sight, the other in joy. But charity will then only find itself freed from its earthly clogs and hindrances, transported into a more congenial clime, surrounded by more and worthier objects, enlarged and purified and animated by the more immediate presence of the Author and Giver of all good things. I shall now conclude with a few practical applications of the truths we have been considering. If faith, hope, and charity are the only abiding things of our present state, it is manifest how much we ought to prize themhow careful we should be to preserve them, Whatever else we may lack, we should still count ourselves rich if we only retain these; but if we lose them--and this we cannot do unless we cast them away-we are really destitute, however we may appear to abound; for all that we possess beside will prove in the end to be but dross and tinsel. And the farther we advance toward the close of our earthly course, the more earnestly ought our thoughts to be fixed on these our true riches; and especially on that which is the greatest treasure of the whole, and which, though we brought it not into this world, is the only thing we shall be able to carry out. has given us of nourishing and strengthening them. But yet it is not sufficient even that they should grow and increase; it is also of the highest importance that they should grow uniformly-that none of the three should very much predominate, or very far outgrow the rest. If it is otherwise, there will not only be a want of comeliness, as when one member exceeds its due proportion, but also danger lest the other members should be stunted in their growth, and the health of the whole body impaired. For faith, hope, and charity are so far distinct that one may be very small and feeble, while another is comparatively mature and vigorous; so that, though there cannot be any absolute excess in things which are all excellent, there may be a relative one which will be attended with very pernicious consequences. It might seem that there is least danger from an excess of charity—and certainly it can never be too large or strong; but, if it should thrive and spread while faith and hope dwindle and languish, it will want a safe light to direct it, it will not act upon any steady principle, and will probably often waste itself on unworthy But, beside this general consideration, objects. We are exhorted to "do good unto all there are some more specific, arising out of men, and specially unto those which are of the the peculiar nature of the things thus com- household of faith." But how can we exermended to us. We observed with regard to cise such discrimination unless we have faith faith, that it does not spring up in its full ma- to guide us? We are commanded" every one turity at once, but reaches it by a gradual of us to please his neighbour for his good, to growth, passing through a variety of stages, edification." But how ill shall we observe this like the seed" first the blade, then the ear, precept, how apt shall we be to please him to after that the full corn in the ear." And the his hurt, if we are not sure on what his edifisame is equally true of hope and charity. All cation is to be founded, or wherein it consists, proceed from minute beginnings, by continu- or if we have no hope of any blessing on our ous degrees, toward their consummation. endeavours to promote it! How easily shall And this is not the whole amount of the re- we be led to sacrifice the most important semblance between them and the fruits of the principles, and the most sacred causes, to the earth. We must add that, like the seed, so love of peace and the desire of conciliation! long as they are living and sound, they must How often shall we be tempted to adopt the be growing. They may for a time be hidden, fatal maxim, that the means are sanctified by as under ground; but they must sooner or the end! So too it may appear at first sight later break through, and shew themselves in that the predominance of hope must at least their proper form: otherwise it must be con- be harmless. And yet how injurious has it cluded that they have sickened and died. proved to faith and charity when men have And this suggests a very momentous subject fixed their whole attention on the promises of of reflection to all of us, and particularly to scripture, and, in impatient eagerness for those who have advanced far in their course their accomplishment, have presumed to calof probation. It warns us not to rest satis-culate and to determine with the minutest fied with the persuasion that we have experienced some measure of faith, hope, and charity, but carefully to examine ourselves whether they are stationary or progressive in us; whether we find them ripening with our bodily and mental growth, and yielding fruit more abundantly as our days are multiplied. We must pray, as the church teaches us, for "the increase of faith, hope, and charity," and must diligently use all the means which God accuracy "the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power!" How often have such delusive anticipations diverted their thoughts from the great truths of religion and from the ordinary duties of life! With