Jehovah alone can estimate that worth by which a church is redeemed to God and as eternal truth never speaks of the work of Jesus, but in union with his triumphs, so neither should we. Such speculation cannot profit, but gives room to suspect that something else is behind the scene; and at all events it is calculated to mislead those who are not skilled in the intricacy of the subject.

I conclude, by, observing that the subject treated of in these lines, bears an awful aspect upon the lovers of self and sin. Legalists are cut off here, for divine faithfulness will allow of no escape on law grounds. Found wrapt up in thine own garments, eternal shame will be thy portion; for sinner, dreaming of what some call " a reconciled God," thy heart is at enmity to the person and government of Jesus. Here faithfulness will find thee under the curse, while an eternal frown will be thy portion for ever and ever.

Whatever differences may be found amongst men, there is but one state that admits into heaven:-" Ye must be born again," says the Prince of Life. This is the true ground of a gracious difference: this the spring of all spiritual action. So whatever pretensions we may have, if unacquainted with this life, we are dead in sin. Of some, we read, that they are twice dead; a still more awful condition. Oh for the noble desire of the apostle to be experimentally felt in our souls:-" To know Jesus, (by faith,) and the power of his re

I WOULD now, dear friend, speak to you respecting your soul's concerns, saying, if sin is still your heavy bur den, Oh come to Jesus, the burden bearer of his people, who well knows the weight of your sins as well as the weight of all his people's, having had them on his own shoulders, for the word of God says, He bore our sins in his own body on the tree." His soul was sore amazed, and very heavy, when the law and justice of God arrested him, as the Surety of his people, and charged all our sins upon him, in all their extensive guilt, pollution, and prevailings. Neither men nor angels can tell what anguish of spirit our Lord felt, when he said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Oh, why did our Lord bear this weight, this mighty load of sin in all its complicated vileness; not because there was any uncleanness in nature, or any unrighteousness in his practice: no, he was holy, harmless, separate from sinners and undefiled. And yet, in the infinity of his love and grace, he bore our iniquities; he was, he would be made sin for us; for us sinners, for us that were ungodly, for us that were enemies unto him, for us that were a mass of impurity, of contrariety to his holy self, and of horrid enmity against him. Thus the Lamb of God suffered; he put his own soul in our soul's stead-his own almighty shoulder under our insupportable load, that would have sunk us into eternal perdition; and being made sin and a curse for us, he gave himself a sacrifice in our room, thereby making a full atonement, a full satisfaction to divine justice : he finished transgres

sion, made an end of sin in himself, and obtained eternal redemption for us: he humbled himself to die on the cross and to lie in the grave for us. But it was not possible that death and the grave could hold this Sufferer, this mighty Prisoner, this mighty God, our Saviour! no, he rose by the power of his own eternal Godhead, and now sits on the right hand of the Father, to intercede for all he died, and give to them eternal life. God the Son, in our nature, rose from the dead as a triumphant conqueror over sin, Satan, death, and the grave. He ascended to heaven for us, and sits there, a Priest upon his throne, to save us to the uttermost.

with you under your present burdens, he will stretch forth the hand of his almighty love and take them from off your back. The Saviour can ease you ; he died to ease you, he lives to ease you, he delights to ease you, and has promised to give you rest.

May the Lord give you the grace of faith, then all will be well.

J. B. R.

OUTLINES OF A SERMON

Now, my dear friend, you see who bore sin, who gave satisfaction for sin, and who made an end of it in himself; who ever lives to save sinners, ere he called you to come unto him for salvation from sin. Hark what he says," Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now are, according to your own account, a labouring, heavy laden soul, under the weight of sin, of its guilt and its pollution; and this mighty load almost crushes you into the earth, and makes you fear, at times, that it will even crush you down into hell. But what saith the Lord Christ,-Come unto me. He says he will take the burden off your back. Arise, he calleth you, even you, as it were by

name.

Oh come cast your burdened soul down at Jesus' feet, shew him all your trouble, tell him how they press you, as it were, even to death, even to your eternal death. The Saviour can have compassion, for

His heart is made of tenderness,
His bowels melt with love.

His eyes are fitly set to look upon you in your miseries with infinitely great mercies. He well knows your sorrows, remembering what he himself felt under the weight of sin; and from an inexpressible fellow feeling

We find the apostle, in the second epistle of Peter, when speaking of the fruits of the Spirit in believers, saying, "He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off; wherefore (he continueth) I will not be negligent to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth." Yea, I think it meet, so long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.

