points becomes a natural connection.

This is not denied, and all that is meant here by natural connection is such a relation between two things, that to our minds the existence of the one appears indispensable to the existence of the other, or at least that the existence of the one, appears to us in the ordinary course of things, to lead to the existence of the other.

Let us now take a short view of the gospel system, that we may perceive how the two kinds of salvation therein revealed are connected, that is, how pardon through a Saviour is connected with the recovery of spiritual health, and also that we may perceive which of the two is the ultimate object in God's dealings with men.

The Bible informs us that man has fallen from God's favour, and from his own natural happiness, by having a will different from God's will, and by acquiring a character and pursuing a conduct opposite to God's character and conduct. Mere pardon to a creature in this situation would be comparatively of small consequence, because his unhappiness arose. necessarily out of his character, and, therefore, unless his character were changed, his unhappiness remained the same. The enjoyments of God's family were things contrary to his corrupted taste and choice, and, therefore, his free admission into them, could be no blessing to him. In order to his happiness, the restoration of his lost privileges must be accompanied by a restoration of the capacity to enjoy them. For this reason, when God invited his rebellious creatures to return to his favour and

family, he did it in such a way, that the soul which truly accepted of the invitation, imbibed at the same time, the principles of a new character.

There is a difference between the body and the. mind which should here be taken notice of. The body may be perfectly capable of enjoyment, and yet at the same time perfectly miserable, in consequence of being precluded from the means of enjoyment. Thus a man in a perfect state of health may be made unhappy by being fettered in a noisome dungeon, where he is debarred from the exercise of those ani-. mal faculties, the gratification of which constitutes animal enjoyment. But we cannot apply this rea

soning to the mind. A perfectly healthful state of mind, according to the appointment of him who changeth not, is inseparably connected with mental enjoyment. The happiness of God arises necessarily out of his character, and the mental health of in-. telligent creatures, which is in fact nothing more nor less than a resemblance to the character of God, must also be inseparably connected with happiness. So that perfect mental health is not simply the capacity for enjoyment; it may perhaps more properly be said to constitute enjoyment itself. The same,

or similar causes, must produce the same or similar effects, and if the character of God is the cause of his happiness, a similar character (with reverence be it spoken) must produce a similar happiness. And this happiness can be produced by no other character, for that would be to suppose that opposite causes could produce the same effects.

If this be so, it follows, that a restoration to spi

ritual health, or conformity to the divine character, is the ultimate object of God in his dealings with the children of men. Whatever else God hath done with regard to men, has been subsidiary, and with a view to this; even the unspeakable work of Christ, and pardon freely offered through his cross, have been but means to a farther end; and that end is, that the adopted children of the family of God. might be conformed to the likeness of their elder brother that they might resemble him in character, and thus enter into his joy. This is spiritual health, and it is acquired by the blessing of God upon the reception and faithful use of the means which he hath appointed and made known to us in the history of his mercy through a Saviour. Free offer of pardon through the Son of God is termed salvation, just in the same way that a medicine is, in common language, called a cure; that is, they do not strictly constitute salvation-they only produce it. Before entering on the consideration of those passages which confirm this view of the subject, we shall endeavour to make our meaning more distinctly understood.. It must be remembered always, that the love of God with the whole heart, is not only the sum of all that duty which is positively enjoined on us by the divine law, under an awful penalty, but also, that it is the only principle which can produce or maintain spiritual health. Our failure, therefore, in obedience to this law of love, not only exposes us to the penalty denounced against disobedience, but also plants in our souls the seeds of disease.

Let us suppose, that the inhabitants of any dis

trict were liable to an epidemic disorder, which, from the partial derangement accompanying it, naturally unfitted its victims for the exercise of civil rights; and that there were, in the neighbourhood, certain salubrious springs, which had the virtue of counteracting the tendency to disease in those who used them, the waters of which were very palatable to those who were in health, but very disagreeable to those who were infected. Let us suppose, farther, that the government, anxious for the well-being of the people, should enact a law, binding every individual to drink these waters at fixed periods, under the penalty of forfeiting all civil rights and immunities, in case of disobedience; thus adding the sanction of law to the constitution of nature. In these circumstances, it is evident that disobedience would be attended by two distinct consequences: first, by disqualification for holding any office in the state, as the legal penalty of disobedience; and, secondly, by a disease (from not using the antidote) which would, of itself, naturally unfit the subject of it from holding any office, even were he not excluded by law, and which would also oppose its own cure, by producing a strong repugnance to the only medicine which could remove it. Their natural repugnance to the waters would also be strengthened by irritation against the government under whose condemnation they lay, and by the persuasion that obedience could now be of no use, because the penalty was already

incurred.

In this supposed case, we see obedience, health, and the enjoyment of civil privileges, united both by

law and nature on the one side; and disobedience, civil disqualifications, and disease, as closely united on the other. We see also, that this disease can only be removed by a return to obedience, and that this obedience.can only be produced by some motive powerful enough to overcome the distaste for the remedy. As health, and the enjoyment of civil privileges, were, from the outset, inseparably connected in the mind of the government, and as the law was made simply for the purpose of giving an additional motive for using the necessary means of preserving health, so, if the malady should become generally prevalent, (the original connection between health and civil privileges still subsisting, and being itself the real ground of the present disqualifications,) the views of government would become primarily directed to those means by which the people might be induced to return to the use of that remedy which could alone restore health, and fit them for the exercise of those privileges for which they had disqualified themselves both by law and nature. The reason of this is obvious, because the removal of the legal disqualifications could be of no possible use, whilst the disease continued, except in so far as it acted as a motive with the diseased outlaws for applying the remedy, both by showing them that the road to preferment was now set open, if they were only fit for it, and also by manifesting the kindly disposition of government, and thus exciting them to gratitude and obedience.

Although it is perhaps impossible to make out a perfect analogy between the things of the visible and invisible worlds, yet there appear to us to be