opening to its bright consummate flower. From this sequestered village, and the lawless border province in which it lies, is he to receive the names by which in after times a sneering, rancorous world shall brand his person and his faith. Matthew says that Joseph came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Not that this was the reason for his selecting the Galilean village for his abode, but that it was the "determinate counsel" and purpose of God in the various events that led to it. There is a difficulty connected with the words which the evangelist quotes as a prediction, inasmuch as the passage does not occur, literally as he gives it, in any of the prophets. It has been conjectured that as the word Nazareth is derived from a Hebrew word meaning a "branch," or "sprout," the name "Nazarene," as applied to the Saviour, attested the fulfilment in his person of the words of Isaiah, "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." This seems rather far-fetched, and the more probable explanation is that "Nazarene,” being a term of reproach, owing to the evil reputation of the people among their Galilean neighbours, (Nathanael, a native of Cana, saying to Philip, a dweller of Bethsaida, both towns being in the vicinity, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?") the evangelist means that in the fact of Jesus being thus designated, all those predictions which had alluded to the lowly, suffering, and calunniated life the Messiah was to lead amongst men, received their accomplishment. For a time he was but a Nazarene, the name applied to him in common with all his fellow-townsmen; but when from these village shades he went forth over the land, the man Christ Jesus was the Nazarene singled out for reproach, emphatically"the despised and rejected of men." It was the opprobrious symbol of his obscure original, and rustic training the scornful stigma fastened on him in priestly conclaves-the ready sarcasm flung at him by the rabble of the capital - it was the superscription of the cross. All that Julian the Apostate, that relentless enemy of the name of Christ, meant when he sneered at him as "the Galilean" was summed up in it.* To this day, all over the East,

*It is difficult for us to form any conception of the odium with which the Paganism of the first centuries regarded the rival faith, and which found expression in names like these. On the walls of a subterranean chamber in the Palatine at Rome, a blasphemous caricature has lately been discovered, meant to ridicule the Christian worship of a crucified God. Coarse and revolting libel as it is, it is curious as illustrating an allusion by Tertullian to a charge made by the Pagans that the Christians worshipped the head of an ass. It is said of Julian that, when he received his death-wound, he caught in his hand the blood as it gushed from his side, and threw it into the air, exclaiming Vieisti, O Gallilæe!" O Galilean, thou hast conquered." A short time before a Christian martyr had been tauntingly asked, "What is thy Master, the carpenter, doing now?" He replied, "Making a coffin for Julian." This ancient persecutor, and a modern enemy of Christianity, Voltaire, resemble each other in the peculiar malignity of their hatred to the person of Christ-écrasez l'infame. There is much of the same mocking Mephistopheles-spirit in both.

"

especially in great cities like Cairo, Damascus, or till lately, Delhi, hotbeds of Mussulman fanaticism, no epithet more forcibly expresses the antipathy and contempt in which the infidel Franks are held by all true believers than that of "Nazarene." Of the wondrous childhood to which from this time the cottage home of Nazareth was witness, only a single incident has been rescued from forgetfulness. Most striking is it that in the life of Jesus, up to the date of his entrance on his public ministry, stretching as it did through thirty years of the hardest experience of life, yet unsullied by the faintest speck, the least wandering shadow or breath of evil, but one passage is known. A veil like that which screened the Holiest of Israel hangs before that cottage door, and we dare not lift it. The first utterances of his childish wonder, as his eyes opened on earth and sky, the first movement of his infant lips in prayer, the first simple sayings or questionings, as he listened at his mother's knee to the story of Joseph, and Samuel, and David,-all this we might wish to have known, but for us they are as if they had never been. That childhood might have passed, for aught we know of it, within the cloistered stillness of the Temple shrine, where only the lamps of the sanctuary gleamed dimly on its mystic seclusion, instead of being braced into hardihood by mountain wind and air. The boy of Nazareth might have been tended and nursed by angels in some secret cave of Horeb or Carmel, so ignorant are we of the events of his boyhood; but we know that he was trained amid the privations and coarseness of a poor mechanic's dwelling, that he trod on foot the rough plebeian highway, exposed to the dust and heat, that he spoke his native language with the harsh accent and rustic idioms of Galilee. Most wisely was it thus ordained, for in "all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren," to know the stern and bare realities of human life, stripped of all artificial gloss and ornament, to become, through a more complete experience, the most human of men. And wisely has the gradual expanding of his human consciousness, the growth and development of the reasonable soul, within him, been left in impenetrable mystery, that the mind may settle its regard undivided on the work which the Son of God was manifest in flesh to do. All

It is gratifying to know that the general application of the term "Nazarene" in an ignominious sense to the followers of Jesus, admits of exceptions in the case of individual Christians, and even Christian nations. Mr. Lane, in his "Modern Egyptians," mentions the following with some feelings of national pride: "Not many years ago there was an Armenian jeweller at Cairo, so noted for his veracity that his acquaintances determined to give him some appellation significant of his possessing a virtue so rare among them. Tile name they gave him was, El Ingileezee, or the Englishman,' which has become his family name.

