administrator, but as the moral governor of the world, and it comes by reason of our connexion with Adam, not simply as the natural, but as also the representative head of all mankind, " in whom they sinned and fell."

But what does it matter, some may perhaps be disposed to ask, how the connexion is made out? If it is admitted that the natural and spiritual evils to which mankind are subject, really flow from the sin of Adam as their fountain-head, what does it matter, whether they are regarded as coming simply in the course of nature, or as a judicial infliction of evil? It matters not a little on various accounts. In the first place, instead of relieving, we think it plainly aggravates and increases the felt difficulty of the subject. For, if it be unjust, as is alleged, in any circumstance, that the punishment due to one person's sin should be inflicted on others, we ask, how can it then be just to treat them in any case as if they had sinned? The fact still remains, that we suffer for a sin we did not commit; and we must either refer this to an act of mere sovereignty on the part of God, or to an exercise of justice dealing with us for a transgression committed through our natural head and representative. Of the two representations, we decidedly prefer the latter as most accordant with our inherent notions of equity. But, secondly, it does not account for all the facts, as stated in Scripture and admitted by those we now reason against. For death being declared and admitted to be the wages of sin-in other words, the execution of a sentence morally due to sin; surely it stands to reason, that if any part of this sentence is executed before personal sinfulness has been contracted, there must be the descending of a moral debt, contracted by another-there is but one assignable reason, as the ground for the procedure, and that is the connection as to desert of punishment with the sin of Adam. Need we say, that the case now supposed, is that of infants dying before moral responsibility commences, and before actual guilt can have been contracted? Mr Barnes quietly, and, with his views, prudently omits any consideration of their case; he simply contents himself with endeavouring to show, on verse 14, that they were not intended by the apostle under the description of those who had "not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." But whether intended there or not, there is no denying the fact, that thousands die in infancy without any personal guilt; and there are but two ways of accounting for it-either death is not in their case the execution of a sentence against sin, or the sin for which they are condemned and punished is that of Adam. And if we prefer the former alternative in the case of infants, how long shall we be able to hold to the connexion between sin and death in general?

But our chief objection to the view in question is, that it cuts at the root of the foundation-principle of redemption, and which is also the foundation-principle of the fall. In both cases alike the government of God proceeds on the principle of representation or headship-one individual standing as the representative of the whole class connected with him, whether for condemnation or justification, for death or life. Adam's sin is imputed to us, in consequence of which we bear its punishment; and, in like manner, our sins are imputed to Christ, in consequence of which he bears our punishment, and we are delivered from condemnation. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, even so by the

But

obedience of one many are made righteous." if there can be no imputation of Adam's sin to the one effect, for the same reason there can be no imputation of Christ's obedience or righteousness for the other he did not die as the representative of his people, bearing the penalty due to their sins. Hence, our author, in common with all who hold his sentiments, as strongly repudiates the imputation of Christ's righteousness, in any proper sense, as the imputation of Adam's sin. The righteousness of God, which is revealed in Christ for the ground of faith, and for the salvation of sinners, is not any definite fulfilment of the law of God in its requirements and penalties in the room of sinners, but merely "God's plan of justifying men, his scheme of declaring them just in the sight of the law," while yet that law is not fulfilled, Christ did not bear its proper penalty," he merely "endured so much as to accomplish the same ends, as if those who shall be saved by him, had been doomed to eternal death."-(Notes on Rom. i. 17, iii. 26.) Such is the vague and general thing into which the work of Christ degenerates, when the doctrine of imputation is abandoned-a sort of compromise, in which there is given, by way of suffering, merely some kind of general demonstration of the evil of sin, since nothing more or better in the circumstances could be done! Who can say, on such a plan, that God's law is fully satisfied, or that, comparing the nature of the demands with the manner of the execution, God's work is perfect? And how different, how slippery a ground this for faith to stand upon, in comparison of the view, which holds, that Christ giving away his life to the Father in the room of his people, a life of infinite value, rendered in the eye of Eternal Justice, a full, glorious, and more than adequate satisfaction to all the demands that could be urged in law on account of their sins?

