productions, originally written and published in the German language, and translated A.D. 1523, by the famous Justus Jonas, into Latin. Each paragraph, according to the usage of the learned in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, has a di⚫ tinct heading, descriptive of the subject on which it treats. The following are a few specimens; and they contain that part of the tract which Mr. Wesley mentions, as describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ."

THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL.

"THEREFORE the Apostle says, in chap. vii., The law is spiritual;' as if he had said, If the law were only carnal and moral doctrine, it might be fulfilled by outward works. For, since it is spiritual, that is, as it requires all our spirit and affections, then no one fulfils it unless he performs those things which the law commands with a cheerful heart, and with a certain ardour of mind, and with entire affection. But thou obtainest such a new heart, and these ardent and cheerful affections of the heart, not through any strength or merit of thine own, but solely through the operation and afflatus of the Holy Spirit. For he alone renews the heart, and makes a man spiritual; that, thus being spiritual, he may love spiritualem legem, the law of the Spirit; and not through fear, or through desire of any advantage, but with a cheerful and free heart, may fulfil it; and may be borne on by quodam impetu, a sort of divine impulse, spontaneously and without constraint to do those things which belong to the law. The law is spiritual,' must therefore be thus understood: The law is not fulfilled except with a spirit and heart renewed by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, wherever this spirit and renovation of heart through the Holy Spirit are not, so far is the law from being there fulfilled, that, on the contrary, all the [natural] repugnance to it and hatred of it remain there, although the law of itself is holy, and just, and good." "

"BUT to fulfil the law is, to perform those things commanded in the law, with hilarity, uprightness, and cheerfulness of heart; that is, spontaneously, and of one's free choice, to live to God, and to perform good works, even though the law had no existence. But non contingit cordibus, our hearts have not any such hilarity; cheerfulness, favourable inclination of the will, and ardent affection, except through vivificatorem, the life-giving Spirit, and his lively impulse and agitationem, motion in the heart as the Apostle says in chap. v. But the Spirit is bestowed solely through faith in Jesus Christ. In like manner, at the commencement he has said, Faith cometh by hearing the Gospel, or the word of God; by which Christ is preached as having died for us, as having been buried, and raised from the dead, as declares in chap. iii., iv., x. entire justification, therefore, is of God; faith and the Spirit are likewise of God, and not of ourselves."

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"HENCE also faith alone justifies, and it alone fulfils the law. For, faith, through the merits of Christ, obtains the Holy Spirit. This blessed Spirit renews, exhilarates, excites, and inflames the heart, so that it spontaneously performs what the law requires. And then, at length, from the faith thus efficaciously working and living_in_the heart, freely fluunt, proceed those works which are truly good. The Apostle wishes to convey this meaning in the third chapter. For after he had, in that chapter, utterly condemned the works of the law, and might almost seem, by the doctrine of faith, about to destroy and abolish the law, he at once anticipates the objection by asserting, 'We do not destroy the law, but we establish it; that is, We teach how the law is really fulfilled by believing, or through faith."

WHAT IS TRUE FAITH.

"BUT true faith is the work of God in us, by which we are born again and renewed, through God and the Spirit of God, as we are told in John i.; and by which the old Adam is slain, and we are completely transformed per omnia, in all things; as the Apostle declares, 'We are made new creatures in Christ through faith; ' ubi, in which new creatures the Holy Spirit becomes vita et gubernatio cordis, the living and ruling principle of the heart. But faith is an energy in the heart; at once so efficacious, lively, breathing, and powerful, as to be incapable of remaining inactive, but bursts forth into operation. Neither does he who has faith moratur, demur about the question, whether good works have been commanded, or not; but even though there were no law, feeling the motions of this living impulse putting forth and exerting itself in his heart, he is spontaneously borne onward to work, and at no time does he cease to perform such actions as are truly pious and Christian. But whosoever from such a living affection of the heart produces no good works, he is still in a state of total unbelief, and is a stranger to faith; as are most of those persons who hold long disputes, and give utterance to much declamation in the schools, about faith and good works, 'neither understanding what they say, nor whereof they affirm.'"

"WHAT FAITH 18.

