all the abbacies so richly dotit with our temporal | Assembly, under the name of The First Book of lands?" It was very natural, therefore, when the Reformation discovered the falsity of the pretences on which so much of their wealth had been expended on the Church, and the costly establishments of the prelates were abolished, that the landed gentry should claim a portion at least of the forfeited property. But in doing this, they showed a degree of avarice and rapaciousness hardly to be expected from persons who had taken such an active part in reforming the Church. Though the reformed religion had been established by the law of the land, the Church, as we have said, was still unendowed; and the ministers were supported, very sparingly, on the benevolence of the people, or of the gentlemen who received them into their houses. Knox and his brethren, perceiving how matters were going, and that the whole ecclesiastical property would soon be swallowed up, insisted that a considerable proportion of it should be reserved for the support of the poor, the founding of universities and schools, and the maintenance of an efficient ministry throughout the country. At last, after great difficulty, the Privy Council came to the determination, that the ecclesiastical revenues should be divided into three parts,-that two of them should be given to the ejected prelates during their lives, which afterwards reverted to the nobility, and that the third part should be divided between the court and the Protestant ministry. "Weall!" exclaimed Knox, on hearing of this arrangement, "if the end of this order be happy, my judgment fails me. I see twa pairts freely given to the deevil, and the third mon be divided between God and the deevil. Who would have thought, that when Joseph ruled in Egypt, his brethren sould have traveleit for victuals, and have returned with empty sackes unto their families? O happie servands of the deevil, and miserable servands of Jesus Christ, if, after this lyf, ther were not hell and hevin!"* Discipline. When this book, however, was submitted to the Privy Council, it was warmly opposed by some of the nobility, who dreaded that its provisions would interfere with their selfish plans for appropriating the revenues of the church. On this account, though subscribed by a number of the nobility, barons, and burgesses in Parlia ment, it did not receive a formal ratification. But it was still regarded by the church as a standard book, to regulate her practice and guide her decisions. Our Different opinions will, of course, be formed of the policy adopted by the Scottish Church, according to the leanings of individuals; and our object is not to discuss principles, but to state facts, leaving you to form your own conclusions. Reformers, it is certain, drew their plan immediately from the Scriptures; and, to use the words of Row, who had the best means of information, they "took not their example from any kirk in the world, no, not from Geneva " They have often been blamed for having swept away, from a morbid antipathy to Popery, not only the abuses and corruptions of the Church, but every thing that was decent in its worship and dignified in its government, leaving the Kirk of Scotland as bare and barren of ornament as its native mountains. We allow that, having satisfied themselves that the Church of Rome was the antichrist of Scripture, they were anxious to strip their establishment of every thing that bore the least resemblance to her characteristic features. And they did this in conscientious obedience to the call, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." But we deny that any point of order or doctrine was rejected merely because it had been held by the Romish Church. With respect to decency, we defy any Church to show more regard than was paid by our Reforming ancestors to the precept, "Let all things be done decently and in order." And as to But there was another thing that tried the temper of the nobility and the patience of the Re-ornaments and dignities, people's ideas of these formers, as much as the settlement of the patrimony of the Church; and this was the ratification of the order, government, and discipline of the Church. For this purpose, in the year 1560, a commission was given to John Knox, with Messrs Winram, Spotswood, Row, and Douglas, to set down the heads of discipline, as they had already done those of doctrine. This was done, and a plan of government was soon drawn up, and cordially approved of by the General *Even this pittance, it would appear, was not fully or regularly paid to the ministers. Various means were taken to elude a settletions to their Commissioners, whom they sent to deal with the ment; and in 1567, we find the General Assembly, in their instruc Privy Council, thus expressing their disappointment: "That Satan, by his instruments, had of long time, and by many subtile ways, laboured to hinder the progress of true religion within this realm; and that now the same was in hazard to be utterly subverted, chiefly through the poverty of the ministers that ought to preach the word of life unto the people; some being compelled to leave their vocation, and betake them to civil callings; others so distracted through worldly cares, as they could not wait upon the preaching of the Word so diligently as they wished." To prevent this, and also to provide for the "poor and indigent members of Christ," they intreated that the patrimony of the Church should be restored to the just possessors.