I believe and feel it, my spirit continues to exist, even when the angel of death extinguishes the vital torch.

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And there is a recompense prepared beyond the grave, a recompense both of the good and bad. Virtue weeps here not unseen. The sinner triumphs not unregarded. There is a day,— a day of restitution, in which the monarch doffs his purple, the beggar his rags:- when the spirits shall stand before the Judge, and hear his voice. The hour is coming in which every man must receive according to what he has done, and the just shall attain a glorified existence. the nature of that existence, and how the lot of the virtuous and the wicked shall be parted, who can investigate? Who has returned from the unknown world to report its secrets, and discover that which God withholds?

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Vain presumption! The God of grace who called you into this lower world, to make you happy, He calls you also to a future life. Trust in Him. Trust your Heavenly Father. He will deal well with you, as throughout all his vast creation.

This is child-like faith.

And hold fast this confidence at all times. Let this belief be your chief wisdom. From it springs cheerfulness of mind, and a sweet serenity of spirit under every trial. All other disputing and searching into the mysteries of religion terminates in reveries and visionary notions, with which a heated imagination deludes ourselves and others.

Never! oh never, let yourself be shaken in this childlike confiding faith, which edifies the heart, which leads to piety and the perfection of all the Christian graces. Be not seduced by the doctrines of men presuming to determine what God has been silent on:-by the wordy zeal of those who, with vain self-conceit, as if the word of God had come to them only, hold their own opinions, their own expositions for infallible truth, and with pitiable temerity, -say rather with drivelling imbecility, damn every one that does not and dare not subscribe to their notions.

Christ only is my High-priest, my Teacher. His word alone is my guiding-star; and eternal love, eternal mercy my creed, fruitful in high resolves and holy acts. I will believe as my divine teacher did,-without artifice or laboured interpretation of divine mysteries;-without an

xiety and distrust of that which awaits me in the counsels of my Heavenly Father. And should the most grievous of events befal me, yet my faith shall not falter: — when the waters go over me, I will lift my hands in prayer, and say in a peaceful spirit,- Father in Heaven, thy will be St. d. Andacht. No. 223.

done.

Probably a hundred years will not have passed before there arises from among the various churches of Western Europe a new church, discriminated from them all in ordinances and usages, yet in accord with all in regard to those truths which Jesus has revealed. What do I say? This community subsists in reality already, without having yet assumed a definite, visible form. *

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There are multitudes,- both Catholics and Protestants, who in externals, and in conformity to the institutions of their country, adhere to the communion in which they were brought up, while their heart and spirit is dissatisfied with a Theology derived from the dark ages, or from an era of controversial virulence; and with a ritual which has ceased vitally to represent its objects.

These, without express concert,-know, comprehend, and love one another. They are friends and fellowdisciples of Christ, without reference to sectarian distinctions. All of them, with the heart, are united, in Christ, to God, the compassionate Father of all his creatures. They all acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God, by whom the Supreme Being has miraculously revealed himself to spirits on earth. They all feel that all good, for them, and in them, is not of themselves, but from the pure grace of God. They are striving after inward improvement and regeneration by the spirit of God, their glorious preparation for the life eternal. They all realize what Jesus and his Apostles taught, that in their country, the Universe, -love is the supreme law and the source of every virtue. They all concur in this, that no one who does not deny himself and his impure affections, and follow Jesus in a holy mind and a good life, can be a child of God,—a disciple of the Lord.

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And when all mankind, with confidence and a child-like spirit, shall pray to One Father,--the Living God: — confess One Teacher and Redeemer,-Christ Jesus:-hold fast one hope in life,—in death, the mercy of the Eternal to everlasting:-receive and obey One Law of Love; —then the time is come of which it is said,— “there shall be One Shepherd and One Fold." Amen!

Ibid. No. 413, A.D. 1816.

REVIEW.

The Mutual Recognition of Virtuous Friends in a Future State: a Discourse by the REV. WILLIAM. PORTER of Newtonlimavady: Preached before the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster, and published at the Request of that Reverend Body.— Belfast, Greer, 8vo.

THIS Discourse is now passing through the press, and will probably be ready for delivery in a very few days after the publication of the present number of the Bible Christian. Under these circumstances, we hope to be excused for deviating from our usual practice, by calling the attention of our readers to a work which is not yet before the public.

Mr. Porter takes his text from 1 THESS. iv. 13, 14. For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others who have no hope: for as we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." From these words the Rev. Preacher takes occasion to discuss the very important and interesting subject stated in the title of his discourse.

We have not time to write a regular analysis. We must therefore content ourselves with giving, as a specimen of the treatment of the argument, the following paragraphs from the commencement of the sermon; although well aware that the topics touched upon, rise in interest as the discourse proceeds; and that in selecting this extract alone, we do the author less than justice.

"The Christians to whom this soothing and affectionate remonstrance was addressed, seem to have been mourning, perhaps to an immoderate degree, for the death of certain individuals, to whom they were warmly attached. And surely the death of those we love-of those who are dear to us by nature, or closely connected with us by affinity, is one of the heaviest calamities to which hapless mortals are exposed. The loss of property is a misfortune

comparatively insignificant-may be retrieved by subsequent assi duity and exertion, or rendered supportable by various alleviating considerations; but the loss of persons to whom our souls are bound by ties of affection, is the bereavement of a treasure which, in this world, at least, can never, never be recovered. Life becomes loathsome to us, and all its expectations, occupations, and advantages, cannot fill up the void produced in our bosoms.

