people-namely, 'God doth not remember their sins.' David, in Psal. xxv. 9, prays thus, 'Lord, remember not the sins of my youth.' But look into the covenant of grace, wherein God engages himself to be the God of his people; this is the close and upshot of it in Jer. xxxi. 31, and so on: In those days, and at this time, will I make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers; but this shall be the covenant that I will make with them;' and so on. And then the shutting up of the covenant is in these words, 'Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.'

"So the Apostle Heb. viii. 12, repeats the self-same thing, repeating the covenant word for word, and ends it in the very same manner, 'Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more.' And in Heb. x. 10, 17, though the apostle abridges the covenant, and leaves out many branches of it, yet he forgets not the last clause of it—' Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.'

"And so it stands for a truth, the people of God are so received into the grace and favour of God, that he doth not-nay, he will not, remember their sins any more from the time they are become members of Christ, and actually in covenant with him; from that time for evermore there is not once a bringing to remembrance with God, any one of their transgressions.

"But some will say, 'This seems to be strange-what! God not remember the sins of believers? Suppose he forgives them, yet he must remember them, seeing they are committed every day so clearly and conspicuously in his sight: how is it possible he should not remember them?'

"I answer, beloved, let flesh and blood reason, and say what it will, I ask you this question-Is it the Lord himself that says, he doth not remember the sins of his people? If he himself speaks it, who art thou, O man, that darest to question whether he remembers them or no? Shalt thou say, he remembers their sins, when he himself saith, he will not remember them? The apostle Paul tells us, 'No man knows the things of God, but the Spirit of God:' and doth not the Spirit of God tell us this, that 'He doth not remember their sins?' And can any man know the things of God better than the Spirit? Thou sayest that God remembers them, when he saith, he doth not remember them.

"But some will be ready to say farther-how can this possibly be, that God should know every sin which the believer commits, and the believer himself knows the sins he commits, and yet God should not remember them?

66

"I answer, first-Suppose I could not untie this knot, or resolve this riddle to you; you must know, beloved there are deep things of God, which none but he himself can dive into, which none but he is able to resolve; yet, though it could not be resolved, let God be true, and all the world be liars; let not the world's saying, God remembers the sins of his people, prevail against his saying, 'I will not remember their sins.' Let sense, argument, reason, and all stoop to faith, even for the testimony of God's sake alone, though none will speak the same thing, but merely

the voice of God alone.

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SINS OF THE CHURCH BY THE SHEDDING OF CHRIST'S BLOOD. 267

But, secondly, let us see whether we can untie this knot or no; how is it possible that the Lord should not remember their sins, seeing they are so plain to him every moment? There is one word in the text that is not much heeded, and it is that which must resolve this great and difficult question; that is this,' I will not remember your sins.' I will not remember them as your sins, putting the emphasis upon the word your; and will not remember thy sins, or your sins. It is most certainly true, God remembers all the actions that ever men have done, do, or shall do; he remembers the nature and quality of all actions as they are; he remembers such actions as done at such times; and he knows they are thus and thus in the nature of them; and yet, so it is, that 'He remembers not thy transgressions; that is, though he remembers the things thou hast done, yet he doth not remember them as they are thine; he remembers whose they are, he himself has passed them over, he decreed that they should become the sins of Christ; and when he passed them over to him, they ceased to be thine any longer.

"You know that text in Isa. liii. 6, He hath laid on him the iniquities of us all;' and you know that place in 2 Cor. v. 21, 'He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' Now I ask this question, whose are the sins which believers commit? When Christ became their sin, are they not his? and if they are his, are they any longer theirs that did commit them? 2 Cor. v. 19, shows plainly that the Lord reckons them no longer theirs when he hath made them once to be Christ's. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them as much as to say, I will never reckon them thine any more; I will never impute them to thee; all I look for, in respect of thy sins, I look for at the hands of Christ; for he was made sin for us,' saith the

text.

