No. 10. DECEMBER, 1837. VOL. 1.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER AND REFORMER.

***

"STRICTURES ON CAMPBELLISM," STRICTURED.

BY A. CRIHFIELD, OF OHIO, U. S.

Sept. 13, 1837

Beloved Brother Wallis,

MY last mail, by your politeness, laid upon my table a pamphlet of twenty pages, entitled "Strictures on Campbellism," written by W. Jones, of London, sometime editor of a Millennial Harbinger there. Mr. Jones is very extensively known to the religious world as the author of many volumes, some of which I have read many years ago. For biblical knowledge and research, he ranks high. When, therefore, I saw the pamphlet mentioned above, I immediately commenced my pilgrimage through it, not without strong forebodings at the start, that I should find rare and strange things among its pages. I was not disappointed. A hundred pamphlets of the same kind have flooded the United States lately; but, like the gaudy family of vernal society, they disappear one after another, and sink into oblivion. Truth will triumph; and the whole crusade of pamphleteers cannot hinder it.

I must own, that when I saw the name of W. Jones in the Harbinger of Mr. Campbell; - when I read the Letters of Jones to Campbell, and those of Campbell to Jones, I anticipated the present result. Not because the Letters on either side were injudiciously worded, or manifested other than benevolent intentions, but because I saw in the Letters of Jones, a constant reference to several points of the Calvinistic quinquarticular structure, as to matters established, and not to be questioned. And knowing that Mr. Campbell's course contemplated the tearing up by the roots both the Calvinistic and Arminian theory of the Spirit's operations in regeneration, I concluded all that was necessary to elicit the opposition of Mr. Jones was, that he should read all the Essays of Campbell relative to spiritual operations. I was nearly sure that the old gentleman would think that his "experience" would be wounded by what he invidiously terms "Campbellism." I have long since found, that men are too apt to experience something which they call religion, and then to consult the Word of God to sanction it, instead of deriving an experience from that Word. I have been at the trouble, too, to analize these things called "experiences," and have found every divine influence in them was originated by the meaning of some of the words of God in the Holy Scriptures. If Mr. Jones has in his possession any knowledge of God that is not derived from the Bible, - from Revelation, truly he will confer a favour on Her Majesty's subjects of Great Britain by laying it before them! Or, if Mr. Jones has felt an impression, an "influence," (I mean a religious one,) which was not originated by some expression of Holy Writ, he might do well, perhaps, were he to define it. But, after having long and devoutly studied this subject, I find the matter to lie thus:- Some one has spent, say a quarter of a century, in vanity: he then is roused up by a sermon, a providence, or something else, to reflection; and finally becomes religious: is a Baptist, we will say. When he begins to inspect his past life, he finds that the words of truth did not formerly influence him to righteousness; and hence concludes that the word is unable to save without something extraneous to help it. But the man forgets or stumbles. What he calls the influence of the Spirit apart from the word, or accompanying it, is only his becoming better acquainted with the word itself. He now finds the Scriptures to have so much meaning; so much more than he formerly supposed them to possess, that the very meaning of the Spirit's words he imagines to be an extraneous influence! The whole difficulty is explained by saving: The man has found that the Holy Scriptures possess more meaning than he once thought them to possess! How absurd, then, to make the operation of the sense of Revelation another revelation, or a revelation revealed! When Mr. Jones shall come fully to understand the philosophy of mind, and the nature of Divine Revelation, he will lay down the weapons of his warfare against what he most manifestly misunderstands. To say that Mr. Jones misunderstands, may seem a heavy charge coming into Europe from an obscure town in the Western World: but I have learned a little of human nature within thirty years past, and am free to say, that there is not a class of men more dull and tardy in understanding the gospel, than those who have long been leaders in sectarian establishments. Hence, Mr. Jones prefers "the old wine" which has so long intoxicated him, to that which he misnomers "new," but which "taken largely," would sober him again.

It was not my intention to enter into a review of the pamphlet before me; I will, however, notice a sentence found in page 16. Mr. Jones says, "Mr. Campbell is a very clever man, and has displayed great talent in his writings; but he has yet to learn the doctrine of the great apostle of the gentiles, touching the justification of the ungodly by faith, without the deeds of the law; and until he learns that, and lays it at the foundation of the Christian system, whatever superstructure he may raise, will only be as 'a bowing wall or a tottering fence'."

As far as the "Christian Messenger" circulates, I wish its readers to be assured that the above sentence is wholly unfair, ungenerous, and void of that tender regard to truth which should distinguish a man so "narrative with age," as is elder Jones. I can say truly, that "the doctrine of justification by faith, without the deeds of the law," lies at the foundation of the Christian system, and is maintained as such by Mr. Campbell. Elder Jones cannot lay his finger upon any Essay of Mr. Campbell, either in the Christian Baptist or Millennial Harbinger, wherein this doctrine is opposed. But, not content with making this wide and tremendous allegation, Mr. Jones goes on to assume the judgment seat, and to pronounce sentence upon his brethren! And in another part of his "Strictures," he seems to assume the guardianship of the English Isle, and complains of the encroachment of "Campbellism" upon its shores!* He fears that churches will be unsettled, and confusion introduced. He need not be uneasy:- the elect cannot be lost!

The truth is, elder Jones fears investigation, and this fear is made most manifest by the "Strictures" in question.

But, "justification by faith" is said to be denied by Mr. Campbell. I would refer all considerate persons who wish to acquaint themselves with this subject, to Mr. Campbell's "Essay" on the remission of sins; where it will be seen that he _______________________________________________________________________________

*We are indebted to Mr. Jones for its introduction into this Country! - ED.

contends as strongly for justification by faith as Mr. Jones does.* No one can be justified by the deeds of the law. But remark, faith alone never yet justified any human being. A polluted alien who never has received pardon, may believe, and believe sincerely, and yet remain in his sins, if the Scriptures are authority in the case. I will now state a proposition for the use of Mr. Jones, and of all whom it may concern: it is not "Campbellism," but truth: Since the commencement of the kingdom of God on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, the scriptures of the New Testament recognize none as justified who have not believed, repented, and been baptized. This may be considered a sweeping and a startling declaration: it is true, nevertheless. If this cannot be maintained from the acts of the Apostles and their epistles, there is no one thing that can. Mr. Jones may call it, if he pleases, "baptismal regeneration;" but, should he live till double his present age, he will not then be able to shew from the New Testament, after Pentecost, a regenerated unbaptized person. I will engage that when he finds the time, place, and manner of the justification of any given person; that time, place, and manner, will all concentrate in baptism. This I might prove in various ways; but, without being tedious, I will state the argument as follows:-

In Christ we have the remission of sins: that is, when we are in him. But how do we be placed in him? The answer is, - We are baptized into him. To be in Christ, and to be in his church, are just the same thing, as all know who know the Scriptures. Now a mail cannot believe into him; nor can he repent into him: but believing and repenting, he can he baptized into him; and such is the language of the "great Apostle of the Gentiles."** And who does not see that justification is of faith, since without it not a single step can be taken towards God? It is the main spring which sets the whole in motion. But as great as the powers of faith are acknowledged to be, they are not so great as to render useless in conversion, reformation, and baptism. Things are sometimes made plainer by examples, than by abstract reasonings: take, then, an individual case for illustration. Saul of Tarsus believed firmly in Jesus, whom he had just been persecuting. After this he repented, quitting his black and bloody deeds. He prayed, too, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Still the man remained in his sins, still not justified by faith, though he had faith ready to justify him. What, then, remained to be done? Why said the messenger of peace to him, "Brother Saul, why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord."*** Faith has precedence of all the principles of religion. Without it repentance cannot exist, and without repentance, baptism would be of no use. We can here easily perceive that Saul was justified by faith, and how he was justified by it. The works of the law had nothing to do in the whole matter. It would be well to remind elder Jones that the gospel was made known to all nations in order to the obedience of faith - that faith, without the obedience to which, by the command of' God, it directly leads, will save no one. In order to salvation a man must not only "believe with the heart," but "confess with the mouth" also: and to confess the Lord Jesus is to obey him. In short, the commission which Jesus gave his apostles, comprehends the whole of the elements of justification, faith, repentance, and baptism. These were all preached to sinners in all nations, and just in this order. And by attention to this commission, and the sermons, and epistles of the Apostles, it will be seen that faith, reformation, and baptism are not considered in the light of works of law, but as avenues of favour - not intended to

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*This Essay is now in the press. See the cover of the present number.

**Gal. 3:27. - Rom. 6:3,4. - ED.

*** Acts 22:16. - ED.

merit grace, but as means of receiving it. Justification, then, is "of faith, that it might be by grace." Hence, in the prosecution of their labours, we hear the Apostles preaching faith in order to salvation, repentance for the same end, and baptism for the same end. I presume there is hardly a man in England who will deny this.

How comes it to pass, then, that preachers of religion will so stoutly maintain that sinners must be justified or pardoned, converted and made Christians, before baptism?! Was it this in the beginning? No; never once. What, then, is the matter? Men, it seems, have become wise above, or rather below, what is written. Anciently, men were "baptized for the remission of sins;" now, they are baptized because their sins are remitted! Then, they were baptized to be converted: now, because they are converted! Then, they were baptized that they might receive the gift of the Spirit: now, because they already have it! Then, that they might become saints: now, because they are saints!

I will now tell elder Jones, and all who will read this, how we preach justification in these United States, "without the works of the law." And here, blessed be the Lord, I have an example at hand. A few days ago, the gospel of the grace of God was preached in this town. The multitude were sensibly affected, pierced, convicted, by the heavenly truths announced. Thirty-one sinners came forward and demanded baptism, and whom I baptized "for the remission of sins" in the waters hereabouts. I have conversed with many of them since, and they are happy in the Lord; have a good conscience, and his good spirit. Indeed, why should it be thought a thing incredible by elder Jones, that God should remit sins in baptism? Is he not as able to confer this blessing, there and then, as at any other time and place in his universe? Were not the sins of the "chief of sinners" remitted in baptism? Were not the sins of three thousand remitted in baptism on the day of the commencement of the heavenly reign? Why then should holy people be afraid that God will not be as good as his word? I did not adduce the above instance of recent conversions to prove the doctrine here advocated, but simply to let elder Jones see how near our practice approximates to "the ancient order of things at Jerusalem." I hope he will be quiet, and let "the Jerusalem that is above, and is free, be the mother of us all."

I will here take leave of your readers for the present, with my best wishes for the success of truth in England, and with sentiments of respect for Mr. Jones. He has greatly erred in commencing hostilities against the disciples of Jesus. Father! forgive him; for he knows not what he does.

***

P.S. Since writing the above, I have been perusing the English edition of the "Tribute to the Memory of the Apostles," which appears to me, in the general, to be a little work of great merit.

I am glad you have laid it before the British public. This is the work, however, which has called down the unqualified reprobation of elder Jones. He inwardly "grieves that such poison as this pamphlet contains, should be imported from America, and industriously circulated among the churches" in England! And why? Merely because the author of the treatise, elder Jones says, is a "Sabellian!" And what is Sabellianism? In Mr. Jones' nomenclature, it is "blasphemy!" (See p. 19.) Mr. Grew does not fill elder Jones' measure of the "Trinity," and hence he is denounced as a blasphemer.

If those "Strictures" import any thing to the minds of Englishmen, elder Jones may now be considered an opposer of Campbellism; and by this epithet is to be understood, that doctrine of remission taught in the beginning by the Apostles. That the sins of aliens, for the sake of Jesus, are forgiven IN BAPTISM, is nicknamed "Campbellism," though it is the truth, and cannot be denied without manifest infidelity. - Opposition to this doctrine is virulent in America; but it has taken a most firm and secure hold. The best talents and piety here are on its side. From Maine to Arkansas it is pleaded by ten thousand tongues; and this circumstance, though no proof of its divine origin, shews, at least, that it is well adapted to the genius of our people. But that it is of divine origin, has been sufficiently proved in the preceding letter.

To the brethren in Nottingham, and elsewhere in England, I would say, you are remembered by us on this side the expanded Atlantic. We sympathize with you. We remember you in our prayers. Be faithful; be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Despair not at opposition, and the logic of great names against you. Return not railing for railing; but contend for the truth in the mild spirit of Jesus. Love one another, and the God of peace will bruise Satan under you. - Blessed be the name of the Lord our God! And again, I say, Hallelujah!

THE POWER OF FALSEHOOD.

AMONG the various causes which retard the dissemination of true knowledge, that peculiar state of mind induced by a long continuance in error, is not the least.

Such is the organization of man, and the impetuous force of the passions and propensities with which he is endowed, that it is difficult at any time to turn the current of his thoughts from its deep-worn bed, or rectify its devious windings. But the mere influence of habit, or the striking unwillingness which prevails in men to abandon cherished views and principles, are by no means so great obstacles to reformation, as the peculiar influence of error and delusion itself, by which the love of the marvellous; the animal feelings, or the emotions of pride have been encouraged; while those powers, by whose accurate discrimination alone, truth is to be discovered, have remained inactive, or become enfeebled.

He whose mind has long borne the shackles of error, has become incapable of enjoying, or properly appreciating truth; as the long-incarcerated prisoner has scarce a wish for liberty, and, even if emancipated, moves as though he were still restrained by his fetters. Just sentiments, and sober realities but overwhelm and confuse the errorist, as the light of day only serves to blind the eye which has been accustomed to darkness. So perverted, indeed, and besotted, does he often become, under the intoxicating influence of delusion, that he is wholly incapable of even distinguishing truth when it is presented, and is insensible to every stimulus but that of fiction.

Hence it is, that to some men the greatest absurdities appear the most logical conclusions; and the veriest fables the most evident truths. And hence it is that persons will come by frequent repetition, to believe the very lie which they themselves invented. There are indeed no extravagancies too great, and no wonders too incredible for the mind which has become inebriated by the spirit of delusion, or stupified by the narcotic influences of habitual error. When Caligula made his horse a Roman Consul, it may have appeared quite a rational procedure to a people accustomed to the greatest enormities, and imbued with the deepest superstition. The wretched idolater burns a part of a piece of wood to cook his meal, and of the remainder forms a carved image - "A deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? He falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my God." While he is engaged in such orisons, we need seek no other illustration of the power of falsehood.

It is by this peculiar perverting influence which falsehood exerts upon the human mind, that Satan, who is the father of lies, succeeds in completing his victory over the unwary. His strength is in "the power, and signs, and wonders, of falsehood; and in the deceit of unrighteousness among the destroyed; because they did not embrace the love of the truth, that they might be saved." By this, he leads the timid female to burn herself with the body of her deceased husband; and, by this, persuades the unhappy votary of Shivu to swing himself in the air upon hooks fastened in the living flesh.

To the same influence, doubtless, are to be attributed the innumerable inconsistencies and absurdities in faith and conduct which obtain in Christendom: whether it be the penances and mortifications, the belief in false miracles, purgatory, and transubstantiation of the Catholics; or the strange perversity of the Protestants in supposing that the various discordant systems which they have themselves invented, and which they seek to perpetuate, are identical with primitive Christianity. Upon this principle alone can be explained their singular indifference to the plainest precepts of the Divine Record; and the blindness which hinders them from seeing the tendency of the concessions they are compelled to make with respect to matters, which at the same time, they are as far from believing, as from practising.

There is not perhaps a single cardinal principle or fact in Christianity, which is not professedly received by the different religious parties; yet each, admitting the original unity of the church, and the binding obligation of the injunctions to brotherly love, remains alienated, disunited, and opposed. And while they grant that the Scriptures are "the only rule of faith and practice," they yield an implicit credence to human opinions, and a ready obedience to the traditions of men. A Stuart will declare that "bapto and baptizo mean to dip, plunge, or immerse into any thing liquid," and that "all lexicographers and critics of any note are agreed in this," yet continue the Presbyterian practice of sprinkling. A Dr. Wall will remain Episcopal while he uses the following language:- "The general and ordinary way of baptizing in ancient times, was by immersion. This is so plain and clear, from an infinite number of passages, that one cannot but pity the weak endeavours of such Paedobaptists as would maintain the negative of it; and wonder that any individuals are to be found, who can treat with ridicule or contempt the Baptists, merely for their use of dipping, and more especially as it was in all probability the way in which our blessed Saviour, and most certainly the usual and ordinary way by which the ancient Christians did receive their baptism." And a Giesler will adhere to his professorship of Theology at Cottingen, and together with the whole religious community who commend his sentiments, will pertinaciously sustain the honours of the clergy and the unscriptural systems of the day, while in his "Text-Book of Ecclesiastical History," lately published, he thus speaks of the internal relations of the Christian church in the apostolic age:- "The churches every where formed themselves on the model of the mother church at Jerusalem. At the head of each were the elders, all officially of equal rank, though in several instances a peculiar authority seems to have been conceded to some one individual from personal considerations. Under the superintendence of the elders were the deacons and deaconesses. Rom. 16:1; 1 Tim. 5:9,10. All these received their support, like the poor, from the free contributions of the church. 1 Tim. 5:17; 1 Cor. 9:13. - The Apostle wishes that elders may be apt to teach. 1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 2:24. The power of speaking and exhortation was considered the gift of the Spirit, and was possessed by many of the Christians, though exercised in various ways - (prophets - teachers - speaking with tongues. 1 Cor. 12:28-31; ch. 14.) There was as yet no distinct order of clergy, for the whole society of Christians was "a royal priesthood," (1 Pet. 2:9) - "the chosen people of God." 1 Pet. 5:3. Compare Deut. 4:20; 9:29. They assembled for worship in private houses; in cities the churches were often divided into several societies, each having its particular place of meeting."*

To what cause then can we attribute these and the thousand other inconsistencies of the religious community, except to the bewildering effect of the speculations and errors into which they have been so long indoctrinated? It is the influence of false teaching which has so confused the religious world; depraved their taste; or fostered selfish principles, that they have little relish for the simplicity of truth, and even when they stumble upon primitive Christianity are unable to perceive it.

