PRAYERS FOR RULERS.-A duty we owe to our governors, and to which great importance is attached in Scripture, though little, we fear, by the generality even of those who are called good subjects, is to pray for them. "I exhort," saith St. Paul, in his first epistle to Timothy (ii. 1), "that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour." This, then, is very manifestly Caesar's right, even our prayers. We are bound to pour them forth, in earnest, for our gracious sovereign, that he may incline to God's will, and walk in his way, and that "under him we may be godly and quietly governed," for the magistrates, and all who are in authority, that they may be filled with grace, wisdom, and understanding, "to execute justice, and to maintain truth." Of this duty if we were sensible as we ought to be, we should suffer no longer our tone to alter, or our attention to flag, when, in the service of the Church, these prayers occur; but should join in them out of a hearty desire that God might hear, might grant them; repeating them also with affection and zeal in the hour of our private devotion. How great would be the advantage to those we pray for is more than we can know, especially if we have never in earnest tried. If our intercessions have been faint, our supplications cold; if our giving of thanks have gone forth from unthankful hearts, we reckon in vain on the promise," Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."-Rev. C. Girdle stone. COMMISSION OF PREACHERS. To preach God's word is a good thing, and God will have that there shall be some which shall do it. But for all that, a man may not take upon him to preach God's word, except he be called unto it: for if he do it, he doth not well, though he have learning and wisdom to be a preacher, yet for all that, he ought not to come himself without any lawful calling: for it was no doubt a good thing to keep the ark from falling, yet for all that, Oza [Uzzah] was stricken to death because he took in hand to meddle with it without any commission.-Bishop Latimer's Sermons. be more obvious, from these and numerous similar passages, than that St. Paul gave men credit for being what they pretended to be, and did not feel himself called upon to deviate from the language of strong approval, even when he knew that there were many among them who were a disgrace to their Christian profession. Rev. C. Jerram. CHRISTIANITY.-Christianity is the easiest and the hardest thing in the world. It is like a secret in arithmetic-infinitely hard till it be found out, by a right operation; and then it is so plain, we wonder we did not understand it earlier.-Bp. Jeremy Taylor. COMMON PRAYER.-Of all helps for the due performance of this service, the greatest is that very set and standing order itself, which, framed with common advice, hath, both for matter and form, prescribed whatsoever is herein publicly done. No doubt from God it hath proceeded; and by us it must be acknowledged a work of singular care and providence, that the Church hath evermore held an appointed form of common prayer, although not in all things every where the same, yet for the most part retaining still the same analogy. So that if the liturgies of all ancient Churches throughout the world be compared amongst themselves, it may be easily perceived they had all one original mould; and that the public prayer of the people of God in Churches thoroughly settled did never use to be voluntary dictates, proceeding from any men's extemporal wit. To him which considereth the grievous and scandalous inconveniences whereunto they make themselves daily subject, with whom any blind and secret corner is judged a fit house of common prayer; the manifold confusions which they fall into, where every man's private spirit and gift (as they term it) is the only bishop that ordaineth him to his ministry; the irksome deformities whereby, through endless and senseless effusions of indigested prayers, they oftentimes disgrace, in most insufferable manner, the worthiest part of Christian duty towards God, who herein are subject to no certain order, but pray both what and how they list; to him, I say, which weigheth duly all these things, the reasons cannot be obscure why God doth in public prayer so much respect the solemnity of places where-the authority and calling of persons by whom-and the precise appointment even with what words or sentences, his name should be called on amongst his people. No man hath hitherto been so impious as plainly and directly to condemn prayer. The best stratagem that Satan hath (who knoweth his kingdom to be no one way more shaken than by the public devout prayers of God's Church) is by traducing the forms and manners of them, to bring them into contempt, and so shake the force of all men's devotion towards them. From this, and from no other forge, hath proceeded a strange conceit, that to serve God with any set form of common prayer is superstitious. As though God himself did not frame to his priests the very speech wherewith they were charged to bless the people; or as if our Lord, even of purpose to prevent this fancy of extemporal and voluntary prayers, had not left us, of his own framing, one which