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 KEOLOGIGAL 
 
 
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 1868 
 
 
 Graham, 
 
 Mary 
 
 Jane, 
 
 1803- 
 
 1830. 
 
 
 
 
 Truth and grace; or 
 
 , The 
 

/// '// ///// ' / //// / ///// X 
 
TRUTH AND GRACE; 
 
 The Works of Mary Jane Graham. 
 
 Witb a mtxixmt. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 ALEXANDER KIRKPATRICK. 
 
 1 8 6 8. 
 
/ 
 
 
 
 !■'■■ "CSTOII 
 
 31 
 
 \ TirF.OLOGIG&L 
 
 The author of the following pages departed 
 to her heavenly rest more than a generation since, 
 and her little volumes, passing through several 
 editions, have been highly prized and useful to 
 great numbers of the Lord's people, down to the 
 present time. 
 
 Of late years, however, they have in a measure 
 passed out of circulation, though never more 
 needed or adapted to be useful ; and it has been 
 deemed a wise and timely service to the cause 
 of Christ to bring them again before the church 
 and the public. 
 
 In the present issue the two volumes are com- 
 bined in one of moderate size and cost, without 
 abridgment, except the omitting of a few lines 
 relating exclusively to the Church of England, 
 and having no relevancy or importance in this 
 country. 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 A short memoir has also been prefixed, taken 
 from the larger and valuable work of the Rev. 
 Charles Brydges. 
 
 The blessing of God is humbly invoked on 
 this effort, put forth in faith that he will accept 
 and use the book for time to come in accom- 
 plishing still wider good to souls and greater 
 glory to his holy name. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Memoir of Miss Maey Jane Graham 9 
 
 The Test of Truth, Part 1 57 
 
 The Test of Truth, Part II 100 
 
 THE FREENESS OF GRACE. 
 
 Original, Sin 157 
 
 Free Grace 171 
 
 Electing Grace 201 
 
 1* 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 MISS MARY JANE GRAHAM. 
 
 Mary Jane Graham was born in London, April 
 11, 1803. Her father was engaged in a respectable 
 business, from which he retired a few years before 
 his daughter's death Tand chiefly from regard to her 
 delicate health), to the village of Stoke-Fleming, 
 near Dartmouth, Devon. She appears to have been 
 the subject of early religious convictions. At the 
 age of seven she had acquired those liabits of secret 
 prayer, which may be considered a favourable mark 
 of Divine influence upon her soul. But we will 
 give the history of this era of her life in her own 
 words. To a friend, who had evinced some incre- 
 dulity of the genuineness or permanency of early 
 impressions of religion, she thus writes. 
 
 ''March 20, 1827. 
 
 "You appear, my dear friend, to think very early 
 piety too wonderful a thing to be true. It is won- 
 derful, — so wonderful that, when David was con- 
 
 9 
 
10 MEMOIR OF 
 
 templating the starry firmament, he was drawn for 
 a moment from his meditation on the wonders he 
 there beheld, by the still greater wonder of ' God's 
 ordaining strength out of the mouths of babes and 
 sucklings.'^ But David's wonder and yours were 
 of a very different nature — he wondered and adored. 
 Jesus too — that 'man of sorrows' — once 'rejoiced 
 in spirit,' because God ' had hid these things from 
 the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto 
 babes. Even so. Father; for so it seemed good in 
 thy sight.' ^ 'Even so, Lord Jesus; in thy rejoicing 
 will I too rejoice; let the world think me a fool or 
 an enthusiast, or beside myself, as they thought 
 thee.' The story of ' Little Henry and his Bearer,' 
 to which I believe you allude, I have been assured 
 
 by Miss , is every word of it true. Do not then 
 
 bring upon yourself the dreadful sin of limiting the 
 power of the Holy One of Israel. Jesus has said, 
 * Suffer little children to come ;' ^ and they will 
 come, if he calls them. As facts are the strongest 
 of all j^roofs, bear with me a little longer, while I 
 tell you briefly the history of a child, for the truth 
 of which I can vouch. I knew a little girl, about 
 sixteen years and a half ago. She was much like 
 other children, as full of sin and vanity as ever she 
 could hold; and her parents had not as yet taken 
 much pains to talk to her about religion. So she 
 
 ^ Psalm viii. 1-4. 
 
 2 Luko X. 21. This, though not the direct, is an inclusive 
 meaning of the declaration. 
 
 3 Mark x. 14. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 11 
 
 ^vcnt on in the way of her own evil heart, and 
 thought herself a very good little girl, because she 
 said her prayers every night and morning, and was 
 not more passionate, wilful, and perverse than most 
 of her young companions. The God of love did 
 not think this sinful child too young to learn of 
 Jesus. He so ordered it about the time I am speak- 
 ing of, when she was just seven years old, that she 
 was led by a pious servant into some almshouses 
 belonging to Rowland Hill, who had just been 
 preaching at them. The servant and an aged 
 woman entered into a long conversation together, 
 to which the little girl listened, and wondere<l what 
 could make them like to talk about such things. 
 But at the close of it, the old woman took the child 
 affectionately by the hand, and said to her, 'My 
 dear child, make the Lord Jesus your friend now 
 that you are so young ; and when you come to be 
 as old as I am, he'll never leave you nor forsake 
 you.' God the Spirit sent these simple words to 
 the poor simple child's heart. She walked home in 
 silence by her nurse's side, thinking how she could 
 get Jesus to be her friend. Then she remembered 
 how often she had slighted this dear Saviour; 
 how she had read of him in the Bible, and been 
 wearied of the subject; how she had heard the 
 minister preach Jesus, and wished the long dry 
 sermon over; how she had said prayers to him 
 without minding what she said ; how she had passed 
 days, weeks, and months without thinking of him ; 
 how she had loved her play, her books, and her 
 
12 MEMOIR OF 
 
 toys, and her playfellows, — all, all better than 
 Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit convinced her of sin. 
 She saw that no one good thing dwelt in her, and 
 that she deserved to be cast away from God for- 
 ever. Would Jesus love her now? Would he ever 
 forgive her? She feared not; but she would try. 
 She would make herself very good, and then, per- 
 haps, Jesus would be her friend. But the more this 
 little girl tried to be good, the more her naughty 
 heart got the better of her ; for she was trying in 
 her own strength. She was led to give up trying in 
 that way ; and many long nights did she spend in 
 praying 'with strong crying and tears' to Jesus, 
 that he would teach her how to get her sins par- 
 doned, and make her fit to have him for her friend. 
 Let me mention it for the encouragement of those 
 who seek Jesus, that he did not disdain to listen to 
 the prayers of this little child. He put it into her 
 heart to read the Bible, of which, though she under- 
 stood not all, yet she gathered enough to give her 
 some comfort. One day her attention was fixed on 
 these words : — ' The Lamb of God, which taketli 
 away the sin of the world.' ^ Now, something that 
 could take away sin was just what this little girl 
 wanted ; and she asked her father to tell her who 
 this Lamb of God was. He explained the precious 
 verse. But who can describothe raptures which filled 
 the bosom of this little child, when made to compre- 
 hend that the ' blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin' ! 
 
 1 John i. 29. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 13 
 
 Now she fled to Jesus indeed ; now she knew that he 
 had loved her, and given himself for her ; now the 
 Spirit of God, who often 'chooseth the weak and 
 foolish things. of the world to confound the wise and 
 mighty,'^ 'shed abroad the love of God in the heart' ^ 
 of a weak and foolish child, and ' filled her with 
 peace and joy in believing.'^ She had no one whom 
 she could talk to of these things. But she held 
 sweet converse with her reconciled God and Father ; 
 and gladly would she have quitted this life to go 
 and dwell with Jesus. Since then she has spent 
 nearly seventeen years of mingled happiness and 
 pain. But she has had Jesus for her friend; and 
 he never has, and never will, forsake her.* She 
 has forsaken him more than once for a season, and 
 turned to follow the vain things of the world. But 
 her Shepherd's eye has been over her in her wan- 
 derings, and he has never suffered her quite to 
 depart from him. To this day her vain and 
 treacherous heart is continually leading her to pro- 
 voke her heavenly Friend. He 'visits her trans- 
 gressions with the rod, and her iniquity with 
 stripes ;' but he has sworn * never to take his 
 loving-kindness from her, nor to suffer his faithful- 
 ness to fail.'^ She is constrained to acknowledge 
 that during all this time she has never done one 
 thing that could merit God's favour. Free grace, 
 free mercy, are all her song: 'It is of the Lord's 
 
 1 1 Cor. i. 27. 2 i^om. v. 5. ' Rom. xv. 13, 
 
 4 Heb. xiii. 5. & Psalm Ixxxix. 32, 33. 
 
14 MEMOIR OF 
 
 mercy she has not long ago been consumed.'^ She 
 is quite sure she could never have changed her own 
 heart. No ; God has begun the good work in her, 
 and he must carry it on ; and from first to last, let 
 glory be ascribed to him, and let her take shame 
 and confusion to herself. At this moment she de- 
 sires to live, if she may be made the means of con- 
 verting one sinner to Jesus; but if not, she would 
 rather 'depart and be with Christ, which is far 
 better.' She is far from despising earthly blessings. 
 Every morsel she puts into her mouth, the very 
 air she breathes, is made sweet and refreshing ' by 
 the loving hand that sends it. Once there was a 
 curse on all her earthly blessings. But now ' Christ 
 hath redeemed her from the curse of the law, being 
 made a curse for her.' ^ She would give it as her 
 living experience, and leave it when she goes hence 
 as her dying testimony, that there is nothing worth 
 living for except to know him, and see others come 
 to him and wash their guilty souls in the blood of 
 the Lamb. God has given her the blessing of seeing 
 a happy change take place in some of the dear com- 
 panions of her childhood and youth. She waits 
 upon him for the salvation of the rest ; and there is 
 no one, whom she longs after more ardently in the 
 Lord, than that dear and valued friend of her ear- 
 liest days, to whom this letter is addressed, and 
 to whom she wishes every spiritual blessing, that 
 God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy 
 
 1 Lam. iii. 22. 2 Gal. iii. 13. 
 
MARY JANE GKAHAM. 15 
 
 Ghost, can bestow, now and for evermore! Amen, 
 and Amen." 
 
 Some apparent discrepancy may be observed 
 between this exquisitely beautiful and natural let- 
 ter, and her published account of this important 
 crisis.^ Her apprehensions of Divine truth, as ex- 
 pressed in her letter, were indeed clear and enliven- 
 ing far beyond the average spiritual capacity of 
 children. Yet her " view of many of the doctrines 
 of Christianity," which she afterwards so fully de- 
 veloped and so richly enjoyed,- were at this time 
 "very indistinct." Doubtless also much of natural 
 feeling and excitement was mingled with these early 
 impressions of religion; while what was of a spirit- 
 ual character, as she afterwards discovered, was 
 not sufficiently grounded upon that sense of uni- 
 versal guilt and helplessness which prostrates the 
 sinner at the foot of the cross, simply dependent 
 upon a free salvation. This superficial cast of im- 
 pression — without invalidating the reality of a Divine 
 change — will account for the instability which 
 marked her early course in the ways of God. From 
 her own history we learn that she "was enabled to 
 walk with God in sincerity and without any con- 
 siderable declension during the greater part of her 
 childhood, and the commencement of a riper age." 
 After this period, however, "more than once," as her 
 letter informs us, she " forsook" her heavenly Friend, 
 "turned to follow the vain things of the world," and 
 
 1 Test of Truth. 
 
16 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "went on frowardly in the way of her own heart" — 
 " leaning to her own understanding," and led cap- 
 tive in her own folly. 
 
 Of this period future notice will be given. Mean- 
 while we revert to her early years as spent under 
 the roof of her parents or at school. Her parents 
 considered her virtues as those 0/ every day — that is, 
 habitual — and not merely called forth on particular 
 occasions. She was a most amiable, affectionate, 
 and dutiful child, seldom needing correction, tender- 
 hearted when told of her faults, and by her general 
 kindness of disposition attaching all the members 
 of the household to herself. She was remarkably 
 free from selfishness ; always ready to yield to her 
 companions, even to deprive herself of what she 
 valued. Her little pocket-money was generally re- 
 served for some object of distress, or for some token 
 of affection to a friend. 
 
 Her quickness of mind was a subject of early 
 observation. Her reading was chiefly obtained by 
 attending to the lessons which were given to her 
 brother then preparing for school. She was seldom 
 seen without a book in her hand, and seemed never 
 so happy as when employing herself in the improve- 
 ment of her mind. Yet this thoughtful cast of 
 character was by no means tinged with unnatural 
 gloom. In all the harmless games of childhood none 
 of her companions excelled her in playful activity ; ^ 
 
 1 One of her early friends, however, remarks that her games 
 and manner of amusing partook more of imagination and of 
 genius than those of the generality of children. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 17 
 
 while ill the midst of her cheerful temperament, it 
 was abundantly evident that the main concern of 
 religion was uppermost in her mind. " I recollect," 
 — her cousin writes, — "that when we were quite little 
 children, she made some attempt to talk to me about 
 religion — once especially, when we were sitting be- 
 hind the curtain in the drawing-room at . I 
 
 did not like the subject, and therefore walked away 
 and joined my more worldly-minded companions." 
 
 Her school career commenced soon after she was 
 seven years old. She was, however, shortly removed, 
 from ill health, and again, about the age of ten, sent 
 to a school of a different kind. Many of her com- 
 panions, who survive her, will probably long pre- 
 serve the remembrance of that peculiar kindness 
 and gentleness of spirit, which combined with her 
 superior powers. One of them remarks her great 
 carefulness to screen, as far as it was lawful to do 
 so, the faults of her fellows, and her anxiety to 
 plead for them when in disgrace; and so powerful 
 was her advocacy, that her preceptress was con- 
 strained to remove out of her way, w^ien her judg- 
 ment compelled her to persevere in her discipline. 
 In all the school difficulties, she was a constant re- 
 source, ever ready and willing to assist, without any 
 assumption upon the ground of her acknowledged 
 superiority. One trait of peculiar loveliness was 
 here exhibited (the spirit of which was marked on 
 various occasions in after-life), in her consideration 
 of any of her companions who from any unfavour- 
 able causes might appear to be neglected. These 
 
 2* 
 
18 MEMOIR OF 
 
 were the objects of her particular notice, and with 
 them she shared all her little indulgences. 
 
 Her religious impressions appear to have been 
 cherished by the familiar exhortations of the hus- 
 band of her preceptress, and by devotional exer- 
 cises with those of her companions, who were living 
 under the practical influence of their Christian in- 
 struction. To one of them she proposed to learn 
 every day a portion of Scripture in private, and to 
 repeat it to each other when they retired to rest. 
 At this time she committed to memory the whole 
 of the prophecy of Isaiah, besides other portions of 
 the sacred volume. 
 
 At the age of twelve her delicate health again 
 occasioned her removal from school. Her illness 
 lasted for about two months, during vi'hich time, 
 when confined upon the sofa, she committed to 
 memory the whole book of Psalms. Indeed, her 
 powers of memory were of an extraordinary order. 
 She w^s much delighted with Milton's Paradise 
 Lost, and had learned the greater part, if not the 
 whole, of that magnificent poem. For many suc- 
 cessive mornings she repeated to her father most 
 correctly upwards of three hundred lines each 
 morning. Upon her recovery from illness she 
 passed several months with a careful servant by 
 the seaside. So instinctive were her habits of active 
 usefulness, that she employed herself, though only 
 in her thirteenth year, in collecting a few children 
 for the purpose of instruction, and in distributing 
 tracts. In returning home to her parents, she en- 
 
MARY JANE GEAHAM. 19 
 
 joyed with them the rich and resi^onsible privik'go 
 of the iniuistry of the late Rev. Samuel Crowther, 
 Vicar of Christ Church, Newgate Street, — an emi- 
 nent " watchman of Ephraim," now with his God.^ 
 Under his faithful and affectionate instruction she 
 was brought to the ordinance of Confirmation about 
 the age of sixteen, and publicly "joined herself 
 to the Lord in a perpetual covenant never to be 
 forgotten."^ 
 
 About the age of seventeen. Miss Graham's mind 
 underwent a most extraordinary revolution. She 
 fell, for a few months, from the heavenly atmos- 
 phere of communion with God, into the dark and 
 dreary regions of infidelity. Allusion has already 
 been made to this afflicting circumstance, in her 
 letter.' But for a most interesting and graphic 
 detail, the reader must be referred to her own pub- 
 lished account ; * some digest of which will here be 
 given, in order to connect the thread of her history, 
 and to exhibit a clear view of one of the most im- 
 portant eras in her life. 
 
 Miss Graham's mind opened in a metaphysical 
 form, — unfavourable to a simple reception of truth. 
 And this, connected with a defective apprehension 
 of her lost estate, induced a spirit of self-de- 
 
 1 IIos. ix. 8. s Jer. 1. 5. ' 
 
 3 "She had foranken him more than once," — evidently includes 
 
 a reference to this history. In the recollection, however, of her 
 
 complete restoration, she added, — " He has never suflered her 
 
 quite" (i. e. ultofjetUer and Jinalli/) " to depart from him." 
 
 * Test of Truth. 
 
20 MEMOIR OF 
 
 pendence, — one of the most subtle and successful 
 hindrances to the Christian life.^ Thus was the 
 way opened to a secret habit of backsliding from 
 God. The foolish vanities of the world for a while 
 captivated her heart; and her manners were re- 
 marked to be like those of other thoughtless girls 
 of her own age. From frivolity she sought refuge 
 in her more solid intellectual pursuits. All sources 
 of self-gratification within her power were resorted 
 to with the fruitless attempt of obtaining peace in 
 a course of departure from God. Wearied at length 
 with disappointment, this prodigal child " began to 
 be in want;" and many a wishful eye did she cast 
 towards the rich provision of her Father's forsaken 
 house.'^ In turning, however, to religion for com- 
 fort, she found, to use her own words, — "Alas! I 
 had no religion : I had refused to give glory to the 
 Lord my God; now my feet were left to stumble 
 upon the dark mountains."^ 
 
 The doctrine of the Divinity of Christ had often 
 
 1 She alludes to an injury which her own mind, in common 
 (as she conceives) with many others, had received from adopting 
 Doddridge's form of covenanting with God. (Rise and Pi-ogress, 
 chapter xvii.) This was in her thirteenth year. Let it, however, 
 be remembered, that, though this mode of dedication may have 
 frequently ministered to a legal spirit, yet it by no means neces- 
 sarily partakes of an unevangelical character. This "subscribing 
 of the hand unto the Lord" has been found by many eminent 
 Christians (as, for example, in Philip Henry's family) to be a 
 cord of love, not a yoke of bondage. Allusion is probably made 
 to it as an acceptable ordinance in the service of the gospel, 
 Isaiah xliv. 3-5. 
 
 2 Luke XV. 14, 17. ^ Test of Truth. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 21 
 
 been to her (as to many other minds cast into the 
 same mould) an occasion of perplexity. Now it 
 was " a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence." 
 Though rej^eated examination had fully satisfied 
 her that it was the truth of the Bible, yet so repul- 
 sive was it to her proud heart, that she was led 
 from thence to question the truth of the Bible itself. 
 "I suspected" — said she — "that a system of religion 
 which involved such apparent absurdities, could not 
 possibly come from God. Determining to sift the 
 matter to the utmost, I eagerly acquainted myself 
 with the arguments for and against Christianity. 
 3Ii/ understanding was convinced that the Scriptures 
 ivere Divine. But my heart refused to receive the con- 
 viction. The more my reason was comj^elled to assent 
 to their truth, the more I secretly disliked the doctrines 
 of the Bible."' 
 
 Continued resistance to convictions was the 
 natural and melancholy result of this inquiry. She 
 determined to lay the subject aside for a while, still 
 " persuading herself that there must be flaws in the 
 evidence of so strange a history," which only her 
 want of maturity of judgment prevented her from 
 discovering. Those early religious impressions, that 
 usually form a bulwark against infidelity, in her 
 case proved a stumbling-block to her faith. Igno- 
 rant of *the native bias of hei.- heart against the 
 gospel, she considered them a:^ tlio effect of pre- 
 judice, before her mind had been intelligently in- 
 formed or exercised. She now, therefore, deter- 
 1 Test of Truth. 
 
22 MEMOIK OF 
 
 mined to burst her chains, and to think and ex- 
 amine for herself. 
 
 Hitherto she had confined her perplexities within 
 her own bosom; partly dreading the influence of 
 external bias, and partly fearing to infuse into 
 another's mind doubts concerning a book which, 
 she could not conceal from herself, might after all 
 be true. She endeavoured now to strengthen her 
 mind by pursuing a course of intellectual study, 
 with the direct design of preserving herself from 
 becoming a dupe to " cunningly-devised fables." 
 And here she did not fail subsequently to ac- 
 knowledge the special forbearance and wisdom of 
 her heavenly Father. Justly might he have de- 
 prived her of that reason, which she had so pre- 
 sumptuously set up in his own place. Yet was he 
 pleased to overrule this waywardness of his child 
 as an ultimate means of her restoration, in apply- 
 ing her course of mental discipline to the effectual 
 discovery of the fallacies with which she was now 
 deluded. 
 
 The immediate effect, however, of these studies 
 was decidedly injurious. Their absorbing interest 
 diverted her mind from the main subject of in- 
 quiry; while they proved also a temporary refuge 
 against the uneasy disturbance of her conscience. 
 Even her intervals of reflection were too easily 
 soothed by the indefinite postponement of the great 
 concern to " a more convenient season." Occa- 
 sional convictions Avere indeed felt, but without any 
 permanent or practical influence. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 23 
 
 Through the Divine mercy, this state of infatua- 
 tion did not prove of long duration. After a few 
 months' captivity, she was brought, though not 
 without severe conflict of mind, to the full light 
 and liberty of scriptural truth.^ The conviction of 
 the being of a God, in her darkest moments had 
 never wholly forsaken her. A few hours' contem- 
 plation of the starry heavens darted into her mind 
 a piercing reflection upon her stupidity and in- 
 gratitude, in what she justly called an " unnatural 
 and parricidal attempt to banish God from his own 
 creation, to depose him from his natural supremacy 
 over her heart." ^ Her whole life now appeared to 
 her (what indeed the Scriptures declare it to b.e) 
 one continued act of sin and folly. Her con- 
 victions, however, of sin — being wholly unconnected 
 with any discovery of the way of forgiveness — 
 naturally tended to despondency. Every fresh 
 sense of the corruption of her heart and of the un- 
 sullied purity of the Divine character, brought with 
 it a corresponding sense of guilt. She could expect, 
 therefore, nothing but punishment proportioned to 
 the infinite sinfulness of her oflTence. She could not 
 conceive the consistency of her forgiveness with the 
 claim of Divine justice; and the alternative of her 
 eternal punishment seemed even less dreadful than 
 
 * It may be remai-ked, that severe providential afflictions about 
 this period concurred with the exercises of her own mind, to 
 awaken her mind to this self-abasing recollection of her fearful 
 dejiarture from God. 
 
 2 Test of Truth. Comp. Rom. i. 20, 21, 2S. 
 
24 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the supposition of any inconsistency in Him who, in 
 her view, was the Perfection of Holiness. " I had 
 acquired" — she remarked — "such a perception of 
 the beauty of holiness, that the thought of an un- 
 holy God was worse than hell to me. I felt that I 
 had rather God should pour out on me all the vials 
 of his wrath, than that, carried away by an un- 
 worthy softness and weakness, he should forgive, 
 and thereby encourage sin. To undergo eternal 
 pu7iishment was horrible. To acknowledge an un- 
 holy God ivas more horrible.''''^ 
 
 As her last expedient, her despised Bible was 
 brought to mind. And "how different" — she ob- 
 serves — "was the temper of mind, in which I now 
 addressed myself to its perusal, from that in which 
 I had read it in the commencement of my dis- 
 belief of Christianity! I was no longer a proud 
 sophist, triumphing in the strength and penetration 
 of human reason, and in the comprehensiveness of 
 human knowledge. The contemplation of my own 
 ignorance, weakness, and wickedness, had laid my 
 pride in the dust. My eyes were opened to view 
 myself as I really was, — depraved and blinded in 
 my reason, judgment, aud understanding. And this 
 is the process which must take place in the soul of every 
 man, before he can pursue the search after truth in a 
 right spirit.'"^ 
 
 Her interest was early directed to the promises 
 of Divine teaching to the sincere inquirer after 
 truth. Their suitableness fixed her attention. Their 
 
 1 Test of Truth. 2 Ibid. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 25 
 
 freeness encouraged her Iieart. "Ask, and it shall 
 be given you ; seek, and ye shall find. He givetli 
 his Holy Spirit to them that ask him" — especially 
 arrested her.^ She determined to make trial of 
 them, conceiving that their fulfilment in her own 
 case would be a ^'Test of the Truth'' of the book 
 which held them forth for her acceptance. Though 
 hindered at first by a sense of unworthiness, she 
 ventured to apply; justly considering, that what- 
 ever might be her apprehensions of her own de- 
 merit, yet a state of submission and desire could 
 not be so displeasing to God as one of carelessness 
 and rebellion.'^ But the description of this anxious 
 crisis must be given in her own striking words. 
 " Impelled by these reflections — fearful and uncer- 
 tain, but with uncontrollable, unutterable longings, 
 I directed my applications 'To the unknoivn God.' 
 O my Redeemer! the first breathings of my soul 
 were not uttered in thy name! I rushed into tlie 
 presence of my Judge without a mediator. But 
 doubtless even then thy comeliness was thrown over 
 the deformity of my soul ; and the eye of my 
 
 1 Luke xi. 9-11. The drawing out of this argument forms the 
 first part of " The Test of Truth," — upon which a venerable 
 clergyman remarks, "I hope I have been for many years a 
 suitor for this promise. But I never before felt myself so intelli- 
 gently encouraged and animated to persist in my humble petition 
 for more and more of Divine knowledge." See also these pro- 
 mises, and the whole subject of " The Test of Truth," powerfully 
 illustrated in the Bishop of Calcutta's Lectures on the Evidences 
 of Christianity, — Lecture XIX. 
 
 2 Test of Truth. 
 
26 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Ftither beheld me with pity, for thy clear name's 
 sake. My prayer ascended up to heaven, fragrant 
 with the incense of thy merits; though the poor 
 wretch who offered it thought to please God by 
 leaving thee out of it."^ 
 
 In this prostration of soul, she continued " watch- 
 ing daily at her Lord's gates, waiting at the posts 
 of his doors." It need scarcely be added, — she 
 did not seek in vain.^ The Divine character now 
 appeared before her, — not — as before — in its con- 
 suming holiness, but in the combined glory of holi- 
 ness and love. Her ajDprehensions of sin, of Christ, 
 and of the whole system of Christian truth, were 
 now irradiated with heavenly light; and with sim- 
 plicity, and " godly sincerity" of " heart," she was 
 enabled to " believe unto righteousness." The cha- 
 racter of Christ, as a proof of the credibility of the 
 Christian revelation, arrested her particular atten- 
 tion. A minute scrutiny of his spotless life was 
 most satisfactory in its result.^ " The more" — said 
 she— " I studied this Divine character, the more I 
 grew up as it were into its simplicity and holiness, 
 
 1 Test of Truth. It may be asked, "Where was all that 
 knowledge and faith expressed at her first reception of the 
 gospel?" (See her letter, pp. 9-12.) But, in fact, her infidelity- 
 was a black cloud, — intercepting all present apprehensions of 
 faith and intelligence. There are eminent Christians in the 
 church, who have " entered into this cloud," and whose recol- 
 hictions are more or less familiar with this agonizing but tri- 
 umphant conflict. 
 
 '^ See Prov. viii. 34, 35,- Isa. Ixiv. 5; xlv. 19. 
 
 3 Test of Truth. 
 
, " MARY JANE GRAHAM. 27 
 
 the more my understanding was enabled to shake 
 off those slavish and sinful prejudices which had 
 hindered me from appreciating its excellence. Truly 
 his words were dearer to me * than my necessary 
 food,' — he was my 'All in all.' I did not want to 
 have any knowledge, goodness, or strength, inde- 
 pendently of him. I had rather be ' accepted in 
 the Beloved,' than received (had that been possible) 
 u])on the score of my own merits. I had rather 
 walk, leaning upon his arm, than have a stock of 
 strength given me to perform the journey alone. 
 To learn, as a fool, of Christ ; this was better to me 
 than to have the knowledge of an angel to find out 
 things for myself."^ 
 
 After her recovery from this fearful snare of 
 Satan, she was mercifully preserved from " turning 
 again to folly," and led forth in " the path of the 
 
 ^ This is not a solitary instance of impression from the con- 
 templation of the character of Christ. Even Mr. Chuhb must 
 have felt some conviction, when he describes his life " as a beau- 
 tiful picture of human nature in its native purity and sim- 
 plicity; and showing at once what excellent creatures men would 
 be, when under the influence and power of that gospel which he 
 preached unto them." (True Gospel, p. 56.) Rousseau's ex- 
 quisite contrast between Socrates and Christ i* well known, con- 
 cluding with the remarkable acknowledgment respecting the 
 latter: — "The inventor of such a personage would be a more 
 astonishing character than the hero." Yet could this man's 
 heart resist the clear conviction of his judgment. " / eaniiot" — 
 he subjoins — ''believe the Gonpel." His Confessions, however, 
 clearly trace his unbelief to its proper cause, — the love of sin. 
 See John iii. 19, 20, — a text which throws more light upon the 
 secret springs of infidelity, than whole volumes that have been 
 written upon the subject. 
 
28 MEMOIR OF 
 
 just," ^ with increasing light, strength, and establish- 
 ment. "From that moment" — she adds — "I ceased 
 to stumble at the doctrines of the cross. The doc- 
 trines of Scripture, which had before appeared to 
 me an inexplicable mass of confusion and contra- 
 dictions, were now written on my understanding 
 with the clearness of a sunbeam. Above all, that 
 once abhorred doctrine of the Divinity of Christ 
 was become exceeding precious to me. The ex- 
 ternal evidences of Christianity, though I now per- 
 ceived all their force, were no longer necessary to 
 my conviction. From that time" — she concludes — 
 " I have continued to ' sit at the feet of Jesus and 
 to hear his word ;' taking him for my Teacher and 
 Guide in things temporal as well as spiritual. He 
 has found in me a disciple so slow of compre- 
 hension, so prone to forget his lessons and to act in 
 opposition to his commands, that, were he not in- 
 finitely ' meek and lowly in heart,' he would long 
 ao-o have cast me off in anger. But he still con- 
 tinues to bear with me, and to give me ' line upon 
 line, and precept upon precept.' And I am certain, 
 that he 'will never leave me, nor forsake me;' for, 
 though I am variable and inconstant, ' with him there 
 is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.' "^ 
 
 1 Ps. Ixxxv. 8; Prov. iv. 18. 
 
 2 Test of Truth. The extracts given from this interesting little 
 work will be sufficient to commend it to the reader's attention, as 
 the production of an author of no common power, and deeply im- 
 bued with the .iclowing principles of the gospel. It will remind the 
 reader of some of Mr. Scott's painful exercises of mind describtnl in 
 his ''Force of Truth/' and of the argument so successfully handled 
 by Bishop Burnet in his disputations with Lord Rochester. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 29 
 
 Miss Graham continued to reside in London for 
 some time after her deliverance from fhat a^Yful 
 dehision, into which she had been permitted to fall. 
 The remembrance, however, of this temporary apos- 
 tasy was " ever before her," ^ with all that holy shame 
 and self-abasement which attaches to the " purified" 
 conscience of the pardoned sinner,^ — humbling her 
 in the dust, while yet faith, hope, love, peace, and 
 joy were the dominant principles in her soul. 
 Deeply also did she feel the constraint of the com- 
 mand given by anticipation to a backsliding apos- 
 tle — " Whe7i thou art converted, strengthen thy hreth- 
 ren^^ It was the great object of her "Test of 
 Truth" to set forth her own case as a beacon of 
 warning, an example of encouragement, and a 
 monument of Divine grace, for the special use of 
 those who might be brought into the same seductive 
 atmosphere of temptation. There is reason to be- 
 lieve that her work in its original form produced 
 its measure of conviction upon her principal cor- 
 respondent; and we may confidently expect, that in 
 a wider circulation, an answer to her prayers for a 
 Divine blessing upon it will be abundantly mani- 
 fested. During her residence in London, the minis- 
 try of the Rev. Watts Wilkinson, and a deep study 
 of the sacred volume, were the ordained means of 
 advancing her knowledge and experience of scrip- 
 tural truth. Her intellectual habits were a source 
 of much gratification to her, and mainly contri- 
 buted, under the blessing of God, to form her cha- 
 
 1 Psalm li. 3. 2 Ezek. xvi. 63. » Luke xxii. 32. 
 
 3« 
 
30 MEMOIR OF 
 
 racter into a mould of solid and jDermanent useful- 
 ness. It is, however, delightful to observe her Chris- 
 tian simplicity and watchfulness to subordinate 
 these valuable enjoyments to the primary object 
 of the glory of God. Of this the following prayer, 
 found among her papers, will furnish an interesting 
 and edifying illustration. 
 
 " Before study of any kind, remember that it is 
 but lost labour, except the Lord bless it. 
 
 "Summary of Things to be sought of God 
 BEFORE Study. 
 
 " I desire to thank thee, my God and Father in 
 Christ Jesus, for this and every other opportunity 
 of improvement thou hast given me. May the 
 opportunity thou hast given. me be blest of thee! 
 Enable me to receive it with thanksgiving, and 
 sanctify it to me by the word of God and prayer. 
 
 let me know nothing but Jesus Christ and him 
 crucified ; and other things just so far as may be for 
 my good and thy glory, and no further. I would 
 mourn before thee the base ingratitude, with which 
 
 1 have hitherto abused my time and talents, by 
 loving thy gifts more than thee, and seeking myself, 
 not thee, in them. Now I bring all my things to 
 thee; for they are not mine, hut thine own. Take 
 that acGursed thing, self, out of them all, and con- 
 descend to use them for thy glory. I thank thee 
 that the meanest employment is acceptable in thy 
 sight, when done in the name of the Lord Jesus. 
 May I set about this, in his name, and in his 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 81 
 
 strength, and to his glory ! May I not once seek my 
 own things in it, but the things that are Jesus Christ's! 
 Let me no longer lean to my own understanding ; 
 but may I so acknowledge thee in all my ways, 
 that thou mayest establish my thoughts, andrdirect 
 my paths! Suffer me not to be wise in my own 
 conceit, nor vainly puffed up in my fleshly mind. 
 Make me to lean from mine own wisdom. Be thou 
 my wisdom. 
 
 "Holy Lord God the Spirit! who dividest unto 
 every man severally as thou wilt, bless such of my 
 studies and in such a degree as may be most to thy 
 glory. If it be thy will, prepare me by them for 
 the work to which I desire thou wouldest call and 
 separate me.^ I commit this work to which I 
 would devote myself, into thy hands. Prosper it 
 or not as thou seest good. Thy will be done re- 
 specting it ; only take all self-seeking out of it; get 
 thyself glory, Lord, in all that I do ; and keep me 
 from ever wishing to rob thee of thy glory. Lord, 
 if thou wilt bless me abundantly, grant that in 
 whatever thou givest me, I may remember I have 
 received it, and not glory as if I had not received 
 it. I set myself to this employment in the name 
 of Jesus : may I have fellowship with him in it I 
 Let it not become a snare to me; but may the 
 Lord, who is my confidence, preserve my foot from 
 
 1 This was a plan which lay very near her heart, for the gra- 
 tuitous instruction of the children of missionaries, and of Chris- 
 tians in reduced circumstances, with a view to qualify them for 
 the situation of teachers. 
 
32 MEMOIR OF 
 
 being taken in this net, which has so often entan- 
 gled me! 
 
 " O thou Glorifier of Jesus ! take of the things 
 that are his, and show them unto me, and unto all 
 thy people, with such light and power, that our 
 wills, desires, and affections may be quite swal- 
 lowed up in his love. Let us have no will but 
 thy most holy will. Convince us that all things 
 else are mere dross and dung, in comparison with 
 that most excellent knowledge of our dear Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ, which do thou give us 
 every day more abundantly, making us to know the 
 love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Even so, 
 Holy Spirit, for the sake of thy great mercies in 
 Christ Jesus, to whom, with thee and the Father, be 
 all the honour, all the praise, and all the glory, now 
 and forever. Amen." 
 
 The period of her illness embraces a large por- 
 tion of what in her case, as her father observes, 
 " might be not untruly called ' that long disease, — 
 her life.' " From her childhood, her health was 
 very delicate; and the long illness which occa- 
 sioned her leaving school left a debility in her con- 
 stitution, from which she suffered more or less to 
 the end of life. Violent pains in her head, chest, 
 and side appeared, however, to be the commence- 
 ment of that disease which gradually developed a 
 fatal character. For some years she was indeed 
 able to exert herself (too often much beyond her 
 strength), both in bodily and mental activity. She 
 
MARY JANE GKAIIAM. 33 
 
 continued her intellectual studies with her usual 
 vigour, till about a year after her settlement iu 
 Devon, when increasing illness constrained her to 
 send her young pupil to school, and she was never 
 afterwards enabled, though she much wished it, to 
 resume the care of her education. From that time 
 she became a decide<l invalid, and, except in the 
 year 1827 (when she changed the scene for the 
 benefit of her health), she never moved beyond the 
 gai'den, and only two or three times ventured into 
 the outward air.^ For the last two years she was 
 entirely confined to her room, and unable to be 
 dressed. During the whole of this period, her 
 anxious mother slept iu her chamber, watching 
 over her Avith the most unremitting tenderness. 
 She generally kept her bed, till within the last 
 seven or eight months; when a violent cough and 
 spasms in the heart prevented a reclining position, 
 exce2)t when she was compelled to return to it by 
 fainting and exhaustion. The only resource was a 
 chair well supported with pillows, in which she sat 
 up day and night, and from which the assistance 
 of three j^ersous was required to remove her during 
 
 ^ Of one of these times the following memorandum occurs in 
 a letter to her cousin: — "To-day, I know not how, all my illness 
 seems to have disappeared, and I feel much better, so that I 
 have been out in the garden the second time since you left me. 
 Ah! how delightful the weather was! what pleasure I felt in 
 breathing the fresh air, in seeing the trees which begin to bud, 
 the spring-Iiowers which are appearing, and in hearing the song 
 of the birds, who seem to rejoice no less than myself in this 
 new season I" 
 
34 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the last few weeks of her life. She appeared, how- 
 ever, to suffer less from debility than many inva- 
 lids. For though she was wholly unable to stand, 
 yet a change .of medical regimen appeared to give 
 her temporary relief from distressing helplessness. 
 
 In this state of wearisome languor and pain, her 
 mind, however, was always vigorous and full of 
 energy. She never seemed to know an idle moment. 
 During the whole period of confinement to her bed, 
 she was always surrounded with books, or other 
 objects that engaged her attention. It was her 
 habit to have her table placed by her bedside 
 every night Avith her books and writing materials, 
 that she might commence her operations with the 
 earliest dawn of light. Her beloved Bible w^as 
 always under her pillow, the first thing in her hand 
 in the morning, and the last at night. Subordinate 
 to this object of supreme interest, her diligence and 
 perseverance in study were most remarkable. When 
 reminded that such intense application must be 
 injurious to her health, she always replied, that she 
 considered these diversified sources of interest as 
 among her greatest temporal blessings, in diverting 
 her mind and attention from her bodily ailments. 
 Her studies in the sick-room were as varied as in 
 the time of health. Sometimes the languages were 
 taken up. At other times the more engrossing 
 study of mathematics fixed her mind. This in its 
 turn was exchanged for chemistry or botany. Oc- 
 casionally, wlien her mind was less equal to exer- 
 tion, she would amuse herself with lighter employ- 
 
MAPwY JANE GKAIIAM. 35 
 
 ments. In the spring of her last year, she at- 
 tempted to dry flowers, which her parents procured 
 for her, with the intention of forming an herbarium. 
 But increasing indisposition frustrated this phin. 
 Cutting out pajDcr was also a favourite amusement, 
 in which she early excelled. Her skilful use of the 
 scissors had attracted in her young days the ad- 
 miration and interest of her school-fellows. She 
 was also a beautiful netter, and sent a number of 
 purses to her Spanish correspondent, which, when 
 sold at a bazaar for his private benefit, produced 
 upwards of three pounds. Thus in these various 
 employments did her mind maintain its ceaseless 
 activity, both in intellectual indulgence and in all 
 the exercises of practical devotedness. No oppor- 
 tunity of usefulness appeared to be forgotten. When 
 detained from the house of God by her protracted 
 indisposition, her time and interest were employed 
 in explaining the Scriptures to the servant who w^as 
 necessarily occupied in attendance upon her; and, 
 in one instance, it ^vas hoped, as well as in a former 
 case of much earlier date, that her simple and spirit- 
 ual instructions in the household were applied Avith 
 Divine unction and sovereign grace to the heart. 
 
 As, however, her illness evidently approached its 
 termination, her employments assumed a character 
 more exclusively spiritual. She was occupied in 
 girding up her loins, and trimming her lamp, in 
 constant and delighted expectation of her Lord's 
 immediate coming.^ 
 
 > T-pko xii. :^,'>. nn. 
 
36 MEMOIR OF 
 
 And now it was that the Christian graces, which 
 had been matured in the school of afBiction and 
 under the influence of habitual communion with 
 her God, displayed more manifestly their holiness, 
 beauty, and consolation. This was (as an excellent 
 clergyman, before adverted to, wrote to her father) 
 " the fiery chariot, her vehicle to heaven, in which — 
 the more it shook her mortal frame, until it left it 
 all behind — the stronger and more full of faith and 
 triumph in Christ Jesus she grew in her immortal 
 spii'it." 
 
 A detailed account of- this last period of her 
 mortal career will, it is presumed, be found gene- 
 rally interesting. In these solemn seasons is every 
 feature more accurately defined; while the colour- 
 ing is heightened by the impressive manifestation of 
 the love and faithfulness of our God and Saviour. 
 
 To the last, her habits of active employment were 
 predomina7it. Her thoughts and time were much 
 occupied in preparing her two small, but valuable, 
 works for publication ; and she continued to correct 
 the proof-sheets of them as they were sent to her, 
 till within a few days of her death. At first her 
 mind was divided between the completion of her 
 projected Series of Letters to a Governess and tlie 
 work On the Freeness of Divine Grace. But 
 mature deliberation decided her in favour of the 
 latter, as being calculated for more extensive use- 
 Yulness. She was indefatigable also in her cor- 
 respondence with her friends, upon the principle 
 of duty, in using every opi~)ortunity of setting forth 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 37 
 
 the grand and inviting subject of tlie gospel to her 
 fellow-sinners: She continued to write even after 
 she was unable to use her pen, and when, having 
 had just power to direct a pencil, her wrist had been 
 bound up to give her a little strength. 
 
