who sat opposite to me, whom I afterwards discovered to be a presbyterian minister. "No remark. poor-laws hereabouts, I suppose?" was my "O no, sir,” was the reply; "assessments have been partially introduced into some towns, in direct opposition to the wish of the inhabitants, and more populous parishes, but are little if at all known in the country. We Scotchmen are too canny a race to allow such imposts, and our heritors, (i. e., landowners) are too fond of their own siller to squander it on the poor and needy. It is very well for great proprietors in England to pay poor-rates, but we cannot afford it here." "How then," was my next question, "do you support the really destitute, such as three of the old women we saw appeared to me to be ?-one was evidently paralysed, and another blind, another obviously far advanced beyond four-score years?" "O, puir bodies, they pick up what they can by begging, and chiefly at the coach-doors. No one interferes with them. And, may be, they get something from the kirk session, as depends on certain circumstances." "What may that something be?" I asked. "O, that will depend on circumstances, as I said; perhaps half a crown a month, more or less." "But will that keep body and soul together?" was my next question. Half a crown a month, a penny a day, for the subsistence of a human being, and that in a country enjoying all the privileges, more or less, of presbyterian illumination." "Poor bodies, they're accustomed to it; coal and peat are very cheap in this country, and they generally carry with them a meal poke (i. e. bag) and sometimes get it half filled in the course of the day, and then they have a good supper of brose or porridge. Paupers are nearly always beggars, and have their regular rounds. In some towns I have known one or two days in the week peculiarly appropriated for begging, and certain persons were expected to call, for whom money, or meal, or broken victuals, were regularly put aside. Now this cherishes a kindly feeling in the hearts of the recipients." I happened to be in a town of some note, large, populous, and flourishing, and witnessed to the full the system of licensed begging. It made one's heart sore to see the squalid misery of many of the wretched beings who crawled (for some could barely walk) along the streets. Well, I thought, as a few weeks afterwards I entered the board-room of the union workhouse, of which, as a guardian, I was a member, and had examined the almost spotless cleanliness of the inmates, and their extreme tidiness, and knew a plain and wholesome dinner was preparing-"Well, this is surely better than the squalid misery of the Scottish poor." Constituted as man is, voluntaryism in anything will never work-whether advocated by a chartist firebrand, a social sensualist, a papistical bishop, an independent preacher, a baptist deacon, or a Socinian lecturer. I am not about to enter on a discussion about the bondage or freedom of the will, but it too often happens, constituted as poor sinful human nature is, that the will does not lead to the exercise of an expansive Christian liberality. But to return to my acquaintance. I confess his statements did not satisfy my mind. "From what sources," was my next question, "do the kirk sessions derive their funds?" "O, from collections at the church-doors on Sundays, and on other occasions when there is a sermon." "But are these collections always sufficient? they must vary from circumstances." "They might be enough if the church was always well attended, and the heritors put into the plate according to their means; but, I am sorry to say, many of our wealthiest land-holders seldom or never attend the church. This is a melancholy fact, it cannot be denied. They are, perhaps, episcopalians, and go to the chapel some ten miles off, and these chapels are multiplying; or, more probably, they are walking over their estates with their grieves, (i. e., bailiffs), or farmservants, causing others to break the Lord's-day-for the laird must be obeyed, be the consequence what it may; or they appoint it for conversation with their man of business, i. e. lawyer, and for settling about leases and farms. I known one man of large landed property and noble fortune, whose man of business comes regularly every sabbath-day; and I could point out many a wealthy patron of a parish whose house is the sabbath resort of the ungodly and dissipated, who never enter a place of worship, and in deference to whom, if no other reason could be assigned, he had not himself been seen within the walls of the church for years, and who, vehemently opposed to assessments, did not relieve the parochial burthens to the value of a halfpenny per acre on the land. And in mercantile towns I have known the sabbath the great day for correspondence; letters were to be answered, which had just been received, or allowed to accumulate during the week, that the leisure and freedom from introduction, on Sunday, might afford more time for their deliberate perusal. The clerks were thus reduced to the alternative of resigning their situations, or desecrating the Lord's day; while the principals left their places of business only in time for a good dinner, and to quaff copious draughts of lime punch. This is a melancholy and sad statement, but it is a true one." I could not but rejoice to think that in London there is no letter delivery on the Sunday, and it is most earnestly to be trusted there never will; this is a boon which, we rejoice to know, many would not accept. May every attempt to obtain it, which may be made by unprincipled and ungodly men, be entirely baffled. "And then," continued my new acquaintance, decidedly an intelligent though somewhat prejudiced man, who was very communicative, "the extent of dissent in a parish will materially affect the collection for parochial purposes. There are, perhaps, two or three seceding meeting-houses; there is an episcopalian, or a Romish chapel. The minister is the presentee