in strength, and in architectural beauty-a bridge over which poor sinners may not only cross safely to heaven, but comfortably and happily; for not only do the Scriptures make us wise to salvation, but they make the saved wise, and are profitable not merely for doctrine, but also for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. The longer we survey this divinely-constructed bridge, the more are we struck with the beauty of its design, and its perfect adaption to the purposes for which it was built. It is a perfect bridge; perfect in the quality, quantity, and arrangement of its stones. Every stone is needed, and needed just where it is. All its parts, however minute, are essential. You may set to work, and by aid of hammer and axe greatly deface that bridge, and by so doing spoil its perfect beauty as a piece of architecture; but it is still a bridge, and persons may cross it with safety. You may go further, you may displace many of its stones, knock away its side defences, block up its approaches, put out its lights, make it difficult and dangerous to cross; still it is a bridge, and persons manage to pass over it. But cut away its supports, undermine its piers, remove the key-stones of its arches, and it crumbles to pieces, and ceases to be a bridge at all. No way is found by which poor travellers may reach the land of peace and blessedness, to which it once afforded a safe passage. So long as its foundations remained, the bridge retained its use as a bridge; but these gone, it is useless as such. Men are not content, now-a-days, with mauling and disfiguring God's Word, and thus spoiling its beauty, with putting out its lights, knocking away its defences, but they are actually cutting away the supports, sapping the very foundations of the faith, and so attacking its fundamentals; that, if God were not its preserver as well as Author, and they were let alone, there would not be one stone left upon another of the bridge by which poor sinners may cross from this sin-stricken earth to heaven. Brethren! let us unite to preserve the bridge, as a whole, if possible; but by all means, and at all risks, let us jealously guard its foundations and its key-stones. Let us unite on its fundamentals; for the fundamentals are to the faith what the piles and piers are to the bridge— they form its basis, its foundation, its support.

Let me try one more figure, which may help us to see not only what the fundamentals are, but the importance of earnest men uniting on them. The doctrines of our faith may be compared to the human body. They present a perfect man, in the fullest exercise of all the faculties of mind and body which are necessary to constitute a complete man-a body full of life, vigour, and beauty. You may disfigure the face to almost any extent, and thereby mar its beauty, but the man will still live. You may take off a leg, an arm, or both, by which its usefulness will be seriously impaired, still he may live. But touch a vital part, and he is instantly a dead man. This is what men are doing in our day; they are destroying the very vitals of the doctrines. By attacking the inspiration of Scripture, they are murdering the truth; and, consequently murdering men's souls. They would have a body of divinity. without heart or head; they would take away our Lord, and in his stead put a Christ of their own. This done, and what have they left us but a mere carcase-powerless, lifeless, and unsightly; a thing without beauty or life, which can neither save nor sanctify. Surely the

sayings and doings of such men show us the necessity of uniting on the fundamentals; for such are the truths which these rationalists would ignore, and fain expunge, if possible, from the Word of God.

By the fundamentals, then, dear brethren, I mean those truths which support the bridge of salvation, and are essential to the life of the soul. We mean not merely those doctrines which are essential to salvation, but those which we hold in common with evangelical Christians. Can there be any doubt about the necessity of our uniting on such doctrines? not only individually holding fast the form of sound words, but unitedly cleaving to the truth of God, and especially to its fundamentals, with a firmer and more tenacious grasp than ever, as a band of men who know in what they have believed, and are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ? "The Thebans in their armies had a body of men they called the 'Holy Band,' consisting of such only as were joined together in the bonds of love, as would live and die together: these they made great account of, and esteemed the strength of their armies." Such a holy band may we be for the defence of God's truth. There is a necessity for this, a present and pressing necessity, arising

1st. From the conduct of perverse men, who, by their rationalistic objections, and philosophizings, falsely so called, would overthrow the faith of many.

2nd. From the character, the peculiar and perilous character of the times in which we live; when the prophets prophesy falsely, and the people love to have it so; when men will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.

3rd. From the work itself in which we are engaged; its stupendous difficulties and its awful responsibilities, together with our weakness and unworthiness for such an employment. None of us can well say, "I can do without my brother, let me work alone."

