God; all bonds to punishment are, upon believing, immediately dissolved; a full and final pardon sealed. O precious faith! who can sufficiently value it! GOD'S ANGER. GOD's anger against sin is most ter judgment, and pouring upon each its appropriate doom. When our great Redeemer reached the predestined spot where he was to take the place of sinful men, to be numbered with the transgressors, and give his back to the smiters, standing in the stead of the guilty, then the anger of the Lord appeared. The earth quaked, the sun rible; and yet it has a severe and aw-hid his face, and the cry of the atoning ful beauty which fills the pious soul Lamb sounded far and fearfully, as, with reverence and love. deserted by the Father, he bowed his head in death. The pathway of God's anger issues from the bosom of his holiness. When sin first allured the angels from their just allegiance, the Divine anger was revealed in sternness and strength. When man first departed from God, he drove him from paradise, appointed a flaming sword, set over him the executioner death, and from the bosom of successive ages even to the precincts of the resurrection poured down the terrors of dissolution. When the guilty race sunk in universal corruption, he unsealed the fountains of the great deep upon the polluted world. When Sodom reeked in crime, he swept the guilty plain of its cities for ever. When Egypt rebelled, he called around him the ten infuriate plagues. When Canaan had filled the measure of her guilt, he led forth his people by the way of the Red Sea and the wilderness to drive out its inhabitants before them. When Nineveh exalted the offensive themes of her gods; when Babylon reared her persecuting head; when Tyre flaunted in meretricious pride; when Jerusalem hardened herself against the Messiah ; when Rome heated the boiling cauldron against the saints the angel of the Lord strode from city to city, and from age to age, holding over them the cup of Yet in all these acts of dread commission the anger of the Lord was righteous. No malice flamed in his eye; no cruelty stained his hand; no passion burned in his heart. He stood in severe and awful beauty! The tear of compassion trembled in his eye, the voice of love was heard above the thunders of judgment, and the universe admired the beauty of holiness as it shone in the anger of the Lord. SOMETHING FOR EACH TO DO. IT is simply that every man, woman, and child in the church shall look round upon his or her acquaintances and friends, and select one individual, and resolve, with God's help, that this one individual shall be brought under the sound of the gospel, and no efforts labours, prayers shall be spared to se cure his or her conversion during the year. Is this too much to ask? If there is one Christian in the church so low in his own esteem that he cannot find a poor, ignorant child, or a despised beggar, to whom he can go, like his Master, with the offer of salvation that he cannot find one whose affection he can gain by kindness and love, whom he can teach himself, or draw to the sanctuary for instruction there, and for whom he can offer continually the effectual, fervent prayer which availeth much;-if you are too poor and insignificant to do even this, ask yourself, for what God brought you into his church? He has work for every one of his servants to do; if he has none for you, then you may be sure you are none of his. But it is often by just such weak and lowly-minded disciples as you, that he most delights to work. It is the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised things of the world that God has chosen to confound the wise and the mighty. Even Paul could glory in his infirmities and say, "For when I am weak, then am I strong." The work can be done, and it appears to me that no one who believes the redemption of his own soul has been purchased at the cost of his blessed Master's sufferings and death, can wish to do less. that God punishes only because it is necessary to punish; that the penalty of the Divine law emanates from infinite benevolence; that the nature of sin is indescribably odious; that, for the pardon of sin, a movement was necessary in heaven, more august and astonishing than that which created the world-a movement which has done more to enlarge and exalt the minds of angels and men than any other manifestation of God, and compared with which, all the miracles ever wrought, are but as drops to the ocean. The glorious Person who made the sacrifice, standing in the place of a guilty world, combined in himself all the infinite attributes of God with all the attributes of a perfect man. Dwelling in that anointed form was that everlasting Word which abode from eternity in the bosom of the Father. The sacrifice was a work performed by the right arm of the Most High, and for which the labours of four thousand years had prepared. Therefore was it possible for God to plant the cross far down the course of time, and, on the How glorious would be the result if only this simple plan could be carried out, and every member of the church be made the instrument during the year, of saving one soul! What rejoic-grounds of a sacrifice which was to be ing in heaven! what power of influence given to the cause of Christ on earth! How many