whoever had received any book from his hands must immediately return it on pain of civil punishment. The remark of the governor, while he was sitting in judgment, deserves to be marked by all persons who regard Roman catholicity as other than the system of the man of sin.'-'The Latins,' that is, the Roman Catholics, 'say, that the books you have issued,' the books of the Old and of the New Testament scriptures, are neither Mussulman, Jewish, nor Christian books.' The governor put the question to Mr. Fisk, "What books are these that you distribute?" He answered, "The law, the psalms, the prophets and the gospel." "But why," said the governor, "do you bring so many of them into this country ?" "Because Christians here have no printing presses, and when they want the scriptures, they are obliged to write them out with great labour; whereas we are able easily to supply them with printed copies." "But why do you bring books in Arabic?" "Because many Christians can read no other language." Then turning to one of his attendants, he observed, "That is what I said." Then came the question. "Why do you give them to Mussulmans?" Mr. Fisk and his friends replied, "It is not our wish to do any thing in secret, nor to distribute books in this country, which we are not willing that you should all read; nor do we consider it unlawful for Mussulmans to read Christian books. If Mussulmans wish to read our books, and learn what we believe, we are always ready to give them an opportunity. The governor said that was well, begged them not to be offended, told them he had no knowledge of the affair when they were arrested, but that the whole was done by the judge, and added, "You will lodge here with my nephew to night, and to-morrow return to your rooms." His nephew, Hosein Beg, conducted them to his room, insisted on Mr. Fisk taking his own seat in the corner of the sofa, which is the place of honour, ordered sherbet, pipes, coffee, and a supper, and said as many as twenty or thirty times, "Excuse us." "Be not offended with us." After supper he and they entered into a free conversation about the Arabic language, and then about the Bible, and the Koran, and Christ, and Mahommed. struck with the remark, as coming from him at that time and place, "This house is the place where our Lord Jesus was condemned." It was even so and they had the unmerited honour of being arraigned for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus, in the palace of the governor, which now occupies the ground where the palace of Pilate stood. Mr. Fisk reflected, "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord.' If our Redeemer was condemned to death for our sakes, it is but a small matter that we should suffer a short confinement for his name's sake." Mr. Fisk was Very often did this devoted missionary express the most desponding sentiments as to the moral renovation of Jerusalem; and he had good cause. But, soon after the events which have been narrated, he was overtaken at Beyroot, with his death illness; he knew himself to be dying; he was attended, in his last moments, by several fellow-missionaries who looked to him-for I quote their own language--as their elder brother;' he was asked by them, in his prospect of death, what course he would advise them to pursue? and-in spite of his own utter want of success, in spite of the most discouraging and antagonist circumstances, and, as if incited to holy zeal by the very adversities which he had undergone, -he said, in the prospect of appearing before the judgment of God, "I have no particular plan to recommend; but with regard to the station at Jerusalem, I should be sorry if it were given up." What could have incited Mr. Fisk to such devoted conduct, but love to souls, and a desire to promote the glory of the Saviour, and a holy regard to the recompence of reward?' The Pearl of Days. The Seventh-day rest of the early week,) with gladness, for, on this day, Christians. THE Christians of the early centuries observed the first day of the week as a season of sacred rest, of holy rejoicing, and of religious worship. They currently called it 'the Lord's day;' in most instances, they applied to it this name in length; and in a few, they called it elliptically the Lord's,' leaving the word 'day' to be supplied. But when addressing heathens, and in those vindicatory appeals to the Roman governors or people, which have been termed 'Apologies,' their writers, in order apparantly to make themselves fully understood, call the day 'Sunday,'-the name by which it was known among the worshippers of the sun. Thus, Justin Martyr, when informing the heathens of the time and order of the Christian assemblies, says, "They meet together for religious exercises on the day which is called Sunday." But though the early Christian writers occasionally practised this accommodation of phraseology to the heathens, they, remarkably enough, pursued an opposite policy to the Jews; and while they adopted, by accommodation, the word 'Sunday,' they concurred to fix an odium, or a mark of judaizing error, on the word 'Sabbath.' Throughout many of their writings and especially Justin Martyr in hisDialogue with Trypho,' and Tertullian in his tract against the Jews' they vehemently denounce Sabbatizing,' or the religious observance of the Jewish Sabbath; and, in general, they employ the word 