:

Do we need to be told, that if such do not repent, they shall perish; or that the "wicked" shall all be " turned into hell?" There is not a worldling in this opulent city that would not agree to this, were it only to guard his property. Our LORD would alarm the good sort of people, as they are called, by showing them an honourable man in hell! I know that many persons have imputed to the "rich man" vices and crimes, which may have existed only in their own imaginations, and for ascribing which to him they certainly have no scriptural authority. They would have us believe, that, under the veil of apparent harmlessness, there was much of concealed wickedness. This is totally unsupported by any thing that is spoken of him by our LORD and it would counteract his whole design; which was,not to show them a wicked man,-but a man not good, not a "new creature," not a member of CHRIST, not a child of God, and, consequently, not an heir of the kingdom of heaven. What do we read here? It matters not what we impute to him.-" Son," said ABRAHAM, "remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things." This is the whole charge against him. He received the good things of this world as his good things. And, Brethren, what is better than the good things which this "rich man" enjoyed? Is there any thing better than that which opulence can procure,— delicate and sumptuous living, a splendid residence, and costly apparel? I beseech you do not affect to despise these things. We all naturally love them, and desire to possess them. And do you know any thing better? I need not ask a Christian this question. He "walks in the light." He sees the idolatries of this world, and tastes the "hidden manna" of his SAVIOUR's love. "The secret of the LORD" is with him; and he can reply to the question. But do the world know any thing better? "Yes," say some; "" a splendid name is better." The old remark has more weight in it," solid food is above empty praise." There is certainly nothing, which the world can give or promise, better than these things. Is "the form of godliness," that which is called religion, better? I trust you know that it is not. The mere form of godliness, to those who trust in it, is worse than nothing. It may lull a man to sleep till he awakes in hell. What then is better? The life of GoD in the soul of man! Fellowship with the FATHER and the Sox! The SPIRIT of Adoption in the heart, crying ABBA, FATHER! To be thus "a child," and so "an heir of GOD through CHRIST," this is better: it is heaven begun below.

III. I now address myself, first, to those of you who possess the "good things" which the earth affords. Are you satisfied with them? If you are, it matters very little, excepting as your fellow-creatures are concerned, how you live in this world. Your idolatrous love of these things will sink you lower in perdition. The not loving GOD,-the not loving CHRIST, who so loved you,the not being a stranger and pilgrim in the world, as all his servants

were, the not "counting all things dung and dross that you may win CHRIST, and be found in him,"-the "not having on the wedding garment,"-this, this will be your ruin. It is what you are not, that will be the cause of your destruction. Away with all the delusions of the world, the flesh, and the Devil! Away with every thing, however good in its place, that is so perverted as to be substituted for the "one thing needful!" Forms of godliness, doctrinal speculations, legal notions, evangelical notions;-they are all but "wood, hay, and stubble," excepting as they are means of bringing the life of GoD into the soul. This alone shall endure, and make you happy for ever. The "rich man" wanted this; and the soul that wants it is just as fit for hell, as the body that wants the soul is fit only for the grave. "If any man have not the SPIRIT of CHRIST, he is none of his !" He has chosen this world, and with the God of this world he must have his portion.

But let me also address a word, before I conclude, to the Lazarus's of this age. My poor Brethren! Beware of a common notion; I beseech you beware of it; viz-that your sufferings in this life merit heaven for you hereafter, or that they will be as wings to raise your souls to glory. No! no! Afflictions can do nothing of this kind. Unless sanctified by faith, they will sink you lower in depravity. We see this verified every day. Look to our Houses of Correction, or places of punishment. There squalid poverty meets our eye, and gives us pain. Who are they that, in general, throng those places? The poor, and the afflicted: so little does affliction avail to rid man of the evil that is in his heart. But yet remember, O ye that are poor, remember this ;-the ALMIGHTY has not rejected you. "His ways are equal." Your state is one, which, when compared with the condition he has allotted to others, is certainly to be lamented. This is one of the mysteries of his Providence, of which he at present gives no account but he will explain it in due time. Meanwhile, he has placed salvation within your reach, and has even given you advantages which your rich neighbours possess not. There is something in your condition that has a tendency to make you "strangers and pilgrims upon the earth." It is comparatively easy to a man to renounce that world which seems so ready to renounce him; and to seek happiness in GoD when he can find it no where else. Heaven is brought down to him, (by the grace of GoD,) and placed, as it were, within his grasp. Neither are those hinderances in his way which abound in the way of others. Sin will attack you; and it has an advocate even in your poor heart but it springs up under the feet of a prosperous man.; it is the element in which he lives, and will live for ever, unless a miracle of grace prevent it. Beside, the poor are seldom flattered. To use a common expression, you will "hear the truth on both sides of your head." You have another advantage. You are not in so much danger of that overwhelming pride, which makes so many say, "Who is the LORD that I should serve him?”

