they both go together; and as in other conflicts, where there is much honour, there is also much danger, so in all our struggles for Christ's sake and the Gospel's there is a necessity for tribulation in some measure answerable to the dignity of the cause, and the greatness of the prize. It was after Paul and Barnabas had been driven from city to city, and Paul had been left for dead at Lystra, that we read, in the verses before the text, that "he rose up, and came into the city and the next day departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached the Gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Whether upon the present occasion, when (as we are told in the following verse) the ordination of elders took place, any extraordinary gifts were imparted to the disciples, we are not expressly informed. We distinctly hear, in some instances, that the visits of the apostles to the infant churches were attended with the laying on of hands, and a miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost. Such was the case in the eighth chapter of the Acts, when Peter and John were sent to confirm the new converts at Samaria; and in the nineteenth chapter, Paul, we read, strengthened the disciples, in like manner, at Ephesus. And very agreeable to this apostolic practice is that of our Church, in continuance to this very day, of inviting youthful Christians to the presence and prayers of the bishop, that they may confirm in their own persons the solemn engagements of their baptism, and may receive, through faith and prayer, a larger measure of the Holy Spirit, and be "strengthened with strength in their souls."

It may be remarked, however, from the text, in application to us all; first, that the soul must be established through grace, as well as converted to God; secondly, that we must continue in the faith, in order to the full practice of the Gospel; thirdly, that we must be prepared for tribulation, before we enter into the kingdom of God.

I. The disciples had been but newly converted to the faith, and they required to be established through grace. They were very likely to have been discouraged by the sufferings of the apostles, their instructors in the faith. They may have begun to fear that they had not counted the costs of religion: they had looked on the bright side of their profession; they had felt the joy of their first love; they had glowed with the zeal of new converts to Christ. But they might now have begun, for the first time, to discover

that religion has its dark side; that joy may abate, while love must abide; and that zeal is to be measured, not by the ardour of purpose, but by the stedfastness of practice and the power of obedience. It is altogether probable that they had found it easier to make resolutions than to keep them; and to be exalted in hope more practicable than to be weaned from the world.

Our blessed Lord has, in his own wise instructions, provided us with two cases of persons actually suffering for want of establishment in the word, for one who was found to be utterly careless, or one who was altogether obedient to the truth unto salvation. Those who received seed on stony ground, received indeed the word with joy, but endured only for a while: they had no root in themselves; and when tribulation or persecution arose because of the word, by and by they were offended. The hearers, again, who resembled the thorny ground, were equally unfruitful, but from a different cause: they could bear the laugh from without, but they could not withstand the worldly principle within: they had a strength of mind, but not a sanctified heart; they were caught with trifles rather than with the durable riches of the Gospel of Christ; they threw their best strength into the gains and pleasures and cares of life, and brought no fruit of divine grace to perfection.

We see, then, at once the bent and the need of the soul: its bent, to fall back, after the fairest professions of religion; its need, to be daily strengthened, nurtured, and advanced in the saving gifts of divine grace. The seed may be withered by the early blight-the slender flame may be extinguished by the rising blast. Watchfulness must be added to knowledge, and prayer to watchfulness; and the seat of religion must be not in the imagination nor the affections merely-not in the understanding even, as separate from the heart, but in the soul. There must be a "soul confirmed" in the truth; resting on the arm of Divine power; receiving daily supplies from Him of whom cometh every good and every perfect gift; "walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost."

"exhorted

II. The apostle, in the text, them to continue in the faith." The source of all true and final perseverance in religion, is doubtless the grace of God. The means by which that grace operates on the heart, is by a " continuance in the faith." The apostles Barnabas and Paul, we must suppose, on this occasion opened to their new converts the whole foundation of Christian belief,-the whole body of Christian motives, and a corresponding practice. To the Jews amongst them they appealed from their own Scriptures, and shewed the prophecies that had

gone before respecting Jesus and his great salvation; a salvation long promised, and patiently expected by patriarchs, kings, and seers; and fulfilled at length in Him who was born in the fulness of time, one amongst themselves, of the seed of David according to the flesh, and sent first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. To the Gentiles they preached, no doubt in kindred strains, Jesus and the resurrection, Christ and him crucified, even that Saviour, whom they had in vain sought and desired, as some yet-unknown Deliverer, who should inform their ignorance, and enlighten their darkness; with whom was no respect of persons, but who came to gather, out of all nations, a people for his praise, —a Church to be perpetuated throughout all ages. In his name, through faith in his name, all that believed in him should receive remission of sins and everlasting life.

