desire to be led by the Spirit to the discernment and utterance of some truth which the same Holy Spirit may apply to the conscience of one whom we believe to be honest and sincere, and ready to follow out his convictions boldly.

No one, who attaches any credit to the statements of Mr. Baxter, can doubt of the supernatural character of the work he once received, but now opposes. To the question "Why persuade yourself that the work was supernatural?" he replies, Glad indeed would the writer be, if he could, upon safe grounds, persuade himself otherwise. He has often endeavoured 'to pursue the course of circumstances, and account for the 'occurrences from excitement, and the frenzied workings of a distempered mind; but he finds himself utterly at a loss, and, ' without shutting his eyes to most of the material features of the " case, he could not honestly come to such a conclusion.' (p. 11.) Facts and details are given, throughout the whole narrative, which fully bear out the supernatural agency here stated, and warrant the conclusion, that, if facts have any force in proof, 'the facts which have lately occurred have been broad enough to shew the active workings of a spirit; and to shew also, that, ' though a supernatural power is with us, we are not therefore, of necessity, receiving it of God. The power exercised by the Spirit, in causing instantaneous and unlooked-for convictions, was very striking and mysterious' (p. 9). In the utterances of the power, which subsequently occurred, many were accompanied with the flashing in of conviction to the mind, like lightning rooting itself in the earth.' And, speaking in the next page of a time when the power came upon him while kneeling at the communion table, he says, 'My tongue was rivetted as I was ' repeating the response, and my soul filled with joy and thanksgiving, and such a presence of God, as it seemed to me, as 'exceeded any peace and joy I had ever before tasted at that holy 'sacrament.' (p. 10.) On these extracts we remark, that it has been the constant practice of those who resist the work of God to ascribe the power to Satan which they are constrained to allow is supernatural. When the Pharisees said of our Lord, "He casteth out devils through Beelzebub," he exposed the absurdity of supposing Satan to be divided against himself; and appealed also to the experience of other men: "By whom do your sons cast them out?" let them be the judges. We use the same argument, and make the same appeal: if Satan fill the soul with a sense of the presence of God, and in a degree exceeding any peace and joy ever before tasted, "how shall his kingdom stand?" And if it be said that all the fruits of holiness, love, and joy in those who believe, and which, according to Mr. Baxter's own testimony, they manifest, come from Satan let them be the judges. Moreover, we wholly deny to Satan any such power as

that mentioned above, of 'causing instantaneous and unlooked' for convictions,' of 'flashing conviction into the mind, like lightning:' these are the work of Omnipotence, the work of the Holy Spirit alone; and we hold it little short of blasphemy to attribute such power to Satan, contrary to the analogy of Scripture, and subversive of responsibility in man. The power of Satan extends to the suggesting evil thoughts; which we are commanded, in the strength of the Holy Spirit, to resist. The command would be nugatory, and the resistance vain, if Satan had the power supposed; all must become his victims upon whom he put forth the power. And how, on such a monstrous supposition, can any one be sure of any one conviction? how can Mr. Baxter be sure of his convictions concerning the fundamental truths of Christianity; still less of his present convictions concerning the work in question, which he does not pretend to ascribe to any greater supernatural power? We do not mean to underrate the power of Satan, who goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour; but the Holy Spirit is the Almighty, the ever-present God, mightier in the members of Jesus than all that can be against them, giving them the confident assurance that nothing shall separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus the Lord. Mr. Irving's church consists of more than eight hundred members, all of whom have had full opportunities for examination: to these we may add numbers in the congregation who have not yet joined the church, and numbers in other churches, both in London and the country: their experience we put against the single experience of Mr. Baxter : let them be the judges, who know all the facts.

One other gross mistake we have to correct in passing, which lies in supposing that God ever has, or ever will," send strong delusions, that they should believe a lie," upon any of his children; upon any who are waiting upon him in order to know his will, and using their utmost endeavours to do it. The proposition is monstrous in itself, and, taken in connection with the context, perfectly absurd. The cause of the strong delusions is there assigned: they are sent because men receive not the truth in the love of it, and because they have pleasure in unrighteousness it is the hardening process which passes upon the ungodly and the reprobate, and no part of the Fatherly chastisements of God upon his children: it is the judicial blindness upon apostasy which seems irrecoverable.

Mr. Baxter has also erred in not distinguishing between the power itself and the exercise of that power; though in the exercise it is that all responsibility consists. He may, and we believe does, rightly assume that the power was the same in him and in those who continue to speak still; but we are sure that the mode of its exercise was very different in him from what it is in

them. Had Mr. Baxter realized in himself that most important doctrine, "No prophecy is of any private interpretation," he would have been delivered from that egotism which characterised his former proceedings, and which led to and pervades the present publication. The prophecies uttered by the other gifted persons do not regard themselves, but are all for the body of Christ. They feel not, they speak not, as distinct individuals, but only as members of the church universal. But Mr. Baxter almost always had himself uppermost in his thoughts, and so became the object to which he bent the interpretation of his utterances, wherever it was possible to do so. Of this he was repeatedly and most graciously warned by the Spirit speaking in himself, and warning those around him, who listened with a reverence bordering on idolatry. He himself must remember many of these warnings, calling upon his friends to spare him, if they would not have him dashed in pieces; asking them sometimes, "Do you drink the cup, or the liquor it contains? think not of me, but drink the word of the Lord." God hath resolved that only one Person in the human form shall take honour to himself, namely, Christ Jesus; every other man must act and feel as a member of the body of Jesus, and give all the glory to Christ, the exalted Head. Mr. Baxter failed in this, and, neglecting repeated warnings, God has marred the vessel.

