to attend public worship. It was as though he had obtained relief from pain, and his spirits were more than usually lively. When his grandaughter took her leave of him at night, he gave her his benediction in the most impressive and affecting manner: "The Lord bless you, my dear, and all that belong to you! Yes, He will; I know He will." These words he repeated with great emphasis many times. Thus was he parted from her in the very act of invoking blessings; for, the next morning, on entering his chamber, she found that his spirit had fled to the paradise of God. "So," says Mr. Wesley in his Journal, "ended the holy and happy life of Mr. Vincent Perronet, in the ninety-second year of his age. I follow hard after him in years, being now in the eighty-second year of my age. O that I may follow him in holiness, and that my last end may be like his!"

His remains were committed to their resting-place, on the following Saturday, by Mr. Charles Wesley; who the day succeeding preached to a large concourse, on the singularly apposite words: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace."

After the decease of Mr. Perronet, a general anxiety was felt by the inhabitants of Shoreham to obtain the living for the gentleman who had officiated as his Curate, and who was commended by kindred views and habits. A petition to this effect, numerously signed, was accordingly presented to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster; but one of the oldest Prebendaries rose, and strenuously insisted on his right to the presentation, in favour of his eldest son. The claim was admitted; the wishes of the people, and the unfitness of the young man for the office, being alike disregarded. The new Vicar was a stranger to evangelical truth, and inattentive to the duties of his profession. A train of natural consequences brought the living into a state of sequestration; and, had it not been for the labours of the Methodists, a flock which had been collected at the cost of so many years' toil, anxiety, sorrow, and prayer, must have been scattered abroad like sheep having no shepherd.

The example recalled in this brief paper shows the beauty and blessedness of Christian unity. Solemnly delightful was the last interview between the faithful Wesley and the venerable Perronet, both on the verge of eternity, and approaching the fortieth year of an endearing and unbroken intercourse,- -an intercourse characterized by oneness of sentiment, affection, confidence, and aim. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."

How largely might the Church of England have been benefited, had the multitude of its Ministers co-operated with the Wesleys as did the worthy Vicar of Shoreham ! Times have come when regret

is expressed in highest places, that, with few exceptions, the national sanctuaries were closed against those men of God. And this with reason. For what was their offence? Not hostility to the Church of England; for they loved it at their heart's core. Not the preaching of heterodox doctrines; for they took their stand by her Articles and Homilies; and the doctrine of justification by faith, which they urged so strenuously, and for which they were so much reproached, had been the main-spring of the Reformation,-the vital truth for which illustrious Reformers contended, suffered, and died. Not even the irregularity of their proceedings; for what rule was violated by a Clergyman who, feeling compassion for sinners, sought outcasts, who went neither to church nor to chapel, gathering them, at times reckoned uncanonical, in squares, streets, and fields, and exhorting them all the while to fill their parish-churches and to honour the established ordinances? Nor yet did the offence consist in effecting a separation from the Church; for they strove to the uttermost to prevent such a result. What, then, was the ground of opposition? Let the candour of the present age reply. Meanwhile, let all who profess and call themselves Christians accelerate, by prayers and efforts, the happy day when "the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;" when "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim."

ESSAY ON THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.

BY THE REV. RICHARD WRENCH.

THE direct witness of the Holy Spirit, as to our adoption into the family of God, we hold to be a doctrine clearly taught in Scripture ; maintained in the writings of Fathers, Reformers, and many of the most eminent Protestant divines; and confirmed by the experience of thousands, who no more doubt the Divine testimony in their hearts than the shining of the sun at the blaze of noon. There are others, indeed, whose Christian character we admire, and at whose feet we fain would sit for instruction in many things, who cherish and conscientiously teach what we cannot but deem erroneous notions in regard to this verity; who, while they enjoy the blessing, yet decline to express their comfortable persuasion of " acceptance in the Beloved;" and who would limit such a privilege to a favoured few, which we hold to be common to all the children of God.

