so loved the world, that he gave him up to death, even the death of the cross The power, wisdom, and goodness of Jehovah, are displayed in the creation of the world, and the proceedings of his providence over the affairs of men; but his grace, in all its richness and perfection, is eminently manifested in this wondrous exhibition of unparalleled love. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We experience the goodness of God in the enjoyment of temporal favours, and in his tolerance of our grievous rebellion, and long-continued indifference; but "herein is love," the highest expression of love, the most astonishing display of mercy, "not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

2. It manifests the compassion of Christ. The Saviour showed his compassion on the behalf of fallen man, through the whole state of his humiliation-in the assumption of our nature-in his unwearied labours to excite the attention and promote the reformation of sinners-in his patient endurance of the trying disposition and insulting conduct of those whose welfare he was seeking-in the numberless acts of benevolence he performed-in his uniform resignation to the will of his Father-in the tears he wept over the stubbornness of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. But when we behold him in Gethsemane, and on Calvary, such instances of compassion fill the mind with adoring gratitude. Though he was rich," in all the possessions of eternity, in all the perfections of Deity, in every thing that could create and ensure perfect, supreme, and enduring felicity, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich." This is

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compassion no where to be found less than divine." He died

for his enemies; and during the mysterious period of that event, he prayed for his murderers, and tendered an act of pardon and acceptance which might astonish the benevolence of heaven, and should for ever silence the fears and complaints of approaching penitents.

3. It shows the evil of sin. The evil of sin had, indeed, been manifested in instances numerous and terrible-when the Lord "drove out the man," and placed as the guardians of the tree of life "cherubins and a flaming sword when "the windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the great deep broken up"when the cities of the plain were overturned-when the earth opened her caverns, and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram—and in the many awful providences and visitations of judgment which were witnessed previous to the appearing of Christ. The evil of sin has also been apparent in every succeeding age-in all the commotions which have agitated the globe-in all the sorrows which have been the portion of man-in all the wide-spreading slaughter which has deluged the world with blood! Every cry of lamentation which has been heard-every tear of distress which has been shed-every pang of grief which has been felt-every corroding care which has been experienced-with all the scenes of misery and wretchedness which the world exhibits-all have been, and all are, the legitimate offspring of sin. But to view this evil with every colour of its enormity, and in all the dreadfulness of its aggravation, contemplate the sufferings of Christ. When in the garden, and being in an agony, he sweat blood; sin was heavy load which overwhelmed his spirit!-when in the Pretorium, it was sin that lacerated his brow with the thorny crownand when hanging on the cross,

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sin pierced his side with the spear-sin caused him to exclaim, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

4. It evinces the value of the soul. If sin be such an enormous evil, its punishment must be dreadful beyond expression, and involve a loss which the whole universe could not retrieve the loss of the soul! If we are to estimate the worth of the soul by the calculations we should make, while witnessing the scenes of Calvary, we must conclude that its value is above the comprehension of man, yea, higher than the conception of an angel. If its redemption can only be purchased by the Saviour's blood, that

"Price which is all price beyond, That blood which is divine,"

the value of the soul must be infinite! What, then, would a man be profited, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Yea, what would he be profited, while sustaining this loss, by gaining the whole world-all its riches, houses, possessions, and enjoyments?

5. It illustrates the efficacy of the Atonement and the final triumphs of Grace. It was predicted of Immanuel, that he should bruise the serpent's head. Here the conquest to which we allude is specified, that Christ by his mediation should destroy the policy and power of Satan, and effect a complete overthrow of his kingdom and interest. He placed himself in the room of his people, and engaged to satisfy the demands of justice on their behalf-to conquer their foes, and to emancipate them from their tyranny. These objects were accomplished in his death. "He spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them openly, having triumphed over them by his cross." He conquered death" He ascended up on high, led captivity captive, and obtained gifts for men." In be

lievers "grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life."

6. In meditating on the death of Christ we behold-The happiness, honour, and future blessedness of" the Christian as obtained and secured by the sacrifice of Calvary. Think of the numerous promises made in the covenant of grace to believers. They have the honour of being united to Christ—the happiness of assimilation to his image, and the anticipated blessedness of mingling in the pleasures of angels-of participating in the ecstacies of immortal and glorified spirits. "Unto him that

loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto Godunto him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.' We proceed to notice,

II. The manner in which this remembrance should be cultivated.

1. The death of Christ should be reflected on-constantly. In all the means of religious devotion and improvement. Whether engaged in the exercises of the closet, the family, or the public sanctuary we should never forget, nor lose sight of the great event through which all our happiness was procured, but in each and all cultivate a disposition to reflect on it, and learn improving lessons from it.