"Of

He, indeed,

In addition to all this, and above all, my poor Brethren, when you are tempted to murmur at your lot, look to your adorable Master! When he was manifest in the flesh," might he not have chosen what station he pleased upon the earth? He certainly might. Yet he actually appeared in the poorest condition in the world!-That extraordinary man, CHARLES the Twelfth, of Sweden, whose name will live while war has a place among men, exerted his whole genius in order so to form his army, that he might lead his soldiers from conquering to conquer. How did he effect this? Not only by labouring to infuse into them an intrepid spirit similar to his own; nor even by taking an equal share in all their difficulties and privations; but by exposing himself still more than any of his men to every hardship. When about to encamp, he would choose the worst spot of ground whereon to pitch his own tent,-generally selecting some wet or marshy place, where he could have no comfort; and the worst food in the camp he would take to himself. Hence his soldiers were ashamed to complain; for the answer was ready, "Are you not better off than the King ?" This conduct infused such a spirit into his army, that only GoD could stop that man: only death could arrest his course.-Consider now the SAVIOUR of the world! him, and through him, and to him are all things! chose no suffering; neither is it his will that you should choose it. But he submitted to all. Born in the lowest condition, in every subsequent step of his holy life he was exposed to poverty,—often without a shelter from the raging elements,-a prey to insults and to injuries, the victim of treachery,-and at length condemned to a cruel death. Brethren! ought we not to "learn in whatsoever state we are, to be content? ? "' Must we be "better off than the King?" Even if you also have not "where to lay your head," yet you are not called to lay it on a bloody cross! O ye poor in this world, judge not your CREATOR. Behold the unsearchable riches of CHRIST, and hear him saying, "All is yours! But you must suffer with him, if you would partake of his glory. Let your hearts then be there fixed, where true joys are to be found. "Come up higher!" "Bless the LORD," yea, let "all that is within you bless his holy name," that you are so far "conformed to the image of his SON!" He was born, and lived, and died in the corps to which you belong. "To you it is given to suffer," says the great Apostle; and shall we lightly esteem the gift of Gon? Behold the primitive Christians! Under CHRIST they are our great model. Not many rich, "not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble, were called." No! These ungrateful recipients of those great gifts "desired to be excused;" and they were excused! GoD gave them their request," but "sent leanness into their souls." On the contrary, Hearken," says ST. JAMES, "Hath not Gop chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?" By grace they too chose HIM. Be this your happy choice likewise; and you shall be eternally rich in the glory of GOD. AMEN!

OBSERVATIONS ON SCRIPTURE-PRECEDENTS:
BY THE REV. ROBERT HALL, A. M.

(Extracted from his Work on the Terms of Christian Communion, pp. 59, 60.) No matter of fact is entitled to be considered as an authoritative precedent, which necessarily arose out of existing circumstances; so that in the then present state of things it could not fail to have occurred. The foundation of this rule is obvious. Nothing is of the nature of Law, but what emanates from the will of the Legislator: but when a particular fact, recorded in an historical narration, is so situated, that the contrary would have appeared incongruous or absurd ;-in other words, when it could not fail to be the result of previous occurrences ;-such a fact is destitute of the essential characteristics of a Law; it has no apparent dependence on a superior will. Hence many practices occur in the history of the apostolic transactions, which it is universally admitted we are not obliged to imitate. It is an unquestionable fact, that the Eucharist was first celebrated with unleavened bread,-in the evening,-in an upperroom, and to Jews only: but as we distinctly perceive that these particulars originated in the peculiar circumstances of the time, we are far from considering them as binding.

ON NATURAL RELIGION.

(From the REV. PREBENDARY DENNIS'S Answer to MANNING.) NATURAL RELIGION [in the sense which many seem to ascribe to that phrase] is a mere phantom of the imagination, which ought never to be named among Christians. Our first parents were not sent adrift into the world, to find out a religion for themselves; as men, degenerated into a savage state, find out acorns in the woods. They were placed in the garden of Eden, not in a desert. They were not left to find out the existence of a CREATOR, from reasoning upon the construction of the works of the natural creation; but they derived this first principle of all religion from hearing the voice of the CREATOR himself, in the midst of the garden; so that Revelation is coeval with the Creation, as the Gospel is coeval with the Fall. Even the heathen philosophers derived their knowledge of religion, as far as they had any correct ideas respecting it, either from Tradition, or from actual acquaintance with the Sacred Writings, or from intercourse with the Jews, or from the divine institution of Sacrifice, a rite retained in all ages, and in almost every corner of the earth. The theory of Natural Religion, first proposed to supply arguments against Atheists, has contributed to convert thousands into Deists, a modern soft appellation for Infidels; many of whom derive weapons from the writings of the professed advocates of revealed religion, which they use for the purpose of destroying revelation itself.

THE WESLEYAN-METHODIST.

ON THE RULE OF THE METHODIST SOCIETIES WHICH RELATES TO THE DUTY OF REPROVING SIN.