But the mourner's desire to possess this wonder-working volume became stronger and stronger, and the following note was sent, Can you not lend me your invaluable treasure for a few hours? I will not be unreasonable, it shall be returned to you soon.' Being lent, it was sent back with the following note, 'I have been deeply affected by your generous confidence, in leaving with me a book so precious to you. I dare not keep it longer; but pray let me have a Bible. It shall never leave me. It shall be my guidemy support-perhaps, one day my consolation! When I shall have obtained that holy joy, you shall know of it, that your heavenly charity may be rewarded. Do not leave me to myself. I trust I shall yet understand your object. O, my God, give me strength and perseverance. I feel as if I could repose myself in God with confidence. Sometimes I feel as if I could love him with all my soul; and while I ask him, with fervency, to give the illumination I so much want, I do-not, I cannot doubt, but he will communicate the light necessary to my feeble understanding.'

After the Bible was sent, this note was received: 'I cannot thank you sufficiently for providing me with the only occupation of which I am capable; but I cannot say that your present has brought consolation to my wounded heart. I must acknowledge, that, after reading it, I am more deeply afflicted; am even more sorrowful, more dejected than before I read it. Shall I tell you why? I am led to look back upon my past life with horror; and the dreadful thought suggests itself, 'Is it not probable that my sins brought on my child his dreadful catastrophe?' O, my God! was I indeed the cause of all he suffered, in life and in death? I can only weep abundantly. Divine grace must do all for me.'

The sorrow referred to was not surprising. Of the Holy Ghost, it is promised, 'that He shall convince of sin.' That knowledge of God which he imparts is inseparably connected with the knowledge of one's self, and the more the light of Divine truth, with respect to the holiness, purity, and majesty of God, is shed upon the mind, the greater is the opportunity of discerning the depth of personal unworthiness and guilt. The Holy Spirit does not become the Comforter by applying a false peace in the hour of distress. He does not heal the conscience slightly, but lays bare the poison that lurks within, that the means of its removal may be more successfully employed. He exposes the malady of the heart, and then applies the Gospel to the mind which he has prepared to appreciate it. They that be

whole,' said the Saviour, need not a physician, but they that are sick,' (Matt. ix. 12).

A knowledge gained from personal experience, of the essential principles of true religion, enabled the Countess at once to meet the case of her friend. She addressed to her a letter, the great object of which was to present to her view the Lord Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Gospel-as the physician of souls-the only hope of the sinner. The fulness and freeness of his grace were dwelt upon, his promise that He would cast out none who came to him, (John vi. 37); His power, that 'He is able to save to the uttermost,' (Heb. vii. 25); His great intention, that He had come, that whosoever believeth on him, should not perish, but have eternal life,' (John iii. 15).

This communication was thus acknowledged, 'Your letter has made me weer much; but do not repent having written it, for the tears were the gentlest and kindest I ever shed. My heart is rivetted to that phrase, able to save to the uttermost. (Heb vii. 25). I thank you, I thank you! for having shed balm on my wounds. I want to talk with you over my sorrows and my hopes; if you can believe that I ought to have any hope. Oh, yes, yes! I have indeed hope, although it is mingled with sorrow. But, mercy, mercy!'

After this the Countess had an interesting interview with her friend. She found that the Spirit had indeed begun the good work, and was gradually leading her mind into all truth. Grief and despair had given way to a strong anxiety to understand the Word of God. This new study absorbed her whole soul; She said she read it incessantly, and when she met with any difficulty, she uttered her first prayer, 'O Lord, give me light, that I may know thee.' There,' said she, I often find more force, beauty, and information, in that which had confounded me, than in all I understood before.' She said also, 'This book is my nightly comfort, as well as my daily occupation. When I cannot sleep, my attendant brings me my book, and places the candle at my pillow; and so the night becomes no more tedious nor gloomy.'

Attempts were made by her sister to lead her back to the darkness of infidel philosophy; but in vain. The Lord was her keeper.' She read the Bible, and loved to adorn its doctrine. Adversity was to her a rich blessing. The sorrow which bowed her down was in mercy to her soul. 'God doth not afflict willingly.' (Lam. iii. 33). He doth it for our profit.'

