endeavours, in the first place, to ascertain the principles of God's moral government, as laid down by himself in the Scriptures; and by this means he proves the necessity of the atonement, as a demonstration of the justice of God. He next shows that the death of Christ was propitiatory; and that both the sacrifices of the law, and the sacrifices of the patriarchal times, are to be regarded as types of the sacrificial death of Christ, and confirm this view of the subject. Many important dis- * quisitions are introduced in connection with the main argument, on the origin of sacrifices, and other collateral subjects, in which great powers of reasoning are displayed, and much valuable criticism is embodied.

Having established the doctrine of atonement for sin by the death of Christ, Mr. Watson proceeds to consider the benefits which result from that atonement; particularly justification and adoption; with the nature of that inward witness to his adoption which the Holy Spirit vouchsafes to the believer. Into the question of justification, and that of the witness of the Spirit, he enters at considerable length, and with great force of argument. His views of justification were substantially those of John Goodwin, Mr. Wesley, and other divines of the same school; and he strenuously opposes the Antinomian theory of justification by the imputation of Christ's personal righteousness; and the scheme of Bishop Bull, that sinners are justified before God by faith and works, or by faith considered as the root and principle of evangelical obedience. The witness of the Spirit, he contends, is direct and immediate; and confirms this view of the subject by the combined testimony of several theological writers of the highest authority.

Pursuing the doctrine of atonement through its practical consequences, Mr. Watson connects the death of Christ with the entire process of human salvation. It is through this medium that the preventing grace of God, which waiteth not for the call of man, and all the means of religious instruction and salvation, are vouchsafed. The ungodly are justified "through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;" by the same means they "receive the adoption of sons," and "the promise of the Spirit through faith." The intercession of our High Priest is founded upon his meritorious sacrifice; this is the means of all access to God in acts of religious worship; and "eternal life" itself "is the gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

CHAPTER XX.

Missionary Report for 1826-Letter to Mrs. Watson-Mr. Watson's Visit to Scotland-Letter to Mrs. Watson from Glasgow-Mr. Watson visits Cornwall and Ireland-Letter to Mrs. Watson-Attends the Conference in Manchester in 1827-Letters to Mrs. Watson-Delivers an Address to the Young PreachersThe most useful kind of Preaching-Mr. Watson's Appointment to Manchester -Private Studies-Ministry--Conduct as a Superintendent and Christian Pastor-Sermon against a Musical Festival-Personal Character-Attention to his Circuit.

EARLY in the year 1827 the annual report of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, which was drawn up by Mr. Watson, was published for the benefit of the subscribers. It announced a slight defalcation in

the funds, in consequence of the deep commercial distress in which the country was then plunged; but its details were, in other respects, calculated to call forth expressions of gratitude, and to inspire the most animating hopes. The following facts will give some idea of the extent of the society's operations :

"The total number of principal mission stations in different parts of ⚫ the world is one hundred and thirty-seven; and the number of missionaries employed, upward of one hundred and eighty, exclusive of catechists, &c. The number of members in our foreign societies is thirtytwo thousand nine hundred and sixty; of whom twenty-six thousand two hundred and eighty-three are negroes and people of colour in the West India colonies. The aggregate number of children in the mission schools cannot be stated with accuracy. Since a former sheet was printed, the school report for Ceylon and Continental India has arrived, which states the number of children, at present in the schools, to be four thousand one hundred and thirteen. Upward of five thousand children are stated, in the reports, to be taught in regular schools in the West Indies; but as to several schools in some of the islands, the number of scholars is not given; and in all the stations a very considerable number of children are instructed catechetically, by the missionaries who are not in schools. The advance of school instruction in these colonies is exceedingly pleasing and hopeful, and especially considering the numerous difficulties with which these institutions have there to contend. They are all for the most part very recent, but their number and moral influence afford the strongest motives to support and extend them. Upon the negro population of the West Indies they must ultimately make, in conjunction with increased religious endeavours, a most beneficial impression.

"The returns of numbers from the schools in New South Wales, South Africa, and British America, are also imperfect. The number of scholars actually reported in the mission schools generally is upward of ten thousand; to which from one thousand five hundred to two thousand may perhaps be added, as the number not reported."

The report states that no less than thirty missionaries, most of whom were married, had been sent out in the course of the year.