This leads me to speak of the kind of union for which there is such a present and pressing necessity. It is not uniformity of thought as to the various aspects in which each of these fundamentals may be viewed; not a union which will be intolerant to shades of opinion, but one which cares only for the substance of the truth. Some have drawn a ring, inside of which all is true, orthodox, scriptural, fundamental; and outside of which all is erroneous, heterodox, unscriptural. It is not union for the mere display or discussion of certain favourite_doctrines, by way of pastime, striving about words to no profit. Earnest men unite for practical purposes, for mutual instruction; for mutual correction, if need be; for mutual encouragement; for mutual assistance in the glorious work of saving souls, and spreading the knowledge of Jesus and his truth. Let ours be a union which shall have for one of its prime elements "co-operation," acting together to promote one object, impelled by one motive, animated by one hope. A union, not merely of heads, but of hands, and of hearts too.

When earnest men unite, they take fire, they burn, they become red hot, and every stroke of their combined action tells. Yes! there is real strength and true power in the union of earnest men. "Separate the atoms which make the hammer, and each would fall on the stone as a snow-flake; but welded into one, and wielded by the firm arm of the quarryman, it will beat the massive rocks asunder!" Remember, it is to

be a union of earnest men. I am afraid many of us are not half in earnest yet I speak for myself. It takes much to make an earnest minister. Many feel earnest in thinking and speaking about the work, but to be earnest in doing is a rare thing.

We read that Charles Simeon kept the picture of Henry Martyn in his study; move where he would it seemed to keep its eyes upon him, and to say, "Be earnest, do not trifle, do not trifle," and Simeon would bow to the speaking picture with a smile, and reply, "I will, I will be in earnest, I will not trifle, for souls are perishing, and Jesus is to be glorified." I have a picture of Henry Hull, the soul-winner, in my study, which says exactly the same to me: "Be in earnest-do not trifle-watch for souls as one that must give an account." But, oh brethren! what says Martyn's Master and Henry Hull's Saviour? Let us hear him. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." What saith the Holy Ghost, by Paul? "Preach the Word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Oh, brethren! let us unite, as earnest men, to preserve and propagate the truth as it is in Jesus. Let us sound forth the fundamentals clearly and constantly. Let us never relax our efforts whilst a single soul remains unevangelized, nor until the whole world shall have heard the good news, and the uttermost parts of the earth shall know the joyful sound.

We may be spared to meet again, or we may not. Meanwhile, let us hold fast the form of sound words, in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Let us keep that which is committed to us by the Holy Ghost; contending earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints; labouring that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of the Lord. Afflictions, revilings, trials of cruel mocking may await us, but let none of these things move us, neither let us count our lives dear unto ourselves, that we may finish our course with joy, and the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Oh, brethren, seeing we have such a ministry, and such a Master, let us faint not. Let us "Watch;" "Stand fast in the faith;" "Quit ourselves like men," and "Be strong."

At the critical moment, in the battle of Waterloo, when everything depended on the steadiness of the soldiers, courier after courier kept dashing into the presence of the Duke of Wellington, announcing that unless the troops at an important point were immediately relieved or withdrawn, they must soon yield before the impetuous onsets of the enemy. By all of these the Duke sent back the one spirit-stirring message, "Stand firm!" 'But we shall perish," remonstrated the officer. "Stand firm!" again answered the iron-hearted chieftain. "You'll find us there!" replied the other, as he fiercely galloped away. The result proved the truth of his reply; for every man of that doomed brigade fell, bravely fighting at his post!

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A greater than Wellington is here to-day, and his word to each of us is the same as that which the hero of Waterloo sent to that devoted band of men"Stand firm! Stand firm!" Oh, that when the Lord cometh, he may find every man of us "at his post." Amen, and amen.

Boldness in Distinctive Points.

BY A. G. BROWN, OF BROMLEY.

THERE are many points in which we differ from a vast mass of God's children; such as refusing to acknowledge the right of the State to interfere in Church matters; preferring the Spirit's guidance in prayer to the dictation of books, and esteeming the ordinance of baptism a public profession of grace received, and not as a means for obtaining it. It is necessary that all Christians, and ministers especially, should bring forth boldly, in public, what they sincerely believe in private.

First, and very briefly, manhood calls for it. Shakespeare says, "He is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the life of a man," and I take transparency to be an indispensable ingredient in the constitution of a real man; if his heart be of steel, his breast should be of glass, for those around to see its movements. He who firmly believes a truth, but through outward pressure brought to bear upon him, suppresses a public avowal of the same, may save himself much scorn, trouble, and sorrow; but at a price for which the benefits gained are no equivalent. "The staining of the escutcheon of his manhood" is too high a price for a man to pay for ease and favours. If y you have thoughts from heaven harboured in your breast, manhood cries, "Bring them forth."

