Nor did this sentiment escape the notice of those among the ancients, who yet regarded it as important to teach the art of rhetoric; they confessed that wisdom without eloquence profited states but very little, but that eloquence without wisdom profited them not at all, and generally proved highly injurious. If, therefore, those who taught the precepts of eloquence, even though ignorant of the true, that is, the celestial wisdom, "which cometh down from the Father of lights," were compelled by the instigations of truth to make such a confession, and that too in the very books in which their principles were developed; are we not under far higher obligations to acknowledge the same thing, who are the sons and daughters of this heavenly wisdom? Now a man speaks with greater or less wisdom, according to the proficiency he has made in the sacred Scriptures. I do not mean in reading them and committing them to memory, but in rightly understanding them, and diligently searching into their meaning. There are those who read them, and yet neglect them; who read them to remember the words, but neglect to understand them. To these, without any doubt, those persons are to be preferred, who, retaining less the words of the Scriptures, search after their general signification with the inmost feelings of the heart. But better than both is he, who can repeat them when he pleases, and at the same time understands them as they ought to be understood." Luther's favourite maxim was, "Bonus Textuarius, Bonus Theologu;" or, "One well acquainted with the Scriptures makes a good theologian." There is one thing, above all others, which must never be lost sight of by him who devotes himself to the work of regeneration. This all-important consideration is, that the end and object of all his labours is to impress the moral image of God upon the moral nature of man. To draw this image upon the heart, to transform the mind of man into the likeness of God in all moral feeling, is the end proposed in the remedial system. The mould into which the mind of man is to be cast is the apostles' doctrine; or the seal by which this impression is to be made is the testimony of God. The gospel facts are like so many types, which, when scientifically arranged by an accomplished compositor, make a complete form, upon which, when the mind of man is placed by the power which God has given to the preacher, every type makes its full impression upon the heart. There is written upon the understanding, and engraved upon the heart, the will, or law, or character of our Father who is in heaven. The apostles were these accomplished compositors, who gave us a perfect "form of sound words." Our instrumentality consists in bringing the minds of men to this form, or impressing it upon their hearts. To do this most effectually, the preacher or evangelist must have the word of Christ dwelling in him richly, in all wisdom; and he must "study to show himself an approved workman, irreproachable, rightly dividing the word of truth." He that is most eloquent and wise in the Holy Scriptures, he who has them most at command, will have the most power with men; because being furnished with the words of the Holy Spirit, he has the very arguments which the Spirit of God chooses to employ in quickening the dead, in converting sinners. For to the efficacy of the living word not only Paul deposes, but James and Peter also bear ample testimony. "Of his own will he has begotten us, by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.' Having been regenerated, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible, through the word of the living God which remains."+ To the fruits of his labours, such a preacher with Paul may say, "To Jesus Christ, through the gospel, I have regenerated, or begotten you." איי Thus, in the midst of numerous interruptions, we have attempted to lay before the minds of our readers the whole doctrine of regeneration, in all its length and breadth, in the hope, that after a more particular attention to its meaning and value, by the blessing of God, they may devote themselves more successfully to this great work; and not only enjoy more of the Holy Spirit themselves, but be more useful in forwarding the moral regeneration of the world. To God our Father, through the great Author of the Christian faith, who has preserved us in health in this day of affliction and great distress, be everlasting thanks for the renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit, and for the hope of the regeneration of our bodies, of the heavens and of the earth, at the appearance of the Almighty Regenerator, who comes to make all things new! Amen. BREAKING THE LOAF. Man was not made for the Christian institution, but the Christian institution for man. None but a master of the human constitution-none but one perfectly skilled in all the animal, intellectual, and moral endowments of man, could perfectly adapt an institution to man in reference to all that he is, and to all that he is destined to become. Such is the Christian institution. Its evidences of a divine origin increase and brighten in the ratio of our progress in the science of man. He who most attentively and profoundly reads himself, and contemplates the picture, which the Lord of this institution has drawn of him, will be most willing to confess, that man is wholly incapable of originating it. He is ignorant of himself, and of the race from which he sprang, who can persuade