as hirelings, our days, and at evening lie down to rest; or, it may be, our sun will go down while it is yet day; at all events, the night cometh, and will probably overtake us before we are aware. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal : The Lord knoweth them that are his.""

His funeral sermon was preached at Tonbridge chapel, by the pastor on whose ministry the family attended. Mr. Woodwark published it under the title of " Man's ignorance of his time," as it was founded on Eccles. ix. 12. To this discourse, we must refer for further information concerning the deceased.

In childhood he was of delicate health; in youth, strong; but, for the last twelve years, disease depressed both body and mind, though the selfdiscipline which divine grace produced triumphed over the excitability of his frame, and maintained a uniform com

bination of gravity and kindness. The few who knew his trials highly esteemed his meekness, and patience, and deference to the Divine will.

Intense study in a burning climate gave to his vigorous mind the mastery of one of the most difficult themes to a European, the language and literature of China. Knowing what it cost to acquire this rare talent, he was conscientiously solicitous to render it in the highest degree conducive to the Divine glory, and the salvation of men. He bore up against a most discouraging indifference to the language of almost half a world, with the uncomplaining calmness of one who had learned, in the school of affliction, to say, "Father, thy will be done." His tender solicitude for his partner and their offspring, he poured into the bosom of Him who said, not in vain, Leave thy fatherless children; I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me."

To the Editor of the

DEAR SIR,-In a letter of mine, inserted in the Magazine a few months ago, reference was made to certain ministers recently excluded from the United Secession Church of Scotland, on the alleged ground of departure, on some points said to be of great importance, from the doctrines taught by the standards of that church. Since that time these ministers have formed themselves into an association-in fact, a new denomination, under the desig nation of the " Evangelical Union." They have published a statement of their principles of Union, on one or two of which I beg to offer a few remarks. I am the more induced to do this because I think I see the source of what appear to me to be mistakes on their part, and because the points in regard to which I cannot but regard them as in perplexity or error, are points which have perplexed the minds

of many, so that an attempt at elucidation, if not quite abortive, may prove of some benefit to your readers generally.

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The "statement" of these ministers includes their views of God's character as our sovereign Governor; of our duty as the subjects of his government; of our state and character as rebels against the authority of his government; and of the way of salvation by which, one and all of our fellowrebels may be delivered from the penal and demoralizing (the italics are mine, and the passage is significant) consequences of our rebellion."

On the first three topics little is said which calls for remark. It may be mentioned, however, that the whole of the Divine character may, in their view, be expressed by the single word benevolence. God, they say, is simply love; and his holiness, justice, truth, anger,

&c., may and must be resolved into love. This has been often affirmed, but it has never been satisfactorily proved. It is no doubt true that rectitude and benevolence are inseparably connected-that what is right, is kind-and what is kind, right; but surely they are not identical. The ideas of rightness and of goodness appear to be as distant from each other, as any ideas can well be. The attempts made by the "statement" to resolve all the perfections of God into love will be generally considered abortive. What can be the meaning of the assertion that " God's anger is his benevolence wounded ?”

In reference to the universality of the atonement—understanding by that phrase the removal of all obstacles on the part of God to the bestowment of mercy upon the guilty in such way as Divine wisdom shall see fit to adopt― they hold, in my view, the truth, and very important truth. I cannot think that a man rightly understands the gospel-the glad tidings-who entertains the limited anti-Calvinistic view of the atonement; since the gospel is not that God loved the elect, and gave his son for the elect,-but that He loved the WORLD, and gave his Son for the WORLD, that whosoever of that world believeth, should not perish, &c.

In regard to their statements concerning the necessary and immediate effect of the belief of this blessed testimony, it may not be useless to offer a few remarks. In some of their former publications they represent assurance-and, as I understand them, assurance of our own acceptance with God-as entering into the very essence of faith; so that if a man has not assurance, in this sense, he has not faith. One of their number, indeed, in a private communication, which I hope he will excuse me for adverting to, says, "I by no means think it accurate to say, that assurance of salvation is of the essence of faith. The object of saving faith, in other words the gospel, is not that I shall be saved, and, consequently, my belief of

the gospel is not assurance of my salvation." Nothing, surely, can be more self-evident than this. Accordingly, in the "statement" of principles, lately issued, a view of the immediate results of faith, somewhat modified, is given. "The simple belief of God's word regarding the propitiation, in the true sense of that record, immediately, and in every case, produces peace with God"-" prior to any reflection upon the act of the mind in believing, or upon the morally transforming effects of the truth believed." There is, I think, much important truth couched in this statement, yet it is somewhat surprising to me that they do not seem to feel that there may be an ambiguity in the phrase "peace with God," leading to a misapprehension of the facts of the case. Let us, then, endeavour to question what those facts are.

