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must; because it cannot be sustained by argument; because it has become obnoxious to all religious dissenters; because it is hated by all, sceptics and infidels ; because it is an outrage against the King of Kings; and especially because its overthrow is foretold aud dilineated by the pen of Inspiration.

It was overthrown in America by all the means named, except that of a predicted end. All these means are now conspiring against it in the Old World. It, therefore, seems to me most probable that the sword must be unsheathed before this PROTESTANT MAN OF SIN shall come to his end. He is a part of Magna Charta of Great Britain, and a change of so essential an item in that document is not to be expected but through a revolution.

That the three estates of that empire-King, Lords, and Commons —will, in full assembly met, sever the State from the Church, and demonstrate their conviction that "Christ's kingdom is not of this world," would be one of the most improbable political events that I could imagine. I do not, indeed, say, in this age of revolutions, that such an event is impossible; but I do say that it is superlatively improbable.

These downy, pampered Bishops, Archbishops, and Primates, feasting on a quarter of a million of dollars per annum, neither will nor can die easy in any way of dying we can imagine -naturally, politically, or ecclesiastically. They are, indeed, as I believe from Daniel and John, doomed to a violent end. But we must leave the event to future development and proceed.

I am not far from subscribing to the following views of John Wesley, which I quote from his "Gospel Banner," on this unnatural and monstrous union of Church and State :

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pouring the flood of wealth and honor on the Christian church, the clergy in particular, was the ten persecutions put together. From the productive of more evil to the church than all time that power, riches, and honor of all kinds, were heaped upon the Christians, vice of all kinds came in like a flood, both in the clergy and laity. From the time the Church and State, the kingdom of Christ and of the world, were so strangely and unnaturally blended together, Christianity and heathenism were so thoroughly incorporated with each other, that they will hardly ever be divided till Christ comes to reign on earth."

In Scotland, Presbyterianism in one form sits near the throne; but not being fed at such a sumptuous board, does not exhibit so much of the epicure as the prelatic brotherhood of England. Still the sword temporal and the sword spiritual are both employed by the " High Kirk o'Scotland," as the case may be, and have done good service in maintaining her high and royal position. She believes that Kings and Queens may, in a spiritual sense, yet become nursing fathers and mothers to the church, and yet feed her with royal dainties. She, therefore, perseveringly prays for the speedy arrival of that glorious age. She seems not yet to have learned that this promise began eighteen hundred years ago, when the Gentiles were brought into the church of Christ. Kings and Queens then and since have raised multitudes for the kingdom of the Messiah—not, indeed, intending it, but nevertheless effectually doing it.

But leaving the Church and State position of Great Britain, I must just advert for a moment to the condition of her labouring and effective classes. But this I must make the subject of another letter.

Your affectionate Father,

A. CAMPBEll.

EDUCATION. The true end of education is to unfold and direct aright our whole nature. The intellect was created not to receive passively a few words, dates, and facts, but to be active for the acquisition of truth. Education should inspire a profound love of truth, and teach the process of investigation.

FAMILY CULTURE.* CONVERSATIONS AT THE CARLTON HOUSE.-No. XXIV.

NEW TESTAMENT.

Olympas. Not merely for the sake of variety, but for your farther improvement in the first principles of the Christian institution, I have thought it expedient to intermit for a few lessons the book of Genesis, and to take a few readings in the New Testament. You will, therefore, turn over to the evangelical history, and read this morning the first chapter of Luke.

Thomas. Why not begin with Matthew, seeing he is placed at the beginning of the book?

Olympas. Matthew, indeed, it is agreed, is the oldest of the four evangelists. He wrote first, but he is not so full, nor so methodical as Luke, especially in the early incidents of the Christian history. Now as we wish to trace every thing with accuracy belonging to our holy religion, and to arrange in order and harmony the

* The letters from Europe, by A. Campbell, which originated in his visit to England during the year 1847, and which were regularly sent

to us by him for publication in this periodical,

where they have been read with so much inte

rest by our friends and subscribers, will terminate with the present volume. These letters have caused some delay in our publishing many other interesting articles sent by the same author for that purpose, but to which we shall now pay immediate attention. In the first place we shall give the concluding articles

on FAMILY CULTURE, or CONVERSATIONS AT THE CARLTON HOUSE. The author of these dialogues, having passed through the book of Genesis to the xxii. chapter inclusive, commences with the New Testament, or the gospel by Luke, which stands as the twenty-fourth article on Family Culture. By referring to our volumes for the years 1845-6 and 7, the whole may be read in their connection. Any of our new subscribers may be supplied with complete sets at least of 1846-7, and part of 1845, in numbers at 2s. 6d. the volume, direct from the Editor.-ED.

incidents, facts, and events found in the sacred biographers, and his views of the New Institution, I desire you to read Luke's preface, and to observe the reason which he offers by way of apology for his attempting the matter.

