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"ten thousand times ten thousand" that are about the throne; where he is singing that song which was his great entertainment here, as it is now his endless joy there: Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty, and just and true are thy ways, O King of Saints!'"'

We have been looking back on the career of a man, whose intellect and attainments, learned and scientific, made him the admiration of the greatest minds of his day. And yet this man, both as a student of theology and in his personal character, was so devoted to religion, that he could not have been more so, ᎥᏝ religion had been the only subject which he cultivated. His example herein teaches us, that neither the study of the Scriptures, nor the life of godliness, belongs to any order of men, but that they are the truest interest and ornament of all. The supremacy which religion held in the mind of Mr. Boyle shews how exalted a thing it is in itself. For if any one could dispense with it, we may fairly suppose he might, profoundly versed as he was in all kinds of human knowledge. But none of these things could satisfy the cravings of his soul. After exploring the very depths in search of knowledge, he felt that he must yet, to attain happiness, dig deep for "the wells of salvation." And such has been the uniform testimony borne by the greatest men to the necessity of divine knowledge in order to our being happy. It was a deep consciousness of this necessity that led Boyle, amid an abundance of resources from within and without, to "esteem God's word above all things:" it was that necessity that caused God to enjoin in his word: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom-but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth

me.

The following is a list of Mr. Boyle's religious productions:

1. Some motives and incentives to the love of God, otherwise entitled "Seraphic Love."

2. "An occasional reflection upon a letter received in April 1662, containing an account of what passed on the king's coronation-day in a little country town:" a beautiful little piece, where he ascends from the praises bestowed on the king by the writer of this letter, to a contemplation of the praises of heaven.

3. Considerations touching the style of the holy Scriptures.

4. "Occasional reflections upon several subjects; whereto is prefixed a discourse about such kind of thoughts." These are the musings of his mind upon a large variety of incidents that befel him: some of these incidents are very trivial; but he has contrived, most ingeniously, to extract from them valuable religious reflections.

5. The excellency of theology; or, the pre-eminence of the study of divinity above that of natural philosophy.

6. Some considerations about the reconcileableness of reason and religion, by T. E., a layman: to which is annexed some physico-theological considerations about the possibility of the resurrection.

7. Of the high veneration man's intellect owes to God, peculiar for his wisdom and power.

8. A free discourse against customary swearing.
9. The Christian Virtuoso, shewing that by being

addicted to experimental philosophy a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good Christian.

D.

THE PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE HEART.

LETTER FROM THE REV. C. SIMEON.

To the Editors of the Church of England Magazine.

London, Sept. 9, 1836.

SIRS, I apprehend that you cannot do a greater service to the cause of the Gospel than by inviting the minds of your readers to words of truth and soberness. The real practical Christian will gladly embrace the opportunity of perusing any sentiments upon the subject of personal holiness; and the unstable professor may thereby be led to turn his thoughts inwards upon himself.

In the present day, we find the voice of experience most grievously neglected; and it seems one of the most besetting sins, to follow after that which is new and strange, regardless of the voice of wisdom and the hoary hairs of our elders.

I would invite your attention to the accompanying Substance of an Address, delivered at a Meeting of Undergraduates at Cambridge," by the Rev. Charles Simeon, as in immediate connexion with the foregoing remarks and I trust you will find such valuable matter in the paper as to justify the application of a sufficient portion of your interesting pages to its promulgation.

I have the authority of the venerable author so to use it, in the hope that, by inviting the attention of your readers to its contents, much increased benefit may arise, not only to the particular society in reference to which it was originally framed, but that a considerable class of individuals may be led to try their spirits, whether they be of God.

I am, Sirs, your faithful servant,
AMICUS.

A LETTER TO THE REV. J. B. CARTWRIGHT, M.A. King's College, Cambridge, October 29, 1834. My dear Friend,-In compliance with the request which you made to me yesterday respecting the observations which I had offered on the preceding evening to a large number of Undergraduates, that were assembled to hear, from yourself and Mr. Bickersteth, an account of the work going forward through the instrumentality of the London Society for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, I take up my pen to give you, in few words, the substance of my address.

I had expressed my gratitude to Almighty God for the great increase of attention which was visibly paid by them to this generally neglected subject; and I traced it to what I conceived to be its true cause, an increase of scriptural knowledge and of vital godliness among them.

