| character to this people, under the trials II. The promise now calls for our serious consideration. ، And he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to pieces; even as I received of My Father." Now, dear hearers, let us be serious, sober, moderate, relying on the Divine Spirit. I first take my standing here, in considering it as refering to something Christ received and His people received in connection with His reception. I take the liberty of transposing the natural order of the passage, but simply with the view of better accommodating the subject to you. Now, says the Redeemer, 66 as | | 66 dient unto death; and behold His re- "Shall strike the powers and princes dead, I received of My Father," (a great deal is said about dashing the nations, &c.) "The power I have received of My Father." Now, what power has Christ received? Nothing that comes strictly under the character of the Godhead; it must be something in connection with His mediatorial character and glory. Now what was the grant? That He should triumph over death, ascend on high, take possession of a mediatorial throne of glory, and as such He should reign. I confess my total ignorance of the grant, if it does not come within these observations. He becomes I take it in a holy sense. Jesus Christ, | dren of Seth." His incarnation was and the church under Him, are destined hailed as the morning light, as the break ultimately to conquer the world. Behold of day. A morning star is beautiful in the little army in the Apocalypse further its appearance; especially is it rendered on. They went forth, conquering and to so after a dark night. The morning star conquer. Jesus Christ must reign; and says virtually, Midnight is past; and it is power is given Him for this purpose. always the harbinger of day. Now our But let us notice the crowning remark- blessed Lord, in all His appearances, was "Hold fast till I come." That Christ the harbinger of clearer light. And if will appear, I have no doubt, and that you have Christ now, you not only have He will reign on earth; I have not the some light, comfort and joy, but the least hesitation in expressing my opinion pledge of a more perfect day in this reon these sentiments. The coming of spect in a brighter and eternal world. Christ on earth in our nature is what the The morning star as soon as it makes its church looked forward to before His appearance is the infallible forerunner of incarnation, and now anticipates His day. Now our blessed Lord says, I give coming "a second time without sin unto him all this. He has Me now, and I salvation." There are some subordinate will not leave him comfortless amidst his senses, in which the coming of Christ is trials and crosses; and he shall have the to be understood. I do not know from day of which I am the pledge. We like Genesis to Revelations, that we are in so to descant for an hour on such a declamany words exhorted to prepare for death. ration as this, but must close the lecture. Yet to prepare for death is essentially Let me first ask you, seeing here is a necessary. To be actually and habitually charge, whether you have been enabled ready for it, should be the desire of every to "hold fast." I have made the remark believer. But almost every thing that before, that it is one of your greatest relates to preparation is "till I come"- mercies if you have received the truth till the return of the Lord, the great pro- of the Gospel-if you have received prietor. 'My church,' as if He said, Christ. And if ye have received Christ shall exist and be powerful and ex- Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. alted, above every other hill—I will ex- Many only hear the Word; but it does not alt it.' "And I will give him the morn- come to them with Divine power. It is ing star." Here we turn from the din very possible, if a minister of Christ of arms, and the shedding of blood, to a were to go from house to house among metaphor, both pleasing and delightful | his hearers, some would be ready to say, to the natural eye-the morning star. A 'We are not infidels; I do believe great many of these expressions are per- the Gospel.' Attest-let us have proof? fectly symbolical, and can only be so Is thy whole confidence fixed on the Son understood; we are familiar, however, of God for salvation? "Every one with the morning star. But who is it? that hath heard and learned of the FaHark! it refers to Him, who "spake as ther cometh unto Me." If you say you never man spake." The expression is a have received the truth, and the truth in term refering to angelic beings. The Christ, why are you not evidently one of writer of the book of Job says, "The His servants, and as such found in His morning stars sung together." It some-appointed means and ordinances? Your times refers to a teacher; consequently, the pastors of the Asiatic churches are compared to stars. There can be no question but the reference here is to Him, concerning whom even Balaam the prophet, "who loved the wages of unrighteousness," said, "A star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the chil saying you have received Him, will be the very rock on which every unprofitable believer will split. But have you indeed received the truth? Hold it fast then; consider the motives of encouragement. And the end will crown all. May God Almighty bless what we have now attended to, and render it profita ble to our souls, for Christ's sake. Amen. POPERY UNVEILED. pp. 196.; cl. bds. Religious Tract Society. In Six Lectures. | decrees of councils and all the acknowledged fragments of antiquity being unalterable, because held to be infallible. Should some page of the inspired writings be seen by a Catholic to contradict tradition, he must not act on his perception, but submit to the judgment of those who have differently understood the Scripture. "Who," asks the Lecturer any Who In these Lectures, prepared for the press with a view to their circulation by the Religious Tract Society, we see no statement, to which the members