show. The root of it is in fallen, proud, human nature; the bud and blossom in a vain imagination; and the effect in misery.

2. That such is the course of this world, and the spirit of the present age, is so self-evident as to require but little of either illustration or argument to prove. Never more than now could it be properly said, "Man walketh in a vain show." So much is ostentatious display the way of the world, and the spirit of the times, that some have arrived at the conviction that a degree of it is really essential to maintain an honourable position, secure respect, and succeed, especially in the distinctive avocations of life.

3. All this is but natural, and however vain and evil, and lamentable it may be, it can easily be accounted for; but, it may well be inquired, Is there such a thing as religious ostentation ?-ostentation in connexion with real or professed religion? Unquestionably; and a remarkable instance appears at the head of this paper, in Jehu, who took up Jonadab, and inquired, "Is thine heart right with mine?" and added, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord." It was an ostentatious display of religion which led the Pharisees of old to make broad their phylacteries, stand at the corners of the streets for prayer, and have a trumpet sounded before them to proclaim their alms; and to condemn and correct it, our Lord commands us to pray in secret, and not let the left hand know what the right hand doeth.

4. But the spirit of our Lord's injunction is too little considered,

understood, and acted upon, by religious professors of the present age. Show, show, show, is all the order of the day, even in connexion with a religion which enjoins every thing of retiring humility and self-abasement. Is there nothing of this in the style of architecture in which houses for worship are erected, in the various appointments of those places, and the vestments used? Is there nothing of this in the style of address, not to say to God, but to the people from the pulpit? Is there not too much of this in the public meetings of religious societies of the present day-in the reports, the addresses, and the proclaimed contributions? And is there not something of this very spirit of ostentation mixed up with that most moving, melting, humbling, and gladdening subject-a revival of religion in the land? Allowing that all doing in that holy cause would be done if it never came to public light, and that wonderful cases of conversion should be published abroad as examples of divine grace and power, and to the praise of His name; still, where there exists a craving desire of distinction, and every small matter is proclaimed and magnified, the prayers, the numbers, the emotions, &c., &c., with the boastful bearing of revivalists of superior sanctity, tact, power, and honour, the cloven foot is evident, the enemy is at hand, and the good cause is in danger of serious damage by means of that evil spirit— religious ostentation. True Christian charity, clothed with retiring humility, should

"Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame."

MR. JOHN MERCER, builder, was born at Tonbridge, in the year 1806. He was brought up in the Established church, and was one of the choir for some time. When about twenty-seven years of age, a friend, who took great interest in his welfare, requested him to aid the choir of the Independent Chapel. He did so, and eventually became its leader. Thus for the first time was he led to enter the threshold of a Nonconformist place of worship.

Three years of regular attendance were passed away ere the truth received into the heart was prevalent. It exercised a preventive influence and restrained from evil. At length, whilst performing his part in the hallelujah chorus, the truth flashed across his mind-that he was a sinner, that sinners should not stand before God; and the question was asked, "I praise God here, shall I praise Him yonder?" The results were heart-searching examination, conversation with Rev. R. Penman, his pastor, and others-change of heart-admission to the church of Christ, and devotion of time and talents to the service of God.

How thorough this devotion was, will appear if we state that, at the time of his decease, he held four offices in connexion with the church -choir-master, deacon, treasurer, and Sunday-school superintendent. He discharged the duties of each

efficiently. As choir-master, his judgment prevented mishaps which too frequently occur where vocal music is unassisted by an organ. As a deacon, he was discreet, prayerful, always at his post on Sabbath and week-day alike, and was ready to make business sacrifices rather than be absent and set a bad example. As treasurer, he was full of confidence in God, and far from niggardly in all dealings with the pastor and the poor of the flock. As superintendent of the Sunday school, twenty years of self-denying effort have shown the strength of his attachment to the young. Although God gave him no children of his own, he was naturally fond of the young. His regard manifested itself in various ways. Not only did he labour amongst them on the Sabbath, but he devoted several hours during the week to their instruction in the science of music. We have seen nearly 200 children attending his classes, and have been as pleased as they with the instruction given them. Knowing that his own conversion was, in some measure, connected with his love for music, he sought to form a taste for it in the young of our Sabbath school. Nor have his pains-taking efforts been unsuccessful. He has led many from evil to Jesus's feet.

His most useful life was terminated by a melancholy accident.

Mr. Mercer was a skilful pyrotechnist, and had a portion of his premises allotted to the manufacture of fireworks. On Saturday, the 22nd of June (the day when the fire broke out in London, and on which Mr. Braidwood was killed), the people of Tonbridge were startled by a loud explosion. Another followed. It was found to proceed from this workshop, and friends rushed to the rescue; but they were too late to save the life of Mr. Mercer. He was found much burnt and bruised; but not hopelessly injured. It was thought, that, owing to a healthy constitution and his past temperate life, he would ultimately recover; but it pleased God to remove him on Thursday morning, June 27th, at the age of fifty-five. His end was peace.

On the Sabbath following, more than 2,000 followed his remains to the grave. Many of these had been Sunday scholars in the Independent Sabbath school. Gentlemen of various denominations have combined for the purpose of erecting a monument to his memory. A marble tablet is also to adorn the walls of the school-room where he has so long laboured, and photographs are to be given to the children.

