state, but from his tyranny, strength, lying devices, and wicked working, in which we were taken captive by him at his will. And he who has been suffered to bind others shall himself be bound in the bottomless pit, while saints are reigning with Christ a thousand years. (Rev. xx. 2, 4). It is a liberty from the law as a covenant of works, from its condemnation and curse, but not from its mild command as ministered by Christ to all his faithful subjects, who are free indeed to come to God, to his kingdom, and even to the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus. (Heb. x. 19). And thus they shall finally reach the glorious liberty of the children of God. To you who have thus been called to liberty, let me say "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free." Gal. v. 1, 13. CHRISTIAN LIBERTY. Now, to the Father's firstborn Son, My joyful faith shall rise, and see What his almighty grace has done, To make my captive spirit free. Jesus the Christ, my God and King, Came for my sinful soul to bleed; Now I believe, rejoice and sing,

L. M.

Jesus hath made me free indeed. Now I am free from all the curse, I can endure a Father's rod; Come to his throne, and praise him thus, And dwell for ever with my God. THOS. ROW.

Little Gransden.

June 11, 1855.

REMARKS ON MR. COLES'S REPLY

ΤΟ OUR REVIEW OF HIS BOOK.

(See Earthen Vessel for April and June.) OUR review of Mr. Coles' book in our last April number is rather an answer to his reply in our June number than his reply being an answer to our review. We are sorry to see Mr. Coles so proof against our review of his book. While his reply, as every one sees, is as weak as his position is useless to the church; and while Mr. Coles seems rather to ridicule, as unscriptural, the idea of a people choosing a minister, and we with painful confidence assure Mr. Coles there will be very few, while in his present position, choose him. But for ourselves, we do not see anything unscriptural in a people choosing a minister. If the people of God are to take heed and beware of false prophets, we do not see how they can do this otherwise than by rejecting those whom they believe to be false prophets, and choosing those whom they believe to be true prophets, or, men qualified by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel. And for the people to choose those whom they believe the Lord hath chosen, cannot, we think, be very unscriptural. When, therefore, Mr. Coles tells us that we have no account in in the New Testament of the people choosing a minister, he talks without rhyme or reason, or thought, or the sense of scripture on his side. Only let him ply a little thought to this matter, and let him ask if thousands did not,

as far as they could, choose the Apostles to be their ministers; and the people of God, in all ages, have chosen their own ministers. They have sometimes made mistakes upon this matter, and have been disappointed in their expectations, as the church at Old Brentford was in choosing Mr. Coles: let us hope their next choice will be more propitious; for it is still needful, very needful, for the churches to take heed, and very earnest heed too, that they are not led away by false prophets; for their name in our day certainly is “Legion.”

One difficulty in noticing some of the main points in Mr. Coles' reply to our review lies in his contending either for absurdity or else for what no true christian church disputes or calls in question. He contends, he says, for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the believer, and in the church for ever liberty for teaching in the church for all who are qualified by the Spirit to do so-liberty to preach the gospel to the world without human appointment-that the scriptures are the only and sufficient guide in the order and discipline of the church of God. Well, and does not the church at Brentford, which Mr. Coles has left, contend as much for these principles as Mr. Coles does? We believe it (the church at Brentford) does, and very much more scripturally so than Mr. Coles now does.

Again; Mr. Coles appears to us to speak absurdly when he makes the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church set aside ministerial instrumentality. We do not see that Paul preaching even till midnight did by any means take the place of the Holy Spirit of God. No minister of God pretends to be God, or the Christ of God, or the Spirit of God; but only a servant of God. And therefore, we think that ministers may pastorally have rule over the people, and, at the same time, the people be very much profited by such rule; for if the pastoral rule (as the word of God shows it is) be a rule which is to heal diseases, strengthen the sick, save instrumentally that which is lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and to bring them into green pastures, and beside the still waters, and bring them by the door into the sheep-fold, and so help them on towards their ultimate rest; we think that under this view the Apostle was quite as much and a little more in order than Mr. Coles when he (the Apostle) exhorted to remember them that had the rule over them, and to esteem them very highly for their work's sake.

Mr. Coles seems to make sure that in his present order, or rather, disorder of things, the Holy Ghost is among them. Well, we shall see if the requisite signs follow; we shall see whether demons are cast out of the souls of men; with what newness of tongue and language they speak; what serpentine doctrines they take out of the pathway of the saints; and whether when they are called to drink of some deadly tribulation they can endure it or not; and how many sin-sick souls shall effectually recover. (Mark xvi.) When men make great pretensions we ought to look for corresponding results; and as Mr. Coles is now nearer to heaven than any body else, he must pardon us if we should judge of his posi

tion by its fruits; and we believe these will be very few and far between.

