but throughout all, he was not bereft of hope and confidence in God. He "hoped against hope," and when his soul was well nigh in despair, he battled with that foe unbelief, and put him to flight by wielding "the sword of the Spirit." This was his weapon in the combat with the giant Goliath :—“Thou comest to me with a sword and a spear, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts;" in whose name he conquered and did valiantly. 1 Sam. xvii. 45-47. In noticing the most ennobling traits in the character of David, that which stands out with greatest significance was his love for "the truth of God." Did he wish to give some adequate idea of its preciousness? It was "above rubies." Of its sweetness? It was "sweeter than honey." Of its endurance? It "abideth for ever." Of its power? "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made." "He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." Or of the saving efficacy and power of God's word upon the hearts of men? "Thy word hath quickened me." "The entrance of thy word giveth light." By light we understand "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The Psalmist experienced unspeakable delight in meditating on the attributes of God. The power, might, majesty, and dominion of God were themes of holy exultation to his soul. But he loved also to meditate on the milder attributes: God's covenant love, mercy, and faithfulness, that eternal love which Jehovah had for his chosen people, and which is as lasting as himself; manifested in mercy "from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him." Psa. ciii. 17. The everlasting and well-ordered covenant was the foundation on which the Psalmist built his hopes. 66 He had no mean thoughts of the salvation of God: it was full and free, and as much beyond the power of a finite mind to conceive of as "the heavens are high above the earth." In Psa. ciii. we have a magnificent display of the gracious attributes of God,-"lovingkindness," "tender mercies," and 66 graciousness." "Love" is the crowning attribute, if we may speak of it as an attribute when God himself is love. Mercy is the outgoing of love. Then it is said to be “tender mercies." The term "tender" is not meaningless. Perhaps the best explanation given of that word in connection with God's gracious dealings with his people is the gift of his own dear Son, whom the prophet Isaiah describes as a tender plant." Were not the promptings of God's heart tender in not withholding Him who alone could redeem? Justice did not spare the "tender plant," but sued him for the uttermost farthing. Dear reader, do you know anything of God's tender mercies ? The Psalmist could say, 66 Thy mercies are new every morning;" but there are some of God's mercies peculiarly "tender." Has he dealt tenderly with your sins? Do you see any form or comeliness in Him who is not only a "tender plant," but a "plant of renown?" If so, you can bear testimony to God's graciousness, and are interested in that covenant which is "ordered in all things and sure." There is no grace outside the covenant. David saw that, when he penned Psa. xlviii. "Out of Zion (the church), the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." "God is known in her palaces as a refuge." "In Salem is his tabernacle and his dwelling-place [or indwelling] in Zion." There and there only is a "refuge." David was, without doubt, familiar with the cities of refuge,—a shelter for him who had shed innocent blood, and was followed by the avenger of blood. There was this difference only,—the manslayer took refuge in a "city," but the sinners' refuge is in God, as revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Psalmist delighted also to meditate on God himself. He had had such vivid manifestations of his power, that to meditate on him was both sweetness and gladness to his soul. God's work is thorough. When he renews the heart he also enlightens the understanding, and we find that David was constant in his request for more light in the understanding. And how was the light to be increased but by reading the word? "I rejoice (said he) at thy word as one that findeth great spoil." He had seen and heard the rejoicing of those who had taken the spoil of their enemies; but David's joy was in God and his truth. "Thy word have I hid in my heart." "I meditate on thee in the night watches." On all occasions David had recourse to God's testimonies. "Thy testimonies are my delight." "Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it." God's word has been "the light and glory" of his people in all ages. As the poet expresses it— "A glory gilds the sacred page, But David lived in a darkened age; the Sun of Righteousness had not arisen : the Messiah was only foreshadowed and prefigured. Yet, notwithstanding, he lived very near to God, and delighted in the public services of the sanctuary; and, considering the superior light believers now enjoy, David's knowledge of God and his truth puts some of us to shame. May the Holy Ghost stir up the minds of the Lord's people to the importance of reading and meditating on "the word." Our adorable Redeemer repelled the attacks of Satan by referring him to the word: "It is written." And if the Captain of our salvation found it needful, in the days of his flesh, to use the sword of the Spirit," can his poor impotent followers do with a less powerful weapon?"