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Western Christian Advocate (Newspaper) - April 8, 1836, Cincinnati, OhioWestern Christian advocate. I a. Published by c. Holliday and j. P. Wright Foli tie methodist epi8copal Chur ii. It. A. Morris editor. Vol. Ill no. 50. Book room main Strett 3 doors North of sixth Street. Cincinnati Friday april 8, 1836. M. C. Hull Printer. Western Christian adv it Hub is published weekly on the following terms it 0u in Advance 50 within six months i at tie close of the year in All cases. Subscriptions paid within one month Aller receiving the first number either to the publishers a to and their authorized agents will to considered in Advance. In any Case of discontinuance the subscription Price to the close of the subscription year must be Aid with All arrears and postage of order. Communications designed solely for insertion a Lould be addressed to tie editor. Those on Busi Ess or containing remittances should be is cd to c. Holliday and j. F. Wright. The itinerant ministers and preach hers of the m Ith Odist episcopal Church Are the duly authorized agents for the Western Christian advocate to whom payment May be made. Agents having in hand ten dollars or More May remit by i at our risk taking care always to Send the largest and most current notes or Good a rifts and to state to which subscribers giving their names and Post of lines remittances Are to be credited. In directing discontinuance or , they should always be careful to give tute of civilization that they Are destitute of All blessings. This is strange logic because in the order of Providence some nations have More temporal blessings than others therefore others have none because some men have More mind than others therefore god May withhold All mind or mental pow a from some and yet hold them accountable. Or because the divine being diversifies his favors a nature and gives More of lie blessings of his temporal Providence to some than to others therefore he May in the moral government of the world withhold from some All favors and while an application of spiritual blessings is made to some which is essential to their future happiness there Are Many thousands that Are not thus favored to whom god never intended to apply the mercies of redemption. And because these mercies Are not applied they perish forever. This Reader is or. logic and such his striking Bat or. Barnes proceeds�?44 is it owing to any of Man that the bark of Peru was so Long unknown or the Silver of Potosi slept for Ages unseen by any human Eye of we admit these discoveries to be providential and by them our earthly condition is bettered. But we Are entirely at a loss to see any Points of analogy Between the discoveries of this kind and or. Barnes system of calvinism. Or. Barnes will the Post office county and state As Well As the i not Wiliie or renal design of god mines of the subscribers. Correspondents and agents Are requested to that All men should be benefited by the peruvian bark or the Silver of Potosi. Here then the Tinte their communications and make their remit-1 analogy fails. Will he say that after the disco traces in one letter whenever practicable. Small Ery of these blessings that a special of god a Una not convenient to be remitted May be paid Jav us to any presiding elder. All biographies accounts of revivals and other matters involving facts must be accompanied Vith the proper names of the writers. All communications to the publishers or editor less containing ten dollars or five new subscribers for Trio Western Christian advocate or an trailer for books must be Post paid. All subscribers wifi be understood As wishing to continue. Unless it is expressly stated otherwise. A the postage of this paper to any Point a ver 10j Miles is 1-i cents each under 100 Miles cml to any part of Ohio 1 cent. Western Christian advocate. Fur the Western c Viridian advocate. Review of or. Barnes preface to 4butler s analogy concluded bit let us follow or. Dirtiest in his search after analogies. In Page 43, he says 44 in regard to the first aspect of the atonement suggested we can no More doubt that it had this a is necessary As in the Case of redeeming mercy for men to enjoy them and that the reason Why one Man is cure by the peruvian bark and another not is owing to a special application of the drug to the one and a want of this Applina on in the Case of the other. Again will or. Barnes say that the people of our world previous to these discoveries were in As ruinous and wretched a condition in relation to the things of this life As men Are in relation to the Inore important blessings of another life until redeeming mercy is applied this will not be said and of course it will be seen that All Bis cases or As he Calls them facts fail precisely where there should be an agreement there is none where the analogy should be perfect there is a striking dissimilarity. But or. Barries having amused himself and Reader with a number of such fanciful analogies says 44 nor can we conceive a More rude assault on the whole Frame work of things than the popular scheme which denies that god has a purpose of special merry and that he confers any spiritual blessings on one which be does not on or in other words which attempts to Sepa Universal applicability than we can any of the rate the scheme of redemption from the whole plainest propositions in the Bible. We to at inn Lowry of things actually carried on in the any of his gifts from the smallest that makes j Wol. J a life comfortable to the richest in redemption in a we shall not find one that in its nature is Liin we ask w to has been guilty of this rudeness the delightful Dividu Rel it is a in get to destroy the be big. Harmony there is in gods works ? Why or. Item in irs applicability to any class of ind from this Universal applicability of a1. ,. 