considerable service to the pope at the council of Bari, held for opposing the doctrines of the Greek church with respect to the Holy Ghost, that church having denied the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son; when the right of election to church prefernent was declared to belong to the clergy alone, and spiritual censures were denounced against all ecclesiasties who did homage to laymen for their sees or benefices, and against all laymen who exacted it. In this synod, Anselm answered the objections of the Greek fathers, completely silenced his adversaries, and gave general satisfaction to the western church. He interposed to prevent Urban pronouncing excommunication against William, for his outrages against religion. On his return to Rome, he found an ambassador arrived from England, to disprove Anselm's allegations and complaints. The pope lent but an indifferent ear to the messenger, and for some time hung in suspense between conscience and interest; but his scruples were eventually overbalanced by a handsome sum of money, and the promise of more. Deserted by the papal court, Anselm would have returned to Lyons, but the pope would not permit him; as a compensation allowing him the use of a splendid palace, where he frequently visited him. A council being summoned at Rome, Anselm had an honourable seat assigned him and his successors-an archbishop of Canterbury now appearing for the first time in a Romish synod. His case was alluded to by the bishop of Lucca, who remonstrated against the delay in doing him justice. When the council broke up, he immediately went to Lyons, where he was entertained for some time by Hugo, the archbishop; and it is here he remained till the death of William and of the pope, which soon took place.

M.

THE GENTILES DEBTORS TO THE JEWS*.

EVERY hope of the future which cheers us, as well as every thought of the past which sustains us, is centred in Israel; "their debtors" we are-for the ancient scriptures, for the gospel revelation, for the religion of our Saviour. The Old Testament, to which he and his apostles so often referred as the records of eternity, and from which they proved that "Jesus was the Messiah" whom we now worship, was written by holy men of old as they were "moved by the Holy Ghost" those men were Jews. When you hear the glorious majesty of God proclaimed, and his awful attributes asserted, in the law which is rehearsed from the altar in the ears of the people, and while you echo back the deep response beseeching an obedient heart "to keep this law," remember the commandments were given to an Israelite, and by an Israelite

handed down to us.

The sweet psalmist was the illustrious Israelite whose writings have ever formed a great portion of the Jewish as well as of the Christian religion, and which still awake the deepest and the holiest melody of the soul. Ezra, a priest of the Jews, whose memory they still hold in high esteem, revived that religion which is yet lingering among them, and which is confined to the written word of God, and is the light which the children of Israel have in their houses in Egypt, amid encircling darkness. In Egypt, in Poland, and in Russia, the Jews reject the absurdities of the Talmud; so that" in all that region round about," we might bring their acknowledged scriptures to bear upon the doctrines of Christianity with a force which would be irresistible, and thus we might obtain a blessing.

Isaiah was the Jew who prophesied of "him who hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows."

From a sermon preached in the parish church of Wigan, by the rev. B. Wilson, B.A. London: Hamilton and Co. 1841.

Isaiah was the Jew who breathes the raptures of devotion through the soul, who wings our thoughts and carries them to heaven, or melts the heart with hallowed grief. The fulfilment of his prophecies we read in the records of the evangelists, who themselves were Jews. The heaven-taught apostle of the Gentiles was a "Hebrew of the Hebrews." Time would fail to tell of half the Jews who were evangelists and martyrs. Who were they who with dauntless step trod down the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, who tore away the fetters of prejudice which chained their nation to the abrogated law of rites and ordinances? They were Israelites. Yes; the Jews were the unwelcome heralds of a Saviour's love, and of that gospel which ultimately blessed our shores. Thus, then, we see that Jewish preachers as well as Jewish writers have conferred eternal benefits on our Gentile church; and hence we deduce two infer

ences.

The first is, that we have received great spiritual blessings through the Jews. If we are indebted to the Greek, and the barbarian, and to all mankind, as partakers of their nature; if we are indebted to our fathers according to the flesh for our natural life, how much more deep are our obligations to those who have been instrumental in imparting spiritual and eternal life. If the fleeting things of this world demand our gratitude, the blessings of eternity must prefer a higher claim. When we glance at the expatriated Israelites who are scattered throughout Europe, we forget the "rock whence they are hewn;" we do not look upon them as they really are, the chastened yet preserved descendants of prophets and priests, of apostles and evangelists; but when we consider this fact, and recollect that we have occupied their place for eighteen centuries, that from them we have the Old, and indeed the New Testament*, we cannot but be deeply impressed with a sense of the peculiar claims which the Jews have upon our gratitude, on account of the great spiritual blessings which we have received through them.

