that they are guided by him in the same sense as a horse is guided by his rider. These sentiments, and all similar sentiments are erroneous and hurtful-they are specimens of the great mischief which ignorance, and presumption can inflict even upon the cause of truth-they are stumbling blocks which should be shunned by every one that would keep the faith. God's promises to instruct, and preserve the disciples of his Son, are limited to that which is necessary for them, and best for them on the whole; to those gifts and that assistance, which will conduce to their eternal welfare. God's commands are declared to us, not in the treacherous tablets of our own breasts; but in the pages of His own everlasting Gospel. The words that cannot deceive are written there and there will sober. minded Christians seek them. The imagination, as they well know, is full of error, always ready to pass off her own miserable conceits for the dictates of the Sovereign Creator. They listen to her therefore with suspicion. They compare her suggestions with the revelation of God-and when the two are found at variance, as they too frequently are, the latter only is believed. Attend to these plain rules, and you will never be led astray in the crooked paths of superstition. Do not doubt that God directs and governs. Do not presume to understand the individual acts of his administration. Do not forget that he has instructed us miraculously in the Scriptures; and that other Evangelists must be inspired, and other miracles must be wrought, before the old revelation can be superseded by a new one. When you take upon yourself to declare that any particular event was brought to pass by the Almighty for a particular purpose you judge of that which is beyond your knowledge. When you regulate your actions by your own caprice, under the idea of submitting yourself wholly to the guidance of the Spirit, you undervalue, you misunderstand, you reject the Gospel of the Son. But steering clear of these follies and enormities, you may still firmly trust in the particular providence of the Almighty-and enjoy every benefit which this consoling doctrine affords. Whence comes it then that the doctrine itself should be so frequently overlooked. The revelation of it in Scripture is indisputable. The argument against it, as being conducive to superstition, is weak and sophistical-and how are we to account for the neglect which it experiences. From the carelessness, the lukewarmness, the ignorance of man. Some of us act as if we were literally incapable of taking thought for the morrow. Not for the passing and perishing morrow of this world. That has its full share of our anx iety and exertion. But the long morrow of the grave, the day in which we shall be called to give an account of our stewardship, the provision that ought to be made for everlasting life, these are forgotten as if they were the dreams of our childhood-they do not actuate our conduct, they do not even occur to our recollection. This is the last and lowest stage of irreligion—and though it may occasionally happen that persons who are thus situated, preserve a decent outward character, yet are they evidently entire strangers to God and godliness. They offer him no prayer, they return him no thanks-they pay him no obedience, they shew him no respect. God is not in all their thoughts. Their heart is never touched by contrition, or by gratitude. Their spirit is never strengthened by his quickning grace; their frailty is never subdued by his holy will and word. What they see, they believe, they pursue, and they enjoy. But the invisible things of the world to come are concealed from the eyes which delight in vanity; and God's Providence is not improved to the salvation of their no souls, because they are determined St to forget it. They do not disbelieve; they do not doubt-but the pleasures and cares of this life choke the seed that has been sown: good disposition can grow, or even live-no progress can be made in the journey to heaven-they travel on another road-of which the end is misery and ruin. A second, and it may be hoped a more numerous class, who do not adequately improve their faith in Providence, consists of persons who are accustomed to turn their thoughts to God, upon great occasions, but do not deem it necessary to ask for bis assistance in ordinary events. It would be uncharitable to say that these individuals are without religion-but we are bound to tell them that their conduct is neither commendable nor consistent. If they feel that God vouchsafes his aid in those momentous concerns, which readily induce them to desire it, how can they doubt that he interferes in minor points also, and that 3 his aid should be supplicated, and his blessings acknowledged? The distinction is evidently untenable. We should not wait for prodigious and alarming occurrences, before we acknowledge or adore the God that reigneth in heaven-but we should discern and contemplate his gracious providence in the ordinary course of events. While we are well and at our ease, we should thank and honour our Protector-not waiting till we are roused by calamity and suffering; but ready and willing to serve from love rather than from fear. The God of the Christians is like the God of Elijah. Not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire -but in the still small voice. The events of each succeeding day speak, if you will listen to them, distinctly of our Maker. The body that He has given us must be supported; and where can nourishment be pro. cured unless God giveth the fruits of the earth in their season-and preserves to those fruits the quality of feeding and nourishing us which they received, and still receive from him. The same is obviously true of every other convenience and comfort-and why are such truths overlooked? The majority, it is to be feared do overlook them, not reflecting upon God's superintendance and care, until their confidence in human protection has deceived them. The pangs