-Spottiswood, 209. things will differ, according to the views they take of what true ornament or dignity is. If they refer to worldly ornaments and dignities, of these the Reformed Church of Scotland did not and could not boast; she disclaimed them as incompatible with the simplicity of Christ, and demeaning the spiritual glory of his Church. But there is "an honour which cometh from God;" and of this distinction she was emulous,— in this, if I may so speak, she was proud to excel all other Churches. The basis of her constitution, of which we shall afterwards speak more particularly, may be given in few words: "ONE IS YOUR MASTER, AND ALL YE ARE BRETHREN." Recognising no earthly head, rejecting all earthly control, she stood forth, the independent queen and immaculate spouse of Christ; and holding in her hand the Word of God, as the charter of her rights, she pointed to her exalted King, seated on the throne of heaven. Placed tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." No direct permission is here given to eat of animal food; and, from the grant afterwards given to Noah to eat of the flesh of animals, under certain restrictions, it is inferred that no such permission was given before; and that if man had indulged in such repasts, it was not authorised by the divine law; and most probably he had not exercised the indulgence in a way conformable to the divine clemency. But Noah has a special warrant from God to eat animal food: "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." Then follows the qualification of this grant: "but flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." on such a footing as this, the ministry of the | the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a Gospel must command respect. That it has done so, is testified by the fact that, while the prelates of Rome, with all their mitres, rochets, and surplices, sunk into general contempt, being hated by the people for their tyranny, and scorned by the nobles for their arrogance, the plain Presbyterian pastor, humbly but faithfully discharging the duties of his high office, met with respect and affection from all classes of his flock. And that it must continue to do so, may be augured from the principles on which Presbyterianism is founded, -the principles of common sense as well as of Scripture, and which, however they may be now slighted, will survive the hostility that aims at their subversion, and may yet flourish in a state of higher purity than ever they attained even in the palmiest days of Presbytery, long after the boasted fabrics of human wisdom and human folly have crumbled into dust. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. OH! is there a land which no sorrow invades, Where the joys of life are uncheckered by woe?— In the land where life's fountain for ever doth flow! Oh bright is the glory, transcendent the bliss, Undreamed of, untasted by man here below! Unfading, unchanging, for ever secure, Enjoyed by the ransomed, the holy, the pure, In the land where life's fountain for ever doth flow! Oh pure are the spirits so radiant and bright, No sin over them can its dark shadow throw! And sweetly melodious the strains which they sing, While bounding through space on eternity's wing, In the land where life's fountain for ever doth flow! Surpassing by far aught that mortal can know ! THE EXTENT AND LIMITATION OF BY THE REV. JAMES ESDAile, D.D., Minister of the East Church, Perth. THE only mark of man's original dignity and honour We may here notice the great extent of the divine goodness to the children of men: not only has he given them faculties which open up to them sources of enjoyment unknown to the other creatures, but he has made a much more ample provision even for the wants of their animal nature. Most of the other creatures are restricted to one kind of food; not by the positive command of God, but by the instincts which he has implanted in their natures. But an indefinite, almost an infinite variety, is allowed to man; all the productions of the earth, and every thing that moves and feeds upon the earth, and all the vast and numberless things that live in the rivers, lakes, and seas, are given to man for food, except where he discovers their qualities to be injurious to his health and comfort. Man, in this respect, has an evident advantage over the other creatures, which his sensuality often abuses, and converts into the means of the most enervating luxury. He has the same advantages in regard to the articles fit for quenching thirst: other creatures drink only of water, or slake their thirst with the juice of succulent fruits and herbs; but man is endowed with the capacity of preparing the most wholesome and the most exquisite beverages, from a great variety of natural productions, which not only quench thirst, but cheer the spirits, and | may be, and often are, made subservient to intemperate indulgence. Thus, we see that whilst God vindicates the liberality of his providence by giving us all things richly to enjoy, we, very frequently, fail to enjoy them wisely: and, instead of being grateful for what