the thief on the cross? Did he "issue out of the water," on the day in which his soul was taken to Paradise? Barnes on Job. Partridge and Oakey. WE had occasion, some time ago, to refer to Barnes on Job, in terms of admiration, considering it one of his ablest and most important productions. The peculiarity of the present edition is the preface from the pen of the learned Dr. Henderson, one of the most competent living judges on such subjects. Dr. Henderson pronounces a high eulogium on the work, stating that for years, in the course of professional duty, he was familiar with it. Having frequently had occasion to test the accuracy of Barnes, the result was uniformly to establish his confidence. He considers that the Notes indicate evident marks of matured habits of Scripture study, and states that" to the theological student, the public instructor, the Sabbath-school Teacher, and the private member of the family, they will be found invaluable. No person can consult the work without finding difficulties removed, obscurities elucidated, and practical truth pointedly enforced." Such a testimony, from such a quarter, settles the point, and on this, apart from our personal convictions, which are in complete unison with those of Dr. Henderson, we should feel authorized to give it our most cordial commendation to the British Public. The Condensed Commentary and Family Expositor of the Bible. By INGRAM COBBIN, M.A. Ward and Co. IT is too late in the day to offer any criticism on the character or merits of the Condensed Commentary. The fact that 8000 copies are now before the public, takes the question of popular acceptance out of the hands of the critics, and, to a considerable extent, the fact of that acceptance demonstrates the value of the work. For the benefit of those to whom it is unknown, however, we may just state that the work comprises the most valuable criticisms of the best Biblical writers. It contains the sum and substance of nearly all that has been written on the mighty theme; and for the multitude of respectable families and intelligent individuals, it is in itself enough. Hundreds-we might almost say thousands of pounds would be necessary to procure the whole of the original works on which Mr. Cobbin has drawn, and the time which would be necessary to consult them, and to acquire the languages in which they have been written, would be that of a long life. The volume may, therefore, be designated, Biblical Criticism Made Easy. By means of this volume a plain English scholar may thoroughly possess himself of the results of the highest talent, and the most elaborate inquiry. To each chapter is appended practical reflections; the marginal references are abundant; the chain of chronology is carefully worked up; and there are valuable indices appended. Here, then, for a comparatively trifling sum, we have, in round numbers, 2,700 columns of closely-printed matter, of the highest moment to the human race. Messrs. Ward have done nobly, after reaping a rich harvest of success, in so greatly reducing this incomparable popular Commentary. It bids fair for a long time to maintain its ground against all comers, and he will be an able man, as well as a bold, who will attempt an improvement upon it for a genera tion to come. We cannot breathe a better wish than that a copy might be in the hands of every British householder. Consolation to Bereaved Parents. B. L. Green. THIS publication comprises a Funeral Sermon, preached at Sutherland Chapel, Walworth, by the Rev. Dr. Fletcher, Sept. 14th, ult, on occasion of the death of the eldest son of the Rev. Mr. Seaborn, with brief Memoirs of the deceased, and also of his eldest sister, who died in March last, by the Rev. H. S. Seaborn. Such events could not fail to draw powerfully upon the feelings of the sorrowing father and that father's friend, and the results will be found embodied in this deeply-affecting publication, which comprises, in addition to Dr. Fletcher's Sermon, which is in his own best style, a Memorial Sketch of the Son as well as the Daughter, and some touching correspondence. The Memoir of the Daughter is more copious, and will be read with the deepest interest by young persons generally, and in particular by youthful females. It has our very cordial recommendation. When this, the second edition, is disposed of, it might be worth while to reprint both the Memoirs in a separate form of a smaller size, for the benefit of circulation in Sunday-schools. Exposition of the Gospel according to Luke, in a Series of Lectures; Chapters XX-XXIV. Also, a Portion on the Gospel according to Matthew. Vol. III. By JAMES THOMPSON, D.D. Messrs. Black. OUR readers will rejoice in the appearance this volume, which completes the best Course of Lectures that ever appeared on the Gospel of Luke. From the nature of the subjects, this last volume is even more interesting