WHEN DID MAHOMMEDAN INDEPENDENCE IN CONSTANTINOPLE DEPART?
In order to answer this question understandingly, it will be necessary to review briefly the history of that power for a few years past.
For several years the Sultan has been embroiled in war with Mehemet Ali, Pacha of Egypt. In 1838 there was a threatening of war between the Sultan and his Egyptian vassal. Mehemet Ali Pacha, in a note addressed to the foreign consuls, declared that in future he would pay no tribute to the Porte, and that he considered himself independent sovereign of Egypt, Arabia and Syria. The Sultan, naturally incensed at this declaration, would have immediately commenced hostilities, had he not been restrained by the influence of the foreign ambassadors, and persuaded to delay. This war, however, was finally averted by the announcement of Mehemet, that he was ready to pay a million of dollars, arrearages of tribute which he owed the Porte, and an actual payment of $750,000, in August of that year.
In 1839, hostilities again commenced, and were prosecuted, until, in a general battle between the armies of the Sultan and Mehemet, the Sultan's army was entirely cut up and destroyed, and his fleet taken by Mehemet and carried into Egypt. So completely had the Sultan's fleet been reduced, that, when hostilities commenced in August, he had only two first-rates and three frigates, as the sad remains of the once powerful Turkish fleet. This fleet Mehemet positively refused to give up and return to the Sultan, and declared, if the powers attempted to take it from him, he would burn it.
In this posture affairs stood, when, in 1840, England, Russia, Austria and Prussia interposed, and determined on a settlement of the difficulty; for it was evident, if let alone, Mehemet would soon become master of the Sultan's throne.
The following extract from an official document, which appeared in the Moniteur Ottoman, Aug. 22, 1840, will give an idea of the course of affairs at this juncture. The conference spoken of was composed of the four powers above named, and was held in London, July 15th, 1840:
"Subsequent to the occurrence of the disputes alluded to, and after the reverses experienced, as known to all the world, the ambassadors of the great powers at Constantinople, in a collective official note declared that their governments were unanimously agreed upon taking measures to arrange the said differences. The Sublime Porte, with a view of putting a stop to the effusion of Mussulman blood, and to the various evils which would arise from a renewal of hostilities, accepted the intervention of the great powers."
Here was certainly a voluntary surrender of the question into the hands of the great powers. But it proceeds:
"His Excellency, Sheikh Effendi, the Bey Likgis, was therefore despatched as plenipotentiary to represent the Sublime Porte at the conference which took place in London, for the purpose in question. It having been felt that all the zealous labors of the conferences of London in the settlement of the Pacha's pretensions were useless, and that the only public way was to have recourse to coercive measures to reduce him to obedience in case he persisted in not listening to pacific overtures, the powers have, together with the Ottoman Plenipotentiary, drawn up and signed a treaty, whereby the Sultan offers the Pacha the hereditary government of Egypt, and all that part of Syria extending from the gulf of Suez to the lake of Tiberias, together with the province of Acre, for life; the Pacha, on his part, evacuating all other parts of the Sultan's dominions now occupied by him, and returning the Ottoman fleet. A certain space of time has been granted him to accede to these terms; and, as the proposals of the Sultan and his allies, the four powers, do not admit of any change or qualification, if the Pacha refuse to accede to them, it is evident that the evil consequences to fall upon him will be attributable solely to his own fault.
"His Excellency, Rifat Bey, Musleshar for foreign affairs, has been despatched in a government steamer to Alexandria, to communicate the ultimatum to the Pacha."
From these extracts it appears,
That the Sultan, conscious of his own weakness, did voluntarily accept the intervention of the great Christian powers of Europe to settle his difficulties, which he could not settle himself.
That they (the great powers) were agreed on taking measures to settle the difficulties.
That the ultimatum of the London conference left it with the Sultan to arrange the affair with Mehemet, if he could. The Sultan was to offer to him the terms of settlement. So that if Mehemet accepted the terms, there would still be no actual intervention of the powers between the Sultan and Pacha.
