SABBATH MEDITATIONS. No. VI. AUGUST 11.-TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Morning Lessons: 1 Kings xxi.; Acts ix. Evening Lessons: 1 Kings xxii.; James i. MORNING. and spent, and crowns us when at last we have got the victory (St. Bernard). Prayer. O Lord Jesus Christ, the only stay and fence of our mortal state; our only hope, our only salvation; who only and alone didst utterly overcome and vanquish sin, death, the world, and the devil, give thou, we beseech thee, unto us "Thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the thy soldiers, strength against the roaring lion, Lord."-1 KINGS XXI. 20. Meditation."We were not redeemed and bought with a price to be idle and do nothing, but to glorify him in body and spirit that hath bought us....God delivered us to the end that, being delivered, we might now serve him, as heretofore we served Satan. 'No man can serve two masters;' we may not serve mammon, for that is made to serve us. The covetous man, which serveth his money, is justly called of Paul 'an idolater.' For he is our god, not whom we profess, but in whom we repose our trust, and whom we serve and obey.... He only serveth God in holiness and righteousness who, denying impiety and worldly concupiscence, liveth soberly, justly, and holily in this present world:' soberly, as touching himself; justly towards his neighbour; and holily, as concerning God" (Abp. Sandys). Prayer.-Prevent me, O Lord, with thy grace, that I may take heed and beware of covetous ness; for hast thou not said unto my soul, Thou shalt not covet?" And shall I not find, if I enlarge a desire which cannot be satisfied, as did Ahab and his posterity, that the commandment which thou hast ordained unto life is to me unto death. O, keep me in the way of thy statutes: let me be rich only toward thee, my God, lest thou give me over, like the sons of Belial, to a reprobate heart; and, walking after the lusts of the flesh, I add unto covetousness, which is the root of all evil, slander and false-witnessing, and sell myself to work wickedness in thy sight. May it not be unto me, as unto the king of Samaria, that when, by the mouth of a faithful minister of thy sanctuary, thou warnest me against increasing that which is not mine, I say unto him, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Grant me, for Jesu's blessed sake, to love him that reproveth me of unrighteousness and convinceth me of sin; to rend my heart, and humble myself before thee; and turn from serving mammon unto the obedience of thy commandment, which is holy and just and good: so shalt thou not bring evil upon me; but at the last, having been kept by thy mighty power, by faith and repentance unto salvation, I shall, by thy grace and mercy, be exalted to thy eternal glory by Christ Jesus; to whom, with thee, O Father, and thee, O blessed Spirit, be praise and dominion, now and for ever. Amen. EVENING. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for, when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."-JAMES i. Meditation."Let this encourage us to a manful resistance that, every time we withstand a temptation, and continue inflexible, we put the prince of darkness to the rout, we bring joy and triumph to the blessed angels, and glory to Almighty God. For it is by his command that we encounter this dreadful adversary, and by the succour of his grace that we keep and gain the field. His eye is upon us throughout the conflict: he sustains us when we are in danger of being overpowered, rallies us when we give way, pours in fresh reinforcements when we are tired which continually wandereth to and fro, seeking whom he may devour. O thou Lamb, spotless as snow, the vanquisher of Satan's tyranny, give unto us, thy weak sheep, the strength and virtue of thy Spirit; that, being in ourselves weak and feeble, and in thee strong and valiant, we may withstand and overcome all assaults of the devil, so that our ghostly enemy may not glory over us; but, he being conquered by thee, we may give thanks to thy mercy, which never leavest them destitute that put their trust in thee. Grant that, neither by our negligence, nor the infirmity of our flesh, nor the subtle crafts and assaults of the evil one, we be driven from faith in thy blood and thy promises, our Lord and our God. Yea, grant unto us thy Holy Spirit, that he may bear and heirs of thy kingdom; and do thou, who witness with our spirit, that we be thy children only knowest the way, lead us the same way unto our heavenly desires; do thou, who only art the life, mercifully vouchsafe unto us the that love thee. Amen (Godly Prayers a). crown of life, which thou hast promised to them The Cabinet. S. K. C. REGENERATION; OR, SPIRITUAL BIRTH ILLUSTRATED BY THAT WHICH IS NATURAL.