A series of tracts on the doctrines, order, and polity of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America : embracing several on practical subjects

LIBRARY OF PRINCETON

SEP 0 4 2003

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

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.A6 1842 V.5

Presbyt

.erian Church

in the

U.S.A.

Board of Publication.

Series

of tracts on

the

doctrines, order, and polity!

of the

Presbyt

.erian church

in the

United

States

A SERIES

or

TRACTS

ON THE

DOCTRINES, ORDER, AND POLITY

OF THE

/

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

IN THK

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

EMBRACINO

SEVERAL ON PRACTICAL SUBJECTS.

VOL. V.

PHILADELPHIA :
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.

CONTENTS.

I. Experimental Religion a rational thing, by the Rev. Jonathan

orreenleaf.

II. A TraveUef 's Hints on subjects of practical importance, by

W.M. Angles, D.D.

III. A4vice to sinners under conviction, by the Rev. Samuel

Corbyn.

IV. Certain rich men, a series of portraits, by W. M. lEngles,

D. D.

V. To an old disciple, by W. S. Plumer, D. D.

VI. To an old person who has no hope in Christ, by W. S. Plu-

mer, D. D.

VII. How to bring up children, by W. S. Plumer, D. D.

yilL Jehovah our Righteousness, by Q^q^ vV h \ t € t: t e I d
IX.y Words of W arnmg. / . n w v.

X. Now !

XI. L»uther's Conversion.

XII. Sin our Enemy, God our Friend.

XIII. Anchor of the Soul.

XIVjDo you go to the Prayer Meeting?

XV. N/ght, Day -break, and Clear Day.

XVI. Who shall dwell with devouring Fire?

XVII. Without God.

XVII VThe False Peace and the True.
XIXMjod's Purpose of Grace.

XX. The Sin-bearer.

XXI. The Sov£/eignty of God explained and vindicated, by

Daniel Baker, D. D. v/

XXII. A Message from God, by the Rev. W. J. McCord.
XXIILStop !

XXIV. The blood upon the door-posts, or means of safety in the
,, time of pestilence.

XXV. To a young disciple.

XXVI. William and his mother, or What isvtrue Repentance?

XXVII. Scarcely Saved, by the Rev. W. J. McCord, > . ^
XXVni. Sin must die, or the soul must die, by W. S. Plumer,

. D. D.

XXIX. Thou must die.— To die is gain.,

XXX. The Standards of the Presbyte^an Church, a faithful mir-

ror of Bible truth, by Daniel Baker, D. D.

XXXI. The difference between Popery and Protestantism in a

letter tfi an inquiring friend, by "Kirwan" (Rev. Ni-
cholas Murray, D. D.)

XXXII. TheJPVestern Patriarch, an authentic narrative, by W.
■ S. Plumer, D. D.

KXXIII. Parity admitted by Prelatists.

3

No. 58.

EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION

A RATIONAL THING.

About 1800 years ago a notable prisoner was arraigned
before a Roman tribunal, charged with rebellion against
the government. He was accused as being a most
sacrilegious wretch, who profaned holy places, and led
away multitudes after him: as being "a pestilent
fellow," a "mover of sedition," and a "ringleader" of
a most troublesome sect. Notwithstanding the en-
ormity of his supposed crimes, and although he was
in the power of his accusers, they were very irresolute
respecting a final disposition of his case, and for two
years he was kept in confinement, without any regular
trial, though he was repeatedly examined before legal
functionaries, magistrates, and kings. On one of these
occasions, having no advocate to plead his cause, the
dignitaries before whom he stood, as a great favour,
desired him to speak for himself, when instead of
criminating his accusers, as perhaps they expected, or
entering into any theological controversy, he simply
related his own experience of what he hoped was a
work of divine grace upon his own heart. This was
so unexpected that his auditory were confounded.
One declared that he was almost persuaded to be a
Christian, and another could not account for what he
heard, but only on the supposition that the extensive
learning of the prisoner, which he perceived that he
possessed, had turned his brain : for " as he thus spake
for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou
art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.

3 7

EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION

But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but
speak forth the words of truth and soberness." The
prominent thought here is, that experimental religion
is rational. Paul was thought insane, simply because
he related his religious experience. But experimental
religion is rational, and may be seen as the result of
sober reason, and sound intellect.

Let us examine a few leading exercises.

1. Conviction, or alarm of soul for sin, is a rational
exercise. The anger of God revealed against sin is a
real thing. Jehovah means as he says when he de-
clares " The soul that sinneth shall die." It is hence
no more than the dictate of well informed reason to be
alarmed when the wrath of God gathers blackness,
and his vengeance like some mighty storm is about to
descend. When a pestilence is spreading devastation
and death all around, it is deemed perfectly rational
for men to be alarmed, and to take all prudent precau-
tions to prevent contagion. In such a case no one is
suspected of insanity if he is much distressed, and even
should he remove immediately from the infected spot.
If a fire has broken out in a populous city, and is
spreading in every direction, who blames men for
being exceedingly alarmed, or who taxes them with
loss of reason when they run to and fro calling for
help, and seeking to remove their property from the
power of the flames'? If a hostile army has invaded
our shores, and is fast approaching the place of our
dwelling, scattering carnage and desolation, and putting
every human being to the sword, do not men feel
justified in taking the alarm, and in the greatest dis-
tress fleeing to a place of safety? Distress and anguish
of spirit at a time when danger is apprehended is then
perfectly rational, and is fully justified by the common
sense of mankind. Now conviction of sin arises from
an apprehension of danger. The Spirit of God awakens
the soul to discern its exposure to wrath on account
of transgression. The infinite evil of sin may not be
perceived as yet, but the man will have a dreadful
sound of vengeance in his ears. He will see that the
law of God is broken in ten thousand instances, and
8

A RATIONAL THrNG. O

that no doings of his own can repair the breach. The
penalty of the law, sacred as its precept, cannot be
given up, and when the Spirit of God awakens the
mind, the penalty of the law will seem most dreadful.
Destruction upon destruction will be cried in the ears
of the awakened soul, and he must be hardened indeed
not to feel distressed. Thus conviction of sin may be
explained, and may be seen to be an exercise perfectly
rational, and just as much so as distress and alarm in
the apprehension of any danger whatever.

2. Repentance is a rational exercise. The opera-
tions of the Holy Spirit in the soul are not stationary,
and the man once thoroughly awakened very soon
begins to feel the pollution of sin, and to realize some-
thing of the plague of his own heart. The light which
enters his mind serves to discover somewhat of the
darkness which still dwells there, and as the purity of
God's character is displayed, the awful pollution of his
own will become more manifest. It is this view of
himself, which as far as means are concerned, produces
the grace of repentance, displaying itself in deep con-
trition and self loathing for sin, confession of the sin,
and reformation. These exercises are perfectly rational.
If a man has committed an error in any transaction
with a fellow being, it is deemed no more than reason-
able that he should acknowledge his fault, and make
restitution. If the wrong he has committed is of a
defiling and polluting nature, every one expects that he
will be ashamed and confounded for it, and in this way
will manifest the most unfeigned sorrow. It is expected
also that he will forsake his evil way, and wherein he
has done iniquity that he will do so no more. This is
according to the common sense of mankind, and is
considered perfectly reasonable for every one to do.
Repentance towards God, in its external form, is nothing
more than this: the soul is enlightened to see its error;
sin is found to be polluting, and the person makes
ingenuous confession, and turns from it in disgust. Is
there any thing irrational in this? Is there any thing
which looks like insanity, or fanaticism? Surely not.
The man has offended against God : the Spirit of the

1* 9

EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION

Lord has convinced him of his error; he becomes
ashamed of it, and tm'ns away into a diflerent course.
Thus is repentance rational.

3. Faith in Christ is rational. The soul being en-
lightened to discern the Saviour, and wholly despairing
of help in itself, is thereupon persuaded to renounce
every self-justifying plea, and to depend alone on Christ
for salvation. And is not this perfectly natural? If a
man had been in difficult and trying circumstances,
and some benevolent hand had set him free, would he
not greatly regard him whose benevolence had done so
much for him? And even when the offer was made,
"would not his heart leap within him, to think that any
one was ready to relieve his distress? It is thus that
the believing soul views Christ. Nothing on earth can
relieve him. He views sin as havmg not only polluted
but endangered his soul. He looks behind him, and
nothing but destruction is there ; he looks forw^ard, and
it is all darkness and conjecture; on the right hand
and on the left no refuge appears, no man cares for his
soul. At this moment of extremity the Saviour's voice
is heard. A pardon to a condemned criminal is not
more welcome, and the soul leaps up with joy, em-
braces the Saviour, and behoves on him unto everlast-
ing life. Is there any thing irrational in these exer-
cises? Would not any person in trouble hail a de-
liverance with equal delight? And are the exercises
of gratitude toward Christ, which the believer feels,
any thing more than the reasonable expressions of
regard which any one ought to exercise tow^ard a kind
benefactor?

But perhaps we shall be told that faith in Christ for
personal salvation involves with it a belief of several
things of which at present we can have no positive
proof. This is admitted. There are many things
received into the Christian's creed which rest simply
on the divine testimony of the word of God. But is
this unreasonable, and are those who embrace scriptural
truths with no other evidence than that aflbrded in the
Bible, to be accounted insane men, or branded as
fanatics? Do not men receive as truths many other
10

A RATIONAL THING. ^

things with far less evidence? For example: who

knows that the stars and planets are the abodes of

rational life? It is conjectured, yea, it is believed by

most men of education in the world. But where is the

absolute proof? We are constrained to admit that we

have none. We reason on the subject, and there we

stop. Take another example. We take up a number

of small seeds, but they look very nearly aUke. We

examine them very closely, but perceive little or no

difference. We analyze them, we take a microscope,

and look on every fibre, but we cannot discover the

plant which will spring forth, nor tell whether it shall

be large or small, healing or noxious. Yet we cast

these seeds into the ground, and are not surprised

when from one springs up a plant, from another a

flower, and from a third a majestic tree which waves

upon the mountain's side. Can any of us tell how this

is? Our ownselves furnish us with another example.

We all believe that we ha^^e a soul within these bodies.

But what is it? And where does it dwell? Is it in

the head, or in the heart? When separated from the

body has it any likeness to the mortal frame? And if

not, what constitutes its identity? Still none of us

doubt the existence of the soul.

Thus we see that men receive as truths many na-
tural things more mysterious than those spiritual truths
for which we are dependent alone on revelation. Yet
the phenomena of nature are not doubted, and no man
is thought insane or fanatical who believes and defends
them. Is not faith in the leading doctrines of revelation
at least equally rational? Indeed is it not more so?
Have we not better evidence for the truth of the great
doctrines of the Bible, than for many of those things
which the ingenuity of man has laid down as correct ?
In the one case we have reasoning from analogy, and
the conjectures of men of enlarged and scientific minds;
but on the other we have the word of God, attested by
miracles, and proved to be such by the witness it
carries within itself.

4. Humility, which is another characteristic of ex-
pel imental religion, is also perfectly rational. It is

11

8 EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION

often thought very strange that Christians whose ex
ternal conduct is fair, and whose former hves were
irreproachable, should cry out upon themselves as the
chief of sinners, and take their place in the very dust
of humiliation before God; and not unfrequently their
conduct in this respect is ridiculed as the height of
fanaticism. But what is there irrational about it 1 The
standard by which they measure themselves is a perfect
one. Jehovah has said, " Be ye holy, for I am holy,"
and while they fall so far short of this mark, they
shrink away, and cover their faces in confusion.
Thus the humility of a lowly Christian is a reasonable
service.

It thus appears that conviction of sin, and the leading
Christian graces of repentance, faith, and humility, are
all perfectly rational exercises; nor should w^e have
any difficulty in showing that the more minute parts
of Christian experience may all be accounted for, and
shown to be the result of sober and correct reasoning.

Now if experimental religion is thus rational, cer-
tainly those who ridicule or oppose it, must be very
unreasonable. Let the subject as now pi'esented be
soberly pondered, and we can scarcely fail to see that
the prominent exercises of Christian experience are
perfectly reasonable, and may be defended by fair
argument; nor can we find on mature reflection that
there is any fanaticism in that process of divine grace
whereby a sinner is truly converted to God. If this
conclusion be admitted, then to oppose experimental
religion by calling it a delusion, or the reveries of a
distempered brain, must be extremely unreasonable.
Men readily admit truths relating to other subjects with
less evidence than on this, and if those who oppose ex-
perimental religion on account of a supposed mystery
attending it would be consistent, they should become
sceptical on every point involving any mystery. Let
them boldly deny the doctrines of modern astronomy .
let them insist on it that the mighty orbs which roll
over our heads, and the innumerable stars which
spangle the firmament, were placed there merely for
12

A RATIONAL THING. 9

man to gaze at, and that this globe is the sole abode
of rational life in the universe. Let them ascribe the
shooting forth of the blade of grass, and the springing
up of the plant, the shrub, the flower, and the tree, all
to mere chance. Yea, let them deny that they have
souls because they cannot see them, and then we will
at least give them credit for consistency when they
deny the efficacy of God's grace in changing the heart,
and call experimental religion all a delusion. But
while they readily admit the doctrines of the philoso-
pher respecting the phenomena of nature, they are
certainly most unreasonable in denying the doctrines
of experimental religion.

We remark in conclusion, that if experimental reli-
gion is rational, it is not discreditable to men of the
most refined intellect. There is an idea prevalent in
the world that vital religion is beneath the notice of
men of refinement, or of very deep research. They
suppose it may do well enough for common people, or
for women, and children, or for those who are very
old, or those who are sick ; but for active men, for men
of business, for men of science, for men of enlarged
minds, this they think is degrading. Here is a mighty
error. Some of the greatest men in the w^orld have
been humble Christians. Real religion does not shrink
from the light. It invites investigation. It is perfectly
rational. Let fair argument be taken, let sober criti-
cism be used, and experimental Christianity shall never
hide its head. There is no man so great either in
wealth, honour, or science, but experimental religion
would be an honour to him ; it would shed a mild radi-
ance over all his acquirements, rendering his wealth,
his honours, or his learning, "as the smell of a field
which the Lord has blessed." Reader, from all that is
taught us on this subject, have we not reason to believe
that an experimental acquaintance with religion is
indispensable to salvation? What shall subdue these
hard hearts of ours but an experience of the power of
that grace which can take the flint away? What shall
cleanse our spotted souls but " the washing of regenera-
B 13

VO EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION A RATIONAL THING.

tion, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost?" What can
raise us above the world but that faith which the Spirit
of God alone worketh in the heart? Be alarmed then
if you have never yet experienced religion. Death
■will soon intercept your career, and the renewing grace
of God, and that alone, can prevent your eternal ruin.

THE END.

L^J

TRAVELLER'S HINTS.

A GOOD day to you, my friends. As I was travelling
this way, I thought I would stop and have a little chat
with you, if you have no objection. I was admiring
the farms as I come along, and was giata to see things
going on prosperously. It gives me real pleasure to
know that in this happy country of ours, the industrious
may always succeed in obtaining a decent livelihood.
It is not so in some of the countries I have visited.
Were you ever in England, or Ireland, or Italy, or
France? I suppose not. Well, I ca»i tell you that in
those countries you may see hundreds of families which
have not bread to put into their children's mouths,
because they can find no employment. And there are
many besides that labour like slaves, and yet they can
barely live. As to laying up a penny, that is impossible.
It is very different here. I could point out to you a
hundred farmers, that had nothing to begin with, but a
good character and industry, and now they have nice
little farms and things very comfortable around them.
Many mechanics too do I know, who have their shops
in good order, and are doing a thriving business, who
began the world with only a few tools. Industry is a
good thing. It is better than a fortune to begin with.
Many a young man's prospects have been ruined by
having too much money at first. Oh you would
scarcely believe, if I should tell you, how many young
men I have known, that have become idle and dissi
b2 8 17

A traveller's hints.

pated sots, just because their fathers left them too
much money.

For my part I am always thankful when I see people
under the necessity of working in some honest way
for their living. It keeps them out of a great many
temptations. The devil never has so much power over
a man, as w^hen he finds him idle.

There is another thing I have observed in my travels ;
it is this. That when a man is moral, and virtuous,
and religious, he is not only more prosperous but more
happy for it. When I was quite a child, my good
mother used to say to me, " they that trust in the Lord,
shall not want any good thing." Well, I began to
believe this, and then I tried to practise it, and now
that I am old, I am very certain it is true. I reasoned
the matter in this way. The great God made me, or
I never would have been in this world ; and if he made
me, he must be willing to take care of me. Well then,
shall I not ask him to take care of me? and as I must
eat every day, and be protected every day, I ought to
ask him every day. This led me to pray to him, and
I got so much in the habit of it, that I not only prayed
to God morning and evening, but my heart would go
up to God fifty times a day. It did not interrupt my
business, for I could have these praying thoughts every
now and then, even when I was walking along the
road, or when there was a dozen people about me.
There is nothing like getting into the habit of praying.
It is very pleasant to know that God is always ready
to hear, and that he is even more ready to give than
we are to ask. I hope, my dear friends, you will
excuse me for asking you if you have daily prayer in
your family] You love these dear children of yours,
and surely you pray that God would take them under
his care. Poor dear little creatures, they are in great
danger of forming bad habits, and getting into bad
company, and I am sure there is no better way of pre-
serving them than by putting them under the care of
God. I always take an interest in children; they are
surrounded by so many dangerous influences, and they
have so little sense to keep out of harm's way. It was
18

A traveller's hints. H

only a day or two since, that I met a little boy not
more than eight years old, and he was swearing Hke
an old sinner, at one of his little companions. I took
him by the hand, and telling him that it was very
wicked to use such words, I led him to his mother, and
having told her how naughty he had been, I said to her,
" my dear madam, do you pray for this little boy that
God would keep him from evil?" The poor wom^an
looked confused, and then confessing that she did not,
I kindly told her, that if she loved his soul which could
never die, she would certainly ask a merciful God to
take care of her little boy, and keep him from sin.
She burst into tears, and I hope God has taught her by
this time her duty to herself and children. And now,
my dear friends, this w^ould be a happy house if you
would only resolve to worship God in it. How beauti-
ful would it be to see you all collected together every
morning and evening, and after reading a chapter in
the Bible, and singing a hymn, if you can sing, going
on your knees to ask a blessing from God your Sa-
viour ! It would do you good and your children good
also. It would keep down many an angry feeling in
your heart ; it would help you to bear up under many
a trouble; and it would keep you out of the way of
many a temptation. Do, my dear friends, try it. You
know that you are not to live long in this world, and
unless you love and serve God, I do not know how you
are to be prepared for a better one. I hope you will
excuse an old man for giving you this bit of advice, for
he does it only for your good.

I hope you will not satisfy yourselves because you
are as good as your neighbours. I have often heard
people excuse themselves in this way, and I have
thought it very foolish. If your neighbours should set
their houses on fire, and not try to put out the flames
would that be a good reason w^hy you should do so
too? And if your neighbours neglect their souls, and
never think there is a God to judge them, is that a good
reason why you snould not seek for the salvation of
your souls? Surely not.

Perhaps you will let me tell you how it was with

1* 19

$ A traveller's hints.

myself. I before said that my good mother tried very
hard to put good things into my mind. Sometimes 1
tried as hard to forget them, for Hke all others I had
a wricked heart by natm'e. After a time they began
to w^ork upon me, and I began to think that I ought to
be religious, and my mother's death taking place about
this time, made me more serious. My youthful com-
panions laughed at me for this, but I could not shake
off my feehngs. I saw I was a sinner, and in the Bible
I learned that Jesus Christ came into the world to save
even the chief of sinners. This gave me encourage-
ment, and I daily prayed to God to have mercy on
me. One man told me I need not make such ado
about religion, for I was a great deal better than many
others. This did not satisfy me, for I thought if others
were worse, I was bad enough, and must obtain God's
favour, or I would be lost for ever. Another told me
I need have no fear, for there was no hell; but my
own conscience as well as God's Bible told me, that "he
that believeth not, shall be damned." Well my distress
continued for some time, but at length God gave me
peace. I cast my soul upon the Saviour of sinners, and
he smiled upon me. Oh what happiness I then enjoyed !
Every thing around me looked bright, and my distress-
ing fear of death was removed. A great many years
have passed since that time, and I can now say I have
never repented of the step I took. I have seen as
many troubles as most people, but God has been with
me to support me through them all, and I can look
forward joyfully, because I have a strong hope that
heaven shall be my home at last. Religion's ways are
ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

Now, my dear friends, you will excuse me for giving
this history of myself. I do it because I want you to
try the same course. You will never be happy till you
find peace with God, through Jesus Christ, who came
to seek and save the lost.

You have been so kind and patient in listening to
me, that I feel bold to say a few words more before
we part. I may never have another opportunity.

When I was in foreign countries, I found the people
20

traveller's hints.

did not keep the Sabbath, and I could not help thinking
that that was one great reason why there was so much
vice and wretchedness. There is a great deal of Sab-
bath breaking in this country, and it never comes to
any good. God says, " Remember the Sabbath day to
keep it holy," and surely people cannot prosper if they
refuse to obey God's command. I went into one of the
large prisons one day, and I found by conversing with
the wretched creatures there, that they almost all
acknowledged they had begun their downward course
to ruin by breaking the Sabbath. You heard perhaps
that farmer Thompson's barn w^as struck with lightning
last week, and it and all his harvest were burned to
ashes. Well, it was only the Sabbath before that he
had all his hands at w^ork getting in his grain, because
he said there was a prospect of rain. When he had
got all in, he was heard to say laughingly that it was
better to work of a Sunday than to have his crops
spoiled — the better day the better deed! God heard
him, and sent his lightnings, and what has his Sabbath
breaking come to? It is true God does not always
thus immediately reward sinners, but sooner or later
the punishment will come, if not in this world, certainly
in the next. Remember that God will honour them
that honour him. Have you a seat in a church 1 If you
have not get one. No one will repent in another world
that he spent his Sabbaths in church. Keep the Sab-
bath in your houses, and teach your children to do so
too. It is a better way of resting and recruiting your
strength, to serve God religiously on his holy day, than
to be walking over the country, or taking excursions
by rail roads or in carriages. Many a one by disre-
garding the Sabbath has prepared the way for the ruin
of his children as well as himself.

As I came along the road, I saw a poor miserable
creature staggering along, with a bloated face and
ragged clothes. Upon inquiry I found that he had
once owned a farm, but was now a beggar. He nevei
intended to become a drunkard, but he took a little,
and then a little more, until, before he knew where he
was, he had become a drunkard. Now my friends, 1

21

traveller's hints.

never knew a man to become a drunkard, who drank
nothing stronger than water, and if you want to be
safe, you had better stick to the water.

In one word, be virtuous, be rehgious, fear God
keep his commandments, be at peace with your neigh-
bours, avoid quarrelUng and all angry feelings and
words, be temperate, be industrious, attend to your
souls, as the principal thing, and may God's peace rest
on your household, and may we meet in a better and
happier world. Farewell.

THE END.

23

ADVICE

TO

SINNERS UNDER CONVICTIONS.

Poor undone Sinners : — I send these truths from the
eternal God to you, in love and faithfulness, unfeignedly
desiring that you may be convinced of your unbelief, and
of all your sins, and of your present accursed and
miserable state, and that you may be taught of God to rely
on Christ, who died for the ungodly. If you continue
unregenerate, you will certainly ere long be the most
miserable of the whole creation, and monuments of divine
justice, although you now enjoy the world in its glory.
Since you have been awakened, I hope that God may have
thoughts of everlasting love to your souls. Therefore, as
you have been warned to flee for refuge from the wrath of
God which is coming upon you, and without delay to come
out of this dreadful condition to Christ, who will embrace
you ; so I write to you, and to all others to whom these
truths may be communicated, to prevent your miscarrying
in conversion.

1. Seek to know and be convinced by the Spirit, through
the Scriptures, that you are born dead in sin, and children
of wrath, by nature without Christ and without hope, Eph.
ii. 3, 12 ; and that you lie every moment under God's curse
and wrath, in danger of eternal condemnation. Gal. iii. 10.
" The wicked shall be turned into hell," Psa. ix. 17. " The
soul that sinneth, it shall die," Ezek. xviii. 4. Unbelievers
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on them,
though they are insensible of it. The Lord saith, " Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ;
and he that believeth not is condemned already," John iii.
3, 18, 36. Consider then seriously, each of you, I beseech
you, and ask, ' What will become of me, who am not born
again, nor ever had the experience of a work of grace?'
O that your eyes lyere open to behold all the sins of your
hearts and lives ir, order beforj you, which may cry aloud

a 25

4 ADVICE TO SINNERS

continually for vengeance against your guilty souls ! It
were enough to make you tremble, who are now most
senseless. Retire alone quickly ; and reflect upon your
ways as in the sight of God. Put these questions to your-
selves, ' Have I not sometimes lied, or stolen, or sworn an
oath ? Have I not profaned the Lord's day ? Was I never
proud, nor wanton, nor malicious ? Have I never taken
the Lord's name in vain? Have I not been disobedient to
my parents 1 Have I not a carnal, unclean, hard, and un-
believing heart? Did 1 never break God's laws? Am I
not dead in sins to this day ? I must cry out Guilty, guilty ;
my conscience condemns me ; what will become of me, if
I die in this dreadful condition ? For the righteous God
hath said, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the law, to do
them." He that spared not the angels when they sinned,
but cast them down to hell ; he that spared not the old
world, nor the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but con-
demned them with an overthrow, making them an example
unto those which should after live ungodly, he will not
spare me long. Does not hell gape for me ? Is there any
hope that such a sinner as I have been, may be washed in
the blood of Christ? God may righteously condemn me
for these sins, for the least sin, Rom. iii. 23. It is of the
Lord's mercy that I am not consumed, and am not now in
hell, crying out for a drop of water to cool my tongue,
Lam. iii. 22. Luke xvi. 24.

2. Seek the Lord in secret, for his Spirit, while he may
be found, Isa. Iv. 6. Cry out, each of you, for the blood
of Christ, as condemned malefactors do for mercy ; as they
did. Acts ii. 37, or, as the keeper of the prison said
tremblinn;, " What must I do to be saved?" Acts xvi. 30.
Rest not one day nor hour longer quietly or securely, till
you have some hopes that faith is wrought in you by the
Spirit, and that Jesus Christ will plead your cause in the
day of judgment ; for, without the imputation of his right-
eousness, there is no remission. Follow Christ, crying, as
the blind men did, " Lord, that our eyes may be opened,"
Matt. XX. 30, &c. Pray as the leper did. Matt. viii. 2.
" Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Plead
importunately for the Spirit, which is promised in these last
days to be poured out upon all flesh. Acts ii. 17, 18.

3. If the Lord by his word and Spirit makes you sen-
sible of your fearful, undone condition, beware of resting
short of a thorough work of grace, lest you fall short of

26

UNDER CONVigTIONS. 5

union with Christ, through the teachings and drawings
of the Father; lest you rest in a false peace, Luke
xi. 21, compassing yourselves about with sparks of your
own kindling, through slight wounding or slight heal-
ing, Isa. I. 11. Take heed of building upon the sand,
Matt. vii. 26, 27 ; and lest you prove at best but fool-
ish virgins walking with the wise. Matt. xxv. 2, 3.
Fear lest you should make a Christ of duties, — of
praying, weeping, purposing or reforming, for " the sa-
crifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord,'*
Prov. XV. 8. " There is a way which seemeth right to a
man, but the end thereof are the ways of death," Prov. xiv.
12. "There is a generation that are pure in their own
eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness," Prov.
XXX. 12. A man may go very far under the awakenings
of conscience, and have a zeal of God, and yet, being
ignorant of God's righteousness, go about all his lifetime,
to establish his own righteousness, and get nothing at last but
the hypocrite's hope which shall perish. Thou that spin-
nest a covering for thy nakedness out of thine own bowels,
thy trust shall be like a spider's web in the day of thy
calamity; this thou shalt have at the hand of God, thou
shalt lie down in sorrow ; for Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to every one that believeth, Rom. x. 2 — 4.
By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
the sight of God, Rom. iii. 20. If ever thou find mercy,
thou must be justified freely by the grace of God, through
the redemption which is in Christ Jesus ; by faith, without
the deeds of the law, ver. 24, 28. It is true, faith comes
by hearing, and it is our duty to attend to God's appoint-
ments where the Spirit works ; but if righteousness come
by any work of the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Gal.
ii. 21. To him that worketh not, in the point of justification,
but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
counted for righteousness. Blessed is the man to whom God
imputeth righteousness without works, Rom. iv. 5, 6.

4. Look to the Lord to convince you of sin, because you
believe not in Jesus Christ, which is promised, John xvi. 7
— 9. In your attendance on the means of grace, be willing
to be convinced by the Comforter, that your hearts are so
desperately wicked, that you will 7wt come to Christ ; and
to feel your impotency, that you cannot believe in him,
unless the Lord put forth the exceeding greatness of his
power, Eph. i. 19.

5. Know assuredly, and welcome these glad tidings that

27

6- ADVICE TO SINNERS

Christ is come of a truth into the world, on purpose to save
sinners, and the chief of them, 1 Tim. i. 15. " God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life," John iii. 16. " Christ hath once suffered
for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to
God," 1 Pet. iii. 18. Flee to this refuge when thou seest
thyself ungodly and accursed by the law of God, and
fearest thou shalt be condemned. Consider with thyself,
*' Though I am ungodly, yet ' Christ died for the ungodly,'
Rom. V. 6. Though I am an enemy, yet Christ hath
reconciled enemies to God by his death, ver. 10. Though
I am rebellious, and so abominable that I fear lest the earth
should open and swallow up such a wretch, and God should
righteously sink me to hell in his wrath, yet there is good
news and encouragement for me, that Jesus Christ when he
ascended on high received gifts for men, yea, for the re-
bellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among the re-
bellious, Psa. Ixviii. 18. Though I am accursed, and I see
evidently God threatens to condemn me, yet is there hope
for such a guilty sinner, since Christ hath redeemed ac-
cursed sinners from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for them, that they might receive the blessing of
Abraham, and the promise of the Spirit, Gal. iii. 13, 14.

6. Believe in Jesus Christ, because it is the command of
God, and pleasing in his sight ; and thy duty, though thou
canst see no other warrant or ground of encouragement.
It is not only thy privilege but thy duty to believe. " This
is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of
his Son Jesus Christ," 1 John iii. 23. " Believe on the
Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved," Acts xvi. 31. Christ
tells hypocrites that sought him for the loaves and fishes,
" This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom
God hath sent," John vi. 28, 29. Apply the word thus for
thyself ; the righteous God who knows all my heinous sins,
instead of condemning me for them, commands me to
believe on his Son, and assures me that I shall be saved.
The Lord give thee the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in
the knowledge of Christ, and the obedience of faith. The
voice of the Lord Jesus is very powerful, and his sheep
hear it ; pray earnestly, that his commands may come with
power to thy soul.

7. Rejoice to hear that Jesus Christ is become an earnest
suitor for thy love. The Lord that was crucified for the
chief of sinners, now saith to thee, " Behold, I stand at the

28

UNDER CONVICTIONS. 7

door and knock ; if any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him," Rev. iii. 20. " I am not come
to call the righteous, but sinners," saith the Lord, Matt. ix.
13. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. " Ho, every
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath
no money, come," Isa. Iv. 1. " The Spirit and the Bride
say. Come. And let him that heareth say. Come. And
let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will,
let him take of the water of life freely," Rev. xxii.
17. Hearken therefore to the delightful voice of Christ.
Although thou mayest judge thyself the vilest and chief-
est of sinners, and mayest verily think there may be
mercy for others, but none for such a great monstrous
sinner as thou hast been ; yet here is the joyful sound, that
the Son of man, God manifest in the flesh, is come to seek
and save that which was lost, Luke xix. 10. How dreadful
soever thy condition may be in thy own thoughts, " Him
that Cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out," says he,
John vi. 37. Though you therefore feel hard and dead
hearts, yet come as sinners unto Christ, who came to seek
and save such. The Lord calls stout hearted sinners, who
are far from righteousness, to hearken unto him, Isa. xlvi.
12, 13.

8. When your hearts are sinking under the sense of
God's wrath, then resolve in the strength of Christ to rely
upon him, to cast yourselves upon him, whatever be the
issue : if I perish, I will perish at the feet of Christ, for
otherwise I am sure to perish ; if he condemn me, he is
righteous, — if he save me, it will be riches of free grace
forever to be admired. Venture thus upon Christ against a
thousand discouragements, as the lepers ventured into the
tents of the Syrians, 2 Kings vii. 4 — 6. Press in upon
Christ, resolving to take no denial, as the woman of
Canaan did. Matt. xv. 22, &c. These had a blessed issue
out of their difficulties, and thou shalt find, at length,
that the bowels of Christ will yearn over thy fainting soul,
lying at his feet for a crumb, and he will embrace thee with
unspeakable love. Thus let the kingdom of heaven suffer
violence ; press thou into it, and take it by force.

9. Never attempt to believe or repent in thy own strength,
but look unto Jesus, " in whom it hath pleased the Father
that all fulness should dwell," Col. i. 19. As thou wouldst
not prove a hypocrite, beware of a dead faith of thy own
forming, which is not the faith of the operation of God

29

8 ADVICE TO SINNERS

Col. ii. 12. Look not for that in thyself, which is only to
be found in Christ, nor for that in the law, which is onlj
to be found in the gospel : this has been the cause of the long
troubles of many precious souls. When thou fearest thou
shalt die eternally because thou canst not believe, look out
of thyself unto Christ, who is full of grace, and behold his
glory, John i. 14. " Look unto me and be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth," Isa. xlv. 22. Look unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of faith, Heb. xii. 2. Christ never
comes expecting to find faith or repentance, but looks upon
a filthy soul, polluted in his own blood, and saith unto him,
Live ; and his time is the time of love, Ezek. xvi. 6, 8.
The grace of the Lord is exceeding abundant to the chief
of sinners, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus, 1
Tim. i. 14. When thou turnest thine eyes inward, and
fearest that the hardness and impenitence of thy heart will
surely be thy ruin, flee to that reviving word, Acts v. 30, 31.
*' God hath raised up Jesus, and exalted him with his right
hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to
Israel, and remission of sins." The Lord hath promised in
the latter days to destroy the veil of unbelief which is
spread over all nations, Isa. xxv. 7. Dost thou find by ex-
perience that word true, " No man can come to me, except
the Father, which hath sent me, draw him?" behold, in the
next verse, what a full promise of help is made to thee,
*' They shall be all taught of God ; every man therefore
that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto
me," John vi. 44, 45. " Good and upright is the Lord,
therefore will he teach sinners in the way," Psa. xxv. 8.
Christ saith, " I am the way" unto the Father, John xiv. 6.
Follow the Lord at the throne of grace with cries and
groans unutterable, without ceasing : O draw me to Christ ;
help me to close with, and to rely upon him. If thou
findest that it is too hard for thee to believe, hear the Lord
saying to thee, " Let him take hold of my strength, that he
may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with
me," Isa. xxvii. 5. " He giveth power to the faint, and to
them that have no might he increaseth strength," chap. xl.
29. " Therefore trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord
Jehovah is everlasting strength," chap. xxvi. 4. It is my
earnest desire and prayer, that this may be the time of God's
special love, and the day of his power, that you may be
united to Christ by faith wrought in you by the power of
God's Spirit ; that you may thirst after and receive a full
assurance of God's love ; and that you may have the leva
30

UNDER CONVICTIONS. 9

of Christ shed abroad in your hearts, and may abide in
Christ, being strong in the grace which is in him, which is
sufficient for you in your greatest straits ; and that you may
be taught of God to sing his praises, and to rejoice with
trembling ; and may never lose your first love, or fall into
a spirit of slumber or delusion, but may grow in the
knowledge of Christ, and being planted in the house of
God, may bring forth much fruit, denying yourselves, and
taking up the cross of Christ, walking worthy of the Lord
all your few days, to the praise of his free grace, who hath
called you into his kingdom and glory. O that these lines
may not hereafter rise up in judgment at the last day
against any of you which slight them, and condemn you, —
and that they may be the voice and call of God, his arm
and power revealed to your salvation. The presence of the
Comforter be with you for ever.

31

SOME SCRUPLES

OF

THE TEMPTED RESOLVED.

Objection. " I am sensible that I cannot believe of myself."
A71S, 1. May not Christ rather complain of thee as of
those, " And ye will not come to me, that ye might have
life?" John V. 40. It is your natural ignorance of Christ,
and your prejudice against him, which hinders your believ-
ing on him.

2. Under the sense of thine impotency, pray, and wait
continually for the experimental knowledge of the power of
Christ's resurrection, Phil. iii. 10, that God may put forth
the exceeding greatness of his power, enabling thee to go to
Christ's fulness, that grace may reign in thee, Eph. i.

3. The Spirit's end in convincing thee of thine impo-
tency, is chiefly to teach thee to look unto Christ, who is
full of grace, and in all God's appointments to wait for the
drawings of the Father, who hath promised his teachings,
John vi. 44, 45.

4. Jesus Christ hath purchased and promised the Spirit,
the Comforter, to convince the world of unbelief, and to
beget faith, John xvi. 8 — 10, 14. Therefore, instead of
unbelieving despondency, look for the effusion of the Spirit,
under the means of grace, to enable thee to believe.

Object. " What have I to do to come to Christ, who am
ungodly, asleep, unprepared, the chief of sinners? Alas!
I am accused by the law, and fear I shall be miserable for
ever."

Ans. 1. It is the Lord who hath begun to open thine
eyes, and to shew thee thy ])resent condition. That promise
may belong to thee, Isa. xxxv. 4.

2. Thou art the person called, and shalt be welcome to
Jesus Christ, notwithstanding all thy guilt, and want of pre-
paration and qualifications in thy own sense and apprehen-
sion. God doth command thee not to rely upon thy good
works for thy peace, but to believe in God, who justifies the
32 10

SOME SCRUPIES OF THE TEMPTED RESOLVED. 11

ungodly, and thy faith shall be accounted for righteousness.
Thou art to believe in God, who quickeneth the dead, Rom.
iv. 5, 17. God, who is rich in mercy, for the great love
wherewith he loved dead sinners, quickeneth them together
with Christ, that he might show forth the exceeding riches
ot his grace, Eph. ii. 4 — 7. Christ commands and invites
sinners, and none other, to come to him ; and professes
plainly, that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners,
Matt. ix. 13.

Question. " This rejoices my heart, that such a wretch
as I may come to Christ. But may I now come to Christ,
so soon after I am awakened V

Ans. Come and welcome now to Christ. Christ gave
great encouragement to Nathanael, because he embraced
the first call. " Jesus said unto him. Because I said unto
thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou ? Thou
shalt see greater things than these," John i. 50.

Object. " The Lord is withdrawn from me," saith a dis-
tressed soul, " and I fear my experiences are a delusion of
the devil, and sparks of mine own kindling."

Ans. Such a fear of caution, which awakens to diligent
heedfulness, always should be in thee ; but this servile fear
of unbelief thou must beware of; therefore, when thou
hast sung the praises of God, do not thus soon forget his
wonderful works, as the Israelites of old did, Psa. cvi. 12, 13.

2. Cast not away thy confidence. Christ's love tokens
are pledges of his faithfulness in his absence. When
Asaph was at a loss, he said, " I will remember the years
of the right hand of the Most High ; surely I will re-
member thy wonders of old," Psa. Ixxvii. 10, 11. Hath
not the Lamb that was slain, rent the veil of unbelief, and
opened the sealed book, and showed thee plainly of the
Father? Did he never seal his love in one promise?
Didst thou never triumph over one lust 1 Hast thou not
met with the smiles of God's countenance then, when thou
expectedst to be consumed in a moment, being caught as it
were out of the belly of hell, and laid in Christ's bosom ?
Why dost thou thus unworthily and ungratefully forget the
day, when thy Lord delivered thee, not from one, but from
all thy fears ? Then thou didst sit under Christ's shadow
with great delight, and his fruit was pleasant to thy taste,
Cant. ii. Then his banner over thee was love : then thou
couldst sing, " My beloved is mine, and I am his !" Oh
the height and depth, the length and breadth of the love of
Christ to my soul, that passeth knowledge ? Canst thou not

3 33

12 SOME SCRUPLES OF

remember the day when Christ came leaping over the
mountains, and skipping over the hills to thy fainting soul ?
Then thy Beloved spake, and said to thee, " Rise up, my
love, my fair one, and come away : for, lo ! the winter is
past, the rain is over and gone." Let not the consolations
of God be small with thee. Reflect upon the time of thy
first espousals, when Christ discovered himself, and opened
the everlasting love of his heart to thee, when thou wast in
a doleful and forlorn condition, — and then ravished away
thy heart. Thy love then was strong as death, and many
waters could not quench it. Then thy language was,
" Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am
sick with love :" then perfect love did cast out fear, and by
his light thou walkedst through darkness. Call to mind
the days of old, when thou resledst thy weary soul in ever-
lasting arms, rejoicing as more than conqueror over sin and
the law, death, hell, and the devil, through Christ, who loved
thee. Look to a full Christ, thou empty creature. Thy
Lord will turn again, " he will not cast off for ever," Lam.
iii. 31. Resolve with Job, "Though he slay me, I will
trust him ; he also shall be my salvation," Job xiii. 15, 16.
" The Lord hath appeared unto me of old, saying, Yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with
lovinor kindness have I drawn thee," Jer. xxxi. 3. What
though I am now in darkness, in the deeps, in the lowest
pit, like the slain in the grave, whom God remembereth no
more ; yet, doth he not show wonders to the dead 1 The
Lord will command his loving kindness in the day time ;
*' he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness," Micah vii. 9. Though thou now goest
mourning without the sun, yet abide in Christ by the power
of God that raised him from the dead. The day will dawn,
and the shadows flee away. Thou shalt shine forth ; thou
shalt be as the morning ; thy light shall rise in obscurity,
and thy darkness be as the noon-day ; the Lord shall be
thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall
be ended.

3. Consider God's gracious ends in withdrawing; it is
chiefly in love, to teach thee to live by faith in Christ, and
not upon thy enjoyments; to lean upon thy Beloved in the
wilderness. If one should have asked Paul, how it was
with his soul ; see the account. Gal. ii. 20. " The life I
now live in the flesh, I live bv the faith of the Son of God."
Though thou walkest in darkness, and hast no light, yet
thou art commanded to trust and stay on thy God, Isa. 1.
34

THE TEMPTED RESOLVED. 13

10. "Blessed is he that hath not seen, and yet hath
believed," John xx. 29.

Object. " But I am a boj^kslider, and the Lord hath
righteously hid his face."

Ans. It is very supporting to consider the heart of God
and Christ towards his children under backslidings, which
appear in the many gospel calls, and promises of remission
and healing made to tempted souls, when gone astray, and
cast out of God's sight j read Isa. liv. ; Jer. iii., xxx., xxxi. ;
Hos. xiv. ; Luke xv.

Object. " Surely it is better for me to destroy myself,"
saith another under temptation, " than to live only to
aggravate my damnation. I am condemned already. God
hath set me up as a monument of his wrath ; why should
I live any longer in this torment ?"

Ans. 1. Take heed of soul-wounding sins, and lest thou
run away from Christ by unbelief, after falls into them.
Some sin against light, and then, instead of flying to the
blood of sprinkling, they depart away farther by their
unbelief, than they did by their backsliding into sin, and
entertaining hard thoughts of God and Christ. In the pride
of their hearts, they will rather attempt to take a desperate
course, than submit to the righteousness of God, and fall
down at the feet of Christ, whose arms are open to receive
the chief of sinners.

2. If thou hadst lain scorching in everlasting burnings,
thou wouldst think it a rich mercy to be on this side hell
again. There are none there to sympathize with thee, or
to give thee a drop of water to cool thy tongue.

3. Although thy present condition be deplorable, yet be
not thine own executioner, if God will give thee a reprieve
m the world. When thou art tempted to it, I solemnly
charge thee to remember that God hath forbidden it, saying,
" Thou shalt not kill."

4. In the hour of temptation, go not out in thine own
strength. Look to Christ, and keep thine hold of him, who
is able to keep thee from falling. " The Lord hath laid
help upon One that is mighty," Psa. Ixxxix. 19.

5. Give no place to the devil. Be not affrighted from
continuing in thy calling ; the Lord hath promised to keep
thee in all thy ways, and his angels shall have charge over
thee, Psa. xci. 11, 12.

6. Thou art grossly mistaken in thinking no case like
thine; for no temptation hath taken you, but such as is
common to man, 1 Cor. x. 13. Many of God's deaf

14 SOME SCRUPLES OF

children have been as vehemently assaulted with such
hellish temptations, though thou thinkest thy case cannot be
paralleled. They have been recovered, and their unbelief
and all their sad conclusions confuted.

7. When thou art tempted to this sin, flee to that promise,
" No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper," Isa.
liv. 17. " The God of peace shall bruise Satan under thy
feet shortly," Rom. xvi. 20. " God is faithful, who will
not suffer thee to be tempted above that thou art able ; but
will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that
-hou mayest be able to bear it," 1 Cor. x. 13.
Object. " I fear I shall faint in an hour of trial."
Ans. 1. This godly fear is a special preservative pro-
mised in the new covenant against all temptations to sin and
apostasy, Jer. xxxii. 40.

2. Watch and pray always, that thou mayest be ac-
counted worthy to escape all things that shall come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of Man, Luke xxi. 36.

3. Go not out in thine own strength ; for the eternal God
is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Be thou partaker of the atflictions of the gospel, according
to the power of God. Be strong in that all-sufficient grace,
which is in Christ Jesus, 2 Tim. ii. 1. Look to Christ to
strengthen thee with all might according to God's glorious
power, unto all patience, and long-suffering, with joyfulness.
" The archers sorely grieved Joseph, and shot at him, and
hated him, but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of
his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty
God of Jacob," Gen. xlix. 23, 24.

4. God's word is a tried word. Behold the great cloud
of witnesses from the beginning of the world to this day,
all setting their seals to the faithfulness of God to his ex-
ceeding great and precious promises.

5. Behold Christ's wonderful love, in leaving his throne
of glory and his Father's bosom, and hanging upon the
cross in thy nature, bearing the wrath of God for all thy
monstrous sins ; this will constrain thee to follow God fully,
to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, and to continue
with him in his temptations. Look to Christ to shed
abroad his love in thy heart by his Spirit. Love is strong
as death ; many waters cannot quench love, nor can floods
drown it.

Object. Saith another, " I have been long under fearful
temptations to foul and damnable sins ; surely I am a
hypocrite ; my life hath been a hell upon earth as it were."
3^

THE TE3IPTED RESOLVED. 15

Caution. I would not have any self-deceived hypocrite,
who allows himself delightfully in a course of secret sin-
ning, to cheat himself with this, that his reigning sins are
b\it infirmities, because his conscience stings him after the
commission of sin.

Ans, 1. Flee to the blood of Christ, to wash away the
guilt of thy scarlet sins ; and the sense of God's pardoning
love shed abroad in thy heart, will be one of the most
effectual means in the world to keep thee from returning
again to folly. It is most evident from Paul's experience,
Gal. ii. 20, that looking to Christ crucified for thy sins and
backslidings, is the most effectual help to be crucified
together with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed.
The Corinthians evidenced, that by beholding, as in a
glass, the glory of the Lord, they were changed into the
same image, 2 Cor. iii. 18.

The manifestations of God's pardoning love to thee will
constrain thee; this will be thy practical judgment. If
Christ died for thee when thou wast an enemy, therefore thou
that livest, shouldst not henceforth live unto thyself, but unto
Him that died for thee, and rose again, 2 Cor. v. 15.

If the grace of God, which brings salvation, appear to
thee, it will teach thee to deny ungodliness and worldly
lusts ; it will work evangelical repentance in thee ; it will
dissolve thy frozen heart, that thou shalt remember thy
ways and be confounded, and never open thy mouth
because of thy shame, when thou beholdest that God is
pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, Ezek. xvi.
61 — 63. Therefore, after thy falls, though thy heart be
dead and stupid, yet run quickly to Christ with confusion
of face, who is exalted to give repentance and remission of
sins, Acts V. 31. Believe stedfastly, that though thou hast
sinned, yet thou hast an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous, who ever liveth to make intercession
for transgressors, 1 John ii. 1. Heb. vii. 25. Be looking
up to him for the supply of all thy wants.

2. When thou hast sinned, run not farther from God by
unbelief, than thou hast done by thy backslidings. Pluck
not up the foundation. This is one of Satan's subtleties, by
enticing thee to sin, to break thy peace, to torment and be-
wilder thee, and to take thee off thy work and usefulness
for God. Many sins may cause matter of humiliation, but
not of delaying concern about our salvation.

3. Go out in the strength of Christ, and thou shalt over-
come at last, Eph. vi. 10, &c. One cause of our falls in the

4 8?

16 SOME SCRUPLES OF THE TEMPTED RESOLVED.

hour of temptation, is our going forth in the confidence of re-
ceived grace. Therefore live continually under the actual
conviction and sense of thine inability to resist the least
temptation, and abide in Christ, in whom all fulness dwells.

4. It will be distinguishing love from God, if, through
the fiery darts of the devil and other temptations, thou art
kept awake from lukewarmness, and from a spirit of slumber
and security, the epidemic sin of this hour of temptation,
which prevails exceedingly upon saints, and the world, not-
withstanding all awakening dispensations, according to
Christ's prediction, Malt, xxiv., xxv.

5. It may be thy temptations may continue all thy life.
Long not so much for deliverance, as for strength to resist.
Out of a slothful principle, we often cry earnestly for victory,
therefore temptations still continue ; observe Christ's answer
to Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7 — 9. There was no deliverance from
the thorn in the flesh ; but " My grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Be confident
of this; sin shall not have dominion over thee, Rom. vi. 14,
because thou art not under the law, but under grace ; and
that God will give thee power when thou art faint, and will
increase thy strength when thou hast no might, Isa. xl. 29.
And in the faith of the full promises purchased by Christ's
blood, — take courage ; glory in thy infirmities, because the
power of Christ shall rest upon thee. " Rejoice not against
me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise ; when I
sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me." Rejoice
in Christ Jesus, by, and in whom, thou hast already over-
come the world, and art raised up together, and made to sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Fight against
sin, the world, the terror of the law, death, and the powers
of darkness, as against conquered enemies. Pray believingly
for that purchase of Christ, Rom. v. 21, that as sin hath
reigned unto death in thee, grace may now reign through
righteousness unto eternal life. Rejoice in hope of ever-
lasting rest, where thou wilt more admire the power and
wisdom of God, in leading and upholding a poor, weak
worm through such desertions, and temptations, and inex-
tricable labyrinths, than if thou hadst a calm way to glory.
" To him that overcometh," saith Christ, " will I grant to
sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame, and am set
down with my Father in his throne," Rev. iii. 21.

Now, to him, who is able to keep us from falling, and to
present us faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy, be honour and dominion for ever.
38

No. LXI.

CERTAIN RICH MEN.

AN ANCIENT RICH MAN.

There was a certain rich man who lived eighteen hundred
years ago. Neither his name or lineage is given, and to
distinguish him we call him Dives, or the Rich Man. The
amount of his wealth is not told, yet it may be inferred to
have been very large, from the very fact that it was his chief
distinction. He was liberal in the expenditure of his money
in procuring the luxuries of life. The costly purple and fine
linen were his clothing, and his entertainments were sump-
tuous. The indulgence of his luxurious appetite was not only
occasional, but daily ; " he fared sumptuously every day."
No doubt he lived in a palace, had a magnificent equipage,
was surrounded by obsequious servants, and possessed every
thing which could minister gratification to his taste. What
hosts of admiring friends sought entertainment at his table,
and how many too envied him his happiness ! Perhaps
hundreds had repined at their own more humble lot, as they
gazed on his splendor, and thought how much happier they
would be, did they possess some of his superfluities. How
the world has so generally come to the conclusion that wealth
and happiness are inseparable, we are not exactly prepared
to say. We are sure they never learned it from the Bible,
and we are just as sure they did not learn it from the expe-
rience of the wealthy. Perhaps we are not far wrong in
supposing that it is one of those singular delusions which the
devil so successfully plies in despite of all opposing experi-
ence. Knowing something of the nature of the human con-
stitution, we should regard it as a very remarkable fact if

2 CERTAIN RICH MEN.

this rich man was never sick in consequence of the luxurious
style of his living. His appetite was not always keenly set,
and this is no trifling subtraction from the happiness of a
" good liver," who did not eat that he might live, but lived
that he might eat. It would be strange too, if he never
found among his friends some false ones who only made a
convenience of him, who, perhaps, laughed at his folly, and
made his weaknesses the subject of many a joke. Property
too, in those days, must have been very different from what
it is now, if the management of a large estate did not cause
him many anxious thoughts and cares, and subject him to
some perplexing losses. Besides, this rich man must have
known that he was mortal ; that his pleasures might be in-
teri-upted in a moment ; and we can scarcely believe that he
was such a brute as not to believe that he had a soul, which
was to live after his body was dead. His purple and sump-
tuous feasts could neither prevent nor cure the troublesome
thoughts which would occasionally obtrude themselves in
relation to these subjects. We think, all things considered,
he could scarcely have been perfectly happy, nay, we feel
very sure, his wealth was one of the principal obstructions to
his happiness, inasmuch as it diverted his mind from the
true sources of it. Without prying too closely into his secret
history, one thing is evident — he was not prepared to die.
With all the care he expended in furnishing the most luxu-
rious articles for the gratification of his senses, he had lost
sight of the dictates of reason, and we may say, common
sense, in making no provision for that inevitable event which
was to separate him from the scene of his earthly pleasures
for ever, and introduce him into the presence of his God,
who is strict in requiring of men an account of their steward-
ship. A day did, at length, come, when those who lived in
his neighbourhood observed his palace closed, and no more
resounding with the sounds of music and revelry. The rich
inmate is a corpse. His friends assemble once more, not for
a festival, but a funeral. His heirs are dressed out, not in
purple, but in sackcloth, while, perhaps, they are really glad at
heart. He was buried, and perhaps too, in a costly tomb ;
and that, so far as the world sees, was the end of the whole
matter. One, however, who well knew, has told us the
sequel of his history. It needs no exaggeration to make it
more terrible. It furnishes a fearful contrast which every
one can appreciate. In hell he lifted up his eyes, pleading,

RICH BY INDUSTRY. 3

but in vain, for one drop of water to cool his tongue, while
tormented in tlwsejiames I

RICH BY INDUSTRY.

Such was the rich man who Uved and died in ancient
times. The world is older now, but not much wiser. There
have been certain rich men, for the history of whose lives
and deaths we are not compelled to go back eighteen hun-
dred years ; some of them rich by inheritance, others by
their own assiduous labours. The images of a hundred step
forth, that their portraits may be drawn, while one or two
must suffice. Here is one, made rich by industry. The
poor boy is smitten with the love of gold, and it becomes the
absorbing object of his idolatrous pursuit. It is the waking
and dreaming thought of his mind ; the exclusive affection
of his soul. He plods and labours like a galley slave for its
attainment. He begins to accumulate. His eye sparkles
Avith delight. Other successes follow, and the hoard seems
to multiply itself. He reaches the point of his first expecta-
tions, but the feeling of avarice has grown in proportion.
He has now other and higher points of achievement. The
ten thousands have become hundred thousands. There is
his wife, yet his love for gold is stronger than his love for
her ; there are his children, but the care of their health,
their education, and more particularly their morals, is left
for others. His busy mind is full of schemes. In the count-
ing house, and by the way side, he is scheming. Nay, at
his own fireside there is no genial flow of soul, no sweet
charities of life, no domestic bliss ; schemes, schemes of
wealth, stocks, estates, mortgages, fill every cranny of the
mind. He is excited to pleasure only when he is prospering
in his bargains and doubling his money. The bone of his
bone, and the. flesh of his flesh are growing up into manhood;
and yet he feels no deep wound of heart, that vice is fasten-
ing upon his sons as its victims, and vanity is eating out the
sweetest sensibilities from the hearts of his daughters. Even
amusements are rarely indulged by the rich man who has
but one passion — to become still richer. Years pass on.
His title deeds multiply beyond number ; his estates spread
out on every hand ; beyond precedent almost, he is rich.
The most extravagant expectations of his youth had never
ventured to look forward to accumulation so vast. He has

4 RICH BY INHERITANCE.

in the meantime become old and infirm. Did he ever pro
pose to himself the questions, Why do I want more 7 What
use have I for what I now possess? He would have been
puzzled to answer. It was certainly not with the intention
of exercising charity towards others ; for this he never had a
taste. He did not seriously contemplate, in his constant
exertions, the enriching of idle and worthless sons, although
this is likely to be the result. It was not to supply his own
reasonable wants, for a thousandth part of his gains would
have done this. What then ? He had laboured for money
from a passion. He has esteemed it for its own sake. In
his career he has made shipwreck of every gentle and noble
feeling of his soul. He knows no pleasure but the pleasure
of counting money ; he has worshipped no God but the money-
god. His whole mind and soul are converted into dollars
and cents. After all what has he achieved ? He totters
along under his increasing infirmities, and is able to say,
That pile of brick and mortar is mine. He sits in his count-
ing room, and looks upon a shelf of musty parchments, and
exclaims. There are my treasures ! The world is no better
for his life. None rise up to call him blessed. Bowed down
with age, he has no pleasant reminiscences, no rational sub-
jects for reflection. He instinctively fears death, yet he has no
spiritual perceptions. He dares not think of God or eternity ;
perhaps after the wear and tear of so many years in the
drudgery of the world, he could not do it if he would. It is
one of the terrible effects of a worldly life, that it often
deprives a man of his capabilities to learn the way of salva-
tion. The faculties may be so stupefied as to resist every
other means of arousing them, except the burning flames of
Tophet. At length the worn out, useless, and abused body
drops into the grave, unlamented and soon to be forgotten —
the soul, ah ! the undying soul of such a fool and madman,
such a despiser of God and neglecter of eternity, where is it 1
Look at the first part of the 5th chapter of the Epistle of
James !

RICH BY INHERITANCE.

We have seen the fate of the world's drudge, rich by toil ;
now look at one rich by inheritance. He possesses, not what
he has acquired, but what has been left to him. He knows
no business, or only knows to despise it. His coffers have

KICH BY INHERITANCE. 5

been filled by the toil of his predecessors, who have made
shipwreck of their souls in accumulating it. His life is to
be a life of ostentatious show and pleasure. He imitates
Solomon in his degenerate days. He provides every luxury
for the senses, and intends to tax them to the utmost bounds
of endurance. Choice wines fill his cellars, music floats
through his saloons, the feet of the merry dancers press his
floors, and the revellers fill his hall. When others sleep,
they are awake ; and their weary frames only seek repose
on the silken couch, when admonished by the approach of
the grey dawn of the morning. In that stately mansion
there is no Sabbath, no recognition of God. The eye and
hand aro familiar with the cards and dice, not with the Bible.
Fashion may sometimes persuade the inmates to drive a
splendid equipage to a church door, and spend an idle hour
in listening to a formal sermon, which will be sure not to
disturb their conscience. Religion, to them, is a vulgarity —
a sheer fanaticism, from which they must keep aloof. The
rich man again and again runs the round of pleasure. He
lives by excitement. Is he never fatigued ? Do his pleasures
never cloy? Many are his experiences of this kind, and yet
he tries them anew. Satiety comes at length ; the monotony
sickens him. He has drunk so deep of his sensual vices,
that he begins to taste the dregs. Any thing for a change,
that he may escape from scenes no longer pleasant, and faces
that disgust from their familiarity. He is instructed, not
made wise, and, like a poor dependent on others, he flees
abroad, to try the resources of other lands. He sees what is
to be seen, with little true relish ; he mingles with others,
who, like himself, are goading their flagging senses into
activity; he settles in the gay metropolis, where a whole
world is engaged in inventing and inviting to pletisures. It
is some relief to engage in the rivalry to outshine others in
the gorgeousness of equipages and the costliness of entertain-
ments. Gaming furnishes another source of excitement.
Lust and appetite ofler themselves as obedient servitors.
Such the pleasures of the rich worldling ! *' Exquisite !" says
the tyro. " Nauseating 1" responds the veteran. Physical
nature, however compliant, may be driven beyond endurance.
The penalty comes. Gout and dropsy are poor fruits for the
purchase of wealth ; and yet, by these and other means, men
might be taught that the sinning members must suffer. The
visits of death, too, are just as certain at tlie mansions of tha

6 RICHES IN THE CHURCH.

rich, as at the hovels of the poor. See the rich man afte
he has, for the last time, gone through the rounds of his sin-
ful enjoyments, (for there is a last time,) and is now laid
upon his bed to die. Reflection comes at last, and ah ! how
unwelcome ! There are busy devils to stir up the muddy
streams, which prevent one pure reflection. Imagination is
under no necessity of creating new and fantastic forms to
trouble ; it need only embody the scenes of the past, and
restore some of their lost vividness. Before the sick man's
eyes the spectre troops of by-past sins pass along in array,
each in its turn saying, " I will sit heavy on thy soul to-mor-
row.^ Nay, they sit heavy to-day. Busy memory exhibits
its chronicle of oaths and impieties, and falsehoods and
wicked flatteries that have been uttered. The Sabbath, the
profaned Sabbath, has its record to exhibit. More than the
shadows of many a gambling scene and intemperate revel
flit before the vision. No earthly limner could so graphically
draw the pictures of betrayed, ruined, and despairing females,
lovely before the spoiler came, but fiends now, to torment
him in anticipation. His eye glares, his bosom heaves;
every countenance around him speaks, There is no hope ; his
heart responds. There is no hope! The despised cross of
Christ is there only to make the weight heavier on the soul ;
the curse of the Almighty is there too, fixing with an iron
grasp on the struggling captive. Next to the gloom of hell
is the gloom of that sick man's chamber. Bankrupt, hope-
lessly bankrupt ! His wealth mocks him, his agonies torment
him ; with a convulsive groan his soul is driven away in its
wickedness, and in the lowest deep still finds a lower deep.

RICHES IN THE CHURCH.

The world does not claim all the rich men. Within the
pale of the visible Church some of them are to be found.
Wealth is no positive disqualijicaiion in the candidate for a
celestial crown, but it is a mighty ohstruction to his attain-
ment of it. The great teacher has said, " How hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God 1" And
again, " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God." This is sufficiently startling. It was very natural
for Agur to pray, "Give me not poverty," inasmuch as it
generally brings with it many hardships and privations ; but,

A RICH PROFESSOR. 7

viewed in connexion with the Saviour's words, it was incom-
parably wiser, that he added the prayer, "Give me not
riches." The one exposes a man to perilous temptations, the
other exposes him to dangers of a still more serious nature.
It might be supposed that the Saviour, by his comparison
of the camel and the needle's eye, absolutely affirmed the
impossibility of a rich man's salvation. This is not exactly
the case. He explains his own declaration by subjoining,
*' How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into
the kingdom of God !" The salvation of such is clearly im-
possible. This qualification may seem to diminish the danger
of riches ; and yet, a little examination will show that it only
lessens it to a certain degree. How few among the rich are
found who do not trust in their wealth ! Not that they trust
in its power to purchase heaven, but they repose in it, as a
sufficient inheritance, and are prevented by it from looking
further. They are naturally disposed to say, " Soul, thou
hast much goods laid up for many years — take thine ease ;
eat, drink, and be merry." By the influence of wealth the
soul is seduced from God. It forgets its dependence on his
providence, having found what it regards as a surer depend-
ence. It becomes proud, haughty, inflated with high notions
of its own superiority, tt enjoys the obsequious flatteries,
and even the envy, of others. It is tempted thereby into a
thousand sins, to which the poor man is not exposed. It
brings a multiplicity of cares, which are unfriendly to growth
in grace. It binds the heart to earth, and makes all spiritual
exercises exceedingly difficult. In short, it is so hard for a
rich man to feel that he is " a pilgrim and stranger on the
earth," that it is next to impossible that he should so believe,
think, and act, as to secure the crown of glory that fadeth
not away. The experience of the world most fully corrobo-
rates the declarations of God's word on this subject ; and if
there be a rich man, whose affections are set on things in
heaven, and not on things on earth, he may thank God, with
trembling, that he has escaped the vortex which has engulfed
thousands.

A RICH PROFESSOR.

Now for a few portraits. There was a certam rich man,
who, when he was poor, waited upon God, and delighted in
his service. Seemingly, he possessed godliness, and with it,

d A RICH PROFESSOB.

contentment. He had food and raiment for himself and
household, and little besides. Did you hear him pray, he
was fervent. Did you witness his contributions to the cause
of religion, they were according to the ability which God
had given him, and were rendered with cheerfulness. He
wished he could do more ; nay, he was persuaded, that had
he been entrusted with wealth, he would have consecrated it
to the service of Him, whom he professed to love as his chief
joy. Perhaps this very thought became an inlet to tempta-
tion. He seemed to forget that God could accomplish as
much with the two mites of the cheerful -giving widow, as
with the rich gifts of the wealthy. His next thought was,
how he could increase the means of his liberality. The
path of industrious exertion was before him. He taxed his
powers more fully. Providence seemed to smile upon his
efforts. With increased prosperity, he increased, for a time,
his thank-offerings. Mark his progress, ye who are becom-
ing too much absorbed in the world ! His commercial trans-
actions were gradually, yet steadily encroaching upon the
limits which, in his fancy, he had fixed for them. His
devotions were not abandoned, but abridged, and less fervent ;
his gifls to the cause of Christ were not omitted, yet sadly
disproportioned to the increase of his substance. Wealth had
rendered him not more, but less liberal ; and he might have
detected, had he examined his heart, that the cordiality and
whole-heartedness which he had felt while a poor man, were
exchanged for reluctance and selfishness, now that he was
rich. He soon learned the art of excusing himself from the
liberality which had once been his delight. His expenditures
were more extravagant upon his own household, and while
adding thousands to thousands, he daily became a poorer
man in every thing relating to the household of faith. Sad
change ! Where now was his religion ? Not extinguished,
perhaps, but obscured. Its vital power was no longer felt.
The world, which had gained access to his heart, had chilled
it. " I do not enjoy religion as I once did," was his confes-
sion ; and how could he expect it, when he had embraced,
and was actually worshipping the god of this world ? His
family suffered, too. They had become fashionable and
proud — nay, vicious ; and although in the midst of them was
an altar, it had become dilapidated, and the sacred fire on it
was extinguished. Now comes the decline of life. It was
like the setting of the sun in a cloud. No cheering light was

THE RICH MINISTER. Q

shed upon the evening's close. Faith had no supports to
offer ; hope had no smile. In despondency he sunk down
into the grave, leaving suspicion in the minds of survivors,
whether, indeed, death had been despoiled of his victory.
Such was the beginning, such was the end. O, accursed
love of gold, how many triumphant exits from life hast thou
prevented ! This rich man had made his will. Was it the
last will of a Christian ? Christ was not recognized in it ;
his suffering poor had no legacy by it ; it never remembered
that the Church of Christ had any wants. Sons and daughters
were indeed remembered ; and these are now expending
those thousands in fashionable vice, which their Christian
father had accumulated at the expense of his religious enjoy-
ments, if not of his soul !

