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wish to embark in the controversy; a controversy, we must say, in the main, of little edification, yet necessary, since error must be refuted and truth defended when attacked. Without going further, we might name some half dozen which happen to lie on our table as we write; such as the wellknown publications of Dr. Hamilton; Smyth on the Forgiveness of Sins; Russell's Discourses on the Millennium; Dr. Burns's republication of Bellamy, with a preface; Dr. Wardlaw on Assurance and Pardon; and Dr. A. Thomson on the same subject. Several of the Church-of-Scotland writers have weakened their cause by not admitting universal redemption, while they reject universal pardon; but without noticing this and other points in which we do not concur with some of the above authors, we can honestly say that we have seen no controversialist in this cause, however weak, who, if he could merely quote a few appropriate texts, was not more than a match for his opponents; how little therefore the system besteads against the powerful weapons of such writers as some of the above, we need not say. One of them has been suddenly summoned to a world where contest is no more. He was a man of much eagerness of spirit, so that in what he considered the cause of truth he did not always pause to guide his words with discretion; but his zeal, his large biblical stores of knowledge, his vast grasp of mental energy, and above all his real piety, were such, that in the controversies now alluded to his services in the cause of God and truth were invaluable. To possess all that was powerful and excellent in that remarkable man, free from some acknowledged defects, would be to attain no ordinary rank in the scale of humanity or the school of Christ.

Now for our thrice-delayed extract. The importance of the argument will justify its length;

especially as the subject is not touched upon in any of the works just referred to, the revival or noncessation of miracles being a newer Mr. Erskine's discovery than scheme of pardon, or Mr. Irving's hypothesis respecting the person of our Lord; indeed so new that the Morning Watch itself did not, we believe, take it up till the cure of Mary Campbell and the pretence to the gift of tongues at Port-Glasgow; and the Jewish Expositor did not, as we understand, vouch for it till last month.

"What evidence have we that miracles have ceased according to the Divine purpose, and not in consequence of any fault on the part of the church of God?—The above query assumes, as an undisputed fact, that miracles have ceased; and indeed it would never have occurred to us to justify the assumption, any more than to adduce arguments in proof that the Apostles died long ago, or that the church at Roseneath is not the identical one to which Paul addressed these words: There must be also heresies among you,' &c. but we have been not a little sur

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prised to read, in a recent pamphlet, of the re-appearance, or rather, the continuance of miraculous gifts in the church.' Their re-appearance' is a word, which we know how to construe, as having reference to the west-country miracles of Caledonia; but the term 'continuance ' is not so easily deciphered.

In vain do we search the pages of history, whether sacred or profane, for any thing like a pure succession of the kind: if, however, it be designed to include the dove that flew out of the body of St. Polycarp; the exit and return of devils at command of St. Gregory; the silencing of Apollo by the bones of St. Babylus; the picture changed into a bloody spear; the roasted fowl turned into stone; the bleeding wafers; the wonderful migrations of the Virgin's house; and a thousand times ten thousand instances of similar repute, it would certainly not be so difficult to trace a line through the dark ages, down to the last century, when the blessed Deacon' (Abbé Paris) flourished, and afterwards gained no small degree of celebrity, by the supernatural cures effected through his posthumous intercessions. These miracles, with a few ed, concatenate extremely well with the intermediate links that might be mention

wonders of our own times; and thus the whole series forms a sort of continuance,' such as it is. But though this explanation does not appear to cast any unmerited imputation on modern miracles, the connexion in which it places those of our Divine Master and his really gifted

followers, reflects upon them such palpable dishonour, that we would gladly find any other mode of interpreting an expression, which, if it have any meaning at all, most certainly impugns the belief of the cessation of miraculous powers. It behoves us, therefore, to set the matter in its true light, not simply by stating it as the geneneral conviction of the Protestant church, that miracles ceased nearly seventeen hundred years ago, but by exhibiting the grounds

on which that conviction rests.