From the Millennial Harbinger.

R.R.

***

"Truth can hardly be expected to adapt herself to the crooked policy and wily sinuosities of worldly affairs; for truth, like light, travels only in straight lines."

***

EXTRACT FROM THE PROSPECTUS OF THE APOSTOLIC ADVOCATE AND PROPHETIC INTERPRETER.

"We (the apostles) are of God: he who knows God, hearkens to us; he who is not of God, hearkens not to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. - 1 John 4:6. - Macknight's Translation.

"Be mindful of the words before spoken by the holy prophets, and of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Saviour." - 2 Peter 3:2. - Macknight.

THIS work shall be devoted to the ancient gospel and the original constitution of things, as proclaimed and appointed by the Apostles. Never was there a time since the days of William Penn, that this** and the adjacent cities required such an "Advocate" as at this present. The voice of the Apostles is stifled by the clamour of sectarian declamation. It is true, indeed, they are talked about, and their statues adorn cathedral parapets and steepled walls; it is also true, that the commercial marts of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York abound in religious establishments, each and every of them amply furnished with all the gorgeousness and splendid trappings of temple worship. They can boast, too, of an erudite, courtly, eloquent, and right reverend priesthood, - the depositaries of wisdom and sacred knowledge, whose fertile ingenuity illustrates, sustains, and fulmigates the dogmas of creeds for the deglutition of an unsuspecting and too-confiding laity. But all these things, however adored, may be easily unmasked, and resolved into their ultimate constituents - the devices, traditions, and commandments of men; and will be proved to be no part of the RELIGION OF CHRIST, or of the traditions and teachings of the HOLY APOSTLES. THE ADVOCATE, therefore, will unroll his brief against the corruptions of Christianity; and, while he pays all respect to persons that is due, he will use every honourable and scriptural means to disabuse the minds of his fellow-citizens of the philosophical dogmas and christianized orientalism palmed upon them for the glorious gospel of the blessed God.

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*As it respects the Lord's Supper, Can this be correct? See 1 Cor. 11:20. - Acts 20:7. - ED.

**Richmond.

THE APOSTOLIC ADVOCATE.

In subserviency to this end, the following, among other subjects, will be attended to:-

1. The non-identity of all popular religion with the religion of Christ.

2. The defence of the Holy Scriptures against all creeds, "confessions of faith," commentators, and system makers.

3. The objects proposed by the proselyting spirit of the age, as developed in the so-styled "benevolent institutions of the day," incompatible with, and contrary to, the predictions of the ancient Prophets.

4. The modern dogmas of physical and spiritual operations, not the doctrines of the Holy Spirit taught by the Apostles.

5. The fates and fortunes of the kingdoms of the world foreshown by prophesy.

6. Religious, moral, and literary varieties, with essays on various interesting and important subjects in relation to the kingdom of Christ.

"THE ADVOCATE" will glean from the fields of Christian literature whatever is calculated to illustrate the magnificent and sublime politics of the Messiah's reign. He will endeavour to do justice to all who may oppose and differ from him; his object being to convince, not condemn. Audi alteram partem, hear the other side, shall always vibrate on his ear, for having neither sympathies nor antipathies to gratify - having no gift or "sacred office " of pecuniary emolument to blind his eyes, to pervert his judgment, or to distort his mental vision - being interested in upholding no religious dogmas, in sustaining no sect, in pleading for no sectarian creed - THE ADVOCATE will strive to exemplify the apothegm - fiat justitia ruat coelum, let justice be done though the heavens fall. Let the opponents of the ancient gospel go and do likewise.

It is respectfully submitted, that all desirous of the downfall of the apostacy, and interested in the re-establishment of the ancient gospel, and restoration of the apostolic order of things, over the ruins of the man of sin, in all his subtle and specious forms, will exert their influence in sustaining the endeavours of the editor to that end. - J. Thomas, M.D.

***

"The upright, if he suffer calumny to move him, fears the tongue of man more than the eye of God."

THE THEOLOGY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

***

"A person speaks too pointedly when he speaks too much to the point. A discourse is very severe, very harsh, and very bitter, when it is very true:" - so say the disobedient.

IF one proposition be more self-evident than another, it is this, that the religion of the Disciples of the Apostles of Christ cannot be found among any of the popular religions of the nineteenth century, which divide among them the realms and demesnes of Christendom. The religion of Christ is a religion of faith and obedience, the one being as essential and important as the other; - they are, in truth, one and indivisible. The popular religions, on the other hand, are religions, national and speculative in their nature, based on opinions, and upheld by systems of abstract definitions, composing creeds, confessions, and articles of faith. With each religion, the fundamental and essential doctrines of the gospel are the leading and characteristic dogmas of their individual creeds. Whatever is not contained in the creed, is non-essential, especially if the omission be the diagnostic of some more humble and less popular faith. Popular faith is feeling magnified into confidence, and, inasmuch as it produces violent convulsive actions of that important organ of the animal constitution, it is very emphatically termed "faith in the heart." It is a kind of sanguineous principle yielding from the several organs through which it passes, copious effusions of tears, mucus, and saliva. Hence that foaming of the mouth, effusion of the eyes and cheeks, and running at the nose, so conspicuous in the subjects of revival, camp-meeting, and protracted conventional excitement. Popular faith is lunatic in its phases, being now new, then old; now gibbous, and then rotund, and following the ocean of life in all its ebbs and flows. The opinions of the people's instructors determine the complexion of their faith; and hence the proposition, that "Faith is not the belief of testimony." It is true, the popular faith is not the belief of testimony, and no wonder that like the priests the people should maintain it; for well do they know, both the teachers and the taught, that their religious faith is not founded on the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, but on the traditions, devices, and commandments of men. What need we marvel, then, at the diversified and contradictory faiths that chequer the ecclesiastical chart of the Christianized world. We need not he surprised, I say, that Divine Doctors of the Popular Faith should insist on a faith, christened orthodox with holy water, which does not require testimony to produce, seeing that they are not accustomed to prove their positions either by reason or Holy Writ. Indeed, where is the necessity of proof? Have not their flocks conceded to them their demands in full, as to their AMBASSADORIAL AND HOLY CHARACTER, THEIR DIVINE CALLING AND SENDING, AND THEIR CLAIMS OF SUCCESSION TO THE APOSTLES? If these high pretensions he granted, shall we, the laity, presume to ask the Reverend Clergy for their proofs! Absurd would it be in the extreme to concede to them apostolicity without proof, and then to demand a reason for what they affirm. Let them prove the first, and we, in subordinate affairs, will obey implicitly, and for ever after hold our peace. But as to their divine rights, Credat Judaeus Apella non Ego! - The following will be a fair illustration both as to the believers, the manner of faith, and the effects of popular faith. On the first day of March, 1834, an infant first breathed the breath of heaven, and raised its eyelids to the solar beams. Unused to this new mode of existence, it cried, and sobbed, and squalled so lustily as greatly to disturb the equanimity of a maiden aunt. Her soured temper could not endure the provocation, and though it was a sacramental preparation week, she tartly reprobated the uncouth noise, and sinned, through anger, most unchristianly. The original sin and total depravity of the babe were beyond doubt, and as its looks did not promise life beyond four and twenty hours, humanity and religion dictated the propriety of saving its soul from hell. A Reverend Divine was accordingly sent for, who, being stimulated by the importance of the occasion, and a zeal in his master's service, came with as much despatch as comported with the dignity of the clerical gait. "Go ye," says the Great Teacher, "into all the world, and proclaim the glad tidings to the whole creation; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be condemned." Acting under this commission, then, this Reverend Successor to the Apostles, and Ambassador of Jesus Christ, arrives at the house of mourning for the purpose of imparting salvation to the puny babe. Accordingly, he dips his holy hands into the water consecrated by prayer, and with the subject of faith in his left arm, raises with uplifted eyes, and becoming his bending arm with palm supine; - the period of grace hovers over the face of the infant. Awful moment! The infant scarcely breathes. - The sacred drops at length begin to trickle from the holy digits of his reverence, - they reach the face, and with an emphatic sprinkle, the magic words - Selina! I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen! fall on the sealed ears of the expiring child, who, with a struggle, now gives up the ghost."

This instance, and a very common one it is, is a fair illustration of the subject, mode of impartation, and effects of the most fashionable, popular faith. Its subject is for the most part, a babe of eight days old, endowed with all the faculties of mind and body in a dormant, undeveloped state; it sees, but it discerns not; it hears, but it understands not; it has a brain, but on the tablet of its mind no images of thought are there. How, then, is the faith imparted? Let the Reverend Clergy so skilled in metaphysics, in all the magic of the Chaldeans, in all the learning of the Egyptians, and in all the mythology of the Pagan world explain, for I cannot. But the effects of this popular faith, what are they? Scepticism, delusion, death! Common sense, contemplating the proud ambitious priest, discerns in his religious practices and demeanour, the usurper of super-natural powers, and the impiety of a man who lies in the name of God. Disgusted at such exhibitions of mockery, and acquainted with no other Christianity than that under the form of the religions of the day, the minds of men, with the light only of reason and common sense to guide them, run into the fatal extreme and denounce all religion as false. Hence in France, in Italy, in Portugal and Spain, when occasion offers, they not only avow their scepticism, but deny even the being of a God. Nor are things in reality much better in Protestant countries, for, though atheism is not so recklessly proclaimed there, hypocrisy, indifference, latent, and avowed scepticism in all their subtle, specious, open, and disguised forms extensively prevail. Even in these United States, where religion is supposed to flourish, it is not difficult to foresee the downfall, not very remote either, of all its sectarian establishments. At this very moment, infidelity, like a worm that dieth not, gnaws their vitals, and a numerous and fanatical priesthood is permitted to exist out of courtesy to the ladies, in whose case is verified the prediction of the Apostle, which see 2 Tim. 3:1-7. We rejoice, however, to know, on the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, that all these human establishments will be overturned, and that the glorious dominion of the Great King, returned victorious and conqueror over all his foes, and leading captive at his chariot wheels, kings whose many diadems now deck his brow, will rise paramount and be established on the wreck of empires, immovable as the everlasting hills. Kings and sacred barbs have tuned their harps prophetic of this golden age. Then will the Prince of Peace reign in his Holy Hill of Zion, and rule the nations with a law of love. No kingly or priestly tyrants then to disturb the world's repose; no anti-Christian or sectarian rivals then to divide the empire with the King of Saints; no popes, no councils, no general assemblies, synods, presbyteries then with their bulls, and canons, and orthodox confessions to distract the world:- no! These disturbers of the public peace, - these social bandits, then will be bound in captive chains in the dark abyss for a thousand years. Such, then, will be the death of all delusions until the Last Apostacy foretold in time, when Satan shall go forth to deceive the nations which at that period will inhabit the four quarters of the earth. Rev. 20:7,8.

In the religious practice before alluded to, we said that the officiating priest, call him by what name you please, lies in the name of God. We speak not of motives, but of actions; principles, not men, are objects of animadversion. The clerical body may be very sincere in all its doings, but sincerity does not convert a lie into truth, - a sincere lie is a lie still! We look at actions, not words. "Language," Says a celebrated writer, "is the art of disguising our ideas; words may deceive us, but actions are pregnant with meaning." We say, then, the religious act of sprinkling an unbelieving, unconscious babe with a few drops of water, and declaring that this is done in obedience to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is a lie in the name of God! It is conceded by all the learned, that the phrase "in the name," signifies "by the authority of;" now we demand proof of the clergy for their practice, and ask them, where in all the inspired volume, the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit ever commanded them, or any one else, to sprinkle a babe in their name, and call it baptism; which all the learned, classical or theological, through all Christendom, admit in the fullest sense to be immersion. To say then, when they sprinkle a babe, they baptize (in English immerse) it in the name, or by the authority of the Father, &c., is a deliberate, practical, and sacriligious lie; and all this, too, they pretend under the commission before recited. One knows not which to marvel at most, their consummate ignorance, or audacity, in thus practically interpreting the proclamation "He that believeth and is immersed, (baptized, if the reader would rather) shall be saved," by taking a child, incapable of belief, and sprinkling it! If taken before a common jury, having no interest in the perpetuation of this one of the "abominations of the Earth," it will soon be put in its true light. Talk of the advocates of the Apostolic traditions perverting the institution! - Beshrew me if any thing comes up to this! Well might Isaiah prophecy of this adulterous generation, when he said, "The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the law, CHANGED THE ORDINANCE, and broken the everlasting covenant; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Chap. 20:4,5,6. - Apostolic Advocate.

By J. Thomas, M.D.

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LETTERS TO ENGLAND. - No. 4.

Bethany, Va. August 15th, 1837.

MR. J. WALLIS,

Dear Sir, - I learn from London, per the mail of August 6th, by our brother, elder John Thomas, of that city, that pains are taking to put the English and Scotch Christians on their guard against our views of reformation on the subject of spiritual influence. This, I doubt not, from the very interesting letter just received from brother Thomas, is done from conscientious scrupulosity. It becomes, therefore, necessary, that while on the subject of personal reformation as respects the conversion of sinners, I should be fairly understood on this most interesting point. The three last numbers of this work, containing elder Lynd's letter to me, and my remarks upon it, will go very far to correct the mistaken views being now put in circulation on this topic. Had I lived in England or Scotland, it is a thousand to one if I had written one sentence on the work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners, for one hundred that I have written here. The reason is, that conversion is in thousands of instances effected in the New World by a machinery unknown, in a very great measure, to the English and Scotch population. In America, my good brother, many things vegetate and luxuriate which would not germinate in your cold and moist climate. Neither melons nor camp-meetings grow in the open air in your fields; nor do mourning benches nor anxious boards grow in the forests and woods of England; at least in my time I heard nothing of them.* Whereas, in this New World, more especially since the days of high and low pressure operating on steam boats and rail road cars, every thing "goes a-head." There is no doubt, sir, by the association of ideas, or by some yet mysterious affinity, a peculiar sympathy exists between all the pursuits of men: and when changes, sometimes miscalled improvements, in society, become the order of the day, they ramify and extend through all the operations of the mind; and hence improvements in agriculture, in manufactures, in commerce; new discoveries in science or in the arts of life, mingle with our religious theories and conceptions. The reason why you think more, and change less than we do; - why you have more profound scholars and more accomplished writers, will be found, in part, in the fact that you live in an old country, and we in a new world, where "go ahead" is equally graceful in the senate chamber, the college, the church, and the steam car. Only think that English grammar is, in this climate, perfectly taught, both the theory and the practice, in two weeks; astronomy in five lectures, and geography in four; and men are truly converted by the Spirit without the knowledge of any one of the four gospels.

Publish it, my dear sir, in the length and breadth of your land, that it is this theory of spiritual operations; this species of divine influence in "camp-meetings" and "big-meetings;" this idealess, headless, and heartless religion, which, on the principle of animal magnetism, or some nondescript human sympathy, has filled meeting-houses with converts that have no root in-themselves; that is, no clear perception, no correct sentiments or views of the system of grace, called the gospel of the kingdom, which we oppose, and not at all the influence of the HOLY SPIRIT, as the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, and the SPIRIT OF GRACE, on saint or sinner.

True, indeed, there is even among the more intelligent classes in this country, and perhaps in yours, a peculiar theory of spiritual operations, which I have sometimes called "metaphysical regeneration," or "scholastic conversion," as sheer fatalism as is found in the moth-eaten records of the ancient worshippers of FATE. This speculative theology makes the existence of faith in the human understanding, or heart, a miracle of the same order with the resurrection of Christ. This system works faith in the human heart without testimony, and without the knowledge of Christ. A man believes because he is one of the elect in virtue of a sovereign interposition, which, when resolved into the last why, amounts to the single reason, I believe because I could not help it. Even this may be true in a certain sense, yet not as held forth in the dogma which we have in our eye. It ascends so high in the ethereal regions as to make the new moral creature as physical an offspring as the infusion of a spirit into Adam from the immediate lips of Jehovah. This ultraism on the one hand, is our Scylla; while the notion that there is no Spirit of God but the word, and no operation of the Spirit, direct or indirect, upon the heart of sinner or saint, is our Charybdis. We push our feeble bark between these two.

