THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER AND REFORMER.

No. 9. NOVEMBER, 1837. VOL. 1.

EXPOSITION OF THE THIRD CHAPTER OF JOHN.

(Concluded from page 288.)

WE think we have satisfactorily shewn that it was the present kingdom of God, or the church of Christ, of which the Saviour was speaking to Nicodemus; and he places "water" and "Spirit" both before "kingdom." Besides, if Jesus alluded to the "everlasting kingdom," then the birth of water, or baptism, must be indispensably necessary to enter it! and all the un-immersed must be excluded from heaven!! This is the sweeping consequence into which this erroneous extreme must run!

Seeing that there is but one kingdom spoken of, and of course but one birth into it, and that this birth is of two agents, water and spirit, the question presents itself, how are we "born of water and of the spirit:" or how are we born of water, and how of the spirit? To understand this rightly, we must ascertain where, when, and by whom, the kingdom was "set up." If we can do this, and see how this kingdom was entered; we shall then understand what is meant by the phrase, "born of water and of the spirit," as it is by this birth that we enter into the kingdom. As to the place where it was to be set up, we have the predictions of Isaiah and Micah, that it should be Mount Zion, in Jerusalem. "It shall come to pass in the last days (of the Jewish kingdom,) that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, (in the Roman Empire,) and shall be exalted above the hills; (all other kingdoms;) and all nations shall flow unto it. - Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." David, the great type of Christ, says in the Psalms, prophesying of his exaltation, "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion!" And Jesus himself after his resurrection, says to his Apostles, "Thus it is written, (in the Old Testament scriptures,) and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance, (reformation,) and remission of sins should be preached in his name, (by his authority,) beginning at JERUSALEM." "Tarry ye in JERUSALEM until ye be endued with power from on high." - When was it set up? During the personal ministry of Jesus on earth it was constantly preached and spoken of as "at hand," and to come, and even after his .resurrection. - It was consequently future, until the first Pentecost after the resurrection and ascension of the Messiah. The time of the giving of the law was a type of the going forth of the new law, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. By whom was the kingdom set up? - and how was it opened? The Apostle Peter, was the honoured instrument. Jesus, before he died, gave him the keys of his kingdom:- "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Accordingly at Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, on the first Pentecost after the resurrection, we find the Apostles endowed with power (authority) from on high, and Peter addressing the multitude drawn together by the miraculous exhibitions then made at the close of his address, opens the kingdom to the believing and inquiring Jews. In reply to them when they enquired "what shall we do?" he says, "Repent (reform) and be baptized (immersed) every one of you, in the name (by the authority) of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." On the principle of faith, by the institution of baptism, they entered the kingdom. To be born of water and of the spirit, then, is, in plain language, to believe and be baptized. Paul says to the Galatian Christians, when contrasting the Law and the Gospel, the literal and spiritual descendants of Abraham, "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." In believing we are begotten by the Holy Spirit, and in being baptized or immersed, we are born of water; first begotten and then born. John, the same writer who has recorded the conversation of Christ with Nicodemus, says in one of his epistles, and his language is a good comment on the 3:5 of his gospel, "Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born (begotten) of God." We are of course begotten of the Spirit of God, in being begotten of him. It is by the word of God that the Holy Spirit begets the believer, and that in believing we are thus begotten. "Faith comes ... by the word of God." These (miracles) are written," says the same John, in the conclusion of his testimony, "that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." the word of God, both by prophets and apostles, is the word of the Holy Spirit, being inspired by him. "Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, (private impulse:) but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit." The word of God is the "word of truth." Jesus says to his Father, "thy word is truth;" and Paul, that it is "the word of the truth of the gospel." James says, "of his (God's) own will begat he us with the word of truth;" and Paul, "in (to) Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the gospel." And "this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Being thus begotten by the Holy Spirit, the man when he is immersed in water by the action of Christian baptism, is then "born of water and spirit," "born again, not of corruptible, (fleshly,) but of incorruptible (spiritual) seed, by the word which lives and abides for ever." "The seed is the word of God." We have said that it is as impossible to be born of the spirit alone, as for a child to be born of his father alone. The phrase "born of the Spirit" is used in the chapter under consideration, without being connected with water, but we are not to infer from this, that the Spirit alone is meant. The term "born" is used in reference to the natural birth in almost the very same manner. Abraham, whose spiritual seed we are, says, (Gen. 17:17) "shall a child be born unto him, that is an hundred years old?" - Again, (Gen. 24:15) " Rebekah came out, that was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah." That these persons were born of their fathers alone, without their mothers, no one acquainted with the natural birth would infer from these quotations. We have quoted the phrase, "born of God."

But as He is always spoken of in the masculine gender, the usus loquendi would forbid us inferring from this that we are born of God alone. But we say again with the Saviour, "what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." He has connected water with spirit in the new birth, and presumptuous is the errorist who dares separate them! That the phrase, "born of water," has reference to Christian baptism, has, we believe, been allowed in every .age, by the almost unanimous voice of Biblical commentators, critics, creeds, and confessions of faith. Henry, Scott, Wesley, Clarke, Doddridge, and others, could, if necessary, be cited, but we have neither time nor space. We can only refer the reader to them. In fact, there are no principles of interpretation by which it can be understood in any other way. There is no usus loquendi by which any other construction can be put upon it. Had Jesus said, "except a man be born of water," and left out "spirit," we might perhaps, have understood him to use " water" only as figurative of "spirit; as when he tells the woman of Samaria, that he would give her "living water;" and that he who believes upon him, "out of his belly shall flow streams of living water." Had this been his meaning when he says, "except a man be born of water, and of the spirit," he would have been guilty of an unmeaning tautology, which we nowhere find in the scriptures, but Jesus does not place "water" in opposition to "spirit" here; he only connects it with it, as the consummating act in regeneration. - If to be born of water, then, is to be baptized, the action must be a burial, overwhelming, or immersion of some kind; for we cannot be born of anything without having first in some way been buried in it, as birth always implies a coming from or out of. Hence, the language of Paul to the Roman and Colossian Christians. "We are BURIED with him (Christ) by BAPTISM into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so also we should walk in newness of life." "BURIED with him IN BAPTISM, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead." Hence, also, his language to the Hebrews: "Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, (not doubting,) having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, (by the blood of Christ, as the procuring cause of pardon,) and our bodies WASHED with pure WATER, (in baptism, when purified by Christ's blood from the guilt of sin:)" - To the Ephesians, "Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the WASHING of WATER by the WORD:" - and to the Corinthians, " But ye are WASHED, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God."

So engrossed with the conception of a secular kingdom, is Nicodemus, and so little acquainted with spiritual things, that he cannot understand the explanation of the Saviour, plain and easy of comprehension as it is. To make it more plain and easy of comprehension to him, Jesus proceeds to illustrate the new birth still further, by contrasting the subjects of a secular kingdom with those of the spiritual. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh (fleshy or carnal;) and that which is born of spirit is spirit (spiritual)." The ruler still remains in astonishment; and Jesus proceeds to divest his mind of all conception of a natural birth into the new kingdom. "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit." The last sentence here is wrongly translated in the common version. The Greek word translated "wind" here, (pneuma,) is every where else in this chapter translated "spirit." The correct rendering is: "The spirit breathes where he pleases, and you hear the report of him, but know not whence he comes, nor whither he goes; so is every one who is born of the spirit." The Messiah, as in his first illustration of the manner of this birth, compared the agents in it with those in the natural birth, most familiar to the mind of the ruler, or at that time more immediately before his mind, so now uses a similar comparison. This comparison is evidently between an operation of the spirit in the new birth and the blowing of the wind; and to understand this verse we must find where it lies. It cannot lie between the last and first part of it, as there can be no rational comparison between the birth of the spirit, and that spirit's operation, particularly if that operation be a supernatural or miraculous one, which might have been the one alluded to here, or if the operation be that of begetting, as previously alluded to. It must lie, then, between the last clause and the two other members of the sentence, as it is only in reference to them that the pronoun, "you," is used. It cannot be between the last and the first of the two, as there can be no rational comparison between them. It must then lie between the last two clauses: (you know not whence he comes nor whither he goes" and, "so (to you) is every one who is born of the spirit." The breathings, the operations and inspirations of the Holy Spirit had generally been confined to the Jewish nation, but this was no longer to be the case. The spirit was now to breathe on Gentile as well as Jew, in other parts of the world as well as in Judea. Accordingly, on Pentecost he breathed on the Jews in Jerusalem, and afterwards he breathed on the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius. Nicodemus could hear the report of him, but could not tell where he had breathed last, and where he would breathe next. So to him was, or would be, every one born of the spirit. He could tell a Jew by his birth, his having descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, &c.; but he could not tell from his person, natural birth, lineage, &c. who was born of the spirit. Jesus thus endeavours to remove from his mind all idea of a natural birth, and a secular kingdom and subjects.