0, m i v a. I Barnes save 44 wicked men Bocin ians and nature s blessings or. Barnes inters that in the 4 . I we Call on or. B Trees or any of provisions of christianity there must be the., ,. I o 1 _ a _ �.? his friends to show that Ever a single ouch Man or Ari ninian denied that god in in is Sovereign same universality the same general applicability or he thinks it would Manifest inconsistency. R a.,a in god. A we might a says he a defy the new a Ore ritual let tag. To one i r i c a i. A r a o j Man than he does on another lie conferred for most acute defender of the doctrine of limited \.a. ,. Certain reasons More spiritual blessings on Abra atonement to produce one instance in the pro, a y Fia Ham than he did on Socrates but did lie give none visions of god where there was a designed limitation in the nature of the thing. We shall be slow to believe that god has not a uniform plan in his Mode of b it still it will be asked what is the use of a Universal atonement if it is not actually applied tothe latter ii Eon be red greater spiritual blessings it Ltd Jacob than what be conferred on Esau but did be give none to Esau ? lie conferred greater Honor on the Baptist than on Abraham but had a Fahan no Honor ? he confers greater bles4. A i n i it. M sings on All can stains in Ilie dispensations of his to All 7 a serious question indeed but 1a . ,. 1 n. To Providence than lie gave to Abraham. Among a Virnes m his very flippant was has a ready 1,. A. A r c i i j 1 a can stains there is a diversity. Come like answer. 44 we might Sav Here that in our ,. A a Rhomas saw Christ after he arose from the View there is no waste of this provisions that arc a. R i Lead. Some have been endowed with Miracle the Sun Ennis which were no Cessaro for the race . j a i i a i a working Power and some caught up into the were Only those which were demanded in be Halti ,., Ai. _ _ a of a single individual and that we Are ignorant of the Way of applying gauges Decimals and a measurements and pecuniary computations to a grand moral s it it seers that according to or. Birnes it was necessary for redeeming mercy to be procured for All or none could have been saved. For the same sufferings were necessary to save , that were necessary to save a race. Now we agree with or. Birnes that the Scholastic Antinomian opinion of tie nature of the atone infant is As ridiculous As the opinion of its being limited is a scriptural and unreasonable. To apply to a grand moral transaction the same third heaven. A second Wrght in Mystic vision had Ali the weal air Lesof the Church revealed to him Down to the Grid of time All this we can see to lie for the Good of the whole race in the government of the world. This righteous and Wise diversity in the Hes torment of favors we do not object to. This kind of sovereignty we admit but this is something very different from or. Birnes1 sovereignty which gives special favors to some favors essential to their Quot eternal happiness and withholds them altogether from others in similar circumstances and for no reason at least none which we can discover. Now we think there is a great and infinite distance Between giving the special favor of great among men which is what or. Birnes Mea but it occurred to us when we read or. Barnes1 sprig Btty passage that he had fallen into the very same error in the school divinity which he ridicules and disowns. How came he or any other Man to know that it required tie same amount of suffering to. Save one , that is required to save a race ? is it revealed As a fact in scripture ? i should be glad to know where Anil How it is made out without adopting the Antinomian Mode of calculation without gauges and to my in ind reasoning we use in pecuniary transactions. It or 7talents to Newton and withholding them from a others and the withholding the special favor of covenant from it talents As much of the but without an application of the atonement according to or. Barnes1 purpose a Man will certainly be damned he can enjoy no future happiness. We believe All men see a difference Between having the special favor of the chief magistracy of our nation conferred on a Man when the interests of the nation require it and in placing him in such a situation a fat he must necessarily and unavoidably be plunged into jail. This difference it seems never occurred to or. It7s tear that or. , in the very a Mem Barnes. And we say explicitly Llma no Socini he ridicules school divinity Falls into one of its a or , Ever denied that god confers greatest absurdities and he rejects the old j his favors both temporal and according calvinistic system he adopts one of its greatest Quot Ltd pm in or purpose. What us ,,and the absurdities. So difficult it is for