mysterious sufferings, fully honoured, and glorified, and magnified the Father on our behalf. So justice is satisfied, and mercy is built up for ever. And the Holy Ghost is called the promise of the Father, in order to direct and encourage us to invoke his holy aid, and to implore the bestowment of the sacred boon; that he may dwell in our hearts, and thus strengthen our faith, encourage our hope, enlarge our capacities in spiritual things, and warm our affections with the fire of his love. The Lord enable you, then, to seek this precious gift at a throne of grace. Seek him in his word; seek him in his house of prayer; seek him at the family altar; seek him in the closet. It is he, and none less than he, who must make you to see your interest in the Lamb of God, to rejoice in the glorious atonement made at Calvary, and bow with humble adoration before the throne of his mercy. Oh, Holy Comforter, Spirit divine, dwell richly my heart by precious grace; grant me heavenly instruction, afford me celestial influences, bestow, I would implore of thee, spiritual consolation. Early would I seek thee, as the peculiar promise of the Father, and of Christ; so would I find thee to the joy of my soul.

in

Hence follows also all the promises of gospel comfort, aid and support. Yea, and the precepts are generally seen in connection with the promises of grace. 66 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him," James i. 5. This is a precept which embodies a promise. A promise that God will, in answer to prayer, give

the grace of wisdom in the hour of need. Wisdom, the beginning of which is the fear of the Lord; wisdom, the substance of which is faith, love, humility, meekness, comfort, support, and zeal for God's cause and his glory. Of all which, together with preservation and final perseve

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rance, the Author of our salvation hath said, cient for you."

My grace shall be suffi

3. Promises concerning future happiness and glory. Of Jesus it may be truly said, "His lips drop manna.' And sure I am, if his promises be precious when they speak of the blessings of providence, they are more precious when they point to the blessings of his grace: but when they declare the blessings of an eternal world, what less can we say of them, than that they are most precious, and like their great Author, altogether lovely. And if we consider that the apostle in the words of our text, comprehends this class of promises, we shall not wonder at his bursting forth so sublimely with this threefold epithet, "Exceeding great and precious promises." When Isaiah spake the prophetic promises relative to the coming of Messiah, his sufferings and death; in order to awaken attention to the greatness of their blessedness, and the certainty of their accomplishment, he gives it in the form of a narrative. John, in like manner, relates the future happiness and glory of the elect in the form of a narrative of past and present events. This is for the fixing of our faith more firmly in those promises, that our burdened spirits may be relieved, and we be filled with the blessed hope of immortality, joy and glory, in communion with Jesus for ever.

The

Secondly, we shall notice some of their peculiar characteristics. promises of the Most High bear the sacred impress of his own divinity. Every promise he has made is worthy of himself. Goodness, love, tenderness, holiness and wisdom is stamped upon them all. And this may be seen most distinctly, if we consider:

1. Their suitability to individual character. We should be deceiving our souls with false hopes on the one hand, or with unnecessary distress on the other, if we overlooked this important feature. Are there any pro

mises to the sinner who is dead in trespasses and sins, who is afar off from God by wicked works? If we may be allowed to call them promises, there are; but nay, rather let them be called the threatenings of a sinavenging God: or, if you please, the denunciations of eternal wrath against sinners, living and dying in the hardness of their hearts, strangers to divine graee. Are there promises to the backslider? Threatenings there ⚫ are: God declares, The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways;" but to the returning backslider, there are promises the most consoling. The God of heaven looks down and beholds the poor penitent mourning under a deep feeling of contrition, and with sacred energy applies the endearing language," Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee," Matt. ix. 2. For the mourning there are promises of comfort; for the sorrowful, promises of happiness and joy; for the sick, promises of health; for the needy, promises of support; for the persecuted, promises of protection and deliverance; and for the dying, light and immortality.

2. The eternity of their state. "Before the world began," Titus i. 2. Yet, where was then the needy character? Where was the election of grace before the world began? Where was the church of the living God? Then, we had not a being; unless it were in the purposes of him who accounteth of things that are not, as though they then existed. The promises were made before time began; therefore they were not made upon the ground of any excellency in the creature. Neither were they made immediately to us, but for us. They were made on our behalf, before the world began, to God's dear Son, who in the councils of love, had covenanted to take our nature in the fulness of time, and atone for our sins. Therefore they were made from eternity, in the covenant of grace, to the

church's Head, having immediate respect to the great act of atonement. So, had there been no Redeemer, we could have had no promises. The promises were made to Jesus on our behalf. Never lose sight of this interesting feature; equally for your own comfort and Jehovah's glory. Jesus looks more for the fulfilment of every promise made to him on your behalf, than ever can your most anxious faith, or enlarged and earnest desire.

