Now, if the language addressed to them by Christ on the former of these occasions was exclusively applicable to them in reference to their high office, a fact which will scarcely be denied, it could not have been less so on the latter, when they were invested with functions still more august and peculiar. For, at his very first appearance to them after rising from the dead, he spoke to them as follows:"Peace [be] to you. As the Father sent me, I also send you." Thus saying, he breathed on them, and said, "Receive [the] Holy Spirit. Whosesoever sins ye discharge, are discharged to them: whosesoever [sins] ye retain, are retained."-John, xx, 21–23. And, at their last meeting on the day of his ascension, he appointed them to be his witnesses to the world, the legislators of the church, the dispensers of miraculous gifts during their lives, and the sources of evangelical instruction till the end of time. The circumstance of Thomas having been absent at the first interview, and of Matthias and Paul having been added after the second, affords a further proof that these functions were exclusively attached to the apostolical office, and not to that of mere pastors and teachers; since they were never exercised except by apostles, whose deficiencies, when they existed, were supplied by extraordinary interposition. During the early part of their ministry it was decreed that, in correspondence with that of the tribes of Israel, their number should be twelve; and, as this number was prematurely reduced by the death of Judas Iscariot, and of James the son of Zebediah, it became necessary that two new apostles should be appointed, who, having been divinely elected and qualified for their office, immediately participated in its duties and privileges, on equal terms with their predecessors.

If the foregoing reasoning is admitted, the promise,—“ Behold, I am with you," &c.-must be interpreted in a sense accordant with the entire passage, and therefore peculiar to the apostles. It is intimately connected with another promise, that their converts should receive miraculous gifts;-" And these miracles shall attend on those that believe," &c.-Mark, xvi, 17, 18. Now as, with a few special exceptions, such as those of Cornelius and his family, these gifts were only conferred by apostles, having evidently been one of the principal signs and seals of their mission, it naturally follows that the former promise related to their power of communicating them. Being a personal endowment, this power could not have been given them to the end of the world, in the ordinary sense of the term; and must therefore have been given them for that limited time which, there is reason to believe, the expression-avvreλeia rov aiwvoc-always signifies in the New Testament; namely, till the end of the Mosaic dispensation, about forty years after the ascension, a period which, in all probability, few of

*

From the analogy of other passages, and from the special allusions in the context to the personal ministry of Christ and his apostles, and to the obduracy and punishment of the people whom they addressed, it is here inferred that, in the parables of the true and false wheat, and of the net cast into the sea, Matt: xiii, 39, 40, 49; as well as in the other, and less dubious instances where it

the apostles long survived, and when the power in question, never granted to others, and no longer necessary or applicable, was discontinued. Taken in this connexion, the promise of Christ to be with them must, agreeably to the usual phraseology of Scripture, have meant his co-operation with them in their great work. The nature of this co-operation, as intimated in the connected promise above explained, was by the supply of the extraordinary influence of the Holy Spirit, often called the Spirit of Christ;"--and, in the concluding sentence of the gospel, the fulfilment of both is described in language which exactly corresponds to this interpretation.-" [The apostles] went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with [them,] and confirming the word by the miracles with which it was attended."-Mark, xvi, 20 end. Actuated by a just regard for their Master's honour, they frequently affirmed that out of his fulness they had received all their supernatural endowments,-" even gift for gift," and that he, and not they, was the real author of the miracles which they performed: but at the same time did not conceal the fact, that it was through them only that these gifts were communicated to others. Acts, ii, 32, 33; iii, 12, 13, 16; iv, 9, 10; viii, 13-20; ix, 32-34; xiv, 3; Romans, xv, 17-19; 2 Cor: xii, 11-13, &c. The preceding interpretation is supported by several important passages of the New Testament, often in like manner misunderstood, wherein the coming of Christ to execute judgment on the impenitent and unbelieving people of Israel is naturally associated and identified with the end of the age,"—that is, the end of the Mosaic economy. Thus, when after taking his final leave of the temple he had predicted its utter destruction, his four principal apostles asked him privately;-"Tell us, when will these things be, and what [will be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age?"-In reply, he gave them the most ample explanations and directions, warning them not to be dismayed on first hearing of wars, "For all [these] things must happen, but the end is not yet. . . . . He that endureth to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached throughout the world as a testimony to all the Gentiles, and then shall the end come. . . . . When ye shall see all these things, know that [the end] is near, [even] at the doors. I assuredly tell you, This generation will not pass away before all these things shall take place". . . . . With equal force and clearness, he had on previous occasions declared;- Ye will not have gone through the cities of Israel, before the Son of Man shall come.

