Jesus Christ by pretenders to new illumination, or more expansive charity. "Beloved," says St. John, "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." And they are to try them by their doctrines; especially, adds the Apostle, try their doctrines concerning the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." Do you think the insipid, the frigid notion, that Jesus Christ was born, gives the meaning, or touches the emphasis, of his "coming in the flesh?" A Christian, that is, a settled, established Christian, is not thus to be fooled and wheedled out of the true doctrine of his Redeemer, and of eternal life along with it. Ten sheep-skins, ever so artfully put on, cannot conceal the insidious wolf. His voice betrays him, and the real sheep flee from him. It is no new thing for Satan to be transformed into an angel of light; nor his ministers as ministers of righteousness. A welltrained Christian will use the freedom to look under this angel mask; to inquire how far the resemblance to ministers of righteousness goes; and by faithfully and fearlessly applying the Apostle's rule, will speedily detect both the devil and his ministers. He has told us how these

gentry, the ministers of Satan, must be treated. "If there come any unto you," namely, with the pretensions of a teacher, "and bring not this doctrine," the doctrine of Christ as come in the flesh,-" receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." He carries his master's mark in his forehead. Christians, who are enlisted under the Captain of salvation, are to allow no place to such an Antichrist; far less do any thing to encourage him. There must be no half measures; no parleying; no pausing. Shut your doors upon him, saith the inspired direction; and let him go where the devil and his doctrines are in better repute. If not, if you are frightened by the terror of an ill name; if you are unable to stand the small shot of Antichrist, and begin to tremble and tamper when the evil one approaches you, then look well to yourself. You are in a fair way of changing your professed service, of being disowned by Jesus Christ, and linking yourself for ever with the devil and his angels. Let it be known, Christians, openly known, so that there can be no mistake, that you have neither hearts, nor hands, nor ears, for any who, upon whatever pretext, would unsettle your faith on the Son of God. So that men may save you the pain, and themselves the judgment, of trying to break up your trust for eternity, and of persuading you to lay another "foundation than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

III. The means of our preservation and solid improvement are very obvious and simple.

1. Be students of the holy Scriptures. Search them; dig in them as for hidden treasures; and you shall find that which will make you wise

unto salvation, while the scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not. But remember that He who gave them for a light to your feet, and a lamp to your paths, must open your eyes before you shall see wonderful things in his law. Sweet, and blessed, and freely given, are his gracious teachings. Did not our hearts burn within us," said one disciple to another, "while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures ?"

2. Repress vain curiosity. Inquire not into the reason of those things which are to be received on the credit of the divine testimony. Be satisfied that the Lord hath said it, and ask no farther. They" who boldly intrude into those things which they have not seen may pretend what they please; but you have the highest authority in earth or heaven for being assured that they are only "vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind;" and, with all their knowledge and speculation, they can do you nothing but harm.

3. Open not your ears to the suggestion of new light and new discoveries in religion. "The true Christ is no new Christ." He is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. There is no room for discoveries in God's revelation for the salvation of men. The revelation is itself the discovery. You are not to look for a new way to heaven. Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth, and the life;" and no man cometh unto the Father, but by him. This has been the divine method from the very beginning. That which a thousand years ago brought his sons and daughters to glory, namely, the making the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, must bring you thither, or your arrival there is hopeless. And as to the new light, which is the boast of those who turn aside from the holy commandment delivered unto them, rely upon it, it is nothing but a new edition of old darkness, only resembling more than it did the dunnest smoke of hell.

4. Keep especially clear of uncommon pretenders to charity. Satan will mask his designs so long as he can, and so will all his ministers. Believe that God is love; that he is the great and essential Charity. Be satisfied then with as much charity as he has shown, and do not think of improving upon your Maker, by entertaining and expressing a more charitable opinion of sinners than himself. He hath said, and will make it good, and see that your charity do not trench upon his truth, he hath said, gainsay it who will," He that believeth not shall be damned." IV. Lastly, we have abundant motives for our Christian cultivation. The angels are our fellow-students; and in some particulars of their education, Christians have the preference. Their first knowledge of God's gracious design of forming Jews and Gentiles into one family with themselves, under Christ the head, they got from the church, and probably from the revelations made to Paul. "To the intent,” says that great proficient in sacred things, "that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known BY THE CHURCH the maBifold wisdom of God." If the thought of being scholars in the same

school, and learners of the same things, with those blessed beings, does not raise in your minds the glory of your studies, and cause you to strain every nerve in patient and persevering application, that you may be fit to hold converse with them when you shall throw off this body, it is not for the speech of earth to tell the baseness of your spirits. Eternity must find the proper expressions.

Moreover, every advance in true scriptural knowledge advances you at the same time in righteousness and true holiness, deepens and brightens the features of the divine image, and is a step in your heavenly promotion; for "they that be wise shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

Farther, every victory over error renders every succeeding one more easy. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." And when the chief has taken himself to fight, his subalterns will not be long in quitting the field. It is the first attack in which they are most furious, and lay the basis of their future success. Foiled here, they become less troublesome. Satan and his servants have something else to do with their time and talents than to waste them upon fruitless attempts. Once more. Not only will your duty become easier in proportion as you faithfully perform it, but every advantage gained over the foe draws you into closer communion with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is in his strength that you withstand and conquer. His glory gains by every achievement performed in his name. You press hard upon his steps, as a victorious Saviour, and are safe as you are near him. He notes and he rewards your efforts. To him that overcometh," is his magnificent promise, "will I grant to sit down with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne."

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Amen.

LAXITY OF RELIGIOUS OPINION.

