fore the people from the pulpit itself, and having got their ear, the heart might be awakened, and the soul convinced of sin. Another thing that might be insisted upon from the pulpit was what might be termed the ethics of social life. Dr. Doddridge used, every year, to recommend his people, from the pulpit, to make their willsat least those who had anything to leave-and a few sentences on the subject of prudence would be always profitable to the working classes. Again, matters of cleanliness and a pure atmosphere might be touched upon. Such things, he believed, had a direct bearing upon the christianity and comfort of that class of people, and might be justifiably interwoven with the preaching of the gospel, with that the pulpit had lost the power it once possessed, then, he thought, that statement was not true. He believed there never was a time, in the history of these kingdoms, in which there was a greater number of efficient ministers, and in which a greater number of the working classes attended their ministrations. A something like intelligence had grown up with them in the Sunday school, and they acquired information about history, manners and customs of other nations, modern discovery of ancient wonders, and things of that sort; and it was altogether erroneous to think, that, having excited a taste for such things, they were not, at the same time, bound to gratify it. If it were not gratified by the minister, the multitude would seek to gratify it by attendance upon lectures of a ques-out lowering the great topics of religion tionable character, social addresses, and halls of science. He thought it would be well, without coming down from the high position they held as ministers of the gospel, to occasionally introduce and bring these subjects be and redemption by the blood of Christ. Yes! might the day never dawn upon our land that should see any other theme substituted for that great object of the ministry, and might none other ever satisfy the ministry itself! Spiritual Cabinet. FROM STEPHEN CHARNOCK. LET US SEE HERE THE EVIL OF SIN. | Nothing more fit to show the baseness of sin, and the greatness of the misery by it, than the satisfaction due for it as the greatness of a distemper is seen by the force of the medicine, and the value of the commodity by the greatness of the price it cost. The sufferings of Christ express the evil of sin, far above the severest judgments upon any creature, both in regard of the greatness of the person, and the bitterness of the suffering. The dying groans of Christ show the horrible nature of sin in the eye of God; as he was greater than the world, so his sufferings declare sin to be the greatest evil in the world. How evil is that sin that must make Christ bleed to cure it! To see the Son of God hauled to death for sin, is the greatest piece of justice that ever God executed. The earth trembled under the weight of God's wrath when he punished Christ, and the heavens were dark, as though they were shut to him, and he cries and groans, and no relief appears; nothing but sin was the procuring meritorious cause of this. The Son of God was slain by the sin of the lapsed creature: had there been any other way to expiate so great an evil, had it stood with the honour of God, who is inclined to pardon, to remit sin without a compensation by death, we cannot think he would have consented that his Son should undergo so great a suffering. Not all the powers in heaven and earth could bring us into favour again, without the death of some great sacrifice to preserve the honour of God's veracity and justice; not the gracious interposition of Christ, without becoming mortal, and drinking in the vials of wrath, could allay Divine justice; not his intercessions, without enduring the strokes due to us, could remove the misery of the fallen creature. All the holiness of Christ's life, his innocence and good works, did not redeem us without death. It was by this he made an atonement for our sins, satisfied the justice of his Father, and recovered us from a spiritual and inevitable death. HOW GREAT WERE OUR CRIMES, that could not be wiped off by the works of a pure creature, or the holiness of Christ's life, but required the effusion of the blood of the Son of God for the discharge of them! Christ in his dying was dealt with by God as a sinner, as one standing in our stead, otherwise he could not have been subject to death. For he had no sin of his own, and "death is the wages of sin." Rom. vi. 23. It had not consisted with the goodness and righteousness of God as creator, to afflict any creature without a cause, nor with his infinite love to his Son, to bruise him for nothing. Some moral evil must therefore be the cause; for no physical evil is inflicted without some moral evil preceding death being a punishment, supposeth a fault. Christ having no crime of his own, must then be a sufferer for ours. Our sins were laid upon him (Isa. liii. 6), or transferred upon him. We see, then, how hateful sin is to God; and, therefore, it should be abominable to us. We should view sin in the sufferings of the Redeemer, and then think it amiable if we can! Shall we then nourish sin in our hearts? This is to make much of the nails that pierced his hands, and the thorns that pricked his head; and make his dying groans the matter of our pleasure. It is to pull down a Christ that hath suffered to suffer again; a Christ that is raised, and ascended, sitting at the right hand of God, again to the earth; to lift him upon another cross, and overwhelm him in a second grave. Our