people, are spoken of in the Old Testament by the name Israel, which God gave to Jacob (Deut. iv. 1; v. 1; vi. 3, 4; Jos. x. 10, 11; 2 Sam. vii. 7). Ephraim was Jacob's grandson, by his son Joseph, and the name means fruitful, or one that bears fruit, and accordingly suits the Lord's spiritual people, for they are fruitful in good works, and this by virtue of their oneness with Christ. Others may do works beneficial to men, but these only bear fruit to the glory of God, as is beautifully set forth by our Lord in the parable of the Vine and its branches (John xv. 4, 5, 8). As the names Ephraim and Israel exactly suit the Lord's elect people, preserved in Christ Jesus, and called out of the darkness of their nature-state into God's marvellous light, the 11th of Hosea, 8th and 9th verses, may be justly applied to them, as setting forth the feelings of parental compassion, which God cherishes towards them when they backslide from him. "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee; and I will not enter into the city" (Hosea xi. 8, 9).

It is obvious that the above passage is not spoken of the Jewish nation at large,-Israel after the flesh, because God has given them up, and delivered them into the hands of the oppressor, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither he has driven them (Jer. xxiv. 9; 1 Thess. ii. 16). It follows, then, that it must be primarily addressed to his peculiar people amongst the Jews, mixed up with them,his spiritual people, to whom Paul alludes, when he says, in Rom ix. 6, "They are not all Israel which are of Israel." Now these people are no longer chiefly confined to the Jewish nation as aforetime, but may be found amongst us Gentiles, as Paul plainly intimates in his epistle to the Gentile churches in Galatia, where he wishes peace and mercy to the Israel of God (Gal. vi. 16). This being so, the distinguishing characters of the Lord's peculiar people, should never be overlooked. They are described at large in the Scriptures of truth. Jude speaks of them as sanctified, or separated from the rest of mankind by God the Father,-preserved in Christ Jesus from the curse of the law and Satan's malice, and called by the Spirit to the enjoyment of the choicest gifts and blessedness, as their heritage.

Their fruitfulness in good works and labours of love, is the necessary effect of their election and high calling of God, in Christ Jesus! By the grace of God, I am what I am, says every called child of God (1 Cor. xv. 10). Our Lord reminded his immediate disciples, that they had not chosen him, but he had chosen them, and ordained them, that they should go, and bring forth fruit, and that their fruit should remain. The greatest benefits arise from instructions and example of the Lord's people. By them the world is preserved from moral putrefaction;

hence they are called the salt of the earth. By them the light of divine truth is disseminated in the world; hence they are called lightbearers, whose province it is to hold forth the word of life, to the acceptance of as many as the Lord our God shall call (Matt. v. 13; Phil. ii. 15, 16; Eph. v. 8, 11, 12, 13). True, there is in all the Lord's people in their time-state, a corrupt nature, which, directed and impelled by Satan, is ever striving to regain its lost ascendancy over them. Their bosoms are the scene of a mighty contest, which often occasions them no slight uneasiness and pain, as Paul teaches in Rom. vii. There are seasons when the blessed Jehovah suffers them to walk in accordance with their Adam-nature, in order that they may learn where their strength really lies. At such periods, he withdraws from them the bright shinings of his face; they walk in darkness, not being able to discern the tokens of their adoption (Isa. liv. 7, 8), and their garments become spotted by the flesh. But though God suffers his people occasionally to depart from him, is he really angry with them, as with the wicked? No! that cannot be, for he himself saith, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed (Mal. iii. 6); and our Lord declares that the Father loveth his people, even as he loveth him (John xvii. 23, 24). Wherefore, he will as soon cast off Christ, as cast off them. He cannot do the one, without doing the other too, for Christ and they are but one body,-He being one with them, and they one with him (Eph. i, 22, 23; iv. 4; xv. 16). Paul calls the faithful and the Saviour, by the name of Christ, to set forth their perfect oneness and identity with each other (1 Cor. xii. 12). Jehovah, then, holds precisely the same language to his backsliding people at this day, as that he addressed to them by the mouth of Hosea : "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee; and I will not enter into the city." Oh, how replete with pathos is this Scrripture, how touching the sentiment that pervades it! Jehovah represents himself as suffering a conflict in his mind, how he should deal with his people when they backslide from him, and walk not in accordance with the vocation wherewith they are called, and even intimates that he might justly punish them, as he punished the wicked cities of Admah and Zeboim, but his love for them, which is boundless as himself, rendered that impossible. There is an immense difference between the rod of the righteous, and that of the wicked; the former is a correcting rod, but the latter a destroying one. The one arises from love, and its design is to bless, and not to curse, but the other arises from hatred, and is a curse in itself (Ps. cxxv. 3). As a sweet writer observes, "the righteous have done with wrath. Upon them no curse can ever rest. There is

no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. viii. 1). The rod may seem to speak of frowns and anger, but it is only a seeming; there is not a glance of vengeance in the chastener's eye. When his people depart from him, and pursue a path of their own, God follows them with his rod, and chastens them till they return to him. In pursuance of his own covenant engagements, he hedges up their way with thorns, so that they not finding the pleasures they coveted, are eager to retrace their steps (Hosea ii. 6, 7). It is very beautiful to observe how God calls to his backsliding people to come to him for healing, and even tells them what words to use in prayer, and the gracious answer he should give them (Hosea xiv. 1, 2, 4, 5). Jehovah requests his people to remember, that he is God, and not man. This consideration is most important, being replete with comfort to the faithful. Men change their minds, God never changes his (Job xxiii. 13). They change their friends, and have been often known to hate those whom they once loved; but God is immutable in his love, as well as in his nature,-loving his people with an everlasting love, and therefore enriching them with his choicest gifts. He dwells in the midst of them, and prepares them for the full enjoyment of himself in glory, by the precious gifts he communicates to them (Jer. xxxi. 3; John xvii. 23, 24; Zeph. iii. 17).

