The following extract is from the letter alluded to in the first paragraph : "As to war, you may mark me for a thorough Quaker. I believe it is utterly opposed to the spirit of the gospel, for man, in any case, to draw his sword and stab his brother-bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.' I wish every body would read Barclay, Clarkson, and Dodge, on this subject. Though they have not advanced the whole weight of argument that might be presented, yet I think enough to convince every pious mind. How long did many good men advocate the slavetrade, but what a phenomenon to see such a man now! So it will soon be with war." THE FIRST QUESTION. "THE first question to be proposed by a rational being is, not what is profitable, but what is right. Duty must be primary, prominent, most conspicuous, among the objects of human thought and pursuit. If we cast it down from its supremacy, if we inquire first for our interests, and then for our duties, we shall certainly err. We can never see the right clearly and fully, but by making it our first concern. No judgment can be just or wise, but that which is built on the conviction of the paramount worth and importance of duty. This is the fundamental truth, the supreme law of reason; and the mind which does not start from this, in inquiries into human affairs, is doomed to great, perhaps fatal error. "The right is the supreme good, and includes all other goods. In seeking and adhering to it, we secure our true and only happiness. All prosperity, not founded on it, is built on sand. If human affairs are controlled, as we believe, by Almighty rectitude and impartial goodness, then to hope for happiness from wrong-doing, is as insane as to seek health and prosperity by rebelling against the laws of nature,-by sowing our seed on the ocean, or making poison our common food. There is but one unfailing good and that is, fidelity to the everlasting law written on the heart, and rewritten and republished in God's word." : W. E. C. SCRIPTURAL TEACHING,--PUBLIC CHURCH MEETINGS. THE New Testament affords us information in detail, as to only one kind of religious meetings. Other meetings are incidentally mentioned indeed, but we have no minute description of them, or directions as to the particular mode of conducting them. Thus in Acts i. 14, and xii. 12, we have mention of prayer meetings, but without further particulars. Thus also, in Acts xx. 7, we read of the disciples being come together to break bread." And in Cor. xi. 20 to 34, we have mention of certain disorders which had crept into these celebrations of "the Lord's Supper." But in no part of the New Testament have we any formal directions as to the method to be observed in these meetings. And, to the Corinthians, the Apostle, after reproving the existing disorders, merely says, 66 "The rest will I set in order when I come." Public discussions are also mentioned. The Apostle Paul "disputed daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years, so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus." Acts xix. 9, 10. And lastly, though not least, we frequently read of preaching by the Apostles and Evangelists, &c.; but still there is no particular direction as to the mode to be pursued in any of these cases. But there is one kind of meeting -a public church meeting, or meeting of the church, to which strangers and unbelievers were admitted, respecting which very definite directions are given us. We wish to call the especial attention of our friends to this mode of assembling together. The design of those assemblages is stated to be the edification of the church, and the conviction of unbelievers. And the circumstance, that they are minutely ordered, whilst other meetings are only enjoined in general terms, or incidently mentioned, should give them peculiar importance in our estimation. But that which requires us to call special attention to them, now, is the astounding fact, that they are altogether overlooked and neglected by nearly the whole of what is called the Christian world. The very meetings of Christians, which are more explicitly de scribed and directed than any other, are the meetings which, more than all others, are disregarded and neglected by almost all the sections of the Christian Church! We purpose to point out the nature of these Public Church Meetings, and to show that there is a necessity and an obligation for their restoration. The account given of them, and the directions respecting them, may be found in the fourteenth chapter of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. But in order to perspicuity, we will give the chief part of the chapter. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two (sentences at a time), or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What! came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, brethren, covet to pro plesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. order. Let all things be done decently, and in Now we have here, 1st. Information as to the parties assembling; 2nd. Directions as to the mode of proceeding when assembled; 3rd. Cautions against disorderly proceedings; and 4th. Information as to the ends to be accomplished. 1. The parties assembling are, first, the whole of the members of the church. "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place," and secondly, the public,— "And there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers." 2. As to the proceedings, we learn, first, that all brethren should be allowed to take part in them. "How is it then, brethren?" how are your meetings conducted? "Every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation." "Ye may all prophesy one by one." "Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." "Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy." We learn, secondly, that it should be left to the brethren to take such a part as they shall be convinced is in accordance with the mind of the spirit. "Every trine, or a tongue, or a revelation, or one of you hath a psalm, or a docan interpretation." One hath a psalm, or hymn, which he gives out or sings. Another hath a doctrine, or a piece of instruction, to communicate. Another hath a foreign tongue, so that every one in his own tongue, wherein he was