service being after the order of Dr. Gill, as laid down in his Body of Divinity. The church met at six o'clock in the evening, and having elected a president, commenced by singing and prayer. The 52nd chapter of Isaiah, 46th and 146th Psalms, and the letter of invitation, being read, the latter was confirmed. The senior deacon stated the reasons of the church, in reference to their election; the president asked the usual questions, and received the confessions of faith of Mr. Salmon and Mr. Bullen, when the church unanimously set them apart. Rev. Mr. Gibbs, of Chapman Street, offered up the ordination prayer, when the president described the nature of a gospel church, and its privileges, gave a charge from 2 Tim. ii. 15; addressed the church on their duties to their ministers, and to each other; and the solemn service concluded by singing and prayer.

On Easter Monday, March 27, a Particular Baptist Church was formed at Syddenhan. The services were conducted by Messrs. Perry, Hobcraft, Paice, and Sangster. May this newly-formed interest be preserved from error, and by the consistent walk and conversation of its members, put to silence the ignorance of foolish men!

On Thursday evening, May 5, the Rev. J. Rees, of Crown Street, Soho, will preach a sermon, at the Rev. H. Heap's Chapel, Bury Street, St. Mary Axe; service to commence at seven o'clock. The above lecture will be supplied every Thursday, by the following ministers, alternately,-Rev. H. Heap, Joseph Irons, John Rees, Robert Stodhart, James Upton, R. Langford, and George Francis.

We congratulate the friends of gospel truth on the establishment of this lecture, and doubt not that it will be well attended, and be productive of much spiritual benefit.

JESUS CROWNED.

1.

IMMANUEL! Name divinely great-
To fallen man, his name how sweet;
His saints on earth, and all above,
Crown him Lord of life and love!

My heart would join the sacred theme,
And pant and beat alone for him;
Would his transcendant goodness prove,
And crown him Lord of life and love!

3.

Crown him on earth as Zion's King,
Crown him who did salvation bring;
Crown him on his throne above:
Crown him Lord of life and love!

4.

AMEN, each willing heart replies;
AMEN the echo of the skies;
Glory to him who reigns above,
In the blest land of life and love.

REVIEW.

Pulpit Recollections; or Short Discourses on most Interesting Subjects in Christian Theology. By the Rev. Samuel Neale, Minister of Aldersgate Street Chapel, London.-Palmer, 1826.

ON opening the volume before us, we had scarcely perused the dedication, (concerning which we prefer being silent) when among other significant titles in the table of contents, our attention was attracted by that of the third Recollection, "On the Covenant of Grace;" from which we shall present our readers with an extract.

"The

The subjects discussed are arranged in the following order: Triumphs of the Gospel"-The Perfection of Providential Dispensations "The Covenant of Grace"-" The Root of the Matter""Christian Courage"" Jehovah's Plantation"-" Divine Forgiveness"- "Jacob's Celebrated Prophecy"- "The Wretched Man Consoled". "The Gospel Foundation": The Parable of the Leaven" Purity from Blood"-" The Heavenly Inheritance"—"Indiscriminate War"-" Nature and Grace"- The Publican's Prayer" Analytical Commentary on the 17th John"-"The Hiding Place" "The Christian's Food"- "The Justified Man"- "The Water of Life"-" Practical Religion"-"The Year of Mortality."

On the mighty subject, "The Covenant of Grace," we find Mr. Neale has given some excellent thoughts; and though we cannot in justice follow him with approbation through the whole, it is a pleasing duty to mark for quotation a passage containing many excellencies. Having spoken of the date and arrangements of the covenant, the author proceeds

“The divine omniscience has also been displayed in the ordering of the covenant. The eye of the Lord which is like a flame of fire, which beams with intelligence, and grasps infinitude, surveyed all the rising events of time, and all the circumstances of individuals. These by us are sometimes termed contingencies: but chance, contingencies, and terms of the like import, have no meaning in the divine government; have no existence in the view of underived intelligence. The decays of nature, the attacks of sickness, the disquietudes of spirit, the ravages of death, and all the sources of mental and bodily sorrow which flesh is heir to,' are provided for, in the compact of Jehovah; and with a view to them, and every thing which might befal his people, he arranged the covenant. In the judgment of sense and the deductions of reason, Jehovah's providential government does not appear marked with that excellence which might be anticipated, for "Clouds and darkness are round about him ;” but a steady contemplation of his covenant, and the point at which he aims, will evince that justice and judgment are the basis of his throne; and the gradual developments of time, and more especially, the elucidations of eternity, will afford a satisfactory comment upon those memorable passages; "All things work together for good, to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant, and his testimonies." Rom. viii, 28. Psalm

XXV. 10.

"His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower."

