you, he has found you bearing the fruits of sin, or at best barren of holiness. What reason can you assign why the plea of justice, against you should not be accepted. "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground ?" That ground which produces only briers and thorns is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. "The sinner being a hundred years old shall die accursed." Be intreated then immediately to turn to the strong hold, while yet prisoners of hope. Do not delay to make your peace with God till your sun sinks in everlasting dark. ness-till your year terminates in ceaseless storms of Divine displeasure. The Holy Ghost saith," To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

Pardon our solicitude. You seem to us on the very brink of ETERNITY, and we must be in earnest. Your sun appears already sinking. If you neglect the offers of merey to-day, with indescribable anguish you may to-morrow pour forth this lamentation," The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved."

FINALLY; Let none of us forget that as the year and the day, so is mortal life. It has its spring, its summer, its autumn, and its termination. With a morning, a mid-day, and an evening; it is finished. The day closes to re-appear;-Vegetation sleeps to be renovated:-Man dies; but to revive and exist forever.

SELECT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

MARTIN LUTHER.

By the religious reader the commencement of the sixteenth century will ever be considered as one of the most important eras in the annals of history. It was marked by the deliverance of our sacred religion, from those galling yokes of superstition and despotism by which it had been long enslaved, and by the promulgation of those evangelical doctrines which for ages had been overwhelnred by the darkness of ignorance and prejudice, or silenced by the clamours of ecclesiastical tyranny.

Amongst the many illustrious characters who were, through the divine blessing, instrumental in effecting this

[Octe glorious deliverance, Martin Luther holds the most eminent place. All who preceded him were but as pioneers to clear the way for his coming, and all his contemporaries though some of them were allowedly superior to him in personal virtues and literary attainments, were decidedly his inferiors in that ardour of mind and unconquerable firmness, for which he is so justly celebrated.-Wickliff, Cobham, Huss, Melancthon are "imperishable names," but the effects of the labours of the former were little more than commensurate with their own existence, and that of the latter, though we still experience its beneficial tendeney, is merged in the superior brilliancy of his great con

temporary.

Martin Luther was born at Isleben, in Upper Saxony, in the year 1483. His father, who worked in the mines, was remarkable for his assiduity, and in the course of years rose from a humble station to the possession of some property, and at length discharged with respectability the office of a magistrate. At the usual age he sent his son successively to preparatory schools, and the university of Erfurt, where he applied himself to the studies of the day with his characteristic ardour, and gave early intimation of that commanding eloquence, for which he was afterwards so distinguished.

At the age of 20, Luther having taken his degree at the University, by the advice of his friends directed his attention to the study of the civil law, a profession for which his talents rendered him particularly adapted. His legal studies, however, were shortly after interrupted, and indeed completely abandoned by the occurrence of a memoable circumstance. As he was walking out one day with an intimate friend, they were overtaken by a tremendous storin, and his companion was struck dead at his side by a flash of lightning. Solemnized by the terrific scene, Luther was particularly impressed by the fleeting nature of all transitory enjoyments, and determined at once to enter a monastery, and spend the remainder of his life, sequestered from the world and its temptations. In vain did his father attempt to remonstrate with him. "Take heed," said the worthy man, "lest you be ensnared by a delusion of the devil. The son persisted in his purpose, declared that he considered the impression of his mind as a special command of the Almighty, and to the no small mortifica

tion of his parents entered the Augustinian Monastery at Erfurt, in the year 1505.

Luther, however, soon learnt by experience, that although the solitary retreats of a monastery may exempt their inhabitant from some of the cares and temptations of the busy worldling, they could not bestow upon him a freedom from anxiety. He was disgusted with the ignorance and servile habits of some of his brethren, and felt no small reluctance to comply with the degrading services of his station. At one time he was obliged to stand as a porter at the gate, and at another he was ordered to go round the town to beg. In addition to these abject employments, which must have been peculiarly painful to an independent mind like Luther's, he was harrased by gloo my forebodings of eternal misery.

Under these accumulated trials he disclosed the state of his mind to Staupitz, the bead of his order in Germany, a man who appears for the time in which he lived to have possessed unusually clear and serious views of religion. "You do not know," said he to the disconsolate Luther, “how useful and necessary this trial may be to you. God does not thus exercise you for nothing. You will one day see that he will employ you as his servant for great purposes." His spiritual director also prevailed on the Prior of the monastry to exempt him for the future from the discharge of menial services, and to allow him time for attention to his studies, which had hitherto been discouraged in that society.

