We believe" supreme allegiance to the God of Truth" to be the watch-word of all evangelical Christians; and if Mr. Brown's independency be nothing more nor less than this, his creed is of apostolic calibre, and quite large enough for us. But thus understanding it, we are somewhat at a loss to divine his meaning when descanting on the "First Principles of Politics," he thus states the arguments of his opponents. (Essay iii. p. 7.) "Paul subverted not the Roman empire," it is said; "He preached not against imperial despotism-he preached Christ Jesus: let us do likewise. By all means let us do likewise”That is- -What? Let us do what Paul did not do, but what we think he might have done if he had lived now. "Let us," to quote the identical words of Mr. Brown, "do what Paul would have done in our day, not what he did in his own."

We may be wrong, but we cannot think this is exactly that supreme allegiance to the God of Truth" inculcated in the preceding essay. To do what we think, rather than what God enjoins, seems to us rather the essence of Popery than the marrow of Dissent. But when we attempt to identify party views with First Principles,' something must be said for both -for the littleness of the first, as well as the greatness of the last.

Having glanced at the three first essays, we turn to the more grateful task of commending the other three to the attentive study of our young readers. Mr. Brown is a young man of ardent and intelligent mind-deeply thoughtful, and both eloquent and elegant in his method of embodying his ideas. He must be read—not glanced at or slurred over—to be properly appreciated; and those who are not willing to bestow some pains upon this work may as well leave it untouched altogether. In another part of this number we give two extracts from his last 'Study,' which will fully bear out our recommendation.

THE body is the soul's they must suffer together. every man by nature, an Sinclair.

MAN.

tempter; they sinned together, and An old writer says that there is in Adam, an Eve, and a serpent.—

T

SEASONABLE SOLACE.

"FEAR hath torment;" and this torment becomes oftentimes more fierce and terrible as the object of our dread is mysterious or undefined. When we know our enemy and his movements we can prepare for them; but if we know not when, how, or where he may overtake us, the most painful suspense is superadded to our terror, our whole frame is unhinged and prostrated, and we "become as dead men.”

But if in the depths of our distress, we can discover something that will meet every phase and feature of the case—which will protect and deliver us in every emergency, and the only measure of which is just the limit of our requirement and nothing less, how we begin again to breathe calmly, to look around us with complacency, and in the fulness of our reviving strength and spirits to pour out our gratitude to Him who is emphatically a very present help in time of trouble.

And has not this been the case with some of us during the few past months, when the language of the ninety-first psalm has been brought to mind with reference to that mysterious visitation that has desolated so many homes around us-when the plague has not only come nigh our dwellings, but has entered into them, calling away so suddenly and fearfully those with whom perhaps we have taken sweet communion, or received into the circle of our acquaintances or intimates? And we, though spared perhaps the painful experience of many who have passed through the ordeal of sorrow and sickness, have all suffered and are still suffering more or less through that terror which, in times like these, will cling around us till we have sought and found solace beneath the shadow of His wings who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

If there be anything, then, that can minister to a mind subject to the bondage of this terror, it must be the promise of an all-merciful, all-wise, all-powerful Protector-a promise that reaches not only to deliverance from the danger itself, but from that fear which grows out of it, and is often worse than the actual visitation.

"He shall not be afraid!" Who? Listen to the terms of this glorious charter.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most Most High,
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress-my God, in him will I trust.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from

the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.

His truth shall be thy shield and buckler,

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow

that flieth by day ;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness—

Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon day.

Large as the grant is in itself, it is limited in its application. Those only who are closeted with God-shut up to him, and shut out from the world, are included in it. But notwithstanding its obvious reference to the Holiest of all, the shekinah—the cherubim—the mercy-seat—" the ordinances of divine service, and the worldly sanctuary"-there is nothing of the awful majesty that hovered round the tabernacle, here. We meet God at home: his wings, his feathers, are spread over us-paternity, love, warmth, nearness of approach, and all the comforts flowing from a truthful, trustful confidence are ours. We do not say, only, of the Lord, "He is my refuge;" but we feel it. "Surely he shall deliver thee!" He shall.

