A Goodly Heritage

 An Anecdote of the Rev. Robert Bruce. THE REV. ROBERT BRUCE, an eminent minister in Scotland, having to preach on a solemn occasion, was late in coming to the congregation. Some of the people beginning to be weary, and others wondering at his stay, the bells having been rung long, and the time far spent, the beadle was desired to go and inquire the reason, who, coming to his house, and finding his chamber-door shut, and hearing a sound, drew near, and listening, overheard Mr. Bruce often, and with much seriousness, say, “I protest I will not go except thou go with me.” Whereupon the man, supposing that some person was in company with him, withdrew without knock at the door. On being asked, at his return, the cause of Mr. Bruce’s delay, he answered he could not tell; but supposed that some person was with him, who was unwilling to come to church, and he was engaged in pressing him to come peremptorily, declaring he would not go without him. Mr. Bruce soon after came, accompanied with n

. NATURE has an unconscious influence on the mind of man. This is illustrated in the following facts which Dr. Macleod related at a meeting, held in reference to the establishment of schools in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland:—A friend of mine happened to be in a boat, by which a poor, simple-hearted man, from the island of St. Kilda was advancing, for the first time in his life, from his native rock to visit the world; and as he advanced towards the island of Mull—a world in itself in the estimation of the poor St. Kilda man—the boatmen commenced telling him the wonders he was so soon to see. They asked him about St. Kilda; they questioned him regarding all the peculiarities of that wonderful place; and rallied him not a little on his ignorance of all those great and magnificent things which were to be seen in Mull. He parried them off with great coolness and good humour. At length a person in the boat asked him if he ever heard of God in St. Kilda. Immediately he became grave a

  Man and woman must belong to the Lord before they belong to   each   other, and are to enter into the married state that they may help each other to be more entirely the Lord's. A Christian is not at liberty to marry one who is not a Christian (even in the hope of making him or her a Christian). A Christian even among Christians is to seek from the Lord. "And now, before the word we speak That knits the bond man must not break, We fain would know thy mind. Lord, be the sweet conviction given To both that thou thyself in heaven The hallowed bond hast twined." It is in that spirit that it ought to be contemplated. Without this there can be no security for happiness or for Christ being honored in connection with the union formed, - R.Finlayson

 THE REV. HECTOR M‘PHAIL AND HIS FAITHFUL WIFE. THE REV. HECTOR M‘PHAIL, of Resolis, was a minister for several years before his conversion. He had married a daughter of the godly Mr. Balfour, minister of Nigg. She had been one of Mr. Porteous’s hearers, and had profited greatly by his preaching. Feeling painfully the difference between her husband’s doctrine and that to which she had been accustomed, she told him, on a Sabbath morning soon after their marriage, that her soul was starving, and that, as all must give place to her care for its welfare, she had resolved to go on that day across to Kilmuir. He offered no opposition; he even accompanied her to the ferry. It was a sad journey the pious wife took that day to Kilmuir. Arriving at the manse before the hour for beginning the service in church, Mr. Porteous was not a little surprised to see her, and, on meeting her, asked very anxiously why she had come. She told him that as her soul was famished at Resolis, she was compelled to

 An Anecdote of the North of Scotland. A FEW years after the victory of the Duke of Cumberland over Prince Charles Stuart at Culloden, in 1746, a poor but pious peasant dwelt in an out-of-the-way part of Scotland, bordering on the Highlands. He and his Godfearing wife had a numerous family; and there being few inhabitants in the district, work was often scarce, and income scanty. To get the two ends to meet was at times a very hard task; but prayer and pains had hitherto carried them through every difficulty. A season more trying than any, since their married life began, came at length upon them. There was no demand, at the end of autumn, for labour such as the peasant could do. Provisions were very dear, and speedily the little savings of the pious couple were entirely spent. No food remained in the poor cottage where they lived. Dinnerless and supperless the children had to be put to bed, and there they cried themselves to sleep. The parents bowed together before the throne of grace,

