raising the dead was exercised in the churches of the first two centuries frequently, as is evident from the following quotation from the writings of Irenæus, who died in the year 192. He is writing against two noted heretics of those times, Simon Magus and Carpocrates; and says of them, that "they are far from doing any thing like the raising of the dead, as our Saviour did, and as the Apostles by prayer did; and among the brethren often, when the whole church in any place, using much supplication and fasting, have besought it, the spirit of the dead returned, and the man is given us, to the prayers of the saints ..... and, as we have already said, the dead are raised, and do survive with us many years." The very thought of such a thing, the desire of it, the prayer for it, is now esteemed blasphemy in our church, which boasts of Welsh as one of her chief worthies; of whom it is certainly recorded, that, after very long prayer, his young pupil was restored from the dead. the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

"When

The interpretation which hath been given of these last two clauses-that they are applicable to the healing of diseases, as the sign of the bondage of sin removed from the living; and to the raising of the dead, as the sign of the resurrection at the coming of the Lord-is.confirmed to me by the answer which Jesus rendered to the disciples of John, when they were sent by their master to inquire, "Art thou He that should come, or look we for another?" This question Jesus answered by performing on the instant such acts as were demonstrative of his being the Christ, or the Anointed One of God: and that he had this passage in his eye is manifest from the words quoted from it-" To the poor the Gospel" (glad tidings)" is preached." The narrative is thus given by Luke: "And in the same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the Gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me" (vii. 21-23). It is clear to me, that these works of relief and deliverance, which he wrought upon the sick and the possessed and the dead, are the accomplishment of the words before us, "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound." And I believe that this sign should never be wanting unto the preaching of the Gospel ; and that the same unction of the Spirit which enables me to preach the Gospel would, if my faith were rightly exercised upon the word of Christ, qualify me likewise for healing the sick, dispossessing devils, and raising the dead. And I have the authority of Christ himself for so believing; who thus speaketh

to me, and all commissioned preachers-and they were his last words spoken on the earth :-"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark xvi. 15-18). I ask if it be possible for words to convey more solemnly and distinctly, to all believers who shall go forth and preach the Gospel, the power and privilege of working the same works which Christ wrought, and "greater works than these?" (John xiv. 12). Being fully persuaded of these things, I am much grieved at the present low estate into which the divine order of preachers hath come. For myself and for my brethren, I am grieved at the heart because the unction of the Holy Ghost resteth so little upon us, and we are such slender and inefficient witnesses unto the name and power of Jesus. I feel that I myself am in the condition into which the Lord brought his disciples after his resurrection, as recorded in Luke xxiv. 44–48 : “ And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.' I know that I have received this enlightening from my risen Lord; and not I only, but as many ministers in this land as have had grace to stand up for the true flesh of Christ, and his coming in glory, and the testimony of Moses and the Prophets concerning him. But I have not received that power which they are immediately after commanded to wait for: "And, behold, I send the promise of the Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." This is what we want, and ought now with all earnestness to pray for. I with my church am doing so, and doubt not to receive. The light which Christ hath given me in his truth, and which I am endeavouring to use for his glory in all ways of preaching and of publishing abroad, is my assurance that he will bestow upon me the power also; and for it I can pray without fainting and without doubting. I know that these words will be read by many preachers who are in the like case with myself; and for their sakes as well as for my own have I

so written. I have the good of Christ's church at heart; and I reverence the ordinance of preaching, all low as it is fallen. My Lord, speaking in my church by the Holy Ghost, hath taught me more and more to reverence this holy ordinance of the preacher, to which in my own person he hath, in his infinite condescension, paid so much honour in the sight of all my people. He hath not cast off his faithful preachers and ministers, but waiteth to be gracious and still more gracious to them. And only the more earnestly waiteth he, because the powers and authorities in the ecclesiastical polity have become a mass of Babylonish confusion, and a house of Babylonish imprisonment. Therefore let every man reverence a faithful preacher and a faithful minister, in whatever denomination he be found; for verily Christ doth reverence all such. And let no one set light by their office, or separate from their authority, but cleave to them steadily, for the Lord assuredly doth so. But let us ministers be ashamed and sore grieved for the low estate in which we are, and in which our flocks are kept in consequence thereof: for, if we do not humble ourselves on this account, we are proud and self-sufficient, and seeking our own vain glory, and not the glory of our great Master and the good of his people. In such humility and hope I desire to possess my own soul, and to occupy my ministry, till the Lord fill me with power unto overflowing.