regard to faith it will perhaps be more readily conceived, both that such a preponderance is possible, and that it may give rise to the most fearful evils. We shall at once be reminded of many dark periods in the history of Christianity, when the fires of persecution were kindled in the name of religion, and the sword was drawn to extend the conquests, or repair the losses, or protect the landmarks of faith. Here, however, we must be careful to distinguish between the name and the thing. Whenever violence and cruelty are employed in the cause of religion, they certainly prove that charity is cold, but they do not prove that faith is strong; they rather betray its weakness, or shew that, if not a mere pretext, it is at least largely blended with worldly and corrupt motives, with personal rancour, with the love of power, or the conceit of knowledge. But there are other cases, less painful, but of more frequent occurrence, and not confined to the history of the past, in which there may be no reason to question the earnestness and sincerity of faith, but where there is clear evidence that it is not accompanied by a sufficient measure of charity. Whenever we find small differences widened into serious breaches of Christian unity; slight distinctions magnified into impassable barriers of separation; offences lightly given and hastily taken; honest scruples rudely slighted; things of little moment put forward the more prominently because there are some who dislike them, or treated with studied contempt because there are some who revere them as sacred; ambiguous language recklessly employed on the one side, and wilfully construed in the worst sense on the other; when we see men seeking their own in matters of faith rather than rejoicing in the truth, or rejoicing in that truth which is their own while they refuse to seek or attend to that which is held by others; when they will bear nothing, believe nothing, hope nothing, endure nothing in those who differ from them, but treat the most harmless peculiarities as grounds of suspicion, or subjects of anathema; when exaggerations in one direction provoke others as great in the opposite quarter; when nicknames and shibboleths are eagerly adopted and indiscriminately applied, or names endeared to many by the most venerable associations are wantonly insulted; when "Christ is preached of contention, not sincerely," or with a single eye to his glory and the benefit of the hearers; when the weapons of religious controversy are tipt with the poison of ridicale and invective-these are symptoms that faith has outgrown and overlaid charity. But let us remember that the proper remedy in such cases is not to weaken or check the stronger, but to strengthen and animate the weaker; not to rob faith of her due, but to restore the more excellent grace to its rightful pre-eminence. And how can we better seek the divine aid for this purpose than by a frequent and devout recurrence to that holy ordinance in which these three graces form as it were the triple cord with which we bind our sacrifice to the horns of the altar; in which the highest objects of our faith and hope are set before us in the most impressive manner, to the very end that they may most effectually strengthen the bond of peace, and may cement that communion with Christ and with one another, which, if, notwithstanding our human infirmity, it abide now, shall be perfected and perpetuated hereafter-no more shaken by envyings and strife and divisions, or by any workings of the carnal mind; when we shall no longer see through a glass darkly and contend about shadows, but shall know even as we are known, and shall love even as we are loved. Poetry. THE GIVING OF THE LAW. BY REV. J. S. BROAD, M.A. (For the Church of England Magazine.) "And ye came near, and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkout of the midst of the fire."-DEUT. iii. 11, 12. ness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you HARK! 'tis no earthly call-a trumpet sound, Loud and unwonted, peals along the sky; Deep thunders roll, and shake the solid ground, And clouds and darkness now are brooding nigh. Israel, prepare! Th' eternal God comes down ; Ten thousand of his holy ones attend* ; Let every heart his awful presence own, And every knee before him humbly bend. Guard well the mount; let no unhallowed foot Within the sacred bounds presume to tread : Th' Almighty speaks-let every tongue be mute, Lest justice strike the rash offender dead. The trumpet sounds yet louder and more loud! Bright flames of fire around the mount appear; And even Moses quails with awe and feart. Stupendous scene! the holy law is given Unvarying transcript of th' eternal mind; The law of truth-stamp'd with the hand of heaven, Perfect and good, for erring man design'd. Yet who can hope that awful law to keep, Pure and unsullied, in th' all-searching eye? Who hope to 'scape the judgment that shall sweep, Justice her right asserts, and sternly pours Her threats of vengeance on the sinner's head. ↑ Heb. xii. 21. Can any hear that voice of woe, and live? And God will dwell with Adanı's race below. The dread demand, and purchase man's release; No longer fear the law's avenging stormLo! Calvary's cross proclaims eternal peace! Newcastle-under-Lyme. Miscellaneous. THE ASYLUM.