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sensible. "Lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh. Thanks be unto God who hath given you the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. I send you a small token of my christian regard, and am in the blessed hope of soon meeting you in the realms of bliss. Your's, in great sincerity." About eight o'clock in the evening, the Lord mercifully closed his extreme sufferings, and his ransomed spirit found its home in the presence of God, his Creator, Redeemer, and King. On the following morning his body was committed to the grave, to wait the appearance of Christ the second time, without sin unto complete salvation.

This unvarnished account of John Foote's life is another memento of the Lord's grace, recorded with the special design to prove his faithfulness to his people, and his justice to Christ his Son. Every heir of grace is part of the relative fulness of Jesus, the head of the church, and every day is an occasion to prove that Adam's fulness is multiplying by the law of generation, in order that the members of Christ may be taken by regeneration from out of the mass of creatures, and be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the saints in light. Our departed friend was much beloved by many who knew him, for he was a practical christian, in whose conduct the holy nature and tendency of the gospel was exemplified. Grace reigned in him by righteousness unto eternal life. May we who survive be enabled by grace to live wholly on Christ Jesus the Lord, for life and salvation, and also to walk worthy of the vocation with which we are called,

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

J. B. T.

The Annual Meeting of "The Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty," will be held at the City of London Tavern, on Saturday, May 11, at Eleven o'Clock precisely, when some distinguished Peer will preside.

Mr. Morris's long expected Memoirs of the late Rev. Robert Hall, will be published (D. V.) on the 1st of June, 1833, in one volume, 8vo.

THE GOSPEL UNION SOCIETY OF MINISTERS respectfully announce to their Friends and the Public, that the Meetings of the Society are held every Thursday Afternoon, from Four to Six o'Clock, for social prayer and mutual intercourse, at the New Rooms, adjoining Cumberland Chapel, Shoreditch; and that a Lecture is preached every Thursday Evening, at Seven o'clock in the Chapel, on a given subject by the Ministers forming the Union.

The following is the List of Preachers, and Subjects for the Month of May, 1833. Thursday.-May 2.-Mr. WHITLEY.- Christ, the Advocate."

9. Mr. IRONS.-" Christ, the Amen."

16. Mr. FIRMIN.-" Christ, the Bread of Life.”
23.-Mr CROKER.-" Christ, the Consolation of Israel."
30.-Mr. BRAKE.- Christ, the Bridegroom."

Sunday Afternoon.-May 5, at Three.-Dr. ANDREWS.

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The Society will be happy to communicate with any brethren on any subject connected therewith, or with any Church or Congregations standing in need of occasional supplies for the Pulpit on Sabbath Days, or otherwise, and to receive into union faithful brethren of pure christian character and good report, who can and will subscribe to the articles of faith drawn up for that purpose.

All Letters (post paid) to be directed to the Secretary, Chapel House, Cumberland Street, Shoreditch, London.

CROYDON ANNIVERSARY will take place on Whit Tuesday, May 28, when the Rev. J. BRIDGMAN will preach in the Morning, at Eleven; the Rev. G. FIRMIN, in the Afternoon, at Three; and the Rev. J. FOREMAN, iu the Evening, at Half-past Six.

ESSAYS. N XCV.

ON CHRISTIAN CHARACTERISTICS.

No. V.

In the present mixed state of society a christian man is exposed to numerous evils. The seductive arts of Satan are employed to decoy him from allegiance to the Son of God, for none of his diabolical schemes have a lesser object in view than to pour contempt on the person, government, reign, and interest of the eternal Redeemer. The world is the theatre where he is playing his wicked part, and the men of it are the agents employed by him to execute his evil design. But even here the God of this world is not at liberty to effectuate all his will, for Christ the Lord is the ruler of the globe, and to him the Father has committed the reins of universal government. Satan is held in by the chain of Christ's controul, and he is frequently nonplussed where he had thought his prey to be secure. Not only is the Son of God the Lord of the world, but he is the Head of the church, and the King of saints. The interest that he has in his people he will never resign, and so long as his grace is invisible they will not relinquish their affection for his person and interest. Difficult as it is to pass honourably through this unfriendly world to the heavenly kingdom above, it is not impossible to go through it safely, and to glorify the Lord while we remain in it. The will of God concerning his people is, that they " do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world-holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." Thus the christian is described as standing in the world, and separated from its principles and spirit. The estate of sanctity that is by the will of God founded in the person and redemption of Christ for his seed is really imparted by the Holy Ghost to them, and through their nonconformity to the world it is publicly developed. The apostolical exhortation to the church of Rome is still binding upon all the subjects of the grace of God" I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service; and be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, that acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

Relationship to the Son of God can only be savingly known through the sanctification of the Holy Ghost; for the Lord the Spirit is a person who was present with the Father and the Son, when the covenant of grace and redemption was made, and his

