The eloquence of St. Paul, in most of his speeches and argumentations, bears a very great resemblance to that of Demost self, Have they not sped? have Question and interrogation enliven and strengthen a discourse. How artfully does St. Paul (Acts, xxvi.) transfer his discourse from Festus to Agrippa. In verse 26, he speaks of him in the third person. "The king (says he) knoweth of these things, before whom I also speak freely:" then in the following he turns short upon him—" King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?" and immediately answers his own question, "I know that thou believest." The smoothest eloquence, the most insinuating complaisance, could never have made such impression on Agrippa as this unexpected and pathetic address. Some important point being always uppermost in his view, he often leaves his subject, and flies from it with brave irregularity, and as unexpectedly again returns to his subject, when one would imagine that he had entirely lost sight of it. For instance, in his defence before king Agrippa, when, in order to wipe off the aspersions thrown upon him by the Jews, that he was a turbulent and seditious person, he sets out with clearing his character, proving the inte grity of his morals, and his inof fensive, unblamable behaviour, as one who hoped to attain that happiness of another life, for which the twelve tribes served God continually in the temple; on a sudden he drops the conti nuation of his defence, and cries out "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" It might be reasonably expected, that this would be the end of his argument; but by flying to aware, To which may be added the whole 37th chapter of Job; where we behold the almighty Creator expostulating with his creature, in terms which express at once the majesty and perfec-it, in so quick and unexpected a tion of the one, the meanness and transition, he catches his aufrailty of the other. There we dience before they are see, how vastly useful the figure and strikes dumb his enemies, of interrogation is, in giving us a though they will not be con lofty idea of the Deity, whilst vinced. And this point being every question awes us into si- once carried, he comes about lence, and inspires a sense of our again as unexpectedly, by, "I own insufficiency. verily thought," &c. and goes on with his defence, till it brings him again to the same point, of the resurrection, in ver. 23. There are innumerable instances of the assemblage of figures in the poetical parts of scripture, particularly in the song of Deborah, and the lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan. There is scarce one thought in them that is not figured, nor one figure which is not beautiful. Judges, v. 2 Sam. 1. Transition. This figure is very artfully used by St. Paul, in his epistle to the Romans. His drift is to shew, that the Jews were not the people of God, exclusive of the Gentiles, and had no more reason than they to form such high pretensions, since they had | hood. It is not unreasonable to been equally guilty of violating the moral law of God, which was antecedent to the Mosaic, and of eternal obligation. Yet, not to exasperate the Jews at setting out, and so render them averse to all the arguments he might afterwards produce, he begins with the Gentiles, and gives a black catalogue of all their vices, which (in reality were, as well as) appeared excessively heinous in the eyes of the Jews, till, in the beginning of the second chapter, he unexpectedly turns upon them with, "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest:" ver. 1. and again ver. 3. And thinkest thou this, man, that judgest them that do such things, and dost the same, that thou shall escape the judgment of God," &c. &c. If the whole be read with attention, the apostle's art will be found surprising, his eloquence will grand, his strokes cutting, the attacks he makes on the Jews successive, and rising in their strength. Dr. Smith's Notes, in his Translation of Longinus. 0 NATURE OF A appear GOSPEL CHURCH. was THE following Address delivered by the late Rev. Thomas Littlewood, of Rochdale, August 10, 1809, at the Ordination of the Rev. J. Mann, to the pastoral care of the Bap. tist Church, in Steep-lane, near Sowerby. Looking around on the congregation before me, I see some from distant parts, and many from the surrounding neighbour cherish a fear that some may have come hither merely to gratify their curiosity; yet I cannot but hope, that many are come also with a humble desire to worship God, to do good to others, or to get good to their own souls. Whatever may have brought us together, we are now here, where God can, and where, I hope, he will bless and do us good. We are now called to witness a body of Christians assuming and acting according to their own imprescriptible rights. They have thought, and are now about to act for themselves, in a matter of great importance, but purely of a religious nature, and in which no man on earth has a right to interfere. They are accountable to God alone for the transactions of this day. In all matters of conscience, matters not affecting the civil rights of others, we