difficulty, in harmonising with the glory of the Divine perfections the doctrine of the possibility of believers turning away from God, and perishing eternally, than there is in harmonising with those perfections, the doctrine which teaches that, "The wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment." We admit that, if one dying in the faith of Christ were to perish, that then the Divine perfections would be tarnished; because, then the promises of God would have failed. It is, however, as believers, that we are given to Christ, and it is only while we continue to believe in him that he will receive and acknowledge us as his own; and, hence, in perfect harmony with the glory of all the Divine perfections, we are taught that, God will have no pleasure in those who draw back from believing in Christ.

We regard the doctrine, to which we have objected, as not only inconsistent with the general teaching of God's Word, but, also, as having an injurious practical tendency, counteractive of the purpose of the Holy Spirit in such exhortations as the following:-"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." "Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure." "Be thou faithful unto death, and [ will give unto thee a crown of life." Many who have relied on the assumed certainty of their final salvation, on the ground of their having once been brought to the knowledge of the truth, have neglected and despised such exhortations; and, after having returned to the beggarly elements of the world, have lulled their souls asleep, with the conceit of their security against the wrath to come. It is, however, with pleasure we bear testimony, that in the work before us, no such use is made of the doctrine in question. Holiness of heart and of life, and perseverance in every good word and work are strongly inculcated. We insert the following extract from the chapter on the Resurrection of Christ, as an example.

"One of the most fruitful causes of a feeble Christianity is the low estimate the believer forms of his spiritual character. Were this higher, were it more proportioned to our real standing, our responsibility would appear in a more solemn light, our sense of obligation would be deeper, and practical holiness of a high order would be our more constant aim. Ours is a glorious and exalted life. Our standing is higher, infinitely higher than the highest angel,—our glory infinitely greater than the most glorious seraph. "Christ is our life." "We are risen with Christ." By this we are declared to be a chosen, an adopted, a pardoned, a justified, and a quickened people. This is our present state-this our present character. We bear about with us the life of God in our souls. As Jesus did bear about in his lowly, suffering, tempted, and tried humanity, the hidden essential life, so we, in these frail, sinful, bruised, dying bodies, enshrine the life derived from a risen Head, the hidden life concealed with Christ in God. What an exalted character, what a holy one, then, is a believer in Jesus! Herein lie his true dignity and his real wealth-it is that he is a partaker of the Divine nature, that he is one with the risen Lord. All other distinctions in comparison vanish into insignificance, and all other glory fades and melts away. Poor he may be in this world, yet is he rich in faith, and an heir of the kingdom, for he has Christ. Rich he may be in this world, titled and exalted, yet if Christ is in his heart, that heart is deeply sensible of its native poverty, is lowly, child-like, Christ-like.

"If this is our exalted character, then how great our responsibilities, and how solemn our obligations! The life we now live in the flesh, is to be an elevated, a risen, a heavenly life. If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things

above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.' What is the holy state here enjoined ?-heavenly-mindedness. On what ground is it enforced ?—our resurrection with Christ. As a risen people how heavenly-minded, then, ought we to be! How illy does any other state comport with our new and hidden life! How incompatible and incongruous do grovelling pursuits, and carnal joys, and earthly ambitions appear, with a life professedly one and risen with the incarnate God! But even here much heavenly wisdom is needed to guide in the narrow and difficult way. To go out of the world- to become as a detached cipher of the human family,-to assume the character, even in approximation, of the religious recluse, the Gospel nowhere enjoins. To relinquish our secular calling, unless summoned by God to a higher and more spiritual service in the church, to relax our diligence in our lawful business, to be indifferent to our personal interests and responsibilities, to neglect our temporal concerns, and to be regardless of the relative claims which are binding upon us, are sacrifices which a loyal attachment to our heavenly King does not necessarily demand; and if assumed, are self-inflicted, and if made, must prove injurious to ourselves, and displeasing to God.

But to be heavenly-minded, in the true and scriptural sense, is to carry our holy Christianity into every department of life, and with it to elevate and hallow every relation and engagement. There is no position in which the providence of God places his saints, for which the grace of Jesus is not all-sufficient, if sincerely and earnestly sought. The statesman in the cabinet, the legislator in the senate-house, the professor in the chair, the magistrate upon the bench, the warrior in the camp, the seaman upon the deck, may maintain, even amid circumstances the most unfavourable and hostile, a high degree of heavenly-mindedness, and may bear a holy and uncompromising testimony for God and for Christ. Nor is there any sphere, however humble, or calling, however mean, to which the life of Jesus in the soul may not impart dignity, lustre, and sacredness. Christianity, through all grades, and classes, and occupations, is capable of diffusing a divine, hallowing. and an ennobling influence, transforming and sanctifying all that it touches. Blessed and holy are they who know it from personal and heart-felt experience.

