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ing of the truth, one may tickle the ears and fancies of other persons, and please himself-His knowledge and elocution may be both delightful and profitable to many, without any advantage or benefit to himself.

them to repent of every thing incompatible with the truth. She thinks no evil of those who profess the truth, while their practise is reconcileable to their faith. But when practise gives the lie to the profession of the faith, she leaves He may please and delight his such company, be who they may for she rejoiceth not in iniquity, or unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth.

It is a true saying, Love begets love.' The love of men to God, and to one another for his sake, which is, in the New Testament called charity, is the offspring of God's love to man in the unspeakable gift of his Son. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life-Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son, to be the propitiation for our sins.' The peerless dignity of the Sender and the Sent; the ineffable fervor of the love displayed in the gift, which can only be judged of by contemplating the matchless value of the gift itself; the demerit, the wretchedness, and the wickedness of the objects to whom such unequalled love is shown; the chilling horrors, the agonising tortures, the endless misery and woe, from which that love rescues; and the glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life, to which this love exalts the objects of it, all conspire to excite in the heart of man that love to the compassionate, the gracious, and the bounteous Creator, which is, in the New Testament, stiled charity.

This charity is the very life and soul of the Christian religion. Though I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal.' Speak

hearers, and yet reap no more advantage or benefit from what he utters, than does the inanimate instrument of music from the notes drawn from it by a skilful master, which sooth, or ravish the hearts of the auditors-One's knowledge of the truth, and his facility in communicating that knowledge, may deceive not only his hearers, but himself, yea the natural tendency of these endowments is dangerous to the possessor; for knowledge puffeth up.' However extensive any man's knowledge may be, and however diffident and modest he may appear, it is undeniable, that every one of our species, at certain times, secretly takes credit to himself even for more than he knows; and the more he knows, or fancies he knows, so much the more does he value

himself. As an object of vision fully inflated and distended with air may be mistaken for a solid mass, so he who knows much, and talks to the purpose about the truth, may be supposed by his fellowmortals to be a sincere lover of it, while yet he never may be benefited by it; swelling in pride and conceit, such an one may ultimately make shipwreck of the faith and a good conscience. On the other hand, he who knows and talks much less may find mercy of the Lord, and be great in the kingdom of heaven, though unnoticed, and perhaps despised of men.

Knowledge, and the faculty of utterance, may please and be admired for a time. But as that which is puffed up or inflated must

be distinguished, sooner or later, from a solid mass, so the difference between the dazzling glare of knowledge which puffeth up, and the permanent fabric erected by 'charity which builds up, or edifies,' must be fully evinced, either here or hereafter. The one, like the baseless fabric of a vision, shall dissolve, and leave not a wreck behind; but he who, under the influence of charity. doeth the will of God, 'abideth for ever.'

Verbal professions of love and regard bespeak our belief, which we cannot refuse so long as we credit the professor. But, when his actions give the lie to his words, it is not in our power to believe his profes

sions. To an absent friend we cannot shew our love otherwise, than by doing what he desired when present, or by complying with what we know he wishes to have done. In vain do any of the professors of Christ's name pretend to be his friends, if they do not what he commands. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.' And every man who lives by the hope of the gospel, will, under the influence of charity, deem it to be his duty to purify himself, even as God is pure."

(To be continued.)

ON THE CHARACTER OF ENOCH. Gen. v. 24.

THE account we have by Moses of this patriarch is very short indeed; namely, "That he walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." The apostle Paul illustrates or gives a little farther account of him, (Heb. xi. 5.) where he says, "By faith, Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased Gol.', The prophet (Amos iii. 3) says, "Can two walk together except they be agreed"? No. "Walking with God" must therefore commence in "being reconciled with God." In other words, "Subject to his sovereignty," as "the creature must be dependant on the Creator," who is God over all-blessed for evermore. See also Eccles. iv. 9-12.

From the first promise to the present day, Faith has had one and the same object in view, namely

respecting the Lord Jesus Christ, as dying for the sins of his guilty people, and his rising from the dead for their justification.

