SACRED POETRY. A HOME IN HEAVEN. "FOR ever with the Lord." Life from the dead is in that word, Absent from Him I roam, Yet nightly pitch my moving tent, Home of my soul! how near At times to faith's foreseeing eye, The golden gates appear. Ah! then my spirit faints To reach the land of love, The bright inheritance of saints, Yet clouds will intervene, And all my prospect flies; Like Noah's dove, I flit between Rough seas and stormy skies. Anon the clouds dispart; The winds and waters cease; And sweetly o'er my gladdened heart Expands the bow of peace. Beneath its glowing arch, Along the hallowed ground, I see cherubic armies march,- I hear at morn and even, At noon and midnight hour, (Remembered or forgot,) Hidden alike from view, Through every changing state All that I yet may be, Ile sees, as He hath ever seen How can I meet His eyes? Mine on the cross I cast, Father, if 'tis thy will, Be thou at my right hand, Shall rend this vail in twain, By death, I shall escape from death, Knowing, as I am known, How shall I love that word, And oft repeat before that throne, "For ever with the Lord," It Lady Jane Grey.-This most accomplished and amiable female, nearly allied to the royal family, who became a martyr to the protestant religion at the early age of eighteen, the night before she was beheaded, sent a Greek Testament to her sister Catherine, with this high encomium written at the end of it: "I have here sent you, good sister Catherine, a book, which, although it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, yet, inwardly, it is of more worth than precious stones. is the book, dear sister, of the law of the Lord. It is his testament and last will, which he bequeathed unto us wretches, which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy; and, if you with a good mind read it, and do with an earnest mind purpose to follow it, it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life. It shall teach you how to live, and how to die. It shall win you more than you should have gained by your woful father's lands; for as, if God had prospered him, you should have inherited his lands, so if you apply diligently to this book, seeking to direct your life after it, you shall be an inheritor of such riches, as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you, neither thief shall steal, neither yet the moths corrupt." A Hottentot Boy.-Sir Jahleel Brenton, of the royal navy, brought from the Cape of Good Hope a Hottentot boy, and stated to Dr. Philip that a change had taken place in the character of the boy; in proof of which he adds,-A clergyman asked him which person in the Old Testament he would rather have been, had it been left to his choice. He replied, "David. "Why David rather than Solomon, whose reign was so glorious?" "We have evidence of David's repentance," said the lad; "but I don't find any thing in the Bible that enables me to draw the same satisfactory conclusion concerning the repentance of Solomon." Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, at the Offices of the SCOTTIS IT CHRISTIAN HERALD, 104, High Street, Edinburgh, and 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; JAMES NISBET & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; D. R. BLEAKLEY, Dublin; and W. 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HINTS ON SPIRITUAL DEPRESSION. PRICE 1d. In suffering which everywhere prevail in it, shew that its inhabitants have departed far from the source of purity and blessedness. not known in heaven; because the inhabitants of heaven live in the fellowship with God, which sin does not suspend nor for a moment affect. BY THE REV. WILLIAM MUIR, D.D., the region where suffering is unmitigated, the seMinister of St. Stephen's Parish, Edinburgh. paration from God is hopeless; because there, sin THERE is a prevalent disregard among men of is unforsaken while unforgiven. Our earth, therethe chief purpose which is meant to be answered fore, holds a middle rank between these. That it by the circumstances that afflict. These ought to is not a state of utter despair, may be inferred be viewed, not only as arising by the divine per- from the remains both of righteousness and enmission, but as entering into the very scheme that joyment that are mingled with the sin and sufferis carried on for restoring sinners to God. Suf-ing which are found in it. And yet, the sin and fering, whether it proceed from outward calamities, or from remorse of conscience, is directed for the production of that gracious end by the wisdom that overrules the smallest equally with the greatest of events. We do not, indeed, behold a palpable hand stretched forth to smite our bodies with disease, and our estates with reverses. Nor do we hear a voice from heaven pronouncing the doom that awakens the fears of the guilty heart. Yet, were we to consider that God has fixed every cause in union with a definite effect; that distresses in the temporal lot spring from arrangements which his providence is forming and guiding; that the agony of the mind, when struck with the sense of guilt, is an excited conscience, whose strength and sharpness are derived from the will and presence of the Supreme Lawgiver-parture, must be regarded in the light of punishwere we to consider these things, we would no more question the divine agency as moving in them all, than we should if the divine power sensibly interposed before us to produce them. But the prevalent bias among men takes us away from acknowledging, even from perceiving the purpose of God in his dispensations. Suffering, therefore, is often accompanied only with an observance of the nearest occasion of it, and with an earnest inquiry after the mode of its earliest removal; while, instead of looking and turning to