Here was, no doubt, a faith, which both admitted and required, and would reward, inquiry. The more they reflected upon the great truths of the Gospel; the more they considered the nature of God and the nature of man; the more they observed the state of the world around them, lost in the practice and the love of sin, and compared the remedy with the disease, the rescue offered with the dangers that surrounded them, the more they would hail the glad tidings of the Gospel. It was a revelation of truth, a communication of strength, from God to men. It embraced that which was most suitable to their wants, and most agreeable to their hopes. It promised, on the most sure grounds, pardon of sin, peace with God, renovation of the heart, the gift of holiness, the grace of love, a service of perfect freedom, and a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light.

This is, then, the faith in which still we exhort you to continue. It is that which we invite you to gain, and then to hold fast even to the end. It is no single effort of the understanding embracing these divine truths, no words of confession, either uttered for us at our baptism, or repeated by us at our confirmation, or reiterated in the holy service and sacraments of the Church, which implies a continuance in the faith of Christ crucified. It must be a continuance of a far different kind in the faith of the Lord Jesus, which will be necessary, in order to operate in all its salutary effects, which will bring home to the heart the full force of divine truth, which will overcome the world, will work by love, and finally inherit the promises. It must be a serious and deliberate consideration of the grounds on which your faith is built, and all your hopes depend. It must be a comparison of the feelings of the heart with the standard of divine truth. It must be an application of

the great truths of Scripture to all the circumstances and relations of life. It must be a daily viewing of things through the glass of God's word, and a reference of all events to the future and eternal world. It must be a vital and a growing impression of mind, answering to these words of Christ," If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

Our divine Teacher, Jesus himself, let us remember, warned the most forward professors of his doctrines, "If ye continue in my words, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Doubtless he warns them, that the mind which was in him must be sought to grow and advance in them; that they must learn from his own words the spirit of the doctrines which he taught, and draw daily, from the fulness of his grace, a clearer stream of divine knowledge, faith, and love. We must, in short, dig in the mine of Scripture. We must, with care as well as with joy, draw water from the wells of salvation. We must say, as the princes of Israel at the giving of water in the wilderness," Spring up, Ŏ well; spring up, O well."

III. We are warned that the walk of faith will not be altogether a thornless path,-the triumph of faith not a bloodless victory; "and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God." The words are introduced in the text with a rapidity, an abruptness in the language, which shews the strong impression on the mind of the apostle delivering them, of their nature and truth. Each apostle was ever anxious assuredly to impress on the minds of his converts, no less than on his own, the costs, as well as the gains, of religion. He was desirous they should scan, if not the extent of trials to which they might well bear to be exposed, in conformity to a suffering Saviour, in order to purify their own hearts, and to prepare them through grace for an eternity of glory,-yet, at least this, that trials will be necessary to the Christian; sanctified trials, those which shall be sufficient to realise the strength of the grace which supports him, the peace which awaits him by the way, and the crown which shall signalise him at last.

It may be doubtless necessary that outward afflictions should first bring home the wan dering sinner to God. Often has one been arrested in his course of sin and transgression by a warning of the vanity and uncer tainty of all human things, and has been forced to look upward, to that only source which remains unchangeable above, for his peace, his happiness, and hope.

He may have been visited by severe con

flicts within the heart; by the struggles of | sin and temptation; by the arrows of sharp conviction; by the painful recollection of past sin, and a trembling consciousness that in him, in his flesh, dwelleth no good thing. His past life may have been conversant with companions which must be forsaken, and habits to be renounced. He will, at all events, find himself placed in a world that will little understand the principles on which he is acting, and that may deride the faith which he professes, or the purity which he exhibits. He must meet, at least on some occasions, with suspicion and dislike, the charge of austerity, or the imputation of hypocrisy: the reproach of the cross will not have wholly ceased.

