detestable example; for, evil communication corrupts good manners; and, a man is generally known by the company he voluntarily chuses and delights in. Ver. 10. Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters. Here he qualifies the foregoing prohibition, and shows, that he does not mean by it that they should absolutely shun their company upon all, even the most necessary occasions; -for then, (says he) ye must needs go out of the world. Persons of such wicked characters, being so numerous, and to be met with every where in this evil world, and Christians being often connected with them in their necessary secular concerns, they might as well think of going out of the world, or of turning hermits, as to avoid being sometimes in their company, however disagreeable it may be. Ver. 11. But now I have written unto you not to keep company-This he adds to his former prohibition, with respect to their conduct towards those of a wicked character in the world, who had no pretensions to Christianity. Here he directs them how to behave towards such as connected a profession of Christianity with such characters. -if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one no not to eat. The person here is supposed to be called a brother, as professing the faith of Christ, and visibly connected in fellowship with other professors-The crimes specified, are not single acts, such as, when a brother is overtaken in a fault, but characters made up of repeated acts, so as to be formed into a habit, which denominates or characterizes them, (and it appears that some such had been suffered in the church of Corinth, who were guilty of fornication, 2 Cor. xii. 21.-covetousness and extortion -1 Cor. vi. 8. 2 Cor. xi. 20.-Idolatry, 1 Cor. x. 7-14-22.-Drunkenness, 1 Cor. xi. 21.) It was the church's sin to have borne with such so long; and now that the apostle is upon the excommunication of the notorious of fender, he mentions these as objects of their censure also, ver. 12. and directs them not to keep company, no not to eat with them. It is evident he does not permit the same familiarity with per sons of this description, as with those of a like character, who never made the Christian profession; their guilt is much more aggravated than the other, on account of their light, the scandal they bring on the profession, and the danger of familiarity with them while they continue impenitent. The prohibition not to eat with them, does not respect the Lord's Supper; for it is such eating as they are not altogether restricted from with such characters in the world. Our Lord says, "Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican," Matt. xviii. 17. He is speaking to his Jewish disciples, who must have understood him to mean, not only that they were to have no religious fellowship with him, but that they were not so much as to eat a common meal with him; for, the strict Jews held heathen men and publicans as persons with whom it was not lawful to keep company, or eat, see Acts x. 28. ch. xi. 3. And, though Christ hath set aside by his death the separation between Jew and Gentile, yet he hath at the same time established a barrier betwixt his church and the world; and, with respect to excommunicated persons from his church, he hath enjoined the same carriage towards them, as the Jews observed towards heathens and publicans. And, as the Gentile church at Corinth might not understand what that was, the apostle explains it, and enjoins it upon them, not to keep company, or so much as eat with such. I apprehend, however, that this does not set aside any natural relative duty. Ver 12. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?—He had mentioned above the fornicators, and other wicked characters of this world, ver. 9, 10. and, here he shows that he had no authority to exercise discipline, or pass any formal sentence upon them, they being without the pale of the visible church; and, therefore, it was not such that he had chiefly in view, but wicked characters among themselves. With regard to such, he puts the question, -do not ye judge them that are within? q. d.. Is it not your proper business, as a church, to judge of, and pass sentence upon, those offenders, who are of your own body, and in your communion? Surely it is. Ver. 13 But them that are without God judgeth, i. e. Those flagitious sinners of the world who are not church members, nor ever professed the name of Christ, must be left to the judgment of God alone, the church having nothing to do with them in this respect, but only to avoid their influence and evil example. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. The words run literally, "and put ye away the evil from among you.' "The phrase is taken from Deut. xiii. 5. ch. xvii. 7. ch. xxii. 21. so that they refer to the law directing the supreme judgment in the church of Israel, from which there was no appeal under heaven, but was binding and final. They chiefly respect the incestuous person; but, as he had more in view than that individual, the direction is expressed in general terms, for the word person is not in the original; and, this last clause seems to connect with the last clause of the foregoing verse, as the first does with the first clause. 66 A. M. NOTE ON 2 COR. III. 11. • For if that which was done away, was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." From this passage, there are some who contend, that the law of God has no relation towards the believer. It is certain, that it is the ministration of condemnation which is here intended, which ministration is what was written and engraven in stones, and that was the moral law. "And he wrote upon the Tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments," Exod. xxxiv. 