the Physician who alone can heal, the sufferer often rushes eagerly to any expedient, to the most foolish and sinful expedients which are proposed in society for curing or soothing moral wretched ness. Suffering is the proof of departure from God. Continued from age to age, it transmits evidence of the fall of man. Universally experienced, it determines that the whole world is guilty. It is This encouraging feature, however, distinguishes our condition. Mercy having extended to it, has introduced hither a system of means, the design of which is the restoration of sinners to God. The system is comprehensive both in purpose and influence; so comprehensive, that affliction, while traceable to sin as the cause of all suffering, is included in the plan, and becomes a portion of the restorative means; yea, it is often peculiarly an efficacious portion of them. And though the necessity of visiting us with affliction brings evidence of our having departed from God, and the dispensation, therefore, under the view of our de ment, yet the tendency given to it changes it into a proof of mercy. The divine blessing is added to it. It is, indeed, salutary discipline. It is instrumental for restoring us to Him whom we had forsaken. It is loveclad in a temporary disguise. Its immediate effects are gracious, and its future are bright with glory. In restoring the soul to God, sufferings not only sharp but reiterated, are, in the case of the greater number of men, indispensable. Lenient means are frequently destitute of all moral good. "Because sentence against an evil work is delayed, the heart is often fully set to do evil." The heart, during the long cessation of chastisement wanders far from God. Amid increasing prosperities it has no perception of the distance to which it has gone; at all events, has no desire to return. Occasional disappointments and vexations, indeed, are experienced. Occasional pangs of rebuke and fear are endured. These interrupt the course of false pleasures, and a pause of seriousness ensues. But the pause is short. The chafed wings are soon adjusted. The giddy flight is renewed. Though the stroke of calamity may dash the pride of the heart, yet quickly it recovers from the depression, and hastens out as proud as ever. Though, arraigned at the bar of conscience, it is made to tremble by the threatenings of the judgment to come, yet the terror subsides, even the anxiety passes off, and the guilty being that had dreaded, once more defies the Supreme authority. There is a hurrying away still from the thought of control. There is a persevering still with deepened resolution in the disobedience of unregenerate na ture. For these reasons we come to recount, among the choice evidences of mercy, the repeated afflictions, the afflictions which pursue us, and continue in rapid succession to press on our steps, and do not quit our path till they have accomplished their purpose. If we delay to seek, and even to think of our Father's house, is it not a choice evidence of mercy that the chastenings should be administered which famish us out of every foreign enjoyment, and convince us by experience what poor husks the world gives us for our food? We are thus to be taught the lesson of our dependence on God. We are to gain impressive views of our sinfulness. We are to feel our need of the divine favour, and so to yield to the urgent call which invites us to return to our "Father's house, where is bread enongh and to spare." utter the holy purpose that was formed by Ephraim and Judah, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, and he will heal us, he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." For encouraging us to follow out so salutary a resolution, we must be careful in our thoughts of the character of God, never to separate the view of his power and justice from the view of his goodness and love. We are to contemplate his perfections, therefore, as they appear in such blessed harmony in the scheme of the Gospel. It is there alone that "mercy and truth are met together; that righteousness and peace have kissed each other;" "and that God is beheld as just whilst he justifies the ungodly that believe in Jesus." "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?" "And, we know, that all things work together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to his purpose. " These views of the divine character, in cherishing which, through the Gospel faith, we unite the perfections of infinite goodness and love, with those of infinite power, and rectitude, and holiness, these views induce us to "return unto the Lord." We are constrained to do so by the influence both of fear and hope. There is the fear experienced of one, in whose almighty hand we are placed, and on whose sovereign will we are dependent. For "he hath smitten and torn;" and the first visitings of his anger teach us what the miseries of its full infliction must be. There is still hope in one who has at his command every means of benefiting us, and who has promised to enrich all who come to him with the blessings of his favour. For, he "bindeth up and healeth:" and the peace attending the early return to him, apprises us what the joys shall be of a perfect and unchanging restoration to his friendship. The purpose inherent in repentance is thus cherished, and carried into effect by such views of truth as are both alarming and soothing, solemnizing and attractive. These views accordingly must be preserved together. To part them would occasion either presumptuousness leaning on mercy, which there is no warrant to expect, or despair trembling before power and justice, which seem to be exerted only to de Hence, on the design of accomplishing these effects, we are prepared for interpreting