the salvation of others: that one who has never seen the danger and misery of a sinful state, nor been wounded with the terrors of the Lord, will faithfully represent the misery of this state, or be able to say with the apostle, knowing the terrors of the Lord we persuade men? That one who has never seen the glory and harmony of the Divine attributes appearing in the atonement made for sin, by the blood of Jesus, will make the way of pardon and acceptance with God, through the merrit of this great atonement, the grand subject of his preaching, and pathetically display the Divine Love, Grace and Mercy, for the encouragement of sinners, oppressed with a sense of guilt: no; it is most likely, that the tenor of his preaching will be to inculcate upon his hearers, a round of formal, dead sapless duties; without acquainting them with their guilt and misery, or insisting on the necessity of faith and regeneration; that their persons must first be accepted in the Beloved, before their works can be accepted; that the tree must be made good, before the fruit can be good.

Therefore as you regard the eternal welfare of your own souls, and of your dear posterity; the honor of Christ and of his kingdom among you; let me intreat you, not to be hasty in the choice of any man for your minister, before you are well satisfied that he is a regenerate man, and established in the belief of those doctrines which are according to godliness; as well as of a sober moral conversation and behaviour.

Particularly I would beseech you never to give your votes for any man, who does not fully assert and maintain in his preaching, the justification of sinners before God, by his free grace through the righteousness of Christ alone imputed to them that believe, without their own works. For I think it must appear to any one who has read the Scriptures with due attention, as plain as the light of the sun at noon day, that this is the grand cardinal point of the Christian Revelation, which principally distinguishes it from the religion of

nature.

I know this leading doctrine of revelation may be denied and perverted in such a sly, artful manner, as not to be readily perceived; unless we keep our eye fixed on the true apostolick doctrine of justification by faith.

The Scripture phrases which assert this great truth may be retained; while the sense in which the apostles used them is perverted and explained away.

As when some teachers tell us, that Christ died to make atonement for our sins, that is, as they explain their meaning, to atone for the imperfections of our obedience; and that our obedience, if it is sin

ceer, though imperfect, shall be accepted with God; and give us a title to his favour, as though it were perfect.

Or when others seem more fully to assert justification by faith; but when they come to explain what they mean by faith, we find they include in their notion of faith, obedience to all the Divine commands. So that when they say we are justified by faith, that which they intend, according to their own explanation is in reality this; that we are justified by faith as our own act, comprehending in it obedience to all the divine precepts, which is only saying in other words, that we are justified by our own works or obedience.

This is indeed a more artful, but not a less effectual method, of undermining the blessed gospel, than to maintain in direct terms, that we are justified in the sight of God, by our own work of right

eousness.

In opposition to all such soul ruining schemes, as tend to strengthen that natural principle in the human heart, by which men are led to seek Life by their own righteousness, we may observe the apostles in the most full and express terms assert the impossibility of any man living being justified in this way, however much he may endeavour to conform his life to the rule of righteousness. They exclude all works which a man can do, either before or after faith, having any part in his justification: ascribe it wholly to the free and sovereign grace of God, and the merrit of that perfect righteousness, which the Divine Redeemer hath fulfilled, in the stead of the guilty and miserable, and which is revealed in the gospel for the relief and encouragement of such.

To declare and publish this way of the justification of sinners by free grace through the Divine righteousness, was the spirit of the ministry of our blessed Lord, and his apostles; the leading design of their inspired writings; and in a word, the central point, in which all the lines of Revelation meet; with which all its peculiar doctrines, the universal guilt and corruption of humane nature, the justice of God in the condemnation of sinners, the necessity of a Divine Power to recover them from their dead and ruined state, to a Divine life; the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c., are closely and inseperably connected, so that he who believes this comfortable truth, must also hold those, or be grossly inconsistent. And he who denies this, must at the same time deny those, or be reduced to utter despair of ever obtaining Life by his own obedience.

For my own part I freely confess the persuasion of this truth in my view is so necessary to establish a well grounded Peace and Hope in the heart of a sinner, and to enable him to obey the commands of Christ in a right manner, that I should as soon choose a

Heathen Moralist for my teacher, as one who assumes the name of a minister of Jesus Christ, and yet leaves the doctrines of the cross, or the justification of sinners by free grace, through the merrit of that righteousness which is finished on the cross out of his preaching, or in effect renders it vain, by ascribing our acceptance with God, to our own endeavors and imperfect obedience, instead of his spotless righteousness.