It

But we cannot enlarge further on the subject. We have said enough to warn our readers of the fundamental dootrinal error exhibited by our author, and to indicate the dangerous consequences involved in it. The view he advocates is too loose in its positions, and too faulty in its representations of the moral procedure of God, to maintain its ground. only needs to be generally adopted, and logically carried out, to bring on a far greater defection from the faith, than we have any design of charging on Mr Barnes. For those who would see the subject of the sinner's connexion with Adam, and the believer's connexion with Christ, briefly, but clearly and satisfactorily handled, we would recommend the little treatise of Mr Laing, on "The Representative Character of Christ and Adam,” or the first volume of Haldane's Commentary on Romans, which is particularly excellent on the righteousness of God in Christ, as the ground of the sinner's justification.

In regard to the position which the Notes of Mr Barnes occupy with reference to Biblical interpretation, we think, upon the whole, they fall somewhat beneath what might fairly be expected in the present

* Indeed, it would seem as if Mr Barnes felt the unsatisfactory nature of his own view of the work of Christ, and occasionally, at least, slides into a more correct representation of the truth-as when he says on the words of Peter," Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," "Christ put himself in the place of sinners, and bore that which those sins deserved-that is, he endured in his own person, that which, if it had been inflicted on the sinner himself, would have been a proper expression of the Divine displeasure against sin, or would have been a proper punishment for sin." This is sound enough, and we quite concur with the author, when he states, this is "what the apostle must mean;" though we do not see how it accords with what Mr Barnes himself has very often said elsewhere.

times. In a general commentary on the New Testament, and one adapted for intelligent readers of all classes, we are scarcely warranted to look for any new light being thrown upon the more difficult passages, or any decided advance being made in the field of hermeneutics. The whole we are entitled to expect is, that the work be up to the attainments of the age, and exhibit an acquaintance with the best and most enlightened guides. This, however, requires that the author should be pretty extensively conversant with the general field of theological literature, as well as with preceding expositions of Scripture, and thus be able to take advantage of the special elucidations of individual portions of Scripture, which that field is constantly supplying. It is here, more particularly, that we think Mr Barnes defective. His reading appears to be too exclusively among commentators and the usual hermeneutical helps; and even in that department he does not seem to be always acquainted with the best sources of a recent kind. In particular, the views of the author are often shallow, and his comments unsatisfactory on such passages as refer to the religion or Scriptures of the Old Testament; he has not sufficiently studied the connexion between the Old and the New. Thus he explains, on Col. ii. 14, "the handwriting of ordinances that was against us," and which Christ nailed to his cross, as being against us merely because they were burdensome, bound and fettered the soul, and restrained the expansive spirit of true piety. But in saying this he only skims the surface of the subject. The grand reason why those ordinances were said to be against us is, that while they provided no adequate or satisfactory atonement for sin, they perpetually brought sin itself into remembrance, and were like so many acknowledgments of debt; a handwriting of obligations pressing upon the conscience, and standing over for its full discharge to the time of Christ's crucifixion. The debt being discharged by him, the handwriting might justly be said to be with his body nailed to the cross. In the same chapter, on verse 16, the author explains the mention of the Sabbathdays as referring, not to the seventh-day Sabbath, but to "the great number of days which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals, as a part of their ceremonial and typical law." In this he only follows Haldane and many others; but we would simply ask Mr Barnes if he knows what actually was the number of those special days of rest which he denominates great?" They were merely seven in the whole year-two at the feast of the Passover (the first and last day), one at Pentecost, one at the Feast of Trumpets, the day of annual atonement, and two at the Feast of Tabernacles. We cannot enter at present on what we deem the true explanation of the passage of Colossians; but the fallacy of this explanation is obvious the moment its general terms are reduced to particulars.

