Does it appear to us that a life of such continual | earth to heaven, it is easy to imagine that when exself-denial must needs be a cheerless and unhappy one? Nay, but, "bethink we what we are and were"-sinners by birth, and in our own persons; sinners redeemed from the dominion and punishment of sin, by one who, fulfilling all righteousness, broke the bands of the former, and in his own sinless perfection, for our sakes, submitted himself unto the latter. We learn from the world to regard our position in a false light close our ears to it, and attend only to the church, and we shall find self-denial a natural component of the situation in which we are placed. In the bible our life is spoken of as a pilgrimage (Gen. xlvii. 9); it is compared to a race, in which they who strive are temperate in all things (1 Cor. ix. 25); it is represented as a conflict, requiring us to put on the whole armour of God, and to watch with all perseverance (Ephes. vi. 13). In such a state, the true secret of happiness is not to look for it in aught pertaining to that state: during a pilgrimage, a race, a conflict, we must not seek our enjoyment in these, but in that to which they lead: and, inasmuch as self-denial assists us to press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philip. iii. 14)-inasmuch as it is a means of imparting vigour to our struggles with the adversary, of keeping down those evil dispositions through which we are most successfully assaulted, and of increasing those graces which most effectually repel the assault-it should rather be embraced as a useful auxiliary than complained of as a hardship by those who profess themselves strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb. xi. 13); who are not ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and who desire manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto their lives' end (Ministration of Baptism).

But even self-denial is not without promise of the life that now is, for self-denial is the readiest road to content to that content which the world cannot give

ercised in humble faith-in the full persuasion that the precious blood of Christ, sprinkled upon the sacrifice to cleanse it from defilement, can alone make any thing we offer acceptable before God-it is easy to imagine that it may be made an instrument of real happiness. The church, by her arrangements, typically represents to us the spiritual enjoyment attendant upon self-denial. She has for every fast its corresponding festival-seasons in which she invites her children to rejoice in the presence of the Lord, as well as those in which she calls upon them to humble themselves before him; and did we but, in meek obedience to her authority, seek to conform to all her ordinances, we should undoubtedly be amply rewarded by our increased capacity for the reception and enjoyment of those of which we do now partake. We cannot but believe that they who, in compliance with the rules of the church, make, as a general habit, every Friday in the year a day of especial self-denial, repentance, and self-examination, are the more likely to find the Sunday a delight-to be ready to "enter the gates of the Lord's house with thanksgiving, and to go into his courts with praise;" that they who prepare for the observance of an appointed holy day with the prescribed seriousness, will be so much better enabled to "keep the feast in sincerity and truth;" that they who, during the season of Lent, seek, by constant self-denial, to acquire an habitual feeling of contrition for their own sinfulness, and of self-abasement before God, who endeavour to fix their thoughts especially upon the Saviour who alone can redeem them from the penalty and power of that sin, upon his cross and passion, his precious death and burial-we cannot but believe that they will be the better prepared to celebrate with joy the festival of his glorious resurrection. They have, in the spirit, been with him during the sufferings of his humiliation: they have brought those sufferings home to their own feelings: for the last week especially they have "always borne about with them the dying of the Lord Jesus ;" and it is with the same real participation that, on the morning of Easter-day, they respond to the joyful salutation of the church, "Christ is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept."

we have the authority of the wisest of men for saying it. He tried every path of pleasure which the world opens to its votaries: he had honours and riches and knowledge more than ever before or since were bestowed upon mortal-"Whatsoever his eyes desired, he kept not from them; he withheld not his There does indeed seem a peculiar harmony between heart from any joy" (Eccles. ii. 10); and "behold, all the rules and services of the prayer-book, which we was vanity and vexation of spirit" (11). What the can, as yet, but imperfectly understand. They were greatest monarch of the earth could not find in self-instituted by wise and holy men, whose lives and indulgence, the meanest member of the church may attain by self-denial-the self-denial of faith. He will attain it without having made it an object; for it is a natural consequence of self-denial to be content with such things as we have. He has little comparative temptation to desire greater success in any thing connected with earth, to whom such success would bring with it a necessity for more rigorous selfrestraint; neither is he likely to have the same proneness to repine at the trials he may meet with, who can make them useful in the very system of denial he has imposed upon himself. Self-denial is not an easy task it is a very difficult one to begin with, but it is one which grows easier on every repetition; and, its effects being to elevate the soul from

writings throw additional light upon both; while the history of the church since the reformation confirms our opinion of the benefits to be expected from a conscientious adherence, by showing what we have become during their neglect. Gradually, as the rules and directions of the prayer-book fell into disuse, a general torpor has overspread the whole body of the church whatever difference of opinion may arise as to its cause, the existence of this listlessness is a fact reiterated on every side; acknowledged with contrition by her truest members, as well as proclaimed with triumph by her bitterest foes. Now, when the one may humbly believe, the other cannot deny that there is an awakening, we behold as one of its most striking symptoms, a desire to return to the "old path" in

