warm affections, instead of looking to Christ, by faith, that he might receive, from his fulness, "and grace for grace;" and strength suited to the trials which he might be called to encounter. The apprehensions which his Lord expressed for him, he supposed were unfounded. Others might need such monitory counsels, but he deemed them unnecessary for his safety. See the consequence. The temptation assailed him suddenly-it found him confiding in his own strength-it overcame him, and plunged him into guilt and shame. And now, when brought to a sense of his weakness and sin, he calls to mind the word of the Lord. He recollects the many faithful admonitions which he had slighted, and feels the immense, · importance of having the word of Christ dwelling in him richly, in all wisdom. Ah, how many sad mistakes and wrong steps do Christians make, through their neglect or forgetfulness of Christ's words! My brethren, if you wish to enjoy peace with God-if you would escape unhurt, in the hour of temptation if you would maintain a deportment consistent with your profession, and live by faith on the Son of God, you must know and remember the words of the Lord Jesus: "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." If, at any time, you go astray, and are afterwards brought to repentance, you will find, on reflection, that your error commenced in disregarding the word of the Lord. But to proceed.

2. The principal effect which the Saviour's benignant look had upon Peter, was deep compunction and godly sorrow. He went out, and wept bitterly. The company of the high priest's servants, in which he had degraded his apostolic character to the level of a scoffer, was no longer tolerable. He had stood too long in the way of sinners; he had well-nigh realized that proverb, "a companion of fools shall be destroyed." Noise and laughter, cursing and swearing, could no longer stifle the voice of an awakened conscience. Had his Lord upbraided him with his cowardice and treachery, he might have grown desperate, and renounced his allegiance to him at once. But that look of love and mercy pierced his heart. It was too much to withstand. This was, indeed, overcoming evil with good. Can it be that he is still willing to own me as a disciple! May I, all guilty and disgraced as I am, yet hope in his mercy? O let me retire into some secret place, where I may hide my blushing face, and give vent to my breaking heart in tears and prayers and praises for restoring grace!! "He went out and wept bitterly."

That Peter's repentance was sincere, and that he was honoured by Christ as an instrument of extensive usefulness in the Church, we have ample testimony in the subsequent history of his life. He soon received a particular charge to evince his sincerity, by strengthening his brethren and feeding the flock of Christ. And, indeed, he ever afterwards gave full proof that his sorrow was of a godly sort, and needed not to be repented of. The "Acts of the Apostles" have put his character beyond suspicion. The first twelve

chapters relate chiefly to his ministry; and prove, indubitably, that his contrition was unfeigned-that the tenor of his conduct was consistent with his profession, and that his faith was productive of abundant labours of love to Christ and the souls of men. And as he lived, so, we have reason to believe, he died, firmly attached to the person and cause of his blessed Master. May we learn, from his fall, to walk circumspectly, and from his recovery, to admire, and venture our souls on redeeming grace.

A few remarks resulting from the subject, may be now offered. The fall and recovery of Peter, taken together, though highly instructive, and to the true penitent eminently consoling, is nevertheless liable to great abuse.

1. Some may be ready to ask, Why was not his fall prevented? Doubtless it might have been prevented; but the only wise God permitted it, and it is not for the creature to say to the Creator, What doest thou? Though an evil in itself, and the occasion of unspeakable anguish to Peter, yet God brought good out of itgood to Peter, and good to all who improve by the lessons it teaches. It preaches the frailty of the sinner, and the all-sufficiency of the Saviour. It is calculated to guard us, on the one hand, against presumption, and on the other, it tells us not to despair, when overtaken in a fault. It is recorded for our benefit; be it, therefore, our great concern to profit by it.

2. Let none infer from the fall of Peter, and similar cases recorded in scripture, that all piety is a mere pretence. This would surely be a very unwise and dangerous conclusion. Do not flatter yourself, sinner, that the occasional sins of such men as Peter and David, hold out any encouragement for you to go on in your wickedness. Their failings covered them with shame, and made them weep bitterly. Their repentance bids you fear to sin, and furnishes you with an awful memento, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. If you attempt to justify your cursing and swearing-your falsehood and perjury, by alleging that St. Peter once committed all these crimes, you trifle in matters of eternal moment. Why, in the name of God, should you imitate Peter in those horrid acts which drove him to the borders of despair, and wrung his soul with unutterable anguish? If such things may be practised with impunity, why did Peter, who seems to have committed them but once, and that from a timid regard for his personal safety, "go out and weep bitterly?" The fact is, sin cannot be committed with impunity. God does not connive at it in any one-saint or sinner. "He visits the transgressions of his own people with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes." You may imitate the saints in their failings, for failings they all have, but if you do not imitate them. in their godly sorrow-their faith, and humble reliance on the atoning blood, and recovering grace of the Lord Jesus, you will slide in due time. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." If you

wish to know what manner of person you must be, in order to meet the approbation of your Judge, and obtain a crown of life, read the Gospel, and follow the steps of its Divine author. If you are properly exercised about the salvation of your soul, you will cry mightily to God for mercy and redemption from all sin-instead of inquiring curiously what sins you may practise, and yet escape the damnation of hell. Peter is not presented to you, in Scripture, either as a saviour, or as a perfect model of moral rectitude. "Christ is all, and in all." Repent and believe on him, and you shall be saved-reject him, and there is no salvation for you. Till you are washed, and justified, and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, you cannot see life; but the wrath of God abideth on you.