THE RICH MINISTER.

Another portrait. In sketching it, we must enter within
the precincts of the sacred office. First contemplate that
youth. His origin is hnmble, and yet in his face are the
fine lineaments of one of nature's noblemen. Against the
adverse circumstances of birth and station, his intellectual
powers are struggling for the pre-eminence he is one day to
achieve. Aspiring, and ambitious of literary distinction, he
overleaps every obstruction, until the facilities of acquiring
all that the schools can teach, are furnished by the liberality
of others. He rapidly improves ; he lays up the lore of
learning, and in mid progress a higher distinction awaits
him ; the Spirit of all grace touches his heart, and transforms
him into a child of God. His Hterary efforts are not relaxed,
but sanctified ; and with a full heart, all his acquisitions are
laid upon the altar of God. At length we see him in the
pulpit. How commanding his personal appearance ! In
every look and gesture dignity and benevolence are blended.
He praijs, and every heart seems to feel the fervour and
unction of his addresses to the throne of grace. He preaches,
and the crowded auditory is held spell-bound, as he eloquently
"reasons of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to
come." He has caught the ear of the listening throng, and
is applauded by those whose praise might well awaken pride.
The ordeal through which a popular preacher has to pass, is
one so unfriendly to humility, that few bear the trial un-
scathed. To say that the subject of our sketch saw the

10 THE RICH MINISTER.

eager crowds following him, and heard his own commenda-
tions from the lips of the learned, and the lips of the beautiful,
without injury to his spiritual interests, would be saying too
much. He was a mortal, and the flattery found its way to
his heart. Another stage, and he is married to one who was
willing to lay all her charms, as well as her ample fortune,
at his feet. He had suddenly become rich by marriage.
" How fortunate !" cries the world. We shall see. The end
must be connected with the beginning, in summing up a
man's life. For a season all things seemed to smile pro-
pitiously. He was rich, and that awakened the respect of
others ; he had ample means, and that rendered him inde-
pendent of the Church, which is too apt to regard the
support they render the ministry as a gift which places it
under peculiar obligation. Still he preaches eloquently.
Another stage occurs. His studies are pursued less sedulously,
his pastoral duties are intermitted, his associations have be-
come more worldly. The rich and fashionable wife has not
proved a help-meet ; her profession of religion had nothing
to do with the heart, and gradually, but certainly, her exam-
ple has proved pernicious. How can two walk together
except they be agreed ? And in the conjugal relation, how
often is the bad example more constraining than the good !
The children of such ill assorted matches are almost always
inclined to follow the worldly parent. So in this case. The
minister of the gospel had placed himself in a situation in
which he was daily tempted to relax his views. His children
must be prepared to enter into that circle of society in which
the wife had always moved. They must be possessed of all
the fashionable accomplishments without regard to clerical
strictness. Another stage follows. The minister has, in the
mismanagement of his own family, lost the respect of his
flock, and in fact his own self-respect. His influence declines.
His ear, so long accustomed to flattery, now hears complaints,
which are more afflictive, because they are just. Family
religion has become a form, often interrupted by company,
and often laid aside, because, with the exception of himself,
none feel bound in conscience to attend upon it. Painful to
his mind is the contrast between his present condition, as a
rich minister, and his former condition, as a poor and pious
student. And is this all that wealth has done for him?
Alas ! it has done more. His sons become the gay and
extravagant leaders of fashion, and by a steady descent.

A RARE RICH MAN. 11

'licentious and vicious. Beyond his conirol, he can only
say with Eli, " Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I
hear." Family misrule ends in family misery. The father
spes his own offspring absorbed in the world, and some of
them wholly ruined. He is alone, without a wife to sympa-
thize in his sorrows, and his spirit has become embittered.
He begins to awake, but too late. Conscience stings him
for the sins of the past. His worldly compliances, his minis-
terial unfaithfulness, his rehgious neglects, his lost usefulness,
his degradation, in his own person, of the ministerial character,
his deserted studies, all have a stern rebuke now to utter,
and these, added to his domestic troubles, render him miser-
able indeed. A thousand times does he curse the gold,
which glistened only to betray him ; and witnessing its
fruits, its present possession produces a pang, as if a sword
had entered his vitals. He dies broken down in spirit,
broken in heart, injured in reputation, with his last thoughts,
which should be exclusively given to God, disturbed and
agitated, by the sad reflection, that he is leaving behind him
a family enriched, but ruined. Shall he have an epitaph ?
Thus it must run :

Here lie the unhonoured remains

of one

Who forgot his high calling,

and deserted a noble career of usefulness,

Being seduced by flattery,

and the world's wealth.

A RARE RICH MAN.

It should not be pretended that wealth in all cases produces
the same evils to the same extent. Our portraits are designed
to dehneate effects by combining, in one picture, features
which are often found separately. There are, almost uni-
formly, evils resulting from the possession of wealth, but
they are not always aggregated. They lead to pride in one
instance, to extravagance in another, to penuriousness and
avarice in a third, to worldly conformity and coldness in
religion in a fourth ; and so of other consequences, while,
occasionally, striking examples are furnished in which tne
evils are found in clusters. Wherever we turn our eyes, we
see that the mass of wealth is devoted to the support and
perpetuation of the depravity which characterizes the race.

12 A RARE RICH MAN.

Money is the chief object of pursuit, and its acquisition desired
that it may be expended on men's lusts. Christians may
possess it, but, as a general rule, they are not the most eminent
for their spirituality and zeal. It will eat as doth a canker,
if it be not closely watched, and counteracted by mighty
prayer. " They have grown rich," may be said of many
Christians, yet how seldom is it added, " with all their wealth,
they have become more heavenly-minded !" Christians,
who are in earnest for their soul's salvation, little know what
they do, when striving after the world's riches. Who that
would soar aloft, would suspend heavy weights to his wings?
David's piety was not improved by his wealth, and Solomon's
was most sadly eclipsed. Now and then, however, a "Joseph
of Arimathea" may be found ; a rich man, and yet truly
devoted to the Saviour. Grace is mighty, and within the
scope of its achievements, it may preserve a soul from injury
even from this prolific source of evil. Such cases are distin-
guished by their rarity. It was a singularly rich and rare
reply of an eminent Christian who had suddenly fallen heir
to a large estate, to the anxious inquiry of a friend, " Before
I had wealth I enjoyed all things in God, and now that I have
wealth, I enjoy God in all things." How few can truly
say this !

PlousioSf to use a fictitious name, was one who remark-
ably escaped the hurt which a princely inheritance is apt to
inflict. He had been taught in the school of Christ, who,
although Lord of all, instructed his disciples not to set their
afiections on things below, but on things in heaven. He
realized the brevity and vanity of life ; he knew that his
personal wants were few, and could be easily supplied ; while
at his large revenue he looked, not as a god to be worshipped,
not as a dependence to be hoarded up, not as a means of
sensual gratification, but as an instrument to be employed in
works of usefulness. As a steward of God, he never forgot
that his Lord, in entrusting him with this wealth, had solemnly
said to him, "Occupy until I come." He was well aware,
if he could multiply his ten talents into twenty by their useful
application, he would hear the plaudit, "Well done, good and
faithful servant," and enjoy his reward in his Master's
smiles ; but if he should wrap them in a napkin, and let them
rust in unusefulness ; or if he should squander them in shi,
he would have to encounter an angry judge, and a severe
doom. Such the principle with which he set out, and in

A RARE RICH MAN. l^

accordance with this was his practice. Plain and unostenta-
tious in his habits, he used the world without abusing it.
Losing sight of mere self, his daily inquiry was, " Lord,
what wouldst thou have me to do ?" He received an answer,
and agreeably to it, his acts of public and private benevolence
were multiplied. The drafts which the Lord's poor presented
to him, were always accepted and promptly paid, for he
could discern on them his Lord's signature. The cry of
the heathen, perishing in their blindness, never fell on his
ear without awakening a worki7ig sympathy, which is a very
different thing from that sympathy which contents itself with
sayings " Be ye warmed and filled." From his storehouse
came help for the meritorious, instruction for the ignorant,
relief for the oppressed. Many of God's ambassadors, poor
in this world, found their burden lightened by his liberality,
and many grateful bands of Christians, while worshipping
God in company, could say, Our houses of prayer were
reared by his benevolence. " His gift" was inscribed on
many precious treatises which carried hope and consolation
to the habitations of sinner and saint. With none of that
silly and unworthy pride which can sacrifice all the sweet
charities of life to achieve a posthumous fame by inscribing
a name on a hospital or college, he resolved that the world
should be better and happier for his wealth while he lived.
His fountain was full, and it was his pleasure to make a
thousand channels in every direction, by which the refresh-
ing streams might be widely distributed. Like Job, he could
say, " I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame ;
I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not,
I searched out." Most men are not prepared with their aid,
when objects of charity search them out, and hence it is a
rare merit to possess a benevolence which will run in search
of objects of charity. Often was he annoyed. Many that
were niggardly with their own means were officious in
dictating to him the time, manner, and amount of his gifts, and
others unreasonably assailed him with their importunities.
This he felt to be one of the difficulties of his stewardship.
He rose superior to it. He suffered it not to chill the glow
of his feelings, or to arrest his hand. To please God, and
not man, was his high aim. Did he glory in his benevolence?
Did he rely upon it as a Saviour 7 Hear him in his retire-
ment, acknowledging himself to be an unprofitable servant,
and Usten to his cry for mercy as a sinner. See his humble

14 A POSTSCRIPT.

attitude as a worshipper of God, and see his countenancei"
irradiated with hope, as he prostrates himself at the foot of
the cross, and judge whether self-glorification is the spring
of his benevolence. He is a cheerful giver, because the
Lord loveth such ; he is a liberal giver, because such is his
Lord's requirement ; he is a conscientious giver, knowing
that he is to give an account. Grace has taught him the
way to be happy, by contributing to the happiness of others.
He has made friends of the worldly mammon by converting
it to a good use, while multitudes perverting it as fuel to their
lusts, shall weep and howl for the miseries that are coming
upon them.

A POSTSCRIPT.

To enforce and give emphasis to what has been said, we will
subjoin what none can with impunity gainsay, Thus saith
THE Lord.

" They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in
destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root
of all evil, which, while some coveted after, they have erred
from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and
follow after righteousness." 1 Tim. vi. 9-11.

" Labour not to be rich." Prov. xxiii. 4.

" There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun,
namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt."
Ecc. V. 13.

" The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches,

A POSTSCRIPT. 15

and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and
it becometh unfruitful." Mark iv. 1 9.

" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, whero

it-

moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal — for where your treasure is, there will your heart
be also." Matt. vi. 19, 21.

" Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matt. vi. 24.

" What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole
world and lose his own soul ?" Mark viii. 36.

" Woe unto you that are rich ! for ye have received your
consolation." Luke vi. 24.

" Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee,
then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich
toward God." Luke xii. 20, 21.

"Blessed is he that considereth the poor." Psalm xli. 1.

" The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth,
shall be watered also himself." Prov. xi. 25.

"Distributing to the necessity of saints." Rom. xii. 13.

" Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be
not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the
living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that
they do good ; that they be rich in good works, ready to
distribute, willing to communicate ; laying up in store for
themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that
they may lay hold on eternal hfe." 1 Tim. vi. 17-19.

" He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and
he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully

16 A POSTSCBIPT.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let
him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a
cheerful giver." 2 Cor. ix. 6-8.

" Freely ye have received, freely give." Matt. x. 8.

Prbsbyteria-n Board of Publication.

No. 62.

TO AN OLD DISCIPLE.

My Dear Friend : — My heart is drawn towards you.
I too am going down the hill of life, and the longer I
live, the more sympathy do I feel with the aged. I
have no longer the sprighthness of youth. In common
with you I know the sorrow caused by the failure of
hopes. A light heart carries the young swiftly along,
but in us, who have passed the middle of life, the spirit
is at least chastened, if not somewhat broken. Once
past middle life, we seldom forget our griefs, as in
youth. Indeed the memory of some sorrows never
grows dim. Twenty years after his child is thought to
be dead, Jacob cries out, " Joseph is not," as if he had
been missing but a day or a week. We too have lost
friend after friend, not only by death, but by alienation.
Very few of the friends of our childhood live to love
us. One said : " I walk the streets, I go to the as-
semblies of my brethren, but I find none w^ho began
life with me. I stand alone like a withered tree, where
once was a forest clothed with verdure." We may
have our descendants around us, and " children's child-
ren are the crown of old men." But sometimes child-
ren give as much pain as pleasure. Or, God may
have written us childless. If so, how sad are our
homes ! Or, greedy heirs may be indecently hovering
around to pounce upon our pelf as soon as we are gone.

2 TO AN OLD DISCIPLE.

Nor care they how soon we are called away. How
many of us too are cut off (sometimes by our own
fault) from useful employment! We lack occupation.
The mind, not being drawn out in healthy action,
preys upon itself. Our latter years are often spent in
melancholy uselessness. Our senses are often blunted
as we grow old. Sweet sounds and sweet odours and
delicious flavours cannot now regale us as in our
younger days. To us the blue sky is no longer blue,
and the green mountains are no longer green, and the
voice of birds is no longer music. Great changes have
come on. Times, manners, fashions, customs, habits,
opinions have all changed, nor have we changed with
them. The world often seems to us to be moving too fast
or too slowly, and we cry out, " what are we coming
to V* One, who had long served God and his genera-
tion, seeing how things were going, thus wrote

"Prophet of ills, why should I live,
Or by my sad forebodings grieve

Whom I can serve no more ?
I only can their loss bewail,
Till life's exhausted sorrows fail,

And the last pang is o'er."

The pious aged have no deeper sorrows than those,
which spring from the memory of their sins. Job said,
" Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my
youth." David cried: "Remember not against me
the sins of my youth." The late Dr. Moses Hoge, of
blessed memory, said : " I feel great need of offering
the prayer of the old bishop, who said * O God, par-
don my sins of omission.' " He, who in old age feels
no need of sorrow for past sins, is no child of God.
Nor can we fail to see that our time on earth is short

TO AN OLD DISCIPLE. 8

A few more days, and our career will be run. We
must bid farewell to all we have ever known ; we must
go to an untried eternity, and undergo the scrutiny of
God. Each of us too has sorrows, unknown to men,
and, so far as we know, peculiar to ourselves. We
have not breathed them to any mortal, and perhaps we
never shall, but the heart knoweth its own bitterness.

Yet all is not sad in our state. We have memories
of joys, of mercies, and of friends, which, though
tinged with a brown shade, are dear to our hearts. In
general too we are treated with respect. Good men
think with Solomon that " the hoary head is a crown
of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness."
The respect paid us is well suited to smooth our way.
We have also stores of experience, which wealth could
not buy. We have been taught the art of walking in
darkness and having no light, and yet trusting in the
Lord. We know that all is not lost, which is brought
into danger. We know better than the young disciple
what is meant by such texts as these, " When I am
weak, then am I strong ;" " he that loseth his life, shall
find it ;" " I have meat to eat, that ye know not
of." A thousand good lessons of this sort has God
taught us. We know too that in his providence, as in
nature, the darkest hour is just before day. Why may
it not be so with us, as our sky is more and more
lowering ? May not eternal day be ready to burst
upon us? Indeed a thousand mercies still surround
us. If our hearts are right, we cannot fail to see
them. Let us often count them up.

Will you permit one, who is perhaps your junior,
and who is less than the least of all saints, to give you

4 TO AN OLD DISCIPLE.

a few words of counsel ? If the advice given is good
follow it ; if not good, reject it.

1. As long as you can, maintain habits of bodily
activity. If you cannot do much, do what you can.

2. Keep your mind employed. Many aged men
review their youthful studies. President Edwards
reviewed his Euclid every year. Some begin new
studies late in life, as Dr. Scott and Dr. Bogue. Read
something with care every day, or cause it to be read
to you. The history of the aged is full of warnings
against idleness of mind, and laziness of body. Your
physician and pastor can both give you many rea-
sons in favour of activity. The average length of life
among retired merchants, who have given up all busi-
ness, is said not to exceed two or three years. If you
live in idleness, life will soon be a burden. Beware 1

3. If you have property, retain exclusive control of
enough to keep you from want. A dependent old age
may be unavoidable, and, when it is, should be borne
submissively. But it is a great trial. If men will treat
you well without property, they will also, if you have
your own means. The reverse of this is not always
true.

4. But beware of covetousness, that universal sin.
It is very apt to grow rapidly on the aged. Be
ashamed to deny to those, who have a right to expect
it, a share in your estate, when you can divide it.
As far a« you can, be your own almoner and executor.

5. Be always trying to do good by word and deed,
by precept and example. Encourage the timid, warn
the reckless, visit the poor, support humane and mis-
sionary institutions, teach the ignorant, be eyes to the
blind, and feet to the lame, make the widow's heart to

TO AN OLD DISCIPLE.

sing for joy, and do whatever will bless men and honour
God. "No man liveth to himself." "As you have
opportunity, do good to all men."

6. Cultivate cheerfulness of temper. Try to be
pleased with your lot and your generation. Be not a
murmurer and complainer. A sour old man or woman
is neither happy, nor useful, nor amiable. Remember,
the birds sang, the lambs skipped, and the children
laughed when you were young, and they always will
do it. Find not fault needlessly. " Say not thou,
what is the cause the former days were better than
these ] for thou inquirest not wisely concerning this."
Ever since Adam fell, there have been wicked men
and wicked deeds on earth. I exceedingly like a
common saying of a pious old English bishop, " Serve
God and be cheerful."

7. Yield not to tormenting despondency about the
cause of Christ. The Church is safe. She is graven
on the palms of her Redeemer's hands. The cause of
piety may decline in one place or at one time, but
Christ's kingdom is gaining every year. The saints
may lose a battle, but not the war. Christ loves the
Church more than you do. " He shall not fail nor be
discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth."
"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the
Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of
the earth fainteth not, neither is weary ?' " No weapon
formed against Zion shall prosper." " The earth shall be
full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the
sea, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Rest
assured that Christ " shall see the travail of his soul
and be satisfied."

8. Make yourself well acquainted with the promises

D TO AN OLD DISCIPLE.

of God, especially those, which have a peculiar perti-
nency to you. If you are a widow, hear him saying,
" A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows
is God in his holy habitation." " He relieveth the
fatherless and "widow." See the Concordance under the
word " widow." Are you childless ? Thus saith the Lord
unto the [childless] "that keep my Sabbaths, and choose
the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant ;
even unto them will I give in mine house and within
my walls a place and a name better than of sons and
daughters : I will give them an everlasting name, that
shall not be cut off." Are you poor ? The promise
is : " Thy bread and thy water are sure." " A little
that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of
many wicked." Are you wearied in the greatness of
your way] " They that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength." " The feeble among them shall
be as David." And how was David? Though a
stripling, he slew a bear, and a lion, and the giant of
Gath. Whatever be vour condition or fears, here are
the promises to all the aged pious : " They shall bring
forth fruit in old age." " Even to your old age I am
He, and even to hoar hairs I will carry you : I have
made, and I will bear, even I will carry you and
deliver you."

" What more could he say, than to you he has said ?"

Therefore set your hope and put your trust in God.
Embrace the promises. They can never fail to those
who rest upon them. Nothing but unbelief can anni-
hilate them. Take firm hold of them and your last
days shall be your best days, and as the outward man
waxes weaker, the inward man shall be renewed day

TO AN OLD DISCIPLE. 7

by day, and God himself shall be your God. " It is
one of the best sights to see silver hairs adorned with
golden virtues," yea, with graces more precious than
gold. Have faith in God. Hope to the end.

9. Study to acquire and maintain clear views of
the riches and freeness of Christ. He is a Prophet.
" Learn of him." He is a Priest. Rely on his great
sacrifice and intercession. His intercession is as
precious as his blood. If you wish an assurance that
vou shall never fall into condemnation, here it is.
" Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have
you that he may sift you as wheat ; but I have
prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." Christ is a
King. His " throne is for ever and ever." He has all
power in heaven and in earth. He is the vine, ye are
the branches. Because he lives, you shall live also.
He is the good Shepherd, and none is able to pluck his
sheep out of his hand, nor his lambs out of his bosom.
He is God, and therefore counts it not robbery to be
equal with God. He is man, and therefore he is not
ashamed to call us brethren. He was dead, and so he
made expiation. He is alive for ever more, and so we
shall never perish. If sin calls for a curse, the death
of Christ calls louder for pardon. If he is the Author
of our faith. He is also its Finisher. Study his character
and work. You cannot know too much of him. He
is the desire of all nations, the delights of the sons of
men, God over all, blessed for ever.

10. Endeavour to glorify God in all your sorrows,
and especially in your death. If your children give
you grief, say as David in his old age ; " Though my
house be not so with God [as I could wish] yet hath he
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in ail

8 TO AN OLD DISCIPLE.

things and sure." If your children are cut down in a
way that makes you tremble for their souls, say as
Eli : " It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him
good." If men revile you, say as the royal Psalmist,
" Let him curse . . It may be God will look upon mine
affliction and reward me good for this cursing." If
you be under any affliction which is common to men,
why should you think it strange ? " Shall we receive
good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive
evil" also 1 If you can say nothing to the praise of
God in your afflictions, at least be " dumb and open not
your mouth." If your afflictions be strange, so were
Christ's. " He was tempted in all points as we are,
yet without sin." " If we suffer with him, we shall
also reign with him." By quietness and patience in
affliction, you will be prepared to honour God in your
death. It is as much a duty to glorify God in death,
as in life. We may, by his grace, do more in an hour
at death, than we have done in years before. Samson's
greatest achievement against the enemies of God and
ofhisChurch, was in his death. Our last battle is com-
monly our greatest. Happy is he, who is able to
shout and sing, "O death, where is thy victory?"
" Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord."

There is something very remarkable in the fact that
the aged seldom fall into so great a decay of their
faculties as to forget those things, which have most
engaged their affections. Nearly two thousand years
ago, Cicero (in his treatise concerning Old Age,) said
that he had never heard of a miser's memory so far
failing him, that he forgot where his treasure was hid.
He loved that most, and he remembered it longest. I
have seen a pious man, who was said to be one hundred

TO AN OLD DISCIPLE. 0

and six years old. His memory was so far gone that
he could no more learn any man's name. Yet he
could repeat many of Watts's hymns, and give an intel-
ligible account of the way of life. It is said that Bishop
Beveridge in his old age, being near death, was visited
by some of his old friends, who, by turns, took his
hand and said : " Bishop Beveridge, do you know meV*
His answer was, "No." His wife asked the same
question, and received the same answer. At length
one said : " Bishop Beveridge, do you know Jesus
Christ ?" " Yes, O yes," said he, " I shall never forget
him. When sinking in despair under the load of my
sins, Jesus Christ showed me mercy and saved me.
And he has been with me ever since."

Polycarp suffered martyrdom at Smyrna in the year
of our Lord 166, aged ninety- five years. The historian
says that "when he appeared before the proconsul, the
latter said to him, " Swear, curse Christ, and I will set
you free !" The old man answered, " Eighty and six
years have I received only good at his hands. Can I then
curse my King and Saviour?" When the proconsul
continued to press him, Polycarp said, " Well then, if
you desire to know who I am, I tell thee freely, / am
a Christian! If you desire to know what Christianity
is, appoint an hour, and hear me." The proconsul,
who here showed that he would gladly have saved him,
if he could silence the people, said to Polycarp, " Only
persuade the people." He replied, " To you I felt
myself bound to render an account, for our religion
teaches us to treat the powers ordained by God with
becoming reverence, as far as is consistent with our
salvation. But as for those without, I consider them
undeserving any defence from me."

9
10 TO AN OLD DISCIPLE.

And justly too! for what would it have been but
throwing pearls before swine, to attempt to speak of
the gospel to a wild, tumultuous, and fanatical mob?
After the governor had in vain threatened him with
the wild beasts and the fire, he made the herald publicly
announce in the circus, that Polycarp had confessed
himself a Christian. These words contained the
sentence of death against him. The people instantly
cried out, " This is the teacher of Asia, the father
of the Christians, the enemy of the gods, who has
taught so many not to pray to the gods and not to
sacrifice."

As soon as the proconsul had complied with the
demand of the populace, that Polycarp should perish
on the funeral pile, Jews and Gentiles hastened with the
utmost eagerness to collect the w^ood from the work-
shops and the baths. When they wished to fasten
him with nails to the pile, the old man said, "Leave
me thus, I pray, unfastened. He, who has enabled me
to abide the fire, will give me strength also to remain
firm on the stake." Before the fire was lighted, he
prayed thus : " O Lord, Almighty God ! the Father of
thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ; through whom we have
received the knowledge of thee! God of the angels,
and of the whole creation; of the whole human race,
and of the saints, who live in thy presence ! I thank
thee that thou hast thought me worthy of this day,
and this hour, to share the cup of thy Christ among
the number of thy witnesses !"

Thus praying, the flame was kindled, and he went to
heaven as it were in a chariot of fire.

Thus God fulfils the promises, "Even to your old

A PRAYER FOR AN OLD DISCIPLE. 11

t

age I am He, and even to hoar hairs I will carry you."
" I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Aged disciple, can you not trust Him? Is he not
worthy? May you not say, "I will not fear what man
can do unto me;" "All the days of my appointed time
will I wait till my change come ;" " Lord, what thou
wilt, when thou wilt, and how thou wilt;" "I know no
will but thine;" "The Lord is my portion;" "Jesus,
my Lord and my God, to thee I commit my spirit in
life, in death, and for ever."

A PRAYER FOR AN OLD DISCIPLE.

•

Thou God of my fathers, thou Friend of sinners, thou
Judge of all the earth ! in thee do I put my trust : let
me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy
righteousness, and cause me to escape : incline thine
ear unto me and save me. Be thou my strong habita-
tion, whereunto I may continually resort; thou hast
given commandment to save me ; for thou art my rock
and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the
hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous
and cruel man. For thou art my hope, O Lord God :
thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I
been holden up from the womb : my praise shall be
continually of thee. I am as a wonder unto many;
but thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be
filled with thy praise, and with thy honour all the day
long. Cast me not off in the time of old age ; forsake
me not when my strength faileth. I will go in the
strength of the Lord God ; I will make mention of thy
righteousness, even of thine only. O God, thou hast
taught me Irom my youth : and hitherto nave I declared

12 \ PRAYER FOR AN OLD DISCIPLE.

thy wondrous works. Now also, when I am old and
grey-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have
showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy
power to every one that is to come. Thou which
hast showed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken
me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths
of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and
comfort me on every side. God, be merciful to me a
sinner. Let not my iniquities prevail against me. Let
not my soul perish. Apply to me the merits of thy
dear Son. Bless my fellow-men. Fill the earth with
thy glory. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Take
not the Holy Spirit from me. Make haste to save me.
I ask all in the worthy name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Darkness overspreads us here,

But the night wears fast away;
Jacob's star will soon appear,

Leading on eternal day !
Now 'tis time to rouse from sleep,

Trim our lamps, and stand prepared,
For our Lord strict watch to keep,

Lest he find us ofi" our guard.

Though already saved by grace,

From the hour we first believed ;
Yet while sin and war have place,

We have but a part received ;
Still we for salvation wait,

Every hour it nearer comes !
Death will break the prison gate,

And admit us to our homes.

PfiESBYTEEIA-N BoARD OF PuBLICATlOW.

No. LXIII.

TO AN OLD PERSON WHO HAS NO HOPE

IN CHRIST.

My aged Friend : — Your life thus far has passed rapidly
away. You felt surprise, when you heard others speak
of you as old. Perhaps even now you easily forget
that you are no longer young. " Gray hairs are here
and there upon Ephraim, yet he knoweth it not." It
seemed hard for Samson to forget the feats of former
days. Even when shorn of his strength, he attempted
new exploits. There is a vanity in some old persons
which leads them to ape the young. Let every one act
as best becomes his age. Paul says : " When I was a
child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child ; but when I became a man, I put
away childish things." It is a pitiable sight to see old
and young trying to take each other's places. If you
have passed middle life, admit the fact into your serious
thoughts.

The Bible requires reverence for the aged. " Thou
shalt rise up before the hoary head." I approach you
with the greatest respect. " I have a message from
God unto thee." I wish to deliver it meekly, honestly,
and solemnly. I beg you to hear it. I will use neither
many nor vain words.

I hope you believe the great truths of the Bible. If
you doubt any of them, I beseech you to give yourself
to prayer, and to the word of God itself, that you may
know the truth, and be persuaded of it. An hones,
desire to know the truth, shown by prayer and search-
ing the Scriptures, God will bless. He can teach you

2 TO AN OLD PEESON WHO HAS NO HOPE IN CHRIST.

as no other can. Cry mightily to him Wisdom comes
'■''from ahove.^^

No doubt you have sometimes said, " Let me die the
death of the righteous, and let my last end be hke his."
But do not your actions show that, while you would
die the death of the righteous, you are not leading his
life? Remember, you have a soul. To save it is "the
one thing needful." He, who is poor, sick, and despised,
may save his soul, and so be happy for ever. He who
is rich, strong, and full of all earthly good, may lose
his soul, and so be eternally undone. Because it is
immortal, the soul is of priceless value. Many have
undervalued it. None ever thought it worth more
than it is. God alone can know its full value. No
man can pay a ransom for it, for its redemption is
precious. To save it, God gave his dear Son. To save
it, Jesus wept, and bled, and died. To save it, the Holy
Spirit calls you to repentance.

If you are not a true Christian, your soul is noiv in
a lost condition. So the Bible teaches : " The soul that
sinneth, it shall die ;" " Except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish;" "He that believeth not, shall be
damned ;" " If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost." So righteous is God, and so holy is his law,
that many an aged person has felt the power of a fiery
condemnation in his conscience, before he left this
world. William, the Conqueror of England, was a
great king, warrior, and statesman. In his last days,
ne wept, he groaned, he confessed, but no comfort
came. He said: "Laden with many and grievous
sins, I tremble ; and being ready to be taken soon into
the terrible examination of God, I am ignorant what
I should do. I can by no means number the evils I

TO AST OLD PERSON WHO HAS NO HOPE IN CHRIST. 3

have done these sixty years, for which I am now con-
strained, without stay, to render an account to the just
Judge."' Many a monarch has died in anguish of soul.
Neither greatness, nor obscurity can shield a guilty
soul from the terrors of the Almighty. The aged,
impenitent pauper has groaned away his dying breath
in dismay on his bed of straw. Through life men often
feel that they are not at peace with God, and dying
they confess it. Death is commonly, though not
always, an honest hour. Some hold out false signals
even then, though not free from fears and terrors. At
that trying moment, who would not prefer hope to fear,
and peace to dismay ? Yet without a change of heart,
and a pardon of all our sins, we cannot be saved. We
*' are by nature the children of wrath," so that " he,
that believeth not, is condemned already." If you, my
aged friend, have not fled to Christ, you are condemned,
you are lost.

But, although your soul is lost, it is not lost beyond
recovery. Blessed be God for that. " There is mercy
with God, that he may be feared:" "With him is
plenteous redemption :" " As I live, saith the Lord, I
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that
the wicked turn from his way and live ; turn ye, turn
ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die ?" I take
up the words and repeat the question. Why will you
die 1 Why will you not be saved 1 Will you not be
saved ? I trust you will. I pray you may. I know
that by divine grace you can. The door of mercy is
yet open, open to you. Though you have sinned long,
and much, and grievously, against God, yet he says :
*' To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts." For many years you thought it was time

4 TO AN OLD PERSON WHO HAS NO HOPE IN CHRIST.

enough yet. Possibly this day your soul is taken in
some such snare. Stop and think, I pray you. Per-
haps in an hour God may say: " Thy soul is required
of thee." If he should, would you not be undone for
ever ? You know that men commonly die as they live ;
that a Hfe of sin is the forerunner of endless misery;
that dying regrets are a poor substitute for a life of
holiness ; and that a death-bed repentance is little to be
trusted. No wise man will leave to his last hours the
proper work of life.

But perhaps you think it is now too late to turn to
God. Through hardness of heart, you may not be in
terrible despair. But the practical persuasion of your
mind may be that God has no mercy for you, and that
you have sinned too long to be forgiven. If so, let me
plead with you to give up this delusion. No where
has God drawn up more terrible charges against
sinners than in the first chapter of Isaiah, yet he con-
cludes his address to these guilty men (and through
them he speaks to you) thus : " Come, now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord ; though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Could words
better suit your case ? and they are uttered in sincerity
and truth. They are the words of God. He never
mocks any of his creatures.

We have in the Bible an account- of the conversion
of an old and very great sinner. Manasseh, the son
of pious Hezekiah, was early instructed in the true
religion. When he became king, he restored idolatry,
which was the highest kind of oflfence. He insulted
God to his face by defiling the temple. He formed a
league with Satan, and used enchantments and witch-

TO AN OLD PERSON WHO HAS NO HOPE IN CHRIST. 5

craft, sins punishable with death by the fundamental
law of his kingdom. He sacrificed his own children
to devils. He was one of the worst of murderers.
" He shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled
Jerusalem from one end to another." He was obsti-
nate and refractory under reproof. He made the nation
follow his wicked practices. He seemed to be mad
upon his idols and iniquities. His sin was aggravated
by the example and instruction of his good father to
the contrary, by his high station, by his malice and
wantonness, by his stubbornness and by his long con-
tinuance in it. He ascended the throne at twelve years
of age, and he lived to the age of sixty-seven.
Yet when he was sixty-two years old, that is, when he
had for fifty years together defiled his soul, corrupted his
people, and insulted God by enormous crimes, he was
brought to repentance, pardoned and saved. " Old or
young sinners, great or small sinners, are not to be
beaten off from Christ, but encouraged to repentance
and faith ; for who knows but the bowels of mercy
may yearn at last upon one that hath all along rejected
it?" God has vast treasures of rich mercy, in store
even for old and hardened sinners, who will " cease to
do evil, and learn to do well."

Even in our own day, how many aged persons have
been brought to repentance ! Every old minister, who
has been very useful, can tell of the wondrous displays
of the grace of God to such. Mr. H. was a man of
good family. He was well educated, but a proud
scorner. He avoided the house, the worship, and the
people of God. He was profane and mingled with
such. He was often intoxicated with strong drink.
Yet at the age of seventy-two God's Spirit arrested

6 TO AN OLD PERSON WHO HAS NO HOPE IN CHRIST.

him and brought him to cry for mercy. He lived for
more than two years after his change, and gave the
best evidence he could in that time that he was indeed
a new man.

N. D. went through nearly all the war of American
Independence with honour as a soldier, but not without
injury to his morals. He was honest and truthful, but
for more than fifty years of his life he seldom visited a
church, and he was intemperate. God was not in all
his thoughts, till he was eighty-nine years old.
Then he began with diligence and prayer to read the
Scriptures. He went to the house of God. He sought
private instruction also. After a season of great spi-
ritual distress he was brought to settled peace of mind.
I have heard his pastor say that he never saw a more
lively Christian. He lived more than eighteen months
after this change, and was eminently devout, humble
and happy to the last. He learned to sing several hymns.
Never shall I forget his appearance and voice as he
sang,

" Amazing grace ! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch Uke me ;
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was bhnd, but now I see."

" That suits me, that suits me exactly !" he often said.
My aged friend, do you seek further assurances
that there is mercy even for you, if you will turn to
God ? Here they are : " Ho ! every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no money ;
come ye, buy and eat ; yea, buy wine and milk without
money and without price." " Whosoever will, let him
take the water of life freely." " Him that cometh unto
me, I will in no wise cast out." " The bruised reed he

TO AN OLD PERSON WHO HAS NO HOPE IN CHRIST. 7

will not break, the snicking flax he will not quench."
" A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise." Say not, " It is too late." Call upon God in
earnest prayer, ask others to pray for you and with you.
Confess your sins to God. If you have injured men,
repair the injury as far as possible. " Seek the Lord,
while he may be found." Come to Christ as you are,
a poor, lost, helpless, guilty, polluted sinner, and He
will save you. " He is able to save them to the utter-
most, that come unto God by him." But if you refuse
another hour, it may be too late. This may be the
last call you will ever have. Any moment you may
drop into hell. Will you, will you, O will you be saved?

When nailed to the tree,

Christ answered the prayer
Of one, who, like me,

Was nigh to despair ;
He did not upbraid him

With all he had done,
But instantly made him

A saint and a son.

The jailor. I read.

A pardon received :
And how was he freed ?

He only believed :
His case mine resembled,

Like me he was foul.
Like me too he trembled.

But faith made him whole.

Though Saul in his youth,
To madness enraged.

Against the Lord's truth
And people engaged ;

8 TO AN OLD PERSON WHO HAS NO HOPE IN CHBIST.

Yet Jesus, the Saviour,

Whom long he reviled
Received him to favour.

And made him a child.

A foe to all good,

In wickedness skilled,
Manasseh with blood

Jerusalem filled ;
In evil long hardened

The Lord he defied ;
Yet he too was pardoned.

When mercy ! he cried.

The death that Christ died

The blood that he spilt.
To sinners applied,

Discharge from all guilt :
This great Intercessor

Can give, if he please.
The vilest transgressor,

Immediate release.

Presbyterian Boa.rd of Pcbuuioatiok.

No. LXIV.

HOW TO BRING UP CHILDREN.

I WAS dining at the house of a friend. The conversation
turned upon the reUgious education of children. Some things
said were so profound or rhetorical, that I have forgotten
them. My host was a plain man, who preferred the practical
to the poetical. He said: "A good religious education is
rare. The whole subject is difficult. Yet our duty in the
matter may be stated in few words : teax^h well, rule ivell,
live well, pray welV At first silence, then a few words of
assent followed. The company separated to meet no more
on earth. Some may have forgotten the occasion, and all
that was said. But I have thought much of the eight mono-
syllables. I think my friend was right. I take his words
for a guide.

I. Teach well. In teaching the matter and mangier
both claim attention. He, who takes heed what but not
lioiv he teaches, or hoiv but not what he teaches does at the
most but half his duty. Teach truth and not its semblance,
fiction. Teach truth and not its opposite, error. Teach the
truths God has taught you. Teach the whole word of God.
The law is holy, just, and good. The promises are many,
sweet, and faithful. The doctrines are true, sublime, and
purifying. The threatenings are wise, righteous, and terrible.
The examples are striking, various, and instructive. The
encouragements are great, necessary, and seasonable. The
invitations are kind, sincere, and persuasive. Omit nothino-,
abate nothing, add nothing. God's word is perfect. He,
who made the Bible, made the mind of your chi'd, and knew
perfectly what would be best for it.

Teach things in the proportion, in which God has taught
them. If God is just and holy, he is also good and merciful.
If he forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, he will also by
no means clear the guilty. If his wrath is dreadful, his love
is infinite. If he is a Saviour, he is also a Judge. If he is

2 HOW TO BRING UP CHILDREN.

a Sovereign, he is also a Father. If he pardons, it is no*
because sin is not infinitely hateful to him.

Give clear ideas of the covenant of works, and the cove-
nant of grace. Show how they differ. Never confound
works and grace. Let Mount Sinai and Mount Calvary be
set over against each other. Sinai without Calvary will fill
the mind with terrors. Calvary without Sinai will breed
contempt of mercy. The angels, who never sinned, are
accepted for their works. " Do and live," is a law that
suits them well. But eternal justice will smite to death the
sinner who seeks acceptance by his own merits. He is a
thief and a robber. " By the deeds of the law shall no flesh
be justified."

Give to the person, teaching, miracles, sufferings, death,
resurrection, offices, and glory, of Christ the place assigned
them in Scripture. He is our wisdom, righteousness, sancti-
fication, redemption, light, life, prophet, priest, king, shep-
herd, surety, sacrifice, advocate. We are complete in him.
He is all, and in all. He is Alpha and Omega, the first, and
the last.

Draw from the Bible the duties vou inculcate, and the
motives you urge. If you would repress self-will, stubborn-
ness, immodesty, impatience, idleness, pride, deceit, selfish-
ness, bigotry, cruelty, profaneness, or any vice, show that
God forbids it. Always take sides with God against the sins
and vices of even your own child. Explain the nature and
urge the necessity of submission, patience, industry, humility,
sobriety, moderation, truth, candour, honesty, justice, kind-
ness, charity, faith, hope, repentance, fidelity, benevolence,
respect for superiors, and reverence for God's name, word.
Sabbath, worship, and ordinances. Take not the duty from
the Bible, and the motives from Chesterfield, Rochefaucault,
Seneca, or Plato. Present scriptural motives to an upright
and virtuous life.

Think not to be wise above what is written : but try to be
wise, and to make your children wise up to what is written.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit-
able." Mix it not up with dreams and fancies, and loose
opinions. " What is the chaff" to the wheat."

In teaching, great diligence is essential. So says God :
"These words which I command thee this day, shall be in
thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy
children, and shalt talk of them, when thou sittest in thine

HOW TO BRING UP CHILDREN. 3

house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou
Uest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind
tnem for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as front-
lets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon
the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." Deut. vi. 6-9.
" Be instant in season, out of season." The holy Sabbath,
sickness or death in your family or neighbourhood, a narrow
escape from some great evil, a time of drought or of plenty,
any event that excites notice, even the common incidents of
life, furnish fit occasions for dropping the precious seeds of
truth in the heart. Occasional remarks are no less impres-
sive than stated instructions. They are often more pithy,
and more easily remembered.

Take not too much for granted. Children are feeble and
heedless. A little at a time, and often repeated, is the great
secret of successful teaching. " Line upon line, line upon
line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept," is the
scriptural method. Though you may have taught a lesson
twenty times, it is not certain that it has been perfectly
learned.

Avail yourself of the love of narrative, so common in
children. God has revealed much of his will in this way.
The stories and parables of Scripture are not only admirable
for their plainness and simplicity, but they enforce truth with
unsurpassed power. Almost every principle of religion and
morals is thus illustrated and enforced in the word of God.

A good teacher must be gentle and patient. It is hardly
worse not to speak divine truth at all, than not to speak it in
love. Teach the same lesson a hundredth tim.e. Upbraid
not a child for its dulness. Be like Jesus, who said : " Learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly." Terror produces agitation,
and thus precludes the power of learning. Nor can any
thing be more undesirable than to have religious instruction
associated in the mind of a child with moroseness and harsh-
ness. The human heart is sufficiently opposed to the truth
of God without our strengthening it by roughness or severity.

Do not be easily discouraged. Persevere. He has seen
but little of mankind, who has not witnessed the sad failures
of the precocious, and the final success of the slow. *' Long
patience" is even more essential to the teacher than to the
husbandman.

Enter with spirit and zeal on the work of instruction. Put
off all languor and sloth. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to

4 HOW TO BRING UP CHILDREN.

do, do it with thy might." A hfcless formalism is as truly
mischievous at the fireside as in the pulpit.

To your own efforts add those of well-selected pious
teachers, both during the week and on the Sabbath. Every
school, even every Sabbath school is not well taught. Exer-
cise your best judgment in the clioice of teachers.

Know what books your children read. The world is
deluged with books, which abound in error. Guard the
minds of your children against a fondness for novel-reading.
It has ruined thousands.

II. Rule w^ell. The elements of good family govern-
ment are strength, justice, discrimination, uniformity, and
love. Act not the tyrant, yet be master or mistress of your
own house. In your superior years, place, experience, and
vigour, God has given you all that is necessary for making
your government strong. Let it be a government, and not
mere counsel. But let its provisions and administration be
just. A child can feel injustice as soon and as keenly as a
man. Impose no impossible tasks. Take into account all
the weaknesses of childhood. In governing your children
make a difference, not from partiality, but from a proper
estimate of their various capacities, years, dispositions, and
temptations. The varieties of character even in the same
family are often surprising. Yet be uniform. Be not lax
to-day and rigid to-morrow. Have settled principles, and let
your children know them. Yet beware of making too many
laws. They will not only ensnare your children, but destroy
your government. Children may be governed too much.
Do not expect perfection. In all you do, be guided by
enlightened and pure affection. Never chide, nor correct in
passion. If you cannot rule your own spirit, you may break
the spirit of your child, but you cannot establish a whole-
some government over him.

That we are bound to use authority is manifest from many
parts of Scripture. Of Abraham God says: "I know him
that he will command his children and his household after him,
and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and
judgment." Behold the dreadful end of the sons of Eli, and
be warned. He was a good man, hated sin even in his own
children, and reproved it, saying : " It is no good thing I hear
of you, my sons." But he used not authority, as their father,
and as the high-priest, to require reformation. Follow not
60 dangerous an example.

HOW TO BEING UP CHILDREN. 0

With reproof God has united the rod. When it is neces-
sary, use it. It commonly is necessary in cases of wilful and
deliberate disobedience. " Foolishness is bound up in the
heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far
from him." Never use the rod to gratify a feeling of anger,
nor without being sure that it is deserved. I have some
where read the following story, which well illustrates the
matter. Two stages, belonging to opposition lines, left the
same place at the same hour every day for London. Both
drivers had orders to make the distance in the shortest time
possible. One driver mounted the box, with whip in hand,
excited, spoke angrily to his horses, and alternately relaxed
and jerked the reins, at the same time using his whip freely.
In a few miles his horses gave signs of distress, and before
he reached London some of his team was usually broken
down. The other driver coolly took his seat, spoke gently
to his horses, held a steady rein all the time, and seldom
even cracked his whip. He was often hindmost for a few
miles, but while the horses of the other team were in a foam,
hardly a hair of his horses was moist. The last few miles,
his team not being jaded, he took the lead, and seldom even
distressed a horse. The reason of the difference was, not
that one driver had a better team than the other, but one was
a better driver than the other. One held a steady rein, and
never used the whip unless it was necessary. The other
constantly used the whip, fretted his team, and wasted both
their spirit and strength.

Who has not seen this precise difference in the govern-
ment of families ? The first driver would have done as well,
perhaps better, without a whip. And many a family would
not have been in a worse state, if a rod had never been in it.
Family government is always a failure when it does not
secure prompt obedience and sincere affection from the child
to the parent.

Parents should be agreed in the government of their
children. If they do not support each other's authority, it
must fall. A divided house cannot stand. Nor should they
permit grand-parents, aunts, or any person whatever to
weaken their authority.

III. Live well. Set a good example in all things.
" Tinder is not more apt to take fire, nor wax the impression
of the seal, than the young are to follow example." If your
child may in his heart say: " Physician, heal thyself," your

6 HOW TO BRING UP CHILDREN.

influence for good in that matter is at an end, at least unti»
you reform. He, who deUvers good precepts, sows good
seed. He, who adds good example, ploughs in mat seed.
Children are the most imitative creatures in the world. The
different species of ape excite the laughter of fools by their
powers of mimickry, but children excite the admiration of
wise men by their powers of imitation. Quintilian rightly
says that nurses should not have a bad accent. The reason
is that children will soon acquire it. And Dr. Watts well
says, "it is far less difficult to learn than to unlearn." In
his Ode to the Romans, Horace says: "Brave men are made
by brave men." Nor is there any other way of making
men brave. Precept, eloquence, and poetry cannot do it.
Cowards breed cowards. The same is true of all the virtues
and vices.

The power of good examples above bare precepts is three-
fold; first, they most clearly show what the duty is; then,
they prove that it is practicable; and lastly, they awaken a
more lively desire to perform it, by arousing the imitative
principle of our nature. I have known two men, by precept
and authority, without example, to try to restrain their sons from
intemperance and profanity. They both failed. I have
known many a parent, whose precepts were few, and whose
use of the rod was sparing, to raise a family to virtue and
honour chiefly by a blameless example. It is as true of
parents as of preachers, that a bad example will destroy the
good that might be expected from sound instruction. "Do
as I say, and not as I do," is a sentence that converts the
best teaching into poison, and dreadfully hardens the heart.
Precepts give the theory, but example instils principle.
Words impart notions, but example carries conviction. One
plain man of blameless life and good sense, will more enforce
the obligations of true piety than a hundred orators of godless
lives. A heathen once gave as a reason for his guarded
behaviour in the presence of the young, "I reverence a
child." If you deceive your child, break your promises to
him, or practise any sin before him, you cannot fail to teach
him to do the same.

IV. Pray well. " Pray always with all prayer and sup-
plication in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all persever-
ance." " Pray without ceasing." Pray in the house of
God, in your family, in your closet, in your daily walks.
Ask others to pray for you and your children. This should

HOW TO BRING UP CHILDREN. 7

not be a mere formal, but an earnest request. You need
special wisdom and grace to preserve you from error, and sin,
and folly. The heart of your child is corrupt, and all your
'culture will be lost without God's blessing. You cannot
change the heart, renew the will, or wash away the sins of
your child. God alone can impart to him a love of the truth,
or give him repentance. You may use your best endeavours,
but all will be in vain without God's Spirit. Sails are neces-
sary, but a thousand yards of canvass will not carry forward
a vessel, unless the wind blows.

Be fervent in your supplications. Monica, the mother of
Augustine, said she " had greater travail and pain that her
son might be born again, than that he might be born." God
answered her prayers, and that too at a time when he seemed
to be utterly lost. John Newton tells of a mother of eleven
pious children, who, being asked how she came to be so
much blessed, said, " I never took one of them into my arms
to give it nourishment, that I did not pray that I might never
nurse a child for the devil." " Elijah's prayer brought down
fire from heaven, because, being fervent, it carried fire up to
heaven." It is as true now as in any former age of the
world, that " the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much." Never despair of the salvation of a child.
While there is life, there is hope. Wrestle with God like
Jacob, and you shall prevail like Israel. Never by unbelief
deliver over a child to sin, and to the wrath of God. Pray
on. Hope on.

Conclusion. — For your encouragement take the promises
of the covenant of peace: "I will be a God to thee and to
thy seed after thee." "The promise is to you and to your
children." " Suffer little children to come unto me, and for-
bid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." "Train
up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it." More precious promises could not
be made. Believe them. Plead them before God. Richard
Baxter has said, that if pious education, family worship,
parental instruction, and a holy example were properly
regarded by parents, even the 'preaching of the gospel would
not be the most common means of conversion. The best
encouragement to effort is found in the hope of success. In
this case that hope is well founded. God's word and provi-
dence both prove it. The great mass of the pious now on
earth is made up of those, who from childhood have been

8 HOW TO BRING UP CHILDREN.

taught the ways of God. Many foolish things have, no

doubt, been said concerning the religious impressions of

children. Yet there have been many well authenticated

cases of early piety. Our children cannot too soon begin to

live to the glory of God. He, who is old enough to sin

against God, is old enough to love God. Whether your

children shall be early or late converted, yet if they shall

obtain salvation at all, they will be kings and priests unto

God for ever and ever. Does a sweeter hope ever visit the

parental mind than that of standing before God in the last

day, and saying: "Behold, I and the children, whom the

Lord hath given me ]" " A whole family in heaven" will

for ever be matter of greater wonder and louder praise, than

can be found in all the works disclosed by microscopes and

telescopes in the boundless dominions of God.

But if you neglect the religious education of your children,

dreadful will be the consequences. " A child left to himself

bringeth his mother to shame." Parental love is often blind

and foolish.

" A parent's heart may prove a snare ;
The child she loves so well.
Her hand may lead with gentlest care,
Down the smooth road to hell."

Trust not your heart. Trust God's word. Give not place
to evil tempers and ways in yourself or your child. It is
not many years since a young lady thus addressed her
parents : " You have been the unhappy instruments of my
being. You fostered me in pride, and led me in the paths of
sin. You never once warned me of my danger, and now it
is too late. In a few hours you will have to cover me with
earth, but remember, while you are casting earth upon my
body, my soul will be in hell, and yourselves the miserable
cause." If you would escape the scourges of a guilty con-
science, the reproaches of a lost child, and the rebukes of an
angry God, do your duty to your children. Only when the
heart of the fathers is turned to the children, and the heart
of the children to their fathers, may we hope that God will
not come and smite the earth with a curse. As a town
without walls, as a house without a roof, as a garden without
a hedge, and as sheep without a shepherd, so is a family,
whose thoughts and affairs are not moulded by the fear and
love of God.

Presbyterian Board of Publication.

^jy

No. 65.

JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,

"Thy beauty was perfect through my comeliness, which I had
put upoa thee, saith the Lord God." — Ezek. xvi. 14.

Give me leave to ask you one question : Can you say, The
Lord our righteousness? Were you ever made to see and
admire the all-sufiiciency of Christ's righteousness, and excited
by the Spirit of God to hunger and thirst after it? Could
you ever say, My soul is athirst for Christ, yea, even for the
righteousness of Christ? O when shall I come to appear
before the presence of my God in the righteousness of Christ !
Nothing but Christ ! nothing but Christ ! Give me Christ, O
God, and I am satisfied! my soul shall praise thee for ever.

Was this ever the language of your hearts ? and, after these
inward conflicts, were you ever enabled to reach out the arm
of faith, and embrace the blessed Jesus in your souls, so that
you could say, " My beloved is mine, and I am his ?" If so,
fear not, whoever you are. Hail, all hail, you happy souls !
The Lord, the Lord Christ, the everlasting God, is your
righteousness. Christ has justified you, who is he that con-
demneth you ? Christ has died for you, nay, rather, is risen
again, and ever liveth to make intercession for you. Being
now justified by his grace, you have peace with God, and
shall, ere long, be with Jesus in glory. For there is no
condemnation to those that are really in Christ Jesus.
Whether Paul, or Apollos, or life, or death, all is yours, if
you are Christ's, for Christ is God's. My brethren, my
heart is enlarged towards you ! O think of the love of Christ
in dying for you ! If the Lord be your righteousness, let the
righteousness of your Lord be continually in your mouth.
Talk of, O talk of, and recommend, the righteousness of
Christ, when you lie down, and when you rise up, at your
going out and coming in ! Think of the greatness of the gift,
as well as of the giver ! Show to all ihe world, in whom
you have believed ! Let all by your fruits know that the
Lord is your righteousness, and that you are waiting for
your Lord from heaven ! O study to be holy, even as he

2 JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

who has called you, and washed you in his blood was holy!
O think of his dying love ! Let that love constrain you tc
obedience ; having much forgiven, love much. Be always
asking, What shall I do to express my gratitude to the Lord,
for giving me his righteousness ? Let that self-abasing, God-
exalting question, be always in your mouths, "Why me,
Lord ? why me ?" why am I taken and others left ? why is
the Lord my righteousness ? why is he become Tiiy salva*
tion, who have so often deserved damnation at his hands?

But I must turn a little from congratulating you, to invite
poor Christless sinners to come to him, and accept of his
righteousness, that they may have life. Alas, my heart
almost bleeds ! What a multitude of precious souls are now
before me ! how shortly must all be ushered into eternity !
and yet, O cutting thought ! were God now to require all your
souls, how few could really say. The Lord our righteousness !
And think you, O sinners, that you will be able to stand
in the day of judgment, if Christ be not your righteoussness ?
No, that alone is the wedding-garment in which you must
appear. O Christless sinners, I am distressed for you ! the
desires of my soul are enlarged. O that this may be an
accepted time ! That the Lord may be your righteousness !
For whither would you flee, if death should find you naked ?
O think of death ! O think of judgment ! Yet a little while,
and time shall be no more ; and then what will become of
you, if the Lord be not your righteousness ? Think you that
Christ will spare you ? No, he that formed you, will have
no mercy on you. If you be not of Christ, if Christ be not
your righteousness, Christ himself shall pronounce you
damned. And can you bear to think of being damned by
Christ ? Can you bear to hear the Lord Jesus say to you,
" Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels." Can you live, think you, in
everlasting burnings? Is your flesh brass, and your bones
iron ? What if they be ? hell-fire, that fire prepared for the
devil and his angels, will heat them through and through.
And can you bear to depart from Christ? O that heart-
piercing thought! Ask those holy souls, who are at any
time bewailing an absent God, who walk in darkness, and see
no light, though but a few days or hours ; ask them, what it
is to lose a sight and presence of Christ ? See how they seek
him sorrowing, and go mourning after him all the day long I
And, if it be so dreadful to lose the sensible presence of

JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 9

Christ only for a day, what must it be to be banished from
him to all eternity?

* But this must be, if Christ be not your righteousness.
For God's justice must be satisfied ; and unless Christ's
righteousness is imputed and applied to you here, you must
hereafter be satisfying the divine justice in hell-torments
eternally; nay, Christ himself shall condemn you to that
place of torment. And how cutting is that thought ! Methinks
I see poor, trembling, Christless wretches, standing before
the bar of God, crying out. Lord, if we must be aamneu, ict
some angel, or some archangel, pronounce the aainnaiv^ny
sentence : but all in vain. Christ himself shall pronounce me
irrevocable sentence. Knowing therefore the terrors oi me
Lord, let me persuade you to close with Christ, and never
rest until you can say, " the Lord our righteousness." Who
knows but the Lord may have mercy on, nay, abundantly
pardon you 1 You need not fear the greatness or numoer of
your sins. For are you sinners ? so am I. Are you tne cnief
of sinners 1 so am I. Are you backsliding sinners ] so am I.
And yet the Lord (for ever adored be his rich, free, and
sovereign grace !) the Lord is my righteousness. Come,
then, O young men, who (as I acted once myself) are play-
ing the prodigal, and wandering away afar off from your
heavenly Father's house, come home, come home, and leave
your swine's trough. Feed no longer on the husks of sensual
delights : for Christ's sake arise, and come home ! your
heavenly Father now calls you. See, yonder the best robe,
even the righteousness of his dear Son, awaits you. See it,
view it again and again. Consider at how dear a rate it was
purchased, even by the blood of God. Consider what great
need you have of it. You are lost, undone, damned for ever,
without it. Come then, poor guilty prodigals, come home ;
indeed, I will not, like the elder brother in the gospel, be
angry; no, I will rejoice with the angels in heaven. And O
that God would now bow the heavens and come down !
Descend, O Son of God, descend ; and, as thou hast shown
in me such mercy, O let thy blessed Spirit apply thy iight-
eousness to some young prodigals now before thee, and c.'othe
their naked souls with thy best robe !

And what shall I say to you of a middle age, you busy
merdmntSy you cumbered Marthas, who, with all youi get-
tings, have not yet gotten the Lord to be your righteoubness !
Alas ! what profit will there be of all your labour under the

4 JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

sun, if you do not secure this pearl of invaluable price ? 1
see, also, many hoary heads here, and perhaps the most ot
them cannot say. The Lord is my righteousness. O grey-
headed sinners, I could weep over you! your grey hairs,
which ought to be your crown, and in which perhaps yov
glory, are now your shame. You know not that the Lord
is your righteousness : O haste then, haste ye, aged sinners,
and seek an interest in redeeming love ! Alas, you have
one foot already in the grave, your glass is just running o\x\
your sun is just going down, and it will set and leave you in
an eternal darkness, unless the Lord be your righteousness i
Flee, then, O flee for your lives ! Be not afraid. All things
are possible with God. If you come, though it be at the
eleventh hour, Christ Jesus will in no wise cast you out.
Seek then for the Lord to be your righteousness, and beseech
him to let you know how it is that a man may be born again
when he is old !

But I must not forget the lamhs of the flock. To feed
them, was one of my Lord's last commands. I know he
will be angry with me, if I do not tell them that the Lord
may be their righteousness ; and that of such is the kingdom
of heaven. Come, then, ye little children, come to Christ,
the Lord shall be your righteousness. Do not think that
you are too young to be converted. Perhaps many of you
may be nine or ten years old, and yet cannot say, The Lord
is our righteousness ; which many have said, though younger
than you. Come, then, while you are young. Perhaps yoc*
may not live to be old. Do not stay for other people. L'*
your fathers and mothers will not come to Christ, do you
come without them. Let children lead them, and show them
how the Lord may be their righteousness. Our Lord Jesua
loved little children. You are his lambs ; he bids me feea
you. I pray God make you willing betimes to take tn«
Lord for your righteousness.

[Extractea from one of Whitefield's sermons.]
Presbyterian Board of Publication.

No. 66.

WOEDS OF WARNING.

* Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him."- — Is a. iii. 11.
" To whom the mist of darkness is reserved/or ever." — 2 Pet. ii. 17.

Unconverted Sinner, thy state is sad, and thy misery is
great ! No tongue can tell how sad is that stale — no soul
can conceive how great is that misery. Thine heart may
well meditate terror, for thou art still unpardoned, uncleansed,
unsaved ! Thy feet are just about to stumble upon the dark
mountains ; and woe, woe, yea, ten thousand times woe to
thy poor soul, if this night it were required of thee. Poor
forlorn soul ! Thou hast no God, and therefore thou hast no
happiness ! Thou hast no Christ, and therefore thou hast no
pardon, no peace ! Thou art without a father, without a
friend, without a hope, and without a home ! This earth is
truly to thee " a wilderness and a land of darkness." Thou
walkest through it a houseless, homeless wanderer ; no arm
to lean upon, no chosen companion of your secret thoughts
and feelings ; no friend to soothe your griefs or share your
joys ! Thou mayest have what men call a father, a brother,
a home, on earth ; but thou canst not call God thy father,
nor Jesus thy brother, nor heaven thy home above! Thou
wanderest on from day to day, a houseless, homeless outcast,
seeing nothing around thee but trouble and sorrow, and
nothing before thee or above thee but the blackness of dark-
ness for ever! Jude 13.

Thou art an enemy to God! Rom. viii. 7. And who has
ever hardened his heart against Him and prospered? An
enemy to the blessed God ! An enemy to Him that made
thee, — to one that has never wronged thee in ought, — ^to one
that has loved thee with a love so true and tender as to give
for thee His only begotten Son ! Yea, thou hatest Him I
John XV. 24. Thou treatest Him as if He were some hateful
and hated fellow-worm, whose company thou couldst not
endure. Job xxi. 14. O what vile ingratitude, what desperate
malignity, thus to return enmity for friendship, hatred and
scorn for gentleness and love ! The most lovable object in
all the universe is the object that thou hatest most ! O what
madness, what enormous wickedness !

Thou art a child of wrath. Eph. ii. 3. And O, what
words can express, or what mind can conceive, all that is

2 WORDS OF WARNING.

meant by this ! Every thing threatens wrath to thee. Thou
dost not yet, indeed, gnaw thy tongue for pain, or gnash thy
teeth in agony, but thou shalt shortly do so, if grace prevent
not. I dare not call thee a " vessel of wrath fitted for destruc-
tion," Rom. ix. 22; for who knows but thy God may yet
pluck thee as a brand from the burning ; but at least I know
that, so long as thou remainest unconverted, thou art trea-
suring up wrath against the day of wrath. And if to be a
child of wrath be so awful a thing, even when seen afar off
in this place of mercy, O what must be the horrors of that
wrath throughout eternity! A child of wrath! — that is, all
made up u( wrath— ^whose very being is wrath ! The air
thou shalt breathe in shall be wrath — burning wrath ! The
light in which thou shalt dwell shall be scorching wrath;
how different from the pleasant sunshine of earth, and the
cool fresh air of morning ! Wrath shall be within thee and
around thee, above thee and beneath thee: wrath shall throb
in every pulse and flow in every vein ! And it shall be for
EVER ! O that word which sums up all despair ! For ever !
The eternal wrath of the eternal God; the unchangeable
wrath of the unchangeable God ! Poor child of wrath, wilt
thou not turn and flee?

Thou art a child of the devil! Matt. xiii. 38; Acts xiii. 10.
Satan is thy master, and thou art his willing slave. Poor
miserable soul, canst thou be content with such a master and
such a bondage 1 Remember ! thy bondage is eternal, thy
chains eternal, thy prison-house eternal, thy torment and thy
tormentors are eternal ! If thou diest out of Christ, hell must
be thy habitation for ever. O what an abode ! — amid flames
and wrath ; echoing eternally with wailings of woe that might
melt the very mountain-rock ! It is called " a lake burning
with fire and brimstone," Rev. xxi. 8 ; Psal. xi. 6 ; that is,
with the hottest, fiercest, most penetrating, most tormenting
of all flames. It is called a lake. Not a river, whose waters
of burning anguish might be dried up or pass away ; nor a
sea which ebbs and flows, and whose wide extent or perpetual
change, or wind-swept surface might furnish some respite
some cooling relief. No; but a lake — still, stagnant, gloomy,
and unchangeable ! But more than this — thy soul itself shall
be its own hell. Even were there no flames without, the
furnace within shall be torment beyond endurance. Thy
passions, thy unsatisfied desires, thy conscience, will be thy
worst tormentors, worse than all the fiends of darkness —

WORDS OF WARNING. 3

tormentors from which thou canst not flee. All that thou
mightest have gained, all that thou hast lost for ever, shall
.curse thee with their bitter memory. Earth lost — friends lost
— possessions lost — time lost — the soul lost — heaven lost —
eternity undone! Poor sinner, why wilt thou not livel
Precious immortal, why wilt thou die? Prov. i. 23; Ezek.
xxxiii. 11.

Poor Christless soul, what a bitter lot is thine 1 What a
doom of wrath and woe ! To be tormented day and night
for ever, in presence of the holy angels and in presence of
the Lamb 1 The bottomless pit incloses thee for ever, and
seals thy everlasting despair. Ah ! the most distant and
lonely hill of .^n:ortality would be welcome in comparison
with this ; aye, the gloomiest wilderness of earth would be
Paradise when compared with this ! There joy is a thing
unknown. Love is a thing forgotten ; or remembered only
as a part of the once familiar scenes of earth, now gone for
ever ! No peace nor hope in all the God-forsaken regions
of the damned ! No Saviour troubles you now with his
offers of life. No God wearies you with his messages of
love. Life and love belong only to heaven : and thou art in
hell. Thy portion is the second death. Who shall undo
your prison-bolt, or unbind your chain 1 Who shall fetch
water to pour upon the unquenchable fire, or obtain even one
drop to cool your burning tongue? Who shall dig the worm
that never dies, out of your tortured marrow? Who shall
soothe your hopeless wailing, or dry up your everlasting
tears? No friends now; no companions now! The mirth
of the world is over, and all its glory is departed. The song
and the dance are over. Job xxi. 12, 13. The revelry of
midnight is hushed, and the pleasant sunshine of earth has
been exchanged for the blackness of darkness for ever.
With all these certainties in view, O ! what is this world to a
dying creature ? What are all its pleasures or its business
to a being formed for immortality? Poor dying sinner! dost
thou not know that Jesus died that he might deliver you from
the present evil world? Poor child of sin and dust, wilt thou
not become an heir of endless glory?

