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    gospel thus brought into immediate contact with the essential elements of his moral nature . The result is belief . Then , through the-united , influences of the word of God and of prayer , religious and moral sentiments gradually unfold themselves in his heart , the strength of his good purposes increases , the power of resisting temptationjim ^ rjejNsejs ^ j ^^

    strength , the assurance of God ' s help becomes . immovable ,, eternal hopes become realities , the man is changed , renewed ; set free from sin and the terrors which succeed it , he feels in his own experience that Jesus Christ is indeed what he declared himself to be , the Saviour of the world ,, and believes in the " gospel because he has felt its salutary and divine influences .. Whatever name we may think proper to give to the process we have thus endeavoured to trace , whether with Newton we call it

    the ' inward witness ; ' with our reformers ' the witness of the Holy Spirit ; ' or with" some of our modern theologians the experimental proof of the divinity of Christianity , * signifies but little—tthe fact remains the same . It is the triumph of the gospel over sin through meditation on the Scriptures and by the assistance o [ God . The remedy is victorious ,, it has done what it promised , and more still / for to regeneration it has added a heartfelt joy , an inexpressible foretaste of heavenly happiness .

    But excellent as this course ' may be " y it may easily be abused What we attain by its means is a feeling which is , like other feelings , vague and undefined . In order to acquire something more precise and determinate , we must have recourse to reflexion . We can only obtain by the means to which we have alluded , general results , the effect of the whole taken together ; with regard to details the method is unsafe . For instance , when you meditate on the Bible with the assistance of the spirit , you feel persuaded that

    the book breathes a divine spirit \ but if you want to know whether such or such a passage is inspired or no , you would be much embarrassed . You would not on this plan be able to judge either of the authenticity ofapassage ; or ofthe" ~ s 0 nB' € 'V ^ fra '' cliiEB'CulFexpres--sion . We arrive at conclusions on these points by the road of learning , Still further : this course being experimental , ceases to be adapted to objects beyond the pale of our experience ; except with regard to what we may feel ourselves , it is out of place .

    Thus , when reading the Scriptures , and comparing them with our conduct , we perceive in ourselves the evil of which they speak , andbeing-convinced , by our ownr" 63 cp * erienc ¥ ; "fliiat tfie Scriptures on this point speak truth , we give our assent . But with regard to the ori g in of sin and tfre manner in which it is propagated , our inward testimony avails nothing ; it is a theory which explains what we feel , and it belongs solely to the intellect . If we inquire of-the Bible in the same way as we examine other books upon this point , by a proper course of interpretation , it will reply , we

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    THE LATE REV . JOHN NEWTON . 297

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  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 1, 1833, page 297, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2623/page/9/