is "going home;" it is "entering into powerful, very efficient, very operative. His rest," and "into the joy of his But now what is the fact? When you Lord." Hear Paul, therefore, who had look around you, what do you perceive? the knowledge we have been speaking Do you find any thing that is really less of: "We know that if the earthly house impressive and less influential than death? of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a How was it in the early days of Job? Elibuilding of God, a house not made with phaz says, "They are destroyed from hands, eternal in the heavens." What morning to night; they perish for ever." said good Dr. Gouge often? "I have And is it not the same now? Sometimes two friends in the world, Christ and a sudden dissolution, the sight of a death. Christ is my best friend, but dying-bed, or the passage of a funeral, death is my second.' What says Adam will produce a temporary impression; in his "Private Thoughts?" I bless but it is little more than a momentary Thee, O God, that I am to die; I bless one; men soon go on again as before: Thee, that I am capable of dying; I bless one returns to his farm, and another to Thee, that I am appointed to die; and I his merchandize; one is mad after hobless Thee, that the execution of the ap-nour, another after money, and another pointment is drawing so near." What think you of such a man? Then let us hear the language of the great John Howe. Having spoken of glory, he says, "What now remains to be ascertained? Only our intervening death. We must be absent from these bodies, or we cannot, as we would, be present with the Lord. And is that all which is to be ascertained? Can any thing more be ascertained? Oh! how should our hearts leap for joy, that our affairs are brought into this posture; that in order to our perfect blessedness nothing is further wanting than to die, and that the certainty of death completes our assurance of heaven! What should now hinder our joyful thansgivings, that it is not doubtful that we should die; that we are in no danger of an earthly immortality; that it is not in the power of all the men on earth to detain us in the world; and that our most spiteful enemies can never keep us from dying, and therefore keep us from Thee?" We are sometimes disposed to envy others is there a person here this evening, who is not ready to envy a man who can use such language as this? and to exclaim, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his?" But we have one article more; and that regards V. THE USELESSNESS AND THE USE of this knowledge; the one in reference to what is the other, to what should be. after the dissipations of the world. Do With regard to the former of these, What, then, is the proper use of this the uselessness of this knowledge, there is knowledge? What should the possessors something very wonderful in it. We of it now be distinguished by? We do often, most naturally and reasonably, ima-not recommend to such a man as this, gine, that this knowledge should be very as a necessary result, that he should aban : don society, that he should give up his business, that he should abstract himself from the world (unless, indeed, from the spirit of the world), and that he should live in a den or a cave, with a crucifix and a skull on a table. This is not fighting the good fight," but this is declining the conflict, and fleeing this is not "standing complete in all the will of God," but a very small part of it. Nor do we recommend the example of Charles the fifth, emperor of Germany, who, in order to impress his mind the more vividly with death, ordered his own funeral, was clothed in a winding sheet and shroud, was placed in his coffin, was laid and left some time in his tomb, and the funeral service was read over him, and all the solemnities performed. No; this is superstition. Yet, at the same time, you must realise something of this in your own minds; and it may have a salutary tendency. enjoy it long. This, some of you know, is the theme of Horace and Anacreon, and of all the Epicurean stye of swine. But how much better use does the apostle make of it, when writing to the Corinthians, he says, "Brethren, the time is short: it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away!" So it should lead you, immediately_and earnestly, after an interest in the Lord Jesus, to say with Paul, "That I may win Christ and be found in Him, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." He has destroyed death, as to its sting now,--and will, as to its state, hereafter: and the voice from heaven cries, "Blessed are the dead, that die in the Lord," and only such; that is, who die in a having His righteousness to justify them and to give them a title to heaven, and His Spirit to sanctify them and make them meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." But mark now (and you have this knowledge, for "the living know that they shall die;" you are all in possession of this knowledge)-if you ask what in-state of union and communion with Him, fluence this knowledge should have over you-what it should produce in you?we would immediately answer, that it should lead you to abhor and forsake sin," which has "brought death into the world, and all our woe." It will tell us, that death is not what some silly people call it a debt due to nature,' but to the justice of God, and for sin. It is remarkable, that though birds, and beasts, and all animals die, we never speak of them as mortal; we never speak of ‘a mortal beast,' or a mortal bird,' but only of a mortal man;' as if it were a stigma of reproach impressed upon him, because he alone, of all the creatures, had sinned: he was made immortal, and became mortal by transgression. It should also excite us to be more concerned to be useful to serve our generation, according to the will of God. You have now one privilege above the glorified in heaven; and that is, the privilege of doing good in a thousand ways. Many of your brethren are deprived of this privilege; but you have it still, though you will not have it long. You "know that you must die :" oh! seize the present opportunity. And as Elijah said to his successor -"Ask what I shall do for thee; before I be taken away from thee;" so How should this knowledge loosen your you should ask, What can I do, before I hold of the earthly things, which