Nor can he feel otherwise than painfully affected at the sight of wickedness around him -that in which he may, perhaps, once have shared, but which now his soul abhors. He will lament to see God forgotten in his own world; to hear his name blasphemed, and often his most sacred commands set at nought and defied. He will behold the transgressors, and it will grieve him to reflect on the fatal consequences hanging over them-the treasure of wrath heaped up, and the fire that never can be quenched. He will often, with the Psalmist, long for those wings of a dove, with which he may "flee away and be at rest;" and may exchange the sights and sounds of malice and intemperance and rebellion for the songs of angels, and the society of the just made perfect around the throne of God.

Blessed be God, if such be the path, such also will be the end. If it is "through much tribulation" we must pass, yet it is that we may "enter into the kingdom of God." "If we suffer, we shall reign with him." With no dejection at his sufferings, the apostle rather adds, "Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ;" and it is the assurance of Christ himself to his distressed and bereaved disciples, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."

In conclusion, I would add, how important is it that we count at once the gains and the costs of true piety. On this side, we have a severe struggle, it is true; but, on the other side, everlasting strength. On the one side, there is a diminution of the bad world's favour; on the other, the smiles of a kind and compassionate Father, reconciled to us in Christ, and who is at once holy and supreme. His chastisements may smite, to wean us from the world; but his hand touches also to heal, and sustains us in just proportion to the weight of its infliction. "His anger" towards his beloved child is " as the twinkling of an eye in his favour is life; heaviness may

endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

The application of the text is very obvious, though very forcible also, to all who have hitherto entertained either one of the opposite, but equally groundless apprehensions, of a pleasure without religion, or a religion without its difficulties. It is the mystery which none but the Christian can fully unravel, that our present satisfactions may arise even from our severest disappointments; and that "they who sow in tears shall reap in joy."

If at any age, indeed, the soul of the awakened disciple needs to be strengthened by the encouraging, though faithful declarations of the Spirit of truth, we must consider these as peculiarly applicable to that period of life when, as in youth, the mind is most susceptible of impressions from every object of interest around it; and when our Church has, with the truest wisdom, and after the apostolic model, as we have seen, invited around her altar the rising generation to bear their early testimony to the faith of Jesus Christ; and when the holy rite of confirmation offers to them those ordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, which the ancient Church more sensibly, but not more beneficially, received from the hands of a Barnabas or a Paul; consolations of the highest import, and the assurance, in answer to prayer, of renewed and renewing grace.

Assuredly you, my younger friends, shall find the yoke of Christ an easy yoke, when it is accepted in love to the Saviour, who has invited you affectionately to his service; and his burden a light burden, which is borne in the strength of an almighty and all-gracious Father. He may have shewn you what, in a tempting and ensnaring world, we may be called, yea, may expect, to suffer for his sake. But he has also shewn you the goodness of his cause, the greatness of the event, the richness of the recompense, and the glory of the victory. "Have not I commanded thee? Only be strong and of a good courage: be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy. God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.'

I would say, finally, to all, both young and old, strive, in the strength of God, to fulfil your many obligations-to recal your past resolutions-to regain, if ever hitherto felt, your first love-to repent and do your first works. Remember, once for all, the conflict is not past at the first assault-the race is not won or finished at the first advance. You have strength proportioned to your day; but you have also a day of warfare and temptation duly proportioned to your strength to bear. "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able." But still temptation will assail you; and little

would you know of the character of the Christian, if unconscious of a continued, and even painful effort to maintain it, under the leading of almighty grace. Take, then, the whole armour of God. Above all, take to yourselves the power and efficacy of true prayer. Acknowledge, in deep humility, how many have been your past failures, how inconsistent your professions and your practice; then go forth in renewed trust in God to a more decisive faith, and a brighter hope of the blessings before you. Fight the good fight of faith, relying on the promise alike of the Old and the New Testament: "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee;" and so receive at length your great Leader's portion: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with my Father upon his throne."

LITURGICAL HINTS.-No. II. "Understandest thou what thou readest?"-Acts, viii. 30. SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT.