[Thomas having read the preface, Olympas proceeded.]

You will observe from this apology and dedication to Theophilus, that the Christian religion, its author, and its propagators, had even at this early period attracted much attention; and that the demand for information on the whole subject was so great as to

call for numerous accounts and narratives from the hands of those who were first converted to the faith. From Luke's account both of these

And as to

contemporaries and himself, we would expect from him a more copious and methodical history of the whole affairs of that day, than from any of his predecessors in the work. his competence to the task, and fidelity in executing it, the work itself, and the concurring voice of all antiquity, fully and satisfactorily avouch. Wricated in that language, as well as ting in Greece, and being better edumore conversant with the character than any of the other three elect of history among foreign nations, writers, his narrative has always been regarded, so far as the human character of the work is considered, as the most finished and instructive of them all, though in various particulars not so full as the testimonies of either Matthew or John.

It has another excellence that gives it superior claims to our attention at this time. Besides its being together with the book of the Acts of the Apostles, a concise and perspicuous narrative of all the great facts and events of the first sixty-three years of the gospel history, it affords us the greatest variety of facts and documents from which to deduce the doctrine of Christ in the inductive manner, which is a capital object of the examination which we are about

Olympas. From whom had he this information of the things most surely believed, Reuben?

Reuben. "From those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word."

to undertake. The spirit and tendency of the age is in favor of the inductive mode of communicating and acquiring knowledge on all subjects. In the Christian religion it has scarcely, if at all, been introduction. We purpose, then, making an effort Olympas. What, then, is the difto acquire the knowledge of the ference between the information redoctrine of Christ by a strictly in-ceived from Luke and the Apostles, ductive method of considering the Eliza? voluminous facts, precepts, and promises of the sacred writings of this Book of Life.

We shall, for the time being, seem to ourselves, as far as possible, mere learners, ignorant of all that we already know, and as seeking to acquire for the first time in our lives an understanding of Christ's religion. In attempting this we shall use all the terms, and only the terms found in the book, indicative of new facts, ideas, or institutions. A most minute analysis of the whole narrative may then be expected, and such allusions and references to the other memoirs of Jesus Christ and the Apostles as will make out in our minds a congruous, orderly, and comprehensive view of the whole matters of fact and of faith reported to us by the original witnesses and Apostles of Christ.

We shall endeavour to cultivate a very intimate acquaintance with every name of place or person, however remotely introduced or connected with the subject of these writings of course always noting those of the most interest and importance to the clear intelligence of the doctrine of Christ's religion.

These things premised, we shall now farther hear you read, Thomas, the 25 verses of the 1st chapter of Luke; and then we shall attend to the preamble.

(The verses being read, Olympas farther proceeded.)

Tell me, William, of what does Luke propose to write?

William. "A declaration or narrative of the things most surely believed" among the Christians.

Eliza. Luke did not first see and hear from the lips of the Messiah and others the things here reported, while the ear-witnesses and first ministers of the word did.

Olympas. In what attitude, Thomas, does this place Luke before us?

Thomas. In the same attitude as that which Moses held in the book of Genesis. Moses reported he had learned from indubitable authority. So does Luke.

Olympas. The prophet, then, utters new and original ideas directly from inspiration, whereas the historian faithfully records what he has learned. The sacred historians are, however, said to be divinely assisted in the matter of the fidelity of their work, as we shall hereafter enforce.

Thomas. We are at a loss to know who Theophilus was, to whom Luke addresses himself in this narrative.

Olympas. So have been our most learned expositors. Many have thought him to be a fictitious character, because the word literally indicates a friend of God. But others more rationally suppose him to have been a real person, because of the epithet of nobility accompanying the name-. Kratiste, (Most Excellent,) being prefixed by Paul to the Roman Governor Felix on two occasions, and once to Festus, as Luke himself narrates, Acts, ch. xxiii. xxiv. and xxv. All disciples are theophiloi; and to attach "Most Excellent" to one of them as indicative of his profession, would be a solecism in the New Testament. Theophilus was, then, some dignified personage in Greece, most probably converted by Luke, to

whom he addresses both this book and that of the Acts of the Apostles. What appears to have been the design of this historian in this narrative, William ?

William. That Theophilus might know the certainty of those things in which he had been instructed.

Olympas. We may then expect a clear, a full, and well documented narrative of the things believed so confidently by the first Christians. Where does the narrative commence, Eliza ?

son Herod Agrippa, and his greatgrand-son Herod Agrippa the King. In all, five.

Olympas. I once told you from Calmet, Josephus, and others, Reuben, the superlative vices of this family of Herods Can you recite them ? Reuden. Herod the Great, yon said, was a great monster. He married ten wives-murdered his eldest son Antipater-murdered his second wife, Ariamne, and her two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus-murdered the innocents at Bethlehem,

Eliza. In the 5th verse, with the for the sake of murdering the Messiah. reign of Herod.

