fixed in favour of other views, the scheme of salvation is in the position of an afterthought with respect to us. And hence, at first sight, it looks more wonderful than true, and strikes the mind as rather revolting than pleasing. Personal merit being the primeval constitution of things, that constitution which the mind of man was originally framed for,-so the form of the natural mind is naturally all in favour of personal righteousness, as the only ground of acceptance. It is only to be expected, therefore, that the doctrine of vicarious suffering and merit, when first proposed to the unaided mind, should seem destitute of verisimilitude both in the eye of reason and of conscience. Hence it is not to be wondered at that many persons finding these doctrines plainly set forth in the Bible, should reject altogether the claims of that book to be regarded as divine. Nor is it more to be wondered at, if others brought by reason into this dilemma, that they must admit the volume on the ground of its historical evidence, while yet they cannot acquiesce in the doctrines which it seems to set forth, should exert all their ingenuity to explain away these doctrines, and to work round everything into that shape which alone their reason can understand and their conscience approve. Thus it is not to be wondered at, that men going wholly and merely by the guidance of unassisted reason and conscience, fall into infidelity on the one hand, and unitarianism on the other, and engender neology in a hundred forms between. This is only what is to be expected. The peculiar doctrines of the gospel being an order of truths realized only subsequently to the creation, both reason and conscience when left to themselves are too far behind to overtake them-too old to understand them. These principles, therefore, are not and cannot be of themselves adequate to evangelize the soul. And if what has been advanced has been rendered intelligible (in his

endeavours after which the author trusts the reader will excuse his repetition), the reader will admit that it would be strange if they could.

It is certain, however, that many of the most trustworthy among our race do believe the evangelical doctrines, and rejoice in them, and find, in their own happy experience, that however hotly reason and conscience may have once repelled these doctrines, yet they not only acquiesce in them now, but expand with delight in the contemplation of them, and feel as if, when thus engaged, they were rising up towards heaven, and coming even to the embrace of infinity itself.

And how comes this to pass, it may well be asked, if natural reason and conscience be so insufficient for these things, as has just been argued? The Scriptures themselves resolve this question. There we learn, that, in order to enable the reason and conscience of fallen man to embrace the evangelical doctrines, a special dispensation of grace was brought into action at the time that the machinery of salvation was set agoing, a special divine influence is made to bear upon the human soul. In its operation, indeed, this influence is like the wind, which bloweth where it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh, or whether it goeth; but however impalpable its goings forth, FAITH results. And this principle implanted and bringing forth its fruits, the soul finds itself clinging to certain truths and moral principles, which it repudiated before. And by that faith and these truths sustained and developed in the soul, the whole mental and moral economy is gradually worked into harmony with Revelation. The peculiar doctrines of the gospel, which were at first believed, only because they could no longer be rejected, which were held in darkness within the mind, and in solitary isolation from all other truths, because their har

mony with them could not be perceived, become gradually invested with the light both of intellectual and moral truth, and begin to fraternize kindly with all other truths. And whereas, at first, they were deemed precious only for the relief they gave the soul anxious about its own salvation, they begin now to be appreciated for the sake of their own moral worth likewise. Not only is the soul able to believe them, in virtue of the faith it possesses, not only does the principle of selfpreservation feel safe in resting in them; but now reason and conscience, all, in a word, that is most noble in the soul, begins to embrace them with rapture, and to declare that the gospel scheme is not only a safe haven and sabbath for all the anxieties of a sinner respecting the after-life, but is also the very beauty of holiness.

Such is the progress of the soul under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The principles of reason and conscience, which, as they do not naturally recognise the fall, but, on the contrary, stand up for man's primeval rights, and thus, either openly or secretly, reject the gospel scheme of salvation, experience, as it were, an immersion in a fountain of spiritual light, which the soul has been baptised into, from whence they soon emerge with more than all their original powers. Not that there is any substitution or subversion of these powers,―on the contrary, they are changed only, and changed only in this, that they are strengthened, and put in possession of new facts and views, to form a basis for new reasonings and new convictions. Their knowledge is extended. Their powers are exalted. But the laws they obey, and the functions they perform, are the same as ever. They are regenerated, but not either superseded or subverted. Thus it fully appears, that while this dispensation of the Holy Spirit is altogether indispensable to the man who is to be a believer in salvation, in order that his reason

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and conscience may be adapted to his new relation to his God, so peculiarly changed by the fall from what it was at the creation, it equally appears that this, the dispensation of grace, is conducted by God on the same general plan as that of merit, which preceded it in Paradise. Thus, as our belief in first truths, generally, is not the product of reason, but of evidence which is immediate, and which, though we trust entirely, we cannot explain or demonstrate, and which, in a word, is evidently the gift of our Creator; so faith is an analogous gift, only its object is the spiritual, not the natural; it gives substance and evidence to things which are invisible, and seemingly unreal to natural intuition. In a word, faith is to the spiritual world just what common sense is to the natural. And spiritual objects once perceived and believed, hold a place in the mind wholly analogous to that which natural truths and intuitions generally do. Both the natural and the spiritual equally become a field for the exercise and play of reason and conscience. In a christian state of mind, therefore, some intuitions are of nature, and some are of grace; and the latter can no more be dispensed with in order to true religion, than the former can in order to common sense. But these fundamental truths, whether implanted by the power of natural belief or by faith, once possessed, then, all subsequent discoursing in the mind upon them is either an exercise of reason or of conscience. Eventually, therefore, in a right state of grace, it is just as it was in a right state of nature, these principles come to be altogether invaluable, and are constantly called into action.

And, indeed, when we consider the nature and origin of reason and conscience, it is not to be wondered at that all the highest duties, both of thought and action, should be devolved upon them. For, however sadly they may often miscarry when acting in the midst of all our present

embarrassments without, and all our tortuous feelings within, yet, true it is, and of verity, that truth and goodness alone are their proper objects of pursuit. It is also certain that their most general laws are the same in all our race, however much individual men may differ from each other in all other respects. Nay, so far as we can conceive, the laws of reason and conscience must be the same in all intelligences whatever. But if the objects of these principles be truth and goodness; and if their laws be the same throughout the whole universe of spirit, to what do these facts point but to this conclusion, that reason and conscience are reflections in the mirror of the human soul, nay, the inbreathings into the life of man of the Divine mind itself. In maintaining, therefore, the absolute necessity of divine grace and of faith, in order to our being entered in the gospel, it will be perceived that no dishonour is done to reason and conscience, but only that an admission is made that these principles, as they exist in the fallen creature, need an additional stream from the fountain from which they are themselves always flowing, in order to be adapted to a Christian calling, and to be entitled to that supremacy which they always affect, and which they can rightly exercise in the Christian alone. It is just because reason and conscience are rivers of Paradise that another channel needed to be opened for them when man was driven forth.

ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY.

Reason and conscience, guided by scripture and enlarged by grace, determine Christian liberty, and direct and limit its outgoings. And here let us bestow a few words on the subject of liberty, partly because it may be truly said that the principal office of religion is to regulate hu