But, with all this variety and plainness of illustration and explanation, the ruler still remains perplexed. "Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?" Jesus rebukes his ignorance and stupidity. "Art thou a master (teacher) in Israel, and knowest not these things?" Are you a teacher yourself, and that, too, of the law, and cannot understand me, when I so plainly illustrate that I teach? "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness (testimony)." In your teaching you do not speak that which you know, nor testify to that which you have seen, yet you teach out of a divinely given law, and what you teach is received; and it is deemed criminal not to receive it. You have admitted that I am a "teacher come from God," and have declared to me in proof that "no man can do the miracles I do, except God be with him." You admit that my teaching is from God, and I have taught you what I know to be so, and you refuse to receive it. You act inconsistently, in thus doing, with your character as a teacher, and with your admission or declaration that I am come from God! From your own declaration, too, it is not a matter of doubt or disbelief, but a certainty, for you have declared that you know I am a teacher from God, and I declare to you what I know. Yet you doubt, and refuse to credit me! "If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" If I have illustrated the new birth„ that into my kingdom on earth, by comparisons drawn from earthly objects, and subjects, earthly things, and you will not understand or believe, how can you, if, leaving these, I tell you of the heavenly things themselves, without figure, which are necessary in order to this new birth and kingdom? Jesus then speaks of the two great facts or circumstances, connected with these, his INCARNATION and his SACRIFICE: and in doing this declares that none but He himself could communicate the information he has been giving to Nicodemus. "And no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that WHOSOEVER believeth in him should not PERISH, but have ETERNAL LIFE." Jesus continues to enlarge on the last of these, and still speaking of the heavenly things, shows the guilt incurred by wilfully neglecting or refusing to credit his mission and words. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their DEEDS were evil. For every one that DOETH evil, hateth the LIGHT, neither come they to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that DOETH truth* cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God."

It is impossible that any one can be born of the Spirit of God, without being born of, or by, the word of God. - Jesus declared to Nicodemus that it was necessary to be born of water and of the "spirit," in order to enter into his kingdom on earth; and Peter declares that Christians are born "by the word of God," and James, that we are begotten "by the word of truth." We are, then, born of the Spirit by the word of God, when we have been immersed in water on a confession of faith in Christ.

J.R. HOWARD.

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*"Thy word is truth." "He that doeth the word of the Lord shall remain for ever." See Matt. 7:24,25.

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NOTICE.

(Some of our esteemed Correspondents are very solicitous to know what the views of A. Campbell are on the Sonship of Christ: Whether be considers him as sustaining the character of "Emanuel, God with us," &c. They also express considerable anxiety for the safety, orthodoxy, and well being of some of the brethren connected with the Reformed Church in Nottingham, for which we feel greatly obliged. Our sincere desire is, to believe all that is taught, and obey all that is commanded in the word of God, as given to us, by the inspired Apostles; and to reject every dogma which is not found therein. The word of God, and that alone; in its connected, simple, and obvious meaning will, ABIDE FOR EVER; therefore, in the day of judgment sectarianism will be unknown. The obedient and the disobedient with the infallible law books by which they are to be tried, according to the different dispensations in which they have lived, will form the only conspicuous object that will concern the human family in that awful day of accounts. With these convictions, and in the exercise of our reason and common sense, we have constant recourse to the Book, and to a throne of grace, that we may be delivered from every error, both of judgment and practice, and that we may perfect holiness in the fear of God. - If the two following articles do not satisfy all inquiries, and silence all objections, in reference to A. Campbell's views on the above subjects, we cannot conceive of any thing either written in the English or any other language that will. Having been much instructed by them ourselves, we recommend them to the candid consideration of all our readers. The first was written in the year 1827, the second in the month of July, in the present year. A respected correspondent, who is a pastor of a Scotch Baptist Church, and in the possession of the first article remarks - "the Trinitarian System by A. Campbell is, without exception, the most masterly elucidation of John 1:1-2, that ever I saw, though the view of Christ's sonship is precisely that of McLean, in his Essay, yet the subject is here presented quite in a new light." ED.)

THE TRINITARIAN SYSTEM.

(From the Christian Baptist.)

DEAR SIR, - In one of your fireside conversations, when interrogated on your views of "the Trinity," you gave an exposition of the first verse of the first chapter of John's Testimony, with which myself, and, I believe, all present, were much delighted. In conversing with those present on that occasion, I found that they, as well as myself, had forgotten some of the most prominent ideas. You will confer no ordinary favour on us all, and no doubt it will be pleasing to many of your readers, to give it in writing as nearly as possible to what you spoke on the subject. Do, then, oblige us so far as to give us the same in your next number of the Christian Baptist.

Yours, most affectionately,

TIMOTHY

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TO TIMOTHY.

DEAR SIR, - You will recollect that when I was interrogated on that subject, I gave sundry reasons why I felt reluctant to speculate on the incomprehensible Jehovah. It was also stated that there was no topic in common estimation so awfully sacred as that of the doctrine of "the Trinity," and if a man did not speak in a very fixed and set phrase on this subject, he endangered his whole Christian reputation and his own usefulness. At the same time I remarked that I was very far from being afraid either to think upon this subject or to express my thoughts, although it was deemed so unpardonable to depart even in one monosyllable from the orthodox views. I moreover stated that I disliked any thing like speculation, upon this topic in particular, because, if I differed in the least from the orthodox, I introduced something like a new theory, or something that would be treated as such, and either approved or rejected on theoretic grounds. If, however, you will neither make a new theory out of my expositions, nor contend for any speculations on the subject, nor carry the views farther than where I leave off, I will gratify you and other friends with my views of the first sentence in John's Preface to his Testimony - "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."

1. In the first place I object to the Calvinistic doctrine of the Trinity for the same reasons they object to the Arians and Socinians. They object to these, because their views derogate in their judgment from the eternal glory of the Founder of the Christian religion. They will not allow the Saviour to have been a creature, however exalted, because they conceive this character is unbecoming him, and contrary to the scriptural statements concerning him. They wish to give him more glory than the Arians are willing to do. Now I object to their making him and calling him an "Eternal Son," because, I think that if he were only the Son of God from all eternity, he is entitled to very little, if any more glory, than what the Arians give him. I wish to give him more glory than the Calvinists give him. - They are as far below his real glory, in my judgment, as the Arians are in their judgment.

2. But, in the second place, I have an insuperable objection to the Arian and Calvinistic phraseology - On the doctrine of the first relation existing between the Father and the Saviour of Men, because it confounds things human and divine, and gives new ideas to bible terms unthought of by the inspired writers. The names Jesus, Christ, or Messiah, Only Begotten Son, Son of God, belong to the Founder of the Christian religion, and to none else. They express not a relation existing before the Christian era, but relations which commenced at that time. To understand the relation betwixt the Saviour, and his Father, which existed before time, and that relation which began in time, is impossible on either of these theories. There was no Jesus, no Messiah, no Christ, no Son of God, no Only Begotten, before the reign of Augustus Caesar. The relation that was before the Christian era, was not that of a son and a father, terms which always imply disparity; but it was that expressed by John in the sentence under consideration. The relation was that of God, and the "word of God." This phraseology unfolds a relation quite different from that of a father and a son - a relation perfectly intimate, equal, and glorious. This naturally leads me to the first sentence of John. And here I must state a few postulata.