a Man when he h is once been be fooled by an erroneous system of philosophy or divinity to shake Oil All thatus erroneous at once. But or. Barnes proceeds to show that it is according to gods Way of doing things that Many of his provisions should appear to us in vain. 14 we see in this the hand of the same god who pours the rays of noon Day on Barren Sands and genial showers on deserts waste where no win is to our Eye although not to his in vain.11 and a because the Sun beam Falls on a Barren or Rock where no Man is to enjoy it Dier fore or. Birnes infers that it May be consistent with gods Wisdom and goodness to prove de an atonement originally applicable to All and yet in his eternal purpose design it he for and actually apply it to but a part. But this comparison is defective. To make out the anal a sees or. Barnes must show that while the Sun and ruin pour on the desert that there Are some unfortunate sons of Adam who stand in need of those temporal blessings just As All men stand need of spiritual blessings. But who Are so Blind and weak that without some optician to a open their yes some physician to give them Drenth they will never apply these temporal blessings. But according to his own setting Forth Liia is not the cases for he says there is a no Man. But some May come in future he anticipates. 44 s Ane or Cadmus May yet Cross these barrens to Bear letters to the Barba licit what to Bear Laws to deserts and wastes there a pro Man is a they must be foolish legislators. Solon or Cadmus never were guilty of such Folly. But Here or. Barnes concludes upper it Csc that because some nations Tesij plan or purpose Only thing is whether that plan or purpose be As affirmed by or. Calvin and his followers a plan or purpose to save but a part of the human race or to use or. Barnes own words or favorit phrase to apply the death of Christ to but a part this is the question at Issue and the Only one. Let this be proved by thu Saith the lord god almighty and not amuse us with analogies As fanciful As those of a certain poet who proves a similarity Between two distinguished Monarch because there were Rivers in both the countries where they lived. The scriptures referred to by or. Barnes we could easily show Are by him wrested from , application to the purpose of god toward the Gentile world to the calvinistic elect world. For a satisfactory explanation of the passages referred to by or. Brnes we refer the Reader to a. Clarke Taylor and or. Locke on the epistles of Paul the latter work in particular gave us a better understanding of the writings of Paul than All the other comments we have Ever read. That the supreme ruler of the world diversifies his favors and gives a larger portion of temporal and spiritual blessings to some nations and to some individuals than what he gives to other nations and other individuals must be admitted. To some portions of the race he gives five talents while to others he gives but one. It is probable thut this diversity extends through the universe and that if we could see the whole scheme of Providence in Ali its parts and bearings we should be convinced that these arrangements Are calculated to produce the greatest amount of happiness and that they resolve themselves into and arc proofs of the infinite goodness of the deity. \ say it is probable Tor so far As we can venture to judge the plan of diversity where there Are different orders of being is capable of producing More happiness than that of Equality where there is but one order of beings of the greatest possible perfection and believing As we do that our heavenly Parent in All his creative and governing acts Ever has the greatest possible happiness of his creatures in View and that All his plans or purposes Are so formed and executed As to produce the greatest possible amount of happiness in the universe we rest satisfied with our Humble lot believing it to be the Best for the whole and consequently for us. It seems from the writings of some of the stoic philosophers Tufit they were led in their speculations about the universe to View the scheme of Providence something in this Light to consider these diversities and apparent inequalities to be necessary parts of the great whole and that the Jet of each individual however Humble and in some respects disagreeable is when considered in relation to the great whole the Best for the individual As Well As for the universe and precisely that situation which the individual himself could he Sec the whole system in ajl its bearings would voluntarily choose. 