hour of my being. Woe is me! It is a terrible thing to be a man, if this be all But this is not all. I look again, and what do I see? In the midst of the moral gloom rises a great light, exceeding the brightness of the mid-day sun. In my nature, but without my depravity, appears One who redeems me by his righteousness and death. Accepting Him, the depravity of my nature is healed, the guilt of my trangressions is pardoned, the sentence of condemnation is reversed, and one of justification, full, free, and irrevocable, entered in its stead; my mortality is turned into a blessing of inconceivable value; my moral nature is brought into harmony with the mind of God; I am united by indissoluble bonds to my glorious Substitute-one with him in the eye of lawand everlasting life as certainly awaits me, as it is certain that my risen and glorified Redeemer dieth no more. Now, what shall I say to these things? If all this be true-and it is just as true as the dismal picture first drawn-it is a glorious thing to be a man! Under these circumstances, I glorify God for my creation! It was a boon, and not a punishment; a blessing, and not a curse. It was a great gift, to which he meant to add a greater still-the new creation and all that follows in its train. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits!" In the dungeon where I lay, I have found a mine of wealth which immortality itself will be unable to exhaust. To the land of my captivity where I groaned, a victim sorely pressed, the helpless prey of sin and the sport of my oppressors, my Elder Brother came and sought me, and told me such tidings that I could bear the sorrows of a world a thousand times worse than this, patiently, if not cheerfully, for the few remaining years of my pilgrimage, until the time come when I shall see him in his glory who came to see me in my disgrace. He came, though knowing beforehand that he should die in the land of the enemy, die in the act of ransoming me from captivity. Shall I now, therefore, show my appreciation of the love, grace, sufferings, and work of my Deliverer, by stupid indifference or cold ingratitude? Shall I, in the presence of these two pictures of truth-the one black as the bottomless pit, the other bright as the third heavens-mutter egotistical vanities about my virtues, and merits, and good deeds? By God's grace, never! Let gratitude be the grand characteristic of my being-gratitude prompting love, labour, selfdenial, humility, purity, praise, worship, confidence! "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the land of the enemy. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. I will give thee thanks in the great congregation; I will praise thee among much people. I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall be continually in my mouth. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee FOR EVER!" PREACHING THE GOSPEL. THERE is a fearful woe impending over those ministers of the gospel who do not preach it. This should at least awaken the anxieties of all preachers, that they may clearly understand what is required of the "good stewards of the grace of God," in "rightly dividing the word of truth." There may be a mistake in a man's apprehension of what the gospel is, and he may substitute something else instead of it, not intentionally, but inadvertently; or he may mistake a part for the whole, and the gospel may then be misapprehended by his hearers; as it no doubt often is, when there is either error or deficiency in the statement. When it is considered what consequences may result to the preacher and his hearers from a single sermon, the one ought to weigh well what he preaches, and the other to take heed what he hears. In this article it is designed briefly to name some of the mistaken notions of the gospel, which in the present day prevail in the world, and to an alarming extent in the church also. Some are attempting to identify the gospel with morality. But although the gospel teaches morality, and that of the purest kind, yet morality alone is not the gospel. To suppose it such would be to make it a mere reproduction of the law. But to preach the law, or even the obligations of holiness, is not the same as preaching the gospel. There is another notion of the gospel spreading extensively among certain classes of persons; it is, that the great object of Christ in the gospel was to teach men brotherly love and humanity; and that wherever men learn and practise these, especially towards the poor, the destitute, and the oppressed, there the great ends of the gospel are effected; "for," say they," Christ came to show and to enforce goodwill among men, and peace on earth." There is something very plausible in this, and it has imposed upon many, both among preachers and hearers. But yet this cannot be "the power of God to salvation." No doubt the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches all this; but if it taught nothing more, it would not be the good news from heaven to the individual heart, burdened with the guilt of sin, and desiring reconciliation with God. It would be but presenting a demand which man had neither the power nor the disposition to fulfil, and would thereby only aggravate his misery and self-condemnation. Yet it is certain that many of our popular authors and philosophising preachers have, accord ing to their own ideas, sublimated the gospel of Jesus Christ into this view, which passes with many for a new and improved edition of old Christianity. Others have considered another great fact included in the announcement of the gospel to be the gospel itself, namely, the assurance of life and immortality beyond the grave. But even this, by itself, is not the great message which the gospel brings to man. Suppose this great truth were proclaimed to a man conscious of his sin and desiring to be saved from its guilt and power. Would he esteem the doctrine of eternal life or existence a source of consolation, before he was informed that his sins could be pardoned in a way consistent with Divine righteousness? Would he not be apt to say, "That very truth which you demonstrate aggravates my