THE REV. P. BROWNE'S TWENTY-FIFTH ADDRESS

TO HIS CONGREGATION.

HE REV. P. BROWNE, the respected Incumbent of St. James', Edgbaston, Birmingham, has sent forth his usual annual Address, and a very striking and solemn one it is. He reminds his friends it is the twenty-fifth time he has issued it. For a quarter of a century our dear Friend has faithfully proclaimed the Gospel of the grace of God within the walls of his pretty Church which has become endeared to so many by precious associations. Before we lay before our readers a short extract of the Address, we earnestly ask their prayers that so valuable and useful a life as Mr. Browne's may long be spared to minister the Gospel of the Grace of God. And now to quote his own words. He says:

"The lengthened period of my Ministry that has already elapsed, excites the solemn consideration that ere long it must come to a close-that a few more years at most and I shall have preached my last Sermon, paid my last visit, and delivered my last testimony for Christ. The feeling of the shortness and uncertainty of the time that remains, produces the desire that it may be increasingly devoted to the Lord's Service, especially in proclaiming more fully and faithfully the Gospel of the Grace of God in its distinctness and richness, and with increased demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

"That Divine charge given by the Apostle to his Son Timothy seems to ring in my ears and sink down into my heart. Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.'-2 Tim. iv. 2, 3, 4.

"Never since the time of their first inspiration were such words more appropriate than to the period in which our lot is cast. They accurately set forth the dangers of these last days, and deliver a solemn charge, alike to the Ministers of Christ, and to those who profess and call themselves Christians.

"How fearful has been the advance in error, both as regards its open development, and the numbers that have embraced it. The incipient Tractarianism and Puseyism of twenty-five years since

have developed into the unblushing and defiant audacity of Popish Ritualism; and the unsettling suggestions and theories of the German Neology have brought forth the soul ruining heresies of the Rationalists.

"One could hardly have believed that within such a space of time, evil could have made such advances in these opposite directions. So that now there are to be found, alas! ministering in our Reformed and Protestant Church, the emissaries of Rome,claiming to be sacrificing Priests, instead of Ambassadors for Christ,-changing the table of the Lord into an altar,-performing celebrations, in the place of preaching Christ Crucified,—enjoining habitual auricular confession to the Priest in absolution,' together with prayers for the dead, bedecking themselves with strange and pagan vestments, setting up crosses, images, and lighted candles,-introducing crucifixes, processions, and other imitations of Popery.

"Whilst on the other hand equally fearful and dangerous are the denials of the faith, boldly set forth by the Rationalists—rejecting the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures,-the Deity of Christ, the doctrines of original sin, and of sacrificial atonement, -the reality of miracles, the Divine authority and perpetual obligation of the Lord's Day,-and the eternity of punishment. "All these erroneous notions and practices are now openly set forth and defended. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof? Jer. v. 31.

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"What is the remedy, what the antidote for all this? There is assuredly nothing else but 'THE OLD, OLD STORY.' The word preached more fully and faithfully, and constantly, and it may be added more controversially, in accordance with the preaching of our Blessed Lord and His Apostles, in which this feature is most conspicuous.

"The Ritualists, now, like the Jews of old, require a sign, and the Rationalists, now, like the Greeks of old, seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.'-1 Cor. i. 23, 24.

"There is the same Divine power as ever, promised to the word of God and the gospel of His grace. These have not lost any of their efficacy; and never will, until that period shall arrive, when this Gospel of the Kingdom shall have been preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and for the gathering in, and building up of the Lord's elect, and then shall the end come.

But who is sufficient for these things, and for these times? Only those called of God to minister in holy things, with the internal call of His Spirit, as well as the external call of His providence; those who know experimentally the whole truth as it is in Jesus, and are constrained by a Saviour's love, and who go forth, not in their own wisdom, or strength, but strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and who rely on His sure promise, 'Lo, I am with you always (all the days) even unto the end of the world.'-Matt. xxviii. 20. 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord of hosts.'-Zech. iv. 6.

"And what is it that is specially incumbent upon those ministered unto? To search the Scriptures,-to be like the noble Bereans of old, who 'received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so,' Acts xvii. 11,-to discountenance in every way those who set forth notions, and introduce practices, contrary to the doctrine which they have learned and avoid them,-never to indulge the idle curiosity of attending such places to see and hear what is wrong, to strengthen by their prayers, assistance, and presence the hands of all those who are faithful ambassadors for Christ and witness a good confession.

