somewhat singular fact, that although I have had many opportunities of listening to preachers of various sentiments in the Established Church, it has never but once been my misfortune to hear the term "irresistible grace" introduced into the pulpit-and that was in the very discourse on which I am now commenting.

I come next to the assertion, that the bulk of those who maintain the necessity of conversion, insist also upon the necessity of that conversion being "sudden."-And here again 1 must take the liberty of stating, that no assertion can less correspond with the facts of a case. Indeed, if the statement was meant to apply to the body of clergy who most strongly maintain the necessity of such a change of heart and of life as is implied in the word Conversion, I believe the preacher might be confidently challenged to produce a single writer of any note among them who insists that this change must be "sudden." They maintain indeed, as every scriptural theologian must, and as even Dr. Paley does in his sermons, the possibility of a sudden conversion ;but, in general, they greatly question its probability, and they strong ly insist on the greater security and value of that change which is marked by thought and deliberation, by gradual and progressive sanctification, and by what may be termed maturation in principle and prac

tice.

But let us for a moment cousider this much-assailed doctrine of "sudden conversion."-And here I am prepared to admit that the theologian who ventures to assert the impossibility of true and effect ual conversion, unless it be also sudden, is a flagrant offender against the sobriety of Scripture. Nor am I less ready to allow that among the early Methodist writers and preachers, whether Arminian or Calvinist-whether ranged, that is, under the standard of Wesley or Whitfield-much rashness and

extravagance of language and sentiment occasionally prevailed on this subject. Whether the same rashness survives among the preachers of these societies at the present moment, I have less opportunity of judging. Abandoning, however, to their own defence all who themselves abandon the simplicity and sobriety of Scripture, I must still venture to contend, that there is a sense in which their statement, when duly qualified, is scripturally and philosophically true. "With the term instantaneous, (says an able and candid critic, when speaking on the subject of conversion,) we have no disposition to quarrel. A man must begin to believe at some time or other; and if the truths of Christianity are first impressed on his heart after he arrives at years of discretion, he may, beyond a doubt, remember in certain cases, the very day and hour in which he first received conversion. ...... The only danger is, lest by making that circumstance a necessary mark of conversion, which was, in fact, only an incidental accompaniment of it, we should presumptuously confine the grace of God to a single mode of operation." Such too is also almost word for word the language of Dr. Paley in his posthumous sermons. And such appears to me to be the opinion of all those of the "Evangelical Clergy" whose works I have had an opportunity of reading. And will it be contended that this view of the subject is inaccurate? By conversion is meant, I conceive, a change of mind, temper, and practice wrought in fallen man, by the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit. Now, in every change of mind there must be a moment of commencement. There must be a starting post, as it were, in the new race of life and opinion. Thus far, therefore, the change is necessarily sudden. But the completion of the change,-the

Quarterly Review, Southey's Life of Wesley, No. 47.

and experience. And as such conversion is promised in the diligent use of the means of grace, and is ordinarily bestowed only in that channel, there alone must they be sought for and expected.

And here, sir, as it is not my object to enter upon any extended discussion of the doctrine of conversion, I will bring these observations to a close. Allow me, how ever, to say, that I regard the minister of religion as the "ambassador of God," and as such am prepared to render him every respect due to his high and holy of fice. But if he either corrupt or curtail the intelligence from Heaven, of which he is the messenger; if he do not speak the language of the great King, whose credentials he bears; if he be fond of converting the temple of the Prince of Peace into an arena for theological disputation; if he untruly or uncharitably assail the character or orthodoxy of his brother ambassadors; if he neglect any part of the high interests which he is commissioned expressly to promote ;then it appears to me the duty even of the humblest individual in the spirit of meekness and love to point out the offence, and to prevent as far as he can its evil consequences. To the preacher whose sermon bas called forth these remarks, I by no means intend to impute all the faults thus enumerated, or any of them in their highest degree. But it may not perhaps be altogether unprofitable to himself, should this paper fall in his way, to try the sermon which has occasioned it, and some others, both printed and unprinted, by the wholesome test which this enumeration supplies. And at the same time will he allow me to remind him, that life is too short for controversy. We must all feel much within us, and see much without us, to establish the solemn truth, that preachers and their hearers are rapidly passing to the tribunal of God. At that moment I need not say that it

