stands in such a moral demonstration, connected with the character of the first promulgators of the truth, as involves the men who deny the revelation in greater absurdity of credulousness, than those who receive it. But that is not our present subject; it is a separate and important subject in its own place. All I am concerned to say about it at present, is, that the evidence for the origin of the revelation is not mysterious; it is let down within the reach of human science and human inquiry, and any man who refuses to inquire about it, and denies it in ignorance, deserves the consequences.

Here, then, my brethren, I have invited you to contemplate God in these four aspects in which he is set before us; some statements in each made clear, brought forward into the front ground of the picture; and in each a mystery hanging, in the dimness of the horizon, upon us. And what would we have as creatures? Would we stand upon such a pinnacle, that there shall be no horizon? "Vain man would be wise, though he be born like the ass's colt ;" and because he has intelligence enough to perceive that there is a mystery, and pride enough to refuse to submit to it, he abuses the reason and intelligence in the pride of refusing what he might know, because he can not know what God still keeps secret. Be ye reconciled to mysteries; and be ye satisfied with revelation. These are the statements, my brethren, this is the view of things, this is the combination of truth, for which our forefathers bled in this land; without attempting to explain the mysteries, they asserted and re-asserted the facts of the case. You find them in the formularies of the Church; the person of God, declared with simplicity and plainness, and not attempted to be explained; the sovereignty of God proclaimed, with equal simplicity and plainness, in the evident purpose which he purposed in Chirst Jesus; the all-sufficiency of the atonement in the blood of Jesus, proclaimed distinctly; and the mysterious combination of God and man in one person, declared, but not explained; and the invincible energy of the power of the Holy Spirit in winning the will of the sinner. And being made willing in the day of God's power, he shall run in the way of God's commandment, and delight in the knowledge of God himself; and so go on in good works, arising out of the love of God in his heart, and dictated by the glory of his heavenly Father in this life, unto eternal salvation.

And if there be a man or woman here present who is yet a stranger to these things, and knows not the power of this grace, may God, in his infinite mercy, render now what I have been permitted to say a blessing to such one. Let a mystery be recognized; let objections be given up; let the vain strugglings of a proud understanding be prostrated; O let your hearts be touched. Fellow-sinner, believe in God, believe also in Jesus; yield to your own conscience; seek the Holy Ghost-ask, and ye shall receive, for God is true.

DISCOURSE

XLI.

THOMAS BINNEY, D.D., LL.D.

THIS prominent leader among the Congregationalists of England, is a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he was born April 30th, 1798. His father was an elder in the Presbyterian church, with which denomination he united, upon profession, when 17 years of age.

He was educated for the ministry at Wynardley, Hertfordshire, at the academy endowed by Mr. Coward, and in 1824 became minister of St. James-street chapel, Newport, Isle of Wight. In 1829, he removed to London to become the minister of the congregation then meeting in a spacious hall then over the Weigh-house in Little Eastcheap, where was formerly placed the king's beam, with which foreign merchandise, brought to the port of London, was weighed. In 1833 the audience had so much increased as to render necessary the erection of the new Weigh-house Chapel on Fish-street-hill. His congregation is very large and respectable, often reaching as high as twelve or fifteen hundred hearers, and embracing many of the most influential laymen among the dissenters.

The personal appearance of Dr. Binney is in his favor. He is represented as tall and athletic, with a slight approach to corpulency. His shoulders are high and rather broad, with a fine, pleasant, open countenance; a clear complexion, hair of a dark brown color-now becoming white, and a face of the oval form, slightly tapering toward the chin. He is said to have one of the best developed foreheads ever "We never beheld," says a careful observer, "such a lofty, massive, highly intellectual forehead as Binney's; it seems piled up-story upon story of brain, built each over the other—and yet it is symmetrical. We should think there was enough cerebral matter in his cranium, to serve for half a dozen moderately clever men.”

seen.

