PEAL TO THE HIGHEST AUTHORITIES OF EVERY EVANGELICAL DENOMINATION.

Professor Brown, the Author of the Commentary, has thus delivered himself: "The Holy Ghost, by working gracious dispositions in us, and by shining upon his own work, doth, in and by his word, assist and concur with our consciences, that we are truly the adopted and rege nerated children of God."

Thomas Scott, the best of English commentators of modern times, thus, speaks: "The Holy Spirit, by producing in believers the affections, which dutiful children bear to a wise and good father, in their habitual state of heart towards God, most manifestly attests their adoption into his family. This is not done by a voice or revelation, or impression, or merely by a text brought to the mind; for all these things are equivocal and delusory; but by bearing witness with our spirits, or concurring with the testimony of our own enlightened minds and consciences, as to their uprightness in embracing the Gospel, and giving themselves up to the service of God. The Holy Spirit shines on his own work, excites their holy affections into lively exercise, and renders them very efficacious upon their conduct, and thus puts the matter beyond a doubt. So that this witness of the Spirit is borne along with that of our own consciences, not without, nor against it, but coinciding with that of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, and must be proved and assayed by it."

Let us hear Dr. Doddridge: "For his communication of the gifts of the Spirit, both to Jews and Gentiles, witnesses that we are, without distinction, in this respect, accepted, and owned by God and his people. So also he himself, by his wonderful and gracious operations beareth witness with our spirits, and so gives us an inward and joyful assurance that we are interested in his paternal love." Doddridge, it will be seen, is not so clear and explicit on this as he is on most subjects: but let us hear the venerable, the amiable, and heaven - taught John Newton.

John Newton says: "The witness spoken of in this passage, is very different from what some persons understand it to be. It is not an impulse, a strong persuasion impressed on us, in a way of which we can give no account, that we are children of God, and that our sins are freely forgiven; nor is the powerful application of any particular text of Scripture necessary to produce it; nor

is it always connected with the very lively or sensible comfort. These things may accompany the Witness of the Spirit that we are speaking of, in some instances, and in some persons, but they do not properly belong to it; they may be, and often have been, counterfeited; but what we have described is immutable and infallible." Let us hear the admirable Fuller, the ablest controversial writer of his time.

Andrew Fuller has thus declared himself: "There is not a passage in the Bible that says concerning any of us, 'I am thy salvation.' The Lord speaks only of characters; and if we answer these characters, we can prove that the things promised belong to us, not otherwise. I own that I consider all such suggestions as real enthusiasm, and as destitute of all foundation in the word of God. I do not deny that many godly people have been carried away by such things; but I have seen evils more than a few which have arisen from them." This language is explicit and emphatic, and leaves no ground for mistake as to the views of the Great Divine. But let us hear Melville Horne, an acurate reasoner as well as an eloquent writer. That gentleman, in his "Letters on Missions," asks,

"What is there in the Bible, or in the experience of God's children, which can so well claim to be the witness of the Spirit as all the tempers and graces of the Redeemer's mind, abundantly shaped and regulated in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us? The experience ascribed to the direct witness of the Spirit, is totally unnecessary, and unable to add anything to the evidence arising from the Spirit's most excellent virtue. Nothing can add to the evidence of the indwelling glorious God! He proclaims his own names of love and father! The heart thus purified sees God; there is a new heaven and a new earth! God shines on himself and on all his works. The Christian is sealed with the image and superscription of the New Creator. Peace shades his head with the silver wings of the heavenly dove; his joys are as the extatic songs of the seraphim, and love makes the obedient wheels of his soul instinct with the fire of the cherubim ! Heaven, earth, and hell, are open to his piercing eyes, and he feels every power of the invisible world. All miracles are nothing to this great sanctifying Comforter-to his glorious light, and feeling; and while heavenly vision

The

continues, the necessity of reasoning is suspended, for who holds a candle to the sun? I deny that there is any direct witness. The Scriptures nowhere affirm it; and I exclude from faith every article which is not found to stand on the authority of the Apostles. He that prays and looks for a direct witness of the Spirit, asks for what is neither promised nor defined, which they who assert cannot describe, and which is utterly unnecessary to holiness or consolation. massive living column of all aggregate grace, is the glorious Shekinah by which God the Holy Ghost dwells in the hearts of his sanctified people. Every grace calls God father, and every sacred virtue proclaims Jesus Lord! What are ten thousand voices and impressions in comparison of this indwelling God? What are they? From my soul, I believe them to be Satanic delusions to draw us away from the true witness!" Was ever truth arrayed in superior eloquence?