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My brethren, the only effectual consolation, under this most pungent of mere earthly sorrows, arises from the prospect of a renewed existence beyond the gloomy precincts of the grave-from the hope, that those lamented relatives, who have been torn from our arms by the rude hand of the fell destroyer, will be restored to us hereafter, and that we shall again enjoy their society in the many-mansioned house of our common Father.

"In the discourse about to be delivered, I shall endeavour to show the stability of the grounds on which we are encouraged to indulge this heart-healing anticipation. That the subject is involved in some degree of obscurity, I do not hesitate to acknowledge. We have been graciously permitted to ascend Mount Pisgah, and are thus enabled to discern the shadowy outlines of the promised land; but that wished-for region lies far, far in the distance, and fogs and vapours intercept our view. Dark clouds rest on the horizon of the world of spirits; and, when trying to explore its mysterious recesses, we must be satisfied with such gleams of illumination, as God, in his wisdom, has vouchsafed to afford. However, although the arguments now to be adduced may not amount to absolute demonstration, yet I do unfeignedly trust, that they will prove abundantly sufficient to justify a rational and unbiassed belief.

"That the kingdom prepared for the blessed will be a state of social intercourse, is an expectation which we are fully warranted to entertain. The great Creator of all has so framed our moral constitution, that we are unable to conceive how angels themselves could be happy, if strangers to the enjoyment arising from a recip. rocal communication of harmonious sentiments and thoughts. As for man, it was not good that he should be alone, even in paradise; and, without the fellowship and sympathy of congenial beings, Heaven itself would be no Heaven to him. Contemplative adoration of the Divine character will, undoubtedly, form a large portion of the future felicity of the righteous; but, that their felicity shall be derived solely and exclusively from this source- that they will have no taste whatever for any pleasures, except such as are purely and abstractedly devotional-that their faculties are to be totally and incessantly absorbed in lonely meditation, is an idea altogether incompatible with some of the noblest and most amiable principles implanted in our nature. The human heart yearns to show kindness; and, if deprived of objects, would pine and languish amidst all the splendour of the celestial world.

"Glorified spirits are represented, in Scripture, as inhabitants of the same holy city-as members of the same household, or family-as inmates of the same eternal building.-We are informed, that "many shall come from the East, and from the West; from the North and from the South, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God." And are the wise and

ず

the worthy of every nation, and of every clime, to be thus assembled in the same blissful abodes? are they to retain, as we know they will retain, both a capacity and a relish for "heavenly converse sweet?" and, under these circumstances, is the seal of everlasting silence to be imposed on their lips? The supposition is incredible. "Still, as it is certainly possible to conceive that social intercourse may take place amongst the myriads who constitute the general congregation of saints, though there should be no such thing as mutual recognition on the part of individuals once intimately connected, I shall now proceed to evince, that virtuous friends will recollect each other, on meeting in the mansions above. "Both reason and revelation sanction the belief, that, in a future and higher state of existence, our intellectual powers shall be quickened into an acuteness of apprehension, which they are, at present, incapable of reaching. And, is it not fair to conclude, that the memory, which is one of those powers, will partake of this improvement, in a proportionate degree? Is it not incongruous to allege, that a faculty so indispensably necessary for the acquisition and retention of knowledge, will become impaired at the very time when all the other faculties of the soul are to be enlivened and invigorated? Impossible.

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The ways of God are uniform, harmonious, consecutive. With him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.-The plan which he has adopted for the education of his rational offspring, during their minority here below, will be unremittingly prosecuted on their removal to a more advanced school of instruction in the realms of light. Now, it is a fact, verified by experience, that, in this world, the schemes of Providence are so modelled, as to render the information gained by us in the earlier stages of life, the basis, or groundwork, of all our subsequent acquirements. Were the ideas impressed on the mind of the child, to be effaced from the recollection of the youth; and were those which the youth has accumulated to be forgotten by the man, how insignificant would be the attainments of even the most highly-gifted descendants from Adam. The astronomer who can measure the distance and the magnitude of the stars in the firmament, and foretel the exact period at which comets, apparently irregular in their movements, will revisit our solar system, would be nothing else, under the circumstances supposed, than a mere babe, in point of understanding. Without the preservative principle of reminiscence, all other mental endowments would avail but little. It cannot, for one moment, be supposed, that a principle thus essentially conducive to purposes the most valuable, will be weakened, on our translation to a state of glory. If the impressions which are here made on the memory are to be rubbed out hereafter, the spirits of just men, instead of being made perfect, must stand much lower in the scale of excellence, at the beginning of their celestial course, than they did at the termination of their mortal. This cannot be-No, no. That plan of moral and intellectual training which the Immutable has commenced in the present preparatory state of discipline, he will carry on for ever, without interruption; and the knowledge, as well as the works, of those who die in the Lord, will follow them beyond the grave.