Godliness;" ;" "God manifest in the flesh." This beats reason out of the field. "Bow down, sense and reason, faith only reigns here;" "Reason not, but still believe." What a mercy it is that God condescends to reveal this mystery to babes, while the wise men of this world too often cavil and scoff.

Let us first notice the pre-eminence of His Person in His Eternity. We read (John i. 1), "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." How plainly, when carefully considered, this text teaches the plurality of persons in the Godhead; and why is Christ here called the Word? Might it not be, that as words are the means of our communicating our thoughts to one another, so God intends thereby to show that He can only communicate His thoughts of love to us through His beloved Son. Again, we read in the Epistle to the Romans, of "His eternal power and Godhead ;" and again, in the 5th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews and 9th verse, He is said to be the "Author of eternal salvation," and the author of eternal salvation must also Himself be eternal. But this leads us to speak secondly, of His Sonship. Pre-eminently, a Son, and not only so, but the Eternal Son of God, and God the Son. We find, in the Book of Genesis, that men are called the "sons of God," and in St. Luke's Gospel Adam is said to be "the Son of God." In the Book of Job we read that when the worlds were made the "sons of God shouted for joy." By these sons must be meant the holy angels. Christ is, however, a son pre-eminent over these, for He is spoken of as "the Eternal and only-begotten Son of God." Men and angels are not eternal; they were created by "Him who made the worlds;" but Christ is "begotten of His Father before all worlds." Thrice in the Gospel of St. John is He called the "Only begotten Son of God." In the 8th chapter of Romans and 3rd verse, God is represented as sending "His own Son ;" mark that, His own Son, before He was sent. Again, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, v. chap. 8 verse, we read "Though He were a son, yet learned He obedience by the things that He suffered." In the parable of the husbandmen the owner of the vineyard is represented as saying "They will reverence my Son ;" and thus we see, by many Scriptures that our Lord was not only the Incarnate but also the Eternal Son of God. See also 1 John, v. chap. 20 verse. Thirdly, His Person is pre-eminent in its perfect purity and sinless perfection. None of all the fallen sons of Adam ever could obey the righteous demands of God's inflexible law. "The law," says the great Apostle, "is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." He, as all God's people do, felt its thraldom, he realised that he was a slave to it, and said that even though regenerated, yet such was still its power that "when he would do good evil was present with him." What a fearful thing it is to be thus encircled and bound hand and foot by this adamant chain, and yet not to realize it and groan under the slavery, but rather hug our chain and glory in the shame; yet such is our state by nature. The word of God declares that none are righteous; no, not one." "None is good but one, that is God." Yet Jesus, the God-man was perfect, holy, harmless, and undefiled. As God, we know He could not have been otherwise. "He is the Rock;

His work is perfect, all His ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity; just and right is He. Deut. xxxii. 4. As man also He was immaculate, spotless; there was no blemish in Him. Formed not by human generation, but by the overshadowing power of the Spirit of God, His human body, called a "holy thing," was made entirely free from a taint of the original depravity inherent in all the descendants of Adam. Thus the body of Christ, though capable of dying, was immortal, having no sin; the seeds of death were not sown there, and so "He laid down His life of Himself." Fourthly, He was pre-eminent in the purity of His Life. "He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; when He was reviled He reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." Satan tried perseveringly his keenest and sharpest shafts, but they found no hold in that Holy Nature. Prince of this world cometh," saith He, "but hath nothing in me.' He could not fall under the power of any temptation, and the whole of His Life was spent in doing good to the bodies of mankind, and to the souls of His own people. Then, having finished His course on earth, He performed the great work, which was the object of His incarnation, by suffering the Just for the unjust, that He might bring sinners to God, and purify to Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works;" who, being made "partakers of His divine nature," should by the power of His Spirit in them endeavour, by imitating His Life, to "show forth the praises of Him, who had called them from darkness into His marvellous light."

66

"The

SPIRITUAL TRIALS AND THEIR EFFECT.