are directed to call no man MASTER, for ONE is our MASTER, even CHRIST.' His kingdom is not of this world; has nothing to do with state matters, which are wisely left to human regulations, guided by local circumstances, and national convenience. The government of the Redeemer embraces the hearts and consciences of men. He governs what mortals cannot touch. His enemies he sinks to hell; his friends, his saints, his church, he exalts to heaven. In Zion he reigns with absolute, undivided sway. The. ordinances, the doctrines, the of ficers of his church, are all under his direction and controul. He appoints no delegates to legislate in matters of faith and practice, nor any one to act on earth as his UNIVERSAL VICAR; he is himself' HEAD over all things to his church;' to him only can legal homage be paid. The spiritual reign of Immanuel is of the foede- | first churches were all brethren, not one of whom could claim any superiority above the rest. Some of these brethren, however, possessed superior degrees of talent, of learning, or of grace, and to this superiority some deference was justly paid: and by long continuance these men were very naturally looked up to. While this deference had respect to nothing but superior talents and virtue, it was justifiable; but by-and-bye it was paid to the successors of those eminent men, who claimed a treatment similar to their pre decessors, though they had no pretensions to it on the score of excellence. Others, because they ral kind, the whole legislative and executive power is with him; but for the better regulation of his church, he divides the one church into many distinct compartments, which in scripture language are called Churches of Jesus Christ' as the church at Jerusalem, at Rome, at Corinth, at Ephesus. But these are only so many members of the great body of Christ. These churches, however, were not national, or provincial, or parochial; but strictly congregational. They nowhere included the whole population of a district, but were composed of faithful men and women, professing to believe the doc-lived in cities, claimed for them. trines, and to obey the precepts selves a pre-eminence above their of Christ; and who also agreed brethren in the country, and thus to carry on the worship of God by presumption on the one hand, in one place. Those churches and servility on the other, spirihad not, nor ought they now to tual domination obtained, and have, any pre-eminency over one prevailed, by little and little, till another. The scriptures give no the MAN OF SIN seated himself intimation of metropolitan, colle- in the chair of infallibility, and giate, or mother churches; but exalted himself above all that is represent them as placed on a called God, or is worshipped.perfect equality. These distinc- Avoid, brethren, this unhallowed tions are the inventions of times spirit, covet no dominion over more modern than the New Tes- your brethren, interfere not with tament. The apostolic office was your neighbours. The officers of of the extraordinary kind; and the New Testament churches because the necessity of it ceased, were, by the suffrages of their rethose who first filled it had no spective members, chosen from successors appointed. The or- their own body; and the voice of dinary offices of those churches the church was, in this case, acwere bishops, presbyters, or pas-counted the voice of God. Paul, tors, names applicable to the and Barnabas were separated to same office, and descriptive of its the work of the ministry by the various qualifications and duties: church at Antioch, and after this and deacons. These officers were pattern we are now expecting to appointed for the regulation of see you choose from among yourthe spiritual and temporal conselves a pastor, who may go in cerns of the churches to which and out before you in the name they belonged; beyond these of the Lord: and when you have limits they had no authority, and chosen him, you will, I trust, could, therefore, exercise no legal stand by him and assist him, by power out of their respective your presence, your counsels, and churches. The pastors of the your prayers, to discharge faith fully the trust which is reposed in him. We are come here to-day, not to exercise any lordship over you, but to witness your orderly deportment, and to rejoice with you in prospect of all the good which lies before you. We come, too, at your own desire, and we cannot but wish that our coming may be to your advantage. We are satisfied with what we have seen and heard, and now have only to beseech you all to let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether we come and see you, or else be absent, we may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terri-writing to the church at Ephefied by your adversaries which is to them a token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God."" church to the end of time, or till that period when the arm of persecution shall cease to lift the sword against the humble followers of Jesus, and when pure and undefiled religion shall flourish in every part of the world. But though the apostle was under the influence of the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary manner at the period referred to, yet, as that influence in an ordinary degree is promised to the church of God to the end of the world, it may be profitable to raise a few observations from the above-cited passage, as it respects our own concern in those influences. Let us then enquire, what it is "to be in the spirit." The apostle Paul ON BEING IN THE SPIRIT. A MEDITATION UPON REV. i. 10. sus, exhorts them to "be filled with the spirit ;" and to be in the spirit, and to be filled with the spirit, signify nearly the same thing. To be" in the spirit," must signify, to have the mind entirely under his governing influence; to direct, excite, and animate us in the performance of every duty which God has enjoined upon us; 'I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day!' and so to abstract our thoughts THIS declaration, as it respects the apostle's personal experience, had a reference to that extraordinary operation of the spirit of God upon his mind, by which it was entirely abstracted from all earthly relations, and fitted for the contemplation of those glorious visions which he was honoured to behold. Banished by an heathen emperor to the inhos. pitable shores of Patmos, for his zeal in propagating the doctrines and duties of the Christian religion, God was pleased to honour this eminent servant of Christ in a peculiar manner, and to make known to him the doctrines of the VOL. X. and affections from the world, as to fit us for a life of communion with God, that we may realize the supernatural felicities connected with that high and holy relation into which God has taken his people. This, I conceive, is to "be in the spirit;" and to be satisfied with any thing short of this, is to amuse ourselves with shadows and airy visions, and to be dead while we profess to be alive. It is, however, greatly to be feared, that very many content themselves with speculating upon the doctrines of the gospel, and please themselves with their notions of religion as a system, whilst they are destitute of the spirit of God, though they flatter themselves | On that day he comes in an espe that they are interested in the promises of scripture, and shall never come into condemnation. They talk, indeed, of the spirit, but they do not "walk in the spirit." They speak of "the adoption" but they have no foundation for believing that they are the children of God, but what their own deluded imagination supplies for their temper and practice are as opposite to those of the children of light, as the disposition and conduct of Beelzebub are unlike those of the angel Gabriel. O let us beware that we deceive not our own souls with a notional religion-with a religion which consists in a blind attachment to human creeds and systems, to names and parties, and which has no relation to God and true holiness. To be in the spirit, is to have the heart filled with love to God, for what he is in himself, and for what he has done for us. It is to possess such a keen moral sensibility as to shrink at the least touch of pollution, and to hate the very appearance of evil. It is to have the mind so saturated with divine influences, as to resemble a well-watered garden, which exhibits the most beautiful productions of vegetative nature. "The wilderness, and the solitary place, shall be glad, and the desart shall rejoice and blossom as the rose: it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." Now if it be desirable to be in the spirit at all, it is particularly so on the Lord's-day. "This is the day the Lord has made." cial manner to his sanctuary, to lift upon his people the light of his countenance, and to admit them to a participation of joys which none but he who feels them knows. Which are as different from the unhallowed, insipid, and unsatisfying pleasures of the world, as light is from darkness; and as far beyond the conception of carnal minds, as the pleasures derived from science are to a clown; unless we are in the spirit on the Lord's-day. 1. We shall have no disposition for its duties.-Our minds will be sluggish and inactive, and instead of hailing that day as affording us a consecrated opportunity for worshipping God in the beauties of holiness, we shall behold its approach with reluctance, and long for its departure. O with what sacred delight did the pri mitive Christians enter upon this day, the best of all the seven! And how so? Because they were in the spirit on the Lord's-day. They found the service of God to be perfect freedom, and undissembled gratitude inspired their hearts and tongues with the most lively devotion. If the gloom of sadness was at all visible upon their countenance, it was when the shadows of the evening were stretched over the creation, and when nature, exhausted by the duties of the day, compelled them to retire from the sanctuary of God. They did not need to be driven to the house of God, but they said one to another, My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God? How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts." 2. Unless we are in the spirit on the Lord's-day, we shall have, no relish for its enjoyments. |