"But if we be risen with Christ,' what is it to seek those things which are above, and to set our affections not on things on the earth? In other words, what is true heavenly-mindedness? It involves, in the first place, habitual and close converse with God. Upon no other terms can this spiritual state be maintained. The life of the soul can only be sustained by constant and ceaseless emanations from the life of God. There must be a perpetual stream of existence flowing into it from the Fountain of Life.' And how can this be experienced but by dwelling near that Fountain? Of no practical truth am I more deeply and solemnly convinced than this, that elevated spirituality-and oh, what a blank is life apart from it!-can only be cultivated and maintained by elevated communion. The most holy, heavenly-minded, devoted, and useful saints have ever been men and women of much prayer. They wrestled with God secretly, and God wrought with them openly; and this was the source which fed their deep godliness, which supplied their rich anointing, and which contributed to their extensive and successful labours for Christ. Thus only can the life of Gcd in the soul of man be sustained. Such is the mighty evil by which this indwelling principle is begirt, and such the hostile influences by which its every developement is assailed, it is quite impossible that a plant so heavenly and Divine, embedded in a soil so earthly and ungenial, can thrive but as it dwells in its own atmosphere-the atmosphere of close intercourse with God. How stands your soul, touching this holy and practical truth, my reader? Perhaps you are at the head of a family whose claims draw largely upon your time, your sympathies, and your thoughts. Perhaps you are a man of business, deeply immersed in this world's lawful, yet low and deadening, cares. Perhaps you are placed upon a pinnacle of the temple,' occupying some post of distinction and honour in the church of God; one of its builders, zealously labouring upon the external parts

of the structure; or the man of societies and committees, living in the meridian of a controversial, exciting, and bustling Christianity. Has the thought ever crossed your mind, that you may all the while be living in sad and awful neglect of secret, close, and real fellowship with your heavenly Father? that you may be almost a stranger to closet prayer, closet wrestling, closet transaction with God? It is quite possible that this shall be so. Your family, your business, your profession, even what you would term your religious engagements, may crowd the religion of your soul into the smallest compass of time. Oh think not that spirituality of mind, even in an ordinary degree, can thus be sustained or promoted. Marvel not at the difficulty you find in maintaining even the holy spark alive. Wonder not at the little real delight you take in drawing near to God, at the growing distaste you find for spiritual duties-at the little life that breathes in your prayersat the want of power and sweetness in the ministry of the word-at the greater preponderance of your mind and affections to the things that are earthly and sensual. But return to prayer—return with earnestness, with real desire for more heavenly-mindedness, for more true and close walking with God, and God will return to you. Return to ejaculatory prayer-to closet prayer-to family prayer -to social prayer-return but to PRAYER! The way of thy return is open-it is new and a living way,' sprinkled with the reconciling blood of the great High Priest, now alive upon his throne, and leading into the holiest. And the moment thou turnest thy face towards God, thou shalt find His face turn towards thee. Let nothing, then, rob you of this precious mean of advancing your heavenly-mindedness, nothing can be its substitute. Other duties, however spiritual-other enjoyments, however holy-other means of grace, however important and necessary, never can supply the place of prayer. And why? because prayer brings the soul in immediate contact with Christ, who is our life, and with God, the Fountain of life. Exclude all air from the body, and it would soon cease to exist. Shut out all prayer from thy soul, and how can you expect to maintain its Divine life, vigourous and healthy? As the total absence of the breath of prayer marks the soul' dead in trespasses and in sin;' so the waning of the spirit of prayer in the quickened soul as surely defines a state in which all that is spiritual within seems ready to die.""

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We doubt not our readers will greatly admire, as we also do, the preceding extract; and it may be regarded as a specimen of the general style and spirit of the volume. In the same chapter there are some very valuable remarks on, the proper estimation in which Christians should hold their ministers; we shall give a short quotation, which we trust will be generally acceptable to our readers.

"Delicate as is the subject, and needing as it does to be treated with a tender and skilful hand, we nevertheless must allude to that undue, idolatrous, if not superstitious, attachment to, and reverence for, Christian ministers by churches, and by individuals, which, we think, comes within the scope of this prohibition, the existence and growing extent of which demand a prompt and effectual check. The office of the Christian ministry is strangely misunderstood at the present time. By one part of the professing church, the Christian minister is all but deified; and by another part, he is all but crucified. By the one he is exalted in the place of God; so that multitudes, in the blindness of their superstitious attachment, worship him as God:' by the other, his office is altogether denied, and his dignity, authority, and instructions are cast out of the church, to be trodden under foot of men. Fearful extremes are these! And yet, both at this moment to an alarming extent exist. Who will be found tenderly, yet earnestly and faithfully, to lift up his voice against them, for the Lord's sake? May not a slight investigation of God's holy word bearing upon this subject, clearly point out the middle and the better path between these opposite and dangerous points of opinion, which at the present time threaten, and even already are working, the greatest evil to the church of God?