. AT one time Archbishop Usher visited Scotland, and hearing much of the piety of the Rev. Samuel Rutherford, resolved on being a witness of it. Disguised as a pauper, on a Saturday evening, he solicited lodging for the night. Mr. Rutherford took him in, and directed him to be seated in the kitchen. Mrs. Rutherford catechised the servants, as a preparation for the Sabbath; and having asked the stranger the number of the Divine commandments, he answered eleven. The good woman hastily concluded him ignorant, and said, “What a shame it is for you, a man with grey hairs, in a Christian country, not to know how many commandments there are! There is not a child six years old, in this parish, but could answer the question properly.” Lamenting his condition, she ordered his supper, and directed a servant to show him a bed in the garret. Mr. Rutherford having heard him at prayer, and finding out who he was, prevailed on the Archbishop to preach for him, which he agreed to do, on condition that

 GEORGE WISHART, one of the first Scottish martyrs at the time of the Reformation, being desired to preach on the Lord’s Day in the church of Mauchline, went thither with that design, but the Sheriff of Ayrshire had in the night-time put a garrison of soldiers into the church to keep him out. Hugh Campbell, of Kinzeancleugh, and others in the parish, were exceedingly offended at this impiety, and would have entered the church by force, but Wishart would not suffer it, saying, “Brethren, it is the word of peace which I preach unto you; the blood of no man shall be shed for it this day. Jesus Christ is as mighty in the fields as in the church, and He Himself, while He lived in the flesh, preached oftener in the desert and on the sea-side than in the Temple of Jerusalem.” Upon this the people were appeased, and went with him to the edge of a moor on the south-west of Mauchline, where, having placed himself upon a mound of earth, he preached to a great multitude. He continued speaking for

. THE two brothers, Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, were both preachers, and remarkable men. Ebenezer was born in 1680, and Ralph in 1685. Some one said of Ebenezer that to hear him was “to listen to the Gospel presented in its majesty;” and he excelled in strength and leading power. But Ralph had more of the orator, and of that subtlety of thought and fervour of emotion which met so remarkably in Samuel Rutherford. In general literature, too, he was far in advance of most of the ministers of his time, and there was, according to tradition, a humanism in his recreations that stumbled the more rigid, but attracted to him the mass of the people. The story of his practice on the “wee sinful fiddle,” is so well known, that we do not repeat it; but there is another, showing the warmth of attachment to Ralph and his preaching. At West Linton, which was one of the early head-quarters of the Secession south of the Forth, there was a gathering of thousands to a sacrament, and the two brothers were

 WALTER MILL, an old decrepit priest, who had been con demned as a heretic in the time of Cardinal Beaton, bu had escaped, was at last discovered by the spies of his successor, Archbishop Hamilton, and brought to St. Andrews for trial. He appeared before the court so worn out with age and hardships, that it was not expected he would be able to answer the questions put to him; but, to the surprise of all, he managed his defence with great spirit. He was condemned to the flames; but such was the horror now felt at this punishment, and such the general conviction of the innocence of the victim, that the clergy could not prevail on a secular judge to ratify the sentence, nor an individual in the town so much as to give or sell a rope to bind the martyr to the stake, so that the Archbishop had to furnish them with a cord from his own pavilion. When commanded by Oliphant, the bishop’s menial, to go to the stake, the old man, with becoming spirit, refused. “No,” said he, “I will not go, excep

. A SCOTCH lady of social distinction, whose name for obvious reasons need not be mentioned, and whose husband had left her a competence, had two profligate sons, who wasted her substance with riotous living. When she saw that her property was being squandered, she determined to make an offering to the Lord. She took twenty pounds and gave it to the London Missionary Society. Her sons were very angry at this, and told her that she might just as well cast her money into the sea. “I will cast it into the sea,” she replied, “and it will be my bread upon the waters.” The sons, having spent all they could get, enlisted in a regiment, and were sent to India. Their positions were far apart, but God so ordered, in his providence, that both were stationed near good missionaries. The elder one was led to repent of his sins and embrace Christ. He shortly afterward died. Meanwhile the widowed mother was praying for her boys. One evening, as she was taking down her family bible to read, the door wa