Baptizo. I dwell on this word, finding it, as I do, connected with man's salvation; and, therefore, it must be important. It would probably be deemed improper, unfair perhaps, for me to occupy your time with proofs of this; or with my conclusions on the action of of baptism, its design, &c. Yet as most deem it important, and as it is a subject which has caused much discussion, I hold that a revised translation is desirable to set this at rest, and that it would do so. I appeal to your reason and good sense, and to your sense of the divine wisdom and goodness, whether a divine command, enjoined upon all, and required in connection with our salvation, would be conveyed to us in indefinite, ambiguous language? And I ask you, each one, to answer that question for yourselves. And then I ask you one more. Would he who knows what is in man-who sees the end from the beginning, have prayed that his people might be one, and then have required them to unite, or be one, holding one God, one Lord, one Spirit, one Faith, one Baptism, and one Hope, if one or more of these words are capable of a variety of meanings? Be assured that it would not be more untrue to assert that either of the words God, Lord, Spirit, Faith, Hope, &c., are indefinite,' have 'a variety of meanings,' 'cannot be understood,' &c., than to speak thus of Baptism. The most illiterate may satisfy himself, and be able also to furnish demonstrative proof of his conclusion. The truth is, that there is so much hangs upon this word, that many of the religious teachers of the day will resist an effort for a revised version, lest it should contradict their present practice. He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifested, &c., John iii. 21.

A revised version would help to settle another much controverted question, viz., Did the Redeemer live and die for the salvation of all men, or some only? For some only our Translators taught, and therefore, as might be expected, they have made certain passages speak their sentiments. We stay not to shew that they did so honestly or dishonestly. We have to do with the fact simply. In Heb. ix. 28 they make the apostle say, that the Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.' In a revised version we should have all for many,' and the correction of this and similar passages would do more to settle this great question than all the commentators have done. See John iii. 16, 17, 36, and read verse 36, He that refuses faith and obedience shall not see life, &c. Obedience, we say, for in many other passages we ought to have obey for believe, and disobedience for unbelief. The word rendered Hear, in John x. 27 (My sheep hear my voice), is rendered Obey in Eph. vi. 1, &c., 'Children obey your parents.' You will at once perceive the reasonableness of this if you reflect on Isa. lv. 3, 'Hear, and your soul shall live.' None of you would say that a man lives, or is saved, by merely hearing the word of God. Why did the Israelites die in the wilderness, not reaching the good, the promised land-Moses and Aaron not excepted? See Heb. iv. 11, margin. This is exceedingly important, inasmuch as an improper use has been made of the word believe, and many have been absurd or ignorant enough to teach Salvation by faith alone!' On the same principle they might go a step farther, and teach salvation by hearing alone, for God has said, 'Hear, and your souls shall live!" In order to be saved, a man must hear or read;

but hearing only will not save him; nor hearing and believing only. And why? Because God commands all men to repent; and the Saviour has said, 'Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' Nor all these only. And why Because more is required. He, therefore, who would answer this question according to the word of God, must ascertain therefrom all that is required.

It is an error to suppose that the word salvation has the same signification in all passages. This, however, is to be ascertained by the connexion, or by comparisons. That the word salvation, in Mark xvi. 16, signifies the forgiveness of sins, is evident by the marginal reference, which points to Acts ii. 38. Our own salvation, in Phil. ii. 12, is salvation from the power and practice of sin; and that in Heb. v. 9, &c., has reference to those who are faithful unto death.

The Book is.far more practical than the English reader may suppose. Read Matt. xxv. 36, Sick and you assisted me. Jas. i. 27, To take care of widows, &c. There is all the difference between merely visiting the sick and destitute, and assisting them with such things as are needful for the body.' If you can say with Peter, Silver and gold I have not;' and yet can render a real service-if not to the body, to the mind; be not deterred, for the word of God does not require according to what we have not, but according to what we have. The heavenly Father requires us to hear, believe, and obey, in order to enjoy his favour. And do not you require this of your children? He who has ears to hear, let him hear,' may be said to be a literal rendering; but let him regard would more fully express the sense; and in such a case, the sense should be regarded rather than the sound. So the word frequently rendered repent. To repent is to change the mind. So our Translators understood it, as is evident from the margin of Heb. xii. 17; but they erred in rendering another word, or another form of the word, by repent instead of reform. John the Baptizer did not say, bring forth fruits meet for repentance; but for amendment of life, as in margin of Matt. iii. 8. So in 2 Cor. vii. 10, Paul does not speak of repentance, but of 'reformation not to be repented of.'

