THIS is now called by common consent THE GOLDEN RULE. Even blasphemers, infidels, and atheists, forgetting whose words they are, quote them as quite oracular, an end of all strife." Particularly when they think themselves hardly dealt with.

It was very much on account of this excellent precept, that Alexander Severus, the Roman emperor, entertained so great an esteem for Christ, that he resolved to build him a temple, and receive him into the number of the gods. And it was only because he was assured, if he did, all the other temples would be deserted, that he abandoned the project. Nevertheless be did place an image of the Saviour in his private chapel, amongst the heroes and deified persons to whom he paid religious adoration; and on all occasions of public punishment, he had this saying of our Lord proclaimed along the line and procession by the town crier. Moreover, he had it inscribed on the walls of his palace, and over the public buildings, that, if possible every room in the court and every hall in the city, might thereby be made a silent chancery.

The excellence of this rule appears in two things. It takes us into a region of casuistry where ordinary laws fail to determine our duty. Some cases are already prejudged. The child wishes to go unreproved, the criminal, unpunished. In these matters the will of God is already pronounced. Parents and magistrates must "fulfil the order of their course.' "A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." Cæsar bears a sword, and he "beareth not the sword in vain." But there will arise instances in which the letter of the law does not clearly define duty. In such

a case let a man ask himself, "Were I in my brother's place, what might I reasonably expect from him?"

Further, its excellence appears in this. It makes us parties in the judgment. Thus by so much as we are curious and exact in determining our own privileges, by so much are we bound to respect those of another. What we take we must give, so that Chrysostom said on these words, "Here let thy own will be law!" What we urge as right for others to do must be right for us. Would we have the best construction put on our words? Would we have some accommodation allowed to our peculiar tempers? And may not others expect the same from us? Who are we, that we should be exempt from the burden which we are so ready to place on our neighbour's shoulders? "Shall the earth be forsaken for us? or the rock be removed out of his place?"

Yet how we get dreaming Joseph's dream! all the sheaves must do obeisance to our sheaf. We think no one ought to be churlish to us; but are we always polite to them? In trouble we would have the utmost attention; but when others are benighted, do we always run out with a candle and lanthorn to them? We would not allow another to tarnish our reputation with the breath of slander or suspicion ; but do we handle his with such excessive care? Oh, how tenderly we would be touched, yet how rude and rough we are never till the world shall observe this golden rule will it reach the golden age.

How blest would every nation be,
Thus ruled by love and equity?
All would be friends without a foe,
And earth a paradise below.

B. S. H.

Ir may perhaps give some of our readers a profitable view of this very important Scripture, if we place before them the following observations:

"This passage, therefore, relates to the custom of conducting and pleading causes among the Jews. There were three kinds of causes of actions:1st. Public judgments concerning criminal matters; the condemnation of offenders against God, or of false prophets. 2nd. The defending the just and upright from oppression or false testimony, concerning justice, equity, or righteousness. 3rd. The pleading against any one for trespass, as in robbery, &c., against his neighbour; and urging the law of retaliation, called the crisis, or concerning judgment. In each of these the Holy Ghost at his coming was to be the advocate for Christ against the world. In the first kind of action, he should prove, that Christ was not guilty of being a false prophet, but they of rejecting the true Messiah. The proof should be given on their own rules, and promise of the Messiah,-Deut. xviii. 15-22; which require that all the things which the prophets foretold came to pass. Christ foretold that the Spirit should come. His consequent appearance would be a convincing argument, both of his being a true prophet, and of their being obnoxious for their treatment of him, to the punishment of excision (Deut. xviii. 19) which soon befel the nation. Secondly, concerning righteousness; the Holy Ghost would vindicate the innocence of Christ, though he had suffered as a malefactor, by convincing them, from his coming, that Christ was taken up into heaven, a clear testimony of his innocence, to partake of his Father's glory. In the third action of judgment, or the punishing injurious persons by retaliation; the Holy Spirit should bring a