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'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> * They have within these last few years, in different parts of England, been very much on the increase, especially amongst the Methodists, Ranters, Warrenites, and others: even the Baptists hold their revival meetings, and although they are conducted with more rationality than among many other sects; yet what foundation have they, or any others, for believing that the exalted Head of the Church will permit them to prosper in the truth to any great extent, while they are in many things entirely disobedient to his revealed will! Surely compassion for the multitudes who are perishing, (to say nothing of Divine commands) ought to lead all professors to reform, and turn their attention at once to the requirements of the New Testament, as given forth at first by the inspired Apostles. - ED.

LETTER FROM A. CAMPBELL. - NO. 4.

In preaching to a promiscuous throng that something called the gospel, we always preach good news to sinners. Now, to preach that A believes because he is first regenerated, and that he is regenerated because he was from all eternity elected to be regenerated at such a time, and at such a place, and by such a preacher, and by such a sermon, and by such a text; and that he was so elected to be regenerated because of nothing in himself; not because of his views, feelings, wishes, or efforts; but because God would, for reasons of his own, drawn neither from the sinner nor his circumstances, but from himself alone, have him to be converted: I say, thus to represent the matter is good news to not a single soul in the congregation; because, should there be one or more of these elect ones among the audience, they, not knowing it for certain, cannot rejoice in the message which I deliver, and, of course, if any one supposes himself not to be of that number, it is to him everlasting anguish and despair.

Again, to represent the salvation of the sinner to be of himself alone, or to depend wholly and entirely upon his own efforts, and that God will never do for him more than he has already done, is to give a wrong representation of the sinner to himself, of his power to please God, and also of the benevolence and grace of our heavenly Father, who has actually promised his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. And if that Spirit be not needful to our salvation in addition to all that God the Father has purposed, and all that Jesus Christ has performed, and all that the Apostles have written, why, in the name of reason, should it be so often promised, and we taught and commanded to pray for it?

The glory of the Christian religion is, that God dwells in the hearts of his people by his Holy Spirit; and that, indeed, he is their strength in weakness, their health in sickness, their joy in sorrow, and their life in death. "I will dwell in them, and walk in them" - "I will write my laws upon their heart" - "I will be their God, and they shall be my people" - "I will never leave them nor forsake them," are, I thank the Lord, exceeding great and precious promises of the Christian institution, by which we are made partakers of a divine nature, and, without which, we should be often in despair of eternal life.

But in seeking to bring men back to God, as I have often said, we do not theorize or dogmatize. We preach Christ, and not the Spirit; we preach Christ crucified, and no theory about the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit; in whose sacred names, - in whose holy and mysterious relations, - and in whose distinct and peculiar operations, as the operations of one and the same God, - we do most cordially and sincerely believe and rejoice. That in the heat and ardour of controversy, some unwarranted expressions may have been uttered either by ourselves or others, we presume neither to affirm nor to deny. When Paul writes of the justification of sinners by faith, one would think he had no use for works; and when James writes of the justification of Christians by works, one would imagine that faith was a matter of small moment; so when we speak of the perfection of the word of God, and of its intelligibility, clearness, power, and ability to convert sinners, or to make the man of God perfect, one would think we had no use for the Spirit of God; and to hear us on other occasions speak to Christians of the necessity of cherishing, and not grieving that Holy Spirit, and of the need of his assistance and consolation under trials, and to hear us invoke his aid in directing our hearts into the love of God, and in sanctifying our whole persons, to the Lord, one might infer we made but little account of the word.

The Scriptures sometimes ascribe all to the Word, which, at other times, they ascribe to the Spirit; and sometimes they ascribe to the Spirit all which, at other times, they ascribe to the Word: so do we; and what God has thus joined together we will not, because we dare not, separate. I beseech you, my dear brother, to be at pains to have our views on this subject fairly stated to our brethren and friends in Great Britain.

May the love of God our Father, the grace of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and the comforts of the Holy Spirit be with you all! Amen!

A. CAMPBELL.

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MR. LYND ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.*

My friend Mr. Lynd, president of one of the Baptist churches in Cincinnati, has favored me with a few well-written and well digested remarks on my views of the influences of the Holy Spirit. His letter, a part of which we now present to our readers, addressed one month since to Mr. Stevens, editor of the Baptist Cross and Journal; from the dignified manner in which it treats the subject, demands from me a respectful attention,

With great brevity I offer a few remarks on that part of the letter now quoted. As my manner is, our readers shall have both sides-

"Brother Stevens - I received a few days since the fourth number of the Millennial Harbinger, sent to me by the editor, with his respects. Though I am not a reader of this periodical, yet I am not ignorant of Mr. Campbell's religious opinions. I have examined with care his work called "Christianity Restored," in which are many things that commend themselves to the attention of all Christians. Still, if I comprehend the language of the author, there are some things to condemn; some points of vital importance in the gospel system, in which, it appears to me, he has fearfully erred, and departed from the faith delivered to the saints. From the number of the Harbinger sent to me, I should infer that Mr. Campbell is anxious to produce the impression that he has been misrepresented in his views. And whether designedly or not, during his recent visit to this city, he did produce this impression upon several who had before regarded him as being in error. They have freely expressed the opinion, that Mr. Campbell has changed his ground, and become an orthodox Baptist. The impression might have resulted from their own inattention, or from the excitement of their feelings in his favour, growing out of the Catholic controversy.

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'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> * We learn from the Millennial Harbinger of the present year, that in the month of January, A. Campbell held a public discussion in the city of Cincinnati, with a Roman Catholic bishop, by the name of Purcell. The debate continued for seven days, exclusive of Lord's day, after which, and before A. Campbell left the city, forty persons came forward and confessed their faith in Christ, and were baptized in the name of the Father, &c., for the remission of all their past sins. These, with ten others who had been previously immersed, joined the Reformed Church in that city. This circumstance, and the favourable impression produced by A. Campbell on the minds of several other Baptists during the debate, called forth the above article from the pen of the Baptist minister in that place, with A. Campbell's reply; the whole of which we shall introduce to the notice of our readers in this and the two following numbers. - ED.

I take it for granted that his views are definitely stated in "Christianity Restored," for he has not publicly disavowed the sentiments therein contained. Taking this for our text-book, it can be proved that Mr. Campbell has not been misrepresented in his main positions.

"With your permission I will lay before the readers of The Cross and Journal,* his views on the influences of the Holy Spirit.

"That there may be no possibility of misrepresenting, I will quote his own words in the dialogue between Austin and Timothy, commencing at page 343. He observes, 'We have two sorts of power, physical and moral. By the former we operate upon matter - by the latter, upon mind. To put matter in motion we use physical power; whether we call it animal or scientific power; to put minds in motion, we use arguments or motives, addressed to the reason and nature of man.' Again, he says - 'All the moral power which can be exerted on human beings, is, and must of necessity be, in the arguments addressed to them. No other power than moral power can operate on minds; and this power must always be clothed in words, addressed to the eye or ear. Thus we reason when revelation is altogether out of view. And when we think of the power of the Spirit of God exerted upon minds or human spirits, it is impossible for us to imagine that that power can consist in any thing else but words or arguments.'

"Again he says - 'Whenever a person has expressed all the arguments he has to offer to carry one point, he has spent all his moral strength, whether he carries that point or not. But until all his arguments are stated, heard, and understood, his moral power is not fully developed.'

"When, in this dialogue, Austin asks the question - 'Do you allege that the Holy Spirit can exert no greater influence upon the human mind, than is found in the arguments which are written in the New Testament? he replies, in the person of Timothy, 'I do, provided always, that the arguments are understood.'

"The following sentence is printed in italics - "As the spirit of man puts forth all its moral power in the words which it fills with its ideas; so the Spirit of God puts forth all its converting and sanctifying power in the words which it fills with its ideas." "To this he adds - "If the Spirit of God has spoken all its arguments; or if the New and Old Testament contain all the arguments which can be offered to reconcile man to God, and to purify them who are reconciled, then all the power of the Holy Spirit which can operate upon the human mind is spent; and he that is not sanctified and saved by these, cannot he saved by angels or spirits, human or divine." Once more, he says - "We plead that all the converting power of the Holy Spirit is exhibited in the Divine Record."

"Now who dare say that on the subject of divine influence Mr. Campbell has been misrepresented? He may say, in so many words, that he believes the influence of the Holy Spirit to be necessary in renewing and sanctifying the heart of a sinner; but his opinion, as above expressed, is a direct denial of the influence of the Holy Spirit, as it has been understood by the great mass of Christians. Mr. Campbell would not attempt to deny the fact that the Spirit of God exercises an influence upon the human mind, in renewing and sanctifying men, because it is most plainly revealed. He admits the fact, but is not satisfied with the simple fact. He must superadd his own opinion concerning the kind of influence exerted. Other professed believers, not of his communion, are satisfied with the fact, and confess

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'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> * A Baptist Periodical.

that they are unable to comprehend the mode of operation; but Mr. Campbell, whose professed object is to unite men upon the cardinal facts of Christianity, makes his own opinion a prominent part of his system.

"The difficulty, then, does not lie in the fact. Nor does it exist in the instrumentality. For it is acknowledged that the instrumentality through which the Holy Spirit operates upon the human mind, is the truth which God has revealed. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." The Apostle James says, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." And the Apostle Peter says, "Being begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."

"The question which causes the difficulty is this - "What kind of power or influence does the Holy Spirit employ?"

"There are two kinds of power which men can employ upon men. The one is physical power, or what we mean by the term force. But this kind of influence is utterly exploded by all consistent Christians, in relation to the renewing and sanctifying of the heart. The other is a moral power, which consists in the influence of ideas presented to the mind. In other words, we exercise moral power over each other by motive and argument. The question then is - Does the Holy Spirit renew and sanctify the hearts of men by this kind of power alone, i.e., moral power, contained in his words and arguments, or by an influence superadded to moral power?

"One point must be well fixed in the mind, and that is, that some truths are revealed which are beyond our comprehension. For instance, it is revealed that Deity is one; yet Deity is represented as existing in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son. If we were required to define unity in regard to Divine existence, we must plead ignorance. We know nothing of the nature or essence of the Divine Being. It may be said that if we cannot form a clear idea of the Divine Unity, we cannot think of it, or speak of it, intelligibly. We plead guilty to the charge. We may be fools for our belief; but still, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God.

"The Holy Spirit operated upon the minds of the Apostles to bring all things to remembrance which the Saviour had taught them, and to enable them to speak in languages which they had never learned. If we were required to define the nature of the Spirits influence in these cases, we should confess our ignorance. It was something different from our views of physical and moral power, and consequently we cannot define it. Mr. Campbell says that, in primitive times, "a whole congregation expressed all the same words at the same instant, the Holy Spirit suggested to each individual all the same ideas and expressions, at one and the same impulse." If we were asked to define this kind of influence, we cannot. We know it was not physical, for it had relation to mental operations. We know it was not moral, for neither words nor actions addressed to the ear, and the eye, were employed. We cannot produce such results in men, either by physical or moral power, and yet these are the only kinds of power we can define and employ. If, then, the Holy Spirit could suggest to the minds of a whole congregation at the same instant, the sane ideas and expressions, we cannot doubt his power to give to divine truth an impression upon the mind which it could not have, independently of such power. Suppose we cannot define the nature of this power, will that prove that there is no such power in the universe? Our Lord exhibits a certain operation which no man can define, unless the Saviour made a mistake. He says, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

I shall sincerely thank Mr Lynd, or any other gentleman, who will enumerate those "points of vital importance in the gospel system," in which I have "fearfully cried," and then convince me of the error, and I do promise him they shall be instantly renounced. Mr. Lynd is right in saying that I am "anxious to produce the impression, that I have been misrepresented in my views." I have, indeed, (as all other persons that have ever said Reform,) been very grievously misrepresented, and, to this hour, in spite of all I can say, am yet often most grossly misconceived. Even Mr. Lynd himself does not seem fully to comprehend the extracts which he has just quoted from the dialogue; for, he says, the opinion as above expressed, is a "direct denial of the influence of the Holy Spirit, as it has been understood by the great mass of Christians." I wish, indeed, the great mass of Christians had any clear and distinct understanding on the subject. But Mr. Lynd, I think, fails to prove that this is true of his own opinions as expressed in the above letter, as the sequel may show.

Mr. Lynd, however, agrees with me in the fact that "the Spirit of God exercises an influence upon the human mind in renewing and sanctifying men. He also agrees with me in the instrumentality - that the Holy Spirit "operates upon the human mind through the truth which God has revealed." The difficulty, then, he says, and he says correctly, does not lie in the fact, nor in the instrumentality, but in an opinion concerning the kind of power or influence which the Holy Spirit employs. It is, then, a speculative difference about an opinion; and is this difference of vital importance? If so, then it should be clearly comprehended; for is there any vital point which cannot be comprehended? Be it then observed:-

1. That I do not superadd my opinion about the kind of power to the fact, or the instrumentality, as of any importance to the salvation of any human being. I beg leave to state emphatically, that I do not "make my own opinion a prominent part of the system of truth."

2. But does not Mr Lynd superadd his opinion about the kind of power or influence to the facts and instrumentality; and because of some alleged discrepancy between us, believe and represent me as grievously erring in some "vital point?"

3. Mr. Lynd admits that he "cannot comprehend the mode of operation."

Putting, then, his three admissions together - 1st. that we agree in the fact - 2d. in the instrumentality - and 3d. that he cannot comprehend the mode of operation, how can he understand me as holding an opinion upon a subject which he cannot comprehend, of such fearful error as to constitute "a departure from the faith once delivered to the saints!" H e cannot even find a name for the power or influence for which he pleads. Now, who ever understood a subject for which he could not find a name! We admit the mode of the divine existence is incomprehensible; but this is a question about the nature of a power, - not of a mode of being , and it will never suffice, in the eye of reason or philosophy, to make the incomprehensibility of one doctrine a proof that another in debate is incomprehensible, and that therefore our views must necessarily be correct.

But we shall reserve the other half of the aforesaid letter for our next number. Meanwhile I pray with David, "Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," (or gospel;) "make me to understand the way of thy precepts; so shall I talk of thy wondrous works. Teach me, O Lord! the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end." Mr. Lynd concurs with me in this practice. We are, then, practically agreed, however theoretically he may suppose we differ. I have no faith in any gospel that dispenses with prayer, with the need of divine influence, or with the consolations that arise from communion with God our Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit. - Mill. Har. N.S.

A.C.

THE PROPHECIES. - No. 1.

IT is folly to presume to read the pages of the future, if we have not mastered the history of the past. The chronicles of past times not only record what has transpired in the grand drama of human existence, but they also furnish data from which to understand the present, and to anticipate the future. Familiarity with the things that were, and the things that are, is, therefore, essential to an acquaintance with the things that shall be. This is not more instructive to the politician than to the Christian; because, if in calculating the probabilities of the destinies of sceptres and of crowns, the politician must reason from the past; so, in unfolding the leaves of the prophetic volumes, the interpreter must not only first ascertain in what part of the page he now stands, and how many chapters have been fulfilled, but the language, the style, and the image under which the future is portrayed can only be understood by the expositions and illuminations which history affords.

The beloved Daniel himself, gifted as he was with heavenly visions and interpretations, "understood by books the number of the years" - "of the desolations of Jerusalem." Without the books of the historians of Israel, the books of their Prophets would have been for ever sealed to the wisest of the wise, unless the spirit of prophecy had become the spirit of history, and revealed the past as well as the future. But this would have been offering a premium to indolence and sloth, contrary to the economy of the Universal Father, whose wisdom it is to reveal only what could not otherwise be known.

Our plan then shall be, first, to study the style and imagery of the Revealing Spirit, by examining the prophecies fulfilled and fulfilling, and as soon as we have acquired a due degree of confidence in applying the predictions which are now turned into history, we shall next attempt the exposition of those in the immediate future, and so proceed to the more remote.

The Bible is so contrived by its Divine Author as to connect the history of all the empires of the world with the history of a single family, whose register was kept for 4000 years with the greatest fidelity and care, and by which we can now ascend through all the generations of men up to the common progenitors of our race. From the Jews now living we ascend to Judah, to Abraham, to Shem, to Seth, to Adam. Around the shattered fortunes of this old tree, we see entwined the destiny of every nation, tribe, and language under heaven. As the mantle oak sustains and exhibits to the eye of the passenger, the ivy that clings to it, by whose umbrageous foliage its leaves are almost concealed; so this old olive tree of Israel is almost covered with the fortunes, not only of the past empires of ancient times, and of surrounding and contemporaneous nations of the present day, but also with the ultimate and glorious destiny of all future nations that shall rise from the changes and revolutions now in progress.

This fact greatly simplifies the study of prophecy, and therefore ought to have that conspicuity in our researches and inquiries which it has on the sacred page. To demonstrate its importance at this time would be only to anticipate much of what will be better said in connexion with the prophecies of the book of Genesis. To these we shall first invite the attention of the curious and inquisitive.

