of redemption; hence God the Father is spoken of as having, according to his good pleasure, chosen them in Christ, Eph. i. 4. Elected them, according to his fore-knowledge, 1 Peter i. 2, predestinated them to be conformed unto the image of his Son, Rom. vii. 29, and notwithstanding all their rebellion and apostacy accepted them in the beloved; blessed them with all spiritual blessings, provided them with redemption in his blood, with a full and free forgiveness of all their sins, and all to the praise of the glory of his grace, Eph. i. 6, 7, so that they are freed from all the condemnation of sin. Satan, law, and justice, being viewed complete in Him, with whose righteousness the Lord Jehovah declares himself well pleased, therefore, of the travail of his soul shall he see and be satisfied, and in his hand shall the pleasure of the Lord prosper. From these things we gather the sweet view of the Lord Jesus Christ in the several characters he sustains in this covenant as the nail Jehovah has fastened in a sure place, whereon all the glory of the house should be hung, Isa. xxii. 23; for it should be observed that the covenant was a covenant providing for all the exigencies of the Church, and not one of prevention against that awful state of wretchedness with which she has fallen in common with every other part of creation, which has not been upheld by a supernatural power, as put forth in the case of those angels who have left their first estate, Jude 4, and yet are charged with folly by him, in whose sight the heavens are not clean, and who putteth no trust in his saints, Job iv. 18, and xv. 15; and the yearly catalogue of woes and calamities which has again passed before us, are confirmatory, and establish, beyond a doubt, the fact that we are altogether as an unclean thing, and prompts the already answered question, that no one can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, Job xiv. 4; seeing then that the Church upon which the God of Jeshurun had eternally dwelt, is by nature become an alien to him and strangers to the covenant of promise, Eph. ii. 12, how do we behold, as in a mirror, the infinite wisdom and glory of him, who hath devised those means by which "his banished ones should not be expelled," 2 Sam. xiv. 14, whose "work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect thereof quietness and assurance for ever, Isa. xxxii. 17, which evidently shews itself in the whole work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the fulfilment of all the stipulations of that covenant, and we must not overlook that while the appointment was of and with the God of Jeshurun, the whole was carried into effect upon the ground of union, for it was impossible that our deliverance could take place but through the person of a surety, who must in all points be like with us-with the exception of sin, that the sacrifice might produce the double in the land, by being acceptable and efficacious, Heb. vii. 26, 2, 17, iv. 15; Isa. lxi. 7; and yet this union is not a circumstantial one, merely arising from consequences that has taken place subsequently to the creation of the Church, but is of an eternal date, inasmuch as all the persons of the elect were given to and accepted by the Lord Jesus Christ

before the foundation of the world was laid, when "the council of peace was between them both," Zech. vi. 14, when the Lord Jehovah brought forth his servant, whose name is the Branch; thus all bis characters become relative-not merely officially, as in the order of nature, but the identical Husband of the Wife, the Father of the family, the true Vine, in which all the branches are found to bear fruit, with all others in which we are authorized, by divine teaching, to view him; thus he is the altar as well as the sacrifice, and in the matchless glory of his divine person, sanctifieth both the gift and the giver, being God's propitiation for sin, Heb. ii. 11, I John iv. 10; here we pause, from the impossibility of being able to fathom "the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God," whose judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out, Rom. xi. 33, and from our heartfelt assurance would say, "there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun."

(To be Concluded in our next.)

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To the Editors of the Gospel Magazine.

ON CHRIST'S ETERNAL PRE-EXISTENCE.

MESSRS. EDITORS,

I HAVE lately read a little book entitled, The Glory of the Person of Christ, and His Members defended. The writer has, in the titlepage falsely and impudently charged four of the Lord's servants with consulting to cast down Christ's Godhead excellency-His Messiahship excellency-and His Mediatorial excellency, as the King of His Church. From the contents of this work, it is evident that the writer is unacquainted with the ministry and writings of the persons against whom he has preferred so false a charge;-in support of which charge he has not brought one single proof. The phraseology is human pre-existerian, of which the following is a specimen :

H.W.'s own words in proof :—1st. "Here Christ at one word, as it were, throws out His being to be believed on, and warning of eternal Death if not. I am all Heaven, and am OF HELL; I am all Eternity, I am what I am, known to none of you; for the Word I Am takes in everything." Page 23.

