take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions; and join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms, any more at all: neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them so shall they be my people and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them: and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's children, for ever; and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore."-vers. 15-28. Has this been accomplished? If so, When? Is it to be

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accomplished? How? When? In eternity? Then in eternity the heathen shall know that God does sanctify Israel when his sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore!! After reading these two passages, parts of one prophecy concerning the Jews, let the pious and curious reader immediately read the following chapter, (Ezek. xxxviii.) containing a prophecy concerning Israel when these things shall have been accomplished-a prophecy detailing Gog in the land of Magog, and his incursions on Israel. Let him ask all the living and dead doctors when this prophecy has been fulfilled; and if not yet fulfilled, can it be after the second advent? These are a mere sample of many portions of the major and minor prophets. To say that all these have been fulfilled in the calling of the Jews and a portion of the Gentiles into the Christian church, is to spiritualize them with a demonstration. Yet those who assume that all these and a hundred like them have been accomplished, and that time was to expire last September, or will expire before the end of March next, call us spiritualists -followers of Dr. Whitby!

The popular doctrine of this school is, that the prophecies are all fulfilled but one-the second coming; that it is now the last hour of the day; that the hour and minute-hand both point to six; and why it does not strike, no Millerite can tell. Then, of course, "they have beaten their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks;" and now their ploughs and pruning-hooks are just as useless as swords and spears; for henceforth there shall be no fields to plough, nor vineyards to prune. Again, Isaiah lxv. 17-25,

For, behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be heard no more in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner, being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not

build and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble: for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."

Time is almost past. No infant child henceforth. Children die in their hundredth year, and sinners die at one hundred, accursed. All this is past, or present, or future. It is not now; it has not been; and if the resurrection come in 1844, it cannot come for why build houses, plant vineyards, and eat and drink the fruits of the earth in the climes of heaven? Why any longer the wolf, the lamb, the lion, or the bullock, in the midst of raised saints, with spiritual bodies? But all this is past, and we know it not! Or it is spiritualized away into the union of Jews and Gentiles living together in amity for an indefinite age or life time. Yet we are the spiritualists, and they--What are they?

Now so pleased am I with the display of Christian excellence amongst many of my second advent acquaintance, and so happy do they seem in the hope of the immediate end of all things, that if this were all found of the profession, I would hold it almost unkind to undeceive them; still the fear of the consequence which is already beginning to appear in those portions of the country where some of the preachers and people of this faith are represented as abandoning it, and returning to their former employments, that I feel it obligatory again to advert to the subject.

When the excitement of the present year shall have passed away, it will be more profitable to analyze the whole premises from which we anticipate great changes in the world; for I am one of those that look for a thorough cleansing of the sanctuary as an event not only most devoutly to be wished, but most certainly soon to be commenced in a way which perchance but few of us either expect or are at all prepared for.

A. C.

NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

WE have several serious objections to the theory of the Millerites besides the notorious failures of all their former predictions and calculations respecting the coming of the Lord in 1843.

First, They contend that this is not the age to make known to the world the Pentecostian proclamation, the doctrine of salvation in the remission of sins, by an immersion in water, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.-Acts ii. 38.

Secondly, The views of most of these parties seem to be like those of the Plymouth Brethren, namely, since the apostacy, it is both vain and useless to try to restore ancient Christianity, or to erect churches of believers, and especially to appoint elders over them in the Lord; the church, according to them being scattered among all sects, and in ruins.

Thirdly, The consequences resulting from these views must necessarily be, that it is no sin to omit the positive institutions of the Lord on the first day of the week. Only let the second advent be proclaimed, and persons give their assent to the truth of this fact, and all will be well. On the other hand, let a person be ever so obedient, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, at the same time not seeing evidence that all the prophecies are fulfilled; that the Lord is at hand, according to their views, and such cannot be saved. With these sentiments we can have no fellowship; we would rather say, Let us take the Jewish reformers for our example, and come out of Babylon in the prescribed manner, and endeavour to build again the temple of the Lord (i. Cor. iii. 16, 17), though it be with the weapon, the Word of God, in our hands; by which we have to defend as well as to build up the disciples of the Lord.

A brother, writing from Scotland, says, "So, the Millerites are passing through England! Few men of sense will be inclined to hearken to them, or to receive the doctrine from the notorious failure of the gentlemen's former predictions. Some indeed may go out of curiosity, to know their arguments, for it is certainly an advantage to be acquainted with both sides of a subject."

Some time ago the passage in Revelations" Behold he cometh with clouds," &c., came under our consideration: our conclusions however, did not at all harmonize with Mr. Miller's, so far as we know them. These preachers say, "Nothing now must be proclaimed but the midnight cry." Indeed! Where did they learn this? "At midnight, a cry was heard;" but whence did it proceed? not from the virgins surely, for they were all slumbering and sleeping. Paul says, "The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God." Will not that be a cry suited to the grandeur of the scene, and quite consonant with all its sublimity?

SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY ON BAPTISM.

"To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."-Isaiah viii. 20. "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me."-John v. 39.

"In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."-Matt. xv. 9.

"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures."-Matt. xxii. 29.

THE ordinance of water baptism has been most awfully perverted and neglected. In proof of this, look around on the numerous sects of the present day, and compare their practice in this respect with that of the primitive disciples of Christ as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. All that man has taught on this subject that is not according to the Book of God is worth nothing at all. Messiah is king in his own kingdom, and as such he has given laws by which we must enter into it. No person has a right to change those laws or to alter them in any respect. Therefore we conclude that nothing is authoritative on this subject but the Statute Book of the King. First we shall refer to those passages. which show the persons baptized, to ascertain whether they were infants or believers; second, to those which refer to the mode of administration, or throw light upon the subject, to ascertain whether it was by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling; and third, to those which show the design and import of it.

FIRST, THE SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM.

Matt. iii.; xxviii. 19. Mark i. 1—11; xvi. 15, 16. Luke iii. 1-23. John iv. 1. Acts ii. 37-41; viii. 5—12, 26-39; ix. 18; x. 44—48; xvi. 14, 15, 31—34; xviii. 8; xix. 1-5. 1 Cor. i. 14-16; xvi, 15,

From these passages it is evident that the persons baptized were capable of hearing, confessing, believing, repenting, rejoicing, receiving the Holy Spirit, ministering to the saints, &c. &c. Infants are incapable of performing any one of these acts, therefore, the subjects were believers only.

SECOND, MODE OF ADMINISTRATION.

Matt. iii. 13-16. Mark i. 5-9, Luke xii. 50. John iii. 23. Acts viii. 36-39. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2 Rom. vi. 4. Col. ii. 12.