-Although an infant yet unborn may be said to be in the world, yet has it no more idea of what is passing in it than if the world did not exist; not orly because the senses are not yet unfolded, but because of the thick veil which surrounds it, and hinders its discovering the objects that are so near it. So is it with the unregenerate soul. In God it lives, and moves, and has its being; but it is not sensible of his presence. The things of God, which present themselves continually to the minds of the children of God, make no impression upon the unregenerate soul. God calls, but it understands not his voice. Christ offers it the bread of life, but it cannot taste that the Lord is good. The light of heaven shines around it, but it comprehends it not: the eyes of the understanding are covered with so thick a covering that it cannot see the light, or discover its excellency: the veil of ignorance prevents it from beholding the Sun of righteousness, and the ray of life eternal. Again: a child is no sooner born than he exists in a manner altogether different from before: he breathes, he feels the air that surrounds him, and by an alternate motion receives it in, and sends it forth continually. All his bodily senses are affected, and called into exercise by their proper objects: his eyes are opened to the light, and hence he perceives a boundless variety of new things; his ears are struck with a thousand different sounds; and the senses of touching, &c., discover to him continually some of those things by which he is surrounded. So, the new birth causes an equally marvellous change in the soul. The sinner is no sooner born again than he becomes sensible of the presence of his God: he can say with David, "Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me” (Ps. cxxxix. 5). He renders back to God without ceasing, by prayer and praise, the breath of spiritual life, which he receives by faith; and, acquiring continually new strength, his spiritual senses are unfolded, and by exercise made capable of discerning spiritual objects. He has begun the life eternal: he rejoices in the light of life: he tastes the good word of God: he hears the voice of his heavenly parent, and comes at his call. All his spiritual senses are in exercise: the veil is taken away. He feels, he knows, he comprehends: he lives the life of God, which he has received from the Father, of his Spirit: he bears the likeness of his parent, from whom he received his spiritual birth: the moral perfections of God are communicated to him through the Spirit: he resembles God: he is the image of his Father: he walks in newness of life: he is "born of God:" the life of God is communicated to the soul of man.Rev. John Betts, B.A. IMAGES.-They, who have sent the ignorant and unlearned to pictures and images, as books proper for their instruction, have not acted very wisely; nor has that expedient turned out happily or luckily for the advantage of that part of mankind. But surely this great volume or system (of creation), which is always open and exposed to the view of all, is admirably adapted to the instruction of both the vulgar and the wise; so that Chrysostom had good reason to call it "the great book for the learned and unlearned."-Abp. Leighton. SELF-DEPENDENCE.- -When the apostle Peter began to sink in the lake, he had not become himself heavier, nor had the water altered its power of sustaining him; but he had lost that property by which he might have walked upon the waves, and through which the risen saints will, at the last day, meet their Lord in the air." He had let go faith, nor did he regain it when he cried to Jesus for help; for, could without a soul to enliven it. Without that, it is but a carcass; as you see at death, when the soul is separated from it, it returns to be but a stock or stump of flesh the soul bestows all life and motion on it, and enables it to perform any work of nature. Again, the body and soul together, considered in relation to somewhat above their power and activity, are as impotent and as motionless as before the body without the soul. Set a man to remove a mountain, and he will heave, perhaps, to obey your command; but in event will do no more towards the displacing of it than a stone in the street could do. But now let an omnipotent power be annexed to this man, let a supernatural spirit be joined to this soul, and then will it be able to overcome the proudest, stoutest difficulty in nature. You have heard, in the primitive church, of a grain of faith removing mountains; and, believe me, all miracles are not yet out dated. The work of regeneration, the bestowing of a spiritual life on one dead in trespasses and sins, the making of a carcass walk, the natural old man to spring again and move spiritually, is as great a miracle as that.-Dr. Hammond. Poetry. THOUGHT. BOUNDLESS, illimitable, who can trace Thy varied journeyings through the realms of air? And fliest on swiftest pinion everywhere. Make 'mid their shining hosts the spirit's home, Among their living lights where seraphs tread; dazed. he have laid hold on the boat, it is quite as probable But thou hast earthly rovings, boundless thought! THE SOURCE OF THE NEW CREATION.