volume, he has little to say. that he deserves none. some cases, cannot be helped; and he is willing to bear censure when deserved. The spirit of some of his remarks have not been always very well relished by some of his readers. He has sometimes used "sharpness," but never once has he indulged in "bitterness," "wrath," "anger," "clamour," or "evilspeaking." Whether he may have credit for it or not, he has always spoken the truth in love. For the oily vapid strain of writing on religious subjects, which many in the present day so much admire, he has no taste; nor does he believe that it will ever be effective in correcting error. Periodicals conducted on the principle of "pleasing all men," and "giving no offence to any," exist in abundance; but the Editor of the Christian Advocate has no wish to add to their number. He has long since learned the meaning of Paul's word's, "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." It would be easy to dilate upon the refined Christianised infidelity of the present day, disguised under the name of "Charity," "a Catholic spirit," "liberality," &c., but it is time to desist. Praise he does not expect, and he is conscious He has often unwittingly given offence, but that, in Our readers will find in the present volume many excellent articles connected with "the faith once delivered to the saints," and calculated to illustrate the doctrine of the kingdom of heaven. For some of these we are indebted to our esteemed correspondents; and in other instances we have availed ourselves of the valuable writings of those who have gone before us, and whose names we venerate. We now commend the volume, with all its imperfections, to the kind regard of our readers, and to the blessing of HIM, "whose we are, and whom we ought to serve." ED. November 30th, 1850. CONTENTS. BIOGRAPHY. On the Christian Salutation; with Remarks Memoir of Mr. Samuel Ward, of Notting- On the Atonement, 176, 197. THEOLOGY. On Personal Election and the Invitations of Observations on Heb. ix. 26-18-10, 59, 107. Reflections on the Departed Year, 15. Thoughts on 2 Kings ii. 15,-31. On the Books of Daniel and John, 34. The Evils attending a Defective Representa- On the "Signs of the Times," 49, 73. The Aspect which a Christian Church ought to bear to the Religious World, 60. The Extension of the Gospel, and the Scrip- The Vulgate Version of Pilate's Question, On Divine Sovereignty; with Remarks by The Coming of the Son of Man, in Matt. x. On the Criminality of Unbelief and Disobe- The Apostleship of Matthias, 105, 132. On anointing with Oil, Jam. v. 14-16-106. The Ways of God unchangeable, Lam. iii. Thoughts on the Destruction of Magical On the Study of Ecclesiastical History, 179. On the Restoration of the Kingdom to Israel, Thoughts on Zech. iv. 10-14,-184. On the Unscriptural position assumed by The History of the Papacy, 202, 250. The United Agency of God and Man essen- tial in the Success of the Gospel, 227, 278. Thoughts on Rev. vii. 14-15,-232. REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS. Birtwhistle's Two Thanksgiving Sermons, 17. Mills's True Mode of Baptism Investigated, 55. Elpis Israel." By John Thomas, M.D. Inglis's Letters on the case of W. Mills, 114. Lyric Rhymes, Sacred and Social, 187. On the Change of the Weekly Sabbath. By Some Passages in the life of a Convert from Anglo-Catholicism, to the Truth as it is in The Gospel in Central America. By Fred. Interpretation of Scripture, (Heb. iii. 13) 47. On the Appointment of Elders, 66. Proposed Prize Essay on Baptism, 118. On the Doctrine of Redemption. By Inves- Strictures on Writers in the Christian Advo- cate. By Philalethes, with Remarks by Remarks on Philalethes, and the Extracts from Walker. By the Editor, 188. Strictures on the Review of "The Sabbath Reply by the Editor, 213. On the Review of "All Prophecy Fulfilled," Distribution of the Scriptures in Paris, 216. Central America-Death of Mrs. Hender- Geneva, 71. Honduras, 92, 119, 192, 216. POETRY. Thoughts on the Flight of Years, 16. The Lord's Prayer, 192. Mr. John Cowan, Galashiels, 72, 95. Mrs. Pirie, Dundee, 120. THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE, AND Scotch Baptist Repository. JANUARY, 1850. PROPOSALS FOR WALKING IN GOOD OLD PATHS. The following PROPOSALS FOR A TRUE REFORMATION were first published in 1733, and were then recommended to the serious deliberation of all who would not live at ease, in a disorderly corrupted state of things. How far they were effectual need not be here noticed; but as there is too much reason to think that the spirit which pervades them has been overcome by that of We are rich and increased with goods, their republication may not be unseasonable.-1820. [What appeared so seasonable in 1820, is, in our opinion, far more forcible in 1850, when the 66 Mystery of Iniquity "is working with tenfold vigour, and ungodly men are daily waxing worse and worse.