life-giving word, and the exalted head of his church-exhibiting to the principalities and powers in the heavenly regions the manifold wisdom of God. "Now the heart and soul of the multitude were one; nor did any one call any of his possessions his own, but all things were in common among them." It is evident they anticipated the impending vengeance speedily to fall on their devoted city, as well as the return of their risen and exalted Lord they were all filled, too, with the Holy Spirit of God. Still, the heart and soul of this body were much contracted: its thoughts, purposes, and liberality concentrated on itself, as the seed of Abraham, and the exclusive favorite of the Lord. Those who had not been circumcized according to the law of Moses were excluded as unworthy of sharing in the immunities and privileges of this great salvation. The introduction of the degraded Gentiles into this renovated community had not yet entered the minds of the Apostles themselves. Such a thought, when first originated, would be most obnoxious to them. When, therefore, the grand secret was divulged, "that God had also granted unto the Gentiles reformation unto life," a violent shock was given to this spirit of exclusiveness-the body of Christ was shaken to its centre-the heart and soul of the believers were no longer one many false teachers arose, whose influence marred the peace and union of the entire community, and, because of the prevailing ignorance regarding the purposes of God, carried grief and dismay into ten thousand hearts. Jesus, by the blood of his cross, contemplated nothing less than making of twain one new man thereby causing peace and salvation to flow to the whole world—a thought not then to be endured-alike obnoxious both to Jew and Gentile. From that period to the present, we have presented to us, on no portion of the earth, nor in any page of ecclesiastical

history, a practical answer to our Lord's intercessory prayer, which stands at the head of these remarks. In vain do we refer to the Acts of the Apostles, their Epistles to the Churches, or to subsequent history, for such a development. Even in our own day, the colour of a man's skin, his temporal circumstances or supposed intellectual attainments, his clerical pretensions, create, nourish, and mature a spirit altogether unknown to Christ and his Apostles. The mind is still selfish, contracted, and carnal, when compared with the philanthrophy of God our Saviour, who in his love and pity gave his son to taste death for every man.

It is true, the foundation for such a union is broadly and deeply laid in the Christian system as revealed in the New Testament. And the Lord's prayer must be practically and publicly responded to by his church, before he returns to embrace her as his spouse, and take her to himself for ever. In these days of division there is much said respecting the invisible union of the body of Christ—a principle not recognized by the Head of the Church either in the Old or New Testament Scriptures. Whoever read or heard of invisible fruit being found in a tree? It is true, we have heard of prayers, songs of praise, baptism, and the Lord's supper, being observed in public assemblies in a spiritual, invisible manner! He that can, let him believe it. We know that unbelief, disobedience, and division-the works of the flesh-are not invisible in their results on society. Neither are the operations of faith, hope, and love, the heaven-born moving principles of Christianity, invisible in the community to which they belong. The Apostle Paul, when writing to the Gentile disciples on the subject of Christian union, expresses himself in the following manner :-Wherefore, remember that ye, formerly Gentiles in the flesh, (those called the uncircumcision by those called the

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circumcision in the flesh, made by hands) were in the world at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God; but now in Christ Jesus ye who were formerly afar off are brought nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished by his flesh the enmity (the law of commandments concerning ordinances) that he might make the two into one new man under himself, making peace; and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, having slain the enmity by it. And having come, he brought good news of peace to you, the far-off-to us, the nigh that through him we both have introduction to the Father by one Spirit. Now, then, ye are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the foundation cornerstone, by which the whole building, being fitly compacted together, rises into a holy temple of the Lord, in which ye also are builded together for a habitation of God by the Spirit. I, then, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling by which ye are called, with all humility and meekness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, earnestly endeavouring to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one spirit, as also ye have been called in one hope of your calling one Lord, one faith, one immersion; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and with all, and in you all. Here, then, are seven articles of union, on which the disciples of Christ were originally commanded to congregate as the church of God; and all who then obeyed, and all who now

obey, will be recognized by him as the children of God. Feeling must not be substituted for faith, nor imagination respecting the Holy Spirit for baptism and faith: the practical exhibition of faith, hope, and love, is all that is wanted in the church to present to the world a full and fair transcript of those heavenly principles revealed in the New Testament. The following remarks will be found an appropriate conclusion:

