'

inquisitions or civil statutes for the preservation of the faith, and the excision of heretics, that were ever instituted; with every other means that human policy or fanatical bigotry can devise. Speed its progress, O God, until every family shall possess, in its own native language, the unadulterated word of life!

The missionaries of the cross, who have bidden adieu to the land of their fathers and to the endearments of home, and have gone into distant regions with the ministry of reconciliation, shall be successful in their labors of love; and while Ethiopia is stretching out her hands to God, and, in the anguish of her heart, is pleading her own cause, her earnest appeal to Heaven shall be regarded; and though she cannot change her natural hue, she shall wash her robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb!

Those men of God who have gone to the miasmatic swamp missions of the south to teach the poor negro the way of the Lord, or those who have penetrated far into the wilderness of the west to instruct the wild Indian in the true knowledge of the Great Spirit, together with all others who are Scripturally engaged in the blessed work of this holy calling in every part of the world, shall be greatly instrumental in advancing the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, and in increasing the glory that is following the sufferings of Christ.

The happy effects of these sufferings may not only be experienced in the heart and witnessed in the life of one individual, but in the hearts and lives of all; and when the glory of the atonement shall have spread fully over the four quarters of the globe, who can properly describe, or even anticipate, the heavenly condition of human society? All nations shall be at peace with each other. War and destruction shall not be heard in their borders. No civil discord shall agitate a single state or government. No broils or quarrels shall discompose domestic tranquillity. No guilt shall produce condemnation and remorse in the mind of the pardoned sinner. The love of the creature will be centred supremely in God, as the grand focal point of a believer's affections; while that love that thinketh no evil, but hopeth, believeth, endureth, and beareth all things, and without which all other gifts would leave him only as "a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal," will regulate his actions toward his mutually loving neighbor. The different denominations of Christians shall dwell together in perfect unity, each one worshipping God under its own vine and fig-tree. O when will those golden days of Christianity fully arrive! My soul longeth for them as for the breaking of the morning!

"Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,

And you, ye waters, roll;
Till, like a sea of glory,

It spread from pole to pole!

Till o'er our ransom'd nature,
The Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeemer, King, Creator,

In bliss, returns to reign!"

5. Were there no other glory than that which can be felt and seen in this world, and that especially which diverges in radiant beams from the death-couch where the good man ends his life, the love of God would be astonishingly magnified in the gift of his Son. But all this is only

as a drop to the ocean; as the feeble light of the midnight lamp to the brightness of the noonday sun. The faintest rays of glory are witnessed in this state of being; the strongest and most overpowering in that which is to come. Here we can learn but the alphabet of a future language; there we shall possess the richest treasures of this language, Here we can have but a crumb, a mere foretaste, of the bread of life; there we shall have all the deep and hallowed blessings of the whole feast.

A cheering vision, a fair and extensive landscape, rises to my sight! I see in it the mountain of God, towering in grandeur to heaven! I see the holy city, the New Jerusalem, adorned as a bride prepared for her husband; its streets are as transparent as a sea of glass; its walls are built of diamonds and all manner of precious stones; its gates are composed of the "goodliest pearls ;" its inhabitants are pure and lovely as the angels of God, clothed in white robes, with palms in their hands and starry crowns on their heads. I hear them singing, and the sound of it is as the voice of many waters :—“ Blessing, and glory, and honor, and thanksgiving, and power, and might, be unto the Lord our God, who liveth and reigneth for ever! Hallelujah to the Lamb that was slain, who hath washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto his Father!" Thousands upon thousands are there; a great multitude that no man can number, out of every nation upon earth. Patriarchs, prophets, kings, and saints of Israel; apostles, martyrs, and primitive Christians; ministers and missionaries of every clime; children who have died in infancy, in countless myriads; together with all others who have wrought righteousness, and have died in favor with God. Their natural, weak, dishonorable, mortal, and corruptible bodies have been changed into spiritual, active, glorious, immortal, and incorruptible bodies. All natural, physical, and moral evil, of every kind and degree, is removed from them; and all possible good of every kind, and to a degree of which we can have no adequate conception in this our present state of being, is theirs for ever. Their holiness is unsullied, their happiness unalloyed, and their joys and knowledge are eternally increasing. The mind of man, soaring upward on its eagle pinions to the highest point of which it is capable, can discover in the distant prospect no shore to the boundless ocean, no efficient barrier to stay the proud waves of human improvability! Nevertheless, we may "poise on steady wing" at this height in the intellectual heavens, and contemplate the immensity which surrounds us, whose great depths we cannot possibly fathom. This very impossibility will teach us that, in contemplating the perfections of the unsearchable God, we shall find ceaseless employment for our faculties in the world to come. All this, and indescribably more, may be reckoned as the effect of the sufferings of Christ. But the subject is inexhaustible; and as these remarks have, perhaps, already been extended too far, I will only add a few brief concluding observations.

