which is divine? We may not, with impunity, add to the wisdom and authority of God, in his plan of salvation. Let the true gospel be preached and practiced, and all human pledges will become nonentities: for the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world, expecting the blessed hope, namely, the appearing of the glory of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. tion, we are unable to discover. We do not We must now briefly notice the communication of our ardent and zealous friend, who signs himself, "A Learner in the School of Christ." The words begotten and born, in our language, are expressive of two very different states of being. We are informed by the learned, that the Greek language contains only PROPHETIC DEPARTMENT. one word to express both these states. The Apostle James says, "Of his own will begat he us by (or with) the word of truth." In this process the heart of the sinner is changed, and his views are altered: he has a living faith, is warm in love, and quickened in hope. In this condition the sinner anxiously inquires what he must do to be saved? Or, if he be further advanced in knowledge, he exclaims, See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized ?" Or it may be that his pride, stubbornness of mind, or ignorance in what way to obtain the knowledge of salvation in the remission of sins, renders it necessary to exhort, in the most pointed manner, Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord." This divine process humbles the sinner, whether he be rich or poor, learned or unlearned. Nor, indeed, can one boast against another, of having more extended and clearer Christian experience than his associate, inasmuch as they are all pardoned in the same way: delivered from the power of darkness, they are translated into the kingdom COMING OF THE LORD-NO. VIII. WHATEVER the different theories of the coming of the Lord may be, all concur in the opinion that it is to be an awfully grand and glorious event. To Christ's party, a day of gladness— a joyful and triumphant time: to the opposing party, a day of terror and alarm-a day of darkness, an era of vengeance and destruction. of God's dear Son. But our worthy "Learner in the School of We are glad to see that our brethren are becoming less imaginative and more rational on the subject; that such of them as too greedily drank in the notions of Winchester, E. Smith, and the bold literalists, which in all ages and countries have usually terminated in such schemes as Mahometanism, Irvingism, Mormonism, or Materialism, have abandoned or are abandoning those romantic and visionary notions and schemes of interpretation which have, more or less, appeared in every century since the age of Justin Martyr till now. Christ," seems to think that there was some difference between the baptized church at CoThere is still, however, among some losse, and those whom he terms believers in general! In what department of the primitive of us too much emphasis placed on the school, or in what part of the lesson book pro- importance of the restoration of the vided for the scholars, he learned this distinc-unconverted Jews to their own land. Some seem to regard a restoration of Israel according to the flesh, to the land of Judea, not merely as a consummation most devoutly to be wished, but as the consummation of the predictions of the Prophets. It becomes us not to question, at this time, the return of the Jews to Palestine. Such an event is, to a certain extent, probable. But were it to take place tomorrow, it would not fulfil the prophecies of the restoration of Israel. The xith to the Romans opens brighter scenes to our vision. A thorough conversion and restoration of Israel to the rank of being once more the people of God in common with the Gentiles-a restoration of them to "their own olive tree," to a covenant relation to God, in virtue of the Messiah's triumph, is the burthen of the prophecy. That the return of Israel to Canaan is not a matter in which the Christian church is much interested, any more than the Jews themselves, we infer from the following considerations and facts: 1. The return or restoration of Israel to Canaan, is neither promised nor intimated in any form in the whole New Testament. 2. Unless their ancient temple and religion should be restored, and the ancient wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles were to be rebuilt, we can discover no great blessing that it could be to the present Jews to take possession of the desolations of many generations, the ruined and dilapidated cities, and the poor impoverished valleys and rocky eminences of Judea. Besides, such blessings as the land of Canaan contained in its best days, so far from being any part of the New Covenant promise, they are rather contrary to its genius and design. What have rich hills and valleys, floods of wine and oil, rivers of milk and honey, to do with the new covenant with the house of Israel! It would then be true that there is Jew and Greek in the king dom of God and of Christ- -a state of things no where contemplated; nay, rather, every where discountenanced in the New Testament. 