSALM XX. 
 
 money, here it is.” The next two also, on some ac¬ 
 count or other, preferred the francs, and Mr. W- 
 
 then adressed the youngest, advising him to choose the 
 Bible. “Since you say it is such an excellent book, I 
 would rather,” said the young man, “have it, and will 
 read a chapter every day to my mother.” “Let me 
 
 hear how thou canst read it,” said Mr. W-, and gave 
 
 him one of the four Bibles. On opening it, he found a 
 piece of gold worth forty francs. “ Thou seest,” said Mr. 
 
 W-, “ the word of God already favours thee. Go 
 
 home to thy mother.” He was unable to express his 
 gratitude. We may judge how the others looked, when 
 they found each of the Bibles contained forty francs. 
 
 xx. 7.—Some trust in chariots, and some in 
 horses: but we will remember the name of the 
 Lord our God. 
 
 His Majesty George III. was one day looking at the 
 plate which had been recently brought from Hanover, 
 and observing one of the articles with the arms of the 
 Electorate engraved upon it, he said to the domestic 
 #ho attended him, “ This belonged to King George II.; 
 I know it by the Latin inscription,” which he read, 
 adding, “In English it is, I trust in my sword. This,” 
 said he, “I always disliked ; for had I nothing to trust 
 in but my sword, I well know what would be the 
 result; therefore, when I came to the crown, I altered 
 it. My motto is—‘ I trust in the truth of the Christian 
 religion.’ ” He then, with his usual condescension, 
 said, “ Which of the two inscriptions do you like best 1” 
 The attendant replied, “Your Majesty’s is infinitely 
 preferable to the other.” He said, “I have ever 
 thought so, and ever shall think so: for therein is my 
 trust and confidence.” He continued, “ Think you, is 
 it possible for any one to be happy and comfortable 
 within himself, who has not that trust and confidence! 
 I know there are those who affect to be at ease while 
 living in a state of infidelity; but it is all affectation; 
 it is only the semblance of happiness—The thing itself 
 is impossible.” 
 
PSALM XXII. 
 
 33 
 
 xxi. 11.—They imagined a mischievous device, 
 which they are not able to perform. 
 
 A savage in the South Sea Islands, one day meeting 
 two children wandering alone among the mountains, 
 stopped them and told the poor creatures that he should 
 kill, roast, and eat them. The boys said, “Do it, do it; 
 and don’t pretend that you will, and then you won’t.” 
 He assured them that they should find he was not 
 frightening them with a false pretence, for he would do 
 as he said. Accordingly he kindled a fire, and was 
 going—as the children, who durst not attempt to run 
 away, said afterwards—to kill, disembowel, and bake 
 them, in the manner that hogs are slaughtered and 
 cooked. Meanwhile some girls coming suddenly in 
 sight, and shrieking with alarm, the -wretch fled into 
 the woods. He was, however, soon hunted out, taken, 
 and brought to justice. On his trial he did not deny 
 his cannibal purpose; wherefore, on the testimony of 
 the two lads, he was convicted and condemned to be 
 hanged within a fortnight. The sentence was executed, 
 and he confessed its justice. 
 
 xxii. 26.—The meek shall eat and be satisfied. 
 
 The Rev. Ebenezer Erskine having gone to assist 
 the Rev. Mr. Grier of the College Church, Edinburgh, 
 in administering the Lord’s Supper, lodged in the 
 same house with Janet Paterson, a pious woman, whom 
 he highly esteemed, (being kindly entertained, very 
 probably under her own roof.) Finding him somewhat 
 depressed in spirit on Sabbath morning, she reminded 
 him of the promise,—“ The meek shall eat and be satis¬ 
 fied,”—adding, that these words had frequently been 
 made sweet to her soul, on his account. Mr. Grier 
 preached on that text,—“ My flesh is meat indeed, and 
 my blood is drink indeed;” and the first words he read 
 to be sung after sermon, were the same that Janet Pa¬ 
 terson had suggested for his encouragement in the 
 morning. This, he says, melted his heart, and called 
 forth ardent wishes that the promise might be accom¬ 
 plished to his soul. 
 
34 
 
 PSALM XXV. 
 
 xxiii. 5.—Thou' anointest my head with oil; 
 my cup runneth over. 
 
 “ I confess,” says Captain Wilson, “ that, since my 
 return from India, I have been forcibly struck with 
 several things, which prove the Scriptures to be an 
 eastern book. For instance, the language of one of the 
 Psalms, where David says, ‘Thou anointest my head 
 with oil, my cup runneth over,’ most likely alludes to a 
 custom which continues to this day. I once had this 
 ceremony performed on myself, in the house of a rich 
 Indian, in the presence of a large company. The 
 gentleman of the house poured upon my hands and 
 arms, a delightfully odoriferous perfume, put a golden 
 cup into my hand, and poured wine into it, till it ran 
 over, assuring me, at the same time, that it was a great 
 pleasure to him to receive me, and I should find a rich 
 supply in his house. I think the inspired poet express¬ 
 ed his sense of the Divine goodness by this allusion.” 
 
 xxiv. 6.—This is the generation of them that 
 seek him. 
 
 Of the Rev. Mr. Blackerby, it is said,—“He was 
 much in prayer:—much in closet prayer—much in 
 walking prayer—much in conjugal prayer, for he pray¬ 
 ed daily with his wife alone—much in family prayer, 
 daily with his own family—and almost daily with some 
 other family. He used to ride about, from family to 
 family, and only alight and pray with them, and give 
 them some heavenly exhortation, and then went away 
 to some other family. Also, he was very much in 
 fasting and prayer.” 
 
 xxv. 15.—Mine eves are ever toward the Lord. 
 
 Right use ox the exes. —An old author says, “We 
 ought not to look for that in the law, which can only 
 be found in the gospel,—not to look for that in ourselves, 
 ■which can only be found in Christ,—not to look for 
 that in the creature, which can only be found in the 
 
PSALM XXVII. 
 
 35 
 
 Creator,—not to look for that on earth, which can only 
 he found in heaven.*’ 
 
 xxvi. 8.—Lord, I have loved the habitation of 
 thy house, and the place where thine honour 
 dwelleth. 
 
 Mr. W. Sparshalt, many years an officer in his Ma¬ 
 jesty’s navy, was so remarkable for his attachment to 
 the house and ordinances of God, that he was never 
 known to absent himself from his own place of worship 
 except once, during his whole religious career; and 
 though at times he was so afflicted with deafness that 
 he could not hear a word, he nevertheless continued to 
 fill his place in the sanctuary. He said that he felt it 
 his duty thus to honour divine institutions, and that he 
 felt an advantage in it. In this case he was accustom¬ 
 ed to read and meditate on the hymns sung, and the 
 Scriptures which were read: in the time of prayer he 
 prayed for himself, and during the sermon, he would 
 get a friend to show the text, and would employ his 
 mind in reflection on it. In this way it is probable that 
 he derived more benefit from the means of grace, than 
 many who are not thus afflicted. 
 
 xxvii. 10.—When my father and my mother 
 forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. 
 
 The following circumstance occurred some years 
 ago at Warrington, and is related by a gentleman of 
 respectability: — “About three weeks ago, two little 
 boys decently clothed, the eldest appearing about thir¬ 
 teen, and the youngest eleven, called at the lodging- 
 house for vagrants in this town, for a night’s lodging. 
 The keeper of the house very properly took them to the 
 vagrants’ office to be examined, and if fit objects, to be 
 relieved. The account they gave of themselves was 
 extremely affecting. It appeared, that but a few weeks 
 had elapsed since these poor little wanderers had re¬ 
 sided with their parents in London. The typhus fever 
 in one day carried off both father and mother, leaving 
 
36 
 
 PSALM XXVIII. 
 
 them orphans in a wide world, without a home and 
 without friends. After the death of their parents, hav¬ 
 ing an uncle in Liverpool, they resolved to throw them¬ 
 selves upon his protection. Tired, therefore, and faint, 
 they arrived in this town on their way. Two bundles 
 contained their little all; in the younger boy’s was 
 found a neatly covered and carefully preserved Bible. 
 The keeper of the lodging-house, addressing the little 
 boy, said,—‘You have neither money nor meat; will 
 you sell me this Bible 1 I will give you five shillings 
 for it.’ ‘No/ replied he, the. tears rolling down his 
 cheeks, ‘ I will starve first.’ ‘ Why do you love the 
 Bible so much? He answered,‘No book has stood 
 my friend so much as my Bible.’ ‘Why, what has 
 your Bible done for you V He answered, ‘ When I 
 was a little boy, about seven years of age, I became a 
 Sunday scholar in London. Through the kind atten¬ 
 tion of my master, I soon learned to read my Bible; 
 this Bible, young as I was, showed me that I was a 
 sinner; it also pointed me to a Saviour, and I thank 
 God that I found mercy at the hands of Christ, and I 
 am not ashamed to confess him before the world. The 
 Bible has been my support all the way from London; 
 hungry and weary, often have I sat down by the way- 
 side to read my Bible, and have found refreshment from 
 it.’ He was then asked, ‘ What will you do when you 
 get to Liverpool, should your uncle refuse to take you 
 in? He replied, ‘My Bible tells me, When my father 
 and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me 
 np.’ ” 
 
 xxviii. 3.—Draw me not away with the wicked, 
 and with the workers of iniquity. 
 
 A gentleman, at breakfast with Mr. Newton, told the 
 company of two seamen, under sentence of death for the 
 mutiny at Bantry-bav, having been brought to the 
 knowledge of Jesus. The sentence being remitted, they 
 were sent to the hulks at Woolwich. This gentleman 
 providentially met with a letter from one of them to his 
 father, in which he complained most pathetically of the 
 dreadful company with which he was surrounded. 
 
PSALM XXX. 
 
 37 
 
 The letter, altogether, was a most Christian one, and 
 very well expressed. The writer was afraid of relapsing 
 into his former profligacy, if he continued amongst the 
 horrid company in the hulks. Upon hearing this re¬ 
 lation, Mr. Newton remarked, “They would be in a 
 more dangerous situation, were they placed amongst a 
 set of smooth reasoners in the higher circles of life:— 
 at present they are kept on watch; in the other case 
 they would be off their guard, and more likely to re¬ 
 ceive damage.” 
 
 xxix. 7.—The voice of the Lord breaketh the 
 cedars. 
 
 Some time ago, about thirty persons were engaged 
 in hay-making in Yorkshire. At a time when the rain 
 was pouring down in torrents, the lightning awfully 
 vivid, and the thunder rolling with tremendous crashes 
 over their heads, they were all hastening, with one ac¬ 
 cord, to the offered shelter of a beautiful large oak tree; 
 but by the persuasions of their master’s brother, who 
 happened to be with them, and who had heard of acci¬ 
 dents frequently occurring from the attraction which 
 trees afforded to the lightning, they were induced to 
 forego their first intention, and to take shelter under 
 some of the hay. Scarcely had they reached the hay, 
 when they saw that tree, under which they had been so 
 eager to shelter themselves, struck with the lightning, 
 the large trunk split from the top to the bottom, and all 
 the leaves blasted and withered. How grateful should 
 these men have been for so merciful a preservation 
 from danger so imminent! 
 
 xxx. 5.—Weeping may endure for a night, but 
 joy cometh in the morning. 
 
 The Rev. James Hog of Carnock, an eminent minis¬ 
 ter, was long under deep mental distress. When he 
 had lived in Holland for a considerable time, it pleased 
 God unexpectedly to impart a great measure of light to 
 his mind. “ 0 how sweet,” says he, “ the light was to 
 me, who had been shut up in a dark dungeon! for 
 
 4 
 
38 
 
 PSALM XXXII. 
 
 sometimes I could do nothing but cry,‘Send out thy 
 light and thy truth.’ After I had thus cried, not with¬ 
 out some experience of a gracious answer, and expec¬ 
 tation of more, I quickly found my soul brought out of 
 prison, and breathing in a free and heavenly air; alto¬ 
 gether astonished at the amazing mercy and grace of 
 God.” 
 
 xxxi. 23.—The Lord preserveth the faithful, 
 and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. 
 
 When the Rev. Mr. Galland was minister at Ilikiston, 
 in Nottinghamshire, an ungodly man threatened his 
 life, because he supposed his preaching had contributed 
 to the fanaticism of his son’s wife,—a crime that could 
 not be forgiven. He vowed no less a vengeance than 
 death, and sought an opportunity to execute it; but the 
 Lord, who defends his people, took care of his servant, 
 and shielded his head in the hour of danger. Having 
 heard that there was a prayer-meeting at his son’s 
 house, on the Sabbath morning, he repaired thither 
 with the instrument of death; having been hardened to 
 his purpose by drinking all the preceding night. His 
 companions in wickedness, however, endeavoured to 
 dissuade him from his design, and to wrest the knife 
 from his hand, with which he meant to perform the 
 murderous deed. He repaired to the place, breathing 
 threatening and slaughter: but he was disappointed of 
 his victim ; his information respecting the meeting was 
 incorrect. Divine judgment overtook him, however,— 
 for on his return he fell into a ditch, and was found 
 dead. 
 
 xxxii. 7.—Thou art my hiding-place : thou shalt 
 preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me 
 about with songs of deliverance. 
 
 Cowper the poet, who was subject to mental de¬ 
 rangement, once resolved to throw himself into the 
 Thames.—For this purpose, he got into a hackney 
 coach, and desired the man to drive him to Blackfriars 
 
PSALM XXXIV. 
 
 39 
 
 Bridge. The man drove all over London, but could 
 not find the place; this was unaccountable, as the 
 driver was well acquainted with London. “ 0 !” said 
 Cowper, “you have driven me quite far enough, drive 
 me home again.” He went into his room, and com¬ 
 posed that beautiful hymn,— 
 
 “ God moves in a mysterious way, 
 
 His wonders to perform ;” &c. 
 
 xxxiii. 15.—He fashioneth their hearts alike. 
 
 When Mr. Occam, the Indian preacher, was in Eng¬ 
 land, he visited Mr. Newton of London, and they com¬ 
 pared experiences. “Mr. Occam,” says Mr. Newton, 
 “ in describing to me the state of his heart, when he 
 was a blind idolater, gave me, in general, a striking 
 picture of what my own was in the early part of my 
 life; and his subsequent views corresponded with mine, 
 as face answers to face in a glass, though I dare say, 
 when he received them, he had never heard of Calvin’s 
 name.” 
 
 xxxiv. 9.—O fear the Lord, ye his saints; for 
 there is no want to them that fear him. 
 
 A poor widow, left with three small children, who 
 lived in the adjoining parish to St. Mary’s, Leicester, 
 and to whom Mr. Robinson’s preaching had been use¬ 
 ful, and who was in the constant practice of going to 
 his Tuesday evening lecture, was one of these evenings 
 sitting spinning at her wheel, engaged in deep medita¬ 
 tion, her soul longing for the courts of the Lord. While 
 thus engaged, the sound of St. Mary’s bells caught the 
 ear of one of her children, who were playing in her 
 little apartment. The child instantly ran to his mother, 
 exclaiming, “ Mother, don’t you go to church 1” The 
 poor woman heavily sighed, and said, “No my dear, if 
 I don’t stop at home and spin this wool, you will have 
 no supper.” By this time the other two children had 
 come to her wheel; and having heard what had been 
 said, the youngest eagerly exclaimed, “O, mam, go 
 
40 
 
 PSALM XXXV. 
 
 turch; God send us supper.” Struck by this remark 
 of her child, she set aside her wheel, and went to the 
 church. Having got wet in returning home, she sat 
 by her little fire, drying her clothes, when a neighbour 
 entered her room, and said, “ Betty, I owe you two¬ 
 pence, and I am come to pay you.” Betty answered, 
 “ Why, neighbour, I don’t know you owe me ought.” 
 “ Yes, but I do; I borrowed twopence of you a year and 
 a half since, and it is just come into my mind.” She 
 then paid her the twopence, and bid her good-night. 
 The poor widow was filled with surprise and gratitude, 
 and immediately sent one of her children to buy a cake, 
 and thus satisfied the wants of nature. 
 
 xxxv. 13, 14.—But as for me, when they were 
 sick, my clothing was sackcloth : 1 humbled my 
 soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into 
 mine own bosom.—I behaved myself as though 
 he had been my friend or my brother. 
 
 The late Mr. Brown of Haddington manifested a sin¬ 
 gular readiness to forgive his enemies. Notwithstand¬ 
 ing the abuse he received from some ministers, when 
 a student, it was remarked, that he was never heard to 
 speak evil of them, nor so much as to mention the af¬ 
 fair. A dissenting clergyman, who had used him rude¬ 
 ly, being reduced to poverty, he sent him money, and 
 in a way which concealed the benefactor. After the 
 clergyman’s decease, he offered to take one of his des¬ 
 titute orphans, and bring him up with his own children. 
 To certain writers who reviled him from the press, he 
 meekly replied, “ But now that the fact is committed, 
 instead of intending to resent the injury these reverend 
 brethren have done me, I reckon myself, on account 
 thereof, so much the more effectually obliged, by the 
 Christian law, to contribute my utmost endeavours to¬ 
 wards the advancement of their welfare, spiritual or 
 temporal, and am resolved, through grace, to discharge 
 these obligations, as Providence gives me opportunity, 
 for the same. Let them do to, or with me, what they 
 will, may their portion be redemption through the blood 
 
PSALM XXXVII. 
 
 41 
 
 of Jesus, even the forgiveness of sins according to the 
 riches of his grace; and call me what they please, may 
 the Lord call them, ‘The holy people, the redeemed of 
 the Lord; sought out, a city not forsaken.’ ” 
 
 xxxvi. 8.—They shall be abundantly satisfied 
 with the fatness of thy house : and thou shalt 
 make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures. 
 
 A little girl said to a gentleman, who was never 
 known to enter the house of God,—“Sir, why don’t you 
 go to church; for I am sure, such as you are,you need 
 food as well as myselfl” The gentleman answered 
 her, “ Pray, who feeds you, and what kind of food is it 
 that you receive at church V' She replied, “ Sir, it is 
 God who feeds me there, and his word is the food I am 
 supplied with; and I assure you, that though my mo¬ 
 ther, being very poor, is sometimes scarcely able to 
 give me food to eat, yet, fed as I am every Sunday with 
 the bread of life, I never know what the pains of hun¬ 
 ger are.” The gentleman, astonished at what he heard 
 from the little girl, resolved from that time to attend 
 the service of the sanctuary; and he has adhered to 
 his determination, and now feels and confesses the 
 great pleasure and profit that arises from a constant 
 attendance on the means of grace. 
 
 xxxvii. 8.—Trust in the Lord, and do good: 
 so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou 
 shalt be fed. 
 
 A good man, overwhelmed with trouble, and unable 
 to extricate himself, or procure a friend in the hour of 
 necessity, came to the resolution, as his last resource, 
 of leaving his native country. There remained one 
 Lord’s day more previous to his departure, and from 
 an apprehension that it would be the last he should 
 ever spend in his own land, it impressed him with 
 more than usual solemnity. When at the house of 
 God, the text which the minister selected for the sub¬ 
 ject of his discourse was the preceding,—“Trust in the 
 
 4 * 
 
42 
 
 PSALM XXXIX. 
 
 Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 
 verily thou shalt be fed.” On hearing these words, he 
 found his attention particularly arrested; nor did he 
 feel himself less interested in the sermon, every sen¬ 
 tence of which appeared peculiarly applicable to his 
 circumstances, and led him to conclude the whole to 
 be the voice of Providence. Impressed with this con¬ 
 viction, he changed his purpose, and resolved to struggle 
 against the torrent of adversity, and await the pleasure 
 of his God concerning him. The appointed time to 
 favour him soon arrived. The Lord quickly turned 
 his captivity like that of Job, and caused his latter end 
 to be more blessed than his beginning. 
 
 xxxviii. 12.—They also that seek after my life 
 lay snares for me. 
 
 While Mr. George Wishart was preaching at Dun¬ 
 dee, Cardinal Beaton employed a popish priest to as¬ 
 sassinate him. One day after the sermon was ended, 
 and the people had departed, the priest stood waiting 
 at the bottom of the stairs, with a dagger in his hand, 
 under his gown. But Mr. Wishart having a sharp 
 piercing eye, and seeing the priest as he came, said to 
 him, “My friend, what would you have?” And im¬ 
 mediately seizing the dagger, took it from him. The 
 priest, being terrified, fell down upon his knees, con¬ 
 fessed his intenfion, and craved pardon. A noise be¬ 
 ing hereupon raised, the people said, “Deliver the trai¬ 
 tor to us, or we will take him by force;” and they burst 
 in at the gate. But Wishart, taking the priest in his 
 arms, said,—“Whosoever hurts him shall hurt me, for 
 he hath done me no mischief, but much good, by teach¬ 
 ing me more heedfulness for the time to come.” And 
 thus he appeased them, and saved the priest’s life. 
 
 xxxix. 1.—I said, I will take heed to my ways, 
 that I sin not with my tongue. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, giving advice to an intimate friend, 
 said,—“ Above all, accustom your children constantly 
 to tell the truth, without varying in any circumstance.” 
 
PSALM XLII. 
 
 43 
 
 A lady present, emphatically exclaimed, “Nay, this is 
 too much; for a little variation in narrative must hap¬ 
 pen a thousand times a day, if one is not perpetually 
 watching.” “ Well, Madam,” replied the doctor, “ and 
 you ought to be perpetually watching. It is more from 
 carelessness about truth, than from intentional lying, 
 that there is so much falsehood in the world.” 
 
 xl. 9.—I have preached righteousness in the 
 great congregation; lo, I have not refrained my 
 lips. 
 
 Dr. Payson’s “ruling passion was strong in death.” 
 His love for preaching was as invincible as that of the 
 ™ ; .ser for gold, who dies grasping his treasure. He di¬ 
 rected a label to be attached to his breast, with the 
 words, “Remember the words which I spake unto you, 
 while I was yet present with you;” that they might be 
 read by all who came to look at his corpse, and by 
 which he, being dead, still spake. The same words, at 
 the request of his people, were engraven on the plate of 
 the coffin, and read by thousands on the day of his in¬ 
 terment. 
 
 xli. 5.—Mine enemies speak evil of me. 
 
 Mr, Philip Henry used to remind those who spoke 
 evil of people behind their backs, of that law,—“Thou 
 shalt not curse the deaf.” Those that are absent are 
 deaf, they cannot right themselves, and therefore say no 
 ill of them. A friend of his, inquiring of him concern-! 
 ing a matter which tended to reflect upon some people; 
 he began to give him an account of the story, but im¬ 
 mediately broke off, and checked himself with these 
 words, “ But our rule is, to speak evil of no man,” and 
 would proceed no farther in the story. The week be¬ 
 fore he died, a person requested the loan of a particular 
 book from him. “ Truly,” said he, “ I would lend it to 
 you, but that it rakes in the faults of some, which should 
 rather be covered with a mantle of love.” 
 
 xlii. 3.—Where is thy God 1 
 
44 
 
 PSALM XLIV. 
 
 During the American war, a British officer, walking 
 out at sun-rising, observed at some distance an old man, 
 whom he supposed taking aim at some game. When 
 come up to him, the officer took him by the arm, and 
 said, “ What are you about 1” The old man made no 
 reply, but waved his hand expressive of his desire for 
 him to stand at a distance. This not satisfying the in¬ 
 quirer, he repeated the question, when the native again 
 waved his hand. At length, somewhat astonished, the 
 officer said, “You old fool, what are you about V’ To 
 which he answered, “lam worshipping the Great Spirit.” 
 The question was then asked, “ Where is he to be 
 found V ’ To which the old man replied, “ Soldier, 
 where is he not 1” and with such energy of expression 
 as made the officer confess he should never forget it to 
 his dying day. 
 
 xliii. 3.—O send out thy light and thy truth. 
 
 It is recorded of one of the Reformers, that when he 
 had acquitted himself in a public disputation with 
 great credit to his Master’s cause, a friend begged to 
 see the notes which he had been observed to write, sup¬ 
 posing that he had taken down the arguments of his 
 opponents, and sketched the substance of his own reply. 
 Greatly was he surprised to find that his notes consisted 
 simply of these ejaculatory petitions, “ More light, Lord, 
 —more light, more light!” 
 
 xliv. 6, 7.—For' I will not trust in my bow, 
 neither will my sword save me.—But thou hast 
 saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to 
 shame that hated us. 
 
 During the revolutionary war of America, General 
 Washington’s army was reduced at one time to great 
 straits, and the inhabitants of the part of the country 
 where his army was encamped, were much alarmed at 
 the prospect of its destruction. One of them, who left 
 his home with an anxious heart, one day, as he was 
 passing the edge of a wood near the camp, heard the 
 sound of a voice. He stopped to listen, and looking 
 
PSALM XLVII. 
 
 45 
 
 between the trunks of the large trees, he saw General 
 Washington engaged in prayer. He passed quietly on, 
 that he might not disturb him, and on returning home, 
 told his family, that he was cheered with a confident 
 hope of the success of the Americans, for their leader 
 did not trust to his own strength, but sought aid from 
 the Hearer of prayer, who promised in his word—“Call 
 unto me, and I will answer, and show thee great and 
 mighty things which thou knowest not.” 
 
 xlv. 13.—The King’s daughter is all glorious 
 within: her clothing is of wrought gold. 
 
 One day, a poor pious woman called upon two ele¬ 
 gant young ladies, who received her with Christian af¬ 
 fection, regardless of her poverty, and sat down in the 
 drawing-room, to converse with her upon religious 
 subjects. While thus employed, their brother, a gay 
 youth, came in, and appeared astonished to see his 
 sisters thus situated and employed. One of them in¬ 
 stantly started up, saying,—“ Brother, do n’t be sur¬ 
 prised ; this is a King’s daughter, though she has not 
 yet got on her fine clothes.” 
 
 xlvi. 11.—The Lord of hosts is with us; the 
 God of Jacob is our refuge. 
 
 The late Rev. John Wesley, after a long life of great 
 labour and usefulness, concluded his course in peace 
 and holy triumph. A short time before his departure, 
 a person coming into the room, he strove to speak to 
 him, but could not. Finding they could not understand 
 him, he paused a little, and with all the remaining 
 strength he had, cried out,—“ The best of all is, God is 
 with .us;” and then lifting up his dying arm in token 
 of victory, and raising his feeble voice with a holy 
 triumph, not to be expressed, he again repeated the 
 heart-reviving words—“The best of all is, God is.with 
 
 xlvii. 6.—Sing praises to God, sing praises; 
 sing praises unto our King, sing praises. 
 
46 
 
 PSALM XLVIII. 
 
 “Among others of our edifying compositions,” says 
 Mr. Hervey in a letter to Dr. Watts, “I have reason to 
 thank you for your Sacred Songs, which I have intro¬ 
 duced into the service of my church; so that in the 
 solemnities of the Sabbath, and in a lecture on the 
 week-day, your muse lights up the incense of our 
 praise, and furnishes our devotions with harmony.” 
 
 xlviii. 3, 4, 5.—God is known in her palaces * 
 for a refuge.—For, lo, the kings were assembled, 
 they passed by together.—They saw it, and so 
 they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted 
 away. 
 
 During the rebellion in Ireland in 1793, the rebels 
 had long meditated an attack on the Moravian settle¬ 
 ment at Grace-Hill, Wexford county. At length they 
 put their threat in execution, and a large body of them 
 marched to the town. When they arrived there, they 
 saw no one in the streets nor in the houses. The 
 brethren had long expected this attack, but true to their 
 Christian profession, they would not have recourse to 
 arms for their defence, but assembled in their chapel, 
 and in solemn prayer besought Him, in whom they 
 trusted, to be their shield in the hour of danger. The 
 ruffian band, hitherto breathing nothing but destruction 
 and slaughter, were struck with astonishment at this 
 novel sight. Where they expected an armed hand, 
 they saw it clasped in prayer—where they expected 
 weapon to weapon, and the body armed for the fight, 
 they saw the bended knee and humble head before the 
 throne of the Prince of Peace. They heard the prayer 
 for protection—they heard the intended victims asking 
 mercy for their murderers—they heard the song of 
 praise, and the hymn of confidence, in the “ sure pro¬ 
 mise of the Lord.” They beheld in silence this little 
 band of Christians—they felt unable to raise their hand 
 against them—and, after lingering in the streets, which 
 they filled for a night and a day, with one consent they 
 turned and marched away from the place, without hav¬ 
 ing injured an individual, or purloined a single loaf of 
 
PSALM LI. 
 
 47 
 
 bread. In consequence of this signal mark of protec¬ 
 tion from heaven, the inhabitants of the neighbouring 
 villages brought their goods, and asked for shelter in 
 Grace-Hill, which they called the City of Refuge. 
 
 xlix. 5.—Wherefore should I fear in the days 
 of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall com¬ 
 pass me about 1 
 
 A friend, surprised at the serenity and cheerfulness 
 which the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine possessed in the im¬ 
 mediate view of death and eternity, put the question,— 
 “Sir, are you not afraid of your sins 1” “Indeed no,” 
 was his answer; “ever since I knew Christ, I have 
 never thought highly of my frames and duties, nor am 
 I slavishly afraid of my sins.” 
 
 L 20.—Thou sittest and speakest against thy 
 brother. 
 
 The late Rev. S. Pearce, of Birmingham, was a man 
 of an excellent spirit. It was a rule with him to dis¬ 
 courage all evil speaking; nor would he approve of 
 just censure, unless some good and necessary end was 
 to be answered by it. Two of his distant friends being 
 at his house together, one of them, during the tempo¬ 
 rary absence of the other, suggested something to his 
 disadvantage. He put a stop to the conversation, by 
 observing—“ He is here :—take him aside, and tell him 
 of it by himself: you may do him good.” 
 
 li. 3.—I acknowledge my transgressions ; and 
 my sin is ever before me. 
 
 Sir John Brenton, royal navy, brought home from 
 the Cape of Good Hopo? a clever little Hottentot boy, 
 and in a letter to Dr. Philip, states that a change had 
 taken place in the character of the boy; in proof of 
 which he adds,—“ A clergyman asked him which char¬ 
 acter in the Old Testament he would rather have been, 
 if it were left to his choice. The boy replied, ‘ David’s. 
 
48 
 
 PSALM LIII. 
 
 ‘ Why David’s rather than Solomon’s, whose reign was 
 so glorious 1 ?’ ‘Why? We have evidence of David’s 
 repentance,’ said the lad, ‘ but I don’t find any thing in 
 the Bible, that enables me to draw the same satisfactory 
 conclusion concerning the repentance of Solomon.’ ” 
 
 lii. 5.—God shall likewise destroy thee for ever ; 
 he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of 
 thy dwelling-place, and root thee out of the land of 
 the living. 
 
 Mr. Rowe, a non-conformist minister, who had been 
 ejected from Litchet, was informed against for preach¬ 
 ing in a cottage among his old parishioners. He es¬ 
 caped into another county; but many of the hearers 
 were apprehended and carried before a justice, who 
 hearing that Mr. Rowe’s text had been, “ Mortify your 
 members which are upon the earth,” profanely burles¬ 
 qued the words, and uttered many indecencies. Not 
 long after, he was seized with a mortal disease, which 
 was of such a nature, that on his death-bed he declared 
 it was a just judgment on him for his profaneness in 
 this instance. The informer himself soon afterwards 
 had the use of one side taken from him, and died in 
 that state: and a peace officer, who had assisted him in 
 disturbing the meeting, was within a few weeks killed 
 by his own cart, directly opposite to the house where 
 the meeting was held. 
 
 liii. 1.—The fool hath said in his heart, There 
 is no God. 
 
 The three young men who were executed in Edin¬ 
 burgh, in 1812, immediately after committing the rob¬ 
 beries for which they suffered, had gone to Glasgow; 
 and one evening they heard thje family with whom they 
 lodged, employed in the worship of God. This struck 
 their minds exceedingly, and suggested the question,— 
 Whether there is a God, and a world to come? After 
 some discussion they came to this conclusion,—“ That 
 there is no God, and no w'orld to come!”—a conclu- 
 
PSALM LV. 
 
 49 
 
 sion, as they themselves acknowledged, to which they 
 came on this sole ground—and how much of the infi¬ 
 delity that abounds in the world rests on no better 1 — 
 that they wished it to be so. 
 
 liv. 5.—He shall reward evil unto mine enemies. 
 
 In the reign of Henry VII., Dr. Whittington, a bi¬ 
 shop’s chancellor, having condemned a pious woman 
 to the flames at Chipping, Sodbui'y, went to that town 
 to witness the courageous manner in which she set her 
 seal to the truth of the gospel. On his return from that 
 affecting scene, a furious bull passed through the crowd, 
 none of whom suffered from him, gored the chancellor, 
 and suddenly inflicted death in a most awful manner. 
 
 lv. 17.—Evening, and morning, and at noon, 
 will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my 
 voice. 
 
 “A short time since,” says a lady, “I was one even¬ 
 ing with a friend, after having dismissed my children 
 for the night, when a servant came in and whispered 
 to me, that my eldest boy, about six years of age, was 
 crying very much, and said he must speak to me. As 
 it was very unusual for me to hear such an account of 
 him, I was much concerned, and hastened to his bed¬ 
 room, when I found him in the greatest distress and 
 agitation. On inquiring the cause, he said, * 0, mam¬ 
 ma, nurse has put me to bed without hearing me say 
 my prayers, and I dare not go to sleep, without asking 
 God to watch over me while I sleep.’ As he had been 
 some time in bed, and was quite feverish from agita¬ 
 tion, I feared his taking cold, and desired him to kneel 
 on the bed. He gave me a most expressive look, and 
 replied, ‘No, mamma, I must kneel on the floor; God 
 will not listen to me if I say my prayers in bed.’ Such 
 views had he of the spiritual nature of prayer, and of 
 the reverence due to the Great Creator. 
 
 5 
 
50 
 
 PSALM LVIII. 
 
 lvi. 9.—When I cry unto thee, then shall mine 
 enemies turn back. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Bradbury, having one evening 
 called his servants to family worship, which he regu¬ 
 larly observed, they came up stairs without recollecting 
 to shut the area door, next the street. Some fellows 
 seeking to commit robbery, happened to observe the 
 door open, and one of them getting over the palisadoes, 
 entered the house. Creeping up stairs, he heard the 
 old gentleman praying, that God would preserve his 
 house from thieves. The man was so struck as to be 
 unable to persist in his wicked design. He therefore 
 returned and told the circumstance to his companions, 
 who abused him for his timidity. But the man himself 
 was so affected, that soon after, he related the event to 
 Mr. B. and became an attendant on his ministry. 
 
 Ivii. 1.—In the shadow of thy wings will I make 
 my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. 
 
 At one time, when a pious minister of the gospel 
 was passing over a hill, a lark, pursued by a hawk, 
 took refuge in his bosom; he kindly lodged the little 
 refugee, till, having reached a considerable distance 
 from its persecutor, he gave it liberty to soar and sing 
 in safety. The circumstance suggested to his mind a 
 train of happy thoughts, which he brought forward in 
 a discourse from Psalm xxxiv. 22.—“The Lord re- 
 deemeth the soul of his servants; and none of them 
 that trust in him shall be desolate.” 
 
 lviii. 4, 5.—They are like the deaf adder that 
 stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the 
 voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. 
 
 The preceding passage has been often referred to, as 
 expressing the unwillingness of sinners to receive di¬ 
 vine truth, and to comply with the call of the gospel. 
 The following anecdote exhibits an instance of this 
 kind:— 
 
PSALM LIX. 
 
 51 
 
 The late Mr. Friend, with some other missionaries, 
 on one occasion met a number of heathen, including 
 several Brahmins, and during the interview, they were 
 plainly and coarsely told, that they were gross deceiv¬ 
 ers, who were about to ensnare the people. “Anxious 
 that we should not leave this band of idolaters,” adds 
 Mr. Friend, “without reading to them some portion of 
 truth, I proposed that a tract should be read. No 
 sooner, however, was that proposed, than an old man 
 rose and said, ‘ Nay, excuse me, I must make my salam; 
 this may do for a bazaar, but it will not do here; we 
 are not to betaken in your net; you will not make 
 converts of us.’ Probably superstition, as well as fear, 
 prompted this conduct, for the natives declare, that 
 there is a spell in our books. True, the gospel is the 
 power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: 
 but, alas for those who refuse to hear its message! 
 These poor creatures were sad examples of those whom 
 the god of this world hath blinded, lest the light of the 
 glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, 
 should shine unto them.” 
 
 lix. 12.—For the sin of their mouth, and the 
 words of their lips, let them even be taken in their 
 pride ; and for cursing and lying which they speak. 
 
 Some years ago, a person of considerable property 
 
 and eminence in the city of N-, who lived in habits 
 
 of impiety and profaneness, was seized by an indispo¬ 
 sition, which induced him to call a medical gentleman; 
 but being disappointed for a time, by his absence from 
 home, he fell into a violent agitation, which was vented 
 in horrid imprecations. As soon as the medical gentle¬ 
 man arrived, he was saluted with volleys of oaths. 
 The violence of his agitation broke a blood-vessel; so 
 that oaths and blood continued to flow from his mouth 
 till he could speak no longer; and in this situation he 
 expired. The physician was much affected by the 
 awful dispensation.—Bishop Hall observes, that “ sud¬ 
 denness of death certainly argues anger, when it finds 
 us in an act of sin. God strikes some, that he may 
 warn all.” 
 
52 
 
 PSALM LXI. 
 
 lx. 11, 12.—Give us help from trouble ; for 
 vain is the help of man.—Through God we shall 
 do valiantly : for he it is that shall tread down our 
 enemies. 
 
 Henry IV. of France, uttered the following prayer, 
 just before a battle, in which he obtained a complete 
 victory:—“O Lord of Hosts! who canst see through 
 the thickest veil, and closest disguise; who viewest the 
 bottom of my heart, and the deepest designs of my ene¬ 
 mies ; who hast in thine hands, as well as before thine 
 eyes, all the events which concern human life; if thou 
 knowest that my reign will promote thy glory, and the 
 safety of thy people; if thou knowest that I have no 
 other ambition in my soul, but to advance the honour 
 of thy holy name, and the good of this state; favour, 0 
 great God ! the justice of my arms, and reduce all the 
 rebels to acknowledge him, whom thy sacred decrees, 
 and the order of a lawful succession, have made their 
 sovereign: but if thy good providence has ordered it 
 otherwise, and thou seest that I should prove one of 
 those kings whom thou givest in thine anger, take from 
 me, O merciful God! my life and my crown; make 
 me this day a sacrifice to thy will; let my death end 
 the calamities of France, and let my. blood be the last 
 that is spilt in this quarrel.” 
 
 lxi. 2.—Lead me to the Rock that is higher 
 then I. 
 
 A* few days before the death of a pious little girl, her 
 father had be^n preaching from the above passage. 
 Upon rejoining his afflicted family, the text was mention¬ 
 ed, and an outline of the sermon given, with which she 
 appeared powerfully arrested. Upon the remark being 
 made, that Christ is constantly spoken of both in the 
 Old and New Testaments as a Rock, especially in the 
 Psalms, and how delightful it was to the believer, that 
 when placed upon this Rock, the storms of life or of 
 death could not remove him, for there he was safe, she 
 seemed to derive much strength and comfort from what 
 
PSALM LXIV. 
 
 53 
 
 had been brought to her notice; and in all the subse¬ 
 quent readings of the Psalms, whenever the Rock was 
 spoken of, she stopped her mother, saying, “Here, 
 mamma, is the Rock again.” 
 
 lxii. 10.—If riches increase, set not your heart 
 upon them. 
 
 Some years before the death of the Rev. Andrew 
 Fuller, a friend had taken him to the bank, when one of the 
 clerks,*to whom he had occasion to speak, showed him 
 some ingots of gold. Mr. Fuller seemed to tarry as he 
 balanced one of them in his hand, while his companion 
 was in haste to be gone. Thoughtfully eyeing the gold, 
 he said, as he laid it down, “ How much better is it to 
 have this in the hand than in the heart!” 
 
 lxiii. 2.—To see thy power and thy glory, so 
 as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 
 
 The Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, on the first Sabbath 
 after his settlement at Stirling, allowed the congrega¬ 
 tion to continue singing considerably longer than usual, 
 before he rose to offer up the first prayer. Some of his 
 elders, who had observed the circumstance, and appre¬ 
 hended that it was the consequence of indisposition, 
 when they saw him next day, made kind inquiries re¬ 
 specting his health. He told them, that his delaying 
 so long to stand up was owing to no bodily complaint: 
 “but the days of grace he had enjoyed at Portmoak 
 (where he was formerly minister) came afresh to his 
 remembrance, with these words, ‘ I am the God of Be¬ 
 thel and his mind was so overpowered, that he 
 scarcely knew how to rise.” 
 
 lxiv. 7, 8.—God shall shoot at them with an 
 arrow ; suddenly shall they be wounded.—So they 
 shall make their own tongue to fall upon them¬ 
 selves : all that see them shall flee away. 
 
 The striking fact, detailed in the following lines of 
 
 5 * 
 
54 
 
 PSALM LXV. 
 
 poetry, took place in the spring of 1812, at a public- 
 house in Rochester, in the county of Kent:— 
 
 Now to my tale and ditty 
 I beg you’ll lend an ear; 
 
 Two sailors in a city 
 
 Began to curse and swear. 
 
 The one was a brawler, a slave to his sin, 
 
 On mischief was bent, and in haste to begin 
 In a tempest of wrath he swore he would fight, 
 Take vengeance on Robert, and kill him outright. 
 Alas ! how this wretch was transported with rage, 
 He deserved to be ironed and put in a cage. 
 
 The old man, the landlord, himself interfered, 
 
 He raised his voice, and his arm he upreared: 
 
 “ Suppose, wicked rascal, God you should strike 
 dead, 
 
 And send you to hell with his curse on your head!” 
 The sailor replied, with an oath most severe, 
 
 “ God cannot do that—give the tankard of beer; 
 
 If he can—to the regions of hell I will sink, 
 
 Before this good liquor of your’s I shall drink!” 
 The tankard he seized, with an oath most pro¬ 
 fane, 
 
 But he instantly fell, as one that was slain! 
 
 He spoke not a word, nor a sigh did he heave, 
 
 The Judge would not grant him one moment’s 
 reprieve. 
 
 The terror created, each mind petrified, 
 
 To think that a man his great Maker defied! 
 
 They gaz’d on his corpse—ah ! the spirit was fled. 
 The stroke was severe—now the sinner was dead. 
 
 lxv. 5.—By terrible things in righteousness 
 
 wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Lathrop of America, illustrating in a 
 sermon the sentiment, that “God often answers prayer 
 in a way we do not expect,” introduced the following 
 facts:—“ A poor African negro was led, while in his 
 own country, by the consideration of the works of 
 nature, to a conviction of the existence and benevolence 
 
PSALM LXVII. 
 
 55 
 
 of a Supreme Being. Impressed with this fact, he 
 used daily to pray to this Great Being, that by some 
 means or other he might more distinctly know him. 
 About this time he was taken, with many others, and 
 sold for a slave. For a while he hesitated as to the 
 view he had taken of God, and thought that if there did 
 indeed exist a just and good Being as he had supposed, 
 he would not allow fraud and iniquity to prevail against 
 innocence and integrity. But after a while this poor 
 slave was introduced into a pious family in New 
 England, where he was instructed in Christianity, and 
 enabled to rejoice in God as his friend. He was now 
 persuaded of the fact, that adverse providences are 
 often the means of answering our prayers, and con¬ 
 ducting us to the greatest happiness. 
 
 Ixvi. 16.—Come and hear, all ye that fear God, 
 and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. 
 
 “ While I was in Edinburgh last,” says the Rev. 
 Ebenezer Erskine in his diary, March 13. 1711, “on 
 the Wednesday after the sacrament, Jean Rauvit came 
 to see me in my chamber; and she and I entered on 
 spiritual discourse. She told me that she had been 
 made to have a very savoury remembrance of me sev¬ 
 eral times, about this occasion of the sacrament, both 
 before and after it. She told me what expressions of 
 the Lord’s love she has had, and what nearness she 
 had been admitted to, at this sacrament. 0 what 
 wonders of free grace and love has the Lord displayed 
 towards her! She is a person of more nearness to God, 
 than any that I know. How much of his image is dis¬ 
 cernible in her! What gravity and solidity! Something 
 of Christ in almost every word she speaks, and a sweet 
 savour of heaven.” 
 
 lxvii. 5, 6.—Let the people praise thee, O God ; 
 let all the people praise thee.—Then shall the earth 
 yield her increase; and God, even our own God, 
 shall bless us. 
 
 It is said that Bishop Porteus, four days previous to 
 
56 
 
 PSALM LXX. 
 
 his death, inquired of one of his friends, how the Bible 
 Society was succeeding in some great town, in which 
 it had been proposed; and on being informed that all 
 denominations had embraced it with ardour, and that 
 the Church had taken the lead, a momentary glow of 
 satisfaction flushed his pallid cheeks, he raised himself 
 on his chair, as if youth had been revived, and ex¬ 
 claimed, “ Then you will see glorious days !” 
 
 Ixviii. 5.—A Father of the fatherless, and a 
 Judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. 
 
 When the Rev. William Wilson of Perth was on his 
 death-bed, his son Gilbert, who was eleven years of age, 
 hearing of his distress, hurried home from Abernethy, 
 where he was attending school. But his father was 
 gone when he arrived at Perth. As he approached the 
 house, he observed some persons who had been waiting 
 on his deceased parent, withdrawing; and from their 
 appearance, could easily perceive what had taken place. 
 He rushed into the room, where he found his mother, 
 and the rest of the children, in tears. “ Mother,” said 
 the interesting youth, grasping her hand, “we have a 
 new claim on God to-day. You, my dear mother, have 
 a claim on him for a husband, and my sisters, brother, 
 and myself, have a claim on him for a father.” 
 
 Ixix. 9.—The zeal of thine house hath eaten 
 me up. 
 
 An Indian having heard from a white man, some 
 strictures on zeal, replied, “ I do n’t know about having 
 too much zeal, but I think it is better the pot should boil 
 over, than not boil at all.” 
 
 lxx. 5.—I am poor and needy ; make haste 
 unto me, O God : thou art my help and my deli¬ 
 verer ; O Lord, make no tarrying. 
 
 When Melancthon was entreated by his friends to lay 
 aside the natural anxiety and timidity of his temper, he 
 replied, “ If I had no anxieties, I should lose a power- 
 
PSALM LXXII. 
 
 57 
 
 ful incentive to prayer; but when the cares of life im¬ 
 pel to devotion, the best means of consolation, a religious 
 mind cannot do without them. Thus, trouble compels 
 me to prayer, and prayer drives away trouble.” 
 
 Ixxi. 18.—Now also, when I am old and gray¬ 
 headed, O God, forsake me not. 
 
 Martin Bucer was visited in his last sickness by sev¬ 
 eral learned men, and among others, by Mr. John Brad¬ 
 ford, who, on taking leave of him to go to’preach, told 
 him he would remember him in his prayers; on which 
 Bucer, with tears in his eyes, said, “ Cast me not otf, 0 
 Lord, now in my old age, when my strength faileth me.” 
 Soon after, he said, “ He hath afflicted me sore; but he 
 will never, never cast me off.” Being desired to arm 
 himself with faith, and a stedfast hope in God’s mer¬ 
 cies against the temptations of Satan, he said, “I am 
 wholly Christ’s, and the devil has nothing to do with 
 me; and God forbid that I should not now have expe¬ 
 rience of the sweet consolation in Christ.” 
 
 lxxii. 18, 19.—Blessed be the Lord God, the 
 God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things 
 —a.nd let the whole earth be filled with his glory. 
 
 At a late public meeting, Dr. P-related the 
 
 following anecdote of a lady of distinction, of deep 
 piety and zeal for the cause of God, in whom “the 
 ruling passion” was remarkably strong in death. She 
 was just sinking into the arms of death, when he 
 thought he would repeat aloud the account of the suc¬ 
 cess in the South Sea Islands. The dying saint had for 
 some time ceased to speak or to move; she was not, 
 however, insensible; for, on hearing the intelligence, 
 she was somewhat roused, and distinctly articulated, 
 “ Now blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth 
 wondrous things ; and let the whole earth be filled with 
 his glory!” Scarcely had she ceased to utter these 
 words, when she commenced singing the Song of Moses 
 and the Lamb in heaven. 
 
53 
 
 PSALM LXXIV. 
 
 Ixxiii. 22.—So foolish was I, and ignorant; I 
 was as a beast before thee. 
 
 The late Rev. John Brown being asked, when on his 
 death-bed, if he remembered of his preaching on this 
 text, “ So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast 
 before thee,” replied, “ Yes, I remember it very well; 
 and I remember, too, that when I described the beast, 
 I drew the picture from my own heart. But O, amaz¬ 
 ing consideration! ‘Nevertheless I am continually 
 with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand.’ ” 
 
 lxxiv. 20.—Have respect unto the covenant; for 
 the dark places of the earth are full of the habita¬ 
 tions of cruelty. 
 
