mind in his times, or in those imaginative pictures in which the fancy of the poet revels. The lusts of Jupiter,-the partial and often disgraceful loves of female divinities, make up the staple of all that heathen tradition has said regarding its own mythology. Besides, we know that these and all similar instances of a pretended display of miraculous power, of which either history or poetry discourses, were never attested by witnesses, who, in defiance of all that selfish human nature loves, scaled their testimony with their blood. The miracles of heathen mythology, in ancient times, and the works of wonder said to have been wrought at the tombs of saints and martyrs, in those more modern, have no testimony worthy of being compared with that to which Scripture points, when it says to us, even as Jesus said to the disciples of John :-" Go ye and tell John what things ye both hear and see; the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and to the poor the Gospel is preached."

The conclusion of St John's testimony, shows that the Saviour must have wrought many miracles to which the Evangelists do not allude. "This is the disciple which testifieth these things and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose, that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Of those recorded by the Holy Spirit, there are some to which our attention is more powerfully drawn than to others. Christ feeding the multitudes on the shores of the Lake of Genesareth, and Christ raising the beloved Lazarus, are works on which the young mind dwells often, and to which old age frequently reverts. It is not because they are more indicative of Divine wisdom and might, of the presence of Him who created all things, and by whom all things consist, though this too might be affirmed regarding them, but because we see in these miracles the spirit of the gospel more distinctly devoloped. The Redeemer "has compassion on the multitudes, because they are as sheep that have no shepherd." It is the beautiful picture which dwelt before the mind of the Sacred poet realised: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want; He maketh me to lie down in green pastues: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me. Thou preparest a table for me, in the midst of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over."

We love the Saviour always; but there are circumstances in which the sentiment of love merges into that of holy veneration. We fear God when we behold Christ smite the barren fig-tree,-we tremble when we hear him rebuke the selfish Pharisees,-but Jesus weeping over the grave of Lazarus, we must love and obey;-for in the friendship and grief which he then manifested, we discover the fulfilment of all that heaven hath purposed, yes, of all that heaven had promised to do for our salvation. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." Perhaps there is no miracle mentioned in

the Scriptures of the New Testament, on which the mind dwells with more delight than on that wrought by the Saviour when he restored Lazarus to life. The anxious inquirer, who loves to "walk about Zion, and go round about her, that he may tell her towers, and mark well her bulwarks"-never fails to discover in it a tower of strength-a bulwark of might, against which the storms of error and prejudice and infidelity beat in vain. It were not well, did we peruse the Bible in a careless mood, and seeing that Heaven has provided us with a minute narrative of the circumstances which attended the resurrection of him whom Jesus loved, it becomes us to study it minutely and often, that the feelings which a prayerful perusal of those passages of Holy Writ, which advert to our Lord's friendship to the family at Bethany, may abide with us always, and thus serve to draw us yet closer to the adorable Redeemer with the cords of love. A summary of the circumstances which preceded and attended the resurrection of Lazarus, together with the results which followed, shows that imposture could not have been possible, or attempted, where multitudes of people at Bethany and Jerusalem, nay more, from all quarters of the world then visited by the Jews, could have easily detected the imposture. The inhabitants of Bethany must have known Lazarus and his sisters. He must have been no stranger to the people of the district in which Bethany was situated. Besides, he must have been acquainted with many in Jerusalem. His sickness must have called forth the sympathies of his friends and neighbours. His death must have occasioned great mourning and lamentation, among all to whom he was related, among all by whom he was beloved. What crowds of visitors, and friends, and relatives, must have wept over his dead body, and mourned with wild grief when he was consigned to the dark sepulchre. The sympathy which many had shown his sisters had not died away, wholly, when Jesus came to Bethany accompanied by His disciples. The groups of mourners had not left that town when Martha and Mary welcomed the Messiah. They were present when he conversed with the bereaved relatives, and the remarks which they made one to another, when they beheld the grief of those present, have been recorded by the Holy Spirit :-" Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died ?" The miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, after that he had been in the sepulchre four days, was wrought in the presence of the crowd, and not in a corner. The results were such as forbade all possibility of deception. Lazarus was restored to life. He, many years after that he had arisen conversed with the inhabitants of his native town and the surrounding districts. He visited Jerusalem and was known to many there, as the Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Many believed because they had seen or heard proofs of the truth of this miracle. The numbers of those converted were so great that the rulers summoned meetings of the Sanhedrim to consult what steps should be taken to prevent the multitudes from embracing the doctrine of salvation. A diversity of opinion appears to have prevailed-some received Christ as the Messiah; while others, prompted by a desire for change, sought to bring the claims of our Lord, as set forth in this miracle into collision with the civil and ecclesiastical powers. Our

Lord's future visits to Jerusalem acquired an interest with the crowd on account of the resurrection of Lazarus,-the crowds who came up annually to Jerusalem must have been informed of what had transpired at Bethany, when Lazarus was restored to life. Evidence like this can only be true. An impostor never ventures to deal thus with his assumed testimony. He either ignores all such proofs as being unnecessary, or he withdraws from the curious gaze of the multitude, and when sought after, never mentions time or place. He is careful to mention no circumstances of a striking character, and least of all those which have fallen under the notice of the crowd, not only once or twice but often. Were he to seek to deceive the popular mind, he would above all things avoid the names of places, of persons still living, and of times and circumstances, concerning which many thousands of people are informed. Besides, he is always unwilling to draw the public attention to contemporaneous authority, and were he recording a narrative of events which, according to his testimony, have but lately transpired, would never point to the populace of a large town, and summon its authorities both high and low to acknowledge the truth of his statements; still less likely is it that he would prevail on any one to take up his exploded fabrications, and deal with them as if they were realities, or, that if in this respect he succeeded, he could prevail on the crowd through them to grant them credence.

