believe." Having so far traced the pope's temporal power and usurpation, we shall now trace up his spiritual idolatry, and wickedness, in high places. The year 610 began this Pagano-Christian's images, which are paralleled to the pagan, in being vicarious, and substitute to the exemplars.-Belarm sup. c. 23. Sometimes, say they, we consider them as standing in the place and stead of the exemplars; the nature of things seemeth to teach us that the image is the substitute of the unseen exemplars, and sometimes it is surrogated in the place of it. Images so represent the exemplars, that they are substituted in the place of it. Vasqu. Sup. Disp. 108, c. 8. I adore the inanimate figure of Christ, saith Leontius, for when I hold this by it I seem to myself to hold and adore Christ. Images supply the place of the thing represented. The image is the vicarious representation of the prototype, and is in some sort in its place and stead. The image differeth from the prototype in its nature only, not only in hypostasis or person; when one that injureth the statue of a king is punished as much as if he injured the king himself, it is not because he injured the statue as his statue, but because he took the statue for the king himself. According to this hypothesis, the vile images must have an unity, or identity of person with God, in religious worship; to which purpose a saying of Athanasius, which concerneth the mystery of the Trinity, was cited in the second Nicene Synod: "The similitude of the king is in the image, without any variation or difference, so that if one that seeth the image, desireth to see the king, the image must say to him, "I and the king are one; I am in him, and he is in me;' a saying also of St. Basil, of the same nature, was cited to the same purpose. "The image of the king is called the king, and there are not two kings, the one the king, the other his image, for the empire is not divided nor the glory, but as the Imperial power over us is one, so is our glorification one, not multifarious." The image being vicarious and substitute to the exemplar, so as to be of unity and of identity of person, the image religionists do, and speak the same things to the image, and behave themselves towards it in the same manner as if it was the exemplar visibly present. "We speak to the cross, and pray to it," saith Aquinas, as if it was Christ crucified upon it: Hail, O cross, our only hope in this time of the Passion; increase the righteousness of the just, and give pardon to the guilty.'' When the image of our Saviour was conveyed in solemn procession from the chapel of St. Lawrence, in the Lateran, to St. Mary's, through the streets of Rome that were thought infested with evil spirits, the manner was, at the first opening of the meeting, to salute the image with this prayer, "O Saviour of the world, save us all, thy poor servants; and grant us all, that, by the merits of the two Johns, the Baptist and the Evangelist, we may appear guiltless before thee." The pope and cardinals made their approach to the image barefoot, kneeling or bowing seven times; then opening the image, and kissing the feet of their Lord, all sing the "Te Deum." Such is the blasphemy of this Church, that men are following fast after, against the express command of God. Numb. xxxiii. ver. 52. Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places."

Your obedient servant,

MARK.

CHRIST THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE AND FUTURE GLORY. THIS hope belongs to the heirs of promise only. We know that all men have hope of one kind or other, we deny it not; but if Christ be not the author and carrier out of our hope it profiteth nothing; for such a hope is carnal, founded upon nature, and therefore when nature dies this hope of the sinner dies also. Look at the nominal professor, he has hope because he professes to believe in Christ, and yet he can remain perfectly satisfied without the knowledge or power of Christ, as St. Paul says, when writing to the Corinthians, "Some of you have not the knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame." Therefore we see the likenesses of our nominal professors here. They and their hope are on a sandy foundation. But not so the children of the promise, for their hope is a good hope, through grace; a hope not making ashamed: it is good because it comes from our Sovereign Lord, who is the author and finisher of all good things; good because it flows from the inexhaustible fountain grace, which is treasured up in Christ Jesus our Lord, for all the heirs of promise and for them only; for what communion hath light with darkness? Christ declares to his Disciples, "Because I live ye shall live also," and be heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Here then arises the Christian's present hope, founded upon the promises of God and Christ; and the beloved Apostle tells us, that they are confirmed by an oath, and sealed with the precious blood of our blessed Redeemer. Therefore we have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us in the Gospel; after which he adds, "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered." They who have fled to this refuge are heirs of God, to whom the Holy Ghost, having taken of the things of the Saviour, has revealed them into their souls; and, they seeing the necessity of such, have been brought to Christ, and in him enabled to say to God, “Abba, Father." What a covenant is the covenant of grace to them, when Divine power is felt! Then can they with confidence say, "I know that he is mine and I am his;" their hope and anchor, for they are knit with the everlasting tie of affection, and their soul linked in the golden chain of eternity, secured for glory, where their Saviour is gone to prepare a place for them. They can unite with the Psalmist and say, "My soul fainteth for thy salvation, but I hope in thy word." God declares that he knows our thoughts, that he thinks towards us thoughts of peace and not of evil, to bring us to an expected end. This end we see all his chosen and sanctified family unto. This end is none other than their hope in Christ and founded upon Christ, in whom they are justified, sanctified, and finally will be glorified. Hence the Apostle says, "He that hath this hope in him, purifies himself even as he is pure." So the Christian's hope is a blessed hope, for it has the blessed promises here, and the reality hereafter, when this mortal will put on immortality, and imperfection be changed for absolute perfection. Then with their robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb, will they be in his presence for evermore, where there is joy, love, peace, and harmony; where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. Well may the Apostle exclaim, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope-to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God." Here we see whom this bliss is for, namely, for those who are guided by the Holy Ghost and word of God; for man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; hence, let him that glorieth glory in the Lord.

