EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM NEW YORK. TO THE EDITOR OF THE GOSPEL BANNER.-Dear Brother.My perusal of the Banner, and intercourse with the religious world, has forced home upon me the conclusion that we are but just breaking through and rising above the hazy mist of Babylon. That whilst we begin to see men as trees walking, and to distinguish the general outlines of things, we have not yet arrived at a clear and distinct apprehension of "the things of the spirit of God." For instance, we have talked long, and loud, about the "remission of sins," "the forgiveness of sins," "salvation from sin," "justification," "sanctification,” “redemption," "deliverance;" but have we got a definite idea in reference to the import of these terms? We say the gospel offers us "the remission of sins." But what is sin? "Sin is the transgression of the law." An act performed an act passed, which cannot be recalled therefore, can never be re-called; consequently it is not the act itself, but its consequences which can be remitted, or forgiven. Now what are the consequences of the "transgression of the law?" The wages of sin is death." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "It is appointed unto men once to die." "And as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." To remit sins then is to deliver, to redeem, to ransom, to save from the penalty of the law, namely, death. Hence, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotton Son to die for us, that we might not die, but have life through him." How? by being put into him. Therefore the "saved" are delivered from "the curse of the law;" because "he was made a curse for, or in the place of them;" are delivered from the constitution of sin, mortality, corruptibility, "the law of sin and death." That is to say, they have ceased to be mortals, having been conformed to the image of his death; that being cast in the likeness, image, or mould of his death, they may "be raised with him;" may pass from death (under the sentence of death or mortality) unto life;" "may have everlasting life," and never taste death;" because "Jesus has died for them." He is their justifier before the law. He is their redeemer from its curse-their ransom price; consequently the law of sin and death has no claim upon them now. For he, "the resurrection and the life," lives in them, and they live on him, and "their life is hid with him in God." Therefore, "because he lives (and while ever he lives), they live also," for "he is their life," they are no longer mortals. They now "live by faith on him who died for them;" because "it does not yet appear what they shall be." But their "faith is the substance (reality) of things hoped for." Hence they "endure as seeing him who is invisible." 'They are heirs," already in possession of "the earnest of the inheritance;" therefore, like Paul, they desire not to "be divested of life, but invested, that mortality may be swallowed up of life." Now, if this be true, it settles for ever all disputes about faith, baptism, remission, immortality, heaven, hell, and almost every other theological question. I hope you will, therefore, subject it to the fiery ordeal of the examination of all the brethren; and it will be discovered that our religion is a more substantive, tangible thing, than it has been supposed. And then we, too, shall learn to live by faith;" to live in order to the realization of those "things which are unseen and eternal." And having "our treasure in heaven," "whither our forerunner hath entered for us," let us demonstrate that our affections are there also. In hope that, "the eyes of your understanding being opened, you may comprehend with all saints what is the height, and depth, and length, and breadth, and know the love of God, which passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of God," I am yours, in the hope of the kingdom, G. B. STACY. MAY MEETING. ACCORDING to agreement at the Sunderland meeting, the next ensuing one is to be held at Nottingham, in Whit-week. It will commence on Tuesday evening, at six o'clock. We desire to see a good gathering of delegates; and fervently hope that something will be done towards procuring the permanent prosperity of the good cause. Let every delegate have for his motto, Res non verba quæso : I seek for things, not words. "To arms! To arms!" is the cry of every party. All are struggling amid the smoke of Babylon, and dust of earth, to obtain what they believe to be Truth and Good. Shall we then shrink from the battle, and quit the field? Nay, verily; let us arise in the cause of God, and contend for his glory. EDITOR. The Poet's Corner. YOUTH RENEWED. SPRING-FLOWERS, Spring-birds, Spring-breezes Light trembling transport seizes My heart-with sighs between ; Fancies again are springing, Like May-flowers in the vales, From thorns, like nightingales; Thus sweetly to surrender The present for the past, Life's burden down to cast;- THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.-No. III. [CONTINUED FROM PAGE 124.] DEFINITION. "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God: in him will I trust."-DAVID. THE general idea of Divine Providence may be expressed in the periphrasis-The care of God in the preservation and government of the world. Or, it is the superintendence of the Creator over the affairs of the universe. The idea of creation, then, is by no means included. Creation must necessarily precede, since it gives occasion to, both preservation and government. For if nothing were created, there would be nothing to take care of-nothing to superintend. The creation of the world, then, was just what we are accustomed to style it-an act of creation, and not a work of providence. The notion of miracle is also excluded. A miracle consists essentially in a sudden change or suspension of what are termed the known or established laws of nature. We can have no idea of a miracle without including such a change or contravention of the regular course of things. On this account, as we have no information of what was the regular course of things before creation, we cannot say, correctly speaking, that even the creation of the world was a miracle. He spoke, and it was done-He commanded, and it stood fast"--but the records of eternity are not before us, and we have not the tongues nor the vocabulary of angels. How it may be termed by those glorious inhabitants of heaven who "cannot die," who were "with the Lord in the beginning of his way before his works of old; when there were