salvation, a justifying righteousness is the Bible, and not out of it, that we are your object. Now "Christ is the end of to look for our warrant. It is in the word the law for righteousness to every one of God we are to search for it; and if we that believeth;" and relief to your mind find that warrant there, we have a right you cannot feel, unless you go to him for to believe that we are children of God; justification before God. You cannot and then we come to enjoy it, and then obey the law too much; but you must we are truly happy. look for justification to Christ alone. THE PULPIT GALLERY. NO. XIV. REV. ROBERT PHILIP, 2. “That we might receive the adoption of sons." Mark the peculiarity of the language; not the adoption of nations. The Jews had this for a long series of ages; "to them pertained the adoption, the promises," and so on. But this left them, at any moment, liable to be cut off. No; he says, "the adoption of sons,' that we might be part of the divine family, and have an interest in all its bless- THE REV. ROBERT PHILIP was formerings. I cannot now dwell on this inte- ly minister of an Independent congrega. resting point; but I would say, in one tion at Liverpool, at which place he reword, they are of the children of God, of sided many years, and taught the people the adopted of God, who have fled to with success. What circumstances ocChrist for complete redemption. I know casioned his removal to London, and setwell, by experience, how many agitations tlement at Kingsland, we do not know. a serious unind feels after it becomes ac- Mr. Philip in person is rather tall, and quainted with the gospel. Often is it inclined to corpulency. His face is pleassaid, "Ah, I have not the spirit of adop-ing, his forehead high, and denoting imation! I am not able to say, Abba, Fa- ginative power; his voice is weak, and ther! I have been earnestly looking and rather shrill in its tones; his action is in groaning for this spirit; but I have not general appropriate. yet felt that which warrants me to say, I am a child of God!" I am sure those who have felt such emotions know how great is the anxiety connected with them. Now when you and I are set fast here, it arises from an oversight:—the fact is, we cannot feel it till we believe it. The word of God says that he is a child of God who has fled for refuge to Christ alone. If we believe this, then we are warranted to believe that great statement, that "to as many as believe on him, to them gave he power, or warrant, to become the sons of God;" and it is not by looking beyond the word of God for something to satisfy us, but by taking the divine testimony as it stands, that we are to expect comfort. If I know in my conscience that I need salvation, the salvation that is to be found in Christ alone, and depend on him alone for that salvation, I am warranted to believe that I am a child of God; and I may spend my life in looking for it elsewhere. It is in As a preacher, Mr. Philip is distinguished by his bold and energetic proclamation of what he conceives to be the truth. He appears neither solicitous to ascertain whether his doctrine be palatable to his hearers, nor does he study nice and delicate terms to convey the awful denunciations of the gospel to the tender consciences of well-bred sinners. He clothes himself in the dignity of his office, and speaks as one having authority, and not as the scribes. He evidently studies divine truth for himself, and examines "systems of divinity” by the unerring standard of holy writ. He does not seem to be one who would tolerate error because of its antiquity, or because it has been sanctioned and approved by eminent divines. His imagination is powerful;-hence his language is figurative, and his sermons abound with vivid and interesting pictures. His judgment is good, and his taste has evidently been improved by He appears the more aggravated woes of Claremont ; and, by an instantaneous movement, the whole community seemed to discover that their personal comfort had been suspended on the princess. One dead' in every family could not have excited more general consternation." observation and reading. well acquainted with the human heart, not only as it is delineated and exposed in the Scriptures, but as it is seen in the development of its affections in society. This gives him experience to detect its latent wishes, and to counteract its evil propensities, by substituting high and noble motives to action, instead of low and worldly cares. His ideas are sometimes very original, and his whole discourses very far removed from the tame generalities of common-place preachers. Viewed in this respect, he is certainly entitled to rank high amongst his contemporaries. The following is a specimen of his style, selected from his sermon on the death of the lamented princess Charlotte: "Aware, as I was, how the doleful tidings must affect a devoted and intelligent people, still I could not have conceived that any thing short of a universal earthquake, or the blast of the archangel's trumpet, would have produced the gloom and consternation which now surround us. And who that contemplated Britain the week before this calamity, and saw her vast population labouring in their respective spheres of action, as if nothing could divert them from gain or gayety—as if every individual felt only for himself; who that saw this could have named any event, not miraculous, which, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, would banish mirth from all the gay, and composure from all the serene; make the merchant lay down his pen, and the mechanic his tools; unrobe the bride of her ornaments, and the bridegroom of his attire; turn the house of feasting into a house of mourning; and command a pause to pleasure and business, like the shaking among the dry bones in the valley of vision! Such a shock was inconceivable from natural impulse. Sleep departed from the fatigued and the thoughtless for a time; honour and wealth seemed to be insipid; the orphan forgot his exposure, the widow her desolation, and the widower the "wife of his youth,' in THE MISSIONARY CANDIDATE.