glorious in this view? (Gal. iii. 10. 2 Cor. 3, 7, 9.) — Thou art righteous when thou speakest, and clear when thou judgest ; our mouth is stopped, and we stand guilty before God; and I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live to God, is the effect. (Rom. iii. 4, 19. Gal. ii. 19.) Is there no other name but Christ's given under heaven whereby men can be saved? To rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, is the effect. (Phil. iii. 3.) Is it said, Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect? The effect is, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth toward those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. iii. 13, 14.) The same might be said of every divine truth in the whole Scripture system; for they are all of them doctrines according to godliness, and therefore we may easily, and with the greatest certainty, answer this question," Are men regenerated by the law, or by the gospel? If by regenerated is meant enabled to see the holy beauty of divine truths, we are regenerated neither by the law nor by the gospel, nor by any external means or instructions whatsoever; but by the immediate influences of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. xi. 25. John vi. 45. 2 Cor. iv. 6.) If by regenerated is meant holy affections being begotten and excited in the heart, in this sense we are regenerated by the law, and regenerated by the gospel, and regenerated by every divine truth in general; agreeable to that of our blessed Savior. (John xvii.) "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth; " for the divine law is God's word, as much as the gospel. Every divine truth is the word of God. To say that there are some particular divine truths, which, although known, do not beget and excite in us holy affections answerable to their nature, is to say that there are some divine truths which we do not love; which is to say that we are hypocrites.

Objection. But does not St. Paul say, "I have begotten you through the gospel "?

Answer. Very true. And does not David say, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul"? Only understand these texts in a consistency with each other, and you may be a consistent Christian. But if the character of God, as exhibited in the law, appears odious to you, and excites hatred and heart-risings; while the character of God, which you imagine to be exhibited in the gospel, appears lovely, and excites love and joy; you are not a Christian; you are a Manichean; you hate the God of the Old Testament, and love the God of the New; and so you have two Gods, of characters essentially

different. But St. Paul's gospel was built on this, as a fundamental maxim, that God's character, as exhibited in the law, was perfect in beauty, without a blemish. For, to do honor to this character, according to St. Paul, the Son of God became incarnate, and died on the cross, even to declare his Father's righteousness, that he might be just, and yet the justifier of the believer. St. Paul's gospel comprised the whole system of divine truths, in their proper arrangement, in perfect harmony. To be begotten by his gospel, is to have holy affections answerable to that whole system excited in us; and so, to become not Manicheans, but consistent Christians; obeying from the heart that form of doctrine which he delivered.

And even reason teaches that it must be so; for, if divinely enlightened souls have a relish for holy beauty, for such beauty as there is in God's real character, then every divine truth, as it exhibits his real character, will, if it comes into our view, appear beautiful; and will accordingly beget and excite holy affections answerable to its nature. But the divine law gives a very bright exhibition of God's real character, in its precepts, promises, and threatenings, as they are holy, just, and good, a transcript of the holiness, justice, and goodness of the divine nature, the very image of his heart. The divine law, therefore, is suited, in its own nature, to excite holy affections in the divinely enlightened soul, as well as the cross of Christ. And in fact it does so, from the very moment his eyes begin to be opened at conversion, until they are perfectly opened in heaven. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the honey-comb." (Ps. xix. 7, 10.)

Obj.

Christ? "

"But what occasion was there then for the death of

Ans. 1. Absolutely none at all, under a notion the law was too severe, a bad, an unamiable law, and we the abused, injured party, that by his death he might purchase for us the relief which was our due, and so pacify our imbittered, angry minds, which had been exasperated against the Deity, the Lawgiver, and bring us to have a good thought of God, as being "altogether made up of love to us; and in this view to be reconciled to him, against whom, viewed as exhibited in his holy law, "we are full of hatred and heart-risings, in spite of our hearts." To believe the Son of God died for this purpose, to view his death in this light, and to grow devout in such a view, is as bad as downright infidelity; and such a religion,

resulting from these blasphemous views, must be infinitely provoking to the Deity. No American pagan, no African Hottentot, ever espoused a scheme of religion more absurd in itself, or more impious in its nature. "What occasion was

there then for the death of Christ? "