wretchedness. It is just what I do not desire in my present condition; for if there is an immortal state, and if my soul is to live for ever, what ground can I have for hoping that I shall enjoy immortal happiness? Have I not reason rather to fear from the misery and sinfulness of this state, that a continuance of the same awaits me in eternity, or something far worse? Some teach for the gospel, that Jesus Christ came to set an example of patience, forbearance, and fortitude under the trials and troubles of this life, and then to sustain death with magnanimity, because there is to be a restoration of our nature, and a resurrection to life. Now, although these are sublime truths, and find a valid foundation in the gospel, yet what is there in all this that meets the case of the guilty and ruined soul? Such teaching misrepresents the design of Christ in coming into the world to save sinners by dying for them. It supplies no true consolation to the wounded spirit, seeking forgiveness of sins and peace with God. But some go even much further than this, and beyond all that we have mentioned. They have advanced still nearer to a right conception of the gospel, and yet fallen short of it. They present the doctrine of divine mercy alone, and abstracted from divine righteousness. God is so inexpressibly benevolent, and has declared his forgiving love in such terms, that men ought to believe, and take the comfort of a full pardon for all their offences. Pardon they announce as an absolute act of sovereign benevolence. Indeed, it is represented by such teachers, that it would be dishonourable to God, to suppose him unwilling to hear the cry of any penitent creature suing for pardon. Such persons defend their notions by the declarations of God's word, which represent Him as pardoning iniquity, and ready to show mercy to the contrite in heart. But if such representations contain the whole gospel, what are we to do with those Scriptures which speak of him as a just God, rigorously enforcing the claims of His law, which will by no means clear the guilty? There is as much reason for attaching weight to this second class of Scriptures as to the first, and until a method of harmonizing them be found, we are not in possession of all the "good news." We must find a doctrine which, while it exhibits divine mercy, does not slight or ignore divine justice. It is our duty to preach the doctrine of pardon, springing from the mercy of God, in full harmony with his righteousness as the moral governor, by displaying the cross of Christ, or his atonement—that is, mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace embracing each other-a gospel which unites infinite benevolence with infinite rectitude but yet some preachers suspend this ineffable blessing, upon condition of the sinner's repentance, faith, obedience, holiness of life, and perseverance, without showing him whence : strength is to be derived, or the moral power gained, by which, one conscious that he is "dead in trespasses and sins" may hope to discharge those conditions. This kind of preaching, therefore, which leaves man to his own resources, is not the gospel according to Paul's notion of it; nor adapted to the condition of man. Would it not be cruel and tantalizing to a miserable culprit, on whom sentence has been passed, to say, "Now the sovereign will confer a free pardon upon you, if you will undo all the consequences of your crimes, and if you will become a perfectly honest man, an upright citizen, an obedient subject, and restore what you have stolen, or recover the life you have destroyed ?" Would this be really good news to the criminal? Certainly not; because it would be suspending his pardon upon conditions he had no power to perform. God deals not so with men, and such a gospel is "another," and not that which the Scriptures teach. Every one of these distinct views which we have noticed is derived from the gospel, but not one of all these systems contains the full gospel. That which Paul taught is made up of all these, and that which completes them all, and combines them into one grand whole, is the doctrine of divine influence effectually working in them that believe. This is the gospel which every hearer ought to wish to hear, and every preacher to preach. Were it but sounding every Sabbath-day in the ears of the people, in every place of Christian worship, ministers would not have to complain that they had laboured in vain, nor the people that they had not heard the joyful sound. It would be found the power of God to salvation to every one that believed it. G. R. JESUS EXAMINING HIS CHURCHES. "All the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts."-REV. ii. 28. IT is in unwonted characters, and amid circumstances altogether peculiar, that our divine Lord here introduces himself to us. Our ordinary ideas of Him are connected with the manger and the sepulchre, with Nazareth and Calvary, with unwearied toils and uninterrupted conflicts, with accumulated sorrows, such as He only who was "the man of sorrows" could endure, and with a strangely mysterious death, such as He only who "died, the just for the unjust," could undergo. Now His deep abasement is at an end for ever. He has finished His long and trying course of suffering; He has burst asunder the bonds of the tomb; He has shown Himself to be the possessor of a life which triumphs over death; He has, in a manner calculated to demonstrate His power and glory, ascended up far above all heavens; He is seated at His Father's right hand, and is there "exalted and extolled, and raised very high." In that world of glory which is now His dwelling-place, and which His presence invests with the highest glory belonging to it, He is distinguished by a dignity which infinitely transcends the very highest conceptions of every finite mind. We look at Him as this wonderful apocalyptic vision presents Him to our view, and the more that we look at Him, the more glorious He appears. His head is white as snow; His feet are like fine brass; His voice is as the sound of many waters; His eyes are as a flame of fire; His countenance is as the sun shining in