private, political, and religious-they extended through every family, and destroyed every thing like happiness there: the hearts of the fathers were turned from their children, and the hearts of the children were turned from their fathers. Here was a state! And can all these become one heart and one soul? Yes. How? By being brought under the almighty influence of the Gospel and this was the case, the ferocity of disposition gave way to the meekness and gentleness of Jesus Christ: then that restlessness of man, which had been like the sea, which casts up mire and dirt, was stilled by the peace of God which passeth all understanding. Then they strove together for the faith of the Gospel; they were perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment: they were of one heart and one soul; one in their need of these blessings, one in their desire after them, one in their valuation of them, one in their concern to diffuse them, and to extend them to all their fellow-creatures. Having given up themselves to the Lord, they give up themselves to each other by the will of God, in testimony of their joint satisfaction with their new views, and the harmony of the sentiments and principles which they had embraced. Regarding only now the religious public welfare, they "looked not each man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." They were as one family; they were as one body; where if one member suffers, all the members suffer with him, if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice.

You will note here, that as they were now so numerous in Jerusalem, they must have worshipped in many rooms; for they had no buildings, for ages after this, appropriated to divine worship: they must have worshipped in many places, and have been addressed by as many preachers. Not that they were divided: but though divided into so many parts, there were no parties among them; they had not yet learned to be carnal and walk as men, saying, “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos." They could say with Paul, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity :" they could stretch forth their hands, towards the disciples, as the Saviour did, and say, "Behold my mother and my brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my mother, and sister, and brother." Such was the genuine effect of Christianity in its original lustre, and such we are fully persuaded will be the result of it again, when the Spirit shall be poured out from on high. The reason why we have so little of this in our day is, because, with all our professions and advantages, we live so little at the centre of Christianity; because we lay so much stress on things which the Scriptures have left at large; because we are disposed to look too speculatively, too fantastically, too metaphysically-I was even going to say, too mathematically, into the things of God. We are divided into too many sects and parties: Calvin must have his complete scheme of Calvinism; and Arminius his system of Arminianism; and various others must have their systems, to the exclusion of every other scheme. But from the beginning it was not so: they who were thus filled with the Spirit of God present an example for our imitation. They were satisfied with the words the Holy Ghost used, without requiring a mere definition of creed; though in some cases their ideas were less perspicuous than could be desired, yet if they were disposed to rest the whole weight of their salvation upon Christ, and make him the centre of their union, and give him the glory of his Godhead, why they all had given them the right hand of fellowship. Being thus knit together in love,

they felt themselves so united that they forgot (or rather they never knew) the distinctions that since have been introduced among us. Though the present day has been so sullied by the mistakes, and contentions, and animosities of professing Christians, yet, blessed be God, the disposition formerly manifested is not entirely abolished. There are some things still, proving that, while we receive the truth as it is in Jesus, and live under the influence of it, we shall live as brethren, and be pitiful and courteous, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. President Edwards observes, in describing the revival of religion under his ministry, that after preaching his first sermon, he observed a very peculiar and striking effect. When the service was over, and the congregation had withdrawn, two families, in different parts of the church remained, as if by joint consent. After a while he went out and addressed them: he then found, that these two families had been living for a considerable time at variance; but now that the Holy Spirit was poured down, they felt a mutual determination, that they would not leave the house of God, until they had been reconciled and embraced each other in his bosom.

Lastly, they are described by their liberality. "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common." You have heard often of the communion of the saints; here you have the thing literally. These Christians resemble the Jews, when they went out into the wilderness to gather manna: "He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack :" their property, by a conventional giving and receiving, being intermingled, became a kind of joint-stock, from which every man drew according to his need.

A few words here will be necessary, by way of explanation or qualification. I need not tell some of you how this example was abused by some early heretics, who pushed the thing so far as to plead even for a community of wives, and goods in every thing. This we presume-for it is not easy absolutely to determine; for all their vilenesses and abuses are first introduced ambiguously— but we presume, that this is the mystery of iniquity which the St. Simonians in France have been endeavouring to establish there; and for which some months ago they came to London, but in vain: for though as a people I believe we are the most credulous on the face of the earth, and every folly and every delusion imported from the Continent, as soon as it is imported into the English soil, flourishes rankly, at least for a time; yet, blessed be God, they could not suceeed here. "But," says Solomon, "What is there concerning which we may say, See this is new?" Truth is like the sun; it rises daily, and regularly, and performs the same course: but errors are like comets, they have their periods of return, some of which are speedier and some slower. Some fanaticisms which have abounded of late, seem as far as we can judge from history, to have returned once in about fifty years: quite often enough.

But, my brethren, to return to the subject before us: it would be a wild and extravagant opinion to support, and draw as a needful inference from this part of the subject, that all distinctions of property ought to be destroyed. But in the last two years there have been some individuals in the West of England, who have been victims to such delusions; who have acted upon this principle, and

have resigned every advantage of income and profession: and when I see men willing to level themselves down to others, as well as to level themselves up to others, I admire their honesty, whatever I think of their judgment.

Now you will observe, in the case before us, that the state of the Gospel and the Church was very peculiar. You will observe, that many of these Christians had come from afar, expecting to return immediately after the festival was over; but having been unexpectedly converted there, it seemed expedient, and even necessary, that they should remain to be instructed in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And they themselves would earnestly desire it; and the impressions made upon them by these new sentiments, would render them for a time comparatively dead to every thing else. But is this the state of things now? Does the Gospel now have any local attraction? We are not called to wander from sea to sea, from the North even to the East, to seek the Word of God. The providence of God has now ordained, that labour shall be the common means of subsistence; and God hath commanded us to "Labour working with our hands the thing which is good, that we may have wherewith to give to him that needeth." "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." "Yea," says the Apestle, "if any man will not work neither shall he eat."