Sinner as thou art, still there is hope — hope for thee; for
thou art in the place of hope. This is the acceptable year
of the Lord, and God willeth not that any should perish but
that all should come to repentance. 1 Tim. ii. 42; Peter iii. 9.
He has no pleasure in your death. He lays his solemn com-

4 WORDS OF WARNING.

mand on thee that thou shouldst believe and be saved ; sc

that the highest act of iniquity, is to refuse salvation, to refuse

the free gift of life ! He entreats thee to turn and live. He

yearns over thee with a father's tender love. Yes ! the love

of thy God is a true and sincere love. It is no mere idea,

It is reality. The words in which he has declared this to

thee are not the language of mockery; they are not mere

words of course. They do mean all that they seem to do:

only they come infinitely short of the sincerity, the warmth,

the tenderness of his paternal affection. They are but rays

from the Sun of love. They are but the scattered drops from

the ocean, the measureless ocean of the Father's love !

No fondest parent's melting breast
Yearns like thy God's to make thee blest.

Poor sinner ! if thou diest, it is not because of any want of
love in God or any want of sufficiency in Christ. It is not
because God would not be reconciled to thee, but because
thou wouldst not be reconciled to God. His heart is toward
thee ; his desires are toward thee. He longs to welcome thee
again to the family-mansion, and to place thee again at the
family-table. Your sins and iniquities have not made him
cease to care for you. His interest in your welfare is still
as sincere as deep. Not that he palliates your sin, or
excuses your continuance in it; — no; but that he longs to
deliver you from it ; and so warm and tender is the interest
which he takes in you, that he seeks to compass this deliver-
ance by every means. Do not suppose that there must be
something good about you before he can feel kindly towards
you. His thoughts towards you have always been, and still
are, thoughts of unutterable compassion. In your misery, in
your blindness, in your forlorn state of sin and danger, there
is something which calls forth the affectionate interest of Him
who made you. O, despise not, deny not, distrust not, love
so infinite, so divine. Do not wait, do not delay. Do not
say, " I rfiust try to prepare myself for coming to God."
No! Come at once: come as you are: come this moment!
As the Lord liveth, there is but one step between you and
life ; one step between you and peace ! Take that one step !
Believe what thy God hath made known regarding his well-
beloved Son, " that, believing, ye may have life through His

name."

Presbyterian Board of Publication.

\J

No. 67.

NOW!

* To-day if ye will hear his voice , harden not your ^earf."— Ps. xcr . 7
^ I have long known that unbelief was my misfortune, — but^ O sir
* U7itil to-day, I knew not that it was my guilt."

My dear fellow-mortal, whoever you are, I now, in the name
and presence of God, and in Christ's stead, lay before you
my message; even this record, "God giveth you eternal life,
and this life is in His Son," (1 John v.) The free, the full,
the sincere gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus, is at this
moment held out to you whose eyes now rest upon these
words. Trifle not with it — put it not from you, I entreat of
you — you have to answer for this very offer — your accept-
ing of it will from henceforth make you eternally happy—
your refusal may be the signal for the door of mercy to
close for ever ! Hear me, O hear me then, just as if you
saw the gate of heaven moving in its portal about to be
eternally closed — " Be reconciled to God !" Behold in the
sorrows and death of his Son a perfect atonement for sin,
and a pledge that He is reconciled to your salvation. O
why then will you not come to him? Did you but know
how sweet it is for a mourning, heavy-laden soul to rest itself
on the finished work of Christ — and in assurance of hope to
look forward to a peaceful, perhaps a triumphant death — to
a glorious resurrection — to an eternity as full of bliss as an
infinite God can make it to be — to look thus forward, and in
the exercise of faith to say, "All, all is mine ! for Christ is
mine and I am his !" if you could know the sweetness of
this even in a famt degree, readily would you say, " I will
go with him !"

But, sinner, if we part as we met — if you lay down this
little messenger as you took it up, unbelieving and having no
desire to believe — then must I tell you what remains for you :
"He that believeth not shall be damned^'' Mark xvi. Nay,
it is not only a " shall be," but at this very moment you are
in a condemned state : " He that believeth not, la condemned
already^ because he hath not believed in the only begotten
Son of God." (John iii.) This one act of unbelief is enough
to sink you into everlasting misery. And wherefore?
Because it is downright hlasiohemy. " He that believeth not
God, Juxth made him a liar — because he believeth not the
record that God gave his Son." (1 John v.) Is not that
blasphemy, and yet you who receive not with the heart tho
message of salvation, are guilty of it.

2 NOW !

Immediate repentance^ immediate faith, immediate conver*
sion to God through Jesus Christ crucified, are your imme-
diate duty; and not to perform this duty is your immediate
guilt. It is of no use to say, that you " cannot do these
things without the grace of God." Grace does not create
duty; for duty exists before grace, and is independent of it.
You are bound to repent and be converted, because God
requires it, although there had been no Saviour and no salva-
tion. He that pleads the want of grace as an excuse for not
submitting, shows that he is one of those that '■Hvill naC*
turn, and the death of such he must die, without remedy.

Are you not a sinner now 1 This you will not deny. Are
you not under sentence of condemnation noiv ? Is not the
anger of God as present as sin is ? Are you not then already
in danger of the judgment ? and is there a moment in which
you may not perish eternally'? Are not your blessings
cursed now? Do you not feel now in the blindness of your
eyes, the hardness of your heart, the tbrerunners of eternal
death? Why then delay?

Is not the Lord Jesus Christ a Saviour n&wl Is not his
sacrifice finished and his intercession begun? Does he not
live now? Can he not save now? Will he not receive you
now? Is he not actually saving multitudes of sinners on
this earth now? Whilst you are delaying, are not others
coming to Him, even now? and will not many more come to
Him, to-day, to-morrow, and every day hereafter, unfil the
last sinner come, and every now is occupied? and why then
do you delay to come to Christ?

Is not the gospel, which is the message of Christ's love to
you, true now? Can it ever be more so? Is it not perfect
and fixed? What it ever was to others, is it not that now to
you? What it shall be to the end of the world, is it not that
to you at this instant? Can it ever be more gracious or free
than now? Can it ever come nearer to you than at this
present time? Can it ever be of greater authority than now?
Can there ever be more of God in it, more of Christ in it,
more of the Spirit in it, than now? Can it ever have a more
individual application, a more personal oflTer to you than now?
No — never — were you to live a thousand years : — the gospel
never changes : then why delay to receive it ?

Is not faith the same now, that ever it can be ? Is it not
♦he same truth that must be believed ? Must not the same
90ul also now as hereafter perform that act of faith ? Must

NOW ! 3

not the same understanding discern, the same heart receive,
the same conscience submit, the same very person be con-
, verted, now as then? Present truth demands present beUef:
present grace demands present acceptance ; even as present
law demands present obedience, and a present judge demands
present judgment. Is it not so? If you propose believing
and being converted a year hence, must it not be in that very
way which is your duty now? Why then delay to believe
and repent?

Is not present delay ^ present 5m? If a thing be my duty
now, then not to do it now, is not to do my duty now, which
is sin. If a thing is not my duty now, then in not doing it
now, there is of course no delay, and therefore no room for
sin : it is the presentness of the duty which constitutes the sin
of delay. If I ought to believe now and repent now, and do
not, then am I guilty now. A resolution as to the future is
no substitute for present action ; it is in fact a refusal to per-
form duty until that time come which we have selected ; and
he that delays for a time, does wilfully sin during that period.
To resolve to be converted, shows that you hold it to be a
duty for which you are accountable ; to put it off, declares,
that you prefer continuing in an unconverted state : thus you
are your own judge, and convict yourself of present sin. If
you are a sinner, you ought not to advance one step further,
but now to turn and believe in Christ with your heart unto
salvation. Why add the sin of present impenitence to that of
past iniquity? why delay, of purpose, when delay is sin?

Present unbelief entails present condemnation — for, " He
that believeth not is condemned already," but delay is unbe-
lief and therefore entails condemnation every time it takes
place. As long as a man returns not to God through Jesus
Christ, he is sealing up his former sentence of death, by taking
out a new sentence of death in addition to it. A man's curse
therefore as a sinner is heaping up every moment; and his
damnation doubling without end, whilst he puts off coming to
Christ and closing with Him as his Lord. O that men would
then consider, what account they can give of themselves, even
to themselves, at death, in judgment, and above all in eternity,
when they find that by the poor device of delay ^ they have
brought themselves into the lowest perdition of Hell! Then
must the past pleasures of delay become the present agonies
of the eternal dying!

And what excuse can you plead for such delay? The

NOW

gospel is sent to you as now you are ; not as you once were
or may hereafter be : — the only condition is accepUince^ free
acceptance, present acceptance, personal acceptance, cordial
acceptance. " Hear and your soul shall live !" What you
are is what the gospel respects in you ; what you need is
what the gospel offers : — to wait, therefore, on the plea of
not being good enough, and of wishing first to become better,
is self-deceit, and a lie against the gospel. The best work
you can now perform is to believe now, and to turn now;
and, without this, all intended preparation is but condemna-
tion. Nay, so far from gaining or becoming better by delay,
you lose and become worse. Your heart becomes harder,
your mind darker, your sin greater, your time shorter, your
burden heavier, your love less, your terror more, heaven
further, hell nearer, God more angry, the Spirit more
grieved, the Saviour more dimly seen, the gospel more power-
lesfs, ministers more faint, friends more despondent, prayer
less importunate, providence more unfelt, the world stronger,
the flesh sweeter, Satan mightier, and the drowsy slumber
of the second and eternal death now at hand more frequent
and irresistible 1 Then shall that word be fulfilled, it may
be : "I will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear
Cometh upon you! Ye shall call unto me but I will not
answer !" Reader, is that meant for youl What know you
but it may !

Arise, flee — the way is before you — hold on straight before
thee, but make speed — haste thee, haste thee ! Behold that
Throne of Grace. Behold that Mediator, with the blood
of sprinkling, before it. See, He is an Advocate— an Inter-
cessor for transgressors ; go up to Him now in thine heart —
put the catalogue of sin into His hand — see how He smiles
over thee with love inexpressible — receive the sprinkling of
His blood on thy conscience. Now lift up thine eyes. He
who sitteth on that Throne unseen is the eternal Father! He
who led thee to this Throne is the Blessed Spirit, the Com-
forter! He who now holds thee with a kinsman's hand
before the throne is Jesus, the "Suffering Saviour!" and that
blessing which is now issuing from the throne unto thee is a
free, full, present, and everlasting " Salvation by Him!"

O Lord God, do thou grant unto the readers of this little
book such grace unto life eternal ! Let my beloved reader
pray, saying, '* Amen ! and Amen !"

Presbyterian Board op Publication.

IXV

No. 68.

LUTHER'S CONVERSION.

*He sent from above ^ he took me, he drew me out of mxiny waters,

— Ps. xviii. 16.
*^ Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.^' — Isaiah liv. 17.

Luther, the great Reformer of the Church from Popery,
was born of poor parents in Germany in the year 1483.
When he was eighteen years of age he began to study at one
of the colleges ; but it was not till he was twenty that he ever
saw a Bible ! After he had studied two whole years, he was
one day in the library of the college, turning over one book
after another, to read the names of their authors. At last
he came to one which fixed his attention. It was a Bible !
With eagerness and delight he read page after page, and
book after book. " O," thought he, " if God would but give
me such a book for my own !" He soon returned to the
library, and read again and again the wonderful pages of the
new-found volume. A deep impression from that day re-
mained upon his soul. But still he knew nothing of the
gospel of Christ.

Some time after this he became a monk. He thought he
would thus separate himself from the world. He did not then
know that there was more wickedness among the monks than
in the world. But while in the convent, he found a Bible !
It was fastened by a chain to a particular place, so that he
could not carry it with him to study it in secret. But every
day he came to this chained Bible to read the words of eternal
life. At first it was dark to him ; he did not understand its
meaning. It was not only a chained but a sealed book to
him. Yet he continued to study it with the utmost eagerness,
and to meditate upon it night and day. The word of God
" was precious in these days." It was very precious to the
anxious soul of Luther. But yet he was miserable. He felt
he was a sinner, and knew not how he was to be forgiven.
His soul was in chains like the Bible that he read. As yet
he knew not the liberty of the gospel. He knew not the
power of the blood of Jesus, nor did he understand the free
forgiving love of God.

One of his friends tells us that about this time he was often
under great terrors when he thought of the wrath of God
against sin. Once and again deep anguish took hold of his
soul, and it seemed as if he would sink under it. On one
occasion he had been conversing with a friend upon the things

Luther's conversion.

of Goa. No sooner bad the conversation ended, than the
truths of which they had been speaking, struck home with
awful power to the tossed soul of Luther. He left the room
and sought the nearest chamber to give vent to the feelings
of his bursting heart. He threw himself upon the bed and
prayed aloud in agony ; repeating over and over again these
words of the apostle, (Rom. xi. 32.) "He hath shut them all
up in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." Reader !
Have you ever felt what sin is ? Have you ever known what
the law of God is ? Do you remember that the wages of sin
is death ? Have you considered what a fearful thing it is to
fall into the hands of the living God ?

Luther now began to try to make himself holy. He fasted
for days together. He shut himself up alone in his cold cell.
He passed many nights, sometimes for weeks, without sleep.
He read, he studied, he prayed, he wept, he watched, he
strove, but all in vain ! He found himself as far from holiness
and peace as ever ! If ever any one could have gained heaven
by his own merits, Luther would have gained it. To those
around him he seemed the holiest man alive. But the light
of the law showed him that within all was vile. His soul
cried out for rest, but he found it not, for he was seeking it
not in God's way, but in a way of his own. He wanted to
be sure that his sins were forgiven him, for he felt till he
knew this he could not have peace. But his fear increased
upon him, and he knew not what to do, nor which way to
turn. He saw every thing that he thought and did to be 5m,
and how could he rest till he knew that all was forgiven ?
His friends told him to do good works and that would satisfy
the justice of God. Miserable comforters !

"What good works," said he, "can proceed out of a heart'
like mine? how can I with works like these stand before a
holy Judge?"

The terrors of the fiery law compassed him about and
consumed his soul. His " sore ran in the night and ceased
not." He saw nothing in God but an angry Judge. He had
not yet learned the riches of his grace through Jesus Christ.

His bodily health gave way. "A wounded spirit who can
bear?" He wasted away. He became thin and pale. His
eyes, which were peculiarly bright, looked wild with despair ;
and death seemed just at hand. In this state he was visited
by an old priest. His name was Staupitz. He pitied the
dying monk, and all the more so when he was told the cause
of his suffering, for he had himself passed through the same

Luther's conversion. 3

conflict. But he had found the peace of Christ in his soul,
and was therefore well fitted to give counsel to Luther.

" It is vain," said Luther to him, " that I make promises
' to God ; sin is always too strong for me."

"O, my friend," said Staupitz, "I have often made vows
myself, but I never could keep them. I now make no more
vows ; for if God will not be merciful to me for Christ's sake,
I cannot stand before him with all my vows and works."

Luther made known to him all his fears. He spoke of
God's justice, God's holiness, God's sovereign majesty. How
could he stand before such a God ?

"Why," said his aged friend, "do you distress yourself
with these thoughts ? Look to the wounds of Jesus, to the
blood which he has shed for you ; it is there that you will
see the mercy of God. Cast yourself into the arms of the
Saviour. Trust in him, — in the righteousness of his life, in
the atoning sacrifice of his death. Do not shrink away from
him. God is not against you ; it is only you who are averse
to God. Listen to the Son of God, He became man to
assure you of the divine favour."

Still Luther was dark. He thought he had not repented
properly, and asked, "How can I dare believe in the favour
of God, so long as there is in me no real conversion 1 I must
be changed before he can receive me."

He is told that there can be no real conversion so long as
a man fears God as a stern Judge. " There is," said his
friend, " no true repentance but that which begins in the love
of God and righteousness. That which some fancy to be
the end of repentance is only its beginning. If you wish to
be really converted, do not try these penances. Love Him
who has first loved you."

Luther hstens and is glad. The day breaks, — new light
pours in. "Yes," said he, "it is Jesus Christ that comforts
me so wonderfully by these sweet and healing words." In
order to true repentance ive must love God ! He had never
heard this before. Taking this truth as his guide, he went
to the Scriptures. He turned up all the passages which speak
of repentance and conversion ; and these two words which
were formerly his terror, now become precious and sweet.
The passages which used most to alarm him, now " seemed
to run to me from all sides, to smile, to spring up and play
around me. Formerly I tried to love God, but it was all
force ; and there was no word so bitter to me as that of
repentance. Now there is none more pleasant. O how

Luther's conversion.

blessed are all God's precepts when we read them not in
books only, but in the precious wounds of the Saviour.'*
Thus he learned that we are not forgiven because we love
God, but we love God because we are forgiven. We cannot
repent, we cannot love, till we have known and believed the
love that God hath to us. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us, and gave his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Weary souls, who are trying to
repent, and trying to love God in order that he may love and
forgive you, look at Luther, and learn the more excellent
way ! It is the free love of God to us that melts the heart, —
that fills the eye with tears, — that constrains the soul to love
in return ! Trembling sinners, hear this and be glad. Care-
less sinners, hear this and turn !

Still Luther's darkness at times returned. His sins again
went over his soul, and hid the face of God.

" O, my sin ! my sin ! my sin !" cried he, one day, to his
aged friend.

"What would you have?" said Staupitz. "Would you
like if your sin was not reall Remember, if you have only
the appearance of a sinner, you must be content with the
mere appearance of a Saviour. But learn this, that Jesus
Christ is the Saviour of those who are real and great sinners,
and deserving of utter condemnation." " Look at the wounds
of Christ," said he, on another occasion, " and you will see
there shining clearly the purpose of God towards men. We
cannot understand God out of Christ." How true ! It is
only when we feel that we are real sinners, that we prize a
real Saviour, — one who really " made his soul an offering
for sin." It is only when we see sin coming between us and
God that we find the preciousness of Him who " put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself." It is then also we see the
face of the true God in the face of Jesus ; and learn to read
the love of the Father in the love of the Son.

But Luther's peace sometimes gave way, and his fears
returned. He was taken ill and brought down to the gates
of death. Terror again took hold on him. Death seemed
full of gloom. It was a fearful thing to meet a holy God!
An old monk visited him on his sick-bed, and in him God
gave him another comforter and guide. Sitting at his bed-
side he repeated this sentence of the creed, " I believe in
the forgiveness of sins." These words, thus simply and
sweetly brought to mind, were hke balm to the soul of Luther
"I believe," said he to himself, the forgiveness of sins.'*

Luther's conversion. 5

" Ah, biT.," said the old man, " we are not merely to believe
that there is forgiveness for David or Peter : the command of
God is that we believe there is forgiveness for our own sins."
Luther's spirit was revived. He found on this rock a suffi-
cient resting-place, and his soul rejoiced in the forgiving love
of God. Believing in the name of Jesus, he found the blessed-
ness of the man whose transgression is forgiven, and whose
sin is covered. He saw himself at once and completely for-
given,— at once and completely reconciled.

In one of his letters he thus refers to the struggle which had
taken place in his soul. It was long, and made up of many
parts. It was the struggle of a soul, seeking to get rid of sin, —
groping after ligbt, — fighting its way to God. " I had, in
truth," says he, " a hearty desire to understand particularly
the Epistle to the Romans. What kept me from under-
standing it was that single expression, ' the righteousness of
God,' in the first chapter, (verse 17.) To this righteousness,
as I understood it, I had a great aversion. I thought it meant
God's character as the righteous judge. Now, though as a
monk I had Hved a blameless life, I still found myself a great
sinner before God, and I did not dare to think of pleasing him
by my own works. On this account I did not love this just
and angry God, because he punishes sinners. I hated Him,
and felt incensed against Him. Still, however, I studied the
beloved Paul, that I might find out the meaning of that passage,
for I thirsted greatly to know it. In these thoughts I spent
day and night, until, through God's grace, I observed how the
words are connected together in the following way, * the right-
eousness of God is revealed in the gospel, as it is written. The
just shall live by faith.' Observing this connection, I have
become acquainted with this same righteousness of God, in
which the justified person lives, only through faith. I saw
that the apostle's meaning was this, that by the gospel is made
known that righteousness which avails with God ; in which
God, out of grace and mere mercy, makes us righteous through
faith. Upon this I felt immediately as if I was wholly born
anew, and had now found an open door into paradise itself.
The precious holy Scripture now at once appeared quite
another thing to me. I ran quickly through the whole Bible,
and collected all that it says on the subject. Thus, as I had
before hated this expression, 'the righteousness of God,' so I
now began dearly and highly to esteem it as my beloved and
most comfortable word of Scripture ; and that passage became
to mc the very gate of heaven."

6 xuther's conversion.

Thus his weary soul found rest. He was now like a vesse
that has reached its haven. No storm can reach or harm it;
He was like the dove in the clefts of the rock. He was like
the man who had reached the city of refuge. He found him-
self safe and at rest. Jehovah his rigJiieousness was his song,
and his joy. It was what he saw in Christ that gave him hope
and confidence toward God, and not what he saw in himself.
It was what he knew of Christ and his righteousness, that took
away all fear, and filled his soul with peace. He believed
and was forgiven. Nor did he reckon it presumption, to count
himself a forgiven soul. He gloried and rejoiced in this. He
counted it one of the most grievous of all sins to doubt it. He
saw that the gospel was intended to bring us forgiveness, and
to assure us of it. He saw that whenever we really believe
the gospel, then that forgiveness is as completely and certainly
ours as if we were already in heaven. This was the very
life of Luther's soul. It was this that made him so bold in
the cause of Christ, in all his future life. He was assured of
the favour of God, and that took away all fear of man.

There was one text of Scripture which seems to have been
greatly blessed to him. It was very frequently on his mind
during his many struggles. It was the text which Paul quotes
from Habakkuk, to prove that we are justified by faith alone,
" the just shall live by faith." — Once he was sent to Rome on
some business, and he thought that good works done at Rome
were better, and had more merit than those done any where
else. He was told that if he would crawl up a very long stair,
called Pilate's staircase, on his bare knees, he would acquire a
great stock of merit. With great earnestness he set himself
to do this miserable penance. While he was crawling up the
steps, he thought he heard a voice like thunder, saying aloud
to him, "the just shall live by faith." Immediately he started
from his knees, and stopped in the middle of the ascent. The
words went to his soul like the voice of God reproving him for
his folly. Filled with shame, he instantly left the place. He
saw that it was not by his works that he was to save himself
at all, far less by works such as these. " Not by works of right-
eousness which we have done, but by his mercy he saved us."

At another time he was appointed to lecture on divinity.
After explaining the Psalms, he came to the Epistle to the
Romans. In studying this he took great delight. He used
to sit in his quiet cell for many hours with the Bible open
before him, meditating on that Epistle. The 17th verse of
the first chapter fixed his eye, and filled his whole thonghts.

Luther's conversion, 7^

" The just shall live by faith." In this he saw that there
was another life than that possessed by man in general, and
that this life was the fruit of faith. In the midst of much
darkness these simple words were " a lamp to his feet, and a
light to his path." Clearer light soon dawned upon his soul,
and through him the bright beams of the gospel shot forth
upon the benighted nations of Europe. The conversion of
Luther was the dawning of the Reformation.

So7ne of Luthefs Clwice Sayings.

1. The law saith Do this, and yet it never will be done ; but
grace says Believe on Him, — and behold it is already done!

2. Nature will feel, and be certain before it believes ; but
grace will believe before it feels.

3. It is impossible for a man to be a Christian without
having Christ; and if he has Christ, he has all that is in Christ.
What gives peace to the conscience is, that by believing, our
sins are no more ours, but Christ's, upon whom God has laid
them all ; and that on the other hand all Christ's righteous-
ness is ours. Christ lays his hand on us, and we are healed.
He casts his mantle over us, and we are clothed ; for He is
the glorious Saviour blessed for ever.

4. Within my heart Christ reigns alone ! He only is the be-
ginning, the middle, and the end of my thoughts day and night.

5. He who doubts of God's mercy, sins in so doing, quite
as much as he who trusts in his own works.

6. Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to
despair of yourself, and sing to him such a song as this,
" Lord Jesus, thou art my righteousness, but I am thj'- sin :
thou hast taken to thee what is mine; and given to me what
is thine ; thou hast taken upon thee what thou wast not, and
given to me what I was not.

7. In order to be justified, we must do nothing at all, but
only receive the treasure, which is Christ, and take hold of
him in our hearts by faith, although we feel ourselves to be
ever so full of sin.

8. I have used many words, to declare that a Christian
must assure himself that he is in the favour of God. This
have I done that we may learn to cast away that devilish
opinion of the whole kingdom of the Pope, that a man should
stand in doubt of the great favour of God towards him. If
this opinion be received, then Christ profiteth nothing. This
monstrous doctrine of doubting of God's grace, passes all
other monsters.

6 Luther's convebsion.

I

I 9. What ! are we then to do nothing ? are we not to work

/for the obtaining of this righteousness? I answer — No; —

:^.i, -..nothing at all. For this is perfect righteousness, to do nothing,

^^"3^ hear nothing, to know nothing of the law, or of works ; but

'^jknow and to believe this only, that Christ is gone to the

Father, and is not now seen; that he sitteth in heaven at the

right hand of his Father, not as a judge, but made unto us of

God, wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

10. Moses with his law is a hard taskmaster. He requires
that we should work and give. On the other hand, the
gospel giveth freely, and requires of us nothing else but to
hold out our hands, and to take that which is offered.

11. This we must needs learn, that forgiveness of sins,
Christ, and the Holy Spirit, are freely given to us by the
hearing of faith alone, (Gal. iii. 2.) notwithstanding our horri-
ble sins and demerits.

12. A man is made a Christian not by working but by
knowing. Wherefore, he that will exercise himself to right-
eousness must first exercise himself in learning the gospel.

13. All our doing, that is, all our endeavour to know and
apprehend God, is to suffer God to work in us.

14. Faith is nothing else but the truth of the heart ; that is
to say, a true and right opinion of the heart as touching God.
Truth, therefore, is faith itself which judgeth rightly of God,
namely, that God regardeth not our works and righteousness^
because we are unclean ; but that he will have mercy upon
us, look upon us, accept us, justify and save us, if we believe
on his Son whom he hath sent to be a sacrifice for the sins
of the world. This is a true opinion of God, and in very
deed nothing else but faith itself. I cannot comprehend, nor
be fully assured by reason that I am received into God's
favour for Christ's sake: but I hear this to be purchased by
the gospel, and I lay hold on it by faith.

Presbyterian Board op Publication.

fl^J

No. 69.

SIN OUR ENEMY, AND GOD OUR FRIEND.

*^Know^ therefore, and see that it is an evil thin^ and hitter that
thou luist forsaken the Lord thy God." — Jer. ii. 19.

Act but the infant's gentle part,
Give up to love thy willing heart,
No fondest parent's melting breast
Yearns like thy God's to make thee blest.

Luther.

f

My dear Reader ! — ^You have perhaps at times wished to

know who were your enemies and who were your friends, —
whom you might trust and whom you were to shun. I have
to tell you, that you have one great enemy, and that is sin ;
— one real friend, and that is God. O, reader, have you
ever thought on this ? Sin is your soul's enemy, and God is
your soul's friend. That sua which you have delighted in is
your bitterest enemy, — that God whom you have forsaken is
your truest, tenderest friend ! You have none in heaven or
on earth like God ; not one who takes such a deep and sincere
interest in your welfare ! You have forgotten Him, but He
has not forgotten you. His thoughts towards you are still
most tender and kind.

Perhaps you think that the very reverse of this is true. Or
at least, if you do not think so, you act as if it were so. You
act as if God were your greatest enemy, and sin your peculiar
friend. You do not love God. You hate God. You suspect
God. You turn away from God. You distrust God. You
discredit all his words and professions of friendship and good-
will. You forget Him days without number. Could you do
more to Him were he your bitterest enemy? On the other
hand, you follow sin ; you cling to sin ; you delight in sin ;
you will part with heaven, with God, for sin; you will sell
your soul for sin. Could you do more, were sin your best
and truest friend ? Your thoughts, your words, your feelings,
your actions every day of your life, show that you really in
your hearts think sin to be your real friend, and God to be

2 SIN OUR ENEMY, AND GOD OUR FRIEND.

your worst enemy. How fearful a state to live in ! Haters
of God ! Rom. i. 30. Lovers of sin !

Reader, believe me, — ^it is sin that is your real enemy ! h
is an evil thing and bitter to forsake God. Jer. ii. 19. The
way of trangressors is hard, — O how hard ! Their cup is
gall and wormwood. It was sin that first drew Adam from
God and drove him out of Paradise. It was sin that brought
the flood of waters upon the earth. It was sin that called
down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrha. It is
sin that has filled the earth with misery and pain, — with
sorrow and sighing, — with weeping eyes and broken hearts.
It was sin that dug the grave and kindled hell, and brought
man under the power of the devil. O, then, must not sin be
the worst enemy of man 1 It is sin that separates us from
God, and unfits us for enjoying Him. It is sin that robs our
souls of peace, that spoils us of happiness, and fills us full of
misery. It is sin that poisons the soul, — that lets loose our
fiery passions and inflames our lusts. It is sin that disturbs
and defiles the conscience, making us a terror to ourselves,
and pressing us down with a burden too heavy to be borne.
It is sin that grieves, and vexes, and quenches the Holy Spirit.
It is sin that takes away our relish for spiritual things ; our
power of realizing God and holding fellowship with him. It
is sin that darkens the mind and hardens the heart, till we
become past feeling, and hate the light. O, then, must not sin
be our real enemy? Could we have a worse enemy than this?

Reader, believe me, — it is God who is your soul's true and
real friend. His thoughts towards you are most gracious and
compassionate. He is the enemy of your sin, but not the
enemy of your soul. You admit that he has the power of
befriending you, and that all fulness of blessing is with him;
but perhaps you doubt his willingness to bestow his gifts.
You suspect his heart. You will not believe that he has any
friendly thoughts or wishes towards you, till you can bring a
price in your hands, and prove that you are not altogether
unworthy of his friendship. You think that he is the enemy
of your soul, and will remain your enemy till you have made
yourself fit for becoming the object of his regard. Now, let
me ask, has God deserved this at your hands? Has he
deserved to be doubted, and to be suspected thus ? Are all
nis professions of friendly concern for us insincere ? Are
they mere random declarations, — mere words of course ? No,
— my friend, — no. God is your real, your true, your only

SIN OUR ENEMY, AND GOD OUR FRIEND. 3

friend. His interest in your welfare is unfeigned and true.
In clinging to sin, you are cleaving to your worst enemy ; in
turning away from God you are forsaking your truest friend.
God did not send you to hell when first you sinned ; he still
keeps you out of hell, and gives you time to repent ; he pities
your misery and has no pleasure in your death. What
greater proof of his tender mercy could he give, than in
sparing you even for an hour ? " Account tnat the long-
suffering of our God is salvation." 2 Pet. ii. 9, 15. He waits
to be gracious to you ; he longs for the return of all his prodi-
gals,— of all his wandering sheep. Does not this wear a most
winning aspect towards you, even as you are? He sends his
gospel to you, — the glad tidings of great joy, — he "publishes
peace" to you through the blood of the cross ; he makes
known to you the work of his Son, in whom there is redemp-
tion through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the
riches of his grace ; — he throws open to you the " new and
living way" into his presence, a way in which there is not
one stumbling-block, one hindrance; — he proclaims to yon
the infinite fulness of Jesus, that out of that fulness yon may
receive, and grace for grace ! What could he do more ? If
he be not a friend, who can be? Has any one, either in
heaven or in earth, done so much as thiS) or showed such
good- will to you, such an interest in your welfare? He
strives in your heart by his Holy Spirit, awakening strange
desires after himself and after heaven, — or filling you with
terrors as you think upon eternity and the judgment to come.
He knocks at the door of your heart ; he knocks unceasingly,
day and night, that he may persuade you to open and admit
him, that he may come in and sup with you, and you with
him? Would an enemy do this? Would any but a real
friend show such long-suffering love, — such tender concern
for you? He longs to make you holy; to renew you in tlie
spirit of your mind; he cannot bear your unholy ways, and
he would fain have you made holy and blessed. If you but
allow him, he would do this for you ; he would give you his
Holy Spirit to take old things away, and to make all things
new. Would an enemy do this? He would rejoice over
you if you would turn and seek his face. It is said of the
prodigal, that when he was yet a great way off, his father saw
him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him, welcoming
him back to his house with joy and singing, " this my son
was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found."

41 SIN OUR ENEMY, AND GOD OUR FRIEND.

Would an enemy do this ? Are not these the actions, the
feelings of a true and tender friend, — a friend whose love has
been sore tried by your neglect, and coldness, and hatred
but who yet has never ceased to care for you, never ceased to
yearn over you with the bowels of tenderness and compas-
sion?* Did not Jesus pray for his murderers, and was not
that the prayer of a friend, — of one who really cared for
their souls ? Did not Jesus weep over Jerusalem ; — and were
not his tears, those of real and tender pity? Did not Jesus
say, " ye will not come to me that ye might have life ;" and
did not that show that he really wanted to give them life ?
O, reader, have you any reason for saying that God is your
enemy, and desires your death ? Has he ever been to you
a wilderness or a land of darkness 1 Have you any reason
for thinking God's thoughts to you are not thoughts of tender-
ness,— the thoughts of a real friend ?

Reader, God is making proposals of friendship to you!
The Most High God is asking you to become his friend !
These proposals are sincere/ He is really and truly seeking
your friendship, and offering his own in return ! Precious
offer ! To a worm of the dust ! To a sinner, a rebel, a
hater of himself! He asks no price, no gift, no bribe ! All
he asks is that you would take his offer, — accept his pro-
posals, and become his friend ! It matters not how far you
have strayed, or how guilty you have become ! Only take
his offer! Only return! The gate is wide open to you.
The welcome is sure. " Thou hast played the harlot with
many lovers, yet return again to me, saith the Lord." Jer.
iii. 1, 4. "Wilt thou not, from this time, cry unto me. My
father, thou art the guide of my youth?" Be thou reconciled
to God !

* " Could we single out one hopeless and impenitent sinner, we
are warranted to tell him, that he is pitied at the very moment he
is forsaken, that he perishes not because God would not be
reconciled to him, but because he would not be reconciled to
God." — Dr. Gordon's Preface to Howe's Redeemer's Tears over
Lost Souls.

Presbyterian Board op Publication.

ivi

No. 70.

THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL.

" Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stead
fast, and which enter eth into that within the i;etZ."HEB. vi. 19.

" There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot he quiet.'' — Jer. xlix. 23
" He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still;

then are they glad because they he quiet, so he hringeth them unto

their desired haven.'' — Psalm cvii. 29, 30.

Roar on ye waves, our souls defy
Your roaring to disturb our rest;
In vain to impair the calm ye try, —
The :alm in a believer's breast.

This world is a sea of perpetual storm ; yet there are many
souls in it who have found " peace and safety." All these
have at one time heard the fearful howling of the tempest
of wrath, and have been tossed with its fury ; — but yet they
have not suffered shipwreck, — they have escaped it all. They
Jiear the tempest still, and its ground-swell often heaves them
in their safe anchorage ; but their security is never shaken.
There are sinners who have fled to the hope set before them,
" which hope they have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast." The world dislikes and despises these souls.
For they were earnest in fleeing from the storm, and the
careless world is sore galled by their unfeigned earnestness.
They cast away all unnecessary lading, "counting it but
dung" that they might win Christ, and having so done they
found Christ an anchor, "sure and steadfast." But the world
is not possessed of this, and therefore hates those who declare
it to be their only security in the time of storm. And while
the sinner who has betaken himself to this hope proclaims
the safety of the anchorage he has found, they who will not
flee to it decry his confidence as presumption, pride, vain-
glory ! The world feels that if he be completely safe, then
they are altogether wrong : if his hope be real, then they have
no hope at all.

But come and examine the anchor, and the shore on which
it is cast. There is a hope set before you, — a hope of escape.
The voice of God in the storm urges you to flee to this hope.
It is spoken of fully in Hebrews vi. 19, 20. It is a hope
which is an anchor of the soul. This anchor is itself sure and
strong. It will not break nor let go its hold. The shore on

THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL.

which it is cast is sj solid and firm, that the anchor fixed
therein will remain steadfast in spite of storm, and wind, and
dashing wave.

The a7ichor of the soul is the glad tidings concerning
Christ. The awakened sinner's question is, Will the holy-
God pardon my sins 1 He is tossed up and down till he gets
this question answered. He feels as if he were the chief of
sinners, and as if it were more difficult for God to pardon
him, than to pardon Manasseh, or Paul, or Magdalene, or any
other sinner in the world. There seems to be the black
gloom of wrath, the frown of severe displeasure, on the face
of God. O who can tell the anguish of that soul ! It wishes
to be at peace, yet knows not how. It looks around for
rest, but knows not where to find it.

Hear then, " O thou afflicted, and tossed with tempest !"

Behold, it is written concerning the Lord Jesus, "thy wrath

lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy

waves." Ps. Ixxxviii. 7. This is the voice of one who has

been cast like Jonah into the waves ; and now he is in the

lowest deep. The floods compass him about, and the billows

pass over him ! Is this a shipwrecked sinner? No, — it is

Jesus allowing the tempest to dash the billows of wrath against

his own person. And this he submits to in order that he

may show to all that sin desei-ves nothing less than this storm

of the Almighty's burning wrath. This he submits to in

order that it may be seen how the Holy One abhors to the

uttermost every sin of every form, — deed, word, or thought.

But glad tidings now ! Jesus, who sank into the depths of

his sea, and was buried under its mountain load, reaches the

shore, and stands there declaring that " whosoever believeth

in him shall not come into condemnation." Whosoever will

agree that this Saviour shall be his surety, shall not need to

plunge into these waves himself, but shall be treated by God

as if his sins had been already punished in that fierce storm

hat spent its violence on Jesus. O is this not rest to your

soul ! It shows you how justly and holily God may turn his

anger from you ; how he expresses his utmost displeasure

against your sins, and yet saves you ! Is not this quieting

to your anxious conscience 1 Is it not an anchm 1

Jesus is tlie anchor. He has been at the bottom of the
depths of wrath, and his strength was tried and found perfect.
Nothing can keep your souls steady but this only; for nothing
else resists the storm of God's wrath. Your duiiei are not

THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL. $

the anchor: will they endure the fierce blast of Divine displea-
sure ? Your feelings and frames are not the anchor : can
they stand the sudden dash even of one wave from the world,
far less from the Holy God ? The SpirWs work in you is
not your anchor ; it is only the cargo, or the vessel-stores,
which the sure anchor preserves from damage. Some mourn
and say, Ah, if I had sinned less I should have had less
difficulty in finding peace. Now, are you not making an
anchor out of your supposed goodness ? If you could put so
many acts of holiness in the place of those many sins, you
would straightway form an anchor out of these. Others say,
O if I could only see that I had faith, I should then be at
rest. Now you are just trying to make your cabh your
anclwr; for faith is the cable that connects the anchor with
the soul. Instead of distressing yourself about your own faith,
he occupied ivith observing the soundness and steadfastness
oftlw anchor, and your soul will be no longer tossed.

TJw anchor must he something out of ourselves: not our
duties nor our saintship, nor our walk with God, nor our
evidences of the Spirit's work within us, nor our strength of
love ; — not any, nor all of these together ! The anchor of a
ship is something that lies without, and by being without
secures it. That which quiets and assures the uneasy con-
science and troubled soul of a sinner, is what he hears in the
glad tidings. It is something said or showed to him by God.
It is something that tells him, not of the feelings of his own
heart, but of the heart of God. It is something that shows
him the face of God that he may read there, " God is love."
The work of Jesus in this way becomes the sure " anchor
of the soul."

The anchor is sure. That is, it can never fail nor break,
for its nature is divine. It is also steadfast. It remains
fixed whatever storms assail, because it is fixed " within the
veil." Let us survey the shore on which it is cast. This
shore is the region within the veil. This adds to our grounds
of faith, and brightens the confidence of our hope. This
Saviour on whom our hope rests is an accepted ^^s'lonx. He
is within the veil. The anchor has entered into that within the
veil, that is, into the holy region within. The Father exam-
ined his work and found it faultless ; and as a token of his
well-pleasedness received him within the veil, and placed
him at his right hand in all power and glory. O how great
is the consolation here ! Our anchor rests, not on shifting

4 THE ANCHOR OF TJSE SOUL.

sands, but in the bosom of the Father. It is *' nia in God."
Col. iii. 2. Sure anchor, and firm ground on which it is
sunk ! What storm will drag it up from that mooring ! O
my soul keep to this anchor, and neither earth nor hell shall
ever move thee from thy safe station on the shore of heaven !
True, the vessel is worthless ; — my vessel with all its freight
is worthless ; — yet nevertheless it is safe ! He bringeth me
to my desired haven, and I am ^lad because all is peace.
Psalm cvii. 30.

Poor sinner, the night is near, and appearances are very
gloomy on the face of sea and land. The sea and its waves
are roaring. Men's hearts are beginning to fail them for fear.
Luke xxi. 26. The whirlwind which the Son of man is to
send over the earth, as the herald of his coming, seems ready
to burst forth. At present there is an ominous stillness, — the
stillness that precedes the thunder-storm. Are you meditat-
ing to flee ? Is your hope this, that the storm will blow over
at last ? Alas ! alas ! it never will : for the living God will
never die. Is it your hope that perhaps you may be drifted
on the shores of heaven, though you were not directing your
sails thitherward ? This, too, is vain ; for this storm is sent
forth in order to drive vessels to the shoals of hell. Do you
hope that you may brave it out, because you are not so
heavily laden as others ? Ah, but it is too true that one sin
attracts the lightning, and one stroke of the thunderbolt will
make way for the rushing flood. O flee to the hope set before
you ! Flee from the wrath to come ! Anchor on the sheltered
shore ! Rest on the Saviour, who rests on the Father's
bosom! Return through Christ to God, and then, returning
sinner, you will be welcomed to the Father's bosom with the
very welcome that met the returned Saviour !

Prbsbyterian Board or Publication.

No. 71.

DO YOU GO TO THE PEAYEE-MEETING ?

" TTien they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and
the Lord hearkened and heard it ; and a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the Lord^ and that thought
upon his name." — Malachi iii. 16.

" These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplica-
iion." — ^AcTS i. 14.

"JVot forsaking the assembling of ourselves together , as the manner
of some is." — Heb. x. 25.

Reader ! is there a prayer-meeting in your neighbourhood ?
If there is, do you attend it? If you do not, have you good
reasons for slaying away? Perhaps there is one just by
your door, or at least within a few minutes' walk of your
dwelling. Do you go to it? — I have known people walk
many miles every week to a prayer-meeting. They did not
grudge the distance. The way seemed short and pleasant.
No wonder. — They were in earnest about tJwir souls! And
if you neglect or despise such meetings, it is to be feared that
you are altogether unconcerned about eternity and the king-
dom to come. If you were thirsty for the water of life, you
would be glad of such opportunities of drawing it out of the
wells of salvation.

I ask then again, do you attend the prayer-meeting?
If not, what are your reasons ? If they are good reasons,
you need not be ashamed of them either before (rod or man,
and they will serve you at the judgment-seat of Christ. If
they are not, the sooner you give them up, the belter. Very
soon the last sermon will be done, the last SabbatJi will close,
the last prayer-meeting will be over, the last mi^ssage of
salvation delivered, the last warning sounded, and the last
invitation given ! Then, what bitter regret and agonizing
remorse ! What will you think of your excuses then ? O,
you would give the wealth of worlds for another prayer-meet-
ing, another day of hope. No more making light of such
precious opportunities, nor scoffing at those who prized them !
The follies and vanities of earth are all over then and

2 DO YOU GO TO THE PRAYER-MEETING? ^

invisible realities are seen to be all in all. Will the memory
of your days and scenes of pleasure or sin be soothing to
your soul when they have passed away like a vision of the
night] Will the remembered hours of carnal levity, the idle
word, the thoughtless jest, the gay smiles of companionship,
the halls of gaiety, or the haunts of sin, (all of wliich you
once preferred to the prayer-meeting,) will these breathe com-
fort to your dying soul, or bear you up when giving in your
account before the Judge of all ? Laughter shall then be
exchanged for burning tears ; nights of harmless merriment
for ages of endless woe. O, waste not then one precious
hour, — one precious moment ! Thy eternity may hang on
it ! It may soon be too late to think of prayer. Up, sleeper,
up! Turn, sinner, turn ! Thy days are but an hand-breadth;
— flee ! O, flee from the wrath to come !

Let me speak to you, with all kindness, for a little, about
your reasons for not attending the prayer-meeting. Let us
weigh them in the balances of the sanctuary; and may the
Holy Spirit, in this respect, convince you of sin 1

1. Do you not care for the prayer -meetings! Do you not
like them ? Do you count them a weariness, or do you call
them fanaticism ? Is this your reason ? If so, can your soul
be in a right state with God ? Can that man be a child of
God who dislikes either private or social prayer? Can there
be real or living religion in that soul that does not relish such
meetings ? Is it not strange and sad that you should relish
the things of the body, the things of time, — and yet turn
away from the things of the soul, the things of eternity? Is
it not awful that you should love the society of sinners, the
friendship of the world ; and yet dislike so much the com-
panionship of saints, the fellowship of God? If you prefer
worldly company or pleasure to a prayer-meeting, this
shows beyond all doubt that you are not a child of God, or a
follower of the Lamb.

2. Have you no time to attend prayer-meetings? Is this
your reason ? Ah ! think for a moment; is it really true tbat
you have no time to spare for them ? Can you say so
honestly before God? Will you be able to plead this with
the Judge in the great day of account ? Do you never attend
other meetings which take up more of your time \ Or do
you not waste more time idly or in foolish company, than
would be spent at the meeting? What! have you time to
eat, and to drink, and make merry, hut none to pray! Have

DO YOU GO TO THE PRAYER-MEETING? 3

you time for business, for company, for folly, for pleasure,
for lusts, for sin, but none for prayer 1 Have you time for
ihe shop, the market, the ball-room, the card-table, the public
house, the political club, — hut 7ione for the prayer -meeting 1
You can spare days and weeks for these things of time, can
you not spare an hour for the things of eternity?

3. Are you ashamed to go to a prayer -meeting 1 Would
your companions laugh at you ? Is this your reason ? What,
ashamed to pray ! afraid to be laughed at ! You are not
ashamed to be seen in idle, foolish company, yet you are
ashamed to be seen in the society of the people of God ! You
are not ashamed to saunter about the streets, nor to " stand
in the way of sinners," nor to " sit in the seat of the scornful,"
(Ps. i. 1) yet you are ashamed to be seen at a meeting for
prayer ! Perhaps you are one of those who are not ashamed
to be seen in a public house, — who are not ashamed to swear,
nor to get drunk, — yet you are ashamed to attend a prayer-
meeting ! Ashamed of God's service, but not ashamed of
the devil's ! ashamed to pray, but not ashamed to sin ! Will
God accept such an excuse at your hands in the day of
your reckoning ? " Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, of
him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the
glory of his Father, with the holy angels." (Markviii. 38.)

4. Do you think it is being too religious? Now let me
ask you what you mean by religious? Does it not mean
loving and serving God? And can a man love God too
much? Can he serve him too constantly or devotedly ? Was
the apostle too religious when he said " whether ye eat or
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God?" Or
was he too religious when he commanded us " to pray
always," (Eph. vi. 18;) to " pray without ceasing?" (1 Thes.
V. 17.) Was David too religious when he praised God seven
times a-day? (Ps. cxix. 164.) Are the angels and the
redeemed saints in heaven too religious, who " serve him
day and night in his temple?" (Rev. vii. 15.) With such a
feeling as you have about prayer-meetings, it is plain that
there is far too much religion in heaven for you ever to think
of going to such a place, or even to wish to be there. The
man that has no relish for a prayer-meeting, could have no
relish for heaven. He is utterly unfit to be there. He
would be wretched there. An eternity of prayer and praise,
would be hell to a man who is wearied with an hour of a
prayer-meeting on earth.

4 DO YOU GO TO THE PRAYER-MEETING?

5. Are you better employed at home? Can you honestly
say SO before God ? If you can, I leave you to answer to
God for the time thus spent at home or elsewhere. He will
take a strict account of those hours. If you are one who
read your Bible and pray at home, I am sure you will not
object to a meeting for prayer. If you are not, can you
really say that you are better employed, or even half so
well 1 O no. — You cannot be half so well employed as in
preparing for eternity, in praying with God's people, in hear-
ing of his " dear Son," — in making ready for the coming of
the Lord.

Reader, are these your reasons? Then I ask you, are
they sufficient? Does your conscience say they are ? Or do
you not see that the real reason is just your " carnal mind,
which is enmity against God ?" You do not love to pray,
therefore you do not like the prayer-meeting. You do not
love God, and therefore you do not desire fellowship with
him. You do not love his saints, therefore you do not wish
to join them in prayer. You do not care about forgiveness
of sin, and therefore you do not go to hear how "in him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace." You have no relish
for the things of Christ, and therefore you do not desire to
join his people in singing the new song, — Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain !

" The end of all things is at hand ; be ye therefore sober,
and watch unto prayer." 1 Peter iv. 7.

" Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanks-
giving." Col. iv. 2.

" Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit." Eph. vi. 18.

Presbyterian Board op Publication.

/ -

No. 72.

NIGHT, DAY-BREAK, AND CLEAR DAY.

"Awake, thou that sleepesty — ^Eph. v. 14.

"Let us put on the armour of light." — Romans xiii. 12.

Reader, are you one of " the people who sit in darkness?^^
And do you love the darkness, because your deeds are evil 1
Has a ray, — even one ray, from the glory of God, in the
face of Jesus, ever gladdened your soul ? Come and let us
reason together. Perhaps you do not know wJietlier you
have passed from darkness into light. Come, then, and be
not afraid to examine and decide.

1 . If you are addicted to gross sins, you are a child of
darkness, and therefore a child of the devil, and an heir of
hell. If you practise any thing which you would not for the
world that others saw you do, you are a child of darkness,
for you feel a desire that these doings of yours may be hid
in night.

2. You are a child of darkness if you do not perceive
haw the world lieth in wickedness. If the world is very
pleasant to you ; if its frolics, its gaieties, its dance, its song,
are sweet to your taste, then, alas! all is night with you. If
you are never grieved at observing forgetfulness of God in the
world's business ; if you are never made uneasy when read-
ing the profane and ungodly attacks made in public news-
papers on the cause of God ; if you never feel shocked in
hearing the oaths and seeing the covetousness of a market-
day, or a fair ; if your heart was never made sad by the
thought, that these multitudes are on the way to hell, then
" the darkness has blinded your eyes."

3. You are a child of night if you reckon all points cf
doctrine very much alike. There are some doctrines which
are essential to salvation. Thus it is essential to salvation to
'Jean on Christ Jesus alone, and to know your lost state as a

2 KIGHT, DAY-BREAK, AND CLEAR DAY.

sinner. But if you see no greater innportance in these truths
than in a correct moral walk, and think that men may be
safe if only they be sincere, you are a child of darkness.
The equalizing gloom of darkness rests on you, for, like a
man at midnight, you cannot distinguish the relative import-
ance of the objects around you.

4. If you do not work for God, you are a child of dark-
ness, for you are sleeping in inactivity ; and " they that sleep,
sleep in the night." Do you ever deny yourself for God ?
Do you give up this or that pleasure to prevent your mind
being distracted or unfitted for his service? Do you rise a
little earlier to obtain time for prayer, when otherwise you
would be deprived of it ? Do you redeem time ? Do you
visit the sick, send the gospel to the heathen, speak to your
friends, and all for his sake? If not, then you are not a
child of light.

5. If you let co7ivictions slip, you are a child of darkness;
for you act as sleepy men do when roused during night.
They awake at the loud knock, rub their eyes, move them-
selves, then fall back into their sweet slumber, and wish to
be left undisturbed. You say like Felix, " Go thy way for
this time ;" and Felix was truly a child of the night, .though
awakened at the moment by Paul's loud appeal.

6. Though you love believers, and approve of tlieir holy
life, yet still you may be of the night. Perhaps you are one
of many in our land who love their pious parents and friends,
but do not love their piety. You respect good people, for
they are kind. But in all this, you are not loving Christ in
tJwm. You like to see the stars shining in the dark night,
but you do not yourself seek the light they possess.

7. You are a child of darkness, if you do not see Christ
as the chief object presented to tlie sinner. A man during
night may see meteors, falling stars, many flashes of light,
yet all this proves the more that it is not day. He admires
these, because all is darkness round ; were it day-time, they
would all disappear in the flood of glorious light from the sun.
And thus it may be with you ; you may have had your con-
victions of sin, and your flashes of joyful hope ; yet unless
your soul has seen and felt Jesus, and his finished work to
be the source of all a sinner's hope — his Sun, — you are still
in night. Whatever discoveries you have made in Scrip-
ture ; whatever errors you have escaped from ; however many
fiins you have given up ; whatever sacrifices you have made •

NIGHT, DAY-BREAK, AND CLEAR DAY. 3

all this proves nothing regarding daylight in your soul, if the
Sun has not filled it with his surpassing glories.

8. If you Iwbve not seen your mlene&s^ and the JiUh of
your garments^ you are a ddld of night. An Ethiopian can-
not see his own or his neighbour's blackness, if all is dark
about him ; and it is even thus with the sinner. If he sees
not his own corruption, and his fancied robe of righteousness,
to be loathsome before God ; if he think proudly of himself,
have a good opinion of his heart, and trust that there is at
least something worth in his deeds, he is in gross darkness.

9. Once more. He is a child of niidnigM wJw is un-
alarmed at si?i. He is like a man in the depth of a sound
slumber ; there may be death at hand, a sword may be hang-
ing over his sleeping form ; the earthquake or the fire may
be levelling his dwelling, still he is unconscious. O uncon-
scious sinner, you are a child of hell ! the less you feel your
sin, the more evidence you give of being asleep ; and " they
that sleep, sleep in the night." Awake, thou that sleepest !
Perhaps not the rising sun, but the lurid glare of hell may
give thee warning that thy time of rest is gone !

Come, then, and inquire how it is that day begins to take
the place of night. Be not deceived. Remember the Son
of man cometh as a thief in the night, and the surprise and
remorse of the sinner overtaken in his darkness then, will
never, never end ! There are souls passing into light, who
were once as dark as you. There are sinners now become
children of the day who once were as you. Are you begin-
ning to desire a change ? Like the shipwrecked crew (Acts
xxvii. 29) are you wishing for day ? Look around and cry,
even in the midst of your gloom, " let tlie day break /" There
is a day-spring from on high that visits souls and guides their
feet into the way of peace. (Luke i. 79.)

Let us see a man on whom the light is dawning.

1. It is near tlie day-break with a sin^ier, when his con-
scie?ice is awakened to feel sin. His sleep is done. He
cannot rest quietly in sin any more. Perhaps, like Peter,
his conscience was awakened by the cock-crowing — by some
recollection of impressive warnings which he despised at the
time, or it may have been some providence, some Jonah-
storm, that sounded in his soul, "What meanest thou, O
sleeper ! arise, call upon thy God." Or it may have been
a minister's voice proclaiming the Lord's call, " Awake, thou
that sleepest!" Eph. v. 14. But remember, reader, this

4 NIGHT, DAY-BEEAK, AND CLEAR DAY.

awakening is not itself the dawn of day, though it generally
precedes it. For there are cases where convictions are strong
and continued, and yet the convinced sinner remains a child
of darkness. Rest not, then, in mere convictions. They are
hopeful appearances ; but go on and see if there be other
signs besides.

2. It seems to be near the dawn with a sinner, when his
past days look like a dream, or a vision hy night. Now his
pleasures, company, songs, and even his lawful business
seem trifling and utter vanity, compared with the new realities
that are opening on his view. His past enjoyment in them,
he reckons " as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold
he eateth ; but he awaketh and his soul is empty ;" (Isa. xxix.
8.) their folly, their rapid flight, above all, their debasing
power, make the man feel, " What fruit had ye then of
these things of which ye are now ashamed?" (Rom. vi. 21.)

3. New objects begin to appear, and former things assume
a new aspect. He sees the preciousness of his soul ; the
holy justice of God ; the disgusting features of sin. As yet
the greatest truths may be indistinctly perceived by him, as
at early dawn when the morning is still grey, even hills and
stately forests are dimly seen. Yet here is a beginning ; the
world seems far less attractive than before; its pits, and
marshes, wherein so many fall, are seen and dreaded. God,
as revealed in his word, through the cross of Christ, begins
to engage his whole soul. The people who know God
become the objects of his love, (Psal. xvi. 3) as in the case
of John Bunyan, when just emerging from the shades of
night — " how lovely now was every one in mine eyes, that
I thought to be converted men and women ! They shone, they
walked liked a people that carried the broad seal of heaven
about them."

4. He is expecting light from above. He does not expect
that the light that is to show him the way to the Father's
open arms, will come from himself, — no ; he believes that it
shines into the heart by command of him who at first said,
" Let there be light," (2 Cor. iv. 6.) This day-spring is
from above, (Luke i. 78.) Is it, reader, your convictions, or
repentance, that gives you comfort, and makes you imagine
that you are a child of light? Then, it is not yet dawn with
you ; for it must be Christ, the day-spring, that gives true
peace. If your feelings are the grounds of your hope, instead
of the full Saviour, beware lest you be satisfying yourself

NIGHT, DAY-BREAK, AND CLEAR DAY. 9

with the sun's reflected rays ; or if your holy life, as you
fancy it to be, is the ground of your hope, you are preferring
the beautiful scenery which the sun paints with his brightness,
to the Sun himself But a soul that is really coming on to
the full diy, is satisfied with nothing short of that ray from
the face of Jesus which fell on the face of ransomed Abel,
and faithful Abraham, and all the saved, (Rev. xxii. 4, 5.)
He might possibly kindle a torch for himself, but he knows
that this would drop out of his hand when he came to pass
through the dark valley. He will be satisfied with nothing
but what the Holy God himself will be satisfied with. The
light that the Father sheds on Immanuel's face is the light he
seeks for.

5. TJiere is a gradual increase of light. There is no
going back ; no returning to the world. Impressions are not
effaced ; truths are not forgotten ; anxiety does not decay. A
soul really led by the Spirit out of darkness can no more go
back than the sun once risen. Difficulty after difficulty is
cleared away; cloud afler cloud breaks up. The soul now
feels an increasing anxiety for Christ, and sees more than
ever that the reason why his wants are unsatisfied is his
imperfect acquaintance with the work of Jesus. He can now
distinguish hetween justification and sanctification ; he sees
that he has first to do with the former, and that a sinner
must be washed with clean water before the Spirit will abide
in him.

6. Tlw Sun appears through the cloud. The full work
of Christ appears to him to be the very remedy he needed
for his soul. He sees the Sun of righteousness, and all is
day. He lets that glorious Sun pour its rays over his un-
comely soul ; and, lo ! he is now " altogether lovely." Mists
still linger, but they are gradually dissolving ; dark clouds
float at times over his sky, but at such times he keeps look-
ing to the quarter whence he knows light will break forth
again. He obtains assurance of his salvation. As in the
case of the natural sun, if the eye be in the line of the ray
of light, then, of course, the shining ray will be perceived —
so, he gives a steady, direct look to the Sun of righteousness,
and feels that his free beams are shed even over his own
vile soul.

It is now CLEAR DAY. The shadows of the dawn have
passed away. He lives, expecting another rising of this same
Sun in sevenfold brightness, when grace shall be changed

6 NIGHT, DAY-BREAK, AND CLEAR DAY.

into glory. He is searching much into God's character and
\vays day after day; but all his discoveries are dim, com-
pared with those that he looks for at his Lord's second
coming. " To you that fear my name shall the Sun of right-
eousness arise," (Mai. iv. 2.) Yet, strange as it may seem
to the world, the child of light is not gay, nor does he feel
any tendency to levity in his joy. The reason is, the bright
sunshine he enjoys is the face of God; and lie stands ever in
his 'presence. The rays of favour are all from sovereign
grace ! He is humbled, therefore, under a sense of the
enormous load of benefit conferred upon him ; the weight of
grace and glory bends down his soul. Holy awe regulates
his communion with God, while, at the same moment, he
possesses the joyful confidence of a child. He has reverence,
like the seraphim, while he has a joy that sometimes springs
up almost as high as theirs ; and it is in such a moment of
mingled reverence and rapture that he fully realizes heaven.
And many times, his God and Father deepens this awe
and reverence, by giving him personal afflictions to bear.
The child of light is despised by the world, that he may
learn to bathe yet more in the fountain of life alone ; and
that, when one earthly comfort after another withers, he may
take all his light from the Sun that never sets. At other
times, the Holy Spirit leads him to such awful views of his
remaining corruption, and such deep insight into the mystery
of sin, as would confound, and crush any soul whose confi-
dence was not fixed on Jesus alone^ and on Jesus to the titter-
most. Or, it may be, he is oppressed with anguish, not
through fear of his own condemnation or suspicion of his per-
sonal safety, but by what he sees around him ; — the contempt
poured upon his God, and the hastening perdition of uncon-
verted souls. Like his Master, he feels " the reproach where-
with they have reproached thee is fallen upon me ;" and, like
David, he looks into the pit and cries, " O Absalom, my son,
my son !" He has hours of painful wrestling with his God
in their behalf; his bitterest hours on earth are the hours
wherein these sorrows of his God, and of perishing men,
rush into his soul ! Indeed, his joy would never return, were
it not that he sees in Calvary how his God has been glorified
to a degree that swallows up all the contempt of men and
devils ; and how, when Jesus comes again his glory will
burst forth even from hell, and hallelujahs ascend to his name
even over the smoke of the everlasting burnings. At present

NIGHT, DAY-BREAK, AND CLEAR DAY. 7

it is a painful blessedness he lives in ; the very joy of his
Father's face often creating new sources of anguish ; but then
he knows that thus he is to be refined as gold. And instead
of these trying moments causing him to doubt his Father's
love, they rather tend to assure him of it the more ; for his
Fatner lays these burdens on him just because he has first
given him the joy of the Lord as the strength in which they
are to be borne.

O sinner, child of darkness, and of the devil, and of hell,
come and be a child of light! Will you lie with fallen
angels in the blackness of darkness for ever? Will you
love darkness, until it become your only portion 1 Will you
indulge your dark deeds, secret sins, black desires hidden in
the heart, and black clouds of aHger, Sabbath -breaking, un-
cleanness, pride, covetousness, envy, evil-speaking, discontent,
selfishness ? O come and be a child of ligM, Let the Sun
shine on you ; let his beams burst into that dark cave of your
heart ! This is God coming, in the person of Jesus, into the
view of his creatures, like the sun after the gloom of night.
It is God coming into the sight of his fallen and hell-deserv-
ing creatures ! It is God coming in an aspect that invites
and speaks holy love to you ! For he comes to show you,
how he may now be "just while he justifieth the ungodly."
The various rays of his attributes are combined to form this
" Great LdghC that shines on those who sat in the valley
and shadow of death. Shall it shine on you ? or have you
made up your mind to " sleep on and take your rest" — to love
darkness now, and dwell in darkness for ever — to be a sinner
now, and a companion of devils hereafter ? Is there nothing
terrible in hell, — the devouring fire, the everlasting burnings ?
Is there nothing bitter in " the dregs of the cup of trembling,"
— the vials in which is filled up the wrath of God ? Is there
nothing sweet in the light of heaven, — the glory which God
hath prepared for them that love Himi Is there nothing
desirable in the joy of the Lord, — the peace that passeth all
understanding, — the rest that remaineth for the people of
God? Is guilt better than pardon? Is wrath better than
love ? Is death better than life ? Is damnation better than
eternal blessedness? Are the burning flames as pleasant as
the cool waters of the fountain of life ? Is the lake of fire
and brimstone as safe and peaceful as " the sea of glass like
unto crystal," on which the redeemed are standing in triumph?
Is your father the devil, (John viii. 44,) who deceiveth the

5E" NIGHT, DAY-BREAK, AND CLEAR DAY.

whole world, more to be regarded than the word of Him who
is the faithful and true witness? Lie down, then, in thy
shame, and let thy confusion cover thee ! But soon a bright
gleam of glory, seen afar, from the children of the light and
of the day, shall tell thee what they have received from the
Sun of Righteousness, and what thou hast lost for ever ! " Yet
a little while the light is with you. Walk while ye have the
light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in
darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have
light bt^Ueve in the light, that ye may be the children of th©
light." John xii. 35, 36.

HYMN.

Sweet the moments, rich in blessing.

Which before the cross I spend.
Life and health and peace possessing

From the sinner's dying Friend.

Here I'll sit for ever viewing
Mercy's streams, in streams of blood;

Precious drops ! my soul bedewing,
Plead and claim my peace with God.

Truly blessed is this station.

Low before his cross to lie,
While I see divine compassion

Floating in his languid eye.

Here it is I find my heaven.

While upon the cross I gaze ;
Love I much ? I'm much forgiven ;

I'm a miracle of grace.

Love and grief my heart dividing,

With my tears his feet I'll bathe ;
Constant still in faith abiding.

Life deriving from his death.

May I still enjoy this feeling,

In all need to Jesus go ;
Prove his wounds each day more healing,

And himself more fully know.

Presbyterian Board of Publication,

No. 73.

WHO SHALL DWELL WITH THE
DEVOUKING FIRE?

" The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites; who among us shall dwell with the devouring jire^
who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"— -Isaiah
xxxiii. 14.

