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tion, and enjoy our peculiar privilege? Come, brethren, return a hearty, solemn response. Let us arouse from our slumbers. The Bridegroom is already at hand, and his voice may even now be heard calling to us, "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem.”

Coseley.

JOHN STENT.

IX.-CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor of the Baptist Record.)

SIR.-The following few thoughts were prompted by reading the article of your Luton Correspondent, in the Record,' for June last.

It appears to me that our good brother, in his zeal to awaken an honourable ambition in the minds of youth, has somewhat overshot the mark. It is not every good man that likes Greek, nor every man of genius that has tried that can learn Greek critically. And, besides, to think and speak in Greek are far less than to think and speak in love. Love, and good English, are before Greek and nothing else. A man may think and speak, but not be a modest mannot a pious man-not a charitable man. The exemplification of a thorough Christian temper will do more for the good of souls, and the enlargement and establishment of the church, than the knowledge of the languages-aye, and of all the sciences too (as they are taught in schools). Religion is not to be confounded with science; and a man may undoubtedly discourse on divine things "in words which the Holy Ghost teacheth," without knowing Greek. Thinking in Greek, or even in Hebrew, were never intended in the ordinance of preaching the gospel to all nations. Doubtless the institution would have been thus graced at the first if they were: whereas, instead of these, we find, in the second of Acts, that the mixed multitude heard every man "in his own tongue wherein he was born."

Mr. B. cannot suppose that men would be of the same opinion if they could be brought to think in Greek. The Greek-learning clergy do not prove this; nor amongst dissenters are all the learned Baptists. That were too good to be expected. There is at this moment a popular young gentleman of my acquaintance who, for aught that I know to the contrary, may be able to think in Greek, who is occupying a splendid pulpit not far south of St. Paul's, not a Baptist, and who, it may be, if he had been able to think only in plain English, would have been less known, indeed, but more thought of. And there are who have sucked in the native language of Christianity, but missed the sense of it, so as to leave them at liberty to go and think in Greek, and live on loaves and fishes in the establishment!

Qualifications for the Christian pulpit are too serious a matter to be left to schools; and success in the preaching of the Gospel, which comes altogether from the Holy Spirit, is not a matter to be dealt with as the stocks' and provision markets. There is and has been for some time past a good deal of the essence of Simonism in the treatment of sacred things. It has been confidently believed, that if a good work has taken place in a church anywhere, it can be analyzed, described, and the whole process detailed, so as the same may be copied and multiplied to an indefinite extent anywhere and everywhere else. And now, Sir, we are learning that it is not by intellectual culture that the world is to be made better; not by might nor by power, including the aphorism that "knowledge is power."

Get rid of pride from our pulpits, and vestries, and chapels, whether it be

the pride of learning or of ignorance, and let every one think the truth and speak the truth, and let every one endeavour earnestly to honour the Spirit; and then, Sir, men will have ample time to look ahout them, and employ their bodily powers in works and labours of health and usefulness; plant, and sow, and reap, and carry on the interchanges of commerce, and still enjoy communion with God and with saints, and be upheld by a good hope of heaven,-that world, a glimpse of which revealed to the wrapt apostle what no language of earth could describe or communicate. I am very far from believing that the study of the languages is the best discipline for the greatest number of minds. If it were at all desirable, I could give my humble opinion of the matter, but I shall content myself with entering a modest protest against the phrase "ministry or any other profession," holding that nothing but the grace of God can make a minister of the Gospel, and that it is incumbent on us now as heretofore to distinguish well between things that differ.

Cirencester, July 18th, 1848.

C. D.

SIR, I am sorry the July Number of the 'Baptist Record' did not reach me till to-day, as I fear lest the very easy solution of the difficulty relative to Jer. xx. 7 (see p. 379), may be too late for the next Number. When Bellamy sent forth the fourteen specimens of his new translation of the Hebrew Bible, so cleverly exposed in either the Edinburgh' or 'Quarterly Review' of the day, I remember twelve were wrong, but two were right, and this text was one of them, "Thou hast persuaded me and I was persuaded." The verb

Phatha, or Fatha, from whence our word faith comes, has the original meaning of "he opens,"-to open. This sense is established at once by a reference to Gen. ix. 27, where, in every Bible having marginal references and corrections-which no Bible should be without-persuade is given in the margin; and this is the sense commonly dwelt on by commentators on the passage, though in both senses the prophecy has been fulfilled, and therefore no doubt both were intended. God has enlarged the progeny of Japheth, and has persuaded them, opened their hearts to be Christians. That "open" is the radical meaning, may appear from Fatha being, in Arabic, the name of the open vowel, equivalent to the Patah of the Hebrew. It also signifies early or opening youth, easily persuadable to good or evil. Jeremiah acknowledges the power of God, which had persuaded him of the truth of his predictions, and of the necessity of his making them be heard; but laments, as human nature is prone to do, that he should be the chosen speaker, that so heavy a cross should be laid on one so feeble (chap. i. 6). Much more might be said on the subject, but would perhaps only weaken the proof from Gen. ix. 27, and brevity may perhaps plead for early insertion.

Keswick, July 17.