 She ivas usually favoured, tlirougliout the last months 
 of her life, with a remarkable sense of the Divine 
 presence. During times of extreme agony, "Christ," 
 she said, " is with me, ' touched with the feeling of 
 mine infirmities.' " ^ Her intercourse with God at 
 this solemn season, while it was most intimate, was 
 yet most hallowed. One evening, after a day of great 
 bodily suffering, her cousin went into her chamber 
 to take leave of her for the night. The room was 
 darkened, and perfectly quiet, and the state of her 
 soul seemed to accord with the outer tranquillity. 
 She said, " I can scarcely speak to you. The sense 
 I have of the presence of God is so powerful that it 
 almost overcomes me. He has often manifested 
 himself to me ; but never in such a manner as this 
 night. Indeed, I feel ready to exclaim, with Job, 
 * I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; 
 but now mine eye seeth thee.' " ^ She said very 
 little more, being evidently too deeply impressed to 
 converse; but — her cousin adds — "I shall never 
 forget that night." 
 
 Yet this sacredness of feeling was mingled with 
 cheerful delight. It was truly Hooker's " reverend 
 gayety."^ "Oh!" — said she, one day, to a friend — 
 
 1 lleb. iv. 15. 2 Job ^m ^ 3 gee Isaac Walton's Life. 
 4 
 
88 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "He gives me to speak to liim 'face to face;' and 
 sometimes, when I am so weak that I cannot utter 
 words, his * Spirit helpeth my infirmities, and maketh 
 intercession for me with groanings that cannot be 
 uttered.'^ I love to feel my weakness, that I may 
 experience ' his strength made perfect in weakness.' ^ 
 I delight to lie low before Mm" 
 
 She loved to speak of the character of God. Her 
 mind appeared to be much expanded in the con- 
 templation of his unsearchable nature and glorious 
 perfections. " How delightful" — she observed on 
 one occasion — " to think, that ' God is light, and in 
 him is no darkness at all.'^ All his dispensations 
 are light; and though now they seem dark to us, 
 hereafter all clouds will be dispelled."* 
 
 Her desires for a clear and full hioivledge of God 
 were most intense. "What" — she exclaimed one 
 day — " are ten thousand worlds compared with one 
 ray of the knowledge of God !" The ardour of her 
 soul, unsatisfied with former manifestations, was 
 continually stretched out for higher and deeper 
 views of the Divine glory. She was not afraid to 
 oflfer that prayer, which seems scarcely befitting an 
 archangel's lips, and which only the clear warrant 
 of the gospel preserves from the starnp of pre- 
 sumption : — "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." ^ 
 Often did she entreat her minister to pray that 
 more might be revealed to her in this world. Nor 
 was the petition unheard. For, in reply to her 
 
 1 Rom. viii. 26. 2 2 Cor. xii. 9. ^ i John i. 5. 
 
 * See John iii. 7 : 1 Cor. xiii. 12. ^ Exodus xxxiii. 18. 
 
MARY JAXE GRAHAM. 39 
 
 dear mother's question a day or two before her 
 death, her answer was, "I could not feel happier." 
 
 The concentration of all her thoughts ujjon eternity 
 iims peculiarly striking and edifying to those around 
 her. This main concern for the last few months of 
 her life absorbed her entire interest. Nothing un- 
 connected with it seemed to possess any claim upon 
 her attention. The engrossing delights of intel- 
 lectual study were relinquished forever. She had 
 no enjoyment of any train of conversation, except 
 that which directly led her mind and contemplation 
 heavenward. Communion with God was the one 
 object of her desire. The word of God now occu- 
 pied her whole attention. All other books — even 
 her favourite authors, Romaine, Leighton, Milner 
 — seemed comparatively uninteresting. This hea- 
 venly absorption of mi^id is finely depicted in the 
 following short extract from one of her late letters 
 to a friend : — 
 
 Stolce-Fleminrj, Oct. 1, 1830. 
 
 "My dear : 
 
 " Knowing that my life hangs upon a thread, I 
 dare not delay answering your letter: I pray God 
 to enable me to speak the truth to you in love, and 
 to dispose you not to think me 'your enemy, because 
 I tell you the truth.' But I must, as long as I con- 
 tinue to live, continue to urge you on the subject 
 of religion. I speak not now willingly on any other 
 subject; I desire to have no more to do with earthly 
 things, but to turn my whole joyful expectation to 
 that blessed Saviour whom I believe I shall soon 
 
40 MEMOUi OF 
 
 see face to face, through that inlinite, undeserved 
 love and kindness of his, Avhich has taught me to 
 put my whole trust in him for salvation." 
 
 Connected with this feature, we may add, that 
 she seemed so perfectly iveaned from the world as 
 scarcely -to have an earthly wish. Several times she 
 took leave of her beloved relatives. In parting 
 with her young cousin about three months before 
 her death, she writes, " I have not one earthly care 
 or wish ; for even my cares for her are now all cast 
 upon God, whose tender love will, I trust, lead her 
 all her life long, as it has led me. She is going 
 one way, and I shall soon depart in another way; 
 but I would wait patiently." One day, earnestly 
 recommending a friend to " cast all her care upon 
 God," she gave the same expression of her mind, 
 "J have no earthly cares — nq earthly wish. But" — 
 added she — " I have spiritual cares — spiritual wants ; 
 but I cast even them all upon God." Christ and 
 eternity filled up the Avhole vacuum, and left nothing 
 else to be desired. 
 
 Resignation to the tvill of God was prominently 
 marked during her illness, and was to her the source 
 of much heavenly enjoym'ent. After meditating 
 upon her Saviour's words, " My meat is to do the 
 will of him that sent me," * she observed, " Though 
 I cannot notu do the ivill of my heavenly Father, I 
 can suffer his will." She looked forward with great 
 calmness to a protracted life of suffering, when the 
 medical attendant gave his judgment that she 
 1 John iv. 34. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 41 
 
 miglit probably live for many years, but Avoiild 
 never regain her health. As she was naturally of 
 an energetic dis230sition, ardent in forming and exe- 
 cuting her plans, this state of acquiescence to so 
 inactive a life appeared manifestly to be the effect 
 of Divine grace. Once, indeed, she remarked, with 
 tears, that the prospect of lying on that bed for many 
 years, of seeing her friends die around her, and 
 those whom she loved remove away (alluding to the 
 anticipated removal of the rector's family, which, 
 however, she did not live to see), was a melancholy 
 thought. But the passing cloud was soon dissipated, 
 and she regained her usual cheerfulness. 
 
 The same warm temper of love to the Lord's people 
 that had distinguished her general i^rofession ivasruliiig 
 to the last. Even in her state of distressing weakness, 
 she could not be satisfied without seeing some of them 
 round her bed, that she might enjoy sensible com- 
 munion with them. However weak they might be 
 in faith, or low in condition, her heart was fervently 
 drawn out in union with them. In referring to some 
 refreshing intercourse with two eminent Christians, 
 she observed, "How good my gracious God is in thus 
 sending his saints to commune with me upon those 
 deep and precious things which now form my only 
 consolation, my 'joy, and the rejoicing of my heart'! 
 But," added she — acknowledging the supremacy of 
 her heavenly Friend, " after all, his presence is the 
 only unfailing source of happiness. ' With him is the 
 fountain of life; in his light shall we see light.' "^ 
 
 * Psalm xxxvi. 9. 
 
 4* 
 
42 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Her views of sin were deep. Her friend, observing 
 her one morning to look unusually disturbed, ven- 
 tured to express her concern ; when she remarked, 
 with a look that could not be forgotten, "It is sin 
 that hath made me so. I have passed such a night T 
 The deep solemnity of her manner precluded any 
 further inquiry. Yet it was afterwards discovered 
 that it was not her own sin, but that of a dear 
 friend that had so acutely pierced her. Of herself 
 she observed, on another occasion, "Ever since I 
 have known my sins to be pardoned, they have cost 
 me a thousand times more distress than before." So 
 awfully does the love of God, in pardoning, brighten 
 their guilt. 
 
 The expressions of her deep humility were pecu- 
 liarly stpking during her illness. All her attain^ 
 ments in the Christian life were never thought of, 
 but as dross and dung. Her sense of unprofitable- 
 ness kept her low in the dust, while the recollections 
 of faith, exercised in habitual application to the 
 blood of her Redeemer, upheld her from despond- 
 ency. When her minister ventured to express the 
 advantage which his own soul had derived from 
 attendance upon her, she exclaimed, with vehemence, 
 " How should such a dead dog^ as I am be of any 
 use?" She sometimes seemed as if she could scarcely 
 conceive the possibility of being the Lord's instru- 
 ment for the good of his people, while at the same 
 time she continued to employ her every power of 
 body and mind in their service. 
 
 1 2 Sam. xvi. 9. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 43 
 
 This self-abasing apprehension ivas, however, com- 
 bined with ardent gratitude to God as the author, 
 and to her friends as the channel, of all her mercies. 
 Every attention, every act of kindness from her 
 parents and nurses, excited the most lively emo- 
 tions of thankfulness. Speaking, one day, of the 
 kindness of her nurse, her minister observed, " But 
 oh, how kind, how much kinder, is Christ/" "Yes," 
 she replied, " but even all this kindness of the crea- 
 ture flows to me through his love, his kindness." Thus 
 did all her earthly comforts receive a double relish ; 
 thus also were her bitterest trials sweetened by being 
 traced up to their Divine source, and by flowing into 
 her soul through the delightful channel of the media- 
 tion of her Saviour. 
 
 The same food that had nourished her throughout 
 her journey continued to supply strength and vigour 
 for the last efforts. Her Bible was more invaluable 
 than ever to her. It was her constant practice, 
 before she went to rest, to repeat a text to her be- 
 loved mother, and to require one in return, assign- 
 ing as a reason that she might have them to think 
 upon after she was gone.^ She pursued the same 
 habit of scriptural repetition with her afiectionate 
 cousin, — the constant attendant upon the last months 
 
 ^ A few months before her death, she presented her little Bible 
 to her mother, having obtained from her the assurance that she 
 would read a chapter every day with prayer. In order to keep 
 this promise in mind, if the precious treasure was at any time 
 out of reach, she would playfully ask for it: "You know, dearest 
 mother, it is not mine now; but do you lend it to me while I am 
 here." 
 
44 MEMOIR OF 
 
 of her illness, — adding to it the privilege of social 
 prayer, except when attacks of illness prevented it. 
 "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be 
 full,"^ was her favourite text to the last. 
 
 As in health, so especially in her last sickness, 
 she had great delight in communion with the Holy 
 Spirit. She used to address her prayers much to 
 him, thought much of his personality, and found 
 the contemplation of it most refreshing to her soul. 
 She would often speak wdth comfort of her experience 
 of his distinct influence upon her heart. 
 
 Hymns were also a source of much refreshment 
 to her soul. She used to repeat many to herself, 
 especially during the night, and was thankful to the 
 last to have them repeated to her. The last that 
 her cousin read tcf her, two days before her death, 
 was one by Madame de Fleury, beginning — 
 
 "Ye angels, who stand round the throne," &c. 
 
 and Gambold's beautiful hymn, 
 
 "That I am thine, my Lord and God," &g., 
 
 was a great favourite. Cowper and Toplady, also, 
 were a source of great delight to her. 
 
 The siqyport ivhich ivas vouchsafed to her in the 
 micht of her intense bodily sufferings was such as 
 might have been expected from the known and 
 tried faithfulness of her God. Such was her enjoy- 
 ment, at some seasons of agony, that her " pains," 
 
 1 John xvi. 24. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 45 
 
 as she said on one occasion, "were sweeter than 
 honey or the honeycomb." At one of her times 
 of distress she remarked, " I am a child lying in 
 the arms of Christ, and he treats me with more 
 than a mother's tenderness." Truly indeed was 
 she " strengthened with all might, according to the 
 glorious power of God, unto all patience and long- 
 suffering 'with joyfidness.'' ^ 
 
 It is almost needless to add, as the concluding 
 article of detail, that the sting of death luas removed 
 from her. 
 
 " It is not death to me," she would say. " Jesus 
 hath tasted death for me, and hath drunk up all its 
 bitterness." The prospect of eternity w^as entirely 
 divested of its terrors, and beamed with the bright 
 anticipation of everlasting joy. 
 
 She would sometimes speak of herself as a dis- 
 embodied spirit, as if she realized, in the fullest per- 
 ception and assurance, her entrance into the world 
 of blessedness. Her frequent reference to her de- 
 parture was in calm composure, — like making pre- 
 paration! for a short journey or a temporary ab- 
 sence. At other times it was in joyful hope. On 
 one occasion, — six months before her death, — when 
 she was thought to be dying, she unexpectedly re- 
 vived, and, seeing her weeping friends around her, 
 asked her dear mother why they w^ere all in tears, 
 adding, with great animation, " Do you think that I 
 shall be with Jesus to-morrow?" At another of 
 these times she exclaimed, " If the Lord should 
 
 1 C<;]. i. II. 
 
46 MEMOIR OF 
 
 come and take me this night! but, oh! that is too 
 much to hope for." After a violent attack of cough- 
 ing and spasm, a friend observed, " I fear you suffer 
 much." "Oh, no!" she replied; "I delight to feel 
 the pins of the tabernacle taking out." She burst 
 into tears when a physician, who occasionally saw 
 her, informed her that the disease had not made 
 the progress which he had supposed. This, how- 
 ever, was but a momentary feeling. For, upon her 
 mother's reminding her that she was only not quite 
 so near home as she had expected, she replied, " Oh, 
 no ! this is wrong," dried up her tears, and returned 
 to her usual serenity and cheerfulness. Writing to 
 one of her friends, in reference to a beloved saint 
 who had died in the triumph of the gospel, she re- 
 marked, "Well, I shall have one friend more to 
 welcome me when the Lord's time shall come to 
 ' administer' to me also * an entrance into his ever- 
 lasting kingdom.' Oh, blessed hope! happy sinnera 
 saved by the blood of Jesus." Then she adds this 
 affectionate exhortation, " Oh, my dear, my beloved 
 friend, I charge you so to devote yourself to the 
 Lord that ' the full assurance of hope' may cheer 
 you now, and at the hour of death." Upon re- 
 ceiving the intelligence of the sudden death of an- 
 other Christian friend, she exclaimed, "I have heard 
 the good news. She has rent the veil at once. 
 Mine is taking down piece by piece. By-and-by 
 I shall find a chink large enough to get out of; like 
 a bird confined in a cage, and fluttering about to 
 extricate itself in vain, till at last, the door beino; 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 47 
 
 open, the liappy prisoner wings its flight towards 
 heaven." There might probably be an occasional 
 mixture of infirmity in these intense desifes for her 
 home. It is, indeed, the dictate "of Christian wisdom 
 to prefer the gain of death. But it is equally the 
 part of Christian obedience to embrace the service 
 of life; and the desire to depart, so far as it is not 
 subjugated to the readiness to wait, partakes of the 
 nature of self-will more than of holy afi'ections. 
 Generally, however, the ardency of her desires ap- 
 peared to be subdued to a resignation to the Divine 
 will. Thus, in reference to her dissolution, she 
 writes to the aged minister avIio, during lier resi- 
 dence in London, had been the means of communi- 
 cating established peace to her soul, " Blessed be 
 my all-sufficient Saviour, that, accepted in him, a 
 few months more or less can make no great dif- 
 ference: 'Neither life nor death can separate us 
 from his love.' "^ On one occasion, after expressing 
 her earnest longing to depart, she checked herself, 
 and added, ''But I am willing to sit here a hundred 
 or a thousand years, if it be the ivill of God." 
 
 Her mind maintained its vigorous character in 
 the midst of her protracted sufferings. The subjects 
 of her conversation were usually of a highly in- 
 teresting character. She would often speak with 
 considerable clearness, combined with deep humility, 
 X)f the more mysterious parts of revelation, such as 
 the distinct Persons of the Holy Trinity ; the person 
 and glory of Christ; the ministry of angels; the 
 
 ^ I'nin.'ins viii. 38. ?>'.t. 
 
48 MEMOIR OF 
 
 state of separate spirits ; the prospects of the church 
 of Christ. It is much to be regretted that no par- 
 ticular details of these conversations are preserved. 
 The resurrection and future glory of the body were 
 favourite subjects with her. She delighted to dwell 
 upon 1 Cor. xv. " What a wonderful change" — she 
 observed on one occasion — " takes place in nature 
 in the acorn, — which from so small and insignificant 
 a seed afterwards expands and grows into a noble 
 tree, the glory of the forest! What a remarkable 
 transformation also is that of the caterpillar, — which, 
 after having been changed into apparently dead 
 matter, at the appointed time bursts its shell and 
 becomes a beautiful winged insect! Had we not 
 witnessed such changes, we should not have believed 
 them possible. But, having seen them in nature, 
 shall we doubt the possibility of that great change 
 which will take place at the resurrection-day, when 
 'this vile body shall be fashioned like unto the 
 glorious body' of our Lord?"^ 
 
 For a short time, however, before her death, the 
 enemy w^as permitted to harass her soul, and her 
 lively apprehensions of the gospel were occasionally 
 obscured. At one of these times she said to her 
 minister, " Christ is not so precious to me as he 
 deserves." " No," it was replied ; " he is so to 
 none." "But," she added, "he 'feeds me wdth food 
 convenient for me,' though I do not experience 
 those spiritual enjoyments I so ardently long for." 
 Of a distressing season of temptation which hap- 
 
 1 Phil. iii. 21. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 49 
 
 pened about this time, her minister writes, " I shall 
 never forget the state of her mind. It seemed 
 as if ' a horror of great darkness had fallen upon 
 her.'^ *0h,' she said, 'I cannot pray; I can only 
 utter words. It is mere wind.' She earnestly called 
 upon me to strengthen her, by repeating the pro- 
 mises of the gospel. God at that time seemed to 
 give me words. For, when I scarcely knew what to 
 say, words of effectual consolation were put into my 
 mouth. Once, in her impatience to hear the word, 
 she exclaimed, ' Oh, say something to me from God, 
 whether a word of comfort or reproof.' I think of 
 that proverb, ' The full soul loatheth the honey-comb ; 
 hut to the hungry soul every hitter thing is sweet.' ^ At 
 these times of ' needful heaviness, through manifold 
 temptations,' while ' walking in darkness, and having 
 no light,' she was, however, manifestly enabled to 
 * trust in the name of the Lord, and to stay upon her 
 God.'^ She could not enjoy the full manifestation 
 of her God, which she had known in times past. 
 *Yet though' — she said — *I cannot love God with 
 that warmth which I so earnestly desire, I can act 
 faith upon him.' She complained much of deadness 
 in prayer. Yet her faith was in exercise, upholding 
 her soul upon the sure word of promise, that her 
 Lord would return to her in his own best time. 
 She would at such se-asons cheer her soul by repeat- 
 ing suitable promises. ' When the poor and needy 
 
 ' Genesis xv.42. 2 Proverbs xxvii. 7. 
 
 3 1 Peter i. 6, with Isaiah 1. 10. 
 5 
 
50 MEMOIR OF 
 
 seek for water, and there is none, and tlieir tongue 
 faileth them for thirst, I the Lord will hear them ; 
 I the God of Jacob will not forsake them;'^ on this 
 encouraging promise she rested in one of her seasons 
 of distress and desertion. At another time she would 
 say, 'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when 
 I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord 
 shall be a light unto me.'^ And again, 'The Lord 
 my God shall enlighten my darkness.'^ At these 
 times of trial the book of Canticles was much upon 
 her mind. ' By night I sought my beloved, but I 
 found him not.' Then she added, ' but I sought not 
 in vain.' She appeared to be at this time much en- 
 livened in speaking of her Saviour as represented 
 under the figure of the bridegroom. ' He loves us 
 to such a degree, that he seeks after us, he desires, 
 he delights in us, — all which is to be seen in this 
 wonderful portion of Scripture.' At another of these 
 times she remarked that often in the experience of 
 the Lord's servants a season of darkness had pre- 
 ceded some special manifestation of his love. Thus, 
 as she observed, 'Jacob wrestled a ivhole night; and 
 it was not until the daybreak that the angel revealed 
 himself.' * Thus for a while our Lord seemed to dis- 
 regard the cry of the Canaanitish woman; but 'the 
 trial of her faith was' eventually 'found to praise, 
 and honour, and glory.' ^ Thus also the disconsolate 
 state of the disciples in their journey to Emmaus 
 
 1 Isaiah xli. 17. ^ Mic'ah vii. 9. ' Psalm xviii. 28. 
 
 ^ Canticles iii. 1 ; Genesis xxxii. 24, 25. • 
 
 5 Matthew xv. 22-28, with 1 Peter i. 7. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 51 
 
 was the prelude and harbinger of a blessed display 
 of their Master's light and love."^ 
 
 The dark clouds which, " for a small moment," ^ 
 had been permitted to spread themselves over her 
 soul, were, however, shortly dispelled; and "at 
 evening time it was light.'" Her extreme weak- 
 ness, indeed, prevented her utterance ; but the few 
 words that could be gathered from her were descrip- 
 tive of the peace and joy that reigned within. "My 
 weakness" — she said — " reposes on his strength ; my 
 folly, on his wisdom." When her minister, in allu- 
 sion to her late painful exercises, observed, "God 
 was ' leading her by the right way to the city of habi- 
 tation,' " she replied, " Oh, yes ; but how different is 
 the case of those who * wander in the wilderness in 
 a solitary way, and find 7io city to dwell in!' "* In 
 the last visit of this beloved attendant, " God" — she 
 said to him — " is the rock of my salvation." Then, 
 speaking of her being detained in her earthly taber- 
 nacle, she added, " It is a comfort to think that 
 'Christ has the keys of death and of hell.'^ All is 
 well. May God be with you during the remainder 
 of your pilgrimage! I can only lie as an infant in 
 the hands of God." 
 
 Her bodily sufferings, at the last period, were 
 most severe, arising from a complication of diseases. 
 Her lungs, which had been supposed to be sound, 
 were discovered after her death to have been fatally 
 
 1 Luke xxiv. 17-34. 2 Isaiah liv. 7. 
 
 3 Zech. xiv. 7\ * Psalm cvii. 7, with 4. 
 
 5 Rev. i. 18. 
 
52 MEMOIR OF 
 
 diseased. Her heart, also, was found to be en- 
 larged. Her weakness and inability to recline for 
 so many weeks, produced dropsy in her feet and 
 legs. This was, however, from time to time relieved 
 by incision. Her life terminated at last by a rapid 
 mortification in one of her legs. The last day of 
 her life was a day of intense agony. She was 
 obliged to take doses of opium, which before she 
 could not touch, so that the day and night, till she 
 expired, were passed in a doze, or in the most vio- 
 lent sufl^ering. A few words only vv^ere preserved at 
 this affecting crisis. A day or two before her death, 
 she cried, " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ; 'never- 
 theless, not my will, but thine be done.' " At an- 
 other time, speaking of " the glory that shall be re- 
 vealed," she exclaimed, " Eye hath not seen, nor 
 ear heard,' neither have entered into the heart of 
 man, the things which God hath prepared for them 
 that love him."^ Alluding to those who watched 
 by her side, she said, " What a comfort that we are 
 not watching alone ! ' He that keepeth Israel shall 
 neither slumber nor sleep.' " ^ Then again, shortly 
 after, "I know whom I have believed."^ Then 
 again, in a moment of excruciating suffering, to her 
 mother, " Pray for me, that my patience may not 
 fail me at the last." The last words she was heard 
 to utter before her death, in a moment of deep 
 agony, were, " I am come into deep waters ; O God, 
 my rock, ' hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.' " 
 The next morning, on Friday, December 10, 1830, 
 1 1 Cor. ii. 9. 2 Psalm cxxi. 4. 3 2 Tim. i. 12. 
 
MARY JANE GRAHAM. 63 
 
 ■without a sigh or a struggle, she entered into her 
 eternal rest. 
 
 Thus upheld by the good hope of the gospel, — thus 
 having displayed in lovely concord the diversified 
 graces of the Christian profession, — thus having 
 been abundantly refreshed by the consolations of 
 Christ, — this blessed sufferer, this ransomed sinner, 
 this victorious believer, fell asleep in the arms of 
 her Saviour and her God. She heard, and gladly 
 obeyed the call of her Lord, " * Come up hither.' 
 Lay down the cross, and take the crown." 
 
 " To HIM THAT OVERCOMETH WILL I GRANT TO 
 SIT WITH ME IN MY THRONE, EVEN AS I ALSO 
 OVERCAME, AND AM SET DOWN W^ITH MY FATHER 
 IN HIS THRONE."^ 
 
 1 Kev. iii. 21. 
 
 5« 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 LUKE xr. 9. 
 
 ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN TOtT, 
 
 I AM not ignorant of the disadvantage under 
 which I labour, in addressing a class of readers 
 who despise the Bible, with a quotation from the 
 Bible. Such a commencement carries with it an 
 air both of unfairness and inconsistency. It looks 
 like an attempt to assume the point in dispute, and 
 to argue from a source which we have not yet 
 proved to be genuine. Let me hasten to dispel a 
 suspicion so unfavourable to a ^andid reception of 
 the observations I am about to offer. Rational and 
 philosophizing skeptics, in presenting you with the 
 above text of Scripture, I do not ask you to receive 
 it as the word of God, but only to bestow upon it a 
 little of that patient and courteous attention whicli 
 the word of one of your fellow-men might claim 
 from you. You cannot, in justice to your own pro- 
 fessions of candour and equity, refuse compliance 
 with so reasonable a demand. 
 
58 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 Without further apology, I submit one of fae 
 sayings of Jesus Christ to your attentive considera- 
 tion. I am far from any intention of pressing you 
 with its divine authority, or insisting on a blind 
 obedience. Upon its own merits let it stand or fall. 
 
 My object, in thus briefly addressing you, is not 
 to convince, but to direct you to a method by which 
 you may convince yourselves. With this design I 
 shall take nothing for granted but what you will be 
 readily disposed to concede. I will suppose that 
 it is yet a matter of doubt whether the Scriptures 
 are the genuine and lively oracles of God, or the 
 sordid, lying invention of man. Take, if you please, 
 a still further advantage. Assume that appearances 
 are strongly against their divine origin; that the 
 external evidences of Christianity are insuflicient, 
 her internal proof unsatisfactory, her professors few 
 and inconsistent, her opponents respectable both 
 in number and talents, the objections against her 
 weighty and plausible, and all the arguments in 
 her favour weak and inconclusive. I will further 
 suppose that you^^are in earnest when you assert 
 that truth alone is the object of your search, and 
 that you are ready to embrace her wherever you 
 find her. I say, I will suppose that you are in 
 earnest. And truly I should offer an affront to your 
 understandings, both as men and philosophers, were 
 I to imagine you capable of viewing the subject in 
 any other than a serious light. 
 
 If, then, you refuse to believe the Bible, it must 
 be because you can find no means of proving it to 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 59 
 
 be true. It cannot be because you love to continue 
 in darkness, in perplexity, in unbelief. Let me put 
 the case, that some infallible criterion were pro- 
 posed to you, — some method of ascertaining, by 
 your own personal experience, the truth or false- 
 hood of the Bible. May it not be inferred that 
 you would be eager to put it fairly to the test, and 
 willing to abide by the result of your experiment ? 
 
 Such a criterion I am about to propose to you. 
 It is so simple, that a child may comprehend; so 
 just, that a philosopher may approve; and so forci- 
 ble, that none who have fairly tried have ever been 
 found able to withstand it. Such is the saying of 
 Jesus Christ to which I now invite your attention, 
 "Ask, and it shall be given you." 
 
 Who Jesus Christ was, or what degree of deference 
 is due to his word, it suits not my present purpose to 
 inquire. I shall content myself with proving to you 
 that the saying now under consideration contains 
 nothing in itself absurd or improbable. And, having 
 established this necessary point, I shall propose it to 
 you as the touchstone of truth. 'I am fully aware 
 of the proud self-sufficiency with which unconverted 
 men expect the mightiest truths to be brought down 
 to the level of human reason. It shall, therefore, 
 be my care, in the few simple propositions which I 
 shall lay before you, to introduce nothing which can 
 too severely tax your belief or your understanding. 
 
 You are, I hope, willing to allow that this uni- 
 versal frame is the work of some Divine uncreated 
 Intelligence. You are not yet so thoroughly debased 
 
60 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 in heart and intellect, as to be able to look round 
 on the wonders of creation without perceiving in 
 them all manifest tokens of creating power. But 
 I am prei>ixred to make every allowance for the 
 strength of your incredulity or the dulness of your 
 comprehension. If, therefore, I appear to you to 
 liave asked too much, I will be yet more moderate 
 in my demands. It is enough for my argument if 
 you admit that the existence of God, if not certain, 
 is at least probable, or, if not probable, that it is at 
 least possible. The various instances of deep design 
 and exquisite contrivance which force themselves 
 upon your notice on every side, will not suffer you 
 to deny the possible existence of some great Designer 
 and Contriver. Whether you look upwards, at the 
 innumerable starry host; or downwards, upon the 
 insect that crawls beneath your feet; around you, 
 on the beauteous furniture of the universe ; or within, 
 upon the little world of thought and feeling that is 
 stirring in your own bosom, whichever way you 
 look, whichever way you turn, you are met by 
 something which compels you to acknowledge that 
 the existence of God is no absurd or improbable 
 hypothesis. Even that man who wrote " atheist" 
 under his name, was not, I am persuaded, an atheist 
 when alone. There is no such thing as an atheist 
 in solitude. You may boast that you are one in 
 the convivial circle; but you cannot support the 
 character in your closet. There God will find you 
 out. There the unwelcome reality of his presence 
 will confound you. And not only so, but even in 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 01 
 
 the height of social mirth, when surrouiuled })y 
 friends who sympathize and admire, you dare to 
 make merry with the name and being of God, — 
 even then a secret horror, a sad foreboding con- 
 viction, will sometimes shiver through your frame, 
 and you will feel in every pore that GOD IS, and 
 that vain are your puny efforts to annihilate him. 
 I appeal to the stoutest heart among you whether I 
 speak truth. You cannot quite divest yourself of 
 the conviction ; you know you cannot. God has not 
 left himself without witness, even in your heart. 
 There is a point at which incredulity itself must 
 make a stand; and that point is, the existence of 
 God. 
 
 I take it, then, for granted that some of you will 
 admit the existence of Almighty God to be unde- 
 niably certain: many will own that it is probable: 
 and all will allow that it is possible. 
 
 Neither will you be so hardy as to deny that, if 
 there be a God, the highest happiness of his crea- 
 tures must consist in knowing, and their highest 
 duty in loving, him. The Maker of every grand 
 and lovely object must be infinitely grand and 
 lovely; ana if to know his works be good, to know 
 himself must be better than all. But if he be our 
 Maker, — if in him ive live, and i.iove, and have our 
 being, then surely it must be our most urgent con- 
 cern to know one with whom we have so much to 
 do. If he be our Maker, do we owe him no service? 
 If our Benefactor, do we owe him no thanks? If he 
 be our Father, must we not love him? If our 
 
62 " THE TEST OF TKUTH. 
 
 Master, must we not fear him? But how can we 
 render service or thanks, love or praise, to an 
 unknoion being? We may, indeed, view him with 
 a servile dread; for nature itself teaches us to 
 shrink from that which we do not know. But we 
 cannot serve God till we know what he requires 
 of us. "We cannot thank him till we know what he 
 has done for us. We cannot love God till we are 
 acquainted with his thoughts and purposes towards 
 us. Love, such as deserves the name, implies 
 knowledge, communion, tried excellence, unlimited 
 confidence. Those dark, shadowy, undefined notions 
 which the Deist entertains of God, may cause a 
 slight thrill of admiration, a transient glow of 
 thankfulness, to pass across his bosom; but they 
 will produce no real, substantial, enduring senti- 
 ment, — they will never make him love. To know 
 God must then be our highest happiness, whether 
 we consider his intrinsic excellence, or the relation 
 in which we stand to him as his creatures. And as 
 the Maker cannot but be infinitely greater than any 
 of the things he has made, so the knowledge of God 
 cannot but be infinitely more desirably than the 
 knowledge of his works. 
 
 It is a self-evident proposition, that what is worth 
 having is worth seeking. If, then, the knowledge 
 of God be so well worth having, it must be pro- 
 portionably worth seeking. No pains can possibly 
 be too great to bestow on the attainment of such an 
 object. I am not now speaking of the existence of 
 God as undeniably established. I affirm that the 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 63 
 
 bare possibility that a Being so glorious and beauti- 
 ful exists, makes it worth our while to leave the 
 contemplation of every other glory and every other 
 beauty, till we have either discovered this great 
 original of all that is beautiful and glorious, or can 
 give satisfactory proof that no such original exists. 
 The bare possibility that there is a Being who 
 stands related to us as our Creator and Father, 
 renders it an act of parricide, if I may so express 
 myself, not to inquire after him, that we may fulfil 
 the duties which those relations imply. 
 
 Admit, then, that God is worth knowing, and you 
 must also admit the inevitable consequence, that 
 God is worth seeking. Indeed, it w^ould seem super- 
 fluous to dwell on either of these propositions, w^ere 
 it not that in our own little corner of God's uni- 
 verse, filled with a set of God's creatures who style 
 themselves reasonable beings, there are yet many 
 who can find time to amass stores of human learn- 
 ing, time to perfect themselves in all the wisdom 
 of this world, but no time or inclination to ask, 
 "Where is God my Maker, who teacheth ^e more 
 than the beasts of the earth, and maketh me wiser 
 than the fowls of heaven?" However, let your 
 actions be what they may, I do suppose your under- 
 standings will hardly refuse their assent to the pro- 
 position that the knowledge of God, if we could 
 attain to it, would amply repay us for any labour 
 we might endure in the attainment. 
 
 Neither will you be disposed to contradict my 
 next assertion, that, whoever this glorious being 
 
64 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 may be, t^ world is in a state of great ignorance 
 and confusion respecting his nature and attributes, 
 and the kind of duty and worship that is due to 
 him from his creatures. A single glance at the 
 various and absurd religions of mankind may suf- 
 fice to convince us that God is not universally, nor 
 even generally, known upon the earth. Out of so 
 many different gods, only one can be the true God. 
 put of so many different religions, only one can be 
 the right religion. Perhaps you will say, all are 
 equally wrong. Such an opinion does but add to 
 the force of my proposition. Whoever God is, it 
 must be alike obvious both to Christians and in- 
 fidels that the world in general knows very little 
 about him. 
 
 If you agree with me in what I have said, — if 
 you admit that God is worth knowmg, and that he 
 is worth seeking, in an infinitely higher degree than 
 any thing else is worth knowing or seeking ; and if 
 you also perceive that mankind are in a state of 
 ignorance concerning him, — you will deeply feel the 
 importance of the inquiry I am about to propose. 
 How, amidst this variety of conflicting opinions, 
 shall I find out that which is right? Or, if all are 
 in error, where shall the truth be sought? What 
 possible means can I take to become acquainted 
 with God my Maker? 
 
 Does reason, does common sense, suggest no 
 answer to this inquiry? Do they not say, "Apply 
 for information to the only Being who is likely 
 to give it you. In plain terms, none can know 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 65 
 
 God SO well as lie knows himself. Therefore, ash 
 God''? 
 
 This method appears so obvious, so direct and 
 natural, that it is difficult to conceive how any one 
 can object to it, or hope to propose a better. Yet it 
 is this very method which infidels will neither them- 
 selves seriously try, nor permit others to try, if they 
 can help it. Let a man address himself in good 
 earnest to j^rayer, and they will immediately set 
 him down for a person of a weak and shallow 
 understanding, a mere superstitious driveller. Or, 
 if he be known to possess a powerful and command- 
 ing intellect, then they w'ill lament, with a sigh of 
 benevolent regret, that so great a man should be 
 deformed by so great a weakness. But if the pray- 
 ing person should carry his extravagance to such a 
 height as to persuade himself that God hears him 
 when he prays, and gives him what he asks for, by 
 what name will they designate such infatuation? 
 They waver between the terms hypocrite and mad- 
 man, or, perhaps, suspect that a combination of 
 these characters was needful to conduct a man to 
 such a climax of absurdity. And all this contempt 
 is excited because a reasonable being, actuate by a 
 reasonable desire to know the Author of his being, 
 and by a reasonable persuasion that none can teach 
 him what he w\ints to know so well as that Author, 
 avoids every indirect and circuitous method of ob- 
 taining the desired information, and applies at once 
 to God for the knowledge of God. 
 
 Why should it seem so unaccountable to pray to 
 
66 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 God? Why so absurd to expect an auswer to our 
 prayers? I could let you into the secret cause of 
 that mingled pity and disgust with which you 
 regard those who pray. But for the present I for- 
 bear. My object is to prove to you that their con- 
 duct is not quite so absurd as you imagine. To 
 apply to God himself for the knowledge of God is a 
 mode of proceeding perfectly just and rational. It 
 is so, whether you regard the existence of God as 
 certain, or merely admit it as possible. 
 
 For, in the first place, if there be a God, he must 
 be in full possession of the information you require. 
 He cannot but know himself. He cannot but know 
 himself better than any other being hioivs him. He, 
 therefore, who desires to know any thing about God, 
 and would apply to one most thoroughly informed 
 on the subject, must apj^ly to God. This is inquiring 
 at the fountain-head. All other plans, in com- 
 parison with this, appear indirect, far-fetched, and 
 unnatural. 
 
 2. It is, also, reasonable to suppose, that if there 
 be a God, he must be capable of hearing all that his 
 creatures say to him. Whether they address him 
 with their lips, or only in the secret of their hearts, 
 they cannot be addressing an unconscious God. A 
 God, and yet unconscious! The thing is impossible. 
 *'He who made the ear, shall he not hear?" He 
 who formed the heart, shall he not know what is 
 passing there? If we speak to God, the probability 
 of his hearing us is the same with the probability 
 of his existing at all. On the other hand, the argu- 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 67 
 
 ment, if you can find one, Avhich shall prove God 
 to be unconscious of any thing that we say or think, 
 will at once set aside the being of God altogether. 
 *rhere is no God ; or, God knows all that is in my 
 heart. One of these two propositions must be true. 
 However degraded and unworthy notions you may 
 entertain of the Supreme Being, you cannot, in 
 these enlightened ages, imagine him to be ignorant 
 of what is going on in a world of his own making. 
 Should you, at any time, feel disposed to address 
 him, you will not surely be deterred by the fear 
 that he may be on a journey, and so out of reach 
 of your voice; or asleep, and, therefore, unable to 
 listen; or perplexed and encumbered with such a 
 multiplicity of affairs that he will be too busy to 
 attend. Despised Christianity has taught men to 
 discard these idle notions. If, then, there be any 
 absurdity in praying to God, it certainly cannot 
 arise out of the circumstance of God's being in- 
 capable of hearing. 
 
 3. It is sufficiently evident, that if God be able to 
 hear our petitions, he is also able to grant them, 
 if he please. He who made our understandings at 
 first must be capable of illuminating them. He 
 who gave us such capacities for knowing him must 
 be able to satisfy and fill up those capacities. We 
 have already admitted that he must be fully pos- 
 sessed of the information we require. What should 
 hinder him from conveying that information to us, 
 if such should be his will? Do you say that our 
 minds are incapable of being informed on so difli- 
 
68 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 cult a subject? You have no means of proving such 
 an assertion. If you had, it would be no way to 
 the 23urpose, unless you could also prove that God 
 cannot render them capable. Does it comport even* 
 with your own ideas of the Deity, to aiSirm that he 
 has expended the whole of his creative power upon 
 the mind of man, so that he really can do nothing 
 more to improve or enlarge it? As rational crea- 
 tures, we must be capable of knowing our Creator; 
 and God, as our Creator, must be able to convey to 
 our minds the knowledge of himself. 
 
 4. Again, we have every reason to believe that 
 as God is able, so he is willing, to grant oijr peti- 
 tions. You will, perhaps, tell me that it is pre- 
 sumptuous to imagine that a Being of such tran- 
 scendent greatness should stoop from his high ma- 
 jesty to meddle with the paltry concerns of men. 
 Now, I conceive that, since it was not inconsistent 
 with the dignity of God to make us at first, we are 
 warranted to conclude that it will by no means 
 derogate from his greatness to care about us when 
 we are made. It argues a kind of puerile incon- 
 sistency, rather than godlike majesty, to make 
 man, and then throw him aside without further 
 thought of what happens to him. But this objection 
 takes its rise from the narrowness of your own 
 understanding. Because you cannot attend to a 
 great many things at a time, you think God cannot. 
 Do not let comparisons of this nature mislead you. 
 Be assured that God's powers of attention cannot, 
 with any propriety, be measured by yours. His 
 
THE TEST OF TPwUTH. 69 
 
 mind can neither be oppressed by a variety, nor 
 encumbered by a multiplicity, of objects. Witness 
 this universe which he has created. Nor is his 
 .greatness of so fragile and perishable a nature that 
 it can receive any injury by stooping to the lowest 
 or meanest object. The little dignitaries of the 
 earth may fear to attend to little things, lest they 
 should appear incapable of what is great, or should 
 really neglect it; for they cannot attend to the one 
 without neglecting the other. It is not so with 
 God. Do you say that he will not stoop to mind 
 little things? Look around you. Behold what 
 minute attention he has bestowed upon thousands 
 of objects which to us appear small and insig- 
 nificant! See how curiously he has painted the 
 wings of the butterfly! How softly he has pen- 
 cilled the cups of the snowdrop! Let the little 
 daisy, which you carelessly tread under foot, declare 
 who shaped its many leaflets, who tipped them with 
 crimson, and placed in the midst a circle of gold. 
 Which of the birds has God forgotten to feed ? 
 Which of the insects, that dance in the sunbeam, 
 has he left unfinished for want of time, or because 
 of their insignificance? How has he descended 
 from his majesty to give lessons of wisdom to the 
 little ant and the bee! In the whole kingdom 
 of nature, we cannot perceive one instance of hasty 
 inattention or of supercilious dignity. God has 
 forgotten nothing. He has despised nothing. How 
 can we conceive, then, that he should forget or 
 despise us? Why should the prayers of his rational 
 
70 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 creatures alone escape his notice? Why should 
 their souls be too insignificant to attract his benevo- 
 lent attention? Besides, what should induce you 
 to suppose that a soul is a small or valueless thing 
 in the sight of God? Think you that he has laid 
 out so much wisdom upon making and informing a 
 thing of little ivorthf He has made us capable of 
 knowing him. This marks our value in his sight; 
 for nothing can be worthless that is capable of 
 knowing God. And it affords us a sufficient inti- 
 mation, that if we ask God for the knowledge of 
 which he has made us capable, he will be willing to 
 give it to us. We cannot be accused of offering an 
 unreasonable petition, when we desire only to know 
 Him who made us ; for without this knowledge we 
 might as well have been made, in all respects, like 
 the irrational creatures. 
 
