zine, col. 601, vol. x., I endeavoured to shew, in opposition to your correspondent W. P. B. col. 206, that Heb. vi. 4-6, does not refer to persons who had once been truly converted to God. What I then advanced has, however, been controverted by another correspondent, col. 992, who signs himself J. W. In replying to this writer, I hope to bear in mind the judicious hints you gave to correspondents on the cover of your last number.

If

I feel myself rather at a loss to know what J. W. precisely means by "Calvinian perseverance;" for the truth is, I am so little acquainted with the writings of Calvin, as not to know what his exact views were on the subject of perseverance. your correspondent imagines that it is my intention to defend Calvin's views on the subject, he is certainly mistaken. My maxim, in matters of religion, is, to "to call no man master upon earth." When I conceive the assertions and opinions of any uninspired man are opposed to the word of God, I feel myself at the most perfect liberty to reject them. But that J. W. may not mistake me, it is but fair to state, that I most firmly believe in the certain and eternal salvation of every saint. This, however, is not the point in hand. The only question is, Does the apostle, in Heb. vi. 4-6, refer to persons who had once been truly converted to God, or not? The object of my former communication was to establish the negative side of this question; but the passages I then quoted and compared, J. W. asserts, and attempts to prove, were not applicable to the case in hand. That we may see how he succeeds in invalidating the force of those passages, allow me, Mr. Editor, candidly to follow him through his " animadversions."

To illustrate the clause, " who were once enlightened," I referred to the case of Balaam; but in reply J. W. asserts, that the illumination of Balaam "was at most only prophetical, and that the above clause is to be understood spiritually." Balaam was certainly a very extraordinary character, and by what criterion a considerable portion of the light he evidently possessed, is ascertained to be merely prophetic, I am quite at a loss to conceive. "If Balak," said he, "would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Jehovah my God, to do less or more. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like unto 123.- VOL. XI.

man.

of a mere prophetic impulse. In fact, he here apparently, but it is only apparently, speaks the language of a pious and holy And why, on the other hand, is the phrase, "once enlightened," to be understood purely in a spiritual sense, as meaning much the same thing, in fact, as regeneration? Why, simply, it would seem, because J. W. finds similar language made use of in the sacred scriptures to express a state of saving acquaintance with the grace of God.

But surely your correspondent does not need being informed, that scripture terms and phrases are frequently made use of with such a latitude and variety of meaning, as to render it quite impossible to ascertain their intended import, without the most careful examination of the context. It is said, for instance, that the Philippian gaoler, and all his house, believed; and it is also said, that devils believe: but does believing in both these cases import just the same thing, neither more nor less? And while there is an illumination which amounts to a glorious reality, and of which our Lord affirms, "This is life eternal!" we are equally certain, that there is also an illumination, which only amounts to "the form of knowledge and of the truth," and which still leaves its deluded possessors under the dominion of sin and condemnation. Thus the very light that is in them may be darkness!

With a view of shewing that a person might "taste of the heavenly gift, and be a partaker of the Holy Spirit," and yet not be a truly converted character, I quoted the case of the traitor Judas; but to evade the force of this allusion, J. W. asks if I can

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prove, that by tasting of the heavenly gift, and partaking of the Holy Ghost, we are to understand the gift of working miracles, and that exclusively?" It was never my intention, sir, to give this exclusive meaning to the language in question. But that Judas really possessed the gift of working miracles, will, I suppose, be denied by no unprejudiced mind. And then, does not my opponent believe, (and it is what I believe myself,) that thousands who sit under the ministry of the gospel, taste of the heavenly gift of grace, or receive into their minds a measure of divine influence, and yet never become genuine converts to the Lord Jesus Christ; but, on the contrary, give awful evidence that they are still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity? And if these things be admitted as facts, then the

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objection of J. W. to my former statement, amounts to just nothing at all but a mere quibble.

"taste

That it is possible for persons to the good word of God," and yet not be genuine believers, I conceived to be quite evident from the case of the stony-ground hearers, who, it is said, "heard the word, and received it with joy; yet had they no root in themselves, and therefore soon withered away." But here J. W. remarks, that "the expression used (in the parable) is, not that they tasted the good word of God, but that they received the word with joy, and that these may not be of the very same import." Perhaps they may not; but has he proved that they are not? Most assuredly he has not, unless we are to regard the following most singular assertion in the light of a proof, viz. "that the words used by the apostle are evidently more expressive of the state of grace, than those used in the parable! That is, to taste the good work of God is more expressive of a state of grace, than to receive it with joy! But I should really like to know, by what magic touch the writer makes the word or act of tasting evidently signify more than that of receiving. I suppose, sir, that most of your readers, as well as myself, have been in the habit of thinking, till the appearance of this extraordinary assertion, that to receive a thing, whether corporally or mentally, whether into the body or the soul, was evidently expressive of something more than that of tasting it. And it would seem, that even the evangelists were oldfashioned enough to think so; for one of them tells us, that Jesus tasted of the vinegar mingled with gall, and another adds, "but he did not receive it." But tasting, we are reminded, "is sometimes expressive of a state of grace;" and so is receiving; "for as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." But the truth is, that neither of the terms necessarily implies a saving reception of the gospel that must be ascertained by the context. There is, for example, a numerous class of hearers, in most of our different places of worship, who not only evince a taste and relish for the good word of God, but are frequently, by the preaching of that word, melted into floods of tears; and yet, in the course of the week, they may have been seen in the pursuit of every folly, or practising the arts of fraud, or even rolling about our streets in paroxysms of drunkenness! And yet, after all, is it too much to say of such awful characters, that they tasted the good word of God? They did more they received it with joy!

