ESSAYS. No. XCVI.

ON CHRISTIAN CHARACTERISTICS.

No. VI.

A regenerate state of being does not prevent the approach of adversity, nor is calamity to be abstractedly considered a proof of true christianity. Many mistakes on this important subject have been made by reason of partially viewing it. Some men have affirmed, that sore trial is an unquestionable characteristic of spirituality; and others, equally confident in their own wisdom, have asserted that sinless purity and perfection are attainable in this life. Neither of these parties are correct in their views and statements of this question. The former are misplacing the unpreventable evils of life, and substituting them (no doubt ignorantly) in the place of love, merit, and power of the Triune Jehovah; and the latter boldly declare that they are ignorant of God and themselves. For it is a fact which can never be concealed, that so long as pain is felt by man, that there is an equitable reason with God for inflicting it upon his sinful creatures. The saints of God are a peculiar people in their state, principle of action, and circumstances of life. Sorrow is frequently felt by them from various causes, and they are subjected to numerous adversities in life, not because they are profane men, but because it is the pleasure of God their Father. They are individually known to and approved by him.

Before the world was formed, Jehovah framed and fixed the whole plan of wisdom in the person of Christ his Son; and to him he has committed the reins of government, every creature and thing being subject to him. But we are still children at school, slowly and in many instances painfully learning the will of God; yet his mercy heals all our diseases, and supports the enfeebled saint to commit the keeping of his affairs to his infinite wisdom. "Thou hast," said David, "known my soul in adversity." This statement is true of every creature of God beneath the canopy of the skies; yet it is not abstract knowledge of which the Psalmist spoke, for in that sense Satan and his angels are all known to God, as well as men, or how could God finally award every creature according to his works? This knowledge that God had of David in his afflictions was based on his love toward, and forethought of him as an heir of grace. God has actually made his people accepted in his beloved Son, and there he constantly rests in his love toward them. Outward events in life cannot induce God to change his will concerning them; but he will vary the form of his operations in, on, and for them, by which he will set them apart from the power and practice of vice. We may safely aver, that the plan VOL. IX.-No. 110.] 2 A

of wisdom revealed by God to us in the scriptures cannot be improved, and it defies refutation from the foul-mouthed infidel.

But let us look at this subject with closer attention. That there is an intimate connection subsisting between God and his people, is a fact which is known and felt by thousands; yet in the hour of pain and grief it frequently occurs that the first principles of the gospel are overlooked. The decree of election is a firm support to the mind when every other succour fails. Now it is God who hath chosen us in Christ, and his love is the impulsive cause of it. This as it subsists in his own bosom we shall never fully know, yet it is to be known by the illuminating influence of the Holy Ghost shed upon us through Jesus Christ. When the incarnate Son of God was humbled unto death, the union subsisting between his eternal and unbegotten person, and his derived and holy humanity, was not nor could it be dissolved; but as he had covenanted with his Father to redeem and save the church from sin in that solemn hour, not one single ray of light was shed by the Godhead upon his suffering and dying humanity. At that important hour he was as much the subject of the Father's love as he had ever been; and every pain of body and soul endured by him, were proofs of the immutable love of God to guilty men. The nearer union his humanity had to Godhead the keener were his sorrows: and who shall attempt to define what he endured when he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" There is, however, an essential difference between the anguish of Christ and the griefs of his people. His pains were expiatory, and his death was a sacrifice offered to God, to uphold his government and authority, and to ransom the church from sin; but their light and momentary afflictions have nothing in them which are meritorious before God; yet Christ and his seed are one in ties of endless love, revealed to them by the Holy Ghost through his eternal redemption. God's knowledge of his people cannot be increased, but he is daily improving their knowledge of him. This is effected by his Spirit working on them by his word and by his providence. The word of God is a sufficient and perfect revelation of his being and perfection in Christ as the God of all grace. Here his wisdom, love, will, goodness, mercy, and power are attested by the clearest evidence conceivable by us. Faith is the holy principle by which we are capacitated to receive his testimonies; and the doctrines of revelation applied by the heavenly Paraclete, illuminate the understanding, inform the judgment, purify the conscience, potently liberate the will from slavery, and enkindle the affection, so that eternal persons and things are known in a sanctifying manner. But the providences of God are also his voice by which he is speaking to his children. The holy purpose of God concerning them is thereby made known to them. If providence is surveyed separately from eternal counsel, it is quite certain that confusion of mind will ensue, and instead of the conscience being quiet, it will be something like Jonah's, who previously said, that he did well to be angry, even unto death. We are never out of the presence of God, nor are we placed at any time beyond

the reach of his mercy. Highly as the Son of God is now exalted in heaven, he still wears his priesthood, for in that office he will continue to act for his brethren, until he has placed them beyond the reach of danger. "Seeing then, that we have a great High Priest which is entered into heaven, even Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted in like manner, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, go boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