"The Apostles, doubtless, possessed the gifts of tongues and miracles in an extraordinary degree; and also the power of conferring those gifts upon others. This power, however, was not exercised in every instance of the laying on of their hands, but only in special cases, when the act was performed with an express design to impart miraculous gifts, as inay be seen by a careful perusal of the Acts of the Apostles, in which narrative it appears, that the imposition of hands was a form used in designating persons (sometimes individuals already gifted, Acts xiii. 2, 3) to some particular work; also, in the healing of the sick, Acts viii. 8, &c. &c. That these supernatural communications should be extended beyond the persons and lives of the Apostles, was necessary for the accomplishment of the very design for which they were originally given; for the great principles of the Christian faith had much to contend with at the period of their early promulgation. Besides, they were to be diffused abroad, in countries remote from the scene of those transactions to which the first miracles bore witness; and, therefore, until the New-Testament Scriptures were entire, and brought into such a form as to furnish a universal and unerring standard of judgment and appeal, sustained by its own cumulative and complete evidence, it was wisely and graciously appointed that miracles should still be wrought, whenever the exigency of the case required it, either for the substantiating of apostolic doctrine, or the silencing of infidel objections.

"That miracles should cease when their end had been attained, is, to say the least, a very rational surmise, and one which observation, aided by credible testimony of the past, is every way calculated to confirm. It is much to be regretted, that deceivers, whose aim it was to make a gain of godliness, should have exercised their cunning craftiness' at so early a period of the Christian economy, as to occasion their fraudulent attempts to be presented on the pages of ecclesiastical history, dovetailed, as it were, with the sacred and genuine operations of Almighty agency. It is no libel to affirm that such was the case the fact is too apparent from the writings of the early fathers; and if, at first view, it be thought improbable that men of undoubted learning and piety should be imposed on by ‘lying wonders,'

let it be considered, how naturally, in an age of abounding superstition, their minds were led on from the belief of true miracles, upon irrefragable evidence, to the indiscriminate and too credulous admission of reports, which had no better foundation than the gross frauds so frequently and successfully practised under the mask of divinely delegated power. We speak not of the monstrous legends of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, when monkery was accounted a way of life worthy of heaven,' for it is inconceivable that even a single Protestant should be found giving credence to such a heap of self-refuting absurdities: but the writings to which reference is here made, are those of Justin Martyr, Irenæus, &c. &c., on whose authority it is stated, that it was impossible to reckon up all the mighty works which the church performed, every day, to the benefit of nations.' Now, this assertion, from the very nature of it, must have been, for the most part, grounded on hearsay; and when, in addition to the vagueness of such representations, we take into the account the number of wild and enthusiastic notions entertained by the primitive fathers, it is not possible to avoid the conclusion, that there was occasionally a defect of judgment in those eminent men, which, combining with the arts of imposture practised by the designing, has proved, and still proves, prejudicial to the interests of truth, by rendering it no easy task to distinguish facts which might be received on the faith of their veracity, as eye-witnesses, from the multitudinous falsehoods to which, for want of due caution, they have unconsciously lent the sanction of their names.

"We have, thus far, endeavoured to establish our hypothesis of the cessation of miracles, according to the Divine purpose, by the argument that their design was fully and finally accomplished about the middle of the second century; which era, as we have shown, coincides with that mixed state of truth and error arising from the advantage taken by seducing spirits,' to substitute pretended miracles in the place of those which were gradually ceasing, in consequence of the non-communication of spiritual gifts.

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"There is, however, another ground on which the same position is tenable; that is, the silence of the New-Testament in reference to the permanent duration of miraculous powers, and the duty of the church to perpetuate their exercise. This branch of the subject merits particular examination.