you must am removed hence, for the cause of my certainly, and which you may so soon be holy Redeemer? How can I advance deprived of! It was a good reflection of the welfare of the bodies or the souls of Esau, so far, when he said, "Behold I my fellow-creatures? Whom can I inam at the point to die, and what profit struct? whom can I relieve? whom can I shall this birthright do to me?" And so instrumentally save? This is the proper you may all say with regard to various use, which you should make of this knowthings, which would entice you and en-ledge-" The living know that they shall gross your supreme attention. The an- die." cients made use of this fact when they were accustomed to place before their guests at their feasts a skeleton, in order to excite them to the more mirth while they could enjoy it, for they could not We conclude, therefore, with this one remark-that this knowledge is a thing peculiar to man, in distinction from all other creatures. No other creatures know that they shall die. And what a privilege is their ignorance! You may be disposed, no advantage; but it is otherwise to a man. to say-Why was it not thus with us? Man is doomed to die, and he goes all through life with the grave before him; why could not this knowledge have been withholden from him, as well as from other creatures?' We answer, Because it could not have been withholden from him in a world like this, a world of continual death; and because it would not have been proper to withhold it from him. If men are as bad as they are with this knowledge, what would they have been without it? What would they not be, if they knew not that they should die? To a brute the knowledge could have been of It is of importance, therefore, to him, and he may turn it to the most advantageous account. You should therefore be concerned to use it: you should hear the voice which has addressed you this evening,-"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do, do it with thy might; for there is work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest." Pray therefore, with Moses, "Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am." "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Review of Books. ROMANISM AND ANGLO-CATHOLICISM. quity" (2 Thess. ii. 1—8.),—1. That a Ward and Co., Paternoster Row. polity, arch-apostate from the Christian faith, was to arise at some distant period; 2. That its germinant elements were already in concealed action, which concealment would continue until the removal of a then existing obstacle: 3. THE accomplished scholar, author of That it should, from the time of its dethis volume, has hadled the great re-velopment, maintain a fluctuating auligious question of the age with a degree thority, until the preliminaries to the at once of learning and simplicity of second advent of Jesus Christ, by which mind, that will render his book a trea- preliminaries it should be destroyed. sure to the Christian Church, as it is an This Lecture, though but prelimary, was honour to the Connexion to which he indispensable. belongs. If the reader will go with us, he shall see proof of this. We mean to dwell a little upon the subject here discussed. We feel that we must. No one supposes, that because the Oxford Tracts have been pushed into a dishonoured grave, the mischief is over and gone; the poison has been drunk in, and the body ecclesiastical feels it, and only the great Physician can heal. There may be more exciting discussions, touching things external, or near to the surface; but he is the best friend to Truth, who will address himself to the deadly virus that that has sunk into the system, and is circulating quietly through the veins, and threatening THE LIFE. In the first of the eight Lectures, which constitute the Treatise before us, Mr. Sortain shows, from St. Paul's prophecy concerning "the mystery of ini At the next step, St. Paul's supplementary and more detailed description of the arch-apostacy, in 1 Timothy iv. 1-3, is placed before us; and combining this passage with that in the Thessalonians, Mr. Sortain detects the following seven characteristics: "1. IMPIOUS ARROGANCE: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.' "2. SATANIC WONDER-WORKING: Whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." "3. UNRIGHTEOUS DECEIT: ceivableness of unrighteousness.' "4. HERETICAL DEMONOLOGY: trines concerning demons.' "5. CONFUSION OF MORAL All de 'Doc DISTINC TIONS: Having their conscience seared with a hot iron.' "6. THE VIRTUE OF CELIBACY: Forbidding to marry.' "7. THE MORAL POWER OF ASCETICISM: 'Commanding to abstain from meats.' Here, then, comes in the question"Is there now any polity whatsoever that impiously arrogates to itself any one or many of the Divine attributes? Is there now any polity whatsoever that claims the immunity of working miracles, and that thence infers the authenticity and authority of her dogmas? Is there now any polity whatsoever that recognises deceit in the professed cause of truth, to be a righteous organ for its propagation and establishment? Is there now any polity which, transcending both the intimations of reason and the definite restrictions of sacred Scripture, peoples the interval between man and God-with demons or spirits intercessory? Is there now any polity which, dethroning the supremacy of holiness and degrading it to the versatility of a will's (even though it were a Divine will's) determination, confounds moral distinctions, and makes virtue and vice, not finalities but means? Is there now any polity which, in barbarous defiance of an affection which is the cement of human order, which is the parent of unselfishness, which is the nexus between gentleness and decision, between refinement and force, between patience and daring,-which is the type of the Divine affinity between Christ and His Church,-controuls, or qualifies, or 'forbids to marry? Finally, is there now any polity which makes the shrivelled, indolent anchorite a saint; which subdues, not by temperance, the body to the soul, but by unnatural abstinence emasculates both,-commanding to abstain from meats?' Some such a polity must exist my text avers it: these features must be, more or less, distinctive of it. Where in the survey of mankind can it be found?" To this investigation the reader is now conducted; reminded