But oh! the patience and long-suffering of Christ! We have read of "the patience of the saints, but here we have the patience of Jesus. How long Hehension of death and judgment seems to bore with us in our unconverted state; how long He stood at the door of our hearts, and knocked again and again; and how long He bears with Churches! But let us remember, patience has its termination.

times doubt and darkness, and a deep
sense of unworthiness, fill the mind with
fear of being rejected by Christ; but He
is faithful, He is gracious.
No man
perishes for his unworthiness; thousands
do for their unwillingness.

But the richness of the promise deserves our cordial attention-"I will come

but that power operates not in a way mind, which is the effect of a guilty of violence to the will of man. If neglect of Christ's commands. Somewe are forced, says Dr. Watts, we are sweetly forced. The Saviour puts His hand in by the hole of the door, and then the bowels of our love and desire are moved for Him. The heart is won, obstacles give way, as the soul is constrained by His voice and His love: Christ is received. Oh! what meltings of heart with sor-in to him, and will sup with him." row and grief, at the recollection of past The rich blessings of the Gospel which ingratitude and base disingenousness to- contain Christ and Divine things, are wards Christ, are felt! especially when often set before us by similitudes, such the mind and memory dwell on the ex- as a great supper, and a wedding feast; ceeding riches of His love and tender- and by these, both present realisations of ness. Nothing so much affects the Christ, and the future felicity of God's soul, as the injured kindness of such people are placed before us in the Scripa Friend. He might have spurned tures-especially as they refer to the me away, instead of knocking and ask-second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ing for entrance. O my soul, "is this thy kindness to thy Friend?"

Let us well consider the ground on which the certainty of this promise rests. The promise is the faithful declaration of Jesus. "I will come in to him." We have not merely His willingness, but His fixed determined purpose to fulfil what He promises. How often has Christ made similar declarations in His Word! "I will give (says He) rest to the weary and heavy laden " and "him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." There is also a freeness in the promise, which is not to be forgotten. "If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." These attributes of faithfulness in the Word of Christ, as well as their graciousness, are happily suited to that dispirited state of

But stripped of all metaphor, do not these words contain something mutual between Christ and His Church? Christ's delight in the soul, and the soul's enjoyment of Christ, form a heaven indeed; and in this promise realised, the believer may well say—

"I'is ny heaven,

And here my God I find." When the Saviour enters the heart with His Spirit and presence, and a renewed sense of His love, how

"Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,

What refreshment, what delight! Yes-
"If His Spirit and presence enter the soul,
And grace her mean abode;

Oh! with what peace and joy and love,
She communes with her God!"

But present communion with Christ is
connected with future blessedness; and,
indeed, if this mutual indwelling and
communion was perfectly enjoyed with-
out interruption, it would form a hea-
ven here; as it is, when realised, it
produces in the soul the exercise of love,
joy, delight and satisfaction. And if
such is the sweetness of it here, what
will it be above, where saints and angels
draw their bliss immediately from the
Lamb in the midst of the throne of the
paradise of God!

But behold the crowning promise. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as 1 also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.''

In this glorious promise, we are reminded of the Saviour's conflict on earth, and His victory too. conflict was, no heart can conceive. He How great that had to contend with principalities and powers, even the powers of darkness and

sin, and death, and the grave, and hel.. | fare, even to his death; but the saints in Well might He say of His adversaries, all this war shall conquer though they "This is your hour and the power of dark- die; they shall overcome by the blood of ness," "Now is My soul troubled; and the Lamb, and the word of their testimony. what shall I say?" What a sanguinary Our Lord seems to make Hisvictory and conflict was that in Gethsemane, when His glory a pledge and pattern of ours; for the powers of hell united their efforts to when He had finished His sufferings in bruise His head! what conflict in soul, obedience to His Father's will, He arose which caused Him to "sweat as it were from the dead, ascended on high, entered great drops of blood," and which caused heaven, and sat down at his Father's right Him to exclaim, "Now is My soul trou-hand, crowned with honour and glory; bled," and which, at last, brought Him down to death itself!

"Mysterious conflict, dark disguise,
Hid from all creatures' piercing eyes;
Angels astonished, view the scene,

And wonder yet what all could mean." But behold, a wonder in heaven. The same dear Jesus who fought on earth, overcame and is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high. The glorified Saviour seems to look back to the awful scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary, and to His resurrection, ascension, and to declare His reign in glory. "I am He that was dead and am alive again; and behold, I am alive for evermore." This is the language of mediatorial triumph, of rest and kingly glory.

and as the forerunner of all His followers,
He took possession of this joy; and as on
earth He said, "Where I am, shall My
servants be also," so He added,
"Be-
cause I live, ye shall live also." And by
virtue of an undying union with Him,
they shall reign in endless life and glory.