Prophecy 1. - Gen. 3:14,15. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (or he) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

This has been regarded sometimes as a threatening, sometimes as a promise, and sometimes as a prophecy. It is, indeed, all three; but its being the first, or the second, by no means forbids its being the third. As respects the object addressed, it was a threatening; as respects the woman and her race, it was a promise of good; and, as respects the destiny of our race, or the purposes of God towards human kind, it is a prophecy of the most sublime import.

A literal serpent was the instrument of seduction; the degradation of the animal to crawl on its belly, was literal. Its eating the dust is also literal; and the literal descendants of the woman are inclined to this day, literally to bruise its head, though it cannot be said to do more than occasion the bruising of the heel that treads upon it. Persons are not accustomed to place their naked heel upon the head of a serpent; still, in killing it, they occasionally bruise the heel.

But that Satan was the actor, and the serpent the instrument, cannot be doubted; and therefore the name of the instrument has been fixed upon him. So Paul would teach, (2 Cor. 11:3) "I fear lest, by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ." - "That old serpent," (says John in Rev. 12:9) "called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." Thus we are taught that Satan and the Serpent become two names for an agent opposed to the church; and thus the distinguishing attributes and marks of the literal serpent are figuratively applied to the Devil and Satan.

Various figures originate from this occurrence; such as "lick the dust," Psalm 72:9; and "dust shall be the serpents meat," Is. 65:25; and "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly," Rom. 16; "the nations shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall move out of their holes like the reptiles of the earth," Micah 6:17; "the seed of the serpent;" "you are of your father the Devil," &c.

Three things are foretold in this threatening:-

1. That there should be a fixed and constant enmity between the two seeds - that of the serpent and that of the woman.

2. That the seed of the serpent would partially injure and grieve the seed of the woman. "Thou shalt bruise his heel."

3. But that the seed of the woman should finally and completely destroy the serpent. "He shall bruise thy head."

The first prophecy, and the oldest in the world, is, therefore, figurative as respects its most important application; while it literally applies, and was literally verified in reference to the original event that called it forth. This double application, sometimes called a "double sense" of prophecy, appears to have been as ancient as prophecy itself; for while all the prominent items in some prophecies exactly apply to the case which elicited them, they are made to have a bearing as exact upon that great theme to which the spirit of all prophecy points, and in which all its rays concentrate.

It is not said that the serpent should eat only dust, and therefore we find it lives on various animals, in eating which, from its posture, it is constrained to eat the dust. But as this betokens its degradation, it is selected as best adapted to express its doom. From this, and the intimation of bruising the heel, which, in killing the serpent is by no means general, we may learn that there are the major and miner points in all parables, comparisons, and prophecies, which are not to be equally forced to an exact interpretation by a too rigid application. True, indeed, that in the prophetic and ultimate application of this threatening, the seed of the woman lost his earthly life in vanquishing the serpent, which he mainly did, when on the cross he triumphed over principalities and powers, and destroyed him whose mortal bite brought death into the world and all our woe.

NOAH'S PROPHECY.

Prophecy 2. - Genesis 9:25,26,27. "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant."

Here are briefly sketched by the hand of that Spirit by which Noah preached to the disobedient antediluvians, the fortunes of the three branches of Noah's family. The Canaanites are subjected to their brethren for the ingratitude of their father Ham. The future enlargement of Japheth, who appears to have been more fruitful than his brethren, and the peculiar blessings of Shem, or of the Lord God of Shem, are unequivocally expressed.

What pertains to Shem, most of all interests us. Who, then, is the Lord God of Shem? Is he not the Lord God of Japheth also! It would seem as if there was already in contemplation, or in prospect, a peculiar intimacy or relation between the Lord and Shem, unknown to the other branches of this family. The sacred dialect may perhaps authorize us to regard this as one of the titles of the Messiah. Suppose the phrase had been "Blessed be the Lord God of David," would we not have been constrained to regard it as a designation of David's Son! - "The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand." How can he be "David's Son" and "David's Lord!" Just as he could be the son of Shem and the Lord God of Shem. The Messiah himself confounded his captious contemporaries with such a question, and showed that in the sacred style it was possible to be both the root and the offspring of David - the Son and the Lord of David; consequently the Son and Lord of Shem - from whom, as from David, the Messiah was a branch, as well as the root of them all.

There is nothing in this prediction difficult. There is no figure, unless we find it in the "Lord God of Shem," or in the "tents of Shem;" and they appear to he both easy of interpretation.

The subjugation of the Canaanites, 800 years after the flood, to Shem, was as clearly fulfilled as it was foretold. The enlargement of Japheth, first by Scythia, and afterwards by America, is as clearly accomplished as it has been spoken. The blessings accruing from the Lord of Shem, or the Messiah, to the human race, is no matter of doubtful interpretation; and that the people of Japheth are truly dwelling in the tents of Shem, and partaking of the good things inherited by Shem, is just as plain as either of the other items foretold; so that not only the unadorned style of the oracle itself, but the exact accomplishment of its provisions, show that there are plain and literal, as well as figurative predictions.

It might, perhaps, be expedient here to state, that these predictions respect not all the individuals of any of these branches; for it is of them as a people, or peoples, and not as the individual sons of Noah, these things are spoken. Hence we find amongst the descendants of Ham, the renowned Melchisedek, King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God, and the virtuous Abimelech, the pious King of Egypt; while in the posterity of Shem there are numerous reprobates of the most atrocious character, as the history of the Jews alone too amply testifies.

We will only add, that while the first prophecy intimates that the SEED of the woman, the Virgin's Son, was to be a triumphant victor; the second assures us that he was to be a Divine person. "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem," and let all the children of Noah do him homage! - Mill. Har.

A REFORMED CLERGYMAN.

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A GOOD IDEA.

Jamestown, Ohio, July 29, 1837.

'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> Dear brother Campbell, - Allow me to invite your attention to another temple of which you said nothing in your Essay on Temples;* I mean that one which was built after the Babylonian Captivity, the building of which was superintended by Ezra and Nehemiah. In this temple, neither cloud nor vapour appeared.

If we are the antitype of any thing, I conclude we must look back to this temple for our type, and not to the one built by Solomon. That has had its antitype already, which was built by Jesus and his Apostles. But we are now trying to build one in imitation of the old one, and we must not suppose we can equal the first one, nor that the presence of the Lord will be manifested in it, as it was in the former. We need not expect any thing but a part of the old furniture, and especially the constitution and laws. But I have said enough to serve as a text for you.

Affectionately your's,

W. WINANS.

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NEWS FROM REFORMING BRETHREN AND CHURCHES.

Wrexham, Nov. 9, 1837.

To MR. J. WALLIS,

Dear friend and brother, - THE New Testament Church at Wrexham, to which reference was made in the extract of a letter from an esteemed brother, signed S.D.,* of Mollington, (p. 323, Messenger,) contains an-error, which they wish corrected. As a church, they never stood associated with either Scotch or Calvinistic Baptists. There are three individuals of their number who formerly were members of a Particular, or Calvinistic Baptist church; but this is now more than seven years since; and at that time we knew nothing of Mr. A. Campbell, or his writings. As it regards the brethren generally, they have not yet read any of his writings. The writer of this letter has read a few of them; and he is not unwilling to acknowledge, that of all human writings he ever read, he considers A. Campbell's the most clear and forcible. But, at the same time, he and his brethren in the church at Wrexham, wish it to be distinctly understood, that neither his writings, nor those of any other uninspired man have, of themselves, made any change in their faith or practices. It is true, they have led some of them to very different views of some parts of the Scriptures to what they previously

had, and to a more correct and profitable study of them generally; but as the Bible is their only guide, they must hold forth this infallible book as the exclusive ground of all their changes! As a New Testament church, I hope we deserve the

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name; but, at the same time, we acknowledge ourselves to be far below the model. We have, indeed, even yet much to learn, as well as unlearn; much to do, and to undo. I think, however, I may say we are progressing; and, I hope, that shortly we shall not be behind the truly reformed. The sooner this is accomplished, the higher will be my personal gratification. I can assure you that our attempts at a restoration of the ancient church order has cost myself, and a few others, many anxious hours, and not a little actual combat; but having obtained help of God, we yet continue, and are getting stronger, rather than weaker. As it regards our external opposition, we fear it not, because we have great confidence in our captain. We do fear ourselves, and are conscious of great weakness, and much unfaithfulness; but as we distrust ourselves, and look to Him who is strong, for strength, we hope to realize His strength to be made perfect in our weakness; and that as our day is, so our strength shall be.

You will he happy to hear that the Messenger, in its circulation, is increasing in this neighbourhood. I recommend it as much as possible. I had a visit yesterday from a member of a Scotch Baptist church within four miles of this place, who expressed himself, on his own behalf, and his brethren, to be much pleased with it. He requested me to express to you their approbation of your proceedings. He said there were some among them who hesitate to carry out some points as far as you do; but he believes that eventually they will.*

Your's, in the hope of immortality,

E. JENKINS.

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'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> *The book given to us by the Apostles is the standard. If in any thing we go beyond, or fall short of, the requirements of this, we will thank our brethren to correct us: if they, themselves, are deficient, we exhort them immediately to obey. We have often been told that extremes are dangerous; and this may be true in some earthly things connected with the kingdom of Satan; but not so in the kingdom of Christ, which is not of this world, here we cannot be too rigid, so long as we make the book our guide, and fully understand the design for which it was given; and the parts which belong to us gentiles, upon whom the end of the dispensation is nearly come. I fear the professors of the present day will not at present be found extremely "obedient, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." The maxim that the "extreme of virtue, is vice," classes Jesus Christ and his holy Apostles amongst the vicious of the earth, and is a maxim that willnever be adopted by any, except those pious unbelievers who do not wish to be extremely obedient to divine commands, or extremely honest, just, and righteous either in the sight of God or man. - ED.

NEWS FROM BRETHREN.

November 17, 1837.

Dear brother,

I GREATLY rejoice in your success, and sincerely pray the Lord may continue to bless you, and increase you a thousand fold. I earnestly long for the time, when the disciples of Jesus will no longer take any thing on trust, but in all things be directed by the law and the testimony. I hope a spirit of sincere and humble enquiry is abroad; and I shall hail with inexpressible delight, the dawn of a better day, when Jesus and his gospel shall have the pre-eminence over all that is human and sectarian in the church; and when all his followers shall be bound together in the hallowed bonds of truth, love, and obedience. Your's truly,

A BAPTIST MINISTER.

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Huddersfield, October 23,1837.

Dear brother, - I am thankful that my attention has been directed from all human dogmas and creeds to the unerring word of God; that word which is "quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword," which is indeed able to save them that believe. We have not had much visible success as yet, but sufficient to encourage us to persevere. I believe we are beginning to excite attention in the town; we had last evening a glorious display of the power of the word of God. Two young men came forward and confessed their faith in Christ, and a third must either submit to Christ or desist from coming amongst us. Your's affectionately,

HENRY SHAW.

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Randolph County, Indiana, 1830.

Brother Campbell,

FOR twenty years has sectarianism, in different forms, been trying to make an impression here, but to no effect. Four of us, who had obeyed the gospel, and renounced tradition, lived for some years as lost sheep, till brother John L. Jones visited us last May. He preached three days, and immersed five persons. We then numbered nine, and concluded to meet every first day of the week, break bread, and exhort each other to love and good works. On the 5th and 6th of September, brother Tiefield and brother Martindale immersed six. This gave us great courage. On the 16th of September, brother Jones returned, and in the course of five days immersed fourteen persons, two of whom are veterans of 76 years of age, who had been desperately wicked all their former life, but have now concluded to learn war no more, and to wend their way to a better world. My eyes never dwelt on so enrapturing a scene as when I saw four out of one family, consisting of an elderly man, (who had formerly been a Presbyterian deacon,) his wife, (of the same church,) his grand-daughter, and his uncle in the 79th year of his age, all obey the gospel at the same time. Persecution from the sects ran high, but is abating. We now number thirty-one, (two being added by letter,) and have happy prospects. We have solemnly agreed to take the New Testament for our rule, faith, and guide, and to renounce all traditions of men whatever.

G.W. SMITH.

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QUERIES AND REPLIES.

To the Editors of the Christian Messenger.

QUERY 1. - Why do you immerse for the remission of sins, seeing it was not found in the commission which our Lord gave to his Apostles? - See Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16. - INQUIRER.

REPLY. - If baptism for the remission of sins was not in the commission, then Peter and the rest who opened the reign of Messiah were very unfaithful ambassadors, and did not speak by the direction of the Holy Spirit of truth! - See Acts 2:38; 22:16. Will our friend allow us to ask him why he keeps the first day of the week? - why he eats the Lord's supper once a month? - why he contributes once a quarter or year, and that too, in connexion with unbelievers? - why he invites wicked unbelievers to unite with him in prayer and praise to Jehovah? - and why he would rather receive the teaching of a fallible mortal from an academy,* than from the holy Apostles of our Lord? None of these things are found in the commission. Matt. 28:19. Yet, if he will examine verse 20, in connexion with the Acts of the Apostles, and all the Epistles, he may find the reasons for our conduct, while, at the same time, he will discover none in all the book for his own. - ED.

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QUERY 2. - How do you express yourself in the water when baptizing?

REPLY. - we would not object, when in the water, to call the persons by their proper names, but we in general say, "Dear Brother" or "Sister, in the name (by the authority) of Jesus Christ, and for the remission of sins, I immerse you into the name of the Father, &c." Will any of our brethren propose any thing more scriptural? - ED.

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'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> * We are not opposed to learning, but we do not conceive an academical education at all necessary for a proper understanding of the sacred Scriptures. - ED.

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THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER AND REFORMER.

No. 11. JANUARY, 1838. VOL. 1.

MR. LYND ON THE INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 351.)

NOW, though we may not be able to define the nature of the power which the Holy Spirit employs in renewing men, yet of one thing we have an absolute certainty in our knowledge. It is not by mere moral power. This may be illustrated in a very easy manner. A person wishes to carry a certain point with his neighbour. He expresses all the arguments he has to offer on this point. His neighbour attends to the arguments, and fully comprehends them. This being the case, this person has not only exerted, but developed his whole moral power. He can do no more. Suppose this point carried, to be an important duty which the neighbour hates to do, and is unwilling to do, notwithstanding he is convinced he ought to do it. Is he changed? No: his disposition remains the same. He will not do it. How is this man to be made willing? All moral power is at an end. Apply this to the Holy Spirit. He employs arguments written in the Old and New Testament. In doing this, he exerts his whole moral power. But many pay no attention to the arguments, and, of course, it is not in the power of the Spirit to renew them. But suppose they do attend to the arguments, and yet do not comprehend them, in what consists their guilt? They either have not capacity to understand the arguments, or their natural depravity blinds their minds to the force of truth. If they have not capacity to understand, they cannot be renewed, nor can they be guilty for not doing what they have no ability to comprehend. If their natural depravity, their enmity to holiness, blinds their minds to the force of the arguments, they are indeed guilty, but how is this state of mind to be removed? The Holy Spirit has spent all his moral power in his arguments; but all his power is useless, until the sinner comprehends their force, and until the cause of his ignorance is removed. It is not therefore in the power of the Holy Spirit to renew any man, unless he fully understands his arguments - and in order to the comprehension of them, the depraved state of his heart must be changed. He could not by any power be converted to God. But suppose a sinner fully comprehends the arguments, and thus the whole moral power of the Spirit is fully developed, he is then renewed, or not renewed. If he is still unwilling to submit himself to Christ, then what power in heaven or earth can change him, upon Mr. Campbell's view of divine influence. Hear what God says, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."

What then is moral power but light communicated to the understanding through the utterance, or exhibition, of truth? The mind being enlightened, and convinced, the heart is supposed to yield itself to this conviction, and thus becomes changed. This view might be sustained if there were not in men an absolute disrelish of spiritual subjects. Without a relish for these, no discoveries of them, however clear, can render them pleasing to the soul. On the contrary, the clearer those objects are discovered, the greater will be the disrelish, so long as the taste is not changed. Most persons have a disrelish for castor-oil, and the more distinctly and perfectly they perceive the taste, the greater is their disrelish. So true is this, that its real taste must be disguised in order to render it tolerable. Now, if all the power which the Holy Spirit employs in renewing and sanctifying men is moral power, it is nothing more than the communication of ideas to the mind of the sinner. It has no power to change the carnal mind, which is enmity against God. Yet, God declares, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." To change the heart, is to give it a relish for spiritual objects, and if this relish is not communicated, the heart is manifestly unchanged. If, then, the whole power of the Spirit is moral, the Spirit has never yet renewed a soul. This conclusion is inevitable; for, if the whole power is exhausted in communicating ideas to the mind, and yet the sinner should have no relish for spiritual objects, the Holy Spirit has done nothing towards the change of that sinners heart. If his heart becomes changed at all, he must do it himself, for the Holy Spirit has exhausted all his strength. The grand difficulty to be overcome remains, a disrelish for spiritual objects, - a heart enmity against God. I am aware that there is a way by which to escape this conclusion, but it is only by being involved in one still more perplexing. Even Mr. Campbell himself will prefer the least of two evils. It is not my business, however, to anticipate a worse dilemma.