-A volume might be written on that excellent institution in Palermo, Sicily, called "Real Casa de Matti," a house for the reception of the insane under baron Pisani, who conducted me over the whole. A visit to such places can hardly fail to excite painful feelings and reflections in any person possessed of the slightest spark of humanity. At the same time, while we are shocked by the contemplation of an affliction that reduces human creatures to a lower level than that of the inferior animals —one wherein reason is perverted or extinguished— | we may extract from such spectacles a most salutary lesson to ourselves. Ah! how grateful ought we to be-the living-that we are not similarly visited; and when we compare our own condition with that of such unhappy beings, how truly enviable does it appear! In comparison with such a lot, the minor inconveniences of life shrink into mere trifles. Were the envious and discontented to look around, and below them, instead of fixing their gaze on the few who are particularly favoured by the external gifts of fortune-yet perhaps, although for different reasons, may be as discontented and as far from happiness as any of us-how much better would they consult their own comfort and tranquillity. With what truly self-tormenting ingenuity do most of us labour to persuade ourselves that we have special cause to be dissatisfied with our own particular condition of life. It should seem that nothing short of sickness can awaken us to a due sense of the blessings of health; nothing less than severe calamity, poverty, and distress, confer any value in our eyes, on the comforts and blessings of that middle station of life which affords all personal comforts, and a far greater share of intellectual enjoy ments than indolent luxuriousness can taste. Wherefore then should we envy the great their external grandeur, which, if unaccompanied by moral worth, is little else than splendid disgrace? Far better and wiser would it be to envy the truly good-those who enjoy the only true and durable felicity-a felicity that is but the foretaste of the happiness reserved for the spirits of the righteous in the realms of light-a felicity in short, for the privation of which "nought else atonesNot Rundell's millions, nor all Rothschild's loans." -Rae Wilson on Sicily. PRIESTCRAFT IN CHINA.-Le Compt has related some ludicrous instances of the manner in which the bonzes are wont to turn this creed (of transmigration) to their own profit. Two of them happening to espy a pair of fat ducks in a farm-yard were seized with an earnest desire to feast upon them. With this view they drew near, and began to weep and lament bitterly. The good woman who owned the fowls, on inquiring the cause of their affliction, was informed that the ducks were their deceased parents, whose assured destiny of being sold, killed, and eaten, they were now deploring. She endeavoured to console them by an assurance that the animals would be well treated; but, finding that nothing else could assuage their sorrows, she at length presented to them the two objects of their tenderness. After profuse expressions of thankfulness, and making twenty prostrations before their feathered relatives, they carried them home; when these revered ancestors were immediately plucked, put to the spit, and afforded a hearty meal to their ingenious offspring.-Edinburgh Cabinet Library. A PRAYER OF HENRY THE FOURTH OF FRANCE JUST BEfore a battlE IN WHICH HE OBTAINED AN ENTIRE VICTORY.-"O Lord of hosts, who canst see through the thickest vail and closest disguise; who viewest the bottom of my heart, and the deepest designs of my enemies; who hast in thy hands, as well as before thine eyes, all the events which concern human life—if thou knowest that my reign will promote thy glory, and the safety of thy people; if thou knowest that I have no other ambition in my soul but to advance the honour of thy holy name, and the good of this state, favour, O great God, the justice of my arms, and reduce all the rebels to acknowledge him whom thy sacred decrees and the order of a lawful succession have made their sovereign: but if thy good Providence has ordered it otherwise, and thou seest that I should prove one of those kings whom thou givest in thine anger, take from me, O merciful God, my life and my crown; make me this day a sacrifice to thy will; let my death end the calamities of France, and let my blood be the last that is spilt in this quarrel." The king uttered this prayer in a voice and with a countenance that inspired all who heard and beheld him with like magnanimity. Then turning to the squadron at the head of which he designed to charge, "My fellow-soldiers," said he, “as you run my fortune, so do I yours; your safety consists in keeping well your ranks; but if the heat of the action should force you to disorder, think of nothing but rallying again if you lose the sight of your colours and standards, look round for the white plume in my beaver; you shall see it wherever you are, and it shall lead you to glory and to victory." The magnanimity of this illustrious prince was supported by a firm reliance on Providence, which inspired him with a contempt of life, and an assurance of conquest. His generous scorn of royalty, but as it consisted with the service of God and good of his people, is an instance that the mind of man, when it is well disposed, is always above its condition, even though it be that of a monarch.