where the "word of it" is unknown; that while that word is only somewhere, the Holy Spirit is everywhere, giving a measure of light to every man who cometh into the world, thus making salvation from hell possible, where salvation into the peculiar and special glories of the "Body of Christ" is not attainable. We do not utter this dogmatically, but venture to state it as a subject for inquiry, that this hint may possibly do something towards solving the problem of eternal election by shewing that, while the Eternal Father has appointed no man unto wrath, but made his escape therefrom dependent upon his fidelity to the light which he causes to shine into his conscience, he has to the "Body, the Church," whose destiny it is to "make known to principalities and powers, in the ages to come, what is the exceeding riches of his grace to usward," reserved to himself the sovereign right of selection and appointment.

Beginning our criticism at the point at which Divine light enters a sinner's heart, we differ from Mr. Philpot only on one matter. Admitting that the work of conversion is in all cases begun by the Holy Spirit; that man is aroused or constrained to turn his attention to those things which make for his peace,—sometimes in a way resembling the thunder-storm, at others, like the gentle shower of a May-day,-- without previous intimation having been given, or his consent sought, or desire consulted, yet in most cases the power is other than invincible. This is what Mr. P. will not admit. But it is true, nevertheless. Man is conscious that he may resist the Holy Ghost. We have all done so times without number. Often there is a long space between the entrance of light and feeling into the heart, and a state of reconciliation with God; and that time is mostly one of struggle, conflict, resistings and yieldings. In some cases resistance is continued. And though the Divine One waits long to be gracious; though he says, "hear my voice, and harden not your hearts;" though the visited one is urged to "yield himself to God," and though in the eleventh hour mercy is sometimes secured, yet in some cases the sinner holds out, grieves away the Spirit of God, and having hardened his heart through his resistance of many reproofs, he is "suddenly destroyed." In this lies our chief difference with Mr. Philpot. He claims for grace invincibility and ultimate conquest; observing, let a heart be but once visited by the quickening power of the Holy Ghost, and though years of folly and sin may succeed that one visit, the soul is certain of eternal life. This utterance may be the logical conclusion from eternal election premises, but we really know not in what part of the Bible we can look for a plain proof of such a sentiment; and we are furthermore strongly of opinion, that such a conclusion is the best refutation of the principles from which it is drawn. Doubtless there are instances of men being so

distressed, appalled, condemned, and crushed, by the workings of conviction, as from the first to have no wish but to secure the light and liberty of the children of God. From the first they are spoiled for the world and sin. The thought of returning to their old habits enters not their minds: to get peace with God and be holy is their fixed resolve. It is not so with others. They have terrible struggles with satan and sin. Though convinced like the former, they yet seem to be placed, so to speak, on their trial, to be left to choose between life and death, the blessed Spirit wooing and beseeching them to be reconciled unto God, to escape for their lives. Many, alas! go back. The morning cloud vanishes, the early dew evaporates. Hundreds can testify to the truth of this. And unless we admit the figment of common and special grace; calls which are purposely abortive and calls purposely effectual-a theory put forth by some Calvinian writers, but not met with, that we know of, in the sermons before us, nor in those of others of this class-then it is demonstrated that man has the terrible power invested in him of resisting to his damnation the gracious calls of the Spirit of God.

We have another fault to find with the theology of Mr. Philpot. Denying even saved man the least power of a spiritual kind; keeping him from first to last like clay in the hands of the potter; he makes it out that many are doomed to travel all the way from the cross to the crown, burdened with their guilt and depravity, sighing and groaning for hope, peace, and assurance, and only securing comfort when they appear before God in Zion! Others are made to carry their native corruptions with them to the grave, "dethroned," it is admitted, but not cast out, nor even lessened! How strange does the following description of Christian experience sound in Methodistic ears:"He (the Christian) seems always working and counter-working, doing and undoing, fighting and yielding; raging with inward passions and softened with contrition; diving into all the pollution of a fallen nature, and rising up into the presence of a holy God; hating sin and loving it; longing after the vilest iniquities, and pained at an idle word; feeding upon the filthiest garbage, and eating manna; revelling in a train of past sins and abhorring himself as the vilest monster that crawls upon the earth. At times he feels earnestly desirous never to sin more, and would fain be as holy as an angel; at other times he feels as if the sins of thousands were pent up in his bosom, and as if his vile heart could lie down and wallow in all the abominations which have ever been conceived by the mind, uttered by the lips, or acted by the hand of man." (Vide "Heir of Heaven walking in darkness," pp. 28, 29.) This is a strange picture of a gracious heart to exhibit before a public audience, or to send from the press. Can it be true? Do any really gracious souls,

men regenerated and sealed by the Holy Spirit, feel as is here described? Can it be that one who is created anew in Christ Jesus feeds even in imagination (for it is heart-work that the preacher describes) on the filthiest garbage, and revels in a train of past sins? We believe it cannot be so with one who is filled with all the fulness of God, and who walks in the liberty of God's dear children. But we fear that few who sit under a ministry which deals in such teaching ever rise above what may properly be called a state of conviction; for, believing that they can do nothing whatever to promote growth in grace, designating the Methodistic use of the means, public and private, as "Arminian lumber," and waiting passively God's time to give them light and strength and liberty, it is no wonder they should remain the miserable victims of the carnal mind.

