prison prayed and sang to God, the prisoners hearing them (Acts xvi. 25); in the case of Paul who, in the ship, celebrated the Eucharist in the presence of all (Acts xxvii. 35). But as touching the time, the outward observance of certain hours will not be idle; I mean of those common ones which mark the divisions of the day, the third, the sixth, the ninth, which we may find more solemnized than the rest in the Scriptures. The first pouring of the Holy Spirit on the assembled disciples was at the third hour. (Acts ii. 15.) Peter, on the day in which he experienced the vision of every sort of common thing in that vessel, had gone up into the housetop to pray at the sixth hour. (Acts x. 9.) He again, with John, went into the temple at the ninth hour, when he restored the paralytic to his soundness. (Acts iii. 1.) And though they stand simply without any precept for their observance, yet let it be thought good to establish any sort of presumption which may both render more strict the admonition to pray, and, as it were, by a law, force us away sometimes from our business to this service (even as we read was the custom of Daniel also, according, no doubt, to the rule of Israel), that so we should pray, at least, not seldomer than three times a-day, we who are debtors to the Three, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, exclusive, that is, of the regular prayers, which are due, without any admonition, at the beginning of the day and night. But it becometh the faithful neither to take food, nor to go to the bath, without first interposing a prayer. For the refreshment and food of the spirit must be esteemed before those of the flesh, and the things of heaven before those of earth.-Tertullian.

GOD HATETH SIN. OUR EVIL IS OF OURSELVES.

Not only can He not will or do evil, but also of necessity He hateth it, and that with an infinite hatred. For, 1. Since necessarily He loveth the rectitude of His eternal law, of necessity He must hate whatsoever is contrary thereunto; and such is all sin. 2. He necessarily loveth His goodness, and perfection of His nature; and therefore must needs hate sin, which is repugnant, and contrary thereunto, as darkness to light, and deformity to beauty, and crookedness to straightness, and defilement to purity. The infiniteness of his hatred appeareth, 1. From that He depriveth a sinner for it, of an infinite good, to wit Himself. 2. To blot it out He sent His Own Son, both to take our flesh, and to undergo death. 3. He for it inflicteth infinite sorrows and ignominy, even eternal torments. And though one had innumerable good works, yet for one grievous sin, He forgetting them all, Ezek. xviii. For our sin He thrust down from heaven so many millions of angels; He cared not for their innumerable multitude, nor for their eximious beauty, nor for the excellency of their nature, most nearly resembling His; nor for their depth of engine, piercing and comprehending so many things; nor for that blessed light which should for ever have shined in their minds, or perfect love, whereby they should have loved Him above all things; nor for the praise, thanksgiving, and glory, which He should have had for ever, through saving so many spirits. He cared not for all the evil which He knew could come by their condemnation, their eternal blasphemies and contumelies, the fall of mankind, and perverting of the whole

world. So hateful infinitely to His holiness was sin, that passing by all these considerations, He did strike them immediately with the thunder-bolt of condemnation. The like terrible demonstration of His infinite hatred of sin may also be seen in His dealings towards man. Hence, Isaiah vi. in that mystical vision, the Seraphims, provoke Him, as it were, to punishment of that wicked people, by a threefold compellation of His holiness. What man should not be infinitely punished by His holiness for sin, if He were not restrained by His infinite mercy?

