render it impressive! Think you, my dear friend, that the apostle Paul used or needed any such artifices to excite the people of Galatia, amongst whom, as he himself informs us," Jesus Christ was crucified, evidently set forth ?" But thus it is, and thus it will be, when simplicity and spirituality are banished from our religious offices, and artifice and idolatry seated in their room. I am well aware the Romanists deny the charge of idolatry; but after having seen what I have this day, as well as at sundry other times since my arrival here, I cannot help thinking but that a person must be capable of making more than metaphysical distinctions, and deal in very abstract ideas indeed, fairly to evade the charge. If weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, I am positive the scale must turn on the Protestant side; but such a balance these poor people are not permitted to make use of! Does not your heart bleed for them? Mine does, I am sure, and I believe would do so more and more were I to stay longer and see what they call their Hallelujah, and grand devotions on Easter day. But that scene is denied me. The wind is fair, and I must away. Follow me with your prayers, and believe me to be, my dear friend,

Yours most affectionately in our common Redeemer,

POETRY.

G. WHITEFIELD.

LEUCONOMUS (beneath well-sounding Greek
I slur a name a poet must not speak)
Stood pilloried on infamy's high stage,
And bore the pelting scorn of half an age;
The very butt of slander, and the blot
For every dart that malice ever shot.

The man that mentioned him at once dismissed
All mercy from his lips, and sneered and hissed.
His crimes were such as Sodom never knew,'
And Perjury stood up to swear all true.
His aim was mischief, and his zeal pretence;
His speech rebellion against common sense;
A knave, when tried on honesty's plain rule,
And when by that of reason, a mere fool.
The world's best comfort was, his doom was passed;
Die when he might, he must be damned at last.
Now, Truth perform thine office! waft aside
The curtain drawn by Prejudice and Pride;
Reveal (the man is dead) to wondering eyes
This more than monster in his proper guise.
He loved the world that hated him; the tear
That dropped upon his Bible was sincere.
Assailed by scandal and the tongue of strife,
His only answer was a blameless life;

And he that forged, and he that threw the dart,
Had each a brother's interest in his heart.
Paul's love of Christ, and steadiness unbribed,
Were copied close in him, and well transcribed.
He followed Paul; his zeal a kindred flame,
His apostolic charity the same.

Like him, crossed cheerfully tempestuous seas,
Forsaking country, kindred, friends, and ease;
Like him he laboured, and like him content
To bear it-suffered shame wher'er he went.
Blush, Calumny! and write upon his tomb,
If honest Eulogy can spare thee room,
Thy deep repentance of thy thousand lies,
Which, aimed at him, have pierced the offended skies;
And say, Blot out my sin, confessed, deplored,
Against thine image in thy saint, O Lord!

SPIRITUAL FRAGMENTS.

The goodness of God respects our emptiness, the grace of God our sinfulness, and the mercy of God our unworthiness.—John Mason.

Worldly men will be true to their principles; and if we were as true to ours, the visits between the two parties would be short and seldom.-Newton.

All the afflictions of God's people are measured by the hand of the most wise, most merciful and gracious God. All the malice of men and devils cannot add a dram to the weight, nor a drop to the measure, beyond God's appointment.-Bunyan.

All our fresh springs are in him; all the strength, support. and comfort we have, comes from him: he is in all providences, be they never so bitter, so afflicting, never so smarting, so destructive to our earthly comforts. Christ is in them all; his love, his wisdom, his mercy, his pity and compassion are in them all; every cup is of his preparing. Ibid.

When the heart is bound and hard; when fears are high, and life hangs in doubt; when nothing but sin is seen and felt, and the wrath of God reflected; when Christ is hid, and Satan always at hand; when others feed, and the soul is starved; when others rejoice, and I am sad; when they are indulged, and I smoke in the flames of jealousy, 'tis hard work.—Huntington.

Besides, it is possible for thee, O man, to have faith, so as to be able to remove mountains or cast out devils; nay, thou mightest speak with the tongue of men and angels, yea, and bid the sun stand still in the midst of heaven. Yet what would all these gifts of the Spirit avail thee, without being made partaker of his sanctifying graces ? Saul had the Spirit of government for a while, so as to become another man, and yet was a castaway. And many who cast out devils in Christ's name at the last will be disowned by him. If, therefore, thou hast only the gifts, but art destitute of the graces of the Holy Ghost, they will only serve to lead thee with so much the more solemnity to hell.—Whitefield.

What a precious hiding-place is Jesus to a poor sin-burdened soul, "tossed with tempest and not comforted!" And, Oh, what exalted views has such a sinner of Jesus, when, by the revelation of the Father, he is enabled to enter by faith into a spiritual apprehension of what Christ is to him, and what he hath done for him! If ever the believer desires to depart and to be with Christ, it is then. He sees the Father well pleased, justice satisfied, the law magnified and fulfilled to its utmost demands, the curse removed, sin pardoned, hell conquered, and the grave (so terrific while the sinner is under guilt and condemnation) rendered a bed of rest until the resurrection morning; when his happy spirit shall descend from the upper regions, in company with his dear Lord, and take possession of his own body, rendered glorious and complete by him, who said, "I will raise it up at the last day."-H. Fowler.

THE

GOSPEL STANDARD.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."-Matt. v. 6.

"Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."-2 Tim. i. 9.

"The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."-Rom. xi. 7.

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.-And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.—In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Acts viii. 37, 38; Matt. xxviii. 19.

No. 191.

NOVEMBER, 1851. VOL. XVII.

