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their meekness. Indeed, as Christian meekness is in Gal. v 23, expressly called a Fruit of the Spirit, there is the greatest propriety in offering up fervent prayers to God, that he would grant us his holy Spirit so to help our infirmities, that our meekness may be guarded, strengthened, and increased. Buckingham.

REMARKS,

G. G. S.

IN ANSWER TO ENQUIRIES ON 1 TIM. IV. 10.

ONE of your Correspondents having read "That God is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe," was led from a difficulty which presented itself to his mind, to suspect either the faithfulness of our public version, or the purity of the present Greek text; and on reference to the various readings in his New Testament, found that one MS. in New College, Oxford, instead of the word which our translators have rendered Saviour (orig) had another word, which signifies Father (wung); and then asks, "What antiquity and authority has that MS. and this last reading? Does it not best agree with the context and the general sense of the Bible?" If you deem the following Remarks, in answer to this enquiry, of any importance, you will oblige me by inserting them.

Your Correspondent seems to have mistaken the import of the word Saviour in this text, understanding it, in its most popular and important sense, to express Salvation from sin and hell; whereas the Greek word signifies Deliverer, Protector, Preserver, as well as Saviour; and these senses are given of the word by many commentators. Doddridge's note is, “Saviour of all Men. This seems a title parallel to that in Job vii. 20, "Preserver of Men ;" but he is especially the Saviour of believers, as he extends to them the noblest and most important deliverance." This Scripture (1 Tim. iv. 10) expresses God's general and kind regards to his creatures; and also the special love and care which he manifests for believers. Of those we read, “That his tender mercies are over all his works, he preserveth man and beast:" of these; "the eyes of the Lord are upon the righte ous, and his ears are open to their cry. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." The whole world abounds with proofs of God's preserving care; and the Bible gives indubitable evidence of God's special love to his people:-witness Noah in the deluge; Lot at the overthrow of Sodom; Elijah secreted from Ahab's fury, and fo by ravens; Daniel in the lion's den; and the three children, wrapt in the fierce flames of a furnace.

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God is the Saviour (i. e. Preserver, Protector, Deliverer) of all men: he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked; he feeds wretches with his bounty who turn it into wantonuss; he lays his deli

vering hand upon thoughtless and guilty men who are taking desperate steps to their own ruin, and plucks them back when they are just falling from a precipice: he is indeed their Saviour, but the salvation is altogether temporal. But bad men may rea sonably fear they shall be forsaken of God, and left destitute of his providential protection. They have no real security for what they possess, nor any just ground to expect further appearances of God on their behalf. No; it is to the faithful only such blessings are secured. God is especially the Saviour (i.e. Preserver, Protector, Deliverer) of such; and Paul seems to found this sentiment upon a faithful, and perhaps very common, saying in those times, the truth of which was asserted in the Scriptures, and abundantly proved by the history of good men, and, therefore, worthy of all acceptation, "That godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as well as that which is to come." fore," says the apostle, "we labour and suffer, trusting in him who is by promise, respecting the life that now is, our Friend and Saviour." He treats them with peculiar care and tenderness; he will never forsake nor abandon them to the evils of the present world, will continue to them the present blessings they enjoy, or turn their troubles and sufferings into substantial blessings !— he has promised to be their God and Guide to death; and after death to be their exceeding great reward!

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Understanding the word Saviour in this sense, I conclude that no correction of the text is necessary. It perfectly harmonizes with "the context and the general sense of the Bible." If your Correspondent should think otherwise, and still prefer the reading (of Father instead of Saviour) in the New College MSS. I should be happy satisfactorily to answer his questions respecting the antiquity of this MS. and authority of that reading. There are three MSS. in New College, Oxford. One contains the Gos pels only; another the Acts, and all the Epistles; and the third contains the Acts and Catholic Epistles. As the enquiry relates to a verse in Timothy, it is to the second of these MSS. we must efer. Extracts were first given from these MSS. in the London Polyglot, and these were afterwards revised by Mills; but even then the accounts of them were very confused. Wetstein, in his second volume, p. 453, gives a clearer account of them. which," says Michaelis, "I shall abide, as he probably paid all possible attention to a subject in which he attempted not only to correct the faults of his predecessors, but his own. He saw these MSS. in 1715; but it does not appear that he deemed any of them worthy of a collation. He has marked them all as modern." Michaelis observes, respecting the MS. to which this enquiry relates, "That it has different readings (particularly Heb. vi. 2. and Eph. ii. 3.) which are very remarkable, whether genuine or spurious if spurious, they are at least ingenious conjectures of the copyist; but are no recommendation of the readings of this MS. considered as evidence." ASIATICUS.