A sad use is made by this class of teachers of the seventh chapter of Romans. Overlooking the fact that Paul gives, in the first eight chapters of that Letter, a perfect and connected history of redemption--both of "price and power;" beginning with man's helplessness, legal and moral; going to the enlightening and quickening process, as described in the seventh chapter, and culminating with the soul's exultation in its attainment of deliverance, peace, purity, protection, and eternal life, as set forth in the eighth; the said seventh chapter is made into a description of Christian experience all through life; and the child of grace is called upon to regard himself as a veritable Christian only when his experience resembles that therein described. Would that his attention were drawn more to the eighth chapter than to the seventh! We have no personal knowledge of Mr. Philpot, nor of the churches to which he ministers; but we are bold enough to affirm that both he and his churches would be happier and more useful Christians did they but see that "strengthened by Christ they could do all things;" that it is their privilege to walk in newness of life, being filled with all joy and peace through believing; and that, being rooted and grounded in love, they might be saved from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. We can easily conceive of one who is renewed in the spirit of his mind, a new creature in Christ Jesus, and having a heavenly mind, being plagued and pestered with the body of sin and death which, in this life, he inhabits; and having every form of evil and impurity presented to his view, and pressed upon his acceptance by the enemy without him, thus being in heaviness through manifold temptations for a season; but that the mind can be at once carnal and spiritual, holy and unholy, loving and hating sin, is a creed we have no means of understanding, nor have we any particular wish to be able to do so. Glad we are that we know something about being

dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God; and from experience we know how faith, hope, patience, and every other attribute of the new man, can be tried without making it needful that we must have seasons in which we feel as if all the sins that ever were conceived by the mind, uttered by the lips, and acted in the life of man, could be wallowed in.

Except on these two points, the resistibility of the Holy Ghost and the existence of the carnal mind in the regenerated, there is no difference between the experimental theology of Wesley and of Philpot. Both men are widely removed from the theology of Mr. Kirk. Both men place salvation in the hands of the Holy Spirit, regard the action of that Spirit on the mind and heart as of essential importance; make believing with the heart the only believing that can bring after it or along with it the blessing of the Lord; define repentance as the yearnings, sighings, groanings, relentings, upbraidings, and consecrations of a quickened soul; make christian experience the only true index to the reality of faith and to the soul's standing before God: both reprobate the rationalistic sentiment that sanctification is keeping the ten commandments, and regard it as partaking of the Divine nature, just as the branch participates the nature of the vine into which it is grafted. Arminius and Calvin were not so far apart as many modern preachers seem to believe: they were at a point on what constitutes true religion, and on the agency of the Holy Ghost. On these points, which are the only vital ones in the controversy, Wesley and Philpot are agreed; and there is not a Methodist preacher in the land-except he be false to the creed of his church -who does not affirm the positive depravity and guilt of the human heart, the need of the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, and its witnessing, comforting, upholding, and guiding agency, through the sorrows, dangers, and sins of this life. Philpot's discourses, abounding with sentiments in harmony with these views, cannot fail to warm, and melt, and comfort, the devout Methodist reader. We ourselves owe Mr. P. a debt of gratitude. We have in reading them got many a lucious grape from the vines of Eschol; many a draught of cooling water from the wells in Baca; and basking in the beams of a glorified Christ, as delineated by his pen, we have exciaimed-"It is good to be here." With one extract, shewing the ease and fluency of his style, and the rich piety of his sentiments, we close our criticism and our article: "The faith of which I have been speaking never perishes like gold. The hottest flame cannot destroy it, nor does it perish by use, for the more it is used the stronger it is, nor does it perish at death, though then it is turned into sight. If faith could fail then, all must fail, for the life which we live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God; so, could the faith fail, the life would

Mr.

fail also, and the loss of life would be the loss of the soul. By faith we come to God, by faith we believe the promises, receive the truth, embrace his salvation in and by the Son of his love. By faith we stand, by faith we walk, by faith we fight, by faith we overcome; so that if faith could fail there would be no standing in the truth, no walking with God, no fighting the good fight, and in the end no victory. At the glorious appearing of the Son of God a second time without sin unto salvation, our faith, if, indeed, it be the gift and grace of God, and is a faith which has stood every storm, every trial, and passed uninjured through every furnace, will be found unto praise and honour and glory.

*

* *

Is there not a glorious crown in view, and shall we not press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus? Is it not far better for you to be a poor, despised, afflicted, tempted saint of God, with the faith of God's elect in your heart, and the kingdom of grace in your breast, pressing and struggling on through a sea of difficulties to reach the heavenly shore, and to take possession of this glorious inheritance, than enjoy all that the world could lay at your feet? O how far richer does such a faith make us than if worlds were ours. Broad lands, ample fields, beautiful gardens, noble houses, and a splendid income, all that money can give or the heart can desire, what are they all compared with this glorious inheritance; and any testimony, however feeble, if it be but real, of a manifested interest in it?"-Vide, The Precious Trial of Faith, pp. 22-4.

J. S.

ART. IV.--ETERNITY OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT.*

IN every age thinking men have been anxious to ascertain the

knowledge of their future existence. This solicitude is manifested in the purest and noblest conceptions of the most distinguished sages of antiquity. The Father of mercies has graciously sympathised with this deep felt want of his offspring, and has given them a revelation of the world to come. He has told them that their future well-being or ill-being depends on their present conduct.

Substance of an Essay read at Darlaston, in April, 1867, at the Second Session of the Literary Association of the Tunstall District.