in Christ," identified with him as his righteousness. Such was Paul's theology-such was the theology of Hervey, and such, thank God, is now the theology of evangelical Christendom; the highest praise of which is, that it annihilates self, and secures the fulfilment of what is written, "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." The glorious objectivity of the gospel is preserved, and after all the visions and voices have been seen and heard on the mount of Revelation, the result is, that WE SEE NO MAN SAVE JESUS ONLY.

The more we study the subject, the more deeply do we feel convinced that our friends in England, who are so violently prejudiced against what they call Calvinism, are misspending their zeal against some unhappy caricature of the system, or some grim misconception of it which has no existence save in their own fancy. They are mistaken if they imagine that we hold our Calvinism in abeyance when we preach the gospel; if they suppose that, like the waters of the Arve and the Rhone at their confluence, the two streams flow alongside without amalgamation. On the contrary, we feel that our views of the sovereignty of divine grace impart depth and dignity to the whole scheme of redemption, while they do not in the least interfere with the perfect freeness and universality of the gospel invitation. We distinguish between the ground of the sinner's hope, and the source of the believer's consolation. The sinner, we firmly hold, is justified and saved, not because he has been elected to life, but because he has believed on the Son of God. But with equal firmness do we hold that the believer on the Son of God has reason to "thank God who has from the beginning chosen him to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." The word of the gospel presents nothing before the eye of the sinner but Christ and him crucified." But before the opened eye of faith, resting on the cross of Calvary, the vista of eternity, past and to come, opens up in a blaze of heavenly splendour; and he beholds, in the outstretched arms of the Crucified, one hand pointing, as it were, to the eternal love of the Father, and the other to the sure prospect of life everlasting. Nothing can be more untrue in fact, or more contradicted by the experience of every genuine believer, than the idea that the system of Hervey is encumbered with difficulties, or calculated to involve the soul in all the metaphysical dilemmas which have been rashly ascribed to the Calvinistic doetrine of election. On the contrary, it could be shown, from an incalculable number of witnesses, that it is the only way of successfully escaping at once from the quagmire of doubt and the ignis fatuus of enthusiasm. It is some consolation to Calvinists to reflect that the objections usually brought against their

system of doctrine resolve themselves into the two brought against that of Paul, and that they have been answered by anticipation in the sixth and ninth chapters of the epistle to the Romans. And it is no less consoling to think that their distinguishing tenets are so entwined with the precious gospel, that they cannot assert the blessed perfection of its righteousness, and the freeness of its offered salvation, without finding themselves compelled, as Hervey was, to fight the battle of their Calvinism. Instead, however, of contenting ourselves with general reasoning, we shall close by giving a practical instance of what we have advanced. It is in the shape of an extract from the letter of an intelligent correspondent, a true Calvinist, who, knowing that we were engaged on the subject of the present article, writes us as follows:

"I have a vivid recollection of the struggles I had with this perverted view of the doctrine of election. If, I reasoned, I am elected to salvation, I must and will be saved, for the purposes of God cannot fail; but if I am not chosen to salvation, all my endeavours are of no avail, and it is better to enjoy myself in this world than struggle after a condition which I can never attain. Like all others, I suppose, in this state, I entertained very erroneous views about the nature of faith, imagining that it was produced in the heart by such a supernatural process as left no room for the exercise of the mind and the affections, in the way of being influenced by motives and desires; in other words, imagined that faith and regeneration were, the one implanted, and the other effected, by some mysterious process in which the person was consciously passive, and not in accordance with his character as an intelligent and reasonable being, and hence this error paralysed my endeavours and desires to believe. I had no clear or correct view of the warrant of sinners, as such, immediately to rely on Christ for salvation, and consequently no just view of the perfect freedom of the gospel offer. In my moments of greatest distress, I never once thought of coming direct to Christ as a sinner, and as such relying on him for pardon and acceptance, but desired some immediate, supernatural, self-conscious exercise of divine power which would, at once and for ever, deliver me from my present awful condition, and introduce me into the state and blessedness of a new creature. You will see from this statement where the great error of many convinced sinners lies, who, like me, had a confused and partial acquaintance with Bible truth, and you will also perceive the suitableness of the remedy to which divine providence directed me.

"I was nearly seventeen years of age when I met with 'Theron and Aspasio.' I had read the Meditations' before, and had also seen and partly read the work just mentioned, but at this time I read it through and was astonished to find, what I never knew before (in the same manner), that all sinners are warranted, by the express declaration of the Giver, to accept Christ as their Saviour, each for himself, to appropriate'-aye, appropriate-Christ and salvation by him, and to do this immediately, without waiting for any other warrant or preparation than the declaration of God, and their own pressing, imme

NO. VII.

3 I

diate, and absolute need. This doctrine is so fully and explicitly set forth in the 15th and 16th Dialogues, that it left me no room for further doubt or delay; and in the state of mind in which I then was, this discovery led, not merely to an enlargement of knowledge or a change of opinion, but, at least, to an endeavour to accept Jesus Christ and to rely on him for salvation, and was followed with a peace and joy which I had never known before, and which, though often lost and obscured, I would not exchange with all that the world could bestow."

