God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Give none offence; neither to the Jew, nor to the Greek, nor to the Church of God." It is vain for the Christian to expect that he shall escape the censure of men. "The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord;" and though his conduct should be blameless and pure as that of an angel of light, there will always be some who falsely accuse his good conversation in Christ. Though in all things he should study to keep his conscience void of offence toward God and toward man, it is impossible for him to spend the term of human life, short as it is, without having laid to his charge, by merciless calumny, things that he knows not.

Christian! the men of the world are your enemies; and enemies who not only wait for your halting, but lay snares for your life. You must not, however, consider it a matter of indifference whether you please or displease them. When you consult with flesh and blood, you are taught to render evil for evil, and to recompense injury with revenge. But the doctrines of the gospel enjoin a practice quite the reverse, and require you to render good for evil, and to repay hatred with love; to throw no stumbling-block, or occasion of evil, in the way of the Jew or of the Greek; but towards them, as well as to your brethren in Christ, maintain a blameless and harmless conversation, "that the worthy name by which you are called be not blasphemed. Walk in wisdom towards them that are without."

3. A conversation becoming the gospel, is a conversation sweetened with love and kindness. When the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, it is natural for those who love God, to love them who are begotten of him. And this is what the doctrines of the gospel strictly enjoin: "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. Let love be without dissimulation. Love one another with pure hearts fervently. Have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity covereth a multitude of sins." To be disposed to good from a principle of kindness and love, to seek opportunities of fulfilling this law of Christ, is a temper of mind to be found only among those who have imbibed the spirit of the gospel. Neither must their practice stop short with acts of love and kindness to their friends; but as followers of God, who is "kind to the evil and the unthankful," they are commanded to love their enemies, and to do good to them that hate them. It is difficult, indeed, for them to love those who hate them, or shew kindness to those who speak evil of them, and who treat them with scorn; but love them they must, be kind to them they must, if they would fulfil the law of Christ, and maintain a conversation becoming the gospel. The treatment they receive from others is not the rule of their conduct, and must not tempt them to retaliate in any other manner than the doctrines of the

gospel have prescribed; and these doctrines teach them to repay hatred with love, cursing with blessing, and the worst of usage with intercession and prayer.

4. To maintain a conversation becoming the gospel, Christians are called to the exercise of compassion and mercy. "Be ye merciful as your Father who is in Heaven is merciful. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies. The wisdom that is from above is full of mercy and good fruits." There is left on record, in the gospel history, an example of mercy in the tender-hearted Samaritan, which, wherever this gospel is preached, will be told for a memorial of him. But mere humanity, or a compassionate disposition, however amiable in itself and grateful to mankind, is far inferior to that temper and practice which should adorn the Christian conversation. That mercy and that compassion, which are worthy of the gospel of Christ, are the fruits of the Spirit, and shew themselves in cor responding acts in the life, in conformity to his character, who is kind to the evil and the unthankful. So numerous are the poor and the needy, the afflicted, the cast down, the tempted, that, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, your bowels of mercies can never want proper objects of compassion. Your profession, as the children of our Father who is in Heaven, calls you to the exercise of mercy in the whole of your conversation when proper objects present themselves; and the exercise of this mercy is necessary to prove your sincerity. On the other hand, it is in the most explicit manner declared, that the want of this temper, and a practice corresponding to it, is a decisive proof of the want of religion. The unmerciful are ranked with those who are given over of God to a reprobate mind, and who are worthy of death. "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto him, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful for the body, what doth it profit? Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of mercies from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink."

5. To cherish a peaceful disposition, and to cultivate peace, is to maintain a conversation becoming the gospel. There are few things present to the world a more amiable display of the Christian character than a peaceful disposition; and none more. strictly enjoined by the doctrines of the gospel. A peaceful disposition, which is the fruit of the Spirit of God, is the attainment only of those who are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, being justified by faith. "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding," keeps their hearts and minds, and is a blessing with which strangers do not intermeddle. This peace makes their sleep sweet, and yields them a continual feast. God keeps them in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on

him, because they trust in him. They must study, however, tą maintain, through the whole of their conversation, a practice corresponding to that quiet and serenity they enjoy within; and assist in suppressing that discord and strife which frequently disturb the most retired walks of human life. In a particular manner, it is becoming the gospel of Christ, that all the people of Christ be at peace among themselves. To promote this desirable object, the following exhortations, addressed to them, are worthy of the most serious attention:-"Have peace with one another. Let us follow after the things which make for peace, and things whereby one may edify another. Be at peace among yourselves. Be of one mind; live in peace. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which you are called in one body." A conversation regulated according to these divine instructions, will be a shining ornament in the Christian character, and a high recommendation of that gospel which inculcates it. There is nothing more directly repugnant to the nature and spirit of the gospel than an opposite conduct. A conduct marked with envy, dissention, and strife, is a conclusive proof that the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, is still predominant within. "The wrathful man stirreth up strife. A froward man soweth strife, and causeth contention and reproach. The works of the flesh are these-Variance, emulations, wraths, strifes." But the people of Christ are enjoined to seek peace, and maintain it, not only with their brethren in Christ, but with all: and though they meet with injuries and insults from the men of the world, they must bear these with patience and without resentment, for it is becoming the doctrines of the gospel of Christ that they render not evil for evil, but" follow peace with all men; and, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." Let the authority and example of your Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine and examples of his holy apostles, and the high recommendation which a peaceful conduct will give to your holy profession, influence you to exemplify it. "The beginning of strife is like the letting out of waters; but blessed are the peace makers, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven."

