casts. "But," says our Saviour, "go ye out into the highways and hedges, and bring in the poor, and the maimed, and the halt and the blind." What goodness was here! "Let not conscience make you linger; Nor of fitness fondly dream." Are you more unworthy than these Gentiles to whom were sent the unsearchable riches of Christ? And here you see in the Apostle's case, the nature of the Christian dispensation. You will observe that the Christian dispensation did not properly commence till the death of Christ. Accordingly during his abode on earth he was the minister of the circumcision only. And when he sent forth the apostles and the seventy, he said, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles: and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But upon his resurrection from the dead, when this glorious economy had actually commenced, his language and his commission was conformable to it: then said he to them, "Go into all the world, and teach the Gospel to every creature: teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." "And they went forth," we are told, "preaching every where that men should repent." There is nothing, therefore, in the Christian dispensation like that of Judaism. Judaism was of divine original; but then it was exclusive; it was confined, and it was necessarily confined, to a particular nation. In the nature of the case it never could have become a universal religion. How could all the males in all the countries of the earth, have repaired three times a year to Jerusalem to appear before the Lord, and to worship there? "But we have no such lengths to go, Nor wander far abroad; Where'er the saints assemble now, Christianity has no localities: our Saviour said to the woman, "The hour cometh, yea now is, when neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem (exclusively) shall men worship the Father; but all shall worship him in spirit and in truth." The Gospel therefore overlooks every thing that is external and adventitious in men's condition, and regards them as men only. Whatever be their colour, whatever their condition, whatever their country, whatever their character, it regards them in those exigencies which are common to every indiIvidual of the human race. It finds every individual guilty, and it brings forgiving mercy; it finds every individual depraved, and brings sanctifying grace. It finds every individual capable and destined to live for ever; and turns this, which would otherwise have been a curse, into a blessing, by converting it into light and immortality. We observe also, that in this part of the subject we are peculiarly interested. Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles; that is, he was our Apostle. We, you know, were once Gentiles, led away by dumb idols. What were your forefathers when Paul was called by grace? A number of painted, naked savages, shouting about here in the woods, and enslaved by the most absurd and cruel superstitions At what time, and in what manner, the Gospel first came to the Gentiles here, we cannot accurately determine; but at an early period it came: and it has continued, notwithstanding all our national privations, among us ever since and it has had a series of finer and more glorious triumphs than in any country under heaven. 66 Lastly, observe what he says of his SUBJECT. "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ :" the model after which all ministers should be conformed: all of us should be able to make use of the same language with them. They could say, "We preach not heathen virtues, not Jewish economies, not moral systems, not worldly politics, not church discipline, not the difference in forms and modes of worship: we have a nobler theme. We leave nature to the philosophers: our philosophy is to know "God manifest in the flesh." We leave the planets to astronomers: our astronomy is to teach people to adore "the bright and morning Star;" to adore "the Sun of Righteousness," rising with healing under his wings. We leave geometry to the mathematicians; our geometry is to teach people "to comprehend with all saints, what is the height, and depth, and length, and breadth, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge:" our arithmetic, to teach men so to number their days, as to apply their hearts unto wisdom." We leave criticism and language to the rhetoricians, concerned only to be skilled in the language of Canaan, and to speak according to the living oracles of God. "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord:" "We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them which are called both Jew and Greek, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." This is the bread of life, the life of the soul: and though there may be some that despise it, as the Jews of old despised the heavenly manna, calling it, "this light bread," yet this is the bread that satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness; and every partaker of it, every one that has tasted that the Lord is gracious, will exclaim, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." What are these unsearchable riches of Christ? They do not intend so much his attributes and possessions as God, as his mediatorial resources and treasures. The whole dispensation of the Spirit is lodged in his hands: "For in him