1. No relation amongst human beings can perfectly exhibit the relation which the Saviour held to the God and Father of All anterior to his birth. The reason is, that relation is not homogenial, or of the same kind with relations originating from creation. All relations we know are created, such as that of father and son. I now object to a created relation as I do to a creature in reference to the original relation of God and the word of God. This relation is an uncreated and unoriginated relation.

2. When in the fulness of time it became necessary in the wisdom of God to exhibit a Saviour, it became expedient to give some view of the original and eternal dignity of this wonderful visitant of the human race. And as this view must be given in human language, inadequate as it was, the whole vocabulary of human speech must be examined for suitable terms.

3. Of these terms expressive of relations, the most suitable must be, and most unquestionably was, selected. And as the relation was spiritual and not carnal, such terms only were eligible which had respect to mental or spiritual relations. Of this sort there is but one in all the archives of human knowledge, and that is the one selected.

4. The Holy Spirit selected the name Word, and, therefore, we may safely assert that this is the best, if not the only term, in the whole vocabulary of human speech at all adapted to express that relation which existed "in the beginning," or before time, between our Saviour and his God.

These postulata being stated, I proceed to inquire what sort of a relation does this term represent? And here every thing is plain and easy of comprehension. I shall state numerically a few things universally admitted by the reflecting part of mankind:-

1st. A word is a sign or representative of a thought or an idea, and is the idea in an audible and visible form. It is the exact image of that invisible thought which is a perfect secret to all the world until it is expressed.

2d. All men think or form ideas by means of words or images; so that no man can think without words or symbols of some sort.

3d. Hence it follows that the word and the idea which it represents, are co-etaneous, or of the same age or antiquity. It is true the word may not be uttered or born for years or ages after the idea exists, but still the word is just as old as the idea.

4th. The idea and the word are, nevertheless, distinct from each other, though the relation between them is the nearest known on earth. An idea cannot exist without a word, nor a word without an idea.

5th. He that is acquainted with the word, is acquainted with the idea, for the idea is wholly in the word.

Now let it be most attentively observed and remembered, that these remarks are solely intended to exhibit the relation which exists between a word and an idea, and that this relation is of a mental nature, and more akin to the spiritual system than any relation created, of which we know any thing. It is a relation of the most sublime order; and no doubt the reason why the name Word is adopted by the apostle in this sentence was because of its superior ability to represent to us the divine relation existing between God and the Saviour prior to his becoming the Son of God. By putting together the above remarks on the term word, we have a full view of what John intended to communicate. As a word is an exact image of an idea, so is "The Word" an exact image of the invisible God. - As a word cannot exist without an idea, nor an idea without a word, so God never was without "The Word," nor "The Word" without God; or as a word is of equal age, or co-etaneous with its idea, so "The Word" and God are coeternal. And as an idea does not create its word, nor a word its idea; so God did not create "The Word," nor the "Word" God.

Such a view does the language used by John suggest. And to this do all the scriptures agree. For "The Word" was made flesh, and in consequence of becoming incarnate, he is styled the Son of God, the only Begotten of the Father. - As from eternity God was manifest in and by "The Word," so now God is manifest in the flesh. As God was .always with "The Word," so when " The Word" becomes flesh, he is Emanuel, God with us. As God was never manifest but by "The Word," so the heavens and the earth, and all things were created by "The Word." And as "The Word" ever was the effulgence or representation of the invisible God, so he will ever be known and adored as "The Word of God." So much for the divine and eternal relation between the Saviour and God. You will easily perceive that I carry these views no farther than to explain the nature of that relation, uncreated and unoriginated, which the inspired language inculcates.

These views place us on a lofty eminence, whence we look down upon the Calvinistic ideas of "eternal filiation," " eternal generation," "eternal Son," as midway betwixt Arianism. From this sublime and lofty eminence we see the Socinian moving upon a hillock, the Arian upon a hill, and the Calvinist upon a mountain; all of which lose their disproportion to each other, because of the immense height above them, to which this view elevates us. The first sentence of John, I paraphrase thus: From eternity was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was, I say, from eternity with God. By him all things were made, and he became flesh and dwelt among us. He became a child born, and a son of man. As such he is called Emanuel, Jesus, Messiah, Son of God, Only Begotten of the Father.

I can give the above views upon no other authority than my own reasonings. I learned them from nobody - I found them in no book. It is true, indeed, I have held the idea for sixteen years, that Jesus is called the Son of God, not because of an "eternal generation," (which I conceive to be nonsense,) but because he was born as the angel described to Mary. This is now pretty generally received by a great many Christians. Nor would I dispute or contend for this as a theory or speculation with any body. I could, indeed, amplify considerably, and, perhaps, obviate some difficulties by following up farther the hints submitted; but such are my views of the import of the beginning of John's testimony. - You will remember that I make no systems, and although there are some abstract reasonings upon terms (as indeed much of our reasonings about language are) in the preceding, it is only for the purpose of getting into the sacred import of a style from which we have been proscribed by a speculating philosophy. I have acceded to your request with more ease than I could have done, had it not been for a few prating bodies who are always striving to undo my influence by the cry of Unitarianism, or Socinianism, or some other obnoxious ism. - From all isms may the Lord save us!

Your's truly,

A.C.

MAN THE TEMPLE OF GOD.

(From the Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 1. No. 8.)

"Destroy this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days."

JESUS THE MESSIAH.

It is of the essence of mind to admire its own creations. God looked upon all the works of his hand with delight; for he saw that they were good. It is of the essence of goodness to be communicative. Hence, God created beings to whom he communicated of himself; for he not only created a universe that could neither think nor speak, but he also created rational and communicative beings, through whom to enjoy his celestial and terrestrial operations. Man was made for this world, to perceive and reflect its glories, that through him God might rejoice in these his lower works. For this purpose it behooved that man be endowed with something unearthly and superior - with powers of perceiving, loving, admiring, and adoring his Creator: or, in one word, with a power both of thinking and feeling in harmony with the whole universe. The earth was made for man, and man for God; so that God through man rejoices in all his earthly creations, and man through material nature rejoices in his Creator. Such precisely, in our esteem, was the primitive man as he stood upon the primitive earth. God delighted in all his mundane operations through him, through his intellectual admiration and grateful emotions; and he delighted in God through all the sensible displays of creative power, wisdom, and goodness. This leads us to consider man in a most interesting attitude, and to assign him a very elevated place in creation. And to assist our conceptions of him, we shall consider his body in the light of a temple, as the Saviour has taught us in our motto.

God built the human body out of earthly materials. The temple rose at his bidding without the sound of axe or hammer. Bone came to its bone, and every joint to its place, without noise or confusion. He embraced them with sinews, secured them by ligatures, and bound them to their places. He then covered them with muscles, arteries, and veins, with flesh and skin, and furnished the inner chambers with all the apparatus of life - the machinery of physical, intellectual, and moral action. It stood before him finished, though a tenantless, silent, breathless statue, as stood the tabernacle when finished by Moses, before the glory of the Lord filled the holy place. The air surrounded it, but it breathed not. It had eyes, but it saw not; ears, but it heard not, till God breathed into its nostrils the breath of life. Then its brain, and heart, and lungs, and arteries began to move - the current of life began to flow, and man was made a living soul.

The breath of the Lord will be better understood, when we look for a moment at two other temples, which were built after the archetype of man, and as types of man restored to the place from which he had fallen. For however the tabernacle or temple may be regarded, as adumbrative, they had their model in man.