hearts should break at the consideration of the necessity of his death. We should open the heart of our sins by repentance, as the heart of Christ was opened by the spear. It THE WRONG DONE TO GOD BY SIN, is of a higher degree than to be compensated by all the good works of creatures, though of the highest elevation. Is the repentance of any soul so perfect, as to be able to answer the punishment the justice of God requires in the law? And what if the grace of God help us in our repentance? cannot be concluded from thence that our pardon is formally procured by repentance, but that we are disposed by it to receive and value a pardon. It is not congruous to the wisdom and righteousness of God to bestow pardons upon obstinate rebels. Repentance is no where said to expiate sin. a "broken heart is called a sacrifice," (Psal. li. 17.) but not a propitiatory one. David's sin was expiated before he penned that Psalm. 2 Sam. xii. 13. Though a man could weep as many tears as there are drops of water contained in the ocean; send up as many volleys of prayers as there have been groans issuing from any creature since the foundation of the world; though he could bleed as many drops of blood from his heart, as have been poured out from the veins of sacrificed beasts both in Judea and all other parts of the world; though he were able, and did actually bestow in charity all the metals in the mines of Peru, yet could not this absolve him from the least guilt, nor cleanse him from the least filth, nor procure the pardon of the least crime, by any intrinsic value in the acts themselves; the very acts, as well as the persons, might fall under the censure of consuming justice. The death of Christ only procures us life. The blood of Christ only doth quench that just fire sin had kindled against us. SACRIFICES BEGAN EARLY; Abel is the first we plainly read of. Gen. iv. 4. He brought of the first-lings of his flock, and Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering to the Lord. They may not be out of the way, who think that there was a crime in the matter of Cain's sacrifice, it not being a bloody one. No doubt but he had seen his father offer to God the fruits of the earth, as well as the bodies of beasts, and might think that the offering of those fruits of the ground, the tilling whereof was his proper employment, was sufficient; that there was no need of blood for the expiation of his sin. He seems to stand upon his own righteousness, and offer only what was an acknow ledgment of God's dominion and lordship over the world; as if he had been only his creature, and not an offending creature. It was not inconsistent with a state of innocence for man to make such acknowledgments to God, as the Lord of the creation, and the benefactor of man. But after the fall there was not only the dominion of God, but his justice, to be acknowledged, which was best signified in a way that might represent to man the demerit of his offence, and the justice due to him, which could not be by the offering of fruits, but by the shedding of blood, without which there is no remission. THE grassy turf covers thy lowly bed, Oh! could thy spirit visit us again, What tidings would'st thou bring from yon bright land Oh! could our souls to heaven be taught to rise, MARY. Reviews. Short Arguments about the Millennium ; or, Plain Proofs for Plain Christians, that the coming of Christ will not be Pre-millennial; that his reign on earth will not be Personal. A Book for the Times. By Benjamin Charles Young, Minister at the Darkhouse Chapel, Coseley, near Bilston, Staffordshire. London: Houlston and Stoneman. Leeds: Heaton and Son. WE are much pleased with this small treatise; and trust its circulation will have influence in checking unfounded, because unscriptural, theories on the second advent of our blessed Lord, "whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things." The book is neatly printed on good paper; but the price is not given, or we would have told it, as doing so now is not an advertisement. Mr. Y. divides his theme into nineteen short chapters, each of which is prefaced by a suitable text. We observe that he uses italics for emphasis in quoting from the bible, which is rather inconvenient, as the italics of the holy scriptures are used, not for emphasis, but to fill up the sense; and so in his quotations, if copied literally, we might have two sets of italics. We think it would be preferable for quotations from the bible to be given literally, leaving the reader to discover the emphasis from the use which the writer is making of the text quoted. With respect to bible italics, we wish some of them were anywhere else than where they are; for in some cases they weaken the force of the Divine word. Christian Solicitude for the Salvation of Men. A Lesson from Esther. By the Rev. Morgan Lloyd. London: Snow. 4d. FROM Esther viii. 6, Mr. Lloyd has framed a neat and pointed discourse on the solemn responsibility which devolves upon christians to seek the salvation of their fellow-men; and certainly some christians need to have their pure minds stirred up by way of remembrance, for they are sadly remiss; scarcely ever perhaps saying a word that would lead those with whom they come in contact to serious reflection; never taking the anxious inquirer by the hand and leading him to Christ. E E The Duty of Christians in Relation to War. A Pastoral Letter. By B. Evans. London: Houlston and Stoneman. Leeds: Heaton & Son. WE cordially welcome every attempt to repress the spirit of war. Mr. Evans is known to our readers