"It is common to hear tradesmen in that place, when demanding a price which they do not mean to abate, say, It is one word, the word of the English' (Kilmet-el-Ingileez). They also often say the word of the Franks' in that sense; but I have never heard any par ticular nation thus honourably distinguished except the English and the Mughrebees, or Western Arabs, which latter people have acquired that reputation by being rather more veracious than most other Moslems."

It was in this valley Job lay low, while he exclaimed, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Here Jacob wrestled with the angel till the dawning of the day, when, like a prince, he had power with God, and prevailed.

The house of Israel shall gather into this valley, every family apart, and every individual apart, when the Spirit of grace and supplication shall be poured out upon them, leading them to look on Him whom they have pierced, and to mourn. Here, also, David wrote most of his Psalms, and, indeed, they have become, as it were, the natural dialect of the sojourners in this valley.

Here, more than anywhere else, do our Lord's scholars assemble, who are learning of him to be meek and lowly of heart; and none but those who are being taught by him, can tell the blessedness of the rest they here find to their souls.

Paul dwelt here long, till he had marvellously mastered his lesson, and proved his famous paradoxes. “I have learned [says he], in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ strengthening me." A lesson poor, half-witted Joseph learned from the same Teacher, to say nearly as well as Paul

"I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all,

But Jesus Christ is all in all."

How is it, then, when this valley is such a desirable place to be in, so many shun and dislike it, and confounding it with the Valley of the Shadow of Death, fear to enter into it. Bunyan says that one reason is because the descent into it, being down the Hill Difficulty, is steep and perilous; and another reason, which he does not mention, is, because the door of Hope, by which it is entered, is ordinarily the Valley of Achor, which is terrible and painful to flesh and blood, the valley of trouble-the fruit of sin-whether outward or inward, in mind, body, or estate, personal or relative, all painful and hard to bear.

To have the detecting hand of God laid upon our conscience, and our hidden wedge brought to the tent's mouth, and to be forced, like Achan, to confess our guilt, and acquiesce in its punishment, oh, this is hard! To be emptied from vessel to vessel, and driven from refuge to refuge, and stripped of everything in which we trusted, and brought empty, bankrupt, and naked to the feet of sovereign mercy, this is altogether unpalatable to the proud heart of man. And yet that this is the way of God's dealing with those for whom he has a purpose of mercy, is abundantly evidenced in the whole word of God, as well as in his people's experience. "The day of the Lord" on everything to which the

carnal heart cleaves, or in which it trusts, that the "loftiness of men may be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men laid low, that the Lord alone may be exalted." "That he that glorieth may glory only in the Lord," and so Jesus may be made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, all in all.

Take the record of God's dealings with his people in the 107th Psalm, and see in every case this truth brought out. Brought into last extremities, that they might be shut up to cry unto the Lord in their trouble, then the issue invariably is, “and he delivered them.” Proud man hates to be humbled, but humbled he must be if he is to receive grace, and humble he must be kept if he is to walk worthy of the grace of God. It is his pride that makes the Valley of Achor necessary—it is through the pride of his countenance that he will not seek after God at the first-it is the pride of his heart, refusing to be beholden to free grace, that makes him flee from refuge to refuge, and from mountain to hill— it is the pride of his heart keeps him afar off, when he has wandered and backslidden-ah! it is a gracious hand that leads him by a way that he knows not, through the Valley of Achor down into the safe, sheltered, low-lying Valley of Humiliation.

No doubt it is a valley of weeping; but the tears shed here are sweet and refreshing. Here they dwell whose mourning is truly blessed; for there are other fountains opened in the midst of this valley, whose waters satisfy and give life. The dew from the Lord rests ever upon it. There are warmer and brighter gleams of the Sun of righteousness here than elsewhere. The heat here is like the clear shining after rain. There is much heartsease amongst the flowers that spring up among the grass, and the lovely lily of the vale sends forth its sweet savour at every step. Where does the name of JESUS sound so sweet, as in the ears of an emptied, humbled sinner, lying low at God's feet? "Oh," said Hopeful, when ashamed of the vileness of his former life, and confounded with a sense of his own ignorance, “there never came thought into my heart, before now, that showed me so the beauty of Jesus Christ."