The funeral sermon was preached by his pastor, the Rev. W. M. Lennox, on the evening of the Sabbath on which his remains were interred. The chapel and schoolroom were crowded with most attentive hearers; and it is fervently hoped that this our great sorrow may result in permanent and heartfelt joy. W. M. L. Tonbridge, July 15th, 1861.

MRS. STRINGER, Leader of the Singing in the Independent Chapel, Cannock, who departed this life, July 31st, 1861.

"And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day."GEN. XXXV. 19, 20.

THAT pillar, the monument of Jacob's affection for his beloved Rachel, remained not only until the days of Moses, but we read of it in 1 Sam. x. 1, 2.

On this truly mournful occasion we would not add to your sorrows by dwelling upon the circumstances connected with the text; but propose,

I. To illustrate the expression of verse 18th," as her soul was in departing." Death is the departure of a soul. 1. From what? (1.) From all the occupations of life. However inconvenient it may be, when death comes, "the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator,"-all depart. (2.) From the nearest and dearest relatives and friends. Neither does death admit of correspondence. But "if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." (3.) From the means of grace. The Bible will be closed; the throne of grace taken down; and all our assemblings together for divine worship discontinued.

(4.) From the body. Death will dig through the houses of sunburnt clay; dash the earthen vessels in pieces; tear off the old, worn-out, "vile" raiment; dissolve the tabernacle; and cast the "bare grain into the ground, that sown in corruption it may be raised in incorruption, glory, power, a spiritual body. 2. Whither will the soul go on its departure from the body? "It doth not yet appear what we shall be," in the intermediate state. How disembodied spirits hold intercourse with each other might be unintelligible to us as telegraphic communications to the savage. But this we know, that the righteous will be present with the Lord, and the wicked will go to his own place. All will be recalled by the final trumpet; and an eternity of happiness or misery will be the result to every individual.

II. The preparation necessary that we may, like old Simeon, "depart in peace."

"Oft as the bell with solemn toll Speaks the departure of a soul, Let each one ask himself, 'Am I Prepared, should I be called to die ?'"'

1. The preparation must be scriptural. 2. Constant. 3. Speedy. "Then I must die," said an old sinner when his case was pronounced hopeless. In those words, there is solemnity, cersays one, tainty, and personality." What a sermon! O that every one would apply it. Yes; the old must die, but the young may, may soon, may suddenly. Lately I was called upon to improve the death of a young man, now of a young woman; then

I pointed there, now there; where next?

In conclusion, what shall I say of our departed sister? She came amongst us a bride and a stranger; we listened again and again to her soft yet powerful voice; and she is gone. The rumbling of the wheels in the dark and dreary night, when they conveyed her away to bury her in her own country and amongst her own kindred, is still in our ears. The cries of the babe she left behind, but only for a few short days, still distress us.

But there is "strong consolation " for them that mourn. On her deathbed she had not religion to seek, but to enjoy. "Thy will be done, and not mine," expressed the resignation of her departing soul, the inward joys of which broke out in feeble song to "Zion's hill," only a few hours before she ascended. Farewell, happy spirit! Thou art removed from the evil to come. May we meet thee in a brighter world,

"Then will we sing more sweet, more loud,

And Christ shall be our song."

physically timid. The near approach of the agony which he had witnessed in others unnerved him; and in a moment of mental and moral prostration, Cranmer may well have looked in the mirror which Pole held up to him, and asked himself whether, after all, the being there described was his true imagewhether it was himself as others saw him. A faith which had existed for centuries; a faith in which generation after generation have lived happy and virtuous lives; a faith in which all good men are agreed, and only the bad dispute; such a faith carries an evidence and a weight with it, beyond what can be looked for in a creed reasoned out by individuals; a creed which had the ban upon it of inherited execration, which had been held in abhorrence once by him who was now called upon to die for it.

"Only fools and fanatics believe that they cannot be mistaken. Sick misgivings may have taken hold upon him in moments of despondency, whether, after all, the millions who received the Roman supremacy might not be more right than the thousands who denied it; whether the argument on the Real Presence, which had satisfied him for fifty years, might not be better founded than his recent doubts. It is not possible for a man, of gentle and modest nature, to feel himself the object of intense detestation without uneasy pangs; and as such thoughts came and went, a window might seem to open, through which there was a return to life and freedom. His trial was not greater than hundreds had borne, and would bear

with constancy; but the temperaments of men are unequally constituted, and a subtle intellect and a sensitive organization are not qualifications which make martyrdom easy.

"Life, by the law of the church, by justice, by precedent, was given to all who would accept it on terms of submission. That the Archbishop should be tempted to recant, with the resolution formed notwithstanding that he should still suffer, whether he yielded or whether he was obstinate, was a suspicion which his experience as legate had not taught him to entertain. So it was that Cranmer's spirit gave way; and he who had disdained to fly, when flight was open to him, because he considered that having done the most in establishing the Reformation, he was bound to face the responsibility of it, fell at last under the protraction of the trial.

"So perished Cranmer. He was brought out with the eyes of his soul blinded, to make sport for his enemies; and, in his death, he brought upon them a wider destruction than he had effected by his teaching while alive. Pole was appointed the next day to the See of Canterbury. But the Court had overreached themselves by their cruelty. Had they been contented to accept the recantation, they could have left the Archbishop to die broken-hearted, pointed at by the finger of pitying scorn, and the Reformation would have been disgraced in its champion. They were tempted, by an evil spirit of revenge, into an act unsanctioned even by