1. The several kinds of sufferings the Saviour endured are full of instruction. Was he poor? How resigned to his lot! Was he pious at the same time; and did the Father say, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased?" Then poverty is not a mark of the divine displeasure; and the fact that good men are afflicted, is a strong argument for a future state of rewards and punishments. Was he tempted?

Then temptations are not, in themselves, sinful; and the best man may be subject to them without incurring guilt, while he yields not to their influence. Did he foil the tempter by quoting appropriate passages of Scripture? This, then, is the right way for the Christian to resist Satan, when placed in a similar situation. Did he suffer persecution? The servant is not above his Lord; let him only have the same meekness and the same forgiving spirit. Did he die the death of a martyr? Let us, also, be willing to lay down our lives in his cause, and for his sake. Did he die to redeem us from sin, death, and hell? "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us!" He pitied us in our wretchedness; he made heaven itself possible of attainment, by giving his only begotten Son as the infinite ransom price of our deliverance!

2. We should perseveringly imitate the prophets of old in searching the Scriptures. They had, comparatively, but few books to search and study we have the complete canon of Scripture. They had only a part of the Old Testament-a book, moreover, that is but seldom read by Christians as attentively and frequently, in the present day, as it ought to be, unless we except the Psalms, and a few other more particularly devotional portions-we have the Old and the New Testament in connection. Many of the predictions of the prophets were not understood by themselves, and others but partially; "the true light now shineth ;" and the knowledge they were denied to obtain, for reasons known only to God, may now be fully acquired by us. And, with these superior advantages, shall we remain ignorant? That which

we behold with open face. Shall we not so improve it that it may make us wise unto salvation? It is a book of history the most ancient and curious; a book of doctrines the most ennobling; of precepts the most holy; of promises the most precious and inviting; of threatenings the most terrible; of prophecies and miracles the most wonderful; of poetry the most sublime and inspiring; of learning the most deep and profound; and of philosophy the most correct and consistent. O Lord, open thou our eyes, and our minds shall behold wondrous things in thy law!

3. We should endeavor to obtain suitable qualifications for enjoying the glory that shall follow our stay upon earth. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." Therefore sin must be pardoned, its power, love, and radical contamination must be destroyed, and the image of God must be deeply impressed upon the soul. This is a great work; but it is as necessary as it is great.. For," without holiness, no man shall see the Lord." But, great as it is, it may easily be accomplished, and in a short time, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, through the exercise of faith in the merits of those vicarious sufferings of which we have spoken. Jesus is waiting to impart his grace to every anxious heart, to apply his blood to the perfect purification of every stain of sin, and fully to deliver his people from the power of the adversary, and the dominion of every unhallowed propensity. O that the blessings he purchased by his sufferings may be speedily communicated to those for

whom they were so dearly bought, and that we may all have the "wedding garment" in the day of the Lord, and enter in to the marriagesupper of the Lamb, to enjoy for ever the glory that shall succeed our happy entrance there! Amen.

For the Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review.

ART. X.-OBSERVATIONS ON WATSON'S THEOLOGICAL
INSTITUTES.

To those who are acquainted with Mr. Watson's writings, and with Methodist periodicals, it may be matter of surprise that any person should undertake to present a review of him to the public. His writings have been some time before the world, and at least one review of the present work has appeared in our own Magazine. "What need we any farther judgment?"