Olympas. What Herod was this, Thomas?

Thomas. Herod the Great, as Josephus calls him; or Herod the King of Judea.

Olympas. How many Herods are mentioned in the New Testament history?

Thomas. I am not sure that I know them all; but in reading Josephus I observe several persons of the same designations with those mentioned in the New Testament. Herod the Great, a proselyte to the Jews' religion, but an Idumean by birth, obtained from the Roman people the government of Judea about 36 years before the birth of the Messiah. He is called Herod the Great by way of contrast with the Herods. He was the father of Herod Philip, and Herod Antipas, who married his brother Philip's wife during his life-time. By his son Aristobulus he had the grand-son Herod Agrippa, the same who murdered the Apostle James, the brother of John, This Herod Agrippa was the father of that King Agrippa, brother of Queen Bernice, before whom Paul made his defence, as written Acts xxvi.

Olympas. Can you, Eliza, enumerate all the Herods mentioned in the New Testament.

Eliza, I will try, sir. Herod the Great and his two sons; Herod Philip, and Herod Antipas, his grand

His son Herod Antipas murdered John the Baptist. His grand-son Herod Agrippa murdered James the Apostle, and machinated the destruction of Peter, but fortunately died suddenly at Cesarea.

Olympas. They were certainly a bloody race. How long did Herod the Great reign over Judea, and who succeeded him, William ?

William. He reigned seven and thirty years, and was succeeded by Archelaus his son, who reigned only nine years.

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Olympas. After your introduction to the family of the Herods, we shall proceed to other matters in the passage, after a single remark on the prediction of Jacob-"The sceptre," said he, "was not to depart from Judah till Shiloh came.' Herod the Idumean was the first prince of foreign blood that sat on the throne of David. Though a proselyte to the Jews' religion, he had nothing in common with the royal family of Judah. Still, under his reign, one year before its close, the Shiloh appeared and verified the prediction of his father Jacob

"Unto Shiloh the gathering of the people has been." What other historical facts are related in the portion read, James, Susan, and William ?

James. Zacharias was a Priest in the days of Herod, and Elizabeth his wife was also a Levite, of the daughters of Aaron. He was of Abijah.

persons.

William. But they had no child, | joy, or joyful, he is known to be reand were both far advanced in years. plete with the effects of life, love, joy, Susan. They were both righteous &c. Now where the Spirit of God is felt or is present, it is by such manifestations as these. His gracious effects are there. They are intelligence or light, love, joy, peace, holiness. The Holy Spirit thus replenished the infant Harbinger.

Thomas. According to this representation a "righteous man" is one that walks in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.

James. While ministering in the Priest's office it became his lot to burn incense, and he did it.

Susan. "And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing at the right side of the altar of incense." William. His appearance, however, much disconcerted the good man. The angel perceiving this, bade him lay aside his fear, and intimated to him that he should have a son in his old days who was to be "great in the sight of the Lord."

Olympas Notice, my dear children, this phrase, "great in the sight of the Lord." This is a very different sort of greatness from that which is called by that name in the common acceptation of mankind. Many men have been great in the sight of men, who have been exceedingly little in the sight of God.

William. He was to be to his parents a source of joy and gladness, and many were to rejoice at his birth. He was to be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb.

James. What is this Holy Spirit? Olympas. It is called "the Spirit of God," "the Spirit of Holiness." It is the author of our holiness.

Susan. What is holiness? Olympas. It is sanctification separation to God-or piety. Any thing devoted or set apart to God, is, in scripture language, holy. God himself is holy; therefore his Spirit is the Spirit of Holiness.

William. I know not how any one could be filled with it. The infant John was filled with it. What does that mean? Olympas. When a person is said to be full of life, full of love, full of

Reuben. But was it not extraordinary that an infant child should be so?

Olympas. It was, indeed, extraordinary; and therefore John was an extraordinary person all his life. Susan. Are any children now filled with the Holy Spirit ?

Olympas. Not as John was. But all those children who believe in the Lord and who obey him, do enjoy in their hearts the Spirit of God. And sometimes they may be said to be filled with the Holy Spirit, because they have peace with God, and the love of God is in them, and they rejoice in his salvation. Then they sing, and pray, and rejoice in the Lord.

What proofs are given of John's inspiration and sanctification, William ?

William. I am not sure that I understand this word inspiration. It is indeed said of John that he should turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, and go before him in the spirit of Elias.

Eliza. What means this spirit and power of Elias ?

Olympas. What say you Thomas? Thomas. Elias, or Elijah, was a bold, zealous, and holy Prophet, who preached righteousness and reproved iniquity with great promptness and decision.

Olympas. When did he flourish ?

Thomas. In the days of Ahab king of Israel, about 910 years before Christ. He reproved Ahab for his impiety and idolatry, and boldly opposed, and exterminated the false prophets of his day. He was finally translated to heaven, and was in this signal manner approved of God.

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