When he, the Paraclete, the Advocate of our adorable Saviour, is come in his miraculous and gracious influences, he shall convince men of all nations, by evidence, which, in a court of law, would be considered demonstrative, that so far from being guilty of sin himself, and especially of the sin of false pretension to the office of the prophet, and to his being the Son of God-the true Messiah; they who reject him by unbelief are sinners indeed, obnoxious to a punishment more awful than the destruction of Jerusalem. It will be the usual method of this Advocate's operations on the heart, to begin conviction, indeed, by discovering the transgression of the law, in its moral demands, and thence leading it to see and feel, that the greatest of its sin is not in having broken the law, and thus inflicted on itself the mortal disease, but in adding to this despite to the holy law, the rejection of the vital remedy, by refusing to believe in the Son of God. Thus, is there a two-fold conviction in connexion with repentance; the one arising out of the sentence, "The wages of sin is death;" and the other out of the declaration, "He that believeth not shall be damned." This is the first work of the Paraclete the first blessing, though in disguise. Secondly, with the same clear and convincing evidence, the Holy Spirit shall prove by the resurrection and ascension of our Lord, that both the character and the work of the Mediator have been approved and accepted

by the Father, and ought to be both approved and accepted by the world. His character is without fault, blameless -cannot be impeached of sin; and the work of finishing transgression, and making an end of sin, and bringing in an everlasting righteousness-of doing and suffering the whole will of God for the salvation of men, and the shewing forth of the glory of the Lord,-has been perfectly accomplished. He will prove that "the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" has established the law by his own complete obedience and atonement, and laid the foundation of an empire of righteousness and holiness, of all spiritual blessings, of "glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will towards men." To enable the convinced sinner to see the perfection of this work, and to put on the Lord Jesus, both in his justifying righteousness, and in the beauty of his holiness, is thus the second act of the Paraclete.

The third act in this process of enlightening and purifying the soul, which the Holy Spirit shall perform, is concerning judgment. He shall demonstrate that our merciful and patient Redeemer, is not to be opposed with impunity, but that he will

retaliate," return back on his enemies the injury they attempted to inflict on him. The sufferings and the triumphs of our Lord on the day of the crucifixion, and on

that of Pentecost, brought the great struggle between heaven and hell to a CRISIS; and the prince of the power of the air, and all his confederates in hell and on earth, of angels and of men, shall find that the tide has turned, and that the stream shall henceforth set in towards holiness and God. Satanic power has been bruised and enfeebled, and shall decrease and ultimately expire. That the unbelieving Jews shall be either destroyed or scattered, and their house laid desolate by Roman agency-that the cause of infidelity and iniquity of every form, shall be disgraced and crippled, and triumphed over in the world, till the waters of the sanctuary shall have swollen into the full tide of the millennial glory, and that the true christian, first brought under salutary convictions of his sin, especially his sin of unbelief, and then led to see that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, will not only allow the unclean spirit to leave the house, but will invoke aid to give him a forcible eject

ment.

We may therefore sum up the instruction here given, so far as it relates to the experience of the Christians, in three words, answering to the Jewish terms, accusation, justification, retaliation; namely, CONVICTION, FAITH, SANCTIFICATION. O to realise the blessings of these offices.

We intend laying before our readers, in a regular series, such documents and memoranda, as may give them a correct idea of the principles, intentions, and history of the Connexion. These will consist of such papers as were printed under proper authority, either at length, as the legal documents, or in

extracts, as in those which were published for the purpose of giving information and regulating the conduct of the respective members of the body. Many of these records are scarce, and unknown to most of our friends; and we feel assured that they will be perused with interest-we pray, that it

may be with advantage to themselves and the community to which they belong.

We insert an extract from Rev. T. Wills' address, out of its order, because it gives a brief history of the facts which led to this primary ordination.

"Here I must beg you, brethren, to take a short retrospect of the revival of the power of godliness that began to take place in this kingdom above forty years ago. Every one knows, that when that eminent servant of Jesus, and champion for the truth, Mr. Whitfield, came out as such a public witness, our noble Patroness, that mother in Israel, the Countess of Huntingdon,— boldly stepped forth with him, stood by him, and supported him with all her influence. Her Ladyship being now absent from us, I may be permitted to make a few remarks on this head, which fear of offending her delicacy, would have prevented if she had been present. Disregarding her sex, her rank, her fortune, the whole world knows she has devoted all she is, and all she has, for forty years and upwards to the same glorious cause. This kingdom, as well as foreign parts, are witnesses for her. Thousands and tens of thousands have reason to bless God to eternity on her account. She has been long running her christian race, and is not yet overcome nor faint, but still pursuing. When I consider how far we are all outdone by this faithful, zealous, and elect lady, I am ashamed of myself.

