they are assured these blessings are to be found. On the other hand, numbers hear the Gospel who are unaffected by it: they remain just as before, attached to the world and its objects, immersed in sinful pursuits, careless about God and his will, indifferent to the future, blindly following their own course, regardless of heaven or hell. Why is this? It is because they do not believe the word of God. They may assent to its truth generally, but they do not embrace it as a thing which concerns themselves. They may admit its declarations to be true, but the admission is partial; it does not apply to their own case. They may believe what passed in the garden of Gethsemane, and on Mount Calvary, as they believe the account of the plague or the great fire in London; but they do not believe their own personal interest concerned in the one more than in the other. But if their faith were genuine, and cordially embraced the whole word of God, they would believe this also; they would believe the absolute necessity in their own case of repentance, conversion of the heart, and newness of life, as well as of earnestly applying to the Saviour for these blessings in the way he has pointed out, if they would escape otherwise certain destruction. But they do not really believe it, and hence their unconcern. 2. We come now to consider the nature of hope. It is a grace closely allied to faith, indeed inseparable from it; and it flourishes in proportion to the strength of faith. Christian hope is the expectation of what God has promised. Believing the truth of his promises, we look for their accomplishment. Now, consider what are the objects of the Christian's hope-an inheritance in heaven, with all its attendant blessings. We hope for this, if we are really serving God in the Gospel of his Son, because God has promised it to such. We believe the promise, and we hope for its fulfilment. Of this hope some things are stated in Scripture which it will be well for us to bear in mind. We are there told, that "every one that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure;" plainly intimating that such a hope is calculated to give a new and holy direction to our souls, to raise them above the polluting objects of time and sense, and to fix them on high and heavenly objects. And thus will it be. Those who set their desires and affections on things above will no longer value the things of this life, except as they can be made to forward the attainment of their object. Hope thus operates to detach us from all low and debasing pursuits, and to engage us in such only as are elevating and purifying. And if the hope we indulge is not marked by such a character, we may be satisfied that it is unfounded and delusive. It is also said of this hope, that "it maketh not ashamed:" it disappointeth not. Worldly hopes often end in bitter disappointment; and they generally prove false and delusive. See the worldly man engaged in the pursuit of wealth, or honour, or pleasure. He is animated by hope; but it is by a hope which deludes and disappoints him. Either the object on which he has set his heart is not attained, or, if attained, it yields him none of the satisfaction he had expected. How widely different is this from that hope which maketh not ashamed! But here it is necessary to remark, that there is a hope which, though it has heaven for its object, is not less delusive than that of the worldling: I mean, the hope which rests on a false foundation. When men who are proceeding in a course of disobedience to the known will of God, yet flatter themselves that all will be well at the last, their condition must be regarded as truly awful. How often do we observe persons viewing their own state and character with complacency, and deriving from their fancied merits a hope of future happiness, who are plainly condemned by the whole tenor of Scripture! Such a hope as this will perish, like that of the hypocrite. It rests on a false foundation, and must prove fallacious. It has no promise of God to support it, and it must end in disappointment and misery. Not so the hope of the true Christian. It rests on the innumerable promises made in Scripture to the penitent, the believing, the regenerate-to those who have embraced with theirwhole hearts the salvation purchased for them by the blood of Christwho have repaired to the fountain there opened, in order to be cleansed from their guilt-and who have sought and obtained the blessed influences of the Holy Spirit to renew them in their Saviour's image, and to enable them to tread in His steps. It will never fail, it will never disappoint them. It is "the hope which maketh not ashamed," because, mark the reason, "because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us." 3. But this brings us to consider the third grace here mentioned, charity. That this does not mean merely almsgiving, as some are apt to think, is plain from what is said a few verses before the text. For "though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor," "and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." Under this mistake as to the real nature of charity, some have applied that passage of St. Peter's First Epistle," Charity shall cover the multitude of sins," as if there were a merit in almsgiving which would atone for our transgressions; a delusion under which multitudes have lived and died, and to which we owe perhaps many of the most splendid establishments in our own country. But to refute this erroneous notion, it is only necessary to turn to the passage in the Old Testament, from which St. Peter is here quoting it is Prov. x. 12: "Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love covereth all sins;" which plainly shews that it is love-the love indeed from which almsgiving ought to spring, but without which almsgiving may be practised-that is here meant. This love is the principle by which the true Christian is actuated towards God and man. It is excited by a sense of the undeserved favours which have been conferred upon him by his heavenly Father; by a sense of the love wherewith he hath loved him in sending his Son to die for