him." "He is the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity." "He is the King eternal, immortal, and invisible"; "By him Kings reign and Princes decree Justice." Yea, He is "The blessed and only potentate," for He "ruleth in the Kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." And all the just, even those who had been disfigured by the ravages of sickness; wasted by poverty; mutilated by war; and dismembered by the executioner-all of them, shall, as a part of their reward, through grace, be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ, so that they shall, through all eternity, be so many uniform and beautiful editions of the wisdom, goodness, holiness, and omnipotence of their God." For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.”

But this sentence will also bestow on the just an everlasting inheritance in Heaven,

In this sin-disordered world, where there is "no continuing city," the most indefeasible possessions are held by very doubtful tenures; and, at best, the short time which the proprietors are allowed to occupy them, considerably impairs their value. Besides some are cheated out of their property, by swindlers and sharpers-frequently a large inheritance is swallowed up by expensive litigation; vast estates are often forfeited by treasonable practices; immense fortunes are sometimes suspended upon the turning up of a card; and the fluctuations to which commerce is liable, repeatedly produce disastrous consequences to the holders of property. The avarice of despotic Kings, political changes, and various other causes, issue in raising up needy adventurers to rank and opulence; and in bringing down the rich and powerful to poverty and destitution. Again, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, earthquakes, &c., produce effects, which declare, with a loud voice, "The fashion of this world passeth away"—but in the Day of Judgment, every individual soul of the Redeemed will receive "the Kingdom which cannot be moved;" "An inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away," reserved in heaven for THEM. As the Lord liveth, every one of his people, even those who, like Lazarus, would have gladly received the crumbs that fall from the tables of the rich; or that begged upon the public highways, like the blind man of Jericho ALL of them shall receive an everlasting inheritance in heaven. He that had "not where to lay his head," shall be the grantor; and the title to this celestial estate, as well as the meetness to enjoy it, will be conveyed in these benign and gracious terms:-"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'

413

[From Sutcliffe's Commentary.]

NOTE ON ACTS I. 6TH.

Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

The kingdom described in the prophets, and in the general reflections at the end of Isaiah. So the disciples had no thought of his ascension. Our Lord's caveat against a too curious inquiry into the "time" of the accomplishment of prophecy, and his telling them what were their previous duties, implied a positive promise of the kingdom; but the time and the manner he reserved as a secret of Providence.

No wonder then that the numerous calculators of the time when certain prophecies are to be accomplished, should have committed themselves in the eyes of all the church. It is not for Apostles themselves to know these things. Our Lord would not tell them the exact year when Jerusalem should be destroyed, but gave them the signs only, because the safety of their lives so required.

Peter Jurien, Robert Flemming, and James Bicheno, whose calculations have apparently come near some recent осcurrences in France, and in the hierarchy of Rome, have only happened to guess pretty well; and the guessers being so many, some one could not easily fail to guess aright. God will not lift up the veil of futurity far, nor expose his secrets either to angels or men. The exposure would interfere with our moral liberty, and with all the arrangements of a contingent Providence. Hence also the French, the German, and the English prophets are to be regarded as in a state of religious error and insanity. They understand every passage of Scripture which the holy prophets spake with awful deference; and the most rational arguments to reclaim them are requited by slander. They modestly tell us we are cold, dead, blind, and accursed.

I have never known but three arguments have a good effect on this generation of men. The first was, the emperor's sword, when the prophets of Munster were modestly seizing the lands and riches of the unbelievers; the second was the lunatic asylum; and the third, hunger. About forty years ago, two or three thousand people assembled on a mountain in Scotland, to meet the Lord, who had promised, it would seem, several of the more illuminated, to come on a certain day. But as, though through mistake of the time, he did not appear, their faith held out against appetite till the third day, when they walked very quietly to their own homes.

MISCELLANEOUS.

[For the British North American Wesleyan Magazine.]

A LETTER

TO WESLEYAN-METHODISTS, ON MILLENARIANISM, &c.

We are frequently told, that the ages in which we live constitute the "eve of some important crisis,"-that our dispensation is about to close, or to give birth to one of greater glory,-one in which Jehovah's Son shall come again,-gather, to a certain spot of this green earth, his faithful people, and then, as an earthly king, receive, through a thousand years, the praises of His followers.

Opinions akin to these have been held by some in almost every period of the world's history; and that those who preach them now, or have promulged them in former times, are among the most dogmatical of its inhabitants, may be seen, by a moment's reference to an able article in your Magazine for May, of the present year: or in the silly efforts of modern Millenarians to narrow the influence, to impugn the character, and depreciate the talents and labours of those who, from principle, declare the plain, and, what they believe to be, the unsophisticated truths of God.