"THE Church, to prepare us farther for Christ's coming in the flesh, sends us this day, as Christ did the Pharisces, to the holy Scriptures, for they are they that testify of him:' all the prophecies and promises concerning him being recorded there for our benefit."*

The COLLECT, like that of the preceding Sunday, was not altered from the Romish mass-book, but composed anew, in 1549, and is found in the first book of Edward VI. It points to the "holy Scriptures as written for our learning," and prays for grace that we may use them to the end for which they were given. The sentiments of this prayer are gathered out of the words at the beginning of the epistle: "Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." These words, if we look at their connexion in the chapter, we shall see are introduced by St. Paul, after he had quoted what David had said in his own person, and shewn that they were applied to Christ. He further shews, that the things which are written of Christ, concerning his self-denial and humility-even the things that are written of Christ himself, in all the imitable parts of his character-are "written for our learning." This is a most important consideration, and shews the divine dignity and preciousness of the Old-Testament Scriptures that they were designed, by the Holy Spirit, to accomplish two ends: first, to apply to Christ; and then, through and after him, to come down to us "for our learning." This agrees with another statement of St. Peter, that "no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The things which happened unto the Old-Testament saints-whether the history of their life, or the revelations vouchsafed to them-were "written for our

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• Dr. Hole.

admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." There is scarcely any thing we need more to be reminded of than this, that the Gospel is as really, if not as fully, preached in the Old Testament as in the New; and that the "comfort of the Scriptures" spoken of by St. Paul, is the comfort derivable from Old-Testament truths. One of the articles of our Church (the 7th) expressly guards against a disparaging opinion of the Old Testament: "The Old Testament," it says, "is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ. Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises." But if it be so,

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that in the "things which were written aforetime" in the Old Testament, Christ may be read, how much more, and more clearly, in the New! The two together make up the complete "words of eternal life.” When we pray that we may read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the holy Scriptures, we use terms that describe the progressive steps of religious knowledge. The Christian student "reads in obedience to the Divine command, 'Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life.' He reads these sacred oracles, because he knows there is no other safe guide for his daily conduct; no other unfailing resource in time of need; no other sure refuge from the storms of life. In his closet, therefore, and with his family, he begins every day with reading the word of God.

"He marks what he reads: that is, he observes wherein the several dealings of God with man can be applied to himself, either when he needs his faith to be strengthened, or when he requires patience" or "comfort" under any trouble, whether of mind, body, or estate. He is like one, who having found some favoured spot whereon the healing plant doth grow, or the fruitful tree doth flourish, marks it as a place whereunto he may always resort, find medicine to heal his sickness, and refreshment to keep his soul in life. By such marked reading, with a teachable spirit, he

"Learns there his duty in prosperity and adversity, in health and in sickness, in life and in death. He learns that as in God is his strength, so also that, from the Spirit of God only, he can find safe guidance and protection. He proceeds, accordingly, by diligent prayer, to ask for that Spirit; and by diligent endeavour, to co-operate with its aid: reading, that he may learn; and praying, that what he learns he may apply. This holy exercise of himself will draw forth the sting of sin; and so deeply fix in his mind the obligations of a Christian life, in conformity with the revealed word, that he may very properly be said

"Inwardly to digest the word, the bread of life,' making it a part of himself, as it were; inasmuch as he makes it the principle of all his actions, and the spring of all his motives: that which gives vigour to resolve upon a holy course, and strength day by day to persevere in it even to the end."*

to

From the Scriptures thus used, we shall be enabled embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life:" a hope which we shall keep as anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast;" and in

James on the Collects.

** an

the full assurance of which we shall "remain even unto the end."

The EPISTLE contains those passages of Scripture on which the petitions in the collect are founded. It enumerates, also, many passages from the Old Testament, in which the Messiah is promised for the salvation of the Gentile world; and this, with great propriety, when the Church is expecting to commemorate the incarnate "salvation" of God, which came, a "light to lighten the Gentiles," as well as to be "the glory of" God's " people Israel."