Again, the most transient review of the observations already advanced will convince us that Israel is a chosen and peculiar people. They stand a mighty, though a broken monument, inscribed with miracles and mercies-a monument more solemn in its ruins! In England the stream of time has washed away all traces of the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, which would identify our families with each respective race, while the Jews, like oil amid the ocean, are unmingled and distinct; and is there not a cause why Israel should be thus dispersed, separate, and preserved? By his prophet the Almighty answers"When Israel was a child I loved him, and called my wherewith God loved his ancient people-wherewith, son out of Egypt." Thus we see the everlasting love through them, he honours us. child, he dwelt in Egypt till the death of Herod; God called his Son from Egypt, and thus fulfilled his word second time.

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When Jesus was a

To the Jews the divine mind was reflected through the law. The ordinances were channels conveying grace to the faithful. The shadows which now are fled, prefigured better things-the things which we enjoy; and, when "God was manifest in the flesh," Judea was honoured with his residence; and, although evangelists and teachers had their commission to the Gentiles, to the Jews "God spake by his Son," who breathed his dying prayer for Israel even while their hands were reeking in his sacred life-blood. Their land was the scene of his ministry, and the centre of that mission which evangelized the world; and hence we fairly deduce

The preacher's zeal has here carried him a little too far: it cannot be said, in any sense, that we have the New Testament from the "Israelites scattered throughout Europe," or that they are the "descendants" of apostles and evangelists.-ED

THE CHAOS:

A Sermon

(For New Year's Day)

BY THE REV. JOHN MATTHEWS, M.A., Curate of Langley-Burrell, Wilts.

GEN. i. 2.

"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." THE ending of one year, and the beginning of another, are events calculated to bring many profitable reflections to our minds, and that more forcibly than most other periods of time; owing, perhaps, to these circumstances: that a year is the longest division of time, and that few of them happen in our lives; that, when a year has just ended, one large portion of our existence is passed into eternity; that the beginning and the end of the year in this hemisphere happen in a dreary season, and at a time when nature appears least lovely, wearied and exhausted; that we are accustomed to look forward to the end of the year as a time of deadness and darkness and suffering, but to the beginning of the new that, as soon as its first morning dawns upon us, we may then begin to lift up our heads with joy, cheered with the promise of returning spring, and with the fond tation of warm, bright, and lengthened days. Hence, on the one hand, at the dying away of the old year, we may be led to more spiritual reflections, to think upon the langour of old age, the approaching days of suffering and death, and more especially upon that solemn period of time when the awful will of God, declared by his angel in Revelation, shall be accomplished: "Who sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven and the things that therein are, and the sea and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer." There shall then be no severe return of winter, no sweet return of spring, no change of day and night; but all shall be swallowed up in eternity eternal darkness and eternal suffering shall rest upon the dwellings of the ungodly; but eternal light and warmth and joy upon the habitation of the just.

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For, as the ending of the year leads to these reflections on the one hand, so, on the other hand, entering on the new year, with spring and summer before us, is strongly calculated to encourage us in looking forward to a new and heavenly life, to an eternal spring, eternal summer, an eternal day in heaven, where darkness cannot dwell. But it is not less suited to lead our reflections back to the beginning of time, to the first day when God arose to form and adorn the worlds, and to appoint the returns of day and

night, of years and seasons, for the use of mortals.

The text is easily divided into two parts: first, the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: second, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

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the face

I. The first subject then for our consideration is the state of the world in the beginning of time. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: that is, the earth lay a hideous, barren, and desolate heap; as a waste, howling wilderness, earth and sea mingled together-" the earth standing out of the water, and in the water," without order or control; the wild roaring waters dashing over the mountains and sweeping through the plains; now overwhelming one part, now another, and rendering all useless. Not a single tree, not a single plant, not a blade of grass was to be seen upon the whole of the earth's surface; not a single living creature had yet moved or existed, either in earth or sea: all was empty, barren, and desolate. Added to this, the blackest darkness covered the whole: " and darkness," says the text, was upon of the deep." The sun and moon and starg were not yet created; nor was there light from any other source, till God commanded, There was therefore the most awful confusion and desolation, buried in horrors of the thickest gloom; the world appearing like one vast and gloomy cavern, the womb of darkness. The blackest and most miserable night of the desolate winter may assist in bringing the scene to our imagination, though it may be but a very faint resemblance. Now think for a time on this comfortless scene of things: bring it to your imagination: set it before your eyes. How short and wretched must have been the existence of creatures, if God had doomed any to dwell in such a state!— how utterly impossible would it have been for them to fix a comfortable habitation, or to remedy one even of the existing evils! Where should we have made our pleasant homes and warm fire-sides? Could we "have commanded the morning, and caused the dayspring to know its place?" Could we have driven away the darkness? or "have shut up the sea with doors," and have said unto it— "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?" As well might we now attempt to place ourselves on some barren rock in the midst of the sea, and say, " Here shall be my resting-place for ever; here will I plant me vineyards, and build me a quiet dwelling, and the waters shall not come near." The returning tide would perhaps put an end to all our hopes, and also to our existence.