44 of world a says the pious Aurelius in his Sublime meditations 44all things Are suitable to me which Are suitable to thee. Nothing is too Early or too late to me which is reasonable for thee. All is fruit which thy seasons bring Forth. From thee Are All things in thee Are All things for thee Are All things., one Man says of beloved City of Europe Wilt thou not say of beloved City of according to this Sublime philosophy whoever docs not cordially embrace whatever befalls him whoever is sorry that it had befallen him whoever wishes that it had not befallen him wishes so far As in him lies to Stop the motions of the universe to break the great Chain of succession by the Progress of which that system can alone be continued. Similar sentiments to the above arc expressed by Seneca in his epistles. This Sublime philosophy of the stoics gave Rise in Many ins4sp is to All that was Sublime and interesting in character. It enabled its disciples to Bear reproach and poverty without complaining and in the most trying circumstances in life to hold fast their integrity. But the stoics were destitute of that full and satisfactory evidence of a future and an immortal state which is necessary to the perfection of piety and completion of Hope. To them life and immortality was not brought to Light by the revelation of Jesus Christ and the dim Light of nature Only rendered our immortal existence to them Proba get. They supposed therefore that in some instances individuals might be called upon by the supreme Fujer of the world to make great sacrifices for the Good of the whole Voith Litany certain Reward after tins life. In such cases they taught hat we should be actuated by disinterestedness and fortitude a love for the greatest Good which they supposed the great Jove Ever had in View. A and even life when called for should be cheerfully resigned. Noa however Sublime this philosophy May appear in theory it will be found defective in practice and not adapted to the nature of Man. It is too great a Call on our disinterestedness to ask us to sacrifice our being our All to the interest of the universe. Fur ouf own happiness is and ought to to More to us than the happiness of the whole universe Bende. And to ask us to sacrifice our entire interests to the Good of others is to ask that which no Man can willingly give. Accordingly in the scheme of moral government revealed by god while we arc called on to make great sacrifices even life it is with the cheering and certain Prospect of a Reward Good measure pressed Down and running Over shall we have at the restoration of the just. For it is written for our encouragement that if we love god and Are called according to his purpose All things All the goods and ills of life shall work together for our Good. This cheering View of o n the government of the great Jehovah lays a foundation for the patience of Hope and supports the Martyr in his most agonizing sufferings when passing the ordeal flames As he believes to his eternal Home. But even this imperfect View of the stoic of the great system of nature is More mild less appalling than the Calvinia system even in its most mild and modified form if in the most gloomy condition of the individual his sacrifices extend no farther than this life. For if being ten Fiina Ted with death suffering ended there and if existence continued beyond death then did lie expect from the supreme ruler a Rich and ample Reward. But according to or. Barnes system of Grace we Are by god so exposed to the consequences of Adams sin that our ruin is both certain and unavoidable in the Case where the atoning merits of Christ Are not applied. But or. Barnes thinks that this state of things is both according to the analogy of nature and just. That there is nothing analogous to it in tie Constitution of nature we have fully shown and even or. Barnes seems to feel that his analogies fail Tobe perfect. For says he after having shown that the consequences of our actions May pass Over from one whole number 102 reigned through righteousness unto eternal life. But or. Barnes thinks he can justify the Providence of god in not applying the provisions of the atonement to but a part of Adams race while All suffer the consequences of his sin. Let us attend to his reasoning a. 44 but it is still said that it is unreasonable fur men to suffer in consequence of not being put in Possession of the Universal atonement and that christianity affirms there is no Hope of salvation but in the son of god. So it does. But the affirmation is not a hat men arc guilty for not being acquainted with that scheme but that they lie under the consequences of the antecedent state before individual to another As in the Case where the family of the drunkard is injured by his intemperance we do not consider the child guilty or ill deserving. It is not always the Case that the child of the drunkard is intemperate Idle or illiterate w Hile it is always the Case that a descendant of darn is a sinner. In the former Case there May be other Laws of government to prevent the regular operation of the plan. In the litter god a not seen fit wholly to interrupt the regular process in a single from the above quotation the Reader will see that or. Barnes feels that there is a defect in his analogies precisely where they should be perfect to make out his conclusion.? he finds indeed that according to the established course of nature children softer severely from the consequences of their parents a Rimes hut the connection is not of the necessary and unavoidable kind As certainly to involve them in ruin they May Cut off this connection and by Good conduct avoid being ruined by it. The child of a drunkard is not necessarily a drunkard but the child of Adam according to or. Barnes is necessarily and unavoidably a sinner and a sinner in such a sense As to Lay him liable to eternal misery. So that according to or. Barnes setting Forth his analogies fail. ,.god has established no such connection bet Ween the actions of one Man and the condition