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the saved for the lost. In this god-| believing, in order to regenerate or like work, filled with the knowledge convert them, or to give them repenof Christ crucified, of his salvation, tance or faith. 2nd, He was to reand of the glad news how that salva- prove, or convince the world contion is received-speaking just as the cerning sin, concerning righteousness, Divine Spirit gave them utterance— and concerning judgment. This great accredited by signs, wonders, mira- work was performed on the crowded cles, and gifts granted in confirmation feast of Pentecost, by the truths of their testimony-these changed which the Holy Spirit spake through ones could say in truth, "The things the lips of the apostles, aided by the that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, things seen and heard in confirmation nor heart conceived, which God hath of those truths. By the proof thus prepared for those who love him, hath publicly given that the crucified Jesus he revealed to us (apostles) by his was the Christ expected by all-that Spirit" "We have the mind of the grave had been unable to hold Christ." 3rd, Whatsoever He should him-that he had risen, and ascended, have heard, that he was to speak. and had indeed taken his seat upon The glad tidings of great joy, first the throne of God: thousands, pierced spoken in heaven, were now to be re- with the practical reproof, were wholly peated on earth by the Spirit through convinced of the sin of not having the apostles. It was not they merely earlier believed in him—of the rightwho proclaimed, but the Parakletos eousness of all his claims, and of his by them. They spake as the Spirit power to judge and punish! Nor gave them utterance. Their teaching has any portion of the world since was therefore divine teaching. Those been convinced otherwise than by the won by them were taught of God," same truths proclaimed, heard or were drawn by Christ, and were led read, and understood. The Spirit of by the Spirit, for such all were who truth withheld not from the convinced believed in Jesus through the apostles' ones any of the things necessary to word. 4th, He was to show them their salvation, but as promptly as things to come. In them He was the mercifully taught them to repent, and spirit of prophecy: by them He fore- to be immersed in Jesus' name, in told future events that were to be order to forgiveness of sins and reconnected with Christ's church; and ception of the Holy Spirit: and the when, to the manifestations of the truly convinced ones now, as then, Spirit that accompanied the first pro- gladly receive and obey the apostles' clamation of the gospel, we add the word, do repent, are immersed, do apostles' prophecies which since have receive forgiveness, and partake of the been, and now are fulfilling in the Holy Spirit as an indwelling guest. world, we cannot but acknowledge Thus those of "the world" who, that all who, having heard the gospel hearing, believe and obey the Lord, thus doubly attested, reject it, will are like the Pentecostian penitents, justly be left without excuse at the then translated out of the kingdom of great day. Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son: while those who hear, but believe nor, or obey not, do in fact, as thousands then did, resist the Holy Ghost, who then spake, and will, till the great day, continue to speak, in the apostles' words.

Do we farther enquire, what was the Holy Spirit to do for the world? The Lord having pointedly declared, "the world cannot receive" Him; and no inspired writer having stated that any unconverted person could, or ever did, receive the Holy Spirit, Do we lastly ask, what was the it is error injurious error- -to ask Holy Spirit to do for disciples of God to pour out his Spirit on the un-Jesus? He was to abide with them

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ever, to dwell with them, and be in them. Much is contained in these words. He was indeed to be a comforter to them!-to make them abound in hope, and love, and good works; and to gratefully cry Abba - to seal them as Christ's, and be an earnest of the inheritance-to render acceptable their sacrifices of praise-to strengthen with might in the inner man-to produce in them the fruit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, &c.—to sanctify them as a temple for God to dwell in; and finally to quicken and restore their bodies from the dust of death. Having been sent by the King of Saints, and not recalled, He abides with and in all and each of his obedient and lowly ones, who should therefore ever be prayerfully careful not to tempt by untruths, nor to grieve Him by indulging in iniquity, nor to defile God's habitation by impure thoughts, words, or actions.

We thus learn at the source of Divine Wisdom, that the Parakletos actually became, as the Lord's promised, an Advocate for Christ, a Counsellor to apostles, a Monitor to the world, and a Comforter to all Jesus' disciples. J. DAVIS.

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joy; but it is not the gospel of our salvation.

We shall prove from the law and the testimony, that the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the gospel of our salvation.