Mr. Baxter's case greatly resembles that of Jonah, except that Jonah in all his pride and rebellion never doubted the voice of the Lord. The anger of Jonah was kindled because his prophecy of forty days seemed to fail, and Mr. Baxter is stumbled at the non-accomplishment of his expectations in forty days. What Jonah expected to be fulfilled in days, was accomplished in years; and forty years afterwards Nineveh fell: may there not be a similar mystery in Mr. Baxter's prophecy? might it not have reference to the interval of forty years between the main events of the French Revolution, and corresponding events in our own time? The repeal of the Test Act, the Papal equalization, the Reform Bill, and the measures now in progress, have such a parallelism; and the present year answers to 1793, which was the period of the total subversion of the civil and religious institutions of France. Another of Mr. Baxter's prophecies related to the fourteenth of the first month, to which he gave the interpretation of the fourteenth of January. But we have yet to learn that this interpretation was correct; as it seems more probable that April would be the first month, corresponding with Abib in Scripture. The 14th of April was a memorable day, for it was the true anniversary of the Passover, and so kept by the Jews; but, by a mistake in our almanack makers, Good Friday was last year kept a week too late. Had it been rightly kept, it would have been the 1800th anniversary of the cruci

fixion, corresponding exactly to the day of the week, of the moon, and of the calendar, to the year of the Passion ;—a correspondence very rare, if not unexampled. But had it been so kept, Parliament could not have met on Good Friday; and on Friday, April 14, the fate of England was decided, by those measures which forced the Reform Bill into the Committee of the Lords, and annihilated the House of Peers as a legislative body. And we believe that the Bill came out of Committee forty days after that event.

We merely suggest these things for consideration; but sure we are that misinterpretation of what was spoken lies at the root of all Mr. Baxter's wanderings. It pervades the whole narrative; and he himself was able to discover it in some instances, and ought to have detected it in all. When, from some utterances, which his pride and vain-glory laid hold of, he was induced to expect his infant to speak in power and his godchild to prophesy, he was greatly disappointed at finding that these things did not take place. Upon this, he himself had the common sense to re-examine the utterances, to know whether he had rightly interpreted them; and he says, 'On conferring with those 'who were with us when the utterances were given, we were all ' of one mind, that there was no authority for this expectation from the words spoken. The declaration as to the child was, ' that it should be a prophetess, without specifying any time of ' utterance.' (p. 53.) His brother also seems to have partaken of the same rashness, for it is said, 'A more careful considera'tion of the utterances brought my brother to see he had been in error upon the points creating his doubts and disbelief.' Happy had it been for them if they had learned wisdom and caution from this! they might still have been standing as supporters and guides of the church, instead of being pointed to as a reproach and a warning.

It is not easy to know whether Mr. Baxter thinks the truths, which he still acknowledges he was made to utter, came from the Holy Spirit, or from the " father of lies, who was a liar and a murderer from the beginning." And this ambiguity gives an appearance of direct contradiction in the statements of several parts of his " Narrative." In the matter of private meetings held by Mr. Irving, Mr. Baxter says; It was told him in power, from my lips, that he was offending in this, by giving occasion to the enemy to say the manifestations would not bear the light' (p. 84). Mr. Irving changed his plan' accordingly; but Mr. Baxter goes on to say: 'I understand that now 'he has again, under another name, restored select meetings, and 'I am deeply grieved to find it so: for here, in the midst of minds duly prepared, Satan can gradually develop the subjects of his delusion;' and much more to the same effect. We do not

stop to correct the inaccuracy of Mr. Baxter's information, but only remark on the contradictions. He now assumes and argues upon the impropriety and danger of private meetings first forbidden by the Spirit in him: does he mean us to infer that that spirit was good or evil? He reasons as if it were good; and no one who agrees with his reasoning can believe it to be evil, as Satan would never put a stop to meetings so well calculated to develop the subjects of his delusion.' Does he thus counterwork himself?

Mr. Baxter is reasoning, in this and in all the other instances since his fall, from incorrect accounts, which have been transmitted to him by ill-informed or prejudiced persons; and there is at present a deadness and darkness over his mind' (p. 145), which prevents his discernment between truth and falsehood, not only in the interpretation of his utterances, but in points of doctrine. Argument would be lost upon him: we can only pray for his deliverance, and warn our readers to be upon their guard; to take nothing on trust from him, but to examine for themselves; taking Scripture for their guide, and looking to God for wisdom.

Moreover, Mr. Baxter's perception seems to be very obtuse in discerning between the workings of a false spirit, and mere human error. When, for instance (p. 19), he, from defect of hearing, mistook two hundred for wonderful, and under this mistake rebuked the speaker; this is no proof of a false spirit, but shews that in that instance there was no spirit at all; it is nothing supernatural, but a defect of natural hearing and it is the very opposite of that power of delusion which Mr. Baxter throughout asserts; a power discerning not merely speech but thought; a power even flashing conviction instantaneously to the mind, like lightning.

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Nor is it credible that the work of conviction and conversion could have been brought about by an evil spirit, or that the full declaration of the truth could be prompted by the "father of lies." I have been much confounded with the fact,' says Mr. B., 'that Christ was preached in such power, and with such clear'ness, and the exhortations to repentance so energetic and arousing that it is hard to believe the person delivering it could be ⚫ under the delusion of Satan.' p. 44, see also p. 45.

With these precautions we earnestly recommend the attentive perusal of Mr. Baxter's Narrative, assured that this engine, designed by Satan to impede the work of God, may by Him be made instrumental in promoting it; and that Mr. Baxter's present testimony against the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church, will bring a greater number ultimately to the same mind with ourselves, than any testimony which we could give in the affirmative.