The Searcher of all hearts alone knows what agonies my poor soul has undergone since my retirement from the world. The remembrance of my past sins has overwhelmed my soul, and caused tears to be my meat, day and night, but I looked to Him whom I have pierced. I was enabled to see the freeness and riches of His grace, the infiniteness and eternity of his love, and my soul received comfort. O, the excellency of the doctrine of election, and of the saints' final perseverance to those who are truly sealed by the Spirit of promise. I am persuaded, till a man comes to believe and feel these important truths he cannot come out of himself, but when convinced of these, and assured of the application of them to his own heart, he then walks by faith indeed; not in himself, but in the Son of God. Love, not fear, constrains him to obedience. .. Why should we desire to plead, for righteousness of our own, and cry up free-will, when we have an infinitely better righteousness than our own to appear in, and a God that will crown us with eternal glory, working in us both to will and to do after His own good pleasure.-Whitefield.

....

Extracts from A Word in Season,

Addressed to the Members of the Congregation of Bethesda Chapel, on the Occasion of the Death of the REV. W. H. KRAUSE, A.M., their late Loved and Lamented Minister.

MY DEAR BRETHREN,

We have lost our pastor!

The Lord, to promote whose glory was his chief delight, has called him home-and he has gone to his rest!

We feel the bereavement, and mourn. But being enabled, by Divine grace, to apply the truths which he was raised up to teach, we can recognise in the trial a Father's hand, and with submission say

However mysterious to us the dispensation may appear-and it is mysterious—we know that it comes in unerring wisdom, to accomplish a purpose of love concerning us (though now we see it not), as well as one of glory to the departed.

"What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." John xiii. 7.

Take comfort, then, dear brethren, and while we lament his loss, let us not repine, as though God had visited us in anger, and withdrawn the light of His countenance from us; but rather let us rejoice with thanksgiving in that a faithful pastor was so long spared to minister amongst us the unsearchable riches of Christ; and that the precious truths which he so faithfully proclaimed have been, by the power of the Spirit, brought home to our hearts, giving peace to our souls in the assurance of pardoned sin, and a sense of acceptance with God, through the merits of our Redeemer. So that in this, as in every other dispensation of His providence, we are enabled to look upon Him, not as an angry judge, but as a covenant God, and a reconciled Father in Jesus Christ.

We bear him record, that while yet with us, he did not "shun to declare all the counsel of God." He preached not himself, "but Christ Jesus the Lord," and himself "your servant for Christ's sake." Suffice it to say (and we know that this would have been his own testimony of himself), that he was a sinner saved by grace—a “vessel of mercy, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, regenerated and chosen to be the passive recipient of all the spiritual gifts and graces which it pleased God to pour out abundantly upon him, for the comfort and sustenance of his own soul, and for the instruction of the flock which the Lord appointed him to feed.

But though he was in himself but a sinner who had obtained mercy of the Lord, yet surely, in his ministerial office, we may speak of him as one who was found faithful.

As a careful shepherd he led his people into the green pastures of God's blessed Word, and fed them there. He led them to the crystal fountain of the "water of life;" and the thirsty were satisfied by its

life-giving streams. As a faithful labourer in the garden of the Lord, he scattered broadcast the Gospel seed; and though, in the unsearchable judgments of God, some may have fallen "by the wayside, or in stony places," we know that much has fallen upon "good ground," and that it has sprung up and brought forth, and that it will yet spring up and blossom, and bring forth much fruit, to the beautifying of the Church of God, and to the glory of the name of Jesus.