F. R.

X.-LITERARY NOTICES.

Four Lectures on the Apocalypse; delivered in Bristol, in the spring of 1848. By Edward Ash, M.D. London: Hamilton and Adams.

THE leisure of Dr. Ash has been employed in the critical examination of the New Testament. The course of his studies, therefore, led him to investigate the meaning of that prophetic record left as the last legacy of the church's Head. Many have attempted its elucidation, and none have yet come to a satisfactory conclusion. So great is the divergence in the views of expositors, that it would seem to be quite time to ask the question-Can that prophecy

be fulfilled, when no two commentators can agree in pointing out the series of events which have accomplished it? It is contrary to every expectation we can form from the fulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament, that there should be such darkness over any fulfilled prophecy of the New. Who doubts the fulfilment of the prophecies relative to Babylon or Petra? or of those which foretold the first advent of the Lord? In these instances we have no such examples of guess-work as the commentators have laid before the Christian church, during the last two centuries, as proofs of the fulfilment of the Apocalypse. In a word, the enigma of its interpretation is yet unsolved; and must we not conclude, on every sound principle of common sense, that the events foretold in that inspired and marvellous production yet lie dormant in the womb of time? It is strange to us how, by all expositors, it is assumed to have found its fulfilment in the past. It is in vain that, one after another, their theories vanish into nothingness, or are displaced by some new labourer in the dark mine. Each perhaps finds a glittering pebble in his anxious search, and anon he triumphs as if he had fallen on a rich strata of golden ore. But the darkness remains impenetrable; his toil is alike fruitless to that of all who have preceded him. We cannot congratulate Dr. Ash on any better result. His lectures are clear in their statements, somewhat general in their views of prophetic fulfilment, but just as unsatisfactory as any other of the numerous works upon the subject it has been our lot to peruse. They form, however, an interesting and valuable compendium of the notions most prevalent amongst us; but do not answer that description of the apostle Peter-“a light shining in a dark place." Our judgment is not convinced. The past is every whit as dark to us as the future. If the seventh vial is now being poured out, as Dr. Ash thinks is the case, we can trace nothing in the events of the time, important as they are, at all corresponding to the "great voice from the throne," declaring "It is done.'" Thunders, lightnings, and an earthquake such as earth never yet felt heave her mighty bosom, whether we regard them literally or symbolically, do not appear to us to have stricken men with fear, to have broken up the great cities of the world, to have heralded the fleeing away of the islands of the sea, or the evanishment of the mountains of the globe. Great as are the revolutions now in progress, events of far more frightful character have occurred in former days. The breaking up of the Roman empire, the devastations of the barbarian Goths, even the occurrences of the first French revolution, seem to us far more resemblant of the prophetic word than those to which it is now referred. Plagues and blasphemy are certainly not yet indicative that we have arrived at this stage of the unrolling of the prophetic vision of the seer, John. Is, then, the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in whole or in part fulfilled? If diversities, almost endless, of interpretation point to any result at all, it is—that the world has yet to witness the very commencement of those transactions which are introduced to us by the vision of the Lord himself, attended by famines, pestilence, and war, which we know, from other parts of the divine record, will usher in his return.

The Land of Glory. Translated from the German, by the late Mrs. W. Davenport. London: Wertheim. 1847.

DURING the sickness which terminated in her death, Mrs. Davenport com pleted this translation. Her spirit, freed from terrestrial hindrances, hastened to examine the realities of that" Land of Glory" which are here only guessed at by the philosophic Christian. Modern astronomy has revealed to us worlds where there is no night, depths of creative power which no heart can conceive; and it has become a question, of no slight interest-in what relation do these discoveries stand to the revelations of the future life given by the pen of inspiration?

"Let not any one try to induce us to think, that all those vast regions are uninhabited. Let not any one seek to persuade the pilgrim, who is proceeding on his weary journey through the gloom of night, to deem all the cottages uninhabited, from which such a hospitable glow of light beams towards him. And towards us there

shines the splendour from above out of the many mansions. It is a city of God, the golden streets of which are extended out into the farthest infinity. We see not its most distant turrets, though we do indeed behold those which are nearest. It is only to the real believer that the heavenly regions unfold themselves as his fatherland, and the inheritance of the blessed. To Christians it is said, 'Ye are come to the city of the living God.'"

It may be that among that countless host of brilliant gems, set in the serene blue of heaven, are the many mansions of our Father's house. There may be placed the throne of glory, whose brightness the stars reflect. Amongst them may be that locality where Jesus, robed in light, but in the embodiment of a redeemed humanity, carries on the work of intercession and saving advocacy before God.

“In modern times, persons have been accustomed to consider the doctrine of Christ sitting at the right hand of God, which is expressed in such a variety of ways in the New Testament, as an entirely figurative doctrine, which was only intended to assert that Christ is elevated by God to the highest honour and power, and governs in his name. But men do not consider that He who has attained to this Divine glory, must also be invested therewith, both in his nature and in all that surrounds him; that there must be some medium of exterior display, and a locality for these spiritual and regal relations. With all the predominance of the spiritual meaning, there still remains a local groundwork, and here, moreover, we must abide, viz., that Christ in his personal nature is there, where the Father most sublimely manifests his power and honour, or, figuratively, his right hand.”—p. 57.