"3rd. The stability of the covenant is the last part of the description which remains to be discussed. It is sure. The foundation of God standeth sure. The covenant itself remains immoveable. "If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, then may also my cove nant be broken." Rev. iv. 3. Jer. xxxiii. 20. If any can stop the revolu tions of the heavenly bodies, around their grand attractive centre, or reverse the established laws of nature; then may the covenant be disannulled. Even mountains may be hurled from their deep foundations, and the perpetual hills be levelled with the plains: "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but the heavens. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved," superseded, or abolished by any other shaking, like that which removed the Mosaic dispensation. Heb. xii. 26. The throne of the Mediator, encircled with a rainbow of the colour of an emerald, is not more stable than the perpetuity of his cove nant. As soon might the attributes of Jehovah be severed from his essence, as any thing about which they have been employed fail of its completion. "Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away." The march of time which has outstripped the edicts of the most powerful monarchs, and trampled upon laws which once regulated the mightiest empires, has reverenced and confirmed those hallowed laws, which have been enacted in heavenwhich communicate the impress of God-which suit the most ethereal natures, and promote "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men." And when the most flourishing kingdoms shall crumble into atoms, and the proudest monuments of human glory shall be dilapi dated, the covenant of God shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.

"No less does the stability of the covenant apply to those who are interested in its immunities, and fixed upon its deep foundations. Not that it sanctions moral evil, or sanctifies the commission of crime. Provision is made for salutary correction, but not for removal from its immoveable base. With what solemnity and elegance is this celebrated by Ethan; "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David!" "Psalm 1xxxix. 12, &c. The covenant and all its privi leges are confirmed by two immutable things, “in which it is impossible for God to lie," by the oath and promise of that God, who is often represented as a God keeping covenant, and as “he could swear by no greater, he hath sworn by himself," Heb. vi. 13, 18. "For I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul." Jer. xxxii. 40, 41.”

There is one other extract we purpose to make. In "Recollection XII." speaking of the body of sin and death, the author remarks on the power and influence of sin, as follows:

"Its poison although corrected, is transfused through all the faculties of the spirit, and affects all the members of the body. Sin is called a body,

66

because it has integral parts, which form a symmetrical or proportionate body. Sin in the unregenerate is a tyrant, a giant possessing absolute sway; in the regenerate is a man, enfeebled, yet capable of much mischief; it is called the “ Old man,” denoting it should be cast off, as a bad injuri ous servant; his members are all affected, and the influences are felt from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet. Bodies are ponderous; so especially are the remains of sin; they sometimes make the christian ready to sink

"My heart how dreadful hard it is,

How heavy here it lies!

Heavy and cold within my breast,
Just like a rock of ice."

"A body of

And without relief he would fall into the arms of despair. "Sin is deleterious. All its operations tend to death. death." The last struggles of the old man are desperate, but are like the last vivid spark of the wick of a candle, which denotes its extinction. "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace." It will effect your dissolution; but "Oh death where is thy sting! Oh grave where is thy victory!" The old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.

"Sin causes a deadening influence in the soul, in reading, meditation, and prayer, and produces plaintive tones. It labours to bring to the confines of eternal death. It separates between God and the soul, causes him to hide his face, and approximates the christian to that state of carnality which is death, and makes him recede from that spirituality of mind which is life and peace. "He shall subdue our iniquities." So sin cannot effect the total ruin of the christian. Like Job, he abhors himself; like David, he desires freedom; like Isaiah, "Woe is me!" he longs for heaven, that the principle may be totally and everlastingly eradicated, and unsullied purity succeed."