 5. But not only are we justified in supposing that 
 God is willing to teach us, we have also every 
 reason to infer that he is more willing to instruct 
 those who pray than those who do not pray to him ; 
 to bestow his gifts upon those who appear desirous of 
 obtaining them, rather than upon those who set on 
 them no value whatever. For a creature not to seek 
 the knowledge of his Creator is a neglect which be- 
 speaks him to be sunk in the most besotted stu- 
 pidity and the vilest ingratitude. To revel in the 
 gifts, and forget the Giver, or to remember him 
 with indiflTerence; to thirst after earthly wisdom, 
 and yet to have no ardent aspirations after Him 
 who is the fountain of true wisdom, argues such 
 
TUE TEST OF TRUTH. 71 
 
 gross perverseness and inconsistency that we cannot 
 much wonder if God should leave those who are 
 guilty of it to grope in their own beloved ignorance. 
 But U) pretend that we aspire to know God, and yet 
 to neglect even the effort of asking him to teach us, 
 this Ls indeed to add to all our other crimes that 
 barefaced hypocrisy which can scarcely impose upon 
 men, and openly insults God. Little as we know 
 of this infinite Being, the secret instinct, which 
 himself has planted in our hearts, may teach us 
 that he will not probably bestow his most precious 
 gifts without some expression of desire on our parts. 
 He may reasonably expect that we should not show 
 ourselves quite insensible to our need of this divine 
 teaching, and may justly conclude that what we do 
 not choose to solicit we do not desire to obtain. 
 
 But I think I hear you reply, "Shall I offer such 
 an insult to the omniscience of God as to imagine 
 that he needs to be informed of my wants?" Who 
 requires you to entertain so absurd a supposition? 
 We do not tell you that prayer is necessary for 
 God's information, but for your relief. He may 
 know all your wants, and yet require that you 
 should have a sense of them, and should express 
 that sense to him, before he will grant you a supply. 
 He may know that prayer, as the means of soften- 
 ing, humbling, and purifying your hearts, is not 
 the least pressing of your necessities. He who has 
 made you capable of receiving consolation by pour- 
 ing out your troubles into the bosom of a friend, 
 may be willing that you should enjoy the infinitely 
 
72 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 superior relief of coDfiding your wants and sorrows 
 to the ear of his mercy. None of these suppositions 
 are impossible or improbable, even upon your own 
 notions of the Deity. Inasmuch as you believe 
 that God is a distinguished and a benevolent Being, 
 they are far more probable than the contrary sup- 
 position. 
 
 You reason more justly on points which aifect 
 your temporal interests. You do not refuse to 
 plough and sow, to plant and water, because God 
 already knows that you want the fruits of the earth, 
 and ought, therefore, to give them to you without 
 your wearisome toil. You care not to spend many 
 an anxious hour in the acquisition of useful know- 
 ledge, because God knows that it would be very 
 useful to you, and. is, therefore,, bound to instil it 
 into your mind without your pains. No ; in these 
 things your worldly interest or pleasure is con- 
 cerned. You have a real desire for them. And 
 therefore, instead of sitting down to philosophize on 
 the part that God ought to take on the occasion, 
 you immediately set yourself to do what you can, 
 and employ, without hesitation, whatever means 
 seem best suited to your purpose. 
 
 Prayer seems to be the only direct and rational 
 means of obtaining the knowledge of God. For 
 there is no other being in the universe to whom we 
 can apply with such certainty of not being misled. 
 Yet truly you will not pray to God, because he 
 needs none of your information. Let me tell you, 
 that if you really long to acquaint yourself with 
 
THE Ti:ST OF TRUTH. 73 
 
 God, the sense of your need would wring from you 
 the most earnest supplications, nor would you be at 
 leisure to consider whether or no you were convey- 
 ing to- him a piece of superfluous information. The 
 heart that is touched with a desire to know God will 
 be lifting itself up in prayer, while others are rea- 
 soning upon the propriety of so doing. 
 
 Again: I would remind you that although God 
 is not ignorant how much we need to be rightly 
 informed about him, yet the state of the world 
 affords sufficient proof that he has not in all cases 
 relieved this necessity. So that his perfect know- 
 ledge of our wants does not, as an inevitable con- 
 sequence and without any application on our parts, 
 produce the relief of our wants. Besides, you have 
 already waited some twenty, thirty, forty years. 
 All this time God has been aware of your need of 
 instruction. Yet you are still in a state of doubt 
 and ignorance. Surely you have waited long 
 enough to see whether God will grant a spon- 
 taneous relief to your necessities. It is now high 
 time to employ means for the attainment of your 
 wish. And since prayer has been shown to be the 
 most likely and natural means, let me advise you 
 at once to try what prayer can do for you. At all 
 events, you will not then have to reproach yourself 
 with having lost the best blessing in the universe 
 for want of asking. 
 
 6. But, lastly, whatever be the result of your 
 prayers, they certaiiily cannot leave you in a worse 
 condition than before. For, supposing even that 
 7 
 
74 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 God should refuse to grant your petition, it is of all 
 things the most unlikely and inconceivable that he 
 should take a malignant pleasure in thwarting your 
 desires, by giving you the very contrary of what 
 you ask. Should "he refuse to give you knowledge, 
 he will not at least visit you wuth an increase of 
 ignorance and delusion. The argument with which 
 Jesus Christ urges this subject, if not divinely 
 uttered, is, to say the least of it, the most wise, 
 api^ropriate, and convincing that ever fell from the 
 lips of man or angel : — 
 
 "TjT a S071 shall ask bread of any of you that is a 
 father, will he give him a stone f or if he ask a fish, 
 will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall 
 ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion f If ye 
 
 THEN, BEING EVIL, KNOW HOW TO GIVE GOOD GIFTS 
 UNTO YOUR CHILDREN, HOW MUCH MORE SHALL 
 Y^OUR HEAVENLY FATHER GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 TO THEM THAT ASK HIM?"^ 
 
 The simple majesty of this appeal must find its 
 way to every bosom. It must be felt by all whose 
 hearts have throbbed with a parent's love or whose 
 wants have been supplied by a parent's bounty. It 
 applies to the ideas which the Deist entertains of 
 God, as well as to those w^hich are cherished by the 
 follower of Jesus. According to your own notions 
 (if notions you may be said to have, where all is so 
 vague and indistinct), you reject with abhorrence 
 the idea that the God wdio made and who pre- 
 serves you is an Unnatural Father, who with wanton 
 1 Luke xi. n-13. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 75 
 
 cruelty would thwart the noblest aim and cast 
 down the most reasonable hope of his own offspring. 
 Such a character of God is not to be found in the 
 wildest ravings of impiety. Could any one believe 
 this of God, despair would soon jirey upon his ex- 
 istence. Yet this principle you indirectly maintain, 
 this solemn insult you offer to the character of God, 
 when you assert that habits of prayer lead to enthu- 
 siasm. Not only so, but you outrage the common 
 sense and common feeling of mankind, which de- 
 clare, as by an instinct implanted by the Giver of 
 life himself, that a father cannot turn the petition 
 of his child into derision. But you say that the 
 great, the original Father can and does act thus in 
 opposition to his own universal law. You say that 
 when his children ask bread he mocks them with 
 a stone; when they implore food he offers them 
 naught but the scorpion's venom. When a man, 
 deeply impressed with a sense of his ignorance, asks 
 of God the knowledge of his holy will, no sooner 
 does he betake himself to this way of gaining in- 
 formation than you cry out that he is possessed 
 with the spirit of delusion and enthusiasm. The 
 more earnestly and frequently he entreats God to 
 give him light and truth, the more deluded you think 
 him; that is {for it will bearno other interpretation), 
 you think that God derides the requests of his crea- 
 tures, and forces them deeper into the maze of igno- 
 rance and error, for no other cause but because 
 they have stretched out their hands to him to ex- 
 tricate them. Ye who profess to make reason your 
 
76 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 guide, tell me, was it reason that led you to this con- 
 clusion? Where will you find in the Bible any mode 
 of arguing half so absurd as this is? 
 
 A brief recapitulation of the above observations 
 may not be unnecessary. We have remarked that 
 God must be in full possession of the information 
 we require; that he must be able to hear us when 
 we pray to him, — able to give us what we ask; that 
 we have great reason to infer that he is willing to 
 hear and teach us, — ?}iore willing to teach those who 
 ash him than those who do not ask him ; and, lastly, 
 that, be the result of our application what it may, it 
 cannot leave us in a worse state than we were in 
 before. From all these things I infer that to seek 
 the knowledge of God by prayer is no absurd or 
 irrational mode of procedure : nay, more ; that tlii3 
 expediency of prayer is in the same ratio with the 
 probability of God's existence. Or, to accommodate 
 myself to the lowest degree of belief, the very 
 slightest possibility that there is a God, affords an 
 equal possibility that he may instruct us in answer to 
 our prayers, and, therefore, renders the act of prayer 
 reasonable and expedient. The saying of Jesus 
 Christ, "Ask, and it shall be given you," — " God 
 will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him,"^ 
 — is not only the voice of the Bible, but the voice 
 of reason, the voice of nature, and, therefore, the 
 voice of God. 
 
 But we have hitherto considered this saying only 
 in itself. I propose, secondly, to consider it in con- 
 i Luke xi. 9, 13. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 77 
 
 nection "with the book in Avhich it is written, and to 
 propose it as a fair and sufficient test of the truth or 
 falsehood of that book. 
 
 It appears, from the common confession of Chris- 
 tians and infidels, that the world is, to say the least, 
 not very well furnished with the knowledge of its 
 Maker. Nothing, therefore, which offers the smallest 
 hope of obtaining light upon this momentous subject, 
 ought to be passed over without inquiry. A book 
 has been handed down to us, professing to be a reve- 
 lation from God to man, and offering him all the 
 knowledge of which he stands in need. This book 
 is by some blindly embraced for the very same reason 
 that would have induced them, under other circum- 
 stances, to have adopted the Alcoran, the Shaster, 
 or the Zendavesta. Others profess to receive it 
 upon rational grounds of conviction, and to hold 
 actual communication with the Deity who is re- 
 vealed in its sacred message. A third party reject 
 the book altogether, and cast it from them with 
 every mark of contempt. With these last I would 
 now speak. Do not reject even the Bible till you 
 have put its truth or falsehood fairly to the test. 
 But you say, "How are we to try it? All the evi- 
 dence we meet with appears to us insufficient. We 
 refuse to give credit to the writings of the apos- 
 tles. We never saw the miracles they relate; they 
 are not, therefore, calculated for our- conviction. 
 Such things are contrary to our experience, shock 
 our common sense, and we wTite ' imposture' upon 
 them all. As for the revelation they prefond to 
 7* 
 
78 THE TEST OF TKUTH. 
 
 have received from God, that revelation never came 
 to us. We are in no respect benefited by it. If 
 God will have us to believe as they did, he must 
 reveal himself to us as he did to them. We cannot 
 receive the thing at second-hand. When the God 
 of the Scriptures shall favour us by revealing him- 
 self to us, — when he shall afford us some infalli- 
 ble test whereby we may prove that his word is 
 true, — then we will open our minds to conviction. 
 But till then we must retain our doubts upon the 
 subject." 
 
 Such is the reasoning we repeatedly hear from 
 the lips of infidels. I will not now stop to admire 
 the happy self-complacency with which you boldly 
 pronounce a thing to be impossible, because it has 
 never happened within the little span of your expe- 
 rience, and unreasonable, because it surpasses the 
 narrow bounds of your understanding. Neither 
 will I pause to extol the spirit with which, as a 
 creature, you think proper to dictate to your 
 Creator. Waiving all consideration of the terms 
 in which you express yourself, I admit the general 
 truth of your proposition. I am persuaded that 
 you never Avill believe the Scriptures till God him- 
 self "opens your understanding to understand the 
 ScrijDtures." And I tell you that these same Scrip- 
 tures contain an abundant provision against the 
 difficulties you have raised. They offer you ample 
 means of proving, by your own personal experience, 
 whether they be true or false. That immediate reve- 
 lation ivhich you profess to desire, is actually promised 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 79 
 
 to you, npo7i the simple condition of your aahing for it. 
 '^Ask, and it shall be given you."^ 
 
 What is the gift here promised ? It is no other 
 than "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, who 
 shall guide you into all truth." "For every one 
 that asketh receiveth; and he that^seeketh findeth; 
 and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. For 
 if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto 
 your children, hoiv much more shall your heavenly 
 Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask himf 
 
 Take Jesus Christ at his word. The experi- 
 ment is at once simple and decisive. Should it fail, 
 you will then have some reason to reject the Bible. 
 Truth, immutable truth, is one of the attributes 
 which reason and Scripture concur in ascribing to 
 God. We cannot form to ourselves the conception 
 of a God who can lie. To divest God of his attri- 
 bute of truth is to strip him of his Godhead, to 
 l)ring him down to a level with ourselves. The 
 Bible makes this a grand distinction between God 
 and man: — "God is not a man, that he should lie." 
 "ITe is ever mindful of his covenant;" but they, like 
 men, " have transgressed the covenant." ^ 
 
 Here, then, the question is brought within a very 
 narrow compass. If the Creator of the universe be 
 the same God who is revealed in the Scriptures, he 
 cannot but honour his own word of promise. He 
 has pledged himself; he cannot hut redeem his pledge. 
 
 ^ See the author's interesting and satisfactory application of 
 this Test to her own case, pp. 124-127. 
 
 2 Numb, xxiii. 19: Psalm cxi. 5; Joshua vli. 11. 
 
80 THE TEST of" TRUTH. 
 
 Every attribute of the Deity binds liim to the per- 
 formance of his promise. His name — his great and 
 terrible name — is dishonoured forever in the sight of 
 men and angels if he fail to fulfil this word which 
 is past and cannot be recalled, — " God will give his 
 Holy Spirit to them that ask him." Such is the 
 Scripture account. If it be false, you have an easy 
 way to detect its falsehood; if true, it is in your 
 power to convince yourself of its truth. Put to the 
 test this bold assertion. Ask your heavenly Father 
 to give you his Holy Spirit. If your prayer be 
 granted, the Bible, with all its rich proffers of present 
 peace and eternal happiness, wall become your j)or- 
 tion and reward forever. If, on the contrary, your 
 ardent, persevering prayers should bring down no 
 supplies of light and knowledge from above, then 
 you may not only with great justice pronounce the 
 Bible to be an impudent imposture, but you will 
 be justified in doubting whether there be any God 
 at all. 
 
 I would press this upon you, because no external 
 evidence, however satisfactory, is of itself sufficient 
 to produce conviction. The proof must be written 
 by the finger of God upon your heart. It must be 
 the result of your own actual and personal ex- 
 perience. " No man can say" from the heart " that 
 Jesus is the Lord,- ^16^ hy the Holy Ghost" If you 
 believe in Jesus, it must be because God has re- 
 vealed Jesus in your soul. This revelation is 
 promised by God to all that ask him. Upon 
 slighter grounds you ought not to believe such 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 81 
 
 momentous truths. With less than this you ought 
 not to be satisfied. Permit me, before I quit this 
 subject, to urge you, by a few unanswerable argu- 
 ments, to put tlie Bible to this test. The task miglit 
 almost appear superfluous ; but the perverseness of 
 the human heart is beyond conception, and requires 
 to be combated where it would be least suspected 
 of resistance. 
 
 First, then, I would remark to you that there is 
 sojnething in this saying" which stamps on it an air 
 of conscious honesty and veracity. An artful person 
 would hardly have committed himself so grossly. 
 A liar would have hesitated to expose himself to 
 such immediate detection. An impostor would not 
 willingly have courted such close examination. 
 Those who forge the current coin of the realm are 
 the least likely to furnish us with a method of dis- 
 tinguishing the counterfeit. If I wished to palm 
 upon you a fictitious account of any person, that 
 person himself would surely be the last to whom I 
 should choose to refer you for the truth of my ac- 
 count. Still more absurd would such a reference 
 be if I knew that it was in the power of the said 
 person instantly to detect and expose my falsehood. 
 But the Bible gives you an account of God, and 
 then refers you to God himself for the confirmation 
 of that account. Nor is this one of those ranting, 
 contemptible appeals to the Deity with which men 
 will sometimes seek to cloak their falsehood or to 
 vent their enthusiasm. It is a calm, sober, delibe- 
 rate assurance, founded on the benevolence and 
 
82 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 ■wisdom of the Divine Being. Foreseeing all the 
 doubts and difficulties which would obstruct the 
 reception of his gospel, Jesus himself vouchsafes to 
 point out a ready way of arriving at the truth. He 
 founds his arguments on the strongest and most uni- 
 versal principles of natural religion. Would you 
 know whether he is indeed a teacher sent from God? 
 He refers you to God himself for an answer. He 
 declares to you that you cannot believe him to be 
 the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. At the same time, 
 he solemnly promises that this Holy Spirit shall be given 
 to you upon your asking. 
 
 Try, now, whether he is able to keep his promise 
 or no. Whoever God is, he will not refuse to in- 
 struct you at your request. Or, should he refuse, he 
 will not at least lend himself to delude and ensnare 
 you. Jesus tells you that his doctrine is the bread 
 of life. Should it, on the contrary, prove to be 
 nothing better than a stone or scorpion, be assured 
 that your heavenly Father will not force it upon 
 you, when you ask him for bread. 
 
 The next remark I would offer for your considera- 
 tion is, that, however secure you may think your- 
 self in your rejection of Christianity, it is possible 
 you may be mistaken. I say, it is possible that you 
 may, after all, be in the wrong. Not all your security 
 can reach so far as to preclude this possibility; and 
 what an eternity of despair does it involve! Your 
 judgment is not infallible. If you think you have 
 no proof that the Scriptures are divinely inspired, 
 you know assuredly that you have no proof to the 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 83 
 
 contrary. A mi.stake here is no trifling matter. 
 You had bettor play the fool on any other subject 
 than on thi-s; for should things turn out contrary 
 to your expectations, you will bitterly curse your 
 own folly. The idiot, the madman, may sport with 
 this tremendous uncertainty. But the wise man 
 will consider every possible contingency. I repeat, 
 that it is possible your contempt of the Bible may 
 be unfounded. Place this as far off as you are able, 
 still you cannot deny that it is posHihle. 
 
 Reflect now, I beseech you, on another possibility, 
 which hangs on the one I have just mentioned. It 
 in POSSIBLE that you may one day stand before the 
 jvdfjinent-seat of Christ. Should such an event take 
 place, what excuse will you offer for having rejected 
 the gospel, when Jesus himself pointed out to you 
 so simple and unfailing a test of its truth? Will 
 you not stand condemned even in your own eyes? 
 Will not conscience upbraid you with the incredible 
 infatuation with which you refused to give the word 
 of God a fair trial? Say, will not your rejection 
 of the test I now oflfer you, if — which God forbid I 
 — you do reject it, will not this be a dreadful aggra- 
 vation of your crime ? You cannot plead ignorance, 
 when knowledge was offered you at so easy a rate. 
 You cannot plead uncertainty, when so ready a way 
 of solving every doubt was pointed out to you by 
 Him who will then be your Judge. You might have 
 asked and received. You might have sought and 
 found. Then will you justly be left to ask and to 
 Beek in vain. Now Christ says, "Ask, and it shall 
 
84 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 be given unto you." Reject his offer, and this very 
 word which he has spoken to you shall judge you 
 in that day. 
 
 Not only will you then appear without excuse 
 before God, but, whether the Bible be true or false, 
 if you refuse to try it by this criterion you are 7iow 
 without excuse before men and your own conscience. 
 Such a refusal speaks for itself. It says, " I love 
 darkness rather than light ; I will not come to the 
 light, lest my deeds should be reproved."^ It "says 
 to the Almighty, 'Depart from me; for I desire not 
 the knowledge of thy ways.'"^ Such conduct is 
 not founded in reason; for reason forbids us to con- 
 demn what we have not tried. It is not supported 
 hy philosojjJiy ; for it is A er character to use every 
 possible means for the discovery of truth and the 
 detection of error. It is not consistent with honesty; 
 for what can be more dishonest than to plead the 
 absence of sufficient proof as a reason for not be- 
 lieving, and' yet, when that proof is offered, to 
 decline taking the necessary steps for its attain- 
 ment! It is easy to perceive the secret spring of a 
 refusal, which is equally incompatible with the dic- 
 tates of reason, philosophy, and honesty. You do 
 not ivish to have your prejudices removed. You 
 would rather not know any thing about Him that 
 made you. Self is your idol; and how can you 
 desire to become acquainted with One whose presence 
 in your soul would destroy all self-pleasing and self- 
 exaltation forever? 
 
 1 See John iii. 19, 20. 2 See Job xxi. 14. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 85 
 
 However, we have a right to expect that, if you 
 will not make trial of the truth of Christ's word, 
 you will at once confess that all your boasted can- 
 dour and philosophy were mere pretences, held forth 
 to conceal the foul reality of your enmity against 
 God. Till you have tried this test, the terms fana- 
 ticism and delusion may with far greater reason be 
 used to designate your rejection, than our belief, of 
 Christianity. 
 
 Again, supposing the Bible to be false, you lose 
 nothing by having brought it to this touchstone. 
 The trial, if it should fail, will but leave you just 
 as you were before. Nay, it will be so far an ad- 
 vantage, that you will have the pleasure of detect- 
 ing a barefaced fraud, and will be effectually freed 
 from those secret misgivings which you cannot now 
 altogether exclude. 
 
 On the other hand, if the Scriptures be true, lioiv 
 immensely will you gain by the experiment! Instead 
 of a few vague, ill-defined notions of God, you will 
 be able to say, "I knoiu in whom I luive believed;" 
 " this God is my God for ever and ever ;" ^ your 
 short-lived snatches of unholy mirth will be ex- 
 changed for " a joy with which no stranger iuter- 
 meddleth;"^ your cold and sullen fortitude, for a 
 peace which the world can ne'ther give nor take 
 away; your comfortless prospect of annihilation, for 
 a hope full of immortality. 
 
 T^ last consideration I shall urge upon you is, 
 that this is the only fair test by ivhich the Bible can 
 
 I 2 Tim. i. 12; Psalm xlviii. 14. 2 pj-ov. xiv. 14. 
 
 8 
 
86 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 be tried. For if you refuse to be guided by this 
 criterion there is but one other to which you can 
 possibly recur. You may, if you please, bring the 
 Scriptures to the bar of human reason, and reject 
 them, because you find many things you do not 
 comprehend, and many that you do not approve. 
 But these grounds of rejection are insufficient. 
 
 For, in the first place, if the Bible be true, its 
 author is God. Now, there is between your mind 
 and the mind of God an inconceivable distance. 
 It is extremely probable that many things may 
 appear to his infinitely comprehensive understand- 
 ing in a light totally different from that in which 
 they are viewed by your narrow and limited reason. 
 To use the words of the Bible itself, it is possible 
 that " God's ways may not be as your ways, nor his 
 thoughts as your thoughts."^ If, then, his book 
 should turn out to be somewhat difierent from the 
 Bible you would have written, I really do not see 
 that this is a sufficient reason for rejecting it. Con- 
 sider the vast diflference of ideas which inequality 
 of intellect creates between two beings of the same 
 nature, — a child and a man. Set before a little 
 child the Elements of Euclid or the Principia of 
 Newton. Will they not be foolishness to him? Or, 
 present him with the last debates in the houses of 
 Parliament, and request his opinion upon the dis- 
 puted point, — the justness of the arguments in its 
 favour, or the force of those that were opposed*to it. 
 Is he cap.able of forming a correct estimate of these 
 
 1 Isaiah Iv. 8. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 87 
 
 tliiugs? But tliey ave matters that do not imme- 
 diately concern him. Well, then, let me propose 
 that you acquaint him with the plans you may have 
 formed for his education and fortune; the studies 
 he will have to pursue, with their different degrees 
 of usefulness; the snares that will be laid for his 
 youth, and the anxieties that await his manhood. 
 When you have finished your statement, let the 
 young reasoner be called upon to give his ideas on 
 the subject, and point out how far your remarks 
 meet with his approval. All this appears very 
 absurd to you. But it is without comparison more 
 absurd to fancy yourself cajDable of judging of the 
 authenticity of God's word by its agreement or dis- 
 agreement with your own most imperfect notions. 
 
 Notwithstanding the child's incapacity of judg- 
 ment, he is, in one respect, a better reasoner than 
 yourself. Strange and unaccountable as your senti- 
 ments must sometimes appear to him, he does not 
 therefore reject them as absurd or untrue. He 
 knows that it is owing to the imperfection of his own 
 mind that things appear so differently to him from 
 what they do to you. This feeling sense of his own 
 inferiority is his best preservative from error. But 
 you cannot bring yourself to confess that the judg- 
 ment of God may often differ exceedingly from 
 your judgment, nay, that they may be directly con- 
 trary the one to the other. You cannot condescend 
 to be inferior to God, and to learn of God, — sub- 
 mitting your mind to his as a little child submits 
 his mind to the mind of his father. 
 
88 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 Yet between the understanding of the child and 
 the man there is no such great difference. It is 
 but the distance between finite and finite, between 
 worm and worm. Between man and God, between 
 finite and infinite, between the mind that thinks 
 and the mind that creates thought, who shall cal- 
 culate the difierence? It is immeasurable, incom- 
 prehensible. Imagination would grasp at the idea, 
 but it is too mighty for her. We can but express it 
 by another incommensurable distance: — "surely as 
 the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God's 
 thoughts higher than our thoughts, and his ways 
 than our ways."^ Poor, pitiful, narrow-minded 
 creatures that we are! If God does but give to 
 one of our fellow-creatures a mind a few degrees 
 larger than our own, we can scarcely judge of or 
 appreciate that mind, by reason of our own mean 
 and short'-sighted prejudices. Yet we presume to 
 think of measuring the Infinite, — of comprehend- 
 ing the incomprehensible mind of God ! We bring 
 the Omniscient down to the bar of human judg- 
 ment, and insist upon his expressing himself ac- 
 cording to our petty and varying notions of pro- 
 priety ! 
 
 It is not, then, any argument against a book said 
 to be written by God, if it should contain many 
 things above, and some apparently contrary to, the 
 reason of man. For we are infinitely less capable 
 of judging of what ought or ought not to be the 
 mind of God than an infant is to decide upon the 
 
 ^ See Isaiah Iv. 9. 
 
THE Tj:;vr OF TUUTii. 89 
 
 thoughts and counsels of the most eminent states- 
 man or philosopher. 
 
 But you will perhaps reply, that, supposing you 
 had written a book expressly for the use of your 
 child, you would have taken care to accommodate 
 it to his capacity; and that it is reasonable in like 
 manner to infer that, if God had w'ritten a book 
 expressly for our use, he would have stooped to 
 the narrowness of our understandings. I admit 
 the justice of your inference. But permit me to 
 make another supposition. Put the case that you 
 had written a book for your child's use, and that 
 you were to warn him beforehand that he would 
 find many things too difficult for his unassisted 
 comprehension; which things, if he would ask you, 
 you would render 2^erfectly intelligible to him. 
 Would the child then have reason to complain 
 that the meaning of the book was obscure to him? 
 Surely not. Now, this is what the Bible assures 
 you that God has done. He has written a book for 
 the use of men, which, by reason of their imperfect 
 and incorrect views, they cannot of themselves 
 understand. He has told them that if they will 
 ask of him he will make it plain and intelligible to 
 them. Whether this account be true or false can 
 only be ascertained by making the experiment. It 
 seems at least worth trying. 
 
 But, again, we have two books besides, which 
 we know can have no other author than God, — 
 the book of Creation and the book of Providence. 
 Do these contain nothing difficult to be under- 
 
 8* 
 
90 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 stood, nothing that we cannot easily reconcile with 
 our ideas ? Rather, do we not meet with obscurities 
 and apparent contradictions in every page ? 
 
 Is not the book of JSTature incomprehensible? 
 How unaccountable to our ideas that the burying 
 of a dry, diminutive seed should be followed by its 
 resurrection in the shape of a lovely flower or a 
 stately tree! How strange, that one day should 
 behold the lifeless caterpillar wrapped in a winding- 
 sheet of its own making, and the next should pre- 
 sent it to us winged with life and beauty, the gayest 
 of the fluttering creation! There is not in the 
 whole book of Nature a single line that is legible 
 to us from beginning to end. We can read enough 
 to wonder and adore, but not enough to understand. 
 
 And as for the book of Providence, are not its 
 contents still more dark and mysterious? Does it 
 not contain ten thousand articles which to our 
 weak judgment appear absolutely inconsistent and 
 contradictory? How often are the righteous visited 
 with one aflliction after another, while the wicked 
 are not in trouble as other men ! " They are full 
 of substance, and leave the rest of their treasure to 
 their babes;" but the righteous are poor and op- 
 pressed. These are some of the seeming incon- 
 gruities of the book of Providence. They are by 
 no means the most remarkable. To us it often ap- 
 pears a string of paradoxes. 
 
 If, now, a third book be ofiered to us, even the 
 Bible, professing also to be from God, shall we deny 
 that it is genuine merely because it is marked by 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 91 
 
 the very same peculiarities of style which dirftin- 
 guished the other works of the same Author? 
 Surely this remarkable coincidence of style is any 
 thing rather than an objection to its authenticity. 
 
 When you object to the Bible on the ground of 
 its being opposed to your reason, we have yet an- 
 other cause to doubt whether reason is at all to be 
 relied on in the matter. For if you look round 
 upon all the kingdoms of the earth, and observe 
 the absurd, degrading notions which men entertain 
 of the Deity, you will perceive that the human 
 mind is little capable of forming sublime or even 
 reasonable notions concerning him. As you too 
 profess to be guided by unassisted reason, you can 
 scarcely be sure that your ideas of God may not be 
 just as remote from the truth as those of the igno- 
 rant savage who says to a stone, "Thou art my 
 God." You will tell me that you have the superior 
 advantages of an enlightened philosoj)hy and a 
 cultivated intellect. I fear this argument will not 
 stand you in much stead. For what were those 
 gods who, in the opinion of the enlightened and 
 cultivated nations of Greece and Rome, " in high 
 Olympus ruled the middle air"? They were a set 
 of mere men, — loose and unprincipled men, — with 
 rather more than human power, and less than human 
 virtue. These enlightened and philosophical nations 
 conceived " that God was altogether such an one as 
 themselves." If your ideas are more rational than 
 theirs, it is not because you are naturally better 
 informed than they were, but because some of your 
 
92 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 notions have been refined from the grossne&s of their 
 sensuality by that despised system of theology, the 
 Bible. Their example may warn you how little 
 reason can avail us in searching after the Almighty. 
 A few of the wisest of them perceived that they 
 were wrong, but confessed that all their philosophy 
 was insufficient to find out what was right. With 
 these the Maker of the universe, if not Jupiter or 
 Saturn, was still "the unknown God." Yet they 
 had the same reason to guide them, the same helps 
 (unless you will acknowledge the Bible to be a 
 help), that you have in the present day. Can you 
 tell us why you should hope to succeed where they 
 so egregiously failed? Reason, in the case of every 
 nation in the world, has proved a blind guide : can 
 you tell us how it comes to pass that she should, in 
 your individual case, prove so wonderfully clear- 
 sighted? May not the ideas of God which reason 
 has taught you be just as wide of the truth as her 
 suggestions to the heathen nations whom she per- 
 suaded to " change the glory of the incorruptible 
 God into an image made like unto corruptible man, 
 and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping 
 things"?^ And if you cannot be sure of the cor- 
 rectness of your notions, is it safe to reject the 
 Bible, merely because it does not coincide with 
 those notions? 
 
 Once more : if you repeat that you cannot believe 
 the Bible, because its contents appear absurd and 
 contradictory to you, we reply, that this is no more 
 ^ See Eomans i. 23. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 93 
 
 than the Bible itself has foretold. " The natural 
 man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; 
 for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he 
 know them, because they are sj^iritually discerned." ^ 
 Let me again put the case home to your own ex- 
 perience. Suppose you had written a treatise on 
 some particular subject, and had distinctly and re- 
 peatedly declared that, to a certain description of 
 readers destitute of a certain degree of information, 
 your book must, from the very nature of the thing, 
 be incomprehensible, and even wear an appearance 
 of glaring absurdity. Would you not think your- 
 self unfairly dealt by, if your performance were to 
 fall into contempt because those very persons whom 
 you had declared incompetent to judge were to 
 assure the world that they had read it and found it 
 both obscure and ridiculous? But let ns further 
 suppose that you had not only forewarned these 
 people of the incapacity they laboured under, but 
 had also pointed out a method by which they might 
 acquire sufficient knowledge to enter into the mean- 
 ing of your work and to estimate it at its real 
 value. Would you not accuse them of tenfold dis- 
 ingenuousness in decrying your production, without 
 giving themselves the trouble of examining it by 
 the method you had proposed? 
 
 This disingenuous, this unphilosophical, proceed- 
 ing is the very counterpart of your own conduct 
 with regard to that book,, upon which, for any thing 
 you have yet proved to the contrary, your eternal 
 
 1 See I Corinthians ii. 14. 
 
94 . THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 happiness or misery may depend. The Scriptures 
 offer themselves to you as the word of God. They 
 assure you that sin has so blinded and depraved 
 your reason that you are incapable of affixing a 
 just meaning, or a true value, to their sacred con- 
 tents, until that reason is informed and enlightened 
 by the Spirit of God. They instruct you how to 
 obtain this divine illumination : — "Ask, and it shall 
 be given you." 
 
 Now, let us observe your mode of proceeding. 
 You set about judging the Bible by that very 
 faculty which the Bible has declared to be in- 
 capable of judging correctly. This you do in the 
 face of the united testimony of every age and 
 nation to the utter incapacity of reason as a guide 
 to religion. You not only neglect, but absolutely 
 despise, the offer which the Bible makes you of 
 divine teaching, though common sense, common 
 feeling, and experience concur in proclaiming its 
 necessity. And then, v^'itli consummate assurance, 
 you step forward and inform the world that you 
 have fairly examined the Bible, and proved it to 
 be a mere " cunningly-devised fable." Is this fair 
 and open? Is it just and reasonable? Is it wise 
 and judicious? 
 
 It appears, then, from the vast difference which 
 must be supposed to exist between our minds and 
 the mind of God, — from the analogies that we may 
 gather from his Creation aijd Providence, — from the 
 confusion and ignorance of the whole world respect- 
 ing him, and from the account which the Bible 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 95 
 
 gives of its own nature and purpose, that the un- 
 assisted reason is not capable of deciding upon its 
 truth or falsehood. The criterion is absolutely un- 
 fair and inapplicable, alike condemned by common 
 sense and common honesty. A deaf man is no 
 very accurate judge of sounds, nor is a blind man 
 adapted to decide upon the merits of a picture. 
 Even so is human reason utterly incapable of dis- 
 cernin.g the beauty and glory of the sacred page, 
 until the same Almighty Power which created that 
 reason is pleased to shine into and enlighten it. 
 Now, if there is the smallest hope that so great a 
 blessing may be had for the askirig, what madness 
 and perverseness will it argue on our parts to decline 
 making the attempt! 
 
 That I may preclude every possibility of misap- 
 prehension, let me add a very few words as to the 
 nature of this asking, or prayer, and the answer 
 which may be expected to it. 
 
 And, first, as to the nature of prayer. I need 
 hardly tell you that it nnist be sincere. No promise 
 is made to the mere asking of the lips. You may 
 thus ask wisdom of God, and, when he makes you 
 no answer, you may triumphantly declare that the 
 Scripture promise is broken. This may pass current 
 with your fellow-men. But it will neither deceive 
 yourself nor God. Conscience will bear Avitness that 
 you have not reaihj prayed. The Searcher of hearts 
 is insulted by such lip-,petitions. To grant them 
 would be to part with his omniscience. 
 
 Nor is it enough that the desire after knowledge 
 
96 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 be sincere. It must also be fervent. Indeed, it is 
 difficult to imagine the one Avitliout the other. For 
 if we desire a thing in proportion to its value, then 
 by how much the knowledge of God is better than 
 any earthly knowledge, by so' much ought the fer- 
 vency with which we long for it to exceed the fer- 
 vency of our desires after any earthly object. The 
 soul that is really thirsting after her Maker, her 
 God, the proper centre of her desires and hopes, will 
 thirst after him with a degree of ardour and fixed- 
 ness of which no earthly longing can convey an 
 adequate idea. The hungry man, fainting for want 
 of food, — the thirsty traveller, languishing for water, 
 — these are but poor and inexpressive emblems of the 
 soul that is hungering and thirsting after God. To 
 desire God coldly, and other objects with eagerness, 
 is such an inversion of the right order of things, 
 it is so immensely to undervalue the only thing 
 which cannot be prized too highly, that we can 
 hardly without arrogance expect that God will con- 
 descend to such faint desires, or fulfil such luke- 
 warm petitions. I believe that the faintest wish, if 
 siiicere, will not pass unnoticed by Him who " de- 
 spiseth not the day of small things." But if our 
 longings after such an unspeakable good be not 
 intensely excited, we have every reason to question 
 their sincerity. To desire God without intenseness 
 seems more inconsistent than not to desire him at 
 all. We may desire a trifle faintly; for our wish 
 is in proportion to its value. But to desire the 
 living God, the Original of all wisdom, excellence, 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. \) i 
 
 beauty, glory, and felicity, and yet not to^burn and 
 throb with uncontrollable longings of the soul after 
 Him, this is an anomaly which can only be met with 
 in a guilty and fallen world, and it proves at how 
 low a rate the very best and wisest of mankind do 
 value God. The Spirit of God must both excite 
 and satisfy this longing. The more Ave ask, the more 
 we shall desire, and the more Ave shall be satisfied. 
 
 I conceive, then, that this asking implies sincere 
 and fervent desire. It is the asking of the hearty 
 and to such only is the promise made. " TAe?i shall 
 ye seek me, and find me, tvhen ye shall search for me 
 with all your hea^i.." ^ 
 
 Suffer me now to direct your attention for a 
 moment to the answer which may be expected to 
 such asking as I have described. On this head I 
 have two brief cautions to offer to you. 
 
 1. You have a right to expect a convineing answer 
 to your prayers, but you have no reason to expect 
 that it Avill be miraculoiis. I do not mean to say 
 that God cannot, if he please, convince you by a 
 miracle. This, hoAvever, is not his ordinary method 
 of dealing Avith his creatures. He Avho once brought 
 light out of darkness Avith the Avord, " Let there be 
 light," noAv sends forth " the sun every morning like 
 a bridegroom out of his chamber," ^ and he gives 
 light to all the Avorld in the ordinary course of 
 nature. So He, Avho caused the first beams of the 
 Sun of righteousness to shine miraculously upon 
 mankind, now illuminate^ the hearts of men by the 
 
 ^ Jer. xxix. 13. 2 ggc Psalm xix. 4, 5. 
 
 O 9 
 
98 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 ordinary process of inward, rational conviction. It 
 is fitting that it should be so. We are reasonable 
 creatures, and our understandings must be con- 
 vinced ere our hearts can be converted. No out- 
 ward miracle can effect this, but only the inward 
 miracle of opening the heart to attend and the 
 mind to understand ; of dispelling the dark mists of 
 ignorance, prejudice, and error that benight the 
 soul, and, above all, of abolishing that enmity to 
 God, Avhich is the secret and bitter root of all un- 
 belief. Perhaps what I am now saying seems strange 
 and mysterious to you. I will enter no further into 
 the subject. Only try the experiment I have pro- 
 posed to you, and* you will understand all this, and 
 much more. 
 
 I would, in the second place, caution you not to 
 expect an immediate answer to your prayers. Here, 
 again, we may gather from the analogy of God's 
 dealings with us in temporal things some idea of 
 w^hat we are to expect from him in spiritual tilings. 
 Every process in the works of Nature and in the 
 development of mind is carried on by slow and 
 sometimes imperceptible degrees. We sow our seed, 
 but we must wait with patience till His sun and His 
 rain have brought it to perfection. Yet we do not 
 the less conficlently expect an abundant crop be- 
 cause we know that it will not spring up in a single 
 night. Again, in acquiring any of the arts and 
 sciences, how many tedious processes we have to 
 pass through! Yet we are.not so foolish as to throw 
 them aside in despair because we cannot master 
 them in a few hours. And, reasoning from analogy, 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 99 
 
 we have no ground to expect that the knowledge 
 of God will be the growth of an hour, or that so 
 mighty a blessing will be showered down at the 
 very first request we deign to offer. Consider, I be- 
 seech you,. how long God has been waiting upon you 
 with this invitation. Wonder not if he keep you 
 waiting for a time in your turn. But this will be 
 as he pleases. I only mention it lest any who have 
 really begun to pray should feel discouraged at per- 
 ceiving no immediate benefit from their prayers. 
 God has nowhere promised to answer us so sud- 
 denly. But he will not keep us waiting without 
 bestowing on us so much light and strength as will 
 encourage us to persevere. " Oh, tarry, then, the 
 Lord's leisure ; be strong, and he shall comfort thine 
 heart; wait, I say, on the Lord."^ 
 
 I close this part of my subject with the advice of 
 the prophet, " Halt no longer between two opinions." 
 If the Jehovah of the Scriptures be God, serve 
 him ; but if the God whom Deists have fancied to 
 themselves be God, then serve him. I have pointed 
 out to you a way of deciding the question. Bring 
 the Scriptures to the touchstone of truth. " The 
 God who answers prayer, let him be God." ^ 
 
 "Ask, and it shall be given you." Ask sincerely^ 
 fervently, perseveringly. If you thus ask, and receive 
 not, I consent that you shall renounce the Bible for- 
 ever. If you ask, and receive, then will the Bible 
 become your everlasting heritage, the very joy and 
 rejoicing of your heart, Then will you bless the 
 day that led you to the " Test of Truth." 
 
 1 Psalm xxvii. 14. ^ i Kings xviii. 21-24. 
 
PART 11. 
 
 LUKE XI. 9. 
 
 ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU. 
 
