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person counted that the organ played, during the evening service, thirty-three times. Many attend for entertainment; and others, to vent their sighs and sor rows. The Chapel is on Sunday very full, and has preaching in it nearly every day.'

But we must hasten to the closing scene of this long life. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." And in Mr. Jones this bright exhortation and encouragement was literally fulfilled.

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His was the gradual decay of nature. He was taken ill on Friday, the 3rd of January, 1845, and continued in a quiet, and calm state, till the following Tuesday morning, when his happy spirit quitted its earthly tenement; but so silently and imperceptibly, that those who stood at his bedside could not for some time know whether the spirit was present or gone to its rest: and so calm and peaceful, and even natural, did the countenance continue, that he appeared more like one in a pleasant sleep than in the cold grasp of death. A corpse more lovely could hardly be imagined. Thus peacefully and happily terminated the long life of a man, who in his sphere and station, had not many equals."

Mr. Jones was extensively and favourably known by his published works: "Jonah's Portrait," "The Fair Balance," "The Prodigal's Pilgrimage," "The True Christian,' &c., &c.; the repeated editions of these works attest their worth.

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We cannot conclude more appropriately than by transcribing the beautiful lines with which Mr. Owen closes the biographical portion of his work,

"Tis finished! 'tis done! the spirit is fled, The prisoner is gone-the christian is dead;

The christian is living through Jesus's love,

And gladly receiving a kingdom above." ZION'S KING: the Second Psalm expounded in the light of History and Prophecy. By the REV. D. PITCAIRN, Author of "Perfect Peace," &c. post 8vo. pp. 444. J. H. Jackson.

[Second Notice.]

The second and largest portion of Mr. Pitcairn's very interesting volume regards the Psalm in its prophetic as

pect; and here he sets before us à great amount of valuable and instructive matter. The Psalm is pre-eminently Messianic :

"But there is no allusion to Christ as He was manifested at his first advent,— the babe of Bethlehem, the man of sorrows, the bleeding Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. In this psalm Christ does not appear as the Prophet of whom Moses spake, who alone

reveals unto men the true character and the gracious designs of God. Nor as the great High-Priest of our profession, the Mediator of the new covenant, the only way of acceptable access unto God. Neither does the psalm make any mention of the glory into which He entered when His passion on earth was accomplished. We can read nothing of his ascension into heaven, nor of his exaltation, in glorified humanity, to the right hand of the Majesty on high. On all these important particulars the profoundest silence is observed; and Christ is at once introduced in His Kingly character,-not, as at present,-invisibly reigning in the hearts of his people, and secretly exercising His headship over all things for the good of His elect church. But here, in this prophetic psalm, He visibly appears on the earth. Here we find Him openly manifested as God's King, invested with all honour, and enthroned on Zion, the hill of God's holiness. It is because He is the King whom Jehovah has anointed, that the kings and rulers of the earth conspire against Him: and for the same reason it is promised to Him that He shall triumph over all his enemies. And thus it is obvious that, whilst the psalm is indeed Messianic in the highest degree, the plans and purposes of Jehovah which it reveals, and the conflicts and conquests of His incarnate Son which it describes, all bear reference to Messiah exclusively as THE KING OF ZION."

In His kingly character, our blessed Lord was opposed at His first advent. It was as the promised king of the Jews, that Herod sought to slay Him in His infancy. The assumption of a kingly title was the accusation laid to His charge before Pilate. But the opposition spoken of in the Second Psalm bears marks of being something far more extensive, and more formidable, than anything which has yet occurred. In illustration of this, Mr. Pitcairn refers to prophecies delivered

REVIEWS ZION'S KING.

by Isaiah, Zephaniah, Joel, Zechariah, and Ezekiel, on all of which his observations deserve most serious attention; and then, at considerable length, expounds the Apocalyptic visions which relate to the same great event; -an event which is still future, for all these predictions

