CONGLETON.

in which he should ever hold the kindnesses which have been shown him during the term of his residence among them. Mr. William Warrington, the warm friend of ministers and churches, and who is deservedly respected by Christians of all denominations, presided on this occasion. The Rev. John Kemp

THE Church and congregation assembling in Zion Chapel, Congleton, contemplating the removal of their beloved Minister, the Rev. John Kempster, whose services they have enjoyed for a period exceeding eight and a half years, during which time he has laboured among them with affection, fidelity and disinterest-ster, who will shortly remove to Norwich, edness, met on Tuesday, June 8, to present to him some token of their esteem and gratitude for his pastoral labours.

The Meeting was held in the upper room of the Sunday School, which was elegantly and tastefully decorated by the ladies. Mr. Broadhurst, having read an address to the Minister, proceeded to say, "I am deputed by the members of the congregation with the honour of presenting to you this article as an expression of their gratitude for the valuable services you have rendered, and as a token of their sincere attachment to their worthy pastor. Our subscriptions have been confined to ourselves, considering that a present from us, however small, would be more valued by you than if it had been subscribed to by persons not immediately connected with the place; though we are aware, that, had application been made to many of your friends now present, and others resident in Congleton, a much more costly piece might have been presented you." An elegant chased silver Tea-pot was then presented to the rev. gentleman, bearing the following inscription:

PRESENTED TO

THE REV. JOHN KEMPSTER,

BY THE CONGREGATION OF

ZION CHAPEL, CONGLETON;

AS AN EXPRESSION OF THEIR

GRATITUDE FOR HIS VALUABLE SERVICES

being appointed minister of the Taber-
nacle in that city, engaged in prayer and
pronounced the benediction; after which
the friends separated, much gratified
with the proceedings of the evening, and
cherishing the hope that they might
meet in that world, where

"Parting scenes will be unknown,
And worship never cease."

ASHBOURNE.

On Sunday, May 16th, two excellent Sermons were preached at Sion Chapel, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, by the Rev John Langridge, of Tyldsley, Lanca shire, in aid of the Sunday Schools connected with that place, after which the sum of £9 10s. 5d. was collected.

On Lord's day, June 6th, two Sermons were preached at Sion Chapel, Ashbourne, on behalf of the London Missionary Society; that in the morning by the Rev. John Harris, of Ashbourne; that in the Evening by the Rev. Robert Moffatt, Missionary from Africa.

On the evening of June 9,a public Missionary meeting was held in the Chapel. The Chair was taken by Mr. Philip Dawson, of Ashbourne. After singing—

"Captain of Thine enlisted host," &c.

the Rev. Alexander Start offered up prayer for a Divine blessing upon the proceedings of the evening. The Resolutions were moved and seconded by the Revs. James Gawthorn of Derby,

DURING THE PAST EIGHT AND A HALF YEARS, William Elton of Ashbourne, J. W.

AND AS A SINCERE TOKEN OF

THEIR AFFECTIONATE ATTACHMENT

TO THEIR WORTHY PASTOR.

JUNE 8, 1841.

The Minister acknowledged their kindness in an appropriate address, spoke of the delightful bond of union, which subsisted between them-of the peace and comfort and pleasure with which he had laboured among them--of his continued and increased attachment to them, of the high esteem which he had for the clergymen and ministers of the town, in whose friendship he had been privileged to share-and of the grateful remembrance

Newnes of Matlock Bath, and Robert Moffatt, Missionary. The addresses were most interesting, and the meeting one of the most delightful ever remembered in this town. But the affecting and thrilling statements, and affectionate appeals of the esteemed missionary, Rev. Robert Moffatt, had a most powerful effect, both on the Sabbath Evening, as well as at the missionary meeting. The Collections at this Anniversary amount to the liberal sum of £31 9s. 4d,

The Friends, chiefly young, have sent a box of wearing apparel, for the disposal of Mr. Moffatt in Africa.

THE

EVANGELICAL REGISTER.

AUGUST, 1841.

EVANGELICAL ESSAYS;

BY THE REV. W. LEASK, OF CHAPMANSLAde.

ESSAY I.-MAN, A PRISONER TO JUSTICE.

