England's martyred founders, but also with the promptings of that Holy Spirit of truth and love, under whose sacred influence their souls are being moulded into a common master's image. I rejoice to know that such is not the spirit of the present Archbishop of Canterbury and others on the Episcopal bench; and that a Bickersteth, a Beamish, a Marsh, a Villiers, and a Noel, put such a spirit of exclusiveness utterly away from them. May this spirit be speedily driven forth from the breast of every true Protestant minister in the English Church; and, sending it back to those 'false brethren' by whose insidious zeal it has been instilled, may each of them exclaim, with regard to its abettors, O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united.' "2. Let every lover of Protestant truth and Christian liberty be well aware of the dangers with which we are threatened. Who are the men that put forth publications impregnated with words of arrogance and bitterness, such as we have this night examined and reviewed? They are a party, some of whose leaders have already gone over to Rome, and others, if as honest as they, would long since have followed them. These are the men who love to call themselves 'priests,' while the Scriptures recognise no priesthood but that of Christ, in offering himself without spot to God,' and 'the holy priesthood' of his people, who offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.' These are the men who call the communion-table an altar,' and the Lord's Supper a sacrifice,'-who have candlesticks upon their altars' in open day,-who turn prayers into continued chants,-who bow superstitiously to the altar,' and to the east, and pray with their backs to the people. These are the men who teach 'the doctrine of reserve,' and who thus dishonour the declaration of the whole counsel of God,' and 'the preaching of the word,' which in Apostolic times was the test of a faithful minister and of a true Church. (Acts xx. 27; 2 Tim. iv. 1.) It is theirs to exalt the opus operatum of sacraments, to talk of baptism as 'the holy waters of redemption,' and to urge the Eucharist on dying sinners as a viaticum to heaven. And, above all, these are the men who reject with abhorrence that great pillar of the temple of truth, the glorious doctrine of justification by faith through the righteousness of Christ, the article of a standing or a falling Church.' "And if they triumph, then farewell to all those glorious victories won for England by the blood of a Latimer and a Ridley! Farewell to our Scriptural Sabbaths, which they would set aside by their 'saints' days,' and whose sanctity they are ready to overwhelm by another Book of Sports,' with its pastimes of the maypole and the morrice-dancing for our peasantry again! And farewell to our Bible Societies, our missionary leagues, our City Missions, and every holy confederacy of the different sections of the Church to bring the world to the Redeemer's feet! "But, more than this, our religious liberties are at stake. For these are the men who * read with admiring eyes the records of the suffering Nonconformists and Puritans, and all the oppressions of a Star-Chamber, and a Laud in the day of his triumph!-who come even from America (as an American bishop has lately done) and heap contumely on the Pilgrim Fathers,' who were driven across the Atlantic, to seek amid the snows of New England and its forest pines freedom to worship God.' This is the party whose fathers drove out two thousand of the best of the clergy from the Church of England in one day, and would perhaps re-enact the same scene towards their Evangelical brethren now, if they had the power. And these, my Presbyterian friends, are the men whose party hounded on a Lauderdale and a Claverhouse against our covenanted fathers,-who dragged them to the gallows,-who drowned innocent maidens by tying them to stakes within the flow of the ocean's tide,-who shot down their victims on mountain and moor,-and whose accursed policy destroyed in Scotland 17,000 lives within less than thirty years. And shall we suffer this intolerant band to deprive us of our liberties? Shall we bend our free-born necks to the yoke which our fathers were not able to bear? No; forbid it, patriotism, truth, our country's greatness, the majestic native freedom of mind's unwearied spring,' the memory of the spiritual heroes and martyrs of the past! Shall we give place by subjection' to such men. 