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of welcome, he covered his face with the bedclothes, and wept like a child. The struggle of many contending passions and feelings in Kyle's breast produced a terrible effect upon his weakly frame; and his sobs became painfully hysterical. I insisted on taking his hand, to show that I at least did not deem him too great a sinner to be owned and treated as a brother; and, when he became somewhat calmer, I read to him some words of St. Ambrose, to let him see that in tears, such as his, good men see nothing of which the most manly need be ashamed. The words I read were these; and they appeared to reconcile the poor man to his weakness: "Tears do wash the sin, which the voice is ashamed to confess: weeping doth provide both for pardon and shamefacedness: tears do confess our crime, without offence of our shamefacedness." Very rarely, however, did Kyle give way to passionate bursts of feeling: his remorse was hidden deep within his breast; and, as a true penitent, he was too humble to obtrude even his allowable grief upon others. Still he did not shrink from speaking of his sins; and I believe there was not an evil thought or propensity, of which he was conscious, any more than any past sin, either of commission or omission, which he did not confess to me, and for which he did not beg of me to pray especially for pardon. One subject alone he did not enter upon for weeks; and I was fearful in his debilitated state to take upon myself the responsibility of broaching it: the father never mentioned his child. It was strange, I thought, that he should not do so; but grief is often strange, alike in its demonstrations and effects. It is directed by no settled law; but the "law of kindness" was binding upon me, and by that I considered myself bound not to open wounds which, in the patient's feeble state, it might afterwards be found impossible to heal. Nevertheless, I was anxious on many accounts to speak to Kyle about Kitty; and, though it would have been unfeeling not to have commiserated the efforts which it cost the poor man to mention her name, yet I could not but rejoice that he at length

made it.

DO THYSELF NO HARM:

A Sermon,

dismay the doors of his prison lying open,
and thence supposing that his ill-used cap-
tives had escaped, in amazement at the sight,
and in terror for the expected consequences,
the unhappy man had drawn his sword, to
anticipate by suicide the public death which
he knew for certain to await him. But did
he, like the wretched traitor Judas, add to
his other unforsaken sins the dreadful guilt
of suicide? No. The kind providence of
God interposed to save him from death, both
temporal and eternal, and to give him life
here and for evermore. St. Paul, too, was
made the honoured instrument by which that
mercy was conveyed from heaven; for, when
he beheld the armed hand uplifted to destroy
that life which God had given, and which
God alone has a right to take away, he cried
aloud," Do thyself no harm;" and the man,
who at one moment was seen overcome with
fear, intending by a speedy death to escape
the anger of his fellow-men, the next moment
was seen in humbled form, and with im-
portunate supplication, trembling at the con-
No longer
sequences of the wrath of God.
regarding the opinions or censures of wicked
men; no longer thinking of his worldly pros-
pects, but totally engrossed with the fears of
hell and the joys of heaven, in reply to the
affectionate exhortation of the apostles he is
described as saying, with eagerness and in
agitation, "Sirs, what must I do to be

saved?"

O, my dear friends, what an earnest and awakening call must that have been which had such power to arrest a sinner so suddenly in his crime, and to convert him so effectually unto God!

same blessed effects be produced now, when And yet why should not the (as Ehud said to Eglon) "I have a message unto you from God;" the same, the very same to each of you, which Paul gave to his former overbearing master, but his now humbled follower? It is true, indeed, that an inspired apostle was then the speaker; but keep in mind that he nevertheless was a feeble mortal-so feeble, that it is written, he might preach, but after all it was God alone who gave him utterance, and gave the increase. It is likewise true that, when Paul spake, a mighty wonder was performed; for the bars of iron were broken, and the well"But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thy-chained prison-gates were burst asunder. Be

BY THE REV. BEAVER H. BLACKER, M.A.,
Curate of St. Mary's, Donnybrook, Dublin.

ACTS xvi. 28.

self no harm; for we are all here."

THIS, brethren, was the earnest and effectual appeal of the apostle Paul to the terrified jailor at Philippi, the circumstances of whose case, you may remember, were simply these. Having been suddenly aroused at midnight by a mighty earthquake, and perceiving with

assured, however, that the same Spirit is now equally present to perform as great a wonder; since he, "who alone worketh great marvels," is ready to pour down upon both minister and people the continual dew of his blessing, in order to break within us the iron bonds of sin, with which we all are shackled, and thus to set Satan's miserable

captives free. Doubtless, it is not to be expected, nor is it necessary, that this marvellous change should instantaneously take place. Though still as possible, yet, if we judge by the usual method in which grace proceeds, it is not probable; and therefore we need not expect to see sinners at one moment terrified, and at the next in peace, because believing. For surely it matters not when this needful change may be effected: it is only important to be sure that it has begun, to be careful that it be complete. And hence it follows that this message to you from heaven-to "do yourselves no harm"ought to be as effectual in rescuing you and others from destruction, as it was when first delivered, though the speaker was an apostle, and miraculous the scene.