The reviews already published, however, have rather served to furnish specimens of the work, and as "letters of commendation" to the favorable notice of the public, than as cautious examinations of the matter and manner of the author. I am not in favor, indeed, of rigorous examinations in all cases. There are mistakes which a reviewer should not see. There may be differences of opinion not proper to be mentioned. But,

The subjects on which Mr. Watson writes cannot be examined too closely. No careless logic should settle our opinions respecting them. Of these subjects I am a student. Of Mr. Watson, I am, in some degree, an admirer; and have been, at least, a patient reader. Of some of his views, I should be glad to state my opinion; not the less so, that they refer to matters of great moment.

At the same time, the reader need be under no apprehension of meeting with that which he has often met before. If I saw no other course of remark but that which has already been pursued, I would not intrude myself upon the readers of the Magazine.

The "Institutes" commence, very naturally, with the Evidences of Christianity. This presents to us a very important subject; and we will occupy our article in following Mr. Watson through the series of arguments by which he proposes to prove that the Bible is the word of our God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

It would seem that the very consent of all Christians, that the Bible is from God, must render the construction of an argument in its behalf convincing to others, peculiarly difficult. Both we who preach and write, and, generally, they to whom we preach and write, believe in the doctrine already; and we cannot very readily enter into the thoughts of one who does not. We incline to receive an argument too readily; infidels, too reluctantly. We would not hesitate to urge an unsound they, to reject a sound argument.

The same circumstance which renders convincing argument pecu. liarly difficult, renders it also peculiarly necessary; and justifies rigorous caution, lest we be found resting upon a basis unsubstantial to all eyes save our own.

There is no need of any hesitancy in throwing away an unsubstantial prop to Christianity. Her foundations are so broad, so stable is the rock on which she is built, that no prop is necessary.

To the preliminary reasoning of Mr. Watson I have some objections. The train commences with what our author styles presumptive evidence, which, though not full and direct, is yet, as he thinks, of too great weight to be overlooked.*

Now, of this I remark, in the first place, that we are not informed of what the presumption is, but only, in general terms, that it is favorable: to Christianity. A very trifling matter in appearance, but, to the character of the argument, of high import.

The reader will observe that there may be two ways of framing a présumptive argument: the first, being to show that, under certain circumstances, we would have reason to expect a revelation from God, and that those circumstances exist; the second, being presumptive, historical evidence, that a revelation has been made.

The first method places us in the chain of effects, before revelation, and endeavors to show, that such are the purposes of God respecting the human race, that, under certain circumstances, he will reveal him.. self; and also to show that those circumstances actually present them. selves. The second places us after revelation, and, without judging the divine character or human wants, it inquires whether there be not evidence of it, as having actually occurred.

The former judges from those circumstances which would give rise to revelation, and is à priori; the latter, from those appearances which would result from revelation, and is à posteriori.

To which of these two kinds does the argument of Mr. Watson be. long? Is it a presumption that God would reveal himself, or that he has revealed himself? Mr. W. nowhere recognizes our distinction, though a remark in chap. xii. shows that his mind was proceeding in the direction of the former. He says, "in addition to the proofs which have been given of the necessity of a revelation, both from the reason of things, and the actual circumstances of the world," &c. This pas sage shows, very clearly, what kind of proof he intended to furnish.

It will be found to be, however, of both kinds; though the former very decidedly predominates. It will also be found, I think, that so far as the former predominates, the reasoning is suspicious. To any reasoning of that kind there appear to be very serious objections.

The reader will perceive that the strictures contained in this article relate to Mr. Watson's method of conducting the investigation, and arranging the evidence usually adduced in support of a divine revelation; and not to his work generally, as a system of theology entitled to the high rank among those extant which has been assigned it by the almost unanimous voice of an enlightened Christian community. The fact is, that the method adopted by Mr. Watson is not peculiar to him. He has followed in the track of almost all distinguished theologians who preceded him. But whether this method be best-whether it be the happiest arrangement to precede the demonstration of truth founded on the history of the revelation itself, and essential, after all, in producing conviction, by a vast amount of presumptive evidence, often rendered doubtful by the interposition of balancing probabilities or error in the process of reasoning from alleged premises-may, at least, admit of an inquiry. This we understand to be the object of our correspondent, which it is proper for the reader to bear in mind, lest, by not closely following him through, his article may be misapprehended, and construed to have a bearing unfavorable to the distinguished reputation and relative merits of Mr. Watson's Institutes, which, we are persuaded, the author never intended.-Eds.