thou art holy? do I not hate fin, because thou hateft it? is it any thing fhort of thy displeasure that renders it difagreeable to me?

Let me ftill urge the inquiry: Do I not hate it as the accurfed thing, for which Jefus fhed his precious blood? 'Twas fin that brought him from heaven to earth, that turned the Lord of glory into the form of a fervant; 'twas fin that expofed him to hunger and thirft, to cold and wearinefs; 'twas fin that caufed the Maker and Owner of all things to complain, "the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nefts, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head;" 'twas fin that treated him with fcorn and contempt; 'twas fin that agonized him in the garden of Gethsemane. How keen must be his forrows, when "his fweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground!" 'Twas fin that perfecuted him, that betrayed him, that arraigned him at Pilate's bar; 'twas fin that accused and condemned him; 'twas fin that fmote him, that fpit in his face, and that fcourged him; 'twas fin that crowned him with thorns, that led him away to be crucified, that nailed him to the accurfed tree, that pierced his facred fide, and that made him cry out, "My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me ?"-O fin, what haft thou done! Can I meditate on these things, without bearing my. teftimony against thee? How much revenge and holy indignation do I owe thee! In the prefence of God I once more proclaim everlasting war with, and hatred to thee. Here fin appears fin indeed; never do I fee so much of its deformity as when I view it in the glafs of the Redeemer's fufferings. May I not again appeal to thee, O thou heart-searching God! and fay, in the fincerity of my foul, Thou knoweft that I hate it?

Bleffed Jefus didft thou undergo all this for finners, and didft thou, in the midft of thy fufferings, caft an eye of pity upon me the chief of finners, one of the unworthieft of thy creatures? Let me pause awhile-here I am loft in admiration:-Why me, Lord, why me? Who and what am I, that thou fhouldft be mindful of me; that thou fhouldft vifit me with the leaft token of thy favour; that thou shouldit be content to bear the load of my guilt, and make peace for me by the blood of thy crofs! How much love and gratitude do I owe thee! O help me to praise thee; touch my heart with a live coal from thine altar; let this love influence and guide all my thoughts, words, VOL. V.

Ee

and

and actions; and let my whole life be one continual fcene of praise and thanksgiving!

Now I fearch in vain for my fears; I have left them at the foot of the crofs; they are drowned in the fea of unbounded love and grace. Why may I not join the fong of angels, in ascribing falvation to Him that fitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever?

INFORMATION REQUESTED ON THE MEANS OF DOING GOOD.

UR readers will recollect, that in the preface to the prefent volume we threw out fome hints on the various means of becoming useful to the fouls and bodies of our fellow-men, and invited our correfpondents to favour us with fuch ideas as may be fuggefted by their own practice or wifhes. In confequence of which, we have received feveral papers, propofing the establishment of meetings for prayer, focieties for fpreading the Gofpel in particular counties, propofals for extending the benefits of Sunday schools, &c. Thefe would already have appeared in our Magazine, had we not wifhed to avail ourselves of ftill greater information: In order to which, we beg leave, for the prefent, to propofe the following determinate objects of public utility, on which we folicit the friendly cominunications of our readers, minifters and others, whofe hearts the Lord has opened, and difpofed to ferve their generation according to his will.

I. SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

We wish to collect the various ways in which these are managed in Chriflian congregations--What objects are admitted-howchofen-how many in a school-what hours they attend-what falary given to maiters and miftreffes, or whether taught gratis by voluntary teachers-how the hours of attendance are employed-how the important business of vi-fiters is managed--what catechifing and other means of inftruction are afforded--what rewards and punishments are adopted-how long the children continue at the fchoolswhat is done at their difmiffal-what good effects have been obferved their converfion to God-and any other particulars refpecting the management and utility of these charities.

How

How the fchools are fupported, whether by fubfcription or collections.

II. SELECT EVANGELICAL SOCIETIES, in congregations and counties, for the purpose of extending the knowledge of Chrift, and preaching the Gospel, in unenlightened towns and villages.

We fhall be happy to be favoured with the rules of county and other affociations; and the times of meeting; of which, if stated, we fhould gladly publish an annual scheme, which might prefent, in a page or two, all the meetings of minifters throughout the kingdom, and become a mean of communicating religious intelligence in the most ready and pleasing manner.

When we have collected thefe, we fhall gladly publish the various methods that the friends of the Lord Jefus take to diffufe his faving knowledge among their neighbours, which may ferve to kindle a fimilar flame of zeal in others, and to gladden the hearts of the people of God.

III. SOCIETIES FOR THE RELIEF AND INSTRUCTION OF THE SICK.

Much good has been done by focieties in London, called The Sick Man's Friend; and fimilar plans, we believe, are adopted in the country. Thefe, if more generally known, would probably become more numerous; and a compendium of the rules of fuch affociations may contribute abundantly to promote the cause of Christian philanthropy.

