who is alone the salvation of Israel; still I can but feel, in common with my brethren, under the dire calamity, and deeply regret that, with a very few exceptions, in the universal cry raised against the innovation of Popery, the one great subject-the Church of Christ-is nearly lost sight of. Thus, a little child might easily tell, the contention is merely words about who shall rule over the souls of men; while the Church built upon Himself the Rock against which the gates of hell shall never prevail, but shall stand as "a handful of corn upon the top of the mountains," remains as one whom no one careth for. more We should do wrong, beloved, were we, in the midst of these things, to feel unconcerned; yet we do well to be unmoved, seeing "we have a sure word of prophecy, whereunto we do well to take heed." It is our God who sitteth upon the waterfloods, and is King for evermore, and cannot be in any way affected by the whole band of earth's grasshoppers; for he taketh up the isles as a very little thing, and while the kings of the earth take counsel together, he holds all in derision that is against himself, and against his anointed. In congratulating you with ourselves in having passed safely through all the storms and tempests of the past year, which is now sunk with the many gone before, we can but acknowledge ourselves great debtors to him who has led us and kept us therein, and brought us safely on our Alamoth-not to chaunt the requiem of the year, but to sing aloud of him who is "our refuge and strength." Some have outran us, and bid a final farewell to minutes, hours, and days-with all time's divisions, having joined the immeasurable expanse of vast eternity. We envy them not; for they, without us, in no way can be made perfect. The ranks cannot be broken; every one shall march on his way; each step successively must be progressive, and the last, when taken, will, in the twinkling of an eye, fully realize unto us all the blessedness contained in those soul-cheering words, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." Seeing, then, the past has left us nothing to regret of all the multifarious circumstances with which it was filled in-its sun has shone, its winds have blown, its clouds have ofttimes obscured the sky, and darkness oft hid our path; faith has pressed forward, unbelief has stood still, yet the scroll has been rolled up, and our salvation brought nearer than when we first believed; so we have nothing to fear as we enter on its successor. Though the things to be revealed for the appointed time be unknown, we enter as Peter, when bidden by the Lord to come unto him upon the water. If we give one thought towards the instability of its elementaries, we shall begin to sink; but, leaning upon his arm, we shall outbrave all danger, and, whether kept at sea a little longer, or called into harbour, we shall shelter under the royal banner, which bears the motto of the whole ship's company, "For thou, O God, hast heard my vows; thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name" (Ps. lxi. 5). "Such honour have all the saints," as they sojourn in Meshech to be the Lord's witnesses of his faithfulness, and to declare his doings among the people. Without apportioning to each the exact years of our dwelling in the tabernacle of this vale, we take the whole of the fightings without, together with all inward fears, in one collective point of view, as the every-day lot of the wandering tribe of ransomed souls, whose vows in and under every trouble have been put forth before the God of Jacob, and who, from the first day until now, have so far been dealt with in mercy as to record upon the face of all, "For thou, O God, hast heard my vows." Obsolete as the word vow is so far as regards the gospel dispensation, yet all grace-bought souls well understand "the preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue are both alike from the Lord." It is enough in closing the one, and in opening of the other of all time periods, to be well satisfied that in them we have had the remembrance of "the years of the right hand of the Most High." Upon this eminence, my fellow-pilgrims, we are placed on the opening of this new-and which, beyond all doubt, will be an eventful-year, 1851. I leave exhibitions and Pope's "bulls," as inferior things, to those who are "not numbered with the nations." The one may or may not administer to our earthly joy, as we participate in the joy of nations; the other, like an exploded bomb, will lie inactive before him who declares, "He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye." None of these things can or ought to move us, seeing every attempted advance of the beast is only bringing on his own final destruction. May the Spirit of Daniel's God enable us to behold, "till the beast is slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame " (Dan. vi. 11). Satisfied are we that "the portion of Jacob is not like them." The Lord himself being the portion of his people, he is said to give unto us the heritage of "those that fear his name. Beloved, let us rest in this portion or rather may we especially, upon the opening of this new year, bear in mind how inalienable are the blessings of this heritage. We read and hear much of the worldling's patrimony, entailments, and hereditary rights; but what are they?