But what Mr. Coles thinks so wrong is, that of having one, only one minister in one assembly. He does not like the idea of only one Noah directing in building the ark-only one Joseph to disperse supplies abroad to the hungry-only one Moses to deliver Israel - only one Joshua to be captain- only one Solomon to superintend the erection of the temple only one Peter to preach the Pentecostal sermon, and also to go to Ceserea and preach to Cornelius only one angel (in John's latter days) to each church in Asia. And, according to Mr. Coles, the Lord has suffered his people to walk in ignorance of true New Testament order now for almost two thousand years, until this young Cole at Old Brentford was lighted up. Well, we hope he is a live coal never to be quenched; but he certainly is at the present most sadly obscured, making, alas, great pretensions to the presidency of the Holy Spirit being in the midst of the few who meet with him; but to all but themselves the presence of the Holy Spirit seems likely to remain an entire secret, for as there has not been, so we do not expect there will be any shaking among the dry bones.

The God of all grace has established an order of things, which he has-and does-and will-own and honour; but from which order of things Mr. Coles has departed, and therefore ceases to be honoured as he has been. He is now cast forth as a withered branch ceasing to yield fruit. We do not here refer to his state before God as a Christian, but to his present uselessness as a minister. Nor can we but express our regret to see him bordering so nearly upon presumption in so confidently (and that without any right reason for his confidence) declaring the Holy Ghost to preside in that confusion of things into which he is now fallen. But in the absence of reality there must as a kind of substitute, high and arrogant pretensions, the hollowness of which is soon found out by the sober and spiritually minded.

:

But not only does Mr. Coles border upon the presumptuous, but also upon the crafty and the moveable for while in his book he professes to conform to primitive New Testament order, he, in his reply to our review, denies contending for all the forms and orders of the apostolic age: so that if he be met at one point he moves to another, and thus making his system say (like an heathen oracle) one thing one time and another thing another time.

We in our review shewed the difference between essentials and circumstantials, and gave as an instance the different mode of holding the passover in the promised land, from that of the original mode of its observance in Egypt. But Mr. Coles says this alteration was not owing to altered circumstances, but was owing to a Divine command. Well, suppose it was owing to a Divine command; may not that command have been given on account of foreseen altered circumstances? So that our position is left in full strength, while Mr. Coles's objection amounts to just nothing; but we do not admit that any Divine command was given to alter the mode of observing the

passover. Mr. Coles refers us to Deut. xvi.; but there is no command there to alter the mode of its observance; some of the details are, it is true, omitted, for the obvious reason that they had been given at large, and in full, in Exodus xii. "But" says Mr. Coles "in Deut. xvi. the staff, and shoes, and posture are omitted." Well, so they are; but so are many other things omitted in Deut. xvi., and yet were strictly observed-such as the Lamb being without spot, and not a bone of him shall be broken; therefore Mr. Coles's argument that the different mode of observing the passover in Canaan from that of Egypt was not by altered circumstances, but from what is said in Deut. xvi., is just ridiculous; seeing that Deut. xvi., omits to mention not only some of the circumstantials of the passover, but also some of the essentials. Mr. Coles, therefore, had better have said nothing, than to have said what he has upon this matter.

But while we hold that altered circum

stances may alter, and must alter the circumstantials of an ordinance, we do not hold that altered circumstances can alter the essentials of any ordinance: the truth must be preached in all places. Baptism is immersion in all places-whether in a river or baptistry matters not. We must have the proper elementsbread and wine-in the Lord's Supper; but the mode of ministering it is merely a circumstantial part thereof.

Mr. Coles seems to despise the plea of altered circumstances; yet, in his reply to our review, does in effect set up the same plea himself—and that in rather strong language, too; for he says, "Not dreaming or contending for all the circumstances, forms, and orders of the apostolic age." Thus speaks Mr. Coles; and yet despises our distinction between essentials and circumstantials; therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man! for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest, doest the same thing.

The further we trace Mr. Coles's reply to our review, the more manifest does the weakness of his present position become. Let us take another instance. It is singular, he thinks, that after persons have stated their experience to the church, to godly edifying, that they are to be ever after silent in the church. Now, what does Mr. Coles mean here? Does he mean that the women are to become preachers in the church ?-for many of them bear on entering the church certainly a most honorable and satisfactory testimony. Would Mr. Coles unite these to the public ministry of the Word!-for he says, "It is somewhat singular that they should be in silence after." Well, it may be somewhat singular; but it certainly would be more singular still, if they were all to disobey the apostolic injunction, "I suffer not a woman to speak in the church, but to be in subjection." And after having given a reason of the hope that is in them, they are very useful in taking those unobtrusive departments which decorum, propriety, and every law of nature and of God allots to them.

