was reported that the contents of the Sabbath school libraries within the association amounted to upwards of 9000 volumes. The report stated what had been done in the way of interesting the children of the Sabbath schools in the cause of Christian missions, and recommended the instruction of children in their obligations to support missionary enterprise, as important both from the opportunity it gives for enforcing impressively the doctrinal teaching of the school, and from its bearing upon the future usefulness of the children as members of the Christian Church. The report urged also the formation of juvenile missionary societies for the children of the congregations, and stated, that in two parishes in Glasgow such societies had collected last year upwards of L.25. The next subject noticed was teachers' weekly prayer meetings, the assembling of the teachers of a parish every week for conference, for the study of a passage of Scripture as the subject of a lesson for the Sabbath school, and for prayer. The strongest testimony was borne to the good results of such meetings. The report then alluded to the lack of teachers, and appealed to the younger members of the Church to give an earnest and prayerful consideration to the claims of the Sabbath school upon their services. The success with which the labours of the teachers, during the past year, had been attended, was not alluded to; and it was stated, that the success had been highly encouraging, and that all the societies were labouring cheerfully in hope and faith. The association then reported its exertions towards the fostering of a missionary spirit among the teachers themselves. Its members give contributions towards missionary objects, one of which is the partial support of the Home Mission Committee's station of Lanasting, in Shetland. The report stated further, that the Rev. Colin M'Culloch of Denny had preached a sermon to Sabbath school teachers at the request of the association; also, that a clergyman had written for the association a tract for children, entitled, "A True Story for the Young," of which 13,000 copies had been put in circulation. It acknowledged the liberality of the West of Scotland Bible Society in granting Bibles and Testaments to the schools at reduced prices. Allusion was made to the gratifying success of the sister association in Edinburgh, also to the proceedings of the General Assembly's Committee on Sabbath Schools, which were hailed as promising the best results to the Sabbath school cause within the Church of Scotland. The report then referred, in terms of cordial esteem, to the Glasgow Sabbath School Union,— a society composed of the Sabbath school teachers in Glasgow of all evangelical denominations, and testified to the pleasure and benefit the teachers of the Church of Scotland derived from their connexion with this Catholic union. In conclusion, the report reverted to the fact, that the association had made gradual and rapid progress since its institution. The number of Sabbath school teachers in Glasgow belonging to the Church of Scotland, was, five years ago, 283; it is now, within the same limits, 624; and, including the suburbs, 802. This progress was considered as a cause for heartfelt thankfulness to Almighty God, both from its character as an indication of the vitality of the Church of Scotland, and also, and especially, from its being suggestive of hopes, that within the sphere of the association's labours there was a building up, to some extent, of the True Church universal,-the advancement of "a kingdom which cannot be moved." "What has led this class to crime? Ask any of their number, the answer you will probably receive will be, Bad companions, sir!' Truants from the school, lingerers on their errands, they have become the prey of the sharp and ripened criminals, who, like good missionaries of the devil, are ever watchful and anxious to recruit their ranks. The Scripture maxim, Evil communications corrupt good manners,' is continually verified in this class." "One powerful agent for depraving the boyish classes of our population in our towns and cities, is to be found in the cheap concerts, shows, and theatres, which are so specially opened and arranged for the attraction and ensnaring of the young. Where, for threepence, (or as, till lately, for twopence) a boy can procure some hours of vivid enjoyment from exciting scenery, music, and acting, with funny songs, and amusing tricks of magic and dexterity, it must be owned, that the temptation to acquire the pennies, by fair means or by foul, is a very powerful one; and when our national indifference, or our fear of interfering with personal and public liberty, allows these shows and theatres to be scenes of the greatest indecency— training schools of the coarsest and most open vice and filthiness-it is not to be wondered at, that the boy who is led on to haunt them, becomes rapidly corrupted and demoralized.”