In one view God's benevolence is associated with his equity, and he is pleased to establish over mankind a system of gracious but equitable probation, founded upon the gift and sacrifice of his Son. Under this system "he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." The perdition of an unbeliever implying no want of benevolence in God.' This is very true, but it is not to the point; we are not asking for a vindication of the gospel, but of what is called sovereign and discriminating grace. It is the prisoner at the bar pleading that his neighbour is not guilty. At last it seems to be admitted that no satisfactory answer can be given, and all that remains to be said is, that our theory of the gospel is open to the same charge. Thou art in the same condemnation.' 'If not from a deficiency of love, nothing remains but to acknowledge a deficiency of power.' not the only divine attribute exercised | eatest thereof, thou shalt surely in the work of redemption.' die.' This do, and thou shalt live,' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' Upon the theory of the lectures there is but little room for the operation of this motive. The attractive power of the gospel is the love of God to the world made manifest therein. We cannot escape from the conviction that the particular aspect of the gospel, just in proportion to the prominency in which it is exhibited, is a denial of this love, and by consequence an abstraction of the vital element from the gospel. Of all the race of Adam there are no others than the elect and the non-elect. The latter have little ground for hope, the former have nothing to fear. If a man be one of the elect, he need give himself no more concern about his soul than if he had none. He may be as careless as Gallio, or as covetous as Judas, or he may profess, like the Essayists, that he is moved by the Holy Ghost; if he is predestinated he will be called and saved. 'Election has no respect to anything in man.' Since none can know a man to be elect until he has believed, the gospel must be addressed to all in its general aspect. Suppose a hearer of the gospel to be convinced of his guilt and danger, and to be anxiously desirous to flee from the wrath to come. He is offered salvation on condition of believing in his own strength, and he is told by the lecturer that it is a condition which no one ever has fulfilled from the foundation of the world to the present day, and which no one ever will fulfil to the end of time. Could anything be more adapted to drive him to ever lasting despair? Imagine Paul and Silas preaching a gospel like this to the jailor at Philippi! If a man were to sit down with all the coolness and impartiality of a philosopher, could he, from such premises, ever reach the con clusion, that it would be worth his while to strive to enter in at the strait gate? This is the sum and substance of Mr. Hinton's theology in a few words. Why should not the plain truth be told in the pulpit and in the class room? How would it work at the enquirers' meeting? We hope we should not have been so dishonest as to urge an objection against the theory of our respected friend if we had been conscious that it applies equally to our own. There are impossibilities with God. God cannot lie.' God cannot punish the innocent; it is contrary to the essential principles of his government. So God cannot save all men, for the same reason. One of these principles is, that man being rational, voluntary and accountable he is to be dealt with as such. God has been infinitely gracious to man, in the gift of his Son, bis Spirit, and his gospel. He has done for him all that is consistent with his character as a subject of moral government, but to introduce the operation of irresistible grace would be to violate this character and deprive him of his standing as a probationer. Mr. Hinton knows nothing of free will: (page 36.) Of course it would be in vain to ask him how man differs from a machine; but it is upon this difference that all moral government proceeds. Under every dispensation he who made man and knows what is in man, has appealed to the motive of self love. In the day thou We love the gospel in its general Intellectual Progress. aspect because it exhibits God as infinitely and altogether adorable. No other theory presents him in such unclouded glory: infinite in holiness, and truth, and justice, yet infinite in love and mercy. There is no offering what he does nor purpose to bestow; no beseeching men to be reconciled without the will that they should be saved. There is neither text, nor parable, nor promise, so gracious that it needs to be reduced-Grace richer than the gospel ? ' The love of God to the world in the gospel of his Son, is be 213 yond all comparison or conception. God is the father yearning over his sinful children, waiting to be gracious. There is the tenderest invitation to the most rebellious, the most consolatory assurance to the penitent, the oath and promise of his love to the believer. To rebel against love like