5

religion." How simple, how sincere is this petition! True religion-that which has the glory of God, the honour of Christ, and the salvation of mankind, for its object. For its end must be true, since it emanates alone from a God of truth. It proceeds not from man, neither does it seek the praise of man, but God is all in all. Still, such is the effect produced by this singleeyedness, that invariably it commends itself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But this religion must not be of a monotonous, dead nature; no-the root planted must thrive. "All trees of the Lord's planting," says the Psalmist, "are full of sap:" and Christ, setting forth the graces of his church, declares, "that none is barren among them."2 We must, then, increase,3 follow on, press onward, grow:6 and so add to our faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,' &c., till we come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. But from whence is fallen, sinful man to derive strength to enable him thus to do? Blessed be the name of our God, the same love, power, and goodness that "grafted" these holy principles in the heart, is also engaged to nourish it."8 And mark how full is the petition-" With all goodness." How refreshing is the thought, that though the promises God has given, the provisions he has made, "exceed all that we can desire," yet they are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus. Like the church of old, then, should we present our petitions, that we might be nourished with all goodness. A tree cannot bear fruit of itself; the warmth of the sun, and the refreshing shower, must be experienced ere it can live and thrive. So must the Christian abide under the congenial rays of the Sun of righteousness, and partake of the influences of the Holy Spirit; 10 then shall he grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.11 But without this continual supply, he must faint, grow weak, and die: hence the necessity of the concluding petition-"Of thy great mercy keep us in the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Salvation is wholly of grace: Christ is both the author and finisher thereof, the Alpha and Omega.

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Hence the testimony of St. Paul-"I live, yet not 1; but Christ liveth in me. "12 Ponder these precious truths, then, my soul. Dost thou love God? Art thou increasing in true religion, being nourished with all goodness? Then, bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name: and evermore rejoice in the truth, that "He that hath begun the good work, will carry it on even to the end," through Jesus Christ.

2 Psalm xcii. 12-15.

1 Collect for 7th Sunday after Trinity. Cant. iv. 2. 3 Col. i. 10. 4 Hosea vi. 3. 5 Phil. iii. 13-15. 62 Peter iii. 18. 7 2 Peter i. 5-8. 8 Isaiah xxvii. 3. 9 Cant. iv. 16. 10 Malachi iv. 2. Isaiah xliv. 3, 4. 11 Hosea xiv. 5-7. 12 Galatians ii. 20.

THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

3

"O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

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God's providential care is alike over all things both in heaven and in earth--good,1 never failing. The highest angel in heaven, and the meanest mendicant upon earth, are alike the objects of his care: each receives their all from him; he disposes of them as it seemeth good to his godly wisdom. Besides which, things material, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars, all are subject to his direction and governance: and as long as the sun and the moon endureth, so shall it be; for the most high God is the possessor of heaven and earth."2 Let my soul, then, in the spirit of adoption, draw nigh to "Our Fa ther, which art in heaven," and seek to be preserved from all things hurtful, and to obtain those things which are profitable for its salvation. But what things are hurt ful, and what profitable, to my soul? Sin is hurtful: it is the cause of all present misery, and its final wages are irrevocable consignment to the place where hope never comes-eternal death.3 Hardness of heart, and contempt of God's word and commandment, are, indeed, things hurtful. At the last day, (says the infallible word of truth,) the Lord Jesus shall come to take ven

geance on them who know not God and obey not his blessed Gospel:* who reject the overtures of mercy, and do despite to the Spirit of grace." All these shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Again, love of money," pleasure, bad company, and conformity to this world, are things hurtful. They wean the heart and affections away from the things of heaven, and hinder the work of grace in my soul; cause Jesus to hide the light of his countenance, and the Spirit that should comfort me to depart from me. Yea, sin in all its ramifications is hurtful, inasmuch as it is the abominable thing which God hateth. Therefore, let my prayer be "From sin, from the crafts and assaults of the devil, good Lord, deliver me." Things profitable are the reverse of these. A supreme love to God, to him who made me, to him who redeemed me, to him who sanctifies me, are, indeed, things profitable to me; a spirit of resignation to his will under all the trials and vicissitudes of life, faith to see his Fatherly hand in all, are alike blessings which come from God alone, and which it is good for me to enjoy. But there are still higher bounties to be enjoyed, and which, though they are not providential mercies, should occupy a place in my thoughts. How profitable it is to enjoy a sense of the pardon of my sins, and be at peace with God, through faith in Jesus Christ-to possess the new heart, and the right spirit to live under the guidance of the Spirit, and in sweet communion with my covenant Head

to be sanctified and made meet for the kingdom of heaven to be an heir of God, and joint heir with Christ, are, indeed, blessings-all of them in the highest degree profitable to my soul. Let my soul, then, (so long as it tabernacles in the flesh,) never cease to send up its prayers for these inestimable blessings; and may they come up before God as an odour of a sweet smell, being perfumed with the merits and righteousness of his Son Jesus Christ.