28. Now this, the apostle says, was glorious; but its glory was to be done away:' it 'had no glory, in this respect, by reason of the glory tbat excelleth:' it is that which was done away,' that which is abolished,' 2 Cor. iii. 7-10, 11-13 verses. Hence it is argued, we are no longer under any obligation towards the moral law, after we shall have believed in Christ. But, this inference does not appear to me to be, by any means, justified from these premises. What is it, I ask, that is done away' and 'abolished?' Not the law itself, (see Rom. xiii. 8, 9, 10.) but the peculiar form of its ministration. It is, in this respect,' it had no glory, by reason of the glory that excelleth. It is ministered now, not in tables of stone,' but in fleshly tables of the heart,' 2 Cor. iii. 3. The ministration which the apostle speaks of 'as done away to the believer,' was that of a covenant. Hence we read, And he declared unto you this covenant, · · which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments: and he wrote them upon two tables of stone," Deut. iv. 13, And, it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he bath commanded us," Deut. vi. 25. There appears to have been the greatest care taken to distinguish between what was written in stones, and the peculiar design of its being so written, in relation to the children of Israel. "When I was gone up into the mount," says Moses, "to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant, which the Lord made with you," &c. Deut. ix. 9.-"The Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant," ver. 11. They are called, also, two tables of testimony, Deut. xxxi. 18. as they exhibit the duty of men as creatures, and thus witness against them. Now, this is called the ministration of death, 2 Cor. iii. 7. because every sinner under it (viz. under this ministration of the law, not the law itself) is liable to its dreadkilleth, ver. 6. because it meets us only in ful curse. It is called the letter that the strength of a depraved nature; for we, by nature, loving only what it forbids, and hating whatever it enjoins, are utterly unable to fulfil it in spirit and in truth. Now the form of its ministration is done away from him who believes in Christ. It is not a covenant to him, because he lives by faith in Christ, who has perfectly fulfilled it, and thus by his faith in him he established the law. It is not a killing letter to him, because he having been held, or virtually sustained, in the body of Christ, (see Rom. vii. 6.) and that body having died through the representation of him, and all believers in this covenant, the penalty annexed to the broken covenant, so far as the believer is concerned, is for ever borne away. But that ministration having ceased to the believer, another ministration begins. It is the ministration which is changed, not the law itself. The former was as a covenant-the latter, as what in itself is eternally right and proper for us to pursue. That which was written in tables of stone as a covenant, is now written in fleshly tables of the heart, as that which is unchangeably good, (see 2 Cor. iii. 3.) Under the former ministration, the law meets us in the strength of all our corrupt affections; but, under the ministration of the Spirit, it meets us as new creatures. When the Spirit ministers the law, he changes our disposition towards it, and furnishes additional motives, of the most powerful nature, for our obedience to its precepts. Our relation to God in adoption, in addition to our relation to him as his creatures, (for if the latter only existed, it must still have been a covenant,) and the eminent regard of 1 Christ towards this law, in consenting rather to die, than that any occasion should be given of its being considered unimportant, unwise or unjust, are of the number of these motives. Hence, we read, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts," &c. Jer. xxxi. 33. " And I will give them one heart-and I will put a new spirit within you," &c.-That they may walk in my statutes, &c. Ezek. xi. 19, 20. and Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. Every believer, therefore, loves God and his neighbour; and though he daily come short of a perfect conformity to the law, it is the object of his earnest pursuit. He serves God now without fear, Luke i. 74, 75. through faith in Christ. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death," Rom. viii. 2. That is, first, the believer is in Christ Jesus, and, therefore, delivered from the law, ministered as a covenant, termed, in Consequence, the law of death, or, the letter that killeth. And, secondly, all in Christ Jesus possess the Spirit of life, and are thus freed from the law of sin; that is, from the law, as stirring up the motions of sin; which it did when we possessed none but corrupt affections, (or when it forbade us what we loved, and commanded what we hated;) for, by the Spirit of life, we possess a disposition corresponding with its requirements. The ceremonial law was connected with the moral, under the Jewish economy; and, without doubt, to those who believed the promises relating to the Messiah, the connexion appeared very appropriate. For, by considering the latter, together with their repeated transgressions of it, they must have looked through the former with much satisfaction and gratitude to that glorious provision which its various sacrifices and offerings so eminently typified. I cannot tell, Mr. Editor, whether in the view of the subject I have presented, I shall meet with the concurrence of yourself and your readers; should you, however, be acquainted with one more consistent with the general testimony of the Scriptures, I should feel much obliged by your furnishing it. J. S. Melksham, Wilts. Theological Review. THERE is, probably, no one lesson of practical wisdom more difficult of attainment, than that which consists in forming a proper estimate of human life. On this subject, the natural suggestions of the human mind and the lessons of philosophy, are strangely at variance with the doctrines of revelation, and the experience of mankind in every age. While the former are continually instilling into the imaginations of the young, dreams of an earthly paradise, in a world which is under the curse and frown of the Deity, the latter are found uniting their testimony, that all human glory is a passing shadow, and that man, in his best estate, is altogether vanity. Rarely has this solemn and affecting truth been taught with an eloquence more loud, or demonstration more convincing, than in the pages before us. The instances of mortality which they record-the frustration of the most prudent and wellweighed schemes for human happiness -and the blasting of the fairest prospects of human life, by an unexpected