3. Let no professing Christian boastingly say, I am incapable of committing such enormities as Peter committed. Should you be left to yourself, the crime cannot be named, which you might not commit. The heart is desperately wicked: "consider thyself, therefore, lest thou also be tempted.' Peter could once say, with great confidence, "I will never forsake thee," and yet he did forsake his Lord, and deny that he had any acquaintance with him. Let his fall excite you to vigilance, and teach you to place your whole dependence on Him, in whom it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell. "Be not high-minded; but fear." That admirable prayer of David is always seasonable: "Cleanse thou me from secret faults; keep back thy servant, also, from presumptuous sins!"

4. Finally, let us be afraid of the beginnings, or even of the symptoms of apostasy from Christ. If you once begin to decline, nothing short of a compassionate look of the Saviour, accompanied by a Divine power, can reclaim you. See Peter; he began by trusting too much to his own strength-then he slept, when he ought to have prayed-then followed his Lord "afar off"-then he mixed needlessly with bad company-then yielded to the fear of man-and then he denied his Saviour openly and profanely. Examine yourselves, brethren, on these points. Depend upon it, if you go away from Christ, and he should not see fit to turn and look upon you, as he did on Peter, you are lost forever. The perpetuity of the covenant of grace, and the doctrine of the saint's perseverance can afford you no security, while living in sin, and at a à distance from God. They are not saints, and have no interest in the covenant of grace, who can continue long in the practice of sin, and feel easy and contented without the light of God's reconciled countenance. But if any of you mourn and weep for having departed from your first love,.or for having in any measure, denied your Lord by wicked works, you may still hope that he will have mercy upon you. Though you may be a backslider, yet if you are a sincere penitent, he looks upon you, from his throne of glory, with Divine compassion, and tells you, through the medium of his

written word, "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." "If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and sup with him, and he with me." "Return unto me, ye backsliding children, and I will receive you graciously, and love you freely." "Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory, and majesty, dominion, and power, both now, and ever, Amen.' W. N.

THE WORD CONGREGATION.

SOME erroneous practice has obtained in churches in consequence of a misunderstanding respecting the meaning of this word; some churches allowing those not in communion to vote for churchofficers, because the constitution expressly gives the right of voting for these officers to the congregation. Chap. XIII, Sec. 2. But the first section affords the explanation by calling such officers "the officers of the church." If they are the officers of the church, then they should be elected by the church. The word congregation, in our Constitution, generally means a particular church. See also Chap. VIII, Sec. 1, 2, and Chap. IX, Sec. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; if the church Session is charged with the spiritual government of -the congregation, Sec. 6, then congregation is synonymous with church, and means the congregation of believers; for the session has not the spiritual government of those who are not members of the church.

Again, "every congregation" [every church] shall elect persons to the office of ruling elder, &c., Chap. XIII, Sec. 2. In the same section the word "church" is also used as synonymous with congregation, as it is in Chap. IX, Sec. 4.

In the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the convention of Masters and Doctors to confer degrees and transact ordinary business is called the Congregation.

While this word, in ecclesiastical language, means "church," a modern use of it has obtained, in the Eastern States, and in New York, by which the meaning of it is, universally, the whole assembly of worshippers met at any one place for Divine worship. This, however, is entirely different from the use that obtained when the Assembly of Divines framed our Standards.

In connection with this subject, it seems proper further to remark here, for the consideration of our Eastern brethren, that the words congregation, church, and people, in the Scriptures, often mean the elders. Example. "God commanded Moses to deliver a message to the house of Jacob, and to the children of Israel. And Moses called for the elders, and delivered the message to them, and esteemed this to be a fulfilment of the commission." Ex. 19: 3, 7. Also, when commissioned to deliver a message "to all the congre

gation of the children of Israel," "Moses called for all the elders. of Israel." We may safely conclude that Moses understood his business, and that he knew the meaning of the terms "people," "children of Israel," and "all the congregation of Israel," and may suppose that he strictly obeyed the Lord in communicating these messages to the elders who were the officers and representatives of the people. Agreeably to this plain and evident principle of scripture interpretation furnished by the Scriptures themselves, we may well conclude that the injunctions of the Lord, "Tell it to the church," is implicitly obeyed by telling it to the elders, who are the officers and representatives of the church. Matt. 18: 17.

SAYRS GAEZLAY.

THE CHARACTER OF THE APOSTLE PAUL.*

WE are accustomed to regard the contents of the Bible too exclusively from a devotional point of view. Looking upon it as a revelation from God, we often lose sight of the human instrumentalities through whom God speaks to us. We are inclined to regard the great and good men of the Bible, not as men of like passions, temptations, and trials with ourselves, but as superior beings, moving in an entirely different sphere; and hence their lives fail to produce that vivid impression upon our minds, which the lives of uninspired great and good men do. Another error we fall into, is failing to discriminate between the writers of the sacred volume, placing them all upon the same level as regards talent, character, and usefulness. They were, indeed, all inspired, and as such were infallible in their teachings; but inspiration interfered not with their individual characteristics.

No one of the sacred writers stands forth so clearly portrayed as the Apostle PAUL, and no one commands our respect more strongly for genius, nobleness of character, and unparalleled usefulness. The story of PAUL'S life, were we not familiar with it from infancy, would inspire us with wonder and antonishment. It contains contrasts greater than those of romance. Once a persecutor of that faith he afterwards most ardently loved and most strenuously defended, arrested in the height of his defiance by the voice from Heaven of that Being whom he had regarded an impostor, and whose cause he had persecuted with all the ardour of his passionate nature; the aims and motives of his life changed in an instant; his untiring activity and ceaseless labours, from that moment till his death, to promote the very ends he had before hated, and this amid persecutions and sufferings, trials and dangers, which

An address delivered by a student of the Princeton Theological Seminary before the "Society of Inquiry," at the close of the last term.-ED.