the Divine justice by the sufferings and obedience of a divine Surety, is wholly denied; and the whole business of man's salvation is resolved into the simple exercise of clemency, a mere act of mercy on the part of God. Our object at present is not to show (what indeed scarcely need be shewn) how utterly unscriptural this tenet is. Its immorality is all that we are now concerned with. And can any thing be plainer than that it undermines the very foundations of moral obedience? The moral law of God, in its purity, spirituality, and extent-its strict requirements and awful sanctions-is virtually set aside; the necessity of repentance and godly sorrow for sin is superseded; the fear of the divine displeasure against transgression totally removed. All that we have to do is to repose ourselves on the mercy of God-not the mercy of God as it is exercised through Christ Jesus, in entire harmony with his justice, but-his mere mercy, without reference to any satisfaction on the Saviour's part, or any humiliation on the sinner's part. Is not this to remove the restraints on human passions, and to give the fullest encouragement to sin? for who is there, when told that God is too merciful to punish sin, but will conclude that he shall be forgiven, as well as others, and thus be emboldened to continue in sin ?-Pp. 148, 149.

In like manner the Archdeacon adverts to the Divine character of the Saviour in an admirable discourse on John vi. 14. entitled Christ the Prophet of his Church,' the whole of which is deserving of serious and attentive perusal.

The Divine character of our Lord and Master is not however stated as a mere barren doctrine, but is carried out into all its practical effects. The following extract affords an appropriate exemplification of our meaning, and illustrates the close and powerful application with which these discourses abound. The title of the discourse is, Self-enquiry urged and assisted,' from Matt. xxii. 14.

It is plain therefore that the only satisfactory way of determining whether we do or do not belong to the "few that are chosen," is to inquire whether we do or do not possess all those various qualifica

tions which the sacred oracles demand in the candidates for heaven. Let us glance at some texts of Scripture which may assist us in this enquiry.

"Except a man be born," says our Lord, "of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Have you been thus regenerated? not by the water of baptism only, but by the grace of the Spirit also? Have you received "the inward and spiritual grace," as well as "the outward and visible sign?" Have your hearts been changed, your wills renovated, your affections raised above earthly things and fixed on things above? Do you love God before all other things, and above all other things? Do you love the things which he loves, and hate the things which he hates? Sin is his abhorrence is it your's? Holiness is his delight - do you desire it, pray for it, strive to attain it? Can you say, with St. Paul, that you "delight in the law of God after the inward man?" Have you that 'spiritual mind" which is "life and peace?" Do you exhibit "the fruits of the Spirit" in your life and conversation-"love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance?"

Again-" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Such is the testimony which John the Baptist was commissioned to bear respecting Christ. Have you then, my brethren, believed in the Son of God-not with a dead but with a living faith-not the faith of the head only, but that of the heart also? for "with the heart," as St. Paul tells us, man believeth unto righteousness." Have you come to him for deliverance from the guilt and power of sin, as the lame, the blind, the sick, the demoniac came to him when on earth, earnestly desiring the removal of your spiritual maladies, as they did the cure of their bodily diseases? Have you received him into your hearts by faith "as the bread of life," the nourishment and health "made of God unto you of your souls; as wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifi cation, and redemption?" And are you from day to day living by faith in him, and deriving grace, and strength, and spiritual life from the fulness that is in him?

Once more "If any man will come after me," says our Lord, "let him deny

himself, and take up his cross and follow me."

And "he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." How plain are these declarations ! Self-denial and bearing the cross are indispensable to the Christian characterdo you possess them? Are you willing to deny yourselves for the sake of Christ and your fellow-creatures; to give up your own will, ease, and interest, when by so doing you can promote the temporal or spiritual advantage of others? And are you willing, for conscience' sake, and where fidelity to your Christian profession really requires it, to bear reproach, and contempt, and injury in a meek and Christian spirit?

"If a man love me," says Christ to his disciples, "he will keep my words." Here we have the genuine principle of religion and its practical test together. He is no Christian that does not love Christ-he has no true love to Christ who does not "keep" his commandments; treasuring them up, as a sacred deposit, in his heart, and taking them as the guide and rule of his daily conduct. I ask then, brethren, have you this holy principle of love to the Saviour; and do you manifest your love to him by keeping his commandments -striving at least to do so, and praying to be enabled to do so more and more-especially that new commandment" which he so often lays down as peculiarly binding upon his disciples, "Love one another.". Pp. 25-27.

Another point which appears prominent in this volume, is the author's close adherence to the Articles and authorized formularies of our church; which many seem to regard as somewhat obsolete, and undeserving of notice. Thus in adverting to the question, Am I of the many called, or the few chosen? he observes

And here I would first of all remark, that in the determination of this point you have nothing at all to do with God's eternal decrees. The divine decrees, though they are the rule of God's proceeding, are not the rule of our judging. It is not his secret counsels, but his revealed will, by which we are to judge whether we are chosen to eternal life or not. It is not by prying into the book of his purposes, but by consulting the book of his written word, and comparing what we there read

with what passes in our own hearts, that we are to judge of our spiritual state. Though, if chosen at all, we are chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world were laid' (as our 17th Article expresses it), yet to know whether we are chosen or not we must "search the Scriptures." And those Scriptures, examined with sincerity, diligence, and prayer, will not leave us long in doubt as to our real state before God.-Pp. 23, 24.

