in support of his opinion, MR. CHAPMAN exclaimed, "It appears to me that that is murdering the text; for, when our LORD said, "Though he were dead, yet shall he live," he did not intend to intimate that the soul died, or slept, with the body." When the Gentleman persisted in vindicating his opinion, MR. C. quoted our LORD's words in the 51st verse of the 8th chapter, and from thence clearly demonstrated that the Gentleman's opinion was heterodox, and could not be maintained consistently with the analogy of faith.

MR. CHAPMAN'S mind was richly stored with anecdotes of wise and holy men, which made his conversation truly edifying. He appeared most happy in his own mind when discoursing on the goodness of GOD. I have frequently heard him express himself on this subject, and he generally did it in the following manner;-"Our heavenly Father is exceedingly kind; indeed he is; you will ever find him so. I have served him fifty years, and I am not yet tired of his service. He has been exceedingly kind to me; and he has said I will not leave thee; no, I will never, never forsake thee.""

The circumstances of MR. CHAPMAN's death, I have not been able to learn. But I have no doubt that as he eminently lived the life, so he, by God's mercy, died the death of the righteous, and is now ever with the LORD.

DEPTFORD, October 29, 1821.

J. REYNOLDS.

DIVINITY.

THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE, AND HOLY PRIESTHOOD. EXTRACTS FROM A DISCOURSE BY THE REV. W. FRANCE.

1 PETER II. 4, 5.

To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of GoD, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to GoD by JESUS CHRIST.

SOLOMON, at the dedication of the magnificent temple which he had erected to the honour of the God of Israel, expressed the justest sentiment of the grandeur and condescension of the Divine Majesty, when he exclaimed,-" But will GoD indeed dwell on the earth! Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have builded?" (1 Kings viii. 27.) "GOD that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is LORD of heaven and earth,

dweleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." (Acts xvii. 24, 25.) He did, indeed, for a season, and to answer certain wise and gracious purposes, condescend to dwell in his temple at Jerusalem; and to require and accept of services at the hands of the priests whom he had appointed to officiate there. But, at the same time, he was ever reminding the people, that he had no need of such a residence, or of such services; that he preferred before all such temples "the upright heart and pure," and ever required of man spiritual worship. "Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.' And to show in what light he held the sacrifices, however costly, of those who were destitute of such dispositions, it is added, "He that killeth an ox, is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; and he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations." (Isai. lxvi. 1, 2, 3.) In the whole of that dispensation of outward signs, GoD consulted the infirmity of the people at large. At the same time, those signs were contrived with such divine art, as to be the means of communicating the most sublime truths to the minds of all who were under the influence of the sanctifying SPIRIT. All whose eyes that HOLY SPIRIT Opened beheld wondrous things in GOD's law: they saw those "good things to come," of which their carnal ordinances were but the shadow. And, even then, such persons were not under "the letter that killeth," but "the Spirit that giveth life." "But when the fulness of the time was come, and GoD had sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and had sent forth the Spirit of his SON into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father," he no longer treated his people as servants, but as sons. The stern pedagogy of the law was then deemed unnecessary; the temple was destroyed; the daily sacrifice taken away; and all the other rites and ceremonies of that imperfect dispensation abolished. CHRIST "made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness." He established a holy, divine, and simple form of religion, which admits of no improvement upon earth, and is admirably calculated to fit men for heaven. Under this last and perfect dispensation, the faithful themselves constitute both the temple and the priesthood. GOD dwells in them, and walks in them; and they

offer to him such sacrifices as are most agreeable to the spiritu ality of his nature, and suitable to the relations in which they stand to him and to each other. This house of GOD ever resounds with, "Glory to GoD in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men." Of this Temple and Priesthood we have a pleasing and instructive view in the text which stands at the head of this Discourse.

I. First, let us take a view of this holy "TEMPLE in the LORD," into which believers are said to grow, and of which "JESUS CHRIST himself is the chief corner-stone," in whom they are "builded together for an habitation of GOD through the SPIRIT." (Eph. ii. 20-22.)

The foundation of this temple is the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who is called, in the text, "a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious."

1. He is justly called a living stone; for he has life in himself, and is the author of all life, both natural and supernatural, in the old and new creation.