no depths nor fountains abounding with water before the mountains were settled and before the hills" —we know not. In our language we call it CREATION, and cannot consistently with soundness of speech term it miracle. No more can the agency termed Providence, which sustains and regulates the universe, be styled miraculous. For a miracle interrupts that very order which this agency preserves, and which by being thus preserved in unvaried regularity through a long succession of ages, has become known as the order of nature. So long, then, as it is one thing to sustain the order of the universe, and another to interrupt it-one thing to enforce a law, and another to break it; so long will the idea of miracle be different from that of the divine agency in the preservation and government of the world. These distinctions we conceive to be of the greatest importance, and absolutely essential to the correct understanding of the subject. It is not a question of power; it is a question of definition-of the use of words. If it were a question of power, we could easily grant that there is as stupendous power displayed in creating the world, as in any miracle; and it could as easily be shown that it requires as great power to sustain as to create the universe. The creating of Adam an adult displayed as much power as would be exhibited in raising a man from the dead-but not any more than is required to clothe the little germ contained in a grain of corn with a new body, twelve or fourteen feet high, with its tassel, its silk, its ears, and its shining leaves. Any one of these is just as possible as another, and no one of them is a whit more wonderful than another, if power were the question. But it is simply the application of terms. The first we call creation-the second, a miracle-the third, the providence of God, who gives "to every seed its own body." It is necessary, in order to avoid confusion of ideas, to employ these terms in their legitimate signification. Further when we thus distinguish between creation, miracles, and providences, we do not thereby exclude from the latter the idea of Divine interference, any more than from the two former. The hand of the Almighty is indeed displayed in all, and in one as much as in another. In the former, indeed his purposes may be more suddenly accomplished, but not more certainly, nor in many cases more unexpectedly than in the latter. The mode and means of action may be different, but there is an agent in all, and that agent is the same. It is very unreasonable to suppose that every Divine interference must of necessity be miraculous-that a Creator is not required to sustain those very laws whose operation a miracle for a moment interrupts, or that this momentary interruption is a greater interference than was required to sustain for ages these principles in constant action-that a greater degree of power is needed or a different agent to produce cessation or change of action, than to originate and sustain that action-that it requires an agent to produce an effect by other than the ordinary means; and that none is needed to accomplish as great a purpose by the wise control, direction, and employment of influences with which we happen to be more familiar. It is indeed the very idea and definition of Providence, that it is the Divine agency exerted in sustaining and governing the universe. It differs from a miracle in this, that its designs are brought to pass by means of the established laws and through the ordinary channels; while a miracle is the accomplishment of a purpose by other means. We are indeed fallen upon "evil days and evil times," when infidelity and atheism seem to have taken the place of the opposite extremes, credulity and idolatry. Formerly every hero and every hearth every object of beauty and every element of nature had a tutelar deity. But now the chief wisdom is made to consist in a stupid attempt to explain every thing by referring and restricting it to what are called natural principles; and a still more absurd halting at what are termed secondary causes; as though the mere knowledge of the mode in which a principle acts could explain the principle itself, or as if the idea of secondary causes did not absolutely involve that of a First Cause. And it is most unfortunate that even those who believe in a Supreme Ruler have partaken more or less of the deleterious influence of this vain philosophy, and that they have permitted the foolish wisdom of this world to substitute any unexplained explanation for the power of God; or any unmeaning or undefinable "Nature" for the Deity himself, Such was not the doctrine nor the language of the ancient Christians. With them it was not themere operations of Nature-the mere clouds, but "God" who gave them "showers of rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness." It was not to any "electric influence" or any "internal heat" they attributed their enjoyment of life; but it was "in God they lived, were moved, and had their being." Nor was it to any concurrence of "secondary causes" they were wont to refer the judgments they witnessed and the deliverances they experienced. These were with them the "wrath of God," the chastenings of " the Lord"-It was "the Lord" who "stood " with them and "delivered" them-who "supplied all their need," and "of whom, and through whom, and to whom" were all things " -to whom they gave the glory. By the Providence of God, then, we mean His care and superintendance in preserving and governing the world. By the preservation of the world is implied the upholding the being, the powers, and attributes of all created things; and by its government is signified a controlling and overruling power over every thing which is thus upheld. 66 The subject, therefore, is naturally divided into preservation and government. And as the Divine Being exercises a particular care over certain departments of His universal empire, it will be convenient to make a further division into a general and a special providence, either of which may include preservation as well as government. How important is it that in returning to the institutions of primitive Christianity, we should return also to that constant dependance upon God for all things, and that deep sense of the unceasing and watchful care and presence of our Heavenly Father, by which the disciples were characterised in the beginning!-Blessed are they who put their trust in Him!-HE sustains all things-His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. R. RICHARDSON. |