do then, if not upon Christ the foundation, and if we never did all our days while upon earth lay him up in store? Why, we shall call to the mountains and rocks to fall upon us, to hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath will be come, and we shall not be able to stand. This is certainly the time which Paul and the other apostles allude to in all the epistles. In the Romans it is worded thus, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand,” xiii. 12. In his 1st epistle to the Corinthians, xv. 62, he calls it the last trump. In his 2nd epistle, v. 10, he calls it “ appearing before the judgment-seat of Christ,' To the Galatians he calls this time, a reaping life everlasting, vi. 7, 8. To the Ephesians he calls it the fulness of time, i. 10; and, presenting the church to himself, a glorious church, v. 27. To the Philippians he calls it looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies, iii. 20, 21. To the Colossians he calls it appearing with Christ in glory, iii. 4. To the Thessalonians, 1st epistle, he speaks of the coming of Christ in all the fifth chapter; and the same in the 2nd epistle. To Timothy, 1st epistle, where our text is, he calls it the time to come: 2nd epistle, he calls it that day, twice by which I understand the last day, as the Saviour calls it in John. To Titus he calls it the appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, ii. 13. To the Hebrews he calls it, Christ appearing the second time, without sin unto salvation, ix. 28. James also in his epistle calls it the coming of the Lord, v. 7, Peter he speaks of the chief Shepherd appearing, 1st epistle, v. 4. And again, The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night," 2nd epistle, iii. 10, John speaks of not being ashamed before him at his coming, ii. 28. Jude speaks of his coming with ten thousand of his

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saints. And John in Revelation speaks of his coming with clouds. And hus it is very clear that this is the time which Paul means, whether you call it the last day, the day of judgment, the appearing of Christ, or .is coming. I believe it all alludes to his coming, as Paul says, the second time, without sin unto salvation. Now put all that I have advanced together, about Christ the foundation, reader, and examine thyself whether thou art going on from day to day laying up in store against the time to come; for it is of the utmost importance, as Paul says, "if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked." The foolish virgins, nor the man without the wedding garment, never laid up in store; so that to the first the door was shut, and to the last, he was cast into outward dark.

ness.

To be Continued in our next.

SPIRITUAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To be Continued.

Mr. Editor.-Allow me to tender my thanks to you for having given publicity to the letter of Mr. Joseph Burnett, which appeared in your October number, and also to say that I have a long unpublished correspondence between that good man and Emma Stocker, the person to whom his enquiry in the aforesaid letter refers. The facts of the case are these: After the death of Mr. Freeman, an uncompromising advocate for the truth as it is in Jesus, at Godmanchester, the church was some time without a pastor. During this period the pulpit was occupied by supplies, one of which was Mr. Burnett, as hath already been noticed, as well as how the blessing of the Lord rested upon his labours, to the awakening and liberating of Emma Stocker.

In submitting to you the different letters, I shall, as relates to those written by her, labour under much

text expressed the earnest desire of my heart after Christ, yet I could not feel that love which the church did; mine was merely the desire, her's was the enjoyment. I desired to love the Lord, and to have some sweet assurance that he indeed died to save such a guilty wretch as I discovered myself to be. Perhaps you may recollect, my dear Sir, that on coming to the words of the text, you first addressed such characters as might be questioning their love to the Lord Jesus. You observed, that longing after Christ was loving him, since it was impossible that there could be a longing after an object which was not beloved, adding, we love him because he first loved us." Oh, Sir, the blessed Spirit accompanied the word with power, and set my burdened soul at liberty. But even since then I have been left to doubt its reality, and to fear it is all a delusion. A few weeks ago, when under a deep sense of corruption, oppressed with these fears and doubts, I begged earnestly of the Lord,

that if I really was deluded by Satan, he would in some way make it manifest to me; and that if Jesus really had died to save such a guilty rebel, he would be graciously pleased to smile upon me, and chase away those clouds of darkness. The dear Lord heard, and answered me with this precious promise, "Because I live, ye shall live also." I had such a view of Jesus and his finished work for his own elect people, and of his death, resurrection and ascension, as I never before experienced, so that not one doubt remained of my personal interest in these rich blessings. Yet, after all, I find myself at times the subject of much unbelief, and if my gracious God does not carry on the work which I

trust he has begun, it must fail. But he has, I know, promised to do it. Oh, may I be enabled to trust him. Begging you will excuse the liberty I have taken, I am, I hope, your daughter, in gospel relation, Godmanchester.

We have forborne noticing this important work, until we had read the volume throughout, which we have now done; not because we hesitated at all in considering it deserved commendation, or because we were so weak as to imagine for a moment that the writings of this eminent man required any praise of ours, but, anticipating as we did a rich feast in the perusal, and which hath been fully realized, we deferred introducing him to our readers, until by being able to tell them of the gratification we had experienced, we might the more rea

E. S. STOCKER.

dily induce them to become guests at the same banquet.

The name of William Bridge hath been long advantageously known to the church of Christ, by his often reprinted and very precious "Seven Sermons on Faith." It is indeed singular, considering the high esteem in which that little volume hath been held, that it had not influenced, earlier than now, some bookseller to send out other portions of his works. This will not, however, be longer cause of regret, as now we are to have all his writings, and presented indeed in a most elegant attire.

