It was Christ in himself-in his own glorious person, and not merely in his gifts and communications-that Dr. Hawker was ever endeavouring to set forth. He stood in Zion's pathway as a finger-post, directing poor sinners () "to Christ to Christ, poor burdened soul; " hence a savour-a dew-an unction, ran through his ministry and writings. But was he indifferent to-neglectful of the work and ministry of the Holy Ghost, as some would assert? Certainly not! No man would more rigidly enforce that every discovery of the sinner to himself as a sinner, and every revelation of Christ to that sinner, was wholly by the Holy Ghost. This he knew personally, and this he contended for, both in his public ministry and throughout his wrtings

His Commentary before us sweetly testifies of Christ. We cannot turn open a page without some fresh testimony for Christ; a sweet savour rests upon his-or rather the Holy Ghost's-comments; and one retires from the perusa! with a balmy sweetness upon the spirit. So much love runs through the Doctor's writings. There is no lack of a becoming jealousy for the truth; no disposition to compromise; no attempt to attribute to creature-will or creature-ability that which belongs to God alone; and yet withal there is such a gentle, precious, vein of love runs through the whole of the Doctor's works as cau hardly fail to endear both himself and his Lord to the hearts of his fellow-travellers.

Surely Dr. Hawker's was an enviable spirit, and an enviable position. He was a rare gem in the church of God. A star-formed, we are aware, of like material with others-but certainly destined to shine with a brilliancy but little seen in the spiritual firmament!

We repeat our earnest wish that the work before us may have a large sale. Very considerable expense must necessarily have been incurred in its production. We therefore trust that the publisher may be compensated for so laudable an undertaking.

Priscilla.

The Ancient Roman Catholic Faith contrasted with Modern Popery. Being an Exposition of the inspired Epistle to the Church in Rome. By JOSEPH IRONS, Minister of Grove Chapel, Camberwell, Author of "Jazer,' 99 66 Nathaniel," &c. Printed for the Author, and sold at his house, Camberwell, and by all Booksellers.

MR. IRONS' remarks upon the Baptists were severe. That he has long been an object of attack, we can readily conceive; and, from what in years that are past, has come under our own personal observation, we are in nowise surprised that he should feel deeply on a subject that has caused more divisions among the real children of God, than any other; for who can contemplate the stress laid upon the ordinance in question, without emotion? Who can reflect on the conduct of men ministering professedly-yea, and really-in the Spirit, and then withdrawing from the table of the Lord-separating from the very persons to whom they had just previously been ministering, and whom they hope to sit down

with in the kingdom of God above-separating from them because of party views and feelings? We say, who can contemplate these things without emotion? This very fact—and this alone-would be sufficient to keep us from uniting with any particular Baptist Church, even were we so disposed. It is highly censurable- much to be condemned: an example set by any but the Lord himself. And, to their shame we speak it, we have known Baptist ministers set forth the ordinance itself far more strongly than He whom they declare to be the Lord of the ordinance, and they have shown a warmth of temper both in the pulpit and the parlour which would lead one to avoid broaching a subject that was thus sure to draw out the enmity of the heart. These things ought not so to be. Still, seeing that good men-men whose labours have been equally owned of God with those whose views upon Baptism differed from them-we could have wished that Mr. Irons had expressed himself more clearly. He never meant to rank Baptists with Papists. The former he repeatedly designates as brethren-the latter he treats as at present manifestly of their father the devil; the one he deems as prejudiced-the other as full of all hypocrisy, deceit, and guile; the one he regards as belonging to the good Shepherd, loving him that begot as well as those who are begotten of him-the other he discards as having a rooted enmity to Christ, as well as those who bear his image. Therefore, however ambiguous the language, we are sure Mr. Irons never intended to class the persons, even though he might associate their views upon the one point under consideration.

So much for Baptism and its advocates!

We shall now follow up the aforementioned remarks by brief extracts from the work itself, as so many evidences that it is worthy of a serious perusal.

Of faith Mr. Irons says:

"Paul never taught that faith as a grace had in itself any justifying quality, or property, but his whole epistle proves his meaning to be this, faith discerns and appropriates the perfect righteousness wrought out by the sinner's Surety, and imputed to the sinner as an act of grace, without regard to anything in the creature, and that act of faith, which so appropriates the righteousness of Christ, is accepted of God, so that the sinner stands complete before him in a divine righteousness; and though he worketh not for it-nay, though he be altogether ungodly in himself, yet God justifieth him in Christ through faith."

Of peace :

"This is a privilege but rarely known, even among believers; because, not having full satisfaction of their perfect justification in the sight of God, they are in a state of uncertainty, and constant anxiety, as to their eternal destiny, which is incompatible with the enjoyment of that holy calm which the apostle here calls' peace with God.'

Of justification: —

"Their justification opens the door to their peace; their peace emboldens them in their access to the grace of God, and to the God of grace; that access gains a firm standing to indulge in holy joy, with the prospect of eternal glory opening to the view. Surely this oldfashioned religion is to be preferred to the modern free-will peradventures, contingencies, conditions, and the rest of the Popish fables, which bring neither glory to God, nor peace to the soul.

Now, see, in the following verses (Rom. v. 3, 4, 5), how this ancient Roman Catholic faith supports the mind, and puts forth all the graces under tribulation, yea, even enables the child of God to glory in tribulations under the influence of that divine love which is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost; so that the true Catholic-that is, the true believer in Jesus, whom Popery curses as a heretic-is more than a match for all his enemies, both human and satanic, while the mighty principle of grace keeps him relying upon and communing with God in Christ, under a sweet sense of his justification and acceptance in the one only sacrifice for sin: this is peace. But the poor deluded devotees to priestcraft know nothing of this: they buy their false peace at the confessional, and sell it to the first temptation; while the father confessor laughs in his sleeve at their credulity, fills his pocket with their money, and destroys their souls, yea, his own also, by his infamous traffic and God-insulting hypocrisy.”

