evangelical repentance, to baptism, prayer, praise and the commu

nion of saints.

The kingdom of nature has its constitution and laws, because God is its author and end. And for the same reason the Jewish commonwealth and the Christian church, or kingdom of Christ, have each a Divine constitution. The only question is, where shall it be found? The old constitution and the new are the central ideas of Judaism and Christianity, and are, therefore, to be found in the two volumes on which a hoary antiquity has imprinted the names of "The Old and New Testaments," or constitutions. True, this title was not prefixed, to the two collections of Jewish and Christian scriptures, by Divine authority; but by human expediency. These two constitutions, as set forth by Moses and by Paul, are couched in so few words that they might be written on the palms of any man's hands. One was written on two blocks of marble in ten precepts. The other, by Paul, is comprehended in four provisions.*Those are the eternal and immutable principles of Divine government, on the principle of both Law and GOSPEL, of justice and mercy. And these combining in Christianity give to it all its superlative power, excellency and glory.

The kingdom, or reign of grace, is, therefore, a constitutional kindom; having one head, who is Prophet, Priest and King-and, as king, is lawgiver of angels and of men. His church is, indeed, his great solicitude. Its interests, honor and happiness his chief glory. Hence it is a well defined dispensation of grace and glory to man. Its peculiar differential attribute is read by all men who read God's book. The Messiah himself, in a very trying hour, uttered it:-"MY KINGDOM," said he, "IS NOT OF THIS WORLD. This grand and paramount oracle must, before the tribunal of human reason and every man's individual conscience, forever settle this great and characteristic kingdom, or church, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Evident, then, it is—that the constitution of the kingdom of Christ contemplates, as citizens of that kingdom, enlightened, voluntary and spiritual persons, and none else. It makes provision for such and only such as are born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." And, therefore, only "to such as received him" did the Messiah grant the privilege of becoming, by adoption, the sons and heirs of God.

So spake David of his Son, the Messiah, "when in spirit he saw his glory," and spoke of him and his kingdom, Psalm cx. "A will

*Exodus xx. 1, 17; Hebrews viii. 10, 11, 12.

ing people"-volunteers-"in the day of thy power shall come to thee."

Before Calvin was born these words, "the day of thy power," indicated not the days of his abasement and weakness on earth; nor did they indicate a special influence, put forth by him, on the minds or hearts of some, withheld from others, to bring them to him; but, as we say of a friend, when arriving at majority, he is coming into power; so the coronation of Jesus as "Lord of all," as King of angels and of men, was, after the style of earth's princes, regarded as coming into power. Since his ascension to the throne of Jehovah, his Father, he has been in power, Lord of all—and since his coming into power willing millions have rallied round his banners and joyfully threw their honors at his feet.

When raised to the throne of the universe he received, not for himself but for his dispensation and bestowment, the promised "gift of the Holy Spirit;" and in pursuance thereof he shed forth the most glorious display of spiritual influence upon the Heralds of his kingdom; who, under plenary inspiration and the concomitant gifts of miraculous powers, went forth into the nations of the earth and inscribed the symbols of his glory and the monuments of his power, not on pillars of brass, nor on temples of magnificent structure, but on communities of regenerated men and womer, transparencies of heavenly light and love, adorned with righteousness, purity and truth; who, like illuminated towers on mountain tops, have ever since attracted the attention and commanded the admiration of the world. Such, then, were, and still are, the glories that adorn, and the trophies that decorate the sceptre of our liege sovereign, "THE PRINCE OF PEACE."

As head of the church his sword is spiritual, his law is spiritual, his reign is spiritual, his subjects and his kingdom are spiritual. They are not of this world. Such being the biblical doctrine and facts in this case, no national church, no political hierarchy, no church patronized, cherished, or ruled by the state can, by any possibility, be regarded as the church of the Redeemer of men. Such institutions are virtually, necessarily and forever sold to the god of this world. They are streets of Babylon the Great, enlarged and improved better lighted-better ventilated-better, garnished, but yet portions of the same city; inspired by the same spirit, and doomed to the same destruction.

It is remarkable, and worthy often to be stated and always remembered, that the constitution of any society-political, economical, moral, literary, or religious-is the reflected image of the

people that made it, or have adopted it, and who, of choice, delight to live under it. Hence the provisions for citizenship in every constitution are either carnal or spiritual-earthly or heavenly--according to the character and views of those who have sworn to maintain it.

This can be amply illustrated and, indeed, proved by the first, or old constitution, under which God himself placed the Jews. God is the author of three grand constitutions, besides many subordinate ones. These three grand constitutions are those of Nature, of Law and of Grace. The first is, with us, mundane; the second, is legal and carnal; the third, spiritual and eternal.

The Jews were a constitutional nation-designed for types and figures of a better and enduring nation. As we approach the spiritual through the natural, the eternal through the temporal, so God has lead us through the blood of Abraham to the faith of Abraham; through the letter to the Spirit; through the seen to the unseen; through the earthy to the heavenly. Hence arose, in all its glory, the Jewish nation under the dispensation of Moses and the law. To this I make but one allusion at present. The Jewish nation when Divinely constituted a holy nation, a kingdom of Priests, a peculiar people, were to be of one natural blood. Proselytes were added by faith, or by interest, and ultimately became with them one blood. Flesh, then, and not spirit, law and not grace, worldly and not spiritual interests were the bond of union, the centre of attraction and the national characteristics ot the Jewish people. They were, indeed, outwardly, or relatively, holy. They had a worldly holy place-worldly ordinances, a worldly heaven and a worldly spirit.

Spiritually minded men were amongst them as worldly minded men are amongst Christians. They were accidentally among them, but not essentially of them. These brief notices of their differential and characteristic peculiarities are now stated, not developed, merely to furnish material for one leading illustration of the burthen of this essay.

