CATECHETICAL EXPLANATION OF THE COLLECT FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. THE following catechetical explanation of the Collect for the first Sunday in Advent, has been sent us as a specimen of a work which the writer was induced to undertake, not being aware of any similar publication. We gladly insert it; at the same time recommending to the notice of the writer, and our readers in general, a small work, published some years ago by Messrs. Suttaby and Co. entitled, "A short and familiar Exposition of the Collects of the Church of England, by way of Question and Answer;" which was prepared by a gentleman actively engaged in a Sunday School, for the benefit of his class, and found very useful.-ED. What kind of works do men in their natural state perform? The works of darkness'; all those evil deeds, which proceed from an indulgence of the vain and sinful desires of their corrupt hearts 2. Ps. Iviii. 3. Is. lix. 8-8. Ps. v. 9. Rom. i. 28-92. Gen. vi, 5. Mar. vii. 21, 23. Eph. ii. 3. Is it possible to cast off or forsake these evil works? Not unless we are enabled to do so by the grace or holy Spirit of God. Romans, viii. 7, 8. Ezek. xxxvi. 25; xxxvii. 23. When the Holy Spirit enables men to cast off sin, what does he at the same time enable them to put on? The armour of light or holiness. Ezek. xi. 19, 20; xxxvi. 27. Ephes. v. 9; vi. 10-18. How may we obtain grace to By what means did our Saviour Christ obtain grace for his people? He came to visit us in great humility; was made flesh and sin for us3; and bare in his own body the punishment of our sins 4, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works S. 1 2 Cor. viii. 9. 2 Luke, li. 7. John, i. 14. 32 Cor. v. 21. 4 1 Pet. ii. 24. 5 Titus, ii. 14. If we have not the grace of God in the time of this mortal life, shall we ever rise to the life immortal? God the Son has declared, that whatever men profess to believe ', except they are purified by His Spirit, they are none of his 2, 2, and must perish everlastingly 3. Luke, vi. 46-49. Rom. viii. 9. Gal. v. 22-24. 8 Matt. vii. 21-23. In what manner, and for what purpose, will the Lord Jesus Christ visit the earth again? He will come in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead. Matt. xxv. 81-46. 18. 2 Thess. i. 7-10. 1 Thess. iv. 19Matt. xiii. 24-30. ADDRESS TO HOPE. OFFSPRING of Heav'n, descending from above, She bids the mourner, bound in guilt's dread chain, Long did poor Cletus course on ocean's wave, ` When pensive, sad, distress'd, as memory true When wreck'd and stranded 'midst the breaking wave; By her directed, oft he view'd the strand, Where cannons' roar ne'er reach'd the peasant's ear, 'Midst scenes of conflict, where Compassion bleeds, RHYMER. REVIEW OF BOOKS. Sermons on important Points of THERE is somewhat very prepossessing in appearance; a neat, spruce, prettily printed volume in extra boards, often draws the money out of a purchaser's pocket, yea and sometimes secures notice in a generally speaking impartial review, when a work of less obtrusive merit lies unheeded on the counter, and goes unreviewed to its grave. The present volumes, however, owe very little to circumstances of this nature. The paper and printing are good; but there is an air of plainness and somewhat of rusticity in the type and the page and the first appearance, which does not exactly accord with the fastidiousness of modern taste; but he who judges by either the price or the mere outside appearance of these volumes, will form a very erroneous idea of their value. They may at first sight appear a work of no pretensions; but they contain what is of infinitely more importance, clear, solid, practical expositions of Sacred Truth: they display considerable talent, extensive reading, and much original and vigorous conception. The style is rather too florid, and the allusions occasionally remind us of some of the best French preachers, with whom our author is evidently conversant. We have noticed a few expressions, which his good sense will naturally lead him to correct in another edition, which we earnestly hope, and have no doubt, will soon be called for; meanwhile we append one or two extracts, which may at once furnish appropriate meditations for the present season, DECEMBER 1822. very and a fair specimen of the work itself. In discoursing from Mal. iii. 13, On the spiritual advent of Christ as a refiner and purifier of the heart, Mr. B. treats of the character of the Redeemer, and the object of his first advent. The long-continued series of revelations, patriarchal, legal, and prophetical, by which God was preparing the minds of men for the reception of that Saviour whom the fulness of time should bring down from heaven to earth, had reference to no common character. The promised Deliverer of the world is announced, not as clad in the highest grandeur of human state; not invested even with the radiance of angelic splendour; but with the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person. God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself. The predictions which announced his advent, cried to the cities of Judah, Behold your God! And when Isaiah, the prophet of the Goswhich the angel declared to be accomplishpel, proclaimed that stupendous event, ed on the morning of the Redeemer's birth, he cried, Unto us a Child is born, unto us á Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. In full conformity with this assertion of the proper divinity of Messiah, Malachi introduces him to the lowly