Perhaps the reader would be glad to hear good John Flavel, who has thus expressed himself: "He doth not make use of any audible voice, nor immediate and extraordinary revelations, but he makes use of his own graces implanted in our hearts, and his own promises, and in this method he brings the heart of the believer to rest and comfort."

But what says Dr. Williams? According to him, "To hold that assurance comes only by an inward voice of the Spirit, saying, Thy sins are forgiven thee,' and by believing thereupon that our sins are forgiven, is an error that has very dangerous consequences. Most saints must quit their hopes of assurance, for they never had this voice; though they have greater stamps of the Spirit than any I ever knew pretend to this. It makes all examination useless and vain ; it overturns one of the great ends God has assigned to grace in the heart; it sets the Spirit of God against itself, if any man can possess assurance by this voice, while his state may be justly challenged by the Gospel as wanting all sight of Gospel marks. The Holy Spirit enlightens the mind either to discern faith, love, and such other qualities as the Gospel declares to be invaluable signs of regeneration; and he adds such power to the testimony of conscience for the truth and inbeing of those graces as begets in the soul a joyful sense of its reconciled state, and some comfortable freedom from those fears which accompany the doubting Christian; and according to the evidence

of these graces, assurance is strong or weak."

Thus much for England. Let us now cross the Atlantic, and see what was thought of the subject there by two of the most distinguished men in the last age in that or any other country.

Bellamy has thus expressed himself: "We have no instance in Scripture, nor does the word of God even lead us to look for such a thing, as the direct witness. If we do certainly know our state from our sanctification, is not the immediate witness needless? Besides, how will you know whether your immediate revelation, or voice, comes from God or the wicked one? Will you know by the fruits of your faith? No! for this would be to try the witness of the Spirit by the sincerity of your graces. No honest man ought to believe his state to be good with more confidence than is exactly proportionate to this evidence-evidence arising from his character. Nor is there any evidence that will pass with our final Judge, or that ought to be of any weight with us, but real holiness. The communication of Divine grace, in a large and very sensible degree, is that whereby the Spirit of God makes it evident to our conscience, beyond all doubt, that we are the children of God, and not by any immediate revelation."

If

Let us now proceed in the last place, to the greatest of all the Americans, and, indeed, in some respects, as Robert Hall was wont to designate him-the greatest of human kind-Jonathan Edwards. ever man was pre-eminently taught of the Spirit of God, he was. Let us hear this eminent man, then: "Many have been the mischiefs that have arisen from that false and delusive notion of the witness of the Spirit, that it is a kind of inward voice, a suggestion, or declaration from God to man, that he is beloved by him, and pardoned, elected, and the like; sometimes with, sometimes without a text of Scripture; and many have been the vain affections that have arisen from hence: and it is to be feared that multitudes of souls have been eternally undone by it! The witness of the Spirit the Apostle speaks of, is far from being any whisper, or immediate suggestion, or revelation; but that gracious effect of the Spirit of God in the hearts of saints. The disposition and temper of children appearing in a sweet child-like love of God, which casts out fear, or the spirit of the slave. When Paul speaks of the Spirit of God bearing witness with ours,

he is not to be understood as speaking of two spirits, that are two separate, collateral, and independent witnesses; but it is by one that we receive the witness of the other. The Spirit of God gives the evidence by infusing, and shedding abroad the love of God, the spirit of the child in the heart, and our spirit, or our conscience, receives and declares this evidence for our rejoicing."

Nothing can be more explicit than this language, which settles for ever, so far as this eminent man is concerned, the question respecting impulses, and impressions, voices and revelations. The celebrated Stoddart, the grandfather of Edwards, in his younger days, held the notion of a direct witness; but latterly, with more intelligence and more experience, he entirely rejected it. It only remains that we now consider the subject in its

IV. PRACTICAL DEDUCTIONS.

We are taught, then, that the evidence of our sonship is to be sought and found, only in our resemblance to God in spiritual nature, and moral character-originated, developed, matured, perfected, by the power and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This witness of the Spirit, therefore, is not simply an inward, but an outward affair; a thing seen as well as felt, and in which our neighbours are concerned as well as ourselves.

