good to be unkind, and too wise to err; and the day will assuredly come when all his beloved ones shall see and own, that he hath led us by a right way to the city which hath foundations.

These two Sermons were preached on occasion of the dreadful murder of two children by their mother, who also made a desperate attempt to end her own miserable life. Mr. Heap takes for his text Zion's mournful complaint, and the Lord's interrogatory and soothing reply, in Isaiah xlix. 14, 15. The discourse-for the two sermons are embodied in oneis very interesting, very fluent, and withal scriptural. We cannot do otherwise than commend it to our readers with our hearty perusal.

The Voice of Jehovah crying to the City, a Sermon, by Joseph Sutcliffe, A.M. 8vo. pp. 40. London: J. Mason.

THIS is a discourse undoubtedly of considerable talent, but certainly of a most unusual character. The author might be regarded as chief of the apostles, if the gospel affected only the present life, for we are led by him into all the mazes of this world's naughtiness, and counselled very wisely to be aware of them and to shun them. So far it is well, no doubt, and far be it from us to deteriorate his merits; but entertaining as we confess we do, higher and nobler views of those who are in deed and in truth ambassadors for Christ -of those who are commissioned to exhort, to warn, to encourage, to comfort, and to direct the seeking soul to the only and all-sufficient Saviour, and to bring out from the treasury of their own experience, things new and old, as the Holy Ghost may give them utterance; we cannot for our part regard this Mr. Joseph Sutcliffe as a scribe well instructed in divine things, however much he may be so in this world's wisdom. The

sermon however is very amusing; it may be termed an instructive and pleasing lecture, but certainly not a gospel discourse.

Letters by Joseph Burnett, late Minister of Bethlehem Chapel, Woolwich, 8vo. pp. 83. London, Groombridge.

Gold unalloyed and unrefined, rough as it comes from the mine, is here presented; and they who love truth in her native beauty, undecked with human adornments, will highly prize these genuine effusions of an experienced believer. We regretted however that they had not been more carefully prepared for the press: the punctuation often grievously obscuring the sense, and other errors, which, in a second edition, we should

hope to see rectified.

Popular Phrenology tried by the Word of God, and proved to be antichrist, and injurious to individuals and families. 12mo. pp. 24, London, Sherwood.

We have always regarded Phrenologists as Materialists, and consequently Infidels, but we have not yet attached sufficient importance to them to regard them as antichrist, in any other respect than that being contrary to divine revelation, they are consequently opposers of the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems to us to give their follies an undue elevation, and when we read, in their publications of the human heart, being like a sheep's heart, and of all the actions of men, being the result of different formations of the brain, and that consequently men are irresponsible for what they are thus impelled to by organic structure, we want no other proof of their scepticism and no other evidence of their folly. This little tract is a scriptural exposure of the system, and is well adapted to be given to any, who may have been seduced by their sophistries.

THE MYSTERIES OF DIVINE GRACE IN

THE CHRISTIAN'S EXPERIENCE.

WHEN Jesus first to me revealed
The riches of his saving grace,
The blissful sight my bosom filled
With ardent love and heavenly peace.

He shewed his furrowed back, and said,
He suffered that I might go free;
He shewed the hole the spear had made,
And said it was to shelter me.

He shewed the wounds I could not count,
Inflicted by the thorny crown;
Then bid me look to Calvary's mount,
And see the blood run streaming down.

Oh, how I felt my passions move
To hear him thus his woes repeat;
O'erwhelmed with such stupendous love,
I dropped, and clasped his pierced feet.

I felt his healing blood applied,
For nought but that could bring such peace;
Conscience and law both satisfied
Proclaimed my pardon and release.

I saw that all my sins had met
On the dear victim's guiltless head;
That he had borne the enormous weight,
And all the rights of justice paid.

I felt my doubts and fears remove,
And leave my over-burdened mind;
I saw my interest in his love,
And on his breast my head reclined.

I entered into gospel rest,
From legal works and servile dread;
In him I was completely blest,
I saw him all that I could need.

His love was sweetly shed abroad,
And captivated all my heart;

I called him mine, My Lord, My God,
And begged that he would ne'er depart.

The world, with all its good and fair,
Seemed dark and faded in my eyes;
I breathed for heaven, my heart was there,
And scorned to live beneath the skies.

A sight of the celestial sun,
Of Jesus the eternal fair,

From earth my best affections won,

And weaned my soul from every snare.