this is the 'exceeding sinfulness of sin.' We agree in the verdict of Mr. Hinton's friends, that he would be an eminent theologiau if his first principles were but true. INTELLECTUAL NO. III. God holds us responsible for the improvement of the powers with which he has endowed us, to the utmost extent of which they are capable. It is not a matter of indifference as to whether we improve our mental faculties or not. We are not at liberty to do as we will with them, though in a sense our own-i. e. we are not at liberty either to abuse them, or to allow them to lie dormant. We must exercise and improve them. Power and responsibility,' says Foster, go hand in hand.' Again;-Power, to its very last particle, is duty.' That we are capable of reaching a higher eminence than any we have hitherto attained, in the improvement of our mental powers, perhaps no one would dispute but that the guilt of such is in proportion to their deficiency is not so clearly seen, or so readily admitted. And yet it cannot be otherwise. The very fact that any one is capable of intellectual advancement is a sufficient proof that God intends him to make that advancement. The God that made him, and has had mercy on him, would never have given him those capabilities but for the express purpose that he should improve them. Shakspere's theology on this subject-Godless as some would represent him-was vastly more scriptural than that of many an oracle in the religious world. 'Heaven does with us as we with torches do; PROGRESS. 'From the nature of the seed,' says Knapp, we conclude that it was designed to develop the germ; from the nature and properties of the foot that it was designed for walking. It is exactly the same in respect to the whole intellectual and moral constitu tion. Man is designed for all that for which he has a capacity, and God can require of him no less perfection than that for which he has designed him.' Unto whomsoever much is given much will be required.' The parable of the talents teaches the same truth. Let every believer then endeavour to realize this solemn truth. Go forward in the improvement of all those powers with which your Creator has endowed you, and for the use and improvement of which he holds you responsible. Having set your faces toward Canaan, however slow and hesitating, let your march be still onward. Let there be no retreat. There need not be any. We do not conceal from you the fact that, in achieving this consummation, with all the advantages arising from Divine help and teaching at your command, difficulties will arise. There is no royal road to this eminence. Among those difficulties, however, there are none greater than those which arise from ignorance of the position which God intends us to occupy, and of the aids furnished by Divine love to enable us to attain that position ;-unbelief as to possibility;-timidity and fear in its Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues venturing upon a new and almost un Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike As if we had them not." trodden path;-the small number of examples to stimulate our ambition, | would be as great as between those who courage, hope; and the thought-the torpedo thought-that heaven may be secured without all this effort. All these operate as an incubus upon our souls, and make us feeble when we might be strong. We readily admit that there are many first-rate scholars who had at one time no idea that they should become such; that there are many first-rate mechanics and artists who at one time had no idea that they should ever Occupy the position they do. How is it then that there are so few first-rate Christians? For just the same reason that so many occupy a position of mediocrity in the artistic or mechanical world. Unbelief has paralized energies which, if hopefully, earnestly, aud perseveringly exercised, would have raised their possessors to a position of respectability and power. "Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt!' Toil, and be strong.' He most prevails who nobly dares.' Motives numerous and powerful may be adduced to incite to this kind of improvement. We will, in conclusion, mention a few of these motives. This progress is necessary, in order to our possession of the largest amount of real enjoyment. Christians lose much by their indolence. Few and transient are the joys experienced by one whose position is stationary, compared with one who is ever making progress. The difference between a cultivated mind and one uncultivated is similar to that between one whose power of vision is strong and clear, and one who is nearly blind; between one whose sense of hearing is acute as that of a Handel, and one who is nearly deaf. A mind enriched by reading and reflection has been compared to a room in which a person talks to a beautiful woman, among the balmy lights of a summer evening; and a mind neglected and rude, to the same apartment, when the sun is set and the lovely occupant is gone away. To recur to the illustration with which we