the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him beside those that are gathered unto him." This gathering of the elect Gentiles God will overrule in the end as a means of stimulating the yet uncalled of the chosen Jews, and of accomplishing their fulness; so that none shall be wanting of the whole election of grace, whether Jews or Gentiles, when God "shall bring forth the head-stone with shoutings, crying Grace, grace unto it” (Zech. iv. ?). “This is the word of the Lord, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord' (Zech. iv. 6). The means which we have been considering, and which we here also see are of God, will be continued till the end which God had in view in their appointment, is accomplished. This accomplishment will be a unity or oneness of effect, produced by these means, in each appointed vessel of mercy; which in the text is called "the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God." A union in faith and knowledge, relating to Christ, is to characterize the church. This faith and knowledge are both of a saving nature, and are to be the characteristic of those who attain to the salvation of the Gospel which is in Christ. These will not be found manifesting themselves in the same degree in each member of the church; but though not alike in degree in the several members of the church, will be alike in all essential properties. It is, therefore, in the faith and the knowledge of Jesus that we are joined to the church; that we are manifested to be members of the church; having union to the Head, and in the Head union with the members.

The members of the church are described as "vessels of mercy afore prepared to glory (Rom. ix. 23). As such it is that they are fitted for the end to which God has ordained his church-namely, the manifestation of his glory in the exercise of love, grace, and mercy. These vessels of mercy being in themselves deserving only of God's wrath and vengeance, do manifest God's glory when they show forth his mercy in that glorious form in which it is manifested in their salvation and redemption.

God will be glorified in the damnation of the wicked, or reprobate part of mankind; that is, in those who have to bear the punishment of their own sin themselves. These, as vessels of wrath, will be to God's glory in his not clearing the guilty; there will be a perfect manifestation of God in his execution of wrath and vengeance on the breakers of his law, when the number of the reprobate, as vessels of wrath, are completed, and each one manifests, in his measure, the wrath that justly belongs to him. There will be a manifestation of God here, by this means, different to that by which the church will be to his glory. In these, of wrath, and vengeance, and hatred of sin; in the church, of love, grace, and mercy. The number of the church must be complete, in order that the manifestation of God by the church may be complete; each member making manifest that mercy of which he is the appointed vessel. The reprobate, in the same way, as vessels of wrath, will, each one, according to his exact circumstances, as a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction, having filled up the measure of his iniquity, make his manifestation of God. But it is with the church that we have now to do in treating the words of the text; it is what is there said of the continuance of the appointed means for the perfecting of the church-" till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of

the fulness of Christ," that has led us to make these observations. Salvation by grace through faith is the way by which God applies his mercy and grace to the sinner in the manifestation of his love. Faith in Christ, and a scriptural, spiritual acquaintance with him, attend the application of Christ's salvation. He that believeth is saved-hath everlasting lifeshall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. The preaching of the Gospel, the ministration of the word, will be continued till each chosen vessel of mercy believes and is saved. The success that attends the word is of God, as we have already set forth; so that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the encouragement of both ministers and hearers, God hath declared by his servant (Isa. Iv. 10-13), " For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

Ministers are to preach the word faithfully to every creature to whom they may be sent; the result they are to leave with God. God, by means of his word, will gather in his elect, "till they all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When God has gathered in the number of his elect, then will the means for this be no longer needed; then will the end which God has pre-ordained in the world's existence be attained.

The perfect man--the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ will be in its appointed existence; Christ will then appear in all his glory in that second coming when he will be without sin unto salvation. Then the church will be found to the praise of the glory of God, as comprising the numbered vessels of mercy. Oh! what glory will be God's, as manifested, when the whole church is seen in the full enjoyment of that salvation to which she was ordained of God from eternity. The church will then be found to have a unity or oneness of existence in Christ, as each individual member has been brought, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a discovery of his privileges in him as a vessel of mercy afore prepared of God unto glory. The time cannot be very far distant, when God's design in the existence of the Gospel, and an appointed ministry of his word, will be accomplished; when all will have come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; when Christ will himself appear in glory to take to himself his great power and reign; destroying with everlasting destruction his enemies, and exalting his chosen to all that glory to which God has ordained them in him. With regard to the Jews not yet gathered, we read (Rom. ix. 28), "He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." The latter days, as they are styled in Scripture, seem now to have passed away; while those called the last, with their characteristic signs as set forth in the word, seem to have arrived. And, as the word, in its prophetic revelations of things to come, has hitherto been proved faithful and true by its unfolder, Time, with its events, so may we rely on it as a yet faithful revealer of that which remains to be brought to pass in the world's history; that the gracious purposes of God concerning his elected church may have their full accomplishment.

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE PORTRAIT-J. J. WEST.

To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine.

MY DEAR SIR, AND BROTHER IN THE ELECT HEAD OF THE ELECT FAMILY,

May grace, mercy, and peace be with you, and all the blessings of that sure and ordered covenant which is (glory be to distinguishing grace) all the salvation and all the desire of every honest, every sensible sinner. May you and I have been made such by the irresistible power of God.