 When Messrs. Tyerman and Bennett visited Matavai, 
 one of the South Sea Islands, Mr. Nott, one of the mis¬ 
 sionaries there, assured them, that three-fourths of the 
 children were wont to be murdered as soon as they 
 were born, by one or other of the unnatural parents, or 
 by some person employed for that purpose—wretches 
 being found who might be called infant-assassins by 
 trade. He mentioned having met a woman, soon after 
 the abolition of the diabolical practice, to whom he 
 said, “ How many children have you 1” “ This one in 
 
 my arms,” was her answer. “ And how many did you 
 kill]” She replied, “Eight!” Another woman, to 
 whom the same questions were put, confessed that she 
 had destroyed seventeen! Nor were these solitary 
 cases. Sin was so effectually doing its own work in 
 these dark places of the earth, that, full as they were 
 of the habitations of cruelty and wickedness, war, pro¬ 
 fligacy, and murder, were literally extirminating a peo¬ 
 ple unworthy to live; and soon would the cities have 
 been wasted without inhabitants, the houses without a 
 man, and the land been utterly desolate. But the gos¬ 
 pel stepped in, and the plague was stayed. Now the 
 mothers nurse their infants with the tenderest af¬ 
 fection. 
 
PSALM LXXVII. 
 
 59 
 
 Ixxv. 4.—I said unto the fools, Deal not fool- 
 ishly; and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn. 
 
 A minister of the gospel having made several at¬ 
 tempts to reform a profligate, was at length repulsed 
 with, “ It is all in vain, doctor, you cannot get me to 
 change my religion.” “I do not want that,” replied the 
 good man; “I wish religion to change you?” 
 
 t 
 
 xxvi. 7.—Thou, even thou, art to be feared, and 
 
 who may stand in thy sight when once thou art 
 angry ? 
 
 When Rabbi Jochanan Ben Zachai was sick, his dis¬ 
 ciples came to visit him; and when he saw them, he 
 began to weep. They said to him, “ Rabbi, the light of 
 Israel, the right hand pillar, the strong hammer, where¬ 
 fore dost thou weep?” He answered, “If they were 
 carrying me before a king of flesh and blood, who is 
 here to-day, and to-morrow in the grave, who, if he 
 were angry with me, his anger would not last for ever; 
 if he put me in prison, his prison would not be ever¬ 
 lasting; if he condemned me to death, that death would 
 not be eternal; whom I could soothe with words, or 
 bribe with riches; yet even in such circumstances I 
 should weep. But now I am going before the King of 
 kings, the holy and blessed God, who liveth and endur- 
 eth, who, if he be angry with me, his anger will last 
 for ever; if he put me in prison, his bondage will be 
 everlasting; if he condemn me to death, that death will 
 be eternal; whom I cannot soothe with words, nor 
 bribe with riches; when farther, there are before me 
 two ways, the one to hell, and the other to paradise, 
 and I know not into which they are carrying me, shall 
 I not weep ?” 
 
 •r 
 
 fa • 
 fa y 
 
 l 
 
 
 lxxvii. 2.—My soul refused to be comforted. 
 
 Mr. Baxter, giving an account of Mr. James Nalton, 
 a holy minister, but subject to occasional depression 
 of spirits, says, “ Less than a year before his death, he 
 fell into a grievous fit of melancholy, in which he was 
 
60 
 
 PSALM LXXIX. 
 
 so confident of his gracelessness, that he usually cried 
 out, ‘ O, not one spark of grace, not one good desire or 
 thought 1 I can no more pray than a post. If an angel 
 from heaven would tell me that I have true grace, I 
 would not believe him.” And yet at that time did he 
 pray very well; and I could demonstrate his sincerity 
 so much to him in his desires and life, that he had not 
 a word to say against it, but yet was harping still on 
 the same string, and would hardly be persuaded that he 
 was melancholy. It pleased God to recover him from 
 this fit, and shortly after he confessed that what I said 
 _ was true, that his despair was all the effect of melan- 
 ♦*^choly, and rejoiced much in God’s deliverance.” 
 
 Ixxviii. 4.—We will not hide them from their 
 children, shewing to the generation to come the 
 
 
 praises of the Lord. 
 
 “It had been my manner for a long time,” says Mr. 
 Boston in his Memoirs, “ besides the catechising of the 
 parish every year, to have days of catechising for those 
 of the younger sort, and they met in the kirk once a- 
 fortnight, sometimes once a-week, sometimes in my 
 house. I learnt it from Mr. Charles Gordon, a grave 
 learned man, minister of Ashkirk. By this course I 
 got several young people of both sexes trained up to a 
 good measure of knowledge; some of them to this day 
 are solid and knowing Christians, and the whole 
 youth of the parish, who were disposed, and had access 
 to wait on, came together, and as occasion required: 
 sometimes these meetings were closed with a warm 
 exhortation to practical religion.” 
 
 Ixxix. 10.—Wherefore should the heathen say, 
 Where is their God ? 
 
 Mr. Thoman Worts was ejected, in 16 G 2 , from the 
 church of Burningham, Norfolk, and was afterwards 
 pastor of a congregation at Guestwick, in the same 
 county. He was brought from Burningham into Nor¬ 
 wich, with a sort of brutal triumph, his legs being 
 chained under the horse’s belly. As he was conducted 
 
PSALM LXXXI. 
 
 61 
 
 to the castle, a woman looking out of a chamber-win¬ 
 dow, near the gate through which he was brought in, 
 called out in contempt and derision, “ Worts, where’s 
 now your God l’’ The good confessor in bonds desired 
 her to turn to Micah vii. 10. She did so, and was so 
 struck with the passage, that she became a kind friend 
 to him in his long confinement. 
 
 lxxx. 10.—The boughs thereof were like the 
 goodly cedars. 
 
 Maundrell, in giving a description of the cedars of 
 Lebanon, says, “ I measured one of the largest, and 
 found it twelve yards six inches in girth, and yet sound, 
 and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs. At 
 about five or six yards from the ground, it was divided 
 into five limbs, each of which was equal to a great 
 tree.” 
 
 lxxxi. 11, 12.—My people would not hearken 
 to my voice; and Israel would none of me.—So 
 I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust; and 
 they walked in their own counsels. 
 
 A gentleman called his sons around his dying bed, 
 and gave them the following relation:—“When I was 
 a youth, the Spirit strove with me, and seemed to say, 
 ‘Seek religion now;’ but Satan suggested the necessity 
 of waiting till I grew up, because it was incompatible 
 with youthful amusement; so I resolved I would wait 
 till I grew up to be a man. I did so, and was then re¬ 
 minded of my promise to seek religion; but Satan 
 again advised me to wait till middle age, for business 
 and a young family demanded all my attention. Yes, 
 I said, I will do so; I will wait till middle age. I did 
 so; my serious impressions left me for some years. 
 They were again renewed, conscience reminded me of 
 my promises; the Spirit said, ‘ Seek religion nowbut 
 then I had less time than ever; Satan advised my wait¬ 
 ing till I was old; then my children would be settled in 
 business, and I should have nothing else to do; I could 
 
 6 
 
62 
 
 PSALM LXXXII. 
 
 then give an undivided attention to it. I listened to his 
 suggestion, and the Spirit ceased to strive with me. I 
 have lived to be old, but now I have no desire as for¬ 
 merly to attend to the concerns of my soul; my heart 
 is hardened. I have resisted and quenched the Spirit, 
 now there is no hope; already I feel a hell within, the 
 beginning of an eternal misery. I feel the gnawings 
 of that worm that never dies. Take warning from my 
 miserable end; seek religion now; let nothing tempt 
 you to put off this important concern.” Then in the 
 greatest agonies he expired. It is dreadful to trifle with 
 the Spirit of God! 
 
 Ixxxii. 3, 4.—Defend the poor and fatherless : 
 do justice to the afflicted and needy.—Deliver the 
 poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the 
 wicked. 
 
 There lived in the city of Zurich, a person who, 
 though an unworthy character, was a member of its 
 Senate. During the time he was Prefect over a district 
 of the Canton, he had committed innumerable acts of 
 the grossest injustice,—yea, such flagrant crimes, that 
 all the country people reproached and cursed him; but 
 no one dared to prosecute him, as he was related to 
 several members of the Zurich Government, and son-in- 
 law to the chief magistrate of the city. Mr. Lavater, 
 the celebrated physiognomist, having often heard of the 
 atrocities of the Prefect, committed against even help¬ 
 less widows and orphans, and having duly examined 
 into them, felt an irresistible desire to plead the cause 
 of the poor and oppressed. He was aware that his 
 supporting this cause would expose him to the frowns 
 of the great and the mighty, and occasion much anxiety 
 to his friends; but conceiving it to be his duty, he de¬ 
 termined to proceed. Having prepared himself by 
 earnest prayer, and consulted an intimate friend, be ad¬ 
 dressed a letter to the Prefect, in which he strongly re¬ 
 proached him for his detestable actions, and plainly 
 signified his intention to bring him to public justice, 
 should he not restore his spoils within two months. 
 
PSALM LXXXIV. 
 
 63 
 
 The time having elapsed, and no restoration having 
 been made, Mr. Lavater proceeded to print a solemn 
 indictment against him, which he caused to be delivered 
 to every member of the Zurich Government. At first 
 he concealed his name; but when called upon, he 
 came forward in the most open manner, nobly avowed 
 and fully proved the points of his indictment before the 
 whole Senate, had the satisfaction to see the wicked 
 Prefect (who, conscious of his guilt, had saved himself 
 by flight) solemnly condemned by law, his unjust pro¬ 
 perty confiscated, and restoration made to oppressed 
 poverty and innocence. 
 
 lxxxiii. 15.—Persecute them with thy tempest, 
 and make them afraid with thy storm. 
 
 When the celebrated Mr. Blair, of the seventeenth 
 century, was deposed by Bishop Bramble of Derry, in 
 Ireland, he cited the bishop to appear before the tribu¬ 
 nal of Christ, to answer for that wicked action. “I ap¬ 
 peal,” said the bishop, “from the justice of God to his 
 mercy.”—“Your appeal,” replied Mr. Blair, “is likely 
 to be rejected; because, in prohibiting us the exercise 
 of our ministry, you act against the light of your own 
 conscience.” The bishop was shortly after smitten 
 with sickness, and when Dr. Maxwell, his physician, 
 inquired at him what was his particular complaint, 
 after a long silence, he replied, “It is my conscience !” 
 —“I have,” rejoined the doctor, “no cure for that.” 
 This confession the friends of the bishop endeavoured 
 to suppress; but the Countess of Andes, who had it 
 from the doctor’s mouth, and who was worthy of credit, 
 used to say, “No man shall suppress that report; for I 
 shall bear witness of it to the glory of God, who smote 
 him for persecuting Christ’s faithful servants.” 
 
 lxxxiv. 10.—A day in thy courts is better than 
 a thousand: I had rather be a door-keeper in the 
 house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wick¬ 
 edness. 
 
64 
 
 PSALM LXXXVI. 
 
 A man who lived in a house by himself, had always 
 been in the practice of going regularly to public wor¬ 
 ship, but some years previous, for a considerable time, 
 he had found so little comfort in hearing the gospel, 
 that more than once he had debated with himself if it 
 would not be as well to remain at home on the Lord’s 
 day. One Saturday night he made up his mind that he 
 would not attend sermon next day, and went to rest 
 with this resolution on his mind. What was his sur¬ 
 prise, when he awoke from his sleep, to find that the 
 Sabbath was nearly gone. “ When I awoke,” said he, 
 “ it was the evening of the Sabbath. I was struck with 
 the reproof. I had basely resolved that I should not 
 worship God in his house on his own day, and he did 
 not allow me to awake to spend it in any other manner. 
 The reproof was of use to me; since that time I have 
 never trifled with my duty of seeking God in his sanc¬ 
 tuary, and I hope I have done it often since that time 
 with much comfort.” 
 
 lxxxv. 8.—He will speak peace unto his people, 
 and to his saints; but let them not turn again to 
 folly. 
 
 An eminent servant of Christ, being suddenly intro¬ 
 duced into a large and respectable assembly, was re¬ 
 quested to deliver an extemporary address on “The 
 Peace of God.” To this request he replied, in terms 
 of the deepest humiliation, that it was impossible for 
 him, at present, to speak on that subject, as he had un¬ 
 happily deprived himself of that invaluable blessing by 
 his unfaithfulness to God. He then sat down, silently 
 humbling himself before the Lord. This frank con¬ 
 fession became the means, it is said, of the conversion 
 of one of the company. 
 
 lxxxvi. 7.—In the day of my trouble I will call 
 upon thee : for thou wilt answer me. 
 
 It is well known that many of the good men who 
 were driven from Great Britain to America, by persecu- 
 
PSALM LXXXVIII. 
 
 65 
 
 tion, in the seventeenth century, had to endure great 
 privations. In the month of June 1623, their hopes of 
 a harvest were nearly blasted by drought, -which with¬ 
 ered up their corn, and made the grass look like hay. All 
 expected to perish with hunger. In their distress they 
 set apart a day for humiliation and prayer, and con¬ 
 tinued their worship for eight or nine hours. God 
 heard their prayers, and answered them in a way which 
 excited universal admiration. Although the morning 
 of that day was clear, and the weather very hot and 
 dry during the whole forenoon, yet before night it be¬ 
 gan to rain, and gentle showers continued to fall for 
 many days, so that the ground became thoroughly 
 soaked, and the drooping corn revived. 
 
 lxxxvii. 3.—Glorious things are spoken of thee, 
 O city of God. 
 
 Fulgentius, being at Rome, and observing the glory 
 of the Roman nobility, the triumphant pomp of King 
 Theodoric, and the universal splendour and gaiety of 
 that city, was so far from being impressed in favour 
 of what he saw, that raising up his thoughts to heavenly 
 joys, he said to some of his friends that accompanied 
 him, “ How beautiful must the celestial Jerusalem be, 
 since terrestrial Rome is so glittering! If such honour 
 be given to lovers of vanity, what glory shall be im¬ 
 parted to the saints, who are lovers and followers of 
 truth!” 
 
 lxxxviii. 3.—My soul is full of troubles, and 
 my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 
 
 Mr. Johnson gives the following account of o,ne of 
 the school girls, about fifteen years of age, at Regent’s 
 Town, Sierra Leone :—“ She always complained of the 
 depravity of her heart. I was called up this morning 
 about one o’clock, by the woman who attends the sick 
 in the Female Hospital. I found this poor girl in great 
 distress of mind. She cried aloud, ‘ Massa, what shall 
 I do 1 what shall I do 1 lam going to die now, and my 
 sius be too much. I thief—I lie—I curse—I do bad too 
 
 6 * 
 
66 
 
 PSALM xcr. 
 
 much—I bad past all people, and now me must die !— 
 What shall I do]’ I spoke to her on the ability and 
 willingness of Jesus to save her. She said that she 
 had prayed to Jesus to pardon her sins, but did not 
 know whether he had heard her prayers. After I had 
 spoken to her for some time, she became calm, and ap¬ 
 peared to be in earnest prayer. I saw her again after 
 family prayer. She appeared quite composed, and 
 spoke a few words with great difficulty, to express her 
 peace of mind. I visited her once more; and, on ask¬ 
 ing her how she did, she said with great difficulty, ‘I 
 pray;’ and soon afterwards departed.” 
 
 Ixxxix. 48.—What man is he that liveth, and 
 shall not see death 1 shall he deliver his soul from 
 the hand of the grave 1 
 
 Mr. Philip Henry, at the monthly lectures at his own 
 house, preached upon the four last things, death, judg¬ 
 ment, heaven, and hell, in many particulars, but com¬ 
 monly with a new text for every sermon. When he 
 had, in many sermons, finished the first of the four, a 
 person who used to hear him sometimes, inquiring of 
 his progress in his subjects, asked him if he had done 
 with death, meaning that subject concerning death ; to 
 which he pleasantly replied—“No, I have not done 
 with him yet. I must have another turn with him, and 
 he will give me a fall; but I hope to have the victory at 
 last.” 
 
 xc. 9.—We spend our years as a tale that is 
 told. 
 
 A minister in Scotland, preaching a sermon to his 
 congregation on the last Sabbath of the year 1793, on 
 contrasting the shortness of life with eternity, and hav¬ 
 ing mentioned the preceding passage of Scripture, fell 
 back, and immediately expired. 
 
 xci. 3.—Surely he shall deliver thee from the 
 noisome pestilence. 
 
PSALM XCII. 
 
 67 
 
 Lord Craven lived in London when that sad calamity, 
 the plague, raged. His house was in that part of the 
 town since called Craven Buildings. On the plague 
 growing epidemic, his Lordship, to avoid the danger, 
 resolved to go to his seat in the country. His coach 
 and six were accordingly at the door, his baggage put 
 up, and all things in readiness for the journey. As he 
 was walking through his hall with his hat on, his cane 
 under his arm, and putting on his gloves, in order to 
 step into his carriage, he overheard his negro, who 
 served him as postillion, saying to another servant, “I 
 suppose, by my Lord’s quitting London to avoid the 
 plague, that his God lives in the country, and not in 
 town.” The poor negro said this in the simplicity of 
 his heart, as really believing a plurality of Gods. The 
 speech, however, struck Lord Craven very sensibly, 
 and made him pause. “ My God,” thought he, “ lives 
 every where, and can preserve me in town as well as 
 in the country. I will even stay where I am. The ig¬ 
 norance of that negro has just now preached to me a 
 very useful sermon. Lord, pardon this unbelief, and 
 that distrust of thy providence, which made me think 
 of running from thy hand.” He immediately ordered 
 his horses to be taken off from the coach, and the bag¬ 
 gage to be taken in. He continued at London, was re¬ 
 markably useful among his sick neighbours, and never 
 caught the infection. 
 
 xcii. 1, 2.—It is a good thing to give thanks 
 unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, 
 O most High :—To shew forth thy loving kindness 
 in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. 
 
 “About twelve years ago,” writes one, in a letter to 
 a minister, “ I had occasion to pass a toll-bar in the 
 west of Fife, and happened to enter into conversation 
 with the toll-keeper, whom I found a very intelligent, 
 and apparently a truly pious old man. In the course 
 of our conversation, the great decline even in the out¬ 
 ward forms of religion was mentioned; and as a strik¬ 
 ing proof of this, the toll-keeper remarked—‘ When I 
 
68 
 
 PSALM XCIII. 
 
 was a young man, about fifty years ago, I left Aberdeen, 
 and came to work as a journeyman flax-dresser in a 
 respectable town in the county of Fife ; and for the first 
 two weeks or so after I arrived, curiosity led me out 
 every morning at the breakfast hour to see the town, 
 and at this time every door was shut, and the inmates 
 engaged at family worship, except two doors which I 
 never observed to be shut; but these families perhaps 
 might have some reasonable excuse for not being em¬ 
 ployed like their neighbours. The two doors I remem¬ 
 ber most distinctly at this day, and could point them 
 out. And before I left the town, about a year ago, it 
 was nearly as rare to see a shut door for the purpose 
 of family worship, as it was at the former period to see 
 an open one !*” What matter of deep regret, when so 
 becoming and important an exercise is abandoned! 
 
 xciii. 5.—Thy testimonies are very sure: holi¬ 
 ness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever. 
 
 The late Rev. Claudius Buchanan, shortly after he 
 had visited the principal parts of Europe, was met on 
 the streets of London by an old Highlander of Scotland, 
 who was an intimate acquaintance of his father. In 
 order to have a little conversation, they went into a 
 public house, and took some refreshment.—Young Clau¬ 
 dius gave his countryman a very animated description 
 of his tour, and of the wonders he had seen upon the 
 Continent. The old man listened with attention to his 
 narrative, and then eagerly inquired whether his reli¬ 
 gious principles had not been materially injured by 
 mixing among such a variety of characters and reli¬ 
 gions. “Do you know what an infidel is?” said Bu¬ 
 chanan. “Yes,” was the reply. “Then,” said he, “I 
 am an infidel; and have seen the absurdity of all those 
 nostrums my good old father used to teach me in the 
 north; and can you,” added he, “seriously believe that 
 the Bible is a revelation from the Supreme Being 1 ?”— 
 “I do.”—“And pray tell me what may be your reasons?” 
 —“ Claude,” said the good old Highlander, “ I know 
 nothing about what learned men call the external evi¬ 
 dences of revelation, but I will tell you why I believe it 
 
PSALM XCVI. 
 
 69 
 
 to be from God. I have a most depraved and sinful 
 nature, and, do what I will, I find I cannot make myself 
 holy. My friends cannot do it for me, nor do I think 
 all the angels in heaven could. One thing alone does 
 it,—the reading and believing what I read in that bles¬ 
 sed book—that does it. Now, as I know that God must 
 be holy, and a lover of holiness, and as I believe that 
 book is the only thing in creation that produces and 
 promotes holiness, I conclude that it is from God, and 
 that he is the Author of it.” 
 
 xciv. 23.—He shall cut them off in their own 
 wickedness. 
 
 The following is an extract of a letter from a minister 
 in a small sea-port town in Scotland:—“I have just 
 
 now heard of a dreadful scene. One-, for many 
 
 years master of a coasting vessel, an inhabitant of this 
 place, had, in his younger days, made a distinguished 
 profession of religion; and, among the small but re¬ 
 spectable body to which he belonged, he was deemed 
 an eminent Christian. Many years ago, this man be¬ 
 came a Deist,—nay, an avowed Atheist, and made the 
 being of Deity and a future state the subjects of his 
 ridicule and profane mockery. For horrid swearing 
 and lewdness he had perhaps few equals in Scotland. 
 Last night, in a public house, when in a rage of swear¬ 
 ing, he dropt into eternity in a moment, by the rupture 
 pf a blood-vessel. How awful, to be hurried before the 
 tribunal of God in the very act of blasphemy!” 
 
 xcv. 7, 8.—To-day, if ye will hear his voice, 
 —harden not your heart. 
 
 Rabbi Eliezer said, “ Turn to God one day before 
 your death.” His disciples said, “How can a man 
 know the day of his death'?” He answered them, 
 “Therefore you should turn to God to-day. Perhaps 
 you may die to-morrow; thus, every day will be em¬ 
 ployed in returning.” 
 
 xcvi. 10.—Say among the heathen that the 
 
70 
 
 PSALM xcvir. 
 
 Lord reigneth : the world also shall be established, 
 that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the peo¬ 
 ple righteously. 
 
 At a public festival at Raiatea, a South Sea island, 
 some of the chiefs and others addressed the company, 
 in brief and spirited appeals to their memory, of the 
 abominations of past times, and to their gratitude for 
 the glorious and blessed changes which the gospel of 
 Christ had wrought among them. ’ They compared 
 their present manner of feasting, their improved dress, 
 their purer enjoyments, their more courteous behaviour, 
 the cleanliness of their persons, and the delicacy of 
 their language in conversation, with their former glut¬ 
 tony, nakedness, riot, brutality, filthy customs, and ob¬ 
 scene talk. One of the speakers observed, “ At such 
 a feast as this, a few years ago, none but kings, or great 
 chiefs, or strong men, could have got any thing good to 
 eat; the poor, and the feeble, and the lame, would have 
 been trampled under foot, and many of them killed in 
 the quarrels and battles that followed the gormandizing 
 and drunkenness.”—“ This,” said another, “ is the reign 
 of Jehovah—that was the reign of Satan. Our kings 
 might kill us for their pleasure, and offer our carcases 
 to the Evil Spirit; our priests and our rulers delighted 
 in shedding our blood. Now, behold, our persons are 
 safe, our property is our own, and we have no need to 
 fly to the mountains to hide ourselves, as we used to do, 
 when a sacrifice was wanted for Oro, and durst not 
 come back to our homes till we heard that a victim had 
 been slain and carried to the marae.” 
 
 xcvii. 1.—The Lord reigneth; let the earth 
 rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. 
 
 During a certain juncture at the beginning of the 
 present century, when a French invasion was generally 
 dreaded, Mrs. Scott, a pious gentlewoman, happened to 
 be in company with a number of ladies, who began, 
 with a sorrowful countenance, to express themselves in 
 a tone of most distressing apprehension regarding the 
 
PSALM C. 
 
 71 
 
 consequences of that deprecated event; but after listen¬ 
 ing for a little to their melancholy language, she pro¬ 
 ceeded to reprove their immoderate solicitude and 
 timidity, saying, “ Come, my ladies, lay aside your un¬ 
 believing fears, remember that the Lord reigns.” 
 
 xcviii. 8, 9.—Let the floods clap their hands : 
 let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; 
 for he cometh to judge the earth : with righteous¬ 
 ness shall he judge the world, and the people with 
 equity. 
 
 “ There is an account come,” says Ebenezer Erskine 
 in his diary, “ of the arrival of King George, and a 
 great rejoicing for it in Edinburgh. I see the fires and 
 illuminations of that city reflected on the skies. 0 how 
 will the heavens reflect and shine with illuminations, 
 when the King of kings, and Lord of lords, shall erect 
 his tribunal in the clouds, and come in his- own glory, 
 and his Father’s glory, and in the glory of the holy 
 angels ! O what a heartsome day will that be ! When 
 Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we ap¬ 
 pear with him in glory. We shall then lift up our 
 heads with joy, because it shall be a time of refreshing 
 from the presence of the Lord.” 
 
 xcix. 3.—Let them praise thy great and terrible 
 name ; for it is holy. 
 
 A certain American planter had a favourite domestic 
 negro, who always stood opposite to him when waiting 
 at the table. His master being a profane character, 
 often took the name of God in vain, when the negro 
 immediately made a low and solemn bow. On being 
 asked why he did so, he replied, that he never heard 
 that great name mentioned, but it filled his whole soul 
 with reverence and awe. Thus, without offence, he 
 cured his master of a criminal and pernicious custom. 
 
 c. 4.—Enter into his gates with thanksgiving ; 
 
72 
 
 PSALM cr. 
 
 and into his courts with praise : be thankful unto 
 him, and bless his name. 
 
 “There is a tradition,” says Dr. Franklin, “that in 
 the planting of New England, the first settlers met with 
 many difficulties and hardships, as is generally the 
 case when a civilized people attempt establishing them¬ 
 selves in a wilderness country. Being men of piety, 
 they sought relief from heaven by laying their wants 
 and distresses before the Lord on frequent set days of 
 fasting and prayer. Constant meditation and discourse 
 on their difficulties, kept their minds gloomy and dis¬ 
 contented; and like the children of Israel, there were 
 many disposed to return to Egypt, which persecution 
 had induced them to abandon. At length, when it was 
 proposed in one of their assemblies to proclaim a fast, 
 a farmer of plain sense rose and remarked, that the in-* 
 conveniencies they suffered, and concerning which they 
 had so often wearied Heaven with their complaints, 
 were not so great as might have been expected, and 
 were diminishing every day as the colony strengthened; 
 that the earth began to reward their toil, and to furnish 
 liberally for their subsistence; that the seas and rivers 
 were full of fish, the air sweet, the climate healthy; 
 and above all, that they were in the full enjoyment of 
 their civil and religious liberty: he therefore thought, 
 that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would 
 be more comfortable, as tending more to make them 
 contented with their situation; and that it would be more 
 becoming the gratitude they owed the Divine Being, if, 
 instead of a Fast, they should appoint a Thanksgiving. 
 His advice was taken, and from that day to this, they 
 have, in every year, observed circumstances of public 
 felicity sufficient to furnish cause for a Thanksgiving- 
 day ; which is therefore constantly ordered, and religi¬ 
 ously observed.” 
 
 ci. 6.—Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of 
 the land, that they may dwell with me. 
 
 A truly pious man, of rank and influence in society, 
 was in the habit of entertaining and admitting to a de- 
 
PSALM CHI. 
 
 73 
 
 gree of intimacy, persons of very humble circumstances 
 in life, if they only gave evidence of true religion. A 
 friend of his, who was accustomed to measure every 
 thing according to the standard of this world, rallied 
 him on the subject of his associates; intimating his 
 surprise that he should admit to his hospitality and 
 friendship persons of so obscure an origin, and of so 
 little estimation among men. He replied, in a tone of 
 unaffected humility, that as he could scarcely hope to 
 enjoy so elevated a rank as they in the future world, 
 he knew not why he should despise them in the pre¬ 
 sent. The reproof came home to the feelings of the 
 proud man, and he was silent; conscience whispering, 
 meanwhile, how dim were his prospects of rising, in 
 the future world, to an equality with the pious poor, if 
 his Christian friend was in danger of falling below 
 them. 
 
 cii. 11.—My days are like a shadow that de- 
 clineth; and lam withered like grass. 
 
 The following inscription, in the choir of St. Saviour’s 
 church, Southwark, is on a tablet at the base of the 
 monument of Richard Humble, Gentleman, who was an 
 Alderman of London in the reign of James I.:— 
 
 “Like to the damask rose you see, 
 
 Or like the blossom on the tree, 
 
 Or like the dainty flower of May, 
 
 Or like the morning of the day, 
 
 Or like the sun, or like the shade, 
 
 Or like the gourd which Jonas had: 
 
 E’en so is man, whose thread is spun, 
 
 Drawn out, and cut, and so is done! 
 
 The rose withers, the blossom blasteth, 
 
 The flower fades, the morning hasteth, 
 
 The sun sets, the shadow flies, 
 
 The gourd consumes, the man he dies !” 
 
 ciii. 3.—Who satisfieth thy mouth with good 
 things. 
 
 7 
 
74 
 
 PSALM CIV. 
 
 Mr. Newton once speaking in reference to the pre¬ 
 ceding passage, said, “ Bring a man to see the best cov¬ 
 ered table in the w r orld, looking at it might gratify his 
 eyes, but would never satisfy his mouth. We must 
 taste before we can see that God is good.” 
 
 civ. 20, 21.—Thou makest darkness, and it is 
 night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep 
 forth.—The young lions roar after their prey. 
 
 Sir John Gayer, a wealthy citizen of London, and a 
 merchant of the first eminence, in the reigns of King 
 James and Charles I., was at one time travelling with a 
 caravan of merchants across the deserts of Arabia, 
 when, by some strange mistake, he separated from his 
 companions, and night overtook him before he became 
 sensible of his danger. He in vain endeavoured to 
 gain the caravan; and he was brought into all the 
 horrors of darkness, in the midst of a dreary desert. 
 No place of refuge was near, and he seemed the des¬ 
 tined prey of the savage animals which he heard roar¬ 
 ing for food a short distance from him. In this awful 
 situation, he resigned himself, like a true Christian, to 
 the disposal of his God. Falling on his knees, he pray¬ 
 ed fervently, and promised, that if heaven would rescue 
 him from impending danger, the whole produce of his 
 merchandise should be given as an offering in benefac¬ 
 tion to his native country. At this moment a lion of 
 tremendous size was approaching him. Death ap¬ 
 peared inevitable; but whether it was owing to the 
 prayers of the pious knight, or to the generous nature 
 of the noble animal, the fact was, that the lion, after 
 prowling round him, bristling his shaggy hair, and eye¬ 
 ing him, apparently with fierce intent, suddenly stopped 
 short, turned round and walked quietly away, without 
 offering him the slightest injury. The knight continued 
 in the same suppliant posture till the morning dawned, 
 when he pursued his journey, and happily came up 
 with his friends, who had considered him as lost. The 
 remainder of his voyage was prosperous; he disposed 
 of his freight to advantage, and reached England with 
 increased wealth. In fulfilment of his engagement, he 
 
PSALM CVII. 
 
 75 
 
 distributed to different charities considerable sums, but 
 particularly to the poor of his own parish ; and among 
 other donations, he bequeathed two hundred pounds to 
 the church of St. Catharine Cree, to be laid out in the 
 purchase of an estate, the profits of which were also to 
 be applied to the poor, on condition that a sermon 
 should be occasionally preached in that church, to 
 commemorate his deliverance from the jaws of the 
 lion. 
 
 cv. 15.—Touch not mine anointed, and do my 
 prophets no harm. 
 
 The Rev. James Garie, with some other ministers, 
 attempted, in 1790, amidst much opposition, to dissem¬ 
 inate the gospel in some of the darkest parts of Ire¬ 
 land. One evening a man entered his room with a 
 pistol, threatening to take away his life. Mr. Garie, 
 holding up a small Bible, advanced towards him, and 
 with a smiling countenance, looked him full in the face. 
 Struck with his mild and innocent appearance, the man 
 immediately retired from him, and his life was pre¬ 
 served. 
 
 cvi. 15.—He gave them their request; but sent 
 leanness into their soul. 
 
 A lady in the south of England, had a little boy who 
 was very ill. On being told there was no hope of his 
 recovery, she became almost frantic, and opened her 
 mouth, not in prayer to God for her own submission 
 and her child’s salvation, but in positive declaration 
 that her child should not be taken from her. “0 God, 
 thou shalt not take my child—he shall not die,” was 
 her prayer. The prayer was answered. The child did 
 not die. He recovered; and his mother lived to see 
 him taken to the gallows! 
 
 evii. 24.—These see the works of the Lord, 
 and his wonders in the deep. 
 
 In the early part of the career of the Rev. John 
 
76 
 
 PSALM cvur. 
 
 Wesley, influenced by a desire to do good, he under* 
 took a voyage to Georgia. During a storm on the voy¬ 
 age he was very much alarmed by the fear of death, 
 and being a severe judge of himself, he concluded that 
 he was unfit to die. He observed the lively faith of the 
 Moravians, which, in the midst of danger, kept their 
 minds in a state of tranquillity and ease, to which he 
 and the English on board were strangers. While they 
 were singing at the commencement of their service, 
 the sea broke over them, split the mainsail in pieces, 
 covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as 
 if the great deep had already swallowed them up. 
 The English screamed terribly—the Moravians calmly 
 sung on. Mr. Wesley asked one of them afterwards, 
 if he was not afraid. He answered, “I thank God, 
 no.” “ But, were not your women and children afraid!” 
 He replied, mildly, “No: our women and children are 
 not afraid to die.” These things struck him forcibly, 
 and strengthened his desire to know more of these ex¬ 
 cellent people. 
 
 cviii. 4.—Thy mercy is great above the hea¬ 
 vens. 
 
 To a person under distress of mind, Mr. Hervey says 
 in a letter, “Don’t select such terrifying texts for your 
 meditation, as in your letter you tell me you have done. 
 It is as improper as if you should eat the coldest 
 melon, or use the most slight covering, when shivering 
 with an ague. Choose, the morning after you receive 
 this letter, (by way of antidote to the texts of your own 
 selecting,) the following for your meditation :—‘ His 
 mercy is great above the heavens.’ ‘His mercy en- 
 dureth for ever.’ Put together these two expressions, 
 and see whether they don’t amount to more than either 
 your imprudencies or your distress. You have, to be 
 
 sure, done amiss in the matter of-. God forbid I 
 
 should justify your conduct! but let it not be said, let 
 it not be surmised, it is beyond the reach of God’s im¬ 
 measurable goodness to pardon, or of Christ’s immense 
 merits to expiate the sin. None can tell, none can 
 think, what mercy there is with the Lord. There is a 
 
PSALM CXI. 
 
 77 
 
 wide difference between humiliation and despair; draw 
 near to Christ with a humble boldness.” 
 
 cix. 4.—For my love they are my adversaries : 
 but I give myself unto prayer. 
 
 Mr. Burkitt, in his diary, relates his having met at 
 one time with a very unjust and unexpected accusa¬ 
 tion from a person whom he had faithfully served, and 
 sought to oblige. “ The consciousness of my own in¬ 
 nocence,” he adds, “ supported me, and I hope God will 
 do me good by all. Some persons had never had a 
 particular share in my prayers but for the injuries they 
 have done me.” 
 
 cx. 3.—Thy people shall be willing in the day 
 of thy power. 
 
 A deist, whose infidelity was shaken by the conver¬ 
 sation of his little daughter, who attended a Sabbath 
 school, was induced to attend the preaching of the gos¬ 
 pel. The Holy Spirit accompanied it with his blessing. 
 On the following November 5th, he convened his family 
 together, and having made a bon-fire of his infidel 
 books, they all joined in singing that hymn,—“Come 
 let us join our cheerful songs,” &c. 
 
 cxi. 5.—He hath given meat unto them that 
 fear him ; he will ever be mindful of his cove¬ 
 nant. 
 
 Mr. M-, a pious and zealous curate in Yorkshire, 
 
 was in circumstances of pecuniary distress; but at the 
 same time, he had frequent experience of the Lord’s 
 goodness to his family in their straits. Once, when in 
 great want of the necessaries of life, a five-guinea note 
 was sent them by the carrier; but from whom, they 
 never could learn. On another occasion, their stock, 
 both of coals and money, was exhausted. Having no 
 prospect of a supply, they retired to rest that evening— 
 “ Cast down, but not in despair.” In the morning, after 
 
78 
 
 PSALM CXIII. 
 
 praying with his wife, Mr. M- took a walk out on 
 
 the highway, still continuing the devout exercise of 
 prayer, when he was met by the post. Without being 
 able to assign a reason why, he felt an impression 
 which led him to ask, “Have you a letter for me!” 
 To which the person replied in the affirmative. Upon 
 receiving the letter, he immediately opened it, and 
 found it to be an anonymous epistle, with five pounds 
 enclosed. Soon after this, a friend brought a cow for 
 their service; and towards evening, another friend sent 
 them a cart-load of coals. Thus, without making 
 known their case to any one, except the Lord God of 
 Elijah, they received in one day a seasonable supply 
 of money, milk, and coals. 
 
 cxii. 9.—He hath dispersed : he hath given to 
 the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; 
 his horn shall be exalted with honour. 
 
 Tiberius II. was so liberal to the poor, that his wife 
 blamed him for it. Speaking to him once of his wast¬ 
 ing his treasure by this means, he told her, “ He should 
 never want money so long as, in obedience to Christ’s 
 command, he supplied the necessities of the poor.” 
 Shortly after this, he found a great treasure under a 
 marble table which had been taken up; and news was 
 also brought him of the death of a very rich man, who 
 had left his whole estate to him. 
 
 cxiii. 7, 8. He raiseth up the poor out of the 
 dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; 
 that he may set him with princes, even with the 
 princes of his people. 
 
 Mr. Brown of Haddington, during his last illness, 
 having one day come in from his ride, was scarcely set 
 doAvn, when he began expressing his admiration of the 
 love of God: “0! the sovereignty of grace! How 
 strange that I, a poor cottager’s son, should have a 
 chaise to ride in; and what is far more wonderful, I 
 
PSALM CXV. 
 
 79 
 
 think God hath often given me rides in the chariot of 
 the new covenant: in the former case, he hath raised 
 me from the dunghill, and set me with great men; but 
 in the latter, he hath exalted the man, sinful as a 
 devil, and made him to sit with the Prince of the kings 
 of the earth. 0, astonishing! astonishing! astonish¬ 
 ing 
 
 111 0 * ♦ 
 
 cxiv. 3.—Jordan was driven back. 
 
 Chateaubriand, describing the emotions he felt on 
 his approach to this celebrated river, says, “I had sur¬ 
 veyed the great rivers of America with that pleasure 
 which solitude and nature impart; I had visited the 
 Tiber with enthusiasm, and sought with the same in¬ 
 terest the Eurotas and the Cephisus; but I cannot ex¬ 
 press what I felt at the sight of the Jordan. Not only 
 did this river remind me of a renowned antiquity, and 
 one of the most celebrated names that the most ex¬ 
 quisite poetry ever confided to the memory of man ; 
 but its shores likewise presented to my view the thea¬ 
 tre of the miracles of my religion. Judea is the only 
 country in the world that revives in the traveller the 
 memory of human affairs and of celestial things, and 
 which, by this combination, produces in the soul a feel¬ 
 ing and ideas which no other religion is capable of ex¬ 
 citing.” 
 
 cxv. 5.—They have mouths, but they speak 
 not; eyes have they, but they see not, &c. 
 
 Mr. Thomas, missionary in India, was one day tra¬ 
 velling alone through the country, when he saw a great 
 many people waiting near a temple of their false gods. 
 He went up to them, and, as soon as the doors were 
 opened, he walked into the temple. Seeing an idol 
 raised above the people, he walked boldly up to it, held 
 up his hand, and asked for silence. He then put his 
 fingers on its eyes, and said, “ It has eyes, but it cannot 
 see! It has ears, but it cannot hear! It has a nose, 
 but it cannot smell! It has hands, but it cannot handle! 
 It has a mouth, but it cannot speak! Neither is thero 
 
80 
 
 PSALM CXVII. 
 
 any breath in it!” Instead of doing injury to him for 
 affronting their god and themselves, they were all sur¬ 
 prised; and an old Brahmin was so convinced of hi$ 
 folly by what Mr. Thomas said, that he also cried out, 
 “ It has feet, but it cannot run away!” The people 
 raised a shout, and being ashamed of their stupidity, 
 they left the temple, and went«to their homes. 
 
 cxvi. 16.—0 Lord, truly I am thy servant; I 
 am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid. 
 
 “Besides the common mercy of being born in a 
 Christian land,” says General Burn, “ God was pleased 
 to bestow upon me another, which is not common to all 
 his children; that of being born of godly parents, and 
 surrounded on all sides by truly pious relations. In¬ 
 fant reason no sooner dawned, than they began to use 
 every possible means to give that reason a right bias 
 towards its proper object; and they daily approached 
 a throne of grace with fervent prayer for their helpless 
 child, before he knew how to pray for himself. When 
 a rude unthinking boy at school, I have sometimes 
 stood at my pious grandmother’s closet door, and how 
 many heart-affecting groans and ardent supplications 
 have I heard poured forth for me, for which I then 
 never imagined there was the smallest occasion ! Yet, 
 if the prayers of the righteous avail much, (and surely 
 I can confirm the truth of this scripture,) how greatly 
 am I indebted to God, who blessed me with such 
 parents. 
 
 cxvii. 2.—His merciful kindness is great to¬ 
 ward us. 
 
 One day a female friend called on the late Rev. 
 William Evans, a pious minister in England, and 
 asked how he felt himself. “I am weakness itself,” he 
 replied; “but I am on the Rock. I do not experience 
 those transports which some have expressed in the 
 view of death; but my dependence is on the mercy of 
 God in Christ. Here my religion began, and here it 
 must end.” 
 
PSALM CXltf. 81 
 
 cxviii. 8.—It is better to trust in the Lord, than 
 to put confidence in man. 
 
 “ Christians might avoid much trouble and inconve¬ 
 nience,” says Dr. Payson, “if they would only believe 
 what they profess—that God is able to make them hap¬ 
 py without any thing else. They imagine, if such a 
 dear friend were to die, or such and such blessings to 
 be removed, they should be miserable; whereas God 
 can make them a thousand times happier without them. 
 To mention my own case,—God has been depriving 
 me of one blessing after another; but as every one was 
 removed, he has come in, and filled up its place; and 
 now when I am a cripple, and not able to move, I am 
 happier than ever I was in my life before, or ever ex¬ 
 pected to be; and if I had believed this twenty years 
 ago, I might have been spared much anxiety.” 
 
 cxix. 71.—It is good for me that I have been 
 afflicted. 
 
 A young man, who had been long confined with a 
 diseased limb, and was near his dissolution, was at¬ 
 tended by a friend, who requested that the wound might 
 be uncovered. When this was done, “ There,” said the 
 young man, “ there it is, and a precious treasure it has 
 been to me; it saved me from the folly and vanity of 
 youth; it made me cleave to God as my only portion, 
 and to eternal glory as my only hope; and I think it 
 has now brought me very near to my Father’s house.” 
 
 cxix. 92.—Unless thy law had been my de¬ 
 lights, I should then have perished in mine 
 affliction. 
 
 A person who subscribed to the Bible Society of 
 Nismes, in France, gave the following account of him¬ 
 self to one of the office-bearers of the Society:—“Un¬ 
 der the late emperor (Bonaparte) I was attached to the 
 army; and being taken prisoner and carried to England, 
 I was confined in one of the prison-ships. There, hud- 
 
82 
 
 PSALM CXX. 
 
 died together one above another, and deprived of every 
 thing that could tend to soften the miseries of life, I 
 abandoned myself to dark despair, and resolved to make 
 away with myself. In this state of mind, an English 
 clergyman visited us, and addressed us to the following 
 effect:—‘ My heart bleeds for your losses and privations, 
 nor is it in my power to remedy them; but I can offer 
 consolation for your immortal souls, and this consola¬ 
 tion is contained in the word of God. Read this book, 
 my friends; for I am willing to present every one with 
 a copy of the Bible, who is desirous to possess it.’— 
 The tone of kindness with which he spoke, and the 
 candour of this pious man, made such an impression 
 upon me, that I burst into tears. I gratefully accepted 
 a Bible; and in it I found abundant consolation, amidst 
 all my miseries and distresses. From that moment the 
 Bible has become a book precious to my soul; out of it 
 I have gathered motives for resignation and courage to 
 bear up in adversity; and I feel happy in the idea that 
 it may prove to others what it has been to me.” 
 
 cxix. 136.—Rivers of waters run down mine 
 eyes, because they keep not thy law. 
 
 A deaf and dumb boy, thirteen years of age, educa¬ 
 ted in the Institution at Edinburgh, after an absence of 
 four years, went home to see his mother. When he 
 entered her house, in company with his benefactor, she 
 was sitting in a state of intoxication, which greatly af¬ 
 fected him. He took his pencil, and thus attempted to 
 show her the, evil and danger of such conduct, and 
 gave her much good advice. After retiring with his 
 friend, at whose house he went to lodge, his counte¬ 
 nance became very sorrowful, and the tears trickled 
 down his cheeks. His friend asked him the occasion 
 of all this, when he wrote, that he was thinking, if he 
 got to heaven, how sorry he should be not to find his 
 mother there. 
 
 cxx. 7.—I am for peace. 
 
 The late John Dickinson, Esq., of Birmingham, was 
 
PSALM CXXII. 
 
 83 
 
 often called by way of distinction, “The Peace-maker;” 
 and such was his anxiety to keep the bonds of peace 
 from being broken—such was his solicitude to heal the 
 breach when made, that he would stoop to any act but 
 that of meanness—make any sacrifice but that of 
 principle—and endure any mode of treatment, not ex¬ 
 cepting even insult and reproach. From the high esti¬ 
 mate in which his character was held, he was often 
 called upon to act as umpire in cases of arbitration, 
 and it was but rarely, if ever, that the equity of his de¬ 
 cisions was impeached. On one occasion, two men 
 were disputing in a public house about the result of an 
 arbitration, when a third said, “ Had John Dickinson 
 any thing to do with it!”—“Yes,” was the reply. 
 “Then all was right, I am sure;” and in this opinion 
 the whole party concurred, and the disputation ceased. 
 
 cxxi. 5.—The Lord is thy keeper. 
 
 In the year 1752, Dr. Gill had a memorable escape 
 from death in his own study. One of his friends had 
 mentioned to him a remark of Dr. Halley, the celebra¬ 
 ted astronomer, that close study preserves a man’s life, 
 by keeping him out of harm’s way; but one day, after 
 he had just left his room to go to preach, a stack of 
 chimneys was blown down, forced its way through the 
 roof of the house, and broke his writing table, in the 
 very spot where a few minutes before he had been sit¬ 
 ting. The doctor very properly remarked afterwards to 
 his friend, “ A man may come to danger and harm in 
 the closet as well as in the highway, if he be not pro¬ 
 tected by the special care of Divine Providence.” 
 
 cxxii. 1.—I was glad when they said unto me, 
 Let ns go into the house of the Lord. 
 
 Mr. Joel Barlow of Hartford, in New England, (au¬ 
 thor of the Advice to Privileged Orders,) meeting the 
 Rev. Mr. Strong, of the same place, one day, asked him 
 why he did not publish the set of sermons he had so 
 long promised the world! “There is one subject,” re¬ 
 plied Mr. Strong, “ I cannot get master of.” “ What is 
 
84 
 
 PSALM CXXV. 
 
 that?” said Mr. Barlow. “To reconcile the profession 
 of the Christian religion,” said Mr. §., “ with non-attend¬ 
 ance on public worship.” 
 
 cxxiii. 4.—The contempt of the proud. 
 
 Demetrius, one of Alexander’s successors, was so 
 proud and disdainful, as not to allow those who trans¬ 
 acted business with him liberty of speech; or else he 
 treated them with so much rudeness, as obliged them 
 to quit his presence in disgust. He suffered the Athe¬ 
 nian ambassadors to wait two whole years before he 
 gave them audience ; and by the haughtiness of his be¬ 
 haviour, at last provoked his subjects to revolt from his 
 authority, and expel him from his throne. 
 
 cxxiv. 8.—Our help is in the name of the 
 Lord, who made heaven and earth. 
 