it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell"-pardon, peace, knowledge, strength, grace, and glory. There is an abundance of these riches in him; they are unsearchable as they are found in him. The world has its riches, but they are easily comprehended: and Solomon summed them all up when he said, "Vanity of vanities; vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity." All the wealth of the world, all the world calls good and great, is infinitely inferior to mind. I say, to mind. The riches of the Saviour are for the soul, and for eternity: they are therefore invisible, as to the senses; and they are boundless too; so that no creature in heaven or earth can ever fully explore them. Angels, it is true, desire to look into these things; and will always be looking into them, but never see the bottom: how then is it to be supposed that any mortal can ever worthily imagine the value of that blood which cleanseth from all sin; the perfection of that righteousness which can justify the ungodly, and give him a title to eternal life; that peace which "passeth all understanding;" that joy which is "unspeakable and full of glory;" that love which "passeth knowledge;" that power that is able to do for us exceedingly abundant, above all that we can ask or think?" Well may the Apostle call these, "the unsearchable riches of Christ." And, to close, it should rejoice you to know, that He is in the possession of such unsearchable riches. It should gladden you to learn this on his own account; for he is infinitely worthy. And is there a Christian here this evening, whose heart does not exclaira. "Let Him be crowned with majesty, Who bowed his head to death; By all things that have breath." Christian, do not you rejoice to think, that He, your dear Lord and Saviour, who was once so poor as not to have where to lay his head, has now dwelling in him "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;" has in his possession, and at his disposal, all the treasures of nature and grace, and providence and glory? And you should rejoice in the behalf of others too. When many rise in the world, and acquire resources, who is the better for them? Rather they oppress, and peel, and spoil, and curse. When many of your fellow-creatures gain wealth, they immediately hoard it: who is the better for it? How seldom do you find those who have large affluence, possessing the will to do good with it! But Olet us rejoice that these unsearchable riches belong to One Whose heart is made of tenderness, Whose bowels melt with love." Let us rejoice to think, therefore, that there are in him the resources of pity, the resources of grace. To you is the word of this salvation sent. Do you value the preaching of it? Can any one of you imagine now, that these unsearchable riches are published among you from Sabbath to Sabbath, only to amuse you-only that you may give them a hearing? Is it enough to hear them? You may hear, and believe, and wonder, and perish. And if you derive no advantage from the dispensation, the dispensation itself will become a curse; and "the savour of life unto life" will be turned into "the savour of death unto death." Happy are those who are convinced of their spiritual need; who begin to be in want; who are sensible that they are unable to relieve their own exigences, and that creatures can never relieve them; and so be prepared to say with Newton, "The help of men and angels joined Can never reach my case; Nor can I hope relief to gain, But in that boundless grace." Tell this joy to Him, who has unsearchable riches, with confidence. Enlarge your desires and your hopes. Be not satisfied to obtain from him mere relief: the Apostle tells us, that such was the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, "that though he was rich, yet, for our sakes, he became poor, that we through his poverty"-might be relieved? No-but "that we through his poverty might be rich:" and therefore "ask and receive, that your joy may be full." And, finally, how blessed are they who are one with their Saviour! You may judge of your safety by His safety-your honour by His honour-your wealth by His riches. All he hath is yours; for "he that hath the Son hath life." You may be poor in this world; but 66 you are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom;" you may have nothing, but you "possess all things." Amen. THE EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN PERGAMŪS. REV. H. BLUNT, A.M. TRINITY CHURCH, CHELSEA, MARCH 8, 1835. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a winte stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."