to desire-no form nor comeliness to stamp him as the Lord of heaven and earth. He passes by, a poor rejected Nazarene. Yes; but he wears the God beneath that dark humanity; and humble as he appears, he holds the key of David, opening, and no man shutteth; and shutting, and no man openeth. All mysteries are in his keeping as the Great Mystery of Godliness; and we shall ever toil in vain for perfect light upon the absorbing questions of sin and salvation, life, death, and immortality, till we come to Christ, willing to be and to know nothing; and without the shadow of reserve. In his little oratory, decorated with religious symbols, and glittering with the tinsel and the gauds of Rome, there kneels "a priest" in prayer. No-not in prayer, although there seems to float around his calm and radiant brow, the veritable “odour of sanctity." He bows; he signs himself; he looks eastward; he rises, turns, sinks upon his knees again, mutters some low chant, and breathes what seems a penitent confession of his sins. And yet he is a pharisee of the pharisees; seeking to assuage his thirst at the wells without water; the broken cisterns of Christless sacraments, and graceless ceremonies. He is throning Him in temples made with hands, and making Him who came to save the poor, the rich man's God. He is hanging chains of gold upon the gospel, and fettering the unencumbered scheme of heaven with gewgaws of his own devising. He is making the refreshing, comforting, enlightening service of the sanctuary, a thing of empty sounds and glittering sights; and lifting up the paten and the host, instead of him who is the All in All. He is groping through the dusty atmosphere of patristic tradition; following the fathers, as they did not follow Christ; building upon opinions which intermingle, shift, slide, and vary as the spring-tide shadows-ever learning, and never able to come at the knowledge of the truth. O purge the atmosphere so thick with phantoms, and let the eye, the heart, the intellect, repose on Christ alone. You preach "another gospel which is not another," if "looking unto ordinances" be the spirit of your creed. The new and living way which Jesus has opened for you, is a royal road to heaven; issuing at once in glory, honor and, immortality. The gate rolls back, and all are welcome NOW-"Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." THE AFRICAN ABECEDARIANS. AFTER a search, I found, among some waste paper, a large sheet-alphabet with a corner and two letters torn off. This was laid down on the ground, when all knelt in a circle around it, and of course the letters were viewed by some, standing upside down. I commenced pointing with a stick, and when I pronounced one letter, all hallooed out to the same purpose. When I remarked that perhaps we might manage with somewhat less noise, one replied that he was sure the louder he roared, the sooner his tongue would get accustomed to the “seeds,” as he called the letters. As it was growing late, I rose to straiten my back, which was beginning to tire, when I observed some young folks coming dancing and skipping towards me, who, without any ceremony, seized hold of me : Oh, teach us the A, B, C, with music," every one cried, giving me no time to tell them it was too late. I found they had made this discovery through one of my boys. There were presently a dozen or more surrounding me, and resistance was out of the question. Dragged and pushed, I entered one of the largest native houses, which was instantly crowded. The tune of “ Auld lang syne" was pitched to A, B, C; each succeeding round was joined by succeeding voices till every tongue was vocal, and every countenance beamed with heartfelt satisfaction. The longer they sang, the more freedom was felt, and "Auld lang syne" was echoed to the farthest end of the village. After two hours singing and puffing, I obtained permission to leave them, now comparatively proficient. It was between two and three in the morning. Worn out in mind and body, I lay myself down in my wagon, cap and shoes, and all, just to have a few hours' sleep, preparatory to departure on the coming day. As the "music hall" was not far from my pillow, there was little chance of sleeping soundly, for the young amateurs seemed unwearied, and A, B, C, to "Auld lang syne" went on till I was ready to wish it at John-o-Groat's house. The company at length dispersed, and awaking in the morning after a brief repose, I was not a little surprised to hear the old tune in every corner of the village. The maids milking the cows, and the boys tending the calves, were humming their alphabet over again. Having made all necessary arrangements I departed; the whole population of the village accompanied me to a considerable distance, when they all stood and gazed after me till my wagon was concealed from their view by a thicket of acacias. The solitary ride afforded me time for reflection and improvement of the past; I felt my heart overflowing with gratitude for what God had permitted me to witness during those days.