as the current of time advances, transmits in deeper and wider channels its blessings and its bounties to men? How long must this stream flow before the actual result can be computed and decided? Perhaps a thousand years may be completed before her good works have ceased to follow her! And if you transmit these blissful influences, precepts, and examples, which have descended by a sort of inheritance to you-I say, if you hand down the cup of bliss to your offspring uncorrupted, I am sure many more will drink of it. But as yet we have not considered the influence which acts collaterally upon our contemporaries. We have only considered those which descend in the direct lines of succession. I cannot form any estimate of the good that has passed from my progenitors to their associates in life. I have heard much, and know a good deal, of what happiness has accrued to other families, and to the neighbourhoods with which they conversed. They were lights in their day and salt to the generation in which they lived; but I am without sufficient data to conclude, or form a correct idea, of how much was acheived by them to the glory of God and the good of men. When the book of God's remembrance is opened I know much will appear to their praise, and honour, and glory, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. "There is another light in which this subject is to be viewed. You are not to think that she who originated this wide diffusive scheme of benevolence is the only individual who is to be rewarded for all that has grown out of it, or is yet growing out of it. God's rewards are not so few, nor his favour so parsimonious, as that he can distinguish but a few of his faithful servants. He can afford to reward the originator of a scheme of benevolence for all the good it produces, and each one of the continuators, as though he had no fellow-servant assisting in the cause. Were it otherwise, the twelve Apostles would have all the rewards for all the temporal and eternal good which Christianity has produced, or is capable of producing. Each and every one of the faithful labourers in the Lord's vineyard will receive a reward for all the good he does and produces, although he had no predecessor nor successor in the work. "But if, and I know no reason why it should not be so-I say, but if the negli gent and the indifferent are to be charged with evil which they might have prevented, and condemned for not having done the good in their power, how cumulative, too, is the system of iniquity, and how awful the condemnation of them who instituted a course or system of sinning, which has increased and is increasing with every revolution of time. The apostles of infidelity, the propagators of error and of schemes of immorality, diffusive and operative in their nature, are as worthy of condemnation for the remote, as well as for the proximate evil effects of their respective systems. And upon the same principles of remunerating justice, the originator and the coadjutor, the continuator and his abettor, will each receive a recompence according to his deeds. Thus it is that we are not like isolated beings, each one acting for himself alone, as angels do; but the condition of this department of the universe, of the human family, is, that we are all standing together in a peculiar chain or concatenation of causes and effects, of parents and children, mutually dependent on, and responsible to one another, and to our common parent, the Creator and Judge of All. It is a department of the universe sui generis, of its own sort, and can be understood correctly only when the parts are viewed in relation to the whole, and the whole in relation to the parts. But the Bible is the best, for it is the only expositor of the whole, and he that is not governed by it in his reasonings, as well as in his conduct, has ever proved himself to be a fool. But feel disposed to hear in return your views on all that I have suggested, and will yield to you when I have expressed one, and the most ardent wish of my heart, and that is, that you may transmit to your posterity every Christian quality you may have inherited from your ancestors; and that you may not only yourselves enjoy the blessings of the salvation of God, but that you may hand them down with your names to the remotest times, ever remembering that the mercy of God is upon them that fear him to many generations, even to thousands of them that love him and keep his commandments." After singing the ninetieth Paslm, the venerable Paternus knelt down and prayed with them all, recounting the mercies of God through many years, and commending his children, grand children and great-grand children, to the God of his fathers, with a fervour and affection that none of the adults present can ever forget. If you think this incident worthy of reading, I may furnish you with another, of a similar character, on some future occasion. A. C. FRAGMENTS FROM MY COMMON-PLACE BOOK. I HAVE found it useful to enter upon my common-place book such thoughts and reflections as occurred to me upon various subjects, and which seemed either forcible or just. If the following fragments be worth of a place upon your pages, they are at your service. R. R. "WHEN weak arguments are adduced to sustain a good cause, and are refuted, it is a common error for men to suppose that the contrary side of the question is established. The point at issue is yet untouched. To show the inconclusiveness of an argument is not to adduce one upon the opposite side of the question. It is very important in debate to introduce but few arguments and sustain them well. In war, Philip of Macedon and Alexander owed their success to the introduction of the phalanx. Napoleon gained his victories by concentrating his forces upon a single point." 66 THE existence of an efficient eldership is absolutely necessary to the prosperity of a congregation. It is a vain thing for the Evangelist to attempt to make the whole church proficient in Christianity by weekly discourses. His labour would be more productive if he were to select a few of the more faithful and zealous members, and devote himself for some time to their improvement by giving them lectures daily upon the gospel, church history, chronology, sacred times and places, order, discipline, &c. &c. so that they might after his departure teach the congregation. "The things which thou hast heard of me," says Paul to Timothy, "commit thou to faithful men who will be able to teach others." These men, having given sufficient evidence of their proficiency and fitness, should be appointed to the elder's office, and should visit the members of the congregation often from house to house to instruct and watch over the flock. The church should be subject to them. Without proper subordination, there can be no proper rule-no union-no strength." "ANGER.