(1.) He has life in himself.-When our LORD said, on a particular occasion, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the FATHER do," it was no indication of his inferiority to the FATHER, but rather of his perfect unity with him in nature, as well as in all operations; for he immediately adds, "What things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." In the same argument, (which contains his vindication of himself against the rage of the Jews, at his saying that God was his proper Father, and so making himself equal with GoD,) he uses the following very remarkable declaration, among several others of similar import, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the SON OF GOD: and they that hear shall live. For as the FATHER hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." (John v. 19, 25, 26.) If, therefore, the Son acts in subordination to the FATHER, in the divine economy, or management, displayed both in nature and grace, that subordination implies no inferiority of nature or perfections. And if the Sox has life in himself, even as the FATHER has life in himself; and has already proved it by raising the dead, and quickening whom he will, and will prove it still more gloriously when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and come forth, they that have done good, to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation; surely no inferiority of nature can be fairly argued from his saying that he has it from the FATHER, which is, indeed, implied in the very term "SoN." If he be the SON OF GOD in the proper sense of the word, he must be equal with Gon; for identity of nature is included in such a relation. If we cannot conceive how the divine nature could be,

to use our LORD's own word, "given" to the SON from everlasting, let us recollect, that we are just as incapable of conceiv ing the mode of the eternal existence of the FATHER himself.It was justly remarked by an eloquent French Bishop, that "Every where CHRIST compares himself with the supreme GOD. On one occasion indeed, he says, My FATHER is greater than I;' but what language is that, if he be not himself God manifested in the flesh? Would we not consider as a fool any man who should seriously tell us that the supreme Being is greater than he? Even to dare to compare himself with the Divinity, is it not equalling himself with him? Is there any proportion either of greater or less betwixt GoD and man, betwixt the whole and nothing?" And mark the style and import of his language to PETER, in the fifteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. Hav ing mentioned his FATHER who is in heaven, as the author of that just conception of himself which had been expressed by the Apostle, in his confession; he adds, " And I say also unto thee, that thou art PETER,"-by my strength communicated unto thee, thou shalt become firm as a rock: "and upon this rock,"-referred to in thy declaration, that I am the Son of the living GoD, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."And I give unto thee great authority in that church, which, considered in another view, is the kingdom of heaven, for in it I shall exercise the dominion of heaven;-"whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Is not this the language of one who has all power in heaven and in earth; of one who can appoint, to offices of trust and authority in his kingdom, whomsoever he thinks proper? Yes, the CHRIST, the SON of the living GOD, the brightness of the FATHER'S glory, and the express image of his Person, having in himself all the might, and all the wisdom, and all the authority of his FATHER, by the communication of that might, of that wisdom, of that authority, according to his sovereign pleasure, has founded and built up on himself that church, which is the pillar and ground of truth, the house of the living GOD, in which he will dwell for ever, because he has a delight therein; it being a holy temple in the LORD, an habitation of GOD formed through the operation of the HOLY SPIRIT.

(2.) What we have said of our LORD's having life in himself, may be corroborated by many other testimonies of Holy Writ. The SON OF GOD, who is said by ST. JOHN to have been manifested to destroy the works of the Devil, is called that Eternal Life which was with the FATHER; the Word of Life; the Word that was with GOD, and was GOD, in the beginning, of whom he writes, "In him was life." In short, he is that Fountain of Life, which is ever with God; whence all the streams of existence,

which spread themselves throughout all the immense and endlessly diversified creation of GoD, are derived and constantly supplied, and that without any diminution of the overflowing and everflowing fountain. For the Son can no more cease to have life in himself than the FATHER; for they are one. The infinite brightness of the eternal Sun of all existence and perfection can never cease to radiate. The unspotted mirror, in whom all the FATHER'S glories shine, through earth beneath, and heaven above, can never cease to exhibit those perfections. Whoever has seen him, has seen the FATHER; for he is in the FATHER, and the FATHER in him.*

(3.) But we are to consider him, at present, more especially as he is that living stone laid in Zion as the foundation of the house of GOD;-as the fountain of the supernatural life of his church. And here our attention is naturally turned to the mystery of his holy incarnation,-to his holy nativity in our flesh; when the SON OF GOD became the son of man, that he might give power to the sons of men to become the sons of GOD; when our GoD became his GOD, that his FATHER might become our FATHER; when he came to earth, that he might raise us to heaven; took our poverty, that he might make us rich; and suffered our death, that he might give us his life. In him we see the Second Man, the LORD from heaven, at once the father and brother of a new race of men, who, by a supernatural birth of his SPIRIT, become spiritual, and as they have borne the image of the earthy, shall hereafter fully bear the image of the heavenly. This Last Adam is "a quickening Spirit." (1 Cor. xv. 45, 47.) And, according to the figure in the text, he gives life to all the lively stones who come to him, and are built up into a spiritual house.

2. The Apostle admits that he was "disallowed of men." To the generality he was "a stone of stumbling and rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed:" (ver. 8:)-that is, appointed to stumble, as the punishment of their disobedience. Men disallowed him because they knew him not. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not." (John i. 10, 11.) With very few exceptions, his own people knew him not. Had they known that he was the LORD of glory, they had never crucified him. This is expressly asserted both by PETER and PAUL. Nor was this ignorance confined to the people who, in the supercilious language of the Scribes and Pharisees, knew not the law, and were accursed. Few even of the rulers believed on him; and the Scribes and Pharisees were Sce the beginning of JouN's Gospel and First Epistle; Psalm xxxvi. 9; John xiv. 9, 10.