It is no doubt true that the enlightened belief of any truth will produce upon every individual who receives it the precise effect which it is in itself adapted to secure-and that it will do this "prior" to any thought, whether he believes it or not. If a well authenticated report reach me that a beloved friend is recovering from a dangerous malady, the report, if believed, fills me with joy. It is right to state it thus, because it is, properly speaking, the report itself, or the truth believed, and not the act of believing it, that produces the joy-and produces it just because it is a joy-inspiring truth. I must believe the report to have the joy, but I have no need to put the question, "Do I believe it or not?" before the joy is awakened. Just so is it with the gospel. It is a joy-inspiring report-supremely so. It declares that, all obstacles, on the part of God, to the salvation of all men having been removed, every obstacle to MY salvation is of course taken away,that atonement has not merely been made for others, but for me. Now it is manifestly impossible to believe this-that the door of mercy has been thus opened for me—without joy. And it is of vast

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importance to observe that the joy comes directly out of the report, or is produced by the truth believed. does not spring from the consciousness of believing. There is no need, in order to its existence, that the question, "Do I believe?" should be decided. No reflection upon the exercise of my mind is necessary. The truth itself comforts; it cannot fail to do it. If it do not, in the case of any individual, he either misunderstands or disbelieves

it-perhaps both. The testimony that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself;" i. e. making provision for the salvation of the world, and therefore for his salvation, fills him with joy; and were it possible for the question, "Am I a believer," never to occur, his joy would remain. I most thoroughly believe that the recorded experience of David Brainerd and John Campbell, late of Kingsland, is in accordance with what is and must be the experience of every man when his eyes are first opened by the Spirit of God to a full discovery of the meaning and evidence of the gospel testimony. "I stood still," says the former, "and wondered and admired." << 'My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, loveliness, greatness, and other perfections of God, that I was swallowed up in him; at least to that degree that I had no thought, as I remember, at first, about my own salvation, and scarce reflected there was such a creature as myself.” The latter writes, "Upon the evening of the 26th day of January, 1795, the Lord appeared as my deliverer. He commanded, and darkness was turned into light! The cloud which covered the mercy seat fled away. Jesus appeared as he is! My eyes were not now turned INWARD, but OUTWARD. The gospel was the glass in which I beheld him. When our Lord first visited Saul by the highway, he knew in a moment that it was the Lord. So did I. Such a change of views, feelings, and desires, suddenly took place in my mind, as none but the hand of an infinite

operator could produce. Formerly, I had a secret fear that it was presumption in me to receive the great truths of the gospel; now there appeared no impediment. I beheld Jesus as the speaker in his word, and as speaking to me!" I chiefly viewed the atonement of Jesus as of infinite value-as a price paid for my redemp tion, and cheerfully accepted by the Father. I saw love in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all harmonizing in pardoning and justifying me. The sight humbled and melted my soul. Looking to what I felt was no help to my comfort; it came directly from God, through his word."

Joy, then, is the necessary and immediate result of the faith of the gospel. It comes directly—if I may so speak— out of the gospel, and is not produced by the consciousness of faith in the gospel. Nay, I will add that the joy of which I am now speaking cannot be the result of consciousness, or " of any reflection upon the act of the mind in believing." It is here, as in vision. In the latter case it is the object seen that affects the eye. To secure that affection, at first, and to retain it, we must look at, and continue looking at, the object. The instant the eye is withdrawn from the object, the impression ceases. In like manner when the mental eye is turned inward, and begins to inspect its own consciousness, it is of course withdrawn from the gospel-the joy-inspiring object; and, by necessary consequence, the joy for the time at least subsides.

Again, reconciliation to God is another of the immediate and necessary effects of a spiritual and believing view of the gospel. The apostles were commanded to carry the gospel unto the whole world, that by it, as an instrument in the hand of the spirit of God, they might reconcile the world to God. And the gospel is eminently adapted to accomplish this most blessed work. Love begets love. We love God because He first loved us. sooner does the rebel perceive the

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character of God as it is displayed in the gospel-his unbounded and infinite love to sinners, blended with his love to holiness, than he drops his arms and sues for peace. It is the power of God's holy love that converts the rebel into a friend. It is the gospel that effects this conversion; not, properly speaking, his faith in the gospel, for faith does no more, and can do no more, than admit the gospel into the mind to put forth all its energy there. Far less is this conversion effected by reflecting upon our consciousness-upon the state, or feelings, or actings of our own minds-by self-inspection, or turning the eye of the mind inward. Such introvision might, perhaps, find enmity against God removed, but it could not take it away. Sound philosophy, and the Bible, unite in teaching that the way to kindle love to God in the bosom, is to look at God, and not at ourselves. His character, as it is unveiled in the person and work of Christ, subdues the enmity of the human heart; so that the way to live in the constant exercise of love to God is to live in the constant contemplation of the character of God. We are now prepared to estimate the correctness of the assertion in "the statement of principles," viz. "that the simple belief of God's record, &c., produces immediately peace with God, prior to any reflection upon the act of the mind in believing, or upon the morally transforming effects of the truth believed." If by peace with God they intend the joy of which we have been speaking, or the conversion of enmity against God into love, the assertion is undoubtedly true, and as important as it is true. But if by peace with God they mean, as they appear to do, the assurance that we are in a state of reconciliation with God-that He is in a state of friendship with us, and that we are in a state of friendship with him; and if they further mean to denote by the words, the joy which the knowledge of this cannot fail to give to the mind, if they mean this, the assertion, thus understood, appears to me

