good influence over him. This fact is mentioned bere not to invite commendation, but to encourage any fellow labourer in the work of Christ to improve his opportunity of sowing seed, and of bringing forth fruit.

On returning to Derby, George Pegg formed acquaintances with some youths who were disinclined to religion, and by degrees he grew indifferent if not averse to it himself. Upon how many high bills, and under how many green trees he wandered, after saying he would not transgress, is unknown to any except to the All-seeing, before whom our iniquity is marked; Jer. ii. 20. His life of apparent pleasure was a time of real pain. Sitting as he did Sabbath after Sabbath under the searching ministry of the Rev. J. G. Pike, he was often deeply sensible of his guilt and danger. This evil-doing was attended with keen remorse and severe selfcondemuation, being convicted by his own conscience.' In his eighteenth year his good impressions were renewed, and after giving evidence of his conversion he was baptized and received into the church, in Brook-street, Derby Together with the new heart which had been given, and the right spirit which had been put within him, a desire for mental improvement was awakened: and having easy access to books he employed his leisure hours in reading and in literary pursuits. As one of the means of mental culture he began to write as well as to read. In the infancy and youth of nations metrical compositions are invariably the first forms of literature which are produced: and in the time of youth, which has been aptly termed the poetry of life, poetic effusions are the kind most commonly attempted. Our friend first tried his skill in the art of making words musical; and the Repository contains several specimens of his rhythmical talent. Self-improvement was in his case sought not for his own sake alone, but as a qualification for doing good to others. The Sunday school engaged his attention as a sphere of Christian usefulness; and one of his earliest pieces in prose was on the Sunday School Teacher.'

connexion with each other. It was arranged that he should reside in the metropolis for the promotion of his uncle's business, and that he should be my guest. In the course of a few weeks I found that he was inclined to other pursuits than those of commerce; and that he was willing to forego & position which promised to be lucrative for a calling more spiritual in its purpose, more severe in its requirements, and altogether different in its fruitions and rewards. Knowing him to possess good natural abilities, having heard his exercises in social prayer, and seen some of his written compositions, I encouraged him to try his powers in public speaking. He did so, first in the Praed-street Sunday school, and then at the week-night prayer meeting. These addresses were followed by the delivery of a trial sermon' in the same place-and this led to his being recommended by the Church to the Committee of the College.

A little before that time, the revered Tutor, the Rev. T. Stevenson, had finished his course, and the students were distributed among various ministers. Mr. Pegg was placed with the Rev. John Stevenson, and continued with him in London until the settlement of the Institution at Leicester, under the care of the Rev. J. Wallis. During his college course nothing remarkable occurred to distinguish him as a student; but his genteel appearance, his good manners, the flowing style of his compositions, and his free and unaffected delivery, made him a general favourite as a preacher. Toward the conclusion of his college term he supplied the pulpit in Commercial-road, London, and so acceptable were his probationary services that he received a cordial invitation to settle there in the beginning of 1845. He accepted the call, and was ordained to the pastoral office in October of the same year. The ordination services were largely attended, were deeply im. pressive at the time, and are still re membered with profit by many whe were present.

It is the folly of more recent times to omit these solemnities us if they were antiquated rites and empty for malities, and to substitute in their room

the enticements of the tea meeting, and the pleasantries of the platform. The fashion now is to let all things be done-not 'unto edifying, but to entertainment. Personal tastes and local convenience are often more consulted than scriptural authority, ecclesiastical custom, and, spiritual usefulness. For my part,' writes Job Orton, 'I must freely say that the little serious ness and zeal which the ministers in the present day show, and the little respect with which dissenters in general treat their ministers is, in my opinion, partly owing to the want of that great solemnity with which ordinations were performed by our fathers.'

The connection of Mr. Pegg with the church in Commercial-road was maintained unbroken for upwards of fifteen years. With a few exceptions, the treatment he received from his people was kind and forbearing: and the effect of such treatment was to make him feel that he was in his proper sphere. Amidst repeated trials-often with imperfect health—and with fluctuating success he continued to exercise bis ministry until the summer of 1860. The failure of his strength obliged him to be absent from his pulpit for several mouths; but when medical opinion was very decided as to the necessity of resigning his pastoral office he was unwilling to act upon it, believing that to leave his church, would, even if he were restored to health, be tantamount to a retirement from the ministry altogether. As however the prospect of resuming his labours became more and more doubtful he tendered his resignation in a brief note. Before this note could be read to the church his disease had completely overmastered his emaciated frame, and the saddened spirit which indited it had ascended to God. On the first Sabbath in February, he attended the services at Chesham, where he had lately resided, and partook of the Lord's supper in the afternoon. Toward the end of the same week he became suddenly worse-on Saturday he seemed to be rapidly sinking, and on Sunday he expired. Such was the nature of his last sickness that he was not able to converse much. To Mr Prestou, whose ministry he had for some time attended, and who visited

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him on his death-bed, he made the short, but assuring statement; 'I have no fear the blood of Christ is sufficient for me!! He died in the house of his esteemed father-in-law, John Garrett, Esq., and has left a widow and a son to mourn their loss. In the cemetery of the secluded town where he ended his days, his remains were deposited on the 20th of February. The deacons of his church, and other attached friends from London, attended his interment, and the Rev. Isaac Preston delivered a pathetic and an affecting oration. On the following Sunday evening, the writer preached the funeral sermon to his bereaved church and congregation, in the Commercial-road Chapel; on which occasion, the numbers who were present, and the feelings which pervaded the large assembly gave evidence of the high respect in which our departed brother was held.