which our forefathers walked with God-to the path marked out for us by the prayer-book. Blessed be God, who has made his own appointed ministers the instruments of exciting this desire. It is they-the

watchmen of our church-who have aroused us to a perception of the encroachments of the world; who are inciting us to strive for the recovery of the ground that we have lost it is they who have taught us to feel that there must be something wrong so long as not merely individual members-for while human nature remains unchanged that ever will be the casebut so long as in the general practice of the church there is a total disregard to the rules promulgated in her prayer-book: it is they who, in still increasing numbers and by every means in their power, are seeking to extend that feeling, and to stimulate it into activity. The higher authorities in the church give the weight of their sanction to the movement, for many of the later charges of the bishops contain recommendations to the clergy of their respective dioceses, to revive, as the people will hear it, the observance of various rubrics of the prayer-book, which have fallen into neglect.

There is an active zeal amongst our spiritual rulers ; let there be in us 2 willing and obedient heart. "You have taught us," we may say, "you have taught us to reflect how far we have deviated from the rules of the prayer-book, to which we profess adherence; you have explained to us how well those rules agree with the word of God, and with the custom of the church in its purest ages; you have directed our attention and, in many cases, placed within our reach those writings of the English fathers which, breathing the spirit of the prayer-book and rendering that spirit practical, have led us to feel its beauties as we never felt them before; you have awakened in us a desire to conform in all things—and now go forward in the work you have begun: open to us the path, and guide us therein; for whatsoever you command, that will we observe and do.'"

ST. PAUL'S METHOD OF PREACHING CHRIST,
AS ILLUSTRATED IN HIS EPISTLE TO THE

COLOSSIANS*.

ing Christ, in the epistle from which my text is taken.

1. We find him preaching Christ by a faithful and full exhibition of the nature of that great and glorious

Saviour. He gives us this description of him-" Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Col. i. 15-17). And again, in the ninth verse of the second chapter, how concisely is summed up the account of the godhead and manhood of the Saviour-"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." In declaring, then, the riches of the glory of the mystery of the gospel, that "God was manifest in the flesh" must never be forgotten as the foundation truth of all that we have to preach. Nay, how much seems at once implied in it! The glory and majesty of Christ; his sufficiency; the love of God; the surety of our hope; the faithfulness of his promises, that he whom we preach as the crucified Redeemer is "God

over all, blessed for ever."

2. We find Paul preaching Christ to the Colossians by declaring his relation to his church, thus-" He is the head of the body, the church" (Col. i. 18); and so again-"The head, from which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God" (Col. ii. 19): as he expresses it in the epistle to the Ephesians-"The head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Eph. i. 22, 23): the source of life, the directing power, the one bond of union, and the depository from whence is to be drawn every spiritual treasure which can enrich the soul;" in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. ii. 3). And here, too, how much do we see implied in preaching Christ!-how much for the encouragement of those who, conscious of their own weakness, are looking to him!-how much of warning, that, without him or separate from him, we can do nothing!

3. Christ is preached in this epistle by a full manifestation of the blessings which he has obtained for us: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. i. 14). Redemption the price being paid - forgiveness of sins the present possession of every believer in him who, through that faith, is declared in the verse before to be "delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son." Again "You that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through reproveable in his sight" (Col. i. 21, 22). And when death, to present you holy and unblameable and unwe remember the grounds upon which the apostle elsewhere presses upon us this part of our office"Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor. v. 11); "the love of Christ constraineth us"—we cannot doubt but that it should form a great part of our duty in preaching Christ, that in his name we should entreat and beseech our people to be recon

THE subject of preaching Christ is indeed a full one. The very expression-" preach Christ"-is remarkable: we declare we proclaim him. It seems to imply an offer of Christ to our people; not merely that we preach about him, but acting rather as ambassadors of God, who have terms to propose on his part: and these terms are contained in the setting before them Christ, and in the offering him to their acceptance. But I shall confine myself now to a view of the illustration afforded us of the apostle's manner of preach-ciled to God: we should tell them of their state of

From "A Sermon, preached at Alton, at the Visitation of the Lord Bishop of Winchester, Sept. 20, 1841, by the rev. Edward Auriol, M.A., vicar of Newton Valence and Hawkley, Hants. London: Seeleys."-This is a very valuable sermon, and forms one of many most excellent ones delivered at the visitations in different dioceses during the last year. Amidst . the strange doctrines and astonishing statements which are set forth, tending to sap the foundations of vital godliness and spiritual religion, it is gratifying to perceive that there are multitudes holding fast to the truth as it is in Jesus, and in all godly simplicity preaching according to the doctrines contained in the word of God, and set forth in the articles and formularies of the united church.-ED..

enmity against him, and endeavour, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to prove it, and convince them of it, that they may seek his friendship through that one Mediator who was "made sin for us (though he knew no sin), that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Whilst again, in one word, the apostle here sums up the blessings obtained by Christ, when he says "Ye are complete in him" (Col.ii. 10); complete, as standing in the sight of a holy God as righteous through his perfect righteousness; complete in him, as having all we want for time and for eternity in

him, "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. i. 30); complete in him. And in whom are we taught to look for this sufficiency? In him "which is the head of all principality and power."

