his image in my character, and his law in my heart; | and when the great Redeemer shall be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe! What a glorious object of pursuit; and blessed be God, how ever difficult, it is attainable through the power of that grace which can beautify the meek with salvation; so that, though they have lien among the pots, they shall appear as doves, whose wings are covered with silver, and their feathers with yellow gold. Too long have I borne the image of the earthly Adam, nay, of the Evil One, but from henceforth, for time and eternity, let me bear His image who is the Holy One and the Just, for His likeness is the perfection of beauty and felicity. BELFRAGE. Walk with God. To walk with God is a word so high, that I should have feared the guilt of arrogance in using it, if I had not found it in the Holy Scriptures. It is a word that importeth so high and holy a frame of soul, and expresseth such high and holy actions, that the naming of it striketh my heart with reverence, as if I had heard the voice to Moses; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Methinks he that shall say to me, come see a man that walks with God," doth call me to see one that is next unto an angel or glorified soul. happy man that walks with God, though neglected and contemned by all about him. What blessed sights doth he daily see! What ravishing tidings, what pleasant melody doth he daily hear, unless it be in his sorsows or sickness! What delectable food doth he daily taste! He seeth by faith the God, the glory which the blessed spirits see at hand by nearest intuition! He seeth that in a glass and darkly, which they behold with open face! He seeth the glorious majesty of his Creator, the Eternal King, the cause of causes; the composer, upholder, preserver, and governor of all the worlds. He beholdeth the wonderful methods of his providence, and what he cannot reach to see he admireth, and waiteth for the time when that also shall be open to his views. He seeth by faith the world of spirits, the hosts that attend the throne of God; their perfect righteousness, their full devotedness to God, their ardent love, their faming zeal, their ready and cheerful obedience, their dignity and shining glory. He heareth by faith the heavenly concert, the high and harmonious songs of praise, the joyful triumphs of crowned saints, the sweet commemoration of the things that were done and surfered on earth, with the praises of him who redeemed them by his blood, and made them kings and priests unto God. And in the beholding of this celestial glory, some beams do penetrate his breast, and so irradiate his longing soul that he is changed thereby into the same image, from glory to glory; the spirit of glory and of God doth rest upon him. And what an excellent holy frame doth this converse with God possess his soul with! How reverently doth he think of him! What life is there in every name and attribute of God which he heareth and thinketh on! The mention of his power, lis wisdom, his goodness, his love, his holiness, his truth; how powerful and pleasant are they to him! while to those that know him but by the ear, these are but like common names and notions.--BAXTER. The Joy of Heaven. Most beloved brethren, we must consider and bear in mind that we have renounced the world, and live here, meanwhile, as guests and foreigners. Let us embrace that day which assigns to each his proper home-who that dwells from home would not hasten to return to his country? Our native country we reckon heaven. There an innumerable company of beloved ones expects us; a goodly band of parents, brothers, sons, longs for us, already secure of their own immortality, and now anxious for our salvation. What mutual joy to them and us in beholding and embracing each other! What the pleasures of these | heavenly kingdoms, with no fear of death, but with the possession of eternal life! What consummate and endless felicity! There the glorious band of apostles; there the crowd of exulting prophets; there the innumerable army of martyrs, crowned for their victory in conflict and suffering; there triumphant virgins; the compassionate rewarded who laboured in works of benevolence to the poor, who, keeping their Master's precepts, have transferred their earthly inheritance to the heavenly treasure-house. To these, most beloved brethren, with eager desire we hasten. Let our Master, Christ, see the resolution of our mind and faith, who will confer larger rewards of his glory upon them who after him have had larger desires.-CYPRIAN. The Christian Warfare. Our battle is to be called before your tribunals; there we contend for the truth at the peril of our lives. What you contend for is victory. The object of our victory is the glory of pleasing God, and the spoil eternal life. A Mutius, an Empedocles, a Regulus, devote themselves to death, and you exclaim, what bravery, what energy of soul! O, glory, allowed because it has a human object, therefore its daring is not thought wasted, nor its confidence desperate in despising death and pain, and it is permitted to suffer for country, for empire, for friendship, but not for God!-TERTULLIAN. Love the Truth, and Peace.-Truth is here put the ture. What health first in order then peace, for there can be no solid or The Value of Time.