Beresford Chapel, Walworth. The second part containing a portrait of the author, will be published as early as possible.

A sermon on the Self-existence of Jesus Christ, by the late Rev. W. Romaine.

The Second Annual Report of the Gospel Tract Society, with an account of the proceedings at the Anniversary, and an exposition on the 19th of Isaiah, by the Rev. Dr. Hawker. The first volume of the publications of this Society, containing thirty-one tracts, is just completed.

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ANNIVERSARY, PECKHAM.-The Seventh Anniversary of the Baptist Church, meeting in the Rye-lane, Peckham, will be held (by divine per mission) on Wednesday, the 9th of August, when three sermons will be preached that in the morning at eleven o'clock, by Mr. Chin, of Walworth; in the afternoon, by Mr. House, of Clement's Lane, Strand; and in the evening, by the Rev. Dr. Collyer, of Peckham. After each service a collection will be made.

FOUNDER'S HALL CHAPEL, LOTHBURY.-We are requested to inform our readers, that the Rev. JOHN HOBBS is engaged to preach at the above chapel, on Sunday, August 20, and five following sabbaths.

It is with mingled emotions of pleasure and regret we inform the friends of the Rev. Dr. HAWKER, that the Dr. will preach the two following Lord's days, August 6 and 13, at the Broadway Church, St. Margaret's, Westminster, when he will take his farewell of London, to prosecute his silent but lasting labours for the church, in the revision of his nume. rous and valuable writings, which are now publishing in Numbers every Saturday.

On Wednesday, the 21st. ult. was laid the foundation stone of a new chapel, to be called the Tabernacle, situate in Sykes Street, Sculcoates, Hull, when the officiating minister was presented by one of the hearers with a silver trowel, for the express purpose in question. After a short introductory address from the minister, Mr. Williams, of Blanket Row, rose, and briefly and affectionately addressed a very numerous and respectable congregation, who had assembled on the solemn occasion; and congratulated them on the important event for which they were then and there met together. He then read a copy of the inscription, which was engrossed on a tablet, put into a glass bottle, inclosed in lead, and deposited in a hollow part of a stone, lying at the east corner of the intended edifice. Appropriate hymns composed for the occasion were sung, and the ceremony was concluded by a most impressive sermon, to which no assembly on a similar occasion could be more attentive. The Rev. Sam. Lane's text was from 1 Cor. iii. 10. “I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon."

QUERY.

Mr. Editor,

I should feel much obliged by your giving the following Query a place in your valuable pages.

Is it consistent with the word of God to teach our children forms of prayer?" I am frequently looking upon my dear babe with deep concern for its spiritual welfare, and my prayer to the Lord is," Oh! that it might live before thee!" But looking forward to the period (should the Lord be pleased to spare its life) when it shall be capable of receiving instruc tion, I cannot make up my mind to believe, that it is consistent to put words into its mouth with which to mock God; for solemu mockery it does appear to me to be, for children or adults in a state of unregeneracy, to utter before God language which is felt and understood by the regenerated child of God alone.

Camberwell.

WILLIAM.

REVIEW.

Deep Things of God; or Milk and Strong Meat for Babes, Young Men, and Fathers in Christ: particularly suited to such as know the plague of their own hearts. By Sir Richard Hill, Bart, M. P. A new edition, by J. Peacock, with a Recommendation by the Rev. J. Rees, Minister of Crown Street Chapel. R. Baynes, 1826.

THIS Volume is comparable to a cabinet of precious jewels, whose worth and beauty beam forth in all their intrinsic excellence, and offer to the eye of faith a rich and inexhaustible source of anxious inspection and profitable contemplation. We apprehend we shall not dishonour the language of St. John in the Apocalypse, if, adopting the names of the precious stones which garnished the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem, we say-here are the jasper, the sapphire, the chalcedony, the emerald, the sardonix, the sardius, the chrysolite, the beryl, the topaz, the chrysoprasus, the jacinth, and the amethyst. Each pearl is well set; and the whole being presented to the observer in an artless, unarranged form, preserve their own native and incomparable lustre. The casket in which these choice treasures are deposited is composed of the meanest materials:—the volume is badly printed on inferior paper. We hope the edition will soon be disposed of, that the reverend gentlemen who have edited and recommended the work, may have an early opportunity of correcting the numerous typographical errors, and publishing it in a manner worthy of its merits. The following are specimens:

"Though the Lord will never remember the sins of a believer, to his condemnation; yet the believer himself will always remember them to his humiliation.