—Ed. Rev. for October, Sermon. THIS WORLD A STATE OF TRIAL AND TEMPTATION. "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. 12. By the REV. W. H. GRAY, A.M., Lady Yester's, Edinburgh. ADAM was tempted in paradise. His, humanly speaking, was an easy temptation. There was only one forbidden fruit -a tree for the knowledge of his being good or evil-in a garden of delights. But the uncorrupted spirit of man, though made in the image of God, yielded to the temptation, and became corrupted by the spirit of evil. Him Adam obeyed as his god. He bowed down before the likeness of a creature of the earth, and served the serpent he was told to rule. He coveted, he stole; and thus, by eating the forbidden fruit, he broke the first, the second, the eighth, and tenth commandments of the moral law. The second Adam also was tempted in the wilderness. His was a trial infinitely more severe. But He was supported under it by the Eternal Spirit of God. Having a Supreme Divinity, united with a true humanity, He magnified God's law, endured temptation, came forth more than conqueror. We also are placed in a state of trial and temptation. It might have been otherwise. After the fall, this world might have been made by God-no longer a state of probation, but a state of punishment alone. It might, in strictest justice, have become a very hell through all generations, with no relief or remedy for pains and sufferings, with no exemption from demoniacal possession, with no hope of pardon for sin. But God revealed himself as the Saviour of all men; and, through the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, it became consistent with His holy character to make a world, which must have otherwise become a state of punishment alone, a state of trial and of discipline for man. Now, God seeks, through the work of Christ, and through our faith in IIim, to make our trial on earth issue in our triumph in heaven, notwithstanding Adam's fall. The believer's trial, doubtless, is a harder one than Adam's was. The spirit of 2.-IV. man is no longer uncorrupted, and, unassisted, we cannot endure temptation now. We are weaker, and our enemy is stronger than before the fall. But Adam failed. Then how shall we succeed? Not, certainly, by our own strength; for in us dwelleth no good thing. But we can endure temptation through Christ. strengthening us. The spirit of man cannot save us from our sin and misery, but the Spirit of God can. And though we cannot be, like Jesus, God as well as man, we can be partakers of His Spirit. Through the aid of the Almighty we can endure temptation; and, though Adam's sinful children, we can thus receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. In speaking thus, I do not forget that no endurance—by which is meant resistance-of temptation on our part can give us, as our right, a title to the crown of life. It is a gift of grace; and we are justified by Jesus' righteousness, and not our own. But Jesus is made unto us sanctification also. Though we are not now beneath a covenant of works, we need to form, through faith in Him, a holy character amid the trials and temptations of the earth, otherwise we cannot see God. Therefore, saith the Scripture, "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." This verse, then, tells us that believers in Christ, like all men, are placed in a state of trial and temptation; but, because they love God, they can endure temptation, and their trial issues in triumph. The works of creation are a revelation of the character and will of God, and they are meant and fitted for the discipline of man. Science expounding this volume of nature, and observation and experience pointing out the natural laws of God's appointment, are preachers lead B ing us to faith and duty,-to faith in the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, to the duties we, as creatures, should perform. The ways of Providence are also a revelation from God, designed by their discipline to lead us to the knowledge and the likeness of God. Everything which happens is a sermon speaking of His character, and pressing upon man His will. Man's trials in providence may consist of prosperity or adversity, health or sickness, poverty or riches, domestic happiness or family bereavement, the sins of relatives or the sorrows of friends. But each one is tried by God in providence, and each one thinks his own trial hardest to bear. Now, why have these revelations of God in nature and providence failed of themselves, at all times and in every land, to lead men to the knowledge and the likeness of God? Why has the world by wisdom not known God, and refused to glorify by serving Him whose being, whose eternal power and Godhead, all His works declare? It is because men by nature love not God, and there is nothing in the works of creation to implant this love in the hearts of His enemies. For the same reason, providence, by itself, is ineffectual to lead man to