Psalm. We think it scarcely possible that the author could have indited such a comment, if he had read such a work as Treffry on the Eternal Sonship, or examined even the best interpreters on the verse itself. He could hardly have avoided the conviction, that it is a mere mistake to refer the passage directly to Christ's resurrection at all-a mistake arising chiefly from the mistranslation of the word, which is rendered, in our version, "raised up again." It should have been simply, "raised up," in the sense of natural production, or official appointment and elevation. It was by raising up Christ in that sense, that God fulfilled the promise made to the fathers, and not simply by raising him from the dead. And as all depended upon the inwardness of the relation in which Christ stood to the Father, upon the question, whether Sonship, in the strict and emphatical sense, could be predicated of him, it was entirely in point to introduce in that view the quotation from the 2d Psalm: "This day I have begotten thee."

We could refer to many other examples of false interpretation, which are obviously the result, at least in their present form, of a somewhat defective reading, and partly also of a somewhat defective theology: such as the view given of the parable of the labourers in the vineyard (Matt. xx.), where the scope is entirely mistaken (see Lisco on the Parables), or that given of John the Baptist's message to Christ, or the explanation offered of the application of Isa. liii. 4, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," to Christ's healing the diseased, and various things of a similar kind. But we must forbear. We think the British editors of these Notes, especially the two London ones, who insist so often, and so strongly, on the peculiar excellence of their own, might have given some proof of their calling to the work they have undertaken, by improving occasionally upon their original in the respect now indicated. Dr Cumming boasts only of correcting the numerous misprints of Hebrew and Greek quotations which have crept into the American editions," in which case we can hardly suppose his labours to have been very onerous, as the American editions appear to be all stereotyped, and, from the little knowledge we have of stereotyping, we don't see how very numerous misprints could creep in. The author himself makes no pretensions to very high or accurate scholarship; and in his last preface expresses his thankfulness for certain corrections from a respectable quarter. He certainly deserves the gratitude of the Church for the amount and general excellence of his labours in this most important department; and if he has not supplied the public with precisely the best and highest style of a popular commentary on the New Testament, he has certainly done much to prepare the way for that achieve

ment.

"....

THE SHORTER CATECHISM.

and the moss, into the same compartment or the same page. What would you think of a museum where the back bone of a megatherium, a rusty sword, and a piece of granite, were laid out alongside of each other, because they had all been found near the same spot? In a museum, shells are laid beside shells, minerals beside minerals; i. e., not according to the locality in which they were found, but according to the characteristics, generic or specific, of the things themselves. So with a book on botany-so with every department of nature, when you propose to teach it.

What then? Do the philosophers who make these arrangements find fault with the distribution of parts in the existing world, and try to improve upon it? No; they take this method of teaching what they read in the book of nature. It is necessary and effectual. Without it, we could not get on at all; with it, we get on very well. If every one were left to read nature as it lies scattered and commingled before him, the advance of knowledge would be very slow. These arrangements in museums, botanical gardens, and books, are not presented as the draught of a new and improved world; they are devised as the means of facilitating a learner's progress in obtaining a knowledge of the world as it is. These appliances, instead of being a presumptuous disparagement of God's work, constitute a standing testimony by learned men that his works are wonderful, and worthy to be thought upon.

What place a museum holds in regard to the material world-God's work-that place the Catechism holds in regard to the Holy Scriptures-God's word.

Having stated the analogy in a general form, we shall now, with a view to more direct practical instruction, run over the various points in which the analogy holds good.

1. There is a likeness more general, in the simple fact, that as science re-arranges and classifies the objects which it finds scattered in nature; so a theological manual, such as the Catechism, re-arranges and classifies the doctrines and duties that it finds scattered up and down in the Word.

2. The classification of natural objects in museums and books is not to supersede nature as useless, or amend it as imperfect; but, assuming its excellence, it is an expedient to make its actual state more completely known. So the Catechism proposes neither to supersede nor to amend the Bible. On the contrary, the construction of the Catechism is a testimony to the excellence, the perfection of the Word. The mine is held to be so rich, that an expensive apparatus has been erected by its side to help in drawing forth more of its precious stores.

3. In the construction of tables and classes, human science does not give shape to God's creation; but God's creation gives shape to human science. So in the theological treatise, the facts and doctrines of the Bible supply its matter and mould its form: it does not modify or suppress any truth of the Bible.