 “I well remember,” says an eminent minister in 
 North Wales, “that when the Spirit of God first con¬ 
 vinced me of my sin, guilt, and danger, and of the 
 many difficulties and enemies I must encounter, if ever 
 I intended setting out for heaven, I was often to the last 
 degree frightened; the prospect of those many strong 
 temptations and vain allurements to which my youthful 
 years would unavoidably expose me, greatly discour¬ 
 aged me. And I often used to tell an aged soldier of 
 Christ, the first and only Christian friend I had any ac¬ 
 quaintance with for several years, that I wished I had 
 borne the burden and heat of the day like him. His 
 usual reply was—‘ That so long as I feared, and was 
 humbly dependent upon God, I should never fall, but 
 certainly prevail.’ I have found it so. O, blessed be 
 the Lord, that I can now raise Up my Ebenezer, and 
 say, ‘Hitherto hath the Lord upheld me.’ ” 
 
 cxxv. 2.—As the mountains are round about 
 Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people 
 from henceforth, even for ever. 
 
 A chief in Eimeo, (a South Sea island) having em- 
 
PSALM CXXVII. 
 
 85 
 
 braced the gospel, became an object of hatred and ab¬ 
 horrence to the idolaters. A party of these conspired 
 to kill him, when he and a few other pious persons 
 were assembled together in the evening for prayer. 
 The ruffians came secretly upon them, armed with 
 muskets, and, levelling their pieces, were about to de¬ 
 stroy the whole group at a volley. Their deliverance 
 was singularly providential: the marked victims within 
 knew nothing of the lurking assassins without; yet 
 were the latter restrained from executing their diabo¬ 
 lical purpose by an influence, which, as they afterwards 
 declared, they could not understand Seized with sud¬ 
 den horror at the deed on which they had been so des¬ 
 perately bent, they threw down the murderous engines, 
 and, rushing into the room, confessed their guilt. The 
 Christians received them with so much kindness, and. 
 so freely forgave them—thus heaping coals of fire upon 
 their head—that they were utterly overcome, and went 
 away, promising never to molest them again; and they 
 kept their word. 
 
 cxxvi. 3.—The Lord hath done great things for 
 us, whereof we are glad. 
 
 When the deputation from the London Missionary 
 Society, in 1821 , visited Eimeo, five of the deacons of 
 the church there, came to express their joy at their ar¬ 
 rival. The deputation most heartily returned their 
 congratulations, by declaring their wonder and delight 
 at beholding what great things the Lord had done for 
 them. One of these, who was spokesman for his 
 brethren, said, among other strong observations, “We 
 are brands plucked out of the burning. Satan was de¬ 
 stroying, and casting us, one after another, into the 
 flames of hell; but Jehovah came and snatched us out 
 of his hands, and threw water upon the fire that was 
 consuming us—so we were saved!” 
 
 cxxvii. 1.—Except the Lord build the house, 
 they labour in vain that build it. 
 
 It is the custom, in the valleys of the canton of Berne, 
 
 8 * 
 
86 
 
 PSALM CXXIX. 
 
 * 
 
 when the father of a family builds a house, and the 
 walls are raised to their full height, to request the min¬ 
 ister of the parish to pray to God inside. The work¬ 
 men meet together, and unite in thanking the Lord for 
 his care hitherto, and entreat a continuance of it through 
 the more dangerous part that remains. A blessing 
 terminates this pious ceremony, the pastor retires, the 
 workmen return to their labours, and the noise of ham¬ 
 mers begins to be heard again. 
 
 cxxviii. 6.—Thou shalt see thy children’s 
 children. 
 
 The Rev. Henry Erskine’s father’s family was un¬ 
 commonly large, consisting of thirty-three children; 
 and so great was the number of grandchildren, with 
 whom this venerable patriarch, for some time prior to 
 his death, was surrounded, that, according to tradition, 
 he could not recollect them by face, and when he hap¬ 
 pened to see them, frequently proposed the friendly 
 question,—“ Who are you, my little man 1” 
 
 cxxix. 5.—Let them all be confounded that 
 hate Zion. 
 
 The disease of which Herod the Great died, and the 
 misery which he suffered under it, plainly showed, that 
 the hand of God was then in a signal manner upon 
 him; for not long after the murders at Bethlehem, his 
 distemper, as Josephus informs us, daily increased in 
 an unheard-of manner. He had a lingering and wast¬ 
 ing fever, and grievous ulcers in his entrails and 
 bowels; a violent colic, and insatiable appetite; a ven¬ 
 omous swelling in his feet; convulsions in his nerves; 
 a perpetual asthma, and offensive breath: rottenness 
 in his joints and other members; accompanied with 
 prodigious itchings, crawling worms, and intolerable 
 smell: so that he was a perfect hospital of incurable 
 distempers. 
 
PSALM CXXXI. 
 
 87 
 
 cxxx. 4.—There is forgiveness with thee, that 
 thou mayest be feared. 
 
 One Mr. Davies, a young man, being under religious 
 impressions, opened his mind to Dr. Owen. In the 
 course of conversation, Dr. Owen said, “Young man, 
 pray, in what manner do you think to go to God I” 
 Mr. Davies replied, “Through the Mediator, sir.” 
 “That is easily said,” observed Dr. Owen; “but I as¬ 
 sure you, it is another thing to go to God through the 
 Mediator, than many who make use of the expression 
 are aware of. I myself preached some years, while I 
 had but very little, if any, acquaintance with access to 
 God through Christ, until the Lord was pleased to visit 
 me with a sore affliction, by which I was brought to 
 the brink of the grave, and under which my mind was 
 filed with horror: but God was graciously pleased to 
 relieve my soul by a powerful application of Ps. cxxx. 
 4. ‘But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou may¬ 
 est be feared.’ From this text I received special light, 
 peace, and comfort, in drawing near to God through 
 the Mediator; and on this text I preached immediately 
 after my recovery.”—Perhaps to this exercise of mind 
 we owe his excellent exposition of this Psalm. 
 
 cxxxi. 1.—Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor 
 mine eyes lofty. 
 
 If good men cannot always use this language of Da¬ 
 vid, it is their prevailing desire that they should be able 
 to do so, and if at any time they have been exalted 
 above measure, like Hezekiah, they will humble them¬ 
 selves for the pride of their hearts. “ I was this day 
 tempted with pride,” says the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine 
 in his diary, “ and a vain elation of mind, on the com¬ 
 posure of a sermon which pleased me, and which I was 
 composing for Edinburgh Sacrament, on the 20th of 
 this month (March 8, 1715.) It is a wonder that the 
 Lord—he who beholds the proud afar off—does not 
 blast me in some visible way, on this account. I pray¬ 
 ed to the Lord to deliver me from pride of gifts. O it 
 is a hateful sin. 0 Lord keep me from it, and help me 
 
88 
 
 PSALM CXXXV. 
 
 to be humble, to be like Christ; and to preach Christ, 
 and not to preach myself.” 
 
 cxxxii. 9.—Let thy priests be clothed with 
 righteousness ; and let thy saints shout for joy. 
 
 “ I hope,” says Dr. Doddridge, “ my younger brethren 
 in the ministry will pardon me, if I entreat their par¬ 
 ticular attention to this admonition—Not to give the 
 main part of their time to the curiosities of learning, 
 and only a few fragments of it to their great work, the 
 cure of souls; lest they see cause in their last moments 
 to adopt the words of dying Grotius, perhaps with much 
 more propriety than he could use them—‘ I have lost a 
 life in busy trifling.’ ” 
 
 cxxxiii. 1.—Behold, how good and how plea¬ 
 sant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! 
 
 A little boy seeing two nestling birds pecking at each 
 other, inquired of his elder brother what they were 
 doing. “ They are quarrelling,” was the . answer. 
 “No,” replied the child, “that cannot be, they are bro¬ 
 thers.” 
 
 cxxxiv. 3.—The Lord—made heaven and earth. 
 
 Alphonsus N., King of Leon and Castile, was one of 
 the most learned men of his age. He acquired a pro¬ 
 found knowledge of astronomy, philosophy, and history, 
 and composed books on the motions of the heavens, 
 and the history of Spain, that are highly commended. 
 But no one can be mentioned, as a more striking proof 
 that the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God. 
 So vain, presumptuous, and impious, was this philoso¬ 
 phical king, that one of his sayings was—“If I had 
 been of God’s Privy Council when he made the world, 
 I would have advised him better.” 
 
 cxxxv. 15.—The idols of the heathen are 
 silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 
 
PSALM CXXXVI. 
 
 89 
 
 A native gentleman of India, in relating his history 
 to one of the missionaries, says—“My father was offi¬ 
 ciating priest of a heathen temple, and was considered, 
 in those days, a superior English scholar; and by 
 teaching the English language to wealthy natives, real¬ 
 ized a very large fortune. At a very early period, when 
 a mere boy, I was employed by my father to light the 
 lamps in the pagoda, and attend to the various things 
 connected with the idols. I hardly remember the time 
 when my mind was not exercised on the folly of idola¬ 
 try. These things I thought were made by the hand of 
 man, can move only by man, and whether treated well 
 or ill, are unconscious of either. Why all this clean¬ 
 ing, anointing, illuminating 1 &c. One evening, these 
 considerations so powerfully wrought upon my youth¬ 
 ful mind, that instead of placing the idols according to 
 custom, I threw them from their pedestals, and left 
 them with their faces in the dust. My father, on wit¬ 
 nessing what I had done, chastised me so severely, as 
 to leave me almost dead. I reasoned with him, that if 
 they could not get up out of the dust, they were not 
 able to do what I could; and that instead of being wor¬ 
 shipped as gods, they deserved to lie in the dust, where 
 I had thrown them. He was implacable and vowed to 
 disinherit me, and as the first step to it, sent me away 
 from his house. He relented on his death-bed, and left 
 me all his wealth.” 
 
 cxxxvi. 1.—0 give thanks unto the Lord; for 
 he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 “This day, August 8,1722,” writes Ebenezer Erskine 
 in his diary, “I could not think there was the least 
 spark of grace or good in me, or about me; and I was 
 thinking that I should never see the Lord any more. 
 But 0 the trophies and triumphs of free grace; for this 
 night in family prayer the Lord did begin to loose my 
 bonds, and both heart and tongue were loosed together, 
 to my surprise; and it was ordered in providence, that, 
 in my ordinary in secret this night, I did sing Psalm 
 cxxxvi., where twenty-six times it is repeated, ‘ His 
 grace and mercy never faileth;’ and 0, the repetition 
 
90 
 
 PSALM CXXXVIII. 
 
 of this word at every other line was sweet. I began to 
 hope that I shall sing it as a new song through eternity, 
 that ‘ His grace never faileth, his mercy endureth for 
 ever.’ And I think that none in heaven will have more 
 occasion to raise their hallelujahs of praise to free 
 grace than I have.” 
 
 cxxxvii. 5, 6.—If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, 
 let my right hand forget her cunning.—If I do 
 not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the 
 roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem 
 above my chief joy. 
 
 When Bishop Beveridge was on his death-bed, he 
 did not know any of his friends or connections. A 
 minister with whom he had been well acquainted, 
 visited him. When conducted into his room, he said, 
 “ Bishop Beveridge, do you know me 1” “ Who are 
 you"!” said the bishop. Being told who the minister 
 was, he said that he did not know him. Another friend 
 came, who had been equally well known, and accosted 
 him in a similar manner; to whom he made a similar 
 reply. His wife then came to his bed-side, and asked 
 him if he knew her. “Who are you?” said he. 
 Being told she was his wife, he said he did not know 
 her. “Well,” said one, “Bishop Beveridge, do you 
 know the Lord Jesus Christ?”—“Jesus Christ!” said 
 he, reviving, as if the name had upon him the influence 
 of a charm, “ O, yes! I have known Him these forty 
 years. Precious Saviour! He is my only hope !” 
 
 cxxxviii. 7.—Though I walk in the midst of 
 trouble, thou wilt revive me. 
 
 Mr. Patrick Macwarth, who lived in the west of 
 Scotland, whose heart the Lord, in a remarkable way, 
 opened, was, after his conversion, in such a frame, so 
 affected with the discoveries of the love of God, and of 
 the blessedness of the life to come, that for some months 
 together he seldom slept, being so taken up in wonder- 
 
PSALM CXL. 
 
 91 
 
 ing at the kindness of his Redeemer. His life was dis¬ 
 tinguished for tenderness of walk, and near commu¬ 
 nion with God. One day, after the death of his son, 
 who was suddenly taken away, he retired alone for se¬ 
 veral hours, and afterwards appeared so remarkably 
 cheerful, that inquiry was made why he looked so 
 cheerful in a time of such affliction. He replied, “ He 
 had got that in his retirement with the Lord, which, to 
 have it afterwards renewed, he would gladly lose a son 
 every day.” 
 
 cxxxix. 20.—Thine enemies take thy name in 
 vain. 
 
 Mr. White, a substantial tradesman of London, had 
 been imprisoned and fined for non-conformity. In the 
 course of his examination, the Lord Chief Justice, not 
 being pleased with an answer given, profanely swore 
 by the holy name of God. This did not pass unnoticed 
 by the good puritan, who reproved his lordship in the 
 following delicate and modest manner:—“I would 
 speak a word, which I am sure will offend, and yet I 
 must speak it. I heard the name of God taken in vain; 
 if I had done it, it had been a greater offence than that 
 which I stand here for.” 
 
 cxl. 7.—Thou hast covered my head in the 
 day of battle. 
 
 “A short time since,” says one, “I had an opportu¬ 
 nity of seeing a young man who mingled in the sad 
 scene at Waterloo. It was the first time he had seen 
 such a sight; and at the approach of so vast a number 
 of men and horses, armed with the instruments of death, 
 he was naturally filled with consternation and fear. 
 Calling to recollection what his pious father had often 
 told him, to seek the protection of God, who is a pre¬ 
 sent help in the hour of danger, he retired to a private 
 place, and implored the protection of the Almighty. 
 A very wicked lieutenant, who was in the regiment, the 
 
 7th-, overheard him, and laughing, said, ‘There is 
 
 no danger of you being killed to-day,’ and treated the 
 
92 
 
 PSALM CXLIII. 
 
 duty of prayer in a very light manner. They went 
 both to the field, where, in a short time, they were 
 called to engage; and the second volley from the ene¬ 
 my separated the lieutenant’s head from his body.” 
 How much better to have imitated the conduct of the 
 young man, in committing himself to God’s protection, 
 who could either have preserved him unhurt, or-pre- 
 pared him by his grace for sudden death. 
 
 cxli. 5.—’Let the righteous smite me, it shall be 
 a kindness; and let him reprove me, it shall be 
 an excellent oil, which shall not break my head. 
 
 It is related in the “ Life of Mrs. Savage,”* an excel¬ 
 lent sister of the Rev. Matthew Henry, that when some 
 respectable pious gentlemen were one Sabbath evening 
 assembled together, they unhappily engaged in conver¬ 
 sation unsuitable to the day. Betty Parsons, a good old 
 woman, overhearing them, said, “ Sirs, you are making 
 work for repentance.” This short and seasonable re¬ 
 buke restrained them, and turned their conversation 
 into a better channel. 
 
 cxlii. 7.—Bring my soul out of prison, that I 
 may praise thy name. 
 
 As the advancement of the divine glory should be 
 the chief end of all our actions, so it will be found the 
 most powerful plea in prayer.—A man once complained 
 to his minister, that he had prayed for a whole year 
 that he might enjoy the comforts of religion, but found 
 no answer to his prayers. His minister replied, “Go 
 home now and pray, ‘ Father, glorify thyself.’ ” 
 
 cxliii. 9.—Deliver me, O Lord, from mine ene¬ 
 mies : I flee unto thee to hide me. 
 
 Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, when in his 
 camp before Werben, had been alone, at one time, in 
 
 * No. 179 of the publications of the Presbyterian Board of 
 Publication. 
 
PSALM CXLV. 
 
 93 
 
 the cabinet of his pavilion some hours together, and 
 none of his attendants at these seasons durst interrupt 
 him. At length, however, a favourite of his having 
 some important matter to tell him, came softly to the 
 door, and, looking in, beheld the king very devoutly on 
 his knees at prayer. Fearing to molest him in that ex¬ 
 ercise, he was about to withdraw his head, when the 
 ’ king espied him, and bidding him come in, said, “ Thou 
 wonderest to see me in this posture, since I have so 
 many thousands of subjects to pray for me; but I tell 
 thee, that no man has more need to pray for himself 
 than he, who, being to render an account of his actions 
 to none but God, is, for that reason, more closely as¬ 
 saulted by the devil than all other men besides.” 
 
 cxliv. 12.—That our sons may be as plants 
 grown up in their youth. 
 
 A Campanian lady, who was very rich, and fond of 
 pomp and show, in a visit to Cornelia, a Roman lady, 
 having displayed her diamonds, pearls, and richest 
 jewels, earnestly desired Cornelia to let her see her 
 jewels also. This amiable lady diverted the conversa¬ 
 tion to another subject, till the return of her sons from 
 the public schools. When they entered their mother’s 
 apartments, she said to her visitor, pointing to them, 
 “These are my jewels, and the only ornaments I ad¬ 
 mire and such ornaments, which are the strength and 
 support of society, add a brighter lustre to the fair than 
 all the jewels of the east. 
 
 cxlv. 4.—One generation shall praise thy 
 works to another, and shall declare thy mighty 
 ^ acts. t 
 
 The mother of a Sabbath school boy, about thirteen 
 years of age, who had just lost her husband, over¬ 
 whelmed with grief, exclaimed, “ 0, how shall we miss 
 your father at morning and evening prayer!”—“Yes, 
 mother,” said the boy,“we shall miss him; but for all 
 that, we must not forget nor omit it, and if you will per¬ 
 mit me, I will try.” The excellent boy continued to 
 
94 
 
 PSALM CXLVI. 
 
 officiate as leader in the devotional execises of the 
 family. 
 
 cxlvi. 7.—Which giveth food to the hungry. 
 
 “ Being detained,” says General Burn, “ on board the 
 Cormorant at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, for nearly a 
 month, by strong westerly winds, I grew weary, and 
 being anxious to know something about the Royal George, 
 I set off early one fine morning in the passage-boat for 
 Portsmouth, purposely to inquire at the Admiral’s office 
 if she was soon expected in port. I fully intended to 
 have returned to Cowes by the first boat, as I had just 
 money enough left for that purpose; but to my great 
 sorrow, about noon it began to blow a most violent 
 gale, so that none of the boats would venture out for 
 several days. Never was I placed in a more distress¬ 
 ing situation. A perfect stranger in Portsmouth, with 
 only a few pence in my pocket, I continued walking 
 round and round the ramparts nearly the whole of the 
 day, till I was completely worn out with fatigue and 
 hunger, that the violence of the wind almost drove me 
 off my legs. Night was approaching; finding it im¬ 
 possible to continue in this state much longer, and be¬ 
 ing well nigh distracted, I began to devise schemes 
 where I should rest, and I should satisfy craving appe¬ 
 tite. At last I fixed on the following expedient:—Hav¬ 
 ing a pair of silver buckles on my shoes, the gift of an 
 affectionate sister, I determined, though grieved at the 
 deed, to take them to some Jew in the town, and ex¬ 
 change them for metal ones, in hope that the overplus 
 would procure me a lodging, and purchase some food. 
 Just as I was stepping off the rampart to put my plan 
 into execution, I was accosted in a very friendly man¬ 
 ner by an old acquaintance, whcushook me by the hand, 
 and asked me if I had dined. When I answered in the 
 negative, he replied, ‘Then come along with me; we 
 are just in time.’ By this friend I was plentifully sup¬ 
 plied for a few days, till the weather permitted me to 
 return to my ship at Cowes. Thus the same compas¬ 
 sionate God who feeds the ravens when they cry, was 
 at no loss to find means to supply the wants of an un¬ 
 grateful mortal, who did not then seek him by prayer, 
 
PSALM CXLVIII. 
 
 95 
 
 nor acknowledge the benefit so seasonably bestowed; 
 but having been since several times at Portsmouth, I 
 have walked round the ramparts with a glad heart, in 
 the recollection of this mercy, praising the Lord under 
 a feeling sense of his goodness.” 
 
 cxlvii. 16.—He giveth snow like wool. 
 
 Mr. Clark, a pious minister, during a fall of snow, 
 once walked from Frome to Bristol, a distance of twenty- 
 four miles, to preach: after which, he wrote the follow¬ 
 ing lines to a friend:— 
 
 “ On Friday last, as well you know, 
 
 I went away in flakes of snow: 
 
 I took the road the horses trod, 
 
 And travelled on to serve my God; 
 
 And though I had not horse’s strength, 
 
 Yet safely reached the end at length. 
 
 May I so safely reach the shore 
 Where storms and tempests are no more! 
 
 What though we meet with, on the road, 
 
 Some little things that incommode, 
 
 The end will more than overpay, 
 
 For all the troubles of the way!” 
 
 cxlviii. 13.—Let them praise the name of the 
 Lord ; for his name alone is excellent. 
 
 “I remember,” says Mr. Hervey, “a very ingenious 
 gentleman once showed me a composition in manu¬ 
 script, which he intended for the press, and asked my 
 opinion: it was moral, it was delicate, it was highly 
 finished; but I ventured to tell him there was one thing 
 awanting, the name and merits of the divinely excellent 
 Jesus, without which I feared the God of heaven would 
 not accompany it with his grace, and without which I 
 was sure the enemy of souls would laugh it to scorn.— 
 The gentleman seemed to be struck with surprise. 
 ‘The name of Jesus!’ he replied; ‘this single circum¬ 
 stance would frustrate all my expectations, would in¬ 
 fallibly obstruct the sale, and make readers of refine¬ 
 ment throw it aside with disdain.’ “I can never think,” 
 
96 
 
 PSALM CL. 
 
 adds Mr. Hervey, “the spread of our performances will 
 be obstructed by pleasing him who has all hearts and 
 events in his sovereign hand.” He further adds, on 
 publishing Theron and Aspasio—“I am willing to put 
 the matter to a trial, and myself to practise the advice 
 I gave. So far from secreting the amiable and majes¬ 
 tic names of Jesus, and the adorable Trinity, that I 
 have printed them in grand and conspicuous capitals; 
 that all the world may see, I look upon it as my high¬ 
 est honour to acknowledge, to venerate, to magnify my 
 God and Saviour; and if he has no power over the 
 hearts of men, or nothing to do with the events of the 
 world—if acceptance and success are none of his gifts, 
 have no dependence on his smile, then I am content, 
 perfectly content, to be without them.” 
 
 cxlix. 5.—Let the saints be joyful in glory: 
 let them sing aloud upon their beds. 
 
 A pious little boy who attended a Sabbath school, a 
 few hours before his death, broke out into singing, and 
 sung so loud, as to cause his mother to inquire what 
 he was doing. “I am singing my sister’s favourite 
 hymn, mother.” “But why, my dear, so loud?”— 
 “Why!” said he, with peculiar emphasis, “because I 
 am so happy.” Just before his death, with uplifted 
 hands, he exclaimed, “ Father! Father! take me, Fa¬ 
 ther !” His parent went to lift him up, when, with a 
 smile, he said, “I did not call you, father; but I was 
 calling to my heavenly Father to take me; I shall soon 
 be with him;” and then expired. 
 
 cl. 6.—Let every thing that hath breath praise 
 the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 Mr. John Jane way, on his death-bed, said, “ Come, 
 help me with praises, all is too little: come, help me, 
 0 ye glorious and mighty angels, who are so well skill¬ 
 ed in this heavenly work of praise. Praise him, all ye 
 creatures upon the earth; let every thing that hath be¬ 
 ing help me to praise him. Hallelujah, hallelujah, 
 hallelujah! Praise is now my work, and I shall be en¬ 
 gaged in that sweet employment for ever.” 
 
PROVERBS II. 
 
 97 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 Chai j . i. 33.—Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall 
 dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. 
 
 An old man, a priest in one of the South Sea Islands, 
 who had lived in affluence under the idolatrous system, 
 having been converted to Christianity, became com¬ 
 paratively poor. Being asked, afterwards, whether he 
 did not repent of having embraced a religion which had 
 cost him so much, he calmly replied, “ O, no!—while I 
 was an idolater and a priest, I could never lie down to 
 sleep in peace. I was always in fear of being robbed 
 or murdered before morning. Often have I awoke in 
 the night, trembling with horror; and then I have 
 sprung up and run among the bushes to hide myself, 
 lest any one should come to kill me. Now I go to rest 
 without suspicion; I sleep soundly, and never run into 
 the bush for safety, because I know no danger. I 
 might lie on my mat till it rotted beneath me, before 
 any one would hurt me, by night or by day. I am 
 happy; and therefore I do not repent of what I have 
 done.” 
 
 ii. 4.—If thou seekest for her as silver, and 
 searchest for her as for hid treasure. 
 
 Very near Colombo is a school built in a beautiful 
 and romantic situation, on the high bank of a noble 
 river, across which a bridge of boats had recently been 
 thrown for the convenience of the public. A number 
 of fine little boys residing on the side of the river, oppo¬ 
 site the school, were exceedingly anxious to enjoy the 
 benefits of the instruction which it afforded, but were 
 Utterly unable, from their poverty, to pay the toll for 
 passing this bridge four times every day, to and from 
 school. In removing this serious difficulty, the little 
 fellows showed at once their eagerness to obtain in- 
 
 9 
 
98 
 
 PKOVERBS IV 
 
 struction, and their native ingenuity. Wearing only a 
 light cloth around them, according to the custom of the 
 country, they were accustomed to assemble on the 
 bank in the morning, and the larger boys binding up 
 the books of the smaller ones, which they had home 
 with them to learn their tasks, to tie them on the back 
 of their heads, and swim over, the little ones following 
 them. And this inconvenience they constantly en- 
 countered rather than be absent from school. 
 
 iii. 14.—The merchandise of it is better than 
 the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof 
 than fine gold. 
 
 Mr. John Eliot was once on a visit to a merchant, 
 and finding him in his counting-house, where he saw 
 books of business on the table, and all his books of de¬ 
 votion on the shelf, he said to him, “ sir, here is earth 
 on the table, and heaven on the shelf. Pray don’t think 
 so much of the table as altogether to forget the shelf.” 
 
 iv. 4.—Keep thy heart with all diligence : for 
 out of it are the issues of life. 
 
 The Rev. John Flavel being in London in 1672, his 
 old bookseller, Mr. Boulter, gave him the following re¬ 
 lation:—“That some time before, a young gentleman 
 came into his shop, to inquire for some play-books. 
 He told him he had none, but showed him Mr. Flavel’s 
 small treatise of Keeping the Heart, entreated him to 
 read it, and assured him it would do him more good 
 than any play-book. The gentleman read the title, and 
 glancing upon several pages here and there, broke out 
 into profane expressions. Mr. Boulter begged him to 
 buy and read it, and told him he had no reason to cen¬ 
 sure it so severely. At last he bought it, but told him 
 he would not read it. * What will you do with it then V 
 said the bookseller. ‘I will tear and burn it.’ ‘Then/ 
 said Mr. B., ‘you shall not have it.’ Upon this the 
 gentleman promised to read it, and Mr. B. told him, if 
 he disliked it upon reading, he would return him his 
 
PROVERBS VI. 
 
 99 
 
 money. About a month after this, the gentleman came 
 to the shop again, and with a serious countenance thus 
 addressed Mr. B.: ‘Sir, I most heartily thank you for 
 putting this book into my hands. I bless God that 
 moved you to do it,—it hath saved my soul: blessed 
 be God that ever I came into your shop.’ He then 
 bought a hundred of the books, and told him he would 
 give them to the poor who could not buy them.” 
 
 v. 11.—How have I hated instruction, and my 
 heart despised reproof! 
 
 “During my residence in India,” says one, “I fre¬ 
 quently visited a British soldier, who was under sen¬ 
 tence of death, for having, when half intoxicated, wan¬ 
 tonly shot a black man. In some of my visits to the 
 jail, a number of other prisoners came and sat down 
 with this man, to listen to a word of exhortation. In 
 one instance, I spoke to them particularly on the de¬ 
 sirableness of studying the Bible.—‘ Have any of you 
 a Bible?’ I inquired;—they answered, ‘No.’ ‘Have 
 any of you ever possessed a Bible?’—a pause ensued. 
 At last the murderer broke silence, and amidst sobs 
 and tears confessed that he once had a Bible: ‘ But O,’ 
 said he, ‘ I sold it for drink. It was the companion of 
 my youth. I brought it with me from my native land, 
 and have since sold it for drink ! O, if I had listened 
 to my Bible, I should not have been here.’ ” 
 
 vi. 20.—Forsake not the law of thy mother. 
 
 “ When I was a little child,” said a good man, “ my 
 mother used to bid me kneel beside her, and place her 
 hand upon my head while she prayed. Before I was 
 old enough to know her worth, she died, and I was left 
 much to my own guidance. Like others, I was inclined 
 to evil passions, but often felt myself checked, and, as 
 it were, drawn back by the soft hand on my head. 
 When I was a young man, I travelled in foreign lands, 
 and was exposed to many temptations: but when I 
 would have yielded, that same hand was upon my 
 head, and I was saved. I seemed to feel its pressure 
 as in the days of my happy infancy, and sometimes 
 
100 
 
 PROVERBS IX. 
 
 there came with it a voice in my heart,—a voice that 
 must be obeyed,—‘0, do not this wickedness, my son, 
 nor sin against thy God.’ ” 
 
 vii. 27.—Her house is the way to hell, going 
 down to the chambers of death. 
 
 A young man, on reaching the door of a theatre, 
 overheard one of the door-keepers calling out, “ This is 
 the way to the pit.” Having had some instruction in 
 the word of God in early life, he interpreted what the 
 man said, that the employments of the theatre led to 
 hell. The thought haunted him, made him cease fre¬ 
 quenting such amusements; he became attentive to the 
 concerns of his soul, and was afterwards a preacher 
 of the gospel. 
 
 viii. 15.—By me kings reign, and princes 
 decree justice. 
 
 The Bible is the foundation of all good government, 
 as it instructs rulers and subjects in their respective 
 duties. A French lady once said to Lord Chesterfield, 
 that she thought the Parliament of England consisted 
 of five or six hundred of the best informed and most 
 sensible men in the kingdom. “True, Madam, they 
 are generally supposed to be so.” “ What then, my 
 lord, can be the reason that they tolerate so great an 
 absurdity as the Christian religion 1 ?” “I suppose, Ma¬ 
 dam,” replied his lordship, “it is because they have not 
 been able to substitute any thing better in its stead; 
 when they can, I do not doubt but in their wisdom they 
 will readily adopt it.” 
 
 ix. 13.—A foolish woman is clamorous. 
 
 A short time since, a mechanic at Winford, near 
 Middlewick, being ill, and not able to attend his work 
 as usual, his wife reproached him bitterly; and in the 
 course of the altercation that ensued, worked herself 
 into a furious passion, venting the most horrible and 
 blasphemous imprecations on the poor man. In the 
 
PROVERBS XI. 
 
 101 
 
 midst of her frenzy, she suddenly lost the use of her 
 sight and speech, became almost completely paralyzed, 
 and died in a few hours afterwards. 
 
 x. 23.—It is as sport to a fool to do mischief. 
 
 Some years ago, at a place near Penzance, some men 
 and boys, accompanied by two young women, having 
 fastened a bullock’s horn to the tail of a dog, turned the 
 affrighted animal loose, and followed with brutal exul¬ 
 tation. The dog, pursued by its savage tormentors, ran 
 down a lane, when meeting a cart, drawn by two horses, 
 laden with coals, the horses took fright; the driver, who 
 was sitting on the shafts of the cart, was thrown off, 
 and the wheels passing over his head, he was killed on 
 the spot. The persons who had occasioned this me¬ 
 lancholy accident immediately suspended their chase 
 of the dog, and the young women, on coming up, found 
 that the lad just killed, was their brother. We shall not 
 attempt to describe their feelings. The deceased was 
 about seventeen years of age. 
 
 xi. 24.—There is that scattereth, and yet in- 
 creaseth. 
 
 “When I consider my earthly-mindedness,” says the 
 late Mr. Brown of Haddington, “I admire the almighty 
 grace of God, in so disposing my heart, that it has been 
 my care rather to manage frugally what God provided 
 for me, than greedily to grasp at more. I have looked 
 upon it also as a gracious over-ruling of my mind, that 
 though I have often grudged paying a penny or two for 
 a trifle, the Lord hath enabled me cheerfully to bestow 
 as many pounds for pious purposes; and, owing to a 
 kind Providence, my wealth, instead of being dimin¬ 
 ished, by this means is much increased. From experi¬ 
 ence, I can testify, that liberality to the Lord is one of 
 the most effectual means of making one rich:—‘There 
 is that scattereth, and yet jncreaseth; and there is that 
 withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to po 
 verty.’ ” 
 
 9 * 
 
102 
 
 PROVERBS XIII. 
 
 xii. 12.—A righteous man regardeth the life 
 of his beast. 
 
 The Rev. Jonathan Scott never neglected his horse 
 at home or abroad; nor would he, either from inatten¬ 
 tion or false delicacy, confide, without inspection, in 
 the care of any man. He has been known, at the 
 house of a friend, when he has thought his beast in 
 any way neglected, to strip and thoroughly clean him 
 with his own hands—administering at once to the com¬ 
 fort of his horse, and reproof to the servant of his 
 friend—and even in his prayers he was accustomed, 
 especially in his journeys, to pray for the strength and 
 support of his animal, as addressing a God whose care 
 and providence extended to all his creatures. 
 
 xiii. 24.—He that spareth his rod hateth his 
 son: but he that loveth him, chasteneth him be¬ 
 times. 
 
 “A child,” says Mr. Abbott of America, “a short 
 time since was taken ill with that dangerous disorder, 
 the croup. It was a child most ardently beloved, and 
 ordinarily very obedient. But in this state of uneasi¬ 
 ness and pain, he refused to take the medicine which 
 it was needful without delay to administer. The father 
 finding him resolute, immediately punished his sick 
 and suffering son. Under these circumstances, and fear¬ 
 ing that his son might soon die, it must have been a 
 most severe trial to the father; but the consequence 
 was, that the child was taught that sickness was no ex¬ 
 cuse for disobedience; and while his sickness con¬ 
 tinued, he promptly took whatever medicine was pre¬ 
 scribed, and was patient and submissive. Soon the 
 child was well. Does any one say that this was cruel? 
 It was one of the noblest acts of kindness which could 
 have been performed. If the father had shrunk from 
 duty here, it is by no means improbable that the life of 
 the child would have been the forfeit.” 
 
PROVERBS XVI. 
 
 103 
 
 xiv. 13.—Even in laughter the heart is sor¬ 
 rowful ; and the end of that mirth is heaviness. 
 
 A French physician was once consulted by a person 
 who was subject to most gloomy fits of melancholy. 
 He advised his patient to mix in scenes of gaiety, and 
 particularly to frequent the Italian theatre; and added, 
 ‘‘ If Carline does not expel your gloomy complaint, your 
 case must be desperate indeed.” The reply of the pa¬ 
 tient is worthy the attention of all those who frequent 
 such places in search of happiness, as it shows the un¬ 
 fitness and insufficiency of these amusements. “Alas! 
 sir, I am Carline; and while I divert all Paris with 
 mirth, and make them almost die with laughter, I my¬ 
 self am dying with melancholy and chagrin.” 
 
 xv. 16.—Better is little with the fear of the 
 Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith. 
 
 A missionary in India says, “I rode to Nallamaram, 
 and saw some people of the congregation there, together 
 with the catechist. The clothes of one of the women 
 were rather dirty, and I asked her about it. ‘ Sir/ said 
 she, ‘ I am a poor woman, and have only this single 
 dress.’ ‘ Well, have you always been so poorl’ ‘No, 
 I had some money and jewels, but a year ago the Ma- 
 ravers (thieves) came and robbed me of all. They 
 told me/ she said, ‘If you will return to heathenism, 
 we shall restore to you everything.’ ‘Well, why did 
 you not follow their advice! Now you are a poor 
 Christian.’ ‘ 0, sir/ she replied, ‘ I would rather be a 
 poor Christian than a rich heathen. Now I can say 
 respecting my stolen property, ‘ The Lord gave it, and 
 the Lord hath taken it again.’ ” 
 
 xvi. 19.—Better it is to be of an humble spirit 
 with the lowly, than to divid'e the spoil with the 
 proud. 
 
 A French writer remarks, that “ the modest deport¬ 
 ment of those who are truly wise, when contrasted with 
 
104 
 
 PROVERBS XVIII. 
 
 the assuming air of the young and ignorant, may he 
 compared to the different appearance of wheat, which, 
 while its ear is empty, holds up its head proudly, but 
 as soon as it is filled with grain, bends modestly down, 
 and withdraws from observation.” 
 
 xvii. 17.—A friend loveth at all times ; and a 
 brother is born for adversity. 
 
 When Socrates was building a house for himself at 
 Athens, being asked by one who observed the littleness 
 of the design, why a man so eminent should not have 
 an abode more suitable to his dignity; he replied, 
 that he should think himself sufficiently accommodated 
 if he should see that narrow habitation filled with real 
 friends. Such was the opinion of this great master of 
 human nature, concerning the unfrequency of such a 
 union of minds as might deserve the name of friend¬ 
 ship ; that among the multitudes whom vanity, or cu¬ 
 riosity, civility, or veneration brought around him, he 
 did not expect that very spacious apartments would be 
 necessary to contain all who should regard him with 
 sincere kindness, or adhere to him with steady fidelity. 
 
 xviii. 4.—The words of a man’s mouth are as 
 deep waters, and the well-spring of wisdom as a 
 flowing brook. 
 
 “For my part,” says Mr. Hervey, “when Christ and 
 his righteousness are the subject of conference, I know 
 not how to complain of poverty. I feel no weariness; 
 but could rather delight to talk of them without ceasing. 
 —Would not you expect to hear of engagements and 
 victories from a soldier ! Would any be surprised to 
 find a merchant discoursing of foreign affairs, or can¬ 
 vassing the state of trade! Why, then, should not the 
 agents for the court of heaven treat of heavenly things! 
 Why should not their whole conversation savour of 
 their calling! Why should they be one thing when 
 they bend the knee or speak from the pulpit, and quite 
 a different one when they converse in the parlour!” 
 
PROVERBS XXI. 
 
 105 
 
 xix. 7.—All the brethren of the poor do hate 
 him; how much more do his friends go far from 
 him ! He pursueth them with words, yet they are 
 wanting to him. 
 
 In giving an account of the state of the Sandwich 
 Islands, the missionaries state, that the helpless and 
 dependent, whether from age or sickness, are often cast 
 from the habitations of their relatives and friends, to 
 languish and to die—unattended and unpitied. An in¬ 
 stance recently came to their knowledge, in which a 
 poor wretch thus perished within sight of their dwelling, 
 after having lain uncovered for days and nights in the 
 open air, most of the time pleading in vain to his family, 
 still within the hearing of his voice, for a drink of 
 water. And when he was (tead, his body, instead of 
 being buried, was merely drawn so far into the bushes, 
 as to prevent the olfence that would have arisen from 
 the corpse, and left a prey to the dogs who prowl 
 through the district in the night! 
 
 xx. 22.—Say not thou, I will recompense evil. 
 
 A gentleman once sent his servant to John Bruen, 
 Esq., of Stapleton, in the county of Chester, forbidding 
 him ever to set a foot upon his ground; to whom he 
 sent this truly Christian reply:—“If it please your mas¬ 
 ter to walk upon my grounds, he shall be very welcome; 
 but if he will please to come to my house, he shall be 
 still more welcome.” By this meek reply, the gentle¬ 
 man was softened into kindness, and became his friend 
 ever after. 
 
 xxi. 7.—The robbery of the wicked shall des¬ 
 troy them. 
 
 Bishop Hall relates the case of an old plain man in 
 the country, into whose solitary dwelling some thieves 
 broke. Taking advantage of the absence of his family, 
 and finding him sitting alone by his fireside, they fell 
 violently upon him; when one of them, presenting his 
 
106 
 
 PROVERBS XXIV. 
 
 dagger to the old man’s breast, swore that he would 
 presently kill him if he did not instantly deliver to them 
 the money which they knew he had lately received. 
 The old man, looking boldly into the face of the villain, 
 replied, with an undaunted courage—“Nay, if I were 
 killed by thee, I have lived long enough; but I tell thee, 
 son, unless thou mend thy manners, thou wilt never 
 live to see half my days.” 
 
 xxii. 19.—That thy trust may be in the Lord, 
 I have made known to thee this day, even to 
 thee. 
 
 A gentleman being one day much struck with the 
 scriptural knowledge of an old lady, with whom he 
 was conversing, asked her how she had attained such 
 an extensive acquaintandfe with the word of God ? To 
 this question she made the following reply: — “Sir, 
 much is lost by not considering the word of God as ad¬ 
 dressed to us as individuals. For these thirty years, I 
 have read the word of God, carefully attended to every 
 part of it, as if I had been the only person in the world 
 to whom it was addressed; and, if I know any thing 
 above my neighbours, under the blessing of God, I owe 
 it entirely to this practice.” 
 
 xxiii. 26.—My son, give me thine heart. 
 
 A Hindoo, after spending some years in seclusion, 
 and in endeavouring to obtain the mastery of his pas¬ 
 sions, came to a mission station, where he thus accost¬ 
 ed the missionary:—“ I have a flower, a precious flower, 
 to present as an offering; but as yet I have found none 
 worthy to receive it.” Hearing of the love of Christ, 
 he said, “I will offer my flower to Christ, for he is 
 worthy to receive it.” This flower was his heart. Je¬ 
 sus accepted it, and, after a short time, transplanted it 
 to bloom in the bowers of Eden. 
 
 xxiv. 9.—The thought of foolishness is sin. 
 
 A Jew of Morocco, who read Hebrew with Mr. Jow- 
 
PROVERBS XXVI. 
 
 107 
 
 ett, once told him that “ God is so merciful that he will 
 not punish our evil thoughts, unless they break out in¬ 
 to act; then, and not till then, they become sin. Our 
 good thoughts, on the contrary, even if we should not 
 find opportunity to put them in practice, will be counted 
 as good deeds, as much as if they had been performed.” 
 “ I urged,” says Mr. J., “ all that I could against such a 
 pernicious maxim. He made one exception, — ‘The 
 thought of idolatry is sin; but to intend to commit mur¬ 
 der, adultery, drunkenness, &c. is no sin, unless the 
 act is committed.’ ” 
 
 A . ' 
 
 xxv. 21, 22.—If thine enemy be hungry, give 
 him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him 
 water to drink :—For thou shalt heap coals of fire 
 upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee. 
 
 During the persecuting times in England, two per¬ 
 sons from Bedford went early one morning to the house 
 of a pious man, who rented a farm in the parish of 
 Keysoe, with the intention of apprehending and impris¬ 
 oning him in Bedford jail for non-conformity. The 
 good man knew their intention, and desired his wife to 
 prepare breakfast, at the same time kindly inviting his 
 visitors to partake with them. In asking a blessing or 
 in returning thanks for the food, he pronounced em¬ 
 phatically these words,—“ If thine enemy hunger, feed 
 him; if he thirst, give him drink,”—by which means 
 the hearts of his persecutors were so far softened that 
 they went away without taking him into custody. 
 
 xxvi. 28.—A flattering mouth worketh ruin. 
 
 A clergyman in New England, eminent both for tal¬ 
 ents and humility, was one day accosted by a parish¬ 
 ioner, who highly commended some of his performan¬ 
 ces, of which the clergyman himself had a very low 
 opinion. After patiently hearing him a few minutes, 
 the clergyman replied, “ My friend, all that you say 
 gives me no better opinion of myself than I had before, 
 but gives me a much worse opinion of you.” 
 
108 
 
 PROVERBS XXIX. 
 
 xxvii. 10.—Thine own friend, and thy father’s 
 friend, forsake not. 
 
 The late excellent Mr. Cathcart of Drum, was in the 
 practice of keeping a diary, which, however, included 
 one particular department, seldom to be found in like 
 cases. Mr. Cathcart describes his plan and object in 
 the following words:—“A memorial of acts of kindness, 
 that as memory is liable to fail, and as the kindness 
 and friendship of former times may be forgotten, the 
 remembrance of friendly offices done to the writer or 
 his family, or to his particular friends, might be pre¬ 
 served, in order that he may himself repay the debt in 
 grateful acknowledgments while he lived, and that his 
 family after him might know to whom their father owed 
 obligations, and might feel every debt of gratitude due 
 by him as an obligation on themselves.” 
 
 xxviii. 24.—Whoso robbeth his father or his 
 mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the 
 same is the companion of a destroyer. 
 
 About the end of the year 1774, the following unna¬ 
 tural robbery was committed. A tradesman and his 
 wife had occasion to go out of town, and on their re¬ 
 turn home, horrible to relate, they were stopped by two 
 of their own sons. The father expostulated with them 
 for some time, as did also their mother, without effect. 
 One of them drove a pistol against his mother’s eye, 
 and it was feared she would lose the sight of it. The 
 father died shortly after of a broken heart, and appre¬ 
 hensions were entertained that the mother would not 
 long survive. 
 
 xxix. 27 .—An unjust man is an abomination 
 to the just; and he that is upright in the way is 
 abomination to the wicked. 
 
 The late Rev. Jonathan Scott, who had been for some 
 time an officer in the army, and an irreligious man, 
 says in a letter to a friend, “I find that before I left the 
 
PROVERBS XXXI. 
 
 109 
 
 regiment, in order to go to Shrewsbury, I began to be a 
 suspected person. Attending the ministry of such a 
 notorious person as dear Romaine, and associating with 
 some Christian people, were sufficient to cause suspi¬ 
 cions that I was turned this, and turned that. Upon 
 my rejoining the regiment, I found it was no longer 
 bare suspicion. Now they are convinced I am turned 
 an arrant Methodist; and this their persuasion is a 
 very lucky one for me; for now they begin to think my 
 company not worth being over-solicitous about; andl 
 am sure you will readily believe that a very little of 
 theirs is enough to satisfy me ; or, more properly speak¬ 
 ing, to dissatisfy me, so as to be tired of it, since their 
 whole conversation consists in idle, vain nonsense, 
 larded with horrid oaths and filthy obscenity; this is 
 the more shocking to me, as I must sometimes be pre¬ 
 sent at it, and have it not in my power to remedy it.” 
 
 xxx. 17.—The eye that mocketh at his father, 
 and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of 
 the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles 
 shall eat it. 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke, when a boy, having one day dis¬ 
 obeyed his mother, she took the Bible, and read and 
 commented on the preceding passage in a very serious 
 manner.—The poor culprit was cut to the heart, be¬ 
 lieving the words had been sent immediately from hea¬ 
 ven. He went out into the field with a troubled spirit, 
 and was musing on this awful denunciation of Divine 
 displeasure, when the hoarse croak of a raven sounded in 
 his conscience an alarm more terrible than the cry of 
 fire at midnight! He looked up and soon perceived 
 this most ominous bird, and actually supposing it to be 
 the raven of which the text spoke coming to pick out 
 his eyes, he clapped his hands on them, and with the 
 utmost speed ran home, to escape the impending 
 danger. 
 
 xxxi. 5.—Lest they drink, and forget the law, 
 
 and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. 
 
 10 
 
110 
 
 ECCLESIASTES. II. 
 
 Philip, King of Macedon, having drunk too much 
 wine, determined a cause unjustly, to the hurt of a poor 
 widow, who, when she heard his decree, boldly cried 
 out, “ I appeal to Philip sober.” The king, struck with 
 this strange appeal, began to recover his senses, heard 
 the cause anew, and finding his mistake, ordered her to 
 be paid, out of his own purse, double the sum she was 
 to have lost. 
 
 ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 Chap. i. 14.—I have seen all the works that are 
 done under the sun ; and, behold, all is vanity and 
 vexation of spirit. 
 
 Mr. Locke, about two months before his death, drew 
 up a letter to a certain gentleman, and left this direc¬ 
 tion on it, “To be delivered to him after my decease.” 
 In it are these remarkable words:—“ This life is a 
 scene of vanity that soon passes away, and affords no 
 solid satisfaction, but in the consciousness of doing 
 well, and in the hopes of another life. This is what I 
 can say upon experience, and what you will find to be 
 true, when you come to make up the account.” 
 
 ii. 2.—I said of laughter, It is mad: and of 
 mirth, What doeth it 1 
 
 The Rev. Jonathan Scott, meeting at one place, with 
 some ladies, who came to speak to him after preaching, 
 one of them said, “Do you remember, sir, dancing with 
 us at such a time and place V* He replied, “ 0 yes, 
 madam, I remember it very well; and am much 
 ashamed of those days of my vanity; but, madam, you 
 and I are many years older now, and so much nearer 
 death and eternity.” He then proceeded to speak of 
 the great things of God. 
 
ECCLESIASTES V. 
 
 Ill 
 
 
 iii. 12.—I know that there is no good in them, 
 but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. 
 
 When Colonel Gardiner was raised from being Ma¬ 
 jor, he observed, that it was as to his personal concern 
 much the same to him, whether he had remained in 
 his former station or been elevated to this, but that if 
 God should by this means honour him as an instrument 
 of doing more good than he could otherwise have done, 
 he should rejoice in it. 
 
 iv. 4.—I considered every right work, that for 
 this a man is envied of his neighbour. 
 
