ON THE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION.

BY THE REV. THOMAS ROSS, LL.D.,

Minister of Lochbroom.

VAIN, superficial, and ungrateful men, who have never duly estimated the desert, the degrading nature, and alienating effect of sin in their own heart and conduct, or the value, the necessity, and the wonder of mercy, as revealed in the character of God, will be ready to ascribe that salvation which is revealed in the Gospel, to something meritorious in themselves, or, at least, to some motions of their own free will, disposing them to depart from a sinful course, and to turn to God with repentance, and with a sincere, though imperfect obedi

ence.

But, not to insist on the absurdity of supposing a creature, which is by nature enmity, changing itself into love; a creature, which is by nature blind, restoring itself to sight; a creature, which is by nature polluted, exerting the energies of native holiness; a creature, which is by nature wicked and perverse, by the natural efforts of its own free will becoming sincerely penitent and obedient; a creature, in short, which is by nature spiritually dead, performing all the exercises of spiritual life; absurdities compared in Scripture to that of the Ethiopian changing his skin, or the leopard his spots; let us, with all humility, inquire into the fuct regarding the first promise on which mankind rested the hope of their salvation, and we shall find, from the circumstances and manner in which that promise was conveyed, abundant reason, completely and for ever, to exclude the most remote pretension to merit or condition on the part of man. This promise, as is well known, refers to an illustrious Seed of the woman, which was to bruise the head of the serpent; or, in other words, to break down the dominion which that murderous enemy had, through the violation of the divine law, usurped over man, as recorded in the third chapter of the book of Genesis.

Now, to suppose man, after his transgression, possessed of any merit or desert which could call forth the divine favour towards him, or even of any qualities which could render him a fit subject of covenant or converse with God, is an idea wholly

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repugnant to every proper conception of the divine perfections. To hold communion and fellowship with a child of the dust, an inhabitant of this lower world, even in a state of innocence and holiness, was an instance of astonishing condescension in the glorious majesty of heaven and earth. But to suppose a sinful worm of the dust,-a vile and degraded apostate, an ungrateful and abandoned rebel, still deserving of the divine favour, still fit to be treated with anew on the ground of mutual agreement, this is a thought so dishonourable to God, and so palpably absurd, that nothing but the most infatuated delusion could impose it, for a moment, on any reasonable mind.

This was a thought which did not, and could not, enter into the mind of Adam himself, and which is cherished only by the blindest and most degenerate of his race. He knew too much of the character of God, and of his own deplorable situation, to conceive so unsuitably concerning himself. He knew that he had lost the image in which he had been created, and had fallen from his high estate. He saw that he was naked, he felt the degrading sensation of shame, the distracting passion of fear, he fled from the presence of God, which he found himself unworthy and terrified to behold.

When summoned to appear, he stood guilty, silent, and self-condemned. He had no apology to offer for his conduct, no alleviating circumstances to plead, either in arrest of judgment, in extenuation of his offence, or for mitigation of punishment. He could not plead any ignorance of his duty, or want of ability to discharge it; he could not plead any advantage which had been taken of him by a too powerful enemy, or any want of sufficient previous warning; he was aware that life and death had been distinctly set before him, and the awful curse upon transgression still sounded in his ears, "dying thou shalt die!" He was conscious of having offered the most daring insult to the divine perfections, in having indulged the pride of his own reason in opposition to the wisdom of his Maker, and believed the devil rather than God.

