THE PRESENT CONDITION OF EGYPT A PROOF OF SCRIPTURE TRUTH.

THE sands of the Lybian desert, driven by the west winds, have left no lands capable of tillage on any part of the western banks of the Nile, not sheltered by mountains. The encroachment of these sands on soils, which were formerly cultivated and inhabited, is evidently seen. Denon informs us, in the account of his travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, that summits of the ruins of ancient cities, buried under the sands, still appear externally; and that, but for a ridge of mountains called the Lybian chain, which borders the left bank of the Nile, and forms, in the parts where it rises, a barrier against the invasion of these sands, the shores of the river, on that side, would long since have ceased to be habitable. This traveller says, 'Nothing can be more melancholy, than to walk over villages swallowed up by the sand of the desert, to trample under foot their roofs, to strike against the summits of their minarets; to reflect, that yonder were cultivated fields, that here were even the dwellings of men, and that all has vanished.'

If, then, our Continents were as ancient as has been pretended, no traces of the habitation of man would appear, on any part of the western bank of the Nile, which is exposed to this scourge of the sands of the desert. The existence of such monuments, therefore, attests the successive progress of the encroachments of the sand; and those parts of the bank, formerly inhabited, will for ever remain arid and waste. Thus the great population of Egypt, announced by the vast and numerous ruins of cities, was in great part due to a cause of fertility which no longer exists, and to which sufficient attention has not been given. The sands of the

desert were formerly remote from Egypt: the oases, or habitable spots, still appear in the midst of the sands, being the remains of the soils formerly extending the whole way to the Nile. But these sands, transported hither by western winds, have overwhelmed and buried this extensive tract, and doomed to sterility a land, which was once remarkable for its fruitfulness.

It is, therefore, not solely to her revolutions and changes of sovereigns, that Egypt owes the loss of her ancient splen dour: it is also to her having been irrecoverably deprived of a tract of land, by which, before the sands of the desert had covered it, and caused it to disappear, her wants had been abundantly supplied. Now, if we fix our attention on this fact, and reflect on the consequences which would have attended it, if thousands, or only some hundreds of centuries, had elapsed since our Continents first existed above the level of the sea, does it not evidently appear, that all the country on the west of the Nile would have been buried under this sand before the erection of the cities of ancient Egypt, how remote soever that period may be supposed; and that, in a country so long afflicted with sterility, no idea would ever have been formed of constructing such vast and numerous edifices? When the cities, indeed, were built, another cause concurred in favouring their prosperity. The navigation of the Red Sea was not then attended with any danger on the coasts: all its ports, now nearly blocked up with reefs of coral, had a safe and easy access; the vessels laden with merchandise and provisions could enter them and depart, without risk of being wrecked on these shoals, which have risen since that time, and are still increasing in extent.

The defects of the present government of Egypt, and the discovery of the passage from Europe to India, round the Cape of Good Hope, are therefore not the only causes of the present state of decline of this country. If the sands of the desert had not invaded the bordering lands of the West; if the work of the sea polypi, in the Red Sea, had not rendered dangerous the access to its coasts and to its ports, and even filled up some of the latter: the population of Egypt and the adjacent countries, together with their product, would alone have sufficed to maintain them in a state of prosperity and abundance. But now, though the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope should cease to exist, and though the political advantages which Egypt enjoyed during the brilliant period of Thebes and Memphis, should be re-established, she could never again attain the same degree of splendour.

Thus, the reefs of coral which had been

raised in the Red Sea, on the east of Egypt, and the sands of the desert which invade it on the west, concur in attesting this truth That our Continents are not of a more remote antiquity, than has been assigned to them by the sacred historian in the Book of Genesis, from the great era of the deluge.-De Luc.

THE CABINET.

MEDITATE ON THE MERCY OF GOD.

