"Lord, save, else I perish." And on the other hand, why is the ministry that bears a different character to that tolerated by the above persons, owned and blessed of heaven so abundantly in the conversion of sinners? Why are the members of the churches that are so favoured multiplying so greatly, as we inay see in the large provincial towns of England, and in many of the metropolitan churches too numerous to be named? How is it, I ask, that these privileged churches are so full of zeal and Christian activity; and that we behold in all their movements inscribed in legible characters, as it were, "Holiness to the Lord?" Why should this contrast exist? Is it because there are more of the chosen few happening to be localised in those places? No, no; the only answer I have is this: because there is an aggressive movement made, according to the Divine appointment, upon the world that lieth in wickedness by the one party, which is sinfully omitted by the other. The one description of ministers obey Paul's command to Timothy, when he said, "Take heed unto thyself and unto thy doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee"-(instrumentally of course)-1 Tim. iv. 16. But we may fear that the other ministers stain their consciences with the blood of souls. Lord, deliver them from such a sin; and give grace to Thy ministers, to keep them ever from incurring that awful guilt, of not warning, yea, beseeching sinners to turn from the evil of their ways, and look to Christ for salvation. And oh! help Thy ministers to read attentively and prayerfully the thirty-third chapter of Ezekiel; and forbid that their hearts should be harder than an adamant, not to be moved by that; and being duly affected with the responsibility of their office, when they exclaim with the apostle, "Who is sufficient for these things?" let them find their help in Thee, O Lord God Almighty.

Finally. While we bewail the difference of sentiments, arising from ignorance and misunderstanding, that exists in the Christian world, let us with joy anticipate the period, when we shall go to those happy regions, where no dissentient opinion will ever obtrude itself upon the society; where all the inhabitants are one in mind, and will be one in song for ever and ever. But although we anticipate such a blissful time, yet we ought to exert ourselves to the utmost of our power, to promote unison of doctrine and unison of spirit, even here in the church militant; for the inspired Paul says, "There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ." Amen. CELATUS.

(To be continued.)

Topics of the Day.

66

WE happen to be inconveniently circumscribed in respect to space for this article in the present number. Promising ourselves a little more elbow-room" next month, we must be content for the present with

THE JAY JUBILEE.

The Rev. William Jay, whose discourses continually enrich our pages, has completed the fiftieth year of his ministry at Bath. His sermon on the occasion has been published" by permission," under a somewhat peculiar title :-" Reflections delivered on Sunday, Jan. 31, 1841, by the Rev. William Jay; being the" [day after the] "fiftieth anniversary of his ordination over the Church and Congregation, assembling in Argyle Chapel, Bath." The latter portion of the Sermon (for it is a sermon that is thus described by the publisher,) contains a review of the life of this venerable minister of Christ, and will be interesting to our readers :

"Though it is now just half a century since my connection with this church, yet I laboured here occasionally, and sometimes for several Sabbaths together, during more than a year previously to my ordination. Neither was this the commencement of my ministry; I began preaching before I was sixteen, and had preached nearly one thousand sermons before I was of age. Now I do not boast of this; yea, I should rather reflect upon it, had it been the result of my own forwardness. But I was under a tutor, whose authority I was bound not to dispute, but to obey. Our academy was at Marlborough; and the state of the villages all around was truly deplorable. Our tutor-the Reverend Cornelius Winter (concerning whom the late Bishop Jebb, in one of his letters, exclaims, "Oh! what a celestial creature was this Cornelius Winter!')—compassionating those who were perishing for lack of knowledge, sent his students to address them very early and when they would have been unqualified for larger and more regular congregations. But the poor rude rustics required but little depth or accuracy: they only wanted to know the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.'

But,

"In some of those villages I have preached down many a livelong Sabbath, in the homely cottage, on the green before the door, or in some open place in the road, or in a field hard by. How often have I wished to revisit all these hamlets! alas! how few should I now find alive, and who would be able to remember-what he was always then called the boy preacher.'

