1. Open their graves. 2. Bring them up out of their graves. 3. Put His Spirit in them. 4. They shall live. 5. He will place them in their own land-which is Christ's Gospel land, and glory land too. 6. They shall know the Lord hath spoken it. 7. Also that He hath performed it. There is a display of the riches of Life Divine! Then the riches of His love is admirably illustrated in the Song of Solomon. Let me read those chapters as the expressions of love between Christ and His Church, and I say His love is rich indeed. She is black, but in Him comely, and crowned in blessedness for ever. The riches of His love to Jacob, to Joseph, to David, to all the ransomed down to John, "that disciple whom JESUS LOVED," and even down to us poor Gentile believers, is rich love indeed. I must not, or cannot, look further at these illustrations of His riches. The grand question is this :—Are they rich in our esteem? Do we covet and pray for them? Are they rich in our soul's experience ? If so, we are rich to all the intents of Grace—for God Himself is ours. II. Special grace is given to some men to preach out these unsearchable riches. And this special grace may be spoken of under these three words :— FAITH, FELLOWSHIP, AND FRUIT! What those words contain, I cannot here put down. Let us look at the ends to be answered by preaching these unsearchable riches; and, also, at the evidences flowing out of the souls of those to whom the preaching is made a blessing. Paul says:— III. "To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery," &c. There is a mystery in the Trinity, so, also, in the Covenant of Grace, and in the complete character of Christ in the union between Himself and His people. : To the Jews, the salvation of some of the Gentiles was a great mystery. There is a mystery in the true saving conversion of every one called of God. Of these things, my beloved friends, time will not allow me to think or write now. 1 hope you will get a blessing to-day.-Amen. C. W. B. WRITTEN TO COMFORT THE MOURNER IN ZION. MY DEAR BROTHER, MR. JOSEPH DICKSON,-I received your very kind note, and have read it again and again with deep interest, and great sympathy with you in your mental exercises. I have often felt, with one of old, "I am afraid of all my fears." Job said, "Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me. Then would I speak, and not fear him, but it is not so with me." There is no daysman between us. Let him remove his rod; let him reveal the daysman; "Then would I speak and sing his power to save." The cause of Job's fear was the absence of his Redeemer, and the presence of the rod. When he realized his deathless interest in Christ, he would have his faith not only written and printed in a book, but sculptured deep in the rock of historic ages (Job xix. 23, 24). And is it not so? Do we not want to keep in everlasting remembrance the manifestations of Divine favour? and, especially the revelations of Christ to our soul? A revelation of Christ is the only antidote for the fears of which you complain : "When Jesus, with His mighty love, Visits my troubled breast; My doubts subside, my fears remove, It was the mighty love of Jesus that made the Psalmist sing, "Though an host should encamp against me my heart shall not fear." Not fear an host? Why? "The Lord is my light and my salvation; the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" Not fear? Why? "In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, (tabernacle) in the secret of His tabernacle shall he hide me." In the secret, or most holy place, the priest was hid from all without-from all sin, &c., from all but God. Was hid with holy things. So in Christ, the most holy place, we are hid from all without; from the burning altar of vengeance, from the incessant claims of a broken law, from the rage of hell, from the wrath of men, and from the anger of God. We are not only hid in Christ from all evil, but we are hereby associated with all that is holy, and blessed, and glorious. Such were the sweet expressions of David when it was well with his soul, when he could read his title clear, when the light of God's countenance shed a beam of heavenly day upon his raptured heart. Then he said, "I shall never be moved." Have we not said, when the Lord has appeared for us and to us, "I shall never be moved"-to question my Father's good pleasure to lead me quite through, after this? Have we not said, after some unusual access to the throne of grace, after some precious promise has been applied with power upon the heart, after some soul-refreshing view of Christ, "I shall never be moved?" "I know that my Redeemer liveth," "I know that He loved me and gave Himself for me.' "I know that He is mine and I am His ?" Yes, yes; but what more did the Psalmist say? "Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled." (Psal. xxx. 