The model of both was divine. God himself was the model of man; for he created him after his own image. - He also gave Moses the image of the tabernacle while in his company on the mount. Moses faithfully copied the original: for the tent which he reared was exactly according to the model shown him in Horeb. But like Adam's body before God, it stood before Moses tenantless and unglorified. This, however, was but for a moment, for, as in the case of Adam, God breathed into his nostrils; so in this, he descended in a cloud and filled the tent with his glory. The air indeed was not a spirit of God, nor was the cloud his glory; but while the cloud rested on the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord filled it; and while the breath of God fanned the lungs of Adam, the Spirit of the Lord gave him understanding. The glory of the Lord, to human optics, was not separable from the cloud in the one case, nor was the inspiration of mind distinguishable from the breath of life in the other case; but it was no more the mere breath of animal life in the one case, than it was a mere cloud of vapour in the other; for the spirit of man is not mere breath, nor is the glory of the Lord a mere cloud.

Solomon's stone temple being erected after the model given to David and himself, so far as it perfected the tabernacle or tent temple, still farther illustrates this grand idea. Soon as Solomon had finished and set in order this most splendid of all earthly edifices, as the body of Adam was the most splendid of all the animal frames reared out of the dust, we are told that "the house was so filled with vapour, or breath, that the priests could not stand to minister for the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God." - And still more striking as a proof that the Divinity was present, "fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord."*

Thus God took up his residence in Adam, in the tabernacle, and in the temple on the day of their erection: for these are three temples equally modelled, reared, and glorified by God. The analogy is even yet more perfect than we have traced it: for in each of these three there was an external as well as an internal glory. The cloud and the fire - the bright vapour sat upon the tabernacle and the temple in their primitive state, and showed that the Lord was within. So Adam and Eve were covered with an external glory, as well as filled with a holy spirit, in their primitive condition; but soon as they transgressed, the external glory departed - they saw that they were naked - they became ashamed, and hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.

The breath of life, or the spirit of life, as it may be rendered with equal authority, includes more than vapour or vital air. It denotes more than mere animal life: for this would have been no glory to man, inasmuch as all this is common to the beasts that perish. But we have a still more striking circumstance illustrative of this singular incident in man's creation. When the Lord Jesus was about to erect another sort of temple than a tent or stone house on earth, he choose to symbolize the impartation of the Holy Spirit of God by a recurrence to God's breathing into the nostrils of Adam. Hence, when sending forth his Apostles, and making them the nucleus of a new body, "he breathed on them, saying, Receive the Holy Spirit." Did they not at this moment receive more than his breath! or did not this breathing denote that they did receive a life from him above other men, or the beasts that perish! So understand we the model of this idea - God's breathing into the nostrils of Adam.

But we have yet another temple: "Destroy this temple," said Jesus, "and I will rebuild it in three days." This he said of his body. Adam in this also "was the type of him that was to come." His body was God's first earthly temple, and his Spirit, the Priest that officiated there. The body of Jesus, God himself reared out of the flesh of the woman Mary. "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God:" for God gave him more than breath, and more than a human spirit. He gave his own Spirit without measure to him. He gave Adam a small measure, and to all his descendants mere sparks of intelligence; but this person is "THE WORD made flesh, EMANUEL," "GOD IN MAN," "God manifest in the flesh." He breathed on him as a child no measured gifts of his Spirit, but the Spirit himself in all his fulness. The Holy Spirit, not like a cloud, nor breath, but in the personal form of a dove, descended upon him, and remained with him. This was indeed after he was born of water; after he was erected or raised out of Jordan. The glory of the Lord after this sanctification filled the temple: "We beheld his glory, the glory of an Only Begotten of the Father, "full of grace and truth." With Solomon we ask, "Will God, in very deed, dwell with man upon the earth! Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less the body of Adam, the tabernacle of Moses, the temple of Solomon, the body of Jesus! Still, God, in some peculiar sense, inhabited them all. And yet he dwells with man: for-

There is yet a fifth temple. There is still a tabernacle for God on earth, a temporary building moving to and fro - "a spiritual house," a holy temple - the Christian church.

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* 2 Chron. 5:13,14; 6:1,2.

"The temple of God is holy," says Paul, "which temple you are." The Lord reared out of the body of Adam the body of a woman; out of the body of a woman he also reared the body of his Son; and out of the human body of his Son, raised from the dead, he has raised a church of men and women, whom he fills with the glory of the Lord, his Holy Spirit. "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which dwells in you, which you have of God." All Christians are living stones in this spiritual house. They are in their individual capacity severally temples of the Holy Spirit, and collectively they are now the only earthly temple of God. "I will dwell in them - I will walk in them - I will be their God - they shall be my people," are promises of the Christian Institution. Hence, the Holy Spirit is promised to all who are baptized into the body of Christ: for all Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, are baptized into one body, and partake of one and the same Holy Spirit - as from their own experience they can amply testify.

The fifth temple, when reared on Pentecost, was the consummation of the earthly state; and therefore it was gloriously distinguished. The Spirit was heard in the wind, was seen on the heads of the Apostles; but the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. He breathed into their nostrils the spirit of life; but there was more than atmospheric air, more than the sound of a mighty rushing wind, more than tongues resembling cloven flame - there was the plenary inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the consecration of the church as the temple of the living God. While a cloud of glory covered this new building of God, the glory of the Lord filled the temple, and they communicated as the Spirit gave them utterance. The Spirit which that day descended from heaven has not yet ascended. He is still in the church his body, and witnesses to our spirits, not to our breath, that we are the sons of God. The Christian body grows as the human family grows - children are born of her, and to her, out of the world. Soon as they are born, the Lord breathes into their nostrils the breath of lives: for the second Adam is more than a living soul, - he is a life-giving Spirit.

It ends, then, as it began. Man is still the temple of God. God at first imparted to him a spirit from himself, that he might commune with him - that he might be "a son of God" as well as his creature, and that he might be "the Father of his spirit," as well as the Creator of his body. When he sinned and departed from God, he dwelt with man only in a tabernacle and in a temple till Jesus came; and now that Jesus is gone, to be himself the temple of the New Jerusalem, the church, filled with the Spirit, is the only earthly temple of God, "a habitation of God through the Spirit;" and here it is that God meets with us, and communicates his spiritual blessings.

What poor conceptions have they of the image of God, and of man created in his likest image, who fancy it all to consist in mere animal organization! What grovelling notions of man's original inspiration, who level it to the vital air and animal respiration! With them inspiration is respiration!! We will rather say with Elihu, "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding." "God our Maker teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven!" What a sublime contrivance is the economy of nature and grace! In nature and in grace the human heart answers to the golden altar that stood before the veil. The human spirit sanctified by God, is the officiating priest. This golden altar irradiated by the golden lamps, symbolize the human understanding enlightened by nature and grace. From this altar, now sprinkled by the blood of Jesus, ascend to heaven the praises of universal nature, and the thanksgivings of a ransomed and redeemed people.

In nature there is no beauty seen by God, but as it is reflected from the human heart; no melody heard but as it echoes from the human soul. Philosophers know that all the lines of beauty; that all the lights and shades; that all the attitudes, and forms, and colours of earthly charms are arranged and fitted for the human eye on, or near, the surface of this planet; and from any other point there is no visible beauty in all material nature. Enlightened by the word and works of God, one may say, the glories of the azure vault, with all its shining orbs of light, are thrown upon the human heart by the eye, as upon a polished mirror, that they may be thence reflected to the sempiternal Mind that placed them where they are, and that delights in them only as they radiate from beings intellectually and morally capable of discerning and enjoying them. The sublimity, grandeur, and magnificence of ocean, lake, river, and mountain scenery; the beauties of all the varied landscapes on the globe, with all the riches of all the realms of nature; - animal, vegetable, mineral, are sources of delight to their benevolent Author only as they awaken in the human heart sentiments of piety, love, and gratitude to himself, as the source of all excellence and glory. The majestic rolling thunder, the deafening tempest, and that burst of universal joy; those ceaseless melodies and harmonies of all things vocal on earth, in air, or sea, ascend not to the ears of the Creator, only as they echo from souls attuned to hymn his praise in strains of grateful admiration. If man be blind, all nature is blank; if man be dumb, all nature is silent before its Maker. If he looks and speaks as a saint, all nature rejoices - all the birds of the air, all the beasts of the field, all the fishes of the sea, trees, and shrubs, and flowers, hills and valleys, mountains, seas and rivers, echo the praises of the Lord.