than its predecessors. The subjects selected from Matthew are well chosen, and very ably worked out. The Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts Revised, and the Hymns Arranged. By JOHN BURDER. Ward and Co. THIS Volume is a great improvement upon every pre-existing edition of Dr. Watts. There is an end to the confusion which has so long reigned; and while this striking and important improve ment has been effected, it has been done in such a manner as to render it perfectly practicable to mix up the new with the old editions, until the former shall be worked off, since, in every case, in brackets, the running number of the present volume has appended to it the number and the book under the original edition. The work has been otherwise much improved. For an account of what is done, and a right conception of the excellent Indices, we refer to the book itself. Library for the Times.-The Church of England in the Reigns of James I. and Charles I. WE can hardly breathe a better wish than that every reader of our pages should possess, and repeatedly, with solemn care, peruse these enlightened and momentous pages. They form s very valuable portion of the important work now being issued. One Baptism for the Remission of Sins not an Article in the Nicene Creed. Nisbet. THE point is important, and the argument con clusive. Something New from the Story Garden, brought by Sister, for Ida, Agnes, and Ernie. Groombridge. MARKED by simplicity of style, solidity of subject, and beauty of illustration. PRAISE. The Protestant Dissenters' Illustrated Almanack for 1852. John Cassell. THE most interesting and instructive that has yet appeared of this most interesting and useful series. Poetry. "Upon the harp will I praise thee."-PSA. xliii. 4. No harp have I as Jesse's son, The universe my harp shall be ; Its thousand, thousand things, I'll take and tune them all for Thee,- The earth, its hills, and vales and flowers, The song of bird, the sweet bells' chime, I'll praise for life; for love I'll praise; On griefs and joys, on hopes and cares, On triumphs, troubles, fears, and snares But loudest for the "purchased " home The blood-writ promises that bring On these I'll hymn Thy faithfulness- On these I'll show how oft the tear, A medium is made to clear How dark'ning clouds o'er life that lower, Have dull'd the heat of passion's hour, And angel-wings have been ! How failing health and feeble frame And still my fingers, lingering here, O'er each sweet chord shall rove, To bless Thee for Thy listening ear, Thy much forgiving love. Sweet strings! I'll praise Thee, too, on these For blessings pledged to man Of every tribe, of all degrees, Throughout the wide world's span. That He shall come "whose right it is," Till heaven and earth's acclaim be this: Thus will I praise Thee till I bow Monthly Review. ENGLAND.-In England, several things worthy of notice, in a religious view, have occurred in the course of the month. The chief of these refers to the progress of Her Majesty through Lancashire, which presents a spectacle most gratifying to the heart of every Christian patriot. The history of mankind presents nothing comparable to the scene displayed in Manchester, when upwards of 80,000 Sundayschool Children lifted up their voices, as the sound of many waters, in the presence of the Sovereign, to sing the National Anthem, and to praise the power by which monarchs reign and princes decree justice. Everything appertaining to this movement of Her Majesty was full of gratification, and appears to have been alike satisfactory to herself and her subjects. The next great event is the closing of the Crystal Palace, which seems like the demise of a great power in the state, or rather the extinction of a mighty element in European 80 E. S. ciety. Now that the history of the Exhibition is closed, there is much in it, and appertaining to it, on which the moralist might expatiate to instruction and edification; but our space interdicts us in the enjoyment of this felicity. It adds another, and of its class, incomparably the most stupendous illustration to the already innumerable multitude, of the fading nature of all human glory. The fact has produced a singular change in the aspect of this mighty Metropolis. After its opening, for some time, the observer was scarcely conscious of any increase to the multitudes that perambulate the streets. By degrees, however, the difference became sensible, till at last it was all but intolerable. There was no getting on in the thoroughfares with any comfort, to discharge the ordinary affairs of life; while the increase of vehicles of all descriptions became so great, and the hubbub and pother, and the block up, so incessant, as to constitute a nuisance and an obstruction. During the last month, this state of things was peculiarly manifest. Now, however, there is reaction with a vengeance, and one is almost annoyed by the comparative solitude which reigns throughout the City. There is, nevertheless, reason to hope, that a great social good will come out of this tending to the vast increase of metropolitan accommodation in the matter of local transit. The multitude of omnibuses, with all their appurtenances of men and horses which were called into existence and are now rendered useless, has prompted the ingenuity of parties interested as to the best method of turning their property to account; and it seems not improbable that new lines will be multiplied and cheap fares introduced to an extent not previously contemplated. RELIGION.