EPISTLES TO THEOPHILUS.

LETTER XXIII.

I NOW, most excellent Theophilus, proceed to set before you the character of the prophet spoken of in Acts iii. I will set before you his mediatorial and legislative departments.

You will in Deut. xviii. 15, 16, see that one of the liknesses of this Prophet unto Moses

Such

Such a porter knows both the Shepherd and the sheep too; he knows the several gates connected with the one door by which the true Shepherd comes into the sheepfold. Such a porter, such a minister, will open the gates of discriminating grace, the gates of difficult experiences; and by all these, as connected with the substitutional work of the Saviour, the Shepherd enters the sheepfold, and causes his sheep to lie down in green pastures, and to be refreshed by the still waters.

And then, here is the law of attraction"He putteth forth his own sheep, and he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." So, then, if he put them forth into freedom, they cannot put themselves forth; and if he go before them, then they must go his pace, at least they cannot go on faster than he is pleased to lead them. they follow him;" then they refuse to be led by any other; yea, to their honor it is written, that a stranger will they not follow;" but they follow Jesus, for "they know his voice,his voice is his truth, and this truth they know, and the truth it is that makes them free.

"And

God had was his mediatorial character. spoken to the people out of the midst of the fire, "And I, (saith Moses, Deut. v. 5,) stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord, for ye were afraid, and went not up into the mount.' And as it was then outwardly and literally, so it is inwardly and spiritually, the need of a mediator is no where truly felt but where God has spoken in judgment to the conscience. then see, that their sins have lighted a fire unquenchable against them-that the thunder bolts of heaven must overtake them-that there is a bottomless pit to receive and shut her mouth upon them, and that they cannot be saved unless this fire be quenched, these And then here is the law of our coming unto thunder-bolts stayed, and this bottomless pit, him: "I am (saith the Lord,) the door; by me this great gulph forded: none of which things if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall could Moses or any mere man do. And what, go in and out and find pasture." This, my my good Theophilus, could you do in this good Theophilus, is the door of faith, we enter matter, if you could now acquire all the holi- by believing his blessed truth; it is a door of ness and creature-perfection the law originally hope, a hope both sure and steadfast; it is the demanded ? Even then, what would you do door of heaven; it is a door which no man can with your fall in Adam? What would you do shut, and yet by it we are divinely shut in with sins already done and cannot be undone? from an ungodly world, from the power of Here you see and feel that you are stopped: satan, from death, from condemnation, from you can say nothing, you can do nothing; but the wrath to come; the Lord shut him in, and you see Jesus who hath done all for you, but he was safe. And yet by this door we come here you were stopped again with this ques-in, not only to the mercy-seat, but also into tion, Was it for you that he died? You have learned also, that there is "a set time to favor Zion," and you had to wait for this set time, and still have to wait for the "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord."

But you know something of this heavenly Prophet, not in his mediatorial character only, but also in his legislative character: take the tenth of John as a sample of the same: we have here (John x.) the law of his coming unto his own sheep; the law also of a right-minded minister; the law of attraction; and then we have the law of our coming unto him; the law of his goodness, and our eternal life,-"he that entereth by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep." Now, what is this door but his own mediatorial work, his own life and death? This is the way in which he came to us; and we could be reached in no other way, for we were gone astray to the uttermost penalty of the law; he, therefore, went to the end preceptively and penally of the law, "to redeem us who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

"And to him the porter openeth." Then it must be a porter who knows the true Shep; herd; and if the porter mean a true gospel minister, then I am sure such will bring, or admit, into the sheepfold none but the true Shepherd; as such a porter, or door-keeper, as the word means, well knows that, None but Jesus,

Can do helpless sinners good."

the promised land flowing with milk and honey. Therefore, when it is said, we are to "go in and out and find pasture," we are not to understand that we go out the same way that we came in: no! for this would be to go back again to Egypt and Sinai. Now, just notice, here is, first, by him as the door entering into the land of safety-" by me if any man enter in," he shall be safe; and then when once brought into the land of safety, then he is to go into the mercy-seat at the temple; and then into the land round about, that is, the promised land, and find pasture. So that we are to feed and to live upon the fair and fat lands of God, our good Father, who gave us his Son to be our Shepherd.

And here is also the law of his goodness, "he gave his life for the sheep." Why, if he had given the universe for them, it could not have been a price like this: is it any wonder that from a law of goodness like this should flow a law of certain and eternal life?

