ments of nations-that has achieved whatever fame belongs to genius, with the sculptor's chisel, the painter's pencil, and the poet's penthat has winged the ocean with white sails, and exchanged the produce of every clime-that has measured the circles of the stars, and plumed the lightning to descend upon wires, and be the new Mercury of the world. Labour! why, man of idleness, labour rocked you in the cradle, and has nourished your pampered life without it, the woven silks and wool upon your back would be in the silkworm's nest, and the fleeces in the shepherd's fold. For the meanest thing that ministers to human want, man is indebted to labour. It is only the drones who toil not, who infest the hive of activity like masses of corruption and decay. The lords of the earth are the working men, who can build or cast down at their will, and who retort the sneer of the "softhanded" by pointing to their trophies, wherever art, science, civilization, and humanity are known. Work on, man of toil! thy royalty is yet to be acknowledged as labour rises onwards to the highest throne of power. Work on, and in the language of a true poet, be

"A glorious man! and thy renown shall be

Borne by the winds and waters thro' all time, While there's a keel to carve it on the sea

From clime to clime,

Or God ordains that idleness is crime!"
MUSIC.

EVERY Woman who has an aptitude for music or for singing should bless God for the gift, and cultivate it with diligence; not that she may dazzle strangers, or win applause from a crowd, but that she may bring gladness to her own fireside. The influence of music in strengthening the affections is far from being perceived by many of its admirers; a sweet melody binds all hearts together, as it were, with a golden cord; it makes the pulses beat in unison, and the heart thrill with sympathy. But the music of the fireside must be simple and unpretending; it does not require brilliancy of execution, but tenderness of feeling-a merry tune for the young -a more subdued strain for the aged, but none of the noisy clap-trap which is so popular in public. It is a mistake to suppose that to enjoy music requires great cultivation; the degree of enjoyment will, of course, vary with our power of appreciation, but, like all other great influences, it is able to attract even the ignorant ; and this is what the poet taught when they made Orpheus and his brethren the civilizers of the earth. In cases where musical instruments are not within reach, we may modulate our own voices, and make them give forth sweet sounds; we may sing those simple strains which require neither teaching nor skill, but which, if they come from one heart, are sure of finding their way to another.

A RICH YOUNG MAN. WHO can behold, without weeping eyes and a bleeding heart, this lovely youth perishing in sin ? What could have appeared more promising than this solicitous concern about eternal life in a young man rich in the possessions and high in the honours of the present world ? To see him running with such eagerness to the feet of a Redeemer, kneeling down with such humility before him, calling upon him by so honourable a title, and professing so sincere a desire of instruction, could not but lead us to conclude, Surely this man was "not far from the kingdom

of God;" nor do we wonder that Jesus, beholding him, loved him. Who would not have looked on such an object with complacency? Who would not have expected that this pleasant plant should have brought forth grapes? But, behold, it brought forth wild grapes! So have we seen, in the compass perhaps of our small observation and experience, many a fair blossom fall withering to the ground. So have the hopes of ministers, and parents, and other religious friends, been disappointed, with respect to many young persons adorned with a variety of amiable qualifications, yet lacking one thing, and parting with Christ when put to the trial, after all the regard they have shown to his name, and all the pleasing expectations they have given of a willingness to serve him! Oh! my young reader, whoever thou art, I earnestly pray that thou mayest not be added to that number!-Doddridge.

MORTALITY AND IMMORTALITY.
"Our frail dust to dust returning,

Soon shall mingle with the mould;
But the soul, its fetters spurning,

Wins and wears a crown of gold." "EARTH to earth," and "dust to dust," is legibly written upon all beneath the sky. There is nothing abiding; all is fleeting, and, like the current of a swiftly-rolling river, "passing away." Where are the fair forms which once surrounded us? Where are our early companions, with whom we spent the sunny morning of life? Alas! they have fled from this stage of being, and gone down to the silent slumbers of the tomb! The seasons are changing, nature is fading, and "we all do fade as a leaf:"

"The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their cares and fears,
Are carried downward by the flood,
And lost in following years."