'Sabbath' in an offensive sense, to denote what was essentially inconsistent with the seventh-day rest of the Christians, and what could not, by any stretch of accommodation, be made to designate it. So early as the year 105, Ignatius says, "Let us no longer keep a Sabbath, but let us observe the Lord s day, on which our Life rose:" and again, "Instead of keeping a Sabbath, let us observe the Lord's day, the day of Christ's resurrection, the queen of days, on which our Life arose and achieved the victory over death." The Christians esteemed the Lord's day a season of holy rejoicing, and assigned as their reason for doing so, that it was commemorative of that most joyous of all events, the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour. Barnabas, the companion and fellow-traveller of Paul, says, "We keep the eighth day, (that is, the first day of the Jesus rose again from the dead." Tertul- particularly Justin Martyr and Origenemploy similar language, and even dilate more at length on the sentiment which it expresses. A remarkable fact-recorded on the authority of Tertullian, who himself was one of their number-is, that even the Cataphrygians, whose most distinguishing peculiarity was an austere regard to a mortifying of the body, "abstained from fasting on the joyous season of the Lord's day." The gladsomeness and the spirit of jubilee, which, according to these testimonies, the early Christians threw around their seventh-day rest, afford the best explanation of what, at first sight, would seem to have been an inconsistency, their observance, in some districts and to a modified extent, of the Old Testament Sabbath. Many of the eastern churches, composed as much of Jewish converts as of heathens, or even more of the former than of the latter, set apart both the seventh and the first days of the week as days of religious observance. Hence, Origen mentions Saturday as one of four seasons which, in his time, were regarded as sacred. But whatever inconsistency or anomaly may be on the face of this apparent sabbatizing,' is fully explained by Victorin of Hungary, who wrote about the year 290, when he says, "We are used to fast on the seventh day;" and again, “It is our custom then to fast, lest we should seem to observe the Sabbath of the Jews." The early Christians observed their seventh-day rest, or 'the Lord's day,' by performing acts of public worship, and maintaining, during the intervals, a peculiarly devotional spirit. Tertullian calls their current observances of that day, "The Lord's day solemnities," and he, it is to be remembered, is a chief authority that they used it as a season of holy rejoicing; and he, in consequence, exhibits them as combining gladness with gravity, happiness with holiness, the solace of the heart with the sadness of the countenance. 136 DROPPINGS OF THE SANCTUARY. Clement of Alexandria says, "A true Christian, according to the commands of the gospel, observes the Lord's day, by ejecting bad thoughts and cherishing good ones, and by showing forth the glory of the Lord's resurrection." Dionysius of Corinth, who wrote about the year 170, says, in general terms, "This being the Lord's day, we keep it holy;" and, entering into details, he speaks of practices and mentions observances which identify the usages of this day with those of the public religious worship of the churches. Justin Martyr says, "On the day which is called Sunday, all Christians both in town and country hold assemblies, and attend to preaching and prayer and the other parts of divine worship." Even heathen writers, though they do not use the Christian phrase the Lord's day,' describe the Christian people as observing, in a manner and at a time peculiar to themselves, a season of religious rest. Minucius Felix says, "The Christians assemble to eat on a solemn day;" and Pliny says, "The Christians meet together on an appointed day, to sing praises to Christ, as unto a God, and to bind themselves by a sacrament. May this brief sketch of the prevailing opinions and observances of the early Christians, as to their seventh-day rest, lead followers of the Redeemer in the present times to pray for heavenly influence, that they may be in the Spirit on the Lord's day.' Droppings of the Sanctuary. It is impossible for a thoughtful person not to feel concern for the errors of former life: this should occasion watchfulness, but never produce a sensation of despair. To keep straight forward, to strive to recover our losses, is necessary; to stop and lament, is an aggravation of the case. Christ, in all his offices of divinity and humanity, 'gave himself to prevent his lost creatures from despairing. Though sin incurred the wrath of God, his mercy has so prevailed, that our fears ought to be hushed. Dreadful is the nature of sin: nothing less than the death of every man, and the death of Jesus, the Son of God (equal with the Father), in the nature of man, could abate its baneful consequence. To behold in love Christ's holiness, and to raise our hopes to Him, is more productive of a good life than to weep over our infirmities. The evils of life may be dismissed or moderated, by a sense of God's goodness, and a desire of conformity to his will. No good end can be obtained without the effectual means; Christ recommends importunity to obtain his heavenly grace, the gift of his Holy Spirit. What