himself that man, in any age, or in any country, was so far superior to himself as to have invented such an institution as the Christian. That development of man in all his natural, moral, and religious relations, which the Great Teacher has given, is not farther beyond the intellectual powers of man, than is the creation of the sun, moon, and stars beyond his physical strength. The eye of man cannot see itself; the ear of man cannot hear itself; nor the understanding of man discern itself; but there is one who sees the human eye, who hears the human ear, and who discerns the human understanding. He it is who alone is skilled in revealing man to himself, and himself to man. He who made the eye of man, can he not see? He who made the ear of man, can he not ear? He who inade the heart of man, can he not know? It is as supernatural to adapt a system to man, as it is to create him. He has never thought much upon his own powers, who has not seen as much wisdom on the outside, as in the inside of the human head. To suit the outside to the inside, required as much wisdom as to suit the inside to the outside, and yet the exterior arrangement exists for the interior. To fashion a casement for the human soul, exhibits as many attributes of the Creator, as to fashion a human spirit for its habitation. Man, therefore, could as easily make himself, as a system of religion to suit himself. It will be admitted, that it calls for as much skill to adapt the appendages to the human eye, as the human eye to its appendages. To us it is equally plain, that it requires as much wisdom to adapt a religion to man, circumstanced as he is, as to create him an intellectual and moral being. But to understand the Christian religion, we must study it; and to enjoy it, we must practice it. To come into the kingdom of Jesus Christ is one thing, and to live as a wise, a good, and a happy citizen, is another. As every human kingdom has its constitution, laws, ordinances, manners, and customs, so has the kingdom of the Great King. He, then, who would be a good and happy citizen of it, must understand and submit to its constitution, laws, ordinances, manners, and customs. The object of the present essay is to develop one of the institutions or ordinances of this kingdom; and this we shall attempt by stating, illustrating, and sustaining the following propositions: PROP. I.-There is a house on earth called the house of God. The most high God dwells not in temples made with human hands; yet he condescended in the age of types to have a temple erected for himself, which he called his house, and glorified it with the symbols of his, presence. In allusion to this, the Christian community, organized under the government of his Son, is called his house and temple. You are God's building," says Paul to a Christian community. This building is said to be "built upon the apostles and prophets-Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. "Know you not that you are the temple of God? The temple of God is holy, which temple you are."* But in allusion to the Jewish temple, the Christian church occupies the middle space between the outer court and the holiest of all. "The holy places made with hands were figures of the true." The common priests went always into * 1 Cor. iii. 16. the first tabernacle or holy place, and the high priest once a year into the holiest of all. Thus our Great High Priest went once for all into the true "holiest of all," into the real presence of God, and has permitted us christians, as a royal priesthood, as a chosen race, to enter always into the only holy place now on earth-the Christian church. "As living stones we are built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices most acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."* But all we aim at here is to show that the community under Christ is called "the house of God." Paul once calls it a house of God, and once the house of God. An individual, or single congregation, he calls "a house of God."+ I have written to you, "that you may know how to behave yourself in a house of God, which is the congregation of God." And in his letter to the Hebrews,|| speaking of the whole Christian community, he calls it the house of God.§"Having a Great High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near," &c. It is, then, apparent, that there is under the Lord Messiah, now on earth, an institution called the house of God; and this resembles the holy place between the outer court and the holiest of all, which is the position to be proved. PROP. II.—In the house of God there is always the table of the Lord. As there is an analogy between the Jewish holy place, and the Christian house of God, so there is an analogy between the furniture of the first tabernacle or holy place, and those who officiated in it, and the furniture of the Christian house of God, and those who officiate in it. "In the first tabernacle," says Paul, "which is called holy, there were the candlestick, and the table, and the shew-bread," or the loaves of the presence. On the golden table, every Sabbath day, were placed twelve loaves, which were exhibited there for one week, and on the next Sabbath they were substituted by twelve fresh loaves which were sprinkled over with frankincense. The loaves which were removed from the table, were eaten by the priests. These were called in the Hebrew, +1 Tim. iii. 15. * Peter ii. 5. Greek, oikos, Theou. § Greek, ho oikos, Theou. |