IS THE REV. MR. CARLILE'S "SELECT SACRED MELODIES" a work with which many of our readers are probably acquainted; but it is a work of that kind which cannot be too highly recommended. It is an admirable Collection of Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs both in reference to the character of the Music, and the Words. The compilation and arrangement of such a heap of choice materials must have cost the talented Author a serious amount of time and labour; but the task certainly has been executed eventually in a masterly manner, calculated to give the most complete satisfaction. We could not recommend a better or a cheaper work, either for family or congregational use. The Music is all by the best Masters, and the arrangement for Piano or Organ and Voices, is simple, but at the same time beautiful. A re-issue of this work, all the copies of the first edition having been long since disposed of, led us, a short time since, to call the attention of Clergymen, Christian Families, and Church Congregations more especially, to so choice and valuable a Collection of Sacred Music, published in so convenient a form, and at such a very moderate price; but having, since then, made ourselves still further acquainted with its merits, we can confirm all that we formerly said, and with the utmost confidence recommend the "SELECT SACRED MELODIES," as published by Messrs. M Cullagh, to our Friends and the Pnblic. - Warder. CONDENSED SOLUTION OF MAGNESIA. TO E. MURRAY, ESQ. SIR, I think it an act of justice, as an acquaintance of your four brothers, respected Physicians and Surgeons, to record my experience of the improvement brought by them to such perfection, and which prolonged my life and health for the last 26 years. When I returned from India, an invalid Officer of Engineers, I despaired of relief; from the long diseased state of my Biliary and Alimentary system, Heart-burn, Indigestion, Bile, and Loss of Appetite, so constantly prevailed, that I abandoned all hope, after having tried Calcined Magnesia, Soda, Potass, Mercury, Tonics, and all other medicines. At last I wrote to Richard Carmichael, Esq. of Dublin, and I quote his reply :"As a mild, safe, and certain Aperient and Antacid, I know of no medicine equal to the regular use of the dissolved Carbonated Magnesia, introduced into practice by Surgeon J. Murray." My Stomach having been excoriated by Alcalies, and clogged by solid Magnesia, I gladly applied in person for the transparent solution of that medicine. It is fair to state that the powerful and extensive machinery, the composition, and all its details, were then freely shown and explained to me, and hundreds of my scientific friends, by your brothers in 1813. By the daily use of the Solution I recovered rapidly, and since enjoy excellent health. I can testify to a similar result in numerous other cases. I send the third volume of the Newry Magazine, in which any person may see a clear account of the Solution of Magnesia, written by Doctor J. Murray, in 1816. He there reminds the reader, that in consequence of Dr. M'Donnell having dissolved a piece of Calculus in the Solution, in 1812, Dr. Murray had proposed the direct application of this solvent, and its introduction into contact with the Calculus in the Vesica, and that he had made this proposal known through the Belfast papers, in September, 1815. This, observe, was before any other person had given an account of the Solution of Magnesia. I may add, that I have known a great number of persons relieved and cured of Gouty and Kidney Gravel by its means, since the cure of Dr. Richardson was authenticated in his able letter of 1816. Belfast, February, 1839. I remain, sir, your obedient servant, THE NEW IRISH PULPIT, OR GOSPEL PREACHER. "We preach Christ crucified "Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."-1 Cor. i. 23, 24. PREACHED IN HAROLD'S CROSS CHURCH, DIOCESE OF DUBLIN, ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1839, BY THE REV. ROBERT J. MʻGHEE, A.B. (Chaplain.) ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL i. 14, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." THERE are few of us, my beloved friends, I suppose, here this morning, who have come from the bosom of our own families, who have not heard from those that love us, the usual salutation of a Christmas morning, "I wish you a happy Christmas." And surely, there can be no more appropriate address from a minister to his flock, than to say to them, I wish you a happy Christmas. So I do, my beloved friends, but I have read to you words that contain the only elements of a happy Christmas; if you do not know the elements of the happiness and blessing that are comprehended in these words, alas! my dear friends, it is in vain to wish you a happy Christmas. Yes, it is in vain, that those who love us, who desire and who would wish to promote our happiness, it is in vain, that they VOL. V. say, we wish you a happy Christmaswhen there are, rankling in the heart within, the seeds not only of temporal but of eternal sorrow. Now, may the Lord enable us to consider the meaning of these words which I have read to you as a text! May the Lord open them unto us! May He enable me, in the weakness of a poor earth-worm, to speak according to his holy will and you, in the weakness of poor earth worms, who have nothing in yourselves, to hear that we all may be enabled to "embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which he has given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ," and that we may be enabled in Christ Jesus to rejoice in him! May the Lord give us a happy Christmas, and then we shall be truly happy! A Now, these words contain, not by im- of that Jehovah, "God manifest in the plication, but directly, by direct infer- flesh," the blessed Son. Now, mark what ence, these subjects; -1st. The Godhead of Jesus - the Godhead of that blessed Redeemer whose birth we commemorate to-day. 2dly. The birth of Jesus into this world. 3dly. The life of Jesus while he was in the world. 4thly. The manifested glory of Jesus while he was in the world. 