-The learned Salmasius said, when on his death-bed, "Oh, I have lost a world of time! If one year more was to be added to my life, it should be spent in reading David's Psalms and Paul's Epistles." SACRED POETRY. FROM THE GERMAN OF NOVALIS. The future was a dark abyss, Each day was dark as midnight deep, Alas! only lived to weep. Grief and despair sat at my hearth; And knew my hope in him was sure, The gloom, and gilded the obscure. A gush of heavenly joys to yield. Invite the sinful wanderers in; By faith we know our Saviour near; Close to our hearts remorseless clung, Alike by joy and sorrow stung: To burn a new and living light. Knew the dear land, our Sire's abode,— And told us we were sons of God. Hoddam. THE MORNING STAR. R. M. BRIGHT eye of heaven, why are thy trembling rays, MISCELLANEOUS. W. S. M. Practical Effect of the Gospel.-Mr Campbell, of Kingsland, relates, that in one of his journeys in Southern Africa, he on a certain occasion entered into conversation with a young Hottentot, who was lying almost naked on the ground, and basking in the sun. As be was a stout young man, Mr Campbell asked him, " if he had nothing to do ?" He said, "No!"-" Cannot you dig?" said Mr Campbell-" Here is a spade."-"No," said he "it would hurt me."—" "But try," continued Mr Campbell, turning up one or two spadefuls of earth himself. The young man tried, but after one or two attempts, threw the spade away-saying, "It broke his back." Farther reasoning was fruitless. Mr Campbell left him. Here was civilization attempted in the plan of the mere moralist, and such was its result. But when Mr Campbell returned to Africa, he saw this young man again. The Gospel had been generally embraced in the vicinity; and the grace of God had reached his heart also. And was he lolling, half-naked, on the ground? No, he was clothed, and in his right mind. And how was he occupied? He was employed as writing-master in an academy of young Hottentots; and when Mr Campbell. approached him, he was in the act of mending a pen, which had been handed to him for that purpose by one of his scholars. He cut it with a composure and an address, which, had Mr Campbell witnessed them in this country, would have occasioned no surprise, but which, under the circumstances of the case, completely overcame him. The act was a simple one; but simple as it was, it betokened a high degree of civilization, and one which could not, in so short a time, have been produced through any other medium than that of Christianity. The Benefit of Early Piety.-The learned and pious Beza, one of the great Reformers, who lived in the sixteenth century, when he was very old and saw his end approaching, often used to say, "I have lived long and have sinned long ;" yet, among other things for which he thanked God in his last will and testament, the first and chief was, that at the age of sixteen years, he had taught him to love and to serve Him; and thus had he been prevented from committing many sins, and enduring many sorrows, which would otherwise have overtaken him and have made both his life and his death less happy. A Pithy Remark." Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend, Smart, shewed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all than to pray as Smart did; I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question." Dr JOHNSON. The Bible a comfort in Trouble.-A German and his wife had been for many years settled at Paris, as shoemakers; at length the husband was disabled by illness, and the wife became blind. A lady visited them, and was struck with the calmness with which they were enabled to endure their trials. She asked if they had a Bible, and they showed her the sacred volume, stating, that it had long been their only consolation. Printed and Published by JoHN JOHNSTONE, at the Offices of the SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD, 104, High Street, Edinburgh, and 32, Glassford Street, Glasgow-JAMES NISBET & Co., and R. H. MOORE, London; D. R. BLEAKLEY, Dublin; and W. M'COME, Belfast; and sold by the Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; also to be procured of every Bookseller in England and Ireland. Subscribers in Edinburgh and Leith will have their copies delivered at their own residences regularly, by leaving their addresses with the Publisher, or with John Lindsay & Co., 7, South St Aodrew Street. Subscribers in Glasgow will, in like manner, have their copies delivered, by leaving their addresses at the Publishing Office there, 32, Glassford Street. Subscription (payable in advance) per quarter, of twelve weeks 1s. 6d. per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 3s.-per year, of fortyeight weeks, 6s.-Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, stitched in a printed wrapper, price Sixpence. Printed at the Steam Press of Ballantyne & Co., from the Stereotype Plates of A. Kirkwood. THE SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD, CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. VOL. I. No. 10. 