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APPENDIX.

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After the foregoing Essay was wholly written, I obtained, through a friend, the sight of a volume of sermons and sketches of sermons by the Rev. R. Watson. In Sermon 37th, on The Sacrifice of Christ,' I find the main position of the Essay clearly asserted. In showing the superior excellence of the great Christian sacrifice compared with the sacrifices under the former dispensation, he says,―

'But that which carries the value of the offering to its true height,— if we can call that height which is above all height-is, that it was the blood of Christ; of the whole and undivided Christ, who was both God and man. For, though a Divine nature could not bleed and die, a Divine person could. This distinction is to be kept in mind: for the person being one, the acts and sufferings of each nature are the acts and sufferings of the same person, and are spoken of interchangeably.

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Hence it is that the apostle adds, so emphatically, "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." I am aware that some modern commentators apply this to the Holy Spirit; but the fathers and others, more properly, apply it to the Divine nature of our Lord; and in any other view the verse makes a very confused sense. The meaning obviously is, that Christ through, or by means of, His Divine nature, here called the "eternal Spirit," as in Rom. i, 4, "the Spirit of Holiness," offered Himself, without spot, to God. Nothing less than this could constitute that sacrificial oblation which should take away our sins. But it was done; Divine blood was shed to wash away our sins; and so to demonstrate the Divine justice that we might escape its terrors.

It is this intimate and inseparable connection of the Divinity of our Lord, this hypostatical union with His person and work, which gives to both that peculiarity which lays the foundation of our absolute faith; and it may be profitable to dwell a short time upon it.

It is this which invests His humanity with that Divine character; so that by virtue of the personal union we worship Him, without idolatry, as God. Thomas touches His very flesh; and yet falls at His feet, and cries, “ My Lord, and my God!"

'It is this which gives to His teaching its absolute and immediate authority. The lips of the man do but speak the oracles of the enshrined Divinity within. In the prophets, the stream of inspiration comes through the channel of holy men: in Him it bursts from the fountain-head of Divine and infinite wisdom itself.

"It is this which gives that spotless and unstained clearness and perfection to His example. That example was indeed human, or it could have been no example to us; yet all rested upon the base of a higher nature; all was exalted and glorified by the latent Godhead; like some radiant cloud, softened to human gaze, but still deriving its splendor from the unapproachable light of the very sun which it veils.

It is this which gives their peculiar character to His miracles. Prophets and apostles wrought miracles in the name of a higher Lord; He wrought miracles in His own name. The virtue was in Himself; and it flowed so that those who touched Him lived.

It is this which gave to His ministrations a character possessed by none beside. He was not a mere publisher of the good news of pardon and salvation. He was a dispenser of these blessings. He forgave sin in His own right; and conferred at once a title to heaven, and a meetness for its enjoyments.

'It is this which exhibits the peculiar lowliness and abasement of. His humiliation; and explains the mysterious words, "Who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich." "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."

'It is this which gave their mysterious depth to His sufferings. I enter not into the question whether the Divine nature could, by a voluntary act, suffer. That veil is not to be lifted up by mortal speculations. But those sufferings were such as no mere man could undergo.

"The last mysterious agony;

Those fainting pangs, that bloody sweat ;'

that sorrow of a spirit which had no sin of its own to sorrow for; that recovery from such a struggle, so as to be able to go through His trial with calm dignity; those words of majesty, "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again;" that power to dispense paradise to a fellow sufferer; that voice so loud after so many agonies; that dismissal of His spirit; that life from death, at the streaming forth of which the bodies of saints rose, and appeared in the holy city; all enforce from us the exclamation of the Roman officer, Truly this man was the SON OF GOD!" Thus He offered Himself to God; and it was this that gave its special character to His sacrifice, and rendered it such a one as never before had been offered; and of a value so full and infinite, that it needs not to be offered again. 'By that one oblation" He hath obtained eternal redemption for us. Such is the foundation of our faith in this atonement. The blood by which the Church is purchased is the blood of God.'

