con for life; but there is reason to apprehend that what many of our churches sanction in this respect is tantamount to such an appointment. But why should it be so? Are there any grounds, deducible from revelation or reason, that justify such an appointment? As the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, so all Christian offices should be held in subserviency to the peace, happiness, and prosperity of the churches among whom they are exercised, and for whose benefit they were instituted. Offices, thus held, must frequently pass from hand to hand, otherwise than by the decease of those who hold them. As the Scriptures are silent as to the period for which persons should be called to the office of deacon, we are left to the guidance of the general canons of utility, decency, and order. Looking at some of the evils by which the dissenting system has been afflicted, and anxious for a better state of things, and for the prevalence of correct principles, many of your readers besides W. E. W. (whose remarks have in some measure anticipated me), think that an annual or some other periodical election to the deacon's office would tend much to invigorate our churches. It may be that, against the adoption of such a practice, some would urge the absence of express Scripture precept,and perhaps would be the subjects of fear (but such fear would surely be imaginary) as to the injury that might arise by acting upon a plan not at present in general operation. It is submitted, however, that there are grounds, some of which are adverted to in this paper, upon which a periodical election to the deacon's office could be firmly established. It is not likely that by such a plan a church would lose what it would be desirable to retain, whilst there can be no doubt that it would sometimes gain much. Such, for instance, is the imperfection which in the present state attaches even to the people of God, that, under the influence of other principles than those which should always preponderate in a Christian society, it is possible that persons have been called to the deacon's office, and subsequently retained in it, whose retirement, nevertheless, may be very desirable. An annual or other periodical election would afford the opportunity, without doing violence to personal feeling or social order. Various, indeed, may be the occasions rendering a change in the deacon's office desirable. There are (and the consideration is delightful), there are many who adorn the office which they sustain. The holiness of their character, their humility, their love to the brethren, their enlightened, disinterested, unostentatious zeal in the cause of religion, deservedly obtain for them the affection and confidence of their fellow-members. A periodical election, in reference to such persons, would have no other effect than to animate them in the discharge of duty, whilst, in being again and again elected to the deaconship (as assuredly they would), new and most gratifying proofs would be adduced of the regard in which they are held by the church. Such a plan it is the design of these remarks to commend to the denomination, not through a love of change, but a sincere desire to promote the best interests of the churches. Let the method suggested, then, have serious consideration, since some change is obviously desirable. The welfare of the church, as associated for religious purposes, commit the management of its affairs, to brethren of its own selection. The appointment to the office by any persons other than the church, in its collective capacity, would be inconsistent with christian liberty, and manifestly at variance with an inspired injunction, directly in point: "Look ye out among you," &c., Acts vi. 3. Nor ought members to be biassed in this weighty matter; at least they should not be so biassed as to affect the freedom of their choice-an injury that might be inflicted otherwise than by direct interference. A people acquainted with the nature and design of church-fellowship, and alive to the interests involved in such an association, will not be likely to err as to the persons whom it shall be most desirable to select for the management of its general affairs. Let the choice be unfettered, and we may calculate upon happy results. Such a method, too, would preserve a society from that undercurrent sort of dissatisfaction which, though not expressed, will never should be the end ever kept in view; and in proportion as this is done, individual members will be willing to be anything or nothing, whilst the body, the church, as in the fear of God, and in the proper exercise of one of its dearest privileges, will confide the administration of its affairs to those, who, at the time of election, shall, upon scripture grounds, appear the most eligible for the purpose. A reference to the transactions of ordinary life will illustrate this interesting subject. Were, for instance, the function- | aries of our Bible, Missionary, and other public institutions to remain stationary, unaffected, so to speak, by the opinion of their constituency, and placed beyond the reach of its influence, such societies would soon become sickly, and their operations would be impeded as by a paralysis. There needs, in the deacon's office, a greater infusion of popularity, a nearer conformity to the views, wishes, and wants of the people, as united in Christian brotherhood. We require, in fine, the clear perception and the straight-theless exist, where brethren have forward acting out of the principle, that, as well in an election of brethren to the office of deacon as in their continuance in such office, the welfare of the church, and not private interests, or party feeling, or personal aggrandizement, should operate as the main spring of our conduct. 3. The MANNER in which brethren should be elected to the office has not had so much attention as its importance demands. Every Christian church, formed upon the primitive model, is independent in its construction, and is, of itself, competent to the discharge of all the functions proper to its well being. It is for the church to repose its confidence, and to been introduced to, or continue to be retained in, the deacon's office, in a way that does not harmonise with the tenor of holy writ. No church is so likely to prosper as that, whose offices are held by men who shall have been chosen upon no other grounds than their fitness—their moral and Christian excellence, and in no other manner than that which is unconstrained. Nor, next to the divine approbation, will anything yield to an individual, engaged in ministering to a Christian society, more solid satisfaction, than that which arises from the consciousness that he is fulfilling a course of Christian duty, to which he has been spontaneously called by his fellow-members, and in which he is sustained by them with one heart and one accord. Surely it behoves us more fully to realise the simplicity of the Christian system; and ever to consider that, in all the concerns of religion, heavenly principles, unalloyed by the policy of a world that shall perish with the using, should ever have the ascendant influence. We have heard much of the revival of religion-of the extension of that