the language of Holy Scripture, the terms, justification, the non-imputation of sin, the covering of sin, and the imputation of righteousness, are all used to express substantially the same blessing,—absolution from guilt, and acceptance with God. In the chapter on this subject there is an able refutation of the opinion, so strenuously defended by Mr. Hervey and other Divines of the same school, that justification consists in the imputation to the believer of the active obedience of Christ to the moral law an opinion which, however excellent may be the personal character of some of its adherents, is the very soul of the Antinomian heresy. In this part of his work, our author has judiciously availed himself of the Treatise on Justification, by the celebrated John Goodwin, published up. wards of a hundred and eighty years ago, and forming, without exception, one of the most acute and powerful pieces of polemic theology that was ever written. Mr. Watson has also furnished a most satisfactory confutation of Bishop Bull's theory, contained in his Latin treatise, entitled, Harmonia Apostolica: and adopted by a large body of the national clergy. That eminent scholar contends, that sinners are justified before God by faith and works united. To establish this position, he explains St. Paul's doctrine of justification by that of St. James; without adverting to the very obvious circumstance, which at once shows the absurdity of his reasoning, that St. James only introduces the subject of justification incidentally, while St. Paul discourses upon it at large, and of set purpose. The faith by which sinners are justified is shown to have special reference to the sacrifice of Christ, and to be a principle of trust or confidence.

Our author has not gone so largely into the subject of Regeneration as we anticipated. He has simply stated its nature, and refuted an opinion which has been somewhat prevalent of late years, among a certain class of Divines, That Regeneration precedes Repentance: au opinion which confounds the effects produced by the preventing grace of God, with that renovation of nature which con

stitutes a "meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light." In reference to these subjects, Mr. Watson says, Regeneration

"Is that mighty change in man, wrought by the Holy Spirit, by which the dominion which sin has over him in his natural state, aud which he deplores and struggles against in his penitent state, is broken and abolished; so that, with full choice of will, and the energy of right affections, he serves God freely, and runs in the way of his commandments.' 'Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.' 'For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.' 'But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Deliverauce from the bondage of sin, and the power and the will to do all things which are pleasing to God, both as to inward habits and outward acts, are, therefore, the distinctive characters of

this state.

"That repentance is not regeneration, we have before observed. It will not bear disputing whether regeneration begins with repentance; for if the regenerate state is only entered upon at our justification, then all that can be meant by this, to be consistent with the Scriptures, is, that the preparatory process, which leads to regeneration, conviction and contrition, and goes on as it leads to pardon, commences with to a repentant turning to the Lord. In the order which God has established, regeneration does not take place without this process. Conviction of the evil and danger of an unregenerate state must first be felt. God hath appointed this change to be effected in answer to our prayers; and acceptable blessing we ask; that we accept of prayer supposes that we desire the Christ as the appointed medium of access to God: that we feel and confess our own inability to attain what we ask from another; and that we exercise faith in the promises of God which convey the good we seek. It is clear that none of these is regeneration, for they all suppose it to be a good in desire. True it is, that deep and seriprospect, the object of prayer and eager ous conviction of sin, the power to desire deliverance from it, the power to pray, the struggle against the corruptions of an unregenerate heart, are

all proofs of a work of God in the heart, and of an important moral change; but it is not this change, because regeneration is that renewal of our nature which gives us dominion over sin, and enables us to serve God, from love and not merely from fear; and it is yet confessedly unattained, being still the object of search and eager desire. We are not yet created anew unto good works,' which is as special and instant a work of God as justification, and for this reason, that it is not attained before the pardon of our sins, and always accompanies it.

"This last point may be proved,

"1, From the nature of justification itself, which takes away the penalty of sin; but that penalty is not only obligation to punishment, but the loss of the sanctifying Spirit, and the curse of being left under the slavery of sin, and under the dominion of Satan. Regeneration is effected by this Spirit restored to us, and is a consequence of our pardon; for though justification in itself is the remission of sin, yet a justified state implies a change, both in our condition and in our disposition: in our condition, as we are in a state of life, not of death, of safety, not of condemnation; in our disposition, as regenerate and new creatures.

