power, and where, perhaps, that power is denied, and all is darkness and death. We may allow, too, that the agitations and conflicts caused by the Reformation, though on many accounts to be deplored, were necessary to rouse the christian world from its lethargy, and to purge away its corruptions. Such storms might then be requisite to purify the moral atmosphere; and though they have happily now spent their force, yet the sky is not perfectly cloudless and serene. But we would indulge a hope, that the evening of the world will be without a cloud, and that the Sun of Righteousness will shine forth upon his church in all his brightness. The prevalence of the spirit of Christianity will, doubtless, produce the unity of Christians; and then shall "the mountain of the LORD's house be established on the top of the mountains, and be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it." When the church shall thus become conspicuous to the whole world, as the one holy temple of the LORD, in which there will be unity of doctrine, discipline, and worship, in all essential points, many nations shall be heard to say, for they will then say it with confidence, "Let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the GoD of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." (Isaiah ii. 2, 3.) We hope those days are not far distant. In answer to the united prayers of the thousands of God's true Israel, who grieve over the desolations of Zion, caused by her disunion, we shall witness another Pentecost; when the LORD will pour out all the spirit of his love. Then the ancient fable of Amphion shall be most sublimely realized, according to the fine allusion of our Poet: "The gates of hell cannot prevail; The church on earth can never fail; Join every soul that looks to thee, In bonds of perfect charity: Now, LORD, the glorious fulness give, II. Let us now enter this Temple, and take a view of the PRIESTS, and of the SACRIFICES which they offer. "Ye are," says the Apostle, "an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to GoD by JESUS CHRIST." 1. This title, holy priesthood, applies, in a high and important sense, to all true Christians; for all such are separated from the world, and consecrated to the service of God. They are washed, they are sanctified, they are justified, in the name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and by the SPIRIT of our GOD. All who truly follow the LAMB are clothed in fine linen, white and clean, which is the righteousness of all the saints, or holy people of God. Their robes are washed and made white in the blood of the LAMB; and "therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple." "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." (1 Peter ii. 9.) 2. True Christians are appointed to offer spiritual sacrifices. The priests under the law were appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, which are often indifferently designated by the latter term, which means, things made sacred by being presented to GOD. When they are thus distinguished, the former denotes thank-offerings, which were the expression of the gratitude and dependance of the people upon God for all they enjoyed. The latter were peace-offerings, intended to avert the divine displeasure; as such they were acknowledgments of their guilt and liability to punishment. But as the former could not benefit GOD, though he was pleased to accept of them, as signs of certain dispositions of heart ever pleasing in his sight, because correct; neither could the latter benefit them, by removing guilt from their conscience. "In these sacrifices there was a remembrance again made of sins every year." (Heb. x. 3.) Hence they are called, together with the various ablutions, and other carnal ordinances of a similar nature, a hand-writing of ordinances against us, and contrary to us, which CHRIST blotted out, and took out of the way, nailing it to his cross. (See Col. ii. 14.) For, by his once offering himself, having perfected for ever them that are sanctified, he rendered such sacrifices altogether unnecessary; and by the introduction of a more perfect form of religion, he has set aside all those merely outward expressions of our gratitude and dependance. Instead of them, we present to GoD our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. We present also the sacrifice of a broken and a contrite heart, which GoD will not despise. We offer the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips, which is called, in the bold figurative style of Inspiration, "the calves of our lips." The lifting up of our hands in prayer, also, is "as the evening sacrifice." And it is said, "to do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices GOD is well pleased." In a word, all we think, or speak, or do, becomes one great sacrifice, when we do all to the glory of GoD. 3. These are called spiritual sacrifices, principally because they proceed from the influence of the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD in our hearts. God looks at the heart; and, when that is properly actuated, works, otherwise indifferent, become highly pleasing in his sight. The HOLY GHOST makes our bodies his temple, becomes the soul of our soul, teaches our best reason reason, and gives to all our mental and moral powers the truest rectitude of principle and feeling. He sheds his blessed sunshine over our intellect, hushes our passions into a calm, and sweetly, yet strongly, moves them towards all holy purposes and useful actions. 4. For they are "acceptable to GoD by JESUS CHRIST." We cannot apply to these fruits of the SPIRIT the language of the Prophet, in reference to the formal performances of men in a state of rebellion against GOD. They are justly denominated "filthy rags," and can never hide the moral deformity of those, who are themselves altogether as an unclean thing, from the pure and allsearching eyes of GOD. But to apply such language, in an unqualified way, as some have injudiciously done, to the good works, and holy thoughts and purposes, of men who are "in CHRIST JESUS," and "full of faith and of the HOLY GHOST," is preposterous. They are the offerings of a holy priesthood, and presented according to his will; and are in themselves such as GOD, on the whole, for his Son's sake, views with complacency, because they are the result of a right exercise of their mental and moral powers, under the gracious influence of his HOLY SPIRIT, agreeably to the relations in which they stand to GoD and each other. They who offer such sacrifices are said to glorify God; for they are both a becoming acknowledgment of his perfections, and also a reflection of those perfections. Hence they are, in an evangelical sense, notwithstanding their legal defects and unworthiness, "acceptable to God by JESUS CHRIST."