This tenet, and that of entire sanctification, have been too commonly allowed to slumber in the writings of giants in theology. We consider it a duty to give our earnest, repeated, and harmonious confession in favour of both. As to the former, (to quote the words of him whose name this Magazine bears,) "it more nearly concerns the Methodists, so called, clearly to understand, explain, and defend this doctrine, because it is one grand part of the testimony which God has given them to bear to all mankind." Let those among us

who have "the faith of a servant," and who are "not far from the kingdom," urge their suit till they attain the sonship of believers. Then, because they are sons, God will send forth the Spirit of His Son into their hearts, crying, "Abba, Father." "Are my sins forgiven?" is a question of thrilling interest and sovereign importance. If so, how am I to know it, to be assured of it? The Spirit Himself -not the Spirit in the word-beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. In the preceding verse He is called "the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father;" an intimation that it is impossible to call God "Father," save by the Spirit's witness to our acceptance. Whether Rom. viii. 16 affirms one witness or two, may not be certainly pronounced. Some theologians are of opinion that the teaching is, The Holy Spirit conveys the impression to our spirit, our spirit simply receiving the testimony: others take the correct interpretation to be, that the Spirit of God and our spirit conjointly testify, thus recognising two witnesses. The opinion of Wesley is very distinctly given in the second of his discourses on this subject :-"It is manifest, here are two witnesses mentioned, who together testify the same thing; the Spirit of God, and our own spirit." Watson adopts the same view. The "witness of our own spirit is the same thing with "the testimony of our conscience;" (2 Cor. i. 12;) and, by modern divines, it is sometimes called "the indirect witness of the Spirit,"-by which we understand that evidence of our acceptance which arises from seeing an agreement between our heart and life, on the one hand, and the character of a Christian as portrayed in the Bible, on the other.*

In proceeding to our theme, it is important to offer a word respecting the Agent who is said to bear witness. Some who are called expositors of Scripture deny the divinity of the Spirit; others deny His personality by resolving Him into an energy, quality, or power. That the Spirit is a Person must be patent to all candid minds, because personal acts are ascribed to Him; and this, not in figurative language, (as Wisdom is said to be personified in the Proverbs of Solomon,) but in the plain, unadorned, and simple terms of narration. He is said to be "grieved," to "speak," to "guide," to "send,"-terms which could not be literally applied to an energy or quality. As personal feelings, dispositions, and actions, ascribed to Him in terms equally plain and forceful with those in which they are ascribed to the Father and the Son, prove that the Spirit is a Person; so the teaching that against Him an unpardonable sin may be committed, and numerous declarations to the effect that He possesses Divine names and attributes, prove Him to be a Divine Person; that is, truly and properly God.

Mark we, then, the fact to which the Spirit's testimony is borne.

"The testimony of our conscience" is a phrase on every account preferable to "the indirect witness of the Spirit," and even to "the witness of our own spirit." Our theological dialect would be amazingly improved, both in clearness and power, by a stricter conformity to the idioms of Scripture.-EDITORS.

He does not bear witness to the change which takes place when a penitent man sees those sins repulsive which he once deemed attractive, and finds that bitter which he once called sweet. This is known by consciousness.-Nor does the Spirit bear witness to any reformation of manners, which may precede justification; such as ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well. Of this a man is for himself assured, just as of any other obvious fact.-Nor yet is it to our moral regeneration, or the new birth, that the witness is borne. Regeneration is wrought in the soul by the same adorable Agent; but the witness of the Spirit, in the order of nature, precedes the regeneration of the soul. This witnessing Spirit quickens the dead soul, and raises it to newness of life. The new birth is a concomitant, or an immediate result, of the Spirit's witness. First we are informed of what has transpired on our behalf, and then we immediately feel God's Spirit working in us. The Spirit's witness and regeneration are like two united links of a golden chain. In order, the witness is first, and the new birth the second. They are always together; and the second immediately, yea, instantaneously, follows the first: yet it does succeed, as certainly as any effect in physics answers to its

cause.