"In turning, then, 'to the law and to the testimony,' we find that there exists in the church of Christ, the office of the Christian ministry, having its appointment from Christ himself, the great Head of the church; 'And Jesus spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo. I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' Matt. xxviii. 18-20. Again: And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry.' Eph. iv. 11, 12. This high commission, which no man, or body of men, can confer, every minister of the Gospel bears, whom the Holy Ghost has called to the work, and who goes forth, preaching everywhere, the Lord working with him.' Let no man, at his peril, deny his office, or despise his work. The ministerial character is described: A bishop must be blameless as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.' Tit. i. 7-9. They are to be thus recognised by the saints: Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.' 1 Cor. iv. 1. They are to be respected, honoured, and loved : Receive him (Epaphroditus) therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such (margin honour such,) in reputation.' Phil. ii. 29. 'And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.' 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. 'Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.' 1 Tim. v. 17. They are to be especially prayed for: Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.' Rom. xv. 30. 'Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ.' Col. iv. 3. Brethren, pray for us.' Their authority is to be acknowledged, and their word obeyed; 'I beseech you, brethren . . that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us and laboureth.' 1 Cor. xvi. 16. 'For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.' 2 Cor. ii. 9. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God.' Heb. xiii. 7. Their temporal necessities are to be amply and cheerfully ministered to by the churches whom they serve; ' If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?' (see the first epistle to the Corinthians, the ninth chapter.) 'Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.' Gal. vi. 6. The labourer is worthy of his hire.' Luke x. 7. These are some of the statutes of the New Testament bearing upon the Christian ministry; from them it will appear—that the office is of Divine institution, that it is essential to the existence of a Gospel church, that it is connected with the discharge of certain functions, and that it is clothed with dignity and authority, which are to be recognised and exercised, not for its own self-aggrandisement, but for the welfare of the saints, and for Christ's honour and glory. On the other hand, equally clear is it, that the Christian ministry possesses essentially no Divine rights of its own, that it confers no spiritual gifts, conveys no spiritual grace, and that it disclaims all superstitious reverence, and rejects all idolatrous attachment and worship from the creature.

With all earnestness and solemnity of feeling we urge the reader to avoid the two extremes of error which we have pointed out, and to which we have thus opposed the word of God. Let him, on the one hand, be careful how he takes a step in sapping the foundation, or in impairing the influence of an institution which Christ has so distinctly appointed, and so signally blessed. Second to none, but superior to all, as an instrumentality of promulgating truth and of pro

moting Christ's kingdom in the world, is the CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, composed of Divinely called, spiritually taught, and holy men. Dark will be that day, when this holy bulwark of our country, this mighty engine of the truth, this powerful safeguard of virtue, and this distinguished glory of the church, ceases to occupy that elevated and commanding position assigned to it by the chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls. In placing yourself in opposition to it, you are not, perhaps, aware that you are allying yourself with the enemies of God and of truth, who reject Christ as a deceiver, who oppose Christianity as a fiction, and who deride the Christian ministry as a system of priestcraft. From such turn away. Have no fellowship with them in these doctrines, not even in appearance. Countenance them not in their attempts to uproot the Divine and hallowed institutions of the New Testament, by holding views inimical to, and destructive of, any one of these institutions. The church of God has never existed without a holy and a Divinely taught ministry. He who first gave to His church apostles and prophets, pastors and teachers,'' for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edyfying of the body of Christ,' has never ceased, in all the scenes of persecution and darkness through which she has passed, to replenish, glorify, and comfort her with men after His own heart; thus guarding the high office with a jealous, sleepless, and loving eye, from all the evil that has ever threatened its overthrow. And so will He ever guard it. In the fierce conflict of mind with mind, of principle with principle, of truth with error, which is fast approaching, nay, which even has already begun, the pulpits of our land cannot be dispensed with. Here, in the main, the great battle is to be fought. While a godly press will be found an invaluable and indispensable barrier against the advancing foe, it is from the pulpit those silver trumpets are to be blown, at whose shrill sound the hosts of Israel are to gather themselves to the help of the Lord, against the mighty; and at whose overpowering blast the walls of Antichrist shall fall before Him. Rather than be found, then, in opposition to Christ's ministry, seek, by all scriptural and holy means, to impart to it greater efficiency and strength, praying continually the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth more labourers into his harvest.'

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From the concluding chapter it appears, that our author expects that Christ will reign personally upon the earth during the millennium. His opinions upon this subject are stated with becoming modesty; he does not dogmatise, nor foolishly profess to unravel the great mysteries of prophecy, and determine the periods when they shall be fulfilled. We wish that others who entertain similar opinions, would in these respects imitate him. Our opinion is, that the reign of Christ will not be personal, but purely spiritual.

Although in the matters to which we have referred, and in some others of less moment, we differ from the respected and highly gifted author, we have very great pleasure, on account of the general excel.. lence of the work, in recommending it to the attention of our readers. It contains most delightful views of the complex nature, lovely character, atonement, and mediation of Christ; and there is a freshness and vigour in the rich evangelical sentiments which it contains, and in the language in which they are clothed; rendering the volume highly instructive, pleasing, and edifying.

TAHITI. Containing a Review of the Origin, Character, and Progress of French Roman Catholic Efforts for the Destruction of English Protestant Missions in the South Seas. Translated from the French of Mark Wilks. 8vo. 134 pp. J. SNOW.

THIS publication brings to light much important evidence, demonstrative of the abominable artifices, villainous cruelties, and freebooting robberies, which have been