Yet he was not humbled under this dreadful accumulation of aggravated guilt, neither was he disposed to penitence and submission. No! Not

one symptom of contrition does his conduct exhibit, not one confession of sin, or supplication for mercy escaped from his lips. He did not even look for mercy, or conceive the slightest prospect of forgiveness. But, on the contrary, by a species of stupid insensibility, which could be induced only by desperation, he attempted to shift his guilt over on another, and to charge it ultimately upon God himself, as if he would provoke the jealousy of his Maker, and madly challenge Omnipotence to do its worst. "The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat." In these circumstances, where was the motive to benevolence on the part of God? Where was the pretension to merit on the part of man? In such circumstances, what good or holy work could man perform, which might deserve even a temporary suspension of the threatened punishment; how much less a happy restoration to his former glory? Instead of this, nothing do we behold but wretchedness, and crime, and obstinacy, and perverseness; and the gracious promise which reached his wondering ears, as it stands wholly exclusive of all merit on the part of man, and of any duty or condition which he was able to perform, must be completely referred to the free, self-moving, and eternal love of God; no other reason can possibly be assigned for it, no other source can possibly be conceived from which it could have flowed.

But, to put this important fact, if possible, in a still clearer point of view, the manner in which this promise was conveyed, demonstrates the folly and madness of ascribing salvation to the desert of man, either inherent or acquired; either possessed or foreseen. For, let it be particularly observed, that the promise referred to was not addressed immediately to man, but was merely included in the curse denounced against the serpent. This is a circumstance not generally attended to by the readers of the Scriptures. But it is a circumstance which throws the clearest light on the doctrine of salvation by free grace; it is a circumstance which holds out a most humiliating proof of the degradation of the human character, in consequence of sin. When man was originally created, and as long as he retained his happy innocence, the Lord was pleased to converse with him familiarly, and in the language of a friend. "He blessed him, and gave him dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every thing that moveth on the face of the earth; he brought the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air before him, to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." So was it done to the man whom the King of heaven and earth delighted to honour. But how is the gold now become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! The Lord now calls Adam into his presence, but he will not speak to him one comfortable word! He turns away in wrath from man, to commune with the serpent, and even when an intimation of mercy is thrown out for the benefit of the human race, it must be couched in an address to the vilest creature of the creation of God!.

What an impressive lesson of humility is this circumstance calculated to carry home to every individual of the posterity of Adam! It was undoubtedly intended as the signal of death to the folly of human boasting.

I may still further add, that the subject of the promise to which I refer, affords an additional proof that the salvation of the Gospel originated solely with God.

If it be admitted that the promised Seed of the woman, who was to bruise the head of the serpent, was the same glorious personage who was afterwards held forth as the seed of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed; if he was the Messiah of the seed of David, who was to be the Saviour of Israel, the Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; if it be admitted, at the same time, that he was Immanuel, God in our nature, who, in our nature, procured the promised salvation for his people, by his obedience unto death, then surely it is worse than vain, it is criminal, it is impious to dispute the glory of this salvation with God. For who but God could have provided the sacrifice ? Who but he would have bestowed it? Who but he could have known its efficacy? and who but he could have conferred its merited reward?

To God, and to God alone, then, let us ascribe the glory of the origin, and of the complete accomplishment of the Gospel salvation. The foundation of the structure was laid in grace, the whole work is carried on by grace, "and he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it!" "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE

REV. JOHN BROWN PATTERSON, A. M., Minister of Falkirk. "THE righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance;" and when one whose whole character was such as, in no ordinary degree, to entitle him to the appellation of a righteous man, passes away from amongst us, we dwell with a kind of melancholy pleasure upon the numerous virtues and excellencies by which he was distinguished. Even the more delicate shades and touches of the mental and moral portraiture attract our attention more forcibly after death, than when exhibited to us amid all the fitful fuctuations of the living being. The picture has now acquired a stillness and completeness of aspect, which permits of a minute investigation whole. We are thus prepared more than ever to conof its different parts, and a due appreciation of it as a template, to admire, and to imitate; and even though, as in the case of him whose brief but splendid career we are about to sketch, the rare combination was exhibited, in one individual, of very high intellectual accomplishments, with the most ardent piety, amiable meekness, and genuine humility, the very elevation of the standard which is thus set before us ought to act as a powerful incitement to be followers, were it but at a distance, of him who, in his whole deportment, both private and

public, gave such ample and unequivocal evidence, that he himself was a follower of Christ.