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers," &c. The soldiers of an earthly monarch are not fully equipped without a sword, and they can see their danger; but in spiritual combats, we know not what is portending until we feel the injections of the fiery darts of the adversary. To take another, and perhaps the most powerful incentive to reading “the word.” Let us ask ourselves a few questions. Do we understand how God is just and merciful in saving us at all? Do the personal excellencies, mediatorial and priestly offices of Christ, delight our souls and make him increasingly precious? Or have we reached the climax, when there is nothing to learn? Are we grounded and settled on doctrinal points, or do we treat these questions with indifference, being driven hither and thither with every wind of doctrine, with that large-heartedness (falsely so-called)—that extraordinary appetite that can take in everything that has the semblance of truth, whether "free will" or "free grace." Yet once more, Have we a clear understanding of the spiritual ordinances of God's house? If so, have we practically obeyed them? David said, "I have done thy commandments." It is comparatively easy now to follow the Lord; there is no "rack" or "stake" to apprehend. But these times are ominous, and it is essential to the Christian's comfort and perseverance to know fully "whom he believes," and what are the principles of our most holy faith; for many Christians have no principles at all. A gospel without principle or doctrine, is like a man who built a house upon sand. The everlasting covenant of Jehovah is the foundation of the gospel, and this covenant can never be undermined, because it originated in God. Roman Catholicism may reign rampant on the earth; but it will be only by the permission of Him who reigneth over all. "The Lord reigneth (says the Psalmist) let the multitude of the isles be glad," Psa. xcvii. 1, and he "knoweth them that are his." Let a sense of God's supremacy inspire his people with confidence in him and his word. "We have," says the apostle Peter, a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well to take heed." Let us take heed to his holy word; and may the Holy Spirit's fructifying dew descend upon its pages and make it indeed the joy and rejoicing of our hearts. 66 These few lines are written with earnest desires and prayer that the Lord may by them convince believers of the necessity and importance of meditating on "his word." All manifestations to the soul are "according to the word." God does not mock us when he says, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." Divisions in the church of God only bespeak ignorance of his revealed word. Never let us censure God's own sent servants for their preaching, before having tested it by the standard-book. They may preach what is unpalatable, but it may be "truth" nevertheless. Light does not always come at once. When seeking to understand and feel the power of truth, oftentimes the Lord pleases to keep his children waiting; but the waiting one is in a blessed position. (It was the case with the writer, who passed months, nay, almost years in darkness, and the Bible seemed a sealed book.) But after seasons of darkness how precious is the light. "Light is sown for the righteous." When the Holy Ghost seals the truth with power, and we have no teacher but him, we can then say, It was good to "hope," (for we are called upon to to exercise "hope" where faith cannot realize,) "and quietly wait" for the manifestation of God's Spirit. Our language should be that of the Psalmist: "Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation." Look off from man and self, and "hope thou in God." Many look only to the minister, but it is better to trust in the Lord. He may and does bless his word through his servants; and let us love and honour them as his messengers. But let our eyes be "unto the hills, whence cometh our help." Help is laid on One that is mighty. Take courage, dear fellow-traveller to Zion; thou shalt not lack for provision by the way. Christ is the storehouse, and in him are not only the necessaries, but the luxuries of life. The key of the storehouse is in thy keeping: unlock it with prayer, and oh what a fulness is presented to the eye of faith in the person of Jesus! The word of God gives an authentic account of the excellencies of Christ, and but for that wonderful book we should be in moral and spiritual darkness. Men of the world hold it to be a standard of moral beauty and excellence, and frame their laws by it; but to the child of God it is the medium of life, light, and liberty, when accompanied with the power of the Holy Ghost. Let us press forward and emulate the spirit of Paul: not as though I had already attained." May the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom,— that wisdom which cometh direct from above, that we (we who as yet know but little) may be able to comprehend with all saints, the height, and depth, and length, and breadth, of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and be filled with the fulness of God. Windsor. M. G. ON DUTY-FAITH IN SEVERAL RELATIONS. THE faith here intended is that belief on Christ with the heart unto righteousness, which, if a man have, he shall certainly be saved. For the sake of brevity we may