These few observations adininister severe reproof to various professors. There are none, indeed, who are, in all respects, what they ought to be; but there are many whose practice is a glaring contradiction to their profession. They profess to embrace the doctrines of the gospel of peace, yet hesitate not to sow discord among brethren, and scatter fire-brands, arrows, and death. They can wantonly tear to pieces the characters of others, and, by tale-bearing and whispering, separate chief friends. Cthers, hard-hearted and unfeeling towards objects of distress, shut their cars against the cry of want; and, pitiless, expel the needy wanderer from their door. Is this being mer ciful, as your Father who is in Heaven is merciful? Nay, if

you are destitute of these spiritual dispositions, and of that holy practice which the foregoing observations inculcate, you are yet far from the kingdom of Heaven, whatever knowledge you possess, and whatever profession you maintain. With what confidence can you address yourselves to the throne of God, or say, "Our Father which art in Heaven," while you cherish tempers, and maintain a practice so opposite to what is descriptive of his children? Are not wraths, strifes, contentions, of the works of the flesh? Are not deceit, falsehood, and want of mercy, worthy of death? Is not your disinterestedness about the comfort and peace of the people of God, a plain evidence that you are not of the number? Lay aside that religion which you wear for a cloke of licentiousness, and appear what you are. "Be holy in all manner of conversation; be harmless and blameless; be self-denied, and denied to the world; be merciful and compassionate; seek peace and pursue it," or cease to bear the name of Christians,

ADJUTOR.

ANSWER TO A QUERY

ON TWO TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE.

Sir,

To the Editor.

To reconcile Isa. xxviii. 16. "He that believeth shall not make haste;” with chap. xlix. 17, " Thy children shall make haste," according to G. H. R.'s request in your Number for March 1804, p. 126, recourse need only be had to the scope of the prophetic discourse in each place.

Isa xxviii. 16. Jehovah displays the vanity and sin of trusting to any created existence for safety and peace, whether under the prospect of temporal difficulties, as did those mentioned in verse 15, or with regard to eternity, by declaring the only true foundation whereon to build hopes of deliverance here,— or of Heaven hereafter. This foundation is the incarnate Jehovah. In pursuance of the eternal covenant, he became the infallible Saviour of all his chosen, and "a stone of stumbling, a rock of offence, to those who stumble at the Word (the divine Logos) being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." 1 Pet. ii. 8, compared with chap. i. 20. This seems evidently the connexion of verse 16 with the context.

By the latter clause of this verse, the prophet of Jehovah shews the salutary and beneficial effects which should be infallibly produced in the experience and conduct of every real believer in this incarnate Saviour, who should consequently build on this genuine and safe foundation. "He that believeth shall not make haste." A pleasing pious writer of the last century, Mr. Hervey, in his Theron and Aspasio, Vol. II. Let. 5. illustration of the phrase "Shall not make haste," see his Note in the same place.

For his

thus comments on these words: "Whosoever believeth, though pressed with adversities, or surrounded with dangers, shall not make haste; but, free from tumultuous and perplexing thoughts, preserved from rash and precipitate steps, he shall possess his patience; knowing the sufficiency of those merits, and the fidelity of that grace on which he has reposed his confidence, shall quietly, and without perturbation, wait for an expected end and not only amidst the perilous or disastrous changes of life, but even in the day of everlasting judgment, such persons shall stand with boldness. They shall look up to the grand Arbitrator, look round on all the solemnity of his appearance, look forward to the unalterable sentence, — and neither feel anxiety, nor fear damnation."

Isa. xlix. 17. Thy children shall make haste." In the former part of this chapter, Jehovah declares, by his prophet, the recovery of his chosen among the Jews to the possession and enjoyment of salvation in and by Jesus Christ; and shews: that this privilege shall be extended to the Gentiles, verse 6.— The success of the Lord-Redeemer among the Gentile nations is then described, together with the blessings they should experience, ver. 9-12. - Zion is next introduced as one complaining of desertion on account of her present desolate condition, verse 14, i. e. the Jewish church scattered and dispersed among all nations. Jehovah brings to her recollection his rich promise of spiritual deliverance by Jesus Christ from the bondage and guilt of sin, to the enjoyment of all spiritual blessings in her covenant Saviour, and causes her to feel the present state of spiritual desolation and bondage. Thus, convinced of her misery, longing for deliverance, she complains, "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." Jehovah hears because he loves his church, and these complaints dishonour him, he expostulates, verse 15, “Can a woman forget her sucking child?"&c. And to manifest his unchangeable faithfulness, declares she shall speedily be put in possession of the promised spiritual blessings. "Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers, and they that made thee waste, shall go forth of thee." As if he had said, Thou shalt no longer have cause to complain of thy desertion; thy desolations are at an end; - I will speedily recall thy children by a genuine conversion; I will restrain the malicious power of thy enemies, and, in due time, totally drive them from thee. Thus, by Jehovah's dealing with the Jewish church, is displayed the genuine mode of conversion. When he begins conversion-work, he will also make an end. When a sinner perceives the excellence, suitableness, and willingness of Jesus Christ to be his Saviour, and feels his own guilt, helplessness, wretchedness, and ruin, drawn by divine power and love, he "makes haste" to receive, by faith, this Saviour, and commit his eternal concerns into his faithful, compassionate hands When Jesus Christ is thus re-,