He causeth us to pass under the rod, that he may bring us into the bond of his covenant.' (Ezek. xx. 37). Painful may

be his discipline in the school of affliction; but it comes from the hand of love.

Reader, art thou in trouble? Has the stroke of affliction fallen on thee? Is there not a cause? Is thine heart acquainted with God as thy God? Knowest thou the riches of his grace, by a personal interest through faith in Jesus? Then he will teach thee more perfectly the lessons thou hast already begun to learn. He will manifest himself to thee more fully, and lead thee, with increased feeling, to say, 'whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.' (Ps. lxxiii. 25.)

Reader, art thou yet a stranger to all but the name of Jesus; dost thou not know his preciousness to those who believe; hast thou not cast thyself at his feet, saying, 'Lord, save me, or I perish;' but dost thou feel thy case to be desperate, and that thy troubled spirit needs rest? Oh, seek it in the way this narrative unfolds. Turn to the Scriptures. Read them as they may never have been read before. Adopt the petition, O Lord, enlighten me by thy Spirit, that I may know thee.' Yield, troubled spirit, yield to the hand that smites thee. Thy soul is provided for. Come unto me, and I will give you rest.' (Matt. xi. 28.) It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' (1 Tim. i. 15.)

A lost and sinful world to save,
In human form the Saviour came:
He laid his glory by,

To bear our sin and shame.

A king-he left for us his Father's throne, He came and was rejected by his own!

A man of sorrows and of grief,-
Homeless-in humble garb arrayed;

A world's iniquity

Was on his shoulders laid.

Despised and poor-he boundless riches gave; Stricken-he came omnipotent to save.

But, oh to us how beautiful

The feet of him, the Holy One:

Herald of endless peace

To all beneath the sun!

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SACRED HISTORY.

THE TIMES OF THE MESSIAH.

NO. I.

THE Christian era is the index on the dial of time, around which the cycle of all history revolves; the epoch to which all time past looked forward; and the era to which all time future looks back. Its epochs rise in the gloom of antiquity, and its eras end in the glory of eternity. It is like a inagnificent lake which receives into its bosom the rivers that roll from the remote interior, till its waters, swelling up, overflow its banks, and again flow onwards to the ocean. It is an interesting study to notice its ancient landmarks, to trace out the source and progress of those events which flow on to it, and to mark the course of history in all the changes which flow from it. There are two of its epochs which seem to us as most worthy of notice-the histories of the east and west. We may trace the course of events in each; but at present we shall confine our remarks to the history of the east.

As the tribes of the east were less given to change than those of the west, they were more conservative in their customs, and preserved their traditions more pure and entire, and if there was one of the eastern nations more distinguished than another for its adherence to the manners and customs of the early ages, the honour of that distinction belongs to Persia. Long after other nations had sunk into the grossest idolatry, and 'had changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, to birds and beasts and creeping things,' the Persians had never wandered from the heavens for an emblem of the divinity, and continued in the ancient worship of the sun. their country was bounded by that of Media, the two nations were joined by the ties of neighbourhood, and of a similar faith and customs, and were prepared to combine in a common cause, and to become amalgamated as a united nation. As Media was joined on the east by Assyria, the Medes were the first to come into collision with that powerful state, and were constantly engaged in all its wars, either as its ally or its enemy. The rise and pro

As

Then be it sung,

The incense of the heart to heaven!

Lord, let our daily praise

To thy great name be given !

In this frail scene, be thou our trust, our love; Poor pilgrims here, we seek a home above.

