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it was secretly and obscurely, and probably only to a few chosen and favoured disciples, who themselves could not have understood the clear meaning of the allusion, to whom it must have been a dark saying. Doubtless, we are saved by faith in CHRIST alone; but to come to know this in all its power, is the very perfection of the Christian; not to be instilled or obtained by lifting up the voice in the street, but by obedience and penitence, so that, as each man advances in holiness of life, and comes the more to know what God is, the more does he feel himself, with the Saints of all ages, to be the chief of sinners. But as for that assurance and sensible confidence, with which it is thought necessary that the doctrine should be preached and received, it would seem as if there was scarcely any thing against the subtle effect of which we are so much guarded in Holy Scripture as this: all those who are recorded as being most approved, were remarkable for the absence of it; as in the case of the Centurion, the Canaanitish woman, and others; above all, of those who at the last day shall be surprised with the welcome tidings that they are accepted: on the contrary, those who are rejected shall come with that plea of confidence, because they have prophesied in CHRIST'S name, and He has taught in their street, and will be condemned with emphatic words, as they that work iniquity; whereby the whole stress is thrown on that single point, which those who hold these opinions are most studious to make of secondary importance, the necessity of working righteousness.

Surely the doctrine of the Atonement may be taught in all its fulness, on all occasions, and all seasons, more effectually, more really, and truly, according to the proportion of the faith, or the need of circumstances, without being brought out from the context of Holy Scripture into prominent and explicit mention. Did not St. James preach the Gospel most effectually under the guidance of God's good SPIRIT? Did not St. Paul preach the Gospel to the Thessalonians, when he spoke of the day of Judgment, as well as to the Galatians, when in answer to certain Jewish prejudices, he set forth the only remission of sins to be found in the Cross of CHRIST? May not we regulate our teaching according to the case of the persons we address, as they

did? But above all, did not our LORD preach the Gospel? did He not say to the two disciples who came from St. John the Baptist, "To the poor the Gospel is preached?" But how was it preached? We know what His preaching was; He taught the Atonement always, but never openly: He taught it always; He taught it in the beatitudes, in the parables, in His miracles, in His commands, in His warnings, in His promises; He taught it always, but always covertly, never at all in the manner now required, but quite the opposite. And as it pervaded all our LORD's teaching; and ought to do, as we have stated, (Tract, No. 80. pp. 76, and 81,) the teaching of every good Christian; so surely it may do so in a way to be more effectually impressed on others, and to indicate its thorough reception into the character of the speaker, by one who might have even never prominently and explicitly declared it, any more than our LORD does in His own teaching. It may be impressed on others by the tone of a person's whole thoughts, by the silent instruction of his penitent and merciful demeanour, by immediate inference and implication from his sayings, by the only interpretation which his words will bear: but above all things, by the doctrine of the Sacraments ever influencing his life; He may thus ever bear about in the body the marks of the LORD JESUS, and preach CHRIST Crucified. Whereas, on the contrary, another who expressed this doctrine with all the fulness which is now required, might in all the tone of his disposition, his teaching, his whole bearing and conversation, be as far from it as one who had never heard of it; and adopt this tone to the great injury of himself and others. The important thing needed consists in those preparations of the heart, which may lead men to humiliation and contrition; when this is done, He who "dwells with the humble and the contrite," will never fail to lead them to all the consolations of Religion. Let us consider the case of a friend who consulted us on a matter that afflicted his conscience, how tender and careful should we be in such a case for fear of administering consolation too speedily, lest by so doing we check the workings of God's good SPIRIT, and heal too slightly His wounds, to our friend's great detriment and shall we do this to all indiscriminately?

But besides this, the awful Name of the blessed SPIRIT, without Whom we can neither think nor do any thing that is right, is, as is supposed, ever in like manner to be proclaimed as it were in the market-place, and those who do not do so, are supposed to deny His power, the power of the ever-blessed SPIRIT of God, in whose Name we were baptized, Whom in the doxology we confess daily, in Whom we live and move. Let these sacred words be introduced in our teaching, as they are in Holy Scripture. But even from this we almost shrink at feeling that they have been used in an unreal manner, and “taken in vain;" for these holiest of words may be constantly used by us, when we are not at all affected and influenced by so concerning a doctrine, which may be seen by the whole of our character in daily life, and tone of our teaching; by self-confidence, and an absence of that fear and trembling, which ever follows the consciousness, that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do. And what is done in such a case? Is the effect merely nugatory? Surely not: great injury is done. by this irreverence to that most sacred Name. There is far less chance of real repentance in such a case.

