dispensation is intended, and was so called *, and anticipated by the Jews, to whom he was now writing.

This is the apostle's description of the character, and his attainments; which, when attentively considered by the children of God, there will appear nothing alarming to their evidences for Heaven: but, to touch the other side of the exposition, and shew what he did not possess, may be a relief to some tender consciences. His being "once enlightened," does not imply he had any faith to apprehend Christ as the precious remedy of a lost sinner; neither does it imply conviction of the evil of sin. There is more in one of those holy groans mentioned in the 8th chapter of the Romans, than all the endowments here mentioned. His" tasting the good word of God," was not the word ingrafted, received with meekness and fear; nor tasting that the Lord is gracious; nor desiring the sincere milk of the word, that he might grow thereby: but having the word put into his mouth as Balaam, or Caiaphas, who, "being high priest that year, prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation." His being made partaker of the Holy Ghost, was not the indwelling of the Spirit, but a participation of his gifts; made partaker by the extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit, upon the first professors, whether they were really converted, or not. It was not the Holy Ghost sent into his heart, crying, Abba, Father; it was not the Spirit of prayer and supplication; but, like Saul among the prophets, or Nicholas among the deacons, who afterwards became an abandoned Antinomiant; perhaps he might have the gift of tongues, or of prophecy, or of healing diseases, or even raising the dead, or casting out devils. It is worthy of remark, that in all this description of endowments, there is none of the usual descriptions of an interest in Christ; nothing about faith, and hope, and love, or inward experience, or humility.

But let us briefly notice the public apostacy of this false professor. Perhaps living to see the time when these extraor-` dinary gifts were no longer necessary in the church (especially where he was placed) and finding them withdrawn from himself, and thus all his self-importance degraded, he might be much disappointed and disgusted; and having no grace in his heart to love religion for its soul-satisfying consolations, give up all profession at once: not stealing away, but publicly avowing his renunciation of the gospel. Then commencing a public adversary and blasphemer, vilifying those very influences he was formerly possessed of; "doing despight to the Spirit ;" counting the doctrine of the atonement," the blood of the covenant, an unholy-thing," a mere imposition upon the world; trampling under foot the Son of God," declaring him to be an impostor; "crucifying him afresh," for the apostle was writing

* Hẹb. ii. 5. Mat. xii. 32. + Rev. ii. 6.

to the Hebrews; and such an apostate would not turn to the Pagans, but to the old unbelieving, hardened Jews; therefore, it is said, Crucifying him afresh; not actually, but "to himself," by entering into the malice and enmity of those that did actually crucify the blessed Jesus: and all this wilfully, after the knowledge of the truth, and having been partaker of the Holy Ghost in his divine Majesty and power; and herein is the sin unpardonable, in endeavouring to overthrow the gospel, notwithstanding the infallible and visible demonstrations of the Holy Ghost.

In noticing the awful consequences that follow, we may observe, that the testimony of the Spirit cannot be frustrated, when he shews himself in working wonders to testify of Christ; though he may blaspheme for a time, it must be very short, for the vengeance of God shall speedily overtake him: "He is nigh unto cursing," and a certain fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation: that the visible curse of God upon him shall bear witness to the gospel he meant to overthrow; "for he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, is in (immediate) danger of eternal damnation:" he shall be arraigned, cast and condemned in this world, as well as in that which is to come.

I will now close the essay, with the following short notes:1. That the Holy Spirit is truly and properly God, or the sin against him could not surely be unpardonable.

2. That the Holy Spirit requires peculiar reverence, being styled emphatically, holy, because of the sacred purity of his divine attributes.

Lastly, Let the wicked and unregenerate beware how they trifle with Christ and his salvation; for though every sin of yours be pardonable, yet there is one question more, Whether the Lord will give you repentance and faith? without which, every sin will sink you lower than the grave: therefore be admonished, remember and fear to transgress; and pray unto the Lord, that your heart may be renewed, that it may be capable of receiving the Holy Spirit as the comforter of your souls. Crutched Friars.

D. K.

THE

MODERATOR;

OR, DR. OWEN'S JUDGMENT CONCERNING

THE USE OF A MORAL LAW AS THE RULE OF A HOLY LIFE.

It is well known by the religious world, that there have been many angry disputes, even between good men, respecting the proper use of the moral law. I have often thought that these might have been moderated by the exercise of good judgment and good temper; qualities not always predominant in theolo

gical debates. The writer of this was happy to find his own ideas on the subject coincident with those of a great master in our Israel, the learned and holy Dr. Owen, whose sentiments on this head are expressed by him in his admirable Discourse concerning the Holy Spirit; in that part of it which treats on The Nature of Sanctification and Gospel Holiness, page 444 of the folio edition. Your candid insertion of the paragraph, will oblige one of your constant readers, and I hope edify many others.

