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grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer."-Isaiah liv. 2-8. "For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."-Isaiah lv. 12, 13.

Perhaps in our next we may give a few plain and simple directions to our lay preachers as to study and pulpit preparation.

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES, ANECDOTES, &c.

QUERIES AND ANSWERS.

QUERY 1.-THE TERM FOOL IN WHAT SENSE FORBIDDEN IN SCRIP TURD?

Reverend Sir,-Would you kindly favour me with the meaning of that part of Scripture in St. Matthew v. 22-"But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." In 1 Cor. xv. 36, Paul says, "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." Why did St. Paul, an inspired apostle set forth for our example, use the language we are forbidden to employ ? G. B. W.

ANSWER.-It is not so much the application of the word, as the spirit in which it is used that renders it unlawful. This is evident from the scope and design of the passage, and also from the conduct of our Lord himself. Indeed, it is always a safe rule to interpret our Lord's own words by his own example. In the passage before us there are three sins condemned. The first, is causeless and intemperate anger. The second, is the use of an epithet ex

pressive of contempt-Raca*, which means an empty fellow. And the third, is the use of a term expressive of the highest opprobrium, and springing from deep malignity of heart, as if a man, in deadly hatred, should say to another, "Thou fool,† thou vile, impious despiser of God.” The fool of the Old Testament was one who said in his heart, there is no God. To these sins three different degrees of punishment were assigned. "Thus," says Dr. Lightfoot, Saviour equals the sin and the penalty in a very just parable. Unjust anger is to be punished with God's just anger and judgment; public reproach, with public correction by the council; and censuring for a child of hell, with the fire of hell."

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*Pakà is from the Chaldee xp, Hebrew p, empty, vain, devoid of wisdom.

Mopos. Some lexicographers suppose this word to be derived from the Hebrew, Moreh, which means a rebel against God, an apostate, a person not only devoid of wisdom, but of all virtue and goodness, a term which implied the greatest enormity of evil. But if the word be derived from the verb Mopaivo, its meaning still is one that is utterly worthless, vile, and abandoned.

But, as already observed, it is the spirit more than the use of the word itself that is condemned by our Lord; for even the word "fool" might be applied on solemn occasions, when administering grave admonition and reproof. Thus our Lord himself solemnly reproving the hypocritical Pharisees says, Ye fools and blind," &c., Matt. xxiii. 17. It would be well, however, to avoid the use of the word, except as divinely authorized in Holy Scripture; and never ought it to be used at all except with solemnity of feeling, and tender pity for him to whom it is applied. Even our Lord and the apostles use this word sparingly. This, however, does not appear so evident in our own version; because in several instances our translators have used but one and the same word-"fool," whereas in the original, other words of a milder sense are employed in those_passages. Thus, when our Lord solemnly apostrophizes the rich. worldling, "Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required from thee" (Luke xii. 20), the word is not Mopos a fool, but "Appwv, Thou man devoid of understanding! The apostle (1 Cor. xv. 36) does not use the word Mwpòs, but, "Appov, a man unwise, or without understanding. So when our Lord reproves the dulness and unbelief of the two disciples to whom he appeared, on their journey to Emmaus, after his resurrection, the term of reproof is not Mupòs, but 'AvóŋTos—“Ye thoughtless and unwise: or, ye dull and thoughtless ones, and slow of heart to believe," &c. Indeed, after careful examination of the subject, we can find only one instance in which the forbidden word is applied, as a concrete term, to any person in the New Testament, and that is the instance already adduced-the passage where our Lord so solemnly reproves the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, and their awful departure from God. Paul, when speaking of himself and others as becoming fools for Christ in 1 Cor. iii. 18, and iv. 10, employs the word Mopos in quite a different sense; and instead of denouncing, or

even characterizing others, is simply speaking of the estimation in which he and other believers were held by men of the world-by those who understood not the Gospel: they were accounted fools for Christ's sake and the Gospel's sake.

Looking, then, at the prohibition of the word fool, when expressive of the highest opprobrium, and springing from malignity of heart, and at the fact that the word is never applied as a concrete term to any individual, except once by our Lord when rebuking the Pharisees of their hypocrisy and deep apostasy, we see the necessity of bridling our tongue, repressing our temper, and avoiding all opprobrious epithets. The command of Scripture is to be pitiful, courteous, and tender-hearted, and to speak of others in that spirit and in those terms in which we would have others to speak of us. "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.'

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QUERY 2. HAS MAN ANY INNATE IDEA OF GOD?

