till it meets on its way with much extraneous matter, with which it becomes impregnated, all its original clearness is gone; and being impossible to decompose it, the whole must be rejected, and we must return to the source' (what source?) to draw from thence the unmingled stream.'

We have here the admission, that his religion, not hers-Popery, not Christianity, is founded on the word of God; that it was once pure and undefiled, till it met with extraneous matter in its wanderings from its original source-the word of God! Thus it appears that we have only to disencumber Popery of corruption's foreign and extraneous to itself, (which the writer seems to think impossible, but which cannot be impossible, if its original source be the word of God,) and then it comes forth again, as it originally presented itself, founded on his eternal truth.'

The metaphor in which the view of the writer is clothed is somewhat obscure, but the admission is pregnant with error. ' Christianity,' she might have said, is founded on the word of God, it issued from a rock, pure and undefiled, till it met with extraneous matter, with which it became clouded and encumbered, till its original clearness seemed lost; but, like the blue waters which flow into the Geneva lake, and seem so mingled with it, as to have lost their native hue, and yet issue forth in all their distinctness on the other side, the living water of God's eternal truth separating itself from the dead counterfeit the stagnant pool of papal superstition, flows on in its heavenly course.' Popery, on the other hand, is founded on the lie" of the father of lies; " she had her source in hell. Her master opened the stream of her antichristian blasphemies, and sent it forth upon

the church of Christ; but Popery never was Christianity, nor Christianity Popery,-they could not mix, the one being from Jehovah, the other from the devil; and "what concord hath Christ with Belial?" Like "the carnal mind," Popery is enmity against God; not a bare enemy, or she might have been reconciled to Him. Papists, by abjuring Popery, or as it was in the dark ages, in spite of Popery, may be reconciled to God; but Popery (or as it is erroneously called, the Roman Catholic religion) must remain enmity against Him, even as must her founder the devil. Sin is enmity against God; and that he might reconcile sinners to himself, he put away, crushed, destroyed sin in the person of his sinless Son, so that there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in him. The condemnation of sin is reserved for them that, in the last day, shall not be found in Him.

Popery is one of the great forms in which sin now reigns in the world; infidelity is another. Popery is no more founded on the word of God than infidelity is founded on the word of God. The voice of God's eternal truth calls upon the poor blind Papist to come out of Popery; and upon the proud and reasoning infidel to come out of infidelity. These two forms of Antichrist have long been working, to all outward appearance, in opposite courses. Of late years they have been getting nearer to one another. Perhaps when the mystery of iniquity has brought together every form of Antichrist, in the wake of these two Antichristian powers, there may be seen arising out of their apparently incongruous union, "that wicked whom the Lord shall consume with the

Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."

Pray, dear Madam, let the attention of your correspondent and your readers be called to the above dangerous admission.

Temple Chambers, April 10th.

W. P.

REV. XVIII. 21.

IN Gabriel's hand a mighty stone
Lies, a fair type of Babylon.

66

Prophets rejoice, and all ye saints,

God shall avenge your long complaints."

He said, and dreadful as he stood
He sank the millstone in the flood:
"Thus terribly shall Babel fall,
Thus-and no more be found at all."

The coming hour we long to see,
When Rome's poor captives shall go free,
And ransomed throngs aloud proclaim
All glory to the Saviour's name.

Dr. Watts.

THE CHASTENING ROD.

"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."

IT has been frequently said, that God does not chasten believers for sin, Christ having made a sufficient atonement for all the sin they ever have committed or can commit. The scripture tells us another thing. There we read, that as a father chastens his son, the Lord chastens his children. For a first fault, the correction of the parent is slight; for a second, it is heavier; and if persisted in, the punishment increases in proportion. The parent punishes his child for the purpose of reclaiming him. The stripes he inflicts yield no satisfaction to the fatherthey recompense him not-they cannot discharge a debt due to his justice, but they serve as a warning to his son to depart from evil.

"Behold, thou art made whole, go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."

It is pain and grief, no satisfaction, to an affectionate parent to use the rod of correction. He mourns for that which he is compelled to inflict, and would much rather bear it himself, if by so doing the beloved of his heart could be turned from iniquity.

"Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?"

This affectionate remonstrance is addressed to those whose natural inclination tends to their own destruction. "All we, like sheep, have gone astray.”

Not one would willingly choose the narrow way which leadeth unto life. The ways of death are our ways, until we are forcibly drawn out of them by a great deliverance; for " we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." 2 Cor. i. 9, 10.

Sin shall not have dominion over any who seek deliverance from Him who is Almighty to save. Temptation is strong, but not so strong as the conquering grace which is given. By grace we are saved in every extremity. "Look unto me and be ye saved." "My grace is sufficient for thee."

"God is love," and therefore he sends chastisement to wean our hearts from this world, and draw them to himself;-this is the reason given by those who assert that no punishment is designed in the infliction. Yet are we not told, that with the cords of love he draws us, not with the scourge of the whip? Under this we are taught to bow submissively, knowing the needs be,' as we receive a bitter medicine, which is to produce a salutary effect. We humble ourselves, and grieve for that which grieves the Lord, for in all our afflictions he is afflicted, and wept over the tomb of Lazarus for the sorrows which sin had brought upon his beloved, ransomed people.

Our heavenly Father visits the transgression of his children with the rod, and "their iniquity with stripes;" and the word of divine inspiration adds, "Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." Psalm lxxxix. 32, 33.

David believed this assurance, and was supported