MORAL PHILOSOPHY.

PROP. 1. That prudence, or discretion, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, is the best helm to guide our frail bark through this troublesome world.

2. He who gives vent to his feelings instead of his reason is not wise ; therefore "be slow to speak."

3. To be provoked by the impulse or passion of others, so that we are moved to the same, is a sign of moral weakness, for then we foolishly open the windows of our souls for our enemies to gaze in through.

4. When we meet with passionate and unreasonable men, it is wise to act as when we hear a madman rave, to let their foul breath be unworthy of our notice, as when we hear a dog bark we remember it is but the sound of an animal.

5. The most unreasonable thing is to reason with an unreasonable man. 6. Logic is but the child placing stones (propositions) in order to cross the brook. Christ, the perfect man, never reasoned to find out a truth, for all things were open and naked to His eye.-J. Miley.

Reviews and Notices of Books.

The New Testament, according to the Authorized Version; with Analysis, Notes, and Emphatic Readings. London: Bagster and Sons.

As implied in the title, there are sundry very valuable features in this work calculated at once to simplify in some instances, and to intensify in others. In addition, it supplies a want which we have long felt with respect to the sacred Word. Not only are certain words distinguished by bolder type, but the quotations and sayings are rendered so much clearer than in our Bibles generally, by the uniform adoption of the inverted commas. Hence a quotation or saying is discovered at a glance. This work will prove a most valuable addition to the Bible-student or minister's library, and we trust it will meet with the demand it deserves. Fundamental Doctrines of Religion; or, Scripture Plan of Salvation. In due consecutive order. By the Rev. EDWARD WILKINSON, M.A., Ph.D., Rector of Snargate, Kent. London: W. Hunt and Co.

THIS is an admirable and most timely production. It ought, at the present juncture, to be scattered broadcast throughout Christendom. We cannot do less than give it our most cordial recommendation.

Death to Popish Doctrines, for Anxious Inquirers and Deep, Close Thinkers.

London: W. Macintosh.

THIS pamphlet deserves to be circulated by tens of thousands, as eminently calculated, under God, to infuse true Scriptural knowledge upon the most momentous of subjects.

A SHORT race, a rough pilgrimage, a dangerous voyage, a fierce combat, a hard day's work; and then a glorious prize, a happy end, a good home, a complete victory, and an eternal reward: fear not, the end crowns the whole.

THE

GOSPEL MAGAZINE.

"COMFORT YE, COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE, SAITH YOUR GOD."

"ENDEAVOURING TO KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE."

"JESUS CHRIST, THE SAME YESTERDAY, AND TO-DAY, AND for ever." "WHOM TO KNOW IS LIFE ETERNAL.

The Family Portion;

OR, WORDS OF SPIRITUAL CAUTION, COUNSEL, AND COMFORT.

No. 1,302,

"Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."-2 COR. i. 4.

LOVED AND LED.

:

"Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words." DEUT. xxxiii. 3.

BELOVED, is it not remarkable, and well worthy of our consideration, that one of the shortest, most emphatic, and in its connexion one of the most blessed words in the Bible was that first spoken by Satan? Does it not, moreover, prove how Satan, with all his craft and subtlety, so to speak, outdoes himself? The Lord, being infinitely more than a match for His great foe and our common adversary, turns the curse into a blessing. We read in Gen. iii. 1, "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ?"

This was in the early part of the book of Genesis; at the close of the book of Deuteronomy, we have the words of our text. In the former it was brought as a charge against Jehovah, with a view to prove a want of interest in and regard for His creatures; in the latter it was a declaration of Jehovah's love for and care over His people. Moreover, it was the final testimony of one who, during a long and most eventful career, had abundant evidence and proof upon which to base that testimony.

Again, in order that the Lord's dear and deeply-exercised people should realize the blessed ground-work and unalterable security of their faith, both in its Object and its operations, we hear the Apostle Paul testify, in the opening of his second epistle to the Corinthians, "When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay? But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all

Y

the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Cor. i. 17-20). Here our attention is directed both to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to all the rich and full and blessed promises of our God in Him. In what a blessed contrast, therefore, does this wonderful "yea" stand to the spirit and aim in which it was spoken by him who was first the accuser of God, and thence became the accuser of the brethren.

Before we come more immediately to the words of our text, permit us, beloved, for a moment to remind you of the emphatic way in which the Apostle has further used this word. Speaking in the first of Philippians of the various ways and different spirit in which the Lord's name was proclaimed, he says, "What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." Then, in the third chapter, how blessed the testimony, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Lastly, so that there should be no surprise or astonishment upon the part of the tried and troubled of "the flock of slaughter," that they should "think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try them, as though some strange thing happened unto them," he says, in his second epistle to his son Timothy, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." To the same effect he writes in his first epistle to the Thessalonians, where he says, "That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know (1 Thess. iii. 3, 4). How well may this cheer the hearts of the Lord's tried, tempted, and oppressed children, especially when they consider what the same Apostle, in writing to the Hebrews, says: "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons" (Heb. xii. 7, 8).

