attractively, and kindling in ever-growing hands the star-bright lamps that are to light us home. While he is striving to make the inheritance meet for us, how sad that we should be so loath to be made meet for the inheritance; that we should, in our peevish and perverse folly, cleave to these trifles, and prefer them to the glorious realities which he holds forth to view! Now, let us meditate more frequently upon that august and noble company, the general assembly and church of the first born, and spirits of the just made perfect; let us consider what it must be to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, to have the society of patriarchs and prophets, of apostles and martyrs, of all the best in their best estate; let us number up the venerable fathers and cherished friends we have known who are not, for God has taken them; and then, as the centre of the blessed circle, let us set the Lamb in the midst of the throne. If we did but rightly contemplate all, should not reason pronounce that it is better far to 'depart and be with Christ?' and should not faith and hope and love, by a three-fold cord, draw our hearts thither, as a sure token that we ourselves shall follow in our own time? For our friends' and brethren's sakes, let us seek this heavenly Zion; for every Christian death, let us resolve anew, 'If I forget thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.' Christian sorrow for the departed should lead us to cultivate what they had most at heart while with us. They could not be good men without having their heart set most ardently upon Christ and the promotion of his cause. We could see this while they were with us, and now in heaven they have clearer views and warmer feelings. When Moses and Elias spake with Christ on the mount, it was regarding the decease that he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Here is a glimpse of heaven's great concernment— the Saviour's death, and the consequences dependent on it. Our departed friend and father had this mind ere he left us; he has it more fully now. In seeking the kingdom of God, we are carrying out the wish that was and is nearest to his heart. When the apostle quitted these Ephesians, this was his charge: Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock. I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak; and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.' When that same Lord was on his way to his cross, he turned to his sorrowing friends: 'Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves.' Empty sorrow for the dead is a worthless tribute. Let us translate our grief into a warm appreciation of their excellences, a sympathy with all that was great and noble in their heart, and active duty in carrying forward their Christian plans and purposes. When the disciples saw their Master carried upward on Mount Olivet, they gazed for a while wistfully and sad; but recalled by the angelic vision to their proper work, and remembering his own command, preach the gospel to every creature,' they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, to wait his promise and to do his will. The very Well of Marah, if it be thus let flow, will become a sweet and healing stream. Now, then, let us take up the mantle of ascended prophets, and smite the streams of opposition, and cure the brackish fountains and the barren ground. Let us in this congregation carry out the work for which a Christian ministry was appointed at first, and continued so long in one form to us: 'The perfecting of the saints, the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' This was the end of the instruction of departed teachers : Remember, then, the word that they spake unto you, while they were yet with you.' This was the end of their example: ¦ Be ye therefore followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.' This was the sum of what they were in themselves, and wished to be to us: Remember them who had the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' We have a precious deposit in the midst of us, an ever-living Saviour and his everlasting gospel; and all-precious in itself, it is dear also from the hands by which it has reached 6 us. It has come through a long line of faithful men and true, who have maintained it in its purity, defended it against assault, and commended it to their successors, with the earnest charge, 'Before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to keep that good thing committed unto us by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us.' As the latest of these are passing away, and leaving us alone, let us be stirred up more firmly to hold, and more fearlessly to assert, the authority and sufficiency of the gospel we have received through them. The vessel of the Church is entering upon new and untried seas. We shall have exigencies to encounter which they did not meet, and adaptations of the truth to the events and problems of the age, to ponder and accomplish, which they did not find incumbent. May God give us largeness of wisdom and steadiness of purpose! But we are to remember that the gospel itself, amid all, must be held fast and unaltered. We have to dig new channels, and guide into them numerous growing streams; but woe betide the world and us if we tamper with the living water that flows within. Our fathers had the march through the wilderness, with its perils and privations; it seems as if our part would be the conflict and labour that precede entering on the full possession of the land. Theirs it was to suffer; it is ours to struggle with the siege of walled cities of ancient superstition, and the incursions of numerous tribes of shifting unbelief. But it is the ark of the testimony that is to be carried forward amid all, around the battlements of Jericho, and against the hosts of the Amorite