-The feeling of anger or displeasure may be useful if it be properly governed and directed. To be insensible is to be in perhaps as vicious an extreme as to be irascible. True meekness consists in a medium. Christ once looked round upon the wicked with anger.— God is angry with the wicked every day. This feeling is properly directed against sin. Strong passions are like strong winds-not so dangerous if the vessel be in good trim, and the pilot at the helm. They are certainly better than a dead calm. It is not said of the elder, who is an example to the flock, that he is not to be angry-but that he is not to be "soon angry." It is not said that the Christian may not be angry with his brother, but that he must not be angry with his brother without a cause." But when anger gains the ascendancy and produces works of the flesh, it is a most dangerous passion. The Christian, indeed, should carefully watch all strong emotions, nor should he permit himself to be long under their influence. If he do, he gives an opportunity to the devil. The stormy wind may continue so long that the vessel, however prudently guided, may be driven from her course into an unknown and dangerous sea. Hence the Christian precept, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." In the kingdom of heaven every one must be in a good humour at sun-set. As the angry heats and fervours of noon subside, so should the brief excitements of the Christian give place to calmness and serenity; and while a few tears may be shed, like evening dews, for the frailties of humanity, he will lay his head upon his pillow in peace and charity with all the world." "It is an evidence of the divine origin of Christianity that it proposes a state of society not only in advance of the present age, but of any thing the world has ever seen. Society in its present improved condition is far behind it." ** 66 "IT is a happy condition to be under the influence of good principles. These give a noble triumph to the soul. But when a man is conquered by passion he feels himself enslaved and humbled. He becomes mean in his own eyes and contemptible in the estimation of others. that by which a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage."" Of 'People are wont to admire a speaker who uses high flowing words above their comprehension. They think the stream is deep because they cannot see the bottom, and do not consider that it is owing to its muddiness." "The popular sects affect to disparage the forms and institutions by which the gospel is received. The reason is that they are all unpossessed of them, and unable to receive them without changing their entire religious polity. This they are predetermined not to do, and consequently, like the fox and the grapes in the fable, pretend to despise as useless and 'non-essential' what their circumstances prevent them from adopting." CHOICE SAYINGS OF NEWTON. My principal method of defeating heresy, is by establishing the truth. One proposes to fill a bushel with tares; now if I can fill it first with wheat I shall defy his attempts. Many have puzzled themselves about the origin of evil; I observe there is evil, and that there is a way to escape it, and with this I begin and end. Apollos met with two candid people in the church; they neither ran away because he was legal, nor were carried away because he was eloquent. I can conceive a living man without an arm or a leg, but not without a head or heart; so there are some truths essential to vital religion, and which all awakened souls are taught. A Christian is like a young nobleman, who, on going to receive his estate, is at first enchanted by its prospects: this in a course of time may wear off, but a sense of the value of the estate grows daily. When we first enter into the divine life, we propose to grow rich; God's plan is to make us feel poor. A man's present sentiments may not be accurate, but we may make too much of sentiments. We pass a field with a few blades-we call it a field of wheat: but here is no wheat; no, not in perfection: but wheat is sown, and full ears may be expected. Contrivers of systems on earth are like contrivers of systems in the heavens; where the sun and the moon keep the same course in spite of the philosophers. We should take care that we do not make our profession of religion a receipt in full for all other obligations. A man truly illuminated will no more despise others, than Bartimeus after his own eyes were opened, would take a stick and beat every blind man he met. The Poet's Corner. THE "GOSPEL BANNER." LIFT high the "GOSPEL BANNER"! To gird their armour on; When strife of warring sects shall cease, That acts of mercy may increase, Lift high the "GOSPEL BANNER"! That JESUS IS THE LORD: GOSPEL BANNER, And Biblical Treasury: CONTAINING THE WRITINGS OF ALEXANDER CAMPBELL AND COADJUTORS IN AMERICA AND GREAT BRITAIN. No. 2.] MARCH, 1848. CHARITY. [CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9.] [VOL. I. HRISTIANITY is more worthy to be termed a system than is any methodical arrangement of truths and facts to which philosophers have given that name-for its Founder, the constructor of the universe, was the author of all its first principles and consequent deductions, and did himself bestow upon them all their properties and relations. But man is obliged to search for these in objects already in existence, in order to construct his systems. He discovers that certain causes produce certain effects, but cannot discern the nature of the causes, or tell what is the reason that they produce such effects. Indeed, he does not know but that there may be causes unknown to him co-operating with those that are known, in producing them. His systems, in other respects, are imperfect, and every day receive improvements. But Christianity is complete in every part, and susceptible of no amendment. Now in proportion as any system excels in truth and importance, ought it to be guarded the more with jealous care and watchful anxiety. If philosophers, therefore, defend the dignity of their principles, are Christians worthy of blame if they guard theirs from violence with as much determined vigour? The Apostles attempted to preserve all the component parts of the Christian religion pure from the supposed amendments of its friends, and safe from the incessant attacks of its enemies. The truths, facts, commands, promises, and institutions, before noticed, were declared by these ambassadors of Heaven, to constitute the Christian religion. They permitted no sentiment to pass unscathed which denied any of the divine attributes-for these caused Jehovah to be the only true God, and consequently, were his glory. When, therefore, the Apostles displayed and vindicated the glory of God, they displayed and vindicated his attributes. Each one, as occasion served, was lifted high for the |