said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied." But there is a difficulty connected with this interpretation. How, for instance, can the miraculous gifts of the Spirit be an earnest of our inheritance which is to continue until the redemption of the purchased possession, when we know that these gifts have long since disappeared? We are much more disposed to explain the clause we are considering, as referring to the ordinary graces of the Holy Spirit, which shall continue in the Church until Christ shall come again, and which shall shine forth in a fulness of moral perfection hereafter, of which their present partial development is but the earnest and firstfruits. The graces of the Spirit may well be termed the earnest of our inheritance, for they all refer to it, and point to it. What is faith, as the principle by which the Christian walks, but the very substratum of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen? What is hope, but the index which directly points to our inheritance of glory; for we are begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away? What is joy, but a foretaste of that inheritance; so like it, that even now it is unspeakable and full of glory? What is patience, but the grace with which we wait for that which we see not now, but expect to enjoy hereafter. And what is love, but the grace which is our very meetness for the enjoyment of the inheritance of the saints in light. These are what constitute the sealing of the Spirit. But we are not sealed until after we have believed-" in whom," or through whom, "after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Unbelievers are not thus sealed. Justification by faith must precede sanctification by the Spirit. Whatever controversy there may be as to whether Christ has died for all men, of this there should be no question, that the Holy Ghost sanctifieth only the elect people of God. "The world knoweth him not, neither seeth him, but ye know him," said Christ to His disciples, "for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you."

And who is the author of this sealing? Some would represent Christ as the agent, and the Holy Spirit as the impression, so to speak, with which He seals His people. But we think that the obvious and natural answer to this question is, that it is the Holy Spirit who seals those that believe. He is called the Spirit of promise, either because he is the subject of

promise as he is called "the promise of the Father," Acts i. 4-or because one way in which the Spirit seals is by enabling the believer to appreciate and appropriate the exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel, "that by these he might be a partaker of the Divine nature," and by leading him to rejoice in a present anticipation of their future accomplishment. We might illustrate this sealing by a reference to what the apostle says in his second epistle to Timothy,—" The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his; and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." This seal has a double impression with that on the one side the Holy Spirit stamps the believer as the property of God; with that on the other he infixes in his soul an indelible injunction and tendency to cultivate holiness.

And what does this sealing imply? It shows the preciousness of believers in God's estimation; it denotes their being separated from the world; it is a confirmation to their souls of the inward testimony of the Spirit bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God; it is an evidence to others that they are the peculiar people of God; it is a pledge of their security and preservation until the day of Redemption, when they are to receive their promised inheritance; and it constitutes their likeness to the Saviour, for on this seal there is also engraved the moral image of Christ; and one of the ends and objects of the Spirit's sealing them is to make them resemble Him in all things.

And what is the main object and design of God in thus sealing His people, as it is here stated by the apostle? It is that we may thus have an earnest of our inheritance—“ which is the earnest of our inheritance;" or it might be rendered, "who is the earnest of our inheritance," as if he would represent the Holy Spirit himself as the earnest. Now an earnest is intended to bind the party who gives it to the performance of his part of the contract. Thus God gives the Holy Spirit now, as a pledge and security that He will give the inheritance hereafter. Our security is, in fact, threefold-the gift of the Father, the purchase of the Son, the sealing of the Spirit. An earnest is also in general a portion of what it secures; and thus the grace which the Spirit gives is the same in kind, though not in degree, with the glory which shall be conferred upon us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

But we are not always to have merely an earnest; it is only until the redemption of the purchased possession. This may mean, either until the Church which Christ has purchased and made His property with His own blood, shall be effectually and completely redeemed; or until this earth, which is the purchased possession of Christ and His Church; shall be completely

delivered from the bondage of corruption, and converted into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled—an inheritance for the purchase of which the price of the precious blood of Christ has been paid, but the actual redemption of which is still future, and will not take place until the revelation of the sons of God.

The final issue of the whole is this-"to the praise of the glory of His grace." This is the third time that this is said, for it is one of those fundamental principles of the Gospel which, because they are opposed to the natural pride of human nature, must be repeated again and again. If we are now accepted in the beloved, it is "to the praise of the glory of His grace." If we have obtained an inheritance, it is "to the praise of the glory of His grace." If, through Divine mercy, we shall in due time be admitted into the possession and enjoyment of that inheritance, this shall be "to the praise of the glory of His grace." The manifestation of the glorious grace of God, in the immortal experience of His ransomed people, will call forth their most ardent ascriptions of praise throughout the endless ages of eternity.

(To be continued.)

WILBERFORCE AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES: JAMES STEPHEN, ESQ.; REV. THOMAS GISBORNE.

No man has ever done anything on a large scale, in public life, single-handed. Alone he cannot act permanently on public opinion. His writings may be forcible, his eloquence effective; but to carry with him the mind of the public and of Parliament, is like a march through an enemy's country. He must have artillery as well as infantry, and the mattock and pickaxe of the engineer as well as the advance of the battalions.

