IRISH REVIVALS.-No. IV.

BY THE REV. NASON BROWN, LEEDS.-
NOTES OF LECTURES.

as it is, there will always be objections to everything good; and the more glorious the work, the more serious sometimes will be the opposition to it.

&c., &c.? Can the devil have anything to do in such matters as these? If Satan thus cast out Satan, how can his kingdom

stand? No. It is no work of Satan.

But what weight is to be attached to the LIKE every other great and good move objections urged against the Revival in ment, the work of God, referred to in the Ireland? Objection 1st. It is a work of previous papers, has had to encounter the devil, a device of Satan! Will any sane much opposition. Objections of various man believe it? How unlike it is to his kinds have been raised against it with the usual way of working! Is it the work of view of destroying its gracious influence. Satan to excite anxiety about the soul's This is no new thing in connection with salvation, to bring men to their knees, to the work of God's Spirit. When the Spirit crowd prayer-meetings, to induce them to was poured out in such abundance on the travel miles to hear God's word, to attend day of Pentecost, the same temper was communions? Is it the work of Satan to manifested by many who witnessed its close public-houses, and to convert them effects. When the matter was noised into temples for prayer; to keep men from abroad, the multitude were confounded the race-course, the cockpit; to restrain and surprised at what they saw and heard. them from blasphemy, cursing, swearing, They were amazed and marvelled; and while some doubted, others mocked. The work, however, went on, and the fruits soon told the origin of the work then, as it is doing now. The facts are patent and convincing, let men say what they will. Objections. We would be surprised if there were no objections. We are accustomed to look for them in such a work. What movement of any importance has not had its objections? There were, and still are, objections to the emancipation of slaves; but does this prove that a law of liberty is not just and right—a law declaring "that man cannot hold property in man;" and are those who endeavour to establish such a law to be looked upon as little better than madmen or enthusiasts ? Surely not. If they are enthusiasts, then we commend them for their enthusiasm. It is enthusiasm of the right kind, and we pray that God may bless their efforts with

success,

-

There were objections, again, to the collecting of poor children on the Sabbath, that they might be taught the truths of God's word. The founders of Sabbathschools had many difficulties to contend against, but it was not long until the fruits began to appear, and then the objections were overwhelmed by the great moral and religious change which these institutions effected. There were objections, again, to temperance societies, to the closing of public-houses on the Lord's-day, to the unrestricted use of God's word, and to the evangelisation of heathendom through the agency of Christian missions. All these glorious operations have been carried out in opposition to the most inimical counterexertions. So long as our world continues

Satan cannot work for God; and, therefore, knowing that these Revivals operate against his interests, he has employed his servants to cast discredit upon the movement. They have failed, however; the "Spirit of the Lord" has lifted up his "standard against them," and its enemies, vanquished, have to a great extent quit the

field.

Objection 2nd. It is a mere popular excitement; a sort of religious mania, by which weak minds have been overcome. Well. It is excitement; and, considering the nature of the case, can we wonder at it? When a man has been brought to see the enormity of his sin, when he is led to see himself standing on the brink of an awful eternity, into which he knows not how soon he may fall, and be lost for ever, is it any wonder that man should be excited? My hearers, if any of you were on the brink of a deep precipice, and brought to feel that there was only one step (as it were) between you and death, would you not feel excited? Would you not, from a sense of your awful situation, cry out with all anxiety for deliverance; and would you not gladly accept of help from any quarter, and upon any terms? Was there no excitement when the prodigal (on the verge of starvation in the land of strangers) bethought himself of his father's house, and resolved to accept, at the hands of his father, even the treatment of a servant, rather than submit to the degrading occupation of keeping swine, and be starved besides. Was there no excitement when the Philippian jailor, having been led to see the magnitude of his sins, cried out, "What must I do to be saved?" No excitement among our Lord's disciples when, overtaken by the storm, they awoke him saying, "Lord,