of a mortal disease, the sight of sudden, or awful death, the havock of plague, pestilence and famine, perhaps even the arrival of an extraordinary and unlooked-for blessing will reach and pierce the heart. But why has it thus waited for the storm and the blast; why has it resisted kind and gentle admonitions, forgetting to turn to God until his anger was provoked, and turning to him at last in terror? Can you answer these questions? Can you prove the propriety of such a system? Have you any reason to admire its effects? One answer, and one only must be given, and it is an answer which condemns the whole practice that I have described. Let us briefly reflect upon the very different behaviour of those who really and practically believe in a particular Providence. In the first place such persons do not permit themselves to consider any portion of their behaviour as trifling or unimportant. The very hairs of their head are all numbered. They know, and feel, and remember that in the infinite and complicated variety of causes and effects, very important results proceed from small beginnings. Consequently all the little proprieties and decencies of behaviour are regarded as indispensable. The petty offences which are too often treated as mere subjects of mirth, are numbered, that they may be shunned. Habits are scrutinised with still greater jealousy and minuteness, that such as are found wanting, may be cast off. This is the very foundation of wisdom and goodness it fosters caution, selfexamination, and humility. It checks vice, the moment that the shoot is seen above the ground. It cherishes prudence, and piety, and every rational pursuit. And perhaps it tends more to preserve our tender years in innocence, and thus enable us to give the flower of our life to God, than any other moral practice whatsoever. The penitent does well, when he perceives and laments his faults; and with a wasted frame and exhausted spirits, with a palled appetite, and a wounded conscience returns at last to God. But they do much better who serve God from the beginning: who give him their hearts in the days of their youth; and by remembering that no action is unimportant in His sight, that every thing we do, or say, or think, will make us either better or worse, become sober and considerate even in the dawn of their days; and have no weary steps to retrace, no long list of follies and crimes to remember and regret. The dissipated and idle in youth bid fair to become the abandoned and profligate in old age; and it is by shunning their path, by refusing to believe that small faults are unimportant, or unseductive, by stifling evil propensities in the birth, that the virtuous portion of mankind gather strength for their career. They are further assisted by the second maxim which ought always to be found in the mouth of one who believes in God. Nothing is or can be hid from his sight. The most trifling object is important, the most secret is seen. Set your hearts on man's approbation; and the concealment of your crimes may enable you to obtain without deserving it. But "the eyes of the Lord are in every place-beholding the evil and the good." It is necessary therefore to be as strict when alone as when in company-it is necessary to weigh our thoughts in as exact a balance, as the words which we are to pro. Bounce upon some, solemn occa sion, or the actions which we are to perform before the most august and attentive assembly. For all is known; is seen; and nothing can be for. gotten-To deny or to doubt this, is to question God's Providenceto remember it is to cherish the best principles of self-government and self-controul-to enter upon the straight but narrow path-to prepare for taking an active and successful part in the glorious fight of faith. Again, he that really believes in God's especial Providence, must be devout, and humble, and spiritually minded. Feel that all depends upon the Lord--that with him are the is sues of life, the life both of the body and the soul-and you cannot long pray to Him with irregularity or lukewarmness. You must be bound to acknowledge, what your reason has bound you to believe; and believing in the want, and in the acquisition of God's care and grace, your sense of both will soon be confessed upon your knees. Allow yourself to reflect for a few moments at the commencement of every day, upon the gifts which God has given, and which at his pleasure he can recall, ask yourself where you should be, if his protection were withdrawn; persevere in this system but for a few short weeks, and you will learn to pray to the great Maker of all things, not merely with the dead, and worthless homage of the lip, but with a heart that knows its wants. Is it a matter of indifference to you whether God, continues or withdraws your earthly comforts? Are you prepared to part with every thing that you love, esteem, and admire? with your homes and your fortunes, with your friends and your family, with your health, your strength, your life? If not, on whom must you depend for their preservation? On God and on God alone. And is it unreasonable that you should pray to him, that you should love him, and that you should fear him! Mix up the thought of his all sustaining Providence with every want, and every wish, and every care that you feel. If the thing that you desire is of such a nature, that you dare not fall down and pray to God for it, be assured that the desire is impure and sinful; and that the accomplishment of it would injure and debase you. You have no right to expect an exemption from trouble and painthey are the appointed lot of man. You have no right to covet honour, and riches, and aggrandizement God has not promised them to those whom he loves and will protect. You have still less right to demand any licentious indulgence; any gratification of the senses, of the imagination, or of the taste which is in. compatible with innocence and purity. The wish for such will be suppressed in the bosom that is duly