66 THE FEAR OF THE LORD, THAT IS WISDOM." SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1836. PRICE 1d. THE CHRISTIAN'S OBLIGATION TO LIVE the world, not by fleeing from it into secrecy and solitude. SEPARATE FROM THE WORLD. BY THE REV. JAMES LEWIS, No duty is more universally acknowledged, and none less understood, than the Christian duty of separation from the world. While the duty is admitted by all who profess to understand the Gospel, few have defined to themselves its requirements, or are furnished with fixed rules, by the prompt application of which, they may on all occasions practically determine whether they have been guilty of conformity to, or maintained separation, from the world. It may serve to give a distinct and practical shape to this Christian duty, to answer with some minuteness the question: In what does conformity to the world consist? In reply to this question, we remark, first, -That the separation from the world enjoined upon Christians does not consist in their living out of the world. By a neglect of the spirit, and a too exact and literal adherence to the words of certain commands of Scripture, its authority has been sometimes pleaded to sanction, on the part of Christians, an entire abandonment of society, that, remote from human intercourse, they might nourish the spiritual life in secrecy and solitude, by meditation and prayer. Such a separation is incompatible, however, with the discharge of the active duties to which Christians are called; it is inconsistent with the nature which God has given to man; it would engender melancholy, not Religion; fanaticism, not Christianity; and would he no certain defence against those temptations which are dreaded in the world; for in the wilderness may Satan tempt, as he tempted our Lord, as well as in the populous city,-in the desert and the place of tombs may the evil spirit abide, and be so exceeding fierce that no man can bind it, as well as in the crowded haunts of society. By placing the Christian in society, God has, with sufficient clearness, pointed out his duty to be, not to go out of the world, but to live in it so as to live above it; and that it is the divine purpose that the world should be overcome by the Christian in We remark, secondly, That as separation from the world does not consist in living out of the world, neither does it consist in assumed or affected difference of manners from the world. Many are deceived into the belief of the purity and elevation of their Christianity, simply because they are not as other men. They deem themselves supe rior to the crowd, and sit in their imagination upon a hill apart, because they differ from it in certain manners or fashions they have assumed. How often have men identified Religion with moroseness and austerity, with a disfigured countenance and an unsocial melancholy! How often have they mistaken an aversion to, or the sudden relinquishment of, the usual innocent pursuits or recreations of society for the infallible marks of a heaven-born spirit! How often have they attributed the very extravagancies and singularities, and varying impulses of a weak and ill-regulated mind to the ardours and fervours of devotion! These, and similar errors, are currently adopted from mistaking singularity for separation from the world. They are errors into which especially young Christians fall, when, under the first impressions of the truth, they seek to break asunder from all the ordinary occupations, engagements, and duties of social life; identifying the religious life with the life of the visionary, the recluse, or the contemplatist, and consequently, testing their Christianity by their singularity, and deeming the evidences of their faith just the more distinct and unquestionable, by how much the more strange and peculiar they have become. If separation from the world consists, then, neither in living out of the world, nor merely in differing from it, how shall we ascertain in what it does consist? It has been supposed, that this question would have been easily answered, and that weak and hesitating consciences would have obtained direction and assurance in duty, had Scripture specified the particular things in which Christians ought to distinguish themselves from the world; had it told them in what things they might resemble the world and go along with it, and from what things they must stand aloof, and touch not, and taste not, and handle not; had it put a mark upon every object, and company, and place of resort, and written visibly upon them of this object the Christian may partake, of that he cannot partake; here he may enter and join with the society, there he cannot enter; at this table he may sit, at that table he cannot sit and partake of its festivities; this proportion of his substance he may lawfully expend upon himself or his family, that proportion he must dedicate to the service of the Church, and to the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom:-to many it has appeared that such an exact and minute specification of duty would have made plain the Christian's path, resolved a thousand perplexing questions, and enabled him promptly to decide when he was guilty of conformity to the world, or when he had observed the prescribed separation from it. Why Scripture has not so minutely legislated as to give a rule and precept for every step we should take in life, is sufficiently obvious. The multitude of such directions would have perplexed instead of making plain the path of the Christian. It would have converted the Bible from being a brief comprehensive summary of human duty, into a voluminous depository of moral and spiritual casuistry. Besides, if every act of the Christian's life had been made the