-Moffat. JACOB'S LADDER. THE life of Jacob abounds with incidents of the most striking character; incidents which are so faithfully detailed that they exhibit the patriarch precisely as he was, without attempting to palliate his failings or extol his excellencies. He that looks back on the scenes of his past life, will find much to deplore in the want of necessary caution. Could he retrace his steps, he would pursue, in a variety of instances, a totally different track, ponder the path of his feet, and look well to his goings. The first step of a man's life is generally eventful, and gives a direction to his subsequent conduct. To get out of port well, and to pursue a steady and regular course, prepared for winds and storms, is a favorable token of a successful issue to the voyage. Jacob had left his home with the blessings of his parents, but with the anger of his brother Esau. Full of care and anxiety, perhaps with many self-reproaches, he travelled towards Padanaram, anticipating with varied feelings his reception by his uncle Laban. He had proceeded about forty miles when he arrived, at sunset, at a certain place where he determined to rest for the night. The cold ground was his mattrass, the hard stones his pillows, but the God of his fathers was his protection: to his care he committed himself, and satisfied with his favor, he closed his eyes and slept. In his slumbers he had a vision, the remembrance of which followed him through the subsequent days of his earthly pilgrimage. He dreamed, and behold a ladder, set upon the earth, whose top reached to heaven. In former times God frequently communicated his mind by a dream. “God speaketh once, yea twice; in a dream, in a vision of the night, &c." (Job xxxiii. 15.) The dreams of Pharaoh's butler and baker, and that of Pharaoh himself, were eventful, (Gen. xl. 5.) The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, (1 Kings iii. 5.) and to Gideon, Daniel, and Nebuchadnezzar, (see Dan. ii. 1. and vii. 1.) "Sometimes a dream cometh through much business," (Eccles. v. 3.) The mind filled with cogitations through the day, pursues them through the night, mixing them up with strange fantastic visions, all which retire at the opening day. But Jacob's dream was of a different order; it was a divine communication, intended probably to fix his mind upon the constant superintendence and nearness of his God and Father. He dreamed, and behold! a ladder. The word, “ Behold!” is usually prefixed to denote something of importance, of which numerous instances occur in the sacred scriptures. The ladder appears to have typified divine providence, connecting the affairs of heaven and earth, denoting the regular and harmonious unison of its operations; one step leading to a second; a second to a third, and so on. We behold their commencement as we see the first round of the ladder, but the issue is in the clouds, far above human vision or human faculty to comprehend. "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform ; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm." We endeavor to ascend from round to round of this mysterious ladder, but our most subtle conjectures are unavailing. To the mother who has lost her child; to the widow who has been bereft of her fond and endeared partner; to the flock which have been deprived of their beloved minister; to the survivors of the hapless passengers and crew that perished in the wrecked vessel, God says, "What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." Although he gives no account of his proceedings, and none dares to ask him-" What doest thou?" yet all his ways are judgment; he stands above the ladder, controlling, ruling, and ordering all things after the counsel of his own will; all his works praise him, and his saints bless his name; the whole ransomed choir of saints around the throne above, glorify him for all his proceedings in providence and grace, and exclaim with rapturous plaudits—“ Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, O thou king of saints." Jehovah stood above the ladder." His eyes behold, and his eye-lids try the children of men, from the monarch that wields his sceptre over a wide domain, to the peasant of the humble cot, who has not a foot of ground to call his own, and who earns his scanty meal by the sweat of his brow. Events apparently insignificant are important as they are connected with others. A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps; he marks the progress of the tyrant as he goes on conquering and to conquer, pursuing his own designs, and aiming at his own gratification, but really working out the purposes of that God on whom he never bestows a single thought. This part of the vision was intended to impress upon the mind of the patriarch, that Jehovah superintended his steps; that all were directed and controlled by him, and thus his mind should be sustained and comforted by his guidance and consolation. This vision represented the perpetual intercourse between heaven and earth, by the ministry of angels, a subject that has often engaged the researches of the curious, but still remains to a great extent unintelligible. Paul says, they are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto the heirs of salvation. The angels were continually ascending and descending this ladder. "Ascending," says Mr. Henry, "to give account of what they have done, and to receive orders; and, descending, to execute the orders they have received." If the reader will examine the sacred scriptures, he will find constant allusions to the active ministry of these celestial messengers. They rejoice at the conversion of sinners, and unite in the songs of praise to God and the Lamb. How far their agency is connected with saints upon earth is to us unrevealed. Toplady sings, in one of his beautiful compositions "Thy ministering spirits descend, To watch while thy saints are asleep; And angels elect are sent down To guard the elect of mankind." |