penetrated with a sense of God's Providence. And in exchange it will receive a conviction that they injure much more than they delight-and that He at whose bidding they are surrendered can furnish us with more valuable and more enduring gifts. That is to say, we shall turn to the Lord, as to the giver, not merely of temporal but of eternal health and wealth: we shall acknowledge our entire dependence upon his mercy and grace, we shall supplicate that assistance which is never refused to the sincere. Not a sparrow can fall to the ground, without the permission and acquiescence of God. Much more, not a Christian can wander from his course and perish, while the Lord of all things holds him up. This truth is admitted and acted upon by the believers in that Providence which we have described. They are grateful for the redemption which has been procured by the merits of their Saviour-they are grateful for the continued intercession which he makes at his Father's Throne-they are grateful for that renovation which is conferred by the Spirit, upon every sincere, and humble, and contrite disciple of Jesus. They are grateful for these blessings because they appreciate and prize them; and as they understand their genuine worth, they are zealous in endeavouring to secure them. They humble themselves before Him who filleth the hungry with good things they supplicate the merciful One who heareth prayer. They trust not in the broken reed of human merit; but in the blood of a Redeemer who died to save. In short the result of that behaviour which we have endeavoured to recommend, is thisIt renders men holy in all manner of conversation, careful, honest, sober, lowly, pious. Each of these qualities springs naturally from the root and stock of faith, and you who believe in One God the Father of all, and in Jesus Christ his Son, may acquire these qualities and shew them forth to his glory, if you will act up to those principles which you adopt and profess, if you will practically and in your hearts believe in his Providence and care. The God that supports the sparrow in its flight, and numbers all the hairs of your head, will condescend to watch over and preserve every creature he has formed and those that seek him diligently he will not fail to reward. THE sacred Ogdoas in Egypt, which was held in great veneration, consisted of eight personages described in a boat, who were esteemed the most ancient gods of the country. This number was held sacred, and esteemed mysterious by other nations. It is observable that the Chinese have somewhat more than two hundred principal elementary characters, and out of these all other representations are formed, by which, in writing, they express their ideas. By these combinations the characteristic is, in some degree, made a definition of the thing represented, and it has often a relation to the original history. Some of these have a reference to this mystical number eight, of which I shall give two instances of a very curious nature. They are taken from the let ter of that learned Jesuit at Pekin, who wrote in answer to some queries sent by the Royal Society at London. Le caractere de barque, vaisseau, est composé de la figure de vaisseau, de celle de bouche, et du chiffre huit ce qui peut faire allusion au nombres des personnes qui etoient dans l'arche. On trouve en'core les deux caracteres huit, et bouche avec celui d'eau pour exprimer navigation heureuse. Si c'est un hazard, il s'accorde bien avec le fait. The same reference to the number eight is to be observed in the history of Mount Masis, or Ararat. It was called the mountain Thamanim, or Tshamanim; and there was a town towards the foot of the mountain of the same name, which was supposed to have been built by Noah. Now Thaman is said, in the ancient language of the country, to have signified eight, and was analagous to the Shaman of the Hebrews, which denotes the same number. Ebn Patircius mentions the ark resting upon Ararat, and calls the district below, the region of the Themanin. He also mentions the city of the same name: and he says that it was so called from the eight persons who came out of the ark. Other writers express it, Thamanim, which is a plural from Thaman. Terra Thamanim signifies the region of the eight persons whose history needs no explanation. It is so rendered by Elmacini, who speaks of the town, and styles the place which Noah built after that he came out of the ark. William de Rubruquis, who travelled into Tartary in the year 1253, and returned by Armenia, has a remarkable passage to this purpose. "Near the city Naxuan, there are mountains called Masis, upon which they say that the ark of Moses rested. There are two of these mountains, the one greater than the other, and the Araxes runneth at the foot of them. There is also a little town Cemainum, which is by interpretation eight: for they say it was so called from the eight persons who came out of the ark, and built it. This is plain from the name; for Cemainum signifies eight. They call the mountain the mother of the world." From hence we may perceive that what this writer renders Cemainum, should rather have been expressed Shemainum, or Shemanum; for it is undoubtedly the same as the Themanim and Thamanim of Elmacini and others, and analagous to the Shaman of the Hebrews. The town of the Thamanim, or Shamanim, was so called from those eight primoval persons, who were said to have founded it. There is reason to think, that it was the same as Naxuan, a very ancient city, which is mentioned by Ptolemy, and placed upon the Araxes. The editor of Moses Chorenensis has some curious observations upon the history of this place. "This town, which seems to be the Naxuana of Ptolemy, is close upon the plain of Araratia ; and held in great regard by the Armenians, who give out that it is the most ancient place in the world, and built immediately after the deluge by Noah. Galanus, a Roman Presbyter, who wrote an account of the Armenian Church, being reconciled |