phers, call a manifestation of folly, is in fact the most incontrovertible proof of Divine wisdom in the Bible. See Christianity.

CHARACTERS. Good and bad. The faithful and impartial manner in which the sacred writers have recorded the bad and inconsistent conduct of the servants of God, even oftentimes of themselves, (e. g. Paul, David, Moses, &c.,) as well as the good acts of their enemies, at once proves them to have been honest and sincere, and distinguishes their writings from every human production; in which, invariably, the vices of friends are concealed, and their virtues extolled; while the vices of enemies are magnified, and their virtues concealed. Not so in the Bible-yet this very faithfulness of the Sacred writers, the enemies of truth use, as a weapon against the Bible. God suffers this, that their folly may be made manifest to all; and that professing themselves to be wise, they may become fools! Finally, it is to be observed, that the servants of God never justified their crimes, nor attempted to say that God sanctioned them; but invariably confessed, with sorrow, their transgressions, and implored the pardon of their God.

Not so with infidels, who justify many abominable crimes, as being only consistent with the laws of Nature. See Lies. Morality.

CHARIOTS. In Judg. i. 19, we read "the Lord was with Judah, and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron." The antecedent to the pronoun, "he," is JUDAH, not JEHOVAH. It does not follow, that because the Lord assisted, or was with Judah in many circumstances, that therefore he

would be with Judah in all his undertakings. It was therefore JUDAH, not Jehovah, who could not drive them out of the valley, in consequence of their iron chariots.

CHRIST, MESSIAH, ANOINTED, all signify the same, and are applied both in the Old, and New Testament, to the Lord Jesus Christ. His existence, miraculous powers, death and resurrection, in Judea, about 1800 years ago, are testified to, by numerous persons, friends and foes, who lived in, or about those times. Moreover, his power of working miracles was never called in question for the first four hundred years, neither by Jews nor Gentiles; and amongst the latter, were some of the bitterest enemies Christianity ever had, viz: Celsus, Porphyry, and the Emperor Julian. His mission to this earth was, it is evident, in order to enable the most HIGH GOD to pardon the rebellious sons of men, consistent with His attributes of TRUTH, JUSTICE, and HOLINESS, &c. It was therefore a mission of mercy. He came not to condemn, but to save, even as many as believe, or trust, in HIM. See Jesus. Gospel Evidence.

CHRISTIANITY is built upon the promises of God, first given 4,000 years before the Christian era, and continued throughout the intervening period of time, to within 400 years of the Messiah's appearance. The great peculiarity in the birth of Christ, as foretold throughout the Scriptures, was that "he was to be of the seed of a woman," not of man. (See Gen. iii. 15. Isaiah, vii. 14; ix. 6, 7. Matth. i. 18. Jeremiah, xxxi. 22.) However extraordinary this circumstance may at first appear, yet no reflecting person will see any more impossibility or improbability in the Creator having made Christ solely

of the woman, than in his having made man originally without the co-operation or assistance of man; and as Christ was to be the great head of a new (spiritual) creation, of bringing life and immortality to light, of being the representative of God on earth, and doing HIS will, not only the probability, but the propriety of the transaction, must appear manifest. See Isaiah. Judgment. Genealogy.

CHRISTIANITY is not, by any means, an abrogation of Judaism; but a fulfilment of it—nor does Christianity, by any means prove, that God, at one time, desired to be worshipped in one way, and, at another time, in another way; for the worship of the Creator under the Jewish economy, was essentially, and intrinsically, the same that it is under the Christian; "God is a spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John, iv. 24.) Any one who peruses the prayers of the Prophets and servants of God, under the Jewish economy, and those of His servants under the Christian, must perceive one and the same spirit running through, and pervading, both. For further illustration of this subject see Gospel. Ceremonies. Sects. Success. Church. Roman.

CHRISNA, a Hindoo idol, or god, whom modern infidels have endeavoured to confound with the Lord Jesus. This man was born about Anno Domini, 600. And the only way in which they can even attempt to confound the two, is by confounding the name of this idol with that of Christ; but which are, in reality, not only as to the letters composing the names, but more particularly as to the meaning of the two words, as opposite as light is to darkness. 1st. This idol's name is not spelt as above, but "KRISHNU;" and signifies "black,"

or "dark blue:" the object of modern infidels in spelling it "Chrisna," is to approximate it as nearly as possible to the name CHRIST;" the dishonesty of which, in a scholar, is unpardonable. 2d. So far from the meaning of the two names resembling one another, that "Christ" signifies the anointed" or "appointed," or "set apart," rather implying a making manifest, or bringing to light, while Krishnu signifies dark-blue, or black, implying a concealing or hiding!

Infidels may, with just as much propriety and wisdom, assert, that black and white-truth and falsehood-virtue and vice, are all one and the same, as that Jesus Christ and Krishnu are the same!

The Rev. W. Ramsey, (late from India,) states this in his critical observations, (addressed to the author,) on Robert Taylor's dishonesty in garbling Sir William Jones' writings.

CHURCH, a term applied by the Sacred writers to a meeting of real Christians-applied by the Lord Jesus himself to a meeting, in His name, of even "two or three." (Matt. xviii. 17. 20.) Called a building, not made of stones, a "spiritual building;" but in modern times applied to the house in which persons meet for worship. The real church of God is a pure and genuine republican government, (see Kings,) acknowledging no human King, Head, or Law-giver; with its proper officers or representatives, to conduct and manage in said republic, the various meetings and affairs, "decently and in order." See Roman Catholic Church.

COLT, the foal of an ass. The direction given by Jesus to two of his disciples in Matth. xxi. 2, 3, to bring him the colt they would find tied in the village, that he

might ride thereon into Jerusalem, according to the Prophet, evidently implies a previous understanding or acquaintance with the owners of him; for he adds, "if any man ask you why do ye loose him?" say, "because the Lord hath need of him." (Luke, xix. 31.) Accordingly, "as they were loosing him, the owners thereof said unto them, why loose ye the colt?" and they said, "the Lord hath need of him," (33, 34,) "AND THEY," (the owners,) "LET THEM GO!" (Mark, xi. 6.) See Ass.

CONFUCIUS, a Chinese Philosopher, who lived about 500 years before Christ. In his writings, if any of them be now in existence, (for those palmed on the public as his, were written, it is believed, by a Spanish or Italian Monk, his own writings having been all destroyed centuries ago,) a passage occurs which infidels take great pains to show, must have been quoted from him by Christ; and, therefore, that this man, not Christ, was the author of what they call the most moral command in the Bible, viz. "to do unto others as we would be done by." (Matth. vii. 12.) Now, in the first place, this is not intrinsically the most moral precept in the Bible; for the command in Matth. v. 44, "to return good for evil," as far excels it, as that which is divine, excels that which is human: the former is only human, the latter is really divine! But secondly, suppose that it were the most moral precept in the Bible, we find that so far from Confucius having been the author of it, the identical same precept was inculcated by Jehovah himself, 990 years before Confucius was even born, (admitting what infidels say, that he was born 500 years before Christ!) Oh, are not such men to be pitied. They, professing themselves to be wise, do indeed become fools." (Rom. i. 22.) The precept alluded to, occurs in

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