-While we are united with him by a living faith, there is a removal of our guilt by the application of his atoning blood, and a renewal of our nature by the communications of his SPIRIT. We thus become one spirit with the LORD, and live no longer in and to our fallen nature; but CHRIST lives in us, and we live, by his holy influence, to GOD; and what we do, as far as it is done under that influence, is pleasing to GOD, because it comes from GOD through CHRIST to us, is like GOD, and returns through CHRIST to GOD. O glorious union with JESUS! O blessed fruits of that union! Blessed "Second Man!" the "LORD from heaven!" Blessed "Last Adam!" the "quickening SPIRIT!" As the living FATHER sent thee, and thou livest by the FATHER, even so we who eat thee, live by thee. O divine and living foundation of the spiritual and living house of GOD! Great High Priest of our profession! holiest Head of the holy priest hood! ever may we come to thee, and cleave to thee with full purpose of heart; ever rejoice to act under thee in offering up spiritual sacrifices to GOD. May our acts of devotion and obedience be ever perfumed by the sweet incence of thine, and so rendered truly pleasing in the sight of thy Gon and our GOD, of thy FATHER and our FATHER. And when we have overcome all our enemies in thy divine strength, make us pillars in the temple of thy God, to go no more out: write upon us the name of thy God, and the name of the city of thy GOD, the New Jerusalem coming down from thy God out of heaven; and write upon us thy new name! Amen, and Amen. THE WORD OF GOD ILLUSTRATED. REPLY TO MR. CROWTHER'S FURTHER OBSERVATIONS (See METHODIST MAGAZINE for OCTOBER and NOVEMBER, 1821.) To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine. We have now the whole of MR. CROWTHER's reasons for the new translation of Acts xvii. 30, grounded, as in his former paper, partly on the Septuagint, and partly on the Greek classical writers. It is, as appears to me, in the former of these two modes of proof, that his chief strength lies; for, as to the argu ment from the Classics, it has received a wound, by the hand of MR. C. himself, from which it will not recover. I have contended that the nearest approach, made by the disputed word, to the meaning of anger, is that which is expressed by the Latin "despicio," or "contemno," and the English "despise." I do not fear that any classical scholar will negative this assertion: even MR. C. has contended for this meaning. Having sufficiently proved, in his first paper, that the classical writers used it in the sense of "to despise," (see pp. 422, 423,) he wished it to be inferred that "to despise," and "to be angry with," were nearly the same thing.* But, in this second communication, he destroys his own argument. For the force of that argument depends entirely on our receiving for true, that "to despise," and "to be angry with," are synonymous. But, in his second paper, he gives it as his opinion, (see p. 741, sub fin.) that the naked meaning of "despise" is, "to think the despised object unworthy of notice." Surprised at this concession, I inquire, then, has not the argument from the Classics vanished into air? If UTEgEdw in the Classics means "to despise," and if "to despise," be "to think the despised object unworthy of notice," MR. C. has proved just the reverse of what he intended. It is plain that the evidence * MR. C. still contends for the meaning of anger in the passage from HERODOTUS, V. 69. I have only to say that I cannot perceive it; nor could his Latin translator, SchweighouseR, or he would probably have rendered it, “ iratus Ionibus;" instead of," in Ionum contemtum.” VOL. XLIV. DECEMBER, 1821. * 5 K* from the Classics is decidedly against the new translation; for how can there be anger where the object is thought beneath notice? The proof from the Septuagint stands thus. MR. C. thinks that, in Acts xvii. 30, the Greek words, Tous xgorous Tns avois Vπερidaν o εos, should be rendered, "GoD having been angry with the times of this ignorance." He assigns, in his last paper, as a reason for this translation, that, in four passages of the Sepsuagint, the word unpaid appears to him to have this meaning, because the Hebrew words, ann and y, which are found in the original in those places, signify "to be angry." This argument is plain and palpable. It has been used before in POOLE'S Synopsis, and (probably taken from POOLE) by SCHLEUSNER, in his Lexicon. To determine what degree of force it possesses, or whether it possesses any at all, the following points must be considered:-First, whether the Hebrew words do, beyond a doubt, signify anger: secondly, whether the Greek word was certainly used by the translators as equivalent to the Hebrew: thirdly, and especially, whether the writer of the Acts of the Apostles would be influenced in the use of a word by an occasional variation of meaning attached to it by the Septuagint. Except all these points can be established, the whole argument falls to the ground. A defect in any one of the three, destroys the force of the whole. Now I contend, that such uncertainty is met with in every step of the process of the argument, (particularly in the second and third,) that it may be looked upon as any thing rather than an approach to "demonstration." 99 First, The meaning of one of the Hebrew words, which occurs in three passages out of the four, and scarcely occurs thrice more in the whole Bible, is not free from uncertainty.+ The Hebrew scholar will hesitate to say in what meaning it might be taken by the Greek translators. He knows that, as it is the Hithpael form of the verb "to pass over," its literal meaning is, "to set one's-self to pass over,' or "to be determinately purposed to pass over, as ENOCH "set himself to walk with GOD." In the second place, I am well aware of the advantage to be derived from the study of the Septuagint; but, I speak from diligent examination when I say, that many hundreds of passages, in that version, are very far from being correct renderings of the Hebrew text, as it now stands. Any reasoning, therefore, built on the supposition of the agreement of the Septuagint and Hebrew, תהלך The Versions scem not to have known what to make of this uncommon word. They sometimes render it, "to be angry," but not one of them does so uniformly. Though it occurs as a verb in the Hithpael form, not more, I think, than five times, yet, within that extent, the Vulgate has rendered it, "distulit; " the Syriac, tisti faciem;" the Arabic, "neglexit;" the Ethiopic, "frustravit." It was, there fore, by no means fully understood by them to signify anger. MR. C. has intimated, more than once, that I have gone on this supposition, in Septuagint of Lev. xx. 4. It would have been strange indeed, if I had myself done what I was showing to be incorrect in him. The fact is, that I have quoung |