3. Again, if returned to their own land in the style of some of the interpreters, they must have a government and national privileges of their own-a new monarchy or theocracy, or the Lord Messiah in person. David was to be their king politically, when a restored people. Are we Gentiles prepared for this? Have we not proved already that he will never revisit the earth till the last day of all time? And were he to come in person as the Son of David, to reign in Jerusalem over the Jews, would we think the Gentiles were at all blessed by such an event? Would we then be "all one in Christ Jesus," as Paul has taught us? 66 4. But, in the fourth place, we are taught to expect their conversion to the Lord to occur rather in their dispersion, than when seated in their own land: for it is through the mercy of the Gentiles that they are hereafter to obtain mercy: for, says Paul in this chapter, as you in time past have not believed, yet now have obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not obtained mercy, that through your mercy they also obtain mercy." may Does not this indicate that the Jews are to be converted through the interposition of the Gentiles? Again, says Paul, "I would not have you ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part has happened to Israel till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in ; and so all Israel shall be saved;" for "out of Zion shall come the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." The passage now quoted from Isaiah lix. 20, 21, is translated by Paul neither according to the Hebrew nor the Greek of the commonly received texts. According to the Hebrew it reads, com. ver. "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that But turn transgression in Jacob." according to the Septuagint it reads, "For the sake of Zion the Deliverer will come and turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Paul follows the latter rather than the former, yet makes the Redeemer come not to, but out of Zion. Well, we reconcile them thus: He was to come out of Zion (the gospel church,) and to Zion (the old covenanted people)—and thus receive again such of the Jews as turn to him; for in his providences and by his Spirit "he will take away their sins" according to an ancient covenant, a specification of which we have, Hosea iii. 3, 4, "For the children of Israel shall continue many days without a king, and without a chief, and without a sacrifice, and without an altar, and without a priesthood, and without manifestations; and afterwards the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David (the beloved) their king, and will be amazed at the Lord and his goodness in the last days." Put these predic their adoption to be a portion of God's heritage is one. This is again farther intimated in another promise still more plain, because spoken in the New Testament. Jesus says by Luke, "The Jews shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Were this the city merely, and not the people that are trodden down, it would be diffcult to reconcile it with the facts of history ancient and modern. But that the people, the commonwealth of Israel, has been so trodden down, all the world knows and attests. But the close of this period shall come : for blindness in part, has happened to Israel (only) until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and then "all Israel shall be saved." But yet there is room for farther light. A. CAMPBELL. NO. I. tions from Isaiah lix. and Hosea iii. INQUIRIES OF A WESLEYAN. together, with the words of Paul, Rom. xi. 23. "And even they (the Jews) when they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in (to their own olive tree :) for God is able to graft them in again." This fully intimates their conversion. It is still more clear in the original than in the common version. It is ean, when, (and not ei, if,) sometimes an adverb of time, and not a conjunction. Many examples can be given, such as 1 John iii. 2, "When he shall appear," not "if he shall appear," &c. But the common version if implies this; for the connectionthe promise of a Redeemer, turning away ungodliness from Jacob, and promising the taking away of their sins nationally indicates their general conversion. "And so all Israel shall be saved" is Paul's own construction of it. I believe Paul, and wait for the restoration of all Israel to their covenanted rights, amongst which It is now about two years since one of the most eminent ministers living made the announcement that Christianity had come to a halt, and that so far as his information extended, (and few, if any, possess the means of more extended information) not one even of the most popular and influential religious communities could be stated, on a general review of its proceedings, to be making any progress in either the old world or the new. And, indeed, it is now becoming a matter of general observation, that the prevailing forms of modern Christianity are visibly losing their hold upon the public mind, and are not now looked upon with that extent of veneration and regard which they once received from large masses of the community. The impression is extending, that the New Testament contains somewhere within its pages the prevalence of true religion among mankind; and while I believe that the purest verbal exhibition of its principles will only make our inconsistency and hypocrisy the more manifest, and