6

"2, From Scripture, which affords us direct proof that regeneration is a concomitant of justification, If any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new creature.' It is then the result of our entrance into that state in which we are said to be IN CHRIST; and the meaning of this phrase is most satisfactorily explained by Rom. viii. 1, considered in connexion with the preceding chapter, from which, in the division of the chap. ters, it ought not to have been separated. That chapter clearly describes the state of a person convinced and slain by the law applied by the SPIRIT. We may discover, indeed, in this description, certain moral changes, as consenting to the law that it is good; delighting in it after the inward man; powerful desires; humble confession, &c. The state represented is, however, in fact, one of guilt, spiritual captivity, helplessness, and misery; a state of condemnation; and a state of bondage to sin. The opposite condition is that of a man IN CHRIST JESUS:' to him 'there is no condemnation;' he is forgiven; the bondage to sin is broken; he walks not after the flesh, but after the SPIRIT.' To be IN CHRIST, is, therefore, to be justified; and regeneration instantly follows. We see then the order of the Divine operation in individual

experience: conviction of sin, helplessness and danger; faith; justification; and regeneration. The regenerate state is, also, called in Scripture sanctification; though a distinction is made by the apostle Paul between that and being sanctified wholly;' a doctrine to be afterward considered. In this regenerate or sanctified state, the former corruptions of the heart may remain, and strive for the mastery; but that which characterizes and distinguishes it from the state of a penitent before justification, before he is in Christ,' is, that they are not even his inward habit; and that they have no dominion. Faith unites to Christ; by it we derive grace and peace from God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ,' and enjoy the communion of the Holy Ghost;' and this Spirit, as the sanctifying Spirit, is given to us to abide with us, and to be in us,' and then we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” (pp. 476 -478.)

According to the representations of Scripture, until a man has repented of his sin, and believed in Jesus Christ with the heart unto righteousness, he is in a state of guilt and condemnation before God : now to suppose that, while he remains in that state, he is a subject of regenerating grace; that is, that while he is under the sentence of eternal death, he is born of God, made a partaker of the divine nature, and actually prepared for eternal glory, is glory, is a palpable absurdity. Whereas, when any man, under the influence of preventing grace, is brought to the exercise of repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, his guilt is cancelled, and his person is justified; he stands fully and freely acquitted before God; there is no charge against him; and a way is then opened for the communication of the Holy Spirit to his soul, in all His fulness of regenerating and comforting energy. But never, until we are freed from the guilt of sin, can we justly expect to receive a new

nature.

In regard to Adoption, Mr. Watson remarks,

"To suppose that the apostles take this term from the practice of the Greeks, Romans, and other nations, who had the custom of adopting the

office of the Holy Spirit to produce; they prove, therefore, the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit with us, and in us. That competent and infallible Witness, has borne his testimony that God is become our Father; he has shed abroad his holy comfort, the comfort which arises from the sense of pardon, -and his moral operation within us, accompanying, or immediately following upon this, making us new creatures in Christ Jesus, is the proof that we are in no delusion as to the witness who gives this testimony being, in truth, the Spirit of God." (pp. 494, 495.)

In concluding our notice of the Fourth Part of Mr. Watson's Institutes, which completes the second volume, we have further to observe, that it displays the same implicit deference to the testimony of Scripture, which distinguishes the former portions of that very able work; and

that it contains less quotation than was formerly given, and therefore a larger portion of original composition. Several questions arising out of the subjects discussed, are placed in a light which is new to us, and in which we think they cannot fail to impress the serious and attentive reader. The author fearlessly asserts and defends the truths of Christianity, as they are proposed in all their simplicity in Holy Writ, and shrinks from no difficulty that he meets with in his powerful and triumphant career. The pernicious errors of Socinus and his disciples are pursued in their sinuous windings, and exposed in all their atrocity and danger.

The remainder of the work, we believe, is in a state of considerable forwardness for publication.

A Christian Library: Consisting of Extracts from and Abridgments of the Choicest Pieces of Practical Divinity which have been published in the English Tongue. In Thirty Volumes. By the Rev. John Wesley, A. M. Vol. XXIX. 8vo. pp. 496. 8s.-This Volume, which consists principally of Biography, contains the Lives of the following eminent men: Mr. Thomas Wilson, Mr. James Fraser, Mr. Thomas Tregoss, Dr. Samuel Winter, Mr. Hugh Kennedy, Mr. Patrick Simpson, Mr. Andrew Steward, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Robert Bruce, Mr. Robert Blair, and Mr. John Welsh. These concise biographical sketches complete the Christian Library, as it was published by Mr. Wesley, upwards of seventy years ago. The remainder of the Volume consists of supplementary tracts to which the following Advertisement is prefixed" When the Proposals for publishing the present edition of the Christian Library were first issued, it was calculated that the work would extend to thirty volumes. The whole, however, has been comprised in twenty

eight volumes and a half. To fulfil the original conditions of publication, and preserve some valuable tracts from oblivion, the following Supplement has been added. It consists of Abridgments from various Authors, made by Mr. Wesley, at different periods, and published in a separate form. Several of them are now very scarce, having been long out of print." That part of the Supplement which is contained in this volume, comprehends the Life of Monsieur De Renty, the Christian Letters of Joseph Alleine, Bishop Hopkins's Exposition of the Ten Commandments, and a Treatise on the Fear of Man, by Professor Franck.