Men have tried all kinds of methods, except the only right, effectual, and divinely appointed one, for gathering into union the broken and scattered fragments of the church, and for tuning to harmony its discordant voices. They have tried the compulsion of law, the power of logic, the persuasion of eloquence, the subscription of articles, the application of tests, the authority of traditionand yet all these means have signally failed, not only to procure internal unity, but external uniformity. Emperors and kings, popes and prelates, councils and convocations, cabinets and senates, divines and lawyers, have all employed their wits and exerted their hands in this great work of unity; and yet, whatever have been their schemes, and with whatever diligence they have been applied

however they may have appealed to the fears, the reason, or the cupidity of the opposing parties, they have all left the church as divided and inharmonious as they found it, and in the language of despair have confessed that union among Christians was a state of things never to be expected in the present world. And yet, on the surface of revelation, where every eye can see it, there lies-and has lain for eighteen centuries-a principle so simple that a child may understand it, and if properly felt and judiciously applied, would have effected that which has ever been considered so necessary, and yet so difficult, "Forbearing one another in love." Divinely inspired, heaven

descended, god-like sentence ! How simple, yet how sublime! By what machination of Satan-by what cunning artifice of the "father of lies"by what operation of the deceitfulness of sin-or by what treachery of the desperately wicked heart of man, has the beauty of this precept been concealed, its force evaded, or its efficiency prevented? If there be one practical precept which we could wish to be printed in starry characters on the dark page of the nightly sky, written in sunbeams on the tablet of the earth, and uttered both night and day in voices from the heavens, that the attention of men might be irresistibly turned to it, and their heart unavoidably impressed by it-this is the injunction; and yet, what greater clearness, or more importance, or higher authority, would this splendid method of publication give to it, beyond what it already possesses as a portion of holy writ?" Forbearing one another in love."

A. CAMPBELL'S FIRST PUBLIC LECTURE IN EDINBURGH. (INTRODUCTION BY THE REPORTER.) SANGUINE as our anticipations were of the reception which Mr. Campbell would meet with from the citizens of Modern Athens, we confess we were not prepared for the demonstration which was made in his favour when he delivered his first public lecture in the large Waterloo Room, on Lord's day evening, the 16th of August last. The large hall, which is capable of containing upwards of two thousand of an audience, was crowded almost to complete suffocation on the occasion, and we believe hundreds left without obtaining admission.

Numerous causes may be assigned for this gratifying result. Doubtless the peculiarity and prominency of the placards which announced his appearance for a number of days previous, may have had a corresponding effect in helping to draw out such an

audience. But this, we think, is not a sufficient explanation; for how often have as good and as startling announcements been made before by parties who were extremely anxious for securing an extensive hearing for their favourite ministers, and yet, when the day arrived, and the hour came when the speaker should appear on the platform, the attendance was extremely limited; and even those who did welcome the lecturer by their hearty plaudits turned out, after all, to be only his more immediate partizans.

To get, then, a public meeting for any public speaker, who is to deliver on a purely theological subject, is a matter of no easy attainment. Much, then, as the Modern Athenians may be supposed to come up to their ancient prototypes in their desire for novelty, we can assure our readers that in religious meetings, at least, they are not to be drawn out, all and sundry, at the mere bidding of any religious lecturer, or his enthusiastic supporters, let their posters be as flaming as possible, or their bills of fare as attractive as they can make them to the public.

If a lecturer is to be numerously heard, he must first be known as an individual possessed of a high moral and intellectual reputation, as manifested not only in the quality of his publications (if he has given any such to the world), but also in the popularity of his prelections elsewhere. This, then, is that alone, even, we might almost say, independent of his theological views, by which a numerous audience can be secured in the metropolis of Scotland.

Although the great majority of our brethren may not know it, yet we can fully assure them that the works of Alexander Campbell, of Virginia, are extensively read by the reading public of Edinburgh, and many other parts of Scotland. We might almost say that, like the late Dr. Chalmers, he has already secured for himself a