sanctification, the great change which takes place in every one who experiences" a new birth unto righteousness," he says, "Regeneration, then, or as it is sometimes termed the new creation, being the commencement of sanctification; if sanctification be essentially necessary to qualify fallen man for the presence of God, as the text (Heb. xii. 14,) expressly asserts it to be, regeneration must of course be equally necessary, because sanctification clearly cannot exist at all without commencing to exist. Hence, while the apostle of Christ exhorts us to follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord; Christ himself declares, that except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The one speaks of the progress of the Divine life; the other speaks of its commencement: the one enforces what is styled in Scripture a growth in grace; the other urges the necessity of a first implantation of the holy principle. But the drift is still, in both cases, precisely the same: without a life of holiness no man can see the Lord; but a spiritual new birth is just as necessary for the existence of such a life, as a natural birth is necessary for the existence of natural life. Holiness is an indispensable qualification for heaven and as we are not holy by nature, as we are born in sin and the children of wrath; the very admission of the doctrine of original depravity requires and supposes the doctrine of regeneration, in order to our being made fit for the inheritance of the glorified saints." (p. 121, 122.) : Here we would take the liberty to observe, that our views of Mr. Faber's piety, learning, and good sense, are such as lead us to expect, that on a more careful examination of Rom. vii. 22, 23, &c. he will not consider what the apostle says there as descriptive of either his own state, when he wrote that epistle, or indeed of that of any man in whom holiness is a prevailing principle. SIR, (To be continued.) To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine. THE great spread of Infidelity and Scepticism in general, and of Unitarianism in particular, loudly and imperatively demands, that, laying aside all party animosity and religious differences, every individual should, without any regard to person, come forward and throw in his mite of effort towards stemming a torrent fraught with eternal destruction to those who have the weakness to be borne down by it. The mistake seems to be universal, that, under the protection of the toleration act, a man may publicly broach whatever hete rodox sentiments he sees fit, with the most perfect impunity. is meet, however, that such characters should know, that tolera It tion has, as it ought to have, its due limits; if not, it is easy to foresee, that, under the same protection, altars may once more be erected to Baal, and "defenders of the faith" may stand foremost in the number of those, who sanction them! It is certainly to be ranked amongst the many awful signs of Christ's second coming, not only that iniquity, and the apostasy predicted as consequent upon it, so greatly abounds, but that we find a Peer of Great Britain advocating the cause of Unitarianism! whilst, in the House of Commons, no small number are promoting the empire of the beast, and declaring, that "the Roman Catholic religion," otherwise, that the worshipping of angels, "is not idolatry!" I, for one, do (yet without arrogating to myself the least claim to dictate to others, as competent to judge as myself,) protest against all such overweening liberality of sentiment, and religious toleration, as this; although I am as much an enemy to religious persecution, as any one can be. Concessions, like these, may be deemed adviseable in a political point of view; but, if we trust to any such broken reeds, let us beware, lest they break in our hands, and pierce us; when "the strength of Pharaoh may be our shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt our confusion;" for, it may be laid down as the sure word of prophecy, that whoso preferreth the honour of God to the will of man, him will God honour; but whosoever despiseth him shall be lightly esteemed. I am, Sir, your most obedient, J. P. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF HUMAN REASON TO COMPREHEND DIVINE MYSTERIES. To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine. DEAR SIR, I HAVE been taught to believe that light is co-existent with the sun, that animal motion is co-existent with life, that heat is co-existent with fire, that solidity is co-existent with matter, that fluidity is co-existent with liquids, and that the everlasting Father has a Son co-existent with himself. But, Sir, I have not now the presumption to attempt to judge of the essence of God, or to describe his mode of existence; or how the Spirit of God, in a physical point of view, operates on the spirits of men. The conflict between my vanity and ignorance has been great, but I do assure you, Sir, that my ignorance has triumphed over my pride. The presumption of my mind would have led me to comprehend all the works of nature, to penetrate into the secrets of eternity, to foretel future events, to murmur at some acts of God's govern ment, to ask what reason or justice there was in the destruction of millions of infants in the ante-deluvian world, as well as in the destruction of the children of Korah and his factious company; and what equity was found in favouring one people with a revelation, while the far greater part of the world was suffered to remain in heathenish darkness. But, Sir, my vanity has been justly and severely punished by a consciousness of my own ignorance. Upon examination I cannot tell how the grass grows in the field, how the green grass becomes, after being devoured by the lowing herds, red blood, white milk, soft flesh, hard bone, rough skin; or by what means it is converted into long wool upon the sheep; strong bristles upon the wild boar of the forest, or coarse hair upon the horses' mane. My ignorance is likewise so great, that I cannot even tell how the dirty flower roots in the garden produce flowers with five or six different colours in each; or how it is that another root, within a few inches of the former, having all the same advantages from the earth, the air, and the sun, produces a rose all of one colour. My ignorance, Sir, almost confounded me, when I found I could not comprehend how the flowers diffused different odours through the surrounding atmosphere; or how ingrafted branches, when partaking of life from the same root, can produce five or six kinds of fruit, each kind differing in flavour. I cannot even tell how one grain becomes 20, 60, or 100; how it vegetates in the earth; how earth, air, and water, its component parts, could assume such a form and consistence. I am likewise at a loss to account for the usefulness of 400 kinds of beasts, 600 kinds of birds, 4000 kinds of fishes, and 