subject of express law, Christian love would have wanted scope for its exercise, and occasion for proving its genuineness and warmth, it would have wanted both opportunities for its manifestation and means of testing its sincerity. But while Scripture has not furnished so minute a directory as to many appears desirable, it has given what we conceive to be better. It supplies the Christian with certain great principles to instruct and enlighten his conscience, and which, if faithfully applied, will infallibly preserve him from guilty compliances and worldly conformity. Instead of perplexing the understanding, and oppressing the memory, by the infinite variety and minuteness of its directions, it has at once, by a few general principles, taken up the Christian to an eminence, from whence he may survey his path, and distinguish the road upon which he ought to travel, from all the cross-ways and bypaths of the world. These great principles may be reduced to three separate rules. The first is comprised in the following passages of Scripture:-"Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price, even the precious blood of Christ." "I have espoused you to one husband, even to Christ." "None of us liveth to himself." "Seek not your own, but the things which are Jesus Christ's." These passages variously express the same rule. They establish a clear and easily applied principle of Christian conduct. The rule is, that before Christians engage in any action, adopt any plan of life, associate with any circle of society, resort to any company, they must inquire whether they can do so consistently with their obligation to ad vance the Redeemer's cause, or, at least, without injuring that cause, or compromising its interests. This is a rule sufficiently plain for every Christian to walk by, provided there be but fidelity, Christian sincerity, and honesty in its application. To observe it, it is not necessary that a man should entirely sequester himself from human society. It speaks to every Christian where it actually finds him in society, and tells him how in the crowd of the world, how, occupied as he necessarily is with its varied business and engagements, he may yet live as separate from it as if he lived on a mountain top, or in the centre of a desert. It assigns as the characteristic mark of the Christian, that he lives not to himself. The world seeketh its own,-this is its mark, its badge and its insignia. The Christian seeken the things which are Jesus Christ's,-this is the badge and insignia of the Church. To every Christian there is committed, as a sacred deposit, the honour and the cause of his Lord. It is the jealous guardianship of this deposit that distinguishes him from the man of the world, as the presence of the ark distinguished the Israelites wherever they journeyed from the surrounding heathen. With what heroic resolution would a company of ancient Jews, stationed as the guardians of the ark in the field of battle, have defended that sacred symbol of Jehovah's presence! Every sword would have been unsheathed for its protection, and not until the faithful band had given their lives for their trust, would that symbol of their national faith have been yielded to the foe. By a like jealous and affectionate guardianship of the deposit committed to him by his Lord,-by his not shrinking from the recognition and defence of his name, nor compromising the peculiarities of his Religion, by his presenting that Religion, when necessary, in all its breadth and fulness of statement, and defending it from every aspersion or epithet of scorn or ridicule that might be cast upon it, will the Christian manifest his separation from the world. He is stationed around the ark in the field of battle,—the ark is the honour of his Lord,—the field of battle is the world. If from this station he suffer himself to be driven off, and resign his trust, he need be at no loss to know his character; it is written in his actions, he is a conformist to the world. The second rule by which Christians may test their separation from the world is embodied in the following passages. "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." 66 Ye are chosen, that ye may be blameless and without rebuke until the day of the coming of the Lord." When God implants the seed of a new spiritual life in the soul, he constitutes the believer a fellow-worker with himself, in cherishing and watching over the growth of this heavenly plant, in defending it from the rude and chilling blasts of the wilderness, and fostering it into strength uni it effloresces and bears the lovely fruits of holi ness. The highest charge which the Christian has | founded. And yet the affecting scenes of distress with in reference to himself is the guardianship of his spiritual nature. To keep and dress the garden planted and watered by the Lord, and which is visited by his presence, this is the Christian's peculiar work. To this work all others must yield. The Christian must be holy; the spiritual life begun must advance, and whatever would obstruct its progress, whatever mode of life, whatever company or amusements would thwart its growth, must be removed out of the way. The Christian is a stone cut out of the quarry, to be shaped and polished for the sanctuary above; and every thing that would obstruct the operations of the Divine Architect, that