We repeat, that the Bible is a more practical book than appears from the common version; which requires revision in this particular, especially now, as so many are so afraid lest others should depend on their good works, that they tell inquirers that they are to be saved by believing only! To this I beg your especial attention, because those who oppose revision, do so, generally, on the ground that the corrections required are unimportant. Many of them may be said to be so comparatively; but every word which God has spoken must be important. The dogma of salvation, or justification by faith alone, is taught by many, and defended from the common version. A revision would, we believe, shew the error of this. We have seen that the word rendered visit signifies more than this, viz., to assist; hear, to regard and obey; and repent, to reform. We shall now shew that there is a Greek word rendered believe, which signifies both to believe and obey; and that the true doctrine is, no salvation without obedience,*

Neither faith nor obedience can procure our salvation; yet as without faith, so also, without obedience, it is impossible to please God. (The reader will perceive as he proceeds, that our brother does not dispute, that with the belief of

instead of salvation by believing only. In proof of this, we shall call several witnesses whom, we believe, you will listen to, as those who are competent, reputable, and disinterested. The first is the common version itself (or its learned authors), with special reference to its marginal readings, &c. See Acts v. 36; Rom. xi. 30, 31; Eph. v. 6; Heb. iv. 11; xi. 31, &c. And note, that the marginal reference of John iii. 36 (He that believeth not), is to Rom. ii. 8 (Do not obey). And that that of Rom. iii. 3 (Some did not believe), is to Rom. x. 16 (They have not all obeyed). These are only examples, from which the English reader may perceive (if indeed he has, as every one should have, a Bible with marginal references, &c.) that a believer, in the scriptural sense of that term, is one who has 'purified his heart by obeying the truth;' and that he is not a believer who has 'not obeyed the gospel.' Dear hearers! Hear, and your souls shall live, Repent. and your sins shall be blotted out. Believe. and you shall be saved. Visit the sick, the widow, and the fatherless, and when the Son of man shall come in his glory, he shall pronounce you blessed! But you shall not live; your sins shall not be blotted out; you shall not be saved now; nor stand at the right hand of the Judge at last, unless you hear and regard, believe and obey, repent and reform, visit and assist, &c. Blessed are they who do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in, through the gates, into the city!' Have we need of farther witnesses? We have already cited Dr J. P. Smith's rendering of John iii. 36 (He that refuseth faith and obedience shall not see life'). Let us now call the late eminent Dr John Kitto. Hear him, and be not hearers only. His words are, that 'Faith in Christ, and obedience to Christ, in the New Testament, are convertible terms.' We will name only one more, a man of no mean erudition, viz., Mr Stovel. In one of his numerous and able works, 'Christian Discipleship,' p. 118, he says, "In the sacred writings, as well as in those of Greece, to believe in any one, means, to take his word, and act on his instructions.' Such statements we meet not with in the teachings of those who are not familiar with the language in which the Christian Scriptures were originally written.

To be concluded in our next.

THE CHURCH DURING THE FIRST CENTURY.

FROM the day in which Adam was created until the present time there has been no age so replete with events of momentous interest to the human race as this, the first century of the Christian Era. In it the Son of God took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh, born in a stable, cradled in a manger, growing up in humble circumstances the truth is the dawn of spiritual life, but shews that where this belief is, obedience consentaneously follows; and, therefore, that salvation is not by believing only, as if belief, in its true and Scripture sense, were an existence without corresponding fruit, as is too often taught and supposed. We commend this article to a most careful and repeated perusal, believing that only thus shall its author and subject have justice done them. Let all the Scripture passages given be particularly examined.-ED.)

