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"Then how many difficulties will be solved, how many doubts removed! for the saint's highest comforts here have sometimes a death upon them, not only in things temporal, which he can comparatively bear as nothing when weighed against spiritual distress. He would fain sing, but how often is his song here," as in the night!" It is like the fabled warbling of the sweetest woodland chorister of evening with the thorn in her breast; too often, alas! a night shade hangs over his joys, when he fears that Christ is frowning; a momentary darkness from that eye covers all nature with sadness to him; yet often it is morning even here. The Redeemer smiles again; doubts vanish; but they return. Not so in heaven; there the song is all joy, and no cloud ever rolls between the eye of gratitude, and the countenance of propitions deity."

In the same discourse, on considering the general agitations which occur wherever the gospel comes with power and in the Holy Ghost, an occasion is taken for this nervous and truly faithful appeal: we particularly admire the reference to "pagan" and "spiritual Rome."

"Wherever the gospel comes for the first time, it may be expected to excite a spirit of persecution: although, in cases of modern civilization, that spirit has been much softened, or at least checked. The principles of pure gospel truth are so utterly repugnant to human vice and vanity, that they may be said, in this relation, to bring not peace upon the earth, but a sword: and the history of persecutions has disgraced the human character, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom the Jews slew between the temple and the altar. And what has pagan Rome since accomplished, and her more active successor in the work of destruction, spiritual Rome, also? for it must be remembered, that where the human heart remains unchanged, it is of little consequence what name is assumed, whether for a Roman, a British, or a Greek church; the confronting of the two opposite principles, nature and grace, will produce effects essentially the same: the carnal heart is enmity against God, and this enmity is betrayed in various ways, according to national habits, and local possibilities: whether by petty episcopal tyrannies, or by the dungeon, rack, and flame. It is, however, not wonderful that there should be some fighting, when time and eternity are to embrace; when nature and grace are to be defined; when corruption is to be set within doors and bars, and satan's gorgeous sceptre is to be broken into fragments; when the money-changers are to be driven out of the temple, and Christ is to enter with all his glorious train; when the walls of the accursed city are to fall down before the trumpets of the priesthood, and all things are to be made new. This may be expected to occasion

some noise!

"But how thankful ought we to be, who live in times and in a country where persecution, at least of the most baleful kind, is little known! May it please God to awaken us to a sense of our privileges, and keep us from that political commutation, by which they might be endangered! We have not personally resisted unto blood, striving against sin, as our forefathers did. Oh! the wretched agonies they endured! the long days and nights of anxious confinement; the mock trials; the curiously invented tortures! Think of the wasted form brought, after a discipline of torment, to be consumed in a tire of green wood! imagine the sepulchral figure of priest and confessor, like demons rioting in reflected flames, tauntingly exhorting the sufferer to recant, or holding out her crying infant to some pious mother writhing at the stake! O horrible mystery of mysteries! Babylon, mother of harlots! sanguinary Rome, we denounce thy triple crown in the name of the Most High God, whose faithful servants thou hast murdered, and whose doctrines thou hast obscured!

Ill-fated England, already once more toying with that Dalilah, who longs only to behold us shorn of our beams, blinded as before, and delivered into the fearful trammels of our deadliest adversary! Of Pagans we are aware; from Turks we turn with horror; on the Jews we behold the vindictive mark of God: but the silken syren of Babylon, the church of Rome, advances with pretensions and professions so much allied to christian authorities, that thousands of our countrymen do not recognize, in the very texture of her apparel, the odour of carnage, and, beneath the olive-branch she presents, a deadly sword, which is yet warm with the blood of martyrs slain."

There is not a more excellent nor a more instructive paragraph throughout the volume, than that we are about to quote from the sixth sermon: "For his anger endureth but a moment," &c. The author is treating on the divine distinction between Jehovah's anger as an inexorable Judge, and that of the covenant Father of his people.

"The Psalmist intends not here God's anger in a general or abstract sense against sin, his final enemies, or whatever may be supposed to set him at defiance. The divine anger, in all such relations, is fixed and permanent: and wherever we speak of its being averted, the intervention of some atoning object is supposed; or some essential change in the form, quality, or character of that which before excited the divine indignation, God's anger against sin must, in the abstract or general sense, be con sidered unalterable and eternal.