save, we perish." Was there no excitement that there have been, and are, excesses and when, under Peter's preaching, so many extravagancies. Where is the gold without were "pricked to the heart," and led to cry dross, where the wheat without chaff? out, "Men and brethren, what shall we The counterfeit proves the existence of the do ?" In all these cases there was excite- genuine. There have been many things ment; and surprising it would have been that we cannot justify. But what is our had not such been the case. But because duty? It is to discard what is evil, and to there is excitement, under conviction of uphold what is good. There are tares sin and danger, must that be accounted among the wheat." "The enemy hath madness? Is every man who gets excited done this." Is it fair to condemn the to be called a maniac? If such were the whole work because there have been some case, where would be found asylums to extravagancies ? Surely not. Must we contain all the mad people to be daily met condemn all our noble merchants because with? Is the man out of his senses who we find sometimes disreputable exceptions? feels he is a sinner and anxious to be saved, Are we to discard the whole medical faculty or the man who endeavours to promote re- because we sometimes hear of a Palmer or ligious excitement, and to rouse others to Smethurst? Are we to condemn medical a sense of their sin and danger? Surely science because some make an imprudent not. The world may try to brand such use of poisons? Are we to reject the men with this character, as Festus did gospel because of its connection with a Paul, when he pressed home too forcibly Judas or a Simon Magus? Are we to upon him the truths of God's Word: "Paul, disbelieve the value of truth because Anathou art beside thyself, much learning hath nias and Sapphira disregarded it? Are we made thee mad." Paul replied, "I am not to discard the divinity of Christ because mad, most noble Festus, but speak the some have denied the Lord that bought words of truth and soberness;" and so them? or are we to deny the headship of fully convinced was Agrippa of Paul's sin- his church to Christ because the Pope of cerity, and the justness of his position, that Rome usurps this prerogative? As soon instead of joining in the opinion of Festus, may we do so as to discredit the genuinehe felt almost persuaded "to become a ness of God's work because there are the Christian." Excitement! Madness! There counter works of the devil. Then, again, would be no charge of this kind urged by as to God's method of executing his own those who oppose this work of God, if men work. He gives not account of these were rushing to the theatre, the race-course, matters to us. What right have we to call the public-house; but the men who are in question his wisdom, or to draw a line of anxious about their souls, and those en- operation from which he may not depart ? deavouring to encourage that anxiety, must What are we that we should presume to be branded as fanatics and enthusiasts! dictate to God? "The wind bloweth But who speak thus of this movement, its where it listeth," and we judge of its friends or its enemies? Those who would existence by its effects. So it is with God's like the cause of God to flourish, or those Holy Spirit. Let us not seek to be wise "who care for none of these things"? above what is written. These objections are not made by its friends; they are made by those who are careless alike of retrogression or revival; and it is just what we would expect from such. Those who do not feel their own state, their need of a Saviour, who seldom or never attend the means of grace themselves, may think it strange that others do. But are such men capable of judging in these matters ? Most decidedly not; as well might I, or any other person knowing little or nothing about the matter, be expected to judge of the working capabilties of the Channel fleet, or something else for which I was not adapted, as for men to judge of God's work who are not noted as pious men, and whose only qualification may be that they can write a paragraph for a newspaper.

To all who desire to know what these Revivals are, we point them to the fruits. There they are before the eyes of all who will take the trouble to go and see for themselves. We do not for a moment deny

Besides, in God's word we are led to expect diversity of operation in the Spirit's work. Saul is stricken down, smitten with blindness, and labours under bodily suf fering for many days. Timothy, on the other hand, is converted by the religious training of a pious mother and grandmo ther. He cannot tell how or when the great change took place; but this he could say, "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.' Why not allow God to do his own work in his own way, and judge of its character by its fruits?

Objection 3rd. It is confined to the poor and illiterate, to factory girls and such like; over-worked, badly-fed, nervous systems weakened. This objection had but a short existence, facts soon proved its falsity; so that on this point we need not dwell.

Objection 4th These Revivals are only temporary; if they would only continue, good might eventually spring from them.

Truly shape and fashion these,
Leave no yawning gaps between ;
Think not because no man sees,
Such things remain unseen.

In the elder days of art,

Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the gods are everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house where gods may dwell
Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of time;
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.
Build to-day, then, slow and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure,
Shall to-morrow find its place.
Thus alone can we attain

To those turrets where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,

And one boundless reach of sky.

REFINING EFFECT OF SICKNESS.

THERE is a class of persons to whom sick ness has a delicate and refined ministry. It is those in whom the religious character has been cultivated and developed. The contemplations of a sick-room to a person of religious habits are certainly among the most refined and spiritual experiences of life. Nowhere else in life does the soul so clearly vindicate its superiority to everything. From the sick man's window the whole prospect has a spiritual hue. All things take their places in a new and higher order.

prevailed; that it was the ascendant in everything; and that the mingling of relations in which the eye of sense sees so much that it calls evil, is in reality good. One who has now passed from mortal sight said to me, a few days before death, as from her bed she looked out upon the few objects that could be seen from her window,

"Everything is so beautiful. I wonder how it is. These flowers (turning her eyes to a bouquet upon the table) fill me with delight. And," said she, lifting her finger from the pillow, and pointing to the window with a sinile, "there is that old dead tree; it seems to me the most beautiful thing in the world. I lie here hour after hour, and look at it, and think of God's goodness and love in putting it there; and then I think of the goodness of those who bring me these flowers. Everything and everybody seems good to me. I never knew there was so much goodness in the world before." Now, where arises this quick affinity with all that is kind, and beautiful, and benevolent? Why do the little kindnesses which the common sympathies of our nature prompt, enlarge into great acts of love? Why does our nature, in her very desolation, put on garments of beauty and glory, filling the weary spirit with ever-new delight?