adoration, no less than to the grateful acceptance, of mankind, by his title of the Governor of the world: The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come. The original expression does not, indeed, imply the selfexistence and almighty power of Jehovah. But the prophet, as Bishop Horsley forcibly observes*, "leaves it not undetermined what kind of lordship he would ascribe to him, whose coming he proclaims: The Lord shall come to his temple. Of this temple, even the house of God at Jerusalem, the approaching Saviour is here expressly called the Lord. Now, in the language of all writers, and in the natural meaning of the phrase, the lord of any temple is the divinity to whose worship it is consecrated. To no other divinity was the temple at Jerusalem consecrated, than the true and everlasting God, the Lord Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth. Here, then, we have the express testimony of * Horsley's Sermons, iii. 5. 3 R Malachi, the witness of infallible inspiration, that the Christ, the Deliverer, whose coming he announces, was no other than the Jehovah of the Old Testament."Great is the mystery of godliness! God manifest in the flesh, fulfilling a scheme of redemption as much surpassing the boasted reason of man, as the generations of eternity exceed the scanty period of his threescore years and ten. Behold, then, "Him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, consenting to be inclosed within the narrow limits of the human body-the Majesty of Jehovah subject to the dominion of men-infinite Power apparently reduced to the extremity of weakness -infinite Wisdom deigning to be as folly—nay, infinite Goodness to be as sin. Finally, see Him, who, as he spoke the world into being, could again speak it into nothing, coming on earth, delivering himself into the hands of men, to be judged, scourged, crucified, and slain." Behold this amazing plan, and then, with the seraphic Apostle, exclaim, How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! The sin of Adam had annulled the original covenant made between the Most High and his creatures. "Do this and live," was as impossible, as that man should restore himself to the high privileges of that pure and perfect state from which the father of his race had fallen. Infinite mercy, however, devised a plan for the recovery of a sinful world. A new covenant was to be made, of which this adorable Being to whom the prophet testified, even Immanuel, God with us, was to be the Mediator; and for administering which, his union of the divine with the human nature pre-eminently qualified and endowed him. Hence the prophet's appellation, "the Messenger" of that covenant which was to be proposed on the part of God, to be embraced with adoring gratitude on the part of man. Very suddenly did this august character come to his material temple on mount Moriah, and take personal possession of it, as the proper seat of his service and worship. But, my dear hearers, there is another, and a higher visitation of Jesus Christ, with which we are concerned. He came, not merely to Jerusalem, in bodily form: he comes to Britain, by the ministrations of his Gospel, and the influences of his Spirit. He comes to possess a temple not made with hands. He descends from the highest heaven, with a purpose of humility so profound, of condescension so amazing, as to seek entrance into our hearts, as into that place in which the spiritual worship of the Son of man may be most acceptably made. His advent is meant to effect a salvation for *Gilpin's Sermons, p. 110. us, and (as a mean of that salvation) that he may be formed within us the hope of glory: that he may dwell in our hearts by faith: that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and depth, and length, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God. He comes in very deed to accomplish the predictions of that great voice, which the beloved disciple heard among the rocks and solitudes of Patmos, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Such a spiritual visitation as this, depends upon, and accords with, that divinity which the inspiration of Malachi proclaims. Were the Saviour a mere man, were he the highest of all created intelligences, his spirit, instead of possessing the ubiquity here supposed, must remain in heaven with that body which his incarnation assumed. But the attributes of essential Deity belong to him. He fills heaven and earth. He dwells not only on the throne of mediatorial dominion, but in the recesses of every faithful, penitent, obedient heart. I appeal to you, Christians, whom his Spirit has quickened to newness of life; who have been crucified with him in his death, and raised with him from the grave of sin, to the duties, enjoyments, and privileges of a spiritual being. I challenge your experience; let it come forth and give its testimony. Have you no enjoyment of his presence in a holy commerce and communion? Do you perceive no union between the Vine and the branches; no prevalence of holy influences upon your mind, such as, in the state of sin and nature, whether presumptuous or careless, you had not? Have you no sense of his love shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost given to you? Do you not own the constraining influence of that love? While every holy affection centres in him, as the Author and Giver of your mercies for time and heaven, do you not feel the high influence which makes his commands (holy as they are) to be the very joy of your heart? While