find both the foundation and the boundaries of all secondary means of religious improvement."

"That the ministry of the gospel ought to be exercised under the immediate direction of the great Head of the Church, is a principle which will probably be allowed by many pious Christians; yet we are not to forget, that when that mi

nistry is most spiritual in its origin, it is still found to dwell on the declarations of Scripture. The purest gifts of the Spirit, as they are now administered, are almost exclusively directed to the applica tion of those materials which originated in a higher and more plenary operation of the same Divine influence. Thus, also, the sentiments which chiefly edify in the writings of modern Christians, are precisely those sentiments which, in their original form, have been expressed by by prophets and apostles. It is Divine truth, as applied to the heart of man by the Spirit of God, which converts, sanctifies, and edifies; and of this Divine truth, the only authorized record-a record at once original and complete-is the BIBLE." pp. 108, 9.

If this be Quakerism, we are happy to assure Mr. Gurney, that, on this point at least, we are Friends. To a disregard of the Scriptural connexion between the operations of the Holy Spirit and the instrumental cause, that word which is Truth, almost every description of fanaticism owes its origin. The written Scriptures and the ministry of the word, separated from the agency of that Spirit which worketh all in all, are found to be alike powerless and inefficient; and those persons who ascribe an inherent efficiency of the instrument, or look for any spiritual effects independent of a Divine agency, are chargeable with an infidel fanaticism, not more reasonable than those who rely on immediate impressions, dreams, or inspirations, of which the revealed will and word of God are not the substance and the medium. On the other hand, a Popish regeneration, a sacramental grace, which, while it seems to do honour to the Spirit of God, sets aside his word as the medium of his saving and sanctify

ing operations, attributing to water or a wafer the moral influence of truth, and substituting a sacerdotal incantation for the work of faith, Scripture and reason alike disown. The office of the sacraments, we hold with Calvin to be “ precisely the same as that of the word of God, which is to offer and present Christ to us, and in him the trea sures of his heavenly grace;" while, on our part, they serve at once as a solemn confession and pledge, a vow of allegiance and a significant memorial. On these grounds, and on that of their Divine appointment, we contend for the obligation of observing them.

If we have dwelt the longer on that portion of the volume which has given us the least satisfaction, it is in the hope that our suggestions may lead the estimable author to reconsider the passages referred to. The sixth essay, which treats of the Divine nature and attributes, is a delightful specimen of genuine theology: the sentiments are strictly Scriptural, and a glow of piety is diffused over the whole, which is but too seldom preserved in theological treatises. In the subsequent essay, "on the union and distinction in the Divine nature," we have been not less charmed with the author's explicit avowal and defence of the orthodox doctrine, and his correct method of stating it, which is in entire accordance with the views we expressed in a recent article. While the primary truth, that there is no other God than Jehovah, must ever be held sacred on the authority of the holy Scriptures; "it is on the same authority," Mr. Gurney remarks, "that we admit another doctrine,-namely, that in his revealed operations, and more espe cially in the appointment and application of the scheme of man's redemption, God has manifested himself to us as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." The Divine nature of the Son of God is

more fully discussed in the tenth Essay. In reference to the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit, after citing numerous declarations of Scripture, Mr. Gurney remarks:

"Now, if the inquiry be addressed to us, Who is this person of whom Christ and his apostles thus bear witness; who teaches and consoles the disciples of Jesus; who reproves the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; whom it is unpardonable to blaspheme, wicked and dangerous to tempt and to grieve; who finds his temple in the hearts of the righteous; who inspires the apostle, speaks by the prophet, appoints the overseer, calls forth, anoints, and directs the evangelist; who distributes to his people, according to his own will, those manifold gifts and graces by which the church is edified, and the cause of truth promoted?-the fundamental principles of our religion, and the whole analogy of Scripture, will assuredly admit but of one answer, This Person is Gon.