His voice is deep and solemn, and his manner quite variable-sometimes animated in the highest degree, and sometimes cool and collected. So, too, is the character of his sermons very dissimilar. A friend related to us a frequent and playful remark which his wife used to make. "Thomas can preach as good a sermon as any other man can; and Thomas can preach as poor a sermon as any other man." He is often quite eccentric; deals sometimes in the keenest irony, and then again in the most crushing logic; is often metaphysical in his preaching, and then poetical and descriptive in the highest degree. He announces his text in a low tone, and seldom raises his voice; but goes on, now appearing to struggle with the ideas which crowd on his mind, and now pouring them forth in a continuous stream. His action is peculiar, and chiefly consists in his placing the forefinger of his right hand on the palm of his left, or in running his fingers through his hair, thus tossing it about in the most careless manner imaginable.

Dr. Binney is not extensively known as an author, except by means of his nu

merous polemical and occasional pamphlets. He published, however, in 1839, a volume of considerable size, on "The Practical Power of Faith." A lecture, too, originally delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association, has been ex panded into a very popular volume, entitled "Is it possible to make the best of both worlds?"

The sermon which he has sent for this work, was preached at the funeral of Rev. Algernon Wells, in 1851, and published in a large pamphlet form. Its very great length renders it necessary to omit the first division of the subject, where a very plain and simple statement of the proofs of the Jewish faith in a future life, are given. We begin where the preacher grasps and expands the chief idea of the text. Some passages of this discourse have been commented upon as exceedingly eloquent. For example, this, near the close, which, with its connection, approaches a fine prose-poem :

""Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.' 'So let all thine enemies perish,' O Christ; and 'Let them that love thee, be as the sun, when he goeth forth in his might.' They shall be this, for they shall be 'sons of light,' being 'children of the resurrection;' and shall shine as the stars, and as the brightness of the firmament, forever and ever.' As a wreck may sink in the sea, and the ocean close over it, so that not a vestige of its existence shall remain, nor a ripple on the surface tell that it was; so shall mortality be swallowed up of LIFE-immortal life, life, sinless, god-like, divine. Nor shall there be wanting the voice of rejoicing, as heard at the termination of successful war, for 'Death shall be swallowed up in VICTORY.'"

LIFE AND IMMORTALITY BROUGHT TO LIGHT.

"Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."-2 TIM., i. 10.

Ar first sight, these words would seem to express more than they can fairly be supposed to mean. The two statements made, taken absolutely, are contradicted-the first, by a fact in providence, daily before our eyes; the second, by a fact in history, apprehended by our understanding. Death is not "abolished" since the appearance of Christ; and the doctrine of "immortality" did not remain to be "brought to light" by his advent. Among both Jews and Gentiles, previous to his coming, there was a belief of a future, immortal life; and, since his resurrection, death still reigns over the whole race, just as it reigned "from Adam to Moses," or from Moses to Malachi. It is obvious, therefore, that the text must mean something less than what it seems to say, or something different from its literal or conventional import. A single remark may help us to the apprehension of this modified meaning.

The word which in the passage before us, is rendered "abolished,” is rendered "destroyed" in the 14th verse of the second of Hebrews. It is there said, that Christ "took flesh and blood," that, "through death,

he might destroy HIM that had the power of death, that is, THE DEVIL; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage." We can not be far wrong, I think, in inferring from this, that Christ has abolished death in some sense similar to that in which he has destroyed the devil; that is to say, that, without literally annihilating either, he has so wrought against, and so far weakened and subdued them, as to restrain them from hurting those that are his. With respect to the word rendered "brought to light," it may be observed, that it does not so much mean to discover, or make known, as a new thing-which is the ordinary import of the English phrase-but to illustrate, clear up, or cast light upon a thing; it thus assumes the previous existence of that which is illustrated, but it asserts the fact of its fuller manifestation.