Thus, my good Theophilus, you know something of this Prophet, both in mediation and legislation; the laws he hath for his own are laws of life, and protection, of love, of prosperity, and eternal glory; and how did you come to him? was it by a duty-faith-by an effort of nature? because, if so, your religion is not the work of God, but it is of yourself; and being of man, it will come to nought. And was it your duty savingly to believe in Jesus Christ-your duty to believe you were

one of his, when you were dead in tresspasses and sins? If so, then it was your duty to believe a lie; for you would have believed you were a Christian, when you were not a Christian. Believe the Word of God you did, and lived conscientiously; and so far you did that which it was your duty to do, as a rational and responsible being; but you were brought to see that if you had died in such a mere natural faith as that, you must have been lost; and though many with this mere natural faith take a place among the people of God, and call themselves Christians, yet they do not receive the love of the truth; they acknowledge the truth in part, but they follow a yea and nay gospel, which the apostle Paul would not have received-no, not from an angel from heaven. The spirit of discriminating truth is what they call a bad, uncharitable spirit; so it is clear that blindness, in part, is happened unto them; and the Holy Ghost says of such, (Acts iii. 23), that "they shall be destroyed from among the people.' They are to be broken off as unbelievers; for though they believe the letter of the Word, they are not awakened by the new covenant ministry of the Spirit; and being in the flesh, they may please themselves, but they cannot please God; and thus the Jews, while they professed to be the people of God, did not receive the love of his truth; thereby proving that they possessed not the Spirit of God; and therefore proving by their unbelief they were not of the true seed of Abraham. They were broken off; but was it ever their duty savingly to believe in Christ? As I said in my last to you, I say now-it is mere mockery upon the misery of man so to say; and as to some celebrated but uninspired men having contended for this duty-faith, what, my good Theophilus, have you to do with that? Luther believed in consubstantiation; but that is no authority for us; Mr. Huntington was not a Baptist; but that is no guide for us. We must not be followers of men, but of God; and if some men have, in spite of the errors they have held, been great and useful men, that is no argument for error. We see their errors-let us avoid them; while those who come after us, having more life, and experience, and light than we have, will no doubt see a few motes in our eyes, though we do not ourselves see

them.

But as you have obtained mercy, you, I am sure, wish rightly to understand the Holy Scriptures, and to honor the Word of God, and glorify the God of the Scriptures; and over so fair a beauty as is the Morning Star, you would not wilfully bring a cloud, nor bring a law of bondage into the land of liberty; you will therefore ever wish rightly to divide the Word of truth, and ever wish so to speak and so to do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

best policy would be to follow them, as they had now ceased to follow him; and so Simon professionally believed, and he was also baptised-not with any sense of his state as a sinner before God, but with a view of carrying out other objects; he therefore watched his opportunity, and went on wondering at the miracles wrought by Philip. Now he knew that he was acting hypocritically and wickedly; he knew that his object was to turn the gospel into a means of mere worldly traffic, and would, if he could, have drawn Peter into the same spirit with himself; but when he offered them money to get them to betray their trust, or to deal unfaithfully with the same, he met with a just rebuke, and exhortation to desist from such a course, to repent thereof, and pray God if perhaps such a wicked attempt may be forgiven him-that is, that the same judgment may not overtake him that overtook Judas, Ananias, and Sapphira. This is the kind of forgiveness here spoken of; and so Simon himself understood it, and therefore said, "Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things of which ye have spoken come upon me.' But what in the world has this to do with matters that are spiritual? Why, the repentance here exhorted to is nothing more than that repentance of reformation which the Ninevites humbled themselves to; and so because Simon Magus was rebuked for what he knew to be wrong, and exhorted to pray that he may not there and then be cut down by the judgment of God, so this is to be an authority for exhorting all men savingly to believe in Jesus Christ. Stupendous logic! But, my good Theophilus, you have not so learned Christ as this, to confound the new covenant work of the Holy Ghost with the moral capabilities and responsibilities of man.

Peter, therefore, appealed to Simon Magus, not as a quickened sinner, but as a rational, responsible being. Peter did not appeal to capabilities which Simon Magus did not possess, but only to those natural powers of conscience and of reason which he did possess.

Hence

But while some are appealed to, like Belshazzar, upon this ground of human responsi bility, others are appealed to and exhorted, as I have shewn in my 18th letter to you, on the ground of the profession they make. in John xii. 35, 36. Now the people there spoken of were professed people of God; they were Jews, and held that God was their Father; and they were even enquiring after the meaning of the Scriptures, and said to the Saviour, "We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever; and how sayest thou, the Son of Man shall be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man ?" Well, now, on the ground of the profession they made, He said to them, "While ye have the light! Believe in the light, that you may be the children of light." You will therefore know how to account for As though he should say, You profess to be those exhortations which men bring forward children of Abraham, and therefore in contrast to advocate the doctrine of duty-faith-gene- to the Gentile children of darkness; you proral invitation; such, for instance, as Simon fess to be the children of light; but to make Magus. This man lost, through the preaching your profession good, and to become in reality of the gospel by Philip, his followers. Simon the children of light, you must believe in the thus, having lost his followers, thought his light. Though the Saviour knew what they

were in reality, yet he takes them on this | man preached, replied, 'He preached so that occasion, on the profession they make. Hence said the apostle to the Ephesians, "Ye were sometimes darkness; but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light." So these Jews, they professed to be children of light, and were, on the ground of this their profession, exhorted to make their profession good. This is in accordance with the apostle's rule "warning every man.' That is, every one to whom he was then writing, and knowing the terrors of the Lord which must overtake deluded professors, he persuaded men professing godliness to examine themselves, whether they be in the faith. Thus you will be able to understand these Scriptures much better without a yea and nay gospel, than

with it.