"God is a Spirit. Invisible, and spiritual in his nature, he fills his own works: he exercises over them an unseen but powerful influence: he dwells and ope rates in the hearts of men. Nor can we deny the truth of the converse of such a proposition-namely, that the Spirit who fills the works of Deity, who exercises over them an unseen yet powerful influence, who dwells and operates in the hearts of men, is God. Now, the LORD IS THAT SPIRIT,' said the Apostle Paul; 'and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by pp. 147, 8.

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD." "

Having briefly exhibited the Scriptural evidence that the Father is God, that the Son is God, that the Holy Spirit is God, Mr. Gurney proceeds to take a view of the additional passages in which "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whose deity is thus distinctively and separately indicated, are presented to our attention as the united sources of the Christian's help and consolation, the united objects of the Christian's belief and obedience." The first passage cited is John xvi. 13, 14., on which are founded the following forcible remarks.

VOL. IV.Ch. Adv.

"If, then, I am asked, who is to guide the people of God into all truth? I andeclaration, The Spirit of Truth. If I am swer, on the authority of this luminous asked again, Whose wisdom and grace does the Spirit of Truth administer? it is on the same authority that I reply, The wisdom and grace of the Son of God. And if, lastly, the inquiry be addressed to me, On what principle can we say that it is the wisdom and grace of the Son, which the Spirit administers? this inquiry also is fully met by the information contained in our text-namely, that all wisdom and grace are from the Father, and that whatsoever the Father hath, is the Son's. From whom then does the Christian de

rive the strength of his spiritual life and the hope of his soul's salvation? From the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And to whom does he owe the tribute of

gratitude and praise, and the return of a faithful and unhesitating obedience? To the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." pp. 148, 9.

The other texts which Mr. Guriv. 4-6; 1 Cor. xii. 4-6; 2 Cor. ney proceeds to illustrate, are Eph. xiii. 14; Luke iii. 21, 22; and Matt. xxviii. 29, 30. In noticing the last of these, the author slightly indicates his peculiar view of the rite, by remarking that "in whatever manner we may here interpret the participle baptizing— whether we understand it as denoting merely the sign of conversion or the act of converting itself,”

the doctrine is clear, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are in common the objects of the Christian's faith and allegiance. In the following paragraphs, Mr. Gurney adverts to "the order of that relation in which they stand to each other, and the distinct offices which they are respectively described as bearing in the glorious economy of the Divine dispensations." This is ground, however, on which we fear to tread; and although we have no fault to find with Mr. Gurney's statements on the score of orthodoxy, since they are in strict accordance with the received opinions of theologians, yet, the stress laid on John xv. 26, as a proof of the "subordination" of the Spirit to the Father and the

2 S

ments.

The next essay, on the existence and personality of the Spiritual Adversary, is not less admirable. This subject has commonly been treated under the general head of the existence and attributes of angels, considered either as part of the works of God or as the agents of his government. The ministry of holy angels certainly claims a place among the articles of the Christian faith; but the character and agency of Satan as the author of evil, form a distinct topic, and one of such primary importance as to demand a separate consideration. In this point of view, systems of divinity are for the most part very defective; and Mr. Gurney will have rendered a great service to the Christian public, if, by his Scriptural and explicit manner of treating the subject, he should lead divines and preachers to give this topic its due place, not merely in their systems, but in their discourses. After reviewing the Scriptural evidence, Mr. Gur ney expresses his astonishment, that any persons professing to regard the Scriptures as divinely inspired and laying claim to the character of fair interpreters of the sacred volume, should deny the personality of the great adversary.