2nd. "The excellency therefore of Christ, as the Mighty God, is to be seen through every page of the Bible; for as Deity no man can see. Therefore, as Christ is seen, He is the God to be seen; and seeing the Son, he might have everlast

ing life."" Page 23.

3rd. "The constitution, bringing forth, or begetting of the nature of Cbrist in union with the Divine, is a Wonder of all Wonders, which I shall call, for want of a better word, His Soul or Spirit; the Glories of which can never be half told,

and which soul is as great as Godhead, by partaking of union with the Divine, and in no other sense." Page 30.

4th. "Christ, then, to sum it up to me, appears The SOUL, and Jesus the BODY, as well as His Church, which is mystically also; and Christ Jesus, the Lord." Page 46.

In the title page I also observe, that he includes what he calls, "a defence of the character of pre-existerians, (he means human pre-existerians,) from the calumnies heaped upon them by Mr. Triggs, who, from the pulpit, charged them with being in league with the devil, and haters of God's Christ." If Mr. Triggs did make such a charge, I am bound to acknowledge, that he is entitled to, and we hope will also bear, the name of a faithful minister of Jesus Christ. (1) Is the seed of the woman flesh or spirit? Is the seed of the serpent flesh or spirit? The human pre-existerians declare the seed of the woman doth, strictly speaking, mean the matter of which the Lord's body was formed, in plain words, that the seed of the woman is flesh; and, therefore, the spiritual seed is the seed of serpent! (2) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. The human pre-existerians declare that which was begotten of the Spirit in Mary is flesh, for they say his soul or spirit was begotten before. Can the believer require any further evidence of the truth of MrTriggs' charge? Has not God put enmity between the woman and the serpent, and between her seed, and the serpent and his seed? And do not the human preexisterians show their enmity to God's Christ by declaring the seed of the woman, born of the Spirit, is flesh, the spirit or soul having been born before? Do not the human pre-existerians show their enmity to God's Christ by setting up a began-to-be Jesus Christ, a human soul head, in opposition to the previous eternity of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Psalm cii. 25-27; and Heb. i. 10–12, xiíi. 8); a quickening Spirit? (1 Cor. xv. 45.)

1

Again, are not the human pre-existerians in league with Satan as the father of lies, by denying the incomprehensible Sonship of Christ, (Matthew xi. 27,) the procession of the Son, and by representing Christ as saying one thing meaning another, I AM, for I was a man older than Abraham, when he said unto the Jews, if ye believe not I am ye shall die in your sins? (John viii. 24) what indeed can be said of men who have the audacity to declare that the paternity of God the Father, and the filiation of Christ, do not respect the divine nature, but the human soul of Christ without a body, to which image the saints are ordained to be conformed-who thereby deny the testimony of God to be true, the revelation which he made of Himself-into the truth of which believers are baptized, and who also despise the resurrection body of the saints, a spiritual body, &c., which the Holy Ghost declares to be the image of the heavenly? As God's regenerated children have his mark, they will not lie-so unregenerated professors have Satan's mark, for they make lies; and it is to be feared that many of them love lies. They re

of pardon; repeated visits of his spiritual presence; increased love to him; faith in him; zeal for his cause and glory, and a brighter prospect of future glory and blessedness with him in uninterrupted glory and felicity beyond the grave.

}

12. God is the God of restraining grace. Did David commit whoredom and murder; Solomon, idolatry; and Peter deny his master with oaths and curses? So would every Christian do the same, if not restrained by the grace of God. No saint; however upright and spotless he may be in his walk, conduct and conversation in the eyes of the world, can boast of being any better than any other, who like Noah, David, Solomon, or Peter, may have fallen into.great sins; for all God's regenerated family would be as bad, if not worse than they had ever been before, if they were not preserved and kept by the restraining grace of God. How necessary then is the petition in the Lord's prayer, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," Matt. vi. 13. And we shall do well alway to bear in mind the apostles advice, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of -meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted," Gal. vi. 1. NUMERIST.