Christ" (Col. iii. 17-24). And, finally, Christ is preached as coming again in his glory; and this is the object to which the Christian is to look forward for eternal hap piness, even the enjoyment of Christ-" Christ in you, the hope of glory:" "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col. i. 27, and iii. 4).

Now, the observation which I would especially suggest from these passages is this; that the apostle gives no countenance, from his own example, to any thing approaching to the notion of reserve as to any of the doctrines which concern our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the sun and centre of his whole system. He does not encourage us to think that the minister may suppose that the doctrines of the gospel have been sufficiently learnt and understood, or that they are in any way to be kept back, till he imagines his people are prepared to receive them. No: they are continually to be brought forward as the great moving springs of all that we enforce or enjoin. If that be wanting, our morality sinks into a chill statement of duties, without motives, principles, or animating springs of action. If that be there, we need not, we ought not, to fear to go into all the minutest details of duty, for the motive is the love of Christ; the reason for our pressing these is the obligation of gratitude which we owe to him who has freed us from the condemnation of the sentence of the law, that we may be "under the law to Christ;" the object of desire is that we may be conformed by the Holy Spirit to his image, that so we may have that "purifying hope in him, that when he shall appear we may be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John iii. 2-3).

But there is also another view of the subject to which our attention is strikingly drawn in this epistle, and that is the preaching Christ in opposition to all the errors which spring from the workings of the na

4. We may next notice how Christ is preached in this epistle, by these doctrines being carried out into personal application and minute details. The privileges of believers on him are asserted as resulting from their individual union with Christ. "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Col. ii. 11-13). Here we have stated the connection of the sacrament of baptism with all spiritual privileges, as testifying to their reality, sealing and assuring them. But how? Through the faith of the operation of God-through faith in the risen Saviour, to believers; so that that is declared to have happened to the believer spiritually which happened to Christ bodily. He who was dead in sins becomes dead unto sin with Christ-risen to spiritual life with Christ; not merely because he is baptized, or necessarily by the instrument of baptism, but through faith in him "who raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead, who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification" (Rom. iv. 22-24). And thence what is to be learnt as to our preaching Christ to our people, who have been baptized into his name? Surely, that we should point out to them the absolute necessity of faith in Christ for a saving interest in these blessings, whilst we show them the responsibility laid on them to plead the covenant oral mind, opposed as it ever is to the doctrines of grace, convince them of their lost condition who were dead in their sins, and declare what they really become when, with hearts renewed by the Holy Ghost, they believe on Christ, that they are then risen with him; for "he who believeth and is baptized, shall be saved" (Mark xvi. 16). And thus again we go on, in preaching Christ, to enter into the minute details of motives and duties, as we see in the third and fourth chapters of this epistle, exhorting our people to be spiritually-minded; if "risen with Christ, to seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God" (Col. iii. 1); to purity of principle, and life, and conduct-" Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." "But now ye also put off all these-anger, wrath, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumsion, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. iii. 5, 8-11). The perfect example of our Lord is here set forth as being a part of preaching Christ: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye" (Col. iii. 12, 13). And this is then carried out into all the minute particulars of relative duties. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through him. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives," &c.; and especially in the directions to servants"Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to man, knowing that of the Lord you receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord

He

the cross, and to the knowledge of " those things that are freely given us of God." Accordingly we find in this epistle, that St. Paul preaches Christ in opposition to systems of man's unsanctified reasoning; or, as it is here, the "philosophy and vain deccit" 1 Col. ii. 8) which result from the proud and sceptical arguments of the mere wisdom of the world, by which men are led to view the great truths of the gospel as mere matters of speculation of little or no value. preaches Christ in opposition to any opinions handed down from mere human authority," after the tradition of men;" Christ, as the alone life and soul of godliness, in opposition to formality and a religion of outward observances, as we find in the 16th verse of the 2nd chap.-"Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ;" Christ, in opposition to a dark and tangled mysticism, a specious but self-deluding will-worship, and to spiritual pride-"Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head." And again-"Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances (touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using), after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in willworship and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh" (Col. ii. 1623). If Satan made use of these means to darken the pure light of God's truth; if even then that "mystery of iniquity" did already work, which afterwards fully developed itself in the errors of the church of Rome, let us not forget that, as it was by the preaching of the cross-"to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness"-that the apostle withs'ood the