which a very impressive, and, we trust, really profitable discourse was delivered, with much energy and feeling, by Mr. Titlow, in which mention being made of Mr. Joseph's aged father and beloved sister, he was observed by many to be sensibly affected, even to the shedding of many tears, at the remembrance of relatives so near and dear to him according to the flesh, and yet, alas! at the same time, in a higher and spiritual connexion, how far off and estranged from him! Suitable psalms and hymns were introduced during the service, the whole of which occupied about three hours, when the numerous congregation separated, much impressed with the solemn, and to many of them, unexpected event.

"There is joy among the angels in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and there ought to be joy among the faithful on earth, when one of the long lost sheep of the house of Israel returns to the Fold of Christ, the good Shepherd. Let us then rejoice, for this our brother was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found! And let us offer up our united prayers to the Eternal Jehovah-the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, that He would continue to visit with tokens of His mercy, these ancient worshippers of the Lord; that these natural branches may, in His good time, be again united to the parent stock; that there may be neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, but all the subjects of one Lord, the children of one Father, the sheep of one fold, of which Christ is the Shepherd. And for this our brother, let us beg a blessing of that God who hath given him grace to witness a good profession before inen that he may have strength and power to have victory; that he may fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life; Remembering always that baptism doth represent unto us our profession; which is to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to be inade like unto Him; that as He died and rose again for us; so should we who are baptized, die from sin, and rise again unto righteousness, continually mortifying all our corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living.'

"That this new convert to the faith of Christ crucified, who has received the name of Henry Samuel, may become an ornament to his profession, and lead the rest of his life according to this beginning, is the concluding prayer of, Gentlemen,

"Yours, "S. SENDALL."

Lakenham, 18th March, 1829.

From the Edinburgh Christian Instructor. OBSERVATIONS ON ISAIAH IX. 6, 7.

"The everlasting Father."

Or endless duration we can have no adequate conception. Yet as Jehovah has been pleased to appropriate to himself eternity as one of the attributes which constitute supreme deity, we cannot ascribe deity to any person whose existence has not been eternal.

I. We are to inquire how "The Everlasting Father" applies to Christ in his relations to the Godhead.

1. This appellation is not to be understood of Christ, as it is of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In that sense there can be but one Father in Jehovah. Admitting that our Lord would be the Son of the Father though he had never become man, there is, in that sense, but one Father and one Son in the Godhead. But,

1. Christ may be called the everlasting Father, as he exists in one Jehovah. The nature of the adorable Three is the same, though the personality. be distinct. So saith Christ, "I and my Father are one." John x. 30. In the form which he taught us how to pray, the title in our text is included. "After this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name," Mat. vi. 9. Thus the adorable Three are necessarily addressed, and that as a Father. Hence in adoration while the Three are in one Jehovah, as a Father, each is essentially addressed.

II. Christ claims the appellation in our text because he existed from everlasting. Possessing the same nature with the Father and the Spirit, he necessarily existed from_eternity. He may therefore be styled "the Father of eternity." In our text he is called the child born, and the everlasting Father. These are combined that we may never forget that Christ is Immanuel God-man, in one person. With similar caution God teaches another prophet to declare the sentiment under consideration. "But thou Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," Mic. v. 2: Or, "from the days of eternity." The Evangelist John, to establish the divinity of Christ, proves his eternity in the first and second verses of his gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." The word which we have rendered "beginning" here, signifies eternity.

It may be observed here, that, in the economy of creation, each person in the Godhead may be styled a Father; for they mutually and personally were engaged in devising and producing the universe. They may be so styled also in the economy of redemption. An apostle, addressing a church upon the nature of marriage, urged them to form religious connections, and encourages them by the promise of God the Father: As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty," 2 Cor. vi. 16, 17, 18. Christ encourages his redeemed as his children. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end: I will give unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son," Rev. xxi. 6, 7. The Spirit,

by his regenerating agency, may be called a Father. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit," John iii. 8. We thus see, that, in the economy of nature and grace, each of the adorable Three may be styled a Father. Let us now trace more particularly, in the

III. Place, how this designation may be applied to Christ as the redeemer of his people.

4

1. Christ acted for his people in eternity. The counsel of peace was framed by the mutual concert of the Trinity, the Father, to maintain the prerogatives of the Godhead, sustaining the character of Judge of all. While he loved the world so as to give his only begotten Son, though he elected hin and the redeemed in him; yet the parental sympathies of the Godhead flows to human sinners, through the various responsibilities to which Christ subjected himself as their surety. His eternal relations to his Father and to his redeemed are declared by himself in connection. "The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him: Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men," Prov. viii. 22, 23, 30, 31. Christ is the only person in the universe who can appropriate these words. They declare his eternal relations to the Father as his Son; his eternal appointment as mediator, and the parental ardour with which he desired to visit our world, and to unite himself to our nature, and actually redeem his people. The transition by which he substituted himself is styled "the everlasting covenant;” and “the counsel of peace," and his sacrifice is styled "the blood of the everlasting covenant," 2 Sam. xxiii. 5; Zech. vi. 13; Heb. xiii. 20. In our subsequent divisions we shall find that the part which Christ acted from everlasting in behalf of his people bears a parental aspect.

