his house, his wife, and all that he had, and he destroyed the house of Saul, and he gave him that also, so that the Lord will be an executor whether we appoint Him to that office or not. To be short, what is an executor? Why, a person or persons that a testator appoints as guardian or guardians over his wife and family, and whom he intrusts. with his effects to see his will executed, and the heirs-at-law, or legatees by will properly righted. Well, and will the Lord undertake this office, if He be in faith intrusted with it? Yes, he will, for so He hath declared, and so He hath commanded and promised to be faithful to the charge, "Leave thy fatherless children I will preserve them alive and let thy widows trust in me." And He doth execute this office of an executor with faithfulness truth and mercy, and never failed in it, and so it is written, "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widow is God in his holy habitation." The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food for the hungry, the Lord looseth the prisoners." The Lord did all this for the poor widow, who came to the prophet Elisha, her husband being dead; but he had in his life feared the Lord, and being over head and ears in debt, we may readily suppose that he made no will, and if he did, no earthly executor would have administered, where there is no property to leave, nor anything left to pay the guardian for his trouble. But this poor woman pleads her husband's faith with the Lord's prophet, and the Lord undertakes the office of an executor, he works a miracle, blesses and increases the pot of oil, pays the creditor his demand, preserves the widow and the fatherless from bond slavery, and tells her and her sons to live upon what he hath provided, and she need not fear coming to want, "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." no And now having set aside as I think Mr. Brother's relationship to God Almighty, and proved that Omnipotence hath nephew, I would now ask who acts the most agreeably to the Christian character and who are the greatest enthusiasts? Those that make the Lord their trust, or those that prostitute sacred things to vile purposes. I do not believe I shall ever repent of making choice of so faithful and affectionate an executor, and should I be compelled to choose an earthly executor in compliance with national law, my faith and will would still be, that he might act only under the first executor, yea, I would put him in among my effects, and leave him as well as the rest with the first guardian, for good men are not their own, they are brought with a price, and bad men are not their own, "The deceiver and the deceived are the Lord's." W. H. A SERMON On the travail of a redeemed soul here, and the state of the soul after it has left the body, was delivered at Bethel chapel, Old Ford, September 20th, 1868, by C. W. Banks, when reference was made to the deaths of the brethren John Foulser and Elijah Packer, both of whom had stood as members and deacons of the churches over whom the preacher had been pastor. Reference was also specially made to the sisters, Mrs. Moss, of Peckham, Mrs. Cox, of Bermondsey, Mrs. Yarrow, of Bethnal Green, and Mrs. Protheroe, of Victoria Park. We regret the omission of the memoir of the late Mr. John Foulser, this month; it was prepared and in the printer's hands, but previous engagements have delayed its insertion until November. The review of the life and death of the late beloved Elijah Packer is also in the press. AMONG the several mysteries that are opened by God the Holy Ghost, and made known to saving, precious faith, the great incarnate mystery is one of the most sublime and precious. The constitution of the wonderful person of our adorable Christ; his complex character as mediator and Saviour, God and man in one glorious person, two distinct natures divine and human, yet one for ever and eternally one great and glorious person. This is a mystery hid from the worldly wise, concealed from the mere professor and revealed only to the faith of God's elect, His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. O precious mystery! How faith delights as drawn out into living exercise by the Holy Ghost, to soar into, to meditate, and feed upon this reality, this substantiality, for so it is to faith, not a matter to be argued and contended about so much as to be received and enjoyed, "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed," says our dear Redeemer. This fact faith knows and realizes, though it is impossible ever to explain or fully know the properties of the meat and drink she partakes of; but there is divinity and humanity in it, and that in all their blended perfection, "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand, the altogether lovely," the Word was made flesh, and dwelt, among us, and the word was God, God with us, not against us. God in our nature possessing essentially and eternally all the attributes and perfections of deity, and at the same time bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, Jehovah's equal and fellow, and our fellow; inhabiting eternity, yet bounded by time, filling all space, yet contracted to