Almost without exception the works of the nonconformists of the seventeenth century are excellent. Suffer

ing under privations and anxieties in temporal things, the Lord abundantly bestowed upon them those spiritual blessings, which in circumstances of greater outward prosperity the children of the kingdom more sparingly enjoy. Thus richly endowed in their own souls, they were enabled to leave to the generations that should follow, an accumulation of experimental, doctrinal and practical theology, which, continuously blessed as it hath been by God the Holy Ghost during many years, hath rendered their labours no less useful in the cause of Christ, than if they had been all Whitfields—blessed chiefly in their ministry. They dwelt beneath the cloud: the gloom which overshadowed their pathway obscured the radiance of the Sun of Righteousness, and hid from observation the influences of his Holy Spirit, but the promise was even then verified, God's spiritual Israel had still light in their dwellings; still, in their own souls, the true light visited them, and gave them that wonderful insight into spiritual mysteries, and that deep acquaintance with the variations of the divine life, that we, who in our day are strangers to outward persecution, seem almost to envy them in their distresses, and feel desirous to exchange the langour and the lifelessness of our own calm, for the perils and the vigour of their tempests.

The volume before us contains six complete works: the first is on Christ's Priestly Office: the second on temptation; Satan's Power to Tempt and Christ's Love to and Care of his People under Temptation: the third is, Grace for Grace, or the Overflowing of Christ's Fulness received by all Saints: the fourth, The Spiritual Life and In-being of Christ with all Believers: the fifth, Scripture Light the most Sure Light: and the sixth, The Righteous Man's Habitation: The whole are in the form of sermons, and thus admirably calculated for reading in villages, and other places, where there may be no gospel ministry, And

here we would take the opportunity of impressing it upon our readers, who in the providence of God may happen to be thus situated; do not, if your lot should be cast where there may be a spiritual famine, where no sent servant of the Lord may be found, instrumentally to feed you with the bread of life; do not go, therefore, where sour grapes and evil figs constitute the repast: do not listen to those who preach a kind of heathen morality, or, worse than this, who strive to extinguish or to hide the gospel of the grace of God; but, if yourselves awakened, assemble with those like-minded, and until the Lord shall raise up one qualified to minister amongst you, pray together, and read together the sermons of good men, such as Bridge, and be assured that our God, who is neither confined to means, or to ministers, will, though it be only in an upper room, fulfil his promise of being amongst you to bless

you.

To take extraets from this volume is unnecessary and would be difficult. All is excellent, all is valuable, all is precious; for though here and there might be culled a sentence or two, which if taken apart and twisted out of the author's meaning, might be construed into legality, it is not so when the whole connection is fairly taken into view. But William Bridge leaves no loop-hole for the hypocrite, the presumptuous or the profane; he always keeps to it that the way to Zion is the way of holiness; that he who hath tasted of the fountain wherein is cleansing, will love no longer the filth of his former defilements that he upon whom hath been the sunshine of a Saviour's manifested smile, will never willingly abandon it for the empty things of this empty world: that though a child may fall he will not love the dirt: that though he may walk through darkness he will not choose it: that though he may be tempted of Satan, he will not go forward to meet him,

or to invite him, or to embrace him: but travelling through this wilderness as the Shulamite; his bosom the arena of two ever-conflicting armies, he will always be desiring the triumph of the new man of grace, and be longing for the period to arrive, when delivered from the body of this death he shall know no more sin.

The characteristic excellence of the writings of William Bridge, may be said to be the beautiful and happy adaptation of homely similes to the clearing up and explanation of spiritual truths. In reading Bridge you are never lost, and never lose your author in the labyrinth of an intricate argument. You are never bewildered with demonstrations and propositions so ingeniously twisted together that they will not unravel: he writes from the heart, and addresses himself more to the heart than to the head; and such is the writing which is most calculated to profit.

As the work is to form four volumes, the second of which we are informed is in a state of great forwardness, and as we shall therefore have other opportunities of noticing it, we shall add no more at this time, than just our hearty and most sincere recommendation of it to all those of our readers who can afford the purchase, assuring such that they will not have cause to regret making it.

The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination stated and asserted, with a preliminary discourse on the Divine Attributes. Translated in great measure from the latin of Jerom Zanchius, with his Life, by Rev. A. M. Toplady. 18mo. pp. 204. London: Palmer & Son.

We have much pleasure in announcing this new edition of a most invaluable and standard work. Here is, indeed, a solid pillar of argument, which all the advocates of a chance salvation can neither overthrow nor undermine. It will remain an im

perishable memorial of the soundness in the faith and the ability of the great German reformer; and Mr. Toplady rendered, indeed, a real benefit to the perplexed of the Lord's family, when freeing the work from the scholastic excrescences of its original author, he supplied so invincible an answer to the sophistries of freewill. We have only to add in reference to this edition, that it is a verbatim reprint from the original octavo edition, without any alteration or abridgment, and is published at half the price at which any former copy was published.

Sion's Songs or Hymns composed for the use of them that love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. By John Berridge, M. A. 32mo. pp. 455. London: Palmers.

A beautiful pocket edition of a very favourite volume with us. There may be nothing which in poetical language can be called grand or imaginative, but Berridge, who wrote for the soul's profit, has entered so fully into, and described so feelingly the soul's expe rience, that while there remain in the wilderness travellers Zionward, so long will his little volume point out to them the waymarks of their pilgrimage, and cheer and encourage them in their progress.

It was grand mistake, and a most unwarrantable liberty, which the editor of a recent edition of this volume took with it, to expunge from it cer tain hymns and verses of hymns which did not coincide with that editor's exclusive views on adult baptism. It was a grand mistake in any bookseller to permit him thus to injure a standard work, and a most unwarrantable liberty for a young man to take with a volume which has been so long esteemed and so abundantly blessed. His imprimatur to it gave it no additional recommendation in the opinion of persons of sound judgment. John Berridge never stood in need of Mr.