strong-holds of the imperial city. For say, ye pilgrims, into which of the mansions in your father's house, have ye yet been led, by the anxious faithful hand of those who watch to give account of your souls? Say, are ye each one of you, going on " from strength to strength," from one fortress of your faith to another fortress, equally impregnable? Which of the bulwarks of our Zion, led on by your spiritual guides, have ye as yet explored? And its foundations, "in which are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and which are garnished with all manner of precious stones," say, are these all exhibited to you, as they ought to be, in their rich and varied beauty? It is to be greatly feared, that for the most part they are not, and that ye have seldom the joy of being thus addressed; "Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." The ministry of the Baptist, is the sort of ministry to which ye are most accustomed. The truths ye hear are for the most part equivalent to those he uttered. Beyond his teaching your guides have not yet attained. Alas! may it not be feared that John's ministry surpasses theirs? for were they like him, friends of the bridegroom, rejoicing greatly because of the bridegroom's voice," (John iii. 29.) did they like him internally sympathize in the love which Christ bears his bride, they could not be so indifferent to her joy as they too often are. Surely in such a case the Lord's betrothed people would occupy a place nearer their hearts, and they would labour diligently to promote the full joy of God's elect. Instead of concealing from them, or forbearing to discourse to them, of truths which should be known to them, although unknown to John; they would emulate the Baptist's love, and blest in the Lord's providence with a higher light than his, would aspire to use it for

the more perfect illumination of the saints. When they do not this, it is a foul blot upon what ought to be the fair escutcheon of their ministry. But of this blot, some even now are free. A few are found who are not only amongst the least in the kingdom of heaven, and so, great in comparison of all elementary teachers such as John, but even great, in a comparison with those dignitaries of the kingdom to whom its highest mysteries are revealed.

22. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

66

The apostle had observed in the preceding verse, that no lie is of the truth," and now he leads us, at once to that corrupt fountain from whence proceeds all varieties of false doctrine; intimating that a denial of the nature and office of that Jesus, who is both Son of God and Son of man, is the great antichristian heresy upon the front of which falsehood is signally stamped: and for this reason; because such a denial of the incarnate Saviour is also an attack upon the Father, who is vilified if Jesus be despised, and whose Godhead is trampled under foot, if Christ be not duly honoured. It appears with some professing Christians to be a comparatively light matter, whether the glorious person and offices of the Son of God be fully recognized ;whether Christ be degraded to the rank of a mere creature; or whether, being acknowledged to be God, he is nevertheless put on a footing with his creatures, and associated with a host of other mediators. The first error is that of the Socinians. The last-men

tioned one, that of the papists; and if compelled to choose between two forms of direct hostility to Christ, the latter one may be justly branded as the most offensive of the two. For the preference that some well-meaning persons entertain for the popish creed, above the Socinian, is without foundation, if it be grounded (as we generally find it to be,) in the idea, that Jesus is at least honoured as God by the Romish Church. The Socinian teacher declares openly that he does not discover in the Scriptures any satisfactory recognition of the divinity of Jesus: consequently he impugnes all the doctrines which are connected with that fundamental truth. On the contrary, the false teacher of the apostate Church of Rome, professes to honour Christ as God, but immediately degrades him from his throne, and erects idols in his stead. Both parties deny equally all vital and collateral truths. The doctrine of justification by faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ, is as abhorrent to the Papist as to the Socinian. The difference then is merely this; that the Socinian flatly denies the doctrine of the atonement, whilst the papist professes to believe in it, but at the same time invents for himself innumerable modes of expiation upon which he reposes his deluded soul. Both parties hold the doctrine of works in opposition to the scriptural doctrine of faith without works: but the Socinian has somewhat the advantage here, for he at least inculcates the importance of some sort of civil righteousness, whereas the papist is taught that he can dispense even with this, provided he makes up the deficiency with monkish confessions, self-imposed penances, and self-devised duties. It is not the writer's intention to plead the cause of Socinianism, for that form of error must necessarily be most abhorrent to those

who have renounced all idea of human dignity and worth, and who, conscious of their misery, seek their refuge only in Christ," whom not having seen they love, and in whom, believing, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." And the contents of these pages bear witness to the continual utterance of sentiments, altogether inadmissible on the Socinian scheme, and in every way in direct opposition to its meagre acknowledgments of Scripture, and fearful denial of its vital truths. But still the writer must bear a yet stronger witness against that false Church which is the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth; and for the reason before assigned; viz., because she is supposed by the very same persons, who stoutly oppose Socinianism, to be right in the main, and only to err, by heaping up errors on the foundations of truth. Now our position is this; that she has no foundation, having destroyed the only one that can be laid,—Christ Jesus. Apostate Rome has long ago trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith she was sanctified an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace." (Heb. x. 29.) She has sinned wilfully after having received the knowledge of the truth, "and now there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a fearful looking-for of judgment and of fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." (Heb. x. 26, 27.) And should any ask, how is this? How does Rome transgress after this manner, seeing that she as fully recognizes the doctrine of the Trinity, as do any of the most orthodox Protestant churches?---the reply is obvious. That Church is fundamentally heretical which denies that fallen man is saved by faith in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Church of Rome affirms that the blood of

66

Christ does not of itself alone, cleanse from all sin. He who was a liar and murderer from the beginning, suggests through the teachers of that Church, that Jesus may do somewhat in the work of man's salvation, but that man must himself do more. That the blood of Christ may indeed atone in a degree, but that the wrath of God must also be expiated by penance, by confessions, and by works of various kinds. Now those persons who think lightly of papistical errors, should weigh well the denunciations levelled in scripture against all who exalt the creature in the Saviour's place; for this it must be believed is the damning sin for which no atonement is provided. (Heb. x. 26.) This is the sin for which, if persisted in, there is remission neither in this world, nor in the world to come. This is the true sin against the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to take of the things of Christ and to shew them unto us. And no doubt the apostate rejection of the blood that alone sanctifies, is connected by the apostle Paul with despite done to the Spirit of grace, to signify, that the fatal sin of blasphemy against the third person of the Trinity, is then committed, when the witness of the Spirit respecting Jesus is despised, and that blood of the covenant concerning which the Holy Ghost so abundantly testifies, is counted "an unholy thing; " that is, a thing not more holy than man's polluted works. Nor let it be thought that the application of the adduced texts of scripture is irrevelant to our present subject. True it is, that the apostle in writing to the Hebrews reproved primarily those Jewish converts who after a time forsook Christ for the sacrifices of the law; and who, not satisfied with that blood of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, would still have recourse to the blood of bulls and of goats, with wilful perverse