ON ABRAHAM OFFERING UP HIS SON ISAAC.

world he saith, "Let all the angels of God worship him."-Isaac was a beloved Son; and a voice from heaven more than once declared concerning Jesus "He is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."-Isaac was to be offered at the divine command; and it was at the command of Jehovah, that the sword of justice was bid to awake and smite the man that was his fellow.-Isaac carried the wood and the knife, &c. Christ carried the wood of his cross, and bare our sins in his own body upon the tree.-It was by the hand of his Father that Isaac was to receive the fatal stroke; and it was our heavenly Father who put the cup of wrath into the Saviour's hand, which made him to cry out, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."Isaac was offered by his own consent, for he had the power to escape, had it been his will. Christ could declare, "No man taketh it from me, I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again."-It was for no sin of his own that Isaac was to suffer. Christ suffered the just for the unjust to bring us unto God.-The hand was stayed when Isaac was to have received the deadly blow, and a ram caught in a thicket supplies his place. But Chris, was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, that by his stripes we may be healed.

II. In Abraham's conduct on this occasion, we have a manifestation of those things which have in all ages constituted the religion of Jesus, and of which the apostle Paul says-" Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity." The faith of Abraham is a subject much spoken of in Scripture. It was this which enabled him to bear up under peculiarly heavy trials; and on account of which he was styled, by way of eminence--the father of the faithful, and the friend of God. "He believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness." For three days together he travelled to the land of Moriah, and on the third day he lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. He not only saw the place where Jehovah had commanded him to offer up his beloved Isaac, but he saw by faith the accomplishment of all those things which were to be seen there in a figure. Hence our Lord himself bears this testimony to the faith of Abraham-" He rejoiced

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to see my day, he saw it, and was glad." When he arrives at the appointed place, he erects an altar, lays the wood in order, and binds his son, his only son Isaac. He confers not with flesh and blood, saying, what account can I give to the world for my conduct?. or, how can I expect to see the fulfilment of the divine promise-"That in Isaac shall thy seed be called?"-No, he staggers not at the promise of God through unbelief; but accounting that God was able to raise him up from the dead, from whence he also received him in a figure, he takes the knife, and when just going to lodge the fatal weapon in the breast of his son, a voice from heaven says" Abraham, stay thy hand."

The hope as well as the faith of Abraham is here brought to our view. He had long believed in hope against hope; but this was the greatest trial he had ever experienced. And as his faith could not be shaken, no more could his hope of future glory be destroyed. The ram caught in the thicket would bring to his view the one offering, which would for ever take away sin. And while he calls the name of the place Jehovah-jirah, (the Lord will provide,) he must do it in the joyful expectation that God would fulfil the promise he had made. And to this we are told, that because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thy seed, &c. Thus adding his oath to his promise-that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we also might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to the hope set before us. Thus what was written of Abraham was not written for his sake alone; but for us also, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Again, when we see Abraham cheerfully yielding up his son at the command of God, we see at the same time the genuine spirit of Christianity—" faith working by love." He gave the strongest expression of love to God, that a mortal could do. And the testimony of the Apostle concerning him is, that he was justified by works, when he had offered up Isaac his son upon the altar. And if we are walking in the steps of the faith of Abraham, we should also be imitating him in love to God. For our

love to God will always correspond with
our regard for his authority, and obe-
dience to his laws.
Feb. 16, 1824.

MR. EDITOR,

F.

The remarks of "your sincere well-wisher, Joseph," which you did him the honour to insert in the February number of your valuable Magazine, are generally excellent, and by no means out of season; but some of them are in my opinion extremely injudicious, and highly censurable.

66

vation be just, it is impossible they should feel, their intellects having "the instinct!". nearest affinity to mere They make their attempt," says he, "amongst a few illiterate rustics,"there was some sense in that " and succeed very well, that is, they get through without stopping, and make those stare who had no sense to understand their nonsense." Deficient, therefore, though they be in sense, yet not in volubility, they get through without stopping,' and that is more than can be said of some who have been at School, and passed with credit through the sapient Under his third observation, substi-fingers of a D. D. And as for their tuting wit for argument, he attempts to auditory-poor "illiterate rustics,” they run down, by rendering ridiculous, a might well" stare!" for it takes a very class of men, whose piety, disinterested- sensible and learned man to "underness, and zeal in the cause of God (to stand nonsense;" perhaps Joseph himself say nothing of their spiritual gifts), would find some difficulty in it. But justly entitle them to a very different what has your correspondent dared to treatment. I allude, Sir, to those useful call nonsense? The lay preachers as a and necessary members of our churches body, know and preach the Gospel; and who, in the nomenclature of popery, the weakest of them all would not be are termed "Lay Preachers and Exhor- tolerated as preachers by their evangelic ters." Upon these Joseph, from the connexions, did they not preach the height of his sublime elevation, looks Gospel. Joseph must surely know this, down with evident contempt; but they and it becomes him very seriously to are entitled rather to his pity, if, as he enquire, whether in calling the preachsays, they, at least some of them, can ing of the lay preachers "nonsense," he rank no higher in the scale of being, does rot in effect call the Gospel itself than "the nearest affinity to mere in- nonsense, and "charge with folly " the stinct." He is doubtless a philosopher, Spirit of Wisdom, who deigns to bless and must therefore know that that link such humble instrumentality-and thus, in the chain of existence which connects "that no flesh should glory in his reason with instinct, or a man with a presence," "chooses the foolish things beast, is supposed to be found natural of this world to confound the wise.” fools and idiots; he, therefore, by fair deduction, assigns that place to lay preachers. But if those whose honour, and the honour of whose Creator and Redeemer he thus lays in the dust, be after all his brethren in the Lord, has he not placed himself in the dangerous situation of him, who "says to his brother, thou fool?"