him; in seeking him when wandering from peace and happiness; in saving him when lost; in forgiving his sins, healing his spiritual diseases, and filling him with joy and peace in believing. This love, love to God and to our fellow-men for his sake, is stated to be the fulfilling of the law. It comprehends in its very nature the principle of all holy obedience: for if we love God supremely, we must seek to please Him, and to obtain his favour and this we know is only to be done by conformity to his will. It is also the only satisfactory evidence of a true faith and a well-founded hopes Without it, all pretence to the one or the other is utterly vain, and we are yet in our sins. How much then does it concern us to examine ourselves, to search and try whether we are actuated by that charity which I have described, and without which we have no claim to regard ourselves as Christians! "And now abideth faith, hope, and charity; but the greatest of these is charity." What! greater than faith, which unites us to the Saviour, by which we are justified, and by which we overcome the world? than hope, which raises the believer from earth to heaven, and enables him, even in the depth of a dungeon, to sing praises to God, and to enjoy foretastes of future glory? Yes, it is greater than either. Not only does it prove the reality of these other graces, but it communicates to us a resemblance to God himself. When the Apostle would give the most endearing and compre hensive view of the perfections of God, what is his language?" God is love." And our Saviour himself tells us, that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life." All other religions exhibit God as a merciless tyrant. It is the glory of the Gospel to exhibit him as a God of grace and love. But another reason for the superiority of charity is, that when it shall have attained its full perfection in the heavenly world, no more place will be found for faith and hope. These cease at the grave of the believer. Then faith becomes sight, and hope enjoyment: and that sight and that enjoyment will but quicken and increase our love, and fill our hearts more completely with gratitude and joy. And throughout the endless ages of eternity we shall continue to grow in this Divine affection, as we learn more of His glories who is the object of it. Faith and hope will then be extinct; but love will continue to flourish in immortal vigour, For ever blessing, and for ever blest. And now let us not dismiss this subject from our minds as a matter of general and distant speculation: it concerns us all most nearly. Let us examine ourselves whether we have those necessary marks of the true Christian which have been described; or whether we are among those barren professors of a lifeless and worthless faith, whose hope is delusion, who are destitute of that charity which is the bond of fectness, of that charity which constitutes the renewal of our souls in the Divine image, and without which no man can see the Lord. Our happiness for ever depends on the result of the inquiry. Let us then pursue it as in the presence of that God who searches the heart, per and with earnest prayer that he would try and prove us. Let us seriously inquire, Have we that faith which, renouncing all other 'refuges, leads us to place our whole trust in the merits and death of the Saviour for pardon and acceptance with God; that faith which justifies us, which purifies our hearts and inclines us to fulfil his precepts? Have we also that hope which springs from true faith; a hope which has reference, not to earthly possessions, but to blessings unseen and eternal; a hope placed on the basis, not of our own merits, but of God's free mercy in Christ Jesus; that hope by which we are said to be saved, and which is as an anchor to the soul to preserve us from mak ing shipwreck of our faith amidst the storms of the world, and the overwhelming billows of temptation? Have we also any portion of that love which is the crowning grace of the three; without which we can have no scriptural warrant to conclude that our faith is real, or our hope well-founded; that love which disposes us to yield the throne of our affections supremely to God; to obey with a willing mind his commandments; to devote ourselves to his service; and to love all our fellow-creatures with unfeigned charity, and to seek in an especial manner their immortal interests? Then, and then only, may we cherish a humble trust that our faith is not vain, or our hope delusive; and then may we confidently look forward to that blessed state where our affections, now so cold and feeble, shall burst into a brighter flame, and all hearts be for ever united in the indissoluble bond of perfect love to God, and to each other. Amen. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I BEG to offer to your notice a thought, which I have presumed to be new, on Matt. iii. 11. The baptism of fire, I suppose to be quite distinct from the baptism of the Holy Ghost-the latter meaning his various Divine internal operations and influences-the former the severe external visitations with which the new dispensation was to be accompanied, and to which the following verse refers more particularly. With respect to the righteous, these fiery visitations would tend to promote their purification and meetness for heavenly rest and blessedness; and, with respect to the unrighteous, who derive not profit from the dispensation, they would end in the execution of the Saviour's awful sentence, “ Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." This interpretation appears to me to derive strength from Mal. iii. 1, 2. and iv. 1; compare also Matt. xx. 23. This baptism of fire began, on the part of the righteous, with the Saviour's sufferings; and with respect to the unrighteous, there was an awful exemplification and commencement of it at the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Refer also to 1 Peter i. 7. and to 2 Thess. i. 4-9., as somewhat illustrative of the idea here humbly offered. “ Honour low the Divine precept, all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king." He is to aim at