OPINIONS RESPECTING THE MEANS AND MEASURE OF GOD'S FAVOUR.

CHRISTIANS having ascertained the person of Christ-whether he be an Angel possessing an existence previous to his being born of the Virgin Mary-or a mere Man, under the guidance of inspiration-next proceed to consider the extent of the blessings of the Gospel, and the manner in which they have been conveyed to us. This circumstance, also, has been the source of endless contentions. Peace and charity have been pot unfrequently lost in the discussion of the subject. Even the Methodists themselves split into two great parties concerning it, and the controversy between their respective leaders, conducted with great acrimony, has scarcely subsided. We shall attempt the delineation of this class of opinions with brevity.

CALVINISTS.

THE Calvinist adheres to the doctrines which Calvin taught at Geneva, about 1540, where he was professor of divinity. His real name was Gauvin, but, putting the term Calvini to his Commentary on Seneca, published at Paris, 1532, he was thence de

nominated Calvin. And, it appears from Bishop Jewel's Defence of his Apology for the Church of England, that the term Calvinist was in the first instance applied to the reformers and the English Protestants as a matter of reproach by the church of Rome. The tenets of Calvinism are, predestination, original sin, particular redemption, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. These, in the theological world, are termed THE FIVE POINTS; and frequent have been the controversies agitated respecting them. As the Calvinists differ among themselves in the explication of these tenets, it would be difficult to give a specific account of them. Generally speaking, however, they comprehend the following propositions: 1st. That God has chosen a certain number in Christ to everlasting glory, before the foundation of the world, according to his immutable purpose, and of his free grace and love, without the least foresight of faith, good works, or any conditions performed by the creature; and that the rest of mankind he was pleased to pass by, and ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sins, to the praise of his vindictive justice. 2dly. That Jesus Christ, by his death and sufferings, made an atonement only for the sins of the elect. 3dly. That mankind are totally depraved in consequence of the fall; and, by virtue of Adam's being their public head, the guilt of his sin was imputed, and a corrupt mature conveyed to all his posterity, from which

proceed all actual transgressions; and that by sin we are made subject to death, and all miseries, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. 4thly. That all whom God has predestined to life, he is pleased, in his appointed time, effectually to call by his word and spirit out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. And 5thly. That those whom God has effectually called and sanctified by his spirit shall never finally fall from a state of grace. Some have supposed that the Trinity was one of the five points; but this is a mistake, since both the Calvinists and Arminians, who formed the synod of Dort (where this phrase, five points, originated) were on the article of the Trinity generally agreed. The prominent feature of this system is, the election of some, and reprobation of others, from all eternity.

The Calvinists found their sentiments of election on the expression of the Saviour, respecting his having chosen his disciples out of the world; and more particularly on certain terms used by the apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans. To the epistolary writers, indeed, they more frequently refer than to any other part of the New Testament. The chief advantage of this system, in the opinion of its advocates, is, to produce in us a reverential awe when we look up to God, and a profound humility when we look down upon ourselves.

To the Calvinists also belongs more particularly the doctrine of atonement, or that Christ, by his death, made satisfaction to the divine justice for the elect, appeasing the anger of the Divine Being, and effecting on his part a reconciliation. Thus Jesus Christ had the sin of the elect laid upon him; and in this sense, Luther said that JESUS CHRIST was the greatest sinner in the world! This doctrine, however, is reprobated by some of their divines, who consider the death of Christ as simply a medium through which God has been pleased to exercise mercy towards the penitent. Thus Dr. Magee (a divine of considerable talents and learning), in his popular work on the Atonement, says, "The sacrifice of Christ was never deemed by any who did not wish to calumniate the doctrine of atonement, to have made God placable, but merely viewed as the means appointed by divine wisdom by which to bestow forgiveness. But still it is demanded in what way can the death of Christ, considered as a sacrifice of expiation, be conceived to operate to the remission of sin unless by the appeasing a Being who otherwise would not have forgiven us?-To this the answer of the Christian is, I know not, nor does it concern me to know, in what manner the sacrifice of Christ is connected with the forgiveness of sins; it is enough that this is declared by God to be the medium through which my salvation is effected; I pretend not to dive into the councils of the Almighty. I submit to his wisdom,

and I will not reject his grace, because his mode of vouchsafing it is not within my comprehension."* And Mr. Andrew Fuller observes, "If we say a way was opened by the death of Christ for the free and consistent exercise of mercy in all the methods which sovereign wisdom saw fit to adopt, perhaps we shall include every material idea which the Scriptures give us of that important event." Hence it has been remarked, that God is represented as reconciling by the death of Christ, not himself to man, but man to himself. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, 2 Cor. v. 19. See Mr. Fuller's publication, entitled The Calvinistic and Socinian Systems compared; which is admired by some of the Calvinists, but condemned by others, as not coming up to the full standard of orthodoxy. Dr. Toulmin and Mr. Kentish replied to this work, whilst Dr. Priestley and Mr. Belsham, against whom it was written, did not think proper to notice it.

But to ascertain the real sentiments of this body

* It will be observed that Dr. Magee thus disclaims the doctrine of satisfaction, vulgarly deemed the only true doctrine of the atonement. In much the same manner will the reader And the subject mentioned in a sermon entitled the Christian Minister's Retrospect, a sermon preached at Worship-street, Nov. 3, 1811, on the twentieth anniversary of his settlement at that place, by J. Evans.