as the atoning victim, and suffers, the innocent for the guilty, the just instead of the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

Against this doctrine it has been objected, "that it is inconsistent with all the principles of justice, whether human or divine, for the innocent to suffer for the guilty." Before we proceed to obviate this objection, it is proper to concede that it is not only plausible, but in some respects actually true; for it would be exceedingly inconsistent with all principles of justice, for mere men to dispose of the lives of the innocent as substitutes for the guilty; seeing that no mere man has a right, either to dispose of his own life or another's, upon any consideration. And besides it would be incompatible with the interests of society to destroy the lives of the innocent instead of the guilty. But provided the sufferer be a public person, and have a right to dispose of his own life; and if the ends of punishment be fully answered by such disposal, and he consent to bear the punishment transferred from the guilty person to himself, there is no infringement of the principles of justice at all. For he who has a right to dispose of life, violates no principles of justice when he exercises that right; and if, in exercising that right, the disposal be made with the consent of the person disposed of, no injustice is done to him as an individual; and if, by such disposal, the ends of the law are served, and the public good promoted, no wrong is done to society.

Now our blessed Saviour was a public person, and held the same relation to mankind, as a federal head and representative, that Adam did: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." As the Lord of the universe he was master of himself, and had a right to dispose of his own life; so he himself declares: "No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." He submitted voluntarily to become a sin-offering, and to die in our stead: "For he hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour." The sacrifice he made was equivalent to the demands of the law, and being offered upon the altar of his divinity, it acquired infinite value and was rendered acceptable to God; "Who hath set him forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,-that God might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." From all this the conclusion appears, to us, to be inevitable, that Jesus Christ, the just, did suffer instead of the unjust; and that he suffered without any infringement of the principles of justice.

The doctrine of vicarious atonement is strikingly exemplified in the animal sacrifices of the Mosaic ritual; which were

intended not only to typify the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to confirm God's covenant with the people; but to expiate sin in a typical sense, inasmuch as they were figures of that universal sacrifice which was slain in the divine purpose from the foundation of the world. These innocent animals actually suffered because man was guilty; and as they suffered by God's appointment, we cannot allow the objection to be true, when applied to him, without impeaching his administration, and fixing the charge of injustice upon him. We shall repeat without any fear of successful contradiction, that Jesus Christ, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, suffered for the fallen, guilty, and miserable sons of men ; and that he ever liveth to make intercession for us, and is therefore able to save to the uttermost all them that come to God by him.

3. He is a king; and as such sways a sceptre of righteousness He amidst thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. enacted laws and administered the government in the kingdom of nature and providence; but that he might become a mediatorial sovereign, he resigned the throne of the universe, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross: and at his inauguration all things were put under him, except the Father. Nature, providence, and redemption, are all submitted to his control, and constitute but one kingdom, namely the kingdom of grace. But it is proper to observe, for the sake of distinction, that as the Creator of the world he holds the kingdom of nature by a natural right, which is founded on the eternity of his Godhead; whereas, the mediatorial kingdom he holds by appointment, it being annexed to his office, and conferred upon him as a reward for his obedience to the death of the cross: "For God has therefore highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

We have already suggested that under the mediatorial admi"For he (the Father) hath nistration his authority is universal. put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him." The plain import of this passage is, that his dominion extends to all, except the person of his Father, to whom he is under a kind of subordination, as it respects his personal relations and mediatorial office: but he is under no subordination as it respects his essential Godhead, seeing he is of the same essence with the Father, and equal in power and glory. In the exercise of his regal function he will conquer and subdue all his enemies, and reign till he shall have put down all rule,

and authority, and power. He has already established his kingdom among men; and by the propagation of his gospel is diminishing the power of the devil and sin, and extending his dominions over the world. He performs the part of a legislator, and enacts and prescribes laws for the government of the kingdom: these are principally contained in those sermons and discourses of his which are recorded in the gospel. He has appointed and sent forth the ministers of his government to promulgate his laws, to guard and protect his subjects against dangers and enemies, and to comfort and support them in the time of distress. The first of these ministers is the Holy Ghost, who is sent down to preside in the kingdom, and to act as his vicegerent to qualify the inferior ministers for their duty, and subjugate the hearts of the people to the mediatorial sway. The inferior officers of the government are the angels, the preachers of the gospel, and such of the secular rulers of the world as have become nursing fathers to the church. These are appointed for the instruction and defence of Christ's subjects, that peace and good order may be preserved among them.

Christ shall execute the mediatorial administration, until all in heaven, and all in earth, and all under the earth, shall acknowledge his sovereignty and bow to his will. Even the devil, and death shall be placed under his feet, and be compelled to acknowledge his right to reign. And when he shall have performed his two last regal acts, in raising the dead, and judging the world, he shall consign his enemies over to everlasting fire, and exalt his faithful subjects to eternal glory; and then the whole business of the mediatorial kingdom will be finished; his prophetic, sacerdotal, and regal offices will cease; and he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may

be all in all.

