professed master in Israel too) on such a subject, is a lamentable proof of great inexperience in the best of all tuition; we will, however, say, that his omission is totally unwarrantable, and merits faithful reprehension.

So dark and so mysterious a veil is drawn over the prophetical part of the divine volume, that its scope and tendency is not so easy to unravel, as the learned Doctor apparently conceives. Many predictions have been blessedly explained in their accomplishment, it is true; and in their execution, excited in the believer the utmost bound of holy admiration, joy, and praise to the ever blessed Jehovah, in watching over their individual welfare; but much remains unfolded, and cannot be comprehended until its termination.

Most truly is all prophecy given by inspiration of the Holy Ghost; all points to Christ as its sum and substance; of him Moses and the prophets wrote. As the events which they declared became fulfilled, they brought with them a rich discovery that Jesus alone was the very substance prophecied of. Other prophecies which remain for the present concealed in darkness, are among "the deep things of God," which cannot be sounded by any human lines however well constructed, and ought not to be attempted, since the very attempt must fail, and in the failure discover its folly, with the vanity and ignorance which urged them to the work. No; that which is an eclipse to our mortal vision remains in blessed obscurity, and serves but to awaken the faith and patience of the saint, under the sanctified operations of the same Holy Spirit, to a submissive waiting until the appointed period of fulfilment, when the vision shall no longer tarry.

When we contemplate the indignity offered to this blessed person in the Godhead (the Holy Ghost) by obtruding the precepts of human teaching as duties to the attainment of knowledge on the subject of prophecy, which, in its vast boundary comprehends the glories of God in Christ; the unsearchable treasures of his grace; and the grand subject of redeeming love; all of which can only be understood through the divine discoveries of this adorable Spirit: and when we take into the account the harmony of sentiment existing in this great association of divines to whom this sermon was preached, and of others throughout the empire, who breathe with our author a unison of faith and sentiment, we tremble for our fate. The Holy Ghost will not continue long to be thus degraded: he will not long forbear the execution of his displeasure. He is exceedingly jealous of his honour, and of the maintenance of the splendid glories of the cross. as it is by his immediate influence and work that God is exalted in the person of his Son, we may rest assured that he will ere long produce a tremulous shaking, which must be productive of the overthrow of some, and the separation and refinement of his church from the Moabites which infest the land, and in some cases cause his real disciples to transgress, though the utmost pain attends the severating We wish the writer of this treatise may receive the admoninition as it is intended, and timely retrace his steps.

stroke.

And

Serious Essays on the Truths of the Glorious Gospel, and the various Branches of Vital Experience, for the use of true Christians. By John Ryland, D.D. The Third Edition, Revised, with Preface and Notes, by J. A. Jones, Minister of the Gospel, Brentford.

THE introduction of this volume, and its perusal, have renewed the sensations of pain which have frequently pervaded our mind, when we have contemplated, in great geniuses, the weakness of human nature, overcome by the obnoxious influence of pestilential errors, which philosophical reasonings and vain disquisitions have artfully intruded in the church.

It has been held, by that class of heterogenous divines who are thickly laden with the laurels of popular applause, as an incontrovertible axiom, that when high-talented men have relinquished the principles they once espoused and strenuously defended, there must, of necessity, be something defective in them to produce such a renunciation we are, however, by no means prepared invariably to admit this proposition. Yet, while we are constrained to admire the grace of God in producing, by the increased dissemination of light in the mind, the gradation from twilight to the more open dawn of mental understanding of the sublime mysteries of the cross, and the establishment of a full assurance of faith in the immortal truths accompanying our salvation, urging its recipient to a glorious and successful vindication of Zion's immortal privileges, we have still to acknowledge, that our joys on this subject have often been impeded when we have noted the opposite result, in aberration from orthodox opinions to the lowest grade of arminian legality. We assign the exciting causes of these charges, in the one case, to the blessed progress of divine illumination; and, in the other, not to a defect in the correctness and value of the principles themselves, but to the prevalence and dominion of other principles at variance with their tendency, even to vain-confidence and pride, which are causes far remote.