So again in a subsequent dis

Course

The only thing, brethren, (I repeat it), that can hinder any one of you from being saved, is your own want of willingness to be saved. If you will go on in your sins, you may. Christ forces none; none are saved against their will: but it is equally true that none are lost against their will. None will have to say in the last day, 'Lord, thou knowest that I was willing to give up my sins, willing to be made holy, willing to be thy servant; thou knowest that I called upon thee with a penitent and contrite heart for pardoning mercy and converting grace, but thou wouldest not hear me !' No, brethrenif you are really desirous of having sin forgiven and subdued within you, you need no more doubt that Christ will pardon and sanctify you, than you need doubt that he came from heaven and died upon the cross. I go further-and say, that if you feel and lament your want of willingness to be saved, and beg of him to incline your hearts to seek him, and bend your will to receive him, he will do it. "Thy people shall be willing," says the Psalmist, the day of thy power." He works in us,' says our Article, that we may have a good will, and works with us when we have a good will.'-Pp. 59.

"in

The Fifth Discourse, from John v. 14. entitled 'The Healed Impotent admonished,' struck us as highly important, and especially appropriate to those who have been mercifully restored from the Cholera, or any other alarming visitation. After urging on those who have recovered from sickness the duties of thankfulness, serious consideration, and humiliation before God, the author proceeds-

But the words contain, further,

A call to newness of life. Without this the mere acknowledgment of the lips,

whilst sickness lasts, and whilst the prospect of death is near, avails nothing. Too often, alas ! ease recants vows made in pain.' But the man who has been truly taught of God in the time of sickness, hears the voice still behind him in the hour of returning health, saying, 'Sin no more. Return not again to vanity and forgetfulness of God. Walk more humbly with thy God. Live more as on the brink of eternity. Use this world as not abusing it. Be more attentive to personal, family, and social religion. Live as in the sight of a holy God, and in the ever-present prospect of a judgment-seat. Guard especially against thy besetting sins. Remember where thou hast formerly erred, and go not astray again. Daily seek pardon for the past through the atoning blood of Jesus; daily and hourly seek grace and strength for the present and the future, through the sanctifying influence of the Spirit.'

My brethren! ye whom God in his merciful providence has raised from distressing or dangerous illnesses, have you hearkened to his voice thus speaking to you, "Sin no more ;" and have you sought in earnest for power to obey it? Has your life and conduct really been more Scriptural since your recovery? Have you exercised more watchfulness, more of a spirit of prayer and diligent reading of God's word? Have you remembered the solemn promises and vows which you made on your sick (or, as you perhaps thought it, your dying) bed-that if God would spare you and raise you up again, you would live very differently from what you had formerly done: that you would forsake your evil ways and ungodly companions, break off your swearing, lying, drunkenness, evil tempers, or whatever might have been your prevailing iniquitiesthat you would observe the Sabbath, which before you had violated; attend regularly the house of God, which formerly you had seldom or never entered; read your Bible daily, which you had been used seldom to look into; set apart stated times for prayer, to which you had been almost a stranger? Oh with what earnestness did you beg of God to allow you longer time for repentance and reformation, and not to cut you off in the midst of your sins! With what confidence did you assure your minister that you really would lead new lives, if you might but be delivered from going down into the pit unprepared! And God in his goodness was pleased to hear your prayer

and prolong your lives. But where has been your amendment? Have you been less worldly, less covetous, less carthlyminded, less careless about religion since your recovery than you were before your illness? Have you realised death, and judgment, and eternity more? lived more as in the presence of God, sought his favour more diligently, been more fearful of offending him, more habitually desirous of pleasing him? Have you attended more seriously to the things belonging to your peace? and-in the recollection of the awful precepts you had before your eyes, when you thought you were going to die, and had not repented of your sins or obtained forgiveness, or of the utter insufficiency of any thing you had, or had done, to recommend you to the divine favour, and put away your transgressions from before his face-have you come, and are you daily coming, as a penitent sinner, to the cross of Christ, to be washed from your sins in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, sanctified by his Spirit?

I entreat you, my brethren, ask yourselves these and similar questions with becoming seriousness and humility. It is not a light thing to have dissembled with God.-Pp. 69-71.