Holiness is a primary part of this testimony. The people of God are actually predestined to be conformed to the Divine image, and in the absence of such conformity there is no proof of predestination, none of penitence, none of faith. "Put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness"- "As obedient children, as He who called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy"-" With open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

This, then, we say, that holiness is the seal of the Eternal King-the mark, and witness of the Spirit. Where this is, the tendencies of nature are overthrown, and new principles brought into full play. You love the Lord and hate evil; you delight yourselves in his commandments, and pray that his tender mercies may come upon you that you may make his law your delight!

Justice is an element in this witness,

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or a material part of the foregoing attribute-that which God requires of man as the sum and substance of his righteous exactions, is, to "do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God"—" a God without iniquity, just and upright is he;" and as is the Father, so is the child, and so have the children ever been. "Noah was a just and perfect man, and walked with God"-Joseph was a "just man," Simeon was just and devout"-Joseph of Arimathea was a good man, and a just;" Cornelius the centurion was a just man. Justice is a term of very wide comprehension, having reference to the Creator, and the creature, and all the relations of life; and in the absence of justice, it is in vain that men lay claim to holiness. This justice provides for all their dues, custom to whom custom, tribute to whom tribute is due; in a word, it secures to every man his own, and thus all receive their dues each discharging what is due to each, all are satisfied and happy. But this justice is allied to other graces, in the absence of which its existence cannot be proved.

Goodness is a prime ingredient of the Divine witness. To all such the command is given, and by all such it is cheerfully received, "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust." This witness is very much made up of benevolence, of forbearance with wrongdoers, compassion for sufferings, and the spirit of universal philanthropy.

Truth is also a prime element in the holiness which constitutes the witness of the Spirit. This is a special characteristic of the Father, and is invariably found in all his children. "The Lord is abundant in truth." "His truth endureth to all generations." "The Lord is God, who keepeth truth for ever." "God cannot

lie.

lie."

"God is not a man that he should "The strength of Israel will not lie." The truth of the Most High is everywhere set forth as the basis of the hope of his people. A God without truth would be a terrible object of contemplation! Power and knowledge infinite, without goodness, and without truth, would be dreadful! The attribute of truth is essential to the perfection of the

Godhead, and the happiness of the intelligent universe.

But if truth be essential to the character of God, it is not less so to that of man, who was made to reflect his image; and, accordingly, we find every where, in the Scriptures, much made of truth as an element of the new nature. The man who is to ascend into the hill of God, is the man "who speaketh the truth in his heart." And again, as to the Divine exactions, "Thou desirest truth in the inward parts;" and again, as descriptive of the principal attribute of the celestial fellowship, Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth;" and again, with respect to the eternal Spirit, "The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth.' The people of God are everywhere enjoined to eschew whatever is at variance with it. "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds." Wherefore put away lying, and speak truth every man to his neighbour;" and again, " They are my people, children that will not lie."

There is no direction in which the depravity of man so manifests itself as in deviations from truth. "The wicked bend their tongues like their bow for lies." "They have taught their tongues to speak lies.' "They have made lies their refuge." "He that speaketh lies shall not escape. "He that speaketh lies shall perish. "All liars shall have their part in the fire that burneth." "There shall in no wise enter into Heaven any thing that defileth, nor whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city; for without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolators, and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie."

Mercy is another ingredient in the holiness which constitutes the witness of the Spirit. But the term, as used in Scripture, like some of the other terms we have mentioned, is wide and comprehensive, having respect to all classes in all circumstances, to friends and to enemies:-"Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest. For He is kind to the unthankful and the evil. Be ye, therefore, merciful, as your FATHER also is merciful. "Put on, therefore, as the elect of Ged, truly and

beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another; if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so do ye!

Such, then, loosely expressed, is the sum of the virtues which constitute the "Witness of the Spirit," and by that Spirit they are all originated, nourished, matured, and blended into character, and in their composite form they constitute the "Seal," the "Earnest," the "Witness." May every reader bear that Seal, and have written in letters of light upon his forehead-" THIS IS A CHILD OF THE LIVING GOD!" J. C. June 12, 1851.

FAITH AND CONFESSION.

A DIALOGUE RETURNING FROM PUBLIC
WORSHIP.

Deacon A.-Well, Mr. S., we have had a good sermon to-day.

R. S.-Very good indeed; but I do not exactly understand what our minister meant by the two "cardinal points," as he called the death and resurrection of the Saviour. I do not precisely see how they are so called.

