instrumental cause of that alarm which led to his conversion to the faith of Christ, was not the preaching of the word of salvation. The Holy Spirit made use of the jailor's natural feelings of terror in producing conviction of sin. When "there was suddenly a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and when all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed, the jailor awakening out of his sleep, and seeing the prison-doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled." Ignorant heathen as he was, he knew little about that glorious Being who can "destroy both the body and soul" of the suicide" in hell," and thus make him sensible that human disgrace and the loss of his office might well have been borne rather than the weight of eternal vengeance. "Paul cried aloud, Do thyself no harm; for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and said, What must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Thus did "the Lord" manifest himself to the jailor " in the earthquake," "" turning him from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God." In the case of Lydia the Lord came not in the terrors of the earthquake, but in "a still small voice." All in this narrative is calm and peaceful. The Spirit works powerfully but gently on Lydia's heart. "The dew of the divine blessing" is shed abroad in her soul as softly, yet with as fructifying an influence, as the ripple of the river, by the borders of which she was wont to pray, washed the herbs and flowers on its banks. "On the Sabbath (says the writer of this book, Paul's companion in his apostolical work), we went out of the city by a river-side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Now there is nothing so heart-stirring, so awakening in the passage of sacred history of which these words form the commencement, as in the narrative of the jailor just referred to; but let us examine it with prayerful attention, and inquire whether there may not be gathered from it many instructive reflections. "And a certain woman, named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." Here we read of no remarkable terror and alarm (as in the case of the jailor) preceding faith and trust in Jesus as the only Saviour. All must indeed be sensible of the number and magnitude of their sins, before they can come, weary and heavy-laden, to Christ for rest; but facts, no less than Scripture, prove, that to some the way to the kingdom of heaven is a way of far less spiritual tribulation than to others. Lydia heard, and welcomed "the still small voice of the Gospel," and, with a humble hope that she rightly believed the tidings of salvation just conveyed to her, and a submissive deference to the opinion of her spiritual instructors, whether she were a believer indeed, she said, "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there." These traits of character, her humility and distrust of herself, ought not to escape cur notice, and will give rise to some further reflections in the sequel. Let us now consider, in the first place, Lydia's previous character, and then her conversion to the faith of Christ. Though we hear but little of Lydia, yet the few particulars of the narrative may lead us to no fanciful, but probably true conjectures, concerning her previous character. It was on the Sabbath-day that Paul and his companions went beyond the walls of the city of Philippi, and entered a house of prayer on the river's side; for the words "where prayer was wont to be made" probably intimate that there was here erected an oratory, or house of prayer: thus when Jesus is said (Luke vi. 12) to have "continued all night in prayer to God," the words literally mean in the oratory of God.* It should seem that at Philippi the Jews had no synagogue, as at many other places visited by the apostles, but an oratory only, or perhaps several of these small and secluded houses of prayer. To this retired place of worship some women were wont to resort and to these Paul and his companions preached the Gospel. These persons, amongst whom was Lydia, were neither Jews nor were they heathen idolaters. They were worshippers of the one true God. Like Cornelius and the eunuch, they knew and adored the Jehovah of the Jewish people. Of Lydia it is said, that she "worshipped God." Thus, in the 17th chapter of this book, we read that St. Paul disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons; where this expression "devout persons" means the proselytes who had abandoned heathenism for the Jewish faith. We should consider well the character of Lydia previously to her conversion to the Christian faith. She appears to have been as different in point of character and disposition to the other convert mentioned in this chapter, as any two converts to the profession of the Gospel could possibly be. She worshipped the true God; she delighted in prayer; she kept the Jewish sabbath; she met her religious companions Sabbath after Sabbath, and probably daily too, in the retired house of prayer by