born, may hear the wonderful works of God. Another hath a revelation, or explanation of some point of truth or duty. ther hath an interpretation of any foreign tongue which may be used in the meeting. Now each of the brethren is to determine which part he should take; but still this determination is not to be made in all cases without regard to the judgment of his brethren. We learn, thirdly, that prophecy is intended by God to be the leading feature of these meetings. "I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye all prophesied, for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues." "Ye may all prophecy one by one." By prophe Ano cy here is meant, evidently not the predicting of future events, but teaching. "He that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort." "If all prophesy, and there come in one that is unlearned, or believeth not, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all," these are the ends of the gift which is here termed prophesying. 3. We have some cautions against disorderly proceedings. In the first place, we have these general ones. "Let all things be done unto edifying." "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches." "Let all things be done decently and in order." Meetings of this character may therefore be conducted so as to edify, and so as to avoid confusion and impropriety. God himself ordains and is "the author" of these meetings, but he is not he author of confusion, but of peace, in all the churches of the saints,-in all which churches these ordinances are to be observed. But secondly, we have a more explicit direction for the maintenance of order. "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the rest judge." "For. the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets:" that is, the speakers or prophets give place to each other. 3rdly. Women are not to take a public part in these meetings. "Let your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak." 4thly. No one is to speak in a foreign tongue, unless there be present an interpreter. 4. The ends to be accomplished by ssemblies thus regulated are, as we have already stated, the edification of the church, and the conviction and conversion of unbelievers. "Let all things be done unto edifying." "That all may learn, and all be comforted." "If all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all." Now, how mournful is the prevailing neglect of these divinely instituted assemblies. We cannot doubt but that the great Head of the Church knew best what modes of giving instruction to his people, and to unbelievers, to institute. We cannot doubt but that the means he has instituted are well adapted to their end, that his plans are not only good, but the best. And yet this plan of His has been allowed to fall into almost universal neglect ! It cannot go well with the church, when it is so far negligent of the Scriptures, or so far "wise above that which is written," as to set aside one part of those plain appointments of its head. Our wish is to induce our friends to revive these ancient and scriptural assemblages. We do not desire them to set aside means of instruction and edification at present in use among the churches. We do not wish them to do away with prayer meetings, or preachings, or communion meetings, or "love feasts." We believe all these are sanctioned by the Scriptures. But we do propose to make room for the kind of meetings which the apostle so fully describes. We think they should again take a prominent place among the meetings of God's people. We believe that every church should have such meetings at least once a week, and that on the Sabbath. The propriety and necessity of such a step may be shown by a great variety of considerations. 1. We would mention in the first place, the manifest sanction of the Sacred Scriptures. 2. A body is perfect only whilst every member is healthy and active. Thus it is with the church. The parts assigned to each member of the church are all necessary to its full prosperity. Free ministration, therefore, is essential to the welfare of the church, and consequently to the conversion of the world. To neglect this institution is plainly to reject one of the principal means by which God designs to communicate light and grace to mankind. 3. To prevent this free ministration is to take away from God's people one of their rights and privileges, to deprive them of their Christian liberty. Christians are exhorted to seek the gift of teaching, and liberty to exercise that gift is secured to them all by the great Gospel charter. All opposition to this liberty is spiritual tyranny. 4. To oppose this kind of ministration is to resist the Holy Ghost. "All these worketh that one and the self-same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." Those, there fore, who resist this order, resist not man, but God. 5. Such resistance also fosters strife and schism. The only way to arrive at unity in the church, is to submit to all the ordinances of the Scripture. The commandments of men may be resisted without bringing on those who resist them the guilt of any schism. But to resist an acknowledged ordinance of God is downright rebellion. 6. The neglect of free ministration in the church tends to over-burthen one part of Christ's followers, and to beget indolence in the other. When the pastor of a church is made its sole teacher, his mental powers are taxed beyond their strength. Or, if all the public teaching is made to devolve on a few, they cannot furnish such a supply of wholesome spiritual food as the various wants of men require. Hence the dry, and stale, and oft-repeated disquisitions beneath which many congregations slumber. Hence, also, the prevailing mode of manufacturing sermons; the use of ugly, worn-out skeletons, which a thousand preachers have held forth in a thousand different places. God does not intend to enable any man, or any one order of men, fully to feed his church. Instead, however, of having often two or three brief addresses, full of light and heat, spoken by the brethren as the spirit gives them utterance, the church has now constantly to listen to one long, fixed, methodical piece of composition, which often bears the marks of exhausted mental powers. The prevailing mode also makes thousands indolent. Unless a layman can make set sermons, and go about from place to place to preach them, he must, in most religious bodies, as things are now ordered, remain altogether silent, so far as public teaching is concerned. Consequently those who cannot do all this, must be content not to teach publicly at all. And thus "thoughts that breathe, and words that burn," are smothered and lost to the church; and many thousands of its members are but spiritual drones. Multitudes, also, that would be induced to think and read, and so to exercise their mental powers, and acquire considerable stores of knowledge, by such meetings as the apostle describes, sit under the common sort of preaching their whole life through, without being led to think at all to good purpose. The public church meetings described by St. Paul, would obviate all these evils. 