1. "I owe it to the children of God, who from various parishes attended my ministry, to give them a reason why I so suddenly, as they might think, abandoned my pulpit, and ceased to preach in the national Establishment. "They will see that I could no longer with a good conscience remain in the Church of England, and that, though I was brought very reluctantly to take this step, I could not, and durst not "continue in sin that grace might abound," or " do evil that good might come." "2. I publish it for the sake of those among the evangelical clergy, who are not, as most of them are, "born of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man" alone," but of God." These are bound up in a system, which in principle and practice, is opposed to the word of God, and to the operations of the Spirit on the hearts of the elect. And I would fearlessly say to all spiritual and regenerate ministers in the Church of England, that they are either ignorant of the nature of Christ's spiritual kingdom, and of a true gospel church, or that their convictions of truth are blinded with pride, covetousness, unbelief, love of ease, or some other worldly vail spread over their head. And I would solemnly warn them how they stifle their convictions by appealing to the example of such ministers as Toplady, Romaine, Newton, and Hawker, who lived and died in her communion. The word of the Lord is, "Every man shall bear his own burden." And again, "Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth." "3. I publish it as a witness and testimony against those unregenerate men, who " suppose that gain is godliness," and who under the name of bishops, deacons, archdeacons, rectors, vicars, curates, and fellows of colleges," eat the fat, and clothe themselves with the wool," and calling themselves successors of the apostles, serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly." We think these reasons fully justify the publication, and evince the sincerity of our Author's motives in seceding from a Church Establishment, in which he certainly could no longer conscientiously continue to minister. The very candid and simple statement of those feelings, which exercised the mind of Mr. P., and which ultimately led to his secession from the National Church, will be perused with pleasure, and lead us to hope that he will prove an useful minister in whatever station the Lord in his providence may direct him. While we fully accord with many of his remarks on the wearisome trammels to which all those who minister in the Church of England are more or less compelled to submit; as also those painful feelings which must arise on the indiscriminate `use of those parts of the Liturgy, which is applicable only to those who are regenerated by God the Holy Ghost, but which are carelessly responded by many who not only slight but even deride real vital godliness, we most decidedly object to the conclusions which Mr. P. adopts in reference to those who continue to minister in the National Church. He would most certainly have been sinning against the light of his own conscience, had he continued in the Church; but let him not judge his brother in this matter. There have been, and there still are many who enjoy much of the Lord's presence, and whose views of divine truth prove them to be stars of the first magnitude; and yet for wise and (to us who dissent from the Church) inscrutable reasons they are continued within the pale of episcopacy, and we feel convinced are made eminently useful. May the good Lord increase their number, that while so many are uniting to destroy our National Church, which we hold to be a national blessing, it may be spared for the sake of the few righteous ones found therein. : Truth Vindicated in Reply to a Letter written by the Rev. W. H. Colyer, entitled, Reasons for rejecting the Hypothesis of the Pre-existence of the Human Soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. By THOMAS BONFIELD, 8vo. pp. 48. London, J. Nichols, E. Palmer. In this letter Mr. Bonfield has in a temperate and christian spirit, animadverted on Mr. Colyer's Reasons, &c. and defended Mr. Stevens in his views on the pre-existence of the human soul of Christ; and with a warmth of feeling for his friend, calls on Mr. C. not to spend his strength nor weary his readers with long quotations from various writers, showing their discrepancies, but prove from the word of God, that those scriptures brought forward in defence of pre-existence do not favour that hypothesis, and then in an unsophisticated and plain statement give what he conceives to be the real meaning of such scriptures, that his readers may judge for themselves. Mr. B. has appended the correspondence which he had with two gentlemen connected with the church at Boston, of which Mr. Stevens was the pastor, at the time when the pieces signed Nepios were written and published in the Gospel Magazine, and which Mr. Colyer so improperly stated to be Mr. Stevens' writing; and though Mr. S. denied their being his and gave the Author's name, yet to his discredit Mr. C. pertinaciously adhered to his previous blunders. We do not wonder at Mr. B. evincing some warmth on this subject. Mr. C. will act wisely, should he resume his pen, first to apologize for his previous indiscreetness, and then take the ground which Mr. B. recommends, and which in our former observations we also proposed. POETRY. EXHORTATION. ARISE, my soul, and bless the Lord, THE Spiritual Magazine; OR, SAINTS' TREASURY. "There are Three that bear record in heaven; the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST; and these Three are One." "Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." JULY, 1835. 