SIR,-Upon the subject of justification I should like to submit a few remarks to your correspondent of September last. Does he not take far too limited a view when he attributes every thing to the atonement of Christ? because it may then be simply asked, Of what use was his life? If all depended upon the sacrifice of himself, Why did he live so many years? It could not be merely for the sake of propagating the truths of the gospel, for that was more properly the Spirit's work, and indeed was not done effectually till he took it up. From some of the texts quoted by your correspondent, one would imagine that he makes no distinction between justification and the imputation of Christ's righteousness. He gives us Being justified by his blood, and then immediately following, He hath made him to be, not a righteous person, but sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Without occupying your pages by any discussion on the meaning of imputed righteousness, for the very term explains itself, I will just say on justification, that the scriptural meaning of the word seems to be, the opposite of condemnation-a cleansing from the charge of guilt. "And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses," Acts xiii. 39. Many similar texts might be quoted, especially from Job, and the epistles to the Romans and Galatians. If justification be limited to this meaning, as I believe it is in scripture, may we not say at once that its procuring cause is the atonement of Christ? So far I agree with your correspondent. But then it can afford us no title to eternal life-a freedom from the charge of sin does not necessarily imply righteousness. This may perhaps

be considered by some as too nice a distinction, but I venture to think that it will be found upon mature consideration, to be quite scriptural. Indeed it appears to me that in no other way are we able to attribute to the life of Christ its due, than by considering it as the cause of f; our righteousness, while his death is the cause of our acquittal, our justification.

God gave an incipient law in Eden, and enlarged it upon Mount Sinai; in the former case to abstain from evil, in the latter to do good as well as to abstain from evil. Man broke it in the first instance, and still continues to break it. Christ then appeared, suffered the punishment due to man's violation of God's holy law, or, in other words, atoned for his sin, and thus justified him; but the law still remained-was it to be left as a mere nullity? was it not rather to be magnified and made honourable by its being fulfilled in every particular? This Christ did by his life. When submitting to one of its precepts, he said, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Again, "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Hence, allowing all that can be allowed for the antithesis, it is plain in what way "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." And although Paul, declares "By the law is the knowledge of sin," for to man in his fallen state it can serve no other purpose than to make his sin manifest, and thus lead him to Christ, and "the law entered that the offence might abound," yet he also says, 66 that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit ;' in which, does he not mean "fulfilled in us, who no longer walk as natural men but as spiritual, ap

prehending by faith the righteousness of Christ in his fulfilment of the law?"

One word more and I have done. It does not appear that our title to heaven can rest upon our righteousness in Christ in consequence of his obedience to the law abstractedly considered, because in justice that could place us no higher than the situation of Adam in Eden, for Adam had no promise of heaven as the reward of his obedience, but upon our union to him and oneness with him. Where the head is there must be the members, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be

made perfect in one." Hence he prays, "Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am."

I hope you do not entirely agree with a later correspondent in deprecating discussion on these subjects under all circumstances. Whatever leads men to search their Bibles for themselves must be attended with benefit. It is a good thing "to be established in the faith," a bad thing to be in doubt, though much better to be in doubt than to go comfortably and quietly on in error.

R. M.

"Yes, this was grief and cares or griefs All earthly-born must know; But oh! there is another world

Where cares are not, nor woe; And he who knows his home is there, When this frail life is past, E'en with a smile may welcome death, His happiest hour-the last."

"Sure the last end

Of the good man is peace! how calm his exit !

Night dews fall not more gently to the ground,

Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft!"

BLAIR.

"Peace, spirit, peace! immortal life Dawns on the darkness of the tomb; E'en in the last, the parting strife,

Thy God shall guide thee through the
gloom.

Trust thou in him, and thou shalt prove
Redeeming grace, eternal love."

As I strolled along one beautiful morning in autumn, I was particularly and pleasingly affected by the calmness, beauty, and grandeur of the scene. The silence that reigned around was unbroken, save by the carols of the feathered choirs, the prattlings of the lucid brook, or the loud whistling of the rustic as he trudged to the scene of his daily occupation; the shrubs and flowers, moistened by the genial dew, exhaled a fragrance which nature's self alone can furnish; and the beams of the sun just bursting from its orient hiding place, in one part sparkled in the river which rolled along the vale; and led me to think of the river clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb, the river which makes glad the city of our God; in another part they glistened upon the drops of the morning, which decked in artless jewellry the gossamer and the hawthorn; and reminded me of the Gospel of Christ, which brightens with a smile the tears of earthly sorrow, and converts the calamities and disappointments

of this mortal state into blessings whose influence is felt for ever; in another they shone with unveiled lustre on the white-washed cottages which peacefully smiled upon the opposite hill; and then how pitiful and insignificant appeared the distinctions of life, since the luminary of day beams with equal brightness upon the splendid palace and the straw-clad cottage; in short, as the whole scene stretched around me in all its magnificent vesture, its spangled decorations, its diversified compartments, its unparalleled loveliness, I was induced to think how bright, how glorious, must that morning have been, when with a benignant smile the Creator gazed upon the work of his hands,-when the sun unclouded first dawned upon a sinless world; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Alas that such a morning should have been followed by the storms of sorrow, the clouds of disappointment, and the withering blast of sin. Another morning however will dawn, when sorrow, disappointment, and sin shall be known no more, when the vicissitudes, the pleasures, and the trials of time shall be lost amid the changeless realities of eternity. When our sun shall no more go down neither our moon withdraw herself, but God shall be our everlasting light; and the days of our mourning shall be for ever ended. And now I was approaching a neatly garnished dwelling, upon which I fancied the sun shone with a more than ordinary lustre; it might have been from the character of its external decorations, but it was more probably the effect of imagination, from the knowledge that it contained a family, who though sojourning there for a season, were heirs of a mansion incorruptible, undefiled, eternal in the heavens. The house is

