against the bad, and in favor of the good; and is, in so far, the prompter of our conduct. But, after all, nothing is more uncertain than conscience, for it may be enlightened or unenlightened; often violated, it may become an evil conscience - always regarded by the light of divine truth, it will, to the disciple, minister the sweets of a good conscience. Paul strove constantly to have a good conscience, void of offence towards God and towards man. Conscience, without a knowledge of the truth, is as impotent for guidance, as the eye without light; but radiant with the truth, what a grand moral spectacle does it present! In the strife of passion, and amid the horrors of crime, it stands like a snow-white obelisk, in the ruins of a burning city, unsullied with smoke, and without the smell of fire, pointing like the finger of hope, to the skies."

We hear, very often in our day, of the light within. But, those who give expression to such ideas, should bear in mind, that Christianity is much older than their peculiar notions; and that the light within, of which they boast, has been derived from this source. Knowledge and faith come by hearing (or reading), and hearing by the Word of God, but never in any other way.

J. W.

CHRISTIANITY IN ITS

EVIDENCE.

(EXTRACT OF AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN

BARKER-GATE MEETING HOUSE, NOTTINGHAM.)

BELOVED BRETHREN - Suffer me to read to you the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, beginning at the 1st verse.

I have always supposed that the conversion of the man who writes this Epistle deserves to stand prominent as a character for Christian evidence, and to be held up as a man before the eyes of the world, as well as of the

church. We must remember that the writer of this Epistle was no mean man. Look at his standing: he was an Hebrew of the Hebrews ; he had received a literary training, and was capable of grasping the most difficult subjects. He was high in fame, and was treated as a great man. He was on the highway to greater fame, and had liberty to crush the Christians, with a desire to do it. Think of this man, when on his way to Damascus, suddenly brought to a knowledge of the living God; and thus qualified and made willing to go through the world bearing the good news of the gospel to every creature. I ask what called this man from such dark deeds? Was it not the majesty of divine glory that arrested him on the road, and put pardon in his hand, which was seldom granted to any offender in so miraculous a manner.

We learn that Christianity is not of man, but from above; and the first thing that attracts our notice is, that the gospel is not of man. Read the 11th verse, "For the gospel which I preach is not of man; for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Christianity is not of man, for how could we have spoken of it, after two thousand years have nearly rolled away, if it had originated with man? Like all other human creeds, it would have died, and mouldered in the dust. Christianity is proved to be not of man's device, by the security that it gives, as well as by its evidence and power, for the very word is power; and in its struc

ture it reveals the mind and the wisdom of God. So great are its blessings, that they enable man to lift up his head and rejoice in the sight of God, appearing before Him justified and pardoned. So long as man conceives that God does not love him, so long he will not love God, except with slavish fear. But, my friends, only think that God gave us his Son, his well-beloved Son, that by him we

might have free forgiveness of all our sins. God did not intend his poor children to drag about with them the load of guilt. No! He takes the poor rebel by the hand, rolls away the load of sin and guilt, and makes the sinner clean and free. And when he goes down into the water and rises again, then God gives him a pledge (the Holy Spirit) and a promise of eternal life.

The gift of the Holy Spirit bears testimony with our spirits that we are born of God, and we are the temples for the Holy Spirit to dwell in, with all his sanctifying power. But then there is hope that glorious hope-a divine hope. It would be something for God merely to give salvation to the sinner; but, resting here, it would be incomplete. But He who gave his dear Son, will consummate the glorious work; for that same mighty Redeemer will come again in all his power, and when He who is our life shall be revealed, then shall we be like Him, and see Him as He is. We have a hope then, and a prospect, a divine hope. Having risen with Him from the grave of waters, so shall we rise in that great day, to dwell with Him in His holy habitation.

Christianity is not of man. When it first sounded in the world, it showed the love of God so great, that it led them to say, can we stand justified before the Lawgiver? before the Maker of Heaven and Earth? Can we rise superior, and triumph over death?-and can we have God round about us as a wall of fire? Oh, yes! God will protect his people.