God gave the Jews a national and worldly constitution, and to the antitype the true church-a spiritual constitution. Theirs was written by the hand of God in marble; ours by the Spirit of God on the heart. Both are now written on parchment, to be read by all men. They are public documents, and, as such, we will use them.

Now, then, to the point of the present essay. The constitution of the typical nation--the laws--made provision for a people in the flesh. Hence it received all of one blood, and in virtue of fleshly lineage and descent. The constitution of the antitypical nation— the Christian church-makes provision for a people not of one blood, nor of one flesh, but of all nations and of all kindreds-in virtue of

faith and a spiritual birth. Thus, we see, as if written by a sunbeam, on a tablet of ebony, that in every institution the character of its subjects is the primary article in its magna charta, the first item in its fundamental stipulations.

The covenants of promise to Abraham, concerning his fleshly seed and the inheritance for them provided, are engrossed in the provisions of the covenant of circumcision. And, therefore, from this covenant the whole nation are called "THE CIRCUMCISION." It was necessary that every male descendant should, in virtue of the stipulations to Abraham, be circumcised the eighth day. The proper subjects of this covenant and of its seal, whether he was an idiot or a Solomon, whether he was sold into slavery, or whether he was free born, without respect to one moral or spiritual qualification or excellency, was a fit and proper subject of this singular and appropriate symbol of a fleshly covenant. Natural and not supernatural birth, flesh and not spirit, lineage and not faith, the blood of Abraham and not the grace of God, entitled every male descendant of Abraham, in all future time, while that institution was in force, to the privileges and the symbols of the Abrahamic and Jewish covenant. Ishmael as well as Isaac, Esau as well as Jacob, the sons of Leah as well as the sons of Rachel, Saul as well as David, and Judas as well as Nicodemus, were legally and equally, by covenanted rights and privileges, entitled to circumcision. And in that case, as well as in all others of a similar character, whatever the institution imparted and secured to one, it imparted and secured to all.

Circumcision in the family of Abraham was, therefore, coextensive with the whole male issue of the nation; and whatever it sealed to one it sealed to all. It was, therefore, truly a worldly, temporary and fleshly symbol, and brought into the Jewish communion alike the good and the bad. In one word, there was no world, no church, in Judea, in Samaria, or Galilee—in Palestine, or out of it. It was all church andall world, alike a worldly church and a churchly world. Its king was not only the bead of the nation, but also the Lord's anointed. And Abner, Joab and Ahab were as legally participants of circumcision and the Passover as were David and Josiah.

So true it is that Christianity and Judaism are essentially different institutions, and never to be confounded. And yet every corrupt form of the Christian religion necessarily tends to an assimilation of the Christian to the Jewish institution. It is most revolting to many orthodox ears to hear it affirmed, that the child of the most exemplary Christian in Christendom, as such, is not by nature any more to the church of Jesus Christ than the son or daughter of Nero, or Caligula, of Caiaphas, or of Pontius Pilate; and that a national church, or political hierarchy, is as far from the Christian kingdom as a Mahommedan mosque or a Jewish synagogue. Yet if the words of the Christian lawgiver are true and veritable, Nicodemus and Tiberius Cesar were equally distant from the kingdom of heaven, and alike in need of the Christian regeneration.

A. C.

FATALIS M.

THE doctrine of necessity evidently implies that the Bible has no claims upon man. For necessity itself, says the fatalist, is on account of the origin and preservation of all things. Hence two questions naturally occur; which, if affirmatively true, exhibit the weakness of the fatalist's theory. First, is there a God? Second, is the Bible a revelation from him? That man cannot originate an idea is an almost universally admitted truth. Words are the medium through which ideas are conveyed. Hence our ideas of things precede the names by which they are called. A writer first obtains ideas on the subject about which he intends writing, and then employs terms to express those ideas. Therefore, the title of a thing is to some extent a proof of its existence, for the latter can be without the former, but not the former without the latter. But a thing may be apparently multiplied; for example,a society may possess a certain number of silver dollars, and some one in this society may counterfeit and thus apparently increase the amount of money; this, however, is no proof that the former money was not, nor that it was not good money, but rather a corroboration of the contrary. For true coin exists prior to counterfeit.

Whence, then, originated the word God? Every age has used it. It is stamped in living characters upon the pages of even profane history. The name certainly could not be, had there not previously existed an idea concerning a Supreme Being, of which this word is the sign, for words are the signs of ideas. But the name of a thing implies its existence; hence there is a God.

Again; Polytheism has existed for many ages, and still prevails throughout the world. Greece and Rome, though famed for their orators, statesmen, philosophers, and even moralists, bowed in humble submission to dumb idols, and in poetical strains extolled to the very heavens Apollo, Jupiter, and Diana. Every cottage had under its roof a family idol, every palace a household god. The reputed progenitor of the Roman race, Eneas, is represented as protecting the gods of his adoration. The founder of Rome, Romulus, founds a city and then invents gods, whom its citizens worship. But as counterfeit is proof of true coin, so Polytheism is to some extent proof of the existence of but one God. For, as mankind become wiser and better, Polytheism decreases; and as they are more enlightened, their belief in the existence of God is corroborated. The genius of Socrates, though beset with heathenish darkness, led him to believe that one soul penetrated the entire universe. An Athenean poet represents man as living, moving, and having his being in God. But why did Socrates and Aretus entertain such views? Because their wisdom constrained them. Socrates, it is true, as history attests, was a Polytheist; but not an ultra one. Why not? Because he was wiser than those who were. Hence the knowledge of man may be such that Polytheism cannot exist: but when this is so, he believes more firmly in the existence of one true God. There is, therefore, but one God; and, consequently, to SERIES III-VOL VI.

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