 I CANNOT behold a person who doubts or dis- 
 believes the truth of Christianity, without feeling 
 drawn towards that person with a tender and pity- 
 ing interest, as if he were my brother or dear friend. 
 My heart is linked to his by an irresistible sym- 
 pathy. Should this appear mysterious, I can easily 
 explain the mystery. I have been in the same 
 situation myself. I "know the heart" of an un- 
 believer; his doubts, his objections, his disgusts, 
 have all passed through my own mind. I enter 
 into every particular of his feelings. If he is a 
 sincere doubter, — I mean, if he really desires to find 
 out the truth, — I can comprehend all the agony of 
 suspense, the horror of approaching eternity in the 
 dark, which he now experiences, and which none 
 but those who have felt can figure to themselves, 
 even in idea. But my sympathy with such a 
 doubter is also one of glad anticipation. I enter 
 into his future feelings, and rejoice in the light and 
 peace wliich are certainly prepared for liim, though 
 now they are hid from his eyes. I know that " an 
 
 100 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 101 
 
 understa^diug shall one day be given him, that he 
 may know Him that is true." " If any man wishes 
 to do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine, 
 whether it be true, or whether Jesus Christ spake 
 of himself"^ Of this I am assured, both because it 
 is God's promise, and because he has fulfilled that 
 promise to me. " He has brought me out of the 
 horrible" abyss of doubt and unbelief, " and set my 
 foot upon a rock, and established my goings." And 
 oh that, while I endeavour to speak of his goodness 
 towards me, " many may see it, and fear, and put 
 their trust in the Lord!"^ 
 
 I thank my God that I have been permitted, by 
 bitter experience, to enter into this growing calamity 
 of my fellow-men. Not only have the doctrines of 
 Christianity been stamped upon my soul with a cer- 
 tainty greatly enhanced by the strict and suspicious 
 scrutiny to which they have every one been subjected, 
 but an intenseness is added to my prayers, and a 
 liveliness to my hopes, for this class of wanderers 
 from God, which nothing but a fellowship in sin and 
 suffering could have produced. I can spread their 
 miserable case before the Lord with the happy con- 
 viction that the same power which was displayed on 
 my behalf is ready to be stretched out on theirs. And 
 when unbelief whispers, Can these men be brought 
 to the knowledge of the truth? my very soul burns 
 within me, as I appeal to my own experience, that 
 nothing is too hard for the Lord. May the Lord my 
 God guide my heart and my pen, whilst I attempt 
 
 i John vii. 17. 2 See Psalm xl. 1-3. 
 
 9* 
 
102 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 to delineate the process by which " he called me 
 out of darkness into his marvellous light!" 
 
 My chief aim is to demonstrate the success which 
 will invariably follow a sincere and candid appli- 
 cation of the " Test of Truth." If I can persuade 
 others to try the same method, I shall have gained 
 my point. I seek not to answer objections. They 
 are innumerable as the turnings and windings of the 
 human heart. Even with those who are sincere in 
 their search after truth, the most trivial of these 
 objections, though confuted again and again, will 
 present itself with renewed difficulty. The source 
 of doubts and objections must be dried up. The 
 " evil heart of unbelief" must be removed. Pie who 
 will make trial of the " Test of Truth" shall have 
 a ready answer to all objections. He shall know 
 by his own experience that every word of the Bible 
 •is true. 
 
 To you, doubters and unbelievers of every de- 
 scription, I address myself Many of you will 
 esteem me a fool for my pains. I am content that 
 you should think thus of me, so long as the wisdom 
 of God is foolishness in your eyes. But my God 
 often " chooses the foolish things of this world to 
 confound the wise." This emboldens me to hope 
 that, if you will give me a candid and patient hear- 
 ing, I may, with his blessing, be able to suggest 
 some reflections which may prove useful to you. 
 As God has opened my understanding, so I be- 
 lieve that he is able and willing to open yours. If 
 once he shine into your dark hearts, how will un- 
 
TUE TEST OF TRUTH. 103 
 
 belief uikJ pride and prejudice give way before the 
 brightness of his presence! How joyfully will you 
 submit to those deep counsels of God which you 
 now cast from you with scorn ! I did not learn them 
 of myself; neither can you. "Flesh and blood 
 cannot reveal them unto you ;" but my Father and 
 your Father, which Ls in heaven, both can and will, 
 if you desire it of him. I look with confidence on 
 your behalf to Him whose office it is to " lead the 
 blind by a way that they knew not; to make darkness 
 light before them, and crooked paths straight."^ 
 
 From a very early age my mind had been deeply 
 impressed with a sense of the importance of religion. 
 I knew something not only of the form, but of the 
 spirit, of prayer. With a very indistinct view of 
 many of the doctrines of Christianity, I was yet 
 enabled to walk with God in sincerity, and without 
 any considerable declension, during the greater part 
 of my childhood, and the commencement of a riper 
 age. 
 
 Nor can I now speak decidedly as to the time or 
 manner in which a kind of careless stupidity about 
 every thing connected with religion began to steal 
 over my soul. When this first Ijecame perceptible, 
 it occasioned me great uneasiness. But I soon forgot 
 it in the studies and vanities incident to my age. 
 Ere long, I had learned to live " without God in the 
 world," to shut him out of all my thoughts. Pride 
 and self-love, which had, I doubt not, long been 
 secretly undermining the vitality of my religion, 
 1 Isaiah xlii, 16. 
 
104 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 now became the motives — the aHoweci and cherished 
 motives — of all my actions. My former feelings 
 were at first remembered as an indistinct dream, 
 then wiped as with a sponge from my memory. It 
 may appear strange that one who had ever tasted 
 the power of religion could so soon cast off its in- 
 fluence; for all this was eifectedin the space of a 
 few months. It is strange; and it affords a proof 
 of the strange depravity of the human heart when 
 left to its own workings. Yet, as this book may 
 come under the eye of some who have fallen in the 
 same manner, I will, for their sakes, endeavour 
 briefly to trace the origin of my declension. Similar 
 causes may have operated in producing theirs. 
 
 I think that I had no sufficient view of the nature 
 and universality of sin. The sin of particular ac- 
 tions and thoughts would often affect me very 
 deeply. But I had little idea of the general sinful- 
 ness of my nature and of my own utter helplessness, 
 or at least that idea had for some time been grow- 
 ing very indistinct. In consequence, I set my guard, 
 as it were, against this or that particular sin, instead 
 of taking the whole body of sin to God to be sub- 
 dued and destroyed. I am inclined to believe that 
 other young persons besides myself have derived 
 injury from some parts of a work which has, on the 
 whole, been eminently useful : I mean Doddridge's 
 "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." I 
 had read in that work, long before the period of 
 my thorough declension, an earnest recommenda- 
 tion to the young convert to enter into a solemn 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 105 
 
 covenant -svith God by a written form or dedication. 
 I drew up an instrument of this kind, and fancied 
 I had bound myself to God's service in such a way 
 that I could now never forsake him. But when I 
 found myself daily coming short of the resolutions 
 I had made, I began to be filled with a kind of 
 slavish dread of God ; I could no longer come before 
 him as his child. I felt as if I had, by breaking 
 my OAvn voluntary covenant, dissolved or weakened 
 the bond which united me to him. Again and again 
 I sought his presence, and with tears renewed my 
 engagements ; but every renewal of this formal dedi- 
 cation was made under circumstances of fresh dis- 
 couragement, and with diminished confidence in 
 the strength of Christ to carry me through the per- 
 formance of it. Thus I gradually declined from 
 the law of liberty into the spirit of bondage and 
 fear. I believe that these ineffectual struggles 
 paved the way for my apparently sudden and un- 
 accountable dereliction. Whenever self-dependence 
 creeps in, there is reason to expect that we shall be 
 left to discover that self is a broken reed, which 
 can but pierce and betray the hand that trusts to it 
 for support. 
 
 But I purposely hasten over this period, the men- 
 tion of which was necessary to throw some light 
 over the future part of my narrative. The state 
 of things I have described could not last long. I 
 became dissatisfied with the pleasures and pursuits 
 in which I had promised myself so much gratifica- 
 tion, and began again to wish to turn to religion 
 
106 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 for comfort. But, alas! I had no longer a religion. 
 I had refused to give glory unto the Lord my God ; 
 now " my feet" were left to " stumble upon the dark 
 mountains." I had forsaken the Rock of my strength. 
 I was now to try the firmness of my own sandy 
 foundation. 
 
 The doctrine of the divinity of Christ had before 
 been occasionally a source of doubt and perplexity 
 to me. It now became odious to my proud heart 
 and utterly shocking to my carnal reason. To 
 satisfy myself on this point, I examined the Bible 
 again and again. The result was an entire con- 
 viction, that, if there were any truth in the Bible, 
 Jesus Christ was the self-existent Jehovah. But so 
 great was the difficulty I had in consenting to this 
 doctrine, that I immediately began to doubt whether 
 there were any truth in the Bible. I suspected that 
 a system of religion which involved such apparent 
 absurdities could not possibly come from God. De- 
 termined to sift the matter to the utmost, I eagerly 
 acquainted myself with the arguments for and 
 against Christianity. My understanding was con- 
 vinced that the Scriptures were divine. But my 
 heart refused to receive the conviction. I was un- 
 willing to believe. The more my reason was com- 
 pelled to assent to their truths, the more I secretly 
 disliked the doctrines of the Bible. 
 
 At length I resolved for the present to lay aside 
 the subject altogether. I persuaded myself that 
 there must be many flaws in the evidence for so 
 strange a history, and that,- if I had not as yet pene- 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 107 
 
 tration to discover those flaws, it was only on ac- 
 count of my youth and the immaturity of my rea- 
 soning powers. It may be thought that my former 
 religious sentiments would leave behind them a 
 relish and inclination for the tenets of Christianity. 
 On the contrary, they seem to form a great, an in- 
 superable obstacle. • It is evident, thought I, that I 
 have hitherto been living under the unresisted do- 
 minion of prejudice. These opinions were imbibed 
 before I could possibly form any judgment upon 
 their truth or falsehood. I have ever since blindly 
 submitted to their guidance, endeavouring to feel or 
 to fancy all that the advocates of enthusiasm told 
 me I ought to feel. I must guard against this bias 
 which my early associations have induced. From 
 the very same cause I should probably in another 
 country have stood forth the zealous worshipper of 
 Brahma or the furious disciple of Mohammed. Thus 
 I reason with myself. Alas! I knew not then that 
 the secret, yet determined, bias of my heart was 
 against Christianity. I had forgotten that " the 
 carnal mind is enmity against God.". 
 
 I looked then upon my former devotion as the 
 dream of an idle superstition. This circumstance 
 was perpetually recurring to my memory, and re- 
 doubled my suspicions of the creed in which I had 
 been brought up; so that, humanly speaking, there 
 was no system of religion which had so little hope 
 of a candid examination from me as the Bible. I 
 will not at least be the slave of prejudice. I will 
 not wear these trammels merely because they were 
 
108 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 imposed upon me in my childhood. I will think 
 and examine for myself. 
 
 The following considerations constrained me from 
 communicating my perplexity to a single beiug. 
 In the first place, I thought that to whomsoever I 
 might open my mind on the subject, they would not 
 fail to endeavour to bias me one way or the other. 
 In the next, as I was not quite sure that the Scrip- 
 tures were false, I feared to be the means of raising 
 or confirming doubts in the mind of any other 
 person, lest I should ultimately discover that I had 
 been fighting against God. I therefore resolved to 
 keep my own counsel; to exhibit, for the present, 
 no outward difference of conduct, only avoiding, as 
 much as possible, the discussion of religious subjects. 
 In the mean time, I determined to devote myself to 
 those studies which tend most eminently to invigor- 
 ate the reasoning faculties and give to the mind 
 a habit of sound thinking and correct judgment. 
 Thus I hoped some future day to renew the ex- 
 amination, take a clearer view of things, and ef- 
 fectually guard against being made the dupe of a 
 " cunningly-devised fable." Vain and presumptuous 
 fool! I had yet to learn that "the wisdom of this 
 world is foolishness with God," and that man can- 
 not, by " his own unassisted searching, find out the 
 Almighty to perfection."^ Yet even in this cir- 
 cumstance I would gratefully recognize the wisdom 
 and the goodness that have followed me all my life 
 long ; for though my studies were now but an addi- 
 1 See 1 Cor. iii. 19; Job xi. 7. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 109 
 
 tional snare to me, yet they afterwards, under God's 
 blessing, were of considerable use to me in my re- 
 searches after truth, or, rather, in enabling me to 
 detect the fallacies which had misled me. But at 
 present I was trusting in them; and how could they 
 be otherwise than a curse to me? 
 
 These abstruse pursuits had an effect on my mind 
 which I had not anticipated, but which at the time 
 occasioned me little regret. I began to delight in 
 them so much for their own sake that they with- 
 drew my mind altogether from the grand subject 
 of my inquiry. Instead of using them as a pre- 
 parative for future examination, I fled to them as 
 a refuge from the busy speculations which had so 
 long tormented me. I buried thought in them as 
 the drunkard buries it in his cups: not that I 
 could at all times shut out serious reflection. These 
 fits of mental intoxication had their intervals, and 
 bitter intervals they were. But I pacified con- 
 science with the plea that I was only laying aside 
 present inquiry to resume it under more favourable 
 circumstances. When I should deem myself fit for 
 the momentous scrutiny was a point reserved for 
 decision at some indefinite period. On one or two 
 occasions I experienced a return of religious feel- 
 ing, and felt inclined to submit, though ^\lih the 
 temper of a slave rather than of a child, to the 
 yoke of the gospel. But at these times a tem- 
 porary dread of consequences, or that undefinable 
 softness of mind which affliction induces, operated 
 much more than any heartfelt conviction of the 
 
 10 
 
110 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 truth. I sought to appease conscience by doing 
 many things. I was busy, but not devotional, and 
 my fit of ill-judged zeal soon eva^Dorated. 
 
 With the exception of these transient inter- 
 ruptions, I continued this course for many months ; 
 but at length God in mercy arrested my downward 
 progress, and the reflections of a few hours produced 
 a total revolution in my views and desires, though I 
 was yet to wait a long time ere I arrived at the 
 knowledge of the truth. I had been looking out on 
 the starry heavens, and from the consideration of 
 these wondrous luminaries was naturally led to re- 
 flect on the immense stretch of intellect by which 
 man has been enabled to make them the objects of 
 his knowledge, — to measure the distances, the orbits, 
 the circumferences, of the planets, — to trace the 
 eccentric path of the comet and foretell the period 
 of its return. In an instant — with the rapidity, but 
 not with the transientness, of the lightning's flash — 
 the thought broke in upon me, " What signifies the 
 knoivledge of all these things, so long as man hioivs 
 not God who made himf^ 
 
 I had never sunk so low in the scale of being as 
 to entertain a suspicion that I could exist without 
 some great Intelligent Cause of my existence; and 
 yet the conviction that there was a God now seemed 
 to flash upon me for the first time. It was as 
 though I had gotten a new idea, and a new sense to 
 perceive it by; and this idea was so tremendously 
 awful and important that it wellnigh overwhelmed 
 me. The amazing folly and brutish stupidity of 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. Ill 
 
 mankind, and of* myself in particular, in taking 
 pains to acquaint ourselves with the works of God, 
 and yet crawling on in contented ignorance of God 
 himself, appeared so utterly shocking to common 
 sense and common decency, that I could scarcely 
 believe my own existence in such a world, and 
 amongst such a race of fellow-madmen, to be any 
 thing more than a frightful dream. At first, I 
 could only behold the folly, narrowness, and mean- 
 ness of my conduct. To have loved and sought 
 what is beautiful in the creature, and yet not to 
 have cared to be acquainted with the Original, the 
 Fountain-head of beauty, — the Mind, from whence 
 every form of loveliness emanated, and which must 
 itself be the perfection of beauty ; to have admired 
 the grand and sublime, without casting a thought 
 upon Him whose mind is the birthplace of sublimity 
 and grandeur ; to have dwelt with raj^ture on the wis- 
 dom of my fellow-creatures, without seeking to know 
 Him who gave them this general wisdom, as a little 
 drop out of the infinite ocean ; to have examined 
 and pored upon the workings of my own intellect, 
 without inquiring after the Father of intellects, — 
 " the God of the spirits of all flesh," — and to have 
 admired the exquisite formation of the body, with- 
 out asking by Whom it was " so fearfully and won- 
 derfully made ;" to have forgotten the Giver in his 
 gifts, — the Creator in a minute portion of his works ; 
 to have embraced the shadow, and rejected the sub- 
 stance, — idolized the copy, and despised the original, 
 — provided for time, and neglected eternity ! Could 
 
112 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 a creature so grovelling, so alive to all tliat is petty 
 and mean, and so wrapped in a dull and senseless 
 indifference to all that is great and worthy, — could 
 this creature be styled a rational, a thinking being? 
 And was this man, in whose exalted intelligence I 
 had but now been glorying? Oh, far more gross 
 than the brutes which perish ! For the " very ox 
 knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib;" 
 but man hath an owner, a master, a Creator, — and 
 he knows nothing about him, and he is content to 
 know nothing about him ! If the works of creation 
 be so beautiful and glorious, how surpassing in 
 beauty and glory must be the God of creation! 
 The mind which created my mind, and myriads of 
 other minds, — and which, still unexhausted, is ready 
 to produce myriads more, — is this mind worth know- 
 ing? or is it not worth knowing? or, rather, who but 
 an idiot would care greatly abt)ut knowing any 
 thing else? How low, how impertinent, how wide 
 of the purposes, are the pretended dissertations of 
 men upon truth and wisdom and knowledge! Why 
 do they not seek truth and wisdom and knowledge 
 in Him in whom they all centre? Why seek them 
 in the little streamlets of the world, when they 
 might go to the Ocean, the Fountain, the Original? 
 Do men knoiv that there is a God? Have they the 
 slightest suspicion of the fact? Can they know, and 
 not care? Can they suspect, and not lay all things 
 aside till they have ascertained? Can they think or 
 talk of any thing else so long as this point remains 
 undecided? 
 
THi: TEST OF TRUTH. 113 
 
 But what have I myself beeu about all this time? 
 How is it that I am but now beginning to ask, 
 "Where is God my Maker?" I feel my want of 
 God as though it were a new thing, as though I 
 might not have known all along'that this was the 
 great, the only, want of a rational creature. It 
 seems as if a thick mist had passed from before my 
 eyes; as if, after a long and dreadful madness, I 
 were just restored to sanity. And surely it must be 
 thus. I have been labouring under a madness, a 
 delusion; now I am awakened to a perception of 
 the object of my existence. God is the object of 
 my existence. There is nothing worth knowing, 
 there is nothing worth caring for, but God. Oh 
 that I knew how to find out God ! 
 
 But while I 'was thus looking back with amaze- 
 ment at the folly of my conduct, another and a 
 more appalling reflection came to deepen my per- 
 plexity. This was the ivickedness of my conduct. 
 My unnatural and monstrous ingratitude stared me 
 in the face. If there be a God, then to endeavour 
 to know and love and obey him must be not only 
 the happiness, but the indispensable duty, of his 
 creature. The ties of blood, the dearest relations 
 and amities of life, must be a mere cobweb thread 
 compared with the ties which ought to bind the soul 
 formed to Him wdio formed it, — the relationship 
 which must be naturally supposed to exist between 
 the created and the creating Spirit. Have I not 
 done my utmost to sever those ties? Have I loved 
 God? Alas! how could I love an unknown being? 
 
114 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 But have I tried to know him? AVhat were my 
 former endeavours? Let me not mock God by 
 calling them endeavours. They deserve not to be 
 once named as the act of a soul aspiring after its 
 God. My life should have been one continued act 
 of obedience and thankfulness ; but I have scarcely 
 thought of inquiring into his commands, or of re- 
 flecting upon his mercies. The true object and 
 motive and centre of my soul must certainly be the 
 love of my Creator. But I have, in some way or 
 other, lost sight of this, and found out for myself 
 an object, a motive, a centre, altogether sordid and 
 abominable, and this is no other than the love of 
 self If I have never broken out into any open 
 wickedness, if I have kept up a tolerably correct 
 and amiable appearance to my friends, it has been 
 solely owing (at least for many months past) to a 
 sense of shame, or an inordinate self-esteem. This 
 taught me to put on a fair and decent outside ; but 
 within all was hollowness. The inward abomina- 
 tions of my heart have been indulged without a 
 scruple. I have drunk up /learMniquity like water. 
 If I have hitherto escaped the reproaches of an 
 accusing conscience, it has been because this same 
 principle of self, while it rendered me exceedingly 
 sharp-sighted to the defects of others, blinded me to 
 my own. 
 
 I now clearly perceived two things : that sin was 
 the cause of all the misery in the world; and that 
 the essence of sin, however different in kind or 
 degree, was the same, and consisted in .a general 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 115 
 
 habit of averseness or alienation from the great 
 Author of our being. Moreover, I saw that this 
 sin pervaded every particle of our natures and 
 every moment of our lives. The mere moralist 
 appeared to me the most daring sinner, the most 
 senseless inverter of things. For he presumes to 
 boast of his performance of the little duties of life, 
 ■while the great duty, the one duty, is left out of the 
 account. How ridiculous to imagine that we can 
 be good parents, children, subjects, when we are not 
 good creatures! This is to suppose that a watch 
 will go well when the main-spring is broken, or a 
 stream flow when its source is dried up. Now the 
 sins of my life seemed to pass in review before me. 
 I perceived that their peculiar malignity consisted 
 in this, that they proceeded from a soul regardless 
 of its Maker. Let what would be the action, enmity 
 to God was the sin of it. My acts of unkindness 
 and neglect to my fellow-men struck me as so many 
 demonstrations of despite or indifference to Him 
 who gave them being. It was not as they were my 
 fellow-creatures, but as they were His creatures, that 
 I was bound to love them and bear with them and 
 do them good. Had I loved the Creator, my love 
 to his creatures would have been a matter of course. 
 "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned!"^ Against 
 thee, my Maker, my Preserver, my benevolent Friend, 
 my tender Father! Thou hast made me, and clothed 
 me, and fed me, and given me a heart to love, a soul 
 to think, and a mind to understand ; but I have not 
 I Psalm li. 4. 
 
116 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 loved tliee, nor thought of thee, nor known thee! 
 What wonder if the malignity that was rankling 
 in my heart towards thee should sometimes break 
 out towards thine offspring? for I now clearly per- 
 ceive that I could never have disliked any thing of 
 thine had I not had a secret dislike to thee. Of 
 what good has my existence been to the world? 
 None, — absolutely none. What has been the end 
 of my actions? To gratify self. Have I secured 
 this end, paltry and miserable as I now perceive it 
 to be? No, certainly; my experience up to this 
 moment wrings from me the bitter acknowledgment 
 that I have succeeded only in making myself mise- 
 rable. What, then, is the reason of my failure in 
 the search after happiness? What can it be but 
 this, that God, the essence and source of happiness, 
 has been left out of my system? God alone is suffi- 
 cient to fill and satisfy the soul which he has made ; 
 and I am destitute and empty of God. 
 
 But, judging of this great Being by the indi- 
 cations and glimmerings of the reason which he 
 has lighted up within me, is it possible for a mo- 
 ment to entertain the thought that he can behold 
 with complacency a creature like myself? Beason' 
 teaches me that he is just: otherwise, how could he 
 govern the world which his consummate wisdom 
 has created? If he be just, shall he not punish one 
 who has lived in the neglect of the most obvious 
 and indispensable obligations to him? My igno- 
 rance of him is no excuse ; for conscience witnesses 
 that it has been in some measure a contented 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 117 
 
 I have not taken half the pains to 
 know God that I have taken to know objects of 
 trifling importance. My utmost efforts and desires 
 have been so utterly incommensurate, I will not 
 say, with the worthiness of the object (for that is 
 past my conception), but even with the faint and 
 imperfect ideas which I might have formed of its 
 worthiness, that to plead them in excuse would be 
 the highest aggravation of my crime. If, then, 
 justice be one of God's attributes, that attribute 
 must be engaged to punish any unnatural and par- 
 ricidal attempt to banish him from his own crea- 
 tion, — to depose him from his natural supremacy 
 over my heart. Nor can I hope to escape with a 
 slight punishment. Justice consists, not only in 
 awarding retribution, but in suiting it to the nature 
 and degree of the offence. Mine is an infinite offence, 
 committed against an infinite Being, to whom I was 
 bound by infinite obligations. Shall not the retri- 
 bution be infinite? 
 
 Besides, I have only to open my eyes, and look 
 on what passes before them every day, to behold 
 manifest tokens of the indignation of God against 
 a "world that lieth in wickedness." Has he not 
 hidden himself from our knowledge? Are we not 
 all abandoned to a sort of natural blindness and 
 ignorance of all that pertains to him, and can there 
 be a more decisive indication of his displeasure? 
 This earth, — who can help perceiving that it lies 
 under circumstances of banishment and alienation 
 from its Creator? Would God form beings capable 
 
118 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 of knowing him, and tlien leave tliem in ignorance 
 of him, unless they had in some way or other for- 
 feited his favour? Do not the vai'ious contra- 
 dictory religions with which the world is filled, 
 prove it to be in a state of the grossest ignorance 
 and uncertainty about God? What are all the in- 
 firmities and diseases which attack mankind but a 
 proof that sin, besides having ruined and debased 
 the soul, has deranged and withered the body? 
 What are all the fierce altercations and demoniac 
 passions which desolate the earth, and make it like 
 hell, but a manifestation of the most just vengeance 
 of God, which has left us to w reak our quarrel with 
 him upon one another, so that one-half of the 
 human race seems to be made for the scourge and 
 executioners of the other half? What shall we 
 say of death itself, but that it demonstrates our 
 whole substance to be so contaminated, that it must 
 be taken to pieces,- and built up afresh, before it 
 can be purged from the deadly contagion? Add to 
 this, that the ordinary commerce and discourse of 
 men pYO\e them to have an internal consciousness 
 that all is not right between God and their souls. 
 When a hypocrite would invest himself with the 
 semblance of religion, does it ever occur to him to 
 put on an air of cheerfulness and hilarity? Does 
 not the very inflection of his voice become whining 
 and dolorous, as if that were the only tone suited to 
 the occasion? Whence is this, but to accommodate 
 himself to the general idea which m«n have of re- 
 ligion, tliat it is a burdensome and melancholy 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 119 
 
 thing ? To what caucje shall we attribute the almost 
 universal prevalence of sacrifices in the heathen 
 world? Whence could men derive the idea of pro- 
 pitiating God's favour by the slaughter of an inno- 
 cent animal? Does not this custom imply the idea 
 of an ofiended God? Does it not originate in a 
 hidden sense of sin, — in those secret gnawings of 
 conscience which exist in the breast of every human 
 being, and which lead them to think of God as an 
 angry God? as One whom it is necessary, by some 
 means, to reconcile and appease? 
 
 But we may find ample proof of this fact without 
 going out of Christian countries, or even out of the 
 limited circle of our own friends. What occasions 
 the prevalent idea that religion is a melancholy 
 thing, — incompatible with youth and good spirits, — 
 a subject of too gloomy a cast to be admitted into 
 general conversation ? Who has not witnessed the 
 dead silence, the air of uneasiness and constraint, 
 which the introduction of a serious reflection will 
 sometimes spread over a whole company? What a 
 woeful interruption to their hilarity! Politeness 
 itself will scarcely restrain a contemptuous smile, 
 or a bitter sarcasm, at the expense of the meddler 
 who ventured to obtrude the ofiensive and ill-timed 
 observation. He is directly marked as not one of 
 them; and should he again attempt to introduce the 
 subject he will be regarded, in every festive society, 
 as an interloper. But, if we were satisfied that 
 there was jjeace between us and God, the mention of 
 religion could never be ofifensive or ill-timed, because 
 
120 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 religion would then be nothing but the continual 
 expression of mirth and gladness, — the chosen and 
 ever-pleasing topic of our most joyous moments. 
 
 I have thrown my reflections into this brief order, 
 without attempting to follow them out exactly as 
 they occurred to me; which, at this distance of time, 
 would be impossible. They darted in upon my 
 mind — first one, and then another, and sometimes 
 many of them together, with a rapidity and force 
 which has made me since wonder that I retained 
 the perfect possession of my senses ; and yet with so 
 much clearness, that the substance of them is now 
 impressed on my memory with the distinctness of 
 facts, rather than of thoughts. Nor can I say 
 whether this train of thought was the work of one 
 night ; for the same reflections pursued me with little 
 alteration for many days. These then, with many 
 considerations of a similar nature, which I cannot 
 now so distinctly recollect, but particularly the con- 
 tinual sense of my own gross ignorance and enor- 
 mous corruption, filled me with the deepest distress, 
 and compelled me to feel, to my great discomfort, 
 that there was a separation — a quarrel between God 
 and his creature. I found, in my heart, a contra- 
 riety to him which I was unable to repress. Again 
 I asked myself — how shall I, a miserable reptile, 
 sustain my controversy with the Omnipotent? or 
 stay his avenging arm, which is ready to visit on 
 me the whole weight of his just indignation? If I, 
 who am accustomed to wickedness, and hardened in 
 it, yet know enough of what is right to abhor and 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 121 
 
 despise myself, in ^vhat light must I appear to his 
 all-holy and unclouded judgment? Put the case 
 now — that he should be willing, without satisfaction 
 required, to pass over my offences, to forgive me for 
 what my own conscience (planted by him) condemns 
 me. What would be the consequences of this cle- 
 mency? I should no longer reverence or esteem 
 him : ceasing to be just, he would cease to be God in 
 my eyes. I can no more suppose God Avithout justice, 
 than I can suppose man without a soul. This attri- 
 bute is essential to his character as Governor of the 
 universe. I should despise a fellow-creature who 
 should govern so unjustly and weakly as to suffer 
 criminals to escape without paying the penalty 
 due to their crimes. Such a one's laws would be 
 trampled on, and his person treated with as little 
 regard as was paid to the fabled log sent down by 
 Jupiter. 
 
 Even then — upon the monstrous supposition that 
 God, the just God, who has in so many ways mani- 
 fested his indignation against sin, could, in my favour, 
 be induced to slacken the reins of his government, 
 and throw away the sceptre of his justice — I should 
 gain nothing by this, but the galling sensation of 
 being under the yoke of one not greatly better than 
 myself, or at least quite incompetent to his high 
 office as Judge of the whole earth. 
 
 On the other hand — if God punishes me, I am 
 involuntarily led to fear and hate him. To love a 
 being whose glory is concerned in my destruction, 
 is impossi])le. How shall I reconcile these two 
 
122 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 opposite ideas ? — the justice and mercy of Him ^Yllo 
 is at once my Governor and Father! If God par- 
 dons my sins, he is not a just God; that is, he is no 
 God at alL If he do not pardon sin, at least in 
 those who desire to return to him, that is contrary 
 to what nature herself suggests to me of his goodness 
 and mercy. Each alternative is unspeakably appall- 
 ing. To have to do with a God who weakly swerves 
 from the demands of justice, or to be in the hands 
 of one who, by letting justice have her perfect work, 
 should shut the door of mercy upon mankind. Yet 
 the former of these alternatives appeared to me in- 
 comparably the most dreadful ! I had, within these 
 few hours, acquired such a perception of the beauty 
 of holiness, that the thought of an unholy God was 
 worse than hell to me. I felt that I had rather God 
 should pour out on me all the vials of his wrath, 
 than that, carried away by an unworthy softness and 
 weakness, he should forgive, and thereby encourage 
 sin : for sin appeared to me in so odious a light, that 
 if it could not be purged out of God's universe with- 
 out the destruction of mankind, who by sinning had 
 deranged its order and defaced its beauty, my soul 
 was almost ready to acquiesce in the general destruc- 
 tion, and to perish in it, so that the order and beauty 
 of God's universe might be restored. To undergo 
 eternal jDunishment was horrible. To acknowledge 
 an unholy God was more horrible! 
 
 Besides all this, I plainly perceived that, sup- 
 posing even there were any means of restoration to 
 God's favour, I should be continually falling from 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 123 
 
 it again, unless a total change were wrought in my 
 whole temper and disposition. I saw not how this 
 change was to be effected. I had experienced so 
 much of the weakness of my best resolutions, that 
 had an offer of pardon been held out to me upon the 
 condition of j^romising not to offend again, I should 
 not have dared to make that promise. Sin had 
 "separated between me and my God." This sin 
 was not an act which I could lay aside — a habit 
 which I could shake off; but it was a nature. How 
 was I to change my nature? God, who made me at 
 first, could alone correct the dreadful disease, which 
 had so mixed itself up with my whole constitution 
 that it seemed to form part of myself. But to this 
 God how should I apply? or what reason had I to 
 hope that he would not leave me to the consequences 
 of my own wilful rebellion? 
 
 In this dilemma it occurred to me, as a last expe- 
 dient, to turn my attention once more to that despised 
 book, which had been long laid aside as incapable 
 of affording me the least relief. How different was 
 the temper of my mind in which I now addressed 
 myself to it§ perusal, from that in which I had read it 
 in the commencement of my disbelief of Christianity! 
 I was no longer a proud sophist, triumphing in the 
 strength and penetration of human reason and in 
 the comprehensiveness of human knowledge. The 
 contemplation of my own ignorance, weakness, and 
 wickedness, had laid my pride in the dust. My eyes 
 were opened to view myself as I really was — de- 
 praved and blinded in my reason, judgment, and 
 
124 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 understanding. And this is the process wMch must 
 take place in the soul of every man before he can pur- 
 sue the search after truth in a right spirit. He must 
 "become a fool, that he may be wise:"^ not that he 
 must part with any portion of his rational faculties ; 
 but, having been a fool all his life long, he must be 
 led to discover and acknowledge his foolishness, be- 
 fore he can so appreciate wisdom as to search for it 
 with his whole heart. 
 
 My attention was soon powerfully drawn by the 
 promises which abound in the Bible, that God will 
 reveal himself to all those who diligently seek him. 
 When I read these, it struck me that the Bible itself 
 oJBfered an infallible test, more sure than all the 
 arguments that ever were written for and against it, 
 to prove whether it was indeed the word of God or 
 the word of man. To own the truth, I was at first 
 startled by the unqualified nature of these promises. 
 The authors of these books, if impostors — and which 
 I still inclined to believe them — had pledged them- 
 selves in such an unguarded manner as must inevit- 
 ably lead to their detection. Here is an engagement 
 — or a pretended engagement — on God's part, to per- 
 form a miracle in favour of any one Avho chooses to 
 ask it of him. For what can be a greater miracle 
 than to give thie knowledge of himself to a soul that 
 is ignorant of him? This is the very essence and 
 substance of all miracles. Other wonders and signs 
 may be disputed. This must bring conviction. I 
 cannot persuade myself that the Autlior of this book 
 1 See 1 Corinthians iii. 18. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 125 
 
 will be able to redeem liis pledge, or to realize the 
 expectations which he has so confidently held out. 
 Nevertheless, I can but make the experiment. I 
 shall, at least, forever rid myself of whatever doubts 
 I may have entertained respecting the origin of the 
 Bible. "Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and 
 ye shall find." " He shall give his Holy Spirit to 
 them that ask him." " Then ye shall seek me, and 
 find me, when ye shall search after me with your 
 whole heart." ^ Can words speak plainer? Well, I 
 will ask — I will seek! If what I ask is given me — 
 if I find what I seek — ^what can I want more to con- 
 vince me that the Bible is the word of God? If 
 what I ask is 7iot given — if I do not find what I 
 seek — I may safely conclude that the Bible is a very 
 awkwardly-contrived lie; and, as such, I will cast 
 it from me with contempt. Be this, however, as it 
 may, I can lose nothing by making the trial; pos- 
 sibly I may gain much. Whether He who made 
 this promise be God or man, his reasoning is full of 
 judgment and good sense. For who is to give us 
 the knowledge of God, if God himself either can- 
 not or will not give it to us? Since " the father will 
 not give his son a stone, when he asks bread" — since 
 evil men "know how to give lood gifts to their chil- 
 dren ;" how reasonable is the inference, that the good 
 God must "know how to give good gifts unto his 
 offspring"! I will apply to my unknown, my 
 heavenly Father. I will ask him to give me the 
 knowledge of himself. Will he mock me with a 
 
 ^ Luke xi. 9-lH; Jeremiah xxix. 13. 
 11* 
 
126 THE TEST OF TEUTII. 
 
 delusion? Will he present me -with "a scorpion," 
 when "I ask him for bread"? I will implore him 
 to teach me to believe what is right concerning him. 
 Supposing the Bible account of him to be wrong, 
 will he thrust this icrong belief upon me when I am 
 asking him for a rigid one? Is he indeed so unlike 
 a parent? It was he that flisliioned a father's heart 
 and implanted a father's feelings. Is it too much 
 to suppose that he himself has the heart, the feel- 
 ings, of a father? 
 
 The sense of my guilt held me back for a time. 
 I feared that the great Being, whom I was about to 
 address, would not listen to the prayer of one so 
 worthless ; but I reflected that a state of submission 
 and desire could not be so displeasing to him as one 
 of carelessness and rebellion. To lay myself low at 
 his feet with the deepest prostration, and to implore 
 mercy, was all that I could do in my present igno- 
 rance; and since mine was no longer a wilful igno- 
 rance, I hoped that Infinite Benevolence might in 
 time extricate me from it. 
 
 One thing was sufticiently clear — man was not able 
 to help me to what I wanted. God alone was able 
 to assist me. It remained for me to try whether he 
 were ivilling to save a soul that was perishing for 
 *'lack of knowledge." 
 
 Impelled by these reflections, fearful and uncer- 
 tain, but with uncontrollable, unutterable longings, 
 I directed my supplications to the "unknoioi God.'' 
 O my Redeemer! the first breathings of my soul 
 were not uttered in thy name. I rushed into the 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 127 
 
 presence of my Judge without a Mediator; but, 
 doubtless, even then thy comeliness was thrown over 
 the deformity of my soul, and the eye of my Father 
 beheld me with pity for thy dear sake! ]\Iy prayer 
 ascended up to heaven fragrant with the incense of 
 thy merits — though the poor wretch who offered it 
 thought to please God by leaving thee out of it! 
 Let thy goodness and mercy to me encourage other 
 poor ignorant souls, who are groping their Avay to 
 God in the dark, not to desist from the search till 
 they have found him ; and having found him, they 
 will find thee ; and having found thee, they will 
 hold thee fast, or rather thou Avilt hold them fast, 
 to all eternity! 
 
 Thus I set my face in good earnest to seek the 
 Lord my God. 'Every other employment was not 
 only laid aside, but forgotten. I confessed to him 
 that I was unworthy of the least of his favours 
 which he had heaped upon me: yet I ventured to 
 tell him that all these were of no value in my eyes, 
 except as they encouraged me to hope for some fur- 
 ther manifestation of his goodness. O God! (I 
 dare not say, my God — the word died upon my un- 
 hallowed lips) — thou hast given me a wondrous 
 power of knowing; but there is but one thing worth 
 knowing; and of that I am ignorant — I would know 
 thee. iVIy capacity of knowledge is no better than 
 a curse to me while the only thing worthy to satisfy 
 that capacity is hid from me. Thou — thou art the 
 true object of knowledge! O let me know thee — or 
 let me know nothing! Thou hast given me a power 
 
128 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 of loving; but in vain I look round for something 
 to love. Thou canst fill my heart — and none but 
 thou. But thee I cannot find; and there is some 
 wretched principle within me which will not let me 
 love thee. O thou, who art all lovely, restore me 
 to the natural perception of a creature! Bring 
 back my alienated affections to their true centre — 
 that I may see and love Him .who gave me birth. 
 Thou hast made me capable of boundless longings 
 and desires — but the whole earth would not satisfy 
 those longings; no, nor the whole universe, unless I 
 could find thee in it. Oh ! why didst thou put within 
 me such high and restless aspirings, if I was indeed 
 made for so low an end as to live and die without 
 knowing thee? Thou gavest -me the appetite of 
 hunger — and lo! ever since I was "born, thou hast 
 supplied me with food to satisfy that hunger. Dost 
 thou care for the wants of the body, and wilt thou 
 not provide for the wants of the soul? Now my soul 
 hungers, which it would never have done hadst not 
 thou formed it capable of spiritual appetites. Wilt 
 not thou give the food that must satisfy my soiil.^ 
 Will the God, whose goodness prevents every bodily 
 w^ant, leave me to perish in my spiritual necessities? 
 The power of thought, the ardent and ineliable 
 breathings of my mind, are but so many aggrava- 
 tions of my misery. The very light of reason only 
 serves to make my darkness visible, to discover to 
 me how low I am fallen! These thy great, thy pe- 
 culiar blessings, are just so many curses to me, so 
 long as I am shut out from thy knowledge and love. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 129 
 
 I know that I am not worthy ; but nature whisjiers 
 to me that thou art merciful. I see no way of be- 
 coming reconciled to thee; but reason teaches me 
 that thou mayest be able to find out a way, though 
 I cannot. Life is not life, unless I know the Giver 
 of it. All the time that I have lived without thee 
 in the world, I seem to have been dead ; more sense- 
 less than a stock or stone — more 1^'Citish than the 
 beasts which perish ! 
 
 Such things as these I groaned out of the fulness 
 of my heart; for I was seldom able to speak. My 
 deep self-abhorrence, and the inexpressible ardency 
 of my desires, choked up the way to every outward 
 expression of my feelings. I often lay prostrate on 
 the ground for hours together — not from any super- 
 stitious preference of that attitude, but because the 
 sense of my own unfitness to come into God's pre- 
 sence quite overwhelmed me. I should have sunk 
 ijito the earth, had that been possible; so great was 
 the prostration of soul occasioned by the perpetual 
 consciousness that God was present, and that I was 
 unworthy. 
 
 In this manner I gave myself wholly up to seek- 
 ing for my Creator. For days and weeks I, however, 
 sought him apparently in vain. My blindness and 
 uncertainty seemed to increase daily. I was often 
 on the point of abandoning, in despair, an effort 
 so unpromising, and wished for death, as the only 
 thing which could terminate my afflicting suspense; 
 but then it occurred to me that the Bible has no- 
 where promised an immediate answer to prayer, 
 I 
 
130 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 The experiment, therefore, was not a fair one — 
 unless it was persevered in : nay, I recollected that, 
 so far from promising an immediate answer, it gives 
 relocated intimations that we may perhaps have to 
 wait a long time for the accomplishment of our 
 desires. It warns men that they must "tarry the 
 Lord's leisure" — that "they must pray, and not 
 faint :"^ besides fhis, I could not deny that God had 
 long waited patiently for me, and borne with my 
 careless unconcern. It was reasonable that I, in my 
 turn, should wait patiently for God; and not aban- 
 don the search, when perhaps a little further perse- 
 verance would end in the realization of my most 
 sanguine wishes. I knew, too, that I was in pursuit 
 of an object worthy of the intenseness of my desires; 
 and which, when found, would amply recompense 
 any labour I might expend in seeking it. I there- 
 fore continued my entreaties, that God would gra- 
 ciously vouchsafe to open my understanding to know 
 him, and ray heart to love him as a rational creature 
 ought to do. 
 