THE account which the Scriptures give of the condition of man previous to his fall, though brief, is extremely beautiful. The pen of inspiration seems to luxuriate in happiness, when recording the characteristics of that condition. Imagination delights to linger in the garden of Eden, and to move from scene to scene amidst the trees of the primeval Paradise. There is seen such a harmony between the natural and moral elements of joy, and such a fulness of both, in the original condition of man, that there seems nothing wanting to constitute the richest conceivable felicity. Every object on which his tearless eye rested, presented a new source of intellectual enjoyment, a new feature in the kindness and wisdom of his Almighty Creator, and a new incentive to gratitude and praise. Intellectual greatness, combined with moral perfection, made him a fit companion for angels; and even the Lord God Himself entered into conversation with him. Nor was there any thing, either in the state of his mind, or in the aspect of the visible creation, to produce a moment's uneasiness, or to alienate for an instant his pure affections from their holy Author. In the words of an eloquent living writer—“ The earth did not bear the thistle, till Adam had brought the curse into her bowels; nor did the thorn ever tear his flesh, or prick his side, until he threw on earth a rebel's shadow. If the whirlwind then ever swept through the bowers of Eden, it brought no pestilence in its breath; it left no weepers in its train. If the gold-sanded Pison, that washed its fragrant banks, ever overflowed, it spread no devastation. If the keen blue lightning ever danced from heaven to earth, it sped with no vengeful intent; the fold was not alarmed, the poplar was not blasted; it scorched no flower at Adam's feet, it split no cedar above his head. No sun then made him weary by day, no moon struck him with her chilly beams at night. If the volcano roared below, it shot up no streams of indignant fire at man; it would never have sepultured his cities in ashes, nor turned his gardens into a dead sea. If the earth then quaked, it inspired no fear; it levelled not the mountain with the plain, nor produced dismay among the herds. The birds eyed not the hawk's wing with alarm, and the tiger would then pur and play with the kid: for no death-scream rung through Paradise before the curse, as the oppressor's voice and the glutton's maw were unknown." On the contrary, the positive tendency of all that was seen, heard, touched, or thought of, by Adam, was to increase and prolong his paradisaical raptures; for his dwelling was located and furnished by infinite Benevolence, and the pictures which adorned the halls of his retirement were produced by the pencil of Heaven. There is surely no wonder that the poetic imagination often recurs to the "enormous bliss" of man's first earthly abode, and wanders

"Into the blissful field, through groves of myrrh

And flow'ring odours, cassia, nard, and balm;
A wilderness of sweets; for nature here
Wanton'd as in her prime, and played at will
Her virgin fancies."

Involuntarily, sometimes, the mind will wander back through the mysteries of six thousand years, and doat for a time on the glories that are departed; glories, which Jehovah dropped from His fingers for a fleeting moment, to indicate the "fulness of joy” and the "enduring pleasures," that are at His right hand; glories,

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the idea of which flits across the soul like a confused vision of some imaginary world. But, oh! how sad the journey, how dreary the retrospect! What strange vicissitudes in the lot of humanity, since the cherubim and flaming sword were placed "at the east of the garden of Eden!" For if there be one thing more than another that heightens our ideas of his primal glory, it is the melancholy depth of man's subsequent disgrace. His paradise and his purity stood and fell together. He was happy in Eden because he was holy; but he was expelled from the former on losing the latter. And even the fact of his expulsion was unnecessary, had it been merely for the purpose of depriving him of the enjoyments and sweets he had formerly tasted; for as soon as sin had darkened his mental perceptions and vitiated his spiritual taste, those sweets lost their relish and those enjoyments their attractions. The overwhelming consciousness of his miserable fall had already placed an impassable gulph between his present and recent condition. It was sin, therefore, that untenanted the Paradise, in which our "first father" was placed. It was the pestilential breath of rebellion,-voluntary, deliberate rebellion,—that changed the gold, and brought dimness on the fine gold. The springs of inward happiness were suddenly checked by the hellish foe he had admitted into his breast; and an infernal blast withered in an instant the fair blossoms of holiness in his soul. A change of external scenery, therefore, except in so far as it was a visible punishment for his transgression, was a matter of minor consequence; for his misery was within himself; and so long as that was the case, no spot in creation could furnish him with the elements of unmingled joy. As his felicity, prior to the fall, arose not so much from the peaceful bowers of Eden, as from the serenity of a holy mind, so subsequent to that day in which "Jehovah drove out the man," lest he should "take also of the tree of life and live for ever," his misery arose, not so much from his physical expulsion, as from the enmity of his soul to God. The beauties of Eden could no more prolong the felicity of Adam, after he had lost the holy moral image of God, than a view of the most splendid landscape can now produce love to its Creator in the breast of the beholder who is at war with Heaven. There is a law in the constitution of mind, which prohibits happiness from finding a lodgment in any soul in which the spirit of opposition to the name and character of Jehovah dwells. The action of this law is invariable. It is never a dead letter. Its operation cannot be restrained, not even by the accumulation of all those riches and honours, in the possession of which mistaken minds imagine that happiness resides. Hatred to his holy Creator in the mind of any intelligent being renders it morally impossible for that being, amidst whatever external affluence placed, to enjoy true felicity; for that hatred is essentially hell; and though the intelligence in question had his dwelling-place hard by the gates of the celestial city, or under the shadow of "the great white throne," and though the raptures of angels fell on his ear, and his feet were laved in the river of water, clear as crystal, which runs through the midst of the eternal paradise, he would be as great a stranger to a conscious heaven, as if he were weltering in the abyss of the bottomless pit; for in proportion to the degree of moral similarity between the soul and God, is the amount of happiness enjoyed by the former. Happiness and misery are moral, or rather spiritual questions; hence the possession of the one or the endurance of the other depends on approximation to, or distance from, the character of God. "Be ye holy," is, therefore, an injunction prompted by Divine benevolence, as is manifest from the reason attached to that injunction-"for I am holy." He who loves the revealed character of Jehovah is in "the high way of holiness," and consequently has already in his heart the all-prolific source of heavenly felicity; and the degree of his heavenward progress is in exact proportion to the strength of that love. The relation in which he stands to the external world is of no consequence whatever; for the state of his spirit decides the character of his destiny. Is he poor? His onward journey to a better paradise than that from which Adam was expelled, is not retarded by poverty. Is he wealthy? His advances to glory are not accelerated by wealth. The state of his mind, in the sight of God, is the only subject worthy of a moment's investigation, when the question of his capabilities of happiness is proposed and all external circumstances sink into utter insignificance, when the light of eternity is brought to bear on the destiny of his soul.