DR. HAWKER'S DEFINITION OF HOPE.

In the strict and proper sense of the word, this is Christ; for he, and he only, as the prophet has described him, "is the Hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof." And, indeed, this view must be uniformly preserved and kept up, because without an eye to Christ, there can be no such thing as hope, for all our whole nature is in its universal circumstances, "without God and without hope in the world." And it is very blessed to turn over the Scriptures of God, and behold the Lord Jesus Christ set forth under this endearing character, in a great variety of figures and representations throughout the bible. Jesus was the grand hope of the Old Testament believers before his incarnation. They all, like Abraham, "saw his day afar off," rejoiced, and were glad; and, like him, amongst all the discouraging circumstances they had to encounter, "against hope, they believed in hope.' Hence, though the longing expectation of the Church, as Solomon expressed it, was like "hope deferred, which maketh the heart sick;" yet, as Jeremiah was commissioned to tell the Church, there was still "hope in the end, saith the Lord, that the children of Christ should come to their border." Christ, therefore, being held up to the Church's view as the hope of his redeemed, is set forth under various similitudes corresponding to this character. His people are called "prisoners of hope." And the Apostle Paul, under the same figure, calls himself the Lord's prisoner, and saith, it is for "the hope of Israel I am bound with a chain." And elsewhere he describes it under the strong metaphor of "an anchor to the soul, both sure and stedfast." In short, Christ the only hope of eternal life, to which we" are begotten, by his resurrection from the dead." In him our flesh is said to rest in hope," when returning to the dust; and all our high expectations of life and immortality are expressed, in "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." As Christ then is the only true hope the Scriptures speak of, it is very evident that every other hope, not founded on Christ, is and must be deceitful. The world is full of hope, and the life of carnal and ungodly men is made up of it. But what saith the Scriptures of all such? "The hope of the hypocrite," saith Job, "shall be cut off, and his trust shall be as a spider's web." So that the hope of the faithful, which is Christ himself, affords the only well grounded confidence for the life that now is, and that which is to conie. And this hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost." It is founded in Christ, and is, indeed, Christ formed in the heart, "the hope of glory."

Hosea, 5, 15.

"I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their of fence, and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early."

THIS language, though spoken primarily of the national Israel, is, nevertheless, addressed to God's spiritual elect people during the present dispensation. It speaks to the Christian who is taking comfort and ease from present attainments, and not exclusively stretching out the hand towards God; and who is there amongst the Lord's chosen flock that does not frequently find this to be the case with his soul, particularly when things have gone on very smoothly and well without, for some time, till there are trials and siftings, and God is pleased in tender mercy to reveal it? and then there is a heart seeking for God, and after the risings of sin within, an humble dependence upon the rock of our salvation. Jesus is again brought afresh to our view in his preciousness and fulness, so that after many siftings there is a desire to be passive in his hands, and a resting in him; the promises also appear sweet; his character, as a covenant and unchangeable God, is just suited to our case, and the soul, under a deep sense of guilt, and a sight of loathsome corruption within through the knowledge of Christ, takes shelter in Christ, and is glad to find a refuge from the storm; and though only it may with a feeble faith, yet is enabled to cast itself upon one who is a friend at all times.