The income of the society for the year was £45,380. 17s. 2d. After making this statement, the report concludes in the following eloquent and pious strain :—

"The committee cannot but make this report of the amount of the contributions of the year, with the deepest feelings of gratitude. That in a year of unexampled pressure upon the interests of the country, and of widely extended distress, the amount should have fallen short of that of the last year by only a few hundred pounds, has certainly most pleasingly disappointed the anticipations of the committee. The satisfaction is heightened by recollecting that the receipts of the year preceding had been greatly advanced, so that the contributions of the present year, distressful as it has been, have exceeded any former, the year 1825 only excepted, by several thousand pounds. Nothing can more satisfactorily mark the strength of that interest which has been excited throughout our country, in the great and holy enterprises and hopes of the missionary cause; and no circumstance can afford a stronger pledge that, when prosperity shall again be shed upon our

country by Him on whom all our blessings depend, it will, by no inconsiderable portion of our fellow countrymen, be hallowed by renewed efforts to evangelize the world, and to diffuse the glory of his name. The committee are happy to remark, that in those places where the public distress has been less felt, exertions have been made during the year to increase the proceeds of their auxiliary societies, as if in prudent anticipation that many of their brethren in other districts, while they retained the will, would lack the ability, to equal their former liberality in behalf of a perishing world; and to the praiseworthy exertions of these less suffering parts of the country, the present very satisfactory report of the receipts is owing. In several even of the distressed districts, the committee mention it to the honour of the liberality of the people, and the activity of the collectors and officers of the societies, that the deficiencies have been but small, and that they have been large only where the population has been, to a very great extent, and for a long period, thrown entirely out of employment.

"In conclusion, the committee take the liberty to call the attention of the society, not only to that which has been accomplished by this and other similar societies, but to that which remains to be effected; and especially to those still destitute myriads of our fellow creatures, whom colonization and commerce have brought within the reach of our endeavours, and crowded around or brought within the wide-spread borders of the British empire. There is, doubtless, great reason to exult in the monuments of success, and in the trophies of conquest, which Christian missions have, in these later times, and especially within the last half century, erected in so many lands;-in the breakings of those dark clouds which for ages have overhung the sister kingdom, and through which the beams of heavenly truth at length begin to pour their vital radiance upon a people whose hearts are expanding to receive them ;-in the rekindling of those lamps of evangelical truth in the Protestant Churches of the continent which have been so long extinguished, and the stirrings of the once mighty spirit of the reformation, so long rocked to slumber by a false and insidious philosophy;-in the visitation of the regions of slavery and degradation by the commiserations, the consolations, and the better hopes of Chris tianity;-in the introduction of our Divine religion into the regions of degraded Africa, where she has led up in her train agriculture, and arts, and laws, and literally converted the desert into a fruitful field,' and Hottentot kraals into Christian villages, with their schools of learning, and their humble but consecrated temples of worship;-in the incipient triumphs of the mild and merciful spirit of the Gospel, over the rude and sanguinary habits of the savages of the South Seas ;-in the impression made upon the closely-compacted idolatry, and the obstacle of caste in India. Nevertheless it is yet true, awfully and emphatically true, that the world lieth in wickedness;' for such is the vastness of that majority which is still under the dominion of error, superstition, and vice, as almost to annihilate in our consideration the comparatively few, who, by the hand of mercy, have been rescued from the gulf which has drawn down the millions of past ages below the reach of hope; and which still whirls within its deepening eddies the millions of the present, to rescue whom no helping hand is near. Our grateful exultation is not forbidden; for this is for the honour of

6

the funds, in consequence of the deep commercial distress in which the country was then plunged; but its details were, in other respects, calculated to call forth expressions of gratitude, and to inspire the most animating hopes. The following facts will give some idea of the extent of the society's operations :

"The total number of principal mission stations in different parts of the world is one hundred and thirty-seven; and the number of missionaries employed, upward of one hundred and eighty, exclusive of catechists, &c. The number of members in our foreign societies is thirtytwo thousand nine hundred and sixty; of whom twenty-six thousand two hundred and eighty-three are negroes and people of colour in the West India colonies. The aggregate number of children in the mission schools cannot be stated with accuracy. Since a former sheet was printed, the school report for Ceylon and Continental India has arrived, which states the number of children, at present in the schools, to be four thousand one hundred and thirteen. Upward of five thousand children are stated, in the reports, to be taught in regular schools in the West Indies; but as to several schools in some of the islands, the number of scholars is not given; and in all the stations a very considerable number of children are instructed catechetically, by the missionaries who are not in schools. The advance of school instruction in these colonies is exceedingly pleasing and hopeful, and especially considering the numerous difficulties with which these institutions have there to contend. They are all for the most part very recent, but their number and moral influence afford the strongest motives to support and extend them. Upon the negro population of the West Indies they must ultimately make, in conjunction with increased religious endeavours, a most beneficial impression.