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origin; not discovered by the human mind; they did not write or speak by their own suggestion, but as truth was brought to them by God. They spake as they were carried along by an influence from above. They were no more self-moved than a vessel at sea is that is impelled by the wind. They taught what they received from God; hence the Word should be read with reverence, for it contains the thoughts, will, and mind of the great Eternal. The Psalmist loved this inheritance. He loved no other so well. He loved the Word for its purity, contents, and influence upon the heart and life. He could say, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." The godly show their love to the Word by diligently reading it, frequently meditating upon it, hiding it in their heart, talking of it, and by following its heavenly counsels. The Psalmist looked upon the Word as his land of inheritance, and his love to it would make him defend it, if need be. His conduct was wise in cultivating such a fervent attachment to the word of God, for it was pleasing to God, promoted his highest happiness, and brought him into close communion with the great Source of all good. He has never regretted it. He sees the wisdom of his conduct in the light of heaven. Men often look at their inheritance. And if we have taken the word of God as our inheritance, we shall often look into it with deep interest, and make it a subject of daily meditation. 'Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever." Many godly souls have done the same as the Psalmist did, and we hope their number is increasing as the precious volume becomes better known. Have you done this?

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They are the rejoicing of my heart." Many never look into the Bible for happiness, they think that to look too often into this would make them melancholy, and unfit them to enjoy the pleasures of life; but good men do not think so. They believe that there is no book in the world so adapted to make them happy as the word of God, for

here they find sources of enjoyment that are pure, abundant, and eternal. This gives joy to the heart under a sense of sin, by revealing an almighty, unchangeable, and willing Saviour. When the arrow of truth pierces the soul, and makes the sinner feel his guilt, danger, and misery, he finds relief in the Word which testifies of Him who can save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. This inspires hope of divine forgiveness, the removal of all sin, acceptance in the Beloved. Here he reads, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare I say at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." These wonderful words contain a full fountain of consolation to all who feel the burden of sin, and their pressing need of mercy. There is hope for them in the precious blood of the Lamb of God. The Apostle shows in these words how it is that the exercise of mercy to the sinner can be reconciled with the justice of God, and the demands of His law. He forgives upon the ground of the propitiatory sacrifice offered by His Son. He will save all who exercise a true faith in His blood.

The Scriptures rejoice the heart in the day of affliction, for they show their nature, design, and issue, and encourage the hope of a happy future. They are paternal chastisements, they are intended for our good, and end in everlasting glory. They inform us that

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our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The Apostle here sets in beautiful contrast the trials of life and the glories of heaven; and shows that sanctified trials tend to meeten us for our heavenly inheritance. The afflictions of time are light and short, but the glory of heaven, to which they tend, is eternal and inconceivable. And they rejoice the heart in the dark night of temptation,

in the day of discouragement, and in the valley of death. They tell the tempted believer of Him who can make a way for his escape; they tell the tried servant of the Lord that his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord; and they tell the dying saint that absent from the body he shall be present with the Lord. The Scriptures rejoice the heart of faithful ministers, pious parents, Sabbath-school teachers, weeping penitents, returning backsliders, and all believers in Jesus, by giving hope suited to the experience of each and of all. This map rejoices the heart of the pilgrim to the promised land. This chart rejoices the heart of the Christian mariner, as he navigates the sea of life to the port of eternal rest. This sword of the Spirit rejoices the heart of the soldier of the cross, as he fights the good fight of faith. Hence the way to increase the happiness of the world is to make the Word known. How great the folly of those who neglect this inheritance. How great the love which gave us such a gift as the Bible. "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my heart." H. H.

CH URCHES OF CHRIST. "The churches of Christ salute you."-ROM. xvi. 16.

THE word rendered church in the New Testament, in its application to Christians, is generally acknowledged by attentive readers of the sacred Scriptures to have two principal meanings.

In the first of these it includes the whole body of the redeemed, as where Paul says, "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it,-to present it to himself, a glorious church." Here, it embraces the whole number of those who shall partake of the blessings of the Gospel salvation. So also where it is said, "He is the Head of the body, the church." And, "We are come to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven;" i.e., all that are born of God, enrolled in the records above. Every true believer

belongs to this church. All the saved are members of this community.

The other sense in which the word is used is related to this, but to be distinguished from it; i.e., it is applied to every distinct society of professed be lievers in Christ, as they are to be the visible parts of the one great invisible whole. Hence we read of the church at Jerusalem, the church at Rome, the church at Ephesus, the church in the house of Philemon. Where there are several societies of this nature in a province or country, the plural form is used, as, 16 The churches in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee." "The churches of Galatia." "The churches of Asia." So here, "The churches of Christ salute you." Thus we are taught that every society of professed believers in one place was a Christian church, whether it was formed in a city, a town, or a village, or whether it included members from places around, at a convenient distance for meeting together for Christian communion.

It will not, we trust, be uninteresting to our readers, as we are sure the subject is worthy of their regard, if we point out, as briefly and clearly as we can, on what principles and for what purposes these churches of Christ are constituted. They are to be distinguished from the world by their connexion with Christ, and their constant regard to Him.

1. The profession of the members is, that they are believers in Christ, and are looking to Him for their salvation. Each one should have a real spiritual connexion with Christ. As He is the great centre of the Christian system, "the Sun of Righteousness," so the members should all derive their light and heat from Him. As in His person and work as the Incarnate God, He is the foundation on which the whole church is to rest, so every member of a church of Christ should be building for eternity on this foundation.

As faith is the great principle which unites the soul to the Saviour, so the mem bers of a church of Christ are to make profession of this faith in His name.

"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Hence we find, that wherever the apostles and evangelists preached the Gospel, there those who believed in the Saviour were united in Christian fellowship, simply as believers in the same Redeemer, by which they became brethren in Christ Jesus. We do not find any such anomaly in the New Testament, as for persons to be believers in Christ, and not uniting with fellow Christians in the place or the vicinity in which they resided. They were all required to profess their faith in Him, and to be united in fellowship one with another.

2. Churches of Christ must be subject to the authority, and be governed by the will of Christ. He is the one Lord and King in Zion, and all others that claim authority over them are usurpers, and are not to be owned by His churches. If the Pope of Rome claims to rule over them, they say, "No; we have no king but Jesus. If civil governors wish to impose laws upon them they say, “No; in all our spiritual concerns we bow to no authority but that of Christ." If any ecclesiastical body desires to rule them, they say, "No; one is our master, even Christ, and all we are brethren. Our allegiance is due to Christ alone. We take His word as our guide. We admit to fellowship those that we have reason to think that Christ has received. We would observe the ordinances as He has appointed them. We would maintain the discipline of the church according to the directions of His word. We would seek in all things that He may be glorified."

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death, viz. :-the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, which can only be suitably observed in these churches of Christ. It is designed for believers in Him. He is to meet them at His table, and they are to receive the elements as memorials of His love. This was His dying command, "Do this in remembrance of me." There Christians are to meet as one in Him, and one with each other, " eating of one bread, and drinking of one cup." They are to appear as children of the same family, sitting at the same table, partaking of the same provision, blest with the presence and love of the same Saviour. This spirit should be cherished and promoted in all their sacred social engagements.

4. Churches of Christ are to maintain His truth and extend His cause in the world. The truth, as clearly revealed in the Gospel, is to be believed, loved, and preserved in all the churches of Christ. They are founded not on philosophynot on the discoveries of science-not on the varying opinions of men, but on the unchanging verities of the word of God. The great truths relating to the glorious person of their Redeemer, as

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Emmanuel, God with us," His perfect righteousness-His atoning bloodthe eternal love of the Father-the perfect work of the Mediator — the effectual grace of the Divine Spirit, with all the great principles and precepts connected with these discoveries. These are the life-blood of the churches; they cannot live without them; they cannot thrive if these are slighted. They are ever to be conservative of them, to maintain them thongh opposed by earth and hell, to "strive earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." They are to seek to extend the knowledge of them, and to try to bring others to an acquaintance with them. By holy zeal for Christ and His cause, the increase as well as the edification of the church is to be sought.

5. As churches of Christ, He is to be their model. One great aim of the individual Christian, when he has received the Saviour, is to be, that he

may grow in likeness to Him; so, in their mutual connexion as churches of Christ, their aim should be to assist one another in attaining more of the likeness of Christ. They should strive to promote in each other the spirit of humility and love, the spirit of kindness, candour, forbearance, forgiveness, holy zeal, devotion, truth, and faithfulness as manifested by their Lord. The mind that was in Christ should appear in His churches. They should be as "living epistles of Christ, known and read of all." If there is contention in the world, there should be peace and harmony in the churches of Christ. If there is pride, ambition, self-will, outside the churches, there should be humility, self-sacrifice, and mutual improvement within. These things would show that Christ was reigning in His churches, and that the power of His prevailing there; that His not bear His name in vain. When the churches of Christ exhibit more resemblance to their Lord, they will be greater blessings in the world. They should bear His image, and His mark and superscription on their foreheads, in the forefront of their characters, not for ostentation, but for the honour of their Lord, and for the good of those around them.