4. In books and collections of science, though the constructor think there is something wanting to complete some of his classes-some links amissing from what, in his view, would be a beautiful chain-he is not at liberty to add anything in order to make it complete. By an apparent blank, he may be set upon the proper scent in a renewed search; but whatever be the result of his search, he must put nothing into his collection except what he found in the field of

observation. The true spirit of science is to find out and exhibit nature as she is, with a religious dread of giving the least tinge of artificial colouring to any observed fact. The man of science who is worthy of the name, goes forth not as a creator, but as a discoverer; he takes the position, not of a judge, but of a witness. What would be thought of a museum, in which there were some new species of animal made of clay, according to the collector's own fancy, because he thought the series would be more complete if such an animal were in it? Whatever credit such an empiric might have found in former ages, modern philosophy professes at least to receive nothing but observed facts.

So with the Catechism; the compiler must not form the idea of a system for himself, and fill up from his own imagination what he cannot discover in the Bible. His office is to arrange, in logical order, the materials which lie in the Scriptures, and present that as his system. He has no business to think it redundant at one place, and deficient at another. He is not a judge, far less a lawgiver; let him give truthful testimony as a witness, and no more is required of him.

It is by an empirical philosophy that Papists contrive to get the pope into their system. How could you have a kingdom without a supreme head? and, accordingly, they put a presumptuous man into the throne of Jesus. It is to be feared that Prelatists have no better authority for putting godfathers and godmothers into their Catechism. It is not a veritable object found in the Bible-it has been made. The constructor has made it from clay, when he could not find it among existing things. It is an idol, and an ugly, misshapen little image it is—a barbarous excrescence stuck on the pillars of a noble pile.

5. In collections of science, nothing must be omitted that is found in nature. The constructor is not at liberty to keep back some portion of the bones of a fossil animal, because the animal, to him, appeared better proportioned without them.

So with the Catechism. Keep nothing back that is taught in the Bible, although it be against a favourite notion of your own, or fitted to offend the prejudices of a class whom you are desirous to please. You have no right to have an opinion that would tend to modify in any way God's Word. You have no right to wish that any thing were wanting that it contains. You have no right to hold back any thing that you have discovered there. The doctrine connected with the sovereignty of God, for example, being found in the Bible, must be exhibited in the Catechism. Some would prudently keep the doctrine veiled, lest it should scare inquirers away. So did not the Lord, our prophet. He declared the doctrine plainly. On hearing it, many departed, and walked no more with him. He must have foreseen its effects on these men, and yet he would not withhold the truth. Are we wiser than he? Give the doctrine just the place and prominence that it has in the Bible, and no more. Exhibit in your teaching what you read in the Word, and leave the consequences to Him who gave it. The Papists keep the greater part of the second commandment out of their catechisms. They have a good reason for it. The Bible is against Popery, and Popery must-by an instinct of nature, while it continues what it is-be against the Bible.

6. The last point of resemblance which we shall notice is this: When you intend to use-to use for

the purposes of life-the various objects of the material world, you do not go to the museum to get them. There are in that museum all kinds of rocks, beautifully arranged and labelled, but the builder does not go to the museum for materials, when he is about to build a house. He goes to the quarry. What then? Is the museum of no practical use to him? Yes. Its use, however, is not to entice him away from the quarry, but to enable him to go to it more skilfully, and with greater effect. So with an experimental garden, or a treatise on agriculture; the husbandman cannot get food for his household there he must go to the fields for it. But the classifications of science are not practically useless to the husbandman. They are intended, not to entice him away from the sowing and the reaping of his fields, but to enable him to accomplish these operations more skilfully, that so he may obtain more food from the field than otherwise he would have done.

So with the Catechism. We are not to hold by it in a day of trial. We are not to feed on it when our spirits languish. Its use is, to enable us to go more skilfully to the Word, where only we can get the portion to satisfy a soul.

It is too much the habit, to get our religion at second-hand, and hence it is often very sickly. "Desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby;" this is the art by which a Christian lives.