we have received, we become high-minded and rebellious, on account of our privileges, and forget that "we have nothing which we have not received" from God, and that we have received infinitely more than we ever deserved. But let us now consider that qualification which accompanies the permission to man to eat the flesh of animals: "Flesh, with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." Some look for an explanation of this from what was afterwards enjoined under the Levitical law, with a reference to the rite of sacrifice; by which, the Jews were forbidden to eat blood, because "it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Lev. xvii. 10-14. This is such a distinction as might be expected under the Levitical service, in which we can have no doubt that every thing was ordained as prefigurative of the great Gospel sacrifice, the only offering that ever possessed inherent efficacy, of which all others were merely the types and symbols, and in which the great Scripture doctrine was inculcated, that "without blood there could be no remission of sin." But not the slightest allusion is made to this purpose in the prohibition to eat blood, as given to Noah; to the Jews, as a peculiar people, chosen by God, and admitted into covenant with him by sacrifice, it was to be expected, that the blood of animals, evidently the most essential visible principle of animal life, should have a peculiar sacredness attached to it, and be especially set apart as the emblem of atonement. But there was no peculiar people in the days of Noah: there was but one family, consisting of himself and his wife, his sons and their wives; and therefore the prohibition to eat blood was intended for the whole human race, who were to descend from Noah. There are many in modern times, who make it an article of their religion to abstain from eating blood, inasmuch as the original injunction has never been revoked. But the spirit and character of the Gospel contradict this notion; and we are expressly told, that we may eat any thing that is set before us without asking any questions for conscience' sake, as it is not that which goeth into the mouth that defileth the man; and though a temporary regulation was made by the apostles, in compliance with the prejudices and scruples of the Jewish converts, continuing the prohibition to eat blood, yet as we are sure that every merely ceremonial part of the Jewish law is abrogated by the Gospel, which was the end and fulfilment of the law; the types and symbols which prefigured the truth being no longer necessary, after He who was the way, and the truth, and the life, had been manifested to the world; we may, therefore, warrantably, and indeed infallibly, conclude, that none of the distinctive observances under the law are binding on Christians, and that they may now, without offence to their consciences, eat of the blood as well as of the flesh of animals. The prohibition to eat blood was only binding while the blood of animals was offered as a symbol of atonement; and Christ having offered himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, it is a mere prejudice to be fettered by any part of the ancient ceremonial. But though it is always desirable to see sound scriptural knowledge prevail, the point in question is of so little moment, that if a man has any scruples as to eating of blood, he had better let it alone; and I think there are few practices that could be given up with less expense of self-denial. But this is the unpleasant feature which is presented to our minds; whenever we see any one particularly scrupulous in regard to such practices as this, we are apt to suspect them of making a merit of giving up something that costs them no sacrifice; and as founding pretensions on observances which are trifling, if not absurd, whilst they are apt to take undue liberties with regard to things of real import ance. On these principles, then, I am inclined to seek for another explanation of the prohibition as given to Noah, which will show it to be not of a temporary nature, but binding on all mankind till the end of the world. Observe, then, the form of the grant, and of the restriction under which it is given : Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." From this they might have been ready to conclude that they might use the flesh of animals with as little ceremony 66 as they did fruits and vegetables, which they might pluck from the earth, or from the tree, and eat without any previous process of preparation. But the next verse completely prevents this misconception: "Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat;" that is, they were not to eat animals alive; and in order that they might be certain of their death, before they used them for food, they were commanded to shed their blood. They were not forbidden to eat raw flesh, but they were forbidden to eat living flesh. In short, the obvious tendency of the prohibition is to guard against cruelty to the animals used for food, and to impose a check on that ferocious temper which man is too apt to indulge, and which would be greatly promoted were he to feed like a beast of prey on the struggling animals before their life was extinct. That man might have had a tendency to do so, we can entertain little doubt. (1 Sam. xiv. 