5thly. They contain the great salvation of Jesus; and finally contain the fulfilment of God's promises and prophecies by the types and shadows of the ceremonial law in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. THE GODHEAD OF JESUS. "The Word was made flesh." The Word, what does the evangelist mean by this expression, "the Word was made flesh?" Who is the Word? - what is the Word? Go back to the beginning of the chapter; there we see who and what the Word was. 1st verse, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God;" therefore, essentially different in that respect, as a distinct person from God the Father, and yet one with God the Father for "the Word was God." Again, we see this Word the Creator of all things: 3rd verse, "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made." Who made all things? Ask a childask any one but a fool, who made all things? God. Certainly not, unless the Word was God; for the Word made all things: "all things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made." What does this declare ? Why, his eternal power and Godhead, as we have it in Rom. i. 20. "for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." The things that are made declare the eternal power and Godhead of Him who made them, therefore of the Word. So, in Col. i. you will see the same truth;-St. Paul is speaking of this blessed Word, for he says, "in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins," and he adds, "who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature." There is the image of the invisible God, God the Father, "whom no man hath seen at any time," there is the express image is said in verses 16, 17, 18, "for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist, and he is the head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." There you see another exhibition of the glory of the Word. Then, if you look to Heb. i. 1, 2, you will see the same thing, "God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days, spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." There you have the Father and the Son spoken of; the Son declared to be the almighty agent in the creation of the world. So you see, when he appears to his servant, John, the author of this Gospel, Rev. i. 8. " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Here, then, you have, in God's eternal truth, the character of the Word Jehovah Jesus, "God over all, blessed for ever." Why is he called the Word? Why is such a name as that given to Christ? What do you mean by a word? A word is that which embodies your ideas, which gives expression to the unseen thoughts of your mind. Look to this chapter, ver. 18. and you will see the reason why he is called the Word, "no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him;" he is the Logos who declares the character of the living God, and there is no possibility of man's seeing or knowing the character of God; there is not a sinner on earth that has the most distant idea of the moral character and government of God, till it is revealed to him in Christ Jesus. The unconverted sinner, the nominal Christian, though sitting in the Church under the sound of the Gospel, knows no more of the moral character and government of God, than the pagan, till he knows that moral character and government, as revealed to his soul in the Word, Christ Jesus; He declares it, and then, when he sees Jesus as revealed in Scripture, then he knows the character of this God whom Jesus reveals. Now, is not the Godhead of Jesus set forth in this text, "the Word was made flesh?" II. WE HAVE THE BIRTH OF JESUS SET FORTH. "The Word was made flesh." He was made flesh, as we are made flesh, born of a woman, miraculously conceived indeed, but born of a woman, taking the flesh of the sons and daughters of Adam, one with ourselves; "the Word was made flesh." Oh! what a glorious mystery, what a blessed mystery is "the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh!" God could not suffer-man could not save. God became man that he might suffer; he is God, and he can save;-aye, blessed be his holy name, "save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him." This is that blessed event which we celebrate to-day, my beloved friends-the birth of Jesus. " Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace!" Oh! what a blessed event for sinners like you and me, to celebrate, the birth of a Saviour! Let men who flatter themselves that their houses shall continue for ever, and who call their lands by their own names, and hand them down, as they hope, from generation to generation-let them have rejoicings at the birth of a son-let nations rejoice when the heirs of kingdoms are born-but oh! let the sinner's heart rejoice when the Saviour, the heir of glory, the heir of all things, is born into this world, that he may be a Refuge, a Redeemer, a Friend, Salvation for the sinner. It is most important that we should remember the fact, "the Word was made flesh." III. There is another thing declared in this verse-THE LIFE OF JESUS: "He dwelt among us." It is of the utmost importance, that Christians should ever remember the facts, the solid facts, on which the hope of their salvation rests; for the Devil is for ever undermining or endeavouring to undermine the facts that are revealed in the Scriptures, of the person and character of Christ; -I say, that is the especial point of the Devil's continual attack; - so we see how he attacks the Godhead of Immanuel, how he tries to take away the Godhead of Jesus. (Socinianism takes away the Godhead of Jesus takes away all salvation from man) - then he takes away the manhood of Christ, the perfect manhood of Christ, this is one of the awful superstitions of the Church of Rome; for, although they acknowledge the humanity of Christ in so many words, they take away the manhood of Christ, that is, they exalt Jesus so high above humanity, that the sinner cannot come near it, cannot close with it, cannot come to Jesus, he is so high, but must have some saints or angels, or the Virgin Mary, or other mediators, whereas the glory of the Gospel consists, not only in the Godhead of Jesus, but in the humanity of Jesus. He is close to us, one with us, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, so that no sinner could come nearer to a friend or a brother, and pour out his soul before him, than the poor sinner can come to the "friend that sticketh closer than a brother," and pour out his soul at the feet of his precious Saviour! hence, the blessed Redeemer is "a man that receiveth sinners." So he dwelt among us; and how did he dwell among us? walking among the people, living among them, talking to them, so that they knew him, were acquainted with him, familiar with him. Jesus was a child; we find him in the first lesson of this day a child, born in a stable,laid in a manger, we find him on the eighth day, a child brought into the temple to be circumcised_we find him again in the 41st verse, St. Luke ii. going up with his parents every year to the feast at Jerusalem-we find him on one particular occasion, when twelve years of age, going up to the feast at Jerusalem, and when they returned, "the child Jesus tarried behind, and they, supposing him to be in the company, went a day's journey," they imagined that he was with them, and no doubt all Mary's kinsfolk and ac❘quaintance were happy to see and know and speak to the Child Jesus, we all love an amiable child, an amiable, affectionate, kind child,-how happy the kinsfolk and acquaintance of Mary must |