which have a moral suitableness to engage his faculties, and move his natural affections: and in this constituted order of means, the sovereignty, grace, and power of God give life to the dispensation of his word. We have to deal with rational beings, capable of apprehending our testimony, and answerable for their reception of it. Let it therefore be comprehensive, connected, and unfettered; and we shall never be left without a witness from God.

We have enlarged upon the subject of this section, from the decided conviction, that a high standard of Christian doctrine, scripturally laid down and practically enforced, is indissolubly connected with a corresponding elevation of Christian holiness and Christian privilege. No efficient Ministry will ever be found, where the system of public instruction is lowered beneath the sacred standard. An excessive caution in fencing and guarding our statements, or an indecisive and sparing exhibition of Christian doctrine, will not be honoured with the Divine blessing, and will leave us dependent on our own energy for its success. Whereas, the more simple and unsophisticated, the more full and unctional our views-the larger effusion of Divine influence may be anticipated. It is far more easy to bring our people to a certain stage of preliminary advancement, than to carry them one step beyond it. In these truths which we have ventured to present,' (as Cotton Mather observes) there are the articles, which the church either stands or falls withall. They will be the life of your Ministry, nor can the power of godliness be maintained without them. The loss of these truths will render a Ministry insipid and unfruitful; and procure this complaint about the shepherds-The diseased ye have not strengthened, neither have ye brought again that which was driven

away." The powerful influence of such a system of doctrinal instruction, as has been here recommended, consists not in the talent of eloquence, but in the "simplicity and godly sincerity," with which it is conducted. Its main character may be comprised in one short sentence-" Christ is all and in all." He is not only exhibited in the picture, but in the foreground-as the principal figure-where every part of the picture is subordinated, to give him that prominence and that effect, which attract the eye and the heart exclusively to him. 2

This subject may be fitly concluded with the striking exhortation of Bishop Reynolds- Studiously and conscientiously apply yourselves to this heavenly skill of spiritual preaching. So convince of sin-the guilt, the stain, the pollution of it, the curse and malediction, whereunto the soul is exposed by it-that your hearers may be awakened, and humbled, and effectually forewarned" to flee from the wrath to come." So convince of the all-sufficient righteousness and unsearchable riches of Christ, the excellency of his knowledge, the immeasurableness of his love, the preciousness of his promises, "the fellowship of his sufferings, the power

1 Mather's Student and Pastor, p. 185.

2 Bowles gives some cogent reasons for this full exhibition of Christ in our Ministry.-1. Because in him is our only hope of salvation, Acts iv. 12; John xiv. 6. 2. Because he is the scope of the whole Scripture, the whole range of truth being employed either, (like the Mosaic œconomy,) "to bring us to him "-or to describe him as if before our eyes—or to lead us to communion with him by the outward and inward means-or lastly, that we might walk worthy of him. 3. Because all the first Ministers of the Gospel unite in giving him the pre-eminence in their Ministrations-John the Baptist, (John i. 29.) Philip, (Acts viii. 5.) Paul, (Acts ix. 20. 1 Cor. ii. Eph. iii. 8.) 4. Because all our works, except they be grafted on him, are no better than splendid sins. John xv. 4, 5.-Past. Evang. Lib. ii. c. 8. "Christum illi soli annunciant vere, et uti oportet, qui in illo solo docent omnem spem salutis humanæ repositam, qui per illum solum agnoscunt divitias gratiæ Divinæ ad nos derivari." Dav. in Col. i. 28.

of his resurrection," the beauties of his holiness, the easiness of his yoke, the sweetness of his peace, the joy of his salvation, the hope of his glory-that the hearts of your hearers may burn within them, and they may "fly, like doves unto their windows," for shelter and sanctuary into the arms of such a Redeemer, who "is able" and willing "to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him"-that they may with all ready obedience, and by the constraining power of the love of Christ, yield up themselves to the government of this Prince of Peace, by whom "the Prince of this world is judged and cast out," his "works destroyed,” and we for this end "bought with a price," that we should not be our own," but his that bought us, nor "live any longer unto ourselves, but unto him that loved us, and died for us, and rose again."

know nothing among your people, but Christ crucified." Let his name and grace, his Spirit and love, triumph in the midst of all your sermons. Let your great end be, to glorify him in the heart, to render him amiable and precious in the eyes of his people, to lead them to him, as a sanctuary to protect them, a propitiation to reconcile them, a treasure to enrich them, a physician to heal them, an advocate to present them and their services to God, as wisdom to counsel them, as righteousness to justify, as sanctification to renew, as redemption to save. Let Christ be the diamond to shine in the bosom of all your sermons.

1

1 Works, pp. 1039, 1040. An uniform edition of his works has been lately presented to the public, dedicated to the present Bishop of London. The Christian Remembrancer (a periodical, whose general system is opposed to this view of Christian doctrine) justly ranks Bishop Reynolds as one of the most eminent among the Divines of the seventeenth century;' and marks this edition of his works, asforming a most valuable accession to our stores of sound and masculine theology.' November, 1826.

SECTION II.

EXPERIMENTAL PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL.

PERHAPS the theory of the Gospel was never better understood since the Apostles' days, than it is at present. But many, who preach it, or who profess it, seem to lay too much stress upon a systematical scheme of sentiments, and too little upon that life and power, that vital, experimental, and practical influence, which form the character and regulate the conduct, of an established Christian.'1 The fulness and simplicity, the connected and unfettered character of our ministrations, will enlighten our people only with a cold and uninfluential knowledge, except an experimental character be added to interest and affect the heart. Our statements may embrace accuracy of detail, and correctness of proportion: but without an unctional spirit, and an application of the didactic system to the different feelings and sympathies of the heart, they will be unproductive. Not that we should be always dealing with certain trains of spiritual exercises; but that we should enter with minuteness and consistency into the varied feelings, difficulties, conflicts, and privileges, which belong to what Scougal aptly calls the life of God in the soul of man.'

The connexion of this Section with the preceding is obvious. For what is Christian experience, but the influence of doctrinal truth upon the mind. If we are strangers to the Scriptural character of God, we must be unacquainted with those exercises, that connect the heart with him. The preference however that some

1 Newton's Life of Grimshaw. p. 65.

Christians feel for experimental preaching, as being descriptive of their feelings, is obviously grounded upon misconception. Indistinct doctrinal preaching, or even accurate views in a dry didactic mode of communication, must be both uninteresting and uninfluential. But an intelligent apprehension and statement of truth from the preacher's heart naturally flow with experimental vitality to the hearts of his people.

Much caution and Christian wisdom however is here required to adopt this style of preaching with advantage. It includes the different cases of our people, the various degrees of impression under the Ministry of the word, the power of conviction, the danger of stifling it, and the best methods of cherishing, deepening, and directing its influence. The power of temptation in its diversified operations is a material part of the subject, both as regards the "captivity" of the multitude" at the will of Satan," 1 or his active and too successful influence over Christian hearts. The incessant working of native principles of corruption, falling in with the grand designs of the enemy, and materially aiding his operations, need to be most correctly delineated. And hence will arise some important rules for the assurance of Christian sincerity, and for a scriptural "trial of the spirits, whether they be of God." 2 The different offices of the Holy Spirit, "helping infirmities" in prayer, convincing, enlightening, consoling, strengthening every part of the soul, imprinting the Divine image, and bearing witness to his own work-these will form full and interesting subjects for detailed exposition. The connexion of the work of the Holy Spirit with the exhibition of the love of Christ, his offices, and the

1 2 Tim. ii. 26.

21 John iv. 1.