"The Psalmist is here speaking of the divine displeasure against the regenerated church: it is here the anger of a father, and quite consonant with immutable, unalienable love. Thus it is declared to be but for a This moment, to be resolved at last into returning loving-kindness. anger in the divine mind must be considered as arising from somewhat in us, which has grieved or displeased the Holy Spirit: the believer should carefully notice it, and with the patriarch fervently pray, "Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me." It is my present design to note some symptoms of this anger, or what those feelings are in our own souls, by which it is accompanied and declared. How awful is that passage" but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." "Here, however, I would pause a moment to deprecate the brainless extravagance of those high doctrinalists who utterly laugh to scorn the idea of God being displeased with his chosen people. God is angry say they, with the wicked every day, but not with the true church. I answer that God may be, and is actually, displeased with sin in his own people. We have no objection to a distinction being made between the persons and the faults of his chosen though the language of scrip ture renders even this concession unnecessary. Moral obliquity is hateful to God, whether he behold it in a saint or in a profligate : and it is utterly disgraceful in men who profess christianity, and even its purest principles, to quarrel tenaciously with any expressions or modes of reasoning, which hold up sin to abhorrence, and which remind the regenerated elect that, if they break God's statutes by a careless and criminal walk, he will visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

"These men appear anxious to contend for covenant doctrines only in order to pervert them: they seem desirous to prove that a man may stand near the light, without being illumined, and close to the throne of sanctity, without being himself made either holy or humble. God is not at a loss for means to convince his people that he has been displeased with them; although, in the end, the tried soul coming forth as gold shall say, "O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me."

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Dr. Andrews proceeds, in speaking of "the weeping" and "the joy" named in the text, to expatiate largely on the manifold sources of painful exercise and sorrow which the saint has to contend with in his earthly pilgrimage, and the divine adaptation of covenant promises to his every time of need. But we must forego the pleasure both of making further extracts, and extending our commendatory remarks. We are assured our readers will be gratified with what we have already laid before them: our disappointment is great that we are restrained from giving more.

The Second Annual Report of the Committee of the Gospel Tract Society, submitted to a General Meeting of the Subscribers, at the Freemason's Hall, Lincoln's Inn Fields, July 7, 1826. Palmer. We renew our call to the friends of the gospel, by directing their earnest attention to this Second Annual Report, that they may continue and increase their exertions in furtherance of the objects of an Institution whose services are eminently blessed of the Lord. It especially behoves all that know and rejoice in the word of the Lord, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure;" and who triumph in the gracious promises which assure the church of the certainty with which every covenant engagement shall be fulfilled, relative to the issue of the eternal purpose; to be found daily, habitually, watching the unceasing performance of those promises, by every means which has in view, both in its beginning and for its end, the glory of Jehovah.

If the success of every plan, for the dissemination of pure truth, be a subject the believer can with freedom lay before the Lord at the mercy-seat; and, if, among the unnumbered petitions he is constrained continually to offer, the Gospel Tract Society afford an argument there; we know, then, that the result will be in the Society's favour. For he who prays for the peace and prosperity of Jerusalem must love h her, and study her interests: and he who addresses the throne of grace in behalf of an Institution whose designs are instrumental for the good of Zion, cannot fail to use the gifts of Providence, according to his ability, for his " brethren and companion's sakes."

As every friend to the society will supply himself with a copy of the Report (which may be done for a few pence) we will follow up our remarks with one short extract only. On the close of business at the Freemason's Hall, the venerable President arose, greatly exhausted by the labours of the evening, and the oppressive heat, and dissolved the meeting in these most emphatic terms :

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"Brethren! before we separate from each other, I beg to trespass a moment on your time and patience; First, to bless the Lord for his mercies over us this evening. And, Secondly, to thank you for the unwearied attention you have granted me upon this occasion; and to commit and to commend you, and the Gospel Tract Society, together with myself, to the special blessing of heaven."

"I am an old man going out of life, and cannot in the very nature of things, hope to see your faces any more upon any future anniversary. I therefore very cheerfully leave you with the Lord, in whose Almighty hands I have lodged all my concerns, for life and death, for time and eternity. I pray you to follow me in spirit to the throne, and do the

same. And with an eye to this Institution, do not fail in every supplication for the Lord's blessing on it, to plead the Lord's own promise. It is the Lord Jesus hath said it, and it is the Lord Jesus which only can perform it. Lodge the promise daily at his footstool; and as daily watch and wait the answer. For thus saith the Lord God, behold I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out; as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. Even so, amen. To the holy undivided Three-One which bear record in heaven be everlasting praise."

