be hastened and condensed into a short space; they must be passed through. There is no new dispensation of the Spirit: the Spirit of entire sanctification is the Spirit of regeneration exerting an ampler power. Never do we read of a HIGHER LIFE that is other than the intensification of the lower; never of a SECOND BLESSING that is more than the unrestrained outpouring of the same Spirit who gave the first. Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? means, Did you receive the Holy Ghost on believing? èλáßete mioteúσavtes. And this was said to a portion-though an ignorant portion of the same Ephesian congregation to whom St. Paul wrote: After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, πιστεύσαντες ἐσφραγίσθητε, believing ye were sealed. There is no restraint of time with the Holy Ghost. The preparations for an entire consecration to God may be long continued or they may be hastened. Whenever the seal of perfection is set on the workwhether in death or in life-it must be a critical and instantaneous act; possibly known to God alone; or, if revealed in the trembling consciousness of the believer, a secret that he knows not how to utter." (Pp. 522, 523.)

From the subject of Sanctification Mr. Pope passes to THE TENURE OF COVENANT BLESSINGS. He dwells on our present state as one of probation; and while he recognises that probation as emphatically one of grace, he sets forth the possibility of failure, even in the case of those who have embraced the Saviour, and are truly united to Him. The devout student of the Holy Scriptures, and especially of the New Testament, must have observed that all their representations of the believer's state and hopes imply, on the one hand, that the amplest provision has been made for his perseverance and everlasting triumph; and, on the other, that it is possible for him, by remissness and unwatchfulness, to fall into sin, and then to plunge into deeper and yet deeper guilt, so as to be finally severed from Christ. We cannot do justice to many of the most emphatic statements of the New Testament, unless we bear in mind that our blessed Lord designs the ultimate and eternal salvation of all who are in Him; that all the arrangements of the economy of grace are directed to this result; and that every part of the discipline of Providence has respect to this great issue. On the other hand, some of the most solemn declarations of the Divine Word must be set aside, if we refuse to admit the possibility of believers falling from grace, so as eternally to perish. We need not cite many passages in support of this statement; but there is one so striking and conclusive that we cannot refrain from adducing it. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, after exhorting believers not to cast away their confidence, since it would have "great recompense of reward," and reminding them that their present probationary state demanded both perseverance in obedience and patience under suffering, adds the declaration, “Now the just shall live by faith; but if he draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him;" and then, in terms which recognise at once the

possibility of ultimate failure, and the confident hope of perfect and final salvation, through the continued exercise of faith, he adds, "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

These views Mr. Pope firmly maintains; and we are glad to quote the following paragraphs, as illustrating more fully some of the points to which we have adverted :—

"In the case of the regenerate probation is peculiarly rich in grace. (1.) Every Christian is the object of personal care and most tender solicitude to the Holy Ghost. A comparison is sometimes made between the probation of Paradise and that of the Christian: such a comparison can hardly be instituted to any good purpose. Whatever disadvantages sin has entailed on us are more than made up by an indwelling Spirit, the Spirit of a new and higher life. (2.) And all events are so ordered that the difficulties of the Christian experience tend to invigorate the character. Blessings temperately enjoyed increase love. Afflictions endured with resignation invigorate the soul. Through the secret control of the Holy Ghost not an event in life but contributes to test the character; and under His rule every test sustained leaves the soul the stronger.

"But, after all, the Christian covenant leaves men to a probation that is exceedingly solemn. Every one is taught by the Scripture to regard himself as deciding his lot for eternity. There is very much against him, very much for him; two worlds, of good and evil, enter into his being and contend for his soul. Under other conditions, and with differences that almost forbid the analogy, we all are undergoing the ordeal of the Garden again. The ordinary speech of mankind is true to this most affecting and impressive principle : this is the world of our probation. We are still in a garden of trial; but the object is to win back the Paradise lost through the grace of Him whose justice cast us out. Youth is a season of probation. In another sense every critical period of life is such: especially the evil day of affliction. But time, every man's portion of it, is his probationary term. shall he also reap! is the warning exhortation. stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand: this is the encouragement. The result closes the Bible: he that is unjust, let him be unjust still! and he that is holy, let him be holy still!" (Pp. 546, 547.)