situated on a small eminence, and commands a prospect at once expansive, diversified, and interesting; to the left is seen a low range of hills, clothed with a varied dress of woods and cultivated enclosures, and surmounted near the termination of the view, by a hill whose tufted top appears to crown the landscapes which are spread on every side of it. To the right the view is shut in by a mingled group of trees, through whose fading and scattered foliage was seen the cemented residence of a neighbouring gentleman; while immediately in front, an expansive meadow, having on one side a range of poplars, and on the other a slender coppice is bounded by a hill, upon whose gently rising sides appears the hoary tower and straggling cottages of the village of M; and the rich verdure which decked the ground, the river winding gracefully along, and bearing the 'swanwinged vessels' on its breast; the turnpike road of dusty whiteness appearing here and there in the distance; the cottage of brick which stands exactly opposite the house, and even the lime-kiln embowered with trees which at times sends forth its purple clouds, all contribute their share to the interesting character of the scenery.

Oh !

how often have I sat in the bow window of this retired dwelling, and as I gazed with admiration around, or mingled in social intercourse with its inmates, have pitied the man who would change a residence and a scene so peaceful for the thorny habitations and the clouded prospects of earth-born greatness. A few years ago it had pleased their heavenly Father to take unto himself one from the bosom of this family, who having been cleansed in the blood, arrayed in the righteousness, and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, was enabled to make his exit with composure, and pass into eternity with a smile、 it is the last illness and death of

DEC. 1827.

this youthful Christian that I now purpose to lay before my readers. And oh! that they may be influenced by his example, to implore an interest in the same Saviour, and to exemplify the sanctifying power of his Gospel,-and thus and only thus will they obtain, Comfort in sorrow, bliss in pain, Freedom in bondage, light in gloom, Through earthly losses, heavenly gain, And life immortal through the tomb.

You told me, said I one morning to a surviving brother, that you would give me a circumstantial account of the last illness and death of your brother George; if you are at liberty now, I am sure I shall feel interested in hearing it.

'I shall be very happy,' he replied, to fulfil my engagement, and as I am not now particularly engaged, I will at once begin.

'Our parents you well know are people fearing God and working righteousness,' and having felt upon their own souls the regenerating influence of the Holy Ghost, they endeavoured to instruct their children in those important truths which by the divine blessing were able to make them wise unto salvation; nor were their efforts in vain, for George upon his dying bed acknowledged that if his mind had ever been seriously impressed with divine things, he must attribute it to their instrumentality. From early youth there seemed to be in him some good thing towards the God of his Father, and though to a late period of his life no satisfactory evidence appeared of any saving change produced upon his soul by the Spirit of God, yet the amiable sweetness of his disposition, the hatred he felt to the company of ungodly children, the abhorrence with which he regarded every act of impiety or vice that might have fallen beneath his notice; together with that seriousness of mind which is so frequently the result of a religious education, combined to justify his affectionate parents in

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indulging the hope that these impressions, however feeble, were the twilight glimmerings of a work of grace in his soul, and that their child by nature and affection would become the child of God by adoption and grace.

Till about twelve years of age his constitution appeared to be remarkably vigorous, and no one would have thought that one so healthy was soon to be wasted by sickness, and sink into an early tomb.

Like the pleasing flower, I said, cut down by the devastating scythe, ere its opening leaves had unfolded half its loveliness to our admiring gaze.

'It was so,' he continued, but God's ways are not as our ways, neither are his thoughts as our thoughts; it pleased the Lord to afflict him, and we trust the afflictions wherewith he was visited have worked out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. For nearly the space of six years he was the subject of perpetual infirmity, either in a greater or less degree, during which he ever manifested such patient resignation, as while it astonished those who witnessed it, afforded ample demonstration of the support which he derived from the Consolation of Israel, who hath promised to each of his believing people, that as their day so shall their strength be.

Being naturally ingenious and endowed with talents of a superior order, he devised numerous schemes for his amusement when confined to his bed, nor when permitted for a season to quit the chamber of affliction, were those talents unemployed; which is clearly evinced by some remarkable specimens of ingenuity that he has left behind him; indeed there was no object upon which his mind was fully bent that he failed in accomplishing, and had it pleased the disposer of all events to have granted him a longer continuance in the body, there

Yes, I observed, and how consoling is the reflection, that amid all that is inexplicable and obscure in the dispensations of Providence, we may repose our minds in the firm conviction, that they are all ordered by infinite wisdom, and overruled by unlimited benevolence for our present and everlasting welfare. But in what way did it please God to convince the mind of your late brother of the evil of sin, the awful depravity of the heart, and the absolute necessity of a free and unconditional salvation?

'I cannot say precisely the period when or the manner how this work of regeneration was commenced; but I think we may conclude that his afflictions were sanctified by the Spirit of God, in recalling to his mind the instructions of his parents, and stimulating him to sue for pardon and mercy of Him who will not spurn the meanest supplicant, or turn a deaf ear to the humblest petitioner for mercy, and who has not only a heart to pity, but an arm omnipotent to save.'

How often, I said, is this the case; how many have found the language of St. Paul confirmed by their own experience-"No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, yet afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby ; " how many, upon whose soul the true light first beamed, when the dismal shades of the dark valley were gathering thick around them, have been permitted to add their dying testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus; and in the agonies of death to triumph