-Now that you may conceive wherein it consists, how this new man is brought forth in us, by whom it is conceived, and in what womb it is carried, I will require no more of you than to observe and understand with me what is meant by the ordinary phrase in our divines, "a new principle, or inward principle of life," and that you should do briefly thus:-A man's body is naturally a sluggish, inactive, motionless, heavy thing, not able to stir or move the least animal motion Thither thou lead'st us. Hoary mountains piled High in the clouds, broad lakes, and rivers fair, Judea's queen, so honoured, so debased, And through her streets his path of sorrow traced- By thee long-parted friends together meet, Again each faded lineament retrace, Till faithful memory all their charms restore! The lonely mother at her cottage hearth Shudders to hear the storm go rushing past; And, as in fitful and demoniac mirth, one end of the longest in diameter is the high altar; and at the opposite extremity the royal closet or oratory; a large space between both, through the centre of the chapel, being kept open, and separating the portion of the edifice appropriated to the ladies Shrieks forth in trumpet-tones the madden'd from that to which men are admitted. A rich corblast While roars the tempest, roll the blacken'd cloudsShe seeks her sea-boy's form, rock'd in the spraywreath'd shrouds. Oxford Herald. Miscellaneous. M. N. M. SPANISH FRIARS. While standing in the evening near the door of the posada at Andujar, I observed an old man in a ragged black cloak and broken hat, whom I at once recognised as one of the expelled friars, who still remained in the country, either depending for support on the charity of the public, or on aid from the secular clergy, although the latter have themselves been long in a state of almost total want. He turned his comfortless gaze from one end of the street to the other, with an expression which seemed to say, "It is little matter to me which side I go." I addressed him in Latin, a language which I soon found he could speak with fluency; and, after a little conversation, I discovered that he had been for many years to preach the gospel in India and Japan. Poor man! Midst how many dangers and privations did he practice his pious labours in those distant missions, without any hope of reward on this side of the grave; and now, in his old age and in his native land, he has not even the cheerless home of the cloister to shelter him! He was too old and penniless, he said, to make his way to Rome, whither many of his brethren had gone, and in a short while he would only trouble his countrymen to lay him in the earth. For the moment, a few quartos were to him an important relief. I recollect having, a few years before, met a Spanish friar under similarly melancholy circumstances. I saw him reposing his wearied limbs by the way-side, in the parched wilderness of the Campagna di Roma, the dome of St. Peter's in view, although still many leagues distant, but scarcely strength enough remaining in the forlorn pilgrim to enable him to reach that asylum of the unfortunate. And why was he thus an outcast and a homeless exile? During my journey through Spain, I saw in every town monasteries converted into barracks or warehouses, or their sites occupied by unsightly piles of ruins, left after the removal of all the materials of any value used in their construction; and churches which had echoed with the canticle and the anthem, now desolate and empty. Why this utter devastation?-Haverty's Wanderings in Spain. SPANISH ROYAL CHAPEL.-On the following Sunday, in the palace chapel, where the music is invariably enchanting, I had an opportunity of seeing the queen and her royal sister attend mass in public, as they always do on Sundays and great festivals; and, while waiting for the appearance of the court, I had time to examine in detail the exquisite architecture of the chapel. Its form is elliptical, having semi-elliptical recesses at the ends and sides. At nice is supported by columns of black marble, beautifully veined with white: the bases and capitals are gilt. Over the altar and royal oratory are superb tribunes; and the dome, with every other portion of the ceiling, where it is not covered with gilding, is decorated with fine frescos, painted by Conrado Giaquinto. The dome represents the blessed Trinity in the glory of heaven, with innumerable choirs of angels and saints: in the four concave angles are the saints Damasus, Hermenegildus, Isidore, and Mary de la Cabeza, all of whom, except St. Hermenegildus, were natives of Madrid; and in the ceiling over the entrance is the battle of Clavijo. At length martial music was heard in the court of the palace, and echoed through the spacious galleries: a train of priests in surplices entered, and took their seats on benches along one side of the open central space : priests robed for the celebration of mass followed, with the venerable patriarch of the Indies in his