When a penitent, bewailing his sins with a "godly sorrow," is enabled to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with the heart unto righteousness, Almighty God, according to His irreversible word, pardons all his past sins, "justifieth the ungodly," and adopts the recovered prodigal; upon which, and its attestation, the new birth at once follows. Is it quite correct, then, to look upon adoption as something added to our complete pardon? Adoption does not, in fact, flow from forgiveness, but is involved in it; inasmuch as a full pardon, such as God always bestows, must include a restoration to forfeited privileges. Is God a King? He "pardoneth iniquity." Is He a Judge? He "justifieth the ungodly." Is He a Father? He owns us as sons and daughters. Thus it is clear that these three Gospel terms are expressive of one substantial blessing. Perhaps justification is, in one view, the strongest; indicating that the great benefit is bestowed consistently with the administration of justice, and not in mere prerogative of mercy; Christ having rendered satisfaction, instead of the guilty. The moment the penitent sinner believes with all his heart, the act of pardon passes in the mind of God; and, according to the economy of the gracious scheme, it is the office of the Third Person in the Godhead to convey to the believing soul the glad tidings of great joy. The witness of the Spirit may be defined, an inward and direct impression, or joyful persuasion, produced by the Holy Ghost in the spirit of a believer, that his sins are all forgiven, and that he is now a child of God. The Spirit makes known what we can ascertain only by testimony. No imagery can perfectly represent this subject. The lightning's flash is followed by the peal of thunder; and some imaginative minds have taken the flash to denote the Divine act of pardon, and the thunder the report of pardon but the analogy, while it may help us somewhat in observing

the order of the concomitant blessings, cannot be urged further, because no appreciable time intervenes between the act of forgiveness in heaven's high court, the Divine testimony of it in our hearts, and the regeneration resulting from the Spirit's entrance. They take place at the same time; or, to borrow an illustration from a living divine, the Holy Spirit's testimony is as a uniting link between the "relative" and the "real" change, at once ascertaining the one, and producing the other. At one golden era of the soul's history, the act of pardon takes place, the Divine impression is given, and the dead soul lives!

*

a

The witness is internal. It is, in the words of Mr. Grindrod, " private and spiritual transaction between God and the believer, and perceptible only to the mind of him by whom it is received." The manner is confessedly mysterious, and yet the fact is not on this account less deserving of credence; for it is clearly revealed in Scripture, and we believe in mysteries every day. Can you comprehend the growing of a spire of grass, or the wind that shakes the trees, moves the corn, and moans or sounds loudly in your ear,-the tornado travelling in its might, and the howling of the storm which rushes by? Confessedly, no. Then hearken: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." There is, we humbly conceive, no difference in the mode of working, when the Spirit seals a convicted sinner's condemnation, and when He testifies a believer's pardon. The one receives the Spirit of bondage to fear;" the other, "the Spirit of adoption." This witness may be conveyed by an inward whisper, or by the powerful application of some passage of Scripture. Yet, while we concede, according to the calm and carefully worded experience of some eminent Christians, that God the Holy Ghost sometimes bears His witness by the powerful application of an appropriate promise, or by the words of "a still small voice;" yet, let it be borne in mind, this is not His uniform method, perhaps not even His usual one. He communicates with our spirit, and informs it, independently of all means. Having direct access to the inner man, He conveys, in an inexplicable yet convincing manner, the assurance of our sonship. All mists and darkness flee before His rising beams: we then know, experimentally, that forms and ceremonies in religion are mere shadows, not the substance; and we can exclaim, from a glad heart, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

The witness of the Spirit is both needful and satisfactory.-Needful, in order to calm our fears of threatened wrath, to give real tranquillity, and to inflame our hearts with love to God. If the Lord pardons our sins, we can only know it by a Divine communication. We cannot otherwise tell what transpires in the Infinite Mind: for, as no man "knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in

* Dr. Hannah.