Scotland? It may be very humbling to those that belong to either Establishment, but in Scotland it was the seceders from the Established Church that struck forth that light that ultimately lightened the altars of the Establishment itself; and when these seceders preached the Gospel, about a hundred years ago, in Scotland, in every parish pulpit there was that cold and freezing morality which had no root, no life, and no power to save or to sanctify the souls of men. And what would have been the state of England, as far as we know, if such men as Whitfield and John Wesley, and others of that stamp, had not preached the Gospel in coalpits, in meeting-houses, in halls, in the streets, in the fields, and everywhere? The most candid will admit that these men revived the smouldering fires of living Christianity, when, as far as those that had all the precedence and the power were concerned, they would have been extinguished. And so we see that dissent, separation, secession, may be, in the providence of God, one of God's great means of doing the greatest good. It is supposed that comets are a sort of seceders or dissenters from the planetary system, bringing back matters to that harmony, order, peace, and purity, in which they would not be found were not such eccentric provisions made for them. And wherever we find God at work, we see how he overrules the very defects of men's tempers, the very differences of men's convictions, to the establishment and spread of the greatest good.

Such differences, however painful, do not cause a final separation between good men. These two, Paul and Barnabas, separated for a season; but time healed the wound, the waves of trouble washed out from their

memories the recollection of their quarrels; and the very next thing that we read of is, that Paul had found Mark-that Barnabas wished to bring with him, but whom Paul objected to either so useful, or so reformed, that he says, in his Epistle to Timothy, "Take Mark, and bring him with thee; for he is profitable to me for the ministry." Here is Paul, who objected to Mark, afterwards discovering either that he was mistaken, and candidly confessing it, or discovering that Mark had reformed, and was worthy to be reinstated in that place which he had before. Whether Paul and Barnabas met on earth as friends, it is not recorded; but if they did not meet on earth, they met in heaven: and if wonder is expressed or felt in heaven, they must have wondered how they ever suffered a little, paltry, personal dispute to separate them whom God had made one. We are sure, however, that permanently separated truly good men that are one in Christ never can be ; for the grounds of their union are so real, their relationship to Christ is so living, that it alone will melt down and submerge every minor dispute. Our differences are external, ceremonial, transient; the grounds for our union are lasting as the attributes of Him who originaly inspired them. Let us pray for that blessed day, when we shall see eye to eye-when all shall be righteous, and earth shall be peace. The soldier exists among nations because Barnabas and Paul quarrel in the Church. When the Church is perfect, it will be time for it to find fault with nations for ever going to war. Meanwhile, let us try to make the Church a model to nations of what nations should be; and when they look at her, as the joy and beauty of the whole earth, they, too, will learn to love one another.

Lastly, let us see how faithful the sacred penmen are. If Luke, the writer of the Acts of the Apostles, had been getting up a story to win éclât for himself, he never would have stated such an unhappy and discreditable quarrel between two of the most eminent ministers of the early Church. But the very fact that he records it, shows that the apostles cared not that they personally should sink into the deepest shadow, if truth should be supreme, and Christ the Saviour should be all and in all. Peter's denial of his Lord-Peter's quarrel with Paul-Paul's quarrel with Barnabas-the disputes of the Corinthians one with another—the flight of the apostles at the Crucifixion, their discussion who should be supreme-all are faithfully recorded. What must be the inference? That they were under an inspiration, which made them write their faults and their excellences-in other words, write facts as they were, record truth as taught; satisfied that the grandeur of their cause would only break forth in greater splendour by being contrasted with the weakness and the worthlessness of the instruments employed to promote it.

CHAPTER XVI.

TIMOTHY'S PARENTS AND TEACHERS-LUKE'S PERSONAL PRESENCELYDIA'S CONVERSION-INFANT BAPTISM-A DEMONIAC DAMSEL THE APOSTLES IN PRISON-EARTHQUAKE—A JAILER-CIVIL RIGHTS.

WE have, in the opening of the instructive chapter I have read, the first account in the sacred record of the conversion of Timothy, to whom the apostle writes two admirable epistles, as to a faithful minister and evangelist of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Timothy was the son of his mother Eunice, and his grandmother was Lois, by whom alone he was instructed in the things relating to eternal life, and through whose instrumentality he believed on Christ, and was convinced, converted, and saved. It is to this instruction that the apostle Paul alludes when he says, that "thou hast known the Scriptures from thy youth," or childhood; "which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." And the argument we draw is this: that if the reading of the Scriptures alone, under the instruction of his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois, was blessed and owned by God to the conversion and conviction of his soul, we cannot see why similar early instruction in the nursery still, by similar relationship, should not be equally blessed to the conviction and conversion of those committed to their charge. And, therefore, we argue, that the Scriptures alone are able to make wise unto salvation,

without a priest to open them, or a preacher even to expound them. This Timothy-“the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and his father being a Greek; well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium -was called upon by Paul to submit to the initiatory Jewish rite, in order that there might be no cavil, or complaint, or unnecessary quibbling, with regard to his claims as a faithful believer in Moses, in the prophets, in Christ, and in the Gospel; and the result, we are told, of his efforts, along with those of Paul, was that "the churches were established in the faith, and increased in number daily." We then read that they went through Phrygia and the region of Galatia; but were prevented going into that portion of Asia Minor which was afterwards visited. They then came to Mysia, on the south side of the Black or the Euxine Sea, and essayed to go into Bithynia; but the Holy Spirit, by some intimation, prevented them from doing so.

66

66 Then, a vision," we are told,

appeared to Paul in the night;" for God had not yet ceased to speak as he did of old, by visions, to his servants; the age of knowledge as inspired, and of deeds as miraculous, not having yet passed away. God spoke to Paul through the medium of a dream, by which it is possible for God to convey a lesson as well as by outward ministerial instruction. One stood near him and called upon him to come over to Macedonia, and there help them that knew the Gospel, or help still more effectually them that were ignorant of it. And now, one must notice in reading this chapter, that during the first nine verses the whole description is in the third person plural; that is, "they went through the cities"" they delivered them the decrees;" but in