of a patron who never goes to public worship at all, but he was the dominie in an uncle's family, or he is nephew to the old housekeeper, or there is some cousinship be tween the patron and himself; and in due time the preacher, young or old, is admitted by the presbytery; and then, in a month or two, is laid the foundstion of a dissenting meeting-house; and then, while the heritors meet and wrangle about improving the kirk, the meeting-house is roofed in, and the patron hears-for he is not there to see-that, save his own servants and tenants, there is scarcely a person at worship. This, of course, will lessen the poor's funds. Plates are indeed placed at the doors of their places of worship, and collections made; but that does not necessarily benefit the poor. These collections are under the control of the specific congregations: they are often applied to the liquidation of debts, to the payment of the minister, to defray other necessary expenses. And still further," he continued, " of course much will depend upon the character and endowments of the parish minister. In many of the parish churches the congregations are very small; especially when the minister is a moderate, and the minister at the meeting-house a man of talent. But a highly-gifted man, that can fill the church, will fill the parochial plate." "I understand," was my reply, "the kirk session In Edinburgh and Glasgow the established churches are not so numerous as the chapels for dissenters. In the former city a very large number of the wealthier classes are episcopalians. This alone would materially reduce the fund for the poor. ean act liberally just in proportion to the talents of the minister; that is, if a Chalmers, or a Muir, or a Marshall preaches-(by the bye, the last-mentioned has wisely made his retiring bow to kirk-sessions, and crossed Tweed's proud river, broad and deep;' as to the feelings of the others on the subject I presume not to enquire)—the poor are well provided for; if a dead moderate, they are starving: or, in other words," I continued, "a dead moderate must be a double injury to a parish. He starves the people's souls by his flimsy semi-Socinian morality-like others, using great reserve in bringing forward the doctrines of grace-and he starves their bodies by the emptiness of the door-plates; so that the paupers remaining stationary, a fixed quantity, their subsistence, temporal and spiritual, will vary according to the character of the minister; their platters will be filled in the ratio of the kirk plates; their dietary will be smaller or greater according to the minister's popularity. Well, this explains to me the meaning of the word diet, as used in the presbyterian church. I was told that on Sunday next Mr. would take the forenoon diet-i. e., service-and Dr.- the afternoon diet, in the church. I had no notion before of the beautiful applicability of the term. Perhaps this will account for the animosity testified in some recent outrages in parish settlements." much wretchedness in my time, but never have I seen such a concentration of misery as in that parish. There are a great many Irish in it, and some of them are most wretched; but by far the most wretched are Scotch. Within the last week I have been in a house where there were seven in the family-a mother, five daughters, and another girl who seemed to lodge with them-and there was neither chair nor table, stool, bed, nor blanket in the house, nor any kind of implement or utensil for cooking; all of them, on a cold and stormy day, sitting round a fire containing not more coals than I could hold in my hand. The woman had no means of subsistence arising from her own industry. One of the children, eight years old, had lost a leg; the husband died two years ago. She has the largest amount given from the charity workhouse-2s. 6d. a-week; and, though she professes to pay only 6d. a-week for her house, the remainder is just 4d. a-week for the support of each individual, exclusive of herself. I found other persons who had not a single blanket on their bed, and some grown up men of twenty or thirty years of age whose coats were pawned. One woman said that her husband had gone out with her last shift, and had pawned it to get a little bread for them." Many similar instances might be adduced were it necessary. I would conclude this paper in the language of one who, from his experience and situation, is admirably qualified to write on "Perhaps you're not far wrong, sir," said my men- the subject:-"Nothing but the strong hand of governtor, "but I always vote on the moderate side my-ment, and an assessment reaching the vast funds of self; though I am beginning to waver: I am sorry to the selfish and indifferent, as well as the humane, is say our own poor are very ill off." adequate to the remedy of the evil. Whether such a Good man! he did not seem to perceive that he task will ever be undertaken by the legislature, or was condemning his own ministry. The system of submitted to by the country, may be doubted; but relief by voluntary contributions would indeed work this may be affirmed without hesitation, that if this admirably were men of affluence more ready great duty is not discharged, and that too without do good and to distribute;" but then this is not delay, by the nation, the seeds of ruin are, by the The man clothed in purple and fine laws of God, sown, and justly sown in the commulinen should be compelled to assist the beggar at his nity; and that such will be the depravity and wretchgates-nay, no beggar should be there at all. His edness of the people on whom the visitation will fall, wants should be provided for, his diseases attempted that even Timour, with his pyramids of ninety thouto be cured, by absolute compulsion. The poor in the sand heads, would be deemed a messenger of mercy to parish ought not to want because the chief proprietor mankind. The total want of poor's rates, or any is an ungodly, hard-hearted man, or the