"Many of these places we supplied on week-day evenings, as well as on the Sabbath, as we could afford time and assistance. To many of them we walked on foot; from some of them we returned, for want of accommodation, the same evening, whatever was the weather; and from none of them received we the least remuneration.

:

"We seldom encountered persecution. This depends very much always on the preacher and our prudent tutor taught us not to rail and abuse, but simply to preach the truth; and to avoid the offence of folly when we could not avoid the offence of the cross.

"I shall never forget with what eagerness and feeling these villagers received the words of life. The common people heard us gladly, and the poor had the Gospel preached unto them; not by the poor man's Church,'* but by those who then supplied their lack of service.

"Upon leaving the academy, I felt myself too young to undertake the pastoral office. I therefore chose an obscure village, where I had preached frequently while a student, to enjoy retreat and to pursue my improvement. Income I looked not after, provided my personal wants were supplied. My fixed salary, therefore, was thirty-five pounds a-year, and my board, in a private family. But being then known, and not unpopular, I was frequently drawn forth to supply the neighbouring churches; and being ill-supplied with books, the design of my retirement was very imperfectly answered.

"I then met with Lady Maxwell, who engaged me to officiate in her chapel at the Hotwells. There I was for nearly a-year, not without proofs of acceptance and usefulness, as the place was filled and crowded. I was, therefore, pressed by her ladyship to take the oversight of the congregation. At the same time, having preached in Bath before and during the illness of my predecessor here—(who with his dying breath recommended me to succeed him)—I received an invitation also to settle in Argyle Chapel. For a time I was perplexed; but, while deliberating on these two proposals, some circumstances arose which immediately determined my movement towards this city. The step was to me an event of unspeakable importance; but it was instantly followed by a conviction that I was where I ought to be and this conviction never for a moment wavered. Disregarding, therefore, all subsequent offers to change my situation (and some of them, compared with my salar, were very lucrative), I resolved to continue in a connexion which has proved a peculiarly happy one; but which has, as you here sce, witnessed the lapse of the larger and better part of my life. It is worthy of remark that the

It is only justice to the preacher to mention, that he had before been rejoicing, like St. Paul, in "the spread of Evangelical religion, both in the Establishment and out of it," at the period referred to.

pense, fitted up the old Romaa Catholic chapel (which, for the glory of God, had first text I ever preached from among those who were to become my hope,' and 'joy,' and 'crown of rejoicing' was, 'What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.'

"Some time after the acceptance of the call, I was ordained-fifty years ago yesterday. The charge was addressed to me by my honoured friend and tutor, Mr. Winter; and the Serinon to the people was preached by the Rev. John Adams, of Salisbury. I was a young pastor-but the people despised not my youth; and under various deficiencies and inexperience, they patiently waited for more maturity from ripening seasons.

"Without entering into the minuteness of any human system of divinity (which I would not do for any people under heaven), I engaged to preach Mr. Hervey's three R's, as they have been called-Ruin, Redemption, and Regeneration; ruin by Adam, redemption by Christ, and regeneration by the Spirit. From these principles-and these are principles-I have never seen cause yet to swerve. And though, in this long course of things, there have been many Lo, here's' and 'Lo, there's,' I have been too much bent on the good old way, to be attracted by them. If in any minor things I have ever differed from my brethren, and have had faith, I have had it to myself before God; or I have said, 'Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind.'