kingdom which is righteousness, and peace, and EXEGETICAL EXERCITATIONS. No. II. To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it ; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Isai. i. 5, 6. THIS passage, it is conceived, is equally misunderstood and misapplied with the one examined in a previous article ; and it is generally used in the same connexion, namely, in social prayer, both domestic and public, and also for a similar purpose, that of confessing our unworthiness of divine regard on account of the depravity of our nature. True indeed it is, that we are all fallen, depraved, and guilty creatures. We have all from our earliest days gone into forbidden paths. As soon as we were capable of moral actions, that is, as soon as we knew the difference between right and wrong, we neg lected and refused the former, and 66 S. N. chose and pursued the latter; so, that, in the emphatic language of scripture, we are transgressors from the womb." On this point, the depravity of our nature, there can be no doubt. It is a fact felt and deplored by every good man, confirmed by our daily intercourse with each other, recorded in almost every theological creed, and supported by innumerable passages of scripture; but it is doubted whether the one under conside ration affords it any support. It presents no direct proof either that our nature is fallen, or that our life is sinful; but it fully and necessarily implies both; for, suffering in any form or degree, amongst the subjects of the moral government of a benevolent and holy Being, presupposes that they are sinners; and the inference, that our daily violations of a just and good law originate in a depraved nature, may safely be pronounced as correct as it is obvious and easy. These topics, however, are con ་ K nected with the statement only by implication. But the passage, it is presumed, will be found, on a close and careful examination, to describe not depravity itself, but something consequent upon it; not moral evil, but physical calamity; not the pollution of sin, but the marks of its punishment. It exhibits the weak, exhausted, and wretched condition of a people whose sins had brought upon them the chastisements of divine providence -the deplorable state of a people on whom the threatening had been executed, "I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes." The depravity and wickedness of the Jewish nation-the cause of all their distress-is set forth in the preceding verses. They are charged with being insensible and ungrateful, disobedient, and incorrigible-irreclaimable even by a discipline infinitely wise and benevolent. They are further designated, "a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters." Heaven and earth are called upon to bear witness to the truth of these allegations, and to sympathize with their insulted Maker and Sovereign, in the painful fact, and the affecting complaint, that the children whom he had nourished and brought up, had rebelled against him. Then, after this description of their wicked and flagrant conduct, their wretched state, as a people diminished and brought low by the heavy and repeated calamities which their sins had brought upon them, is set forth in the verse under notice. These visitations were neither slight nor partial, but deep and widely extended; they were chastisements which had made the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint; from the sole of the foot even unto the head there was no soundness;" the inhabitants of the land, from the metropolis to the most obscure and remote parts of the country, had been visited with the tokens of divine displeasure. Every where they were reduced in number, shorn of their beauty, and deprived of their strength; the marks and effects of the rod were upon them; they were afflicted and not comforted; there was no eye to pity, no hand to help; their wounds were unclosed and uncovered; and, as far as human aid was concerned, they were not only uncured, but incurable. The passage, rightly understood, seems to represent the Divine Being in the character of a kind, an anxious, and distressed father, expostulating with an undutiful and rebellious son, after some new act of disobedience, which had excited his displeasure, and called for some fresh correction. But why should you, as if he had said, why should you be corrected again? It will produce no good effect. Contemplating his weak and emaciated frame, his bruised body, and lacerated limbs-an affecting and offensive spectacle, he stays his hand, and withholds the rod; and, grieved for his hardness of heart and obduracy of spirit, again he asks, as if in hopeless despair, why should you be stricken any more? Previous chastisements,severe and repeated,have not been followed by repentance and amendment, but by new insult and deeper provocation. Shall I then give you up to the consequence of your disobedience ? But how can I thus abandon you to certain ruin? Shall I then continue my care and discipline? Yet, why? You will revolt more and more. Why then should you THE situation of the elder children towards the close of their attendance at the Sabbath-school, and after they have left it, is one of great interest. At that period, character is rapidly assuming the form in which it will be permanently distinguished. Then the teacher, who has been diligently preparing the frail bark of youth, feels anxious to ascertain how far his hopes are likely to be realized, when the vessel is launched on the ocean of life. Then, to use another allusion, he narrowly examines the tree which he has been cultivating, to judge how far it is likely to reward his toil with fruit. And yet, precisely at this interesting season, the objects of a teacher's care usually become impatient of control, and are eager to anticipate manhood by throwing off the restraints of education. Temptations begin to gather fearfully around them; the corruptions of their nature are becoming strong and rampant; and poverty compels their early employment in some course of labour, and, perhaps, a crowd of vicious companions. At this crisis, philanthropy may well redouble its efforts, not only to avert the evils which threaten unguarded youth, but to secure, under divine influence, the permanent usefulness of past endeavours for their spiritual good. But here, again, the returns before alluded to show that much remains to be done, in connexion with our Sunday-schools, for the welfare of the rising generation, at the stage of their history now contemplated. No plan can adapt itself to all cases. Time, place, and other arrangements must depend on circumstances, and on the convenience and opportunities of the minister, or other person, who may undertake this special service. But whatever method may be adopted, it should on many accounts be as distinct as possible from the ordinary occupations of the school. It should also, in every respect, be so framed as to render it a privilege after which youth would be likely to aspire, and on which they would feel it a pleasure to attend. The following plan has been tried for several years: 1. All children in the school, twelve years old and upwards; have been declared eligible for admission to a class, quite dis |