Of joy :

"The knowledge and assurance of standing complete in him must produce joy in God (Rom. v. 11) in the hearts of all who have received the atonement by faith; for in that atonement all the perfections of Deity are seen smiling upon the sinner, having received full satisfaction for his sins; so that the pardoned and justified soul may joy in the justice of God as much as in his mercy and love; beginning that joy in holy fellowship with all the persons in the Godhead while on earth, which he knows will be consummated and perpetuated to all eternity above."

We quite agree with the sentiments expressed page 92-3 :

·

"The Christianity of multitudes is a mere effigy, old Adam dressed up in Christian clothing, but quite destitute of Christian life; most accurately are they described by the Holy Ghost with the Psalmist's pen: They have mouths but they speak not (spiritually); eyes have they but they see not; they have ears but they hear not; noses have they but they smell not; they have hands but they handle not; feet have they but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat' (Psalm cxv. 5 to 7). In fact, they have a name that they live, but are really dead in sin (Rev. iii. 1).

"The relative position in which the ancient Church in Rome stood, as united to Christ, is strikingly set forth by the law of wedlock in the opening of this chapter. The holy law of God is represented as a hus

band, and a very stern and imperious one, who never ruled by affection, but by authority. However, this austere husband is said to be dead, and consequently no louger able to exercise his authority over the Church; but she is at liberty to be married to another, even to Christ. Believers being dead to the law and the law dead to them, all acknowledgment of the law as a covenant of works is insult offered to Christ, just as in wedlock, the cleaving to the authority of the first husband after he is dead would be an insult to the second; yet what numbers who have taken the name of Christ, as if married to him, continue wedded to the law, and cling to its authority, as if they had not found all they want in Christ, and are inclined to put more confidence in Moses the servant, than in Jesus the Lord. Moreover, if the Church be not dead to the law, she ought not to be married to Christ, nor even to express affection towards him, for by so doing she will be justly counted an adultress; hence it is plain to every thinking man, that Popery is an adultress, for she goes after many lovers, and her whole system is made up of law drudgery and law terrors, and yet the name of Christ is assumed as if he were her lawful husband; she has indeed the effrontery of an harlot in naming all her illegitimate race of free-willers after him, calling them Christians, while she openly avows her attachment to the first husband (the law), and her children own the parentage, looking to the law for their rule of life.

"The chaste and faithful bride of Christ, his living Church, in every age, and in every place, surrenders heart and life to him, owus his sacred authority alone, lives embosomed in his heart, and scorns even the thought of a rival. The law of her life is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus-the principle of her actions is the love of Christ constraining the rule of her conduct is the word of Christ dwelling in her richly-she is jealous of his honour, and he is jealous of her chastity; in a word, mutual affection binds Christ to his Church, and his Church to him, so closely, that they are emphatically and eternally one: nor can any intruders, such as Mary and Peter, be allowed to divide the affections of husband and wife."

Again

"Many vainly hope that when they have tamed and cultivated old Adam a little more, these evil propensities will behave themselves better, or cease to exist, so that they shall progress in sanctification, of human manufacture, until they reach perfection in the flesh. And this anti-Christian delusion sometimes goes on until some dirty fall and some broken bones convince the poor soul too painfully that old Adam is old Adam still, after all the trimming and coaxing he has had."

"Those who are still under the law, and destitute of divine life, having no union with Christ, war not with the flesh, bow not to the authority of the best of husbands, but adhere to the traitor free-will, who, to ape Christianity as well as he can, excites nature's passions with religious frenzy, and stirs and moves the body of death by a kind of theological galvanism.”

A better word certainly could not have been found in the whole English language. "Theological galvanism!" We can only wish that in these days of religious science some of its votaries may be led to pause and consider; and if the Holy Ghost should graciously open their understandings to a discovery of what it is to be instructed by him, and what it is for the natural mind to be wrought upon by mere human intelligence and concurring circumstances, such will be no losers.

Page 107 Mr. Irons says :—

"This is the essential difference between a real Christian and a nominal Christian; the former is under the law of sin and death, so that all his religion is drudgery, or as he calls it, duty, while the latter is under the law of the spirit of life,' which is in Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus in him, by which his duties become privileges, his service perfect freedom, and his sharpest conflicts win the highest triumphs." Page 112:

"The spirit of adoption is given to them, so that their intercourse with Jehovah partakes of the character of the child conversing with a parent with becoming freedom, alike free from rudeness and from dread, delivered from the spirit of bondage, and favoured with affectionate' intimacy with the Father of mercies and God of all grace, so as to unbosom every secret, and know the Father's secret too."

Thus the work speaks for itself. It is pithy and powerful; for the most part the style is argumentative, but ever and anon there is a sweet burst of consolatory, precious truth, which lays a firm hold upon the heart of the reader, and renders it worthy of a wide circulation.

The Church and What it is; being traces of the Real Church of the Living God during the First Two Centuries. By the Rev. J. W. Gowring, B.A., Minister of the Gospel. London: W. Bennett, 53, Paternoster Row.

A REPRINT, in a cheap form, of the series of papers which have already appeared in this Magazine. Mr Gowring has briefly interspersed the history with weighty remarks; his comments are clear and scriptural; they appeal to the heart as well as to the judgment of the reader, and thus render the work additionally valuable. We hope our readers will patronize it extensively.

CITY STEAM PRESS, LONG LANE: D. A. DOUDNEY.