God, before all worlds. He brought forth the distinct acts of the Three in heaven that bare record: God the Father, in his everlasting love to the church in Christ, his eternal choice of their persons, predestinating them to the adoption of children by Christ, securing their persons by giving them to Christ, with all the ancient settlements of grace, with the grand ultimate of the whole, his own glory. God the Son, in betrothing the church to himself, his eternal oneness with her, his covenant engagements for her, as her representative, with all the wonders of his sovereign and absolute redemption, &c. &c. But, in a manner excelled by none I ever heard, and almost unequalled, he preached the distinct Personality, essential Godhead, official greatness, reigning sovereignty, and saving honours of God the Holy Ghost, the Almighty minister of the church. He equally honoured him, with the Father and the Son, in all his testimonies to the church of God; he spoke of his divine honours, and all-glorious perfections, his undertakings as one of the great Three in the everlasting agreement, his personality qualifying the head of the church with gifts and grace. He exalted his divine majesty in superintending the shadowy dispensation, and the open manifestation of his personal glory in taking the visible charge of the church on the day of Pentecost, and carrying into effect the great designs of eternity. He honoured the Lord the Spirit in the revelation he has given; ascribing the regeneration of the new born to his personal agency and Almighty power; shewing the impossibility of vital religion independent of his omnipotent arm. I have noticed in his late writings, his standing aloof from the Missionary Society, and speaking against the meetings of its leaders, because the sovereignty, majesty, sole-agency, and declarative glory of the Holy Ghost is eclipsed and lost sight of, and creature doings are exalted; and well he might as His honour lay so near his heart. His ministry teemed with the necessity of the Lord the Spirit's revealing the truth to the heart, of his convincing the sinner of his ruin and exposure, of his leading the sinner to Calvary, his giving him faith in the finished work of Christ, and sealing pardon and forgiveness in his conscience, with all the after-manifestations of his Person, grace, and fulness; yea, he exalted him in all his officecharacters, as the witness, revealer, sanctifier, teacher, indweller, leader, &c. &c. glorified him as the author of all the renewing seasons, reviving visits, refreshing times, melting moments, heavenly foretastes, blissful sealings, and confirming manifestations with which he sovereignly blesses the objects of his vast delight: it was his following the apostle's model on this point that first drew forth my affection to him as a minister of Christ. It was when I was in the twilight of knowledge of the Lord the Spirit's Person, that I heard him, and read his writings on the sacred Majesty and Personal work which will ever endear his memory to my heart. Let us admire the grace that made him faithful, and kept him from swerving to his dying day. He was so baptized into the knowledge of his divine person, that by it he was exalted above all offers, and proffers, duty-faith, and all the self-adulating train of creature doings that now abound. Wishing you an unction from the Holy One, in the enlivening communications of his grace, Golden Square, London, I am, your's, E. M. Mr. Editor, of (For the Spiritual Magazine.) CHRIST'S LOOK UPON PETER. I Have often perused the pages of the Spiritual Magazine with peculiar pleasure, and much edification; so much so, that I give place to no one in appreciating the peculiar features of our most holy faith, which are contained within its pages from time to time; but, at the same time, I confess my mind has often been pained to see some of your ablest correspondents arraigned at the bar of (perhaps) one individual's judgment, and condemned as maintaining heretical opinions, for a word, or a sentence. This, Sir, was the impression my mind upon reading, in last month's number, a communication bearing the signature of H-, in which he charges "Elah" with gross arminianism, when he says, that Christ's look 66 Peter was upon a look of anger," which H- maintains to be contrary to the word of God. With all due deference to his superior judgment in the things of God, I think that had he consulted the lively oracles of infallible truth with attention, he would have found the idea not so unscriptural as he imagines; for, be it observed, there is no direct proof in the word of God on either side, whether it was a look of love or anger: therefore we can only argue from circumstances, and from the analogy of divine truth. Nevertheless, H-asserts in unqualified terms, that it stands opposed to the written word, and supposes that if it is possible for the God-man to be angry, he loses his immaculate