But as to the brethren who have given a reason of the hope that is in them, we are not

aware that they are forbidden to speak: if they think they can speak, there are plenty of places they can speak in, without meddling with another man's line of things, or interfering with another man's liberty. We again exhort Mr. Coles to distinguish between essentials and circumstantials-between the use and the abuse of things.

his agonised spirit strove with its Maker for pardon and acceptance. The writer was sent for, and the first question the sufferer asked, with pallid cheeks, down which tears ran in torrents, and quivering lip, and his whole frame convulsed with excitement, "What must I do to be saved? Will the Lord pardon me? Can such a wretch as I have been, ever hope to be forgiven?" The writer directed his attention to those blessed promises scattered up and down God's word:-the readi

Our readers, by reading in our last number Mr. Coles's reply to our review, can judge for themselves whether we have in anything treated Mr. Coles unfairly.

Mr. Coles, in the close of his reply to our review, calls himself a "cast out brother." We are obliged to him for this piece of information; but we should have thought he was not a cast out brother, but a runaway brother—a brother offended with his own mercies, and so held by the enemy of his soul, that he is harder to be won than a strong city. A cast out brother!-well, be it even so. The church at Brentford certainly, of the two evils, have chosen the least; for they must either cast Mr. Coles out, or else bring confusion in; and as Mr. Coles chose conscientiously a disorderly course, the church as conscientiously ceased to have any fellowship

with him.

But although we thus speak, we should be most happy to find that Mr. Coles had seen his error, and had the manliness and Christian courage to confess the same, and return to that sphere of usefulness which he has so unhappily left; we would be the first to receive him, and the last to reproach him; for we ourselves stand by faith, and are yet in the body, and would not forget that the Lord alone is our Keeper; nor have we spoken of Mr. Coles with any unkind feeling to him, for we have none; but if we are to be counted his enemy because we tell him the truth, we will willingly bear the blame,

A REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF THE

POWER OF SOVEREIGN GRACE.

BEING called upon to visit a relative of mine, who was confined to his bed with a dreadful disease (cancerated brain,) I there witnessed a scene truly distressing - a dying man labouring under the strongest convictions of his state as a lost and ruined sinner. He had passed the healthy days of his life, as alas! too many do, forgetful of his Maker, and negligent of the responsibility which rests on man. Thus he continued until his last illness-and when he felt the cold hand of death upon him -when he became convinced his departure was at hand, then did he think of that essential Friend who was only waiting to be gracious. Though his body was racked with pain, he thought of nothing but the pain of his soul;

the thief on the cross-the unwillingness of God that any should perish-and that the object of Christ's coming was to seek and to save the lost; those who wanted to be saved, who felt their need, who really and truly believed in him. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit sealing home the truth upon his heart, he grew calm, and rested in child-like confidence on the merits of his Lord. His illness lasted about a month; during that time his whole thoughts were taken up with the realities of an eternal world. His time was spent in prayer and praise; and, except when the pain of his body was too great, his delight consisted in talking of Christ and his love.

One fact we would notice, and that is-that every one that came in, whom he thought loved not God, he exhorted and persuaded to attend on the means of grace.

He continued in this state till the night of the 12th of January, when he departed from this world, rich in faith and the prospect of a glorious resurrection.

In reading this humble sketch, the secularist may sneer at the idea of a death-bed conversion, but all the harm we wish him is that he may experience the same, and that even at the eleventh hour he may feel the power of saving grace as our dear departed brother did.

Many are the lessons to be learnt from a death-bed, especially a death-bed conversion. How fully do we see in all such cases, the power of sovereign grace of distinguishing, discriminating grace of almighty power, exercised so manifestly in changing the heart and giving that peace that passeth understanding.

God grant that the above instance may afford delight to all lovers of our Saviour, and that many whose eye may glance carelessly over the pages of this Magazine, when it comes to this humble sketch, may be led to look to their latter end. Amen.

A. S-N.

"WHO gave himself for our sins!" Mark: he did not receive anything at our hands. He does not demand in exchange, worship, fastings, prayers, almsgivings. For the Lord Jesus hath given-What? Not gold, nor silver, nor a crown, nor a kingdom, nor even paschal lambs-but Himself! Here then is a thunder-clap from heaven against all selfmerit. This is the gun-shot and artillery by which the Papacy must be destroyed. Gave Himself!-for whom, for what? Why not only for a Paul and a Peter, and God's more eminent saints-but for every poor repentant and believing sinner-for our sins.

