your present position; and thus you stand in the shadow of the woe pronounced," Woe unto you when all men speak well of you." You are not among the few who find the narrow way, but you are among the many who walk in the broad way of general profession, and would subvert the gospel of Christ. You join with those who would alter the dimensions of the ark, the pattern of the tabernacle and the temple: but who ever hardened himself against God, and finally prospered. If then you have If then you have any conscience left, let the exhortation recoil upon yourself, be not conformed to this world. Again, you say make sure work for eternity. You try in your letter to be very awful, but you are notwithstanding abominably carnal; there is not one particle of spiritual savour in your letter. The children of God themselves, until better taught, are apt to take legal gloominess, for spiritual solemnity, and thus for a while become imposed upon by the sad faces, awful gesture, and sort of damnation language of the ministers of Satan. The true christian's fellowship with God is indeed solemn, but it is, at the same time, in the endearments of redeeming and saving love. And now, by way of conclusion, let us see what it is to make sure work for eternity. Be it then remembered that none can do this, but those for whom the kingdom is prepared; none but the redeemed can savingly turn to God; none can be conformed to the image of the Son of God, but those who are predestinated thereto. To make sure work then for eternity, is to make our calling and election sure in us, it is sure for the redeemed, but they cannot be sure of it, until they are enabled to make it sure in their own consciences; and no one creature effort, nor all creature efforts put together can do this, for the things of God knoweth no man, only as the Holy Spirit is pleased to reveal them. Those who are born of God. have the Spirit of grace and supplication, and are brought to know that the great turning point is election; that they are either chosen to salvation, or they are not; that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy; that no man can know the Father, only unto whom the Son will reveal him; that no man can know the Son, but he to whom the Father will reveal him; and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. The man that is brought to feel the force of these truths, will not be able to rest in human doings, or human testimony; nothing can satisfy such but the testimony of God: the word of God must be brought home to the heart with power, the efficacy of pardoning blood must be felt, the love of God must be shed abroad in the heart, the Saviour's name must be made precious, the mind of the Lord must be revealed, and the salvation of God enjoyed. It is receiving these things in their power, importance and glory, that constitutes what is called making our calling and election sure. Nothing short of this can satisfy those who are born of God. It is the small still, but powerful voice of truth, bringing the soul into fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, that gives assurance while the everlasting covenant is unfolded. The service of sin is rejected, the world is overcome, the enemy retreats, the affections are set on things above, and not on things on the earth. Of these things the Lord's people are brought to feel their need, after these things they long and seek, and these things they sooner or later realize, for they shall come and sing in the height of Zion. And thus those who believe through grace shall have the witness in themselves, and shall bear testimony against the inventions and doctrines of men, and shall to eternity bear witness of the truth of absolute election, divine pre destination, everlasting righteousness, work prosper? Doth the true light eternal redemption, effectual calling; in a word, that the Lord hath loved them with an everlasting love, and saved them in and by himself with an everlasting salvation, that they shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. It is by the reception, experience, and practice of these truths, that true christians let their light shine before men; which light is of course offensive to the carnal mind, for men love darkness rather than this heavenly light. It is by these great truths that the true christian puts off the old man with his deeds and puts on the new man; is not conformed to this world, but is conformed to the image of Christ, and to him is revealed the immutable counsel of God: this is sure work for eternity. If it be the will of the Lord, may he stir you up to a sight and sense of the delusions you are under, that you may be brought to think soberly, pray spiritually, and walk humbly (not proudly as you now do) with the God of eternal truth; for if you live and die in any capital error, recollect you will be found among those of whom it is written," that he that loveth and maketh a lie, shall have his portion in the lake." Your present position takes the work of God out of his hands, disregards the honors of the Holy Spirit, and in part dethrones the Saviour; and that under the garb of human holiness and pious real for the good of sculs. May Almighty God tear off the mask, and cause you to refuse the evil and choose the good, So prays your old friend and acquaintance, shine? God shines into our heart to make manifest the evil of our nature, the brighter it shines the blacker we see ourselves. And it shines in many ways. First, it discovers our sin, and reproves us for it: "all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light which doth appear, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light." Secondly, it shines into the world: we have a sure word of prophesy, which you do well to take heed to, as to a light shining into a dark place, till the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts. Thirdly, it