events with a view to its permanent welfare. And to every faithful member of His church has He given the promise of His abiding presence. In that single fact, as associated with the power of Christ, there is a ground of hope which may sustain his people amidst all the storms of this probationary state; an assurance that "all things shall work together for their good;" that they have a Saviour full of power, as he is full of love; and hence that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come," shall make void His promises, or separate them from His protection.

II. The delight expressed by the prophet, in announcing the glad tidings of the text, may be sup. posed to shew the feelings of all the children of the captivity, when they heard the intelligence of their free dom. But as he contemplated a liberty of a far more exalted and enduring character, than is the deliverance from worldly oppression, it is to this higher subject that he looked with peculiar delight; and to this his glowing language is chiefly to be ascribed.

And who can doubt that thus welcome will be the message of the Gospel to every man who has learned to take a right view of himself and his Saviour? Let him be taught by the Holy Spirit to appreciate his own character, to see the evil of sin, the multitude of his offences against God, his subjection to the great enemy of mankindthe bondage of the soul-his utter inability to atone for his transgressions and to escape into a state of spiritual liberty, his total destitu tion of any plea, as derived from himself, which might avail to deliver him from the wrath to come, and to bring him into a state of reconciliation with his offended Maker let him then be directed to the love of God in Christ Jesus; let him hear the messengers of Christ publishing the glad tidings

of salvation in the full meaning of the term; let him be assured that to him is the Gospel sent, with the offer of present peace, of deliverance from eternal death, and the prospect and promise of eternal life ;-to such a man how acceptable would be the message! He would see the suitableness of this Gospel to his own case: he would discover in it a remedy for all his troubles, a refuge into which he might run and be safe. "How beautiful upon the mountains," he would be ready to exclaim," are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings!" How little have I deserved that God should be thus merciful to me, a miserable sinner! that after all my ingratitude He should reveal himself as ready to forgive; and when I had so awfully exposed myself to His wrath, should, instead of casting me off for ever, condescend to offer me reconciliation with Himself, and admission into His kingdom! How soothing is this message of peace! How welcome the promise of salvation! How animating to know, that He who reigneth in the heavens, is my "God for ever and ever, and that He will be my guide even unto death!"

We have reason indeed to believe, that from the period when the great subject of the Gospel dispensation was first announced, although then but partially understood, it has ever been the occasion of joy. The promise made to our first parents concerning the future Messiah, was expressly intended to give to them consolation, and to inspire them with hope: and the patriarch, who, probably by the intended sacrifice of his son upon one of the mountains of Moriah, was divinely enabled to look forward to the day of the Son of Man, "saw it," we are told, “and was glad." He beheld in that future period, a season of blessing to all the families of the earth. He believed in the Messiah for his own salvation: he rejoiced in contemplating him as the Saviour of the world.

If we pass onward to the time of Christ's appearance upon earth, with what words of exultation was His advent published by the heavenly host! by those who have never been at enmity with their Maker, and have nothing to fear from his justice or his wrath. Neither was this world-the world which so generally rejected him-without the testimony of a similar feeling. While Herod and Jerusalem were troubled at the news, there were some who, under the guidance of a heavenly light, travelled far to present to Him their homage; and when on their approach to Bethlehem, the star, which they had seen in the East, appeared again to conduct them, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy; they gladly hastened to pay to Him the first tribute of that adoration, which He was in due time to receive on the wider manifestation of his glory, when "all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him."

And if we extend our view beyond the confines of the world which now is, and ask what are the feelings with which this great subject is regarded in the world of bliss, we find that there it is the theme of universal praise, the common song of the innumerable company of saints and angels. We see not at this day, as we shall then see, the length and breadth and depth and height of that love, which has provided the means of reconciling the sinner unto God: we know not now, as we shall then know, what is comprehended in the terms peace and salvation, or the mighty benefits which we derive from His overruling providence: but even here it is permitted us to obtain some glimpses of that happiness which shall be the portion of the just made perfect," to know something of that "love which passeth knowledge," to catch some portion of that spirit which animates the inhabitants of the realms of light. And according to the degree in which our views are thus enlarged,

and we enter into the spirit of the Gospel, shall we be led to adopt the language of the Prophet, with feelings like his own: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth !"