Religion, I observed, in its first rise in the heart, is a personal matter between God and a man's own soul. A man, desirous of obtaining mercy from God, and peace in his own conscience, reads the Scriptures in order to find out the way of salvation, and marks with special care those passages which assure him of acceptance with God through the merits and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For a considerable time, it is his own eternal welfare which engrosses all his attention, and almost exclusively occupies his mind: and even the salvation of the whole world is of chief interest to him, as warranting a hope that he himself

may be a partaker of the blessings so freely offered, | opportunity that is afforded him to promote the eterand so extensively diffused.

But when he has obtained peace with God, then he searches the Scriptures, to find how he may adorn his holy profession, and render to the Lord according to the stupendous benefits that have been conferred upon him. He sees that LOVE, in all its branches, is his bounden duty, and his highest privilege; and he accordingly determines, with God's help, to live in the most enlarged exercise of that heavenly grace. Benevolence, in all its offices, both towards the bodies and souls of men, is now cultivated by him with holy ardour; and every society that is engaged in imparting good to man, is gladly encouraged by him. Not only are schools for the education of the poor, and hospitals for the relief of the sick, become objects of his regard, but he extends his compassion to the perishing heathen, and gladly unites with Bible societies and mission societies in their efforts to spread Divine knowledge throughout the world, by the dispersion of the Holy Scriptures in all the vernacular languages of the earth, and by the labours of pious ministers.

As religion advances in his soul, he takes deeper views of divine truth, and enters into considerations which, in the earlier stages of his career, found scarcely any place in his mind. He now enters into the character of Jehovah as displayed in the sacred volume, and his dispensations, both of providence and grace, as there revealed. He traces up the great work of redemption to the eternal counsels of Jehovah, and regards all its benefits, whether as conferred on himself or others, as the fruits of God's love, manifested in Christ Jesus, and ratified with the blood of the everlasting covenant. He sees that "covenant ordered in all things and sure;" and looks unto God to fulfil towards him all the engagements which from eternity he entered into with his only dear Son, and founds his hopes of ultimate felicity, not only on the mercy, but on the truth and fidelity of God. He now begins to view with wonder the dealings of God with his ancient people, who, from the days of Abraham to the present moment, have been such remarkable objects of | his care.

He sees their separation from all the rest

nal welfare of the Jews. His very love to the Gentile
world strengthens this desire, and encourages him in
the discharge of this grievously neglected duty. He
longs to see God's glory advanced, and his purposes
accomplished: and in his prayers, as well as in his
efforts, he labours to hasten forward this glorious con-
summation; yea, he determines to "give God no rest,
till he arise, and make Jerusalem a praise in the
earth." Formerly, he thought but little of conferring
benefits on this despised people; but now, seeing how
nearly the honour of God and the salvation of the
whole world are connected with their destinies, he
accounts it his bounden duty to promote, by every
means within his power, their restoration to the Divine
favour. He is even astonished at himself; yes, and
humbled too, that he has had such narrow and con-
tracted views of his religious duties, in that he has
passed over as scarcely worthy of a thought, that mys-
terious dispensation, which St. Paul has so clearly and
fully developed in the eleventh chapter of his Epistle
to the Romans, and in the contemplation of which he
exclaimed, "O the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" I
say, he wonders at his own blindness and stupidity in
having so overlooked that mystery which St. Paul
cautioned us 66
on no account to remain ignorant of,"
and at his own indifference about that people, for
whom St. Paul felt such "continued heaviness and
sorrow in his heart," that he was willing even to lay
down his life for their welfare. And now he determines
henceforth to redeem the time for the discharge of his
duty towards them, that he may no longer subject
himself to that anathema which was denounced against
the Ammonites and Moabites, for not administering to
the necessities of that people, who were the special
objects of God's peculiar care and favour.

Thus, as it appears to me, the reason of this sacred cause having hitherto made but small progress in the land, in comparison of some other societies, is made clear. Religion, in its rise, interests us almost exclusively about ourselves: in its progress, it engages us about the welfare of our fellow-creatures: in its more advanced stages, it animates us to consult in all things, and to exalt, to the utmost of our power, the honour of our God.