"The state of things at my coming to Bath was not considerable, but it was encouraging; and there seemed to be an open door, and not only room, but a call, for increased exertion. Our Baptist friends had a church, but it allowed of no mixed communion. The Wesleyans had an interest, which was very prosperous; and there was a chapel belonging to the Countess of Huntingdon, which had been a great blessing, but it was then supplied by Episcopalian ministers only; and the exclusion of other preachers who had laboured there before, gave rise to a secession of persons who had been awakened, and converted, and edified, by their labours. This led, eventually, to the formation of the Independent Church here; for the seceding members were encouraged by their former ministers, and especially by the Rev. Rowland Hill (who all through life ever took the liberal side of things), to secure a place, and to act for themselves; which they immediately did. In the Church of England there was nothing which the Evangelical clergy who visited Bath would, according to their views, consider the Gospel; and none of them could gain admittance into any pulpit of the Establishment here for many years after my settlement, except that of my respected father-in-law, who was then officiating at Batheaston, though his living was at a distance. Perhaps the opinion of such a man as Mr. Wilberforce, an Episcopalian himself, concerning the state of things here at that period, may be more regarded than my own. In one of his letters, after kindly admonishing me (and the admonition was not needless or useless) to be very explicitly evangelical in every discourse, he says, 'I am aware that your own congregation may not stand in need of this; but indeed, my dear Sir, you are a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians. Consider the situation in which you stand—not another minister in Bath whom any of the poor, wretched upper classes are likely to hear who preaches the Gospel. They come, perhaps, to your chapel; they never heard the Word of life before; they never may have another opportunity. Pity them, my dear Sir, as I know you do. They above all others deserve to be pitied. I, alas! have been more acquainted with them than you, and am thereby the more impressed with the sense of their wretched ignorance in spiritual things.'

"The peculiarity, therefore, of my situation influenced, in a considerable degree, my preaching and my ministry. I saw that the impression must be very much made in the pulpit; and I kept my eye, not only upon my home-hearers, but upon strangers, who, at that time, often peculiarly needed evangelical information, and who, if they obtained good, would carry it away and disperse it in their own neighbourhood. And I cannot but bless God for the number of persons who have made acknowledgments of this kind; and no few of whom were ministers, or became such, nor less than seven of these Episcopalians.

"A church, therefore, of our own faith and order, seemed to be here desired. To this encouragement was given, not only by residents, but by visiters. One, in particular, from London, a banker, who nearly, if not entirely, at his own ex

been burned down in the Gordon riots), and engaged, on his recommendation of a minister, to support him till the people were able to bear the burden. That house, now used by our friends the Quakers, proving too small, my predecessor, encouraged especially by Lady Glenorchy, who promised a considerable sum (which was lost by her untimely death), and others of his friends, was induced to undertake the erection of this place. When ready for use, that excellent man of God for whom it was erected was too ill to open it, though he was present: I therefore performed all the services of the day; and, as I was the first preacher in this place, so I have been the only pastor of this people.

"I only add, that this church was from the beginning as liberal in its discipline as a regard to its purity would allow, never refusing occasional fellowship to communicants of other churches; and though no lion was placed at the door of entrance, and though no accounts of conversion and experience were exacted before all, what a small number from the beginning here has ever been excommunicated, or even suspended from the holy communion! It is remarkable, that during the fifty years we have been reviewing, there has been no division, no discord, no jar.

"As the cause has prospered much, there have been several enlargements of the chapel, the last of which was very expensive; but all has been paid for, and the place set clear by the generosity of the church and congregation, which has afforded me no little gratification.

"Such are the reflections derivable from the subject of our text, and the occasion of the day. And now what can I add more? As 1 ascended this desk, and looked down upon this vast audience, I said to myself, Ah! where will all this assembly be by the return of this Jubilee? Some of you will remain, and perhaps you will than be talking over what is now passing here: but where, oh! where, will the majority of you be found then?

"As to many of us, a much shorter period will have removed us, and the places that now know us will know us no more for ever. Other occupiers will fill these pews; other singers will lead the psalmody, when the voices of those who now charm us will be silent in the grave; and another voice will be heard in this pulpit than that which has filled it for fifty years past.