That if Mehemet rejected the Sultan's offer, the ultimatum admitted of no change or qualification; the great powers stood pledged to coerce him into submission. So long, therefore, as the Sultan held the ultimatum in his own hands, he still maintained the independence of his throne. But that document once submitted to Mehemet, and it would be forever beyond his reach to control the question. It would be for Mehemet to say whether the powers should interpose or not.
The Sultan did despatch Rifat Bey in a government steamer (which left Constantinople Aug. 5) to Alexandria, to communicate to Mehemet the ultimatum.
This was a voluntary governmental act of the Sultan.
The question now comes up, When was that document put officially under the control of Mehemet Ali?
The following extract from a letter of a correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle, of Sep. 18, 1840, dated, Constantinople, Aug. 27th, 1840, will answer the question:
"By the French steamer of the 24th, we have advices from Egypt to the 16th. They show no alteration in the resolution of the Pacha. Confiding in the valor of his Arab army, and in the strength of the fortifications which defend his capital, he seems determined to abide by the last alternative; and as recourse to this, therefore, is now inevitable, all hope may be considered as at an end of a termination of the affair without bloodshed. Immediately on the arrival of the Cyclops steamer with the news of the convention of the four powers, Mehemet Ali, it is stated, had quitted Alexandria, to make a short tour through Lower Egypt. The object of his absenting himself at such a moment being partly to avoid conferences with the European consuls, but principally to endeavor, by his own presence, to arouse the fanaticism of the Bedouin tribes, and facilitate the raising of his new levies. During the interval of his absence, the Turkish government steamer, which had reached Alexandria on the 11th, with the envoy Rifat Bey on board, had been by his orders placed in quarantine, and she was not released from it till the 16th. Previous, however, to the Porte's leaving, and on the very day on which he had been admitted to pratique, the above named functionary had had an audience of90the Pacha, and had communicated to him the command of the Sultan, with respect to the evacuation of the Syrian provinces, appointing another audience for the next day, when, in the presence of the consuls of the European powers, he would receive from him his definite answer, and inform him of the alternative of his refusing to obey; giving him the ten days which have been allotted him by the convention to decide on the course he should think fit to adopt."
According to the foregoing statement, the ultimatum was officially put into the power of Mehemet Ali, and was disposed of by his orders, viz., sent to quarantine, on the 11th day of August, 1840.
But have we any evidence, beside the fact of the arrival of Rifat Bey at Alexandria with the ultimatum on the 11th of August, that Ottoman supremacy died, or was dead, that day?
Read the following, from the same writer quoted above, dated, Constantinople, Aug. 12, 1840:
"I can add but little to my last letter, on the subject of the plans of the four powers; and I believe the details I then gave you comprise every thing that is yet decided on. The portion of the Pacha, as I then stated, is not to extend beyond the line of Acre, and does not include either Arabia or Candia. Egypt alone is to be hereditary in his family, and the province of Acre to be considered as a pachalic, to be governed by his son during his lifetime, but afterward to depend on the will of the Porte; and even this latter is only to be granted him on the condition of his accepting these terms, and delivering up the Ottoman fleet within ten days. In the event of his not doing so, this pachalic is to be cut off. Egypt is then to be offered him, with another ten days to deliberate on it, before actual force is employed against him.
"The manner, however, of applying the force, should he refuse to comply with these terms—whether a simple blockade is to be established on the coast, or whether his capital is to be bombarded, and his armies attacked in the Syrian provinces—is the point which still remains to be learned; nor does a note delivered yesterday by the four ambassadors, in answer to a question put to them by the Porte, as to the plan to be adopted in such an event, throw the least light on this subject. It simply states that provision has been made, and there is no necessity for the Divan alarming itself about any contingency that might afterwards arise."
Let us now analyze this testimony.
The letter is dated, Constantinople, Aug. 12th.