might both remain as a part of the Church liturgy, and serve as a pattern whereby to frame all other prayers with THE BURIAL SERVICE. Is not the language of hope, which runs through our burial and other services, accordant with that of St. Paul in various parts of his epistles? How does he express himself in reference to the whole of the Church of Corinth, which he afterwards censures in the severest terms for having tolerated an incestuous individual, and perverted the most sacred ordinance of the Lord's supper to excessive indulgence in eating and drinking? And yet he says of this same Church, "I thank my God always on your behalf, that in every thing ye are enriched by him in all utterance and knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Would not, again, those who so severely condemn our formularies for expressing hope where no ground for it exists, if they were consistent, with equal harshness censure the apostle for "thanking his God upon every remembrance of" the Phi-efficacy, yet without superfluity of words.-Hooker. lippian Church," for their fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until then; being confident of this very thing, that he who had begun a good work in them would perform it until the day of Jesus Christ;" and then adding, " even as it is meet for me to think this of you all;" when, all the while, he knew that many walked, of whom he had told them often, and then told them, even weeping, that they were the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory was in their shame, who minded earthly things?" Nothing can Poetry. A PRAYER AT MIDNIGHT.* CELESTIAL Spirit! now, in this calm hour, Vouchsafe with holy thoughts my mind to fill! "I commune with my own heart, and am still," Waiting to feel thy tranquillizing power. * From Hours of Sorrow. Darkness is round me: but, like that pale flower* With this poor heart, thy consecrated shrine. IN AFFLICTION. O THROW away thy rod, O throw away thy wrath; My gracious Saviour and my God, Thou seest my heart's desire Still unto thee is bent; Not even a word or look Do I approve or own, But by the model of thy book, Although I fail, I weep; Although I halt in pace, Yet still with trembling steps I creep Unto the throne of grace. O then let wrath remove; For love will do the deed; Love will the conquest gain; with love Even stony hearts will bleed. O throw away thy rod; What though man frailties hath ; Thou art my Saviour and my God, O throw away thy wrath! Miscellaneous. HERBERT. SCOTTISH EPISCOPACY.-There still exists in Scotland a Church as well constituted, and perhaps as near the primitive pattern, as any at this day in the world; a Church scriptural in her doctrine, apostolical in her government, primitive and pious in her worship, and decent in her ceremonies; a Church that has the Scriptures of truth, the ancient and orthodox creeds, together with the two sacraments administered after the decency and solemnity of the purest times; a Church where religion is supported by no authority but her own, and has no interests but her own to support; a Church, in short, that is redeemed from superstition and idolatry, defended from vanity and enthusiasm, and governed by men, who, though not distinguished by titles, and honours, and riches, yet possess all the essentials of their order, and have Divine authority for the exercise of their sacred ministry, as much as any other bishop either in England or Ireland. For, as an ancient father remarks, "Wherever there is a" regular and orthodox "bishop, whether at Rome or Eugubium, at Constantinople or Rhegium, at Alexandria or Tanis," and, it may be added, in England or Scotland, “ejusdem meriti, ejusdem est et sacerdotii"-he is a bishop to all intents and The night-blowing Ceres. purposes, as far as the existence, the spiritual wants, and the due government of the Church are concerned. -Adam's Religious World Displayed. JONAS HANWAY, Esq. wrote an account of his travels in Persia, and also practical religious works. He had a just sense of the corruption of the human heart. "Our hearts," says he, " are treacherous, and we cannot easily fathom the depth of our own corruptions." He was one of the founders of a society for Sunday-schools,-schools of inestimable worth to this kingdom, and with which the name of Mr. Raikes, of Gloucester, will be always very particularly'and gratefully associated. Some years before his death Mr. Hanway wrote his own epitaph, and had it engraved on a brass plate. It is as follows: "I believe that my Redeemer liveth, and that Who, trusting in that good Providence which so visibly governs the world, passed through a variety of fortunes with patience. Living the greatest part of his days in foreign lands, ruled by arbitrary power, he received the deeper impression of the happy constitution of his own country; whilst the persuasive laws contained in the New Testament, and the consciousness of his own depravity, softened his heart to a sense of the various wants of his fellow-creatures." Sims' Christian Records. SPIRITUAL FOOD.