There is a day coming when sinners shall be afraid, and
when terrors shall overtake them as a flood. They are not
afraid just now; they eat and drink and make merry, as if they
had no eternity to prepare for, no danger to alarm them.
But it shall soon be different. What is now far off shall then
be near, and sinners shall realize too late the horrors of that
wrath from which they refused to flee. In the agonies of
despair, when the flames are kindling round them, they will
burst forth in such bitter outcries as these, " Who among us
shall dwell with the devouring fire, who among us shall
dwell with the everlasting burnings?" O that shriek
of agony! O that awful outcry of surprise and despair!
Careless sinner ! that cry shall soon be yours ; these words
shall soon be the very language in which your wretched
soul shall give vent to its hopeless anguish, when it sees itself
shut up within the flaming walls and feels damnation sure !
O, then, flee from the wrath to come ! Make haste to escape
from the devouring fire !

1 . There is such a thing as devouring Jire. — It may appear
a shadow now, but it shall soon be reality, — and O what a
reality ! It is Jire^ the most torturing and excruciating of
elements. It is devouring fire ; not merely fire that can
pain or scorch, but devour, swallow up the wretched sinner
in its undying flame. His abode is a prison-house of fire,-;-
a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Rev. xix. 20.
Hear how God himself speaks of this, and learn that it is no
mere dark imagination of cruel men to torment you before
vhe time. "A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn
unto the lowest hell." Deut. xxxii. 22. " Upon the wicked
ne shall rain quick burning coals, fire and brimstone, and a
burning tempest." Psal. xi. 6, margin. " Thou shalt make
them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger, the Lord
shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour
them." Psal. xxi. 9. " Behold, the name of the Lord cometh

2 WHO SHALL DWELL WITH THE DEVOURING FIRE?

from far, burning with his anger, and the grievousness of
flame ; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a
devouring fire." Isa. xxx. 27, margin. Ah ! sinner, these
are awful words, and they shall soon be realized in you,
except you turn and flee !

2. It is everlasting fire ; burnings that shall never grow
less intense or die away. They are kindled by God's own
breath, Isa. xxx. 33. and he who kindled them alone can
quench them. But this he will never do. They must burn
on for ever and for ever. It is called " unquenchable fire,"
" everlasting fire," whose smoke goeth up for ever and ever.
It shall be kept alive, fanned, increased, watched over, but it
shall never go out nor abate 1 Nor shall there be any thing
to make it tolerable, — not a drop of cold water to cool the
sinner's scorching tongue. Long custom shall never make
it less tormenting or more easy to be borne. A vain dreamer
of earth might say, " This horror will grow mild, this dark-
ness light ;" but it shall not be. There shall be nothing to
mitigate it, or render it less intolerable throughout eternity.
That horror shall never grow mild ; that darkness shall never
grow light ; that fire shall never abate ! O what a dungeon,
what a furnace ! It is not called eternal solitude, though that
would be awful; neither is it called eternal darkness, though
that would be insupportable. It is called everlasting fire !

3. It is prepared for the ungodly. — It is said to have been
at first prepared for the devil and his angels. Matt. xxv. 41 ;
but it is also to be the abode of all who neglect the great
salvation. It is for them that forget God. Psal. ix. 17. It is
for them who have refused to turn to the Lord, and slighted
the blood of sprinkling. Shut out of heaven and shut into
hell ; this is their doom. They turned away from God, and
now he turns away from them ! They rejected love, and
now wrath comes on them to the uttermost. They obeyed
the devil on earth, and now they are handed over to his
company and his abode in hell for ever. They would not
believe that God was holy, and did not care whether he was
gracious ; but now they are compelled to feel how holy he is,
and at the same time to feel how he has forgotten to be
gracious ! For them grace is past. They might have had
it once, but they despised it ; and now it is gone. It is all
wrath and indignation now. Rev. xiv. 10.

4. They must dwell in it. — They cannot flee. Escape is
hopeless, for it is the Judge of all that pronounces the sen

WHO SHALL DWELL WITH THE DEVOURING FIRE? 3

lence, "Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire." The sinner
may shrink, but he cannot flee. He may struggle, but it is
all in vain. The command is given ; angels hasten to see it
executed, and devils seize him for their prey, and drag him
along to his eternal abode. As the sentence falls on his ear,
" Depart, ye cursed," his spirit sinks within him, and he
exclaims, "Who shall dwell with the devouring fire?" As
he is hurried away from the judgment-seat, with the sentence
ringing in his ears, he cries out, "Who shall dwell with the
devouring fire?" As he nears the gate and sees the flaming
walls, he cries out with a yet more bitter cry, "O who shall
dwell with these everlasting burnings?" As the gate is
opened, as he is thrust in, as it closes behind him, as he looks
round upon the whole flaming circle, as he hears the weeping
and wailing and gnashing of teeth on every side, as he takes
his place among the damned, those " spirits in prison" who
shall go out no more, he shrieks out the piercing exclamation,
" O who shall dwell with this devouring fire ; who shall dwell
with these everlasting burnings ?" Yet dwell he must, and
that for ever. No opening of the gates, no scaling of its walls,
no loosing of the chain, no ray of hope, no respite, no Saviour,
no mercy now! His eternity is sealed. He has reached his
everlasting dwelling-place, where all is "lamentation, and
mourning, and woe."

Sinners of every class, especially sinners in Zion, to whom
these words are spoken, listen to these warning words ! You
are sinners in Zion^ not sinners among the heathen ; yet this
only makes your case more awful, and your doom more
inevitable. You profess to be Christians, but have never been
born again. You do many things like God's people, pray, read,
hear, speak, observe ordinances, yet still one thing is lacking.
You are not born again! Surely, then, it is time to search
yourselves. It is time to be alarmed. The Judge is at the
door. Your hypocrisy will not serve you then. You will
be detected and unveiled, and all your hollow pretensions to
religion laid bare. The day of his coming will be a terrible
one to you. He comes with his fan in his hand, thoroughly
to purge his floor, gathering the wheat into his garner, and
burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. He comes
with his sieve to sift you, and can you stand his sifting? He
comes with his touch-stone to try and to detect you. He
comes with his balances to weigh you, to see what is the real
value of all your professions, — whether after all you may not

4 WHO SHALL DWELL WITH THE DEVOURING FIRE?

be found wanting. He comes with his hghted candles to
search you in every part. He comes with his flaming eye to
penetrate at one glance your inmost soul, and to discover all
its hidden abominations. With such a prospect before you,
would it not be wise to take immediate alarm, and inquire
whether all be well with your souls, lest you perish at the
rebuke of Him who is a consuming fire ?

Why should wrath be your portion? It was the portion
of Jesus once, just that it might never be yours. The pains
of hell took hold on him, Psal. cxvi. 3; just that they might
never take hold of you. He was forsaken of the Father that
you might not be forsaken. In enduring the fire of that
wrath for sinners, he was constrained to cry, " My heart is
like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels ; my strength
is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my
jaws ; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death."
Psal. xxii. 14, 15. Seeing that He has passed through all this
that you might not pass through it, why should you reject such
a substitute as this? The burnt-ofierings and sin-offerings
under the law, in all of which consuming fire was employed,
tell us what the great sacrifice had to undergo when iniquity
was laid on him. When these offerings had been duly pre-
sented, then Israel was forgiven. In our case no question
can arise as to the due offering of the sacrifice. We know
that it has been duly offered once for all, and has been
accepted of the Father. The one sacrifice has been oflfered,
and now the worshippers once purged thereby have no more
conscience of sins. Heb. x. 2. Do we consent to take that
sacrifice for sins ? We do not need to offer it anew. It has
been already offered. But are we willing that it be reckoned
to us as a substitute ? If not, then we must bear that wrath
in our persons, — the fire which otherwise would have passed
over us, will descend with devouring fierceness on our heads.
We must either take refuge under the wing of the substitute
or bear the wrath eternally ourselves. Which is the wiser
safer way for a helpless sinner ?

Presbyterian Board op Publication.

I \

No. 74.

WITHOUT GOD.

" Having no hope and without God in the world." — ^Eph. ii. 13
** J5e astonished, Oye heavens? at this, and be horribly afraid, be
ye very desolate, saith the Lord ; for my people have committed two
evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain cf living waters, and
heiced them out cisterns^ broken cisterns, that can hold no water,"
— Jer, ii. 12.

Without God ! What a fearful condition of soul ! What
a state of misery, of gloom, of solitude, of dark and dismai
emptiness. A wilderness at midnight is nothing to this. A
world without a sun is nothing to this. It is the summing up
of all that is forlorn and sad in a sinner's lost estate. It can
scarcely be called a picture, for it consists but of a single
stroke, yet it conveys to us as full an idea of utter desolation
and despair, as could have been done by a thousand touches.

How awful the condition of an immortal being, of whom
it can be said, that it is "without God." His presence is
peace, his love is bliss, his fellowship the fulness of joy.
There is no sunshine like the sunshine of his countenance,
and no warmth like the warmth of his affection. What a
dreary void, then, must that soul be that is " without God in
the world," — without God in such a world as this ! Men feel
this, though they will not own it. Hence they run from one
occupation to another, from scene to scene, from pleasure to
pleasure, in order that, by keeping their minds incessantly
engaged, they may drown the consciousness of the dread
emptiness within. Hence they prefer to be burdened with
cares and toils, to be annoyed with the over-pressure of busi-
ness, rather than be left to the feeling of this dreary void
within the soul. They are like children afraid to be alone
in the dark. All without is lonely, for God is not there, and
all within is still more lonely, for God is not there.

But, then, even when brought to see this, even when
brought to see, or at least to suspect, that all this uneasiness
arises from the absence of God, they shrink from the idea of
becoming religious. They cannot bear the thought of his
near presence, of his coming in to fill and possess their souls.
An absent God, no doubt, they felt to be the source of their
misery, but still a near, a present God they cannot bear to
realize.

*4 WITHOUT GOD.

Why is it thus? Whence this dread of God? Whence
this unwillingness to re-admit him into their hearts ? Because
they are afraid of Him, and think that they can neither be
safe in his hands nor happy in his presence. They feel un-
comfortable at the thought of his coming so near. They
willingly go through a form of religion, because its whole
design and effect are to keep out God. Strange as the state-
ment may seem, still it is true, that the religious observances
of all mere professors are gone through with the express end
of keeping God at a distance. By paying Him the com-
pliment of their devotions, they think to bribe Him to keep at
a distance from them and not break their repose by coming
too near. This preference of forms which create a sort of
fence between the soul and God, and this dislike of a religion
that would bring us into personal contact with Him, plainly
arise from an aversion at his holy chai'acter, and a distrust
of his intentions toward us.

It is awful to think that there should be such estrangement
between the soul and the God that made it, and that there
should be any jealous suspicion of Him in man's breast, or
any unwillingness to have Him for our friend and father.
No conduct can be more unnatural than this, no ingratitude
more monstrous and inexcusable. When a son hates his
father, shuns his company, and leaves his house, we call his
conduct unnatural and abominable. But what is this in com-
parison with the sinner, who has ill-treated the God that
made him ? The early ties of blood, the closest, dearest,
relationships of men, are as mere threads of air when com-
pared with the bonds which unite the creature and Creator
together. Dislike of God, then, must be a thing so hateful
and monstrous as to stand at the very top of human guilt, the
sum of nameless crime ! Surely He, whose offspring we are,
in whom we live and move and have our being, is our nearest
and ought to be our dearest relative of all in earth or heaven;
nearer far than father or mother, brother or sister, husband
or wife. These, no doubt, are names of tenderness and affec-
tion. They are relationships both close and dear. Yet how
weak are all of them together, to convey even an idea of the
near and tender relationship that subsists between the Creator
and his offspring! The love and endearment with which
these beloved names are associated, are but as shadows when
compared with the love, the tender, the profound, the un-
utterable love which ought to overflow in us towards Him

WITHOUT GOD. 8

who is so infinitely better, kinder, nobler, truer, tenderer,
more lovable than all. If their love be so deep and warm,
what must His be ? If their sympathy be so sweet and plea-
sant that, without it, earth is a blank, and even home a deso-
lation, what must His be ? If their character be so endearing
and attractive, what must His be who constituted all these
relationships as emblems of the one blessed and absorbing
relationship between Him and his creatures'? If the things
of earth, even of a fallen earth, be so very beautiful, what
must He be who clothed them with all that loveliness, and
who is himself the birth-place of all beauty, the centre of all
perfection, and who scatters abroad all this goodliness as a
drop out of the infinite ocean of divine excellence and glory 1
How awful, then, must be the guilt, how desperate the misery
of those who neither know nor love this Being of Beings, the
ever-blessed, ever-glorious God and Father of all !

Without God ! How awful the doom were such a sen-
tence pronounced against any region of God's dominions!
How awful when such is the state of the human soul !

Sinner ! such is your present state. Is it not truly sad ?
You do not yet know what it means in all its reality, but
there is enough in what you do know to make you feel how
fatal to your peace is the existence of that aching void within.
Terror is not yet revealed. Wrath is still in reserve. The
sword still slumbers in its sheath. But there is something
even now eating, like a canker, into all your enjoyments,
and poisoning all your pleasures ; something which makes
life a weariness and death a terror. You feel that all is not
right, that there is a dreary blank in the midst of all that you
enjoy. That secret undefineable want which you feel is the
want of God's friendship. Nothing else will remove that
sense of hollo wness within, which casts a shade over your
life. You are without God and, therefore, without peace.
You cannot be happy so long as He is absent. There can
not be any true enjoyment so long as you enjoy nothing in
him, and him in nothing.

But if such be the secret of your unhappiness, then you
see where lies the secret of your peace. You see whence
your joy is to flow. It must be from having the friendship
of God ; — from having his love shed abroad in your heart.
Nothing but the knowledge of that love can remove the un-
easiness that preys upon you, or put you in possession
of that which will fill up the dreary void within and dissipate

4 WITHOUT GOD.

all your gloom. "Acquaint thyself now with God, and be
at peace, and thereby good shall come unto thee. If thou
return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shah put
away iniquity far from thy tabernacles; then shalt thou lay
up gold as the dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of
the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou
shalt have plenty of silver ; for thou shalt have thy delight
in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God ; thou
shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee, and
thou shalt pay thy vows ; thou shalt also decree a thing and
it shall be established unto thee, and the light shall shine
upon thy ways." Job xxii. 21-28.

Perhaps you are saying, " Who will show me any good ?"
You are looking round for some one to point out to you the
way to rest. Well, Jesus stands before you, and says to you,
what He did to the blind man in the days of his flesh, "What
wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" Is your answer the
same as that of the blind man ? " Lord, that I may receive
my sight?" Like him, perhaps, you may know httle of Jesus,
little of what the light really is, little of what true joy con-
sists in ; but are you putting your soul into the hands of Jesus ?
Then shall you receive your sight and be made altogether
whole. As a sinner, blind, naked, miserable and vile, draw
near to Him. He refuses none. He will open your eyes.
He will relieve your weariness. He will bless you with the
fulness of His own free love. He will fill up the aching void
within. He will give you rest. He will satisfy your weary
soul. He will lead you to the Father, and, in the fulness of the
Father's love, you will learn to bury all your griefs and cares.
"The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of
lighteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever."

Presbyterian Board of Publication.

No. 75.

THE FALSE PEACE AND THE TRUE.

" They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly ^
sayings Peace, peace, when there is no peace," — Jer. vi. 14.

Have you Peace with God? I do not ask, do you hope
to have peace, or do you think you shall one day get peace,
but have you, at this moment, peace with God 7 Perhaps
you have not. Well then, is all right? Do you feel no un-
easiness within you ? Is there not a secret voice which says,
there is something wanting still, and, until that something
is supplied, I cannot be happy? The world may smile or
frown, still I cannot be happy. Riches may come or go,
slill I cannot be happy. It may be storm or sunshine, still I
cannot be happy. There is a blank within, a feeling of dis-
satisfaction, a consciousness that all is not right with this soul
of mine. It is to this feeling that the prophet Jeremiah refers
when he speaks of "the hurt of the daughter of his people."

Israel was "hurt." She was smitten and wounded. Her
Tsins had wounded her. God's chastisements had wounded
her. There was a breach between her and her God. The
whole land lay bleeding under the fearful wound. Her false
prophets tried to heal it. They prophesied smooth things.
They tried to persuade her that her case was not so bad, and
that God was not so angry. Thus they skinned over the
wound. They healed it slightly. It looked as if it were
healed, but that was all. It soon broke out again, and
brought the nation to utter ruin and death.

So the sinner is " hurt." He is wounded to death by sin.
It is no slight bruise, no partial or transient sickness. No,
the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint, from the
sole of the foot unto the head, there is no health in any part.
It is a desperate and deadly wound ; incurable by the skill
of man. When a limb is out of joint or wrenched from the
body, there is a " hurt," — there is pain most grievous and
agonizing ; so, when the soul is torn asunder from Him that
made it, there is a still more terrible wound. The separa-
tion of the soul from God is our deadly hurt. It is this that
puts the soul out of a condition for enjoying anything, just as
when a limb is dislocated^ the body is unfitted for any kind

2 THE FAisSE PEACE AND THE TRUE.

of enjoyment. It is not possible \h?it the sinner can be happy
so long as this wound remains unhealed. And, besides, this
alienation from God is in itself misery. It is the misery of
being at enmity with God. It is the misery of having His
wrath abiding upon us. It is the misery of being severed
from the fountain of all blessedness, and of having no pros-
pect before us but that of the everlasting vengeance of Him
who is a consuming fire. What a deadly wound is this ! It
is surely enough to make every sinner tremble when he thinks
that this is the hurt under which his soul is pining away, —
that this is the secret source of all that present misery which
he feels and of all that future misery which is in reserve for
him throughout eternity. The sting of the second death is
in his vitals already. The worm that never dies is wreathing
and tightening its folds around him even now. The fire that
shall never be quenched is already kindled within him and
sending forth its intolerable heat.

There is a slight way of healing the sinner's hurt, — " Say-
ing Peace, peace, when there is no peace." Israel's false
prophets healed her hurt slightly by prophesying smooth
things, and uttering " false burdens ;" so there is a way in
which false teachers heal the sinner's wound slightly, or in
which the sinner himself heals it slightly. It is sometimes
said, your sins are not so great, and there are many excuses
for you. But this is unavailing, for conscience tells that our
sins are great and that all excuses are vain. Or, it is said,
the state of your soul is not so bad, not so corrupt as is repre-
sented, and you can amend when you like. This, too, is
unavailing. The sinner feels that his state of soul is really
bad, and that he cannot improve himself. Or, it is said, God
is not so angry and His law is not so strict. But this, too,
is vain. It may soothe the soul for a lit'le, but conscience
tells that God does hate sin, and that his law is " exceeding
broad." Or, it is said, future punishment is not so terrible
as it is supposed to be, and there will be multitudes in the
same condemnation. But neither does this bring peace.
Still the soul hears the voice of God asking, " who can dwell
with the devouring fire ?" and it feels that no amount of com-
panionship can make the flames of hell more tolerable. Or,
it is said, do good works, give alms, live well, and this will
pacify the soul. Alas, no! Still it is felt that no good
works, or alms deeds, can ever make God forget that we
liave sinned, or blot out that penalty, " the soul that sinneth

THE FALSE PEACE AND THE TRUE. 3

it shall die." In all these ways there may be a temporary
relief, a transient ease, but that is all ! There is a covering
over of the wound, but nothing more. The hurt is still un-
healed. The wound is still there, as deadly and as desperate
as ever. And why is it so? Because all these different
methods of cure still leave the root of the malady the same.
They do not touch the seat of the disease. They do not
replace the severed limb in its original position. They do
not bring back the soul to God. They all stop short of per-
fect reconciliation with God. Unless this is reached, all is
vain. Any method which leaves the soul still uncertain as
to its relationship to God and friendship with Him, is vain.
It is a slight healing of the hurt. It does not go deep enough.
It does not embrace the whole disease. It says Peace, peace,
when there is no peace.

But there is a true way of healing the sinner's hurt. There
is a sufficient and suitable cure provided. There is balm in
Gilead and there is a physician there. The false cure was
saying peace when there was no peace. The true cure is
saying peace when there is peace. Right peace, in a right
way, is the cure of the soul. Nothing will heal it but this.
Peace with God, forgiveness, reconciliation, friendship, the
assurance of his love, these are the means by which the
wound is thoroughly and eternally healed. This is the
removing of all distance, the bringing back the soul to its
original state of blessed relationship to Him who gave it being.
This is the reunion of the soul with that God in whose favour
is life, and whose friendship is the sunshine of eternity.

There is ground for this assured peace. Not because we
are less than the chief of sinners, but because Christ died for
the chief. Not because we can make peace for ourselves,
but because God has made peace for us through the blood
of the Cross. It is the Cross of Christ that heals. " By liis
stripes we are healed." From his wounds there flows a
healing virtue, so that as many as touch them are made per-
fectly whole. His blood has opened a fountain whence the
waters of life pour themselves, in healing streams, through
this diseased world. Israel was healed in the wilderness,
by looking to the brazen serpent. So, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up, that whosoever ^elieveth in him should not perish
but have everlasting life.

"Acquaint thyself now with God and be at peace, and

4 THE FALSE PEACE AND THE TRUE.

thereby good shall come unto thee." It is simply acquaint-
anceship with God that brings peace, and that peace draws
after it every good. It is what the soul sees, in the character
of that God who has given his Son, that relieves the troubled
conscience. It is this that unburdens the spirit and eases
the heart. It is this that makes us feel at home with God
and assures us that there is forgiveness with Him. It is this
that makes us feel that He is just such a God as we can
perfectly trust, just such a God as a sinner may flee to.
This knowledge of what God is, and what God has done in
sending his Son into the world that we might live through
Him, removes our suspicion and dread. It shows us how
unkind and unjust it was in us to eye him as a hard master,
whose presence could only disturb our peace. And this
goes to the very root and seat of the disease. It says Peace,
peace, ivhen tJiere is peace. This is the very health of the
soul. This peace with God, through the knowledge of the
blood that has been shed, acts like a new well-spring of life
to the soul. It pours new joy, new energy, new strength
into the whole man. It makes the lame man leap as an hart,
and the tongue of the dumb to sing.

Why, then, so many doubts ? Has God not done every-
thing to take all these utterly away? Has he not told you
of his love to sinners, and of that love pouring itself freely
down through the channel which righteousness has made for
it? Has he not sent to you the message of love by the lips
of incarnate love, his own Son manifest in flesh? Why,
then, still doubt? You are hindering the healing of the hurt.
Every such doubt is hindering this. For all these doubts
cherish the disease and check the cure. They have their
root in unbelief. They show the tendency of the soul to
recur to the false methods of healing, and its unwillingness to
receive the true. They are just so many attempts to mix up
the false with the true, and so many grievings of that loving
Spirit who is seeking to lead you at once into the free, full
grace of God, as the fountain of all health and joy.

Presbyterian Board op Publication.

No. 76.

GOFS PURPOSE OF GRACE.

«' To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which
from the he^inning of the world hath been hid m God^ who
created all things hy Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto
the principalities and powers in heavenly places might he known
hy the Church the manifold wisdom of God; according to the
eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord." —
Eph. iii. 9—11.

" According to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began." — 2 Tim. i. 9.

"The Fall" is a word with which we have become so
familiar, that the event itself has lost its appalling magnitude
of evil in our eyes. Yet what an infinite calamity was it in
reality ! What a triumph of the evil one ! What dishonour
to Jehovah ! What desolation to this earth ! The flood-
gates of iniquity had been burst open, and who could close
them again or stay the overflowing waters? The torch
which God had lighted upon earth had been extinguished,
and who could rekindle it or dissipate the gross darkness now
brooding over the desolate region, which had so lately been
pronounced "very good?"

To the unfallen creation how fearful the disaster must have
seemed ! God's purpose appeared frustrated, his power
baffled, his wisdom defeated, his very throne assailed. Who
could now deem himself secure 7 Who might not in like
manner fall 1 The highest creature-throne in heaven was no
longer safe ; for who could assure himself that this flood of
evil now broken loose might not swell up till it left nothing
but the throne of God untouched 1 What region, what station
could be reckoned safe when this new creation had given
way? What angel could feel secure, when man had fallen?
Every thing created seemed on the edge of ruin, and it was
as if even the Creator's arm had lost its hold over the work of
his hands, and was unable to arrest the universal collapse of

2 god's purpose of grace.

creation into its former non-existence, or rather into a state
far worse and more terrible than that, — sin !

For scarce had God finished his six days' work, fashioning
man in his own image and providing for his habitation a
world of beauty, than man revolted, and this rejoicing earth
began to sink back into its former chaos. Scarce had the
morning stars concluded their glad song over the new-formed
earth, than they were called to weep over its ruins. Scarce
had the sons of God done shouting for joy over their new-
born fellow-immortal, than they were called to mourn over
his untimely and disastrous fall. The event seemed like a
death-blow to the hopes of the universe ; and if some new-
lighted star had suddenly gone out, it could not have left the
circle which it enlightened in such hopeless gloom as did the
apostasy of man. The former rebellion (of the angels) had
indeed broken in like a flood upon the region of blessedness
above, and carried off with one sweep a whole host of God's
happy creation ; and fearfully strange seemed that dark event
which thinned the ranks of heaven's rejoicing myriads, which
first made a portion of God's universe acquainted with sin,
and disturbed the unbroken harmony of heaven. But then
!by the formation of man that breach seemed to be repaired,
and harmony restored, never to jar again. A barrier seemed
•placed immovably against any future invasion of a like deso-
lating flood. When, however, this was swept away, — when
the recovered harmony was marred again, the case might be
deemed desperate. Each creative movement seemed only to
end in more signal failure. Especially when this strange
xeverse was not the operation of ages or years, but the work
of a moment, the case seemed doubly hopeless. What God
occupied six whole days in building, was overthrown in the
twinkhng of an eye ! It looked as if evil had the entire
mastery over good, and the creature over the Creator, — and
as if all things must be left to fall inevitabty to wreck, the
universe to drift away from the control of the hand that formed
it, and sin to prove omnipotent.

But the Creator was still upon his throne, and his sceptre
unwrested from his hand. He was still the King eternal,
immortal, and invisible, God only wise, of whom, and
through whom, and to whom are all things. The time had
now come for the forth -putting of his power, and the exhibi-
tion of the riches of his unsearchable wisdom and knowledge

That very event, so appalling in itself and apparently so

god's purpose of grace. S

•jnforeseen, soon began to assume a very different aspect.
Light broke, though but in a faint streak at first, yet sufficient
to proclaim a blessed dawn and a glorious day. The crea-
ture's ruin, instead of appearing the result of accident, or as
an irreparable disaster, began to develope itself as the first
indication of a marvellous purpose of manifesting the charac-
ter of the Creator, and laying far deeper and broader than
before, the foundations on which a holy creation might be im-
movably based. The darkness was permitted, not only that
it might furnish a contrast to the light, but that it might afford
an opportunity for bringing forth that light into sevenfold
brightness and beauty. God's mighty, original, eternal
design now began to unroll itself. It became evident that the
fall was no unforeseen occurrence, and its remedy no afUr-
thought^ no sudden expedient devised for the purpose of
arresting an unexpected calamity. The permitted entrance
of sin, through man's apostasy, was seen to be part of an
everlasting design on the part of God for accomplishing ends
which could not have been fulfilled, had sin not been allowed
to enter.

When the angels kept not their first estate, they were at
once consigned over to the judgment of the great day. There
was no deliverance for them. Chains and darkness were
their portion and inheritance. Once fallen, they were fallen
for ever. Once condemned, they were for ever doomed to
lie under wrath. In their case God showed himself a con-
suming fire. Nothing of his character was displayed save
his displeasure against sin, and his swiftness to avenge it on all
the workers of iniquity. Righteousness shone out in this
prompt act of recompense, but no further light was cast upon
his character, no further discovery made of his infinite mind.
He had spoken out once, and let the universe know how he
hated iniquity. But that was all. There was manifested no
mercy, no pity, no love, no grace. It had been seen how
*' glorious in holiness" he was in punishing ; it had not yet
been known whether he could be glorious in love by forgiv-
ing. The infinite dimensions of his heart had not yet been
seen. Neither had any security been given that sin should
not infect the whole creation like a universal pestilence, seiz-
ing upon every creature that either had been or might be
brought into being. Now, however, by the second grand
revolt, a scheme was to be introduced, which, while it was to
unfold the character of Jehovah in a way which could not

4 god's purpose of grace.

have been done before, was also to afford security against
all future inroads of the dreaded pestilence, and establish in
holy peace for ever that universe whose very foundations
seemed to be giving way.

In the creation of man, no more of God's perfections were
displayed than in the creation of angels. Mercy had not
yet been shown forth, nor, indeed, could be to an unfallen
creature, for mercy is love to the miserable, and therefore
could go forth to none but the fallen. Thus, the very goodli-
ness of the new-born creation appeared as if it would impede
the display of the Creator's glory. Man, therefore, was per--
mitted to fall. And then began the full display of God's
character, by the manifestation of his infinite love ; and then
it was that sevenfold lustre began to be shed upon every
other perfection, by the manner in which this love secured
the deliverance of the object loved. The power, the wisdom,
and goodness, the justice of Jehovah, rose up into new and
awful grandeur, borne up by mercy, and with mercy crown-
ing all. It was not the magnifying of one attribute at the
expense of another — love at the expense of holiness ; it was
glorifying all the perfections of the Godhead together. It was
a stupendous display of God's character. It was a marvellous
insight into the bosom of the Father.

The grace^ that is, the free love of God was the centre
round which all this glory gathered. In redemption, we
have the unveiling of this free love to sinners. In creation,
it was seen that he could love the holy; in redemption, it is
declared that he can love the unholy, and yet be holy him-
self; yea be glorified in holiness ; that in the very act of
loving the unholy, he could manifest more holiness than in
punishing them. The infinite dimensions of his paternal
heart now began to disclose themselves. Until now, his
character had only been partially revealed. But now in
redeeming man, its hitherto undiscovered depths were dis-
played to view. Before the fall, the question was. Can God
love the sinner? At the fall this was answered by himself,
and it was declared that he could ; that there was love in
him, even to those who had entirely forfeited it, and stripped
themselves of every thing that could have attracted love.
This was the dawn of day for a dark world. In this there
was hope for the guilty. But the next question was. What
will this love do for these worthless objects ? Will it content
itself with mere compassion ? God's first promise proclaimed

god's purpose or grace. 0

it to be a love that would rest satisfied with nothing but the
salvation of its object. It was love that could not rest till it
had replaced the fallen creature in its former condition of
blessedness and favour. But is it a love that will encounter
obstacles, that will incur sacrifices in order to accomplish its
end 1 The answer to this was God's gift of his well-beloved
Son. God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Thus
it was proved that there was nothing too costly for this love
to part with in order to get vent to itself in the salvation of
the beloved object. This unspeakable gift is alike the pledge
and measure of the love. What infinite depths of undiscov-
ered love were thus laid bare ! But, is it a love that can
survive contempt and rejection 1 Is it a love that can love
on, even when it meets with nothing but hatred in return
for all this lavish kindness, — mahgnant enmity in requital of
friendship so glorious, so amazing] The history of this
world's six thousand years attests this. It has been proved
that it is patient, unwearied, long-suffering love, — love which
many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown.

It is thus, that through the fall of man, God's character
has been opened up to us, and his name revealed in a way
which otherwise could not have been accomplished. The
exceeding riches of the grace of God have thus been display-
ed to us by means of the utter worthlessness of the object on
which taat grace was fixed. Grace can only show itself in
connection with an object in which there is absolutely " no
good thing." Let there be one good thing about it, — one
part not utterly naught, — and grace has no room to show
itself. Grace steps in when every other attribute retires.
Grace takes for granted not that we have any thing, but that
we are destitute of every thing ; that " the whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint." With the righteous, grace has
nothing to do. It hands them over to righteousness to be
dealt with according to its decree. With those who can
produce even one fingering remnant of goodness, one trace
or token of holiness, it can have nothing to do. It has to do
with the lost, the guilty, the hopeless, the undone. These
are its objects. " The whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick."

From the beginning, God's dealings with fallen man, have
been such as to bring out the riches of his grace. At man's
first sin, grace came forth. It does not matter whether the
scene recorded in Genesis, at the first giving of the promise,

god's purpose of grace.

took place one hour, or many hours after the sin had been
committed. The moment the sin was committed, grace
stepped in to suspend the stroke of vengeance from the trans-
gressor's head. Nothing but grace could have kept Adam
one moment out of hell, or obtained for him the respite of a
single hour. From that moment to this, grace has been
flowing out to this fallen world ; and in God's treatment of
the sinner, its fulness has been displaying itself. One sin
and one sinner were not enough for its development. It is
" the manifold grace of God ;" and hence, there must be
sins innumerous, and of every various form and name, as
well as sinners in number countless, in order to show forth
its manifold nature, as well as its infinite dimensions. In every
variety of situation man has been placed, and sin of every
shape allowed to develope itself, in order that grace yet more
abundant might be brought forth to meet it. Man has been
permitted to wander to the utmost lengths to which it is
possible for a creature to go, in order to show what resources
of grace there are in God to meet the utmost extremity of
sin. At each successive outburst of human wickedness, grace
has come in and taken new occasion to display itself; and
the more that sin has abounded, the more has grace " over
abounded." The higher that the tide of iniquity has swelled,
the higher has grace risen, far surmounting the utmost
heights of sin. The wider that wickedness has spread its
hideous circle, the wider has grace stretched her far ampler
compass, proving that there is not one spot on this ruined
world, even " the ends of the earth," nor one being of the
fallen race on this side of hell, to which in its boundless reach
it cannot extend.

Nor is it enough to say that every sinner is a monument
of grace, and every sin an occasion for the display of grace.
This is true, but it is not all. Each sinner is so in a way
different from any other; and hence there is a different
development of grace in each. Each case is quite peculiar,
and hence each case is a new, distinct, peculiar manifesta-
tion of grace. It is grace seen in a new aspect, and in a
new light, such as it has in no other case ever been present-
ed to us. It is not merely true, that the history of the ran-
somed multitude is a history of the " reign of grace ;" but
the story of each individual of all that glorious company
forms of itself a distinct and peculiar history of the same. It
is not as if we were merely called to contemplate and admire

god's purpose of grace.

Dne dazzling blaze from one great central planet ; it is the
form and lustre of ten thousand resplendent orbs that we are
.summoned to gaze upon ; learning from each a different
story, and gathering from each a peculiar display of the
infinite power of God. Thus, each saved sinner is a trophy
of grace in a way such as no other sinner is or can be.
Each has a wondrous story to tell of the grace that sought
and found him ; and each has a story of his own, such as no
other has or can have. It is of grace that all have learned
to sing ; but one has one thing to say of it, and another
another ; all marvellous, yet all different ! And then each
single sin of each of these redeemed ones has been the occa-
sion of a separate display of grace 1 What a history of
manifold grace, then, does the life even of one ransomed
sinner furnish ! What, then, must be that manifestation of
it brought out by the whole history of the great multitude that
no man can number, out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation !

But how far has this grace come ? It has come the whole
length of a sinner's distance from God. It did not wait till
the sinner sought it, ere it came forth. It came unbidden and
undesired. Nor did it wait till some of the distance had been
removed, or some of the hindrances surmounted by the sinner
himself. It traversed the whole distance itself, and over-
leaped, or rather leveled every barrier. It burst forth spon-
taneous from the bosom of eternal love, and rested not till it
liad removed every impediment, and found its way up to the
sinner's side, swelling round him in full flow. It does away
the distance between the sinner and God, which sin had
created. It meets the sinner on the spot where he stands,
and it approaches him just as he is. It does not wait till
there is something to attract it, nor till there is some good
reason in the sinner for its flowing to him. No; unattracted,
and without any reason in the sinner, it pours itself forth in
all its fulness towards objects whose only title is their utter
worthlessness, and their possessing nothing for the holy eye
of God to delight in.

But what does grace expect from the sinner ? Simply that
he be a recipient of its boundless fulness. It asks no recom-
pense afterwards, just as it sought no recommendation before.
It does not calculate upon receiving an adequate requital in
order to compensate for its freeness before. No. It never
supposes anything in man but unworthiness, nor could it do

9 god's purpose of grace.

so without losing its character as grace. No doubt, when
once it comes into contact with the sinner, it flings and fastens
round him bonds of resistless love ; it sets the whole soul in
motion towards the God' of grace, but this not as a matter of
recompense, but simply a necessary and inevitable result. It
is grace entirely from first to last. It was grace when it
first thought of the sinner ; it was grace when it found and
laid hold of him ; and it is grace still when it hands him up
into glory.

But what is the extent of this grace? It is boundless.
Like the heart of which it is the gracious out-flowing, it is
altogether infinite. No amount of sin can impede its course,
or arrest its resistless flow. Transgressions of scarlet and
crimson dye, in a moment disappear before it, and become like
snow or wool. Mountains of iniquity are leveled at its touch
as the small dust of the balance. An ocean of guilt evapor-
ates as a drop before its glowing warmth, and becomes as if
it had never been. No number, no extent, no enormity of
abominations can withstand grace so free, so abundant, so
omnipotent. Where is the sinner on this side of hell that is
bevond its reach ? What mountains of sin can it not level ;
what valleys of iniquity can it not exalt, till the highway
between the sinner and God is made straight and plain, so
that none need mistake it or stumble upon it, or imagine that
it is not for him?

But how has the distance been removed ? How have these
mountains been swept away? How have mercy and truth
met together ? How have righteousness and peace kissed
each other ? The apostle answers, " he hath made him to
be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him." And again he tells us, "him
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins
that are past." It is by the blood of sacrifice that the chan-
nel has been opened up through which grace might find its
way to us. Nothing but propitiating blood could effect this.
Grace was from eternity in the Father's bosom, but it was,
if we may so speak, pent up, and could find no vent to itself
till the death of God's own Son opened up a righteous way.
It is then through blood that grace reaches us, the blood of a
sin-bearer, a substitute ; blood that proclaimed God's infinite
love of holiness, and infinite abhorrence of sin ; blood whose
shedding proclaimed to the universe that not one jot or tittle

god's purpose of grace. 9

of God's inexorable law had fallen to the ground. It is by
this accepted sacrifice that grace now flows freely down to
the chief of sinners. It is thus that the distance between the
soul and God is done away with. It is thus that God can
speak peace to the unrighteous and be righteous still ; yea,
be more righteous than before, — be glorified in every holy
perfection. The law has been magnified, and its uttermost
penalty exhausted by another as our substitute, and thus the
lawtul captive is permitted to go free, and in his freedom
God is glorified.

But how does this grace become connected with individuals
so as to save them 1 It is free in itself, but may not its
coming to the soul be a matter of merit or purchase? No'
The link that binds it to the soul is as free as itself. "By
grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God." It is by believing God's declaration
concerning the grace that a way is opened for its entrance.
And this believing is the result of the Holy Spirit's teaching,
— the effect of his almighty power. In believing it we
become recipients of it, just as by our unbelief we were
rejecters of it ; and this change, this reversal of our attitude
in reference to grace is through the mighty power of God.
There is nothing that the natural man is so unwilling to
admit or so unable to comprehend as grace. In our dealings
with each other, equity, law, justice are supposed to mingle,
but grace is not admitted. Hence we are far more ready to
introduce the former than the latter into our dealings with
God, and we more easily understand principles of legal right
and claim, than principles of simple grace. The natural mind
is as much a stranger to the very idea of grace as the
natural heart is opposed to it. Hence unbelief of this grace
is our besetting sin. It is the rock upon which sinners
stumble and are lost. They will submit to any thing for
salvation but grace. They would do any thing to be saved,
but take it freely they will not. They prefer to perish.
Hence the necessity of the Spirit's taking of the things of
Christ, and showing them to the soul.

And what, then, is the effect of grace, believed by the
sinner 1 Peace with God and a holy walk with him through
this wilderness. Being justified by faith we have peace with
God. The perception of God's gracious character, the belief
of his forgiving love, removes the gloomy dread of him which
the awakened conscience entertains, and we see in him a

10 god's purpose of grace.

*

Being such as we can rejoice in, such as we can hold fellow-
ship with, even in the full consciousness that we are the
chief of sinners. Acquaintanceship with God produces peace
as its immediate and sure result, and the soul being at peace
with him delights to walk with him in holy fellowship and
filial trust, seeking to be entirely like him whom he loves,
and to spend and be spent for him who has removed his sins
from him as far as the east is from the west.

But there are " riches of grace" in God, which " eye hath
not seen nor ear heard ;" riches of grace which, for their full
development, are reserved for the ages yet to come. (Eph. ii.
7.) We are told of the " grace that is to be brought us at
the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter i. 13.) Eternity
alone will unfold these unsearchable riches, and disclose all
their unfathomable depths. What openings up are yet to be
made of God's marvelous grace ! What a reserve of rich
discovery is in store for the ransomed multitude, when out
of the bosom of eternity new treasures of grace shall unroll
themselves, as if all that is past had been as nothing when
compared with what is still to come !

If such be the "exceeding riches of the grace of God,"
past, present, and to come, what ample encouragement is
held out to sinners ! There is grace enough in the bosom
of the Father for the chief of sinners. His love flows freely
out like a full river, and all may come. Whosoever will,

LET HIM TAKE OF THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY. This love

is free, and no amount of sin in us can straiten it, or make it
insufficient to meet our case. It takes us just as we are, and
brings to us its message of peace.

True, many refuse, but this does not alter the invitation or
diminish the grace. Nay, all would refuse; not one would
listen, or believe, or turn, were it not for the forth-putting of
that mighty power of the Father, by which he wrought in
Christ Jesus, when he raised him from the dead. (Eph. i.
19.) It is the resurrection-power of God alone that can raise
the dead in sin. And it is this that brings out the hidden
depths of the love of God. It is this that shows us yet
deeper riches of grace than could have been conceived. For
it binngs to light that deep purpose of eternal love which
resolved to bear with all rejection and refusal ; which resolved
to put forth an overcoming power, and take possession of* the
very hearts that had resisted and scorned his love. The
riches of grace seen in the glad tidings of great joy are

god's purpose of grace. 11^

unutterable ; but the riches of grace brought out in subduing"
the very souls that had for years rejected these, are deeper
- — vaster still. And every soul that has been drawn by the
Father owns and feels the amazing grace that sent from
above, and took him, and drew him out of many waters. He
owns the deep love that at first sent the message of peace ;
but he also owns the deeper love that made that message
effectual, — that won his heart, — that subdued his whole man,
— that wrought love in him in whom there had been nothincj
but enmity before. Take, for instance, a people to whom
some faithful messenger of God has for many a Sabbath
preached the glad tidings of the kingdom. Each message
that he brought proclaimed the free love of God. Long it
was rejected. At length the Spirit was poured out, and the
Father drew many sinners to himself. Was not this a new
store of love that had hitherto remained unopened? Was
not this a fuller gushing forth of the fountain of love ? There
was love manifested before in the message, even when not a
soul was converted ; but the conversion of so many souls was
an additional manifestation of love. This was bringing into
view an inner circle of love, — the love that led not merely
to the opening of a way of salvation, but of actually saving,
— the love of the Father in " drawing," John vi. 44, 65; the
love of the Son in " quickening," John v. 21, and the love of
the Spirit in " renewing." Titus iii. 5.

O, surely the God in whom there are such " riches of
grace" is just the very God for a sinner to go to. The grace
thus manifested is just the very thing that he needs ; and the
knowing this grace must be enough to dispel his fears. To
know this free love, to go with assured confidence to that
God in whom it is, as soon as we have heard that it is there,
and to sit down among his children simply as those who have
believed his love, — this, this is blessedness, — this, this is the
foretaste of being for ever with the Lord.

To this we are invited. To this the gospel calls each
weary child of Adam. It is into our Father's house, and
into the fellowship of our Father's love, that the Spirit fain
would lead us, knowing that there is enough and to spare.
And, O, who would not enter in and rejoice for ever? Who-
soever WILL, is the word that salutes the ear of the far-oflT
wanderer, and beckons him home. Whosoever will, is
the inscription above the gate. Whosoever will, is the

12 god's purpose of grace.

word of welcome that greets him as he enters the long-for-
saken dwelling.

" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blest us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly-
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love ; having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wnerein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved." — Eon. i. 3-5.

Presbyterian Board of Publication.

{^)

No. 77.

THE SIN-BEARER.

" Who his own self hare our sins in his own body on the tree."—'

1 Peter ii. 24.

Christ bare our sins ! The Lord laid on him the iniquities
of us all. The words of Peter here are very expressive in
the original language. They imply that He carried up our
sins with him to the cross, and bare them there in all their
weight alone. He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the
sin of the world.

Let us consider, first, the load He bore,— our sins. When
speaking of this burden in the Book of Psalms, he speaks
of it as a " burden too heavy to be borne." Both in regard
to the number and the weight of these sins they were intoler-
able. " Innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine
iniquities have taken hold of me, so that I am not able to
look up ; they are more than the hairs of my head, therefore
my heart faileth me." (Psalm xl. 12.)

There had been sin. That sin must be borne either by
the sinner or by one in his room. The penalty must be
exhausted. The sinner could not bear it, so as to bear up
under it. He must sink into perdition. Nor could he
exhaust the penalty, for it is eternal. None but Christ could
meet the demand and exhaust the penalty. None but He
could bear up under the load, so as to endure the full amount
of punishment due. And He has borne it. He himself bore
our sins in his own body on the tree.

Yet even He groaned beneath the intolerable weight. He
who could uphold all things by the word of his power, was
bowed down to the earth with the burden of sin, — sin not
his own! He who could with infinite facility sustain the
stupendous weight of worlds upon worlds innumerable ; He
upon whose shoulders rested the mighty burden of the uni-
verse ; — was pressed even to agony and death, with the load

2 THE SIN-BEARER.

of our transgressions ! It was this that in the garden wrung
from him the great drops of blood : it was this that made his
soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death ; it was this that
nailed him in agony to the accursed tree ; it was this that
wrought the death of him who was the Prince of life, who
had the keys of hell and death, and covered him who was
" the light of the world" beneath the darkness of an earthly
tomb. Hear, how in the Psalms he continually breathes
forth the groanings of his wounded spirit beneath the pres-
sure of our iniquities ; " thine arrows stick fast in me, and
thy hand presseth me sore. ... I am feeble and sore broken,
I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart."
(xxxviii. 2, 8.) Again, in that Psalm, which we know was
designed to express his feelings under the pressure of our
sins, when bearing them upon his own body on the tree,
hear how he groans under the awful burden, " My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" &c. Such was the awful
burden which he bare on his own body on the cross. Such
was the way in which it crushed and bowed him down to the
earth ! (Psalm xxii. 1.)

The feelings of the trembling sinner, when awakened under
the terrors of the divine law, and made alive to the hell of
sin within him, may help to give us some faint idea of the
way in which the burden of our sins pressed upon Christ. It
is true he had no sin ; — not the shadow of sin upon him, for
he was the Holy One ; yet he speaks always of our sins as
if they were his own, as if he had committed them. He felt
under them just as if they were his own. He was perfectly
holy, yet so closely were our sins bounds upon him by God,
that he felt the pressure just as if they were his own. Being
our substitute, God dealt with him as such ; — as if the sins
he bore had really been /m, not ours. Being thus in the
eye of the law identified with those whose sins he bore, he
was made to feel what they would have been doomed to feel,
had God left them to reap themselves the fruit of their own
transgressions. This awful burden he bore alone. He had
none to aid him ; — none to relieve him of any part of its
overwhelming pressure. There was none that could assist
him to sustain its load. None could have borne it even had
they attempted ; but none that really knew what the burden
was, would have for a moment thought of attempting it.
They would have shrunk from such a perilous undertaking.
They would rather have taken upon themselves the burden

THE SIN-BEARER. »»

of upholding the universe, than attempted to bear even one
fragment of that load of transgression which Christ bare on
the tree. He therefore bore it alone. There was none to
divide the burden with him ; nor to uphold him under it.
" My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore, and
my kinsmen stand afar off." " They all forsook him and
fled."

And, as he bare it alone, so he bare {{fully and completely.
Though he was alone, yet he bore it aU ; he left no part
unborne. Though alone, he was sufficient to bear it all; his
being alone did not make his sacrifice less perfect, or its
effects less complete. By one offering he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified. It was an infinite work, but
he accomplished it all. It was an infinite burden, but he
sustained it all. It was an infinite penalty, but he exhausted
it all. Not a stroke was left behind. Not one drop of the
cup of judgment put into his hands was left behind. Observe,
then, that in bearing our sins he really exhausted the penalty.
The penalty was not warded off and prevented reaching us
merely; it was exliausted. He bore the punishment which
we should have borne, and thereby not merely prevented
the law from arresting us with its claims and penalties, but
actually satisfied the law to the full. " Christ," says the
Apostle, " has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us." (Gal. iii. 13.)

The work, then, of bearing our sins is a finished work.
It was in every jot and tittle accomplished by Christ, when
he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. No part
remains yo?" us to do before we can obtain its benefits. No
addition can be made to it in any way by us. " It is
finished." It is not as if God had given Christ so much of
the work to do, and left it for us to work out the rest in
order to be saved. " There is no more offering for sin,"
now that He, by his one offering, has perfected for ever
them that are sanctified, and purchased eternal redemption
for us. " He has by himself purged our sins." He has
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows : the chastisemen
of our peace was laid on him : he has finished transgres-
sion and made an end of sin : he has brought in everlasting
righteousness, and made reconciliation for iniquity. Thus
He is the end of the law, for righteousness to every one that
believeth. There has been, once for all, offered a sacrifice
such as the sinner needs, and such as God delights in,--

4 THE SIN-BEARER.

absolutely perfect and infinitely precious, — the sacrifice of the
Lamb without blemish and without spot ; the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sins of the world. Here is a sacrifice
which has abolished and superseded all other sacrifices, and
by that very fact proved itself more perfect, more glorious
than all. Here is a sacrifice, which, unlike the legal offer-
ings of old, has never been, nor needs to be repeated, and
by that very fact is proved to be more efficacious than all, —
to have completely attained its end in providing a ransom for
the sins of many. Here is set before us a finished sacrifice,
and in that sacrifice a finished work ; and in that work a
finished atonement, a finished righteousness, the righteousness
of God, — " He was made sin for us though He knew no sin."

O, what an infinite treasure-house is here displayed, of all
that a guilty soul, a burdened sinner can require ! Here is
an infinite provision for pardon, in Him who was named
Jesus, because he came to save his people from their sins.
Here is an infinite suflliciency, the sufficiency of him who
was the Christ, the anointed of the Father, full of grace and
truth. Here is infinite fulness, the fulness of Immanuel, God
with us. The whole work is done, — all things are ready.
The Lamb has been slain, atonement has been made, the rock
has been smitten, the serpent has been lifted up, the ransom
has been paid, the enemy has been vanquished and spoiled,
captivity has been led captive, the year of jubilee, the accept-
able year of the Lord has come ! The new covenant has
been fully completed, sealed, and ratified ; and this is the
declaration of Jehovah founded upon it, " I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness ; their sins and their iniquities will I
remember no more !"

But, more fully to illustrate the perfect character of this
sacrifice, — and the completeness of that propitiatory work
which is built upon it, — let me endeavour to contrast this
work with some of man's devices for putting away sin, and
securing acceptance with God : let me show you how Christ
has borne our sins in his own body on the tree, in opposition
*jo those self-righteous ways in which blinded souls often-
times seek to bear their own sins ; or at least to assist Christ
in bearing them.

1st, then; — Christ has borne our sins in opposition to our
own duties. To be saved by doing something ourselves, and
to be saved by believing what another has done, are surely
things so totally at variance with each other, that we are at

THE SIN-BEARER. 5

a loss to discover how they could ever come to be confound-
ed, or how any one professing to look for salvation from what
Christ has done, could ever lean upon himself at all. Yet,
as it was with the Pharisees of old, who, while most zealous
for the sacrificial observances, yet trusted in their own works
to make atonement for sin, so it is with many amongst our-
selves. They name the name of Christ, yet make a Saviour
of their duties, their good deeds, their honest or charitable
doings, the excellence of their character, their zeal for the public
welfare, their integrity, their honourable name among men 1
These are made to occupy the place of Christ in the bearing
of their sins. Or if they are not sufficiently self-righteous to
lay the whole weight and stress of their sins upon these, yet
they persist in laying at least a large proportion of the burden
upon them, as if it were the design of the Saviour's work,
to lay part of the foundation, and leave them to finish it by
their own exertions !

One would think that if we really knew what it is to bear
the weight of sin, — even of one sin — we would shrink from
the very idea of having any share in this. Yet we seem as
if anxious to take some part in this awful work ; as if covetous
of a share in this awful honour. We seem solicitous to try
our strength in bearing this tremendous burden, which none
but God manifest in flesh could undertake, and whose
pressure bowed even Him to the dust. We seem as if afraid
lest Christ should not have done enough, — afraid lest we
should be denied the privilege of bearing that which cost him
the strong crying and tears, the agony of the garden, the
shame of the cross, the abasement of the tomb. But all this
burden has been borne already by him, and cannot in any
way be borne over again by us. We can neither bear it in
whole nor in part. It was not left for us to begin, neither
was it left for us to finish : nor in any way to assist Christ
(if we may so speak) in finishing it. Ours is to build upon
a finished foundation, to keep the fabric separate from the
foundation, and not to add any stones of our own to the sure,
the perfect, the precious stone already laid. How common is it
with many to conceive and speak of the work of Christ, as
if the manner in which it was made available for us was by
its imparting a meritorious, or at least an acceptable charac-
ter to our own deeds 1 As if Christ saved us, not by doing
anything for us, as our sacrifice or substitute, not by bearing
our sins for us ; but by giving such a value to all we do our-

6 THE SIN-BEARER.

selves, as to procure our acceptance with God ! What is
this but to make Christ the minister both of self-righteousness
and sin? It is not to believe in Christ as bearing our sins,
but merely as enabling us to bear them ourselves. In oppo-
sition to such self-righteous attempts to share with Christ both
the burden and the glory of redemption, it is said that Christ
his ow?i self bare our sins. The expression is made very
strong and particular, just in order to show that it was Jesus
and none but Jesus ; that it was Jesus and not our duties ;
that it was Jesus alone, and not partly Jesus and partly our
duties, that bare our sins. Our duties then can bear no part
of our sins at all. They cannot bear the weight of even one
transgression of the law. However numerous and however
goodly and excellent these duties may seem ; and however
few and small our sins may appear ; yet still the best and
holiest duty that ever a saint performed, cannot bear the
weight of even the smallest sin ! It is Jesus, none but Jesus,
nothing but Jesus, — who his own self bare our sins in his
own body on the tree. He saves entirely himself; he does
not, as some imagine, assist us in saving ourselves ; nor does
he allow us, as others imagine, to assist him in saving us.

Secondly, Christ bare our sins in opposition to all outward
ordinances and privileges. How much stress do some lay on
ordinances as if they were actually our Saviours ! These
seem all the mediatorship to which many are trusting for
removing God's anger, and securing his favour. They are
strict and frequent in the obsei*vance of ordinances, and
having been so, their idea is that it would be unfair and un-
just in God to lay their sins to their charge. That is to say,
they substitute ordinances for the sacrifice of Christ. They
lay their sins upon these, as if they were sufficient to bear
the weight of one single transgression of a soul ! They do
perhaps admit, that in the observance of these they are defec-
tive ; nay, perhaps, that ordinances themselves are weak and
unavailing ; but then they consider that the object of Christ's
death was to give ordinances a value and efficacy which they
had not in themselves, by which they are rendered capable
of bearing the weight of their sins. That is to say, they
imagine by these ordinances to assist Christ in bearing the
weight of their sins. And when they find this does not
bring any peace to their consciences, nor relieve them of the
burden and sense of guilt, they are ready to say with Israel,
wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not? wherefore

THE SIX-BEARER. 7

have we afflicted our soul, and thou regardest not." Thus
thev deny the great truth that the bearing of our sins is a
thing already past and perfected 1800 years ago ; — that Christ
only, Christ wholly bare our sins in his own body on the
tree. If trusting to duties for the remission of sin, may be
called an attempt to bribe God to forgive us : trusting to ordi-
nances may be called an attempt io flatter Godi to forgive us.
True, ordinances are of God's appointment. True, they are
to be diUgently observed, and we can expect no blessing
when we neglect them. But then they are available only
for the purpose for which God has set them up, and for no
other. And seeing God has appointed them not for procur-
ing remissio?i of sin, but for proclaiming remission through
another, even through Christ, it is an insult to the God by
whom they were established to use them for an end for
which he did not ordain them. It is an insult to that Saviour
whose finished work they thus supersede. It is a miserable
delusion of hell in the worshipper to take refuge in these as
a sacrifice for sin. And this is true of all ordinances, even
of that most sacred of all " the Lord's Supper." Even this
ordinance, solemn as it is, glorious as it is, is not for the
bearing of our sins. It has no more power than the most
common rite of all to bear one single sin ! It tells of sin
already borne ; borne by another ; borne by Jesus in his own
body on the tree. The bread and the wine are placed upon
that table, not that they may bear our sins, or any part of
our sins, but that they may testify of sins already borne.
They are witnesses of sin already atoned for by another, and
not to be again atoned for by us. They seal our pardon,
but they do not purchase it. They seal our peace, but they
do not procure it. They tell us of sin, whose weight has
been already borne. They point away from themselves alto-
gether. They point to Calvary; they point to the Cross;
they point to Him who there bore our sins in his own body
on the tree, and who by that one offering hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified.

Thirdly, Christ bare our sins in opposition to our own
repentance and convictions of sin. How much and how
often are sinners tempted to make these bear the weight of
their sins. The formalist does this when he exalts repent-
ance into the place of Christ, making zY his atonement; when
he imagines repentance to have of itself any power to pro-
cure remission. But I do not speak of the mere formalist; I

8 ' THE SIN-BEARER.

speak of those in whose souls there is a dpeper work going
on ; in whom there is much real anxiety and earnestness in
the matter of religion. They are apt to lay upon conviction
of sin, and mourning for sin a weight which they cannot
bear. These are in themselves precious fruits of the Spirit's
work in us ; but be they ever so precious, they can never be
substituted in room of Christ's work for us. They can no
more bear the weight of sin than duties or ordinances can.
Nay, their very end is to show you that sin is so awful a
thing, its guilt so infinite, and its burden so intolerable, that
you cannot bear any part of it yourself; and that if one
fragment were to be laid on you it would sink you to the
lowest hell. Convictions then are only precious when they
lead you away from themselves to Christ ; the law is still
our schoolmaster, as it was Israel's to bring us to Christ.
Yet how often is an anxious soul led to say — ^O ! if I but
had convictions I should have peace. Alas ! alas ! brethren,
you know not what you say. Convictions are precious
things, but they bring no peace of themselves, but war
and storm and trouble. Convictions are precious things,
but they are not salvation ; they are not the Saviour. It is
well to be awakened from sleep when danger is hanging
over us; but to awake from sleep is not to escape from
danger. It is only to be sensible of danger, nothing more.
In like manner to be convinced is merely to be made sensi-
ble that your soul is in danger. It is no more. It is not
deliverance. Of itself it can bring no deliverance ; it tells us
of no Saviour. It merely tells us that we need one. Yet
there are many who, when they have had deep convictions of
sin, — strong terrors of the law, congratulate themselves as if
all were well. They say, " Ah ! I have been convinced of
sin : I have been under terrors; it is well with me, I am safe."
Well with you ? — Safe ? Is it well with the seaman when
he awakes and finds his vessel going to pieces upon, the rocks
amid the fury of the whelming surge ? Is it well with the
sleeper when he awakes at midnight amid the flames of his
dwelling? Does he say, "Ah, it is well with me, — I have
seen the flames." In this way sinners are not unfrequently
led to be content with some resting-place short of the appointed
one. Anxiety to have deep convictions, and contentment
"with them after they have been experienced, — are too often
the means which Satan uses for turning away the sinner's

THE SIN-BEARER. 9

eye from the perfect work of Jesus, who himself bare our
sins in his own body on the tree.

In like manner, many are led away from the sure founda-
tion by the stress they are disposed to lay upon their own
feelings and frames of soul. Most of us have doubtless felt
the tendency of the mind to count much upon these, as if our
whole forgiveness and peace with God depended upon these,
— as if we could have no forgiveness, or at least no sense of
forgiveness, save when our feelings were of a certain cast, or
of a certain degree of warmth and power. But it is most
manifest that if Jesus has indeed borne our sins himself, then
nothing iii us at all can avail in aught to this end. Nothing
can be more dishonouring to Christ than thus to divide the
work of atonement with him. Nothing can be more perilous
to the soul than thus to conclude favourably or unfavourably
of our good estate, or our acceptance with God, because of
the possession or the want of certain joyful emotions of soul.
The work of Christ remains perfect, and the foundation of
God standeth sure, notwithstanding all the fluctuations and
uncertainties that may roll over us. We change ; it changes
not. Our feelings vary. He varies not. His love and favour
toward us do not depend upon the warmth or the steadfast-
ness of our love toward him, but remain ever the same.
Our changeful feelings may often times abate our joy, but
our peace ought to abide unmoved, our conscious reconcilia-
tion ought never to be interrupted. Our peace with God,
our forgiveness, our reconciliation flow wholly from the sin-
atoning sacrifice of Jesus ; and that has no variableness. A
conscience once sprinkled with blood will whisper peace even
in the darkest hour, — when new discoveries of corruption are
rising up to alarm and amaze us, and our iniquities seem a
burden too heavy to be borne. A soul that realizes and
keeps in view the perfect efficacy of that sprinkled blood to
purge from dead works, will still possess itself in peace and
patience even when all sensible experience of delight has fled,
and insensibility and deadness weigh it to the dust. It is not
our feeling towards God that is our ground of peace, but his
feeling towards us. It is not what we feel in ourselves, but
what we know of Him, that produces and maintains the
serenity of the soul. He is our rock. He is our peace. He
is our all ; and we are complete in Him !

Fourthly, Christ bare our sins, in opposition to our own
faith, our own graces, and to the work of the Spirit in us.

10 fHE SIN-BEARER.

It is not our faith or our holiness that bears the burden of
our sins. To make a Saviour of our faith is as utterly sub-
versive of the gospel as to make a Saviour of our works. To
trust in our works is self-righteousness, — to trust in our faith
is the same. There is no merit, no virtue in believing, which
"we can build a claim upon. To feed upon the consciousness
of faith, is not to feed upon the bread of life ; — to rest upon
our act of faith is to lose sight of Him who bare our sins in
his own body on the tree. Our forgiveness and peace do not
rest upon the work of the Holy Spirit in us, — nor upon the
graces and fruits which he calls forth and ripens in the soul.
It is Christ's work /b;* us, and not the Spirit's work in us,
that is the ground of our peace. Being justified by faith we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The work
of grace within us cannot bear the burden of our sins ; it
cannot come in the room of the finished sacrifice and the
sprinkled blood, by which, being once purged, " we have no
more conscience of sin." It is not upon our growth in gmce
and in holiness, that we are to rest our peace. It is not
thus that a guilty conscience is made clear, or a burdened
conscience relieved. No. Christ is our propitiation. Christ
is our peace. Christ is our righteousness. We are complete
in Him ; not in ourselves, — not in our holiness, — not in our
love, but in Him. At all times, and in all conditions, com-
plete in Him, so long as we hold fast our confidence in his
name, and rest upon the glorious truth, which, in spite of all
fluctuations in us, remains for ever the same ; that He, his
ownself, bare our sins in his own body on the tree. Besides,
our graces never will grow, the fruits of the Spirit never will
ripen, so long as we hang our forgiveness upon them. It is
only when forgiven that we begin to grow in grace. It is
not till we are at peace with God, that we can begin to be
holy. And it is by constantly realizing that forgiveness, and
taking it in the same way to the end, as we received it when
first we believed, — that we can make any progress in grace
at all. The more we grow in grace, the more shall we see
of the infinite sufficiency of Jesus, and our perfect complete-
ness in Him, however poor and empty in ourselves ; the nwre
shall we be led to throw ourselves wholly upon Christ, so
that our iniquities may be all borne by Him, and none left
for ourselves to bear. Let us beware of resting upon our
grace instead of resting upon our Saviour. Grace is indeed
a most precious treasure, — an inestimable gift ; and in the

THE SIN-BEARER. 11

conscious possession of such a treasure, you may with all
safety take up the Apostle's rapturous song — " Blessed be the
.God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who of His abund-
ant mercy hatii begotten us again to a lively hope." But
still remember that it is not and cannot be our Saviour ! It
cannot bear the burden of our sins ; it cannot purge our j
conscience from dead works to serve the living God. It
cannot be our advocate, it cannot be our mediator, it cannot
form the real ground of our hope and peace and confidence
toward God. Christ has borne our sins in his own body on
the tree, and that is our hope, that is our peace, that is our
confidence and joy.

While thus there is nothing that can give us peace but the
sight of Jesus bearing our sins in his own body on the tree,
there is nothing that can humble us but this. An unforgiven
soul is always self-righteous and proud. It is the free, the
complete forgiveness of the Cross, that humbles the soul and
melts the heart. A partial forgiveness, that would keep us
in suspense, would only harden and irritate the soul. But a
complete forgiveness prostrates at once the rebellious spirit,
— disarms its suspicions, — dissolves it in penitence and love!
" They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and
mourn !" So long as we conceive of the forgiveness as partial,
so long as we are afraid to search into the depths of iniquity
within, we are afraid to know the worst. Till the conscience
is thoroughly purged by the blood of sprinkling, we shrink
from the full and unreserved scrutiny of our hearts. But
when once the conscience is made clean, then we dread no
longer even the fullest exposure in the clearest light, for we
already know the worst of ourselves, that we are the chief
of sinners, and we know the hest^ that we are completely
forgiven ! In these circumstances, we are delivered from all
temptation to palliate the guilt or lessen the number of our
sins ; we feel now under no necessity to vindicate ourselves,
or to take any other ground of defence but just that we are
the chief of sinners. It is this that humbles us, and it is this
that gives us simplicity and guilelessness of heart — that
delivers us from every deceitful, sinister, selfish purpose and
motive. And it is to this that David alludes in the 32d
Psalm, when, after speaking of the blessedness of man when
transgression is forgiven, &c., he thus finishes the character,
and sums up the privileges of a forgiven soul, — " m whose
spirit there is no guile." Being freely and completely for-

12 THE SIN-BEARER.

given, — all his former temptations to deceit and guile have
fled away, — his soul becomes as a weaned child.

