THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER; or, Maternal Duties exemplified in the narratives of the Old and New Testament. Second Edition. By MARY MILNER. pp. 167. cl. bds. Simpkin and Co., Stationers' Hall Court. Most judicious is the counsel here supplied to mothers; and richly will they be repaid for walking in the path, mapped out in this unpretending little volume. It is written in the form of comment upon Scripture narratives; and its comprehensiveness is another proof of the sufficiency of the Book of books. The Bible sets forth the true and right principles of action, needful in every state of life to which God calls His accountable creatures; and that writer deserves well of mankind, who (as in one important department Mrs. Milner has admirably done,) studies and expounds the application of those principles to the existing form and condition of society. BLOSSOMS AND FRUIT; or, Conversations on the lives of Christians eminent for early piety. pp. 232. cl. bds. Religious Tract Society. THE aim of the writer of this book has been to bring before children, in the form of dialogues with those of their own age, brief notices of eminent Christians, in whom the seeds of piety sprang up in early life. The volume presents thus a sort of Sunday evening conversation in the nursery. It is extremely well adapted to interest childhood; there is no tiring the attention by long tales, but each is briefly told, and the selection is good. It will be a favourite with the young, and a great aid to the parent and the governess. THE LOT OF MORTALITY, DEATH; THE PILGRIM'S REST, THE GRAVE; AND EARLY FLOWERS. By the Rev. ADAM NELSON, M.A. pp. 152. cl. bds. Hamilton and Co., Paternoster-row. MR. NELSON tells us in a short preface, that this is his first entrance into the world of song. We see tokens of this, as we think, in these poems; but there are also marks of the real poet, and we shall be glad to hear him again. The muse soars on stronger wing after the first fluttering venture. The Spider. pp. 32. The Ant. pp. 32. Religious Tract Society. THESE most interesting little Treatises deserve all encouragement. The series relating to Birds is, we see, collected into a very neat volume; consisting ofThe Nest-the Egg-The Feather-the Song-Bird-Instinct of Birds. There is also a series on Insects, (of which two of the above form part,) and one or two others are in progress. They are all of them really beautiful little books. SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS. Designed from existing Authorities. Part 2. Price 1s. Religious Tract Society. THE second part of this Work fully equals the first. The subjects are-The anointing of Saul king over Israel-Death of the first-born-Elisha and the mockers-Jacob and his family journeying to Egypt. If the same care and attention be bestowed on future numbers, a valuable and attractive volume will be formed. LECTURES ON THE NECESSITY, OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES OF SENIOR SCHOLARS' INSTITUTES. BY HENRY ALTHANS Esq. Infant School Depot, Chichester Place, Gray's Inn Road. THIS Lecture, the price of which is but a penny, may be of great service in inducing and assisting the formation of Institutions connected with our Churches, for the guidance of the mind in its progress to maturity. It is only an outline, but in many of these cases a beginning is every thing. THE EVANGELICAL REGISTER. OCTOBER, 1842. REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS OF A SCEPTIC, AGAINST THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF DIVINE INFLUENCE. BY THE REV. HENRY EDWARDS, Ph. D. Author of "Piety and Intellect relatively Estimated," &c. THE most important, and perhaps the most mysterious doctrine of Scripture, considered in reference to duty and privilege, our faith and our conduct, is that of Divine influence, its connections with and bearings upon human responsibility. Let us here only trespass a step beyond the bounds of moderation, and we enter into a viewless and an endless labyrinth. Not only is the mind bewildered and upset, but (what is still more matter of regret,) the principle of faith is staggered, and mind and heart being both disconcerted and dissatisfied, are ready to seek repose on the slippery banks of scepticism, and drowning conviction, to lie dormant on the slumbering volcano of a tacit, but yet real and practical infidelity. To the speculative mind thus perplexed and misled, I would offer a few reflections, trusting that their objections, which shall be candidly considered, will be satisfactorily answered. I need consolation to my own mind, whilst attempting to relieve the unsettled and uneasy minds of those I am addressing. This, however, I have no hope of deing, but what is formed on the very ground of their objection, namely, Divine influence; for even a "Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God giveth the increase." I am the more discouraged in this attempt, when I consider, that their objection lies also against the Divine authority of the