"And whereas people think it strange, forasmuch as believers themselves do remember their sins, that God should not remember them; I answer, if any believers or members of Christ remember their sins any otherwise than God remembers them, their memory fails them, and they are mistaken in their remembrance. If, when believers have sinned, they have a conceit that their sins shall be charged upon them; the truth is, they have other conceits of themselves than God hath of them. But if they will remember their sins as he remembers them, they must remember them, and know them, by the light of God's Spirit, that shall lead them into all truth. The Spirit of God will remember them of them indeed, and lay before them such and such actions, and tell them that they have these pollutions in them, and will convince them of the abhorrency of them; but the same Spirit will remember them withal, that the Lamb of God hath taken away all these sins of theirs,' and that the scape-goat hath carried them away into a land of forgetfulness; thus, I say, the Holy Ghost, as he brings their sins to their remembrance, so he will suggest to them also, to whom their sins are sent. "When we say that Christ moves God to blot out transgressions, I do not separate him from Christ: God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.' What he doth in grace to the poor creature, he

doth in Christ; and he doth nothing of grace to sinners, absolutely considered in himself, abstractedly from Christ, but as in him.

"But take Christ for mediator, and as he is distinguished from the Father, and then, I say, that he, as mediator, did not first move God to blot out transgressions; but the motion within himself, from all eternity, was the rock and fountain of all; yea, even of Christ himself, as mediator; and from this fountain was he raised up to accomplish those things that first were in his breast; for Christ is the mediator—that is, he is the mean between God and us, to compose this great thing of blotting out our transgressions. Now, know that the means are raised up for the bringing about the thing intended, and, in nature, are after the thing intended as the end. The schoolmen have a speech-'The end of things is always the first in intention, though it be last in execution.' If a man builds a house, he first proposeth to himself to what purpose it is to be; it is to dwell in. The habitation is first in his thoughts, and then the situation as a means is raised afterwards to that end; so the Lord sits down and consults with himself how he may show himself in grace to the creature thus―The creature will sin, and I will blot out their transgressions;' but how shall it be done? Well, saith God, I will send Christ into the world; he shall be born of a woman, and die for their sins, having them laid upon him; and shall purchase their redemption. Now Christ is the means; he is made a mediator; but God's determination concerning the blotting out of transgressions, was of his own motion, before there was such a thing as Christ—* I mean in both his natures; and Christ therefore came, because God had determined in his own thoughts that such a thing should be done by him.

"God doth this for his own sake, not only for his own mere motion, but for his own end too : for himself. We are apt to think he blots out transgressions that he might do good to us, that we might be made happy by it. It is true the Lord blotted out transgressions that we might be happy, but yet this is but the subordinate end to him, and stands in subordination to a supreme and higher end : God aims at his own glory principally; he did not, therefore, blot out transgressions that we might be the better for it principally; but that he might attain the thing that concerned himself in it.

“And therefore, whereas the Holy Ghost speaks in the text of 'blotting out transgressions for his own name's sake,' he adds these words to it, foreshowing that God aimed at himself more than anything concerning the good of his creatures-1 Sam. xii. 22, The Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake.' Josh. vii, 9, 'What wilt thou do unto thy great name,' if thy people should sin? he speaking of it then in that business of the men of Israel falling before the men of Ai. The great argument of Joshua to prevail with God, was the great name of God. Psalm lxxix. 9, "Help us, O Lord, for the glory of thy name, and deliver us, and purge away our sins for thy name's sake. The meaning is this-The Lord blots out transgressions for his own

* Reader, do not mistake the writer. As respects his Godhead, Christ is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father; he here merely refers to his mediatorial character.-ED.

name's sake: that is, he therefore blots them out that his own name and glory might be the more magnified and exalted in the earth; so that for his own praise sake, he doth the great things he doth.