will be no gratification to remember that we have built our own reputation for orthodoxy upon the ruin of others; or that, either as preachers or as men, we have kept from those submitted to our influence any part of "the whole counsel of God." On the contrary, it will be the joy of the instructor and guardian of others, that it has been his earnest endeavour, under God, to rouse the sensual or the careless from the sleep of intemperance, or the day-dreams of folly and worldliness; that he has taught them to ask for conversion at the hands of a compassionate God; that he has led them from the territory of false peace or self-justification, to the cross of the Saviour of sinners, there to plead for pardon in "the only Name given under heaven whereby we can be saved." I am, &c.

AUDITOR.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

I HAVE perused with much sympathy the account given in your last Number of that eminent servant of Christ, the late venerable Mr. Scott. His general opinions on most theological subjects are well known to the public through the medium of his various writings, and especially his valuable commentary. I have however thought that it would not be uninteresting to your readers, and especially to the younger members of the sacred profession, to learn the views which occupied his mind at an advanced period of his life, relative to the arduous duties and responsibility of the ministerial office. For this purpose I transcribe the following sketch of a sermon delivered by him before a society of clerical friends in the church of Aston Sandford, on Thursday evening, June 25, 1818, as taken down in short-hand by a friend who was present on the occasion.

The circumstance of its not hav.

ing been a written composition, and of this being only a short-hand sketch, will account for occasional abruptness, and want of literary polish; but such defects will be readily forgiven by all who know how to value the scriptural accuracy of its doctrines; the earnest boldness of its appeals; the appropri ateness and fecundity of its biblical citations and references; and the rich vein of piety, humility, and true Christian eloquence which runs throughout it. I am very sure that I risk nothing of the reputation so justly acquired by Mr. Scott's excellent writings, in exhibiting this specimen of one of his discourses in his seventy-first year, spoken without any view to publication, and indeed without any knowledge that the words uttered at the moment were to be fixed in the substantial form of a written document. Oh that all who minister in the church of Christ, were more deeply impressed with the solemn considerations so forcibly stated in the following discourse!

AMICUS.

2 Cor. ii. 16. "Who is sufficient

for these things?"

My brethren, I feel my text, and I fear I may have done wrong in attempting to address you to-night; but I pray God to help me, and I beg of you to pray for me.

66

The Apostle speaks, in the verses connected with my text, of “a triumph in Christ," and a savour of the knowledge of Christ being made manifest in every place." "For we are a sweet savour unto Christ (he adds) in them that are saved, and in them that perish; to the one we are the savour of life unto life, and to the other the savour of death unto death." He then exclaims, in the words immediately before us, "Who is sufficient for these things?" and proceeds to say, "For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, speak we in Christ." Even in the Apostles' days, we see that

there were many false teachers who acted like dishonest vintners, who debase their wine with some unwholesome mixture. They dilute it, and deprive it of its real strength, and then to keep up its appearance and spirit, add some poisonous ingredients. The liquor still looks like wine, and tastes somewhat like it, and the fraud is not easy to be detected; but instead of being a medicine, it is in fact a destructive poison. Thus false teachers act with the Gospel. They preach many truths, but they covertly either leave out some essential part of Christianity, or put in some material error of their own. Men not established in the faith do not understand the difference; they know some of the doctrine is good, they take the whole of it to be consistent with the Gospel, and they follow it without suspicion to their own ruin.

"Who, then, is sufficient for these things?" This is our subject; but I shall also take some notice of the beginning of the following chapter, "We are not sufficient of ourselves, to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." Let us then consider, I. These things."

II. Who we are that are employed about them.

III. The effect these reflections should have, not to dismay us, but to humble us, and to teach us that "our sufficiency is of God."

IV. I shall conclude with some practical addresses to different classes of hearers.

1. Let us consider "these things;" that is the preaching of the uncorrupted word of God — the discharge of the duties of that ministry which is a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.

To this end consider, (1st,) Wha the holy Scriptures speak of ministers; (2d,) What they say to them.

(1st,) We are to be accounted ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.--A minister is a steward of the unsearch