mocked him in his three anointed offices. He despised the shame. Now, what is all this to you? It was for man, and man's salvation. He was deserted by his friends and followers. The Jews were his worst enemies. His own disciples forsook him. One betrayed him; another 4. Consider the kind of his death- denied him, Luke xxii. 28. They forthe death of the cross. sook him when he had most occasion for them. It was a violent death. It had bands in it. He died as a malefactor, iniquity being laid upon him, Dan. ix. 26. Witnesses were examined against him. It was a bloodly death, Heb. ix. 22. The shedding and sprinkling of the blood was the essence of the sacrifice, Heb. x. 19. It was a shameful death. He was crucified naked. It was a slave's death. A most ignominious death. Hell is everlasting shame and contempt. The death of the cross was the Lord's death. It was a painful death, Acts ii. They pierced his hands and feet: the most tender parts. It was a cursed death, Gal. iii. 19.; Deut. xxi. 23. It was a kind of death particularly marked out for shame and ignominy. He did, under some notion or other, bear all that was due to us for sin. "Behold what manner of love." 5. Consider the aggravating circumstances of the Lord's death. Many deaths in one. He was exposed to the world; made a spectacle, without the gate, at noon, at the time of the passover, as if he were the offscouring of all things. He suffered without the gate, Psa. xxii. 6.; Isa. xlix. 7. He was numbered among the transgressors; crucified between two thieves, as if he had been the worst. In his life he eat and drank with publicans and sinners, and at his death a murderer was preferred before him. 6. Consider his carriage and behaviour at his death. His resolution and courage within himself, Luke xii. 50. He went to meet his enemies when they came to apprehend him. He took it ill at Peter when he dissuaded him from his sufferings. His meekness towards his persecutors. He bore all with an invincible patience. He was led as a lamb. Not an angry word. He prayed for his persecutors, Luke xxiii. 34. His tenderness towards his friends. See his discourse in the garden when he found them sleeping. When Peter denied him in the same room with him, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter; as if he had said, See if thou dost not know me. There was an air of love in all. His free submission and surrender of himself to his Father on the cross. He said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit;" i. e., Father, I now sacrifice my life to thy justice. He gave his life a ransom for many. 7. Consider the end and intention of We are to understand why and wherefore he died. it. He died as a martyr to the truth of the promise made of old to the fathers. To the doctrine he had preached, Johnxviii. 7. As a sacrifice, 2 Cor. v. 21. He was made sin for us-i. e., a sacrifice for sin, 1 John ii. 2. He died as a ransom, a counter price, 1 Pet. iii. 18. Be as tonished, O heaven, at this, Rom. v. 6, 7, 8. As a testator. He died to give life to his testament, which, otherwise, had been of no force. and I hope he will, in his own good time, convert me. P. But what if he should not? Here you are, a stupid sinner, saying with the sluggard, “A little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more fold Thus goes on the dying of the Lord Jesus. I have determined to knowing of the hands to sleep," and resting nothing save Christ, and him crucified. upon a vague, indefinite hope, that 1. Understand it better. Get into God will awaken you! What reason the mystery of it. Be ambitious of have you to expect it? Has he given this knowledge. you any promise to that effect? Is he under any obligation to save you? Will he do you any injustice if he passes you by? And if he should pass you by, what will become of you? 2. Improve it better. Let it not be as in vain to us, which it is if you do not give up yourselves to be saved by him. Accept of this Jesus for your Prince and Saviour. You are all welcome upon Gospel terms. If you perish in unbelief, I call heaven and earth to witness that you had fair warning. But I hope better things of you, and things that accompany salvation though I thus speak. CONVERSATIONS WITH THE ANXIOUS. BY DR. HEMAN HUMPHREY. Pastor. You see, my young friend, that many are pressing into the kingdom of heaven, and I am anxious to know how you feel. A. I feel as if religion was very important, and I hope I shall not be left. P. I was afraid you did not feel much, if any, interest on the subject, as I have rarely seen you at our meetings. You say you hope you shall not be left. Let me ask you what you are doing to obtain "the pearl of great price ?" A. I acknowledge I am not doing much, and how can I? The work is all of God, and I am waiting for the influence of His Spirit. He has awakened and converted a great many, A. If he should, I must be lost, of course; but I hope he will not, Does