32.) All the beasts and birds of prey seem to devour the animals they prey upon with the greatest relish, whilst the blood is yet warm, and the flesh quivering under the devourer's teeth; they drink the blood as a most delicious beverage, and they appear in all the terrific grandeur of their savage fury when swilling it from the bodies of their half living prey; they kill them only so far as to prevent resistance, and to allow themselves the quiet enjoyment of their bloody feast; and were it not for this, they would prefer devouring them without inflicting a blow. But man, the visible lord of all the creatures, is not thus to brutalize his nature; he may eat of the flesh of animals, but no cruelty must be mixed up with the act; especially he must guard against a ferocious spirit, and a savage temper; which God, by the ordinance given to Noah, has provided against, and by teaching him and his descendants to respect even the blood of irrational creatures, has taught them to entertain tenfold reverence for the blood, which is the life, of man. The words of the Most High lead us directly to this conclusion; for immediately after the injunction not to eat the flesh of animals with the living blood in it, he subjoins, “And surely your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." But But it may be asked, can cruelty be avoided whilst man is allowed to kill animals for his food? The Lord and Ruler of the universe saw no cruelty in the practice, when he gave man an enlarged grant of subsistence, and allowed him the use of animal food. many individuals who do not sufficiently reverence the divine authority, and even entire nations who have never heard of, or never acknowledged the authority of Scripture, carefully abstain from animal food; it is an article of religion to do so with perhaps one half of the vast population of India; it was taught to the Greeks in the philosophical school of Pythagoras, who borrowed it from the East, and supported it by the same absurd arguments which prevailed there, founded on the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; in which it is alleged that the souls of men pass, after death, into the bodies of various animals, and go through a long process of these transmigrations, till they are fit for being absorbed into the divine essence. On this account, they consider the life of the lower animals to be as sacred as the life of man, and no consideration will induce them to kill even the most noxious animals. I need spend no time on the refutation of such an absurd doctrine as this; I would only observe that it is a very ancient, though corrupted, relic of the doctrine of the soul's immortality, or rather the indestructibility of the human spirit; for it does not acknowledge a life of reward and punishment beyond the grave; it holds that this is accomplished by the various transmigrations of the soul in the present world, till it is at last purified and refined, and ready to be absorbed into the divine nature, of which it is conceived to be an emanation, made manifest on earth first in the body of man, and afterwards in those of other creatures, till it is at last taken back into the essence of the Deity. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. MRS JANET SCOTT, OF HEDDERWICK. BY THE LATE REV. JAMES MITCHELL, Minister of the Scotch Church, Wooler, Northumberland. MRS JANET SCOTT, or, as she was usually called in Montrose and its neighbourhood, Lady Janet, was descended from the Scotts of Benholm, a respectable family in the county of Mearns. She was born some time in the seventeenth century, and died in 1739. On the decease of a brother she succeeded to the estate of Hedderwick, in the parish of Montrose, to the great advantage, not only of her tenants, but of the parish in general, and of many in other parishes, who were either edified by her pious example, or part ook largely of her bounty. While the greater part of the genteel families in the east of Angus were, for a considerable time after the Revolution, of the Episcopal persuasion, and deeply tinctured with Jacobitism, the Scotts of Hedderwick and their connections were Presbyterians in sentiment, and warmly attached to principles of liberty. Her which the information I have received throws no light; but from her exalted piety may it not be inferred that her religion was heavenly as to its origin, and that her death was serene and comfortable, like that of the followers of the Lord Jesus? Piety and beneficence were the characteristic excellencies of this good woman. And as she was never married, she was left at freedom to give full scope to her religious and liberal feelings. In her these words were fulfilled, "The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord." 1 Cor. vii. 34. Her piety evidenced itself by a strong attachment to secret prayer. In this duty, which is so striking a mark of sincerity in grace, and so ample a source of pleasure and improvement, she was very abundant. Her piety, however, was not merely of the contemplative kind, it was such as led to the most active exertions. place of residence was situated about two English miles from the parish church, and yet there she gave punctual attendance while health permitted, even when advanced in years, and thus supported her ministers by her countenance, and