purity and uncreated holiness; as it is impossible to separate anger from sin. "What is anger in one man towards another, but sin in its effects? And it is a sad proof that such a man is a sinner, who, at any time looks upon another with a look of anger." This, position, Sir, I am anxious to bring to the touchstone of truth; to the law and to the testimony of our God I appeal. The first passage which arrests my attention, and to which I call yours, is Eph. iv. 26. "Be ye angry, but sin not." I humbly conceive the meaning of the apostle to be, that anger in a just cause, and to a certain extent is lawful, but if carried beyond that boundary, it becomes criminal. To illustrate the point, I will suppose a case. I am placed at the head of a family; I have children whose present and eternal interests occupy my most anxious care; I watch over them with earnest solicitude; I do my utmost to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; I set before them the heinous Vol. IV.-No. 33. G nature and awful consequences of sin, and enforce filial obedience, with every domestic and moral duty; yet, after all, they set at nought my counsel-act diametrically opposite to my instructions-despise parental authority become prodigal, and waste my substance. In this case would it not be my duty to manifest my displeasure at their proceedings, to be angry with them for disobeying my commands, and yet love their persons, with all the affection of a parent? See the case of Eli for an illustration of this. But, Sir, upon this subject, I have to do with one greater than Paul, and far above an earthly parent, even the glorious covenant God of Israel, the everlasting Father of the whole election of grace, whom he hath loved from everlasting, with a love that knows neither measure nor end, and blest with a name above that of sons and daughters. But H― thinks it incompatible with this love, for the Lord Jesus to be angry with Peter, as one of the sheep given him by the Father to redeem. This appears to me to savour of that antiscriptural sentiment, "that God does not see sin in his people ;" which I am bold to assert, has no foundation in the word of God. And it is a fact well known in the experience of the saints of the Most High, that if they forsake his law, and continue not in his statutes, he will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their transgressions with stripes; nevertheless, his loving-kindness he will not utterly take from them, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail. It was the consideration of this reviving and soul-comforting truth which made the church of old to sing of mercy and of judgment; "although thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me." And when the child of God is under the chastening hand of his heavenly Father, he says, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." At other times, with David, the cry of his heart is," rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy sore displeasure." "Is his mercy clean gone for ever? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? &c." Again, with Job, "God distributeth arrows in his anger, and the arrow of the Almighty sticketh fast within me, the terrors thereof drink up my spirit." When Jehovah caused proclamation to be made to backsliding Israel by the prophet Jeremiah, it was thus: "Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, "Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever." Jer. iii. 12. David when contemplating the judgments of God upon the church, complains with holy vehemence, "Ŏ God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?" Again, in Lam. ii. 1. “How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel." And it is said of Ephraim, that he "provoked him to anger most bitterly." Thus, Sir, I might multiply proofs, but "in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established." : And I appeal to the conscience of the deeply exercised saint if he has not been left to mourn in anguish of spirit under the fatherly corrections of his covenant God, when his iniquities have caused him to withdraw the light of his countenance, and the manifestation of his love. (Isa. lix. 2, 10, 11.) When this is the case, he experiences to his sorrow the actual accomplishment of those declarations of Jehovah: "To the froward, I will shew myself froward." "If they (my people) walk contrary to me, then will I walk contrary to them." Again the Lord's chastisement of his people is called “ a little wrath;" it marks his displeasure at their sin but his love to their persons; it is called a little wrath in distinction from the fury he manifests to his enemies, which is wrath to the uttermost," wrath to come." But, my dear Sir, mark the tender love and mercy of our condescending loving Lord, as recorded in the verse to which I have ́alluded: “In a little wrath, I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Thus we see how sweetly the mercy and judgment of our God harmonize and appear consistent with each other; "justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne; mercy and truth go before his face." Psalm lxxxix. 