8000 species of insects, of whose existence we are informed by naturalists. But, perhaps, Sir, you will be astonished at my ignorance when I assure you that, though I believe I have a soul, an immaterial and immortal spirit, that I do not know what a spirit is, or how it is united to my body; or what form it will assume when divested of the material part; whether my soul was created before the foundation of the world; or in the six days' labour of the Almighty; or created when it was wanted; or whether I received it immediately from God or from my parents; if from them, and they were learned and wise, I cannot tell how it is that they did not communicate the same qualities to me. With respect to the organ of vision, light, and darkness, I am so ignorant or so apt to shut my eyes, or to look at wrong objects, that I am fearful of deceiving myself. At times light surrounds me by which some objects are perceptible to my sense, or sight, or I have some sensation produced in my mind by the view of luminous objects; but the principles and essence of light exceed the bounds of my comprehension, as well as the means of communication between this organ and my mind. Ignorant as I am, I know the organs of vision and reason may be disordered by diseases incident to man; that objects cannot be distinguished without light; that they may be so brilliant as to overpower my sight; that their distance may be so great that I cannot measure their dimensions, or so inseparably connected with other objects that I can neither comprehend nor define them; and if I doubt of the eternal existence of the Son of God, merely because I cannot comprehend the manner of his existence as the only Begotten of the Father, and plead my want of comprehension as a justification of my unbelief, will my inability to comprehend be admitted as an argument against fact? If so, almost every truth must be rejected. I remain, Sir, Respectfully your's, THE IGNORANT FARMER. AN OBSERVATION ON DR. SIMPSON'S FUNERAL SERMON, AND THE ECLECTIC REVIEW. Mr. EDITOR, A FEW days ago a friend put into my hand a funeral sermon, preached on occasion of the death of the Rev. Robt. Simpson, D. D. late Theological Tutor of Hoxton Academy; including a brief sketch of the life and death of that excellent man. a The manly sense and sterling piety of the subject of that me moir, connected with its perusal, yielded me no small share of pleasure and profit. The following words indeed occasioned momentary pause; "Oh if in the glance of his eye Jehovah had passed me by, where should I now have been ;"* but I concluded to regard them simply as the language of a man deeply convinced of that important truth, "By grace are ye saved." It struck me that while Dr. Simpson regarded himself, in common with all other men, as brought through sin, into a state far more deplorable than that of the man who fell among thieves, between Jerusalem and Jericho, he did not surely mean to intimate that God was in the habit of passing by any of these miserable objects; as that would be to suppose the inhuman priest and Levite were" merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful."+ Although, doubtless, acquainted with the modern refinements in metaphysical theology, he would not, I thought, consider these as authorising him to say, even indirectly, that while God by his oath, by the declaration, and tears, of his Son; and by the commission given to the apostles,** had apparently professed the utmost affection for all men; yet with respect to numbers, this was in appearance only, as he had in reality" passed them by." But that which surprised and delighted me most was the Dr.'s avowal of the direct witness of the Spirit, and Christian holiness, in terms which appeared to me to identify his views on these momentous subjects with those entertained by yourself and colleagues. This was quite unexpected, as I had been previously Funeral Sermon for Robt. Simpson, by G. Clayton, p. 26. + Ezek. xxxiii. 11. § John iii, 16. Luke xix. 41, 42. + Luke x. 30-37. ** Mark xvi. 15. taught to consider the Eclectic Review as the organ of modern Calvinism, and had observed the conductors of that work, to say, "The doctrine of perfection we give up altogether, and that of assurance hold in a mitigated form."* I was aware, Sir, that Socinianism, with all its dreadful train, was said to be the gospel "in a mitigated form," and, therefore naturally felt a trembling anxiety to learn in what respects and to what extent it was intended to "mitigate" this important scriptural truth. It was stated in the same article, "As to the assurance of our safety, it seems to be the fruit of extraordinary religious attainments rather than the common lot of every Christian. It arises not from any mysterious voice, so much as from perceiving that our character is similar to that of the faithful who are gone before us." Mr. Clayton informs us, respecting Dr. Simpson, that while under "convictions for sin," he began to be thorougly sensible not only of his misery as a condemned and perishing sinner, but of his absolute inability to extricate himself from that horrible pit in which he was lying; and he became perfectly satisfied that nothing but an act of absolute sovereignty and Divine power could reach his miserable case. And at length God, who is rich in mercy, appeared to his rescue, and poured into his soul such a tide of consolation as fully verified the declaration "they that sow in tears shall reap in joy." "For days together (said he) I was like one transported to the third heavens. Oh what days of heaven were those! The recollection of them, after a lapse of fifty years, is still fresh and delightful. I seemed to have got within the very grasp of the Invisible.”‡ Does it not appear from hence that Dr. Simpson's "assurance of safety" was not the fruit of "extraordinary religious attainments," but enjoyed in the first stages of his Christian course? Surely it did. not "arise" from "perceiving that his character was similar to that of the faithful who had gone before," for we are told immediately that previous to his receiving it, "if a good thought only would have saved him, he felt he had it not at command." Was it not obviously the result, not of comparing his character with that of other saints, or of any reasonings and inferences of his own, but of an act of "Divine power,' "and an ineffable consciousness of his being "within the very grasp of the Invisible?" This was just as it ought to be; and if it be not "the common lot of all Christians," they have not because they ask not. The Reviewers also state in the same article that "the notion of perfection, in the strict sense of the word, being attainable in this life, seems to labour under insuperable difficulties." It ap + Eclectic Review for October, Clayton's Sermon, p. 19 Eclectic Review for October, 1812, p. 1050. 1812, p. 1050. VOL. XLI. JULY, 1818. |
