For of it for the purposes of spiritual instruction and consolation. example, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, he says, "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have nof an high priest which cannot be touch II. But while by the eye of faith we behold the rising Saviour thus receiving and dispensing such inestimable gifts, let us inquire, in the second place, what spiritual instruction we ought to learn from his ascension. To those who witnessed the miracle recorded in the text, it was said by the angels, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gaz-ed with the feeling of our infirmi, ing up into heaven? this same ties; but was in all points tempted Jesus which is taken up from you like as we are, yet without sin. Let into heaven, shall so come, in like us therefore come boldly unto the manner as ye have seen him go into Throne of Grace, that we may ob heaven." They were not to be sa- tain mercy, and find grace to help tisfied with the indulgence of a use in time of need." And while we less curiosity, or transient admira- thus derive repose and confidence tion, but were to lay to heart the from the consideration of his concertainty of his second advent; tinued intercession for us in heaven, and, as a proof of their faith, were let it be our object here on earth; to return to Jerusalem, in obedi- to promote the interests of his blessence to his last command, there to ed kingdom. Let us live to his await the promised descent of the glory; let us exert ourselves for Holy Spirit. And thus, if our re- the extension of his spiritual doflections on this stupendous event minion, both in our own hearts and have been confined to barren spe- throughout the world. And, under culations, it may be said to us, Why every circumstance of life, let us stand ye gazing, as it were, into ever keep in mind that this same heaven, to witness this great sight, Jesus shall come again in like manas though nothing more were neces- ner as he was taken up into heaven; sary than to admit the fact as an let us therefore give diligence to article of belief, without any re- make our calling and election sure, ference to its import and conse- in order that we may be prepared quences. How different the lan to witness his second advent with guage of our church in the collects joy, and not with grief. Yes-he for Ascension-day, and the Sunday shall come again; he shall come after, where this great event is al- for objects of the highest moment; luded to. We are there taught so he shall come as a King, a Judge, a to reflect upon the ascension of Conqueror; he shall come to conChrist to heaven, that we ourselves summate the purposes of his grace, may, in heart and mind, thither and the requirements of bis justice ; ascend, and with him continually to raise the dead; to judge men dwell; and to pray for the Holy and fallen angels; to discriminate Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us their characters; to pronounce and to the same place whither our Sa- execute sentence upon the wicked; viour Christ is gone before. We to receive his children to himself; must turn this great article of our to exalt them body and soul to his creed to a practical account; it everlasting glory; to be glorified should strengthen our faith, con- in his saints, and admired in them firm our patience, animate our zeal; that love him; and then, having put inspire our hopes, stimulate our down all rule, and all authority vigilance, and raise our affections and power, to deliver up the preto things above, where Christ sit- sent dispensation of his mediatorial teth at the right hand of God. St. kingdom to God, even the Father; Paul frequently adverts to the as- to establish his glorious and eternal cension of Christ, thus making use kingdom, and to introduce a new heaven and a new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness. There may we be for ever with him! There may we see Him as he is, and advance to all eternity in resemblance. to his image, and in the enjoyment of his love! And to this end let us be habitually prepared for his appearance, and give diligence to be found of Him in peace. Amen. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. ~ 99 I AM induced to submit to your readers, whether the following interpretation of Romans ix. 3. does not convey a more probable expression of St. Paul's meaning, than any other that has been mentioned by your correspondents. I would simply place the words "Hvxouny γὰρ αυτος έγω ανάθεμα ειναι ἀπὸ T8 Xplore," in a parenthesis; and construe Hoyoun literally “I did wish," instead of "I could wish." The whole passage would then run thus: "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, (for I myself did wish to be accursed from Christ,) for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh," &c. This interpre tation, if warranted, appears to me to afford a satisfactory solution of the difficulty; and nothing surely could be more natural than that St. Paul, when contemplating the misery of his countrymen, on account of their rejection of the Messiah, should have been led to reflect upon his own former unhappy state; the recollection of which was painfully calculated to increase that heaviness and sorrow of heart which he felt on their account. I would submit, whether the construction which I have given of "nuxouny," which is in the preter-imperfect tense, is not more literally correct than the English version. Had it been intended to convey the mean ing which has been given to it by our translators, "I could wish," I conceive that the conjunction “av" would have been inserted, though I am aware that the imperfect tense has, in some cases, (for example, Acts xxv. 22; 1 Cor. ii. 8; 2 Cor. xi. 1.) the force of the optative mood, without that addition. It is sufficient, however, for my purpose, that it has not that force necessarily; and the right meaning. of the passage seems to me to have been obscured by assigning the optative meaning to it in the present instance. I need scarcely add, that the absence of authority for