CHRIST-LIKE SUFFERING. "ARE ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?'' You are seeking greatness when you should be expecting suffering. "Are you prepared to participate in the sufferings that await me?" This appeal of Christ struck at once at the root of their vain ambition, and intimated the connexion subsisting between suffering and glory. Jesus does not say, there is no throne before you; He leaves them in its anticipation: but He does assure them that suffering like His must first come. In the writings of the apostles, the principle here suggested, that Christ-like suffering is the condition of human glory, is stated with precision, enforced with power, and repeated with frequency. We read of being "crucified with Christ," of being "buried with Christ," and of being "made conformable unto His death." The meaning of all this is obvious; it is not that we are to endure the agonies or the specific forms of suffering that He endured, but that we are to have ever that self-sacrificing spirit, of which His sufferings! were the effects and expressions. This is the "fellowship with His suffering;" this is the drinking of His cup, and the being baptized with His baptism; and this is the necessary condition of true greatness. Would you get high up to the moral throne of Christ, and share in the sublime honours of His spiritual empire? You must have that indomitable sympathy with the cause of truth, right, and God, which would impel you, if need be, to sacrifice property, ease, comfort, and life itself, for its sake-a sympathy under whose influence selfseeking is crucified and buried, and the soul "filled with all the fulness of God." This is the basis of all true nobility. Without this spirit, man can never display those attributes which the conscience of society honours, the universe applauds, and the great God approves. "THOU GOD SEEST ME." IF you were walking along in a wood, in that freedom which one feels when alone, and were suddenly to become aware that the eye of one of your fellow-men was looking out upon you from some place of concealment, closely scrutinizing your every movement, following you wherever you turned, you could not but be made uneasy by the consciousness of this fact. Even if you had no sense of personal danger, there would be something in this close inspection which would be trying to you, and which would put you at once upon your guard. Your thoughts would hastily run back and scan your previous conduct, and discover if any thing had transpired which would be to your shame or reproach. There is something in the close scrutinizing, the sharp inspection even of our fellow-men which sets us upon reflection. When And how little practical conception have we that in all places, and under all circumstances, in secret and in public, in the darkness and in the light, we are for ever under the inspection of that eye that scans not alone our outward conduct, but searches out also the most secret thoughts and intents of the heart. "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." we take thought of the matter and reflect for a moment how intense is thescrutiny of this omniscient eye-how the hidden chambers of the soul are continually exposed to this inspection, we can➡ not but be startled in the remembrance. of what our lives have presented to this all-searching sight. And if day by day, when we are under temptation, the thought could come upon us, "Thou God. seest me," so that we could have a practical conviction of the meaning of the words, it would act to hold us back from folly and sin, and urge us into the path: of holy obedience. THE GOSPEL FEAST. THE most sumptuous and most notable feasts among men are scenes of excess, and are usually attended with fopperies. which disgust every sober mind; but the evangelical feast, made in the mountain of the Lord has nothing of this character. When the glorious Redeemer invites sinners, He is sincere in His invitation, and calls them to a pure and holy feast. His is no vain compliment: "the word of the Lord is pure." SCRAPS FROM THE EDITOR'S TABLE. IT is all-important that he who professes to instruct others should himself sustain a character of the highest repute; for men will not respect the teacher who is known to be the slave of immorality; for the ways and words of such a man, abound with contradictions. It is almost a sure sign of a fictitious repentance, when a man has notoriously defiled his christian profession, and then seeks for some public eminence, to shew himself to the people, and attract their sympathies. The blood from martyr's hearts may be spilt at the tyrant's command, — may deluge the soil of our fatherland, and dogs may lick up what there was mortal in that blood, but no power on earth can prevent its immortal atoms mounting to Almighty God, like as the blood of Abel did mount. The bodies of the martyrs may rot in the cold grave, a meal for the worms; but their immortal spirits will gather round the throne of the eternal, praying for justice to them. Every oppression sends up its cry to God, and utters its eloquent voice in the ears of the Almighty Author and lover of liberty. A just and right freedom is the spirit of the gospel, which sanctions not the bonds of a slavery which injures the body; and depresses and manacles the mind. Christ is the champion of the best, and holiest freedom. "Stand fast therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." "Sin" is the spirit of the coarsest slavery, and a man held in its power, is not a free-man. True courage arises from true knowledge, and if bravery is not the birth of wisdom, it is the impertinence of igno Bishop Usher prayed on his death bed, "Lord forgive me my sins of omission." It is well known that the ivy is weak, cleaves and clings about the rock, and finds strength and support therefrom, but not life; for that life springs from its own root, sap and fulness. So the christian being weak like the ivy, he cleaves to the Lord Jesus Christ, the rock of ages, in a way of obedience to His commands; but his life and growth do not arise from his obedience, but from the sap and life which he hath in Christ. 