2. With proper dispositions and desires. While contemplating these important "" scenes, divest the mind of every unhallowed prejudice and impure feeling."

Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Approach the hallowed place with solemnity and reverence-with feelings of love and esteem, and that holy devotion of mind which becomes the sacredness of religious employments.

3. In the exercise of faith. As you approach the cross, the great question which the Scriptures present, and which should strike home

to the conscience, is-" Hast thou faith?"-" Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Do you give full credence to the vital truths of the atonement? Do you place entire confidence in the great Gospel sacrifice? O, better had you never heard nor known the truth, than, after having heard, you first begin to hesitate and then disbelieve!" We shall mention,

III. A few of the advantages which will result from such reflection.

1. It will increase our hatred of sin. Every thing that manifests the evil of sin will have a tendency to strengthen our prejudice against it. While reflecting on the sufferings of Christ, the believer beholds the vileness of iniquity as the source of Immanuel's sorrows. You cannot,-if you are sincere in your attachment to Christ, you cannot love and deliberately practise sin. It is the object of his supreme and eternal abhorrence. By indulging in it, you crucify him afresh.' And where is the heart possessed of obduracy so great as to persevere, amid such reflections, in the indulgence of sin? O then go to the cross, and thus fortify your minds with arguments and motives to produce stronger hatred of sin, and to renew your resolutions against its commission.

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2. Strengthen our love to Christ. -Hear the Saviour amid the agonies of his crucifixion, addressing to every believer the question

"Lovest thou me?"-" If you' love me, keep my commandments"

testify your affection! Alas, how cold our love to Christ-how insensible of the obligations under which we are laid to the suffering Saviour!

These reflections will, moreover, inspire us with earnest desires to be made participants of the benefits of his death-cherish and enhance our esteem for the great doctrines of the cross-and have a sanctifying effect upon our disposition and conduct.

Finally. They will lead us to value all the means connected with the distribution and enjoyment of the blessings of grace. Prayer, in which we crave an interest in the work of Christ-hearing the word, by which a God reconciled in Immanuel is exhibited and the blessings of salvation offered-more particularly, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper--wherein the Saviour is placed before us-in the elements of the sacred feast-evidently "crucified and slain,” and in the observance of which we do "show forth the Lord's death till he come." O that it may be our unceasing delight to meditate on the death of Christ, and our peculiar happiness to enjoy its rich and immortal benefits-that "when He who is our life shall appear, we may appear with him in glory," and be admitted to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the celestial banquet and marriage supper of the Lamb.

HOPE.

HOPE is a terrible thing when great interests or strong affections are in question. In lesser affairs it is one of the playthings of life; one of the thin and glittering bubbles which are continually in motion around us, and of which

CONG. MAG. Supp. 1823.

half mankind consume their lives in the anxious and fruitless chace. When escape from inconvenience, or the attainment of some minor good, gives rise to its exercise, it is a feeling of pleasurable indulgence, exciting without a counteracting apprehension, and affording a gra4 S

tification which is, if not perfectly unmixed, yet sufficiently so to permit the mind to rest upon the promised pleasure without the fear of calamitous alternative. But when hope presents itself only as a refuge from absolute despair when it gleams as a bright but transient opening in the clouded heavens-it seems rather to render darkness visible than to make it tolerable; it pierces the spirit with a sensation even more acute than that of unbroken despondency; it seems to sport with the terrors of the heart, and to deepen their intenseness by making them more definite and distinct. Nothing more pitiable can be well conceived than the condition of the individual who sits by the bed on which lies the object of tender and devoted love, laid prostrate by acute and menacing disease-hope and fear fluctuating like the wave of the tempest, or hurrying athwart the field of mental vision, like the lights and shadows of a stormy sky. Every change of the physician's countenance, every accidental circumstance, even the chance guesses of the casual observer, are caught at with superstitious eagerness, and hope raises for itself a structure, of which it knows that the foundation has no other support than the vain inventions of affection, ingenious in the construction of fallacies when its sensibilities are roused to agonizing activity. Nor is the state less deplorable, of him who, in the hour of pain and uncertainty, has no refuge but the delusions of human hope, often detected, but always trusted. He will count the tedious minutes by the beatings of his pulse, watch its intermissions, or start at the feverish rapidity with which it notes the lapse of time, and when he strives to balance against the realities of disordered action, the possibilities of anxious but unsubstantial hope, he will hear a monitor within, warning, in awful

whispers, of death and of judgment to come.