2. "What occasion!"- a surprisingly stupid question! When, as the beauty of the divine law, and the transcendent beauty and glory of the divine character as exhibited in the law, was the occasion, the great occasion, the only occasion, of the death of an incarnate God, in the room of a Goddespising, God-hating world, that thereby he might vindicate the divine character, declare it to be right, and give a public proof, the greatest which could have been given, that the law was holy, just, and good, to the end that, consistent with the honor of his character and government, and to the glory of his grace, God might have mercy on whom he will have mercy, open the eyes of the elect, and bring them to repent and return to God through Jesus Christ, and in his name, and simply on his account, pardon and save them with an everlasting salvation. And besides, this very view of the divine law is the very thing which leads the enlightened soul to see its need of Christ's atonement; for no man can see his need of the atonement of Christ to do honor to the divine law, unless he sees that which renders it needful: but the excellency and honorableness of the divine law, which we had dishonored, was the only thing which rendered the atonement of Christ needful, in order to our salvation. If the law had not been a glorious law, and worthy of this honor, there had been no need, no occasion for the death of Christ in order to our salvation, as has been before proved. But to return :

All holy affections, I say, are begotten and excited by the truth. On the other hand, in all false schemes of religion, their love and joy, and all their devout affections, in which a carnal heart is so much pleased, are begotten and excited by a lie; a lie invented to please a carnal heart. I say, in all false schemes of religion. And this is the reason that false schemes of religion are adhered to by deluded sinners with such an invincible obstinacy. They suit their carnal hearts; but they hate the truth. And therefore, in the apostolic age, while the apostles were yet alive, with all their inspiration, their miracles, their zeal, their tears, they could not help the matter; but in spite of all they could do, it in fact was, as St. Paul told Timothy, "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Tim. iii. 13.)

Such is the nature of mankind, and such the nature of our

holy religion, that nothing can be done to purpose in propagating true Christianity, without divine influences from above. The experiment has been made, and thoroughly made. Our blessed Savior preached at Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, and spake as never man spake, and wrought many miracles before their eyes; but not so much as one of his hearers was brought to repentance by all his preaching and miracles, those only excepted, to whom God by his Spirit internally revealed the truth in its glory; yea, our Savior had no expectation to make converts by the force of preaching and miracles. He even laid it down for a maxim, that "no man can come to the Son but whom the Father draws." Without divine teaching, he knew that all external instruction would be ineffectual. But he always laid all the blame at the sinner's door. (Matt. xi. 20; xxii. 7. John vi. 44; xv. 22.)

So likewise the apostle Paul, of mere men the best preacher that ever lived, let him preach in the demonstration of the spirit and power, let him travail in birth for his hearers, and reason out of the Scriptures, and add miracles to his arguments, it was all the same; the Jews were provoked, and the Gentiles laughed; Christ crucified was a stumbling-block to the one, and foolishness to the other. Nor did he ever make one sincere convert to Christianity in his life, merely by the force of external means; nay, after long experience, he publicly declared to the world, that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Meanwhile the false teachers, who hated St. Paul, could make converts thick and fast, sincere converts to their false schemes among graceless professors, whose hearts, like tinder, stood ready to catch the false fire which they communicated. carnal heart may love a false gospel. Among the great variety of false schemes, perhaps there is no carnal heart but may find some one to his mind. If not, he can invent one of his own exactly to suit his state. But no unregenerate man will love the truth; neither arguments nor miracles will bring him to it.

3. What has been said, may lead us to see what St. Paul means by the "calling," the "holy calling," the "heavenly calling," the "high calling of God in Christ Jesus," which he speaks of as common to all true saints, and peculiar to them alone. (1 Cor. i. 26. 2 Tim. i. 9. Heb. iii. 1. Phil. iii. 14.) Speaking of this calling, in Rom. viii. 28, he says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose." And again, ver. 30: "Whom he did pretestinate, them he also called; and VOL. II.

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whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." And in 1 Cor. i. 23, 24: "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but to them that are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Compared with ver. 18: "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God." Compared with 1 Cor. ii. 14: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Ver. 15: "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things." Compared with Rom. viii. 9: "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Compared also with 2 Cor. iv. 3: "If our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost," (ver. 4,) in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." Ver. 6: "For he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Compared with 1 Thess. i. 5: "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." Chap. ii. 13: "When ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Compared with Matt. xiii. 23: "He that received seed into good ground, is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit." Explained by 2 Cor. iii. 18: "We all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image."

When the apostles went forth, according to their Master's commission, to preach the gospel to every creature, they first declared, explained, and proved the great truths they had to deliver, commending themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God; then they called upon their hearers to repent and believe the gospel, to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, -to repent and be converted, - to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent and turn to God, saying, "All things are ready, come unto the marriage." Many who heard these

Mr. Sandeman, imagining that there is forgiveness with God through the atonement for impenitent sinners, while such, would not have sinners called upon in the apostolic language, "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out;" or in the language of our Savior," Come, for all things are ready." Rather he would have preachers only endeavor to hold forth evidence to convince