Thus explained, the meaning of the text would amount to this, or may thus be paraphrased :-Previous to the coming of Christ, the idea of immortal life stood before the human, or the Hebrew mind, like some vast object in the morning twilight; it was dimly descried, and imperfectly apprehended, through the mist and clouds that hung upon or invested it. In like manner, Death, seen through that same darkness (for "the light was as darkness") was something that appeared "very terrible," and made many, "all their lifetime, subject to bondage." The advent of the Messiah, including the whole of his teaching and work-the "appearing" of our Lord Jesus Christ, as "the light of the world," and "the sun of righteousness"-was, to these spiritual objects, like the rising, on the natural world, of that luminary, whose power and splendor symbolized his glory in prophetic song! To those who received him, whose reason and heart he alike illuminated, the outward became clear and the inward calm; the shadows departed, and fear was subdued; objective truth had light cast upon it that made it manifest, and "the king of terrors," seen in the sun-light, was discovered to have an aspect that did not terrify!

After this exposition of the text, we proceed to show IN WHAT WAY IMMORTALITY WAS ILLUSTRATED, AND DEATH ABOLISHED, BY OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH THE GOSPEL.

1. In the first place, he gave certainty and assurance to the popular expectation, exalting it from an opinion to a revealed and ascertained truth. He could not announce immortality as a new thing. He never pretended to do that. He found the people in possession of the general idea, and he confirmed it; he found it believed and disbelieved, and he took the positive side. As a prophet, he spake of the future life with authority, and by that authority presented it to faith. Contending with objectors, he reasoned with demonstration, and by that demonstration convicted them of error as "not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God." He cast light on the meaning of Scripture, and brought out from beneath the surface, treasures of truth that lay concealed there. He

spoke of heaven, and of heavenly things-of eternity and accountableness, of the day of judgment, and the resurrection of the dead-constantly and familiarly. No one could mistake him. There could be no doubt as to what his doctrine was. His views were distinct; they were frequently expressed; they were often vividly and largely amplified. Moses might be obscure-there might be two opinions as to the nature of his teaching-but Christ's was transparent; it might be rejected, but it could not be misunderstood.

The first five books of the Old Testament, and the first five books of the New, are a perfect contrast in respect to their disclosures on the subject before us. You read the Law, and you meet with nothing, or next to nothing, bearing distinctly on the future life; you feel everywhere the pomp or pressure of the present. You read the GOSPELS, and you are continually face to face with the future-the present and passing are utterly lost in the solemnity and grandeur of what is to come. Our Lord was minute. He often descended from that sublime vagueness which so naturally invests views of the future, and dilated on various accidents and accessories of the grand events which he authenticated or foretold. "The Son of man was to come in his glory," and "in the glory of his Father," and "with his holy angels;" "the dead that were in the graves were to hear his voice, and were to come forth;" he was to be seen "sitting on the throne of his glory, and before him were to be gathered all nations." Speaking afterward, through his Spirit in the apostles, he revealed other and similar wonders. He was to come with "suddenness ;" .99 66 as a thief in the night;" "in the clouds of heaven;" "at the last trump ;" "with the voice of an archangel and the clarion of God!" "A mystery" was made known, and information communicated, respecting "them that should be alive and remain to the coming of the Lord." "Flesh and blood" could not inherit the future world, "neither could corruption inherit incorruption;" it was revealed, therefore, and declared that they that "sleep" and they that "wake" should equally be transformed that the dead and the living should alike be "changed;" that all present physical relationships should cease and determine, should end with the world in which they originated, and should be superseded by higher spiritual ties, replaced by deeper and richer affinities, in that world "where they neither marry nor are given in marriage," and where those who have been found worthy to attain it "are equal to the angels, and can die no more."

2. This glorious life was not only thus distinctly revealed or recognized as a reality, but, in the new law given to the church in the writings of the apostles, as the Spirit of Christ guided them in the apprehension and the uses of the truth, it was constantly applied to practical purposes. All the powerful and invigorating motives brought to operate on the Christian mind to animate and to purify it, are drawn from the views given by Christ of the future world, and from himself as connected