Our limits however, remind us to close, and we are thus compelled to pass over various points which we intended noticing, and omit several valuable extracts we had marked for insertion. The last discourse in the volume is entitled

The Christian Minister's Farewell to his people;' from Acts xx. 32. and was delivered by the author March 25, 1832: the Sunday previous to his leaving Birmingham. In enlarging on the expression,' "the word of his grace,' "" the author quotes Eph. i. 3-8, and then proceeds,

See how distinctly he traces all the blessings which the Gospel makes known and offers-adoption, acceptance, redemption, forgiveness-to the unmerited mercy and sovereign will of God, planning from all eternity the salvation of sinners, and bestowing on them the riches of his grace -not because they are holy, but-that they

may be holy;" and predestinating them to the adoption of children-not in consideration of their foreseen love and obedience, but-that they may be "with

out blame before him in love:" thus, you perceive, cutting off all plea of merit grounded on the qualifications of the recipients, inasmuch as these very qualifications themselves were subsequent, not antecedent, to-the effects and not the causes of God's good will toward them. So again in the second chapter, after reminding the Ephesians of the state in which the Gospel had found them"dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air; (and yet, in this respect, not worse than other unconverted persons, whe. ther Jews or Gentiles, nominally Christians or nominally Pagan; for-" among whom," the Apostle adds, we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others")—with what plenitude of feeling, with what energy of diction, he recurs to his favourite topic "the grace of God!" "But God," says he, "who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace" -he adds, once more, out of the abundance of his heart; as if he could not say enough or speak plainly enough on a point so important, a theme so delightful—“ by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."Pp. 442, 443.

One passage more and we must close; after many valuable observations the Author proceeds

There are two benefits in particular which he ascribes to its influence-edification and glorification. And tell me, beloved brethren, which of these benefits would you be contented to forego? Is it not your wish to be "built up " on that sure foundation laid in Zion" by God himself, and pointed out to you, I trust, by your ministers, as the only foundation on which you can build for eternity-Christ Jesus? Can it be a matter of indifference to yourselves, any more than to them, whether you "build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones," or "wood, hay,

stubble?" Having "come to Christ as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious," do you not desire "as lively stones to be built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ?" In other words, do you not desire to be growing, thriving, fruitful Christians; rising daily, from one story (so to speak) to another, and advancing from one degree of grace to another; thus becoming increasingly happy in your own souls, and increasingly honourable to the religion you profess-" adding to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly-kindness, and to brotherly-kindness charity?" Then remember, for your instruction and encouragement, the word of God's grace is "able" thus "to build you up." Use it for this purpose. Study it with this practical view. Seek to become more holy, more humble, more heavenly, through God's blessing upon the reading and hearing of it. Especially aim to have your besetting sins more completely subdued, your prevailing corruptions more habitually mortified, and the divine image more fully and distinctly impressed upon your hearts, whilst you contemplate this living transcript of the divine character and perfections. Sanctify them," says the Saviour, in his fervent intercession for the disciples, sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." This progress in conformity to the divine image is the distinguishing privilege of believers under the Gospel. "We all," says the Apostle, "with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." May you, my dear brethren, experience these happy effects more and more upon your souls, till at length you see Him, who is now the object of your faith and love, face to face, and be for ever perfected in his likeness!-Pp. 447–449.

We take our leave of the Archdeacon with feelings of great respect and attachment, and with earnest prayers for the renewal and long continuance of his health and strength. We have met with few volumes more truly deserving of extensive circulation.

THE severe distress with which many of our labouring poor are afflicted must excite deep concern in every feeling and benevolent mind. That the poor shall never cease out of the land may be regarded as a divine appointment, calculated to answer salutary and important ends; but that in a fertile and wealthy country, possessed of almost unlimited resources, poverty and distress should prevail to such an extent that vast multitudes should be reduced to a scanty supply of the meanest subsistence, and many driven to the utmost recklessness of despair, must surely arise from some great practical error and mismanagement.

The investigation indeed of such evils, and the suggestion of appropriate remedies, is the especial province of the political economist, and may appear at first foreign to our work. The effects however produced by deep temporal distress on the moral and religious state of the labouring poor, are too striking and too melancholy to be disregarded by the Christian philanthropist; the ministers of religion are continually applied to for relief; they are often called upon to interfere with magistrates, overseers, guardians of the poor, &c. and however indisposed they may be to entangle themselves with worldly concerns, they are in many cases called upon to solicit relief for their distressed parishioners, countrymen, &c. by the same necessity which induced the Apostle and the churches of Macedonia

to provide contributions for the poor saints at Jerusalem; nor can they shrink from such labours without exciting suspicions and occasioning offences which prove. serious obstacles to spiritual usefulness. When however ministers are found anxiously endeavouring to promote the temporal welfare of their people, the ear is often opened to attend to instructions and exhortations with respect to their eternal interests.

The exertions indeed of individual ministers or philanthropists can effect little in remedying extensive distress; yet even the slenderest means, when properly applied, not unfrequently produce very disproportionate advantages. The supplying a poor cottager with a small plot of ground at the full price paid by farmers, &c. in the immediate vicinity, appears a very trifling boon; yet the publications before us clearly prove that this small assistance has, in numerous instances, raised a labourer and his family from a state of low and desponding distress, to comparative comfort and independence. The experience of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Lord Braybroke, the Rev. S. Demainbray, Thomas Babington, Esq. Thomas Estcourt, Esq. L. B. Wither, Esq. and many others, as detailed in the publications of the Labourer's Friend Society, fully demonstrate what substantial benefits may be produced without any sacrifice of property whatever, by a judicious appropriation of small