2. Christ rendered satisfaction to justice in terms of his eternal engagement. The sacrificial institutions which the church was taught to observe, from the first promise to the death of Christ, were intended to deepen a sense of guilt upon men, and to present a typical exhibition of the satisfaction which he was to render. But that these sacrifices were of no substantial avail must be evident from their own nature, and from the declaration of scripture. Let Christ be heard, as personified by the man after God's own heart. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then, said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart," Ps. xl. 6-9. Sacrifices being the appointment of God, were only comparatively not desired. They served the typical purpose for which they were appointed; and it was when the antitype appeared that they were abolished. But his willingness, according to stipulation, is what chiefly serves our present purpose. As God, Christ had the same

regard to the claims of justice as the Father and the Spirit. As the surety of his people, he was ready to fulfil what, speaking after the manner of men, was recorded in the book of decrees, and in the first promise, respecting the seed of the woman. He fulfilled all righteousness. He magnified the law, and made it honourable. He brought in everlasting righteousness. Upon the cross he could say, "It is finished."

And while he satisfied all the claims of justice against his people, he gave his life a ransom for them as their parent. We select an example, in which this is strikingly expressed. "It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities," Isa. liii. 10, 11. Let us here insert a few passages which record the travail of Christ's soul, before we advert to the bearings of the passage upon this part of our subject. "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. A seed shall serve him, it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation." "Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgres, sors. "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." "And when he was withdrawn from them (the disciples) about a stone cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour." "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up, prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard, in that he feared. Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience, for the things which he suffered: And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him." "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken ine?" "When Jesus therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." Ps. xxii. 14, 30; Isa. liii. 12; Mark x. 45; Luke xxii. 41, 44; John xii. 27; Heb. v. 7, 10; Mark xiv. 34; John xix. 30.

These are some of the principal passages which foretold, and which record the travail of Christ's soul. They exhibit his agony by that stage of female anguish and affection which

are considered without a parallel in nature. By this comparison we are taught that the punishment due to the sins of his people was dealt out to Christ by his Father,-that he tasted the death due to every one of them-that his soul travailed for them under the equitable inflictions of justice-that, in consequence of his atoning travail, he begot them, by pardon, justification, and sanctification, to a new state of existence in law, by which they shall live in new relations to the Godhead and holy angels, and in a new character through eternity; "created in Christ Jesus." "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." Eph. ii. 10; 2 Cor. v. 17.

"He shall see his seed; he shall see of the travail of his soul."All that the Father gave him in the everlasting covenant he travailed for under the infliction of justice, and all that his soul travailed for shall live in him, and obey him. We are advancing to the branch of our subject, in which it shall be considered that his seed shall be numerous. His soul is ardent for their salvation. "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." The love of the Godhead to human sinners, has been unfolded in the mission, and work, and character of Christ. This love flows through Christ to them. The expressions employed by him relative to his people, are but giving utterance to the combined love of the Godhead in covenant.

When he says, "Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world:" John xvii. 24; we are to understand that this mediatorial earnestness derives its origin and strength from the love of Father, and Son, and Spirit, in one Jehovah. When sinners are begotten to a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ, the joy of the Godhead is expressed in the face of Jesus Christ, and all the created inhabitants of heaven are partakers of that joy., For we apprehend that the first of the following passages refers to the satisfaction of that Godhead as well as to that of the spirits of the just made perfect; while the second specifies holy angels. "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance. Likewise I say unto you, There is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth." Luke xv. 7, 10.

Pre

3. Christ's seed shall be numerous. vious to his incarnation many went to heaven. During his public ministry, and the days of his apostles, thousands believed. Since that period until now, millions have been born again. During the millennium, all nations shall be blessed in him. And all that shall be saved shall be considered the travail of his soul,-his seed. So the Father declares. "Thy people shall "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth." Ps. cx. 3. The learned Bishop Lowth (Prælect. x.) renders the last clause of this verse, "More than the dew from the womb of the morning, is the dew of thy progeny." Hence the redeemed are here declared by the eternal Father as the pro

geny of Christ, numerous as the drops of morning dew on the blades of grass, and adorned with the beauties of holiness. The stability of Christ, the success of his mediatorial undertaking, and the perseverance and consolation of his progeny, in successive ages, are declared by the Father in similar language. "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, My spirit that is upon thee, and my words, which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." Isa. lix. 20, 21. These words speak the mutual love of the Godhead among themselves, and their parental love to the redeemed.