'No, not for an hour!' "3. Finally, I entreat your prayers on behalf of all the faithful ministers of Jesus Christ. They preach the Word,' they are 'ambassadors for Christ,' they go forth weeping, bearing precious seed; but, oh! without the quickening energy of the Holy Ghost they labour in vain. Never forget, then, to plead before the mercy-seat for their personal holiness, that they may be clean who bear the vessels of the Lord,'-for their growth in Divine knowledge, that, as 'scribes well-instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom, they may bring out of their treasures things new and old;-for their eminent usefulness and success, that of every one of them it may be recorded when his work is done, 'He was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord.' In one word, in the spirit of earnest, believing, heaven-opening supplication, pray, that in the Church of England, in all the Presbyterian Churches throughout the world,among our Wesleyan, Baptist, and Independent brethren,-there may be raised up thousands of pastors after God's own heart, to feed his flock with knowledge and with understanding, to each of whom the beautiful portrait of a faithful minister drawn by a British poet's hand may fully apply— And in his duty prompt at every call, *Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, in a speech in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry. THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD. CAN prophetical writers, with all their researches and speculations, see farther or more clearly into futurity than Milton, in thus describing the Second Advent and the kingdom of Christ: "He sits at God's right hand, exalted high come, Above all names in heav'n; and thence shall Paradise Lost, book xii. 457–465. And again, Book xii., p. 537, 66 So shall the world go on OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE IN 1750.Though I doubt not but there are some of both, in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, yet I must confess that they are the last places where I would go in search of true piety and godliness. For where are there more riots and excesses, quarrels and debaucheries, than what walk in open day in these places? How many hopeful youths, before but half spoiled in public schools, are here established in vice and licentiousness, and come away, very often better skilled in the sophistry of the heathens, To judge the unfaithful dead, but to reward than in the divinity of the apostles Whether in heav'n or earth, for then the earth His faithful, and receive them into bliss, more apt to invoke Apollo and the Muses Shall all be paradise, far happier place than Christ Jesus and the Spirit of God-Than this of Eden, and far happier days."and better acquainted with the fabulous gods and goddesses than with the true God and Jesus Christ his Son, and the precepts of the Gospel. And yet, such is the blindness of many in this unthinking, degenerate age, that let a man be ever so well experienced in grace and taught in the school of Divine wisdom, yet if he is not stuffed with heathen knowledge, and well read in Plato and Aristotle, why then they think he is by no means fit for any sacred or ministerial employ. Such is the wisdom of man; such are the rudiments of the world; but such are not the rudiments of Christ. I would not be thought so mean as to speak against human learning in its place; but when human science usurps the seat of the Spirit of God, and pretends to fathom Christ, it is as absurd as setting an ape on the throne of a king, or using a straw to fathom the sea. In a word, as the sun is only seen by its own light, so Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness is only known by His own Spirit. And heathen philosophy or Pagan sophistry is of as little avail to discern the glory of Christ and His Gospel, as the lighting of a candle is to see the natural sun in the firmament. Happy, then, are those ministers! and happy those people! who are taught by Him who is the wisdom and power of God. Happy they who have got the blessed unction from the Holy One, that leadeth and guideth into all truth; and searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.-From Cornelius Cayley's Autobiography. THE sunshine of the world is more dangerous than its blusterings. In storms we keep our garments close about us. THREE things make a good minister,meditation, prayer, and trial.-Luther. Last in the clouds from heav'n to be reveal'd New Heav'ns, new Earth, ages of endless date, love, To bring forth fruits, joy, and eternal bliss. Obituary. DEPARTED this life in Belfast, on the 17th November, 1848, the Rev. James Radcliffe, aged fifty-six years for twenty years minister of Bridge-street congregation, Londonderry, and subsequently in England. His zeal to make known the Gospel of the blessed God, and to accompany his preaching by a life of practical usefulness was ardent. Amidst peculiar trials, his ministrations were blessed to the conversion and edification of many souls; blameless in his life, gentle, unobtrusive, and disinterested, he has been suddenly removed to the mansions prepared by that Saviour whom he loved, and in whose merits alone he placed all his hopes of eternal happiness. GOD brings not a pair of scales to weigh our graces, but a touchstone to try them. THE ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN MESSENGER. GIVING TO CHRIST THE BELIEVER'S PRIVILEGE. BY THE REV. P. L. MILLER, MINISTER OF THE GROAT MARKET CHAPEL, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. "And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?"