oriental robes: the great lattice of the royal closet was drawn aside, and the young queen and her sister appeared inside, on two thrones, that of the infanta being on the queen's left. When they knelt, they appeared quite at the front of the lattice; but, when sitting, the queen was partly concealed from those on the men's side of the chapel; and the amiable little infanta seemed to devote, perhaps, too much of her attention to her royal sister, who was evidently the object of all her admiration and affection. They wore bonnets of green velvet; but, on subsequent occasions, I frequently saw them wear the Spanish mantilla, of which the queen is said to be particularly fond. When the queen's name was mentioned in the prayers at mass, the train of priests turned round and bowed to her majesty, but she only returned the salutation with a rapid inclination of the head; and in this as well as her other abrupt gestures, such as starting every moment from her seat, and tossing her head about violently, she displayed not only an extremely defective education, but it is to be feared a sullenness and violence of disposition also. In this respect it is apprehended that she will but too strongly resemble her royal father, as she decidedly does in a certain coarseness of expression about the mouth and chin, if not in the general outline of her features. On one occasion, I saw her majesty lose temper so much, because her governess could not make her understand the parts of the office in her prayer-book, that she shut up the book in a pet, and refused to speak with her sister, who was gently endeavouring to soothe her anger.-Haverty's Wanderings in Spain. RECOLLECTIONS OF SNOWDON. No. I. [Pass of Llanberis.] IT is sixty years this summer since I was upon the top of Snowdon. I was then young and active life was full of freshness: its cares had not touched me; and I was ready for any deep impression. I have since traversed oceans and continents: I have glided down the most celebrated streams: I have beheld the most stupendous mountain ranges: I have trodden many battlefields, and mixed with the population of innumerable crowded cities: while the stirring events that I have witnessed during so long a course of years must, it will be readily allowed, have stored my recollection abundantly with thrilling thoughts. But yet, the scenes that I visited in early youth rise to my mind's eye with a peculiar charm, and excite in me still a deeper emotion. Born in a flat, uninteresting country, I shall never lose the VOL. XVII. sensations, so different to what I had felt before, which flashed upon me when I first contemplated the splendid scenery of North Wales. Ever since, the sight of a mountain has been as the face of a friend; and, when, far distant from those most dear to me, I have looked out on a spiry peak soaring into the clear sky, or majestically robed in clouds, I have seemed at once transported back to those days of enjoyment when, in the morning of life, I first formed acquaintance with the lovely works of the Creator's hand. The associations which distance or death had shivered have again risen fresh before me, and my youth has seemed to be renewed. And this, as I retrace in my memory the events of that long-past time, is even now the case with me. Having crossed the kingdom in the stages of those days, I arrived late one evening at the city of Chester. The next day I devoted to the visitation of this quaint old town; and then, quitting I it by a night-coach, I reached Conway in the morning's route we could trace as on a map; and early morning. No suspension-bridge then united in the distance we discovered Llanberis, the limit the shores of its noble river, which I passed in a of our excursion, towards which we now bent our frail ferry-boat, myself the solitary passenger, as steps. The view as we approached it was exceedI had been in the coach. Sternly frowned the ingly fine. We stood upon the brink of a pretowers of the majestic castle, as it stood upon cipitous descent, and looked down upon its lakes its rock, at the foot of which I landed, and and rocks and castle, placed as it were betwixt proceeded through a dark-browed arch into the two walls of mountain. We were not sorry when town. Here I rested a few days, and was joined we reached this village, and at its little inn enby some young friends who were to be the com-joyed heartily the plain fare of which they propanions of my journey: We agreed that the rest of our excursion should be on foot, and that our first object should be Snowdon. vided us a dinner after our long morning's walk. Llanberis nestles in a most romantic glen, open only in a westerly direction. There are here two Accordingly, we set out from Conway at an exquisite lakes, Llyn Peris and Llyn Padarn (deearly hour, our knapsacks on our backs, and stout riving their names from two saints), divided from sticks in our hands. It was a glorious day in each other by a narrow slip of ground, on a rock