The application of the preceding remarks to the subject before us will be apparent,

if it be granted that man is unhappy because unholy. This fact-for fact it isought to be more frequently present to the minds of those who propose remedies for the sufferings of the human family; for if it be true that man is guilty, polluted, and, consequently, condemned by the highest law in the universe, it must follow that he is precluded from the realization of happiness until his guilt is pardoned, his pollution removed, and the sentence of condemnation erased. If it be true that the absence of holiness necessitates the absence of happiness, it follows that the former must be acquired before the latter can be enjoyed. Oh! that men knew the cause of their miseries! If they did, the pursuit of happiness, in which all are engaged, would not so frequently prove the chase of a shadow. It will be granted, that the search after happiness is as universal as the consciousness of its absence, excepting in cases of absolute despair; but alas! how few seize the boon! The grand cause of their failure, is their misapprehension of the true nature of that, the absence of which they feel, and their consequent ignorance of the proper plan of procedure. "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God;" and the possession of happiness, as already hinted, is naturally and inseparably connected with obedience to Him. Hence the attempt to find it while the mind is alienated from Him, and in a state of unsubdued rebellion, is necessary fruitless; for every object in the universe is a witness to the truth of God, and sternly refuses happiness to his enemy. "The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof." Man feels that he has lost happiness; he feels also the misery arising from that loss; but in trying to regain it, he forgets that his sinful spirit excludes that God in whose presence is fulness of joy, and hence he seeks in quarters which tell him loudly, "It is not in me!" Over the gates of every supposed paradise to which he flies in his desperate search, is inscribed "Thou art guilty, Ở man, and therefore miserable!"

To illustrate further the title of this Essay, we attend to the threefold proposition mentioned above-That man is guilty, polluted, and condemned.

I. MAN IS GUILTY. How else shall we account for the melancholy contrast between his condition prior to the fall and his present state? Is Jehovah less able to make His creatures happy now, than when He rested on the seventh day, having set the seal of approval to all His works, by pronouncing them "very good?" Is He less willing now to rejoice in His works, and to see His intelligent creature, man, rejoicing in Him? Is His fulness exhausted by the liberality of His previous gifts? Does He repent of His original generosity? To these questions the whole universe shouts an emphatic negative. His ability to bless is not impaired by the lapse of ages, for He dwells in eternity, and mutation is characteristic only of time, and affects not the unchangeable One; and His willingness to show kindness is immutable as Himself. It is only a finite fulness that can be exhausted, but His is infinite; and repentance is impossible in One who knows the end from the beginning. "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," when He "fastened the foundations of the earth and laid the corner stone thereof;" but their song was withdrawn, and their shout silenced when "lamentation, mourning, and woe" ascended from the groaning earth, amidst its pestilential atmosphere. With the sin of man began his suffering; and the verdict of Heaven to his guilt followed the first sting of his conscience. "And God," who cannot be deceived, "saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth," is the language of Moses, as to the enormity of human guilt, Solomon, even when addressing the Eternal in prayer, speaks of its universality thus-"There is no man that sinneth not;" and after thirty years further experience, he writes still more emphatically, "There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not;" "God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions." "O God, Thou knowest my foolishness," says the penitent psalmist, "and my sins are not hid from Thee." Indeed, it appears impossible to account for the " wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, backbitings, deceit," war, oppressions, injustice, suicides, and murders, which are continually presenting themselves in multiform aspects throughout the world, on any other theory than the universal depravity of the species. "We have sinned with our fathers; we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly." By His prophet,