Having now our eyes opened to see, what is so clearly revealed in the Scriptures of truth, that the restoration of God's ancient people to his favour will be an occasion "of joy (so to speak), and of honour to God himself" (Jer. xxxiii. 9), and the means of hap

of mankind, and their wonderful preservation as a peculiar people in all ages: he sees their miraculous redemption from Egypt, their establishment in the promised land, and their final expulsion from that land for their manifold transgressions, and especially for their murder of the Messiah. Whilst he beholds them dispersed through the world as objects of universal hatred and contempt, he contemplates God's design to restore them in due season to their former inherit-piness and salvation to the whole world (compare ance, and to a state of piety and blessedness far exceeding any thing which, in their national capacity, they ever possessed. He sees further, the connexion which subsists between the restoration of that people and the salvation of the whole Gentile world; the latter being, in the Divine purpose, the effect and consequence of the former. Here, then, his mind becomes expanded and his heart enlarged, and a fresh, unthought-of line of duty opens itself to his view. Now, he desires to co-operate with God, so far as his feeble influence can extend, in the production of this great event; and he thankfully avails himself of any

Rom. xi. 12, 15, with Jer. xxxiii. 7-9, and Psalm cii. 13-15: "so the heathens shall fear thy name"); and, above all, that God's glory will be displayed by means of it with such brightness as shall perfectly eclipse all former manifestations of it (Psalm cii. 16, with Isa. lxv. 17, 18, and Jer. iii. 16, 17),—we cannot but feel ourselves bound to promote this great object to the utmost of our power, and for that end to aid the efforts of the only society in Britain that has that object in view, "The London Society for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews." The effect of the lower degrees of knowledge and piety is already seen

in the land to a considerable extent, in the ways I have before described it: and I cannot but hope, that, in proportion as religion shall be deepened in the hearts of our countrymen, this all-important cause will be espoused and cherished by all ranks and orders of the community.

I am, my dear friend, most affectionately yours, C. SIMEON.

THE DANGER OF FALLING SHORT OF THE HEAVENLY REST:

A Sermon,

BY THE REV. THOMAS PRESTON WRIGHT, M.A. Hackney, late Vicar of Roydon, Essex.

HEB. iv. 1.

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."

In order to perceive the peculiar beauty and appropriateness of the passage before us, we must refer to the preceding chapter, where St. Paul had been dwelling upon the just severity of the Almighty towards the rebellious Israelites, in excluding them, on account of their unbelief, from the land of promise, which he intimates was a type of a better, even a heavenly, country; and from thence he deduces a solemn warning to his brethren after the flesh, lest they, by similar conduct, should draw down the Divine judgments upon them. And in this warning we are all, my Christian brethren, deeply interested; it is of weighty and serious import to every one of us; and may God enable us, by taking it in time, to be happy in eternity. "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." From these words we are naturally led to consider:

I. The nature of this rest; II. To whom the promise of it is given; and III. The danger of falling short of it.

I. And first, as to the nature of this rest. If you were told that you had valuable possessions in a distant land, which was destined to be your final home, you would be curious to know something of the manners and customs of the country of your adoption; common prudence and natural feeling would alike dictate this course. Now the passage which you have just heard does announce to you the prospect of a rich inheritance, and that not to be held for a time only, but to be enjoyed through eternity; it is, indeed, of infinite and surpassing value; for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." And this inheritance is in a far-distant country, to which we all profess to be journeying through this world of sin and sorrow-it is

heaven. Are you not, then, anxious to be as much as possible acquainted with it? And with this view, have you ever asked yourselves, whether it offers the sort of happiness you desire, that is, the kind of pleasure you have been in the habit of most enjoying? This is a very serious question; for what is one man's pleasure is another man's misery. Some, I fear, express an ignorant wish to go to heaven when they die, who know not what they mean by it. Heaven is not the rest of indolence, sensuality, and self-indulgence, in which many place their supreme delight. No; its blessed inhabitants "rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.' What, then, will become of thousands who think the Sabbath too long for the praises of God, and account it a weariness-an unwelcome interruption to their accustomed pleasures?

But, without pursuing this painful reflection farther, we will now endeavour to ascertain what the happiness of heaven does actually consist in. And here we cannot help feeling our total inability to do justice to such a subject; yet, as there are glimpses of this ineffable glory in God's revealed word, we cannot err in humbly and cautiously following it: and while I am attempting to bring forward some scriptural intimations of its nature, examine your own hearts, I beseech you, and see if you can discern in yourselves a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light; for that is the best means of ascertaining the validity of your pretensions to it.