This local residence and appearance of the Saviour, seems necessarily involved in the fact of his resurrection, and to draw with it the formation or existence of some material but spiritualised abode for his raised followers.

"In the resurrection of Christ, the entire incorruptible world of light dawns upon our view. He has brought life and immortality to light. For Christ in his resurrection is a living example of the celestial life, of the glorified, incorruptible manifestations and forms, which are around the throne of God. This individual, glorified body, demands an entire world, which must be conformable to itself. The Prince of Life requires a kingdom of subjects, who are like unto himself, and for the subjects a land which answers to their nature."—p. 72.

The material creation has suffered by the lapse of man, why should it not partake of his restoration?

"It is man's fall that shakes the world. It is his progress, his course of development, by which the house totters that he inhabits. It is his judgment-day, on which the flaming column, enrapt in the whirlwind's form, will rise from his abode. It is his restoration in all the honour of an adopted child of God, at which his earthly house, new and more gloriously erected, will be again bestowed upon him by his Heavenly Father. How meanly do those persons think of the human mind, who, in all earthly phenomena, see only the prevalence of chaotic powers which have nothing to do with man!"-p. 152.

Thus those prophetic intimations in the word of God of the fall of the stars from heaven, of the breaking up of nature, of the casting of the mountains into the sea, and of other terrific terrestrial and celestial phenomena, may have a far more literal application than is usually supposed. But we must commend our readers to the perusal of this interesting volume. It is pervaded throughout with devout and holy feelings, and its speculations are everywhere subordinate to the word of God. The author has succeeded in showing that while there is nothing incompatible in the results of astronomical research with the divine oracles, there is, on the other hand, much in their pages which would

lead the Christian to avail himself of these discoveries, and trace in them the future progress and glorification of his spiritual life.

Mrs. Davenport's translation is sufficiently accurate, and the style elegant; sometimes, however, a little obscure, probably owing to her author being a German, and not to any failure in her apprehension of his meaning.

XI.-HOME AND FOREIGN RECORD.

CHURCH PROPERTY.-It appears, by the returns, that the church temporalities amount to £4,500,000; or if they are taken at £5,000,000, it is probably under the truth. Not only may they bear comparison with any other church, but they are greater than the whole revenue of almost all the minor states of Europe. They are greater than the whole revenue of Belgium or Naples; more than three-fourths of Holland or Spain; double that of Portugal; and more than half the whole expenditure of Prussia!-Mr. Horsman.

A

EDINBURGH.--As if to supply arguments of the most convincing kind against the union of the church with the state, the clergy of the northern metropolis have arrested and imprisoned Bailie Stott and Mr. Georgeson, two defaulters upon the Annuity Tax. The excitement and irritation had very far from subsided, which the recent auction, under the protection of the military, had awakened in the city. very large and animated public meeting was immediately held in the United Presbyterian Hall, Professor Dick occupying the chair. Mr. Cowan, M.P., in moving a resolution, said, he regarded the Annuity Tax " as a plague-spot on the community— as a moral deformity.' Another large and spirited public meeting, to protest against the iniquity, and to provide means for its abolition, has since been held. Universal sympathy is awakened on behalf of these prisoners for conscience' sake. Nothing could advance the truth with greater power and effect than these unseemly doings of the ministers of the Scotch Establishment. We regret that a Baptist minister should be found an apologist for such proceedings.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND.-Church rates continue to be levied with great assiduity by the Established church. At Kingston-on-Thames, the Rev. W. Collings, the Baptist minister, at the vestry, opposed the rate. The result was a diminution of the amount, and the reduction of some of the charges. In Lancashire, the house of the Rev. R. Massie was entered by the police, and various articles seized. At Bishop's Stortford, a curious case of clerical conscientiousness has occurred. A married woman having died in child-birth, was carried to the grave with the infant in the coffin, which had survived but a few hours the death of its parent. Being unbaptised, the clergyman refused to proceed with the service till the body of the babe was removed. This was done. The service closed; the infant was then replaced by its mother's side. Such are the fruits of the prevalence of infant baptism. In the parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark, notwithstanding the refusal of a majority of the parishioners, at a vestry meeting, the churchwardens have resolved to levy a rate. Its legality will be tested by an appeal to the courts of law. In the parish of Heanor, Derbyshire, a church rate has been successfully defeated.

HONDURAS.-A Creole woman has suffered imprisonment in this colony for refusing to take an oath. She was a member of the Baptist church under Mr. Henderson's charge. Her idiot child was accidentally drowned. On the coroner's inquest she declined to give her evidence on oath. Failing to persuade her to do so, the coroner committed her to prison. All appeals to the governor failed. An infant which she took to gaol with her died in about a week from the effects of the incarceration. Nor was she released until the term of imprisonment had expired. She is of irreproachable character. It is more than time that the law regarding oaths was altered, and the affirmations of conscientious objectors to oaths received as of equal value, and under the like penalties for falsehood in the one case as are imposed for perjury in the other.

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