As a metropolitan minister, and one who was accustomed to attend the meetings of the denomination, Mr. Pegg must have been extensively known to the readers of the Magazine. They had the opportunity therefore of forming their own judgment relative to his character as a Christian, and his qualities as a Christian minister. Without wishing to modify any opinion which others entertained respecting him, I cannot close this short biography of him without recording my belief that he was a good man-' one who feared God and eschewed evil.' Although comparatively young, be was soberminded, and was much more free from levity of spirit than many of his coevals. As a believer he was sound in faith;' and in the doctrine he taught he showed uncorruptness.' His preaching was evangelical in its matterserious in its tone-practical in its tendency-and useful in its effects. He had an average amount of mental ability, and a large share of common sense. The expensive alterations and the great improvements which were made in the chapel during the early and middle period of his ministerial course required, on his part, great energy and effort. He had taste to desigu those improvements-the will to resolve on making them-and the perseverance which was needed to con

quer the obstacles which stood in the way of their being made. If any deficiency might be imputed to him in these matters, that deficiency lay in his not striving for the means of more speedily defraying the heavy costs which were incurred. Debts in churches should be as much deprecated as debts in families or commercial firms; and the house of God should be as free from incumbrances as other buildings. All ministers cannot do what Mr Spurgeon has accomplished: but if all would adopt his principle they might be proportionately successful in their efforts to carry it out. To Mr. Pegg belonged the merit of having promoted the enlargement and re-fitting of a chapel which was both small and unattractive; but beyond the limits of his own church and congregation he made scarcely any appeals for help in order to meet the expense of the undertaking. 'Too delicate to dig: too bashful to beg.' Luke xvi. 3.

It was probably from a disposition nearly allied to this unwillingness to be burdensome to others that he kept himself so much within the circle of his own people. A little more intercourse with Christian brethren-a little more interchange of ministerial services-and a little more public spirit would have enhanced his worth and increased his usefulness. He was certainly affable and companionable a lover of hospitality-a lover of good men' (rather, ' good things'*)-but he was not so * φιλαγαθον.

prominent in religious society as his circumstances and personal qualities would have enabled him to appear. His imperfect health may have been one inducing course of his retiring habits, for his constitution was never strong, and the care which he took of it proved insufficient to preserve it from premature decay.

The attachment of Mr. Pegg to his church and to the denomination was warm and strong. The interest which he felt in our public institutions was evinced by liberal contributions to their funds: although it must be admitted that his contributions might have been larger if he had been sufficiently frugal in personal expenditure. His house was ever open for the accommodation of ministers and missionaries during their temporary stay in the metropolis. And considering what he did, and what he might have been able to do with the more ample means of usefulness which he had the prospect of possessing, his early removal must be regarded as a denominational loss. 'And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. waters wear the stones: the floods sweep over the dust of the earth; and Thou destroyest the hope of man. Thou prevailest for ever against him and he passeth. Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away.' W. UNDERWOOD,

The College, Nottingham.

The

remains and is confirmed. It is the word without the Spirit, the offer of salvation without the will to save. It is the cross without its attraction, the gospel without its love.

These lines will probably be read by some who have not seen what has been written before. We therefore give, in few words, the points at issue. In the lectures it is contended, that the death of Christ is a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, that redemption is as extensive as guilt and ruin, that there is a sovereign purpose to confer sal vation on the elect, but that the gospel is not given to mankind with a purpose to save,' (page 54,) that God gave His Son for the world so that every man may be saved, but that Christ died for His church so that every member must be saved; that the Holy Spirit is given to the elect, but that to others He is not given, they are left to their natural faculties and abilities to receive the gospel or reject it. The issue is, that the elect are inevitably saved, the non-elect are universally lost. We attempted to prove that God's gift of His Son is an expression of infinite love to all men, an expression of His will that all men should be saved; that the Holy Spirit strives with all men, and is offered in larger measure to all who ask in the way of God's appointment-in short, that God our Saviour will have all men come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.