John Brown Patterson was born at Alnwick, in the county of Northumberland, on the 29th of January 1804. His father was a gentleman distinguished for his piety and unostentatious liberality, and his mother, who was a daughter of the Rev. John Brown of Haddington, inherited many of the excellencies of her illustrious parent. Even in early childhood, John exhibited high promise of future eminence. His talents were evidently of a superior order, and his arden thirst for knowledge, combined with the utmost facility in acquiring it, afforded the almost certain prospect that he would yet be distinguished by his attainments as a scholar. Nor were the gentleness and amiable feeling which characterised him in his early days less pleasing and well-marked. The growing excellence of his heart, indeed, seemed to keep pace with the progressive advance of his intellectual powers; and though deprived in his infancy of the care and affection of a father, whose example and instructions would have been peculiarly valuable, the judicious manner in which his education, both intellectual and moral, was conducted by his surviving parent, soon displayed itself in the fine taste, and the pure moral feeling, which characterised even his juvenile years.

In 1810 Mrs Patterson took up her residence in Edinburgh with her family, where John was placed at the classical academy of a very able and efficient teacher. At this school he continued for four years. In the autumn of 1814, he was seized with a severe attack of typhus fever, from which, however, by the good providence of God, though brought very low, he at length recovered.

Mrs Patterson and her family removed in 1815 to Haddington, where they remained for three years, after which they returned to Edinburgh. As John had made considerable progress in his knowledge of the Latin langunge, he entered the rector's class in the High School, then under the charge of Mr Pillans, the present Professor of Humanity in the University. From the judicious mode of tuition pursued in that seminary, Mr Patterson derived the greatest advantage, and he soon distinguished himself in the class as a scholar of first rate eminence. Nor did the decided superiority of his genius and attainments excite in his companions the slightest envy or ill-will. They loved him no less than they admired him. "He had," says his biographer, who was, even in his youthful days, his intimate associate and friend, "He had, from the first day of his joining the class, been winning for himself 'golden opinions' from all; and, by the brilliance of his talents, the gentleness and purity of his manners, and the kindliness of his dispositions, had ultimately created a feeling of enthusiasm for his character, which manifested itself on many occasions in a manner perfectly overpowering to his innate modesty and sensitiveness."

After having passed two years at the High School, at the end of which he obtained the first honours of his class, Mr Patterson entered the University of Edinburgh, carrying with him a very high character as a proficient in the Latin and Greek classics. And the event fully justified the expectations which his previous success had excited. He soon signalised himself among his class-mates by the surpassing vigour of his mental energies, and the extent and variety of his acquirements. It is pleasing, however, to observe that the syren voice of human applause did not lure him away from the pursuit of a better and more enduring wisdom than that of earth. He had throughout the whole of his previous life been remarked as a youth of strong reflective powers; and though the characteristic modesty of his nature prevented him from communicating freely to his companions the musings of his more serious moments, yet we have the best ground for believing that his mind

was frequently directed towards the grand realities of religion. During his first session at college, accordingly, when he was more likely to give vent to his grave reflections than when at school, we find him thus expressing himself in a letter to a friend :

"Do not raise your expectations too high of me, for I have a kind of boding fear that this session I shall lose the character I have, by some means or other, most unexpectedly attained. And after all, what does it much matter the degree of knowledge we attain, if we want the wisdom that cometh from above.' You have most properly reminded yourself and me of that other and more awful state, when the wisdom of the world' shall be as dross, and the feeble torch which Science lends her most favoured votaries shall sink before the blaze of celestial majesty. O may the immortal crown ever appear in our eyes eclipsing the false light on glory's plume,' and dissipating the deluding charm of Minerva's greenest olive! I hope, however, that you may be mistaken as to the implied incompatibility of learning and piety."