-In the religious world the most important event is the Autumnal Meeting of the Congregational Union, elsewhere referred to. Methodistic Reform goes steadily on, while both Papists and Puseyites are particularly busy. Dr. Baird has just published "The Progress and Prospects of Christianity in the United States of America, with Remarks on the Subject of Slavery, and on Intercourse between British and American Churches," of which our last Number contained the substance; but we particularly recommend the pamphlet in full to our readers. THE CAFFRE WAR-The last intelligence which arrived from South Africa is very unfavourable as to the results of the war. The British troops are making no way against the banded tribes of Natives, who have been committing most extensive depredations on the friends of the British Power. It is felt impossible to bring them to anything like a decisive action. The warfare is such, that, to put a speedy end to it, would require an amount of military strength-broken up into thousands of corps to scour the land-such as might suffice to subdue one of the most powerful of European kingdoms. That warfare is such as to render military science of no avail. It will be remem bered how grievously the Cossacks afflicted the French armies in Russia; nearly as annoying are the Caffres to Sir Harry Smith. Sir Andries Stockenstrom has published a letter on the causes of the war, which deserves the attention of English Christians and patriots, from the facts it communicates, and the candour it displays. Sir Andries is a man who enjoys the confidence of all parties-a fact which gives a peculiar value to his testimony, which testimony redounds to the honour of the Missionaries, and to the deep discredit of the Government of England. AUSTRALIA.-In Australia the Convict Importation question is still going on, and a Deputation has recently arrived in this country, on behalf of the Colonists, to remonstrate with the Government, and appeal to the British people. A League of the various Colonies has been formed, of a strength sufficient, if things should unhappily reach extremities, to repel the aggressions of Lord Grey upon the rights of humanity; and it is only to be feared that to this pass things may come, unless the public at home shall compel the Government to arrest the cruel and infatuated progress of the Colonial Office. The last intelligence we have is, that of the arrival of two ship-loads of convicts, amounting to some 800 human beings, the sweepings of the jails of Britain, with a demand upon the Colonists for the enormous sum of £60,000, to pay the expense of conveying there the means of contamination and moral ruin to them, their families, and posterity. Had Earl Grey transmitted, along with the mass of moral pestilence, the sum of £60,000 ten times multiplied, to be distributed among the Colonists, even that bonus could not have secured the grateful acceptance of so monstrous a benefaction! But the idea of doing a wrong, and exacting the price of the perpetration from the injured, is an outrage without a parallel, and almost without a name,-a thing unknown in the history of humanity, and at utter variance with the spirit and principles of the British Constitution! Religious Intelligence. ORDINATIONS. ROYDON, ESSEX.-On Tuesday, September 2nd, the Rev. William Charles Frith was publicly set apart to the pastoral office over the Independent Church in this town; when the Rev. Robert Holden, of Hadham, commenced the service by reading and prayer; the Rev. Thomas Hill, of Cheshunt, delivered the introductory discourse, on the nature of a Christian Church; the Rev. Thomas Finch, of Harlow, asked the usual questions, and offered the ordination prayer; and the Rev. Dr. Stowell, President of Cheshunt College, gave the charge. In the evening the Rev. W. Ellis, of Hoddesdon, preached to the people. MELKSHAM, WILTS.