genuflections, her beads and crucifixes, her charms and penances, her processions and pilgrimages, her pictures and images, her tinkling bells and burning candles, her profane masses and fuming incense, with a thousand other formalities as absurd as they are blasphemous behold in all these her determined efforts to bury the real essentials of devotion under the tinsel and trappings of a gaudy ritualism, and to beguile and cheat the soul out of a direct and personal transaction with God! Rome is not the only transgressor here. I wish charity would permit me to believe that all Protestants realize the inefficacy of all outward ceremonies and forms. Men forget the essence of the gospel of Jesus, and shut their eyes to the spirit of New Testament teaching, and show that they do not understand the place which the present dispensation is designed to occupy in the history of our race, when they sigh for an ornate and ritualistic worship, and fancy they can serve God better when they have a fabric of sensuous and artificial ceremony. I am sure that, had this been necessary, the New Testament had not been silent on the matter. I am sure, that had it been desirable, the apostles would not have so emphatically repudiated it, and warned the Church against it. It is the offspring of ignorance, and the parent of superstition. No greater judgment threatens this country than a blinded sympathy with antichrist. Give us rather famine, and pestilence,. and war, than a return to the delusions and curse of Popery.Rev. J. Thain Davidson. B "CLEAN EVERY WHIT." JOHN xiii. 10. Y the death-bed of a young Christian, a minister learned a fresh lesson of the blessed truth that "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." The words were repeated to her when speech was almost gone, and she dwelt upon the word "all" in a way which told how much it was to her in that hour. "All! all!" she said with eagerness, again and again; and the word was a sermon to the hearers. Yes, "all," not according to our estimate of sin, but according to God's estimate; and not only according to God's estimate of sin, but also according to God's estimate of cleansing. Then, the cleansing is not only from the sins which we have seen, but from the sins which He has seen, though we were ignorant of them. And this is the comforting view of His description of Himself: "I am He that searcheth the reins and hearts." It was He, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." Not one of them was overlooked. With our imperfect vision, and in the dim light in which we too much dwell, stains may be overlooked which are discovered when we come into clearer light, and we discern sin where we little suspected it. But the cleansing by this blood is according to the Divine estimate of cleansing-such as will bear the unclouded light of His presence and the inspection of His eye. When He has washed us from our sins in His blood, not a speck remains on the stainless robe, the purity of which finds its description in that of His own garments on the mount: "His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." Yes; though the sins have been as scarlet and crimson, they are cleansed to dazzling whiteness. And the soul can enter boldly into the very presence of the Holy One, when He who searches the reins and hearts, viewing His own work, pronounces the verdict: "Clean every whit." But, believer, this is not only for a death-bed, but for the exigencies and the privileges of this present life. It is with this assurance you have fellowship with the Father, walking in the light as He is in the light. It is with this assurance we know the joy of worship within the veil. It is with this assurance we can abide in His presence; and then, amid all that presses upon us, or that threatens us, we can antedate both the rest and the joy of heaven: "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." INTOXICATING DRINKS.-Sir Henry Thompson, the eminent physician, has put forth a positive declaration as to the injurious effects of the habitual use of intoxicating drinks, that must excite the earnest attention of thinking men. Sir Henry says he has long been of opinion that, there is no greater cause of evil, moral and physical, in this country, than the use of alcoholic beverages. He explains that by this he does not mean actual drunkenness, but the habitual use of stimulants far short of what is necessary to produce that condition; and this, he says, injures the body and diminishes the mental power to an extent which he thinks few people are aware of. To this indulgence he attributes a large proportion of some of the most painful and dangerous maladies which come under his notice. THE BEST MEDICINE.-Dr. Hall says the best medicine in the world, more efficient than all the potations of the materia medica, are warmth, rest, cleanliness, and pure air. Some persons make it a virtue to brave disease, "to keep up" as long as they can move a foot or wiggle a finger, and it sometimes succeeds; but in others the powers of life are thereby so completely exhausted that the system has lost all ability to recuperate, and slow and typhoid fever sets in and carries the patient to a premature grave. Whenever walking or work is an effort, a warm bed and cool room are the very indispensables to a sure and speedy recovery. Instinct leads all beasts and birds to quietude and rest the very moment disease or wounds assail the system. "YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO ME." (MATT. XXV 40.) T was in Weimar-quaint old town Good seed was by a good man sown; A work of philanthropic fame, name: He was a father to the poor, The Holy name of Him who died, 'Lord Jesus, come, and be our guest"; This food be pleased to bless,' we say'; 'And be Thou present at our feast.' "And yet the Saviour doth not come, Although we bid Him every day; Though oft invited to our home, He never comes at all this way!" "Be still, my child; believe His Word; Ask on, and wait, and be content; He doth not scorn our humble board, Nor yet the message we have sent." That very eve, mid ice and snow A stranger stood, in want, and woe, The stranger knocked; the open door Gave light, and welcome, warmth of home; He was unknown, for none before Had seen him go, or seen him come. The children all throng round to see, And Karl looks on with wondering eyes: It surely, surely, cannot be His dear Lord Jesus in disguise! Each takes his place; on every side The question then arises, "Where Shall we a place for him provide ? " And each responds, "The vacant chair!" HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. HABIT IN EATING AND SLEEPING. The quantity of food is so much a matter of habit, that two persons of equal weight, and mental and bodily activity, will consume widely different quantities of food -one eating four times as much as the other, the surplus being of no possible advantage, but the reverse. So habit makes five meals a day seem necessary to some persons; while others live equally well-perhaps, far better-on two meals a day. It is a matter of habit whether a man sleep six hours or nine hours a day; and three hours a day is one-eighth of life. It is, therefore, of great importance that we form simple, natural, and healthful habits, and in all ways order our lives to the highest uses.-T. L. Nicholls, M.D. GINGER POP. Put a very clean pot containing a gallon of water to boil on the fire. As soon as it begins to boil add nearly a pound of brown sugar, i.e., twelve ounces, one ounce of bruised ginger, and two ounces of cream of tartar; stir all well together. Now pour the whole into an earthen pan, cover it with a cloth, and let it get cold. Then stir in half a gill of fresh yeast; stir it well, so as to be perfectly well mixed; cover it again with the cloth, and leave it to work up; this will be in from six or eight hours' time. Remove the scum very carefully, so as not to disturb the clearness of the beer. Take it out with a jug, and pour it into clean bottles. Cork down tightly with a string across the cork, and put away in a cool place, lying down. In four days this pleasant drink will be ready. In Wales, this is drunk by teetotallers and others in large quantities, as a substitute for ordinary beer. Very many add to it scraped dandelion roots and some herbs, which they boil up with it, which gives it a pleasant bitter, and makes it highly beneficial to the health. DRY FRICTION. Dry friction over the whole surface of the body once a day, or once in two days, is often of more service than the application of water. The reply of the centenarian to the inquiry, to what habit of life he attributed his good health and extreme longevity, that he believed it due to "rubbing himself all over with a cob every night," is significant of an important truth. If invalids and persons of low vitality would use dry friction every day for a considerable period, we are confident they would often be greatly benefited. Cleanliness is next to godliness, no doubt, and a proper and judicious use of water is to be commended; but human beings are not amphibious. Nature indicates that the functions of the skin should be kept in order mainly by muscular exercise, by exciting natural perspiration by labour; and delicious as is the bath, and healthful under proper regulations, it is no substitute for that exercise of the body without which all the functions become abnormal. |