not the Bible somewhere say, "Wait patiently for the Lord;" and in another place, "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord ?" P. It does; but you entirely misunderstand these passages, if you suppose them applicable to your case. There are many such, particularly in the Psalms of David, but they are addressed to Christians, or are the expression of their confidence in the covenant faithfulness of God. There is not a text, either in the Old Testament or the New, that either exhorts or encourages an impenitent sinner to wait patiently for the Lord. Besides, how did the Psalmist, and other holy men of old, wait for the salvation of God? Did they listlessly fold their arms as you do, and hope for the best, and sleep on? No: just take the Bible and read for yourself. They waited in fervent and believing prayer, for those blessings and deliverances which God had promised his people. You are waiting God's time to arrest you and bring you into his kingdom! God's time! God's time! My dear young friend, what do you mean by God's time? When is it,-to-day, or to-morrow, now, or a week, or a month hence? Point me to one solitary text, if you can, which justifies you in waiting one hour for God to awaken you, or which authorises you to expect that he will come, if you wait for him. What a fatal quietus to your conscience! What a false and ruinous security! What is God's time, in the only proper meaning which is here attached to the inquiry? What does he say in his word? "Behold, now is the accepted time,-behold, now is the day of salvation." To-day, even to-day, after so long a time, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." "God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." "Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." What liberty or encouragement, my dear A., do these Scriptures give you to wait in your sinful stupidity? 66 A. What else can I do? I have no power to awaken myself, much less to change my own heart. P. That is, you mean, or ought to mean, that you have at present no disposition to make religion the allimportant subject of inquiry, that you have no heart to "break off from your sins by righteousness, and your iniquity by turning unto God." This is all the want of power there is,-a stupid, wicked disinclination to do what God commands you to do. You have power enough on the other side, in opposition to God, to astonish the uni verse. You are waiting, you say, for him to come and save you. How are you waiting? In the use of the means of salvation which he has appointed,— in reading the Scriptures, in prayer, in devout attendance upon the preaching of his word? No; but in the neglect of all, or nearly all these duties. Is this the way in which the farmer expects the blessing of the Lord? Does he fold his arms and say, I will wait for the harvest till it pleases God to bring it to me: or does he "break up the fallow-ground," and sow the seed? Were you in a starving condition, would you wait for God to send the ravens to feed you, or would you make every possible effort to relieve yourself? What did the prodigal son do when he came to himself? He said, "I will arise and go to my father;" and he went. Had he remained among the swine, he would have perished. How was it in the days of John the Baptist? "The kingdom of heaven suffered violence, and the violent took it by force." What was the answer of Christ to the question, "Are there few that be saved?" "Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." What were the exhortations of his inspired Apostles? "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye doubleminded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up! Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life." And how is it that sinners, in this revival or any other, "make their calling and election sure?" Is it not by fleeing from the wrath to come, and laying hold of eternal life? Yours, I am sorry to say, is no un P. I am sure it is not too late, if you will now rise and fiee to the stronghold,-for you are yet a prisoner of hope. Your case, though alarming, is not desperate; for I hear a voice from heaven, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, who will have mercy upon him, and unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon." common case. There are many who, to linger, to sleep as I have done, on under the shelter of a high orthodoxy, the brink of everlasting burnings. I as they very erroneously imagine, quiet will sleep no longer. But do you themselves in the same way. They think there is any hope for me? Is it are waiting God's time, when they not too late to find the Lord, if I seek should be pressing into the kingdom of him? heaven. This, beyond all question, is one of the wiles of the devil, to keep his captives quiet in their chains. He can quote Scripture,-he can "transform himself into an angel of light," he can do anything to carry his