Christ is the rule and measure of holiness unto us: the instrument in working it in us, is his word and doctrine, which he taught the church, as the great Prophet of it. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The inbred dictates of it; the light, and law of nature in their greatest purity, are not the rule or measure of this holiness; much less are these rules and maxims which men deduce, partly right and partly wrong, from them of any such use, nor is the written law itscif so. It is the rule of original holiness, but not the 'adequate rule of that holiness, whereunto we are restored by Christ: neither are both these in conjunction the dictates of nature and the law written, the instrument of working holiness in us; but it is the doctrine of the gospel which is the adequate rule and immediate instrument of it. My meaning is, that the word, the gospel, the doctrine of Christ, in the preceptive part of it, is so the rule of all our obedience and holiness, as that all which it requireth belongeth hereunto, and nothing else but what it requireth doth so; and the formal reason of our holiness consists in conformity thereunto, under this consideration, that it is the word and doctrine of Christ. Nothing belongeth to holiness materially but what the gospel requireth; and nothing is so in us formally but what we do, because the gospel requireth it; and it is the instrument of it, because God maketh use of it. alone, as an external means for the communicating of it unto us, or the ingenerating of it in us. Principles of natural light, with the guidances of an awakened conscience, do direct unto and exact the performance of many material duties of obedience. The written law requireth of us all duties of original obedience; and God doth use these things variously, for the preparing of. our souls unto a right receiving of the gospel: but there are some graces, somc duties, belonging unto evangelical holiness, which the law knows nothing of: such are the mortification of sin, godly sorrow, daily cleansing of our hearts and minds, not to mention the more sublime und spiritual acts of communication with God by Christ, with all that faith and love which is required in us towards him; for although these things may be contained in the law radically, as it requires universal obedience unto God, yet they are not so formally; and it is not used as the means to beget faith and holiness in us. This is the effect of the

gospel only;" "this is the power of God unto salvation." And all that is required of us in the way of external obedience, is but that our conversation be such as becometh the gospel."

PACIFICUS.

FRENCH INVASION, AND CAPTURE OF THE Duff.

Dear Sir,

To the Editor.

THERE were two particular incidents that occurred, previous to our late capture by the Buonaparte, which have often struck me, upon reflection, as deserving some application to our present situation, in reference to the threatened invasion of the French; the flattering assurance some of us entertained of preservation from such a calamitous event, and the manner in which that confidence was permitted to betray us. If the consideration of our being a body of professing Christians, embarked in one of the best of causts, and employed on the best of errands, was calculated to inspire something like a confidence of safety; the reflection that our cargo consisted of nothing but benefactions of Christian friends for the service of Christ, and that we were sent out with thousands of supplications and good wishes, in his name, was confessedly adapted to cherish and confirm it. So much indeed did we appear to be the family and charge of the Most High, secluded from the world, and happy in spiritual exercises, that could our brethren at home have occasionally overlooked us in our frequent devotions, they might have envied our state, and pronounced us, without any hesitation, as secure from Gallic marauders as the divine promise and protection could make us. We were, however, invaded, notwithstanding all; and the afflictive event evinced how fallacious and ill-founded was our reasoning, though conducted upon the principles quite common with Christians in the face of our present danger; or how erroneous was our judgment concerning the divine purpose and will, which we generally conceive must be favourable to our expectations and wishes, when supported with the plea of being his servants, and sanctioned with the appearance of zeal for his glory. Tho', however, our property and floating habitation became subject to French plunder, our persons, by a kind Providence, suffered no material injury; and our lives, by the same indulgent goodness, shared the promise to Ebed-melech; they were "given us for a prey." Nor should it escape our observation, that this favour was obtained by a very reluctant compliance with the same terms of safety which were proposed to Jerusalem by God himself, when besieged by the Chaldean army; for had we done otherwise, * Jer. xxxviii. 2.

we were afterwards told by our captors, it was their determination to send us to the bottom. So far the divine purpose and our main requests harmonized: and should the same enemy ever be suffered to invade our dwellings, a judgment we so justly dread and earnestly deprecate, whatever means of defence and repulsion we may be called to adopt, we may reasonably hope, that those who are frequently committing the keeping of their lives to God in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator, may prove the saine kindness from him..

It was quite natural to suppose, that we should take every strange sail we saw for an enemy; and as it was impossible for us to determine their force, that we should also be subject to fear and suspicion on every such occasion. This was pretty generally the case, I believe, without a single exception. Superadded to this, some of us never failed to employ all our interest at the throne of grace privately, as frequently as such an incident occurred; but the last, if my recollection be correct, that came in my sight, about a fortnight before our capture, gave us the greatest alarm; this, a little way a-head, we descried in company with another smaller vessel, which we took for a prize. At break of day our course was immediately altered, to get the advantage of the wind; and a meeting of prayer announced, to call in the divine interposition for our safety and we had soon the satisfaction of observing, that she rather lost than gained on us; and by two o'clock, were able to perceive she had changed her course; when she soon gradually disappeared, and

sunk in the distant horizon.

The state of our mind was, however, very different from this when the Buonaparte made her appearance: for the supposition that we were far beyond the limits of an enemy's range, and in the neighbourhood of a friendly power, rendered us nowise affected with the apprehension of danger. Hence the usual expedient of supplication to our God was not so much as thought of; and such was the power of persuasion, or infatuation, that although she was in sight all the day, we seemed to possess the same firm assurance of security as if she had sailed from the same port as ourselves. Thus, confident presumption was suffered to supplant those salutary fears which had hither made us pray, as tho' we should not be permitted to offer those intercessions which the previous determination of the Divine Will would not allow him to hear and answer; for had the Lord designed our preservation, he would probably have suggested the thought of secking him, or left us to those impressions of danger which would have led to such a measure. It deserves, however, to be remarked, that we were safest when our fears were most awake, and in the greatest jeopardy when they were least troublesome and if the measure of our present safety, with regard to a French invasion, may be determined by some such rule, let us calculate accordingly so far and so