-ever in jeopardy, and in all instances, sooner or later, pass into other hands. With us, this is quite impossible; for the deed of gift creates the right of claim; and being, both by adoption and grace, the acknowledged heirs of God, and joint heirs with our Elder Brother, we, knowing there is no law adversary in the way to dispute our right of possession, desire upon the threshold of what remains of untrodden time, to approach the throne of our God and Father in his own taught language, Thy testimonies have I claimed as mine heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my heart" (Ps. cxix. 111). "Oh the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and goodness of God!" We have not this heritage by a reversionary interest, to be entered upon at the death of another at some future time; but even now we have inheritance of it by faith in grace, and hereafter more openly in glory. We may be oft like the Church of old, led from the aspect of things surrounding us to cry out, "They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage" (Ps. xciv. 5); yet shall we be brought to delight ourselves in the Lord, who will cause us to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed us with the heritage of Jacob our father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Beloved, bear in mind ye are not your own. "Ye are bought with a price;" and as the property of another, it is for you to take comfort from the assurance, "The Lord himself is the portion of thine inheritance, and of thy cup"-who will through the present, as well as he has in all past years, "maintain thy lot;" and thou shalt have no less cause to say at its close, notwithstanding the chequered scenes it might throw up before thee, than thou now have at its commencement, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage " (Ps. xvi. 5, 6). Enlargement upon this delightful subject without limits might be in dulged in; but I call to mind it is only a salutation from one wayfaring man to his companions on the same road, whether travelling on the mountain-top, or in the secluded vale-or enveloped in earth's vapours, or enjoying the clear shining after rain, the where or fare of the traveller is of no moment; he is journeying, not to take up the waymarks or milestones to burden him as he proceeds onwards, but to pass them, with thankfulness that so much of the desert is sunk in the past, and the prize of his high calling draws nearer to view, Beloved, it may be the last salutation from one for whom the letter of dismission might be on the way, and will be duly delivered in the development of what the unfolding pages of the volume for 1851 will show. Be it so. The Judge of all the earth can but do right. No man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself; "for whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Accept, then, my affectionate salutation to you in Christ, and let none of those things ye may see or hear move you from your stedfastness in him. Fear not them which may kill the body, yet have no power over it afterwards; but rather fear him who, having all power in heaven and earth, is in his holy temple doing whatever it pleaseth him. And may voice, ever cry, "Thou art my portion, O Lord: in thy strength we have the whole Church of our one glorious Head, in and under all that may this and each successive year throw up before them, with one united heart and said it, and by it we will keep this word" (Ps. cxix. 57). A STRIPLING, Newick. EXTRACT FROM THE PREFACE OF A TREATISE ON THE DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTE PREDESTINATION STATED AND ASSERTED. BY AUGUSTUS TOPLADY. DEAR EDITOR, To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine. The appropriateness to the existing state of things of the following extract, has induced me to transcribe, and offer it for a corner in that periodical in which the author once shone as a bright editorial luminary; and in which orbit you have now the privilege to move: and may the source of his light and your light shine with increasing vividness upon you, and continue you in that sphere, to your own peace and joy in believing, and to the praise of the glory of his grace in his effectual working with your readers. P.S. I have slightly varied two passages. I. B. K. "Arminianism is the grand religious evil of this age and country. It has, more or less, infected every Protestant denomination amongst us, and bids fair for leaving us, in a short time, not so much as the very profession of godliness. The power of Christianity has, for the most part, taken its flight long ago; and even the form of it seems to be on the point of bidding us farewell. Time has. been, when the Calvinistic doctrines were considered and defended as the palladium of our Established Church by her bishops and clergy, by the universities, and the whole body of the laity. It was, during the reigns of Edward the Sixth, Queen Elizabeth, James the First, and the greater part of Charles the First, as difficult to meet with a clergyman who did not preach the doctrines of the Church of