Whatever a man soweth that
That ye may be able to with-

Under this section of his work the esteemed author brings in the doctrine of Assurance. The objective ground on which the assurance of Christ's people rests is first set forth; and then the subjective assurance of our acceptance in Christ, involving the hope of everlasting life in Him, is dwelt upon. The general statement on this last subject is very comprehensive: "The blessing of personal assurance is the gift of the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to bear His witness to the conscience of justification, of adoption with the spirit, and in the soul of sanctification. The assurance is the assurance of faith for the present, of hope for the future, and of understanding as underlying all. As this internal assurance is not independent of the external seals and pledges, so it is itself verified by the testimony of the fruits of faith in the life." (P. 552.)

Many of the remarks under this head are very valuable, and suggest trains of thought which the student may pursue with advantage. But we could have wished that, in addition to distinctly, and even emphatically, recognising the direct witness of the Holy Spirit to the believer's adoption, the author had entered more fully into the exposition and defence of this precious truth, combining with it an ampler statement of the witness of our own spirit, with which it must ever be combined. We should rejoice to have from his pen a concise yet full development of all the truth implied in the words of St. Paul to the Galatians, after he had referred to our receiving through Christ "the adoption of sons:"-" And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." We should have been pleased, also, to see the distinction more clearly marked between the Spirit's attestation of the fact of our adoption, and the light which He sheds, throughout the Christian life, on His own work, as He raises us to higher purity and more intimate communion with God, But Mr. Pope, in his concluding remarks on this subject, rightly sets forth the great principles which are held by our Connexion :

"Methodism has done much to revive this Scriptural doctrine of Assurance, and clear it of the misapprehensions that have obscured it. Its system of religious teaching has given this doctrine its rightful place.

"1. As the COMMON PRIVILEGE of all who believe; being the accompaniment of every blessing of the Christian covenant.

66 2. As the DIRECT WITNESS of the Spirit, not independent of the objective and internal grounds of assurance, but given through them, or indeed without them, directly to the soul.

"3. As variable and liable to be lost, but always to be retrieved, and never to be willingly dispensed with, no not for an hour.

"4. As distinguishable from delusions by the accompaniment of the INDIRECT WITNESS, or testimony of the conscience on the evidence of a sincere life.

"5. As a witness that belongs to every department of grace; not indeed as necessarily borne to any Second Blessing, but connected with every augmentation of grace up to the highest of the things that are freely given to us of God." (P. 559.)

NORMAN MACLEOD.

II.

Two topics now occur to a friendly critic which we name just to show that we have not forgotten them. It is impossible to deal with them fully within our present compass. What has not Calvinism, the Calvinism of the Shorter Catechism, to answer for? And how comes it that men like Norman Macleod, utterly disbelieving and abjuring it, retain their ministry in a Church whose

standards so explicitly enforce it? These questions are of vast importance. It is not easy to answer the second, without justifying by the answer the organized rebellion which now agitates the English Church. But surely there must have been some mode of meeting the difficulty, which commended itself to a man of the brave and honest conscience which we trace in almost every page of these volumes. The biographer is a clear thinker, and might, probably, have met our doubts. It is a subject too pressing and practical to be always evaded. "Old creeds ought to be interpreted by the living Church," says a recent writer. But what if the interpretation flatly deny the old, eternal Book? And what if the Church which essays the interpretation, though having" a name to live,”— having, possibly, the reality of a cold and languid life,—is yet to be pronounced "dead" ?

We reserve, as we have said, the consideration of the course taken by Norman Macleod with respect to the great Disruption controversy, until a future paper. But two events happened during the period of his ministry at Dalkeith, which, we think, exercised a great influence on his subsequent history, as strengthening, notwithstanding adverse influences, his hold on orthodox truth, and intensifying the fervour of his spiritual life.