3. Jehovah's faithfulness displayed in the fulfilling of his promise. Unchanging truth distinguishes the promise of God. Which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began," Titus i. 2. God that cannot lie! what a solemn, what a delightful expression. Here is another like it: "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, to the glory of God by us," 2 Cor. i. 20. He in whose sight the heavens are not clean; he, whose righteousness is as the radiant splendour of his own glory; he, whose holiness far surpasses the holiness of the purest created intelligence; he cannot do any thing unworthy of himself. He cannot lie; he cannot, because for his righteousness' sake he will not. He will not upon any consideration falsify his word. He has promised, and he will not alter the thing which has gone out of his mouth. change with changing circumstances, God never changes. All his promises flowed from the mighty depths of his own unchanging love; they were made unto his dear Son, they were based upon the atonement to be made by him; they were made on behalf of the characters themselves depict; and what, O my soul, can prevent their fulfilment ! Bear then in mind, my fellow sinner, that our heavenly Father's promises cannot be nullified by our poor changeable frames and feelings; by our dark, foreboding fears. Our faith may be weak and trembling, our devotion wavering, our

Mortals

est attachments become lukewarm and cold; but God's promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, and never were forfeited yet. O thou High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity; whose ways are inscrutible even to the burning seraph before thy throne, blessings for ever on thy holy name, for the exceeding great and precious promises of thy gospel, so divinely bestowed, so faithfully fulfilled. We looked for wrath, but behold mercy; for curses, but lo, we found blessings; we trembled before thy throne, but to us it proved a throne of grace.

Thirdly, The effects to be produced by the application of these promises. That by these you might be partakers of the divine nature." having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Of themselves, the promises can produce nothing. They are the sword of the Spirit, whereby he foils and overcomes the powers of darkness within our hearts. It is my mercy, so also is it your mercy, to know, that when a divine promise is felt with energy and sweetness in the soul, expelling for a season the distress and darkness which too often abound there; that is none other than the Holy Spirit wielding his own sword, to the discomfiting of our enemies and the strengthening of our hope. Nay, the whole word of God, precepts as well as promises, is the sword of the Spirit; and when thus divinely felt, it is by the influence of Him who has promised to glorify Jesus in our hearts.

be partakers of the divine nature, but by the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts, through the Holy Ghost who is given unto us. And in christian experience, it is essential to our comfort, and the glory of God, that the heart be made perfect in love. What so calculated to remove doubts and banish all slavish fear, as for the Spirit of Truth to comfort our souls with gospel promises; as with these he causes the distressed soul to take refuge beneath the cross, and behold her sins pardoned by the precious blood of Immanuel, he banishes fear and drives away doubt. Then, that soul, thus comforted with the promise, having the eye of her faith directed to the bleeding victim, is made perfect in love, a partaker of the divine nature. She is melted with gratitude, humbled under a sense of the superabounding love of God, and filled with praise, thanksgiving and blessing in the sweet enjoyment of such unspeakable grace. And as the promise enters, the powers of darkness flee; as it abounds, so the enriched soul abounds in love; as it abides, our faith becomes strong; as it is unchangeable, our hearts become established in grace, and we live and die giving glory to the undivided Three, who in the fulness of his love, the riches of his goodness, and the greatness of his being, has made unto us such exceeding great and precious promises.

Now unto him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and for ever. Amen.

EXTRACT FROM BRIDGE.

It is the proper work of faith to fall with a suitable promise, and to apply the same: if that plaster of the promise be not laid on with a warm hand, it will not stick.

IN my last paper I trespassed on your pages by its length. I will only mention one observation more respecting the new man, and conclude with a few observations on the source or foundation of Mr. Triggs' living so happily, as he writes.

The apostle says, he "knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago:" this man in Christ was himself, and he informs us that he was a new man in Christ, Eph. i. 10, For we (that is, the apostles and the saints and faithful in Ephesus,) are his (God's) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained we should walk in them." And again the apostle saith, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."