I shall endeavour to show that this message is sent to each of you, and is most applicable to us all. And may the Lord, the Holy Spirit, convince you of this important truth, and arouse you, one and all, that, amazed at the depth and greatness of your guilt, and the imminency of your danger, you may heartily respond, and say, "What must I do to be saved? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

What, I ask you, is the "harm" against which it is my duty to give you speedy warning? Brethren, it is sin-sin in general, sin under every form and shape. Accordingly we are told in scripture that "sin is the transgression of the law," and that it is sin which brings the soul of man into danger and everlasting ruin. We know that sin is the violation of that code of laws delivered by him who is holy, just, and good, and with whom it is impossible to err. We know that this law condemns not only the outward violation, but even the secret lust or passion from which the atrocity arises; that this sacred law, which came from heaven amidst vivid lightnings and pealing thunders, exercises control over the most secret thought, because "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do;" that the least deviation from the path marked out by infinite holiness and wisdom is an offence; and that, if no atonement had been made, death and destruction must have been the inevitable consequence. We know too that our first parents did merely eat of the forbidden fruit, and (to single out but one more instance of the sad effects of what the world may consider slight and venial of fences) that Uzzah merely touched the Lord's ark; and yet they died! From all which, we may infer that the slightest wilful transgression against the divine law brings in the offender guilty before his God, and

of course makes him subject to all the threatened terrors of the wrath of heaven.

Now, viewing the requirements of the divine law in this scriptural light, who can expect to be clear of sin in that day when God shall appear in judgment, with power and great glory? Believe me, "no man living shall be justified" in his sight. "We have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God," offending against light and knowledge, against innumerable mercies and repeated warnings, omitting duties, and transgressing express commands. Need I, then, hesitate to take up the words of the apostle, and say to every one here present, as I would to him prepared for self-destruction, "Cease: stop thine hand: do thyself no harm"? I need not speak as though I were addressing the hardened and offending inmates of a prison, or those pitiable sinners, who openly "deny the Lord that bought them"-those moral suicides, who openly blaspheme God's holy name. Such language would sound strangely within these sacred walls, where order and regularity prevail, and where at least the semblance of piety is so plainly seen. But, though we hear of no horrid blasphemies among you, no murders, no such like offences, forbidden by the express letter of the Decalogue; though as members of society your morality may be commended, yet do not imagine vainly that therefore you are exempt from the apostle's declaration to the trembling jailor. O, do not imagine, I beseech you, that I need not lift up my voice after Paul's example, to testify against your guilt, to exhort you to fly instantly from danger, to call upon you to "do yourselves no harm" "!

Let us now examine with respect to our obedience; and for this purpose let us take the decalogue in brief succession.

Though you, beloved, may not at any time have atheistically denied the being, existence, or power of him who inhabiteth eternity, yet examine and see whether you have not loved, or desired, or trusted in any other save in God; for example, in yourselves, or in your own imagined righteousness; thereby, like many others, making the creature, and not the Creator, the object and end of all your fondest hopes. Have you ever trusted in yourselves, when Christ alone should be your rock of safety? Have you amidst alarming threatenings been careless, under blessings unthankful, under tribulation discontented? Alas! should such be your state of mind, though nominally believers in a Triune God (i. e., in one God in Trinity, and in Trinity in Unity), you are in fact breakers of the first commandment; and, in deep anxiety for

your spiritual and eternal safety, I call upon you to withhold your hand, to cease from sin, to "do yourselves no harm."

I may, I think, say that you have never worshipped a graven image, and that you wonder at the blind ignorance and superstition of so many fellow-creatures, who, in despite of scripture and reason, continue so to do. But are you therefore certain that you stand acquitted of all violation of that commandment which forbids such senseless adoration? O, dear friends, whom it has so long been my happy privilege to address, before you would be sure, ask yourselves whether you have formed no unscriptural conceptions of the divine nature of your God, either of his holiness or of his mercy; whether you are in the habit of worshipping him, as you ought to do, with regularity, with becoming reverence of body, with heartfelt submission of soul; in short, whether you are serving him in all the appointed means, avoiding superstition on the one hand and cold indifference on the other.