Such is the imaginary remedy in reliance upon which the larger portion of mankind are consuming life and hazarding eternity. Such is the miserable suspense which they are willing to dignify with the name of hope, instead of seeking that great healer of human ills, where, and where alone, it is to be found, flowing, like a perennial stream, pure from the fountain, living from the spring. The very proverbs and by-words of mankind are a bitter reproof of the folly of those by whom they are yet familiarly used, since they attest the universal experience of the deceitfulness of human expectations, and strike, with a twoedged sarcasm, at the delusion and the deluded, It is among the strangest of the many inexplicable points of man's character, that he is prone to embrace known fallacy, and forward to take his stand on foundations of admitted insecurity, when certainty and safety offer themselves freely to his choice, in the Hope of the Gospel, the believing anticipation of the sons of God.

The Christian's Hope is every way secure. Its origin is the promise of God; his power is the guarantee of its continuance; his unchanging purpose and his everlasting love the pledges of its consummation. This Hope is the sure and stedfast anchor of the soul, its hold in all changes, its stability in all trials, its stay in all extremities. In the darkest day, Hope is the Christian's bright horizon; glimpse of that glorious region where God and the Lamb are the light thereof, and whither the followers of Christ are tending through all the mutations of time, and the vicissitudes of mortality. Are they fainting from the length and weariness of the road?-Hope animates them to renewed and successful efforts. Are they dis

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mayed by the number and fierceness of their adversaries?-Hopethat hope which is of faith-shows them the victory in prospect. Are they in heaviness through manifold temptations? Hope cheers the darkened mind, and points them to that glorious end when doubts and fears, and trials shall be no more, and all be serenity and joy.

In the last struggles of mortality, Hope smiles on the believer's dying bed; and, where the worldling feels "his narrow prospect bounded to a span," shows to the child of God an illimitable view, where grace and glory brighten every object. Who would barter Hope like this for all that this world of petty vanities can give?-Who?alas, even every living man, unless a higher than human wisdom elevate his affections, enlarge his desires, and give a right direction to his choice!

OBSERVATIONS ON SOME PASSAGES IN BISHOP HEBER'S LIFE OF BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR.

(Concluded from page 635.) ÓNE thing is obvious, Mr. Henry, and the "holy and learned preach ers," his brethren, as a body, did not regard their separation as schismatical; and the opinion of such persons is, on this subject, tantamount to the sneers, if not the arguments, of multitudes. We have seen that "it was no rash act, but deliberate, and well weighed in the balances of the sanctuary.' The objections mainly and notoriously rested upon in the year 1662, though not stated by Bishop Heber, were, as we have seen, not only similar, but increased by others obviously stronger even than those which influenced the Puritans. They were, therefore, not less tenable, and, of necessity, further removed from any imputa

* Life of P. Henry, p. 78.

tion of schismatical levity and trifling. Who can estimate the danger to morals, when the dictates of sound reason, and humble piety, are traduced by misrepresentation, and designated by opprobrious epithets? And who, with his Bible in his hand, and capable of using his understanding, can believe that abstinence from communion with a church by law established is necessarily evil, and the individuals so acting guilty of schism?

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The fact is, that the statement commented upon, and its context, amounts, to say the best, to the "arguing of an advocate, and to serve the temporary ends of a party." Otherwise too much is assumed, and consequences the most irrational and absurd would be the result. An implication would be inevitable-that there is a necessity for communion with the Established Church-that external formalities are essential to christian union-that blind obedience to human impositions is, in all cases, right, if not meritorious that the dictates of conscience are to be sacrificed to the caprice of rulers, civil or ecclesiastical, at pleasure- that any de parture even from the rules of expediency is schismatical-and that, however conscientiously a disciple of Christ may regard the " government as on his shoulders," or, however tenaciously he may adhere to the plain truth of revelation, it is all heretical; unless (pardon the absurdity) he surrender his illumination and his conscience to the dictates of human authority, and statutory penalties.

The chapter in Mr. Henry's Life more immediately connected with Bishop Heber's remarks, is a brief exhibition of the subject in its true light. It lays, certainly, a "great deal of blame somewhere” for

* Life of Taylor, p. xxx. + Life of P. Henry, p. 83.

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