term it saving faith. The doctrine of duty-faith is,—that it is the duty of every one who hears the gospel to exercise saving faith; with the consequence, that if he do not believe and be saved, he will be condemned with a double condemnation: first, as a transgressor of the law; and, secondly, as a rejecter of the gospel. We affirm the duty of belief in general, but dispute the position that saving faith is a duty. That it is the duty of every sane man who has the Bible, to give his intellectual assent to every truth it contains, who can doubt? That such an intellectual assent is saving faith, who can believe? Such an assent neither requires regeneration nor produces it. It is purely natural in its origin, its character, and its effects. Yet to withhold that assent, either by denying the truth of the Bible, or through neglecting to become acquainted with its contents, is an affront to the majesty of God, and a slight upon his goodness, which betray a state of sinful unbelief. Faith has been variously defined, and different kinds of faith have been described; but it must be clearly apprehended that the doctrine of duty-faith has no reference to faith of any name or kind but that which is saving. It is equally necessary to be borne in mind, that the doctrine of duty-faith does not refer to the spirit and exercises of a believer, as such. Whether it be the duty of a man, to whom God has given faith, to nourish and exercise it by means of the word or not, is not at all the point under discussion. Duty-faith lays an imperative obligation on a sinner, as such, in his unregenerate state, to believe on the Lord Jesus unto salvation. Whether the just and gracious God has laid such an obligation on the sinner or not, is the only question before us. We must also clearly define the class of Christians to whom the arguments of this article are addressed, and to whom alone those of the first and second of the following sections are applicable. We do not address ourselves to the Arminian, who denies the doctrines of election, and particular redemption; nor to the Moderate Calvinist, who, accepting the doctrine of election, holds the view of an indefinite atonement, or general redemption. Our argument is addressed to those only who hold the doctrines of eternal, personal, and unconditional election to eternal life; particular redemption, that is, that Christ died for the elect only; and the absolute necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit for the production of spiritual life in the soul of man. Some have doubted that any who believe these doctrines believe in the doctrine of duty-faith also. But if we accept the statement of many good men concerning their own views, the doubt must vanish. And it appears that the number of such is increasing. We do not attempt any proof of the doctrines just now referred to: they are assumed to be scriptural, and to be accepted as such by the reader. We propose to take a rapid view of duty-faith in its relation to the atonement by Christ; to the work of the Holy Spirit; to the law; and to the gospel. 1. Duty-faith in its relation to the atonement. Saving faith is one and the same in essential character throughout all the stages of its development. The loftiest realization of faith is involved in its living germ, as the oak is in the acorn. One act of saving faith gives its possessor a warrant to claim every privilege, and to indulge every hope that belongs to the people of God. "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." The experimental realization of this state of privilege is often attained by slow and struggling stages, but the right to it exists as truly at the first as at the last. Again: the first act of fiducial reliance on the finished work of the Lamb, gives the individual the warrant to say: He "loved me and gave himself for me." If the first do not give that warrant, no subsequent act can give it; for the efficacy of faith does not depend upon the accumulation of its exercises, but upon its essential character. If a man possess a faith that will not warrant him in believing that Christ died for him, it cannot be saving faith; for most certainly the Saviour died for those who savingly believe on him. A child of God may live and die without attaining to the full assurance of faith and hope, but the right to it was his from the first moment of his believing state. Duty-faith, then, calls upon every one who hears the gospel to exercise a faith which at once gives him the warrant to believe, and will ultimately give him to know, that Jesus loved him and gave himself for him. Let us now turn to the awfully solemn facts of redemption. We deem them to be awfully solemn; for they present a dark side as well as a bright one. On the bright we delight to gaze, while from the dark we avert our eyes. And no wonder ! He who thinks or speaks lightly of such momentous alternatives, betrays a very inadequate conception of both the dreadful doom of perdition, and the inconceivable blessedness of salvation. But with godly fear and trembling we must look the matter steadily in the face. If we accept the doctrines we have assumed, we cannot reject their necessary consequences: we must in subdued tones affirm them. We have no doubt that God will ultimately clear his character and his government of every imputation which misapprehension