"It ought ever to be remembered, that the Holy Spirit can neither error feign; and although there is to be found in the Bible much of poetry, and something, perhaps, of allegory, yet, as a guide to practice and to doctrine, it can be regarded only as a code of principles and a record of realities. Besides, the descriptions of Satan are to be found prin

cipally in those parts of Scripture which are not poetical, but either historical or simply didactic. Never were there plainhistorians less disposed to indulge in faner or more unsophisticated historiansciful imagery or oriental exaggerationthan Moses or the four evangelists, who have severally, in the course of their histories, presented to our attention the personal character and operations of Satan. To these are to be added, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude-those homely yet lu minous didactic writers, who, as well as our blessed Lord himself, have all made mention of the devil, not as an allegorical figure, but as a powerful, insidious, malicious being." p. 173.

The denial of the personality and power of Satan, Mr. Gurney very justly represents to be "closely connected with a low and inadequate view of the malignity, the depth, and the danger of sin." The essential demerit of sin is, in fact, a proposition which lies at the foundation of all theological science. In false views of this subject, the Pelagian, Socinian, and Antinomian heresies mainly originate; and unless this be admitted as a first principle clearly and necessarily deducible from the perfection of God, it will be found impossible to give either meaning or coherency to any system having the least pretension to a Scriptural character. The fall of man is thus stated by Mr. Gurney in terms which appear to us alike clear and unexceptionable.

"The Scriptures teach us, that the fall of our first Parents from a condition of natural righteousness to one of natural sinfulness, from a condition in which he was the heir of a blessing, to one in which he was the subject of the curse,was the immediate cause of a moral degene racy, and therefore of a punishable guilt, in the whole family of his descendants." p. 209.

So

"The Father alone knoweth the Son, or who the Son is: the Son alone knoweth the Father, or who the Father is. The omniscient Father has a perfect knowledge of the Son, and the Son knoweth the Father, even as the Father knoweth the Son. The Son glorifieth the Father, and the Father glorifieth the Son. All those persons who are in a peculiar sense the Son's, are also the Father's; and all those persons who, in the same sense, belong to the Father, belong also to the Son. Whatsoever things, indeed, are possessed by the Son, are of necessity the Father's, and "all things that the Father hath," are the Son's. John xvi. 15. intimate is their connexion-in so absolute a sense is it true that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son,that whosoever believeth in the Son, believeth in the Father; whosoever knoweth the Son, knoweth the Father; whosoever seeth the Son, seeth the Father; to whomsoever the Son is shown, the Father is shown. So even is their fellowship in the Divine nature, that the unity of mind and counsel which characterizes the equal disciples of the same Lord, is compared to the unity which subsists between these two-That they may be one, as we are." John xvii. 11. Nothing, indeed, can be much more striking or more evidently unsuitable to the condition and circumstances of any mere creature, than the familiar use which, in speaking of himself and God the Father Almighty, our Lord has made of the pronouns, we, us, our. 'If a man love me,' cried Jesus, 'he will keep my words: And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make oUR abode with him.' John xiv. 23. This is a mode of speech with which (as it relates to Deity) nothing that I know of can be justly compared, but the phraseology adopted by Jehovah himself in the Old Testament; 'Let us make man in OUR image, after our likeness. Gen. i. 26. Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.' " iii. 22.

fence of the divinity of our Lord, so calm, so dignified, so pure from controversial asperity, and at the same time so instinct and glowing with love to the Saviour. In the very spirit of the beloved disciple, the Author seems to dwell on the glories of the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne; and the rich accumulation of evidence, direct and indirect, promiscuously scattered throughout Scripture, which he brings to bear on the fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith, leaves on the mind an impression, of triumphant satisfaction, answering to that noble confession with which Mr. Gurney closes the essay.

"For my own part, I may venture to acknowledge a firm conviction, (grounded on long continued study and reflection,) that I must either give up the inspiration of Scripture, and with it perhaps, the truth of Christianity itself, or allow the absolute and eternal divinity of Jesus Christ. In choosing my alternative, I cannot for a moment hesitate; for as, on the one hand, the inspiration of Scripture and the truth of Christianity rest on a basis which the profoundest thought and widest investigation serve only to establish; so, on the other hand, the glorious doctrine of God manifest in the flesh,' although, as to its mode, mysterious, will ever be considered worthy of all acceptation, by those who are acquainted with the depth of their natural degradation, and know their need of an omnipotent Redeemer."