But to the Christian there is something sweet and consoling in the reflection, "This world is not my home." The portals of glory already shed their bright rays upon our pathway to the skies; and as we approach still nearer that land of light and blessedness, we receive the bright illumination of that day which is never succeeded by night. We look quite through and beyond the night of the grave. We dread not the mattock nor the spade, the coffin nor the tomb. Blessed be God, there is a rest to the weary-a home for the faithful-" a reward for the righteous." This is immortality! See the streaks of light that presage already the morning that will soon blend with the perfect day of heaven. Yes,

"Soon upon the hills of glory

Shall our ransom'd spirits stand;
Listening to salvation's story,
Chanted by the seraph band!"

THE MINISTRY OF THE AGE. No preceding generation of ministers ever saw such a day as this! Such openings for usefulness; such calls for exertion; such multiplied and extensive fields whitening to harvest; such abundant and potent means for doing good to mankind. To live now is a talent put into your hands for which you must give an account. Have you an ardour of piety, a tone of moral sentiment, a spirit of enterprise, corresponding with this day? If not, give yourself no rest till you, in some good measure, attain them all. If an ancient heathen rhetorician, in giving direc

tions for the attainment of the "sublime" in writing, could say, "Spare no labour to educate your soul to grandeur, and to impregnate it with great and generous ideas;" much more may the same language be addressed to the gospel minister, in the present state of the church's progress. Take unceasing pains to get large views of ministerial furniture, ministerial duty, and ministerial success. Strive to educate your souls to grandeur of conception, and grandeur of wishes, and hopes, and enterprise for the moral benefit of your fellow-men. high. Let no petty plans satisfy you, either as to acquirement or exertion. Every one of you, however humble his talents, if really disposed to make the most of what God has given him, might cause his influence to be felt to the ends of the earth.-Dr. Miller.

OBLIGATIONS TO PARENTS.

Aim

If you perceive that anything in your ways makes your parents unhappy, you ought to have no peace until you have corrected it; and if you find yourself indifferent or insensible to their will and wishes, depend upon it yours is a carnal, disobedient, ungrateful heart. If you love them, keep their commandments; otherwise love is a mere word in the mouth, or a notion in the fancy, but not a ruling principle in the heart. They know much of the world-you very little; trust them, therefore, when they differ from you, and refuse compliance with your desires. They watch over you for God, and are entitled to great deference and cheerful obedience. You may easily shorten the lives of affectionate and conscientious parents, by misconduct, bad tempers, and alienation from their injunctions. Let not this sin be laid to your charge. Rev. Legh Richmond.

A TOKEN OF GOD'S FAVOUR. MR. JOHN NEWTON had a very happy talent of administering reproof. Hearing that a person, in whose welfare he was greatly interested, had met with peculiar success in business, and was deeply immersed in the worldly engagements, the first time he called on him, which was usually once a month, he took him by the hand, and drawing him on one side into the countinghouse, told him his apprehensions of his spiritual welfare. His friend, without making any reply, called down his partner in life, who came with her eyes suffused with tears, and unable to speak. Inquiring the cause, he was told that she had just been sent for to one of her children that was out to nurse, and supposed to be in dying circumstances. Clasping her hands immediately in his, Mr. N. cried, "God be thanked, he has not forsaken you! I do not wish your babe to suffer, but I am happy to find he gives you the token of his favour."

THE PRAYERLESS MOTHER AND HER

CHILD.

"My dear Julia," said a pious lady to her little niece, as the child came to her room to bid her good-morning, "have you thanked God for your sweet sleep last night ?" "No, aunty, I forgot it." "I am sorry," said the aunt; "Do you not know that all good people love to pray?' "No, aunty; my mother is good, and I never saw her pray." "But," said the aunt, "you are not in her room all the morning, and I think your mother prays to God when you are not

there." "Aunty, I have slept in my mother's room, and stayed there every moment until breakfast, and I know my mother never prays."

Little do parents think how closely and constantly they are observed by their children, and how truly their children estimate their character. How little do they realise the influence they are always exerting on their children, for good or evil, for time and eternity! Let not your child say of you, "My parent never prays."

FEMALE CHARITY.

WHAT Would become of the world but for the piety of woman? "Last at the cross, and first at the sepulchre," she has been first in beginning, and last in deserting every good enterprise for spreading the Redeemer's kingdom. The Marys and Dorcases of the church, though in modest retirement, may have as rich a reward as the Peters and Thomases. Few of the institutions of gospel benevolence could carry forward their operations on any thing like their present scale without the prayers and sacrifices of their female friends.