a span; the ancient of days, and the infant of days; sitting unmoved on the highest throne in glory, as the maker, governor, and sustainer of all things and at the same time sitting on Mary's knee upheld by her, whom he upheld, suckled by a creature, and at the same moment giving sustenance to all things in heaven and earth. The creator yet a creature, the only great independent, yet the most dependent being that ever existed, the maker of the world, and yet without a place to lay his blessed head; ministering to millions, yet ministered to by a few poor women; the source of all riches, yet poverty itself; adored in heaven, and at the same moment blasphemed on earth; worshipped by veiled angels and holy happy perfected spirits, and spit upon at the same time by filthy sinners; praised by all the heavenly host, and at the same moment roared upon by all the infernal host of hell. The only wise God, the source and spring of all wisdom, yet growing in wisdom: He that can never sleep nor slumber, yet asleep; He that can never be weary, yet sitting wearied with His journey on Samaria's well; He who hung the earth upon nothing, prostrate upon the earth He made; leading the host of morning stars, yet being led Himself to slaughter; giving to all life, yet resigning life; spotless, yet made sin; God over all for ever blessed, yet made a curse. Here, ye blessed partakers of like precious faith, is a mystery, unfathomable, yet delightful; ever unfolding, yet unfolded; the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, hid in God, and yet revealed in faith. O precious mystery, how sweet with a melted heart to sing while gazing on this delightful object with Watts,— "While Jews on their own law rely, And Greeks of wisdom boast; I love the incarnate mystery, And there I fix my trust.' In But this mystery cannot be loved unless known, therefore "unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." If these secrets have been disclosed to our hearts and hid from others, instead of finding fault with those to whom the Gospel is hid, is it not better to live in the admiration of that distinguishing grace that has made us to differ? While many are contending about Christ be it ours to feed upon Christ. Here is sea room for faith's mightiest stretch, here all the grace sanctified and elevated faculties of the redeemed soul find precious food for contemplation. All the graces of the Spirit cluster around, and have much to do with this blessed mystery, faith apprehends it, hope anchors in it, love is inflamed by it, patience is strengthened, meekness is produced, humility increased by it. Here in this mystery the whole of God appears, His name is written out in full, all His attributes and perfections are harmonized, God and man is brought together, is as one. this sacred mystery we have the bread of heaven brought down to earth; the wine that cheers both God and man; our precious Christ is God to satisfy God, man to reach poor fellow man; He is the glorious day's-man, that can lay his hand on both parties, His glorious person fills up all the space, He can lay at once His hand on Jehovah's high throne, and reach His fallen bride at the very gates of hell, and by this precious mysterious union they are eternally one, experimentally one, He can satisfy and has satisfied all Jehovah's righteous claims, and all the poor sinners necessities; His precious blood, impregnated with all the glories of Deity, flows up to God's high throne, to satisfy His justice, and down to the gates of hell, to waft His church to heaven; by His precious blood the church is washed clean, and her sin annihilated, the sinner eternally embraced, and his sin for ever put away; heaven opened, and hell for ever closed, sin condemned, and the sinner justified; hell defeated and God glorified. Are not these pleasing themes to dwell upon, delightful subjects to contemplate, and is it not to be feared that thousands of the present day professors of religion are out of the secret? Yet how solemn and plain the language of our Lord himself, "Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you." Faith as really eats and masticates this substance as the natural mouth receives natural food and lives and thrives thereby. This is an hard saying to all the nominal followers of Christ, who follow Him from a variety of different and fleshly motives, but to those who have fled for refuge to Him as their only hope; those who have embraced this rock for want of a shelter, they delight in this sacred mystery, they lie down in this green and fat pasture, their souls are satiated with it, it is marrow and fatness to them, it is faith's most precious cordial, it is hope's only anchorage ground, it is love's element, all the love of God centres in it, all the greatness of God appears in it, all the wisdom of God is unfolded in it and all the power of God is displayed in it. The complex person of Christ is the wonder of heaven, the concentration of all the believer's hopes on earth, and the confusion and dismay of hell beneath, it is the wonder of wonders, the mystery of mysteries, the beauty of beauties, the refulgance of all the glory of God, "He is the Father's chief delight, His beauties angels view, GEORGE BURRELL. Peter's Pentecostal Sermon. BY MR. GEO. PUNG, BAPTIST MINISTER COTTENHAM. "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."