WATCH. WHAT a mighty revolution in the whole scheme of human doings would be effected by attention to that one word of our Lord, "Watch." Many disregard it altogether. The rest of us continually forget it, and the best of us often practically ignore it. The busy whirl of human life sweeps along thousands apparently unconscious of anything beyond their own narrow circle, even until the death blast hurries them out of it. Many more whose thoughts are professedly of things above, yield partially to the giddy delusion, and half stupified, awake only as a jolt or a jar on their progress startles them unto activity, if indeed they are thus mercifully prevented from being altogether carried away. What fools we are, thus to act, with eternity around us. Let a short, but affecting narrative be pondered. Extracted from the teeming columns of the Times newspaper, of January 2nd., it sounds mourn fully as a funeral knell falling amidst the bustle of crowded streets, and busy exchanges. It is one of the thousand examples of that awful fact, so strik ingly pourtrayed by our Saviour,-the uncertainty of human life. 66 My letters from the north," says the China correspondent of the newspaper, writing from Hong Kong, "tell me of the death of Mr. B, one of the Medici, of Shanghai. He had accumulated an enormous fortune, without contracting the limits of a most lavish expenditure. He had just resolved to return home. I was his guest for some time at Shanghai, and was indebted to him for much information. He had discussed with me his plans for his new career in England, and his influence would have been great upon all questions relating to China. But while he was gathering in the threads of his multifarious operations, Death put his hand upon him. He died deliriously, pointing out the headlands and the cities; he fancied he was on his voyage towards England " How true are the words of the poet : "The spider's most attenuated thread, Is cord, is cable, to man's tender tie On earthly bliss: it breaks at every breeze." No words of ours are needed to add to the emphasis of what we have quoted. Truly, we have line upon line. Every day life is a volume full of instruction, which he who runs may read. One event happeneth unto all. As the little bark sinks noiselessly in the mighty deep, so the poor perish, unnoticed and unknown: As when the freighted galleon goes down, the mighty waves close over it with a roar, so when the rich depart, the troubled surface of worldly society is stirred, but soon the slight impression passes away, and few remember the event, or lay to heart the lesson. Friend and brother, I would that thou and I were wiser. Our frail bark lies moored to life's shore. Ere long, sternly, and perhaps suddenly, the cable will be cut. Shall we busy ourselves with adding tie to tie on earth, to the neglect of every preparation for weathering that storm which is sinking so many before our eyes? Look up and around. O let us be men that wait for our Lord. He will not then leave us to go alone. Death may sever earth's bonds, but shall not harm us. Gladly we shall launch, and calmly survey the impending tempest. With Christ in the vessel we'll smile at the storm." Quickly the headlands of a better country will appear, and looming through the dark shadow of death, the celestial city. As earthly films fall from our eyes, that which " eye hath not seen" shall reveal itself to our happy souls. The haven of eternal rest shall be ours. A. B. Review. “Christian GREATNESS," as exemplified in the character and life of MAJOR GENERAL HAVELOCK. A Sermon preached in Stoney Street Chapel, Nottingham, on Lord's-day Evening, January 24th, 1858. By the REV. JAMES LEWITT. Wilkins, Derby, &c. THE name, heroism, and piety of General Havelock, have become familiar throughout our land as household words. Every child has heard of them, every mother has admired them, every Englishman has felt his bosom swell with just pride and gratitude when he has spoke of them, and every christian, while mourning over the sad calamities of war, and the cruelties and havoc which are ever its attendants, has referred to Havelock as a man who has honoured his profession of christianity by a devout and benevolent life, and gone far to show that a skilful and courageous soldier, may be a truly good disciple of the prince of peace. Many have been the eulogies pronounced over the ashes of this truly great and excellent soldier. In the senate, in the lecture room, and in the christian assembly, his praises have been celebrated, and his heroic achievements proclaimed. The press, as with one voice, has united to record his victories, and to extol his glories. His memoirs, shortly to be published, will, doubtless, be greedily perused by thousands or millions of readers. As for ourselves, while admiring his high moral principle, his religious bravery, and feeling devoutly thankful for the wonderful success which attended him in his advance on Cawnpore and Lucknow, and being grateful for the check thus given to the murderous and treacherous mutineers in India, we have not preached a sermon in his praise, lest the war spirit, so congenial to our national pride and to our fallen dispositions, should engender emotions and sentiments not consonant to the spirit of the gospel. We must have laws for evil doers, we must have police, and