R. K. G.

with a new feature in human history, and exhibits to us the first picture of a religious war. From inscriptions which have been found in Assyria and Babylonia, it appears that the chief motives for the Assyrian conquests was to extend the honour of their gods and to propagate their worship by the sword. In these memorials of their raids, the power and favour of their gods is ac

knowledged, the name of the chief is stated, the country invaded is described, the number of temples destroyed and gods taken is given, then an altar is erected to the immortal gods,' and the conqueror returns laden with booty and followed by a host of captives. It is in this light that the Assyrian power is represented to us in the Scriptures. It is at war with the worship and gods of the nations: when the people submit to its system of propagandism, they are favourably treated; but when they resist, the sword desolates the country, and its gods and men are led captive to other lands. Thus each nation was well adapted to serve the purpose for which it had been chosen-Media to become the home of the expatriated tribes of Israel; Assyria to become amalgamated with Chaldea, and be the rod of God's anger' to awe the Jews and sweep their country; and Persia to preserve the faith of the early ages, to unite with Media and crush the power of the Assyrian after he had finished his mission, and to shed the light of a simple creed over the many errors of the times.

A nation guided by a spirit like that of Assyria will cut a strange figure in sa cred history; yet we expect to discover in its mad evolutions, the method of a concerted plan the evidences of a presiding power taking advantage of the fury of the unconscious elements to forward its own purpose, till all is made to harmonize in exhibiting the providence, and in establishing the reign of God on the earth. The Assyrian kings who are chiefly referred to in Scripture, are Pul, and his successors, Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon; and the reigns of these five princes comprehend nearly the whole period of the second Assyrian empire. It began with Pul, who united the kingdoms of Media and Nineveh, and having given that of Babylon to his second son, converted it into a dependent state. It terminated shortly after the time of Esarhaddon, from whom the Medes revolted, and by whom Babylon was again united to Nineveh. The Assyrians made their first descent on Israel under Pul, and as Manahem had no faith to fight for, and was besides a usurper, he was ready to sell the liberties of his country to secure his throne; and thus the first storm passed lightly over the land. But as the people were not satisfied with the ransom money exacted from them, they did not comply readily with the terms, and the country was again visited by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser. Knowing his spirit and errand, we can easily anticipate the first point of attack. The northern district was not only the most exposed from the position, but the most notorious for its superstition. It was there that a portion of the

Danites had first set up idolatry; it was there that Jeroboam had established one of his rival altars; and it was there, on the people that walked in darkness,' that judgment began. It was well that the first sinners should be the first sufferers; that the calf of Dan should be the first prize of the conquerors; and that its worshippers should be the first captives from Israel. The hour for Samaria and Jerusalem was not yet come, but events were preparing them for it. Ahaz having ascended the throne of Judah, and apostatized from the religion of his country, lost the confidence of his people, and was attacked on every side by his enemies. But instead of tracing the disasters of his reign to his own misgovernment, he ascribed them to the influence of foreign gods, and to propitiate their favour, he erected 'altars in every street in Jerusalem.' Receiving no aid from these, he next applies to the King of Assyria, confesses that he was his son,' one like minded with himself, and offers to become his 'servant,' if he would only come and help him against his enemies. These kindred spirits having met at Damascus, felt no difficulty in coming to an agreement: the propagandist did not require to go to Judah and 'erect an altar,' for the apostate sends a 'pattern of an altar' to Jerusalem, and gives orders to make all needed alterations on the worship there for the King of Assyria.' This being settled, Samaria is again visited, and Hoshea having submitted, the crusade of the Assyrians had now spread their altars from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea. The Jewish writers state, that it was at this time that Shalmaneser took away the calf from Bethel, and that Hoshea removed the guards which had been placed at the frontiers of the kingdom, to prevent the Israelites from going up to worship at Jerusalem: as the state religion in both countries was now the same, the people were allowed and encouraged to associate in their common worship. But Judaism, though conquered, was not destroyed, for the death of Ahaz, dissolved this holy alliance,' when the Jews not only revolted, but took advantage of the circumstances of the Israelites, to invite them to join in restoring the worship of their fathers, and the now united nations swept every symbol of foreign vassalage and worship from the land. This was a declaration of independence, and Assyria made ready to crush it, and Judah and Israel prepared to defend it. On the one side was marshalled all the power of the east, and on the other all the forces of the south and west were mustering; so that from Media to Egypt all were busy in preparing for the approaching contest to decide who was to be the greatest god. It was evident that a great crisis