Behold, then, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world ! See how He bare the mighty load of your
transgressions, and how he bare it alone ! His body was the
point upon which all was concentrated, — upon which the
mighty mass of sin was laid entire ! In His death upon the
Cross, behold the mighty sacrifice, the ransom for the sins
of many ! See there the sum of all His obedience and suffer-
ings ! Behold the finished work! — the work finished and
completed in all its parts eighteen hundred years ago, — a
work to which nothing can be added, and from which nothing
can be taken, — a work of stupendous magnitude which He
alone could have undertaken and accomplished ! Behold our
sacrifice, our finished sacrifice, our perfected redemption, the
sole foundation of our peace and hope and joy. " He, his
own self, bare our sins in His own body on the tree." It is
not said that our duties, or our prayers, or our fastings, or
our convictions of sin, or our repentance, or our honest life,
or our alms-deeds, or our faith, or our grace, — it is not said
that these bare our sins, — it was Jesus who bare it ; Jesus
liimself, Jesus alone, Jesus, and none but Jesus, "bare our
sins in his own body on the tree."

Presbyterian Board of Publication.

^\

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude; and as
the voice of many waters ; and as the voice of mighty thunder-
ings, saying, Alleluia ! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
— Rev. xix. 6

That there is a God, all nature cries aloud, through all her
works ; and, the religious rites and ceremonies, which prevail
on earth, plainly declare the general belief, that this great
Being, has not retired from the scene of his creating power,
but, still, as a sovereign God, presides over the worlds and
the creatures which He has made. Of the true nature and
character of this government, however, little can be gathered
from the light of reason, and the researches of the learned.
To obtain clear and correct information upon this point, we
must look elsewhere : we must have recourse to the sacred
volume, and, such are the views which it presents of the
Divine government, that, in the contemplation of them, we
shall find abundant matter for the loud and harmonious shout
in the heavenly- world: — Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipo-
tent reigneth ! According to the Scriptures, the government
of God, is unique^ for, whereas the right of earthly monarchs
to reign, is founded, sometimes, in conquest; sometimes, in
the elective franchise ; and, sometimes, in hereditary claim ;
the government of God is founded in none of these things,
but, in principles, infinitely more sublime. It is founded,

1. In Creation. He, who, on earth, has founded an
empire, is thought to have a right to rule the empire, which
he has founded. Now, God having created all things*
having brought all things out of nothing, into existence, has,
in the sublimest sense of the term, founded the empire of
the universe; and, therefore, has an undoubted right to

4 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

reign over the empire which he has thus founded. Hence
the language of the Psalmist, " The earth is the Lord's, and
the fulness thereof: the world, and they that dwell therein,
for he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon
the floods." And again: "O come, let us worship, and bow
down ; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He made
us, and not we ourselves; we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand."

2. In Preservation. He, who originally created, still
sustains all things. The whole universe rests upon his
hand, and should this great Being, only for a moment, with-
draw his upholding hand, the pillars of the universe would
sink ; the whole frame of nature would be dissolved ; yea, all
created existence would immediately vanish away, and leave
nothing behind save the throne of God, and a boundless
solitude! As all things, then, depend upon God, for their
continued, as well as original existence, here of course is
another firm foundation upon which the government of God
is rightly based.

3. In the Perfections of God. Certainly, it is right
and proper that he should hold the reins of government, who
is best qualified to rule : especially where such immense
interests are at stake. And here we rnay ask, with the
Psalmist: "Who, in the heavens, is like unto the Lord our
God? and, who, in all the earth, can be compared unto Him ?"
Is wisdom requisite to manage the complicated affairs of this
vast universe 1 God is infinite in wisdom. Is goodness neces-
sary? God is supremely, unchangeably, and everlastingly
good. Is pawer requisite ? "The thunder of his power who
can understand?" But, why speak we of single perfections?
God, as one well remarks, is

" A God all o'er consummate, absolute ;
Full orbed ; in his whole round of rays complete."

No wonder then, that the exile of Patmos, caught up, in the
visions of God, heard, as it were, the voice of a great multi-
tude ; and as the voice of many waters ; and as the voice of
mighty thunderings, saying : Alleluia ! for the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth ! The immediate occasion of this great
shout in heaven, seems to be the fall of mystical Babylon, or
Papal Rome ; but, no doubt, every new development of Divine
Providence, will renew the shout, through all the ages and
cycles of great eternity ! That wo may better understand

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. O

the subject ; and, also be better prepared to respond to the
loud and rapturous shout in glory, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent, reigneth ; let us notice some of the distin-
guishing features, or characteristics of the government of
God. And

1. It is supreme and universal. The Lord hath pre
pared his throne in the heavens, says the Psalmist, and his
kingdom ruleth over all. There are many governments on
earth ; and, doubtless, there are many thrones and principali-
ties in the other worlds, but tbe throne of God is high over
them all ! Alexander the Great was called master of the
world, but there were many regions of the earth over which
his sceptre was never stretched, and there were many people
of whom he had never even heard ! And even within the
limits of his acknowledged empire — how many kings dis-
dained his control ! Not to mention the lions of the forest,
and the leviathans of the deep, could Alexander the Great
rule the changing seasons? Could he command the light-
ning? or the rain? or the hail? or the storm? Alexander's
kingdom was extensive, but not to be compared with the
kingdom of the God of heaven I Alexander ruled over many
kings, but God over all I Yes, God hath prepared his
throne in the heavens, and, literally, his kingdom ruleth (/vefr
all! over all men, over all angels, over all worlds, over all
creatures, in the broadest, sublimest sense, over all 1 But

2. The government of God is not only supreme and uni-
versal^ it is particular. It not only extends to great, but
to small objects ; not only to the mighty whole, but to every
part ! Yes, whilst his power and his wisdom are employed
in upholding and directing the " hosts of suns, and stars, and
adamantine spheres, wheeling unshaken amid the void im.
mense" — his wisdom and his goodness are engaged in direct
ing and controling all things on earth, from the revolution
of an empire to the falling of a sparrow ! It is even so !
He that garnishes the heavens also beautifies the earth. He
that numbers the stars, and calls them all by their names,
also numbers the dew-drops of the morning, and the sands
upon the sea-shore ! That hand which bears up the mighty
seraph, sustains the meanest insect, and He who bids the
roaring tempest sweep the earth, directs the breathing of the
softest zephyr! Stagger not at this! for, "as one day is
with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day," so an atom is with God as a world, and a world

O THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

as an atom ! As immensity cannot confound liim, so minute
ness cannot escape him ! The fact is, with God there is nothing
great ! With God thei'e is nothing small ! Some persons
admit the general government of God, but deny his particu-
lar providence. The idea is absurd ; for what, if I should
say of such a physician, he has a general practice, but no
particular patient ! or, of such a scholar, he is a man of very
general reading, but he never reads any one book ! But
what says the Saviour upon this subject] It is striking: it is
conclusive. " Are not two sparrows sold for one farthing ?
and not one of them shall fall without your Father ! Fear
not, the very hairs of your head are all numbered !" How
small is the sparrow in the lone wilderness ! and how insig-
nificant is the single hair which has fallen from your head !
And yet, according to the Saviour, even such things are not
overlooked in the providence of God ! And what is taught
as true, in the word of God, is shown to be necessarily true
also by reason — for we find that in the world of nature,
providence, and of grace ; in all the departments of the
Divine government, we find that great matters and little
matters are oftentimes linked together, and who does not
know that in a chain stretched across a river, the breaking
of a small link may prove as serious a matter as the break-
ing of a great link ! How many striking illustrations of this
fact have we in history^ in observation^ and experience!
The cackling of geese once saved the city of Rome from the
power of the Gauls. Joseph's coat of many colours was one
link in a chain of most surprising events ! A single playful
remark of Francis the First, occasioned a bloody war between
France and England. The carving of a few letters in the
bark of a tree led to the noble invention of printing ! And,
to the apparently accidental falling of an apple, we are
indebted for some of Sir Isaac Newton's sublimest demonstra-
tions in natural science ; and who, of us, need to be reminded
of the tremendous consequences of our first parents' eating
of the fruit of the forbidden tree ?

" her rash hand, in evil hour,

Forth reaching to the fruit; she plucked ; she eat;
Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe.
That all was lost!"

And cannot every one of us, recollect some little remark,

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. 7

or incident, which has led to most important changes in
our lives and circumstances ? In the case of Joseph — his
coat of many colours — his dreams — the envy of his brethren
— his being sold into Egypt — his being falsely accused — his
being cast into prison — the king's prison — his interpreting the
dreams of the chief baker and butler — and also the dreams
of Pharaoh, and Joseph's interpretation of them — and the
advancement of Joseph to be governor over all the land of
"Egypt — and finally, the settlement of Jacob and all his
family in the land of Goshen — here are many things, some
small, some great, linked together. Each event seemed to
be casual, each actor free ; and had the narrative been given
by one of that age, he would very naturally have said : " It
happened so ;" and " it happened so" — and yet, if one of
these things which " happened," had not happened, then,
perhaps, the grand result would not have taken place ! But
this leads me to speak of another distinguishing feature, a
characteristic of the Divine government.

3. The government of God extends^ not only to all things^
but to all events; not only to all creatures, hut to all their
actions. I am aware that we are here launching into the
deep ; but the Bible is our chart. It is a good chart, and we
need fear nothing.

Reader, I am a Calvinist, so called ; not that I embrace
all the dogmas of the great Genevan divine, but certainly
those that are embraced in the standards of our Church, and
the longer I live, and the more carefully I examine the sub-
ject, the more thoroughly convinced am I, that the system,
usually termed Calvinistic, is firmly based upon the Bible,
and will stand tlie " test of scrutiny, of talents, and of
timer Nay, I will go further, and say that the system
needs only to be correctly understood by all the true people
of God to be received and loved. I repeat it, I am a CaU
vinist, but I am no fcUalist! I hold to the sovereignty of
God, and also to the free-agency of man, and whilst I
believe that God worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will, yet it is in such a way as " thereby neither is
God the author of sin ; nor is violence done to the freedom
of the creature ; nor is the liberty or contingency of second
causes taken away, but rather established." It may not be
possible for me to discriminate between the human and the
divine agency; nor can I tell where one colour in the rain-
bow terminates, and where another begins; yet do I know

8 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

that these colours are different, and both in the rainbow! I
may not be able to reconcile the free-agency of man With
the fixed pur'poses of God which I believe ; nor can I recon-
cile the free-agency of man with the forekjimdedge of God,
which all must believe; suffice it to know that both doctrines
are taught in the Bible, and I know that the Bible is true.
Do I trample upon reason ? I deny it — I have a syllogism.
It is this. My heavenly Father says that these doctrines are
all true. My heavenly Father never tells lies, and therefore
these doctrines are all true I But can they ever be recon-
ciled or explained ? I believe they both can, and will be,
when God gives the key ! Suppose, for a moment, that you
were utterly unacquainted with your twofold existence, as
consisting of soul and body. Now, whilst believing yourself
to be a simple, and not a compound being, suppose I should
say : "You are a mortal man, and must soon die ;" and the
next moment should pronounce yoa an wwiorial being, and
affirm that you can never die, but must live for ever!
Would you not say, that I spoke very absurdly, and used
very contradictory language ? But, should I add, wait a
little, and you will have the key, and then all will be plain,
and you will see that all is true, and there is no absurdity, no
contradiction whatever ; methinks you would reply, " No,
sir, no key will answer, none can reconcile things so per-
fectly contradictory, ' mortal^ and yet at the same time ' im-
mortal r "tniist die! and yet, will not, cmmot die! the thing
Is absurd. It cannot be! But when you are let into the
secret of your twofold nature — O, now ! there is no difficulty
at all ! Even so, in relation to the sovereignty of God, and
the free-agency of man, we find it difficult to reconcile these
things noiv^ because tJie key is ivanting. In a future state
the key will be given, and then there will be no difficulty at
all. In the mean time let us remember, that the Bible is
suited to our probationary state. We need our faith tried,
as well as any other grace, or virtue. And now our grand
inquiry is, What does the Bible teach? for

" This is the judge that ends the strife,
Where wit and reason fail ;
My guide to everlasting life,
Through all this gloomy vale."

That the government of God extends, not only to all tilings
but to all events ; not only to all creatures, but to all their

THE SOVEREIGNTY OP GOD. ^

actions. In other words, that the providence of God is, in
some way or other, concerned with all that is done or tran-
spires on earth, is manifest from very many passages of
Scripture. The strongest, I think, are those which asser'
the providence of God in cases where, least of all, it might
have been expected.

Thus, in the 127th Psalm, we find it thus written : " Except
the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.
Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
vain." And again, " The lot is cast into the lap, but the
whole disposing thereof, is of the Lord." But there is an-
other passage of Scripture, perhaps, yet more remarkable ;
inasmuch as it asserts the providence and purpose of God in
a case iiivolvbig sin, dreadtul sin ! The passage referred
to is found in Acts ii. 23 ; " Him being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." The
crucifixion of Christ, by envious and wicked Jews, was cer-
tainly a crime of great magnitude ; and yet the apostle Peter
tells us expressly that it was " according to the determinate
counsel a7id foreknowledge of GodP The explanation of the
matter is simply this : God knowing all things, foreknew
what evil passions would be waked up in the bosom of the
Jews by the Hfe, and doctrines, and reproofs of our Saviour,
and he also knew full well to what a murderous deed those
evil passions would lead, if not restrained. For wise and
benevolent purposes towards our race, God determined, not
to restrain those evil passions, but to leave the Jews, (as of
course he justly might) to the freedom of their own will —
leave them to act out their own depravity; purposing, as I
have said, to overrule the whole matter to the accomplish-
ment of great ends. God was certainly under no obligation
to exercise a restraining influence upon those wicked Jews ;
and if He foreknew what crime they unrestrained would
commit, his " foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,
which had proved no less certain unforeknown ;" hence the
apostle Peter, at the very time that he speaks of the cruci-
fixion of Christ as being according to the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God, nevertheless, charges home all
the guilt thereof, upon the wicked Jews. Observe his lan-
guage! " Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by icicked
hands Juive crucified and slain.'''' The case of Joseph also,

10 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

is precisely in point. He was hated by his brethren, ana by
them sold into Egypt. This was a great sin ; and afterwards,
when in trouble, they freely confessed it. " And they said,
one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother,
in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us,
and we would not hear, therefore is this distress upon us. And
Reuben answered, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do
not sin against the child, and ye would not hear, therefore,
behold also, his blood is required." Thus, all who had a
hand in selling Joseph, acknowledged, and^e/^ that they had
acted freely, and they writhed under the stings of an accusing
conscience. Yet, when Joseph made himself known unto
them, and they were greatly troubled at his presence, what
said Joseph unto them 1 "I am Joseph, your brother, whom
ye sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved, nor
angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither ; for God did
send me before you to preserve life. Ye thought evil against
me, but God meant it unto good, to save much people alive."
There needs be no difficulty. The case is simply this.
God being infinitely wise, knows how, in perfect consistency
with the perfections of his character, to make use of all
instrumentalities, good and bad, for the accomplishment of
his wise and benevolent purposes. Certain things God bj-i?igs
to pass by a positive agency. Other things he simply per-
mits to come to pass. And, let it be remarked, permis-
sion and approbation do not, by any means, mean the same
thing. Napoleon Bonaparte, when a child, wished to go to
a certain place, but was forbidden by his mother. Being
headstrong, he persisted in going. " Well, my son," said
his mother, " you may go, but remember ! it is not with your
mother's approbation." And thus God oftentimes permiU
things which, so far from commanding, he forbids, and highly
disapproves. He permits sometimes because he would not
interfere with the free-agency of the creature. He permits,
sometimes, because he purposes (as in the cases already
mentioned) to overrule the evil intended for good; and some-
times he permits, in a judicial way as a punishment for sins
previously committed. Hence the language of Paul in refer-
ence to the heathen and their abominations : " Even as they
did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them aver to do things which are not convenient." And
now let it not be forgotten, this is all that is meant by a
certain passage in our Shorter Catechism, which has been

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. 1%

much caviled at, viz. "The decrees of God are his eternal
purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for
his own glory he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to
pass." In other words it may be stated thus : By the decrees
of God, we mean no formal legislative enactment, (as, " Thus
it shall be," and " thus it shall not be,") but, simply the calm
and settled purpose of an infinitely ivise and gracious God^
to bring txt pass ; or permit to come to pass wJmt^ocver does
come to pass ^ for tlie glory of his name. Does any one ask,
what is the difference between bringing to pass and ^?e?7?zf^-
ti?ig to come to pass? I answer, God brought to pass ihe
incarnation of his Son ; He permitted to come to pass his
crucifixion. The difference is as wide as the east is from
the west. Our doctrine, then, is simply this; By positive
and permissive decrees, God, in wisdom and in love, man-
ages the affairs of the universe, directs and controls all
things, and all events, all creatures, and all their actions. It
must be so, for suppose an event to take place without the
divine permission ; for example, then, it must be either
because God is not aware of it, or cannot prevent it. If not
aware of it. He cannot be omniscient ; if He cannot pre-
vent it, then he is not omnipotent; and then, of course, in the
last case, " there must be a power behind the throne greater
than the throne itself," which thought would be frightful !
No, our doctrine is true, that the government of God extends
not only to all things, but to all events, not only to all crea-
tures, but to all their actions. In other words, that a Divine
providence is concerned, in some way or other, concerned
" in all the good and ill that checker human life." Is further
proof demanded ? Permit me to quote a very remarkable
passage found in Isaiah xlv. 7 ; " I form the light, and I
create darkness ; I make peace and create evil ; I, the Lord,
do all these things." What! the Lord create evil? Yes! but
in such a way as casts no stain upon his moral perfections ;
but, on the contrary, will furnish new matter for admiration
and praise. Hence, the language of joy and gratulation which
immediately follows. " Drop down ye heavens from above!
and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth
open, and let them bring forth salvation. Let righteousness
spring up together; I, the Lord, have created it." But koto
does God create evil. As he does darkness. The first
sentence explains the last. Observe the language ; I form
the light, and I create darkness. How does God form the

12 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

light? By a positive influence, pouring radiance around
How does God create darkness? By withholding this radi-
ance. Even so, by a positive influence, God makes peace,
and by withholding that influence, creates evil, that is, per-
mits it. In this, is God the author of sin ? No more than
the sun is the source of darkness, although its absence occa-
sions that darkness. But this leads me to notice another
distinguishing feature, or characteristic of the government
of God.

4. It is absolute. There is no doctrine more plainly taught
in the Scriptures than this. " Our God is in the heavens," says
the Psalmist, " he hath done whatsoever he pleased." And
again : " Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he, in heaven
and in earth ; in the seas and in all deep places." Paul con-
firming the doctnne, positively asserts that God worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. And Elihu, know-
ing that some would be disposed to contend against the doc-
tnne, says : " Why dost thou strive against him ? for he
giveth not account of any of his matters." As God is in-
debted to none for his crown. He is amenable to none for
his government. Being the Creator and Preserver of all
things, he is in the sublimest sense of the term, the Proprietor
of all things ; and, therefore, has a right to do all his plea-
sure, in the armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants
of the earth ; and being infinitely perfect, it should be a
matter of boundless joy and gratulation, that he is, and ever
will be, THE reigning God ! He giveth not account of any
of his matters, and why ? Because the policy of his govern-
ment, and his reasons of state cannot be comprehended by
any finite mind. Sufficient for us to know, that He is infinitely
wise and good, and does all things well. As a sovereign
God he gives and withholds the fruits of the earth, and the
rains of heaven. As a sovereign God he commands the hail
and the tempest ; the lightning and the storm ; and, at his
command, also fierce diseases go and come. Yes, when it
seems good in his sight,

" He involves the heaven

In tempest ! quits his grasp upon the winds.
And gives them all their fury, bids the plague
Kindle a fiery boil upon the skin,
And putrefy the breath of blooming youth !
He calls for famine, and the meagre fiend
Blows mildew from between his shrivelled lips,
And taints the golden ear !"

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. 18

The Lord, says Hannah, in her song of thankfulness, "the
Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich. He bringeth low, and
lifteth up. He raiseth the poor up out of the dust, and liftelh
up the beggar from the dung-hill to set them among princes,
and to make them inherit the throne of glory ! for the pillars
of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon
them." The idea is this. The Lord is the proprietor of all
things, and therefore a sovereign God ! Yes, my reader,
as a sovereign God, he has not only fixed the bounds of the
sea, but he has also fixed the bounds of our habitations ; the
bounds of our possessions, and the bounds of our lives. All
things are under the full control of a wise and powerful God !
If, then, some are rich and some are poor, some are honoured
and some despised; if some have great prosperity, and some
have great affliction ; if this child is an idiot, and that has
good sense ; if this child is born a cripple, and that in the
full exercise of all its limbs, it is, ^'•Even so, Father, for so it
seejned good i?i thy sight. ''^ And this reminds me of the
case of a poor little mute in one of our Institutions for the
Deaf and Dumb: "Child," said a visitor, (the conversation
was in writing,) " child, can you tell me who made the
world ?" " In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth," replied the mute. " Very well, and can you tell
me who Jesus Christ is ?" " In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God," was
another beautiful answer of the mute. "All very good,"
said the gentleman, " and now, one question more. Can you
tell me, child, how it comes to pass that you are deaf and
dumb when others can both hear and speak ?" '■'■Even so,
Fat}wr,for so it seemed good hi thy sight ^"^ replied the child
with great meekness ! Where did this child of affliction
learn this lesson? At the feet of the blessed Jesus. You
recollect the Saviour had sent out his disciples, two and two,
to preach the gospel, and when they returned with joy, and
said, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy
name," it is added, " In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and of earth,
because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so.
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Our Saviour,
when on earth, often wept, but so far as I can recollect, only
on this occasion, is he said to have rejoiced ! And in what
did he rejoice ? In the sovereignty of God ! I thank

14 THE SOVEREIG^fTY OF GOD.

thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because tlwu hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent^ and hast
revealed them unto hahes. Even so. Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. This is the more remarkable as it has
reference to the sovereignty of God exercised in spiritual
matters, in giving to some what was hidden from others.
And we find the same spirit animating Paul, and in relation
to the same matter. Hear his own words : " Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame
before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, in whom also we have obtained an in-
heritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of
him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."
The doctrine of God's sovereign and electing love is here
plainly taught. And observe I It is not a national election
that is spoken of, for Paul says, who liath chosen us ? Not
us Gentiles^ for Paul was not a Gentile, nor us Jeivs^ for
the Ephesians were not Jews. If we were addressing a
company of Africans, we would not s?iy , us Africans ! We
are not Africans, nor could we say us Americans^ for they
are not Americans. No national election can then be here
intended, nor the election of characters, for those said to be
chosen in Christ, were not said to be chosen in Christ,
because they were holy, but tJiat they should he holy. And
this reminds me of a passage in the Acts. Luke says, "And
as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed." If
the election of characters and not persons be intended,
Luke made a slip of the pen, and should have said, As many
as believed were ordained unto eternal life. But no ! this is
the way it is written, and as many as were ordained
UNTO ETERNAL LIFE BELIEVED. But, as Paul, in the passage
quoted, has no reference to a national, nor election of char-
acters; neither does he here offer reference to the apostle-
ship or any thing of the kind, for the persons to whom the
epistle was addressed, were simply " the saints at Ephesus,"
and " the faithful in Christ Jesus ;" besides, it is expressly
stated that they were chosen, not to the apostleship nor any
thing of the kind, but to tJte cuhption of children. Some
object to the doctrine of election. It is the word 1 It is in

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. 15

the Bible, in numerous places, and cannot be expunged. Is
it the principle 7 You elect your Governors, your Presidents,
your generals, your judges, your sheriffs, your pastors,
your partners in love and trade. No principle more com-
mon amongst men ; we should not marvel, therefore, if it
be common with God. Do men set a value upon the
exercise of the principle? Go to the ballot-box, and tell that
free-born American, that he shall not exercise the elective
franchise ! He will surrender his life, before he surrenders
that right 1 If, then, man sets a value upon the 'principle^
why may not his Maker 1 But, is the doctrine of personal
election objected to? And what is this doctrine? I would
define it thus : It is God's 2yl(^n of securing the salvation of
S07?ie, of a great multitude which no man can number !
Now, why should we object to a plan for secui'ing the salva-
tion of a great multitude of the human family, which no man
can number, when, without it, the salvation of all would be
in jeopardy? And here I am reminded of the remark of a
certain very pious old lady. When asked whether she
believed in the doctrine of election, "Certainly," replied she,
" for it is in the Bible." " What !" said the inquirer, "do
you believe that you were elected before you were born ?"
" Yes," said she promptly, " I have been su^h a poor vile
sinner, if God had not elected me before I was born, lie
never would afterwards^ This remark, if I mistake not,
must be understood and appreciated by all who know any
thing of their own hearts, and have felt the power of God's
victorious grace. And here permit me to remark, that the
doctrine of election was designed for the consolation of God's
children ; and I would appeal to the feelings of every real
Christian. Is it not more delightful to think that God set his
love upon us from all eternity, than that he began to love us
the other day ? And what is so cheering to the child of
God, need not be discouraging to the unconverted, for they
have the same encouragement to seek salvation now, that
the Christian had before he was converted. And the fact
is, the grand inquiry is, not whether we can understand
every part of the scheme of redemption, but whether there
is such a scheme whereby the sinner may be saved. Not
whether two or three doctrines in the Bible are hard to be
understood, but whether the Bible itself which contains these
doctrines be the word of God. Not whether we are of the
elect or reprobate, but whether wc arc sinners and need the

16 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

salvation of Christ; for it is very remarkable, the same
Bible which tells us that " whom God foreknew, them he
also predestinated;" also says, "Whosoever will, let him
take of the water of life freely." And again : " It is a faith-
ful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners." Thus there are two
classes of Scri-pture passages, and we believe them both.
And as I have said before, so say I again, there is no
more difficulty in reconciling the fore-ordination, than the
foreknowledge of God with the free-agency of man, so that
Christians of diiferent persuasions should be very kind and
charitable towards each other, inasmuch as (so far as regards
the matter of difficulty) they are all in the same condemna-
tion ; and one thing is certain ; if the system called " Cat-
vinistic^'' be not scriptural, it looks very much like it. To
prove this matter let us try it in this way. Suppose that the
apostle Paul should enter the sacred desk, disguised as a
preacher, and looking over the congregation should break
out in these words : " Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in
love ; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of
his will." Would you not suspect that this stranger was a
Calvinistic preacher 1 And suppose, waxing a little warmer,
he should goon and say: "Moreover, whom he predestinated,
them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justi-
fied ; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Who
shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect 1 It is God
that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea, rather that is risen again, who also maketh fnter-
cession for us." Would you not think the preacher strongly
Calvinisticl And suppose, waxing still warmer, and rising
with the grandeur of the theme, he should add : " The Lord
hath made all things to himself, even the wicked for the day of
evil: therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy;
and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt, then, say unto me,
Wherefore doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his
will ? Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against
God ? Shall the thing formed, say to him that formed it, why
hast thou made mc thus ? Hath not the potter power over

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. 17

the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour,
and another unto dishonour?" Suppose, I say, the apostle
Paul, disguised as a preacher, should utter these " hard say-
in o-s," would you not pronounce him a Calvmistic preacho
of the " straitest sect ?" Ah ! my reader, the case is clear.
According to the Scriptures, God is a sovereign God, and
doth his pleasure in the armies of heaven, and amongst the
inhabitants of the earth, and there is none that can stay his
hand, or say unto him, What dost thou 1 As an absolute
sovereign, he rules over all the worlds of nature, and of
grace; and if one person is prospered, and another afflicted;
if one is born in a gospel, and another in a pagan land ; if
one lives to an old age, and another is cut down in youth, or
early childhood ; and if one is converted and made the trophy
of victorious grace, and another is permitted to go on in sin
and perish in sin, it is, "Even so Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight."

" Nor Gabriel asks the reason why,
Nor God the reason gives !"

But, 5. The last distinguishing feature or characteristic
of the Divine government, is this: It is wise and good.
Infinitely wise and good ! If a being clothed with such
tremendous power, O! if a being invested with such abso-
lute dominion over all things, were capricious or malignant,
if he took pleasure in inflicting pain, or delighted in the death
of any of his creatures, how frightful would be the condition
of the universe! But joy, joy to creation; this great Being,
THIS sovereign God, is no less wise than he is powerful;
no less good than he is great! It is true that there are
mysteries in the Divine government ; and not unfrequently
the paths of the Almighty are in the deep waters, and his
ways past finding out. It is because God works upon a
large pattern. His schemes embrace all time, and all
eternity. Of course, we can see only a part, and how can
we judge of the whole ? Some cavil and object, because sin
and sorrow have been permitted to enter our world ; but
who can tell, whether by the wise and overruling providence
of God, these may not be made use of as the shading of
some grcul moral picture? One thing we know, a dark
ground is best for gilding, and precious stones set in ebony,
shine with more brilliancy ! There are, moreover, provi-
dences in relation to nations, families, and individuals

18 THE SOVEREIGNTY OP GOD.

which, to such short-sighted creatures as we are, appear
very mysterious, but, in the winding up, we shall, no doubt,
all have to say. He has done all things well. You recollect
the case of Jacob. In a dark hour he said, " Joseph is not,
and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away also.
All these things are against me, and ye will bring down my
gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." But mark the wind-
ing up ! Joseph is taken away, it is true, but it is only for
a season ; and lo 1 Joseph's wagons are come ! Joseph is
made Governor over all the land of Egypt; he has provided
corn for the patriarch and all his household ; and lo ! Joseph's
wagons are come to take them all down into Egypt, to
nourish them, and keep them well provided for in a time of
famine ! And see, too, those silvery locks of his which the
patriarch, in a dark hour, said, should go down with sorrow
to the grave. Only see how they fall upon the neck of his
beloved son, Joseph !

" Shall little haughty iffnorance proDounce
His works unwise ? the smallest part of which
Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind ?
As if upon a full proportioned dome,
With swelling columns heaved, the pride of art,
A critic fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads,
An inch around, with blind presumption bold,
Should dare to tax the structure of the whole !"

"A thing, says Eliphas, was secretly brought unto me, and
mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts, from the visions
of the night, when deep vsleep falleth upon man, fear came
upon me, and trembling which made all my bones to shake!
Then a spirit passed before my face ! The hair of my flesh
stood up ! It stood still, but I could not discern the form
thereof. An image was before mine eyes ! There was
silence, and I heard a voice saying, ' Shall mortal man be
more just than God ? Shall a man be more pure than his
Maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants, and he
charged his angels with folly.' Child of the dust, enter into
thy nothingness ! Creature of yesterday, put thine hands
to thy mouth, and listen to the loud and harmonious shout of
the heavenly world: Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth !" Now, my reader, we see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. Now, we know in part, but then shall
we know, even as also wc arc known. O when all darkness

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. llj

shall be removed, and the plans of heaven shall be fully
developed, we shall then see that every thing permitted and
done on earth, was permitted and done in wisdom and in
love. Here is a piece of embroidery. It is some great
master-piece of art. You look upon the wrong side. You
see nothing beautiful or distinct! Turn the right side, and
you exclaim, " O what a beautiful piece of embroidery this
is! The colours, how brilliant! The figures, how distinct!"
Here is a celebrated painting stretched over the wall. It
has many figures, and they are so arranged that, to the eye,
that takes in the whole design of the artist, it appears most
admirable ; but there is a curtain hanging over a part of it,
and you are perplexed! Remove the curtain; then comes
admiration, and you laud the artist, and pronounce the paint-
ing the most beautiful and perfect that you have ever seen.
So it is with all the plans and providential dispensations of
heaven. When the curtain is removed, then will they appear
in beauty and glory far transcending all our conceptions now !
*' What I do, says the Saviour, thou knowest not now, but
thou shalt know hereafter." Alleluia ! for the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth !

Christians! here is matter of joy for you! O how delight-
ful to think that it is your God and heavenly Father who
fills the throne and sways the sceptre, and rules over all!
And joy upon joy ! He will never abdicate the government,
but will reign for ever ! In what rapid succession do the kings
of the earth succeed each other ! but our King is one, and
there is no other ! The alone monarch of the universe.
None before him ! None after him ! Through all the ages
of time, thi'ough all the cycles of eternity, One and alone I
The Lord shall reign for ever and ever, says the Psalmist,
even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the
Lord. He reigns over tlie worlds and, although wickedness
abounds, and sorrows now prevail, yet the world is in good
hands, and all its affairs are under the control of a wise and
powerful God. Aye, and the time is coming, when great
voices shall be heard in heaven, saying, " The kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his
Christ !" Moreover^ Christian, your God reigns over the
Church. Aye, and " Zion enjoys her Monarch's love."
God is in the midst of her. God will help her, and that
right early. " Look upon Zion ! the city of our solemnities.
Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a taber-

20 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

nacle that shall not be taken down. Not one of the stakes
thereof, shall ever be removed ; neither shall any of the cords
thereof be broken ; but there the glorious Lord will be unto
us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no
galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby !"
But God not only reigns over the world and the church.
He reigns aver all tilings I Then, believer, remember. He
reigns over you and yours ! All your interests are safely
lodged in his hands! Has sorrow entered your dwelling]
Has deep affliction come upon you 1 O, remember ! He who
notices the falling sparrow will not forget the children of his
love. Fear not, in the sight of your heavenly Father you
are of more value than many sparrows. All your trials are
known to him. Your sighs are heard. Your tears are in
his bottle; and the promise is. All things shall work together,
for good to them that love God. Yes, thank God !

" There is a day of sunny rest,

For every dark and stormy night ;
And grief may hide an evening guest,
But joy shall come at morning light !"

Alleluia ! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! Amen.
Alleluia 1

Ct'

No. 79.

A MESSAGE FROM GOD.

The Lord God hath spoken, who can hut prophesy ? — Amos iii. 8.
The Lord God hath spoken ; what hath he said ? Listen
to him who speaks from heaven. None can refuse to Hsten
and be innocent. — Heb. xii. 25, 26.

No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpre-
tation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man : but holy men of God spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost. 2 Pet. i. 20, 21. The prophets were
not self-appointed ; they spake not of themselves. They
were appointed by God to do his work ; they must speak
what he willed ; they must declare what he communicated
to them. When he made known to them his will, they felt
it their duty to speak ; they could not then keep silence ;
and if any opposed, or expressed surprise, they might say,
as does Amos, The Lord God hath spoken, who can but
prophesy 1 Amos iii. 8.

The same may be said of the ministers of Christ at the
present day. No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he
that is called of God, as was Aaron. Heb. v. 4. They are
appointed of God. They are sent by him. They are to do
his bidding ; preach what he teaches ; preach the preaching
that he bids them. Jonah iii. 2. Saith Paul, We preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord ; and ourselves your ser-
vants for Jesus' sake. 2 Cor. iv. 5. And again. Now, then,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech
you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God. 2 Cor. v. 20. In another place he declares, For
though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for
necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach
not the gospel ! 1 Cor. ix. 16. Peter and John, when com-
manded by the rulers not to preach at all, nor teach in the
name of Jesus, answered, Whether it be right in the sight
of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen
and heard. Acts iv. 19, 20. And when on one occasion
the apostles were imprisoned, the angel of the Lord by night
opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said.
Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words
of this life. Acts v. 19, 20. And when they were again

1 ♦

li A MESSAGE FROM GOD.

threatened by those in authority for obeying the charge given
them by the angel, Peter and the other apostles answered
and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. Acts v.
29. This is the spirit which every minister of Christ should
possess. He should not fear the face of man. He should
feel that he is commissioned by Heaven to declare Heaven's
message to men; and that message he should faithfully
declare. These words of Amos should be deeply impressed
upon his heart, — The Lord God hath spoken it, who can
but prophesy?

Reader, here is a message from God. But, you ask.
What saith the Lord ? I answer,

1 . The Lord God hath spoken in regard to the fall and
ruin of man. The works of God, as they came from his
hand, were pronounced very good. Gen. i. 31. Man was
created in the image of God, with a heart to love him, and
with powers to serve him. Gen. i. 26, 27. There was no
conflict then between the passions and the judgment ; no
subjection of the mind and the conscience to the mere
animal propensities of his nature. But how do we see him
now 1 The image of God is obliterated from his soul ; he
has no heart to love his Maker and no disposition to serve
him ; the passions ruling over the judgment ; the animal
propensities enslaving the mind and stifling the voice of
conscience. If man was made upright, he is not now as
God made him. He is fallen. So God's providence de-
clares. He deals with man as a fallen and rebellious
creature. What mean those afflictions through which he
is doomed to pass, if he be not a sinner? What mean the
judgments with which he is visited \ What mean the cala-
mities which distress the nations, the wars, the pestilences,
the famines? Could God in his providence declare, more
unequivocally than he does, his hatred of sin, or teach
more plainly that man, because of his transgressions, is the
enemy of God ? But we are not left to infer from the
teachings of providence, what man now is. We have only
to open the volume of inspiration and read what the Lord
God hath spoken. Our first parents fell ; and their " fall
brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery." In
Adam all die. 1 Cor. xv. 22. Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Rom. v. 12 —
19. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of

A MESSAGE FROM GOD. 3

God. Rom. iii. 23. And God hates sin. He is angry with
the wicked every day. Ps. vii. 11. And he has declared,
. The wages of sin is death : the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Rom. vi. 23 ; Ez. xviii. 20. Now, since the Lord God
hath thus spoken, who can hut prophesy ? It is not left
optional with us whether we shall speak of your sinfulness
or not. We must bring against you a charge of criminality
— of rebellion against God — of treason against the King of
kings. Nor are there any circumstances to mitigate your
offence. It stands out in all its blackness, without excuse,
and without a parallel. You live upon the bounty of God,
and yet you sin against him ! You are exposed to his
wrath, and yet you rush on without a thought of what is
before you ! Your feet are pressing down to death, and yet
you inquire not for a way of escape ! Your immortal
nature is in ruins ; a fiery doom awaits you ; and yet you
are at ease! And who can refrain from speaking? Think
you we are beside ourselves? Ah, no; we speak words of
truth and soberness ; and if Christians were not asleep, they
would give you no rest while you remain unreconciled to
God. We speak to you God's truth when we declare that
you are exposed to his wrath ; we utter only what God hath
spoken, when we announce to you that you are condemned
because of your sins, and are in the road to everlasting woe.
A sinner ? You confess it ! Condemned ? You feel it !
At ease? How wonderllil ! Your very security — your in-
difference— is alarming ; and it should cause a warning
voice to arise in your ears from every tongue that can speak
of sin apd of the Saviour.

2. Again — The Lord God hath spoken respecting the way
of recovery from si?i and ruin. Easy is the descent to
misery, but not so easy is the return ; to retrace our steps
is the labor and the difficulty. Man has involved himself
in difficulty, but to extricate himself exceeds his wisdom and
his power. There must be deliverance, or he is lost ; there
must be salvation, or the threatened penalty of the law will
be executed, and they who are now dead in trespasses and
sins, must suffer the horrors of the second death. And
where shall we look for deliverance? Nature speaks of
our misery, but it says nothing of relief; it teaches our sin-
fulness, but provides no Saviour ; it tells of our guilt, but
offers no expiation. , The schemes which human wisdom has
devised, serve only to aggravate our case ; they tantalize us

4 A MESSAGE FROM GOD.

with hopes which they can never fulfil, with promises which
they can never perform, with expectations which they can
never gratify. But the Bible unfolds the way of life. Here
God speaks ; and here it is written that God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John iii. 16. For when we were yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for the ungodly. But God com-
mendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sin-
ners, Christ died for us. Rom. v. 6, 8. Here, then, is the
hope of the sinner; here is the way of deliverance and
escape. Our iniquities were laid upon Jesus Christ ; he
bare our sins in his own body on the tree ; in him the law
was honoured, the claims of justice satisfied, and full atone-
nr>ent made. Isa. liii. 3 — 6 ; 1 Pet. ii. 24. While, therefore,
we remind you of the fall, and endeavour to impress upon
your heart a sense of your sin and misery, it is also our
privilege to preach to you salvation through atoning blood.
The Lord God hath spoken concerning a Saviour, Christ,
the Lord ; and how shall we refrain from speaking of him ?
A message from God concerning Jesus Christ ! He is a
precious Saviour ; he is an all-sufficient Saviour ; he is able
and mighty to save, able to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him. Heb. vii. 25. He is just the Saviour
you need ; he is all you need ; and through him there is
offered to you a gratuitous pardon. In him there is life;
and without him you must die the second death. How,
then, can we cease to point you to him, and say. Behold the
Lamb of God? John i. 36. And yet how you treat this
Saviour ! He is the only begotten and the well beloved of
the Father ; he is God's dear Son ; he speaks of him in the
most endearing terms; and he is the only foundation on
which you can build a sure hope of heaven ; and yet you
will not come to him that you may have life ! John v. 40.
You receive him not when he is offered to you ; you will
not have him to reign over you and rule in you ; and you
seem determined, rather than embrace Jesus Christ, to
perish in your sins ! Poor dying sinner, what has Jesus
done that he should be thus slighted by you ? What are your
hopes for the eternal world, that you can afford thus to turn
your back upon the Son of God? The Lend God hath
spoken^ and though you close your eyes to your danger, and
shut your ears to the voice of mercy, we will yet prophesy

A MESSAGE FROM GOD. ^

of Jesus ; and if you perish, the last accents which fall
upon your failing senses as you go down to the chambers
of death, shall be the accents of entreaty, calling you to the
cross of Christ. You may deride our earnestness, yet we
will speak ; we will deliver our souls from your blood ; and
you shall know your duty, though you do it not. The Sa-
viour rejected? Oh, think of his bloody agony, and his
dying groans ! The soul lost when Christ has died 1 Oh,
sinner, what desperate wickedness in your heart ! And yet
you dream of heaven I You hope to dwell forever with the
blessed ! How vain the hope I While Christ is rejected,
there is no hope of heaven for you ! How then can we
cease to speak of Christ? and if we should, would not the
very stones cry out, and reprove you for a rejected Saviour,
a God dishonoured, and the Spirit grieved ? Jesus rejected
is the ruin of the soul; shall this be the ruin of yours ? Will
you longer reject him ?

3. Again ; the Lord God hath spoken concerning tJte ne-
cessity of repentance. Repentance is necessary because
men are sinners ; and though Christ has died, he did not die
to save men in their sins, but from them. But how can
men be delivered from their sins, if they do not repent of
them ? or, how can men be forgiven if they do not repent ?
Repentance includes confession ; and this is necessary in
order to forgiveness. Repentance includes sorrow for sin ;
and how can we expect the pardon of that for which we
feel no regret ? To repent of sin is to forsake it ; and how
can we look for pardon while we continue in our transgres-
sions ? And evangelical repentance is always connected
with faith in Christ : there can be no repentance without
faith, and no faith without repentance. And as Jesus Christ
is the only way of access to the Father, it is impossible that
the impenitent man should be forgiven, because he has no
faith in the Saviour. He cherishes the sins which put the
Redeemer to the shameful death of the cross ; he lives on
in open transgression against God ; and he manifests no dis-
position to avail himself of the Scriptural way of pardon
and life. As God hath spoken of the sinfulness of men ;
as he speaks of the Saviour who died for our sins ; so he
speaks of the necessity of repentance. Repentance, or per-
dition, is the alternative which he sets before us. Whatever
else is neglected, this must be done, or the soul is undone.
The sinner must repent or perish. Yes, sinner, you must

1*

8 A MESSAGE FROM GOD.

repent or perish ! I stop not now to inquire how the work
is to be done. My business now is with the duty which
God requires at your hands, and which you must do, or die !
John the Baptist preached repentance ; when Jesus came, he
preached repentance ; and he has commanded us to preach
in his name, repentance and remission of sins among all
nations. Luke xxiv. 47. From infancy upward this duty
has been urged upon you, and yet it is not done ! Sabbath
after Sabbath, year after year, has the duty been enforced,
and yet it is not begun ! Your soul is soon to stand before ^
the judgment seat, and yet you have not begun to prepare
to meet your God ! And, sinner, would you have us be
silent ? Would you be let alone, that you may make your
destruction sure ? But the Lord God hath spoken, and who
can but prophesy? You may refuse to hear, and yet we
will speak ; you may turn away from our message — the
message of God — and yet we will cry after you. Repent !
REPENT ! REPENT ! for we know that except you repent,
you must perish. Luke xiii. 3. Perish ! Sinner, did you ever
think of it ? You have often heard the word — the sound is
familiar to your ear — its accents may have been often on
your tongue — but have you ever devoted a serious thought to
the thing itself? It is not a mere name — not barely a sound
— it is a stern and fearful reality. To perish ! O, who can
tell what it is? Yet if repentance be neglected, this must be
your doom. Repentance? God requires it at your hands !
Repentance ? God gives you space for repentance ; he has
given you days, and months, and years ; and he commands
you to repent now ! Acts xvii. 30. This is the time to
begin. Every moment of delay is a moment of rebellion
and disobedience ! Every moment of delay is a moment
of peril to your soul — a moment of suspense to the angels
that wait to rejoice over you — a moment of rejection of the
Saviour, who says, How often would I, and ye would not !
Matt, xxiii. 37. There is danger, sinner, danger; and
would you impose silence on us ? But God has spoken, and
we must speak. God cries after you, Return ; and we
will cry Repent ! REPENT !

4. Again, the Lord God hath spoken of the necessity
of faith. Faith receives the testimony of God, the record
which God hath given of his Son ; and he who believes not
makes God a liar! 1 John v. 10. Faith receives and rests
upon Jesus Christ for salvation ; and how can they be saved

A MESSAGE FROM GOD. 7

who reject the only Saviour? Without faith it is impossible
to please God ; without faith there is no salvation. Heb. xi. 6.
He that hath the Son, hath life ; and he that hath not the Son
of God, hath not life. 1 John v. 12. He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life : and he that believeth not the
Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on
him. John iii. 36. Such are the words which God hath
spoken concerning the necessity of faith ; and it is also de-
clared. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved ; but
he that believeth not, shall be damned. Mark xvi. 16. Faith
is connected inseparably with repentance; and as unbe-
lievers never repent, how can they be saved ? Jesus Christ
has died ; he has shed his blood for the remission of sins ;
he has brought in an everlasting righteousness ; he offers
full and free pardon ; but the blessings he has purchased are
suspended upon our faith. It is by faith that we are justi-
fied ; by faith that we are saved ; we must believe to the
saving of our souls. Rom. v. 1; x. 10; Heb. x. 39,
Through Jesus Christ forgiveness of sins is preached ; and
all that believe are justified from all things. Acts xiii. 38,
39. This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom
he hath sent ; this is his commandment, that we should
believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. John vi. 29 ;
1 John iii. 23. Here, then, is the alternative before you, —
Faith or damnation. You must believe or be damned ! You
must come to Jesus, accept of Christ, kiss the Son, or perish.
Ps. ii. 12. This is the work before you ; and it must be
done, or you are lost ! I pause not now to ask how you are
to do it. My business now is only with the fact — the duty
— and I only declare to you what God hath spoken, when I
say, you must believe in Jesus Christ, or your destruction
is as certain as if you were now in hell ! Yes, you must
believe,; there is no rest for your soul short of faith in Jesus
Christ ; and there is nothing without yourself, nor within
yourself, which should prevent your reception of Jesus
Christ by faith now — nothing to justify a moment's delay —
nothing but your own wicked heart to hinder your coming
to Christ and committing your soul to him now ! Now is the
accepted time; now is the day of salvation ; now you should
believe. 2 Cor. vi. 2. You can have no hope and no rest
until you embrace Jesus Christ by faith. Sinner, the cross
stands between you and perdition, and you must flee to the
cross, if you would live. The cross stands between you and

8 A MESSAGE FROM GOD.

heaven, and you must embrace it or die. How often
has the necessity of faith been urged upon you ! And
still you believe not. How reasonable the demand of faith !
and yet how reluctant your heart to the duty ! Who hath
believed our report ? and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed ? Isa. liii. 1. And shall we cease to testify repent-
ance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ 1
Acts XX. 21. Would you have us be silent, when your sal-
tion is at stake ? But the Lord God hath spoken, and
who can but prophesy ? Yes, sinner, we will continue to
prophesy, while God spares us and you, and while you live
you shall hear of Jesus, and be entreated to believe in him !
Believe, and you shall be saved. And did you ever think
what salvation is ? You have dreamed of heaven ; you
have hoped for heaven ; but have you given a thought to
what heaven is ? It is a place of purity ; there is no sin
there. It is a place of happiness ; there is no sorrow there.
It is a place of praise ; there are everlasting songs. But,
sinner, there is no heaven for man without faith in Jesus
Christ ; there is no heaven for you, unless you believe !
That your soul may be saved — that heaven may be yours —
we will continue to press upon your acceptance the Saviour
of sinners ; living, we will point you to the Lamb of God ;
and dying, our broken accents in death shall be, Look unto
Christ and be saved ! Believe and live !

5. Again, the Lord God hath spoken in regard to the
necessity of regeneration. Think how much evil there is
in your heart ; what forgetfulness of God ; what love to the
world ; what reluctance to duty ; what aversion to holiness ;
what disregard of the gospel ; what unbelief; what impeni-
tence ; what unholy desires ; what evil thoughts and base
imaginations : and can that heart be fit for heaven ? Is that
heart which resists the Holy Ghost, fit to be his eternal
habitation? Is that heart which rejects the Saviour pre-
pared to dwell with him forever 1 Ah, that heart must be
made new, or take up its abode in the world of darkness.
God hath spoken by his Son, and said. Ye must be born
again. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh ; and that
which is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Ye must be born of
the Spirit, or ye can never enter the kingdom of God. John
iii. 3 — 8. Yes, reader, you must be born twice before you
can die once, or it had been better for you never to have
been born. Born again ! This necessity lies upon you —

A MESSAGE FROM GOD. 9

God's word places it there — I speak only what he has
spoken, when I say, you must be born again ! And
God having spoken, it is not for us to be silent. This
necessity has often been testified to you ; it is now testified
again ; and the testimony will be continued while you are
this side the grave ! You must become a new creature in
Christ Jesus, or be excluded from the paradise of God ; you
must experience the washing of regeneration, or receive
your portion with the unholy and the unclean. You must be
born again, for you resist the Spirit of God ; born again, for
you grieve the Holy Ghost from your heart ! He will not
always strive. Oh what infatuation to resist his influences !
Can we be silent? No, sinner: you are ruining yourself;
you are plunging a dagger to your heart ; and we can but
cry, Do thyself no harm ! And we will cry till the suicidal
act is done, and you are lost ; or till you yield your heart to
the Spirit of grace, and become a follower of the Lamb !

6. Finally, the Lord God hath spoken concerning the
certainty of future rewards and publishments. There is a
heaven of glory for the righteous, and a hell of misery for
the wicked. These shall go away into everlasting punish-
ment, but the righteous into life eternal. Matt. xxv. 46.
Life and death are set before you ; and it is for you to
choose between them. The way of life is pointed out ; it
is through faith in Jesus Christ. To walk in it, you must
repent and obey the gospel. The way to death is the broad
way in which you are already travelling. Continue in that
way, and you shall soon reap the wages of sin. If you
would live, you must enter the strait and narrow way.
Enter it, and you shall receive the end of your faith, the
salvation of your soul. There is no uncertainty here. The
judgment is coming, and heaven or hell will follow. Thus
God has spoken, and thus we speak. We are bound to
eternity. There is no time for trifling ; every thing is
solemn as the judgment and the retributions which follow.
Pause, then, and think what lies before you. Heaven or
hell, eternal happiness or eternal misery ! Pause and think ;
and let this moment be the turning point in your destiny.
Turn now to God and live ! Flee from hell ! Press for
heaven !

This is what God hath said. This is the message which
comes from him to you. It speaks of sin and the Saviour,
of faith and repentance, of regeneration, of heaven and of

10 A MESSAGE FROM GOD.

hell. It concerns yourself, reader, for time and eternity ;
and you refuse to hear it at your peril. It is God who
speaks ; and you are soon to stand before him. Death is
near ; death and the judgment. The judgment, sinner, the
judgment ! The hour hastens ; are you ready ? It is
coming; will you prepare? Or will you " slight the mes-
sage sent in mercy from above?" Oh, slight it not ! Hear
the voice of God ; hear it and obey ; believe and live !
Unto you, O men, I call ; and my voice is to the sons of
men. O ye simple, understand wisdom ; and, ye fools, be
ye of an understanding heart. For wisdom is better than
rubies ; and all the things that may be desired are not to be
compared to it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get
wisdom : and with all thy getting, get understanding. Prov.
viii. 4, 5, 11 ; ix. 10 ; iv. 7. Be wise unto salvation ; wise
for eternity. And that from a child thou hast known the
Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto sal-
vation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scrip-
ture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doc-
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous-
ness : that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly fur-
nished unto all good works. If any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraidelh not, and it shall be given him. But the wisdom
that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and
easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality, and without hypocrisy. 2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17 ; Jas. i.
6 ; iii. 17.

Hear what the Lord God hath spoken; believe

AND OBEY.

EXTRACT

From cun old and scarce Sermon of the Rev, Samuel
Rutherford,

All you into whose hands this little book shall come, O let
me beg you to consider how your hearts can endure to think
of being shut out of heaven, out of blessedness for ever !
Ask your heart these questions. Can I burn? Can I
endure the vengeance of eternal fire 1 Will a glowing oven,
a scorching furnace, be an easy lodging for me? O why,
my soul, wilt thou not be persuaded to repent? Is there
too much pain in that? Talk to thee of crucifying the
flesh, or parting with thy worldly companions, of entering
in at the strait gate ; O these are hard sayings, who can
bear them ? But how wilt thou dwell with devouring fire ?
How wilt thou dwell with everlasting burnings ? Think on
hell, O poor soul, and then think on Christ ; and consider if
a Redeemer from such misery be not worth the accepting
of. Think on hell, and then think on sin, and carnal
pleasures ; consider how thou wilt relish them in the ever-
lasting fire! Are these the price for which thou sellest
thy soul to hell? O bid these lusts and pleasures be gone !
bid your companion-sins be gone ; and though you loved
them well, and have spent your time sinf^jlly with them,
yet tell them you must not burn for them : that you will not
damn your soul to please your flesh. Having thus briefly
laid down the use of terror, to awaken some poor souls out
of the depth of carnal security, I shall proceed to encourage
poor sinners to lay fast hold on Christ before it be too late.

O poor soul ! Hast thou kept Christ out a long time, and
art thou not yet resolved to open thy heart to him? What
shall I say to thee ? Let me say this — Christ waits still for
thee ; Christ is still willing to receive thee ! Why, then,
wilt thou undo thyself by neglecting so great a salvation ?
Think what message He sends to thee, what errand he
comes on ; it is no dismal message, it is no dreadful errand.
If Christ had come to destroy thy soul, could he have had
less welcome than thou hast given him ? O for thy sours

11

12 A MESSAGE FROM GOD.

sake receive Him ! O ye fools, when will ye be wise ?
Come unto Jesus and he will have mercy on you, and heal
all your backslidings, and love you freely.

But some poor soul will say, I have a desire to come to
Christ, but I am afraid Christ will never receive such a
wretched sinner as I am, who have stood out so long against
him. In answer to this, let me give you some directions.

1. Ah poor soul, art thou willing to come to Christ?
Then will Christ in no wise cast thee out, if thou comest to
Him poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. O sinner,
come not to him in thine own strength ! but come thou and
say, O Lord, here is a poor soul not worth any thing ! O
Lord, make me rich in faith ! here is a miserable soul, O
Lord, have mercy on me ! here is a poor blind soul, O Lord,
enlighten me from above ! here is a poor naked wretch, O
Lord, save me, lest I perish, for I cannot help myself.

2. Come to Christ by believing in him. Yes, when thy
poor soul is sinking into hell, and sees no way to escape the
fearful wrath of God, O then at such a time seize fast hold
on Christ ! O apprehend and apply all his benefits to thy
soul ! Come and grasp him in the arms of thy faith, and
say, I believe in thee. Lord ; help my unbelief. And the
answer which thy Lord will give thee, will be this — Be it
unto thee according as thou wilt. Let Christ be in your
hand, and the promise in your eye, and no doubt, though
thou hast been a rebel and a traitor, yet Jesus Christ, having
received gifts for the rebellious, will shew mercy to thee,
and receive ihee.

3. Come to Jesus Christ by repenting and forsakmg all
thy sins. Thou canst never come to the wedding without
the wedding garment ; the old man must be done away,
before all things can be made new. " O Jerusalem, wash
thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayst be saved ; how
long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" Jer. iv. 14,

Presbyterian Board of Publication.

y

No. 80.

STOP!

" Stop, poor sinner, stop and think
Before you further go ;
Will you sport upon the brink
Of everlasting woe?"

If a man on a journey is in uncertainty whether he is pur
suing the right road, he naturally stops to consider and ex-
amine his position, and decide upon his future route. If
you, my reader, were to see me going towards a precipice,
to fall from which would be certain destruction, but of which
I was ignorant ; or you knew that I was not, at the time, in
my right mind, you would not only call upon me to stop,
but would use every endeavour to arrest my attention, and
turn me from the danger to which I was exposed.

You, and I, reader, and all mankind, are travelling to
eternity. The Bible expressly teaches that we are journey-
ing upon one of two roads ; the one, a strait and narrow
way, leading to life eternal, — the other, a broad way, tend-
ing to everlasting death. It is a settled, solemn truth, that
we are upon one or the other ; and is it not a matter of in-
finite importance to us to know which? Be persuaded,
therefore, to stop and inquire whether you are upon the
former or the latter. '

The Bible lays down the characteristics, or distinguishing
traits displayed by those upon these roads. The former, it
assures us, is found by few, while the latter is thronged with
the multitude. The travellers upon the narrow way, are they
who have been renewed in heart by the Spirit of God, and
have renounced the world with all its vanities ; and depend-
ing on the grace of God promised to all who seek it, are
following in the footsteps of the meek and lowly Jesus.
They have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.
They have renounced the world. They are " seeking a
better country, that is an Heavenly," where Jesus has gone
to prepare mansions for them that love Him.

The character of those who throng the broad way is
exactly the reverse of this. These are living in sin — haters
of God — disobedient — profane — Sabbath breakers — ne-
glecters of religion. They are living for this world alone^
— its pleasures — riches — honours. They have no thoughts,

» STOP.

no desires, no hopes beyond the present life. They may at
times have a passing thought of death and judgment, but
they strive to banish it and generally succeed. They may
even have been under the strivings of the Holy Spirit, but
they have bid Him depart until a more convenient season.

Reader, which of these characters is yours? Have you
never considered the subject? Then is it high time for you
to stop and consider it now. Is it wise, is it acting as a
rational, accountable being, to disregard so momentous a
matter ? Life is speeding away. You are hurrying on to
judgment and eternity, but in what state ? A state of pre-
paration ? Certainly not, if upon examination, you decide
that you are in the broad road. How, then, will you meet
that Judge before whom you are so soon to appear ?

Stop, I beseech you. Your soul is worth more than all
worlds. What can redeem it? Nothing but the blood of
Jesus Christ, which was freely shed for the redemption of
sinners. Blessed be God, there is redemption through His
blood, and for you^ if you will now come to that fountain
opened for sin and uncleanness. It is a free salvation which
the gospel offers — " without money and without price."
Most of our comforts and luxuries are obtained through the
influence of money ; but God requires no other offering but
that of a broken and a contrite heart, and even this he will
bestow. This salvation is all of grace ; the free gifl of God,
purchased by the death of his only and well beloved Son.
Will you continue to slight it? Will you turn away, de-
spising the blood of Jesus ?

How reasonable is the request for you to stop and con-
sider ! To comply, will expose you to no harm, but on the
contrary, may secure for you the highest good attainable by
mortals. To be a child of God, is to be desired above all
things mind can conceive, or heart can desire. Surely the
interests of your soul are of sufficient importance to justify
the postponement of the most important business of this
world, until they are attended to.

Many are called away suddenly. How do you know
that you may not be thus taken ? If not, you will find a
death-bed a poor place and time to attend to the great
business of life. The gospel assures you that now is the
accepted time — now is the day of salvation. It nowhere
calls upon sinners to repent to-morrow, but its command is,
*' to-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

STOP. 3

" For what is your life ? It is even a vapour, that appeareth
for a little season, and then vanisheth away."

If you refuse to stop, I warn you of the consequences.
Vour soul will helost^ — forever lost. Awful thought! Lose
your soul ! Be a companion forever of devils and damned
spirits ! Shut out forever from hope of mercy ! Yes ! such
must be the everlasting portion of all those who reject
Christ. Now you are exhorted to flee to Him. Now the
Saviour calls. Give me thy heart. He will receive it — will
cleanse and purify it, and will dwell within you by his Spirit.
He never rejected any that came to him, no matter how great
had been their crimes and iniquities. But in that world of
woe, you will never hear a friendly voice calling you to come
to that Saviour. There will be no sound of mercy there,

" For darkness, death, and long despair
Reign in eternal silence there."

If hell is your everlasting portion, whose will be the
blame] You will have the awfully bitter reflection of hav-
ing wickedly refused the proffered salvation, and cast away
your soul. The entreaties, prayers, and exhortations of
pious kindred and friends in your behalf, will never be for-
gotten by you, but will serve to aggravate the torments of
your ever-condemning conscience. How will you then
curse the objects which now delude and induce you to post-
pone repentance !

Are you young in years 1 Is the dew of youth yet upon
you 1 Then to you does the call to stop and consider, come
with peculiar suitableness. Not to bid you enter upon a
life of austerity and solitude, as the young too frequently
picture the life of a Christian. Not to abridge your happi-
ness. Not to check the outgoings of joy from your young
and buoyant heart ; but to direct your joys, and desires, and
affections, to the only object worthy of your soul's esteem.
You have entered, it may be, upon the active duties of life.
Temptations are on every hand. Wickedness is in your
path. It bears a charmed aspect. Youth are ever slow to
believe that the dangers to which they are exposed are so
great, and are willing to make the trial. Alas ! how many in
so doing, are ruined forever ! You cannot hope to escape,
unless God's grace keep you. Be exhorted, then, ere
you become ensnared in the toils of the deceiver, to give
yourself to God. Honour him by consecrating to his ser-

4 STOP.

vice the prime of your days. It will be much easier for you
to stop now^ while you are upon the threshold, than to do
so, after ten, twenty, or thirty years' indulgence in worldly,
sinful passions and pursuits.

" Now, in thy youth, beseech of Him

Who giveth and upbraideth not,
That His hght in thy heart become not dim,

And His love be unforgot;
And thy God, in the darkest of days shall be.
Greenness, and beauty, and strength to thee."

Are you old in years and in sin ? Is it so, that having
enjoyed the mercies of God's providence, and the opportuni-
ties of the sanctuary, even until grey hairs, you are yet
walking in the way of the ungodly ? Oh, by how many
providences has God called upon you to stop, during your
past life — by how many mercies — by how many chastise-
ments ! and yet you have gone on hardening your heart,
and departing further from Him. Listen, I entreat you, to
the present call. There is mercy to be obtained. Will you
not seek it nmu 7 YoUy surely, can never hope to have a
more favourable season. You cannot count, as you did in
your youth, upon the future. You feel that you are near
the end of your journey. Your sands may be almost run
out. Stop and consider. Consider those providences,
those mercies, those chastisements. Do you not see how
by each and all of them, God called upon you to love and
serve Him ? Do you not see that your ingratitude and un-
belief must be very offensive to Him who dispensed them 1

Will you not, repenting of your misspent life, and
neglected opportunities, come to the Saviour now, and con-
secrate to Him the remainder of your days, be they few or
many ?

Reader, if the arguments here presented fail to arouse
you to the importance of the subject of personal religion, yet
hear what the Lord saith : " Because I have called, and ye
refused ; I have stretched out my hand, and no man re-
garded ; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and
would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your cala-
mity ; I will mock when your fear cometh ;" — " then s)iall
they call upon me, but I will not answer ; they shall seek
me early, but they shall not find me." Prov. i. 20 — 28.

Presbyterian Board of Publication.

No. 81.

THE

BLOOD UPON THE DOOR POSTS;

OB

MEANS OF SAFETY IN THE TIME OF PESTILENCE.

For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and when
he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord
will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in
unto your houses to smite you. — Exodus xii. 23.

The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. —

1 John i. 7.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg.
nieut ; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many ; and unto
them that look for him, shall he appear the second time^ without sin^
unto salvation. — Hebrews ix. 27, 28.

Reader, whoever you are, whatever your rank, age, or
sex ; there is not an event connected with your existence,
more absolutely certain than death. You must die some
time ; it may be soon, and it may be suddenly. Have you
ever seriously thought of this event ? You have looked upon
the dying, perhaps, or upon the dead ; at least, you have
often seen the funeral procession, and gazed upon the graves
of the departed. The departed ! — and did you ever seri-
ously ask whither they had gone ; and how soon you must
also follow ? If you have not attended to this solemn sub-
ject before, be entreated to bestow a few minutes upon it
now. And now, when the judgments of God are upon the
earth, and a fatal disease has invaded our land, hurrying,
day after day, its hundreds to the grave, — now, while you
are in health and able to think calmly and clearly upon the
subject, — now, is a favourable time for serious reflection,
and prompt decision.

As certainly as that you must die, you are a sinner ; for
death is the wages of sin. If you were sinless, you would
never die. God is perfectly holy, and perfectly just ; there-
fore, he cannot but hate sin and punish the sinner. If you
examine your past life, and compare it with the law of God
—a law which requires perfect, pure, and perpetual love
and obedience to God, you must perceive in your actions,
wor4s, thoughts, and feelings, innumerable things contrary

» BLOOD UPON THE DOOR POSTS.

to the demands of that holy law. By that law you are con
demned ; and unless you can escape condemnation in a way
that is consistent with the law of God, you are lost forever.
If, then, you are living in this sinful and condemned state,
and death should overtake you, whither will you go? To
heaven ? — what would you do in heaven, who have no relish
for religious and holy things on earth? How could you
stand in the presence of God, whom you have lived only to
disobey, or of that Saviour whose gospel you have never
heartily believed, and whose grace, proclaimed as the only
sure refuge of the guilty, you have always slighted ?