-On Tuesday, September 30, Mr. Jacob Jones, of Spring-hill College, Birmingham, was publicly recognized as the minister of the Independent Church in the above place. Professor Barker, of Spring-hill College; Rev. R. Harris, of Westbury; Rev. H. M. Gunn, of Warminster; Rev. J. S. Pearsall, of Bristol, and others, honoured the occasion with their presence and assistance. NEW CHAPEL. ON October 15th, a new chapel was opened at Maiden Newton, Dorset, by the Congregational Dissenters. A sermon was preached in the morning by the Rev. A. Bishop, of Beaminster, and in the evening by the Rev. J. K. Stally brass, B.A., of Dorchester. The old chapel, which was originally a barn, was, more than fifty years ago, set apart for religious worship by the Rev. Thomas Denny. This being in a very dilapi dated condition, and not at all suitable for the congregation, rendered it necessary to erect the present more commodious place of worship. Mrs. Petty, of Weymouth, the proprietress, kindly invested it, with some more ground, in trustees. R. B. Sheridan, Esq., M.P., very generously gave sufficient stone from his quarry, and the ministers and friends in the county, aiding with their influence and contributions, provided funds for the purpose, leaving a debt of £100. Theology. THE SAINT IN SORROW. "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me."-JOB xix. 25-27. CHRISTIAN READER,-I shall proceed to direct your regard to the view which the patriarch took of his Redeemer, and to the happy influence which it exerted upon his soul in the hour of distress and destitution; in the hope and with the prayer that when you are called to wade through the deep waters of sorrow and affliction, and, to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your mind will be illumined with visions equally bright, and your heart enriched with consolations equally strong: "I know that my Redeemer liveth." JOB'S VIEWS OF HIS REDEEMER. The term Redeemer is often used in Scripture, and has various significations. It is used to denote the bringing again of property which had been sold, or alienated from the original owner. Among the laws of Moses there was one which made it impossible for land in Judea to be finally lost to its original owner; for if he waxed poor, or was compelled by any circumstances to encumber his estate, his nearest kinsman might redeem it for him, or he could dispose of it to a stranger with the prospect of getting it back again in the year of Jubilee, when poverty, slavery, and debt disappeared. "If this brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother hath sold," Lev. xxv. 25. It is applied, also, to the recovery of those who are taken into captivity by the enemy; and this may be done either by force of arms, as when Abraham redeemed Lot, or else by payment of a ransom. It is likewise applied to the avenger or redeemer of blood; for when any man had slain his fellow-man unawares, the kinsman of him who was slain had a right to avenge the blood of his relation, should he overtake the manslayer before he entered into the city of refuge. In all these senses the word is used in the Bible, and in all these senses it illustrates the relationship of Christ to man, and the bearing of his work on our salvation. Does he not redeem that inheritance which we have lost by sin, and VOL. VIII. which we cannot regain by sorrow for sin, or by any efforts or virtues of our own? By giving his life a ransom for us, does he not redeem us from the curse of the broken law of God? By his almighty power, does he not redeem us from the grasp of Satan? Is not the salvation of Christ the city of refuge in which we find safety from the wrath of God? Is not the year of our conversion, the time of our release from the bondage of sin, and the year of our investiture with the title to that inheritance which is uncorrupted and undefiled, and which fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation? His Job regarded the Messiah as his own Redeemer.-I know that my Redeemer is living. He had a personal interest in him, which consoled his heart in the loss of all earthly things. His friends had forsaken him, or cruelly turned their consolations into reproach; but he appealed with the utmost confidence to him who sticketh closer than a brother. wife embittered his heart with her weak and wicked exhortations, but in all these things he sinned not, neither charged God foolishly; for he was sustained by the power of his own Redeemer, who even in those early times always showed himself strong in the salvation of hi people. And though their knowledge of the Messiah was not equal to ours, yet it was sufficient to inspire them with sentiments of cordial love and admirable confidence. It is pleasant to contemplate the power of faith in the Messiah over the hearts and lives of men who lived hundreds of years before he appeared on earth, and to trace in it the hand of the Holy Spirit producing the fruits of his death and resurrection, long before these things were actually consummated, and to learn from it also that the cross of Christ, where God and man meet and receive rest and delight, was not only planted in the midst of a dying world, like the brazen serpent in the camp of