In conclusion. (1.) Thanks be to God who has provided the rich and varied materials of spiritual life in the Scriptures, and in providence afforded us so many helps to understand and use them-who has made the manna to fall thick around our tents every day, and allowed us so many means of help in gathering it.

(2.) How miserable to know the way, and never walk in it!-to be acquainted accurately from the Catechism with the bread of life, and never taste it!-to be acquainted, as it were, with the very streets of heaven, and yet at last lie down in everlasting dark

ness!

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY-THE PREACHING OF THE WORD—A PROPOSED OVERTURE.

BESIDES its direct results on the efficiency and advancement of the Church, the meeting of the General Assembly has many collateral or incidental advantages. Among others, there is awakened or renewed in the minds of ministers, by the very circumstance of so many of them coming together, and holding fellowship on subjects connected with the ends of their calling, a deeper sense of the importance of those ends, and of the sacred and solemn character of that calling; by the various views which are suggested to them in the course of the public proceedings, and in their private intercourse with many Christian brethren and friends, their minds acquire a degree of enlargement as to their own duties, and the best way of fulfilling these in their respective spheres; their hearts are animated and warmed with a new glow of ardour and zeal, and they return home, freshened, as it were, for their work, and anointed, as with oil, for their heavenly Master's service. This, at least, will be the experience of every sincere and earnest minister of the gospel, on whom, in answer to the many prayers which precede and accompany the period of the Assembly, the Holy Spirit has been poured out.

The preaching of the Word being the specially appointed instrument for the diffusion and influence of the gospel, it is not wonderful that the right method of employing this instrument should be the subject of much anxious thought with every devoted servant of the Lord Jesus. And we cannot but take the opportunity now presented, of recommending, in a single sentence, the careful study of two works, which we consider of great value, in connexion with this subject. The one is of long standing in the Christian Church, but can never be too often referred to or perused. We mean Richard Baxter's "Reformed Pastor." The other is a late work, but very seasonable and very stirring. It is entitled "An Earnest Ministry the Want of the Times," by Mr James of Birmingham. An occasional or frequent recurrence to these excellent books would, we cannot doubt, tend greatly, by the divine blessing, to keep up in the hearts of our ministers the right tone for the performance of their all-important work.

But our object at present, in connexion with this point, is to bring into notice an overture, which was intended to have been introduced into the late General Assembly of the Free Church, but for which there was, unfortunately, neither time nor opportunity. It was prepared by one of the most experienced and honoured of our country ministers, who has long most faithfully and successfully laboured in the vineyard; whose words, therefore, on such a subject are weighty, and worthy of the consideration of the whole Church. We subjoin a copy of this overture, and can only further at present express a hope, that the publication of it in this form may, in the meantime, and to some extent, make up for the unavoidable circumstance of its not having been brought before the Assembly.

"OVERTURE-MAY 1848.

"Anent the Preaching of the Word.

"The General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, taking into serious consideration the paramount importance, at all times, of the preaching of the Word, as the grand means, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, of the conversion and edification of the souls of men; that the calls upon the probationers and ministers of this Church to the frequent and extensive preaching of the gospel, both in season and out of season, are very numerous and pressing; that the effective and profitable, as well as acceptable mode of preaching, depends much, under the Divine blessing, on the character of the discourses delivered being not only sound and scriptural in point of doctrinal statement, and pointed and rousing in practical application, and that the manner of delivery be interesting and impressive, but farther, that the sermons and expositions brought forth from Sabbath to Sabbath be manifestly the fruit of much study, and careful and prayerful preparation :

"FARTHER, the General Assembly considering that the great demand on the Free Church for the preaching of the Word in missionary stations, as well as regularly formed congregations, having of necessity led to the calling forth of the exercise of the gifts of students of divinity, and of missionary agency, as well as of probationers at an earlier stage of preparation than in ordinary times is considered desirable, as regards the individuals themselves, and the edification of the flock of Christ :

“AND INASMUCH as the enviable and useful gift of