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In the foregoing extracts the reader will find the main position of the Essay, that the actions and sufferings of Jesus Christ are the actions and sufferings of the God-man; or as Mr. Watson expresses the sentiment, the whole and undivided Christ, who was both God and man.' He will find also the same distinction made, in reference to suffering, between the incarnate and unincarnate Divinity. 'Though a Divine nature could not bleed and die, a Divine person could.' Öther points of comparison, or rather sameness in the sentiment of the two treatises, I need not point out to the reader. Suffice it to say that Mr. Watson has portrayed the influence of the sufferings and death of the whole and undivided Christ,' on experimental and practical piety, in a strain of eloquence peculiarly his own. T. M.

New-York, Feb. 19th, 1835.

AN ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG MINISTERS

WHO WERE ADMITTED INTO FULL CONNECTION WITH THE WESLEYANMETHODIST CONFERENCE:

Delivered August 6th, 1834, at the City-Road Chapel, London. By the REV. RICHARD TREFFRY.

MY DEAR BRETHREN,-For more than half a century, the practice has prevailed among us, of furnishing the young men who have been formally admitted into our body with a few words of advice, adapted to their circumstances as Christian ministers. This was formerly done by individuals selected from among our senior preachers; who were supposed, by their age and experience, to be most qualified for the work of giving suitable instruction to their junior brethren in the ministry; and most solicitous that the doctrine and discipline of Methodism, in all their purity and simplicity, might be transmitted to future generations: and I distinctly recollect, thirty-eight years ago, standing at the foot of this pulpit, and receiving such instructions, some portions of which are fresh in my memory even at this day. But in the year 1813, a rule was made, which rendered it imperative upon the president of the conference for the preceding year, to address to the preachers, who had been received into full connection, in the presence of the congregation, an appropriate charge.' No apology, therefore, on my part, is necessary, for the liberty I take in speaking to you on the present occasion. May the Lord give us His blessing, and crown this service with His special presence!

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When I consider the great responsibility and peculiar perils, incident to the work in which, by the great Head of the Church, you have been called to engage, I feel disposed to select, as the ground of my present remarks, some passage of a specifically cautionary and monitory character; and the more so, because a prevailing consciousness of this responsibility, and a salutary watchfulness against such dangers, will not only be likely to render you secure, but will insure to you a progressive improvement in your personal characters, and your ministerial qualifications. An admonition of St. Paul to Timothy seems very suitable to my purpose. You will find it in the First Epistle to Timothy, the fourth chapter, and the last verse: Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine.' The first part of this advice referred to Timothy in his personal, and the second in his ministerial, character; the one to his conduct as a Christian, the other to his office as a preacher. Nor do I know of any advice within the whole range of revelation, that is reiterated more frequently, and in more varied forms of expression, than this, 'Take heed unto thyself.' It is found in the writings of the Old and New Testaments, of the prophets and apostles; and even our Savior Himself deemed it of sufficient importance to leave it on record for the instruction and admonition of mankind. Allow me then to say,

1. Take heed to your bodies. I do not think it beneath the dignity of this place to remind you that some of the dangers to which you are exposed are such as affect the body. The caution in the text may therefore be naturally supposed to involve the duty of caring for your

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health. Timothy was most probably an afflicted man: he had his 'infirmities;' and from the circumstance that St. Paul recommends him to use a little wine,' as an antidote to them, we may infer, that they were not moral but physical infirmities, not of mind, but of body. Hence it is evident, that even the apostles themselves were ordinarily bound to employ the usual means for the preservation of health: they could occasionally work miracles, and heal the most inveterate diseases; but they were not always invested with this wonder-working power. Paul could not heal Trophimus, and therefore left him sick at Miletus; nor could Peter heal his wife's mother; nor could Timothy, by any supernatural agency, counteract the influence of his physical infirmities.

It would not be improper in this place to suggest to you the value of health, in promoting your personal comfort. But I prefer to assume a higher ground; and to remind you, that, apart from the considerations of usefulness, health is the highest natural blessing with which you can be entrusted; and your responsibility is proportioned to its importance. If any express Scriptural confirmation of this view were necessary, it might be gathered from the figures employed by the apostle, to illustrate the sanctity of even the bodies of believers. They are, he tells us, members of Christ,' and 'temples of the Holy Ghost;' and though the inference which he draws from these representations respects the purity with which our bodies should be preserved, yet a reverent care of them seems equally to be implied in it. If he who defiles the temple of God renders himself a subject of the Divine displeasure, surely he who negligently allows it to fall into decay, or who rudely shakes its walls, cannot hope to be held guiltless.