"Yesterday," the 11th of August, the Sultan applied, in his own capital, to the ambassadors of four Christian nations, to know the measures which were to be taken in reference to a circumstance vitally affecting his empire; and was only told that "provision had been made," but he could not know what it was; and that he need give himself no alarm "about any contingency which might afterwards arise!!" From that time, then, they, and not he, would manage that.
Where was the Sultan's independence that day? Gone. Who had the supremacy of the Ottoman empire in their hands? The great powers.
According to previous calculation, therefore, Ottoman Supremacy did depart on the 11th of August into the hands of the great Christian powers of Europe.
"I SHALL BE SATISFIED."
Not here! not here! not where the sparkling waters
Fade into mocking sands as we draw near;
Where in the wilderness each footstep falters—
I shall be satisfied—but O! not here!
Not here—where every dream of bliss deceives us,
Where the worn spirit never gains its goal;
Where, haunted ever by the thoughts that grieve us,
Across us floods of bitter memory roll.
There is a land where every pulse is thrilling
With rapture earth's sojourners may not know,
Where Heaven's repose the weary heart is stilling,
And peacefully life's time-tossed currents flow.
Far out of sight, while yet the flesh infolds us,
Lies the fair country where our hearts abide,
And of its bliss is nought more wondrous told us
Than these few words, "I shall be satisfied."
Satisfied! Satisfied! the spirit's yearning
For sweet companionship with kindred minds—
The silent love that here meets no returning—
The inspiration which no language finds—
Shall they be satisfied? The soul's vague longing—
The aching void which nothing earthly fills!
O what desires upon my soul are thronging
As I look upward to the heavenly hills.
Thither my weak and weary steps are tending—
Saviour and Lord! with thy frail child abide!
Guide me towards home, where all my wanderings ending,
I then shall see thee, and "be satisfied."
FLAVEL’S TOUCHSTONE.
CHAPTER XII.
Various helps for discovering sincerity and detecting hypocrisy.
Section I. I shall venture here to offer some observations which may assist to the discovery of sincerity.
1. Every true reason of humiliation for sin is not a proper cause of doubt whether we have genuine holiness or not. It is the unhappiness and the sin of some, to construe everything unfavorably to themselves; they judge not candidly, and therefore cannot expect the comforts which piety confers.
2. That our temptations from some besetting sins are greater than from others, does not prove our insincerity. Every hypocrite has some way of wickedness, some sin that he delights in, some lust that he does not subdue; and the true Christian may be tempted more powerfully by some sins than others, but he allows himself in none. The frequent assaults of such sins, if they are not indulged, but guarded against with double scrutiny, are no proof of hypocrisy.
3. A greater reluctance to some particular duties than to others does not prove our insincerity, provided we mourn over that reluctance, and in heart desire to perform all our duty. It is indeed a very dangerous sign of hypocrisy that a man’s zeal runs in one channel of obedience only, and he has not respect to all God’s commandments; but while the soul heartily approves all the will of God, and sincerely desires to come up to it, and mourns for its deadness in this or that duty, and by prayer obtains grace from God to overcome this reluctance, it is not a proof of hypocrisy.
4. The doubts and fears which we indulge concerning the unsoundness of our hearts, do not prove that we are destitute of holiness. Saints who are free from doubts and fears are rarely to be met with.
Section II. Let him who would ascertain the state of his heart examine it impartially, remembering that for the smallest, as well as for the greatest manifestations of sanctifying grace, God must be praised. It may be of advantage occasionally to propose to ourselves questions like the following:
1. Do I seek the approbation of God, or the applause of men, in my religious performances and duties? Can I be satisfied with the mere approbation of men, when I have no good evidence of acceptance with God?
2. Is it the reproach and shame which attend sin at present, or the misery which will follow it hereafter, or is it love to God and hatred of sin that restrains me from the commission of it?