first, that this ecclesiastical polity was to be a corruption of the Christian faith, and that its germinant elements were in operation among the primitive disciples. Which of the religious systems of this world is here intended, and stands out as the fore-doomed of God? "Is it the cold theism of Confucius, or the hydra-headed idolatry of Hindustan ? No; for pure in their paganism, they never were incorporated with Christianity, and therefore never could 'aposta tize.' Is it the polity of Islam, with its war cry, 'There is but one God, and Mohammed is His prophet? No; false prophet though Mohammed was, he never fell away' from the Christian faith, for he never had possessed it; never did he 'corrupt it; his mystery of iniquity' worked not in the apostolic age, but burst forth in a foreign district-no gradually growing plant, but a mushroom of a night.' He came not with lying wonders' for the power of miracles he disclaimed:-he forbade not marriage, but made it a sacrament immortal. it the Patriarchate of the east-the Grecian schism? No; for though corrupt in her miraculous deceits,-corrupt in her demonology-corrupt in her ecclesiastical restrictions upon matrimony,-she has never exalted or opposed herself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped' by claiming religio-political supremacy; she has never confounded moral distinctions by lying hypocrisy, searing the conscience with a hot iron,' and calling evil good, and good evil.' Is it the Is popular Protestantism of the presbytery? No; for though deformed by a myriad hues of error, from the extreme of the fanatic to the extreme of the semideist, her elements have never been organised into a polity; dissonant though have been the voices of her insulatedmembers, in one note they all harmonise in a protest against 'lordship over God's heritage;' instead of 'sitting in the temple of God, as God,' she acknowledges but one head, and that head is Christ. Is it the Anglican Episcopal Church? No; oh! no; for though monopolizing and too exclusive, and too determinate in many of her institutes, her polity aiming at what is local, not at what is universal,her sobriety of judgment frowning down the illusions of chicanery,-her confes sions and her prayers, pure as the breath of Heaven, her demonology vigilant in its reverence for the incommunicable attributes of "one Godandone Mediator,”—her nurture of the affections that are social, and her qualifying encouragement of those that are self denying,-all these repudiate the foul charges, that she is the "archapostate" from the faith. CHURCH OF ROME? . . that universal IS IT THE ... polity which claims supremacy? which attaches finality to its own independent moral decisions? which sanctifies the means by the end? . which invests spirits subordinate with attributes supreme? which makes celibacy synonymous with moral purity, and asceticism synonymous with moral power?" This is not a question to be turned away from; it does not relate to matters of mere human speculation or sagacity, -it is a prediction of the Word of God that is before us. It has been the habit of Christians to neglect the inquiry; but God seems to say by His providence, that He will endure this no further. "He who letteth" and "witholdeth" the apostacy, by now permitting it to work more violently forces us to His Book, that we may learn His will concerning this thing. Mr. Sortain concludes the second Lecture, by showing that when the Roman civil polity fell," he who had withheld was taken out of the way;" and then the ecclesiastical polity of Rome arose. And that this is the archapostacy,he proceeds to prove at large,including in his denunciation the sect which calls itself Anglo-Catholic, to the extent to which ("though in the bosom of a Church which has borne such witness to the truth,") it is disfigured by the features of evil named by the inspired apostle. And in this we propose to follow him next month. THE HALL OF VISION: a View of principles. A Poem, in three Books. To which are added Minor Poems. By WILLIAM LEASK, Author of "Sketches of Character in populous Towns." cloth boards, pp.168. Second Edition. Nisbet and Co., Berners Street. THERE are signs in this little volume of the poet born, not made; and we counsel Mr. Leask to cultivate his talent with confidence. Here are good things well said. There is, once or twice, rather more "liberalism" than we can quite receive; but the general character of the sentiments is unexceptionable and excellent, and they are adorned for us in many attractions. Like most poets, our author excels in his minor pieces; the following Hymn, for instance, is very much to our taste. Once Thy Spirit comforts gave me; Great Redeemer! see those billows! There is great beauty in this simple earnestness; and one or two other of the hymns equal or excel it. Again therefore we say to our friend-Persevere; let this be only "the beginning of your strength." A SUMMARY VIEW OF DR. HENDERSON'S "COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET ISAIAH." By the Rev. HENRY COLE. pp. 36. Price 1s. 6d. L. and G. Seeley, Fleet Street. THE labours of learned men, employed in correcting defects in our translation of the Bible, have been of no small benefit to the Church of Christ. Attached as we all are from our very cradles to its every phrase, we must still remember, that our excellent ancestors, who produced this admirable version, were not inspired men; and where, in their natural infirmity, they have erred in this great work, it is our wisdom and our duty to sacrifice at once our early prepossession, and receive the true "mind of the Spirit." But what save confusion and error can be expected, when men approach this Book as if it were the product of human intellect, and not only look for no different treasure from that which determine to resist all that would indithey find in other mines, but doggedly cate its existence? We fear, that it is false charity to speak otherwise than With much useful matter they have inthus, of some works of German origin. terwoven so many snares, that he needs ventures to walk with so treacherous a a double portion of light Divine, who guide. It grieves us much, to find the dis'My Saviour Jesus! come and save me! | tinguished theological tutor of Highbury How I long to see Thy face! College, in his very learned Commentary |