tender friendships would be formed! How the cause of Bibles and tracts and missions would be prospered! E. B. P. VOICE OF THE ATONEMENT. THE atonement is the centre of all-important truths. On the one hand, it proclaims the inflexible determination of God to maintain his law; and, on the other, the greatness of his compassion for a sinful world, It declares made, receive many sons unto glory before it was made. Therefore could Moses and Daniel and Isaiah tell in thrilling numbers the story of their own joy, as well as the glories of ages yet unborn. Therefore may it be, that while the atonement avails not for sinners of other worlds, it may keep unnumbered worlds from sin. Thus does the voice of the atonement utter condemnation for sin even while it prepares the way for its pardon. It reiterates in earnest tones the great doctrines of man's responsibility; it teaches the universality of God's moral government, and causes the universe to resound, at once with the thunder of justice, and the soft, rich tones of dying mercy. B. health or sickness, in life or death; and through eternity, may this be our individual boast, "I belong to Christ." C. H. "I BELONG TO CHRIST." I STOOD by the bedside of an aged negro, and, though a slave, he was free in Christ. Age had whitened his head before he had learned to love the Saviour and obey his holy precepts. It was in attendance on family worship, and hearing the Scriptures daily read, that his mind became enlightened and his heart touched by the Spirit of grace. Henceforward he lived for God; and when questioned as to his progress in religious life, his humble reply was, "I try to live by my prayer!" Oh, Christian, whoever you may be, that reads this simple but expressive sentence, are you thus living? Do your prayers and your life correspond? If not, then will this faithful, although obscure negro, rise in the day of final account to put you to shame. But now the weight of ninety years pressed upon him, and death was at hand. With a cheerful trust he met its gradual approach, and when failing strength disabled him from enjoying prayer, or holding conversation, I said, “Do you still find peace?" He answered in the affirmative, and with effort drawing up his hands and clasping them, he continued with solemn feeling, "I believe I belong to Christ!" Thus the humble cabin was lighted by the glories of Christian triumph, in the cheerful trust, the confiding heart, with which this disciple met the last hour of his life. May this humble believer's plea be ours; let us feel Christ's ownership in us in joy or sorrow, in BIBLE AND NO BIBLE. DR. ADAMS, addressing a Bible Society, beautifully illustrated the benign influence of the word of God, by contrasting those countries where it is perused, with those in which it is prohibited. "Tell me," said he, "where the Bible is, and where it is not, and I will write a moral geography of the world. I will show what, in all particulars, is the physical condition of that people. One glance of your eye will inform you where the Bible is, and where it is not. Go to Italy-decay, degradation, suffering, meet you on every side. Commerce droops, agriculture pines, the useful arts languish. There is a heaviness in the air; you feel cramped by some invisible but mighty power. The people dare not speak aloud-they walk slowly-an armed soldiery is around their dwellings-an armed police take from the stranger his Bible, before he enters the territory. Ask for the Bible in the book-stores; it is not there, or only in a form so large and expensive as to be beyond the reach of the common people. the The preacher takes no text from Bible. Enter the Vatican and inquire for a Bible, and you will be pointed to some case where it reposes among prohibited books, side by side with the works of Diderot, Rousseau, and Voltaire. But pass over the Alps into Switzerland, and down the Rhine into Holland, and over the channel to England and Scotland, and what an amazing contrast meets the eye. Men look with an air of independence-- SKETCH OF MR. HAMMOND, there is industry, neatness, instruction row Chapel, he was at length induced for children. Why this difference? to comply with the urgent entreaties of There is no brighter sky; there are the young person who afterwards beno fairer scenes of nature; but they came his wife, and now survives to have the Bible; and happy is the peo- lament her early loss. The effect upon ple who are in such a case, for it is his mind was singular and striking. righteousness that exalteth a nation. He appears to have been at once impressed with the things he heard; and, immediately after the service, literally ran the whole distance to his home for a half-sovereign, and back again to the chapel, in order to secure sittings, so that they might both attend regularly in future. Though too late for this purpose on his return, his resolution was carried into effect on the Tuesday evening following, and from that period they both continued regular attendants upon the means of grace. BERMONDSEY. In the year 1842 he became a member of the church, and shortly afterwards a devoted Sunday-school teacher MR. HAMMOND was the son of respectable parents who were connected with the Established Church. His early life, however, appears