and Hittite. The clear unshrinking witness to Bible truth will overthrow in the end every stronghold of error, and scatter all assailants. The past has done its work, and those who have borne the ark upward through the desert, have faithfully discharged their trust; now the future, to which ages have looked, appears pressing on, and upon us rests the heavy responsibility of leading it in, and making it truly Christian. A mighty work! but the divine strength that nerved our fathers, will be ours if we seek it. Let us hear from their lips that parting encouragement which the chosen leader of Israel gave his people: 'I can no more go out and come in; also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. Be strong, and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.' To the names of Baxter and Howe must be added the name of a man far below them in station and in acquired knowledge, but in virtue their equal, and in genius their superior, John Bunyan. Bunyan had been bred a tinker, and had served as a private soldier in the parliamentary army. Early in his life he had been fearfully tortured by remorse for his youthful sins, the worst of which seem, however, to have been such as the world thinks venial. His keen sensi bility and his powerful imagination made his internal conflicts singularly terrible. *From Macaulay's History of England. He fancied that he was under sentence of reprobation, that he had committed blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, that he had sold Christ, that he was actually possessed by a demon. Sometimes loud voices from heaven cried out to warn him. Sometimes fiends whispered impious suggestions in his ear. He saw visions of distant mountain tops, on which the sun shone brightly, but from which he was separated by a waste of snow. He felt the devil behind him pulling his clothes. He thought that the brand of Cain had been set upon him. He feared that he was about to burst asunder like Judas. His mental agony disordered his health. One day he shook like a man in the palsy. On another day he felt a fire within his breast. It is difficult to understand how he survived sufferings so intense, and so long continued. At length the clouds broke. From the depths of despair, the penitent passed to a state of serene felicity. An irresistible impulse now urged him to impart to others the blessing of which he was himself possessed. He joined the Baptists, and became a preacher and writer. His education had been that of a mechanic. He knew no language but the English, as it was spoken by the common people. He had studied no great model of composition, with the exception-an important exception undoubtedly-of our noble translation of the Bible. His spelling was bad. He frequently transgressed the rules of grammar. Yet his native force of genius and his experimental knowledge of all the religious passions, from despair to ecstasy, amply supplied in him the want of learning. His rude oratory roused and melted hearers who listened without interest to the laboured discourses of great logicians and Hebraists. His works were widely circulated among the humbler classes. One of them, the Pilgrim's Progress, was, in his own lifetime, translated into several foreign languages. It was however, scarcely known to the learned and polite, and had been, during near a century, the delight of pious cottagers mended by any man of high literary emiand artisans before it was publicly comnence. At length critics condescended to inquire where the secret of so wide and so durable a popularity lay. They multitude had judged more correctly than were compelled to own that the ignorant the learned, and that the despised little book was really a master-piece. Bunyan gorists, as Demosthenes is the first of is indeed as decidedly the first of alleorators, or Shakspeare the first of dra matists. Other allegorists have shown equal ingenuity; but no other allegorist has ever been able to touch the heart, and to make abstractions objects of terror, of pity, and of love. It may be doubted whether any English Dissenter had suffered more severely under the penal laws than John Bunyan. Of the twenty-seven years which had elapsed since the Restoration, he had passed twelve in confinement. He still persisted in preaching; but, that he might preach, he was under the necessity of disguising himself like a carter. He was often introduced into meetings through back doors, with a smock frock on his back, and a whip in his hand. If he had thought only of his own ease and safety, he would have hailed the Indulgence with delight. He was now, at length, free to pray and exhort in open day. His congregation rapidly increased, thousands hung upon his words; and at Bedford, where he ordinarily resided, money was plentifully contributed to build a meeting house for him. His influence among the common people was such that the Government would willingly have bestowed on him some municipal office; but his vigorous understanding and his stout English heart were proof against all delusion and all temptation. He felt assured that the proffered toleration was merely a bait intended to lure the Puritan party to destruction; nor would he, by accepting a place for which he was not legally qualified, recognise the validity of the dispensing power. One of the last acts of his virtuous life was to decline an interview to which he was invited by an agent of the Government. Great as was the authority of Bunyan with the Baptists, that of William Kiffin was still greater. Kiffin was the first man among them in wealth and station. He was in the habit of exercising his spiritual gifts at their meetings; but he did not live by preaching. He traded largely; his credit on the Exchange of London stood high; and he had accumulated an ample fortune. Perhaps no man could, at that