opened our subject, the difference continued in the wilderness and those who reached Canaan. The wilderness was an improvement upon Egypt, for there they breathed the air of freedomreposed by the wells of Elim, and under the shadow of Elim's palms; there the water streamed from the rock, and manna was rained from heaven-they heard at times the voice of God, and saw at times the glory of God; an enemy looking upon them exclaimedHow goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.' But superior as was this their position to their state of bondage in Egypt, it was not Canaan, the glory of all lands, a goodly heritage of the host of nations.' We may enjoy much, but if we would comprehend the height and depth, the length and breadth, and know the love of Christ to the extent of which we are capable of knowing and enjoying it, we must move onward, 'forgetting the things that are behind, we must reach forward to those that are before, and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.' This progress is necessary, to make Zion the perfection of beauty. A beautiful church resembles a beautiful body. A dwarf is not beautiful. Not a single member may be wanting, but being stunted there is deformity. We want not only every member, but fulness of size, and har mony of its several parts. 'Tis not an eye or ear we beauty call, But the joint force, and full result of all. There must be proportion. This is what is wanted in the church of Christ. That church at present too much resembles Briareus; it is all heads and arms; or, as old Fuller represents the Athenians, all mouth and ear. If, then, we would not present to the world this deformed and anomalous appearance, if, as a family, we would not be all or mostly of one size and strength, but rise gradually and beautifully from the tottering babe to the stalwart man; if Wealth no set-off to Ignorance. we would not present ourselves to the world with a giant's arm to execute, but with only a child's head to think, we must one and all go forward in the improvement of our mental as well as moral manhood. This progress is necessary to make the church terrible as an army with banners. The power of a full grown Christian is terrible. See Paul making his way with giant strides and unfaltering step, amid the idolatries and wickednesses of Asiatic and Grecian cities. With 'the sword of the Spirit' in his hand, what havoc does he make among their devotees; what thousands of slain strew his path. He, and a few more like-minded, turned the world upside down. Let every Christian cultivate and discipline his powers to the extent of which they are capable, and exercise them in endeavouring to strengthen and enlarge the cause of Christ, and great and glorious would be the results. When Alexander the Great started on his Asiatic expedition, his army consisted of but little more than 30,000 soldiers, and yet with these he conquered the myriads brought against bim by Darius. The reason of his remarkable success was this:- his men were all brave, well disciplined, inured to fatigue, had made several campaigns under his father Philip, and were each of them, in case of necessity, capable of commanding. Such ought to be the condition of, at least, a much greater part of the army of the Captain of our salvation. In our conquests we have a marvellous advantage over every other kind of warfare. As Hannah Moore expresses it,'a foe subdued by us is an ally obtained. It is the effect of religion on the passions, that when she seizes the enemy's garrison, she does not destroy the works, she does not burn the arsenal, and spike the cannon, but the artillery she seizes the turns to her own use, and plants its whole force against the enemy from whom she has taken it.' With such an advantage, what conquests ought we not to achieve? Realizing our responsibility and acting up to it, instead of being the imbecile influence we are, we should go forth, bright as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners.' 215 This progress is necessary to preserve from bigotry. A stunted intelligence is generally a contracted one. It is indeed possible to run very high, and yet to be very narrow. Take a poplar for example. The difference in some is merely in height, not in breadth. But those who are higher are apt to imagine that they are broader than others also. Hence some of the most narrow and bigoted minds are ever boasting of their own great breadth and comprehensiveness; whereas a stripling New Zealander could scarcely find shelter beneath their shade. That soul, if we might be allowed such an expression, that soul is the tallest and broadest, whose entire Christian manhood has been brought most thoroughly under the influence of Christian culture. Many seem to scorn improvement whose opportunities are the most favourable. Having abundance of wealth, and all its appurtenances, they think that these are a sufficient set-off to the most profound spiritual ignorance, idleness, and deformity. There is, however, something more to live for than