"When our Lord commissioned his twelve Apostles to go and preach the Gospel, he furnished them with power to do many wonderful works, and invested them with such a degree of authority, that their persons and message were to be regarded with the same deference as would be due to himself. (Matt. x. 40.) · From the enu

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meration of the miracles they were to perform (ver. 8), it is evident that they were almost all like his own, works of mercy, which, while confirmatory of the truths they published, furnished them, at the same time, with means of remunerating the hospitality and kindness they might experience, in a way of surpassing bounty worthy of the King of Zion, in whose service they went forth. The seventy evangelists were subsequently sent out with a similar commission, and with equal endowments; and so enthusiastically did they prize the powers conferred on them, that they boasted, even the demons are subject unto us;' in reply to which, our Lord intimated the inferiority of mere miraculous gifts to the portion of the meanest child of God, though destitute of such extraordinary powers. Luke x. 19, 20. The whole of the narrative justifies the conclusion that these were, in both instances, special communications to certain individuals for a definite purpose: and perhaps this statement may be allowed, to its very limited extent, to remain undisputed. The words of our Lord, on a later occasion, however, have a more extensive application. Mark xvi. 17, 18. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.' These words form part of the more enlarged commission of our Lord to his eleven Apostles (ver. 14, 15), previous to his being taken up from them into heaven; and, to their almost fainting spirits, burdened with the thought of their Divine Master's personal withdrawment, and the arduous work which he was leaving them to accomplish by his promised aid, must have afforded a most cheering de velopment of his additional instruments and means that were about to be put into operation for the further propagation of the Gospel, and the establishment of his kingdom in the world. If we would rightly understand the mind of the Spirit in this, or any other passage of Holy Writ, we must not consider it as a detached, isolated fragment, but view it in its relations and consequent bearings on the subject of which it treats.

"Let us, then, proceed by a just rule of judgment, and not by the criterion of vague, popular notions, that may be afloat respecting it, to consider what was our Lord's meaning when he uttered this interesting declaration. The question, my dear reader, is not what you think about. it, nor what opinion respecting it the writer of these pages may entertain. Let us, therefore, enter on the subject in the spirit of that wisdom which is without partiality."

"These signs shall follow them that believe.' The turning point in this invesCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 350,

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tigation is, does this expression include every one that believeth, simply considered: or, every one that believeth, considered in reference to those of whom our Saviour was speaking, namely, the heralds whom he would appoint to the work of the ministry, through the preaching of the Apostles, and who were to be qualified for taking part in their labours, by the endowment of gifts that would enable them to work the signs following? Either it must mean every believer indiscriminately, and without exception; or every chosen herald of the apostolic age. The verse immediately preceding, He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned,' is, without doubt, susceptible of universal application, because, in these words, our Lord is declaring the effects that would result to every creature' from the reception or rejection of promulged mercy. If any one maintain that it is unjust and capricious to give to the verse under consideration a more restricted interpretation, and that it is equally capable of application to believers in all ages of the church, we are prepared to shew that the distinction is founded neither in caprice nor partiality, and for this reason: all human beings, considered merely as objects of Divine mercy, are alike; but all believers, as members of the church of Christ, are not alike. For, are all Apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?' Hence, the distinction between the universal application of the Gospel message in one verse, and the restricted application of gifts in the next, so far from being made to serve a point, is founded in truth, necessity, and the very nature of things. Not that we have the slightest prejudice against the most unlimited extension of these words, if it could be made to harmonize with fact; but is it not in that case absolutely essential to the verification. of the words, that every individual believer, in every age and nation, should work the signs referred to? But can it be affirmed that such ever has been, or is now the case? Rather, must we not be driven, by such an interpretation, to the inevitable conclusion, that not so much as a single believer has existed, since the middle of the second century, if we except the workers of miracles in the dark ages, with the modern Prince Hohenloe, and his contemporary pretenders in their train, unworthy though they are to bear away the palm of such an honourable appellation. But an absurdity so great, as that every individual believer is, or ought to be capable of exercising miraculous powers, never has, we believe, been maintained; and, therefore, consistency requires that the literal, unrestricted sense of the passage should be given up with manly ingenuousness.

