take comfort in the promise or look to be partakers of the bliss, who use no pains and employ no method for cherishing in their hearts that remembrance of their Lord; who shun the ready opportunities for testifying before God and men that they do remember what they owe to their Redeemer? Such men may take up the work of recollection when remembrance may be found to be too tardy or too featful. God indeed will not be forgotten, though we should be desirous to forget him, and to slight the dictates of his will. The difference only lies in this, whether we will entertain a willing recollection, or a fearful one; one which we may cherish as the treasure of the heart, or one which must press inevitably as its burden? With this alternative before us, we must make our choice.

They who profess to distrust themselves, and to deem themselves unmeet to testify their remembrance of our Lord by this open tribute of compliance with their duty, such men may seem perhaps to act with some discretion and humility; they will appear to remember their own weakness which requires indeed the constant exercise of needful caution. But the question is, if this plea be fairly made; for if it be, we shall soon find what ought to be the fruits of it; we shall soon perceive that it is a plea which will lose its force if men continue to persist in it against repeated calls to better resolutions. Is there no reserve then, on the part of those who employ it, for the future indulgence of some evil practice which they care not to forsake? If there shall be that secret reservation, the case admits of no delay. The remedy must be quickly sought. If the search be not sufficiently advanced already to warrant a present compliance with so high an act of faith and duty, yet should that search be taken up and prosecuted even from the very

moment when we know and feel the nature of the case.

Is it pretended that the want of present preparation may well excuse us from a present performance of our duty? This plea deserves attention and the first fruit of such consideration should be this,—that the next and most immediate steps which lead to preparation must be taken. If succeeding opportunities find us still unaltered, and our case the same, then it will become plain that it is not the want of preparation, at this season or another, which hinders our compliance with our duty, but it is a resolute, or a careless negligence which keeps us unprepared; and most evident it is, that no plea for such neglects can be justly made.

In order then that we may choose aright, and may perform the timely exercises of religious recollection in a regular and punctual manner, I shall once more invite you to consider for a moment, who it is that is to be remembered in this ordinance; what the duty of remembrance in its whole extent implies, and what the particulars are concerning Christ which we are more especially commanded to remember.

We have then to consider who it is that is to be remembered. It is the Lord Christ Jesus; the only begotten and eternal Son of God; who came down from heaven, and took our nature, that in him it might be purified, rescued from the bands of sin, and delivered from the tyranny of death; and that in him it might be redeemed, recovered, raised, and glorified. It is the Lord that bought us, whose name and merits form the ground and true support of all our hope. It is Jesus the Mediator of the covenant of grace and pardon; the Saviour of the soul and body; the Author of eternal life to us; the giver of a recompense which he only could procure. He it is that is to be re

membered when we draw near to the table of communion. His name is given to us as a name of trust and expectation. It is soon pronounced; but to dwell upon it with reverence and affection, and to endeavour more and more to understand its whole importance, should be the careful study of our lives. In order that these things should be more easily remembered by those whose station in the world may leave but little leisure for increasing knowledge, they are comprehended in the sentences of the Christian creed, in which all hearts should be united and in which every tongue should join. That joint confession of our common faith supplies us with the main heads for our reflections; and here again we may observe the loving kindness of the Lord, since what is necessary to be learned, is summed up in 'so few words, and may be so easily remembered. The main lines of what relates to our Saviour's person and his offices are set forth in the Creed, which is gathered from the testimonies of the sacred Scriptures. Let it not be repeated only, but considered. It is not a work of memory alone, but of faith and love, which is required of us; and if we do not acquaint ourselves with the name of Christ, with what he hath promised, done and suffered for us, with the power and efficacy of his mediation with the Father; if we do not learn to weigh the reasons of his death, which took place, that sin might not go without its expiation; if we do not consider the value of his intercession at the throne of grace, nor the manifold advantages of that pardon which is tendered for his sake, nor the excellency of the recompense which he hath purchased for us-we may bear the name of Christians, but we cannot be said to remember Christ. Let us accustom ourselves to gather this most easy but most precious stock of knowledge and reflection which may be so readily collected from the

plain words of our joint confession; and having formed an hearty resolution to regard him in all our lives, the road lies open to the table of the Lord. There it is that our remembrance of the things which concern us so deeply must be testified. There it is that the blessings of the covenant must be sought. Without that good hope which he thus renewed, life will be full of danger in each moment of it, and will be left without a reasonable expectation, when those things shall pass away which we know are passing and which cannot be retained.

Let thi then be our concluding reflection, that the text turns our attention to what Christ the Saviour hath endured for us; to his one oblation of himself once offered; to the sacrifice and satisfaction, infinite in value, which he only could fulfil. Our Lord therefore has fixed upon the fittest circumstance to excite remembrance in all hearts that are capable of feeling the weight of that obligation which acquires its greatest force in proportion to the witness of his love for men. Concerning which, that rule must needs occur to our thoughts, that greater love there cannot be than that which consists in suffering all things, and yielding life itself, for the sake of those who are the objects of kindness and regard.