Most probably you have not blasphemed the holy name of God by perjury or profane swearing. To most of you there is no temptation; and a general sense of propriety has raised you above this horrid vice. But perhaps unmeaning and careless prayers in Jesus' name have been uttered by your lips: perhaps you have, either at home or here, irreverently read or lightly thought upon his blessed word: perhaps you have neglected Christ's holy ordinances, especially the sacramental supper; or perhaps you have profaned this holy place by worldly, or vain, or wandering, nay, wicked thoughts: thus sinning, as did the Jews of old, when they made God's temple "an house of merchandize, and a den of thieves."

In obedience to the fourth commandment, you do not neglect the public and decorous observance of the sabbath-day. But with respect to yourselves, before the service of the sanctuary begins, how are you employed? Is the rising sun, rejoicing to run his course, an emblem of your awakening souls? Do you carefully call to mind why this day was instituted?-to commemorate weekly the creation of the world, and the resurrection of the world's Redeemer. Does serious and devout meditation upon these grand events bring you here with minds prepared to receive the full benefit of the public ordinances of religion? Does rest from worldly business give certain evidence that you are actually and actively engaged in spiritual exercises? When your devotion here has ended, how proceeds the day? Is it sanctified in your homes? Do all around you, over whom you have con

trol, learn by your precept and example, to "call the sabbath a delight"? to "remember to keep it holy"? Or, on the contrary, do you come here with careless hearts, and leave it without profit, to pass the remaining hours of the day in idle talk, unnecessary business, or indolent self-indulgence? O, such things ought not to be! If thus you act, you are manifestly strangers to heartfelt piety: you are "doing yourselves great harm;" for, notwithstanding your appearance here, and your punctual observance of this appointed duty, you would of course be moral suicides, plunging into ruin your immortal souls.

Let us proceed in like manner through the second table of God's commands. And with regard to the fifth, which stands first upon it, let me examine you: I should rather say, let me assist you in self-examination.

I may be speaking to some whom death has recently deprived of their tender parents, or who, loving them affectionately, have always served them dutifully and with willing hearts. Yet, let not even such persons persuade themselves that they must therefore stand acquitted in God's sight of all wilful violation of this first commandment with promise; for perhaps, brethren, you have been inattentive to, and unmindful of the other relations, which connect you with your fellow-creatures, besides your father and your mother, such as the various connexions which exist between king and subject, between superior and dependent. Viewing, then, the precept in this extended light, who can expect to receive the promised reward? Who has punctually fulfilled the various duties which that precept has enjoinedhonour, submission, and reverence to all, to whom they are justly due?

Again, I think that I am addressing persons clear of all blood-shedding; persons who have never wilfully harboured designs against the life of any man. Yet to how many present may I point out the sixth commandment, and exclaim, as I would to a murderer or suicide, "Do thyself no harm"! You are violating, you have often broken this precept, against which angry judgment has been denounced, if you have ever wished for the death of those who have interfered with your own advancement; if you have ever unreasonably quarrelled with a neighbour; if you have cherished envious or malicious sentiments; or if you have omitted to cultivate meek, forbearing, and forgiving tempers.

Again, I do not here accuse you of gross and flagrant violations of the next divine commandment; but, after our blessed Saviour's example, I warn you to judge your

selves as strictly by the spirit as by the letter. Ask yourselves whether, with all your outward purity of conduct, the secret lust of the heart, indulged and cherished unknown save to God and each individual, has not ranked you amongst even flagrant sensual offenders. For, take the commandment in an extended sense. Has any carnal worldly wish been indulged and left uncurbed, as regards either appetite, or conversation, or habit? O, how that all-searching eye, which "neither slumbers nor sleeps," must have detected crime in every heart! How many characters, appearing to human eye temperate, and mortified, and chaste, must seem to God impure, and utterly unfit for the sanctified abodes of men, who have been made perfect in the blood of the Lamb!

Again, it is written, "Thou shalt not steal." Have you ever incurred a debt which you did not fully expect to be able to repay ? Have you ever wasted your substance? exacted more than what was due? withheld a just demand? availed yourselves of another's wants? or taken advantage of his ignorance? Have you violated any trust, or abused any loan? If you have, brethren, you have sinned against the eighth commandment, and therefore are doing your selves great harm."

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You are solemnly forbidden to accuse any man falsely. Have you observed this law you, who never took an oath in public, or never gave false evidence upon a formal trial? Before you venture to reply, consider well what are your daily habits. Perhaps in social intercourse you have mis-stated facts, have maliciously or uncharitably reported of a neighbour, have published without necessity another's faults? or perhaps you have underrated the good, and overrated the bad, and, without giving testimony of their worth, have suffered the innocent to be traduced.