3. Do I heartily rejoice to see God’s work carried on in the world, and his glory promoted by the instrumentality of others, though the honor and the benefits of it result not to me?
4. Is there no duty so difficult or self-denying but I desire to perform it when required; and is all the holy and good will of God acceptable to my soul, though I have not risen up with like alacrity to the performance of all duties?
5. Am I resolved to follow Christ, and practice holiness at all times and in all events; or do I shun all hazards for religion; having a secret reserve in my heart, to go no further than I can with safety to my ease and honor in the world?
6. Am I rigidly conscientious in abstaining from secret sins, and in performing secret duties?
Such questions, proposed in a calm and serious hour, can hardly fail to reach the heart, and discover whether it is truly devoted to God.
Section III. As the upright and sincere are apt to apply to themselves the characteristics of hypocrites or self-deceivers, so these, on the contrary, are eager to appropriate to themselves the graces and expectations of saints. Some remarks must therefore be made to discover their ruinous mistakes.
1. It is not enough to clear a man from self-deception, that he does not know himself to be deceived. Doubtless, many are deceived, and will finally perish, who are not now sensible of their state, because they have never seriously examined it.
2. Zeal and forwardness in the cause of God will not clear a man from the danger of hypocrisy. Jehu was a zealous reformer, but yet a painted sepulchre. It is related by John Wolfe, that in 1549 reformation became so much in repute among the nobles in Germany, that many of them caused the five letters, V. D. M. I. Æ., being the initials of the words, Verbum Domini manet in æternum, “The word of the Lord abideth forever,” to be embroidered or set in plates upon their cloaks or the sleeves of their garments, to show to all the world, that, forsaking Popish traditions, they would now cleave to the pure doctrine and discipline of the eternal word. Had it been graven on their hearts they might have done so, but, Come, see my zeal, mars all.
3. A man may be deceived himself, though he hates hypocrisy in another. As one proud or covetous man may hate another who is guilty of the same sin as himself, so a hypocrite may loathe that in another which he allows in himself. Nay, it is the policy of some to declaim against the hypocrisy of others, thereby to hide their own. Hypocrites are not the most modest censurers of others.
4. The external performance of private duties does not prove a man to be sincere. The influence of education, or support of reputation, or the impulse of a convinced conscience, may drive a man to the duty, while his heart is not drawn thither by any hungering and thirsting after God. It is not always the external performance that distinguishes sound and unsound professors; but the motives, designs, and ends of the soul in these duties.
5. The reputation which a man’s piety may have gained among Christians will by no means prove that he does not deceive himself—he may have a name to live while dead; nor will the respect which he may show to the servants of God avail—this may spring from selfish and unholy motives.
Section IV. Would you know the real state of your heart, let such questions as the following be often pressed upon the conscience:
When I attempt to perform any duties toward God, is my heart engaged in them, or do I go a heedless round of external duties?
Am I not influenced by self-interest, worldly advantage, reputation or ease, in my religious proceedings?
Have I not made some secret reserve in my professed consecration to God? Certainly if there be any sin that I cannot part with, any suffering for Christ which I resolve against in my heart, I am not his disciple; my heart is not right with God.
Do I make conscience of secret sins? Do I mourn for a vain heart, wandering thoughts, spiritual deadness? Do I conscientiously abstain from secret sins, when there is no danger of discovery or forfeiting my reputation? Is it God’s eye, or man’s, that drives me from the commission of sin?
Section V. I have only to add some advice to such as may read this treatise.
1. Let it be your great object to have a holy heart, a renewed and right spirit. All helps and directions will not preserve you from delusion and ruin, unless your heart is sanctified. Pray, therefore, with David, “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed.”
2. Always suspect and examine your ends in what you do. As your aim and design are, so are you. The intentions of the heart lie deep. The same action, done with a holy end, may be acceptable to God, which, done with a corrupt design, he would abhor. A man of God, who was commended for a good action, replied, “The work indeed is good, but I distrust the motives. Selfishness is liable to insinuate itself into the best actions.”
