a non-attending member is, by neglect, omitted. It is hoped that some light may yet be obtained on this subject.

Mackie was an unmarried man; and, as neither wife or children are mentioned in the will, it is more than probable that he was an old bachelor.

It is worthy of note that the name of this early Presbyterian minister was not "John Mackey," as heretofore written, but Josias Mackie. I had the pleasure of examining the original will, as signed by his own hand. It is in a remarkable state of preservation. The first nameJosias-is written in a large, bold hand. The Mackie is also large, but it bears evident marks of having been written in extremis, and when there was but little control of the pen.

The Rev. Josias Mackie died some time between the 7th and the 16th day of November, 1716. The will is dated on the 7th, and was proved on the 16th. From these dates, and the date of his first oath,-August 15th, 1692,-it is certain that he had been living on Elizabeth River at least twenty-four years.

I am not able to communicate any thing concerning the labours of Mr. Mackie. Something valuable may yet come to the light. It is certain, however, that he was a good man, a true Presbyterian,-bold, active, and laborious. With the care of a farm and a store, he found time to preach at four places of meeting; and, in prospect of death, he leaves the solemn and interesting record:-"Being heartily sorry for my sins past, and most humbly desiring forgiveness of the same, I commit my soul to Almighty God, trusting to receive full pardon and free justification through the merits of Jesus Christ."

Truly yours,

ISAAC W. K. HANDY.

PORTSMOUTH, Va., March 6th, 1856.

Brief Words for All.

DR. DWIGHT'S IDEA OF A SERMON.

1. THE gospel ought to be preached so plainly as to be clearly and easily understood by those who hear. Technical or scientifical language is to be excluded from popular sermons. A still greater trespass against plainness of speech is committed in what is called metaphysical preaching. Even Paul, one of the most profound of all reasoners, never appears to choose abstruse discussions when the subject will allow of any other; and returns with apparent pleasure to a plainer mode of discourse, as soon as the case will permit. Our Saviour treats every thing in the most direct manner of common sense, although he often discourses concerning things of a profound nature.

2. Variously. By this I intend that both the manner, and especially the subjects, should be diversified.

3. Boldly. He who brings a message from God ought never to be afraid of

man.

4. Solemnly. All things pertaining to divine truth are eminently solemn.

5. Earnestly. He who would persuade others that he is interested in the subjects on which he descants must feel them, and must express his views of them feelingly.

6. Affectionately. A preacher is sent on an errand more expressive of tenderness and good-will than any other. He comes to disclose the boundless mercy of God to man.

A SIMILE.

BY LONGFELLOW.

SLOWLY, Slowly, up the wall

Steals the sunshine, steals the shade;

Evening damps begin to fall,

Evening shadows are displayed.

Round me, o'er me, everywhere,

All the sky is grand with clouds,

And athwart the evening air

Wheel the swallows home in crowds.

Shafts of sunshine from the west
Paint the dusky windows red;
Darker shadows, deeper, rest
Underneath and overhead.

Darker, darker, and more wan,
In my breast, the shadows fall;
Upward steals the life of man,
As the sunshine from the wall;

From the wall into the sky,

From the roof along the spire.
Ah! the souls of saints that die
Are but sunbeams lifted higher.

THE CARE OF THE EYES.

FIRST, never use a writing-desk or a table with your face towards a window. In such case, the rays of light coming directly upon the pupil of the eyes, and causing an unnatural and forced contraction thereof, soon permanently injure the sight. Next, when your table or desk is near a window, sit so that your face turns from, not towards, the window while you are writing. If your face is towards the window, the oblique rays strike the eye and injure it nearly as much as the direct rays when you sit in front of the window. It is best always to sit or stand, while reading or writing, with the window behind you, and, next to that, with the light coming over the left side-then the light illumines the paper or book, and does not shine abruptly upon the eye-ball. The same remarks are applicable to artificial light. We are often asked which is the best light:-gas, candles, oil, or camphene? Our answer is, it is immaterial which, provided the light of either be strong enough, and does not flicker. A gas fish-tail burner should never be used for reading or writing, because there is a constant oscillation or flickering of the flame. Candles, unless they have self-consuming wicks, which do not require snuffing, should not be used. We need scarcely say that oil wicks, which crust over, and thus diminish the light, are good for nothing; and the same is true of compounds

of the nature of camphene, unless the wicks are properly trimmed of their gummy deposits after standing twenty-four hours.

But whatever the artificial light used, let it strike the paper or book which you are using, whenever you can, from over the left shoulder. This can always be done with gas, for that light is strong enough; and so is the light from camphene, oil, &c., provided it comes through a circular burner like the argand. But the light, whatever it be, should always be protected from the air in the room by a glass chimney, so that the light may be steady.-Scientific American.

THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT DOMINANT.