We must hastily dismiss the eleventh essay, on Redemption, not as being of inferior interest, but because our limits will not admit of much further citation. It is divided into three sections: in the first, Mr. Gurney states with admirable clearness the Scripture doctrine of the Atonement; in the second, he treats of the merits and advocacy of Christ; in the third, "of the Scripture doctrine of the Spirit," he takes a view of our Lord's character as the "internal illuminator" as well as "spiritual quickener of mankind." It is with peculiar satisfaction that we receive this able, lucid, and explicit exposi

tion of the cardinal doctrine of justification by faith, from the member of a community among whom there has generally been understood to prevail very indistinct if not unscriptural notions on that subject. The only statement which we hesitate to approve occurs at page 455, where Mr. Gurney represents the sacrifice of our Lord "as a price paid not only for the redemption of sinners, but for the outpouring of the Spirit." We object to this language, first, because it confounds what Mr. Gurney has taken pains to distinguish, the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, which was the price of our ransom or redemption, as being "the means by which the Father saw fit to provide for the satisfaction of his justice" in the pardon of the sinner, and, the merits and advocacy of Christ, of which the outpouring of the Spirit was the first fruits. But a second and more important objection is founded on the incorrect application which is here made of the metaphor of price or purchase, to the blessings of the Gospel. It is true, that he who ransoms a captive may be said to buy his liberty; and the party accepting of the ransom may be said to sell either the person or the freedom of his prisoner or slave for an equivalent. But the mercy of God is free and unpurchased; he receives no equivalent for the blessings he bestows. It is in the character of a moral governor only that he exacts or accepts a propitiatory sacrifice, to declare his justice and his holiness; and in this reference, our Lord cannot be properly represented as paying a price, but as enduring a penalty. We are justified as criminals; we are redeemed as the captives of sin; we are constituted heirs of heaven as children of God's family. It is not heaven, but the church itself that is "the purchased possession.' It is not our pardon, but our souls that are bought with a price. The Scriptures employ these and other

metaphors to describe, under dif ferent views, man's redemption; but we must guard against running one metaphor into another. Statements substantially true, but grossly improper in their phraseology, and very liable to misconception, have originated in the disregard of those limitations beyond which figurative language ceases to be either appropriate or true; and from a confusion of ideas on this point has resulted a metaphorical patchwork bearing little more resemblance to the language of the inspired wri ters, than the literal translation of idiomatic expressions does to the true force of the original.

In Mr. Gurney's views of regeneration, we fully coincide; and when he remarks that "Divine grace is omnipotent," he admits all that we are disposed on that point to contend for. We rejoice too, to find him maintaining the unity of the Church.

"Christianity," he remarks, "is a soter at once binding and diffusive. And cial religion: its virtues are of a charac amidst all the fruits of the Spirit, there is none so delightful and so distinguishing as that holy love of which God in Christ is the first object, and all mankind the next, and which more especially unites in the bands of the fellowship of the gos pel those persons, of whatsoever name or profession, who believe in the Lord Je sus, and are baptized by one Spirit into one body.' Theirs is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' the com munion of the Holy Ghost.' And this communion extends itself from the church militant to the church triumphant. It already brings heaven and earth together, and its full perfection will be known in God's elect shall be completed; (Matt. that glorious day when the number of xxiv. 31;)-when all distinctions of peculiar opinion shall be for ever lost among them; and when the universal society of saints and angels shall unite in rendering unto the Lord God and the Lamb the same eternal tribute of obedience, thanksgiving, and praise.” p. 476.

Between those who believe that Jesus Christ is God, and those who regard him only as a creature, Mr. Gurney remarks, there is, plainly,