The second clause of the verse is also worthy our serious attention, and is a proof of the Divine power. Moses says, 'He was not, for God took him." Paul says, " Enoch was translated, that he (Enoch) should not see death." He who said to Adam, "Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return," took Enoch to himself,-and suspended, in his case, that awful sentence, and in so doing he instructed his church of old, that faith in God is connected with the hope of the resurrection from the dead. In each of the three great periods or divin reest of the church, the faith of the Old Testament saints has been support. ed by figures of the resurrection. Enoch, Elijah, and the great Captain of Salvation himself, for whom the everlasting doors were opened.

And God, in conducting those events, has gradually disclosed life and immortality from the dawning of morning light, to the full glory of meridian splendour. It was a most encouraging sight to the saints of the old world to behold the body of a guilty son of Adam, not deposited in a tomb, or consigned to the grave, but "translated" direct to the bosom of God. It was still more striking to see the heavens opened, and ministers in flaming fire conducting a prophet to his seat in the kingdom of heavenstill we have a much grander display of this doctrine before our eyes, when we behold the author and finisher of faith, opening the gates of righteousness for the nations of those who are savedfor in all things he must have the pre-eminence. See Psalm cxviii. 19. Acts x. 34, to the end.

Enoch and Noah were both preachers, and they seem to have had different gifts in their ministry in declaring or preaching "the whole counsel of God." Enoch declared the threatenings of the law, and of future judgment with the vengeance that would overtake the ungodly, &c., which is the substance of what Jude says, Ver. 14 and 15, of his epistle. And Peter, in his 2nd epistle, iii. 6, in speak ing of the anti-christian apostacy, compares it to the destruction of the old world-the world of the ungodly, upon which the flood came and swept them all away.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness, through the promise to fallen man, the glad tidings of salvation, and he walked in communion with God, believing in his salvation.

Walking with God is a figurative description of the intimate communion which subsists between God

and guilty sinners. According to Amos iii. 3, without coincidence in sentiment, two will not walk-or remain long together. A sinner's walk with God commences when he is taught to know the Truth,-for christians walk by faith, not by sight. When man fell from God, he lost his way and he could never retrace-his steps hence the Old Testament church made confession thus, "We all like sheep have gone astray, and have turned every one to his own way." Isaiah liii. 6.

The apostle Peter reminds the believers, to whom he wrote, saying, "Ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned to the shepherd and bishop of your souls. I Peter, ii 25, to which agree the words of Paul, Rom. iii. 5, " There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, &c. The whole human race have gone astray, for they walk not after the spirit, but after the flesh. It pleased God, in the exceeding riches of his grace, to reveal to those wanderers the way of salvation-it was made known in the first promise, and those who believed it, went on their way rejoicing. Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, are said to have walked with God, and the same way was marked out afterwards by the law and the prophets, as a directory to the Jews, shewing them that they should walk in the steps of Abraham, the father of the faithful.

Generation after generation. God raised up prophets, all pointing to the king's high way," and "a man," says one of them," although a fool, shall not err therein." Hence we find the church praying to be put on the right way. Psalm xxv, 4, exii. 4. &c. And again in Ps. xxv. 1--9, it is said, “Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he will teach

sinners in the way,"-namely, "of salvation." See Matt. vi. 28, 29, 30. And the New Testament presses on believers this walking with God, see Gal. v. 16. Eph. v. 2. John 2nd epistle, ver. 6, see the contrary, ver. 7. Another apostle says, awake, or believe, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. Eph. v. 14.

The faith by which Enoch was translated, in this world can support, and is able to carry God's sons and daughters through whatever opposition, trials and affliction they may meet with in the profession of His

name. Jesus prayed to his Father that he should not take his people out of the world, but that he should keep them from the evil-or unbelief that reigns here below.

Let those, then, who believe, walk in the footsteps of those who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises; and agreeably to what is said by John, in his 1st Epist. ii. 6, "He that saith he abideth in Him, (Jesus) ought himself to walk, even as he (the apostle) walked.

Dundee, Nov. 1850.

"QUARTUS."