The author of this unique edition has certainly entailed a debt of gratitude on those who love to hear of Jesus, and him crucified, amidst the darksome shadows of the night. He has, in great candour, put his readers in honourable possession of the facts relative to the latent departure of his friend from the maintenance of those blessed doctrinal truths, which he once with so much creditable zeal defended; and has stated that, the cause of this contamination originated in his listening, with too much confidence, to the carnal reasonings of others, rather than to the unerring voice of truth. In his example, successors have an illustration of the imminent danger of standing on a pyramid, whose base is founded on the sandy ground of subtle reason only. Let those who may feel disposed to condemn him, take heed to their own steps, and remember that, the same motives that forbid the christian from seeking arguments from sceptical orations, the more effectually, as they suppose, to furnish weapons in the cause of truth; do, in their measure, point out the danger of toying with other edge tools, which, even in the most skilful hands, have inflicted uncommon mischief.

We have felt it necessary to make these allusions, preparatory to our commendation of the work before us, that the darkening veil of prejudice may be withdrawn from the mind, which might, otherwise, present an impediment to an advantageous perusal.

These Essays are well designed as companions to the humble and tried believer in Jesus: they are, in themselves, a fund of rich experience, full of precious doctrines; and, like a ship bound for some happy port, they convey to the mind a casket replete with the treasures of covenant love and mercy, in which is contained, in splendid profusion, things new and old; costly viands; solid gems; and fruits laid up in store, to feast and refresh the weary traveller homeward. We truly hope that others may participate of the blessing we have enjoyed from its contents.

regret that the length of these delightful Essays will prevent us giving the reader more than a faint specimen of their savoury import. The following may invite him.

THE LOVE OF CHRIST CELEBRATED.

ALL love, my dearest Lord, art Thou,*
Yea, in the abstract, love;

Thy love display'd unto me now,
Thus makes my lips to move.

This love, this precious love of thine,
Now makes me silence break;

For 'tis more sweet than spiced wine,
"Twill make e'en sleepers speak!

Discoveries of it, O impart;

Unstop the sealed spring:

Then my dull tongue and frozen heart,

Shall live, and love, and sing.

I'll sing thine everlasting love,

Which no beginning knew;

Free love! (for nothing did Thee move
Without thyself thereto.)

No seen or foreseen goodness could
This wondrous love procure:
My Lord did love because he would,
Else I'd been left I'm sure.

His love's unmixed; in Him no wrath
T'wards his elect can be:

My God abhorreth casting off,

He loves eternally.

His precious love exceeds all price,

All worlds could buy it not:

I'll sing this love as long as voice

Or being I have got.

Cant. vii. 9.

* "And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge," Eph. iii. 19. Christ, the fountain of love, who is love in the abstract, is here addressed, and unto him it is declared,

"This love, this precious love of thine,

Now makes me silence break."

Here is a singing of His everlasting, free, wondrous, unmixed, precious love -a love exceeding all price-a love

"All worlds could buy it not."

It will yield us no surprize if the multitude of professors cashier this performance as a superfluous production; but, while it will be a forbidden guest to the many, on account of its purity of doctrine, and simple adornings, there are some who will unite with us, and its author, in blessing the covenant Head of Israel for its sublime and savoury import. By the one party it will be denounced as not very creditable to the Doctor's original or mature talent, and dangerous in its creed; but, by those who prefer, at all times, the kernel to the shell, it will be retained in their library, as a sacred compendium of experimental and doctrinal truths; in which it will not, for any great length of time, remain without perusing.

The Trial of Spirits, or Papistical Heresy Detected, and Romish Priestcraft Sifted to the Bottom, in a Sermon Preached by the Rev. S. Lane. Second Edition.