We know nothing of the authorship of this beautiful psalm— Perhaps it was written by David, but more probably by Moses, in continuation of that which immediately precedes it. Speaking of man, as man, he had lamented the brevity and frailty of his threescore years and ten, and now he speaks of him as the subject of a better hope-God-tended and identified with eternal things-honored, glorified, satisfied, and saved.

The description given of the Godhead is "eminently applicable to the man Christ Jesus." So writes the pious Bishop Horne. And so in effect thought Paul when he described him as entering once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. To us, he occupies "the secret place of the Most High"-the shadow of the Almighty having given place to the Brightness of his glory-the Express Image of his person.

The promise of protection, says a commentator on this psalm, "has oftentimes in a wonderful manner been verified to those faithful servants of God whom the pestilence itself has not deterred from doing the duties of their station. The bishop and some of the intendants of Marseilles who continued to perform their respective offices during the whole time of the plague there in 1720, are signal and well-known instances." The path of duty is doubtlessly the path of safety, but we are after all but blind interpreters of God's providence. To us he gives no unqualified pledge of temporal deliverance.

noon.

But if the pestilence or sword,

Receive commission from the Lord,
To strike his saints amongst the rest,
Their very pains and deaths are blest.

The visitation that is now sweeping off thousands immediately around us, is one that literally "walketh in darkness." With no little magnanimity and disinterestedness, our men of science, our "good physicians" in the highest sense, and our philanthropists, are hazarding their lives for others' good, but the promise is not always to each and all alike. Man must do well, for God commands him; he need not live, for God withdraws him often from the woe and warfare of this lower world whilst it is yet We have a touching illustration before us at this moment. As we leave the din and bustle of the great metropolis for our quiet home in the suburbs, we notice that shutter after shutter is closed; half a mile of shop fronts with scarcely an exception, bearing witness to the fact, that one beloved and respected-active, useful, and generous in his labors for the good of others, has fallen a victim to this mysterious pestilence. Skilful as a medical practitioner of long standing and high attainment, esteemed by all, but by none more than the poor, we might have thought perhaps, that such an one would go forth under the shadow of a special providence. And so he did; but that Providence had an issue widely distant from where we had placed it. The world had need of him, but God more.

And yet we dare read even this mystic passage. Its moral is precisely that of the psalmist, "Clouds and darkness are round about him." A greater than humanity is here. Trust him, for you cannot trace him; and lay hold of his own remedy.

The "shadows of celestial light" indicate their origin by their very intensity, and the darkness, under cloak of which walks the pestilence, invites us to look beyond it, instead of losing ourselves in the twilight of secondary causes.

We will adore, we will acquiesce, we will "hear the rod" and kiss it--but we will not be afraid. God has promised this on our behalf, and we cannot-we dare not-do otherwise, than work out his word.

THE FREE NATION'S IDEA OF FREEDOM.

"ON repairing to the stable, for the horse destined to draw our vehicle," says Sir Charles Lyell, "we were met with a singular piece of intelligence. The stable-boy who had groomed it in the morning was " up for sale." Without his assistance we could not start, for this boy had the key of the harness-room. So I determined to go to the auction, where I found that a sale of land and negroes was going on. I first saw an old man sold for 150 dollars; then a boy, seventeen years old, knocked down for 535 dollars, on which a bystander remarked to me, "They are selling well to-day." Next came on the young man in whose immediate release I was more especially interested. He stepped forward, hat in hand, with an easy natural air, seeming to be very indifferent to the scene around him, while the auctioneer began to describe him as a fine griff (which means three parts black), twenty-four years old, and having many superior qualities, on which he enlarged in detail. There was a sharp bidding, which lasted only a few minutes, when he was sold for 675 dollars. Mr. Pickett immediately asked him to get ready our horse, and, as he came away with us, began to joke with him, and told him, "They have bid a hundred dollars more for you than I would have given;" to which he replied, very complacently, "My master, who has had the hire of me for three years, knew better than to let any one outbid him." I discovered, in short, that he had gone to the sale with a full conviction that the person whom he had been serving was determined to buy him in, so that his mind was quite at ease, and the price offered for him had made him feel well satisfied with himself."-Visit to United States.