Peace be to the brethren, and love, with faith, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity! Amen.

THE CHURCH-AND WHAT IT IS.

(Continued from page 116).

We are now brought to the commencement of the fifth century, and scanty indeed are the traces we shall find, of anything like vital godliness; the grossest superstitions, and the widest departure from the doctrines of grace, meet us at every turn. Dr. Haweis thus describes his path, in seeking after the true church at this period : "We are now sinking into Gothic barbarism, ecclesiastical usurpation, monkery triumphant, and the profession of christianity buried under frauds, follies, ceremonies, and all kind of the most ridiculous and debasing superstitions. I feel myself like the adventurous traveller entering the burning soil of Africa, surrounded with desolation, whirlwinds, moving pillars of sand, and wide-spreading barrenness, and stretching his eager eyes over the waste, to catch a rising tree or a verdant spot, which may afford a resting-place for his weary feet, and a welcome fountain to cool his parched tongue."

Two exceptions chiefly there seems to be, in the midst of this great departure from gospel simplicity, the one in the eastern, and the other, in the western church. I refer to John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, and Augustine, bishop of Hippo, in Africa. Not, indeed, that I can entirely free either of these men from the charge of superstition and erroneous doctrine, but still, in both these respects, they seem superior to the age in which they lived.

John Chrysostom was born at Antioch, about the year 354, and was carefully educated by his widowed mother. After a time, he found a vacancy in his mind, which could not be supplied by the ordinary pursuits of learning, and he was led to the diligent search of the Scriptures, which seems to have been blessed to him by the Holy Spirit. He did not follow the stream, in studying Origen, and the other spurious fathers, but casting aside their wild fancies, he sought simply to expound the word of God. In the year 398, he was appointed bishop of Constantinople. His powers of oratory seem to be very great, and his diligence in preaching and expounding the word, were equally as remarkable in that degenerate age. He sought also to reform the wretched lives of the clergy, and the evil practices that had so generally crept in, both in his own diocese, and also in the neighbouring ones; this becoming zeal, raised him up many enemies amongst the clergy and the great, and as he spared not the follies of the court, he was, A.D. 404, deposed by a council of bishops, and banished by the emperor. Amongst the accusations laid to his charge, was the following: that he spoke contemptibly of the clergy, and had written a whole book stuffed with falsehood against them. To his friends, who were assembled together to condole with him, he said, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' I always told you this life is a road, in which joys and sorrows both pass swiftly away; the visible scene of things before us is like a fair, where we buy and sell, and sometimes recreate ourselves. Are we better than the patriarchs? do we excel the prophets and apostles, that we should live here for ever? Desert not your churches as for the doctrine of Christ, it began not with me, nor shall it die with me. Did not Moses die, and did not Joshua succeed him? Paul was beheaded, and left he not Timothy, Titus, Apollos, and many more behind him? Communicate you may, that you make not a schism in the church, but do not subscribe, (i.e., Chrysostoms' condemnation), for 1 am not conscious of having done anything, for which I should deserve to be deposed."

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The emperor, afraid of the tumults of the people, recalled him,-but very soon after, the empress having caused a silver statue of herself to be set up, the zeal of the bishop was kindled, which perhaps outrun his judgment, since he plainly compared her to Jezebel and Herodias; in consequence, he was again banished, and his followers much per

secuted.

Contrary to his advice, some of the people formed themselves into

a separate sect, called Joanites, which continued for some years. He was treated with much cruelty in his banishment, and exposed to numerous dangers, being removed from place to place, because of his gaining the affections of the people. These trials much enfeebled his weak constitution, and he died on his way to the Black Sea, A.D. 407, in the 53rd year of his age. His last words were his usual doxology, "Glory be to God for all events." We could wish that we

had more of the inward real life of Chrysostom, but still we think that we have sufficient traces of God's new workmanship in him. The following is a short specimen of what he taught. In speaking of those words of the apostle, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, he says, "What a saying! what mind can comprehend it? he made a just person a sinner, that he might make sinners just. But the apostle's language is still stronger: he doth not say, he made him a sinner, but sin, that we might be made, not righteous, but righteousness, even the righteousness of God; for it is of God, since not of works, (which would require spotless perfection), but by grace we are justified, where all sin is blotted out."

The renowned Augustine seems to have been raised up of God, in some measure to stem the torrent of that awful heresy, introduced by Palagius, a Briton by birth,-and if it were only on this account, he would merit some consideration at our hands.

But we have still higher motives for dwelling a little on this eminent man, for he has left behind him, in his confessions, an account of God's dealings with his soul, and how he was delivered from the powers of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. I propose, therefore, giving some extracts from his confessions, that the reader may for himself, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, trace out God's work in him: "The works of the Lord are great, sought ought of all them that have pleasure therein."

Augustine was born in the city of Tagasta, in Numedia, of creditable parents. His father, Patricius, continued a Pagan till near his death; his mother, Monica, was renowned for christian piety, At the time of his full conversion to the gospel, he was upwards of thirty years of age. His confessions open thus:

"Thou art great, oh, Lord, and worthy to be praised; great is thy power, and of thy wisdom there is no end. A man, a portion of thy creation, wishes to praise thee; a man, carrying about him his mortality, carrying about him the evidences of his sin, and a testimony that thou resisteth the proud, even such a man wishes to praise thee. Hear me, oh, God, woe to the sins of man! Thou pitiest him, because thou madest him, and madest not sin in him. Who shall inform me of the sin of my infancy? for none is clear from sin in thy sight, not even the infant, whose life is only one day. I have seen and observed an infant full of envy, pale with anger, and looked at his