cises of faith, in the babe in Christ, are as real and genuine as those in the more advanced in the divine life; but as the Holy Spirit leads on to enlighten and establish the soul, he is pleased to give clearer perception and understanding of the object of faith, and of the nature of faith itself, so that the believer becomes as thoroughly persuaded and assured of the truth and reality of the functions and actings of its faith on Christ, as he is of his daily exercises in his common concerns in life; nor can he less believe the one than the other: as easy would it be to persuade a man who eats and drinks, walks and sleeps, that he does none of these things, as to persuade the believer who is established in the truth as it is in Jesus, and is drawing his supplies from Christ by continual application to him, that he does not believe on the Son of God. The Holy Spirit having witnessed to his spirit, " he knows," with the apostle, " in whom he has believed ;" and his faith being seated in his judgment, will, and affections, the reality and exercises of it are clearly manifest to his spiritual perception and

senses.

The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ thus blessedly taught regarding his salvation, is by the same divine Teacher led into the Father's love, and made acquainted with the secret of the Lord and the immutability of his covenant; and being given clearly to see that the objects of its blessings are no other than himself-guilty hell-deserving sinners, in their own apprehension fit only for eternal misery, he is enabled while continued in the present militant state, daily to live the life of faith, becoming blessedly confirmed in it; nor can he doubt the love of God to his soul. His faith, his love, and other graces often are but little active-this is his grief, yet he stands fast, looking unto Jesus, and off himself, knowing that it is only by faith, and continual application to Him who has promised to be as the dew unto his Israel, that his soul can revive and flourish. Neither does his deadness discourage him; (although lamenting his too little affection to his best Beloved) but he makes even this too, a matter for renewed exercise of faith on Him who is his people's great and ever-living and life-giving Head of all divine influence.

Thus enabled to believe in, make use of, and walk with the Lord Jesus, the soul is assisted to aspire after Him, in holy affection and delight to hold sweet communion with Him, and with God his heavenly Father in Him, under the anointings of the Holy Spirit: entertaining high and honourable thoughts of his most precious Lord-earnestly longing to promote his praise. He would fain think and speak of his adored Person and work in some higher strains than his mind is capable of in this imperfect and contracted state; and falls down and worships Him in his inmost soul, with silent but affectionate and hearty praise, till he shall be endued with nobler powers for so blissful an employ; which, that he shall certainly possess and exercise, to the exalting the fame and renown of the worthy Lamb above, he cannot have a greater evidence of than that hearty good will he feels to commence it here below.

London, Nov. 9, 1829.

W. H.

(For the Spiritual Magazine.)

THE FALL OF MAN BY ADAM, AND HIS RECOVERY BY CHRIST.

WHEN God had completed the work of creation, the whole received his approval and blessing. The first man was divided into two persons, male and female. Both soul and body are necessary to form man. Both the soul and body of Eve were taken from Adam: which wise arrangement was adopted for the procreation of children, and the population of the globe: and which state of things, it appears to me, was to continue until the period when our resurrection shall take place. These first human pair were the parents of souls and bodies; snd as Adam was the father, so was Eve the mother of all living. To Adam was committed the dominion of the world. He would have been God's high priest for all his posterity to the end of time-the oracle of God-the great channel of access to God for all his seed until the end of that dispensation: he would have been the king of the world, and have reigned as monarch of the globe over all his children had he been obedient. He was constituted their representative. In him they would all have stood righteous before God, as long as he continued righteous; that is, as it regards the constitution he was placed under. Personal offence, then, would no doubt have received its reward: but personal offences excepted, Adam's standing would have been the justification and righteousness of his posterity when the constitution should have closed, and its accounts have been settled at the sitting of judgment.