 “ Dionysius the tyrant,” says Plutarch, “ out of envy, 
 punished Philoxenius, the musician, because he could 
 sing, and Plato the philosopher, because he could dis¬ 
 pute, better than himself.” 
 
 v. 5.—Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, 
 than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 
 
 “ Monday evening,” writes Mrs. Judson, “ the daugh¬ 
 ters of-sent to invite me and my sisters to spend 
 
 the evening with them, and make a family visit. I 
 hesitated a little, but considering that it was to be a 
 family party merely, I thought I could go without break¬ 
 ing my resolutions. Accordingly I went, and found 
 that two or three other families of young ladies had 
 been invited. Dancing was soon introduced—my re¬ 
 ligious plans were forgotten—I joined with the rest— 
 was one of the gayest of the gay—and thought no more 
 of the new life I had begun. On my return home, I 
 found an invitation from Mrs.-in waiting, and ac¬ 
 
 cepted it at once. My conscience let me pass quietly 
 through the amusements of that evening also; but 
 when I retired to my chamber, on my return, it accused 
 me of breaking my most solemn resolution. I thought 
 I should never dare to make others, for I clearly saw 
 that I was unable to keep them.” 
 
112 
 
 ECCLESIASTES VII. 
 
 vi. 12.—Who knoweth what is good for man 
 in this life ? 
 
 A minister of Bristol, preaching on the preceding 
 text, introduced the following anecdote into his dis¬ 
 course, related to him by his father, who knew the cir¬ 
 cumstance to be true.—A gentleman in an extensive 
 line of business in a distant part of the country, left his 
 house with an intention of going to Bristol fair; but 
 when he had proceeded about half way on his journey, 
 he was seized with a violent fit of the stone, which de¬ 
 tained him several days at the place; and as the fair 
 was by this time nearly over, he was induced to return 
 home. Some years after, the same gentleman happen¬ 
 ing to be on business at some place where the assizes 
 for the county were held, was present at the execution 
 of a criminal who was then about to sutler. Whilst 
 he was mixed with the crowd, the criminal intimated a 
 wish to speak with him, and signified that he had some¬ 
 thing to communicate to him. The gentleman ap¬ 
 proached, and was addressed to the following effect:— 
 “Do you recollect having intended at such a time to go 
 to Bristol fair!” “Yes,” replied the gentleman, “per¬ 
 fectly well.” “ It is well you did not,” said the criminal, 
 “ for it was the intention of myself and several others, 
 who knew that you had a considerable sum of money 
 about you, to way-lay and rob, and, if I mistake not, 
 murder you, to escape detection.” 
 
 vii. 2.—It is better to go to the house of mourn¬ 
 ing, than to go to the house of feasting : for that 
 is the end of all men ; and the living will lay it 
 to his heart. 
 
 When the late Rev. W. Moorhouse, of Huddersfield, 
 was one day during his last illness talking of the hea¬ 
 venly state, which he expected soon to enter, one of his 
 friends said to him, “You think too much about another 
 world; think and talk a little of this life.” He replied, 
 “ Oh, but I am going there ! and, whether I talk about 
 it or not, I must go, for I am fast hastening to an un- 
 
ECCLESIASTES X. 
 
 113 
 
 seen world; the outward man is fast decaying, and it 
 will soon be ‘dust to dust.’” With his eyes very de¬ 
 voutly raised, and exhibiting an animated countenance, 
 he then exclaimed— 
 
 “ There is a house not made with hands, 
 
 Eternal and on high; 
 
 And here my waiting spirit stands, 
 
 Till God shall bid it fly.” 
 
 viii. 1.—Who is as the wiseman?—a man’s 
 wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness 
 of his face shall be changed. 
 
 Mr. Philip Henry used to remark, “ that it is strange 
 to see sometimes what an awe arises upon the spirits 
 of wicked men, from the very company and presence 
 of one eminent in holiness; they dare not do then, as 
 they dare and do at other times. One having dined 
 with Mr. John Dod, said afterwards, that he did not 
 think it could have been possible to have forborne 
 swearing so long/’ 
 
 ix. 7.—Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy 
 wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth 
 thy works. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Whiting, a learned and useful min¬ 
 ister in New England, being at one time on a journey, 
 some persons in an adjoining room of the inn, were 
 excessively noisy and clamorous in their mirth. Mr. 
 Whiting, as he passed by their door, looked in upon 
 them, and with a sweet majesty only dropped these 
 words:—“ Friends, if you are sure that your sins are 
 pardoned, you may be wisely merry.” These words 
 not only stilled their noise for the present, but also had 
 a great effect afterwards on some of the company. 
 
 x. 17.—Thy princes eat in due season, for 
 strength, and not for drunkenness. 
 
 10 * 
 
114 
 
 ECCLESIASTES XII. 
 
 * 
 
 A man of temperate habits was once dining at the 
 house of a free drinker. No sooner was the cloth re¬ 
 moved from the dinner table, than wine and spirits 
 were produced, and he was asked to take a glass of 
 spirits and water, “ No, thank you,” said he, “ I am not 
 ill.” “ Take a glass of wine, then,” said his hospitable 
 host, “or a glass of ale.” “No, thank you,” said he, 
 “I am not thirsty.” These answers called forth a loud 
 hurst of laughter.—Soon after this, the temperate man 
 took a piece of bread from the side-board, and handed 
 it to his host, who refused it, saying that he was not 
 hungry. At this the temperate man laughed in his 
 turn. “ Surely,” said he, “ I have as much reason to 
 laugh at you for not eating when you are not hungry, 
 as you have to laugh at me for declining medicine 
 when not ill, and drink when I am not thirsty.” 
 
 xi. 9.—Know thou, that for all these things God 
 will bring thee into judgment. 
 
 A person in a stage coach, who had indulged in a 
 strain of speech which betrayed licentiousness and in¬ 
 fidelity, seemed hurt that no one either agreed or dis¬ 
 puted with him. “Well,” he exclaimed, as a funeral 
 procession slowly passed the coach, “ there is the last 
 job of all.” “No!” replied a person directly opposite 
 to him : “ No ! for after death is the judgment.” The 
 speaker was silenced. 
 
 xii. 4.—Remember now thy Creator in the 
 days of thy youth. 
 
 An old man, one day taking a child on his knee, en¬ 
 treated him to seek God now—to pray to him—and to 
 love him : when the child, looking up at him, asked, 
 “ But why do not you seek God 1” The old man, deep¬ 
 ly affected, answered, “I would, child; but my heart is 
 hard—my heart is hard.” 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON III. 
 
 115 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON. 
 
 Chap. i. 4. —We will remember thy love more 
 than wine: the upright love thee. 
 
 In a letter from the Rev. Dr. Judson, missionary in 
 Burmah, addressed to American females, the following 
 anecdote is related;—“ A Karen woman offered herself 
 for baptism. After the usual examination, I inquired 
 whether she could give up her ornaments for Christ. 
 It was an unexpected blow. I explained the spirit of 
 the gospel. I appealed to her own consciousness of 
 vanity. I read to her the apostle’s prohibition (1 Tim. 
 ii. 9.) She looked again and again at her handsome 
 necklace, and then, with an air of modest decision, that 
 would adorn, beyond all ornaments, any of my sisters 
 whom I have the honour of addressing, she took it off, 
 saying, ‘ I love Christ more than this.’ ” 
 
 ii. 2.—I sat down under his shadow with great 
 delight. 
 
 The Rev. Isaac Toms, of.Hadleigh, in England, re¬ 
 marked to one of his daughters, on her return from a 
 long visit to her friends,—“ I have heard of Dryden’s 
 contentment, when sitting under the statue of Shak- 
 speare; and that Buffon, the celebrated natural histo¬ 
 rian, felt himself happy at the feet of Sir Isaac Newton; 
 but,” said he, pointing to a picture which hung over his 
 desk, “here you find me under the shadow of good 
 Richard Baxter. Yet, my dear,” added the venerable 
 saint, “ the most desirable situation in which we can be 
 placed, is to be under the shadow of the Almighty; 
 under the protection of the great Redeemer.” 
 
 iii. 11.—Behold king Solomon with the crown. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter written by 
 Mr. Strachan, one of the heralds at the coronation of 
 
116 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON IV. 
 
 his majesty George III.—“After the king was crowned, 
 and invested with all his royal dignity, all the peers 
 were allowed the privilege of patting on their crowns, 
 —they looked like a company of kings, as in some 
 sense they were. But immediately they came, one by 
 one, and laid down their crowns at their sovereign’s 
 feet, in testimony of their having no power or authority 
 but what they derived from him; and having each 
 kissed his sceptre, he allowed each of them to kiss 
 himself; upon which their crowns were restored to 
 them, and they were all allowed to reign as subordinate 
 kings. This could not miss bringing to mind what is 
 recorded in the Revelations, of the whole redeemed 
 company, who are said to be kings and priests unto 
 God, and who are to reign with Jesus Christ for ever 
 and ever; their casting down their crowns, and saying, 
 ‘Thou art worthy to receive power and majesty.’ I 
 thought with myself, were I so happy as to make one 
 of that innumerable company, redeemed from among 
 men, I should not envy all the nobles in England what 
 they are now enjoying.” 
 
 iv. 11.—Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the 
 honey-comb; honey and milk are under thy 
 tongue. 
 
 Mr. Hervey, in a letter, says—“ I have lately seen 
 that most excellent minister of the ever-blessed Jesus, 
 
 Mr.-. I dined, supped, and spent the evening with 
 
 him at Northampton, in company with Dr. Doddridge, 
 and two pious ingenious clergymen of the Church of 
 England, both of them known to the learned world by 
 their valuable writings; and surely I never spent a 
 more delightful evening, or saw one that seemed to 
 make nearer approaches to the felicity of heaven. A 
 gentleman of great worth and rank in the town, invited 
 us to his house, and gave us an elegant treat; but how 
 mean was his provision, how coarse his delicacies, 
 compared with the fruit of my friend’s lips! — they 
 dropped as the honey-comb, and were a well of life.” 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON VI. 
 
 117 
 
 v. 1.—Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abun¬ 
 dantly, 0 beloved. 
 
 While the American army, under the command of 
 General Washington, lay encamped in the environs of 
 Morristown, N. J., the Lord’s Supper was to be admin¬ 
 istered in the Presbyterian church of that village. In 
 a morning of the previous week, the general visited the 
 house of the Rev. Dr. Jones, then pastor of that church, 
 and thus accosted him: — “Doctor, I understand that 
 the Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated with you next 
 Sabbath; I would learn if it accords with the canons 
 of your church to admit communicants of another de¬ 
 nomination ?” The Doctor rejoined, “ Most certainly; 
 ours is not the Presbyterian table, General, but the 
 Lord’s table; and we hence give the Lord’s invitation 
 to all his followers, of whatever name.” The General 
 replied,“I am glad to hear it—that is as it ought to be; 
 but as I was not quite sure of the fact, I thought I would 
 ascertain it from yourself, as I purpose to be with you 
 on that occasion. Though a member of the church of 
 England, I have not exclusive partialities.” The Doc¬ 
 tor re-assured him of a cordial welcome, and the Gen¬ 
 eral was found seated with the communicants next 
 Sabbath. 
 
 vi. 10.—Fair as the moon. 
 
 The Rev. Ebenezer Erskine has the following entry 
 in his diary, of September 23, 1713:—“I was this day 
 at Kirkness and Ballingry, with my wife; and upon 
 the way home, towards the twilight, a little after sun¬ 
 set, the moon appeared in the east, about the full; and 
 it pleased the Lord to give me some views of his power 
 and glory in that creature. It appeared to me to be a 
 vast body, bright and glorious, hanging pendular upon 
 nothing, supported only by the power of the eternal 
 God. I wondered how there could be an atheist in the 
 world, that looked on this glorious creature, wherein 
 there appeared so much of the wisdom and power of 
 the Creator.” 
 
118 
 
 ISAIAH I. 
 
 vii. 12.—Let us get up early to the vineyards. 
 
 Morier, when he travelled in Persia, observed the 
 people sleeping on the house-tops; he noticed that the 
 women were generally up first, and stirring about with 
 activity at an early hour.—Lord Mansfield, a celebrated 
 judge in England, used to ask any aged person who 
 came before him as a witness, about his manner and 
 habits of life; and he said that among the many hun¬ 
 dreds he had spoken to, he always found that they were 
 early risers, however they might differ in other re¬ 
 spects. 
 
 viii. 7.—If a man would give all the substance 
 of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. 
 
 A boy, not five years of age, hearing his parent read 
 the parable of the Wedding Garment, and remark on 
 the concluding sentence—“For many are called, but 
 few are chosen,”—that it may be understood of such as 
 profess to believe in Christ, but are not approved by 
 him; asked why they were not approved? He was 
 referred to the parable, which showed that there was 
 something greatly wanting in them. “ But what,” said 
 he, “ is it, that is wanting, that Jesus should approve 
 them? Is it love to Jesus Christ?” 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 Chap. i. 18.—Though your sins be as scarlet, 
 
 they shall be white as snow; though they be red 
 
 like crimson, they shall be as wool. 
 
 A sailor on watch, was one evening walking back¬ 
 wards and forwards on deck, when a sudden squall of 
 wind caused the vessel to give a heavy lurch. The 
 sailor was driven against one of the stauncheons, and 
 
ISAIAH II. 
 
 119 
 
 somewhat injured. He gave vent to his anger by a 
 dreadful oath—cursing the wind, the ship, the sea, and 
 (awful to mention) the Being who made them. Scarce¬ 
 ly had this horrid oath escaped his lips, when it ap¬ 
 peared to roll back upon his mind with such awful 
 force, that, for a moment or two, he thought he saw the 
 sea parting, and the vessel going down. During the 
 whole of that night, the dreadful oath haunted his mind 
 like a spectre, and its consequences appeared to bring 
 his certain damnation. For several days he was in the 
 deepest distress of mind, till, happening to turn over 
 some things in his chest, he found a leaf of the Bible 
 wrapped about one of the articles in it, containing 
 nearly the whole of the first chapter of Isaiah. The 
 reading of the above passage, in particular, deeply im¬ 
 pressed his mind, and, together with his subsequent at¬ 
 tendance on the means of grace, was the means of re¬ 
 lieving him from his distress, and he was enabled to 
 believe that the Lord had forgiven his great sin. 
 
 ii. 4.—They shall beat their swords into plow¬ 
 shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation 
 shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall 
 they learn war any more. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Orsmond, missionary in Eimeo, says, 
 —“A few weeks ago, I overheard some chiefs con¬ 
 versing among themselves; the following are a few 
 of the expressions which I caught:—‘ But for our teach¬ 
 ers, our grass on the hill, our fences and houses, would 
 have been fire ashes long ago — (meaning that there 
 would have been wars, in which their houses would 
 have been burned, had not Christianity been establish¬ 
 ed.) But for the gospel, we should now have been on 
 the mountains, squeezing moss for a drop of water; 
 eating raw roots, and smothering the cries of our child¬ 
 ren by filling their mouths with grass, dirt, or cloth. 
 Under the reign of the Messiah, we stretch out our feet 
 at ease; eat our food, keep our pig by the house, and 
 see children, wife, and all, at table in the same house. 
 We do not know our ancestors, our kings and our pa- 
 
120 
 
 ISAIAH IV. 
 
 rents; and we were all blind, till the birds flew across 
 the great expanse with good seeds in their mouths, and 
 planted them among us. We now gather the fruit, and 
 have continual harvest. It was God who put into the 
 hearts of those strangers to come to us. We have no¬ 
 thing to give them. They are a people who seek our 
 good; but we are a people of thorny hands, of pointed 
 tongues, and we have no thoughts. If God were to 
 take our teachers from us, we should soon be savage 
 again. They are the great roots to the tree on the high 
 hill; the wind strikes it, twists it, but cannot level it to 
 the ground, for its roots are strong. Our hearts de¬ 
 lighted in war, but our teachers love peace, and we now 
 have peace.’ ” 
 
 iii. 22, 23.—The changeable suits of apparel, 
 and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping- 
 pins,—The glasses, and the fine linen, and the 
 hoods, and the veils. 
 
 The Rev. John Harrion, a dissenting minister at 
 Denton in Norfolk, had two daughters who were much 
 too fond of dress, which was a great grief to him. He 
 had often reproved them in vain; and preaching one 
 Sabbath day on the sin of pride, he took occasion to 
 notice, among other things, pride in dress. After speak¬ 
 ing some considerable time on this subject, he suddenly 
 stopped short, and said, with much feeling and expres¬ 
 sion, “ But you will say, Look at home. My good 
 friends, I do look at home, till my heart aches.” 
 
 iv. 4.—When the Lord shall have washed away 
 the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have 
 purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst 
 thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the 
 spirit of burning. 
 
 “I remember,” says Mr. Whitefield, “some years 
 ago, when I was at Shields, I went into a glass-house; 
 and, standing very attentive, I saw several masses of 
 
ISAIAH VI. 
 
 121 
 
 burning glass, of various forms. The workman took a 
 piece of glass, and put it into one furnace, then he put 
 it into a second, and then into a third. I said to him, 
 ‘ Why do you put it through so many fires'?’ He an¬ 
 swered, ‘ O, sir, the first was not hot enough, nor the 
 second, therefore we put it into a third, and that will 
 make it transparent.’ ” This furnished Mr. Whitefield 
 with a useful hint, that we must be tried, and exercised 
 with many fires, until our dross be purged away, and 
 we are made fit for the owner’s use. 
 
 v. 22.—Wo unto them that are mighty to 
 drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong 
 drink. 
 
 Two young men lately drinking together at a public- 
 house, in a village near Huntingdon, fell into a conver¬ 
 sation as to who could drink most without being in¬ 
 toxicated. One of them said to the other, “I will call 
 for a half-crown’s worth of gin: if you finish the liquor, 
 I will pay for it—if not, you shall.” The other agreed 
 to the proposal, and drank till he fell from the chair, 
 when he was carried home, and soon after died. How 
 awful to meet death in such a state ! 
 
 vi. 9.—He said, Go and tell this people, Hear 
 ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, 
 but perceive not. 
 
 “ On the morning before I was licensed,” says the 
 late Rev. John Brown, “ that text was much impressed 
 on my spirit, ‘ He said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye 
 indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but per¬ 
 ceive not,’ &c. Since I was ordained at Haddington, 
 I know not how often it hath been heavy to my heart 
 to think how much this scripture hath been fulfilled in 
 my ministry. Frequently I have had an anxious de¬ 
 sire to be removed by death, from being a plague to 
 my poor congregation. Often, however, I have check¬ 
 ed myself, and have considered this wish as my folly, 
 and begged of the Lord, that if it were not for his glory 
 
 11 
 
122 
 
 ISAIAH VIII. 
 
 to remove me by death, he would make me successful 
 in my work.” 
 
 vii. 18.—The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is 
 in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt. 
 
 Yinis'auf, speaking of the army under Richard I., a 
 little before he left the Holy Land, and describing them 
 as marching on the plain not far from the sea-coast, 
 says, “The army stopping awhile there, rejoicing in 
 the hope of speedily setting out for Jerusalem, were as¬ 
 sailed by a most minute kind of fly, flying about like 
 sparks, which they called cincinellac. With these the 
 whole neighbouring region round about was filled. 
 These most wretchedly infested the pilgrims, piercing 
 with great smartness the hands, necks, throats, fore¬ 
 heads, and faces, and every part that was uncovered, a 
 most violent burning tumour following the punctures 
 made by them, so that all that they stung looked like 
 lepers.” He adds, “That they could hardly guard 
 themselves from this most troublesome vexation, by 
 covering their heads and necks with veils.” 
 
 viii. 21.—They shall fret themselves, and curse 
 their king and their God, and look upward. 
 
 General Burn, in describing the effects of a violent 
 storm that assailed the vessel in which he was return¬ 
 ing to England, off the coast of Whitehaven, says, “As 
 beings imagining they had but a few moments to live, 
 all strove with dying eagerness to reach the quarter¬ 
 deck, but we had scarcely raised ourselves upright 
 when the ship struck a second time, more violently 
 than before, and again threw us all prostrate. The 
 scene was enough to make the heart of the stoutest 
 sinner tremble. I very well remember the agony of 
 one of my poor messmates. This man had acquired 
 considerable property in Jamaica, and during the voy¬ 
 age, like the rich man in the parable, was frequently 
 devising plans of future happiness. At this awful mo¬ 
 ment, he exclaimed bitterly against the treatment of 
 heaven, that had made him spend so many toilsome 
 
ISAIAH X. 
 
 123 
 
 years in a scorching and unhealthy climate to procure 
 a little wealth; and when with pain and trouble he had 
 heaped it together, had tantalized him with a sight of 
 the happy shore, where he expected peaceably to en¬ 
 joy it; but now with one cruel sudden stroke, had de¬ 
 feated all his hopes. The cutting reflections and bitter 
 complaints which came from this man’s mouth, ex¬ 
 pressed such black despair, that he appeared more like 
 a fiend of the bottomless pit, than a sinner yet in the 
 land of hope.” 
 
 ix. 13.—The people turneth not unto him that 
 smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of 
 hosts. 
 
 A Christian friend visiting a good man under great 
 distress and afflicting dispensations, which he bore 
 with such patient and composed resignation, as to make 
 his friend wonder at and admire it, inquired how he was 
 enabled so to comfort himself? The good man said, 
 “The distress I am under is indeed severe; but I find 
 it lightens the stroke very much, to creep near to Him 
 who handles the rod;” adding, “but where else, save 
 in the religion of Christ, could such a sufferer find such 
 a support!” 
 
 x. 15.—Shall the axe boast itself against him 
 that heweth therewith ? or shall the saw magnify 
 itself against him that shaketh it 1 
 
 When Bonaparte was about to invade Russia, a per¬ 
 son who had endeavoured to dissuade him from his 
 purpose, finding he could not prevail, quoted to him the 
 proverb, “ Man proposes, but God disposes ;” to which 
 he indignantly replied, “I dispose as well as propose.” 
 A Christian lady, on hearing the impious boast, re¬ 
 marked, “ I set that down as the turning point of Bona¬ 
 parte’s fortunes. God will not suffer a creature with 
 impunity thus to usurp his prerogative.” It happened 
 to Bonaparte just as the lady predicted. His invasion 
 of Russia was the commencement of his fall. 
 
124 
 
 ISAIAH XII. 
 
 xi. 9.—They shall not hurt or destroy in all my 
 holy mountain : for the earth shall be full of the 
 knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 
 
 In the eleventh century, the effect of the gospel in 
 Denmark was such, as to prove at once its divine ori¬ 
 gin, and its benign tendency. Adam of Bremen, an 
 historian, thus expresses it:—“Look at that very fero¬ 
 cious nation of the Danes; for a long time they have 
 been accustomed, in the praises of God, to resound 
 Alleluia! Look at that piratical people; they are now- 
 content with the fruits of their own country. Look at 
 that horrid region, formerly altogether inacessible on 
 account of idolatry; now they eagerly admit the 
 preacher of the word.”—To refer to a more recent in¬ 
 stance : the inhabitants of the South Sea are now pro¬ 
 fessedly Christian, and improvement in their circum¬ 
 stances keeps pace with that of their morals. Theft is 
 almost unknown among them. Family prayer is set 
 up in every house, and private prayer is almost uni¬ 
 versally attended to. The people look up to the mis¬ 
 sionaries as their oracle in all their troubles of body 
 and mind, civil and religious. They were once the 
 cruel slaves of Satan, destroying themselves and their 
 infant offspring. Now, women are restored to their 
 proper rank in society, a new generation of young ones 
 is springing up, beloved by their parents; and the face 
 of things is wonderfully altered, so that we are con¬ 
 strained to say, “ This is the Lord’s doing, and it is 
 marvellous in our eyes.” 
 
 xii. 1.—In that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I 
 will praise thee : though thou wast angry with me, 
 thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst 
 me. 
 
 The late Rev. Thomas Scott, during his last illness, 
 sometimes wanted that comfort which he usually en¬ 
 joyed; and though hope as to his final salvation gene¬ 
 rally predominated, yet he would say, “ Even one fear, 
 where infinity is at stake, is sufficient to countervail 
 
ISAIAH XIII. 
 
 125 
 
 all its consoling effects.” Having received the Sacra¬ 
 ment, at the conclusion of the service, he adopted the 
 language of Simeon, “ Lord, now lettest thou thy ser¬ 
 vant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy sal¬ 
 vation.” Through the remainder of the day, and during 
 the night, he continued in a very happy state of mind. 
 To one who came in the evening, he said, “ It was 
 beneficial to me: I received Christ last night: I bless 
 God for it.” He then repeated, in the most emphatic 
 manner, the whole twelfth chapter of Isaiah. The next 
 morning he said, “ This is heaven begun. I have done 
 with darkness for ever—for ever. Satan is vanquish¬ 
 ed. Nothing now remains but salvation with eternal 
 glory—eternal glory.” 
 
 xiii. 20, 21.—It shall never be inhabited, neither 
 shall it be dwelt in from generation, to generation ; 
 —But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and 
 their houses shall be full of doleful creatures. 
 
 When Babylon was first deserted of its inhabitants, 
 the Persian kings turned it into a park for hunting, and 
 kept their wild beasts there. When the Persian em¬ 
 pire declined, the beasts broke loose, so that, when 
 Alexander the Great marched eastward, he found Ba¬ 
 bylon a perfect desert. He intended to restore Euphra¬ 
 tes to its ancient channel, but the design not having 
 been completed, the river overflowed its banks, and the 
 greater part of that once celebrated city became a lake 
 or pool of water. Theodorus, who lived about four 
 hundred years after Christ, tells us, that Babylon was 
 the receptacle of snakes, serpents, and all sorts of nox¬ 
 ious animals, so that it was dangerous to visit it. Ben¬ 
 jamin of Tudela, a Jew, who visited it in 1112, informs 
 us. that few remains of it were left, nor were there any 
 inhabitants within many miles of it. Rawolffe, a Ger¬ 
 man, who travelled to the east in 1572, found it very 
 difficult to discover the place on which it stood, nor 
 could the neighbouring inhabitants give him proper di¬ 
 rections. Mr. Hanway, a later traveller, with every as¬ 
 sistance that could be procured, spent several days in 
 
 11 * 
 
126 
 
 ISAIAH XV. 
 
 endeavouring to ascertain its situation, but in vain, so 
 completely has it been swept, with the besom of de¬ 
 struction, from the face of the earth. 
 
 xiv. 17.—That opened not the house of his 
 prisoners ? 
 
 Mr. William Jenkyn, one of the ejected ministers in. 
 England, being imprisoned in Newgate, presented a 
 petition to King Charles II. for a release, which was 
 backed by an assurance from his physicians, that his 
 life was in danger from his close imprisonment; but 
 no other answer could be obtained than this, “Jenkyn 
 shall be a prisoner as long as he lives.”—A nobleman 
 having some time after heard of his death, said, to the 
 king, “ May it please your Majesty, Jenkyn has got his 
 liberty.” Upon which he asked, with eagerness, “Aye! 
 who gave it him 1” The nobleman replied, “A greater 
 than your Majesty—the King of kings;” with which 
 the king seemed greatly struck, and remained silent. 
 
 xv. 4.—Hesbon shall cry, and Elealeh ; their 
 voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz. 
 
 Sir John Chardin, giving an account of the Eastern 
 lamentations, says, “Their sentiments of joy, or of 
 grief, are properly transports; and their transports are 
 ungoverned, excessive, and truly outrageous. When 
 any one returns from a long journey, or dies, his family 
 burst into cries, that may be heard twenty doors off; 
 and this is renewed at different times, and continues 
 many days, according to the vigour of the passion. 
 Especially are these cries long in the case of death, 
 and frightful; for the mourning is right-down despair, 
 and an image of hell. I was lodged, in the year 1676, 
 at Ispahan, near the Royal Square; the mistress of the 
 next house to mine died at that time. The moment 
 she expired, all the family, to the number of twenty-five 
 or thirty people, set up such a furious cry, that I was 
 quite startled, and was above two hours before I could 
 recover myself.” 
 
ISAIAH XVII. 
 
 127 
 
 xvi. 4.—Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, 
 Moab. 
 
 Mr. Philip Henry, one of the non-conformist minis¬ 
 ters, when silenced from preaching, by the act of uni¬ 
 formity, took comfort himself, and administered com¬ 
 fort to others from the preceding passage. “ God’s peo¬ 
 ple,” he observed, “may be an outcast people, cast out 
 of men’s love, their synagogues, their country; but God 
 will own his people when men cast them out; they are 
 outcasts, but they are his, and some way or other he 
 will provide a dwelling for them.”—Shortly before his 
 death, the same pious man observed, that, though many 
 of the ejected ministers were brought very low, had 
 many children, were greatly harassed by persecution, 
 and their friends generally poor and unable to support 
 them; yet, in all his acquaintance, he never knew, nor 
 could remember to have heard of, any non-conformist 
 minister in prison for debt. 
 
 xvii. 7.—At that day shall a man look to his 
 Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the 
 Holy One of Israel. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Charles had, at one time, the prospect 
 of obtaining a situation in North Wales, which he 
 much wished; but, as in a former instance, he eventu¬ 
 ally failed. The place appears to have been lost 
 through the remissness of a friend; who was commis¬ 
 sioned to treat for the situation. “If I had not, at that 
 moment,” says Mr. C., “ seen the hand of God in it, I 
 
 should have been very angry indeed with Mr.-. 
 
 Every thing is under the control of the all-wise God. 
 To see and believe this, will make us perfectly easy and 
 resigned, even in the greatest disappointments. How 
 true it is, ‘that he that believeth in Him, shall not be 
 moved.’ And what a blessed thing it is to obtain a 
 firmness and stability which nothing can shake; no, 
 not even the wreck of nature.” 
 
128 
 
 ISAIAH XIX. 
 
 xviii. 2.—That sendeth ambassadors by the 
 sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters. 
 
 “We went up the river Euphrates,” says an Eastern 
 traveller, “this afternoon. Our boat was of a peculiar 
 make. In shape it was like a large round basket; the 
 sides were of willow, covered over with bitumen, a sort 
 of pitch; the bottom was made with reeds; it had two 
 men with paddles, one of whom paddled toward him, 
 and the other pushed from him. This sort of boat is 
 common on the Euphrates, and may be of the same 
 kind as the vessels of bulrushes upon the waters spo¬ 
 ken of by Isaiah.” 
 
 xix. 20.—-The Lord shall send them a Saviour, 
 and a great one, and he shall deliver them. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Grimshaw stated, at a recent meeting 
 of the Religious Tract Society, that a few years ago he 
 met with Mr. Kohlmeister, who had laboured among the 
 Esquimaux for thirty-four years, and had first transla¬ 
 ted the four Gospels into the Esquimaux language. 
 Among a variety of interesting questions Mr. Grim¬ 
 shaw put to him, he thought that he would question 
 him upon a point of some curiosity and difficulty, re¬ 
 specting his translation. Knowing how imperfect bar¬ 
 barous languages are, and how inadequate to express 
 any abstract idea, Mr. G. requested him to say how he 
 translated the word Saviour in the Gospel. Mr. Kohl¬ 
 meister said, “Your question is remarkable, and per¬ 
 haps the answer may be so too. It is true the Esqui¬ 
 maux have no word to represent the Saviour, and I 
 could never find out that they had any correct notion of 
 such a friend. But I said to them, ‘Does it not happen 
 sometimes, when you are out fishing, that a storm arises, 
 and some of you are lost, and some saved 1 ?’ They 
 said, ‘ 0 yes, very often.’—‘ But it also happens that you 
 are in the water, and owe your safety to some brother 
 or friend who stretches out his hand to help you?’— 
 
 ‘ Very frequently.’—‘ Then what do you call that friend?’ 
 They gave me in answer a word of their language, and 
 
ISAIAH XX. 
 
 129 
 
 I immediately wrote it against the term Saviour in Holy 
 Writ, and ever after it was intelligible to them.” 
 
 xx. 4.—The King of Assyria shall lead away 
 the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians cap¬ 
 tives, young and old, naked and barefoot. 
 
 About a mile from the new town of St. Nicholas, in 
 Russia, Mr. Howard, the philanthropist, inspected four 
 rooms for sick recruits and prisoners of war. The 
 number crowded into these rooms was upwards of three 
 hundred, many of whom were extremely ill, and sup¬ 
 plied with provisions of the worst quality. Going back 
 to the town, accompanied by the physician and several 
 officers, he found fifty objects of such extreme wretch¬ 
 edness, as, in the whole course of his extensive visits 
 to the abodes of misery and vice, he had never before 
 seen together. Most of them were recruits, in the prime 
 of life, many of whom were dying upon a bed of hard, 
 coarse reeds, without linen or coverlids, or any thing 
 to protect them but a few remnants of their old clothes; 
 their persons indescribably filthy, and their shirts in 
 rags. After viewing other scenes of misery, he makes 
 the following reflections:—“ Let but a contemplative 
 mind reflect a moment upon the condition of these poor 
 destitute wretches, forced from their homes, and all 
 their dearest connections, and compare them with those 
 one has seen, cheerful, clean, and happy, at a wedding 
 or village festival;—let them be viewed quitting their 
 birth-place, with all their little wardrobe, and their 
 pockets stored with rubles, the gifts of their relations, 
 who never expect to see them more; now joining their 
 corps in a long march of one or two thousand wersts; 
 their money gone to the officer who conducts them, and 
 defrauds them of the government allowance; arriving 
 fatigued and half-naked in a distant dreary country, and 
 exposed immediately to military hardships, with ha¬ 
 rassed bodies, and dejected spirits ; and who can won¬ 
 der that so many droop and die in a short time, without 
 any apparent illness 1 The devastations I have seen 
 made by war among so many innocent people, and this 
 
130 
 
 ISAIAH XXIII. 
 
 in a country where there are such immense tracts of 
 land unoccupied, are shocking to human nature.” 
 
 xxi. 16.—Within a year according to the years 
 of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail. 
 
 “I remember,” observes one, “having heard a sensi¬ 
 ble person say he could never covet the office of chief 
 magistrate of London, because that honour continued 
 only one year. Might not the idea be justly extended 
 to all the honours and enjoyments of this life 1 None 
 of them are permanent.” 
 
 xxii. 12, 13.—In that day did the Lord God of 
 hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to 
 baldness, and to girding with sackcloth :—And be¬ 
 hold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing 
 sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat 
 and drink, for to-morrow we shall die. 
 
 In the midst of the distresses with which France was 
 harassed in the reign of Charles VII., and whilst the 
 English were in possession of Paris, Charles amused 
 himself and his mistresses with balls and entertain¬ 
 ments. The brave La Hire, coming to Charles one day 
 to talk to him on some business of importance, whilst 
 the luxurious Prince was occupied in arranging one of 
 his parties of pleasure, was interrupted by the Mon¬ 
 arch, who asked him what he thought of his arrange¬ 
 ment. “I think, Sire,” said he, “it is impossible for 
 any one to lose his kingdom more pleasantly than your 
 Majesty.” 
 
 xxiii. 18.—Her merchandise and her hire shall 
 be holiness to the Lord. 
 
 Mr. Fisk, in giving an account of his missionary la¬ 
 bours in Egypt, says, “I have also become acquainted 
 with the masters of several English merchant vessels, 
 one of whom I learn has prayers daily with his men, 
 
ISAIAH XXV. 
 
 131 
 
 and reads a sermon to them regularly on the Sabbath. 
 Another has given me an interesting account of the 
 * Floating Ark,’ for the support of which he is a subscri¬ 
 ber, and in which he attends worship when at London. 
 This vessel, he says, was originally a sixty-four gun 
 ship, was purchased by a company of merchants in 
 London, and application was then made to them by the 
 Port of London Society, to obtain it as a place of wor¬ 
 ship for seamen. The merchants replied, ‘ If you want 
 it for that purpose, we make a donation of it; if for 
 any other object, we charge you £3000.’” 
 
 xxiv. 15.—Glorify ye the Lord in the fires. 
 
 Ann Meiglo, a poor distressed woman in the parish 
 of Portmoak, when visited by Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, 
 said to him, “O, sir, I am just lying here, a poor use¬ 
 less creature.”—“Think you,” said he. “I think, sir, 
 what is true, if I were away to heaven, I would be of 
 some use to glorify God without sin.”—“Indeed, Annie,” 
 said Mr. Erskine, “ I think you are glorifying God by 
 your resignation and submission to his will, and that 
 in the face of many difficulties, and under many dis¬ 
 tresses. In heaven the saints have no burdens to groan 
 under; your praises, burdened as you are, are more 
 wonderful to me, and, I trust, acceptable to God.” 
 
 xxv. 8.—He will swallow up death in victory. 
 
 Mr. Livingston, speaking of Josias Welsh, says, “ On 
 the Sabbath afternoon before his death, which was on 
 Monday following, I heard of his sickness, and came 
 to him about eleven o’clock at night, and Mr. Blair 
 about two hours thereafter. He had many gracious 
 discoveries, as also some wrestling and exercise of 
 mind. One time he cried out, ‘ 0 for hypocrisy!’ on 
 which Mr. Blair said, ‘See how Satan is nibbling at his 
 heels before he enter into glory.’ A very little before 
 he died, being at prayer by his bedside, and the word 
 ‘victory’ coming out of my mouth, he took hold of my 
 hand, and desiring me to forbear a little, and clapping 
 his hands, cried out, ‘ Victory, victory, victory, for ever- 
 
132 
 
 ISAIAH XXVIII. 
 
 more !’ He then desired me to go on, and in a little ex 
 pired. His death happened on the 23d of June 1634.” 
 
 xxvi. 19.—Thy dead men shall live, together 
 with my dead body shall they arise. 
 
 A man in Scotland, who had some years before buried 
 his wife, and several of his children, one day stood 
 leaning over a low wall, intently gazing on the spot in 
 the church-yard, where he had deposited their dear re¬ 
 mains. A person observing his thoughtful attitude, 
 asked him what occupied his mind! “I am looking,” 
 he said, “ at the dust that lies there, and wondering at 
 the indissoluble union betwixt it and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who is in glory.” 
 
 xxvii. 5.—Let him take hold of my strength, 
 that he may make peace with me; and he shall 
 make peace with me. 
 
 “ I think,” says one, “ I can convey the meaning of 
 this passage, so that every one may understand it, by 
 what took place in my own family within these few 
 days. One of my little children had committed a fault, 
 for which I thought it my duty to chastise him. I call¬ 
 ed him to me, explained to him the evil of what he had 
 done, and told him how grieved I was that I must pun¬ 
 ish him for it. He heard me in silence, and then rush¬ 
 ed into my arms, and burst into tears. I could sooner 
 have cut off my arm than have then struck him for his 
 fault: he had taken hold of my strength, also he had 
 made peace with me.” 
 
 xxviii. 9.—Whom shall he teach knowledge? 
 and whom shall he make to understand doctrine ? 
 them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn 
 from the breasts. 
 
 A venerable old minister, in New Hampshire, lodg¬ 
 ing at the house of a pious friend, observed the mother 
 
ISAIAH XXX. 
 
 133 
 
 teaching some short prayers and hymns to her child¬ 
 ren. “ Madam,” said he, “your instructions may be of 
 far more importance than you are aware: my mother 
 taught me a little hymn when a child, and it is of use 
 to me to this day. I never close my eyes to rest, without 
 first saying— 
 
 ‘Now I lay me down to sleep, 
 
 I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep; 
 
 If I should die before I wake, 
 
 I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.’ ” 
 
 xxix. 8.—As when a thirsty man dreameth, 
 and behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, 
 behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite. 
 
 Mr. Park, speaking of the great want of water in 
 Africa, says, “I frequently passed the night in the 
 situation of Tantalus. No sooner had I shut my eyes, 
 than fancy would convey me to the streams and rivers 
 of my native land; there, as I wandered along the ver¬ 
 dant bank, I surveyed the clear stream with transport, 
 and hastened to swallow the delightful draught; but, 
 alas ! disappointment awakened me, and I found my¬ 
 self a lonely captive perishing of thirst, amidst the 
 wilds of Africa.” 
 
 xxx. 10.—Prophesy, not unto us right things; 
 speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. 
 
 A dissenting minister, preaching very practically, 
 was found fault with by his people, who gave him to 
 understand that they must part with him, if he did not 
 alter the strain of his preaching. The minister, having 
 a family, shrunk for a time, but it preyed upon his 
 health, which his wife observing, plainly told him that 
 he distrusted God out of fear of man, and was unfaith¬ 
 ful; and begged of him to preach according to his con¬ 
 science, and leave the event to God. Accordingly he 
 did so, and was expelled. But just at that time, a 
 larger church, with a better salary, and a more lively 
 
 12 
 
134 
 
 ISAIAH XXXII. 
 
 people, being vacant, he was invited thither, and settled 
 among them; lived in plenty, and preached with ac¬ 
 ceptance and usefulness, till removed by death. 
 
 xxxi. 4.—The lion and the young lion roaring 
 on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called 
 forth against him, he will not be afraid of their 
 voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them. 
 
 An instance of the courage of the lion is related in 
 the account of one which had broken into a walled en¬ 
 closure for cattle. The people of the farm, with the 
 intention of destroying him on his return, stretched a 
 rope across the entrance to which several guns were 
 fastened in a direction to discharge their contents into 
 his body, so soon as he should push against the cord 
 with his breast. But the lion approached the rope, and 
 struck it away with his foot; and without showing any 
 alarm, in consequence of the reports of the guns, he 
 went fearlessly on, and devoured the prey he had be¬ 
 fore left untouched, 
 
 xxxii. 2.—A man shall be as an hiding-place 
 from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as 
 rivers of waters in a dry place; as the shadow of 
 a great rock in a weary land. 
 
 A pious minister, some years ago, being called upon 
 to preach a sermon for the benefit of a Sabbath School 
 in Northamptonshire, .was led to enlarge in his dis¬ 
 course on the necessity of being clothed with the Re¬ 
 deemer’s righteousness, as the only means of security 
 from the wrath to come. While speaking, a violent 
 storm of thunder and lightning came on, accompanied 
 with rain and hail. The lightning struck a tree in the 
 church-yard, shivered it to pieces, and drove a part of 
 it through one of the windows. The congregation, 
 alarmed, began to fly for safety in all directions. The 
 minister entreated them to remain in the house of God; 
 reminding them, that if they were protected from their 
 
ISAIAH XXXIII. 
 
 135 
 
 sins by the righteousness of Christ, let storms, light¬ 
 nings, or even death come, they were perfectly safe. 
 In pursuing his discourse, his attention was attracted 
 to one of the Sabbath school girls, who was standing 
 near the pulpit, and who appeared to be peculiarly im¬ 
 pressed by the sermon. Calling at her parent’s house 
 next day, the mother told him that her daughter had 
 met with a disappointment, as she expected to go to the 
 fair that day; but a circumstance had occurred that 
 would prevent her. “ What, my dear,” said the minis¬ 
 ter, “are you fond of going to fairs'!” The child im¬ 
 mediately replied, “ O no, sir; I don’t want to go to the 
 fair; I now only want to be clothed in that robe of 
 righteousness which you were speaking of yesterday, 
 that I may see Jesus Christ.” The minister entered 
 into conversation with her, and found her mind so 
 deeply impressed, that he had good reason to believe 
 that a saving change was wrought on her soul. He 
 left her, intending to repeat his visit next day, but re¬ 
 ceived information of her death; having been found 
 dead in the garden. 
 
 xxxiii. 15.—That shaketh his hands from hold¬ 
 ing of bribes. 
 
 The borough of Hull, in the reign of Charles II. chose 
 Andrew Marvell, a young gentleman of little or no for¬ 
 tune, and maintained him in London for the service of 
 the public. His understanding, integrity, and spirit, 
 were dreadful to the then infamous administration. 
 Persuaded he would be theirs, if properly asked, they 
 sent his old school-fellow, the lord treasurer Danby, to 
 renew acquaintance with him in his garret. At part¬ 
 ing, the lord treasurer slipped into his hand £1000, and 
 then went to his chariot. Marvell, looking at the pa¬ 
 per, called after the Treasurer, “ My Lord, I request an¬ 
 other moment.” They went up again to the garret, and 
 the servant boy was called, “ I ask, child, what had I 
 for dinner yesterday V’ “ Don’t you remember, sir, you 
 had the little shoulder of mutton that you ordered me 
 to bring from a woman in the market.” “Very right, 
 child. What have I for dinner to-day 1” “Don’t you 
 
136 
 
 ISAIAH XXXV, 
 
 know, sir, that you bid me lay by the blade-bone to 
 broill” “It is so; very right, child, go away.” My 
 Lord, do you hear that? Andrew Marvell’s dinner is 
 provided; there is your piece of paper, I want it not; I 
 know the sort of kindness you intended; I live here to 
 serve my constituents, the ministry may seek men for 
 their purpose; I am not one.” 
 
 xxxiv. 11.—The raven shall dwell in it. 
 
 In the centre of a grove near Shelbourne, there stood 
 an oak, which, though on the whole shapely and tall, 
 jutted out to a great excrescence near the middle of the 
 stem. On this tree a pair of ravens had made their 
 nest for so many years, that it was called the “ Raven- 
 tree.” Many attempts had been made to reach the 
 nest; but when the climbers arrived at the swelling, it 
 jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their 
 grasp, that the boldest were defeated. Thus the birds 
 continued to build unmolested, till the fatal day on 
 which the tree was to be levelled. This was in the 
 month of February, when these birds usually sit. The 
 saw was applied to the trunk. The wedges were in¬ 
 serted into the opening, the woods echoed with the 
 heavy sound of the,axe and the mallet, and the tree 
 nodded to its fall; but still the dam persisted in sitting. 
 At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from the 
 nest, and though her parental affection deserved a 
 better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which 
 brought her dead to the ground. 
 
 xxxv. 10.—They shall obtain joy and gladness, 
 and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 
 
 During the last illness of the Rev. John Willison of 
 Dundee, he was visited by Mr. Ralph Erskine; and 
 while conversing together on the happiness of the better 
 country, where the saints are perfect in knowledge and 
 in love, a pious lady present, who was warmly attached 
 to the national church, addressed Mr. Erskine in these 
 words, “Aye, sir, there will be no Secession in heaven.” 
 “O, Madam,” he instantly replied, “you are under a 
 
ISAIAH XXXVI. 
 
 137 
 
 mistake; for in heaven there will be a complete seces¬ 
 sion from all sin and sorrow.” “With pleasure,” said 
 Mr. Willison, “ do I adopt that view of Secession.” 
 
 xxxvi. 13.—Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a 
 loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear 
 ye the words of the great king, the king of As¬ 
 syria, &c. 
 
 In the reign of king James II., Mr. Baxter was com¬ 
 mitted prisoner to the King’s Bench, by the warrant of 
 Lord Chief-Justice Jefferies, for some alleged seditious 
 passages in his Paraphrase on the New Testament. 
 When brought to his trial, being very much indisposed, 
 he moved, by his counsel, for further time; but the 
 judge cried out in a passion: “I will not give him a 
 minute’s time to save his life: we have had to deal 
 with other sorts of persons, but now we have a saint to 
 deal with. I know how to deal with saints as well as 
 sinners. Yonder stands Oates in the pillory, and he 
 says he suffers for truth, and so says Baxter; but if 
 Baxter did but stand on the other side of the pillory 
 with him, I would say, two of the greatest rogues and 
 rascals in the kingdom stood there !” Mr. Baxter, be¬ 
 ginning to speak for himself, Jefferies said to him, 
 “ Richard, Richard, dost thou think we will hear thee 
 poison the court 1 Richard, thou art an old fellow, an 
 old knave; thou hast written books enow to fill a cart, 
 every one as full of sedition, I may say treason, as an 
 egg is full of meat. Hadst thou been whipt out of thy 
 writing trade forty years ago, it had been happy. I 
 know thou hast a mighty party, and I see a great many 
 of the brotherhood in corners, to see what will become 
 of their mighty Don, and a Doctor of the party—mean¬ 
 ing Dr. Bates—at your elbow; but by the grace of Al¬ 
 mighty God, I’ll crush them all.” After further mock¬ 
 ery and insult from this blustering judge, Mr. Baxter 
 was condemned to pay a heavy fine, and to remain in 
 prison till it was paid. He continued in prison two 
 years, when, from a change of measures, he was set at 
 liberty. 
 
 12 * 
 
138 
 
 ISAIAH XXXVIII. 
 
 xxxvii. 19.—And have cast their gods into the 
 lire : for they were no gods, but the works of men’s 
 hands, wood and stone; therefore they have de¬ 
 stroyed them. 
 