was at hand, but it would not have been expedient to leave the settlement of this question to the seeming chances of war; some decision that would more clearly mark the interposition of a divinity was needed to manifest to the watching nations that Jehovah was God. Besides, it was not against the people, but against the God of Judah that the Assyrian had drawn the sword; and as the noise of his blasphemy, like the cry of murdered blood, had reached the heavens, it was well that some superhuman power should crush this scorner of God and scourge of man. Hence, after Samaria had been subdued, Ethiopia overcome, and Egypt overawed, and Judah left alone in the breach, unable to resist and unwilling to yield, with no defence but its faith, and no hope but in its God, then 'the Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,' and halted for the night within one short mile of Jerusalem. This extremity was God's opportunity. 'He made bare his holy arm in the sight of all nations;' in the darkness, death passed over the host; the sun rose on the camp of the dead; and the remnants of the God-stricken army fled to their own distant homes. Thy shepherds slumber, O King of Assyria, thy valiant ones are in the dust, thy people are scattered on the mountains and no man gathereth them, there is no healing of thy bruise; all that bear the fruit of thee shall clap the hands on thee, for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed?'

We may now inquire how far the conquests of Assyria and the defeat of Sennacherib affected society. Did the storm which swept over Asia uproot the superstition of the times? When it rolled like a dark cloud from east to west, and burst amid the hills of Palestine, did the heathen see aught of heaven through the riven cloud? and when it fell on the earth, did it 'fall like water spilt on the ground,' or, 'like the rain,' did it accomplish the pleasure and further the purpose of Him that sent it? It appears, First, That superstition was prevented from taking a deep root in the east. Before the rise of the Assyrian power the nations had chosen their gods, and each confined their worship to their own deity. In the west nothing occurred to disturb this arrangement, so that the national religion of Greece became so interwoven with the feelings and customs of the people, that it outlived all the political changes in the country. But in the east no time was given for this, the nations had scarcely selected their gods before the Assyrian appeared with the demand that they should also worship his, and as superstition has more fear than faith, the people readily adopted the worship of the most powerful. Also as their own gods had not protected them from the conqueror, they❘

could not feel themselves under strong obligations to worship gods that did not save. They were probably also but a type of a class, who having more policy than piety, would voluntarily embrace his creed, 'because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them that they may help me.' Besides, as the Assyrians had transplanted the conquered nations from one country to another, the new settlers would feel it difficult to decide whether they ought to worship the gods which presided over the lands of their birth or of their settlement, and many would, in their perplexity, follow the plan of the new colonists of Israel, serve both; and as 'no man can serve two masters' aright, the spirit of their religion vanished and left but an empty form behind. Hence, while the Medes and Persians soon recovered their independence, and were able to restore and reform their own religion, the nations near to Assyria on the west had theirs so often changed and so much divided, that their attachment to the gods of their fathers was never so strong, and they were more ready to receive any new impression. Secondly, The defeat of Sennecharib destroyed the fear of the god of Nineveh, and extended the fame of the God of Judah. Had the Assyrian power been allowedto increase without any check, its altars might have acquired a foundation as broad and lasting as the power of the crescent, but on one disastrous field their faith and power were cloven down, and the blood of the last of the propagandists of Nineveh was sprinkled on the first and only sorrowing altar which its chivalry had reared. The finale is full of meaning. On the one side of the picture we have, so he returned with shame of face to his own land, and when he was come into the house of his own god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword;' and on the reverse we have, and many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah King of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.' Sennacherib had been the terror of all nations, and his defeat would be interesting news to them all. The King of Babylon having heard that Hezekiah had been sick, and of the singular deliverance which God had given him, sent letters to congratulate him on his recovery, 'and ambassadors to inquire of the wonder done in the land.' It is to be regretted that no proper answer was given to these inquirers, and that Hezekiah, instead of explaining all that God had done for him and his people, only exhibited his riches-a sad evidence that he had more regard for his own grandeur than for God's glory. This act of culpable