Such was the original aspect this world and its constitution exhibited; and as Adam's obedience would (personal offences excepted) have constituted all his posterity righteous, so by his disobedience they were all made sinners. Thus was Adam the representative of all the human family-being constituted the real parent of all. As Levi was in the loins of Abraham, so were we all in the loins of Adam, souls and bodies. Therein does the equity of such representation consist. But, alas! excited by the devil, and prompted by the flesh, our parents fell; our king, our priest, our representative fell; and we in him; and so the curse hath passed on all men, for that in him all have sinned. This curse seems to include a loss of innocence, and the presence of guilt; the confinęment of some spiritual organs, which man possessed; whereby, I think it probable that he could, to a certain extent, ascertain the persons and operations of spirits; and that these spiritual faculties then became closed. An evil or depraved nature was certainly included in the curse for having once departed from rectitude, we are totally unable to regain it: and the dissolution of the constitution of man is also included in this curse. "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die;" that is, shalt be mortal: and the two natures of flesh and spirit of which thou art constituted, shall be doomed to separation. This sentence probably would have been immediately

executed, but for this obvious reason: our first parents were made the repositories of the existence of countless millions, who, had the sentence been then executed, would never have seen the light, unless by a miracle, and this temporary reprieve the Holy Ghost makes the opportunity of the regeneration of saints. It was therefore necessary that a temporary reprieve should be granted, sufficient for the procreation and education of children, until the whole number of beings included in this constitution should be produced.

Such was the posture of affairs upon the fall of man; and as a judgment day was originally appointed at the end of the world, for the trial of personal conduct, not a man or woman could have escaped perdition: for, as the fall not only produced natural death, but also a sinful infection running through our nature; so it has always been accompanied in every competent agent with actual sin: the wages of which is, certainly, everlasting misery. What might be the just demerit of an infected nature, as it exists in the infants, who may die before actual sin, I cannot determine; but the mass of ruin, both of infants and adults, which this world presents, is hideous. Myriads upon myriads of adults ruined and lost for ever, without alternative or hope, however feeble. But from such a state of things arose the most wonderful display of Jehovah's glory ever contemplated by finite intellect. Satan had dispossessed Adam of his territory, (being the god of this world,) and of his kingdom, and of his representation; for when the sons of God presented themselves before him, Satan was present. He also became the executioner of man; having the power of death; being prince of the power of the air; and apparently intending to effectuate a union of his own immediate kingdom, and the empire of mortals. Had he not been laid under powerful restraint, he was possessed of resources, perhaps, adequate to this horrid purpose. The magicians of Egypt; the witches of Israel; his treatment to Job; his seduction of Ahab; his contentions with Michael about the body of Moses; his war in heaven, or the air; his resistance to Joshua the high priest; demoniacal possessions; his binding the sons and daughters of Abraham; his effecting the destruction of the flesh; strong delusions, which are after the workings of Satan, are proofs of his resources; and that he considered the earth his own, "All this will I give thee," said he to Christ: its inhabitants he thought his lawful prey. Although the whole mass of humanity was thus corrupted and ruined, and its constitution broken up and surrendered into the hands of Satan, yet Jehovah had determined the rescue of a portion of the ruins from his grasp, recovery of some of his apostate children unto adoption into his family. The plan originated in his own infinite mind. The materials were foreknown, elected, and predestinated to obtain eternal glory by our Lord Jesus Christ. In accordance with this plan, a dispensation was given to our fallen parents, pointing to the grand author of eternal redemption; while they were turned out of paradise, which was guarded by cherubims, to protect the tree of life. It then VOL. VI.-No. 68.

the

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became necessary, that as the whole world was lying in the arms of the wicked one, that the elected materials for the church of God should be efficiently protected; and accordingly, angels were stationed on earth, to contend with the devil, and protect the saints. Jude 9. Daniel xii. Another dispensation of grace was that of the law, as given by Moses, which unfolded to man the nature of that law under which man was originally placed, pointed out the extent of his depravity and transgression, while the ceremonial department pointed to the Lord Jesus: and in this man was for a time shut up until the faith, which should afterward be revealed. At length came the gospel of the Son of God; which, being placed before the intellect of man, is, by the Holy Ghost, made subservient to the renewal of the soul in knowledge, after the image of God, and his Son Jesus Christ.