ON MARRYING IN THE LORD.

REMARKS ON 1 COR. VII. 39. IN ANSWER TO TROPHIMUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Advocate,

Mr. Editor,-Will you or any of your correspondents, give me the meaning of 1 Cor. vii. 39, and show whether it prohibits the marriage of believers with unbelievers; and in what way we are to understand the latter term in the present day? Does it prohibit the marriage of parties belonging to different denominations ? TROPHIMUS.

"She is at liberty to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord."

It appears from the first verse of this chapter that the church at Corinth had written to the apostle, putting some questions respecting the marriage relation, which questions he here answers, showing that the belief of the gospel which he had preached unto them, could not in any sense, affect the marriage relation. "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified" (that is chosen) "by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified" (or selected)" by the husband"; else were your children unclean, (or illegitimate) but now (by the mutual devotion, or sanctity, of the parents to each other) "are they holy," that 1s, legitimate. This doctrine is in perfect harmony with the teaching of his Master, who said, "He who

made man, made them male and female, and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, therefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder.' Religious opinions or sectarian views are altogether inadmissable, on a subject, that of all others, sets forth unity, as its first and ultimate.

The apostle, in consequence of the wars, famines, pestilences, and persecutions, which were to, and did take place during the last days of the Jewish economy, which he calls "the present distress," advises those who were then unmarried, to continueso, for their own individual

ease and comfort; but qualifies this, his advice, by saying, as in ver. 28, that the party marrying have "not sinned;" that even the widow who had had a husband, was at liberty to be married to the man of her choice! "only in the Lord," that is, in obedience to, and recognizing the divine ordinance! that every man should have his own wife, and every woman her own husband. Notwithstanding the plain and unambiguous manner in which the inspired writers speak of the marriage relation, and the use they make of it. As setting forth in a sensible form, the union of Christ and His body, the church, see Ps. xlv. 1316. Cant. ii. 16. Eph. v. 22-32, &c. &c. There are some professing christians who make themselves believe that the words, " only in the Lord," mean, such persons only, as assent to their dogmas and worship in the same room or chapel with themselves! This little circle of theirs is"in the Lord," and of necessity, those who are not within the charmed ring, cannot be in the Lord!

There are others again, who allow more latitude to the words, "in the Lord," by saying that they signify believers of the gospel, with out regard to sect or party: but these persons either forget, or do not know, that at the time that the apostle wrote, there were no evangelist alliances, The day was only then at hand, when "seven women," namely, the whole host of professing christians, would "take hold of one man," the man Christ Jesus! Saying practically, we will be filled with our own devices, and be clothed with our own righteousness, "only let us be called by thy name (christian) to take away our reproach." There was in the apostle's day only the one sect which was then every where spoken against!

therefore if the belief of the gospel was a necessary element in the marriage contract, the widow was not at liberty to marry the man of her choice! unless he were a member of the church at Corinth.

When we reflect upon the Conversions, and Dippings, that have taken place, in order to pave the way for Marriage, so, as to avoid a case of discipline, we are covered with shame and confusion, because of the prostitution of ordinances, sacred in their design, before the shrine of human conceit. While we bless Him, who gave the Word, for having delivered us from man. Who dares interpret that Word according to the blindness of his mind and the darkness of his understanding!

The argument of the apostle throughout this chapter from ver. 2nd downwards completely excludes the self-righteous theory, which we have noticed, and is so plain and forcible, that no reasoning of ours, can add strength to it, we therefore ask of Trophimus to read carefully the exhortation already quoted, addressed by the same apostle to the church in his own city of Ephesus. When he will find, that the marriage relation, both natural and spiritual, is sacred and indissoluble! the natural relation is sacred (being of divine appointment) that it may fitly represent the spiritual! "Two (saith he) shall be one flesh,,, But he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit."

REMARKS.

F. D.

The subject of the preceeding article is of great practical importance to the churches of Christ, and ought to be closely and calmly investigated.

In adding a few remarks, in connexion with our correspondent's letter, we wish to be distinctly understood as not intending to

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