"refer to the second coming of our Lord, -to the great day of his appearing, when as Zion's King he shall make his foes his footstool, and mount the promised throne of his father David. This is the day of which so many prophecies make mention, and on which so many wonderful things shall be accomplished. This is the day when the things which can be shaken are to give way for the things which shall remain; and when the everlasting king

dom of our Lord Jesus Christ shall supplant the bestial kingdoms, which, in succession, have ruled the earth, and oppressed mankind. This is the day when the redeemed of the Lord shall be gathered into one innumerable multitudetheir spirits emancipated from the power of sin and Satan,-their bodies rescued from the corruption of the grave, and clothed with immortality; and when Christ himself shall be glorified on account of all the exaltation and blessedness in which His redeemed Church shall appear before the wondering universe, seated on His throne, and sharing in the glories of His millennial reign. But bright and beaming with bliss as this day of the Lord appears to be, and as without doubt it really will be, we must not forget that its early dawn is shrouded with fearful threatenings to 'them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of his Son.' According to the prophetic words of Christ himself, there shall be upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, -the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken,' Luke xxi. 25, 26. Zion's right. eous King is to meet with combined and fierce opposition from the kings of the earth ere his everlasting throne is set up. There will be an unheard of carnage and bloodshed before the world sees that promised state of peace, and happiness, and concord, when men shall everywhere be blest in Christ the King of kings, and when all peoples shall call him the Blessed."

All these combined forces of evil being thus defeated in their impious JUNE 1851.

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designs, Zion's King will be set on Zion's hill, and receive "the nations His inheritance, and the extremities of the earth His possession." And this leads us to direct our readers to a singularly interesting chapter, in which Mr. Pitcairn discusses the various scriptural meanings of the word "Inheritance.' From this chapter we shall make a few illustrative extracts.

To understand the matter correctly, it is necessary to bear in mind that there subsists a most intimate connection between man and the earth on which he dwells. It was made for dust, and it was given to him as his him; his body was created out of its possession; a possession which he forfeited by sin, and from which he is, for the time, separated by death :

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"Death seems to disinherit man. We say death seems to cut off man finally and for ever from the earth, which is his natural inheritance, and also from life, which gives him the enjoyment of his inheritance. But does it really effect such an eternal separation? Surely the promised destruction of their seducer and murderer, must have inspired the minds of our first parents and their posterity with the expectation, that the guilt they had contracted might be pardoned, and that even were their lives taken away, they might be restored again. How else from the Seed of the woman bruising the would they experience any real benefit head of the Serpent? All their thoughts would be directed to terrestrial blessedness. The garden of Eden, which at first had been the scene of man's innocent

delights, would force itself on their consideration as the example or pattern of that renewed intercourse with God, and that exemption from evil, and care, and disease, and death, which God's own sentence against their arch-enemy warranted them to hope for. It was as men, composed of soul and body, that their enemy had injured them; and, therefore, if they understood and believed what God had declared, they must have believed that their bodily frames would be affected by the promised deliverance, as well as the vital principle within them, and that the earth, with which they were so closely connected, and which, for their sakes alone, had been cursed, would likewise be again blessed, and made the source and the site of blessing to mankind."

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To Abraham and the Patriarchs, God promised the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and yet they continued strangers in it all their days. They lived and died without complaining against God for breaking or forgetting His promise. No. The inspired Apostle informs us, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." And when Abraham was about to offer up Isaac, in whom all God's promises to him were bound up, we know from the same Apostle how he was supported, "Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead."

"This very striking apostolic explanation, together with the previous asser. tion that the patriarchs died in the faith of God's promises being fulfilled to them at a future period, should satisfy us that these ancient worthies were content to be as strangers in the land of promise, because they were animated with the hopes of a resurrection-life. Is it not most delightful to be led to such a conclusion? and most gratifying to find some solid ground for the belief that Adam and Abel, as well as the patriarchs of later ages, died in the hope that they should live again? They expected their mouldering dust to be fashioned into a more glorious body than that which had been dissolved, that soul and body, alike freed from sin, should be re-united, -and that, as being men, they should once more, although not perhaps in the same manner as before, renew their connection with the earth, and enjoy the inheritance which God had promised to them."

But the word "Inheritance "is used in other ways. The Israelites are spoken of as God's inheritance; and the Lord is said to be, in a special manner, the inheritance of the Levites.