-Two friends, living in the country, met together at the village church, a little way from their dwelling. "What is the use of going to church so often," said the younger to his companion, "since we always hear nearly the same thing?" "What is the use," replied the other, " of taking your meals so regularly every day, since they are composed of nearly the same dishes?" "The cases are very different. I must eat to nourish my body, which would otherwise perish." "Not so different as you suppose; for what food is to the body, the exercises of worship are to the soul; and spiritual life will languish if we cease to support it by the means which God has graciously given us." But how happens it," says the younger, "that all men have not the same relish for these exercises as they have for their food?" "You mistake again," replied his friend: "all men, it is true, receive their food with pleasure when they are in health; but when they are sick, food becomes not merely tasteless, but disgusting. It is the same with the soul: that is, in health while it has peace with God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus our Lord: then it desires the exercises of religion; it enjoys them, and cannot consent to omit them. It is sick when it is hardened in sin: it has then no appetite for spiritual food; it avoids opportunities of receiving it. sanctification of the Sabbath is a burden, and the conversation of Christians is unpleasant. The resemblance goes further still; for as sickness of the body, if not cured by medicine, ends in death, so also the corruption of the soul-that disease with which all men are infected-ends, unless God heals it, in spiritual and eternal death, that is, in the exclusion of the soul from the presence of its God.”—Anon. NOTICE. The Vol. I. is now completed, and may be had, handsomely bound in ornamented cloth, price 5s. 6d. Those Subscribers who wish to have their copies bound in the same manner may have them done up by the Publishers, price 1s. 10d.; or the embossed covers may be purchased separately, price 18. 6d. Portfolios, of a neat construction, for preserving the separate Numbers until the Volumes are complete, may be had of the Publishers, price 2s. 6d. each. LONDON-Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 46 ST. MARTIN'S LANE. EFFECTS OF THE PREACHING OF "CHRIST BY THE REV. THOMAS BISSLAND, M.A. THE preaching of "Christ crucified"-that great event to which the Church, in an especial manner, directs our attention at this season-has in all ages proved an offence to the natural pride of the human heart. It was a "stumbling-block" to the Jew of old, and "foolishness" to the Greek; and it has failed, in too many instances, to produce any visible effect upon those who are brought within its reach. Still, there are others on whose hearts the truth as it is in Jesus. has made a saving and lasting impression; to whom "Christ crucified" has been made the power of God and the wisdom of God; and who, when no other motive could produce any salutary change on their views and feelings-neither the misery of a wounded conscience, nor the dread of the Divine wrathhave been constrained, by meditation on the love of the dying Redeemer, to live no longer to themselves, but "to him who died for them and rose again." St. Paul could speak from his own experience "of the Gospel of Christ" as "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." He had himself experienced the amazing transformation which a view of "Christ crucified" had wrought on his own character. He could remember a period when the mention of that name, which was now in his estimation "above every name," called forth emotions of the most infuriated rage; when he verily thought with himself VOL. II.-NO. XLIII. were PRICE 1d. that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. His views now, however, completely changed. Old things were passed away. He could exclaim, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." He was not ashamed to confess himself unworthy to be esteemed an apostle of the once-persecuted man of sorrows." On the contrary, he accounted it an unmerited honour, that he, who was "less than the least of all saints," should be privileged to proclaim that through the Saviour there is pardon for the guilty, and sanctification for the polluted. 66 The efficacy of the preaching of "Christ crucified" cannot be more fully illustrated than by the effect produced on the Corinthians, as well as on the members of other Churches, whose understanding was darkened through the ignorance that was in them, because of the hardness of their hearts. once We may consider, first, the character of the Corinthians, previous to their reception of the Gospel; secondly, the great and important change which was wrought in their moral and spiritual condition; and thirdly, the means by which this change was effected. I. A slight acquaintance with the character of the Corinthians previous to their conversion, as depicted by profane historians, as well as by the apostle, must convince us that in no spot, according to human calculation, were converts less likely to have been obtained than at Corinth. This city had been destroyed in the Achæan war; but had been rebuilt by Julius Cæsar, peopled with a colony from Rome, and speedily attained, or M It even surpassed, its former