Dr. Hawker's admirable exposition of the 19th chapter of Isaiah's prophecy, as delivered at the anniversary meeting, is given in the Report, in full.

A Dying Testimony to the Riches of Divine Grace; or, Death the Believer's Gain. A Sermon delivered at Jewry Street Chapel, Aldgate, July 9, 1826; occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Cook, a Member of the Church. By Edward Mannering, Minister of the above place. R. Baynes.

From the text, "For me to die is gain," 1 Phil. i. 21. the preacher descants with considerable force and perspicuity on the fearful end of the finally impenitent, and the peaceful end of the righteous; describing the character and prospects of the former in such correct and scriptural terms, that, were he not dead in trespasses and sins, the alarming tidings would sink into his inmost soul, and bring him unto repentance.

As a specimen of Mr. M.'s description of the subject of grace, the man who is accounted "righteous" in the sight of God, we quote a paragraph:

"Those, who under a deep conviction of guilt wait for salvation, ardently pant for the enjoyment of God's saving presence, and who can find no rest for their weary and heavy laden souls until they center in Christ, recline under the covert of his wing, receive the witnessing Spirit, and enjoy a manifestation of pardoning love, are warranted to conclude that for them "to die is gain!"

"Removal of guilt from the conscience by the application of atoning blood, is doubtless essential to soul triumph, and to a holy walk with God in the full liberty of adopting grace; but the humble groan and the contrite sigh are indisputable evidences of the Spirit's work on the heart, and of personal interest in the atoning sacrifice of Christ; for they who seek, shall find. The weary are invited to Christ, that they may obtain rest, and enjoy the peace of God which passeth all understanding. And as none can come to Christ but those whom the Father draws, all who flee to the smitten rock for shelter must be influenced from above; and if internally moved by the reigning principle of divine grace, on the one hand, and effectually drawn by the magnetic power of the cross, on the other, they are, and shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation."

The account of the closing scene is calculated to supply much encouragement to those who mourn in prospect of the valley of the shadow of death.

We think the "versification" on pp. 50-2. might have been dispensed with, without injury to the discourse.

POETRY.

ON THE LAST DISCOURSE BY THE REV. DR. HAWKER,
AT BROADWAY CHURCH, WESTMINSTER.

"The fulness of him that filleth all in all.-Eph. i, 23.
Jehovah infinite! great Three in One!
Before thy holy, high, exalted throne,

Lo! I, a sinner ransomed from the fall,
Would ever glory in the beams divine,
Which from the uncreate effulgence shine,

Of him whose fulness filleth all in all !
Eternal Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

Whose praises sound throughout the heavenly host-
Who hears the suppliant, if on earth he call—
Thou dwell'st in light which unapproached must be
By all in time, and in eternity,

Save him whose fulness filleth all in all!
Thou, "visible Jehovah !" bid me know,
What thou hast done and hast engaged to do,

For thine own chosen on this earthly ball;
But chiefly shew me what thou art, and say
To drooping faith, "behold! I am the way,"
O thou whose fulness filleth all in all!
Great Son of God! reveal thy glories now,
To those who low before thy footstool bow:

The plants of grace shall then like cedars tall

Revive and flourish, by rich gales of love,

And emulate below the saints above,

Through him whose fulness filleth all in all!

Resolved to magnify the holy name,

The incommunicable One, "I AM,"

Thou, Lord, didst view thy chosen church in thrall,

And stooped to take her nature to thine own;

The Son of God became of man the Son;

Yea, him, whose fulness filleth all in all!

The "holy portion" then assumed by thee,
Oh! vast humiliation, past degree!

Was born midst oxen, cradled in a stall:
Who shall describe his people's utmost need?
What was the love impelled the wondrous deed,
Of him whose fulness filleth all in all!

No access to Jehovah can be found,

But through eternal union, whose bound

Encircles the whole church, both great and small;

The mystic Head and they one body are,

They are the sheep, and the peculiar care
Of him whose fulness filleth all in all!

Communion with each Person in THE LORD,
The saints have only through the incarnate Word,
Let whatsoe'er in time their way befal :
The Father's love, the glories of the Son,
The Spirit's grace, all centre, and alone,
In him whose fulness filleth all in all!

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