the water-side; and living, as there seems every reason to conclude she did, in the general tenour of her life, up to the light she had received, "what lacked she yet ?" "One thing was needful"-faith in a Saviour yet unknown. Why was Cornelius, that "devout man who feared God with all his house, and prayed to God alway," commanded to send for Peter to tell him what he ought to do? Why was the eunuch (also a worshipper of the true God) to be instructed by Philip? and why was it needful that Lydia (who "worshipped God," and worshipped him, as there is every reason to believe, "in spirit and in truth") should "attend unto the things that were spoken of Paul?" Because Peter, and Philip, and Paul, were commissioned to proclaim that glorious name of Jesus whereby alone men could be saved. Cornelius, and Lydia, and other pious persons, "believed in God;" but they could not be saved without "believing also in Christ." They were religious and upright persons; but they were to hear and to attend to the weighty truths, that "all. have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" and that they could not be justified by the works of the law, by their prayers or their almsgivings, but that they must be "justified freely by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance. of God." It is not improbable that many others of these "worshippers of God," besides Lydia, were at this time converted to Christ. Lydia only, it is true, is mentioned; but when we consider that very soon the little company of Philippian believers grew into a flourishing Church, we may reasonably conclude that there were those amongst Lydia's companions who in rộ ngoowxã ro so. "The Jews, wherever they dwelt, usually had such places, which were open courts, commonly with trees planted near them, and often situated near seas or rivers."-PARKHURST on goosuxn. I might here touch upon the deep and mysterious question, the salvation of the heathen, and those who know not Christ. But I forbear. Suffice it to say, that, of the thousands who know not the Gospel, it is to be feared that a vast majority are living in sins which absolutely exclude the perpetrators of them from the kingdom of God; see 1 Cor. vi. 9-11. The context indisputably shews that "the unrighteous," i. c. all the unrighteous heathen or professed Christians, "shall not inherit the kingdom of God." How loud and powerful, then, is the call to preach the Gospel to the heathen! "attended to the things spoken of Paul." If any of them rejected the word of salvation sent unto them, they would do so through a spirit of self-righteousness; and if Lydia had not been influenced by the Holy Spirit, if she had sought to "establish her own righteousness," she would not have welcomed a free and unmerited salvation. She was humble, candid, and teachable; and in her case the promise was fulfilled, "If any one shall do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." | She worshipped God as far as she knew him; and (not because her previous good disposition merited more grace—far from us be the unscriptural notion; for what good qualities had she that she had not received from "the Giver of every good and perfect gift?" none!) God was pleased to impart more knowledge and more holiness to her, who possessed some measure of these his gifts before; and at the throne of grace she was met by a God of mercy, and thenceforth taught by his apostle to pray in that Saviour's name, which before she knew not. And do we, who from our childhood have been taught to pray in the all-prevailing name of Jesus, through whom alone our prayers can be answered, pray less frequently, less earnestly, than Cornelius or Lydia, ere they knew that "whatsoever they should ask of the Father in the Son's name should be given them?" and like Lydia and her companions, who met together, apart from the noise and distractions of the city, by the peaceful river's side, are any readers of these pages placed by Providence (for He orders "the bounds of our habitation") in situaations where He appears in an especial manner to be inviting them, and alluring them to hold communion with him, and his glorious and lovely works of creation remind them of him more forcibly than in populous cities, and though the "calm retreats, the silent shades," in which you live, "agree with prayer and praise," do you yet know nothing of the delight of holding communion with God? If you have no enjoy ment in prayer; if you praise not your God and Saviour in the secret devotions of the closet; if the heart-searching God cannot say of you, “Behold, he prayeth," you cannot be fit for the kingdom of heaven -you must be all unmeet for its eternal hallelujahs.ages It is not "nature" alone, and without the influence of the Holy Spirit, that can "lead us up to nature's God;" to love him and adore him, and devote ourselves to his service as the God of our salvation. No; if it were so, how do we account for the soul-engrossing thoughts of worldly pleasures which follow us into our retirement, and