If his correspondent seriously entertained the idea that learning and piety were incompatible, Mr Patterson himself lived long enough to exhibit in after life a splendid refutation of it. He proved himself an humble and devoted Christian, though adorned with the rarest accomplishments of a profound scholar. His was not that superficial knowledge which puffeth up, but that knowledge which feels how little can be known. It would scarcely have been surprising, if caressed, courted, and flattered as Mr Patterson was by his fellow-students, as well as by all who enjoyed his acquaintance, he had been tempted to "think of himself more highly than he ought to think;" and yet it may almost be said that the pride of intellect was a stranger to his bosom. He seemed to feel that the declaration of Scripture was but too true, which affirms of the boasted" wisdom of man," that it is "foolishness with God." "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" And yet while his mind was deeply impressed with the vanity of mere human acquirements, he acquitted himself with the highest credit during the whole course of his study at the University. With the exception of mathematics and natural philosophy, to which he did not direct the full energies of his powerful mind, under an idea, though, we conceive, a delusive idea, that he was not fitted to excel in these branches of knowledge,—with this single exception, he uniformly carried off the highest prizes in the classes through which he passed. It seems, as he himself indeed has expressed it, to have been the "goal of his desire,-immortal fame on earth, immortal bliss in

heaven."

From the occasional journals and letters which he wrote when at college, many passages might be quoted showing the high moral feeling which, even at that early period, pervaded all the productions of his pen. The following extract from a letter which he wrote to a friend on hearing of the death of Lord Byron, is touchingly beautiful.

"How did you receive the news of Lord Byron's death? It stunned me utterly. I have heard you express the conviction-and I joined in it with my inmost soul that it was inconceivable that such a man should be permitted to leave the world without answering some end worthy of his majestic powers. The hidden star, we thought, must sooner or later come forth from behind the cloud, and shed a glorious and benignant beam upon the world. Alas! that it should have been doomed to set in such a night! How mysterious is the plan of Providence! We are struck with painful surprise when we see the opening blossom crushed in the spring of its beauties and its powers,-when we see high genius, like that of White, driven from the

Mr Patterson still exhibited the same meekness, gentleness, and unobtrusive modesty, which had always been prominent features of his character. And now, indeed, more than ever, he seemed to be chiefly anxious to imbibe and to exercise the principles and the dispositions of a genuine Christian. He felt himself to be on the eve of becoming a candidate for the highest, most honourable, and most deeply responsible office which can be assumed by man-that of an ambassador of Christ; and without the slightest hesitation, therefore, he put away from him every thing that would tend to divert his mind from the grand object he had in view. An offer was made to him about this time to undertake the editorship of a literary journal, which was about to be started, but the proposal he firmly declined. His sentiments on the point he thus states in a letter to a friend :

"I am now on the verge of my trials for the sacred office: next winter is the last session which I can reasonably expect to spend as a regular member of the University; after that my destination becomes totally unfixed, and I shall probably continue but a very short time in Edinburgh. Every hour that now remains of the golden period of preparation for the duties of manhood requires to be redeemed, in order to make up the arrears of the past, and creditably to meet the exigencies of the future. And for this reason I have resolved, for the ensuing winter, to be very selfish in my pursuits and the distribution of my time. As a candidate for the ministry, I have seen too much of the secularizing influence of such an occupation as you propose, that I should think of exposing to it the tastes and the tendencies of mind which I am bound to consecrate to God. As a student who has much to learn in a little time, it were folly to exchange, for any consideration, those hours which such an employment would either entirely exhaust or render useless by anxiety."

In the spring of 1828 Mr Patterson accepted the situation of private tutor to the young Lord Cranstoun; and after a residence of some months at Hensol, in Kirkcudbrightshire, he accompanied his noble pupil to Oxford. About this time a communication was made to him that a Crown presentation to the parish of Daviot, in Aberdeenshire, was at his acceptance. The result of this kind offer, on the part of the then Home Secretary, Mr Peel, is thus noticed by Mr Patterson ::

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You know the result of the Daviot business, which seems to have occasioned you so much perturbation. My acceptance was so vehemently opposed by many of my friends, and with some arguments which seemed of considerable weight, that I thought it proper. or rather Mr Horner thought it proper instead of me, to lay the whole case before Mr Peel, and leave it to his wisdom and friendship (for really I cannot use a colder term in regard to his most generous behaviour to me) to decide upon its merits. His opinion was in conformity with that of those who wished me to delay my final settlement for a year or two, in order that I might have the full benefit of all those opportunities of preliminary improvement which Providence has put within my power. I believe that on the whole they have judged rightly for me."