of another that makes the ruin of one the certain and a actions. Such a Law in any government would be unrighteous. No such jaw to found in the Constitution of nature nor can any such he found in revealed religion. If by sinners or. Birnes Means what i suppose according to Locke Whitby and Mcknight Paul Means in romans v. That All men made liable to the consequences of Adams sin to inherit a fallen nature subject to death w e admit the fact. B it the same apostle says that provision ample provision is made to redeem us from All this evil for where air bad rcigqe4 Nimo de to Grace Fias mentioned from which christianity came to but How is christianity a deliverer to those to whom its benefits Are never applied ? b it or. Barnes goes on with his analogies 44the Hindoo suffers and Dies under the rage of n burning fever the fault is not that he is ignorant of the Virtues of Tho quinine nor is he punished for his ignorance of its Healing qualities hut he is lying under the operation of the previous state of things from which Medicine contemplates his and to keep up the analogy is the provision of christianity no More within the reach of those to whom it is not applied than the Healing Virtues of the peruvian bark is within the reach of the sick Hindoo ? so it seems Reader according to or. Barnes setting Forth of the subject. The poor Hindoo he says is not guilty because he does not apply the peruvian hark hut he suffers Dies because he is lying under the consequences of a previous state of things. Just so the unfortunate sinner of whom the atonement is not applied. He is made a sinner by the consequences of Danes sin under these consequences he is lying. There is indeed virtue enough in the atonement to save him but no heavenly messenger applies it and he can no More apply it himself than the sick Hindoo can apply to his cure the Healing Virtues of the peruvian bark of which perhaps he has a never so much As heard. Lie must of course die forever suffer what or. Calls the consequences of the previous state of things. And this View of the subject or Barnes thinks is a sufficient justification of the goodness of Providence and those who do not feel satisfied be Calls 44 if i Ever examined n sophistical argument it is this of our essayist. Let us examine this previous state of things the consequences of which Are said to Damn so Many of Adams race. All calvinistic writers seem to take it for granted that it would have been perfectly righteous in god to have suffered Adam after he had sinned and became liable to punishment to have propagated his species and to have filled the world with inhabitants and then to have proceeded against All his posterity and punished them forever or which is the same thing suffer them to be or make them liable to the temporal and eternal consequences of his sin. But we deny this As a fact. We say such a measure would have been unrighteous. It would have been to All intents making the child die for the sin of the parents a principle which god disavows in the most explicit manner. That god might in righteousness have inflict o o de on Adam the whole penalty of the Law All that was implied in death we readily admit. He was under no obligations to redeem him but what arose from the goodness of his nature. B it if he had proceeded against him those who have since descended from him could never have existed. But to suppose that nil who have descended from Adam might have Heen involved in ruin forever in consequence of his sin is a most unreasonable and a scriptural View of Tho Case. It supposes that to be righteous in god which would Render any earthly government infamous. Supposing a Man and woman previous to their having children should commit murder and forfeit their lives by the Laws of their country would it be righteous or the government to spare them until they should have children and grand children and then proceed to punish them and All their posterity fir their crime ? such a proceeding would Shock the feelings of the most hardened Man. We say that Adam was permitted Only to live after his transgression and have a posterity because god in his Wisdom and goodness had proposed to provide salvation for All the race and to apply this it Fry to All so far As it became him to apply it that is to put All men in a state of probation and to put eternal life within the reach of All. This is the View Given by Paul in romans. I give the Render or. My knights translation and explanation. Well then As through one offence sentence came upon All men to condemnation even so through one righteousness sentence came upon All men to justification of life and As through the disobedience of one Man the Many were constituted sinners even so through the obedience of one Man the Many shall be constituted romans v. 18, 19. The phrase 44 constituted sinners a the doctor paraphrases 44 made liable to sin and now it must he evident to every candid Reader that in this chapter Paul explicitly declares that the benefits of Christ a interposition extends As far As the consequences of Adam s sin Yea farther 44 super abounds or secures for All Adams family greater blessings than their father lost. So or. Mcknight understood Paul. He says 44 thus according to the apostle All Mankind Are and Ever have been included