The sick-room contemplations of a religious mind weave all life's meaning and mystery into a fabric of goodness and love. Sickness, as we commonly esteem it, is a calamity. It is a calamity, according to our measure of evil. No one in his right mind would pray to be laid prostrate with disease. But there are many who, from the depths of a blessed experience, can thank God that they have been. You may talk about health as much as you please. You may extol it as the richest blessing which descends upon our mortal lot; and justly. But I ask any one who has ever had a profound experience of sickness-of sickness exalted by the holy influence of religion-if he would exchange those experiences for the health which they cost him. -Stebbins.

Beauty hitherto unappreciated seems concealed in everything. Intellectual and moral qualities seem to invest the commonest objects. The delicacies which delight his tender senses are miracles of goodness; and he wonders how he could have ever lived and not seen it before. The scale of being seems to be pitched higher, and more delicately balanced. It is one of the remarkable qualities of the sick-room experiences of a religious mind to weave everything into the plan of goodness. And it is good; it is not an effort of a half-consenting mind trying to think that it is: so clearly For Jesus hath loved me,-I cannot tell

is the quality discerned, and so completely does it transcend everything else, through

its affinities, that it is good.

AND WHEN I'M TO DIE.
DURING the last two or three years of
Rowland Hill's life, he very frequently
repeated the following lines:-

"And when I'm to die,
Receive me, I'll cry,

why;

But this I do find,
We two are so joined,

I have never known such a one as I refer That he'll not be in glory, and leave me to now, who did not discern that goodness

behind."

66

tian experience. Confidence in Christ, and undeviating adherence to him, can alone enable us to triumph in life and death.-Belcher's Life of Whitefield.

"The last time he occupied my pul- of consciousness he ever gave. We could pit," writes his friend and neighbour, almost wish that every disciple of Christ the Rev. George Clayton, when he would commit these lines, quaint as preached excellently in behalf of a chari- they are, to memory, and weave table institution, he retired to the vestry them into the web of his Chrisafter service, under feelings of great exhaustion. Here he remained until all but ourselves had left the place. At length he seemed, with some reluctance, to summon energy to take his departure, intimating that it was probably the last time he should preach in W—. I offered my arm, which he declined, and then followed him, as he passed down the aisle of the chapel. The lights were nearly extinguished, the silence was profound; nothing, indeed, was heard but the slow, majestic tread of his own foot-There was one in his father's dwelling; steps, when in an undertone he thus soliloquized :

'And when I'm to die,' &c.

To my heart this was a scene of unequalled solemnity, nor can I ever recur to it without a revival of that hallowed, sacred, shuddering sympathy which it first awakened."

When the good old saint lay literally dying, and apparently unconscious, a friend put his mouth close to his ear, and slowly repeated his favourite lines,

"And when I'm to die,

Receive me, I'll cry," &c.

The light came back to his fast fading eye, a smile overspread his face, and his lips moved in the vain attempt to articulate the words. This was the last sign

PRAYER IN THE HOUSEHOLD.

I was once told of a cottage patriarch who was born in those days when Scotland had a church in almost every

house.

and when he pitched a tent for himself, he builded an altar. Round that altar a good number of olive-plants grew up; but, one by one, they were either planted out in families of their own, or God took them; till he and his old partner found themselves, just as at their first outset in life, alone. But their family worship continued as of old. At last his fellowtraveller left him. Still he carried on the worship by himself. So sweet was the memory of it in his father's house, and so pleasant had he found it in his own, that he could not give it up. As he sat in his silent habitation, morning and evening, his quivering voice was heard singing the old psalm-tune, reading aloud the chapter, and praying as if others still worshipped by his side. He had not found it dull. - Dr. James Hamilton.

CHINA.

Missions.

THE REV. GEORGE SMITH, SWATOW, TO
THE TREASURER.

Swatow, Nov. 22nd, 1859.

It is now twelve months since I came to Swatow. Of this time, about three months were spent at Double Island, and the rest in almost constant residence at the town of Swatow. In the course of the year various circumstances have occurred both to try and to encourage. In reviewing the past in the light of our present condition, we have reason to thank God and take courage.

NATIVE AGENTS.

At present we have six Chinese Christians connected with us. Of these, two belong to the American Baptist Church at Hong Kong, and were formerly imprisoned with Mr. Burns, at the Foo city of this department. Our friends at Hong Kong were desirous that we should employ them for a time, and their desire coincided with our urgent want. One of them is engaged at Swatow, the other at Tathaupo.

Another is a native of this district, who has been long a member of the American Presbyterian Church at Ningpo, and has