QUALIFICATION OF A RUSSIAN PROFESSOR.

Á GERMAN gentleman in the Russian service travelled in the Crimea, in 1803. On passing through Kharhoft, curiosity induced him to visit the University, which had been opened in the town about a year before. While looking over the cabinet of natural philosophy, he perceived, with amazement, that the professor of that branch of science did not even know the names of the few instruments at his command. Unable to conceal his surprise, he asked his guide where he had been professor before he became attached to the University. "I never was a professor before," was the reply. Where did you study ?" "I learned to read and write in Moscow." "How did you obtain the rank of professor of Natural Philosophy ?" "I was an officer of police; my age no longer allowed me to support the fatigues of my duty, so hearing that a place which would suit me was vacant in the academy, I applied for it. service, good certificates, and the patron, enabled me to obtain it." are the duties belonging to your have to inspect the instruments, and keep them in order, and I am directed to show them to such persons of distinction as may please to visit the University."-Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea.

Thirty years' influence of a "And what place ?" "I

CONGREGATIONAL METHODISTS. THE decision of Judge Edmonds, adverse to the Methodist Centenary Church in Brooklyn, and requiring them to receive the preacher appointed by the General Conference, induced a large portion of its members to relinquish the property and form another and an independent society, with the pastor of their choice. Several other Methodist Episcopal Churches have also recently established or declared their independence; we believe two more in Brooklyn, one in New York, three in Philadelphia, and some in other parts of the country. A Convention of pastors and delegates from those in these three cities and their neighbourhood, met a short time ago in Philadelphia, and formed what they call the Brooklyn Association of the Pastors and Delegates of the Congregational Church."

THE REV. JOHN HILL, M.A.,

OF HUNTLY.

THIS greatly-respected and much beloved minister died at Glasgow, on the 22nd September last. Born and nurtured in connection with the Established Church of Scotland, he was not an hereditary Dissenter, but belonged to that class, who, having thought for themselves, nobly act out their convictions. His was of the nature of the martyr spirit-conviction, duty, were paramount. Mild, gentle, sensitive even to an extreme, he yet, we believe, could have calmly dared, and firmly endured, in the assertion of principle, the frown of all men; yea, the terrors of the stake.

He was admitted to the fellowship of the church of Christ of the Independent denomination at Kirkliston, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. William Ritchie. Of the parish of Kirkliston he was a native. Sometime after joining the church, in pursuance of his education, he spent his first session at college at St. Andrew's. This was in 1810. In 1811, the Glasgow Theological Academy, under the tutorship of the Rev. Greville Ewing and Dr. Wardlaw, was opened, and Mr. Hill became a student in its first class. The following three sessions, to complete his curriculum of classical and philosophical study, were passed at the University of Glasgow, attendance being at the same time given at the Theological Academy.

Mr. Hill was now so far prepared for that work-the ministry of the gospelto which he had devoted himself; to engage in which was not merely with him the result of a sense of duty, but it was the passion of his heart. He was first sent" forth" to Sligo, in Ireland, where he preached somewhere about twelve months. After that, returning to Scotland, he was associated for a term at Perth, with that man of talent, and study, and perseverance, the late Rev. Mr. Orme, and then, at Dundee, with the Rev. Dr. Russel. His next sphere of labour was as assistant to Dr. Philip, of Aberdeen, now of South Africa. Providence was thus leading Mr. Hill onward to that place which was destined to witness, not only his blameless life, but to be benefited by a service extending to nearly one-third of a century. Huntly, already

signalized by the life and successful ministry of George Cowie, was that place. The name of Cowie had become, in the town and region around, a household word; the impress of his character, the print of his footsteps, were left behind, and to come in the wake of such a man, whilst it could not but be regarded as an honourable position, and be felt as a stimulative one too, was not without its disadvantages. Mr. Hill, however, was not Mr. Cowie's immediate successor. The Rev. John Thomas had preceded in a very brief ministry; and the church had been variously supplied during the interval of about ten years which intervened between the death of Mr. Cowie and the settlement of Mr. Hill.

