which cannot be uttered, he experiences and manifests to all who come within his hallowed influence the dignity and blessedness of walking with God. - We have endeavoured thus to sketch the nature and character of the believer's walk with God, howbeit these mysteries of the inner and higher spiritual life must be felt in order to be understood; there is something in them which can scarcely be communicated by language; as we endeavour to embody the glory and the blessedness of them, we are sensible of conceptions too weak and words too feeble to express what in the spirit we have heard and seen and looked upon and our hands have handled of heavenly things. There is a second point, however, connected with this walk with God, which we desire to speak of in this Paper. It may be brought before our minds by an extract from a letter from Judson when consecrating himself to the Lord's service in the missionary work in Burmah. He writes: "Blest, who far from all mankind, "But oh, that strain I have hitherto listened in vain to hear; or rather I have not listened aright, and therefore cannot hear." And he adds, "Have either of you learned the art of real communion with God? and can you teach me the first principles ?”* What then are the PRINCIPLES from which this close walk with God proceeds? They appear to be mainly two, simple and elementary, but yet too much overlooked and very imperfectly developed in the spiritual life of most believers. The first of these principles is a thorough and entire change of heart through the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. "Can two walk together," asks God, by the prophet Amos, "except they be agreed?" Absolute unity, then, of disposition and purpose with our Heavenly Father is the main element of this high state which we are endeavouring to depict. Now, it is not too much to say that, so far as we can judge, the greater number of those of whom we hope well stop short of this thorough change of heart. The evidences of this are, that they come to the House of God in a wrong spirit, either feeling little interest and enjoyment in the Word and prayer, and ordinances, or making the ground of any interest and enjoyment the personal gifts of the administrator of such ordinances, or the mode of their administration, rather than God, His service, His glory, and His praise, in the means of grace which He has given to His servants. Religious duty is more attended to in its outward acts, which bring us into contact with, and under * Baillie's Mission Scenes in Burmah, p. 212. the notice of our fellow men, than in the private work of the family and of the closet; so that spirituality is lost sight of in bustling activity. We rarely meet with Christians who breathe that unction, and give forth that radiant brightness of peace and joy, which closer communion with God in the mount of meditation and prayer would impart. This imperfection and low standard of Christian life does not correspond with the fulness of the promise, "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh; and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."* There is a test of our state in this respect, which many must have been conscious of. They are reading the biography of some one of those bright and shining lights which God has given to the church in later as well as in former times-such men as Brainerd, or Henry Martyn, or Payson, or M'Cheyne, or Hewetson, of whom it may of a truth be said, that they "walked with God";-how are they affected in the perusal of such lives? They are filled, it may be, with admiration; they glorify God in them; they are conscious of something like awe as they tread ground which they feel is holy; but do they really desire to be like them?-do they close the book, and kneel down and pray, from their very inmost souls, that there may be wrought out in them every measure of grace, of deep spiritual change, of absolute consecration, of unflinching selfdenial, which was wrought out in these and other like men?that they may follow them even as they followed Christ, and be so transformed by the renewing of their mind, that they may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. If we are conscious that we hold back from an entire and complete conversion of heart and soul, fearful almost to ask for it lest it should be too unearthly and spiritual, or lest it should involve changes and sacrifices which we are not prepared to make, we are clearly erring in respect to one of the fundamental principles of the walk with God. But there is an error in respect to the manner of this change of heart no less than in respect to its measure or degree; and the two errors are closely connected the one with the other. The measure of the change is altogether scanty and inadequate, because its nature and method is not accurately comprehended or distinctly kept in view; that is, because the Holy Spirit is not sufficiently recognised and honoured as the paramount and sole effectual agent in this change. It is a melancholy thought, how, in the very Church of Christ, and under that which is preeminently the dispensation of the Spirit, the work of the رو Holy Ghost is, to a great extent, ignored and disregarded. Many would be shocked at the bare supposition of their faultiness in this respect, who are nevertheless depending more upon human agency and personal effort for the carrying out of God's work within them, than upon the free and effectual operation of the Holy Spirit. In the place of earnest pleadings for the indwelling power of the Spirit, are substituted resolutions and strivings, and specious forms of self-dependence, which issue only in failure and disappointment. There is no real victory over sin; no satisfying enjoyment of the Word or of prayer; no nearness to God; nothing which can be called walking with God; the soul is depressed, and its inner life stinted and undeveloped. Just in proportion to our acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit, and to our participation in His life-giving and controlling operations, will be our attainments and advance in true godliness. Thus, that which, under the Old Testament, was called walking with God, is by the apostle expressed by the terms, "living in the Spirit," "walking after the Spirit," "walking in the Spirit,' "being led by the Spirit." When we study the records of the apostolic churches with a view to trace out the operation of the Holy Spirit in the souls of the believers of those days, we see a condition to which the state of our own churches presents a painful contrast. Many were then to be found "full of the Holy Ghost." The apostles charged the multitude of the disciples to select seven such men as the first deacons, implying that there would be no difficulty in finding many so gifted; and Stephen is afterwards twice described in the same terms as a man "full of the Holy Ghost." The same expression is used of Barnabas; and this abundant measure of spiritual influence, and the faith which was a necessary result of it, seem to be stated as the causes of his great ministerial success, it being next written, "and much people was added unto the Lord." The believers of Antioch, in Pisidia, are spoken of in a body as "filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost," as it had been before recorded of the churches of Judea, and Samaria, and Galilee, that they, "walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost," were multiplied.