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Now I believe that the main feature in the new man is life, as it is written : For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all (the elect of God) be made alive." First, by a spiritual birth; and finally, the body at the last day. Now Christ says, "I came that my sheep might have life" and this spiritual or divine life is said to be the work of the Holy Three. The Father quickeneth whom he will, and the Son quickeneth whom he will, and the apostle adds, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." This life is a free gift: I give my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." And again saith Jesus, " He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." And Paul, Rom. vi. 23, thus writes: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." And we find that real faith, which is

of the operation of the Spirit, is called God's work: "This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent," John vi. 29. And where this faith that works by love, is found in the heart of a poor sinner, it makes manifest that they are partakers of life, as it is written: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him," John iii. 39.

I will now, Sir, take notice of the ground of Mr. Triggs' happiness, which he informs in this letter he hath been thirty years in attaining to. His words are : There are two men spoken of in the word, and I have nothing to do with any other; and that is the reason I live so happily: and these names I think you will find to be, Adam the first, of the earth, earthy, the old man; the second man is the Lord from heaven, this is the new man, and I know of no other, of whom it is said, that "He hath made in (not of or by, but in) himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” This is of twain, God and man, one Christ, Immanuel." Now, Sir, I trust I have in the preceding papers proved from the word of God, that as it respects the person of the dear Redeemer, Mr. Triggs hath greatly erred; and if his happiness arises from a false conception of Jesus Christ, I envy not his happiness, and must conclude with the prophet,

He feedeth on ashes, a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right-hand," Isaiah xliv. 20.

And in the same page, a little lower, he boastingly saith, "Then to live in a knowledge of this, is to live the righteousness of God, (strange, unscriptural expression of a very strange man,) far above the old man, sin, death and devil, and far out of the reach of them." Why, Mr. Triggs, thou must have attained to sinless

perfection, thy speech proves thee perverse, "For if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," 1 John i. 8. No sinful thoughts, no evil desires then can trouble thee, for thou sayest thou livest far out of the reach of them. The devil cannot tempt thee, for thou sayest thou art far out of the reach of the devil. Thou exceedest over Jesus Christ, who was tempted of the devil; and as for the apostles and prophets, thou hast in thy deceived mind left them a thousand leagues behind, for they one and all complain of a body of sin and death, that when they would do good, evil is present with them; and further, Paul says, "I find a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind:" and he exhorts Timothy, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, to endure hardness: and in his last epistle, written a little before his martyrdom he saith, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course," &c. But Mr. Triggs hath got so high, (but it is only in his own vain conceit,) that he lives far out of the reach of the old man, sin, death and the devil. But we know, saith John, that no lie is of the truth;" and this proud boasting of Mr. Triggs proves him a liar, and his speech and his writings nothing worth.

In the close of this letter to Mr, Bates, page 416, he thus writes. 'But you say, Is there not a warfare between my old man and new man in Christ? I say, No, nor can you find a scripture to prove it; for I will whisper a word to you, if that were true, your old man, so called, must be in Christ also, or else they cannot come near to fight." Reader, was there ever so carnal, so unscriptural a statement made by any who were taught of God, and had the fear and holy reverence of a good and gracious God in their hearts. To follow this vain boaster through all his heterogeneous matter published in this letter, would require a volume;

but shall only add, that in Mr. Triggs the scripture is fulfilled: "In the last days perilous times shall come, for men (called gospel ministers) shall be boasters, proud, heady, highminded," &c, 2 Tim. iii.

I shall now conclude these papers, and may a good and gracious God deliver his people from all such error and confusion, as is manifested in Mr. Triggs' letter to Mr. Bates.

AN OLD DISCIPLE.

EDITORS' REMARKS.

HEAVY and solemn charges these, and such as, if distinctly proved and obstinately persisted in, go far to exclude the promulgator, from the name and the character of a minister of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The letter of Mr. Triggs' which has called forth these strictures, we have not read, as published in the Gospel Magazine, and know no more of it than is extracted for us by the Old Disciple. The Gospel Magazine we have long ceased to read. In the time of Mr. Toplady it was indeed a grand bulwark to Bible doctrines; when edited by Mr. Row, it was, notwithstanding that good man's constitutional snarling and bickering, the repository of much that is excellent: when for a few months it was edited by the Clerical bigot and Puseyite, of whom we once hoped great things, it was beneath notice, and now, what is it? the experience of the children of God, dressed up and decorated with the sentimentalism of a fashionable novel: we allude of course chiefly to the Editors' own productions. We used occasionally to look over its pages, but its continued mawkishness, and the crudeness of its statements, manifest even under the affected feeling of its style, has long ago palled, and satiated, and disgusted us.

We mention this as the reason why we had not ourselves alluded to or