the pointing of the original text, fully allows of the insertion of the parenthesis which I have proposed ; and it is in favour of my argument, that no writer abounds more in parentheses than St. Paul. CUMBRIENSIS. To the Editor oftheChristian Observer. NOT having yet observed in your pages a review of Dr. Copleston's treatise on Necessity and Predestination, or any extracts from that publication, I take the liberty of sending you the following passage, which forcibly points out the necessity of deep humility of heart for a faithful reception of the Gospel, and appears to me calculated to be eminently serviceable to the interests of religion, especially coming from the pen of a writer of such deserved reputation as the learned Provost of Oriel College. G "It is not by the opposition the world offers to an innocent and holy life; it is not by the severe self-denial and oppressive services which the Gospel exacts from us; it is not even by the strict observance required of moral purity and social duties alone, that the path of life is rendered so narrow, and that man is so reluctant to enter upon it. The difficulty consists not so much in the evils which lie around him, as in those which spring up within him. The control of sinful appetites and desires does indeed demand his constant care and vigilance; but it is the pride of his heart which presents the chief obstacle. He cannot bear to be told that his nature is a corrupt, a fallen, a sinful nature; that the carnal, or in other words the natural, mind is at enmity with God; that if he seeks to be reconciled with God, he must seek it alone through the merits of a Redeemer. To Him,-not to his own doings, how ever diligently he may labour in the regulation of his own mind, or in the service of his fellow-creatures, to his Saviour he must refer the whole merit and the whole efficacy of his salvation. That Saviour hath said, that he came to seek and to save them that were lost.' And every man who would be his disciple, let him be the wisest and the most virtuous of men, must believe that he himself was one of those lost creatures whom Christ came to save. He must not only acknowledge with his lips, but in his heart he must feel, that in the sight of God his best deeds are nothing worth; that however they may tend, as they certainly will tend, to make him happier upon earth, they have no power whatever to raise him to heaven. "Nay, more than this, if he trust to himself, if he indulge himself in setting a value before God upon any thing that he does, these very deeds will be the instrumental cause of his ruin: they will lead him from that gate through which alone he can enter, and will carry him farther and farther in a wrong direction. His good works will never bring him to Christ; but if he lay hold on Christ in sincerity of faith, He will easily and quickly bring him to good works. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is emphatically called the Door of the kingdom of heaven. No man cometh to the Father but by him. CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 246. If then there be in any man's breast a secret longing after self-righteousness; if there be a disposition, however faint, to justify himself by his own performance-any lurking conceit that he, being so much better than others, stands less in need of that atoning merit than the worst of his fellow-creatures; let not such an one think that he will receive any thing from the Lord. He may perhaps, upon examination, find that he has exercised himself in doing what he thinks his dutythat he has abstained from excessthat he has dealt justly, and worked diligently for the good of mankind-that he has even practised many of those virtues which are most truly Christian-that he has been kind, patient, humble, charitable, meek, forgiving; yet if his heart be a stranger to God, giving its affections not to things above but to things on the earth-if he suffer it to plead any one of these services as entitled to reward from God, or as fit even to bear his inspection, he is still in his sins-he will be left to wander on according to his own wayward fancies, and will never find the gate of salvation. "Such was of old the pharisaical pride which provoked the severe rebuke of our Saviour; Verily I say unto you, Even the publicans and the harlots enter into the kingdom of God before you.' The case of gross sinners is less desperate than yours. It is possible they may be brought to a sense of their wretchedness, and may throw themselves upon the only Refuge that is open to them; but you who not only neglect this help, but who wilfully betake yourselves to another, are altogether without hope. Ye shall die in your sins. Be your deeds what they may in the sight of men be they just, upright, benevolent, liberal, humane-while they spring from a corrupt and unregenerate Source they cannot please God. For without faith it is impossible to please him; and without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 2 Y "If now we reflect on the prevalence of this proud spirit among men, on their proneness to value themselves upon their own worth, on the unwelcome and humiliating confession required by the Gospel from the best and wisest of mankind, as well as from the wickedest and the most ignorant, we shall not wonder at the strong comparison by which our Lord illustrates the straitness of that road through which we must pass to salvation. For not only our sinful appetites, but, what is much harder, every high thought and vain imagination that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.' "Neither have we yet described the full extent of that humility to which the heart of man must bow before he can be a disciple of Christ. And the part which remains to be told will perhaps to many minds appear much harder than what has been already stated. "For in thus turning from the lying vanities of self-righteousness to the true and living God, he must not flatter himself that the change is his own work. He must not take credit to himself for the victory, but must give God the praise for having called him out of darkness into his marvellous light. No man cometh to me,' saith our Lord, except my Father draw him.' To God then be our thanks and praise rendered, as the Giver not only of our natural but of our spiritual life. He is, as our church often confesses, the Author of all godliness. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.' It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.' His grace brought us to the knowledge of the truth; and unless we resist or neglect his gracious influence, in spite of all the powers of darkness his grace will preserve us in it." Tothe Editor of the Christian Observer. A CONSTANT reader would be much obliged to any correspondent who would favour him with a sober and scriptural definition of the expression, "The leadings of Providence," and point out under what circumstances a person may be said to follow those leadings. That a good and useful meaning may be attached to the expression, there can be no doubt; but is it not often employed in a rash and enthusiastic manner, so as to favour a sort of superstitious dependence upon uncontrollable circumstances, (at least when those circumstances happen to fall in with the inclination of the party,) instead of the exercise of an impartial judgment, and a careful examination of all the particulars of the case, with prayer for the Divine blessing and direction? I remember once asking a clergyman, who spent the greater part of his life in wandering from place to place, instead of confining himself to the quiet, unostentatious duties of his parish, when he should return home to his flock, and being told in reply that he must watch the leadings of Providence, which might direct him to some distant part of the kingdom, where his presence might be wanted. He accordingly, a few days after, accepted a casual invitation to pass some months with a friend who promised him " a sphere of usefulness." To my mind, the leadings of Providence clearly pointed my reverend friend to his "few poor sheep in the wilderness ;" and I cannot but think his own conscience would have told him so, and have goaded him homeward, had he not satisfied himself with a plea which not only often favours indolence and indecision of character, but allows of the gratification of almost every preference and impulse, under the plau sible semblance of implicit submission to the providential arrangements of the Almighty. A CONSTANT READER. To the Editor of theChristian Observer. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. PERMIT me to add to the remarks which have lately appeared in your work on the regular performance of the church service, a few observations on an impropriety of which some ministers are guilty; I mean that of sitting in the vestry during the reading of the prayers. This manifest impropriety I have witnessed principally in my own church, the pulpit of which is not unfrequently occupied by some of the more popular and eminent preachers of the day. I am aware that fatigue is sometimes pleaded in excuse; and sometimes the necessity of a little quiet recollection: but what are such apologies as these, when opposed to the evils which manifestly arise from the practice? The formalist is disgusted, and will probably transfer his disgust from the preacher to his doctrine. The man of the world feels contempt for that apparent spirit of selfindulgence to which he attributes the practice, and that egotistical preference which he considers the preacher as evincing towards his own performance above the established ordinances of the church. "hearer of the word" is encouraged in his slight attention to the devotional parts of the service, and confirmed in his notion of the almost exclusive importance of the sermon. And, not to mention any further evil consequence, "the hearts of the righteous are rendered sad," especially in times like these, when it is so emphatically the duty of the clergy to urge upon their people by example, as well as by precept, the importance of prayer and a devotional frame of mind,—not to rest satisfied with knowing, or even delighting in, the truths of the Gospel as a system, but to study to imbibe the real spirit of Christianity, and a love for communion with God, The mere I HAVE had occasion to remark that some professed Christians entertain very lax ideas respecting the nature and extent of the Moral Law. Though they admit the authority of that code, they hold it right to do many things which appear to me quite inconsistent with Christian obedience to it, as a rule of life. The point which especially attracts my attention, is obedience, on Christian principles, to the laws of the land, as part of the Moral Law. Many there are who think, or seem to think, that laws not founded on the express letter of the Decalogue, are not entitled to respect for conscience-sake, and that all that is necessary is to avoid detection in the breach of them. I refer, in particular, to buying game or smuggled goods; sending letters in parcels, in cases in which it is prohibited to do so under a penalty; marrying by banns without residence; evading an assessment for articles subject to taxes; giving receipts on unstamped paper; and similar practices; most of which have been often and justly reprehended in your pages. The view take of the subject is this; That Christians are bound, as such, to obey every law of the land which is not repugnant to the law of God, as fully and as conscientiously as if that law were expressed in the Ten Commandments; and that whenever the law enacts that an act shall not be done under a certain penalty, it is to be regarded, in foro conscientiæ, as prohibiting that act altogether; and that the committer of the act is not, in foro conscientiæ, excusable by his willingness to pay or suffer the penalty in case of conviction. These matters are not, I think, sufficiently considered or understood; and I could wish therefore that the hints thrown out by two J. J. of your correspondents, in your Numbers for last September and December, were followed up by a |