'I would only add, I have felt solemnly bound, in this, my twenty-fifth address, to utter a strong protest against these fearful dangers of the present day, and to declare my increasing adhesion to the doctrines of the Grace of God, and my matured conviction after so long a Ministry, that nothing will, under God, so effectually meet every error, and win souls to Christ, and establish in the faith, as the exhibition of the truth as it is in Jesus, and the distinct proclamation of all the Counsel of God,-consisting of the eternal covenant of Salvation made between the Three persons in the blessed Trinity, and embracing the sovereign, distinguishing, personal election of God the Father, the vicarious, perfect work of God the Son, the sure and effectual operation of God the Holy Ghost, in all the vessels of mercy, their possession of all the blessings of grace and their preservation unto eternal life.

"All other things may and must alter, but these remain the same. Ministers are removed, Congregations become changed, opportunities pass away, life ceases; but while all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man, as the flower of grass, and the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, the word of the Lord endureth for ever, and this is the word, which by the Gospel, is preached unto you."

THE GOSPEL NET; OR, THE LAST DRAUGHT,

By REV. H. FISHER, Minister of St. Luke's Chapel, Leamington.

(Re-printed by permission.)

"Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

"But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

"Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered Him, No.

"And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes......

"Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken," John xxi. 3—6, 11.

THINK there can be no question that the object of the narrative before us is to convey to us spiritual truth. The Holy Ghost (we should conclude from the close of the chapter just read, v. 25) has made a selection of the various conversations and acts of the Lord Jesus Christ in the narratives related in connexion with His disciples, and consequently, we infer that He had a particular purpose in making that selection. In the subject before us, I think there is a remarkable meaning to be attached to it, and that He selected it for an especial purpose and at an especial time.

The figure which is included in the narrative was a familiar one to the minds of the disciples-fishermen, and fishermen casting a net.

In Mark i. 16, 17, we have the figure applied to the disciples: "Now as He walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: (for they were fishers.) And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men."

And, in Matt. xiii. 47, 48, we find the Gospel likened to a net: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels but cast the bad away."

Thus I prepare the way for the remarks which I am about to make, by showing you that it is no speculation the idea of the disciples being occupied as fishermen symbolising the spiritual occupation to which they were to be called, viz. to be fishers of the souls of men, and likewise the net representing the Gospel.

The narrative itself, I imagine, is inclusive of the economy of the whole dispensation. The time was a remarkable one. The disciples, after the death of Jesus, did not return permanently to their occupation as fishermen. But God intended that they should be so occupied at this time, in order that He might give them a sketch of the principle and economy of the whole dispensationsuch as should be a comfort to them when they were engaged in preaching and teaching the everlasting Gospel, as it has been to the church of God up to the present day. The Holy Ghost was not yet given. The Apostles were waiting for their commission --for power from on high to fit them to go forth to proclaim the glad tidings of the Gospel of peace.

The office of the Holy Ghost, let me observe, is to gather a people out from the world, through the instrumentality of the preached Gospel, and to unite them by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. That people is called in Scripture the Church of God; and every one who is called and separated by Him, through the application of the blood of Jesus, is a member of the Church. In every age, the Holy Ghost has been gathering out of the world the members of the Body of Jesus. These constitute the Church, and when it is complete, then Jesus comes, and it is gathered up to Himself; and, as we read in God's Word, He presents it to Himself "a glorious Church not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." So that, each person who, by the Holy Ghost, is awakened to a sense of sin, and is separated to God by the application of the blood of Jesus, then becomes a member of the mystical Body of the Lord Jesus Christ-in other words, of the Church, consisting of all those members who are so called out of every nation and kindred and people and tongue, and when it is complete, it will, I repeat, be gathered up to be with Christ. In the meantime, there is no fear of any of His members being lost, because He takes care of them. He who calls them by the Holy Ghost out of darkness into light, and from the power of Satan unto God-after they are so called at conversion-schools them, trains them, and fits them for their place above, and if they are removed before He returns, He takes them up to Himself; and, I take it, they are ready to be removed when the fleshly will has been reduced to entire subjection to the will of God, and the