4. The endearing sympathies which Christ exercises to his redeemed seed. All the relations among men which express friendship and love are employed in Scripture to describe the relations and the tenderness of Christ as Redeemer.. He is styled friend, brother, husband, parent. His people are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. He compares his relation to them with his relation with the Father. "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. "John xvii. 23. Instead of enlarging upon the endearing sympathies of the Godhead in united co-operation to promote the happiness of the redeemed, we shall only specify a few of the instances in which Christ is represented as the Father of his people. "Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, God is in his holy habitation." Ps. lxviii. 4, 5. This psalm is such a clear prediction of Christ, and so repeatedly introduced in the New Testament, that it is unnecessary to tarry to prove its application to him. In this quotation we have two of the most tender cases that can occur among men. A widow bereaved of the husband of her youth, enduring oppression, and a fatherless, helpless child. How cruel is the man or woman that can abjure either! Christ acts the judge, the husband, and the father of both. He testified his approbation of the poor widow who contributed her all to the treasury of the temple. He granted the petition of the Syrophenician woman, reHe had specting her fatherless daughter. compassion on the widow of Nain, and raised her son from the dead. Hence let the afflicted, of every description, seek to Christ who exercises the pity of a father.

Among the predictions which treat of the conversion of the Jews, Christ is repeatedly introduced as a father. "Thus saith the Lord, sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people the remnant of Israel. Behold I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together, a great company

shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers, in à straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born."-Jer. xxxi. 7, 10. Who can save but Christ: The penitent Jews invoke him as a Saviour. He encourages them, by declaring himself their father. Let us hear the Gentiles supplicating mercy.

"Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not thou O Lord, art our father our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting." Isa. lxiii. 16. From the days of Abraham until now, the Hebrews have considered themselves the exclusive people of God; and treated the Gentiles as rejected by their Creator. The Scriptures teach another lesson. And this passage teaches that the Redeemer is a father, and an everlasting father of his redeemed.

On this division we have stated that Christ is a tender father to his people in the severest trial of life and in all ages, and on the extensive scale of Jews and Gentiles.

5. Christ will act the part of father to his people at the general judgment, and through eternity. He has taken their nature into union to his divine person, and therefore is not ashamed to call them brethren. But it is not only in this relation that he will present them, in his own glorious likeness to the Father, who is judge of all in the economy of redemption. He will present them as his children. Let us then introduce, under one view, the prediction, the fact, and the doxology. "Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs, and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion." "Both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in Him. And again, Behold, I and the children which God hath given me." "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless, before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."-Isa. viii. 18. Heb. ii. 11, 14. Jude, 24, 25.

To introduce any formal exposition of these quotations, at present, as they present Christ and his people, as objects of hatred to the men of the world, and of delight to every holy being, as he will present himself and them, in the relation of brother and father, at the general judgment, and as they will give utterance to their gratitude, would be but diminishing their united light, and weakening the impression which they are calculated to make.

We have considered that there is but one Father in the Godhead essentially-that Christ may be called the everlasting Father, as he exists in one Jehovah-as he existed from everlasting-as he acted for his people from eternity as he satisfied justice for them as his seed—as his seed shall be numerous-as he treats them with parental tenderness-and as

he will perform the part of a father to them at the general judgment.

1. The relations of the persons in the Godhead are incomprehensible to us. The works of nature prove that there is a God; but it the sacred Scripture that reveals the plurality and number of persons in the Godhead. As the doctrine of the Trinity is the most glorious doctrine of revelation, we ought to learn and believe it in all its relations. The initiating ordinance in the Christian church establishes this doctrine, and the relations of the adorable persons-"the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." Matt. xxviii. 19.

2. The eternal relations of Christ to his people. They were chosen in him, and given to him by the Father. He came into the world in the fulness of time, to fulfil his federal engagements in their behalf. These are termed an everlasting covenant, to ratify which his blood was shed. He gave himself to justice in their stead," For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." 1 Pet. iii. 18.

3. His soul travailed for the salvation of his redeemed. He was so fitted, as God and man, to obey and to suffer, and to render satisfaction to justice, that it pleased Jehovah the Father to bruise him, and to put him to grief. He gave himself an offering, and a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savour. But who, but the adorable Three, can conceive his humiliation and anguish? His agony in the garden, and his cry on Calvary proclaim his sufferings, but their degree is to us inconceivable. His soul travailed for all that shall be saved. He gave them life and birth in justice that they should live in law, in grace, and in eternal glory. As they are justified and born again, they, so to speak, shall be brought in contact with the soul of Christ, and perceive the sounding of his bowels from their own agonizing experience. Then shall they understand what the apostle meant when he said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. ii. 20. But the assurance which Christ possessed that he should be supported, and glorified, and that the numerous offspring for which his soul was travailing was to obtain mercy and eternal salvation, encouraged him in his agonies. "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. xii. 2. There is an analogy between the anguish and joy of Christ when his soul was travailing for his redeemed seed, and what his people experience in regeneration and in the progress of grace. "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of a child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a son is born into the world." John xvi. 21.