6, 7). The poor soul, then, looks after the evidences, but they are sealed up in the earthen vessel, and it is so dark they cannot be found. There is a cloud upon the throne, and the soul cannot penetrate the thick darkness. There is a seal upon the book, and the soul can get no promise. There is a dearth in the ministry, and the soul gets no blessing. When God hides his face, who then can behold Him? Your fears, my brother, are only those wholesome exercises with which all God's children are kept from presumption. It has been said that "fear is a good housekeeper," and I believe it. Remember all God's children are the subjects of many and various fears. If they were not, we should not have such a vast number of "FEAR NOTS" in the Bible. Our fears arise from a variety of causes; from the workings of an evil heart of unbelief, from the motions (passions) of sins in our members (see Rom. vii. 5), from the impious "ifs" of hell, from the hidings of God's face. God hid His face from Abraham; the sun went down, and an horror of great darkness fell upon him. God hid His face from Job, and he said, "I am afraid of Him." He hid His face from Jeremiah, and the prophet exclaimed, "My hope is perished from the Lord." He hid His face from Jonah, and he said, "I am cast out of Thy sight." It is a remarkable fact that the first "fear not" was addressed to the man whom the Scriptures commend for the strength and obedience of his faith; teaching us that the man possessing the highest degree of faith has no exemption from fear. I feel sure, my dear brother, that you have an interest in Mal. iv. 2, and therefore I have written this to comfort you. May the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness dispel the darkness of your mind, and give you peace. I had a heavenly day last Sabbath. How blessed when the obscuring veil is drawn aside, and we see the Lord in the magnifying glass of the promise. Kind love to all. God bless you, Yours affectionately, Launceston, Aug. 11, 1868. SAMUEL. 66 Sects and Heresies of the Ehristian Church. NO. 5.-EPISCOPALIANISM. BY WILLIAM STOKES, OF MANCHESTER. (Continued from page 308.) "ONE IS YOUR MASTER, EVEN CHRIST; AND ALL YE ARE BRETHREN." CHRISTIANITY, is the religion of humility. Being the perpetual foe of pride, and of worldly ambition in all its phases; the religion of the cross demands humility as the test of membership, when it declares that Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." This test of discipleship it never withdraws, or even qualifies; but maintains it throughout its entire scope by enjoining on all who name its name, "Be ye clothed with humility," "In honour preferring one another." Humility appeared to perfection in the great Redeemer. His whole life exhibited a settled purpose to make Himself OF NO REPUTATION, but to be among men as one that served. His most distinguished apostle afforded another commanding display of this divine grace, when in terms of deep abasement he described himself as "less than the least of all saints." This is true nobility, and wherever found stamps the man with the dignity of heaven. The primitive church soon lost sight of this matchless grace, or in a very brief period impaired its beauty by a voluntary admixture of carnal pride. Especially did this appear in official corruption among the pastors of that early age. The healthy principle, which had been enjoined by the Redeemer himself, of a perfect equality among the office-bearers of His church, was gradually discarded by the very men who were appointed to preserve it, and the pride of distinction, borrowed from the world, slowly, but surely took its place. The love of superior station immediately followed, until the plain office of "pastor," became one of contempt; and ambition, flowing in this new channel, encouraged the formation of a lordly priesthood that should share the honours of rank (with a secular nobility. Thus, "little by little," appeared that form of church government, long since known, and accepted at this very day, by the name of EPISCOPALIANISM. That the proud spirit which originated this party entered the church soon after the apostolic age, cannot be doubted. All reliable authorities point to the early portion of the second century as the probable period when the plain and simple pastorate swelled out into the worldly institute of a ruling bishop and an inferior clergy. Even the learned Chillingworth, in his "Apostolic Episcopacy Demonstrated," carries it no higher; for, as if conscious of the absence of direct proof of its apostolic origin, he provides an escape for his cherished plea, by adding, "or presently after." Even that candid churchman detected a possible flaw in his intended demonstration; and that he might save his cause from an utter defeat when closely pressed, he wisely provides a shelter for it, in the convenient retreat of " a presently after." We admit this "presently after" to be correct beyond all cavil, but then it is a virtual surrender of the churchman's whole case, for if he fails to prove from Scripture that Episcopacy was a divine institution, it does nothing for his cause that it came into being presently after the sacred canon had closed. Gnostics, Arians, Sabellians, and a host besides, appeared as soon as the apostles were no more; but we have yet to learn that they were right because they sprang up presently after.