"Does an apostle say, "Pray without ceasing?" Then what a condition must those souls be in who never pray at all?-but what is meant by the exhortation? certainly it does not suppose that we should be always on our knees, yet it undoubtedly supposes that whatever be the posture of the body, the heart be constantly kept in a praying frame; and that in every thing we be ready to give thanks, or to supplicate, as circumstances may require. I would boldly pronounce that man to be a stranger to the spirit of prayer, who confines it merely to times and places; for sure I am, that whosoever is made sensible of his own weakness, and of Christ's allsufficiency, as well as of the continual blessings which he has received, is receiving, and hopes to receive from above, can never be long without a silent mental ejaculation at least, and such will find its way to the throne of grace, be the posture of the body what it may.

"Every real christian knows well what it is to lift up his heart to God whilst he is walking, travelling, working, lying on his bed, and even when he is in company; and often is he holding an intercourse with heaven, whilst those about him are busied with the world.

"Every believer's prayer must be answered, not always agreeably to his own wishes, but always in the way which shall be best for him. When Paul had the thorn in his flesh, the messenger of satan sent to buffet him, VOL. III.-No. 28.

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he prayed the Lord thrice that it might depart from him; but the Lord's answer was," my grace is sufficient for thee."

"But a poor soul may say, Oh! prayer to me is all lip labour; I am only a speaking carcass before the Lord, I am wholly dead; I have no spirit of prayer; no access with boldness and confidence to the Majesty on high. These very complaints are proofs, that thou knowest what no one but a believer can know, viz. the difference of addressing God from behind the cloud, and when he unveils his face, and shines with full lustre upon the soul. Press on then, though it be in the dark. Soon shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing under his wings."

In order that no poor convinced sinner may despair of mercy, there is no sin that ever was, or can be committed (the sin against the Holy Ghost excepted, which none have committed who are willing to be saved in the gospel way) which some that are now in glory have not been guilty of. Murderers, adulterers, incestuous persons, abusers of themselves with mankind, drunkards, thieves, extortioners, revilers, and deniers of Christ, swell the list of those who are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

"Nay, more, there is perhaps not a sin which can be thought of, that some of God's eminent scripture saints have not fallen into after their conversion, though through grace they have been enabled to renew the actings of their faith and repentance, and are now singing before the throne, "unto him that hath loved and redeemed them, and that hath washed them from their sins in his own blood.

"And for fear any should still object against themselves, "oh! but my sins are of such a nature, that surely no saved soul was ever guilty of the like; our Lord himself says, that all manner of sin and wickedness shall be forgiven. And the beloved John assures us, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.

"Now let the whole self-righteous tribe of formalists murmur at these glorious displays of invincible grace, as their forefather Simon the pharisee did of old, when the poor sinful, penitent Mary washed our Saviour's feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head; still it must ever stand upon record, that the debtor to whom five hundred pence was forgiven, loved more than he did to whom only fifty pence was forgiven; and that publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before the generation of those who are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not cleansed from their filthiness."

The Unsearchable Riches of Christ; an Introductory Discourse delivered at the opening of a Weekly Lecture at Bury Street Chapel, St. Mary Axe, on Thursday Evening, May 4, 1826. By J. Rees, Minister of Crown Street Chapel, Soho. R. Baynes.

The commencement of this Lecture was anticipated by us and many others with an earnest hope and expectation, that the arm of the Lord might be revealed, and the prophet's solemn question "who hath believed our report?" satisfactorily answered, in the successful labours of the Lord's faithful servants engaged to minister on the occasion. Our anticipations being rested not on unsubstantial ground, our hope is since strengthened, and with our whole heart and soul we bid the projectors, the promoters, and the preachers of the lecture God-speed! And when we thus write, we are entremely desirous, notwithstanding the implied unqualified approbation, that our friends should be reminded we are still on our watch-tower, and must not

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suffer that which in any degree swerves from sound doctrine to pass unnoticed or unreproved. Saith the wise man, "faithful are the wounds of a friend ;" and though it will never be our design willingly to wound, we trust it may appear our constant determination to be faithful.

Mr. Rees has advanced many valuable reflections on the unsearchable riches of Christ, from the text, Eph. iii. 8. and considers them, 1. as they dwell in Christ; 2. as they are communicated to others; 3. as they produce suitable effects in the recipients of them. On the first division he observes :

"As God, all riches are his native right :-He is the sea, the ocean of every divine perfection; grace, mercy, goodness, wisdom, love, power, justice, holiness, and truth, all dwell in him, as water in the ocean, or light in the sun, ever flowing, ever shining, and ever full! "He is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person.' He is his own glory, his own greatness, and his own fulness; possessing unsearchable riches in himself; the self-existent and independent God. His riches, as God, are indescribable. The most intelligent angel cannot describe them; they are incomprehensible. We can but wonder, love, and adore the unsearchable riches of the incomprehensible God.