Christianity is the voice of God, and not of man. It proves its origin by signs and wonders, and divers gifts and miracles of the Holy Ghost. It was manifest, in the second place, from its external evidence, yet had not the full accomplishment of converting power. But, to arrest the human mind, as recorded in the beautiful chapter (2nd of Hebrews) read in your hearing this morning, God

hath spoken to us in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. I ask, how did these operate? All who had balance of soul, could not but understand the teaching of Jesus, for some said, "Now we know thou art a teacher come from God, or thou could'st not do the things which thou doest." God could not, or would not, give his sanction or acknowledgment of the miracles of Jesus, or his apostles, unless they were from God, and not of man. So every one must confess that Jesus is a teacher come from God, and that his word is true; and also that of his apostles, for God was with them, working in them according to his promise. We rejoice, too, that not only were grand miracles performed, but likewise many predictions were delivered. Now a miracle is complete at the time it is offered; but the evidence of God through His Holy Spirit, will live until the end of the world, and must live, because it is from God, and of God. The Word of God will grow mighty and powerful in the hearts of those who believe and obey it. The Jews around us are living miracles. Whenever we see a Jew, we think of the evidence of God; and though he may be an infidel, we must look upon him as evidence for God according to promise. Let us look at the time when all the nations of the earth shall reap divine blessings, and the Jew, with the Gentile, shall praise together, and sing praises in His presence for ever and ever.

Christianity, we rejoice to say, is sustained by its institutions; for we are here this day to show that Jesus was stronger than death, and mightier than the grave. We have this mystery of love and divine power before us. How have we got them? What was it, and how was it, that the day when Jesus rose from the dead, all power was given unto him? Because he was the Messiah, the Son of God. How was it that so many came together, on the first day of the

REFORMATION.-No. IX.

WHEN man forfeits the favor and fellowship of God, he seems to lose also that just sense of his own position, and that proper feeling of self-respect, which must ever be among the most powerful influences in his reformation. When abandoned of God, he abandons also himself, and takes no longer any proper interest in his own character or destiny. The follies and the worst crimes of men may, for the most part, be readily traced either to that reckless and debased condition of soul which inevitably follows a merited loss of reputation, or to desire of avoiding this result, by committing a greater crime to conceal a less one; but the guilt which first occasions public reprobation is seldom traced to its proper fountain a previous sense of similar degradation in the sight of heaven. Thus Cain, smarting under the consciousness of the withdrawal of the divine favor and acceptance, became the very first criminal and outcast of human society by the death of Abel. No one, indeed, will sin against society unless he have first sinned against God. Hence the strongest safeguard of every community consists in vital godliness; and hence, too, a conscience without offence towards God, will necessarily be so also in respect to man.

Nothing exhibits more clearly the debasing influence of conscious disgrace than the power of exaltation which a contrary sentiment possesses. It is, indeed, as we have before remarked, the sense of what we seem to others that moulds and fashions us through life. How often a casual remark; a few words of encouragement, spoken, perhaps, at random, will be fixed upon the memory of another, and continue to glow like a living spark within the soul, until the whole man is fired with the emulation and energy which surmount every obstacle, and enable the individual to be what he would appear! He begins

by assimilating a part of the character ascribed to him, and ends by leavening and transforming his whole nature by its influence. As the rising tide lifts from the slimy ooze the vessel which had remained motionless and useless at the shore, so popular favor gives activity, elevation, and conspicuity, to those who had otherwise remained inert, depressed, and undistinguished. It is this which fans the flame of emulation, and inspires the mind with lofty aspirations and resolves. But wo betide the unfortunate wretch who is branded with ignominy, and condemned to be a vagabond in the earth, deprived at once of the respect of others, and of his own, and left without one hope to encourage, or one friendly voice to cheer him !

There is nothing more evident than that the renovation and eternal exaltation of man is based primarily upon this immutable principle of human nature, and that it is the sense of what man seems to be in the sight of God, even in his present alienated and degraded condition, that encourages him once more to approach his Maker, and stimulates him to glorify his name by becoming in character what God has declared him to be by original position, and by a gracious adoption. "We love God, because he first loved us," is a proposition designed less to exhibit the logical connection between premises and conclusion, than the natural relation between cause and effect; and it is, therefore, not so much a proof of the fact asserted, as a philosophical explanation of it. And, beyond all controversy, it is the true philosophy. For man never could have recovered, or saved, or elevated himself; and had he not been sought of Heaven, he would have remained for ever lost. It is the unspeakable love and condescension of God towards man which first awakens in his bosom life and consolation. It is when the "goodness and philanthropy" of God our Saviour appears, that men are led to reforma