Wilberforce was fully conscious of this necessity; and indeed his temperament prescribed it as much as his judgment, for he was eminently social and of a genial temper. He delighted to act with others, and to consult them, profiting by their counsels and using their help. He had, in this respect, the qualities of a leader; and with a quick intuition he discerned the qualifications of men, and applied these to their right uses. Hence he had his cabinet of philanthropy, composed of various persons with various gifts. It was not so brilliant in rank as that of Mr. Pitt or Lord Liverpool; but it was composed of materials as serviceable and more durable. The caprice and selfishness. which broke up the cabinet of the great Premier were not found in the cabinet of his early friend. It is remarkable also, that the individuals who composed it lived longer than ordi

nary politicians. Only a small section of Pitt's cabinet survived through the cabinets of Lord Liverpool. Many of those who joined Wilberforce in 1789, in the outset of his public life, were associated with him at its close, in 1825.

Wilberforce's first advisers, when he began his assault on the slave trade, were of different professions. Pitt and Grenville consulted with him; so did Fox, Wyndham, and Burke. As subordinate Members of Parliament, he had William Smith, Eliot, and Lord Muncaster; Henry Thornton at a later period, and Thos. Babington. In 1804, Zachary Macaulay joined him, and Henry Brougham lent the cause his energies. But beyond this circle he had miscellaneous councillors - Lady Middelton, and Hannah More with her popular pen, and the Rev. Mr. Ramsay, who fell a martyr to his principles, and Granville Sharpe, and the indefatigable Clarkson. He was encouraged by the sympathy, or helped by the influence, of the aged Wesley, of John Newton, of Mr. Hey in Yorkshire, and Mr. Gisborne in Staffordshire. When he took up the great question of India Missions, his interior cabinet, composed of Thornton, Babington, Stephen, and Macaulay, received the addition of Bowdler and John Thornton, Mr. Grant and Lord Teignmouth. On questions more directly ecclesiastical, he consulted with John Venn, occasionally with Simeon. On matters more immediately personal, his chief advisers were Henry Thornton, Stephen and Babington, Venn and Grant. In 1800, the cabinet of philanthropists set up as an organ the Christian Observer, of which Zachary Macaulay was for many years the editor, and to which Wilberforce, Henry Thornton, Bowdler, and Robert Grant contributed.

Mr. Stephen, both from his legal acumen, his energy, and his perseverance, brought to this cabinet efficient help. The literary distinction which his son, Sir James Stephen, afterwards attained, and his eminent service in one of the most important departments under the Crown, must not be allowed to obscure the unostentatious labours of his honoured father. Mr. Stephen had practised in the legal profession, and had passed the first part of his life as a barrister in a West Indian colony. There he had become acquainted with the condition of the negro, and had learned thoroughly to understand his circumstances and sufferings. When he arrived in England, on a short visit, in 1789, he supplied to Mr. Wilberforce important information. In 1794, when the Abolition cause was languishing, and its further progress was sharply arrested by the dread of the French Revolution, the help of a zealous coadjutor was greatly needed; at that crisis Mr. Stephen appeared, and thenceforth settled in England. He communicates his return to Mr. Wilberforce in a letter which expresses, with the fervour of his eager feelings, his sentiments of confidence and esteem. The

strength of his convictions supplied a wholesome stimulus to a drooping cause, which had begun with promise, and was suddenly checked. He brought to it the services of his pen; and pamphlets, vigorously written, and following each other in steady succession, informed as well as excited the public mind. Mr. Stephen, indeed, took an unfavourable-Mr. Wilberforce thought an unfair-view of Pitt's disposition towards the Abolition cause; but whatever might be the feelings of men in office, and whatever obstacles they either felt or feigned to justify their delay, no cause could long be suffered to droop which had this sturdy rower on board, with his unflagging spirit and strenuous arm. His quick eye detected, under plausible pretences, the real objects of the planter, and he denounced with unsparing vigour the proposed concessions of the minister, as well as the arts of the opponents. So, in the various steps of this great contest, his acuteness and his frankness were equally useful. On the crafty plans of Dundas; on the scheme of deporting slaves from older islands to occupy newer lands; on the fatal proposals of Spain; on the necessity of further clauses in the treaty with Portugal; on the attempted convention, in 1814, for the abolition of the slave trade; on the Bill for the registering of slaves; on all these he was ready, with pen and voice, in letter, pamphlet, and newspaper, to ring out the note of alarm, and to sound this, clear and shrill, in the ears of Wilberforce, in Downing Street, and in Parliament.

To be sure, the tempers of the leader and his followers were often contrasted. Stephen, especially at the outset, was hot and impetuous; he writes against Pitt's government, in the columns of the "Morning Chronicle," with a pen of fire. He will expose to the public the "iniquitous compromise;" he will hold up to execration Pitt, Dundas, and their cabinet; he is sure that the difficulties of England are only a just judgment for national wrong; they are "councils concerted in the cabinet of Heaven to bring forth its long-oppressed, degraded children, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." If Lord Liverpool will not support the Registry Bill, he will have no further connection with him, and will throw up his seat. "If Lord Castlereagh fails to redeem this pledge, may God not spare me if I spare the noble Lord and his colleagues." He frets himself into a fever at Wilberforce's overwhelming correspondence; he is vexed when he sees him beset by a multitude of petty distractions, and drawn away from the grand object to which he would have him devote his powers: Your postprivilege will be the bondage of Africa, and your covers the funeral pile of her new-born hopes.".

But all this generous ardour, and these bursts of friendly impatience, hurled against Wilberforce, produced no feeling of

Vol. 64.-No. 326.

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