And so it is with reference to the Christian Church :

"The 1st chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians will furnish us with a double example. At the 11th verse, the apostle says for himself and other believing Jews, in whom,' i.e., in Christ, also WE HAVE OBTAINED AN INHERITANCE,' &c. And then, at the 13th verse, addressing the Gentile believers at Ephesus, he says, 'in

whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is THE EARNEST OF OUR INHER:TANCE, (the inheritance which is common to all believers in Christ, both Jew and

Gentile), until the redemption of the purchased possession.'

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"There is, then, an inheritance which is not declared to be either in heaven or in earth. It is not in any place whatever -but it is in a person. It is IN CHRIST. This inheritance, of which the apostle speaks, seems to be represented or typified by that which the priests and Levites under the law had IN GOD:-an inheritance which belonged not to the whole redeemed family of Israel, but was peculiar to those who were called to occupy the place, and to enjoy the privileges of 'the first born.' And is not this the distinguished honour conferred by God on the church which is now being gathered together into one 'IN CHRIST JESUS?' It is said of us who believe in Christ, that we are come to,' which means that we are united to, the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are enrolled in heaven,' Heb. xii. 23; in which phraseology we find an exact allusion to the process of numbering and recording the names of all the first-born among the Israelites, and of all the priests and Levites, who were chosen by God to officiate in His service, instead of the first-born. (See Numb. iii. and viii.) Besides, we who have faith in Christ, are said to be the first-fruits of God's creatures.' 'Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures,' James i. 18. The first-fruits of the earth were claimed by God as His portion. It was only the best of anything that was allowed to be offered to Him; just as with the first-born, whose acceptance by Him depended on their freedom from every kind of blemish. So in the Apocalyptic vision, when St. John beheld and saw the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, there were with him an hundred forty and five thousand, having his Father's name writ ten on their foreheads,-proving that God had marked them, or sealed them for himself: and of them it is written, that, they were redeemed from the earth.' believe, that in this place, redemption means the resurrection of the body from the grave, as in Rom. viii. 23. It is added, these are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first

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REVIEWS MEMOIR OF THE REV. E. BICKERSTETH.

fruits unto God and the Lamb. In their mouths was found no guile; for they are without fault before God,' Rev. xiv. 1-5. And it is conceived that all this minute description of character and of circumstance, as appertaining to a certain portion of mankind, becomes very intelligible when viewed as antitypical of the Old Testament declaration respecting the first-born of the Israelites, and the firstfruits of their land.

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ward Bickersteth," written by one so competent to the task as his son-inlaw the Rev. T. R. Birks, of Kelshall, stands in need of no recommendation of ours. We rejoice to find that in a period of less than eighteen months from the decease of Mr. Bickerseth, his family have been able to present to the public so interesting a work as that to which we now draw our readers' attention. The volumes have appeared, however, so very recently, that, in this number of our Magazine, we shall have it in our power to do little more than introduce the character of Mr. Bickersteth to the reader,

"These numbered and redeemed and faultless multitudes, when seen in vision, are certainly in their glorified state. They are on the Mount Zion; they are with the Lamb; they are before the throne of God. THIS IS THEIR INHERITANCE. They are joint-heirs with their glorified Lord. They not only serve Him day and night, promising to enter more largely in

but being in Him, being one with Him, as the wife is one with the husband, they live with Him and reign with Him for

ever.

As the Levitical priests were also invested with much power in the Jewish polity, so the church of the first-born, the redeemed from among men, who are the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb, are declared to be 'kings and priests unto God they enjoy the rights of primogeniture. They possess both princely and priestly dignity; and, in these respects, they are raised superior to their many brethren, who shall inherit the earth, when it is enriched with the blessings of redemption."

And so also Christ is said to have an inheritance in His saints. We would willingly quote some of the observations made by our author on this point, but space forbids. We can merely again express our conviction, (and we think what we have now laid before our readers will convince them that we do not speak without good cause,) that the volume which we have been noticing is one, in an especial manner, calculated to do good, by imparting clear and scriptural views of a subject of the deepest

moment.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. EDWARD BICKERSTETH, late Rector of Watton, Herts. By the REV.T.R.BIRKS, M.A., Rector of Kelshall, Herts. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 937. Seeleys.

A "Memoir " of the life and abounding labours of so devoted a minister of Christ as "the late Ed

our next number on the field of instruction which these two volumes afford.