The gracious regard of God for his children is manifested to them in the hour of temptation and trial. The saints are not only distinct in their state from the men of the world, but God their Father takes a special interest in all their affairs. None else beside them are so near to him, for they are members of the body, the flesh, and the bones of his Son. Now as the human nature of the Son of God is nearer and dearer to him than all the world besides, and as the heirs of grace are one with him, God will never withdraw his regard from them. This fact may be confirmed by holy writ. When the great Immanuel stood at the bar of Pilate, the Roman governor, the Jews laboured to clothe him with contempt and obloquy; but the Roman judge was controlled by the sovereignty of God to declare that he could find no fault in Christ at all. The title which Pilate placed on the cross of Christ gave the Jews offence, and their malice prompted them to seek to have it altered. "Write not," said they, "the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am King of the Jews." However, Pilate answered them, "what I have written I have written." Jehovah the Father took care of the public character of the Son of his love in that moment when his enemies sought to destroy it. Now the character of the church of God is the public means through which his own is manifested. God has a greater interest in the welfare of his people than they are acquainted with. The eminent acts of his grace, the covenant engagement with his Son, together with the accomplishment of his contract, lead us to conclude, that God will not deny nor conceal his justice in the public administration of the affairs of the church. Jesus has purchased the church with his own blood, and he is gone into heaven as her Representative, there to appear in the presence of God for her. This is known by the imbuing and inworking of the Holy Ghost upon all his seed. And can there be a greater proof given of the regard of God toward his people, than what is manifested by the one Jehovah in Trinity, in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. The settlement of grace on the heirs of God in the person of Immanuel, was an astonishing expression of his goodwill toward them; and the various operations of his holy power in and on them, by which they learn their sinfulness, weakness, poverty, and insignificancy, is a means chosen and used by him to draw them to Christ. Nature in an ungodly man may be greatly alarmed with the prospect of everlasting ruin before his eyes, but he will never, so long as he remains

a natural man, take refuge in the bleeding wounds of Christ, as a holy Protector from the wrath of indignant and insulted justice. But in the deepest billows of sorrow which roll with foaming fury over the humbled christian, he will cry out of the depths to God, and look again to his holy temple.

He never calls

Our God is the powerful supporter of his saints. away a man from the things of time and sense, and then leave him to perish without a portion; no. God has given, in the person of Christ, himself as the heritage of his people. The reason why a true believer is not perfectly satisfied with the things of time and sense is, they have not sufficient good in them to sanctify the mind. The goodness of God is hereby revealed to them. When the prodigal son came to his right mind, he could not feed upon husks; but he was not left to starve, for he knew that there was bread enough for his support in his father's house. Hence we learn, that the true christian cannot live spiritually but upon the atonement of Christ, for it is the bread of the church. He is not to be persuaded that it is useless. By faith the testimony of God concerning it is received, and the Holy Ghost thereby ministers to his wants. The desires which are created in the mind for it are of a heavenly nature, and a store offered to him would be rejected by him with holy indignation. Well, by this we perceive that God and his saints are agreed, for he has determined that the flesh and blood of his Son shall be the meat and drink of his children; and much of the work of the Holy Ghost in them consists in revealing it and giving them to live upon it: nothing else can support them. Thus, the conveyable fulness of Messiah, as dispensed to the heirs of mercy, is the vital sanctification of all his members, and the record of it in the gospel is through the Spirit, and by faith an experimental good is known and enjoyed. When the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet Paul, he immediately repaired to the throne of grace, and entreated God to remove it from him; but the answer that he obtained was, "my grace is sufficient for thee; my strength shall be perfected through thy weakness." This reply from God converted the apostle from seeking solely present ease and pleasure; for he said, "most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution, in anguish, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak then am I strong." How often from that hour until the present, has the Lord verified the truth to the comfort of his people and the confusion of his enemies. One of the early martyrs, a lady, who suffered for Christ's sake, when by a friar who had preached her condemnation sermon, she had been publicly insulted, and afterwards had a pardon offered to her upon the condition that she would renounce her heresy, she nobly replied, "tempt me not, for I did not come here to deny my Lord." Be adored, O God, for the grace dispensed to thy poor weak children, by which they are safely kept by thee until the day of their complete redemption.

We affirm, that the love of God is the bond of union by which he is connected with the church in the person of Christ Jesus. This is the powerful principle on which the union of the two infinitely different natures in the complex person of Immanuel is based; for his humanity is not the source of his sufficiency, support, and standing in God. It is dependent on the grace of God, which is the original cause of its close connection with the Eternal Word. There is no possibility that it will ever change, because it is raised above what is in equity the due of a creature; and therefore, although it is not essentially immutable, for that is alone the prerogative of the self-existing Jehovah, yet is relatively so by the will of God, and by the grace of union thereto.

We have above remarked, that we cannot know the love of God as it is in his own bosom, the ocean of life and sanctity, but as it is revealed to us in and through Christ Jesus by the Holy Ghost. This is the ever-flowing river of which the weary pilgrims who are travelling to the heavenly Jerusalem drink, and are satisfied; and it remains undiminished and overflowing. By it God was pleased to preserve us secretly in the person of his Son, and shelter us beneath his cross from death and danger, when we were dead in sin; and now since by regeneration we are conformed to his holy image, we have felt the force of it leading us from self, sin, and uncleanness, to Christ, the purifier for sanctity and liberty; he will never forsake the work of his hands. When we consider that the moral and physical power of man is controlled by the grace of God, so as to save him from cherishing the corruption of nature, and to enable him to put off the old man with his deeds, and also to put on in his public profession of Christ's person, name, salvation, and offices, the new man; we may safely conclude that the love of God will powerfully sustain him until he is removed beyond the reach of defilement, or the power of temptation. Every kind of evil that the church of God on earth is subjected to, has been felt by the immaculate Redeemer, and his tender heart is ever affected by, and sympathizes with his saints in their sorrows and sufferings. The promises of God given to us in Christ Jesus, are so many expressions of his love to us, and they are yea and amen, and never were nor can be forfeited. Now a minute attention to them will lead us to this conclusion, viz. that it never was the purpose of God to prevent affliction from rushing in upon his people, but he has promised to be with them in, and to bring them safely through it. Hear what the Lord hath said to his church; " But now, thus saith the Lord, that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not; for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the floods they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." Again, "Hear now