- SOME years ago the Gospel was preached If the example of the Normandy fishermen were to prove infectious, and if many were to present the offering of a day's fishing to the Lord, His treasury would be richer, and they would be richer, for "there is that scattereth and yet increaseth." Prov. ii. 24. And if love should enlist self-denial, and send it through the Churches of Christ levying tributes for the cause of Jesus, what a sweet surprise would seize upon the treasurers and collectors of Societies and congregations? No pressing then, no gentle expostulations, no urgent appeals: the treasury of Christ would be rapidly filling, and the people of Christ would taste something of the joy, and would realize something of the bright scenes recorded in the last chapter of 1 Chron., "Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord; and David the King also rejoiced with great joy."-Ver. 9. It is a great privilege for a sinful man to be invited to help forward the cause of God upon the earth. Now the cause of God is the Gospel of His dear Son. Every effort that is made, every penny that is given towards the preaching and the teaching of Jesus Christ at home and abroad,-this, in other words, is helping forward the cause of God, and the people of God are helpers in this one work of VOL. I. D D love, telling sinful men of the love of a' God of love shining forth in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The cause of God advances in a rebellious world in proportion as the Gospel advances and takes captive the hearts of men through the power of the Holy Ghost. And to agonize at a throne of grace for the pouring out of the Spirit of God; to know the power and to publish the power of atoning blood, to know the love and to proclaim the love which is written out at Calvary in letters of blood; to know the value of a man's soul, and with tenderness from above to beseech a man to care for his soul,—this—this is to work for God. And it is a glorious thing to consecrate ourselves, in sight of Calvary, unto the Lord. Then our offerings to the cause of God will be the expression of our love to Him, the utterance of a soul overwhelmed with the sense of his love. The grudging spirit which asks, "How little will do?" will be driven forth from a heart exulting in the love of God. Nothing will be reckoned too costly an offering for Christ by such a heart. "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" is the eager inquiry of one beginning to taste that "God is good?" "What can I do for Christ" is the deep feeling of a heart yielding more and more to the constraining power of his love. Mary did not think the pound of ointment of spikenard, although "very costly," too much as the offering of her love to Jesus. Christ was once so dear to his people, and they had his cause so much at heart, that they "sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need." The glory of a Divine Saviour shone down upon themtheir souls rejoiced in his love. In their eagerness to lay hold of treasures in heaven they let go treasure on earth. Jesus had made them rich for eternity, and it seemed to them a small thing to impoverish themselves, for a little, for his sake. There does not seem to be much of this spirit now. Many give, but how few impoverish themselves for the sake of Jesus. How few give after the fashion of the Normandy fishermen! Oh if our dear readers would try a day's fishing and some self-denial, there would be more for Christ and they would be no losers, for He is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."-2 Cor. ix. 8. 1 If the Churches of Christ felt the power of those words, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts xx. 35), then "giving" would become the rule of the many, and "grudging" would be put to shame. At present it is otherwise. Among the professed followers of Jesus it is the "few" who give willingly, counting it a privilege to bring their offerings to the treasury of the Lord.—The "many" act as if giving to Christ was a privilege they did not care for. The face brightens when friendship places a gift in the hand, for the heart is touched by that love which this gift reveals. Now the Scripture saith, "It is more blessed to give than to receive.” And if receiving for self be pleasant, truly giving for Christ should be sweeter, for self is so unworthy, and at times, the sense of unworthiness is so keenly felt, that a Christian man is burdened beneath the kindness of a gift; but Christ is ever so glorious, ever so precious, that His people should count it more pleasant to give for Him than to receive for themselves. In heaven nothing is thought too precious for Christ to receive. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." (Rev. v. 12.) And if one so glorious shed His blood just to open up that bright heaven to the chief of sinners-if, at such a price, He purchased life with God for us, where shall we find an offering rich enough to cast at His feet? That offering is near. The eye of Jesus rests upon it. The love of Jesus claims it. "Son, give me thine heart." Only yield that heart, and then giving to Christ will be enjoyed. Let the Lord Christ reign within, and then warm hearts will grow yet warmer, and those tumultuous doubts which come rolling in from the future, and fill the soul with trembling, even while devising liberal things for the cause of Jesus, will calm down before the presence and the voice of Him who says, "Peace, be still." Every man knows his own sins, and also what grace he has resisted. But to those of others and the circumstances under which they were committed, he is a stranger: he is therefore to look upon himself as the greatest sinner that he knows of.-Dr. Johnson. ANTIDOTE TO ARMINIANISM.* CHRISTIAN BRETHREN,-Many of you doctrine of Arminians affords grace another. If they were to allow this, they would allow what would amount to as much as Calvinists understand by election. And, indeed, the hope that depends on the strength of the sinner to for " But, according to the doctrine of Calvinists, myriads of the fallen race of Adam have been given to Jesus Christ, and these shall all certainly come to him, "He shall see and have everlasting life. his seed, he shall prolong his days, and his hand: he shall see of the travail of his the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in soul, and shall be satisfied.” (Isa. liii. 10, 11.) come to Jesus, before he is created anew weak and born of God, is but a very one; man is dead in trespasses and sins,' (Eph. ii. 1.) "He is in darkness," (Eph. His "carnal mind is enmity v. 8.) greater hope of salvation to sinners in general against God," (Rom. viii. 7.) Yea, his than the doctrine of Calvinists does. I enmity is such, that he "cannot come desire you will impartially consider to Jesus, except the Father draw him,' whether this be not a misrepresentation (John vi. 44.) Therefore this doctrine of the matter. I will take the liberty of does not afford the least hope unto any appealing to such as have had the most sinner who believes his state to be such frequent opportunities of attending the as it is represented in the Word of God. preaching of Calvinists, whether their doctrine in general tends, in the least, to discourage penitent sinners, who are convinced of their lost and ruined state, to come to Jesus Christ for life and salvation? Do they not most earnestly and affectionately invite sinners of every description to come? Do they not persuade them, and reason, and expostulate with them, and so endeavour to compel them to come? Do they not show, In a word, the doctrines of Arminians according to the Word, that God does not God will certainly receive every returning and Calvinists agree in showing, that reject any that are willing to receive the salvation that is in Christ Jesus? They sinner; and that "every one who asketh preach the Gospel unto men in general receiveth, and he who seeketh findeth, not as elect, but as guilty and perishing and to him that knocketh it shall be and entreat them, in Christ's opened." But the doctrine of Arminians stead, to be reconciled to God. There- does not afford the least certainty that fore, the doctrine of Calvinists affords any one will come to ask, to seek, or to the most satisfactory hope of salvation knock; while the doctrine of Calvinists unto all who are willing to accept of it in affords the greatest certainty-a certainty God's way. How, then, does the doc-founded upon the faithfulness and protrine of Arminians afford greater hope? mise of the unchanging God-that Does it afford hope to such as continue people, numerous as the morning dew, impenitent, and unwilling to accept of the shall be made willing in the day of his glorious salvation which is in Jesus power." (Ps. cx. 3.) Therefore judge Christ? Certainly not. Then, I ask ye whether the doctrine of Arminians or again, How does the Arminian system salvation to sinners in general. Calvinists affords the greatest hope of afford greater hope of salvation to sinners in general than that of Calvinists? sinners; 66 a With regard to the doctrine of election, But I desire you will consider, whether I desire you will attend more to the testithe doctrine of Calvinists does not afford mony of God upon it, than merely to the The testimony of greater hope of salvation to sinners in assertions of men. general than the opposite doctrine? All God is this: "For whom he did foreknow, the hope which that doctrine affords he also did predestinate to be conformed depends upon the supposed strength of to the image of his Son, that he might be the sinner to come to Christ; for they the first-born among many brethren. will not allow that God bestows distin-Moreover, whom he did predestinate, guishing grace upon any one more than them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." * Reprinted from an old Welsh tract, by (Rom. viii. 29, 30.) According as he the Rev. T. Roberts, of Llanbrynmair. 66 hath chosen us in Him before the founda |