and rumours of wars;

There are

some standing here who will not taste death, till they have seen the Son of Man coming in his kingdom;"-and a little before his ascension intimated to Peter, whose martyrdom by crucifixion he at the same time predicted, that among the persons thus distinguished

occurs, Matt: xxiv, 3; xxviii, 20; Heb: ix, 26; the expression, y σuvreλeía Toй aivog, signifies the violent dissolution of the Mosaic dispensation by its divine founder; which is, however, justly regarded as a type and earnest of the final and universal judgment.

• 4 A 2

would be the apostle John; who accordingly outlived the destruction of Jerusalem, and the downfall of Judaism, and at length died a natural death in the city of Ephesus, at a very advanced age;-" If I choose him to remain till I come, what [is that] to thee? Follow thou me."-Matt: x, 23; xvi, 28; xxiv, 3, 6, 13, 14, 33, 34; John, xxi, 21-24.

66

Like several of the ancient prophets, the apostles, when speaking in their inspired letters of the concluding period of the Mosaic dispensation, used language precisely similar, such as,—" last time,”— "last days,"-and, at length, even" last hour;"— and it will be admitted that the phrase, all the days,"-by which the duration of the promise is so significantly limited, agrees far better with the comparatively few remaining days of that institution, now numbered and hastening to their close, than with any protracted and indefinite period. Thus, Paul admonished the Corinthian Christians, that" to them the ends of the ages were approaching,"-and, speaking of the death of Christ, reminded the Hebrews that"once, at the end of the ages, he had appeared to abolish sin by the sacrifice of himself;"-in which passages the patriarchal dispensation is probably conjoined with the Mosaic; but the latter, which was merely the full developement of the same national covenant made in a simpler form with Abraham, is not on that account excluded.* Similar declarations are given by James," The coming of the Lord draweth near"... The judge standeth before the doors;" by Peter,-" The end of all things is at hand;"-and by John,-"[My] children, it is the last hour; and, as ye have heard that the antichrist cometh, even now there are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last hour;"-evidently alluding to the prediction of Christ on the Mount of Olives, and proving its application to the times and events then taking place." There will arise false Christs, and false prophets, who will show great signs and miracles, so as to deceive, if [it were] possible, even the elect."It is readily granted that this sublime and circumstantial prediction may have had an ulterior reference to the final coming of Christ, and the universal judgment; but, for the reasons above assigned, as well as for many others which might be added, there can be no doubt that its immediate import is such as is here represented. Matt: xxiv, 23, 24; Acts, ii, 16, 17; 1 Corinth: x. 11; 2 Tim: iii, 1; Heb: i, 1, 2; ix, 24-26; James, v, 3, 8, 9; 1 Peter, i, 5-7, 19, 20; iv, 7; 2 Peter, iii, 3; 1 John, ii, 18; Jude, v, 17, 18, &c.

*Most of the citations above given have been already urged with great force and ability by the Reviewer of Faber, in his excellent observations on the subject, inserted in the Congregational Magazine for September, and November, 1839 which well deserve an attentive re-perusal. They have long been regarded in the same point of view by the author of these remarks, and doubtless by many other biblical students; but are here introduced anew, as being necessary to the clearness and completeness of the argument.

London, July, 1840.

(To be continued.)

W. S.

STATEMENT OF THE REV. J. MORTLOCK DANIELL,

DEAR SIR,-I should not have thought it necessary to notice the allusion made by you to my congregation, in your review of Mr. Mather's sermon, but from communications received from my friends, I find that such allusion has injured the subscription intended to repair the heavy loss we have sustained through the failure of the Bank-and has also impressed many of your readers unfavourably towards me, with whom I have not the pleasure of personal acquaintance.

It is not my province to say how far it is expedient for a reviewer to revive unhappy circumstances after they have already stung the innocent severely, and having exhausted their bitterness have slumbered for months-still I feel assured that your own estimate of christian character, and more especially your sympathy for ministerial character, will allow me a place of defence, or at least of explanation, in the next number of your periodical.

1. It is a fact that not ten of our congregation left during the said sermon, but that three-fourths of them who did so were strangers. Indeed, if I say five of our people, I am correct.