 I waited not in vain. God at length revealed 
 himself to my understanding in a way that abun- 
 dantly surpassed my expectations — I say to my iuider- 
 standing; for this was no rapturous trance of enthu- 
 siasm, but the sober and rational couviction of every 
 faculty of my mind. I hope none of my readers 
 will think that I attribute too much power, or too 
 much benevolence, to the Supreme, Being, when I 
 assert that He who first gave me understanding, 
 
 ' Psalm xxvii. 14; Luke xviii. 1. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 131 
 
 did enlighten that understanding in a manner which 
 I was sensible no efforts of my own could have done ; 
 and which yet was so clear — so consistent — so satis- 
 factory, that every former act of my reason, in com- 
 parison with this, seemed like the incoherent ravings 
 of delirium! If, however, they doubt, let thera try 
 the exjieriment for themselves : nor let them suppose 
 that this was a sudden flash of conviction — no, it 
 was a process as collected and deliberate as that by 
 which the mind first scrutinizes and then embraces 
 the propositions of mathematical science. My eyes 
 were opened to discern the glory and excellence of 
 the Scriptures, and their amazing superiority to 
 every human composition. I perceived that they 
 carried within their own pages a witness to their 
 Divine origin. Convinced by this internal evidence, 
 I recognized in the Bible the revelation of God to 
 his fallen creatures. In this book alone, I saw per- 
 fect justice and perfect mercy — perfect holiness and 
 perfect clemency — reconciled in a way worthy of the 
 Deity ; and though I know that this internal evi- 
 dence cannot be perceived but by those whose eyes 
 God himself opens to behold the wondrous things 
 out of his law ; yet, trusting that he will, in some 
 instances, thus "confirm the word of his servant," I 
 will endeavour, to comprise, in as short a space as 
 possible, the points which struck me as most- w^orthy 
 of observation during this (to me) memorable peru- 
 sal of the Sacred Oracles. Again I remind my 
 readers that the correctness of my assertions can 
 only be^ proved by bringing them to the touchstone 
 
132 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 of Truth. If God did indeed teach me, he must be 
 also willing to instruct them. Let them try whether 
 he is able to keep this promise: "Call unto me, and 
 I will answer thee; and show, thee great and mighty 
 things which thou knowest not !" ^ 
 
 1. The character given of God in the Scriptures 
 appeared to me such that no finite mind could have 
 conceived or portrayed it. Here is nothing of the 
 imperfection — the inconsistency — the littleness of 
 humanity. All is majesty and infinity! No one 
 attribute obscures or encroaches upon another. 
 Here, and here only, we have a God glorious in 
 holiness — inflexible in justice — that will not look 
 upon iniquity: and yet slow to anger, and of tender 
 mercy, justifying the ungodly, and teaching sinners 
 in the way. Well and truly did the apostle describe 
 the scope of the gospel in these terms : " And this 
 is the message we have heard of God, and declare 
 unto you, that God is light; and in him is no dark- 
 ness at all." ^ No — there is no darkness in the Scrip- 
 ture representation t)f God ; but when men attempt 
 to form conceptions of his character, for want of the 
 comprehensive vision which so mighty a subject 
 requires, they cannot look at one of his attributes 
 without losing sight of another. Thus they can form 
 some faint idea of his justice, or of his mercy, sepa- 
 rately; though even that is a justice, and a mercy, 
 limited and defective like their own. But their 
 narrow minds cannot grasp the United Idea! They 
 form some rude conjectures of the separate parts; 
 
 ^ Jcr. xxxiii. 3. ^1 John i. 6. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 133 
 
 but the mighty, consistent whole is quite beyond 
 their hirgest thought. Therefore it is that some 
 fancy to themselves a God who is all justice and no 
 mercy; while far the greater part imagine him to be 
 all mercy and no justice, or at least fondly persuade 
 themselves that he will put his justice by, w^henever 
 it happens to interfere with their convenience. God 
 is merciful, deluded man ! but his mercy is not like 
 thy mercy — it is neither a Aveak nor an unholy 
 principle ; nor will it avail thee aught, if thou diest 
 in thy sins ! 
 
 Thus man cannot describe one of God's perfections 
 without marring another; but the Scripture takes 
 them all into the account. His justice — his mercy — 
 his holiness — his compassion, all meet in perfect uni- 
 son, and their jarring claims are sweetly reconciled, in 
 Christ Jesus. This was exactly what I wanted, but 
 had scarcely hoped to find. This was the God w^hom 
 I had longed to call "my God!" Now I could say, 
 "my God!" Now I could call him " Father, and 
 Friend!" Now I had forgiveness extended to me, 
 which, far from involving the horrible compromise 
 of God's holiness which I had fancied necessary 
 before he could pardon me, was itself "the beauty 
 of holiness:" — was such a manifestation of God's 
 sanctity and his hatred to sin, that in the very act 
 of showing mercy his justice and his holiness were 
 most gloriously vindicated. 
 
 2. The character of Jesus caused me fresh trans- 
 ports of admiration every time I contemplated it. 
 How many writers have wearied themselves in the 
 1? 
 
134 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 attempt to describe a perfect character! and liow 
 miserably have they all failed ! Now, here was an 
 undertaking ten thousand times more arduous: so 
 bold that the very coaception of it could scarcely 
 have entered into the liniited capacity of man. It 
 ■was no less than this — to delineate the character of 
 One who should be at once " perfect man and perfect 
 God"—" God manifest in the flesh." 
 
 And how do they attempt to embody this magni- 
 ficent conception? What splendid description shall* 
 convey to us the boundless ideas, or astound us into 
 a belief of its reality? What learned definitions 
 shall mark the points of the character they have 
 chosen to portray? Do they seek to dazzle us by 
 placing their hero in an exalted rank and surrounding 
 him with every circumstance of magnificence? Do 
 they make him run a long career of glory, adorned 
 with the highest advantages of honour, valour, and 
 learning? Quite the contrary. They give us the very 
 plain and simple history of a man who passed his life 
 in a poor and mean condition, surrounded by enemies 
 who spared no pains to crush and disgrace him, who 
 would have been overjoyed to discern the least defect 
 in his extraordinary character. He is born in a 
 manger; educated as a carpenter's son; lives in 
 poverty and contempt as an itinerant preacher ; and 
 dies an infamous death between two thieves. The 
 ignominy of his life and death, the low esteem in 
 which he should be held by all, were portrayed 
 beforehand with so much exactness in the sacred 
 bookb of the Jews (books confided to the care of the 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 135 
 
 Jewish priests, his bitter enemies) that many infidels 
 have been converted to Christianity by comparing 
 the prophetic writings with the gospel history ; and 
 the Jewish Rabbins, unable to evade their force, 
 have been constrained to prohibit the reading of one 
 chapter in particular (Isaiah liii.) under the severest 
 denunciations. The coincidence between the pro- 
 phetic life and character of Jesus, and his real life 
 and character, struck me forcibly. These were not 
 prophecies of which it could be pleaded, that they 
 were written after the events they described ; for not 
 only have we certain proof to the contrary, but we 
 know that the Jews w^ould be very glad of such a 
 plea, and yet they have never ventured to make it. 
 Nor can it be said that the accomplishment was 
 forced and strained to suit the prophecy; for the 
 most striking points of coincidence consist of facts 
 over which an impostor could exercise no control, or 
 traits of character which w^ere very unlikely to have 
 occurred to him. Again, supposing the gospel to 
 be an invention, here was another difficulty of no 
 common magnitude which its authors had to encoun- 
 ter. Not only had they to describe this perfect two- 
 fold character, but to make it naturally fall in and 
 accord with divers accounts scattered here and there 
 through a series of books written at very different 
 times and in very different styles of description. 
 Surely, if the gospel be a lie, it is the most ingenious 
 lie that ever was invented, and its writers must have 
 had longer and clearer heads than fall to the lot of 
 impostors in our times. 
 
11)6 THE TEST OF TKUTH. 
 
 But to return. I scrutinized again and again 
 every part of tliis divine character, represented with 
 so much plainness and under such unfavourable 
 circumstances. But, after all my scrutiny, I could 
 not find, I will not say a fault, but not even so much 
 as an inconsistency, in the character of Jesus. To 
 describe a character without any glaring defects, is 
 a comparatively easy task; but to describe one 
 which should be consistent in all its parts, appeared 
 to me utterly impossible to a being so inconsistent 
 as man. Especially a character so singular as this, 
 whose distinguishing points are directly contrary to 
 the distinguishing points of man's character in gene- 
 ral. Like the Pharisees (though I trust in a far 
 different sjiirit), I lay in wait to " catch Jesus in his 
 words." ^ Often did I fancy that I had met with 
 something at which I might reasonably be offended. 
 But that Holy Spirit, who had already begun to 
 take of the things of Jesus and show them unto me, 
 always led me in the end to perceive that the offence 
 was occasioned by my own gross ignorance and viti- 
 ated judgment of spiritual things. As each difficulty 
 was successively cleared up, my admiration rose to 
 ecstasy, and my doubts were lost in a deep and loving 
 confidence, till at length, after many of these trials, 
 I could, when any thing seemed strange to me, go to 
 Jesus himself, and sitting down at his feet as a little 
 child, expect from him a solution of the mystery. 
 I no longer exclaimed, This is contrary to reason, I 
 will not believe: — but, This surpasses my comprehen- 
 1 Mark xii. 13. 
 
TUE TEST OF TRUTH. lo7 
 
 sion, I cannot understand; — Lord, teach thy foolish 
 and ignorant creature what this means ! The more 
 I studied this divine character, the more I grew up, 
 as it were, into its holiness and simplicity, the more 
 my understanding was enabled to shake off those 
 slavish and sinful prejudices, which had hindered 
 me from appreciating its excellence. Truly his 
 " words were dearer to me than my necessary food." ^ 
 He became unto me " wisdom, and righteousness, and 
 sanctification, and redemption." ^ He was my " all in 
 all." I did not want to have any knowledge, good- 
 ness, or strength, independently of him. I had 
 rather be "accepted in the beloved" than received 
 (had that been possible) upon the score of my own 
 merits. I had rather walk leaning on his arm, than 
 have a stock of strength given me to perform the 
 journey alone. To learn, as a fool, of Christ, this 
 Avas better to me than to have the knowledge of an 
 angel to find out things for myself. Nor is there 
 any thing in all this contrary to reason. For as the 
 highest wisdom of a little child is to learn implicitly 
 of its teacher, so I, having found a teacher and 
 guide, whose intelligence was above mine or the 
 angels', not as a man is above the child, but "as he 
 who maketh a house is greater than the house," it 
 was my business to learn implicitly of him, and to 
 submit my mind to his, secure that I should thus 
 attain the highest end of a created being. 
 
 But I turn back for a moment to the reflections 
 which possessed me, when first the beauty, consist- 
 
 1 Job xxiii. 12. 2 1 Corinthians 1. 30. 
 
 12* 
 
138 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 ency, aud majesty of the character of Jesus began 
 to be evident to my mmd. I asked myself, who had 
 invented this character? A company of ignorant 
 fishermen? Or supposing we will not allow them to 
 be the authors, still the language and style of the 
 writings may prove to us that they were the compo- 
 sition of unlearned men, incapable of any effort of 
 intellect beyond that required to tell a plain unvar- 
 nished tale. But grant even that they were men of 
 learning and genius : still it appeared to me that to 
 believe the life and character of Jesus to be the 
 invention of any merely human intellect, required 
 a far greater stretch of credulity than to believe 
 that he was "God manifest in the flesh." Those 
 indeed who can persuade themselves that this world 
 and all its curiously contrived machinery were the 
 work of a blind chance, may conclude that the cha- 
 racter of Jesus was traced by a mere mortal pen. 
 But those w^ho attribute any thing to a divine power, 
 must, we should think, perceive, in this, manifest 
 tokens of a divine power. No intellect short of an 
 infinite intellect could have conceived the mighty 
 thought. No pen uninspired by that intellect could 
 have embodied that thought in the life of an obscure 
 individual. Were I to assure you that the immortal 
 work of Newton Avas composed by a child at the 
 breast, you would smile at my simplicity. But I am 
 ready to weep at the violence you offer to your rea- 
 soning faculties, when you can lay your hand upon 
 the life of Christ, and pronounce that to be the pro- 
 duction of any human mind. Yet remembering 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 139 
 
 that your reason is blinded by the deceitfulness of 
 sin, and that I was once as blind as yourself, not 
 even this excess of prejudice can damp my hopes 
 respecting you. I lift up my heart to God, who 
 opens the blind eyes. In the mean time, though 
 now you "see no beauty in Jesus that you should 
 desire him," yet I beseech you, for the sake of truth 
 and candour, to give his character in the Bible your 
 serious consideration. There is a divine power and 
 excellency in it, which may find its way to your 
 heart when you least expect it. And if ever "God 
 shines in your heart, to give you the knowledge of 
 the glory of God," that glory will be revealed to you 
 "in the face of Jesus Christ."^ 
 
 3. The Scripture character of man struck me as 
 differing exceedingly from that given in any other 
 book. It was evidently no portrait of his own 
 painting. Every other book represents man more 
 or less as he ought to be.- The .Bible alone depicts 
 him as he really is. All the systems of all the phi- 
 losophers, all the religions of all nations, are founded 
 upon the supposition that the heart of man is not 
 altogether corrupt, that a little mending and patch- 
 ing only are wanting to bring it to perfection. One 
 lauds the dignity and rectitude of human nature. 
 Another talks of the sincerity of our endeavours, 
 and the efficacy of our resolutions. What say the 
 Scriptures? "The heart of man is deceitful above 
 all things, and desperately wicked."'* If you patch 
 new cloth upon the old garment, you will only make 
 
 1 See 2 Corinthians iv. 6. 2 Jeremiah xvii. 9. 
 
140 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 the rent worse.^ Of our dignity they say, "the 
 crown is fallen from our head : woe unto us, that we 
 have sinned."^ Of our rectitude and sincerity, — 
 "ye are estranged from the womb; ye go astray as 
 soon as ye are born, speaking lies." ^ Of our endea- 
 vours, — " without me, ye can do nothing." * Of our 
 resolutions, — " ye are not sufficient of yourselves to 
 think any thing as of yourselves." ^ They stoop not 
 to flatter the pride and vanity of man by false and 
 hollow encouragements. They go to the root of the 
 evil. They tell him the plain truth; that he has 
 neither rectitude to choose, nor sincerity to love, 
 nor energy to resolve, nor strength to execute, that 
 which is good. "They are sottish children, and 
 have not known me; they are wise to do evil, but 
 to do good they have no knowledge."^ What I had 
 been led to discover of my own heart, corresponded 
 with the declarations of Scripture, as exactly as 
 when "a man beholdeth his natural face in a glass." 
 I will say more. This book discovered to me so 
 many new enormities of which I was before igno- 
 rant, that I could not help exclaiming at every page, 
 Surely He only who search eth the heart could so ac- 
 curately describe its dark and intricate movements! 
 Surely none but he who made man could know so 
 well what was in man! 
 
 Now, in any case of bodily disease, it inconceiv- 
 ably enhances our confidence in a physician if, 
 while he describes to us the symptoms of our case, 
 
 1 See Matt. ix. 16. ^ Lam. v. 16. s Psalm Iviii. 3. . 
 
 * John XV. 5. 5 2 Cor. iii. 5. 6 jer. iv. 22. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 141 
 
 we perceive tluit our feelings exactly tally witli every 
 part of his description: we indulge a reasonable 
 hope that he, who has so thoroughly acquainted 
 himself with the symptoms of our complaint, will 
 be able to suggest a remedy. Thus it was with my 
 spiritual malady. I found every particular of my 
 sufferings, my necessities, my blindness, obduracy, 
 and depravity of heart, laid down in the Bible with 
 such extraordinary and felicitous precision of lan- 
 guage, that from that time my own words seemed quite 
 inadequate to the description of my case. I could 
 recollect none but Scripture words when I wanted to 
 define my feelings: all other words seemed poor, 
 feeble, and unmeaning. As a person who has long 
 been labouring under sensations which he is unable 
 to describe, if he lights upon an exact delineation 
 of them, will exclaim, " Ah ! that is exactly what 
 I wanted to say; only I could not find words to 
 express it in" — so in reading the Scripture descrip- 
 tion of the sin and ignorance of man, I was con- 
 tinually forced to cry out, " Yes — my exjoerience is 
 the very counterpart of this! only it is expressed 
 with a force and appropriateness which no language 
 of mine could have reached." It will not appear 
 wonderful that, lighting upon this astonishing accu- 
 rate definition of my wants and distresses, I should 
 be disposed to give a very serious and attentive 
 consideration to the remedy proposed for them. 
 
 4. I was greatly struck by the Scripture account 
 of the nature or essence of sin. Other codes and 
 systems content themselves with reprobating a few 
 
142 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 of its exterior indications; the Bible goes straight 
 to the heart, and drags its hidden motives to the 
 light: other systems make the essence of sin to con- 
 sist in the violation of our duties to man ; the Bible 
 makes it consist in the violation of our duty to God. 
 These speak of the neglect of human or natural 
 laws*and rights ; the Bible allows of no law but th^ 
 law of God — no right but the right which God has 
 in us as his creatures. It tells us that all sin is com- 
 prised in our alienation from Him in whom all sub- 
 ordinate duties and relations centre. "Thou shalt 
 love the Lord thy God v.ith all thine heart." This 
 is the first and great commandment. "Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself," is the second; like 
 unto the first, dependent on it, naturally and neces- 
 sarily flowing from it.^ To violate the first and 
 great command, this is sin. To violate the second 
 is the inevitable consequence of breaking the first ; 
 for no one ever yet hated his brother, who did not 
 first hate God. " The carnal mind is enmity against 
 God." ^ This is the deadly root whence every lesser 
 abomination proceeds. All that human ingenuity 
 has ever effected has been to lop off some of the 
 minor branches, to prune a few excrescences, which 
 have immediately sprouted forth with redoubled 
 vigour. The Bible lays the axe to the root of the 
 tree. The catalogue of our crimes always begins With 
 this damning article, and is usually summed up in 
 it — "In transgressing and lying against the Lord, 
 and departing away from our God:"^ this is the sum 
 
 1 Matt xxii. 37-;-!9. 2 i|„ra. viii. 7. ^ Isaiah lix. 13. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 143 
 
 and substance of our offence. This separates between 
 us and God : this has brought the curse into every 
 one of our dwellings. Other sins are but the puny 
 offspring of this horrid and unnatural progenitor. 
 
 The Bible statement is the only one in the least 
 consonant with unbiassed reason and sound sense. 
 For, if there be a God at all, he must have a greater 
 right in his creatures than any other being can pos- 
 sibly have. To serve and love him supremely must 
 be that law which alone deserves to be called the 
 law of nature; and if men universally love and 
 delight in any thing else more than in him, they 
 stand universally condemned of living in a state of 
 contrariety to the law of nature : that is, they frus- 
 trate the true end of their nature ; they are guilty 
 of that black and unnatural dereliction from duty, 
 which constitutes the essence and malignity of sin. 
 
 5. The Scripture remedy for sin, and all the evils 
 it has brought in its train, -was so consummately 
 adapted to my necessities, that this circumstance 
 would have alone sufficed to rivet my attention. 
 Sensible that I was in a state of alienation from 
 God, I was afraid of his just vengeance, and yet 
 more afraid that in pardoning sin he should prove 
 a weak and unjust being like myself. If I rejected 
 the idea of an angry God, an unholy God seemed 
 my only alternative. I saw not how infinite com- 
 passion itself could save me, but at the expense of 
 infinite justice and purity. Those only who have 
 known the agony of feeling themselves condemned 
 by God and their own conscience, can comprehend 
 
144 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 the joy with which I hailed the glad tidings, "that 
 God can be just, and yet the Justifier of him who 
 believeth in Jesus." ^ My wretched and unnatural 
 state with regard to God consisted in three particu- 
 lars. I was ignorant of God — averse from God — 
 and afraid of God. Jesus Christ revealed the Father 
 to me — took away the enmity — and opened a way 
 of access with boldness and confidence. I under- 
 stood how " God was in Christ, reconciling the world 
 unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 
 them."^ O the depth, the wisdom, the harmony, of 
 my Father's counsels, as "the Spirit took of them" 
 for Christ's sake, "and showed them unto me"! O 
 the exceeding glory and excellence of my Father's 
 character, as I studied it in Him " who is the bright- 
 ness of the Father's image, in whom dwelleth all 
 the fulness of the Godhead bodily"!^ Then I per- 
 ceived how the doctrine of " the cross, while to some 
 it is a stumbling-block, and to others foolishness, is 
 nevertheless to those who are saved, the power of 
 God and the wisdom of God." * In the incarnation, 
 life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I beheld 
 the love of God manifested, his law exalted, his jus- 
 tice satisfied, and my salvation complete. I knew 
 by my own joyful experience "that God has given 
 unto us eternal life, and that this life is in his Son.""* 
 Poor infidel, whoever thou art, my brother or 
 sister in sin and misfortune! cast not these pages 
 from thee as the ravings of enthusiasm. Scoff at 
 
 i Rom. iii. 25, 26. '^ 2 Cor. v. 19. '^ Heb. i. 3; Col. ii. 9. 
 * 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. 5 1 John v. 11. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 145 
 
 tliem I know thou wilt, unless the Spirit of God 
 arrest thy heart as he did mine. But remember 
 that they are written by one who once held the same 
 sentiments with thyself. Consider that so wonder- 
 ful a revolution in these sentiments could not have 
 been eflected and persisted in without some reasons 
 for such a change. I have told thee how I came to 
 the knowledge of what I believe to be the truth. 
 The experiment I made use of was simple and easy, 
 and, in my case, conclusive. Would it not be more 
 candid on thy part to try the same test, than to 
 scoff at what thou hast not tried ? All I ask is, that 
 when any thing I say appears mystical or extrava- 
 gant, thou wouldst try for thyself, whether a perse- 
 vering use of "the Test of Truth" may not make it 
 appear plain and reasonable. 
 
 The grand difference which I found between the 
 remedy offered by the Bible, and that of every other 
 religion in the world, was this. They all hold out 
 to us insufficient motives for action, and direct us to 
 an insufficient source of strength. The motive of 
 our virtue is to be self-esteem or the applause of 
 others. Our strength is to be derived from our own 
 resolutions or reasonings. The Bible, on the con- 
 trary, forbids us to think highly of ourselves, or to 
 "receive honour one of another:" it commands us 
 to " seek the honour which cometh of God only." ^ 
 The love of our reconciled God in Christ Jesus, 
 sweetly rekindling our long-extinguished affections 
 to him, is to be the motive of all our actions. Now, 
 
 1 Rom. xii. 3, 10; Phil. ii. 3; John v. 44. 
 
146 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 this motive will last as long as the love of God lasts ; 
 that is, to all eternity. Human motives are perish- 
 able. The praise we so eagerly covet, disappoints 
 our expectation when it is obtained. And what 
 self-esteem can quiet a wounded conscience? Be- 
 sides, the Bible motive is worthy of a rational being. 
 Human motives are such, that those who are most 
 influenced by them are ashamed to own them. 
 Love, divine love, purifies, and ennobles, and satisfies 
 the soul : it makes the source of actions pure, and 
 then the actions themselves must be so. Human 
 motives debase the soul, and render it mean and 
 selfish: they must in the end prove unsatisfactory: 
 they pollute the source of actions, and make men 
 like painted sepulchres, fair without, but hollow and 
 rotten within. And as for strength, while the Bible 
 assures us that all human efforts and resolutions are 
 frail as the bruised reed and transitory as the morn- 
 ing dew, it informs us that "the grace of Jesus is 
 sufficient for us," and that we " can do all things 
 through Christ which strengtheneth us."^ I applied 
 for this grace and this strength. I did not apply in 
 vain. 
 
 One peculiarity in the Scripture remedy struck 
 me as very remarkable. This was the pains taken 
 to pour contempt upon all human pride and glory. 
 As we fell by pride and independence, we must be 
 restored by humility and dependence. The Scrip-' 
 tures leave us not one single thing in ourselves 
 whereof to glory. The. " wise man must not glory 
 
 1 2 Cor. xii. 9; Phil. iv. 13. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 147 
 
 in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his might, nor 
 the rich man in his riches." ^ All boasting is forever 
 excluded. If we come to God, it must be as sinners 
 through Christ. If we receive heaven, it must be 
 as the purchase of Christ's merits, not of our own 
 deservings. From first to last, the Christian is 
 taught to say, " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, 
 but unto thy name give glory." ^ 
 
 6. During this reading, I discovered the reason 
 which had so long prevented me from receiving the 
 truth as it is in Jesus, and from finding in the Scrip- 
 tures those treasures of wisdom and gladness which 
 they contain. "They that be whole," says this 
 divine philosophy, "need not a physician, but they 
 that are sick."^ So long as I knew not that my 
 soul was altogether infected with the dreadful malady 
 of sin, it was not possible for me to appreciate His 
 love, who came to save me from my sins. But when 
 the Holy Spirit taught me that I was utterly undone 
 and unclean, then the knowledge of Him who " is 
 able to save to the uttermost," and whose "blood 
 cleanseth from all sin," became the only cordial 
 which could relieve my fainting spirits. From that 
 moment I ceased to stumble at the doctrine of the 
 cross. I was a sinner, I wanted a Saviour. In Jesus 
 Christ I found all my wants .-atisi;; d. I fled for 
 refuge to this hope, which had been thus unexpect- 
 edly set before me. Into his hands I have committed 
 my spirit, and I know "that he is able to keep that 
 which I have committed to him."* Thus will you, 
 
 1 Jer. ix. 23. * Psalm cxv. 1. 3 Matt. ix. 12. * 2 Tim. i. 12. 
 
148 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 when God shows you that you are vile and con- 
 demned and hateful in his sight, experience the 
 sweetness of the name of Jesus. 
 
 7. The Scriptures afford me a clue to many things 
 which have embarrassed the most penetrating un- 
 derstandings. One of these things was the reason 
 why it happens that this book appears full of absurdi- 
 ties and contradictions to an unconverted person; 
 while the believer views it as a glorious whole, all 
 whose parts are in perfect unison and explain and 
 illustrate each other. And this is the reason: — 
 " The natural man understandeth not the things of 
 the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; 
 neither can he know them, because they are spirit- 
 ually discerned." '' For the god of this world hath 
 blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the 
 glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them."^ 
 The doctrines of Scripture, which had before ap- 
 peared to me an inexplicable mass of confusion and 
 contradictions, were now written on my understand- 
 ing with the clearness of a sunbeam. For, saith 
 the same Scripture, "God, who commanded the 
 light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our 
 hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the 
 glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." ' 
 
 Above all, that once abhorred doctrine of the 
 divinity of Christ was now become exceeding pre- 
 cious to me. From my inmost soul I recognized 
 Jesus as my Lord and my God. Of this change in 
 my views, I also found an account in Scripture. 
 
 1 1 Cor. ii. 14 ; 2 Cor. iv. 4. 2 i Cor. iv. 6. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 149 
 
 "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the 
 Holy Ghost." ^ Nominal Christians may indeed 
 call him Lord, Lord, with their lips, and in the 
 externals of a formal devotion, but their hearts 
 cannot go along with their professions, until the 
 Spirit of God convince them. 
 
 I was sensible that a vast revolution had been 
 effected in my temper, views, and dispositions. For 
 this I should have been at a loss to account, had not 
 the same Bible furnished me with a solution of the 
 mystery. " If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a 
 new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all 
 things are become new." * 
 
 The external evidences of Christianity, though I 
 now perceived all their force, were no longer neces- 
 sary to my conviction. I need no proofs to convince 
 me that the sun is shining at mid-day. I needed 
 none to convince me that the love of my reconciled 
 God and Father was shining full upon my soul, with 
 an enlightening, purifying, and vivifying influence. 
 When objections assailed me, I found myself much in 
 the situation of the man who opposed to all the cavils 
 of the Jews this simple yet irresistible answer: — 
 " "Whether these things be as ye say, I know not ; — 
 one thing I knoiv, — that whereas I was blind, now I 
 seer^ 
 
 Having formed my opinions solely by the word 
 of God, my attention was naturally attracted by the 
 various sects of Christianity with which this land of 
 toleration abounds. I belonged to the Established 
 
 1 1 Cor. xii. 3. 2 2 Cor. v. 17. » John x. 25, 
 
 13* 
 
150 THE TEST OF TRUTH. 
 
 Church, and found every reason to continue within 
 her walls. But in every sect which took the pure 
 unadulterated Bible for its standard, I perceived a 
 small number of persons who desired no other hap- 
 piness than the love of God. These, I observed, to 
 whatever denomination they belong, loved and un- 
 derstood one another, but were often hated and mis- 
 construed by the rest of mankind. If they differed 
 as to some points of minor importance, they were, 
 however, unanimous upon the grand essentials of 
 religion. In this one point especially, I found them 
 to be all perfectly agreed among thems^ves, and 
 perfectly opposed to all other men : — they with one 
 consent ascribed to Jesus the whole glory of their 
 salvation, acknowledging no merit in themselves 
 which could possibly interest God in their favour. 
 
 At the same time, I could not help perceiving 
 that in every persuasion (my own not excepted) 
 the majority were Christians only in name, and in 
 reality believed in God no more than the professed 
 free-thinker believes in him. For this one thing is 
 certain. If they did really believe in the Bible, 
 they would be more intent upon escaping the threat- 
 enings and gaining the promises of the Bible, than 
 they are upon the riches, honour, pleasures, or learn- 
 ing of this world. But the contrary is the fact. 
 They are more intent upon the riches, honour, plea- 
 sures, or learning of this world, than upon escaping 
 the threatenings, or gaining the promises, of the 
 Bible. Therefore, they do not believe the threaten- 
 ings or promises of the Bil)le. If they believed 
 
THE TEST OF TliUTII. 151 
 
 them, tliey would act upon them. By not acting 
 upon them, they prove that they do not believe them. 
 To believe really in God, is to be convinced that he 
 is something better than the world, and better than 
 self. It implies therefore a hearty and entire renun- 
 ciation of the World and self; and a hearty and 
 entire devotion of ourselves to God, as to something 
 incomparably better. 
 
 In the few then of every denomination, I recog- 
 nized the true Church of Christ. At first the small 
 number of real Christians perplexed me, and I 
 anxiously exclaimed. Are there §b few that be saved ? 
 But I remembered that even this circumstance added 
 its testimony to the veracity of the Scripture state- 
 ment, which always represents the Church of Christ 
 as a little flock,^ exposed to the hatred and derision 
 of the larger portion of mankind, who should con- 
 tinue obstinate in their monstrous rebellion against 
 the Most High. Besides this, when I reflected on 
 the mightiness of the change which must take place 
 in every sinner's heart before he could sincerely love 
 God, and the necessity of his submitting to be viewed 
 with contempt and disgust by many w^ho before had 
 loved and courted him, I rather marvelled at the 
 miracle of divine grace, by which any are saved, than 
 inquired, why so few? But I found from the pro- 
 phetic writings that the number of Christ's enemies 
 shall not always exceed that of his friends. The time 
 is not far distant when "the earth shall be filled with 
 the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'"' 
 
 1 Luke xii. 32. ^ Isaiah xi. 9. 
 
152 THE TEST OF TKUTH. 
 
 I have endeavoured briefly to recapitulate the 
 chief reflections which occurred to me while I was 
 reading the Bible, with the help (as I verily believe) 
 of the Spirit of Jesus. From that time I have con- 
 tinued to sit at the feet of Jesus, and to hear his 
 word; taking him for my Teacher and Guide in 
 things temporal as well as spiritual. He has found 
 in me a disciple so slow of comprehension, so prone 
 to forget his lessons and to act in opposition to his 
 commands, that were he not infinitely meek and 
 lowly in heart, he w^ould long ago have cast me off 
 in anger. But he 'still continues to bear with me, 
 and to give me line upon line, and precept upon pre- 
 cept. And I am certain that he will never leave 
 me nor forsake me; for though I am variable and 
 inconstant, "with him there is no variableness, 
 neither shadow of turning." * 
 
 In narrating the means by which I was draAvn 
 forth out of the horrible abyss of infidelity, my 
 design has been to give some idea of the process, 
 which must take place in every sinner's heart, before 
 he can know, or desire to know, the God who gsa^e 
 him being. And thus it must be with you. You 
 must be roused to a lively sense of the importance 
 of knowing God; — must be convinced that you 
 have hitherto lived in a state of blindness and 
 enmity against him : — you must learn that all your 
 fancied wisdom is mere folly in his sight ; and must 
 be ready to receive the truth as God is pleased to 
 reveal it. Instead of insolently dictating the way 
 
 ^ James i. 17. 
 
THE TEST OF TRUTH. 153 
 
 in ■svliich God shall deal with his offending creature, 
 you must lay down the arms of your rebellion, and 
 accept of pardon and peace npon his terms. When 
 these dispositions are wrought in your heart (and 
 they can be wrought only by a Divine Power), tlien 
 the Lord will reveal himself to you, show you the 
 truth of his Everlasting Gospel, and bring the sal- 
 vation of Jesus home to your heart. I ask you not to 
 believe any thing upon my word. That were indeed 
 foolish, when you cannot take it upon God's word. 
 But I beseech you to make trial of God's word. 
 Reject it not till you have put it to the test I have 
 proposed to you. Examine thus for yourselves. 
 Know whether the God of Scripture be, as he is 
 there styled, "the God who heareth prayer." And 
 we, "who have tasted that the Lord is gracious," 
 will not cease to pray for you, that "the God 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may 
 give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation 
 in the knowledge of him : the eyes of your under- 
 standing being enlightened, that ye may know wljat 
 is^he hope of his calling, and what the riches of 
 the glory of his inheritance in the saints; and what 
 is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward 
 who believe, according to the working of His Mighty 
 Power." Amen. — Eph. i. 17-19. 
 
THE FREENESS OF GRACE 
 
THE FREENESS OF GRACE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 An obscure or imperfect view of one doctrine 
 often leads to the rejection of another. Thus I 
 have always found, that those who conscientiously 
 reject the doctrine of election, do so from an inabil- 
 ity to take into the account the absolutely free and 
 unconditional nature of God's grace in pardoning 
 sinners ; and I believe the clearness of our views of 
 this latter doctrine to be, in most cases, commensu- 
 rate with our deep and abiding conviction of man's 
 utter and original depravity. 
 
 This may happen to real Christians. A person 
 may see enough of the sin of his heart and life, to 
 come heartily to Christ for salvation, and yet he 
 may not be so deeply convinced of his entire ruin 
 in the fall, and of the desperate wickedness and 
 utter helplessness of his nature from the very woml), 
 as to perceive the justice, or even the necessity, of 
 the doctrine of election. 
 
 14 157 
 
158 ON ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 Yet a very clear conviction of our natural enmity 
 against God, and of our entire inability to seek or 
 to choose any thing that is good, plainly involves 
 with it a conviction that if we love God it must be 
 because he first loved us ; that if we choose Christ 
 and his ways at all, it can be ascribed to no other 
 cause than that he first chose us, — or, in other words, 
 that we are elect, according to the foreknowledge 
 of God. 
 
 Such being my view of the case, I entreat my 
 reader's attention while I say a few words on the 
 doctrine of original sin. It is the very first lesson 
 in the school of Christ; and it is only by being well 
 rooted and grounded in these first principles that 
 we can hope to go on to perfection. The doctrine 
 is written in Scripture as with a sunbeam. If we 
 do not feel some conviction of it in our own hearts, 
 it aflTords a sad proof that we still belong to that 
 " generation that is pure in their own eyes, and yet 
 is not washed from their filthiness." ^ " All the ways 
 of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord 
 weigheth the spirits." ^ With him a high look, and 
 a proud heart, an idle word, and a light thought, is 
 sin. His law is spiritual, reaching to every thought 
 and intent of the heart. "Whosoever shall keep 
 the whole law, and yet ofl^end in one point, he is 
 guilty of all."' 
 
 If then we say that we have no sin, we make God 
 a liar ; but if we allow that we sin at all, then must 
 we allow that our whole nature is sinful and corrupt. 
 
 ^ Prov. XXX. 12. 2 Prov. xvi. 2. ^ James ii. 10. 
 
ON ORIGINAL SIN. 159 
 
 At least our Saviour thought so. He declares that 
 corrupt fruit only can come from a corrupt tree: 
 corrupt doings, of a corrupt nature. "A good tree 
 cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt 
 tree bring forth good fruit." ^ As if our blessed 
 Saviour had said, *'Be consistent; either say at once 
 that ye know no sin, or if indeed conscience wit- 
 nesses that ye do sin every day and every hour of 
 your lives, then confess that your corrupt doings 
 proceed from a nature inherently corrupt. If your 
 nature were a good, a holy nature, it could not be 
 thus continually putting forth the evil fruit of unholy 
 actions. The clusters that bow down the branches 
 of the vine may become less luxuriant, but still they 
 are grapes ; no change of season or of climate can 
 cause it to teem with the unsightly fruit of the 
 bramble, or the tasteless berries of the thorn. Look 
 then no longer for any thing good in yourselves ; it 
 is to look for grapes on thorns, or figs on thistles. 
 Once I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right 
 seed ; but now are ye turned to the degenerate plant 
 of a strange vine unto me. The parent stock be- 
 came corrupt, and spread corruption through all its 
 branches. One only hope remains for you. Con- 
 fess your sin and misery, and seek to be grafted, 
 contrary to nature, into me the true vine: thus 
 abiding in me, and I in you, ye, who in yourselves 
 can do nothing, shall in me bear much and good 
 fruit." The fountain of humanity has been poisoned 
 at its very head, and will bring forth nothing but 
 
 1 Matt. vii. 18. 
 
160 ON ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 pollution : " the heart is deceitful above all things, 
 and desperately wicked;"^ out of it flow, as from 
 their natural source, evil thoughts, adulteries, mur- 
 ders, and all that train of corruptions mentioned by 
 our Lord in Mark vii. 21, 22. "Good Master, what 
 shall I, do to inherit eternal life? Why callest thou 
 me good ? There is none good but one, that is God." ^ 
 These words of our Lord again seem to imply, " Be 
 consistent; either admit that I am God, or if you 
 will have it that I am but a mere man like yourself, 
 then ascribe no goodness to me; for know that in 
 man dwelleth no good thing." "Suppose ye that 
 these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans 
 because they suffered such things? I tell you nay; 
 but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."' 
 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh.* They 
 that are in the flesh cannot please God."-"* Why so? 
 Because "the carnal mind is enmity against God, 
 for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed 
 can be."^ O how the very opinions of men on this 
 subject prove the depth of their blindness and per- 
 verseness! that they ^vill persist in saying, "I am 
 rich and increased with goods, and have need of 
 nothing:" w^hen He wdio trieth the heart and reins 
 has afiirmed of them that they are "wretched, and 
 poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked." ^ 
 
 The Scripture history of man opens with these 
 words, " And God said, Let us make man in our own 
 image, after our likeness. So God created man in 
 
 1 Jer. xvii. 9. 2 Mark x. 17. ^ Luke xiii. 2, 3. ^ John iii. 6. 
 5 lioin. viii. 8. ^ Rom. viii. 7. ' llcv. iii. 17. 
 
ON ORIGINAL SIN. 161 
 
 his own image; in the image of God created he 
 him."^ "God is a spirit;"^ it must, therefore, have 
 been in his spiritual image that man was created. 
 In holiness, in happiness, in knowledge, such as 
 become his state, — in these things man resembled 
 his Maker. 
 
 Now, it is veiy remarkable that after the fall, 
 we are expressly told, that "Adam begat a son in 
 his own likeness after his image," ^ that is, as unlike 
 the original holy image of God as darkness is to 
 light, or corruption to incorruption. For would we 
 ascertain from the mouth of God himself, what man 
 was then like, let us go a chapter or two further, 
 and we shall find the Lord looking down upon his 
 ruined creation, upon those things which his hand 
 had made, and which he had once pronounced to be 
 very good. 
 
 Now "God looked upon the earth, and behold it 
 w^as corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way 
 upon the earth;* and God saw that the wickedness 
 of man was great in the earth, and that every imagi- 
 nation of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
 continually." ^ Can the Spirit of truth testify of our 
 character in pkainer or in stronger terms? 
 
 But lest those who resist even the Spirit wheji his 
 words would convince them of sin, should object 
 that this description is only applied to the wicked 
 generation that was swept away by the flood, God 
 has provided against this subterfuge. 
 
 1 Gen. i. 25, 27. 2 John iv. 24. » Gen. v. 3. 
 
 4 Gen. vi. 12. ^ Gen. vi. 5, 
 
162 ON ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 The windows of heaven are stopped; the rain 
 from heaven is restrained ; the waters return from 
 off the earth; and the ark rests upon the mountains 
 of Ararat. Eight chosen persons, the remains of 
 the once countless multitude, come forth from this 
 hiding-place of the Lord's providing, and join to- 
 gether in a sacrifice of thanksgiving which rises up 
 as a sweet-smelling savour before God.^ Let us 
 pause a moment to see what we can collect from 
 Scripture concerning the persons who knelt around 
 the family altar. One of them is cited as a pattern 
 of holiness throughout the Old and New Testaments. 
 We learn but little of his three sons : yet an act of 
 filial piety is recorded of two of them which, to- 
 gether with the blessing of their inspired father, 
 mark them, in our esteem, for holy men. Nothing 
 is told us concerning their wives : yet we may not 
 unfiiirly suppose that out of this little female rem- 
 nant there would be some who, like their husbands 
 and father, walked with God. So that we have 
 here eight persons, of whom we know that three 
 were good, and we know only of one who was wicked. 
 Now it was upon this very occasion, in which the sweet 
 savour of this very sacrifice was ascending before 
 God, that he said, "1 will not again curse the ground 
 any more for man's sake; for the imagination of 
 man's heart is evil from his youth." ^ AVhat, still evilf 
 Still does the Holy Ghost bear his testimony against 
 man? Yet not one of all that rebellious generation 
 remains. Mankind is reduced to an exceeding small 
 1 Gen. viii. 20, 21. 2 Gen. viii. 21. 
 
ON ORIGINAL SIN. 163 
 
 compass. Never has the earth been so purified. 
 Never since has it contained so select an assembly as 
 that which we are now considering. Yet still — still 
 the character of man is thus given by Him ivho can- 
 not lie. "The imagination of man's heart is evil 
 from his youth:" — the heart of the righteous Noah, 
 no less than that of the ungodly Ham ; for had there 
 been an exception in so small a circle, the Judge of 
 the whole earth would not have included them all 
 in the same sweeping accusation. Moreover, he de- 
 clares that the heart of man ivill be always evil: for 
 that is the very reason he gives why he will curse 
 the ground no more for man's sake. He does not 
 say, "I w^ill not do it again, because they will im- 
 prove— ^their hearts will grow better;" but, "I will 
 do so no more, because the heart of man is evil from 
 his youth." Not all the waters of the flood can wash 
 out the guilty stain which Adam has entailed upon 
 his children — not all the waters of the flood can 
 cleanse the earth, so long as one of Adam's sin-defiled 
 race shall remain upon its surface. And to this 
 day, if we had no other witness to testify against us 
 that our hearts are evil, yet have we an accusing 
 monitor in the clouds, even the bow of the covenant 
 which God has set there for a sign to us, that he will 
 not in our days bring the waters to cover the earth; 
 because the imaginations of the thoughts of our 
 hearts are evil — only evil — evil continually — evil from 
 our youth. The Hebrew word rendered imaginations 
 is, as we learn from the marginal notes, much 
 stronger than the interpretation conveys an idea of, 
 
164 ON ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 since it signifies the whole intents, purposes, and 
 desires of the heart. 
 