Our FIRST PROOF is taken from the apostles' commission, as given by the sacred historians. The apostles, like the rest of their countrymen, had no idea of a suffering, dying Messiah. They supposed that Jesus, as the Messiah, should finish his career by ascending the throne of his Father, break the Roman yoke of bondage, and subject all nations to his sceptre's sway. Hence after his death they looked for no resurrection. The apostles did not believe the women, nor the rest of the apostles the two who saw him in the way to Emmaus

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neither did Thomas believe the united testimony of all his brethren. Hence when Jesus appeared to give them their commission, he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart (Luke xxiv. 45-8)—then proceeded to open their understandings, that they might understand the scriptures; and said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Messiah to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem; and ye are witnesses of these things." Now compare this with Mark xvi. 15, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be condemned”—and what is the conclusion that we are obviously warranted to draw from the whole premises but this ?-that the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the gospel of our salvation, because through faith in these facts, repentance and remission of sins, (Luke) or salvation according to Mark, are preached unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, according to Luke; or

is the gospel preached throughout all the world unto every creature, according to Mark.

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If Jesus meant that the apostles should preach the objects of the "one hope," instead of the objects of the one faith," why did he expound the latter, and not the former? Besides, the apostles were to preach what they had witnessed (Luke xxiv. 48.)

Our SECOND SOURCE OF PROOF is the Acts of the Apostles. But previously to examining these proofs, as this book is supposed to contain a number of the passages which favor the new view, we shall indicate these passages, and briefly explain their view. The testimonies chiefly relied on in the Acts are chapters i. 11, viii. 12, xxviii. 20, 23, 31. According to some of our brethren, these passages refer to the reign of Jesus Christ with his saints on the earth. This reign, they say, is the only kingdom of heaven and the gospel of our salvation which the apostles preached to all nations. When those who heard these things concerning the kingdom of God believed the glad tidings, they were then instructed in the things concerning the name of Jesus, that through him they might be made heirs of the promised inheritance! Further it is argued, that as salvation is through faith in the gospel, and as the good news concerning the future reign of Jesus and his saints on the earth is the gospel, all who desire to be saved should have this faith, or hope of Israel, previous to their immersion. Such, we believe, is a brief outline of what we, out of no disrespect to those among the brethren who hold it, have called the " new view of the gospel of our salvation. They ought to be pleased, rather than otherwise, at our candid design of bringing it to the test of the law and the testimony.

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Without entering into the controversy anent the pre-millennial advent and personal reign of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, we affirm that

whether the belief that he shall reign on earth, or the view that he shall reign in heaven, be the right one, neither is the gospel of our salvation. In a general way of speaking indeed, all the truths of the New Testament may be called the gospel; and as all truth forwards our salvation less or more, so all scripture truth may, in this indefinite way, be called the gospel of our salvation. But in its strict, and literal, and definite acceptationwhich is what we are in search ofthe term gospel refers emphatically to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: perhaps we may also add, his ascension to the right hand of God.

Our proof-the apostles were sent to preach the gospel. Let us hear them preach, that we may learn what it is. Peter preached the first gospel sermon to the Jews on the day of Pentecost, as recorded in the second chapter of this book of the Acts of Apostles. Now in this chapter Peter does not lay emphasis upon the future reign of Jesus, but upon his death, burial, and resurrection, together with his ascension and coronation as a Prince and a Saviour at the right hand of God. In his first discourse to the Gentiles, recorded in chapter x. 34-43, the same preacher proclaims the same gospel, and does not so much as hint at the future reign of Jesus, whether in heaven or earth. In the 43rd verse he says that salvation is through the name of Jesus. Now that which gives this name its saving power must be the gospel of our salvation. But the name of Jesus derives not its saving power from the fact that he shall hereafter reign either in heaven or earth, but from the facts of his death and resurrection (Phil. ii. 5-11)--which facts, therefore, are the gospel of our salvation. Having heard Peter, the apostle of the Jews, let us now hear Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles. He preaches the gospel in a synagogue to his brethren the Jews, in the city of Antioch of Pisidia (Acts xiii.); and having, in

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a few sentences, brought down the history of the people as far as the reign of David, (22) he says, " Of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus" (23.) After referring to the testimony of John, (25-5) he declares that the dwellers at Jerusalem, through ignorance (27) and malice (28) procured his death. Then follows, as the word of the gospel salvation, (26) the announcement of his resurrection, (30) and the position occupied by the apostles, as the eye witnesses and ministers of the word" (30.) But we must quote in full the next words of this discourse "And we declare unto you gladtidings, (equivalent to the gospel) how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again" (32-3.) The burden of this discourse is the death and resurrection of Jesus, and as in that preached to Cornelius and his friends, there is not even a hint of the future reign of Jesus. Is it not evident, then, that the gospel of our salvation is the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

We proceed to our THIRD PROOF by a testimony from each of the apostolic epistles.

1. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek; for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." (Rom. i. 16-17.)

account the first Christians were exposed to great reproach, this being one way in which they bore the cross. And in these facts we have an explanation of certain expressions in the sacred writings, such as-" Then is the offence of the cross ceased:" "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world :” “I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified;" and "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ."

salvation." It is evident from the "For it is the power of God unto development of his argument, as contained in the succeeding chapter, that by salvation here the Apostle means the forgiveness of sin, and consequent deliverance from its enslaving power (see chap. iii. 22, v. 8–9–10, &c.) But this salvation is through nothing else than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: therefore, this is the gospel which is the power of God

unto salvation.

"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." Did righteousness here signify holiness, we could safely say, nowhere is the holiness of God seen to more advantage than in the cross of Christ. But the "righteousness of God" here means his method of justifying the ungodly; for he was made a sinoffering for us who knew no sin, that we might be made "the righteousness "Things that are equal to the same of God in him." So that now things are equal to one another ;" and righteousness of God" without the here we have three things affirmed of law is manifested, being witnessed by the gospel of Christ, which are true of the law and the prophets, even "the nothing else than the death and resur-righteousness of God, which is by rection of our blessed Redeemer: faith of Jesus Christ unto all and thus proving, with the certainty of mathematical demonstration, that these facts are that gospel.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Jesus died the painful and shameful death of the cross-the death of slave-criminals. On this

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upon all that believe." God's method then, of justifying the ungodly, is revealed in the gospel; but that method is nothing else than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, these facts constitute the gospel of our salvation.

2. "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God" (Paul, 1 Cor. i. 17.18.)

Here" the gospel" and "the cross of Christ" are used as interchangeable terms and observe, as in Romans the apostle calls the gospel the

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power of God unto salvation," so here he affirms the same thing of the " cross of Christ." Christ sent Paul to preach the gospel, but Paul preached Christ crucified: therefore, "Christ crucified" is "the gospel."

And if this is not the gospel of our salvation, what is that gospel? The hope of eternal life-a life of glory and bliss spent in the presence of Jesus-is, indeed, a glorious hope. But the proclamation that saints shall reign with Christ, is no gospel to sinners. The truth that gladdens the

sinner's heart is contained in the words which show how man may be justified in the eyes of his Maker.

"And this is the word of the Lord which by the gospel" of the death and resurrection of Jesus, "is preached unto you." Besides, eternal life is the consummation of our salvation, and cannot be the gospel thereof. The gospel is one thing, and its salvation another; for although in a general way of speaking or writing, the terms may be used interchangeably, yet when we institute a strict inquiry after the definite meaning of the terms, we must by no means confound the one with the other. The gospel stands to our salvation in the relation of cause and effect means and end; and it would just be as proper to say that the cause is the effect, or the means the end, as to say that eternal life is the gospel.

THE GOSPEL OF OUR SALVATION.
The Saviour dies! e'en for this cause
Into our world he came;
And now he hangs upon the cross
Enduring pain and shame.

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THE question at present is this influence, distinct from the word, "Is it not necessary that a power or influence, distinct from the word, should always accompany it, in order to render it effective in conversion and salvation ?" I answer this question in the affirmative, without hesitation. I think it is necessary, and that the WORD ALONE converts and saves no one.

However people differ about this theoretically, I am convinced that all agree with me practically. And this, after all, is the best way of testing principle. For what party is it that

is content to leave conversion to the the doctrine of its alone-sufficiency, word alone? Not those who preach

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word to accomplish the work alone, am sure, else they would leave the and no longer encumber it with help. Why, if they believe their own teaching, do they not read or simply state the gospel facts, and suffer them to act by their own power? Or why, rather, do they not suffer the truth to work its way through the world in silence, unaided by a human voice? Why do they add their personal efforts their preachings, teachings, their mourning exhortations, their prayers and entreaties? Why do they bring to bear upon the sinner the influence of friends, of special

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