of of the reformed churches should object. It is a book for them all, because against the foe of them all; and it founds its ar"Who could have supposed, had there gument, not upon the articles or confes- not been evidence to prove it, that such a sions of any one Protestant Church, but system should profess accordance with that upon that which they all recognise as the Book, in which conformity to the written sole authority in things necessary to sal- Word is represented as the test by which vation-THE BIBLE. As for the method the spirits of the prophets should be tried; after which this is done, it is condensed a Book which says, "To the law and to of course, but the leading points of the the testimony; if they speak not according controversy are all sufficiently developed. light in them," Isaiah viii. 20. to this word, it is because there is no The tenets of the Papacy are fairly could have imagined that such should be stated generally in the very words of the doctrine of a church, which acknowthe highest Romanist authorities; and ledges the authority of that epistle in they are examined with patience and which we read, that all Scripture given by candour, and refuted in a clear, simple, inspiration of God is profitable for docand forcible way. Altogether the book trine, for reproof, for correction, for inis ably written, and is a fair summary of struction in righteousness; that the man the controversy, confined to the religious of God may be perfect, thoroughly furaspect of Popery. nished unto all good works," 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. Can this, some, it is probable, are ready to ask-can this be the religion human race? Is this the creed of the enof one hundred and fifty millions of the lightened Catholics of the nineteenth century? Are not these exploded tenets found only among the writers of the middle ages? We will take the first Lecture as a specimen of the whole, and examine a little its contents. The subject of it is, The distinctive principles of Popery. "These are three; the first, the insufficiency of the Scriptures to be the Christian rule of faith and practice; the second, the right of the Romish clergy to supply the deficiency, by authoritatively fixing the doctrine to be believed, and the precepts to be observed; and the third, the supremacy of the bishop of Rome over all other ministers, and over all Christian people." Alas! this is the doctrine of the whole Romish Church, maintained as tenaciously as ever, and sanctioned by the highest authorities. It is a melancholy fact, that the governors of that extensive community, while they confess the Divine origin of the Bible, discountenance its perusal. It is undeniably true, that the bulk of their adherents are not permitted even to possess a copy of the New Testament." And he proceeds to set out the letter of the present Pope to his clergy of 3rd May, 1824, urging the strict observance of the rule of the Council of Trent against the perusal of the Scriptures without priestly sanction. The first of these principles is stated in the words of Dr. Milner; after which our author proceeds to consider its truth. He shows how it leads to the doctrine that tradition is of equal authority with Scripture and equally necessary to a complete exhibition of the religion of Christ; and the further doctrine, that in all controversies concerning either Scrip- The second principle is also stated in ture or tradition, the church is the un Dr. Milner's words. The Doctor deerring judge. A principle this, which clares that the simple question is, which accordingly is held by the Romish is the true Church of Christ; because Church. A principle, however, which reason, tradition, and Scripture teach, will not bear the light. It makes a re- that she is to be the arbiter in every return from error to truth hopeless; the ligious controversy. And he insists that by four tests the Romish Church is proved to be (and that exclusively) the Church of Christ; she is one-holyCatholic-and apostolic. Upon this it is observed So "Do they say that they are one? were the Babel builders. 'Behold,' said the Almighty, the people is one!' One language was on their lips. One purpose was in their hearts. One course was pursued by them all in their desperate career of folly. Gen. xi. 4. similar principles, that Protestant churches may also boast their unity." "The arguments adduced by the Romish clergy to prove their inherent right to regulate our belief, appear then to us, to be incorrect in principle, and inapplicable in fact. Uninspired men could possess no such authority, were the church in which they ministered as pure as that at Ephesus in its brightest days. And the Church of Rome, far from being identical with the living Church of Christ, in our apprehension betrays conspicuous to"Do they say that they are holy? So kens of putrefaction. For if a community, did the ancient Jews, whose hypocrisy professedly Christian, can ever become dead, Isaiah unmasked. They were a rebellious corrupt, and pestilential, it must assuredly people; they walked in a way that was not be so, when it substitutes the dogmas good; they provoked God to anger con- of men for the doctrines of Christ; when tinually; yet each of them possessed suffi- it dispenses with His authority, and sets cient self-complacency to say to his neigh-up in His stead a Lord of its own creabour, Stand by thyself; come not near me; I am holier than thou!' Isaiah lxv. 3-5. be; "Do they say that they are Catholic? So said the page of prophecy respecting the worshippers of the beast, whose mouth spake great things and blasphemies.' They are not more generally dispersed throughout the world, than it was predicted his adherents should 'power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations.' Rev. xiii. 4—7. "Do they say that they are apostolic? In the days of the apostles' the mystery of iniquity did already work.' Even then were there many antichrists. 2 Thess. ii. 2. 