developed in the Wesleyans and a section of our Church, leads men to look to their own feelings, as that by which their reliance on Christ may be ascertained, to analyze them, operate upon them, work them up, rely at last with satisfaction upon them, as tests of their love for CHRIST. They have been taught that justification is not the gift of GOD through His Sacraments, but the result of a certain frame of mind, of a going forth of themselves, and resting themselves upon their Saviour; this is the act whereby they think themselves to have been justified; and so, as another would revert to his Baptism, and his engraffing into Christ, and his thus being in Christ, so do they to this act whereby they were justified; they cherish their then feelings, not to act upon them, but for their own sakes; mourn over their fading1; endeavour to reproduce them; make their Christian life to concentrate in them; and lose out of sight, as carnal and legal, its ordinary, hourly duties. These tendencies, doubtless, are checked in individuals; but whatever checks necessary to every man to obtain remission of sins, that he should believe assuredly and without any doubt, that the sins of his own infirmity and indisposition are remitted to him," and "that a man is thereby absolved from sins and justified, that he believes assuredly that he is absolved and justified, and that no one is truly justified, unless he believes that he is justified, and that by this faith alone absolution and justification are perfected." (Sess. 6. Can. 13, 14.) which is just the Wesleyan doctrine. 'This feeling is encouraged in popular hymns, irregularly admitted into our Churches, as in that, "Oh for a closer walk with there are, are the result of past duty, of an implanted integrity, of GOD's law within them, in despite of their system. Their tendency is to act upon a theory, not upon Scripture; to suppose that if the feelings be right, the acts will, as a matter of course, be right; and so to neglect that about which Scripture bids them be diligent. To take the most systematic developement of this theory; the first thought which occurs to the mind of a Wesleyan, in speaking of his spiritual state, is, not what temptations he has surmounted, or failed in, what duties he has neglected, or performed, but, what were his feelings? His "experience" concentrates in these. "True faith," observes Mr. Newman 1, " is what "God." What a strong contrast with the peace resulting from continued growth in grace are such lines as: Where is the happiness I knew When first I knew the Lord; And felt the heart-reviving view What peaceful hours I then enjoyed! How sweet their memory still! But now I feel a painful void No human joys can fill. Such lines would describe truly a backsliding Christian, or a dejected one, who had been taught to make his feelings the test of his state; but they are too likely to make one think himself backsliding, because his feelings are not what they were. The more practical view is given in Mr. Newman's Sermons, vol. i. "On the use of excited feelings in religion.” 1 On Justification, Lect. 13. "On preaching the Gospel," p. 385. 66 66 may be called colourless, like air or water; it is "but the medium through which the soul sees "Christ; and the soul as little really rests upon it "and contemplates it, as the eye can see the air. "When, then, men are bent on holding it (as it were) in their hands, curiously inspecting, analyzing, and so aiming at it, they are obliged to colour "and thicken it, that it may be seen and touched. "That is, they substituted for it, something or other, "a feeling, notion, sentiment, conviction, or act of reason, which they may hang over and dote upon. They rather aim at experiences (as they are called) "within them, than at Him that is without them. 66 66 66 66 They are led to enlarge upon the signs of conver"sion, the variations of their feelings, their aspira tions and longings, and to tell all this to others;— "to tell others how they fear, and hope, and sin, "and rejoice, and renounce themselves, and rest in "Christ only; how conscious they are that they are "but filthy rags,' and all is of grace, till in fact they "have little time left them to guard against what 66 66 they are condemning, and to exercise what they seem to themselves to be so full of. Now men in "a battle are brief-spoken; they realize their situa"tion and are intent upon it. . . . . . . By-standers "see our minds; but our minds, if healthy, see but "the objects which possess them. As God's grace "elicits our faith, so His holiness stirs our fear, and "His glory kindles our love. Others may say of "us here is faith' and there is conscientiousness' 6 "and there is love,' but we can only say, 'this is "God's grace,' and 'that is His holiness,' and 'that " is His glory." His Just the reverse of this is the Romanist. theory leads men as naturally to look chiefly to their works, and as it has a Pelagian tendency (although it has been held together with high Augustinian doctrine) so may it readily lead them to look to their own works as their own; to weigh them, balance them, evil against good, make the one compensate for the other, settle their several values; at last, hold the ALMIGHTY their debtor, as if the more eminent saints had a supererogation of merits. " It 66 66 1 makes," to use Mr. Newman's words, "its heavenly grace a matter of purchase and trade." Romanism," as he again says, "by its pretence "of Infallibility, lowers the standard and quality of Gospel obedience, as well as impairs its mysterious "and sacred character; and this in various ways. "When religion is reduced in all its parts to a 66 66 system, there is hazard of something earthly being "made the chief object of our contemplation instead "of our Maker. Now Romanism classifies our "duties and their rewards, the things to do, the "modes of pleasing God, the penalties and the re"medies of sin, with such exactness, that an indi 'On Justification, lect. 8. "Righteousness viewed as a gift and as a quality," p. 221. 2 On Romanism, &c. lect. 3. "Doctrine of Infallibility morally considered," p. 125. "vidual knows (so to speak) just where he is upon 66 66 66 his journey heavenward, how far he is got, how much "he has to pass, and his duties become a matter of "calculation. It provides us with a sort of graduated "scale of devotion and obedience, and engrosses our thoughts with the details of a mere system, to a comparative forgetfulness of its professed Author. "But it is evident that the purest religious services "are those which are done, not by constraint, but "voluntarily, as a free offering to Almighty God."True faith does not like to realize to itself what "it does; it throws off the thought of it; it is "carried on and reaches forward towards perfection, "not counting the steps it has ascended, but keeping the end steadily in its eye, knowing only that "it is advancing, and glorying in each sacrifice or "service which it is allowed to offer, as it occurs, 66 66 not remembering it afterwards. But in Romanism "there would seem to be little room for this uncon"scious devotion. Each deed has its price, every 66 quarter of the land of promise is laid down and described. Roads are carefully marked out, and "such as would attain to perfection are constrained "to move in certain lines, as if there were a science "of gaining heaven. Thus the Saints are cut off "from the Christian multitude by certain fixed "duties, not rising out of it by the continuous 66 growth and flowing forth of services which in their "substance pertain to all men. And Christian holi"ness in consequence, loses its freshness, vigour, and |