* The The Episcopalians are a wide-spread, numerous people, under different names. Popery, as to church officials, is an Episcopacy. The united church of England and Ireland is Episcopalian. The Russian Greek church, the Moravian, the Arminian, Coptic, Abyssinian, Swedish, and Danish churches, are of the same order. The principle of degrees in rank and authority among those who serve at one altar, has proved acceptable to the world, being in strict harmony with that almost universal rule of the gentiles whose " princes" "exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them." It is of * The learned Mosheim, in his Ecclesiastical History, century 2, chap. 2, gives the middle of the second century as the period when this innovation began to assume a more organized form. His words are these: "These councils, of which we find not the smallest trace before the middle of this century, changed the whole face of the church, and gave it a new form; for by them the ancient privileges of the people were considerably diminished, and the power and authority of the bishops greatly augmented. Another effect of these councils was, the gradual abolition of that perfect equality, which reigned among all bishops (pastors) in the primitive times." Milton gives a most distressing account of some of the effects of this clerical ambition in the choice of Bishops, He says, "Men went to choose their bishop as they went to a pitched field, and the day of his election was like the sacking of a city, sometimes ended with the blood of thousands. Nor was this among heretics only, but men of the same belief, yea, confessors;" Is there a Christian man but must blush for deeds like these performed in the name of the meek and lowly Jesus? But what crime will not pride commit when once allowed a place in the church of the living God ?—See "Milton's Church Government, Book 1, Chap. 6. "BUT IT no practical consequence whatever, that the Redeemer added, SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU." The world will have it so, even in the church of God; and so it is! The amazing multiplication of offices that usually accompanies the principle of an Episcopacy, is in itself a strong objection to the divinity of its origin. Unity characterizes the church, and "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," describe the complete harmony of the Christian religion. But look at Episcopacy as a whole, and what are the fruits that grow upon that worldly tree? Is there a decent compactness, an union, or a simplicity of office, anywhere? At the head of it in one direction there is the Pope, the universal Father; then there follow the Patriarch, Primate, Archbishop or Metropolitan, Bishop, Arch-Presbyter, Archdeacon, and Provost, besides Deans, Sub-deans, Precentors, &c., &c., down to Deacons, Priests, and several more. Take next the Episcopal Church of England, and there we have the Sovereign as a political head; then Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons, Deacons, Rural Deans, Prebendaries, Canons, Rectors, Vicars, Curates, &c. Next comes the Greek Church, and there are the Patriarch, the Metropolitans, the Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Lay-Monks, Deacons, Sub-Deacons, and Anagnostes, who are readers of common notices of the day, The Armenians, Copts, Abyssinians, and others, have also their orders, ranks, and degrees; but the humblest, simplest, and least pretentious of the Episcopalian churches, is that of the Moravians. That modest and useful people present an example which their Episcopalian brethren would do well to copy. But are these Popes, Patriarchs, Cardinals, Archbishops, and Priests almost countless, to be found in the New Testament? Are they anywhere among the known institutions of the Saviour? And further, do they, or can they, accord with the simplicity of "a little child," without which no man can enter into the kingdom of heaven? (The remainder of this paper, No. 5, will be given in the VESSEL, for January). CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. How fast my thoughts and feelings change, And then I am inflamed with love, And almost say (yet I forbear) But soon the fowler's snare is broke, W. B. |