4. The parental sympathy of Christ. This sympathy inclined him not only to substitute himself in the room of his people from eternity,

ب

262

and to visit our world to give his life to justice as a ransom for them; but it keeps his attention active in superintending all their concerns. All their joys are from him. In all their afflictions he is afflicted. He will ever possess the He will ever possess the tender sympathies which bursted forth in tears at the grave of Lazarus. Let us advert to the exercise of his sympathy in the guest chamber. The cloud was collecting about his soul previous to the night in which he was betrayed. He emitted, in the brokenness of spirit, "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour." John xii. 27. This anguish must have increased as the hour of Gethsemane was approaching. Yet when, in the guest chamber, he opened his mind more fully than before, he suppressed his own sorrows that he might comfort his disciples. whole of his farewell sermon is in a consolatory strain. One extract may suffice. "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you," John xiv. 18. This passage is, literally, "I will not leave you orphans." Here he exercises the tender parent.

The

From the Evangelical Magazine. AFFECTING NARRATIVE FROM REAL

LIFE.

Ir is now about nine years since I was taken, by my sister, to visit a poor sick widow, whose residence was an upper room, in a small court, leading out of one of the narrow and uninviting lanes of our metropolis. I was pleased with the neat and cleanly appearance of the widow and her small apartment; and still more with her intelligent and pious conversation. She seemed to me like one who had known better days; who had felt the painfulness of what is called a reverse of fortune; but who had learned to say with Job-" The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" 1 was requested to repeat my visit; and, as I was then just entering one of the Dissenting Academies in the immediate vicinity of London, I felt no reluctance in promising to do so, as often as other engagements would permit. Nor had I any cause to regret having made this promise. There are few hours during my academic course, on which I can reflect with greater satisfaction, than those which were spent under this widow's roof; and to the end of life must I consider myself indebted to her pious, instructive, and encouraging discourse. Inclination, as well as duty, often led me to her dwelling. Intimacy inspired confidence, and gradually overcame the reluctance which she manifested to say much

| of herself, and especially in reference to the period which preceded her conversion.

As she has long since gone to her rest, and as I hope it may be done without improperly violating the feelings of any survivor,-I have thought that a brief sketch of her history and Christian character might not be regarded as uninteresting or uninstructive. After the lapse of some years, I shall not be expected to remember every minute circumstance, or to record her exact words. This I do not profess; but for the substantial truth of the following narrative, I hold myself responsible to the Editor of this periodical, and to the public.

Mrs. A. had received a respectable education, and maintained, before her fellow creatures, an irreproachable character. Her husband was an industrious tradesman, of good report, and in comfortable circumstances. Their attachment to each other appears to have been strong, and for some years little of a worldly nature occurred to interrupt their mutual happiness; business improved, and Providence on every hand seemed to smile upon them.

Unhappily Mr. A. became dissatisfied with the slow but certain gains of his own trade; he determined on taking larger premises, and speculating with the little capital he had acquired. His wife, dreading the consequences, earnestly and repeatedly remonstrated, but without effect. The speculation failed; but this only sharpened the appetite for gain. He again speculated, and again it failed. At length, after having recourse to all the expedients of a sinking tradesman, his property wasted and his credit sunk, he was arrested, and for a trifling debt was thrown into prison.

During this melancholy period, Mrs. A. became a mother. She was a woman of good understanding; of fine feelings; and, I should apprehend, naturally of a lofty and independent spirit. She knew nothing, alas! at this time, of the consolations of true religion. The state of her mind, under these painful vicissitudes, will be best understood by those who are possessed of a kindred disposition, and have experienced similar reverses.

4

Finding all remonstrances with her husband to abandon his wild and hopeless speculations utterly vain; finding their difficulties and embarrassments daily increasing; and having nothing before her but the prospect of a jail for her husband, and a workhouse for herself and her babe; she gradually became a prey to melancholy and despair. Life appeared a burden insupportable, and death her only refuge. The awful thought of self-destruction occurred, and was entertained and familiarized. The resolution was taken, and the fatal rope was fastened to the beam, when the footsteps of her husband warned her to desist. Her purpose was, at this time defeated, but not changed. Another plan was devised; another attempt was made. There was in the back part of their premises a deep well: thither, in a state of mind bordering upon frenzy, she hastened; she stooped down over the brink of the well; the child was in her lap; another instant, and, to all human appearance, the fatal design had been accomplished, and the mother become the murderer of herself and her offspring! In that instant she cast her eye on the unconscious