"Now you see what it is for God to blot out transgressions for his own sake; namely, that he might have the praise of the glory of his own grace in doing such marvellous things as he doth; so that you run in a vain course to think that you move God by your importunity and humbling yourselves before him; for he will not be moved by all these to blot out your transgressions. If ever, therefore, you would find a motive whereon to rest indeed satisfied that God will and doth blot them out, run to this, the free thoughts of God; and the bowels of God himself have put him upon this great work for you, without regard to what is in you, or done by you, to move him to do it, or to provoke him not to do it. Look into Rom. IX. you shall then see, that in this business of love, and blotting out of transgression, the Lord will there manifest himself in grace, while Jacob is in the womb, before ever he could sigh and groan to him; he did it then, that it might appear not according to works, but according to the purpose of election; that it might stand not of works, but of grace and so when souls partake of this grace of the blotting out of iniquity they may cry out, as the Psalmist did in another case, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the praise and glory.' And it is certain, that the Apostle tells us, we are justified by the grace of God, not of works, lest any man should boast; and therefore the Lord will have all the ordering of the work of grace, that the creature shall have no stroke, that when that grace is manifested, and he partakes of it, the creature having no hand in it, he that glorieth, may glory in the Lord."

May 4th, 1840.

A LAYMAN.

REVIEWS.

A Dialogue, intended to set forth, in a plain and Scriptural manner, the True Doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only object of Divine Worship. By a late Member of the Church at Gower Street Chapel, London. Newberry, 6, Chenies Street, Bedford Square. WHILE the writer of this pamphlet held and persisted in-which it appears from the sequel he did hold and persist in-the doctrine he is therein attempting to defend, in contradistinction to that admirable creed, the creed of St. Athanasius, we think the Church at Gower Street did perfectly right in dismissing him from church membership. We believe that the influence of a man possessed of so much sophistical argument as the author of this tract appears to have at his command, would have been very injurious to the interests and welfare of such members of that church as were not rooted and established in the grand and essential doctrines which the writer of this pamphlet is attempting to assail. Not

that we are of opinion he could do them any permanent injury, or that he could ever by all his sophistry shake a poor soul out of his belief in a three-one God; a Trinity in unity, and a unity in Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; for we believe that one of the first effects of a work of grace is, to stamp a belief in the Trinity upon the heart; and this is done by being brought to a saving knowledge and acquaintance with each person in the ever blessed Godhead.

We did not intend to have used a single argument by way of refuting the doctrine advanced in this work, not being disposed to enter into controversy; but, as the welfare of Zion lies, we trust, very near our hearts, and as two passages of scripture dropped upon our minds, whilst reading the tract, with much sweetness and satisfaction, we concluded that we would insert them, praying that God the Holy Ghost would carry them home with comforting power to every poor doubting mind: the first passage was this:-"God so loved the world, that he gave his onlybegotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John iii. 16. Are not two persons distinctly set forth here—a giver and a gift? The other passage was this :—“If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but, if I depart, I will send him unto you. * When he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.” John xvi. 7, 13. Are not two persons implied here likewise? By quoting these texts of Scripture, we have said all we intend to advance by way of argument. Before we close our remarks, however, we would ask the writer one solemn question, and that is, Has this self-same blessed and eternal Spirit ever guided thee into all truth?—that is, has he ever arraigned thee at the bar of conscience—brought thee in guilty before God—caused thee to stand at that bar as a poor, lost, and undone creature, expecting every moment the sentence to go forth, “Cut him down; why cumbereth he the ground?" and just when thy soul was on the borders of despair, and thou thoughtest that he would hurl thee away to swift destruction, has this same divine Teacher revealed Jesus to thine astonished view, given thee faith to believe in his ability and willingness to save, put a cry into thine heart for mercy, and enabled thee to stretch forth thy withering hand and claim him as thy Surety, thy law-fulfiller, and the only medium of access to a covenant God and Father? We confess we are at a loss to know how a sinner who has been thus arraigned, convicted, and condemned, can so far forget his former position, as to be argued out of a belief of that Almighty Being who first directed his eye to Jesus-of Jesus who regarded his cry and pleaded his cause— e-and of God the Father as putting off and laying aside the frown of a Judge, and smiling with all the complacency of divine fatherly love in the person of his dear Son.

Finally, we would say, pray for divine teaching to examine thine own heart, and see whether thou hast not been actuated by a mere speculative desire in thy search after truth; that thou hast, though unknown to thyself, been furnishing thine head instead of thine heart. The Holy Spirit does not instruct in this way; his holy influences are not so easily attained. He leads his people into all truth in a saving, experimental way, probing and healing the heart before he instructs the head.