[To be continued].

are.

THE CHURCH'S EXPECTATION.

THE perplexity which exists in the minds of many respecting the church's expectation, or the hopes we are warranted in cherishing in these our days, arises simply from paying too great a deference to the word of man. Did we, like the mariner, who never steers without his chart and compass, consult our Bible, and bring every thing to the law and to the testimony, we should not be brought into such perplexity as many now In turning, then, to the word of God, we find that the church's expectation, or the hope which is set before her under the present dispensation, is, THE COMING OF THE LORD TO JUDGE THE WORLD; when He, who once appeared amongst us in great humility-who took upon him our nature, even the seed of Abraham; and was made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted-the God-Man Christ Jesus,-who was also persecuted, even unto death, by the world; and who is still persecuted in the members of his mystical body-shall come in glory and majesty to separate the wheat from the tares, the sheep from

the goats; to give unto them that love him a crown of glory, that they may sit with him on his throne, even as He overcame and sat down on the throne of his Father.

The Old-Testament Prophets hold out to us the coming of the Lord as the great object of hope. Never do they teach us to expect any moral improvement in the world till this happy day arrives; but, on the contrary, they speak of the church suffering until then, oppressed by the wicked one, persecuted by the world, opposed by principalities and powers, and by spiritual wickedness in high places. The same things are taught us by the inspired writers of the New Testament. If we turn over the sacred pages, from Matthew to the Revelations, we find the coming of the Lord the one grand hope which is set before us. In one word, the New Testament shuts us up to this blessed hope. It comforts not the church by promising any intervening dispensation-not by holding out to her the false hope, which is now entertained by many, that the world will at length become her friend, and that she shall enjoy a long period of blessedness, unopposed by the world and unmolested by Satan-but, on the contrary, it prepares her for suffering, and tells her to expect no cessation from her conflicts and trials till the Lord come, who shall take vengeance on his enemies, and destroy them that hate her.

Now, this glorious event is the burden of all prophecy. It is also set forth in the Old Testament by various typical events such as the Deluge; Abraham's slaying the kings; the destruction of Sodom, of Midian, of Pharaoh and his host, of Jericho, and of Babylon.

In proceeding to speak on this great subject, I observe, first, That ancient Babylon was a type of mystic Babylon-namely, the Roman or prophetic earth. All the prophecies in the Old Testament, like many in the New, have a near and a distant object. Those which were spoken, first in reference to literal Babylon, seek their complete fulfilment in the destruction of mystical Babylon, the Roman empire, which is now about to be destroyed by the True Cyrus, the Lord from heaven.

If we give to the sacred Scriptures that consistency which we expect to find in a human author, then must mystic Babylon, mentioned in the Apocalypse, be the antitype of ancient Babylon, referred to in the Old Testament. The Old and New Testaments being both the word of God, ought we not to expect one grand design running through both; the New developing, unfolding, and consummating what was contained in the Old? This is just what we do find, and which bespeaks it to be the product of One Great Mind. Turn we, for instance, to the following passages. In Isaiah xiii. it is written, "The Burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos did see. Lift ye up

a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms, of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt.... Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and I will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." In the xxxiv th it is thus written: "My sword shall be bathed in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of kidneys of rams; for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.... For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone; and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it, the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it; and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.." The coming of the Lord, to take vengeance on his enemies, is the ultimate object of the lxiiid, which begins thus: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with died garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat? I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me; for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come."