14. Nevertheless, I am ready to acknowledge that the Lord is not angry with his people in the same sense nor to the same degree as he is with the wicked, with whom he is said to be angry every day or continually, and which is called the fierceness of his anger, which as a fire shall devour his adversaries. The one is the anger of a God in covenant, who is provoked by his Israel continually; but the other is the wrath of a sin-avenging judge, who will take vengeance on them who know him not in his covenant character, and who obey not the gospel. Thus, I think from the testimony of many witnesses, who wrote and spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, that the fact is incontrovertibly established, that it is not inconsistent (seeing it. actually is the case) for the Lord Jesus to be angry with his people, as he and his Father are one. But H- asks as though it was a well known fact, "What is anger in one man towards another, but sin in its effects?" to which I reply, that when anger, wrath, &c. are ascribed to Jehovah, they denote no tumultuous passion, as " he is without iniquity, just and holy is he," but merely denote his aversion at, and just displeasure with sin and sinners. Whether seen in his own people, or in reprobates, sin is sin, and will incur his displeasure: the former he "sets in dark places," and says, "I will go and return unto my place, until they acknowledge their transgressions; in their affliction they will seek me early." But, as concerning the latter, (reprobates) at them he hurls the thunderbolts of divine vengeance, and consigns them to the fathomless abyss of unutterable woe. H-appears to ground his arguments upon the perfection of Christ, in his complex character as God and man in one person. If he will accompany me, in following our divine Lord from the corn field into the synagogue on the sabbath day, (as it is in Mark iii) we shall there find a man with a withered hand, which Christ was about to restore whole as the other; but the Jews being tenacious of their sabbath, watched him narrowly to see whether or no he would violate the sabbath by doing an act of mercy. With their conduct he was displeased; and it is said in ver. 5. "When he had looked round on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, stretch forth thine hand!" This I conceive to be sufficient to refute the objection of H—. Thus, Sir, I have endeavoured in some small measure, to bring inferential reasoning to the plain declarations of the Holy Ghost, and attempted to rescue "Elah" from the mistaken condemnation of his brother H-although I have not taken up my pen so much to vindicate "Elah," as to refute the assertions of H— which I fear if examined closely, will appear to have a dangerous tendency in their effects. As it respects the point at issue, between Elah and H— namely, "Christ's look upon Peter," I humbly conceive (arguing from the circumstance) it was a look of affectionate reproof, as much for Peter's unbelief and vain confidence, as for his perfidy in denying his Lord. For, when he told Peter that he should deny him, he directly insulted his best friend by telling him that he would not deny him if he were to die with him! Now look at the circumstance itself: Peter is accused with being one of the friends of the despised Nazarene, which he denies, cursing and swearing that he knew not the man; when the oock crew, the Saviour turns and looks upon his disciple, as much as to say, "Ah! Peter, where is now thy zeal for thy Lord ? is this fulfilling the avowal of thy fidelity? when I told thee thou should deny me, thou placed thy constancy above that of all the rest, and declared that if they all denied me, thou would not! how is it now?" Now mark the effects. Peter remembered the words which his Lord had said unto him, and he went out and wept bitterly: his feelings no doubt were those of bitter remorse, and indescribable agony; for, after declaring his determination to stand by his master even unto death, he should be so base, and so perfidious, as to declare he knew him not. What a mercy, my dear Sir, that Christ knew Peter as one of his sheep, for whom he was about to offer up his righteous soul as a willing sacrifice to his Father's justice! and if the everlasting arms of covenant love and mercy had not been under Peter to break his fall, he would have sunk with the traitor Judas, to the regions of horror and despair. "Woe to him that is alone when he falls!" such was Judas's, but such was not Peter's case. I must apologize, Sir, for troubling you with so long a letter, but as a constant reader of the Spiritual Magazine, I feel it my duty to bring every thing contained therein, to a strict scrutiny by the word |