-AN ANECDOTE. A PIOUS young man, who was desirou of devoting himself to the work of the ministry among the heathen, and had been recommended with that view to the Committee of the London Missionary Society, on undergoing the usual exami nation, stated that he had one difficulty: he had an aged mother entirely dependent upon an elder brother and himself for maintenance; and, in case of that brother's death, he should wish to be at liberty to return to this country, if his mother were still living, to contribute to her support. Scarcely had he made this ingenuous statement, when a harsh voice exclaimed, "If you love your mother more than the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not do for us." Abashed and confounded, the young man was silent. Some murmurs escaped the committee; and he was directed to retire while his proposal was taken into consideration. On his being again sent for, the venerable chairman, (Dr. Waugh,) in tones of unaffected kindness, and with a patriarchal benignity of mien, acquainted him that the committee did not feel themselves authorized to accept of his services on a condition involving uncertainty as to the term; but immediately added, "We think none the worse of you, my good lad, for your dutiful regard to your aged parent. You are but acting in conformity to the example of Him whose gospel you wish to proclaim among the heathen; who, as he hung upon the cross in dying agonies, beholding his mother and the beloved disciple standing by, said to the one, Woman, behold thy son;' and to John, Behold thy mother.' My good lad, we think none the worse of you." SERMON XLV. THE CAUSE AND CHARACTER OF RELIGIOUS JOY. BY THE REV. WILLIAM BROWN. “And he went on his way rejoicing."-Acts viii. 39. er, or as to the design of his sufferings, or as to the persons for whom he suffered. His mind, accordingly, appears to have been upon the stretch for further information on the subject; and suspecting, probably, that the passage which he had been reading in Isaiah had reference to some vital points on which he was yet ignorant, his soul would most likely be seized with certain painful anxieties, which would not be easily allayed, either by the attractive beauty of the surrounding scenery, or by the attentions of his official retinue, or by the reveries of his own imagination. In the preceding context we are presented with some brief notices concerning the distinguished individual to whom these words refer. We are presented more particularly with an account of his conversion to God, an account which, though very short, must, I should think, be deeply interesting to every Christian. Attached as a proselyte to the Jewish church, he had travelled, it should seem, no less a distance than from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, for the purpose of worshiping God within that church's consecrated veil, and according to her appointed ritual. The object of his journey being thus accomplished, he was now on his It was at this crisis, my friends, that return, it appears, to the court of Candace, he was, accosted by the disciple Philip, the queen of his native land, to whom he who, in obedience to the angel of the acted in the capacity of chamberlain or Lord, had recently left Jerusalem for the treasurer; and while prosecuting his very purpose, and soon overtook him by homeward way, we find he was profitably the way. Unattended and unintroduced, employed in perusing the Old Testament this faithful servant of Christ immediately Scriptures. The Bible, we learn, was entered upon his commission, by one of opened before him in the fifty-third chap- those delicate questions, which, without ter of Isaiah; but to him, in his circum- revolting the feelings of this nobleman, stances at that time, it was a dead letter was yet sufficiently explicit to show, that and a sealed book. That impressive pro- as the stranger who addressed him was phecy respecting our Redeemer's suffer- evidently acquainted with his anxieties, ings was read by him with little under- so he had in all probability the means in standing and with little emotion; it his power to relieve them. The submight, perhaps, be somewhat interesting sequent part of the narrative, my friends, to his natural feelings, indeed it could declares to us the issue. Philip," it is scarcely fail to be so, but then it must said, "opened his mouth, and began at have appeared to him dark, unintelligible, the same Scripture, and preached unto and obscure. He perceived, no doubt, him Jesus." The remaining events of that it referred to something of more than the interview now followed each other in usual importance; but he had no accurate rapid succession; in short, the sermon idea either as to the dignity of the suffer- was blessed and sanctified-the person to VOL. I.-52 2 M 66 409 whom it was addressed believed and was case of the individual in the text affords baptized the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip-the eunuch saw him no more, but he went on his way rejoicing." In order, however, to give the greater unity and simplicity to our subsequent observations on this subject, they may suitably be comprised, I think, under the two following general heads. us a most striking and appropriate example. Though born and educated an idolater, he was successively brought first within the pale of the Jewish church, and ultimately to a participation of Christian privileges-though raised to an elevated rank in a foreign court, he did not permit the splendour of his station to dazzle and delude him into a forgetfulness, I. THE CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF either of God, or of his own spiritual THE PERSON REJOICING. II. THE CAUSES OF HIS JOY. safety-though surrounded on every side with all that could tempt him to sinful In reference, then, TO THE CONDITION and relaxed habits,-the whole of this AND CHARACTER OF THE PERSON REJOIC-narrative, I humbly submit, plainly intiING, the first observation which naturally mates that the care of his soul was his occurs to us is, that he was a person of authority and rank. It has frequently and very justly been remarked, that among those who cordially embrace the gospel, there are not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble ;" and it must be confessed that the remark, taken as a general proposition, is, no doubt, a true one. It must be confessed, my brethren, that as worldly wisdom is often addicted to pursuits which, if not hostile to religion, are at least foreign to its spirit, and its interests, so lofty genius, we know, is frequently prostrated to many ignoble purposes; while high station, on the other hand, instead of being turned to advantage in proportion to its facilities for usefulness and for improvement, is often employed in subserviency to a mere secular ambition, or the gratification of the minor