church pre- legal provision whatever for the indigent in great part sent scores of empty pews on the sabbath. This is fully of Scotland, and the miserably parsimonious spirit in admitted by many of the established clergy. "If," which they have been administered, even where necessays one," the love of many wax cold-if the rich with- sity has forced their adoption, must be reckoned in draw from religious worship, and forget good works the foremost rank of the many evils which have now if absent proprietors do nothing for the poor on their induced a diseased action of the principle of populaestates-if the humane be burthened above what they tion in a large portion of society. Extensive inquiries are able to bear-if the poor be tempted by their in- have now ascertained the lamentable fact, that there creasing number and pressing wants, and the failure are at least 250,000 human beings in Scotland-nearly of other sources, to put forth their hands and steal- a tenth of the existing population-who are in a state a legal provision seems to be then expedient; it seems of almost total destitution, and are permanently rethen to be equal and right that the landholders who tained in that state by the obstinate resistance which will not give to the poor be compelled to give." the affluent classes make in many places to any assessSome recent investigations into the resources of some ment at all; in all, to any adequate assessment for of the Scottish poor have brought to light an immense their relief. The paupers of Scotland are in fact just mass of misery. Cases of almost absolute starvation, as numerous, or more so in proportion to the whole of the most abject poverty, of the most loathsome numbers of the people, as those in England. There is disease, have been discovered in the miserable and only this difference between them-that those to the putrid haunts of the poor; casting discredit on the south of the Tweed are, comparatively speaking, comScottish system of poor-law-if law it can be called-fortably maintained; while those to the north of it which is utterly unworthy of a Christian people and a proverbially enlightened nation. the case. 66 to Dr. Lee, principal of the university of Edinburgh, made the following deplorable statement as to the condition of the poor in that metropolis. Referring to the condition of those in the parish of which he was then the minister, he says-"Some are labourers, some shoemakers, and a considerable portion are hawkers, the husband going about with goods, and the females with baskets-which certainly is not a very regular course of life, not very commendable always; but there are a great number who seem to have no certain mode of support at all. I have seen "Charter's Sermons." are allowed to pine and waste in obscurity, until their misery attracts the casual and too often fleeting notice of the benevolent. Even when relief is administered, it is done in so extremely economical, or rather niggardly a spirit, that it has no sensible effect in arresting the evils of pauperism, or checking the stream of redundant population, which is in consequence flowing over the land. The board given to paupers is so small that, though it supports life, it does so only in the * From "Religion in connection with a national system of Instruction;" by W. M. Gunn, rector, Burgh schools, Haddington. Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd; London, Simpkin and Co. 1840. A very useful volume indeed, to which I shall have occasion hereafter to refer. lowest possible grade, and consequently, without really assuaging present distress, permanently lowers the habits of the people. Yet, such as it is, it is gladly accepted by hundreds and thousands, who flock there from the highlands and islands, to avoid the utter starvation which awaits them in those mountain districts where no relief whatever is afforded. Nothing can be expected from the permanent and habitual retention of so large a portion of the community in such a state of deplorable destitution, but a diseased and wholly unrestrained action of the principle of increase, and a general and progressive deterioration of their habits, and depravation of their morals. These effects, accordingly, have very generally taken place; and though unattended to by superficial observers, or those who took from books their accounts of the Scottish poor, they have been long familiar to those who were practically acquainted with their situation. While the great majority of the Scotch proprietors were congratulating themselves upon their happy exemption from the burden of poor's rates which pressed so heavily on their neighbours in England, and fondly dreaming of the moral habits and general felicity of the peasantry on their estates, the criminal records have exhibited an increase of crime during the last thirty years unparalleled in any other state of Europe; and the researches of unwearied philanthropy have brought to light a mass of indigence and suffering in its great towns and Highland districts which, to say the least of it, is a disgrace to any Christian community, and cannot remain long unrelieved without overspreading the land with the want, the crimes, and the insecurity of Ireland*." "The Principles of Population, and their Connection with in judgment" and the other "erred in vision.” I. Consider the character of the Teacher. The prophet introduces him with no other title than this-" Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?" The prophet can surely mean to speak of no one else by this title but of God. God, whose "wisdom is infinite," is our only teacher and instructor; for whatever others we may possess, either in the works of nature, of providence, or of grace, originate entirely from his bounty. If, for instance, amidst the works of nature, the unceasing course of the heavenly bodies teaches us never to weary in well doing; if the ant, by" providing her meat in the summer and Human Happiness;" by Archibald Alison, F.R.S.E., advocate, gathering her food in the harvest," teaches us sheriff of Lanarkshire, &c. Two vols. 8vo. Edinburgh: Blackwood. 