in the new if included in the new to Vesant its blessings have been applied. ,1 \ doctor Mcknight agrees with us that it jew Muld have been inconsistent with the Justice of god to have permitted Adam to have propagated his species and made them liable to his sin Only by virtue of anticipated provision by Christ. But however in due season his son was to appear on Earth in human nature and to make atonement for the sin of men. God in the Prospect of that great of obedience offered Adam and eve to live and propagate Elf air kind and granted them a new trial. And so far was or. Mcknight from supposing that because some Heathen never heard of the new covenant but died As ignorant of it As they were of the 44 Virtues of quinine a that they must perish because of then relation to a 44 previous state of he says 44 As the plan of redemption will be fully made known to pious heathens after they Are admitted to heaven the glory of god and the Honor of Christ will be advanced by the discovery at that period As effectually As if it had been made known to them during this the idea is shocking beyond description that the infinitely powerful and Happy Jehovah the benevolent Parent of the world would Ever bring into existence millions of intelligent beings and place them in such a situation As to make their ruin unavoidable. Such a condition of beings is worst than no existence. It is a condition it of being that makes existence the greatest of All evils. In such a hopeless state of despair the sufferer May Well sigh for annihilation and could not hut curse the author of i being. God never placed a being in such a condition. We May boldly and fearlessly say that Uch a creative would impeach every to ,8 heart and brom it Bufe of his nature. I. From a state where existence would be a Bles sing to that perfect state of happiness of which we can conceive there Are Many grades. We would not attempt to limit the holy one in his its of Bounty in meting out existence to his creatures. He May make in his wis Alom various orders of being to people his universe some More Wise More Happy than others. From that condition where existence with its prospects is e Blessing to the highest order of beings there Are Many grades. Angels and archangels May be made and created goodness infinitely diversified and All this As we have seen productive of the greatest Good in the who Elt now when we consider Tho progressive nature of intelligent beings capable of endless improvement an i that it is Jutro Brablc that a state of trial and mom discipline is the condition of All created intelligences that All by a proper course of conduct May be Finati Happy and All eternally improving creation forever beautifying and perfecting in the sight of god such a View is calculated to remove every murmur from every order and to give Rise As it does in fact to the song of Jubilee. But this is not or. B irnes1 sovereignty. Such a View of Sovereign goodness is very different from exhibited in any system of calvinism however modified so far As we can understand them and we Are conscious that if we have misrepresented it is our misfortune. No tour vice they All suppose that in consequence of the relation existing Between Adam and his posterity either by Legal representation or by consequence some portion of the human family Are placed in such a condition As or. Wesley justly observes in answering or. Top lady a work on the decrees that let them do As they May their eternal damnation is unavoidable. That this consequence follows from the old limited calvinistic system i believe our new school Brethren admit. Nothing is More Plain if men can be saved in Noober Way but by Tho atonement of Christ and there be any for whom he never died than it is certain that they must perish. No conclusion in Euclid is More justly drawn. And according to or. Barnes there Are some to whom the atonement is never applied. Now if the depravity of their nature is such that they cannot apply it whatever that depravity May consist in whether a want of inclination or a total absence of moral Power if it be something which it is impossible for them to free themselves from a change of nature which they cannot effect and which god will not effect for them by applying the atonement then is their ruin unavoidable and existence under such circumstances is a curse infinitely worse than no being. We know that our calvinistic Brethren disavow this consequence it is therefore unjust to charge it on them but we say it follows from their system and we charge it on the system. It is a legitimate consequence from it and no can avoid the conclusion. We think we Are perfectly honest in our investigations and our new school Brethren will believe us so when they consider the fact that they agree with us that the old system with its limited atonement its imputed guilt and unconditional decrees is liable to All the consequences the armenian deduces from it. But thousands of intelligent men of the old school men of piety cannot so understand it they deny the consequences now to us the new system with its moral inability and disinclination its general atonement and secret purpose of partial application is just As objectionable As the old 44 rough draught a which or. Barnes acknowledges is contrary to the analogy