Heaven, then, we learn, is a rest from sin, a rest from temptation, and a rest from trouble. It is a rest from sin. Those who have entered that sacred place "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb;" they are clothed in the spotless garment of their adorable Saviour's righteousness, and, being sanctified by his Holy Spirit, they are entirely freed from those evil and corrupt propensities which so often embitter the Christian's life. We can scarcely imagine such an exalted condition,-we, who are accustomed to view human nature, at its best, so much disfigured by sin and infirmity, that but faint traces of its divine origin are apparent. But it will be far otherwise above; there it will be perfectly holy, and there, consequently, we shall enjoy the presence of God, because we shall be like him, and see him as he is. Now, the thought that God is every where present often troubles us; "Then he knows," we say to ourselves, "my vain imaginations; he hears my idle words; he beholds my wicked actions." Sin, my brethren, causes all

this when our forefather Adam transgressed | the commandment of the Lord, he trembled to hear his voice in the garden; and so it is now with us, when he speaks by an accusing conscience: but if we were to renounce the practice of iniquity, we should have nothing to fear, but every thing to hope, from God's presence. And frequently we do renounce it in intention and resolution, and as frequently we are compelled to confess that, though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. It was this perpetual struggle between grace and corruption that wrung from the apostle the bitter exclamation, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And the Christian will only be entirely delivered from it when mortality is swallowed up of life; for heaven is

A rest from temptation; "nothing entereth in there that defileth." We have, besides contending with an evil heart of unbelief, to guard against external temptations. There are so many allurements to induce us to betray our trust, and to disregard our duty, that constant vigilance and circumspection is necessary for our safety. This, indeed, is the very source of our moral probation; whether, when we know the will of God, we are determined to resist every temptation to disobey it. Now, a life of caution is essentially a life of anxiety. But there will be no need of such caution above; clothed, as we then shall be, with a new nature, and far removed from all ensnaring seductions, we shall be able to love God supremely, without any rival in our affections; to praise him without any distraction in our thoughts; and to honour him without any reserve in our feelings: and this is the highest condition of man; in this consists his true dignity, to glorify his God and Creator.

nutely consolatory on this point: "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat: for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." What a change will this be to the Christian, who has patiently borne affliction, and endured as seeing Him who is invisible! Such a reward will be an infinite recompense for all trials and privations; for the sufferings. of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glories which shall be hereafter revealed. We sometimes wonder that the children of God should be called to pass through such painful trials; but a future state will rectify every thing; and whatever has contributed towards our final and lasting happiness, distressing as it might have been at the time, will be viewed, in the retrospect, as a real blessing.

How much better to have had some interruption of the feverish and transitory pleasures of life, than by unrestricted enjoyment of them to have lost the inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you! Remem ber, this rest which remaineth for the people of God is the rest of eternity: when myriads and myriads of ages have passed, it will still remain for them. They will possess it for ever, without languor or weariness; the pleasures there will always be delightful, and perpetually increasing in interest.

The ascription of gratitude to God for redeeming love is, indeed, an exhaustless theme, which kindles the soul with fresh warmth and ardour the more it meditates upon it. We might well exclaim,

"Oh! eternity's too short to utter all his praise."

II. Having thus attempted to describe the glorious happiness of the heavenly rest, we are next to consider to whom the promise of it is made.

The restraint and coldness which we too often experience in the discharge of these duties is a sad sign of the prostration of our moral powers it shews too plainly how low human nature has fallen, that our tastes and inclinations should be so debased, that what It is made, it is left to us: yes, wherever is the joy of angels should be a burden to us. the Gospel is preached, this inestimable prize It ought not, my brethren, so to be; indeed, is offered to those who believe in its lifeit can never be habitually the case with the giving doctrines. We have, it is true, forreal Christian; and whenever he is in such feited the favour of God by innumerable an unhappy frame of mind, he is ready to transgressions; we are not in a condition to vent the grief of his heart in the language of help ourselves; we can lay no claim, by our the Psalmist, "Oh! that I had wings like a works, to the Divine bounty. If we have dove, for then would I fly away and be at earned any thing, it is the wages of sin-death rest; " then would I cast aside the clog which-eternal death; but the gift of God (praised depresses my soul, and binds it down to earthly things.