Better far, dear reader-yea, ten thousand times better-to be among the Lord's sin-burdened, Satan-harassed, sorely-perplexed children, than captivated and carried away by the light-hearted, the talkative, the superficial professors of our times. Attracted by the dejected countenance of a friend, very recently, as she stood by the side of her husband, and, whilst speaking upon the lightsome talk and easy-going profession of the day, we remarked, "You and I did not get at the little we know-and it is but little-in this easy way. There is your dear wife. Her countenance this morning bespeaks

999

"As

the fact, that there is a something that she cannot manage." for me," was her reply, "I am mostly in Doubting Castle." "And God keep you there," said we, "until He is pleased to bring you out,"-yea, "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." Then (blessed be God!) shall she, and all such poor, timid, trembling ones, know it-feel it-rejoice in it-and testify that "it is the Lord's doings, and it is marvellous in their eyes. Such deliverance will stand-and why? Because it is God's work; whereas the half-dead, and the partially bound, and the mere halting and limping, will find themselves at last in a worse condition than they were at first, because it was simply by man's influence, man's persuasion, man's arguments and appeals, they were actuated. Man's work must all come to nought; it is only God's work can stand.

In reference to the friend of whom we have just spoken, it did not occur to us at the moment that it was but a short time since she was speaking to us, in the most emphatic and enthusiastic way, of what she had herself witnessed of the much-talked-of revival in the North of England. Now, as we have already intimated, we are thoroughly persuaded that it is only God's work will stand. All other work will end in confusion; and, in such instances as those in which any of the Lord's own dear people are captivated or ensnared by what is, apparently, a divine movement, and by lending themselves to it and being associated with it, are hoping for relief or expecting deliverance; in other words, presuming upon a short way and a ready means out of trouble and temptation, bondage and distress-all such forestalled succour will prove abortive, and leave such poor souls in a worse captivity and more complicated condition than it found them.

But now to the words of our text; and do mark, beloved, how, as already intimated, they open with a "Yea." How solemnly-how powerfully-how blessedly "yea." With what force! how emphatic! "yea." We are reminded, at the moment, of how the self-same unspeakably-precious "yea" occurs in the 31st of Jeremiah. In the case before us, it is Moses, the servant of the Lord, speaking on behalf of his Lord; but, in the passage in Jeremiah, we have the Lord speaking for Himself. Listen to His words, dear reader; they are marvellous: "At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee" (Jer. xxxi. 1-3). Were we to follow the blessed connexion as given us in this chapter, it would divert us from that upon which we wish at present to dwell. We must, therefore, content ourselves by asking our readers to mark the numberless precious and encouraging verities contained in the chapter, setting forth the love, the tenderness, the patience, forbearance, and long-suffering, as well as the divine goodness, faithfulness, and truth, of our covenant

God. It is a chapter so full of comfort, as manifesting the pity and the compassion of our God towards His poor wayward, wandering, worthless children: most precious, most dear, on no account to be parted with, notwithstanding.

Observe, dear reader, how the language of our text is introduced: "And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from His right hand went a fiery law for them" (Deut. xxxiii. 1, 2). "This is the blessing"-his parting words, his last utterances-just as he was about to give heed to the Lord's direction-and in spite of his previous most ardent desire to " go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon;" no, this could not be, but, on the contrary, he must obey the voice of the Lord, "Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people" (Deut. xxxii. 49, 50).

We must remember, too, beloved, that this blessing was given in the full knowledge upon the part of Moses of all that he had seen in the character and conduct of Israel. He knew full well, as in this very book of Deuteronomy, he had declared, "from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord." In spite of their obduracy and ingratitude, even the wicked Balaam was compelled to testify, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel." Now, had Moses spoken these words at the commencement, rather than at the close, of his wanderings, the matter would not be so surprising; but it is when we take into consideration the fact that he had for well-nigh forty years been the eye and the ear-witness of the rebellion of Israel. Still he testifies to the great and glorious verity, "Yea, He loved the people: all His saints are in Thy hand."

And, in their humble measure and degree, beloved, all the Lord's servants can ratify and confirm the statement. Whatever they may know, and however much they may justly mourn over either in themselves or others, weakness and waywardness, sins and shortcomings, frailty and folly; still the self-same glorious truth holds good, "Yea, He loved the people."

If asked why He loved them, we have no answer, except that given by Moses, in an earlier part of this same book: "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;