"By

Evangelicana.

ON ASSURANCE.

[From the Rev. Ralph Erskine's Sermon on FAITH'S PLEA,

Vol. V, Sermon lxxxvii, p. 477.]

"But I want assurance of all these things," may one say. Well, what mean you by that, man, woman, that you want assurance? I suppose that many do not understand themselves, when they say they want assurance; for what better assurance would you have than the word of God? If you have his word, and take his word, you need no better assurance. If a man of credit, whom you can depend upon, give you his word for such a thing, then you depend upon it; and say you are assured of it, for you have his word. There is an assurance of sense, that is, the assurance of the work, when you have got the thing promised. This is not properly assurance, it is enjoyment; but the assurance of faith is the assurance of a word: and though the assurance of sense be sweetest, yet the assurance of faith is the surest assurance; for what you get in hand you may soon lose the comfort of it; but what you have upon bond in the promise, is still secure. If you take God's promise, you have the best assurance in the world; but if you say you want faith, you cannot take his word, or trust his word; then this is plain dealing. I fear this indeed be the case of the most. Then you want assurance indeed; because you want faith, and cannot take his word, nor give him so much credit: but if any be saying, "That, indeed, is my case," I cannot believe his word. Doth God say nothing to me? Is there any word suited to my case? Yes; there are promises of faith, as well as to it: "I will leave in the midst of them a poor and afflicted people; and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. In him shall the Gentiles trust *." Hath the Author of faith so promised? Then, O take him at his word! Cry for faith; saying," Lord, do as thou hast said."

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* Zeph. iii. 2.

Dr. Owen makes the following Remarks on the Method or Order which the Holy Spirit has adopted in the Scriptures:

SOME men find fault with the Scriptures, because divine truths are not thrown into regular order, as in our catechisms. Thus, one is reported to have said, "That had he been present at the creation of the universe, he would have disposed some things in a better order; for vain man would be wise, though he is like the wild asses coits." And no wiser or better are their thoughts, that the revelation and supernatural truths might have been better disposed than they are in Scripture. God puts not such value on mens' accurate methods as they imagine them to deserve. Nor are they so subservient to his ends in the revelation of himself as they are apt to fancy; ; yea, often when they think they have brought truths into the strictest propriety of expression and order, they lose both their power and their glory. Hence is the world filled with so many lifeless, sapiess, graceless, artificial declarations of divine truth in the schoolinen and others. We may sooner squeeze water out of a pumice-stone than one drop of spiritual nourishment out of them. But how many millions of souls have received divine light and consolation, exactly suited to their condition, by those occasional occurrences of truth which they meet with in the Scripture, which they would never have obtained by those wise artifi cial arrangements which some men would fancy. Truths have their power and efficacy on our minds, not only from themselves, but from their place or position in the Scriptures. There are they placed in such aspects towards us, and in such conjunctions one with another, as their influence on our

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minds greatly depends thereon. He is no wise man, nor exercised in these things, who would part with any truth out of its proper place, where the Holy Spirit hath disposed and fixed it. The Psalmist saith of God's testimonies, They are the men of his counsel and no man will make choice of a counsellor, whose wisdom consists in sayings and rules cast into a certain order and method. He alone is a good counsellor who, out of the largeness and wisdom of his own heart and mind, can give advice according to all present occasions and circumstances. Such counsellors are the testimonies of God Artificial methodizing of spiritual truths may make men ready in notions, cunning and subtle in disputations; but it is the Scripture itself, in its own present arrangements, which is "able to make us wise to salvation,"

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Should the following delightful PRAYER, composed and used by the late Reverend and venerable Mr. ADAM, of Wintringham, when he retired to prepare his Pulpit-Addresses, be considered as worthy of admission in your valuable Magazine, its insertion may benefit some of our younger ministerial friends; and will oblige CLERICUS.