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What J. W. says on "the powers of the world to come," requires no reply; for whether we regard this clause as expressive of the amazing and tremendous efficacy of the gospel dispensation, which is sometimes the savour of death unto death-or the overwhelming influences of eternity itself—it is but of little consequence to the present discussion; for most certain it is, that in relation to both, many a poor wretch has tasted, and trembled, and for ever sunk beneath the powers of the world to come.

But "there is a difference," we are told, "between one person being illuminated, another tasting the heavenly gift and partaking of the Holy Ghost, a third tasting of the good word of God, a fourth of the powers of the world to come, and the same person being the subject of all these." This is granted but still, upon the supposition, (and the supposition has not yet been refuted,) that not any one of these particulars really amounts to a vital part of true religion, it will be of no material consequence, whether we suppose them all possessed by one individual, or distributed among many; for he who might possess them all would no more be a real Christian, than he who possessed but one of them; just the same as he who has four counterfeit sovereigns, is not a whit richer than he who has but one. There is, therefore, no necessity for producing an instance in which all the particulars specified are to be found in the same individual, and he undeniably a stranger to vital religion. But still, I do not think it at all difficult to produce instances, from the sacred writings, in which persons, to all appearance, went quite as far in the profession and experience of personal religion, as those specified in Heb. vi. 4—6. I will quote two instances. When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned, and inquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their Redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues; for their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant, Psalm lxxviii. 34-37. They seek me daily, says God, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice, they take delight in approaching to God! And yet this is the testimony of God: Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness! Isa. lviii. 2, 4. If J. W. should think proper to object to these cases as inapplicable, by saying, that "the expression used is, not

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that they were once enlightened, &c. but that they daily seek me," &c. I shall deem it a waste of time to make any reply, judging that he intends, after all, nothing but a mere logomachy, or war of words, instead of sense.

Considerable stress is also laid on the phrase "to renew them again to repentance," as though it necessarily implied, that they had once been the subjects of genuine repentance. This objection, at first sight, appears somewhat plausible; but that plausibility will immediately vanish, if we consider, first, that similar phraseology is frequently made use of in the sacred writings, where a real repetition of the same thing is not implied. Let the following instance suffice :—“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again (eñispepete waλiv) to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again (raλiv avweɛv) to be in bondage?" Gal. iv. 9. Now it is quite evident, that by these weak and beggarly elements, we are to understand the Jewish ceremonies, to which these gentile converts had never before been subject; and yet they are represented as turning again to these ceremonies, and as desiring again to be in bondage unto them. In the second place, let it be observed, that, (according to our great Parkhurst,) the Greek adverb, Taλiv, signifies not only again, but " also, likewise, then, afterwards, in consequence.' Let us, then, substitute the word then for that of again, and see how the passage will read: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and have fallen away, then to renew them to repentance." appears to me, sir, that this reading throws considerable light on the passage, by placing the emphasis where it ought to be, and where it is placed by the original-raλev ανακαινίζειν εις μετανοιαν. If I am mistaken, I shall most cheerfully submit to the decision of those who are much better qualified to judge on this subject than myself.

It

J. W. asserts, that if my views of the passage be correct, it is not easy to perceive wherein the condition of these persons was worse after their apostacy than it was before. If my views of the passage are correct, the case, sir, will stand precisely thus: Before their apostacy their sin was great; but afterwards it was awfully aggravated. Before their apostacy there was room for genuine repentance; but afterwards there was none!