I cannot say everything to you in the space of one or two letters; and there are yet three or four more strongholds of duty-faith which I have not yet touched; but we hope before we close to demolish the whole. These yea and nay Jebusites are already somewhat disturbed, but still they are not yet discouraged; for they still think that the weakest among them is too much for us; and so they are still boasting, saying, 'Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither thinking, David cannot come in hither." 2 Sam. v. 6. But David did come in hither; and I am sure a seeing gospel ought to overcome a blind gospel; and a gospel whose legs are equal, certainly ought to overcome a gospel whose legs are not equal; for though a poor lame believer takes the prey, yet a lame gospel does not take the prey; Let us "patch up no inglorious peace;" but still go on by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left, meaning harm to none, but good to all. Such is the sincere and humble aim of A LITTLE ONE.

he made me ashamed of myself, 1 thought I
could never attempt to preach again. Such a
ministry must be blessed.' There are some
weighty sentences I have often heard drop
from his lips, like apples of gold in pictures
of silver.' Some of them I shall never forget.
At one time, he said, 'I have known what
it is to be despised for an unlearned ministry,
but I may hope, God has honoured me, one
brought up from the lowest grade, of poverty,
I mean;' and I could almost imagine I hear
the deep tones of his voice exclaiming,
'There's a vast difference between ancient
and modern divinity. Old divinity is like
Thames Street,-close, no finery, no play-
things, yet full of wealth. Modern, is like
Cheapside, what pictures, what toys, what
elegant trifles! but enter, how empty the
place! Whatever is new in divinity is false;
stand ye in the good old way.""

T."However unlearned he may have been in classical lore, he appears to be well educated in the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and taught in the same school with Peter and John; methinks he would have made a very efficient tutor to some of our modern preachers had they attended his lectures.

Mark

Do you know any thing of his latter end, and of his dying experience? I do not ask as though his Christian or ministerial character required to be established by a death-bed testimony, but I desire to the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.' It sweetly confirms our faith and hope in Jehovah's faithfulness, to know that when flesh and heart fails, he is the strength of our heart and portion for ever."

M.-"Your remark reminds me of the excellent Newton when he was asked how a certain Christian died? replied, 'Never mind how he died, ask me how he lived: and I could tell you he lived a life of faith in Christ,

CONVERSATIONS BY THE WAY. of dependence upon him, and devotedness to

No. III.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN TYRO AND MENTOR.

TYRO.-"You was telling me the other day of some of the valiant men in Israel who did exploits and now rest from their labours having overcome through the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony-Did you know Boanerges ?'"

MENTOR.-"Yes, and loved him too, for his work's sake, he was a bold, decided man for God and truth, and an able minister of the New Testament. The grand theme of his powerful ministry was just this, it is God that justifieth;' like the great German divine Martin Luther, (to whose portly, hardy, honest face, his countenance bore a striking resemblance,) he was always at home on this cardinal subject, justification in the sight of God. Thousands flocked to hear the word of life from his warm lips, and the largest chapels in London were crowded to excess when he annually visited the capital, while he was but young in the ministry. Good old Matthew heard him down the principality, and on being asked how the Welsh

him, for him to live was Christ, and therefore
to die-when, where, and how he may, must
be eternal gain.' But I am glad to be able
to inform you that the last end of Boanerges
was peace: he left behind him a blessed
testimony to the truth he so long and so suc-
cessfully preached; one who visited him
says, 'He was evidently suffering much when
I entered his chamber, when he lay down,
he was distressed by a heavy oppression on
his chest, and on sitting up, he suffered ex-
tremely from pains in his legs, so that he
could get no rest. There I am (said he) a
burden to myself, and trouble to others,
I have not served my blessed Master with
that zeal and devotion I ought, but I go to
the fountain opened for uncleanness, that is
all my trust. I hear of reward, ah! I shall
know what to do with it, the moment I get
my crown, I will cast myself, crown and all
at his feet and sing, thou art worthy to
receive honor and glory.'