7 In many places a regular supply of preaching, especially from such as are fully given up to the work of the ministry, cannot be had, and unless the Christian friends in such places, adopt the plan of the Primitive churches, and seek, by the blessing of God, thus to edify each other, as well as to convert their ungodly neighbours, they must be unedified, and the cause of God among them must decline. There is no prospect whatever for a general Evangelical reform, until this order of meetings be fairly and faithfully tried. 8. The present plan is productive of another very fatal evil. It leads the members of the church to trust to the efforts of one man, or a few men; and to expect the church to prosper or languish in proportion to the talents and piety of their preachers. Now, the truth is, that the members are responsible for the prosperity of the church, as well as the pastor or pastors. The church is a commonwealth, and each member is to do his part in promoting its interests. Lastly. The revival of the ancient plan will, we believe, form a catholic ground for a union of all the different sects. The partial adoption of this plan by one or two sections of the church has not given it a fair trial. The Society of Friends, much as they have done, have not fairly tried it. Their assemblages have not assumed a catholic character. We are glad, however, to notice the institution of meetings of this kind among a number of "Christian Brethren," whose proceedings are now attracting considerable attention. We believe the time is near, when a general improvement, with respect to church discipline, as well as Christian practice generally, must take place; and we hope the improvement will be thorough, and a truly catholic one. We know of nothing so much calculated to secure this, as the restoration of church meetings on the primitive and scriptural plan laid down by the Apostle Paul. There should be both private and public meetings on this plan. The public ones we have already described. The private ones we purpose to describe in another article,they will specially tend to blend all sects of Christians into one,-they are the "feasts of charity" mentioned by Jude; they were suppressed during the fourth century, and they have never yet been wholly restored. So soon as men are really willing to become Christians altogether, and to take the New Testament really, for their only standard, both of doctrine and of duty, their eyes shall be opened, and light and love shall make them one. They shall be "of one heart and of one soul :" and become We Meanwhile, what is our duty? We think that, as to the meetings which are the subject of this article, our duty is plain and easy. must restore them with as little delay as possible. We are happy to find, that in various places steps are already being taken to do this, and we hope that our friends generally will give the matter their serious consideration. We would sug gest the propriety of meetings of churches for the purpose of giving information on this subject. We think this might be done without causing uneasiness or dissension.— The plan in many places has met with almost unanimous approval, and we are inclined to think it will do so in most others, if properly proposed. Let the matter be thoroughly understood, and it must commend itself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. This then, in conclusion, is, in few words, what we recommend.That at least once every Sabbath, if not also during the week, each church should assemble in one place, alowing the public to be present. alowing the public to be present. That, any one that is known to be a brother, and that has not been "judged" unfit by "the rest," should be allowed to give out a psalm or hymn, to offer instruction, to interpret the scriptures, or in any other divinely-sanctioned way, to instruct or edify the assembly. And still that each should be so "subject" to the rest, and all to each other, that "all things may be done decently and in order." And as this is one of God's own plans, we say, let all thankfully embrace it. We need not fear the consequence. Let us learn to follow, without hesitation, the leadings of the spirit of truth, and leave results with God. "God is not the author of confusion." Let us submit ourselves to him, he cannot lead us wrong. Our strength Thy grace, our rule Thy word, Our end the glory of the Lord. By Thy unerring Spirit led, VESSELS OF GOLD AND SILVER. "THEY are rare to get, hard to keep, and it may be not so accommodate to use. Will not a knife cut quite as well though it have not with silver? or an earthen bason an ivory haft, or be not garnished serve to wash the hands? will not its feet be made of ivory? or the the table hold our provisions, unless lamp give its light though made by a potter, as well as if it were the work of the goldsmith? may not a man sleep as well upon a mean couch, as upon a bed of ivory? upon a goat's skin, as well as upon a purple or Phenician carpet? Our Lord ate his made his followers sit meat out of a common dish, and and washed his disciples' feet, withthe upon grass, out ever fetching down a silver bowl from heaven. He took the water which the Samaritaness had drawn in an earthen pitcher, not requiring one of gold, showing how easy it was to quench his thirst; for he respected the use, not the vain and superfluous state, of things."-Clement of Alexandria, (A. Ď. 200.) |