In compliance with the request in your letter of August 12th, that I would write a few lines for insertion in your next Number of the GOSPEL MAGAZINE, I willingly avail myself of the opportunity; because I am always ready and always happy (as God gives me the power), "in season-out of season," to scatter the good seed of the kingdom-even the soul-reviving, heart-cheering, sinner-humbling, Jehovah-exalting truths of that Gospel with the ministry of which I have been intrusted, and of which I am not ashamed; " for (I know experimentally_that) it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. i. 16).

All, however, that I shall have to say to you and to your readers will be upon the one subject, even that on which my own heart delights to dwell, and that is, Jesus Christ; for, through God's grace, I have "determined (as Paul did) not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified;" so that whether it be in the pulpit, in the communion of saints, or on the pages of your GOSPEL MAGAZINE, I have no other subject to preach about, to speak of, or to write on. Jesus Christ, with me is all and all. So that, as one well said, “I go on playing on the same harp with its three strings-election, redemption, and regeneration and the subject is increasingly precious to my soul."

Oh! my brother, what a mercy it is to have been enabled to know Christ! "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent (John, xvii. 3). Oh! how Paul burned within when he said to his beloved Philippians, "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection," &c.

"In the dear Person of his Son

The Father stands revealed,
And he that truly knows the one,
The other hath beheld.

In Christ, as in a glass, we see,
Unawed and undismayed,
The glories of the Deity
Transcendently displayed."

In doctrine, in practice, in experience, we know nothing except as we know Jesus Christ; hence we see the force of 2 Peter, iii. 18. And here I am reminded of a saying of Melancthon-very sweet and very seasonable-"The knowledge of Christ is found in the knowledge of the blessings derived through him." Paul, writing to the Romans, and desiring to sum up the Christian doctrine, does not set about treating philosophically of the Trinity, the incarnation, creation, active or passive. What, then, are his themes? The law, sin, grace; on our instruction in these depends our knowledge of Christ. And so it is; for what can a sinner know of Christ till he has been condemned under the law? "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Hence, till we know for ourselves Rom. vii. 9, we know nothing as we should know. Killing work comes first, then the quickening and making alive. "There is a time to kill and a time to heal;" and, "the Lord killeth and maketh alive " (1 Sam. ii. 6).

Thus, till I was brought to the bar of God's judgment, and saw myself justly condemned; that I was guilty, vile, corrupt, and hell-deserving; till I was

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE PORTRAIT-J. J. WEST.

To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine.

MY DEAR SIR, AND BROTHER IN THE ELECT HEAD OF THE ELECT FAMILY,

May grace, mercy, and peace be with you, and all the blessings of that sure and ordered covenant which is (glory be to distinguishing grace) all the salvation and all the desire of every honest, every sensible sinner. May you and I have been made such by the irresistible power of God.

In compliance with the request in your letter of August 12th, that I would write a few lines for insertion in your next Number of the GOSPEL MAGAZINE, I willingly avail myself of the opportunity; because I am always ready and always happy (as God gives me the power), " in season-out of season,” to scatter the good seed of the kingdom-even the soul-reviving, heart-cheering, sinner-humbling, Jehovah-exalting truths of that Gospel with the ministry of which I have been intrusted, and of which I am not ashamed; " for (I know experimentally_that) it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. i. 16).

All, however, that I shall have to say to you and to your readers will be upon the one subject, even that on which my own heart delights to dwell, and that is, Jesus Christ; for, through God's grace, I have "determined (as Paul did) not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified;" so that whether it be in the pulpit, in the communion of saints, or on the pages of your GOSPEL MAGAZINE, I have no other subject to preach about, to speak of, or to write on. Jesus Christ, with me is all and all. So that, as one well said, "I go on playing on the same harp with its three strings-election, redemption, and regeneration-and the subject is increasingly precious to my soul."

Oh! my brother, what a mercy it is to have been enabled to know Christ! "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent (John, xvii. 3). Oh! how Paul burned within when he said to his beloved Philippians, "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection," &c.

"In the dear Person of his Son

The Father stands revealed,
And he that truly knows the one,
The other hath beheld.

In Christ, as in a glass, we see,
Unawed and undismayed,

The glories of the Deity
Transcendently displayed."

In doctrine, in practice, in experience, we know nothing except as we know Jesus Christ; hence we see the force of 2 Peter, iii. 18. And here I am reminded of a saying of Melancthon-very sweet and very seasonable "The knowledge of Christ is found in the knowledge of the blessings derived through him." Paul, writing to the Romans, and desiring to sum up the Christian doctrine, does not set about treating philosophically of the Trinity, the incarnation, creation, active or passive. What, then, are his themes? The law, sin, grace; on our instruction in these depends our knowledge of Christ. And so it is; for what can a sinner know of Christ till he has been condemned under the law? "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Hence, till we know for ourselves Rom. vii. 9, we know nothing as we should know. Killing work comes first, then the quickening and making alive. "There is a time to kill and a time to heal;" and, "the Lord killeth and maketh alive " (1 Sam. ii. 6).

Thus, till I was brought to the bar of God's judgment, and saw myself justly condemned; that I was guilty, vile, corrupt, and hell-deserving; till I was