[To be continued.]

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOSEPH AYDELOTT.

OUR esteemed brother, JOSEPH AYDELOTT, was born February the 26th, in the year of our Lord 1758; and in the 25th year of his age he was brought to a knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins, through the instrumentality of the Rev. F. Garretson, on the 14th day of April, 1782. He began to preach the gospel as a local preacher in 1786. He was ordained a deacon in the Methodist Episcopal church in 1791. Feeling an increasing interest in the salvation of souls, and finding his mind to be incapable of resting in the assurance of his integrity as a local preacher, he sought divine direction in this matter, counselled with his brethren, and finally conceived it to be his duty

to offer himself as a candidate for the itinerancy, and was received into the travelling connexion in 1802. In 1804 he was ordained elder, and from that time until the close of his useful life he continued to travel as an itinerant preacher with the exception of two years. In 1811 and 1812 he laboured as a local preacher, and superannuated in 1816, 1817, and 1818. While he was employed as a local preacher, as well as during his itinerancy, he preached in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power, and was specially useful in awakening sinners, comforting mourners, and quickening believers. Our respected brother as a man was warm in his attachments, faithful in his friendship, frank in his deportment; his heart was capable of the tenderest sympathies, and nobly expanded with a benevolence as pure as it was extensive under its influence he delighted to do good in every possible way to the bodies and souls of men,—hence his Christian sympathy and exalted charity induced him, in some instances, to be more generous than a cold, calculating philosophy would justify. We will here mention one instance of this kind :-Returning from his circuit one day, he met a person in great distress, and although he knew that he himself needed every cent he possessed for his own use, yet such was the influence of his benevolence of feeling, that he put his hand into his pocket, and gave this man the last dollar he had; and when asked why he did so, he replied, "He needed it more than I did." As a Christian he was simple in his profession, warm in his devotions, uniformly circumspect in his manners, defying suspicion, and constraining the infidel to acknowledge, that if there be a reality in the Christian religion, Joseph Aydelott is a sincerely good man. As a proof of his unblemished life, and the fervency of his piety, we need only to say, that he was nowhere more esteemed as a Christian, and more acceptable as a preacher, than in his own town and neighbourhood. In Milford, where he embraced religion, and lived for many years, he was respected and revered by the heedless sinner, as well as by the thoughtful saint. He was the first Methodist in that place; the first person who introduced Methodism in the town by inviting the Methodist preachers to his house, and getting them to preach to his fellow citizens; and for a long time his was the only house in the place at which they were entertained. As a minister, although his talents were not splendid, and his mind not improved by a liberal education, nor deep research, yet he was remarkably clear in his views of the doctrines of the gospel, and happy in the method of explaining and applying its precepts and promises. We may safely say, that what our deceased brother lacked in erudition was supplied by his unusual zeal, fervent piety, and the unction of the Holy One, that attended his ministry.

VOL. VIII. August, 1825. 38

At the close of his laborious and useful life his sufferings were extreme, but his faith was unshaken. His disease was lingering, being afflicted with the stone; from the effects of an operation for which, he died. As an evidence of the state that his mind was in at the time the surgeon was about to operate on him, we will notice, that he was informed that, in all probability, the result would be fatal: to which he replied, that he had "counted the cost," and that he felt fully prepared for any event. His patience was unwearied with admirable calmness, and unutterable joy, he recited the instances of divine goodness that he had experienced, and spoke of more which he anticipated; and being full of years and strong in the Lord, he departed this life in the triumphs of faith, on the 11th day of May, 1824, in Philadelphia, at the house of his friend Samuel Neall.

MEMOIR OF MR. JOHN SPENCER CARTER.

Loudon, Virginia, May 3, 1825.

Dear Brethren,-I send you the following sketch for publication in your Magazine. FRENCH S. EVANS.

Yours &c.

If the excellence of biography consists in perpetuating the memory of the great and good, if it be true that virtuous actions have a more powerful effect on the heart than the finest moral and religious precept, the recollection of the pious life of JoHN SPENCER CARTER, may, with the blessing of God, affect the heart of the impenitent, while it will cheer the despondent, increase the faith of the doubtful, and brighten the hopes of the meek and lowly Christian.

He was born in the county of Fairfax, Virginia, in the year 1807, and descended from one of the most respectable and wealthy families of this state. At the time of his birth, his parents did not make a profession of religion. While an infant he was remarkable for his quiet and even temper, and as he grew in years discovered none of those unamiable dispositions which usually characterize boys, and too clearly demonstrate the wick. edness of the human heart. His mother, though a stranger to converting grace, possessed great respect for our holy religion; the effect of which was to teach her child the fear of God, and to impress upon his tender mind such principles of piety and virtue as induced him to lift his voice daily to a Throne of Grace. Thus was the soil of his heart preparing for the "good seed of the kingdom," during which time his mother becoming more impressed with the necessity of a clean heart, was, doubtless, more interested in the eternal welfare of her child, and uniting her prayers with his for the enlightening influences of the Holy