1 John v. 7. ON TEMPTATION AND DELIVERANCE. Jude 3. "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation." THERE is no subject more interesting and instructive, to those acquainted with the plague of their own hearts, than the various temptations by which their faith is, and has been, assaulted, and the Lord's deliverances from them; and every child of the living God can "set to his seal that God is true," in this particular: true in his word, and true to his promise of delivering his children. In the passage above quoted, we have three points especially commending themselves to our attention: namely, the godly, their temptations, and the Lord's deliverance of their souls out of temptation. But, who are the godly? the multitudes that crowd our Chapels and Churches in this day of great profession? Alas! no, for the majority of these are outer court worshippers, who have not even "the form of godliness:" and of those that have a name to live,” their utter destitution of godly fruits shew that they are dead branches, which will be in time broken off by the winds of error and delusion, if not hewn down from their false confidence by the power of Jehovah the Spirit and in opposition to all the profession of this age, we must cry with the Psalmist, "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth," Ps. xii. 1. 66 Godly men may be considered, 1st, as to the origin of their godliness, which is the election of their persons from eternity, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love," Eph. i. 4. 2. As to the spring or immediate cause of their godliness, the new birth," which were born not of the will of the Hesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" "by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" in fulfilment of that promise in Ezekiel, "a new heart also will I give you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." 3. As to the nature of their godliness, VOL. XI.-No. 137.] 2 C it consists in having " the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost," and the fear of God before the eyes." Now these persons alone are acquainted with the true nature of temptation, because these alone have a disposition or desire, from a principle of love and godly fear, to avoid sin. But when I would speak of their temptations, I am introduced into a field so vast, that I scarcely know how to touch upon the utmost borders thereof; but I will notice first,-the Tempter. This is Satan, the adversary of the church, because he is the enemy of the church's glorious Head. He is designated a serpent, to shew his subtilty and cunning-craftiness, whereby he lies" in wait to deceive"--a roaring lion, for cruelty-a dragon, for fearlessness and ferocity-and an enemy, for his determined opposition to the peace and comfort of the church. In his nature he is a spirit, and therefore has access to us unperceived. I pause to observe, that our most glorious Redeemer, who is on our side and who is in his people, is greater than our enemy: he is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother; he has all the wisdom of the Godhead to oppose to Satan's devices; he is the lion of the tribe of Judah, whose hand is on the neck of his enemies; he is the arm of the Lord which wounded the dragon; and he is a restorer of life to his poor dead people. Now Satan, the tempter, is never idle, he tempts every one of the godly "From this there can be none exempt, 'Tis God's own wise decree : Satan the weakest saint will tempt, Nor is the strongest free."—HART. He tempted David, the man after God's own heart; and Job, a perfect man and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil: he tempted Peter, to whom the Father had revealed Christ; and he tempted Thomas to doubt of the resurrection. And so it is now; one he tempts that he may puff him up with pride; another, to cast him down to the pit of despair-he tempts them, and lays a snare for them in every thing; in their profits, in their pleasures, in their meat, in their drink, in their raiment, in their company, and in their discourse. He tempts them, in every place; at home or abroad; in a public place of worship, or in the secret of their own chambers; alone or in company he prepares the gilded bait to allure, or a threatening look or word to terrify. He tempts them at all times; when carnally secure, when spiritually proud, after the sweetest communion, and even when they have just received the sealing and witnessing of the Spirit. And as at all times, so to every sin; there is no sin so great, no enormity so dreadful, but Satan will present it, and the minds of the godly receive it, if not checked by the timely interposition of their heavenly Father. But more particularly he tempts to the sins of our calling; if the child of God be in some business or profession-the lawyer, the merchant, the shopkeeper, is |