conjuncture, have rendered more valuable services to the Court. But between him and the Court was interposed the remembrance of one terrible event. He was the grandfather of the two Hewlings, those gallant youths who, of all the victims of the Bloody Assizes, had been the most generally lamented. For the sad fate of one of them James was in a peculiar manner responsible. Jeffreys had respited the younger brother. The poor lad's sister had been ushered by Churchill into the royal presence, and had begged for mercy; but the king's heart had been obdurate. The misery of the whole family had been great; but Kiffin was most to be pitied. He was seventy years old when he was left desti tute, the survivor of those who should have survived him. The heartless and venal sycophants of Whitehall, judging by themselves, thought that the old man would be easily propitiated by an alderman's gown, and by some compensation in money for the property which his grandsons had forfeited. Penn was employed in the work of seduction, but to no purpose. The king determined to try what effect his own civilities would produce. Kiffin was ordered to attend at the palace. He found a brilliant circle of noblemen and gentlemen assembled. James immediately came to him, spoke to him very graciously, and concluded by saying, 'I have put you down, Mr Kiffin, for an Alderman of London.' The old man looked fixedly at the king, burst into tears, and made answer, Sir, I am worn out; I am unfit to serve your Majesty or the City. And, sir, the death of my poor boys broke my heart. That wound is as fresh as ever. I shall carry it to my grave.' The king stood silent for a minute in some confusion, and then said, Mr Kiffin, I will find a balsam for that sore.' Assuredly James did not mean to say anything cruel or insolent: on the contrary, he seems to have been in an unusually gentle mood. Yet no speech that is recorded of him gives so unfavourable a notion of his character as these few words. They are the words of a hardhearted and low-minded man, unable to conceive any laceration of the affections for which a place or a pension would not be a full compensation. THE MADIAIS. THE following is the' Report of the Deputation to Florence, composed of Evangelical Christians of various countries addressed to all the Protestant Churches in Europe:' In reporting upon the result of our mission, we have to state that, in accordance with what we understood to be the view of those whom we represent, we in our first communication with the Tuscan Minister for Foreign Affairs, disclaimed the advancement of any political object, or the use of any political assistants; aiming to approach the Grand Duke in the character solely of Protestant Christians, who sympathised with the position, and desired to alleviate the actual condition of our imprisoned brother and sister, Francesco and Rosa Madiai. We would further state that, in order to attain our audience with the Grand Duke, we scrupulously avoided putting forward our firm conviction of the justice and cruelty of the sentence under which they are confined. Our task was not to demand what we believed to be justice, but to ask that which would be deemed by the Grand Duke the exercise of mercy. 'Notwithstanding the conciliatory spirit in which our request for an audience was conceived, and the grounds thereof stated, we regret to have to announce that our application was refused. As it is our wish to narrate everything with moderation, we would add, that this refusal was couched, in courteous terms. regards the great object of our mission, it is but too evident that the hope held out of mercy is most vague; nevertheless, as the language used would seem to justify a hope, we cannot but trust that it may be speedily realized. As With the termination of our mission, we consider it our duty to acquaint those whom we represent, and the Christian public generally, with the actual position of the Madiai. Not having as yet had the privilege and advantage of personal access to them, we proceed, from information on which we can fully rely, to present their condition accurately; avoiding everything in the way of exaggeration, not only for the sake of the truth, but because it is a melancholy fact, that sufficient of grievous hardship exists to excite the warm indignation and enlist the active sympathies of Protestant Christendom. 'The Madiai, then, are not sentenced to the galleys, nor are they confined in chains, nor placed in the same cells with felons. They are treated with kindness by the attendants in the prison; but their sentence has been not only for a term of imprisonment of unusually long duration, but one which has attached an unjustifiable stigma of infamy to them. Their confinement is solitary, and involves with it labour (travaux forces). Considering the activity of Francesco Madiai's past life as a travelling courier, and the extreme delicacy of his wife Rosa from spinal disease, it is no matter of surprise that this confinement should have proved most injurious to the health of both; and fears are to be entertained as to a fatal issue, if it be much further prolonged. What would be the sensation in Europe if any such sad termination to their present sufferings should ensue? We ought here to notice their total deprivation of all public worship, and the consolations of a minister of their own faith-privileges which would be most precious to them, and which are amply accorded to every other, even the very worst, offender confined within the same prisons. They are separated from each other, not only in different cells, but in different prisons; the one on the heights of Volterra, the other fifty miles off, in Lucca; as if the intercourse of these poor sufferers could be dangerous to the state; so that to the hardships already alluded to, is added an agonizing