1. Here then we are led to reflect, first, upon the wisdom and goodness of God manifested in his gracious design in the creation. God had no design to form creatures for misery, but for happiness, as the apostle declares when speaking of the Christian dispensation: "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain mercy by Jesus Christ." So here he had determined to make man; but to make him, not a child of sorrow, but a comfortable and happy creature: he therefore first begins, with infinite goodness, to prepare him a pleasant and goodly dwelling-place. But which among the angels would have supposed that he would form it from this gloomy chaos, this miserable and barren spot we have been considering? They had no such power themselves, not the mightiest of them; and it is probable they did not yet know the almighty power of God, or, at least, that they had not seen it so marvellously displayed. When, therefore, he fixed the foundation of the earth, and formed the world, he tells Job that then "the morning stars sung together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy:" they sung of the mighty power and glory of God: they shouted for joy at the goodness and wisdom of their everlasting Father, here displayed so gloriously. And who, my brethren, when he hears and considers for a moment the declaration of the text, and then casts his eyes around, above, and beneath him, upon the wonderful change which God has wrought upon the beauty and order and usefulness of all things, who can refuse or avoid bowing in deepest adoration before him who by his Spirit has also gathered together the great and the wide sea, wherein are creatures innumerable, supplying food for this life; "and there go the ships," now winging their way on its bosom, with the food that never perishes, heralds of the gospel of peace, where once they were only as furies of war, thirsting for blood?

And, as the Spirit composed and regulated the waters under the firmament, so did he the waters that are above. "By his Spirit," says Job," he hath garnished the heavens:" therefore the beauty and grandeur of the clouds adorning the heavenly canopy; their convenient station and usefulness, either to protect the tender herb with mantles of snow, dove-like emblem of his own pure love, or to enrich the earth with their showers, or to screen us from the burning sunbeam: this was the work of the Spirit of God. And doubtless these words of Job are designed to teach us that he also set forth the stars in their courses, and clothed them with living brightness. Thus, when we consider the works of the Holy Spirit, how lovely does he himself appear to us!-how worthy of our

highest adoration and gratitude! Indeed, when we meditate upon the separate works of the three divine Persons of the blessed Trinity, we know not which to love and adore the most; and arrive reasonably at the conclusion, that all are equally glorious, equally to be loved and worshipped.

But, further, the word here translated "moved," literally means settled or brooded, and it is understood by some to express that act of the Holy Spirit by which he imparted life and activity. This is the peculiar office of the Holy Spirit, "it is the Spirit that quickeneth," saith our Saviour: "the Spirit giveth life," says St. Paul: it was the Spirit that "raised Jesus from the dead :" it is the Spirit that shall breathe upon our dry bones, that they may live; for in like manner it was the Spirit of God that entered Adam, and man became a living soul. And here, in the text, we are to understand that by moving upon the waters he imparted vitality to the innumerable creatures that swim in the depths of the seas, and equally so to whatsoever moveth upon the face of the earth. To this Holy Spirit of God then we are indebted, not only for our own life and preservation from day to day and from year to year, but for all those living creatures which increase and multiply to supply us with food and clothing, and many other comforts. As often, therefore, as we use them, should not our hearts be grateful to him who is the author of them, and take heed not to abuse them?

Now, my brethren, we have considered the state of this world before the word of God and the Spirit of God began their operations upon it. You have seen its disorder and confusion, its barren, empty, and useless condition, and the utter darkness in which it was buried. You have seen also what the word and Spirit of God have been able to effect: you see around you in earth, and sea, and skies, what goodness and blessedness is imparted to the whole creation. You have seen, then, an exact representation of the fallen state of man, and what the word and Spirit of God, and these only, can do for him. The whole soul and body of man without these is without form, and void: his heart is a misshapen, hideous, and disordered mass of empty, unprofitable, and good-for-nothing matter; and, when the Holy Spirit of God enters it, he finds it lifeless, dark, and barren, and, like the unrestrained and troubled waters, all ruinous and in wild disorder, as in chaos. That this is the state of man, and that therefore he is fit for nothing else but destruction, except he is rendered "fit for a habitation of God through the Spirit," holy scripture very clearly declares: we are, it says, while unrenewed, "sitting in darkness and the