 In a letter written by a French Jesuit, about a hun¬ 
 dred years ago, it is stated, that at a place several 
 leagues westward of Madras, some masons, who had 
 embraced Christianity, were employed by a Brahmin, 
 to repair the embankment of a reservoir of water. It 
 is customary among the Hindoos, to place in such sit¬ 
 uations a number of small idols made of stone. These 
 the workmen designedly buried in the earth which they 
 threw up to strengthen the embankment. The Brah¬ 
 min coming to inspect their progress, said, “I see no¬ 
 thing of our gods; what have you done with them?” 
 “ What is it you mean, sir?” replied the overseer; “I 
 saw a heap of stones, which I thought would be of use 
 to strengthen the embankment; but as for gods, I saw 
 nothing of the kind.” “Those were the things you 
 ought to have taken care of,” said the Brahmin; “did 
 you not know they were our gods?” “Those things,” 
 answered the overseer, “I understand as well as any 
 body; it is my business to do so; and, take my word 
 for it, sir, they were nothing but stones: if they were 
 gods, as you say they are, they could easily get up 
 again into their old places.” 
 
 xxxviii. 5.—I have heard thy prayer, I have 
 seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days 
 fifteen years. 
 
 In the autumn of 1799, the late Rev. T. Charles, of 
 Bala, met with an afflicting dispensation. While tra¬ 
 velling over Mount Migneint, in Carnarvonshire, on a 
 freezing night, one of his thumbs became frost-bitten. 
 It was so severely affected, that he was taken very ill, 
 and his life was in danger. To prevent mortification, 
 it was deemed necessary to have it amputated. This 
 affliction was very trying, both to his family and to his 
 
ISAIAH XXXIX. 
 
 139 
 
 people. When he was considered to be in a dangerous 
 state, a'special prayer-meeting was called by the mem¬ 
 bers of the chapel at Bala. Fervent supplications were 
 offered up in his behalf. Several prayed on the occa¬ 
 sion ; and one person in particular was much noticed 
 at the time, for the very urgent and importunate man¬ 
 ner with which he prayed. Alluding to the fifteen 
 years added to Hezekiah’s life, he with unusual fer¬ 
 vency, entreated the Almighty to spare Mr. C.’s life at 
 least fifteen years. He several times repeated the fol¬ 
 lowing words, with such melting importunity, as great¬ 
 ly affected all present:—“Fifteen years more, 0 Lord; 
 we beseech thee to add fifteen years more to the life of 
 thy servant. And wilt thou not, O our God, give fifteen 
 years more for the sake of thy church and thy cause 1” 
 Mr. C. heard of this prayer, and it made a deep impres¬ 
 sion on his mind. He afterwards frequently mentioned 
 it as a reason why he should make the best use of his 
 time, saying, that his fifteen years would soon be com¬ 
 pleted. The last time that he visited South Wales, and 
 was asked when he should come again, his answer 
 was, at least to some, that his fifteen years were nearly 
 up, and that he should probably never visit them again. 
 He mentioned this to several of his friends the last 
 year of his life, and especially to his wife. It is re¬ 
 markable, his death occurred just at the termination of 
 the fifteen years. What is not less remarkable, it was 
 during this time that he performed the most important 
 acts of his life. It was during this time that he wrote 
 the most valuable of his works; established Sabbath 
 schools; was one means of originating the Bible So¬ 
 ciety ; and was instrumental in doing great good both 
 to Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 xxxix. 8.—There shall be peace and truth in my 
 days. 
 
 “ I well remember,” says Dr. Gibbons, “ that discours¬ 
 ing with the late Sir Conyers Jocelyn, about Mr. Baxter 
 and Dr. Watts, he pleasantly but very truly observed, 
 nearly in these words, that ‘ The latter went to heaven 
 on a bed of down, in comparison with the former.’ Such 
 
140 
 
 ISAIAH XLI. 
 
 was the distinguishing privilege with which this holy 
 man was favoured, not only to his own great Comfort, 
 but to the great benefit of the church and the world, 
 who mjght, had his feeble frame been hunted down by 
 persecution, or locked up in a damp suffocating prison, 
 have been deprived, in a great measure, of his numer¬ 
 ous and useful writings.” 
 
 xl. 18.—To whom then will ye liken God? or 
 what likeness will ye compare unto him ? 
 
 One day, when Mr. Richards, missionary in India, 
 was conversing with the natives, a Fakeer came up, 
 and put into his hand a small stone about the size of a 
 sixpence, with the impression of two human likenesses 
 sculptured on the surface; he also proffered a few 
 grains of rice, and said, “This is Mahadeo.” Mr. 
 Richards said, “Do you know the meaning of Maha¬ 
 deo'!” The Fakeer replied, “No.” Mr. R. proceeded, 
 “Mahadeo means the great God—He who is God of 
 gods, and besides whom there can be no other. Now, 
 this Great God is a Spirit; no one can see a spirit, who 
 is intangible. Whence, then, this visible impression 
 on a senseless, hard, immovable stone? To whom 
 will ye liken God ? or what likeness will ye compare 
 unto Him ? God is the high and lofty One that inhabi¬ 
 ted eternity, whose name is Holy. He hath said, ‘ I 
 am Jehovah; there is no God beside me/” The poor 
 Fakeer was serious, respectful, and attentive; continu¬ 
 ally exclaiming, “Your words are true.” 
 
 xli. 10.—Fear thou not; for I am with thee. 
 
 One Sabbath, lately, Mr. Winder, at Edgeworth-moor, 
 near Bolton, was preaching from the preceding text. 
 He commented on the fear of death, which solemn sub¬ 
 ject had been suggested by the awfulness of the thunder 
 storm which then hung over the place. The preacher 
 was supposing the possibility that in this storm, some 
 one or more present might be struck dead. The words 
 had just escaped his lips, when the lightning broke up¬ 
 on the house, shattering or removing some of the ma- 
 
ISAIAH XLIII. 
 
 141 
 
 terials of the building, and producing great consterna¬ 
 tion and disorder in the assembly. No serious injury, 
 however, was done, and after some degree of compo¬ 
 sure was attained, the congregation sung, “Praise God, 
 from whom all blessings flow,” and prayed, as it may 
 be supposed, with much devotional fervour. 
 
 xlii. 10.—Sing unto the Lord a new song, and 
 his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go 
 down to the sea, and all that is therein. 
 
 A young sailor observed to a gentleman that he 
 should never forget the thrill of joy that he felt during 
 his last voyage. One night, or rather early in the morn¬ 
 ing, a fine star-light morning, as they were running 
 down the trades, with the sea smooth as oil, more than 
 two thousand miles from land, and at that time, as he 
 thought, equally far from any vessel upon the vast At¬ 
 lantic, he started from his monotonous pacing fore and 
 aft upon the deck, by a sound like a burst of voices; 
 he at first conceived it to be the dying echoes of a 
 fired cannon, probably some vessel in distress. Again 
 he heard it in loud and distinct sounds, and found, at 
 length, it was the harmony of voices, singing, as he 
 judged from the tune, one of the hymns used at the Be¬ 
 thel prayer-meetings. The voices evidently were at a 
 great distance, but, borne over the wide space of the 
 water, reached in soft and pleasing music, and caused 
 him to feel a joyful recollection of the song heard by 
 the shepherds whilst watching their flocks by night in 
 the fields of Bethlehem. When the morning opened 
 upon them, an Engligh ship was observed to the west¬ 
 ward. “ Sir,” said he, “ I can give you no idea of my 
 gladness in anticipating that the day was coming, and 
 now opened upon us like the morning, when every ship 
 should be navigated by men fearing God, and working 
 righteousness.” 
 
 xliii. 7.—I have created him for my glory. 
 
 Mr. John Thomson, a pious merchant in Musselburgh, 
 and father-in-law to the Rev. John Brown of Hadding- 
 
142 
 
 ISAIAH XLV. 
 
 ton, used to relate, that in his eleventh year, when he 
 was walking one Sabbath morning to public worship 
 in the church of Abbotshall, he was arrested by the im¬ 
 portance of the first question in the Shorter Catechism, 
 “ What is the chief end of man 1” This led him into a 
 train of inquiry, which was the means in the hand of 
 the Spirit of God, of making him acquainted with the 
 present fallen and guilty state of man, and of the only 
 method of recovery, through the mercy of God, by the 
 righteousness of Christ. 
 
 xliv. 9.—They that make a graven image are 
 all of them vanity; and their delectable things 
 shall not profit. 
 
 One day, a missionary among the Gentoos, took with 
 him a little boy from the school, to a shady place, where 
 many people were passing, and set him to read aloud.— 
 When some began to listen, he conversed with the boy 
 about what he was reading. The subject was—the ab¬ 
 surdity of idolatry; and a Brahmin in the crowd said, 
 “ My little fellow, why do you speak so lightly of the 
 gods of your fathers 1” The boy replied in a loud 
 voice, “ Speak lightly of them ! Why, they have eyes, 
 and see not; they have mouths, and speak not; they 
 have ears, and hear not; they are vanity and a lie; 
 and why not speak lightly of them'?” The Brahmin 
 walked away confounded. 
 
 xlv. 22.—Look unto me, and be ye saved, all 
 the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is 
 none else. 
 
 When the Rev. Andrew Fuller first visited Scotland, 
 a notoriously wicked and abandoned woman, seeing a 
 number of persons thronging the doors of a chapel, 
 felt her curiosity awakened, and being informed that 
 an Englishman was to preach, she mingled with the 
 crowd, and entered the place. Mr. Fuller took the pre¬ 
 ceding passage for his text. “ What, then,” she ex¬ 
 claimed in her heart, “ surely there is hope even for 
 
ISAIAH XLVIII. 
 
 143 
 
 me ! Wretch as I am, I am not beyond the ends of the 
 earth.” She listened with eager delight, while the good 
 man proclaimed the free salvation of the gospel. Hope 
 sprung up in her heart, a hope which purified as well 
 as comforted; and the grace of God taught her to 
 “ deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live sober¬ 
 ly, righteously, and godly, in the present world.” 
 
 xlvi. 4.—Even to your old age, I am he. 
 
 A friend conversing with the late Mr. Brown of Had¬ 
 dington, about a sermon which Mr. B. had preached on 
 these words, “ Even to your old age, I am he,” he ob¬ 
 served that he remembered discoursing on this text; 
 and then added, with a sort of cheerfulness, “ I must 
 say, that I never yet found God to break his word in 
 this; no, notwithstanding all the provocations which I 
 have given him. 
 
 xlvii. 1.—Come down, and sit in the dust, O 
 virgin daughter of Babylon ; and sit on the ground : 
 there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. 
 
 A medal was struck by Vespasian on the subjuga¬ 
 tion of the Jews: on the reverse is seen a palm-tree, 
 and a woman sitting on the ground at the foot of it, 
 with her head leaning on her arm, weeping; and at her 
 feet different pieces of armour, with this legend, “Judea 
 capta,” (taken.) Thus was exactly fulfilled the saying 
 of the same prophet, “And she, being desolate, shall 
 sit upon the ground.” 
 
 xlviii. 10.—I have chosen thee in the furnace 
 of affliction. 
 
 A young man, who lived on Rowley Common, Kent, 
 and had been a very profligate character, while work¬ 
 ing as a mason, fell from a scaffolding twenty feet high, 
 and was seriously injured. Both his legs were broken, 
 and several of his ribs, and his spine was injured. He 
 lay long on the bed of affliction, when he was visited by 
 a clergyman. He felt deep convictions of sin, but was 
 
144 
 
 ISAIAH L. 
 
 ignorant of the way of salvation : this was explained to 
 him; he received with eagerness the news of pardon 
 through the atonement of Christ, and was enabled to 
 commit his soul into the Redeemer’s hands. His nurse 
 said, “ When I went to him first, he was such an im¬ 
 patient, wicked-tempered man, that it was impossible 
 to live with him; but a gentleman came to read the 
 Bible to him for some days, and after that he became 
 like a child, so that it grieved my heart to leave him.” 
 On his sick-bed he learned to read and write, and his 
 efforts were blessed to the conversion of his sister. 
 He died in peace. 
 
 xlix. 23.—And kings shall be thy nursing fa¬ 
 thers. 
 
 Mr. Leifchild was one of a deputation from the three 
 denominations of dissenting ministers in London, who 
 waited on his late majesty, George IV. with an address 
 on his accession to the throne, and were most gracious¬ 
 ly received. The address alluded to the happiness and 
 protection they enjoyed under the fostering care and 
 parental sway of his beloved and revered father, and 
 expressed an humble but earnest hope, that he would 
 imitate his example, and follow his steps. After his 
 majesty had read the written answer, and before they 
 took leave, one of the deputation said, they feared they 
 had occasioned his majesty too much trouble: when 
 the king said, “You give me no trouble, my friends; 
 I derive the most heartfelt satisfaction and pleasure 
 from your excellent address. It will be the endeavour 
 of my life to imitate the example of my beloved father; 
 and be assured, while I sway the sceptre of these 
 realms, there shall not be the smallest bar to the freest 
 religious toleration.” 
 
 1. 6.—I gave my back to the smiters, and my 
 cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid 
 not my face from shame and spitting. 
 
 Mr. Hanway, in his Travels, has recorded a scene 
 
ISAIAH LII. 
 
 145 
 
 very much resembling that alluded to by the prophet: 
 —“A prisoner was brought, who had two large logs of 
 wood fitted to the small of his leg, and rivetted together; 
 there was also a heavy triangular collar of wood about 
 his neck. The general asked me if that man had taken 
 my goods. I told him I did not remember to have seen 
 him before. He was questioned some time, and at 
 length ordered to be beaten with sticks, which was per¬ 
 formed by two soldiers with such severity, as if they 
 meant to kill him. The soldiers were then ordered to 
 spit in his face, an indignity of great antiquity in the 
 East. This, and the cutting of beards, which I shall 
 have occasion to mention, brought to my mind the suf¬ 
 ferings recorded in the prophetical history of our Sa¬ 
 viour, Isaiah 1. 6.” 
 
 li. 7.—Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither 
 be ye afraid of their revilings. 
 
 A poor man, who had heard the preaching of the 
 gospel, and to whom it had been greatly blessed, was 
 the subject of much profane jesting and ridicule among 
 his fellow-workmen and neighbours. On being asked 
 if these daily persecutions did not sometimes make 
 him ready to give up his profession of attachment to 
 divine truth, he replied, “No! I recollect that our good 
 minister once said in his sermon, that if we were so 
 foolish as to permit such people to laugh us out of our 
 religion, till at last we dropped into hell, they could not 
 laugh us out again.” 
 
 lii. 11.—Touch no unclean thing; go ye out of 
 the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the ves¬ 
 sels of the Lord. 
 
 A little girl, between four and five years of age, on 
 her return from hearing a preacher whom she much 
 loved, said to her mother, “ Mother, I can tell you a 
 little of Mr. H.’s sermon: he said, ‘ Touch not the un¬ 
 clean thing.’ ” Her mother, with a view to try if she 
 understood the meaning of these words, replied, “ Then, 
 
 13 
 
146 
 
 ISAIAH LIV. 
 
 if Mr. H. said so, I hope you will take care not to touch 
 things that are dirty, in future.” The little girl smiled, 
 and answered, “ O, mother, I know very well what he 
 meant.” “ What did he mean 1” said her mother. 
 “He meant sin, to be sure,” said the child; “and it is 
 all the same as if Mr. H. had said, ‘You must not tell 
 lies, nor do what your mother forbids you to do, nor 
 play on Sunday, nor be cross,’ nor do any such things 
 as these, mother.” 
 
 liii. 5.—He was wounded for our transgressions, 
 he was bruised for our iniquities. 
 
 The late Rev. William Shrubsole of Sheerness, one 
 holiday, casually took up a folio volume, written by 
 Isaac Ambrose. He opened it, and began to read that 
 part of it which treats of “Looking to Jesus,” as carry¬ 
 ing on the work of man’s salvation in his death. He 
 was much affected at the relation of the sufferings of 
 Christ, and sensibly interested at the inquiry which the 
 author makes,—Who were the persons that brought the 
 Divine Sufferer into so much distress 1 “I was con¬ 
 vinced,” he said, “that I was deeply concerned in that 
 horrid transaction; and from this time I date the Lord 
 first penetrated my dark mind with the dawn of hea¬ 
 venly light and salvation.” 
 
 liv. 7, 8.—For a small moment have I forsaken 
 thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
 
 Mr. White, on the power of godliness, says, “A pre¬ 
 cious holy man told me of a woman that was six years 
 in desertion; and by God’s providence, hearing Mr. 
 Rollock preach, she of a sudden fell down, overwhelm¬ 
 ed with joy, crying out, ‘ O, he is come, whom my soul 
 lovethf and so was carried home for dead: and for 
 divers days after, she was filled with exceeding joys, 
 and had such pious and singularly ravishing expres¬ 
 sions, so fluently coming from her, that many came to 
 hear the rare manifestations of God’s grace in her; 
 and amongst the rest that went to hear, there was one 
 that could write short-hand, who yet a great while stood 
 
ISAIAH LVII. 
 
 147 
 
 so amazed at her expressions, that he could not write; 
 at last, recovering himself, he wrote a whole sheet of 
 paper; which this minister read, and told me, that of 
 all the expressions that ever he read in the book of 
 martyrs, or elsewhere, he never read any so high as the 
 lowest of them.” 
 
 lv. 6.—Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, 
 call ye upon him while he is near. 
 
 A young man, on whom sentence of death was pass¬ 
 ed, said, two days before his execution, “ I am afraid 
 that nothing but the fear of death and hell makes me 
 seek the Saviour now, and that I cannot expect to find 
 him. The words, ‘ Seek ye the Lord while he may be 
 found,’ trouble my mind very much, as they show me 
 that there is a time when he may not be found.” 
 
 Ivi. 2.—Blessed is the man—that keepeth the 
 Sabbath from polluting it. 
 
 A gentleman, who had been using the boat of Thomas 
 Mann, a pious waterman on the Thames, asked him if 
 he did not make seven days in a week! “No, sir,” 
 replied Thomas ; “ I hope I know better than to do that. 
 That would be taking what does not belong to me. 
 The Lord’s day is not mine; and therefore I never 
 work on that day.” 
 
 lvii. 15.—I dwell in the high and holy place, 
 with him also that is of a contrite and humble 
 spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to 
 revive the heart of the contrite ones. 
 
 At one time, when Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine both 
 preached on the Monday after the celebration of the 
 Lord’s Supper at Glasgow, the former delivered an ex¬ 
 cellent discourse, with his accustomed animation and 
 dignity, while the latter fell considerably short of his 
 usual fluency and fervour. Shortly after the close of 
 the worship, when the two brothers had an opportunity 
 
148 
 
 ISAIAH LIX. 
 
 of conversing privately together, Ebenezer gently inti¬ 
 mated to Ralph, that it appeared to him, the sermon he 
 had preached that day, was not so substantial and in¬ 
 teresting as usual; on which Ralph made a reply to 
 this effect; “True, brother; but if my poor sermon 
 humble me, perhaps I shall reap greater advantage 
 from it, than you from your great sermon.” 
 
 lviii. 1.—Cry aloud, spare not; lift up tby 
 voice like a trumpet, and show my people their 
 transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. 
 
 The energy of the Rev. Rowland Hill’s manner at 
 times, and the power of his voice, were almost over¬ 
 whelming. Once, at Wotton, he was completely car¬ 
 ried away by the impetuous rush of his feelings, and, 
 raising himself to his full stature, he exclaimed, “ Be¬ 
 cause I am in earnest, men call me enthusiast; but I 
 am not; mine are the words of truth and soberness. 
 When I first came into this part of the country, I was 
 walking on yonder hill; I saw a gravel pit fall in, and 
 bury three human beings alive. I lifted up my voice 
 for help so loud, that I was heard in the town below, at 
 a distance of a mile; help came, and rescued two of 
 the poor sufferers. No one called me an enthusiast 
 then; and when I see eternal destruction ready to fall 
 upon poor sinners, and about to entomb them irrecover¬ 
 ably in an eternal mass of wo, and call aloud to them 
 to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast now 1 No, 
 sinner, I am not an enthusiast in so doing; I call on 
 thee aloud to fly for refuge to the hope set before thee 
 in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” 
 
 lix. 21.—My words which I have put in thy 
 mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out 
 of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth 
 of thy seed’s seed. 
 
 Mr. Philip Henry, in a sermon preached in 1659, 
 mentioned it as the practice of a worthy gentleman, 
 that, in renewing his leases, instead of making it a 
 
ISAIAH LXI. 
 
 149 
 
 condition that his tenants should keep a hawk or a dog 
 for him, he obliged them that they should keep a Bible 
 in their houses for themselves, and should bring up 
 their children to learn to read, and to be catechized. 
 “This,” said the gentleman, “will be no charge to you, 
 and it may oblige them to that which otherwise they 
 would neglect.” 
 
 lx. 20.—Thy sun shall no more go down; 
 neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the 
 Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days 
 of thy mourning shall be ended. 
 
 The narrator of the loss of the Kent remarks, “Some 
 of the soldiers near me having remarked that the sun 
 was setting, I looked round, and never can I forget the 
 feelings with which I regarded his declining rays. I 
 had previously felt deeply impressed with the convic¬ 
 tion that the ocean was to be my bed that night; and 
 had, I imagined, sufficiently realized to my mind, both 
 the last struggles and the consequences of death. But 
 as I continued solemnly watching the departing beams 
 of the sun, the thought that it was really the very last I 
 should ever behold, gradually expanded into reflections, 
 the most tremendous in their import. It was not, I am 
 persuaded, either the retrospect of a most unprofitable 
 life, or the direct fear of death, or of judgment, that oc¬ 
 cupied my mind at the period I allude to; but a broad, 
 illimitable view of eternity itself. I know not whither 
 the thought would have hurried me, had I not speedily 
 seized, as with the grasp of death, on some of those 
 sweet promises of the gospel, which give to an immor¬ 
 tal existence its only charms ; and that naturally enough 
 led back my thoughts, by means of the brilliant object 
 before me, to the contemplation of that * blessed city, 
 which hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to 
 shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the 
 Lamb is the light thereof.’” 
 
 Ixi. 1.—The Lord hath anointed me to preach 
 
 13 * 
 
150 
 
 ISAIAH LXIII. 
 
 good tidings unto the meek : he hath sent me to bind 
 up the broken-hearted. 
 
 Daring a time of great awakening in America, 
 through the instrumentality of Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Row¬ 
 land, a truly pious and eloquent man, being invited to 
 preach in the Baptist church of Philadelphia, pro¬ 
 claimed the terrors of the divine law with such energy 
 to those whose souls were already sinking under them, 
 that not a few fainted away. His error, however, was 
 publicly corrected by the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, who, 
 standing at the foot of the pulpit, and seeing the effect 
 produced on the assembly, interrupted and arrested the 
 preacher by this address :—“ Brother Rowland, is there 
 no balm in Gilead 1—is there no physician there V’ 
 Mr. Rowland, on this, immediately changed the tenor 
 of his address, and sought to direct to the Saviour those 
 who were overwhelmed with a sense of their guilt.” 
 
 lxii. 6.—I have set watchmen upon thy walls, 
 O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace 
 day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, 
 keep not silence. 
 
 “Those people,” says one, “are in the road to ruin, 
 who say to their ministers, as the Jews did of old to 
 their prophets—‘ Prophesy notor what amounts to the 
 same thing, ‘speak unto us smooth things, prophesy 
 deceits.’ I well remember having read in an ancient 
 author, the following remarkable and appropriate ac¬ 
 count:—‘News came to a certain town, once and again, 
 that the enemy was approaching; but he did not then 
 approach. Hereupon in anger the inhabitants enacted 
 a law, that no man, on pain of death, should bring 
 again such rumours, as the news of an enemy. Not 
 long after, the enemy came, indeed; besieged, assaulted, 
 and sacked the town, of the ruins of which nothing re¬ 
 mained, but this proverbial epitaph—Here once stood a 
 town that was destroyed by silence.” 
 
 lxiii. 16.-—Doubtless thou art our Father. 
 
ISAIAH LXV. 
 
 151 
 
 “I have been told of a good man,” says Mr. M. Henry, 
 “ among whose experiences, which he kept a record of, 
 after his death, this, among other things, was found, 
 that such a time in secret prayer, his heart, at the be¬ 
 ginning of the duty, was much enlarged, in giving to 
 God those titles which are awful and tremendous, in 
 calling him the great, the mighty, and the terrible God; 
 but going on thus, he checked himself with this thought, 
 ‘And why not my Father!’” 
 
 Ixiv. 8.—We are the clay, and thou our potter. 
 
 During the siege of Barcelona by the Spaniards and 
 English in the war of the succession, in 1705, an af¬ 
 fecting incident occurred, which is thus related by Cap¬ 
 tain Carleton in his memoirs. “ I remember I saw an 
 old officer, having his only son with him, a tine man 
 about twenty years of age, going into the tent to dine. 
 Whilst they were at dinner, a shot from the bastion of 
 St. Antonio took off the head of his son. The father 
 immediately rose up, first looking down upon his head¬ 
 less child, and then lifting up his eyes to heaven, whilsi 
 the tears ran down his cheeks, only said, Thy will be 
 done.” 
 
 lxv. 25.—I am found of them that sought 
 me not. 
 
 Mr. Whitefield relates, in one of his sermons, the 
 conversion of a Mr. Crane, who was afterwards ap¬ 
 pointed steward of the Orphan-House in Georgia. Be¬ 
 ing determined to spend an evening at the play-house, 
 he went first to Drury-Lane, but the house being quite 
 full, he resolved to go to Covent-Garden; having got 
 thither, he found that house full also, so that he could 
 not gain admittance. He was determined, however, to 
 get entertainment some way or other; and therefore set 
 off to hear Mr. Whitefield. It pleased God to apply the 
 sermon with power to his heart, and render it effectual 
 to his conversion; the reality of which appeared in the 
 fruits of a holy life. 
 
152 
 
 JEREMIAH II. 
 
 lxvi. 23.—From one Sabbath to another, shall 
 all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Hawkes, a respectable and pious trades¬ 
 man in London, when about to go to church one Lord’s 
 day, was sent for, to attend on a person of high rank, 
 about some worldly affairs. Mr. H. expressed his sur¬ 
 prise to the groom, and asked him if he knew what day 
 it was, and intimated that the message must certainly 
 refer to the next day. The groom assured him that was 
 not the case; but that his master must see him imme¬ 
 diately. He then desired the groom to present his duty 
 to the distinguished personage, and inform him that he 
 always made a point of attending the worship of God 
 on that day; but that he would wait on the illustrious 
 individual next morning; which accordingly he did, 
 and was received with wonted civility. 
 
 —•— 
 
 JEREMIAH. 
 
 Chap. i. 8. —Be not afraid of their faces ; for I am 
 with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. 
 
 Mr. Maurice, one of the non-conformist ministers in 
 Shropshire, experienced many remarkable deliverances 
 in the providence of God, when in danger of being ap¬ 
 prehended by his enemies after his ejection. At one 
 time, a constable found him preaching, and commanded 
 him to desist; but Mr. Maurice, with great courage, 
 charged him in the name of the Great God, whose 
 message he was then delivering, to forbear molesting 
 him, as he would answer it at the great day. The con¬ 
 stable, awed by his solemn manner, sat down trembling, 
 heard him patiently to the end of his discourse, and 
 then quietly left him. 
 
 ii. 26.—The thief is ashamed when he is found. 
 
 Robert A-, foreman to a respectable nurseryman 
 
JEREMIAH IV. 
 
 153 
 
 at some distance from town, who had lived with his 
 employers ten years, and had a good character, one Sa¬ 
 turday night, after applying for his wages, claimed pay 
 for a young man up to that day, whom he had dis¬ 
 charged some days before. His master said, looking 
 him steadily in the face, “ Robert, do you want to cheat 
 me, by asking wages for a man that you discharged 
 yourself eight days ago l” He had no sooner said this, 
 than the miserable conscience-stricken man’s blood 
 forsook his face, as if he had been stabbed to the heart. 
 When his master saw him so much affected, he told 
 him that he might still labour as he had done, but that 
 after such a manifestly dishonest attempt, his charac¬ 
 ter, and the confidence in it, were gone for ever. On 
 Monday, Robert made his appearance, but was utterly 
 an altered man. The agitation of his mind had reduced 
 his body to the feebleness of an infant’s. He took his 
 spade and tried to use it, but in vain; and it was with 
 difficulty that he reached home. He went to bed im¬ 
 mediately ; medical aid was procured, but to no pur¬ 
 pose, and the poor fellow sunk under the sense of his 
 degradation, and expired on Wednesday forenoon ! His 
 neighbours who attended him, say, that a short time 
 before he died, he declared, that the agony consequent 
 on the loss of his character as an honest man, which 
 he had for so many years maintained, was the sole 
 cause of his death 
 
 iii, 15.—I will give you pastors according to 
 mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge 
 and understanding. 
 
 The late Rev. Robert Hall of Bristol was once asked 
 what he thought of a sermon which had been delivered 
 by a proverbially fine preacher, and which had seemed 
 to excite a great sensation among the congregation :— 
 “Very fine, sir,” he replied, “but a man cannot feed 
 upon flowers.” 
 
 iv. 22.—They are sottish children, and they 
 
154 
 
 JEREMIAH VI. 
 
 have none understanding : they are wise to do evil, 
 but to do good, they have no knowledge. 
 
 A gay young fellow, whc piqued himself on the char¬ 
 acter of a libertine, was expatiating upon the qualifica¬ 
 tions necessary to form a perfect and accomplished de¬ 
 bauchee ; when, having finished his tirade, he turned 
 to one of the company present, who seemed to receive 
 this sally very gravely, and whom, therefore, he wished - 
 to insult, and asked his opinion. Not at all discon¬ 
 certed at his insolence, the gentleman replied very 
 drily, “ It appears to me, sir, that you have omitted two 
 of the most important and essential qualifications.” 
 “Indeed! and pray what may they be I” “An exces¬ 
 sively weak head, and a thoroughly bad heart.” The 
 rake was silent, and soon afterwards left the company. 
 
 v. 22.—Fear ye not me? saith the Lord, which 
 have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a 
 perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though 
 the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not 
 prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass 
 over it. 
 
 Thomas Mann, a pious waterman on the Thames, 
 being once employed to row a party of pleasure, one 
 of the number, a young lady, proposed singing “Rule 
 Britannia,” when Mann remarked, that he had heard 
 Mr. Newton say, “ God rules the waves, not Britannia.” 
 
 vi. 10.—The word of the Lord is unto them a 
 reproach: they have no delight in it. 
 
 The Rev. John Eliot, styled, The Apostle of the In¬ 
 dians, was once asked by a pious woman, who was 
 vexed with a wicked husband, and bad company fre¬ 
 quently infesting her house on his account, what she 
 should do? “Take,” said he, “the Holy Bible into 
 your hand when bad company comes in, and that will 
 soon drive them out of the house.” 
 
JEREMIAH IX. 
 
 155 
 
 vii. 9, 10.—Will ye steal, murder, and commit 
 adultery, and swear falsely—and come and stand 
 before me in this house, which is called by my 
 name ? 
 
 Two Greeks notorious for their piracies and other 
 crimes, were lately tried and condemned, and three 
 days after executed. In the course of the trial, it ap¬ 
 peared that the beef and anchovies, on board one of the 
 English vessels which they pirated, were left untouched, 
 and the circumstances under which they were left, ap¬ 
 peared to the court so peculiar, that the culprits were 
 asked the cause of it. They promptly answered, that 
 it was at the time of the great fast when their church 
 eat neither meat nor fish! They appeared to be most 
 hardened and abandoned wretches, enemies alike to 
 their own and every other nation, and yet rigidly main¬ 
 taining their religious character; and while they were 
 robbing, plundering, and murdering, and stealing the 
 women and children of their countrymen, and selling 
 them to the Turks, and committing other atrocious 
 deeds, they would have us understand that they were 
 not so wicked as to taste meat or fish, when prohibited 
 by the canons of their church ! 
 
 viii. 9.—They have rejected the word of the 
 Lord ; and what wisdom is in them ? 
 
 A gentleman was arguing with a deist on the absur¬ 
 dity of rejecting Christianity without examination. He 
 owned that he never knew a person examine the sub¬ 
 ject, who did not afterwards embrace it; but excused 
 himself from examining, under the plea that to do so 
 was analogous to drinking brandy which always pro¬ 
 duced intoxication. “Is it not honourable to Christian¬ 
 ity,” says the gentleman, “ to have enemies, who must 
 give up the exercise of their reason before they reject 
 it I” 
 
 ix. 23.—Let not the wise man glory in his 
 wisdom. 
 
156 
 
 JEREMIAH XII. 
 
 In 1201, Simon Tournay, after he had excelled all 
 his contemporaries at Oxford in learning, and became 
 so eminent at Paris as to be made the chief doctor of 
 the Sorbonne, grew so proud, that while he regarded 
 Aristotle as superior to Moses and Christ, he considered 
 him as but equal to himself! He became such an 
 idiot at length, as not to know one letter in a book, or 
 one thing he had ever done. 
 
 x. 25.—Pour out thy fury upon the heathen 
 that know thee not, and upon the families that call 
 not on thy name. 
 
 A credible historian informs us, that about one hun¬ 
 dred and fifty years ago, there was an earthquake in 
 Switzerland, by which part of a mountain was thrown 
 down, which fell upon a village that stood under it, and 
 crushed every house and inhabitant to atoms, except 
 the corner of one cottage, where the master of the 
 house with his family were together praying unto God. 
 
 xi. 19.—Let us cut him off from the land of 
 the living. 
 
 “You take a life from me that I cannot keep,” said 
 one of the martyrs to his persecutors, “and bestow a 
 life upon me that I cannot lose; which is as if you 
 should rob me of counters, and furnish me with gold.” 
 
 xii. 5.—Plow wilt thou do in the swelling of 
 Jordan ? 
 
 The Rev. Richard Hooker, just before his death, said, 
 “ I have lived to see that this world is made up of per¬ 
 turbations ; and I have been long preparing to leave it, 
 and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making 
 my account with God, which I now apprehend to be 
 near; and though I have, by his grace, loved him in 
 my youth, and feared him in my age, and laboured to 
 have a conscience void of offence to him, and to all 
 men; yet if thou, Lord, shouldst be extreme to mark 
 
JEREMIAH XIV. 
 
 157 
 
 what I have done amiss, who can abide it? And, 
 therefore, where I have failed, Lord, show mercy to 
 me; for I plead not my righteousness, but the forgive¬ 
 ness of my unrighteousness, for his merits, who died 
 to purchase a pardon for penitent sinners.” 
 
 xiii. 17.—But if ye will not hear it, my soul 
 shall weep in secret places for your pride. 
 
 A gay, dissipated young man, went one day to his 
 pious mother, and said, “ Mother, let me have my best 
 clothes, I am going to a ball to-night.” She expostu¬ 
 lated with him, and urged him not to go, by every argu¬ 
 ment in her power. He answered, “Mother, let me 
 have my clothes. I will go, and it is useless to say any 
 thing about it.” She brought his clothes; he put them 
 on, and was going out. She stopped him, and said, 
 “My child, do not go.” He said he would; she then 
 said to him, “My son, while you are dancing with your 
 gay companions in the ball-room, I shall be out in that 
 wilderness praying to the Lord to convert your soul.” 
 He went; the ball commenced; but instead of the 
 usual gaiety, an unaccountable gloom pervaded the 
 whole assembly. One said, “We never had such a 
 dull meeting in our lives;” another, “I wish we had 
 not come, we have no life, we cannot get along;” a 
 third, “ I cannot think what is the matter.” The young 
 man instantly burst into tears, and said, “I know what 
 is the matter; my poor old mother is now praying in 
 yonder wilderness for her ungodly son.” He took his 
 hat, and said, “I will never be found in such a place 
 as this again,” and left the company. To be short, the 
 Lord converted his soul. He became a member of the 
 church—was soon after taken ill—and died happy. 
 
 xiv. 22.—Are there any among the vanities of 
 the Gentiles that can cause rain 1 or can the hea¬ 
 vens give showers ? Art thou not he, O Lord our 
 God ? therefore we will wait upon thee ; for thou 
 
 hast made all these things. 
 
 14 
 
•158 
 
 JEREMIAH XVII. 
 
 A youth in the South Sea Islands, called Joseph 
 Banks, after Sir Joseph Banks, Captain Cook’s com¬ 
 panion, had been much abroad, and was a shrewd ob¬ 
 server of all that came under his notice. One day, 
 when he was disputing against the superstitions of his 
 country, a priest affirmed, that, if the mareas, or temples, 
 were forsaken, there would be no rain, and every thing 
 would be burnt up. He replied, “In England and 
 America there are no idols, no tabus, yet there is plenty 
 of rain there, and fine crops too. In Tahiti and Hua- 
 hine they have broken the tabus, and destroyed the 
 idols, and worship the God of the white men, yet the 
 rain falls there, and the fruits grow as abundantly as 
 ever. And why should not rain fall, and the ground 
 produce food here as well as elsewhere, when these 
 senseless things are done away!” The priest was 
 confounded 
 
 xv. 16.—Thy word was unto me the joy and 
 rejoicing of mine heart. 
 
 “ I have many books,” says Mr. Newton, “ that I can¬ 
 not sit down to read; they are indeed good and sound, 
 but, like halfpence, there goes a great quantity to a 
 little amount. There are silver books, and a very few 
 golden books; but I have one book worth more than 
 all, called the Bible, and that is a book of bank-notes.” 
 
 xvi. 17.—Mine eyes are upon all their ways. 
 
 One of the heathen philosophers recommended it to 
 his pupils, as the best means to induce and enable them 
 to behave worthily, to imagine that some very distin¬ 
 guished character was always looking upon them. 
 But what was the eye of a Cato to the eye of God! 
 Who would not approve themselves unto him! The 
 celebrated Linnaeus had the following inscription placed 
 over the door of the hall in which he gave his lectures: 
 —“ Live guiltless—God observes you.” 
 
 xvii. 14.—Lord, save me. 
 
 A minister asked the maid at an inn in the Nether- 
 
JEREMIAH XVIII. 
 
 159 
 
 lands, if she prayed to God ? She replied, “ She had 
 scarce time to eat, how should she have time to pray 1” 
 He promised to give her a little money, if on his re¬ 
 turn she could assure him she had meanwhile said 
 three words of prayer, night and morning. Only three 
 words and a reward, caught her promise. He solemnly 
 added, “ Lord, save me !” For a fortnight she said the 
 words unmeaningly; but one night she wondered what 
 they meant, and why he bade her ( repeat them. God 
 put it into her heart to look at the Bible, and see if it 
 would tell her. She liked some verses where she open¬ 
 ed so well, that next morning she looked again, and so 
 on. When the good man went back, he asked the 
 landlord for her, as a stranger served him. “ Oh, sir! 
 she got too good for my place, and lives with the min¬ 
 ister!” He went to the minister’s house. So soon as 
 she saw him at the door, she cried, “Is it you, you 
 blessed man 1 ? I shall thank God through all eternity 
 that I ever saw you; I want not the money, I have re¬ 
 ward enough for saying those words!” She then de¬ 
 scribed how salvation by Jesus Christ was taught her 
 by the Bible, in answer to this prayer. 
 
 xviii. 12.—They said, There is no hope; but 
 we will walk after our own devices, and we will 
 every one do the imagination of his evil heart. 
 
 A young woman, whom Dr. Gifford visited in prison, 
 and who was to be tried for her life, heard him speak a 
 good while in an awful strain, not only unmoved, but at 
 last she laughed in his face. He then altered his tone, 
 and spoke of the love of Jesus, and the mercy provided 
 for chief sinners, till the tears came in her eyes, and 
 she interrupted him. by asking, “ Why ; do you think 
 there can be mercy for me!” He said, “Undoubtedly, 
 if you can desire it.” She replied, “Ah! if I had 
 thought so, I should not have been here; I have long 
 fixed it in my mind that I was absolutely lost, and with¬ 
 out hope, and this persuasion made me obstinate in my 
 ■wickedness, so that I cared not what I did.” She was 
 afterwards tried, and sentenced to transportation, and 
 
160 
 
 JEREMIAH XXI. 
 
 Dr. Gifford, who saw her several times, had a good hope 
 that she was truly converted before she left England. 
 
 xix. 1.—They have filled this place with the 
 blood of innocents. 
 
 Mr. Ellis informs us, that during the year 1829, Mr. 
 Williams, a missionary to the South Sea Islands, had 
 one day sitting in his room three females, the eldest not 
 more than forty years of age. The subject of the mur¬ 
 der of infants was introduced, and he remarked that 
 perhaps some of them had been guilty of the crime. 
 On inquiry, these females reluctantly confessed that 
 they had destroyed not fewer than twenty-one infants! 
 One had murdered nine, another seven, and the other 
 five. Nor did it appear that these women had been 
 more guilty than their neighbours. 
 
 « 
 
 xx. 9.—Then I said, I will not make mention of 
 him, nor speak any more in his name. 
 
 The late Mr. Clark of Trowbridge, one Sabbath after¬ 
 noon, said to his wife, “My.dear, I can never preach 
 again; I have told my people all I have to say.” She 
 said, “But you will disappoint the people, and whom 
 can we engage for to-night I” He still urged that he 
 should be unable to say any thing, when a woman was 
 introduced, who said she had come a long way to beg 
 Mr. Clark to preach from this text, “Then I said, I will 
 not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his 
 name: but his word was in mine heart as a burning 
 fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbear¬ 
 ing, and I could not stay.” He saw the finger of God 
 in it, and preached from that text in the evening, and 
 was never after at any loss. 
 
 xxi. 6.—I will smite the inhabitants of this city, 
 —and they shall die of a great pestilence. 
 
 In a letter, dated August 30, 1830, the Rev. William 
 Glen gives the following account of the ravages of the 
 Asiatic cholera in Astrachan:—“ In general, business 
 
JEREMIAH XXII. 
 
 161 
 
 of every kind was at a stand. The bank suspended its 
 operations. In the bazaars not a whisper was to be 
 heard, and scarcely a face to be seen; even the public 
 houses were abandoned, and a general gloom was 
 spread over the countenances of the few solitary indi¬ 
 viduals that were to be seen walking through the 
 streets. According to the best authenticated accounts, 
 when the disease was at its height, the number of fu¬ 
 nerals, on one particular day, was five hundred, and on 
 another day four hundred and eighty. More than one 
 thousand were buried about that time in a large pit, for 
 want of graves, which could not be got dug so fast as re¬ 
 quired, nor at a rate the poor could afford to pay for 
 them. Such a time we have never seen, nor do I sup¬ 
 pose that such a time was ever seen in Astrachan.” 
 
 xxii. 30.—Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this 
 man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his 
 days : for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting 
 upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in 
 Judah. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Douglas, an eminently pious minister 
 in Edinburgh, had usually the subjects of his discourses 
 so forcibly impressed on his mind, that he seldom or 
 never had any anxiety in choosing a text. Having been 
 appointed to preach at the coronation of Charles II. at 
 Scoon, the above passage was suggested to him as a 
 text. The good man was troubled what to do. To 
 preach from it, would bring down the vengeance of the 
 court—to reject it, would perhaps expose him to Divine 
 chastisement. After much anxious and painful deli¬ 
 beration, he resolved to choose another, as much suited 
 to the occasion as possible. The text he selected was 
 2 Kings xi. 12.—“And he brought forth the king’s son, 
 and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testi¬ 
 mony: and they made him king, and anointed him; 
 and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the 
 king.” It is remarkable that, during the remainder of 
 his life, he laboured under great difficulty in choosing 
 the subjects of his discourses; the wonted aid from 
 
 14 * 
 
162 
 
 JEREMIAH XXIV. 
 
 above appearing to be withheld, as a correction for his 
 sin, in resisting convictions of duty, from the fear of 
 man that bringeth a snare. 
 
 xxiii. 32.—I sent them not, nor commanded 
 them; therefore they shall not profit this people 
 at all, saith the Lord. 
 
 When two or three gentlemen, in company with the 
 late Rev. Robert,-'ffall of Bristol, were discussing the 
 question—WhmSper a man of no religion can be a suc¬ 
 cessful minister of the gospel 1—surprise was expressed 
 that Mr. Hall remained silent. “ Sir,” said he in reply, 
 “ I would not deny that a sermon from avbad man may 
 sometimes do good; but the general quest ion does not 
 admit of an argument. Is it at all probable that he 
 who is a willing servant of Satan, will r^ht against 
 him with all his might! and, if not, what success can 
 be rationally expected!” 
 
 xxiv. 5.—Them that are carried away captive 
 of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into 
 the land of the Chaldeans for their good. 
 
 A missionary in India, passing one day through the 
 school-room, observed a little boy engaged in prayer, 
 and overheard him saying, “ O Lord Jesus, I thank thee 
 for sending big ship into my, country, and wicked men 
 to steal me, and bring me he^e that I might hear about 
 thee, and love thee; and ndlwTjord Jesus, I have one 
 great favour to ask thee, please to send wicked men 
 with another big ship, and let them catch my father 
 and my mother, and bring them to this country, that 
 they may hear the missionaries preach, and love thee.” 
 The missionary in a few days after, saw him standing 
 on the sea-shore, looking very intently as the ships 
 came in. “What are you looking at, Tom!” “I am 
 looking to see if Jesus Christ answer prayer.” For 
 two years he was to be seen day after day, watching 
 the arrival of every ship. One day, as the missionary 
 was viewing him, he observed him capering about, and 
 
JEREMIAH XXVI. 
 
 163 
 
 exhibiting the liveliest joy. “ Well, Tom, what occa¬ 
 sions so much joy]” “O, Jesus Christ answer prayer 
 —father and mother come in that shipwhich was ac¬ 
 tually the case. 
 
 xxv. 27.—Drink ye and be drunken, and spue, 
 and fall, and rise no more. 
 
 A man in North America, who, for several years, had 
 been guilty of occasional excess, was, for a week prior 
 to his death, intoxicated every day, and abused his 
 family unmercifully. The morning of the day on 
 which he died, he said to his wife, with a horrible oath, 
 “ When I drink another glass of rum, I hope God Al¬ 
 mighty will strike me dead!” He immediately went to 
 a public house—drank rum while there—filled his jug 
 —and, returning, beat his wife, and knocked her to the 
 floor, though her peculiar situation demanded the most 
 kind and aifectionate treatment from her husband. A 
 little before two o’clock in the afternoon, he took his 
 jug, and, going to another room, said, “I swear I will 
 drink till I die, let it be longer or shorter.” His wife 
 expostulated, when he swore he would do so, calling 
 the Saviour to witness. He expired before three 
 o’clock; ill prepared, there is every reason to fear, for 
 his departure. 
 
 xxvi. 2.—Speak unto all the cities of Judah, 
 which come to worship in the Lord’s house, all 
 the words that I command thee to speak unto 
 them; diminish not a word. 
 
 The Rev. J. Brewer’s (of Birmingham) manner of 
 expounding the Scriptures was very instructive and 
 useful; and his general style of preaching was that, 
 which, by way of distinction and eminence, has been 
 called scriptural, because it embodies so large a portion 
 of the sentiment and language of holy writ. This pe¬ 
 culiar character of his preaching, Mr. Brewer attribu¬ 
 ted, in a great degree, to a remark of the Rev. Edmund 
 Jones, a minister in Wales, who, after hearing his 
 
164 
 
 JEREMIAH XXVIII. 
 
 young friend preach, said to him, when he came down 
 from the pulpit, “Young man, I love to hear the sound 
 of scripture in a sermon.” It was a word in season, 
 and he never forgot it. “It did me more good,” said 
 Mr. Brewer, “ than all my studies.” 
 
 xxvii. 9.—Hearken not to your sorcerers. 
 
 “Of the power of this superstition,” (sorcery,) says 
 Mr. Stewart in his Journal, “we had a proof in a na¬ 
 tive of our own household. A thief was put to flight 
 from our yard one day, while we were at dinner. A 
 lad joined in the chase, and seized the culprit, but lost 
 his hold by the tearing of his kichei, or outer garment. 
 The thief was greatly exasperated, and immediately 
 engaged a sorcerer to pray the boy to death. Informa¬ 
 tion of this reached the lad in the course of the after¬ 
 noon ; and we soon perceived him to be troubled by the 
 intelligence, though he attempted with us to ridicule 
 the superstition. The next morning he did not make 
 his appearance with the other boys; and upon inquir¬ 
 ing from them, they said he was sick. We asked the 
 nature of this sickness; to which it was replied, that 
 “ he was sick from the prayer of sorcery, perhaps.” 
 We found him lying in one corner of his house, pale 
 with fear, and trembling like an aspen leaf, and discov¬ 
 ered that he had not slept during the night: we were 
 satisfied that the whole arose from terror; and com¬ 
 pelled him, notwithstanding his declarations that he 
 was sick, to come from his retreat, diverted his mind, 
 set him at work, and before noon he was as full of life 
 and spirits as ever, laughed at his fears, and began to 
 defy the power of the ‘ sorcerer’s prayer.’ ” 
 
 xxviii. 16.—This year thou shalt die. 
 
 An intimate friend of President Davies of New- 
 Jersey College, told him a few days before the begin¬ 
 ning of the year in which he died, that a sermon on the 
 first day of it would be expected from him; mention¬ 
 ing, that it was President Burr’s custom to do so; and 
 that on the new-year’s day preceding his death, he 
 preached from Jer. xxviii. 16 . “Thus saith the Lord, 
 
JEREMIAH XXX. 
 