Carelessness respecting any thing that nearly concerns
our happiness, is folly ; but carelessness about death and its
eternal consequences, is worse than folly — it is madness.
And, reader, have you been living unconcerned about your
latter end, and unprepared to meet God in judgment? If
you had a cause depending in an earthly court, which, if
you lost it, would involve your whole earthly happinesss ;
and if the day of trial were at hand, would you be inactive
about preparation to meet it? You would not. But you
are hastening forward to the judgment bar of God, to be
tried ; from his decision there is no appeal, and the happi-
ness or misery of your whole eternity of existence depends
upon his final sentence ; and are you without thought, with-
out care, without preparation ? What ! unprepared for the
summons, when the messenger of justice is on his way to
meet you ; when numbers are daily hurried away to their
last account ; when you know not but that the next victim
of disease or accident that falls, may be yourself! — O, if
you die in your present state of unbelief and sin, you die to
all peace, and hope, and happiness, forever !

Do you inquire what you shall do to escape eternal death,
and obtain everlasting life? No inquiry of greater import-
ance to your well being can be made, or even imagined.
Then be attentive to the answer; and look up to God in
fervent supplication, that you may be assisted to understand
and obey.

Jesus Christ died, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring them to God. None can come to God, or partake in
Yiis saving mercy, except through Christ. He died to atone
for sin, and procure for all that believe in his name, eternal
life. His people confide in his power and his willingness to
save them ; they commit to him the keeping of their souls ;

BLOOD UPON THE DOOR POSTS. Q

they have no other trust. As they depend on him to be
saved from the guilt and punishment of their sins, through
his atonement and intercession ; so also they depend upon
him for deliverance from sin itself, by his sanctifying Spirit.
They seek to be made holy, and to be fitted for the everlast-
ing enjoyment of God. This cordial and exclusive trust in
Christ, as their only and all-sufficient Saviour, is faith :
by this faith they are united to him, in a spiritual, holy, and
intimate relationship ; their sins are blotted out : they are,
for Christ's sake, received into divine favour, and constituted
children of God, and heirs of everlasting life. They are
endued with the disposition of his children, so that they hate
and avoid sin, and love and seek holiness. Thev live no
longer for themselves, but for Him who redeemed them with
his own blood, and who shed upon them his own gracious
and sanctifying Spirit. They cannot die: their clay taber-
nacles may drop into the grave, but thei/ live, and will for-
ever live in the presence of God, and enjoy his love.

You see here the path in which the flock of Christ have
trod, in every age ; it is a well tried and plain path. A
description of it is summed up in the words, " Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Into this
path, reader, you must enter, and press forward in it, re-
gardless of all temptations to the contrary, if you would
ever be prepared for death, or be animated with a well
grounded hope of heaven. Look earnestly to God, through
Jesus Christ, your Advocate with the Father, for the enlight-
ening, renewing, invigorating operations of the Holy Spirit.
Depend wholly upon Him. Feeling your guilt, your prone-
ness to evil, your poverty and helplessness, lay your case
before God, and entreat him to save and strengthen you.
But remember, he does not save those that remain in sin ;
he does not strengthen those that lie down in sloth and inac-
tivity. You must not only cmifess, but also forsake your
sins ; and, trusting to receive strength in answer to your
prayers, you must act as if all depended on your own exer-
tions. The man in the gospel, whose hand was withered,
could as soon have moved a mountain as have stretched out
his hand by his own power. But believing in Him who
bade him stretch it out, he obeyed — and the performance
of this act was evidence of his faith. To plead want of
ability, therefore, as an excuse for neglect of duty, and con-
tinuance in sin, is to make one sin an apology for a thou-

4 BLOOD UPOiy THE DOOR POSTS,

sand Others. What God has required of you, he has pro-
mised you strength to perform. Relying on his faithfuhiess
and truth, go forward humbly but confidently, diligently,
and perseveringly, in the path of duty. No soul ever per-
ished in this path ,* and no soul ever entered it, without being
led by the Spirit of God. Whosoever is found therein, with
a broken spirit and a contrite heart, has the testimony of
God's Spirit, witnessing with his spirit, that he is a child
of God.

Reader, will you go to Christ, and be saved from sin and
death ? Or will you lay down this paper, forget the subject,
persevere in sin, and perish forever? Be entreated to an-
swer the question immediately — to answer it as if you ex-
pected this day to be your last. Going to Christ in the way
that has been explained to you, and receiving the pardon of
your sins, you need not fear the cholera, or any other dis-
ease. For if you should die at any moment, your soul
would be safe. And at the day of judgment, when God
sends the impenitent to everlasting punishment, he will
*' pass over" you, as he did the houses of the Israelites, be-
cause the blood of Christ has been applied to your soul.

THE SAINT'S SECURITY.

He that dwelleth in tlie secret place of the Most High, shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my
refuge and my fortress : my God ; in him will I trust. Surely he
shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome
pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings
shalt thou trust : his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou
shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth
by day ; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for the
destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand ; but it shall not come nigh
thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the
wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even
the Most High, thy habitation ; there shall no evil befall thee, neither
shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee
up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt
tread upon the lion and the adder : the young lion and the dragon
shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hatli set his love upon me,
therefore will I deliver him : I will set him on high, because he hath
known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him : I
will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. — Psa.xcL

Pkesbyterian Board of Publication.

(J^

No. 82.

TO A YOUNG DISCIPLE.

My Young Friend : — I rejoice with your other friends in
the change, which has taken place in your views and con-
duct. Though it is too soon to pronounce it a saving
change, yet I am willing to hope that it is such. The day
will declare it. I do not know whether a tree full of fra-
grant and beautiful blossoms, or the same tree laden with
ripe fruit, gives the most pleasure. So, I am not able to
say whether a young Christian, full of simplicity, eager for
instruction, and ardent in hope, or the aged child of God,
chastened in all his desires, deeply versed in the knowledge
of his own heart, and richly laden with experience, is an.
object of the greatest interest. Older Christians commonly
hope that those who come after them will avoid the errors,
into which they have fallen, and so accomplish wonders in
the cause of Christ. At least, they have good hopes, even
if they have fears also respecting tho.se who promise well,
and so they desire to be useful to them. I venture to say
some things, which may do you good. They are said in
love. I feel sure you will not despise them.

1. It is not an easy thing to be a Bible Christian. " The
righteous are scarcely saved." None but the " violent take
the kingdom of heaven by force." To lead a Christian
life is to run a race; it is to wrestle with principalities ana
powers ; it is to fight with legions of foes. Running, wrest-
ling and fighting are all hard. Of all errorists, none are
more wild than those who teach that it is easy to obtain the
prize. " Strive to enter in at the strait gate." " Thy
work will not be done, till thou hast got thy crown^"

2. Obtain clear views of religious truth. To be clear, they
must be both definite and extended. Be not satisfied with a
few vague notions. " Be filled with the knowledge of his will,
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." The word of
God is the food of all true Christians. If they would grow
and be strong, they must know it. " Search the Scriptures."
The Bible is the richest mine ever worked. There is no
danger of your reading it too much, or of your being too
much controlled by it.

3. Settle it now and forever, that whatever puflTs up your
mind, and makes you feel secure or self-satisfied is adverse
to piety. To the humble alone does God give grace. —
Nothing, positively nothing, can be a substitute for deep
self-abasement before God. Those thoughts, books and

2 TO A YOUNG DISCIPLE.

sermons, which awaken in you sentiments of self-abhor
rence, are the best.

4. Adopt, as your standard, the word of God, and noth-
ing eise. There is not a more dangerous practice than that
of comparing ourselves with men and not with God's word.
It is the adoption of a forbidden rule. Besides, when we
have begun to lower the standard, we continue to lower it,
until we get it so low as not to condemn us in our own eyes.
This was the great error of the Scribes and Pharisees. —
Paul says : " We dare not make ourselves of the number,
or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves ;
but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and com-
paring themselves among themselves, are not wise.*' Will
you " dare " to do what Paul did not venture on ? Your
life, your heart, your faith will all be judged in the last day
by the Bible, not by other men's attainments.

5. Beware of becoming a mere professor of religion.
The pious Scougal speaks of some, who were *' mere talk-
ing and walking skeletons" in the church. " He, that
boasteth himself of a false gift, is as clouds and wind with-
out rain." Never express more feeling than you have.— •
Let your life, even more than your words, declare your
real principles.

6. While it is very desirable that you should, by
firm reliance on the atoning blood and precious righteous-
ness of Christ, get rid of that " fear, which hath torment ;"
yet some fears are salutary. " The fear of the Lord is a
fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." You
jannot fear God too much. Sanctify him and make him
your dread. Nor can you be too much afraid of sin. Nor
can you be too fearful of being left by God to the deceitful-
ness of your own heart. Many of our fears are the means
of our preservation. " Be not high-minded, but fear."

7. Never trifle nor jest with sacred things. It is profane-
ness. It must harden the heart. It cannot fail to induce a
sad confusion of mind. You cannot be too solemn and
reverent when you speak or think of divine things. Never
smile at a witticism on divine things. Some wits are madmen.

8. Try to do something every day for God ; nay, live to
him ever}^ hour and moment. Be always trying. He who
never fails will never succeed. There is no good horseman,
who has not been often thrown. There is no good swords-
man, who has not been often disarmed. There is no good
Christian, who has not often wept at the failure of his de-

TO A YOUNG DISCIPLE. 8

vices for the glory of God and the happiness of man. —
Keep trying.

9. Beware of superstition, fanaticism, melancholy and a
morbid conscience. All these are foes to piety. I mention
them together, because they are often united. If any thing
be not sin or duty in God's word, make it not such in your
creed. Beware of sleepless nights and nervous prostration.
" Be not righteous overmuch." Nature is feeble. Lay not
upon her heavier burdens than the Lord has done. Fanati-
cism is a wild-fire, that will destroy intelligent piety.

10. Think much of the goodness of God, and especially
of his mercy to you. Christ is full of grace and truth.
Do not forget the bright view of things. This will furnish
one of the best means of estimating your responsibility, and
one of the best stimulants to exertion in behalf of a perish-
ing world. If you have no pity for the heathen, you are
no child of God.

11. If favoured with high religious joy and seasons of
sweet communion with God, boast not. Vain-glory is the
bane of communion with God. When Moses' face shone,
he covered it with a veil. Some things in religion are best
known only to God and our own hearts.

12. Avoid all conduct of a doubtful kind. Many con-
sciences are defiled by yielding to fashion or importunity,
not only against convictions, but even against doubts. God
never shuts us up to the necessity of doing a doubtful deed,
whereby guilt may be incurred. We always sin, when we do
an act, the lawfulness of which we are not clear about. Go
not into the twilight. Live in the sunlight of Bible truth.

13. Waste not your time in idle fears and thoughts of
the future in this world. To you the future may be very
short. The things you most fear will probably never disturb
you. If evils come, they will probably be such as no fore-
sight of men can anticipate. " Trust in the Lord and do
good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt
be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give
thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the
Lord ; trust also in him ; and he shall bring it to pass.
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him."

14. Love all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Love them
tenderly. Bigotry and a narrow mind are great sources
of misery, and great sins also. No man is more to be
pitied, no man is in greater danger, than he who rejects
those whom Christ receives, or who says to any child of

4 TO A YOUNG DISCIPLE.

God, " stand by thyself; I am holier than thou." You have
joined the church you prefer. That was right. But re-
member that there are some people in all branches of the
true church of Christ, who please the Lord better than some
in the branch to which you belong.

15. Be ever ready to give a reason of the hope that is in
you with meekness and fear ; but avoid angry controversy.
It is unfriendly to growth either in knowledge or in grace.
Friendly discussion of religious doctrine is often useful.
But you are yet a private and feeble Christian. You are not
now " set for the defence of the Gospel." A feeble defence is
often worse than none. Be sure that you understand a mat-
ter before you decide upon it. " He that answereth a matter
before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him."

16. If you shall fail of eminence in a life of piety, it will
probably be as with most others, by inattention to compara-
tively little duties and little sins. It was the " little foxes "
that " spoiled the tender grapes." All defections begin with
little things. Nothing is positively of little importance,
which affects the honour of God and the safety of the soul.

17. Be steadfast. A miserable changeling, in the days
of bloody Mary, said that he was a willow, not an oak. I
hope you will be an oak, not a willow. He, whose heart
and purpose have no stability, is not fit for the kingdom of
God. The Bible often says as much. If you are naturally
firm, still remember that grace alone can make you spiritually
so. If you are naturally fickle, be doubly on your guard.

18. Get and maintain clear views and deep impressions
concerning the glorious doctrines of salvation by grace
alone. Human merit is nought. Ever say, " What I am,
I am by the grace of God." '♦ What hast thou, which
thou hast not received ? "

19. Come to Christ daily for cleansing and salvation by
his blood. Come as you came the hour you first fled to
him. Come naked, guilty, defiled, poor, helpless and lost.
He is all your salvation.

20. Often think how soon your toils and tears and temp-
tations will be over, and how sweet and pure and unfading
the bliss of heaven will be. " To be spiritually-minded is
life and peace." To be heavenly-minded is eating the
grapes of Eshcol before we enter the promised land. An-
other day and you may be forever with the Lord. At most,
" a little moment " will end the warfare, and open heaven
to all believers.

No. 83.

WILLIAM AND HIS MOTHEli;

OR,

WHAT IS TRUE REPENTANCE?

William was the youngest of his mother's children.
When he was eleven years old she was taken very sick.
The physician feared she never would be well again. This
was soon known in the family, and made all the children
sad. To William it was like vinegar upon nitre He heard
it early in the morning. He was at first agitated and then
sorrowful. He went alone. He tried to pray, but could
not. He then tried to be gay, but his heart said " of laugh-
ter, It is mad." He went to school morning and afternoon,
but he could not learn his lessons, nor fix his mind on his
books. He never spent a more unhappy day. He had the
best of mothers. The thought of soon seeing her face no
more doubtless affected him, and under some circumstances,
would have deeply moved him. But this was far from being
his most pressing grief. He also dreaded another visit of
death to the family. Once only had death taken away one
of their number. That sad event was still remembered.
Yet William thought he could brace his nerves to see even

his mother die. Perhaps he was mistaken. He had no

1

2 WILLIAM AND HIS MOTHER ,

fear concerning her eternal happiness. He had seen her
walking with God ever since he could remember. He knew
how tender was her conscience, how consistent was her life,
how firm was her faith. It never occurred to him as pos-
sible that she would not be saved. Yet he spent a day of
anguish. His conscience and his heart were in fearful con-
flict. Do what he would, go where he might, he was mis-
erable. Do you ask what troubled him ? I will tell you.
One thing alone, or at least chiefly, made his heart sink like
lead. His trouble was this : Conscience told him in terms
too clear to be misunderstood, and in tones too loud not to
be heard, that he had been a bad boy, that he had often dis-
obliged and disobeyed his good mother, and that if she
should now die, he should go through life with a deep sense
of base ingratitude to her. Yet he was too proud then to
ask her forgiveness. Conscience said, " you must ask her
pardon." His high and stubborn spirit said, " I will not."
Many pleas and excuses did he frame, such as that he was
quite young, and that he was no worse than many others.
Sometimes for a moment these satisfied him. He found
considerable relief for perhaps half an hour in remembering
that he had not disobeyed her for some months past. But
conscience returned to the charge with renewed vigour, and
filled him with shame and horror. He saw nothing but
self-reproach and misery before him through life, unless he
humbled himself, and that speedily. Not a tear had he shed,
not a pleasing tender emotion had he felt, all day long.

As the sun was going down, he made up his mind to do
as conscience bade him, whatever might be the result. He
felt that his mother's forgiveness might be rightfully with-
held. But he knew she had a mother's heart. Knowing
that she was commonly alone about twilight, he quietly stole
to her room. She was lying placidly. Holding out her
hand, she tenderly said: "How are you, my son?" He
made no reply, but sat down and buried his blushing face in
the cover of the bed. He was greatly agitated, but hie

OR, WHAT IS TRU£ REPENTANCE? 3

heart was hard and proud. Conscience, not a right state of
heart, had brought him there. Seeing his distress, she
said, « What is the matter, my child ? " After another terri-
ble conflict he succeeded in saying that he feared she might
not live long, that he knew he had often grieved her by his
misconduct, that he was greatly ashamed of it, and that if
she should die without expressing her forgiveness to him, he
should be miserable through life.

At this she pressed his hand, and said ; *' My child, I have
nothing against you. If you ever disobeyed me, I do not
remember it now. If you did wrong, I reproved or cor-
rected you at the time as seemed right. I always loved
you. I have nothing now to forgive you. But I give you
a mother's, perhaps a dying mother's blessing." Now Wil-
liam's tears flowed in torrents. He was ingenuously sorry.
His heart \vas all dissolved. He never had seen the base-
ness of disobedience to parents as he saw it then. Yet he
loved his mother as he never had done before. He partly
raised his head and saw her face. It was radiant with be-
nignity. He was happy in the favour of such a mother.
He was full of joy, and yet he wept on.

For a long time his feelings remained subdued and ten-
der. He determined that he never would disoblige her
again, and, although she lived till he was nearly eighteen
years old, he never did again act counter to her known
wishes, but once. That one act grieved him greatly. —
With many tears he asked and obtained her pardon for it.
Though she has been dead nine and twenty years, and
though William is now a grey-haired man, I have recently
heard him say he was ashamed of it. Yea, though he has
hope in Christ, and glories in his cross, I often hear him
praying : " O God, remember not against me the sins of
my youth." He has never been sorry, but a thousand times
has he been glad, that he sought his mother's pardon.

This little scrap of personal history illustrates the nature
of true repentance. I do not mean that when William went

4 WILLIAM AND HIS MOTHER ;

to his mother, and sought her forgiveness, he nad true
repentance toicards God. He had no hope in Christ for
nearly seven years afterwards. It would be a great error
to suppose that his repentance towards his mother was an
instance^ but only an illustration of repentance towards
God. The points illustrated are these :

1. True repentance causes sorrow for having sinned
against one, to whom very different treatment is seen to
have been due. William ought always to have pleased his
mother, and he now saw it. She had a right to govern him.
She used that right wisely and kindly. He had wickedly
opposed his will to hers. This grieved him. He feared
not her rebuke or correction for past offences. He feared
not the dislike of his family for his conduct to his mother.
They knew little of it, and had never reproached him with
it. He felt that he had sinned against his mother, and he
sought his mother's love. So God has a right to govern us.
He has made known his will, he has given us his word.
His law is holy, just and good. We have all sinned against
him, and are become vile. We have broken his law. If
we truly repent, it is not so much hell as sin that makes us
grieve. We may have just and terrible apprehensions of
wrath, but our chief sorrow will be that we have sinned
against God. Hear David : " O God, against thee, thee
only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." Saul,
who had no true repentance, said to David, " I have sinned."
But David, whose repentance was genuine, said to Nathan :
*' I have sinned against the LordP Pharaoh, Balaam, and
Judas, each said, " I have sinned," yet their repentance
was worthless. But the prodigal said : " I have sinned
against heaven and in thy sight.'''* David said, "Wash mn
thoroughly." Job said, " I am vile." God is too good, too
great, too holy, too kind to be sinned against, and the true
penitent sees and feels it to be so. ;

2. In true repentance we are not afraid of humbling our-
selves t'3o much. William had never seen any thing more

OR, WHAT IS TRUE KEPENTANCE ? ft

odious than his conduct to his mother. Every view of her
character, especially the memory of her tender love to him,
deepened his abhorrence of his errors. So if we truly
repent, it is because the " goodness of God leadeth us to re-
pentance," as nothing else does. A proper view of God's
character will make any man say as Job : " I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes," or as Isaiah : *' I am undone,
for I am a man of unclean lips." True humility is not
easily offended. It rather seeks than shuns a low place.
When Christ spake to that woman as if she were but as a
dog, compared to others, she said, " Truth, Lord." And as
God's greatest glory and love and justice shine forth in the
cross of Christ, so nothing makes a sinner grieve and hum-
ble himself, like a view by faith of Christ crucified. —
*' They shall look on me, whom they have pierced, and
mourn." Nor shall this mourning be slight, but as " for an
only son," or " for a first born," or *' as the mourning of
Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon," when good king
Josiah was slain.

3. In true repentance there is shame. William could not
look his mother in the face. His face has often burnt with
shame as he has since thought of his faults. So the true
penitent says as David : " Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, so that I cannot look up ;" or as Ezra : " O my
God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face unto thee."
Nor does this shame cease with a hope of pardon. It
rather increases. God says that such shall be the effect of
his mercy. Hear him : " I will establish my covenant with
thee ; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord ; that thou
mayest be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more
because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for
all that thou hast done." If " the thief is ashamed, when
he is found," why should not sinners be ashamed, when
their sin finds them out?

4. True repentance is ingenuous and candid. It freely
confesses all, or is willing to do it. William did not say all

6 WILLIAM AND HIS MOTHER ;

that he intended to say, for his mother stopped him by her
kind words. The prodigal did not say all he wished to
confess, till his father said to the servants, " Bring forth the
best robe and put it on him." When a sinner comes to
God, he confesses all, even the worst. Hardly any portion
of Scripture describes the experience of God's people
better than these words of David ; " When I kept silence,
my bones waxed old through my roaring [tumultuous and
unhumbled grief,] all the day long. For day and night thy
hand was heavy upon me ; my moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and
mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin." God has truly said : " He, that covereth his
sins, shall not prosper ; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
them, shall have mercy." " If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness." If we wish God to be kind to
us, we must be honest with him. The beggar who will not
tell his wants cannot expect to have them supplied. If
William had simply told his mother that he was grieved at
the thought of her dying, he would never have gained such
assurances of her love. O be honest with God. Tell him
all, even the worst.

5. True repentance ends in reformation, not perfect, per-
haps, at once, but sincere at first, and perfect in the end.
William afterwards fell once into the same sin, but he deeply
repented. After his conversion, David was once guilty
of great sins, yet the habit of his life was to " hate every
false way." In vain do we blush and weep, if we do not
" cease to do evil and learn to do well." It is the sorrow
of the world that leaves men as bad as ever. It works
death. Judas repented and did worse: he committed suicide.
But " godly sorrow works repentance not to be repented of."
It reforms a man because it transforms him. Peter wept

OR, WHAT IS TKUE REPENTANCE? 7

bitterly, and " strengthened his brethren." To repent of
sin and repeat it is bad.

6. True repentance lasts. It is not a fit, a mere com-
punctious visiting. It is not temporary.

7. There may be true repentance towards man without a
new heart ; but repentance towards God, if genuine, re-
quires a change of heart, a change of nature. It is the gift
of God, and is the fruit of a saving change. No man can
hate sin, as sin, unless he is born again. No man can
bring forth fruits meet for repentance towoj-ds God, unless
he be engrafted into Christ. Then he can die daily unto
sin, and crucify the affections and lusts of his evil nature.
Look to God for a new heart. Repentance and forgiveness
both come from him. William had a natural affection for
his mother, which under the circumstances produced genuine
sorrow for his disobedience to her. But no man has by
nature any right affections towards God. On the contrary
" the carnal mind is enmity against God." " Ye must be
born again."

And now, dear reader, will you not come to God through
Christ, confessing and bewailing your sins? You have
seen how kindly William was treated. He obtained for-
giveness and a blessing too. Yet his mother was a finite
creature, whose compassions easily failed. But God is
rich in mercy. His compassions are boundless. He loves
and pardons like a God. He invites you, he warns you, he
beseeches you, he commands you to return. " God now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent." Jesus Christ
is exalted a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and for-
giveness of sins. Fall at his feet and beg for mercy. —
Forsake your evil ways and your evil thoughts. Humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God. Repent or perish.

Nor can you repent too soon. Delays are dangerous. I
have read an affecting story of one, who wished to get an
expression of his mother's forgiveness and her blessing, but
he put it off until it was too late. She died and he described

B

WILLIAM AND HIS MOTHER.

his ans^uish as dreadful. How much more dreadful will it
be to put off repentance towards God, until the door of
mercy is shut. " If we put off repentance another day, we
have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in."
" There is no day like to-day. Yesterday is gone. To-
morrow is God's." Only to-day is yours. " Behold, now
is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
An hour's delay may shut you up in hell.

A Sibyl came to Tarquin the Second, and offered to sell
him nine volumes at a very great price. He refused. She
burnt three of them, and asked the same price for the re-
maining six. He again refused, and she burnt three more,
and offered him the remaining three at the price first set. So
religion makes her demands in youth. They are often re-
jected. She renews them without any diminution to those
who reach middle age. Even then they are oflen rejected.
Sometimes she renews them to the aged, but still without
abatement. Happy is he, who then accepts the offer. Hap-
pier would he have been, had he accepted them in middle
life. Happiest would he have been, had he accepted them at
first. Though Tarquin finally accepted the offer, yet he
never ceased to regret his refusal of the first and most ad-
vantageous offer. And though it is unspeakably wise for
even the aged sinner to accept God's terms, yet how much
wiser would it have been to accept them at first. The aged
man, when truly converted, never ceases to regret his re-
fusal of mercy for so many years, and his loss of excellent
opportunities to become wise and humble, and holy and use-
ful. The terms on which salvation is offered, are such as
these : " My son, give me thy heart." '* Deny thyself, and
take thy cross." " Repent." " Believe the Gospel." "Yield
yourself to God." Nor will Jehovah, even to save a soul
from damnation, abate aught of these righteous demands.
He cannot do it without denying himself.

NO. 84.

SCARCELY SAVED.

And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly
«nd the sinner appear ? — 1 Pet. iv. 18.

Saved ! and what is it to be saved ? Salvation is deliver-
ance— deliverance fronn sin, from its guilt, pollution, and
power. To dream of salvation without a separation from
sin, is an absurdity. Yet some are cherishing this delusion.
They are hoping for heaven, and yet following iheir corup-
tions. Such hopes are vain. They must be relinquished,
or the soul is lost. For to be saved, is to be delivered from
sin. Salvation in sin is a contradiction. " And thou shalt
call his name JESUS : for he shall save his people from
THEIR SINS." Matt. i. 21.

Saved ! Salvation is pixservation — preservation from
the fearful consequences of sin, from the horrors of the
second death, the eternal miseries of hell. They who are
delivered from sin, shall also be preserved from its sad con-
sequences in the world to come. On them the second death
shall have no power. Rev. xx. 6. But where sin remains,
there its sad and awful consequences must be felt for ever.
Deliverance from the effects of sin, and yet not from sin
itself, is an impossibility. Deliverance from sin secures
preservation from the punishment which it deserves.

Saved ! Salvation is eternal glory ; not eternal being
merely, but eternal well-being. They who are delivered
from sin, and preserved from its punishment, shall be re-
ceived to the rewards of heaven. That world of glory is
prepared for all who love God. There are mansions in
readiness for the followers of Christ. John xiv. 2. To be

ii SCARCELY SAVED.

saved, is to be received into those mansions, cleansed, puri-
fied ; and to spend eternity in the presence of God and the
Lamb. Salvation begins on earth ; it is completed in
heaven : — and where it is begun, it shall be perfected — they
who are justified shall also be glorified. Rom. viii. 30.
Some shall be saved — the righteous.

The righteous I But who are righteous ? Not such as
have never sinned, for there are none such among the family
of man. All have sinned ; and in the sense of entire free-
dom from sin, none are righteous, no not one. Rom. iii. 9 —
23. The righteous are those who, through divine grace,
have become interested in the provisions of the gospel ; who,
by faith, have embraced Jesus Christ as their only hope and
refuge; and who, believing in him, are pardoned, justified,
sanctified. They not only trust in the righteousness of
Christ, but in consequence of their trust in him, they have
that righteousness imputed to them, or reckoned to their ac-
count. They are justified by faith in Christ's righteousness,
and are therefore accounted righteous. Men are not justified
because of any inherent righteousness, nor for any thing
done in them, for them, or by them ; but solely on account
of the righteousness of Christ, received and rested in by faith
alone. Salvation is not of works, but of grace ; righteous-
ness is not by the deeds of the law, but by faith in Jesus
Christ. Eph. ii. 8 ; Rom. iii. 20—28.

The righteous, therefore, are not such as are natively,
nor inherently, righteous ; but such as, having embraced
Christ by faith, are accounted righteous for his sake. They
are renewed by the Holy Ghost, and so are delivered from
the power of sin ; they are justified by faith in Christ, and
so are delivered from its guilt; they are sanctified through
the truth and by the Spirit of our God, and so are delivered
from its pollution. In reference to the work of grace on
their hearts, they are saints ; in reference to their interest
in the work of Christ — their justification by his righteousness
through faith, and their humble endeavours by divine grace
to live in obedience to the gospel — they are righteous.

Now the righteous shall certainly be saved. There can
be no doubt about this, for the Scriptures unequivocally
declare it. The righteous shall be received into life eternal.
Matt. XXV. 46 ; John iii. 36. Saith Jesus Christ, " They shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."

SCARCELY SAVED. '2

John X. 27 — 30. Their salvation does not depend upon
their native goodness, nor upon their own fidelity apart from
the grace of God, but upon the immutable purpose and
promise of Jehovah. Eph. i. 4 — 12. It is his plan that
they who are once united to Christ by faith shall never be
permanently separated from him ; that they who are once
justified by his righteousness, shall never be brought into
final condemnation ; that they who are sanctified by his
Spirit, shall never be driven away in their wickedness, to
suffer the pains of hell for ever. John xiv. 3, 17, 24 ; Rom.
V. 8, 10 ; viii. 1 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14 ; 1 Pet. i. 3—5. The
righteous were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that they should be holy and without blame before
him in love, Eph. i. 4 ; and being made holy by the opera-
tion of the Spirit of God upon their hearts, and being justified
by faith, and entitled to the rewards of innocence by the im-
putation of Christ's righteousness unto them, they shall
surely be saved. If one is a real Christian, there can be no
doubt of his salvation. He may himself be in doubt, because
of the obscurity of his views; he may doubt whether he is a
Christian ; but if one be a Christian, his eternal salvation is
sure — as sure as if he were already in heaven — for the
righteous shall be certainly saved.

But though the righteous shall be surely saved, they yet
shall be scarcely saved. " And if the righteous scarcely be
saved.'''' Certainly saved, yet scarcely saved ! — how is
this 1 and why is it ?

Scarcely saved 1 Why 1 It is not because of any de-
fect or deficiency in the provision made for the salvation of
men. There is no such defect or deficiency. The plan is
perfect ; the provision all-sufficient. The way of salvation
is open to the world ; the invitation is to all ; and if any
perish, it is not because of any insufficiency in the work and
satisfaction of Christ. So if the righteous scarcely be saved,
it cannot be because of any narrowness or scantiness in the
provisions of the gospel. There is sufficient merit in Christ's
blood to atone for the sins often thousand worlds ; of course
an abounding sufficiency for the justified believerj though the
chief of sinners. 1 Tim. i. 15.

Scarcely saved ! It is not because of the insufficiency
of divine grace. The grace of God is sufficient to subdue
the hardest heart, and conquer the most obstinate corruptions.

•4 SCARCELY SAVED.

This is able to give the victory to every saint, and to bring
them off more than conquerors over all that resists their
heavenward course. My grace is sufficient for thee ; as thy
days, so shall thy strength be ; my strength is made perfect
in weakness. 2 Cor. xii. 9 ; Deut. xxxiii. 25.

Scarcely saved ! And why ? Because of the trials
through which they must pass. We must through much
tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts xiv. 22,
There are many trials to which the righteous are subject in
their pilgrimage to heaven. The time has been when they
who would live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecu-
tion; and such times may ere long come again. 2 Tim. iii.
12. They were at hand when the apostle wrote. Hence
he speaks of fiery trials — of being partakers of Christ's suf-
ferings— of being reproached for the name of Christ — of
suffering as Christians — and of suffering according to the
will of God. 1 Pet. iv. 1 — 3 — 12 — 19. The time was come
that judgment must begin at the house of God. Those times
would try the church, sift out the unworthy, and render the
path of the righteous difficult, so that they should be scarcely
saved — saved with difficulty. There are trials now for the
righteous ; these often set their path with thorns ; render
their course difficult ; and make it true that they are scarcely
saved — saved with difficulty, or, as some say, with much
ado — through much tribulation.

Scarcely saved ! Because also of the many temptations
to evil with which they are surrounded. This is a world of
temptations as well as of trials ; and from these the righteous
cannot hope to escape. Indeed these temptations are in-
tended to try their faith, and patience, and fortitude; and
being addressed to their own evil hearts, which are sanctified

o ...

but in part, they often find it difficult to resist and overcome
them ; and sometimes, it may be, they are themselves over-
come and fall into sin. At all events, they must be engaged
in a constant warfare; and this renders their progress diffi-
cult, and they are in consequence scarcely saved. When
they would do good, evil is present with them. Though
they delight in the law of God after the inward man, they
see another law in their members warring against the law
of their mind, and bringing them into captivity to the law
of sin which is in their members ; and they exclaim, O
wretched men that we are, who shall deliver us from the

SCARCELY SAVED. O

body of this death ? Rom. vii. 22 — 24. The world too has
its allurements. Not that religion interferes with innocent
and rational pleasures ; it does not ; it befriends them. By
enabling us to estimate them truly, it prepares us to enjoy
them properly. Nor does religion conflict with necessary
worldly business. It requires no man to neglect his worldly
affairs ; nay it condemns and censures those who are not
diligent in business. So much is needed now to send the
Gospel over the world, that every man should make it a
part of his religion to be diligently devoted to his worldly
affairs, that he may be able to afford efficient aid to the
various schemes of the church which have in view the con-
version of the world to God. But, while we may partake
lawfully of lawful pleasures, and while we should engage dili-
gently in our necessary business, we should beware of worldly
conformity. This is a great danger to which the righteous
are exposed, — especially at the present day. They are too
prone to conform to the world in its business, amusements,
and pleasures ; to be governed by a worldly spirit, and fail
to cherish and exhibit the spirit of their Master. There is
not that difference visibly manifest between the professed
followers of Christ and the world around them, that there
should be. Too often the light of the church is obscured, or
hid under a bushel, or extinguished amid the dust and rub-
bish of worldly business and earthly pleasures and amuse-
ments. In these things, the righteous seem too much like
the world, and hence are scarcely saved, even so as by fire;
and there is need of the caution. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you
should seem to come short of it. Heb. iv. 1 ; 1 Cor. iii. 13 —
15. Thus we see why the righteous, though certainly
saved, shall yet be scarcely saved.

Now if tJie righteous^ though certainly, shall yet be
scarcely saved, what shall become of others 7 What is the
prospect before those who are not righteous? And if the
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall tlie ungodly and the
sinner appear 1

The ungodly and the sinner ! Such are all, while in
their natural state, while unrenewed by the power of the
Holy Ghost, and destitute of faith in Jesus Christ. Hence
the ungodly and the sinner are those who have no part in
Christ's righteousness. Not that that righteousness is not

O SCARCELY SAVED.

sufficient for them, nor that it has not been offered to them ,
but they have not sought an interest in it. If any thing can
augment the guilt, condemnation, and misery of men, it is
the rejection of Christ — the neglect of the great salvation.
When men have v^^ilfuUy refused the offer of eternal life,
and said by their conduct that they would not have Christ
to rule over them, it may well be asked. Where shall they
appear? If those who have accepted offered mercy, availed
themselves of the provisions of the Gospel, become interested
in the righteousness of Christ, endeavour to live to his glory,
to overcome their corruptions, and to do good in the earth ;
if these scarcely be saved, where, O where, shall the ungodly
and the sinner — the rejecters of Jesus Christ and his salva-
tion— appear?

Not even scarcely saved, wJiere shall they appear 7 There
are some places where they must appear. They must
appear upon a dying bed. They must die. So Heaven has
decreed. Dust we are, and unto dust must we return. Gen.
iii. 19. However men may wish to banish the thought of
death, they cannot flee from the reality. In God's appointed
time, the messenger will come, and, reader, you must fall
before him ! You cannot flee from death. You must die !
On a dying bed, and in the grave, all must appear.

Where shall they appear? They must appear at
the judgme?it seat of Christ. There all must stand. 2 Cor.
V. 10. Many may wish to escape from that tribunal, but
there is no escape. Not one of the human family can be
absent from that solemn reckoning. Reader, YOU must be
there ! Whatever may be your character, you must stand
before the judgment-seat of Christ.

Appear ! The ungodly and the sinner cannot appear at
the right hand of the Judge. When all nations are gathered
before Christ in judgment, a separation shall be made be-
tween the righteous and the wicked — the godly and the
ungodly. The righteous shall be placed upon the right
hand of the Judge, the wicked on the left. Matt. xxv. 31 —
33. The wicked on the left ! On the right hand, then,
the ungodly and the sinner cannot appear. They cannot
stand in that day among the righteous, because they are not
righteous ; they must stand with all the wicked, and receive
their sentence. Depart, ye cursed ! Matt. xxv. 41. There
is a curse now hanging over every unbeliever, and remaining

SCARCELY SAVED. 7

SO, that curse will be eternal! John iii. 18, 36; Gal. iii.
10 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 22. To appear on the left hand of the
Judge, is to appear where mercy is unknown, and where
every lingering hope expires.

W/iere sliall they appem' 1 Not in heaven. No unclean
thing shall enter that blessed abode. None but the righteous
can have a place in the paradise of God. And if the un-
godly and the sinner cannot appear at the right hand of the
Judge, nor in heaven, where shall they appear? They
have no righteousness to shield their souls ; they have no
wedding- garments with which to go in unto the marriage-
supper of the Lamb ; they have no oil in their lamps, no
grace in their hearts, no preparation for eternal glory.
Having rejected the only Advocate of sinners, and refused a
part in his spotless righteousness, they cannot be acquitted
in the judgment ; they must be condemned; they must abide
for ever under the curse of God, and be doomed to the
miseries of the world of darkness and despair for ever. For
if the righteous scarcely be saved, there can be no hope in
the case of the ungodly and the sinner, who die unrepenting
and unforgiven ; and the doctrine of universal solvation can
find no place for the sole of its foot ! That represents sal-
vation as so easy that all shall obtain it ; whereas the scrip-
tures represent it as so difjicult that even tlie righteous are
scarcely saved! Therefore strive to enter in at the strait
gate : for many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
Luke xiii. 24. And if not able to enter into heaven, what
other abode is there for ruined man but the prison of eternal
despair? These shall go away into everlasting punishment.
The wrath of God abideth on them. Matt. xxv. 46 ; John
iii. 36. And oh, to be shut out of heaven, and shut up in
hell ! Sin remaining, and the wrath of God without mixture
of mercy for ever inflicted, while every sense of the body
and every faculty of the soul is an avenue of pain ! This is '
hell ! Awful doom ! There must the ungodly and the
sinner appear ; there must they abide for ever 1 Who
among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among
us shall dwell with everlasting burnings. Isa. xxxiii. 14.
Who among us shall make his doom in hell ? Reader, art
thou the man?

The righteous scarcely saved! The ungodly and the
sinner lost ! Then let him that thinketh he standeth, take
heed lest he fail. 1 Cor. x. 12. Let no one boast of his

8 SCARCELY SAVED,

own strength, nor trust in his own heart. Dangers beset
the path of the righteous ; they have need ever to be on their
guard. Let them live near to Jesus, be engaged in his
work, and trust only in his grace. Let them show their
attachment to Christ by their devotion to his cause ; and let
it be their great aim to be useful, and so to live that an abun-
dant entrance may at last be administered unto them into
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. 2 Pet. i. 11.

The ungodly and the sinner lost ! LOST ! Then let the
reader ask, " What am I? Am I righteous ? Am I united
to Christ by faith? Have I an interest in his atoning blood?
Am I justified ? Have I peace with God ? If not, I am yet
ungodly, in my sins, and cannot be saved at all ! Dying as
I am, I too must perish, — I too must be lost far ever .i^"*
Lost ! Reader, is there nothing in the salvation of the
Gospel to render it an object of intense desire? And is
there nothing in eternal destruction to excite your
fears, and to raise the inquiry how you may escape so
fearful an end ? You are hastening to eternity ; soon you
must stand before the bar of God ; and are you ready ?
It is a question of solemn moment ; give it a serious
thought, and begin to seek the salvation of your soul ?
Prepare to meet thy God. Repent of your sins. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Cry unto God for mercy and
pardon, that you may be with the righteous, who shall be
surely, though scarcely saved, and not with the ungodly
and the sinner, for whom there is no hope, and no salva-
tion ! Ponder the words of inspiration, — " And if the
righteous scarcely be saved, WHERE SHALL THE
UNGODLY AND THE SINNER APPEAR ?" 1 Pet
v. 18.

That awful day will surely come.

The appointed hour makes haste,
When I must stand before my Judge

And pass the solemn lest.

v.SL^

No. 85.

SIN MUST DIE

OR

THE SOUL MUST DIE.

BT

WILLIAM S. PLUMER, D.D

PHILADELPHIA:

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,

NO. 265 CHESTNUT STREET.

SIN OE THE SOUL MUST DIE.

Few men know or care for the evil of sin. It is strange
that they should be so blind and so reckless. To be in sin
is worse than to be in rags, in pain, or in prison. To some
this will sound strangely, but it is every word true. Just
think :

I. All sin is against God. God is the greatest and the
best being you ever heard, or read, or thought of. It is very
wrong to offend against a father or mother. But it is far
worse to sin against God. He is over all. There is none so
high, so holy, so great, so good.

II. He who sins does the greatest wrong to his own
soul. Sin is a kind, the worst kind of self-murder. It is
the death of the soul. So the wicked are said to be " dead
in trespasses and sins." The more they sin, the more dead
they are. The Bible says some of them are " twice dead."

III. But those who live in sin, sin all the time. It is their
trade, and they work hard at it. They love it, and have
pleasure in those who practise it. " They weary themselves
to commit iniquity." "They sleep not except they have
done some mischief." " They draw iniquity with a cart-
rope." " They love death." » They dig up evil." They
" fill up their sin always." They " do always resist the
Holy Ghost." They never for one hour love the Lord their
God with all their heart, nor their neighbour as themselves.
They are always sinning.

Two things are required to make an action right. One is
that it be lawful in itself. The other is that it be done with
a right motive. If the thing done be itself wrong, no mo-
tives can make it right. To steal, or curse, or murder, or
despise the poor, or hate the just, can never, under any cir-
cumstances be right. To do evil that good may come is

SIN OE THE SOUL MUST DIE.

^

the doctrine of none but devils, and the worst of men. On
the other hand the thing done may be right in itself, but
the motive which governs us may be wrong, and so the
*act may be sinful because the motive is sinful. Bad mo-
tives in good actions are like dead flies in sweet ointments.
They corrupt the whole. The heart is every thing. Most
men of the world in Christian countries do many things which
are very proper, but not from love to God. No man, who
has not been born again, ever does any thing with holy mo-
tives. His Ufe is better than his heart. Indeed his heart
is the worst part of him. It is all wrong. It is hard, and
proud, and selfish, and unbelieving, and without any love to
God. It is " deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked ; who can know it ?" Jer. xvii. 9. " Out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Matt. xv. 19. So far
from pleasing God, all men, who have not been born again,
offended him all the time. Their very best works are but
"splendid sins." "Every imagination of the thoughts of
their hearts is only evil continually." Gen. vi. 5.

There are reasons found in human nature which render
it certain that unrenewed men will do nothing but sin.
They are blind and see no beauty in holiness. They have
no spiritual discernment. " They have eyes but they see
not." "They know not what they do." If they do not
see the beauty of holiness, how can they love it ? No being
can love that, which does not seem to him good or comely.

The man who is without the grace of God never fully ap-
proves the law of God as holy, just and good, or adopts it
as the rule of his life. He does some things which it requires,
and abstains from some things which it forbids, not because
he loves God or his law, but because it promotes his health,
or wealth, or honour, or quiet, to do so. God is not in all
his thoughts. He would live very much as he does if the
law of God were not known to him. Ask him, and he will
tell you that he does not aim with a single eye to honour
God in every thing. He does not frame his doings to that
end at all. All the lines of his conduct meet and end in
himself. He is without God in the world. He serves the
creature more than the Creator. Nor is his heart without
objects of love. He loves the world and the things of the
world. When he prospers in the things that perish he
counts himself happy. He is greatly pleased with gold and

^ SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE.

silver, and objects of sense, and works of art. These are
his gods, because he sets his heart on them. He thinks of
them ten times as much and a thousand times as eagerly
as he thinks of God.

What makes his case worse is that he is commonly much
at ease. He is well pleased with himself. He is not sighing
over his failures and lamenting his sins. He thinks he is
nearly good enough. Rivers of water never run down his
eyes for his own sins or the sins of others. He seldom
cries, " God be merciful to me a sinner," and when he does,
it is rather a form than a hearty prayer. His real belief is
that God could not righteously and for ever condemn him ;
at least he says, " If I am lost, I know not what will be-
come of many others." Would it not be stmnge that one,
who cares not to serve God, should do it? that he, who tries
to please himself and wicked men, should, as by accident,
please God 1 that he, who seeks the honour that comes from
man, should find the honour that comes from God only ?
Surely there is no such confusion where God reigns. He
does not put darkness for light, bitter for sweet, sin for holi-
ness, and vice for virtue.

Nor should men be offended at this doctrine. It is not
new. It is not of human invention. It is not the doctrine
held by a few only. It is not a mere theory. It is very
practical, very important. No truth concerns any man more
than this. It is the very doctrine of the Bible in many
places. Paul says : " They that are after the flesh [who are
unrenewed by God's Spirit] do mind the things of the flesh.
* * To be carnally-minded is death. * * The carnal [or
unregenerate] mind is enmity against God ; for it is not sub-
ject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. viii. 5 — 8
Could words be plainer or stronger? Until God shall be
pleased with a heart that is e?imity against him, and with a
mind that " cannot he subject " to his law, until he shall cease
to be a holy God, he cannot be pleased with any thing done
by a man who has not the Spirit of God, and whose heart
has not been thoroughly changed.

Ploughing is itself a lawful act. If there be no plough-
ing, there can be no bread. Yet God says : " The plough-
ing of the wicked is sin." Yea, he puts it down with other
sins that greatly offend him. The whole verse reads thus :
"An high look, and a proud heart, and the ploughing of the

SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE. 5

wicked is sin." Pr. xxi. 4. If God had intended to teach
that every thing, even the most common and necessary
thing done by wicked men, was sinful, could he have cho-
sen more fit words?

But here is a passage which shows that all the religious
services of sinners are defiled with sin. " The sacrifice of
the wicked is an abomination to the Lord : but the prayer
of the upright is his delight." There are but two classes
of men known in the Bible. They are called saints and
sinners, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the wicked,
men of the way and men of the world. Their end will be
different because their characters are different.

This is the common doctrine of the great body of Chris-
tians in the world. Hear the Church of England and the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of Ameri-
ca.— " Works done before the grace of Christ, and the in-
spiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God ; forasmuch
as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they
make men meet to receive grace, or (as the school authors
say) deserve grace of congruity : yea rather, for that they
are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be
done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin." 13th
Article.

The 5th Article of the Church of Ireland contains the
same words without alteration. It holds also this language :
" We have no power to do good works, pleasing and accept-
able unto God, without the grace of God preventing [going
before] us, that we may have a good will, and working with
us when we have that good will." It also incorporates these
words from the Lambeth articles : " The condition of man
after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn, and pre-
pare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to
faith, and calling upon God."

The Reformed Churches generally fully agree with the
above testimonies.

The Synod of Dort says : " There is indeed remaining in
man, since the fall, some light of nature, by the help of
which he retains ^certain notions concerning God and natu-
ral things ; concerning the difference of things honourable
and shameful, and manifests some desire after virtue and
external discipline : but so far from his being able, by
this light of nature, to attain to the saving knowledge of God,
or to turn himself to him, he does not use it rightly in natu-

1*

6 SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE.

ral and civil things : nay, indeed, whatever thing it may at
length be, he contaminates it all in various ways, and holds
it in unrighteousness, which, when he does, he is rendered
inexcusable before God."

The French Confession says : " Although man can some-
what discern between good and evil, yet we affirm, that
whatsoever light he hath, it straightway becometh darkness,
when the question is of seeking God, so that by his under-
standing and reason he can never come to God. Also, al-
though he be endued with will, whereby he is moved to this
or that, yet in so much as that is altogether captivated under
sin, it hath no liberty at all to desire good, but such as it
hath received by grace and the gift of God."

The Augsburg (or Augustan) Confession, which is the
standard of Lutheran Churches in Germany and America,
says : " We condemn the Pelagians and all such as they are,
who teach that by the only powers of nature, without the
Holy Spirit, we may love God above all, and fulfil the law
of God, as touching the substance of our actions. We do
freely and necessarily mislike these dreams ; for they do ob-
scure the benefits of Christ. For therefore is Christ the Me-
diator set forth, and mercy promised in the gospel, because
that the law cannot be satisfied by man's nature, as Paul
witnesseth when he saith, Rom. viii. — " The wisdom of the
flesh is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be." For albeit that man's na-
ture by itself can after some sort perform external works
(for it can contain the hands from theft and murder) yet can
it not make those inward motions, as true fear, true faith,
patience, and chastity, unless the Holy Ghost do govern and
help our hearts. And yet in this place also do we teach,
that it is also the commandment of God, that the carnal mo-
tions should be restrained by the industry of reason and by
civil discipline, as Paul saith, ** " The law is given to the
unjust." And again : " Albeit that men by their own
strength be able to do outward honest deeds in some sort,
and must also perform this civil obedience; yet so long as
men are void of faith, they are in the power of the devil,
who driveth them to shameful sins, occupieth their minds
with wicked and blasphemous opinions, for that is the king-
dom and tyranny of the devil. Moreover, nature is weak
and cannot, without God's help, strengthen itself to any spi-
ritual works."

SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE. 7

The Moravian Confession says : " And since through
faith the Holy Spirit is given, thus also the heart is made fit
to do good works. For before that, as long as it is without
the Holy Spirit it is too weak ; and besides it is in the
power of the devil, who impels the poor human nature tc
many sins. * * * Without faith and without Christ, human
nature and ability is far too weak to do good works ; as to
call upon God, to show patience in suffering, to love one's
neighbour, diligently to discharge offices entrusted to us, to
be obedient, to avoid evil lusts. Such noble and truly good
works cannot be done without the help of Christ, as he him-
self speaks — John xv. " Without me ye can do nothing."

The Heidelberg Catechism, which is the Confession of the
Reformed Churches of Holland and Germany, and of the
German Reformed and Reformed Dutch Churches of Ame-
rica, has these questions and answers :

" Ques. What doth the love of God require of us ?

A71S. Christ teacheth us that briefly. Matt. xxii. 37 — 40 :
* Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
This is the first and the great command ; and the second is
like to this : Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On
these two commands hang the whole law and the prophets.'

Q, Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?

A. In no wise ; for I am prone by nature to hate God,
and my neighbour.

Q. Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable
of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness ?

A. Indeed we are, except we are regenerated by the
Spirit of God."

The Westminster Confession says : " Works done by un-
regenerate men, although for the matter of them they may
be things which God commands, and of good use both to
themselves and others ; yet because they proceed not from a
heart purified by faith, nor are done in a right manner, ac-
cording to the word, nor to a right end, the glory of God,
they are therefore sinful and cannot please God, or make a
man meet to receive grace from God. And yet their ne-
glect of tliem is more sinful and displeasing unto God."

This article is found without alteration in the Confessions
of all the Presbyterian bodies of Scotland, Ireland, and
Canada, and of the Presbyterian Church in the United States
of America. It was incorporated entire into the Savoy Con-

|5 SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE.

fession, into the Saybrook Platform, into the London Baptist
Confession, into the Philadelphia Baptist Confession, as well
as into the Confession of numerous smaller bodies in this and
other countries.

The eighth article of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of
the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and of the Protestant
Methodist Church in the United States, is in these words.

" The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such,
that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural
strength and works to faith, and calling upon God : where-
fore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and ac-
ceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ pre-
venting us, that we may have that good will, and working
with us, when we have that good will."

The Confession of Seuveland says : " Good works (which
are good indeed) do proceed from a lively faith, by the Holy
Ghost, and are done of the faithful according to the will or
rule of God's word."

The Confession of Basle says : "The Lord himself saith,
' Without me ye can do nothing :' John xv. 5 : that is, no-
thing that may please God and be for your salvation. * *
Faith and love are the fountain and square of all virtues and
good works, according to the testimony of the apostle : ' The
end of the commandment is love, out of a pure heart, and a
good conscience, and faith not feigned.' 1 Tim. i. 5. And
again : ' Without faith it is impossible to please God.' Heb.
xi. 6."

The Confession of Belgia says : " We are justified by
faith in Christ, yea, even before such time as we could bring
forth any good work : for our works before faith can no
more be good, than the fruit of a tree can be good, before
the tree itself be good."

The Confession of Saxony says : " External discipline,
even where it is most honest, is not a fulfilling of the law. *
* But all this discipline is an external government, such as
it is ; like unto the leaf of the fig tree, wherewith our first
parents, after their fall, did cover their nakedness : neither
doth it any more take away sin, and the corruption of na-
ture, and death, than those fig-leaves did."

The Confession of Wirtemberg says : " We confess and
believe that to do and practise such righteousness as is ac-
ceptable to God, these virtues be necessary ; faith, hope, and
love : and that man cannot of himself conceive these virtues,
but doth receive them of the f'Avour and grace of God."

SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE. 9

These extracts from the standards of different hodies of
Christians might have been much more extended. They are,
however, sufficient to show that the doctrine set forth in this
tmct is not novel ; is not the doctrine of a few extreme wri-
ters, but is the common doctrine of the purest and most
zealous churches. The fair arguments used and the texts
quoted in these Confessions do mightily strengthen the argu-
ments and proofs before quoted. It is not too much to say
that it has been fairly and scripturally proved, that unregene-
rate men do sin always, and that none of them do any thing
but sirr against God. If this be so, it follows :

1. That the misery of an unregenerate state is indescri-
bable. I wonder not that awakened sinners deeply lament
their misery, and cry out in agony, " Men and brethren,
what shall we do V " What must I do to be saved ?" *' God
be merciful to me a sinner." Nor do I wonder that pious
men have such overwhelming emotions, when they contem-
plate the state of the unregenerate. David said : " Horror
hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake
thy law." " Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because
they keep not thy law." " I beheld the transgressors and
was grieved ; because they kept not thy word." Ps. cxix.,
53, 136, 158. For a time Ezra "did eat no bread, nor
drink water because of the transgression of them that had
been carried away." Ezra x. 6. Jeremiah says : " Hear ye
and give ear ; be not proud : for the Lord hath spoken. * *
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places
for your pride." Jer. xiii. 15, 17. Even Daniel " was asto-
nished for one hour and his thoughts troubled him," when
he foresaw even the temporal calamities that would come on
the tyrant of Babylon for his sins. Even the Son of God,
in the midst of the triumph, which prophecy had 'decreed to
him, was bathed in tears, when he thought of the sins and
the doom of the city, which was about to shed his blood.
God himself is twice spoken of as wondering at the ruin of
man, and the utter helplessness of the whole race. Isa. lix.
16, and liii. 5. It is not very difficult to over estimate the
evil of many crimes against man or society, but no man
ever exaggerated the evil of sin against God. And the un-
regenerate are all dead in sin. They sin more and more.
They do nothing but sin. If for a little while they seem to
reform, they soon return to it, as the dog to his vomit, or as

10 SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE.

the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.
Their goodness is as the morning cloud ; and as the early
dew, it passeth away. They sometimes return from out-
ward acts of sin ; but they return not unto the Lord. When
the unclean spirit is gone out of a man and returns again,
" the last state of that man is worse than the first." Matt,
xii. 45. Neither mercies, nor judgments, nor promises, nor
threatenings, nor hopes, nor fears, without the grace and
spirit of Christ, will or can ever cure the love, or arrest the
practice of sin.

2. How justly deserved will be the sentence of exclusion
from the presence of God and his powerful glory ! No sen-
tence will be more holy, more righteous than that. All hea-
ven, all earth, and all hell will see and feel how just it is. O
man of the world, can thy hands be strong, or thy heart en-
dure when God calls thee to account ? " What wilt thou
say when he shall punish thee ?"

3. No wonder that men must be born again.

To hold that man in order to be saved must be born again
may be mysterious. But to hold that man can be saved
without regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absurd. The
doctrine of a spiritual renewal is fundamental. The fact of
regeneration is essential to salvation. Can the Ethiopian
change his skin by an act of his will, by the use of snow
water and fuller's soap, by any thing he can do ? No more
can he, who is accustomed to do evil, learn to do well, until
God gives him a new heart. Regeneration is as much a
fruit of infinite mercy as free pardon. We need a change
of heart as much as we need a change of state. We need
deliverance from the power of sin no less than from the
curse of the law. The plague of an evil heart, if it be not
cured, win as certainly destroy us as the wrath of God.
The fountain must be made good, or the streams will for
ever be bitter. Heaven without a change of nature will be
as impossible to us as it now is to fallen angels. We " must
be born again, born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Either sin or
the soul must die. Both cannot live. Sin is a mortal
enemy.

4. How vain is the hope of pardon and acceptance with
God by our own miM-ils ! Where are our merits? All our
works are stained with sin. " All our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags." Every man of the least spiritual discern-

SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE. 11

ment will say, " Enter not into judgment with thy servant,
O Lord ; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified."
Ps. cxliii. 2. " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John i. 8. What
we all need is pardon, not justice; forgiveness, not equity.
If God accepts us, he must be moved thereto by his love, not
by our obedience ; by his mercy, not by our deservings ; by
the hhod of his Son, not by our tears. " By the deeds of
the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Rom.
iii. 20. " The Son of man is come to seek and to save that
which was lost." Luke xix. 10. If you are not a lost
man, Jesus Christ can profit you nothing. The great Phy-
sician came to heal the sick, not the whole. By denying
your guilt, and misery, and helplessness, you declare that
you have no part in the plan of salvation wrought out by
Jesus Christ. Salvation is by grace without human merits.
It is all of grace. It is by grace alone. This way of salvation
suits us all. It suits us exactly. O that it pleased us all and
pleased us well. Such a Saviour, such mercy, such love
ought to charm us, would charm us, if we were not blind, and
vile, and proud, and unbelieving. The worst of sins is the re-
jection of gospel grace. I had rather answer for the guilt
of murder and treason, than for the guilt of neglecting so
great salvation.

5. Will you not say ; " I will arise and go to my father,
and will say unto him. Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son?" O that vou would. " To the Lord our God belono-
mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelleed against
him ; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." Dan. ix. 9,
10. There is none like him. He pardons like a God. What
you do, you must do quickly. If i/ou linger, death does not,
the judgment does not. Are you halting? Cease to hesi-
tate. If you decide not soon, death will decide for you
There is but a step between you and death. The very fact
that you live, and that you are reading these words of mercy
and entreaty, shows that you may yet be saved. But an
hour's delay may close the door against you for ever. O
cry after knowledge, and lift; up your voice for understand-
ing ; seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid
treasures. Turn at God's reproof and he will pour out his
Spirit unto you, and will make known his words unto you.

12 SIN OR THE SOUL MUST DIE.

" Seek the Lord, while he may be found ; call upon him
while he is near." Cry as Bartimeus, " Jesus, thou Son of
David, have mercy on me." And if your sins, and habits,
and errors, and friends, would hinder you, " cry a great deal
more earnestly, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on
me." Beware how you make light of these things. Be-
ware, " lest thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy
body are consumed, and say, How have I hated instruction,
and my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the
voice of my teachers, nor inclined, mine ear to them that
instructed me!"

A PRAYER.

O thou blessed God ! I am as nothing before thee. But
in mercy, for Christ's sake, hide thy face from my sins ; and
blot out all mine iniquities. Let the precious blood of thy
Son, which saved the dying thief, avail for me. Clothe me
with Christ's perfect righteousness ; make me thy child by
adopting me into thy family; and never let me seek any other
Saviour but Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the
life. I need no other Saviour besides him.

Heavenly Father! Pour out upon me thy Holy Spirit.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Grant to me that new birth and that holy nature, without
which no man can see thy flice. Uphold me by thy free
Spirit. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. In the hid-
den parts make me to know wisdom. Help me to put off the
■Id man, which is corrupt, and to put on the new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

I ask nothing in my own name. I ask all in the name
of Him, in whom thou art ever well pleased, even Jesus
Christ, the righteous. Amen

THE END.

V .<■

No. 86.

THOU MUST DIE.

Yes, reader, thou must die. I cannot tell what will
be the day or hour of your death, but I do know from
revelation, observation, and inward conviction, that
you and I are shortly to lie down in the silent grave.
And the conviction of this solemn truth has at times
been felt by you ; perhaps, as you stood by the side
of some dying friend, or as you lay upon your own
bed, tossing to and fro in pain. He must be blind
indeed, who, walking over and among the graves of
his kindred and friends, indulges the idea that lie is to
be exempt from the common lot of all. Yet with all
around us tending to decay, how prone we are to
put off thoughts of death as a personal matter ! Let
me ask your attention to the subject for a brief
moment.

Death is a certain event to all. The conse-
quences of sin are as extended as the human family.
None can escape, " for it is appointed unto men once
to die." Did we, like the beasts, lie down and turn
to dust, no more to live, death would even then be
regarded with terror. Were there no hereafter,
earthly, sensual man might and would revel in all the
excesses of his depraved nature, and be content to
know that soon he would be no more for ever.
While some would persuade themselves that man has
no higher destiny than the beasts that perish, no one
is willing to die in this belief.

X THOU MUST DIE.

You can speak of the past with certainty. It is
marked by varied events and scenes. It is impressed
upon your mind by joyous or sad remembrances.
You can also speak truthfully of the present, though,
while you speak, it is gone. But of the future — of
the dark, unexplored future, what can you say?
You may plan — you may hope — but your plans may
never be accomplished; your hopes may be disap-
pointed. It is yet in the bosom of eternity. All that
you can know or assert respecting it is, I shall die.

Death is the deciding point in your destiny.
As death finds you, such will your condition be
throughout eternity. Your day of grace will then
cease. The time allotted by a gracious God for
preparation for the eternal world will have ended,
and your soul will enter upon its reward, or go away
into everlasting punishment. While life remains there
is hope: but the dark waters passed, your state is
fixed beyond the possibility of a change. O ! if you
are postponing repentance from day to day, think
of this. It is a solemn thought. If your salvation
be not yet secured, beware lest you fail of eternal
life ; for

Death may be nigh. Have you attained to twenty
years ? Then you have a short ten ere you reach
the average duration of life. But look at the bills of
mortality. See what numbers die just at your age.
Have none of your companions been cut down by
your side ? Are you fifty or sixty years old ] Then
have you nearly passed the allotted time of man upon
earth. I know that time flies quickly with you. The
future, to which you looked forward in the days of
your youth and prime, what has it yielded you — what
has it profited you, if you are yet unprepared to die 1
You may have made a good use of it in heaping up
wealth, or in securing the honours of the world; but
if no preparation has been made for the immortal
spirit, how sad is your condition ! What will you do
when the destroyer comes? Think you, riches or
honours will comfort you in the hour of trial ? Death

THOU MUST DIE. 9

may be nigh. The bow may even now be benl, and
the arrow poised which is to pierce your vitals, and
you unprepared ! You cannot afford to postpone the
consideration of the subject ; for

Death may come suddenly. You may be stricken
down at noonday ; yea, in your full strength. There
is no certainty that you will live another day or hour.
And if the enemy should make a protracted siege, will
you be in a condition to prepare for eternity when
his terrors are upon you ? Have you ever stood by
the bedside of a dying sinner, who, as life ebbed
away, gave utterance to mournful cries of despair
at his neglect of preparation for death and the spirit
world] Have you ever read of the last hours of
such ] Think you, that amid the anxieties and cares
incident to a separation, to be eternal, perhaps, from
those you love, you will be able to seek the salvation
of your soul 1 You will not. If you resolve to post-
pone repentance to your death-bed, you will, most
probably, never repent.

" Millions for an inch of time," was the exclama-
tion of a dying Queen, as the realities of the eternal
world dawned upon her sight, and the consciousness
of her lost condition agonized her soul. ** I have lost
my soul," was the sad testimony of a dying sinner, who
had been warned and entreated to seek salvation, but
had turned a deaf ear to the voice of mercy and of
God. Will your dying hour be spent in giving utter-
ance to such heart-rending accents of despair i Are
you willing to stake your all on the uncertainties of
a to-morrow, which may never come? Will }ou
deliberately lie down upon your bed to-night, with
the full conviction in your mind that if you do not
wake again in time, your eternity will be one of
unspeakable woe t

The great question to be decided, and at once, is,
Are you prepared to die 1 Not, is your will made,
the disposition of your family and property arranged,
in case you are called away suddenly from them, but
are you prepared to meet your God in judgment — tc

«

THOU MUST DIE.

render the account of the deeds done in the body?
These are questions which reach in their bearing
beyond the Hmits of this brief Hfe: they relate only to
the imperishable spirit. Are they not worthy a
candid consideration ?

Do you ask, What must I do to prepare for death?
Ah ! if you never asked the question before, you have
much to do. You must instantly attend to the con-
cerns of your soul. This ought to have been the
great business of your life hitherto. But there is
yet hope. Go to the word of God and learn what
your character is in his sight. It tells that you are
by nature corrupt and unholy, that you are under
sentence of death as a sinner, and that there is no
way of escape from death eternal but by the blood of
the cross. If you go to that word with earnest and
prayerful desire td know what you must do to be
saved, you will there find light and direction. It
teaches that you must repent of your sins. ^^ Except
ye repent, ye shall all likewise ■perish.''^ Not a moment
is to be lost. You must repent now. If you are
treading the broad road that leads to death, you must
at once turn about. Go not a single step further in
it, lest you fall into the flames of hell. Turn from
your evil ways unto the Lord who will have mercy,
and to our God who will abundantly pardon. Look
back over your past life. See how ungrateful, how
rebellious you have been; what goodness you have
abused — what mercy despised — what grace slighted —
what a Saviour rejected. Ask your conscience if
your sins are not great. Pray God to give you a
broken, contrite heart. Cast yourself on Jesus. He
can pardon, he can save. You cannot approach unto,
nor have peace with God except through him. Your
sins can be blotted out only through his blood. You
can be justified only through his righteousness.

Many men, when conscience alarms them, resolve
that they will reform; that they will seek by acts of
philanthropy and benevolence, by honest, upright, and
nioral conduct, to atone for their past sins and propiti-

THOU MUST DIE;

ate an angry God. They seek not to be saved, but to
save themselves. Alas ! that so many thus deceive
themselves, and resting on their morality, lull their
consciences to rest, and perish miserably at last. Do
not deceive yourself thus. What can a guilty, ruined
sinner offer to a holy God, that is worthy his accept-
ance ? All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in his
sight. True, you must reform; but all you can do is
unavailing without divine grace. If your heart is
renewed, right actions will follow, and nothing short
of a renewed heart will answer. To be prepared for
death, you must be reconciled to God, else the king
of terrors will be a fearful messenger when he comes
to call you hence.