England, as it is now to find one who does. We have generally forsaken the principles of the Reformation; and Ichabod, or, Thy glory is departed,' has been written on most of our pulpits and church-doors." "Thou, O God, hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. "Thou preparedst rain before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. "The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs therefore were like the goodly cedars. "She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. "Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck her? "The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. "Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; "And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. "So will we not go back from thee: quicken us, and we shall call upon thy name. "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall yet be saved."-Ps. lxxx. Never was description more strikingly expressive of the state our national Church is at present in! never was supplication more pertinently adapted to the lips of her genuine sons! In vain do we lament the progress of Popery! In vain would we resist the approach of this cardinal, or that bishop, while our presses teem and our pulpits ring with the Romish doctrine of human merit and free-will; doctrines whose nature and inevitable tendency is to smooth the passage for our further coalition with Antichrist. If we are really desirous to shun committing spiritual adultery with the mother of harlots andˇabominations, we must withdraw our feet from the way that leadeth to her house. Blessed be God, the doctrines of grace are not entirely veiled, a sign, it is to be hoped, that the Holy Spirit hath not quite forsaken us; and that our redemption from the prevailing errors of the day may yet draw near. Now, if ever, is the time for all who love the truth and nation in sincerity, to lend a helping hand to the ark, and contribute, though ever so little, to its return. CONSOLATION FOR THE AFFLICTED. Ir hath been truly said, "The Father had one Son without sinning, but never one without suffering;" "for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth; but if ye be without chastisement, whereof all (new-born children) are partakers, then are ye bastards (unregenerate souls) and not sons" (Heb. xii. 6—8). I believe, never is the Lord so near to his people, as when they are in the furnace of affliction; like the refiner of gold, who is always to be found on the premises when the precious metal is being tried in the fire. And in no state are there so many "exceeding great and precious promises" given to help, comfort, and deliver their souls, as when they are suffering "according to the will of God." And although we must "wait the light above" to learn the end of the Lord in many a dark, deep, and distressing dispensation of his hand, yet there is much to be gathered from the word, and that of a most consoling kind, to assure us "he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men" (Lam. iii. 33). Take for thy consolation, tried believer, the following reflections. Afflictions under sanctifying grace, give the soul a saving, and personal knowledge of "the deep things of God." There are many precious truths-yea and amen promises-and richest blessings in Christ, which only can be known, tasted, and handled in the school of adversity: hence the confession, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes " (Psalm cxix. 71). Oh! what blessed things have been learned experimentally, of the love of the Father, the sympathy of the Son, and comfortings of the Spirit-whilst passing through deep waters. Again, "manifold temptations" are for the trial of our faith. How true is that saying, "untried faith is uncertain faith." It may be "the faith of God's elect," or that dead, cold, and heartless faith within the nominal Christian, causing him to assent and consent to the letter of truth, but creating no living desires after Christ, which a living faith ever does. But when a sufficient trial is made to bear upon his state, he stumbles, withers, and falls away. But the God-fearing and Christ-loving man before the heat and force of the same fiery trial, cries and cleaves to the Lord for "grace to help in time of need," and through power divine, he is "able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand" (Eph. vi. 13). And ere long, the spirit of bold Infidelity on the one hand, with the spirit of persecuting Popery on the other, will make manifest "whose we are and whom we serve," by putting our principles to the severest test. And furthermore, it is evident that afflictions are sent to preserve and promote the spiritual life of a child of God, yea, his very existence appears dependent on them. And so said Israel's suffering king. "Oh Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit" (Isa. xxxviii. 16). It is no little matter in this fallen world and fallen flesh to have the heart right with God, and steadfast in his covenant. It is no small thing in these last days of spiritual consumption and departure from the good old way, and truths of the gospel, to be kept faithful and fervent in the truth, in prayer, and in the "spirit of power, D |