through the abuse of liberty, and partly through the malignity of some spirits, which strike even at the heart of Christ, through the sides of those who are Christ's; laying reproachful, ignominious, and shameful names upon them of libertinism. Now, of this cause, liberty and freedom, which Christ hath purchased and given, requires some clearing, lest it perish and be lost in the rubbish of corrupt liberty, and so the people of God be jeered out of that which is their greatest portion.

"I am ashamed to speak it, I would there were not occasion; that which is the very life and the sole comfort of the members of Christ Jesus becomes such a reproach, through the enemies of the Gospel of Christ, that the very believers themselves are almost ashamed to go under the name of that which is their greatest glory. To be called a libertine is the most glorious title under heaven, taking it for one that is truly free by Christ. To be made free by Christ, in proper construction, is no other than this, to be made a libertine by Christ: I do not say to be made a libertine in the corrupt sense of it, but to be one in the true and proper sense of it. It is true, indeed, Christ doth not give liberty unto licentiousness of life and conversation, of which we shall speak more by and by, but a real and true liberty Christ hath purchased and given to all his members.

"That we may the better understand, therefore, what this freedom is which Christ hath purchased and bestows upon believers : and thereby save it from the reproach of corrupt and licentious liberty, understand, beloved, that there is a threefold liberty. First, moral or civil. Secondly, sensual and corrupt. Thirdly, spiritual and divine.

"First, moral and civil liberty is that which these Jews speak of -misinterpreting the sense of Christ-such as you used to have in your cities, when a man hath served out his time; he is then a freeman, he hath the freedom of the city, he hath liberty to trade in it. So Paul understood liberty, when he spake with the centurion. The centurion said he bought it with a great deal of money; but, saith Paul, I was so born: I was born a Roman. But of this liberty Christ speaks not here.

Secondly. There is a corrupt liberty, which the Apostle speaks of in Gal. v. 13. He tells us there, That we are called unto liberty;' but, saith he, use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh.' A licentious liberty is nothing else but this, namely, when men turn the grace of God into wantonness, and, abusing the Gospel of Christ, continue in sin that grace might abound. Unto which the Apostle affixes an abhorrence; God forbid, saith he, any man should make use of such a liberty as this. I am confident of it, and affirm boldly, that there is not one man made free by Christ, that makes it his rule, namely, to be bold to commit sin with greediness, because of the redemption which is in the blood of Christ; but that Christ, who hath redeemed from sin and wrath, hath also redeemed from a vain converation, and there shall not be a making use of the grace of God, as emboldening and encouraging to break out into licentiousness. All that have this freedom purchased by Christ for them have also the power of God in them, which keeps them that they break not out

licentiously. The seed of God abides in them, that they cannot sin, as in the 1 John, iii. 9, that is, they cannot sin after this fashion.*

"Thirdly. There is a spiritual liberty; for of corrupt licentiousness Christ speaks not in the text neither; but of a spiritual freedom. And that it may be clear he speaks of a spiritual freedom here, you may plainly perceive by the words going before; for whereas these Pharisees affirmed they were not in bondage, Christ proves they were thus they were the servants of sin,' saith he, and he that is the servant of sin abides not in the house for ever;' as much as to say, the bondage here was such as consisted in being under sin. So, then, Christ here means a bondage and slavery under sin; the freedom, therefore, opposite to this, must needs be a spiritual freedom.

"The contrary to freedom is bondage; if we know what the bondage is that Christ speaks of, we shall better know what the freedom is. The bondage he speaks of is a bondage under sin. This stands in these two things:

"First. An obligation unto, and under the curse of the law, by reason of its transgression. And,

Secondly. "In the privation of all comfort and contentment, by reason of the same transgression.