 165 
 
 This year thou shalt diewhich the people had after¬ 
 wards regarded as premonitory. When the first of 
 January came, Mr. Davies preached from the same 
 text; and being seized with his last illness soon after, 
 said, he had been led to preach, as it were, his own 
 funeral sermon. Mr. Davies often referred to this re¬ 
 markable circumstance on his death-bed. 
 
 xxix. 12, 13.—Ye shall go and pray unto me, 
 and I will hearken unto you.—And ye shall seek 
 me, and find me, when ye shall search for me 
 with all your heart. 
 
 A person, in addressing some children on the sub¬ 
 ject of prayer, described its importance and advantages; 
 and explained the difference between praying and say¬ 
 ing prayers. A boy in the first class, whose attention 
 had been arrested by the subject, was powerfully af¬ 
 fected by the impressive manner in which this duty 
 was urged upon the children. He reflected, that though 
 he had daily been in the habit of saying his pray¬ 
 ers, yet he then felt convinced that he never prayed as 
 he ought to have done. He left the school under a 
 deep concern for his soul’s welfare, and on reaching 
 home, retired to a private apartment in the house, and 
 sought, the Lord in prayer with his whole heart. He 
 did not seek in vain. He obtained mercy, through the 
 blood of Christ. He joined in church-fellowship, be¬ 
 came a useful teacher in a school, and has continued 
 to adorn the doctrine of the Saviour by a becoming 
 conversation. 
 
 xxx. 19.—I will multiply them, and they shall 
 not be few; I will also glorify them, and they 
 shall not be small. 
 
 The following is an extract from a “Narrative of the 
 State of Religion within the bounds of the Presbyterian 
 Church, in the United States of America, and Corres¬ 
 ponding Churches, May 1832:”— 
 
166 
 
 JEREMIAH XXXI. 
 
 “ It is our delightful privilege to report, that sixty- 
 eight Presbyteries have been blessed with the special 
 influences of the Holy Spirit, reviving the churches, 
 and bringing perishing sinners to the saving knowledge 
 of the truth. In these highly favoured Presbyteries, 
 about seven hundred congregations are reported as 
 having been thus visited in rich mercy. In many of 
 these places, thus refreshed by the showers of divine 
 grace, the displays of the power of the Gospel have 
 been glorious, almost beyond example. Several Pres¬ 
 byteries have had their whole territory pervaded by a 
 heavenly influence, and every congregation has become 
 a harvest-field for the ingathering of souls to the fold 
 of the Good Shepherd. These bodies send us the ani¬ 
 mating message, that all, or nearly all, their churches 
 have enjoyed a precious season of revival. ‘Never,’ 
 says the report from West Hanover, ‘have we had the 
 privilege of recording so many signal triumphs of Al¬ 
 mighty grace. The angel having the everlasting gos¬ 
 pel in his hand, has passed through our borders, and 
 has brought salvation to almost every house. So pow¬ 
 erful and extensive have been the divine influences 
 among us, that one district is known where not one 
 adult could be found, unconcerned upon the subject of 
 religion. On some occasions, a whole congregation, 
 without one exception, have been prostrated before 
 God, anxiously inquiring for salvation. Eighteen of 
 our congregations have been revived, and in one of 
 them, three hundred hopeful conversions have taken 
 place.’ ” 
 
 xxxi. 15.—A voice was heard in Ramah, la¬ 
 mentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping 
 for her children, refused to be comforted for her 
 children, because they were not. 
 
 One day, while the lady of Sir Stamford Raffles was 
 almost overwhelmed with grief for the loss of a favour¬ 
 ite child, unable to bear the sight of her other children 
 —unable to bear even the light of day—humbled upon 
 her couch with a feeling of misery, she was addressed 
 
JEREMIAH XXXIII. 
 
 167 
 
 by a poor, ignorant, uninstructed native woman, of the 
 lowest class, who had been employed about the nursery, 
 in terms of reproach not to be forgotten. “I am come 
 because you have been here many days shut up in a 
 dark room, and no one dares to come near you. Are 
 you not ashamed to grieve in this manner when you 
 ought to be thanking God for having given you the 
 most beautiful child that ever was seen 1 Did any one 
 ever see him, or speak of him, without admiring him 1 
 And instead of letting this child continue in this world 
 till he should be worn out with trouble and sorrow, 
 has not God taken him to heaven in all his beauty 1 
 What would you have more 1 For shame !—leave off 
 weeping, and let me open a window.” 
 
 xxxii. 19.—Great in counsel, and mighty in 
 work. 
 
 A person at dinner with Mr. Newton of London, re* 
 marked that the East India Company had overset the 
 college at Calcutta. “ What a pity!” said a gentleman 
 present. “ No,” said Mr. N., “ no pity—it must do good. 
 If you had a plan in view, and could hinder opposition, 
 would you not prevent it I”—“Yes, sir.”—“Well, God 
 can hinder all opposition to his plans: he has per- 
 mitted that to take place, but he will carry on his own 
 plan. I am learning to see God in all things: I believe 
 not a person knocks at my door but is sent by God.” 
 
 ( 
 
 xxxiii. 16.—The Lord our Righteousness. 
 
 “If it be shameful to renounce error,” says Mr. Her- 
 vey, “and sacrifice all to truth, I do very willingly take 
 this shame to myself. In a copy of verses which I for¬ 
 merly wrote, sacred to the memory of a generous bene¬ 
 factor, I remember the following lines:— 
 
 ‘Our wants relieved by thy indulgent care 
 Shall give thee courage at the dreadful bar, 
 
 And stud the crown thou shalt for ever wear.’ 
 
 These lines, in whatever hands they are lodged, and 
 
163 
 
 JEREMIAH XXXIV. 
 
 whatever else of a like kind may have dropt from my 
 pen, I now publicly disclaim; they are the very reverse 
 of my present belief, in which I hope to persevere as 
 long as I have any being. Far be it from me to sup¬ 
 pose that any work of mine should, in order to create 
 my peace, or cherish my confidence, be coupled with 
 Christ’s most holy acts. I speak the words of our 
 church, and I speak the sense of the prophet, ‘ I will 
 trust, and not he afraidwherefore ? because I am in¬ 
 herently holy 1 No, rather God is my salvation; God ma¬ 
 nifest in the flesh has finished my transgression, and 
 made an end of my sin; and in this most magnificent 
 work will I rejoice.—Thy Maker is thy Husband: the 
 consequence of which is, all thy debts and deficiencies 
 are upon him, all his consummate righteousness is upon 
 thee.” 
 
 xxxiv. 9.—That every man should let his man¬ 
 servant, and every man his maid-servant, being 
 an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free. 
 
 After Dr. Hopkins of North America had become im¬ 
 pressed with the sinfulness of slavery, he did much, in 
 his intercourse with his brethren, to awaken their at¬ 
 tention to the subject, and to convince them of their 
 obligations to discountenance that enormity. Visiting 
 at the house of Dr. Bellamy of Connecticut, who was 
 at that time the owner of a slave, he, with his wonted 
 candour, pressed the subject upon the attention of his 
 friend. Dr. B. endeavoured to defend the practice by 
 the usual arguments; but Dr. H. having successfully 
 refuted them, called upon him immediately to free his 
 slave. In answer to this demand, it was urged, that 
 the slave was a most faithful and judicious servant; 
 that in his management of the doctor’s farm he could 
 be trusted with every thing; and that he was so happy 
 in his servitude, that he would, in the opinion of his 
 master, refuse his freedom, were it offered to him. 
 “ Will you consent to his liberation,” said Dr. Hopkins, 
 “if he really desires it!”—“Yes,” replied Dr. B., “I 
 will.” The slave was then at work in the field. “Call 
 him,” said Dr. H., “ and let us try.” The slave came 
 
JEREMIAH XXXVI. 
 
 169 
 
 to receive, as he supposed, the commands of his master. 
 “Have you a good master 1” said Dr. Hopkins, ad¬ 
 dressing the slave. “0 yes, massa; he very good.”— 
 “Are you happy in your present condition]”—“ O yes, 
 massa; me very happy.”—“ Would you be more happy 
 if you were free]”—“0 yes, massa; me would be 
 much more happy.” — “You have your desire,” ex¬ 
 claimed Dr. Bellamy; “from this moment you are 
 free.” 
 
 xxxv. 6.—We will drink no wine: for Jonadab 
 the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, say¬ 
 ing, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your 
 sons for ever. 
 
 Among a few individuals who lately met at a Christ¬ 
 mas supper in a public-house, there happened to be a 
 tradesman who belonged to the Temperance Society. 
 His unprincipled companions thought it too good an 
 opportunity to be lost of working the fall of the poor 
 man, and of injuring the general cause of temperance. 
 They accordingly made use of every artifice in order 
 to induce him to drink the poisonous cup, though with¬ 
 out success, when the landlady, who had been ac¬ 
 quainted with the proceeding, immediately stepped be¬ 
 tween them, and declared that, as he had joined the 
 Temperance Society, no one should give him one drop 
 of whiskey in her house, but that if he chose he might 
 have ale or porter. The poor man, being thus sup¬ 
 ported, took courage; but, wisely considering that it 
 was unsafe for him to take even ale or porter in such 
 company, went home after supper, without drinking 
 any thing, to the grievous mortification and disappoint¬ 
 ment of his drunken companions. 
 
 xxxvi. 23.—The king cut it with the pen-knife, 
 and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, 
 until all the roll was consumed. 
 
 A few years ago, a party of men, muffled up in great- 
 
 15 
 
170 
 
 JEREMIAH XXXVIII. 
 
 coats, entered the house of an unoffending Protestant 
 in Edgeworthstown ; and after having placed a guard 
 on a female who was the only inmate of the house at 
 the time, they proceeded to search the rooms till they 
 found a large Bible, which they carried out, and tore 
 into a thousand fragments in an adjoining ditch. A 
 man who seemed the principal of the party, stood at 
 the door, and gave orders to the others not to meddle 
 with any thing but the thing which they came for. 
 The violence of their animosity was exhibited by 
 trampling the leaves of the Bible in the mire. 
 
 xxxvii. 20,—Let my supplication, I pray thee, 
 be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not 
 to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest 
 I die there. 
 
 Sir John Chardin, when mentioning the power that 
 jailors, in Eastern countries, have over the prisoners 
 committed to their charge, relates the story of an emi¬ 
 nent Armenian merchant. He was “treated with the 
 greatest caresses upon the jailor’s receiving a consid¬ 
 erable present from him at first, and fleecing him after 
 from time to time; then when the party who sued the 
 Armenian, presented something considerable, first to 
 the judge, and afterwards to the jailor, the prisoner 
 first felt his privileges retrenched, was then closely 
 confined, and was then treated with such inhumanity 
 as not to be permitted to drink above once in twenty- 
 four hours, and this in the hottest time of summer, nor 
 was any body suffered to come near him but the ser¬ 
 vants of the prison, and at length he was thrown into a 
 dungeon, where he was, in a quarter of an hour, brought 
 to the point to which all this severe usage was intended 
 to force him.” 
 
 xxxviii. 6.—They took Jeremiah, and cast him 
 into the dungeon. 
 
 One of the witnesses of the truth, when imprisoned 
 for conscience’ sake in Queen Mary’s persecution of the 
 
JEREMIAH XLI. 
 
 171 
 
 Church, is said to have thus written to a friend;—“ A 
 prisoner for Christ! What is this for a poor worm! 
 Such honour have not all his saints. Both the degrees 
 which I took in the University, have not set me so high 
 as the honour of becoming a prisoner of the Lord.” 
 
 xxxix. 17.—I will deliver thee in that day, saith 
 the Lord; and thou shalt not be given into the 
 hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. 
 
 Augustine, going on one occasion to preach at a dis¬ 
 tant town, took with him a guide to direct him in the 
 way. The man, by some unaccountable means, mis¬ 
 took the usual road, and fell into a bye-path. It after¬ 
 wards proved, that by this means his life had been 
 saved, as some of the Donatist^, who were his enemies, 
 had way-laid him, with the design of killing him. 
 
 xl. 14.—Dost thou certainly know that Baalis, 
 the king of the Ammonites, hath sent Ishmael— 
 to slay thee 1 But Gedaliah—believed them not. 
 
 The Regent Murray, who was assassinated by Ham¬ 
 ilton of Bothwellhaugh, in 1570, had got information, 
 we are told, the same day on which the murder was 
 committed, respecting the assassin, and the place where 
 he was concealed. He accordingly resolved to proceed 
 to Edinburgh on the road which skirts the outside of 
 the town of Linlithgow; but perceiving the gate through 
 which he intended to pass, blockaded by a crowd, he 
 turned the other way, through the principal street, 
 where the assassin, with a musket, took his fatal aim 
 from a window. The Good Regent died in the evening 
 of the same day, while the murderer, having a horse in 
 readiness, effected his escape. 
 
 xli. 8.—Ten men were found among them that 
 said unto Ishmael, Slay us not; for we have trea¬ 
 sures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of 
 oil, and of honey. 
 
172 
 
 JEREMIAH XLIII. 
 
 Dr. Shaw informs us, that in Barbary, when the grain 
 is winnowed, they lodge it in mattamores, or subterra¬ 
 neous repositories; two or three hundred of which are 
 sometimes together, the smallest holding four hundred 
 bushels. These are very common in other parts of the 
 East, and are in particular mentioned by Dr. Russell, 
 as being in great numbers near Aleppo, about the vil¬ 
 lages. A method, similar to this, is used in the Holy 
 Land. Le Bruyn speaks of deep pits at Rama, which 
 he was told were designed for corn; and Rauwolf men¬ 
 tions three very large vaults at Joppa, which were used 
 for the purpose of laying up grain when he visited that 
 place. The treasures of wheat, &c., might be laid up 
 by these ten men in the same kind of repositories. 
 
 xlii. 20.—Ye dissembled in your hearts, when 
 ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray 
 for us unto the Lord our God ; and according unto 
 all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare 
 unto us, and we will do it. 
 
 A woman once came to the Rev. Mr. Kilpin of Exeter, 
 with a long preface on the duty and privilege of having 
 the opinion of a minister on the important subject of 
 marriage. She told her tale, and sought advice. Mr. 
 Kilpin guessed how matters stood, and unexpectedly 
 inquired if the day for her marriage was not fixed for 
 Tuesday 1 “ 0! no, sir,” she hastily replied, “ not until 
 
 Thursday.” This gave him an opportunity of pointing 
 out the sin of persons treating the great and blessed 
 God in somewhat the same manner, seeking direction 
 on a subject, clearly stated in his word, with a determi¬ 
 nation to act as their own feelings and desires dictated, 
 let the voice of God, in his word or providence be what 
 it might. 
 
 xliii. 10.—Nebuchadnezzar shall spread his 
 royal pavilion over them. 
 
 “ While we were employed on the theatre of Miletus,” 
 says Dr. Chandler in his travels, “the Aga of Suki, 
 
JEREMIAH XLV. 
 
 173 
 
 son-in-law to Elez-Oglu, (a Turkish officer of high 
 rank,) crossed the plain towards us, attended by a con¬ 
 siderable train of domestics and officers, their vests and 
 turbans of various and lively colours, mounted on long¬ 
 tailed horses, with showy trappings, and glittering fur¬ 
 niture. He returned, after hawking, to Miletus; and 
 we went to visit him, with a present of coffee and su¬ 
 gar ; but were told that two favourite birds had flown 
 away, and that he was vexed and tired. A couch was 
 prepared for him beneath a shed, made against a cot¬ 
 tage, and covered with green boughs to keep off the 
 sun. He entered, as we were standing by, and fell 
 down on it to sleep, without taking any notice of us.” 
 
 xliv. 18.—Since we left off to burn incense to 
 the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings 
 unto her, we have wanted all things, and have 
 been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 
 
 A Hindoo who had renounced idolatry, was soon 
 after suddenly afflicted, upon which many of his hea¬ 
 then acquaintance came to see him, and said, “This 
 sickness, without doubt, is sent to punish you, because 
 you have forsaken Swamy, (the idol,) and have destroyed 
 your pagoda; we therefore advise you to renounce 
 Christianity, and again to worship Swamy, and you will 
 soon recover.” He said to them, “The great God 
 whom I now worship, made all things; therefore, He 
 alone is able to restore me to health. I do not fear the 
 devil’s anger, for without divine permission he cannot 
 accomplish any thing; and if my present sickness 
 should be the means of my death, I will die trusting in 
 Christ.” After which he remonstrated with them on 
 the folly and sin of worshipping idols, and they de¬ 
 parted. He recovered, and is giving evidence of being 
 a sincere follower of Christ. 
 
 • 
 
 xlv. 5.—Seekest thou great things for thyself? 
 seek them not. 
 
 Sir Henry Wotton, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
 
 15 * 
 
174 
 
 JEREMIAH XLVI 
 
 who had great honours conferred on him, on account 
 of his near relation to the Queen’s great favourite, 
 Robert Earl of Essex, was very intimate with the Duke 
 of Tuscany, and with James, then King of Scotland, 
 (and afterwards of England,) and had been sent on 
 several embassies to Holland, Germany, and Venice: 
 after all, he desired to retire with this motto, “That he 
 had learned at length, that the soul grew wiser by re¬ 
 tirement;” and consequently, that a man was more 
 happy in a private situation, than it was possible for 
 him to be with those worldly honours which were ac¬ 
 companied with so many troubles. In short, the utmost 
 of his aim in this life, for the future, was to be Provost 
 of Eton, that there he might enjoy his beloved study 
 and devotion. He was afterwards heard to say, that 
 the day on which he put on his surplice, was the hap¬ 
 piest day of his whole life; it being the utmost happi¬ 
 ness a man can attain here, to be at leisure to be and to 
 do good. This great man never reflected on his former 
 years, but he would weep, and say, “ How much time 
 have I to repent of! and how little to do it in!” 
 
 xlvi. 18.—Tabor is among the mountains. 
 
 “The view from Mount Tabor,” says Dr. Russell, “is 
 extolled by every traveller. Maundrell remarks, ‘it is 
 impossible for man’s eyes to behold a higher gratifica¬ 
 tion of this nature.’ On the north-west you discern in 
 the distance the noble expanse of the Mediterranean, 
 while all around you see the spacious and beautiful 
 plains of Esdraelon and Galilee. Turning a little 
 southward, you have in view the high mountains of 
 Gilboa, so fatal to Saul and his sons. Due east, you 
 discover the Sea of Tiberias, distant about one day’s 
 journey. A few points to the north appears the Mount 
 of Beatitudes, the place where Christ delivered his ser¬ 
 mon to his disciples and the multitude. Not far from 
 this little hill is the city of Saphet, or Szaffad, standing 
 upon elevated and very conspicuous ground. Still* 
 farther, in the same direction, is seen a lofty peak 
 covered with snow, a part of the chain of Anti-Libanus. 
 To the south-west is Carmel, and in the south the hills 
 of Samaria.” 
 
JEREMIAH XLIX. 
 
 175 
 
 xlvii. 5.—How long wilt thou cut thyself? 
 
 “We often read,” says Harmer, “of people cutting 
 themselves, in Holy Writ, when in great anguish; but 
 we are not commonly told what part they wounded. 
 The modern Arabs, it seems, gash their arms, which 
 with them are often bare. It appears from a passage 
 of Jeremiah, the ancients wounded themselves in the 
 same part. Chap, xlviii. 37, ‘ Every head shall be bald, 
 and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be 
 cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.’ ” 
 
 xlviii. 38.—I have broken Moab like a vessel 
 wherein is no pleasure, saitli the Lord. 
 
 The Moabites had, in succession, the monarchs of 
 Israel, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Syria, and Egypt, and 
 the Romans, all as their enemies, who brought them to 
 destruction. They now no longer exist; their country 
 is a heap of wild ruins, showing enough of their an¬ 
 cient grandeur to remind us what they once were; and 
 the rude tribes of Bedouin Arabs now dwell in it, 
 living in tents. 
 
 xlix. 11.—Leave thy fatherless children, I will 
 preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust 
 in me. 
 
 “A friend of mine,” says Mr. Newton, “in the west 
 of England (a faithful laborious minister, but who, I 
 believe, never was master of five pounds at one time) 
 was dying. His friends advised him to make his will; 
 he replied, “I have nothing to leave but my wife and 
 children, and I leave them to the care of my gracious 
 God.” Soon after this he died happily. But there ap¬ 
 peared no prospect of support for his family at this time. 
 The Lord, however, stirred up a man who had always 
 despised his preaching, to feel for the deceased minis¬ 
 ter’s poor destitute family; and he so exerted himself, 
 that he was the means of £1600 being raised by sub¬ 
 scriptions for them; and the clergy of Exeter, who had 
 never countenanced his preachings, gave her a house 
 
170 
 
 JEREMIAH LI. 
 
 and garden during her life, so that she lived in far 
 greater plenty than in her husband’s life-time.” 
 
 1. 38.—A drought is upon her waters ; and they 
 shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven im¬ 
 ages, and they are mad upon their idols. 
 
 Cyrus having subdued the lesser Asia, as likewise 
 Syria and Arabia, entered Assyria, and bent his march 
 towards Babylon. The siege of this important place 
 was no easy enterprise. The walls were of a prodi¬ 
 gious height, the number of men to defend them very 
 great, and the city stored with all sorts of provisions 
 for twenty years. However, these difficulties did not 
 discourage Cyrus from prosecuting his design; who, 
 after spending two entire years before the place, became 
 master of it by stratagem. Upon a festival night, 
 which the Babylonians were accustomed to spend in 
 drinking and debauchery, he ordered the bank of the 
 canal, above the city, leading to the great lake, that had 
 been lately dug by Nitocris, to be broken down; and 
 having thus diverted the course of the river, by turning 
 the whole current into the lake, he caused his troops to 
 march in by the bed of the river, who now penetrated 
 into the heart of the city without opposition, surprised 
 the guards of the palace, and cut them to pieces. The 
 taking of Babylon put an end to the Babylonian em¬ 
 pire, and fulfilled the predictions which the prophets 
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, had uttered against that 
 proud metropolis. 
 
 li. 17.—Every founder is confounded by the 
 graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, 
 and there is no breath in them. 
 
 “In the monastery at Isenach,” says Luther, “stands 
 an image which I have seen. When a wealthy person 
 came thither to pray to it, (it was Mary with her child,) 
 the child turned away his face from the sinner to the 
 mother; but if the sinner gave liberally to that monas¬ 
 tery, then the child turned to him again; and if he pro- 
 
LAMENTATIONS I. 
 
 177 
 
 mised to give more, then the child showed itself very 
 friendly and loving, and stretched out its arms over him 
 in the form of a cross. But this picture and image was 
 made hollow within, and prepared with locks, lines, and 
 screws; and behind it stood a knave to move them,— 
 and so were the people mocked and deceived, who took 
 it to be a miracle wrought by Divine Providence!” 
 
 lii. 16.—Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the 
 guard, left certain of the poor of the land for vine¬ 
 dressers, and for husbandmen. 
 
 The Rev. John Frederic Oberlin was distinguished 
 by his charity and benevolence, and though scarcely a 
 mendicant was ever seen in the valley of the Ban de 
 la Roche, where he resided, sometimes a pauper from 
 the neighbouring communes, attracted by the well- 
 known disposition of the pastor and his people, wan¬ 
 dered thither to implore that assistance which, if deserv¬ 
 ing, he never failed to receive. “Why do you not 
 work?” was Oberlin’s usual interrogation. “Because 
 no one will employ me,” was the general reply. “Well, 
 then, I will employ you. There—carry these planks— 
 break those stones—fill that bucket with water, and I 
 will repay you for your trouble.” Such was his usual 
 mode of proceeding; and idle beggars were taught to 
 come there no more ” 
 
 
 LAMENTATIONS. 
 
 Chap. i. 7.—The adversaries did mock at her 
 Sabbaths. 
 
 The late Mr. Meikle, surgeon in Carnwath, being on 
 some business at Edinburgh, which detained him to 
 the end of the week, and not finding himself so com¬ 
 fortably lodged as he could have desired, rose early 
 on Sabbath morning, and went out to the Meadows, 
 
178 
 
 LAMENTATIONS III. 
 
 that he might get an opportunity for devotional exer¬ 
 cises. As he was sitting in the arbour, a young gen¬ 
 tleman happened to come in, and by his singing and 
 conversation, discovered a contempt for the Sabbath. 
 Mr. Meikle said to him, “ My good sir, I am just think¬ 
 ing on the fourth commandment, can you help me out 
 with it?”—“ Indeed, sir,” said the gentleman, “ I can¬ 
 not.”—“Oh,” said Mr. M., “I have it. ‘Remember the 
 Sabbath-day to keep it holy.’ ” The young gentleman 
 felt the reproof, and retired, leaving Mr. Meikle to pro¬ 
 ceed with his devotions. 
 
 ii. 16.—All thine enemies have opened their 
 mouth against thee. 
 
 One morning, as a minister, in one of the north-east¬ 
 erly cantons of France, was employed in his study, he 
 heard a great noise in the village in which he resided. 
 Rushing out, he perceived a foreigner, whom almost 
 the whole population were loading with abusive and 
 threatening language. “A Jew! a Jew!” resounded 
 on all sides, as the minister forced his way through 
 the crowd; and it was with difficulty that he could ob¬ 
 tain silence. As soon, however, as he could make 
 himself heard, he rebuked them with great warmth for 
 having proved themselves unworthy the name of Chris¬ 
 tians, by treating the unfortunate stranger in so cruel 
 a manner. He added, that if this poor man wanted the 
 name of a Christian, they wanted the spirit of Chris¬ 
 tians. 
 
 iii. 39.—Wherefore doth a living man complain, 
 a man for the punishment of his sins ? 
 
 The Duke of Conde, when in poverty and retirement, 
 was one day observed and pitied by a lord of Italy, who, 
 out of tenderness, wished him to take better care of 
 himself. The good duke answered, “ sir, be not troubled; 
 and think not that I am ill provided of conveniences; 
 for I send a messenger before me, who makes ready 
 my lodgings, and takes care that I be royally entertain¬ 
 ed.” The noble lord asked him who was his messen- 
 
LAMENTATIONS V. 
 
 179 
 
 gerl He replied, “The knowledge of myself; and the 
 thoughts of what I deserve for my sins, which is eter¬ 
 nal torments: and when, with this knowledge, I arrive 
 at my lodging, how unprovided soever I find it, me- 
 thinks it is better than I deserve: and as the sense of 
 sin, which merits hell, sweetens present difficulties, so 
 do the hopes of the heavenly kingdom.” 
 
 iv. 3.—Even the sea-monsters draw out the 
 breast, they give suck to their young ones. 
 
 The natural affection of animals appears in the fol¬ 
 lowing instance. A whale and her young one had got 
 into an arm of the sea, where the tide nearly left them. 
 The people on the shore beheld their situation, and 
 came down upon them in boats, attacking them with 
 such weapons as could be hastily collected. The ani¬ 
 mals were soon severely wounded, and the sea coloured 
 with their blood. After several attempts to escape, the 
 old one forced her way over the shallow into deep 
 water. But though in safety herself, she could not 
 bear the danger that threatened her young one; she 
 therefore rushed once more to the place where it was 
 confined, and appeared resolved, if she could not pro¬ 
 tect, to share its danger. As the tide was then running 
 in, both of the creatures made their escape, though not 
 without receiving a great number of wounds in every 
 part. 
 
 v. 8.—Servants have ruled over us; there is 
 none that doth deliver us out of their hand. 
 
 “In visiting one of the gardens, for which Rosetta, 
 in Egypt, is famous,” says Jowett, in his Christian Re¬ 
 searches, “ we had a singular specimen of the effect of 
 oppression. Seeing fine fruit on every side, but find¬ 
 ing the oranges to be of the sour kind, we asked the 
 gardener for some that were sweet. He at first denied 
 that he had any. Our guide told us to show him money. 
 At the sight of this, he produced some delicious oranges. 
 As we peeled them, and ate, he gathered up the peel, 
 
180 
 
 EZEKIEL II. 
 
 and buried it in the earth, in order that soldiers coming 
 into his garden, might not see the trace of sweet 
 oranges, and compel him to give them some.” 
 
 —•— 
 
 EZEKIEL. 
 
 Chap. i. 10. —They four had the face of a man, 
 and the face of a lion on the right side; and they 
 four had the face of an ox on the left side; they 
 four also had the face of an eagle. 
 
 The Rev. William Wilson of Perth, and some of his 
 friends, were, on one occasion, enjoying themselves 
 with some innocent pleasantry, by proposing severally 
 to what they might compare the Four Brethren, with 
 whom the Secession in Scotland originated. Different 
 comparisons were suggested. When it came to Mr. 
 Wilson’s turn, he did not see any thing they could be 
 better compared to than the four living creatures in 
 Ezekiel’s vision. “ Our brother, Mr Erskine,” said he, 
 “ has the face of a man. Our friend Mr. Moncrieff, has 
 the face of a lion. Our neighbour Mr. Fisher, has the 
 face of an eagle. And as for myself, I think you will 
 all own that I may claim to be the ox; for, as you 
 know, the laborious part of the business falls to my 
 share.” 
 
 ii. 7.—Thou shalt speak my words unto them, 
 whether they will hear, or whether they will for¬ 
 bear. 
 
 The late Dr. Ritchie, Professor of Divinity in the 
 University of Edinburgh, was one day preaching in 
 Tarbolton church, where he was at that time minister, 
 against profane swearing in common conversation, 
 while one of his principal heritors who was addicted to 
 that sin was present. This gentleman thought the ser¬ 
 mon was designedly addressed to him, and that the 
 
EZEKIEL III. 
 
 181 
 
 eyes of the whole congregation were fixed upon him. 
 Though he felt indignant, he kept his place till the ser¬ 
 vice was concluded, and then waited on the preacher, 
 and asked him to dine with him, as he was quite alone. 
 The invitation being accepted, the gentleman immedi¬ 
 ately after dinner thus addressed the minister—“ Sir, 
 you have insulted me to-day in the church. I have 
 been three times in church lately, and on every one of 
 them you have been holding me up to the derision of 
 the audience; so I tell you, sir, I shall never more en¬ 
 ter the church of Tarbolton again, unless you give me 
 your solemn promise, that you will abstain from such 
 topics in future, as I am resolved, I shall no more fur¬ 
 nish you with the theme of your discourse.” Mr. Ritchie 
 heard this speech to a conclusion with calmness, and 
 then looking him steadfastly in the face, thus replied, 
 “ Very well, sir, if you took to yourself what I said to¬ 
 day against swearing, does not your conscience bear 
 witness to its truth? You say you will not enter the 
 church till I cease to reprove your sins; if such is your 
 determination, it is impossible you can enter it again; 
 for, which of the commandments have you not broken?” 
 On observing his firmness, and feeling that he was 
 wrong in attempting to make the minister of the parish 
 compromise his duty, the gentleman held out his hand 
 to Mr. Ritchie ; a mutual explanation took place; and 
 while the minister would abate none of his faithfulness, 
 the heritor endeavoured to overcome his evil habits. 
 
 iii. 26.—I will make thy tongue cleave to the 
 roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and 
 shalt not be to them a reprover. 
 
 The Rev. William Tennant, formerly a very eminent 
 minister of the gospel in New England, once took much 
 pains to prepare a sermon to convince a celebrated in¬ 
 fidel. But, in attempting to deliver this laboured dis¬ 
 course, Mr. T. was so confused, that he was obliged to 
 stop, and close the service by prayer. This unexpected 
 failure in one who had so often astonished the unbe¬ 
 liever with the force of his eloquence, led the infidel to 
 
 16 
 
182 
 
 EZEKIEL VI. 
 
 reflect that Mr. T. had been at other times aided by a 
 divine power. This reflection proved the means of his 
 conversion. Thus God accomplished by silence, what 
 his servant meant to eflect by persuasive preaching. 
 Mr. Tennant used afterwards to say, “ His dumb sermon 
 was the most profitable sermon that he had ever de¬ 
 livered.” 
 
 iv. 6.—Thou shalt bear the iniquity of the 
 house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee 
 each day for a year. 
 
 Usher, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, was very 
 zealous against the Roman Catholics, and averse to 
 tolerating them. He once preached before the officers 
 of the Irish government, from the preceding text. In 
 the course of his sermon, he made an application of 
 the passage which was remarkable. “From this year 
 (1601),” said he, “I reckon forty years; and then 
 those whom you now embrace, shall be your ruin, and 
 you shall bear their iniquity.” The apparent accom¬ 
 plishment of this prediction in the Irish rebellion of 
 1641, was a singular occurrence; and, in the opinion 
 of many, perhaps in his own, was regarded as an indi¬ 
 cation of his prophetic spirit. 
 
 v. 1.—Take thee a barber’s razor, and c$use 
 it to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard. 
 
 The Mahometans have a very great respect for their 
 beards, and think it criminal to shave. “ Conversing 
 one day with a Turk,” says Dr. Clarke, “ who was 
 playing with his beard, I asked him, ‘ Why do you not 
 cut off your beard as we Europeans do V To which 
 he replied, with great emotion, ‘ Cut offf my beard!— 
 Why should 11—God forbid!’ ” 
 
 vi. 9.—They shall loathe themselves for the 
 evils they have committed. 
 
 The Rev. Ralph Erskine, when rebuking a person 
 
EZEKIEL IX. 
 
 183 
 
 before the congregation, for some scandalous offence, 
 said,—“ Think upon the case you are in, and meditate 
 on the misery you have exposed yourself unto; for God 
 will deal with you either in mercy or in wrath. If he 
 deal with you in mercy, then you will surely find more 
 bitterness in sin than ever you found pleasure in it; 
 and if he deal with you in wrath, you will find sin, like 
 a mountain of lead, weighing you down to the bottom 
 of hell for ever. The Lord make you wise to salvation, 
 that you may flee from the wrath to come.” 
 
 vii. 19.—Their silver and their gold shall not 
 be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath 
 of the Lord. 
 
 Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs, a pious minister, mentions 
 the case of a rich man, who, when he lay on his sick¬ 
 bed, called for his bags of money; and having laid a 
 bag of gold to his heart, after a little, he bade them take 
 it away, saying, “ It will not do ! it will not do !” 
 
 viii. 14.—He brought me to the door of the 
 Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, 
 behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 
 
 The ancient Greeks, we are informed, used to place 
 their dead near the doors of their houses, and to attend 
 them with mourning. The same custom still continues 
 among the modern Greeks, and might, perhaps, be ob¬ 
 served by the ancient Jews. Dr. Richard Chandler, 
 when travelling in Greece, observed, at Megara, a wo¬ 
 man sitting, with the door of her cottage open, lament¬ 
 ing her dead husband aloud; and when at Zante, he 
 saw a woman in a house with the door open, bewailing 
 her little son, whose body lay beside her dressed, the 
 hair powdered, the face painted, and bedecked with 
 leaf-gold. ,, 
 
 ix. 6.—Slay utterly old and young, both maids, 
 and little children, and women ; but come not near 
 any man upon whom is the mark. 
 
184 
 
 EZEKIEL X. 
 
 Beza, a little before his death, declared to his Chris¬ 
 tian friends, that the Lord had fulfilled to him all the 
 promises contained in the ninety-first psalm, which he 
 heard expounded, when a young man, in the church. 
 As he had been enabled to close with the second verse, 
 in taking the Lord for his God, and got a sure claim 
 that he would be his “refuge and fortress,” so he had 
 found remarkably, in the after changes of his life, that 
 the Lord had “delivered him from the snare of the 
 fowler,” for he had been in frequent hazard by the lying 
 in wait of many to ensnare him; and from the “ noi¬ 
 some pestilence,” for he was sometimes in great hazard 
 from it, in those places where he was called to reside. 
 Amidst the civil wars in France, he had most signal 
 deliverances from many imminent dangers, when he 
 was called to be present sometimes with the Protestant 
 princes upon the field, where “thousands did fall about 
 him.” On his death-bed, he found that psalm so ob¬ 
 servably verified, on which he was caused to hope, that 
 he went through all the promises in it, declaring the 
 comfortable accomplishment of them, how he had found 
 the “ Lord giving his angels charge over him, often an¬ 
 swering him when he called on him; how he had been 
 with him in trouble, had delivered him, and had satis¬ 
 fied him with long life.” “ And now,” says he, “ I have 
 no more to wait for, but the fulfilling of these last 
 words of the psalm—‘I will show him my salvation,’— 
 which, with confidence, I wait for.” 
 
 x. 18.—The glory of the Lord departed from 
 off the threshold of the house, and stood over the 
 cherubim. 
 
 It appears from the Rev. H. Lindsay’s interesting 
 letter to the Bible Society in 1816 , in which he gives an 
 account of his visit to the Seven Churches of Asia, 
 that even in those places, where the light of the gospel 
 first shone, the inhabitants were not only destitute of 
 the Bible, but they had also no distinct idea of the 
 books it contained. They mentioned them indiscrimi¬ 
 nately, with various idle legends and lives of saints. 
 Leaving Smyrna, the first place Mr. Lindsay visited 
 
EZEKIEL XII. 
 
 185 
 
 was Ephesus. “I found there” says he, “but three 
 Christians; two brothers, who keep a shop, and a gar¬ 
 dener. They are all three Greeks, and their ignorance 
 is lamentable indeed. In that place which was blessed 
 so long with an apostle’s labours, and those of his zeal¬ 
 ous assistants, are Christians, who have not so much 
 as heard of that apostle, or seem only to recognise the 
 name of Paul as one in the calendar of their saints.” 
 
 xi. 19.—I will take the stony heart out of their 
 flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh. 
 
 The holiest and best men have been usually the most 
 ready to acknowledge the natural depravity of their 
 hearts, and the greatness of their obligations to the free 
 and sovereign grace of God, in preserving or delivering 
 them from the consequences of that depravity.—During 
 the ministry of the Rev. Ralph Erskine at Dunfermline, 
 a man was executed for robbery, whom he repeatedly 
 visited in prison, and whom he attended on the scaffold. 
 Mr. Erskine addressed both the spectators and the 
 criminal; and, after concluding his speech, he laid his 
 hands on his breast, uttering these words—“ But for re¬ 
 straining grace, I had been brought, by this corrupt 
 heart, to the same condition with this unhappy man.” 
 
 xii. 2.—They have ears to hear, and hear not. 
 
 An inn-keeper, addicted to intemperance, on hearing 
 of the particularly pleasing mode of singing at a 
 church some miles distant, went to gratify his curiosity, 
 but with a resolution not to hear a word of the sermon. 
 Having with difficulty found admission into a narrow 
 open pew, as soon as the hymn before sermon was 
 sung, which he heard with great attention, he secured 
 both his ears against the sermon with his fore-fingers. 
 —He had not been in this position many minutes, be¬ 
 fore the prayer finished, and the sermon commenced 
 with an awful appeal to the consciences of the hearers, 
 of the necessity of attending to the things which made 
 for their everlasting peace; and the minister address¬ 
 ing them solemnly, “He that hath ears to hear, let 
 
186 
 
 EZEKIEL XIV. 
 
 him hear.” Just the moment before these words were 
 pronounced, a fly had fastened on the face of the inn¬ 
 keeper, and, stinging him sharply, he drew one of his 
 fingers from his ear, and struck off the painful visit¬ 
 ant. At that very moment, the words, “ He that hath 
 ears to hear, let him hear,” pronounced with great so¬ 
 lemnity, entered the ear that was opened as a clap of 
 thunder: it struck him with irresistible force: he kept 
 his hand from returning to his ear, and, feeling an im¬ 
 pression he had never known before, he presently with¬ 
 drew the other finger, and hearkened with deep atten¬ 
 tion to the discourse which followed. A salutary 
 change was produced on him. He abandoned his for¬ 
 mer wicked practises, became truly serious, and for 
 many years went all weathers six miles to the church, 
 where he received the knowledge of divine things. 
 After about eighteen years’ faithful and close walk with 
 God, he died rejoicing in the hope of that glory which 
 he now enjoys. 
 
 xiii. 3.—Wo unto the foolish prophets, that 
 follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing. 
 
 In a letter to a friend, Mr. Hervey says, “ Warburton 
 has published two volumes of sermons, in which, it 
 seems, he has decried experimental religion, disregard¬ 
 ed the peculiarities of the gospel, and treated the ope¬ 
 rations of the Spirit as mere enthusiasm. If this be 
 the effect of his great learning, then, good Lord, deliver 
 us all, say I, from such an attainment! If you either 
 have or can borrow them, just let me peep on them. 
 Don’t buy them to gratify me; I can relish nothing but 
 what is evangelical.” 
 
 xiv. 10.—They shall bear the punishment of 
 their iniquity. 
 
 “I have read of King Canute,” says an excellent 
 minister, “ that he promised to make him the highest 
 man in England who should kill King Edmund his ri¬ 
 val; which, when one had performed, and expected his 
 reward, he commanded him to be hung on the highest 
 
EZEKIEL XVI. 
 
 187 
 
 tower in London. So Satan promises great things to 
 people in pursuit of their lusts, but he puts them off 
 with great mischief. The promised crown turns to a 
 halter; the promised comfort, to a torment; the pro¬ 
 mised honour, into shame; the promised consolation, 
 into desolation; and the promised heaven turns into a 
 hell.” ' 
 
 xv. 7.—I will set my face against the inhabi¬ 
 tants of Jerusalem: they shall go out from one 
 fire, and another fire shall devour them. 
 
 “There was,” says Josephus, “one Jesus, son of 
 Ananias, a countryman of mean birth, four years be¬ 
 fore the war against the Jews, at a time when all was 
 in deep peace and tranquillity, who, coming up to the 
 feast of tabernacles, according to the custom, began on 
 a sudden to cry out, and say, ‘A voice from the east, a 
 voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a 
 voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against 
 bridegrooms and brides, a voice against all the people.’ 
 Thus he went about all the narrow lanes, crying night 
 and day: and being apprehended and scourged, he still 
 continued the same language under the blows without 
 any other word. And they, upon this, supposing (as it 
 was) that it was some divine motion, brought him to 
 the Roman prefect: and, by his appointment, being 
 wounded by whips, and the flesh torn to the bones, he 
 neither entreated, nor shed a tear; but to every blow, 
 in a most lamentable, mournful note, cried out,‘Wo, 
 wo to Jerusalem.’ This he continued to do till the 
 time of the siege, seven years together; and, at last, to 
 his extraordinary note of wo to the city, the people, the 
 temple, adding, ‘Wo also to me;’ a stone from the 
 battlements fell down upon him, and killed him.” 
 
 xvi. 44.—As is the mother, so is her daughter. 
 
 A minister in the country, who frequently visited a 
 widow lady with one daughter, always heard sad com¬ 
 plaints from her mother, that her daughter was fond of 
 public amusements. One day when this was repeated, 
 
188 
 
 EZEKIEL XIX. 
 
 the daughter said, “Mother, who took me first to these 
 places ?” Conscience did its office: the mother was 
 silent, and no more was said on the subject. 
 
 xvii. 3—A great eagle with great wings—came 
 unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the 
 cedar. 
 
 “ It is not to he expected,” Harmer observes, “ that 
 the visionary representations made to the prophets 
 should always coincide with natural history ; but it 
 seems this does, (referring to the preceding passage.) 
 
 ‘ We employed the rest of the day,’ says La Roque, 
 speaking of the spot where the cedars of Lebanon 
 grow, ‘In attentively surveying the beauties of this 
 place, and of its neighbourhood, in measuring some of 
 the cedars, and in cutting off many of their branches, 
 with their cones, which we sent to Bsciarrai, with a 
 number of large eagles’ feathers, which were found in 
 the same place.’ ” 
 
 xviii. 10. —If he beget a son that is a robber, a 
 shedder of blood— 
 
 A boy in London, of thirteen years of age, having 
 been left at home one day with a servant, while his 
 parents were gone out, took an opportunity to rob a 
 drawer of a considerable quantity of silver. His fa¬ 
 ther, next day, detected the theft, and reproved him for 
 such shameful conduct, when the wretched boy obtain¬ 
 ing possession of a loaded pistol belonging to his fa¬ 
 ther, put a period to his life with it; in consequence 
 of which, his body was ordered to be buried in the pub¬ 
 lic street. He was of a very morose disposition, and 
 disobedient to his parents. ' 
 
 xix. 8, 9.—The nations sat against him on 
 every side from the provinces, and spread their net 
 over him : he was taken in their pit.—And they 
 put him in ward in chains. 
 
EZEKIEL XXI. 
 
 189 
 
 Bonaparte, after a career of conquest and blood, was 
 completely subdued by the combined powers of Russia, 
 Prussia, Austria, and Britain. After the decisive battle 
 of Waterloo, he retreated with precipitation to Paris; 
 but being followed by the allies, he quitted that capital, 
 and went to Rochefort, where vessels were prepared to 
 carry him and his attendants to America. The British 
 government, however, informed of his plan, blockaded 
 this part of the French coast so effectually, that he 
 found himself compelled to surrender to Captain Mait¬ 
 land of the Bellerophon, the commander of the block¬ 
 ading squadron. In this ship he was brought to the 
 coast of England, but not suffered to land; and about 
 the middle of August 1815, he sailed with part of his 
 suite, in the Northumberland, to the Island of St. 
 Helena, where he was kept a prisoner at large during 
 the remainder of his life. He died 5th May 1821, 
 
 xx. 21.—They polluted my Sabbaths : then I 
 said, I would pour out my fury upon them. 
 
 Some time ago, W. P-, a lad who had formerly 
 
 attended a Sabbath school, engaged to go with some 
 companions a-fishing on a Lord’s day. Though it 
 rained very hard, and he was desired not to go, yet, 
 bent on pursuing his own course, he went notwith¬ 
 standing. They came to the river, where they agreed 
 to stop, and they began their unhallowed sport, and 
 continued for some time, not thinking of any danger, 
 
 when W. P-, wishing to obtain a better place, tried 
 
 to jump from the spot where he stood to another; but, 
 in doing so, his foot slipped, he struck his head against 
 a barge, and fell into the river; and, after being sought 
 for some time, was found, and taken out a lifeless 
 corpse. Let Sabbath-breakers take warning by this 
 young man’s unhappy end. The way of transgressors 
 is hard. 
 
 xxi. 21.—The king of Babylon stood at the 
 parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, 
 to use divination : he made his arrows bright. 
 
190 
 
 EZEKIEL XXIII. 
 
 Della Vella relates the following method of divina¬ 
 tion by arrows. “He saw at Aleppo a Mahometan, 
 who caused two persons to sit upon the ground, one 
 opposite to the other, and gave them four arrows into 
 their hands, which both of them held with their points 
 downwards, and, as it were, in two right lines, united 
 one to the other. Then a question being put to him 
 about any business, he fell to murmur his enchant¬ 
 ments, and thereby caused the said four arrows, of 
 their own accord, to unite their points together in the 
 midst, (though he that held them stirred not his hand,) 
 and according to the future event of the matter, those 
 of the right side were placed over those of the left, or 
 on the contrary.” This practice Della Vella refers to 
 diabolical influence. 
 
 xxii. 8.—Thou hast despised mine holy things, 
 and hast profaned my Sabbaths. 
 
 The following fact, communicated by a respectable 
 merchant of New York, is well worthy of notice:—“I 
 have particularly observed,” says the gentleman, “that 
 those merchants in New York, who have kept their 
 counting-rooms open on the Sabbath-day, during my 
 residence there, (twenty-five years,) have failed with¬ 
 out exception.” 
 
 xxiii. 38.—They have defiled my sanctuary in 
 
 the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 
 
 In the church-yard of Devizes, is a monument with 
 the following inscription:— 
 
 “ In Memory 
 
 Of the unfortunate end of 
 
 Robert Merrit, and Susannah, his wife; Elizabeth Tiley 
 her sister; Martha Carter, and Joseph Derham, 
 Who were all drowned in the flower of their youth, 
 In a pond near the town called Drews, 
 
 On Sunday the 30th June; 
 
 And are together underneath entombed.” 
 
EZEKIEL XXVI. 
 
 191 
 
 On another part of the stone is added— 
 
 “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. 
 
 This Monument, as an awful monitor to young people, 
 To remember their Creator in the days of their youth, 
 Was erected by subscription.” 
 
 xxiv. 18.—So I spake unto the people in the 
 morning: and at even my wife died. 
 
 Mr. Matthew Henry’s first wife was seized with the 
 small-pox, when in child-bed, and died. Mr. Tong, the 
 writer,of his life, though living at a distance of eighteen 
 miles, immediately visited the sorrowing family. The 
 first words Mr. Henry spoke to him on this occasion, 
 with many tears, were, “I know nothing could support 
 me under such a loss as this, but the good hope I have 
 that she is gone to heaven, and that in a little time I 
 shall follow her thither.” 
 
 xxv. 7.—I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, 
 and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen ; 
 and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will 
 cause thee to perish out of the countries. 
 