And here, in conclusion, the question may naturally be put by every one of us to his own conscience, "What is the reception which I have given to this Gospel? I profess to rejoice at these tidings: is this my real disposition? Have I received the message of peace into my heart, listening to it as a message from Heaven, believing it as the statement of eternal truth; and, by God's grace, having come to that Saviour whom it describes to me as 'the Way and the Truth and the Life,' the only hope and refuge of the sinner, have I yielded myself to His service in the obedience of faith? Am I directed by His Spirit, and walking in His light?" Inquiries of this nature are of importance to every man who hears the record of the Gospel; to the minister as well as to his people: for "there is none other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

Let us then seriously lay the subject to heart. It is not a matter of indifference; it is our life. On our right knowledge and heartfelt reception of this Gospel of peace depends our eternal welfare. The time will soon arrive when it will be of no importance to us, whether we have been rich or poor, despised or esteemed, among men; but when we shall find it a point of infinite moment, whether we have known the way of salvation; whether we have availed ourselves of those means of grace, and become partakers of those hopes of glory, which are revealed to us in the Gospel of Christ. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" But unspeakably great and eternally lasting will be

our blessedness, if we embrace it. Let us, then, as conscious sinners, repair to the cross of our Redeemer; let us, with a humble trust, rely upon his sacrifice for pardon and acceptance with our justly offended Creator; that, "being justified by faith, we may have peace with God," and a well-founded hope of the joys of heaven. And, finally, as the fruit of true faith, as the dictate of love and gratitude, let us endeavour to walk worthy of our high vocation, and to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, by the fruits of a meek and holy and heavenly life.

ON ISAIAH XXXII. 15.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

THOUGH I pretend not to have at tained to that " ripeness in Biblical scholarship" which your correspondent R. J., in your Number for November, considers necessary to decide his query relative to the true meaning of Isaiah xxxii. 15, I venture humbly to offer what seems to satisfy my own mind upon the sub. ject. I had myself been disposed to read the passage somewhat according to the interpretation submitted by R. J.; but have altered my opinion by the weightiness of the following considerations.

1. In Isaiah xxix. 17, precisely the same figurative expression is employed, where the context absolutely requires that the term "forest" be understood as emblematically predictive of the sterility, and consequent rejection and dereliction, of

the famed nation.

2. I do not find that the image in question is ever used in a favourable sense; that is, as denoting spiritual beauty, strength, or fruitfulness. It is a little error of your inquirer (I am sure he will pardon me for naming it), to state that the "very image" is thus used Hos. xiv. 6; in which place the word does not so

much as occur *. Indeed it will be found (I think invariably, without a single exception in the prophetic Scriptures) to indicate the general unfruitfulness of the people of God, or the total and universal barrenness of the heathen nations. The Seventy render the word by cpvpov, verse 19

plural, dpuμoic-signifying properly oak forests; whence the original would seem (in their minds at least) to contain a stricter allusion to the idolatrous worship of either Jew or Gentile, or both; with which that kind of tree, the oak, in particular was identified.

3. Lastly, the locality, if I may so call it, of the term or figure is enough of itself, were there no other arguments adducible, to determine its signification as above. The Prophet is foretelling, not only the. fertility of the church under the latter dispensation, that emphatically of the Spirit; but also the mighty reversion which should take place in the "graffing in," to use the Apostle's expression, "of the wild olive-tree," and the breaking off of "the natural branches;" the calling of the Gentiles, and casting aside of the Jews. The judgments that should descend upon these latter are declared in verse 19, in which, be it remarked, the very image in question is repeated. "My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places: when it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place." There can be no doubt that the term is here applied, as R. J. styles it, in a bad sense; and if here, then surely. a little earlier in the same prophecy

likewise.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

THERE are few passages in the New Testament which have occasioned greater perplexity to commentators than 1 Cor. xv. 29. When one considers the improbable and unsatisfactory explanations which have been generally given, it seems rather singular that so little attention has been paid to the conjecture of Markland, proposed in one of his notes on Euripides. He endeavours to shew, as is well known to your learn ed readers, that the word vεKPOS, when accompanied with the article, signifies the dead body, or corpse. If this theory be correct, the sense of the passage is easily understood. "What shall they do who, if the dead rise not, are baptized for the profit of dead corpses?" that is, all the advantages of baptism must be confined to the dead corpse, if there is no resurrection of the dead: consequently, the rite of baptism

must be perfectly useless and nugatory. Y. M.

REMARK ON THE AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

Ir has not, I think, been observed, in enumerating the literary excellencies of the authorized version of the Scriptures, with what ease and accuracy the translators introduce, where necessary, the technical language of various arts and sciences; and this not only in those parts which necessarily required themsuch as the account of the building of the temple, or St. Paul's shipwreck-but often incidentally, and where many readers are not aware of the allusion. For instance, we read, Psalm lxxxii. 5, "All the foundations of the earth are out of course;" the expression used by every workman in architecture, to describe irregularity, or unskilful workmanship in the "courses," or layers of stone, brick, or other material of which an edifice is constructed. An attentive reader will observe numerous similar instances scattered throughout the Old Testament. I however mention the circumstance, chiefly because such expressions, if not viewed in their technical meaning, might be among those which a reviser would be in danger of altering, to reduce them to terms of apparently better sound or import. R. F.

COLONIAL ORDINATION.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

THE real impediments which present themselves, in endeavouring to obtain an efficient body of clergy in the colonies of Great Britain, are

sufficiently great; but they are considerably increased from an opinion, not uncommonly entertained, and which was lately stated by a correspondent in your pages, that persons ordained in the colonies, or at home for colonial service, are disqualified from officiating or old