1840. "to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven;" and the " turtle, the crane, and the swallow," by migrating, teach us to return unto the Lord, that he may "heal" and "bind us up;" or if, amidst the works of Providence, our bodies having been supplied with food and raiment, our lives preserved, our sicknesses relieved, our troubles removed, teach us in this brief uncertain state to be thankful; or if, amidst the works of grace, we have been taught to become "the children of the light, and the children of the day”— to become watchful and sober, "putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation:" in each and all of these cases, we say, that God is our only teacher and instructor, for these in fact are the lessons which he gives us to learn. "Blessed then are your eyes if they see, and your ears if they hear; for verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." "THAT the soul," says the wise man, "be without knowledge, it is not good." A lamentable instance of this truth is exemplified in the preceding part of the chapter from whence the text is taken. The remnant of God's favoured people are there reproved for the corruptions which were found among them. Many had been drawn away of their own lusts, and enticed to do evil; and, by giving way to corrupt affections, had become II. Consider the subject of instructionlike brute beasts, void of understanding. Nor" Whom shall he teach knowledge, and was this decay of religion confined only to whom shall he make to understand docthe people. Those whose business it was to trine?" It appears that two things are to be teach better, and to set a better example, were learnt, viz., knowledge and doctrine; the one themselves infected with it. The priest and that we may know ourselves, the other that the prophet were "swallowed up of wine," we may know God. First, we are to learn and had so clouded their understandings, and knowledge, that we may know ourselves. obscured their minds, that the one "stumbled What a difficult lesson is this, to learn! Man kind are more more frequently employed in learning other characters than their own. Talk to them of such and such persons, and they will instantly begin to condemn the faults which they themselves are guilty of. They will speak against the pride of one man, when pride dwells within their breasts more hateful than that of the wicked Haman. They will speak against the niggardliness of another, when at the same time "they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." They will condemn the hatred of a third, when they are far from possessing that Christian virtue which, the apostle saith, "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" and most abundant cause have we to entreat the Lord to enable us to "cast out the beam" out of our own eye before we attempt to "cast out the mote" out of our brother's eye. Again, we are to learn doctrine that we may know God. We must never suppose that doctrine will teach us to become equal in understanding to God. What says the patriarch Job?- Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do?-deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." What says the psalmist?" Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." What says Isaiah ?"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord; for, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." And what says the apostle Paul?" O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" Doctrine, then, will not teach to become equal in understanding to God; but it will teach us what is most important for us to know of God. It will teach us what God has done for our souls; how, when there was "no intercessor, his own arm brought salvation;" how, when "he saw us polluted in our blood, he said unto us, live; how he sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to be made our wisdom, to instruct us in our duty towards him, and to make us "wise unto salvation." In order then, brethren, that we may know the sinfulness of our nature, and the remedy which God has provided for our souls, let us hasten without delay unto Jesus Christ, who "is made of God unto us wisdom." He will teach us the many temptations we daily and hourly are subject to; he will teach us to walk henceforth in the way of life; he will so open our understandings, that we shall be able to say, with the man whose sight he restored, "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." III. Consider the persons to be taught. The prophet thus describes them-" Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts." from the breasts." In order to comprehend the prophet's meaning, let us just bring to mind a few circumstances recorded of our blessed Lord. On one occasion we hear Jesus praising the wisdom of God, and saying "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Again, when the disciples of Jesus came unto him, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? he called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Again, when there were "brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray, the disciples rebuked them; but Jesus said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And once more, when the children were crying in the temple, and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David," the chief priests and scribes "were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? and Jesus said unto them, Yea, have ye never read, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" It is quite clear, then, what kind of persons the prophet means are taught of God, when he describes them as "them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts." Yes, if we are to be be taught of God to know our own vileness, and the sufficiency there is in Christ to his people's wants, we must become like