From these general reflections on the human body as a temple, the human heart as an altar, the spirit of man as a priest, the domains of nature and of grace as abounding with an infinite variety of offerings, we may learn man's dignity in this creation, his duty and his bliss; as well as perceive what a large space he occupies in the regard and affection of his Creator, Father, and Redeemer. We may also perceive how many acceptable sacrifices and thank-offerings, and what precious incense we may continually present before the Lord. Not a bird that sings, whose melody, - not a flower that blooms, whose fragrance, - we may not send to heaven, sanctified by the grateful admiration of an enlightened understanding, and a devoted heart.

A.C.

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HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. - No. 1.

(From the Christian Baptist.)

For the information of those of limited reading, we design to give a few historical facts respecting the progress of the English Bible. The importance and utility of these historical notices will be apparent as we proceed.

It is a remarkable coincidence in the history of all the noted reformers from Popery, that they all gave a translation of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue of the people whom they laboured to reform. There are other striking coincidences in the history of these men, which may hereafter be noticed. John Wickliffe, who was born 1324, and died 1384, was the first reformer that disturbed the peace and unity of the church of Rome, and he was the first man that translated the New Testament into the English language. One of the errors which the popular clergy of that day laid to his charge, was, that he taught - that the New Testament is a perfect rule of life and manners, and ought to be read by the people. He also taught that there were but two officers in the Christian church, viz. the bishops and the deacons. "That Christians must practise and teach only the laws of Christ." His disciples were called Lollards. Wickliffe's Testament was in manuscript circulated amongst the laity, and read with great avidity. But the reading of this blessed volume was attended with great danger, for in the beginning of Henry the Fifth's reign, a law was passed, which enacted - "That whosoever they were, that should read the Scriptures in the mother tongue, (which was then called reproachfully Wicleu's Learning,) they should forfeite lande, catel, lif, and godes, from theyre heyres forever, and so be condempned for heretykes to God, enemies to the crowne, and most errant traitors to the lande." So great was the rage of the clergy against reading the New Testament in English, when it first made its appearance. Every one who read it was suspected of heresy, and many were suspected of having read it, against whom it could not be proved, because they were a little more intelligent than their neighbours. For the reading of this volume will soon make a layman more intelligent than a priest who only uses it as a textbook. John Keyser became so intelligent as to say, that although the Archbishop of Canterbury had excommunicated him, "he was not excommunicated before God, for his corn yielded as well as his neighbours." This much light was however dangerous to this man, for he was committed to jail for knowing and saying this much. This happened in the reign of Edward VI.

John Wickliffe made his translation, A.D. 1367, not from the Greek, but from the vulgate New Testament as read in the Catholic church. This vulgate, which was read for many centuries, was a correction of the old Italic version, conjectured to have been made in the middle of the second century, not long after the first Syriac version was made. The old Italic was made from the Greek and Old Testament from the Septuagint. Jerome, A.D. 382, translated the Old Testament into Latin from the Septuagint, or rather corrected from the old Italic version. The Italic version, mended by Jerome, has been long in great repute amongst the Romanists, and is what is commonly called the Vulgate, from which Wickliffe gave the first English New Testament.

EDITOR.

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PARABLE OF THE IRON BEDSTEAD.

(From the Christian Baptist.)

In the days of Abecedarian Popes it was decreed that a good Christian just measured three feet, and for the peace and happiness of the church, it was ordained that an iron bedstead, with a wheel at one end and a knife at the other, should be placed at the threshold of the church, on which the Christians should all he laid. This bedstead was just three feet in the casement on the exactest French scales. Every Christian, in those days, was laid on this bedstead; if less than the standard, the wheel and a rope was applied to him to stretch him to it; if he was too tall, the knife was applied to his extremities. In this way they kept the good Christians, for nearly a thousand years, all at one stature. Those to whom the knife or the wheel were applied, either died in the preparation, or were brought to the saving standard.

One sturdy fellow, called Martin Luther, was born in those days, who grew to the enormous height of four feet: he, of course, feared the bedstead and the knife, and kept off at a considerable distance deliberating how he might escape. At length he proclaimed that there was a great mistake committed by his ancestors in fixing upon three feet as the proper standard of the stature of a good Christian. He made proselytes to his opinions; for many who had been tried on the three-foot bedstead, who were actually four feet, had found a way of contracting themselves to the popular standard. These began to stretch themselves to their natural stature, and Luther had, in a few years, an iron bedstead four feet long, fashioned and fixed in his churches, with the usual appendages. The wheel and the knife soon found something to do in Luther's church; and it became as irksome to flesh and blood to be stretched by a wheel and rope to four feet, or to be cut down to that stature, as it was to be forced either up or down to the good and sacred three-foot stature. Moreover, men grew much larger after Luther's time than before, and a considerable proportion of them advanced above his perfect man; insomuch that John Calvin found it expedient to order his iron bedstead to be made six inches longer, with the usual regulating appendages. The next generation found even Calvin's measure as unaccommodating as Luther's; and the Independents, in their greater wisdom and humanity, fixed their perfect Christian at the enormous stature of five feet. The Baptists, at this time, began to think of constructing an iron bedstead to be in fashion with their neighbours, but kindly made it six inches longer than the Congregationalists, and dispensed with the knife, thinking that there was likely to be more need for two wheels than one knife, which they accordingly fixed to their apparatus. It was always found, that in the same proportion as the standard was lengthened, Christians grew; and now the bedstead is actually proved to be at least six inches too short. It is now expected that six inches will be humanely added; but this will only be following up an evil precedent; for experience has proved, that as soon as the iron bedstead is lengthened, the people will grow apace, and it will be found too short even when extended to six feet. Why not, then, dispense with this piece of popish furniture in the church, and allow Christians of every stature to meet at the same fireside, and eat at the same table? - The parable is just, and the interpretation thereof easy and sure.

Every attempt at reformation since the rude but masculine efforts of Luther, has been based upon the same principles. He did not like the popish superstructure, notwithstanding he built upon the same foundation. So did all his successors. They all divided the New Testament into two chapters. The title of the one was, the essentials - and the title of the other was the non-essentials. In one party the one chapter, and in another party, the other, is much the larger. Still the volume comprises but two chapters, however disproportioned they may be. Many efforts have been made to reduce the chapter of Essentials into narrower limits; but as it is reduced, the other is enlarged, and the old division is kept up. The book called The Creed contains all the essentials; and as they are there correctly arranged, and soundly digested, this book is more the subject of controversy than the Testament, which has the essentials and non-essentials all jumbled together.

Suppose, then, that a number of churches should agree to throw aside the iron bedstead, and take the book in one chapter, and call it their Creed and Book of Discipline. What then? Oh! says Puritanus, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, &c., &c., do this. Stop, my friend, not one of them dare trust themselves upon this bottom; they all have their creeds and disciplines to keep them from sinking. What, then, if an experiment should be made, and a fair trial of the adequacy of the Divine Book should be given; and whenever it fails of the promised end, let any other device be tried. But among all the experiments of this age and country, it is nowhere recorded that such a trial has been made, and failed. I am aware of all that can be said on the other side, and still I assert that no such an experiment and result are on record. And, moreover, I do not think it is likely that it shall ever be proved by actual experiment, that the New Testament, without a creed, is insufficient to preserve the unity, peace, and purity of any one congregation, or of those of any given district. But above all, let us have no more iron bedsteads, with or without wheels or knives.