 Would we know the reason of this indelible pol- 
 lution, which fallen man has transmitted to his 
 latest descendants? let that given by Scripture 
 suffice : — ^'Who can bring a clean thing out of an 
 unclean? not one."^ But is not the new-born babe 
 innocent? Yes, from the commission of actual sin, 
 but not from the pollution of a nature altogether 
 sinful ; for who can bring a clean thing out of an 
 unclean? "Death passed upon all men, for that all 
 have sinned."^ Why then is death so often com- 
 missioned to snatch away the babe in the first hour 
 of its existence? — why, but because that babe is a 
 sinful creature? Sin, that root of bitterness, has 
 already shot its fibres into the inmost soul. That 
 infant, "born of the flesh, is flesh," ^ and "as such 
 cannot please God"* — cannot bring forth any other 
 than the accursed fruits of the flesh. As surely as 
 the cockatrice' egg will hatch into a viper, so surely 
 Vvill the babe born of unclean parents be itself un- 
 cleanj so surely it will be "by nature a child of 
 wrath, even as others." ^ And therefore it is as the 
 apostle tells us, that "Death reigneth over all, even 
 over all them that have not sinned after the simili- 
 tude of Adam's transgression." ^ I entertain not a 
 doubt that these little ones are redeemed by the 
 blood of Jesus; but that they need redemption, that 
 they are sinners, — children of wrath by nature,— 
 
 1 Job xiv. 4. '^ Rom. v. IL'. » .L.hn iii. 6. 
 
 * Rom. viii. 8. 5 Ephes. ii. 3. ^ Horn. v. 14. 
 
ON ORIGINAL SIN. 165 
 
 of this truth I am equally Avell assured, and every 
 little mound in the churchyard seems to have a 
 voice that tells me .so. 
 
 The baptism of infants is a striking recognition 
 of their ruined and sinful state by nature; for what 
 is baptism but a sign of the washing away of the 
 filth of our polluted nature? 
 
 Let not any one so far misunderstand me as to 
 suppose that I think baptism is any thing more than 
 the outward sign of regeneration, or the washing away 
 of the filth of the flesh: though I believe that if we 
 carry little children in faith to Jesus, we have every 
 reason to hope that he will receive them in his arms 
 and bless them with the inward grace. But my object 
 here is solely to point out how in the baptism of in- 
 fants is acknowledged the doctrine of original sin. 
 
 The Holy Ghost has instructed the apostle to give 
 us such a full comment upon the spiritual death we 
 all die in Adam, that w^e cannot too often read and 
 pray over the following passages, Rom. v. 12, 21 ; 
 1 Cor. XV. 21, 22, 45, 49; Ephes. iv. 22, 24; Col. iii. 
 9, 10 ; there are many others in which our nature in 
 Adam is spoken of, in contradistinction to the new 
 and holy nature we receive in Christ Jesus. 
 
 The Scripture is so full of testimonies to this im- 
 portant truth, that it seems to mingle with every 
 other doctrine, and serves as a kind of master-key 
 to unlock every other mystery. Take away this, 
 and the Redeemer loses half his praise ; the types 
 and sacrifices of the law lose half their significancy; 
 for they shadow forth the sin of our nature, as well 
 
166 ON ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 as our actual transgressions, and Jesus came to de- 
 liver us from the guilt of our nature as well as from 
 the evil of our lives. Oh, Avhat an unmeaning heap 
 of words has been handed down to us in the law of 
 Moses, the Psalms of David, the confessions of Ezra, 
 Nehemiah, Job, Daniel, Jeremiah, and the rest of 
 God's saints, if that evil nature which caused them 
 to groan did not really exist ! Above all, what shall 
 we make of Romans iii. and vii. ? What shall we 
 understand by the conflict between the flesh and the 
 sjoirit, between the old man and the new man, be- 
 tween the carnal and spiritual affections? Was St. 
 Paul dreaming when he said, "I know that in me, 
 that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing" ?^ Was 
 he beside himself when he declared " that he found 
 in himself a law, that when he would do good, evil 
 was present with him"?'^ That though by divine 
 grace he had learnt "to delight in the law of God 
 after the inward man, yet still he saw another law 
 in his members, warring against the law of his mind, 
 and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin 
 which was in his members"?' The apostle of the 
 Gentiles, " who laboured more abundantly than they 
 all;"* he who "had been caught up to the third 
 heaven, and heard unspeakable words which it was 
 not lawful for him to utter" ^ amongst sinful men; 
 he who "counted all things but dung, that he might 
 win Christ;"^ he who was "ready, not only to be 
 bound, but also to die fot the name of the Lord 
 
 1 Rom. vii. 18. '^ Rom. vii. 21. ^ ii^m. vji, 22, 23. 
 
 4 1 Cor. XV. 10. 5 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. 6 phil. iii. 8. 
 
ON ORIGi:^AL SIN. 167 
 
 Jesus;"' this chosen vessel of mercy, full of zeal 
 and full of love, and under the immediate inspiration 
 of the Holy Ghost, so groaned under the burden of 
 the original corruption of his nature, the law of sin 
 warring in his members, that he was compelled to 
 cry out, " O wretched man that I am, who shall de- 
 liver me from the body of this death?'" And from 
 the time of Paul there has never been a real Chris- 
 tian who has not often felt himself constrained to 
 adopt his language, and to say, in the language of 
 his soul, "Who shall deliver me from the body of 
 this death?" The remedy, as is usual in Scripture, 
 follows close upon the complaint: "I thank God 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord." ' 
 
 In this epistle, the Holy Ghost is seen peculiarly 
 to fulfil his sacred office. He shall convince of sin, 
 of righteousness, and of justification. How strong 
 is the language in which he presses the first con- 
 demning testimony home to our shrinking conscious 
 'bosoms! How sweet and clear the second part of 
 his testimony, when he takes of the righteousness 
 of Jesus and shows it to us, yea, tells us that it is 
 ours, if we will cease to go about to establish our 
 own ! And when he is fulfilling the third part of his 
 mission, with what triumphant energy has he in- 
 spired the apostle to unfold to us how we are justified 
 freely by his grace, acquitted so that none can lay 
 aught to our charge, not Satan himself, that accuser 
 of the brethren ; for the prince of this world is 
 judged, Satan bruised under our feet! 
 1 Acts xxi. 13. 2 Rom. vii. 13. » Rom. vii. 25. 
 
168 .ON ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 But to return to my subject: "We have before 
 proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all 
 under sin, as it is written, There is none righteous, 
 no, not one: there is none that understaudeth, there 
 is none that seeketh after God, they are all gone out 
 of the way, they are together become unprofitable, 
 there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their 
 throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they 
 have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their 
 lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; 
 their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and 
 misery are in their ways ; and the way of peace have 
 they not known ; there is no fear of God before their 
 eyes." Romans iii. 9-17; which compare v/ith 
 Psalm liii. .Now, since God the Spirit knew the 
 hearts of his creatures, and has given this as a faith- 
 ful portrait of the real character of every individual 
 upon the face of the earth; it follows that all have 
 that original sin, which is the fruitful source of all 
 evil actions and dispositions. 
 
 IVe have now brought our testimony from the 
 "three that bear witness in heaven," — having heard 
 from God the Father, that the imagination of man's 
 heart is only evil from his youth ; — from God the 
 Son, that out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, 
 blasphemy, pride, foolishness ; that the corrupt heart, 
 like a corrupt tree, can only bring forth corrupt fruit ; 
 — and from God the Spirit, that the carnal mind is 
 enmity against God ; that in us dwelleth no good thing. 
 
 Now, as to all those vain and curious questions 
 which men, who would be wise above that which is 
 
ON ORIGINAL SIN. - 169 
 
 written, have raised on the nature and causes of 
 original sin, and how it is conveyed from Adam to 
 his fallen race — with all these I would have nothing 
 to do. All I want to insist upon, is the doctrine as 
 it stands in every part of the Bible; and as it is exempli- 
 fied in the heart of every individual upon the face of 
 the earth. In our own heart we cannot but find it, if 
 we will let conscience do its office. Let, then, " every 
 mouth be stopped, and all the world become guilty 
 before God."^ Let us pray that the Spirit of truth 
 would convince of what is written in the Word of 
 Truth — that he would make " the burden of original 
 sin grievous and intolerable" to us: for till we thus 
 perceive the truth, so as really to groan under the 
 weight of our corrupt nature, we shall not discover 
 the necessity of that new and holy nature, without 
 which we cannot enter the kingdom of God. "They 
 that be whole need not a physician.""^ They that 
 be righteous desire not a Saviour. They that ac- 
 knowledge sin in 2:)art, but not that they are u'holly 
 depraved — estranged from the womb, — these, not con- 
 scious that the whole garment is spotted by the flesh, 
 will seek to patch new cloth on the old garment, and 
 so will but make the rent worse : they will seek to 
 put the new wine into old bottles — and what wonder 
 if the old bottles burst, and the wine run out, and 
 the bottles perish? No — the whole man must be 
 renewed; and such as feel not their need of this 
 thorough renovation have not yet made the first 
 step towards the possession of eternal life. For how 
 1 Roin. iii. 19. 2 Matt. ix. 12. 
 
 15 
 
170 ON ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 can we be alive to God without knowing that we were 
 once " dead in sins" ? ^ How be restored to the Shep- 
 herd of our souls, without knowing that by nature 
 we were as sheep going astray?^ How become chil- 
 dren of grace, and yet not know that we "were by 
 nature children of wrath even as others"?^ What 
 should we think of the man, who was born blind, 
 if, when he was restored to sight, he had professed to 
 be ignorant that he was born blind? This cannot 
 be : therefore as in nature, so in grace. Those who 
 have been really converted from a state of nature, 
 all join in their confessions of that state. I was 
 blind; but now I see. I was dead; but now I am 
 alive. I was lost; but now am found. Nor do they 
 think they can too often revive their sense of God's 
 goodness and their own misery, by thus looking 
 back to " the rock from whence they were hewn — to 
 the hole of the pit from which they were digged."* 
 I conclude this subject in the words of one of the 
 brightest luminaries of the Church — he has been 
 called the judicious Hooker: had he lived in the 
 present age a far different title would have been 
 allotted to him ; for he is, of all authors I ever read, 
 the most full and decisive upon what are called Cal- 
 vinistic doctrines. " It may seem something extreme 
 which I will speak: therefore let every one judge it 
 as his own heart shall tell him, and no otherwise. 
 I will but only make a demand, — if God should 
 yield unto us, not as he did unto Abraham, if fifty, 
 forty, thirty: yea, or if ten good persons could be 
 
 1 Ephes. ii. 1, 5. 2 Isaiah liii. 6. 3 Ephes. ii. 3. * Isaiah li. 1. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 171 
 
 found in a city, for their sakes this city should not 
 be destroyed: but and if he should make us an 
 offer thus large — search all the generations of men 
 since the fall of our father Adam; find one man 
 that hath done one action which hath passed from 
 him pure without any stain or blemish at all ; and 
 for that one man's only action, neither man nor 
 angel shall feel the torments prej)ared for both. Do 
 you think that this ransom to deliver men and 
 angels could be found to be among the sons of 
 men?" 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON FREE GRACE. 
 
 The principal arguments drawn from Scripture 
 against the absolute freeness of Divine grace in 
 pardon, justification, and sanctification of sinners, 
 are such as these : that the threats and promises of 
 the gospel are usually expressed in a conditional 
 form; and that grace is promised to all who dili' 
 gently seek for it: this seeking then becomes a sort 
 of meritorious act, by which we attract the notice 
 or favour of God, and induce him to give us his 
 grace. We will endeavour to examine each of these 
 arguments separately. 
 
 And first, it must be allowed that there is a sense 
 in which both the threats and promises of the gospel 
 are conditional. As to the former of these, "the 
 
172 ON FREE GRACE. 
 
 soul that siniieth, it shall die:"^ "cursed is every- 
 one that continueth not in all things which are writ- 
 ten in the book of the law to do them :" ^ " whoso- 
 ever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one 
 point, he is guilty of all." ^ These are some of the 
 threats of that "God who is a consuming fire."* 
 And surely we have abundantly fulfilled the con- 
 ditions to which they are attached. Death — even 
 the death of the soul — is our well-earned wages. The 
 curse is our natural inheritance. We are born to 
 it: for we are conceived in sin — we are shapen in 
 iniquity — we go astray as soon as Ave are born, 
 speaking lies ; and every day, and every hour, and 
 every moment, do we confirm our right and title to 
 this inheritance; deserving, both by nature and 
 practice, the fulfilment of every one of the heavy 
 threats of that God w^ho cannot lie. Now, I would 
 ask, what efforts of our own can rescue us from the 
 fulfilment of these threatenings, since we are debtors 
 to do the whole law? and if we offend in one point, 
 we are guilty of all; and cursed are we if we con- 
 tinue not in all things written in the book of the law 
 to do them. We can but deserve them over and 
 over. Oh, talk not of conditions — tliese are the con- 
 ditions ! We have done our part — have irretrievably 
 ruined ourselves. We owe ten thousand talents, and 
 have nothing to pay! 
 
 But Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the 
 law, being made a curse for us. " Through this man 
 is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and 
 
 1 Ezekiel xviii. 20. 2^^1.111.10. 3 james ii. 10. .-» Deut. iv. 24. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 173 
 
 by him all that believe are justified from all things."^ 
 Pie, and he only, has borne the threats of God in his 
 people's stead; and he has borne them so completely 
 away, that they shall never be mentioned to believers 
 any more. Their sins have been transferred to 
 Jesus. "He himself bare them in his own body on 
 the tree." ^ Infinite justice has been appeased by an 
 infinitely complete satisfaction,' and now (oh, let us 
 lift up our hearts in gratitude unspeakable) "God 
 can be just, and the justifier of him which believcth 
 in Jesus." * Thus, if we believe in Jesus, we escape 
 the threatened curse of God, not because tve have 
 fulfilled one single condition, by which we might 
 have escaped it, but simply and solely because Jesus 
 has borne the curse for us. He has borne it all, and 
 he has borne it alo7ie. His almighty shoulders have 
 sustained the entire weight of the curse, one tittle 
 of which had been sufiicient to grind the whole human 
 race to powder. He has "blotted out the hand- 
 writing of ordinances that was against us, which 
 was contrary to us, and taken it out of the way, 
 nailing it to his cross." ^ And now, "Who shall 
 lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is 
 God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? 
 It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen 
 again," ^ thus proving that all is paid; for having 
 once as our surety taken upon himself our mighty 
 debt, we may rest satisfied that justice did not let 
 him go until he had paid the uttermost farthing. 
 
 1 Actd xiii. 38, 39. ^ 1 Peter ii. 21. 
 
 3 John i. 7; ii. 1, 3; Heb. ix. 14; x. 12-18. 
 " Rom. ill. 26. & Col. ii. 14. 6 Rom. viii. 33. 34. 
 
 15^;^ 
 
17 \ 0\ VMVV ^\V^\VV 
 
 Cousivlor tUo v>rosv< of Clunsl; who it was (hnt suf- 
 tvixni: — "Tho mighiv luui, tho OYorlav^tiviu" l\»tl\or. 
 tho Trinoo of IVuvv." ' //oir ho v^ulVoroii : — " hoU\>Ki 
 aiul soo it' ll\oiv bo any sorrow liko uwto tuy }Jv>nx>NV."* 
 Uoiuombor that Christ oruoitiovl iv^ "iho \\isih>i\\ ot' 
 Ctod and tho powor of t»od :""* aiul ihon say. wouKl 
 this u\iirhty phiu havo boon ilovisod \o avort tho 
 oui'so iVom man. if ho had boon ablo by any otlbrts 
 of his own to osoapo it? Uut thoro aro tha**o who 
 \villiniily allow that i'hrist has iKmo d ymii dmt 
 towards savinu" thoiu from tho wrath to oi>tno, but 
 not that ho has tiotio (}.7. It must bo a Uiiiil i>f joint 
 ?onoorn, ii\ whioh ho has oUiiUjiXMl to pay a pari, if 
 wo pay tho rost. His salvation is roi^ardoil as a sort 
 o( rosorvo to mako up dotioionoios. Truo, ho diod 
 for us. but thon hy nwist mrrit by roj^ontauoo tliat hid 
 doath bo appliovl to us: wo n\nst do what ur oan to 
 appoaso (.lod's jusli^w .and ho will ihrow his blood 
 into tlio soalo to nuiko up tho rost. 
 
 I do sii\ooroly boliovo that o( all tho dolusions 
 whirh Satan has suooivnlod in puttiu;;' into tho ho;ir(i< 
 ot' nuMi, ot' all his snbilo I'onirivaiu'os to rob Christ 
 of his Lvlory, this is tho tnastorinooo. For of Satan's 
 othor tloviooswo aro loss i^nvn-ant. but this ono ofton 
 oojuos to us dri^ssod up iu suoh a sp.H'iiMis shapo. as 
 to "doooivo, if possibK\ tho vory v^loot."* Many to 
 wlunn tho absuniity of purohasin*;- hoavon by thoir 
 own uoi>d works is sutliiiontly ovivlont: whi> sot* that 
 pardon is bou;:hl with tho pi'ooions bh^nl ol' Christ; 
 aro vol oapablo oi' tho still unvitor absurdity oi' 
 
 » l>;iinh iv Ik '' l.^nu I 1" ■• 1 t 
 
ON FJCKK (ifiACi.. 175 
 
 thinking to huy t}»at prcciouH hJood which i.H a/yO'^ 
 all price, with the poor irnperi'fcct offer of a few Hi;^li« 
 and tearn which they call ropcritanco. And wfuit 
 Ih thin repentance? A Ian I they have, never repented 
 at all, if they be not ready from the heart to 
 acknowledge;, with the excellent Jiinhop Beveridge, 
 "I cannot ho jnuch an confenn my ninn, but rny very 
 confeHHionH are an aggravation of them ; my repent- 
 ance need.s to be ref)ented of; my tearn want wanhing; 
 and the very waHJiingn of my tears need to be washed 
 over again, in the blood of my iiedeemer." 
 
 Then let \va freely acknowledge that the h(;avy 
 ];iird(i) (){' God'H wrath has been lifted away oidyhy 
 the atoiieirient of (yliri.Ht, and not by any Huperadrled 
 condition of our own performing. C'hri.st ha.s trodden 
 the wiiie-prcHH ofOod'H wrath alone, and of the people 
 there wa.s none with him. And an to rejK;ntance, 
 that in juHt an much the purchase of liin blood, as 
 heaven itself is.' "Thou hast destroyed thyself, but 
 in me is thine help,"' is the language of -Scripture 
 to all who an; looking round for some means of escape 
 from the angry Ihreatenings of (iod's word; some 
 refuge to which they may flee from the wrath to come. 
 
 Ah to the [>romiHeH, I dr> not say that they are 
 unconditional, eith(;r, but I do say that the condi- 
 tions on which they defjcnd ai'(; such as guilty man 
 is altogether inr;aj>able of performing. I do say 
 that Jesus, as our Surety, has performed all these /or 
 us, and hy liin S/jirit will ])erform them all, in us. 
 Through his perfect atonement we escape the threat- 
 
 ' Actfl V. rJI. 2 UuHi-ti xiii. 9. 
 
176 ON FREE GRACE. 
 
 euings; tliroiigh his unspotted obedience we become 
 heirs of the promises, — heirs of eternal life. For 
 if the blame of our sins has been imputed to him, 
 then has the merit of his righteousness been imputed 
 to us. "If he has been made sin for us, then have 
 we been made the righteousness of God in him."^ 
 And because the promises are ours for his sake, 
 therefore the conditions of them are worked in us 
 by his free Spirit ; " for it is not we who live the life 
 of faith, but Christ that liveth in us." ^ I am very- 
 earnest on this point, because I believe that every 
 thing we arrogate to ourselves in the work of re- 
 demption, is just so much taken from the finished 
 work of Jesus. It is indeed very natural to our 
 carnal minds to wish to have something of our own 
 to look at, to rest upon, to glory in; but in propor- 
 tion as we become spiritually-minded we shall dis- 
 cover that we have nothing of our own but sin and 
 misery and helplessness; we shall learn to say, 
 "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy 
 name give glory." "By grace ye are saved through 
 faith ; and even that faith is not of ourselves, it is 
 the gift of God : not of works, lest any man should 
 boast. "^ "The wages of -sin is death; but the gift 
 of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord."* Oh, then, may we, receiving "abundance 
 of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, reign in 
 life by one, even Jesus Christ."^ 
 
 One of the sweetest promises, upon which the 
 
 1 2 Cor. V. 21 ; Rom. iv. 6 ; xi. 24 ; v. 19 ; Gal. iii. 29. 
 
 2 Gal. ii. 20 ; John xv. 4, 5. 3 Eph. ii. 8, 9. 
 
 * Koai. vi. 2-). ^ lt:iin. v, 17 
 
02v fju:e gi;ace. 177 
 
 miiid of every Oiristian rests with luispeukabie de- 
 light, runs thus: "Him that cometh unto me, I Avill 
 in no wise cast out."^ Here is a condition, him that 
 cometh ; and a iwomise, I will not cast out. But 
 who are those that come to Jesus? "All that the 
 Father giveth me shall come to me." ^ "No man 
 can come to me, except the Father which hath sent 
 me draw him." ^ " No man can come to mc, except it 
 were given him of my Father."^ How distinctly 
 are we here told that the same free mercy which 
 promises to receive us when we come, must be put 
 -^orth to make us come, or ive never should come! 
 The promise will surely be fulfilled to all who obey 
 the condition, but none can obey the condition 
 save those to whom it is given. "If ye kee]) 
 my commandments, ye shall abide in my love."* 
 Precious promise! indispensable condition! For 
 how can such as delight not in holiness, abide in the 
 love of the most holy Jesus? Yet I will freely con- 
 fess, that if the performance of even this most just 
 and reasonable condition depended in any measure 
 on myself, I should think the Lord Jesus had most 
 cruelly mocked me, in setting before me a promise 
 which, in my case at least, must forever remain un- 
 fulfilled. But, blessings on his sacred name, he has 
 not made the promise without providing for the con- 
 dition ; having also promised to put his laws in my 
 mind and write them on my heart.* So that I look 
 on these very conditions as so many promises. As 
 
 1 John vi. 37. 2 John vi. 37. ' John vi. 44. 
 
 * John vi. 65. 5 John xv. 10. 6 jjcb. viii. 10. 
 
178 ON FREE GEACE. 
 
 tliough my Saviour had said, "Ye shall abide in my 
 love, for tJmt is unchangeable; but ye can by no 
 means abide in my love except ye keep my com- 
 mandments. Now ye are not able to do this : there- 
 fore, behold, I, even I, will write them in your hearts, 
 and copy them out in your lives. Freely then ap- 
 proach my throne of grace, and ask me for this 
 promise ; and as ye cannot so much as ask without 
 me, behold, I have promised to pour out upon you 
 the Spirit of grace and supplications, who shall 
 abide with you forever, teaching you both what to 
 pray for, and how to pray." ^ In short, I believe the 
 heart of every redeemed sinner will enter deeply 
 into the feeling which burns within mine while I 
 say. Thank God, that the promises are not yea and 
 amen in me, a miserable, weak, and sinful worm, in- 
 capable of i^erforming one single condition of them; 
 but they are all yea and amen to me in Christ Jesus. 
 For his sake, God will make them all good to me ; 
 yes, for his sake they are mine already. They are 
 my own inheritance, once forfeited by sin, but now 
 redeemed with the precious blood of Christ; my 
 purchased possession, which can never cease to be 
 mine till the price that was paid down for it ceases 
 to be precious in the Father's sight. They are the 
 sure and steadfast anchor of my soul ; the joy and 
 rejoicing of my heart; the song which enlivens this 
 house of my pilgrimage; better to me than life, 
 dearer than my necessary food; sweeter than honey 
 and the honeycomb ; more precious than fine gold ; 
 
 1 Zcch. xii. 10; Rom. viii. 26. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 179 
 
 purer than silver purified seven times. When my 
 soul pants after any of these most sweet and tender 
 unsealings of God's love, I will not, I cannot, go to 
 him and say, Lord, give me those promises because 
 I have performed the conditions of them, and am 
 therefore ivorthy that thou shouldest give them to 
 me. God forbid that I should take such a plea 
 within my lips, for in so doing my own heart would 
 condemn me, and God, who is greater .than my heart, 
 would condemn me. No : when I draw near to my 
 reconciled God and Father, I v/ill fill my mouth with 
 far other arguments than these. I will say to him, 
 Lord, thou knowest that I have not performed the 
 conditions of these promises, but Jehovah viy right- 
 eousness has fulfilled them all for me. I am not worthy 
 of the least of all thy mercies; but worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain ; and for his dear silke thou wilt 
 give me the best and greatest of them all ; and that ex- 
 ceeding abundantly above all that I can ask or think. 
 Every condition necessary to salvation is fulfilled 
 in us, not by any efforts of our own, but by our re- 
 ceiving continually grace for grace, out of the fulness 
 of Jesus. Kepentance is necessary, but we cannot 
 repent of ourselves; and therefore Jesus is exalted 
 to give repentance,^ It behoves us not only to 
 repent of, but to forsake, sin ; but sooner shall the 
 Ethiopian change his skin, and the leopard his spots, 
 than we shall do good, who are accustomed to do 
 evil; and therefore Jesus is sent to bless us, *'in 
 turning away every one of us from our iniquities."^ 
 1 Acts V. 31. 2 Acts iii. 26. 
 
180 ON FREE GRACE. 
 
 Faith is a necessary condition of salvation : " Believe 
 in tlie Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." ^ 
 "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life; he 
 that believeth not shall not see life."'' Yet this 
 same faith is the "gift of God."' It is "given to 
 us on the behalf of Christ, to believe."* "No man 
 can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy 
 Ghost." ^ Love is no less necessary than faith. "If 
 any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be ana- 
 thema maran-atha."^ But "the carnal or natural 
 mind is enmity against God."' And how then can 
 it act so directly against its own nature as to love 
 him? It is not only indifferent, not merely slightly 
 opposed, but in its very nature absolute enmity against 
 God. "Nor can it be subject to the law of God;"^ 
 for the fulfilling of that law is love. Miserably 
 hopeless then is our case, if that heart, which is thus 
 defined "enmity against God," must so overcome 
 the moral incapacity of its own nature as to fill 
 itself with love to him. But Jesus has reconciled 
 us who were alienated and enemies in our own minds 
 by wicked works; and /or /m sake "the love of God is 
 shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is 
 given to us."^ Good works are absolutely necessary 
 to salvation: "Herein is my Father glorified, that 
 ye bring forth much fruit." ^° "Faith without works 
 is dead: I will show thee my faith by my works."" 
 
 1 Acts xvi. 31. 2 John vi. 47 j iii. 36. * Ephes. ii. 8. 
 
 4 Phil. i. 29. 5 1 Cor. xii. 3 ; Matt. xvi. 17. 
 
 6 1 Cor. xvi. 22. ' Rom. viii. 7. ^ Rom. viii. 7. 
 
 » Col. i. 21 5 Rom. v. 5; 1 Tim. i. 14. lo John xv. 8. 
 
 " James ii. 19 20. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 181 
 
 But it has been already urged, that as the cor-' 
 rupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so neither 
 can we who are evil do good things. "There- 
 fore the children of God are his workmanshij), 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God 
 hath before ordained that we should walk in them."^ 
 True it is, that we are commanded to " work out our 
 own salvation with fear and trembling;" but the 
 reason follows — " for it is God that worketh in us to 
 will and to do of his own good pleasure."^ I have 
 used the word condition in this place, for the more 
 convenient exposition of my meaning; but- 1 con- 
 sider the use of it, as applied to iis, to be altogether 
 incorrect. Faith, love, holiness, &c. were indeed, to 
 Christ, conditions of our salvation ; but to us they 
 are the consequences of salvation; or rather they are 
 a part of our salvation, purchased for us by the 
 obedience and atonement of Jesus Christ, "who gave 
 himself for us that he might redeem us from all 
 iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, 
 zealous of good works." ^ 
 
 We find then in ourselves an utter poverty of 
 every thing that is spiritually good; "but God hath 
 blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ 
 Jesus."* We are nothing, can do nothing, say no- 
 thing, think nothing, but what is evil. "Christ is 
 all and in all." "Every good and every perfect 
 gift Cometh from above," and is given to us by the 
 
 1 Ephes. ii. 10. 
 
 2 Phil. ii. 12, 13; Isa. xxvi. 12; Hob. xiii. 20, 21. 
 
 3 Titus u. 14. 4 Ephes. i. 3. 
 
 in 
 
182 ON FREE GEACE. 
 
 Father, for his beloved Son's sake. " We are com- 
 plete in him."^ 
 
 I may seem to have often repeated the words 
 "gifts" and "given;" but they cannot come over too 
 often, nor be too earnestly dwelt on. The Scriptures 
 are perpetually renewing the delightful repetition, 
 and presenting the idea of somewhat gratuitously 
 bestowed, under every possible variety of language 
 and imagery. Sometimes they speak of buying the 
 gospel blessings, and tell us to " come and buy with- 
 out money and w^ithout price." ^ And what is this, 
 but to come and hold out the empty hand of faith 
 and receive as a free gift all that God will put into it ? 
 Sometimes they represent sin under the idea of a 
 vast debt, expressly declaring that "Jesus frankly 
 forgives all Avhen we have nothing to pay."^ So 
 long then as we think we have any tiling to pay, we 
 do not come under the descrij)tion of those to whom 
 Jesus frankly forgives all. But when convinced of 
 our depravity and helplessness, we come poor, naked, 
 and emjoty to Jesus, casting from us all confidence, 
 save only that which his tender love and mercy 
 excites, making mention of his righteousness, and 
 his only, then, and not till then, will he freely 
 pardon, freely clothe and enrich us, freely receive 
 us among the children, and make us perfect 
 through his own comeliness, which he puts upon • 
 the souls that simply trust in him. The poor 
 and needy, the weak and helpless, are his peculiar 
 
 1. Col. iii. 11 ; James i. 17 j Col. ii. 10. 
 
 3 Is liah Iv. 1. 3 Matt, xviii. 27. 
 
ON riiKE Gr.ACE. 183 
 
 care, wliile those who think they have any strength 
 or riches of their owji to trust to, are not objects 
 of his bounty, for "he feedeth the strong with 
 judgment,"' and "sendeth the rich empty away."^ 
 
 If any of the promises are conditional, those 
 which are expressed in the form of a covenant must 
 be of that description, since the very w^ord implies 
 a compact or agreement. Let us then inquire into 
 the terms of that covenant which God has Conde- 
 scended to make with his people. 
 
 We know the first covenant between God and 
 man, hoiv that ivas kept; and if man, as he came out 
 of the hands of his Creator, upright, innocent, and 
 holy, could not keep conditions which he knew to be 
 holy, just, and good, how shall fallen man, "in whom 
 dwelleth no good thing," keep any conditions fit for 
 a holy God to propose? I have heard it said, "By 
 sincere, though imperfect obedience:" both wdiich 
 terms, aj^plied in this sense, appear to me absolute 
 nonsense. Foi;, in the first place, is it not blas- 
 pheming the holiness and justice of God to suppose 
 that he "who cannot behold iniquity" will be satisfied 
 with an imjjerfect obedience? That he will let go a 
 little of his holiness, and a little of his justice, and 
 part altogether with his attribute of truth? For he 
 has said, That whosoever performs not the ivhole law, 
 is guilty of all; and that "he will by no means 
 clear the guilty."' In the next place, how can ive, 
 whose hearts are deceitful above all things and des- 
 
 1 Ezck. xxxiv. 15. 2 Luke i. 53. 
 
 ^ Isaiah ii. 10 ; Exodus xxxiv. 7. 
 
184 ON FEEE GRACE. 
 
 perately wicked,^ talk of sincere obedience? We 
 must have the deceitful heart taken away, and new 
 hearts created within us, before we can render a 
 sincere obedience ; and then it will be no longer our 
 own obedience. To express myself more clearly — 
 "works done before justification have the nature of 
 sin, and cannot so much as make us meet to receive 
 grace" (Art. 9) : these therefore must be wholly out 
 of the question, in any covenant, by which we think 
 to merit God's favour. "Works done after justifica- 
 tion," though miserably imperfect, "yet have some- 
 thing of the nature of sincere obedience:" but to 
 call these the cause, either directly or indirectly, of 
 our justification, when they cannot by any means be 
 produced till a/ter justification; this would be in the 
 most preposterous manner to confound the cause with 
 the effect, and to put the last first. Justification is 
 the producing cause; works done after justification 
 are the natural effect. Let me correct myself. The 
 free love of God in Christ is the sole cause both of 
 justification and sanctification ; but he has so ordered 
 it that the one shall ahvays follow the other in a fixed 
 and inseparable connection; and to say that good 
 works precede or occasion justification, is to say that 
 the fruit on the tree was there before ever the tree was 
 planted: nay, that had not the fruit first blossomed 
 and ripened, the tree had never come there at all : 
 it is, in fact, to say that the fruit planted the tree. 
 
 Let us cease then from attempting, in whole or in 
 part, to stand before God upon that covenant of 
 
 ^ Jeremiah xvii. 9. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 1S5 
 
 works which our father Adam, with all the advan- 
 tages of a sinless nature, did not keep. Far other 
 are the means of acceptance which the Scriptures 
 point out to us. They tell us that Jesus, "the second 
 Adam — the mediator of the new covenant," has 
 taken upon himself, as our surety, to perform all 
 the conditions annexed to it. He has borne all the 
 penalties due to our disobedience, and has wrought 
 out for us an obedience, so perfect, that the eye of 
 God himself can perceive no flaw in it; so infinitely 
 meritorious, that those poor sinners who have it on, 
 appear in the sight of the Father " without spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing:" they are all fair — there 
 is no spot in them.^ Place now our sincerest obe- 
 dience by the side of the righteousness of Jesus. 
 Compare our faint desires which expire in the utter- 
 ance; our tardy wishes which linger in the perform- 
 ance; our few specious actions whose fair outside is 
 a cloak to much that is selfish in the motives of them, 
 and much that is perverse in the will. Compare 
 this righteousness with the righteousness of Jesus; 
 of Him who " made it his meat and drink to do his 
 Father's will;" whose zeal for the house of God 
 "consumed him;" who did always such things as 
 pleased God; w^ho "knew no sin, neither was guile 
 found in his mouth;" who "was holy, harmless, uu- 
 defiled, separate from sinners," and himself made 
 higher than the heavens."^ Oh! who would appear 
 before God in his own filthy and ragged garments, 
 
 1 Ephes. V. 27; Cant. iv. 7. 
 
 ■■^ Joha ix. 34; Psalm Ixix. 9; Ileb. vii. 26. 
 
186 ON FREE GRACE. 
 
 \vlieii he might be arrayed iu the glorious aj^parel 
 of Christ's righteousness? AVhy — why cling any 
 longer to the idea of our own vrorks, as the means 
 of winniuo^ God's favour? Do we not see that this 
 covering is narrower than " that a man may wrap 
 himself in it" ? that it is not the covering of God's 
 Spirit? and above all I would ask — why mix what 
 God hath forever put asunder? Is not the right- 
 eousness of Jesus sufficiently meritorious, that it 
 must be helped out with our righteousness ? If it be a 
 perfect righteousness, what need of trying to improve 
 it by tacking to it some paltry mixture of our own 
 fancied deservings ! This is the folly of man — of 
 that vain worm who would be wiser than his Maker. 
 I cannot forbear mentioning in this place the 
 notable methods which some who call themselves 
 serious Christians, have hit upon to eke out that 
 perfect righteousness which they think to be insuffi- 
 cient, but which God has judged to be perfect and 
 entire, wanting nothing. There are some who look 
 upon the merits of Christ as given merely to supply 
 what is lacking in their own sincere obedience ; these 
 would cut such pieces out of the beautiful garment 
 as would serve to patch up their own filthy rags ; 
 forgetting that even the soldiei's, who crucified Christ, 
 refused to part his garment when they observed that 
 it was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 
 Others again profess to trust in Christ's righteousness, 
 but talk, I know not what, of deserving by their own 
 obedience that this righteousness may be applied to 
 them. These would put on the "spotless robe;" but 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 187 
 
 Christ must accept their own righteousness as a kind 
 of equivalent or compensation for it. A third sort 
 feel that they cannot do without Christ's righteous- 
 ness; but then it is not enough — they must also do 
 their part; and when they have done this, they 
 think that God will accept them : not for the sake 
 of theirs alone — for that would be presumption, nor 
 for the sake of Christ's alone — for that would be 
 licentiousness ; but in some way or other for the sake 
 of the two together. These truly would adorn the 
 "glorious dress" with their own faded tinsel picked 
 from the dunghill. They would make it more ac- 
 ceptable in God's sight by sewing on to it their own 
 filthy rags. It is not so with those who have learned 
 the truth " as it is in Jesus.'.' They desire with St. 
 Paul "to be found in him, not having their own 
 righteousness, which is of the law ; but that which is 
 through the faith of Christ — the righteousness wdnch 
 is of God by faith." ^ They know that Jesus has 
 "made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting 
 righteousness:"^ by which all the promises of the 
 new covenant are made as sure to believers as the 
 justice and faithfulness, the oath and counsel of 
 God can make them. Wonder not that the ministers 
 of Christ should be exceedingly jealous on this 
 point; for this is the wadding garment, without which 
 whoso dares to appear before God shall be bound 
 hand and foot and cast into outer darkness. 
 
 But to return to the promises of the covenant: for, 
 at the risk of apparent reiDCtition, I am desirous of 
 1 Phil. iii. 9. 2 Daniel ix. 24. 
 
188 ON FREE GRACE. 
 
 setting this most important subject in a clear point 
 of view ; — so far from holiness being made the con- 
 dition of our obtaining them, it is itself the great 
 promise insured to us by that covenant: "I will 
 make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will 
 not turn away from them to do them good; but I 
 will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not, 
 de2)art from me."^ "This is the covenant that I will 
 make with them — I will put my law in their inward 
 parts, and write it in their hearts." "^ 
 
 The character, by which the spirit of truth desig- 
 nates fallen men, is that of "covenant-breakers."' 
 " They," like men, " have transgressed the covenant."* 
 Isaiah says, " The earth is defiled under the inhabit- 
 ants thereof, because thay have transgressed the laws, 
 changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting cove- 
 nant."^ What then is the everlasting covenant? 
 And how are we " covenant-breakers" to derive any 
 benefit from it? Are the terms of the everlasting 
 covenant changed since God entered into covenant 
 with Adam as the representative of the whole human 
 race? Has the holy God ceased to stand upon a 
 perfect obedience? Will he accept less at our hands 
 than he would at those of our father Adam? Has 
 he reversed the decree, " The soul that sinneth, it 
 shall die"? No — the terms of the everlasting cove- 
 nant remain unchanged. God still requires a sinless 
 obedience, a righteousness without a flaw. More- 
 over, his justice demands satisfaction for his broken 
 
 1 Jer. xxxii. 40. * .Ter. xxxi. 'Xi. Sco, also, llcb. viii. 10 ; \ 10. 
 8 Rom. i. 31. * llosea vi. 7. ^ Isaiah xxiv. '6i. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 189 
 
 covenant. We can fulfil neither the one nor the 
 other of these requirements. But behold the second 
 Adam — who is the Lord from heaven ! With him 
 God hath established his covenant, as the represent- 
 ative of a remnant chosen according to the election 
 of grace. Jesus is the mediator and the surety of a 
 better covenant than that which was made with 
 Adam, or the typical covenant made with Moses. 
 And yet the terms of the covenants are the same — 
 perfect obedience; death in case of disobedience. 
 But the death has been borne by Him " who died 
 that we might live." The obedience has been ful- 
 filled by Him "through whose obedience many were 
 made righteous." Jesus, as the surety of the ever- 
 lasting covenant, has both paid the full penalty in- 
 curred by his people for the breach of the old cove- 
 nant, and has likewise performed for them every 
 condition of the new. "He was made sin for us." 
 We are "made the righteousness of God in him." 
 Thus, in the second Adam, we have paid to the 
 uttermost farthing both the debt of satisfaction and 
 the debt of obedience. In our surety Jesus we have 
 "received at the Lord's hand double for all our 
 sins," In our surety Jesus we have worked out our 
 title to eternal life: we become rightful heirs of tlie 
 promises. Thus God has made with his people " an 
 everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things, and 
 sure;" and this covenant is "all their salvation, and 
 all their desire." Moreover, this covenant, which 
 was confirmed of God in Christ before the world 
 was, cannot be disannulled by the covenant of works 
 
190 ON FREE GRACE. 
 
 made with Adam since the creation of the world, 
 nor by the law, which was added nearly 3000 years 
 afterwards. It is delightful to trace this covenant 
 from the beginning to the end of the Scriptures of 
 truth, as it was faintly revealed to Adam and Noah; 
 more clearly set forth to Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob ; typified in every part of the ceremonial law, 
 and foretold by the lawgiver Moses; as it was sung 
 by David, prophesied by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
 and the rest of the prophets ; manifested and fulfilled 
 in the life and death of Jesus; and explained and 
 enforced by the Apostle Paul and others of the holy 
 apostles. " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable 
 gift!" — for his free and complete salvation! for, if 
 it were not freely given, we could never attain to it; 
 and, if it were not complete loithoid our helj'), we 
 should be but half saved. Surely this of all others 
 is that " gift which is as a precious stone in the eyes 
 of him that hath it : which way soever it turneth, it 
 prospereth,"^ 
 
 The great question then about the promises seems 
 to be, not so much whether they are conditional, as 
 v.hether God looks to Christ, or to us, for the per- 
 formance of those conditions. If to Christ, the 
 burden is laid upon "one that is mighty:" if to us, 
 then w^e are undone; "for the condition of man after 
 the fall is such, that he cannot turn and 2yrepare 
 himself, by his own natural strength and good works, 
 to faith and calling upon God: wherefore we have 
 no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable 
 
 1 Proverbs xvii. 10. 
 
ox FREE GRACE. 191 
 
 to God, ^vitliout the grace of God by Christ jyrevoii- 
 ing lis, that we may have a good will, ivorldng in iis 
 when we have that good will." (Art. 10.) So tlien 
 "we are accounted* righteous before God, only /or 
 the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesiis Chrid hy 
 faith, and not for our own worhs and deservings: 
 wherefore, tliat we are justified by faith only, is a 
 most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, 
 as is more largely expressed in the Homily on Jus- 
 tification." (Art. 11.) 
 