THERE are three things, especially,

which a Christian should know: his own misery, God's love, his own thankful obedience. His misery, how just! God's love, how free, how undeserved! His own thankfulnes, how due, how necessary! Consideration of one begets, successively, the apprehension of all. Our misery shows His love; and His love calls for our acknowledgment. Want makes a bounty weightier. If we think on our needs, we cannot but admire His mercies. How dull were we, if we should not value the relief of our necessities! A man cannot but esteem the benefit that unexpectedly helps him in his deepest distress. That love is most to be prized, whose only motive is goodness. The thought of this will form a disposition to gratitude. Who can meditate on a love so fathomless, and not study to manifest a thankful demeanour? His mind is contrary to nature, who requites not affection with gratitude. All favours have this success; if they light on good ground, they bring forth thanks. Let me think, first, of my misery, without my Saviour's mercy: next, of His mercy, without my merits; and from the meditation of these two, my sincere thanks will spring. Though I cannot adequately conceive of the former, as they are infinite, and beyond my thought; yet will I so ponder them, as they may enkindle the fire of my unfeigned and zealous thanksgiving. That time is well spent, wherein we study thankfulness.-Feltham.

BENEFIT OF SABBATH OBSERVANCE.

IN Captain Scoresby's narrative of his voyage to Greenland, the following passage occurs. It is strikingly illustrative of the advantages resulting, even as to temporal matters, from a conscientious observance of the Sabbath. 'It is a little remarkable, that during the whole of this voyage, no circumstance ever occurred to prevent us from engaging in public worship on the Sabbathday. In a few instances, the hour of worship could not be easily kept, but opportunity was always found of having each of the services in succession, on a plan adopted at the commencement of the voyage.

And it is worthy of observation, that in no instance, when on fishing stations, was our refraining from the ordinary duties of our profession on the Sunday ever supposed, eventually, to have been a loss to us; for we in general found, that, if others who were less regardful, or had not the same view of the obligatory nature of the command respecting the Sabbath-day, suc. ceeded in their endeavours to promote the success of the voyage, we seldom failed to procure a decided advantage in the succeeding week. Independently, indeed, of the Divine blessing on honouring the Sabbath-day, I found that the restraint put upon the natural inclinations of the men for pursuing the fishery at all opportunities, acted with some advantage, by proving an extraordinary stimulus to their exertions when they were next sent out after whales. Were it not out of place here, I would relate several instances in which, after our refraining to fish on the Sabbath, while others were thus successfully employed, our subsequent labours succeeded under circumstances so striking, that there was not, I believe, a man in the ship who did not consider it the effect of the Divine blessing.'

CHRIST'S SATISFACTION.

It was indeed our nature that suffered; but He who suffered in that nature, 'is over all, God blessed for ever:' and for such a Person to have suffered but one hour, was more than if all other persons had suffered ten thousand millions of years.

But, although the life of any other singular man might be equivalent to all the lives of the whole of mankind, yet, the laying down of that life would not be sufficient to do the deed, unless he who had power to lay it down had power likewise to take it up again. For to be detained always in that prison, from which there is no coming out before the payment of 'the uttermost farthing,' is to lie always under execution, and to quit the plea of that full payment of the debt wherein our Surety stood engaged for us. The apostle, therefore, upon that ground, doth rightly conclude, that if Christ be not raised, our faith is vain, we are yet in our sins;' and, consequently, that as He must be delivered' to death 'for our offences,' so He must be raised again for our justification.'Usher.

RECONCILIATION.

GOD and we were 'enemies,' before we were 'reconciled to Him by His Son.' He that is to be 'our peace,' and to reconcile us to God, and to slay this enmity,' must have an interest in both the parties that are at variance, and have such a re

ference to either of them, that he may be able to send this comfortable message to the sons of men: 'Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God.' For, as long as He is not ashamed to call us brethren,' 'God is not ashamed to be called our God.' And His appearance in His own name and ours, after this manner, 'Behold I, and the children whom God hath given me,' is a motive strong enough to appease his Father, and to turn His favourable countenance toward us: as, on the other side, when we become unruly, and prove rebellious children, no reproof can be more forcible, nor inducement so prevalent--if there remain any spark of grace in usto make us cast down our weapons and yield, than this: 'Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee?' and bought thee, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood' of his own Son?-Ibid.