EDITOR.

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LETTERS TO ENGLAND. - No. 3.

MR. J. WALLIS,

Dear Sir, - Having hastily and briefly sketched in my last epistle, the prominent boundaries of religious reformation, permit me to devote a letter or two to each of these three chapters which comprehend the whole burthen of our labours, as efficient and useful agents in the Messiah's kingdom.

Personal reformation does indeed include all reformation. A true and consistent Christian needs no reformation: he is the perfect work of God. The religious reformer, who is guided by the true light, never loses sight of this; and therefore, whether he labours to convert sinners or professed Christians, or to change religious institutions, he aims at that unit, Christian perfection.

In doing the work of a Christian preacher, he has in his heart and in his eye, a divine model, after which to mould and fashion those erring souls whom he would allure from the doleful ways of death, to the peaceful path that leads to God and heaven. He has three things in view in converting sinners; and these are his disposition, state, and character. These are all to be changed. The book of God, his own experience, and observation teach him that man is an unnatural being till he is converted to God. Adam while he was natural was beloved of his God; for nature is as pleasing to God as grace. The God of grace is the God of nature. But man continued not in nature; he rebelled and became unnatural, and, therefore, religion that was at first natural to man, has become supernatural.

The error of Atheism, Deism, and Libertinism is one and the same. They all suppose man to be in the state of nature; and ask, Where is the sin in obeying his natural instincts, passions, propensities! None at all, indeed, provided only they prove their assumption, that man is now found in the state of nature. But this assumption of theirs being a manifest falsehood, all their reasonings from it are false and deceitful. Where their premises true, virtue would consist in obeying one's inclinations and passions; but as it is, the more fully any one obeys his inclinations and passions, the farther he is from reason and truth.

Man is fallen from nature, and now is in preternatural circumstances, so far certainly as his intellectual and moral nature is considered; and he has no disposition to return to nature, nor to seek that which is spiritual or supernatural, till God seeks him. Unnatural Adam asks not for God till God says, "Adam, where art thou?" God has, then, instituted the means of reconciliation; and all his ministers to earth, whether they are angelic or human, are ministers of reconciliation, or of vengeance. "Mercy, however, rejoiceth against judgment;" and, therefore, the ministry of reconciliation first, and that of judgment afterwards.

The changing of the disposition has, in the divine economy, the priority of all other changes, whether of state or character; and to this the Christian preacher supremely directs his efforts; whether it is called change of heart, or will, or nature, or disposition. Heaven has made the first advance - "He first loved us." This must be revealed to the sinner. It must be proved, illustrated, and enforced upon his attention. The divine name, being, perfections, purposes, and wonderful works of grace must be clearly, fully, and faithfully laid before him, and he must be spoken to as a rational and responsible being. Theory is of no use here except to the preacher. In changing his disposition, MOTIVES, not speculations, are to be tendered to the sinner. God always works by suitable motives, moral means; and if we expect him to work by us, we must work with him.

Disposition is singular, and not plural, in the sense in which it is now contemplated. It is a bias, leaning, or inclination towards God. It may be strong or weak comparatively; but it is certainly such a leaning as were it transferred to a tree, would cause it to fall to the object to which it inclines. It is a fixed purpose to obey in all things the authority of God. The disposition of which we speak has, indeed, many counterfeits. Many awakened persons have a disposition to obey the will of God in some things which they deem essential to their salvation. But their own personal safety is the measure of their determination, or inclination, to obedience. These are not of that class of which we speak. The Christian disposition is a fixed purpose of universal obedience in every known and knowable divine requisition, whether for our own good, or that of others.

State must be distinguished from disposition, and it must be changed as well as the disposition. It imports the relation in which one's whole person stands to God and the universe. The Christian is in a justified, reconciled, adopted, sanctified, and saved state. While character is the work of time, a change of state is, or may be, the work of a moment. And while there may be a thousand degrees of comparative excellence in Christian character, or of conformity to its perfect model, there is no degree in justification, pardon, or adoption, more than there is in marriage, paternity, fraternity, or citizenship. As soon as Jesus said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee, go and sin no more," the state of the transgressor was changed. Paul's justification was an act of God's grace, through appointed means; but Paul's Christian character was the result of his own efforts. So it is in every other case.

Christian character is "the fruit of the Spirit," the result of disposition, - conformity to the new state. Now, proficiency in this is gradual and progressive. New motives sometimes suddenly create new dispositions. These fit the person for a change of state, which always is instantaneous. But these two co-operate in the formation of character; the perfection of which is the result of all the efforts of a life controlled by the revealed will of God.

The Christian is a justified person - one whose disposition is that of universal obedience, and whose character is an image of God's beloved Son. His heart is the residence of God's gracious Spirit, and his life is consecrated to the Lord. There is no one more honourable than such a personage; for God is his Father, Jesus the Lord his elder brother, and the Holy Spirit his constant guest; angels are his ministering attendants, heaven his inheritance, and the mansions of glory are his eternal home. Hence there is none on earth more noble, pure, holier, or happier than the Christian; and there will be none higher or more dignified in heaven than he.

To dig such heavenly statutes out of the quarry of corrupted and degraded nature, requires more than an earthly chisel, or the skilful hand of a human statuary. "It is God's own work, and it is marvellous in our eyes." But it is an effect of means ingeniously contrived, and skilfully applied. To apply the tools is not exclusively the office of their Maker; the sword of God's Spirit may be used by human hands, and skilfully wielded by a Timothy, a Titus, an Epaphras, or an Apollos, as well as by an Apostle or a Prophet. It is not called "the Sword of the Spirit" so much on account of him who uses it, as of him who fashioned it. Hence, Paul claimed to be the father of many children of God. The means he used was God's grace; still he claims to have begotten all his converts, and to be in truth their father. His converts, he admits, might have many instructors; but they could have but one father - viz. himself. By the gospel he had begotten them.

The gospel, then, must be preached as it was in the beginning, by all those who would reform, remould, or regenerate men. The same mint is essential to the same coin. The primitive mould will always develope the primitive character, for no other mint in the world can issue an English guinea, other than an English mint. So of the Christian and the Christian mint.

Having written so largely upon each of these, we rather allude to these distinctions than develope them in these remarks. We do this for the sake of directing the attention of our fellow-labourers to the philosophy of the Bible, and to the folly of attempting the conversion of sinners by a display of controversial, speculative, and dogmatic theology. The primitive preachers announced the wonderful works and design of heaven in sending the Messiah into the world, from which they deduce motives rationally and morally adapted to effect that change of disposition, state, and character which the gospel proposes as prerequisite to a glorious immortality.

May favour, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and Jesus Christ our divine Redeemer, be multiplied to you, and all the brethren with you!

Your fellow-servant in the kingdom of the Messiah,

A. CAMPBELL.

PROPOSED REFORMATION AMONG THE BAPTISTS.

(From the Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 1. N. 8.)

(From the following: manifesto and remarks, our readers will be able to form a pretty accurate judgment concerning the present state of the Particular Baptist denomination, within the boundaries of Virginia and Kentucky. To our minds, there appears not to be left amongst some of them, scarcely the "form of godliness, much less the power." Surely no person, having read and duly reflected upon the subject, as here exhibited, will be so blinded by prejudice, sectarianism, and love of party, as still to censure and condemn the men who, from the fear of God, in the integrity of their hearts, and in the midst of the most powerful opposition, dared to attempt a reformation from such corruption and disobedience, by insisting upon a return to primitive practices in the assemblies of the saints upon the first day of the week; and a more strict adherence to the principles of truth, justice, and love, in our intercourse with all our fellow men. Some of these professors, however, begin at length to see their error, and respecting which, brother Campbell expresses himself in the following manner:- ED)

It is with unfeigned pleasure that we observe, both East and West, numerous indications of the spirit of reform pervading, or about to pervade, the Baptist denomination. These indications are the more pleasing, inasmuch as they seem to be of a healthy cast. They contemplate not a change of theory, but a change of practice. We bid them God speed with all our heart, while they aim at bringing the churches up to the New Testament standard of piety and morality.