IV. DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS TRACTS.

It is well known how extenfively this was practifed by the late Mr. Wesley, and the preachers in his connexion. Individuals among us have alto done what they could: But there feems to be a want of fome general REPOSITORY in the metropolis, where tracts, fanctioned by respectable and well-known names, may be had at a cheap rate, and eafily procured in all parts of England by the ufual channels. Such a plan has long been talked of, and greatly defired by charitable perfons, who would gladly difpenfe fuch publications if they could obtain them. We will thank our correfpondents for hints upon this fubject, or accounts of methods which they already practife-and a lift of pamphlets the most proper for the purpofe.

Thefe four fubjects are perhaps fufficient for the present. We invite the obfervations of our friends upon them, during the following month, or fix weeks at moft; when we will form from them, on each head, fuch a plan, as may contribute, under the help of God the Spirit, to further the

great cause of our bleffed Lord and Master, and enable us, in humbler imitation of his example, to go about, doing good.

P. S. Our readers need not be told that these communications fhould be made to the Editor, without expence to a work, the profits of which are devoted to charitable qb. jects.

ON PREACHING THE GOSPEL.

LETTER II.

DEAR SIR,

S the manner of preaching, described in my former

A letter, is totally empty of the Gofpel, or glad tidings

of falvation, fo the preacher but perverts and blafphemes the Gospel, that doctrine according to godliness, who warmly defcants on the imputed righteousness of Christ, and his Father's free gift of him for men as their furety and ranfom, and to them as their husband and portion, but who neglects to exhibit him as a Saviour from the power and pollution of fin, manifefted to deftroy the works of the devil in my heart and life, and to fill their place with implanted habits and exercises of holiness; as the Redeemer from all iniquity, who comes to turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and who hath purchased for himfelf a peculiar people, zealous of good works: Or who conceals from me, how his redeeming love constrains to hate every false way; how his juftifying fentence makes fure, and promotes, my fpiritual life of conformity to God; how his dwelling in my heart by faith infallibly determines to, and powerfully produces, holinefs in all manner of converfation.

It is not the Gofpel of Chrift, or glad tidings of falvation to finful men, as fuch, though the preacher should all his life difcourfe of the perfon, natures, and offices of Chrift; or of his birth, life, obedience, fuffering, death, refurrection, afcenfion, fitting at God's right hand, interceffion, and coming to judgment; or of his merits and purchafe unless that the preacher truly ftate the nature of his furety undertaking for us, the fubftitution of himself in our room and ftead, as the fecond Adam; unless he truly ftate his relation to the new covenant of grace, as Mediator, Surety, and Adminiftrator of it; and his relation to finful

men

men as their appointed Saviour, offered and given to them in the gracious declarations, promifes, and invitations of God; his relation to his people as their spiritual head and husband, as their only righteoufnefs before God their Judge; as the fource of their fanctification, by his blood sprinkled on their confcience, to free them from the law, or broken covenant of works, as the ftrength of fin, and purge their confcience from dead works, to ferve the living God; and by himself and his Spirit dwelling in them, as a vital principle of holiness, enabling them to deny ungodliness and worldly lufts, and to live foberly, righteously, and godly in this prefent world-unlefs he truly reprefent the perfect freedom of God's fovereign grace in the offers of the Gofpel, and fhew that therein Chrift as a Saviour, Hufband, and portion, and eternal life of holinefs and happiness, as completely purchafed by and lodged in him, are freely, without any regard to their good refolutions, fincerity, repentance, or good works, as the caufe, prefented, offered, and urged on men as finners, even the chief unless he truly reprefent the state of finners' juftification before God, only through the imputed righteoufnefs of Chrift offered in the Gofpel, and received by faith, uniting their perfons to him as their Surety and Hufband, who hath completely paid their debt to the law, as a broken covenant of works; and fhew that no works of theirs, no not those which some call evangelical, have any influence, as any part or ingredient of the condition and ground of it-or if he do not reprefent faith in its true nature, as a perfuafion of the infallible truth of God's record, that there is eternal life in his Son for us loft finners; as a receiving and refting upon Chrift alone for falvation, as he is freely offered to us in the Gofpel-if he do not urge our receiving of Chrift as the mean of renewing our heart; and our living on him by the daily exercife of faith, according to our new covenant ftate, as the mean of producing good works, and ferving God in holinefs and righteoufnefs before him all the days of our life-if he ftate not union and communion with Christ, and gracious communications from his fulness, as the foundation of all our holy obedience; and inculcate holinefs in heart and practice as a privilege as well as a duty; and as a duty only to be performed by our living on Chrift as the Lord our righteoufnefs, our quickening head and vital principle dwelling in our heart by faith. In fine, the leaft neglect to hold forth Chrift as God's free gift, and our all in all, in any privilege or duty; or the leaft recommendation of fin

cerity,