"It is sometimes argued, indeed, (and

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very plausibly, because the position is partly true), that the absence of grace and gifts does not necessarily imply a purpose of God that it should be so, but is attributable to want of faith on the part of the church. The fact cannot be too much insisted on, that if supineness, indifference, and formality, abound in the church, the prevalent cause of these evils is to be found in the want, or weakness of faith; but as faith is the belief of a testimony, and cannot exist in the mind abstractedly, that is to say, without an object, it is manifestly wrong to cast censure on the church, for not believing that which never was presented to it as a matter of faith. Thus, when called upon to believe, that many of the first converts to Christianity cast out demons; spake with tongues; survived the deadly draught, administered by the hand of treachery and malice; we need not hesitate. There is well sustained testimony respecting these things, on which faith can rest with confidence. But, when we are told, that if the period be not actually arrived, it is, at least, fast approaching, when it will be as necessary for the Holy Ghost to make himself manifest to God's children by visible signs, as it was in the first ages of Christianity,' (Morning Watch); the mind refuses its assent to an assertion to which Divine authority gives no countenance. In conclusion, if it cannot be proved from other parts of the New Testament, that the supernatural gifts here spoken of are promised to all believers, or to some believers in all ages; and if, moreover, there is no warrant for the exercise of faith, respecting any purpose of God to continue such gifts in his church, there remains no alternative, but either to affix to this verse the less extended sense, or to substitute for faith the delusions of unbridled fancy.

"No little stress is laid upon the fact, that the New Testament contains so many directions about the manner of exercising spiritual gifts, and that the Apostle Paul has left an express exhortation to desire them (1 Cor. xiv. 1), together with some other advices of similar import. It cannot be matter of surprise, that, in an age when spiritual gifts were conferred, and when the ends they were to answer were so obviously important, there should be, in the writings of the Apostles, a few scattered notices and incitements, and even so much connected matter on the subject, as forms, in our division of the sacred books, two whole chapters of rules and observations. 1 Cor. xii. and xiv. These were designed to correct certain disorders which had crept into the church at Corinth, and to furnish laws in respect of gifts, for the government of that, and other existing churches, amongst which the occasional interchange of apostolic epistles (as Col. iv. 16) extended the benefit, and rendered it mutual. The incorporation of these laws into the canon of Scripture, at the

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very crisis when human wisdom would infer that the cessation of miraculous endowments must render them inapplicatory and fruitless, affords a striking proof how much the foolishness of God,' as blind misjudging mortals may term it, is wiser than men; and the weakness of God stronger than men.' For, it is worthy of remark, that a careful perusal and right understanding of one of the very sections of Divine truth to which we have referred, (1 Cor. xiv.) would at once stem the tide of some most egregious errors of the present day and if applicable now, why not at other periods? Let us take, for example, verses 6-13, which are so faithfully and happily paraphrased by Gilpin, in his Exposition of the New Testament, that we shall cite the passage, as the true sense of the original, in preference to giving it in our own words: If I neither make the revelation, nor the doctrine intelligible, what end does my speaking answer? If the trumpet give no distinction of sound, how shall the soldier be directed? Just so, if your discourse is no address to the understanding, what is its effect? God hath given the blessing of languages to mankind to communicate their sentiments: without this use, language is nothing. Let me then repeat what I said, that as you are zealous of your spiritual gifts, I would have you make them answer the great purpose for which they were intended-the edification of the church. Let none of you, therefore, speak in an unknown tongue, unless what he says is interpreted either by himself or others.' It would require no apology if we were to give the whole of this chapter, from the pen of so able, and judicious an expositor; but we must content ourselves with one other extract: verses 20-23. Be not then carried away, like children, by novelties; but, like men, use your understanding; and consider the end for which the gift of tongues was imparted. You remember the early prediction of this great gift, With other tongues and with other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet they will not hear.' To speak in an unknown tongue, therefore, you see, may be a miracle to convert unbelievers; but to those who believe, expounding is the proper application. Unknown languages, used incautiously, will discredit religion instead of aiding it. What, think you, would an unbeliever suppose, who should enter your assemblies, and find a person talking to the congregation in a language which none of them understood? would make him suppose, that you were rather mad than inspired.' If the words we have here quoted had just issued from the press, it would have been difficult to prove, that they were not devised and framed for the express purpose of putting to the blush such sentiments as those recently advanced. For instance: What proof is there that these sounds, or