"I need not speak of the chapels her ladyship has built for the service of the Gospel. I need not say that when some young men were expelled from Oxford for the dreadful offences of singing, praying, and expounding the Scriptures, she opened a College, where serious students were received, edu. cated, and every way maintained at her sole expense. These, as their gifts increased, and opportunity served, were sent out from her college, from time to time, to preach the gospel in various parts, to the conversion of thousands who had been sitting in

darkness and the shadow of death: and so that the Lord was with them, it was indifferent to their noble patroness, and to themselves, in private house, or on the highways and hedges (like their divine Master and his Apostles), in synagogues, or on mountains, on sea shores, or in the school of one Tyrannus, journeying also like them, from city to city, from house to house, and from village to village: by which means thousands now on earth, and a glorious cloud of witnesses, departed in the faith, have heard and known the joyful sound. At length, when this house was opened for the gospel, it is well known that the Ministers who undertook it were opposed and silenced. Her Ladyship then stepped in to fill up the gap, and continue the gospel here where was once a synagogue of satan.”

The first Document which we introduce, was printed in 1785, dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon by the editors, the Revs. Thomas Wills, and William Taylor, entitled,

"An Authentic Narrative of the Primary Ordination held in the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel, at Spa-fields, London, on Sunday, the 9th of March, 1783, upon the plan of Secession. Published at the request of the Congregation."

Messrs. Wills and Taylor say, "We beg leave to subjoin the following letter, drawn up, previous to our secession, for the information of the Bishops, and a proper apology for ourselves; which will best explain our Principles and our Conduct."

contrary to the laws ecclesiastical or civil.

"But whereas, by a late decision in the Consistorial Court of the Bishop of London, it appears that her Ladyship cannot authorize us to officiate in her Chapels in the public manner wherein we have been accustomed to exercise our ministry, we perceive ourselves (as long as we continue in the established church) reduced to the necessity of knowingly and wilfully opposing the laws of that church whereof we at present are ministers, or withdrawing our service from the various congregations, to whom we have ministered for a long season, and trust we have, with the blessing of God, been made useful. But as we cannot take either of these steps with a good conscience, nor submit to those ecclesiastical canons that would prevent the discharge of the ministerial commission we have received from God and man, to the fullest extent; and yet desire from principle (as we have invariably done from our ordination,) to spread and maintain faithfully the fundamental doctrines contained in the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the Church of England, through the various parts of the kingdom, as we have opportunity : We think there is no alternative left, but for us to secede or withdraw peaceably from the established church; and under the protection of the TolerationAct, continue to maintain her doctrines, though we cannot in all things submit to her discipline.

And this we desire to do, not from a factious or schismatical spirit, not from a design to propagate heresies in the Church of God, nor from any sinister or lucrative motive whatsoever but from a simple view of glorifying God, of preaching the gospel, and of being useful to our fellow creatures, in that way which is most agrecable to our own consciences, and which we humbly conceive to be most calculated for the general good of those many thousands that attend the ministry of ourselves, and of those connected with us. And as great indulgences have lately been given by the Legisla

ture to religious persons of various denominations, to worship God in the way most agreeable to their conscience, We flatter ourselves our conduct will give the less offence, in this land of liberty, to our superiors in church and state; especially as we determine to maintain the doctrines of the former, and in all things desire to acquit ourselves as faithful and dutiful subjects belonging to the latter.

"We will not trouble your Lordships any further than by observing, that we have no other view in this address, than to declare simply our resolutions and our motives thereunto: and in this our Secession (to which we are compelled more by necessity than choice) to acquit ourselves not only in a manner consistent with our open and uniform conduct hitherto, but in such a way as should appear most respectful to your Lordships, as governors of the established church; humbly beseeching the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls to direct and bless your Lordships in all such undertakings as shall be most for the glory of God and the good of the Church.

THOMAS WILLS,

WILLIAM TAYLOR.

"Having thus briefly and simply stated our motives for Secession, we shall only add, that meaning to go on peaceably in our present line, according to the conviction of our own consciences, we shall not trouble the world or ourselves with future contests with those of any other denomination, that oppose themselves to us and our proceedings; For with us it is a very small thing that we should be judged of them or of man's judgment. To our own master we stand or fall. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart; and then shall every man have praise of God.'"

T. W. W. T.