An eminent minister, who still survives him, said, 'On my last visit, I saw that he was going, and did not wish to trouble him much, but I put it to him seriously in the full prospect of death, to give me the exact

state of his mind; I may survive you, my brother, and have to tell whether the truths you have preached was able to support you in these moments, let me know exactly what you feel, for these moments are too solemn for hesitation, vagueness, or reserve; tell me, dear sir, all as briefly as possible, and I will disturb you no more. I saw him touched, his full form was shrunken by his long continued malady and confinement, his swollen limbs (punctured to prevent inflamation) gave him great pain, blouched was his cheek, and sunken his eye, but this appeal to the honour of his religion roused him, it freshened up his dying lamp, his colour returned, his evened the sacred scriptures, and the various ages was lit up with animation, and raising himself, he looked me full in the face, and with great deliberation, energy, and dignity uttered this sentence, Christ in his person, Christ in his offices, Christ in the love of his heart, and Christ in the power of his arm, is the rock on which I rest. AND NOW DEATH! STRIKE!' and reclined his head gently on his pillow. These words were not lost in empty air, they entered the tablet of my memory and have remained fixed.'

T." Such a glorious dying testimony is invaluable, and serves to confirm one's mind in the faith of the gospel, that we have not followed cunningly devised fables, and inspires us with a good hope to say, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!"

M." It does indeed my brother. But this great man in Israel had to endure hardness, and a great fight of afflictions as a good soldier of the cross. In his day, the heresy of free will and human merit had spread its baneful influence, infecting our pulpits far and near. The ministry of Boanerges was mighty through God to the pulling down of these strongholds of Arminianism. Many were the scurrilous squibs hurled at him-the Wesleyans even composed a song in which they lampooned him and held him up to public derision, and not the least form of annoyance he encour tered was anonymous letters filled with wilful misrepresentations and abuse of his character and ministry, but having on the helmet of salvation, his head was covered in the day of battle, while the breastplate of righteousness protected him, and the shield of faith encompassed him round about. For many years he was spared to "put to silence the ignorance of foolishness," he lived and preached down all opposition. No weapon formed against him prospered, and every tongue that rose up against him he condemned, "His witness was in heaven, and his record was on high."

T.-"Speaking of anonymous letters, what do you think of that form of writing? Here are many good men who adopt that mode for communicating their views of truth, but there's some whose motives are not so pure who suppress their names when they have any cavilling objections to make against the ministry or writings of public men, and sometimes when they bring grave charges against their character."

M.-"I must confess Tyro, that I am not at all enamoured with anonymous writings in any form. I do like every thing above ground

that all may see. I like to know with whom I am reading as well as what I read, and to see in whose company I am when one is speaking to me. Certainly there's a mighty difference in those you mention-if good men write and publish their thoughts on subjects that benefit the church and instruct mankind, yet choose to withold their names or assume an anonymous signature, of course they have perfect liberty to do so, and no one has a right to complain, because no one is injured thereby. But I have the same right to state my preference of seeing the author's name attached. When I think of the many writers who penin which they lived, those "holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," I find every part assigned to them endorsed with the writer s own proper name, Moses is the penman of the first five books; Job, David and Solomon affix their names to the poetical books, and the prophetical portions all bear the wri'er's name most distinct and legible from Isaiah to Malachi, so in the New Testament, the gospels and each of the epistles are distinctly signed with the proper name of each divine penman. This was no doubt the result of infinite wisdom and proves to every reflecting mind there could be no pre-concerted plan nor any design on their part to palm upon mankind a "cunningly devised fable:"

Whence but from heaven could men unskilled
in arts

In distant ages born-in various parts
Weave such agreeing truths? or how or why
Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie?

But when an anonymous scribbler starts from his hiding-place, and surprises you with his bluster, blunder, and falsehood, or perhaps, with some grave charge, attacks one's charac ter - I feel at a loss for words strong enough to express my utter detestation and contempt of such base cruelty and cowardice. I can compare it to nothing better than the attack of an assassin, who skulks behind, and stabs you in the dark; you can not tell who nor where he is, but he has plunged his dagger in your heart, and you can not help yourself. It is the treachery and hypocrisy of Joab towards Amasa, whom he took by the beard, Art thou in under pretence of saluting with health, my brother?" and stabbed him under the fifth rib; or like Judas saying, "Hail Master!" and kissing the Saviour, betrayed him into the hands of sinners.

I have myself received many anonymous scrawls in my day, from different parts of the kingdom; at first, they used to annoy me adly, but having got older, I manage the thing easier now: generally, I have burnt the redoubtable writings, but sometimes, opportu nity has been afforded me to use the anonymous document to advantage, and with liberal interest to its invisible author, according to that saying of the wise man, Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit."

66

T.-Some few months back, an old acquaintance of mine was favoured with such a letter: the nameless correspondent finds fault with