The case too, you will observe, was a voluntary one. It was a thing not enjoined by the Apostles. The Apostle mentions this in his address to Ananias. "Whiles thy substance remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold was it not in thine own power?" As this was not enjoined at the first, so all down through the New Testament there never is any mention of its afterwards being enforced; that is, as to the letter of it; for as to the spirit of it, this is enforced upon all Christians in every age, and is enforced every where upon them in the Scriptures. There is an instance in the history of our Saviour, of one of his actions, which, by being compared with the case before us, will serve to illustrate it: I refer now to his washing the disciples' feet. This was intended to be an exemplar-" That ye should do," said he," as I have done to you." But how was this to be? Was the Lord enforcing the performance of the act itself, or displaying the spirit of the action?-This is the question. Ferdinand was called, you know, "the divine Ferdinand;" that ineffable fool and wretch was accustomed every year to wash the feet of some beggars in the royal palace, in a silver vessel; and I understand the Pope does the same every year. "This," as an old writer expresses it," is like a traveller passing by the inn, and embracing the sign post." It is possible for a man to wash the feet, without imitating Christ; and he may imitate Christ, without washing the feet; the thing is to resemble him in the spirit of his actions; the thing is to display the condescension, and kindness, and benevolence of it. It teaches us that there is no office too mean for us to perform, when a fellow-christian requires it, and the providence of God affords us an opportunity for the discharge of it. To conclude, therefore, though we cannot engraft the levelling principle upon our text, nor draw from it an argument for a community of goods, there are three things to be deduced from it which you must keep in mind, and exemplify.

First, like them you are to hold all earthly things with a very slack hand, since you are to resign them soon, and you are to live looking, not at "the

things which are seen and temporal, but at the things which are not seen and eternal."

Secondly, you are to consider nothing of what you possess as your own. It is not your own if there be any truth in the Scriptures, you are not the proprietors of it, but you are only the stewards of "the manifold grace of God."

Thirdly, you are to devise, like them, liberal things; you are to be "willing to distribute, ready to communicate." Some in the Church are in need of temporal relief; others have the capacity of imparting this. The necessities of the saints, above all things, should be provided for: the best members of society are surely not to be disregarded. This is the law of the case-it should be suspended in every church, and continually read—" As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men; but especially unto them who are of the household of faith." "To do good and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." A renewed heart should always be accompanied by a liberal hand. The excuse of some persons when called upon-that they really cannot afford it, is in one sense true, and in another false. But in the sense in which it is true, it betrays the guilt of the excuser; the man cripples himself by his mode of living, and then he pleads his inability, as an excuse for his illiberality. It is not sufficient for him to maintain a decent distinction from the vulgar; he must live splendidly; he must be magnificent; he must fare sumptuously and be clothed gorgeously every day. As to others, whatever they gain, they hoard it, and who is the better for it? Every unnecessary expense should be avoided. You should enlarge your ability to meet all the claims of Christian benevolence, by diligence in business, by economizing in your household affairs, and by self-denial. Is self-denial a thing that Christians should wonder at? Is self-denial to be disregarded by those who are the followers of Him, who "though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich ?" Therefore, "Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" May God command his blessing. Amen.

THE ISRAELITES' DELIVERANCE BY THE HAND OF GIDEON.

REV. J. E. TYLER, B.D.

ST. GILES'S CHURCH, MARCH 22, 1835.

"And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon."-HEB. xi. 32.

FROM the death of Joshua, through the long period of the government of their judges, the history of God's own people presents to our minds only a repetition of the same course of proceeding again and again. We were led last Sunday to cast our eyes and thoughts this way in part: and we could, I think, scarcely have avoided the impression and feeling of sorrow and shame, for the weakness and waywardness of our fellow-creatures, and of distrust in our own strength of religious principle, and perseverance in duty; and a fear, lest we also, in the treacherous weakness of our hearts, should fall from our duty, from God's love, and our eternal happiness.

The history of the Israelites at the time to which our attention is now mainly drawn, presents the following melancholy circle of events; melancholy if we contemplate man, but exhibiting justice and eternal mercy if we think of God's dealings with him. First, wilful sin and rebellion against God visited by punishments; then these leading to repentance; then repentance, followed by forgiveness at God's hands, and deliverance from their oppressors; then peace in Israel, until security engendered forgetfulness of God again, and renewed rebellion and sin. Brethren, these form the revolving circle of the extraordinary events of Palestine, through the long space of above three hundred years.

The oppression, and distress, and misery, immediately preceding the deliverance wrought by Gideon, seem to have been surpassed by none, either before or after. Consequent on the triumph over the Philistines by Barak (whose character you remember, for singleness of purpose, and love of duty for its own sake, without reference to any reward, honour, or power, present or future, in this world, formed the ground-work of our discourse last Sunday)-subsequent to his victory the land of Israel had rest forty years. My brethren, times of peace are times of temptation and moral danger to a nation and to individuals: the Israelites fell into their former guilt, doing evil in the sight of the Lord. The rod of his anger and chastisement was intrusted into the hands of the Midianites, who executed their office unsparingly. A brief, but sad picture, is drawn of their grievous oppressions. "The hosts of Midian," saith the sacred historian-"The hosts of Midian prevailed against Israel ;" and they were driven for their lives to take refuge in the mountains, and caves, and strong-holds for seven years. "When Israel had sown the land," these inveterate foes "came up with their cattle and their tents; they came as grasshoppers for multitude: