I am not

að

good, but, alas! there was nothing appropriate to my case. fed, I must bear my burden alone." To gain experience whether a minister or member, to be able to speak to the heart, we must cultivate the fellowship of the saints.

5th. Consistency. A holy conformity with the law of God and our public profession. This is so important that in the estimation of men it makes the sum of Christian character, and this is just. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Our God has given us a law, an infallible rule of conduct. In entering the service we accepted the rule and said, "All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient." In every dispensation obedience is the test of true piety. To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." This is still the test, though lamentably neglected. God makes duty plain to the professor. But the perfor mance is difficult, requiring self-denial or suffering. In many cases the effort is not to go straight forward according to the command, but to seem to perform the service and yet escape the privation and loss. and many try to deceive themselves with vain apologies for their dis-` obedience. Sometimes in vindication of their conduct they plead the greater good that may be accomplished, the increase of their own usefulness, or the prosperity of the church. One thing is certain, when an intelligent professor disobeys a plain command, and lives in the neglect of known duty, he has some pious plea for his defence. An admirable illustration of this is found in the case of Saul. After he had been anointed king, and firmly seated on his throne, God sent him to execute the sentence passed upon Amalek. Amalek had been a mighty people, as Balaam says, "the first among the nations." They were the first to attack the covenant people, when, according to the divine command, they were marching through the wilderness to the promised land. Israel had given no offence, yet in a base, cowardly and inhuman manner, Amalek fell upon them. "He smote," says Moses, "the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary.' For this crime God determined to cut off Amalek from among the nations, and the children of Israel were appointed the executioners of this justice. They were charged not to forget it. It was long, however, before the sentence was executed. Four centuries had passed, but no repentance is manifest on the part of the criminal. Then King Saul is commissioned to execute the divine will. He is "to smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." In obedience to the command Saul assembled a mighty army, fought against and gained a complete victory over Amalek. He utterly destroyed all the people, but he saved Agag, their king. He and his people also spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good, and did not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse that they utterly destroyed. Then Saul and his people went to Carmel, set up a place and attended to their devotions, and then went down to Gilgal. The God of Israel had witnessed his rebellion, and sent Samuel to speak with him. Saul is fresh from his devotions, well

satisfied with himself, and seemingly full of piety, as he salutes Samuel. Like Jehu, he proclaims his zeal for the glory of God. "Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of Jehovah." And Samuel said, What meaneth then the bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and this lowing of the oxen which I hear?" Saul's answer was ready; he does not plead the covetousness of himself and his people, or how much they needed just then the spoils of Amalek. He put a pious face on the matter, and says, "We have spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord thy God, and the rest have we utterly destroyed." And he maintained that having devoted the spoils, or a part of them, to pious uses, he had really fulfilled the divine commission. Surely such liberality in sacrifice would atone for any shortcoming in obedience. The plea was not accepted, it was in Saul's case an aggravation of the offence. Yet the same plea is continually presented. Men remain in the membership of the church, professing to fulfil their vows and do the will of God, while their practice is most inconsistent. They seem to think that in their place and circumstances, the inconsistent act is the best thing for them, forgetting that to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. We mourn, and we have reason to mourn, the power and the malice of the external foes of the church. But the indwelling sin of the church, the inconsistent conduct of many professors, is a greater obstacle to the triumph of the gospel than the papacy, Mohammedanism and Judaism combined. We should carefully cultivate consistency. The consistent professor is steadfast, enduring, a blessing to others, while he makes his light to shine. The inconsistent professor is like a reed shaken with the wind, is unstable in all his ways, and a sad stumbling block to others.

S.

ASSURANCE OF GRACE AND SALVATION-A REVIEW.

THE ASSURANCE OF GRACE AND SALVATION-WHAT IT IS AND HOW BEST ATTAINED. By James Kennedy, pastor of the R. P. Church, West 48th street, New York.

THERE is no question that should more deeply interest professed Christians than that which relates to their spiritual state,― whether or not they are the subjects of the kingdom of grace. That this inquiry does not receive absorbing attention is painful evidence of the blinding and hardening influence of indwelling sin. It is not supposable that a child of God can be entirely insensible to its importance to himself, and feel perfectly at ease until it is satisfactorily settled. Still, how many are there of whose subjective religion we have no reason to doubt, who would hesitate to express themselves with confidence that they have obtained salvation through the atonement of Christ.

There is ground for the opinion that this subject does not receive such full and frequent treatment by religious teachers from the pulpit, and through the press, as its importance requires. As a doctrine belonging to the science of theology, it is assigned its place in our ecclesiastical standards, and in other exhibitions of divine truth it is not

overlooked. But as an experience of subjective religion in the soul, imparting joy by its presence, the anxious inquirer in regard to the way of obtaining it is often disappointed in seeking aid from human helps. It is comparatively easy to show that there are marks of a gracious state laid down in the Scriptures, and to point out what they are, but it is not an easy task to set them in such a light before one who is concerned to know that he is a believer, that he can draw a safe conclusion in regard to his own state, and take the comfort of the assurance that he is a subject of the kingdom of grace.

Some divines of a former age distinguished that mental operation that relates to subjective religion by terming it the reflex act of faith. With them the direct act of faith consisted in receiving Christ, and resting on him for salvation. The reflex act was the act of believing that the direct act had been performed,-that Christ was actually received. Their distinction between these two acts was this: By the direct act Christ is received, and by the reflex act it is believed that he is received. But this is not in a proper sense faith; it is knowledge. Faith receives Christ, but this mental act assures that Christ is received. It is not the acceptance of Christ, but the knowledge that he is accepted, that the saving change has taken place. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." 1 John 3: 14. This confusion of ideas appears to have arisen from the assumption that assurance of grace and salvation is essential to saving faith; that when one believes on Jesus Christ, he knows that he does believe. This opinion, the author of the work before us shows "is consistent neither with the word of God, nor with the experience of the saints."

There is in our day a strong tendency, as a reaction from the apathy so common on this subject, to make feeling alone the test by which the spiritual state is determined. When those who know but little about the doctrines of grace, and are disposed to make light of them, put themselves forward as teachers, and address themselves to the emotions and feelings of their hearers, a high degree of excitement is what is likely to follow. In such a state it is easy to come to the conclusion that this is the work of the Spirit of God, and the next inference is still more easy, that it is a clear evidence of conversion. That there will be, in such cases, joyous and even rapturous feeling, is just what may be expected, but to rest on such experience as giving assurance of salvation, would be most unsafe.

We would not, however, exclude experience or consciousness from the grounds on which it may be safe for a child of God to conclude that he is a subject of saving grace. But it is a consciousness that must itself have a sure foundation. When the soul is suffering the pangs of conviction of sin, and apprehension of the wrath of God, nothing but an inward sense that sin is forgiven will bring relief. Instance the case of the converts on the day of Pentecost. The inquiry put tothe apostles: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" evinced the reality and depth of their conviction that they were sinners, and exposed to divine wrath. Their compliance with the direction of Peter, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus

Christ, for the remission of sins," at once lifted the burden from their souls. They gladly received "the word," and we learn in the sequel that they experienced a high degree of spiritual joy. They "did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, fearing God, and having favor with all the people.' The same was the case with the con

verted jailer at Philippi. He followed the direction of Paul and Silas : "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," and we are told he "rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house." The joy in these instances arose from a consciousness that their sin was forgiven, and of the reality of this they could no more have doubted then of their own existence.

