the comers thereunto perfect. Indeed, if they could have made them perfect, would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins! But, as the law could never with those sacrifices make the comers thereunto perfect, so in those sacrifices there was a remembrance again made of sin every year. (Heb. x. 16, 17.) But Christ by one sacrifice made an end of sins, and by his one offering perfected for ever all them that are sanctified: (Heb. x. 12, 14) and in proof thereof the Holy Spirit is the witness, for in the new covenant the Lord saith, their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Heb. x. 16, 17.)

As this subject, the obedience and sacrifice of Christ, is of vast importance, the reader will allow me to observe, that as the first covenant was to vanish away, and there was to be no more remembrance made of sin, after the resurrection of Christ, it surely behoved the Holy One of God to fulfil all righteousness; to magnify the law by his obedience to every precept, and to make it honourable by satisfying divine justice for the sins, &c., of his innumerable people.

And here, allow me to repeat, that it is written of him, when he came into the world for that purpose, he saith, "Sacrifice and offering, and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O God: He taketh away the FIRST (covenant) that he may establish the SECOND (Covenant). By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ once for all. And "He offered one sacrifice for sins for ever." "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." "Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that, he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them: and their sins and their iniquities will 1 remember no more." (Heb. x. 8-16.) In this new covenant, it will be observed, there is no more offering for sin, because there is no more remembrance made of sin. (Heb. x. 17.)

Before we proceed to consider the law under which all believers are to Christ, we ought to remember; there are many things in the law which was given by Moses, of which it is written, we cannot now speak particularly: (Heb. ix. 5.) but as not a jot or a tittle could in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled, we ought to rest assured, that the whole is and was fulfilled in and by Christ. And if the reader is disposed to refer to the national law, or to the ceremonial law, or to meats, or an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath, the fourth commandment, he will find the scriptures do truly testify, that they are (plural) a shadow (singular) of good things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Col. ii. 16, 17.) For, they are all a shadow of Him, who came not to destroy the law, but

to fulfil. (Matt. v. 17.) As the fourth commandment is a shadow of Christ, we surely may say, that Christ is the grace and truth of all

the rest.

Indeed, such is the glory of the gospel ministry, the ministry of the Spirit, that it exceeds in glory the ministration of death written and engraven in tables of stone: for "What things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." But, what doth the gospel say to them that are under grace? The scripture replies, that sin shall not have dominion over them, (Rom. vi. 14.) that Christ by his one sacrifice hath put away their sins for ever, and by his one offering hath perfected them for ever, and in him they are complete: for in them they have righteousness and strength, and in him they are justified and shall glory. And as the scripture saith, that sin shall not have dominion over them that are under grace, because they are not under the law; we find in the apostle's pastoral charge to Timothy, he is reminded of his knowledge of the law, namely, that the law is good, provided a man use it lawfully and that, to use it lawfully, according to knowledge, (mark that!) “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man!" Then, for whom is the law made? The scripture saith, for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for men that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God." (1 Tim. i. 8-11.) These are important truths; and they are among the things which Timothy was to teach and if he put the brethren in remembrance of these things, it is written, "Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith, and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained." (1 Tim. iv. 6.) Then we have surely a just right to ask what authority any one professing to be a minister of the gospel, hath to teach a contrary doctrine? For as it was unlawful for Timothy to teach, that the law was made for a righteous man; how can it be lawful for any minister of Christ to teach, that the law is a rule of sanctification to a spiritual, that is to say, a righteous man by faith in Christ Jesus? Indeed, we may ask, what do they mean by the law? Do they mean the ceremonial law, or do they mean the moral law? But neither the word moral nor ceremonial is to be found in the scriptures; they ought to use great plainness of speech, and set forth in express words, what they mean by the moral law, for the scriptures do certainly prove the ceremonial law to be a shadow of the law,-under which, all believers are to Christ. And therefore, we are justly entitled to an explanation of the unscriptural phrase, the moral law.

Vol. IV.-No. V.

2 G

The apostle was by inspiration so fully aware, there would be persons preaching the law unlawfully, by saying it was made for a righteous man; that in another pastoral charge we are instructed "to avoid contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. (Titus iii. 9.) And if such contentions be un profitable and vain, what are we to call them who contend and strive about the law; who set up their own opinions in opposition to the word of inspiration. The scripture replies, "They have swerved, they have turned aside to vain janglings; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding not what they say, nor whereof they affirm. (1 Tim. i. 6, 7.)

