THE

Christian Mother's Magazine.

No. XI.]

NOVEMBER, 1844.

[VOL. I.

THOUGHTS ON THE PREVAILING CORRUPTION OF THE WORD OF GOD,

BY FALSE SYSTEMS OF INTERPRETATION. 2 Corinth., ii., 17.

BY THE LATE DEAN MILNER.

(Continued from page 588)

HE instructive contrast and opposition between the

views of those persons who

"corrupt," and of those nature of the Gospel of

who rightly apprehend the

Christ, are thus, at the very beginning of a true conversion, sufficiently apparent; but that contrast, and that opposition does not end here; it continues in full force, after it has pleased God, by his Spirit, to speak deliverance and comfort to the believing penitent, to convince him, that Christ's redemption strictly appertains to persons of his own character; and to shew him, that, though it was impossible, that in a state of nature, before justification by faith, he could bring forth fruit, or perform any works acceptable to his Maker, yet that in A RENEWED STATE, after justification, he may increase more and more unto the perfect man. His spiritual appetite becomes daily more vigorous; he hungers and thirsts after righteousness; his object is not the quieting of his conscience; much less the purchasing of his salvation; he well knows, that his redemption and future glory are safe in the hands of HIM to whom he hath committed that great trust; and he is conscious of the inefficacy of his best exertions to promote that redemption one jot or tittle; nevertheless, he is zealous to exhibit the fruits of his genuine love and gratitude, by abounding in all good works; and by being careful not to crucify afresh, through sinful lusts and affections, his bountiful Saviour. This part of the distinction and contrast, already alluded to, should furnish, in two ways, a weighty lesson to the "cor

rupter of Christianity,"-first, as it should suggest to his own conscience the important inquiry whether he be honestly conscious to himself, that he is sincerely aiming at this practical improvement— this "perfect man "-this "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ?" and secondly, as the eager and holy desire after larger measures of grace to enable him to bring forth more fruit to the glory of God, which I have described as existing in the heart of a true believer, clearly explains and illustrates the nature of all those passages in Holy Writ, which speak of the necessity of holiness, and which exhort men to the constant practice of it. For this desire of the changed heart after holiness, all those good works which,-performed by the believing Christian-are the fruits of faith, are the proper evidences both to the believer himself, and to others, that he is, indeed, in a renewed state; and it is the nature of spiritual communications from above to make a person desirous of receiving more and more of such communications, and of possessing more and more evidences that he does receive them. Hence it is, that not only a good life, but an IMPROVING GOOD LIFE is inseparably connected with a sound and lively faith. This good life, and these good works, are frequently enjoined in scripture as essentially necessary to salvation; but How these good works are to be produced, or, in other words, HOW A CHANGe of nature is to be obtained, THIS is this momentous question which concerns every child of man. Happily, on this great point, the Holy Scriptures are, throughout, remarkably clear; there is not a single doubtful passage; there is not in the whole Bible, a single passage which insinuates the possibility of acceptable works being produced by man's natural powers in his fallen and unrenewed View this fundamental doctrine on all sides with a cautious, and a jealous eye: read the inspired writings of the Apostles; read the homilies of the Church of England: and having done so, compare the views which you will thus have received, with the unlearned and dangerous notions of such a corrupter of the Word of God as I have described; and mark well the contrast. By such false systems of interpretation as it has been the object of this essay to expose, the plainest and most nervous conversations of our blessed Saviour, and the most instructive and substantial writings of His holy Apostles, are in effect, analyzed, dissolved, and subtilized into an insignificant or even pernicious vapour; and that being once done, the heretical cloud may soon be made to assume any shape, and to move in any direction. Among the readers of these pages, there may, by possibility, be some

state.

one, who, in consequence of what he has read of the difference and contrast between the two systems of doctrine which have been described, may be induced to suspect, that he himself may not be walking in the narrow road that leads to everlasting life. Such a person I would earnestly exhort to lay little stress on the authority of fallible men; little stress on the opinions of friends or relations; or on the assertions of preachers or writers, who by their misconceptions and disputes, may have perplexed these plain matters. Rather let him consult the Word of God for himself, with persevering prayer. And since no other affair can be of so great concernment, let him beware of stifling his convictions; or of making himself easy by the reflections that vast numbers of persons think as he thought before his attention was thus aroused; that persons of the opposite way of thinking are few, and, perhaps, of a singular turn of mind; and that so great seriousness and earnestness about the way of salvation cannot be really needful, because he sees, on all sides of him, men and women whom he has been taught to consider as benevolent, respectable, and religious persons, living and dying without any such very deep concern respecting their religious faith, or their prospects in another world. Alas! alas! what will it avail us, at the last great day, to allege, that our nearest relatives, or those persons whom we were accustomed to regard as the most learned and respectable among our friends, misled our judgment, or exercised a pernicious influence upon our practice. And if such arguments will appear altogether futile, when every word, and thought, and action, will be exposed in its true colour; they must be equally futile now, and equally dangerous in their tendency and application.