Concerning the person of Christ, I observe, that our first head having failed, another head was provided, not for the whole world, but for a select part; and that, as the representative of the elect, or the church, he was placed under a law requiring obedience, not only personally, but also officially for his church, as Adam had been before. This obedience was consummated only in his resignation to his appointed death at the appointed time. And whereas man was originally subjected to temptation, so was Christ; being driven or led by the Spirit into the wilderness, for the purpose of being tempted by the devil: therefore the resistance of temptation was a part of his active righteousness, and it also subserved another purpose, qualifying him to sympathize with his tempted brethren. The work of Christ on earth was just as the second Adam, to work out a righteousness for his people, and then to pay their debts, as offenders under the first Adam. In his submission to death, we can but notice the vast power of Satan to him belonged the power of death, and he exerted it on the person of Jesus; and at the appointed hour, and in the appointed way, he expelled both the Deity and the human soul of Christ from the body. It was at that awful moment that Jesus grappled with, and in death, deposed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil: then it was that he spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it; and to prove it, was declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead; and having finished his official probation, he ascended to God, even the Father. Jesus went up with a shout; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Then the herald of the Prince of life demanded entrance at the portals of the skies for the King of saints, saying, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates! and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors! and the King of Glory shall come in !"

Thus the original constitution of man being ruined in the first Adam, was gloriously repaired in the second; who was constituted and made for the purpose of being the head of his church, as Adam would have been (if sinless) head of the world. The birthright of Adam, as the beginning of the creation of God, was transferred to

Christ. That birthright consisted in representation, lordship, and dominion; so Christ represents his people, and reigns the king of the church, and the head of his body. Also, he is the head in the priesthood; thus Christ is a priest for ever: also, in native riches or inheritance, which Christ abundantly inherits; for it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." Thus, Christ is called "the first born," not in order of birth; for he had no mother but the Virgin; but as having the birthright of Adam. Thus he is called, "the first begotten," &c. The birthright might be sold, forfeited, or transferred: thus Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Reuben forfeited his, which Jacob divided between three other sons; to Joseph the double portion, to Judah the throne, and to Levi the priesthood. In the case of Joseph's sons, it was transferred from the elder to the younger. Thus Adam forfeited his birthright, which was given to the Lord Jesus Christ. At Christ's ascension, the angels were no longer God's vicegerents on earth, but ministering spirits sent forth by Christ to the heirs of salvation; so saints do not now depart for Abraham's bosom, but to be with Christ, which is far better.

SPENCER BENHAM.

ORDINATION OF MR. JOHN HOBBS.

On Monday, November 16th, Mr. JOHN HOBBS was ordained to the pastoral office, over the newly-formed independent church, assembling at Haberdasher's Hall Chapel, Staining Lane, Wood Street, Cheapside.

Mr. LUCKIN read the 12th chapter of Romans, prayed, and delivered a discourse on the nature of a gospel church, from 1 Cor. xiv. 33. Mr. IRONS asked the usual questions, which were satisfactorily and fully answered by Mr. HOBBS; whose account of his own personal experience was peculiarly interesting, and evinced very fully that God does not always require instruments to bring home his own elect, as Mr. H. was brought to a knowledge of the truth by the illuminating influences of the Holy Spirit on his own word. Mr. COMB (Baptist) offered the ordination prayer. Mr. IRONS gave the charge to the minister from Col. iv. 12, "a servant of Christ." The interesting service was concluded in the evening by a sermon to the church and congregation by Mr. IRONS, from Acts ii. 42.

The congregation was numerous and attentive. We were surprized that no member of the church was called on to state the circumstances which had led to the call of Mr. HOBBS over that church.