But oh! how astonishing this honour! If it was such an honour for Mordecai to ride on the king's horse, to be c'othed with royal apparel and have on his head the royal crown; if it were so great a dignity for David to be the king's son-inlaw, what will it be to be raised to the throne of Jesus in His kingdom? an honour not vouchsafed even to the angelic courtiers of heaven. Surely this is the Ne plus ultra of the Christian's honour and felicity.

But the believer need not be told, that the present state of the Church is a militant state, and every believer has his con- Improvement. The great and glori flict. Life is a warfare; and every ous Speaker claims attention. The Spibeliever must fight, if he would reign.rit speaks unto the churches; for "all The world, the flesh, and the devil are Scripture is given by the inspiration of the leagued together in battle array against Holy Spirit." All the words of Christ the followers of the Lamb. Christians were written under the inspiring influare not of this world, even as Christ was ence of the Spirit. It is an awful thing not of the world; therefore the world to disregard the words of Christ; surely hateth them. And all that will live godly He will resent it. Directed as it is to in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. the Churches of Christ, they should seriEver since the fall, there has been ously consider what part of the Redeeman irreconcilable enmity between the er's charges and complaints belong to seed of the woman and the seed of them, and what the Saviour calls them to, the serpent. By the concealment of our lest he visit them in His displeasure, and principles, and the accommodation of our execute the threatenings contained in this sentiments and practice to the corrupt book upon them. maxims of this world, we may escape the cross; but the Saviour requires the believer to carry out His principles into a corresponding practice, and though his life may be harmless, self-denying and useful, yet as "the carnal mind is enmity against God," so it hates all resemblance a holy God. They that hate the Saviour, will hate His followers; and the nearer the Christian resembles his Lord, the greater will that hatred be. Thus by the world without, and oppositions, and the worst of all enemies within, a Christian is exposed to a continual war- 'a crown of life.

to

How great is His patience and grace, in continuing His Gospel and ordinances! Oh! receive Him in the ministration of His invitations and commands, and then you shall enjoy the fulfilment of His promises. On earth you shall have communion with Him, and after death the plenitude of heaven. Wage continual war with every foe ; I put on the whole armour of God." You have, says one, sworn eternal hatred to sin, and you took that oath under the cross of Christ. Be faithful unto death, and He will give you

66

1. THE APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION.

Ir is pleasant to meet with such remarks as the following, in one of the recognised organs of the members of the Established Church. We are about to quote from The Record :

"To apply what Scripture says of wicked, presumptuous, and false prophets, and heterodoxical teachers, to all ministers in the present day, not episcopally ordained, however eminent for every ministerial qualification, and however blessed in their labours, is a work so wicked, that we know of no term sufficiently strong to designate it. Such a workman is either an Infidel partisan, whose only object is to gain strength and importance to his own community by any means,—truth, facts, and Christian feeling being wholly disregarded; or he must be a poor, superstitious, and ignorant driveller, living in the mists of bigotry, and feeding on the husks of superstition.

"The Church of England is both tolerant and charitable. While it prefers the Episcopal form, it does not condemn every other form. It leaves this Antichristian work to the Church of Antichrist, it being a work only worthy of such a communion, and which it directs with the most acrimonious avidity against herself. There is an express Article, which was drawn up on purpose to show the view of our Church on this point; and as it were to prevent the transplantation of this presumptuous notion from the Roman soil. To limit what God hath not limited, and to determine what God hath not determined, is what no man, nor any body of men, who truly and intelligibly fear God, will ever dare to do. It is fully admitted by all candid men, who are not blinded by prejudices, that matters of discipline are not to any great extent specifically enjoined in the New Testament, but that they are left in a great measure to be regulated by circumstances. Such was the opinion of all our Reformers; of this and that ceremony they could not honestly say, 'It is written;' and hence it was, that they did not introduce, but on the contrary repudiated, the exclusive and Antichristian system of the Romish Church. "In confirmation of this fact, we shall make an extract from the works of Archbishop Whitgift. The electing and ordering of ministers,' he says, 'doth appertain to bishops. I do not say, to bishops only. I will prove that there is no certain way of electing prescribed in Scripture, but the same is left free for the Churches to appoint, as shall be thought most convenient for their states and times. Christ did of Himself alone, without the consent of any, call and choose His apostles. The apostles altered this manner and form; for they presented two, and one of them was chosen by lot. In the sixth of the Acts, they clean altered this also; for the people presented seven to the apostles, and they were all chosen without lots. In the fourteenth of the Acts this form is likewise changed; for Paul and Barnabas ordained ministers in every city, without either presentment by the people or casting lots. In the thirteenth of the Acts it is manifest that Paul and Barnabas were sent only by the prophets and doctors, without any consent of the people either given or required. Paul sent Timothy and Titus, and gave them authority to ordain others. So that it is certain that there is no prescriptive manner and form appointed to be observed for ever, seeing that the apostles themselves did not bind or tie themselves to any such rule.'-See Conferences of the Reformers, p. 4.

