also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.' 'We were by nature the children of wrath.' 'The whole world lieth in wickedness.' 'Love not the world.' The

friendship of the world is enmity with GOD.' 'What is a man profited if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' 'Blessed are the poor in spirit; they that mourn;' 'the meek; they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness;' 'the merciful;' 'the pure in heart;' 'the peace-makers;' 'they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake.' 'Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' 'Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of GOD.' 'I am the light of the world,' 'the Lamb of GOD that takes away the sin of the world.' 'What is born of GOD overcometh the world.' Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.' 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.' 'By Me Kings reign and princes decree justice. 'Be wise, therefore, O ye kings; serve the Lord with fear; kiss the Son lest he be angry.' Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers ? what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?' 'He that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully; what is the chaff to the wheat saith the Lord ?' 'Whosoever therefore is ashamed of Me and of My word, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed.' 'Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints.' 'Ye cannot serve GoD and Mammon.' 'Righteousness exalteth a nation.' 'Pray without ceasing.' 'Ye shall be holy, for I am holy.' To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.'

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Passages like these may be easily multiplied; but the present are sufficient to shew us the spirit of the Bible.' On reverting, indeed, to the direct bearing of Scripture,-we find that GOD has encompassed our Being with a threefold law of obedience, external to conscience, independent of reason, above opinion, and not in any way to be adapted unto the wild fancies or subjective feelings of man's restless heart, 'out of which,' as Inspiration declares, proceed evil

thoughts. It is fixed, definite, immutable, uncompromising, and eternal. Over our entire consciousness this Divine law may be said to bend like the vault of heaven; and under our conduct to lie like the solid ground beneath our feet. In its ultimate origin, this moral law hides itself in the unfathomable depths of that ESSENTIAL GLORY, that is a law unto itself; but in its mediate source, it comes unto man, as Montgomery appropriately and strikingly remarks, principally in a threefold form :—

(1.) There is a Law to define and fix our faith, and that is, THE CREED.

(2.) There is a Law to rule and regulate our affections, and that is, THE LORD'S PRAYER.

(3.) There is a Law to shape and mould our character, and that is, THE DECALogue.

Hence the doctrine of the Bible in spirit amounts to this,—that in the degree according to which we believe what GOD declares, love what GOD professes, and do what God commands, we are the freemen of light and the heirs of immortality. On the other hand, if men will not submit their minds to a Divine Creed, their hearts to a Divine Prayer, and their conduct to a Divine Law,—then are they the slaves of sin, and the bondsmen of the Devil.

But according to the Spirit of the Age'-what the Lord saith is not the standard, but what men will think. While all ages have carried themselves haughtily towards the humbling principles of grace, our own is peculiarly distinguished by a self-glorifying appeal to its own powers, principles and prerogatives. Self-confidence, selfworship, self-will-the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,' are its prevailing characteristics. Yes, it cannot be denied that it is a worshipper of finite good, and secular greatness; that it is remarkable for infidel rationalism, and deep abhorrence of Evangelic truth :-Eat, drink, and be merry; spend, get, and enjoy; think rarely, read superficially; coin every thing which your body and soul can influence, into income and present advantage; obtain a splendid mansion; live in a costly style; give large feasts, and partake of them ;-in short, degrade your immortal nature into a species of rational brute, under a cultivated form, —and then die! This we solemnly believe is virtually the spirit of the Age;' the sensual teaching of the times; the popular homily which the oracles of modern philosophy, and the debates in Parliament, read to us in speech and book, pamphlet and review. How

much this is the idolatry of the present day,' to use the language of a profound thinker, as quoted by Montgomery, let any one observe in the universities and schools of learning, in the national institutes and philosophical societies, in the mechanical institutions, in the periodical magazines, in every inclination of the public taste, and demonstration of the public activity. . . . . . The soul is waxed into powerless dotage. The body hath become the end of all science, and philosophy, and policy. It is a poor mechanical age, with expediency for its pole-star, reason for its divinity, and knowledge for its heaven. Yet know thou, for all these things GoD will bring thee into judgment.'

.....

What a warning are we here presented with against the madness and misery of intellectual theories, when unchastened by humility, and uncontrolled by the directive word of infallible Revelation! Thy wisdom and thy knowledge hath PERVERTED thee.' The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of GOD, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' Mental and moral treason towards the word of GOD is indeed the natural root of all that now darkens the conscience of nations, disturbs the peace of the Church, and renders the social framework around us a perfect satire on Christian consistency. It matters not whether you refer to the revolutionary doctrines of French liberalism, the rationalistic heresies of German theology, or the deistical views of English science, a practical want of reverence to the Divine word, as being in very truth the intellectual throne of Deity set up among us all,-is the leading apostacy of our times. According to our political seers and prophets, the principles of the Bible are unnecessary in the regeneration of the masses of the population. No interventions of Divine wisdom and grace are required. All that is needed is, Political Regeneration, social reform, civil liberty, and a certain happy disposition of men and things. But let these political Regenerators know, that their State-remedies, their horrific Poor-Laws, those miracles of legislative cruelty, their sounding paragraphs about 'glory,' and 'greatness,' and 'liberty,'' this enlightened age,''the just rights of the people,'' mutual conciliation,' 'charity,' 'equal rights,' 'just laws,' commercial prosperity,' &c., &c., have no more vital effect upon the festering mass of popular corruption they have to do with, than moonshine has with producing verdure on the rock. Christ's Gospel, and the world's philosophy, are as much opposed as God's truth and Satan's lie. The latter is