During the Christmas recess Mr Patterson accompanied Lord Cranstoun to Scotland, and embraced the opportunity now offered him of receiving license from the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright. Thus prepared to enter upon the pastoral office in any parish to which, in the course of Providence, he might be appointed, it was not to be expected that one so well qualified in every respect could be long permitted to remain without a settled charge. The eyes of multitudes were turned towards him as a young man of the highest promise, and it is much to the credit of Mr Peel, that he embraced an early opportunity of forwarding the views of one who, being personally unknown to him, had no

other claim upon his kindness than what was derived from the splendour of his talents, the extent and accuracy of his scholarship, and the unblemished purity of his moral character. The parish of Falkirk having become vacant in 1829 by the death of Dr Wilson, Mr Patterson was presented to it by the Crown. In a letter to one of his most intimate friends, he thus notices the unexpected event :

"I must not occupy another page without informing you of what I principally took up my pen to tell you, that I have just received a letter from Mr Peel, stating that he had determined to recommend me to his Majesty for the parish of Falkirk: having first thought himself bound, in consideration of the importance of the charge, to offer it to two individuals of longer standing and high professional eminence, who had declined it on the ground of their health being inadequate to the fatigues of such a trust, and intrusting his credit to me for vindication in nominating so young and untried a man to such a situation. I have signified to him, in reply, that if the resolution of devoting my uttermost energies and diligence to the task can in any degree compensate for my acknowledged and felt deficiencies, I pledged to him that resolution; at the same time, that I could not but feel it presumptuous for me in any circumstances to embark in such a charge. I suppose, therefore, my lot is fixed; and I write, by the first opportunity, to let you know of it, as a duty which I owe to my most valued friend, and in order to request from him his most serious advice and his most earnest prayers. My mind is too much agitated as yet to permit my having formed any specific plans in regard to my preparation for this overwhelming undertaking, or to allow me to write to you more at length, or with more deliberation. I beg you will excuse the shortness of this letter in consideration of its importance, and that you will not refuse to write me very soon all your thoughts upon the subject. Let me know something about the routine steps to be taken when the presentation arrives; in regard to which I am shamefully ignorant. Above all, pray for me, that I may be enabled to go in and out before so great a people' a faithful ambassador of Christ!"

The appointment of Mr Patterson gave universal satisfaction to the parishioners of Falkirk, and he entered upon his charge in February 1830, with a prospect of long and extensive usefulness. The sphere of labour, he knew, was large, and would require, on his part, an expenditure of mental and bodily energy sufficient to exhaust a more robust and vigorous constitution than he possessed. Still he was resolved to dedicate himself with unreserved devotedness to the work of his Lord and Master, and to spend and be spent for the honour of Him in whose cause he was embarked. And throughout the whole of his brief career as a minister of the Gospel, the same spirit with which he at first entered upon his duties, continued increasingly to animate him. It may truly be said of him indeed that he laboured both "in season and out of season." Not merely was he diligent and conscientious in his pulpit preparations, but in every other department of pastoral duty the extent of his exertions is almost incredible. While his discourses on Sabbath were listened to by his people with the deepest attention, it was more especially in his visitations from house to house that he won upon their affections and sympathies. In his public as well as in his private character, he was looked up to with admiration as a pattern and an example of every good word and work.

Thus laborious and active in the discharge of the numerous and indeed overwhelming duties which devolved upon him, as the minister of a very large and populous parish, it is not at all surprising that he frequently felt himself overburdened both in body and mind. On one occasion of this kind, accordingly, he said to