Jesus, and heaven, and sacred things
Employed my thoughts through all the day;
Till wrapped within the downy wings
Of balmy sleep I thoughtless lay.

And when the opening morn appeared,
My thoughts resumed again their theme;
My heaven-born soul was never tired
Of meditating on his name.

I longed to fly from Kedar's tents,
From Mesech's dwellings to be gone;
I longed to live with holy saints,
And loved their company alone.

Sins and corruptions dormant lay,
I thought old nature sure was dead;
Doubtless, said I, I 've won the day,
For all my enemies are fled.

But I forgot the rebels hid.
Those treacherous foes that lurk within;
I thought the plague was surely stayed,
And cleansed to be no more unclean.

But long this sunshine did not last,
The wind and storm began to rise;
The blackening clouds to overcast
My soul's once calm and cloudless skies.

My former tyrants struggled hard
To gain the power they once possessed;
And thus my choicest comforts marred,
And threatened to destroy my rest.

The dragan marshalled all his crew
My feeble soul to overthrow;
While my corruptions stronger grew,
And joined the roaring hellish foe.

I saw 1 was mistaken far

In thinking all my strife was done;
I found I must prepare for war,
And put the gospel armour on.

I found a soldier's life destined
To be my lot my journey through;
To fight the world and Satan joined
With my own heart, the bitterest foe.

Wisdom and goodness now I see
Shine through the dark mysterious cloud;
The dealings of the Lord to me
All work together for my good.

A sight of my disease within
Leads me to prize and value more

That blood which pardons all my sin,
And heals my soul with sovereign power.

It lays me low before the cross,
And makes me cry, Unclean, unclean;
I see my righteousness all dross,
And all my graces stained with sin.

It cuts the shoots of rising pride
And pharisaic boasting down;
I feel I must be justified

In Jesus's righteousness alone.

I feel how changeable I am,
And daily need a fresh supply
Out of the fulness of the Lamb,

Or else my strength will fade and die.

It tries my faith, as gold is tried,
And proves it genuine and divine;
For living faith will still confice
In God, though all be dark within.

The Saviour's love to me I know
Remains invariably the same:
The scenes my sinful heart goes through
Can never damp the eternal flame.

Did he not love me when I lay
Vile and polluted, dead in sin?
And will he cast my soul away
Now he has put his grace within?

He'll bring me to his courts above,
There to behold his unveiled face;
And with a soul and harp of love,
Adore his rich, unchanging grace.

Then shall I look with sweet amaze
On all the windings of the road,
And see what wisdom chose my ways,
And let me safe to that abode.

J. F. M.

In these the Holy Ghost implants
The seed of life divine;
They 're clothed in Jesus's righteousness,
And in his glory shine.

Dear Challis thus in youthful days
Was by the Spirit taught,

To know he'd sinned against our God
In word and deed and thought.

That honoured champion, dear Romaine,
Unto his soul was blessed;
When only thirteen years of age
He joy and peace possessed.

He grew in knowledge, wisdom, grace,
And did God's truth proclaim;
The Holy Ghost applied the word,
And some were born again.

But now the period has arrived
When God has called him home,
And those who knew him once with joy
Do now his absence mourn.

Yes, now he is to glory gone,

His work is done below,

He's freed from sorrow, sin and pain,
From misery and woe.

He softly, sweetly breathed his last
Without a sigh or groan,

And absent from his house of clay,
Is with his Lord at home.

I now forbear his steps to trace,
For who on earth can tell
The glorious, blissful state of those
Who with the Saviour dwell.

For we who only taste his love While travelling here below, Find language fail us to describe The sweets which from it flow.

MARY.

LINES

Written after hearing a Sermon preached by the Rev. R. Luckin, March 30, 1845, on Occasion of the Death of Mr. T. Challis, from Psalm ciii. 16, 17.

MAN like the grass is soon cut down,
His days how swift they are;
The place which knew him here below
Shall know him now no more.

God's mercy is the only hope
For sinners vile as I ;
From everlasting 't is the same,
And to eternity.

The chosen seed beloved of God,
For whom the Saviour died,
Are those who in this mercy share,
And every storm outride.

ACROSTIC,

Hear, Jesus calls, he speaks to thee,
Encouraging thy troubled soul.
No harm can hurt, his promise see;
Recline in peace when troubles roll,
In vain might thunders shake the pole,
Entomb the world; peace shall pervade
Thy breast, and thou shalt smiling stand;
To thee has grace been well displayed;
And thou shalt see bright Canaan's land.