The Rev. George Cowie had studied for the ministry in connection with the Anti-Burgher Church, and he came out as a minister of that church. Commencing his labours at Huntly a very young man, and with few to adhere to him, he had not preached very long until he gathered a people around him. A house for worship was built, the church increased and flourished. But trouble arose. The great Head of the Universal Church had been fermenting various of its sections with the Missionary spirit; and now the modern Missionary enterprise was emerging into being. Beholding its rise at a distance, Mr. Cowie's large and expansive heart sympathised and responded. Distinguished as the body to which he belonged now is in its Missionary spirit and operations, that spirit was not so felt at the time referred to; and, in consequence, especially for opening his pulpit to Rowland Hill and Mr. Haldane, then on a Missionary tour in Scotland, Mr. Cowie fell under the displeasure of his co-presbyters. Other causes of misunderstanding there might be; the result was, that Mr. Cowie was excommunicated by the Anti-Burgher church. This detail was somewhat necessary to an appreciation of the difficulties of Mr. Hill's position when he came to Huntly. He came to a church in a state of transition from one form of church government to anotherthe Presbyterial to the Congregational or Independent. But the man and the crisis met. Doubtless, because he was the man fitted for it, his Master brought him to it. A man of another spirit and tem perament, and the goodly church instru

mentally gathered by Mr. Cowie, might have been split into fragments. Mr. Hill's fitness lay in his kindly, his calm, his enduring, his forbearing spirit. Disaffected parties were treated respectfully; and there was never so much as an allusion to them in the pulpit. They were the excellent of the earth, but they were but men; and it is not for man, in ordinary, at once to forego ancient forms and part with early predilections. They continued to sit under Mr. Hill, although they did not commune with the church. Some of them in the end of their days forgot their early feelings, and did unite with the church. And we cannot but look at this in the light of a reward; and it is easy to imagine it was a reward very grateful, most precious to his heart.

In these remarks we have been led to anticipate the chronology of Mr. Hill's ministerial life. To return he visited Huntly for the first time in May, 1816. Passing over the circumstances relating to two calls given to him by the church, let it be simply stated that the second call was accepted, and Mr. Hill was ordained on the 3rd of July of the following year. The ministers who officiated at his ordination were the Rev. Messrs. Orme, of Perth; Gibbs, of Banff; Wilson, of Greenock; Dewar, of Nairn; and Penman and Philip, of Aberdeen.

During the greater part of Mr. Hill's ministry he presided three times every Lord's day; dispensing, in addition, the Lord's supper on the first sabbath of the month. After the third sermon was dropped, he assumed the charge of a Bible-class in the afternoon. From the beginning of his pastorate up to the time of the disruption in the church of Scotland, his itinerant labours in the country around on week days were very abundant; but with a delicacy peculiarly his own, and strongly characteristic, he seldom permitted these occasions to be known, never intimating them from the pulpit. Of course the friends in the district where he was to preach were made aware, and gave the proper intimations in the quarter. The multiplication of churches in the country by the disruption necessarily restricted these efforts to do good.

From

As a preacher Mr. Hill's grand theme was Christ and him crucified. principle he preached with the utmost plainness and simplicity. If there was a deficiency, it was in not going deeper into the reasons of things. But God blessed his preaching. There was, during

VOL. VI.

the larger part of his career, much energy in his delivery; there was always earnest seriousness, affectionate tenderness, in a word, much of heart; and there was nothing more obvious than his own personal appreciation of the worth and the weight of the Divine truths which fell, which distilled, as it were, from his inmost soul on the ears of his hearers, and which, even whilst he was speaking, he seemed to be appropriating to himself.

In visiting the sick, to which he attended most assiduously, he usually quoted a few scriptures, made a few cheerful and animating remarks, and then prayed; taking care not to injure the impression by going into common topics. The good he did in these visits heaven only can and will disclose.

In Mr. Hill the Bible and Missionary Societies had more than a common friend. His interest in the youthful portion of his hearers was always great. This was specially evinced in his Bible class, and in the arrangements with the teachers in relation to their sabbath-school labours. Annually, the children taught in these schools, both in town and country, assembled on a given sabbath in the chapel, when he preached to them. After sermon, his annual letter, accompanied by a number of hymns selected for the occasion, was distributed amongst the children. These were ever occasions of deep interest to young and old.