On this subject he speaks no doubt feelingly. The "lay preachers" he seems to regard as his enemies, or at least his rivals; and his fears and jealousies may well be excited, when he sees them "increase that trouble him," and has still good reason to expect their greater multiplication. "These persons," he tells us, "have their compauions, and they too must preach, as they can feel no inferiority to those who are deemed competent to such a solemn engagement." How cruel to blame them for not feeling what, if his obser

But, continues he, "they must now preach in the Chapel, where they will have a better opportunity of discovering their abilities." Now to the extent of my observation and experience, the case is far otherwise. Rather than in the Chapel, they would preach any where; and prefer to walk ten, or it may be, twenty miles into the country, to "make their attempt among a few illiterate rustics," whose souls they have sense enough to deem as precious as those of the most enlightened and fashionable congregation in the kingdom.

Next, he attacks them on the score of Exhortation-"to gratify this caprice," as he calls their desire to make known the Gospel, "meetings for exhortation must be held according to the primitive practice." Does he mean then to affirm that such was not the primitive practice? This much is plain, if any thing recorded in Scripture be plain, that the

DIPPING, SPRINKLING AND POURING, THREE ACTIONS.

first Christians exhorted one another,
and that publicly. Numerous and ex-
plicit are the precepts and examples to
this effect, which might be cited were
it necessary; and if they are not binding
upon us, we are bound by nothing in the
whole Book of God. "Meetings for
exhortation must," therefore, "be held,"
not "to gratify the caprice" of any one,
but in obedience to Christ, and for
mutual edification; and these we must
conduct-not "in a manner worthy of
ourselves," but "worthy of God," in his
fear, and to his glory, who is "not the
Author of confusion, but of peace, as in
all the churches of the saints." "The
pastor may deem it necessary to expos-
tulate" against such meetings as an
infringement on the duties of his office;
but though it be his province to correct,
or see corrected, the abuse of Christian
ordinances, he has no power to set aside
or dispense with any of them; and
should he attempt it, "his conduct be-
comes," very properly, "a topic of ani-
madversion," not " at the next meeting
for christian exhortation," as your cor-
respondent sneeringly calls it, but at
the next meeting of the church-where
not his priestly authority, and bare ipse
dixit but the Word of God must decide
the matter, and end all strife.
I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,
NONCLERICUS.

MR. EDITOR,

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by the translators of the Bible, in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, as by any of our modern disputants; and if it can be shown that they used the words Banтw and Barril, in the sense of sprinkling, the Baptists should give up the dispute; but if they use these words to signify dipping and washing, and other words for sprinkling-and especially if these are found in the same connection, or explained by other words whose signification is indisputable— why then it would seem unreasonable to dispute longer, because the Greek of the New Testament must have the same meaning as that of the Old, being often quoted from it.

Now, Sir, in reading over the Septuagint, I met with several passages that seem to me to put the matter beyond dispute. Most of them are found in the book of Leviticus, as Lev. iv. 6. "The priest shall dip, Bae, his finger in the blood, and sprinkle pav, of the blood seven times before the Lord," &c.-Lev. xiv. 6, 7. "As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip, Bay, them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: and he shall SPRINKLE, TEpipavε, upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean." Again, in the same chapter, verse 16." And the priest shall dip, Babe, his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall SPRINKLE, pave, of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord." Now, in these passages and others, the word Banтw, which has the signification of Bantikw, in the same manner as to chasten has of chastize, in English, is used for dipping, and pavw, Eπipaw, and περιραίνω, all derived from one word, have the signification of sprinkling, and convince me that baptism and sprinkling are two things completely distinct.

The subject of baptism has of late been made a frequent theme of discussion, and not unfrequently of angry disputation. It were to be wished, that some mode could be adopted to bring the controversy to an end, that it might no longer be the means of separation to those, who ought to love as brethren, and preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I am myself a Baptist, and have sometimes thought, Another passage which I have marked if our brethren of the Podobaptist com- in my Septuagint, is one which occurs munities who can read Greek, would in 2 Kings v. relating to the cleansing take the pains to examine some passages of Naaman the Syrian, whom the proof the Septuagint, which is you know phet bade to go and wash in Jordan frequently quoted in the New Testa- seven times. In this command the ment, and thereby acquires apostolic, word Aα, a derivation from As, which and even Divine authority, that much every scholar knows means exclusively might be done towards the accomplish- to wash, is made use of; and the fulfilment of this object, as far as pertains to ment of the command in the 14th verse the mode of baptism. The Greek lan-is expressed by the word BaTiONTO, he guage was certainly as well understood baptized himself. Now, Sir, if the