little children: we must be like them both in humility of mind and in teachableness of disposition. The mind of a little child, you know, is humble; he has no thoughts of greatness-it matters not to him whether he plays with a beggar or a prince; he has no thoughts of independence-simply does he rely on others for support. The disposition also of a little child is teachable; he is always ready to receive instruction, and so sensible is he of his ignorance, that he never doubts for a moment the truth of what he is taught. But not so is man in his natural state: instead of being humble, he is proud; he thinks other men no better, if so good as himself; and with respect to salvation, he is unwilling to depend on Christ alone. Instead also of being teachable, he is prone to cavil and object; he thinks he knows his duty, and can never gain instruction from the experience of others, or from the teachings of God's Spirit. In order then that we may be taught of God, we must become like little children both as to our minds and dispositions. We must be humble, setting at nought the distinctions of the world, and casting all "our care upon him who careth for us. We must be teachable, satisfied that we know nothing as we ought to know, and desirous of looking up to God for direction in all things. I gregation who would thus speak, I would remind them that experience has taught that parents, who correct their children with a single eye to their growth in grace, have mostly their love and esteem when they come to man's estate; whereas those parents, who give way to their children, and never think of correcting them, have frequently their gray hairs brought down with sorrow to the grave, yea, and sometimes have the unhappy lot upon their dying beds to hear those very children curse and upbraid them for their cruel folly. "Whom then shall God teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?" My heart's desire is, that it may be you. May the Spirit of truth instil into your hearts "precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little," until at length, made "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus," you may have "your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Brethren, this subject of consideration should remind all that are parents, of a duty which God requires of them-I mean the duty of striving to maintain within their children, as well as within themselves, humbleness of mind and teachableness of disposition. Let me ask, then, whether it is your Once more, let me ask, how have you desire that your children should be taught of profited by the teaching of God's Spirit? God? Have you corrected them when they Have you learnt to look upon yourselves as went astray? Have you chastised them when ignorant, guilty, polluted, enslaved sinners? they pilfered, or told a lie? Have you re- Have you learnt to look unto Jesus as "the proved them when they were quarrelsome way, the truth, and the life?" Have you and passionate? Have you shown your dis- learnt to value the gospel, so as to rejoice when pleasure when they were sullen and morose? you hear "precept upon precept, and line upon Have you expressed your anxiety for their im-line?" Be assured, brethren, that, in order provement at school, and for their good con- to profit by the teaching of God's Spirit, duct to them that are to teach them? you must have a child-like dependance upon fear, indeed, that too many, from a foolish and God, for the wisdom of this world is foolishunwise fondness for their children, have not ness with him; you must be perfectly cononly overlooked their faults, but have even vinced that you know nothing as you ought taken their parts. And why is this? Alas, it to know; yea, you must be contented to lie in is because you yourselves are ignorant of the arms of your Saviour as helpless babes, God; it is because you know not your own who "of God is made unto us wisdom," that baseness, and the love of Christ which passeth you may learn from him how to find rest for knowledge; it is because you have not been your souls. If you thus give yourselves up made like unto "them that are weaned from to God and your Saviour, the Spirit will the milk and drawn from the breasts." If teach you, saying, "This is the way, walk ye then you have any regard for your own souls in it, when ye turn to the right hand and when and for those of your children, let it be your ye turn to the left." "May the God therechief care and concern to bring them up in the fore of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of knowledge and love of God. Let them be glory, give unto you the Spirit of wisdom corrected when they do wrong: "Chasten thy and revelation in the knowledge of him; the son," says the wise man, "while there is hope, eyes of your understanding being enlightened, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.' that ye may know what is the hope of his Let them also be constantly reminded of their calling, and what the riches of the glory of duty as sinners for whom Jesus died: "Pre- his inheritance in the saints, and what is the cept," says the prophet, "must be upon pre- exceeding greatness of his power to usward cept, precept upon precept; line upon line, who believe, according to the working of his line upon line; here a little, and there a little." mighty power, which he wrought in Christ But perhaps some may say, "How can I pos- when he raised him from the dead, and set sibly do this? If I keep constantly checking him at his own right hand in the heavenly my child, he can never requite me with his places, far above all principality, and power, love. I have frequently done wrong myself, and might, and dominion, and every name and gone unpunished; why then should I that is named, not only in this world, but also keep such a strict watch over the conduct of in that which is to come; and hath put all my child?" Should there be any in this con- things under his feet, and gave him to be the |