God himself, that believers of the truth credit the testimony concerning the existence of miraculous power being displayed in the days of the Prophets and Apostles.

It is on the merits of evidence, that any testimony human or divine, is to be credited and received, and if so much eredit be given to the testimony of men, how much more worthy of credit is that of God, who is the greatest witness? This mode of reasoning proves to demonstration and beyond doubt, that nothing more is meant by faith, or belief of the truth, than simply believing to be true, or crediting the testimony of God, any more than is meant by believing the testimony of men, only this, that the one testimony relates to God, and the other only to men: and .this is the Scriptural definition and acceptation of the term, notwithstanding the many theological volumes of nonsense which have been written since the Apostolic age, endeavoring by the intrigues and artifice of crafty men, to hoodwink the eyes of the people, by enveloping it in the intricacies of mystification, and endless mazes of my taphysical subtlety.

As faith, or belief, is only to be reposed in any one according to the character or authenticity of the individual to whom it relates, it is then indispensably necessary for us in order to believe in God, to examine the character which he manifests of himself in the Sacred Scriptures.

"God is love!" And in evincing his great "love to sinners, or the transgressors of his Law, even when dead in trespasses and sins, sent his only begotten Son into the world, to die the just for the unjust,----to bear the curse of the Law in their stead, and to accomplish freely for guilty men, the work of Redemption."

Now, I shall give a brief, but specifical statement of "the true Gospel of the grace of God," as opposed to the most refined and dangerous counterfeits and inventions of men, which often rcsemble it, and leave our candid readers to judge for themselves.

Whenever the inspired Apostles as the commissioned Ambassadors of God, went out on the exercise of their mission, they had to prove the vivacity of that mission before men, and in so doing they acted in a different manner from that of any of those who have since their day arrogantly assumed, claiming the privilege of stepping into their shoes as their successors. For the former, as the special and only messengers of God, behaved not like our modern preachers and perverters of Christianity, who bring us no better news than the false doctrine of conditionality, and represent God as "an austere man," or a hard task master, who requires of his servants under the threats of pains and penalties of eternal torments, to work for, and to win heaven as their wages. By no means was this the method of preaching which the Apostles pursued, but on the contrary, ardently maintained, that every condition laid down in the Scriptures, which mortal

man could not perform, was perfectly fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, by his life of patient sufferings, and by his voluntary obedience unto death, even the ignominious death of the Cross. And they delivered no other than glad tidings of free and uncon ditional salvation, to the chief of sinners, as they still do in their writings. "Preaching repentance and remission of sins to all men, in the name of the Lord Jesus," from Jerusalem around the world, they declared on the authority of Him who sent them, that all who should believe their record concerning the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, should be freely saved, be by, or upon believing the truth, justified,-called out from the world that lieth in the wicked one, to be sanctified, and glorified, and made heirs of eternal life. Under these circumstances, the Apostles held forth no other refuge to the guilty, and nothing to the ears of the people, but the perfect and all-sufficient work of the Saviour and him crucified, and we learn that all who believed their relation of this news, relied on the finished work of the Son of God as their only plea in the sight of the most high, and which stimulated them to "trust in the living God, and to put no confidence in the flesh." Perceiving that they had thus expe ienced "joy and peace in believing," we also notice that they had no occasion to look within them, or without them, for any other religious evidences or performances, whatsoever, to recommend them any further in addition to their belief, to the favor of God. For this perfect work alone, exhibited to the minds or hearts of all who received it as true, a full display and development of the sublime attributes and infinite perfections of the Majesty of Heaven, manifested in the face and character of no less a personage than the once despised, but afterwards highly exalted "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." And we find it asserted on the basis of incontrovertible evidence, that whosoever relied on the persuasion of this sufficiency of this great truth, instantly enjoyed "peace of conscience and went on his way rejoicing, trusting in God," and firmly convinced that divine truth only, without adulteration, brings the light of its own evidence to the mind with inevitable certainty. Accordingly, we read in the history of Jesus by the Evangelists, that all who believed it in their day, "were filled with joy and peace in believing," and "abounding in the hope of the glory of God," had cheerfully walked in newness of life: whilst we see on the other hand, that all who disbelieved the Apostles, virulently opposed the truth, and "were filled with wrath and madness," against all who bore witness to it!

Never did Christianity appear attractive in the estimation of her admirers, but when adorned with no other splendor than the brilliant light of her own evidences, and the naked and unadorned truth which the Apostolic Gospel still proclaims in its benign aspect to sinners, "commends itself, as it did of old, to every

man's conscience in the sight of God:" so that it ultimately leaves all who hear the Scriptures without excuse. It is however so unlike the popular and fashionable doctrines of the religious world, that it not only bears not the sliglitest resemblance to most of them, but is diametrically opposed to the spirit of all of them; for it requires no praying or good dispositions,-no prerequisite or previous qualifications in the hearts of any to whom it is addressed, as a single preparatory step towards its attainment. No! Its proclamation to the most flagrant transgressor, as well as to the strictest moralist, is this: "The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which the Apostles preach. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Rom. 10, 8, 9. Glorious news, to perishing, worthless, and helpless sinners! News it is, of the most paramount importance, and which if still allowed to be preached in its genuine purity and original simplicity, without a note or sermon, gloss or comment, but merely by the bare hearing of the Scriptures read, or spoken of, as the Apostles had left them, it would unquestionably have yet the same effect which it had in the days of its first promulgation, upon its hearers, for it is still, and will to the end of time, be held under the same influence and power of God, as it had been when it flowed from the lips, and dropped from the pens of Apostles and Evangelists. There was only one code of Laws which the Lord had ordained in his kingdom, which is not of this world, and not to be changed and altered according to the changing interests or fancies of men, but to be duly observed upon the same footing from the beginning to the ending of time, and in every country alike around the globe. And these divine Laws and institutions relate things so different from any other history ever set forth by men, in such a manner as to treat of affairs so contrary to the natural and corrupt propensity of the bent of all men's inclinations to the two ruling principles which human nature is prone to, selfishness, and self-righteousness, that I cannot avoid believ ing in their genuine authenticity, and acknowledging their force, more than in my own existence.