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And if to this consideration you add the claim which God has upon you to employ your health for the special benefit of the Church, the subject rises in importance. As ordinary Christians, you are not your own; you are bought with a price, and on this fact is grounded the duty of glorifying God with your bodies, as well as with your spirits, both of which have been the subjects of this costly purchase. Nay, more: you emphatically are not your own; you have ceded all right to yourselves; you have transferred to the Church of God the claim on all your powers of body and soul. This day have your vows been made in the presence of your brethren; and, having been long betrothed, you are now married to your great office; these vows have tacitly, if not explicitly, bound you to devote your physical powers to the service of the sanctuary; and any prodigal expenditure of your health is a breach of your contract, a contract recognized by the Church in heaven, and registered by the Church on earth. Need I then urge upon you the necessity of the obligation?

You are not the men, I most conscientiously believe, to interpret those cautions as warranting a sickly effeminacy, or an unmanly self indulgence. Some of you have already, for the work of the Lord, been brought nigh unto death; you have been ambassadors to the heathen; and your labors in foreign and inhospitable climes have enervated your frames, and cast a sickly hue upon your countenances; and to one of you I may say, 'You bear about in your body the marks of the Lord Jesus; you have been imprisoned in a colonial jail, for your unflinching adherence to your ministerial duty.' With grateful delight the Church ranks you among her confessors; nor do I doubt,

that, should the period ever arrive, in which others among you shall be called to the endurance of still more severe and more complicated calamities, you will rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for your Savior's sake.

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It must be allowed that a minister's life is a life of peril; and especially a Methodist preacher's life. It is true that in this country he is not in danger from the rude attacks of lawless and riotous mobs; the arm of violence is not now raised against him; he can generally pass unmolested through the land. Yet he is in labors more abundant; he preaches more sermons than almost any other minister, and frequently in houses crowded almost to suffocation: and, after having engaged for hours in the work of his Master, he has to go, streaming with perspiration, into the chilling atmosphere, to face the bitter blast, and encounter the pelting hail, or the drifting snow-storm, in his way to his humble habitation. I was lately in company with a minister of our body, whose eightieth year was nigh,' who declared, that he had preached from two to five sermons daily, for six weeks in succession, beside travelling through a great extent of country in the depth of winter. There are many things in a Methodist preacher's itinerant life, which I need not particularize, that can scarcely fail to sap the foundation of the strongest constitution, and destroy the most vigorous health, without a due degree of care and precaution. There may be special cases when self preservation must be merged in the welfare of society, and when physical evil may, by a marvellous process, generate moral good; but health is too serious a thing to be unnecessarily sacrificed. There is a zeal without prudence as well as without knowledge; and he who expends a more than ordinary share of physical and mental energy in the service of the sanctuary, ought to be fully persuaded in his own mind that he is doing God service, and that such a sacrifice will be acceptable in His sight.

Many of you whom I have the honor of addressing are young; your health is good; your constitutions are strong; and your native vigor has never yet been wasted by disease. But young persons, for want of experience, are frequently presumptuous, and presumption induces incaution, and hence they unawares rush into danger. Therefore take heed to yourselves; and while on the one hand you guard against a needless self indulgence, be no less cautious on the other, in watching against a prodigal exhaustion of your physical powers. Afflictions must come; they are the never-failing lot of humanity: but do not antedate their arrival. Consider how easy it is to entail diseases upon your constitutions, which you may carry with you through life, and which may affect posterity no less than yourselves. And should any of you be laid aside from the active duties of itinerancy in the morning of your days, and be obliged to eke out life on the scanty pittance allotted to invalids, then how bitter the reflection will be, that, but for your own culpable imprudence, you might be still sounding forth the word of the Lord, and preaching righteousness to great congregations !

It is foreign from my design to furnish you with rules for the preser vation of your health; that is the business of the physician, rather than the preacher. Let it suffice for me to say, that by attention to diet, and exercise, and rest,-by orderly habits, and well-regulated

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