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The work has its rise from the injunction of the late Mr. Bickersteth himself, given affectionately and solemnly in the course of his last illness. "He sent," writes Mr. Birks, "for myself and my beloved wife, and said to us, calmly and deliberately, ‘I have been so public a character, and God has called me to so prominent a part, that it will be needful that some memoir of me should be written. have great comfort, my children, in entrusting it to you.' Then, turning to his son-in-law, he added, "You will take care that everything is put in its right place, not exalting the creature, but humbling the sinner, and exalting the Saviour." And on another occasion he said, "I wish T- to make it clear, in my memoir, that I have no other ground of confidence but in the Lord Jesus Christ: Christ first, Christ last, Christ all in all."

In fulfilling this sacred trust, the first volume, which contains Mr. Bickersteth's early life, and his labours as Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, has been prepared chiefly by his daughter, whose earliest associations were among those scenes of his busy activity, and who had a large experience of his parental wisdom and love for several years before Mr. Birks' own personal intercourse with him began. The second volume contains the last twenty years of his life, after his removal to Watton,

when he was occupied with public duties of a more various nature, and took part in many of those great questions which have engaged the thoughts and labours of British Christians, from 1830 to the present day. Mr. Birks' task, as an author, has been limited to this part of the work alone; a fact of which he makes due mention in his unaffected preface to the work.

The salient points of the biography may be told in a few words. Ordained a minister, like John Newton, without having passed through a university, Mr.Bickersteth's earliest sphere of service in his Master's cause was, an important and responsible mission to the west of Africa, where the Church Missionary Society had met with much trial and disappointment, and where a visit of inspection seemed absolutely necessary for the interests of the mission. A large measure of success attended the prosecution of this charge; the missionary zeal of the devoted visitor was inflamed by the scenes of heathen degradation which he witnessed and on his return to England he became secretary to the society under whose instructions he had acted. Whilst connected with the society, he also ministered to the congregation at Wheler chapel. On his appointment to the living of Watton, under circumstances of peculiar interest, by Mr. Abel Smith, he resigned both the posts which he had so conscientiously filled with advantage to the Church and honour to himself. At Watton he laboured until his lamented death; and during the period of his incumbency there, the following subjects, among others, occupied much of his thoughts and prayers,-missions, of course; the circulation of the Bible; the Evangelical Alliance; and the Society for Irish Church Missions to the Roman Catholics; not to speak of his various and almost innumerable publications. If Mr. Bickersteth's works had not been so eminently useful, we should have been tempted to say, that he indulged too largely in bookmaking.

Having given this bare and rapid summary, we proceed to draw from the Memoir a few particulars of the

early life of Mr. Bickersteth, leaving his ministry and other "labours of love" for subsequent notice.

He was born in 1786, at KirkbyLonsdale, in Westmoreland, the fourth son of Henry Bickersteth, Esq., a surgeon in that town, and author of a little book entitled "Medical Hints for the use of Clergymen.” The family consisted of five sons and two daughters. Of the former was Henry, Edwards third brother, who gained the highest academical honours at Cambridge, and eventually became Baron Langdale, and Master of the Rolls. Mr. Bickersteth enjoyed the blessing of wise and judicious parents. His mother appears to have been a person of uncommon mental strength and energy; and although at this time both parents were ignorant of those deep truths of the Gospel which their own children were afterwards the means of bringing before them, yet a mother's admonitions were often referred to by her son Edward in after life, as having greatly contributed to his usefulness and happiness. As a boy, the subject of our notice was rather slow and backward than otherwise. He was educated at the grammar-school of his native place, and enjoyed every advantage which so retired a neighbourhood could afford, At the age of fourteen, however, his classical education was cut short by his removal to London, where he was placed as a clerk in the General Post-Office, along with an elder brother. Towards the close of the year 1806, he was articled to Mr. Bleasdale, a solicitor in London, and left the Post-Office after about six years' service. Thus, it was in the midst of the activity of London business, that the future secretary of a great religious society gained the practical habits which fitted him to superintend its various concerns. was in fragments of time, rescued by much self-denial from the claims of a busy life, that Mr. Bickersteth's literary acquirements were chiefly gained.

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"I cannot find many clerks," said Mr. Bleasdale, on one occasion, “like Mr. E. Bickersteth; he does the work of three or four." On another occasion he remarked, "I never had a

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