passions and inferior propensities of our nature. But although this be unquestionably true as a general proposition, it by no means excludes, you observe, particular exceptions: on the contrary, it is the peculiar glory of the gospel, that it has no spiritual monopoly among us. Destined for universal diffusion, as we know it to have been, it is indeed a grand and comprehensive scheme of redemption, which is fully and freely offered to as many as are willing to receive it; and as God, we know, is no respecter of persons, so he occasionally calls to a participation of his grace, individuals of every rank, of every country, and of every age. Now, of this very fact, observe, the principal concern, and that, though occupied with the high causes and occupations of state, he was still more particularly engrossed with the far higher concerns of eternity. And while all this tends most powerfully to discredit the excuses of those, who presume to plead, that they are so immersed in business as to have little or no leisure for religion, it serves also most distinctly to show us, that by a prudent distribution of time, and by a proper improvement of opportunities, there are no conceiveable situations and no conceivable pursuits, whatever be their magnitude and importance, which may not be ably and honourably performed in due subordination to those other and higher duties devolving on us all in relation to an eternal world. These and these only should have a permanent place in our affections; this and this only should form the paramount object of our lives; and this was pre-eminently the case with the distinguished individual here alluded to. He had high temporal duties to perform, and he did them well; had he left them undone, or had he performed them only in an indifferent manner, it is scarcely possible, I think, that he could have maintained that respectability of character, and that popularity at court, by which, very likely, he obtained leave and leisure to visit the city of Jerusalem on this occasion. On the contrary, (that is, on the supposition of his having been an idle and inefficient functionary,) the probability is, that he must have resigned the seals of office, before he could have undertaken this journey; but the fact is, | sion, and the consistency of his character he retained the one and he accomplished was altogether such, my brethren, as not the other; his worldly avocations were attended to, in subordination to, and in connexion with, his spiritual observances. His piety kept pace with his patriotism; while he honoured his queen, he did not omit to fear God; and according to the measure of light, which was then vouchsafed to him, we find from this passage that he undertook and travelled a very considerable journey to worship in the Jewish temple, agreeable to the faith which he professed. only to claim our respect, but even to deserve our imitation. To repudiate the religious opinions in which a man has been educated from his youth, is a step which it is at all times painful to take, and which it is sometimes dangerous to avow. On the one hand he is fronted and opposed by the venerated example of his ancestors, and he is out-clamoured on the other by the voice and the violence of a contemporaneous multitude. Even in nations the most enlightened, where moral speculations have been carried to the greatest length, and where freedom has been permitted with longest and largest liberty, even there the toleration that is usually extended to difference of opinion on all other subjects, is usually withheld from him who abandons the religion of his country; the man who ventures to do so is generally covered with odium and with disgrace; he is regarded, for the most part, as an offensive excrescence on the face of society, which must be removed by all means, by foul or by fair, and which is sometimes corrected by the strong arm of the law. Now you will observe still further, that the Ethiopian alluded to, besides having been a man of rank, and in office, was a person of very firm and decided character. Born as he was in a country where the worship of the true God was little known, and still less attended to, it is more than probable, as I have already hinted, that he had been educated in heathen idolatry, and that his mind had been early imbued with all those deep and inveterate prejudices which usually adhere to the votaries of an ancient superstition. It appears however from this narrative, that in this case the prejudices in question had been effectually overcome, and that in spite of But if such be the feeling of the enall those ties which might naturally be lightened, and the professedly liberal, and supposed to have bound and warped his the worldly wise, what might we expect affections, he resolutely forsook the reli- from heathen, from uneducated, savage, gion of his native land, and became a barbarous heathens, in circumstances convert to Judaism. Whether this precisely parallel? Attached to their change in his sentiments was effected idolatries, neither by the convictions of instrumentally by his having procured a reason, nor by a respect for the Divine copy of the Scriptures, which we find he character, but by a blind and sensual was now reading, or by the ministrations fanaticism, which is generally stronger of some unknown but not unhonoured than both, it is natural to suppose, that preacher, or by his intercourse with those openly to discountenance their superstiJews who were accustomed to travel tion would only be to offend their prejugreat distances on the enterprises of com- dices and to provoke their rage, undismerce; whether he was converted to ciplined as they are to any thing like Judaism by the instrumentality of any close, patient, or consecutive reasoning; one of these circumstances, or by a con- they know of no argument to support currence of them all, is a point which it their opinions but the argument of physiis not very easy to determine, and of no cal power, therefore, before they can outgreat moment to be ascertained; the fact reason a man of firm and decided characis certain, that he abandoned idolatry and ter, and of superior faculties, and of better became a professor of Judaism. But information than they themselves poswhat I wish more particularly to advert sessed, they must first of all consume him to is, that subsequently to this his first to ashes, and they must release that spirit conversion, the firmness, and the deci- from its mortal bondage, which they |