“O BLESSED Lord God, who teacheth man knowledge, and givest wisdom to the simple, assist and bless me in all my studies and undertakings, and especially in the work I am now about, of meditating and preparing what I am to deliver to thy people in thy name! Open mine eyes, that I may see the wonderous things of thy law; illuminate my understanding with thy saving truth, purify my heart with the love of it. Enable me rightly to divide thy word from my own inward experience; and to declare it boldly, in full assurance of faith, with true compassion for souls, and a holy zeal for thy glory! O Jesus, bless the labours of all who are employed in propagating thy gospel of peace and salvation! If it be thy blessed will, increase the number of them; and let thine arm be with them to protect them, and thy Spirit to guide, support, and comfort them. Send out thy commandinent, that thy word may run swiftly, and fulfil all thy good pleasure. Let thy way be known upon earth, and thy saving health to all nations! let the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea! Arise, O Lord! have mercy upon Zion; for it is time that thou have mercy upon her; yea, the time is come! Have mercy upon all unbelievers, take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word; and bring them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock. Thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer; and without thy gracious help we perish! Remember thy holy covenant. "O God, make speed to save us!O Lord, make haste to help us!" Bless me, even me

also, O God, in my ministry in this place! I know I am utterly unworthy to speak at all in thy name; but thou sendeth to man by man, and canst perfect praise, even out of my mouth. Raise up, we pray thce, thy power, and come amongst us; and, with great might, succour us, and send out thy light and thy truth to guide us into the way of peace! Send down thy reproving Spirit to convince us of sin, and to comfort us with the knowledge of thy righteousness; to be in us as a refiner's fire, and like fuller's scap,sitting in judgment upon our lusts, cleansing and cousuming all our iniquities, and casting out the Devil from our hearts! O let us not say, we will not have thy blessed Son to reign over us; but bring us, with penitent hearts, to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, that thro' him, and by faith in his precious blood-shedding, we may rejoice before thee in righteousness and true holiness, all the days of our lives! And, O gracious God, pardon my foul omissions, my unbelief, and wretched thoughtlessness, in neglecting to pray for my fock; and grant that, for the time to come, I may watch over them with godly jealousy, and be very earnest with thee in the overflowings of a faithful and true heart, for a blessing upon my endeavours among them. O Lord, look upon me in mercy, in thy

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greater mercy, because for the place and calling I am in, I must give a stricter account to thee. Look, therefore, upon me, O Lord! — but not till thou hast nailed my sins to the cross of Christ, not till thou hast bathed me in the blood of Christ, not till I have hid myself in the wounds of Christ, that so the punishment, which should else overtake me, may pass Over me. Then look, and say unto my soul," I have forgiven thee;" and by the work of thy mercy in my soul, make me feel it, through Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour' Amen."

DIVINITY OF CHRIST,

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Two gentlemen were once disputing on the Divinity of Christ. One of them, who argued against it, said, "If it were true, it certainly would have been expressed in more clear and unequivocal terins." Well,' said the other, admitting that you believed it, were authorized to teach it, and allowed to use your own language, how would you express the duc trine to make it indubitable?—I would say," replied the first, that You are very happy,' rejoined the other, ⚫ in the choice of your words; for you have happened to hit upon the very words of inspiration. St. John, speaking of the Son, says, "This is the true God, and eternal life."

Jesus Christ is the true God."

SWEARING REBUKED.

A YOUNG man having returned from sea, where he had unhappily ac quired the habit of profane swearing, went to visit a friend in the cour try; when, walking m the garden, and approaching too near a bee hive, one of them stung him on the head; which so excited his wrath, that he began to strike violently at the bees with his hat, uttering at the same time the most dreadful baths and curses. In the midst of his fury, one of these little combatants stung him on the tip of that unruly member (his tongue) which was then so actively employed in blaspheming his Maker. Thus can the Lord engage one of the meanest of his creatures in reproving the bold transgressor, who dares to take his name in vain.

Mr. Editor,

QUERIES.

A CONSTANT READER wishes some of your Correspondents would favour him with an explanation of the following words, in 2 Pet. ii. 20, 21, For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world thro' the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning; for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." JUNIOR,

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Yours,

WHAT is the true meaning of those words in Exod. xxxiv. 7,“ And that will by no means clear the guilty?" As they immediately follow that charming declaration of the name of the Lord, Ke ping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin;" and as they precede an awful threatening, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,” &c. I am much at a loss to understand them; and shall, therefore, be very glad to see a clear and consistent view of the words, as connected with the whole passage.

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Q. Q

If the Query in page 354 be answered in the affirmative, it is asked. Are professing Christians, whose employments are regulated by others, justified in attending to business of reputed urgency, which may be allotted to them for the Lord's Day, if they have not before them full means of judging whether such business is of a nature to come within the definition of a work of necessity ? T. M.

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