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THE BELIEVER'S SAFETY.

"We went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into wealthy place." Psal, lxvi. 12.

"That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 19. THE heart of a spiritual man cannot rest in earthly satisfactions; nor in the wanderings of his eye, say of any sublunary spot, that would be all my hope and all my desire. The voice of heaven is, "Arise ye, and depart: for this is not your rest: because it is polluted." The way to the heavenly Jerusalem lies through the present evil world, which produces little else than briars and thorns, which have a tendency only to entangle and wound the feet of those that pass through it. The many afflictions with which the people of God are exercised in the present life, are as a constant clog to the : wheels of their souls, which makes them drag on very heavily; and (were they not sometimes favoured with a view of their rest which remains for them, they would be almost ready to despair of getting safe out of this vale of tears. No sooner do we enlist ourselves under the banner of Immanuel, but Satan and the world immediately join in league against us, as though they were resolved to rob the Redeemer of his spoil, and pluck those who are the purchase of his blood out of his hands. There is a rooted enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Satan has an inveteracy against every one that bears the image of Jesus, "like a roaring lion he continually walketh about seeking whom he may devour," 1 Peter v. 8. And, like an old serpent, he conceals his wiles, that he may <get the greater advantage against us. We are, in this life, never

free from bis temptations; he is always either contriving a temptation against us, or presenting it to us. And that we do not oftener fall into the snares which he lays to entrap up, is owing to the care and vigilance of our great leader, and the grace which he is pleased to communicate to us out of his fulness. Such, then, is our condition below, that we are always in danger, from without and within. Troubles may attack us without, or, if free from these, pride may swell within; and the last is worse than the first. We shall see that love was the label written on every bitter potion; that needs be written on every temptation; friendship on every pricking thorn; usefulness on every grieving briar, and faithfulness and mercy on every twig of our Father's rod, "Is not (says a spiritual writer) eternal felicity secured; a noble panacea, and sufficient antidote against the heaviest misfortunes of a deceitful world? What avail a faithless flatterer, a falsifying friend, a violated promise, a mob of backbiters, disappointment of a place, a worldly loss, a broken purpose, a thwarted enterprise, expectation vain, and hope, though a long expectant, in the issue, bringing nothing but wind? What avail all these in comparison of the everlasting interests of my immortal soul? But, if these afflictions make me miserable, shall I make myself more miserable still, by handling the coals that burn me, and reading over the register of my troubles, which will be forgot in eternity, as the waters that flow away. Moreover, these many turnings and stupendous meanders of my life, are all squared by the straight line of the decree of God, with whom nothing is crooked. The seeming gaps of my lot are but the fulfilment of heaven's design, only the accomplishment of the counsel of God." Heaven will be but the sweeter, the more welcome and valued, after the labours of this mortal life and its conquests close in eternal triumph. Then to look back with feelings of unutterable joy, and excite the highest praise. Come out of great tribulation, the saints clad in robes of the purest white, as washed in the atoning cleansing blood of Christ, will stand before the throne of God, and in the presence of the Lamb, full of the joys of redemption, and rich with the spoils of conquest. Reward, though but in promise, sweetens labour, and the hope of triumph emboldens to conflict t; but how much more the assurance of both! The Christian has no less encouragement in all the enterprises assigned him; for, whether in works of faith, in labours of love, or in the toils of conflict, this is the invigorating address:-" Be not weary in welldoing, for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not." It is often with many professors, as though this world, and not another, was the end of man, and gave consummation to his being and hopes. But the pleasurable scenes of this life soon fade from the eye for ever. Lively apprehensions of faith, ardent longings of hope, and the attachments of love, would make us rather like Paul than these, and in the reaching forward of spiritual affection to say, "I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." The