A COMMON excuse which men provide for their laxity of opinion, and utter indifference in forming it, is the variety of creeds adopted in the Christian world. This fact is greedily caught up by all the superficial, by all the indifferent, by every gainsayer of the faith. The Bible, it seems, is an unsorted heap of dogmas, a vast magazine of the conflicting opinions of innumerable sects; its spirit is the spirit of free-thinking. I would that these persons would in the first place inquire, and distinguish between creeds which are the ephemeral and mud-nurtured spawn of our own luxurious and sunny times, which have enervated the mind, and made it at once ignorant and rebellious, indolent and unsteady; and creeds which have grown up amid blood and persecution, when able and learned men were compelled to concentrate all their intellectual powers, and give up all their hearts and minds to that word in whose

truth alone they could find rest or happiness. How beautifully harmonious in all essentials are these latter! what a unity of spirit do they breathe under such manifold varieties of men, of customs, of countries, of circumstances! I would that in the next place they would seek and distinguish essentials from accidentals. The former must ever be the same; the latter will depend upon times and circumstances. These, rated at their highest, can be nothing more than the limbs of the outward body, which may be absent without any loss of life, without the least detriment to mental and spiritual vigour, though not to comeliness and usefulness. But those, like the parts of the inward body, the lungs, the heart, and the rest of the vitals, are such, that if one be absent, or imperfect, the whole body must perish. The sign of the cross may be retained or rejected; but the divinity of Christ cannot be asserted or denied. And woe to him who quotes variety of opinion on the former question, to excuse his indifference to the latter !

On a wise and ingenuous mind, the sight of such varieties, so far from producing the effect of indifference, will rather impress an earnest desire to seek for himself, and search into the whole truth. Therefore let no indolence dissuade us from this : let no worldly business or pleasure distract from this. Let us begin it with a pure, earnest, and humble heart, so that no caprice or predisposing affection shall direct us exclusively to one point; so that no perverse vanity shall prompt us to lay undue stress on any part, which shall thus overthrow the just balance of the whole; so that no love of singularity and paradox shall allure us to exhibit the whole under new and unnatural combinations of parts; nor all of these, the besetting infirmities of our day, conspire to satisfy us that we have learned enough, whensoever it shall be our pleasure to leave off. Under a deep and due sense of the awful responsibility to which a revelation from God, and, above all, that through Christ, subjects us, looking to Him, and not unto man, let us begin and proceed in our work, reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting. Nor let us flatter ourselves, as we discuss each point, that the opinions to which we shall come will not be momentous. A wrong opinion taken up, where God had put in our power a clue to a right, is no infirmity, but a sin, a grievous sin, involving many sins, as perverseness, unthankfulness, recklessness, want of sincerity, contempt of God's gifts, indifference to his honour and glory. However, therefore, we may view with charity, yea, even with affection, the entertainers of erroneous doctrine, yet with the doctrine itself we must make no compromise. A Christian's charity will lead him to think and hope the best of his neighbour, and, above all, he will fear to judge, lest he be judged. But his love of truth, his allegiance to his Saviour, his fear of God, will not allow him for a moment to conceive, that he himself, under all his own peculiar means and opportunities, would not be in a most perilous state, were he to maintain the same opinions, or even to give them the least indulgence.Evans's Church of God.

MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

THE WESLEYAN METHODIST. (No. LXI.)
METHODIST CHAPEL-FUND.

To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.

THERE are no objects in this world which suggest so many holy and interesting thoughts and recollections as places of religious worship. Here that ministry is exercised, of which Christ is the author, and his glorious Gospel the subject; here the children of believers are dedicated to the Lord, at the baptismal font, as his redeemed creatures, and adult Christians commemorate the dying love of their Saviour," by eating of that bread, and drinking of that cup," in obedience to his command; and here pious people, of all ages and conditions, congregate, and join in solemn acts of thanksgiving, prayer, and praise. In places of worship, therefore, sinners are awakened to a discovery of their sinfulness and danger, and are led to the exercise of repentance towards God; here such as mourn in Zion are instructed in the way of salvation, stimulated and encouraged to believe in Christ, and enter into Christian light and liberty; and here the experienced believer, amidst the toils of his pilgrim age, and the conflicts of his spiritual warfare, is strengthened and refreshed by the united influence of divine truth and grace. In the house of God many a touching remembrance of departed Ministers, relations, and friends, occurs to the de. vout mind; and many an affecting anticipation of the final union of all his people is cherished. A "holy convocation to the Lord" is the most pleasing object upon which the eye can rest in this vain and evil world; and the place of assembling is none other than "the house of God, and the gate of heaven." It is the place of retirement from domestic cares, and the hurry and bustle of life; the place where the Lord is pleased especially to meet with his servants, and manifest himself to them; and where they acquire that purity of heart, that holiness of affection and purpose, which is the certain forerunner

of their final acceptance and glorification.

It is not difficult, therefore, to account for that strong attachment to public worship which has been expressed by good men in every age, and of which the holy Scriptures contain many examples. When "the sweet singer of Israel" was an exile from the tabernacle of God, he expressed the sorrows of his heart in strains the most plaintive and pathetic. "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God : when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday." (Psalm xlii. 1—4.) "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." (Psalm lxxxiv. 1, 2.)

:

To attend the ordinances of religious worship, in ordinary cases, was to him a source of the highest gratification. "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth." (Psalm xxvi. 8.) “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." (Psa. xxvii. 4.)

This " one thing," which the Psalmist so earnestly desired, appears to have been realized by "Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser. She was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not