Scriptures, as being inconsistent with the character of God; for while that sentiment has hold of the mind of the sceptic, no argument from the Word of God can have any weight with him. The objection of the sceptic may be thus stated interrogatively: "How does it appear that the Gospel is adapted to men in their present circumstances, since they can derive no benefit from it without Divine influence?' In reply to this, understanding by the term Gospel, the revelation of Scripture, the glad tidings of salvation; I answer, that as the Gospel is a sufficient revelation of all that is necessary to be known or believed unto salvation,—as it reveals this in great plainness of speech, so as to be level to every capacity-as it carries in it sufficient rational evidence, both external and internal, that it is a revelation from God,—and as it is the means which God hath appointed, and with which His Spirit concurs for the salvation of men, so it must necessarily be well adapted to their circumstances, and have all the fitness and suitableness in it to enlighten, convince, and gain upon their hearts, which belongs to the nature of outward means, and which is sufficient to render all to whom it comes altogether inexcusable in rejecting it. Our Saviour declares, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now have they no cloak for their sin." "If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they had not had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father" (John xv. 22, 24). Here you see, that He considered the Gospel, which He preached to them, and confirmed hy His miraculous works, so well VOL. XIV. 2 c suited to beget conviction, as to leave them no excuse whatever for their unbelief; which unbelief He attributes not to any deficiency in the means, but to their hatred both of Him and His Father. Their minds were averse to the character of the true God, as exhibited in the Gospel,; which was so far from being a reasonable excuse, that it was a very high aggravation of their guilt. But the objection of the sceptic sustains this as a sufficient excuse; for in reply to the reason I give why men do not believe the Gospel, namely, the deep-rooted prejudices and aversion of the human heart, he says, Though this should be admitted, I cannot see in it any answer at all to the objection, since this is exactly the ground of it, that the Gospel itself, without Divine influence, is insufficient to overcome these deeprooted prejudices.' Now if this objection be well founded, the Jews might have replied to Christ, Your doctrine, however clear, interesting and well attested, is no way adapted to convince us; and to say that this is owing to our love of darkness, and hatred of you and your Father, is no answer at all to the objection; for that is what we cannot help without Divine influence, which we are not disposed to ask for such an end, and therefore are excusable in our obstinacy and unbelief.' This objection imports, that sin is a sufficient excuse for itself; that the greater sinners men are, the more excusable and the less guilty they must be; consequently, that if they are completely sinful, they must be perfectly blameless! To draw an excuse for unbelief from the want of Divine influence, (which God is obliged to confer upon none, though He has graciously promised it to them who ask Him,) is highly unreasonable, unless it could be shown that there is nothing in the Gospel, which is suited to convince a rational creature, let him be ever so well disposed to receive it; whereas on the contrary, it can be demonstrated that the Gospel itself, even without Divine influence, (I mean. supernatural influence,) affords every rational ground of conviction to the human mind, that men who reject it, daily believe other things with the greatest firmness, for which they have not the thousandth part of evidence, that there is for the truth of the Gospel, so that they are altogether inexcusable. The Jews gladly received any impostor that came in his own name, and suited their carnal taste, while they rejected Him who came in His Father's name, with every credential of His Divine missione(see John v. 13). I hope, therefore, the reader may admit, that means may have a natural fitness, and be well adapted to the attainment of their ends, though their success should still depend upon the Divine blessing; and if this be admitted in other cases, why should it be any objection to the suitableness of the Gospel, considered as a mean, that is not in itself omnipotent, so as to produce spiritual and supernatural effects, independent of God; or, because it is mighty" only "through God, to the pulling down of the strongholds," whereby the human heart is fortified against it? 66 But taking the Gospe 1 to mean the salvation which it reveals, then the sceptic may still demand, How does it appear, that the salvation held forth in the Gospel, is adapted to men in their present circumstances, since they can derive no benefit from it, without Divine influence?' This question supposes, that