gaolers, and Calcrafts for the capture, detention, and execution of men not fit to live; and we must have soldiers and armies for the slaughter of our adversaries and the defence of our borders, at least we suppose so; but this is a painful necessity, and their employment is of a kind which awakens horror rather than delight. A gaoler, a thief catcher, aye, and an executioner, for ought we know, may be a good christian, but we rarely find the skill they display in their callings the subject of christian eulogy. And on the same principle, while we may admire the skill and caution, the courage and promptitude of a soldier in marshalling his forces, and mowing down, with little loss to his own ranks, thousands of his fellow creatures, we hesitate to bring such deeds before a christian audience in connection with the solemnities of divine worship, as the selected subject for spiritual edification. True, the cause may be good, so is the thief catcher's; the results may be the deliverance or the avenging of the innocent and unoffending, so is Calcraft's; and there may arise out of the whole a better and more orderly state of things, so there does from the joint labours of the constable and the executioner. We may be wrong: but while none have been more sincere in their respect for General Havelock as a decided and devoted christian professor, or more grateful for the successes which attended his well-directed movements, we have always felt, when the thought of a sermon on his death has occurred to us, the difficulty and repugnance to which we have now alluded. Our good friend Mr. Lewitt has not these scruples, and we do not blame him. If he errs, he does so in very good company; and his sermon, so far as our acquaintance extends, is not unworthy to be placed in the category of the best delivered on this great oceasion. The text chosen is the words of David on the untimely and treacherous death of the noble Abner. "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel."* After a suitable exordium, in which the preacher alludes to the general sorrow felt over the death of Havelock as a christian soldier," he proceeds to enumerate a series of the elements of christian greatness as exemplified in the fallen General: as, a firm regard to christian truth:-loyalty 2 Samuel, iii. 38 66 to conscience :-profound humility:-habitual communion with God:—and zeal for the salvation of men. These qualities, well illustrated, are shown by well authenticated facts to apply to Havelock. Our author proceeds, secondly, to offer some reflections on the fall of such a man. These are the following:-that great men must fall-that he fell in a righteous cause—at a time when his greatness was revealed and his work was done-in a manner most interesting and touching and that he was in himself too great a man to be exalted by any human distinction. Such is a bare outline of this discourse. Some passages in it indicate considerable power: one or two are hardly to our taste-but as a whole we heartily recommend it to our readers who wish for a sermon as a memorial of the deliverer of India. As an example of the style and spirit of this sermon we give an extract from the second part. "Who can but think of the manner of his fall? To me, I confess, it seems exquisitely beautiful. He died not in the bosom of his family, receiving the loving administrations of her who is now a widow, to smooth his dying pillow; his work and his God willed that she should be far away. He fell not on the battle field, pierced by the sword of the foe; a holier death awaited him, a death such as christians could have wished England's favourite soldier to die. 'Life's labour o'er,' a disease attacked him, which medical skill could not overcome. He knew his overwrought frame could not triumph over the wasting sickness which had seized it, but his cheek blanched not, his heart did not fail, and his mind retained its dominion even to the last. The magnanimous Outram visited the warrior, who said, 'For more than forty years I have so ruled my life, that when death comes, I meet it face to face without fear.' He was nursed in his last illness by his brave son, who has so worthily proved himself deserving of the name he bears, and who informs us that his dying father several times said as his mortal hour approached, 'Come my son, and see how a christian can die.' Thus peacefully, joyously, triumphantly, God's power supporting him, this christian soldier passed away! Thus fell gloriously this prince in our christian Israel! 'He came the good 'Book' in his hand, pp. 19, 20. A manual of facts illustrating the Biblical account of THE DELUGE. A Lecture by John Cholerton, Baptist Minister, Coalville. J. Hodgkins, Leicester. WE presume that his propinquity to many of the marvels which justly arrest the attention of geologers, has drawn the attention of Mr. Cholerton to the study of this science or at least to some branches of it. While we are not prepared to attribute to the deluge all that our friend does, nor generally to endorse his theory so far as we understand it, we thank him for his lecture, and express our gratification at the labour, research, reading and thought which it displays. There are many well-attested and very wonderful facts arranged in this lecture which it would be interesting and instructive for any one to become