If, then, any thing which I have urged, has reached the understanding, or awakened the conscience of any reader; and seems, consequently, to promise a happy alteration in his faith and practice, let him not be discouraged because he can find but few who agree with him in his views respecting this most momentous concern. Christ's flock was at first, and has always continued to be, a "little flock." "Straight is the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

The representation which I have made respecting the conversion of a sinner, embraces all the essential parts of the religion of Christ. Let the awakened inquirer remember, that the three fundamental doctrines of that religion, are, ORIGINAL SIN; JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH; and SANCTIFICATION BY THE HOLY GHOST. God the Holy Ghost is the

great agent in the whole of this important work. He it is, who convinces of sin; of inability; and of the radical corruption of human nature. He it is, who opens the eyes of the understanding, and enables the believing penitent to lay hold, in spite of Satan's temptations, of the proffered mercies of God; and to "present" his "body," during the remainder of his life, a "holy, acceptable, and reasonable sacrifice," to his reconciled God and Father.

"Without controversy," however, "great is the mystery of Godliness." We cannot explain why it has pleased the Almighty to save men in this way; we can only stand on the shore of this ocean of mercy, and adore its unsearchable depths!

The great error, as it is, also, the great danger of those who are but half in earnest in the matter of their salvation; of those who are but "almost persuaded" to be Christians, is, that they suppose a par tial, external reformation of conduct to comprehend all the change which is necessary; and, that they set about this reformation with the view and object of appeasing conscience. Anxious to heal some superficial malady they overlook and neglect the deep-seated distemper, which affects the whole body; and which, while it dissembles its strength, preys upon the vitals, and undermines the constitution. The religion of Christ demands an entire and radical change of the affections. "If any man be in Christ, he is A NEW CREATURE;" "old things are passed away; all things are become new." The true convert to the religion of Jesus owns the justice of the sentence which condemns him; is penetrated with grateful astonishment at the boundless extent of the mercy which pardons him ; and, for a time, perhaps, hesitates, through a sense of his unworthiness, to apply the rich promises of the Gospel to his own case; but, in due season, he reaps the harvest of his Christian patience, faith, and love;-reaps it, I mean, so far as it can be reaped in this world; for his Saviour does not leave him comfortless; sooner or later, he sends to him “the Comforter," who frees him from his chains, and teaches him "songs of deliverance." He no longer dishonours the bounty or the veracity of his reconciled Father; he sees, that, by the mercy of God in Christ, his transgressions are blotted out as a thick cloud," and as "a cloud, his sins." He boldly approaches the throne of grace; he receives largely from him who "giveth liberally;" he drinks of the "living water," and thirsts no more; and being inflamed with a holy zeal for the honour of Him whose he is, and whom he serves, and with a

lively gratitude for all his inestimable benefits, he labours to please Him in all purity of living, and godliness.

Thus is "THE SECRET of the Lord with them that fear him." That SECRET consists in a right understanding of THE WAY in which fallen man can be restored to the favour and image of God; in other words, JUSTIFIED and SANCTIFIED. THE CONTRAST, as it respects this great question between the views of those who rightly interpret, and those who "corrupt the word of God," has been stated with great plainness. I pursue that contrast no farther. The curtain which hides the unseen world must be drawn aside, before we shall fully comprehend the value of a right apprehension of those fundamental truths of revelation, which constitute what I have called THE PECULIAR AND ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY, THE GLAD TIDINGS of the Gospel.

If the considerations which have been offered should excite any reader to serious thought and self examination, my labour will not have been in vain in the Lord. Let not any person be deterred from entering upon and pursuing the Christian life by the fear of man, or by the love of the world. Let us act faithfully in this great concern; since he who does so, and he alone, will be found, at last, to have "built his house upon a rock;" and the rain may descend, and the floods may come, and the winds may blow, and beat upon that house; yet it shall not fall; for IT IS FOUNDED on a rock.