Israel, but likewise in the midst of the ages of the world's history. casting its light alike to the morning and evening of time, fixing the regards of 2 N men in all ages, and warming their hearts with the love of God and the hope of everlasting life. Let me affectionately remind you, who read these words, that nothing short of a personal interest in the blood and righteousness of Christ will save your soul. Speculative knowledge of his person and work will enable you to talk about him, may deliver you from gross and scandalous errors, and clothe you in the agreeable mantle of a religious profession, but it will not enable you to enjoy the peace of God and the hope of heaven. It will serve as a pleasant companion to cheer the monotony of life, and to attend you while all is safety and beauty; but when the shades of the evening gather brown and dark around you, when you tread the thorns and briars of the wilderness, and especially when you walk in the valley of the shadow of death, like a fattoress guide, it will leave you to contend atome with the darkness and danger of the path. Such was not the religion of any of those who now through faith and patience inherit the promises. Again: He regarded him as his living Redeemer.-I know that my Redeemer is the living one. In the beatified vision given to the inspired exiles of Patmos, we thus read: "I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." This idea runs through the whole Scriptures, like a vein of gold, and when Christ is compared to things in creation which are destitute of animal and intellectual life, they are invariably invested with life to make the likeness good. When he is compared to water, it is called living water: "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst, but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." This is one of the most striking emblems of Christ, whose never-failing influence fertilizes the barren soul, and flows from him like the stream which followed Israel in the wilderness, to refresh the pilgrim on his way to heaven. As in the case of ancient Israel, no wells of water sprang up in the desert, no showers came down from heaven to moisten the arid soil, no waving crops or sheltered habitations blessed their eyes or cheered their languid bodies, so is the Christian dependent upon Christ for all supplies in this world. Indeed, the rock smitten by Moses was a type of Christ, who was smitten by the wrath of God for the redemption of man: Job had this fountain of living waters in his soul, and it sent forth its refreshing streams when he uttered these words. Faith rolled away the stone from the mouth of this well, and its waters came forth like the life of heaven and the power of God. Not now did he feel the sting of those afflictions that had overtaken him, or quail under the bitter reproaches of false friends,-or justify himself too eagerly before God,the day on which he was born, wishing that the disastrous shades of night had gathered around it, or desire or dread the day of his death, for his whole soul was rapt in the enjoyment of his own and his living Redeemer. -or curse But the Redeemer of whom the patriarch speaks, was living, and the source of life long before this world was created; indeed, it is not possible to conceive of a time when he did not exist. It is true that he was not known to created beings as the Redeemer before the fall of man, though it is probable that he was in covenant with God, before the foundation of the world, as such, that he might be ready as soon as sin entered into the world, and death by sin, to assume his mediatorial functions. When Adam sinned, the Deity descended to pronounce the curse of the broken law, and to drive him out of paradise; and when these things were done, he retired from the government of the world, and the eternal Word as Mediator assumed that government. From that moment Jehovah presented himself to mankind in a new character, and then began in the person of the seed of the woman, the history of him who appeared to the enraptured vision of the patriarch. Had man remained in his original purity, the laws which govern other beings would have been suitable to him; but in moral government a rebellious subject, if permitted to live and to hope for restoration to purity and favour, requires a new constitution, hence, the mediatorial constitution under which we live-and hence, also, the peculiar history of him who unites in his person the divine and human natures. The Apostle says of Christ, that "he ever liveth to make inter-cession for us," which includes the whole of his mediatorial life and reign, and not simply that part of it which he exercised after his appearance among men. The time will come when "he shall deliver up the kingdom unto the Father," when God shall be all in all; that is, when all plans and purposes of grace shall be accom |