WHAT IS LIFE?

WHAT is life? "Tis a delicate shell,
Thrown up by eternity's flow,
On time's bank of quicksand to dwell,
And a moment its loveliness show.

Gone back to its element grand,

Is the billow that brought it on shore: See! another is washing the sand,

And the beautiful shell is no more!

PURITY OF THOUGHT.

FAMILIARITY with evil is fatal to purity of mind. The first view of it, indeed, to the eye of innocence, is often repulsive: it repels by its native deformity, because it meets with nothing responsive in the bosom. But familiarity will soon render it less repulsive; and even if reason and religion, in after years, should bring conviction of error, still memory will raise up many a thought loaded with repentance, and sadden the heart by reproaches, instead of cheering it by grateful recollections. To encourage purity of thought, therefore, is of the utmost importance. This can only be effected, by the inculcation of good, and withdrawing the very appearance of evil from the view and mind of the child; for the stream must be impure, if the fountain be polluted. Bainbrigge.

THE INFLUENCE OF MIND OVER MATTER.

CAN a single instance be given of an effect being produced by the agency of a free and an intelligent being, which does not instantly cease the moment that agency is withdrawn? We can detain our ideas by the influence of mind; but as soon as we cease the mental exertion, the consequent effect ceases also. We can move

our limbs by the influence of mind; but as soon as we cease the mental exertion, in this case also the consequent effect ceases. And in every case, without exception, it will be found, that in so far as any effect is occasioned by a free and intelligent mind, its existence is at an end the moment that the influence of mind is withdrawn. If we are to reason in this matter from the creature to the Creator, the conclusion is obvious and irresistible. Were God to withdraw his influence for a moment, the whole creation would instantly evanish; in other words, God is not only the Creator, but likewise the Preserver and Governor of every thing that exists.Ballantyne.

'HE that is born of God doth not commit sin;' that is, he doth not sin in the same malignant manner that the children of the devil do: he doth not make a trade of sin. nor live in the constant and allowed prac tice of it. There is a great difference letwixt regenerate and unregenerate persons in the very sins that they commit. All. indeed, sin; but a child of God 'cannot sin; that is, though he doth sin, yet he cannot sin after such a manner as wicked and unregenerate men do.-Hopkins.

PICKED-UP PEARLS.

'The words of the wise are as goads."

THE death of the body is but the triumph of sin upon a little dust; but unconcern about eternity, is the triumph of sin over the immortal spirit.—Rodwell.

WERE every dew-drop a diamond, every atom a world, and every world filled with gold,—all would not satisfy the boundless desires of the immortal soul.-Temple.

WE lost a Paradise by sin, and have gained a heaven by the Cross.-Charnock. NOTHING is so greatly to be dreaded as that which might be obtruded into the place of the Saviour.-Farrar.

THE love of Christ is unparalleled in its nature, intense in its ardours, immense in its extent, and glorious in its purpose and issue.

AFFLICTION is favourable to religion. It abstracts, it softens, it awes the mind. It strips the world of its attractions, and starves us out of the creature into God.

IF the furnace be seven times hotter, it is but to make us seven times better. Fiery trials make golden Christians.

THE more believers love God, the more they love one another; as the lines of a circle, the nearer they are to the centre, the nearer they are to each other.

THOMAS GRANT, PRINTER, RDINBURGH.

SINCERITY in the profession of godliness, is a subject of no secondary moment. In a previous Article, we contemplated it in one of its various aspects. A few plain and general remarks, founded on Scriptural statement, were offered with the design of illustrating its importance, and enforcing its necessity. As exhibited in the light of the Word, it appears, not only excellent or desirable, but indispensably requisite. The Oracles of truth, whose testimony on this as on every other point is to be received with implicit credit, as the voice of Infallibility, uniformly represent it as a primary element, an essential constituent, of Christian character. The want of it nullifies the claim to saintship; and he of whom a detect so radical may be affirmed, whatever may be his self-valuation, or the complacency with which others regard him, is, in the Divine account, 'nothing,'-but' sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.' To the guilt of impiety, is superadded that of hypocrisy or voluntary self-deception.