But, if the power is neither physical, nor purely moral, what is it? It is partly moral, and partly supernatural; moral, so far as moral means are employed, and supernatural in giving efficacy to these means.

Such an influence has been recognized by holy men in all ages, under the Old Testament and under the New.

David says, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." "Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works." "Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end." "Give me to understand, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart." ( Ps. 119:18,27,33,34.) No command is necessary. Here is prayer for an influence upon the heart, over and above mere moral influence. It is well that these are inspired passages; for, if they were not, David's soundness of faith would be questioned.

On another occasion he prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me." The Lord, by the prophet Ezekiel says, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." To give a new heart, is equivalent to putting his spirit within them, and the result was to be devotion to the Lord. The apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesians, says, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit, in the inner man." To the Colossians he writes, "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness."

It may be said that these were believers in Christ, to whom the gift of the Holy Spirit was promised. But this does not alter the nature of the influence. Paul prayed for supernatural aid upon his brethren, with a view to their personal holiness and usefulness. There is, consequently, such a power, though we may be unable to define it. It was not prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit in his miraculous influences; for this was not necessarily connected with the formation of personal character. It is recorded of Lydia, "whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul." How did the Lord open her heart? Not by miracles, for there is no evidence that any were yet wrought in Philippi; and Mr. Campbell himself says, "miracles cannot convert." It was not by moral power, for this could not have been fully developed unless Lydia fully comprehended the arguments. And it is very certain that she could not have comprehended them, unless she had first given attention to them. But her heart was first opened, so that she did attend to Paul.

Is it not the duty of believers to come boldly to a throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need! If all the influence of the Holy Spirit is in the words recorded in the Old and New Testament, (and we have these in our possession,) why pray for grace to help in time of need?

But the most astonishing proof of such supernatural influence is found in the address of Mr. Campbell to the disciples, near the close of the work called Christianity Restored. He says, "The Lord has promised his Holy Spirit to them that ask him in truth; and is it not necessary to our success? If it be not necessary to give new revelations, it is necessary to keep in mind those already given, and to bring the word written seasonably to our remembrance." Now, by what kind of influence is the word brought seasonably to our remembrance? Is it physical? Is it moral? Or is it supernatural? Recall Mr. Campbell's view, that the Spirit can exert no greater influence upon the human mind than is found in the arguments which are written in the New Testament; and that the Holy Spirit puts forth all his converting and sanctifying power, in the words which he fills with his ideas.

I ask, in conclusion, if the Holy Spirit can seasonably bring to remembrance the written word in the mind of the believer, can he not with equal ease, bring the same word seasonably to the mind of a sinner, and by that very word strike dismay to his heart? And when that sinner feels that the eternal indignation of Jehovah is his due, and under the influence of a burdened spirit cries for mercy, through Christ, cannot the Holy Spirit with the same facility bring a portion of the written word to his remembrance seasonably, so as to fill him with confidence in Christ, and with inexpressible joy? Does not the Holy Spirit in each instance bring the gospel with power to the heart? Let an enlightened community judge. Your's truly,

S.W. LYND.

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MR. CAMPBELL'S REPLY.

Mr. Lynd, while he admits that he may not be able to define the power which the Spirit of God employs in renewing man, is nevertheless certain, absolutely certain that "it is not by mere moral power." Now I do not say that Mr. Lynd's opinion is absolutely erroneous; I only say that, to me, he has not proved it to be true. I wish, indeed, it were in his power to give us some assurance on this subject. It would greatly relieve us from many inconveniences.

I shall then briefly notice where his illustration and argument fail. He says, "A person wishes to carry a certain point with his neighbour. He offers all his arguments, and they are fully comprehended by his neighbour. He has therefore spent all his moral power, and his neighbour is convinced; but he hates to yield to his convictions. His disposition is unchanged. Now the question comes, How is his disposition to be changed? Not by moral power, for that is all spent." So he reasons. He supposes, as the case is made out, that moral power may fully convince, but cannot dispose. The disposing power he infers is distinct from the convincing power. The former is moral; the latter is something else than moral; but it is not physical. What shall we call it! Aye - that is the question. We shall have his answer in a few periods hence.

Meanwhile, we must mark the failure in the case alleged. It is assumed that a person may attentively hear, understand, and fully comprehend the whole of a moral argument to perfect conviction of its truth and excellence, and yet remain indisposed to the object presented. Ought not this first to have been proved? Is it not a begging of the question to take this for granted? And this not being proved, the illustration and argument fall to the ground.

Shew me the man living who has fully attended to the whole argument of the Holy Spirit, and who fully comprehends it, and is yet indisposed; or let him point to such a case on record. Persons may be named, living and dead, who in various measures have understood and comprehended the arguments or motives of the Holy Spirit, and yet were never fully disposed to give up their hearts to the Lord. But will these prove that full conviction is not full persuasion! A fully convinced person, yet remaining indisposed, very much resembles a white crow, or a black swan. I should like to see one.

Still I would not rashly cavil at Mr. Lynd's theory, or dissent from it, because of a mere verbal inaccuracy, or illogical definition. I would, however, submit to his reflection, that the arguments of the Holy Spirit are addressed not only to the head, but to the heart. They are not mere light, but love. They speak to the understanding, the conscience, the affections. Now that a person may fully understand and comprehend these, and yet remain indisposed, has never been, to my perception, fully proved.

With me disposition must have an object. They are relative terms. Who can explain disposition without an object? A person may hate an object; but he cannot hate without one. To change his disposition, the object must be changed, so far as his view of it is concerned. The object must be so far changed as to appear in a new attitude, or colour, or relation, else his disposition cannot be changed.

When, then, a rational agent attempts to change the disposition of a rational being, he either presents a new object, or an old object, in a new light. A power operating upon disposition in any other way than by an object, is to me as inconceivable as seeing without light, or hearing without sound. Who can explain a power operating upon hatred, or upon love, without means, without truth? He alone may explain hatred and love without an object. But where shall this philosopher be found!

I am, then, constrained to object to the case adduced by Mr. Lynd, because it assumes two positions which have never been proved:-

1st. That a sinner may fully comprehend all the arguments of the Holy Spirit, addressed as they are to the whole moral nature of man, feel all his moral power in his understanding, conscience, and heart, and that to full conviction too, and still remain an enemy - alienated and indisposed.

2d. In the second place, he supposes that a power not moral can work upon disposition; or, what is the same thing, that disposition may be changed without an object, without motive, without moral considerations.

By his twice quoting with emphasis the words of David - "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power" - he would seem to indicate, that persons are made willing by some other power than moral power, or the power of motive. This text has been often quoted to me in some such sense. Now, can any one suppose that people can be made willing by power, other than the power of motive: and that is all we mean by moral power! To suppose persons to be forced into willingness, is a contradiction in terms. They are an unwilling willing people without free agency, and consequently without virtue, and therefore cannot be Christ's people.

I have sometimes thought of rescuing this text from such a misapplication, by a dissertation at some length on its true meaning. I cannot now attempt it. I will only observe that David in the 100th Psalm celebrates the coronation of his Son, and his investiture with all authority in heaven and in earth. "The day of Christ's power" is the whole period of his reign. It is not the special moment of a sinner's conversion, nor the instant in which he is born again, that David denominates "The day of thy power." The day of Madison's power, or Jackson's power, was not any particular day during their reign, but the whole period of their office. So exactly is it here.

Again, the willing people are Christ's volunteers or soldiers, by whom he carries on the war and gains his victories during the day of his power. David says, "Rule (Messiah) in the midst of thine enemies, by thy free people in the day of thy power." The English and Scotch read this passage in the Bibles printed by Jacob Backer, by the authority of the King, early in the 17th century, as I have it now lying before me in one of those Bibles of 1615 - "Be thou ruler in the midst of thine enemies; thy people shall come willingly at the time of assembling thine army in holy beauty; the youth (soldiers) of thy womb shall be as the morning dew." This meaning is sustained by the Syriac, Ethiopic, Septuagint, and Coverdale and Tyndal's English version, and the oldest Anglo-Saxon. The whole connexion, even in the common version, gives it this meaning.

Another illustration used as an argument, appears to me equally inconclusive. Mr. Lynd truly affirms that "the clearer certain objects are discovered, the greater will be the disrelish." But, because the stomach nauseates the castor-oil the more clearly it is perceived; follows it logically that the more clearly any one understands all the moral arguments of the gospel, he will be the more indisposed to receive it!

But, again, the question recurs, What shall we call this new power, which is neither moral nor physical, which is superadded to the moral power in the work of conversion. Mr. Lynd calls it supernatural. But what new idea does this communicate? Have we not supernatural physical, and supernatural moral, power! To shew how words may be multiplied without ideas, let us take a supposition also:-

A certain mediator was possessed of both physical and moral power. In prosecuting his mission a question arose about the power employed in a certain case. There were two parties. They both affirmed it was not physical power; but one said, neither was it purely moral, but partly moral and partly mediatorial. A debate ensued, which continued for some years. Finally, the respondent argued that as the agent was a mediator, all the power which he employed was mediatorial power, whether it was moral or physical, and that the sophism lay in confounding the nature of the agent with the nature of the power. So that a word was added without so much as a shade of a new idea.

I doubt not that already Mr. Lynd sees as distinctly as myself, that supernatural, no more than mediatorial, when prefixed to power, reaches at all to the nature of the power. Therefore he gains nothing in argument nor in illustration by the prefix, inasmuch as we may have supernatural physical, as well as supernatural moral, power. To confound the nature of the agent with the nature of the power is, now-a-days, a very common error. A gentleman with whom I once debated this point, who has now passed over Jordan, said it was spiritual power rather than moral power. The same expose of the case which I have now offered silenced his speculations on that subject. We have spiritual moral, and we have spiritual physical, power. Still, if I must have a prefix to moral, I would prefer that of Mr. Jenning's to that of Mr. Lynd's. I would rather prefix to the epithet moral, the word spiritual, than the word supernatural.

I am not, however, so dogmatical, because I do not feel so confident as to contend that spiritual moral power may not greatly transcend human moral power. In looking round amongst mankind, I discover a very great difference in human moral power. One hundred orators for example, whether of the bar, of the forum, or of the pulpit, may argue a single case, all the evidence for which is possessed equally by them all; and yet there are as many degrees of excellence, clearness, force, and persuasion in their respective efforts, as there are speakers. Angelic moral power may be greatly superior to human moral power, and certainly it will be conceded, that divine moral power, as well as divine physical power, does incomparably transcend all human, all angelic moral power. This being admitted, what comes of his affirmation that the power in question "is not mere moral power"? Admit the interposition of the Spirit himself, still the power which he employs may be as moral, or as physical, in its own nature, as the power exercised by the angels or men is moral, or physical, independent of their nature.

There are some good old-fashioned preachers, perhaps Mr. Lynd is of their school, who have been greatly offended at the phrase moral suasion; and because those moral suasion preachers had very little use for Christ crucified in their sermons, or for evangelical holiness, these have carried their aversion to their moral suasion so far as to transfer a portion of it to moral power. I concur with them in the poverty and leanness of the aforesaid moral suasion, but cannot go so far as to say, that the Holy Spirit exerts any other than moral power in converting and sanctifying a sinner.

Motive for mind, and the impulse of weight and motion for matter. We cannot apply motive to stones, nor the impulse of weight and motion to mind. To talk of blowing rocks to pieces by motives, or moral arguments, is full as plausible as to talk of converting souls by physical power - I do not care whether the agent be man, or angel, or the Deity.

There is, however, one point remaining in Mr Lynd's very ingenious and benevolent essay, which is more plausible than those which I have yet noted. This, however, I must reserve for another number. Meanwhile I will only add, that I have a growing affection for a spiritual religion. I feel more and more the need of the sanctification and consolations of the Holy Spirit; I never, indeed, had any affection or partiality for a religion without the Spirit of God. I regard the promise of the Spirit to the church as the most splendid and gracious of all the bequests found in the last will and testament of the Messiah.

Yet, orthodoxy with me is heterodoxy whenever it carries its speculations so far as to make the gospel an instrument sufficiently clear and credible to condemn a man without the preternatural agency of Satan; but not sufficiently clear and credible to save a man without the miraculous or supernatural agency of the Spirit of God. The mere gospel, as some would have it, is the power of God to condemnation, but not the power of God to salvation to any one who believes it upon its own proper evidence!!! I should like to hear my friend Mr. Lynd, for whom I have a very great respect, deliver himself to my readers on this subject. We are a very inquisitive people - we are not infallible - we go for free discussion - we have open meeting-houses, and free presses, for all our Protestant brethren; and, except on holy days and sacred occasions, we will even listen to a Romanist - for the sake of being listened to as long.

A.C.

(TO BE CONCLUDED IN OUR NEXT.)

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"He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a simpleton; and he that dares not reason is a slave." - Lacon.

LETTER FROM ROBERT CAUTIOUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Baptist.

SIR - Your having received with so much candour the few lines I sent you some time since, emboldens me to be so intrusive as to address you again. I have carefully read seven numbers of the "Baptist," and I can assure you that the work, taken as a whole, merits my unfeigned approbation. To say that it has no defects, would be saying more than I dare say of any work of fallible authors. Your remarks, in reply to my few lines of the 6th of November last, were satisfactory upon the item on which I addressed you; so far as this, that you advocate the circulation of the Bible only on principles, or in a manner, different from the present popular plan. Your plan is, no doubt, more accordant to the genius of the Christian religion: however, as Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached, whether in pretence or sincerity, so I rejoice that the Bible is widely diffused by bible societies, whether in pretence or in sincerity. You will not, however, understand me as disagreeing with your plan; for I can assure you I think well of it, and would wish to see the churches of Christ all doing so. I would much rather see the Bible disseminated in this way than the present; as I have no doubt but the apostle would rather have seen Christ preached sincerely, than in pretence. But until I see your plan carried into effect, I will aid the present plan of distributing the Bible.

I have thought much on the missionary plan since I read the first number of your paper, and I have read a good deal on the subject; and your views, as far as I understand them, appear to accord with mine. I sent you, some time since, by a friend. Brown's History of Missions, which I wish you to read, if you have not. I would, were I disposed to expose the missionary mistakes, desire no other documents than what come from the pens of missionary men and their advocates, to shew their folly and the ignorance of Christianity which appear in this popular project. I hope you will kindly receive these few hints from the pen of a friend, whose heart desires the success of truth, and who wishes you all success in opposing Antichrist in the various forms which he assumes. The plainness of these remarks forbids their appearance in your magazine; but I know you will respect the motives which dictated them.

Your sincere friend,

ROBERT CAUTIOUS.

REPLY TO MR. ROBERT CAUTIOUS. -

DEAR SIR - The "plainness of your remarks," as respects myself, should not, in my judgment, preclude their insertion in this work. I thankfully receive them, and in general acquiesce in their correctness. They are, indeed, such as had occurred to my own mind, and your statement of them confirmed me in the truth of them. I thank you for Brown's History. I will read it carefully, as soon as I find leisure. I have but partially read it, and at considerable intervals.

Our objections to the missionary plan originated from the conviction that it is unauthorized in the New Testament; and that, in many instances, it is a system of iniquitous peculation and speculation. I feel perfectly able to maintain both the one and the other of these positions. What charity, what lawless charity would it require to believe that a Reverend Divine, for instance, coming to the city of Pittsburgh some time since, under the character of a missionary, and after "preaching four sermons" of scholastic divinity to a few women and children in the remote corners of the city, called on the treasurer of the missionary fund in that place, and actually drew forty dollars for the four sermons: I say, what lawless charity would it require to consider such a man a servant of Jesus Christ, possessed of the spirit of Paul, or Peter, or any of the true missionaries!! My informant is a very respectable citizen of Pittsburgh. He assured me he had the intelligence from the treasurer's own lips. Ten dollars for a sermon one hour long! preached to the heathen in the city of Pittsburgh by a regularly educated, pious, missionary!! How many widows' mites, - how many hard-earned charities were swallowed in one hour by this gormandizer!! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon! "But," says an apologist, "it required the good man a week to study it; besides, he gave them prayers into the bargain." A week to study a sermon! for a graduate at college too!! Why his sermon was not worth a cent! There is not a lawyer in Pittsburgh who could not prepare an orthodox sermon in a week, and deliver it handsomely too, for ten dollars. From the prayers and sermons of such missionaries, may the pagans be long preserved!