uncertainty as to the health of each. They are denied the use such devotional or other books as may be in accordance with their own views; allowed to take exercise, they are obliged to do so in a confined space, between high walls, which shut out the view of everything except the sky. when 'Lastly, with respect to the trial and sentence. Although the evidence was not allowed to be published in extenso, we may state, on the authority of those who were present at the trial, that it was distinctly proved that the life of Rosa Madiai had been for years marked by acts of charity and love, without reference to the peculiar faith of those whom she succoured; that upon these occasions she made no use of such opportunities to assail the religious principles of those whom she benefited. The few acts of controversial discussion deposed to against them were in answer to, or in consequence of, the applications or arguments of those who themselves entered into discussion with them. It resulted from the whole trial that publicity -an essential element of their crime under the law by which they were triedwas so completely, and, on the face of the sentence, so confessedly wanting, that the Bench (who acted both as Judge and Jury) were obliged to base their conviction upon the general course of jurisprudence as exhibited in former decisions. These decisions were, however, shown to be inapplicable, or, even if applicable, not sufficient to warrant any such severity of sentence. It is further worthy of notice that this incongruity between the law under which they were tried, the case under which they were convicted, and the sentence under which they are suffering, was, independent of the facts, made the ground of formal appeal on the part of their counsel, Signor Maggiorani, whose name deserves to be noticed by us with gratitude, not more for the talent and legal knowledge which he displayed, than for the boldness of his professional conduct, and the tender and considerate assistance which he has privately afforded to his oppressed clients. It should be added, that the arguments of Signor Maggiorani on this point were formally and publicly assented to as sound and valid, under the signature of others An most eminent at the Florentine bar. appeal for further argument in the case was not only not opposed, but was advocated by the counsel for the Crown; and yet such appeal was ineffectual. "We have preferred a temperate and accurate statement of facts to any, the most eloquent, appeal to your feelings. What our feelings are may be easily con ceived; suffice it to say that they impel us to urge a loud and continued protest against a sentence of imprisonment thus inflicted; involving with it bodily suffering, and even risk of life, together with religious privations, from which all offenders in every civilized country are exempt. We The report, which we have thus laid before you, would not be complete were we to leave the impression that this is but a solitary instance of suffering for Christ's sake. The case of the Madiais is but the type of a numerous class; for it is an awful fact that the progress of persecution is fearfully advancing. It would, therefore, be desirable that the publicity which its peculiar circumstances have obtained for it should attract attention to very many others, in order to make them the subject of our earnest prayers and efforts. do not exaggerate when (in the very terms of the persecutions of the first Christians) we affirm that a system prevails here of 'entering into every house,' where suspicion, not of political but of religious 'crime' exists, 'haling men and women, committing them to prison,' and 'breathing out threatenings.' We might tell, with truth, of not a few put into the common prison,' of several 'scattered abroad,' and of very many who, hungering and thirsting after these privileges, are prevented meeting for prayer and the study of the Bible. We can only say, in conclusion, My brethren, these things ought not so to be.' How they are to be remedied may be considered by others possessing more worldly wisdom than ourselves. In the meantime, we cherish the hope that, when and how the Lord may see fit, He will vindicate His own cause, and deliver those who are persecuted for his own name's sake.' Did Lycurgan legislation, Chaldee scroll of star-born light, Maxims taught in Roman halls, Did they bless the world for ages, And re-build its ruined walls? What were all, so brave and burning, In the famous days of old, Riches, mighty power, and learning? Time hath tested them and told. Was the record of creation, To be scorn'd by wiser men? To the patriarch from Urr, Came there no great seed from heaven, As it promis'd long before? Has the flame of worship, kindled By the Shepherd-Psalmist's lyre, Faded from its strength, and dwindled To a glimmering spark of fire? Have the proverb-germs of duty, Taught by Solomon the sage, Did the Saviour's power of healing Did it falter when he died? Time hath tested them and told. W. B. ORIGINAL POETRY. THE TEST OF TIME. WAS there lasting light of glory On the sceptre and the throne, Chronicled in ancient story, Of the Grecian Philip's-son. Has the million-peopled city, By Euphrates' rolling tide, Lived to need no thought of pity, And to justify its pride? Did the Frankish kingdom, blending Distant Lombardy with Spain, Give a rod of strength unbending To the sons of Charlemagne ? Was the power which Cæsar wielded Worthy of the price it cost? Has the wealth of Croesus yielded More than brief and empty boast? NEW YEAR'S HYMN. WITH many a happy greeting, This New Year welcoming, We now, O Lord, are meeting, To thee our song to sing. To thee our young hearts giving— How blest our years would be! For the best joy of living Is found in loving thee. Teach us this year beginning, Let not the Saviour sorrow |