The GOSPEL is a prophecy, which, in "its primary acceptation, relates to the destruction of Jerusalem. But the forms of expression and the images are, for the most part, applicable also to the day of judgment; and an allusion to that great event, as a kind of secondary object, runs through it. This is a very common practice in the prophetic writings, where two subjects are frequently carried on together. Thus, our Saviour here holds out the destruction of Jerusalem, as a type of the dissolution of the world; giving thereby a most interesting admonition to his immediate hearers the Jews, and a most awful lesson to all his future disciples: so that the benefit of his predictions, instead of being confined to one occasion, or to one people, is, by this admirable management, extended to every subsequent period of time, and to the whole Christian world." "Thus shall it be at the general day of judgment, of which Jerusalem's visitation was a type. Lord, how will the glory of that day dazzle the eyes and terrify the hearts of all the enemies of Christ, but delight the eyes and rejoice the hearts of all that love and fear him, that serve and obey him! then may the friends of Christ ، look up, and lift up their heads, for their full redemption draweth nigh.' "†

In the first LESSON for the morning, the Church, still keeping her eye on Christ's second coming, utters the language of serious expostulation with those who profit not under the means of grace.

The passage

warning as the former. It is a chapter full of threatenings of sore judgments from God upon the wicked. The threatenings that have gone before have been, many of them, the burdens of particular cities or kingdoms; but this (v. 4.) is the burden of the whole world. Probably, the first reference of this prophecy was to the havoc that Sennacherib, or his Assyrian army, were soon to make of most of the important nations then existing in the earth; or to the like devastations which, about a hundred years after, Nebuchadnezzar and his armies would make in the same countries. This was the first temporary purport of the prophecy; but the prophets were sent, not only to tell particular events, but to lay down the principles of God's dealings with his Church, and the world at large, to the end of time. For this end their prophecies were first written, and have since been preserved. The permanent use, therefore, to be made of the threatened judgments for sin which this chapter contains, is, to lead us to come out and be separate from a world lying in wickedness; and that, since the world is vain, and incapable of making us happy, we may never take up our rest in the things of earth, nor promise ourselves complacency in any thing short of the enjoyment of God. The conviction of these things will go far towards bringing us to God, and drawing up our "affections to things above."

THE PASTORAL CHARACTER OF THE

CHURCH.*

IF the Gospel were taught throughout the land, on the congregational or voluntary principle, there would be found in many places assemblies of religious persons with their respective ministers; but the mass of the people would be untaught and uncared for. Those who wished to have religious instruction, and were able to support a minister, would choose one for themselves; but those who were too poor to maintain a minister, and those who cared nothing about religion,— and therefore, on that very account, most in need of religious instruction,--would be entirely without it.

And this is the system which some modern theorists are desirous of substituting for that charitable, comprehensive, and truly Christian bond of union under which we live. "Let religion take its chance," they say, “ like other things. Let each man provide reli

expectations from them, and the ruin they had deserved. The sins enumerated as abounding among them, are, covetousness; licentious living; presumptuous sin; the confounding of the distinctions between good and evil, and so undermining the first principles of religion; self-conceit; and the perversion of justice. In proportion as we see in such a picture of Jewish sins a near resemblance to the unfruitfulness of any portion of Christ's Church now, we have cause to "hear and fear," les. God, finding no fruit on his vine, should say to the vine-dresser, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" May our Zion not be the scene of God's destroying judgments; but, its branches being found to bear fruit, may the heavenly Husbandman purge them, that they may "bring forth more fruit," "fruit unto holiness," the end whereof shall be "everlasting life."

The evening first LESSON is in the same language of * Bishop Porteus.

+ Burkitt.

one.

provides food or medicine." Why! you might as well expect the wild colt to present itself of its own accord to be broken, or the sheep to leave the wilderness and come to the fold unbidden, as to suppose that ungodly men will of their own accord bend their necks to the yoke of religion. The whole Gospel is a system of pressing invitation, and earnest persuasion, on the part of God and his ministers. Long might the world have been without a Saviour, if God had waited till perishing sinners implored him to send Nay, when he did arrive, and worked his miracles, and taught the will of God, some mocked him, others " besought him to depart out of their coasts," and his own people condemned and crucified him. The truth is, that the ordinary maxims of worldly prudence, on which men commonly act, are altogether inapplicable to religion. It is the rule of political economy, that supply follows demand. Nature teaches a man when he has need of food and raiment, and he rests not until his wants are satisfied; but nature, corrupt nature, does not teach man his From Sermons, by the Rev. W. Gresley, M.A, Minister of St. Chad's, Lichfield.