The first was his cordial adherence to the Evangelical Alliance, and his attendance and co-operation at those early blessed meetings to which all who took part in them look back with so much pleasure and thankfulness. He had taken a very active share in the controversy to which we have just referred, and had become worried and wearied by the fight. His course of thought and study generally; the disturbance of some of his earlier beliefs; the many-sidedness of his character; and the variety of his associations, -all conduced to make him hail with gratitude and hope anything that looked like a consentaneous and public manifestation of the substantial and necessary unity in creed and heart of all true disciples of the Saviour. So he threw himself heartily and effectively into the movement. All present at the great gathering in London will remember his appearance on that occasion. But he learned as much as he taught. Here he met "the dripping Baptist and oily-haired Methodist" of his earlier imagination. We give some records of his impressions:

"EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE CONFERENCE AT BIRMINGHAM, 4 o'clock, Wednesday, April.

"I HAVE been in two Sessions' of the Conference, and I take half an hour's breathing time to write to you my first impressions. You ask how I liked it? I reply that it was one of the happiest evenings I ever spent on earth. Never in any company had I the same deep peace and joy, and the

same broken-heartedness for sin. O! what a prayer was that of Octavius Winslow's! It stirred my deepest feelings, and made the tears pour down my cheeks. How I wished that you could have been there! And then to see so many on their knees-and to hear the 'Amens' of acquiescing, sympathising, and feeling spirits! I would have gone ten times the distance to have enjoyed all I did.

"About one hundred and twenty are present to-day. Candlish, Guthrie, Hamilton, are there, but I have not yet spoken to any. I am more afraid today. I fear that they are growing too fast outwards. As long as we deal with God, we seem omnipotent in Him and through Him, but our attempts at work professedly for Him seem to me highly dangerous as yet. I pray God that all may go on well. The prayer and praise are glorious. It has developed in me an affection which hitherto I have only manifested but partially—very partially —and that only in words, because of a lack of opportunity,—I mean, love to ministerial brethren. I feel like a man who had brothers-but they had been abroad-and he had never seen them before. I feel, too, how much knowing the brethren comes from seeing them; the brother whom he hath seen' increases love to Him who is unseen."

"Conference at LONDON, Wednesday, May 25th. "EVERYTHING goes on pleasantly and well. The Frees, honest fellows, are not here. They are a loss, for they have good heads for business.

Bickersteth, dear man, is in the chair, and Bunting, noble man, is now speaking. Angell James is about to follow, and Dr. Raffles has finished. It is mere chat, like a nice family circle, and I hope that our Elder Brother is in the midst of it." (Vol. i., pp. 257, 258.)

"The Alliance has been formed. Such a scene of prayer, shaking of hands, and many weeping!"

"LONDON, August 4th, 1845.

"I HAVE just time to say that our Alliance goes on nobly. There are one thousand members met from all the world, and the prayer and praises would melt your heart. Wardlaw, Bickersteth, Tholuck say that in their whole experience they never beheld anything like it. I assure you many a tear of joy is shed. It is more like heaven than anything I ever experienced on earth. The work is done, a work in our spirits which can never be undone. The Americans have behaved nobly. I am appointed chairman of one of the future meetings for devotion, an honour to which I am not entitled except as representing my Church. I would the whole world were with us! No report can give you any idea of it. I am half-asleep, as it is past midnight. I have to meet Czersky at breakfast at eight."

"To his MOTHER :

"My mind and heart are almost wearied with the excitement of this time. Meetings every day-conversing......with Germans, French, Americans, etc.—all in love and harmony. Tholuck, Rheinthaler, Barth, Cramer, from Germany; Monod, Fisch, Vernet, from France; Cox, Kirk, Skinner, Paton, Emery, De Witt, Baird, from America. It would take hours to tell you my news." (Vol. i., pp. 260, 261.)

The most extraordinary feature of this meeting, however, was not the unity of feeling which prevailed;-that was inevitable where such men met and sang and prayed together, and looked each other lovingly in the face; it was rather the one bold attempt,