Will any one think I am too warm and severe in my resentments against those who pervert the true gospel; what would they think if I should say, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that which is contained in the inspired writings of the apostles, and ye have received, let him be accursed. And to intimate that it was not spoken in a fit of intemperate zeal should repeat the dreadful anathema.

And if this precious comfortable truth that Christ died for the ungodly who are without strength, and that God is in Christ reconciling a guilty world to himself, through the atonement made for sin by his death: I say if this is the only hope of perishing sinners; can any censure be thought too severe for those who either deny this all important truth; or endeavour to hide it from the eyes of those who are perishing in their sins for the want of such a righteousness as the gospel reveals.

And if it is so important, can you be too much upon your guard against one who in his preaching either keeps it out of sight, and disguises his real sentiments respecting it, under dark ambiguous expressions or else who under a pretence of uncommon zeal for the gospel, leads his hearers to build their peace, comfort and hope on a Christ within them; on their affectionate zealous frames and feelings in religious duties, by which they are naturally inspired with a high opinion of their own extraordinary Piety and Holiness, and a contempt of others.

The only way of justification and acceptance with God, revealed in the gospel, is equally opposite to the hope of the legal hypocrite which is founded on his endeavors to obey the law, his prayers, temporance, sobriety, moral honesty, giving of alms and the like: and to the hope of the evangelical hypocrite, which is raised on the pious frames and feelings of his own heart. It leads sinners off from all dependance on any thing in themselves, to a Christ without them, revealed in the written Word; and to a perfect righteousness in him as the only ground of pardon and peace with God, and a good hope of eternal life.

I have thus freely expressed my sentiments on this point, because I think it of the last importance that a church of Christ should have

a principle regard to this, in choosing a man to be a Teacher of Righteousness; and I apprehend, no one who understands and loves the gospel, will be ready to condemn what I have written.

But if any should happen to see this letter, who find themselves condemned by it; who are more concerned to maintain the interest of a party, than the interest of truth; or to support some scheme of self righteousness which they are deeply in love with, it is highly probable they will be ready to insinuate that the writer's design is bad, in order to counteract the tendency of what is written. And it is not impossible they may go so far as to fix on some particular person as the author, of whom they may think you have conceived an ill opinion.

I am sensible it is nothing new or strange for such designing, self interested men, to take such methods to destroy the influence of those truths which are of the greatest concernment to mankind.

But I persuade my self, Brethren, that you are not ignorant of such devices; and that the truth will ever have a higher consideration with you than the opinions of any man living.

As I am not conscious of having any thing in view, but the interest of truth, you are quite welcom for my part to reject what I have written, if you find it is not calculated to serve this end. But before you reject it, I would ask the favour of you to search the Scriptures, to see whether these things are so.

Particularly I would recommend to your attentive perusal the 3rd, 4th and 5th chapters of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, the 2nd chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians from the 16th verse to the end, and the 2nd Epistle of John, from the 7th to the 12th verse, with other passages to the same purpose, which may occur to your remembrance.

You need not be curious to know who the writer of this letter is, but may believe that, if he is not greatly mistaken, he is one who wishes eternal happiness to his fellow men.

To signify which he subscribes himself yours,

Jan. 27, 1766.

PHILANTHROPOS.

BOSTON REVIEW.

VOL. IV. SEPTEMBER, 1864.-No. 23.

ARTICLE I.

THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

Is the Bible, in any peculiar sense, the Word of God? Can the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments, with propriety, be said to have proceeded directly from God? Are they a supernatural or extraordinary gift of God to the world, or are they merely the product of the human mind? In the estima tion of reflecting minds this is the question of questions.

To this point may be traced the divergent opinions and opposing theories that are entertained respecting the various subjects of which the Scriptures treat. Around this point are rallying the contending hosts of Christianity and infidelity. Here the decisive battle is to be fought. At the present time different classes of minds assume different attitudes in relation to this question. One class express their answer to it by a bold emphatic negative. They insist upon the impropriety of applying to the Bible the title, The Word of God. They place the Scriptures upon a level with books acknowledged to be uninspired, and deny to them the office of supreme arbiter in matters of faith and practice. Another class of minds, a large and influential class, stand in an equivocal position. If they answer the question in the affirmative, they do so by the utterance of a timid, qualified assent, indicative of half belief. But it is more likely they will decline a direct answer, and their only response will be a sigh or a lamentation, as much as to say, "Alas! for