repentance and holiness. Fear may keep him back from many vices and crimes; but his suffering does not teach him resignation, his pain patience, or his prosperity gratitude. All things in providence do not work together for his good, because he does not love God. He misinterprets all his trials; for sin has filled his mind with ignorance of God, and his heart with enmity against Him. What then is needed for our successful trial in this state of probation? Evidently a revelation addressed to us as sinners, revealing mercy to pardon and grace to help us, and so implanting love to God within our hearts. Such a revelation is addressed to sinners in the Word of Inspiration. There, besides teaching us by easier and more striking lessons truths which nature and providence had already declared, God teaches things we could not learn from them. He bids rebels kneel on the footstool of the throne of grace, and say, "Our Father which art in heaven." He leads them to the cross and tells them there-how strikingly!— that God himself, if that were possible, would suffer for the sins of men rather than that sin should be unpunishedrather than that sinners should be driven from His love and presence into everlasting destruction. Yes! at the cross we see a manifestation of God sufficient, if received with living faith, to slay our enmity to Him and fill our hearts with love. And if we say, But how can we believe? He points us to an agent who is Almighty, willing to give and daily to increase this living faith in Christ, which, then and thus working by love, will make us more than conquerors in all the trials of the present life. Then from the cross a flood of light is thrown on nature and on providence. Loving God, we look with different eyes on all His works and ways. Old things have passed away; behold, all things are made new. The sanctification of the spirit, by belief of the truth as it is in Jesus, teaches us, and makes us, what we would not, could not learn, and would not, could not be from nature and providence alone; while, at the same time, love to God thus gotten through His Word, enables and inclines us to receive that knowledge of our faith and duty which His works and ways convey, and to go forward through this state of trial to a world of triumph beyond the grave; for we know that when we are tried, we shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. But we are not only placed in a state of discipline by God, we are also exposed to temptations from Satan-from Satab, for though God tries, He does not tempt us. "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed." Yet, even as Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, so are we placed here exposed to his temptations. Do you ask how Satan tempts us? I reply, in everything. In all we are in all we have, in all wo as of the same kind with theirs. The serpent of Eden is not dead. The tempter of the wilderness is going to and fro upon the earth. It will serve, therefore, both for warning and example to advert to the temptation of the first and of the second Adam,-each of whom was tempted, as is also each of us, with "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." First, With the lust of the flesh. Adam saw or thought the fruit of the forbidden tree was good for food. Satan sought to make him set the cravings of the body above the wants of the soul. Adam yielded to the lust of the flesh,eating spiritual poison, and suffering spiritual death. But how did Jesus act do, in all we suffer. In all we are, through every part of human nature he tempts us. Through the avenues of sense he seeks to lead us into sin,-tempting us to look with lustful glance, to listen greedily to words of slander or of blasphemy. Through our intellectual powers he tempts us to devote our energies to things of sense alone, to fill our memories with earthly trifles, to taint and to defile our imaginations by filling them with grossness and impurity. Through the feelings and affections of the heart, he tempts us to worship the creature more than the Creator, and to set our hearts on things below. Even faith, and hope, and love, he tempts us to keep back from their rightful place Christian graces, - bounding hope when similarly, but infinitely more seto this world, faith to the word of verely, tempted? In no garden with man, and love to beings of the earth. Thus, in all we are the devil tempts us; so it is with all we have. Instead of looking on our power and friendships, wealth and talents, health and pleasures, as the gifts of God, he tempts us to regard them as our gods, and for them to fall down and worship him. In all we do, also, we are tempted to sin. Labour is a duty; but how often is our labour sinful? It is so when, toiling to become rich or great, we undermine our health, break the Sabbath, or keep back its rest from others, neglect God's Word and worship, trample truth and honesty in business beneath our feet, and