world, unless we be previously born of God; we cannot be made free from the law of sin and death, by any lower principle than the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus: "For this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."" p. 49. We much admire, likewise, the author's " decided, unequivocal, uncompromising" adoption and enforcement (in p. 51) of Scripture language: "The friendship of the world is enmity with God; whoever, therefore, is the friend of the world, is the enemy of God." Two remarks also, at the end of the sermon, we think worth noting for the edification of our readers. "In secular matters, no man may safely enjoy, what he is not ready at all seasons to abridge, and at any moment to resign." (p. 62). And a little further; "He who bas renounced all undue conformity to the world, he who is transformed in the renewing of his mind, can attend without distraction to the movements of his own spirit. It is neither the business nor the charities of life which keep a man from self-acquaintance." (p. 63). Of the Howing and attractive eloquence of this sermon we could give many specimens, much to the satisfaction, we have no doubt, of our readers, as well as our own. But we must content ourselves with one, which embraces likewise a statement on which we may offer a word in conclusion of our remarks upon it. "But, let us pause a moment. What is the world? Is it that system of nature and providence, which God himself hath formed, and hath appointed as our present sphere of operation? Is it that fair and wondrous fabric, which started into being at the creative word, when the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy, and the Maker of all, with tranquil majesty pronounced, that all was very good? Is it that combination of cheerful, animated, co-operative action, by which mind is elicited, intelligence expanded, social intercourse im proved, benevolence excited and em, ployed, and capacities matured, for every thing true and honest, just and pure, lovely and of good report, virtuous and praise-worthy? Is this the world which we must renounce? Is this the post from which we must retire? Are we to forego our place and occupa tion in this mighty sphere; to cease to to cease to be Christians, that we may be men, that we may become Christians; pursue an ideal phantom of unattainable abstraction? God forbid, my brethren! This is God's world; and to malign it, to desert it, to despise it, were to fly in the face of its Maker and Preserver'; were to forsake the very purpose of our being; and to relinquish the instru fection. But there is, indeed, a world, mental means of our own religious perwhich the Scripture every where denounces; conformity to which, is everlasting ruin. That world, so lamentably degraded and debased by wicked men and wicked spirits; that agitated and distracted scene of feverish activity, impassioned conflict, visionary hopes, and real misery, which exists every where around us; but through which, move, like the three children, through the faithful Christian is privileged to the burning fiery furnace, loose and without hurt. For upon him the flame hath no power, neither is the hair of his head singed, neither hath the smell of fire passed on him. And how, indeed, should he be injured? For another walketh with him; even the Son of God." pp. 52-54. Not to mention a little unexpected hardness in the turn of the last sentence or two, which is not uncommon in Mr. Jebb's pages, may we not be allowed to suggest whether the distinction here attempted, between the two kinds of "world," has not something of that indistinctness, and want of accurate discrimination on an important occasion, which we have before had to notice? Perhaps there are some portions of the intellectual world, so finely pourtrayed by Mr. Jebb, to which it may nevertheless be as dangerous to "conform" ourselves, as to the more diabolical world described at the close of this passage as its counterpart. We think a little more of a spiritual and religious colouring thrown on that side of the world to which we are to be conformed and attached, with a little less depth of shade on that portion of it which is alone represented as the object of dread, would have led us to a juster medium in itself, or at least one perhaps less likely to mislead the convert who should be anxious for direction in the choice of his spiritual course. We regret we are unable to add another specimen from this sermon, where, in the description of “ God's own peculiar freeman," the preacher strongly developes his own feelings, and the standard to which he is affectionately desirous of bringing those of his hearers, in reference to "the vanities of time and the follies of the world." (See pp. 5861.) We unwillingly pass this over, together with some beautiful quotations in his notes-one from the pages of the well-known author of A Practical View of Christianity, "whose name," Mr. Jebb properly observes, "is his panegyric;" another from Dugald Steward, on the delights of a late-awakened imagina tion-both illustrative of his own views of "the change that must take place within ourselves," by the "touch" of Divine grace on the heart, before we can effectually "obey the blessed invitation" of the text. We pass on to the Fourth Sermon, on the text Rom. xiv. 17: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." We find here, as we should have expected, in many strong and pointed practical dogmas, what Christianity is; something less of its negative character and more of its positive. It is justly observed, in the opening, that "it has ever been the prevalent error of false religion, in various shapes and degrees, to substitute things outward and ceremonial, for things inward and spiritual." And to this is subjoined, in a note, the potent CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 197. maxim of our great moralist, "To find a substitute for violated morality, is the leading feature in all perversions of religion."( Boswell's Life of Johnson.) In contradiction to this-at once in opposition to the savage and gloomy superstitions of the heathen world; the hypocritical union of scrupulosity in trifles with hardihood in crime, manifest in Pharisaical records; together with the no less cold, comfortless, inanimate shadow of Christianity, prevalent at this very day «The kingdom of God," observes Mr. Jebb, is righteousness. It is the glorious distinction of Christianity, to provide for the complete establishment of holiness in the hearts of men. If any law could have given this inward life, then, we are assured, righteousness should have been by the law of Moses. of the soul. Laws cannot implant new desires, infuse new habits, communicate new powers. They may, indeed, by an outward force, restrain our outward actions. But they cannot move the interior springs of our conduct; for our natural dispositions are stronger than any law. Here, then, is the triumph of Christianity. For,' what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Such is our high calling, our heavenly destination, our spiritual privilege, even above patriarchs and prophets under God's former dispensations. But laws cannot alter the constitution be discerned in every department of "This deep spiritual character, may the Christian system. It animates those very passages of Scripture, which have been least resorted to for practical purposes. Thus, when we thank our God, that in Christ we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins,' we should do infinite injustice to that all-sufficient sacrifice, by suffering our minds to repose upon an atone. ment offered, a sentence reversed, a future punishment averted. These, indeed, are very great and precious bene fits. Our whole time, our whole substance, our whole lives, would be too little to repay them. But our gratitude, 2 T "It possesses and animates the entire man. In the understanding, it is knowledge; in the life, it is obedience; in the affections, it is charity; in our conversation, it is modesty, calmness, gentleness, quietness, candour; in our se cular concerns, it is uprightness, integrity, generosity. It is the regulation of our desires, the government of our passions, the harmonious union of what soever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy. It is a partaking of the Divine nature; a conformity to the image of God's Son; a putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ; or, in the still more expressive language of the Apostle, it is Christ formed within us." pp. 78, 79. We lament that we cannot proceed to the next paragraph, describing, in a very touching manner, the Divine and effectual energy by which" the representation given in the New Testament of our blessed Saviour" would act on the soul, "if it were duly impressed upon our hearts and minds by the Spirit of God." "Christ would then become at once the blessed source and the bright model of our Christianity."-To Mr. Jebb's statements on the subject of the agency of the Divine Spirit on the heart, as an essential and all-important pre-requisite for the commencement, continuance, and completion of the spiritual life, we have nothing material to object. We confess we have been occasionally not satisfied with some individual references to that doctrine, taken alone, as appearing inadequate to its importance, and implying only that general presumption of assistance*, which even the heathens indulged at times, but from which the express, peculiar, and most gracious promise of the Holy Ghost the Comforter, the privilege and glory of the New Dispensation, should always, we think, be strongly distinguished. The number, however, and occasional weight and distinctness, of those references, have in a great measure countervailed in our minds the weaker impression of some solitary ones. But not so, we must be free to own, the references made by Mr. Jebb to the equally, the allimportant doctrine of the Atone ment. We cannot but think our readers will have gone much of the way before us, in our remarks on the longer passage quoted above, as containing Mr. Jebb's full view of the meaning of the word "righteousness" in the text; of its meaning, also, in a bordering passage, quoted from Rom. viii.; and, further, of its meaning considered more generally, as the one grand and essential feature, or rather the substance and substratum itself, of livered in the sermon. It will be the whole Christian system de. observed, that the notion of justification, so strongly, and often so exclusively, attached by St. Paul to wois, dixaiwua, more especially in the word "righteousness" [dixasthat very Epistle from whence the text is taken, is not so much as hinted at by our preacher. It should allusion to the "all-sufficient sacriseem as if, in making that slender fice" of Christ, towards the close of the quotation, he had pointedly avoided any attachment of the word " righteousness to its forensie or juridical sense, as expressive of an interest in that sacrifice. And " it surely is impossible, with every Τῳ δ' αὖ πονᾶντι, και θεος συλλαμβάνει. παντη δε Διός κεχρημένα πάντες &c. &c. &c. disposition to do justice both to the passage and to the author, not to say that the introduction of the doctrine of the atonement at all, in such a hasty, perfunctory, and ceremonious manner, reflects no honour whatever upon it in that place; and that, indeed, it might have been more honoured" by the total respectful omission, than by such a bare complimentary dismissal of it. We are not prepared to detain our readers with any long investigation of the term in question, as used in the text; though, since it has no immediate key from the context, it might be proper to interpret it by the use of the word "righteousness" in other parts of the Epistle: neither shall we do more than express our decided opinion that Mr. Jebb has affixed a wrong interpretation to the two other passages from St. Paul-the one from the Hebrews, "then righteousness should have been by the law;" the other from Rom. viii. 3, 4, already referred to in both which cases, not sanctification solely, but justification primarily, we believe to have been intended t. But we have a wish to state generally our creed upon this point, which we offer with all deference to the consideration of our readers, and of Mr. Jebb, should he condescend to number himself amongst them, in particular. In a few words, it is this: that, ever since the fall of man, one only revealed method of return to God, or acceptance with him, has been pointed out to us; and that the whole Scripture plan, as well as every successive dispensation, was See particularly chap. iii. 20 to appointed to shew that method to be through a Mediator; that faith in that Mediator was to be ever the first legitimate step towards such a return; and that, this step once firmly taken, reconciliation would be considered as effected; and that from this reconciliation, through the power of the Holy Ghost hestowed on them that believe, would flow all corresponding fruits, "all holy desires, all good thoughts, and all just works," and, in a word, the image of God be visibly renewed and re-impressed upon the soul. It is this complex transaction between God and the soul of mau, with all its happy and saving events, which constitutes, in our notion, the full Scriptural accepta. tion of the term righteousness; and, consequently, that term is to us without a meaning, except seen through the various stages (expressed or implied) here enumerated: nor, as another consequence, could we, consistently with our views, omit the enumeration, when formally and dogmatically stating our plan of Gospel salvation, in connection with the all-compre, hensive term in question. One bad consequence of depreciating, in the slightest degree, either by word or deed, by omission or overt act, the value or importance of this great charter of our salvation, next to that of contravening the direct purpose of God, and withholding "the honour due unto his" Son's "name," is that of expunging from our catalogue of Christian virtues many of those truly characteristic graces which essentially hang upon a full, explicit, and even copious, avowal of the great doctrine of the Atonement. Deep contrition for sin; an affecting sense of its malignity, with the utmost abhorrence of repeating those crimes "for which Christ died; gratitude to the Supreme Father, who willed, and the co-equal Son, who, "even when we were enemies,' executed this wonderful plan of redemption for us; an entire and prostrate submission of the heart to such a mysterious and humbling method of restoration to the Divine favour; with by far the most powerful argument within the whole circle of morals, within all the powers of persuasion or reach of invention, for influencing the heart of "the redeemed," to the same love wherewith" Christ hath loved us and died for us:"-these are a few of those graces and pious dispositions which we expressly learn at the foot of the expiatory Cross, and by which He, who was there "lifted up, powerfully "draws all men unto him."-Mr. Jebb has recommended, in a note, to read and digest Barrow's three sermons Of doing all in the Name of Christ, Of being Imitators of Christ, Of walking as Christ did, &c. (see note p. 93.) We must take leave to recommend to the perusal of Mr. Jebb's readers another sermon, of the same matchless writer, On the Passion of our blessed Saviour, in which he has indeed almost exhausted that topic which is inexhaustible, and particularly in its important influential tendencies on the heart, character, and conduct. We think we perceive a deficiency in Mr. Jebb's delineation of the Christian's moral righteousness, arising from the previous deficiency to which we have now alluded. Another consequence we might hint at from this omission, is that of throwing over the very virtues and attainments of the Christian that are specified, something of a bold and boastful hue, which we think misbecoming creatures" in their best estate," and much more sinners in any. It was the very fault of the heathen, that" dead fly" which was sufficient to convert the whole perfume of their choicest purities into rank corruption and offence, that they made a boast of their virtue, and considered it a sufficient plea for demanding favour, nay, for placing themselves, in their higher moments of self elevation, on an equal pedestal with the Divinity himself. We by no means charge, even in thought, the language or the mind of Mr. Jebb with such presumption; but we think that many of his expressions might be misconstrued into a pharisaical and selfrighteous meaning: neither can we think such a passage as the following, wholly free from blame in itself, unguarded by any previous declarations of the extrinsic meritorious principle on which all depends. "Have you never experienced how delightful it is to subdue a single wrong passion, to perform a single benevolent action, to give one cup of cold water, in the name of Jesus Christ? If, then, the feeling be so precious, which flows from a solitary act of kinduess, can there be a peace in this world, comparable to that which must result from a settled habitude of goodness; of which the author and the exceeding great reGod is felt to be, at once, the motive, ward?" p, 81. We might speak of a third ill effect of this omission; namely, that it tends to affix to all virtue, that seems recommended on other principles, the appearance of something ideal, an imaginary perfection, and a certain sublime soaring, to which man, in this low and frail state, encompassed with infirmity, at once feels himself incompetent, and therefore contents himself with praising it perhaps admiring itand then gives it up in despair. It is the God who is full of compassion towards sinners that must lead sinners to virtue; and the Saviour of sinners is He alone who can encourage them when weak, cheer them when fallen with the hope of a full and free pardon, and lead them, by little and little, through the paths of godly sorrow and appropriate humility, to that deep and abiding "repentance," with all its happy fruits, "unto salvation, not to be repented of.” A sense of pardoned sin, is, we are persuaded, amongst the first incentives and highest motives to a godly life, "Justified freely," we then |