men rather watch the state of their feelings, than attend to the quality of their actions; rather wait in passive supineness for perceptible notices and impressions to be made on their minds, than employ themselves actively and steadily in the discharge of their practical duties; it cannot fail to be productive of much desponding apprehension on the one hand, of much arrogant presumption on the other. Those Christians, whose temper is of a less ardent and presumptuous cast, conscious that they feel no assurance of their salvation which yet they are persuaded, if they were in a state of acceptance with God, they would feel, must naturally be weighed down with the heaviest gloom and alarm respecting their spiritual state; while others, of a sanguine and enthusiastic turn, working themselves into the belief that they really feel this assurance, will too easily be elevated with spiritual arrogance and presumption, and seduced into the most dangerous of all conditions, a condition of false security respecting their prospects of final salvation. ་ Since therefore the influence of this doctrine on the feelings and practices of Christians must be obviously pernicious in various ways; and since the doctrine itself, as there is reason to apprehend, is more prevalent than might be wished, being intimately interwoven with other enthu siastical opinions current at the present day; I propose to consider, in as short a compass, and in as plain a manner as I conveniently can, whether the doctrine do really rest on that solid foundation which can entitle it to the belief of Christians. The doctrine has been founded, as appears from consulting the writings of those who maintain it, on two distinct grounds; on the authority of scripture, and on the personal experience of many devout Christians. But, contrary to what ought to be done by all considerate enquirers after truth, the supporters of it seem to have attended principally to the alleged experience and information of those Christians who have professed to feel these assurances, and to have adverted, only in a secondary manner, to the authority of those Scriptures, from which all our knowledge of religious truth must ever be derived. However, since the written word of God is our entire rule of faith; and since, provided a doctrine, so important as this is, be indeed true, we must assuredly find very clear and distinct traces of it in Scripture; I will make it my first and immediate business to enquire whether by any texts directly affirming it, or leaving it to be indirectly inferred, such scriptural authority do really exist. .C Now with a view to this enquiry, it is important, in the first place, to observe, that the general character, universally recommended to Christians, is one which ill consists with the opinion, that they can, under any circumstances, attain in this life a certain assurance of their salvation. The tendency of such an assurance must ever be, to excite in those who possess it, a presumption of superior holiness, a conscious feeling of proud satisfaction, confidence, and exultation. On the other hand, the temper recommended in every part of Scripture,-earnestly, repeatedly, and peremptorily recommended, as prominently and essentially characterizing every true disciple of Christ-is that of lowliness, meekness, and humility, that from which every particle of self-righteousness and self-exaltation is excluded. "Blessed are the poor in spirit ;" "Blessed are the meek "." We are to" put on meekness and humbleness of mind";"" to be clothed with humility," to "become as little children "." "Whosoever exalteth himself, shall be abased"." "When we have done all, we are Again, the precepts enjoined upon us in every part of Scripture, are extremely earnest in commanding Christians to be ever pressing forward a Matt. v. 3, 5. b Coloss. iii. 12. c 1 Pet. v. 5. i 66 towards the prize of their high calling, never to faint by the way, never to relax their exertions, to go on still to perfection, to watch without ceasing. "Let him," says St. Paul," that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall"." "What I say unto you," says our Saviour, "I say unto all, watch "." Perhaps there is no one precept which is more frequently repeated in the New Testament under different forms, than this. We are commanded to be sober and vigilant; to watch unto prayer; to look to ourselves; to stand fast; to walk circumspectly; to watch with all perseverance, not to fall from our own stedfastness. We are further told that blessed are those servants whom our Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. These and many other precepts are addressed to all Christians without any exception; not to those only who are far removed from a state of Christian holiness and perfection, but to those also who are most advanced in the path of Christian holiness and perfection. There is no exception from the obligation of these duties in favour of any Christians who have attained to a state in which their salvation is secured; no one expression, tending to sanction the opinion that such a i1 Pet. v. 8. iv. 7., 2 John viii., 1 Cor. xvi. 13., Eph. v. 15., Eph. vi. 18., Luke xii. 37. state, in which watchfulness may be relaxed, can ever be attained; but, on the contrary, the terms in which the precepts are expressed, strongly lead us to a directly opposite conclusion. Here then, to say the least, is a strong presumptive proof against the opinion I am considering. Our blessed Lord and His Apostles, we well know, always adapted their instructions to the wants and necessities of their disciples; and, if their disciples could ever attain to a condition in which these exhortations to watchfulness, so frequently repeated, would not be required by them, some notice of such a condition would assuredly have been afforded. Let it not be urged that a relaxation of guarded watchfulness is not a necessary consequence of a presumed feeling of assurance; and that such a feeling, acting on a devout and well-regulated mind, may rather tend to produce increased exertions in the cause of Christian holiness. We are reasoning, be it remembered, concerning human beings; beings ever prone to evil, ever apt to yield to temptation, ever requiring the influence of pressing motives to make them adhere steadily to their duty. And, if it be allowed that the hope of securing the favour of God to the purposes of final salvation must ever be the great operating motive in producing virtuous practice, it surely will not be doubted that, wherever a belief and persuasion prevail that |