Deacon A.-Why, it seems to me quite plain: the death of the Saviour closed the Old Testament Dispensation, and the Resurrection commenced the New. The Atonement was not more necessary for man's salvation than the Resurrection. You know Paul says (Rom. iv. 25), "He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Does not this exhibit the Resurrection in a light of great importance? The Resurrection, of necessity, followed the Atonement. Had there been no Resurrection, there could have been no proof either that an Atonement was made or accepted. It was the full discharge, so to speak, from prison, of our Representative, and in his liberation we were liberated. Again, you recollect the emphatic language of Paul (1 Cor. xv. 14, 17, 18): "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is vain.-If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Nothing can be more expressive than these Scriptures of the importance which attaches to the doctrine of the Resurrection, which is well entitled to be denominated

a

cardinal point.' These two points cannot be separated: together, in the Divine arrangements, they form but one great whole.

R. S.-I certainly never before saw the matter in the light I do now. The point cannot be put more strongly, but I have not been accustomed to place so much stress upon it as these Scriptures seem to warrant, or rather to demand. The Atonement has always been with me the great thing; I have thought less about the Resurrection. I do not exactly see the immense importance which appears to attach to it.

Deacon A.-That is quite possible, and I rather think, now you call my attention to it, I have to say the same for myself; indeed, it occurs to me that the Church generally is not duly alive to the importance of this point. I do not mean to say it is by any means forgotten; but I do not think it has the same prominence given to it now as it seems to have had in the minds of the first churches, if we may judge from the Apostolic writings.

R. S.-How is that? Is there any reason why it should be so? Does it not still stand in exactly the same relation to the Atonement as at first?

I

Deacon A.-I should say, Yes. think the relative importance of the doctrine must continue to the end of all things; I do not see how it can be otherwise. It strikes me that the general ministration, so far as my limited observation enables me to form an opinion on such a point, is marked by the same peculiarity, and seems to account for the abeyance into which the doctrine of the Resurrection has fallen, as compared with that of the Atonement. The latter much more preponderates in the evangelical ministrations of this country.

R. S.-Well, but how is that? There must be some cause.

Deacon A.-I should say so. In the order of nature the Atonement, of course, is first; and in the case of personal salvation it is the first thing required to meet the necessities of the convinced spirit, as we know nothing meets or can meet the case of the burdened conscience but the blood of Christ; and hence it is proper to give this point both prominence and priority in all dealings with sinners. And such being the fact, it is not to be much wondered at that, in the course of time, the subject of the Resurrection should, in some measure, have been suffered to fall into the shade.

R. S.-That does seem, in some degree, to account for it; and I see nothing else that can explain what seems a fact.

Deacon A.-But the point we started with deserves one more remark; and there is no portion of the Scriptures that sets it forth more strongly and beautifully than the close of the Gospel of Luke, where the Saviour expounded the things concerning himself, by an appeal to Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. He there showed that "it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." The sufferings being ended, the Resurrection was the first step in the glory that was to follow-glory which could have had no existence without it.

R. S.-I now see the matter, I think, clearly. It seems to me plain that the Resurrection is, in itself, a most important event; but it does not appear that it is what, by way of eminence, is called the Gospel. It is not the truth to be believed. It is not, I think, the truth preached by Philip to the eunuch, by Paul to Lydia and her company, and by him and Silas to the jailor and his family,

is it?

Deacon A.-Yes, I think it is. It appears to me as much a part of the Gospel as the death of Christ: although it may not, and, from the nature of the case, cannot, so meet the necessities and melt the heart of the convinced and alarmed sinner as the Atonement, it is inseparable from it, and was always brought along with it, either directly or by implication, as an integral part of the glad tidings; so, at least, I think.

R. S.-Is it so? I am afraid, then, I have not properly weighed the matter, since it never struck me in that light.

Deacon A.-It is, however, I am convinced, an indisputable fact, as, I think, will appear on an appeal to the Word of God.

R. S.-I do not at present recollect any Scripture that brings the point out in that light.

Deacon A.-Perhaps not; but such is the fact, as you may see by turning to such passages as set forth the matter in its essential aspects. We may, for instance, take Rom. x. 9, where Paul sets forth the word of faith" which he and the other Apostles preached. "The word of faith," of course, means the statement to be believed, or that in which faith was to be placed. Now, on looking at it, you will see that there the one great thing is the Resurrection, and that the Atonement, or death of Christ, by which