leave us little or no time for the solemn inquiry, Have we, by faith in Christ, and by earnest prayer, secured an interest in the "pleasures that are at God's right hand for evermore," when disease or death shall wrest these much-loved pleasures from us? It is not until thy Spirit, O God, influences our hearts, that quiet and retirement bring with them holy and heavenly thoughts: "But if thy Spirit touch the soul, And grace her mean abode, ness." It is said of the disciples whom Jesus met on their way to Emmaus, that "he opened their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures;" and of Lydia," that the Lord opened her heart to attend unto the things spoken of Paul." She could not have believed effectually the doctrine of salvation, but for the agency of Divine grace; and her companions, who with her heard the instructions of St. Paul, if they "put away from them the word of life," were inexcusable. Thus far, I conceive, and no farther, are we to proceed in setting forth the doctrines of grace. It is not for us to attempt fully to reconcile man's responsibility, and the constraining power of Divine influence. We must state both truths, and leave them as the Bible leaves them. Is Lydia, St. Paul's first convert at Philippi, safely landed on the shores of heaven? Surely she ascribes it then to God's distinguishing providence and grace, that the apostle ever instructed her in her house of prayer, and that she was enabled by Divine grace to attend to the truths uttered by his lips. And if Lydia's heart, touched before her Christian profession by Almighty grace-or she never could have loved prayer and communion with God-needed the further out-pouring of that sacred influence to cause her to "lay hold of eternal life" by faith in Christ, O, what an energy of Almighty power must be put forth, when the love of sin and of the world's pollutions and vanities close the heart against the reception of "the truth as it is in Jesus!" O, with what joy and peace and love But, having briefly reviewed Lydia's previous chafacter, we must now consider her conversion to the Christian faith, "whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul." And here we are called upon to consider the doctrine of preventing grace, i. e. the grace which first brings the sinner to believe in Christ,-a doctrine expressly asserted in this narrative, and echoed back by our Church's articles, prayers, and homilies. We need not pause to inquire, how the Divine grace brings men to believe and repent. Sometimes it should seem that it is exerted on the understanding; at other times, perhaps more frequently, on the heart and affections, inclining men "to receive the truth in the love of it," and thus "with the heart to believe unto righteous And now let us briefly note the fruits and effects of the conversion of Lydia. Among other fruits of the Spirit (for in all truly converted persons all the fruits of the Spirit are beginning to abound), we will only note two. First, remark her deep humility: when she was baptised and her household, she said, "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there "-if ye, my appointed teachers, ye, the ambassadors of Christ, have judged me to be faithful to the Lord. Mark well her language: she wishes them to decide whether she may be considered a true believer. Imitate her humility, and inquire whether in our age there is as much of that looking up to the ministers of Christ, as there was in the early of the Church? Do the members of their flocks consult their ministers, as they might do, as to their spiritual state? Do they apply to them for counsel, and inquire, with Lydia's humility, whether they "judge them to be faithful to the Lord?" Do they come to their ministers, and "open their grief," as the Church bids them do, when they are doubtful and perplexed in mind as to attendance at the Lord's table? We mention one instance among many, in which the members of their flocks might come to their duly authorised minister for advice, and stay themselves upon his counsel. Is there not a medium between the implicit reliance of the Romanist on his teacher's assertions, and the unqualified right of private judgment contended for by many in our day? Is there sufficient attention paid to such texts as this? "The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth." The humility and deference to ministerial authority manifested in Lydia's language have given occasion to these reflections, which might be pursued much further. But remark, secondly, another fruit of the Spirit,-love of the brethren. It appears from her constraining, earnestly entreating the apostle and his companions to abide at her house, that they had not wished to do so, on the ground of putting her to so much trouble and expense. But she was persuaded by "the mercies of God," to present to him herself and all that she had as "a living sacrifice." She administered to the wants of the apostles, loving them as the people of Christ. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one towards another." • See first exhortation to the holy communion. In drawing these reflections on the character and conversion of Lydia to a close, it may be remarked that the reality of a change of heart ought to be ascertained, not by sudden emotions of terror and alarm, but by the fruits and results of the change. It was observed before, that as the Lord came to the jailor "in the earthquake," he came to Lydia in the "still small voice." Now if any of you, who are casting your eyes over these pages, have been going on in a headlong course of wilful sin, and are yet "setting your faces as a flint" against the calls of the Gospel, we deem it probable that if ye are saved, it will be "so as by fire." The voice of the Lord will speak in terror, ere Christ speaks peace to your souls. You may be thankful, if by any method of his providence and grace, the Lord shall bring you to "repentance unto life;" if the voice shall at last be heard, and listened to, and heeded. You may well endure through life the reniembrance of the stern alarum of death and vengeance and coming judgment, which it sounded in your ears, if by any means you shall have been brought to the Saviour for pardon and the hope of life everlasting. But many humble Christians there are, who may be led astray into doubts and misgivings; they may "be made sad" by needless perplexities, when the Lord "would not make them sad," but would have them to "rejoice in Christ Jesus," if they deem their spiritual state unsafe because they have not experienced the great alarm and terror, which some have imagined to be needful in every case of conversion to God. Lydia, it should seem, knew not this terror, but was at once filled with "joy and peace in believing." Search for the fruits of the Spirit. If ye have Lydia's simple trust in a Saviour's mercy, her spirit of prayer, her heavenly mindedness, her deep humility, her "meekness in receiving the engrafted word," as set forth to her by the lips of Christ's authorised ambassadors, then may ye humbly hope that your state is a safe one. But if your lives exhibit not these fruits of the Spirit, ye are in a perilous condition, though ye may say, "The Lord came with his converting energy in the vision of the night, or in the voice from heaven." "By their fruits ye shall know them." Poetry. NATIONAL BALLADS.-No. X. DETERMINATION TO RETAIN THE BIBLE. BY MISS M. A. STODART. (For the Church of England Magazine.) Go to the lonely desert, And preach unto the wind; But Romish threats and Romish lures Change not our stedfast mind. We grasp the book we love, The book our fathers read; The light beams brightly from above, Their pilgrim-steps which led. False and apostate Church, God bids us search his word; And who art thou, that we should turn, And slight our bleeding Lord? The traveller, when he hears Grasps firm his staff, and draws his cloak So we the book we love Press closer to our heart, And in Christ's strength defy Rome's power That book from us to part. Miscellaneous. WONDERS OF CREATION.-Some animalculæ are so small, that many thousands together are smaller than the point of a needle. Leewenhoek says there are more animals in the milt of a codfish than men on the whole earth; and that a single grain of sand is larger than four thousand of these animals. Moreover, a particle of the blood of one of these animalculæ has been found, by calculation, to be as much less than a globe of 1-10th of an inch in diameter, as that globe is less than the whole earth. He states, that a grain of sand, in diameter but the 100th part of an inch, will cover 125,000 of the orifices through which we perspire; and that of some animalculæ, 3000 are not equal to a grain of sand. Human hair varies in thickness from the 250th to the 6000th part of an inch. The fibre of the coarsest wool is about the 500th part of an inch in diameter, and that of the finest only the 1500th part. The silk-line, as spun by the worm, is about the 5000th part of an inch thick; but, perhaps, a spider's line is six times finer, or only the 30,000th part of an inch in diameter, insomuch that a single pound of this attenuated, yet perfect substance, would be sufficient to encompass our globe. Speaking of odours, the author says, a single grain of musk has been known to perfume a room for the space of twenty years. How often, during that time, the air of the apartment must become charged with fresh odour! At the lowest computation the musk had been subdivided into 320 quadrillions of particles, each of them capable of affecting the olfactory organs. The diffusion of odorous effluvia may also be conceived from the fact, that a lump of assafoetida, exposed to the open air, lost only a grain in seven weeks. Again, since dogs hunt by the scent alone, the effluvia emitted from the several species of animals and from different individuals of the same race, must be essentially distinct, and being distributed over large spaces, must be subdivided beyond our conception or powers of numbers. The human skin is