The true Gospel is only to be found proclaimed in the New Testament, and it is so plain and simple, that he who reads or hears may understand it, and it fosters the pride of no one who might think himself better than his neighbor, as it discovers not what it would acknowledge as good principle in any man to ren der itself worthy its commendation to him; it commends not the worthiness of man, but that of the Lamb. Nor does it attempt taking its residence in the hearts of any of the most admired and esteemed of human characters, more than the most infamous and profligate, but manifests upon its own independent and god-like principle, all it confers and bestowss to allalike, on the ground of

mere mercy, and creates either a relish or a dislike for itself, conformable to the reception or rejection it meets with, in being believed or disbelieved. If good news about any thing be received as true, its corresponding change is visibly manifest in the conduct of the receiver.

To reflect now for a moment, on the Scriptures of the Old, as well as on those of the New Testament, we must glance at the entire of the inspired Records. With regard to the difference between the Old and the New Testament, or the nature of the two covenants or dispensations of the Will of God, due attention is seldom, if ever observed by religious writers, or professors of Christianity. Readily, however, as it is admitted on all hands, that the New Testament is the fulfilment of the Old, yet strange and unaccountable disputes arise on the subject of the difference. But I am convinced that any one who acquires not a correct view of this matter, "knows neither the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Some of our Evangelical folks imagine, in the height of their fiery zeal for morality, that christians are still bound under many of the restrictions, stipulations and conditions, inculcated upon Israel of old, and that it is obligatory upon them under the Gospel economy to fulfil the moral law, or to keep the ten commandments. But I would beg leave to assure such religionists, who talk in this strain, that they are awfully ignorant of the nature of the Law and of the Gospel! A single promise never was made to the ancient Israelites, annexed to their obedience to the "law of commandments," but temporal blessings, or earthly bestowments. Eternal life, was to be sought for in another quarter, that is to say, "through the promises of God afar off, being at a future period made manifest in the person of the Lord Jesus, who was to be the brightness of the Father's glory," but who was to have "suffered in the flesh." And there was then a curse denounced against every one who should not perfectly "obey all things which were written in the Book of the Law by Moses." Who then had ever been so puritanical, so sanctimonious and so good, as to have rendered that perfect obedience to the Law, so strictly required by Jehovah? None, but One, and that was that benign being, who “has finished transgression and made an end of sin," who "has magnified the divine law and made it honorable, by fulfilling all things, and who is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

How then were all those from Adam, until Jesus Christ suffered on Calvary, who died in the faith, saved, as exemplified in the 11 chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews? Was it by their own obedience to the Law, or by their exertions otherwise in whole or in part? The answer is ready; by no means of their own, but exclusively by the same Almighty Power, by which any were saved since Christ died, or by which any shall ever be saved

hereafter, and that is solely by the power of God, through a crucified Redeemer, or "by the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Evidently does it appear that it never was the Lord's determination to bring man to heaven in a state of innocency, nor did he ever appoint but one way of salvation, and that one way operated through various administrations. Before the Law, under the Law, and under the Gospel, all who believed, had their attention directed to the one object, and were saved only by Jesus Christ. All the sacrifices, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, which the ceremonial Law prefigured;-all the prayers and intercessions made by Priests and Prophets, sanctioned by divine command, since the transgression of the first man, till the second Adam suffered and finished the work on the Cross, were nothing in themselves, but only typical of, and pointing out to him who was the sure Rock of ages, and only safe refuge of a sinner's hope. And, all the testimony emanating from the true Spirit of Prophecy, flowing through the various channels from whence it proceeded, before, and after the death of Christ, magnanimously concentrated in Him, as the great anti-type of all the offerings which preceded Him, and which led men to the grandest contemplation ever displayed on earth, in viewing "him just, and still the justifier of the ungodly," that God might be thereby glorified, that all the praise might be to himself, and that "the power of the glory of his grace" might be solely ascribed to his own great work. The Old Testament, therefore, is now of no further use to us, than showing forth how all the true Prophecies of it are fulfilled in the New, and that any matter contained in the Old, to which there is no allusion, or for which we have no substitute, or perhaps more plainly speaking, to which there is no reference in the New, is not to be held doctrinal, or regarded orthodoxically in theory more than "old wire's fables." Suffice it to say on this head, that the precepts of the New Testament, are amply sufficient for the forming of the judgment, and the regulating of the conduct of all the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they may be gathered into the true fold, and protected under the charge of the One Great Shepherd, and ruled and governed under the consolatory influence of the great principle of the "Law of love," "the new commandment which he had given them."

As I am advancing, I presume, the soundest founded arguments that can possibly be adduced, to prove the sufficiency of Scripture to explain itself, and the Bible as its own interpreter, I deem it proper on the other hand, to point out the manner in which the insufficiency of Scripture, and the cause of the multiplicity of misinterpretations of the Bible having been practised, and held in general vogue since the first dawn of the Christian era. All, to sum it up in one phrase, may with striet propriety be attributed to what is termed the prejudices of education, or