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It is amazing that your correspondent, who is such an adept in making distinctions where there is no difference, should endeavour to confound a partial falling into sin and error, for a time, with an open and total apostacy from the cause and faithful servants of Christ. That 1 John ii. 19, alludes to such characters as never did in truth belong to Jesus Christ, but to Antichrist, is a position which I imagined no one, whatever might be his creed, would feel disposed to deny, and that their "going out" from the true servants of Christ was only the natural result and development of that fact. "Little children, it is the last time, and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us," verses 18, 19. This language is too explicit to need comment. And I must still be allowed to say, that to me it is quite clear that the characters described in Heb. vi. 4-6, never were the genuine disciples of Jesus Christ; for in the first place, they are compared by the inspired writer, in ver. 8, to that barren kind of earth, which, after all the culture bestowed upon it, produces nothing but thorns and briars, and is therefore rejected. And we are conducted to the same melancholy conclusion, in the second place, by the peculiar manner in which the same writer addresses those whom he considered as genuine believers : "But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, even things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak." ver. 9. Real believers, then, do possess better things than wretched apostates ever did; even things which do accompany the salvation of the soul; and are, therefore, to be distinguished from all that knowledge, and tasting, and partaking, which left their possessors, first in a state of unfruitfulness, then of apostacy, and finally, of eternal impenitency and wo!-I believe, sir, that these wretched characters had, among other sins, committed that of blasphemy against the Divine Spirit, the peculiar capacity for which, according to our best writers of every party, consists of knowledge in the head, and malice in the heart; a sufficient quantity of which, it appears, was possessed by these unhappy men! They had once been enlightened, &c. but had fallen from their profession; and then, as if they had discovered the imposture, with horrid malice, they, in their own hearts, crucified a

just right, and a humane procedure. Were slavery to be immediately abolished, or were it acknowledged by the British legislature as having no legitimate right of existence, what, or wherein, would be the evil?

Against the British government, or against the colonists, a most awful charge is laid. Against the slaves, not any just complaint is preferred. Nor can any complaint be justly laid to their charge, as an aggregate body. They have been taken by force. They have been held by power. Were these prisoners in the island of Great Britain, every prisoner would not only be entitled to his acquittal, but to remuneration for the injury sustained. To take any description of property in Europe, (as men, women, and children are taken in Africa, and transported to West India,) would subject the offender to severe punishment. To want the labour of Africans originally, or now to want their labours, may be perfectly in accordance with established usage; but, for the planters of West India to claim a legitimate right to the African, to require the African to purchase his manumission, or to prohibit his return to Africa under a severe penalty, is an assumption of colonial authority, that exceeds every anterior claim of any part of the human family, over any other portion of our species.

MARINE WONDERS.

W.

"These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep."-Psalm cvii. 21.

THAT the water of the sea conceals from our view objects of the most interesting nature, cannot be doubted. The watery world, as it has most significantly been termed, contains probably productions of almost every class peculiar to itself. An intimation of this is perhaps given us, when Elihu speaks of God as 'covering the bottom of the sea, or, as in the marginal reading, the roots, Job xxxvi. 30. The Red sea is, literally, the weedy sea. Mr. Bruce says, that it contains large trees or plants of coral, perfectly in imitation of plants on land. He saw one, which, from a root nearly central, threw out ramifications in an almost circular form, measuring about twenty-six feet diameter every way. To explore the recesses of the ocean, is impossible. Our acquaintance with them must, therefore, be very partial and limited. In the following extract it appears, that new scenes were opened, and new enjoyments produced, to an adventurous voyager in the northern

seas.

"Nothing can be more surprising and

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beautiful than the singular clearness of the water of the northern seas. As we passed slowly over the surface, the bottom, which here was in general a white sand, was clearly visible, with its minutest objects, where the depth was from twenty to twentyfive fathoms. During the whole course of the tour I made, nothing appeared to me so extraordinary as the inmost recesses of the deep thus unveiled to the eye. The surface of the ocean was unruffled by the slightest breeze, and the gentle splashing of the oars scarcely disturbed it. Hanging over the gunwale of the boat, with wonder and delight I gazed on the slowly moving scene below. Where the bottom was sandy, the different kinds of asteriæ, echini, and even the smallest shells, appeared at that great depth conspicuous to the eye; and the

water seemed in some measure to have the effect of a magnifier, by enlarging the objects like a telescope, and bringing them seemingly nearer. Now creeping along, we saw far beneath, the rugged sides of a mountain rising towards our boat, the base of which, perhaps, was hidden some miles in the great deep below. Though moving on a level surface, it seemed almost as if we were ascending the height under us, and when we passed over its summit, which rose in appearance to within a few feet of our boat, and 'came again to the descent, which on this side was suddenly perpendicular, and overlooking a watery gulf, as we pushed gently over the last point of it, it seemed almost as if we had thrown ourselves down this precipice: the illusion, from the crystal clearness of the deep, actually producing a sudden start.

"Now we came again to a plain, and passed slowly over the submarine forests and meadows which appeared in the expanse below, inhabited, doubtless, by thousands of animals, to which they afford both food and shelter,―animals unknown to man: and I could sometimes observe large fishes of singular shape, gliding softly through the watery thickets, unconscious of what was moving above them. As we proceeded, the bottom became no longer visible; its fairy scenes gradually faded to the view, and were lost in the dark green depths of the ocean."- Travels through Sweden, Norway, and Finmark, to the North Cape, in the summer of 1820, by A. de Capell Brooke, A.M. 4to. p. 195.

In these profound depths is found the remarkable gorgonia lepadifera of Linnaeus, "considered rare by the inhabitants of these parts, who, when they accidentally meet with it, hang it up as a curiosity. This extraordinary zoophyte grows in the