Not questioning the piety and philanthropy of many of the originators, and present abettors of the missionary plan, we must say, that the present scheme is not authorized by our King. This, I think, we proved some time ago; and no man that we have heard of, has come forward publicly to oppose our views. Indeed, I think we have few men of any information who would come forward openly to defend the plan of saving the world by means of money and science; of converting pagans by funds raised indirectly from spinning wheels, fruit stalls, corn fields, melon patches, potato lots, rags, children's playthings, and religious newspapers, consecrated to missionary purposes; and from funds raised directly by begging from every body, of every creed, and of no creed whatever. By sending out men to preach begging sermons, and to tell the people of A's missionary patch of potatoes producing twice as much per acre, as those destined for himself and children; of B's uncommon crop of missionary wheat, a part of which he covetously alienated from the missionary to himself, and, as a judgment upon him, his cow broke into his barn and ate of it until she killed herself; of E's missionary sheep having each yeaned two lambs apiece, while his own only yeaned him one apiece, and a variety of other miracles wrought in favour of the missionary fund. I say, what man of good common sense and of a reasonable mind would come forward to defend a scheme of converting the world by such means, and by the means of that very "vain philosophy" and "science falsely so called," condemned by the apostles. Hoping often to bear from you.

I remain, your sincere friend,

A. CAMPBELL.

***

A LETTER TO DR. COX.

(It is probably known to most of our readers, that in the year 1833, Drs. Cox and Hoby formed the deputation from the Baptists’ board in London, to the united Baptists in America. On their arrival at Richmond, the following letter was addressed to the former gentleman, by one of the Reformers in that city. Through the politeness of a friend in London, it has recently come into our possession; and that our readers may be enabled to judge still more accurately respecting the existing state of things in that country, we hasten to lay it before them. - ED.)

Dear Sir, - Yesterday I called at Mr. Wortham's, for the purpose of seeing you, but was unfortunately disappointed. It is true that our acquaintance while co-residents in Hackney, was a slight one; nevertheless, inasmuch as you number in your flock one of my friends, I was desirous of an interview, that I might learn some particulars concerning him. But, sir, this was not my only purpose. Ulterior views were the object of my solicitude. An interchange of sentiments on the subject of the religion of Jesus Christ, as existing in the British dominions and in these United States, constitute my general design; which might have been narrowed down more particularly to the consideration of its suffering condition in this country. Upon this subject, I have no reason to doubt you would have felt pleasure in conversing; experience, however, will not permit one to say this of many who call themselves "ministers of Jesus Christ." I anticipate your inquiry as to the reason prompting me to tins purpose. It is as follows: Before you landed at New York, I received a letter from England, from which I give you the following extract, premising that the writer was a preacher of open communion Baptist principles. "Before I left England for America, I was informed that the Baptist churches are all liberal in the United States: judge, then, my dismay when I found that the contrary is the fact. This is the exact predicament in which Dr. Cox will find himself amongst his Atlantic brethren. The Doctor took leave of his congregation last Lord's day evening.* The declared object of his visit to America is 'to ascertain whether there is that REVIVAL OF RELIGION in America which has been represented; or whether it has been exaggerated or unduly depreciated: and our voyage,' said the Doctor, (as reported to me,) 'will be repaid, if we can but bring a burning coal from off the American altar to enliven the altars of Great Britain.' Most devoutly do I pray," adds the writer, "that the religious intercourse between the two countries, may prove a mutual and lasting benefit on both sides of the Atlantic; and far be it from me to impugn the discretionary measures of great public bodies; but I cannot but be struck with the melancholy exhibition here given of the internal operations of sectarianism. Within only four months, the congregational deputies have returned from the States to this metropolis. Their report is, I presume, by this time before the public; and yet Dr. Cox professes himself ignorant of the state of revivals in America! If so, how wide must be the line of demarcation between the Congregational and Baptist denominations? If otherwise, how little dependance is placed on the accuracy of previous observations. The truth is, that sectarian enterprises are sometimes, projects of party aggrandizement; not always, as the names of Vanderkemp, Carey, and Morrison attest. It was - who heard Dr. Cox, His text was 'in the midst of the seven candlesticks was one like unto the Son of Man.' He applied it to all the existing, denominational churches as one in Christ. He said that he was going to

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Virginia; that there was to be a meeting there of deputies from 4000 Baptist churches; that he hoped to be instrumental in accelerating the progress of emancipation from slavery. I saw a piece of poetry in the Evangelical Magazine to-day, on the return of the former deputation, which represents them as hailed by the hearts of thousands! The puffing strain of periodicals is really childish."

Thus, sir, I have laid before you, without curtailment, information which anticipated your arrival a few days. I do not design to expatiate upon the subject briefly touched upon, but the rather to confine my attention to a few particulars. The most important item relates to the so called "revivals of religion." And here permit me to say, that if the embers of the "British altars" are dying, the ashes on the American are in a state of wildfire combustion. Having been educated in the principles of the politico religious sectarianism of England, I can well appreciate your anxiety to translate some burning coals from some furnace to enliven the altars of Britain; but assuredly, if England be sunk in formality, and now struggling in articulo mortis religiosae - the article of religious death - America is fermenting in the carbonaceous fumes of mad fanaticism. The cause, sir, is obvious in both instances. It is this - the minds of the people are diverted from the testimony which God has given of his Son, and fixed upon the romantic projects of the age. The ignorance in both countries of the contents of the sacred writings, but especially in this, among "the orthodox," as they are termed, is lamentable; the consequence is, that the multitude has fallen a prey to fanaticism and infidelity. When I first landed in America, and attended their camp meetings and revivals, I thought I had landed on a new world indeed, whose inhabitants professed a religion entirely different from any thing with which I was acquainted. At some of their nocturnal orgies in the woods, I could only figure to myself Bedlam broke loose; so frantic were the cries and agonizings of the poor deluded creatures. And mark, sir, for every effect there must be an adequate cause, but, on these occasions, there was none: - The "sermons" preached were of the most childish and pettifogging description - jejune in the extreme. No testimony from the word of God submitted; but in lieu thereof the merest old wives' fables. I refer you to an "elder" James Fife, now in this city, I believe, for a specimen of this preaching. He will while away an hour in reciting the most lugubrious death-bed tales his imagination can conjure up; and this he calls preaching the gospel. The tone of his voice, his infernal phraseology,* his sobbing enunciation, touch, harrow up, and excite the feelings of the unthinking girls, who begin to manifest an ebullition of feeling corresponding to his cadenzes. The poor blacks, too, begin to sob and wave to and fro, like the billows of the ocean - till at length a hubbub bursts forth, to the tune of "I am passing over Jordan, will you come along with me," which, when well sung, is certainly very exciting. All this is called "preaching with the Spirit." This is the crisis. A form is cleared for "penitents," who are urged to come forward and kneel down, that "God's ministers may bear them up in their arms to a throne of grace!" From fifteen to twenty or thirty may be seen kneeling, sobbing, and agonizing. This form is called the "anxious bench." I have seen in the west, a "penfold" crowded with men and women promiscuously collected together, "praying," beating their breasts, shouting and jumping, till at length they have sunk down exhausted, and some fall into convulsions. When they are all

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tranquilized, which they soon can be by the word of the preacher, some of them profess to have "got religion" and to have been converted. - Now, sir, let me ask you, were such frantic ravings the consequence of preaching the gospel in the days of the apostles? Did not the Gentiles, on the contrary, rejoice and glorify the word of the Lord? Did the apostles, as the preachers do now, entertain the audience with speculations founded upon the abstractions of an antiquated divinity - to be found only in the musty folios of divines? Or did they not rather demonstrate from the Scriptures that the Messiah was necessarily to be a sufferer; that he should rise from the dead, and that the Jesus whom they proclaimed was that very personage? I say, did they not make these items the basis of their proclamation, which they sustained by signs and wonders, and divers miracles, which Paul calls the "demonstration of the spirit and power?" Did they not announce, in every place, that by Him all might obtain remission of sins, if they would believe and be baptized? You, sir, I am persuaded, will not attempt to deny this. But what is the practice here? Why, we are imposed upon by such absurdities as you, sir, as well as myself, heard from the lips of a Mr. Baptist, on Saturday night; who seemed more anxious to honour himself and his fraternity, by claiming the honours of a call from God equal to that of Aaron! than to expound to us the Scriptures for the obedience of faith. The preachers here call upon us to believe the gospel, without telling us what the gospel is; - to come to Christ, without telling us how to come! Now, they tell us we must believe; then, that we cannot believe, and that, if we do not, we shall be damned. With one voice they say "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," and with the next, that we cannot believe unless the same power operates upon us as mightily as it did when it raised Christ from the dead! In one sense, indeed, the people cannot believe, because their preachers give them no testimony to believe; now, where there is no testimony there can be no faith. This, sir, is the secret of what the orthodox call "man's inability to believe."

You will, doubtless, be told of the wonderful prosperity of the Baptist denomination in this country. They may appeal to numbers. But who that believes our Saviour's words, that "many are called but few chosen," (because they do not obey,) will believe a sect to be prospering because it increases? Do not the Romanists increase, and is their increase a sign of their spiritual health? No, sir: the Baptists are increasing in wealth and numbers, but they are yearly decreasing in INTELLIGENCE. And this intelligence, sir, as soon as it manifests itself is proscribed. There are certain individuals in this country, whose writings the preachers dare not permit their flocks to read. Nay, there sojourns at this time in this city, a man named Mason, who says that if one of his church were to read A. Campbell's writings, he would excommunicate him! This remark, sir, introduces to your notice a class of persons numbering, from Canada to Mississippi, about 150,000, the major part of whom were once Baptists, who protest against all denominations of Antichrist, but especially against the Baptist denomination, for its apostacy from the principles of the New Testament. They are honoured with the cordial hatred of all who prefer the traditions of men to those of the apostles and of the Saviour. Their names are cast out as evil, and themselves charged with the most odious tenets. These persons are said to deny the Holy Spirit, because they deny the current nostrums of the sects - that is, their theory of its operation. These disciples are not confined to America; there are a many in Wales, England, Scotland, and Ireland. For your information, I will give you an outline of their faith and practice; and as I am myself an humble individual of their body, I presume, you will consider me more competent to inform you of our principles, than our opponents.

Well, then, sir, we discard all human creeds, and all mere human authority in matters of the Christian religion. The New Testament is our rule of faith, worship, government, and life. We interpret it according to its most obvious sense; and receive it as a plain and intelligible communication from God to all who can see and hear. The sum and substance of our faith is this: "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved" from his past sins, and that eternal life will be conferred on all "who by perseverance in well doing seek glory, honour, and immortality," for without holiness, no man can see the Lord. Have you any objection to this? Do you inquire what we believe in particular? I answer, whatever the Holy Spirit has caused to be recorded in the Book. Produce, therefore, any question in scripture language, and in connexion with the design of the writer, and we give it a full, ready, and implicit credence. We renounce all the abstract speculations of the schools, we receive all in the concrete. Hence, we have two means of knowing the mind of God, namely, by precept and by example. We desire, therefore, to do whatsoever God commands us, and to follow the examples set before us in the New Testament. Our definition of a good Christian is this: He that believes whatsoever God tells him in his word, and does whatsoever he commands him. As to baptism - we believe you may immerse a man a thousand times, but that with all your dipping you cannot baptize him unless he is a believer at the time of his immersion - he must appreciate the value of the blood of Christ, as purifying from all sin, as an indispensible pre-requisite to a valid baptism. We believe that it is the Holy Spirit, convincing the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. If you inquire how? We say by the written testimony he has caused to be handed down to us; and if men will not give heed to this, they commit the sin against the Holy Spirit, for which there is no remission or means of forgiveness, because no more testimony than what is recorded will be vouchsafed to convince men of the way of salvation till Christ shall come again. They must receive what is already given, or none. As to our public worship, we believe no worship is divine, unless it can be found by precept or example in the New Testament. We find there that the disciples met together on the first day of the week to break bread, or the loaf; we, therefore, do the same. We contribute every week as God has prospered us, to the funds of the body; because the Christians in the apostolic age did so. We have a plurality of elders, overseers, or bishops, generally men of plain unsophisticated habits, who minister to their own necessities as Paul did. In our church in this city, one is a brick-maker, another a carpenter, a third, a seller of dry goods, a fourth, a fruiterer, and a fifth, a healer of diseases. We esteem a brother for his zeal for the truth, and not for his station in life. Where the churches among us can afford it, they sustain evangelists to expound the scriptures to the people of the surrounding country for the obedience of faith. They receive wages that they may labour, but do not labour that they may receive wages. All the members of the body of Christ being born into the kingdom free and equal, being all "living stones," "a holy priesthood," "an elect race," "a holy nation," "a purchased people," appointed to offer up "spiritual sacrifices" in his "spiritual temple" "most acceptable to God through Jesus Christ," and also being all in common called from darkness into his marvellous light "to declare his perfections, these being our privileges, I say, according to Peter - we have no need of any clergy or priests manufactured in schools and colleges, - for this plain reason there is nothing for them to do. We leave them to the world from which they derive their renown. "There is one body, one spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father over all, and with all, and in us all." This we believe. The one body has many members, but these members are individual believers, and not "existing denominational churches." If these churches are the members, doctor, where were they 300 years ago? Seeing they did not exist then, was the church of Christ a body without members? Or, to elude the difficulty, shall we say, that the church of Rome was the body, and the different denominations of monks and friars the members!?

We do not interest ourselves in the "benevolent institutions of the day," as the popular schemes are termed by their supporters. The testimony of the prophets shews us the world will not be converted to Christ by such means. We hear much of Missionary and Education Societies. We go a much simpler way to work in these matters, with less noise and ostentation. We leave the state institutions to educate the people, and we do our best to persuade them to obey the gospel - knowing well, that if we succeed, they will devote their learning, energies, and talent to the service of Him whom they have confessed.

As for missions, seeing there are so many heathens at our very doors, we prefer to imitate the apostles, and begin at home first. But, sir, we dissent from missionary schemes in the aggregate, knowing that they tend to propagate sectarianism and not the religion of Jesus Christ. For, if they preach not the gospel at home, as we believe the clergy do not, with a solitary exception or so, we are unwilling to give the least assistance to propagate such a state of things among the heathen. Doctor, before the "denominational churches" will succeed in converting the world to Christ, they must be themselves converted. They must agree in one. But, to whom did Jesus say, "preach the gospel to every creature?" Was it not to his disciples then and there assembled? And did they not fulfil the mandate? Paul says, that in his day the gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven, Col. 1:2,3. The apostles then did execute their commission, and Jesus, according to his promise, was with them until the end of the age. And what wait we for now? The annunciation of that which is called the Everlasting Gospel, and which immediately precedes the fall of Babylon. - Rev. 14. The apostles preached the gospel or good news, as a witness to all the nations of the Roman earth; but they have corrupted it, and consequently rejected it. And now the day of reckoning is at hand. Mr. Sutton stated, the missionaries were seven years before they made a convert. Had he been engaged all that time among his neighbours, he might have made 70 times 7; but in this there would have been no romance. Query - If the apostles, with thousands of fellow labourers, aided by miraculous powers, did not in 70 years succeed in converting the world, how do you suppose, with less means and greater difficulties, the moderns can effect it? If the gospel, supposing what is preached is such, be almost powerless among an intelligent people, who can reason upon testimony and discriminate truth; how can it be expected, unaided by miracles, to convince the brutalized minds of untutored savages, who know not how to appreciate testimony; while 10 converts are gained in India, 500 are lost in Christendom; for, as a step is gained there, infidelity advances here with the rapidity of the whirlwind. We say that the money of the people is profligately expended. To the English we would say, direct your converting energy to the 6,000,000 of Irish Catholics, and to the 30,000,000 of Atheistical French; and to the Americans, gospelize the hundreds of thousands of infidels in your own towns and villages. - When they shall have done this, the two people may send their missionaries to India with some consistency. But this never will be effected under the present system. The people must learn to worship God for themselves, their preachers must learn the gospel, and be started from their "sacred desks" into the highways and hedges, and show more of the self-denying spirit of their Master, than of a luxurious worldly ease. We rejoice at the circulation of the Bible, which has been so immensely multiplied by the aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Even the wicked and disobedient, God makes subservient to his will; as in the case before us. But, sir, we take no part in the society's operations. Being poor in this world, though rich in faith, we economize our means, and choose rather while will-worshippers distribute its material constituents, to go about among our neighbours and fellow mortals to make known its contents for the obedience of faith. But, sir, we dissent further from the Baptist denomination because of the unholiness of its members. There are honourable, right honourable exceptions among them; but generally speaking, and especially in the West, even of Virginia "the Baptists are proverbially loose in their morals," as their own prophets affirm. My professional experience justifies this statement in relation to the blacks, even in this city. Fornication is a common vice among them, and hundreds of citizens can testify, that when their negroes become Baptists they make worse servants than before. From observation, I can say, that for ignorance of the scriptures, worldly-mindedness, and political ardour, the whites of the flock are not to be surpassed.