There is a necessity arising from our duty to society. "Am I my brother's keeper?" was a question impudently put to God by Cain. In a certain sense we are the keepers of our brethren, at least we are thus far responsible, to do the best for them we can. To illustrate what I mean. There may be a dire plague raging through a city. Men, women, and children are cut down on every hand; the medical men are almost worn out, and nigh despair; they have found at length a medicine which will heal the disease, and the medicine in itself is all that can be desired, but through lack of knowledge in the administration of the same, there are not the results that might have been expected. One in the town has discovered the cause of the comparative failure, and in private has applied the medicine with marked success, and he thinks within himself," Eureka!" I have found it. Now, I ask you, is he not in duty bound to make his discovery public; although by so doing he may incur the hot displeasure of all the doctors in the town, and of their several cliques? You reply, most certainly he ought. Sin, like a fell disease, is fast filling the sepulchres of hell; God's ministers, feeling their own inability, are crying out, "Who is sufficient for these things?" The medicine they have is the gospel; but, alas! many offer it in an Arminian form, and there is not the result that might be anticipated. Now, if in our experience we have found (I believe most, if not all present have) that God has blessed the preached gospel most when presented in a Calvinistic form, are we not bound, whether we may be thought uncharitable or not, whether we draw on ourselves the dislike of a large part of the community or not, publicly and boldly to bring it forward, and try by all means to spread its influences? A minister, known to me, made the remark in private, "that he should not have the congregation he now has, if he preached as much of the doctrine of election as he believed." I say of such a man, that he should be taken up for obtaining money under false pretences; for, according to his own

confession, a large part of his stipend is realized by causing his hearers to imagine he is different from what he is. And whether it be in relation to our distinguishing points, as Dissenters, Baptists, or Calvinists, it behoves us, as a duty to society, firmly believing that our views, if carried out, would prove blessings to that society, at once, in the plainest language, and with the most unmistakable sincerity, to propagate the same.

Another reason for bringing forward in public our peculiar views is the injurious effect our withholding them will have on the future. A poet has written of our leaving footprints in the sands of time. That is true, and it is also true that the impress of this generation will be seen on the succeeding ones; and if but little of our principles are known now, I am sure less will be known then, except God raise up some one to revive them. Children are not born Dissenters, except to good; nor Baptists, if we are to judge by their dislike of the bath; and except as they grow up, the principles that lead to both are fairly explained, and their importance enforced, I doubt if they will withstand the influence of the more attractive service in connection with the Establishment, or be willing to undergo what they consider a very onerous ordinance, and of very trifling importance. It must have been noticed by many that large numbers of young people, children of dissenting parents, no sooner grow up than they leave the chapel they have been in the habit of attending, and go to the more fashionable service of the Church. The reason of which I take to be that the distinctive points of the denomination to which they belonged were never very plainly brought before them, either in the family or from the pulpit. For the benefit, therefore, of those who are to succeed us, we should take our stand, and set up our landmarks.

Another reason, and I take it to be a very important one, is the intrinsic value of truth. But some may object:-"Your particular denominational points of truth are very small." I reply, can any truth be small, seeing we value it for its quality, and not for its quantity? A small diamond is yet a diamond, and in its nature as precious as the Koh-i-noor; a small star is a star, and shows forth the Creator's skill and glory as much as Jupiter with its moons. The tiny infant is as perfect and complete in its parts, and perhaps as precious to the father's heart, as its elder brother, the grown-up inan. We must beware of neglecting any truth, however apparently unimportant it may seem; for we can scarce slight the child without insulting the parent. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," and every truth contained. therein can cry, "My Father which art in heaven." The argument that we may injure our own cause by giving the truth prominence, is a foolish one; for truth fears nothing but concealment, and may be as much outraged by silence as violated by falsehood; and besides all this, truth will out, whether we be the instruments of its liberty or no; truth, like a cork in water, will at last be sure to ride uppermost. Let us not then be unfaithful in little things, remembering the Scripture, "He that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." Giving up little truths, as they are called, is like the first dropping of water; there is no knowing where it will end. Let me, in conclusion, on this point, give you Paley's experience:-"I have seldom known anyone who deserted truth in trifles, that could be trusted in matters of importance."