personal appearance to separate by a new creation the heirs of eternal life from the world, and to impart to them supernatural holiness precedes spiritual consciousness and perception of our own depravity, and the salvation of Christ. No man is by God expected to be like to Christ in his spirit, conversation, and temper, who is not conformed to his image; for God is not so unreasonable as to expect the effect without the cause subsisting; and to walk even as Christ himself walked before his grace in the principle and power of holy action, is a natural impossibility. Regeneration is the work of the Holy Ghost, by which he imparts to the seed according to the election of grace, the holy nature peculiar to connection with Christ, and by his indwelling and inworking he becomes to them individually the spirit of adoption. In this religious change of the man there is radically seated every grace, quality, dispensation, and temper of heart and mind, which were originally created in Christ, and seminally remained in him, to be propagated to all his seed. Christ, who is the incorruptible seed, the word of God who liveth and abideth for ever, is the internal root of vital godliness in every saint, and the Spirit works by what he has imparted to produce in the soul a conversion from darkness and folly to the light and purity of the gospel of truth. The written word is never evangelically useful to any man until he is born again, for there is no natural faculty to receive the truth in the mind of man; and an aptitude to perceive and embrace with affection the holy oracle, and Christ, who is the substance and perfection of it, is the production of the Holy Ghost. What Christ is by the will of God to his people above and without them, that he is revealed to be by an inward work of grace, and he lives in them the hope of glory. This internal change of the quality of the heart is the means by which a conscious union to the person of the Saviour is accomplished, for it is naturally impossible to raise the heart to love God while sin is the principle by which it is governed. But as soon as the Holy Ghost makes a man live to God, the word is the instrument by which he illuminates the mind, and opens the glories of the person of Immanuel, the riches of his grace and love, as they are discovered through his offices in the salvation of the soul. This representation of Christ above us affects the mind and draws it toward the object beheld by faith. The fetters and cords which bound us in a state of sin and bondage are broken asunder, and we escape from the ruin in which we were born, and affectionately cleave to the person of our Saviour and purifier. A true saint as richly needs the word and Spirit of God to guide and support him as he requires his daily bread to preserve his animal life, for by the word of God he is quickened to run in the way of God's commandment with an enlarged heart. All the graces which are comprehensively rooted in the principle of life are strengthened by divine testimonies, and as they become vigorous they are conspicuously exhibited in the conduct of a good man, and his conformity to Christ is placed beyond doubtfulness. Whatever

decency and morality of conduct may obtain among men that does not proceed from this cause, without doubt it is not evangelical religion, for man is by nature shut up in unbelief; but none are shut up by impotency after they are regenerated, for faith is given to them to go to Christ. There is an important difference between the pollution of nature and a state of unregeneracy; an unsanctified man is dead in sin, shut up under the law, and he cannot go forth to Christ, as a regenerated man does by faith, although the pollution of his nature by sin still dwells in him. It has been said of a good man, "That it is not in an absolute matter of uncleanness or filth of sin that he is shut up. It is want of strength that shuts him up, not want of holiness: life and pollution are consistent with motion, but unbelief, or spiritual death and pollution are inconsistent with it. Life in faith wrought is one thing; this opens our spiritual graves as the voice of life did for Lazarus: and pollution attending that life with grave-clothes, or sepulchral apparel, is another thing, which goes along with the motion of life at Christ's call. I am able to come to Christ with a perception of my pollution, but not to come when shut up in unregeneracy. So that if the Lord gives me faith to come to Christ, with a sense of the filth of sin, or to go unto him compassed about with my pollution, it is not uncleanness shuts me up; for having liberty and boldness through the Spirit, I go unto Christ, with the same pollutions laid open, to seek cleansing from them by his atoning blood." Christ purifies the heart with his own blood, and true faith lays hold upon the blood of Christ as it is revealed in the gospel.

All truth is comprehended in the person of Christ, just as all light is contained in the sun and as the moon and stars emit their feeble rays, they silently testify that they have obtained it from the " powerful king of day;" so the perfection and divinity of truth which are exhibited by the saints in their lives and conduct in the world, attest the fact, that Christ is the word of life. There is not nor can there be any more true religion in the church of God on earth, than what is produced by the Holy Ghost, and thereby he sets forth the riches of grace through Jesus Christ the Lord. Grace is given to the church in regeneration to make her live to God; but the continued influences of the Spirit upon the regenerate promotes vital sanctification, and the pleasures of true religion are experienced, and she is built up by the truth; for all the gracious gifts of God bestowed upon the regenerate are conferred "for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which

every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Thus we learn, that what Christ is and has done for the church, when revealed and applied by the Spirit, works effectually in her to conform her to his testimonies, and to set her apart in the world, as the witness for the saving virtue of his redemption. The character which is worn by a good man is radically comprehended in the love of God to his person in Christ, and when that potently influences the heart it gives a right direction to all the actions which proceed from it. "A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things." All the persons in the triune God, according to the relationship founded by grace in the person of Christ, are seen and glorified by the character of every justified man beneath the canopy of the skies. Causes are at work to produce effects that must ultimately terminate in the public manifestation of Christ in and by his church as the word of life. How truly dignified is the real christian, who is connected in and with Christ in the love of God, and who is to remain for ever in his presence clothed with the garments of salvation.

The figure of "holding forth the word of life," and "shining as a light in the world," has been thought to refer to the light-houses erected on the sea-shore, to admonish the mariner where he is, and what dangers he is exposed to. Now the christian is the most important person alive, forasmuch as he is a public confessor of the faith of Christ. The crooked dispositions of ungodly men are seen through their actions; they love not the people of God, and their perversity is disclosed by the misrepresentations of their conduct and principles. Close conformity to the testimonies of God is no exemption from their concerns, for the brighter the light is which shines around them the more is their darkness manifested, and their intention is to extinguish it if they possibly can do it; and if they cannot, they will injure the character of a man of God amongst his neighbours. The word in the original language is compound, and bears an affinity to the splendour of the sun, and properly means pure and unsullied, to such a degree as to bear a close examination in the full splendour of the solar rays. But how few are there of the children of God who are thus manifestly separated from the crooked and perverse world, in which they have a temporary habitation; while they reside in the body the affairs of time claim a considerable portion of their attention; yet it is very evident that there are numerous occasions occur when they might be employed in reading and studying the word of God that are spent in frivolous and inconsistent pursuits. This is neither shining in the world, nor being harmless and blameless in conduct before the men of it. Great God! pour out thy Spirit upon thy people, and enlighten their understandings, that they may see thy truth in its beauty, sanctity, and glory, and enliven them thereby that they may walk in the light, and have communion with thee in all thy ordinances, and fellowship with each other, through Jesus Christ the Lord!

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