The following Manifesto of the need of reform, is copied out of The Cross and Baptist Journal of June 30, 1837. A Baptist writer, with permission of the conductors of the paper, on the sin of covetousness, or rather, on "covetousness, the sin of the Baptist denomination," among many other judicious remarks, thus speaks:-

"I come now to furnish some proofs of the existence of the sin of covetousness to a very sad extent in the Baptist denomination. And who apprehends for me a difficult task? I wish it was difficult. O! I would that such a charge upon the Baptist denomination could not be sustained! As it is, I must join all whose views accord with mine, in taking up a lamentation, and bewailing our sad condition. See how it looks in plain language. The Baptists, as a people, are covetous, - very covetous. Covetousness is a sin which Baptists indulge in largely, as a body. Covetousness is a sin which they suffer upon one another unrebuked. Yes, whilst we flatter ourselves that we hold to the truth in its purity, and every jot and tittle of sound doctrine, together with all the P's and Q's of strict gospel order, this prolific sin is nourished unconsciously in our bosoms, a concealed canker-worm which is gnawing our vitals continually, and threatens our extermination as a religious people.

"There is proof of this, both inferential and positive. Spiritual declension in individuals or churches is inferential proof of the existence of this sin. The love of many waxing cold is proof that this kind of iniquity abounds. Here is a scriptural and very comprehensive definition of spiritual declension in general. Love waxing cold. Because love is a New Testament term, big with meaning. Love is a fulfilling of all gospel law; love is the very essence of religion; love is the bond of Christian union; the germ of Christian growth; the substance of Christian excellence; the only distinguishing quality of God's people on earth; and the only visible evidence of genuine Christianity. Is not the want of love - the want of spirituality - the want of primitive Christian zeal - the want of brotherly kindness and charity, a general complaint among us? O yes; and the Scriptures make it no difficult matter in such cases to determine the cause. Sin lieth at the door. "He that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." Job 17:9. By a parity of reasoning, the hands that are defiled with covetousness shall be weaker and weaker. "The liberal soul shall be made fat." Proverbs 11:25. But the paralizing effects of covetousness will be proved by the complaint - "My leanness, my leanness: woe unto me." Isaiah 24:16.

"Many churches are 'ready to die;' and many only 'have a name to live whilst they are dead.' Yes, dead! Dead to all efficient sense of the nature and extent of Christian obligation - dead as to any appreciable influence in favour of vital piety - dead to all the incentives and encouragements to enlarged Christian effort, plodding along in a comfortless way where are no spiritual delights, nor any foretastes of joys to come; but many tokens of Gods displeasure. This is but the legitimate effects of causes adequate to produce them. Such facts are abundant proof of a habitually disobedient people; A SIN DEFILED COMPANY BEARING THE CHRISTIAN NAME. And if such an exterior evidences the hidden corrodings of one sin more than another, it is covetousness. It will be found often that worldly policy has warped even the form of godliness. Once or twice a month is as often as any sabbath sanctity can be allowed of, and then a peculiar relish is manifested for such services as require no sacrifices, and such perverted doctrines as favour the indulgence of this right-hand sin, covetousness. Must it not be inferred that covetousness is the besetting sin of churches of this cast, where there are no worlds of faith nor labours of love to prove the contrary? Whoever opens the Bible and reads the clear delineations of Christian character, and the examples of self-sacrificing zeal there exhibited, will find such an inference warrantable.

"There is one fact more with respect to this denominational sin, which should not be overlooked by one who would do justice to the subject. It is respecting its extent. It extends even to the ministry. A large number of Baptist ministers are more greedy of filthy lucre than they are of winning souls to Christ.* In proof of this, how few are they who are willing to risk all they have, and throw themselves upon the Lord and his people, while they preach with faithfulness and constancy the whole truth in its fulness and purity? It seems to me that this is what is required of Christ's ministers, even if they have to go like Latimer, barefooted.

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* Hence they deal in Slaves! - ED.

The present state of things among us require that a host of this stamp should be raised up to set things right."

The following resolutions passed the Baptist General Association of Virginia, at their late meeting in Richmond, June 3d:-

"Whereas it is to be apprehended that the low state of religion in Virginia is to be attributed to some extent to the practice of spending a large portion of the Lord's day in travelling and visiting, in worldly conversation, especially in the worldly spirit which too generally prevails - Therefore,

"Resolved, That all our churches be earnestly recommended to meet every Lord's day for the worship of God, and to seek a greater conformity to the spirit and word of Jesus Christ.

"Resolved, That it be recommended to all our brethren, to observe the fourth day of July as a day of public worship.

"Resolved, That it be affectionately recommended to our churches throughout the state, to observe the last Saturday in July as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer to God, for the purpose of making confession of our sins, and imploring his mercy."*

The KENTUCKY BAPTIST CONVENTION held at Georgetown, June 3d, 1837, was composed of only "sixteen delegates (including six ladies) from Scott county, and ten from other parts of the state"! Our friend, the Editor of the Baptist Banner, uses the following language as descriptive of the present state of the denomination in Kentucky:-

"We have in the state upwards of 500 churches, with but little over 200 ministers, and an aggregate of at least 40,000 members. We know of but seven churches that have preaching every Lord's day. A large majority of the churches have preaching but once a month. Even these 200 ministers, owing to the culpable neglect of the churches in most instances, do not give themselves wholly to the work. Most of them are poor men, and have families to support. Hence they have to toil all the week in their fields or in their shops, and on Lord's day preach to the churches that would suffer them to die in want, and their families be reduced to beggary, rather than give them of their "carnal things." This state of affairs can and ought to be speedily remedied. The whole time of every labourer is needed in the harvest of the Lord. It is in vain that we pray the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers into the harvest, when, with our own hands, we manacle those who would go, and who are longing to enter the field. We have no doubt that it was because we were unworthy of them, that so many of our preachers have fallen asleep in Jesus. Others have been compelled by penury to seek homes in other states farther West. Of those now amongst us, many of the heads are blossoming for the grave. A few more years and they must go the way of all the earth. Who are to succeed them? Look around, and how few are they that will stand in their pulpits, when the places that know them now shall know them no more for ever! And after treating as we have those servants whom the Lord has hitherto sent us, what reasonable expectations can we entertain that lie will ever send us others!"

It is not long since it would have been counted railing or reviling on our part to have urged these delinquencies in proof of the need of reformation. It gives us no pleasure to republish such an exposition of degeneracy in any portion of professing Christians; but real pleasure to see that the errors are perceived and

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* TO OBEY is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Sam. 15:22 and promise a remedy, is a question of immense importance.

confessed, and means of reformation proposed. But whether the means are adequate to the disease, the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist communities have for some twenty-five years past grown very fast. They have enjoyed what the great mass of society calls great prosperity. But highly superficial must be his knowledge of church history, who does not know that the most rapid growth and outward prosperity of a religious society is no evidence of purity, piety, or moral soundness. Nay, on the contrary, it often happens that the purity and piety of a denomination decline in the exact ratio of its increase in favour with the people, and in the number of its proselytes. Perhaps this is a law of society, rather than an accident in the present state of things. Undeniable, however, it is a fact hitherto, that those communities that have most flourished have been most corrupt. Let all the societies into which Christendom is at present divided be tested by the Book, and we opine there will be found no exception to this law. Beginning with Roman and Greek churches, those will be found most corrupt who have the must wealth, the most colleges, the most splendid temples, cathedrals, synagogues, and altars, and the most learned, eloquent, and powerful advocates. If true of individuals, how true of churches - how hardly shall they who have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven! Yet wealth, and colleges, and meeting-houses, and learning, and eloquence, and popularity are all good, desirable, and useful, when not abused. But it is almost as impossible for Christians not to abuse these, as it is for children to sport with flint and steel, and firearms in a magazine of powder, without detriment to themselves or others.