1 John ii. 18. The claims on which they rest then have been made, or might have been made, by men on whose foreheads the stamp of infamy is fixed by the unerring hand of the Almighty. "But if they still contend that it is by such tests the question must be determined, we will not hesitate to deny that the Church of Rome possesses these attributes, however tenaciously it may claim them. It is in vain for them to pretend that its history exhibits these qualities, till all ecclesiastical records are burnt, and the memory of man has ceased to do its office. Have not religious disputes, in repeated instances, armed one half of the popedom against the other? If they will tell us, for example, in what the unity of the church consisted in the days of Urban the Sixth and Clement the Seventh, when pope appeared against pope, and excommunication was exchanged for excommunication; and if they will prove that there was never any alienation of heart between the Dominicans and the Franciscans; and that Scottists and Thomists, Jansenists and Jesuists have always taught the same doctrine; we shall be able to show, on VOL. XII. tion; when it is proud and uncharitable, ambitious and greedy of wealth, arrayed in purple and scarlet, decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls; and drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.' Passing to the last of the three great principles of Popery-the supremacy of Rome over all Christian ministers and people-we read as follows: "The exaction of universal obedience to the sovereign pontiff is founded on these three positions; the first, that our Lord gave to Peter supremacy over the other apostles; the second, that Peter afterwards became the bishop of Rome; the third, that his authority descends from him to his successors in that city. "That Peter was accustomed to take the lead among the disciples we readily grant. His natural fervour and promptitude placed him at the head of the little band, and he might on various accounts be denominated the first.' But there is no evidence that he was endowed with any authority over his brethren. The power of binding and loosing in earth and in heaven, was equally given to them all, Matt. xviii. 18. A promise similar in its nature was made to ten of the apostles after the resurrection of their Lord, when Jesus said, 'As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you,' breathed on them, and added, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins yefremit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained," John xx. 21-23. It is true, that on one occasion, Jesus said to Peter individually, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. xvi. 19. But as this was spoken in reply to what Peter had previously said, there is nothing in this cir L cumstance to prove that the power confided to him was different from that bestowed on his colleagues; especially as afterwards language of similar signification was addressed to them generally. The rock on which the Redeemer declared He would build His church, is by no means so naturally interpreted of Peter, as of the confession which Peter made, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;' a confession which expresses the faith of every Christian, and which the gates of hell, the policy and power of the infernal conspirators, have never been able to subvert. "But whatever might be the nature of Peter's pre-eminence, there is no reason to believe that he was bishop of Rome. If the testimony of those ancient writers be received, whose declarations are our only evidence that he ever was in that city, he was put to death there in the twelfth year of Nero; can we then suppose that the apostle of the circumcision, several years before the destruction of Jerusalem, settled as bishop of a Gentile city? The Church of Rome was founded long before this time; and certainly Peter was not its bishop, either when Paul wrote to it in the fourth year of Nero, or when he visited it as a prisoner, in the seventh. THE NEW YEAR'S PARTY. By the Rev. Ward and Co., Paternoster Row. "But even had Peter sustained this office, how slender would have been the pretence afforded to his successor at Rome, to claim authority over the venerable apostle John, who lived thirty years after the martyrdom of Peter, or to exercise any supremacy which Peter may be supposed to have possessed over his fellow-disciples! Yet, on this quicksand, are those extravagant pretensions founded, which a choaking sensation at the throat. have enabled the chief ecclesiastic at Rome, and his immediate coadjutors, not only to tyrannize over other professed ministers of Christ, but also to trample on the rights of sovereign princes. Thus has he been enabled to exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that be as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."" Such is an outline of the first Lecture. The subjects of the other five are-The worship and authorised customs of Popery-Its tyranny-Its rise-Its tendency-The means which should be adopted to subvert it. The work well deserves circulation in the present day, and we trust will deliver some of those who are snared in the net, now and here spread so widely for souls. From Mr. Aveling's eulogium on America, we feared he had forgotten that foul plague-spot, which taints the whole constitution of society there; but we were relieved by finding, in the next paragraph, an indignant remonstrance on the subject of slavery. He, like ourselves, loves America well-too well to be silent on her faults. We are also glad to find that the author shares with us in our detestation of war; and we hope to see the time, when the glare and glitter which now surround it, will not have power to hide its hideous deformity. Its naked reality is well shown in "The Cost of a War" (in "Evenings at Home"*), and also in Dr. Chalmers's 'Thoughts on Universal Peace." The following sketch is worthy of a place by their side. The Twenty-second Evening. + This Sermon forms the second in the Eleventh Volume of Dr. Chalmers's Works; pages 57 to 85. |