"A blind Pharisee in our Saviour's time and that of His apostles, might have drawn up, in opposition to the Gospel dispensation, a sort of catechism like this 'supplement,"* , which would have been quite as just, or rather as unjust and absurd, in its conclusions, as this Popish patchwork. A lineal succession seems to be everything. The author would have it that truth and the succession are inseparably connected; they must go together. Such is the notion; but it is wholly and exclusively Popish. There is nothing in Scripture to support it; indeed the recorded facts of Scripture most clearly prove it to be false. The Jewish succession lost the truth entirely at several periods; and God revived the truth frequently through the means of the prophets, who had no share in the succession. And what

Christian Priesthood; a Supplement to the Church Catechism.

but this notion was one of the main subjects of dispute between our Reformers and the Papists? It was one of the chief stays and props of Antichrist. Much work our Reformers had to pull it down and destroy it. And shall we repair and raise it up again? Such infatuation, we trust, will never prevail in our Church."

In another recent Number of the same paper, The Record, we find some sensible observations upon the claim of the Puseyites, that the Prayer-Book (though not the Articles) favour them. After noticing that the same inen revised the one and framed the other, the writer proceeds thus:-

"But be it admitted, and we do admit it, that there are some terms and expressions, especially in the Baptismal Service, which seem to favour what is called a Catholic view of things: and how are we to deal with them? Are we to take them in the sense in which our Reformers themselves took them, or are we to view them as Papists do, or as some of the degenerated divines of the early ages did, the opinions of whom are now made to constitute all the store of good things, or rather of rubbish, which are included in what is called Catholic? Who are to be the interpreters of the Prayer-book?-those who revised it, or the fathers who lived centuries before, or the Papists who opposed and persecuted our Reformers? As we hold that the chief interpreter of the Bible is the Bible, so we hold that the legitimate interpreters of the Reformers are the Reformers. And we boldly maintain, notwithstanding the sneers and surmises of many, that the sense put on the Prayer-book by those called the Evangelical clergy, is the sense that was intended by those who revised it, and that as opposed to what is termed Catholic. And who is the consistent member of our church ?-he who takes its meaning from those who framed its documents, or he who brings what he calls Catholicity to interpret its meaning? The fair statement of the difference between Mr. Newman and his opponents is this: He gives the Articles a Catholic meaning in direct opposition to what was intended by their framers, and they interpret the Prayer-book according to the meaning of those by whom it was revised. This, we are fully convinced, is a just and correct representation of the case. If, therefore, those of the clergy who now thus interpret the Prayer-book are dishonest in what they do, then onr Reformers are involved in the same charge. The reason why some things now considered Catholic, and therefore deemed very precious, were retained, is well known to those who are correctly acquainted with the history of the Reformation. It was mainly done for the purpose of conciliating the prejudices of the weaker brethren.

man.

"But we are told that apart from interpretation, there are certain practices and usages required in the Prayer-book which are Catholic and not Protestant, for the neglect of which there is the same ground of exclusion as in the case of Mr. NewThe daily public prayers are instanced, and also the observance of saints' days. What we answer as to the first is, that the circumstances of the times have greatly changed, and the practice has long become obsolete, and we can apprehend no great benefit in reviving it. It no doubt originated when Bibles were scarce, when the people could not read and were very ignorant, and when the means of religious knowledge were very few. And this was much the case at the time of the Reformation. With respect to saints' days, the retention of them in the calendar was wholly owing to the prejudices of the age; and they still stand in the calendar like some obsolete laws in the statute-book, virtually, though not actually, repealed. A person must be lost to all discrimination, that can bring forward such an instance as this. It is like maintaining, that to discountenance the wager of battle'-a law of the rude ages, in force until lately-is the same thing as to object to, or distort, one of the fundamental laws of the Constitution. This is certainly no unfit comparison to represent the present case. He who disapproves of and neglects the observance of saints' days, as it appears, subjects himself to the same reproof, as he, who perverts the fundamental Articles of our Church! As a fit parallel to this, we may add, that he who objects to some obsolete law or practice still on our statute-book, must be classed with the rebellious subject, who