aright even the most awful of the threatenings of the Word of God. "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, saith the Lord, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue." How appalling is this language! Is it expressive of vengeance and cruelty? Has it actually proceeded from Him "who knoweth our frame, and remembereth we are dust, and pitieth us as a father pitieth his children," and who hath shown, by the most marvellous of dispensations, his compassion for us? It is in truth an evidence of the same compassion. The calamity which impends from it is not, in the divine purpose, the closing deed. The object on which the procedure terminates is not "the smit-stroy. ing, and tearing, and destroying." No, blessings In the case of spiritual depression, however, of restored favour are the prospective end of this produced by suffering, it is obvious on what side dreadful manifestation of power and justice. "I the caution requires to be given. Those perfecwill go and return to my place, till they acknow- tions of God which appear to be most vividly disledge their offence, and seek my face. In their played in our seasons of suffering, are his power affliction they will seek me early." Here is ex- and justice: the illustration of them, indeed, pressed the design of the visitation. Its accom- which is then given, being often so strong as plishment illustrates the mercy which pervaded the to prompt the mind to abandon itself to hopelessthreatening. And how precious is the result to ness. We must consider for caution, therefore, that the afflicted, when they, by whom the visitation of while presumption is criminal, so likewise despair fear and suffering was needed, instead of hurrying is. What is despair under the gracious economy of off to attempt to lose, in the mazes of new follies the Gospel? It is rejecting mercy, conveyed in the and crimes, the painful conviction of sin and help-clearest offers, and pressed on us by invitations equallessness, submit with humbleness, to the chastise-ly full and affectionate. It is questioning the proments, and are heard, in token of relenting, to mises of forgiveness, whose fulfilment is secured 66 oy the divine oath. It is refusing those very consolations and joys which the Son of God died to purchase for us. Yea, moreover, despair, under the gracious economy of the Gospel, has its unreasonableness and guilt characterised by the intended effect of the divine threatenings and judgments themselves. These, even the most awful of them, are not at variance with the promises and blessings of grace. The heaviest threatenings of the law, and the sorest judgments with which the sinner is alarmed and agitated, ought all to be viewed and felt as excitements to return to God. They prove, in fact, that you are not forgotten. They prove that you are still cared for. They are to be construed into the language, the serious language of love. They are to be heard as the tones of increased earnestness, with which the father urges his foolish and perverse child from the brink of the precipice. They are infinitely more blessed than the words that soothe and encourage with false assurances of safety. They would reclaim from all that is most dangerous here, and most wretched hereafter. They would restore to happiness in restoring the soul to God. Behold then, goodness, where the senses perceive nothing but severity,-goodness moving under the aspects of the terrible attributes, for promoting the rich designs of salvation. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE individual whose life we are now about to sketch, was descended from parents in Cornwall, who, though belonging to the humbler walks of life, lived in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, striving, not merely by their instructions, but by their example and their prayers, to train up for glory the young immortals whom providence had intrusted to their care. Samuel, in his early days, being naturally of a lively and frolicsome disposition, was somewhat impatient of parental restraint, but by the kind and persevering attentions of his invaluable mother, he acquired considerable information, and imbibed salutary moral principles, which were never effaced from his mind. The benefits of his mother's instructions were not apparent in the character of Samuel Drew for many years after her death. His recollections of her watchfulness and care, however, were of the most pleasing kind. "I well remember," he said, but a few weeks before his decease, "in my early days, when my mother was alive, that she invariably took my brother and me by the hand, and led us to the house of prayer. Her kind advice and instruction were unremitting; and even when death had closed her eyes in darkness, the impression remained long upon my mind, and I sighed for a companion to accompany me thither. On one occasion, I well recollect, we were returning from the chapel, at St. Austell, on a bright and beautiful star-light night, when my mother pointed out the stars as the work of an Almighty parent, to whom we were indebted for every blessing. Struck with her representation, I felt a degree of gratitude and adoration which no language could express, and through nearly all the night enjoyed ineffable rapture. When Samuel was yet in his tenth year, the family were called to mourn the loss of this excellent woman, who died of consumption, in October 1774. The sensations produced on the mind of the child, by this mournful orent, appear never to have been forgotten; for to a friend he once remarked, "When we were following my mother to the grave, I well recollect a woman observing as we passed, Poor little things! they little know the loss they have sustained.'' Rather more than a year before this