But who can stand the test of the tenth commandment, which St. Paul declares to have first convinced him of his own sinful nature? "I had not known sin," he says, "but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Brethren, who, tell me, is innocent? or, as article xi. of our church expresses it, "accounted righteous before God." The scriptures declare that "none are righteous, no, not one." We are commanded not to covet; and yet have we not, one and all, detected ourselves offending? In fact, we do so, whenever we murmur against the dispensations of heaven, so many of which are past our finding out, and are so trying to our faith, because so much opposed to our natural

inclinations. We do so, whenever we pine for the honours, or wealth, or comforts of others; whenever we envy those who are in prosperity; whenever we undervalue our own gifts, and are forgetful of divine favours; or whenever our pursuit after earthly possessions interferes with our religion, and induces an inattention to spiritual concerns. O, how deep and searching are the holy commands of God, who trieth the very hearts and reins of all his creatures! How incontestably do they prove that every man living is day after day doing himself great harm"!

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When the terrified Philippian was convinced of this, he acted in a manner which, having been recorded for our learning, well demands our closest imitation. He gave up at once his plans of self-destruction: he called for aid: he eagerly sought counsel: he inquired of Paul and Barnabas, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

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Now, it has been written for our admonition, that "to be carnally-minded is death" by nature we are all so how many, alas! remain in their original condition!); that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord" (how many are without this necessary holiness, and seem not to value it!); that "as the tree falls, so must it lie;" and that in the state in which we die, in the same precisely shall we rise again. Well then, indeed, may each of us, in the sad and bitter contemplation of our manifold sins, look anxiously to our own circumstances, as well as to the state of those around us, and, like the panic-stricken jailor, inquire, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? O! is there not a remedy? What must I do to be saved?"

To all such awakened sinners, to all so penitent and distressed, there is indeed a most cheering message, as revealed to the world in the Lamb's book of life. For, though you have come short of the glory of God, and a curse deep and total is impending over you, you nevertheless need not be disheartened. It was said to the penitent jailor, and through him to you, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." The transgression, it is true, is universal; but so is likewise the remedy, being free to all. "For, if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. "Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righte ousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,

so by the obedience of one shall many be | CATECHISM OF THE ANCIENT VAUDESE, made righteous."

Thanks be to God, what mighty consolation is there in various blessed promises to the wearied soul of man! O, how sure and

stedfast is this anchor to the soul amidst the many storms of temptation to which we are hourly exposed, and which we, if unassisted, could never overcome! Like the vessel which wafted the apostle to the Roman shores, we may be tossed and tempest-driven; the sails may be rent, and the rudder gone, neither sun nor stars in many days appearing; in other words, all earthly hopes may be darkened and destroyed; but still there is a Pilot, who can and will conduct us safely through this stormy deep, safe to the haven whither we would wish to steer. Yes; it is my pleasing duty to address you in the language of the same apostle, and declare, "There shall be no loss of any man's life among you, if ye abide in the ship;" if ye only continue in the ark of Christ's church, casting all hopes and cares on him, who rules the storm, and rescues all who look to him for help. "Fear not," he says, "I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

Finally, brethren, you are all, as sinners, in imminent danger. A subtle enemy is ever close hand. A fearful hell is prepared for those at whom he can deceive. Death is rapidly approaching, to transfer you, it may be, to Satan's eternal keeping. O, will you not, then, listen to an invitation, which can protect you from all evil, and prevent every harm? May God give you grace to hearken to his voice of mercy! May God's Spirit impart to you, for time and eternity, the full and unchanging consolations which belong to such promises as these: "Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away;" and, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

And now, brethren, let all glory be ascribed to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, three Persons in one Godhead, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

OR ALBIGenses.

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C.-According to the apostle, in Hebrews xi., it is the substance (representation) of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen (or which do not show themselves).

P.-How many kinds of faith are there?
C.-Two kinds; namely, living and dead.
P.-What is a living faith?

C.-That which works by charity.
P.-What is a dead faith?

C.-According to St. James, "Faith, if it hath not works, is dead." And again, "Faith is nothing without works." Or it may be said, that is a dead faith which believes that there is a God, has a belief of God, but believes not in God.

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CHAP. II.

Of what faith art thou?

Of the true catholic (universal) apostolical

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P.-Which are they?

C.-"Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above," &c. (repeating Deut. v. 7-21 inclusive).

P.-To what form may these commandments be reduced (or made to depend)?

Eighty years, therefore, before the appearance of Peter of Lyons, commonly called "Peter Waldo." Long before the times of that celebrated evangelist-preacher, the Vaudese were known by this name, which is derived from "vaudes," a word in the Romana tongue, signifying "sorcerer, or witch" (Monastier's "History of the Vaudese Church").

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