But it has been said by some who knew not the truth, and therefore understood him not, that "he was an exclusive preacher." "Tis true he was, in so far as he preached "Christ crucified as the only procuring cause of man's salvation, to the utter exclusion of anything in man that could exalt the creature, or rob God of His glory; and "union with Christ as the only state in which sinful man can please God, "for without (or severed from) me," says our Lord, "ye can do nothing." John xv. But as regards the universality of the Gospel message, so far from presuming to limit the grace of God, he emphatically declared his commission to be to "preach the Gospel to every creature," and while he delighted to carry out the Divine command, by proclaiming the simple truth that "he that believeth shall be saved," he dared not, from any false notions of charity, to withhold the awful converse," he that believeth not shall be damned!" And those of us whose hearts, like Lydia's, the Lord opened, so that we attended to the things spoken by him, can dwell with sweet remembrance on the experience of the past-how faith was strengthened-hope revived-and peace established, as, with hands uplifted, and eyes beaming with a holy zeal, like one conscious of Divine authority, he, trumpettongued, proclaimed "Full! free! unconditional! and everlasting salvation! to the very chief of sinners who believeth in Jesus!" Away, then, with the unjust imputation that he would exclude any poor, seeking sinner from participation in the richness of Gospel mercy and Gospel grace.

But while he thus proclaimed the truth in all its fulness, freeness, and simplicity, he never misled his people by obscure or hypothetical speculations, nor withheld the great fact that redemption was accomplished on Mount Calvary, by the outpouring of the precious blood of God's dear Son, leaving nothing for man to do to complete the work; nor could the preacher, had he even a seraph's tongue, bring home those truths to the sinner's heart. He confessed that he was but the honoured instrument, in the hand of God, to declare his truth. That it was his to "cry aloud and spare not and show the people their transgressions," and preach pardon and peace through the blood of Christ, which "cleanseth from all sin," crying "Hear! and your soul shall live!" but that it was God alone who could cause the "Ephphatha" to reach the heart, so that the sinner should believe and be saved. That it was his to lead the flock into the "green pastures and beside the still waters;" but God alone could create the longings of the soul, to be satisfied therein. That it was his to cast the seed; but God alone could prepare the ground to receive it, and water it, and nourish it, and cause it to bring forth fruit. In short, that salvation, from first to last, was altogether of God, through Jesus Christ, irres

pective of anything in the poor, helpless creature, who may be, in the sovereign mercy and love of God, made the subject of it.

God, who commanded "the light to shine out of darkness," shines into the sinner's heart, giving him "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Thus the veil of unbelief having been withdrawn, the sinner is enabled to see himself in all his native sin and deformity-as lost, ruined, condemned, and Jesus is revealed to him as the very Saviour suited to his case, who came "to seek and to save that which was lost." So that, being taught by the Holy Ghost to believe "the record that God hath given unto us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son," his soul is relieved of the burden of sin, which he now sees as transferred to Christ, as his surety and substitute, who hath "made an end of sin" by His death upon the cross, and "brought in an everlasting righteousness;" the fear of death is taken away, and the righteousness of Christ being imputed to him by faith, he is "filled with all joy and peace in believing.

And as it pleases God to reveal more and more of Himself to the emancipated soul-as the Spirit, whose office it is, "takes of the things of Jesus and shows them unto him"-he discovers, to his infinite joy and comfort, that this salvation depends not upon any chances, or contingencies, or performances of his own, but that, though only now revealed to him, it was secured by covenant engagement and purpose in the councils of Jehovah, from all eternity-"Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to life through the Gospel." 2 Tim. i. 9, 10. So that the believer, being united to Christ by faith, is one with Him, as a branch of the true vine. He is adopted into the family of God, and made a partaker of all the precious promises which are treasured up for him in Christ Jesus.

But it has also been said by some that this "free grace," which he preached," is a dangerous doctrine, and calculated to lead to carelessness of living." Oh! how little do such know of the sanctifying influence of the Gospel upon the hearts of those, who, by the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost, have received it. Do they really know, that "if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things (even to his tastes, pursuits, and affections!) have become new?" St. Paul, anticipating such cavillings, in speaking of the superabounding grace of God where sin abounded, says, "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ?" Rom. iv. 1, 2. Again, another Apostle, in exhorting those who have been, by "free grace" made partakers of Gospel blessings, says "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance; but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written 'Be ye holy, for I am holy.'" 1 Peter i. 14, 15, 16.

Such are the precepts of the Gospel, to those who believe its doctrines, throughout the whole of Scripture; these few passages, how