In the theology of the lectures there appears to be ascribed to God an entire absence of all desire, will, or purpose, to save any others than elect. Even the elect are not saved by the gospel, as it is offered to the world. We endeavoured to convey this thought in our former article. We try once more to make ourselves understood. We mean, that if the gift of the Spirit be an essential part of the gospel, the non-elect cannot be condemned for rejecting the gospel, since it was never offered to them; and if this gift be not an essential part of the gospel, the salvation of the elect is not conferred by the gospel, but by something else. We mean, that if the gospel which our divine Lord commanded to be preached to every creature be that which St. Paul declared to be the

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power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, the gift of the Holy Spirit must be included in it, and therefore it cannot be the gospel of which Mr. Hinton writes; and if this gift be not included in it, it cannot be the gospel of which St. Paul writes, since the gospel without the Spirit is universally rejected, it is the power of God unto the salvation of no man. The power by which believers are renewed is extraneous and distinct. We mean, that there is a wide and palpable difference between the apostle who declared he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it was the power of God unto salvation, and the divine who is not ashamed to say that viewed simply in relation to the happiness of man the ministry of reconciliation was not worthy of God, since the happiness of man is in no degree promoted by it; in this respect it must sadly be pronounced a failure, and a and worse than this.' (page 64) If a sentiment like this were to be found in the Essays and Reviews, it might be selected for its hostility to the gospel: our regret is the greater to find it expressed by one of the most devoted and honoured friends and advocates of the cause of Christ.

waste,

The doctrine of the Divine Sovereignty is held by some in such a sense as contradicts the universal invitations of the gospel. On this point, Dr. Chalmers writes, • -It is a still more mysterious thing that He who constructed overtures which are addressed to all, should only give the susceptibility of being impressed by them to some. It alleviates not, perhaps it enhances, the mysteriousness, that He should profess a readiness to give a clean heart and a right spirit to those who ask them,'-'for these I must be enquired after. (Notes on Hill's Lectures, 8vo, page 332) We understand the whole paragraph to be an elaborate confession that none can reconcile Cal. vinistic doctrine with the offers of the gospel.

In the 'Lectures on Redemption,' an attempt is made to evade the charge of inconsistency by insisting that these offers and invitations are so strictly conditional on believing that not one of them expresses or implies the will

It

of God that it should be accepted. is even denied that the parables of the lost sheep, the lost piece of money, and the prodigal son, in Luke xv., are assurances of the willingness of God to receive the repentant sinner. It is insisted also, that whether there is or is not in the context any such intimation, every declaration of a desire, on the part of God, for the salvation of all men is to be understood in the same strictly conditional sense, unless, indeed, the meaning can be extracted by some other process.

In illustration we refer to the exposition of John iii. 17, 1 John v. 11, and particularly to 1 Timothy ii. 4, 'God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.' 'It is clear,' says the author at page 43, 'that this language does not express a purpose of actual salvation; it is, indeed, but a condensed form of what had been fully stated in the preceding verse that whosoever believeth in Him (in His Son) should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Not a glimpse is given of any evidence on which this verdict rests. We should not dispute it if we had arrived at the conviction that God wills to save none but the elect, but this being the point in question, we cannot establish the premises by assuming the conclusion.

The same conditional sense, with the same abseuce of proof, is assigned to 1 John v. 11, God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.' We understand these texts in a sense much more gracious to mankind, as we shall shew hereafter.

The most remarkable exposition is that of 1 Tim. ii. 4. Who is entitled to the credit of inventing it we cannot tell. It is adopted by Dr. Candlish, as well as by Mr. Hinton. It is an example of the process of depletion, that is, of explaining the meaning out of a passage. The exhortation to pray for kings and all that are in authority might be understood to mean all men, without exception. Kings and others were persecutors in those days, but even they were not to be excepted. Here is a broad and universal prin ciple which may be easily understood. Pray for all men, for it is the will of

God that all men should be saved. But there is an objection against this sense, of which we believe St. Paul was ignorant. As wide as is the exhortation to pray for all men, so wide is the declaration of the will of God, that all men should be saved. If the phrase 'all men' is to be understood as meaning all mankind, there is an end of Calvinism. Some other sense, therefore, must be discovered. The connexion clearly determines a different meaning,' page 60. The force of the phrase 'all men' may be limited by the scope of the exhortation. (We presume Mr. Hinton means the scope of the phrase.) Paul is saying, Pray for men of all classes,' because the gospel contemplates men of all classes. Surely Mr. H. cannot blame us for endeavouring to make use of the principle of interpretation which he supplies. Pray for men of all classes' means some men only of all classes, then the phrase 'the gospel contemplates men of all classes' must mean some men only of all classes, then the great truth that the gospel contemplates every creature is so far explained away, and it becomes a question to whom is the gospel addressed, and on whom lies the responsibility of receiv ing or rejecting it? Why should not the same words have the same meaning when they occur twice in a sentence of about dozen words?

But

Let us try again to ascertain the scope of the passage by this remarkable canon. Prayer is to be made for all men, for kings and all in authority, then, if words have any meaning, Nero cannot be excluded. Paul knew to his cost that Nero was in authority. prayer is to be made for those whom God our Saviour willed to be saved, that is, for the elect and no others, then Nero was one of God's elect. A large addition would be made to the churches by thus bringing in at once kings and all in authority.

If this conclusion is not satisfactory, the meaning of the passage must be reduced still further. Take away a little more blood. Pray for kings and all in authority,' that is to say, for such as God our Saviour wills to be saved; but God our Saviour will have them come to the knowledge of the truth;