The greatest things God does for his people are got in communion with him.

EXPOSITORY

EPISTLES TO THEOPHILUS.

LETTER XIII.

My good Theophilus, this my thirteenth letter to you, together with my next, must be a kind of summing up letters, before entering upon other departments which I have in contemplation. I will then here, under three words, sum up the reasons we cannot, except born of God, enter the kingdom of heaven: and these shall be the three words:-knowledge, reconciliation, love.

The knowledge must be experimental; there must be both a downward and an upward experience. The one is not safe without the other: where it is all downward experience, all sin, and self, and bondage, and woe, there is great danger of desperation and apostacy― this apostacy arising from a secret enmity against the truth as it is in Jesus. This was the case with Cain, and he went out from the presence of the Lord. This was the case also with king Saul; he had nothing but downward experience, but this alone could give him no anchorage in God's truth. Judas had downward experience enough to make him go and hang himself. Felix had downward experience enough to make him tremble, but his downward experience alone did not bring him to God. Pilate had downward experience enough to make him very unhappy, but it did not give him strength to overcome the fear of man, nor prevent his giving sentence against Jesus. Nor, on the other hand, is upward experience alone by any means safe. The stony ground hearer has upward experience enough to make him joyful; but his joy does not, when he is offended, prevent his apostacy. Many have upward experience enough to eat the bread and drink the wine at the Lord's table, and at the very same time lift up their heel against new covenant living truth. There have been thousands who have had upward experience enough to cry to-day, Hosanna! but to-morrow the cry is changed, and then it is, "Crucify him!" Some have upward experience enough to be wondrously enlightened, and become splendid and wonderful preachers, and have intellectually tasted of the heavenly gift, and are made partakers (in the letter of his testimony) of the Holy Ghost, and have intellectually tasted the good Word of God, and in the natural conscience the powers of the world to come; and sometimes these hold out in their delusion unto the end, and are signed and sealed for heaven by a most eulogistic funeral sermon. But sometimes such apostatize; and if they do fall away, it is generally into such a deadly enmity against the truth, that no remonstrance can renew them again to repentance, but go away into open reproach against the Son of God, and to the uttermost of their power reproach the members of Christ, raking up both their real and supposed faults, joining with the accuser of the brethren, calling them Antinomians, and thus they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame;

1855.

for what is done unto the members of Chrisis done unto him. Thus the upward experit ence of such is merely intellectual; and their downward experience-if they should go down before they die-for the apostle throws an if into the matter-(" if they shall fall away,") -if, then, they should go down, they have no downward experience, but that of enmity and apostacy.

So true, then, is it, that "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it." It is not always easy to distinguish true experience from false experience; the counterfeit looks so much like the genuine coin, the wild grape so much like the fruit of the true Vine; the apples of Sodom look so much like the apples of gold in pictures of silver, so much like the produce of the true Paradise, the evil figs so much like the good figs, the sounding brass and the tinkling cymbal so much like the gentle sound of the bells on Aaron's robe, that many, very many are so deceived, that although they are seeking to enter into the kingdom of heaven, they shall not be able.

There must, then, in order for us rightly to learn that song which none can learn "but those who are redeemed from among menthere must be two corresponding parts in our experience the downward and the upward. If the downward experience be right, there will be an upward experience spring from it; and if the upward experience be right, there will be a downward experience connected with it. You cannot-and if you have only a onefooted experience, you will not, walk far, or rather not at all, in the right way.

The Pharisee's experience was all upward; the Publican had both the downward and the upward; he felt that he was a lost sinner; he thirsted and cried for mercy. Every one whose petition was granted by the Saviour in the days of his flesh, had in their experience both a downward root and upward fruit-the leper, the blind man, the woman who touched the hem of his garment. So on the day of Pentecost, they were pricked in the heart. Here is the downward; they said to the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Here is the upward longing, arising out of the downward conviction; and as the downward conviction remains, so the upward longing remains; and while "hope deferred maketh the heart sick," yet, when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life; and as both the downward conviction and the upward longing remain, so such who are thus taught are sure to remain, until they are brought out of the pit of corruption and miry clay, and are set upon a rock; and the more downward experience such have, the more upward experience they will have; the deeper and stronger the root, the sweeter and more abundant the fruit. Their downward experience will keep them from being offended, like the stony-ground hearer; and their upward experience will keep them from going away, like Cain, from the presence of the Lord.

We see in the case of Saul of Tarsus, that when he was brought down, there was at the same time an upward longing-" Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"