We now proceed to show, as was formerly proposed, that Sincerity is not, of itself, sufficient. To establish this position, no lengthened argumentation is required. A mind endued with discernment can hardly fail, on a little reflection, to perceive the justness of our assertion. Owing, however, to the loose or erroneous notions, which a spurious charity has propagated in reference to it, a cursory glance at the subject may be neither inappropriate nor unprofitable. We set out, then, with a remark, which is deemed self-evident, though strangely overlooked. In our apprehension, it disposes, at once and satisfactorily, of the whole question.

Sincerity affords no proof of the soundness of sentiments. It is not the criterion of orthodoxy. It is not the standard, by which to test the accuracy of principles, or the correctness of theories: nor is its degree the measure of their excellence. On the contrary, Sincerity is compatible with the rejection of fundamental truth; with the adoption of pernicious error; with rank infidelity, or universal scepticism. It may be associated with the blindness of ignorance, or the stupidity of idolatry. Often has it appeared in alliance with the fury of fanaticism, or the narrowness and intolerance of jaundiced bigotry. Under the impulse of zeal, as intemperate as unhallowed; neither proceeding from love, nor guided by discretion: a heat that would consume, not illumine or purify; the excitement and intensity of perturbed feeling, No. XXXIV.-NEW SERIES.

instead of the glow of devout desire, or the fervency of benevolent concern: inconsiderate, vehement, reckless; venting with the noise and rush of a torrent, or operating with the activity and violence of a devouring fire: in the frenzy of such a passionate, fitful, unholy zeal, Sincerity has not seldom prompted to the commission of deeds, at which humanity revolts.

In the Pagan world, Sincerity has outraged the dignity of our common nature. It has silenced the voice of reason, ruptured the ties of kindred, and steeled the heart against the tenderness of sensibility, the softenings of sympathy. There, what self-tortures has it inflicted; what human victims, immolated; what bloody rites, prescribed; what horrid customs, sanctioned; what sanguinary laws, enacted! Think, too, how dismal has been the story of its doings in connection with the reign of Islamism. Who more sincere than the followers of the Prophet of Mecca? Deluded into a belief of the blasphemies and lies of that arch impostor, they have testified, by unquestionable proofs, the strength of their convictions: adopting the most vigorous measures for the spread of their tenets; submitting to sacrifices, and penances, and pilgrimages, alike grievous and unreasonable; and, under the influence of fatalism, and in the hope of a voluptuous Paradise, manifesting a contempt of danger and of death.

In Christendom, too, atrocities, scarcely less appalling, have been perpetrated at the instigation of Sincerity. It has enjoined austerities that shock every feeling of nature, and every dictate of reason. It has invaded the sanctuary of conscience; violated the right of private judgment; interdicted the expression of opinion; trammelled freedom of discussion. Proscribing knowledge, it has recommended ignorance as the mother of devotion.' It has enchained, in bonds more galling than those that manacle the body, in the degrading fetters of spiritual thraldom, the immortal mind; imposing restraints, that robbed it of its inalienable privilege, liberty of inquiry, independence of thought; and holding it, though amenable for its belief to the Supreine Tribunal only, responsible to ecclesiastical authority. It has reared the Inquisition, erected the scaffold, kindled the stake, and made the Mother of harlots drunken with the blood of the saints.' To compel submission to its creed and ceremonial, it has lighted, 'from Dan to Beersheba,' the torch of persecution: and, to enforce them on the observance of other

VOL. III.

nations, it has, in the ambition to gain 'dominion over their faith,' equipped Armadas, planned Crusades, and evoked the spirit of strife, which, like a demon from the pit, has delighted to sow dissension, and to spread abroad terror and confusion. In short, what delusions Sincerity has embraced, and what enormities it has wrought in propagating them, the wrongs inflicted, the tragic scenes acted, in the dishonoured name of Religion,-the painful experience of the past, not to speak of the present, and the annals of almost every country, abundantly attest.