It is true that here was the scene of Christian's dread conflict with Apollyon, but Bunyan tells us that this was in consequence of the slips he made in descending into the valley. Besides, conflict is what must be looked for by the Christian every step of the way; and never does he feel this more than in his closest and sweetest seasons of communion. When sweetly feeding at the table spread in the wilderness, he feels that it is in the presence of his foes; but there the Lord is with him, and so he fears no evil.

Moreover, though Christian's fight with Apollyon was a great fight, it was also a great victory. Had it taken place anywhere else than in the Valley of Humiliation, he might have had a great defeat to mourn over all his days. For here he felt his own utter weakness, and fled

to the Strong for strength, and so he proved in his wonderful deliverance that greater was He that was in him than he that was against him. God's strength is made perfect in weakness, and, says Paul," when I am weak, then am I strong." Besides, had he not fought, ay, and been wounded, too, in the fight, he would have missed the "hand that brought him the leaves of the tree of life for his healing." "To him that overcometh at last shall be given to eat of the tree of life;" and what a sweet foretaste of the final reward is sometimes given in the midst of the fight, to refresh one bearing the burden and heat of the day, and to nerve for further conflict! What a precious experience it is! How confirming to the faith and re-assuring to the heart of one wounded and bleeding, but holding on in the good fight, when "a hand"-it may be the minister on the Sabbath, or the letter of a friend, a book, a tract, at all events what is felt to be only "a hand”—brings all unconsciously the very leaves of the tree of life we need for our healing! We feel, then, that the eye of the Lord is indeed upon us, and that the heart that feels and sympathizes with us and none other, has prompted the outstretching of "the hand" to minister to our necessities.

But why may not the nearest way to our Father's house lie along this valley? Why should we ever leave it till we enter glory? "Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God;" and changes in the spiritual life-ups and downs-summers and winters— are needful to keep the fear of God alive and fresh in the soul. But no doubt the way of the children of God lies again and again through this valley. It is surely not without significance that the way of the Israelites towards Canaan was backward and forward, over the same ground again and again; and the end of all was just to lead once more into the Valley of Humiliation"to humble thee, and to prove thee, and to know what is in thy heart."

Oh, the oftener here the better, Lord-the oftener the better! But into this land of uprightness only thy Holy Spirit can lead me. Spirit of the Lord, lead me down into this valley-into low, low thoughts of myself, and high, exalted thoughts of thee. Never do the mountains look so high as when I am low down in the vale beneath. Never are thy glorious grace and goodness so exalted as when lying lowest at thy feet.

Surely days spent here are "days of heaven upon the earth;" for is it not the continual exercise of the redeemed before the throne to fall down before God and the Lamb, casting their crowns at his feet, and saying, "Salvation and blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen?" "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted;" and truly in such blessed humbling as this consists the highest exaltation.

STUDIES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER.

STEWART OF MOULIN.

PART II.

...

STEWART's first efforts to bring others into the light which he was himself enjoying were not very successful. His appeals to private friends, for example, brought such replies as the following :-" I am no more inclined to give up the covenant of works than you are to give up the covenant of grace. Your argument, in my opinion, strikes at the root of all moral virtue, and must prove the ruin, not the salvation, of all mankind. My creed is, that we must strive what we can to take the advantage of both these covenants, by the strictest attention we can pay to our moral duty; and when our nature fails us we are to trust to the covenant of grace and mercy through our Redeemer. I believe that the worthy and the good were the elect chosen, but not that they were picked out individually. Sure I am, that you are no such enemy to morality in your conduct as you are in your doctrine. Give up the covenant of works! No, SURELY, NEVER WHILE I RETAIN MY SENSES." It is seldom that we hear now-a-days anti-evangelical sentiments so fully and roundly expressed. The theory of redemption, as taught in the Scriptures, seems, as a theory at least, to be now better understood. But still it is to be feared that, underlying the light assent to the truth on the surface, there are notions floating in many minds as crude and confused as those just referred to, and tending as effectually to obscure the real glory of the cross of Christ. How strikingly does it prove, that even with the most intelligent "a veil may be on their hearts" in the reading of the word, that a person so capable as Stewart's correspondent was, should, in the face of Paul's express, and, one would have thought, unmistakable declarations on the subject, have hoped to gain heaven by taking advantage of both covenants.

His labours among his parishioners had a more satisfactory issue. The character of these it is important to note, as in them we are to seek the secondary causes of the revival of religion which speedily followed.