 We now come to the second argument. — Grace 
 will be given to all who diligently seek for it. But 
 if we attend to the Scripture account of every man, 
 woman, and child by nature, we shall find that this 
 seeking also is the effect folloiuing upon grace received : 
 not the cause producing it. By this I mean to say 
 that the very act of seeking grace proves that ive 
 have received grace already; and that the very ability 
 to seek is itself the free gift of God's sovereign 
 grace. If every thought of man's heart is evil, and 
 that continually, surely it is not out of that heart 
 that the first desire of any good thing can spring. 
 If, by nature, there is none that seeJceth after God, 
 whence can the first attempt to seek him arise but from 
 free grace drawing us contrary to nature f Freely 
 must grace be given, to enable us to seek at first; 
 and freely must it be continued, to enable us to go 
 on seeking. I know that none shall seek the Lord in 
 vain; none who come shall be cast out; none who 
 believe shall come short of everlasting life; none who 
 choose the better jjart shall have it taken from them : 
 
192 ON FEEE GRACE. 
 
 but then none can seek the Lord, unless he first seek 
 them} None can come excejyt it be given them of the 
 Father; none can believe save as many as are or- 
 dained to eternal life; none can -choose Christ except 
 he first choose them} If again we consider the mag- 
 nitude of the change which must take place in every 
 sinner's heart before he can truly and earnestly seek 
 God, we shall be convinced that no part of it is pro- 
 perly his own. He must " be born again ;" ^ he must 
 " become a new creature ; old things must pass away, 
 all things must become 7iew;"^ he must "pass from 
 death unto life;"^ "from darkness to light — from 
 the power of Satan unto God;"^ — "from going about 
 to establish his own righteousness, to submit him- 
 self to the righteousness of God;"'^ and this, to a 
 proud carnal heart, is the most difficult of all. And 
 who is sufficient for these things? Who but he that 
 first formed us in the womb, can cause us to be born 
 again of the Spirit? Who but he that originally 
 created us, is able to create us anew in Christ Jesus? 
 A¥ho but the giver of natural life can give spiritual 
 life, "and quicken those that were dead in trespasses 
 and sins"?® 
 
 When the Lord of life stood by the grave of 
 Lazarus, and said, Lazarus, come forth, and he that 
 was dead instantly came forth; who would say that 
 this act of lifting himself up was the cause of his 
 
 1 John X. 16; Ezekiel xxxiv. 4; Luke xix, 10; Psalm cxix. 170; 
 Ephesians ii. 13. ^ John vi. 65; xv. 10; Acts xiii. 48. 
 
 3 John iii. 3. " 2 Cor. v. 17. ^ i jyii„ iij. 14. 
 
 « Acts xxvi. 11; 1 Peter ii, 9. ^ Rom. x. 3. « Eph. ii. 1. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 193 
 
 coming to life, and not ratlier that his coming to 
 life was the cause of his being able to lift himself 
 up? It is thus when Jesus by his word and Spirit 
 says to the heart of a sinner, "Awake, thou that 
 sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give 
 thee light." ^ Instantly that dead soul arises, and 
 its first act is seeking, or prayer; but this same act 
 of seeking is the effect of spiritual life, not the cause. 
 AYe pray because we are alive, not that we may live. 
 We cannot quicken ourselves when dead in sin, any 
 more than we can bring a dead body to life. But 
 when Jesus has quickened us, we shall as surely per- 
 form all those actions which demonstrate the soul 
 to be spiritually alive, as a dead body when raised 
 by divine power will surely perform all the functions 
 of a living person. Grace, great grace, must be in- 
 fused, to enable us to seek at all, and He who first 
 gave grace to seek, will give more grace in answer 
 to that seeking, thus fulfilling that precious scripture 
 which saith, "To him that hath shall be given.'"^ 
 We neither begin nor carry on the work of grace in 
 our own hearts. Jesus is the author and finisher, 
 the Alpha and Omega, of our faith. From the first 
 spark of grace that faintly glimmers upon us here, 
 to the full blaze of glory which shall burst upon us 
 in heaven, all, all, is his doing; it is he that made 
 us alive (spiritually), not we ourselves. It is God 
 who both begins the good work* in us, and also will 
 "perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ."^ 
 
 I cannot quit this subject without adverting to the 
 1 Eph. V. 14. * Matt. xiii. 12. a phu. i. «. 
 
 17 
 
194 ON FKEE GRACE. 
 
 very strong words in which the Episcopal Church in- 
 sists upon it throughout the whole service, perpetually 
 reminding us that from God all holy desires, as well 
 as good counsels, and all just works, do proceed. In 
 the Collect for Sexagesima Sunday: "O Lord God, 
 who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that 
 we do." But we are putting our trust in something 
 we do, if we are trusting to obtain God's promises 
 on any conditions of our own performing; and we 
 are again uttering a solemn mockery in the second 
 Collect in Lent, "Almighty God, who seest that we 
 have no power of ourselves to help ourselves." In 
 the Collect for Easter-day, we acknowledge that it 
 is God who " by his special grace preventing us, doth 
 put into our minds good desires, and that we need 
 his continual help to bring the same to good effect." 
 Li the 4th Sunday after Easter: "Almighty God, 
 who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections 
 of sinful men, grant unto thy people, that they may 
 love the thing \vhich thou commandest, and desire 
 that which thou dost promise." In the 5th : " Grant 
 that by thy holy inspiration we may think those 
 things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding 
 may perform the same." In the 1st after Trinity: 
 "Because through the weakness of our mortal nature 
 we can do no good thing without 'thee, grant us the 
 help of thy grace." In the 3d after Trinity : " We, 
 to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray." 
 In the 9th after Trinity : " Grant to us the spirit to 
 think and do always such things as be rightful; 
 that we who cannot do any thing that is good with- 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 195 
 
 out thee, may by thee be enabled to live according 
 to thy will." In the 13th after Trinity : "Almighty 
 and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that 
 thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable 
 service," &c. It appears to me that this collect is 
 a peculiarly beautiful lesson; it so strongly sets 
 forth the doctrine of which I am speaking, and so 
 wisely guards it from abuse, acknowledging in the 
 plainest terms that as we cannot obtain the promises 
 hy a holy life, so neither can we obtain them without 
 it. In the 17th after Trinity we pray that "his 
 grace may always prevent and follow us, and make 
 us continually to be given to good works." In the 
 19th: "O God, forasmuch as without thee we are 
 not able to please thee." In the 25th: "Stir up, we 
 beseech thee," &c. But I will not take up more 
 time in multiplying testimonies from this most evan- 
 gelical service. If these do not prove that our great 
 reformers at least thought us utterly incapable of 
 doing one thing acceptable in the sight of God, ex- 
 cept by his free grace first of all putting the desire 
 into our hearts, then enabling us to breathe out that 
 desire in fervent jDrayer, and then fulfilling the 
 desire and prayer of its own inspiring: if they do 
 not mean that the work of salvation in the heart is 
 the work of free and sovereign mercy, from beginning 
 to end, I am at a loss to conceive what they do mean, 
 or why they came there at all. 
 
 It is absolutely necessary to a clear and full view 
 of this doctrine, that we ascribe to the/ree, sovereign 
 and unmerited grace of God the first desire after 
 
196 ON FREE GEACE. 
 
 him that ever arose in our hearts, as well as the 
 fulfilling of that desire when expressed in prayer. 
 We must be convinced that nothing in the work of 
 salvation is our own, but only the gift of God's love to 
 us in Christ Jesus. Christ died for us when we were 
 enemies : ^ the benefits of his death are applied to 
 us for the purjjose of reconciling us, not in conse- 
 quence of our making any advances towards being 
 reconciled. He died for the ungodly, for those who 
 were without strength;'^ without strength to come to 
 him ; without strength to form so much as a wish to 
 come to him. The desire to come is given for his 
 sake: the ability to come is given for his sake: the 
 acceptance on coming is an acceptance /o?" the beloved 
 sake of this beloved Saviour, "without whom we can 
 do nothing."' Those who say, " Grace will be given 
 if we ask, but then asking must precede or procure 
 the given grace," are in effect robbing God of much 
 of the glory due unto his name. For the power and 
 the inclination to ask are of themselves a part of the 
 free gift of God's grace to us in Christ Jesus. They 
 are the beginning of God's work in the heart ; and 
 to say that we begin this work, is no other than to 
 say that we can create ourselves anew in Christ Jesus. 
 I will venture to affirm that if God waited to give us 
 his grace till we ask him for it of our own accord, 
 we should go without it to all eternity. 
 
 The great source of error on this head, even 
 among serious people, is that they cannot bring 
 themselves to think they have nothing of their own 
 
 1 Rnni. V. 10. « Rom. v. 6. » John xv. 5. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. * 197 
 
 in the work of salvatioD. Therefore it is, that when 
 constrained to acknowledge that the grace given 
 them ichen tliey seek, is from God only, their self- 
 righteousness betakes itself to another stronghold ; 
 and we find them laying claim to their asking and 
 seelcing, as if that at least was the effort of their own 
 will, the spontaneous act of their own power. This 
 is just as if one should take a dead person by the 
 hand, breathe life into him, and lift him up upon his 
 feet, and that person should make a show of acknow- 
 ledgment to his benefactor, by allowing to that bene- 
 factor the praise of lifting him up after he was alive, 
 and keeping him alive ever since, and yet should 
 maintain that the first breath of all came into him by 
 his own spontaneous act, by the effect of his own 
 unassisted power. The absurdity of such an asser- 
 tion, with regard to temporal life, would strike us at 
 once; but we are not so struck with it in reference to 
 spiritual-life; and the reason is this. When we talk 
 of a dead carcass, we know what we are talking 
 about. There it lies before our eyes, incapable of 
 breathing, moving, speaking. We perfectly know 
 what we mean when we say that a dead body cannot 
 raise itself to life. But when we speak of a soul 
 dead in trespasses and sins, we too often use the 
 phrase merely because we find it in the Scriptures, 
 without the slightest conception of the awful reality 
 expressed by it. Nor is it till we have ourselves in 
 some measure passed from death unto life, that we 
 begin to perceive the 'dreadful and close analogy 
 which really exists between the two states of natural 
 17* 
 
198 ON FREE GRACE. 
 
 and spiritual death. If God were to come to an 
 unconverted person with the question, not, Can these 
 dry bones, but, Can these dead souls live? he would 
 be apt to reply, Why not? What should hinder 
 them from raising themselves up and bjreathing the 
 breath of spiritual life? But when God has quick- 
 ened us from our own death in trespasses and sins, 
 our eyes are opened to see what spiritual death really 
 is, and then we learn with trembling awe to reply, 
 " Lord, thou knowest." This is thy work, it is thou 
 that must make us alive, and not we ourselves. 
 
 Since, then, men are universally disposed to go 
 about establishing their own righteousness, how care- 
 fully ought we to close up every avenue through 
 which this besetting sin might gain admittance and 
 rob us of our peace, by leading us to rob Christ of 
 his praise! Many are the windings of our own 
 treacherous hearts ; many are the devices of Satan 
 by which he would tempt us to ascribe to our own 
 strength what God has done for us of his mere mercy. 
 Nor let us think that a mistake here can be of tri- 
 fling importance. God is very jealous for his great' 
 name; and he has declared that if "we will not lay 
 it to heart to give glory to his name," he will send 
 a curse upon us, and will even "curse our bless- 
 ings."^ Many and glorious are the crowns which 
 adorn the sacred head of Immanuel ; let us not try 
 to pluck thence the brightest and fairest of them all, 
 for well does it become this King of kings. When 
 we get to heaven, and receive the crown of glory, 
 " 1 Malachi ii. 2. 
 
ON FREE GRACE. 199 
 
 %ve shall be ready enough to cast that at his feet, and 
 to say, Thou only art worthy. Let us do the same 
 with the crown of grace here; for surely we have as 
 little right to arrogate the one to ourselves as the 
 other. 
 
 A few words on a sentiment, not, it is to be hoped, 
 very generally prevalent, yet as we do find, even in 
 what is called the religious world, some who avow- 
 edly profess it, and many more who are secretly, 
 perhaps unconsciously, influenced by it, a brief notice 
 of it may not be unnecessary. I allude to those 
 who, finding the doctrine of free and sovereign grace 
 very fully and strongly set forth in St. Paul's epistles, 
 seem in all their arguments on the subject to abate 
 somewhat of the divine authority of these epistles, 
 and confine themselves to a few isolated statements 
 from the gospel, &c. which they deem more conso- 
 nant to their own views and feelings. To such I 
 would say, St. Paul is no more responsible for the 
 matter contained in his epistles than you or I are. 
 These are not, in fact, St. Paul's epistles : they are 
 the epistles of God the Holy Ghost, faithfully tran- 
 scribed and delivered to us by his servant Paul. 
 The Holy Ghost, speaking through the medium of 
 Paul, cannot but speak in perfect unison with what 
 he has declared through the medium of Peter or 
 John, or any other of his inspired messengers. He 
 may take up one instrument and lay down another, 
 but the Spirit which speaks in them is the same. 
 He may open the mouth of one of his servants to 
 explain one mystery of his gospel, while he makes 
 
200 ON FREE GRACE 
 
 another more fully to dwell upon and unfold some 
 other mystery: for he divideth unto every man 
 severally as he will. But still the Spirit of the Lord 
 is One. He cannot contradict himself, cannot speak 
 contrary to the truth, for he is the Spirit of Truth, 
 and is given to lead us into all truth. And of the 
 inspired penmen, one and all, we may say, "Have 
 they any power at all to say any thing? The ivord 
 that God put into their mouths, that have they spoken. 
 They coidd not go beyond the word of the Lord their 
 God, to say less or more." 
 
 We shall never become perfectly reconciled to all 
 parts of the word of God until he himself bestows 
 on us the spirit and temper of a little child, to re- 
 ceive without murmuring, or disputings, or carnal 
 reasonings, whatsoever JEHOVAH the Spirit is 
 pleased to say to us. That Spirit alone can take 
 away the evil heart of unbelief, which prevents us 
 from embracing the whole counsel of God as revealed 
 in his word. It is he that must open our hearts to 
 attend to all the things written in his laAv. Then we 
 shall perceive a connection and a harmony between * 
 every part and every doctrine of the Scriptures, 
 which will fill us with ever-increasing wonder and 
 delight. May he thus open our understandings to 
 understand the Scriptures, and to know the things 
 that are freely given to us of God. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 201 
 
 CHAP^R III. 
 
 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 The 17th Article of the Episcopal Church .gives 
 so much better an account of the doctrine of Election, 
 or Predestination, than could be expressed by any 
 words of mine, that I beg leave to place it at the 
 head of this chapter. 
 
 "Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose 
 of God, whereby {before the foundations of the umrld 
 ivere laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel, 
 secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation 
 those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, 
 and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, 
 as vessels made to honour. Wherefore they which 
 be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called, 
 according to God's purpose by his Spirit working in 
 due season; they through grace obey the calling: they 
 he justified freely, they be made sons of God by adop- 
 tion: they be made like the image of his only be- 
 gotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in 
 good works, and at length, by God's mercy, they 
 attain to everlasting felicity. 
 
 "As the godly consideration of Predestination 
 and our Election in Christ is full of sweet, p)leasant, 
 and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such 
 as feel in themselves the workings of the Spirit of 
 
202 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 Christ mortifying the works of the flesh, and their 
 earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high 
 and heavenly things as well because it doth greatly 
 establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to 
 he enjoyed through Christ,\i,s because it doth fervently 
 kindle their love towards God; so for curious and 
 carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have 
 continually before their eyes the sentence of God's 
 Predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby 
 the devil doth thrust them either into desperation, 
 or into recklessness of most unclean living, no less 
 perilous than desperation. 
 
 " Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in 
 such wise as they be generally set forth to us in holy 
 Scripture ; and in our doings, that will of God is to 
 be followed, which we have expressly declared to us 
 in the word of God." 
 
 The latter part of this article is awfully true ; and 
 the warning conveyed by it should sink into every 
 heart. But what then? Must godly persons re- 
 nounce or suppress a doctrine clearly revealed in 
 Scripture; strongly enforced by the articles of a 
 church of which they are professed members ; and 
 full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort, merely 
 because curious and carnal persons will " wrest it, 
 as they do also the other scriptures, to their own 
 destruction" ? ^ At this rate, we must renounce every 
 Scripture truth ; for there is not one which, while it 
 is a savour of life unto life unto them that are saved, 
 is not also a savour of death unto death to them 
 
 1 2 Peter iii. 16. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 203 
 
 that perish.^ Therefore we must not be afraid to 
 receive with humility and simplicity all that the 
 Scriptures have revealed to us on this subject. Let 
 us then, as in a former chapter, search this sacred 
 "vvord, and see what testimony we can bring from the' 
 three that bear record in heaven. 
 
 God the Father saith of himself, by Moses, "that 
 he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy," 
 and " will have compassion on whom he will have 
 compassion." ^ God the Son has told us " that none 
 can know the Father, save he to whomsoever the 
 Son will reveal him :" ^ " that to some it is given to 
 know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but 
 to others it is not given:"* "that no man can come 
 to him except it were given him of the Father;"^ 
 "that all whom the Father giveth him, shall come 
 to him :" ^ " that he will give eternal life to as many 
 as God hath given him:"^ "that of all which the 
 Father hath given him he will lose nothing, but will 
 raise it up again at the last day;"^ "that many are 
 called, but few chosen:"^ "that God hath an elect 
 people, whom he hath chosen :" ^° " that he will avenge 
 his own elect:"" "that it is impossible finally to de- 
 ceive his elect :"^^ "that he will gather together his 
 elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven 
 to the other :"^^ "that he calleth his own sheep by 
 
 1 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. 2 Exod. xxxiii. 19; Eom. ix. 5. 
 
 3 Matt. X. 27. 4 Matt. xiii. 11. 5 John vi. 65. 
 
 6 John vi. 37. ^ John xvii. 2. 8 j^hn vi. :39. 
 
 9 Matt. XX. 16; xxii. 14. lo Mark xiii. 20. 
 
 " Luke xviii. 7. ^'^ Matt. xxiv. 24. " Matt. xxiv. 31. 
 
204 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 name,^ and leadetli them out from sin and self, and 
 will bring his other sheep which are yet unborn, and 
 they shall hear his voice, and that if any believe 
 not, it is because they are not of his sheep :" ^ that 
 " we did not choose him, but he hath chosen us, and 
 ordained us, that we should go and bring forth fruit, 
 and that our fruit should remain:"^ "that he knows 
 whom he hath chosen:"* and that "his disciples are 
 not of the world, because he hath chosen them out 
 of the world*:" ^ declares by the pen of St. Luke, 
 that "the Lord added to the church such as should 
 be saved — and that as many as are ordained to 
 eternal life believe:"^ by that of Peter, that "all 
 God's people are elect by the foreknowledge of God 
 the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto 
 obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus 
 Christ;" that they are "a chosen generation, a royal 
 priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that 
 they should show forth the praises of him who hath 
 called them out of darkness into- his marvellous 
 light ;" that " the God of all grace is he who hath 
 called them into his eternal glory by Jesus Christ:"' 
 by James, that " God of his own will begetteth 
 them with the word of truth," and that "known unto 
 him are all his works from the beginning of the 
 world :"^ (and if all^ surely that most wondrous work 
 which is wrought every time God changes a sinner's 
 heart:) by Jude, that "the saints are sanctified by 
 
 1 John X. 3. 2 John x. 3, 16, 26. » John xv. 16. 
 
 4 John xiii. 18. ^ John xv. 19. ^ Acts ii. 47; xiii. 48. 
 
 f 1 Peter i. 2: ii. 9: v. 10. » James i. 18; Acts xv. 18. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 205 
 
 God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and 
 called:"^ by the disciple whom Jesus loved, that 
 "they are born again, not of the will of the flesh, 
 nor of the will of man, but of God :" that they are 
 "called, and chosen, and faithful; that their names 
 are written in the book of life, from the foundation 
 of the world ; that if we love God it is because he 
 first loved us." ^ But of all his faithful messengers, 
 God the Holy Ghost hath made choice more espe- 
 cially of St. Paul to dilate upon and unfold a doctrine 
 which might yet have been learnt from other apostles 
 had the writings of St. Paul never existed ; a very 
 small part of whose testimony is as follows: — "For 
 whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, to 
 be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might 
 be the first-born among many brethren : moreover, 
 whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and 
 whom he called, them he also justified ; and whom 
 he justified, them he also glorified."^ "Where- 
 fore there is a remnant according to the election of 
 grace ; and if by grace, then is it no more of works : 
 otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of 
 Avorks, then is it no more grace ; otherwise work is 
 no more work."^ 
 
 How plainly does the Lord the Spirit here testify 
 the utter impossibility of mixing grace and works! 
 He shows us that if the very least mixture of work 
 
 1 Jude 1. 
 
 2 John i. 13; Rev. xvii. 8, 14; xiii. 8; xx. 12, 15; xxi. 27; 
 Luke X. 20 ; 1 Johu iv. 10. See, also, John xii. 39, 40. 
 
 3 Rom. viii. 29, 30. * Rom. xi. 6, 6. 
 
 18 
 
206 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 could be admitted into the covenant, grace would 
 change its nature, and cease to be grace. It must 
 be all work or all grace; we cannot make a half-and- 
 half covenant with God. He has offered us these 
 two ; we must be saved by the one,^ or perish by the 
 other.^ "Blessed be the God and Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spi- 
 ritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, accord- 
 ing as he hath chosen us in him before the founda- 
 tion of the world, that we should be holy and without 
 blame before him in love : having predestinated us 
 into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to him- 
 self, according to the good pleasure of his will, to 
 the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath 
 made us accepted in the beloved, being predestinated 
 according to the purpose of him who worketh all 
 things after the counsel of his own will."^ "Who 
 hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, 
 not according to our works, but according to his 
 own purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus 
 Christ before the world began." ^ Time would fail 
 me before I had done bringing forward Scripture 
 testimonies to the doctrine of election ; it is so inter- 
 woven with every part of Holy Writ that it is diffi- 
 cult to take any part separately without impairing 
 its effect. I will, therefore, only remark, in conclu- 
 sion, that our Lord uses the term chosen or elect no 
 
 1 Ephes. ii. 8. 2 Gal. iii. 10. 3 Ephes. i. 3-6, 11. 
 
 * 2 Tim. i. 9. See, also, Rom. ix.; 1 Cor. vi. 11; Gal. iv. 6; 
 1 Thess. ii. 12; iv. 7; 2 Thess. i. 11, 12; ii. 13, 14; 2 Tim. ii. 19; 
 Titus i. 1-3. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 207 
 
 less than ten times in this sense in the Kew Testa- 
 ment, — viz., Matt. XX. 16; xxii. 14; xxiv. 31; Mark 
 xiii. 20, 22, 27; Luke xviii. 7; John xiii. 18; xv. 16, 
 19 ; that it is of frequent occurrence in the ^Yriting3 
 of the prophets and apostles ; and that the word 
 predestinate is used several times by the Apostle 
 Paul. It appears to me also impossible to read 
 the Gospel of St. John, or the Acts of the Apostles, 
 through, without perceiving that this doctrine runs 
 like a rich vein through every j^assage. But, while 
 we are bound to embrace all that the Scriptures teach 
 on this subject, we must cautiously guard against 
 attempting to be wise above what is written, and we 
 should do well to confine ourselves not only to the 
 sense, but as much as possible to the very ivords, of 
 Scripture, lest we should darken counsel by words 
 without knowledge. Yet we must neither reject any 
 part of the written word of God, nor try to twist 
 and turn it so as to make it square with our own 
 notions. As it stands, so we must receive it; with 
 meekness of love, without partiality, without gain- 
 saying. 
 
 Many are firmly persuaded of the truth of this 
 doctrine, who yet shrink from declaring their con- 
 viction to others; as if some dangerous effect were 
 to be apprehended from its propagation. The folly 
 of such an apprehension is well pointed out in the 
 following words of an eminent reformer, which I 
 cannot forbear giving, as they afford a specimen of 
 the dignified simplicity, sound judgment, and close 
 reasoning which shine in almost every part of the 
 
208 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 Institutes of Calvin ; a book which was held in re- 
 pute as the finest apology for Protestantism that ever 
 appeared, till the names of Calvin and Calvinist 
 came to be held up as mere signs of a party in reli- 
 gion. "The Scripture is the school of the Holy 
 Spirit, in which as nothing necessary and useful to 
 be known is omitted, so nothing is taught which it 
 is not beneficial to know. Whatever, therefore, is 
 declared in the Scripture concerning 2^^' ^destination ^ 
 we must be cautious not to withhold from the faith- 
 ful, lest we appear either to defraud them of the 
 favour of their God, or to reprove and censure the 
 Holy Spirit for publishing what it would be useful 
 by any means to suppress. Let us, I say, permit the 
 Christian man to open his heart and his ears to all 
 the discourses addressed to him by God ; only with 
 this moderation, that as soon as the Lord closes His 
 sacred mouth he shall also desist from further in- 
 quiry. This will be the best barrier of sobriety, if 
 in learning we not only follow the leadings of God, 
 but, as soon as he ceases to teach, we give up our 
 desire of learning." "I only desire this general 
 admission, that we should neither scrutinize those 
 things which the Scriptures have left concealed, nor 
 reject those which are openly exhibited. For it is 
 judiciously remarked by Augustine that we may 
 safely follow the Scripture, which proceeds like a 
 mother stooping to the weaknesses of a child, that 
 it may not leave our weak capacities behind. But 
 persons who are so cautious or timid as to wish pre- 
 destination to be buried in silence lest feeble minds 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 209 
 
 should be disturbed, with what pretext, I ask, will 
 they gloss over their arrogance, which indirectly 
 charges God with foolish inadvertency, as though 
 he foresaw not the danger which they suppose they 
 have the penetration to discover? Whoever, there- 
 fore, endeavours to raise prejudices against the doc- 
 trine of predestination, openly reproaches God, as 
 though something had inconsiderately escaped him 
 that is pernicious to his church." 
 
 I have been induced to gi\e this extract at some 
 length, because I never met with so beautiful a de- 
 scription of the sober spirit in which the doctrine 
 of election, and, indeed, every other doctrine, ought 
 to be studied ; and also because it shows the extreme 
 folly of shutting our eyes against any revealed truth, 
 for fear of its consequences. If "the man of God" 
 would be "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
 good works," he must study with humble diligence, 
 and receive with ready teachableness, every part of 
 the revealed will of God. "For all Scripture is 
 given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for 
 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
 in righteousness."^ 
 
 And thus it is, that, while the doctrine of predes- 
 tination is death to those who weary themselves in 
 presumptuous disputings and reasonings about it, 
 there always have been and will be a happy few, 
 who, humbly and sincerely feeding upon it, receiving 
 all that the Scripture tells them concerning it, and 
 desiring to know no further, find it health and peace 
 
 1 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. 
 n 18- 
 
210 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 to their souls. It lays them very low at the feet of 
 their Redeemer; brings down the high swelling of 
 their pride and self-esteem; pulls away from under 
 them all those broken reeds upon which they had 
 been used to lean, self-righteousness, self-will, self- 
 dependence, and leaves to them no one prop on 
 which to lean for support, whilst coming up out of 
 this wilderness, but the arm of their beloved, — that 
 everlasting arm which will surely conduct them to 
 glory. When that arm becomes shortened that it 
 cannot save, or weak that it cannot support ; when 
 the arm of Jesus fails and is wear}^; then they will 
 begin to look around for some other stay ; but not 
 till then. Or when they can discover in themselves 
 one single good thing which Jesus did not put there ; 
 one reason why he should visit them with such 
 amazing love; then they will conclude that his love 
 took its rise from theirs, not theirs from his. But 
 they never will discover one such thing, so long as 
 the Spirit of God illumines their heart and brings 
 to light its immense depravity and worthlessness. 
 Therefore, as God's love could not have been excited 
 by any thing in them, they believe it to be an eternal 
 love; that they were called in time, because they 
 were chosen from eternity ; and that the name of 
 Jesus is now engraven as a seal upon their hearts, 
 because their names were written on his heart before 
 ever the world was. And when their thoughts 
 stretch forward to the end of this pilgrimage, and 
 they rejoice in the view of the mansions prepared 
 for them in their Father's house, the crown of that 
 
ox ELECTING GRACE. 211 
 
 rejoicing is this: "we got not the land in possession 
 by our own strength, neither did our own arm save 
 us, but thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light 
 of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour 
 unto us."^ "Thus they rejoice in Christ Jesus, and 
 have no confidence in the flesh;" for "God is the 
 glory of their strength, and in his favour their horn 
 is exalted." 
 
 I cannot pretend to meet the objections or to 
 refute the cavils commonly raised when this doctrine 
 of election is made the subject of discussion; for I 
 did not learn it in the way of carnal reasonings, but 
 by simply taking the Scriptures as I found them, 
 and as the Spirit of God enabled me to receive them. 
 If St. Paul, after descanting on this subject, breaks 
 off in an ecstasy of admiration, exclaiming, "How 
 unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past 
 finding out!" we need not wonder if our shallow 
 understandings are incapable of fathoming, our 
 limited capacities of comprehending, our low minds 
 of reaching, them. We must be satisfied with be- 
 lieving that it is even so, because "so it seemed good 
 in our Father's sight," ^ whatever it may appear in 
 ours. This reason, which appeared satisfactory to 
 our Saviour, may surely satisfy us; or, if not, he has 
 vouchsafed an assurance, which may well serve to 
 repress present inquiry into things too high for us. 
 " What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt 
 know hereafter." ^ 
 
 1 Psalm xliv. 3. 2 Matt. xi. 26. ^ John xUi. 7. 
 
212 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 That tliese things are so, I believe, because I find 
 them among the revealed things which belong to us 
 and our children forever. How or why they are so, 
 I desire not too closely to inquire, lest I should in- 
 trude into the secret things which belong unto the 
 Lord our God. Oh that he would give unto every 
 one of us that humble and teachable spirit with 
 Vi'hich a little ignorant child is content to receive 
 his father's lessons, without rudely commenting ujDon 
 his father's ways or rashly intruding into his father's 
 secrets! This one thing we know, and with this we 
 may be satisfied : that the Judge of all the earth 
 cannot but do right. But it were prejDOsterous to 
 expect that he should always do that which is right 
 in our eyes, so long as our notions of right and wrong 
 are so utterly confused and perverted as they have 
 been ever since the fall. He himself tells us that 
 the Lord seeth not as man seeth; and that "that 
 which is highly esteemed among men is abomination 
 in the sight of God." ^ It cannot be, so long as his 
 ways are equal and ours unequal, that his righteous 
 dealings should be in exact accordance with our un- 
 righteous views and sentiments. Instead, then, of 
 wearying ourselves with impotent attempts to bring 
 down his will and counsel to the level of our ideas, 
 our far wiser way will be, to submit our thoughts 
 and ideas to his will, assured that it is holy, just, 
 and good. Yet, since we should be ready to give a 
 reason for every hope that is in us, I will venture to 
 
 1 Luke xvi. 15. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 213 
 
 touch on some of the most hackneyed objections to 
 this glorious doctrine; and I pray God that he will 
 help me to show their exceeding vanity and futility. 
 
 The objection most frequently urged against the 
 doctrine of predestination is, that it seems to charge 
 the Almighty with injustice and caprice; for if the 
 doom of every person be irrevocably fixed before he 
 comes into the world, why is he punished for what 
 he cannot help? And is it not accusing God of a 
 strange partiality, to suppose him capable of reject- 
 ing some and choosing others, before they had done 
 any thing to draw down his wrath or to conciliate 
 his favour? Now, to this objection, as involving the 
 honour of his own name, God himself has deigned 
 to provide us with a sufficient answer. " Thou wilt 
 then say unto me. Why doth he yet find fault? For 
 who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who 
 art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing 
 formed say to him that formed it. Why hast thou 
 made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the 
 clay, of the same lump to make (;:ie vessel unto 
 honour and another unto dishonour? What if God, 
 willing to show his wrath, and to make his power 
 known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels 
 of wrath fitted to destruction; and that he might 
 make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of 
 mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory ?"^ 
 
 The justice of God in predestination would appear 
 sufficiently clear, if w'e would but take a fair and 
 
 1 Rom. ix. 19, 23; Job xxxii. 12, U, 23; ^\. 2, S; Isaiah xlv. 9. 
 
214 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 impartial view of our own state by nature : that this 
 world is a guilty and ruined world ; and that every 
 creature born into it has a sinful nature born with 
 him, which lays him under the just and dreadful 
 sentence of eternal death. Now, if God foreknew 
 from all eternity that the children of men would 
 thus become the children of wrath, and determined 
 from all eternity to save a remnant according to the 
 election of grace, where is the injustice of this pro- 
 ceeding? Is it that he did not determine to save all, 
 instead of soyne only? But, alas! that all are not 
 saved, is a truth of which even the opposers of elec- 
 tion must acknowledge their sad conviction. It is 
 that he was influenced entirely by free and distin- 
 guishing grace, that he chose the favoured remnant 
 according to his counsel and will; and not on account 
 of any merit of theirs in seeking or in serving him. 
 But where is the distinction of merit to be found ? 
 It exists nowhere but in the distempered imagina- 
 tion of men. This merit, which men talk about, 
 God cannot find ; and he has nowhere acknowledged 
 its existence. For there is no difference; "for all 
 have sinned:" "all the world is guilty before God." 
 We know that "the whole world lieth in wicked- 
 ness."^ It appears, then, that whether we uphold or 
 oppose the doctrine of predestination, we must agree 
 in acknowledging that all men are not saved. And 
 if this be the case, — if God have determined to save 
 some from v/rath, and if, for reasons to us inscrutable, 
 he have determined not to save all, — by what motive, 
 
 1 RomTui. 19, 22, 23; 1 John i. 10^ 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 215 
 
 I ask, could his choice be directed where all are 
 equally guilty; all, like sheep, "have gone astray? 
 where none can repent or turn to him, unless he 
 gives the grace to do so? and what is that but 
 choosing them? Reason itself tells us that the 
 Scripture account of this mystery can alone be the 
 true one, — viz., "that God has mercy on ivho^n he 
 will have mercy;" "that he has compassion on ivliom 
 he will have compassion." That "it is not of him 
 that willeth, nor of him that runneth ; but of God 
 that showeth mercy" That God begets us oihis own 
 will. That the saints are elect according to the fore- 
 knowledge of God. That they are jnedestinated 
 unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto 
 himself: according to the good pleasure of his ivill: 
 " being predestinated according to the pur2)ose of him 
 who ivorketh all things after the counsel of his own 
 wiliy Thus much we know, because thus much is 
 revealed to us in the oracles of truth. But at this 
 point we must stay our inquiries. For we are as in- 
 capable of entering into the reasons of God's dealing 
 with us, any further than he has deigned to unfold 
 them, as an infant is to enter into the counsels of a 
 full-grown man. Yes; and a great deal more so. 
 For the one is but the difference between finite and 
 finite — between worm and worm; but this is the 
 difference between finite and infinite — between the 
 worm and God. 
 
 The case, plainly stated, appears to be this. All 
 are sinners. Not only so, but all love sin, and drink 
 up inirpiity like water. All say in their hearts to 
 
216 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 God, " Depart from us, for we desire not the know- 
 ledge of thy ways." ^ Therefore every individual of 
 the human race, without one single exception, is in 
 a state of condemnation before God — a state from 
 which he has neither the power nor the will to extri- 
 cate himself. The whole world lieth in wickedness ; 
 it lieth under the curse, and most justly deserveth 
 the curse which God has pronounced against " every 
 one who continueth not in all things that are written 
 in the book of the law to do them." ^ The whole, 
 therefore, of Adam's race, considered as sinners, may 
 be considered as, by nature, in a state of reprobation. 
 But, blessed forever be the God and Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, he would not display his justice 
 in the destruction of a whole world of sinners. He 
 determined to show also the riches of his glory on 
 certain vessels of mercy, whom he had afore pre- 
 pared unto glory. He chose some of those worthless 
 and guilty things, called men, the vessels of his 
 mercy. He chose these children of wrath to become 
 the children of grace. He chose them in Christ 
 Jesus long before the foundation of the world; and, 
 ever since the foundation of the world, he has been 
 calling those chosen vessels (as the time appointed 
 for each came) out from this world, giving his Son 
 to redeem and his Spirit to sanctify them, and him- 
 self to be their portion forever. Does this wonderful 
 display of his mercy upon a part of Adam's h.ell- 
 deserving race, take away his right of executing 
 justice upon the remainder of that race? Should 
 ^ob'x xiTT 4^ 2 Gal. iii. 10. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 217 
 
 we say, why did he not pardon all, when we ought 
 to be amazed at his mercy in not having condemned 
 all? It is of his mercies that we are not all con- 
 sumed : well may it be asked, Who are we that we 
 stand thus replying against God? \Yhen all are as 
 brands fit for the burning, if God chose to pluck 
 some as brands out of the fire, shall we say that this 
 act of mercy renders less just the destruction of those 
 who are left ? 
 
 Mercy is offered to all (at least in Christian 
 lands) ; but such is the desperate malignity of sin, 
 such is the enmity of the heart to God, that all, if 
 left to their own free will (as it is called), would 
 shut their ears and hearts against every overture of 
 reconciliation. God, by his special grace, opens the 
 ears and hearts of a chosen remnant, to attend to 
 and embrace the glad tidings of salvation. They 
 come to Jesus, because the Father draws them ; and 
 because they come, he saves them to the uttermost. 
 Does all this diminish the wickedness of those who 
 r.o not come, or detract from God's justice in pun- 
 ishing them for not coming? He sends his Son to 
 man with the largest proffers of mercy. His long- 
 suffering endures them, spares them, waits upon 
 them, till it has been proved to men and angels 
 that such is the perverseness of man's ivill that he 
 will not accept of life. Then he gives them over to 
 the natural and necessary consequences of their own 
 choice. But all are not thus given over ; a remnant, 
 a seed, is chosen in Christ, in whom, to show forth his 
 own (jlori), lie subdues the rebellious will, takes away 
 
 19 
 
218 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 the natural enmity, and accepts them, not for their 
 own sakes, but for Christ's. 
 
 To sum up what has been said, the condemnation 
 of mankind is a just and deserved condemnation: 
 the salvation of the remnant chosen out from man- 
 kind is a free and undeserved salvation. Every man 
 shall hsiYQ pe7feGt justice done to him; and if, in the 
 case of some, justice and mercy have met together, 
 let no one dare to murmur, for God has a right to 
 do what he will with his own. 
 
 If, after all these considerations, the doctrine of 
 election still seems to imply injustice and partiality 
 in God's dealings towards us, I would ask, is there 
 any other scheme upon which his dealings can be 
 made less mysterious and inexplicable? Are the 
 difficulties which surround predestination more in- 
 surmountable than those which present themselves 
 m every part of the providential dispensations of 
 God? Might not the same temper which objects to 
 the electing grace of God, carp also at his injustice 
 and partiality in revealing to us the abundance 
 of light and truth, while he has left so many dark 
 places in the earth full of the habitations of 
 cruelty? Might not such persons arraign his equity 
 in giving to some every possible advantage of a reli- 
 gious education and leaving others to every possible 
 disadvantage of an irreligious one? Or (for there 
 are no bounds to the presumptuous spirit of inquiry) 
 why do they not at once take the Almighty to task 
 for having suffered evil to get into the world at all? 
 For it is certain that evil has got into the world; 
 
ox ELECTING GRACE. 219 
 
 and its existence is, after all, the great difficulty, 
 of which the opposers of predestination can give us 
 no better account than the believers in this doctrine 
 are able to do ; for we know nothing but what the 
 Scriptures have revealed to us; and if they have 
 not gone back to the origin of evil, the reason must 
 be, that instruction on that point was not necessary 
 for us. 
 
 But I stop: he that reproveth God, let him answer 
 it. All these mysteries can be accounted for only 
 by referring them to the inscrutable mystery of 
 God's predestination. To the eye of carnal reason 
 they lie involved in the thickest obscurity ; but the 
 eye of faith sees in them no darkness at all. For 
 faith, instead of vainly striving to pull these things, 
 so far above reason, down to the level of reason, 
 resolves every difficulty into the gracious ivill or ivise 
 2)ermission of God, and seeks to know no further. 
 How many things are there which I know not, nor 
 can by any searching find out to perfection ! But 
 Jesus knows them all. With this assurance I sit 
 down fully satisfied. He will teach them to me 
 hereafter, as I am able to bear it. In the mean time 
 I will trust, and not be afraid. All that my God 
 says to me I will implicitly believe, for I know that 
 every word of God is pure. "All the words of his 
 mouth are in righteousness : there is nothing fro ward 
 or perverse in them : they are all plain to him that 
 understandeth, and right to them that find know- 
 ledge." ' When I come to see God as he is, and to 
 
 1 Prov. viii. 8, 9. 
 
220 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 know as I myself am known, I shall find that all 
 these mysteries of his word and will were only "dark 
 with excessive light." In the mean time, till I have 
 the eagle eye that can gaze undazzled at his glories, 
 I will view them at humble distance through the 
 glass of faith, which he has given me for this pur- 
 pose ; nor will I dare to repine because " I can only 
 see them in a glass darkly."^ Thus faith removes 
 every objection, stills every murmur, and silences 
 every doubtful thought. I have dwelt the longer 
 upon this subject, from a conviction that the grand 
 reason with most people for rejecting the doctrine 
 of election, is, not that they cannot find it m the 
 Bible, but that, being unable to reconcile it to their 
 own preconceived and imperfect notions of equity and 
 fitness, they come to the Bible predetermined not to 
 find it there. 
 
 But another, and a heavy charge too, is brought 
 against this doctrine: that it encourages people to 
 continue in sin. The same charge was brought against 
 free grace in the days of the Apostle Paul, and is 
 answered fully in the sixth chapter of his epistle to 
 the Komans. See, also, Eom. iii. 8, 31. It cannot 
 be denied that there are some wretched persons who 
 turn the grace of God into licentiousness ; but it is 
 the grace of God for all that, and, as such, cannot 
 have an unholy tendency. We are not the less com- 
 manded to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ 
 has made us free, because some use this liberty only 
 as an occasion to the flesh, only for a cloak of 
 1 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 
 
ON ELECTING GKACE. 221 
 
 maliciousness. Such persons -would suck poison and 
 death from the very tree of life. But real believers 
 in the doctrine of election, I mean those who derive 
 their ideas on it from the Bible only, and measure 
 every thing by this standard, have not so learned 
 Christ. They know that " God hath not called them 
 to uncleanness, but to holiness." ^ They know that 
 " whom God foreknew, he also did predestinate to he 
 conformed to the image of his Son;"'^ and therefore 
 they search themselves daily, to see whether this 
 pure, this holy image be forming in their hearts. 
 They know that if God "chose them before the 
 foundation of the world," it was "that they might 
 be holy and luithout blame before him m love;"^ and 
 therefore they are encouraged to be importunate 
 with him for more of that holy, blameless, and loving 
 temper to which he has chosen them. Thus they 
 have "the witness in themselves:"* they have "the 
 earnest of the Spirit:"^ they know that they are 
 sons, " because God has sent forth the spirit of his 
 Son into their hearts:"® they know God's love to 
 them by their love to him. They look upon their 
 own good works as the fruit of God's electing love 
 — not as the root from whence it sprang; and, far from 
 considering them as any part of the payment of their 
 mighty debt, they receive them as a fresh load of 
 obligation, for which they will still be owing him 
 more and more to all eternity. Yet they know full 
 well .that good works are necessary as the evidences 
 
 1 1 Thcss. iv. 7. 2 Rom. viii. 29. 3 Ephes. i. 4. 
 