DEAR SIR,-Will you have the kindness to give me your view on this question: Has man any innate idea of God? Yours in Christ,

W. C.

ANSWER.-An innate idea is an idea not received by instruction or communication of any sort, but an idea as natural to us as any of the instincts of our species. We reply that man has no such idea of God. What is innate and instinctive is universal-it belongs to the whole race as such; but what is either acquired or communicated is partial both in its extent and in its degree, because dependent on something foreign to our nature itself, and contingent on that which is not natural to us. If the idea of God were innate no human being in any land, who had the common properties of the human mind, would be without it; but whole tribes, in perfect sanity of mind, and with all the properties and attributes of human nature, have been found utterly destitute of the idea of God -yea, of the merest rudimental

conception of any Deity. This fact alone refutes the notion of an innate idea of God. But we go further than this, and believe that the idea of one supreme Being, as the sole Creator of the universe, is a conception too sublime for man ever to have attained by mere human reason, and without a revelation from God himself. Perhaps at some other time we may enlarge on this topic, but for the present this must suffice.

FAITH

TAUGHT BY A ROBIN.

A REVERIE.

"Consider the birds of the air."-Matt. vi. 26.

Ir was a cold December day, and very frosty; the snow had been swept from the door, and a few seeds or crumbs had been brought to light. A poor Robin, sitting on a sprig, had watched the operation and contrived to obtain from the spot its morning repast. After it had finished its meal, the locality resounded with its warbling. It seemed as if it were returning thanks to its Creator and Benefactor, and, in doing so, uttered one of its sweetest melodies. I never in my life had so great a wish to understand the language of birds. fact, I could not help talking to the light-hearted songster, though his only reply was a repetition of his hymn of thanksgiving. As my little fellow creature ended his song and flew away, I began to converse with myself. "Here," said I, " is a lesson

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for me. This winged messenger is

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come from heaven to teach me faith, and put my unbelief to the blush. 'Happy little warbler," I exclaimed; "thou dost neither sow nor reap; thou hast neither storehouse nor barn;' where the next meal is to come from, thou knowest not; a long and hard winter is before thee; and yet thou art cheerful. "Doubtless," I continued, "thou art a monitor sent by our common parent to dissipate my sadness."

And nothing could have been more opportune than this cheerful visit of the warbling redbreast; for that morning my spirits had been

depressed. My family was large; my income small. To make both ends meet I had taken a scanty meal, and my children had eaten their bread by measure. As I waited on them, I heaved a sigh at the thought that I was compelled to minister to their wants in so inadequate a manner. I thought they looked pale and thin, and it went to my heart.

And then the future was more dark than the present. In fact, I was almost in despair, and began to wish I had never been born, and especially to mourn that my little ones had so gloomy a prospect. "They have," said I, "no fortune, and the world is cruel and hard-hearted." I will not, however, dwell on those painful thoughts, or else I could fill pages with the tale of my sorrow. But now it was all banished; the Robin was to me an angel of mercy, and its song acted on my mind as the lyre of David on Saul. The evil spirit of discontent, unbelief, and despondency was chased away, and I was another man. The texts, "Your Father feedeth them; are not ye much better than they?" "He shall dwell on high, his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure;" "I have been young, and now am old; yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread," came to my mind. I blessed God for the Robin and his sweet song, for it was the song that did it all. If the redbreast could sing so merrily, why should not I?

And then, above all, I praised Him who had given us the Bible, with all its store of promises and consolations, to cheer and comfort us. I looked on every bird, beast, fish, and insect, as a missionary intended to teach us some great and important truth. Solomon spake "three thousand proverbs;" that is, three thousand wise and instructive sayings. "And his songs were a thousand and five; and he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping

things, and of fishes." I have sometimes been afraid that we are become too exclusively spiritual in these days, and thus rob ourselves of a very large amount of knowledge and happiness, which nature and Providence were intended to impart. At any rate I am not ashamed to say, that I was taught "Faith by a Robin," and even taught to sing also; for after hearing his sweet song, I could not help cheering up my own spirits with the verse

"The birds without barn or store-house are fed;

From them let us learn to trust for our bread;

His saints what is fitting shall ne'er be denied,

So long as 'tis written, 'The Lord will provide.""

B. Parsons.

HEAVEN

IS A STATE OF INCESSANT IMPROVE

MENT.

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INDEED, it seems hardly too much to say that, until we arrive there, we are but ill qualified for the sacred task of gathering instruction improvement from the contemplation or the investigation of God's works. Sin has not only polluted our hearts, but to a great extent paralyzed our intellects, and as long as sin dwells within us, we shall be but very sorry students of Divine Truth. Here our understandings are dark, and, consequently, see through a glass darkly," and we must arrive in heaven before we shall see either persons or things "face to face." In the present world our hearts too much resemble an instrument out of tune. Every touch of Divine truth is responded to by a faint discordant note; but in heaven our souls will resemble a well-strung harp, and every new discovery of Divine power, Divine wisdom, Divine love, and Divine purity shall be associated with a corresponding feeling. One of the most exquisite pleasures of the music of heaven will be the melody of the heart. Until our thoughts and feelings thus mutually sympathize, we shall be but very imperfect pupils of the Son of God. Here