-ED. C. A.] 1. LET the Holy Scriptures be attended to, and held fast, in opposition to every other rule that men walk by; as, the imaginations of their own hearts, the course of this world, the traditions of the fathers and commandments of men, and seducing spirits, speaking beside the Scriptures, speaking of the world, and denying, directly or indirectly, that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is what Paul recommended to Timothy as a preservative against the perilous times in the last days, 2 Tim. iii. He sets before him the things he had learned of him, his doctrine and manner of life, now written to us in the New Testament; and this, with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which, he says, Timothy had known from a child, he points out to him as sufficient to manifest the folly of them that resist the truth, and to make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And, by what he there says, their folly may be manifest, who, for the sake of other rules that they would have us to walk by, reflect on the Holy Scriptures, as dark and of doubtful interpretation, as the common resort of heretics, and as fitted only to the first times of Christianity and not proper for the times we live in. And yet, by such like insinuations as these, from men professing that the Scriptures are the only rule of Christianity, are poor people frighted from searching the Scriptures, and cleaving close to them in their practice, lest they should fall under delusion; against which, the Scriptures are not, it seems to them, so proper a preservative as other rules that they are called to walk by. The Apostle, forewarning the Thessalonians of the Man of Sin, and of the strong delusion that God was B : to send on the professors of Christianity that received not the love of the truth, gives them this direction against the beginnings of this evil, Stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle, 2 Thess. ii. These traditions which he calls them to hold, were partly written in his epistle, and partly delivered to them by word of mouth: for the New Testament Scriptures was not then completed; but they had the whole counsel of God declared to them by the Apostle, which is now so fully declared in the writings of the New Testament, whereof the epistle to the Thessalonians is a part, as nothing can be added to it. If, therefore, we would escape the corruption of Christianity that was then beginning to work, and the strong delusion there foretold, we must firmly hold the things delivered to us in the New Testament, without adding to them, or taking from them. We must not satisfy ourselves with an idle confession that the New Testament is the word of God; but we must hold fast by it, as our only rule, in opposition to all other rules that have been added to it, or come in the place of it; we must hold fast the things delivered there, in our practice, without turning to the right hand or to the left. And, in order to this, let us hearken to the advice the Apostle gives to the church in Rome, which, if it had always been attended to, might have prevented all the abominations of that worldly kingdom, at the head of which that church came to be in after ages. He says, Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, (Rom. xii.) Let them that are ministers search the Scriptures diligently, and with a single eye, clear of worldly respects, and however much they know of them, let them yet be persuaded, they are able to make them wiser; and let them still be disciples of Christ, depending on him, as little children, for instruction from him, by opening their understanding, to understand the Scriptures. And let them not shun, for the fear of the people, or for any hope in this world, to speak all the words of eternal life, and to declare the whole counsel of God, keeping nothing back; knowing this, that the word is not committed to them to give it out as they please; and that now, since the revelation is finished, there is no part of it but what is profitable for making the man of God perfect, or thoroughly furnished unto all good works. They must not only guard against handling the word of God deceitfully, and study to teach Christ's disciples to observe all he has commanded; but they must also go before them, as ensamples of holding fast the things delivered in the Scriptures, in a diligent observance of them, the least of them not excepted: For he that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. And let the Christian people also, to their power, search the Scriptures, and examine every part of the doctrine of their ministers, and their example, by the Scriptures, comparing Scripture with Scripture, that they may be followers of them only, as they can see them following Christ; and so profess subjection to the gospel of Christ in following them. Let them bring all their former thoughts and opinions in matters of religion to the standard of the Scriptures, ready to give up with every principle and practice that has no foundation there, and to take up with every doctrine and practice that shall be found there, and without delay, to observe all things whatsoever Christ is found requiring there, however little they have been observed before. Even as the captive Jews, returning from typical Babylon, reformed themselves by the written law, which, through the good |