you admire and adore the unsearchable riches of his love, in stooping (for your individual salvation in common with that of all) from the thrones of heaven to the hill of Golgotha, does not the aspiration of your gratitude often break forth in the language of him whom our Lord rescued when Satan had him in the toils; Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee? Have you no experience of his power? While you own the almighty efficacy of his cross to pay the penalty of your sin and effect the ransom of your soul, are you not sensible of the ex tent of his might to subdue the principles of evil within you, as well as to remove its curse from you? Is it not at least your desire, and in some degree (by his Almighty power) your ability, to say, I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I know you will say, in the sincerity of that humility, which is always most active where the spirit and presence of Jesus Christ are most manifest, and which makes the Christian know not merely the might of his Deliverer, but the power of his own in-dwelling sinfulness, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? But I know also, that you have within you a witness to the power of the Saviour, which enables you to add, I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. Not I, but the grace of God, which is with me. Will it be said that this is the mistaken language of enthusiasm ; and that this "mysterious commerce between God and the believer's soul," is the creation of a distempered fancy? I appeal from the decision, as I would from trial by incompetent judges. The natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God; and when we speak of the intercourse which a Christian enjoys with the Author of his salvation and the end of his hope, we own it may be as incomprehensible, to those who live without God in the world, and therefore discover no excellence in the Redeemer, as it would be to one born blind to judge of the nature of shape, distance, and colour. But shall I consent to deny that the landscape is spread before my eye, in all the beauty and luxuriance with which the God of nature can invest it, because one unblest with the gift of sight shall deride my enjoyment as the creature of imagination, rather than a glorious reality, the object of my senses? These things are spiritually discerned. If any here refuse to credit their existence, my answer is, that the God of this world hath blinded their eyes, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine upon them; and my prayer for them is, that the grace of our Lord, and the influence of his Spirit, may enable then to contrast the blessings of Christian experience with worldly ignorance, and to say, One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. I grant that a Christian believer can exhibit no evidence of this communion, no infallible sign that Christ has come to dwell in his heart, as in a living and consecrated temple, except the undeniable testimony of a holy * Bishop Horsley. life, a virtuous carriage, an unwearied aim to bring forth all those fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God. But, while this, and this alone, can manifest to others that he is born of Heaven, and is an heir of life, it is his privilege to have the witness of the Saviour's presence within himself, as his best personal solace, as the confirmation of his faith, and as one of the firmest rocks and resting-places of his individual hope.— Pp. 194-202. The next Sermon is on Luke, ii. 15, of which we can only insert the close. But leave not the great Christian duty to which the day invites you, undischarged and neglected. Go even unto Bethlehem. Approach the table of that Saviour, whom you profess to seck. Here, in the sanctuary, you have been in the way. Already have you heard the harp of David, and the voice of prophecy, and the prayer of the Church, and the declarations of evangelical truth, lend their united testimony to the greatness and goodness of your Lord and Redeemer. They have spoken words which the Most High has made authoritative; and by them his mercy now commands your regard, as of old by the prophet's call: Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and beside me there is no Saviour. If, however; you stop here, you will rest short of Bethlehem. At the feast of his love you will best understand the extent of your mercies, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord bath made known unto you. There, in all the terror of its proportions, and all the gloom of its colouring, you may see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, which produced the necessity for such an interposition of divine goodness. There you may know, that if you repent, and believe the Gospel, you shall be saved. There, while you partake the pledges of your Saviour's love, spiritually eating the flesh of Christ, and drinking his blood; while dwelling in Christ, and Christ in you; while one with Christ, and Christ with you; you will best ascertain what are your obligations to his goodness, and what manner of persons you ought to be, whom he hath purchased to himself, as a peculiar people zealous of good works. not, I entreat you, in the spirit of cold inquiry. Say not, "Master, where dwellest thou?" unless you are determined, with the help of God, to follow him, and abide with him. Come with a portion of the Psalmist's holy desire; "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Thus approach, and expect a blessing upon your spiritual But go |