The Great Appointed Day; Or, Two Sermons on the Last Judgment, preached at Salters' Hall Meeting, Cannon-Street, London, April 2d and 9th, 1826. By H. L. Popplewell. 8vo. pp. 67. 2s. 6d.

Memoirs and Remains of Joseph Brown Jefferson, late Student of Homerton College, and Minister at Attercliffe, near Sheffield. By John Whitridge. 12mo. pp. 264. 5s.-The inte

resting subject of this biographical sketch was a young man of sincere piety, of superior natural talents, of very considerable literary attainments, and of great ministerial promise. He was the son of a Dissenting Minister, was educated at Homerton, and finally settled as the Pastor of the Independent church at Attercliffe, near Sheffield. Eleven months after his ordination, and when he had just finished the twentythird year of his age, he departed this life, in the enjoyment of that peace which is the fruit of a vital faith in Christ crucified. The premature death of such men, qualified by piety and gifts for an efficient exercise of the Christian ministry, is one of those dispensations of divine providence, which must remain inscrutable, until the counsels of the Almighty shall be discovered in the light of eternity. Several of his literary compositions, contained in this volume, are highly honourable to his abilities and acquirements, and will be read with interest, not only by his personal friends and admirers, but by all who delight to contemplate the combination of picty, genius, and learning in the youthful candidate for the Christian ministry. At the same time, we think that some of the extracts from his manuscripts might well have been spared; and that the process of his conversion from sin to holiness should have been more distinctly marked. It is scarcely decorous to introduce to the world a boy in his teens, dogmatizing on what are called "the Catholic claims," and applying, without discrimination, reproachful epithets to all such persons as demur to invest the adherents of the Papacy with the power of legislation in a free country: a point on which men of the profoundest wisdom and disinterested integrity, have been divided in opinion and when a man is represented to the world as an example of practical holiness, and ministerial fidelity, we think that some account should have been given of the manner in which he was led to renounce the vanities of the world, and in which he obtained deliverance from the evil affections of his fallen nature. The fact of Mr. Jefferson's conversion, we presume, was undeniable; it is proved by his spirit and conduct; but we are not informed of the circumstances under which it was effected. In the confession of faith, delivered by this excellent young man at bis ordination, there is one peculiarity which we have repeatedly noticed of late years in documents of a similar nature. What is said on the subject of election

and its concomitants is so ambiguously expressed, that it might be adopted with equal propriety by a Calvinist and an Arminian. Are we to conclude from this circumstance, that modern Ministers of the Independent denomination are becoming favourable to the tenets of Arminius? or do they sometimes designedly conceal their real sentiments on the celebrated five points?

The Pastor's Sketch-Book; or, Authentic Narratives of Real Characters. Edited by George Redford, A.M. 12mo. pp. 232. 5s.-This small volume consists of twenty-one sketches of characters and events, drawn up by different Christian Ministers, calculated and designed to teach lessons of morality and religion. Some of them have already appeared in the Congre gational Magazine; but they are here reprinted with corrections and enlargements. The names of the writers are withheld; but the respectable Editor pledges himself for the authenticity of the narratives. They are well written, and serve to illustrate the vanity of the world, the deceitfulness of sin, the misery consequent upon transgression, and the nature and value of true religion.

Poetical Illustrations of Passages of Scripture. By Emily Taylor. 18mo. pp. 75. 2s. 6d.-Poetical paraphrases upon twenty-six passages of Holy Scripture are comprised in this neat little volume. The sentiments introduced are those of pure and fervent piety, and the versification displays considerable skill.

A Critique on the Seventeenth Article of the Church of England, demonstrating its Anti-Calvinistic Sense, to which are added, Observations on the Abstract Calvinistic Doctrine of Decrees, and the natural Effect which its adoption must have upon the Temper and Conduct of its Professor. By the Rev. James Rouquet, A.B., Vicar of Westharptree, in the County of Somerset. 8vo. pp. 25.-That the Melancthonian interpretation of the Seventeenth Article of the Church of England, given by Playfere, and by several other eminent writers, is the only fair and legitimate one, we conceive to be abundantly manifest, not ouly from various historical facts, which we have not room at present to enumerate, but from the general complexion of the Homilies and Liturgy. It is absurd to suppose that such men as Cranmer and Ridley intended in that article to assert Calvin's doctrine of predestination, and that in all the other formulas of the Church