CHURCH PASTORAL AID SOCIETY. We have read with marked attention and deliberation, the Prospec tus of the above-mentioned Society, and give the promoters, aiders and abettors full credit for their pure motives and praiseworthy zeal, in endeavouring to spread the gospel of our Lord and Saviour among the multitude of heathens and idolators in our native land. This was pressed upon the religious world forty years since in this Magazine, by several illustrious characters, but it was treated with scorn. The mania at the time for converting the Jews, as also the heathens at the antipodes, raged with such enthusiasm, that money was collected by thousands, and tens of thousands, until millions have been expended upon such quixotic experiments, while our own countrymen have been neglected and left to perish. Here was a wide door open at home, but our men of exploits shut it, and burst open one in foreign climes, determined to be beforehand with God, at the same representing him as a careless spectator, looking on, while his creatures were perishing for want of instruction. Money was the lever to move the whole machine, so that it was calculated to a fraction by a Dr. Clarke, that at the average of about fifteen-pence a head, every individual upon the earth might be converted.

However, since those schemes for a general conversion have been going forward, a GENERATION has completely passed away, and we have made but little progress, if it may be said to be such, in evangelizing the heathen. It is true, many pretty stories are invented, much predicted, but little accomplished; even civilization appears to be below mediocrity. Certainly, if this work had been of God, circumstances would have had a different aspect, tribes upon tribes would have been born as it were in day, and Pentecost would have come again.

We must acknowledge that, in reading the statment of the "Church Pastoral Aid Society," we were forcibly struck to see the ignorance depicted, so prevalent among the lower ranks of so ciety respecting God; and when we take in the higher circles, particularly our philosophers, statesmen, and the petit maitres

equally disregarding eternal concerns, we come to the conclusion, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint. We certainly have the means of grace in great profusion in our island ;-thousands and tens of thousands of learned professed teachers of Christianity beside the awkward squad of Methodists out of number. Then there are thousands of churches, chapels, and meetinghouses spread in all directions; every man may have a Bible that desires it, with his pockets full of tracts; and YET with such a profusion of light, darkness, gross darkness covers the people--men lay sleeping, dead in sin.

People stand aghast, and begin to be astonished how such things should be. Places of worship are fast erecting in various districts, so as to dispel the cloudy atmosphere; and the determination is, that learning shall be the master-piece, and rise up in every direc tion, so that the beggar-boy shall know as much as my lord, and this is to be done by an impost levelled upon the community. But here we must say, with all deference, to the Church Pastoral Aid Society, the streams cannot rise higher than the fountain. The whole mystery is this, the Holy Spirit must take the heart into his own hand, and convert it by his efficacious grace, and then the work is done effectually.

But the question is put, are we not to use every possible means? Most certainly, but then it must be the resting upon the God of all means, to accomplish his everlasting purpose. The command is, blow the trumpet in Zion, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and then leave consequences with God.

We give the society we have just noticed all possible praise, in their work of labour and love to their own countrymen. And when we see curates with a bare salary to keep body and soul together, devoting their time and talents, in going into the most brutal recesses, proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, we honour ther mission, and God will put an honour upon their message in giving them souls for their hire. And we trust every lover of the Redeemer, will contribute his MITE to further the work; so as to uphold the hands, and invigorate the minds of those concerned in such an undertaking, which exeeds all commendation. April 15, 1839.

EDITORS.

·000·

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

MEMOIRS OF AUGUSTUS TOPLADY, in large 8vo. 4th edition, containing God's gracious dealings with him in Providence and in Grace, with a Diary and account of his Remarkable Dying Moments, with an Elegy annexed, and a PORTRAIT prefixed, from a painting of RYLEY's, taken a little time before his death, engraved by BLACKBIRD.

POETRY.

To the Editors of the Gospel Magazine.

DEAR SIRS, PRESUMING that the following lines, from their orthodoxy, will be acceptable to the pages of your undaunted periodical, I herewith take the liberty of offering the same at her shrine. They are a translation, as nearly literal as possible, of a hymn held in much repute throughout the Principality of Wales, and has, I believe, never before been put into an English form.

April 1839.

EVAN.