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excusable than others: their danger in committing sin is therefore extreme, they are least likely to be wrought on to repentance. But even, if I concede fully that the state described-" who have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost"-is that of men actually reconciled to God, I see no argument against the view I have in this paper taken. Are not Christians to be solemnly and earnestly warned against the perils of apostacy and consequent destruction? Are they not to be treated as rational beings, and wrought upon, by moral means, adapted to their nature, instead of being kept by mere physical power? Then, certainly, there must be such admonitions as those just referred to- Let any man,' says a judicious expositor,' speculate as he pleases on this subject, when he addresses Christians by way of warning, he will inevitably fall into the same modes of address. And plainly he ought to do so: for thus have all the sacred writers done, and thus did the Saviour himself.'

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This doctrine has the deliberate sanction of the venerable Hooker- They which are of God,' says he, 'do not sin, in any thing, any such sin as doth quite extinguish grace, clean cut them off from Christ Jesus; because "the seed of God abideth" in them, and doth shield them from receiving any irremediate wound. Their faith, when it is at strongest, is but weak: yet even then, when it is at the weakest, so strong, that utterly it never faileth, it never perishes together, no, not in them who think it extinguished in themselves.-The word of the promise of God unto his people is—“ I will not leave thee nor forsake thee "-upon this the simplicity of faith resteth, and is not afraid of famine,

"I know in whom I have believed?" I am not

ignorant whose precious blood hath been shed for me; I have a shepherd full of kindness, full of care, and full of power, unto him I commit myself; his own finger hath engraven this sentence in the tables of my heart, "Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheat, but I have prayed that thy faith fail not: therefore, the assurance of my hope I will labour to keep, as a jewel, unto the end and by labour, through the gracious mediation of his prayer, I shall keep it.'

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The same great theologian is careful to observe, 'it was not the meaning of our Lord and Saviour in saying, Father, keep them in thy name," that we should be careless to keep ourselves. To our own safety, our own sedulity is required.' The right consideration of this doctrine is, therefore, very far from leading men to carelessness of life. For he that is Christ's follower, whom Christ will keep, treads in Christ's steps. No man, that treads not in his steps, has any warrant to conclude that the Lord's preserving care is over him. And we are kept, if kept at all, in the faith. He, therefore, that holds not the purity of faith, and keeps not that faith which worketh by love, has no warrant to conclude that he shall not finally fall. To the humble, zealous believer, this truth is full of unspeakable comfort, and powerful encouragement: to the hypocrite and formalist, it speaks loudly to judge himself, that he be not judged of the Lord.

CAIUS.

The Album.

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THE church of God, is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ: it is the company of the faithful, whom God hath gathered together in Christ, by his word and by the Holy Ghost, to honour him as he himself hath appointed. This church heareth the voice of the Shepherd; it will not follow a stranger, but flieth from him, for it knoweth not the voice of strangers. Of this church St. Jerome saith, The church of Christ, which containeth the churches through all the world, is joined together in the unity of the Spirit, and hath the cities of the law, of the prophets, of the gospel, and of the apostles. This church goeth not forth, or beyond, her bounds, that is, the holy scriptures.' It is the pillar of the truth, the body, the fulness, and the spouse of Christ; it is the vine, the city, and the kingdom of God; they which dwell in it, are no more strangers and foreigners, but "citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head-corner-stone, in whom all the building, coupled together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord." This church Christ loved, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, and cleanse it by the washing of water through the word; that he might make it unto himself a glorious church, not "having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that

it should be holy, and without blame." (Eph. v.) Such a church was the church of God at Thessalonica. Such a church are they, whosoever, in any place of the world, fear the Lord, and call upon his name; their names are written in the book of life; they have received the Spirit of adoption, by which they cry, Abba, Father: they grow from grace to grace, and abound more and more in knowledge and in judgment; they cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light; they are made absolute and perfect unto all good works; they are evermore comforted in the mercies of God, both by the holy scriptures, wherein God declareth his gracious goodness towards them, and by the sacraments, which are left unto the church, to be witnesses and assured pledges, for performance of the promises of God's good will and favour towards them.

BISHOP JEwell.

On the First Epistle to the Thessalonians.

Review of Books.

THE CORNER-STONE, or a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Truth. By Jacob Abbott, Principal of Mount Vernon Female School.

"JESUS CHRIST himself being the chief cornerstone," is the motto of this book: and the Lord Jesus is, in his character and offices, the principal subject of it. To the author, therefore, we may fairly say,—

What think you of Christ?' is the test

To try both your state and your scheme :
You cannot be right in the rest,

Unless you think rightly of Him.

And sure we are, that the writer of these lines, the truly enlightened and spiritually-minded John Newton, would have read, with deep grief, the pages which we now reluctantly proceed to review. Reluctantly, because the author is evidently a man who earnestly desires to do good; but his talent as a writer has led him, with the best intentions, into one of the most perilous and most mischievous experiments imaginable: that of causing the offence of the cross to cease. He has undertaken to give a view of Christianity that cannot, we really think, offend the most bigotted Socinian; nor, alas! would it tend to lift even a corner of that fatal veil which shuts out,

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