tendom. It is a concession due to the crisis in which we live, for the sake of peace, to adopt the vocabulary of Heaven, and to return the borrowed nomenclature of the schools to its rightful owners-to speculate no more upon the opinions of Saint Austin, Saint Tertullian, Saint Origen -to speak of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit of the gospel, of faith, of repentance, of baptism, of election, of the death of Christ, of his mediation, of his blood, of the reconciliation, of the Lord's supper, of the atonement, of the church of God, &c. &c., in all the phrases found in the Record, without partiality-to learn to love one another as much when we differ in opinion as when we agree, and to distinguish between the testimony of God, and man's reasonings and philosophy upon it.

I need not say much upon the chapter of human traditions. They are easily distinguished from the apostles' traditions. Those of the apostles are found in their writings, as those of men are found in their own books. Some human traditions may have a show of wisdom, but it is only an appearance. So long as it is written, "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," so long will it be presumptuous folly to add the commandments of men to the precepts of Jesus Christ. I know of but one way in which all the believers in Jesus Christ, honourably to themselves, honourably to the Lord, and advantageously to all the sons of Adam, can form one communion. All have two chapters too many in their present ecclesiastical constitutions. The contents of the aforesaid two chapters are various and different in all the sects, but they all have these two chapters under some name. In some they are long, and in some they are short; but whether long or short, let every one agree to tear them out of his book, and burn them, and be satisfied with faith, piety, and morality. Let human philosophy and human tradition, as any part of the Christian institution, be thrown overboard into the sea, and then the ship of the church will make a prosperous, safe, and happy voyage across the ocean of time, and finally, under the triumphant flag of Immanuel, gain a safe anchorage in the haven of eternal rest.

I would appeal to every honourable, good, and loyal citizen of the kingdom of heaven-to every one that seeks the good of Zion, that loves the kingdom and the appearing of our common Lord and Saviour, whether such a concession be

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not due to the Lord, to the saints in heaven and on earth, and to the whole human race in the crisis in which we are now placed; and whether we could propose less, or ought to demand more, than to make one whole burnt-offering of all our "empty and deceitful philosophy,"-our "science, falsely so called," and our traditions received from our fathers. I would leave it to the good sense of every sane mind to say, whether such a whole burnt-offering would not be the most acceptable peace-offering, which, in this our day, could be presented on the altar of the Prince of Peace; and whether, under the teachings of the apostles of the great Prophet, the church might not again triumphantly stand upon the holy ground, which she so honourably occupied before Origen, Austin, Athanasius, or the first Pope was born!

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

GENERAL ESSAYS.*

PATRIARCHAL AGE OF THE WORLD.

The world had its infancy as well as man. Families preceded nations. Family worship was, therefore, the first religious institution.

At the head of this institution naturally stood the father of every family. From necessity and from choice, he was the prophet, the priest, and the king. As a prophet, he instructed his household in the knowledge of God, and in the history of man. As a priest, he officiated at the family altar, interceded for those under his care, and pronounced benedictions upon his children. As a lawgiver and king, he commanded his children and servants, and rewarded them according to merit. By a divine ordinance, the first fathers of mankind were thus constituted prophets, priests, and kings. Hence, the first religious and political institution is properly called "the patriarchal."

Family worship was, then, the first social worship; and

These essays do not appear in the order in which they were written and published. We place the last written, first; because, in the natural order of things, general views of the nature of the Christian kingdom ought to precede the special development of its peculiar institutions. They appeared first in the form of extras to the regular series of the Millennial Harbinger; and as we thought it expedient to preserve them as much as possible, in their original form; this will apologize for several repetitions which may appear in them.

All the leading and characteristic principles of that reformation for which we plead, as far as the gospel institution is concerned, may be learned from them. Much, indeed, of the proof of some of the propositions found in these essays, lies scattered over the face of several volumes; but such a miniature view of the evidence by which they are sustained, as, in most cases, is sufficient to the conviction of the reader, will be found embodied in them.

during the first ages of the world (for at least 2500 years) it was the only social worship of divine authority. Though other institutions have since been added, this has never been superseded. Having its foundation in the matrimonial compact, the most ancient of all religious and political institutions, and this being founded on nature itself, it never can be superseded. While the forms of this worship have always been adapted to the genius of the various revelations of God vouchsafed to mankind, it has continued through all the changes of six thousand years, and will continue till the day when men, like the angels of God, shall neither marry nor give in marriage.

Family worship, so long as it continued the only social worship, underwent no material change; and this is the period which is properly called the "patriarchal age of the world." So long as the descendants of one man and one women continued under the paternal roof, or until they became heads of families themselves, they continued under this religious and political administration. And if, after marriage, they did not migrate to a great distance from the patrimonial inheritance, the paternal authority was still acknowledged and acquiesced in. Thus, in process of time, he who at first was only the head of a single family, if his days were prolonged and his progeny multiplied, became the paternal prince, or chief patriarch of a tribe.

In the youth of time, and freshness of human nature, families soon became large; and as the father and head could not always be present while he lived, and as he might die before all his children could have become heads of families, it became necessary that a substitute in his absence, and a successor in case of his premature death, should be appointed to fill his place, and administer the affairs of the family. Nature and reason alike pointed to the first-born son, and religion consecrated him his vicegerent. Hence, the privileges and honours of the first-born son were both religious and political; and thus the duties devolving upon him gave him a right to a double portion of the inheritance. Esau was, therefore, both prodigal and profane in selling his birthright for a meal of pottage.

The antiquity of this arrangement appeared from the envy and jealousy of Cain, roused at the rejection of his offering, and the acceptance of that of Abel. That jealousy

seems to have been kindled into rage because of his birthright. This is fairly implied in God's address to Cain, when that address is fairly translated and understood. "If you do well, shall you not have the excellency; and if you do not well, sin precludes you (from the excellency.) And (Abel shall be subject to you) to you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him."*

The moral and religious institutions of the patriarchal or family worship, which continued from the fall of Adam to the covenant of circumcision, were the sabbath, the service of the altar, oral instruction, prayer, praise, and benediction. With the addition of circumcision in the family of one patriarch, for special purposes these were the parts of that system which continued for two thousand five hundred years.

The religious observance of weeks or sabbaths, in commemoration of creation, and prospective of an eternal rest, to arise out of the sacrificial and typical institution, was religiously observed to the giving of the law, or the erection of the Jewish institution. Thus the law of the sabbath commences with the words "remember the sabbath." The righteous always remembered the weeks, and regarded the conclusion of the week as holy to the Lord. Hence, even after the apostacy, which issued in the neglect of family worship, in consequence of the sons of God intermarrying with the daughters of men, and which brought a flood of water upon the world of the ungodly-we find Noah religiously counting his weeks, even while incarcerated in the ark. In the wilderness of Sin, before the giving of the law, we also find the Jews observing the sabbath. And to facilitate the observance of it, God wrought three special miracles during the peregrinations of Israel. He gave two days' portion of manna on the sixth day-none on the seventhand preserved from putrefaction that portion laid up for the sabbath.+

Sin-offerings and thank-offerings, on altars both of stone and earth, were presented to the Lord-the former in faith of the promise concerning the bruising the serpent's head by the offspring of the woman-the latter in grateful acknowledgment of the goodness of God in creation and providence. Cain, without faith in the promised redemption,

* Genesis iv. 7. † Exodus xvi. 15–27.