3. Regard hypocrisy as the most odious sin in the sight of God and men. To have no holiness is bad enough; but to pretend it when we have it not, is double impiety. To make religion a mere step to preferment and a covert to wickedness—O how vile a thing is it! God made Christ a sacrifice for sin, and the hypocrite makes him a cloak for sin.
4. Let it be your constant endeavor to mortify those lusts that breed hypocrisy. Pride, vain-glory, self-love, a worldly heart, are the seeds from which this cursed plant springs up in the souls of men. Dig but to the root, and you shall certainly find these unholy passions; and till the Lord help you to mortify them, hypocrisy will spring up in all your duties.
5. Listen to the voice of conscience in sickness and trouble. Mark its upbraidings at such times, whether they be that you are indulging some secret sin, or neglecting some known duty. These upbraidings of conscience will designate the corruptions in which, probably, most lies your danger.
6. Away with all temporizing in religion; be a Christian at heart, faithful to your Master and true to yourself. Hold fast integrity, whatever else you lose by it. O let this always be your rejoicing, which was Paul’s, “the testimony of your conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, you have had your conversation in the world.” Let your daily prayer and cry to God be that of David, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee.”
7. Keep your heart always under the awe of God’s all-seeing eye. Remember he beholds all91your ways, and ponders all your thoughts; he will bring every secret thing into judgment. Thus did Job, and it preserved him. Thus did David, and it preserved him. Thus do thou also, and it will preserve thee blameless and without guile to the day of Christ.
A Fragrant Character.
In one of those apt and suggestive figures with which the Bible abounds, and which impart a perennial freshness to its language, the stability and lowliness of the truly good man's character, are described in the portraiture of one, whose "beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell like Lebanon." The olive tree was the symbol of all that was fresh and graceful—so valuable that from king to cottage, every land holder had his olive yard. Nothing could convey to the mind of the Oriental reader a more expressive image of the beauty and fragrance of Christian character.
It is so indeed; the real Christian is "the highest style of man." So far as religion molds and controls the life of a man, it tends to make him a perfect being. True, there are many who profess religion, who are unlovely and repulsive, with nothing in their character to please or in their life to attract; and the world is prone to take them as specimens of genuine piety. But such unlovely examples of Christian chracter are specimens of the want of religion, or of mistaken ideas of religion, and not of religion itself. Could we but see the man as religion would make him, we should behold a beautiful specimen of a man.
There is a peculiar grace and dignity in the man who walks with God. The tenderness of feeling, the amiability of temper, the carefulness not to injure the meanest creature, the benevolence and sympathy of feeling, the glow of piety and the studious aim to promote the happiness of others, are traits which no mind, however lacking itself, can behold without respect and admiration. Like begets like. And the man who holds intimate daily intercourse with God in meditation and prayer, will come to reflect not a little of the beauty and excellence of the divine mind. What a lustre was there in the face of Moses, when he came down from the Mount! He had seen the Lord, had communed with him face to face, had caught some of his glory, and his face shone when Israel beheld him. The world took knowledge of the primitive disciples, that they had been with Christ.
Bad as this world is, it is not wholly insensible to the attractions of moral goodness. It can not fail to mark the superiority of the man of God to other men. His pure example, his winning character, his self-denying and benevolent life, are in marked contrast with the vice, the selfishness and the moral ugliness which he sees elsewhere. So meek, so gentle, so forgiving, so full of kindness and good will to all the world, is the real Christian, that most men will respect his character. Wickedness is often disarmed by the exhibition of goodness; and unbelief is constrained to assert the truth and power of religion.