 * 1 John V. 10. 5 2 Cor. i. 22 ; v. 5. 6 o}al. iv. 6. 
 
 19* 
 
222 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 of their election; for how can they tell that Christ 
 abideth in them except by the spirit which he has 
 given them? In proportion, then, as they find their 
 hearts panting after holiness, in that very proportion 
 they are enabled to maintain the sweet assurance 
 that God has chosen them to be partakers of his 
 holiness. Thus they give all diligence to make their 
 calling and election sure: that is, not to make God 
 sure whether he will elect and call them, but to 
 make themselves sure whether God has elected and 
 called them. 
 
 Nearly allied to this objection is one raised by 
 many against the doctrine of election, that it either 
 lifts men up with an overweening arrogance and 
 presumption, or else causes them to sink into the 
 depths of despair. But when a poor sinful creature 
 feels his heart running over w^ith sorrow for sin, and 
 desires after holiness ; when his soul, once taken up 
 with the world, is now absorbed in the love of Jesus, 
 so as to desire nothing besides him in heaven or in 
 earth: whether is it more arrogant to say, I turned 
 myself from sin unto God, or to say, God of his 
 infinite mercy turned m.ef To say, I myself sought 
 God out and diose him, and therefore he accepted 
 me; or to say, God sought me out because he had 
 chosen me in Christ Jesus before the w^orld began, 
 and therefore I am now enabled to seek and choose 
 him? And as every redeemed sinner knows that 
 the love he feels in his heart to God was none of his 
 own implanting, for all that he could produce was 
 only enmity and more enmity, is it so very presump- 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 223 
 
 tuous to conclude that be loves God because God 
 first loved bim? Ratber, would it not be the beigbt 
 of presumption to contradict Scripture and common 
 sense, by making tbe opposite conclusion? And if 
 ■vve allow the truth of St. John's assertion, that if ive 
 love God it is because he f.rst loved us, whence 
 shall we date the commencement of this love? Was 
 it some sudden impulse that came into his mind un- 
 awares and uiiforeknown, as human imaginations 
 arise? Did it begin at our birth, or spring up at 
 the moment of our conversion? What! could not 
 Omniscience foreknow the objects of his love? Must 
 he wait till the work of his own hands is brought 
 upon the stage of existence, before he can tell how 
 it will turn out? or whether he is making a vessel 
 to honour, or one to dishonour? a vessel of mercy, 
 or a vessel of wrath ? Will those wdio charge be- 
 lievers in election with arrogance, explain how they 
 themselves, without the greatest arrogance, can 
 assert that Omniscience cannot, or will not, foresee, 
 and that Omnipotence cannot, or will not, decide, the 
 fate of his own creatures.^ For, if we love God 
 because he first loved us, and if this love of his was 
 not from a II eternity, then there must be a time when he 
 did not love us: that is, there must have been a time 
 when either the mind of the unchangeable God was 
 different from v.hat it is now, or else a time when 
 the almighty and all-knowing God could not foresee 
 the objects of his favour, or ivas unable to make up 
 his mind whether he would love them or not. The 
 difficulties which absurdities like these present on 
 
224 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 every side, are far greater, aud consequently far 
 more dangerous, than those which attend the plain 
 Bible truth, that "it is not of him that willeth, nor 
 of him that runneth, but of God that showeth 
 mercy," and that the saints were chosen in Christ 
 before the foundation of the world. As long as I 
 have the Bible in my hand, I cannot think the 
 thoughts and counsels of the Eternal are the mere 
 creatures of a day, the offspring of time and chance, 
 veering about with every change of our most change- 
 able hearts. I must conclude that, like their Supreme 
 Author, they stretch from eternity to eternity; and it 
 is only the belief that they were thus from everlasting, 
 that emboldens me to hoj)e that they will stand firm 
 to everlasting. Again, is it more arrogant to say 
 that God's love to us took its origin from any good 
 thing perceived or foreseen in us, or to say that every 
 good thing that ever has appeared or shall appear 
 in us, takes its origin from this infinite, this eternal, 
 this incomprehensible love of God? I desire in- 
 deed no other account of the connection subsisting 
 between God's love to me, and mine to him, than 
 that which he has himself vouchsafed to give: "I 
 have loved thee wdth an everlasting love: therefore 
 with loving-kindness have I drawn thee."^ 
 
 How can a doctrine be said to encourage pre- 
 sumption and arrogance, which strips ofi' every pre- 
 tension to assist in saving ourselves, and sends us 
 naked, empty, and helpless to the cross of Christ, 
 leaving us no plea except his free unmerited grace 
 
 ^ Jer. xxxi. 3. 
 
ON ELECTINCJ (iilACi:. 225 
 
 and mercy? What more humbling than a doctrine 
 which is perpetually reminding us, "Who maketh 
 thee to differ from another?" and, "What hast thou 
 that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst 
 receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not 
 received it?"^ But the great charge against be- 
 lievers in predestination seems to be that they think 
 themselves predestined to salvation, and adjudge all 
 the rest of the world to eternal misery. God forbid ! 
 they dare not take upon themselves to judge others; 
 yea, they judge not their own selves, except by that 
 unerring word which God has given them for this 
 purpose (of course I only speak of sincere Chris- 
 tians ; false professors will pervert this, as well as 
 every other doctrine). It is ti'ue that many happy 
 souls are enabled to triumph in full assurance of 
 faith, and to say, with St. Paul, "Who loved ??ie, 
 and gave himself for ?ne."^ But these, as I have 
 before said, venture to think themselves the elect 
 people of God, only because they find the character 
 of God's elect deeply engraven on their hearts. 
 "They cry unto him night and day."^ They ^ ye 
 much, whence arises a sure and well-founded hope 
 that much has been forgiven them. But this very 
 circumstance forbids them to despair of others. Set 
 before them the vilest, the most hardened sinner, 
 such a one as the righteous and moral of this world 
 would separate from their company, and they would 
 say, "But for the free mercy of my God, I had been 
 as vile as he. Never was there a darker, or a 
 
 I 1 Cor. iv. 7. * Gal. ii. 20. 3 Luke xviii. 7. 
 
 P 
 
226 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 colder, or a harder heart, than mine was by nature. 
 If then God has shined into my dark heart, made 
 my cold heart to burn with love, melted my heart 
 into a willing obedience, wdiy may I not hope that 
 he will do the same for this poor sinner before me? 
 Divine grace has not yet called him, but it may do 
 so this very day: nay, who knows but God may 
 have appointed me to be the happy, humble instru- 
 ment of his conversion? Therefore I will use every 
 means, though it may seem as hopeless as Ezekiel's 
 preaching to the dry bones. I will plant and w^ater ; 
 for, though I cannot command an increase, God can} 
 In the morning I will sow my seed, and in the even- 
 ing I will not withhold my hand ; for I know not 
 which means shall prosper, this or that, or whether 
 my God will bless both alike." ^ 
 
 Thus, far from causing us to despair of the salva- 
 tion of others, or to be careless in using every means 
 of doing them good, this belief in God's electing 
 love is the only thing that can set us to work with 
 any rational hope of success. For if the changing 
 of a sinner's heart depend upon our own exertions, 
 or upon his disposition to benefit by our persuasion, 
 the tayk of addressing him will be a hopeless and a 
 thankless one indeed. But if God have from the 
 beginning chosen that sinner unto salvation (and we 
 have no right to infer otherwise), he has also ap- 
 pointed the means whereby this salvation shall be 
 effected, and those means shall he blessed, though 
 every human probability be against them. Let not 
 1 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7. 2 Eccl. xi. 6. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 227 
 
 then a doctrine be denounced as uncharitable which 
 excites its followers to be always abounding in every 
 labour of love, by the certain assurance it affords 
 them that their labour shall not be vain in the Lord. 
 It must not be denied that they are afraid to give 
 flattering titles, or to appear to think well of the 
 spiritual condition of those in whom, as yet, they 
 can perceive none of the things which accompany 
 salvation. To be thus saying, " Peace, peace," when 
 there is no peace, is what the world calls being very 
 kind and charitable ; but the Bible calls it " hating 
 our brother in our heart." ^ This charity, so highly 
 esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of 
 God. But that love, w'hich the Holy Ghost sheds 
 abroad in the hearts of his people, constrains them 
 to overstep the narrow bounds of worldly kindness 
 and courtesy. It causes rivers of waters to run 
 down their eyes, for those who keep not God's law. 
 And while they weep and pray for them, they dare 
 not but tell them of their danger. But do they 
 urge them to despair ? Far, far from it. To despair 
 indeed of help from themselves, from every thing 
 short of Jesus Christ; but not to despair of his 
 willingness to receive and pardon them ! They tell 
 sinners that his arms are wide open to embrace all 
 who come to him, and they lift up their prayers unto 
 God, that he would make them come to Jesus. 
 They tell them that he is able to save to the utter- 
 most; that with him there is plenteous redemption; 
 that he waits to be gracious. Yes, they beseech 
 
 ^ Lov. xix. 17. 
 
228 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 them in Christ's name to be reconciled to God. Nor 
 do they beseech the less fervently because they 
 know that the grace of God alone can give effect to 
 their persuasions. Not the less earnestly do they 
 assure sinners that there is mercy for them, if they 
 will but lay hold on it ; grace for them, if they will 
 but ask for it ; grace to pardon all their sins, and to 
 subdue them ; but not grace to pardon sin without 
 subduing it: this they dare not say; and therefore 
 it is, that the very same persons who charge them 
 with holding doctrines which tend to encourage sin, 
 will often, by a strange inconsistency, accuse them 
 of unnecessary strictness and moroseness in decrying 
 the innocent pleasures of the world. As if the plea- 
 sures of a world lying in wickedness could be alto- 
 gether innocent; or as if they could afford any real 
 enjoyment to a soul which daily quenches its thirst 
 at a fountain of delights which the world knows not 
 of, — a soul possessing spiritual tastes and desires: in 
 short, " which is not of the world, even as Jesus was 
 not of the world." ^ 
 
 We now come to the remaining part of the above- 
 mentioned charge against election, viz., that it drives 
 people to despair. A wrong and carnal view of it 
 may; but a right and spiritual reception of it is the 
 surest preservative against despair. For if God is 
 to love us for something in ourselves, sure I am that 
 he will never love us at all; for in us dwelleth no 
 good thing. But if he loves us according to his own 
 good will and pleasure, then is our eternal happiness 
 
 1 John xvii. 16. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 229 
 
 secure. Again, if we come to Jesus of ourselves, I 
 see no reason to hope that we shall endure unto the 
 end. The frailty and inconsistency of our nature 
 render it more than probable that we shall again go 
 away from him. And thus this everlasting love, if 
 it depend on our conduct, must vary according to 
 our changeable affections; and that Jesus, who is 
 the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, may love us 
 one day and cast us off the next ; may be disposed 
 this day to say to us, "Come, ye blessed of my 
 Father," and the very next day may frown us from 
 his presence with, "Depart, ye cursed." Is not this 
 discouraging? On the other hand, if we come to 
 Jesus, because the Father hath given us to Jesus 
 and himself draws us to Jesus, then Ave may be as- 
 sured that he will hold us fast to the end ; for he 
 who is the truth has declared that, "of all whom 
 the Father hath given him he will not lose one, but 
 will raise them up again at the last day." ^ 
 
 \yhen any one feels his heart drawn in strong 
 desires after God, what can be more contrary to 
 despair than a doctrine which teaches him to believe 
 that he never could have been thus drawn unless 
 God had loved him with an everlasting love? If, 
 indeed, believers in election professed to pry into the 
 secrets of futurity, to open the Lamb's book of life 
 and tell which names are written there, and which 
 are blotted thence, such unwarrantable presumption 
 would lead to the most frightful consequences. But, 
 on the contrary, they well know that they cannot 
 
 1 John vi. 39. 
 20 
 
230 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 say of the vilest sinner, This man is not a chosen 
 vessel unto the Lord; therefore they hope against 
 hope, and, strong in faith, giving, glory to God, they 
 go on, regardless of every discouragement, inviting 
 sinners to come to him, and assuring them that 
 " whosoever will, may come and take of the water 
 of life freely."^ 
 
 Feebly as I have handled this intensely interest- 
 ing subject, I trust I have said enough to prov^ that 
 the doctrine of predestination, if we cleave simply 
 to the Scripture statement concerning it, does not 
 draw after it all the train of evils which have been 
 represented as its necessary consequences; that it 
 involves no injustice on the part of God; that it 
 neither drives men into licentiousness, presumption, 
 uncharitableness, nor despair. On the contrary, that 
 a simple reception of it tends to stop every cavil 
 against God's justice, affords the strongest incentives 
 to holiness and self-abasement, and is rather fitted 
 to fill the bosom with the sweetest hope, than to 
 render it the gloomy abode of despair. 
 
 But supposing even that no satisfactory answer 
 could be found to these and other objections, still it 
 is our duty as believers in the Bible ever to bear in 
 mind that the most plausible objections against a 
 doctrine do by no means amount to a refutation of 
 its truth. For " the things of the Spirit of God are 
 foolishness to the natural man," and even those who 
 are in some degree spiritual must often feel that 
 they are but "fools, and slow of heart to understand" 
 1 Rev. xxii. 17. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 231 
 
 the deep counsels of God. The real question, then, 
 for our consideration, as believers in the truth of 
 God's word, is not, whether a doctrine be liable to 
 this or that objection, but whether it be, or be not, 
 clearly revealed in that word. If it be not a part 
 of the will of God revealed to us in the Scriptures, 
 then must it be utterly abhorred and rejected, though 
 an angel from heaven were to preach it to us. But 
 if the doctrine be plainly laid down and strongly 
 insisted on in the Bible, what signify objections and 
 dreaded consequences? All that is in God's word 
 we are bound to receive and teach, without fear 
 of consequences. The truths which God has not 
 scrupled to reveal, we need not scruple to embrace ; 
 nay, we must embrace them with meekness and af- 
 fection, as a part of that engrafted word which is 
 able to save our souls. We may safely leave the 
 consequences to him. He is abundantly able with- 
 out our help to provide against any evil results that 
 may ensue from a doctrine of his own revealing. 
 Let us not seek to be wiser than God. 
 
 To conclude: we contend not for the doctrine 
 of election^as held by this or that particular sect, 
 or even as handed down to us in the strong and 
 beautiful language of the reformers, but simply 
 and solely as it is set forth in the very words of the 
 oracles of God, that is, in the words of God him- 
 self We cannot be too careful to expound our 
 views of this doctrine in the very words, as well as 
 according to the exact sense, of Scripture: then, if 
 any differ, and would convince us of error, they 
 
232 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 must find some other Scriptures, in which the truths 
 contained in ours are omitted. For let it be re- 
 membered that as long as we keep close to the 
 Bible we are not answerable for the objections that 
 may be made against the Bible. If the doctrine can 
 be proved to be there, that ought abundantly to 
 suffice for the conviction of those who believe that 
 all Scripture was written by the inspiration of God. 
 When God speaks, man's part is to submit, not to 
 object. To oppose or deny any thing that is revealed 
 in God's word, is to make God a liar. To cavil or 
 murmur at it, is to rebel against God. To be 
 ashamed or afraid of it, is to call in question the 
 goodness and wisdom of God in revealing it. To 
 receive it as little children, and humbly pray for 
 light to understand it, is the way to become wise 
 unto salvation. Let those who profess to believe the 
 Bible, instead of wearying themselves with carnal 
 reasonings for and against the doctrine of predesti- 
 nation, meekly consult their Bibles, and see whether 
 the doctrine be there or not. And may the Spirit 
 of truth lead them into the saving knowledge of 
 this and every other truth, for his mercies' sake in 
 Christ Jesus! 
 
 It was my intention to have concluded this little 
 treatise with a few words on the final perseverance 
 of God's elect ; but this doctrine is so clearly implied 
 in that of predestination, that it seems unnecessary 
 to dwell on it very largely. For it is impossible to 
 conceive that God will cast off in time those whom 
 he has chosen from eternity. Perseverance is a 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 233 
 
 necessary consequence of predestination, and accord- 
 ingly we find that the Scriptures generally mention 
 them in connection -with, and in dependence on, 
 each other. It is thus clearly expressed in John vi. 
 37, 39, 44, 65: "No man can come to me except the 
 Father which hath sent me draw him; except it 
 were given him of my Father. All that the Father 
 giveth me shall come to me. This is the Father's will 
 which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given 
 me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again 
 at the last day." Again, John xv. 16: " Ye have not 
 chosen me, but I have chosen you, that ye should go 
 and bring forth fruit:" here is election; "and that 
 your fruit shoidd remain:" here is perseverance. 
 " Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also 
 called; and whom he called, them he also justified; 
 and whom he justified, them he also glorified." ^ So, 
 then, if there be truth in God's word, those who are 
 predestinated are in every instance, without excep- 
 tion, called, justified, and finally glorified; and this 
 could not be, if they did not persevere to the last; 
 for he only that " endureth to the end shall be saved." ^ 
 Indeed, how absurd, how impossible, it is to separate 
 these two truths! For if the saints are thus elect 
 according to the foreknowledge of God, and if they 
 are yet subject to fall away, and perish at the last, 
 then is the foreknowledge of God subject to fail, 
 and his predestination or purpose from all eternity 
 to be frustrated. 
 
 We may therefore comfort our souls in the full 
 
 1 Romans viii. 30. 2 Matt. x. 22. 
 
 20* 
 
234 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 assurance "that faithful is he that calleth us, who 
 also will do it." That " God is faithful, by whom 
 we were called into the fellowship of his Son." 
 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which 
 hath begun a good work m us will perform it until 
 the day of Jesus Christ; will co7ifirm us unto the end, 
 that we may be blameless in the day of Jesus 
 Christ;" for "he hath declared that he will never 
 leave nor forsake us ;" and that " he will put his fear 
 in our hearts, that we shall not depart from him."^ 
 Since, therefore, the connection between these two 
 doctrines is so close and intimate that it is impossible 
 to adopt the first of them without embracing the 
 other, we must account for every apparent final 
 falling away after the reception of God's grace, as 
 the beloved apostle has instructed us to do. " They 
 went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they 
 had been of us, they would no doubt have continued 
 with us; but they went out, that they might be made 
 manifest that they were not all of us." ^ Jesus giveth 
 unto his sheep "eternal life; and they shall never 
 jjerish; neither shall any man pluck them out of his 
 hands." ^ If then any j^erson, after apj^earing to 
 believe, finally die in a state of unbelief, the reason 
 is evident ; it is because they are not, never were, of 
 Christ's sheep ; even as Christ himself hath told us.* 
 " Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good 
 2?leasure to give you the kingdom."^ But if a wolf 
 
 1 1 Thess. V. 24; 1 Cor. i. 9 ; 1 Cor. i. 8; Heb. xiii. 5; Jer. 
 zxxii. 40, which compare with Ileb. viii. 8, 10, 11. 
 
 2 1 John ii. 19. ' John x. 28. * John x. 26. 6 Luke xii. 32. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 235 
 
 in sheep's clothing get among the flock, it does not 
 follow that he shall inherit the kingdom, nor is his 
 coming short of it a falling away of God's elect ; but 
 only a proof that, in spite of his specious appearance, 
 he never belonged to them. Such a one's falling 
 away is no falling from grace, but only a return to 
 his natural propensities, " as the dog returns to his 
 own vomit, or the sow that was washed to her wal- 
 lowing in the mire." ^ And thus it is whenever pro- 
 fessors finally fall. Their specious outside was such, 
 perhaps, as to deceive not only themselves, but even 
 the very elect ; but it could not deceive God. The 
 Lord hioweth them that are his. The good shepherd 
 knows his sheep, and his piercing eye will find out 
 every intruder and drive them from the fold. God 
 is not mocked. This man was all along sowing to 
 the flesh; and therefore it is that he is finally left 
 of the flesh to reap corruption.^ 
 
 If we carefully examine the passages which are 
 supposed to militate against this doctrine, we shall 
 find that not one of them is really opposed to it; 
 because not one of them supposes the apostate ever 
 to have been endued with saving grace. A compa- 
 rison of Heb. vi. 4-8, with the parable of the sower, 
 may convince us that the fallers-away there men- 
 tioned are only very aggravated cases of the stony 
 and thorny ground hearers of the parable. It is to 
 be remarked that St. Paul does not compare them 
 to earth which having once drank in the rain from 
 heaven, and brought forth good fruit, became after- 
 1 2 Peter ii. 22. a Oal. vi. 8. 
 
236 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 wards barren and unfruitful ; but he compares them 
 to that which, unsoftened by the rain from heaven 
 which falls upon it, brings forth nothing but thorns 
 and briers, as its natural and sole production. Such 
 earth is not good ground become bad: it is bad 
 ground which has never been made good. And it 
 receives the curse of barrenness. The barren fig- 
 tree is spared from year to year, till the heavenly 
 husbandman has digged about it and dressed it: yet 
 we are told that if it continue barren under all these 
 advantages, a time will come when even Jesus will 
 consent that it be cut down: when even Jesus, 
 coming to the fig-tree and beholding no fruit, but 
 only leaves, will say, in his wrath, " Let no fruit grow 
 on this tree henceforward forever." So this ungrate- 
 ful soil, on which the rain from heaven has been 
 perpetually falling, but on which it has ever fallen in 
 vain, shall at length be left to the consequences of 
 its own obduracy, and no further pains bestowed 
 upon it. And thus it was with the apostate pro- 
 fessors of whom St. Paul speaks. These had tasted 
 the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the 
 Holy Ghost; that is, partakers of his miraculous 
 influences through the laying on of the hands of 
 the apostles (for that no participation of his saving 
 influences is here spoken of is evident from the 9th 
 verse). They had "tasted the good word of God, 
 and the powers of the world to come;" that is, "they 
 had heard the word, and anon with joy received it."^ 
 Yet all this while they had none of those "things 
 1 Matt. xiii. 20. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 237 
 
 which accompany salvation."^ Their hearts were 
 all the time like the stony ground in which the good 
 seed takes no root; or like the ground whence the 
 thorns and briers have never been cleared, and which 
 must inevitably choke the good seed and make it 
 unfruitful. Therefore, says St. Paul to such false- 
 hearted professors, let them beware. For after they 
 have tried God's patience to a certain extent, his 
 Spirit will no longer strive with them. They are as 
 sure to fall away, as a plant that has no root is sure 
 to wither. And when God thus permits them to be 
 hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and they 
 are left to crucify the Son of God afresh, and put 
 him to an open shame, then it will be impossible 
 for any efforts of ours to renew them to repentance ; 
 for those whom God thus leaves to themselves, will 
 go on hardening themselves forever. That this is 
 the sense of his words, is evident from the context, 
 Heb. vi. 1-4, the meaning of which seems to be, it 
 is of no use to be perpetually laying the foundation 
 of your faith, and going back to the first rudiments 
 of the doctrine of Christ, for the sake of those way- 
 side, stony-ground, or thorny-ground hearers, in 
 whom the good seed will never come to perfection. 
 Let us therefore leave the first principles, and go on 
 to perfection, for their sakes who, having received 
 the word, and understood it, are now prepared to 
 receive further supplies of light and knowledge; 
 who, having in them the things which accompany 
 salvation, will go on from strength to strength. 
 1 Heb. vi. 9. 
 
238 • ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 One thing lias especially struck me in this and 
 similar passages. Amidst all the gifts and graces 
 mentioned, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is never 
 once hinted at as having formed any part of the 
 religion of these false-hearted professors. Yet a 
 simple trust in Jesus is the grand evidence of our 
 being in a state of grace. "He that believeth on 
 the Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth 
 not the Son shall not see life." ^ Now, should these 
 pages meet the eye of one of my dear Christian 
 brethren whose mind, from the weakness of his 
 faith, or the strength of temptation, may be harassed 
 by passages such as these, it is to this point of a 
 simple belief in Jesus that I would particularly draw 
 his attention. 
 
 The sense of your weakness and helplessness fills 
 you with dismay. You often feel that, like one of 
 the saints of old, you are ready to halt; your feet 
 seem almost gone, your steps about to slide. The 
 candle of the Lord has ceased to shine upon you, 
 and you exclaim, in your haste, I am cut off from 
 before thine eyes. You look, perhaps, for gifts and 
 graces, as evidences of your spiritual condition; but 
 you feel that you have none to produce. Perhaps 
 you have been a backslider from the ways of God, 
 and have gone on frowardly in the way of your own 
 heart. And now all, all seems gone, save a fearful 
 looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation, which, 
 having set yourself down as the adversary of the 
 Lord, you are daily expecting to devour you. But, 
 
 1 John iii. 30. 
 
ox ELECTING GRACE. 239 
 
 beloved, though in the agony of your self-abasement 
 and condemnation you cannot find a single spiritual 
 grace residing -within you, can you not recollect a 
 time when your faith laid hold on Jesus for salvation f 
 when, putting away all confidence in your own de- 
 servings, and easting yourself, as a miserable, guilty, 
 and helpless sinner, at the foot of his cross, you 
 trusted yourself unreservedly to him for pardon, 
 righteousness, and strength ? If you have thus done, 
 you have placed yourself in the hands of One who 
 will hold you fast to all eternity. He will never let 
 you go, though your weak and treacherous heart 
 may sometimes seem to have let go its hold of him. 
 Take comfort, then, and encourage yourself in the 
 Lord your God. Be assured that the false professors, 
 to whom you would compare yourself, never had one 
 grain of this saving faith. Though your faith be 
 weak and trembling, yet be not afraid; only believe. 
 For look what comfortable words our Saviour Christ 
 speaks unto you: "This is the will of him that sent 
 me ; that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth 
 on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise 
 him up at the last day.'' ^ 
 
 If you cannot feel sure that you have ever exer- 
 cised this simple, unreserved trust in your Lord and 
 Saviour, endeavour now to commit yourself into his 
 hands. Instead of tormenting yourself with so many 
 vain fears, cast yourself anetv on the mercy of God 
 in Christ Jesus, as if you had never been to him 
 before. Fall, just as you are, into the arms of his 
 
 1 Joba vi. 40. 
 
240 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 mercy. Say unto him, "Lord, I believe: help thou 
 mine unbelief." If you can do nothing more, lie 
 passive at his feet until his pitying eye shall look 
 down upon you and his gentle hand shall raise you 
 from the dust. Trust in him, though he slay you. 
 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall he 
 
 There is another passage in Hebrews (x. 26-29) 
 which is sometimes brought forward to prove that 
 "we may fall away after having received the know- 
 ledge of the truth. But this knowledge is evidently 
 no saving knowledge. We may receive the know- 
 ledge oj the truth without receiving and embracing 
 the truth itself. The plain meaning of the passage 
 seems to be, that to those who sit under the light of 
 the gospel without benefiting by it, to them it shall 
 be a savour of death unto death ; that if, when Christ 
 has been offered and his sacrifice made known to 
 us, w-e reject that means of salvation, there remaineth 
 no further sacrifice for sin, "no other name under 
 heaven by which we can be saved." ^ If we will not 
 be reconciled through Christ, God has provided no 
 other way of reconciliation. 
 
 Neither has the passage Heb. xii. 15-17 any real 
 difficulty in it. For Esau's rejection of his birth- 
 right was but the natural effect of his carelessness 
 of the heavenly blessings contained in it. He had 
 never really valued his birthright; it was as a pearl 
 cast before swine, which he readily relinquished for 
 the food suited to his swinish nature. Moreover, it 
 1 Acts iv. 12. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE- 241 
 
 did but serve to justify Grod's predestination con- 
 cerning him ; for he had declared, before even Esau 
 was born, that the elder should serve the younger. 
 Esau's case, therefore, was not one of apostasy ; but 
 his conduct, in this instance, was only a consequence 
 of his former obduracy.^ 
 
 Nor does the dreadful description in 2 Peter ii. 
 20, 21, allude to a falling away from grace once 
 received. For grace had never cleansed those pol- 
 luted hearts. The earthly, sensual, devilish nature 
 had never been in the smallest degree removed. 
 This affords no instance of sheep permitted to stray 
 everlastingly from the fold; for these, we are in- 
 formed, were but dogs returned to their own vomit 
 — swine, that had been outwardly washed, to their 
 wallowing in the mire. 
 
 In Luke xi. 21, 22, we are told that "when a 
 strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are 
 in peace; but when a stronger than he shall come 
 upon him and overcome him, he taketh away all his 
 armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoil ;" 
 that is, that Satan keeps undisturbed possession of 
 man's heart, till Christ, who is stronger than he, 
 forcibly ejects him thence, and himself enters into 
 that soul, and dwells and reigns there forever. In 
 the 24th, 25th, and 26th verses of the same chapter, 
 the unclean spirit is represented as voluntarily going 
 
 1 It stould be remembered, also, tbat the "repentance" referred 
 to a change of mind in Isaac, not in himself: compare verse 17 
 with Gen. xxvii. 35-40. The example has, therefore, no direct 
 connection with spiritual apostasy. 
 Q 21 
 
242 ON ELECTING GEACE. 
 
 out of a man, aud afterwards returniDg with seven 
 other spirits more wicked than himself; so that the 
 last state of that man is worse than the first. The 
 former of these passages may serve to explain and 
 illustrate the latter, which has sometimes been sup- 
 posed to describe a state of apostasy after grace. 
 In the first instance (that of real conversion), the 
 strong man armed keepeth his palace, aud is only 
 driven out by the coming of "one stronger than he," 
 who, having possessed himself of the palace, will 
 hold fast his blood-bought possession. Satan can 
 never resume his dominion ; because, let him come 
 when he will to that man's heart, he finds it occu- 
 pied by "a stronger than himself," who will never 
 let him set his foot there. In other words, when 
 Christ really takes up his abode in a soul, Satan's 
 power over it is gone forever. He can no longer 
 say, " I will return to my house whence I came out ;" 
 for he knows that the house is now Christ's house, 
 and must remain so till Satan is stronger than 
 Christ. But the second case described is widely 
 different. Here the unclean spirit has secure pos- 
 session of the soul ; he goes in and comes out at his 
 pleasure. He has no need to keep his palace so 
 carefully, because he sees no one to oppose his right 
 and title to it. He leaves the man for a time ; and, 
 when weary of his absence, he says, "I will return 
 to my house whence I came out." And mark the 
 circumstance of his return: he findeth it '* empty, 
 swept, and garnished." * Some of its outward abomi- 
 
 1 Matt. xii. 44. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 243 
 
 nations have been cleared away during his absence : 
 it has been swept with the broom of self-righteous- 
 ness, and garnished with some fancied good works 
 — some carnal desire or other for obtaining God's 
 favour. But where is the " stronger than the strong 
 man"? Who shall keep the unclean spirit out of an 
 empty house? What wonder if, finding it thus 
 empty, and none to oppose his entrance, he go in 
 and dwell there with seven other spirits more wicked 
 than himself? To divest the subject of metaphor, 
 the soul of this man, left for a time by Satan and 
 subjected to some self-devised purification, may seem 
 to himself and others to be " washed from his filthi- 
 ness ;" ^ may be adorned with a specious appearance 
 of grace. But there is no Christ in that soul, and 
 therefore there never can really have been any 
 grace. The doors of that heart have never been 
 lifted up to let the King of glory in. The man is 
 of himself wholly without strength to resist the attack 
 of his spiritual adversary; and as he has never 
 applied for help to " one that is mighty," what wonder 
 if Satan lead him captive at his will? This is not, 
 then, the case of a soul which, having received Christy 
 has fallen away from him, but of one who has never 
 received Christ at all. St. Paul says, " Examine your- 
 selves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own 
 selves ; know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus 
 Cfirist is in you, except ye be reprobates?" Now, 
 Jesus Christ was not in this man ; therefore his state, 
 at the time of the return of the evil spirit, was not 
 1 Prov. XXX. 12. 
 
244 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 that of the elect of God; nor need his fall be an 
 occasion of stumbling to any who know that Christ 
 abideth in them by the Spirit which he hath given 
 them. 
 
 The true use of the awful passages which we have 
 been considering, is to stir up every professing dis- 
 ciple of the Lord Jesus carefully to examine the 
 state of his own soul. For these scriptures show us 
 ho\Y far — how very far — a person may proceed in an 
 apparently religious course, without having any of 
 those things that accompany salvation. Let us not 
 try ourselves by any uncertain standard. Strong 
 convictions, highly-excited feelings, fair appearances 
 of our conduct, may exist, while all the time we 
 have neither part nor lot in the matter, because 
 our hearts are not right in the sight of God. But 
 "hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep 
 his commandments."^ "Hereby know we that we 
 dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given 
 us of his Spirit." ^ " And the fruit of the Spirit is 
 love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 
 faith, meekness, temperance."^ "We know that we 
 have passed from death unto life ; because we love 
 the brethren." * " The foundation of God standetli 
 sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that 
 are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name 
 of Christ depart from iniquity."^ We are "kept 
 by the power of God through faith unto salvation."* 
 Has God given us this faith? Have we "a living 
 
 1 John ii. 3. 2 i John iv. 13. » Qal. v. 22, 23. 
 
 * 1 John iii. 14. 5 2 Tim. ii. 19. ^ 1 Peter i. 5. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 245 
 
 faith" ?^ Does it enable us to endure "as seeing 
 liim who is invisible"?^ To "look not at the things 
 ■svhich are seen and terhporal, but at the things 
 which are unseen and eternal"?' Does it "work by- 
 love," " overcome the world," quench the fiery darts 
 of the devil?* 
 
 These are some of the marks which God has given 
 us to examine ourselves by. These are things which 
 do accompany salvation. "Every plant," says 
 Jesus, " which my heavenly Father hath not planted^ 
 shall be rooted up."^ Would ive know whether we 
 are thus planted only to be rooted up, or whether 
 we are "trees of righteousness, the j^^anting of the 
 LordJ'^ "which shall still bring forth fruit in old 
 age, and shall, to the end, be fat and flourishing"?'^ 
 Let us examine whether we be filled with the fruits 
 of righteousness which are, by Jesus Christ, unto the 
 glory and praise of God.^ 
 
 I would, in conclusion, most earnestly beseech all 
 who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, not to dis- 
 honour their Lord by doubting of his faithfulness 
 to keep them to the end. "Jesus Christ is the same 
 yesterday, and to-day, and forever."^ If he loved 
 us yesterday, he loves us to-day, and he will love us 
 forever; and, as long as his love to us lasts, so long 
 will ours to him; for ours is tl.e eficct of his. As 
 long as he loves us with an everlasting love, so long 
 
 1 James ii. 26. « Heb. xi. 27. . ^ 2 Cor. iv. 18. 
 
 * Gal. V. 6; John v. 4; Eph. vi. 16. ^ Matt. xv. 13. 
 
 6 Isa. Ixi. 3. 7 Psalm xcii. 14. 8 phil. i. H. 
 
 9 Heb. xiii. 8. 
 
246 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 with lovmg-kindness will lie draw us ; and, as long 
 as he draws us, we shall run after him. Let us not 
 stagger at the promises of God, through unbelief; 
 but let us be strong in faith, giving glory to God, — 
 glory to the love which first brought us out of our 
 low estate, glory to the faithfulness which will never 
 leave us till it has perfected that which concerns 
 us. And when we are assaulted by foes within and 
 without, and hemmed in by so many dangers that 
 we are ready to exclaim, " I shall one day perish by 
 the hand of the enemy," even then let us against 
 hope believe in hope, that the Lord shall deliver us 
 from every evil work, and will preserve us unto his 
 heavenly kingdom.^ 
 
 Let the weak and trembling believer look well to 
 every part of the everlasting covenant, and lay 
 hold of the strong consolation contained in it. Let 
 him remember who are the parties in this covenant, — 
 the trinity in unity on the one hand, and the man 
 Christ Jesus, who is also Jehovah Jesus, appearing 
 on behalf of the children of the covenant, on the 
 other. For the saints are "elect according to the 
 foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctifi- 
 cation of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling 
 of the blood of Jesus Christ:"^ they are admitted 
 into the outward pale of the covenant (by the sign 
 of baptism), "the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost :"^ and they are made 
 partakers of the " grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy 
 
 1 2 Tim. iv. 18. 2 1 Poter i. 2. ^ Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 247 
 
 Ghost." ^ According to the "counsel" and "eternal 
 purpose" of this triune Jehovah was the everlasting 
 covenant established; "according to the purpose of 
 him who worketh all things after the counsel of his 
 own will:"'^ "whose counsel endureth forever, and 
 the thoughts of his heart to all generations:"* "with 
 ■whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning :" * 
 "who changeth not:"* "who is not a man that he 
 should lie, nor the son of man that he should re- 
 pent:"^ "the God that cannot lie:"^ "the Lord God 
 of truth :"^ "whose word is true from the beginning, 
 and every one of his righteous judgments endureth 
 forever:"^ "who will be ever mindful of his cove- 
 nant :" ^" for he is " the faithful God, which keepeth 
 covenant and mercy." ^^ "A God of truth and 
 without iniquity, just and right is he."^^ This cove- 
 nant-keeping God is our Father, for he is the "God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," the other 
 party in the covenant ; yea, himself the Surety of the 
 covenant of peace, our Surety for good. This 
 Surety of ours has performed his part, that is, our 
 part, in the everlasting covenant. He has been 
 " cut off, but not for himself; has made reconcilia- 
 tion for iniquity, and brought in everlasting right- 
 eousness."^' Justice, by releasing our Surety from 
 the prison of the grave, and permitting him forever 
 
 1 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 2 Eph. i. 5, 9, 11, and iii. 11. 
 
 ' Psalm xxxiii. 11. * James i. 7. ^ Mai.. iii. 6. 
 
 ^ Num. xxiii. 19. '' Titus i. 2. ^ Psalm xxxi. 5. 
 
 » Psalm cxix. 160. ^ Psalm cxi. 5. 
 
 " Deut. vii. 9; 1 Kings viii. 2:3; Neh. i. 5; Dan. ix. 4. 
 i-J Dcut. xxxii. 4. 13 Dan. ix. 24, 20. 
 
248 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 to sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on 
 high, has proclaimed herself fully satisfied, and 
 unable to claim from him or from us one jot or one 
 tittle more in the way either of doing or of suffering.^ 
 "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that 
 died, yea, rather, that is risen again ; who is even at 
 the right hand of God, w^ho also maketh intercession 
 for us.'"^ And he is able to "save them to the 
 uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing that 
 he ever liveth to make intercession for them :" ' and 
 that the Father "heareth him always."* He is 
 gone " to appear in the presence of God for us ;" ^ 
 to be our advocate with the Father;^ our "High 
 Priest over the house of God."' Moreover, "it 
 pleased the Father that in him should all fulness 
 dwell :"^ and "out of his fulness have all we re- 
 ceived, and grace for grace." ' " All the promises" 
 of the covenant "in him are yea, and in him 
 amen:"^" for God hath declared that "his covenant 
 shall stand fast with him."" "As for me, this is my 
 covenant with them, saith the Lord ; my Spirit that 
 is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy 
 mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out 
 of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of 
 thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and 
 forever." ^'^ Thus "ordered in all things and sure"^' 
 
 1 Rom. iv. 25. 2 Rom. viii. 34. 3 Heb. vii. 25. 
 
 4 John xi. 42. ^ Heb. ix. 24. ^ i John ii. 1. 
 
 7 Heb. X. 21. 8 Col. i. 19. » John i. 16. 
 
 10 2 Cor. i. 20. » Psalm Ixxxix. 28. 12 iga. lix. 21. 
 13 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 249 
 
 is the everlasting covenant which God hath made 
 with his people. It was "confirmed of God in 
 Christ before the world was:"^ confirmed by the 
 promise and oath of God, those two "immutable 
 things in which it was impossible for God to lie:"* 
 and, being thus confirmed, "none shall ever disannul 
 or add to it."' "My covenant will I not break, 
 nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. 
 Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not 
 lie unto David"* (i.e. David's Lord, as is evident 
 from the context). "I will make an everlasting 
 covenant with them, that / will not turn away from 
 them to do them good" (here is Gods faithfulness)^ 
 "but I will put my fear into their hearts, that they 
 shall not dej^art from me"" (here is our perseve- 
 rance.) "The mountains shall depart, and the hills 
 shall be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart 
 from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace 
 be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on 
 thee."^ "I will make an everlasting covenant with 
 you, even the sure mercies of David:"' and how 
 sure those mercies are, may be seen from Jer. xxxiii. 
 20, 26. " Thus hath the Lord sent redemption unto 
 his people; he hath commanded his covenant for- 
 ever; holy and reverend is his name."® Holy, holy, 
 holy. Lord God of Hosts! The whole earth shall 
 be full of thy glory! Salvation to our God which 
 
 1 Gal. iii. 17, and Eph. i. 4. 2 Heb. vi. 17, 18. 
 
 3 Gal. iii. 15. ♦ Psalm Ixxxix. 34, 35. 
 
 * Jer. xxxii. 40. 6 isa. liv. 9, 10. 
 
 ' Isa. Iv. 3. 8 Psalm cxi. 9. 
 
250 ON ELECTING GRACE. 
 
 sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever 
 and ever! 
 
 That blessed child of the covenant, Hooker, has 
 expressed his faith in the final perseverance of God's 
 elect in terms so beautiful and glorious that I can- 
 not close this little work without inserting them. 
 " Blessed for ever and ever be that mother's child 
 whose faith hath made him the child of God. The 
 earth may shake, the pillars of the world may- 
 tremble under us, the countenance of the heavens 
 may be appalled, the sun may lose his light, the 
 moon her beauty, and the stars their glory; but 
 concerning the man that trusted in God, if the fire 
 have proclaimed itself unable as much as to singe 
 a hair of his head, if lions, beasts ravenous by 
 nature, and keen with hunger, being set to devour, 
 have as it were religiously adored the very flesh of 
 the faithful man ; what is there in the world that 
 shall change his heart, overthrow his faith, alter his 
 affection towards God, or the affection of God to 
 him ? If I be of this note, who shall make a sepa- 
 ration between me and my God? Shall tribulation, 
 or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, 
 or jyeril, or sword f No ; I am persuaded that neither 
 tribulation, nor anguish, nor persecution, nor famine, 
 nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword, nor death, nor 
 life, nor angels, nor principalitieSj nor powers, nor 
 things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
 depth, nor any other creature, shall ever prevail so far 
 over me. / know in whom I have believed; I am 
 not ignorant whose precious blood has been shed for 
 
ON ELECTING GRACE. 251 
 
 me; I have a shepherd full of kindness, full of care, 
 and full of power; unto him I commit myself; his 
 own finger hath engraved this sentence in the tables 
 of my heart, Satan hath desired to ivinnow thee as 
 wheat, bat I have prayed that thy faith fail not: 
 Therefore the assurance of my hope I will labour to 
 keep, as a jewel, unto the end; and, by labour, 
 through the gracious mediation of his prayer, I shall 
 keep it." 
 
 THE END. 
 
/