THE religious element is the dominant and germinating one in every society. It is that out of which not only the morals, but also the social privileges and political rights, of a people grow. Penetrate to the heart of every political constitution in the world, and there you will find a religious dogma. Like the primal salt dropped into the solution to begin the crystallization of the mass, this religious dogma serves as a nucleus around which all the other dogmas, whether of a political or social kind, may cluster. In India, in Turkey, in Papal Europe, and in Britain, you find this to be the case. Brahminism in India, Islamism in Turkey, Romanism in Europe, and Protestantism in Britain, determine, in their respective countries, the form and character of the political government. In Islamism and Romanism, as in all false religions, you find the despotic element, and accordingly the government is despotic. These systems being infallible in their claims, and at the same time contrary to nature and truth, necessarily require the coercion of the human understanding and the restriction of political action. Christianity, on the other hand, admits unbounded liberty, both of thought and of social development, because it is agreeable to the constitution of things. Thus, necessarily, the religion of a people determines their character and destinies. It determines whether they shall live under a despotism or under a free government, and whether in ages to come they shall exhibit a moral and physical ruin like Turkey, or a scene of vigour and progressive development like Britain. The corollary deducible from this is, that all those theories of politics which overlook the religious element-which do not give it the very first place among causes contributing to the order, freedom, and prosperity of the nations are altogether false. They ignore the very principle out of which grows all political liberty, with the material and commercial advantages which always attend it. Our great object ought to be to protect and still further develop the primal element in our constitution, which is our Protestantism. We firmly believe that while Britain remains Protestant the world will not be able to subdue her. Free trade is something, the extension of the franchise is something, and so is financial reform; but our Protestantism is worth them all, because it is the palladium of them all; and what we now need at home is not so much material reforms as the strengthening of the constitution by the maintenance of its great fundamental principles.Hugh Miller.

THE

PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE.

JUNE, 1856.

Miscellaneous Articles.

THE LAW FULFILLED BY THE GOSPEL.

OUR Lord was suspected of having risen up to abolish the religion of his ancient people; and he defined his position in relation to Moses, in a few words with complete effect: Think not that I am come to destroy the Law; I am not come to destroy but to fulfil.

The suspicion was wholly groundless and uncharitable. He himself was born into the communion of the ancient covenant administered by Moses; he was bred in its spirit, its doctrine, and its ritual, and he observed its ordinances, not only during his private life, but to the very last of his public ministry; being engaged with the Passover, at the moment when wicked hands were lifted up to make him our Passover, sacrificed for us. While charged with breaking the Sabbath, he was really giving the true example of keeping it according to its spiritual design. His religion was the religion of Moses perfected.

The two covenants are the same religion in different stages of progress. Both rest on the same ground of doctrine, that man is lost in sin and misery, and that God is merciful and able to save. The Gospel is an advance on the Law, supplying a want, and at a time when that want was most felt. Moses had an important mission; and he fulfilled it. He was faithful in all his house. His institutions served their times, carried the Church through her preparatory course, and led the way to her higher stage. But the first covenant was not faultless, and, therefore, a place was found for the second. Both the ministrations were glorious; but the last, the ministrations of life, exceeds in glory. Christ comes after Moses, takes up the Church, where Moses must leave it, and reforms her teaching and discipline. He is the substance of which

Moses was the shadow; the end and object which Moses had always in view. The Law and the Prophets looked towards him. In order to understand clearly how the Law is fulfilled, or taken up, in Christ, it is necessary to consider what the Law in its substance is.

The substance of the Law is stated in one word,-love. This is the Law, without formal precepts or acts in which it is wont to be expressed--love; that pure, noble, blissful bond, which would bind the rational world together in unity, hold all moral creatures in fellowship with one another and with God, and lead every creature to seek his own perfection through the perfection of the whole. Hence the two commandments, expressing the sum of the whole moral law, are commandments of love, the one relating to God, the other to men.

This law is divine, for love is of God. The law is the same, as the nature of God; for God is love. The precept is not the law, but an expression of it, showing to men's understanding, through words, what the nature of God is, and what the nature of man should be. Love is the principle; the precept is a form of the phenomenon, the body. The form may change, or perish; the principle, the life, must remain.

We note here, in passing, the connection between love, as spirit of obedience, and life as reward. In God they blend together. As he is love, so he is life-the living God. He hath life, because he is love. His power, wisdom, justice, are the energy, order, selfsupport of love. An eternal good will in God makes him blessed forever. And, as in God, so in creatures, love and well-being always unite; for he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him by his Son; and he that hath the Son of God, hath eternal life. This divine virtue, which makes the life of God in himself a blessing, hath its reward as a fulfilling of the law of his own nature. The law is in him, is fulfilled in him, and its reward is with it.

The Saviour sums up the moral law in the two great commandments, requiring universal, disinterested love; and then from his divine position, where love and life appear to coincide, he can say to the young ruler, who asks what he must do to inherit eternal life, Keep the commandments. And this is not teaching salvation by works against salvation by grace; because, in Christ's view, at the moment, love and life, Law and Gospel, are one. Works and grace are not here distinguishable. The work is the grace of love; the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. It is the Spirit of God, the spirit of love, abiding in us. This is keeping the commandments; and nothing else is. Such legalism as this has the promise of life on the true Gospel ground; and the promise consists of an earnest of the life itself.

So truly is love the substance of the Law, that without it there is no virtue; nothing of any moral worth at all. Though I speak