6

“A man under the bondage of the law for sin can hear nothing but this, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.' Beloved, there is no man, but, in some respect or other, every act that he doth hath some infirmity and failing in it; and in that regard the law speaks, Cursed art thou, for thou hast not continued in all things that are written in the law to do them.' Thou canst no sooner pass from this act to another, but as soon as thou dost perform that second act, for the failings in it, the law cries cursed again; Cursed art thou, for thou hast not continued in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.' As, look into Romans ii., there is a continued dealing out the law to those that are in bondage under it. Tribulation and anguish, and wrath to every soul that doeth evil-saving, that, in Romans, iii. 19, the Apostle tells us, this cursedness, this tribulation and anguish, is pronounced by the law only upon them who are under it; so then, it is questionless that to them that are under it tribulation, and anguish, and wrath, and vengeance, do belong.

"Suppose thou art a man diligently attending the gates of the house of God, given much to prayer, fasting, mourning, and weeping; yea, to great liberality, giving all thy goods to feed the poor; yet, I say, for all this thou mayest be under the curse of the law; that will pick a quarrel in the best of these performances; it will say, thus and thus, in this and that thou hast not continued in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them; concerning this thou art under the curse of it as well as another.

"This is the condition of men who are kept under this bitterness of the law, that as they transgress, the curse of it is their prison.

This paragraph, as well as a multitude of others, shews that the doctor was no friend to licentiousness; and what a madness it is to charge so worthy a person with holding licentious principles.

Persons kept in this estate, how do they put off the comforts of Christ from them! There is none of them belongs to me, saith such a soul; I have sinned, and all the judgments of Christ are pronounced against me, I must die. So long as you continue in this estate, the curses of the law are as frequently pronounced against you, as there are transgressions in you. There will not be one comfort of Jesus Christ to give refreshment to your spirits; but so long as you remain in this estate, that you will conclude you are under the curse, because of your transgressions you will forsake all the mercies of the Gospel. This is, then, to be in bondage under the law; namely, for a man so to have it tyrannize and domineer over him, as to make him believe that as often as he transgresses, he must expect the sentence of the curse of it to be fulfilled upon him."

I cannot better conclude this paper than with two or three passages selected from Holy Scripture:

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth; and he that believeth shall be saved. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

May the Lord, who hath chosen his people in the furnace of affliction, minister consolation to them day by day, according to their several necessities, that they may hold on their way rejoicing in the God of their salvation. A LAYMAN.

SOCIALISM AND CHURCH EXTENSION.

THE substance of this paper is extracted from one of our daily journals, and contains so much really sound information, that we judged it an acceptable service to our readers to set it before them; for since the awful blasphemies of Socialism are so ruinous in their influence on society, such sentiments as the following ought not to expire with the extinction of a daily newspaper, but be perpetuated as an antidote to the evil complained of. Hence, the first step towards checking the profligate system of Owen was made in the House of Lords, a short time ago, by the adoption of the following motion, moved by the Bishop of Exeter:

"That an humble address be presented to her Majesty, praying that her Majesty would be pleased to command that inquiry should be made into the diffusion of blasphemous and immoral publications, especially as to the tenets and proceedings of a society established under the name of Socialists,' who are represented in petitions presented to this House, to be a society, the object of which was, by the diffusion of its doctrines, to destroy the existing laws and institutions of this country."

"The opposition given to this motion both by the ministers and their supporters, in and out of parliament, is monstrous and unprincipled, and displays a total disregard to the duties of a legislature professing Christianity and the obligations which men as Christians owe to their fellow men. But always, as well as now, it has been the fate of liberalism' to be allied to infidelity-in close confederacy, in public