animated her fellow-Christians by her devout example. But of this excellent lady, as of many Christians in the primitive Church, it might be said that she had a Church in her own house. It was in the hall of Hedderwick, which might contain near two hundred people, that this Church assembled twice a week, on Thursday and Sabbath evenings. These lectures were attended by serious people from Montrose, by many of the inhabitants of the country parish, and by several from parishes in the neighbourhood. Sometimes the hall and stairs would be crowded, and multitudes in the court-yard. The lectures were chiefly kept up by probationers of the Church of Scotland, whom she maintained in her family, some of whom were afterwards advanced to livings in the Church, and were useful in their different situations. So that it might be said of her, as of another eminent Christian lady, that she wished her house to be a nursery in which labourers might be reared for the vineyard of the Lord. When the chaplain was at any time absent, his place was supplied by the ministers of Montrose, or other ministers of her acquaintance. With many pious and eminent clergymen of the Church of Scotland she cultivated a friendly correspondence. Mr Blair of Brechin, Mr Moncrieff of Culfargie, and Mr Glass of Tealing, previous to his separation from the Church, visited at Hedderwick, and officiated at the evening lectures. And thus these lectures afforded an edifying variety of gifts, and were, by the Divine blessing, beneficial to many who attended them. Besides the evening lectures, the chaplain had to maintain the worship of God every day in the family. And when he was from home, that so important a part of divine service might not be omitted, she caused it to be performed by a servant in the family, who afterwards acted as a schoolmaster in the country parish. Such a house was surely a dwelling of the righteous, in which is heard the melody of joy and praise. Mrs Janet Scott, like the rest of her family, was a firm Presbyterian, and what is far more to be valued, a devout and eminent Christian. The excellencies of this worthy character were not of the common sort. She was one of those singular personages who are rarely to be met with in a country, but when they are, turn out to be an equal honour and blessing to the particular spots where the providence of God appoints their residences. As nearly a century has elapsed since her death, and the greater part of her contemporaries are gone to their long home, it is to be regretted that but few materials can be got for giving even a succinct account of her life. Had I had an opportunity of conversing about her with the late Mr Blair of Brechin, or any of the other ministers who were intimately acquainted with her, or could I have had access to peruse her letters to her friends, this account might have been enriched with a great variety of striking particulars; but the few circumstances which I mean to submit to the public, and which were chiefly obtained from a person who was much in her family, and for some time taught The liberality of this servant of Jesus was not less a school maintained at her expense, are certainly too im- singular than her piety. In acts of beneficence, a conportant not to deserve to be rescued from oblivion. siderable part of her income was annually expended. What were the means by which she was led at first to She seems to have considered herself only as a steward take a serious turn, what was the state of her mind, or of the bounties of Providence for the benefit of those what were her expressions at the time of her death, as around her. While many of her charitable deeds were to the hopes of future happiness, are matters upon never known, and several that were once known are now forgotten, there are others of a remarkable nature which are still related to her honour, and deserve to be imitated by all who are in opulent circumstances. In her time, the rents of the estate of Hedderwick were commonly paid in meal. This she disposed of among the poor families on her ground at a moderate price; thus demonstrating, that while she abhorred the too common custom of grinding the face of the poor by oppressive exactions, she was too wise to afford, by a profuse liberality, any encouragement to that lazy and indolent disposition which is the parent of much wickedness and misery. She was also accustomed to employ persons in whom she could repose confidence to purchase coarse clothes for her at markets; and with these she clothed the poor children on her estate. Thus was her time spent in feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. As her charity was extended to every description of persons, so it was exerted in a peculiar manner in behalf of the poor friends of the Redeemer, and most of all in behalf of his ministering servants and their families, when they stood in need of it. A pleasing instance of her kindness to a pious minister I had from a lady, whose mother was her housekeeper. Having been informed that this worthy man was, on his settlement in a parish at some distance, in embarrassed circumstances, and that his house was poorly provided in furniture, she generously sent by her man-servant a cart-load of furniture; and by her housekeeper, who went along with him, a purse