as pastor of the bap tist church in Scarbro', and he is only acting in consistency with his office as a minister of the Prince of Peace in publishing this pastoral letter. He says: Believing war to be an unmixed evil, we should treat it as such. At all times, and by all means, from the pulpit and the press, in the gatherings of our fellow citizens, in the private circle, in the training of our rising youth, and in our family, we should aim at the eradication of those principles and feelings which more or less sustain this curse of our common humanity, and at the advancement of those only which will bring, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good will to men.' A Ritual of Marriage and Burial Services for the Use of Dissenting Ministers. By the Rev. H. W. Stembridge. London: Houlston & Stoneman. Taunton: Barnicott. 1s. 66 A "Ritual" for the use of Dissenting Ministers may sound oddly on the ears of some old-fashioned non-cons and separatists. However, as 'marriages may now be solemnized" in dissenting chapels, and as dissenting ministers now share the right of burial in public cemetries with the established clergy, some of them may feel it desirable to adopt forms of some kind, and if they do, we have not seen better than these. For our part, both as regards marriages and the customs that have, some of them burials, we do not hold altogether with recently, obtained amongst us. Christ yet sends forth his ministers not smell something of priestcraft in them! so much "to baptize," or bury, or marry, as to preach the gospel. We The Sunday at Home. London: Religious Tract Society. Part 2.-5d. ON the appearance of Part 1 of this periodical we were somewhat disappointed. We had received an impression that it was designed to supply spiritual food for pious persons, prevented by indisposition or other causes from attending public worship. It seems we were mistaken. The "Sunday at Home" | main arguments from reason and scripture against this monster dogma of popery, may find them in this cheap pamphlet. is got up in the same style as the "Leisure Hour," but the subjects are more decidedly religious. We hail every such attempt to supplant the numerous vicious publications which, to our disgrace and injury as a nation, have done so much of late years to corrupt the public morals. Twelve Letters on Transubstantiation: containing Two Challenges to the Rev. Dr. Cahill; as well as a Critique on the Sermon delivered by him in Coleraine, on the 26th of May, 1853. By James C. L. Carson, M. D. Third Thousand. London: Houlston and Stoneman. 6d. CONTROVERSIAL skill seems to have descended from "sire to son" in the Carson family. In these letters of the son we have not only the logical acumen of the father, but the same firm adherence to truth, and fearless exposure of error, which was displayed by his honoured parent. Those of our friends who wish to possess, in a condensed form, the The Burning Ship; or, Perils by Sea and Land: a Narrative of the Loss of the brig Australia by fire, on her voyage from Leith to Sydney. With an account of the Sufferings, Religious Exercises, and final rescue of the Crew and Passengers. Edited by the Rev. James R. M'Gavin, Dundee. Second Edition. London: John Snow. 8d. Or all the calamities which can befall a company of adventurers on the ocean, perhaps none is more dreaded than the firing of the vessel, which is their only refuge from death in the deeps. This is one of those thrilling narrations of alarm, peril, and escape, which, Mr. M' G. tells us, he has compiled from papers placed in his hands by the captain of the vessel, who drew up a statement of the facts immediately after the awful event took place. Suitable religious remarks and reflections are introduced. Correspondence. To the Editor of the Baptist Reporter. DEAR SIR,-Do you see the Patriot? Here is a nice letter about the General Baptists from an Independent," who evidently thanks God most self-complacently that he is not as other men, or even as these Strict Communion Baptists! But of all the bigots, I say deliver me from the anti-bigots-for they are the worst of all. Violent for toleration, they would almost call down fire from heaven upon any who dare to have settled principles and abide by them. I had a mind to answer this, but no doubt some of the brethren will do justice to it. I practise open communion, but am disgusted with the bigotry and unfairness of some of its advocates. "To the Editor of the Patriot. Sir,-In the column of Religious Intelligence in the Patriot of June 26, I find a brief report of the proceedings of the Eighty-fifth Annual Convention of the General Baptist churches, held at Leeds during the present month. In that Report it is stated, for the information of the christian public, that the General Baptists, while holding the great evangelical doctrines embraced by Protestants generally, believe in the universal extent of the Atonement, that 'Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man,' and adopt the Independent mode of church government.' If the meaning of the words which I have put in italics is, that 'General Baptists,' and those who are known as, 'Independents,' are practically alike in matters of church discipline and government, I must beg leave to deny the truth of the assertion. If I am wrong I am quite willing to be corrected; but I believe that the General Baptist churches universally adopt the practice of 'strict communion,' and will not allow any one to partake of the Lord's supper, unless he has been baptized according to their notions. |