Hence, that sincerity in those who subscribe to them, is no decisive evidence of the truth or value of any particular class of tenets, must be manifest. It affords no argument in favour of the justness of doctrinal statements, or the reasonableness of external forms. There is such a thing as being given up to strong delusion to believe a lie. How many have embraced, in full persuasion of their orthodoxy, and retained with fatuous tenacity, modes of faith, as incongruous with the dictates of enlightened piety, as they varied from one another! Indeed, of questions in Religion or Ethics, persons may entertain very different views, yet be equally sincere. They may even hold, from decided conviction, some the affirmative, others the negative, form of a proposition. 'Martyrs have bled on both sides of a question. What one 'most surely believes' to be a part of 'the truth as it is in Jesus,' another may be as firmly persuaded is contrary to the teaching of the Record. In the science of Theology, men, desirous to be directed aright, may, through the prejudices of education, or the vitiating influence of depravity, which perverts the operations, and dims the perceptions, of the understanding, fall insensibly into most lamentable mistakes.

"The light that is in us is darkness,' is a solemn averment of Scripture. It is also a melancholy fact, of which the history of the human mind, in its speculations and inquiries relative to spiritual subjects, furnishes practical confirmation. How hopelessly has it been bewildered in mazes of uncertainty! Owing to the blindness of its vision, reason, unaided by superior illumination, is incapable, by its own laborious researches, of penetrating the obscurity in which they are veiled, so as to form distinct and adequate apprehensions of them. Hence, most irrational and degrading notions of the Divine perfections, character, and government, have been seriously adopted. Systems of religion have extensively prevailed, which were founded in error; which embodied the grossest misconceptions both of the Object of worship, and of the nature of

acceptable worship; which taught, for articles of faith, vain imaginations, and inculcated, as acts of homage, unmeaning or impure observances. In the idolatries, how absurd or abominable soever, which they respectively prescribed, what numbers have been firm and conscientious believers! Of the great proportion of the votaries of Popery, of Mohammedanism, or of Heathenism in its multiform varieties, who doubts the sincerity?

But, even in Protestant Communities, painful and humiliating are the consequences to which, in not a few instances, Sincerity has led. Is proof of this assertion demanded? Look at the existing state of Christendom. Whence such a distinction of Name and of Party? Is it not traceable, directly and primarily, to the fact, that, on certain particulars, all cannot 'see eye to eye?' Not to speak of the adherents of the Papacy, who receive, with blind credulity, the impositions of priestcraft; excepting those also, who deny the cardinal articles of the Evangelical system, because they are opposed to the pride of intellect, or the complacency of self-righteousness: we find, on a variety of minor topics, even among those who 'hold the head,' sometimes a difference, sometimes a contrariety, of sentiment. On points of doctrine or form, men eminent for clearness of judgment and integrity of mind, after careful and candid examination, disagree. Connected with this discrepancy of views, is the additional fact, that each, confident of being himself right while all dissentients are wrong, maintains, with the tenaciousness of undoubting credence, his peculiar tenets.

From this diversity of opinion, in alliance with Sincerity, has originated a lamentable train of evils, by which the glory of Christianity has been obscured, its influence weakened, and its advancement retarded. Hence, the unhappy divisions that have so rent the oneness of the Church. Hence, the controversies that have been carried on with such reprehensible bitterness. Hence, the partition-walls that have separated, into isolated and contending parties, the professors of a common faith. Hence, the unseemly spectacle of sect ranged in hostile attitude towards sect each more zealous to propagate its Denominational peculiarities, than to promote the progress of the Truth: one watching, with the jealousy of a rival, the movements of another, and seeking its own extension, though to the injury of the rest: some displaying, toward those most nearly allied to them, and they in turn reciprocating, a rancour hardly exceeded by the proverbial antipathy between Jew and Samaritan: most, though in various degrees, like bodies mutually repellent,