or enmity may cast upon them. Particular redemption implies that a portion of mankind is left unredeemed. There are some, more or fewer, for whom the Saviour did not die. As there is salvation in none other, it follows that those for whom the Saviour did not die cannot be saved. As it would be a contradiction in terms to say, that a man may have saving faith, and yet not be saved, so it is clear that he who cannot be saved, cannot have saving faith. It is, then, an absolute impossibility for an unredeemed sinner to have saving faith. We are compelled, therefore, to ask with all earnestness, on what principle can it be affirmed that it is the duty of all who hear the gospel to believe it savingly? Is it justice, or grace, or law, or gospel? Can it be the duty of any to perform an impossibility? Can any be righteously condemned for the non-performance of an impossibility? Can the just and gracious God demand of any of his creatures, as a duty, that which in his pure sovereignty he has rendered impossible? It is objected, that God righteously demands that men should keep his law, which yet he is unable to do, and, therefore, he may as justly demand that men should believe his gospel. Answer: The cases are not parallel. The impossibility there does not arise from the nature of things, but from the force of circumstances; while here it arises from the nature of things. There, the impossibility arises from a defect in the agent; here, from the non-existence of an object. In that case there is a law to be kept, but in this there is no Saviour to be received. Again: It is alleged, that a sinner is not called upon immediately to believe that Christ is his Saviour, but to believe the truth concerning Christ as a Saviour. Reply The faith required of the sinner must be either saving or non-saving. If the latter be intended, the objection is irrelevant; because it is not denied that a belief of the gospel truths is required of those that hear them. If saving faith be meant, the statement is simply an iteration of the doctrine under discussion, and adduces nothing in disproof of its impossibility. It is further asserted: That not the secret will of God, but his revealed precepts, form the rule and measure of human duty. Granted. But can it be thence inferred that God's secret will ever renders the performance of his precepts an absolute impossibility? To instance the case of the Jews in regard to their rejection of the Saviour. The secret will of God did not render their reception and acknowledgment of the Messiah an absolute impossibility. Can it be credited that the just and holy God would have condemned the Jews for their rejection of the Messiah, if he had never sent them a Messiah to be received by them? For that national and public faith on the Messiah which was required of them, there was the living and present object, standing in their midst, with every requisite credential and proof of his Messiahship. But according to the doctrine of duty-faith, the righteous Judge eternal charges a great number of mankind with additional and aggravated guilt because they do not individually and savingly believe on the Saviour, when the Saviour, as such, is not sent to them, or for them. It may be objected to this view: That the Saviour is sent, in the proclamation of the gospel, to the unredeemed and redeemed alike; that both classes, before regeneration, have an equal warrant to believe; that all are expressly assured that "he that believeth shall be saved;" that the unredeemed do not know that they are such; and, therefore, it may be their duty to believe notwithstanding. To which we reply: First, That the Saviour is not sent to any in a personal or tangible manner; that he is not offered conditionally to any; that properly he is not sent to any in the gospel but to those to whom he comes by the gospel; who are his redeemed people only, Second, As the gospel promises are not made to the unregenerate and impenitent, but to the humble and contrite, no man in his hard and impenitent state has a warrant to believe savingly on Christ; which, indeed, he is not able to do. Third, That although man does not know the secret will of God concerning him, God himself does; and we plead more for the honour of God's character than would accrue, were it to be supposed that he took advantage of the unavoidable ignorance of his creatures. Since, before conversion, the redeemed and the unredeemed cannot be discrimlnated by the human eye; and since saving faith is an impossibility to the unredeemed; how can the preacher demand saving faith of all his hearers; and since he cannot discriminate, if he cannot demand it of all, how can he demand it of any? Ringstead. (To be continued.) W. KITCHEN. THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT-GENTLENESS. THERE is a very great analogy between the Divine workings in the kingdom of nature and providence, and the heavenly operation manifested in the kingdom of mercy and grace. In the Scriptures of revealed truth, one is taken to illustrate and explain the other; and here we see the wisdom of their great Author in condescending to our weak capacities. We should not be able to comprehend celestial language; consequently, heavenly realities are brought down to the level of our understandings, by being clothed in earthly metaphors and figures. The prophets |