sore bereavement, the parents found it necessary to remove both Samuel and his brother Jabez from school, that by manual labour they might assist in their own maintenance. Samuel was accordingly employed in a part of the process of cleansing tin ores, that part which is familiarly For the services of the young buddle-boy his father at known to the Cornish miners by the name of buddling. first received three halfpence, and afterwards twopence a-day. During two years in which he was engaged in this employment, he was exposed to the evil influence of the wicked children with whom he was compelled to associate, and the consequences were most injurious to his moral character. His father found it necessary of treatment the boy became quite unmanageable, and to resort to very severe measures, but under such a mode at length, chiefly through the influence of his stepmother, his father having been married a second time, he was sent away from home. Here At the age of ten years and a-half, Samuel was bound Mill, about three miles from St. Austell. The term apprentice to a shoemaker named Baker, at Tregrehan of apprenticeship agreed upon was nine years, but he left his master before the term had expired. While employed in this situation, he was by no means comfortable, and often thought of running way, to enlist on board either of a privateer or a man-of-war. A kind providence, however, prevented him from taking such a step. At length the unprincipled youth absconded from his master's service, and wandered about for a short time, working where he could get employment. His father having made compensation to his master, and got the indenture cancelled, took the boy home, where he was engaged either in working at his own business, or in assisting his father and brother on the farm. In a few months a situation was procured for him at Millbrook, on the Cornish side of the estuary of the Tamar. he was remarked among his fellow-workmen as by no means skilled in his business, but remarkably shrewd in general conversation. After having spent about a year at Millbrook, work became scanty, and he, along with some others, was discharged. He then obtained employment at Kingsand, but how long he remained there is uncertain. His next place of residence was at Crafthole, a village in the vicinity of the noted smuggling port in Cornwall-Port Wrinkle. Here he engaged occasionally in assisting the smugglers in their unhallowed traffic, and on one occasion almost lost his life in one of their perilous adventures. Intelligence of his conduct soon reached his father's ears, and the good man, grieved at heart, lost no time in using means for having his son removed from a scene which presented so many temptations to his daring disposition and wicked inclinations. Having made application to a saddler in St. Austell who wished to join the shoemaking with his other business, Samuel's father succeeded in procuring a situation for him in that town, removed from his abandoned and desperado associates. Hitherto the career of this young man had been one of thoughtlessness and folly, and at last of crime. The early instructions of his mother had been forgotten, and the warnings and reproofs of his father had been utterly disregarded. Religion was with him an object of utter distaste and contempt; and when at any time it was proposed to his attention, he put it away from him as an idle tale. In infinite mercy, however, the Lord was pleased to pluck him as a brand out of the burning, and this profligate and abandoned transgressor became a striking trophy of the all-subduing power and efficacy of divine grace. Shortly after Samuel settled at St. Austell, his brother Jabez was taken seriously ill, and there was good reason to believe, that in consequence of the blessing of God upon the conversation and prayers of Mr Clarke, afterwards the celebrated Dr Adam Clarke, he was brought under serious impressions, and led before his death to seek and to obtain salvation through Christ. The decided change which took place in the views and sentiments of his dying brother, seem to have produced a powerful effect upon his mind. This effect was considerably heightened by the affecting discourse which Mr Adam Clarke preached on the day of the interment of Jabez. Dwelling upon the nature and necessity of conversion, the preacher called upon every one present to repent and return to the Lord. Samuel was struck to the heart. He felt that too long he had been the servant of sin, and he resolved, in the strength of divine grace, that henceforth he would become a servant of the living God. And the steady and consistent course which he pursued through life, shewed that he had been effectually called out of darkness into God's marvellous light. Mr Drew now joined the Methodists, a body of professing Christians to whom he remained steadily attached as long as he lived. And it is rather a curious circumstance, that from the same period which marked the commencement of his Christian course, may be dated his first outset in the acquisition of general information. For twenty years he had remained in a state of intellectual darkness; and had it not been that he providentially met with a copy of Locke's "Essay on the Human Understanding," the fine metaphysical genius of Samuel Drew would never have been called into operation. The perusal of this book formed the turning point of his existence, leading him to pursue a path of inquiry in which the Almighty had fitted him so remarkably to excel. The work which more than any other tended at this time to deepen his religious impressions was Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. It was the first book he could call his own, and, next to the Bible, was his companion. Perceiving his steady