shines in the face of the Mediator: "God gives us the light of the knowledge of the glory of himself in the face of Jesus Christ." Fourthly, discovers what he hath done for us and in us: 'I will bring the blind by a way they knew not; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight." Fifthly, it shows us more and more of the evil of our hearts, and the suitability and all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the only way to the Father : The path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Cherish, my dear brother, every conviction, every discovery of sinful self, every reproof, every frown, and every correction, for reproofs of instruction are the ways of life. If God loves us he will not suffer us to be deceived; he will stir us up, and make us restless and uneasy, dissatisfied, discontented, barren, lean, and miserable, that we may feel our need of the provision that he hath made for us in Christ Jesus; nor will he allow us to stop short of the promised rest, or make up our happiness in the things of this world. Arise, depart, says God, for this is not your rest, it is polluted. And no small share of sharp exercise do we need in order to strip us of self, and to raise our affections above the things of this world. This I know by sorrowful experience. I have sent sister M. an epistle but I have received no answer. She little thinks what she loses by her silence, for I have written another partly, which is on a beautiful subject, but shall neither finish nor send it until I have one from her. This severe winter tries me not a little, it is excessively cold; but blessed for ever be God, who hath given us a better country in hope, and hath promised to bring us to it. Our race runs through a wilderness, but the next country affords the prize for which we run. I am looking out every day in hope of better weather, and intend, if God permit, to be with you once more in the spring. Thus I flatter myself of to-morrow, not knowing what a day inay bring forth, for our life is but a span. Farewell: grace and peace be with thee. My kind respects to your spouse and all friends. We will endeavour to open the text to you in the foregoing order. Firstly, then, the spot chosen. This is evidently the first work of one who intends forming a vineyard or garden, and is the department of the husbandman only. He does not, as some people would imply, go to a desert waste, and cultivate here a piece of ground and there another promiscuously, just as it may happen; oh no, such a proceeding in a literal point of view would plainly prove a men destitute of knowledge or judgment, nay void of common sense. Nor doth the Great Husbandman, the Lord of heaven and earth: his church is his vineyard, planted by his own right hand, elect according to his foreknowledge, chosen in him before all worlds, saved by redeeming blood, and appointed to dwell with him in bliss for ever. Yes, a garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse." The spot having been chosen is set apart for the purpose of a vineyard. So Jehovah's vineyard is walled around and fenced in, for the double purpose Recently Preached at Jewin Crescent Chapel, of protecting it and the plants therein Ever your's to serve in Christ Jesus. W. H. S. S. A BRIEF OUTLINE OF A SERMON, BY THE REV. JOSEPH IRONS. "The vineyard which thy right-hand hath planted."-Psalm lxxx. 15. A powerless ministry is an useless one: it may be eloquently delivered, very pleasing to the natural mind, and perhaps may amuse and afford great intellectual entertainment; but if it is not owned of God, it will never bring glory to his adorable name or profit the souls of his children. A minister that is not sent of God to declare his truth, cannot and will never be blessed by God. The subject for consideration this evening suggests three distinct ideas. 1. The sacred select spots which God chooses whereon to form his vineyard. 2. The owner thereof, And 3. The workmanship displayed in forming, cultivating, and ripening the fruits of it. from the attacks of robbers, and from which if allowed to enter would desspoilation from beasts and all animals, troy all that is therein. Here the husbandman displays his skill in nurturing the fruits of the earth. So in his vineyard the Lord takes peculiar delight: every plant, even the most insignificant is the object of his care and attention. This is his inheri tance. "We are a garden walled around, Chosen and made peculiar ground." A word or two about the walls. The first wall is predestination; the second, redemption; the third, sanctification; and the fourth, glory. These enclose the spot all round and on every side, not a breach or crevice is to be found in either, for were there the smallest imperfection in even one of them, the purpose of enclosing the ground would not be ac complished, Its walls are salvation, and its gates praise. It is filled with choice plants selected by himself, and planted there by his right hand. They are the special objects of his love and recipients of his grace, and when once placed there can never be plucked up, though in his time he transplants them to his vineyard on high. When God plants a soul in his vineyard he calls him from the briars and weeds of the world, the desert in which the vineyard stands, though preserved by its surrounding walls from the pollution of it: he says, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty," 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. The plants within the walls have no connection with those without, being quite of a different growth, deriving nourishment from the Head, the True Vine, to which each is united. A tablet is attached to each with this inscription,- Ye serve the Lord Christ." I dislike the term irresistible grace, it is decidedly an incorrect one, since by nature we are all at enmity with God by