would retard the moulding and finishing of the Christian's spirit for its place in the temple of God, frustrates the high end of the Christian's life. If to these two rules of conduct we add a third, deduced from the following passages of Scripture, the Christian will then be provided with three distinct principles, the honest, sincere conscientious application of which will enable him at all times to test the Christian character of his actions, and to ascertain when he is guilty of conformity to the world, and when he avoids it. "Take heed lest by any means your liberty become a stumbling-block to them that are weak." Let us judge this, that no man put a stumbling-block, or an occasion to fall, in his brother's way." "We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." "Let every one of us please his neighbour for good to edification." "All things are hawful for me, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's." Nothing can be plainer than the rule embodied in these passages; it is this, that those actions which a Christian, on consulting his own judgment, might consider proper and lawful, he is yet to abstain from, and thereby restrain his own liberty, if his example would be the means of staggering or overthrowing the faith of a brother. He must submit to have his freedom curbed, that others may not stumble at his conduct, giving none offence, neither to Jew nor Gentile, nor to the Church of God. And by a just extension of the spirit of these passages, the rule directs us to deny ourselves in things lawful, not only lest we throw a stumbling-block before a brother in the Church, but lest an injurious impression of the Christian faith be given to the world; lest our conduct should contribute to keep the world ignorant of the infinite distance between itself and the Church, of the essential sinfulness and impurity of the one, and of the inherent beauty and glory of the other. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR THOMAS BATEMAN. THERE is no profession which has more generally been supposed to alienate the mind from Christianity than that of medicine; and it is much to be lamented that the character and conduct of too many medical practitioners show the supposition to be not altogether un His fami which the physician is habitually conversant might im- ent. sketch. Dr Thomas Bateman was born at Whitby, in Yorkshire, on the 20th of April 1778. He was from infancy of a delicate constitution, remarkably silent and reserved in disposition, and though sufficiently persevering, he by no means exhibited in early life any striking indications of those high talents by which he was afterwards distinguished. At four years of age he was placed, as a day-scholar, under the care of the Rev. Thomas Watson, a dissenting minister of learning and abilities. With him young Bateman remained for seven years; and when eleven years old, he was taken to spend the summer in the country, with the view of recovering his health after an attack of measles. Here he unfortunately fell into habits of indolence, and was accustomed to spend the greater part of the day seated on the top of a gate near the house, without seeking His father, enrageither employment or amusement. ed at such conduct, one day remarked," that boy will never be good for anything." After his return from the country, Thomas was again sent to school at Thornton, a village twenty miles from Whitby. At this period his thirst for knowledge first began to be displayed, and as a relaxation from his ordinary studies, he directed his mind to music, drawing, and botany. His teacher was accustomed to observe that his most remarkable quality when a schoolboy was his sound and penetrating judgment. At the age of fifteen he lost his father, who had for many years been a successful medical practitioner in Whitby. The young man, thus deprived of a judicious parent, found a counsellor and friend in Dr Beckwith, a distinguished physician at York. Guided by the advice of one so well qualified to direct him, Bateman determined on following the profession of his father. With this view he left Thornton, and returned to Whitby, where he spent three years in preparatory studies, after which he repaired to London to prosecute medicine, under the most eminent teachers of the science. At this time, an incident occurred which shows in a strong light his amiable attention and kindness to his only surviving parent. Before setting out for the meShe replied, "Once tropolis, he asked his mother how often she would expect to receive a letter from him. a fortnight;" and from that time through all the subsequent years of his absence, and in the midst of his most active engagements, he never in one instance exceeded the given period, even by a single day; the expected letter most frequently arriving two or three days within the time, closely filled with a minute detail of every thing which he thought would be interesting to his family in his studies and pursuits, and in the circumstances through which he was passing. As another instance of the conscientious spirit by which this amible young man was actuated, we may mention the following fact:-"On going out from his lodgings to an evening party, he had told his landlady that he would He was pressed, howbe back at a particular hour. ever, to stay longer, and the company being agreeable, |