|| This, in fact, appears to have been the normal state of the apostolic church. The kingdom of God was to them righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The love of God was shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, which was given them; they abounded in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost; the fruit of the Spirit was seen in them in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth; God anointed them, and sealed them, and gave them *Rom. viii. 1, 14; Gal. v. 16, 25. † Acts vi. 3, 5; vii. 55. Acts xi. 21. § Acts xiii. 52. the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts. The exhortation given to the Ephesian Church was in accordance with this high tone of spiritual life: "Be filled with the Spirit."* We must trace out these good old paths, if we would walk closely and happily with God; we must rise above cold and formal conceptions of the Holy Spirit as a matter of doctrine, to the higher region of the Spirit's living, moving, animating power; we must begin, and carry out and perfect our new life by His indwelling power, looking up to Him, resting upon Him, acting through Him in all things, as a necessity and reality, and most merciful provision for our state of weakness; for it is by Him alone that, through the Lord Jesus, fallen man can have access unto God. The second great principle of this walk with God is faith ;faith, that is, not in the restricted sense of that grace whereby, being justified, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ; but in that larger meaning of the word, according to which the apostle says, "We walk by faith, not by sight." The Epistle to the Hebrews shows how, in various forms and degrees, faith has been the great principle directing and supporting all who have walked with God. It lies at the foundation of all intercourse with an unseen world and an invisible Being; so that "without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.' Faith opens up the heavenly inheritance for which the believer is content to renounce the things of this present world; and living here as a stranger and pilgrim, and having tastes and pursuits which his fellow men can neither appreciate nor understand, he feels no sense of loneliness, because Faith realises God as ever near. By the operation of this principle, food and clothing, and the comforts of life, are gifts coming directly from God's love; the mingled lot of sorrows and of joys testify of God's wisdom; deliverances from difficulties and dangers are the effects of God's power. The believer has an enjoyment of this world such as none other can know, and he alone can use the means of grace so as to feel their power and exalting influence. Judson illustrates this point. The Burmans have a word," he writes, "which means to set before our eyes.' I want a faith which will set before my eyes all the great things which the Word of God contains, that they may be as real to me as though I had seen them with my eyes, and they were continually present with me." A corresponding passage from the letter of a fellow-labourer bears upon prayer: "In prayer I feel a greater nearness to God, and sometimes seem almost to see Him face to face; to order my speech before * Rom. xiv. 17; v.5: xv. 13; Eph. v. 9; 2 Cor. i. 22; Eph. v. 18. Him, and to plead with Him as a man pleadeth with his friend." Thus the life and vigour of our spiritual frame, whether in our ordinary occupations or devotional exercises, depends upon the intensity and perceptive power of the principle of faith. This will give reality and distinctness to our walk with God; and walking with God in holy and close communion, we shall leave behind us the low and unsatisfactory attainments of ordinary religious profession, and evidence that our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. W. C. YOUNG'S ITALIAN REFORMERS: PETER MARTYR. The Life and Times of Aonio Paleario; or, a History of the Italian Reformers in the Sixteenth Century. Illustrated by original Letters and unedited Documents. By M. Young. 8vo, 2 vols. London: Bell and Daldy. 1860. THE sixteenth century will be regarded with a peculiar interest to the end of time. It was a period of intellectual progress, and still more of religious emancipation. In some countries (thank God! in our own) that emancipation was national; in others it was only won by a few individuals under difficulties and discouragements, and it soon provoked the violence and cruelty of spiritual tyranny against them. Some were terrified into conformity with the corruptions which had so long borne undisputed sway; some were scared from further inquiry, and simply silenced their misgivings; some kept on the outward garments of the old religion, and clung in secret to the truth as it is in Jesus; some took flight into countries where they might walk in the path to which God had called them; some fell victims to the persecutors' fire and sword. Mind was not asleep in Italy. Many were groping their way to a purer faith; and the general history of the times, and the personal history of several whom God's grace had enlightened, provide the interesting subjects of these two well-filled volumes. Paleario is but one of many; but he occupies the most conspicuous place, the chapters dedicated to his story filling nearly a third of the whole work. At the present time, when spiritual oppression has again made itself hateful in Italy, when the Scriptures are eagerly purchased, when many are known to be inquiring, when some at least are impressed with the falsehood of popery, and when all of our countrymen, zealous for the truth, who have visited or who sojourn in that land, are speaking and writing in the |