We are neither Calvinists, Arminians, Trinitarians, Antonomians, Sandemanians, nor Unitarians, as our uncandid opponents, who do not understand our views, affirm. We have learned the important lesson - nullius jurare in verba magistri - to affirm in the words of no master but Christ. Hence, we speak of Bible things in Bible terms, which to the moderns sound like a new language. We worship the Father through the Son, by the Holy Spirit's directions - written, and therefore not to be mistaken, directions. We believe that Jesus Christ is "the effulgence of the glory of God, the exact representative of his character" - the Divine Logos by whom the worlds were made - that he is the fullness of the Godhead bodily - God manifest in the flesh - Jehovah the Saviour, as his name implies - the mighty God, the Father of the Everlasting Age, the Prince of Peace - the only-begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth. Do you wish us, after this confession, to dive into the labyrinthal absurdities of homoiousion and homoousion - of Trinitarianism, Arianism, Sabellianism? Did these isms ever improve the hearts or reform the lives of their votaries? Nay, have they not drawn the sword and shed the blood of thousands? If by their fruits we are to know the truth of dogmas, then from such traditions may the good Lord for ever deliver us!

But, sir, you may inquire what prompts me to make these communications to you? I would also ask a question, What prompts you to warn a man of the error of his way, when you see him rushing headlong to destruction? I do not wish to enlist you as a partisan, which would only place you in an unfavourable position at this time, I do not ask you to pronounce judgment. You come here as an observer, and I trust for the honour of truth, as an impartial one. You cannot have been a week in Richmond without hearing the most outrageous fables and traditions concerning us; for these are the weapons by which our anti-reforming friends of all sects oppose us. Doctor, there is a peculiarity in this age, which distinguishes it from every other since the days of the apostles; it is this - in every part of the civilized world there is a demand, on the part of the people, for a radical reform of all the abuses in Church and State; it is as much the cry here as in England. Hence, the world is divided into reformers and anti-reformers. We take our stand among the former class. Those who live by the perpetuation of abuses, and derive a party benefit, oppose it; but truth and reformation will assuredly triumph.

You know, Doctor, that in order to arrive at truth, we must examine both sides of a question. Another motive, therefore, impelling me to make this communication is, that when you shall return to England, even if you disapprobate our faith and order, you may yet have a document (from the pen of one of us) who is well known to the brethren from Canada to Georgia; and from peculiar circumstances, well acquainted with the existing state of things: - by which document, you will, in your report, be able to state from knowledge and not from slanderous and many-tongued rumour - the nature of an opposition to American fanaticism, become formidable both in numbers and knowledge of the Scriptures. Our writers and speakers have encountered infidels, Baptists, and Baby-sprinklers, and put them to the rout, as with a sling and stone, in the face of assembled multitudes: and we are yet ready to enter the lists with any respectable sectarist who feels disposed to give us battle. We are not like the orthodox, who take refuge in pulpits, where the strong arm of the law protects them, in the practice of abuse, misrepresentations, and unproved assertion, without fear of reply. Let the preachers in this city for the next twelve months invite their hearers to state objections, and defend them from time to time, and I, for one, pledge myself with the New Testament in hand (the sword of the Spirit) to make the tour of their churches, and before that period shall have elapsed, massacre their traditions, and to shake their craft to its foundation. But, if we were to call upon the gentlemen for testimony, as the Epicureans and Stoics did upon Paul, we should soon he locked up in limbo, and fined some twenty or thirty dollars. So fearfully averse are the clergy of this country to free inquiry before the people.*

I should have made another effort at a personal, interview, but for uncontrollable circumstances. This letter is dated when I departed for the vicinity of North Carolina. I left it with a brother, who will deliver it. The occasion of my journey will be found in the falling to pieces of the Baptist denomination in Lunenburgh, Mecklenburgh, Nottoway, Prince Edward, and Amelia. Several churches in these counties have renounced the traditions of men, and desire to constitute themselves on the basis of the New Testament. I go to afford them my humble but determined assistance. Hannibal swore eternal enmity to the Romans; but I, better disposed to my fellow men, vow no hatred to their persons, although I have declared a mortal, uncompromising strife, against their traditions, and tottering institutions. I shall be absent about fifteen days, when I fear you will have taken your departure. I do not write this letter confidentially. We are a straight forward, and above-board sort of people; we court the light, because we know we have the truth. We have no secrets - "He who obeys the truth, comes to the light, that it may be manifest, that his actions are agreeable to God." So says Jesus, and so we believe.

In conclusion, I would observe, that American Baptism is little better than immersed Presbyterianism. Indeed, they recognize one another as brethren in Christ though they are inconsistent enough to deny one another the rights of fellowship. They pretend to believe they will all go to heaven - the same heaven - and yet they cannot sit together at the same table. We believe that open communionism is a species of religious scepticism; but I refer now to their acknowledged traditions. The faith alone and do-nothing-system is the order of the day among the sects of this country. But see the analogy between them on their organization. The Presbyterians have their sessions and the Baptists their special church meetings - the former have their Presbyteries, the latter their

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'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> * This clerical dominion is the great obstacle of the spread of truth also in England. - ED.

 associations - the former their Synods, the latter their General Associations - and the Presbyterians their General Assemblies, the Baptists their Triennial Conventions! Introduce open communion, and what prevents their coalition? Nothing but the spirit of party. These assemblies are all unknown to the New Testament, consequently, they are all the usurpers of the rights and privileges of the congregation of Jesus, which is the pillar and the support of the truth. When I go into their synagogues, I feel more in the midst of a sanhedrin of Scribes, Pharisees, and Elders, than any where else. Instead of seeing an assembly of brethren quietly and unostentatiously settling their affairs, I observe a collection of well dressed gentlemen from all parts of the world, and I hear them uttering the most childish, unconnected and contradictory small talk, to the perfect bewilderment of all common sense and rational people. Already you cannot help observing how little the preachers of this country use the Scriptures when attempting to instruct the people. The Bible is nothing more than a mere text book in their hands.

On Tuesday night, with the exception of Mr. Sutton's concluding remarks, you must have been penetrated with the utter imbecility and inappropriateness of the addresses of the orators, who may truly be called much-ado-about-nothing speakers. The opening prayer, too! Did you ever hear such a fashionable, nay, theatric concatenation of verbiage? Can you think. Doctor, that all can be right as now existing? I am persuaded you cannot. Dead and formal as the Baptist religion is in England, there is this redeeming property in the sect, they are more moral and more intelligent in the Scriptures, which gives a decided superiority over their brethren here.*

Finally, accept this communication in the spirit, and with all the good will and good feeling with which it is accompanied. And though you may possibly dissent from many things herein contained, and perhaps be disposed to pronounce me a heretic, nevertheless, let us agree to differ. - What men call heresy, in these degenerate days, is far more honourable to the individual, than all the applause of "orthodoxy." I would rather lose my head in the cause of the alleged heresy we profess, than to be placed on the tottering throne of England at the demise of her king.

"Multitudes are no mark that you will right be found;

A few were saved in the Ark, for many millions drowned.

Obey the gospel call, and enter while you may:

Christ's flock have long been small, yet none are safe but they!"

I subscribe myself, yours faithfully,

JOHN THOMAS

***

For the Christian Messenger and Reformer.

SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IN THE UNITED STATES.

Alberts, October 28,1837.

Beloved brother Wallis, - Yours of the 31st of August, duly reached me a few days ago, together with No. 7 of the Messenger." I have hastily glanced over the contents of your whole packet, and find much cause of rejoicing. May the Lord prosper the good cause among you a thousand fold!

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'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> * If any of our readers are desirous of knowing the views and sentiments of the Reformed Church in Nottingham, they are referred to page 378, to the end of 382, for a brief epitome. - ED.

You will perceive by the October and November numbers of the "Detector," from the "Harbinger," and as many of our periodicals as cross the Atlantic, that the past year, with us, has been one long to be remembered for the conquests of truth here. The progress of reform during the last spring, summer, and autumn, has been rapid in a ratio almost unprecedented. Almost whole neighbourhoods and villages have been revolutionized. Many such instances might be adduced. I have not space to lay before you even short extracts from the various letters received at this office embodying this pleasing intelligence. Letters from the South, East, and West especially, advise me of the onward march of truth; the tottering career of priestcraft; and the mouldering and moth-eaten aspect of those miserable institutions of men, which have caused so much iniquity to abound amongst those who profess to be the followers of the Lamb. Whole congregations, in some places, have sprung up in less time than a week, and continue steadfastly in the original Book of Discipline, "the Apostles' Doctrine." - Blessed Messiah! in thy chariot of truth ride onward! "Send out thy light and thy truth." - Conquer, thou Prince of the kings of the earth, till myriads of myriads of our species shall joyfully own thy reign!

The recent ingatherings among us, in these States, embrace individuals of every rank and condition in life. Old and young, rich and poor, male and female, have found the common level; - have consented to be equals in a kingdom where all are priests. They now rejoice together, and learn that, to be great, is to be good; to be wise, is to fear the Lord and keep his commandments. Thus the world is being converted. But this is not all. Every sect and party have lost more or less of their members during the last year; and some of their leaders forgetting to reason as Clergymen, feel as men. But you must not suppose that bread-and-butter has lost all its religious power in these United States; far from it. The living of every Circuit Rider is completely involved in his obligation to maintain his sectarianism: so that the moment he ceases to preach the traditions of the fathers, he, with his wife and little ones, is immediately sent adrift to live as he can. Many have been excommunicated for believing and obeying the truth! It is emphatically the case with the Clergy here of all sects, THEY MAINTAIN THE SYSTEMS WHICH MAINTAIN THEM. "Quem creant adorant." But enough of this.

In searching for the causes which have led to the success of the gospel among us, I have come to the conclusion that they are to be found mostly in that system of benevolent co-operation of churches which our brethren have entered. upon for the dissemination of evangelical knowledge. It being an established principle, that the church is set for the conversion of the world, as one of its greatest designs, it is found necessary in order to compass this aim, to have as many well-disciplined minds and tongues in the field as can be sustained in it. These labourers, many of them, approved for their godliness, piety, knowledge, eloquence, and devotion to the cause of truth, traverse the country in all directions; form preaching stations at convenient distances; and return to them at intervals. They hold meetings for the purpose of edifying the body by teaching, and for pressing sinners into it "for the remission of sins." They find this their authority in that of the Apostles, and, like them, "convert the nations, baptizing them." Some among us give themselves wholly to the work: and we are happy to know that many of them are workmen that need not to be ashamed, and rightly divide the word of truth.

Many of our congregations have entered heartily into this work; and by imposing upon themselves, as the Lord requires, a small tax in money for the use of those who are in the field, they now see the immense value of their contribution, or fellowship. Did Christians more carefully study the relations of causes and effects, relative to this one thing called the fellowship, in the kingdom of which, they are citizens, there would scarcely he found one unwilling to contribute something for so benevolent an enterprize. The whole secret is, - The doctrine of salvation has been committed to men, but they must spread it among themselves. And a fellowship, or contribution, levied for this purpose, having Apostolical precedent, will be found of incalculable utility. We do not complain because men give money to promote the spread of the gospel; but because immense sums are annually given to promote sectarian purposes under the name of supporting the gospel. The simple are thus deceived. But I must conclude.

Yours, in the hope of Israel,

A. CRIHFIELD.

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ON SCHISM.

The following Advertisement appeared in the London Morning Herald, some time early in the spring of 1837.

("The Scriptures having much insisted on the Unity of the Church of CHRIST, and as strongly condemned the Sin of Schism," Sir CULLING EARDLEY SMITH wishes to offer a Prize of £100 for the BEST ESSAY on this Subject. The Essayist should write in a Christian spirit. He should derive his views of the nature of the Sin exclusively from the Scriptures. He should be eminently candid and impartial in specifying the instances in which either churches or individuals are guilty of it. While leading his readers to perceive a schismatical spirit, where it exists, in creeds, formularies, or laws, he should also compel them to detect and condemn it in themselves. He should expose the various disguises which it assumes. He should exhibit its exceeding sinfulness. He should develope the mischievous consequences to which it leads. And, lastly, he should suggest the means by which we should endeavour to expel it from our hearts, from our societies, and from the whole Church of Christ. The arbitrators are the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel, and the Rev. James Sherman. Each Essay should be sent to Captain Peevor, Church Street, Chelsea, on or before the first day of October, 1837; and they hope to make their decision on the first day of February, 1838.)

Respecting the aforegoing advertisement, the Editor .of the "Apostolic Advocate" expresses himself thus:

"WHEN we first cursorily perused this little document, we imagined nothing would be more easy than to carry off the prize. But upon more maturely considering the matter, we have concluded, that no task would be more difficult than for us to gain the one hundred pounds of Sir Culling Eardley Smith. We agree with him, that the Scriptures have much insisted on the Unity of the CHURCH OF CHRIST, and have as strongly condemned the sin of schism in that holy and heavenly community. Now, although there is no question in dispute between us as to the matter, yet, we suspect, that our agreement as to what the Church of Christ is, will be very remote indeed. Sir Cullen and the arbitrators he has appointed, to wit, "The Honourable and Reverend" Baptist Noel, and "the Reverend" James Sherman; are members of the National Church of England and Ireland. Before, then, we could hope to be understood on the subject of Schism, we should be under the necessity of defining the institution called the Church or Body of Christ. Now, we are persuaded, that this definition, would be fatal to all our hopes of gaining the prize; for we should be most assuredly compelled to unchurch Sir Culling himself, with his Honourable and Reverend Arbitrators. It will be obvious then, that our chance of one hundred pieces of lucre would be very slender indeed; unless we could convince these gentlemen of the truth as it is in Jesus. Could this be effected, we doubt not but the piece of mammon would be ours; for Sir Culling Eardley and his Honourable and Reverend friends once convinced, and brought to the obedience of the truth, would see at once, that they themselves, and the National Religion of England likewise, were deeply imbued with the sin. From the premises before our mind, we are compelled to say, that they cannot as yet discern the Body of Christ; they have been born of the flesh into the Church of England, and can therefore discern the reign of VICTORIA, as head of the ecclesiastical kingdom of England and Ireland; but not having been born of water and the Spirit, they cannot discern the reign of God or kingdom of Heaven; therefore, we say, it would all be labour lost to contend for the prize under the adjudication of such arbitrators, until they were born from above. Our first concern then in this matter will be to teach the worthy knight, and his "Reverend" friends, a few things by way of opening the eyes of their understandings to their own schismatical state in particular, as well as to the sin of Schism in general; so that they may be the better able to award the prize in faithfulness and all scriptural consistency.

In acquitting ourselves of this obligation, we shall endeavour to recollect the requirements of Sir Culling, that what is written be written in a Christian spirit; though we fear, however scripturally Christian our spirit may be, it will be adjudged by the arbitration unchristian on account of our drawing such a line as may possibly leave them out of the Church of Christ entirely. But we are required to "derive our views of the nature of this sin exclusively from the Scriptures;" in following these, therefore, we trust Sir Culling and the Honourable and Reverend Arbitration will acknowledge our spirit to be a Christian one, so far at least, as we shall "lead them to perceive a schismatical spirit, and to detect and condemn it in themselves" by the testimony of Sacred Scripture. We shall "endeavour to expose the various diguises which it assumes; and shall not fail of faithfully exposing that particular disguise which it assumes in the National Religion of Messrs. Smith, Noel, Sherman, and Peevor." We shall "exhibit its exceeding sinfulness;" and "the mischievous consequences to which it has lead," in its operation upon the unfortunate and miserably oppressed people of England, Ireland, and other countries of the earth; and shall certainly endeavour to show the worthy gentlemen how it may be expelled from their own hearts and societies.

Their advertisement however takes a wide range, comprehending premises of great importance and interest. We prepare to consider the sin of Schism in the epistolary form. It will occupy two or more letters,* which we shall address to Sir Culling, the Honourable Baptist Noel, and James Sherman, his "reverend" coadjutor and brother in "Holy Orders." That truth may be elicited by the notice, and fairly and honourably vindicated by our answer to the call, is the sole object and desire of the

EDITOR.

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'margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'> * Letters No. 1, 2, and 3 are already in the possession of the Editors of this Work, the first of which will be introduced into our next. - ED.

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DIALOGUE ON SECTARIANISM, BETWEEN DISCIPLUS AND A SECTARIAN DOCTOR.

(BY JAMES HENSHALL,* BALTIMORE.)

Doctor. I am happy in meeting with you this morning, and feel anxious to speak to you on the subject of religion. I have been informed that Mr. N- the heretic, baptized you the other day. Is it so?

Disciplus. Yes, sir, I have been immersed in the name of Jesus for the remission of my sins. I am pleased to see you so much interested in my welfare as to wish to correct my errors. I shall listen, sir, with all attention to any objections you make, either to my faith or practice.

Dr. Well, this is an age of wonders! Is it possible that you seriously believe you had the remission of sins for a ducking in the water? Why, if I thought that a dipping would be sufficient to wash away my sins, I would dip every day of my life.

Dis. Suppose you were to think so, and to dip every day, would it change your character? I did not go to the water because I thought I should thereby receive the remission of my sins. Thought would be a poor foundation to build upon; but I went to the water because Jesus Christ commanded all who believe in him, and repent towards God, to be immersed for the remission of sins.

Dr. Do you think, then, we have not the liberty of thought in religious matters? Indeed, for myself, I would do nothing unless I thought it was right. You must have thought it was right for you to go into the water, or you would not have gone. I think a few drops of water are as effectual as an ocean.