of nature and reason. ,. \ when Luther substituted con substantiation for transubstantiation j believe ill sensible. Mea think he did not mend the matter much. This natural ability but no moral ability a Power and a re it Power is to me con substantiation a Centaur Phenix some Liing which has no existence something that has no likeness in nature. We can find nothing analogous to it. Or. Barnes d o has found nothing like it and it is no wonder. T Butler in his Wisdom Nciver attempted to find any analogy to support ail or. Barnes1 analogies Are similar to those we have produced fanciful and strained and neither prove nor illustrate any thing we shall follow him no further. The lovers of argument and friends of Butler will not believe that the cause of truth is advanced by this introductory essay. A twill not Aid the Reader in understanding the analogy. Indeed the Short introduction of the Bishop is sufficient. It. Never occurred to such men As Stewart Patrick Henry Chalmers and Reid All admirers of the work that any other introduction was necessary. And if air. Barnes had not had a private purpose to answer perhaps he never would have thought an introductory essay called for we Are sorry to see the analogy which was written to defend our common christianity against the attacks of the infidels used for a sectarian purpose to support some sectarian peculiarity. Such a use of it is wresting it from its original design. Butler has seized All the Strong Points of the argument. The work is completed let no scribbler attempt to perfect it. It stands a Monument of Genius Sublime and grand Bre Asting the storms of infidelity and defying the machinations of hell. It will be read with pleasure while there Are men to be found who love and understand profound argument a and when the proud triumphal Arch of Hoar Antiquity shall have gone Down to the dust it will 44 lift its column to the skies beyond the waste of time. J. A. Water31an. For the Western Chritian advocate c Amodel Lisma no. Xxv. Call to the ministry. It Only remains now for us to examine a few objections or arguments that have been urged against a divine Caff t6 the ministry. 1. Such a Call is said to he unreasonable because those Olio profess to be the subjects of it Are not Only destitute of the Means of convincing others hut sometimes Are in doubts themselves Ali either in reality they have received it. The first Merither or this objection can have no bearing upon the question because the fact assumed is not True. He who possesses Grace gifts and talents for usefulness who lives a blameless holy life and is to teach a who 44desires�?� the a Good work of a minister and in whose hands 44ihe sword of the spirit is made 44the Power of god unto salvation a is not destitute of the Means of convincing others of the divine reality of his Call. For these signs and qualifications necessarily Appertain to the ministerial character As set Forth in the scriptures find can Only attend upon him whom god has qualified for tha work. Nor Aro we warranted to believe that any Man can thus preach the go pc without this di��0 authority. Lecture Ami Harangue the people As do or. Campber s proclaimers he Mav hut to preach a Christ Jesus and him crucified in demonstration of the Shoirif and with Power a to that Siu amp or arc t w to experience the Power of saving Grace is wholly beyond his ability and belongs to him Only who has received a Power from on and he whose life and labors Manifest the presence of this a holy unction a will Ever carry conviction to the minds of at least a part of his hearers that his authority is divine. Of the truth of the second part of the objection we have no doubt. Gospel ministers May sometimes be in doubts of to the reality of their Call. But we shall not admit that this is any argument against a divinely constituted ministry for on the contrary it appears in perfect accordance with Many a probationary state in which it May at times be needful for him to he a in heaviness through manifold temptations a and in which god May Lead him a by a Way that he knows that the child of god in some dark moment May seriously question his acceptance cannot admit of a rational doubt. To this we Are aware or. Campbell demurs and assumes that Christiana May know they Are washed from their sins so Long As they remember their immersion but As this method of proving our adoption is Many a work being wholly unknown to the new testament it Only shows the Folly of that system of which it forms a conspicuous part. We therefore repeat that the Christian May at times to led to question whether he has been a born gain a but does this fact prove that there is no. Such a thing As the new birth not at All. And yet it might be urged in proof of this with As much plausibility a9 can the fact that ministers May have doubts tit the reality of their Call to prove that god has never called them. The truth is that in either Case the evidence of its reality May in some instances be attained by slow degrees and in Point of clearness May not Only differ in different individuals but owing to constitutional temperament and other causes it May at different times vary in the same individual. But still the work is of god. It is he spirit that witnesses to the believer that he is born from above and it is the holy ghost that moves the Christian minister to preach the gospel. And whatever doubts May arise in either Case they will generally he removed has each ing the scriptures self examination and fervent prayer. In proportion As the Christian walks worthy of his vocation and advances in holiness will his doubts and fears decrease and just so with the minister of the gospel in reference to his Call to the work of an evangelist. 