IT is astonishing, even from the best intentions how much a good cause may be injured by bad pleading, and how opposed indiscreet language, the offspring of untempered zeal of the birth of yesterday, is to the end the propagator aims at. In no case can the latter course be justified, while, on the contrary, much has been gained by opposite treatment. Courtesy has softened down the rage of many an enemy, while terms of contempt and ridicule have exasperated him to madness. In every combat with a foe, especially if he be a formidable one, whose every movement is effected under subterraneous passages of well-conceived artifice, the minutest attention should be paid to the weapons used, either in the attack, or acting on the defensive, lest such weapons become blunted at the onset, and recoil upon himself, to the obvious disadvantage of the cause he designs to support and has undertaken to vindicate.

The Rev. Gentleman, the writer of this Sermon, has thrown down the gauntlet of contention in defence of the protestant faith; or, rather, he has written an expose of the catholic delusion; which, in compliance with the wishes of his friends, he has published. He has commenced his work with an address to those who hold the catholic faith. With the sentiments contained in that address, which is a faithful appeal to their consciences, and developes the real objects they wish, by every artful contrivance to obtain, we cordially concur; but are by no means sanguine as to the beneficial effects which may result from his epistle, from those who willingly close their eyes to truth, and are deaf to every natural and physical re

monstrance.

If arguments, the most eloquent and convincing, drawn from historical records, subtracted from the unerring pages of the inspired volume, and deduced from circumstantial evidence around us, and these uttered with all the emphasis, native fire and genii, which evince the deep interest with which the orator is imbued; if these fail in chasing away the dark clouds from the minds of an infatuated people, what shall we say of an attempt which is comparatively deficient of such materials? We make these remarks from the language in

which the author has expressed his opinions of his antagonists and their doctrines. Were such epithets really needed in defence of his cause, we could tolerate them; but as they obviously are not, we regret that they are inserted; and also several other parts which would offend the modest reader.

The sermon in question, is founded on 1 John iv. 1. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." He notices, first, the persons addressed-the subjects of divine grace; and by whom they were addressed-by each divine person in the Godhead, in their official characters. Secondly, the exhortation given them— which includes eight different views. And, lastly, the reason assigned; "Because many false prophets are gone out into the world;" the chief of whom he considers to be the pope of Rome.

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It is a blessed privilege to be left free in the exercise of our own judgments, when they do not overstep rational bounds, and are not injurious to our fellow men; the moment such wholesome restraints are violated, by counter marches in an opposite course, that moment they should be fettered. In other words, we would not give a sharp instrument into the hands of an assassin. But, dear to our hearts as the protestant cause is, we cannot cherish an attempt to uphold it by any means, however unconstitutional. The most ample opportunities have been furnished us for the expression of our dissent to the agitated measures. With those acts, our duty terminates; or we have no further appeal against them; but rather, it is now our duty and privilege to stand still, and see the salvation of God." The decree has been sealed, and executed. The vein of prophecy is now, in its measure, fulfilled: we cannot postpone its accomplishment. To us, we confess, the passing of the act, admitting catholics to power, from which for ages they have been wisely precluded, was as the deep-toned knell, which proclaimed in the very centre of our souls, the departure of our long abused blessings. It is some consolation to our fainting spirits that, we have been enabled to raise our dissent from the measures; and are, in that point of view, free from the awful responsibility which an advocacy of them involves; which, if they do not affect us, will assuredly operate to the discomfiture and persecution of our children.

It will be well to remember, that as a professing church we have much cause for deep humility. With all lowliness of mind would we acknowledge our manifold backslidings; bow to the dispensations of a covenant Jehovah, remembering that he has all hearts at his disposal, and will so rule and over-rule every event, that the bitter shall become sweet; and that which has been sweet to our carnal appetites will become bitter, and must be relinquished. We leave the subject with him, fully assured that "he that hath done all things well," will continue to do all things well. We may yet live to see a separation of the precious from the vile, and a more evident love for the sacred truths of the gospel of our salvation. God grant we may, and that speedily, for how can two walk together unless they be agreed?