The writer but very lately fell into the hands of men, who, though professing the name of Christ, were evidently fired with a spirit similar to that which dwelt in some of former times ;who, vexed with a few, differing from themselves in faith and practice, wished fire from heaven to chastise their guilt: and from the tone in which they deprecated sentiments opposite to their own, from the contempt with which they treated others, obviously their superiors either in literary tournaments, or as religious polemicks,-and, from the manifested want of subordination to a majority of their brethren, who had already given their votes against the opinions which in that place have agitated our societies to a fearful extent; I was more than ever convinced, that whatever may be possessed by Millenarians to justify their claim to superior light, to give them a disrelish to earthly things, or to animate them with a longing to see the person, and to gaze for ever on the glorious humanity of our risen Lord, they have little, very little of his spirit, who said, "The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do;" and very little to purify the heart, to rectify the will, or prepare them for GoD and for glory in the future state.

If I mistake not, our standard of doctrine is to be found in the sermons and notes of our apostolic founder; and the reason

why we have espoused the cause, and sought to advance the interests of Methodism, is because that system, or some of its adherents, had, under GoD, proved the instruments in our conversion; then, from a principle of honest preference, we looked with pleasure upon the agency employed, and exclaimed, with holy rapture, "Their people shall be my people, and their GOD my God." And in what has Methodism changed its character? -are its doctrines, in our days, different from those which were preached by its earlier advocates?-have we cast some into the shade, and brought out into undue prominence others, which, though within the compass of its creed, were unimportant in the estimation of its founder?-We answer, No: and in our answer we express the sentiments of more than nineteen-twentieths of those within our borders. Upon what principle, then, can we account for the change which is evident in the views of some? To this question, those who have embraced these novel sentiments are eager to reply, “We have been brought to change our creed on account of superior light." We readily admit that man, by a review of his former life, may discover various things to justify a change in his creed and practices; but knowing that wild enthusiasts and blood-thirsty persecutors have professedly acted under the inspiration of GoD the Spirit, we are not disposed to receive as true, all the fine-fangled doctrines, palmed upon the world in this our day. But, proceeding upon the supposition that they have this boasted light, we ask, through what medium has it been obtained? Some assure us that it came from GOD,-others, that it was brought within the compass of their possessions, in consequence of a closer attention to certain prophecies in the inspired book, or communicated to them when reflecting upon select passages in the writings of holy men. That God has prepared the world by previous dispensations for the one beneath which we live, is allowed by all who recognise the genuineness and authenticity of the canon Scriptures: but that he will divulge his purposes to men not pre-eminent for religious attainment, nor distinguished by zeal for the salvation of men, is, we conceive, exceedingly doubtful; and such individuals, instead of contending for the personal reign on earth, should be thankful that they have an Intercessor at His right hand;"-and till they are freed from foible and defect, with all uncharitableness, let them pray, that he who was raised from the dead, full of the efficacy of a complete and satisfactory atonement, may retain his throne of mediatorship, and there continue to present the merits of his passion and blood, as an equivalent for that grace and blessing, which, as sinners, we individually need, to prepare us, while on earth, for the joys which flow at his right hand. As to the other position which some have assumed, and to which we have already referred, we stop merely to say, that, though some may attach a wrong meaning, or give an undue

importance to particular passages in the Book of God, or to those in the writings of fallible men, "no Scripture is of private interpretation;" and we warn our brethren against indulging in far-fetched analogies, and inaccurate reasonings, lest an error in creed should lead to practices the opposite of those enjoined in that book which is to us an infallible rule of life.

We allow that some of the sayings of men inspired involve our proximity to a day when all shall know the Lord: but in the opinion of devoted men, and of men the most intelligent, no one passage in the sacred volume has reference to a time, when, as some contend, the risen Jesus shall sit on earth, as the tangible representative of the Godhead, to receive in person that adoration with which in our solemn assemblies we now approach the King of Kings. And we also know, that some of the writings of our fathers in Christ have been borne away to strengthen at its base, and to swell the volume of that pyramid which shall tell to nations yet unborn the fanaticism of some in the nineteenth century; and which, though it may serve to lure the wicked, and win the credulous to its shade, will be ultimately destroyed by the light of truth, and by the burning of conviction.

Passages from the Bible, and from books intended to illustrate its important truths, we have often heard quoted to establish the fact assumed: but no passage should be torn from its connection to subserve our purpose; and while we remember that that which is hard to be understood, is to be explained by what the Spirit has placed in the region of unclouded narrative, let us never forget, that by taking a single saying, regardless of what precedes, or follows after, we may prove, or rather attempt to prove, any doctrine, though ridiculous and false, as it may be singular and abstracted.

I speak to Wesleyans, and to some who were in Christ ere this form began to breathe, and who will, perhaps, remain in him when it is withered by the blast of mortality: "And judge ye what I say!" Would it not be better for you to come back to the good old path in which Wesley trod, than to produce, by means of a creed in which there is nothing peculiarly essential to salvation, a schism in the body? Our father believed that the end for which Almighty God had raised him up, was to "spread scriptural holiness throughout the land." And did the lamp of religion ever shine so brightly from the time in which it was kindled by the breath of Heaven, as it did during the century which is now past? It is true the malignant spirit of the world came forth to hiss at his efforts, the hierarchy denounced him as an evil pestilence, and he was persecuted nearly unto the death, by those among whom he spent his substance, and preached the Gospel of God; but the cause, which in other hands was but a languid thing, assumed in his

407