maintaining a spirit of unshaken loyalty, to discountenance all disorder and impiety, and to encourage, to his utmost ability, a peaceable subjection to the laws, and a devout reverence to religion. Such is his duty. His hope, however, is fixed upon the Lord his God. It is He alone who can order the unruly affections of sinful men: it is He alone who can effectually bless the pious designs of his servants. I therefore most cordially concur in opinion with your correspondents, that the state of the times peculiarly calls upon the true followers of our Saviour to unite in earnest prayer for the Divine aid; and particularly for the fulfilment of the promise, that the Lord will pour out the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. All who are acquainted with the Scriptures know that God has promised a much larger measure of this inestimable gift than has been hitherto vouchsafed: they know also that these promises are to be fulfilled in answer to the prayers of his people: but no adequate attempt has yet been made to direct the prayers of Christians to this important object. The office of the Holy Spirit has by many been rather doctrinally acknowledged, than practically felt:-when, however, it is considered that it is He who must regenerate the soul and create it anew; who must convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; that when the enemy comes in like a flood, it is the Spirit of the Lord who is to lift up a standard against him;-that He is the Comforter, Teacher, and Sanctifier of the church;-that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance;when these and his other gracious offices are borne in mind, the vast benefits which would arise to our country, and to the world at large, I. M. W. To the Editor of the ChristianObserver. I WAS much gratified with observing, in your last Number, that two of your correspondents (see the communications of A. B. C. and E. P. S. p. 655) had invited the attention of your readers to the duty of earnest prayer for the nation. The times in which we live are most eventful. On the one hand, the spirit of disunion and irreligion which has manifested itself cannot but excite the most painful fears; on the other, the successful efforts of various religious and benevolent societies present a pleasing hope that seasons of promised blessedness are yet before us. But, whatever may be the moral or political aspect of the country, the duty of every sincere Christian is obvious. He is to fol CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 227. from the fulfilment of the promises of Scripture on this head must be obvious: and the duty of prayer for these blessings be also equally acknowledged. I am anxious, therefore, in common with many other friends of peace-persons sincerely attached to their country, but taking no share in its political movements to call the attention of Christians of all denominations, especially at this critical moment, to the importance of prayer; and as it is desirable that union of sentiment should prevail in their petitions, and as some well-disposed persons may not have a suitable form, the following prayer has been written, which may be used either in private or in family devotion.-I am aware that many excellent prayers for the nation have at different times appeared in your pages; but the following may not be unacceptable, as it is drawn up with a special reference to our present circumstances, and is couched almost entirely in scriptural language, avoiding every expression which might bear the semblance of party-spirit or uncharitable refe rence. "O Lord, our God and heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the bountiful Giver of every good and perfect gift, mercifully regard the prayer of thy servants, who now approach Thee in the name of thy dear Sou. "We confess, O Lord, that we are sinners; that we, our kings, our princes, and our fathers, have sinned against Thee.' 'To us belongeth confusion of face; to our kings, to our princes, and to our people; but to Thee belong mercies and forgivenuess, though we have rebelled against Thee.' We bow before thy footstool;-we plead the merits of thy blessed Son. For his sake, we beseech Thee, forgive our national, our family, and our individual sins; have mercy upon us, () Lora; remember not our iniquities; blot out our sins as a cloud, and our transgressions as a thick cloud ;'-say unto us, I have forgiven you. And for thy Name's sake, O Lord, pour out thy Holy Spirit upon us. Create in us a new heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us.' "We beseech Thee, O Lord, to bestow in an abundant measure the promised blessing of thy Holy Spirit upon our sovereign and all the royal family. May the spirit of wisdom and understanding rest upon all who are in authority over us. Grant, we entreat Thee, heavenly Father, that all bishops and other ministers of religion may be filled with the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. May they be men of God, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.' "Give thy heavenly blessing, O Lord, to all orders and ranks of men amongst us. Preserve us from disunion and disorder. May we be a people fearing God and working righteousness. May we live in dutiful subjection to the king, and in peace and charity one with another. "Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy universal church. May her peace be as a river and her righteousness as the waves of the sea.' May all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.' May they be of one heart and of one mind; loving one another with a pure heart fervently. We pray for the spirit of love, and of power, and of a sound mind.' Hasten the time when all who believe in thy Son's name may be one, as the Father and the Son are one. Grant thy people, O Lord, the spirit of grace and of supplications:' teach them to · cry mightily unto thee,' and do Thou hear and answer their prayers. "Bless all societies which have been formed, under thy providence, for extending thy kingdom. In all their exertions, enable them to put their entire dependence upon Thee; and to remember that Thou hast |