of Christ that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: from whom the whole body, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love," Eph. iv. 1—16.

To the only wise God, Father, Son, and Spirit, we commend you. Amen.

PHILIP DICKERSON, Moderator.

(For the Spiritual Magazine.)

OBITUARY OF JAMES BRIERLEY,

Late of Rochdale, who died in the Lord, Jan. 20, 1831, aged Seventy Years.

AMONG the many subjects which occupy the pages of the Spiritual Magazine, that relating to the calling, perseverance, and final conquest of the saints of the Most High God, often proves stable and instructive to weary and heavy-laden pilgrims on their passage to glory. This consideration induces me to submit, for the perusal of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and more especially for the encouragement of those who may be severely tried in this desert world, an account of the decease of our departed friend and brother, JAMES BRIERLEY.

The Lord, in infinite mercy, was pleased to call the subject of this memoir by sovereign grace, when about seventeen years of age. He commenced his christian career with great zeal; and, like many of the Lord's newly converted people, he imagined he could do much in the way of converting others; but he soon found all his efforts were too feeble to accomplish that object. At length, after severe trials in endeavouring to make his own" calling and election sure,' by his own might, it pleased the Lord to cast in his way a tract, extracted from the works of the immortal Bunyan; and this publication, under the powerful operation of the Holy Ghost, brought him to see the nature of God's everlasting covenant, and to trace the work of God on his own soul to that blessed source. At the age of twenty years, he joined the particular baptist church at Rochdale, in the county of Lancashire. As a christian, he suffered much, both in body and mind. In temporal things he was often in great difficulties, but the Lord's hand was constantly visible to support him; for when, like the children of Israel, he was brought over Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the Red Sea, the Lord made the waters divide, and opened a way for his deliverance.

In his last sickness, I went over to Rochdale, accompanied by a friend of mine, to pay him a visit. We found him at that time much

comforted on his bed of affliction: his confidence in the love and faithfulness of a triune God appeared unshaken, and his prospects of soon entering into the kingdom of his Lord were bright. Like Moses of old, on the top of Pisgah, he looked back to the Lord's kindness in the waste howling wilderness, through which he had been called to pass, and recounted to us a little of the great goodness which the Lord had shewn him in the desert. He referred with gratitude to several portions of the word of life, that had been made a blessing to his soul, under the sealing power of the Holy Ghost, when labouring under great trials. He instanced a few one in Paul's epistle to the Romans xi. 36, "For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever, amen." Another, in St. John's gospel, vi. 37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." And a third he recorded in Romans xi. 2, "God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew." Though often cast down in his mind, he had found God was faithful to his promises; and though many difficulties had appeared to forbid his welcome at his Father's throne, and though worthless and sinful, yet he rejoiced that Christ came to seek and save the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

The last interview I had with him was to me very profitable. At that period his heart was overflowing with the love of Christ. He testified with tears of joy, that love had embraced him, provided for him, and been a well-spring of life to him for many long years, and gloried that the love of his Lord was still unchangeably the same. On the day of his death, another friend was witness to his last dying confession; and, in connection with others, bears his testimony to the triumphant manner in which he died. On that occasion, our departed friend said, the great adversary has brought all my sins and placed them before me!' He then said, raising one hand, "Oh that Satan, there he stands !' And then, through the grace of God, he held forth the other hand, and said, and there stands my Lord!' Again, pointing to Satan with a smile on his countenance, he said, begone, thou canst do nothing here!' And, smiling at his friend, and stretching out his right hand, he said, there stands my Christ!' But the last confession was indeed triumphant. It was evident life was nearly extinct; and his last dying words were uttered with both hands stretched out, I have conquered sin, death, and hell, through the blood of the Lamb!' And at ten o'clock the same night, he fell asleep in Jesus.

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Thus died our worthy friend. Now he is at rest. Sin no more can annoy him. Satan no longer can disturb his repose. He is now out of the reach of the malignity and venom both of professors and profane. May my last end be like his.

Manchester, Feb. 8, 1831.

THE LEAST IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE.

ORIGINAL ESSAYS.

LXX.

THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER DELINEATED UPON EVANGELICAL PRINCIPLES.

ELEVENTH ESSAY.

That gracious connection existing between Christ and his seed, according to the will of God, is far more excellent than any of the ties of nature. God has condescendingly employed numerous figures in the scriptures, to shew how intimately he is connected with the church in the person of his own dear Son; and it is an unspeakable favour to be enlightened to discern the infinite excellence of the truth, by which we are directed to him in whom it is substantially and for ever settled. The well-informed and consistent christian has an advantage over his less stable brother in many respects, for the latter not only wounds his own soul, but he is very often an occasion of grief to those with whom he is connected in endless ties of love. Having learned something of the imperfection of human nature, he is disposed to be merciful to those who are truly conscious of their natural defection and impurity. He delights to take by the hand those who are asking the way to Zion; and by the doctrines of the gospel, he aims to be instrumental in the formation of the judgment of his weaker brother; and these services are done by him in subjection to the authority of Christ, the King of saints. Every gift that is bestowed upon any one and upon every one of the members of Christ's mystical body, is for the mutual benefit of the whole church. If we were in our daily conduct to act upon this principle, we should more strikingly elicit the perfection of the evangelical dispensation than we now do. In the course of our investigation of the christian character, we have frequently mentioned the principle of spiritual life that we received on our heavenly birth-day, and all the practical branches of sanctification are grafted upon or arise out of it. In us, that is in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing. To be spiritually acquainted with this is a great blessing; for as we are severally branches of the natural root of life, we cannot rise above what is comprehended in the state in which we were born, but as we are comprehended in and vitally connected with Christ, who is the root of heavenly life and sanctity. We are raised to act for God, and to live for his glory. It is true, that depravity entered our world by the sin of our father Adam; and it is equally certain, that spirituality was brought to us by the Son of God, according to the eternal purpose of God's grace. As Adam and Christ are public persons, what is said in the scriptures of them is applicable to their distinct seeds. This distinction is not usually observed by modern