We may here be led to enquire, What are the things which the apos tle wishes to put them in remembrance of?

You will mark he was anxious to bring to the mind of believers, as you find recorded in the eighth chapter of the epistle from whence I have borrowed my text, God the Father's electing love in the choice of his

people in Christ Jesus: :-- "Whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate." Here was the matter of God's election. Here was one great point which the apostle would put them in mind of:-" Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God:" their "creation in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained that they should walk in them." Here then is the source of redeeming grace, and electing love.

In the first place it is the special province of God the Holy Ghost to bring those things to remembrance :

He shall bring all things to your remembrance," John xiv. 26. And it is also, in a subordinate point of view, one great office of the ministering servants of God to put them in mind also, as is perceived by the example of St. Paul, which we are now considering.

Secondly. It is also the christian's privilege to bear these things in remembrance:-"We will remember (saith the church, in the book of Canticles) thy love more than wine." These good old truths are always welcome and new to the sincere believer, for "as new-born babes" they desire the "sincere milk of the word," 1 Peter ii. 2. It is no part of the christian character to be longing for novelty. Oh that we may each have these glorious gospel truths ingrafted newly upon our minds. Take one other instance for your comfort into consideration :-the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul of a regenerated child of God:-" Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 1 Cor. iii. 16.

There are other matters of christian duties of which the apostle puts the church of God in remembrance. Thus while we speak of a believer's happiness and safety in his eternal security in Christ, we should also remind him of his walk and conversation :-" As ve have received Christ Jesus our May, 1841.]

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Lord, so walk ye in him," Col. ii. 6. Also of watchfulness (Matt. xxiv. 42). Your heart has need of watchfulness, for remember, it is deceitful above all things," Jer. xvii. 9. Also of the tongue (Psalm xxxix. 1), and of the talent, that they be employed for God` (Matt. xxv. 15).

In the last place, I would earnestly enquire, What real part have you in these things? This matter should be heart-searching work among each and all of us- it should form the subject of deep solicitude and enquiry.

What we have now been meditating on, affords a blessed subject of recollection from day to day. These glorious truths established in the mind, keeping out the mere chaff and refuse of the day, habitually desirous of retaining gospel truth, it will bear to be renewed again and again.

May God the Holy Ghost graciously put us constantly in mind of these blessed realities, and may his divine unction rest upon his own most glorious truth. Wareham.

J. J.

COPY OF A LETTER SENT TO A BAPTIST MINISTER,

From One who acknowledges the Mystery of Christ, in justification of his conduct in refusing to preach for those ministers who countenance the Human Pre-existerian tradition.

Dear Sir,

THERE is but one faith, and as you are a partaker of that like precious faith, may you follow Paul as he followed Christ; see his denunciations, &c. upon them that troubled the churches of Galatia: which epistle we might suppose was never read in these days of liberality, or what is called of a good spirit.

What I find written in the Holy Scriptures against the traditions of the Pharisees, doth certainly apply to all the human pre-existerians. And it ought to be remembered, that all the Pharisees were human pre-exist

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erians and like our modern human pre-existerians in doctrine, they did not make their bread entirely of leaven; but they mixed leaven with their bread; for it is by mixing error with truth, or truth with error, that unstable souls are beguiled.

The condemnatory opinion which you, in common with other Baptist Ministers, have formed of my conduct, is founded in the ignorance of the cause which ignorance I believe has produced that lukewarm spirit which now prevails in the Baptist churches respecting the human preexisterian heresy. If the human preexisterians are right, follow them: but if not, every one who hath the banner given him, ought to display it because of the truth. I hope the Lord will ever preserve me from being yea and nay in such an important matter, as the Eternity of the Person of Christ, that Eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested in the flesh. (1 John i. 2; Heb. i. 10, 11, 12; vii. 3; xiii. 8.)