Call on thy God, he has an ear,
Remember he imparts his love;
Oh, may he ever banish fear,
Kindle his joy from world's above;
Extract thee from affliction's fire,
Replenish well with faith's desire,

THE GOSPEL PULPIT.

THE PORTION OF THOSE THAT FEAR THE LORD.

has made known unto us, so that we are treated by him, not with the reserve that is shown to strangers, but with the confidence that is bestowed on persons who are bound to him in the ties of the most endear

Poole, March 1844,

BY REV. E. ROBERTS, Curate.

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, he will shew them his covenant."-Ps. xxv. 14.

Or the condescension of God, mankind in general form very inadequate ideas. His greatness is supposed to

be such as not to admit of an attention to the trifling concerns of men, and because we stand at an infinite distance from him, the idea of familiar approximation to him is contem. plated only as a fanatical and wild conceit. But God represents himself to us as a Father, and our blessed Lord Jesus says, Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, but I have called you friends. Now the Lord Jesus Christ was from eternity in the bosom of the Father, and knoweth the Father as intimately and completely as the Father knoweth him, and all the Father's secrets he June, 1845.]

dispensation, this holy familiarity, indeed, was but little known, the whole economy was of a servile nahaving any immediate access to God, ture; none, except the high priest, nor he except in one day in a year, and then not without the blood of sacrifices. Yet, even under that dis pensation, some were more highly favored with divine communications, insomuch that Solomon could say, the secret of the Lord as with the righteous. Under the government of the Lord Jesus Christ, the legal distinctions are removed, and all true christians profess the same privileges as the most favoured of God's servants, so that now it may be said in reference to them all without exception, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.

In confirmation of this truth, I will endeavour to point out, in the first place, some of those secrets which God reveals to his faithful people.

R

And secondly, to consider that more particular part of his covenant, which is the crown and summit of them all.

In drawing your attention to these words, we feel assured that many parts of our discourse will be unintelligible to the greater part of our congregation; that in fact, except to those who are taught of God by his Spirit, and who seek constant communion with him, by diligent attention to prayer, and the study of God's word, much of the Bible must contain that which they can only receive as a fable. For the whole of the divine life is a secret from the beginning to the end, and the joys arising from it are such as the stranger intermeddleth not with it is like the dew that descends upon the earth, and without any visible effect nourishes the ground, and enables it to bring forth for the good of man.

So the humble believer, being a branch of the true vine, continually, though imperceptibly, derives nourishment from the parent stock, and increaseth in vigour and strength every day. But to descend to particulars. Our gracious God gives to his people an insight into the great mystery of redemption, by which work of wonder and love God can be just and justify the believer in Christ.

This was a mystery hid from ages and generations; yea, hid in God from the foundation of the world; but at last was made known to the church by Christ and his holy apostles, that all God's saints might become acquainted with it. St. Paul, speaking of the great truths of the gospel, says, "it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." We must not, how ever, imagine that because this mystery is revealed to the church in the written word, we need no further revelation of it to our souls for the

natural man, &c. Notwithstanding, then, the gospel revelation is so clear in itself; notwithstanding the whole scheme of salvation springing from God the Father, and carried out by God the Son, is so fully declared and so conclusively agreed; we still must receive, (such is the state of our natural depravity and weakness through the fall), not the spirit of the world which now dwelleth in the children of disobedience, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God. A speculative knowledge of the gospel may indeed be acquired by human instruction, particularly at the present period, when means and oppor tunities for gaining knowledge abound, and all may hear the glad tidings of great joy pronounced and the uews of free pardon proclaimed; but a spi. ritual and experimental acquaintance with it as the wisdom and power of God, influencing the heart and life, and producing a new man in the soul; this can be attained only through the teaching of God's Spirit; flesh and blood cannot reveal it unto us; it can be made known only by inspiration from the Father. The same Spirit which at first directed the writers of God's Holy Word what they should say, is now equally necessary to apply its precious truths to the soul; and that inspiration, (blessed be God's name), is given to many; yes, through his tender mercy it may be said of many, Ye have an unction from the Holy One," &c. So that they can rejoice in the midst of their greatest trials; the tears of sorrow quickly give way to the smiles of peace, for they know that all things shall work together for their good, and that the sentence of condemnation is taken away, because they walk not after the directions of the flesh, but after the Spirit: whilst to some who hear the gospel, it is spoken, as it were, only in parables; so that in relation to the plainest truths of the gospel, they are ready to exclaim, as

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