What multitudes deceive themselves with the hope
of long life and a protracted illness ! Can any course
be more foolish ? What is lost by being prepared
to die at any moment ? There are few unconverted
men who do not shudder at the contemplation of
death. I know men are bold, and that they will
utter sentiments in company which they imagine
betoken great moral courage; but alas! when the call
to die comes suddenly, they find no comfort in the
very opinions which they so vauntingly professed
when in health. Ah ! how often does the secret
monitor within make itself heard in the quiet of
retirement, by those who laugh at conscience when
in the company of scoffers.

You must live the life of the righteous, if you would
die the death of the righteous. Many who have, when
upon what was supposed to be their death-bed, pro-
fessed to have experienced a change of heart, have
on the return of health gone back to their former
wickedness. A death-bed, as before remarked, is a
poor place for preparation for eternity. JVow is the
time to prepare. Now, while you are in the enjoy-
ment of health, of reason, and the means of grace;
while you may calmly attend to the soul's mighty
interests — while mercy calls and love divine invites.
Do not, under any pretext whatever, postpone the

1*

m THOU MUST DIE.

matter. The writer remembers to have stood bv
the bedside of a dear youth, who, though rehgiously
trained, had neglected the concerns of his soul until
his last moments. In conversing on the subject of
embracing Christ, he remarked, " There appears to
me something so mean in coming to Jesus just at the
last moment, when I have wasted my life away."
He deeply and bitterly regretted that he had so acted,
and died earnestly beseeching his friends to seek the
Saviour at once. And is it not, dear reader, the
extreme of ingratitude and guilt to confess your need
of a Saviour, and yet neglect to seek him] To hope
to love Jesus, and to believe in him jicst before you
die — -just in time to be saved from eternal death ! la
it not, I ask, the veriest trifling with the blood of the
everlasting covenant 1

No longer delay. You see that nothing is to be
gained, but that much, yea, every thing, is risked by
postponement. You must die. You may die soon.
You may die suddenly. Beware, lest you die eter-
nally. Jesus waits to be gracious. Salvation is
now ofl^ered. If you will at once accept the proffered
mercy, death may come as soon and as suddenly as
God may be pleased to send it, and you will have
nothing to fear ;

" Death cannot make our souls afraid,
If God be with us there."

It will but open the door to joys eternal. But if it
finds you unprepared, your soul will be hurried away
to blackness and darkness for ever.

There is a death whose pang

Outlasts the fleeting breath ;
Oh ! what eternal horrors hang

Around the second death.

cc

TO DIE IS GAIN."

A PREPARATION is needful, that it may be gain to die
Wiiat constitutes this preparation ? Not indifference,
not thoughtlessness, not forgetfulness of God and
of eternity. There must be regeneration by the
power of the Holy Ghost. The corrupt nature
must be changed ; the depraved heart must be re-
newed. The image of God, having been lost by
the fall, must be restored by a new creation. There
must be a likeness to God in order to the enjoy-
ment of God. And there must be faith in Jesus
Christ. This, so to speak, is the natural breath of
the new creature. In regeneration, or effectual call-
ing, the Spirit works faith in us, and thereby unites us
to Christ, as the branch is united to the vine. As sin
corrupts us, so does it condemn us ; and as we need
regeneration and sanctification to deliver us from its
corruption, so we also need justification to deliver us
from its guilt and condemnation. And as regenera-
tion is by the power of the Holy Ghost, so justifica-
tion is by faith in Jesus Christ. He has been made
sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He has borne the curse of the law,
that we by faith in him might be delivered from the
curse, and be accounted and treated as righteous.
Where there is no conversion, the soul remains under
the power of corruption; and where there is no faith,
the soul remains under the sentence of condemnation.
The power of corruption must be broken by the
regenerating Spirit of God. The sentence of con-
demnation must be removed by faith in Jesus Christ,
in order to any right preparation for death. These
are needful — regeneration and faith : regeneration,
because we are sinners by nature and practice; faith,
because we are condemned by the violated law of
God. Regeneration changes our nature; faith changes
our relation to the broken law, because of what Jesus
Christ has done and suffered in our stead. He who

7

8 TO DIE IS GAIN.

is born again, and has faith in Jesus Christ, is a Chris
tian, and it is gain for him to die.

Death delivers him from all anxiety, pain, and suffer-
ing. Even amid the anxieties which surround the
Christian here, amid the darkness which may envelope
the future of those whom he loves, and from whom he is
about to separate — there is a sweet satisfaction in com-
mitting all to God, the Friend of the friendless, the God
of the widow, the Father of the fatherless. This may
calm the troubled bosom, and quiet the anxious fears
of the departing saint. Though God has promised
to place underneath him the everlasting arm of his
strength, and to make all his bed in his sickness, and
even to strengthen him on the bed of languishing,
he has not promised exemption from pain and suf-
fering any more than he has from death. But when
his work is done, then pain is done^ then suffering
ends; then there is no more sorrow, no more tears;
what is earthly is then done away; what remains is
heavenly, pure, peaceful, eternal.

And to die is gain for the righteous, because it intro-
duces them to the happiness of heaven, to its joys, its
society and employments, to the full possession of the
purchased and prepared inneriiance. " To-day," said
the Saviour to the dying penitent upon the cross,
" To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise ;" and
after Paul had said, "For me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain," he adds, " for I am in a strait betwixt
two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,
which is far better" than to continue here. From all
which it is evident that the soul does not lie in an
unconscious state between death and the resurrection ;
but as soon as it is absent from the body, it is present
with the Lord. It is in the society of angels and of
redeemed spirits, and of Jesus, the Mediator of the
new covenant. It is with friends and loved ones, who
have gone before to glory, and it begins the song of
Moses and the Lamb. Rev. vii. 9 — 12, and xxi. 4.
And this is gain ; yes, to die is gain.

':,U

PREFACE.

Those who are acquainted with the writer of this Tract must
know, full well, that he is no bigoted sectarian ; that, wliilst
he is conscientiously a Presbyterian, he is by no means dis-
posed to confine all the sweet charities of heaven to any one
sect or denomination. He loves his brethren of other com-
munions too much, to make a single unkind remark; and
thinks that if "Michael, the archangel, when disputing with
the devil concerning the body of Moses, durst not bring against
him a railing accusation, but said. The Lord rebuke thee," —
mach less does it become a Christian of one denomination to
speak harshly of those of another; especially if, although they
differ in some points, they agree in all matters of vital import-
ance. All, therefore, that the writer here intends is, in a
calm, argumentative manner, to vindicate the Standards of his
own church; and all he requests of his brethren who differ
with him is, a candid consideration of the matters herein pre-
sented ; and he indulges a pleasing hope that this unpretend-
ing Tract, so far from gendering strife, may, by the divine
blessing, serve, at least in some measure, to correct misappre-
hensions, remove prejudices, and strengthen the bonds of
fraternal affection amongst those who have one common
Master, and who are commanded to love one another with
pure hearts, fervently. Looking upon the different denomina-
tions of Christians as so many companies which compose the

4 PREFACE.

grand army of Emanuel, "the sacramental host of God's
elect," and bearing in mind the tender thought, that real
Christians, of every communion, are all bought with the same
precious blood — all sanctified by the same divine Spirit, and
" all passing through one beauteous gate to one eternal home"
— the writer, although Calvinistic in sentiment, can, in send-
ing this Tract abroad, very sincerely say, with the Apostle
Paul, — Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ
in sincerity. Reader, have you any prejudices against the
Calvinistic creed ] Are you disposed to say, " Can any good
thing come out of Nazareth 1" Permit your brother very re-
spectfully to reply, " Come and see /" Read, and ponder, and

PRAT.

D. B.

THE

STANDARDS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
A FAITHFUL MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

By the Standards of the Presbyterian Church, we mean
the Confession of Faith, together with the Larger and Shorter
Catechisms of our Church. These, we verily believe, are,
in every particular, based upon the Scriptures. As a faith-
ful mirror presents, with great exactness, all the features
of the object which it reflects, even so, in these Standards,
may we all behold, as in a glass, that system of divine truth,
which is taught in the Bible. And if the image reflected be
the exact counterpart of the original, why should the mirror
be blamed for its fidelity ? It creates nothing. It is respon-
sible for nothing, but the accuracy of its reflecting power.
This being the case, if there be any thing in the image re-
flected which we do not like, — in condemning that^ do we
not really condemn the original ? And would it not, indeed,
be more candid and just, to find fault with the original, and
spare the mirror? Marshal Suwaroff, we are told, was in
the habit of dashing to atoms every mirror into which he
happened to look, because he was not pleased with the image
there presented. But what did this avail ? Did not every
feature in the image owe its existence to some corresponding
feature in the original 1 and should he break a thousand
mirrors, or substitute some other kind of reflecting medium
which could make smooth that which was rough, or beau-
tiful, that which was homely, would not every feature of the
original remain still precisely the same ? " What, if some
did not believe 1" says Paul. " Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God of none effect ? God forbid ! Let God be true
and every man a liar." If some things in our Standards
are " hard to be understood," it is because they, with great
fidelity, present the very image of the things " hard to be

1* 5

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

understood," in the Bible. Yes, our Standards derive their
existence solely from the sacred Scriptures. They are bound
fast to the Bible, as with iron clamps, or a threefold cord,
which cannot be broken ; and that power which can bend or
straighten one, can bend or straighten the other also. If
there be any controversy, it is to be settled, not with us^ but
with the sacred ivriters^ in whose wake we are found. The
Bible is their shield and hiding-place ; and the arrow which
pierces one, must pierce the other also ! And now, in order
that the reader may, at one glance, see that the Standards of
the Presbyterian Church, are, indeed, a faithful mirror op
Bible truth, we will place one immediately over against
the other, and it will manifestly appear that the language
of our Standards is not a whit stronger than the language of
the Bible — but is its very ec/io, image, and counterpart : —

The Standards*

1. All things, in Scripture,
are not alike plain in them-
selves, nor alike clear to all.

2. Yet those things which
are necessary to be known,
believed, and observed, for
salvation, are so clearly pro-
pounded and opened, in some
place of Scripture or another,
that not only the learned, but
the unlearned, in due use of
the ordinary means, may at-
tain unto a sufficient under-
standing of them.

3. The almighty power,
unsearchable wisdom, and
goodness of God, so far mani-
fest themselves in his Provi-
dence, that it extendeth itself
even to the first fall, and all

Tlw Bible.

1. Even as our beloved
brother Paul also, according
to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you, as also
in all his epistles, in which
are some things hard to be
understood. 2 Pet. iii. 15.

2. The entrance of thy
words giveth light : It giveth
understanding unto the sim-
ple. Psa. cxix. 130.

3. The Lord hath prepared
his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom ruleth over
all. Psa. ciii. 19. I form
the light, and I create dark-
ness : I make peace, and I

• Controverted and unpopular doctrines alone are noticed.

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

Other sins of angels and
men.

4. And that, not by a bare
permission, but such as hath
joined with it a most wise
and powerful bounding, and
otherwise ordering and gov-
erning of them, in a manifold
dispensation to his own holy
ends.

5. Yet so as the sinfulness
thereof proceedeth only from
the creature, and not from
God, who being most holy,
and righteous, neither is, nor
can be the author or approver
of sin.

6. God from all eternity
did, by the wise and holy
counsel of his own will, freely
and unchangeably ordain
whatsoever comes to pass.

create evil : I, the Lord, do
all these things. Isa. xlv.
7, 8.

4. And God came to Ba-
laam at night, and said unto
him : If the men come to call
thee, rise up, and go with
them ; but yet the word which
I shall say unto thee, that
shalt thou do. Num. xxii.
20. Surely the wrath of
man shall praise thee, the re-
mainder of wrath shalt thou
restrain. Psa.lxxvi. 10. Shall
the axe boast itself against
him that heweth therewith]
or shall the saw magnify it-
self against him that shaketh
it? Isa. X. 15.

6. Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye
have taken, and, hy wicked
hands, have crucified and
slain. Acts ii. 23. And
Pharaoh called for Moses and
Aaron and said, I hwee
sinned. The Lord is right-
eous, and I and my people
are wicked. Ex. ix. 27.

6. For of a truth, Lord,
against thine holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pi-
late, with the Gentiles, and
the people of Israel, were ga-
thered together, for to do
whatsoever thy liand and
thy counsel determined before
to be done. Act iv. 27.
Known unto God are all his
works, from the beginning.
Acts XV. 18.

8 MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

7. Yet, so as thereby, nei- 7. Let no man say when
ther is God the author of sin; he is tempted, I am tempted
nor is violence offered to the of God, for God cannot be
will of the creature ; nor is tempted with evil, neither
the liberty or contingency of tempteth he any man ; but
second causes taken away, every man is tempted ivhen
but rather established. he is dro/wn away by his own

lust, and enticed. James i.
13, 14. And they said one
to another. We are verily
guilty concerning our bro-
ther, in that we saw the an-
guish of his soul, when he
besought us, and we would
not hear. Gen. xlii. 21. The
Lord is righteous in all his
ways, and holy in all his
works. Psa. cxlv. 17.

8. Although God knows 8. For the children, being
whatsoever may, or can come not yet born, neither having
to pass, upon all supposed done any good or evil, that
conditions, yet hath he not the purpose of God, according
decreed any thing, because to election might stand, not
he foresaw it, as future, or as of works, but of him that call-
that which would come to eth, it was said unto her that
pass, upon such conditions. the elder should serve the

younger ; as it is written,
Jacob have 1 loved, but Esau
have I hated. For the Scrip-
ture saith unto Pharaoh, Even
for this cause have I raised
thee up, that I might show
my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared
through the earth. Rom. ix.
11, 12, 13, 18.

9. By the decree of God, 9. According as he hath
for the manifestation of his chosen us in him, before the
glory, some men and angels foundation of the world,
are predestinated unto ever- Having |?;•eJ6'5/^;^a^^^ us to
lasting lile. the adoption of children, by

Jesus Cnrist, to himself, ac-
cording to the good pleasure

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

10. And others pre-or-
dained unto everlasting
death.*

11. These angels and
men, thus predestinated and
pre-ordained, are particularly
and unchangeably designed.

of his will. Being jvedestU
naied^ according to the pur-
pose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his
own will. Ep. i. 4, 11. More-
over, whom he did predesti-
nate^ them he also called ;
and whom he called, them he
also justified ; and whom he
justified, them he also glori-
fied. Rom. viii. 30. The
elect angels. 1 Tim. v. 21.

10. The Lord hath made
all things for himself, yea,
even tJie ivickedfor the day
of evil, Prov. xvi. 4. There
are certain men crept in, un-
awares, who were before or-
dainedto this condemnation,
ungodly men. Jude 4. Hath
not the potter power over the
clay, of the same lump, to
make one vessel unto honour,
and another unto dishonour 7
What if God, willing to show
his wrath, and to make his
power known, endured, with
much long-suffering, the ves-
sels of wrath fitted to destruc-
tion? Rom. ix. 21, 22.

11. All that the Father
giveth me, shall come to me.
John vi. 37. Ko man can
come to me^ except the Fath-
er, which hath sent me, draw
him. John vi. 44. And as
many as were ordained unto
eternal life, believed. Acts
xiii. 48. I pray for them. I
pray not for the world, but

• For their sin.
of the Bible.

So teaches our *' Confession," just after the manner

10 MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

for them which thou hast
given me. John xvii. 9.

12. And their number is 12. The Lord knoweth
so certain and definite, that them that are his. 2 Tim,
it can neither be increased ii. 19. And as ma/i?/ as were
nor diminished.* ordained unto eternal life, be-

heved. Acts xiii. 48. All
that the Father giveth me,
shall come to me. John vi.
37. No man can come to
me except the Father which
hath sent me, draw him.
John vi. 44.

13. Those of mankind 13. According as he hath
who are predestinated unto chosen us in him, before the
life, God, before the founda- foundation of the world . . .
tion of the world was laid, having predestinated us unto
according to his eternal and the adoption of children, by-
immutable purpose, and the Jesus Christ, unto himself,
secret counsel and good plea- according to the good plea-
sure of his will, hath chosen sure of his will. Being pre-
in Christ unto everlasting destinated, according to the
glory, out of his mere grace purpose of him, who worketh
and love. all things after tJie counsel

of his 01V71 will. Eph. i. 4,
5, 11. Why dost thou strive
against him ? for he giveth
not account of any of his
matters. Job xxxiii. 13.

14. And those thus saved 14. Who hath saved us,
in Christ are chosen in him and called us with an holy
without any foresight of faith, calling, not according to our
or good works, or persever- works., but according to his
ance in either of them, or any own purpose and grace which

* And does not the fore-knowledge of God (which all must admit)
make the matter as certam as his fore-ordination ? If, for example,
God foreknows that A. B. will live in sin, and die in sin, is not the
C«e«/ just as certain in the one case as in the other! And if God
foreknows tliat precisely nine hundred thousand billions of the human
family will be saved, and no more, can that numl)cr be increased ?
Can it be diminished ? Those, then, who hold to fore-knowledge, and
those who hold io fore-ordination, -axg in the same category, and should
bring no railing accusation against each other.

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

11

other thing in the creature,
as conditions or causes mov-
ing thereunto ; and all to the
praise of his glorious grace.

15. As God hath fore -or-
dained the elect unto glory,
so hath he, by the eternal
and most free purpose of his
will, fore-ordained all the
ineans thereunto.

16. Those who are elected,
being fallen in Adam, are re-
deemed by Christ.

17. Such are effectually
called unto faith in Christ.

he purposed in Christ, before
the world began. 2 Tim. i.
9, Hath chosen us in him,
that we should be holy. And
as many as were ordained
unto eternal life, believed.*
By grace are ye saved through
faith, and that, not of your-
selves ; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man
should boast. Eph. ii. 8, 9.

15. Elect, according to the
fore-knowledge of God,
through sanctijication of the
Spirit unto obedience, and
sprinkling of the blood of
Christ. 1 Pet. i. 2. God
hath from the begmning, cho-
sen you to salvation, through
sanctification of the Spirit,
and belief of the truth. 2
Thes. ii. 13.

16. As by one man's dis-
obedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made
righteous. Rom. v. 19. As
for thee, also, by the blood of
thy covenant, I have sent
forth thy prisoners out of the
pit, wherein is no water.
Zech. ix. 11. Thou wast
slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood. Rev.
V. 9.

17. Who hath saved us,
and called us, with an holy
calling. 2 Tim. i. 9. Being
justified by faith, we have

* Observe ! Luke does not say, As many as believed were ordained
unto eternal life ; but As many as were ordained unto eternal life be-
lieved.

12 MIRROR OP BIBLE TRUTH.

peace with God, through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Rom.
V. 1.

18. And, by his Spirit, 18. And you hath he
working in due season, are quickened, who were dead in
adopted, sanctified, and saved, trespasses and in sins. Eph.

i. 1. Because ye are sons,
he hath sent forth the Spirit
of his Son into your heart,
crying Abba, Father. Gal.
iv. 6. Saved us by the wash-
ing of regeneration, and re-
newing of the Holy Ghost.
Tit. iii. 5.

19. Moreover, such attain 19. Reserved in heaven
everlasting life, being kept for you, who are kept, by the
and " saved by his power power of God, through faith
through faith unto salvation." unto salvation. 1 Pet. i. 4,

5. I am persuaded that He
which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it,
unto the day of Jesus Christ.
Phil. i. 6. My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me. And I
give unto them eternal life,
and they sliaU never perish,
neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. John x.
27, 28.

20. Neither are any other 20. I pray not for the
redeemed by Christ, effectu- world, hut for them which
ally called, justified, adopted, thou liast given me. John
and sanctified, but the elect xvii. 9. Many are called but
only. few chosen. Matt. xx. 16.

And, as many as were or-
dained unto eternal life, be-
lieved. Acts xiii. 48. More-
over, whom he predestinated,
tliem he also called, and whom
he called, tlieni he also justi-
fied ; and whom he justified,

MIRROR OP BIBLE TRUTH.

13

^ 21. The rest of mankind
God was pleased, according
to the unsearchable counsel
of his will, wherebv he extend-
eth, or withholdeth mercy, as
he pleaseth, for the glory of
his sovereign power over his
creatures, to pass by and or-
dain them to dishonour and
wrath, for their sin^ to the
praise of his glorious justice.

them lie also glorified, Rom.
viii. 30.

21. I thank thee, O Fath-
er, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these
things from the wise and pru-
dent, and hast revealed them
unto babes. Even so. Father,
for so it seemed good in thy
sight. Luke X. 21. Therefore
thev could not believe, because
Esaias said again. He hath
blinded their eyes and har-
dened their hearts, that they
should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their
heart, and be converted, and
I should heal them. John
xii. 39, 40. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he
will, he hardeneth. Thou
wilt then say unto me, Why
doth he yet find fault, for who
hath resisted his will 1 Nay,
but, O man, who art thou,
that repliest against God ?*
What if God, willing to show
his wrath, and to make his
power known, endured, with
much long-sufiering, the ves-
sels of wrath, fitted to destruc-
tion ? Rom. ix. 18— 22.

* It is worthy of remark, that, wherever a doctrine is taught in the
Bible, which is likely to be controverted, the objection is stated in ad-
vance, and put down ! Thus, wh^n our Saviour said, Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, the objection of Nico-
demus is recorded ; How can these things be 1 and the answer of our
Saviour is given, Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born
again. With regard to the doctrine of the Incarnation of Christ, the
objection started is the mystery of the thing. Paul admits the mys-
tery, yet holds fast the doctrine. Without controversy, says he, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Again Paul,
having affirmed that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the

2

14 MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

Thus have I compared the Standards* of the Presbyterian
Church with God's blessed word. I have put the one directly
over against the other. I have concealed nothing, masked
nothing, glossed over nothing. And now, candid reader, is
there not a very striking resemblance 1 Is the language of
our Standards one whit strono;er than the language of the
Bible ? Is not the one the very echo, image, and counter-
part of the other ? and if, in our Standards, we find some
things " deep and dark^'' are they not the very fac-simile
of corresponding things " deep and dai'k^'' found in the sa-
cred volume also? Let us then beware how we rudely touch
either, lest, haply, we be found to touch an enveloped thun-
derbolt, and " fight against God !" As for myself, fully be-
lieving that the Bible is the word of God, and that every thing
which it teaches is right and good ; and that, when properly
understood, it will appear worthy of Him who is the es-
sence of all wisdom and love, I am willing to follow the
Bible wherever it goes, as the little child follows its parent,
or the boat goes in the wake of the gallant ship, which safely
ploughs the waves of the mighty deep ! Yea, as Ruth said
unto Naomi, so would I say to this, my heavenly guide :
" Hinder me not from following after thee, for whither thou
goest will I go ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God
my God ; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be
buried." But it may be objected,

1. That if the doctrines here taught are the doctrines of
the Bible, tlien the Bible cannot be the word of God. But
IT IS the word of God. It is proved to be so, by the com-
manding evidence of the most stupendous miracles. It is
proved to be so, by almost innumerable prophecies, which
have been most literally and remarkably fulfilled. It is
proved to be so, by the fact of its giving an account, and the

law, meets the objection of the antinomian in this way, Do we then
make void the law through faith \ God forbid ! yea, we establish the
law. And, just so, in reference to the doctrine of Divine Suvereig?ifi/,
having said, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy,
and whom he will he hardeneth, he anticipates an objection, Why
doth he yet find fault 1 and puts it down in this way. Nay, but, O
man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed
say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus 1 Hath not
the potter power over the clay, &c. Now this starting of the objection
to an unpopular doctrine, in advance, and putting it down, is certainly
the strongest possible way of establishing the doctrine !
• The things most objected to.

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH. 1^

only rational account of the creation of the world ; of the ori-
gin of evil ; of the division of time into weeks of seven days;
and other matters connected with the early history of our
globe. It is proved to be the word of God, by the sublimity
of its doctrines; the perfection of its precepts; and its admi-
rable adaptation to the wants and circumstances of man. In-
deed, the character and teachings of Christ, his resurrec-
tion from the dead, and the power of his religion upon the con-
science and the heart of millions, are convincing proofs of its
divine origin. Yes, the blessed Bible comes to us, " with
credentials clear ; on every line, marked with the seal of high
divinity ;" and to deny it, is much the same as to deny that
there is light in the sun, or stars in the firmament, or beauty
in virtue, or deformity in vice ; and hence to deny that the
Bible is the word of God, would be to plunge into difficultiea
incomparably greater than those we would avoid. But it may
be said,

2. If the doctrines here laid down are true, then man can
be no longer a free agent. He is not responsible for his ac^
tions : and tJw doctrine of Fatalism is trice. But these in-
ferences are not correct. The Bible teaches no such thing,
nor do the Standards of the Presbyterian Church. Both
teach clearly and strongly that man is a free agent ; that
man is accountable ; and that the doctrine of Fatalism la
NOT true. That we are free agents, we are perfectly con-
scious. In this matter our consciousness is as strong as that
of our identity. Of course, then, neither the Bible nor our
Standards can say aught against this. In all that the sinner
does, he acts freely, with his own full consent ; and to say there
is any Divine influence upon the sinner, impelling him, in
any case, to do that which is wrong, is impious ; hence, the
language of the apostle James, "Let no man say, when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God ; for God cannot be tempted
with evil, neither tempteth he any man ; but every man is
tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin ; and sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death." This is a true. Scrip-
tural account of the matter ; and, in most exact accordance
with it, we find this language in our Standards, " Yet soasthere
by^ rieithe?' is God tJte author of si7t, nor is violence offered to
the freedom oftJie creature^ nor is the liberty or contingency of
second causes taken aivay^ but rather established.'''' And again,
in speaking of the providence of God extending " to the first

16 MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

fall, and all other sins of men and angels," we find this Ian
guage, " Yet^ so as the smfulness thereof 'proceedeth only
from the creature^ and not from God^ who^ being most Jwly
a7id righteous, neitlier is, nor can be tlw author or approver
of sin.'''' To illustrate and establish the doctrine thus taught,
both in the Bible and in our Standards, there are many cases
upon sacred record. It is said that the Lord hardened Pha-
raoh's heart, and yet Pharaoh certainly must have been con-
scious that he acted freely, or he would never have said, " I
have sinned. The Lord is righteous, but I and my people
are wicked." Joseph's brethren, moved with envy, sold him
into Egypt. When Joseph became governor, and made him-
self known to his brethren, and they were troubled at his
presence, he said unto them, " Come near unto me, I pray
thee, and they came near ; and he said, I am Joseph, your
brother, whom ye sold unto Egypt : now, therefore, be not
grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither,
for God did send me before you to preserve life. Ye thought
evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass,
as it is this day, to save much people alive." Notwithstand-
ing all this, it must be admitted, that Joseph's brethren acted
freely, and, in conspiring against their brother, and selling
him into Egypt, they certainly sinned grievously, and this
they feU and ack7iowledged, in this language, when in trou-
ble : " We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that
we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we
would not hear ; thereupon is this distress come upon us.'*
The case of Balaam also is exactly in point. Invited by
the messengers of Balak to go to Moab, and curse the child-
ren of Israel, he was expressly forbidden to go ; nay he was
assured, that the people whom he was called upon to curse
were and should be blessed. This was surely enough to
prevent Balaam's going. And it is true in the morning he
sent away the messengers, saying, The Lord refuseth to give
me leave to go with you. As if he had said, I am willing
enough to go, but I serve a hard master, who will not let
me go. Upon the return of the messengers to Moab, Balak,
the king of Moab, believing that the prophet of Aram might
yet be won, sent other messengers, yet more honourable, and
promised great things. To these messengers Balaam said,
If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I
cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or
more. Willing, however, to give the king of Moab every proof

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH. 17

of his readiness to please him, he invited the messengers into
his house, and made an attempt to change the Divine pur-
pose, as though God was a man, that he should lie ; or the
son of man, that he should repent. As Balaam's covetous
heart was set upon the promised rewards of Balak, God, to
punish him, and " make his power known," permitted him to
go, yes, WITHOUT approving, 'permitted him to go, to go on,
to his own destruction ! Wretched man ! he braved every
danger for filthy lucre's sake. " And God's anger was kin-
dled, because he went ; and the angel of the Lord stood in
the way, as an adversary against him. And when Balaam's
eyes were opened, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing
in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand," conscious guilt
filled him with alarm, "and he bowed down his head, and
fell flat upon his face, and said, I have sinned^'' Observe !
God ^permitted him to go, but Balaam had full reason to know
that if he had the divine permission^ he had not the divine
wppi-obation ; for God, who changes not, had already said.
Thou shalt not go ; thou shalt not curse the people ; for they
are blessed. Now, this case illustrates our doctrine of the
providence of God extending itself " even to the first fall,
and all other sins of angels and men, yet so as the sinfulness
thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God,
who being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the
autlwr or approver of sin." But the case, which, perhaps,
of all others, is the most striking, is that touching the cru-
cifixion of Christ, which, we are told, was done by wicked
HANDS, although we are expressly told, also, it was done «c-
cwding to the determinate counsel and fore-kn&ivledgeof God.
And note the language of Peter, in another place: " For, of
a truth. Lord, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast
anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles,
and the people of Israel were gathered together, for to do
whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be
done^"* Now, such things being brought to pass by the provi-
dence of God, whilst all the sinfulness thereof proceedeth from
the creature, may seem strange— g'^xfe inexplicable; and yet
it is all perfectly true ; as both the Bible and our Standards
positively affirm. But it may again be objected,

3. How can these things be ? To this I would reply,
many things, when stated, and not properly understood, may
appear very strange, and even contradictory and absurd,
which, nevertheless, are strictly true ; and when light comes

2*

18 MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

in, all objections pass away. A mathematician tells me that
a line may be continually approaching a certain point, and
yet never can reach it ! I am astonished ! I am ready to
deny the assertion ; and say. How can it be ? He draws a
diagram, demonstrates the truth of his proposition, and I am
obliged to admit the correctness of his proposition. A tra-
veller assures me, that, in going down a river, he was, in the
evening of a certain day, fifty miles nearer home than he was
in the morning of that day, aiid yet farther off ! ! I hear
the assertion with amazement, and, incredulous, I ask, How
can this be ] He describes on paper, the windings of the
river, points out his position in the morning, his position at
night ; and shows me where his house stands. I understand
it now, and what was an enigma before, is such no longer.
I affirm that you are a m^ortal man, and must soon die. The
next moment I say you are iynnwrtal, and tnust live for ever !
This moment I tell you that my father is sleeping in the
grave; the next moment I say, he is robed and crowned in
heaven. If unacquainted with the twofold nature of man, you
exclaim, " Nonsense ! what can be more absurd? 7710? tal^ and
yet immortal ! Sleeping m the grave^ and robed and
crowned in heave^i ! Impossible ! It cannot be !" I reveal
to you the fact of the twofold existence of man, as consisting
of soul and body. Your wonder ceases ; your mind is re-
lieved ; the difficulty is now all gone ! Whilst the PJiarisees
were gathered together^ Jesus answered them, saying. What
think you of Christ ? whose son is he ? And they said. The
Son of David ; and he said. How then doth David in spirit
call him Lord? saying. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou upon my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy
footstool. If David called him Lord, how is he then his
Son? And, says the evangeUst, no man was able to answer
him a word. Not knowing the fact, that Jesus Christ was
both God and man, the question was confounding ; the thing
stated perfectly inexplicable ! And now, if we take the
ground of modern Unitarians, what will we do with these
words of the Saviour, I am the Root and Offspring of David.
If Jesus Christ be no more than a mere man^ how could he
be the Root of l^avid ? the source of David's being ? And
if we, quoting these passages of Scripture which speak of
Christ as God, the mighty God, and God over all blessed
forever, should insist upon it, that he is God only^ how then
it may be asked, can he be David's offspring ? What now

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH. 19

is to be done ? Why, receive, as true, all the declara-
tions IN the Bible, on the authority of God. Is this un-
. reasonable ? Certainly not. It is only what every good
child does, as regards the declarations of its earthly parent.
For example, this father tells his little children that the earth is
turning upon its axis, and is rollingvery swiftly round the sun !
At first, the child may be astonished, and say " Pa, the world
is standing still. How can it be ?" But when the parent
seriously affirms the fact, the child submits, and believes the
assertion made. Does that child trample upon reason ? I
deny it. There is a syllcjgism in the mind of that child. It
is this : " My father says it is so : my father never tells lies ;
and therefore it is so." And now to apply this, the Bible says
God sent Joseph down into Egypt ; and yet the crime of
selling him into Egypt is laid at the door of his envious
brethren. With regard to Pharaoh, God says. For this very
cause have I raised thee up, that my power might be shown
in thee, and my name declared throughout the earth. And
yet God expostulates with him thus : How long wilt thou
refuse to let my people go ? The Bible tells us that there is
only one living and true God, and yet, speaking of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, declares each to be God I The Sa-
viour says, No man can come to me, except the Father,
which hath sent me, draw him ; and yet also uses this lan-
guage. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.
And the very same Bible which says, " Whom he predesti-
nated, them he also called," says, likewise, " Whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely." Are these
" dark sayings ?" Are these " hard to be understood ]"
Be it so. They are the words of a God, who cannot lie ; and I
receive every declaration as divinely true. I receive them
all on tJie autliority of God : I have received the declarations
of man, which, at first, were equally inexplicable, and found
them true. Shall I believe the word of man, and shall I not
believe the word of God? If then I point out certain decla-
rations of Christ and his apostles, and believe them all, and a
controversy is started, in relation to certain ^'- hard sayings,^''
the quarrel is to be settled, not with riie, but with those ivho
uttered these dark sayings ! And it is remarkable, as I have
elsewhere shown, that in relation to the doctrine of Predesti-
nation, as with many others, the objection is started in ad'
vance ! Why doth he yet find fault ? for who hath resisted his
will 1 and put down with a " Nay, but, O man, who art thou,

20 MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

that repliest against God ?" I firmly believe that, in a fijture
world, every thing will be cleared up, and we shall read, in
fairer, brighter lines, all the mysteries, even the darkest mys-
teries, both of the Word and Providences of God. In the
mean time, we are willing to receive the Bible, as suited to a
state of probation, suited to try onr faith, as well as our obe-
dience, and, as the Saviour said to Peter, when he washed
his feet, (and he did what Peter could not see the propriety
of,) " What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter;" even so will it be in relation to the things which
appear inexplicable, in the sacred volume. What we know
not 710W, doubtless we shall know hereafter. The word of
the Lord is tried — every syllable true ; and we may, without
wavering, firmly rest upon it. This is what the Apostle Peter
denominates " Precious Faith." Only let me have a divine
warrant. I am willing to believe any thing, venture any thing !
and, in so doing, I honour Reason as well as the Bible, for the
word of the Lord is true, and reason tells me, that what is true
must stand for ever ! When the light of eternity breaks in upon
us, then all darkness and clouds will pass away, and we,
who now see through a glass darkly, shall then see face to face ;
and we, who now, know only in part, shall then know even as
we are known. Paul, in the very same chapter in which he
speaks of the bright light of the eternal world, uses this lan-
guage : " Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away."
Now, at first, this appears strange and even contradictory ;
and yet, when understood, is found to be both true and beau-
tiful. As the stars which shine at midnight fade away and
vanish at the rising of the sun, (their tvvinkUng light being
lost and swallowed up in the brighter splendours of the glo-
rious orb of day,) even so all the knowledge which we may
acquire on earth will be, as it were, lost and swallowed up in
the overflowing flood of intellectual light, which shall pour in
upon us from the throne of God! And now, as these words,
" Whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away," (which
seems strange and inexplicable at first,) are, upon examina-
tion, better understood, even on earth, even so, a careful
examination of certain things, " deep and dark," in the Stand-
ards of the Presbyterian Church, may, even now, give us
some light, which we had not before, and thus relieve the
mind, and cause us to receive and love that against which we
may have had strong prejudices in time past. And now,
candid reader, let us notice some of the things most usually

MIRROR OP BIBLE TRUTH. 21

objected to, in the Standards of the Presbyterian Church, and
see if these objections be not entirely groundless.
- 1. Election. — Does any one object to the wordi It is
in the Bible, in numerous places, and cannot be expunged.
Is it the principle which is objected to 1 How common is
the principle among men ! Do we not elect our presidents,
our governors, our judges, our sheriffs, and our partners in
love and trade 1 No principle more common than this, and,
may I not add, none more valued. Is the doctrine of elec-
tion offensive ? And what is the doctrine 1 Simply this, God's
plan o/' SECURING the salvation of some^of verymany of the
human family. It is an act of super-abounding mercy, a
pure work of grace, infinitely hettering the condition of the
human family, and presenting at least one beauteous rain-
bow of promise upon the dark cloud which overshadowed
our guilty globe ! It is something extra^ which smiles upon
many, and frowns upon none ,* which places no new obstruc-
tion in the sinner's way ; but leaves him precisely as it
found him, untouched. Now, why object to a plan of mercy
for securing the salvation of some, when, without it, the sal-
vation of all would have been in fearful jeopardy ?*

2. Unconditional Election. — And what is meant by
this? Simply that salvation is all of grace^ in other words,
that those who are saved are chosen in Christ, not on account
of any merit or obedience of their own, nor any faith. And

• We humbly conceive that the doctrine is virtually admitted, 1.
By all who admit that conversion is the work of God. Say you are con-
verted. Who converted you 1 You answer, "God, most certainly." Well,
if God converted you, he must have intended to do it ; and if he intended
to do it, he must have intended it from all eternity ; for it is written,
«< Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning." 2. By those
•who pray for special influences, who pray that God would come down,
in mighty power, and slay the enmity of the sinner's heart ; and subdue
the stubbornness of the sinner's will ; and make him a trophy of victO'
rious grace : for what does this amount to, but this 1 Lord, we see that
that " common grace, which is given to all men, to profit withal," does not
bring the sinner to Christ; therefore, we pray for more grace, for conquer-
ing grace. This involves the very essence of our doctrine, and upon it is
based the humbling and confounding question of the Apostle, Who
made thee to differ 7 I should prefer that the objector would hold fast
the "form of sound ivords," but if, in his "holiest moments," he dis-
tinctly recognizes that which is the very sum and substance of the doc-
trine of election, I am content. The thing itself is worth more than its
name. I had rather have the jewel and the casket both, but if I cannot
get the casket, by all means give me the jeweL

22 MIKROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

does not the Bible expressly say, By grace are ye saved,
through faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God ;
not of works, lest any man should boast? And what says
Luke ? " And as many as were ordained unto eternal life be-
lieved." Observe ! It is not, As many 05 believed^ were or-
dained ; but, as many as ivere ordained^ believed. And what
says Paul ? " Chosen in Christ, that we should be holy," not
because we were holy, but that we should be holy. This, as
I believe, is the precise idea intended to be conveyed by our
Standards. It is simply the doctrine of grace strongly as-
serted. And where is the Christian that will not say, " Grace !
'tis a sweet, a charming sound," or where the converted soul,
that will not freely admit, that " Grace shall crown the work
that grace began ?" Precious doctrine !

3. Elect Infants. — This need not be objected to. Surely
it must be a very harmless phrase, as something equivalent,
or, at least, very much like it, is found in the Standards of
another Church, never charged with being too Calvinis-
tic : " Grant that this child, now to be baptized, may re-
ceive the fulness of thy grace, and ever remain in the num-
ber of thy faithful and elect children, through Jesus Christ
our Lord." Now, to remain in the number of God's elect
children^ implies that there is such a class, and being one of
that number, must, of course, be ekcty and being a child,
must be an elect child! Change the word child for infant, and
we have the very phrase employed in our Standards ! The
only difference, then, in these Standards seems to be this : that
one requires the matter to be reiterated at the baptism of
every child ; the other does not.*

4. Reprobation. — And what is this? A judicial act. Sim-
ply, God's giving the sinner over to walk in the way of his
own lusts ; giving him over to a " hard hearty and a repro-
hate mi7id^^ for the imnishment of his sins. And where is
the man, who has read his Bible, who has not seen this doc-

* And is not the doctrine of" unconditional election" also recognized
here "? for the child not having done, as yet, any good works, nor being
capable of exercising faith, if elect, it could not have been on account of
any of these things, and is not this unconditional election ? But if it be
said that " All mankind are elected in Christ to a state of probation, or
possibility of salvation," then, in praying that the child may ever re-
main in this state, is to pray, not that the child may attain sa/ffl/ton,
but may always remain in a state of probation / its salvation always
attainable, but never attained ! As all denominations are imperfect,
ought they not to deal very gently with each other ]

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH. 23

trine written there, as with a sunbeam ? By reprobation,
we mean nothing more than what is plainly intended to be
taught in these words of the Apostle, (1 Thes. ii. 11, 12.)
" For this cause, God shall send them strong delusions, that
they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
If any still object, let it be thundered, not in our ear, but the
ear of Paul!

5. The Decrees op God. — ^These, as some think, are
dark mountains, frowning awfully ; but, really, are rather
mountains gilded with heavenly glories ! for what are the de-
crees of God, but the calm divine purpose of infinite wisdom
and love, to bring to pass, or permit to come to pass, what-
ever does come to pass, for the glory of his great name. Is
not the glory of God the grand object for which all things
were brought into existence 1 And if, in the work of Crea-
tion, this was the grand end in view, ought it not to be in the
yfo)L\ioi Providence also 1 And, whilst God causes many things
to come to pass by his oivn positive influence or decree, (such
as causing light to exist, and fruits to abound,) is it not de-
sirable that he should also have full power over all the ac-
tions of his creatures, to permit and prevent, as to him may
seem best? And is it not pleasing to think that infinite wisdom
and love have had the arranging of the whole plan ? that God,
in full view of all possible events, has calmly and wisely deter-
mined to bring to pass certain good things, and also calmly
and wisely determined to permit and hound and cojiirol evil
things; only, however, in such a measure and way, as he
foresees will ultimately redound to the glory of his great name?
With regard to i\\e first, James tells us, that "Every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from
the Father of lights ;" and with regard to the second, the Psalm-
ist says, " The wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remain-
der of wrath wilt thou restrain." And is it not pleasant to
think that as God has, by a decree, fixed a bound to the sea,
saying, Thus far shall thou go and no farther, and here shall
thy proud waves be stayed, so he has, also, by a decree,
fixed a bound to all the actions of his creatures, permitting,
bounding, and controlling all things, in infinite wisdom and
love 1 Hence this language of the Apostle : "All things work
together for good, to them that love God ;" and hence also
the loud and harmonious shout in the heavenly world, in re-
lation to the whole plan of the Divine government : " Great

24 MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and
true are thy ways, thou King of Saints." And now, with this
explanation, I ask — if the decrees of God are high mountains^
do they not rise in grandeur before our eyes ? Are they not
gilded with heavenly glories? Precious doctrine! Alleluia!
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! Amen, Alleluia !

6. The Final Perseverance of Saints. — And what is
this doctrine ? Not that a person, once converted, may live
as he pleases, and be sure of salvation, but that those who
are truly regenerated, being kept by the power of God, will
persevere in grace unto glory. And is not this the very lan-
guage of Peter 1 " Blessed," says he, " be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant
mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, through
faith unto salvation." And in relation to the matter of being
safely kept, does not Paul say, " Ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God ?" Now I should think that a jewel
kept in such a casket, thus " hid with Christ in God," must
be safely kept. Paul himself seems to have thought so, for
he immediately adds, " When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." But
what is the language of the Saviour himself? " My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them ; and they follow me, and
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish^ nor
shall any pluck them out of my hand." It would be difficult
to conceive of language stronger than this ; particularly taken
in connection with this prayer of the Saviour: "Father, I will
that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I
am, that they may behold my glory." But the correctness of
our interpretation seems to be positively and for ever settled, by
what the Saviour says, will be the language of the final Judge
to those on the left hand in the great day, " Depart — I never
knew you /" Observe ! Not, I know you not ?iow, but I
never knew you ! As individuals, he certainly always knew
them ; of course, then, he must have reference to them as dis-
ciples. Now if any of them had ever been truly converted, they
would have been his disciples, and he certainly would have
known them as such ; but he, the blessed Saviour, the final
judge, will say to all upon the left hand, I never knew you.
But the doctrine of the final perseverance of saints is believed,

MIRROR or BIBLE TRUTH. 25

as it would seem, not only by Presbyterians on earth, but by
angels in heaven, yea, by all the angels ; for our Saviour
Bays, " There is joy, in the presence of the angels of God,
over one sinner that repenteth." Now, if the doctrine were
not true, I wonder if, whilst heaven rings jubilee, and the
younger angels are shouting, " The dead is alive, and the
lost is found," I say I wonder, if some of the older and more
considerate angels would not say, " Stop, young cherub ; wait
a Httle ; that converted sinner may not come to heaven after
all !" But no check is given to the joy of any one ! Joy
pervades every bosom ! One blessed wave of joy rolls all
over the heavenly world ; and the full choir of angels re-
joice that another human being has entered upon the race
for glory ! another human being has become a child of God,
an heir of heaven, and will soon join them in the skies ! But
some may object, and say. What will we do with other passages
of Scripture, such as these, " If the righteous turn from his
righteousness," " If the salt have lost its savour," " If they
shall fall away, &c.?" Do not such passages overthrow the
doctrine of final perseverance ? I answer. By no means. Paul
says " Though I, or an angel from heaven, should preach
any other gospel than that ye have received, let him be ac-
cursed !" But was it possible for an angel from heaven to
preach any other doctrine ? And Paul, on a certain occasion,
had said. Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.
But had not God said. There shall be the loss of no man's
life ? The idea in both cases is this — in the purpose of God
the MEANS and the end are linked together ; and what God
has joined together let not man put asunder.

But it may further be objected : Does not Paul say, " I
keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that,
by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway ?" Grant it, freely ! but does not the
same Apostle also say, " We know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ?" But
the whole matter is beautifully explained in Jeremiah xxxii.
40, where the Lord, speaking of his people, says, " I will
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, and I will put my fear in
their heart, that they shall not depart from me." When,
therefore, Paul said, '''-lest I myself should he a castaway ^^
he only proved that he was a child of God, being under the

3

26 MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH.

influence of that very fear which God promised to put into
the hearts of all his children. This godly fear is a never-
failing mark of true piety, and I hesitate not to say, that the
man in whose bosom it does not exist, has no true religion
He may boast " of inward joys and sins forgiven," but he
is not a converted man ; he is not a child of God. But finally,
it may be said. We Jiave known some persons who were con-
verted^ and who^for a tbne, were even useful tninisters of
the gospel^ ivJw became miserable apostates^ and died in sin.
Not to say any thing about certain " foolish virgins, who took
their lamps, and took no oil with thcm^'' nor anything about
certain stony ground hearers, " who received the word with
joy, but had no root^'' we need only repeat the words of an
inspired apostle, " They went out from us, because they were not
of us, for if they had been of us, no doubt they would have
continued with us ; but they went out, that it might be made
manifest that they were not all of us." This is conclusive ;
especially as it falls in with the usual method of the sacred
writers, as we have shown, to notice objections likely to be
made to certain doctrines, and to put them down ! and, I must
say, it was very kind in them to give the advocates of those
doctrines such help in advance, thus encouraging them
in times of trial, "to hold fast to the form of sound words,"
and to " contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the
saints." Yes, candid reader, believe it, the doctrine of the
FINAL PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS is a Bible doctrinc, and like
the other doctrines here presented, and with which it is in-
separably linked, is divinely true. It forms an essential part
of a system all glorious and beautiful throughout ! Nay, it
is the " key-stone of the arch, which shuts and binds the
whole." It must be true, for not only does the Bible teach
it, but reason also. " Do you think," says one, " that God
would have suffered Elijah to fall, when he was taking him
up to heaven 1 No more will he permit a child of his to
fail, whom he is taking to his heavenly kingdom." It must be
true. Job believed the doctrine, or he had never said, " I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall appear at the lat-
ter day upon the earth ; and though, after my skin, worms de-
stroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself and not another." i)a2;iV/ believed the
doctrine, or he would never have so confidently exclaimed,
*' Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards re-
ceive me to glory." Peter also certainly believed it, when he

MIRROR OF BIBLE TRUTH. 27

broke out in this exulting language, " Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abun-
dant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inherit-
ance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of
God, through faith unto salvation." Moreover, beyond all
doubt. Paid believed the doctrine, when he said, in his epis-
tle to the Philippian Christians, " Being confident of this very
thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will per-
form it, until the day of Jesus Christ ;" and surely he must
have been under the blessed influence of this doctrine when
he uttered his well-known, triumphant language, " Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of God's elect 1 It is God that
justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the
right of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword 1 Nay, in all these things we are more than con-
querors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." What a
noble testimony to the truth of the doctrine have we here !
And under its influence, how glorious and sublime is this
flight and triumph of faith ! Heaven in full view, heaven be-
gins on earth ! O blessed system of divine truth, which thus
winds up in exultation and in joy ! and loud and ceaseless
songs of praise to Him, who thus causes grace to reign
through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ, our
Lord!

" Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise him all creatures here below ;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

No. 88.

THE

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

POPEEY AND PKOTESTANTISM.

My Dear Sir : — You were educated in the church of Rome,
and until recently you have received all its dogmas and
teachings as true. You have been providentially led to
question the truth of much that you once received with un-
wavering faith, and to feel that the religion of your fathers
and of your youth is not the religion which God has re-
vealed for the acceptance and the salvation of men. Be-
cause you possess not the means, nor the information for
making the comparison yourself, you ask of me, for the
purpose of aiding you in your inquiries after the truth, a
brief statement of the difference between Popery and Pro-
testantism. Most cheerfully do I yield to your request : and
most earnestly do I pray that you may be brought from
darkness to light, and from the bondage of a gloomy super-
stition into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The
points of diflerence are numerous and various ; but for your
purpose and mine, it will be only necessary to indicate a few
of them.

1. They differ as to what is the church. The Papist
makes it to consist of all who submit to Christ and the Pope ;
the Protestant, of all who submit to Christ. However holy
in heart, or consecrated in life, all Christians who believe not
in the Pope, are heretics and schismatics in the view of Po-
pery, and are to be regarded as infidels, Turks, and Jews !
To belong to the church of Jesus Christ, it is as necessary to
believe in the Pope as to believe on Jesus Christ ? Can any
mind, save one dyed in the mingled compound of darkness
and bigotry, believe this ?
3

4 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

2. They differ as to the rule of faith and pi'octice. The
Protestant asserts that the word of God is the only and the
infallible rule of faith and practice. The Papist teaches that
" it is not merely the written word of God, but the whole
word of God both written and unwritten ; in other words,
Scripture and tradition, and these propounded and explained
by the Catholic church."

This is a wide difference. The decisions of that small
book called the Bible are final with every Protestant. This
the Papist denies, and pronounces it a damning error. His
rule of faith is, first the Bible, then the Apocrypha, then
the traditions — the beginning and the end of which no
mortal knows — then the decisions and decrees of councils,
and then the interpretation of these by the church. And
whether " by the church" is meant the Pope, or a council,
or the Pope and council, is not yet determined. If, in some
things, the Protestant rule of faith is difficult to be understood,
the rule of the Papist is utterly beyond human comprehen-
sion.

3. They differ as to the use of the Bible, Protestants re-
gard the Bible as the revealed will of God to man — to every
man. And hence they vindicate the right of every living
man to read for himself, and on his own individual responsi-
bility to God to decide as to what it teaches, and as to what
the Lord would have him to believe and to do. But Popery
prohibits the general circulation of the Bible ; forbids its pe-
rusal, save by those who in its opinion will not be injured by
it ; and supplants it among its adherents by prayer-books and
missals and manuals of devotion, whose object is to supplant
the religion of the Bible by the religion of the priest. Pro-
testantism keeps burning brightly before you the light which
God has kindled in our world for the guidance of our race,
and teaches you to walk by it. Popery curses you for so
doing, removes that light, kindles up its own, and sends you
to perdition unless you walk by its dim and flickering rays.

4. Tliey differ as to the sole object of ivorship. The Bible
teaches the unity of the Godhead. In this the Papist appa-
rently unites with the Protestant. But while the Protestant
unites with the Bible in denouncing all worship offered to any
being save God, or even to God by the intervention of paint-
ings, pictures, or sculpture ; Popery, on the contrary, teaches
that divine worship is due to the Virgin Mary, to the true

POPERY AND PROTESTANTISM. 5

cross, to the little piece of baked dough called the host, and
that religious adoration is to be paid to angels, to departed
saints, and even to relics — old bones collected from the cata-
combs, and, for the sake of raising their price in the bone-
market, said to be the bones of saints and martyrs.

5. TJwy differ as to the nature of sin. Want of confor-
mity unto, or transgression of the divine law, is the only sin
known to the Bible or forbidden in its pages. Sin is a trans-
gression of the divine law. So Protestants believe and teach.
But Popery teaches, that to transgress its commands is sin,
and sin of the most aggravated character. It places its com-
mands in importance above the laws of God. It is far more
sinful to break Good Friday, than the Sabbath day ; to eat
meat on Friday, than to get drunk on Sunday ; to enter a
Protestant place of worship, than to go to the theatre ; to read
king James's Bible, than to pore over Sue's novels ; to deny
the infallibility of the Pope, than to burn heretics ; for a priest
to get married like Peter, than to keep a mistress like Herod.
The violation of many of the laws of God it makes a veniaj
offence, while it pours the vials of its anathemas upon the
contemners of its precepts, and sends them to burn for ages
in purgatorial fires, or for ever in the fires of hell. It makes
that to be a light sin which God makes a most grievous one,
and makes that to be a sin which is a positive virtue. Thus
it makes void the law of God.

6, They differ as to the agency hy which the sinner is re-
newed. The need of this renewal is thus taught : " Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
The agency by which this work is effected is thus taught ;
" The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost." It requires the power which originally created man
from the dust to new-create the human soul, to re-instamp on
it the lost image of God. But Popery teaches, that faith
with the other graces is infused into our hearts in baptism,
and that they are all nurtured up to maturity by confirmation,
penance, fasts, alms, the mass, and other things taught as
doctrines, which are only the commandments of men. So
that the Christian of the Protestant is made by God — the
Christian of the Papist, by man. And the practical differ-
ence between them is oftentimes as great as is the theoretic

difference as to the agency by which they are begotten anew.

1*

6 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

If, on the Papal theory, the priest refuses to baptize, how
can God make a Christian ?

7. Tlwy differ as to the way in which a sinner is saved.
When a sinner asks a Protestant what he must do to be saved,
he tells him to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he shall
be saved. Jesus Christ came into our world to seek and to
save the lost. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance ; and he invites all the weary and heavy
laden to himself for rest. As the blood of Christ cleanses
from all sin, the Protestant sends the inquiring sinner directly
to Christ, and tells him that if he believes in Christ he shall
be saved. But the Papist tells him to go to confession to the
priest, to do penance, to go to mass, to partake of the eucha-
rist, to give alms — especially to the priest — to keep the holy
days ; and he enjoins a round of bodily service as onerous
as it is unscriptural, and which, however long continued,
leaves him utterly in the dark as to whether or not his many
sins are forgiven. He has nothing but the word of the priest
to direct or to comfort him. Is it not a wide difference
whether in such a momentous affair, we have the direction
of man and the comfort which he gives, or the direction of
God and the comfort which flows from tlie direct acting of
faith upon Christ, and the appropriating of his work by faith?

8. They differ as to the mediation of Christy as our Re-
deemer, with the Father. There is nothing more plainly
taught in the Bible, than that Christ is the only " mediator
between God and man." " If any man sin, we have an ad-
vocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." And
him the Father heareth always. This is the received doc-
trine of the Protestant world. Yet this part of the work of
Christ is forgotten by Popery, and his mediation is thrown
into the shade by the mediation of Mary, of Peter, and Paul ;
of the holy monks and hermits ; of the holy martyrs, and
virgins, and widows ; of the holy doctors, bishops, and con-
fessors ; some of whom were men of God, and many of whom
were men of Belial. And thus Popery turns us away from
Christ, the only and all-sufficient Mediator, who is every
where present to hear, and whose mediation is always preva-
lent, and sends us to creatures like ourselves, of limited pow-
ers, however holy, and who, if on earth at all, or near it,
can hear but one at a time. There are many cases recorded

POPERY AND PROTESTANTISM. 7

in the history of the nations of Europe, in which desperate
men, giving up all hope of escaping the penalty of the law,
sought to bribe the ministers of justice, or to enhst the par-
doning power in their behalf through the queen and ladies of
the court. Can this be the reason why the Pope, bishops,
and priests all over the earth, are now crowding around
Mary, and are deserting the mediatorial throne of her glorious
and glorified Son, who is exalted to give repentance to Israel,
and remission of sins ?

9. They differ as to the state into which souls go^ on their
departure from the body. The soul of Lazarus, when he
died, went to Abraham's bosom, only another name for
heaven : the soul of the rich man went to hell. When Ste-
phen was dying, he saw, through the opened heavens, Jesus
standing at the right hand of God. Christ said to his sor-
rowing disciples, when he announced to them that his de-
parture was near, that he was going to prepare a place for
them, that where he was, there they might be also. The
uniform opinion of the Protestant world is, that at death
the righteous go to heaven, and the wicked to hell. But Po-
pery teaches that the souls of the pious, after death, go to a
place called purgatory, which is neither heaven nor hell, but
some place between them, where they are purified by suffer-
ings more or less protracted, and make satisfaction more or
less complete for remaining sins ; and that the power of the
Church, the efficacy of alms by their relatives, and the in-
fluences of masses offered up, are greatly instrumental in
shortening the period of their torments, and in delivering them
from these awful fires.

This you will perceive is a very wide difference. This
purgatory of Popery, the keys of whose doors are in the
hands of the priests, is a fearful affair. It is based on the
great error, that the blood of Christ is not sufficient to cleanse
from all sin. It is an iniquitous delusion, devised by the
priests in the dark ages, for the purpose of extorting money
from poor ignorant Papists. Nothing but the doctrine of
the infallibility of the church, which stereotypes error, and
which is so shamelessly maintained in opposition to a world
full of evidence to disprove it, prevents even the priests them-
selves from casting it out as a loathsome and nefarious delu-
sion. This is the market in which souls are the merchan-
dize, and priests are the brokers.

S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

10. They differ as to llw object of saving faith. The
Bible makes Jesus Christ this object. He that beheveth in
the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. " He that believeth
in the Son hath life ; he that believeth not the Son, shall not
see life." " This is the work of God, that ye believe on him
whom he hath sent." In accordance with this is the teach-
ing of the Protestant world. But Popery says, " You must
believe all and every article, every point the Catholic Church
requires you to believe." It also tells you, " by wilfully
erring, or denying one article of your faith, you destroy your
whole belief." That is, you may believe truly in Christ,
and in all the Bible and the Church teach, save one dogma
of the Church — as for instance, purgatory, or the infallibility
of the Pope, or transubstantiation — yet, if you fail to believe
any or either of these, " you destroy your whole belief,"
and you are lost ! Is not this awful ? you are lost for not
believing a lie !

11. They differ in their manner of ivoiship. When
Christ and his apostles were in the world, their great object
was to instruct the people — to teach them the doctrines which
they should believe, and the duties they should perform.
And when the Saviour sent out his disciples, it was with the
command to " preach the gospel to every creature.'' They
were endowed with the gift of tongues, so as to preach
the gospel to all people in a language which they could un-
derstand. And hence Protestants, in every part of the
world, adapt every part of their worship to the understanding
of the people. Hymns of praise are sung, prayer is made,
the Bible is read, in the language of the people. How dif-
ferent from all this is the worship of Popery. Its prayers
are in Latin, which perhaps neither the priest nor one of the
people understands — its chantings are in the same language,
and so is its whole round of ceremony ; the Mass, a most
unmeaning mass of nonsense, fills up the greater part of the
time ; and if a word is uttered in your native tongue from
the beginning to the end, it is — especially in purely Papal
countries — a brief eulogy on some saint, or a brief exhorta-
tion to some superstitious observance. The worship of Pro-
testants has for its chief ends the instruction, the conversion,
the edification of the people ; that of Papists overlooks all
these, and fills up its hours of worship with a round of cere-
monies as unmeaning as they are unscriptural, and which are

POPERY AND PROTESTANTISM. 9

far more Pagan than Christian. Protestants know what they
worship ; Papists do not.

12. Tliey differ as to the power of ifie 'ministry. Protes-
tant ministers simply occupy the place which the Bible as-
signs them. They are set apart for the preaching of the
word, the aaministration of ordinances, and the edifying of
the body of Christ. They work no miracles, perform no
charms or exorcisms, forgive no sins, absolve none from
punishment. They preach salvation, through faith in Jesu?
Christ, to all men ; they teach all men the revealed truth ot
God, and assure them, that by a heartfelt belief of that truth
and a life in accordance with it, they shall be saved. Fai
different from this are the powers claimed by Papal priests^
They regenerate by baptism — they require you to confess td
them all your sins — they determine the character of thos&
sins as mortal or venial — they affix to each the kind and de-
gree of penance they see fit — they absolve you or not at their
pleasure — they create Christ, and offer him in sacrifice in the
mass — and when you die, they fit you for death by rubbing
you with olive-oil — they then send you to hell or purgatory,
as they see fit ; if to purgatory, they promise to get you out
by masses proportioned, both as to price and number, to the
ability of your friends to pay for them. The Protestant min-
ister points you to heaven by a way which, like the ways
that led to the cities of refuge in Israel, is open, straight, and
unobstructed ; upon the Papal way the priest erects his many
gates, and will not let you pass one without a heavy toll.
He carries at his girdle the keys of heaven and hell, and
claims the power of sending you to the one place or the
other at pleasure 1 Is not this a wide difference 1

13. Tlicy differ as to ivhat constitutes true piety in the
sight of God. The Bible says much about being "born
again ;" being " renewed in the spirit of our minds ;" being
" created anew in Christ Jesus." These changes it attributes
to the Spirit, as the agent that produces them. The love of
God which presided in the heart of Adam, as he came from
I he hand of his Creator, was dethroned by his disobedience,
and the love of sin and of self went up to its vacant seat. All
true Protestants agree that the change indicated by the above
texts, consists in restoring the love of God to its rightful place
as the presiding affection of the soul. When, by the Holy
Spirit, the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, then the

10 , THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

individual is "born again," is " renewed in the spirit of his
mind," is " created anew in Christ Jesus." And this is, in
the estimation of the Protestant, the main element of all true
piety. This is a change at the fountain of all moral action,
and influences all the conduct towards God and man.

How different from this is piety in the estimation of the
Papist ! It consists in obedience to the church — in submis-
sion to her laws — inattention to her ordinances — in the punc-
tual performance of the ceremonies which she enjoins. If
the Papist keeps lent piously, he may sin as he lists at the
carnival — if he love the Pope, he may hate Protestants — if
he fasts on Friday, he may feast on Sunday. The piety of
the Protestant consists in a heart right in the sight of God,
prompting to right conduct toward all men ; that of the Pa-
pist consists in an external obedience to prescribed ceremo-
nial rites. And when we remember that God looks not upon
the outward appearance, but upon the heart, this is a wide
difference. When the Jews, because of the strictness of their
external observances, seemed to themselves, and to others, to
be very pious, then it was that the Saviour pronounced them
"white-washed sepulchres," and accused them of converting
the house of God into a den of thieves. St. Ignatius made
the life or death of a Moor who was ridingr before him to turn
upon the point whether he should take one or the other of
two roads, and bishops and cardinals have often gone out
from what were apparently the most fervent devotions, to
burn heretics. The piety of Popery is fanaticism ; that of
Protestants consists in the exercise of love to God and man.
That of the Protestant is guided by the Bible ; that of the
Papist, by the church and the priest.

14. They differ as to the Sacraments. Protestants, taking
the Bible for their rule of faith, believe in only two sacra-
ments, baptism and the Lord's supper. By that of baptism,
we are admitted to membership in the visible church ; and
in the Lord's supper, we commemorate the death of Christ,
in obedience to his command, " This do, in remembrance
of me." Every thing here is simple and scriptural. But
Popery makes seven sacraments ; baptism, confirmation, the
eucharist, penance, extreme unction, holy orders, and matri-
mony. And the administration of these is accompanied by
a round of ceremony as farcical as it is unscriptural, as un-
meaning as it is absurd. As an illustration of all, take the

POPERY AND PROTESTANTISM. It

ceremony connected with baptism. The water must have
been blessed on the vigils of Easter and Whit-Sunday ; the
priest blows thrice in the face of the person to drive out Sa-
tan— he then makes on his face and breast the sign of the
cross — he then puts blessed salt into his mouth — he then "by
solemn prayer and exorcisms" casts out the devil — he then
lays on him " the extremity of his stole" — he then puts spit-
lie into his ears — he then anoints him upon the breast and
between the shoulders with holy oil — he then pours water
upon his head three times in the form of a cross — he then
anoints the top of his head with holy chrism, in the form of
a cross — he then puts a white cloth upon his head — then a
lighted candle in his hand, then he is baptized. And all con-
cludes, if the subject is a child, with an admonition to the pa-
rents, "not to let the child lie in the same bed with them or
with the nurse, for fear of its being overlaid !" And sub-
limely absurd and foolish as all this is, it is the highest sense
compared with the ceremonies of the eucharist, in which the
priest creates Christ out of a wafer, and while he drinks the
wine himself, gives only the wafer to the people! It is
through its seven sacraments that Popery debases and en-
slaves its people.