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tongues, are really languages, spoken languages? I have no proof, and I ask no proof' Again; It does not appear from the history, whether the disciples themselves knew what they were saying.' (Gifts of the Spirit, p. 19.) But enough of this; for, really, when a writer can adduce such a text as 1 Cor. xiv. 10, There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them without signification,' to prove his opinion, that many tongues were spoken which were never interpreted,' while the speakers them selves, be it remembered, 'kuew not what they were saying-his reasoning appears so utterly devoid of common sense, that no power of interpretation, upon lucid principles, can enable any one to fathom

what he means.

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"All the evidence that can be gathered from the partial references made in the New Testament to the exercise of spiritual gifts, must fall far short of disproving the silence of Scripture as to any purpose of God to continue those gifts, and the consequent duty of the church to pray for and expect them. We hope it has been further shown, that there was much Divine wisdom in the perpetuating of instructions concerning them, even after the actual cessation of miracles, because those instructions are capable of practical and salutary influence by application to varied forms of error in all ages.

"And are there, then, no intimations in the New Testament of miracles to be expected? Yes; truly there are—and such as even now dawn upon our view, making every thoughtful mind inquire, with solemnity, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?' For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; and the Everyera havns of that

wicked' one is on the increase. 2 Thess.

ii. 7-12. Ignorance, like an unclean
'spirit, first went forth, and brooded over
centuries; then followed superstition :
and now infidelity is bringing up the rear.
For they are the spirits of devils, working
miracles: which go forth unto the kings of
the earth, and of the whole world, to ga-
ther them to the battle of that great day of
God Almighty.' Rev. xvi. 13, 14. It is
on this very serious ground that we depre-
cate so many minds being led away by
imaginary miracles; for it is easy to fore-
see how surreptitiously the spirit of infi-
delity, combined with human science, and
an acute perception of the springs of hu-
man action, may, ere long, avail itself of
popular religious notions respecting gifts
and miracles, to bring about that awful
apostacy, which, notwithstanding all its
evils, we have the consolation of knowing

shall be subordinated to the Divine
pur-
poses, and issue in the final triumph of the
church." pp. 71-97.

If this scriptural argument do not satisfy any reasonable person

that the word of God says nothing in favour of modern miraculous powers, we do not know what can, except it be further the author's marks of spuriousness that characterise modern miracles, and render them unworthy of credence; unless indeed persons can believe such strange things as Mr. Erskine, who gravely conceives that Homer had some idea of the mystery veiled in certain words being used in the New Testament in their original language, because that bard sings "This is its name among men, that among the immortals."

But though not to dilate, yet to explain, we must trespass on our readers a little longer; for so it is, that the paper in the Jewish Expositor reviewed in a former page, has been reprinted, with a dedication to the Bishop of London, and with the name of the author, the Rev. Thomas Boys, affixed to it. Now, to know the name of an author, and to know that he is a man to be esteemed, even if he should be in error on a particular point, very much tends to soften the asperities of controversy, though it ought not to weaken earnest contention for what each party considers truth. Besides, Mr. Boys in entering the episcopal presence has left the "cat in soak behind him, and written with good temper and no unkind spirit, save only what his argument required; as, for instance, that he should exhibit "the religious world," and in particular the religious journals, and, above all, the Christian Observer, which he describes by certain specific hints, though he names it not, as favourers of Neologism; and, as respects modern miracles, and the case of Miss Fancourt, opposers of the work of God. The foregoing extract (though it includes but a part of the whole case) will, we trust, be sufficient to shew him that there are not wanting arguments on the other side; and that

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