Dis. I would do nothing I did not believe was right: but there is a wide difference between belief and thought. Belief is bound by law to testimony, but thought has no bounds, she has brought forth all those clashing and discordant sounds in the religious world. The Jews thought that they were right when they crucified the Lord of life and glory. Testimony can be relied upon; - thought, never.

Dr. But, sir, do you not perceive what high grounds you are assuming when you say "you believe," and "belief is bound by testimony." You might just as well say you are right and every body else is wrong; for if you have plain testimony for your practice, and I have only thought for mine. I must be labouring under a sad delusion.

Dis. It is your own duty to see to that; and as to assuming high grounds, I am very far from assuming at all; I only rely on the veracity of God's word. If I build upon thought, I would be assuming indeed; perhaps presuming. Does not Peter, the Apostle, command the Jews on the day of Pentecost to "repent and be baptized, every one, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sin?" Truth is truth; if I believe and practice the truth I am right; if I believe and practice error, I am wrong - my thoughts to the contrary notwithstanding.

Dr. Away then with freedom of discussion - with liberty of sentiment - we might as well be Catholics at once. If I am not to act freely and without restraint, I cannot act at all - why, sir, at this rate you sweep away at once, thousands who are in error, but who, we charitably hope, will be blessed because they honestly thought they were doing their duty.

Dis. If you would pay attention to my reasoning, you would find that my thoughts can have no effect upon any human beings, either dead or alive. Thoughts are not realities, they are plantasies; they can neither justify nor condemn anybody. If I thought the whole race of men would be saved, and God should cast many of them into hell, my thoughts would have no influence, and vice versa. It would be

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a curious profession I should make, were I studiously to avoid doing any thing which the people generally did not do, lest I should condemn them, and yet this is the weight of your argument. - Apostolic Advocate.

(TO BE CONTINUED.)

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THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS COMING.

(Extract of a Letter from John Thomas, to James Wallis.)

September 25, 1837.

Beloved brother Wallis, - In the few remarks I shall offer in this place, and on the present occasion, I shall confine myself to some brief observations on "The Brightness of his coming," concerning which you expressed yourself somewhat anxious.

I agree with you, that the consuming of the Lawless One by the Spirit of the Lord's mouth, means, by his Word. But I would go further, and observe, that, by "His Word," I do not understand by the force of truth alone. In order to have a clear perception of the right meaning, we must consult the history of Christendom for the last 400 years. For it is chiefly during this period, that the Lawless One's dominion has been consuming. It was the putting of the Word of God into the hands of the people that originated the religious wars between the Protestant and the Papal horns of the Bihorned Beast. "If a kingdom be torn by faction, that kingdom cannot subsist," - it must necessarily be consumed. Civil war is a fever preying upon the vitals of a state. Now, the kingdom of Satan, or the Lawless One, manifested in the antichrist, has been torn by factions for jubilees of years together. The kingdom of antichrist has been split into two grand factions, which have aimed at the destruction of each other by fire and sword. The result of which has been, that they have by their wars been consuming the power of their sovereign antichrist, but have not destroyed him. Spain and Portugal are existing illustrations of the consuming of the Lawless One by the Spirit of the Lord's mouth. Concentrate your mind upon the revolutions in the streets of the city, during the last 45 years, and you have another illustration of the consuming which has been going on in the old prophetic world. You may find all these revolutions sketched out by the Holy Spirit in Rev. 16 to the commencement of the 17th verse. "The wise shall understand." The first vial began to pour out in 1793, and the seventh, in my judgment, in 1830; when the events of "the three days" in Paris made every throne in Europe tremble to its foundation; and is now pouring (collaterally with the sixth) into the air. This will give you some idea of where you stand in Europe. The political air of England is feeling the effects of this vial; the political air or constitution of Spain is the embittered subject of it likewise; so are Portugal, France, &c. "The spirit of demons" - spirits unclean as frogs - are working in Tories, Whigs, Conservatives, Radicals, Doctrinaires, Exaltados, Destructives, and so forth - and are doing wonders before Kings and before the World. These conflicting factions are consuming by their intestine broils and divisions "the air" or political constitution of states and empires. They are breaking up the dominion of the Lawless One. They are sapping the foundation of thrones and aristocracies; and will assuredly dissolve the meretricious alliance of Church and State in every nation.

But the consuming of the Lawless One is to be capped by the grand climax of his UTTER DESTRUCTION. - Who shall have the honour, or who of men has the power to perpetrate a consummation like this? - We look over the wide earth and sea, but we look in vain; - "we behold, and there is no man." From whence than shall the mighty come? - If not from earth, where else but from heaven? It is on Jesus, we Gentiles place our hope. It is to him we look as the Destroyer of the Lawless One. At his coming to do this, he will come with "brightness" - "in flaming fire," with thunders and lightnings, and an earthquake, and great hail. This will occur under the seventh, last, and existing vial, and will be coetaneous with the great voice from the throne saying, "IT IS DONE." - Then will the dominion of the Lawless One be subverted, his empire desolated, and his "Seat" of government be dashed down with violence, like a great millstone cast into the sea, never to be found again.

When Jesus comes to do this "every eye shall see him." - He will be as visibly and personally present upon the earth, which is his inheritance, as you are visible and personally present in Nottingham. There is but one true sense of Scripture; what then, but the most obvious, is the sense of these words - This Jesus, O Galileans, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall also come, in the same manner as you have seen him going to heaven. The brightness of his coming is his attendant glory; which is not like the pageant of an earthly potentate; it is the glory, the splendour, the brightness of the Omnipotent displayed in the flashing fires, the pealing thunders, and the pelting storm by which his foes shall be subdued. In that day will be fulfilled the saying of the prophet.

Compare Psalm 18:7-15.

Ez. 38:20,23. The foundations of the mountains rocked, and were shaken;

Rev. 18:8,9,18. A smoke went up from his nostrils;

19:3. And fire from his mouth devoured; Burning coals shot forth from him.

Rev. 18:1. He bowed the heavens and came down;

Zach. 14:4. And darkness was under his feet.

Rev. 19:11. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly; Yea, he came flying upon the wings of the wind. And he made darkness his covering; His pavilion round about him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Rev. 19:17. At the brightness before him, his thick clouds passed away;

Rev. 11:19; 16:21. Then came hail stones and coals of fire, Jehovah also thundered from heaven,

Rev. 16:17. And the Most High uttered his voice, Amid hail stones and coals of fire. He sent forth his arrows and scattered them;

Ezek. 39; Rev. 19:17-21. Incessant lightnings, and discomfitted them.

Zech. 14:4. Then the channels of the deep were seen And the foundations of the earth were revealed, At the rebuke of Jehovah, At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils!

Many more quotations from the prophetic word might be quoted illustrative of "the Brightness of his Coming;" but this must suffice for the present. That your praiseworthy efforts to acquire "a perfect knowledge of the mind of the Spirit" may be crowned with abundant success, is the unfeigned hope of your's affectionately, for the truth's sake,

JOHN THOMAS.

***

After reading the above extract, we cannot be at a loss to know the views of John Thomas respecting the Millennial reign. He does not hesitate to affirm, that Christ will be as personally present here on earth, as we are, from day to day, in our respective places of abode; and that as he has already appeared in the character of the Great Prophet and Priest of his people; so also he is destined to sit literally upon the throne of his father David, and reign for 1000 years, as universal monarch. During which period, all kings shall fall down and worship Him," &c.

To these views we are neither disposed to subscribe nor to deny; but that the Gentiles who have not continued in his goodness, will, in some way be cut off, we have the most positive declaration. (Rom. 11:22.) This is that which most concerns us, for he will come at midnight, - as a thief in the night. (Query - Does not this mean the end of the Gentile dispensation?) "Sudden destruction shall come upon them who know not God, and who OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL." - ED.

THE GODS OF THE NATIONS.

MANY professors, at this day, make a confession with their mouths, so plausible and accordant with the truth of the gospel, - and make such "a fair show in the flesh," that it would not he easy to detect any falsehood at the bottom of their profession, did they not manifest a mind opposed to the scriptural fear of the Lord, and to that reverence for his word and kingly authority, which is inseparably connected. They continue deaf to the plainest institution and reproof of that word, which marks HIM set as KING upon the holy hill of ZION, maintaining a kingdom that "is not of this world," and that admits not in its concerns any interference of human authority or wisdom. They have no ear for that voice, which calls his little flock - in every place - to be followers of the first churches of God, which in Judea were in CHRIST JESUS - to come out of the midst of Babylon and all its Antichristian abominations, and to be separate as a people holy unto the Lord; to receive at his mouth - from his Apostles - all the simple but divine rule of ordinance and dicipline, by which the first "Churches of the Saints" were regulated in their fellowship. They practically disown the authority of that rule, as if it were antiquated - obsolete - and not suited to Christians now. They even oppose all serious attention to it, as legal - as a Galatian error. But the real "comfort of the Holy Spirit" never can be disjoined from the "fear of the Lord," (Acts 9:31) and the reverential trembling at HIS word. True charity, or love, must ever bind disciples to withdraw from the fellowship of those, who persist in this attempt to separate what God hath joined together. 2 Thes. 3:6,14. - Apostolic Advocate.

***

WERE a plain unlettered man, but endowed with common sense, and a certain quantum of observation and reflection, to read over attentively the Four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, without note or comment, I hugely doubt whether it would enter into his ears to hear, his eyes to see, or his heart to conceive, the purport of many ideas signified by words ending in ism, which, nevertheless, have cost Christendom rivers of ink, and oceans of blood. - Ibid.

THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER AND REFORMER;

CONTAINING

ESSAYS, ADDRESSES, ORATIONS, LETTERS,

&c. &c.

BY ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND OTHERS.

VOL. 1.

"We (the Apostles) are of God: he who is of God, hearkens to us; he who is not of God, hearkens not to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." - John. New Version.

"Be mindful of the words before spoken by the holy prophets, and of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and saviour." - 2 Pet. 3:2.

LONDON:

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1838.

***

T. KIRK, PRINTER, NOTTINGHAM.

THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER AND REFORMER.

No. 12. FEBRUARY, 1838. VOL. 1.

THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY

EXTRACT FROM A DEBATE BETWEEN ROBERT OWEN AND ALEXANDER CAMPBELL.

CINCINNATI, Monday, April 13, 1829

MR. OWEN rose and said-

Gentlemen Moderators,

It is necessary on my part to explain the cause of the present meeting.

After much reading and calm reflection, early in life, and after extensive personal, and in many instances, confidential communications with the leading characters of the present times, I was deeply impressed with the conviction that all societies of men have been formed on a misapprehension of the primary laws of human nature, and that this error has produced disappointment, and almost every kind of misery.

I was also equally convinced that the real nature of man is adapted, when rightly directed, to attain high physical, intellectual, and moral excellence, and to derive from each of these facilities, a large share of happiness, or of varied enjoyment.

I was, in consequence, impressed with the belief that I could not perform a greater service to mankind, than to endeavour to relieve them from this grievous error and evil. I made arrangements to apply all my facilities to discover the means by which it could be effected. For this purpose I instituted experiments in England and Scotland, to try the effects of some of these new principles in practice. I published preliminary remarks on the subject, and submitted them to the civilized governments of Europe and America. I visited various foreign countries, that I might communicate, personally, with the leading minds in each; and I presented an explanatory memorial to the congress of sovereigns and their ministers at Aix la Chapel, in 1818.

I held public meetings in Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States; and I widely circulated these proceedings in every part of the world where the English language is known.

Finding that these practical experiments exceeded my most sanguine expectations, and that the most experienced, enlightened , and comprehensive minds, when confidentially applied to, admitted the truth of the principles which I placed before them; and doubted, only, if the period had arrived when ignorance could be so far removed as to admit of their immediate introduction into practice; I applied myself to discover the best means by which these all-important truths might be taught, and all prejudices removed without producing the evils arising from sudden and extensive revolutions.

To effect these objects, I felt it was necessary to be governed through my whole course, as far as times and circumstances would admit, by the laws of nature, which appeared to me correctly true in principle, and beautiful and beneficial for practice.

I therefore placed these truths gradually before the public, sometimes in one form, and sometimes in another; but always in the least offensive manner I could devise.

Yet the prejudices produced by education, on each of these subjects, are very different in various countries. Among most people, however, these prejudices, whatever form they may have taken, have been deeply rooted, through a long succession of ages, and have uniformly produced the greatest crimes, suffering, and misery; indeed almost all to which human nature is liable: for the natural evils of life are so few, they scarcely deserve consideration.

It, therefore, appeared to me to be the time when these artificial evils might be removed, and when an entire new order of things might be established. Instead of these links becoming a bond to keep society in good order, and unite men in a bond of charity, justice, and affection, they form a chain of triple strength to retain the human mind in ignorance and vice, and to inflict every species of misery, from artificial causes, on the human race.

Seeing this, I was induced to develop other arrangements, all in accordance with the divine laws of our nature, and thus attempt to break each link of this magic chain, and thereby remove the only obstacles which prevent men from becoming rational and truly virtuous beings.

In these new arrangements, the countless evils which have been engendered by conflicting religions, by various forms of marriages, and by unnecessary private property, will not exist; but, instead thereof, real charity, pure chastity, sincere affections, and upright dealing between man and man, producing abundance for all, will everywhere prevail.

In pursuance of these measures I last year delivered a course of lectures in New Orleans, explanatory of the principles and many details of the practice of the proposed system.

During the progress of these lectures, many paragraphs appeared in the New Orleans newspapers, giving a very mistaken view of the principles and plans which I advocated. Discovering that these paragraphs proceeded from some of the city clergymen, I put an advertisement in the newspapers, offering to meet all the ministers of religion in the city, either in public or in private, to discuss the subjects of difference between us, in order that the population of New Orleans might know the real foundation on which the old systems of the world were erected, and the principles on which the new system was advocated. These gentlemen, however, were unwilling to enter upon the discussion.

Mr. Campbell, of Bethany, in Virginia, seeing my proposals in the newspapers to meet the clergy of New Orleans on specific grounds, publicly offered to discuss these subjects with me at Cincinnati any time within twelve months from the date of his proposal.

Having occasion about that period to pass, on my way to Europe, within twenty miles of Mr. Campbell's residence, I went to see him, to ascertain whether his proposal to meet me in public emanated from a conscientious desire to discover valuable truths for the benefit of the human race, or from a wish to attain a useless notoriety by a vain and futile contest of words without any definite meaning.

By my intercourse with Mr. Campbell, I concluded he was conscientiously desirous of ascertaining truth from error on these momentous subjects; that he was much experienced in public discussions, and well educated for the ministry. His superior talents were generally admitted. Under these circumstances, I did not feel myself at liberty to decline the call he had publicly made upon me; I therefore agreed to meet him in this city, at this time, that we might, by a fair and open discussion of principles never yet publicly advocated, discover, if possible, the foundation of human errors respecting vice and virtue, and the real cause of the continuance, at this day over the world, of ignorance, poverty, disunion, crime, and misery; and, if practicable, lay a broad and solid foundation for a union of all tribes and people, that peace, good will, and intelligence may every prevail, and contention and strife cease from the earth.

Such is the origin and progress of the events and circumstances which have produced the present assemblage at this place, and my sole wish is, that it may terminate beneficially for mankind.

I wait Mr. Campbell's confirmation of this statement, as far as he is personally concerned in it.

***

MR. CAMPBELL rose and said-

My Christian friends and fellow citizens! In rising to address you on this occasion, I feel that I owe you an apology. Do you inquire, For what? I answer, For bringing into public discussion the Evidences of the Christian religion. Not, indeed, as if either the religion itself, or the evidences of its truth and divine authority, had anything to fear from an examination, however public or however severe. Why, then, do you say, apologize for bringing this subject into public debate? Because, in so doing, we may appear to concede that it is yet an undecided question sub judice; or, at least, that its opponents have some good reason for withholding their assent to its truth, and their consent to its requirements. Neither of which we are, at this time, prepared to admit.

It is true, indeed, that we Christians are commanded by an authority which we deem paramount to every other, to be prepared, at all times, to give a reason of the hope which we entertain; and not only so, but in meekness, and with firmness, to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.

If, then, it be our duty, either as teachers of the Christian religion, or as private disciples, to be governed by these precepts, not only can we find an excuse for ourselves, but we hope that you also will find an excuse for us in the present undertaking. Excuse, did I say? Not excuse only, but more than excuse, both authority and encouragement.

Some Christians, we know, think it enough simply to inveigh against sceptics and scepticism in their weekly harangues; while they are protected by custom and law from the retorts and replies of such as do not believe. This is not enough. If, indeed, all the sceptics in the vicinities of Christian congregations made it a point to attend these weekly discourses, and if their objections and doubts were fairly met, canvassed, and refuted, then this course might suffice. But neither of these is precisely the case. The sceptics do not generally attend the places of worship; and few of the teachers of religion pay adequate attention  (Roses retyping ends here).

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