meetings, on the hustings, and in the senate, the infidel and the liberal are sworn friends-their similarity of principle forces them to coalesce for mutual support, and thus practically to confess relationship. We need not be surprised now that the obscenities of socialism' are sought to be screened by the same Whig-Radical press which formerly held up the infidel Taylor as a martyr, because his blasphemies were checked by archiepiscopal authority. The Bishop of Exeter may feel highly honoured that he is thought worthy of abuse for being the first to demand a public inquiry into the infidel system of Owen, by the same press which formerly denounced Archbishop Magee. Archbishop Magee was called an episcopal tyrant' for exercising, as a Christian minister, the authority which he professed; the Bishop of Exeter is called truculent priest' by the metropolitan WhigRadical organs for acting as a Christian minister in his legislative capacity. What a loathing sight it must be to every honourable man to behold professed Christians lying in the embrace of moral putridity -sacrificing every principle of religion and morality merely for political purposes! If we were to judge of the objects of the WhigRadical press by the natural tendency of their writings, we should conclude that religion was of no material consequence, and that a disorganization of all social society was their aim. If an incendiary were to mount a platform, profess his hostility to religion and to constituted authority, but to declare, at the same time, that he had some confidence in our present liberal ministry, he would be applauded— nay, perhaps, patronized-in proportion to his success; but when a bishop of the Church of Christ raises his voice in the senate against the progress of immorality-when he calls upon the executive and the legislative powers as guardians of the interests of the people, to adopt such measures as may appear most likely to check the progress of this worst form of infidelity-he is virulently assailed, and the system which he attacks indirectly supported. The most discreet of the liberal organs profess to be as much opposed as the Bishop of Exeter to the opinions of Owen; but they declare their belief that on account of their very grossness they are not likely to make any important progress, and that any public exposure, tending to render the system known, is more likely to be injurious than otherwise. The experience of history, as well as the experience of our own times, prove the fallacy of the first position: for what opinions, however gross, have not been eagerly embraced by the lower and uneducated classes of society? we need only appeal to the history of France, and various epochs in our own country. But a system such as that taught by Owen is peculiarly dangerous-its very grossness rendering it more palatable to the vicious. It is impossible that the most respectable classes should ever imbibe such principles; but to the mass, what apparent attractive advantanges are held out! Equality of property-no responsibility for their ease and affluence-the gratification of every selfish passion-here is every incentive to the idle, the debauched, and degraded member of society-here is what is esteemed an earthly paradise within his reach. Is it not evident that this very "grossness is most likely to be the most attractive portions of the system to such characters; and are these the only ones likely to be drawn under the influence of such a scheme? Are not all the uneducated and labouring

classes of society open to the temptation which it holds out, especially in the manufacturing towns, where at present there exists such a want of religious instruction.

"As for the second position taken up by the liberal organs, that the exposure in the legislature tending to render the system known would be more injurious than otherwise, nothing can be more absurd; for these organs, to be consistent, must also be opposed to any course which would have the same effect; therefore, clergymen in their parishes must be dumb; and gentlemen on their estates, by their silence connive at the spread of views which cause the parishioner and tenant to regard religion and private property as "wicked institutions." It is monstrous for persons calling themselves Christians to raise a cry against the Bishop of Exeter for exposing a system which even the government was forced to confess to be horrible and disgusting, and which exposure obliged Lord Melbourne, in the presence of the peers of England, to declare that he regretted having introduced the founder of so impious a scheme into the presence of the Sovereign. If we be Christians, and possess the feelings of men, Socialism ought not only to be abhorred, but every means used to check its progress and to save our poorer brethren from its profligate influence. It is folly to suppose that there is such a thing as passive Christianity. Christianity inculcates activity for the welfare of others -activity in our homes and in our various localities-activity individually and collectively-national as well as personal. If we possess national Christianity, it must be exhibited by national zeal for the well-being of religion. National zeal ought to be exhibited in the acts of those who profess to be our representatives: a short time will prove whether such be the case or not.'

We, therefore, call upon all our readers to discountenance this iniquitous system of Owen, which is ruinous to the state, destructive to the visible Church, demoralizing to the people, tends to destroy conjugal and parental affection, fosters licentiousness, is most hateful to God, and serves most efficiently to promote the cause of the devil. Let us, therefore, use every lawful and personal means and influence to bring about its complete extinction, and if possible to save the souls of its deluded adherents.

A SERIES OF PAPERS IN DEFENCE OF THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

No. 4.

I BELIEVE IN THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS."

THE above article of our strictly scriptural Creed, is, like several other parts of the Liturgy, seized upon by Dissenters as a justification both of their schismatical practices in forsaking God's Church, and as countenancing their own absurd, hypocritical, canting, and private class meetings and church meetings; where their pretended Christian experience and self-righteous communications are called "the communion of saints."