point, and ruin souls. He knows perfectly well, that as long as sinners can be kept from doing anything, from feeling any concern, and making any effort to deliver themselves out of his snare, he is sure of them. What cares he how orthodox they are in regard to Divine sovereignty and efficacious grace, provided he can still ply them with his opiates, and thus prevent them from thinking on their ways, and asking what they must do to be saved? Let me then entreat you, my dear A., not to wait any longer. You are running the most tremendous hazard every moment, by this delay. Your breath is in your nostrils. Your heart beats now, but how long will it beat? Who can tell? Were your soul to be required of you this night, would you have any hope? A. I am sure I am not fit to die, for I have never seriously thought on the subject. P. Should God take you away in your present state, could you go to his bar and urge it as an excuse for not repenting, that you were waiting for him to come and awaken you, at the very time when he called you away? 4. O no-no! I am convinced that I have sinned. It is the highest presumption,-it is madness,-it is worse, CONVERSE WITH SELF. AN humble confidence is the mean betwixt the two extremes, presumption and despair: that usurps God's mercy upon false grounds; this excludes it, and all means to it. The first takes away the sense of sin, the last blocks up the way to pardon. Take heed, O my dejected soul; plunge not thyself in that sad gulf, lest (wanting bottom) thou sink for ever: swim not without bladders lest thou tire. Having fastened one eye upon the ugliness of thy sin, fix the other upon the merits of a Saviour; so when thou discoverest the disease, thy disease will discover a remedy. When the fiery serpent has stung thee, the brazen serpent must heal thee. Nothing, O my soul, makes thy sin too great for mercy, but despair; this only excludes repentance, and impenitence alone makes thee incapable of pardon. He that hath promised forgiveness at thy repentance, hath not promised repentance at thy pleasure. Haste, therefore, O my soul, and re concile thee to thy God to-day, lest it should prove too late to-morrow. Turn thy hand from thy present sin, and God will turn his eyes from thy past sin: cry aloud, and spare not, lest thy sin cry aloud, and he spare not. Let thy confession find a tongue, and his compassion will find an ear. It is less danger to want than to be insensible of thy wants. Dost thou want, my soul? Desire dost thou desire? Ask: dost thou ask? Thou shalt receive and what thou shalt receive, shall satisfy thee. Be not troubled: if thy wants cast thee down, let thy desires raise thee up. Shall thy natural wants be confident of supply from thy natural father, and shall thy spiritual defects despair to be repaired by thy spiritual Father? How dost thou injure providence, O my distrustful soul! how dost thou wrong the God of mercy! how slight the God of truth! He that hears the cry of ravens, and feeds them with a gracious hand, will He be deaf to thee? He that robes the lilies of the field that neither sue nor care to be apparelled, will he deny thee those graces he hath commanded thee to ask? Art thou hungry? he is the bread of life. Art thou thirsty? he is the water of life. Art thou naked? fly to him, and he will give thee the righteousness of his own Son. Build upon his promise, who is truth itself; rely on his mercy, who is goodness itself. Art thou a prodigal? yet remember thou art a son. Is he offended? he will not forget he is a Father. Come, therefore, with a filial boldness, and he will grant thy heart's desire. Popery. THE INQUISITION. HAVING, in our last Number, given a comprehensive view of a principal Romish tenet, we shall, on the present occasion, furnish a glimpse into the dread recesses of one of its chief institutions, the Inquisition. In doing this, however, we desire it to be distinctly understood that we are not to speak of things long since gone by, and which occurred in far-off lands, but of events of recent occurrence, and at our own doors,-events of which a large portion of the living generation have still a distinct remembrance. The specimen we shall select is that branch of the Inquisition which was established at Madrid, as the French found it in 1809. In 1809, Colonel Lehmanowsky was attached to the part of Napoleon's army which was stationed at Madrid; and while in that city, the colonel used to speak freely among the people what he thought of the priests and Jesuits, and of the Inquisition. It had been decreed by the Emperor Napoleon, that the Inquisition and Monasteries should be suppressed, but the decree was not executed. Months had passed away, and the prisons of the Inquisition had not been opened. One night, about ten or eleven o'clock, as the colonel was walking one of the streets of Madrid, two armed men sprang upon him from an alley, and made a furious attack. He instantly drew his |