a salvation which requires Divine influence, cannot be adapted to the present circumstances of men; whereas, the very reverse is the truth; and therefore, my answer is, that the Gospel salvation is well adapted to the present circumstances of men, because it includes Divine influence, without which it would not be suited to their present circumstances, nor indeed be that salvation which the Gospel reveals. This may be demonstrated from the Scripture account of men's present circumstances, and of the nature of the Gospel salvation. I know not if the reader admit either of these; but he cannot reasonably object to a defence of the Gospel upon its own principles, since it is not answerable for any other. The Scriptures represent all mankind, in their present circumstances, as "guilty before God," and so liable to punishment as the effect of His just displeasure-(Rom. iii. 9—19.)—and every man's conscience must in some measure admit this, let him reason as he will. The remedy which the Gospel presents for this is, the sufferings of the Son of God in the room of the guilty, whereby He made an atonement for their sins, and rendered it consistent with the holiness and justice of God, to pardon and accept guilty sinners believing in Him—(Rom. iii. 24–27; 2 Cor. v. 21; Gal. iii. 13, 14). But in the application of this remedy, Divine influence is necessary to make men duly sensible of their need of it, and to lead them to credit the sufficiency of the atonement for their pardon and acceptance-(John xvi. 9; vi. 44; Eph. ii. 8). Again, the Scriptures represent men, in their present circumstances, to be under the power of sin, or moral depravity and corruption of nature, ignorant of, and alienated from God and Divine things, and so incapable of spiritual enjoyment or true happiness (1 Cor. ii. 14; Eph. iv. 18; Col. i. 21; Rom. vii. 14; viii. 6-8). Men are delivered from this state, by being regenerated, made new creatures, or created anew in Christ Jesus, in knowledge, righteousness and true holiness; which is always ascribed to Divine influence accompanying the Word-(see John i. 13; iii. 5-8; Rom. viii. 9; 1 Cor. vi. 11; Titus iii. 5, 6). This is an important part of the Gospel salvation, "without which no man can see the Lord," or in the nature of things, be capable of enjoying Him; so that if persons really believe the scriptural account of man's present circumstances, and are duly sensible of it in their own case, instead of objecting to the Scripture doctrine of Divine influence, they would see it to be not only well adapted, but absolutely necessary to deliver from these circumstances. No man, in my opinion, can be believing the Gospel, while he views it as not adapted to his circumstances; and this, I think, is a self-evident truth; for to believe the Gospel, is to believe that the salvation revealed in it is worthy of God, consequently, suitable to our circumstances. Nor can a man be believing the Gospel, while he does not view unbelief as a sin; for to believe the Gospel, is to believe it to be the testimony of God; consequently, that unbelief, which is a discrediting of His veracity, and holding him for a liar-(1 John v. 10)—is a sin of the first magnitude. The Spirit is promised to convince men of this sin-(John xvi. 9)-which is represented as constituting an evil heart, and as hardening it in a deceitful manner-(Heb. iii. 12, 13). It is no answer to this to say, that faith is the gift of God, and therefore unbelief is no sin; for all true holiness is the gift of God, who worketh in us to will and to do that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ-(Phil. ii. 13; Heb. xiii. 21). But does it follow, that the opposite of holiness is not sin? If it does, there can be no such thing as sin at all in the world. It is also my opinion, an opinion necessarily contingent on what I have before observed, that a man is not believing the Gospel, while he does not see his need of the influence of the Holy Spirit, which God has promised to them that ask Him. This is also evident; for if he believe the Gospel, he must necessarily believe what the Gospel says, both with regard to His need of the Spirit, and the promise of it. To say that the Spirit is promised only to believers, or to them that ask in faith, is no answer to this; for though that were the case, still it holds true, that a man is not believing the Gospel, if he objects to what it says respecting his need of the Spirit, and the promise of it. But it ought to be observed, that a man's warrant to ask the Spirit, is not his knowing that he is a believer his sense of need is a sufficient inducement, and the promise of God a sufficient warrant, though it is certain he will not ask in faith, unless he believes the promise. When the self-condemned publican applied, he viewed himself only in the character of a sinner; but he believed there was mercy with God for the chief of sinners, and in that persuasion he applied with success-(Luke xvii. 13, 14). The same may be observed of the returning prodigal-(Luke xv. 