15. Tliey entirely differ as systems of salvation. You
are now an inquirer after the way of salvation. You feel
that you are a sinner — that as such you deserve eternal
death — that your feet are sliding on slippery places — and feel-
ing that if your soul is lost, all is lost, the momentous ques-
tion is on your lips, " What shall I do to be saved ?" Pro-
testantism has but one answer to the question : " Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And while
giving you this answer, it puts the Bible into your hands as
the only infallible guide in the way to glory. About all this
there is no mystery, no priestly interference, no tax lor the
bread and water of life. Christ laid down his hfe to save
sinners ; and whosoever believes on him shall be saved, be-
cause his blood cleanses all who believe in his name from all
sin. It was only when the last sands of life were running in
his glass, that the dying thief believed on Jesus ; and yet
Jesus cheered his last moments by shedding down upon him
the sunlight of heaven in the blessed promise, " This day
shalt thou be with me in paradise." Such is true Protestant-
ism, every where, as a system of salvation. =

But how different from all this is the system of Popery 4

12 THE DIFFERENCE BET\rEEN POPERY AND PROTESTANTISM.

It takes from you the Bible, and sends you to the priest. In-
stead of sending you to God with the confession of your sins,
it sends you to the priest. Your rule of faith is the Church,
and the priest tells you what the Church teaches. If you.
believe all the Bible, and believe fully in Christ as a Saviour,
yet, if you reject any thing taught you by the priest as a doc-
trine of the Church, your faith is vain. It converts repent-
ance into penance ; and penance it converts into an awful
sacrament, which puts you as effectually into the power of
the priest, as is the bird caught in a net in the power of the
fowler. And after burdening your conscience with ceremo-
nial sins — after burdening your life with ceremonial observ-
ances— after enveloping you in the mists of her mysteries,
and stupefying your senses with her gorgeous ritual — after
draining your purse to enrich her priests — after so perverting
your moral vision as to induce you to regard every person
not a Papist as smitten by the anger of heaven, and as an
heir of perdition, it only fits you after all, for purgatory,
where you may burn for ages in purifying fires before you
are fitted for heaven ! Such are Protestantism and Popery.
As maps of the way to eternal life, the one is as simple as
truth, and as clear as the sun ; the other is involved beyond
comprehension, and as dark and remorseless as the grave.
The one is the truth as it is in Jesus, the other is a damnable
delusion. The aim and end of the one is to save your soul ;
of the other, to increase the power and riches of the priest.

Such, my friend, are some of the points of difference be-
tween Protestantism and Popery. Were it necessary, I might
multiply these points of difference. But I have said enough
to show you that Popery is a delusion, a fable, opposed in all
its essential points to Christianity, and unworthy of a mo-
ment's confidence ; and that true Protestantism is the rehgion
of ♦he Bible, which consults only the welfare of the sinner,
and which sends him directly to the blood of Jesus Christ for
salvation.

Let me request of you, in closing this epistle, to give up all
matters of controversy ; to forget every thing but that you
are a great sinner, and that Jesus is an Almighty Saviour ; and
to go to him at once, humbly and fervendy, saying, " Lord,
I believe ; help thou my unbelief." And you have this pro-
mise to encourage you : " Him that cometh unto me, I will
in 710 wise cast out.''''

Yours most truly, Kirwan.

No. 89.

WESTERN PATRIARCH

The generation, of which very few are still living, furnished
many models of good sense, solid worth, and extensive use-
fulness. Some of these were of the finest mould. Nor has
any part of the land been adorned with brighter examples of
virtue than many portions of the West. The personal history
of these men was full of incidents, suited to form their cha-
racters to patience and courage. But their religious experi-
ence and characters belong to the history of redemption, and
will never cease to interest pious men.

I have known a few such, and have heard of others.
Within the last eighteen months, I have come to the know-
ledge of one, who was a very remarkable man. I never
saw him ; but I have taken pains to gain correct information
respecting him, and I give the following sketch in full con-
fidence of its minute accuracy.

He was born in County Derry, Ireland, on the 4th of
March, 1765. When he was about nine years of age, his
parents came to this country, bringing him with them. They
found a home in what was then a newly settled portion of
Eastern Pennsylvania. They were in humble circumstances.
Their abode was in the bosom of the forest. The subject of
this notice was their eldest son. His early life was one of
constant toil and great privation. Books and schools were
rare. The day was chiefly spent in labour and adventure.
Candles and lamps were not in vogue. Torchlight was a
substitute. Many an evening did our boy spend in reading,
by this light, the few books which the piety of his parents
had procured.

Manhood approaching, he went to the business of a mill-
Wright. Having learned his trade, he crossed the mountams,

3

4 A WESTERN PATRIARCH.

erected mills in various places, going as far as Kentucky,
and thus improved his worldly affairs. In the year 1800,
he permanently settled in a part of the West, where land
was cheap, society improving, and a prospect of regular
preaching held out. A church was soon organized, and he
was chosen one of its elders. This office he held for nearly
half a century, with credit to himself, and profit to the church.

He had great natural strength of mind. Surmounting all
early disadvantages, he amassed a rich store of valuable and
various information. He thirsted for knowledge, and dug for
it as for hid treasure. To him labour was pleasure, where
knowledge was the prize. By many others besides his fa-
mily he was resorted to for information. His mind grasped
a subject with great tenacity until it was fairly mastered.
However laborious the investigation might be, he seemed
unwilling to drop any subject until he had definite ideas
respecting it. Like Edwards, he seemed to have resolved,
" when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, im-
mediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances
do not hinder." His patience of inquiry was often remarked
on by others. In reading the old divines, of whom he was
particularly fond, he would not pass a quotation in a dead
language until he understood it. In time he acquired such a
knowledge of Latin and Greek, that he could ordinarily dis-
cover the sense of any quotation in them. But if left in
doubt, he did not rest till he had procured the aid of a sound
scholar. If the passage was long or difficult, he would secure
a written translation. Having lost an infant son, his mind
was for a time greatly interested on the subject of the future
state of such. No vague notions or analogies would satisfy
him. His resort was to God's word. It is believed that he
examined every text, that has ever been supposed to bear on
the subject. Thus his conclusions were the result of prayer
and of searching the Scriptures. They were of course stable
and intelligent. On important questions he took no opinion
on trust. He often expressed strong dislike to the word
"cannot." He knew by experience that great difficulties
might still be vincible. His favourite proverbs on such sub-
jects were, "What has been done can be done," and, "All
things arc possible to industry and energy." He never sunk
his individuality in the masses around him. He had a life,
a character and mission, quite his own.

Yet he was both social and modest. Both as a Christian

A WESTEBN PATRIARCH. O

and as a man, he seemed to esteem others better than him-
self. None but his intimate friends knew his attainments or
"character, except by report. In the presence of strangers he
was through life constrained and shrinking. Three or four
young men, preparing for the ministry, were taken into his
house. All of them learned greatly to venerate him. At
his funeral, one of them, a minister of high character, said
that he considered him the best theologian and the most spi-
ritually-minded Christian he had ever known ; and that he
had felt more diffidence in preaching or expressing an opin-
ion on any difficult point of doctrine or religious experience
before him, than before any man he had ever known.

The greatest defect of his character, the soul of his body
of sin, was a temper impatient of opposition. His passions
were quick and violent, though undue excitement was soon
over. He was one of the kindest and most sympathizing
friends ; yet his aversions were equally strong. Often his
passions were kindled into a flame, and in a moment some-
thing was said or done, which filled him with subsequent
shame or sorrow. Through life this was regarded by him-
self and his friends as the weak point of his character. In-
deed, it marred his peace, interrupted his communion with
God, proved a stumbling-block to some, and was lamented
by none so deeply as by himself. It was pleasant to see,
that as his piety matured, his conflicts with this besetting sin
were more and more successful.

The religious experience of such a man must have been
marked and striking, profound, earnest, abounding with con-
flict, and clearly and boldly defined. Of the noble Scottish
race, his ancestors, in unbroken succession from their settle-
ment in Ireland, were pious. His parents, though in humble
life, adorned their Christian profession. They had the un-
speakable pleasure of seeing all their children making a cre-
dible profession of faith in Christ. Their oldest daughter
has left behind her a name which is better than great riches.
She was indeed a mother in Israel, and will long be re-
membered in the church where she recently finished her
course. From early childhood, the subject of this notice
was deeply impressed with religious truth, and evinced great
tenderness of conscience. When quite a child, he often re-
tired to a grove near his father's house, and spent the Sab-
bath in reading, meditation, and prayer. Besides the house
of God, no spot on earth was so hallowed iu his memory as

1*

r6 A WESTERN PATRIARCH.

that grove. Yet he did not then esteem himself a child of
God. But when, by searching the Scriptures in after life,
his views of the nature and marks of true piety were settled,
he often said : " If I am indeed a child of God, I became
such when very young. If I now indeed love the Lord, my
memory does not go back to the time when I did not love
him."

Yet it was not until he reached manhood, that he applied
for admission into the church of God. Previous to this, he
passed through many seasons of declension and darkness.
He used to say: "I often tried to get away from my Lord,
but he held me fast, and would not let me go." During this
period he had very few public religious privileges. Some-
times he did not hear a sermon for several months, for in
those days, where he was, there was a famine of the word
of God. Yet if a walk of ten or fifteen miles would bring
him to a place of solemn convocation, he gladly undertook it.
On one occasion he heard that a Presbyterian minister would
preach at a place nearly fifteen miles distant, and, having no
shoes, nor opportunity of buying them, he sat up an entire
night, made a pair of shoes as well as he could, and, on
Lord's day, walked the whole distance. He often said that
never in his life was he so well paid for his work. When
hindered from attending public worship on the Sabbath, he
sought retirement. There, with his Bible and a copy of
Ambrose's " Looking unto Jesus^'' his companion through
life, he sought communion with God.

In early manhood he fell into a state of coldness and back-
sliding, which lasted for some time. But the good Shepherd
had his eye on his wandering sheep, and brought him back
to his fold again, though with labour and sorrow of heart.
Bunyan has used no stronger terms, and has expressed no
more vivid experience than he, in referring to this period of
his history. For some years he was nearly ingulfed in de-
spair. He regarded his case as special and peculiar. He
often feared that he had sinned beyond the reach of mercy,
yet could he by no means cease to plead for pardon. At
length his health suffered, and the roaring lion seemed to
come upon him with extreme violence. He was even tempt-
ed to curse God and die. Yet such thoughts filled him with
horror. At last a ray of hope dawned upon him. God, who
is confined to no particular order or class of means, enabled
him in a dream to see how willingly and effectually Christ

A WESTERN PATRIARCH. 7

could save him. He did not regard this dream as a revela-
tion, but as mercifully designed to make an impression of
truth already revealed. It gave a new course to his waking
thoughts, led him to more Scriptural views of the fulness and
freeness of salvation by Christ, and thus soon awakened a
more comfortable hope in his atoning blood and justifying
righteousness. But the tempter soon returned, and plied him
with doubts concerning the doctrines of grace. Having heard
these views of truth much perverted and slandered, and the
remains of his carnal nature opposing some things in them,
he yet thought that they were taught by the Bible, and illus-
trated in his own experience; but he saw difficulties, which
gave him a sore conflict. Having begun in the Spirit, he
was tempted to end in the flesh. Of one thing he had no
doubt, viz. that the Bible is true. He determined that the
word of God should settle the controversy. So he gave
himself to reading the lively oracles, resolved to receive all
they taught. He became as familiar with their teachings on
this subject as he was with the faces of his family. It is
believed that very few ministers of the Gospel could give
more or better proofs of the only way of salvation for sinners
than he could. As he was busy during the day, it was his
custom to commit to memory at night some portion of Scrip-
ture, treating of this subject, and then, as opportunity offered,
he meditated on it, while engaged, the next day, in secular
pursuits. In this way he went through the entire Bible, view-
ing its teachings on the subject in various aspects, and tracing
them out in their different bearings. The result was a
thorough conviction, never again seriously shaken, that the
doctrines of grace are the glory of the Gospel. In this
stage of religious experience few men have had greater
doubts, conflicts, fightings and fears. In later periods of life
few have had greater peace in believing. The evening of
his religious life, if not cloudless, was yet without storms, and
the Sun of righteousness commonly shone with great efful-
gence. During his last illness not a doubt or fear assailed
him. Often he said : " I cannot but believe that I love God.
I love his word, his ordinances, his people, and his service.
And why do I love him? I can only say, 'We love him, be-
cause he first loved us,' and 'Having loved his own, he
loved them to the end.' " Thus his soul was at peace amidst
•the swellings of Jordan. It is true, however, that in the
early stage of his last illness, he expressed great apprehen-

8 A WESTERN PATRIARCH.

sions lest his constitutional impatience should betray him,
and bring dishonour on religion. His disease (dropsy of the
chest) was of the most distressing kind. To his intimate
Christian friends he expressed his solicitude on the subject.
And more than once, when he thought he was alone, was he
heard pleading for grace to make and keep him patient.
Very remarkably were his prayers answered. Throughout
his whole illness he was as gentle as a little child. To all
who entered his room he desired to say something for Christ.
When his physician and friends reminded him that speaking
aggravated his malady, he replied; "My living testimony has
been so imperfect, I wish now to bear my dying testimony
for Jesus." When unable to articulate, his lips were still seen
to move, and the last words heard from him were, "Come,
Lord Jesus, come quickly."

From the time he joined the church he was a diligent and
devout student of the Bible. His love for the sacred volume
was an unquenchable fire. Few men have studied it more
or understood it better. His early advantages of education
^ were extremely limited. But so strong was his desire to
read the very words of the Holy Ghost, that at fifty years of
age, without a regular instructor, and with but a meagre sup-
ply of books, he commenced the study of the Hebrew lan-
guage, and persevered until he made himself a critical He-
brew scholar. Till very near his death, his Hebrew Psalter
Was his constant companion. He never seemed weary of
dwelling on the very words of God. For more than thirty
years, few entered his room in the evening without finding
him intently occupied with the Hebrew Scriptures and Scott's
Commentary. It was his uniform custom to spend the entire
evening in searching the Scriptures. In the latter years of
his life, when he was retired from business, this was well
nigh his sole employment. This he did with an eagerness
and pleasure, that showed how deeply his heart felt the power
and relished the sweetness of God's truth. The Bible was
to him indeed the only rule of faith and practice. He uni-
formly referred all his opinions and acts to this standard.
When any doctrinal or ecclesiastical questions arose, the
Biblical argument was with him decisive and final. The
words of Scripture were to him the voice of God, which it is
our concern to hear, understand, believe, and obey.

His love for the sanctuary and for social worship was
strong and enduring. He really esteemed a day in God's

A WESTERN PATRIARCH. ff

house as better than a thousand spent in worldly pursuits.
It is credibly said of him that for near half a century he was
never absent from church or from the regular prayer-meet-
ing, except on account of serious sickness. Even in extreme
old age, if he was able to walk, he insisted on going to the
house of prayer. He would say : " It will not be long that
I can be with you, and it does me good to go." Whether it
rained or shined, whether few or many went to the house of
God, his seat was never vacant, except when the Master laid
his hand upon him.

As an elder, he was prompt, active, and useful. He never
declined any duty, fairly laid upon him, because it was la-
borious or painful. To the burdened soul he was ever ready
to give words of counsel and encouragement. And as the
pastor of the church lived some distance from town, he was
often resorted to. To the sick he was a constant and wel-
come visitor. His warm heart and cordial sympathy caused
him to be afflicted in all the afflictions of his brethren. Con-
scious of his own infirmities, he guarded his words and acts,
lest he should injure others. He understood and felt the
spirit of that noble declaration of Paul : " If meat make my
brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth."
When the Temperance Reformation commenced, he had just
completed, at a heavy cost, a still-house. He had put it into
operation with fair prospects of being able soon to relieve
himself from pecuniary embarrassments, which had come
upon him. His pastor and many members of the church
early espoused the Temperance cause ; and although he then
believed the business lawful, yet, rather than give offence to
his brethren, he at once and at great loss abandoned it.

His sympathy with the Redeemer's cause was hearty and
profound. Nothing afforded him so much solid pleasure as
news of a revival of pure religion, or tidings of the spread of
the Gospel in heathen countries. In every good work he
was ready to co-operate. It greatly grieved him that he was
able to do so little for the advancement of Christ's cause.
Yet he was delighted to see others doing more than he was
able to effect.

But his own spiritual life, more than everything else, gave
him a marked and striking character. He was eminently a
man of faith. His faith was indeed "the substance of things
hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." In his ap-
prehension, spiritual and invisible things were not fictions,

10 A WESTERN PATRIARCH.

not probabilities, but realities. In his view, God was a real
Father, Jesus Christ a real Friend and Saviour, the Holy Spi-
rit a real Guide and Comforter, and heaven a real inheritance
and home. He looked at things unseen and eternal. He
walked as seeing Him who is invisible. To keep a consci-
ence void of offence towards God and man was therefore the
purpose of his heart. When affliction came, his great con-
cern was that it might be sanctified. In every change he
said: "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth to him good."
He was pre-eminently a man of prayer. Neither business,
nor company, nor any thing else could keep him from his
closet. One, who sometimes overheard his language in
secret devotion, has described it as fervid and wrestling im-
portunity, as reverent and childlike pleading with God. In-
deed I have had a description of his intercessions for his own
soul, for his family, for his neighbours, and for the church of
Christ, which I can compare to nothing so well as to those of
Abram for the cities of the plain, or to Jacob's wrestling with
the angel. Yet perhaps no man more carefully sought privacy
in his seasons of secret communion with God. When he
supposed no one was noticing him, he often uttered his thoughts
in words, and then were often heard his pious ejaculations.
He was often consulted in cases of difficulty, and his first
words almost uniformly were: "Pray over it. Do nothing
without prayer." In all acts of public worship reverence was
prominent ; yet he was fervent also, and, when leading the
devotions of others, his heart and his words were full of
warmth. He was eminently spiritually-minded. The re-
ligious aspect of every event was his favourite view of it.
The spiritual interests of others were, to his mind, the chief
objects of solicitude concerning them. If their souls had
health and prospered, nothing could be very wrong. The
secret of the Lord was with him, and he showed him his co-
venant. He was a close observer of Providence, and often
saw coming events, which as yet were hidden from the care-
less and mexperienced.

His religious character was of the earnest and energetic
type. Everything about him showed that he was aping no
one else. What he was, he was intensely. What his hand
found to do, he did it with his might.

In his family, his example and authority were thrown with
powerful energy on the side of truth, duly, and vital religion.
All saw that with him the one thing needful was spiritual

A WESTERN PATEIARCH, 11

prosperity. No one doubted that he would make everything
yield to the paramount claims of God. He had a solemn
and habitual sense of his responsibility as the head of a
household. In family worship nothing was hurried, yet he
was not tedious. After reading a portion of Scripture, with
Scott's Practical Obsei-vations on it, he often added "a word
in season." A psalm or hymn was next sung.

Then kneeling down to Heaven's eternal King,
The saint, thejaiher, and the husband prayed.

Every Sabbath evening his family were assembled to re-
peat the Shorter Catechism. On these occasions he used no
book. His memory was a faithful servant, both as to ques-
tions and answers. This exercise was enlivened with ap-
propriate explanations and remarks.

Among other children, he had a son who, in early life,
had so severe an attack of illness that his physicians gave
him up. Pulse and breath were almost gone. The father
went to call the elders of the church to pray for the child.
He met his pious and faithful pastor, a venerable man, and
brought him and two elders to the room where the sick lay.
They interceded for his recovery with great importunity ;
and then and there the father vowed a vow, saying, " If the
Lord will raise up this child, I will solemnly devote him to
God for ever, and do all in my power to lead him into the
ministry of the gospel." The sick child was healed, and the
good man deferred not to pay his vow. As soon as the child
was able to understand the matter, his father told him what
had occurred, and often afterwards adverted to it, both in
conversation and in his letters. The question of serving God
in the ministry of the gospel was thus kept before the mind
of the son, who was ever taught to look upon the office of a
bishop as a good work, most solemn and most honourable.
That son became for a while the pastor of the church in
which his father was an elder, and the good old man heard
from his lips many a sweet gospel sermon. The son is now
filling one of the high places on the walls of Zion. Such is
the brief outline of the history and character of Joseph Smith,
Esq., who died at Mercer, Pennsylvania, on the 31st of July,
1849. This narrative suggests several very weighty truths.

1. Early piety is still possible. Jeremiah and John the
Baptist were savingly renewed from their birth. In more
modern times, many persons of undoubted piety have traced

12 A WESTERN PATRIARCH.

their saving impressions to very early childhood. We ought
to pray and labour for the conversion of our children while
they are yet young. It requires no higher intellectual capa-
city to love than to hate divine things. He who has mind
enough to commit sin, has mind enough to work righteous-
ness. How honourable it is to God, when out of the mouths
of babes and sucklings he ordains strength, and thus stills
the adversary ! What an ornament to religion, even in child
hood, was she who afterwards became the wife of Presiden
Edwards! Who can read the account of Joseph Smith spend-
ing his Sabbaths alone in the retired grove, and doubt that
then he was holding communion with Christ? Some are
skeptical on the subject of very early piety, and brutish men
scoff at it. But this is no new thing ; for " when the chief
priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that Jesus did,
and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna
to the son of David, they were sore displeased." Let the
wicked rage, if they will ; but let God's people spare no
pains to bring their little ones to know and love the Saviour.
Has he not said, " Suffer little children to come unto me, and
forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God ?"

2. A true child of God may fall into sad spiritual declen-
sion, and may not soon be recovered from it. So the Scrip-
tures teach. Peter fell, and was soon brought to repentance.
But David's conscience was dreadfully stupid for a longtime.
" Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.'*
The Laodiceans were " lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,"
yet they said they were " rich, and increased with goods, and
had need of nothing, and knew not that they were svretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." So that
one may be a backslider and not know it. But however long
this sad state may last, if God has really begun a good work,
he will not leave it unfinished. He will reclaim the wander-
ing. If his people forsake his law, and walk not in his sta-
tutes, he will visit their transgressions with the rod, and their
iniquity with stripes; nevertheless, his loving kindness he
will not utterly take from them, nor suffer his faithfulness to
fail. These stripes are sometimes many and severe. It is
often best that they should be. God says : " Thine own
wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall re-
prove thee ; know therefore and see that it is an evil thing
and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and
that my fear is not in thee." "The backslider in heart

A WESTERN PATRIARCH. 13

shall be filled with his own ways." Backsliders often suffer
more anguish of spirit than they did when first brought to
Repentance. David seems to have done so. Indeed some
think he never fiiUy recovered that joyous exultation in God,
for which he was so remg,rkable before his fall. Let not any
man suppose that he is not a " backslider in heart^'' because
he has not sinned openly. David sinned secretly first, and
openly afterwards. If you have departed from God, listen
to his words of kindness : " Return unto the Lord thy God,
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words
and turn to the Lord ; say unto him, Take away all iniquity,
and receive us graciously." To such God says : " I will heal
their backsliding. I will love them freely ; for mine anger is
turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel ;
he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Leba-
non. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as
the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon." A recovery from
backsliding is sometimes mistaken for a first conversion.

3. True religion is the same in all ages of the world, and
in all conditions of life. It is the same in principle. It is
the same in its effects. It stains the pride of all glory. It
humbles the soul. It begets love to all God's commands. It
stirs up the spirit of prayer. It restores the image of God.
It awakens penitence. It teaches men to walk by faith, not
by sight. The whole life of a Christian is a warfare. To a
real servant of God, Christ is precious, a fountain of joy, a
well-spring of life, and munitions of rocks. It is, however,
true that, in degree, religion is not always the same. Some
are babes in Christ; some are carnal, halting professors; and
some are strong in the Lord. Let us labour to be eminently
holy. What a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He
that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; and he that
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Eminent
piety is as attainable now as in any previous age of the
world. The saint who shall wear the brightest crown in
heaven may be unknown to nearly all his own generation,
unknown to future ages of the church militant, but not un-
known to God. The brightest patterns of piety are seldom
found in conspicuous stations.

4. As in the days of Elijah, so now there are probably
many humble believers where we think there are few or
none. That great man said : " Lord, they have killed thy
prophets, and digged down thine altars ; and I am left alone^

2

14 A WESTERN PATRIARCH.

and they seek my life." But what saith the answer of God
to him 1 "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men,
who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." No
doubt God now has humble servants where we little suspect
it. The tares and wheat grow together, and to a careless
observer may seem alike. For years Joseph Smith may
have passed for a man of the world, while we have good
reason to believe that the incorruptible seed was in him.
Even when he was an eminent Christian, he was unknown
to fame. Perhaps not one in a thousand of all who shall
read those lines ever heard of him before. It was by the
merest accident that I first heard of him, from one who re-
sides hundreds of miles from Mercer, but who once happened
to pass through that place. I greatly like a saying ascribed
to the late Rev. Dr. Rodgers, of New York : " Should I
ever reach the kingdom of heaven, three things will greatly
surprise me. One will be, that I shall find many wanting,
of whose piety when on earth I never doubted. Another will be,
that I shall find many there, in whose piety, when on earth,
I had little or no confidence. The greatest wonder of all
will be, to find myself there."

5. Could we see an eminent servant of Christ in every
neighbourhood, we might hope the best things for our country.
As a man, as a magistrate, as an elder, as a peace-maker, as
a living pattern of piety, what a blessing was Joseph Smith !
God's people are still " the salt of the earth and the light of
the world." How much good may one man of the right
spirit do I How terribly does his example reprove wicked-
ness ! How powerfully do his life and conversation allure to
piety ! No mere officer of the law can spread such peace in
a community as he whose dignified example and Christian
spirit invite to virtue. The wicked may hate, slander, and
persecute him ; but when difficulties arise, how all resort to
him, and in times of affliction and rehgious awakening, how
will even his maligners beg his prayers and seek his counsel!
They know he is right, even when they mock and belie him.
But when a man combines office, intelligence, piety, and age,
and uses all for God, how unspeakable his value to any peo-
ple ! Such a man is a strong rod, a pillar.

6. To be a servant of Christ is as wise as it is obligatory.
" Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the
life that now is, and of that which is to come." The grace
of God bringeth salvation. Even on earth, the servants of

A WESTERN PATRIARCH. 15

God are cared for as none others are. If Moses spends forty
days or nights in the mountain without bread or water, still
he is conversing with God, and when he comes down he is
not faint. His countenance shines with an intolerable brio-ht-
ness. " Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Toil, strife,
sorrow will soon end, and then will come heaven, infinite,
eternal, glorious. No man is wise who is not wise for eter-
nity. He who wins heaven cannot die a fool.

7. If the present lamentable want of humble, zealous, suc-
cessful ministers, and of promising candidates for the sacred
office is to be supplied, there must be a return to solemn, ear-
nest family instruction, and parents must devote their sons to
this service with joyfulness, if God call them thereto. Fa-
thers, mothers, lay this thing to heart. Pray over it. The
cry for help is loud, and long, and piteous. Will you with-
hold the best you have from such a cause ? Let your infant
sons be solemnly devoted to God in any service for which he
shall fit them. I have been credibly informed of a pooi wo-
man who, on returning from a missionary meeting some
twenty years ago, wept that she had no money to give to so
blessed a cause. She searched her humble dwellino;, to see
if she could find nothing that could be converted into money;
but her quest was vain. She went to the loft of her cabin,
she wept, she prayed ; she remembered her children ; she
devoted them to God and to this work. She never forgot that
solemn act. Neither did God. Her children grew up, and
several of them are already teaching the heathen the right
ways of God. Think of pious Hannah and her Samuel of
old. See how God blessed the mother of Samuel J. Mills.
Give all to God, even an only son. God had an only be-
gotten Son. He gave him up for us. " Be ye followers
[imitators] of God."

8. How rich, and free, and efficacious is the grace of God!
It is just what we sinners need. The plan of salvation suits
us in all respects.

While grace is offered to the prince,
The poor may take their share ;
No mortal has a just pretence
To perish in despair.

The gospel brings mercy to the little child in its feebleness,
to the young man in his strength, and to the old man in his
decrepitude. It offers pardon to the guilty, righteousness to

16 A WESTERN PATRIARCH.

the naked, purification to the vile, wisdom to the foolish, life
to the perishing. Christ succours the tempted, restores the
wandering, supports the weak, cheers the disconsolate, guides
the doubtful, gives victory in death, and opens the portals of
heaven to the redeemed.

Blessed Saviour ! Thou art worthy. Thou art worthy to
wear the crown and wield the sceptre of an empire absolutely
universal. Thou art worthy of all the love and honour and
songs of men and angels. Men may call thy gospel foolish-
ness and weakness, but " the foolishness of God is wiser than
men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Thy
" gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth." Whatever we do, let us do all to the praise of
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in
the Beloved.

Reader! have you accepted that grace? Is Christ all
your hope and all your salvation ? If you die without his
grace, it had been good for you that you had never been
born.

No. 90.

PARITY

ADMITTED BY

PRELATISTS

*< Episcopal men cannot show, by the word of God, neither by the
practice of the Apostles, nor so much as by the Primitive Church, that
a Minister of Jesus Christ hath any superintendency over several
private churches, or that a Bishop hath ordained Ministers by his sole
and pure authority as is now practised in England ; or that he who is
not naturally invested with any authority, should have the power to
delegate others, and much more secular persons."

Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Stillii^gfiezt.

The settling of the proper relations between the teaching and
ruling officers of the Church of Christ, has arrayed two
portions of the Reformed Church against each other for two
hundred and fifty years. Since the year 1600, the Pro-
testant Episcopal Church in England, and in the United
States, has furnished earnest advocates for Prelacy as a
necessary feature of the Church. All the other Reformed
churches (and very many individuals in the Episcopal
Church) have contended that the primitive system of Church
government was one of Parity. Were the question to be
settled now by a vote of all the truly pious and really learned
members of the Reformed Church, doubtless the advocates
of ministerial Parity would count an overwhelming majority.
The object of the present essay is to fortify the adherents of
the truth by refreshing their memories with the fact that, at
the Reformation and for many years thereafter, all the Re-
formers of note and influence believed that the Church in the
Scriptures possessed only two orders of officers, " Bishops
or Priests, and Ministers or Deacons." Of course those
Reformers who retained these orders only, believed this to be
the fact. Therefore, we need only show that the predeces-
sors of our present opponents believed so too. Parity, even

3

4 PARITY ADMITTED BY PBELATISTS.

when tested by Prelacy, is a scriptural principle of Church
government. The Prelacy referred to is Protestant Prelacy
as it was at first, and as it would be now, did some strive to
keep the unity of which they vainly boast.

In proving the truth of the assertion just made, attention
is invited to the following positions :

I. The Reformers of the Protestant Episcopal Church
taught their people that the Lord Jesus and his apostles
established the Church on the principles of Parity. But they
did not believe that this example was always binding on
themselves, or on others. On the contrary,

II. Many of the English Reformers believed and taught
that the civil authority, in any country, could lawfully deter-
mine the form of government, and settle the relations among
the officers of the church. This principle they embodied in
their own Church. For,

III. The English Reformers believed and taught that their
Prelates held the ordaining place of their King — that they
possessed only what spiritual profits he chose to transfer.
Of course they did not insist that other churches must adopt
the same manifestation of their fundamental principle. But
they left them to retain Imparity or revive Parity, as they
pleased. Hence, while they asserted their own Church to
be Apostolical, they allowed the same character to all the
other Reformed churches.

I. About the year 1538, the English Reformers issued a
paper to be a guide to the preachers of their Church during
its transition from Popery to Protestantism. To this paper,
Cromwell, Vicegerent for Henry VIIL, in all matters eccle-
siastical, the two Archbishops, eleven other Bishops, and
twenty-three learned Canonists and Divines annexed their
signatures as possessing authority and influence in their
Church. This document was published through the length
and breadth of England, for the following purposes: "As
touching the sacrament of Holy Orders, we will that all
Bishops and preachers shall instruct and teach our people
committed by us unto their spiritual charge ; First, how that
Christ and his apostles did institute and ordain in the New
Testament that, besides the civil powers and governance of
Kings and Princes, * * * there should be continually in the
Church militant certain other ministers or officers which
should have spiritual power under Christ to preach and teach
the word of God unto his people, and to dispense and admin-

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS. 5

ister the sacraments of God unto them, * * and to order and
conseTate others into the same room and office vvhereunto
■4hey be called and admitted themselves.

" Item. — That this office, this power and authority was
committed and given by Christ and his apostles unto certain
persons only, that is to say, unto Priests or Bishops.

" Secondly. — We will that all Bishops and preachers shall
instruct and teach our people committed by us unto their spirit-
ual charge that * * * albeit the Holy Fathers of the Church,
minding to beautify and ornate the Church of Christ, did
institute certain inferior orders or degrees, as janitors, lectors,
&c. * * * yet the truth is that in the New Testament there
is no mention made of any degrees or distinction in orders,
but only of Deacons or Ministers, and of Priests or Bishops."
Because of the stations occupied by the signers of this injunc-
tion, and because of the circumstances under which it was
issued, it must be of the highest authority in determining the
belief of the English Reformers. Hence Prelatists — like
Bishop Ives, of North Carolina, and Mr. Evans, of Maryland
— appeal to it as supporting modern notions of Prelacy. But
in so doing they garble and distort it grossly. Doubtless it
contains many relics of Popery, and asserts that Orders are
a sacrament ; nevertheless its testimony to the scripturalness
of Parity is unequivocal.

In the year 1540, King Henry VTII., as the supreme
spiritual head of the Anglican Church, commissioned a por-
tion of his body to discuss and settle certain subjects con-
nected with the Reformation then in progress. The method
which the Convention followed was this : " First, the whole
business it was to consider was divided into so many heads,
which were proposed as questions, and these were given out
to so many Bishops and divines ; and at a prefixed time every
one brought his opinion in writing upon all the questions."
With such care did the English Reformers proceed in their
work, that their belief and teachings in its various stages
were the results of mature deliberation. Of the questions
then answered the following is the most pertinent to our
present object.

" Quest. 10. — Whether Bishops or Priests were first; and
if the Priests were first, then the Priest made the Bishop.

"Archbishop of Canterbury. — The Bishops and Priests
were at one time, and no two things, but both one office in
the beginning of Christ's religion.

1*

£ PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS.

"Bishop of London. — I think the Bishops were first, and
yet I think it is not of importance whether the Priest then
made the Bishop, or the Bishop made the Priest.

" Dr. Robertson. — I am uncertain which were first, nor
do I think it absurd that the Priest should consecrate the
Bishop, if a Bishop could not be had.

" Dr. Cox. — Although by Scripture, (as St. Jerome saith,)
Priests and Bishops be one, and therefore the one not before
the other ; yet Bishops as they be now were after Priests,
and therefore made of Priests.

" Dr. Redmayn. — They be of like beginning, and at the
beginning were both one, as St. Jerome and other old
authors show by the Scripture, wherefore the one made the
other indifferently.

" Dr. Edgeworth. — That the Priests in the Primitive
Church made Bishops I think no inconvenience, (as Jerome
saith in Epist. ad Evagrium,) even like as soldiers choose
one among themselves to be their Captain."

After all the questions proposed to this Convention had
been discussed separately, the conclusions arrived at were
collected and published in a volume, called at first, " The
Bishops' Book," and afterwards, " The Institution for the
necessary Erudition of a Christian Man." This book was
defiled by many dregs of Popery ; nevertheless it decided
concerning the Sacrament of Orders that " they were to be
administered in the Church according to the New Testament;
but the particular forms of nominating, electing, presenting,
and appointing ecclesiastical ministers were left to the laws of
every country to be made by the assent of the Prince. * * *
The Scripture made express mention only of the two orders
of Priests and Deacons." The authority of this book is un-
questionable. It was compiled by the Prelates and Divines
of the Anglican Church; the preface to its first edition
showed with what care its authors had examined the Scrip-
tures and the ancient Doctors, out of whom they had faith-
fully gathered this exposition of the Christian Faith; and its
second edition was sanctioned by King Henry, who alone had
the power of correcting all errors and heresies in his Church.
King Henry said that it was intended " to direct all men's
belief and practice ;" and King Henry's intentions were not
often defeated by his subjects.

Most of the Popery that was in the English Church at this
date, (1542) was removed during the reign of Edward VI.

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS. 7

But the English Reformers never retracted their maturely
adopted and often repeated assertions, that ministerial Parity
is to be found in the Scriptures. It remains to show that the
practice of the English Reformers and of their immediate
successors entirely agreed with their professions.

About three hundred years ago (in July, 1550,) Edward
VI., the supreme head of the English Reformers in all mat-
ters ecclesiastical and spiritual, allowed a Presbyterian con-
gregation with five ministers to settle in London, and there
** in freedom and quiet to enjoy and exercise their own rites
and ceremonies, and their own peculiar discipline ; it being
no obstacle that they do not agree with the rites and cere-
monies used in our kingdom." To this end King Edward
declared, that "of our especial favour, and by the advice of
our Council, we will, grant, and ordain that henceforth there
may and shall be a temple, or sacred house, in our city of
London, which shall be called a temple of the Lord Jesus,
where the congregation and assembly of the Germans and
other foreigners can be formed and held, with this intent and
purpose, that by ministers of the Church of the Germans and
other foreigners the uncorrupted interpretation of the Holy
Gospel, and the administration of the sacraments, according
to the word of God and Apostolical observance, may be
maintained." Of this collegiate church John A' Lasco was
the superintendent, " a man very remarkable for the integrity
and innocence of his life, and for his singular learning." He
was a zealous advocate of ministerial Parity. He had found
refuge in an hour of need, and was consulted in the compiling
of the Prayer Book ; yet he has incurred the charge of in-
gratitude by inveighing against the Prelacy of the Anglican
Church.

In 1571, Elizabeth, anotheV head of the Anglican Church,
approved an Act of Parliament which provided that "All
Priests having been consecrated, &c., otherwise than in the
form authorized temp. Edward VI., shall subscribe, &c.,
certain articles of religion agreed on in Convocation in 1562,
on pain of deprivation." This law of the English Church
plainly acknowledged that Presbyterian churches have Priests.
Assuming that no suspicion ought to be entertained of their
orders, it defended the English Church against their doctrines
only. As for the persons whom it affected, " undoubtedly it
meant to include Papists, and likewise such as received their
orders in some of the foreign Reformed churches when they

B PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS.

were in exile under Queen Mary." When on their return
the orders of some of these exiles were assailed, this Act was
cited in their defence, as in the case of a Mr. Travers who
had been ordered by a Presbytery at Antwerp.

In 1578, Sandys, Archbishop of York, in a visitation of
his diocese, found reasons to suspect that the orders of W.
Whittingham, Dean of Durham, were invalid. Whittingham
claimed to have received his orders from the Church of
Geneva. When required to prove his claim, he produced
only certificates of his election to preach to an English con-
gregation in Geneva. The origin of all his certificates was
very doubtful ; yet Whittingham's friends insisted that his
orders were valid. The Lord President of the Council in
giving his opinion on this case wrote, " His Lordship (the
Lord Treasurer) could judge what a flame this spark was
like to breed if it should kindle ; for it could not but be ill-
taken of all the godly learned, both at home and in all the
foreign Reformed churches abroad, that we should allow of
Popish massing Priests in our ministry, and disallow of the
ministers made in a Reformed Church." To justify himself,
Sandys wrote to the Lord Treasurer as follows : " This
Durham matter breedeth a great broil. The Dean hath
gotten more friends than the matter deserveth. The dis-
credit of the Church of Geneva is hotly alledged. Verily,
my Lord, that Church is not touched ; for he hath not re-
ceived his ministry in that Church, or by order or authority
from that Church, so far as yet can appear. * * * But if his
ministry, without any authority of God or man, without law,
order, or example of any Church, may be current, take heed
to the sequel." Mr. Evans, of Maryland, in his essays on
the Anglican Ordinations, so tells this story, and so garbles
this letter as to make his re'aders believe that Archbishop
Sandys declared the orders of the Church of Geneva to be
" without any authority of God or man." He cited this case
in behalf of modern Prelacy, but it shall close the evidence
in support of the first position for ancient Parity. The senti-
ments expressed by those who had to decide it, agreed strictly
with what their predecessors had uttered forty years before.
Whittingham died before the case was decided. But the
position assumed by his Archbishop was just such as the
Presbytery of Geneva itself might have taken. Advocates
of Parity as scrupulously require ordination as do advocate*
erf" Prelacy.

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATTSTS. ^

The evidence given above has been selected from a large
mass of similar tendency, because it is sufficient to establish
the truth of our first assertion. The springs whence it was
drawn are not yet exhausted. It has been taken from the
official writings and acts of the English Reformers, and of
their earthly head, lest it might be sneered at or rejected as
the private opinions of individuals. What has been quoted
came from the valid officers and teachers of the Anglican
Church when, dressed in their official robes, they taught
their Church authoritatively.

In extenuation of the language used by the English Re-
formers on the point before us, modern Prelatists urge that
it was uttered during the twilight of the Reformation ; and
that the English Reformers, blinded for many years by the
gross darkness of Popery, could not use the light into which
they had entered so as to distinguish aright the objects
around them, and to assign to each its proper position. It is
true that the English Reformers did grope as in the dark,
longer than any of their fellow-labourers in Scotland and on
the Continent; and their successors seem still to "see men as
trees walking." Nevertheless they must have felt sure of
having attained the truth on this subject. On many subjects,
at one time they taught what was directly opposed to their
teachings at another time. But they constantly admitted the
claims of Parity from the beginning of their Reformation to
about A. D. 1600. Dr. Hallam, the learned Historian of the
Constitution of Great Britain, has been unable to find the
dogmas of modern Prelacy in the English Church for fifty
years after its Prayer Book was established. Surely, sixty
years of unvarying teaching and acting ought to settle the
principles on which a Church is reformed.

Again, modern Prelatists cite in their own behalf some
passages from what they call the mature writings of the Eng-
lish Reformers, wherein they claim to be rightful successors
of the Apostles ; to have reformed their Church according to
Holy Scripture and the Ancient Fathers, &c. But such
claims and such assertions as these, can be found in the
writings of the most bigoted advocates of Parity. Against
the arbitrary application of vague and general expressions all
sound logic teaches us to protest. What the English Re-
formers meant by any such assertions shall be fully revealed
in maintaining our other positions. The sense which may
and ought to be derived from the Prayer Book shall appear

10 PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS.

at the same time. Besides, they who recoil from the quota-
tions made above insist that their opponents shall distinguish
between the teachings of the Church, and the utterances of
individuals who may belong to the Church. A sermon from
Cranmer, the preacher, or a letter from Cranmer, the friend,
ought not to set aside the joint decision of Cranmer the
Archbishop, and twelve other Bishops ; much less ought it to
nullify the dogmas and acts of his supreme spiritual head.

Lastly, cases are triumphantly pointed out wherein per-
sons claiming to have been ordered by nonprelatical churches
were treated as if they were laymen. Now, here the dates
of these decisions ought to be noticed, for they may have
been made after a certain time, to support a theory unknown
to the Reformers. Also, it ought to appear that these
decisions were made by those whom modern Prelacy regards
as having lawful authority in the Church. They may have
come from laymen, or from some court created by laymen,
like the Court of High Commission, or the Star Chamber.
No one ought to argue from principles and facts which he
will not always submit to. Further, even if these decisions
were made while the English Reformers were teaching to
their Church the scripturalness of Parity, and by the proper
exponents of Church doctrines, the inferences drawn from
them are by no means necessary. In this country, Chris-
tians are familiar with a practice entirely similar. If an
officer 'in one of our States were to remove into another
State, he would forfeit his office in the State which he left.
To fill the same office in his new home, he must submit to
the forms used by his new neighbours. Else his acts would
be invalid, and he himself would be liable to punishment.
Now, they who impose these new forms by no means deny
that their subject was a true officer before he came among
them. To deny that a man is an officer in this State is not
to deny that he has been an officer in the States. So also.
Prelates in the English Church may have denied that a man
was a minister in this Church, and at the same time they
may have asserted that he was a true minister in the
Church. This distinction is not unknown in England.
Archbishop Whately has published an argument to show that
all churches ought to ordain their own ministers, although
the persons so ordained may have been ministers in another
Church. But it is vain to hope that they will cease to cavil
whose interest has led them to abjure the teachings of ancient

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATIST3. 11

Prelacy. Say what they will, it is evident that to the last
the English Reformers believed that the inherent powers of
|i Bishop and a Priest were the same. Attention must now
be given to the second proposition, viz.

II. Many of the English Reformers taught that the Bible
committed the form of government and the relations among
the officers of a Church to the determination of the civil au-
thority in its country. To establish the truth of this assertion
only official publications by the English Reformers will be
quoted.

Among the questions proposed and answered in the Con-
vention of 1540, were the following :

"Quest. 13. — Whether (if it fortuned a Christian Prince
learned to conquer certain dominions of Infidels, having none
but temporal learned men with him) it be defended by God's
law that he and they should preach and teach the word of
God there or no? And also make and constitute Priests
or no ? ^

" Agreement. — In the thirteenth, concerning the first part
they do all agree, ' that not only they may, but they ought
to teach.' But in the second part, my Lord of York and
Dr. Edge worth, doth not agree with the other ; they say that
* laymen in no case can make Priests, or have such authority.'
The Bishops of Durham, St. Davids, Westminster, Drs.
Tresham, Cox, Leighton, Crayford, Symmons, Redmayn,
and Robertson, say that ' laymen in such case have authori-
ty to minister the sacraments and to make Priests.' My
Lords of London, Carlisle, and Hereford think that ' God, in
such a case, would give the Prince authority, call him in-
wardly, and illuminate him, or some of his, as he did St.
Paul.'"

" Quest. 14. — Whether it be fore fended by God's law that
(if it so fortune that the Bishops and Priests of a region were
dead,) the King of that region should make Bishops and
Priests to supply the same or no?

" Cranmer. — It is not forbidden by God's law.

" Agreement. — In the fourteenth, they agree for the most
part as they did before, that ' laymen in this case may teach
and minister the sacraments.' " A modern Prelatist would
not have given such replies to these questions. He would
have decided that, as the Church existed somewhere in its
proper form, the Prince ought to have sent thither for " the
Apostolical Succession."

These decisions on supposed cases evidently cover tho

12 PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS.

whole ground contained in the present proposition. But lest
it be assumed that the doctrines here advanced were only
speculative, and had no practical effect in the Anglican
Church at that time, it is necessary to examine the replies
made to

" Quest. 9. — Whether the Apostles, lacking a higher
power, as in not having a Christian Prince among them,
made Bishops by that necessity, or by authority given by
God?

" Cranmer. — All Christian Princes have committed unto
them, immediately of God, the whole cure of all their sub-
jects, as well concerning the administration of God's word
for the cure of souls, as concerning the ministration of things
political and civil governance. And in both these ministra-
tions they must have sundry ministers under them to supply
that which is appointed to their several offices. * * * The
ministers of God's word, under his Majesty, be the Bishops,
Parsons, Vicars, and such other Priests as be appointed by
his Highness to that ministration. As for example, the
Bishop of Canterbury, &c. All the said ministers and
officers, as well of that sort as the other, be appointed,
assigned, and elected, and in every place by the laws of
Kings and Princes. * * * And there is no more promise of
God that grace is given in the committing of the ecclesiasti-
cal office than it is in the committing of the civil office. In
the Apostles' times, when there were no Christian Princes,
by whose authority ministers of God's word might be ap-
pointed, there was no remedy for the appointing of ministers,
but only the consenting of Christian multitudes among them-
selves, by an uniform consent to follow the advice and per-
suasion of such persons whom God had endued with the
spirit of counsel and wisdom." Whenever its purpose may
be attained, modern Prelacy is content with a quotation from
Cranmer alone ; because as Primate he uttered the authorita-
tive voice of the Anglican Church. But among the members
of the Convention of 1540, the Archbishop of York only
dared to reply to this question, " There was no need of any
other authority." Of the rest, some made no reply; some
agreed with Cranmer ; and others distinguished between the
power of nominating, electing, and that of ordaining or con-
secrating ; the former they gave to the civil authorities, the
latter to the ecclesiastical. This evidence must be sufficient
to convince a candid mind that the English Reformers be-

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS. 13

lieved and taught as we have asserted. They held that the
Bible made Priests and Bishops equal in all respects, and that
.the King might make them unequal whenever he pleased.
Not a line from them has reached us inconsistent with this
doctrine. It remains to show how they applied their princi-
ples to their own case.

III. The Reformers of the Protestant Episcopal Church
openly derived from their King all their ecclesiastical and
spiritual authority and power — that is, all authority of teach-
ing and administering the sacraments, all power as well of
order as of jurisdiction. Inasmuch as some important conse-
quences will follow from this assertion, great care will be
taken to put it beyond all fair contradiction.

In 1534, an Act was passed by the English Parliament,
acquiesced in by the Reformers, and sanctioned by Henry
VIII., which declared King Henry to be*the supreme head
of the Anglican Church in all matters, as well spiritual as
temporal. The following passage is from this Act, (26 Hen.
8, ch. 1,) " Albeit the Kynges Majestic justely and rightfully
is and oweth to be the supreme heed of the Church of Eng-
land, and so is recognyzed by the clergy of this realme in
theyr convocations ; yet neverthelesse for corroboracion and
confirmacion thereof * * * Be it enacted by auctoritie of
this present Parliament * * that our Sovereigne Lord, his
heires and successours, Kynges of this realme, shall have full
power and auctoritie, from tyme to tyme, to visite, represse,
redresse, reforme, order, correct, restrayne, and amende all
such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contemptes, and enor-
myties, whatsoever they be, which by any maner, spiritual
auctorytie or jurisdiction ought or maie lawfullye be re-
formeyd, repressed, ordred, redressyd, correctyd, restrayned,
or amendyd most to the pleasure of Almyghtie God," &c.
The substance of this Act was repeated for the benefit of
Edward VI., and ever since the days of Elizabeth it has been
the fundamental law of the English Church.

Strictly agreeing with this statute is another (37 Hen. 8,
ch. 17,) which declares, "Forasmuch as your Majesty is
only and undoubtedly supreme head of the Church of Eng-
land, and also of Ireland, to whom, by Holy Scripture, all
authority and power is wholly given to hear and determine
all manner of causes ecclesiastical, and to correct vice and
sin whatever, and to all such persons as your Majesty shall
appoint thereunto ; — in consideration thereof," &;c. In this

2

14 PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS.

manner did the English Reformers cause their Bishops,
Priests, and laymen to constitute a body, of which their
Sovereign is supreme head on earth. To show in what
sense King Henry was declared to be the supreme head of
the Anglican Church, we will cite the injunctions which
Edward, Archbishop of York, issued to his diocese in 1538
— the same year in which he so fully asserted the scriptural-
ness of Parity. " You (his clergy) shall first diligently
observe all manner of injunctions given unto you by the
King's Highness' commandment, and specially concerning
* * the confirmation and establishment of the King's High-
ness' title of supreme head over the whole Catholic Church
of England, as well spiritual as temporal." Therefore all
curates and others holding benefices in the province of York,
must every quarter teach the people how to obey their
Sovereign Lord the King, declaring that " to make any
stirring, gathering of the people, or commotion, without his
express commandment, is to break, not only God's command-
ment and law, but also all natural and political order, in
which the head governeth the members, and not the members
the head, and in which also all the members, by nature and
by good policy, employ themselves and endanger themselves
for the preservation and maintenance of the head." So then,
the English Reformers called him a head whom all natural
and political order required others to obey and preserve that
they might live. Their supreme head in all matters ecclesi-
astical and spiritual was the spring of their ecclesiastical life
— the source of all their spiritual power in the Church.

We cannot forbear contrasting with this language of the
English Reformers what Andrew Melville said to James VI.
in defence of the Kirk of Scotland. " Sir, we will always
humbly reverence your Majesty in public; but since we have
this occasion to be with your Majesty in private, and since
you are brought in extreme danger of your life and crown,
and along with you the country and the Church of God are
like to go to wreck, for not telling you the truth and giving
you faithful counsel, we must discharge our duty, or else be
traitors both to Christ and you. Therefore, sir, as divers
limes before I have told you, so now again I must tell you,
there are two Kings and two Kingdoms in Scotland. There is
King James, the head of the Commonwealth, and there is
King Jesus, the head of the Church, whose subject James
VI. is, and of whose Kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord,

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS. 15

nor a head, but only a member. Sir, those whom Christ
has called and commanded to watch over his Church, have
^ower and authority from him to govern his spiritual king-
dom, both jointly and severally; the which no Christian
King or Prince should control and discharge, but fortify and
assist; otherwise they are not faithful subjects of Christ and
members of his Church. We will yield to you your place,
and give you all due obedience, but again I say, you are not
the head of the Church ; you cannot give us that eternal life
which we seek for even in this life, and you cannot deprive
us of it." As free Christians of America, we should always
thank the only Head of the Church that he ever commissioned
Scotch Presbyterians to uncover these great and precious
truths — that he sent their children to plant them in the wilds
of this Continent, and that he has protected their planting
until it has become a great tree in whose goodly boughs we
all rejoice.

In direct contradiction to the language and actions of their
Scotch neighbours, but in obedience to laws against which
they did not protest, and in accordance with their own inter-
pretation of these laws, in 1545, the English Reformers sub-
mitted to an Act of Parliament, (37 Hen. 8, ch. 17,) which
was passed to correct certain irregularities of the clergy of
the Anglican Church. This statute declares that " The
Archbishops, Bishops, Archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical
persons have no manner of jurisdiction ecclesiastical but by,
from, and under his Royal Majesty." Besides, during the
reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., each Bishop took an
"Oath of Supremacy," in which he swore before his God,
"Also, I acknowledge and recognize your Majesty immedi-
ately under Almighty God to be the chief and supreme head
of the Church of England, and claim to have the Bishopric

of wholly and only of your gift, and to have, and

to hold the profits temporal and spirhual of the same only of
your heirs. Kings of this realm, and of none other."

Lastly, in the reign of Edward VI., each Prelate of the
Anglican Church accepted from the King letters-patent, in
which the following remarkable sentences occur: "Foras-
much as all authority of declaring law, and likewise of juris-
diction in all respects, as well that which is called ecclesiasti-
cal as that which is secular, at first emanated from the royal
power as from a supreme head and the source and fountain
of all the magistrates below the throne, surely it is becoming

16 PARITY ADailTTED BY PRELATISTS.

that they who exercised jurisdiction hitherto only at another's
will should gratefully acknowledge a benefit of this kind thus
granted to them by the royal liberality, and refer it when
accepted to the royal munificence alone, and surrender it as
often as it shall seem good to his Royal Majesty. We, in-
clined by your humble supplications in this respect, and
desiring to consult for the good of our subjects, decree that
our place shall be committed to you under the mode and
form given below, and that therefore you shall be licensed to

ordain any person within your diocese of , whom

you shall find, by a previous diligent and rigorous examina-
tion, to be fitted by words and learning, and to ordain and
promote all sacred orders and Presbyterships," &c.

To these fundamental documents of the Anglican Church,
much might be added from injunctions of Prelates issued
about the same time, and from other sources. But it would
be useless, for these other authorities all breathe the same
spirit and teach the same doctrine in varied language. For
instance, the Bishop of Salisbury, " by the authority given
him of God and the King," peremptorily admonished all
having the cure of souls at the Bishop's hands " to set forth
the King's regal power to be the supreme head and highest
power under God in earth of the Church and realm of Eng-
land." This Prelate, having the same authority with his
brethren, plainly derived it from " God and the King."
This opinion as to the source of his power is not contradicted
by any contemporary authority. Surely it is at least as
good as that of any of his successors. Hence, according to
early English Prelacy, the Apostolical Succession conveyed
ministerial power in the Anglican Church from God through
the King to the Bishops. But modern Prelacy, with eyes
turned from the writings of the English Reformers, and ears
deafened to their voice, vainly dreams of an authority
derived from God through the Apostles to the Bishops, and
as conveyed to itself unstained by false doctrine, unholy
lives, or open schism.

Modern Prelacy, unable to deny the authenticity or
authority of the papers just quoted, of course denies the
inference drawn from them. This inference is that the
English Reformers derived their ordaining power from their
King. But, says modern Prelacy, " there is a distinction
familiar to every sciolist in ecclesiastical affairs, between
'order' and 'jurisdiction.' Order is the spirituil power

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS. 17

derived by ordination from Christ, the Head of the Church.
Jurisdiction is the right to exercise this spiritual power in a
particular place or diocese. By reason of the connection
between the Church and the State in England, 'jurisdiction'
there is derived from the Crown. In this country ' jurisdic-
tion' comes from an election by the people. But there are
analogous cases even here to the English practice. The
spiritual power of a Priest comes from his ordination. But
the right to act as a chaplain in the navy and to receive the
pay of that office is given by a commission from the Presi-
dent of the United States." We have given the objection in
full, and desire to treat it with all candour. This definition
of "jurisdiction" is, to say the least, very singular. It might
be rejected as destitute of sufficient authority, but we can
afford to waive this right. According to this definition of
" order" it must be a spiritual profit ; but the English Re-
formers declared on oath, that they had and held the spirit-
ual profits of their stations only of their King and none
other, and so they flatly contradict modern Prelacy. Again,
it is a palpable truth that the early English Prelates indulged
in opinions and language very different from those of their
successors. Now, however convenient it may have been,
for many years, to maintain this peculiar distinction between
" order" and " jurisdiction," and however clearly it may be
set forth in the writings and practice of others, we must
demand satisfactory evidence that the English Reformers
used it so as to afiect their language at all times. They
professed to reform their Church according to Scripture and
the Holy Fathers. But where do these authorities point out
the distinction now insisted on, in the language now appro-
priated to it ? The Apostles were ordained to preach and
baptize among all nations. Their " orders" evidently in-
cluded "jurisdiction." He who gave them "jurisdiction"
also invested them with " order," and so, according to them-
selves, it was with the English Reformers. Lastly, that the
English Reformers did not rest on the distinction now
ascribed to them, is evident from the letters-patent which
they accepted from King Edward. These letters virtually
define a magistrate to be a person who declares law and
exercises jurisdiction. They decide that there are magis-
trates ecclesiastical as well as civil, and then expressly
declare that the King is the fountain and source of the
magistrate himself, not of one, nor of two, nor of several of

2*

18 PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS.

his powers, but of all of them, of all that makes the differ-
ence between a magistrate and an individual. From their
King the first set of English Prelates solemnly derived all
their authority to preach (declare law,) and to act according
to their preaching (exercise jurisdiction) in administering the
sacraments, ordaining their own successors, and maintaining
discipline. If confirmation of this interpretation be demanded,
it shall be given. Henry VIII. was undoubtedly supreme in
correcting all errors and heresies in the Anglican Church,
by law, as well as in fact. While the Convention of 1540
was in session, he had before him notes of the various opin-
ions entertained on the questions proposed. It has been
stated that under " Question 9," some of the Reformers
attempted to introduce a distinction between nominating or
electing, and consecrating or ordaining Bishops and Priests.
But King Henry immediately put his foot on this vanity by
writing, in his own hand, on the margin of his notes :
*' Where is this distinction ? Now since you confess that the
Apostles did occupate the one part, which you now confess
belongeth to Princes, how can you prove that ordering is
only committed to you Bishops ?" Because that this error
was so promptly corrected by the lawful authority, " the
Bishops' Book," as we have already seen, gives to the Prince
of every country the right of nominating, electing, present-
ing, and appointing its ecclesiastical ministers. So then,
not only is there no attempt to prove that the English Re-
formers maintained a distinction familiar only to sciolists ;
but there is the best evidence that they deliberately rejected
it. The English Reformers did not believe that their doc-
trine endangered the existence of the Church, and they were
not ashamed of it ; so they openly avowed that their orders
were derived from their supreme head in Heaven through
their supreme head on earth.

" Drowning men will catch at straws" — so modern Prelacy
also demands that an instance shall be adduced, wherein the
English King ordained or attempted to ordain a Bishop, a
Priest, or even a Deacon. But according to the Constitution
of the Anglican Church, there has never been a necessity for
the King to take so much trouble. The first generation of
English Prelates were transferred to, or ordained in the
Anglican Church just to relieve him of it. We have shown
the instance wherein by letters-patent the supreme head of
the Anglican Church committed his place to the first set of

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS, 19

English Reformed Prelates. Now when was there a neces-
sity for his reoccupying that place ? The first English Pre-
lates were licensed to ordain because their King had given
them a place which possessed ordaining privileges, viz. his
own place. Then every ordination which they performed
was valid, because it would have been valid had the King
himself performed it. This is an immediate inference from
the words, " We decree that our place shall be committed
unto you, and that therefore you shall be licensed to ordain,"
&c. These letters-patent were given only to the first Pre-
lates of the English Church. Nor was it at all necessary
to grant them to their successors. They settled the origin
of the ordaining power in their Church. By virtue of their
license the first generation of Protestant Episcopal Prelates
gave to their successors what had been given " to them, the
ordaining place of the King." They had nothing else to
give, for their " Oath of Supremacy" declared that the spirit-
ual profits of their Episcopate were obtained from their
King, and from none other. This assertion, that every ordi-
nation by a Reformed Prelate is but an ordination by the
King of England, will be confirmed — if confirmation be
needed — by the mode in which, at this day. Bishops are
made in the Anglican Church. " At every avoidance of a
Bishopric," says Blackstone, " the King may send to the
Dean and Chapter his usual license to proceed to an election ;
which is to be accompanied with a letter missive from the
King containing the name of the person he would have them
elect; and if the Dean and Chapter delay the election above
twelve days the nomination is to devolve on the King, who
may, by letters-patent, appoint such a person as he pleases.
This election, or nomination, if it be of a Bishop, must be
signified to the Archbishop, &c., requiring them to confirm,
invest, and consecrate the person so elected, which they are
to do immediately." If the Archbishop delay this confirma-
tion, (fee, for twenty days, he is exposed to the terrible pun-
ishment o^ prcemunire, whereby he forfeits all his goods and
chattels, his personal liberty, and his right to any inheritance
or bequests. Until the time of Elizabeth, the hfe of such a
recusant might be taken by whoever met him. Now, if the
Bishops in this ordination do not derive their power from
their King only — if they are not merely his agents — whence
comes his right to punish them with a prcBmunire for
refusing to exercise their power ? The answer is, that they

20 PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS.

forfeit their office because their refusal " violates ai natural
and political order," and tends to deprive the Kingcf a privi-
lege belonging to his station — that of being " the fountain
and source of all magistrates below the throne, as well in
Church as in State."

From what has been established, a consequence of very
great importance to modern Prelacy immediately follows.
A common proverb declares that " a stream cannot rise
higher than its source." Hence some delight in sneering
at the Genevan orders of the Presbyterian Church. Besides
this, an eminent authority in the Romish Church has laid
down the following as the canon for testing the validity of
ordination. It is a settled " principle with Catholics that no
error about the nature and efficacy of a sacrament, no posi-
tive disbelief of its divine institution, or any unworthiness on
the part of him who administers it, can deprive such a sacra-
ment of its effect — provided sufficient matter, valid form, and
the due intention concur in its administration." This canon
is allowed by Mr. Evans, of Maryland, in his essays, to
defend the Anglican ordinations from the attacks of Roman-
ists. It is evident, from the proverb, that Protestant Episco-
pal Bishops have, in 1850, only what power of order their
predecessors had in 1550 — a power derived from God through
the King of England. Also, according to the canon, the
intention of the first Reformed Prelates of the Anglican
Church was to transmit in a valid form, with sufficient matter,
to a proper person what they themselves had — the ordaining
place of their King. Boast as they may, this is all that, on
their own principles, their successors ever had. If, accord-
ing to modern Prelacy, and notwithstanding their own denials,
some of the English Reformers possessed another power,
from their ordination in the Romish Church, it is plain, from
their own assertions, that they never exercised it within the
limits of the Anglican Church ; they suffered it to die with
themselves. (Unless some of this ordaining virus escaped
from them involuntarily. But until the existence of such an
imponderable and uncontrollable agent is proved, we cannot
determine its possible effects in the case before us.) If then,
the peculiar "Apostolical Succession," for which modern
Prelacy contends, be essential to the Church, the Anglican
Church and its offshoots in this country are not parts of the
true Church. Parity may in triumph point to the tests of
early Prelacy ; but modern Prelacy is in the utmost need of

PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS. 21

the tests of Parity to save itself from being denounced as
base coin.

^ It is unnecessary now to apply to Parity the tests that are
presented by the Prayer Book. One thing is evident before
examination — ^that whoever so contracts its vague language
as to make it denounce nonprelatical churches, most shame-
fully misrepresents its authors. If needs be, force should be
applied so as to make its definitions contain with ease all
those bodies of professed Christians who, at the time of its
confirmation, had been acknowledged as true churches, re-
peatedly and in the most solemn manner. But happily there
is no need of force to distend, or ingenuity to explain, or of
subtlety to evade the very Catholic language of the Prayer
Book. The Prayer Book only requires us to believe that
" from the Apostles' time there have been these orders of
ministers in Christ's Church — Bishops, Priests, and Deacons."
It does not require us to believe that these orders were in the
Apostles' time — nor, that they have always been in the
Church — nor, that they have been in all parts of the Church
— nor, that they must always be there — nor, that there were
always three of these orders — nor, that of these orders the
Bishops only must always, in all places, possess the ordain-
ing power. The language of the Prayer Book is a model of
vagueness.

In conclusion, it may be safely asserted again, that Parity,
even when tested by Prelacy, is a scriptural mode of Church
government. For the establishers of Prelacy repeatedly
acknowledged that it alone was to be found in the New
Testament; and in every way possible, for sixty years, they
treated nonprelatical communities as true churches. In re-
taining Prelacy for themselves, not only they never insisted
that all others must do so too, but they derived the imparity
between their own Bishops and Priests from their King.
This source of their imparity they repeatedly avowed under
the most solemn circumstances, and they established it by
acts which their successors could never annul. According
to early Protestant Prelacy the Apostles established Parity
between Bishops and Priests; and allowed them to introduce
Imparity whenever they thought it advantageous. It decided
that a Bible Bishop was but a Bible Priest — between these
officers of the Church there was no degree nor distinction in
order, and one made the other indifferently. But it decided
also that an English Bishop was superior to an English Priest,

22 PARITY ADMITTED BY PRELATISTS.

because the English King committed his ordaining place to
the Bishop and withheld it from the Priest. Such was the
mode in which the English Reformers rendered to CEesar
the things which were Caesar's, and unto God the things that
were God's.

What child of Parity then ever need be dissatisfied with a
system which all the Reformers in all countries declared to
be of Bible origin? Who can forsake it for a system of
Imparity whose peculiar arrangements emanated from the
King of England, and, after being carefully disposed, were
deliberately and irrevocably fixed by those who alone had
the right and opportunity to do so ? Truly, " a Presbyterian
clergyman looking for the Church," and finding it only in
the Anglican Church and its daughters, would present a
ridiculous picture, did he not powerfully move our pity. For
he shows that he cannot know the truth when he sees it, or
he cannot love it when he knows it.

N. B. The writings of the English Reformers, quoted in
this essay, may be found in Burnet's History of the Refor-
mation in England, and in Strype's Annals of the Church of
England. Chapter and paragraph have not been mentioned,
because the arrangement of these works differs in their vari-
ous editions. The curious in these matters can easily verify
the quotations. To these works they are respectfully invited,
for it will afford abundant opportunities of contrasting the
large catholicity of the English Reformers, with the narrow
bigotry of their successors.

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