His holiness is such (as

Let no man, therefore, blame God for his sins. hath been shown), that He can have no hand in the procuring of sin. James i. 13, 14, 15. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted He any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.' Let us, therefore, smite our own breasts, and rend our own hearts; our destruction is of ourselves; we conceive and bring forth this wicked brood, Isa. lix. 4. Consent not,' saith Augustine, 'to thy lust; it hath not whereof to conceive but of thee. Hast thou consented? Thou hast, as it were, lain with it in thy heart. If thy concupiscence arise, deny thyself to it; follow it not. When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin finished bringeth forth death. Be not, therefore, drawn away with thy lust: deny thyself to it; follow it not: it is unlawful, it is licentious, it is filthy: it turneth thee away from God. Give not the embracing of consent least thou bewail the woful brood thereof.' The Devil, indeed, concurreth powerfully: and, therefore, absolutely is called the tempter, Matth. iv. 2; 1 Thess. iii. 5, 1 Cor. vii. 5; yet it may be his hand is not so oft, and so much in our falls as we think. Nazianzen- Why cast we all the fault upon our enemy, since our own wickedness giveth him strength? Blame thyself wholly or chiefly; for thy fire is the Devil's flame.' The Devil cannot cast down the will; he can but prepare the bait and hook; and so allure and entice, but not force and compel. If a man consent not, he can do nothing. Therefore said he to our Saviour, Matth. iv. 3; Luke iv. 3, Command these stones,' &c; 'Cast thyself down,' &c.; 'if thou wilt fall down,' &c., all words of solicitation and provocation, as Jerome marketh. Much less can the allurement of the creature cast us down, which is but a trap for the feet of the foolish. Excellently saith Ambrose to this purpose -Our danger is chiefly from ourselves, not from anything without within is the adversary, within the author of our error. Thou thyself art the cause of thy impiety, thou thyself art the leader unto, and the kindler of thy crimes. Why labourest thou to excuse thy falls by accusing of another? O that thou wouldest not drive and cast thyself headlongs.'-Dr James Sibbald, 1638.

Reviews.

The Gainsaying of Core in the Nineteenth Century; or, an Apology for the Christian Priesthood. By the Rev. WILLIAM BRUDENELL BARTER, Rector of Highclere and Burghclere, and late Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. London: Francis & John Rivington. Oxford: J. H. Parker. 1847. Of this work we feel that we can hardly speak in too high terms; but as the Author expresses a wish that it should be read by the poor as well as their wealthier neighbours, we cannot understand why it should have been published at a price which must necessarily, to some degree, circumscribe its circulation; and why, even at so high a price as charged, the trade, as we understand to be the case, has not the usual allowance. This is a mistake; and it is a mistake which too often applies to London publications, whose object is to promote the interests of the Church. Dissenters judge better, and act more wisely in such matters. We should not have said so much on this point, had not the high estimate we have formed of the work made us anxious that it should meet with an extensive circulation. It is eminently calculated to do good; and we heartily wish our Churchmen were well versed with its contents, and able to bring them to bear on the unbelieving spirit of the age. Living as we do, in a country where but a portion of Divine truth is received, we have long been impressed with the importance of the subject, and needed not the aid of ‘events which have taken place within the last few years' to open our eyes. Yet we are much gratified that the learned Author has taken it up, because he has performed it in a manner creditable to his talents, and useful to the Church. He is evidently a man thoroughly acquainted with his subject; and we are sure it must carry conviction to every devout and careful reader. It is happily rendered unnecessary for us to give any outline of the work, because the Author has himself done it; and it is enough for us to say that he has well executed his plan.

'In treating this subject, I shall first speak of the priesthood as of a sacred institution appointed by God, among other holy and mysterious purposes, to preserve the knowledge of Him, and of His worship in a fallen world; and I shall call the attention of my readers to the jealousy with which He watched over this His ordinance in the case of His chosen people. Secondly, I shall endeavour to prove the institution of an exclusive Christian Priesthood by Divine appointment: that it immediately followed the abolition of the Jewish Priesthood, and the destruction of their temple; that its evidences may be compared without presumption to those of Christianity itself; and that the witnesses by whom it is attested are as far above the suspicion of having been deceived themselves, or of having attempted to deceive others, as those who bore their testimony to the fact of the resurrection from the dead, the certainty of which is the foundation of our hope. Lastly, I

shall make some remarks on the effects which the denial of an exclusive priesthood is producing in our day; as it leads to neglect and irreverence in the worship of God, to contempt for his inspired Word, and, by a sure and rapid progress, to that triumph of Anti-Christ—the denial that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.'

The following sentences, which almost immediately follow, are no less striking than true.

'The humble mind which submits to the teaching of the Holy Spirit of God must consider the priesthood as the holiest, the wisest, and the best that could have been devised. The true believer must look up to it with the highest reverence, for its authority is of God; he must regard it with the same feelings with which he contemplates any other work of God's power; just as he admires the fearful and wonderful construction of the human frame, which, though liable to be defiled and distorted by sin, is the mechanism of infinite wisdom, the work of an almighty hand. A true believer would as readily be persuaded that we have the power, by taking thought, to add one cubit to our stature, as that we could improve this all-wise and allmerciful institution of that God who knoweth what is in man.'