We have made these selections with peculiar pleasure; and have only to regret, that though they might be considerably extended, they stand in connexion with matter we cannot fully approve.

An Address to the Regenerated Church of Christ; delivered on Lord's Day, Morning and Evening, Jan. 1, 1826, at the Baptist Chapel, St. George's Road, Manchester. By William Gadsby. Palmer.

This address, from an honest and faithful servant of Christ, is well worthy the notice of our readers. It consists of a scriptural statement of the leading truths of the gospel, enforced on the people of his charge, and the church generally, with much faithfulness and considerable energy. Very many profitable reflections are made on the Lord's mercy and grace, as exemplified by the divine conduct during the recently past, and on the commencement of a new year; and the author takes occasion from the text, Rev. iii. 2. to read a variety of seasonable lessons to them who are spiritual on the duty of watchfulness, and on the solemn address of the angel of the church in Sardis, strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.

With pleasure we select the passage which succeeds a quotation from Ezek. xxxvi. declarative of the glory the Lord Jehovah hath in connecting the eternal welfare of the church with his own eternal honours.

"What a blessed cluster of solemu declarations of undeserved mercy and free grace are here. Blessed, thrice blessed, art thou, O Israel; thy God! O the wonders of his love! thy God has connected his own glory and thy well-being together: so that though thy froward heart has led thee to profane his name among the heathen; and though there be no thing in thee, nor of thee considered in thyself, but what is awfully dis gusting, the regard thy glorious God has to the honour of his own name, and thy inseparable connection with his honour, binds his blessed Majesty, by all the ties of infinite love to thee, and by all that is dear to himself, to do thee good.

"Brethren, beloved of the Lord, read the account, and pause as you read, and stand astonished at the matchless methods the Lord takes of making known his love aud loveliness unto you; and with deep humility say, "Dear and blessed Lord, shall I still insult such matchless love as this? Shall I still mix with the men of the world, and make them my chief companions? and shall the things of the world be the principal ob jects of my pursuit, and thus profane thy great and glorious name among the heathen? God forbid; let the honour of thy name, and the greatness of thy love, lead me to love, worship, and adore thee; and may it be my great concern from henceforth, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, being assured that all other things shall be added unto me. Othon fountain of blessedness, make me more watchful, prayerful, and thankful; and enable me to stand fast in the glorious liberty of the Lord Jesus Christ."

"Beloved, it is the church's blessedness that Jehovah has inseparably connected his glory with her real good: so that while his blessed Majesty regards his own honour, he cannot, he will not forsake or neglect his dear people this is a blessing big with infinite importance. O that we were able at all times, under the blessed teachings of God the Holy Ghost, to fix a right estimate upon this glorious truth; then we should find that in the greatest straits and difficulties, and even when our own worthlessness and sinfulness appear in their deepest hue, we have every encouragement to come boldly to the throne of grace.-Mark that! the throne of grace! that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in time of need.

66

"The church of Christ is called the city of our solemnities, and it is one of the solemn acts of faith to plead with God for his own name's sake. David, the man after God's own heart, put in his plea upon this sacred ground. "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great."-Psalm xxv. 11.-cix. 21.-cxliii. 11. But he not only pleaded for himself, but for the whole church, upon this blessed ground. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name, and deliver us, aud purge away our sins for thy name's sake."-Psalm 1xxix. 9. And under the glorious teachings of the same blessed Spirit, Jeremiah goes upon the same sure ground, " O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee."-Jerem. xiv. 7.

"But, beloved, though the Lord has, in infinite love, determined to bestow the greatest blessings of his heart upon his people, he has made it their duty and privilege to ask these blessings at his hands; hence, in connection with that matchless cluster of blessings promised in the 36th chapter of Ezekiel, Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.'

"Do I hear some poor sensible sinner say, Alas for me! I am such a poor, sinful, wretched creature, that I fear Jehovah would consider his solemn Majesty insulted, were I to crave a single blessing at his hands. 1 have awfully backslidden from him, and have given the professed enemies of God cause to blaspheme his holy name, and what can I expect, but the doom of those who trample under foot the Son of God, and who