wicked works, and exclaim with one accord in our state of unregeneracy, "We will not have this man to reign over us." Resist it we have done, and should continue to do: irresistible is that which cannot be resisted. Invincible grace it is, for resist it as we may, our stubborn hearts and perverse inclinations must bow at last to its sovereign sway. True godliness is to have Father, Son, and Holy Ghost manifest in us. 66 2. The Owner. My Father is the Husbandman," saith Christ. He it is that places his chosen in the vineyard of his church. He it is that nurtures them: they grow up in him until in his good time they are meet for glory. Every one with plain sense knows that a plant can never remove itself when once placed in the ground; yet some persons talk as if they can be planted in the vineyard when they please, and by their own exertions grow and flourish until they arrive at full perfection. 3. The workmanship displayed. All is at the disposal of the Great Husbandman in the vineyard of which I am speaking, and no one beside. He waters them, and by him they thrive. I really consider the religious world [mark, I say the world, for the church of God is separate from the world] is now to be feared as more injurious to the cause of God than the profane world; so many professing his name, and so few possessing the life of God in their souls. I desire at all times so to speak, preach, and declare the whole counsel of God, that I may be clear of your blood, and stand at the last great day of reckoning to present my account before an assembled world, not having the blood of one of you on my head. I know not how long my Master will be pleased to allow me to serve him here, but at times I think that it is not far distant, when from serving him here I shall be taken to praise him above. I abhor the idea of having a claim upon God: my Bible sanctions it not. All the plants of his right-hand planting will be nurtured, guarded, and flourish under his care, until he uproots them from a world of sin, to be transplanted to mansions of happiness prepared for them in the regions of bliss, there to bloom through all eternity. noured by the opinion you entertain of my judgment, and earnestly pray that neither you nor any one else may be misled by it. With respect to sanctification and the moral law, I think that the disputants have misunderstood each other, as neither party hold the sentiments attributed to them by their opponents. If by progressive sanctification is meant my nature becoming less sinful or more holy, I must say that the word of God and my own experience give a positive denial to the doctrine, My nature is as prone to depart from God, and seek its satisfaction from the dust as ever, and I believe that all those who are taught of God feel this to their sorrow. But on the other hand, if it is meant that sanctification is progressive in the Holy Spirit's renewing us in the inner man day by day, increasing our faith, strengthening our love, and enabling us to deny ungodliness, and to put off the old man with his deeds; I must say that both scripture and experience prove that there is such a thing as progressive sanctification, and though they say Give a dog an ill name and he may go and hang himself,' I will take the poor thing in, and beg of God that he may dwell in my heart until spirit, soul, and body are presented faultless before the throne with exceeding joy. Not that I mean to say that the believer is always conscious of progressing; on the contrary he mostly thinks other wise, and is often making rapid progress when he is crying out 0 wretched man that I am :" for while it is written " Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall," we do read" Before honour is humility." Some have have been left to fall into sin that " they might know all that was in their heart." "Hezekiah humbled himself;"" Peter wept bitterly:" probably they never grew so much at any other time. They fell to rise the higher. And I do believe that my falls, grievous as June, 1840.] they have been. (though through mercy the world know them not,) so grievous that the remembrance fills me with shame and self-loathing, and will, I trust, cause me to walk softly before God all my days yet it is by these very grievous falls that I have been led to much richer views of the fulness and freeness of God's salvation, and the adorable Saviour has become the chief among ten thousand, the altogether lovely. He only knows how my heart glows and my eyes weep while writing this. To conclude this subject, if I were asked what is meant by progressive sanctification, I should say it is the work of the Holy Ghost in a poor sinner's heart, emptying him of self-goodness, stripping him of self-righteousness, and giving him increasing discoveries of Christ's perfect, full, free, and everlasting salvation, leading him to say, "Whom have I in heaven but thee," &c. I remember coach with a Academy, in You mention the moral law: I cannot find the expression either in the Old or New Testament, but I suppose that the ten commandments are meant, which some say are the rule of life, though Paul calls them the law of sin and death, and says that "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made him free from it," Rom. viii. 2; see also Gal. iii. 21, where it is positively declared that it could not give life: therefore it cannot be the rule of life. riding on the Hyoung student of one of my journeys to W, who in course of conversation mentioned the name of Mr. Sr. Ah, said a gentleman, he is an antinomian. They knew not who I was, so I let them talk on. When they had done I said, Sir, what you have said concerning Mr. Sr is a libel in your sense of the term, for I believe that there are few his equals in real vital godliness. He said that he believed it, all that he meant was that he held the sentiments of the antinomians. S |