2. At our next church meeting, we sent an unanimous apology to Mr. Mather for their conduct, of which he took no notice, either by way of preface or postscript in his pamphlet, though he received it a fortnight before its publication.

3. I told Mr. Mather that the man who accused him of blasphemy was a day labourer on the Pier, who had formerly worshipped with the Antinomians in this town, and that I questioned the propriety of ministers making any public advertisement of such occurrences from such parties.

4. The published sermon differs very much from the delivered sermon-crude passages taken down at the time are altogether omitted-and Mr. Mather acknowledged to Mr. Bevis (the Independent minister) that he had it not, and knew not that he should be able to recollect it.

But I will not multiply remarks-if you will kindly insert the following extract from one of my published sermons, called "The Celestial Family," your readers will be well able to judge whether my hearers are not taught the connections of truth, and whether I or they ought to be reflected upon, because extreme views from the pulpit, on one side of the question, occasioned impropriety from those who entertained extreme views on the other side of the question. I love sound doctrine because it leads to sound discipline, and I abhor the manifestation of a disorderly and bitter spirit, however Christians may differ in sentiment. But if a minister is to be suspected, and his flock impeached, because two or three or more of the congregation may be guilty of rudeness and impatience, I would only enquire what minister or flock will be exempt? With christian esteem, I am, dear Sir, Your's faithfully,

J. MORTLOCK DANIELL.

Chapel Place, Ramsgate, July 9, 1840.

* Vide Review, pp. 387–392.

"The second delusion we specify is :-An isolated view of the high and holy doctrine of election.

"That God has an elect people ordained unto life eternal is evident from numerous passages in the New Testament. St. Paul speaks of a people blessed with all spiritual blessings, and chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Also of a church for which he was bound to give thanks alway to God, because he had from the beginning chosen them to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. To Timothy he writes; Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. St. Peter also says, Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Other citations neither time allows, nor necessity demands.

"Now, my brethren, while I both believe and exult in the doctrine of election -while I wonder not that the carnal mind is not subject to it, because I expect not that a free grace-humbling Gospel can possibly accord with the pride and self-righteousness of the unconverted-while I espouse it not as a doctrine of reprobation but of mercy--I do feel, and am persuaded that, like all other blessings, it is capable, through the depravity, and even through the shortsightedness of men, of serious and awful perversion. I believe many have admitted the doctrine of Election, and have perished. And I believe many have disputed it, and have been saved. The former receiving it, as an uninfluential theory, have wrested it to their own destruction; while the latter not discerning it, yet repenting of sin, and believing in Christ, have found an atonement for the sin of their ignorance. Thus, important as is a sound creed, and a conuected view of the doctrines of the Gospel, this in itself can be no passport to, or earnest of, the heavenly world.

"If you enquire of some who number themselves with the elect, and include themselves in the covenant of grace, the reason of such a confidence—they will refer to a certain occasion when they felt as they never felt before. They will tell you how deep were their convictions, how excited their minds, and how they then received the testimony of the Holy Spirit as to their election. Subsequently they have thought the Gospel a mere charter of privileges, and have refused to listen to its sweeping obligations. Practical instruction they have despised, and, had they lived in the days of our Lord, they would have denounced his sermon on the mount as any thing but evangelical. Their favourite preaching has been that which severed the truth from its holy connexions, and which censoriously repudiated other communities. They alone have eyes to look within the book of life, in which having, as they imagine, discovered their own names, and knowing that the decrees of God are irreversible, they conclude their future state must be celestial. Meanwhile they have been so destitute of brotherly love, so reckless of perishing souls, so deficient in the meekness and gentleness of Jesus, and so forward to disturb the peace of our churches, as to induce us to pray for them under the sorrowing conviction that they were deceiving themselves, never having been truly humbled to cry, God be merciful to me a sinner.'

"Think not, I beseech you, that religion consists in sudden impulses-if you must refer to months or years past, when you had peculiar emotions, as the only proof you now have of your election, it is an idle dream-an awful enthusiasma damning delusion! Christianity is an uniform influence-not a past faith, but a life of faith-not a presumptuous hope, but an humbling one-not a former repentance, but a daily compunction. Alas! without these present exercises all our religion is false and vain.

"Every man deceives himself who refers to the doctrine of election to prove his relationship to Christ. It is true there are an elect people, but election in the abstract leaves the mass of sinners undistinguished, and therefore it can never be the evidence of union to Jesus. So long as a man lives in sin, he has no business to meddle with election-if he do, it will most probably be to his own de