Having now ascertained that heaven is a rest from sin and temptation, can we be surprised to hear that it is also a rest from trouble? The words of Scripture are mi

be his holy name!) is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here we must place our whole dependence; we must rely solely on the meritorious atonement of our great High-Priest, who hath appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and our

implicit faith in this stupendous act of Divine | tical body of Christ; and that we must be mercy must be evidenced by our forsaking uncompromising and resolute, if we would, those sinful practices which required the indeed, follow the true Joshua, Jesus the shedding of such blood for the remission of Saviour, into the spiritual land of promise. their punishment. We do but deceive our- Nor must we allow ourselves to be discouselves in supposing that any inferior test of raged on account of the roughness of the our sincerity will suffice; we can never feel way, the obstacles and hinderances which as we ought to feel respecting the death of beset our path; but we must boldly go forChrist while we fondly cherish in our hearts ward, trusting to the great Captain of our the cause of it. salvation for protection.

There must be an utter renouncing of every evil way, before we can entertain any rational hope of reconciliation to God. It is of no use, nay, it is in the highest degree dangerous, to soften down this matter: there is only one way to heaven, and that one way is through faith in Christ, accompanied, as a lively faith always is, with the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. For we are to observe farther, that although the promise contained in our text is made to all collectively, as members of the visible Church, yet it is not made to all individually; for as, under the ancient dispensation, there were many Israelites who were not of Israel, so now there are many Christians who have nothing more of Christianity than the name, and are utter strangers to its spirit and power. Imagine not that this barren profession will save you. Look at the Church of God in the time of Moses. How many of its members, having provoked the Almighty to swear in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest, fell in the wilderness, and never reached the promised land: yet to them" pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." Take heed, brethren, lest, greater as your privileges are, who have heard the things which prophets and kings have desired to hear, and have not heard them, -take heed, I say, lest there be, in any of you, an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. The history of the Jewish nation, we know, was written for our warning; and oh! may the admonition be a salutary and effectual one! It is, indeed, calculated to excite us to diligent self-examination; for human nature is as perverse now as it was then; the mind of man is as proud and fretful now as it was then; the heavenly Canaan is as little the object of attraction to a carnal spirit as the earthly one was to the selfish Israelite: the parallel is striking and close, -let us apply it to ourselves with prayerfulness and humility, and derive from it the lesson which it is calculated to convey. Let us beware of relying on outward privileges, while we are destitute of internal piety; let us remember that we must come out of the world, out of its vices and its follies,-if we would, indeed, join ourselves to the mys

Thus acting, we shall realise this great and glorious promise; for, in the consistent pursuit of such a course, we shall not be presumptuous in applying it to ourselves; we have a right to take the comfort of it, while we are acting in accordance with its spirit. The main thing is, to ascertain whether we are really doing so; and this, it must be confessed, is attended with some difficulty: we are apt to flatter ourselves there are perhaps some favourable symptoms, and we are afraid of fairly considering those which are not so; we are contented with vague generalities, because the detail of the inquiry is painful to us; and we thus actually impose upon ourselves a soul-destroying self-delusion. The promises of the Gospel, though unlimited in their extent, are conditional in their nature; to them that believe, and to them only, Christ is precious. The gracious offers of Divine mercy require a peculiar appropriation in each individual case: they are not indiscriminately made, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear, so that all shall be placed at last upon the same footing: no, there will be a wide difference between those who receive the word with simplicity and godly sincerity, and those who obstinately and perversely reject it.

The Bible has its threatenings, as well as its promises; and to some the voice of warning is more applicable and more necessary than that of comfort; for, what says the Almighty to those whom he has appointed watchmen over his people?" When I say unto the wicked, 'O wicked man, thou shalt surely die' if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand."

I have now told you what a rest there is in heaven-how holy, how permanent, how glorious. I have told you to whom it belongs, -to those who are looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: but I cannot, I dare not, conceal the solemn and appalling truth, that

Oh!

III. There is a danger of falling short of it. To think of falling short of it! if men really believed in its existence, the idea of a possible failure would haunt them

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