The care of the Divine Being for the preservation of the Jewish priesthood is manifest in every page of the Old Testament, but in the work before us the argument is well wrought out. When the time had come for the cessation of the types and shadows which it was their duty to exhibit, he himself soon brought them to an end. This, however, he did to make room for another priesthood, to whom the holy and exclusive office was assigned, of making His Gospel known even unto the ends of the earth until He come again to judge the world; who, until that time, are to offer, on His altars, the commemorative oblations which he hath appointed, as outward signs of the Body which He gave, and the Blood which He shed for us, and are thus to show forth the Lord's death till He come.' The author makes out his point not so much by learned argument, as by the deduction of simple facts; and we know not how any one could read his work, and not rise up with an entire conviction of the truth of his positions. The third and last part of the work contains a development of the dangers arising from a denial of this doctrine at the present day, which we cannot look around us without seeing every where exemplified. Under the Christian economy, God by his word denounces schism in his Church, even as he manifested his wrath at Jewish rebels against the authority of his priesthood. But all this is denied by the gainsayers of the 19th century. Their notions of union are loose, and unsatisfactory, while our Lord and his Apostles every where enjoin the strictest unity among the members of the Church.

The manner of this part of the work is in some measure the same as that of Mr Gresley in his recent pamphlets. He well describes the unsuitableness of any of the modern societies of human invention to supply the place of the Church, that Society of the Redeemer's own appointment. We only fear, that by introducing the names of individuals and justly castigating them for their opposition to the truth, he may have rendered the work less likely to produce any good upon the partizans of those individuals; yet by

more deeply impressing those who already believe in part, but are not perhaps sufficiently grounded in their principles, it will be of great value, and through them, we trust, it will leaven many around them. heartily recommend the work.

We again

Consecrations.

ST MARY'S CHURCH, CUPAR ANGUS.

ON Wednesday, the 12th ult., this neat little Church was dedicated and set apart to the worship of Almighty God. The Right Rev. the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway officiated for the Bishop of the Diocese, and was attended by the Rev. Chas. J. Lyon and the Rev. T. Wildman, as his Chaplains. Besides these, there were present the Very Rev. the Dean of St Andrews, who is the Incumbent, and the Rev. Messrs Walker, Johnston, Chambers, Henderson, Alley, Macmillan, Lendrum, Milne, Bruce, Torry Anderson, Low. The Bishop and Clergy assembled in the chancel, when J. Collins Wood, Esq., of Keithick, one of the Trustees of the Church, came forward with the petition for consecration, which he read and handed to the Bishop, who then said,—' I have listened with much pleasure to the petition just read, and, relying on the Divine blessing, shall now proceed to comply with the prayer thereof.' The Bishop and Clergy then walked to the entrance porch, and returned in due order, repeating, in alternate verses, the 24th Psalm. The Bishop and his Chaplains took their places within the Altar rails, and the lower part of the chancel was occupied by the other Clergy. When the Bishop had said the appointed Collects in the consecration service, he handed the Deed of Consecration to the Rev. T. Wildman to read, which done, he solemnly signed it upon the Altar. The Incumbent then proceeded with morning prayer, the Bishop himself taking the Communion Services. The Epistle and Gospel were read by the two Chaplains. After the Nicene Creed, the Rev. G. G. Milne, of Cupar Fife, preached an excellent and appropriate sermon from the lesson for the day, 1 Kings viii. 63. The Offertory was made, and amounted to about £18; after which the non-communicants retired. The Holy Communion was celebrated to twentyfive of the Laity, besides the Bishop and Clergy.

This is a very neat and appropriate Church, in the most plain and simple style of ecclesiastical architecture. The plans were supplied by William Hay, Esq., a young and very promising architect, who has since gone to superintend the erection of the Cathedral in Newfoundland. The style adopted is that of the very simplest early English, or first pointed. The entrance to the nave is by a neat porch on the south side. The nave is 40 feet by 21; the roof is open and neatly executed; the benches are low, open, and neat, though fixed. The arrangements for kneeling are very good. At the west end there is a powerful well-toned organ, with accommodations for