First of all, then, we observe in this connection something deserving of special remark in the style and spirit of his pulpit ministrations. "From August 1797, to January 1798," he says, "I preached a course of sermons on the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. . . . I was now enabled to show from Scripture that all men are by nature enemies to God, disobedient to his law, and on that account exposed to his just indignation and curse. I therefore addressed them, not as persons who were already, from education, birthright, or local situation, possessed of saving faith, and other Christian graces, but as sinners under sentence of death, and who had not as yet obtained mercy.' I did not, as before, merely reprove them for particular faults or vices, and urge them to the practice of particular virtues, but told

them that the whole of their affections and inclinations needed to be pointed in a new direction, and even their virtues to be new modelled. . . . Yet that their case was by no means desperate, for we had the glad tidings to tell, that God had made provision for the complete salvation of sinners,-that he had appointed his own eternal Son, in the human nature, to procure for sinners the pardon of sin, and a title to glory by his own obedience and sufferings." "The novelty of the matter," he adds, "and some change in my manner of preaching, excited attention. People began to think more, and sometimes to talk together of religious subjects, and of the sermons they heard. But I did not yet know of any deep or lasting impressions having been made."

A second cause then comes into view,-an instrumentality which, in our own day, has been distinguished above all others, that of the prayer-meeting. There was in a neighbouring village a poor infirm woman, who had long walked with God. She lived alone, "in a mean cottage;" but to two young persons of the neighbourhood, who had been by this time led to think seriously about their souls, it became manifest that the Lord was there, and they began to seek her house often for conversation and prayer. Mr. Stewart himself, along with some members of his family, by-and-by joined this little company. In course of time, also, other accessions were made to it; and up to August 1799, when the woman died, there ascended weekly from this humble cottage many an earnest supplication for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Another thing which operated in the way of inducing many to think, was Mr. Stewart's endeavour to promote greater purity of communion. It is often and justly regarded a favourable symptom, when unusual numbers in a congregation seek admission to the Lord's table. In Moulin it was marked as a hopeful sign, that about this time the number of applicants for admission sensibly diminished. "For some years before the number of candidates for admission each summer amounted to thirty, forty, and sometimes near fifty. In summer 1798 there were not above twelve." But it is added, "the number of those who were brought under concern about their eternal interests was increasing." And there can be no doubt, that the efforts made to show the real nature and design of the ordinance conspired with Mr. Stewart's preaching in general to deepen the sense of sin and unworthiness which was now beginning to prevail. There were now, indeed, unmistakable indications of a general awakening. "The concern showed itself chiefly among the younger people under twenty-five or thirty. Their knowledge was yet imperfect. A natural shyness often hindered them long from discovering to others what they thought and felt. . . . . One might observe now at church, after divine service, two or three small groups forming themselves round our few more advanced believers, and withdrawing from the crowd into the adjacent fields, to exchange Christian

salutations, and hold Christian converse together.” "The following month, March 1799, I began a course of practical sermons on regeneration, which I continued to the beginning of July following. These were attended with a more general awakening than had yet appeared among us. Seldom a week passed in which we did not see or hear of one, two, or three persons brought under deep concern about their soul, accompanied with strong convictions of sin, and earnest inquiry after a Saviour." And here is a statement worth noting: "The work of conversion has been begun and carried on among this people in a quiet manner, without any confusion, and without those ungovernable agitations of mind, or convulsions of body, or shrieking, or fainting, which have often accompanied a general awakening in other places." With two exceptions which he describes, Mr. Stewart adds, "I know of none whose emotions, under the preaching of the word, discovered themselves in any other manner than by silent tears." Reckoning up the results of the revival after the excitement had subsided, he says, "Of those truly enlightened with the saving knowledge of Christ, I find, as I think, about seventy. The greater part of these are under thirty years of age; several are above forty; six or seven above fifty; one fifty-six; and one above seventy. Of children under twelve or fourteen there are a good many who seem to have a liking to religion; but we find it difficult to form a decided opinion of their case." As is always the case, however, the whole fruit of the awakening was not estimated when the number of apparent conversions had been stated. The cause of religion generally received a decided impulse in the locality. "A very considerable number are friendly to religion, and countenance and defend the truth, even while they do not as yet appear to live under its power. A few among ourselves did for a while jeer and deride the godly; but such persons are left in so small a minority, that they have ceased to be troublesome. The Scriptures, too, are so generally read and referred to, that the truth itself serves to stop the mouth of scoffers." "To an intelligent observer, the change in the conversation, temper, deportment, and the very countenance of individuals, is striking; the change, too, on the general aspect of the manners of the people is conspicuous." "The change has been from ignorance, and indifference, and disbelief of divine things, to knowledge, and concern, and spiritual enjoyment." "The word of truth proclaimed in public, or spoken in private, has been almost the only outward means of producing conviction of sin and confidence in the Saviour. In every single case the power of God is visible in the effect produced; but there is little 'diversity of operation.'"

Altogether, we have had few narratives of revival in every respect so satisfactory as that which is given by the work in Moulin. The minister has the promise of the Spirit fulfilled in his experience he is endowed with power from on high, and, filled with the Holy Ghost he preaches, and prays, and labours as he had never