to have passed without any serious attempts to train him in "the right ways of the Lord," as he was never accustomed to attend upon an evangelical ministry, nor, indeed, to frequent statedly any place of worship whatever. Gay in his disposition, slight in his frame, and active in his habits, he was originally intended for the fri-and a zealous labourer in a local assovolous profession of a dancing-master! but although this design was ultimately changed for the more rational pursuits of commercial life, yet he grew up to manhood" without God in the world" -"a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God." He became passionately fond of the vicious and demoralizing amusements of the theatre, which he was accustomed to visit almost every evening when at leisure,-occasionally performing privately, and mixing freely with the society to be found behind the scenes, at some of the minor theatres in the metropolis. At this period how little could have been anticipated of his future eminent piety. But God had purposes of sove reign mercy towards him, and the time for their accomplishment was at hand. About six years since, after resisting repeated solicitations to visit Jamaica ciation of the Reformation Society. At this period, having of course renounced his attendance at the theatres, and having much time at his disposal, he was accustomed frequently to devote the whole of his afternoons to closet prayer, and the careful study of the holy Scriptures. On his death-bed he described to his friend and pastor those "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," which appear to have been the most hallowed seasons of delight, as well as the means of his establishment and advancement in the knowledge of the great truths of the gospel. But even at this time it is probable that the seeds of disease were germinating in his bosom, destined, ere long, to bring forth fruit unto death. He obtained a commercial situation which required greater exertion than he was able to endure. Often has he returned home in the evening trembling with exhaustion, and, almost without uttering a word, even to his wife, immediately retired to his bed. Anxious to fulfil his duties to his employers, who now speak in the highest terms of his diligence and fidelity, he continued these exertions too long, and in the spring of the present year was altogether laid aside by the failure of his health. Still, however, no serious apprehensions were entertained either by himself or his friends that his case was fatal; until at length, when visited by an eminent physician, (Dr. Hastings,) it was found that his lungs were so seriously diseased that no hope could be entertained of his recovery. It was supposed that he could not live more than a month; and the result proved the correctness of the prediction. realize at those hallowed seasons, he asked, with great earnestness, whether he could possibly have been mistaken in supposing that he had there found mercy and become a partaker of the grace of eternal life? In the conversation that ensued, the text was quoted, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." This seemed to afford him almost instantaneous relief. The cloud was dispersed, and he himself described it as "the passing of a sunbeam over his mind." Many were our interviews during the brief interval of life which remained. He was always calm and cheerful, yet had no raptures. Perhaps this was, in his case, a special favour, at least as regarded his wife and friends around him. The very excitement of rapturous At first, as may be supposed, he was enjoyment would most probably have startled and confounded at this unex-extinguished much earlier the feeble pected announcement. It was some little time before he was able deliberately to realize his position, and to review his prospects for eternity. A slight cloud seemed to pass over his mind. He did not doubt nor fear; but he wished for a clearer perception, and a more indubitable persuasion, of his interest in the great salvation. Deeply did he express regret at the loss he had recently experienced, in being unable to attend the week evening services at the chapel, which in former times he had found so great a source of edification and enjoyment to his soul. In the course of an interview with him, he referred to the early times in his religious experience when he was accustomed to retire for secret devotion and the perusal of God's word, and after describing the joys which he was permitted to spark of life; and he felt comforted and reconciled when this thought was suggested to his mind. But how invaluable is that religion which can give calmness to the soul in the very prospect of death and eternity!—a calmness, not the result of mere ignorance or brutish stupidity, but connected with an enlightened conception of the solemn truths of Divine revelation, and even inspired by them! Such was "the holy calmness of his soul" during the closing days of mortality; and at length, after a distressing night of suffering, having expressed the sweet assurance that he should soon be with Jesus, the "lover of his soul," he at length breathed his last sigh on the morning of the 15th June last, and entered the bright world where God has wiped away all tears from his eyes: |