But the resurrection of Lazarus is only one among many miracles wrought by our blessed Saviour. Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, had all witnessed the mighty works which he had wrought; for whereever he went he constantly adduced proofs of this kind as evidences of the truth that he came from God. The true statement of the case then, is not merely what authority ought the testimony of the resurrection of Lazarus to have; but what are we to conclude concerning the multitudes on multitudes, who must have been healed by Him? Let us dwell on this, and we shall find that every district of Palestine, must have testified concerning the Messiah, that He had done all things well. This is the conclusion drawn by every candid mind, and we know that the subtle prudence of the impostor never permits him to risk so many instances in which the veracity of his claims may be challenged and set aside. To what but the fact that Jesus must have wrought many miracles, are we to trace the invariable silence of the Jews? That He did work miracles, they do still acknowledge, but that He came as the messenger of Heaven, they refuse to grant, or if they do so, it is only in an inferior sense. "But heavenly wisdom is justified of its children :"-"The scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils, casteth he out devils. And He called them unto Him, and said unto them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against Satan, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. Verily, I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall

blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."

Reflection on the rise and progress of Christianity, shows that you can only account for the subjective knowledge of the doctrine of life, manifested by our Lord's Apostles and early followers, by recognising the truth of the holy gospel. The narratives of the four evangelists. are the only sufficient foundation on which we can rest the superstructure reared by St Paul and the other apostles, who survived Him in the work of the holy ministry. How could the mind of Paul have known, and felt, and written what has been communicated to us in the Epistles, had he not been convinced that Jesus was the Son of God? How could St Mark or St Luke, have received the Holy Gospel through them, and experienced that spiritual and internal change of which they speak, had they themselves not been taught of God? "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. This I say then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like;of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another."

Christianity is a religion founded on facts and not a history of opinions broached by men eminent for a knowledge of science or literature. The development of Christian doctrine is the work of God and not of man. The light which broke upon the multitudes of Hebrew slaves who left Egypt under the guidance of Mosescame from above, and is not to be traced to any inferior source. The history of the progress made by Christianity in the world, has been described by the prophet Ezekiel under the figure of a noble river which gradually increases in volume:-" Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the outer gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through

the waters; the waters were to the ancles. Again, he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the loins. Afterward, he measured a thousand; and that I could not pass over for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river which could not be passed over." The authority of that continuous stream of light which has flown down from the upper sanctuary-ever since the promise was given in Eden," the seed of the woman shall bruise thy head," is to be discovered in those facts which attest the truth of revealed truth-as recorded in Scripture. There are other proofs doubtless. There is the necessity of a revelation,-as evidenced in the utter helplessness of man, considered as a religious being, and fallen from God. There is the evidence furnished by the contents of Holy Scripture, usually styled the internal evidence-perhaps the most powerful of all those sources of conviction with which the mind of the Christian is conversant, and lastly, there is the evidence of miracles. From the day that Jehovah "came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; when He shined forth from Mount Paran, and came with ten thousands of saints, when from His right hand went a fiery law for them," the glory of the Most High hath been manifested in that providential care which heaven has continually exercised in behalf of the Church, sometimes expressed in dispensations afflictive and corrective, and sometimes in mighty works wrought to strengthen the faith of the saints. We have been familiar with the narrative of the miracles wrought by our Lord, and His holy apostles and prophets from our youth, but how familiar? Have they stood before us as facts

as facts whose importance and authority we have carefully studied and improved? Could we lead careless lives, did we hear the thunders of Sinai,-or pondered the purpose sought in the beneficent deeds wrought by the Divine Redeemer? Alas! that we should be so careless. We are all too ready merely to glance at the facts of revelation, without giving them that serious attention which they deserve. Wellmeaning persons shrink from a lengthened and keen study of the evidences of Holy Scripture. Whilst we respect their motives in doing so, let us avoid their errors. As our faith is, so shall our strength be. The man who feels his need of obtaining an interest in the merits of Christ, has the best possible evidence of the truth of Scripture-when he is led by the Holy Spirit to roll over the burden of his guilt, on the finished work of his Almighty Saviour.

ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Whitehall, 1st June.-The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev. George Hunter to the church and parish of Kirkton, in the Presbytery of Jedburgh, and Shire of Roxburgh, vacant by the death of the Rev. William Stuart Martin, late minister thereof.

Appointment. The Town Council of > Edinburgh has appointed the Rev. John Stuart, of Stirling, to the collegiate charge of St Andrew's Church.

St Luke's Church,- The Rev. Mr

Farquharson, Assistant to the Rev. Dr Forsyth, in the West Parish, Aberdeen, has received the appointment of Assistant to the Rev. Mir Maclaren of St Luke's, Edinburgh.

Parish of Kingussie.-The Duke of Richmond, Patron of the Parish of Kingussie, has presented the cure to Rev. Grigor Stuart, Minister of Rogart, who has intimated his acceptance of the living.