vanity seems to indicate that the many favours now given to the Jews, instead of improving their personal piety, only provoked their national pride, and thus the only stain on a blameless life is like the first plague-spot of that pestilence which soon after this withered the religion and quenched the glory of Judah. But though the Jew might in his prosperity forget the salvation which God had wrought for him, yet in his adversity, when he wandered in a strange land as a witness for God amongst the heathen, these deliverances would be to him as a defensive armoury, furnishing him 'with the shield of faith, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.' Thus armed for his war of passive resistance to the religion and customs of the times, he was firm in the hour of peril, and instead of looking forward to danger, he looked upward for deliverance, and, giving forth his battle cry, our God will deliver,' he stood ready to dare or to endure all the consequences of commanded duty. If the result of this defeat was not all that might have been expected in Judah, nor what was desirable in Babylon, neither was it what it ought to have been in Egypt. There the fall of Sennacherib was well known; but as the means by which it was effected was not mentioned, the priests took advantage of this to invent such an agency as would favour the superstition of their own country, and give their gods the credit of the deed. Hence the origin of the legend recorded by Herodotus, of a swarm of mice entering the camp of the Assyrians, and cutting the bow-strings of the soldiers, so that they were left defenceless in the hands of their enemies. It appears that the Persians were the only foreigners who took a benefit from the stirring events of the times, for the first Zoroaster is believed to have flourished about this period, and possibly these events not only gave the first impulse to his reformation, but formed the groundwork of those miracles which are ascribed to him. May not the contest between the God of Judah and the god of Assyria, and the temporary success and final overthrow of the latter, have given shape to the lingering shadows of tradition, and suggested the first outlines of the Magian system, that is, only two gods-the one good, the other evil the latter to be successful for a season, then overcome, and after that the reign of peace to commence ? Thirdly, The defeat of Sennacherib led to important changes in the political relations of society. The greater portion of the ten tribes were carried captive because of their resistance to the religion and power of Assyria, and being placed in the cities of the Medes, it is probable that their example would not only stimulate their neighbours

to revolt, but that they would also help the Medes in their struggle with the common enemy. Also the messengers sent by the King of Babylon to Hezekiah, the nature of the reception they received from the Jewish prince, and the form of the reproof given by Isaiah, seems to indicate a design on the part of Babylon to seek to recover its independence, by an alliance with Judah. It is at least certain, that immediately after the death of Sennacherib, the Medes regained their independence, and that Esarhaddon, to secure the Babylonians, again united them to Nineveh. But though this last of the great princes of Assyria made a vigorous effort to maintain the supremacy of his country, yet the spell of its power was broken; and the Medes and Babylonians having, soon after this, united their forces, Nineveh was overcome, and the sceptre of Asia passed into the hands of the King of Babylon. The seat of empire being changed, the din of strife was carried farther west, and the Persians were allowed time and opportunity to renew their strength, and prepare for the time of their manifestation. The transfer of the power over Asia from Nineveh to Babylon was only a change of masters, not of measures, for the spirit of both nations was the same; and as Pharaoh was confirmed in his obstinacy in order to multiply the evidences of God's power, these nations appear to have been continued in authority till all that God had purposed by them was accomplished. Society was preparing to receive instruction, and Judah was ripening for chastisement, and as soon as Babylon had established its dominion over the east, and Jerusalem had filled the cup of its iniquity, then the axe which had long lain at the root of the tree, ready to strike, was applied, Judaism was cut down, and its leaves scattered abroad for the healing of the waters.

(To be continued.)

G. B., C.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.*

JAMES STARK, D.D.

THE late Dr James Stark of DennyLoanhead was born at Cumbernauld on the 20th October, 1775; was ordained to the office of the ministry, August 23, 1797; and departed this life on the 24th of May, 1850, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and the fifty-third of his unbroken pastorate. It pleased God that this prolonged ministry should be fulfilled in the near vicinity of 'his own country;' for his

*From an able and eloquent Memoir, by the Rev. John Edmond of Glasgow, prefixed to a volume of Discourses just published.