grandeur. was at this time the metropolis of Achaia; abounding in wealth; designated the "light of Greece," and "its ornament;"+ famous for its commerce, and infamous for its sensuality; it might be said of it, as of Sodom, that this "was her iniquity; pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness, was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." The very name Corinthian, given to an individual, implied a character of the most abandoned description. There also many Jews were assembled, (who had been banished from Rome by Claudius,) to whom the apostle was an object of peculiar detestation. In his conversion they beheld the force of those doctrines, and the power of that religion, to which they were most vehemently opposed. His enmity had His enmity had been exchanged for the most devoted zeal in the Saviour's cause, and this circumstance only added to their vehement opposition; for it carried with it a severe rebuke to them, while it magnified the power of the Gospel. No soil, in fact, was apparently more unsuitable for sowing the "good seed" than that of Corinth. In none was it more likely to be choked with the "cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things." No people were naturally more unprepared for the reception of the Gospel, the doctrines of which are diametrically opposed to the desires of the unregenerate heart. They were idolaters-for it is in addressing them, that the apostle declares, the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils, and not to God-thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners; while the Gospel insists on submission, patience, purity, mortification, self-denial, charity; and denounces the very sins to which they were most addicted, as heinous in the sight of God, and ruinous to the soul. II. In a soil so unpromising, the apostle laboured for a year and six months. From his countrymen he experienced the most virulent opposition. To them, in the first instance, he had chiefly, if not wholly, confined his ministry, reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath. But when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them "Your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles." The work in which he was engaged was one of no ordinary difficulty; on which he entered "in weakness of body, and in much fear and trembling." He was encouraged by God himself, who spake to him in the night by a vision, "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city."* were The Nor did the apostle labour in vain. The storm, raised chiefly by the Jews, subsided. A flourishing Church was planted, to which were "added daily such as should be saved." Truths hid "from the wise and prudent," "revealed unto babes." The words spoken, "they were spirit and they were life." The seed sown took deep root. "blade" sprang up;" then "the ear;" and then "the full corn in the ear." Whether Paul planted, or Apollos watered, God gave "the increase." His word did "not return to him void," it grew mightily and prevailed;" though the seeds of discord for a season marred the field of apostolic culture, and false teachers crept in, "turning the grace of God into lasciviousness." An astonishing transformation was wrought. Washed, justified, and sanctified, emancipated from the thraldom of Satan, and made partakers of" that freedom wherewith Christ maketh his people free," the Corinthians became decided followers of the Lord Jesus. St. Paul could address them, as his "epistle known and read of all men," distinguished for their Christian zeal, deportment, principles, and conduct. He thanked God always, that in every thing they were "enriched in all wisdom and in all knowledge." Even Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, "believed on the Lord, and was baptized, with all his house:" and thus Clement, the fellow-labourer of St. Paul, whose name, according to the apostle's testimony, was " in the book of life," in his second epistle addresses the Corinthians: "Who did ever dwell among you, that did not approve your excellent and unshaken faith; that did not wonder at your sober and moderate piety in Christ? You were forward to every good work, adorned with a most virtuous and venerable conversation, doing all things in the fear of God, and having his laws and commands written on the table of your hearts." III. The question naturally arises, How was this mighty transformation effected? which the apostle himself most satisfactorily answers. "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in ⚫ Acts, xviii. the wisdom of men, but in the power of occasion. Gethsemane, Calvary, were brought God." It is obvious from this statement, in conjunction with many others made by him, that this striking and momentous change was not the result of any human authority with which the apostle was invested, or any extraordinary mental endowments with which he was blessed. Working in the company of Aquila, a Jew of Pontus, who had been driven from Rome with his wife Priscilla, St. Paul gained his livelihood by tent-making, which, though no mark of inferiority in itself (for it was binding on every Jew to learn a trade), was not calculated to impress