of money, which she was ordered to deliver into his own hands. This was an agreeable surprise to the clergyman, who insisted that the servants should acquaint him with the name of his generous benefactor; but this could not be done, as they had been strictly enjoined to conceal it. This clergyman afterwards prospered in the world, and had the happiness to have a son who imitated the piety, and followed the sacred profession of his father; and during the course of a long life, was a blessing and ornament to the Church, by his ministerial labours and excellent example, and though now dead, he yet speaketh, by his various useful writings. The humility of this good woman, indeed, seems to have equalled her liberality. Her inclination prompted her to do good by stealth, and to remember her Lord's advice, "not to let the left hand know what the right hand doeth." The charity of this lady reached not only to the bodies, but the souls of the poor. She thought it not enough to clothe the naked, and feed the hungry with temporal food and raiment; but also did her endeavour to have their souls clothed with the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness, and to have them fed with the bread of life which came down from heaven. Sensible of the great advantages of an early religious education, she erected a school upon her estate, in which not fewer than twenty children were instructed in reading, and in the principles of religion, solely at her expense. And that the poor might have, after her death, access to the advantages of revelation, she bequeathed by her last will, to the session of Montrose, the sum of six hundred pounds Scots, the interest of which was to be employed by them in purchasing English school-books for the poor belonging to the landward parish. In consequence of this legacy, many have become possessed of the precious Book of God, who could not of themselves have purchased it. She was one who mingled but little with the people of the world. Except her own relations, the pious clergy of the neighbourhood, and some good women of Montrose, few resorted to her house. She was not of the world; for God had chosen her out of the world. The society of the gay and the worldly, whose portion is evidently in this life, neither accorded with her taste, nor would have been safe for her. She attempted not, with some professors of Christianity, to unite things which, in their nature, are utterly incompatible,-the enjoyment of real religion with a conformity to the vanities of the world. And however much the giddy and thoughtless may ridicule her mode of conduct, the period will most certainly ere long arrive, when, probably, their most ardent wish will be, that they had lived the life of this righteous woman. This imperfect Sketch may afford some idea of the worth of this excellent character. By her shining piety and extensive beneficence, her memory has been exceedingly endeared to the people of the part of the country in which she resided. The old people who were acquainted with her, or lived near her time, seemed always to talk of her with a glow of satisfaction. While many of her contemporaries who fluttered in the gay circles, or led a life of folly and dissipation, are consigned over to merited oblivion, this good woman lives in the esteem and gratitude of admiring posterity. May not the respect which has been, and is still, paid to her memory, on' account of her many virtues, point out to the great and affluent the true road to respectability? This is not to be attained by attending the theatre or frequenting gay assemblies, by hoarding up their incomes by sordid penuriousness, or squandering it away by sumptuousness of living, by espousing atheistical or infidel opinions, by the profanation of the Lord's day, or by a total or partial desertion of public worship. These are the things which have sunk too many of our modern gentry in the estimation of the religious part of the world, and indeed in the estimation of their inferiors of every description. Did they follow the pattern of this worthy character; did they, like her, pray to God in secret, and constantly worship him in their families and in the church; did they actively endeavour to promote the cause of the Redeemer in the world, as well as exert themselves in behalf of the poor and needy, like her they would live and die generally respected. Such conduct would render them an ornament to religion and a blessing to society, and afford a pleasure to their own minds which passeth understanding, and which the vain amusements of the world can never impart. But we have reason to believe that a sublimer happiness was prepared for this lady than that which resulted from the esteem of contemporaries, or even from the comforts of religion enjoyed in this present world. Her work is with her God, and her reward is on high. She was probably the mean of turning many to righteousness, and if so, she now shines not merely with the brightness of the firmament, but with the superior lustre of the stars for ever and ever. Ye poor, if any of you chance to read this memoir, consider what an acquisition it would be for you to have such a character residing in your neighbourhood! That omnipotent Being who endowed the mind of this lady with such piety and benevolence, is still able to |