made for the sins of the elect. If for less, some people are saved otherwise than by the blood of Jesus; and if for more, justice condemns where it has no right. We are fully aware that some respectable writers have fancied that this view of the subject renders the salvation of the sinner more of debt than of grace, and we shall bestow upon this objection, in due time, a patient examination. We shall, at present, only observe, that if it be of debt, it is only so unto him that worketh, unto Christ Jesus; but unto him that worketh not, unto the sinner, it is still of grace; even the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: nor do we shudder at the consequences of ascribing to the sufferings of our Redeemer, the glory of our reconciliation with God. The pardoned soul shall make her boast in the Lord, and glory in the cross of Jesus Christ, without fear of being charged, on that account, with denying the grace of the Father, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up unto the death for us. We know that the Father himself loved us, and gave his Son to die for our sins; but he is never jealous that we ascribe to his Son too much of the praise of our pardon. To the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, the blessing of believers, we can confidently look, upon the footing of an atonement which enlists appeased justice in our cause. Being justified freely by his grace, is consistent with the propitiation whereby he declares his righteousness for the remission of sins.

3. The covenant of grace provides atonement for the sins of the elect, and confines it to them.

This covenant is ordered in all things and sure. In it the Father promises to his Son the salvation of the elect, upon condition that he, as their public head, shall bear their iniquities, and make his soul an offering for sin. The Son accepts the offer, and enVOL. III.-No. VII.

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gages to fulfil the condition. This is the covenant, and it displays the grace of both the Father and the Son. The Redeemer appeared in the fulness of time made of a woman, made under the law, and by his obedience unto death he fulfilled the condition of the covenant. It is the fact of its being a covenant arrangement, that renders the sufferings of the Redeemer either acceptable to God, or capable of availing for our redemption. Independently of the eternai covenant, the sufferings of Jesus Christ could not have been; and if they had been, they could prove no benefit to man; they could make no atonement for any sin whatever. It is a common observation, that the blood of Jesus is, abstractedly considered, of such value as to save worlds. And if by this expression it is intended merely to convey the idea, that our Redeemer did, by his obedience and death, confer infinite honour upon the divine law, and satisfy divine justice to the utmost, we admit the sentiment, however incorrect the expression. But apart from the covenant, no such ends could be answered. Had he not undertaken to represent his elect, the law could have no demands on his obedience, and had he not become a substitute for us by covenant, his sufferings would have availed nothing. Had there been no promise of salvation to his seed, upon condition of his fulfilling all righteousness, both his obedience and sufferings would have been în vain. They would neither please God, nor profit man. Sufferings, abstractedly considered, have nothing in them to please a benevolent mind. The pains endured by Messiah, could not thus delight his heavenly Father. They accordingly could have no value, had they not been considered according to a covenant constitution as the atonement for the sins of those who were given to him, in that covenant, to be redeemed by this very price. Destroy the idea of representation, and the

pains of the cross cease to display God's displeasure at sin. It is no evidence of such displeasure to make the innocent suffer for sins with which he has no connexion. He must be identified with us, by a legal constitution, in which, both he and the father agree, that he bear our sins, before displeasure at our sins can appear from his sufferings. For his elect, therefore, he entered into covenant with God, and upon this covenant entirely depends both the value and extent of his atonement.

On the Knowledge of Christ Crucified.

CHRIST crucified is the library which triumphant souls will be studying to all eternity. This is the true arguo ↓uxns, that which cures the soul of all its maladies and distempers. Other knowledge makes men's minds giddy and flatulent, this settles and composes them. Other knowledge is apt to swell men into high conceits and opinions of themselves--this leads to humility and sobriety. Other knowledge leaves men's hearts as it found them-this alters them, and makes them better. So transcendant an excellency is there in the knowledge of Christ crucified, above the sublimest speculations in the world.- StillingAeet, Orig. Saor.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN'S MAGAZINE.

CHURCH OF GOD.

N°. XII.

Officers Ministry.

HAVING established the fact that our Lord Jesus

Christ has instituted a ministry which is to be coeval with his church, we proceed

2. To consider the uses, qualifications, and mode of preserving, a standing ministry.

1st. Its uses.

The common sense of mankind, in all ages and countries, has taught them, that no system of religion can be maintained and perpetuated, without an order of religious teachers. Search the world over, and you shall not find a nation, civilized or savage, without such an order. The truth or falsehood of the religious system has no immediate connexion with this argument. It is founded upon a principle which includes the cardinal secret of human improvementthe division of labour. In other words, that to ensure excellence in any occupation whatever, it must be con fined to a particular class of men, and these men must be confined to it. Set ten individuals to work at ten different species of industry, so that every one shall be employed by turns upon all the ten; let other ten work at the very same things, but distribute them so as that each of the ten shall have his appropriate employment, never intermeddling with the other nine; and two effects will follow-First, The produce of each particular species of industry will be incomparably better; and, Secondly, The ag

gregate produce of all will be incomparably greater, upon the second plan than upon the first. That is, the work performed in the ten branches of industry by ten men, each one being limited to a particular branch, will be incomparably superiour in quality and quantity, to the work performed by the same number of hands labouring promiscuously in all the branches. Whoever disputes this position, has yet to learn the first letter in the alphabet of human experience. Apply this to the church of God. The religious cultivation of a people upon the principles of revelation, furnishes matter not only for a separate calling; but for a calling which requires subdivision.

The rules of faith and duty are comprised in a miscellaneous volume, the different parts of which are to be studied, compared, explained, enforced. This is not the work of a novice; of an occasional exhorter; of one who spends six days of the week in a secular employment; and comes forth on the sabbath, to vent his babblings under the name of preaching. Talent, learning, and labour, have found the week short enough for the right preparation of a people's spiritual food, and the discharge of other ministerial functions. In proportion as intellect is strong, knowledge deep, and the habit of application vigourous, is a sense of the ministerial trust impressive and awful. Feebleness of mind, and the conceit of ignorance, make it sit light upon the heart, and frustrate some of its noblest effects.

Were we not accustomed to absurdities, we should think it unaccountable, that, while the education of children is an exclusive occupation, the education and direction of children and men both, should ever be merely an incidental matter; and be left to the chance-medley of a fugitive hour! Had Christianity set out upon this maxim, she had never reached the age of one hundred years. Her divine head did not