-REVELATION, ii. 17. In the last discourse we contemplated the Church of Christ during one of the mosc interesting periods that it has ever known, namely, during those peculiarly trying centuries when its members were poor in this world's advantages, but rich unto God: "I know thy poverty; but thou art rich." They were to endure the ten days of tribulation under their pagan persecutors, and, being found faithful unto death, to wear the crown of life. This state of apparent depression, but of real prosperity, continued until the three first centuries had passed away, and the religion of the Redeemer began to emerge from its obscurity; to be patronised by the great and noble; to have princes among its proselytes, and Constantine, the Emperor of the Roman world, as its acknowledged head. As it too often is with individuals, so it is with the Church at large; the warm and sunny day draws out the vapours. Christians who in the preceding age had been able to rejoice in their poverty and tribulation, and even to be thankful at the time it was given-not only to believe, but also to suffer, for the name of Christ—now became anxious only for this world's wealth and advantages; so that instead of the holy, self-denying lives of the early converts, were to be seen the sensual habits of the mere worldling, in the garb, and under the title, of Christianity. It is thus, then, that we believe the Church of Pergamos to have been the type and the representative of professing Christians; and the words addressed nominally to her were peculiarly appropriate to the great body of the Christian Church, from the days of Constantine until the period when the Popes first began to assume temporal power; and by their usurpation, enormities, and ungodly lives, gave (as we shall see in the next place) an entirely new character to the Christian world. In our last discourse we remarked how peculiarly appropriate the preface was to the instruction and warning that were to follow. Observe the same beauty and propriety in the epistle which comes before us this day. "To the angel of the Church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath a sharp sword with two edges." When our Lord was about to use only the language of commendation and encouragement, he refers only to those of his attributes from which encouragement and comfort could be deduced-his eternity and all-sufficiency. In his present Epistle, so full of reprehension, he describes himself in his judicial character, as bearing not the sword in vain; equally ready to punish as to bless-to destroy as to save. The Epistle thus continues: "I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is." No sooner had imperial Rome become Christian, than from its great power and wealth, which were still considerable, it was at once the head of the Christian Church, and therefore might be termed preeminently a state of Christianity. To this depraved and profligate city evident allusion is made in the verse I have just read. Should this be thought by any a gratuitous assumption, and that it requires some evidence to prove that Satan's seat and Imperial Rome were synonymous, we would refer you to the xii. 3, and xiii. 2, of the book from which our text is taken. You will discover without difficulty from those texts, that Satan's seat was there where the dragon resided, who is described as having seven heads, and ten horns, and upon his heads seven crowns: in other words, Imperial Rome, built on seven hills; her territories not yet, as they afterwards were, divided into ten separate kingdoms. It was thus that our Lord there beheld his true Church, dwelling in the very centre of iniquity, surrounded by those who were the very disciples of Satansome who were in a state of open paganism-others nominally Christian; but without the love of God in their hearts; and many like the mixed multitude who accompanied the children of Israel out of Egypt, who had given in their adhesion, following in the wake of the camp, hoping to derive temporal advantage from their acquaintance with those who had the means of bestowing it. Yet even there, in Rome itself, there were some who might indeed be called "the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom they shone as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life;" and to whom therefore the Saviour could say, in the language of commendation, "Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days when Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth." As there is no mention made of any martyr of the name of Antipas, either in the Church of Pergamos, or during that churchstate of which Pergamos was the type, it seems only to be mentioned as a general expression for the martyrs and confessors who had adorned the preceding churchstate and this is much corroborated by the name being entirely omitted in the Syriac and Arabic versions of the Bible. Our Lord's declaration was, therefore, in effect, that they had passed through the era of the martyrs; and now, in the time of outward prosperity which had succeeded, the true Church, the invisible church of the Redeemer, was as firm, as faithful, as she had ever been; the gates of hell being as unable to prevail against her amidst the season of prosperity, as amidst the time of severest persecution. It is well to mark the personal lesson we all may gather, either of reproof or encouragement, from such descriptions as these. Are there none amongst you who justify your coldness and deadness to the things of God, by the outward circumstances in which you are by Providence so peculiarly placed? none, the language of whose hearts is of this nature: "It is comparatively easy for some men to be religious: they dwell in a religious society; their friends are religious; their early habits are religious: every thing is favourable to them; they have little to distract their thoughts, to alienate their hearts from these high subjects. But for me, occupied as I am entirely in worldly business-dwelling amongst those who, like myself, are struggling to get forward in life-how can the same |