Some of the Baptist Ministers make an excuse for countenancing the human pre-existerian preachers, by saying, the human pre-existerians acknowledge the Godhead of Christ. But allow me to ask, Do not the Papists acknowledge the Godhead of Christ? And is that acknowledgement a sufficient authority for Baptist Ministers to countenance Popery? Allow me to ask, do the Papists or the human pre-existerians believe in the Christ of God?" Will their acknowledgement of the

Deity of their Christs, make either of their Christs to be our LORD? The human pre-existerians admit that their Christ had no real existence until the beginning of time! They say, he was the first creature that was created. As such he must have been under the law of his Maker; and as such he must have been obedient and have fulfilled the law for himself; and therefore, he could never fulfil it for others. They say, when their Christ became incarnate he lost his will, his

understanding, and his affections; and the Holy Spirit withdrew all his influences from him! And is such a fabulous Christ "the Christ of God?" Surely, the Papists have a better Christ than the human pre-existerians! Nevertheless, I believe it could be shewn that the Papist's Christ is not "the Christ of God." For if they believed in our Lord Jesus Christ, they would not believe in purgatory, &c. You must be aware that as far as a mere profession of faith is entitled to regard, the Papists 66 acknowledge the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ,”—but which the human pre-existerians do not acknowledge: and if we may judge of the creed of the human pre-existerians by their Verses on the Sonship of Christ, we must confess they have treated our Lord as a liar, and have ridiculed his testimony in Matthew xi. 27 as an absurdity! In this respect has any infidel done more?

By their fruits, our Lord saith, we shall know professors. And I believe no man truly reveres God, who does not revere his word! Allow me to add, that Mr. Romaine and Mr. Serle observes, "Reason intruding into things which are not revealed, is Atheism in fair disguise.”—“ When men would be wise above what is written, they are never wise in what is written." And another eminent Minister of the Gospel said, “Men who are wise above what is written, are fools below what is written."

I shall conclude this short defence of my conduct with the words of Joshua, If it seem evil unto you to serve the true Lord (Eth Jehovah), choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the true Jehovah (Eth Jehovah)." Jer. xxiv. 15.

FREDERICK SILVER. James St. Buckingham Gate.

JEHOVAH JESUS THE COMFORTER AND COMPANION OF HIS PEOPLE IN DEATH.

The Outlines of a Sermon Delivered at Soho Chapel, on Lord's Day, March 14, 1841, Occasioned by the Death of the Rev. George Comb.

BY THE REV. JAMES CASTLEDEN.

Of Hampstead.

Ir may be well to notice, that a Funeral Sermon had been preached on the previous Lord's Day, by the Rev. John Foreman; but so many of the members and seat-holders not being able to obtain admittance, the church concluded it best to have a second Sermon, as likewise that an account of the last few days of their beloved Pastor's earthly existence might be read, which was omitted in the former Sermon.

The text selected may be found in that sweet and well-known Psalm xxiii. 4, " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. There are but a very few believers in Christ but have often, yea very often read and recurred to this most savoury portion; it so enters into and describes the pleasures and the pains often experienced by the humble christian. The sweet singer of Israel begins in the holy confidence of one who found the Lord near and dear to him: "The Lord is my Shepherd." His fears had now all fled. He had left the hospital of hope, and now felt the freedom of faith. "The Lord is my Shepherd." I not only hope that he stands in this endearing relation to me, but I have a full persuasion of it. I dare not doubt it. I have often called my union relationship to him into question, but now I cannot; and I am fully persuaded that such is his love to me, his interest in me, and his care over me, that "I shall not want." Frequently I have been overwhelmed with most distressing doubts that my soul would

be lost for ever, that I should be a disgrace to the christian name, that I should be a cast out from all decent society, and a prey to poverty, and my latter days spent in a prison, and prove a worthless vagabond. But now my captivity is turned, and I can sing that " Jehovah is my Shepherd,

I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures." Here I can repose on my Shepherd's arm, on his loving heart, on his faithfulness, ou his cheering and refreshing promises, on his ever flowing fulness, on the relation he stands in to me, and in the sweet belief that where he is I shall be to rest with him for ever.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters." The soul comforting, quickening, refreshing streams of his gospel. The gracious words that drop from his lips often restore my soul after despondency. The applications of pardoning mercy, the kind and constant answers to many prayers, the sprinklings of Jesus' blood upon my conscience, the mount Pisgah prospects, and earnests of heaven indulged me, do often restore my soul.

But our text opens up a rich mine of mercy, and we may extract this doctrine from the words,—That the presence of God is a source of great comfort to saints at all times, and under every circumstance, when enjoyed. And the words present upon the face of them three prominent subjects:

First. We have a part of the path described that every pilgrim bound to Mount Zion above has to walk in. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death."

Secondly. The faith and the confidence of the christian expressed. "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.'

Thirdly. The crosses and the comforts of a faithful minister set forth. He very often has to walk through the valley, or rather is very