2. But in the next place we Aro toll that it is absurd to suppose that god would Call such ignorant and illiterate a men Asare Many of the professedly a called and sent a to teach <5thers the Way of salvation. We shall by no Means contend that All who profess a divine Call to the ministry Are in reality thus called. There were false teachers even in the apostles1 Days and there Are such still. Some from sinister motives May have been led to assume the livery of heaven while others in engaging in the work May be honestly mistaken but in both cases they Lack the most essential qualification and their deficiencies will ultimately be discovered by others if not by themselves. And whether such he Learned in it reference to literary attainments the result is the same. Nor shall we offer any apology for ignorance in the Christian minister by supposing that the almighty consecrates stupidity and blindness of mind to his service. In the first age of christianity we a re aware that he a chose the weak things of this world to confound the mighty a but this was Irr the Day. Of miracles and though he May still in some instances upon the same principle to have no reason to believe that this principle prevails in the present Day to the extent that it did in the infancy of christianity ignorance and blindness of mind Are the effects of sin and As the minister wars with sin he should especially labor to free his own mind from its paralysing effects. In Short he should he must have a theological education. But on this subject to must needs explain. By the education spoken of we do not mean an academic initiation info scientific theology nor will we admit that the real usefulness of ministers bears a general sort of proportion to their classical attainments or to a the external advantages hey May have enjoyed though such attainments so far from being disreputable or unworthy the attention of the minister May greatly assist him in his work. The education to w hich we refer is nothing else than a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible a thorough acquaintance with the scheme of salvation through a crucified Savior As set Forth in the scriptures. In addition we care not How much literary and scientific knowledge May be possessed. The More the better if judiciously used to Advance the great object of preaching a but still with out these the minister May he extensively useful in his vocation. Let him be taught in the school of Christ and by Industry and intense application by watching Hastings and tribulations a by Faith and spirituality and indifference to the world and above All by fervent effectual prayer have acquired a deep and extensive knowledge of revealed truth and this is All Tho theological education which to consider absolutely indispensable. But is Thero any Justice in designating such a one As an a ignorant Man?�?T1 by no Means. It is True his literary acquirement May extend but Little beyond the Bare competency to read the English Bible and yet on theological questions and on experimental and practical religion he May lie fully competent to instruct even Alexander Campbell. The objection now under consider Ion has been very current among the teachers of air. Campbell s gospel. Nor is this at All marvelous for their Leader sat the example by ridiculing the idea that men so destitute of literary at Tainan its As Toh Aveno theoretical knowledge of their Mother Tongue should profess to be called of god to preach and his followers of course had to Echo the sane sentiment. We once heard a proclaim c or Labouring upon this Point who took occasion to observe that he pitied the ignorant Emu Sias who could stand in the pulpit and say a two is me if i preach not the gospel and we recoiled d to have seen the same proclaimed some oars before in the pulpit As a Baptis amp to preacher and to h Ive heard him say a necessity is Laid upon me Yea to is me in i preach not the gospel. And we could but think that he bad taken an excellent method to convince the Public of his want of consistency. Formerly he averred in the most positive manner that god had called him to preach and now to an positively declared that to never received any such Call and surely the Man w to can thus contradict himself should not he astonished if an intelligent Community should consider him As either defective in understanding or in Point of moral honesty. Nor is this the Only inconsistency involved in the objection before us for even ii it was plausible it comes with very ill Grace from the who urge it. However deficient in Point of intelligence some of the professedly a called and Entz May he they have certainly not monopolized All the ignorance of the Day. The teachers of numbers considered have at l�4�t an equal proportion of this cock Moddy

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