"FAITH, then, is a constant fiducia, trust in the mercy of God towards us; a trust living and efficaciously working in the heart; by which we cast ourselves entirely on God, and commit ourselves to Him; by which, certò freti, having an assured reliance, we feel no hesitation about enduring death a thousand times. And this firm trust in the mercy of God is tam animosa, so animating, as to cheer, elevate, and excite the heart, and to transport it with certain most sweet affections to wards God; and it animates this heart of the believer in such a manner, that,

firmly relying on God, he feels no dread in opposing himself solum, as a single champion against all creatures. This high and heroical feeling, therefore, hos ingentes animos, this noble enlargement of spirit, is injected and effected in the heart by the Spirit of God, who is imparted [to the believer] through faith. And hence we also obtain [the privilege] to be impelled to that which is good, by this vital energy in our hearts. We also obtain such a cheerful propensionem, inclination, that freely and spontaneously we are eager and most ready to do, to suffer, and to endure all things in obedience to a Father and God of such great clemency; who, through Christ, has enriched us with such abundant treasures of grace, and has almost overwhelmed us with such transcendent benefits. It is impossible that this efficacious and vital principle of faith can be in any man without continually operating, and producing fruit to God. It is just as impossible for a pile of dry faggots to be set on fire without emitting flames of light. Wherefore use watchfulness, ibi, in this quarter, so as not to believe the vain imaginations of thy own mind, and the foolish cogitations and trifles of the Sophists. For these men possess neither heart nor brains: they are mere animals of the belly, born only for these solemn banquets of the schools. But do thou pray to God, who by his word has commanded light to shine out of darkness, that He would be pleased to shine into thy heart, and create faith within thee; otherwise thou wilt never believe, though thou shouldest spend a thousand years in studying to fabricate such cogitations about a faith already obtained or to be hereafter acquired."

While the great German Reformer thus" described the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ," the English Clergyman who had gone to the ends of the earth to convert the Heathen, and returned in a penitent state of heart, having there learned that he was not converted himself, tells us, "I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone,

for salvation: and an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

It is worthy of remark, that the principles which Mr. Wesley recog nised in this most solemn and momentous transaction he steadily maintained till his spirit returned to God. He regarded the natural state of men as a state of guilt and condemnation, and of depravity and helplessness. They are under the sentence of eternal death; and they are at the same time under the power of sin, so as to be unable either to offer to God acceptable worship or acceptable obedience. They cannot atone for any of their sins; nor can they escape from their evil nature, by any devices that they can form, or any efforts that they can put forth. The salvation which has been merited for them by the death of Christ, and which the Gospel reveals, fully meets their case. It comprehends two great blessings, -justification, and sanctification,by which we understand deliverance from the guilt and from the power of sin. This salvation is obtained by the simple exercise of faith in Christ crucified. Whatever may be the depth of a man's penitential sorrow, the correctness of his moral conduct, the intensity of his desire to please and enjoy God, or the earnestness and importunity of his prayers, he is not accepted and regenerated till he believes in Christ. It is only when he trusts in Christ that forgiveness is sealed upon his conscience, and the sin that dwelleth in him ceases to have the dominion. There is an inseparable connexion between these blessings. No man can receive one without the other. Yet in the order of nature justification is first vouchsafed. It is indeed absurd to suppose that the Holy Ghost will so renew us in the spirit of our minds as to make us partakers of the divine nature, while we remain under the curse of God's violated law. But when we are

accepted in the Beloved," there is no "charge" against us; we are as fully justified as if we had never committed a single sin, but had ac

tually fulfilled all righteousness; and hence there is nothing to hinder the communication of the Holy Spirit in all his plenitude of regenerating power. This salvation is matter of personal consciousness. There is the Spirit of adoption in the believing heart, crying," Abba, Father; and permanently happy are the men whom the Son thus makes free by an application of his blood, and the mighty working of the Holy Ghost.

Little did Mr. Wesley and the few devout people who met with him a hundred years ago in a private house in Aldersgate-street imagine what important results would arise from the events of that evening. From that hour he was a new man. He found what he had long desired, a conscience calm and tranquil; and a heart purified from sin. Up to that period he had wearied himself in ineffectual struggles to gain the mastery over the evils of his own nature. His sincerity and his outward conduct were indeed unimpeachable; for the gratuitous insinuation, that he was guilty of some immoral act in Georgia, which has been recently advanced by a biographer of his friend Mr. Whitefield, I will venture to affirm was never previously heard of; yet he painfully felt that he was not inwardly holy he was not prepared to die. But now the prevailing disposition of his heart was that of heavenly love, connected with the peace of God which passeth all understanding. Long had he accustomed himself to fasting and prayer; he had carefully studied all the arguments in favour of natural and revealed religion; he had collected the finest devotional compositions, both in prose and verse, and repeated them upon his knees with great seriousness and sincerity; yet after all he felt himself to be the slave of unbelief, of the fear which hath torment, and of various inward evils. "But now," says he, "I always conquered." He had reproved sin, and warned the wicked, from a sense of duty; but now he loved the souls of men with a yearning pity, like that of his Saviour. It was his intention to bury himself for life in the retirement of his col