But this consciousness must rest on sure grounds. There is something peculiar in the cases referred to, as these conversions took place at a time when there were special manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit in the church. The transition from a state of entire unconcern about the state of the soul to the enjoyment of spiritual life, is not usually now so sudden. There is ordinarily a season, sometimes protracted, of low work, in which the soul is filled with fearful terrors of the wrath to come. But when, by faith wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ is received and rested on for righteousness, there is, we conceive, such a sense of the blessedness of forgiveness of sin and acceptance with God, as leaves for a time no doubt of being in a gracious state. And the use of the appointed means—prayer, meditation on the word of God, and the testing of the state of the soul by scriptural works-will often renew the blessed consciousness of reconciliation with God, and the participation of his loving kindness.

A well-authenticated case will serve to illustrate this. A young man was brought under conviction of sin. His feelings of anguish were at times almost indescribable. He sought relief in various ways. On one occasion, however, being alone in a retired part, he felt a strong impulse to pray for deliverance. He did so, and suddenly the darkness and sense of guilt left him, and his soul was filled to overflowing with spiritual joy. He had assurance that his sin was pardoned, and that he was received into the favor of God. This, however, did not long continue. Often afterwards he sought to have it renewed; and on one occasion, when applying the marks of a gracious state, laid down in a book to which he had access, his attention was fixed on love to the brethren as presented in 1 John 3: 14. Applying this to himself, he enjoyed a return of the joyful experience. He had the assurance of consciousness that he was accepted in the Beloved.

Nor is this, we conceive, a peculiar or infrequent experience. Indeed, it would be strange if a sense of deliverance from sin and its consequences did not bring joy to the heart. And that joy is just a foretaste and earnest of the joys of heaven, the same in kind with the joy of those who sing the new song: "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." And this, we apprehend, is the import of Paul's prayer for the churches at Rome: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Rom. 15: 13. "Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. 5: 5.

The appearance of the essay the title of which stands at the head of this paper, is most seasonable. The author has done his work well. Never was there a time when there was more need to stir up the careless and secure to inquire into their state, and to cease to be at ease until they have, on safe grounds, assurance that they are justified and accepted through Christ; and never was there more need for faithful warning against making mere feeling a test of religion in the heart. Those who are in danger from either of these extremes will receive benefit from a diligent and prayerful perusal of these pages; and to the believer, anxious about his state, and desirous to make his calling and election sure, the directions under the head of "How assurance may be best attained," will be of inestimable value.

We hope the work will have an extensive and ready sale. We learn that it can be obtained from the author, 334 W. 55th street, and Robert McAfee, 90 Fulton street, New York. T. S.

MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

FOREIGN.

LETTER FROM MISS CRAWFORD.

LATAKIYEH, March 21st, 1877.

AFTER many hindrances and long delay, the chapel, which our dear sister, Mrs. Metheny's, bounty provided for the mission, is finished. The first service held in it was on the preparation Sabbath, March 11th. The communion services were all held in it, and though so much larger than any place we have ever held service in, it was filled with a large, attentive audience, many of whom never listened to a Protestant service before. One young girl remarked: "I have been going to my own church-Armenian-ever since I was a baby, and never knew till to-day what the sacrament meant." It was so comfortable to have room enough to move round in without tramping on people. And yet, roomy as we thought it was, it was completely filled, especially on Sabbath, about three hundred being seated, leaving the space for the tables clear. This is a rough plan of the room. There is a high arched window, with door in the centre, on the west. The numbers mark the windows.

There were seven additions to the membership by profession. Five of these from the school, and of the other two, one was an Armenian, who has been coming to church occasionally ever since I came to Latakiyeh. The other is Mahmoud, an Ansairee, the first who, initiated into the secrets of their religion, has dared or cared to forsake it. His daughter has been a member for two years, and has prayed earnestly for her father's conversion ever since her own. He had three of his children baptized, and Dr. and Mrs. Easson are going to Gendaree on Sabbath, and will baptize the other two. There are two children of one of the other members there to baptize also.

Mr. Easson preached fast day morning and Sabbath morning, and served the second table. Dr. Metheny performed the other service. We think we have two pretty good preachers in Arabic. They take