Luther, however, was still very far from enjoying peace of conscience. He possessed too much light to sit in slothful content and indifference, and too little to discern the rich treasures of the gospel, and apply the healing balm of its consolations to his tortured mind. In this distressing condition be remained considerably above a year, when by various circumstances which I shall now record he gradually obtained a clearer knowledge of the way of salvation.

In the year 1507, Luther entered into Orders and celebrated his first mass. This was indeed a memorable period in his life, as about this time he accidentally met with a Latin copy of the Bible in the library. He now for the first time, perceived that only a small portion of the sacred writings was read to the people, and persevered in

studying the inspired volume with snch diligence, as in a short time to be able to refer to any particular passage with ease and promptitude. Several of the most striking passages in the New Testament, and also many parts from the Prophetic Scriptures he carefully committed to memory. Amongst other portions, the account of Hannah and Samuel particularly affected him; and in the fervour of his own devotional zeal he would some times regret that it had not fallen to his lot to have been dedicated to the Lord by his parents at the early age that Samuel was.

At first, indeed, the perusal of the sacred writings seemed only to increase his distress of mind. He perceived, that his former creed was in many respects unscriptural but could not for the present discover what were the essential doctrines of the Bible, whilst the jarring sentiments of the Fathers appeared only to increase his difficulty. During this painful season, when reflecting on the wrath of God, and on the dreadful punishment denounced against sinners, he was sometimes struck with such terror as to be ready to faint away. “I have seen him," says Melancthon," so much agitated when engaged in a dispute on doctrine, as to find it necessary to throw himself on a bed in an adjoining room, where he would fall down in prayer, and frequently repeat these words:" He hath concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."

At length our young monk was apparently brought to the brink of the grave by an illness occasioned partly by the anxiety of his mind, and partly by his close applica tion to his studies. At this eventful period God raised him up a friend and a counsellor, in the person of an aged monk, who shewed him that pardon of sin was to be apprehended by faith alone, and referred him to a discourse of Bernard, on the annunciation which confirmed him in his reception of this doctrine.. Cheered by the discovery, Luther's bodily and mental distress was quickly alleviated, and fresh beams of evangelical comfort darted into his soul, whilst he continued to read the sacred volume with never-ceasing prayer for the illumination of that Spirit which indited it.

As soon as he was recovered from his sickness, he no longer contented himself with an attention to solitary study, but anxious to communicate to others that knowl

edge which he had obtained, he preached and expounded the Scriptures in the different villages in the vicinity of his monastery. These exercises were attended with the double benefit of instructing the people, and of giving him that facility in public speaking which alone can be acquired by practice. Eloquent by nature, and powerful in moving the affections, Luther soon acquired the character of a popular preacher; whilst the exercises of his own mind, by which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he was led more and more intoChristian truth,naturally gave a strength to his orations, unattainable except by those who speak from the heart. "This monk," exclaimed a learned doctor who heard him," will confound all the doctors, will exhibit new doctrine, and reform the whole Roman church, for he is intent on reading the writings of the prophets and apostles, and he depends on the word of Jesus Christ. This, neither the philosophers nor the sophists can subvert." In the year 150s, the University of Wittemberg was founded by Frederick, Elector of Saxony; and Luther through the recommendation of Stau-pitz was called to the professorship of logic at the early age of twenty-five. A new theatre was now opened for the display of the talents of our young reformer, who was adapted for the situation, as well by his general knowledge, as by an expertness at the scholastic philosophy which he had acquired by his exercises at the University. Nothing fell from him with an air of indifference. All was clear and animated; and he was soon esteemed not only an able, but a highly popular professor.

In the mean time Luther's attention to the duties of his new situation did not render him inattentive to ecclesiastical matters, nor detract from his popularity as a divine. About the year 1510,he was deputed to visitRome on some business respecting his monastery, being justly considered by his brethren as well qualified for the purpose. Unaequainted with the habits of the Romish dignitaries, and in a great measure an entire stranger to the corruptions of the world, he imagined that the holy city, the residence of the vicar of Jesus Christ, would necessarily exhibit the most striking instances of virtue and piety. How great then must have been his surprise to find that luxury, impurity, and impiety pervaded all ranks of the inhabitants. -Whilst he was regarding the different rites of their re