acquainted with, apart from any of the various geological theories which are in vogue, and therefore we have much pleasure in recommending this lecture to our readers. That the Noahic flood was a great fact which has left abundant traces of its reality and prevalence on the surface of our globe, we fully believe: but we have been accustomed to think of late years, that many of the phenomena presented in the composition of the crust of our globe pointed to a pre-Adamic state, and indicated a process of change and deposit carried on for an indefinite and lengthened period prior to the earth being prepared for the habitation of Such a theory does no violence to the first chapter of Genesis, especially, if the first verse be taken as an independent fact. But we are not well-read in more modern geological writings, and can only indicate the fact, that the truth of Mr. Cholerton's theory is not necessarily identified with that of the Bible. PRE-MILLENNIAL THOUGHTS. By R. Ingham. Houlston and Stoneman, London: Wilson, Halifax. man. WE have had this closely printed book in our hands for some time. We have read with interest some of its papers, and intended to transfer one or two to our pages; but other matters have precluded them; and indeed there are but few of the essays which would not call up some controversy. We were disappointed by its title. Pre-millenial thoughts we imagined would lead to some other topics than, "the weekly observance of the Lord's supper:-weekly contributions for the support of christianity:-a plurality of elders in every church :-singing in divine worship:-chanting portions of Scripture in divine worship:-on not appealing to the ungodly for the support of religion." These are the subjects of the essays before us, and seem to us rather to refer to the form and circumstance, than to the "spirit and life" of the gospel. In the estimation of their worthy author they have considerable importance, but whether their adoption would introduce the millenium we should gravely doubt. The treatise on chanting is worthy the consideration of such as have strong objections to this ancient form of worship. We presume that some of the best arguments for its use among protestant dissenters as well as among papists and episcopalians, are adduced by Mr. Ingham. INDIA: INDIA! We had our dreams of thee, The brand upon thy brow; Could purchase one least part The monster 'neath thee lay, [snake, 'Twas thine own breast which nurs'd the He shot the deadly pang. "Twas ever thus in thine own land, Cruelty, murder, orphans' tears, Lit up the idol fires, Wresting from superstition fell, Their fierce and bloody rites. Thou hadst the gospel light and dower, Oh, man! what wondrous myst'ries dwell An instrument for fiends of hell, If truth prevail, what wondrous height If falsehood rule, what awful night, Queen of the Isles! stretch forth thine Thine be the sceptre to command, Stifle the lion's roar. Let Britain's gospel, Christian laws, [hand Correspondence. CALVINISTIC THEOLOGY. To the Editor of the General Baptist Magazine. EXTRACTS FROM THE CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. THERE is but one only living and true God, who is . most loving, gracious, merciful, long suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.—ch. ii, 1. Our first parents being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity.-ch. ii, 1, 3. Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant (of works), the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace: whereby He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.-ch. vii, 3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others fore-ordained to everlasting death.-ch. iii, 3. Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving him thereunto; and all to the praise of his glorious grace.-ch. iii, 5. Wherefore, they who are elected being fallen in Adam, are redeemed in Christ; Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, but the elect only.-ch. iii, 6. The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice.ch. iii, 7. The Confession of Faith adopted by the assembly of Baptist ministers and messengers who met in London in 1689, asserts the same doctrines of the imputation of the guilt of Adam's sin to all his posterity, unconditional election, the redemption of the elect alone, and that "others are left to act in their sin to their condemnation, to the praise of God's glorious justice."* If God impute the guilt of Adam's sin to all his posterity, but extends the redemption in Christ to the elect alone, how does it appear that his tender mercies are over all his works? If God requires all men to believe upon pain of eternal condemnation, when for [*We doubt not that many who, in our day, are denominated Calvinists, would object to the above statement of doctrine. Our correspondent opines that many of our readers do not "know what Calvinism is." The great bulk of our brethren of the other denomination, as well as of the Congregationalist body, would object to receive the assembly's catechism, or the old confessions, as correct expressions of their faith. Whether there be logical consistency or not in their theory, we apprehend that it is in general that which we once heard the late Rev. Robert Hall give utterance to,-"I count myself a Calvinist, but I believe in general redemption."-ED.] |