-Acts ii. 37, 38. PETER describes the character of Christ; 1. He was approved of God; 2. God attested His approbation of Christ, by the miracles he wrought among the Jews, 3. Peter opens up the prophesies concerning Christ, v. 25, and so shews the Jews that although they professed to believe in the prophets, and have great reverence with respect to them; yet they paid no attention withal to him of whom the prophets spoke, such conduct was a flat and palpable denial of their cherished theory. 4. Peter was a personal preacher; for he charges home to the consciences of the Jews, the murder of Jesus. 5. Peter proves by Scripture the resurrection of Christ, a doctrine which some of the Jews abhorred. 6. Peter was equally powerful to prove what some of the sceptical Jews were slow to admit; namely, the life or ascension of the Saviour, v. 33, then in progress. Peter comes on to the words which we have selected as a text which words powerfully prove that notwithstanding the obduracy of Jewish heart, yet the Holy Spirit made Peter a very successful preacher; for, as the result of that sermon there was added to the church three thousand souls. This will lead us to notice— I. The proclamation of the Word of God, and its blessed effects. 1. The whole chapter teaches us the necessity of a faithful, clear, and lucid declaration of God's word. 2. We learn from the text the advantage of an attentive audience, "When they heard of this," that is what the apostle had said unto them. 3. You have the effects of the Spirit's application of the Gospel "they were pricked in their hearts," a wound in the heart always proves mortal, they where mortally wounded by the law, that they might be quickened by the Gospel. 4. The address, "Men and brethren," not Scribes and Pharisees, they no longer appealed to the law, either moral or ceremonial, they now became strict dissenters, and at once recognized the ascendency of the Christian dispensation. 5. The enquiry, "What shall we do?" Man by nature tenaciously adheres to the covenant of works, God's ministers should therefore under this consideration be wise counsellers and skilful physicians. II. The Apostle's direction. 1. They are directed to repentance. Now is there any thing that countenances the doctrine of free will here? 66 O no! for they were already alive spiritually, and therefore under the agency of the Holy Ghost, at which time only a man really enjoys the sensation of a freed will. 2. Peter further directs them to submit to the government of Christ, "be baptized," which goes to prove that after the command is given, and a man is the subject of eternal life, then the present is the right time to submit to the institutions of the church of Christ. 3. The direction was to be obeyed without an exception. Every one of you," that is every one of you who are "pricked in your hearts." The apostle did not leave it optional with them to be what they pleased. No! they were to become Baptists. 4. The art of obedience was to be in compliance with the command of Christ, “in the name of Jesus Christ," or by His authority. 5. Baptism, an outward symbol of an inward possession, "for the remission of sins." 6. Conformity to these directions is attended with a divine promise "and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." The gift of the Holy Ghost is 1, to bear testimony, "This is my beloved Son," &c., 2, as a pledge or seal; 3, as an escort, as a sanctifier. The Preacher and his Preaching. A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE LIFE, FAITH, & MINISTRY OF THE LATE RECTOR OF OPENSHAW, HAVING travelled many hundreds of miles lately, we have carried this volume * with us, and have never hesitated to recommend it, wherever opportunity has occurred. It is not so much like a bunch of grapes from Eshcol, as it is like a little garden of nuts. Sound Divinity; sacred truth; genuine unfolding of the mysteries of godliness; "things hard to be understood," even by the babes in grace; and by the young men in Israel, are here plainly and faithfully ventilated, and sometimes demonstrated beyond all doubt. Neither wire-drawing nor wild enthusiasm will, in these pages, be found. In the accomplishment of that triple definition of the Gospel"The Truth, the WHOLE TRUTH, and NOTHING BUT TRUTH the Preacher of these discourses certainly excelled. For years to come, this book will be read in the study of te Minister-in the chamber of the invalid-in the parlour of the intelligent Christian-and in the cottage of the privileged peasant, with no small degree of spiritual advantage. Well do we remember, the late venerable John Waterman, the great hop-grower in Kent, who was the Lord's instrument in building *Notes of Sermons, hitherto Unpublished-By the late Rev. Wm. Parks, B.A Rector of Openshaw, near Manchester; with a brief Memoir of the Author and Preface, by David A. Doudney, D.D., incumbent of St. Luke's, Bedminster, Editor of the "Gospel Magazine," &c. London: W. H. Collingridge, Aldersgate Street. X |