July. The sun had risen about an hour, exhaling in which stands the old castle of Dolbadern. This the mists from the hill-tops. We pushed cheer- is a fine old weather-beaten ruin, consisting at fully along the road at a good round pace, light-present of only one round tower; but it is said to hearted as we were; now beguiling the way with have been formerly much more extensive. In this a merry tale or with some favourite song, and at castle an ancient Welsh prince, by name Owen times pausing to contemplate the noble scenery Goch, was detained in captivity; and, sitting on opening before us. We passed through the pretty the steps of his prison, I read his history and the vale of Dwgyfylchi, then over the rugged Pen- lament of one of his bards. I am one of those maenmawr, and breakfasted at the inn of Aber. A peculiarly affected by the power of association. while before, the passage of Penmaenmawr was I feel a kind of spell upon the mind when on the not a very easy achievement; and some verses spot where any remarkable deed was done; when, are preserved which, it is said, dean Swift com- musing on the events of other days, I can look posed for a little public-house at the foot of the round and say, "These are the rocks and this the mountainvale, these mouldering walls and those dark turrets were the witnesses of the facts on which I am meditating." Such a feeling must not be carried to an extreme; else, as in the case of those who have visited as pilgrims the localities of the Holy Land, it will degenerate into an unhealthy superstition. Still, it must be admitted that history derives a more vivid interest from the scenery of its exploits. "Before you venture here to pass, And the reverse "Take another, now you're over, Your fainting spirits to recover." The road, however, which was made some years before our excursion, had removed every difficulty; and the traveller regards no longer with alarm, but only with admiration, the huge rocks above his head, and the sea that dashes at his feet. It is true that, after a frost or very heavy rains, pieces are sometimes detached from the overhanging cliffs, and, falling upon the road, make a breach in the wall which guards it; but accidents of this kind are soon repaired. We walked along the celebrated pass of Llanberis, now, I am told, traversed by a road; but, when I trod it, perfectly trackless. This glen above the village appeared a complete chaos. On each side, at perhaps a quarter of a mile's distance, the black and naked rocks reared their gigantic masses perpendicularly into the clouds, while the intervening space was so bespread with huge fragments as scarcely to afford room for turf enough for the sustenance of the few sheep scattered through this desert. Down the glen runs a romantic stream, which feeds the two lakes below. The water is clear, but has a taste of copper, with which these hills are richly stored. The crest of the pass is called the Gorphwysfa, or restingplace, about 1,100 feet above the level of the sea: from it a fine mountain-view towards Capel Curig displays itself. After breakfast, refreshed, we again started. At Llandegai we quitted the great road for a shorter cut, as we conceived, across the mountains. Whether we did not, however, by this deviation lengthen our walk, may be questioned. But, full of spirits, we enjoyed our toils: if one or other of us stumbled into a bog, it only afforded us the more merriment; and, as we ascended the side of Clydair (I think that was the mountain's name), our fatigue was abundantly repaid by the glorious panorama opening before us. The day had become somewhat overcast; but the variations of light and shade thus caused added perhaps to the interest of the scene, and presented to us the view in ever-changing colours. Clouds enveloped all the mountain-tops, and among the rest that on which we stood, rolling their dark volumes along within 150 paces of us, as we paused upon the ridge. On one side the prospect was terminated by Penmaenmawr; on the other by the peaks immediately environing Snowdon. Before us were the towers of Caer-dicted future downfal. Dreary indeed must be narvon behind which was stretched the whole extent of Anglesey, from Priestholm island to Abermenai: the ocean on each side of the shady Mona completed the magnificent picture. Our Returning to the village, we gazed with admiration on the noble hall, if I may be allowed so to call it, in which we were walking. Its ceiling was one of dense cloud, resting upon side-walls of rock; and in the distance before us, seen as through a mighty window, were the two calm lakes and the dark tower of Dolbadern relieved against the bright horizon. The bowels of the earth seemed disgorged around us, and the deep fissures in the cliffs on each hand plainly pre an abode here in the seasons of winter and storm. The mountain-streams then run with a full current: the hoarse dashing of the waters resounds mournfully among the rocks; and nature, in her |