When David mourned with a faithful recollection for the death of Jonathan, his kind and generous friend, his mind most naturally turned itself to what the noble youth had suffered for his sake. He called to remembrance that Jonathan had freely yielded up the honours of his birth, and his prospects of a royal diadem, for David's sake, in order that the will of God might be fulfilled in him. He remembered that the same Prince was contented to endure the anger of his father Saul for the love he bare to David, and therefore David graced his memory with the liveliest expressions of af

fectionate concern and grateful recollection. But we have a Benefactor to remember, who, though infinite in glory, vouchsafed to call himself the friend of those for whom he suffered; for our sakes, he came down from heaven; for our sakes he was contented, though he were Lord of all, to submit to all indignities from a spiteful and misguided people; for our sakes he submitted to a painful death, enduring that which we could not have sustained, the punishment which was due for sin, which must have plunged us for ever in the pains of death.

even

Let us thus remember our own needs and our own advantage, and we shall find our necessities supplied and our advantages secured, in the timely remembrance of our Lord, thus testified. He calls his. yoke easy and his burden light, and with reason. It is no hard thing which he lays upon us or upon the memory; it is but to remember the best benefits and blessings which we may enjoy, and then we shall remember Him: so closely is our interest coupled with our duty.

In all ways then, remembrance

presses on us, and we must be forgetful of every principle of truth and righteousness and of every honourable tie, if we do not cherish the remembrance of our Lord; the remembrance of his death; the remembrance of his word and promise, which no time can weaken, and which will surely come to pass. It will then be the glory and the happiness of every Christian spirit to celebrate for ever what we should now cherish with the liveliest sense of gratitude, and regard with punctual recollection, and store up as the chief treasure of the mind and memory, and take as the motive and incentive for the best designs; the ground for every hopeful expectation; the stay and refuge of the heart, in all the changes and vicissitudes of this life; the fixed and never-failing pledge of pardon, peace, and happiness to come: to Him therefore, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all honour and glory, all praise and thanksgiving, henceforth and for

evermore.

J. H. P.

Acts xxvii. 3.

And the next day we touched at Sidon.

Ezek. xxviii. 21.

those coasts, for Sidon signifieth fish in their language. In fame it contendeth with Tyrus, but exceed

prophesy against it.

Jer. xxv. 22.

And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea.

BUT now return we to Sidon, the most ancient city of Phoenicia; built, as some write, by Sida, the daughter of Belus; according to others, by Sidon, the first-born of Canaan. Some do attribute the building thereof to the Phoenicians, who called it Sidon, in regard of the plenty of fish which frequented

brated by the ancients. The seat thereof is healthful, pleasant, and profitable: on the one side walled with the sea, on the other side with the fruitful mountains that lie before

Libanus, from whence fall many springs, wherewith they overflow their delicate orchards, (which abound with all variety of excellent fruits) and when they list exclude them. The making of crystal glasses was here first invented. Amongst others right famous, Sidon is honoured with the birth of

Boetius, and was an episcopal see, depending on the archbishopric of Tyrus. But this once ample city still suffering with the often changes of those countries, is at this day contracted into narrow limits'; and only shews the foundations of her greatness; lying eastward of this

that standeth and overshadowed with olives.-Ibid.

Ezek. xxvii. 18.

Damascus was thy merchant in the multitudes of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.

The merchandize appropriate to this place (Sidon) are cottons and silks, which here are made in the mulberry groves in indifferent quantity. Other commodities (which are many and not coarse) they fetch from Damasco, two days journey from hence, interposed with the snowtopt mountains of Antelibanus; so exceeding cold, that a Moor at our being here, returning from thence in the company of an English merchant, perished by the way; the heat then excessive great in the valleys on both sides. Damascus is seated in a plain, environed with hills, and watered with the river Chrysoras, which descendeth with a great murmur from the mountains, but after a while having entered the plain, becometh more gentle; serving the city so abundantly, that few houses are without their fountains, and by little rivulets is let into their orchards; than which the habitable earth affordeth not more delicate for excellency of fruits, and their varieties. Yet is this city subject to both the extremes of weather; rich in trades, and celebrated for excellent artizans. We were desirous to have seen it, but were advised not to adventure, because of the lawless Spahyes there then residing in great numbers.— Ibid,

1 Kings xvii. 9.

Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: beREMEMBRANCER, No. 66.

hold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee,

Our ship returning to Alexandria, and carrying with her two of our fellow pilgrims, on the five and twentieth of April we returned also towards Acre by land, in the company of divers English merchants; the champaign between the sea and the mountains, fruitful though narrow, and crossed with many little rivulets. After five miles riding, we came to a small solitary mosque not not far from the sea, erected, as they say, over the widow's house that entertained Elias. Close by it are the foundations of Sarepta, commended for her wines. It was the seat of a Bishop, and subject unto Tyrus. Right against it, and high mounted on a mountain, there is a handsome new town now called Sarapanta. Beyond on the left hand of the way are a number of caves cut out of the rock. A place then inexpugnable, and maintained by the Christians, until, in the year 1167, it was by the corrupted soldiers delivered to the Saracens.Ibid.

Acts xxvii. 7.

And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus; the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone.

Much becalmed, and not seldom crossed by contrary winds, for divers days we saw sea and air only (yet once within ken of a promontory of Lycia, called the Seven Capes) until we approached the south-east of Candy, called formerly Creta, lying neither in the Adriatic, Egean, Carpathian, nor Libyan seas, which on each side environ it. It stretcheth two hundred and fifteen miles from east to west; containing fortyfive in breadth, and in circuit five hundred and twenty. Full of mountains, yet those not unprofitable, affording excellent pasturage: the highest is Ida, seated almost in the midst of the island, now called Psilotriti; from whose lofty and spiny top both seas may be dis. U U