Surely this great and life-giving doctrine might be taught more truly by one who practised no obtrusive system of this sort; to say nothing of his practical instructions, every word of which might be calculated to teach a person dependence on God; but even by his silence. For instance, might not one like holy Simeon, (whom sacred Scripture has so strongly marked as one under the gracious guidance of the good SPIRIT, by the expression, thrice repeated, that "the HOLY SPIRIT was upon him," that it was "revealed unto him of the HOLY SPIRIT," that " he came by the SPIRIT into the temple;") might not such a one, by daily frequenting "the House of Prayer," with that earnestness and assiduity which showed that he felt himself unable to stand for a day without assistance from above, learn and teach so affecting a truth, as well as by set declarations concerning it? Might he not, by these habitual practices, be rendered meet to find CHRIST in His Temple, and to prophesy in His name?

4. Danger in forming a plan of our own different from that of Scripture.

Surely we know not what we do, when we venture to make a scheme and system of our own respecting the revelations of GOD. His ways are so vast and mysterious, that there may be some great presumption in our taking one truth, and forming around it a scheme from notions of our own. It may not be the way to arrive at even that truth; and also it may counteract some others, which it is equally important that we should be impressed with. The very idea of forming such a scheme, arises from a want of a due sense of the depth and vastness of the Divine counsels, as if we could comprehend them. It is with states of society as with individuals; those whose thoughts and knowledge are most superficial, are most apt to systematise; and it is very little considered what awful things in the economy of God may be thus habitually kept out of sight,-kept out of sight, perhaps, by many quite unconsciously; for the secret influence of these opinions is more extensive than they are aware of, who are subject to them. It is not an uncommon thing to hear sermons which are throughout specious and plausible, which seem at first sight Scriptural, and are received as such without hesitation, and yet, on a little consideration, it will appear that they are but partial views of the truth, that they are quite inconsistent with the much forgotten doctrine of a future judgment. What effect, therefore, must this system have upon an age and whole nation?

Nor is it only in its not supporting the analogy of the faith, that this system is opposed to Scripture; but its spirit and mode of teaching is quite different. It may be observed in this, that this scheme puts knowledge first, and obedience afterwards: let this doctrine, they say, be received, and good works will necessarily follow. Holy Scripture throughout adopts the opposite course'.

1 One instance in Scripture has been applied otherwise, "Make the tree good and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt;" but this passage bears quite a different meaning; the obvious purport being, that hypocritical, bad actions, like those of the Pharisees, flowed from a bad principle

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In many and extensive senses, the language it adopts, and the plan pursues, is on the principle that "the law is the schoolmaster, to bring us to CHRIST;" "that he who will do the will shall know of the doctrine;" whereas this teaching is, "receive only this doctrine, and you will do the will." The kind of secondary way, and as it were in the back ground, in which the necessity of obedience is put in this system, is the very opposite to Scriptural teaching. Scripture ever introduces the warning clause, •If ye keep the commandments;" they, on the contrary, "If ye do not think of them too much."

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And again, is there not an extraordinary confusion and perplexity raised, which has the effect of entangling men's minds with words and phrases? Are there not frequently logical fallacies couched in verbal inaccuracies, which will appear, on a little consideration, to be mere confusions of expression, yet ever leave a false impression? Christian repentance is spoken of as something not only separate from, but opposed to CHRIST. The effect of Christian good works is treated as having a tendency to puff us up with pride and selfishness: works, that is, of humility and charity, exercised in secret, purely with the desire of pleasing GoD, for of course such only are good works which could be insisted on (though of course what they mean must be bad works, those of hypocrisy). Or again, that religious services weaken our dependence on the good SPIRIT; or, in other words, that frequent and constant prayers to God for His assistance, diminish our reliance on GOD. Or again, that the deep and awful sense of judg ment to come derogates from CHRIST'S atonement, as if the most earnest consideration of the former did not most impress the unspeakable worth of the latter. Or again, that to insist on the value of the Sacraments, is to derogate from CHRIST; for when it is considered that there is no value whatever supposed in those

in the heart, that the whole heart needed to be amended. Is it not a very overstrained interpretation to apply this to the doctrine of the Atonement, on the supposition that the infinite and incomprehensible love of GOD manifested therein will, on being published, powerfully affect men's minds, and on being heard, regenerate their souls? Is there any sanction whatever for this in Holy Scripture ?

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