the ultimate result the more contemptible, should we fail thus to exemplify its holy nature, yet would I not be understood as depreciating in any degree the value, the excellence, and the efficacy of the divine word. I hold its manifestation to be necessary, indispensable, a sine qua non in the most absolute sense of the Our object, in the following pages, is, to explore, not the querile mum-term, in every case of Christian conmeries of the middle ages, but the original apostolical Christianity; the most noble, vigorous, and Godlike subject furnished by the history of the world we live in. version. And there are many facts which would appear to indicate at present, that if that word be purely, clearly, and consistently exhibited, it will be very signally distinguished and honored by its divine author. As my connection with Methodism is now dissolved, it may not be out of place to state the light in which I regard it. Among other matters of interest, we have investigated the law of moral influence, and shown its connection with the nature, precepts, constitution, and progress of Christianity. We have conducted the inquiry as an in- And first, I highly esteem the chavestigation of facts, and have endea-racter, zeal, learning, and disinterested voured to combine, with an implicit deference to a divine authority, those inductive principles which have led to such unexceptionable results in other departments of science. And we have arrived at the conclusion, that the prevailing forms of modern Christianity are signally deficient in those attributes that constitute a great, a universal, and progressive religion; and that nothing short of a most violently miraculous proceeding, could force their several systems throughout the world. One important fact appears to be clearly elicited by this inquiry, and that is, the supreme adaptation of the New Testament constitution of Christianity to the entire physical, intellectual, and moral constitution of man. Yet while I have endeavoured to urge with all the clearness and earnestness of which I am capable, the necessity of a holy, Godlike, and heavenly minded course of action on the part of those that profess to promote integrity of its founder. I believe the work he originated was indeed a work of God and the greatest work that had been wrought since the reformation. I believe that those who connected themselves with it, placed themselves in the way of receiving some of the greatest blessings that God was then communicating to the human race. It was Methodism that first broke through that spirit of ministerial exclusion which, ever since the Reformation, had been the bane of Christianity, and had kept it mentally and morally in a state of infantile tutelage and dependence. And considering the time and circumstances under which it rose, and the individuals who co-operated for its formation, I consider it to have been a most wonderful and glorious work. Still it was not perfect. A work originating with men high church in principle, and who in many important points connected with civil and religious liberty, 66 saw men as trees claring the professor who is so un- EVERY religious system has a direct and reflex influence upon its subjects.—that it will leave the Lord's house To expect the contrary would be like expecting to see a living body without a spirit; for, as the spirit is life to the body, so is influence to a system. A man from various motives may profess a system, but except he be under its influence, he cannot be regarded as a true subject; and it is as impossible for him to reflect it, as it is for the moon the rays of the sun without receiving them. Every system has a tendency to form the character of the subject to its own likeness. By the character of the system, then, we may learn what should be the character of the subject. What, then, should be the character of the subject under the direct influence of the Christian religion? Does it teach its subjects that they may neglect the duties of life? Christianity has no resemblance to the traditions of the Jewish elders, which taught children to dishonor their parents, Matt. xv. It teaches in harmony with nature, and lays us under greater obligations to fulfil the duties of life, than any previous dispensation; de and people? Habits long continued and deeply impressed on the mind, are strong as nature in the breast. This shows how much the eternal destiny of the man depends upon the forming of right and proper habits in the child. The passage heading these remarks declares it is all with the parent or trainer of the child, whether the man walk in the way he should or not. To see parents professing Christianity, instead of training their children to assemble with the people of God, leaving them carelessly at home, a prey to every influence which may come in their way, is to behold them periling their salvation, and unable themselves to reflect Christianity to those by whom they are surrounded. The professors of Christianity are like the sun's reflections, the more intense the nearer they approach the source of their influence. A man's family being nearest him, if he reflect Christianity, they should feel its influence first; then his neighbours, and those with whom he comes in contact. And the result according |