66 Eagles" says Sibbs, "will not catch flies;" so the soul in communion with God will not catch at every loose thing. The child is not afraid of being sent for from school to his parents; and death is but God's servant, which He sends to invite His children home. Beware of novelty and curiosity in divine things; for there are meteors in the religious world as well as in the natural, and he who follows them will be led astray. What a difference do we discern in the discourses of those who deliver merely what they have been taught, but what they do not feel! How cold is the address of the mere speculator and inexperienced, when compared with his which comes warm from the heart, and is the fruit of his own experience. The one resembles the mere way post that directs the stranger, while itself is unmoved; the other may be compared to a living guide who actually becomes a companion on the road, and animates and supports as he proceeds. Where is the righteousness which we have of ourselves to give to God? Let us look back upon our past lives. Is it there? Let us look into our own hearts. Is it there? I sometimes wonder more at the love which keeps me, than at that which first took me up; but this is my foolishness, for it is all one. When we get our mouths filled with flesh, we may soon expect our souls to be filled with sorrow. "Ashamed of Jesus" might, it is to be feared, be stamped on many words and actions, which we would fain style prudent or charitable. JAMES BOWIE, Printer, 7, Mark Lane, London. CHRIST PURGING THE TEMPLE. John ii. 13-17. CHRIST is God's gift: the grace brought unto men through the manifestation of the mystery "God manifest in the flesh," is God's gift also: all that flows from heaven as the result of the finished work of Christ, flows copious and costless as the river from the mountain-spring: The villagers dip their pitchers in the crystal stream, and the bare-footed poor of the valley return to their cottages, smiling beneath their gracious burden; but if the banks of their river was infested by men, who taxed the population,-who watched the maids coming with their jugs, and ere they took from the torrent, demanded a price, the neighbourhood would complain with one consent of the graceless impost, and would point to the rosy-top of yon hill and say, "See the throne of many colours, and the sun seated in his twilight dress,-his blood-red robe, his cloak of living silver, his crown of ethereal jewels, his feet hidden in the evening shade,-he is seated on the mountain, bowing himself to the Infinite Majesty on high, before he retires for the night:" this ever-flowing stream, flows from beneath his evening seat: charge, first, the sun, a land tax for his throne on the mountain, and, secondly, toll the living flood, that warbles down from above, reflecting the sun's smiles, and chiming its course through the valleys. It was the iniquity of temple-traffic that changed the usual complacency of Christ's countenance. Meek and lowly, a humble rider on a colt, His character was described by the prophet. He held the pastoral staff, and loved to lead the flock beneath His gentle sway; but the crime of religious commerce induced Him to lay down the crosier, and plait a whip thong, that He might drive the butcher, the bird seller, and the money changer from the temple, and while men and beasts took fright at the sound of His voice and the sight of His face, He utters the explanatory precept,-" Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise." Religious traffic; or rather, irreligious traffic in religious things, is of all commerce the most detestable: the merchant brings to British ground the fruits of the land of spices, and let him buy freely and sell profitably let the Blackwall shipowners launch their commercial fleets, and send them on the wings of the wind to every shore, till there shall be no more sea: let them do their business in great waters, and receive the due reward of their perils, but, let the traffic of the world be confined to the things of the world, and there let traffic cease. It is horrible when it reaches the holy place! For there" Ichabod" is written on every pillar, and the abomination of desolation sits propped up in his golden chair, drunk with the swelling mixture of a hundred impure draughts, while spectral forms of 'glory departed," haunt the building, and pallid death stretches the thrilling shade of his features upon the walls. 66 : Such was the Metropolitan Temple. when Jesus visited it. Romans walked around and cared nothing for its true glory when the classic eye saw it, it praised it, and when men saw the reflection of heaven's shining orbs in its pillars, they extolled the temple mirror, and sang the glory of the forty and six year's labour; but the cataract in Gentile eyes, rendered them blind to a brighter and a better beauty, even an heavenly, while Jews were almost as well contented with "the glory of the terrestrial." "The Jews' passover was at hand; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." He found. it infested with extortionate cattle dealers, bird sellers who asked an enormous price for their doves, and money changers who charged an excessive per centage for giving Jewish for Romish money: They nature, nor bliss, until the cloudless morning of the resurrection shall present them perfect and entire, before Him in love. The state of the departed is like that of Christ's, "henceforth expecting" until "the day break and the shadows flee away" to enter into the fulness of their joy; and with the church below, they are waiting the adoption (to wit) the redemption of our bodies. Thus the resurrection becomes the emphatic HOPE of the church now, as it was of the church of old: The hope of Israel in all ages: "The hope of the promise made of God unto the fathers,-of all the circumcised in heart," unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, (in paradise as some think, or by their representatives the priests in the temple) hope to come,-Here the patriarchs looked for all, here they expected to realise all, even the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Here they took their stand, and by faith "They viewed the glory from afar, and so even now, the church is exhorted "The whole creation travails, groans, and waits for Thee!" Thus we have seen that Moses and Elias were brought from heaven, and appeared in glory with Jesus,-but why were they so brought down from heaven to earth? why, like Paul, were they not caught up to the third heaven to see the unutterable mystery of the kingdom of God? why was this earth made the platform of the glory and "of the coming of the Son