perforated by a thousand holes in the space of a square inch. If, therefore, we estimate the surface of the body of a middle-sized man to be sixteen square feet, it must contain not fewer than 2,304,000 pores. These pores are the mouths of so many excretory vessels, which perform the important function in the animal economy of insensible perspiration.Shaw's Nature Displayed. TO CORRESPONDENTS. The paper on Christinas was too late. Our correspondent who has been good enough to forward us some hymns for Advent, will perceive that the first should have been sent in time for the November Part, which was published before his poems were written. We must beg our friends to bear in mind, that papers intended for particular seasons, must be forwarded at least two months before-hand, to ensure admission. We have again to say, that we receive far more verses than we can by possibility insert. R. H. G. is requested to forward his name to the Editors. However valuable such communications may be, they cannot, for obvious reasons, be inserted anonymously. London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 40 ST. MARTIN'S LANE. OF Ecclesiastical Intelligence. Of Oxford.-P. D. Dayman, M.A. Ball., Of Cambridge.-J. Kenworthy, B.A. Caius; Erratum. In the list of Ordinations by the AUGUST 1839. Orbinations. By BP. OF WINCHESTER, at Farnham Castle, | B.A. St. John's; C. Marett, B.A. Pemb.; E. PRIESTS. Of Oxford -W. W. Blanford, M.A. St. Ed. Of Cambridge.-C. B. Hue, M.A., A. R. Of Dublin.-F. W. Briggs, B.A. Trin. DEAGONS. Of Oxford.-T. R. Agnew, B.A. New; A. R. Of Cambridge.-G. E. Biber, LL.D., J. I. Pizey, B.A. Queen's; A. J. Rogers, B.A. Jes.; By BP. OF DURHAM, at St. George's, Hanover PRIESTS. Of Oxford.-M. Burrell, M.A.C.C.C.; R. W. Of Cambridge.-W. C. Berkeley, B.A. Jes.; Of Durham.-J. Gibson, B.A., J. M. St. DEACONS. Of Oxford.-J. B. P. Dennis, B.A. Queen's; Of Cambridge.-P. Anderson, B.A. C.C.C.; Bishop of Lincoln, at St. Peter's, Eaton Square, May 26, (in last Register), the name of Name. Risby (R.), Suff. Bacup (P.C.), Lanc.. 5000 Rev. R. Noble St. Paul's (P.C.), Notts. Barber, J.. {Bierly (P.C.), Brad- Parish and County. Pop. Pat. 332 Lord Chanc. Value. £ 750 Name. Parish and County. Pop. Pat. Value. {Slacthwaite (P.C.), .} 2821 V. of Huddersfield 192 .. Earl Manvers. J. F. Freshwater, Isle of 1184 St. John's, Camb.. 710 130 Kenna, W. Spittal (P.C.), Pemb. Emman. Coll., Camb. R. Benyon de Browne, W. L. Wendlebury (R.), Oxf. 231 D. & C. of Ch. Ch. (R.), Warw, Heswall (R.), Chesh. (R.), Middlesex Dunlap, A. P. Northmoor (P.C.), Oxf. 356 St. John's Coll. Ewbank, W. (Hatch Beauchamp 1 (R.), Somers. Fendall, J. Harlton (R.), Camb. Frere, J. Greensall, Cottenham (R.), Harter, G. G. Birch (P.C.), Lanc. Haworth, W. {Goodshaw (P.C.), Lanc. 226 549 Beauvoir, Esq. Preb. of Wiston' 665 in York Cath. J Dean of St. Asaph 165 } . E. J. · Brown, W. min. can. Wore. Cath. Carter, J. lect. St. Giles's, Oxford.-Pat., the Clement, B. P. min. can. Winch. Cath. Croomes, J. chap. Sherborne Union. Adamthwaite, J., D. D., 56. Ambrose, J., rec. Blisworth, Northampt. (Pat. Faulkner, W. inc. Hanging Heaton, York, 49. Pearson, T. C. Roddington (V.), Salop 432 Lord Chanc. Thomas, N.. Tring with Wiggin-3156 Ch. Ch., Oxford Ch. Ch., (P.C.), Hoxton, Middlesex. Worc (New Ch., Berwick East Portlemouth Wells, T. B.(R.), Devon Fennell, S. mast. Wakefield Prop. School. Matthews, T. head mas. Shiffnall Gram Sch. Clergymen Deceased. (Countess Dow. of) Robinson, J. chap. Trin. House, Hull. Woods, G. head mast. Gainsborough Gram. Hughes, D., P.C. Pemmynydd, Anglesea, 35. | Richards, H. vic. Kevil, Wilts (Pat. D. & C. Jones, H. T. vic. West Peckham, Kent; and Kemmis, T., at Straboe, Queen's county. of Winch.). Richardson, P. cur. Cartmell, Lanc. 79. Shann, T. M. vic. Hampsthwaite and Wig- Snow, T. L. rec. Barcheston, Warw. 67. Wise, T. D.D., rec. Hagworthingham, Linc. In drawing these reflections on the character and Search for the fruits of the Spirit. If ye have Poetry. NATIONAL BALLADS.-No. X. BY MISS M. A. STODART. (For the Church of England Magazine.) Go to the lonely desert, And preach unto the wind; But Romish threats and Romish lures We grasp the book we love, The book our fathers read; The light beams brightly from above, False and apostate Church, God bids us search his word; And who art thou, that we should turn, The traveller, when he hears The sound of coming storm, Grasps firm his staff, and draws his cloak So we the book we love Press closer to our heart, And in Christ's strength defy Rome's power Miscellaneous. WONDERS OF CREATION.-Some animalculæ are so TO CORRESPONDENTS. The paper on Christinas was too late. Our correspondent who has been good enough to forward us We must beg our friends to bear in mind, that papers intended We have again to say, that we receive far more verses than we R. H. G. is requested to forward his name to the Editors. London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 40 ST. MARTIN'S LANE. |
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