our strength is so frail, our understanding so dark, our hearts so hard, and so much of our time spent in sleep or in worldly pursuits, that divine things have but a very small portion of our attention; but when we arrive in heaven, our souls will be all thought, sensibility, and activity. Never again shall we be drowsy or weary; never more shall the world, or sin, or Satan, intervene between our hearts and our God. Even our bodies will be spiritual bodies. Strange then would it be, if, just as we obtained every corporeal, mental, and moral qualification of the Deity, our studies were to close! Far from this, our intellectual and spiritual career will then commence anew, our obedience and devotion will then receive fresh impulse from the glorious fact that "God is all in all." Ibid.

THE NERVES.

THE SILVER CORD AND THE GOLDEN

BOWL.

THE brain may be compared to a musical instrument, and the immortal spirit to the musician. The harp will not move without the harper, and the harper cannot play without his harp. David had as much music in his soul when there was no lyre at hand as when there was; and yet, without his instrument, he could never have charmed away the evil spirit from Saul. David was not the harp and the harp was not David: the form and strings of the one, and the fingers and soul of the other, were required, or we never should have heard of the skill of the son of Jesse. So the soul is not the body and the nerves, and the body and the nerves are not the soul, and yet we must have the two before we can have sensation.

There is nothing that can supply the place of the nerves, or do their work. A man may lose his right hand, and become very skilful with his left. The hearing, smelling, and feeling are said to become more acute when the sight is gone. False hair and false teeth may be adopted,

when age or decay have deprived us of those which were natural; but we cannot obtain false or artificial nerves and brain. Let the latter be lost, and the existence of the soul in the body could not be ascertained. These remarks show that everything depends upon the nerves, and, consequently, the importance of these material instruments for the development of our mental and moral powers. Hence, the wise man calls the nerves "the silver cord," and the skull, because it contains the brains, "the golden bowl."

The great characteristic of the nerves is susceptibility. The Eolian harp responds to every breeze; the sensitive plant droops its leaves at every touch. We have reason to believe that animals, and especially insects, feel every change in the atmosphere. That amazing element, electricity, is perhaps one of the subtlest agents in our world, and yet does not escape the notice of our senses. Language cannot describe the exquisite sensibility of our nervous system. An atom, not occupying the thousandth part of a square inch, can be detected by the eye; a particle of musk, infinitesimally small, can be perceived by the nose; a monad of gall, too small for any power of the microscope to reveal its existence, can be tasted by the tongue; the point of the finest needle, and the edge of the sharpest razor, are felt by the touch; while a perfect ear can distinguish the most rapid vibrations of sound. Here, then, is a marvellous production of Divine art-for these nerves and brain are made out of common dust, and, consequently are the most exquisite of the works of the Creator; they are the celestial drapery or embroidery with which Jehovah has invested the soul. Here matter makes its nearest approach to mind-and some have thought that our "spiritual body," at the resurrection, will consist of nothing but nerve, and that the "new heaven," or atmosphere of the "new earth," will be especially adapted to this vehicle in which the soul shall be clad.-Ibid.

THE DANDELION. "He openeth his hand, and satisfieth the want of every living thing."

ONE of our most interesting wild flowers is the Dandelion. Its fine yellow blossom first, and then its beautiful hoary head, have always attracted attention. Children and philosophers have been charmed with them. I was once on a green with a clever mechanic whom I suspected of being rather sceptical, and having plucked one of the heads in question, I said to my young friend, "I shall feel obliged if you will make me such a thing as this." He looked at me with no little amazement, and hardly knew whether he must not conclude that I was bordering on insanity. Finding that he was shocked at my request, I said to him, "If you cannot make a similar article, then you must allow that there is a power at work among us who is possessed of more intelligence and wisdom than yourself." His reply was a nod of assent; for here was a great fact, although the object we were examining was not very large. Only a few days ago, there was a little bud; then there came forth a lovely flower; and now, as if by magic, all was changed into a delicate feathery head, as white as snow. To do all this, required mind; especially, as all was made out of air and water! The fossil is a proof that intelligence, some ages ago, had been at work, but the Dandelion was a demonstration that the same power had actually been working before our eyes; so that the invisible attributes of the Creator were visibly made known by this humble wild-flower.

But we had here not only an eloquent sermon on the being and providence of God, but also a beautiful illustration of Scripture. The hoary head of the Dandelion is a magazine of Divine bounty. Every little stem has a number of wings at one end, a seed at the other. The latter also is peculiarly formed, for it is pointed and barbed like a fishhook. By its hairs and feathers it is carried through the air; by its point it is fitted to penetrate the

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