1 Collect for Second Sunday after Trinity. 2 Gen. xiv. 22. Ps. CXXXV. 6. 3 Rom. vi. 23. 4 2 Thess. i. 8. Proverbs i. 24-33. 5 1 Timothy vi. 9, 10. 6 Proverbs vi. 27, 28, 7 Romans xii. 2.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

I. An Exposition of all the Books of the Old and New Testament. By MATTHEW HENRY,

II. The Portable Commentary. The Authorized Version; with 15,000 Critical and Illustrative Notes, selected from the most eminent Biblical Writers, and 50,000 Marginal References: together with the History connecting the Old and New Testaments. With Coloured Maps. Printed on a beautifully fine thin paper; peculiarly adapted for the pocket. By the Rev. INGRAM COBBIN, M. A.

III. The People's Pocket Commentary. By the Rev. INGRAM COBBIN, M. A.

London: Partridge and Oakey, Paternoster Row.

THE country is greatly indebted to Messrs. Partridge and Oakey for this truly national and spirited biblical enterprize.

In proportion as we can enter into the wish that every one in the realm should possess a Bible, and be able to read it, must we rejoice in the thought that a Bible, in point of price, is now within the easy reach of all. It is a most gratifying reflection that every one can nowadays get a nice well-bound Bible for a shilling, and even less.

Thus, in one sense at least, the knowledge of the Lord is covering our land, and all that we want is the Spirit of the Lord, in larger measure, to convey home that knowledge with saving power to men's hearts.

Next to the free circulation of the Holy Scriptures, we rejoice to see issuing from the press every help for their profitable perusal. And it forms a new era in the annals of biblical literature that Commentaries on the Scriptures should now be placed within reach of all classes of the community, being sold in one penny numbers.

Of all standard Commentaries, Matthew Henry's is unrivalled. It is calculated for the youthful as well as advanced disciple; for the wavering and anxious inquirer, as well as the confirmed and experienced Christian. The penny edition, which is now publishing, is in clear type and on good paper. We strongly recommend it to all our readers who can afford to purchase it.

But the "People's Pocket Commentary" is the great wonder. For three shillings, every Teacher may possess himself not only of a neat Pocket Bible (strongly bound in cloth), but with invaluable marginal references, and critical and illustrative notes. Not a Teacher in the land should be without this most useful auxiliary: while as a reward book, in the upper classes, it must stand unrivalled.

The "Portable Commentary" is the same in matter as the "People's Pocket Commentary;" the latter being a stereotype edition from the types of the former. The difference in paper and binding, and the addition of maps, makes the difference in price.

We cordially wish success to an undertaking so manifestly for the advantage of all classes of society, and we cannot but hope that an extensive blessing will be the result.

PERNICIOUS LITERATURE.

We have been at some pains to ascertain the amount of pernicious literature which issues weekly from London, principally in the shape of penny periodicals, and having their circulation chiefly in the provinces, and we find that the astounding result is as follows: that, adding together the entire issues of the Religious Tract Society for 1846, ranging from the small hand-bills, which are circulated by thousands, to large volumes, and including foreign issues as well as home; the entire issues of the British and Foreign Bible Society for the same period, and taking the same range (in all, ninety languages); the entire issues of the Trinitarian Bible Society; the Bibles and Testaments printed in Scotland; the grants of the Sunday-school Union; the entire of our religious periodical literature, including two monthly penny periodicals with a circulation of 100,000 each; adding all this vast amount of combined and individual Christian effort together, the vicious, demoralizing literature, issuing from London alone, exceeds it all by FIVE MILLIONS per year; the former amounting, in round numbers, to twenty-two millions of copies, and the latter to the fearful amount of TWENTY-SEVEN

MILLIONS.