his strength; out of His mouth there proceeds a sharp twoedged sword; the keys of death and hell hang at His girdle. Everything n His appearance is strikingly symbolical and significant, suggestive to us of many a much-needed moral lesson, and well calculated to teach us how to think of Him, and how to feel towards Him. He has returned to heaven after accomplishing the great and gracious work which brought Him down from heaven. Once more He comes forth from his abode in the world of bliss, in order to speak to the church, to warn it, to counsel it, to instruct it; to impress upon it in all its subsequent ages, to the very end of time, the great truth that it is ever under His watchful eye; to give utterance in terms the most pointed, and in ways the most impressive, to those truths which are fraught with importance unspeakable to the church in all ages. The work in which He is engaged, when He searches the reins and the hearts, is too delicate to be carried on by any mere creature, and too important to be entrusted to any inferior being. It is His own work. It arises out of the relationship which He sustains to the church. That relationship is at once most intimate and most hallowed. He is the church's King, the church's Head, the Ruler and the Judge in Israel, the Son presiding as a Son in His own spiritual house. It is by Him that the church is gathered out of the world. It is by Him that the several members of the church are brought into a state of unity. He it is who makes it a church; He it is who gives to it all its distinctive characteristics as a church; He it is who is the object of its unceasing adorations, and the source of all the privileges and blessings which it enjoys. Without him it may be a temple, but it is a temple with no foundation. Without Him, it may be a body, but it is a body with no soul. It is the glory of the church that Jesus is in it, revealing his own matchless excellences, unsealing the fountain for sin and uncleanness, and causing its purifying waters to flow; receiving the grateful and gladsome homage of the saints on the earth, the first notes of a song of praise to be taken up and sung for ever by the saints in heaven. He who thus knows the church so well. and who loves the church with an intensity of affection peculiar to Himself, who is ever faithful and ever true in all his dealings with it, and in all his dispensations towards it, Himself examines it. It is only in a very imperfect measure that we can enter into the great and grand designs of the Saviour's scrutiny. With the profoundest reverence ought we to submit ourselves to Him, who thus inquires into our state, who thus announces Himself to us as proving and testing us, weighing us in the balances of the sanctuary, ascertaining and declaring our real state and our true character. | scrutiny of the Saviour is falling, that we are standing at this moment before Him to be sifted and tested in His own all-wise methods, and according to His own ever-gracious purposes. The questions which He puts to us are, indeed, weighty questions; questions well fitted to induce in every one of us great searchings of heart. Let us listen to them as if they came to us direct from the lips of our exalted Lord. What are they? Is the church a faithful church,-a church holding fast the great doctrines of that gospel which is the charter of our spiritual privileges, maintaining, without reservation or compromise, man's fallen state, God's justifying, regenerating, and sanctifying grace, the way of salvation for man through faith in Christ, of saving The examining of the churches by the Saviour has reference to the church's ostensible principles and the church's actual practices, as well as to the esti-God's one and only way mation in which the churches are held by the God whose they profess to be, and whom they profess to serve. Most distinctly is the constitution of the church explained in that book which | is the statute-book of the church. It is built upon the foundation which God has Himself laid-Christ Jesus. It is composed of a regenerated people. It is by faith working by love, the faith which unites the soul to God, and the love which actuates its possessor to a right discharge of every duty, that its divinely appointed ends are carried out. It is distinguished by holiness; the holiness which consists in purity and integrity, in constant desires and efforts to please God and to resemble God; the holiness which all who see it recognise as "holiness to the Lord." Every inquiry that is made by the Saviour into the church's position has reference to the constitution of the church, and is founded, in all its processes, on the principles and precepts contained in the acknowledged statutebook of the church. To a variety of matters, all of them most important, every one of them thoroughly practical, His examination descends. Let us try to realize the fact that we are now undergoing this ordeal, that upon us the lost man? Is the church a pure church, -a church consisting of those who have come out of the world, who are walking by the righteous rule of God's Divine Word,-a church seeking to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless,-a church advancing and increasing in everything that is well-pleasing to God, aiming and striving to be not only holy, but eminently holy? Is the church a praying church,-a church loving prayer, continuing instant in prayer, having in it many, very many, who in secret wrestle, as Jacob did, in prayer; a church often coming together for the purpose of offering, not coldly and formally, but with heartfelt sincerity and importunity, the sacrifice of prayer; a church ever maintaining and ever exemplifying in all its services and in all its efforts the spirit of grace and supplication? Is the church a believing church,-a church which, laying hold of God's own blessed word, holds it fast, having a confidence in it that is at once simple and practical; a church, each of whose members is characterised by a personal faith, a faith which grows exceedingly, becoming stronger and more influential the more it is exercised, a faith which not only unites |