-Guardian. NOTES OF A TOURIST. No. VII. KELSO ABBEY AND ROXBURGH CASTLE. THE name of Kelso has been derived from the British "calch," signifying chalk, and the Saxon "how," a height, descriptive of a calcareous eminence on which part of the town is situated. In the early charters of David, and in the grants of the bishop of St. Andrews, the name is written Calkow; and, about the fourteenth century, Calkhow and Kellesowe. Kelso, though not on the direct middle road from Newcastle to Edinburgh, generally forms one of the stages. Delightfully situated on the banks of the Tweed, near its junction with the Teviot, with the elegant mansion of Fleurs, belonging to the duke of Roxburgh, it presents much interest to the tourist. The abbey is situated on the south side of the town. The monks were of the Tironensian order. It is supposed to have been built in the form of a Greek cross, with arms of equal lengths. The construction is peculiar, resembling a Greek cross. The nave, and the arms of the transept, are exactly the same length, and the choir from the east wall of the transept is very little, if atall, longer than one of the arms of the transept. ridors, running the one above the other, and connected by passages with the other portions of the building. The large arches beneath are in the Saxon style, with ornamented capitals, from which the arch springs. The arcade above belongs to the same era. The entire choir had two arches, but they are gone. The great tower over the cross owes its origin to a later period. The walls of the transept are nearly entire. The entrance from the north is a Saxon door in a good state of preservation. The western entrance, part of which still remains, is Saxon, decorated with grotesque carvings and zig-zag mouldings. The cloister and the other domestic buildings of the abbey were on the south of the choir, but are entirely destroyed. What escaped the English army was reduced to ruins by the populace in 1580. To make it serve the purposes of a parish church an arch was thrown over the transept. This continued to be used as the church till A.D. 1771, when the people were, during service on a Sunday (there was little chance of its being on another day, for, save at the preaching time, from Sunday to Sunday, the doors are barred and bolted in the Scottish kirk*; and should they perchance be left open, it is only an index that sweeping and cleansing are going on within, an event of no ordinary ocThe choir, except two arches, and the super-currence), frightened by the falling of some plasstructure above these, is entirely in ruins. In this ter; and this, superinduced by the prophecy of wall, above the two arches, are two rows of corWe may add, in too many English churches also.-ED. VOL. XIV. Ꮓ Thomas the Rhymer that the church "should fall when at the fullest" (a prophecy rife in Scotland), had such an effect that another congregation could never again be assembled within the walls. The modern building was removed by duke William and his successor James, that the beautiful fabric might be exhibited to view, and the decayed parts were repaired by subscription. The monks were first settled at Selkirk, under the direction of abbot Radulphus, who was elected to preside over the mother church at Tyrone, in 1117, when he was succeeded by William, at whose death Herbert was elected. In 1128 the monks, on account of the want of accommodation, were removed by their generous founder to Kelso, two years after he had ascended the throne of his fathers, where a new church and offices were erected, and in due time dedicated to the virgin Mary and St. John the evangelist. Upon the death of the bishop of Glasgow in 1147, Herbert was promoted to the see, and was succeeded in his office by Ernald, who, in 1160, was appointed bishop of St. Andrews. John, the precentor, was next elected abbot; a man of a very ambitious character, whose sole object seemed to be the aggrandizement of the abbey over which he was superior. Although this house had already acquired great wealth and vast possessions, the abbot was not satisfied, but travelled to Rome for the express purpose of begging a mitre from the pope, which, by his address, he obtained in 1165. He also got himself named first in the rolls of the Scottish parliament. About this time the archbishop of York claimed the supremacy of the Scottish church; but the abbot of Kelso was not one who would easily part with his independence. He refused to obey the behests of Roger of York, and the result was, that the whole matter was referred to the pope, who decided in favour of the Scottish church. About the end of the fourteenth century the abbey of Kelso appears to have been possessed of vast wealth. They had the monastery of Lesmahago and its dependencies, thirty-four