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altogether earthly, sensual, and devilish;' tending to prostrate the high faculties and stately prerogatives of an immortal being, before the base shrines of popularity, reputation, and gain; while the former brings them into spiritual alliance with the purities of that heaven, which Christ hath opened, and with the glories of that eternity, which His merit hath redeemed. Prisons, Police, Magistracy, National Education, the Judge's Bench, the Senator's Plan, and the Royal Decree, by all means let it each be used, applied, or properly reverenced. But what our benighted myriads want,-is to realize their MEMBERSHIP IN CHRIST; and to be modelled in heart and life according to their Archetype in Him, as the Supreme IDEA, and most faultless IMAGE of the Perfect Man. Now this, we find, comes to pass by the Spirit through the Word and the Sacraments; but what is the Church, but a celestial instrument which the Spirit actuates, by which the Word speaks, and on which the Sacraments operate? Thus we reach the inevitable conclusion, that as the corruption of man by the Fall is the radical distress of our being, so the renovation of man by grace is the only relief; without which there can be nothing effected to prepare either nations or individuals for temporal welfare now, or for spiritual happiness hereafter.

But alas! how few modern politicians have the Christian heroism to connect the revealed will of a Personal GOD, and sanctions of Evangelic truth, with their plans and principles, their remedies and their measures. The entire bent of secular politicians is to rear such a wall of palpable separation between religion and politics, as to deliver their public conscience from the grievous responsibility of attending to the former of these at all. They do not assert it in formal language, but in virtual result, the philosophy of their legislation comes to this, "If we are to wield the omnipotence of parliament for the national welfare-then must we all, in our political capacity, become unbaptized, creedless, and churchless; and when we legislate for the secular weal and social wants of the age, we must have no more to do with this awful Christ, and this difficult Christianity, than if the one had never visited the world, and the other had ceased to exist. To introduce The King of Glory' into the argument concerning Romanism, for example, or touching the real way to elevate the people out of their present degradation, would cause a vast disturbance, and confound the whole discussion! In short, 'The truth' would operate on the political deism of Parliament much in the same manner in which the Ark of GoD affected the idol in the temple of

Dagon The Philistines took the Ark of GoD, brought it into th house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.' When they arose,

'early in the morning, behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands, were cut off upon the threshhold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him!' (1 Sam. chap. v.)

How awful the reflection that a vast number of our political guides and parliamentary oracles appear to be cursed with a judicial blindness; they hardly dare to believe their own belief; they act as though invincible uncertainty were the iron law under which GoD has doomed this redeemed earth to stumble and stagger for evermore, and that henceforth Mammon must be our paradise, expediency our creed, and the Christless will of every voting majority our practical god! The object of this revolting liberalism is obvious enough,— to expel the Truth' from the world, and leave every individual mind to discover its own truth, declare its own God, imagine its own Christ, construct its own creed, fabricate its own church, and thus introduce a perfect millennium of human selfishness at last! Against this lying spirit, and infidel abomination, the heroic disciple of the Cross will set his face like a flint,' and rather die at his post than be morally indifferent, or spiritually dead, towards any one essential truth, principle, or practice, concerning which the God of the universe hath spoken out. Heaven's decisions are earth's certainties; and he who by faith knows the one, can never, in fact, dispute the other. The firm Christian dare not associate his energies with those who, when a political victory is to be gained, and a hostile party to be overthrown, are base enough to enthrone carnal expediency on the ruins of sacrificed principle. We do not hesitate to answer-the brave-hearted disciple of Christ will instantaneously ejaculate this, O my soul, come not thou into their secret! unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united.'

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And what though these ideas and theories be recommended by surpassing genius, enforced by the sublimest eloquence, proclaimed amid crowded halls, and argued out in brilliant pamphlets? Nay, what though those who worship the powers that be,' have been exalted unto bishops, peers, patronage, and opulence, by supporting such principles of popular reform,-will not a loyal believer prefer his integrity in the faith, to any bribe which the kingdoms of the world, with all their glory,' can offer? He cannot forget ONE who told Nicodemus, that not even a belief in the mission of truth from