"His unsearchable riches as Mediator:-and these more particularly concern us, for though there are unsearchable riches in him, as God, yet, had it not been for his riches as Mediator, we might have perished for ever. Here we contemplate him in his complex character as God and man. A mediator, says an apostle, is not a mediator of one (that is, of one nature); but God is one, therefore it was necessary that a mediator should partake of both natures, that he might be equally related to both; high enough to treat with God for man, and low enough to treat with man for God;-so exalted as to call God Father: so condescending as to call us brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ in the wonderful constitution of his person, is God and man in one Christ; possessed of all the riches of divinity, and all the riches of humanity. All created and uncreated glory centers in him; all the riches of heaven and earth; so near man, as to be man; and so near God, as to be God: yea, so impartial in his relation to both, that the claims of justice were not regarded more than the wants of men, nor the wants of men regarded more than the claims of justice; equally interested for both; for a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one, and man is one; but a mediator engaged for both must be equally interested in both; so that God's glory, and the salvation of man, lay equally near the Mediator's heart. To speak of Christ, as God-man, delights my inmost soul; it is the substance of that glory I expect to behold in an eternal world; and enters into every part of my salvation, that if I do not believe that Christ is very God and very man, I can see no foundation to build my hopes upon."

And on the effects produced in the happy possessors of the unsearchable and exhaustless riches of Christ, the preacher remarks :"The conduct of the recipients of the unsearchable riches of Christ. They enrich the state, the heart, and the conduct; such walk after the Spirit towards God and man. They walk in a state of holy, humble, communion with God; they walk in his fear, endeavouring to glorify God in their whole deportment: dead to sin, dead to the world, and alive to God; servants to God, having their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. In every relative duty the unsearchable riches of Christ stamp a dignity upon their relation, whether as husbands and wives,

parents and children, or masters and servants. In the fear of God they endeavour to fill every relative situation consistent with the profession they make of such glorious possessions. Some say that the glorious doctrines of free grace lead to licentiousness. Such assertions contain a libel on the God of holiness and truth. Gospel doctrines are the production of the Holy Spirit, they engrave holiness on the heart of all who truly believe them, and produce the fruits of holiness in the conduct and conversation. The unsearchable riches of Christ, enrich, sanctify, and dignify the whole deportment. Such are rich in good works, for they are created in Christ Jesus unto them, and God hath before ordained that they should walk in them."

Mr. R. is also very excellent on their conduct and practice in the world-in the family-in the closet-in the house of God-in trouble and distress-and in the prospect of death.

We are not sufficiently acquainted with Mr. Rees' ministry to decide the point, but, from an exception we take at some expressions in the second part of his subject, we apprehend his views do not accord with our own on an important branch of spiritual knowledge. What! hath the church no union to Christ, prior to faith being brought into exercise? are the family of God made children by a work of grace on the soul? We may have misunderstood Mr. Rees; we hope it is the case.

The Labourer called to receive his Hire. A Sermon preached at Grove Chapel, Cumberwell, by the Rev. Joseph Irons, occasioned by the departure of the Rev. Griffith Williams, Minister of Gate Street Chapel, who was called to his eternal rest, July 1, 1826. R. Baynes and E. Palmer.

It has been intimated to us, that when reviewing a funeral sermon some months since (vol 2. page 216.) our pen was dipt in gall, and we gave utterance to unchristian feelings: we simply deny the accusation, and add, in this place, that our opinion is confirmed concerning much the greater number of discourses of this description; that they consist of matter which is disgusting to the truly humble and spiritual mind, and tend more than many other means that prevail-to form the character of a hypocrite, and to confirm hypocrisy in those who are already its victims! Contrary to the common practise of the day, Mr. Irons has most judiciously chosen to leave the long-beaten track of funeral sermon preachers, and has founded his eulogy of the deceased exclusively on the faithfulness of his labours as a minister of Christ.

This faithful minister of the Lord has taken a very appropriate passage for his discourse, from Matt. xx. 8. "Call the labourers, and give them their hire" and the main feature is a scriptural definition of the duties and the indispensable qualifications of a gospel minister, under the character of a "Labourer." The remarks he has made, on this part of the subject, are in perfect correspondence with our own views, the nature of which may be gleaned from a quotation or two.

"A commission from the Most High to the work, and the broad seal of his approbation in the work, are essential credentials for a labourer in