The beauty of moral goodness never decays. The olive is an evergreen, and hence never loses its freshness and beauty. No matter what changes come over the outward man, or over the face of nature, or upon society around him, the Christian "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in its season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
Piety is as fragrant as it is beautiful. Lebanon was not more distinguished for its princely cedars than for its odoriferous vines. The numerous vineyards which adorned the mountain side, perfumed the valleys below, and sent their fragrance to a great distance. True piety gathers its sweetness not from the earth but from heaven. Its perfume is emitted from the tree of life, from the throne of God, from the breath of angels; and is wafted to earth on the breezes which blow soft over the Paradise above. That celestial fragrance distils its subtle influence upon the heart and upon the mind, and breathes out its divine sweetness into the conversation, into the actions, and into the very looks and manner of man. There is a sweetness in the spirit and life of true piety, which is both pleasing and grateful to the sense, and purifying and reviving to the spirit of man. It is good to be with one whose life is hid with God—whose whole being is subdued, molded, chastened, adorned, and enriched by the grace of God. The life of such an one is from heaven—his speech is of heaven; and the power of his attraction draws you towards heaven. You see and feel in his presence that goodness alone is of any real value.—N. Y. Evangelist.
Wonderful Love.
"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."—1 John 3: 1.
This love appears wonderful, when we consider what it did for the people of God before they became his people. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," &c. That surely was no ordinary love that could bestow such a gift, a son! and an only begotten son! That was a miracle of faith and love in Abraham, that caused him to conceive the thought of the surrender of a son to Him who had perfect right to require it, and whom he was under every conceivable obligation to obey. What then was God's love, that he should not only conceive the idea, but really give his Son a sacrifice for those to whom he was under no obligation to show the least favor, for those who, instead of deserving the gift, richly merited his eternal displeasure.
Nor was it in any ordinary manner that he bestowed this gift. To have had a thought of his compassionate regard, to have shared an hour of his service for our benefit, would have been infinitely more than we deserved. But to share such thoughts of his love as brought him on a mission from heaven to earth, to have not only an hour, but more than thirty years of his most active, devoted service, and last of all to have him die for us, O, this was wondrous love!
"Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree!"
And such a death as he suffered! All language is impotent, speech itself is dumb before the cross on which the Son of God is expiating human guilt. There is an eloquence in the fact itself that is overpowering, a grandeur of love that overawes nature, vails her noon, as with superior brightness the sun puts out the light of stars, and sends the earth reeling with faintness. Christ's prayer for his murderers while suffering the agonies of death they were inflicting, lifts a Pelion of grandeur, and places it on the Ossa of his love, before incomprehensible in the sublimity of its revealed greatness. That prayer "caps the climax" of the eloquence of divine love in its mighty pleadings to win back the alienated heart of man. O, sinner, if to that eloquence which subdued the solid rocks,—rocks unaffected by all the previous convulsions of time, if to this eloquence of God's love speaking through the death of his Son you can listen unmoved, if in all this there is nothing that can move your soul into a response of love to him who has so much loved you, then must we conclude that you are perhaps beyond all possibility of salvation. The very hardness of your heart interposes an insuperable obstacle in the way of your ever being saved. "He that loveth not, knoweth not God;" and them who "love not God and that obey not the gospel," Christ at his final appear—ing will come to "punish with ever-lasting destruc—ion from the presence of his Lord and the glory of his power."
To be unsusceptible of loving God, is to be incapacitated for heaven. There is no heaven without love,—love to God and love to man. Without this love, salvation, in the very nature of the case, is impossible. The soul whose affections are irrevocably alienated from God, is irretrievably lost. The soul that can not be awakened to love in view of God's amazing love to him,—in whom God's love does not awaken a reciprocation of love, according to the principle that "love begets love," can never be made to love God, for it is only through this overpowering manifestation of his love to the sinner, that God attempts, or that in the nature of the case it is possible to reach and win his heart. O then sinner, I beseech you to open your soul to the eloquence of God's love as it speaks to you from Calvary, as it is uttered in the dumb silence of a Saviour hanging, dying there for you, as it is uttered in that miracle of prayer, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." If here your heart relents not,—if here you have no feeling, no tears of repentance to shed for those sins that nailed the Son of God to the accursed tree.—if here you feel not the chain of love's attraction drawing your soul to God, you will have no feeling, no repentance, no love any where. If you are incorrigible here, God himself will abandon all attempts to subdue you.—Baptist Register.