attention to business, Mr Drew's friends advised him to commence business for himself, as a shoemaker, and offered him money for that purpose. He accepted the offer, started accordingly, and, by dint of application, in one year discharged all his debts, and stood alone. During the whole of this first year he and his sister, who lived with him as his housekeeper, underwent many distressing privations. "Sometimes," says she, my spirits would fail me under these trying circumstances, and my mind would sink into a state of gloom and despondency. But my dear noble-minded brother was just the spiritual preceptor and comforter I wanted. When he saw me in perplexity, he would say, 'Cheer up, my sister ;have faith in God;-there are brighter days in store.' And very soon the clouds began to pass away. 66 Having been enabled to overcome his pecuniary difficulties, Mr Drew, though still rigidly attentive to his proper calling, found time to improve his mind by reading and reflection. Possessed naturally of an ardent thirst for knowledge, he now embraced every opportunity of gratifying it. Every spare moment, and all the hours he could snatch from sleep, were devoted to reading such books as he could procure. To metaphysical studies he particularly directed his attention, as being most congenial to his taste. The intensity of thought required for the successful prosecution of such pursuits, had the most beneficial influence upon the whole character of his mind. He became well known among all his acquaintances as a man of a sound judgment and strong reflective powers. He was soon appointed by his Methodist friends a local preacher and class leader. And such was his conscientiousness, that being thus called upon to instruct others, he felt himself as laid under a still stronger obligation to acquire knowledge for himself. In his explanations of Scripture, he strove to be faithful as far as his acquaintance with the subject reached. Not more than a year, however, had elapsed when he was deprived, by the superintendent preacher of the district, of the offices which he had been invited to hold. The cause of this sudden dismissal was a charge of heresy in having preached the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ. In explanation of this charge, it may be sufficient to state, that the sect to which Mr Drew connected himself were strict followers of Wesley, and as such they held tenets partaking, in their nature, of modified Arminianism. To the doctrines of a pure Calvinism, they had, and many of them still have, a decided abhorrence. Mr Drew, however, both maintained and openly proclaimed the doctrine for which he was called in question, that we are justified and accepted in the sight of God solely and exclusively on the ground of the imputed righteousness of the Redeemer. On this point many of the respectable body of Methodists hold opinions correct and Scriptural, and accordingly at the local preacher's meeting, which followed the dismissal of Mr Drew, the matter was fully investigated, his views were pronounced correct, and he was unanimously solicited to resume his office as a preacher. This request, therefore, he complied with, and continued to labour acceptably as a preacher, until within a few weeks of his decease, though he could not be prevailed upon for some years to become a class leader. As Mr Drew was much respected, not only as an excellent and upright person, but as possessed of great intelligence and information, his shop was much resorted to by persons who were partial to religious and literary inquiries. Among his workmen also he endeavoured to encourage the habit of conversation on useful topics, and carefully repressed the slightest tendency to immorality either in their language or conduct. The consequence of such a line of proceeding was, that he was esteemed by his workmen, and his business rapidly increased. In this state of prosperity he resolved to enter into the marriage relation. The object of his choice was Honour, eldest daughter of Jacob Halls, a member of the first Methodists' Society of St. Austell. Soon after his marriage, as several of his acquaintances emigrated to America, and sent home very favourable reports, he appears to have felt a strong desire to settle in the New World. From time to time the project was delayed, and at length he came to the resolution of remaining in England. For many years Mr Drew had been accustomed to spend his whole leisure time in study, and besides reading much, he often attempted to commit his thoughts to writing. By a providential circumstance, however, he was led to commence his career as an author. A young man who had become familiar with the pernicious doctrines of Paine's "Age of Reason," being anxious that Mr Drew should become a convert to infidelity, lent him the work, and frequently visited him with the view of endeavouring to persuade him to recognise its principles. The result was most satisfactory. The young man candidly confessed that Mr Drew's arguments had overpowered him, and he became a decided believer in the statements of divine revelation. Encouraged by his success in refuting the arguments of Paine, Mr Drew began to think that the weapons which he had employed in the case of his young friend, might be perhaps equally successful with other deists. He accordingly published a pamphlet in answer to Paine, who was then alive. This pamphlet attracted the notice of the learned antiquarian and divine the Rev. John Whitaker, who was then rector of Ruan Langhorne, a secluded parish, about twelve miles from St. Austell. It received much praise in the public prints, and was regarded as a successful refutation of the arguments which Paine had employed. The success of this first piece soon brought |