means; and, in fact, the means may be said to constitute the power. No man, for instance, can believe in Christ or in the promises of mercy made through him, until a knowledge of those things be communicated to him; nor is it his duty to exercise this faith, previously to his obtaining such knowledge. "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." All, then, who have the gospel, have the power to believe, because they have the means of faith. To say that a man may have the means of faith and not the power, is a contradiction; for what means can a man have of exercising faith, who has no power to do it?

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SECTION IV.

Holiness or Sanctification, in general terms, consists in obedience to the will of God, according to the capacity and advantages of the individual; or, in other words, "He that DOETH righteousness is RIGHTEOUS."

"WITHOUT holiness no man shall see the Lord." This is one of those divine announcements, the force of which is felt by all who believe the bible; and it has led thousands to inquire, "What is holiness? how is it produced, and when may it be obtained?" As these inquiries are of universal interest, and amongst the most important

connected with the subject before us, we shall attempt a brief reply to each of them, with a view to bring the matter before the reader in an intelligible form.

1. What is holiness, or sanctification? We answer, (1.) It is a something essential to our being admitted into the kingdom of heaven. "The pure in heart shall see God." "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." (2.) It is a something which is personal-something which every man must be for himself. The holiness of one being cannot be placed to the account of another. No man can go to heaven by proxy. Many, however, deny this position; and teach that we are justified by the righteousness of Christ, and have our holiness in him! Their notion is this :-"As Christ stood in the sinner's place, all holy and harmless as he was, the believer in his name stands before God, in the character of a righteous person. As nothing but a perfect righteousness could obtain favour with the holy one, the Saviour bestows on the believer a righteousness that is divine, wrought out by a divine person, put on him by the divine spirit; and, therefore, worthy even of Jehovah's acceptance......He puts on us a righteousness that is divine, and in that righteousness arrayed, the once guilty, but now justified man, stands before God in the character of one that is perfect and complete."+ Need we wonder that professing christians generally should be in almost total ignorance of the real nature of christianity, when • Matt. v. 8. Heb. xii. 14. + Tweedie, pp. 55.

such jargon as this is daily served out to them, both from the pulpit and the press, as the pure gospel of Christ? Christ's perfect holiness or obedience to the law, is imputed or reckoned to all his people, and they are viewed as perfectly holy-as having perfectly obeyed the law in him!! But the reader will perceive that this is the counter-part of the hypothesis respecting the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity: only it is not so extensive. The sin of Adam is imputed to all his offspring; but the righteousness of Christ to a part only: leaving tens of thousands without this qualifying holiness, to sink down to hell, without help or hope! When will men agree to bury these absurdities, and to be guided in their religious inquiries, by the reason and revelation which God has given them?

That it is personal holiness, by which men are to be prepared for the society of heaven, is most unequivocally taught in the bible. We read it in every exhortation to holiness: "Be ye holy as I am holy." "As he who calleth you is holy, so be ye holy, in all manner of conversation." "Be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace." In every promise connecting it with eternal life: "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." "Blessed

are those that do his commandments, that they may have

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a right to the the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life." The pure in heart shall see God." If these scriptures mean any thing, they mean that the holiness of a christian must be personal, not imputed holiness; and, that this personal holiness is an essential condition of his being admitted into heaven. (3.) This holiness relates to the heart and to the life of men. But before we can understand what is meant by holiness of heart, we must ascertain the sense in which the term heart is to be taken. Want of attention to this, has led to very gross and confused notions on the subject. Such expressions as, good heart, evil heart, depraved heart, new heart, &c., are familiar to all; but what we ask, is the idea generally attached to those expressions? We think it will be admitted by men of reflection, that man must have two hearts; the one belonging to the animal, and the other to the rational and moral nature; the one given him by his creator, and the other formed by himself; the one a natural, and the other a moral heart. For that which may be holy or wicked; good or bad, may certainly be denominated moral. That this heart is of man's formation, and under his controul, is clear from two considerations: First, from its being something in itself morally good or evil; for, to make it either, must certainly be man's own doing. To suppose the contrary, would involve consequences too shocking and too absurd to require pointing out. Secondly, from what is said in the bible concerning it.

In that most

accurate, and most philosophical of all books, we read, "Make you a new heart." "Make the tree good and its fruit will be good also." "Is thy heart right." "Keep thy heart with all diligence." "My son, give me thine heart." "If riches increase set not thine heart upon them." "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." If these scriptures do not prove that man forms and controls his own heart, language can have no meaning.

The reader will now be prepared to comprehend with ease, what we mean by this heart, which we have denominated moral. Man, as a rational creature, is endowed with a capacity or power of choice; and his actually preferring, and delighting in one object above all others, constitute his moral heart. When he prefers and delights in a forbidden, or unlawful object, his heart is evil or wicked. When, on the contrary, he prefers and delights in right objects, his heart is right or good. If we could suppose a man to be in a state of perfect indifference, to have no preference, no delight in one object rather than another, that man could have no moral heart at all, good or bad.

According to this view of the subject, all those passages of scripture which have a reference to the heart of man, are strikingly significant and intelligible; and we understand, at once, what is meant by holiness of heart. We readily perceive that it does not consist in any phis

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