Duty Before Fortune
By Matthew Henry
WE should be more thoughtful of our duty than our fortune; what will become of us after death, than how, or when, or where, we shall die; and more desirous to be told how we should conduct ourselves well in sickness, and obtain good to our souls by it, than whether we shall recover.—Matthew Henry.
The Bible instead of the Pipe.
Not long since I met with a sister in Christ somewhat advanced in life, who, when the subject of using tobacco was introduced, gave me the following incident in her own experience, which I regard as worthy of imitation.
Said she, “I used to employ the pipe freely. I was advised to the habit of smoking, as a remedy for disease. Years rolled on and the practice continued, sick or well. At length, while spinning, the thought occurred to me, that if I would read my Bible instead of smoking, I should be a better Christian. I resolved to put away the pipe and lay the Bible on the shelf where I had been accustomed to keep the pipe; and when I grew weary in spinning, and had set down to rest, I would take up the Bible and read as long as I had usually been accustomed to smoke. The experiment I found to be highly beneficial in its results. I soon loved my Bible better than I did the smoking, and although years have since mingled with past eternity, no return to that filthy habit has been found necessary by me.”
And now, reader, is not the above too good to be kept a secret. Let the Bible take the place of the old pipe, and the tobacco quid, and many more would be constrained to acknowledge the example of our good sister to be based upon a safe and satisfactory principle.—Morning Star.
THE MERCY OF MERCIES.
—The good Flavel has a sermon, [Luke i, 27,] in which he exhibits Christ as the mercy of mercies to lost man. In this sermon, the following beautiful comparisons occur:
“Jesus Christ is an incomparable and matchless mercy; ‘as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons,’ says the enamored spouse. Cant. ii, 3. Draw the comparison how you will between Christ and all enjoyments, you will find none in heaven nor on earth to equal him. He is more than all externals, as the light of the sun is more than that of a candle. Nay, even the worst of Christ is better than the best of the world; his reproaches are better than the world’s pleasures. Heb. xi, 22. He is better than all spirituals, as the fountain is more than the stream. He is more than justification, as the cause; more than sanctification, as the person himself is more than all peace, all comfort, all joy, as the tree is more than the fruit. Nay, draw the comparison betwixt Christ and things eternal, and you will find him better than they; for what is heaven without Christ? Ps. lxxiii. ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee?’ If Christ should say to the saints, Take heaven among you, but as for me, I will withdraw myself from you; the saints would weep, even in heaven itself, and say, Lord, heaven will be no more heaven to us, except thou be there, who art by far the better half of heaven.”
Clouds on the European Horizon
CLOUDS ON THE EUROPEAN HORIZON.—Says the Paris correspondent of the New York Commercial:
"It is a strange feature in the political history of Europe at the present moment, that every state is arming and fortifying itself against some imaginary enemy, and that the works are being hastened, according to their own words, 'in the provision of events that may soon arise.'
Even little Belgium is going to fortify, to the extent of forty millions of francs, one of her towns—at least a majority of her rulers favor the project—and they, like the rest, talk of the overhanging storm. Whence is this storm coming?
The naval equipements and fortifications of Cherbourg, now the principal French naval station, are said to be something bordering on the marvelous for their perfection and magnitude. These works, which are to be inaugurated by the Emperor in August, will no doubt strike the English naval men with surprise, for nothing in England equals or even approaches them. One hundred English men-of-war will be present at this naval fete."
A Pope’s Gift
A Pope's Gift.—The Pope has sent a present to Louis Napoleon's infant son of an emerald formed of two parts, fitting together, and which he pretends encloses a straw from the manger of Bethlehem, which he had blessed!