as false, in this case, as in the other it was true. If, indeed, the gospel declaration were, that the sins of all men are pardoned, or that they shall be pardoned, without any condition, or sine qua non, of pardon, then all the joy of pardoned sin would immediately, and in every case, arise directly out of the belief of this declaration. But the gospel declaration is not this. It is neither that all men are in a state of pardon, nor even that God's judicial displeasure is removed from all men— for even the elect remain under condemnation till they believe; but it is merely this, that obstacles on the part of God to the salvation of all men have been so removed by the death of Christ that he can now, in whatever way he pleases, show mercy to any and every man; and that he actually will show mercy to every man that believes in Christ. The gospel is, "God so loved the world, &c., that whosoever believeth in him might not perish." A passage occurs in the Great Propitiation," by Truman-who, by the way, has anticipated all that modern writers have said on the universal aspect of the atonement that deserves especial notice. "God set not forth Christ to die merely for this end-that sinners might be justified without more ado, only be sinners. Some have said, Be but sure of this, that you are sinners, and you may believe that you are justified.' The immediate effect of this satisfaction, as satisfaction, and which is an essential consequent of a satisfaction to justice, is only this, that that obstacle being removed, he might be left at liberty to act in the pardon of sinners, in what way and upon what terms he pleased." The rectoral character of God seems to have rendered it necessary that a rule of justification should be established, or how could the equity of the proceedings of the great day be rendered manifest? Faith in Christ is that rule. The requisition and the promise are, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." The instant a sinner believes

he is justified on the ground of the work of Christ; he is rescued from the judicial displeasure of God, to which, up to the very moment of believing, he was exposed; so that were he to die the moment after, before the inquiry had arisen, "Do I believe ?" he would be safe for eternity. I have not said, it will be observed, that he knows that he is justified, for there is a great and an important distinction between being justified, and knowing that we are so. Brainerd and Campbell were justified, but neither of them, at the first moment of believing, knew themselves to be so. Believing brings justification, but it does not bring,-directly at least,the knowledge of justification (nor consequently THE joy which that knowledge produces); that depends upon our knowledge that we are believers.

The writers of "the statement" have failed to perceive that the Christian participates in a double joy,—the joy (of which we have spoken) which is directly kindled by the gospel when faith brings it into contact with the mind; and the joy which arises out of assurance that we are personally interested in its blessings. These two joys, if I may so speak, result from the belief of two totally distinct and different things; the former from the belief that God has been so propitiated by the work of his Son as to render it safe and honourable to him to establish the gracious constitution in which salvation is connected with faith-the latter, from the belief that by special Divine influence I am a partaker of that faith which the gospel requires in order to salvation. The former springs from a spiritual and believing view of the work of Christ without me; the latter from the experience of the work of the Spirit within me; the first arises from the conviction that I may be saved, the latter from the consciousness that I am saved. By the belief of the gospel I obtain the former joy; by knowing that I believe the gospel I come to the possession of the latter.

This distinction is demanded by the

sentiments of the ministers who drew up “ the statement.” On their principles, though Christ made an atonement for each and every man, i. e., removed, as we have explained it, the obstacles on the part of God which would have prevented his salvation, yet that atonement did not, as they believe, and as I believe, of itself, irrespectively of covenant engagements, which are the foundation of the work of the Spirit, secure the salvation of any man. It is, then, impossible to gather the knowledge of my salvation, i. e., that I am saved, from the gospel, because that knowledge identifies itself with the knowledge that I am reconciled to God, and the gospel does not testify this. It testifies concerning the work of Christ, not the work of the Spirit. It declares that the obstacles to reconciliation on God's part have been removed, but not that the obsta cles on my part have been removed. It is impossible that the latter should be the subject of Divine testimony. That a man is reconciled to God is to be attested by the consciousness of believing, and the possession of personal holiness it not only is not, but it is impossible that it should be attested by the gospel.

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I think I see the source of the mistakes, as I cannot but deem them, which these writers have fallen into, both on the point referred to in this letter, and on the doctrine of Divine influence, (a far more serious mistake, since they resolve it into moral suasion,) which may form the subject of another letter. Having felt powerfully, perhaps, the difference in the power of the two editions, shall I call them, of the gospel-" Christ made an atonement for the elect merely ;" and "Christ made an atonement for the whole world"-to yield comfort to the minds of men in general, they have suffered themselves to dwell too exclusively upon this universal manifestation of Divine goodness. They have thought too much, or rather too exclusively, upon the love which opened the door