his will is that we should be made perfect, I hope will not be denied since the command to be so, has no less authority than that of his beloved Son. But the perfection of man though it appears to us to correspond with the divine mind, we do not believe is attainable by any power of our own; it is a state which can only be produced by the submission of our will in all things to the will of God. And we believe that though it is not in us, as transgressing and fallen creatures, to come of ourselves to God, and thus to submit to him, yet we doubt not, that when by a sense of his love we are drawn to him, and through the atonement of his dear Son, our sins are forgiven, because we have passed through the dispensation of repentance, that it is possible to be so allied in love to God as to let go all improper love for other objects, and thus to know a triumph by the power of his spirit over the transgressing nature. Therefore

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we believe that the souls of these are so separated from every fallen influence as to stand in the perfect obedience of Christ. That they are they are united as branches to him, the true and living vine, and partake of that perfect nature which the wise God will approve and accept. Such know as Paul has said, "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Rom. viii. 15, 16. Being thus begotten anew by the power of God, they are perfect children of the light and of the day, in whom, through obedience to the will of their heavenly Father, victory is gained over all the powers of darkness.

REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.

IN relation to this subject, we resort, as in other cases, to the doctripe

of the Scriptures. Our belief in them, I have already said, is confirmed by the concurrent evidence of the Spirit of Truth; without which we apprehend no one can be a true believer, but only led to a traditional and implicit belief. Concerning rewards and punishments, it is very clear that the Saviour of men has taught this doctrine; and with it may be connected the belief of immortality, and the resurrection both of the just and the unjust. "And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the geats on his left. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked, and clothed me; ye I was sick

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and ye visited me, I was in prison and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord when saw we thee an hungered and fed thee? or thirsty and gave thee drink? when saw we thee a stranger and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer, and say unto them, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. shall he say also unto them on his left hand depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels." Matt. xxv. 32 to 42. Many other passages might be taken to prove that rewards and punishments are the manifest doctrines of Jesus Christ, and as certainly as we believe him to be the Son of God, the Lord from heaven, a quickening spirit, the judge of quick and dead, so certainly we profess to believe in and teach this doctrine. But to know the ter

rors of the Lord for sin, to be humbled under the power of his mighty hand, and really to experience the weight of the dispensation of condemnation, is the most effectual convincement, that the transgressor is absolutely and positively separated from the love and favour of his Lord; and we believe that this has been the humbling dispensation by which many have been brought to believe in the doctrine of rewards and punishments; and to be awfully convinced that if the soul departed out of time in this dark and desperate state, it would be without any qualification for happiness. But though we are satisfied, according to the Scriptures, that if we die in our sins where our Lord is we cannot come, yet we are also satisfied that his tender mercy waits long for transgressing mortals, and his calls of kindness are in many ways communicated to them, to repent, return and live.. But if all these are rejected, and men harden the heart and stiffen the neck, and will none of his reproof, then