—a working man—until, giving himself up to the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God. A very few years sufficed to draw down upon him the full accumulation of the hatred of those whose sins he so unflinchingly reproved. Of this, and of his subsequent death and resurrection, of his ascension to the right hand of the majesty of the Most High, of his commission to his apostles, and of the wonderful propagation of the gospel, of the many signs and wonders that accompanied the preaching of the word, we have an ample account in the New Testament scriptures. That the enemy, however, was not idle in the meantime, is also clear. No sooner had >the new sect made its appearance than it was assailed on every side by Jew and Greek, bond and free, with scoffs and calumnies, and open determined opposition, united to the most deadly persecutions against all who dared to own the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Of the first of these, in which Saul, afterwards so zealous an apostle, took so prominent a part, we have an account in the Acts of Apostles. This attempt to extirpate Christianity, however, proved not only futile, but in its results was entirely opposed to the designs of its authors; for, like the autumnal gales, it but dispersed the seeds of the truth over a larger surface, there in turn to take root, flourish, and propagate. Shortly afterwards the churches had rest, increased and multiplied. The cessation of this bitter persecution, on the part of the Jews against the Christians, is supposed to have arisen from their attention having been wholly centred in resistance to the attempted desecration of their temple by the emperor Caligula. In the events which afterwards took place in Jerusalem, the Christians profited by the forewarnings addressed to them by their Master, and withdrew from the scene of strife, When Jerusalem was taken and destroyed, its position as the centre from whence the propagation of the Christian faith was conducted necessarily ceased also, and it is to Rome, then the capital of the civilized world, and the focus of the arts and sciences, as well as the seat of government, that we turn our eyes, for it is in connection principally with that city that the further occurrences in the history of the Church took place, from the martyrdom of Peter and Paul until the full development of the Man of Sin, who reared his throne upon her seven hills. When the apostle Paul, as narrated in the Acts, appealed to Cæsar, Nero then filled the imperial throne, and although at that time Paul appears to have been released, it was by the ordinance of the same monarch that he was afterwards put to death. This man appears to have been all that the most unblushing licentiousness and cruelty combined could produce in a single individual. As a writer of antiquity has justly observed, almost every one who has persecuted the Christians has rendered himself odious to his fellow-men as well as to God. After a career for a number of years of unbounded licentiousness and cruelties, in which he sought everything he could devise to gratify his animal passions, he at last caused Rome to be set on fire that he might enjoy the spectacle, and to endeavour to turn aside the wrath of the citizens from himself, he cast the odium of the deed upon the Christians, and busied himself in exciting a fierce persecution against them. In this persecution the most revolting cruelties were practised, which it will be unnecessary here to describe; in it many worthy Christians suffered death, among whom Peter and Paul sealed

their testimony with their blood. The next persecution was the work of Domitian in the year A.D. 90, and arose simply out of his sanguinary disposition, which in the Christians had an object on which to glut itself.

The next and last in this century occurred under the reign of the emperor Trajan, and commenced A.D. 99. It was stirred up by this superstitious emperor, because the heathen temples had fallen into disrepute, and the 'oracle' had become silent. These various persecutions were but repetitions the one of the other, the most remorseless cruelty and madness on the one side, and calm suffering and patient resignation on the other. During the periods of calm, the church grew apace, and increased in worldly wealth. It began to be looked upon favourably by the rich of this world, and the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees commenced to spread. Yet, although there was no lack of men from the first foundation of the church, who turned aside from the truth, and sought, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, to entice others, yet, from the ever watchful vigilance of the apostles, and their generally recognised authority, the heresies which sprung up were nipped in the bud. But when we examine the letters of the apostles, we see how varied were the attempts to turn believers aside from the simplicity of the truth, and we discover that nearly all the shades of heresy that have ever appeared are therein rebuked. From the fact that the apostle John lived until about A.D. 99, there was but little opportunity for the development of those fruits of the human imagination and carnal mind which were afterwards so abundant. It appears undeniable, not only from the New Testament, but from early ecclesiastical history, that the church government of this age was that of a plurality of bishops or pastors in each church, while there is no trace of any assumption of superior dignity by the bishop or bishops of any one church over those of another, nor in fact any interference by one church in the affairs of another. These inventions of men did not find place until some time afterwards, and were the commencements of that power which subsequently enthralled and subverted the churches to such an extent; and we shall see, in the course of the following centuries, how the members forsook their first love, and the bishops sought after power, and how the downward tendency was skilfully seized upon by some of the crafty bishops of Rome, until at last the Papal power was established. In vain we search the ecclesiastical history of this age for the mummeries and superstitions' of that church which calls itself Roman. Papacy and Prelacy are alike unknown. The pastors were men renowned for their piety, and the members in general for their firm attachment to the faith. We trust to show in the succeeding centuries how little by little the spirit of Antichrist grew and prevailed, and if we are wise, not in vain shall be the warning voice of history, and we shall be the more confirmed in the determination to keep the strait path when we see how those who have turned but a little from the way, have at last turned aside altogether from the truth as it is in Jesus. H. M.

Edinburgh.