parish churches, several manors, many lands, granges, farms, mills, breweries, fishings, salt-works, &c.; all which were spread over the several shires of Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles, Lanark, Dumfries, Ayr, Edinburgh, and Berwick, with the church of Culter, as far north as Aberdeenshire. In 1542 the duke of Norfolk marched up the Tweed, burning and destroying all in his way. No place was held sacred. The town of Kelso and abbey, partially repaired since the inroad of Shrewsbury's captains, were reduced to ashes. A still more wasteful invasion was made two years later by sir George Bowes and sir Brian Laiton; and in 1545 the earl of Hertford made an incursion into Scotland, destroying every thing in his road from Coldingham to Kelso. When he ar There is a frightful moor called Coldingham moor, upon which, for about eight miles, is hardly a hedge or a tree, and scarcely a house to be met with all the way, and that not a house of entertainment. Coldingham, whence the moor derives its name, was an old monastery, built by Edgar, king of Scotland, about the year 1100, and famous for its lady abbess Ebba, of whom the following story is told :-This lady was the daughter of Edelfred, king of Northumberland; and, when her father was taken prisoner by the pagan Mercians, she got into a boat in the Humber, with three other females, who, by their own prayers only, were miraculously preserved and carried as far as Scotland, where, under a promontory, they were driven on shore by a storm, and their boat dashed to pieces. When they got on shore they laboured with their hands, and made themselves a small hut to lodge in. They continued their religious way of | rived at Kelso, an attempt was made to stay his progress, but without avail. Three hundred men retired into the abbey and made an obstinate resistance; but were compelled to yield, and were mostly slain or taken prisoners. In 1556 the abbot of Kelso was slain by the laird of Cessford, his own relation. There were afterwards enmity and feuds between the family of Cessford and Ferniehirst, and it was to the latter family that the abbot belonged. Two years after cardinal Guise held the abbey of Kelso in trust. Sir John Maitland was next commendator. He was created lord Thirlstane, and his son John was the first earl of Lauderdale. At the reformation, the revenues of Kelso abbey were stated at £3,716 1s. 2d.; 19 chalders of wheat; 106 chalders and 12 bolls of beer; oats, 4 chalders and 11 bolls; meal, 112 chalders, 12 bolls, and three firlots. From this it will be seen that the abbot of Kelso was more opulent than most bishops in Scotland. Kelso was reduced to ashes by accidental fire, A.D. 1684. In 1715 the Scottish adherents of the Stuart dynasty met those from Northumberland and Nithsdale at Kelso. The Highlanders were met by the Scots horse at Ednam bridge, and conducted into the town, in compliment to the bravery displayed by them in passing the Frith. Next day Mr. Patton preached in the great church at Kelso to the soldiers, from Deut. xxi. 17, "The right of the first-born is his." All the lords, and a great multitude of people, attended. In the afternoon of the day a sermon was preached by Mr. William Irving, full of exhortations to his hearers to be zealous and steady in the cause in which they were engaged. On the Monday the troops were drawn up in the market-place, where the proclamation was read, and a manifesto of the earl of Marr, on which all the people assembled shouted "No union-no malt-ne salt tax!" The Highland army remained in Kelso till the Thursday following, during which time they drew the public revenues, excise, customs, and taxes. Many illustrious persons were buried at Kelso, among whom was the only son of David I. Henry III. of England and his queen were here entertained with great pomp by Alexander III. and his queen. James III. was crowned here. ROXBURGH CASTLE. Roxburgh castle is situated a mile and a half from Kelso, at the junction of the Teviot and Tweed, immediately opposite Fleurs. It stands upon an eminence of about fifty feet in height. On the north and west the castle was defended by a deep moat, filled with water from the Teviot, by means of a dam-dyke thrown across the stream. On the outside of the moat was a large mound, which formed a protection for the castle. On the south and east the castle was impregnable from living, and the country people sustained them with food, till at length acquiring a great character by their sanctity and austerity, they were addressed, far and near, for their prayers, and by the charity of the people were enabled to build a religious house at Coldingham. Here, as the story goes, when the Danes came on shore, the religious lady, who it seems was very beautiful, cut off her nose and upper lip, and made all her nuns do the same; whereupon the barbarous Danes, enraged at their zeal, forced their nunnery and burned them all alive. From this lady, who was sainted for these sufferings, the promontory where she landed was called St. Ebbe's Head, and vulgarly called St. Tables. The family of Ker, Kerr, or Car, was very powerful on the border.-Fynes Morrison. |