ANTINOMIANISM DEMOLISHED, AND THE GOSPEL OF
CHRIST DELIVERED FROM ITS FALSE CHARGES.
BY JOHN RUSK.
(Concluded from page 339.)

Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck."-(1 Tim. i. 19.)

Having treated a little about faith, and a good conscience, and also that conscience concerns faith, I now proceed to

III. The dreadful consequence of putting away conscience. This never can, strictly speaking, be the case with any of God's elect, and for this reason you never find that ever any one of them made shipwreck. But, say you, they often backslide. I grant it, for I feel it daily; but to put away conscience wholly they never do. We all secretly backslide. Solomon says there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not; but he also says, "The just man falleth seven times and riseth again." Some have backslidden openly, as Solomon, David, Peter, and others, and for a time got hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; yes, and for a time put away conscience, but not for good and all. Lust is such a powerful thing that, if God leave a man for a time, he is sure to be captivated by it, even at the expense of a good conscience; but to real believers it is attended with dreadful consequences, for, although God will forgive them, yet he will take vengeance of their inventions, and they shall sorely smart for what they do. What did Solomon suffer for his idolatry? Why, the loss of ten tribes, besides being filled with cruel jealousy, one of the hottest ingredients in the furnace of affliction, and that by Jeroboam his servant. Hence he says, Jealousy is cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath

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a most vehement flame." Therefore he sought to kill Jeroboam ; and speaking his own bitter experience, he says again, "Jealousy is the rage of a man, neither will he spare in the day of vengeance, neither will he rest contented though thou givest many gifts." Solomon came at all this through putting away conscience. God made good his word, where he says, "They have moved me to jealousy by that which is not God, and I will move them to jealousy with those that are not a people." God is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to any, nor his praise to graven images. You see it is an evil and bitter thing to sin against God. David his father also, after that dreadful fall which opened the mouths of God's enemies, what did he suffer in his soul? We may see it in Psalm li., "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O Lord;" and again, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, O Lord, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me." And again, the Lord says, Because thou hast done this, and occasioned the enemies of God to blaspheme, the sword shall never depart from thy house." Peter also. Oh what did he feel when he went out and wept bitterly? And also when Christ asked him three times whether he loved him, it is said that "Peter was grieved," grieved that the Lord should suspect his love or appear to do so. Thus you see the dreadful consequences some of God's elect have found by putting away conscience; but all these were reclaimed, so that they did not finally put it away. But a question naturally arises, If those that make shipwreck never had a good conscience, how can they put it away? To this I answer, that although they had not a good conscience, yet they professed that they had, for the unclean spirit went out of them for a time, and then they united with the godly. According to all appearance such go on very consistently, and, seeing that God only can search the heart, you and I cannot tell by their outward conduct but that they have a good conscience; for, as they appear heartily to believe the same truths, how is it possible to find them out? But at last the trial comes which before never had come.

I will now show you some from God's word who put away conscience altogether; the first I shall mention is Cain. Cain made a profession of the truth as well as Abel, and each brought an offering to the Lord. Cain brought of the fruits of the earth, for he was a tiller of the ground, and Abel "brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect; and Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell;" "and Cain talked with Abel his brother." Now, all this time he had hard work within. However, he was determined to put away conscience, and therefore he rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. Well, after this you find the dreadful consequences of it; for God says, "And now thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shall thou be in the earth." But that was not all,, for John tells us that he belonged to the Devil, and did his works: "Not as

Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's. righteous." (1 John iii. 10-12.) Evil works always arise from an evil conscience. John tells us, "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the Devil." Jude brings him in also, and pronounces the woe of God's wrath against him and all that tread in his steps. Thus you see that it is no trifling thing to put away conscience.

But again. Another that I shall take notice of is Balaam. Balaam was a man of great light, knowledge, and understanding, and appears to have been a man greatly looked up to. Now, Israel pitched in the plains of Moab, and Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many. Balak, the son of Zippor, was king of the Moabites at that time; he sent for Balaam to curse Israel, and made him very great promises, that he would promote him to honour. Now, here was the trial. Sacrifice conscience and be a great man, or abide by conscience and come to beggary; for reason can make nothing more of it. Balaam therefore put conscience away, which concerns faith, and laboured hard, vainly trying to tempt God to curse a people that he had already blessed; but he found out that God was not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Now, nothing of this was done in ignorance, for we are told that the Spirit of God came upon him, that his eyes were opened, that he heard the words of God, and saw the vision of the Almighty. It was wholly for want of power in Balaam, and no want of will that he did not curse Israel: "I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God," &c. (Num. xxii. 18.) The first time we read of his putting away conscience was when he went to ask God, at the very time that he knew God's mind and will respecting Israel; for God did tell him, "Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed;" (xxii. 12;) and when Balak made him such a great offer, he then puts conscience away, and says to the princes, "Tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more." You see what a dreadful thing it is to break through bounds. God answered him, and told him to go with the men; Balaam went, and God's anger was kindled against him for it. For the angel of the Lord appeared to him with a drawn sword in his hand, to show him that his way was perverse before God. Still, in the face of all, he puts conscience away, and builds more altars; but after all, finding that he could not turn God to curse so many thousands of people to enrich Balaam, he then advises Balak to lay a stumblingblock in their way. "And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And the people did eat, and bow down to their gods." John tells us that all this was through Balaam still putting away conscience. Hence, he says, that Balaam taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. (Rev. ii. 14.) There was the wisdom of the serpent, intending to stir up God's wrath to curse the people for their abom inations. And God sent a plague upon Israel, and there died twenty