the acquisition of wealth, and something which will make its possessor happier and nobler. Many, as farmers, are endeavouring to develop the resources of their farms, and to render them as productive as possible; many, as manufacturers, are endeavouring to perfect their machinery, and the whole apparatus of mechanical produce ;their ears and eyes are open, their thoughts are exercised, and their powers are exerted in the improvement of these: but there is a plot nearer home, which lies comparatively waste, which, if cultivated and improved to its utmost possible extent, would yield a return a thousand-fold larger in quantity, and richer in quality, than the choicest field on their farm; and there is nearer home a little gem of a machine, which, if thoroughly studied and understood, and set in motion, and kept going, would turn out fabrics more wonderful, more beneficial to mankind, and more profitable to themselves than all the most complicated, ponderous, and expensive machinery in the world; we mean the mind. Cultivate its powers, develop its resources, fill it, train it, exercise it, and the harvest will be a golden one. This progress is necessary to ministers as well as to others. It is necessary to their increasing, and even continued usefulness. Like the 'fire-fly in the southern clime, which shineth only when upon the wing, when once they rest they darken.' A person was once asked, Why do ministers, as they increase in age, decrease in interest and in moral power? It was replied, They become stereotyped too soon. Constant progress is as essential to them as it is to the least informed of Christ's disciples. Let it be progress, however, in the right direction-in the direction we have indicated. Many imagine they are making progress when they are but following the tail of some comet. Be the satellite-the slave of no one. Dare to be yourselves. One good thing which Emerson has said is- Accept your genius, and say what you think.' Robert Newton once said-Dare to be natural.' The Bible is a good model in this respect. Mat thew did not imitate John, nor John Mark or Luke. Peter did not imitate Paul, nor James Peter. Jeremiah did not imitate Isaiah, nor Ezekiel either the one or the other. Each one main. tained his individuality. They all spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and their peculiarities are only as the flute and the trumpet, giving forth differing sounds, though filled with the same breath.' · As all emotions are worthless which do not grow into deeds; and the glass of manners is consulted to no purpose unless the defect which it exhibits be removed or weakened,' let us resolve before God that no difficulties shall prevent us from entering at once and earnestly upon the path of intellectual improvement, and continuing in it till life's latest hour. Thus acting, we shall shine more brightly as believers be more steadfast and immovable amid the storms of life- and be a greater power for good in a wicked and an opposing world. UNWITTING TESTIMONIES TO THE MODE OF BAPTISM. Of IN 'Notes and Queries' for November 17, | troduction cannot be ascertained--being 1860, I find the following, Fireplaces coeval with the right itself); and second, in Church Towers.-Till the reign of the crying of infants and the conseElizabeth, baptism was always given quent disturbance of the congregation, in this country by immersion, no mat- and the mother's especial disturbance ter however cold and chill might be in appeasing her child, go far to show the weather. The use of a fire before that no such a thing as infant bapwhich to dry the wet child and dress tism is likely to have emanated from it, became a positive want in a climate the great Head of the church. like ours, and the very best place course, if only a drop or two are used, wherein to supply it was the western as sometimes-perhaps often is the tower. The spot upon which to set case, to secure quietude,-the objection the baptismal font is for symbolic to infant baptism is disposed of; but reasons at the entrance of the church, how pitiable is the shift to which our near the south-west door, hard by brethren are driven when they contend which stands a bell tower; from the for the smallest possible portion of font to this tower is but a step or two, water being sufficient-a couple of and once within this tower's thick drops or so, and then apply to it the unwalls, and its doors shut, the child's equivocal word baptisma! Ought not cries, and most children cry loudly a man who knows anything of Greek, when baptized, were thus hindered that copious and exact language, to be from breaking in upon, or wounding ashamed of such tinkering in philology the ears of the people at their devo--such a burlesque of a sacred orditions.' Here are two things which go to nance. The objection, too, is precluded favour our practice. Immersion was if baptism was meant to be a private always practised in this country till ordinance.' within three centuries back, (and its in. 'The public baths of the Romans, in |