practise falsehood, fraud, deceit,-and thus in every way forget the wants of the soul. It is the same with all we suffer. Our afilictions may only harden our hearts. The alone." The lust of the flesh is tempting sins of others, instead of calling forth our prayers and zeal, our forbearance and .forgiveness, may drive us away to infidelity, and fill our hearts with hatred and revenge. In all these things we are tempted; and we shall be overcome if we have not, through our faith in Christ, the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, imparted unto us by the Spirit of God. If we trust to the spirit of man, we shall fail as Adam failed. If we go forth to the battle in the strength of the Omnipotent, we shall have power to overcome as Jesus did. Our temptations are many fruits good for food around Him, but on a wilderness, baving fasted forty days, and being an hungered, the tempter said to Him, "Command this stone that it be made bread." That would have been good for food to the body; but Jesus knew that it was not for Him, led by the Spirit thither, to evade His trial by exerting His miraculous power, any more than it would have been for the apostles, having power to heal the sick, to seek to use it for their own recovery. The second Adam trusted in His Father, who had placed Him there to satisfy His bodily wants, or take Him thence when He had borne enough. He did notwould not-sacrifice the soul for the body,-His spiritual for temporal life. He said, "Man doth not live by bread us to gluttony, intemperance, and all uncleanness still. The tempter says, with reference to many a doubtful, sinful course of conduct, "It is good for food to thee and to thy family;" yet surely it were better to die than to sin. Be like Jesus, therefore,--not like Adam. Mortify the flesh with its affections and lusts. Secondly, Adam was tempted with the lust of the eye. The forbidden fruit appeared to our first parents pleasant to the sight. They ate of it, and died. They preferred a present momentary-an apparent than God in what true wisdom consisted, he ate of the forbidden fruit as a tree to be desired to make one wise. So Satan tempted the Son of God to act independently of His Father, and, judging for Himself, to claim the blessings promised to dependence on God and obedience to His will. Taking Him to a pinnacle of the temple, he bade Him cast Himself down thence, for angels would preserve Him from all hurt. But Jesus, as a Son, had learned obedience. Exempt from pride and self-sufficiency as man, He said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." How do we act tempted thus? Do we not often think ourselves wiser than God,-murmuring against the deal pleasure to the happiness of holiness. It a spirit of presumptuous pride and settwas not so with Jesus. The kingdoms dependence. Thinking he knew better of this world, and all the glory of them, passed before His view,-how pleasant to the sight! Yes; Jesus, being man, 'could receive pleasure from power, and friendship, and knowledge, and praise; but when He was tempted to worship Satan to commit sin for these-to make these gifts of Providence His god, and to receive them when perverted thus as gifts from Satan, He turned with indignation to the tempter, saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord as thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." How is it with us thus tempted with the lust of the eye? It is not human nature,-it is no part of Christian duty to despise health and riches, knowledge and power, humanings of Providence-seeking to wrest, in praise and human love, or to wish for pain and penury, ignorance and weakness, human reprobation and hatred; but if we worship Satan to obtain these gifts and to escape these evils, we are yielding to the lust of the eye, and sacrificing the happiness of holiness for present moment ary and apparent pleasure. Rather, like Jesus, let us stand on a howling wilderness, with a life of poverty, reproach, and suffering, before us,-with the anguish of a Gethsemane and the sufferings of a cross to end it, than let our wishes after earthly pleasures and advantages produce a character of grasping avarice or unprincipled ambition. This were to make the gifts of Providence our gods, -to worship Satan to receive them, and to become the victims of spiritual and eternal death for the sake of obtaining what is pleasant to the sight, and of avoiding what is hard for flesh and blood to bear. Reader, when the tempter seeks to make you traverse fields of sin, and eat forbidden fruit, for the sake of present pleasures and worldly advantages, will you be like Adam, or like Christ? What is a man profited though he gain the whole world if he lose his own soul? But besides the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye, we are tempted Thirdly, With the pride of life. Adam, when he ate of the forbidden fruit, shewed opposition to His will, loved ones from Pride, |