grief to say, that he did not know he had ever been the instrument of converting a single soul to God. Another testified that he never did any good, or at least never knew of any, till he began, under a deep sense of his unprofitableness, to travail in birth for souls; but that from the period when he made it a subject of special prayer that he might be useful in converting sinners, he had received many seals to his ministry. He was known to state that whenever he had prepared and preached special sermons, with a reference to particular classes, or as improvements of alarming and striking events, he had almost uniformly found them successful. On one occasion, preaching upon a public execution, the discourse was blessed to the conversion of two thoughtless and ungodly persons. An eminent minister, when a very young man, preached a sermon upon death, for which an aged Christian subsequently reproved him saying, "God would never bless such preaching as that." The young man was deeply affected and distressed, and could say little in his own defence, except that he had prepared his sermon with a simple desire to save souls, and after he had done it, had presented it to God upon his knees, humbly imploring that the delivery of it might be attended with a divine blessing. The very next day the young minister and the aged professor were taking a walk together for the purpose of talking the matter over, when they were met by a person whose countenance displayed the deepest agony of mind. He instantly recognised the young preacher, and came up to address him. “Oh, sir," said he, "I heard your sermon last night, and ever since I have been in the deepest distress. All night I have been out in the fields praying and crying for mercy. Do tell me what I must do to be saved." The young minister gave him a suitable exhortation, and promised to see him again. After parting with this awakened sinner, the aged Christian exclaimed"This is most extraordinary; that man has been for years the most notorious, scoffing profligate in the town. He bears the character of a wit and an infidel. If he should become a Christian it will indeed be wonderful, and by the very sermon that I considered so unlikely to be useful. This is a lesson indeed to me. I will never again presume to condemn a sermon that may not please me, or to say God will not and cannot bless it." The young minister of course was released from his distress and cheered in his work. The man became a consistent Christian, and was, for many years, one of the principal supports and ornaments of the cause of Christ in that town. ATTENTION TO THE BIBLE AND ITS REAL Christ is more indignant at injuries done to his truths than even to his saints; for the truth makes saints, and the husbandman is more careful of his seed corn than of the increase. CRITICISM ON ACTS xix. 2. "And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." THIS has long appeared to me a very singular passage. I knew not how to reconcile the statement of these disciples with the fact, that John Baptist, their teacher and master, had plainly pointed them to believe in Christ, who was to baptize them with the Holy Ghost, when he should come. If they had attended carefully to John's doctrine, and it appears they had, how then could they be ignorant of the being of the Holy Ghost, as the common version represents ? I have long thought there must be in our version an entire misrepresentation of the meaning of these disciples. This appeared to be fairly inferable from the manner in which Paul treated them. For had they been igno rant of so important a doctrine, one would have expected that, instead of immediately proceeding to rebaptize them, or to give them christian baptism, which, it appears, they had never received, he would surely first have instructed them in the grand truth of which they had professed ignorance. This seemed to render it highly probable that they could not intend to profess ignorance of the personality and office of the Spirit, whose operation in the production of faith in Christ they had already experienced. Having occasion lately to examine the whole passage, I found that Dr. Boothroyd has supplied the word "given." There is authority, derived from our translators themselves, for so supplying the ellipsis, in a strictly parallel passage; John vii. 39. "But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet (given), because that Jesus was not yet glorified. They should have rendered both passages uniformly-either " the Holy Ghost was not yet," and "whether the Holy Ghost be," or boththe Holy Ghost was not yet given" (or received), borrowing the word to be supplied from the previous expression" which they that believe on him should receive," and in Acts-" we have not heard whether the Holy Ghost be yet received,"-borrowing the word from Paul's question, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost?" This appears to me the most natural and simple method of supplying the word necessary to make the sense obvious in both places. That both are elliptical is obvious from this consideration. We cannot admit for a moment that in the passage written by the Evangelist, in John vii. and 39, he intended to say the Holy Ghost did not exist, because Jesus was not yet glorified; for that would be to imply plainly and necessarily, that the Holy Ghost first came into existence then and on that account, which would be inconsistent with the whole tenor of the Bible, and with the fact of Christ's having been baptized with the Spirit when John baptized him with water. It is therefore certain that the passage in John is elliptical, for it 66 literally says " For the Holy Ghost was not yet." If then it is so clearly elliptical, we should look for the sense in the previous words, and then it meets us at once in the expression "which they that believe on him should receive." Let us read on, and carry with us the promise of receiving the Holy Ghost, and it will then clearly follow that John meant the proper part of the verb (aμßáreiv) to be understood" for the Holy Ghost was not yet received, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." From this we may proceed to Acts xix. 2. "He (Paul) said unto them, Have ye received (éλáßere) the Holy Ghost since ye believed (or believing)? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether the Holy Ghost be," (or is received). This appears to remove all difficulty and all obscurity. For then he proceeds to give them the sign of the Spirit's baptism-to lay his hands on them that they might receive the Holy Ghost, and immediately his gifts began to appear-" They spake with tongues and prophesied." BIBLICUS. REMARKS ON THE LORD'S SUPPER, RELATIVE TO 1 COR. xi. 29. "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." THE Comparatively small number of persons who avail themselves of the privilege of the Lord's supper, has been often remarked, and is generally deplored by christian ministers. By different denominations there are different rules laid down, and as these may be strict or lax they may naturally be supposed to have something to do with the fact now noticed. But if this could explain the real cause of the scanty number of communicants, we should then find that those churches which required evidence of christian character would have the smallest number of communicants, and that those who opened their doors the widest would embrace the greatest number. But the facts, in England at least, are not so. The case, therefore, requires some other solution. The number kept back by any rules and restrictions peculiar to certain communities, bears no proportion to the numbers who are kept in a state of alienation by other causes. It will probably appear that the chief impediments which deter a large number of sincere but timid Christians from the Lord's table, are to be traced to the minds and hearts of the parties themselves. Of all the impediments which could be named I think these two are the chief: a yet remaining uncertainty whether they are among the true disciples of Christ, and an indistinct apprehension of a certain irremediable and unpardonable criminality if they should improperly approach the Lord's table. This latter apprehension arises from their mode of understanding such passages as that which stands at the head of this paper. It is not possible here to meet the case of those who doubt their personal piety, or who have not attained to evidence of conversion; but the case of the latter class of persons, those who surround the Lord's table with a superstitious dread of some fatal condemnation in the case of an improper and unworthy participation, may be met by a few further observations on the words of the apostle quoted above. It must be obvious to all who read the holy scriptures attentively, and mark the very interesting steps by which the first churches of Christ were formed and increased, that there were certain preliminaries or preceding steps which were always required before an individual was admitted, and in default of which none were allowed fellowship, or the violation or practical renunciation of which after fellowship, uniformly led to exclusion. It is not proposed to enter minutely into them. But it may be observed, 1. That none could be admitted into christian communion without an acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as their Master and Lord. This generally included the acknowledgment of his divine character and of the |