In the spring of 1846, considerable sensation was produced in Huntly by the arrival of three young men from China. These youths had been at school under Dr. James Legge, first at Malacca, then at Hong-Kong. When he was obliged to leave China for the recovery of his health, the young men accompanied him, in order to the more rapid advancement of their education in the English language. On their arrival at London, they were immediately sent to Scotland to lodge with Dr. Legge's father, Mr. Hill having the superintendence of their secular learning, and, more immediately, the conduct of their religious training. Very soon they became a source of happiness to Mr. Hill and his family, Mrs. Hill especially delighting in the appearance of the boys, as they were called, about the house. God, however, in his mysterious providence, was speedily to begin a series of trials of no ordinary kind. Mr. Hill's youngest daughter had been poorly; Mrs. Hill went with her to visit their friends at Kirkliston, in the hope the change might benefit the dear invalid.

C

It was not so. The daughter did not long survive. Mr. Hill hastened south, but it was only to sit by the bedside of his dying partner, she too having become ill immediately on her daughter's death. This double bereavement could not but be trying in the extreme. On Mr. Hill's return, he instantly resumed his duties to the Chinese. Some might wonder he could do so; those who knew him expected he would, Submission to the Divine will, and the fulfilment of all duty, were his pole-stars. But it turned out as if he had gone beyond the strength of body and mind. He was taken ill, and for a time laid aside from all labour. But he rallied again and again, carried on, with occasional assistance, the duties of the pulpit and the instruction of his three beloved foreigners, until that instruction, by the Divine blessing, terminated in the admission of the young men, on their credible profession of Christianity, to the membership of the church. This was followed by their public baptism, in the performance of which himself and Dr. Legge were conjoined. Mr. Hill is now gone to his rest and his reward, but with his name the future career of the Chinese youths is identified. To part with him, especially the eldest, was almost more than they could bear.

Last April his remaining daughter was suddenly taken ill, and after a short time was numbered with the dead. This was stroke upon stroke. Still he said, "Thy will be done," and again he rallied. In labour he sought relief. But the end drew on; relapse after relapse came. Anxious, however, to use the means, he went on a journey for change of air to Glasgow. This was in the month of August last. He had no sooner reached Glasgow than a fresh attack came on. His disease was enlargement of the heart. It was soon evident he had now reached the last stage of his beautiful and holy and useful life. Those last moments were illustrated by a signal mercy-this was the election by his church, with his cordial concurrence, of an assistant and successor in the ministry, a young man, a native of the neighbourhood, who had come from Highbury to supply his place during his absence at Glasgow. His only remaining child, residing in Glasgow, attended his dying bed, and thus did what might be done to sustain amid the "deep waters." How true it is, "I will never leave, never forsake." His death was happy, amongst his last words being "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day."

Memoirs of Mrs. Sherman. By HER HUSBAND. Post 8vo, pp. 464. C. Gilpin.

THE Female Biography of England has just received a valuable accession from the touching pen of the Rev. J.Sherman, of Surrey Chapel, who has soothed his spirit in the season of deep sorrow, by recording the virtues of that great ornament of her sex, who was his companion during the greater part of his public life, and whose removal he now survives to deplore. We have gone through all the sheets except the last two or three, which are not yet completed, and we have only to say that this constitutes one of the most tender, beautiful, instructive, and edifying narratives that, for a long time, has come within our notice. It will class as a worthy companion to the Memoirs of Mrs. Ewing, by her Husband; of Mrs. Innes, by her Husband; of Mrs. Wilson, by her Husband, (Dr. Wilson, of Bom

bay); forming, together, four of the most valuable volumes of Female Biography to be found in our language. Amidst domestic matters full of interest and beauty-congregational projects of piety and philanthropy and very extended correspondence with the excellent of the earth, the volume is enriched by very copious journals of Mr. Sherman's journey to Grafenberg, and residence there, in search of health from the WATER CURE. These journals were written by the elegant pen of Mrs. Sherman herself, and will be read with no common delight. A further journey to the Continent with her husband, in which the King of Prussia, with whom Mr. Sherman was honoured to hold intercourse, also figures largely, and with advantage. Such may be taken as a bird's-eye view of the volume, which, we presume, will be completed by the time this page meets the eye of our readers,-a volume which,