What is now rending the Presbyterian society but its great endowments of learning, eloquence, wealth, and popularity! and what the cause of the begun decline of Methodism, or of the worldly temper, covetousness, and general carnality of the Baptist denomination? Like the Laodicean church, they are all become rich, and learned, and have need of nothing; but, unlike that church, they are all zealous for proselyting, however lukewarm in their devotion, to the Christianity of the New Testament.

In one word, nothing will benefit any of these societies - I mean truly, permanently, and religiously benefit them, but an abandonment of all humanisms, and a cordial return to the original institution of Jesus Christ, as found in the New Testament; and a more practical display of all the Christian graces - more humility, spirituality, prayerfulness - more personal and family piety - more abstraction from the pursuits of worldly wealth and worldly honour; in one word, they must live more to God and less to themselves - more to eternity and less to time - more to heaven and less to earth than they now do, or than they have ever done.

Family religious education, and indeed family religion, are to my certain knowledge, and I believe have long been, most shamefully neglected amongst the Baptists. When the Cross and Baptist Journal has done justice to the sin of covetousness, I hope that the sin of family neglect, as respects moral culture and religious worship, will be laid open with equal faithfulness and affection.

Let our brethren, who call themselves reformers, be alarmed, and on their guard against this worldly temper, this carnal policy, which will as certainly blight and mildew their prospective harvest as it is now doing, and has always done those societies that neglect to seek for themselves and their children first of all the kingdom of God and his eternal righteousness.

A.C.

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NEWS FROM REFORMING BRETHREN AND CHURCHES.

We have received an interesting communication from a brother in the North, who has been one of the first to welcome with grateful joy, an attempt to restore the ancient gospel and order of things. The incidents of his religious career are not of a common character, but our limits will not allow us to give more than a brief sketch of his narrative. The spirit of inquiry seems to have been first awakened by the circumstance of his lending his sanction and assistance to what, in Babylonish phraseology, is termed the "christening" of his child. He was not only forcibly struck at the time by the manifest absurdity of the act, but his conscience stung him keenly for doing that in the name of the Lord, which the Lord had nowhere required. He began immediately to study the New Testament more carefully, and being convinced by this examination, that infant sprinkling is a tradition of men, which makes void an ordinance of God, he went without delay to the nearest Baptist church, and was immersed in the name of Jesus. His love to the Redeemer next constrained him to read the Word of God amongst his perishing fellow men, and to direct their attention to a crucified, risen, and exalted Saviour. In this practice he was at first encouraged by the Church of English Baptists to which he had united himself; but considerable delay having occurred between the application and the immersion of some individuals whom he had in this way been the means of persuading to obey the gospel, he began to reflect, that all who are qualified to proclaim publicly the glad tidings, have equal authority to baptize: "Go preach, baptizing," ran the command in the commission.

He followed out his convictions, and immersed forthwith those who confessed the Lord. This proceeding was very offensive to his brethren, who sent him a severe rebuke, and requested him to desist entirely from preaching the gospel in public. Another Baptist church disclaimed all fellowship with him, because his views of the first day of the week did not fully coincide with theirs, and because he refused to speak of the influence of the Spirit, and of the extent of the atonement, in any other than the language of the Word of God. Whilst in this isolated situation, a copy of the Millennial Harbinger fell into his hands, the contents of which filled him with surprise and gratitude. He is now united to a small church of New Testament Disciples, in Ayr, who cordially received him on the following simple statement: "I hold every command, and every example, left us in the New Testament, respecting the first day of the week, as binding upon me, but I dare not speak in God's name what God has not spoken, nor give to my conclusions an equal authority with God's Holy Word. In preaching the gospel, I confine myself as much as possible to the language of the Lord, and his holy Apostles, telling sinners "God has sent his Son to bless you, in turning every one of you from your iniquities; therefore, repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." He has found other brethren like-minded, at New Mills, Kilmarnock, and Sanquhar, who are manifesting much love and zeal, and who seem to have bright prospects.

The latter part of our friends epistle we prefer giving in his own words:- "We have not separated ourselves from the Scotch Baptists. The ancient order of things is gaining such rapid ground throughout the Connexion, that the old Elders who keep to the tradition of the Fathers, and who have long preached Calvinism, instead of the glad tidings of joy, blasting and withering the hopes of the self-abased and broken-hearted, are trembling for their "Shibboleth." Indeed, all that seems wanting in several of our large churches, is a leader who has courage enough to preach the ancient gospel, to produce an instantaneous convulsion, and a glorious reform. With respect to myself, I must with shame confess, that I have not preached the word with the faithfulness I ought, otherwise my labours would have been more blessed of the Lord. As I judge myself, so also I judge others. I value not a preacher reputed for eloquence, and knowledge of the Scriptures, whose preaching produces no divine effects; that leaven must be bad, which leavens not around it; that seed must be corrupt, which seldom or never germinates; that light must be darkness, which enlightens not those who surround it; and when salt has lost its savour, it is fit only for the dunghill.

Your brother, in Christ,

J.B. ROLLO."

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EXTRACT OF A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER.

Mollington, October, 1837.

I quite agree with you in considering Mr. Campbell's view of John 1:1,2, as a masterpiece on the subject. It struck us with astonishment on our first reading it. In reply to your queries, we have never been in connexion with the Scotch Baptists. Our number is about thirty, scattered over the country within fourteen miles from this place, and meet alternate first days at three different places. We have not regularly appointed elders or deacons, but, like you, greatly desire to have them. We were greatly surprised to learn, a fortnight ago, that a New Testament Church was formed in Wrexham, and a week ago, my brother, and brother-in-law, went there to make their acquaintance, and were much pleased with them. It seems they were induced by some writings of Mr. Campbell's, to withdraw from either the Scotch or Calvinistic Baptists there, by whom they have since been treated with much bitterness. They are about thirty in number, and are increasing.

S.D.

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During the last month, business has called us from home for about ten days: this will account to some of our brethren for the apparent neglect in our not having answered their letters. It is with pleasure we inform them, that a few persons have been collected together in London, who profess to have learned much from the pages of the Messenger, and who, for some time past, have met for worship on the first day of the week, on New Testament principles.

On the fifteenth, at ten o'clock in the morning, we met with two of these brethren in Smithfield-market, when we severally attempted to address hundreds of our fellow men, on the imperative nature of the ancient gospel. The greatest attention and decorum was manifested during the whole time, with earnest solicitations for us to come again the following Lord's day morning. Do you believe, inquired one, that every thing the Apostles taught and practised is essential to salvation? To which we replied, Does it accord with reason, common sense, or revelation, that the Son of God should die on the cross to make reconciliation for the guilty; rise from the dead to secure immortality for the sons of men; then choose twelve men who, at the hazard of their lives, were to go through the world to TEACH and PRACTICE non-essentials!! What, then, do you believe to be the EXTENT of the atonement of Christ? It reaches even to you, guilty as you are, if you will believe and obey him. See John 3:14-21,36; Mark 16:16. In the afternoon we met with these brethren for social worship, when two persons, who were previously known to them, confessed their faith in Jesus, and who, in the evening of the same day, were immersed into Jesus for the remission of sins, and were to be added to the church the following Lord's day. We recommend to these brethren A. Campbell's second letter to England. p. 236 C.M.

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Sixteen have been added to the church in Nottingham within the last three months; we are now eighty in number.

ED.

 

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