 Chateaubriand, the French traveller, speaking of the 
 range of mountains that extend from north to south, 
 east of the Jordan, together with the contiguous country, 
 says, “ Nothing is to be seen but black perpendicular 
 rocks, which throw their lengthened shadow over the 
 waters of the Dead Sea. The smallest bird of heaven 
 would not find among the rocks a blade of grass for its 
 sustenance; every thing there announces the country 
 of a reprobate people, and seems to breathe the horror 
 and incest whence sprung Ammon and Moab.” 
 
 xxvi. 14.—I will make thee like the top of a 
 rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon. 
 
 “The famous Huetius,” says Bishop Newton in his 
 Dissertations, “ knew one Hadrianus Parvillerius, a Je- 
 
192 
 
 EZEKIEL XXVIII. 
 
 suit, a very candid man, and a master of Arabic, who 
 resided ten years in Syria; and he remembers to have 
 heard him sometimes say, that when he approached the 
 ruins of Tyre, and beheld the rocks stretched forth to 
 the sea, and the great stones scattered up and down on 
 the shore, made clean and smooth by the sun, and 
 waves, and winds, and useful only for the drying of 
 fishermen’s nets, many of which happened at that time 
 to be spread thereon, it brought to his memory this pro¬ 
 phecy of Ezekiel concerning Tyre—‘ I will make thee 
 like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread 
 nets upon; thou shalt be built no more; for I the Lord 
 have spoken it, saith the Lord God.’ ” 
 
 xxvii. 32.—They shall lament over thee, say¬ 
 ing, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed 
 in the midst of the sea 1 
 
 Mr. Maundrell, in his “Journey from Aleppo to Jeru¬ 
 salem,” describing Tyre, says, “This city, standing in 
 the sea upon a peninsula, promises at a distance, 
 something very magnificent. But when you come to 
 it, you find no similitude of that glory, for which it was 
 so renowned in ancient times, and which the prophet 
 Ezekiel describes. On the north side it has an old 
 Turkish ungarrisoned castle; besides which, you see 
 nothing here but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, 
 vaults, &c., there being not so much as one entire 
 house left: its present inhabitants are only a few poor 
 Avretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and sub¬ 
 sisting chiefly by fishing, who seem to be preserved in 
 this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument 
 how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz., 
 that ‘ it should be as the top of a rock, a place for fish¬ 
 ers to dry their nets on.’ ” 
 
 xxviii. 5.—By thy great wisdom, and by thy 
 traffic, hast thou increased thy riches, and thine 
 heart is lifted up because of thy riches. 
 
 In the strait between Johor and Rhio, there is a small 
 
EZEKIEL XXX. 
 
 193 
 
 white rock, called the “White Stone,” very little eleva¬ 
 ted above the water, and so exactly in the centre of the 
 passage, that many vessels, unacquainted with it, have 
 been wrecked upon it. A Portuguese merchant passing 
 this strait, in a vessel of his own, richly laden with gold, 
 and other valuable commodities, asked the pilot when 
 this rock would be passed; but each moment appear¬ 
 ing to him long until he was secure from the danger, 
 he repeated his question so often, that the pilot impa¬ 
 tiently told him the rock was passed. The merchant, 
 transported with joy, impiously exclaimed, that “God 
 could not now make him poor.” But in a little while, 
 the vessel struck on the White Stone, and all his wealth 
 was engulphed in the abyss: life alone remained, to 
 make him feel his misery and his punishment. 
 
 xxix. 3.—Pharaoh hath said, My river is mine 
 own, and I have made it for myself. 
 
 When the force of the current had carried away the 
 temporary bridge which Xerxes had caused to be 
 thrown over the Hellespont, on his grand expedition 
 into Greece, he was so enraged, that he not only ordered 
 the heads of the workmen to be struck otf, but, like a 
 madman, inflicted lashes upon the sea, to punish it for 
 its insolence: he, moreover, affected to hold it in future 
 under his control, by throwing fetters into it! “A 
 striking proof,” adds the historian, “ how much the pos¬ 
 session of despotic power tends not only to corrupt the 
 heart, but even to weaken and blind the understanding.” 
 
 xxx. 13.—I will also destroy the idols, and I will 
 cause their images to cease. 
 
 One day, while Mr. Wilson was teaching the people 
 of Raiatea, a South Sea island, an old man stood up, 
 and exclaimed, “My forefathers worshipped Oro, the 
 god of war, and so have I; nor shall any thing you can 
 say persuade me to forsake this way. And,” con¬ 
 tinued he, addressing the missionary, “what do you 
 want more than you have already! Have you not won 
 over such a chief, and such a chief!—aye, and you 
 
 17 
 
194 
 
 EZEKIEL XXXII. 
 
 have Pomare himself!—what want you morel”—“All 
 —all the people of Raiatea, and you yourself, I want!” 
 replied Mr. Wilson. “No, no,” cried the old man; 
 
 “ me !—you shall never have me ! I will do as my fa- ' 
 thers have done :—I will worship Oro: you shall never 
 have me, I assure you.” Yet, within six months from 
 that time, this staunch, inflexible, inveterate adherent 
 of the bloody superstition of Oro (the Moloch of the 
 Pacific) abandoned his idol, and became a worshipper 
 of the true God. 
 
 xxxi. 14.—They are all delivered unto death, 
 to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of 
 the children of men, with them that go down to 
 the pit. 
 
 A Sultan amusing himself with walking, observed a 
 dervise sitting with a human skull in his lap, and ap¬ 
 pearing to be in a very profound reverie. His attitude 
 and manner surprised the Sultan, who demanded the 
 cause of his being so deeply engaged in reflection. 
 
 “ Sire,” said the dervise, “ this skull was presented to 
 me this morning; and I have from that moment been 
 endeavouring, in vain, to discover whether it is the 
 skull of a powerful monarch, like your Majesty, or of a 
 poor dervise like myself.”—A humbling consideration 
 truly! 
 
 “Earth’s highest station ends in— Here he lies; 
 
 And dust to dust concludes her noblest song.” 
 
 xxxii. 25.—Though their terror was caused in 
 the land of the living, yet have they borne their 
 shame with them that go down to the pit: he is 
 put in the midst of them that be slain. 
 
 Philip, King of Macedon, as he was wrestling at the 
 Olympic games, fell down in the sand; and, when he 
 rose again, observing the print of his body in the sand, 
 cried out, “ 0 how little a parcel of earth will hold us 
 
EZEKIEL XXXV. 
 
 195 
 
 when we are dead, who are ambitiously seeking after 
 the whole world whilst we are living!” 
 
 xxxiii. 10.—If our transgressions and our sins 
 be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should 
 we then live 1 
 
 A minister of the gospel, when preaching from the 
 preceding text, said, “I knew a poor widow who had 
 got into a little debt that was a burden upon her, which 
 she could not remove, just as sin is a debt or burden 
 upon the conscience, which no man is able to cast off. 
 Well, what could the widow do! Her language to 
 herself was, ‘How can I live with this burden! My 
 little furniture,—my all will be sold!—I must go to the 
 ■workhouse, where I must mix with bad people, who 
 know not my Saviour, and who take his name in vain! 
 A benevolent individual hearing of her distress, sent to 
 the creditor, desiring him to bring a receipt in full, and 
 he should have his money. He took the receipt, and 
 gave it to the widow. ‘ O,’ said she, ‘ now I shall live ! 
 I shall live!’—This little story the minister applied, in 
 the most simple manner, to the atonement of Christ, 
 and his payment of the debt of his people. 
 
 xxxiv. 3.—Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you 
 with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye 
 feed not the flock. 
 
 As one of the Princes of Orange was passing through 
 a village one Sabbath-day, he asked the people, “ Who 
 is the man in black playing at tennis!” He was an¬ 
 swered, “The man who has the care of our souls.”— 
 “ Good people,” said the Prince, “ is this the man who 
 has the care of your souls! You had best then look 
 about you, and take a little care of them yourselves.” 
 
 xxxv. 5.—Thou hast had a perpetual hatred, 
 and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel 
 by the force of the sword. 
 
196 
 
 EZEKIEL XXXVI. 
 
 Among the Circassians, the spirit of resentment is 
 so strong, that all the relatives of the murderer are con¬ 
 sidered as guilty. This customary infatuation to avenge 
 the blood of relatives, generates most of the feuds, and 
 occasions great bloodshed among all the tribes of Cau¬ 
 casus ; for unless pardon be purchased, or obtained by 
 intermarriage between the two families, tire principle 
 of revenge is propagated to all succeeding generations. 
 The hatred which the mountainous nations evince 
 against the Russians, arises, in a great measure, from 
 the same source. If the thirst of vengeance is quench¬ 
 ed by a price paid to the family of the deceased, this 
 tribute is called Thlil-Uasa, or the price of blood; but 
 neither princes nor Usdens accept of such a compen¬ 
 sation, as it is an established law among them, to de¬ 
 mand blood for blood. 
 
 xxxvi. 26.—A new heart also will I give you, 
 and a new spirit will I put within you : and I will 
 take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and 
 1 will give you an heart of flesh. 
 
 The late Mr. Reader of Taunton, having called one 
 day, in the course of his pastoral visits, at the house 
 of a friend, affectionately noticed a child in the room, 
 a little girl about six years of age.—Among other things, 
 he asked her if she knew that she had a bad heart, and 
 opening the Bible, pointed her to the passage where 
 the Lord promises to give a new heart. He entreated 
 her to plead this promise in prayer, and she would find 
 the Almighty faithful to his engagement. About seven¬ 
 teen years after, a lady came to him, to propose herself 
 for communion with the church, and how inexpressible 
 was his delight, when he found that she was the very 
 person with whom, when a child, he had so freely con¬ 
 versed on subjects of religion, and that the conversa¬ 
 tion was blessed for her conversion to God. Taking 
 her Bible, she had retired, as he advised, pleaded the 
 promise, wept, and prayed; and the Lord, in answer to 
 her fervent petitions, gave her what she so earnestly 
 desired—a new heart. 
 
EZEKIEL XXXIX. 
 
 197 
 
 xxxvii. 5.—Thus saith the Lord God unto these 
 bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into 
 you, and ye shall live. 
 
 “ I remember,” says Rowland Hill, “ once conversing 
 with a celebrated sculptor, who had been hewing out a 
 block of marble to represent one of our great patriots— 
 Lord Chatham. ‘There,’said he; ‘is not that a fine 
 form 1 ?’—‘Now, sir,’ said I,‘can you put life into it? 
 else, with all its beauty, it is still but a block of marble.’ 
 Christ, by his Spirit, puts life into a beauteous image, 
 and enables the man He forms to live to his praise and 
 glory.” 
 
 xxxviii. 10.—Things shall come into thy mind, 
 and thou shalt think an evil thought. 
 
 Nicholson, the murderer of Mr. and Mrs. Bonar, at 
 Chiselhurst, in Kent, who paid the forfeit of his life to 
 the violated laws of his country, declared solemnly in 
 writing, after sentence of death was passed upon him, 
 that he had no previous malice towards the parties, nor 
 intention to murder them, five minutes before he com¬ 
 mitted the horrid deed; but that suddenly, as he awoke, 
 the thought suggested itself to his mind, and which he 
 can only account for by confessing, “that he had long 
 lived in utter forgetfulness of God, and was in the habit 
 of giving way to the worst passions of the human 
 heart.” 
 
 xxxix. 21.—I will set my glory among the 
 heathen. 
 
 Mr. Stewart, in describing a worshipping assembly 
 at Hido, one of the Sandwich islands, says, “At an early 
 hour of the morning, even before we had taken our 
 breakfast on board ship, a single islander here or there, 
 or a group of three or four, wrapped in their large 
 mantles of various hues, might be seen wending their 
 way among the groves fringing their bay on the east, 
 or descending from the hills and ravine on the north, 
 
 17* 
 
198 
 
 EZEKIEL XLI. 
 
 towards the chapel; and by degrees their numbers in¬ 
 creased, till in a short time, every path along the beach, 
 and over the uplands, presented an almost uninterrupt¬ 
 ed procession of both sexes, and of every age, all press¬ 
 ing to the house of God. So few canoes were round 
 the ship yesterday, and the landing-place had been so 
 little thronged, as our boats passed to and fro, that one 
 might have thought the district but thinly inhabited; 
 but now such multitudes were seen gathering from 
 various directions, that the exclamation, ‘ what crowds 
 of people! what crowds of people !’ was heard from 
 the quarter-deck to the forecastle.—What a change— 
 what a happy change! when at this very place, only 
 four years ago, the known wishes and example of chiefs 
 of high authority, the daily persuasion of teachers, 
 added to motives of curiosity and novelty, could scarce 
 induce a hundred of the inhabitants to give an irregu¬ 
 lar, careless, and impatient attendance on the services 
 of the sanctuary: but now, 
 
 “Like mountain torrents pouring to the main, 
 
 From every glen a living stream came forth; 
 
 From every hill in crowds they hastened down, 
 
 To worship Him who deigns in humblest fane, 
 
 On wildest shore, to meet the upright in heart.” 
 
 xl. 4.—Declare all that thou seest to the house 
 of Israel. 
 
 The late Rev. David Brown of Calcutta was remark¬ 
 able for a deeply serious and impressive manner in 
 preaching, which had perhaps a greater force than his 
 words : of this, a sensible hearer once observed, “Who¬ 
 soever may not believe as Mr. Brown preaches, he 
 makes it impossible to suspect he does not believe so 
 himself; for which reason alone we cannot but be at¬ 
 tentive hearers, when we see him evidently so much 
 in earnest.” 
 
 t 
 
 xli. 22.—This is the table that is before the Lord. 
 
 Mr. Oliver Heywood had been settled at Coley in 
 
EZEKIEL XLII. 
 
 199 
 
 England, for seven years, during which time the Lord’s 
 Supper was not administered, nor, indeed, had been so 
 for nine years previous to his settlement. He was 
 deeply affected with the omission; and having long 
 revolved the subject in his mind, he was now deter¬ 
 mined to re-establish the divine institution in his 
 chapel. He foresaw that difficulties would arise, as he 
 could not conscientiously admit all persons indiscrimi¬ 
 nately to the table of the Lord. In a prudent and cau¬ 
 tious manner, he gradually introduced the subject to 
 the notice of his people, by preaching a course of ser¬ 
 mons on the nature, obligations, and advantages of the 
 ordinance, and the qualifications of candidates. After 
 having prepared the way, he at length announced his 
 intention, and proposed that application should be made 
 to him personally by all who desired to participate in 
 this feast of love. Considerable numbers applied, and 
 the conversations he held with them were mutually 
 beneficial and gratifying. Their names were entered 
 as candidates. After having prepared the way, he at 
 length announced, that if any objection should be taken 
 against individuals, he might be informed of it previous 
 to the administration. Some of his hearers and warm¬ 
 est admirers, whose lives did no honour to their pro¬ 
 fessions, took offence at the proceeding, and declared 
 that they would come to the table and participate in the 
 ordinance. Their courage, however, failed them after 
 hearing the “preparation sermon.” The ordinance 
 was at length administered; and great was the joy ex¬ 
 perienced both by Mr. Hey wood and the communicants 
 on this occasion. It was a season of “ refreshing from 
 the presence of the Lord,” and a day long to be remem¬ 
 bered. 
 
 xlii. 13.—The place is holy. 
 
 A scoffing infidel, of considerable talents, being once 
 in company with a person of truly religious character, 
 put the following question to him:—“ I understand, sir, 
 that you expect to go to heaven when you die: can you 
 tell me what sort of a place heaven is?”—“Yes, sir,” 
 replied the Christian, “ heaven is a prepared place for 
 a prepared people, and if your soul is not prepared for 
 
200 
 
 EZEKIEL XL Vi 
 
 it, with all your boasted wisdom, you will never enter 
 there.” 
 
 xliii. 11.—Write it in their sight, that they 
 may keep the whole form thereof, and all the or¬ 
 dinances thereof, and do them. 
 
 The church at Turvey, in which Mr. Legh Richmond 
 officiated, had a most appropriate selection of texts of 
 Scripture inscribed on its walls, chosen by him with 
 great care, and exhibiting a complete system of divin¬ 
 ity. “I wish,” said Mr. Richmond, “ when I can no 
 longer preach to my flock, that the walls should remind 
 them of what they have heard from me. The eye, 
 though wandering in thoughtless vacancy, may catch 
 something to affect the heart.” 
 
 xliv. 12.—They caused the house of Israel to 
 fall into iniquity. 
 
 “Stepping,” says one, “into a Hackney stage in Lon¬ 
 don one Saturday evening, I perceived a decent-look¬ 
 ing young woman had already taken her seat. In the 
 course of a little conversation, it appeared that she was 
 a Jewess, who had that day been at the synagogue, and 
 was returning to Hackney, where she resided. Being, 
 at that time, a Hebrew student myself, I was pleased 
 with the opportunity of conversing with this young per¬ 
 son, on the subject of the Hebrew language, which she 
 seemed to understand. The pleasure of the conversa¬ 
 tion, however, was interrupted by the circumstance of 
 her occasionally taking God’s name in vain. This led 
 me to observe to her, that I was much surprised that 
 she should thus take the Lord’s name in vain, in En¬ 
 glish, since I understood the Jews professed such a 
 peculiar veneration for the Hebrew name, Jehovah, 
 that they used another word in its place in reading their 
 own Scriptures. The answer which she returned was, 
 ‘ The Christians do so.’ ” 
 
 xlv. 12.—The shekels shall be twenty gerahs : 
 
EZEKIEL XLVI. 
 
 201 
 
 twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen 
 shekels, shall be your maneh. 
 
 In a MS., to which Mr. Harmer often refers, it is 
 stated, that it is the custom of the East, in their ac¬ 
 counts and their reckonings of a sum of money, to 
 specify the different parts of which it is composed; 
 talking after this manner; I owe twenty-five—of which 
 the half is twelve and one-half, the quarter six and one- 
 fourth, &c. This appears very strange to us; but if it 
 was the custom of those countries, it is no wonder that 
 Ezekiel reckoned after this manner. 
 
 xlvi. 12.—They shall prepare the lamb, and 
 the meat-offering, and the oil, every morning, for 
 a continual burnt-offering. 
 
 The morning and evening sacrifice under the law, 
 has often been referred to as emblematical of the morn¬ 
 ing and evening sacrifices of prayer and praise pre¬ 
 sented by Christians under the gospel, through faith in 
 the Redeemer; and it is matter of regret that these 
 should, in many instances, be altogether neglected, and 
 in others, but occasionally attended to. In the follow¬ 
 ing case, a reproo'f for an omission of family prayer, 
 comes from an unexpected quarter:— 
 
 “I knew a man,” says an author, “who once receiv¬ 
 ed one of the most severe reproofs he ever met with 
 from his own child, an infant of three years old. 
 Family prayer had been, by some means, neglected 
 one morning, and the child was, as it were, out of his 
 element. At length he came to his father as he sat, 
 and just as the family were going to dinner, the little 
 reprover, leaning on his father’s knee, said, with a 
 sigh, ‘ Pa, you were used to go to prayer with us, but 
 you did not to-day.’—‘ No, my dear,’ said the parent, ‘ I 
 did not.’—‘But, pa, you ought; why did you not 1 ?’ In 
 short, the father had not a word to reply, and the child’s 
 rebuke was as appropriate and effectual, as if it had 
 been administered by the most able minister in the 
 fhnd; and, it may be added, had as permanent an in¬ 
 fluence.” 
 
202 
 
 DANIEL I. 
 
 
 xlvii. 10.—Their fish shall be according to their 
 kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding 
 many. 
 
 Doubdan, speaking of his going by sea from Sidon 
 to Joppa, in his way to Jerusalem, says, that on enter¬ 
 ing into that port, they found it so abounding in fish, 
 “that a great fish pursuing one somewhat less, both 
 of them sprung at the same time about three feet out 
 of the water; the first dropped into the middle of the 
 bark, and the other fell so near that they had well nigh 
 taken it with their hands; this happened very luckily, 
 as it afforded our sailors a treat.” 
 
 xlviii. 35.—The Lord is there. 
 
 In some part of the United States of America, the at¬ 
 tendance at a prayer meeting had so declined, that 
 some persons advised that it should be given up, which 
 was accordingly done. On the following Tuesday, a 
 poor infirm old woman, a constant attendant, was seen, 
 as usual, hobbling along to the chapel. On her return, 
 some one met her and said, “Why, you forgot that the 
 prayer meeting was given up; there was not any one 
 there, was there1”—“O yes,” said the woman, “there 
 was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy 
 Ghost, and a glorious time we had, and they promised 
 to meet me again, next Tuesday night.” From that 
 time the place was crowded, and nothing more was 
 heard about giving it up. 
 
 —♦- 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 Chap. i. 8. —Daniel purposed in his heart that he 
 would not defile himself with the portion of the 
 king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank. ^ 
 
 Dr. Philip mentions that some Dutch merchants 
 
DANIEL II. 
 
 203 
 
 opened a storehouse for selling ardent spirits, on the 
 borders of one of the missionary settlements in South 
 Africa, which would have counteracted all the benefi¬ 
 cial effects of the gospel on the poor untutored natives, 
 had not the missionaries fallen on a happy expedient 
 for defeating its baneful effects. When they heard of 
 one of their converts entering into the storehouse to 
 purchase ardent spirits, they caused his name on the 
 following Sabbath to be read before the congregation, 
 that the minister and the whole church might unite in 
 prayer on behalf of a brother exposed to great and dan¬ 
 gerous temptation. This had so salutary an effect, that 
 henceforth not a convert would enter the spirit shop. 
 The storehouse was speedily removed, and caused no 
 farther annoyance. 
 
 ii. 1.—Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, where¬ 
 with his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake 
 from him. 
 
 In February 1786, Professor Meyer of Halle was 
 sent for by one of his pupils, a medical student who 
 lay dangerously ill. The patient told him that he 
 should certainly die, having had a warning dream to that 
 effect. “I wrote it down,” he added, “the morning 
 after it happened, and laid it in a drawer, of which this 
 is the key; when I am gone, read it over.” On the 4th 
 of March, the student died. Professor Meyer opened 
 the drawer of the writing-desk, in which he found this 
 narration:—“I thought I was walking in the church¬ 
 yard of Halle, and admiring the number of excellent 
 epitaphs which are cut on the grave-stones there. 
 Passing from one to another, I was struck by a plain 
 tomb-stone, of which I went to read the inscription. 
 With surprise I found upon it my fore-names and sur¬ 
 name, and that I died on the 4th of March. With pro¬ 
 gressive anxiety I tried to read the date of the year; 
 but I thought there was moss over the fourth cipher of 
 178—. I picked up a stone to scrape the figures clean, 
 and just as I began to distinguish a 6, with fearful pal 
 pitation I awoke.” 
 
204 
 
 DANIEL V. 
 
 iii. 18.—Be it known unto thee, O king, that 
 we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the gold¬ 
 en image which thou hast set up. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Wesley, the father of the celebrated Mr. 
 John Wesley, being strongly importuned by the friends 
 of James the Second, to support the measures of the 
 court in favour of Popery, with promises of preferment, 
 absolutely refused even to read the king’s declaration; 
 and though surrounded with courtiers, soldiers, and in¬ 
 formers, he preached a bold and pointed discourse 
 against it from these words:—“If it be so, our God 
 whom we serve, is able to deliver us out of thy hand, 
 O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that 
 ■we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden 
 image which thou hast set up.” 
 
 iv. 27.—O king, let my counsel be acceptable 
 unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, 
 and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor. 
 
 During the illness of the pious King Edward VI., 
 Dr. Ridley, in a sermon which he preached before him, 
 much commended works of charity, and showed that, 
 as they were enjoined on all men, so especially on 
 those in high stations. The same day after dinner, the 
 king sent for the Doctor into the gallery, made him sit 
 in a chair by him, and would not suffer him to be un¬ 
 covered. After thanking the Doctor for his sermon, 
 he repeated the chief heads of it, and added,—“I took 
 myself to be chiefly touched by your ciiscourse; for as 
 in the kingdom I am next under God, so must I most 
 nearly approach to him in goodness and mercy. As 
 our miseries stand most in the need of help from him, 
 so are we the greatest debtors. And therefore, as you 
 have given me this general exhortation, direct me, I 
 entreat you, by what particular act I may best dis¬ 
 charge my duty.” 
 
 v. 19.—Whom he would he slew, and whom 
 
DANIEL VI. 
 
 205 
 
 he would he kept alive, and whom he would he 
 set up, and whom he would he put down. 
 
 At the court of France, while Louis XIV. was yet in 
 his youth, some abject courtiers were entertaining the 
 prince in public with the policy of the Turkish govern¬ 
 ment. They observed, that the Sultan had nothing to 
 do but to say the word, whatever it was, whether to 
 take off a great man’s head, or strip him of his employ¬ 
 ment or estate, and that there was a train of servants 
 they called mutes, who executed it without reply. 
 “ See,” said the prince, “ what it is to be a king!” The 
 old Count de Grammont, who heard the corrupters of 
 the youth with indignation, immediately interposed: 
 “Bat, Sire ! of these same sultans I have known three 
 strangled by their own mutes within my memory.” 
 This silenced the flatterers; and the Duke de Montau- 
 sier, the French Cato, who was lolling in a chair behind 
 the circle that surrounded the prince, forced his way 
 through the crowd, and publicly thanked the Count de 
 Grammont for his noble and seasonable liberty. 
 
 vi. 10.—When Daniel knew that the writing 
 was signed, he went into his house; and his win¬ 
 dows being open in his chamber towards Jerusa¬ 
 lem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a-day, 
 and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he 
 did aforetime. 
 
 Some time ago, a law was passed in the house of 
 Assembly at Kingston, which contained several clauses 
 highly injurious to the missionary cause in Jamaica. 
 No time was lost in carrying its oppressive enactments 
 into effect. A Wesleyan missionary was thrown into 
 prison for the alleged “ crime” of preaching till after 
 eight o’clock in the evening. Two persons connected 
 with the congregation at Montego Bay, had their houses 
 levelled with the ground—their feet made fast in the 
 stocks—and were sent in chains to the workhouse, 
 charged with the heinous offence of praying to the God 
 
 18 
 
206 
 
 DANIEL VII. 
 
 of heaven. One of these, however, proved so incorri 
 gible, that they were obliged to give him up in despair. 
 Having nothing to do besides in the jail, he spent his 
 time—morning, noon, and night—in singing, and in 
 calling upon God; which so annoyed the jailer, that he 
 repeatedly went into his cell and beat him, till at length 
 the jailer brought him again before the court for this 
 sin. The man, however, resolutely declared his pur¬ 
 pose to pray. “ If you let me go,” said he, “ me will 
 pray—if you keep me in prison, me will pray—if you 
 flog me, me will pray; pray me must, and pray me 
 will!” The jailer was fairly confounded; and, rather 
 than be annoyed any longer by this “praying fellow,” 
 he gave up his fees, and a part of the fine was remitted; 
 and so the man was dismissed to go and pray else¬ 
 where. 
 
 vii. 1.—In the first year of Belshazzar king of 
 Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions of his 
 head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and 
 told the sum of the matters. 
 
 Before Mr. and Mrs. Notcult had any idea of remov¬ 
 ing from their residence in Essex, Mrs. N. dreamed 
 one night, tha> they went to live at Ipswich, and the 
 house in which she imagined they resided, was so im¬ 
 pressed on her mind, that when she actually went there, 
 some years afterwards, she had a perfect recollection 
 of it. She also dreamed, that as she was going to a 
 closet in the parlour, her nose began to bleed, and that 
 it would be impossible to stop it, until she had lost so 
 much blood as to occasion her death, which event 
 should happen forty years from that day. As her mind 
 was deeply impressed, she wrote down in her pocket- 
 book, the day of the month and year in which her 
 dream occurred. Some time after, they went to reside 
 at Ipswich, and Mrs. N. was surprised to find the house 
 exactly correspond with the one she had seen in her 
 dream, and also the very same closet, in going to which 
 the fatal accident happened. But parental duties, and 
 the busy concerns of life, engaging her attention, the 
 
DANIEL IX. 
 
 207 
 
 circumstance was soon forgotten, and the closet fre¬ 
 quented for a number of years, without any fear of the 
 accomplishment of her dream. On Christmas day, 
 1755, as she was reaching a bottle of drops from the 
 closet, to give Mr. Notcult, who was confined to a couch 
 in the room, her nose began to bleed. Finding, after 
 some time, all attempts to stop the blood ineffectual, her 
 dream came to her recollection, and she requested one 
 of her attendants to fetch her pocket-book, directing 
 him where to find it. Upon examining it, they found, 
 to their unspeakable surprise, that it was exactly forty 
 years from the time her dream occurred. All methods 
 were tried without effect, and as the medical attendant 
 entered the room, she said to him, “ You may try to stop 
 the bleeding, if you please, but you will not be able.” 
 After languishing from Thursday till Saturday, she 
 sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. 
 
 viii. 17.—Understand, O son of man ; for at the 
 time of the end shall be the vision. 
 
 “ Thanks to Divine goodness,” says Dr. Payson of 
 America, “ this has been a good day to me. Was fa¬ 
 voured with considerable freedom in the morning, and 
 rejoiced in the Lord through the day. In the evening 
 felt an unusual degree of assistance, both in prayer and 
 study. Since I began to beg God’s blessing on my 
 studies, I have done more in one week, than in the 
 whole year before. Surely, it is good to draw near to 
 God at all times.” 
 
 ix. 23.—At the beginning of thy supplications 
 the commandment came forth, and I am come to 
 shew thee ; for thou art greatly beloved : therefore 
 understand the matter, and consider the vision. 
 
 A gentleman having been deeply engaged in abstruse 
 speculations as to the distance from one planet to 
 another, and the length of time that would be required 
 to travel such a distance, carried his speculation so far 
 as to inquire,—“ Supposing heaven to be a place, what 
 
208 
 
 DANIEL X. 
 
 may be supposed its distance, and the time required for 
 locomotion, from one world to the other 1” A lady 
 present promptly replied,—“It is not a matter of mere 
 conjecture, but admits of a satisfactory and scriptural 
 solution. While a godly man prays and makes con¬ 
 fession with supplication to his God, there is time 
 enough for the commandment to go forth in heaven, 
 and an angel, swift in flight, to reach earth with an 
 answer of mercy.” 
 
 x. 8.—I was left alone, and saw this great vision, 
 and there remained no strength in me : for my 
 comeliness was turned in me unto corruption, and 
 I retained no strength. 
 
 The Rev. William Tennant of America had preached 
 one Lord’s day morning to his congregation, and in the 
 intermission had walked into the woods for meditation, 
 the weather being warm. He was reflecting on the in¬ 
 finite wisdom of God, as manifested in all his works, 
 and particularly in the wonderful method of salvation 
 through the death and sufferings of his beloved Son. 
 This subject suddenly opened on his mind with such a 
 flood of light, that his views of the glory and the infi¬ 
 nite majesty of Jehovah were so inexpressibly great, 
 as entirely to overwhelm him ; and he fell almost life¬ 
 less to the ground. When he had revived a little, all 
 he could do was to raise a fervent prayer, that God 
 would withdraw himself from him, or that he must 
 perish under a view of his ineffable glory. When 
 able to reflect on his situation, he could not but abhor 
 himself as a weak and despicable worm; and seemed 
 to be overcome with astonishment, that a creature so 
 unworthy and insufficient, had ever dared to attempt the 
 instruction of his fellow-men in the nature and attri¬ 
 butes of so glorious a Being. Overstaying his usual 
 time, some of his elders went in search of him, and 
 found him prostrate on the ground, unable to rise, and 
 incapable of informing them of the cause. They 
 raised him up, and, after some time, brought him to the 
 church, and supported him to the pulpit, which he as- 
 
DANIEL XI. 
 
 209 
 
 cended on his hands and knees, to the no small aston¬ 
 ishment of the congregation. He remained silent a 
 considerable time, earnestly supplicating Almighty God 
 to hide himself from him, that he might be enabled to 
 address his people, who were by this time lost in won¬ 
 der to know what had produced this uncommon event. 
 His prayers were heard, and he became able to stand 
 up, by holding the desk; and in a most affecting and 
 pathetic address, he gave an account of the views he 
 had of the infinite wisdom of God, and deplored his 
 own incapacity to speak to them concerning a Being 
 so infinitely glorious beyond all his powers of descrip¬ 
 tion. He then broke out into so fervent and expressive 
 a prayer, as greatly to surprise the congregation, and 
 draw tears from every eye. A sermon followed, which 
 continued the solemn scene, and made very lasting im¬ 
 pressions on the hearers. 
 
 xi. 32.—The people that do know their God 
 shall be strong, and do exploits. 
 
 “I have lately had the honour,” said Captain Parry, 
 at a public meeting in 1826, “ and I may truly say, the 
 happiness of commanding British seamen under cir¬ 
 cumstances requiring the utmost activity, implicit and 
 immediate obedience, and the most rigid attention to 
 discipline and good order; and I am sure, that the 
 maintenance of all these was, in a great measure, 
 owing to the blessing of God upon our humble endeav¬ 
 ours to improve the religious and moral character of 
 our men. In the schools established on board our 
 ships during the winter, religion was made the primary 
 object, and the result was every way gratifying and 
 satisfactory. It has convinced me, that true religion 
 is so far from being a hinderance to the arduous 
 duties of that station in which it has pleased Provi¬ 
 dence to cast the seaman’s lot, that, on the contrary, it 
 will always incite him to their performance, from the 
 highest and most powerful of motives; and I will ven¬ 
 ture to predict, that in proportion as this spring of ac¬ 
 tion is more and more introduced among our seamen, 
 they would become such as every Englishman would 
 
210 
 
 DANIEL Nil. 
 
 wish to see them. To this fact, at least, I can, on a 
 small scale, bear the most decided testimony; and the 
 friends of religion will feel a pleasure in having the 
 fact announced, that the very best seamen on board the 
 Hecla—such, I mean, as were always called upon in 
 any cases of extraordinary emergency—were, without 
 exception, those who had thought the most seriously on 
 religious subjects; and if a still more scrupulous selec¬ 
 tion were to be made out of that number, the choice 
 would fall, without hesitation, on two or three individ¬ 
 uals possessing dispositions and sentiments eminently 
 Christian.” 
 
 xii. 13.—But go thou thy way till the end be : 
 for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end 
 of the days. 
 
 In a certain town in Providence, there lived two 
 young men, who were intimate acquaintances. The 
 one was truly pious; and the other, a shopman, paid 
 no regard to the importance of divine things. The 
 shopman took up a leaf of the Bible, and was about to 
 tear it in pieces, and use it for packing up some small 
 parcels in the shop, when the other said, “ Do not tear 
 that, it contains the word of eternal life.” The young 
 man, though he did not relish the reproof of his kind 
 and pious friend, folded up the leaf and put it in his 
 pocket. A while after this, he said within himself, 
 “ Now I will see what kind of life it is of which this 
 leaf speaks.” On unfolding the leaf, the first words 
 that caught his eye, were the last in the book of Daniel 
 —“ But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt 
 rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” He 
 began immediately to inquire, what his lot would be at 
 the end of the days, and from this occurrence became 
 truly pious. 
 
HOSEA II. 
 
 211 
 
 HOSEA. 
 
 Chap. i. 10. —In the place where it was said unto 
 them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said 
 unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. 
 
 The late Rev. Robert Hall of Bristol, when describ¬ 
 ing the character of Mr. Robinson of Leicester, says,— 
 “ It was the boast of Augustus, that he found the city 
 of Rome built of brick, and that he left it built with 
 marble. Mr. Robinson might say, without arrogance, 
 that he had been the instrument of effecting a far more 
 beneficial and momentous change. He came to this 
 place while it was sunk in vice and irreligion; he left 
 it eminently distinguished by sobriety of manners, and 
 the practice of warm, serious, and enlightened piety. 
 He did not add aqueducts and palaces, nor increase 
 the splendour of its public edifices ; but he embellished 
 it with undecaying ornaments. He renovated the 
 minds of its inhabitants, and turned a large portion of 
 them from darkness to light, and from the power of 
 Satan to God. He embellished it with living stones, 
 and replenished it with numerous temples of the Holy 
 Ghost. He enlarged its intercourse with heaven, and 
 trained a great portion of its inhabitants for the enjoy¬ 
 ment of celestial bliss.” 
 
 ii. 23.—I will say to them which were not my 
 people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, 
 Thou art my God. 
 
 On one occasion, when the late Mr. Brown of Had¬ 
 dington was exhorting his students not to rest satisfied 
 with a mere speculative acquaintance with the truths 
 of Scripture, in the systems, or with treasuring them 
 up in the memories, but to be concerned to have them 
 engraven on their hearts by the Spirit of God, he took 
 occasion to mention something of his own experience, 
 
212 
 
 HOSEA IV. 
 
 of which he was usually very sparing. “ I recollect,” 
 said he, “ that when sitting on the brae of Abernethy, 
 hearing Mr. Wilson of Perth, I got more insight into 
 that marrow of the gospel, “thy God and my God,” than 
 I ever got before or since; alas! that it was so long 
 ago.” 
 
 iii. 2,—I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of 
 silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half 
 homer of barley. 
 
 “Sir John Chardin,” says Harmer, “observed in the 
 East, that in their contracts for their temporary wives, 
 —which are known to be frequent there, which contracts 
 are made before the Cadi,—there is always the formal¬ 
 ity of a measure of corn mentioned, over and above 
 the sum of money that is stipulated. I do not know of 
 any thing that should occasion this formality of late 
 days in the East; it may possibly be very ancient, as 
 it is apparent this sort of wife is: if it be, it will per¬ 
 haps account for Hosea’s purchasing a woman of this 
 sort for fifteen pieces of silver, and a certain quantity 
 of barley.” 
 
 iv. 6.—My people are destroyed for lack of 
 knowledge. 
 
 Dr. Ford, formerly ordinary of Newgate, who had 
 continual opportunities of investigating the fatal cause 
 of depravity, ascribed the commission of crimes to the 
 want of religious, as well as every moral principle. 
 Of this the following is a melancholy proof:—“Going 
 into the desk,” says the doctor, “at the chapel in New¬ 
 gate, the first Sunday after the Sessions, I saw twelve 
 men in the condemned felon’s pew, whose deportment 
 and dress were decent and respectable. When I an¬ 
 nounced the day of the month, and mentioned the 
 psalm, I was astonished to observe that none of those 
 convicts took up a prayer-book, though several lay be¬ 
 fore them; neither did any of them seem to know a 
 particle of the church service, or when to stand, sit, or 
 kneel. In conversation with one next day, I inquired 
 
HOSEA VI. 
 
 213 
 
 how it happened that none of them opened a prayer- 
 book during divine service. Upon this there was 
 rather an appearance of confusion, and a dead silence 
 ensued. I put the question a second time, when one 
 of them hesitatingly stammered out, ‘sir, I cannot read 
 ‘ nor I, nor I, nor I,’ was rapidly uttered by them all.” 
 
 v. 15.—In their affliction they will seek me 
 early. 
 
 Vavasor Powell, an eminent minister, being appoint¬ 
 ed to preach on a certain day in a meadow in Cardi¬ 
 ganshire, a number of idle persons, enemies to religion, 
 agreed to meet at the same time and place, to play at 
 foot-ball, and thereby create a disturbance. Among 
 them was a young man, named Morgan Howell, of re¬ 
 spectable family in that neighbourhood, lately returned 
 from school, having finished his education, who, being 
 nimble footed and dexterous at the game, had obtained 
 possession of the ball, intending to kick it in the face 
 of the preacher. At this instant another person ran 
 towards him and tripped up his heels. By the fall his 
 leg was broken ; and after lying on the ground in great 
 agony, he expressed a wish to see the minister, to 
 whom, on his arrival, he confessed his wicked inten¬ 
 tion, and acknowledged that the just judgment of God 
 had befallen him. The minister having represented to 
 him the evil and danger of sin, preached the power of 
 the Saviour, and at the request of the young man, ac¬ 
 companied him to his father’s house. So great was the 
 change produced in him by means of this addiction, 
 that on his recovery he began to preach, and was for 
 many years the most laborious preacher in those parts. 
 
 vi. 4.—Your goodness is as a morning cloud, 
 and as the early dew it goeth away. 
 
 “ The dew of the night,” says Dr. Shaw, “ as we had 
 only the heavens for our covering, would frequently 
 wet us to the skin; but no sooner was the sun risen, 
 and the atmosphere a little heated, than the mists were 
 dispersed, and the copious moisture, which the dew 
 
214 
 
 HOSEA IX. 
 
 communicated to the sands, would be entirely evapo¬ 
 rated.” 
 
 vii. 5.—In the day of our king, the princes 
 have made him sick with bottles of wine : he 
 stretched out his hand with scorners. 
 
 Cyrus, when a youth, being at the court of his grand¬ 
 father Astyages, undertook, one day, to be a cup-bearer 
 at table. It was the duty of this officer to taste the li¬ 
 quor before it was presented to the king. Cyrus, with¬ 
 out performing this ceremony, delivered the cup in a 
 very graceful manner to his grandfather. The king 
 observed the omission, which he imputed to forgetful¬ 
 ness. “No,” replied Cyrus, “I was afraid to taste, be¬ 
 cause I apprehended there was poison in the liquor: 
 for not long since, at an entertainment which you gave, 
 I observed that the lords of your court, after drinking 
 of it, became noisy, quarrelsome, and frantic. Even 
 you, sir, seemed to have forgotten that you were a king.” 
 
 viii. 14.—Israel hath forgotten his Maker. 
 
 The Rev. John Brown of Haddington, offered the fol¬ 
 lowing advice to one of his hearers, whose father was 
 
 an eminent Christian :—“ Well,-, mind these words 
 
 —‘Thou art my God,I will prepare thee an habitation; 
 my father’s God, and I will exalt thee.’ We should reck¬ 
 on him a madman, who would throw away a father’s es¬ 
 tate ; but he is much more foolish who throws away a 
 father’s God.” 
 
 ix. 17.—My God will cast them away, because 
 they did not hearken unto him : and they shall be 
 wanderers among the nations. 
 
 Pains had been early taken by some of the Prince 
 of Conde’s supposed friends, to shake his belief in 
 Christianity; he always replied, “You give yourselves 
 a great deal of unnecessary trouble; the dispersion of 
 the Jews will always be an undeniable proof to me of 
 the truth of our holy religion.” 
 
HOSEA XII. 215 
 
 x. 2.—Their heart is divided ; now shall they 
 be found faulty. 
 
 Numbers of the Greenlanders, who for a time ad¬ 
 hered to the Moravian Missionaries, and promised well, 
 drew back, and walked no more with them; while the 
 greater part of those who were wavering, seduced by 
 the concourse of their heathen countrymen, again 
 joined the multitude. One being asked why he could 
 not stay, answered, “I have bought a good deal of pow¬ 
 der and shot, which I must first spend in the south, in 
 shooting rein-deer;” another, “I must first have my fill 
 of bear’s fleshand a third, “ I must have a good boat, 
 and then I will believe.” 
 
 xi. 7.—Though they called them to the Most 
 High, none at all would exalt him. 
 
 On the day appointed for the National Fast in Eng¬ 
 land, some of the parishioners in Timsbury, near Bath, 
 when going to the parish church, met a young man of 
 their acquaintance, but a leader in crime among his 
 companions. They asked him to accompany them to 
 church. “What should I go to church fori” “O!” 
 replied they, “every body goes to church to-day.” “I 
 sha’ nt go to church till I am carried there.” On the 
 Friday after, he was employed to blow up the root of a 
 tree with gunpowder; and though, after having com¬ 
 municated fire to the fusee, he retired to an unusually 
 great distance, yet when the explosion took place, a 
 shivered splint hit him on the forehead, and in six 
 hours he was a corpse. The effects produced in the 
 parish, are said to have been extensively and solemnly 
 made manifest in the conversion of more than a hun-. 
 dred of the most dissolute and abandoned of the inha¬ 
 bitants, who have, by the relinquishment of criminal 
 practices, and a devout attendance on divine ordi¬ 
 nances, evinced the sincerity of their repentance. 
 
 xii. 4.—He had power over the angel, and pre¬ 
 vailed ; he wept and made supplication unto him. 
 
216 
 
 HOSEA XIV. 
 
 The Rev. Ralph Erskine was, on one occasion, re¬ 
 quested by an afflicted friend to remember him in 
 prayer. From the urgency of other affairs, the pious 
 request, for a time, escaped his memory; but happen¬ 
 ing to recollect it during the night, he rose out of bed, 
 and prayed with great fervour in behalf of that indi¬ 
 vidual. Not long after, he had the happiness to receive 
 information of his recovery, and found, that at the very 
 hour in which he had wrestled for him with the God of 
 Jacob, the sufferer had obtained effectual relief. 
 
 xiii. 1.—When Ephraim spake trembling, he 
 exalted himself in Israel. 
 
 The Rev. Henry Erskine, minister of Falkirk, and 
 son of the Rev. Ralph Erskine, during his last illness, 
 discovered deep abasement, mingled with a lively 
 hope. “The prayer of the publican,” said he, “must 
 be my prayer; ‘God be merciful to me a sinner/” 
 When his brother James at one time made this pious 
 remark, “ We all need to settle our accounts with God 
 betimes;” Henry replied, “ I know no way, dear bro¬ 
 ther, of settling my accounts, but by receiving a free 
 pardon from my Redeemer.” 
 
 xiv. 4.—I will heal their backsliding, I will love 
 them freely: for mine anger is turned away from 
 him. 
 
 It is said of a Mr. G. that he lay languishing in dis¬ 
 tress of mind for five years; during which he took no 
 comfort in meat or drink, nor any pleasure in life; 
 being under a sense of some backsliding, he was dis¬ 
 tressed as if he had been in the deepest pit of hell. If 
 he ate his food, it was not from any appetite, but with 
 a view to defer his damnation, thinking within himself 
 that he must needs be lost so soon as his breath was 
 out of his body. Yet, after all this, he was set at 
 liberty, received great consolation, and afterwards lived 
 altogether a heavenly life. Let not the tempted believ¬ 
 er then despond, nor the returning backslider fear lest 
 he should be rejected. 
 
JOEL III. 
 
 217 
 
 JOEL. 
 
 Chap. i. 6.—A nation is come up upon my land, 
 strong and without number. 
 
 In the year 1690, a cloud of locusts was seen to 
 enter Russia in three different places, and from thence 
 to spread themselves over Poland and Lithuania in 
 such astonishing multitudes that the air was darkened, 
 and the earth covered with their numbers. In some 
 places they were seen lying dead, heaped upon each 
 other four feet deep; in others they covered the surface 
 like a black cloth ; the trees bent beneath their weight, 
 and the damage which the country sustained exceeded 
 computation. 
 
 ii. 20.—I will remove far off from you the nor¬ 
 thern army, and will drive him into a land barren 
 and desolate with his face towards the east sea and 
 his hinder part toward the utmost sea: and his 
 stink shall come up, and his ill savour. 
 
 Baron de Tott, speaking of the locust, says, “I have 
 often seen the shores of the Pontus Euxinus, towards 
 the Bosphorus of Thrace, covered with their dried re¬ 
 mains in such multitudes, that one could not walk 
 along the strand without sinking half leg deep into a 
 bed of these skinny skeletons. Curious to know the 
 true cause of their destruction, I sought the moment of 
 observation, and was a witness of their ruin by a 
 storm, which overtook them so near the shore that their 
 bodies were cast upon the land while yet entire. This 
 produced an infection so great, that it was several days 
 before they could be approached.” 
 
 iii. 3.—They have—sold a girl for wine that 
 they might drink. 
 
 19 
 
218 
 
 AMOS II, 
 
 A few years ago, an old woman in London went into 
 a dram shop and called for a glass of gin, which she 
 drank off as soon as it was served to her. She then 
 produced a Bible from under her apron, saying she had 
 no money, but would leave that in pledge and redeem 
 it in half an hour; she however never returned. A 
 woman in Glasgow, some time since, in order to gratify 
 her immoderate craving for ardent spirits, was said to 
 have offered her own child for sale as a subject for 
 dissection! 
 
 -c- 
 
 AMOS. 
 
 Chap. i. 11.—He did cast off all pity. 
 
 “Bonaparte,” says Sir Robert Wilson, “having car¬ 
 ried the town of Jaffa by assault, many of the garrison 
 were put to the sword, but the greater part flying into 
 the Mosques, and imploring mercy from their pursuers, 
 were granted their lives. Three days afterwards, Bo¬ 
 naparte, who had expressed much resentment at the 
 compassion manifested by his troops, and determined 
 to relieve himself from the maintenance and care of 
 3800 prisoners, ordered them to be marched to a rising 
 ground near Jaffa, where a division of French infantry 
 formed against them. When the Turks had entered 
 into their fatal alignment, and the mournful prepara¬ 
 tions were completed, the signal gun fired. Volleys 
 of musquetry and grape instantly played against them, 
 and Bonaparte, who had been regarding the scene 
 through a telescope, when he saw the smoke ascending, 
 could not contain his joy.” 
 
 ii. 12.—‘Ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink. 
 