grace was people did

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6. Churches of Christ should have sympathy one with another. The churches of Christ salute you." Send kind and Christian salntations. Those churches which were formed where the Apostle was travelling and preaching, sent salutations to the church of Rome. The diversity of names, and nations, and party distinctions, destroys much of this amongst Christians now. Those of one name, in many instances, have but little sympathy with those of another. But every church of Christ, by whatever name distinguished, or whatever the outward circumstances of its members, if it holds the Head, and consists of professed believers in Christ, taking His word as its rule, and aiming at His glory, should be recognized and regarded by other churches in the spirit

of Christian sympathy and kindness. We should own all, and pray for all, "in every place, that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; both theirs and ours." Most fervently should we say, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.” If some of them differ from us on minor points, they have quite as much right to think for themselves as we have, and quite as much liberty to act according to their convictions. The same liberty we claim for ourselves, we should most willingly allow to others. We should. give the right hand of fellowship, so far as we have opportunity, to all the followers of our Lord.

7. Churches of Christ on earth should be nurseries for the church in heaven. The Saviour has designed that His churches here should be something like training schools, in which His people are to be fitted and fashioned for what He designs them to be in the world above. If the followers of Christ are all to be presented at last as one glorious church before their Lord, then every department of that church on earth should be so conducted, as to be preparing its members for the glory to be attained at last. If here they are to have communion with their Lord and one another in divine ordinances, it is to fit them for the nobler communion of the church above. If here their faith is to be aided and strengthened by the means of divine grace, it is to raise them towards that'state where faith shall be turned into sight, and hope into everlasting enjoyment. Here they are planted in the house of the Lord, to flourish in the courts of their God, that they may be advancing towards the state where the "spirits of just men are made perfect;" and thus they are at last to appear above in the " general assembly and church of the first-born." Their engagements in the churches on earth should be to) them as earnests and foretastes of the employments and enjoyments of the church in heaven.

From this view of the churches of Christ

1. We might observe, how simple and beautiful, yet how sublime and important, are the institutions of the Redeemer. How different to the cumbersome machinery of men! Societies of professed followers of Christ to attend His ordinances, to promote His cause and glory, and their own mutual improvement, with their pastors as spiritual instructors and guides, and their deacons to attend to their secular affairs-voluntarily sustained in conformity with Christian truth, and in the exercise of Christian love. How suitable to our social state, and to the exercise of the social principle, as sanctified by the grace of the Redeemer. Yet how sublime their object and design, to maintain and extend the cause of Christ in the world, and to aid His servants in their preparation for the world above. How happily might these great objects be promoted by such societies if unitedly they went forward in seeking each other's good, and the glory of their common Lord, in the full exercise of the spirit of the Gospel. What a power, in dependence on Christ, would they be in this fallen world.

2. We may observe the duty and the privilege of belonging to one of the churches of Christ. If they are institutions of the Redeemer, and nothing we apprehend can be clearer from His word; and if it is His will that His followers should be thus connected together in bonds of Christian fellowship, for great spiritual purposes, then it must be obligatory on every Christian to seek to enter into such a connexion. If one may stand aloof, and be blameless, so may another, and another; and if Christians generally were to act in the same manner, Christ would have no churches in the world, and no visible cause to be sustained on earth. Let every one that knows the Saviour's grace, and loves His name, realise the obligation of appearing for Him, and entering into visible fellowship with His followers. If suitably regarded it will be found to be a high privilege. A consciousness of being in the way to

which Christ has called us, is comfort to the mind, to realise His presence in His ordinances is a great blessing. To have an interest in the affections, prayers, and sympathies of his people is another. To get nearer to the Saviour, and nearer to one another, is a privilege to be highly prized; with all that there is in this connexion adapted to strengthen our faith, to promote our love, to quicken us in our way, and to lead us to be blessings to others, surely they ought to be attended to by us with constant regard.

Finally, let this lead each reader to inquire whether he is entitled to the privilege of being united to a church of Christ. It is vain to make a profession if there is no possession of vital Christianity; vain to have a name to live, if really dead. First, there must be union to Christ, then an appearance for Him; first, you must be the subjects of His grace, and then own His name.

"First give your own selves to the Lord, and then to His people according to His will," and He will number you with His saints at last in the glories of eternity. Amen. T. C.

Ashley, Sept. 26th, 1863.

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS JUDGE. "He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained.ACTS xvii. 31.

To the eye of the observing and thinking man, many things in the present world seem anomalous. The wicked prosper, become rich, and die honoured, without in any way being called to account for their misdeeds. The oppressor oppresses; the calumniator calumniates; the scoffer scoffs; the thief escapes detection; the murderer lives unsuspected; the seducer triumphs. Wrong everywhere abounds and flourishes. Truth and justice get the worst of it, and are driven from the field. And iniquity on every hand seems to prosper. He asks himself, why is this? Can there be a God of justice, and retribution never overtake the

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