great skill is acquired by persisting in the study of science! How great then may be our improvement in the walk with God! What surprising revelations were made to the prophets who devoted themselves to God: as to Abraham, to whom God spoke face to face, and called his friend to David, a man after his own heart: to Daniel who To St. John "Save us, O holy Jesus, from our sins, past, present, and to come!" might be continually on our lips, was greatly beloved. when we feel the danger we are in of and St. Paul, God revealed himself offending the purity of God. We cannot contemplate ourselves, without being sensible of great defects: but when we contemplate the immaculate Jesus-it brings tears of joy for so great a deliverance, with tears of sorrow for our transgressions. personally. Without an entire devotion to God, there is no perfect faith, no solid assurance of obtaining his love and securing his protection. Despair has no trust in God, which the Christian religion commands. Dying Hours. President Edwards.' THIS eminent man fell a victim to the small pox. This dreadful disorder being very prevalent, and likely to spread in the part of America where he then resided, and Mr. Edwards having never had it, was, by his own desire, and the advice of his physician, inoculated for it, on February 13th, 1758. He had it favourably, and it was thought that all danger was over; but a secondary fever set in, and the number of pustules in his throat caused such an obstruction, that the medicines necessary to check the fever could not be administered. It therefore raged till it put an end to his life, on the 22nd of March following, and in the 55th year of his age. A little before his death, being sensible he could not survive, he called his daughter, who attended him in his sickness, and addressed her in a few words, which were immediately taken down in writing, as nearly as could be recollected, as follows: "Dear Lucy, it seems to me to be the will of God that I must shortly leave you; therefore, give my kindest love to my dear wife, and tell her that the uncommon union which has subsisted so long between us, has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual; and therefore will continue for ever. And I hope she will be supported under so great a trial, and submit cheerfully to the will of God. As to you, my children, you are now like to be left fatherless; this I hope will be an inducement to you all to seek that Father who will never fail you." He then gave directions concerning his funeral; that it shoud be plain and not attended with pomp and cɔst, by giving away a number of costly mourning scarfs, &c.; that nothing should be expended but what was agreeable to the dictates of Christian decency; and that the difference between the sum expended on this and a more modish funeral, should be given to the poor out of his estate In his sickness he said but very little, but was an admirable instance of patience and resignation to the last. Just at the close of life, some persons standing by, and expecting he would breathe his last in a few minutes, were lamenting his death not only as a great frown on the college, but as having a dark aspect on the interest of religion in general, not imagining that he heard or ever would speak again: to their surprise, however, he said, "Trust in God, and ye need not fear." These were his last words. What could have been more suitable to the occasion! and what need of more! There is in them as much matter of instruction and support as if he had written a volume. Thus he had the uninterrupted use of his reason to the last, and died with as much calmness and composure, to all appearance as if he had been only going to sleep; the physician who attended him, has the following words in his letter, by which he communicated to Mrs. Edwards the mournful intelligence:-"Never did any mortal man more fully and clearly evidence the sincerity of all his professions by one continued universal calm, cheerful resignation, and patient submission to the Divine will through every stage of disease than he. Not so much as one discontented expression, nor the least appearance of murmuring through the whole! And never did any person expire with more perfect freedom from pain; not so much as one distortion, but in the most proper sense of the words, he really fell asleep." Wesley's Last Words. WHEN Wilberforce was about to bring the question of abolition before the House in 1791, he received the following animating charge, traced upon the bed of death by the faltering hand of the venerable Wesley:"Feb. 24, 1791. "My dear Sir,-Unless the Divine Power has raised you up to be as Athanasius contra mundum, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise, in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils; but if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the power of his might, till even American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish away before it. That he who has guided you from your youth up, may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear Sir, your affectionate servant, "JOHN WESLEY." It seems probable that this was amongst the very last efforts of his pen. On the 25th of February he sank into that lethargy in which he lay until his death, upon the 2nd of March. It is docketed by Mr. Wilberforce, "Wesley's last words.' |