 In a village within ten miles of Elgin, a transaction 
 occurred which it is impossible to condemn in suffi¬ 
 ciently strong language. A man called on a publican 
 in this village, in order to settle an account, and was 
 asked to take a dram; this was declined by the man 
 
AMOS IV. 
 
 219 
 
 on account of his being a member of the Temperance 
 Society. The publican first began to ridicule and then 
 to tempt him; telling him, that he would give him a 
 real good one, and that, besides, a given dram would 
 never be objected to. The simple man at length yield¬ 
 ed to the tempter, and having yielded, was the more 
 ready to sink before other even less powerful temptations; 
 he did so, and is no longer a temperate man, or a mem¬ 
 ber of a Temperance Society. It may be observed, 
 that the mere circumstance of being a member of the 
 Temperance Society, will not, and cannot be expected 
 to enable a man to resist temptation, otherwise than as 
 a lawful means under God; unless, therefore, we ask 
 for his assistance, our best resolutions will be insuffi¬ 
 cient to secure our safety. The atrocious conduct of 
 this publican consisted in tempting the man, after he 
 was made aware of his conscientious reasons for total 
 abstinence. If his unhappy victim die the death of the 
 drunkard, who will say, he is guiltless of the loss of 
 that man’s soul 1 
 
 iii. 8.—The lion hath roared, who will not fear ? 
 
 A lion having escaped from the menagerie of the 
 great Duke of Tuscany, entered Florence, every where 
 spreading terror. Among the fugitives was a woman 
 with a child in her arms, which she let fall. He seized, 
 and seemed ready to devour it, when the mother, trans¬ 
 ported with the tender affections of nature, ran back, 
 threw herself before the lion, and by her gestures de¬ 
 manded the child. The lion looked at her stedfastly, 
 her cries and tears seemed to affect him, till at last he 
 laid down the child without doing it the least injury. 
 
 iv. 12.—Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 
 
 The late Rev. Mr. Madan was educated for the bar. 
 His conversion arose from the following circumstance: 
 —he was desired one evening, by some of his compan¬ 
 ions who were with him at a coffee-house, to go and 
 hear Mr. John Wesley, who they were told was to 
 preach in the neighbourhood, and to return and exhibit 
 
220 
 
 AMOS VI. 
 
 his manners and discourse for their entertainment. 
 He went with that intention, and just as he entered the 
 place, Mr. Wesley named as his text, “Prepare to meet 
 thy God,” with a solemnity of accent which struck him, 
 and which inspired a seriousness that increased as the 
 good man proceeded in exhorting his hearers to repent¬ 
 ance. Mr. M. returned to the coffee-room, and was 
 asked by his acquaintance, “if he had taken off the old 
 Methodist 1” To which he answered, “ No, gentlemen, 
 but he has taken me off:” and from that time he left 
 their company altogether, and in future associated with 
 serious people, and became himself a serious char¬ 
 acter. 
 
 v. 6.—Seek the Lord, and ye shall live. 
 
 “I must never,” says the late Rev. George Burder, 
 “forget my birth-day, June 5th, 1762. It was on a Sab¬ 
 bath ; and after tea, and before family worship, my fa¬ 
 ther was accustomed to catechize me, and examine 
 what I remembered of the sermons of the day. That 
 evening he talked to me very affectionately, and re¬ 
 minded me that I was now ten years of age ; that it was 
 high time I began to seek the Lord, and to become truly 
 religious. He particularly insisted upon the necessity 
 of an interest in Christ, and showed me that, as a sin¬ 
 ner, I must perish without it, and recommended me to 
 begin that night to pray for it. After family worship, 
 when my father and mother used to retire to their 
 closets for private devotion, I also went into a chamber, 
 the same room in which I was born, and then I trust, 
 sincerely and earnestly, and as far as I can recollect, 
 for the first time, I poured out my soul to God, beseech¬ 
 ing him to give me an interest in Christ, and desiring, 
 above all things, to be found in him. Reflecting on. 
 this evening, I have often been ready to conclude, that 
 surely I was born of God at that time, surely Z then was 
 brought to believe in Christ, surely there was something 
 more than nature in all this.” 
 
 vi. 5, 6.—That chant to the sound of the viol, 
 and invent to themselves instruments of music, 
 
AMOS VII. 
 
 221 
 
 like David ;—that drink wine in bowls, and anoint 
 themselves with the chief ointments; but they are 
 not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. 
 
 The tragical scenes which came under Mr. Fisk’s 
 observation while in Greece, had become so common, 
 that they began to be regarded with indifference by 
 many classes of people. Parties of pleasure and vain 
 amusements were revived and engaged in, as though 
 all were peace. Thousands had fled for their lives, 
 and the streets of Smyrna were crimsoned with Grecian 
 blood. It was estimated that 2000 had been massacred, 
 and heavy exactions of money were demanded of others 
 for the privilege of living. The bodies of the slain 
 were seen frequently floating in the bay. In a word, 
 exactions, imprisonment, or death, met the defenceless 
 Greeks in every direction;—and yet, strange to tell, 
 multitudes, only because they were better protected 
 from Turkish violence, went thoughtlessly to the as¬ 
 sembly room and the dance, as though all were peace 
 and security. While the countenance of many gather¬ 
 ed blackness through fear, that of others exhibited only 
 the expression of a thoughtless, ill-timed levity. 
 
 vii. 10.—Amaziah, the priest of Beth-el, sent to 
 Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath con¬ 
 spired against thee in the midst of the house of 
 Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. 
 
 Bishop Latimer, in preaching before King Henry the 
 Eighth, spoke his mind very plainly; which some of 
 his enemies thought to make their advantage of, by 
 complaining of him to the king, that they might thus 
 get him out of the way. Soon after his sermon, he and 
 several others being called before the king to speak 
 their minds on certain matters, one of them kneeled 
 before his majesty, and accused Latimer of having 
 preached seditious doctrines. The king turned to Lati¬ 
 mer, and said, “ What say you to that, sirl” Latimer 
 kneeled down, and turning first to his accuser, said, 
 
 19 * 
 
222 
 
 AMOS IX. 
 
 “ What form of preaching would you appoint me to 
 preach before a king? Would you have me to preach 
 nothing concerning a king, in a king’s sermon? Have 
 you any commission to appoint me what I shall 
 preach?” He asked him several other questions, but 
 he would answer none at all; nor had he any thing to 
 say. Then he turned to the king, and said, “ I never 
 thought myself worthy, nor ever sued, to be preacher 
 before your Grace. But I was called to it: and would 
 be willing, if you mislike me, to give place to my 
 betters. But if your Grace allow me for a preacher, I 
 would desire your Grace to discharge my conscience, 
 give me leave to frame my discourse according to mine 
 audience. I had been a very dolt to have preached so 
 at the borders of your realm, as I preach before your 
 Grace.” These words were well received by the king 
 as Latimer concluded, because the king presently turn¬ 
 ed to another subject. Some of his friends came to 
 him with tears in their eyes, and told him, they looked 
 for nothing but that he should have been sent to the 
 Tower the same night. 
 
 viii. 12.—They shall wander from sea to sea, 
 and from the north even to the east; they shall 
 run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and 
 shall not find it 
 
 Dr. Henderson, in his Journal, says, “In the east of 
 Iceland I fell in with a clergyman, who has been seek¬ 
 ing in vain to obtain a Bible for the long period of 
 seventeen years! His joy on my arrival was inex¬ 
 pressible. I passed through a parish lately, in which 
 were only two Bibles, and another considerably more 
 populous, in which are none at all!” 
 
 ix. 3.—Though they be hid from my sight in 
 the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the 
 serpent, and he shall bite them. 
 
 In the year 1807, a stout young fisherman in the 
 neighbourhood of Calcutta, in the East Indies, was bit 
 
OBADIAH I. 
 
 223 
 
 on the point of the middle finger of his right hand by 
 a sea snake, which had been entangled in his net, and 
 considering it harmless, he threw it into the sea, and 
 thought nothing of the bite. About an hour afterwards, 
 he complained of a slight pain in the bitten finger, 
 which extended along the inside of the right arm. The 
 pain increased, he felt giddiness, attended with weak¬ 
 ness in the loins and legs, which was followed with vi¬ 
 olent spasms, and early in the morning he died in con¬ 
 vulsions. 
 
 -»— 
 
 OBADIAH. 
 
 Veb. 5.—If thieves come to thee, if robbers by 
 night, would they not have stolen till they had 
 enough ? 
 
 At an assizes held at York, J. Fourniss and G. Wil¬ 
 kinson were tried for a burglary in the house of George 
 Holroyd, a clothier, at Hartshead. These villains hav¬ 
 ing entered the house, came to the bed-side of Holroyd, 
 about one in the morning, demanding his money, and 
 repeatedly threatening to kill him if he refused to dis¬ 
 cover it. It happened that Holroyd had only a single 
 sixpence in the house, as he solemnly assured them; 
 but not believing him, they persevered in the threaten¬ 
 ing to kill him, with a case-knife, which Fourniss held 
 in his hand. Holroyd then begged they would suffer 
 him to pray before he died. Wilkinson consented, say¬ 
 ing, “ Let him pray.” He did so for a few minutes; 
 after which Wilkinson seemed to relent; for when the 
 other said, “ He will not show us where his money is; 
 we must kill him !” Wilkinson said, “No; we will not 
 kill him.”—Soon after which both left the house, taking 
 with them some bacon, butter, and eggs. The jury 
 found the prisoners guilty; but recommended Wilkin¬ 
 son to mercy, on account of the compassion he dis¬ 
 covered.—Such was the good effect of prayer even 
 upon a thief! 
 
224 
 
 JONAH I. 
 
 JONAH. 
 
 Chap. i. 5, 6. —Jonah was gone down into the 
 sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 
 So the ship-master came to him, and said unto him, 
 What meanest thou, 0 sleeper ? arise, call upon 
 thy God. 
 
 Two or three miles above the falls of Niagara, an 
 Indian canoe was one day observed floating quietly 
 along, with its paddle upon its side. At first it was 
 supposed to be empty; no one could imagine that a 
 man would expose himself to such well known and im¬ 
 minent danger. But a turn in the current soon gave 
 the travellers a sight of an Indian lying idly asleep at 
 the bottom. They were shocked, and called aloud, but 
 he did not hear; they shouted in an agony of pity and 
 alarm; but he was deaf to their saving cry. It chanced 
 that the current, which was now hurrying along with 
 increased speed as it neared the fatal precipice, drove 
 the little boat against a point of rock with such vio¬ 
 lence, that it was whirled round and round several 
 times. He’s safe ! He’s safe! cried the spectators, joy¬ 
 fully; the man is safe; that shock must wake him. 
 But, alas! no. Fatigue, or drunkenness, (to which sa¬ 
 vages are particularly addicted) had so oppressed his 
 senses, that it seemed more like death than sleep which 
 held him; it was indeed the sleep of death. All hope 
 was gone, and they hurried along the shore in alarm to 
 see the end. It soon came, for the torrent was now 
 rolling so rapidly, that they could scarcely keep pace 
 with the object of their interest. At length the roar of 
 the water, which had been hitherto almost buried within 
 the high banks below, by a sudden change of the wind 
 broke upon them with double violence. This dreadful 
 noise, with which the Indian ear was so familiar, did at 
 last arouse him. He was seen to start up and snatch 
 
JONAH III. 
 
 225 
 
 his paddle. But it was too late; the same dunning 
 sound which had roused him from insensibility, told 
 him at the same time, that it was in vain to seek for 
 safety now by rowing; nor, indeed, had he time to try; 
 upright as he stood, he went over the awful precipice, 
 and the boat and its occupant were seen no more. 
 
 ii. 5.—The waters compassed me about, even 
 to the soul: the depth closed me round about. 
 
 “ I once,” says Dr. Currie of Liverpool, “ heard—for 
 it was night, and I could not see—a traveller drowning, 
 not in the Annan, but in the Firth of Solway, close by 
 the mouth of that river. The influx of the tide had un¬ 
 horsed him in the night as he was passing the sands 
 from Cumberland. The west wind blew a tempest; 
 and, according to the common expression, brought in 
 the water three feet abreast. The traveller got upon a 
 standing net a little way from the shore. There he 
 lashed himself to the post, shouting for half an hour 
 for assistance, till the tide rose over his head! In the 
 darkness of the night, and amidst the pauses of the 
 hurricane, his voice, heard at intervals, was exquisitely 
 mournful. No one could go to his assistance—no one 
 knew where he was—the sound seemed to proceed from 
 the spirit of the waters. But morning rose—the tide 
 had ebbed—and the poor traveller was found lashed to 
 the pole of the net, and bleaching to the wind.” 
 
 iii. 2.—Preach unto Nineveh the preaching 
 that I bid thee. 
 
 A celebrated preacher, now deceased, in a charge 
 which he delivered to a young minister at his ordina¬ 
 tion, thus addressed him:—“Let me remind you, sir, 
 that when you come into this place, and address this 
 people, you are not to bring your little self with you. 
 I repeat this again, sir, that it may more deeply impress 
 your memory: I say, that you are never to bring your 
 little self with you. No, sir, when you stand in this 
 sacred place, it is your duty to hold up your Great Mas¬ 
 ter to your people, in his character, in his offices, in 
 
226 
 
 MICAH I. 
 
 his precepts, in his promises, and in his glory. This 
 picture you are to hold up to the view of your hearers, 
 while you are to stand behind it, and not let so much 
 as your little finger be seen.” 
 
 iv. 9.—I do well to be angry, even unto death. 
 
 “ I was lately taking a journey from home,” says one, 
 “ and happened one day to be drinking tea with a cler¬ 
 gyman, who said*that he had just had a very awful 
 death in his parish. I thought it was some drunkard, 
 or swearer, or Sabbath-breaker, who had perhaps been 
 cut off in his sins; and I never for a moment supposed 
 that it could be a little child. But how was I shocked 
 when he told me the story! A very little child, about 
 three years old, had its naughty will crossed by its mo¬ 
 ther, and flew into a violent passion. She screamed 
 and cried, and stamped with her feet on the ground, and 
 was like a mad creature with rage. And oh! (dread¬ 
 ful to relate) it pleased God to strike her dead in the 
 midst of her passion. Whether she broke a blood-ves¬ 
 sel with her rage, or how it was, I do not know; but 
 she died in the midst of her sins, and is gone to the 
 world of spirits.” 
 
 —i- 
 
 MICAH. 
 
 Chap. i. 8.—I will wail and howl;—I will make 
 a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the 
 owls. 
 
 “While I was at Saphetta,” (in Galilee,) says Bid- 
 dulph, the chaplain to the English factory at Aleppo, in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth, “ many Turks departed 
 from thence towards Mecca in Arabia. And the same 
 morning they went, we saw many women playing with 
 timbrels as they went along the streets, who made a 
 yelling, or shrieking noise, as if they cried. We asked 
 what they meant in so doing I It was answered us, 
 
JIICAH III. 
 
 227 
 
 that they mourned for the departure of their husbands, 
 who were gone that morning on pilgrimage to Mecca; 
 and they feared that they should never see them again, 
 because it was a long way and dangerous, and many 
 died there every year. It seemed strange to us, that 
 they should mourn with music about the streets; for 
 music is used in other places at times of mirth, and not 
 at times of mourning.” 
 
 ii. 11.—I will prophesy unto thee of wine and 
 of strong drink. 
 
 The following is Sir Astley Cooper’s opinion of dram¬ 
 drinking, in answer to an application by the secretary 
 of the Temperance Society, for his support and pa¬ 
 tronage. 
 
 “My dear Sir,—No person has greater hostility to 
 dram-drinking than myself, insomuch that I never 
 suffer any ardent spirits in my house, thinking them 
 Evil Spirits. And if the poor could witness the white 
 livers, the dropsies, and the shattered nervous systems 
 which I have seen, as the consequence of drinking, 
 they would be aware that Spirits and Poisons were sy¬ 
 nonymous terms. But still I think the scheme so Uto¬ 
 pian, that I cannot annex my name to it; for I could as 
 soon believe that I could, by my own efforts, stop the 
 cataract of Niagara, as prevent the poor of London 
 from destroying themselves by intemperance.” 
 
 iii. 8.—Truly I am full of power by the Spirit 
 of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to 
 declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel 
 his sin. 
 
 The biographer of Mr. Legh Richmond one day sub¬ 
 mitted to him the following question:—“ What is the 
 scriptural and right way to preach to the Jews 1”—“ I 
 know of no scriptural way,” he replied, “ of preaching 
 to men, otherwise than as sinners; and why the Jews, 
 whose sins are of so aggravated a nature, should be 
 dealt with in a different way, I do not see. I would ad- 
 
228 
 
 MICAH IV. 
 
 dress the Jew as I would address any other man;—that 
 is, as a sinner; and till he is convinced of his sin, he 
 will never believe in a Saviour. ‘ Christ crucified,’ is 
 declared to be ‘to the Greeks foolishness, and to the 
 Jews a stumbling-block; but to them that believe, the 
 power of God and the wisdom of God.’ No man will 
 ever feel the power of God, whether he be Jew or Gen¬ 
 tile, till he learns it at the foot of the cross.” 
 
 iv. 3.—They shall beat their swords into plough¬ 
 shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation 
 shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither 
 shall they learn war any more. 
 
 “ I have been labouring,” says the Rev. Mr. Ellis, in 
 a speech at the anniversary of the Naval and Military 
 Bible Society, “among a people who once delighted in 
 war, but since Christianity has prevailed, there war has 
 ceased altogether; and they are astonished how they 
 ever engaged in all those deeds of savage cruelty, 
 which, according to their usual practice, threatened the 
 extermination of their race; but now the Prince of 
 Peace reigns there. I have seen the musket barrel ta¬ 
 ken from the stock and carried to the anvil, and beaten 
 into a spade or a hoe, though not into a ploughshare, 
 for the plough does not yet turn up their fruitful soil; 
 and the warrior who has used it in battle, now employs 
 it in cultivating the land. They have even gone further 
 in illustration of this beautiful description of the pro¬ 
 phet, for they have devoted the implements of war to 
 the service of the sanctuary! The last Sabbath I was 
 there, I went into one of their chapels, and ministered 
 to a large congregation of about fifteen hundred per¬ 
 sons. A rude sort of pulpit was erected, and stairs led 
 up to it, the railings of which, smooth and polished, 
 were literally composed of the handles of warriors’ 
 spears, who had thus transferred their weapons with 
 themselves to a nobler and better purpose—the service 
 of the sanctuary of God!” 
 
MICAH VI. 
 
 229 
 
 v. 12.—I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine 
 hand; and thou shaft have no more soothsayers. 
 
 On two estates in the Island of Lequan, in the West 
 Indies, the plan of appointing catechists for the pur¬ 
 pose of reading the Scriptures to the negroes at weekly 
 meetings, has been adopted, and the benefit resulting 
 from it on one of them, is thus described by a corres¬ 
 pondent:—“A manager of these estates informed me, 
 that the negroes do three times the work they formerly 
 did, and are quite cheerful and happy. I was first re¬ 
 quested to visit this estate by the proprietor, on account 
 of the prevalence of Obiah or Witchcraft, which ren¬ 
 dered the negroes wretched, and had been the death of 
 some, from its miserable influence upon their minds. 
 But the truths of the Bible banished this from the estate ; 
 and I will venture to say, that while the Bible remains 
 in their hands, and the love of it in their hearts, no 
 Obiah will be found among them.” 
 
 vi. 6.—Wherewith shall I come before the 
 Lord, and bow myself before the high God? 
 
 Mr. W-, a respectable Calvinistic. minister, hav¬ 
 
 ing been visited by a young candidate for the ministry, 
 one Sabbath day, invited him to preach. The young 
 gentleman consented, and delivered an ingenious Ar- 
 minian sermon, though his prayer was very Calvinistic. 
 
 When the service was over, Mr. W- thanked him 
 
 for his kindness, praised him for his ingenuity, but told 
 him, that, as they did not agree in sentiment, he could 
 not invite him to preach again; but, continued he, “I 
 have a favour to ask of you: when you go home, will 
 you sit down and write a prayer, to agree with the sen¬ 
 timents you have this day been preaching 1 —will you 
 commit it to memory, go into your closet, and repeat it 
 to God?” The young man promised to do it. Accord¬ 
 ingly, when he went home, he wrote the prayer, com¬ 
 mitted it to memory, went into his closet, and attempted 
 to repeat it; but found, through the power of con¬ 
 science, that he could not.—A few years afterwards, he 
 
 called on Mr. W-, who soon recollected him, and 
 
 20 
 
230 
 
 MICAH VII. 
 
 received him very cordially. The young gentleman 
 
 offered to preach for him, and Mr. W-, with some 
 
 reluctance, consenting, he went into the pulpit, and, to 
 
 the surprise of Mr. W-, delivered a sound, sensible, 
 
 Calvimstic sermon. The preacher being asked why 
 he had altered his sentiments, he related the circum¬ 
 stances of Mr. W-’s request, and added, that, being 
 
 greatly agitated, as well as surprised, he had carefully 
 examined his sentiments, and reasoned thus with him¬ 
 self:—“ Can it be proper for me to preach to a congre¬ 
 gation what I cannot offer up in prayer to God?” 
 
 vii. 10.—Then she that is mine enemy shall see 
 it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, 
 Where is the Lord thy God ? mine eyes shall be¬ 
 hold her: now shall she be trodden down as the 
 mire of the streets. 
 
 When Dr. Dodd, who suffered for forgery in 1777, 
 was led to the place of execution, several of the popu¬ 
 lace seemed to exult at the condemnation of a dignified 
 ecclesiastic; and a woman reproachfully called out to 
 him, “ Where is now thy God?” He instantly referred 
 her to the seventh chapter of Micah, 7—10. “Therefore 
 I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my 
 Salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against 
 me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I 
 sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I 
 will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have 
 sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and exe¬ 
 cute judgment for me; he will bring me forth to the 
 light, and I shall behold his righteousness. Then she 
 that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover 
 her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? 
 mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden 
 down as the mire of the streets.” The wretched wo¬ 
 man, proceeding to witness the execution, was thrown 
 down in the pressure of the throng, and literally trod¬ 
 den to death! 
 
NAHUM III. 
 
 231 
 
 NAHUM. 
 
 Chap. i. 10. —While they are drunken as drunk¬ 
 ards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 
 
 Three Warsaw butchers went to a tippling-house, 
 abandoned themselves to every sort of excess, and 
 drank till they were so intoxicated that they were car¬ 
 ried home senseless. A few hours had scarcely elapsed, 
 when the miserable men were seized with all the symp¬ 
 toms of cholera, which advanced with such rapidity, 
 as to prove fatal to the whole three within four hours. 
 
 ii. 11.—Where is the dwelling of the lions, and 
 the feeding of the young lions 1 , 
 
 In the beginning of March 1810, five horsemen, sta¬ 
 tioned at a village near Hansi, having heard that a pig 
 had been carried away by a tiger, went to the spot on 
 foot, when they found a lion and lioness feeding upon 
 it. The latter, on the patch of grass being set on fire, 
 went off; but the former advanced slowly, with his 
 mane and tail erect; when the men fired with so good 
 an effect, as induced them to go up and destroy him 
 with their swords, which was accomplished after one 
 man had been severely wounded. The animal ap¬ 
 peared to be a full grown lion, in most respects like the 
 African one. A lioness, a few days previous, had 
 been sent in from Hissan, having been killed by a 
 party of horsemen. These facts prove, contrary to the 
 general opinion, that lions are to be found in India as 
 well as Africa. 
 
 iii. 3.—The horseman lifteth up the bright 
 sword and the glittering spear: and there is a 
 multitude of slain 
 
 As Napoleon Bonaparte once passed over a field of 
 
232 
 
 HABAKKUK II. 
 
 battle in Italy, with some of his generals, he saw a 
 houseless dog lying on the slain body of his master. 
 The creature came towards them, then returned to the 
 dead body, moaned over it pitifully, and seemed to ask 
 their assistance. “ Whether it were the feeling of the 
 moment,” continued Napoleon, “ the scene, the hour, or 
 the circumstance itself, I was never so deeply affected 
 by any thing which I have seen upon a field of battle. 
 That man, I thought, has, perhaps, had a house, friends, 
 comrades, and here lies deserted by every one but his 
 dog! How mysterious are the impressions to which 
 we are subject. I was in the habit, without emotion, 
 of ordering battles, which must decide the fate of a 
 campaign, and could look with a dry eye on the exe¬ 
 cution of manoeuvres, which must be attended with 
 much loss; and here I was moved—nay, painfully af¬ 
 fected—by the cries and the grief of a dog. It is cer¬ 
 tain, that at that moment, I should have been more ac¬ 
 cessible to a suppliant enemy, and could better under¬ 
 stand the conduct of Achilles, in restoring the body of 
 Hector to the tears of Priam.” 
 
 •—«- 
 
 HABAKKUK. 
 
 Chap. i. 16.—They sacrifice unto their net, and 
 bum incense unto their drag. 
 
 A blacksmith, who had been employed one day on 
 the Mission premises in India, fetched away his tools 
 next morning for the purpose of worshipping them, it 
 being the day on which the Hindoos pay divine honours 
 to the implements of their various trades : the files and 
 hammers of the smiths, the chisels and saws of the 
 carpenter, the diamond of the glazier, the crucible of 
 the goldsmith, &c. &c., all become idols on this anni¬ 
 versary. 
 
 ii. 4.—The just shall live by his faith. 
 
HABAKKUK III. 
 
 233 
 
 Two men of learning were conversing with each 
 other respecting the method they should take in refer¬ 
 ence to a certain regulation imposed upon them by the 
 higher powers, and to which they had conscientious 
 scruples. One of them impiously swore, “ By my faith 
 I shall live.” The other calmly and pleasantly replied, 
 “ I hope to live by my faith too, though I do not swear 
 by it.” The result was, that the man who resolved by 
 grace to venture his temporal interest for conscience’ 
 sake, lived in prosperity to see the other begging, and 
 to contribute to his relief. 
 
 iii. 17, 18.—Although the fig-tree shall not 
 blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the 
 labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall 
 yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the 
 fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet 
 I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of 
 my salvation. 
 
 Two religious persons lived in one place, who had 
 been intimately acquainted in early life. Providence 
 favoured one of them with a tide of prosperity. The 
 other, fearing for his friend, lest his heart should be 
 overcharged with the cares of this life, and the deceit¬ 
 fulness of riches, one day asked him whether he did not 
 find prosperity a snare to him. He paused, and an¬ 
 swered, “I am not conscious that I do, for I enjoy God 
 in all things.” Some years after, his affairs took ano¬ 
 ther turn. He lost, if not the whole, yet the far greater 
 part of what he had once gained, and was greatly reduced. 
 His old friend being one day in his company, renewed 
 his question, whether he did not find what had lately 
 befallen him to be too much for him. Again he paused, 
 and answered, “I am not conscious that I do, for now I 
 enjoy all things in God.” 
 
 20* 
 
234 
 
 ZEPHANIAH III. 
 
 ZEPHANIAH. 
 
 Chap. i. 6.— Those that have not sought the 
 
 Lord, nor enquired for him. 
 
 One evening, a lady and her little daughter attended 
 a religious meeting, and while the minister was speak¬ 
 ing of the neglect of family duties, of reading the 
 Scriptures, and of family prayer, the little daughter, who 
 listened attentively, and perceived that the preacher 
 was describing a neglect that she had witnessed herself, 
 
 whispered to her mother this question—“Ma, is Mr.- 
 
 talking to you!” This was powerful preaching to the 
 mother; she was immediately brought under deep con¬ 
 victions, which resulted in her hopeful conversion. 
 
 ii. 14.—Their voice shall sing in the windows. 
 
 “ I found also in this place,” says Le Bruyn, in de¬ 
 scribing the ruins of Persepolis, “ besides the birds I 
 have already mentioned, four or five sorts of small 
 birds, which keep constantly in these ruins and the ad¬ 
 joining mountain, and which make the most agreeable 
 warbling in the world. The singing of the largest ap¬ 
 proaches very near to that of the nightingale. Some 
 of them are almost all black; others have the head and 
 body spotted, of the size of a swallow; others are 
 smaller, and of different colours, yellowish, grey, and 
 quite white, shaped like a chaffinch.” 
 
 iii. 12.—I will also leave in the midst of thee 
 an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust 
 in the name of the Lord. 
 
 The Rev. Oliver Heywood’s pecuniary circumstances 
 were sometimes very trying, but the special interposi¬ 
 tions of Providence were not less remarkable. “ While 
 I was musing,” says he, “ and pondering how to get my 
 
HAGGAI I. 
 
 235 
 
 rent discharged, and had no way, at this time, but to 
 borrow it, there came a dear friend to me, and brought 
 me five pounds, which did furnish me with an overplus 
 besides my rent. It was a seasonable present, sent to 
 me by a liberal hand; yet I own God chiefly in it, who 
 cares for me, as in this, and several other experiences, 
 is evident. O what a sweet thing is the life of faith! 
 That is a perfumed gift, which thus comes from God as 
 a token of love, after the actings of faith in prayer. 
 How good is God to me! I live nobly, and am so far 
 from wanting, that I have all and abound; and where 
 supplies fail one way, God makes them up another.” 
 
 —♦- 
 
 HAGGAI. 
 
 Chap. i. 9.—Ye looked for much, and lo, it came 
 to little; and when ye brought it home, I did 
 blow upon it. Why 1 saith the Lord of hosts. Be¬ 
 cause of mine house that is waste, and ye run 
 every man unto his own house. 
 
 Some years ago, a poor boy came to town in search 
 of a situation as errand boy; he made many unsuc¬ 
 cessful applications, and was on the eve of returning 
 to his parents, when a gentleman, being prepossessed 
 by his appearance, took him into his employment, and 
 after a few months, bound him apprentice. He so con¬ 
 ducted himself during his apprenticeship, as to gain the 
 love and esteem of every one who knew him; and 
 after he had served his time, his master advanced a 
 capital for him to commence business. He retired to 
 his closet with a heart glowing with gratitude to his 
 Maker for his goodness, and then solemnly vowed that 
 he would devote a tenth part of his annual income to 
 the service of God. The first year his donation 
 amounted to ten pounds, which he gave cheerfully, and 
 continued to do so till it amounted to £500; he then 
 thought that was a great deal of money to give, and 
 
236 
 
 HAGGAI II. 
 
 that he need not be so particular as to the exact amount. 
 That year he lost a ship and cargo to the value of 
 £15,000 by a storm! This caused him to repent, and 
 he again commenced his contributions, with a resolu¬ 
 tion never to retract: he was more successful every 
 year, and at length retired. He then devoted a tenth 
 part of his annual income for some years, till he be¬ 
 came acquainted with men of the world, who by de¬ 
 grees drew him aside from God: he discontinued his 
 donations, made large speculations, lost every thing, 
 and became almost as poor as when he came to town 
 as an errand boy! 
 
 ii. 18, 19.—From the day that the foundation 
 of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider it—from 
 this day will I bless you. 
 
 “Some years ago,” says one, “I recollect reading a 
 striking sermon by the late Mr. Simpson of Maccles¬ 
 field; the subject, I think, was Christian liberality; 
 but what most forcibly struck my mind, was^a passage 
 quoted from Malachi iii. 10. ‘Bring ye all the tithes 
 into the store-house,’ &c. I cannot describe how my 
 mind was impressed with the manner in which Jeho¬ 
 vah here condescended to challenge his people, when 
 he says, ‘And prove me now herewith,’ &c. Suffice it 
 to say, that the subject made such an impression, I 
 found it my duty to do more for the cause of God than 
 I ever had done. I did so, and on closing that year’s 
 accounts, I found that I had gained more than in any 
 two years preceding it. Some time afterwards, I thought 
 the Redeemer’s cause had an additional claim, as the 
 place in which we worshipped him wanted some re¬ 
 pairs. The sum I then gave was £20; and in a very 
 little time afterwards I received £40, which I had long 
 given up as lost.” 
 
ZECHARIAH II. 
 
 237 
 
 ZECHAEIAH. 
 
 Chap. i. 5.—Your fathers, where are they ? and 
 the prophets, do they live for ever 7 
 
 “We need no reed,” says Mr. Matthew Henry, “no 
 pole, no measuring line, wherewith to take the dimen¬ 
 sions of our days, nor any skill in arithmetic, where¬ 
 with to compute the number of them. No; we have 
 the standard of them at our fingers’ ends; and there is 
 no multiplication of it; it is but one hand-breadth in 
 all.” 
 
 ii. 11.—Many nations shall be joined to the 
 Lord in that day, and shall be my people. 
 
 “In the year 1813,” says Mr. Campbell, “after hav¬ 
 ing visited several nations in the interior of Africa, be¬ 
 yond the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, when re¬ 
 turning, I halted at the town of Paarl, within thirty-six 
 miles of Cape Town; here I was requested by friends 
 to relate publicly the state of the nations in the interior 
 of Africa. About one hundred free persons, with some 
 slaves, attended. At the close, several hundred rix- 
 dollars were contributed by the white friends present 
 for the Missionary Society. After t'he whites had all 
 left the house, a slave woman and her daughter called 
 upon me, and said, ‘ Sir, will you take any thing from 
 a poor slave, to help to send the gospel to the poor 
 things beyond usT On my saying, ‘ Most certainly I 
 will,’ she gave me eightpence, and her daughter four- 
 pence. Having done so, they hastily went out clapping 
 their hands, and ran to some slave men who were 
 waiting to hear the result. On hearing from her that I 
 cheerfully took subscriptions from slaves, they rushed 
 into my room, and every one threw down all that they 
 had, to send the gospel to the poor things beyond 
 them!” 
 
233 
 
 ZECHAEIAH V. 
 
 iii. 10.—Ye shall call every man his neighbour 
 under the vine, and under the fig-tree. 
 
 Dr. Richard Chandler, in his Travels in Asia Minor, 
 informs us, “ that a Greek at Philadelphia sent them a 
 small earthen vessel full of choice wine; and that some 
 families, who were sitting beneath some trees, by a rill 
 of water, invited them to alight and partake of their re¬ 
 freshments. The taking their repasts thus in public • 
 expressed safety and pleasure; and the calling to pass¬ 
 engers to partake with them, a spirit of friendliness and 
 generosity.” 
 
 iv. 6.—Not by might nor by power, but by my 
 Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. 
 
 “ I am by birth,” said a converted Hindoo, when ad¬ 
 dressing a number of his countrymen, “of an insignifi¬ 
 cant and contemptible caste; so low, that if a Brahmin 
 should chance to touch me, he must go and bathe in 
 the Ganges for the purpose of purification; and yet 
 God has been pleased to call me, not merely to the 
 knowledge of the gospel, but to the high office of teach¬ 
 ing it to others. My friends, do you know the reason 
 of God’s conduct] It is this: if God had selected one 
 of you learned Brahmins, and made you the preacher, 
 when you were successful in making converts, by¬ 
 standers would have said it was the amazing learning 
 of the Brahmin, and his great weight of character, that 
 w'ere the cause; but now, when any one is convinced 
 by my instrumentality, no one thinks of ascribing any 
 of the praise to me; and God, as is his due, has all the 
 glory.” 
 
 v. 3.—Every one that sweareth shall be cut 
 off as on that side. 
 
 Three soldiers passing through a wood, a storm of 
 thunder and lightning came on. One of the soldiers, 
 to show his contempt of God and his judgments, began 
 to swear, when a large tree, torn up by the fury of the 
 tempest, fell upon him and crushed him to pieces. 
 
ZECHARIAH VII. 
 
 239 
 
 vi. 13.—He shall build the temple of the Lord : 
 and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule 
 upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon 
 his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be be¬ 
 tween them both. 
 
 “In the afternoon,”says Toplady, in his Diary, “call¬ 
 ed on William Perry of Southertown. Our discourse 
 happened to take a serious turn. Among other subjects, 
 we spoke concerning the divinity of the ever-blessed 
 Son of God. I could scarce help smiling, at the same 
 time that I heartily applauded the honest zeal of my 
 well-meaning parishioner:—‘Let any man,’ said he, 
 ‘ but search the Scriptures, and if he does not find that 
 Christ, as a divine person, subsisted, not only previous 
 to his birth of the Virgin Mary, but from everlasting, I 
 will lose my head.’ This brought to my mind that just 
 observation of the late excellent Mr. Hervey, who, 
 speaking of Christ’s atonement, says, ‘ Ask any of your 
 serious tenants, what ideas arise in their minds upon a 
 perusal of the fore-mentioned texts 1 I dare venture 
 that, artless and unimproved as their understandings 
 are, they will not hesitate for an answer. They will 
 neither complain of obscurity, nor ask the assistance 
 of learning, but will immediately discern, in all these 
 passages, a gracious Redeemer suffering in their stead; 
 and by his bitter but expiatory passion, procuring the 
 pardon of their sins. Nay, farther, as they are not ac¬ 
 customed to the finesse of criticism, I apprehend they 
 will be at a loss to conceive how it is possible to un- 
 derstand such passages in any other sense.’ ” 
 
 vii. 12.—They made their hearts as an adamant- 
 stone, lest they should hear the law, and the 
 words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his 
 Spirit by the former prophets. 
 
 Bishop Massillon, in the first sermon he ever preach¬ 
 ed, found the whole audience, upon his getting into 
 the pulpit, in a disposition no way favourable to his in 
 
240 
 
 ZECHARIAH VIII. 
 
 f 
 
 tentions. Their nods, whispers, or drowsy behaviour, 
 showed him that there was no great profit to be ex¬ 
 pected from his sowing in a soil so improper. How¬ 
 ever, he soon changed the disposition of his audience 
 by his manney, of beginning. “ If,” says he, “ a cause, 
 the most\important that could be conceived, were 
 to be trial at the bar before qualified judges; if 
 this cause* interested ourselves in particular; if the 
 eyes of the^whole kingdom were fixed upon the event; 
 if the most eminent counsel were employed on both 
 sides; and if we had heard from our infancy of this yet 
 undetermined trial,—would you not all sit with due at¬ 
 tention, and warm expectation, to the pleadings on each 
 side 1 Would not all your hopes and fears be, hinged 
 on the final decision 1 And yet, let me tell fbu, you 
 have this moment a cause, where not dtre»«ftatio«Ffl)ut 
 all the world are spectators; tried not before ja fallible 
 tribunal, but the awful throne of heaven, where not 
 your temporal and transitory interests are tne subject 
 of debate, but your eternal happiness or misery; where 
 the cause is still undetermined, but, perhaps, the very 
 moment I am speakiqg may fix the irrevocable decree 
 that shall last for evet> and yet, notwithstanding all 
 this, you can hardly sirvdth patience to hear the tidings 
 of your own salvation. *4 plead the cause of heaven, 
 and yet I am scarcely attended to.” 
 
 viii. 16.—Speak ye every man the truth to his 
 neighbour. 
 
 “Some time ago,” says a teacher, “I called upon the 
 mother of one of my scholars, to inquire the reason of 
 her son’s absence from school: she told me that he 
 had lately got a situation, and promised that he should 
 attend more regularly in future. She was acquainted 
 with the parents of another of my scholars, and as we 
 were conversing about her own boy, she said that she 
 hoped he would be as good a boy as his school-fellow 
 was; for, added she, ‘ his mother has told me that she 
 never knew him tell a lie in his life.’ I knew the mas¬ 
 ter and mistress with whom this same boy went to live, 
 and they told me, that though he was not quite so ac- 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 
 
 241 
 
 tive as they could wish, yet they liked him for one 
 thing particularly, which was, he always told the truth; 
 even when he had done any thing amiss, he never 
 tried to conceal it by telling a falsehood.” 
 
 ix. 10.—He shall speak peace unto the heathen ; 
 and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, 
 and from the river even to the ends of the earth. 
 
 The late Mr. John Croumbie of Haddington, some 
 time before his death, calling on one of his customers, 
 his friend said unto him, “ I am sure, Mr. Croumbie, 
 you need not care for business.” He replied, “It is 
 
 true, Mrs-, but if I were to give over business, I 
 
 would not be so able to assist the various societies that 
 are formed for diffusing the knowledge of the gospel 
 through the world.” The same excellent person, in his 
 last illness, after expressing his surprise that some 
 Christians kept back from the support of these institu¬ 
 tions, said, with peculiar emphasis, “ 0 how I pity the 
 poor heathen, who have nothing to support their minds 
 in the prospect of eternity!” His feelings were evi¬ 
 dently excited by his own situation, and a conviction 
 of the misery he would feel, if his mind had not been 
 supported by the gospel in the near prospect of enter¬ 
 ing into an eternal state. 
 
 x. 2.—The diviners have seen a lie. 
 
 A reformed gipsy, making a visit to a parish in 
 which one of her children was born, near Basingstoke, 
 entered the cottage of an old couple who sold fruit, &c. 
 Tea being proposed, the old woman expressed her sur¬ 
 prise that she had not seen her visitor for so long a 
 time, saying she was glad she was come, as she wanted 
 to tell her many things, meaning future events. She 
 mentioned a great deal that another gipsy woman had 
 told her; on which the reformed one exclaimed — 
 “Don’t believe her, dame. It is all lies. She knows 
 no more about it than you do. If you trust to what she 
 says, you will be deceived.” The old woman was still 
 more surprised, and asked how she, who had so often 
 
 21 
 
242 
 
 ZECHARIAH XII. 
 
 told their fortunes, and had promised them such good 
 luck, could be so much altered 1 The woman, taking 
 her Testament from her bosom, replied, “ I have learn¬ 
 ed from this blessed book, and from my kind friends, 
 
 ‘ that all liars shall have their portion in the lake that 
 burneth with brimstone and fire;’ and rather than tell 
 fortunes again, I would starve.” 
 
 xi. 8.—There shepherds also I cut off in one 
 month. 
 
 A clergyman was spending an evening,—not in his 
 closet, wrestling with God in prayer,—not in his study, 
 searching the Scriptures, and meditating on divine 
 truth, with the view of being prepared for public use¬ 
 fulness,—nor in pastoral visits to the flock under his 
 care—but at the card-table! He left the room for a 
 few moments, desiring his wife to deal his cards till 
 his return. This she had done; but he did not come 
 back. The cards waited, the conversation was kept 
 up, still he returned not. At length, surprised at his 
 absence, his wife withdrew to seek hijn. She found 
 him in his chamber a lifeless corpse! It is observ¬ 
 able, that within a very few years, this was the third 
 character (clerical, it is presumed,) in the same neigh¬ 
 bourhood, who had been suddenly taken from the plea¬ 
 sures of a card-table to the bar of God ! 
 
 xii. 1.—The Lord—which formeth the spirit 
 of man within him. 
 
 “At a ^catechizing of one of the schools,” says a mis¬ 
 sionary in India, “a Brahmin interrupted us, by saying 
 that the spirit of man and the Spirit of God were one. 
 In order to show him the absurdity of such a declara¬ 
 tion, we called upon the boys to refute it, by telling us 
 the difference between the spirit of man and God. 
 They readily gave the following answer:—‘The spirit 
 of man is created—God is its Creator: the spirit of 
 man is full of sin—God is a pure Spirit: the spirit of 
 man is subject to grief—God is infinitely blessed, and 
 
MALACHI I. 
 
 243 
 
 incapable of suffering: these two spirits, therefore,’ re¬ 
 plied the boys, ‘ can never be one.’ ” 
 
 xiii. 9.—I will bring the third part through the 
 fire, and will refine them as silver is refined. 
 
 Sarah Howard, a poor old widow, who had been bed¬ 
 ridden fourteen years, when visited by her minister, 
 thus spoke of her afflictions :—“ I •can set to my seal 
 that the Lord has chastened me sore, but he hath not 
 given me over unto death. I have been chastened in 
 my person, and am quite helpless, by long and severe 
 illness; I have been chastened in my circumstances 
 ever since I was left a widow: yes, I know what op¬ 
 pressing a widow, what bad debts and hard creditors 
 are: I have been chastened in my family, by a son, 
 whom I was doatingly fond of, running away and going 
 to sea. Besides all these, I have been chastened in 
 mind, ‘walking in darkness and having no light;’ yet, 
 after all, I trust I can say with David, ‘ Before I was 
 afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. 
 And I hope I can say that I am now returned to the 
 Shepherd and Bishop of souls.” 
 
 xiv. 7.—At evening time it shall be light. 
 
 Mr. Robert Glover, one of the English martyrs, a 
 little before his death, had lost the sense of God’s fa¬ 
 vour, which occasioned great heaviness and grief; but 
 when he came within sight of the stake at which he 
 was to suffer, he experienced such abundant comfort 
 and heavenly joy, that, clapping his hands together, he 
 cried out, “ He is come, he is come !” and died trium¬ 
 phantly. 
 
 —*- 
 
 MALACHI. 
 
 Chap. i. 13. — Ye said also, Behold, what a wea¬ 
 riness is it! 
 
244 
 
 MALACHI II. 
 
 One Sabbath morning, a minister in Wakefield had 
 not proceeded far in his discourse, when he observed 
 an individual in a pew just before him rise from his 
 seat, and turn round to look at the clock in the front of 
 the gallery, as if the service was a weariness to him. 
 The unseemly act called forth the following rebuke :— 
 “A remarkable change,” said the speaker, “ has taken 
 place among the people of this country in regard to the 
 public service of religion. Our forefathers put their 
 clocks on the outside of their places of worship, that 
 they might not be too late in their attendance. We 
 have transferred them to the inside of the house of 
 God, lest we should stay too long in the service. A 
 sad and ominous change !” 
 
 ii. 14.—The Lord hath been witness between 
 thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou 
 hast dealt treacherously : yet is she thy companion, 
 and the wife of thy covenant. 
 
 “I was called,” says the Rev. Richard Cecil, “to 
 visit a woman whose mind was disordered; and, on 
 my observing that it was a case which required the as¬ 
 sistance of a physician rather than that of a clergyman, 
 her husband replied, ‘ sir, we sent to you, because it is a 
 religious case; her mind has been injured by constantly 
 reading the Bible.’—I have known many instances, 
 said I, of persons brought to their senses by reading 
 the Bible; but it is possible that too intense an appli¬ 
 cation to that, as well as to any other subject, may 
 have disordered your wife. ‘There is every proof of 
 it,’ said he; and was proceeding to multiply his proofs, 
 till his brother interrupted him by thus addressing me: 
 —‘ Sir, I have no longer patience to stand by and see you 
 so imposed on. The truth of the matter is this : My 
 brother has forsaken his wife, and been long connected 
 with a loose woman. He had the best of wives in her, 
 and one who was strongly attached to him; but she has 
 seen his heart and property given to another, and, in 
 her solitude and distress, went to the Bible as the only 
 consolation left her. Her health and spirits at last 
 
MALACHI IV. 
 
 245 
 
 sunk under her troubles, and there she lies distracted, 
 not from reading her Bible, but from the infidelity and 
 cruelty of her husband.’—Does the reader wish to 
 know what reply the husband made to this 1—He made 
 no reply at all; but left the room with confusion of 
 face!” 
 
 iii. 3.—He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of 
 silver. 
 
 A short time ago, there were a few ladies in Dublin 
 who met together to read the Scriptures and converse 
 upon them. When reading the third chapter of Mala- 
 chi, one of the ladies gave it as her opinion that the 
 fuller’s soap and the refiner of silver were only the 
 same image, intended to convey the same view of the 
 sanctifying influences of the grace of Christ. “No,” 
 said another, “they are not just the same image: there 
 is something remarkable in the expression in the third 
 verse, ‘ He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ ” 
 They all said that possibly it might be so. This lady 
 was to call on a silversmith, and promised to report to 
 them what he said on the subject. She went, without 
 telling him the object of her errand, and begged to 
 know the process of refining silver, which he fully de¬ 
 scribed to her. “But do you sit, sir,” said she, “while 
 you are refining]” “O yes, madam, I must sit with 
 my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, since if the silver 
 remain too long it is sure to be injured.” “And how 
 do you know when it is sufficiently refined, sirl” 
 “Whenever I see my own image reflected in it, I know 
 the process is completed.” She at once saw the beauty 
 and the comfort too of the expression, “he shall sit as 
 a refiner and purifier of silver.” Christ sees it needful 
 to put his children into the furnace, but he is seated by 
 the side of it. His eye is steadily intent on the work 
 of purifying, and his wisdom and love are engaged to 
 do all in the best manner for them. Their trials do not 
 come at random; the very hairs of their head are all 
 numbered. 
 
 iv. 2.—Unto you that fear my name shall the 
 
246 
 
 MALACHI IV. 
 
 Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his 
 wings. 
 
 Kaiarnack, the first Greenland covert of the Mora¬ 
 vian missionaries, had a peculiar felicity in communi¬ 
 cating instruction to the savages, and could illustrate 
 divine truths to them better than they, introducing strik¬ 
 ing remarks and profitable observations, which could 
 not easily have been done by his teachers, while his 
 exemplary walk gave force to his words. Once when 
 invited to a sun-dance, “I have now,” answered he, 
 “another kind of joy, for another Sun, Jesus, has ari¬ 
 sen on my heartand then explained to them the ori¬ 
 gin and nature of his joy, in a manner that silenced 
 and amazed them. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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