"To how many of you is my ordination a matter of history! You have been born since that day, which many of your fathers and mothers attended. How many of you have I taken in these hands, and offered to God in holy baptism! How many of you have I hailed at your coming to the table of the Lord! And how many of your connexions have I followed to our burying-ground! Ah!' says one, there lies my cherub child!' 'And,' says another, there lies the desire of mine eyes, taken away with a stroke.' And there,' says another, 'lies the guide of my youth.' I am glad, therefore, when every church has a place of interment of their own it seems keeping up still a kind of connexion with the departed. Our dead lie not among strangers. There they buried Abraham, and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac, and Rebecca his wife; and there I buried Leah.' We have all our precious dust in yonder ground! Where is the person belonging to us, who does not go to the grave to weep there? I am sometimes ready to be jealous lest our burying-place should become richer than our church. But no; instead of the fathers are the children.

"Now I seem to be taking a farewell of the fifty years which I have passed within these happy walls! What a difference between the day of which I am reminded, and this day! Then, I was rapidly entering life: I am now gradually withdraw. ing from it. Then, I was commencing my voyage across an untried ocean: now, with the glass in my hand, I am looking for the fair havens. Then, I was a mere youth now, surrounded with children and grandchildren. What was then anxiety is now repose; what was then hope is now accomplishment; what was then prayer is now praise. What a season of humiliation, you will naturally conclude, must

this have been!

"But what deliverances have I experienced during this period! Serious attacks of indisposition formerly prepared me to expect an abbreviated ministry; and perhaps you looked for it too: but having obtained help of God, I continue to this day; and, after all the Ebenezers I have reared along the road, I now rear the largest of them all.

THE RUIN OF SOULS;

A COURSE OF LECTURES

BY MINISTERS IN CONNECTION WITH THE CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION SOCIETY. DELIVERED AT CROWN STREET CHAPEL, SOHO.

Lecture I.

THE POWERS AND PROSPECTS OF THE SOUL.

REV. JOHN BURNET.

WEDNESDAY EVENING, JAN. 20, 1841.

"Who knoweth the spirit of man, that goeth upward; and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?"-Ecclesiastes iii. 21.

In the course of subjects laid down for the occupation of your attention in successive Lectures, to me has been assigned the first; unfolding the powers and the prospects of the human soul. And perhaps a subject more important could not be assigned to me for discussion, nor to you for attentive contemplation. It is one, to which we ought to give the profoundest attention; and it should not only occupy our minds while we are in this place, but it should be carried away with us, and dwelt upon when we are retired, in order that the ideas we may entertain may be fixed and settled, ready for practical application at all times, for our own good and for the glory of God. I know not anything worthy of the name of Man, but the spirit that is within him; I know not anything that raises him above the beasts of the field or the fowls of the air, but the faculties which God has imparted to that spirit; and consequently, the contemplation of those faculties, and the prospects which open before them for their entire developement and their full satisfaction, are the most important subjects, to which the human mind can at any time be directed.

I have selected the words which I have read, to introduce to your consideration the subject assigned to me. Solomon here reminds us, that there is a distinction, a clear and marked distinction, between "the spirit of man that goeth upward" and "the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth."

The question which is here put, may be considered in a twofold point of view. It is first put respecting the spirit of man—“ Who knoweth the spirit of man?" And secondly it is put with regard to the beast-" Who knoweth the spirit of the beast?" And if we come to endeavour to answer this question, in either case, we shall find a great deal of difficulty; and we may learn from this the futility of the argument, frequently brought against the Word of God, arising from the difficulties connected with its apprehension. If we are to refuse to admit any difficulties, if we are to insist on knowing every department of every subject, if we are to insist on denying that which we cannot fully explain, we must then reject the whole system of nature-and especially the animated system of nature. For who is there among us, that understands the characteristic features of the essence of the spirit of man? Who can tell what that substance is, that animates the body, and that carries life and vigour and power through the whole of this frame-work, and gives to this clay tabernacle all the vivacity which it displays? Who is there, that can understand the living principle, which ministers to the existence and the instinct of the animal kingdom? Who is there, that can touch the essence of the meanest insect, which occupies a place in the system of living nature?

VOL. XIII.

We do