17-25). See the calls and promises to the wicked—(Isa. Iv. 6, 7; i. 16—19; Acts iii. 19; James iv. 7, 8). But it may be said, that men may have a partial view of their own ignorance with respect to Divine things, and a desire to be better informed, with a conviction that the information can come alone from God, and yet have no ground from the Scriptures to pray for the Holy Spirit. In Luke xi. 9-13, Christ is addressing His disciples only; and again, in James i. 4, 5, it is said, "If any of you, (writing to his brethren,) lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." But (it is added) "let him ask in faith." Now if there is no promise to unbelievers, it is impossible they should ask in faith. They may use words, but that (as whatsoever is not of faith is sin,) would be an abomination in the sight of God. In answer to this, I freely admit, that those who object " to Divine influence cannot possibly pray in faith for the Spirit, while that objection predominates in their mind; it being an objection of such a nature as is directly opposite to that faith. But the case in question, however, is of a different, nay, an opposite nature. It is the case of one who has a partial conviction of his own ignorance of spiritual things, who has a desire to be better informed, and is convinced that this information can come alone from God: yet the objector thinks that such an one has no ground from the Scriptures to pray for the Holy Spirit. But in this he is exceedingly mistaken. The person he describes is from Scripture to pray for the Spirit, even while he has no other view of himself than as a guilty sinner, as has been already shown. Though Christ, in Luke xi. 9-13 is immediately addressing His disciples, yet He is setting forth the ground of encouragement to all who are convinced of their own ignorance of spiritual things, and desire Divine instruction, to apply to God for the Holy Spirit, for he says, “ Every one that asketh, receiveth ;' and to ask believing, this is to ask in faith. James says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God;" and he lays down this general ground of encouragement, that He "giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;" and he is so far from discouraging any from asking, who are sensible that they lack wisdom, desire it, and are convinced that it can come alone from God, that he bids them "ask in faith," i. e. not doubting, but believing that God is both able and willing to bestow it upon them: so that there is nothing here of a forbidding but of the most encouraging nature. The only thing forbidden is doubting; but that is only to forbid the very thing that discourages. As in Romans xiv. 23, the apostle is speaking of weak believers, who doubted of the lawfulness of certain meats, in which case he would have them to abstain from them, because they could not eat them in faith of their being lawful; adding this argument, "for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." But this has nothing to do with our present subject. With regard to the sacrifice and prayer of the wicked being an abomination in the sight of God-(Prov. xv. 8. xxviii. 9)-that does not apply to the case which we have stated above, but to hypocrites, and incorrigibly wicked persons going on in their sins. The Lord frequently declares, that He will not accept the sacrifices nor hear the prayers of such, they being an abomination unto Him. (See Psalm 1. 16, 23.-Isaiah i. 10-16.-lxvi. 3, 4.-Jeremiah vi. 19, 20.-viii. 21–29.) But an objector may say, If there is no promise to unbelievers, it is impossible they should ask in faith." To this 1 answer, that though there are no promises made to unbelievers, as such, or as continuing in a state of unbelief, yet there are many promises respecting the conversion of unbelievers to the faith; and all the promises in the Word of God may be considered as so many motives to this; and so the Gospel holds them out to men who are yet in a state of unbelief, as encouragements to repentance and faith. If, therefore, they do not ask in faith, it is not owing to the want of encouraging promises, but to their own faithless hearts. The Lord calls upon "the wicked and unrighteous man to forsake his evil ways and thoughts, and to return unto the Lord;" and adds this encouraging promise, "He will have mercy upon him-He will abundantly pardon."-(Isaiah 1. 6, 7.) If it be objected, that such promises are not made to unbelievers, or to the wicked and unrighteous, as such, but upon supposition of their repentance, I answer, they are addressed to the wicked and unrighteous, while such, with a view to bring them to faith and repentance; and promises to such, in any other view, would only be promises of impunity in their unbelief and impenitence, which could never be made by a holy God. (To be continued. CHRISTIAN UNITY.-Union with Christ is an indispensable preliminary to union with the Church of Christ. An individual must be joined to Christ, before he can be a true member of the Church of Christ.-Rev. James Hamilton. 4 |