the minds of the Corinthians with any high notions of his authority. It cannot be doubted, indeed, that he brought to bear, for the accomplishment of his object, the varied learning with which his mind might have been stored, and no small portion of which was derived from Gamaliel; and the declaration of Festus, "Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad," is a fair proof of the abilities and acquirements of the apostle. Jerome affirms, that St. Paul was not possessed of oratorical powers, but that in this respect he was most deficient; and from this argues that the success of his preaching must be referred to the grace of God. While Chrysostom relates a dispute between a Christian and a heathen, wherein the Christian endeavoured to prove against the Gentile that St. Paul was more learned and eloquent than Plato himself. His own declaration, however, testifies that his "bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible." "Ye know," says he to the Galatians, how, through the infirmity of the flesh, I preached the Gospel unto you at the first; and my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God." Whatever was the nature of that thorn in the flesh, which was the messenger of Satan to buffet him, it was doubtless calculated materially to injure his ministerial usefulness.* He describes himself as "naked and buffeted;" as "having no certain dwelling-place;" as defamed, reviled, and made as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things;" as "a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men." 66 66 Nor was the reception of the Gospel effected by keeping back the details of the crucifixion of the Redeemer. The cross, with all its humiliating circumstances; the cross, on which the Lord Jesus was mocked and reviled; the cross, on which the well-beloved of the Father bowed his head and gave up the ghost, was prominently displayed on every • See note in Bishop Sumner's Ministerial Character of Christ. Second ed. p. 555. forward, with the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and passion, the precious death and burial. Worldly policy would have suggested a very different line of conduct-the propriety of concealing as much as possible the sufferings of Jesus. It would have given some license to those to whom the Gospel was preached to indulge their evil habits, and to retain some of their idolatrous practices, in the hope that it would thus meet with a more cordial reception. 66 "It is a charge," says Bishop Porteus, 'brought by some writers against the Jesuit missionaries in China, and believed by others of considerable authority, that, finding the people of that country exceedingly scandalised at the doctrine of a crucified Redeemer, they thought it prudent to deny that Christ was ever crucified. They affirmed, that it was nothing more than a calumny invented by the Jews, to throw a disgrace upon Christianity." There is no doubt, indeed, that these missionaries tolerated among the Chinese the sacrifices offered to Confucius and their ancestors over the whole empire; and that they were not required, on making a profession of Christianity, to forego their idolatrous practices.* license very similar was granted by the popish missionaries in Hindostan, where the ceremony of the rutt is perfomed, amongst other idolatrous customs. A But the apostle dared not to act in a manner so derogatory to the honour of his divine Master, and so diametrically opposed to the spirit of the Gospel. He dared not to do evil, under the specious plea that good might come. The very first point to which he directed the attention of the Corinthians was the cross of the Redeemer. "For I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures," namely, those prophecies which foretold, those types which shadowed forth, the death of the Messiah. The subject-matter of his preaching A full account of the conduct of the popish missionaries in China, and elsewhere, will be found in the eighth volume of the works of the Rev. Robert Millar, A.M. A vehicle resembling Juggernaut's car, used at all the principal pagodas of India. The Roman Catholics place upon it the image of the Virgin Mary, and draw it round the church; in the same manner as the Hindoos drag their idols round their temples. Hume, speaking of the progress of Christianity among the Saxons, says, that from its first introduction they had admitted the use of images; and that perhaps that religion, without some of these exterior ornaments, had not made so quick a progress among these idolaters. (Hist. of England.) Such a sentiment, from the well-known scepticism of the historian, is more a subject of regret than of astonishment. It testifies how utterly ignorant he was of the soul-transforming power of the Saviour's religion, and of the mighty change which it is effectual to produce on the heart. Mr. Hough, in his able reply to the Abbé Dubois, shews that compliance with idolatry has invariably failed to produce the effect pretended to be desired. He shews that this compliance has been one great impediment to the progress of the Gospel; and he gives us, in his valuable work, striking instances of this. See pages 82, 83, and elsewhere. |