of Man in His Kingdom?" unless to show that this earth in her regenerated aspect will be the place of manifestation of future glory. Have we the solution of this, any intimation, or proof, in the sure word of prophecy? I submit,-Isaiah vi. 1, 2, 3, and Rev. xxi. 1, 2, 3, 4-are sufficient data even if they were the only evidence. The future destiny of the earth is but little understood, and it would almost appear that the testimony of God respecting it were rejected. It is high time for the church to discard those traditional ideas, the "blotting out of creation," and "the annihilation of the earth". "The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds," of which, even the fables of heathenism rise superior, and correct; but it is to be lamented, that so far has this unscriptural problem been carried, that many of our hymns of praise are impregnated with its paralogy; yea, so far has it obtained, that even that which God has declared eternal, according to the chimerical doctrines of some, is to be entirely destroyed "The great globe itself must be dissolved, And like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a wreck behind."-(Shakspeare.) But surely the tinsel of "poetry" has not sanctified the unfounded conception! surely "the sublime and beautiful" must lose its charms, at the sacrifice of truth. The inspired poet wrote a very different language, when he declared, the Lord "hath established the earth for ever." Ps. lxxviii. 69. The world also is established that it cannot be moved-Psalm xciii. 1. The scriptures are our only guide; apart from them, God's original design in the creation of the world is lost, and the future revelation of His glory is transported where God would have it not; but it is enough for faith to rest on, that God hath declared this earth shall be the platform of the glory. "The man (Christ Jesus) stood by me, and He said unto me, son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, &c. Ezek. xliii. 6, 7. Where so fitting may we not ask, as "Where His cross of anguish stood? and who, but would desire the echo of all this, in his mind and soul, this pre dicted, longed for, and expected consummation, and from the very heart to feel the invitation going forth, "even so, come Lord Jesus." "Come then, and added to thy many crowns, Receive yet one,-THE CROWN OF ALL THE EARTH." "And behold there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias." It has been asked, by what means the apostles identified Moses and Elias, and as I think this to be one feature of the glory of the kingdom of Christ, we do well to enquire. Some have thought their names transpired in the conversation with Jesus, others have thought it might have been gathered from their official bearing on the Holy Mount, but it is more probable, this knowledge was intuitively given. Martin Luther thinks we have the type of this heavenly knowledge established in Eden in that immediate discernment which Adam had of Eve, as soon as presented - Gen. ii. 23. So here, in this vision on the Holy Mount, we have shadowed forth some special glimpses of that immediate perception and perfection of knowledge with which the saints in glory will be endowed "when they shall know, even as also they are known;" and may we not from this, also conclude that the saints will personally know each other again in glory? If we are to know even those whom we never saw, certainly we shall know those with whom we have had intercourse, though that knowledge will be freed from carnal or sensual evidence, but yet the identity be clearly made out and understood,-a knowledge in correspondency with their changed, exalted and spiritual condition, stripped of the affinities of earth as subserving only for the time being, but having no bearing, nor place, among the children of the resurrection, a knowledge carrying within its bosom the long list of brotherhood in Christ, comprehending the whole family, both in heaven and in earth, when we shall come and sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God; which I take, guarantees their identification, or I fail to perceive the appropriation of the introduction of their names. With reference to Moses and Elias being specially chosen to appear in the glory, it possibly might have been so on account of their official character, in relation to the church of God. Moses, as mediator of the law, one jot nor tittle of which could not be done away, nor glory given till all was honoured and fulfilled, being holy, just, and good, in itself, the demands of its broken precepts must receive satisfaction, and its required obedience perfectly given, to the satisfaction of divine justice, and the holiness of God, or the church could not be glorified. In Elias, we have one of the most eminent of the prophets, whose sure words must all be accomplished both of judgment, and mercy, blessing and promise, in order that the church might be glorified together with Him; so that this kingdom of the Son of Man, "the glory of God," rests on a basis which the gates of hell cannot destroy, nor God object, having for its foundation" holiness and truth." No one attribute of God is marred, nor perfection sullied: the law having received an obedience from Christ, complete and meritorious, it being the obedience of "God manifest in the flesh;" the law thereby was magnified and honoured, to a degree that the most perfect, even the unfallen obedience of the creature could never have put on it, and this righteousness imputed to the sinner, is His justification before God. "I have glorified thee on the earth" is at once our glory and our hope. On this, our souls shall make their boast in God, and when this righteousness is brought near by the Holy Ghost, through faith, it becomes both our title and evidence of eternal life, for "whom He justified, them He also glorified." All that Moses in the law and the prophets did write, as connected with the glory of the church, being fulfilled, we have in their presence on "the Holy Mount," the consentient, of both the law and the prophets to the bestowment of glory upon all who through grace shall believe in His name: Abel believed, and was called "Righteous Abel," Noah believed, and "was found righteous," Abraham believed, and "it was counted to him for righteousness;" likewise,-"believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." In the appearance of Moses and Elias |