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Again, to the wanderer from the path of duty, is this language addressed: "they that go after other Gods shall have great trouble;" and how exactly does every believer find this fulfilled in his own experience. There are seasons when, through the breakings out of sin within, Satan accuses, conscience smites and condemns, and he stands naked and exposed before God; and he feels that he has sinned against a God of love, a faithful God, who has told him, "If my children forsake my law, and walk not in my statutes, I will visit their offences with a rod, and their iniquities with stripes." God, therefore, hides his face, the guilty soul dare not look up, grief overwhelms, and no creature comfort will suffice; he cannot run into the world again; he has sinned against light and knowledge, and grieved that covenant Holy Spirit whereby he is sealed unto the day of redemption; and thus, finding no comfort in himself, he mourns and wishes it were with him as when the candle of God shined upon him, and he felt the power of God and an unction of the spirit upon his soul, whereby he had enjoyed a sense of pardoning love; in this state of things God finds him, meets with his distressed mind, and that promise is fulfilled-"I will be as the dew unto Israel; they that dwell under his shadow shall return; I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him.' The word is applied with power, and he feels joy and peace in believing. Believer in Jesus, how blessed to have a covenant God, and to remember always that the covenant is well ordered in all things, and sure, and our God is faithful to his engagements; the men of the world find their pleasure and gratification in the things of sense; but the poor,

tried, tossed, and tempted family of God have an object to look at, with the eye of faith, which, when privileged of God to behold, is the comfort of their souls now, and will be the fulness of their joy when time itself shall be no more. Oh! how blessed to remember, that amidst the spiritual warfare, the daily conflicts between flesh and spirit, amidst all the distresses, sorrows, and changes of life; amidst the persecutions, slanders, and imprecations of an ungodly world; and even amidst the sin, which in a sense is suffered to exist within us, still we have at all times an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and that as our Jesus is, so are we in this world; and we find, as we live nearer to Him, the fountain of spiritual health; we find ourselves drawn more from the things of time and sense, and thirst to drink more out of the fulness that is in him, and do receive continued supplies of strength and consolation, to enable us to see and feel that he is over all, in all, and will be for ever and ever; his presence with us upon earth is a sure pledge that we shall live with him in endless glory; the joy and peace we feel when contemplating by faith, upon his glorious person as God man; upon his meditorial character, as set up from everlasting, as the elect head of his Church; and the Church from eternity elected in him; upon the offices he has assumed, and unto which all God's acts in Providence and in grace are reducible, and as the federal head and representative in all meditorial acts of his whole mystic body the elect, carries our minds beyond created things into Heaven itself, there to behold our once dying, risen, glorified, and ascended Lord. In short, a sight of our adorable Head makes us cry out in admiration with the psalmist, "Lord, what man, that thou art mindful of him ;" and is accompanied with the assurance that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Communion with him upon earth makes us long for the period to arrive when we shall sin no more, see him without avail, and be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

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Beloved brethren in Christ, who feel with me, it is not a superficial view of Christ which can give peace and joy to the soul in a trying hour, it is not a partial, flimsy, receiving of the doctrines of the Gospel that can satisfy the hunger and thirst for spiritual food created in you; no, it is only Christ formed in your heart, the hope of glory, that can make you really blessed here on earth, and enjoy daily fellowship with him, that your views and prospects will be clear and bright for an eternal world. May our ever gracious God enable us to realize more and more that blessed promise, Isaih 41, 10, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness; and as we feel sensible, day by day, of our own sinfulness and unworthiness, so a continued renewal of this unto us will be sufficient to support us in life, and " When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory." Remember, believer in Jesus, every step you take, is a step nearer to glory, and every heavenly desire implanted in the soul is a proof of Christ's love; and although the tokens of that love may vary, yet, blessed be his name, his love is always the same, and whom he loveth he loveth unto the end. The Church, in all ages, has been a suffering body; it is therefore through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom; we must carry the cross, that we may wear the crown,