divines; for they generally say, that a man is the child of the devil until he is converted: but that is not a consistent way of stating the case; for our conversion to God does not constitute us his children, because we were secretly related to him in the person of Christ, before we were called to fellowship with him. When the divine Redeemer became incarnate, he entered our world as the head of a numerous seed, according to the covenant that he had made with his Father: his appearance here was to become the Saviour of the body, his church. Take for the present a simile borrowed from the holy scriptures. When the great Jehovah created our father Adam, the whole human family was seminally in him, and the state of natural rectitude and purity in which he was formed, was federally in him for his offspring. If it had not been so when he sinned, God would not have imputed his crime to his unborn children. Man being physically prompted to propagate his seed, by that act Adam at first communicated the vitiosity of his nature to the son whom he begat in his own likeness. All his children are now born into the world corrupted by sin, and they go astray from the womb speaking lies. Since we cannot deny this fact, but we are necessitated to admit the original guilt of all men in Adam by sin, and their real defilement through him by natural generation-why should it be thought a thing incredible and impossible, that the church of Christ had a secret being in him by grace, and a legal one under the law, so that what he then did, when he appeared at the bar of justice to maintain the honour of the divine government by removing of sin, and thereby to redeem them from the curse of the law, it should be meritorious why they are regenerated by the Holy Ghost, and are made partakers of a meetness to dwell in the presence of God?

The two different dispensations of truth, under which all the creatures of God are comprehended, are not only different in their nature, but they are also in their uses; but both of them answer the end to be accomplished by them. It does not appear reasonable for God to give existence to an intelligent creature who is not subject to him in law; for that being who is not under subjection to the law of God, must by necessity be the first cause of existence, that is, he is by nature God. Those persons who are vainly elated in their own minds, because they suppose that human nature is pure and perfect, they are in the dark concerning of their state, and they are ignorant of the character of God. A judicious divine has said, Men mistake the import when they suppose condemnation essential to the being of law.' Such an idea includes the foolish notion that is adopted by some men, viz. that God cannot give existence to a creature, but that creature is imperfect. The gospel is an excellent remedy provided by God to heal diseases of the mind. He who has felt the balmy virtue of the blood of Christ is converted from the love of sin, and he is blessed with heavenly freedom from its bondage.

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We have said above, that each dispensation of truth is suited to the end that is to be accomplished by it. The legal form of truth was

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co-natural to man in his first state. The obedience which was demanded by it from Adam was the ground upon which he was to continue in well-being; but as we are defective in conduct and defiled in heart, we are held over to judgment by divine justice, and we are by nature exposed to the penalty of the law denounced against transgressors. The gospel is another dispensation, moving upon nother principle, and meeting of man in very different circumstances. It is a disclosure of love and mercy to man as a fallen guilty creature. It is fitly denominated glad tidings of great joy. No guilty man can approach his Maker with delight, but by an application of the atoneent to his conscience, and the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and received by faith for his justification from condemnation. These forms of truth comprise the whole will of God to man. the first, sin is detected and condemned; and by the second, the fountain ned for sin and uncleanness is revealed; and the sinner is sanctified ope to inherit the friendship of God. These two covenants cannot be divided; he who rejects the law does not want the gospel, that is to him of no importance. Happy is that man who is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and made willing to embrace the whole truth in Christ the centre of it. When we are filled with the light of truth so as to discern the beauty of it, it has a transforming influence upon the mind, and we are carried by it to Christ, and set down at his feet to learn his will. Spiritual communion with God purifies the mind and renders vice odious, and the practice of it abominable. How poor and mean is every earthly tie when compared with that which is heavenly! The pleasures which arise from one are as superior in their nature from those of the other, as much so as the heaven exceeds the earth for height. Heaven is opened upon the good man through the cross, and he has had communion with God by faith. In this life many things occur to break in upon our fellowship with God, but so soon as we shall have passed through the stream which divides us at present from the heavenly world, every thing which now interrupts our intercourse with him will be for ever done away. The communion of saints in this life is delightful and profitable, and is the happy consequence of their being united to Christ as members one of another. From all quarters of the globe, the family of God look to the same Saviour, and they are blessed. Though time and space locally divide the church, yet they meet at the throne of grace in the same spirit, and in spiritual affection they seek the good of each other. Holy angels (it has been thought) attend the assemblies of the saints. Although they are not perceptible to human sight, they learn of the church the manifold grace of God. What honourable company we meet when we enter the house of God; he is ever present in the assemblies of his saints; he makes the place of his feet glorious. He spreads his table bounteously, and invites his needy children to partake of the fatness of his house. This gracious conduct is suited to the necessities of his people, and it is in concert with the council of eternity.