tional academy for the education of the sons of our ministers, the Conference of this year, 1811, expressed a strong desire that Mr. Burgess should become the classical master there. Having, however, made an agreement with Mr. Tweedy, he considered it right to abide by it, and never had cause to regret that decision. His situation was now very comfortable; his duties were by no means burdensome; and he had sufficient time left at his own disposal, which he employed in a regular course of study.

While thus ardently and successfully pursuing various branches of useful learning, he was not neglectful of his spiritual and eternal interests. Recording the experience of his inner and higher life at this period, he writes: "On this ground particularly I shall ever remember the time of my residence at Truro with unfeigned gratitude to God, since I am certain I learned far more of Divine things during the three years I spent there than in all the preceding part of my life. Our class-meetings were very edifying; the members were, in general, much alive to God, and some of them were eminently pious. Mr. Joseph Carne, our worthy classleader, was a man of deep and sound experience, well qualified to instruct and build us up in our most holy faith. We were all united together in the bonds of Christian affection, and were truly one in Jesus. We used to long for the approach of our classnight, and were always more reluctant to separate than to assemble. One very important lesson which I learned while connected with this class was the necessity of simplicity, especially in approaching the throne of grace. Some of my brethren and sisters were making rapid advances, and used to testify their enjoyment of gracious visitations, to which I had, as yet, been a stranger. Often did I listen, with pleasing wonder, to their simple yet deep testimonies, and was led seriously to inquire, Why do I not enjoy as much as any of them? By the light of the Divine Spirit, the grand hindrance was disclosed, and I earnestly laboured and prayed for its removal. I saw I must become as simple as the most ignorant and unpolished of those around me; that my own wisdom must be renounced, and I must be content to become a fool for Christ. To this I resolved to submit, and no sooner had I got into the habit of making the required sacrifice, than I began to enter into their experience and enjoyments. Our meetings now were more precious than ever, and all language would fail to describe adequately the glorious visitations which I, in common with others, used frequently to enjoy. The room where we assembled was often filled with the Divine glory; we sat together in heavenly places in Christ' Jesus, and drank largely from the inexhaustible fountains of Divine love." This extract furnishes decisive evidence that, by yielding to the teachings and drawings of the Holy Spirit, he had, through faith

in the Atonement, passed from spiritual death to spiritual life; being born of the Spirit, old things had passed away, and he had received the Spirit of adoption. This is further confirmed by the admission which we find him subsequently making: "Though I was naturally, I suppose, of a cold, phlegmatic disposition, and of comparatively dull feelings, I was frequently overwhelmed in the abyss of Divine love, and lost in praise and wonder." The grand object at which he now aimed was a "full salvation." This blessing he appears to have sought sincerely and earnestly; yet, through not clearly apprehending the way of simple faith, he remained without the explicit enjoyment of it. But he was conscious of "a growth in grace," and of acquiring more Divine knowledge, and more of the "mind of Jesus."

(To be concluded.)

THE CHRISTIAN SALVATION, AND THE COMPREHENSIVE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH:

THOUGHTS ON THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE EPISTLE TO THE
EPHESIANS.

No. II.-VERSES 11-22.

AGAIN the Apostle recalls to the minds of the believers whom he was addressing their former state of spiritual destitution, when, as Gentiles, they were afar off from God and from His visible Church; and places this state in vivid contrast with their present condition of holy privilege and abundant blessing :"Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

The language employed throughout this passage is eminently forcible and suggestive. The persons addressed were "Gentiles in the flesh," persons who had not received the distinguishing rite of the ancient covenant; and, before they were brought near to God and to His people, under the evangelical constitution, by the blood of Jesus, they stood outside the Church of God, and were destitute of the privileges and hopes of those who are truly His. They were, further, looked down upon by many of the race

of Israel; they were "called," contemptuously, the Uncircumcision; and yet, the Apostle intimates, they who called them so were themselves only "called" the Circumcision. In the case of too many of God's ancient people, circumcision was a mere external rite, instead of being combined with that inward purity, and that consecration to the Divine service, of which it was intended to be a symbol. The higher import of this rite was too often lost sight of by those who vaunted themselves on its possession. True religion, under every dispensation, is essentially spiritual, to whatever extent the observance of outward forms may have been enjoined. The cherished sentiment of St. Paul on this subject-a sentiment which moulded the phraseology of the passage before us -is that affirmed by him in his Epistle to the Romans :-" He is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

But, passing from the disdain with which these Gentiles were treated by many of the race of Israel, the Apostle goes on to depict the spiritual destitution in which they were involved.

They were "without Christ,"-separated from Him who is the one Source of life, the one Medium of salvation to man. Many of them, perhaps, had never heard of the intimations of a coming Deliverer, the Anointed of Jehovah, given to the ancient people of God; while others, to whom these intimations had been made known, had turned away from them to the vanities of the world and the follies and vices of idolatry. Even after the Saviour had appeared, and had accomplished the work of atonement, several years elapsed before the message of His grace was proclaimed to them, during which the darkness of their heathen state remained almost unbroken; and after that message was brought to them, some of them, for a while, treated it with cold neglect. They were "without Christ." They did not repose their trust on Him whom the Father has set forth as the Hope of men. They had no saving interest in His death, and resurrection, and priestly intercession. Polluted in spirit, and lying under the condemnation of accumulated sin, they stood at a distance from Him through whom only that condemnation could be reversed, and that pollution removed.