stroke, proclaim aloud, that all flesh is but as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass: in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up-in the evening it is cut down and withereth. But, were this the only lesson which Mr. Durant's pages are adapted to impart, they would fall far short of that value which we attach to them, and of that claim to the attention of our readers, to which we think them entitled. Few of them, we suppose, are unacquainted with the sage in Rasselas This is, indeed, a pretty correct exhibition of what philosophy can do for her disciples, when disease and death overtake them, which sooner or later, we know they will not fail to do, even to the most favoured children of affluence. But, the work before us derives its chief value from the evidence which it affords, of the power of religlous principle to dignify and ennoble human nature-to purify the heart, and elevate the affections-to augment the endearments of social life-and administer consolation and support to the Christian, under the most heart-rending bereavements of divine providence. And all this is taught us, not in the way of didactic instruction, but in examples furnished both by the living and the dead. Every reflecting mind must at once be aware of the difficult task which Mr. Durant has undertaken, in laying before the public these "Memoirs of his Son." The partiality of a father for an only child, though in itself very pardonable, will be regarded by many as presenting a formidable objection to the credibility of the narrative, and give rise to suspicions, that considerable de- I ductions are to be made from the high sex, be has inconsciously been his own bio- | same steps pursued by every professed grapher, and furnished us with a more minister of the gospel, we should, proaccurate delineation of the complexion bably, have fewer instances upon record of his mind, than any other pen could than we now have, of the lamentable have given. We extract the following depravity, and scandalous conduct which paragraph, as it goes to shew something has appeared in some of their children! of the strength of mind which marks In the instance before us, the result the character of the young man's excel- was most propitious, both to the parents lent mother. and the youth--to the latter, in securing him from the paths of the destroyer; and to the former, in conferring upon them the unspeakable satisfaction of seeing their offspring devoted to the fear and service of God here, and ripening for a blessed immortality. "He passed through his earliest years, with no more than the ordinary share of infantile diseases; which sometimes alarmed us for a season, but never produced any lasting fears. We enjoyed him greatly; * nor did either our tempers or our principles permit us to refuse the comfort with which Providence had supplied us in the health At the age of seven, young Durant and sprightliness of our child: we were not began to learn Latin; and, before he disposed to dash the cup of happiness with went to College, which was at the age the bitterly tormenting inquiry, How could of fifteen, he had read through, besides we endure to lose him?" This disposition Valpy's elementary books, Eutropius, accompanied us through life: and, except Nepos, Florus, Justin, Cæsar, Sallust, in cases of real or apparent danger, neither Livy, Tacitus, several of Cicero's Orahis mother nor myself ever endured, on this ground, a moment's anxiety. She, in ad- tions, parts of Virgil, Lucan's Pharverting to it, has often said, "The proba-salia, with select portions of Ovid, bility is, that he will survive us both; and Terence, Martial, Persius, and Juvenal; why should we torment ourselves with the committing to memory all the finest voluntary apprehension of an evil which parts of those poets. He also commay never arrive? God may take him mitted to memory the whole of Horace's from us; "sufficient for the day will be the | Odes, the Carmen Seculare, and De evil thereof;" and sufficient, unquestion- Arte Poetica. "At the age of nine, he ably, will be our strength from above to began to learn French, under his bebear it but why should we not enjoy him loved mother, who spoke that language while he lives, instead of embittering the with fluency and correctness," p. 77. present by the agonies of anticipation? The next year he entered upon the will be enough"-(Alas! I find it so !)—" it will be enough to endure his actual death, study of Greek; and, when eleven without enduring the dread of meeting the years old, he commenced Italian, under evil at every turn of his passage through his mother, and read with her, Metaslife." Thus have been secured to me nine-tasio, Tasso, and other of the Poets. teen entire years of parental bliss-a larger share, I fear, than falls to the lot of many parents who possess their children for a much longer time. "Happy the man, and happy he alone, About the time he had attained the age of eleven, he began to write English Themes, and continued the practice to the period of his death. From these, Mr. Durant has made a selection, and printed them in the volumes before us. "To-morrow do thy worst, for I have liv'd Amongst them we have many speci to-day."-DRyden. His parents undertook the management of his education, and, qualified as they were for conducting it, the wisdom of their determination is apparent. Mr. Durant has detailed with some minuteness, the plan which they so successfully pursued, and to us it appears so judicious, that it is worthy the attention of parents in general. Their solicitude to imbue his mind with correct religious principles, even in his earliest years, must approve itself to all who are capable of reflection; and, were the mens of poetry, which he began to write when about twelve years of age. We should like to gratify our readers with a specimen of the latter, and would gladly have extracted, for that purpose, a poem entitled "Providence," but its length prevents us; and, it would be doing great injustice to the author to abridge it. We must, therefore, content ourselves with the two short pieces which follow. The first of them was written in reference to the death of his beloved mother, and the style is an imitation of "Burns's Land o' the Leal." |