ART. II.-1. Discourses on Christian Nurture. By HORACE BUSHNELL, D.D., Pastor of the North Church, Hartford. Approved by the Committee of Publication. Boston: Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. 12mo. Pp. 72. 2. Dr Tyler's Letter to Dr Bushnell on Christian Nurture. 8vo. Pp. 22.

3. An Argument for "Discourses on Christian Nurture," addressed to the Publishing Committee of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. By HORACE BUSHNELL. Hartford: Edwin Hunt. 8vo. Pp. 48.

THE leading idea of Dr Bushnell's Discourses is organic, as distinguished from individual life. Whatever may be thought of the expression, or whatever may be the form in which it lies in his mind, it represents a great and obvious truth; a truth which, however novel it may appear to many of our New Eng land brethren, is as familiar to Presbyterians as household words. Strange, and in our view distorted, as is the form in which this truth appears in Dr Bushnell's book, and incongruous as are the elements with which it is combined, it still has power to give his Discourses very much of an "old-school" cast, and to render them in a high degree attractive and hopeful in our estimation. Apart from the two great illustrations of this truth, the participation of the life of Adam by the whole race, and of the life of Christ by all believers, we see on every hand abundant evidence that every church, nation, and society has a common life, besides the life of its individual members. This is the reason why nothing of importance can occur in one part of the church without influencing all other parts. No new form of doctrine, no revival or decline of spiritual life can exhibit itself in New England, that is not effective throughout the Presbyterian Church. We as a body owe, in no small measure, our character, as distinguished from other Presbyterian communities, to our participation, so to speak, of the life of New England; and the New England churches are indebted,

in like manner, for their character, as distinguished from other Congregational bodies, to the influence of their Presbyterian brethren. No community can isolate itself. The subtle influence which pervades the whole, permeates through every barrier, as little suspected and yet as effective as the magnetic or electric fluid in nature. This fact may be explained in a manner more or less obvious or profound according to our philosophy or disposition, but it cannot be denied, and should not be disregarded.

We are, therefore, not uninterested spectators of the changes going on in New England. They are changes in the body of which we are members, and their effects, for good or evil, we must share. We are not therefore stepping out of our own sphere, or meddling with what does not concern us, in calling attention to Dr Bushnell's book, and to the discussions to which it has given rise.

The history of this little volume is somewhat singular. Dr Bushnell was appointed by the Ministerial Association of which he is a member to discuss the subject of Christian training. He produced two discourses from his pulpit, and read the argument before the Association, who requested its publication. To this he assented; but before his purpose was executed, a request came from a member of the committee of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society that the publication should be made by them. The manuscript was forwarded to the committee, who retained it in their possession six months, twice returned it to the author for modifications, and finally published it with their approbation. It excited no little attention, being favourably noticed in some quarters, and unfavourably in others. So much disapprobation, however, was soon manifested, that the committee felt called upon to suspend its publication. We are not surprised at any of these facts. We do not wonder that the committee kept the book so long under advisement, or that they should ultimately venture on its publication; or that, when published, it should create such a sensation, or meet with the fate which actually befel it. There is enough in the book to account for all this. Enough of truth most appropriate for our times, powerfully presented, to make the committee anxious to bring it before the churches; enough of what was new in form and strange in aspect, to create doubt as to its effect and its reception; and enough of apparent and formidable error to account for the alarm and uneasiness consequent on its publication. We cannot regret that the book has seen the light, and done, or at least begun, its work. We anticipate immeasurably more good than evil from its publication. What is wrong we trust will be sifted out and perish, what is right will live and operate.

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The truths which give value to this publication, and from which we anticipated such favourable results, are principally the following:-First, the fact that there is such a divinelyconstituted relation between the piety of parents and that of their children, as to lay a scriptural foundation for a confident expectation, in the use of the appointed means, that the children of believers will become truly the children of God. We do not like the form in which Dr Bushnell states this fact; much less, as we shall probably state more fully in the sequel, the mode in which he accounts for it; but the fact itself is most true and precious. It is founded on the express and repeated declaration and promise of God. He said to Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee." Deut. vii. 9: Know, therefore, that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations." Deut. xxx. 6: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." Isa. lix. 21: "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thymouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, from henceforth for ever." In the New Testament the fact that the promises made to believers include their chil dren, was recognised from the very foundation of the Christian church. In the sermon delivered by Peter on the day of Pentecost, he said, "The promise is unto you and to your children." And Paul assures us, even with regard to outcast Israel, "The children are beloved for the father's sake." It is, therefore, true, as might be much more fully proved, that by divine appointment the children of believers are introduced into the covenant into which their parents enter with God, and that the promises of that covenant are made no less to the children than to the parents. He promises to be their God, to give them his Spirit, to renew their hearts, and to cause them to live.

This promise, however, like all others of a similar character, is general, expressing what is to be the general course of events, and not what is to be the result in every particular case. When God promised that summer and winter, seed time and harvest, should succeed each other to the end of time, he did not pledge himself that there never should be a failure in this succession, that a famine should never occur, or that the expectations of the husbandman should never be disappointed.