They were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel." In the earliest ages the hope of salvation, and the promise of the great Restorer, were given to universal man; while the few and simple rites of the patriarchal economy were common to all. But as idolatry became diffused among the nations, and men turned away from God to follow their own imaginations and to gratify their own lusts, the Most High separated the descendants of Abraham, in

the line of Isaac and Jacob, from the mass of mankind. To maintain a witness for Himself as the true and living God, and to prepare the way for the working out of His counsel to bless mankind in the coming Mediator, Jehovah constituted the people of Israel His visible Church. He formed them into a spiritual "commonwealth." He gave them a constitution of religious service and privilege, and brought them together under His own gracious sway. It was His purpose, indeed, to dwell in the midst of His people Israel, as He did nowhere else on earth; revealing to them His favour, and encircling them with His guardian care. The perfect fulfilment of this gracious purpose was interfered with, again and again, by their unfaithfulness; and, after warning them of their sin and danger, and chastening them with various afflictions, God gave them up, at times, to the power of their enemies, and, at one period, permitted the holy and beautiful house in which He was worshipped amidst the symbols that He had Himself appointed, to be razed to the ground. But He again looked in mercy upon His ancient Church; and Israel, though politically feeble, enjoyed distinguished religious advantages. Of these advantages the Gentiles whom the Apostle here addresses were destitute. Living in idolatry, and surrendering themselves to worldly passions, they were outside the Church of God, and were altogether averse, as the word used by St. Paul implies, to its services and restraints. They were not, indeed, shut out from the Church by any arbitrary arrangement of Jehovah; for provision was made, under the Mosaic constitution, for their admission to religious fellowship with the people of Israel, upon their submitting to circumcision, and engaging to observe the law. But this was alien to their thoughts and feelings. The worship of Jehovah had for them no charms; and the requirements of His service would have been deemed by them irksome and repulsive.

They were "strangers from the covenants of the promise." The ancient Church, while it maintained, in the face of surrounding nations, the sole Godhead of Jehovah, and while it rejoiced, when faithful to Him, in His special protection and care, looked forward to yet brighter revelations of His mercy and power. That Church was the depositary of "the promise," the promise of redemption and blessing through the Seed of Abraham. That promise was assured to every devout and humble spirit by the covenant-engagements of the Most High. On two distinct occasions God entered into a solemn covenant with Abraham, pledging Himself that in him "all the nations of the earth should be blessed." The assembled nation of Israel, too, was taken by Jehovah into covenant with Himself; and while that covenant embraced various requirements and numerous ceremonial observances, it recognized Israel as the

people among whom the Messiah was to arise. And as the Divine counsel unfolded itself, God promised to make a new and better covenant with His people,-one fraught with rich spiritual influence, that should establish in the hearts of men the dominion of holiness, and consecrate them fully to His service. But to these covenants the Gentiles, in their heathen state, were strangers: they understood not their provisions, and shared not the grace which they held forth.

They had no hope." The position of man in this life is such that he can only be truly blessed when he can look beyond it, cherishing a confident expectation of a state of peace and happiness which shall endure for ever. There are, indeed, many bright scenes in our earthly history, and the years of youth and of vigorous manhood involve cheerful hope and sometimes joyous exultation. And yet even these years are marked, at times, by sorrow, disappointment, and affliction; and as our earthly life approaches its close, especially if it is darkened by bereavements or by neglect, -nothing but a calm and steadfast hope of the future can gladden the spirit. The period of activity and conscious vigour, if not suddenly cut short by disease, must be followed by one of infirmity and languor; and there must come, at length, the humiliation and pain of the final conflict. To the man who is in Christ the sorrows of earth are alleviated, and the wasting of nature is soothed, by the bright hope of eternal life in Him, and by the earnest of that life which now fills his heart. But the Gentiles were without "hope: " no clear light from the world beyond fell upon their spirits; no joyous anticipation of a state of purity and peace that shall know neither alloy nor interruption gladdened them amidst the vicissi tudes of their earthly course.

And then, the concluding statement of St. Paul completes the dark picture of the former condition of the Gentiles whom he addresses-they were "without God in the world." Many of them had no clear conception of one Supreme Being, the Creator and Ruler of the universe; for the light which might have led them onward to such a conception-the light afforded by the works of nature and the dictates of conscience-had been ungratefully disregarded, as they surrendered themselves to the power of sinful passions, and the seductions of intellectual pride. Even they who had such a conception of God were severed from Him in heart, and were destitute of His friendship. They stood in an attitude of antagonism to His government, and were regarded by Him with righteous displeasure. Thus their state was one of spiritual destitution and imminent peril. Man has been formed to have fellowship with God, to reflect His intellectual and moral glories, and to rest in His care and love. It is thus, and thus only, that he can