friends, who were the firstfruits of the Gentiles to the Christian faith. On the first of these occasions, the persons who were admitted into this Church were awakened sinners, who inquired what they must do to be saved; but whether any of their infant children were that day admitted with them is more than either Mr. Frey or myself can determine. The adult persons who were admitted on the latter occasion, were spiritually regenerated believers; but as to infants, there is no proof whatever either on the one side or the other. Peter was authorized by our Lord to bind and to loose, i. e., to declare what is lawful and what is unlawful in the Church of Christ and every enlightened and unprejudiced reader of Acts ii, 37-41, must be convinced, that Peter declared it to be lawful for penitent sinners to be admitted into the Church by baptism, and that he enjoined both repentance and baptism as prerequisites to receiving the Holy Ghost or spiritual regeneration, in respect to the persons to whom he at that time addressed himself. And to me it is evident also that he must have been understood by his hearers to say, that their infant children had as good a right to Christian baptism, and a membership in the Christian Church, as themselves; and that he must have expected them to understand him in this manner: and, therefore, as he did not attempt to remove this impression from their minds, I conclude that this was the sense in which he intended to be understood. [Those who wish to see more on this subject are referred to the author's sermon on Christian Baptism.] To return to the text in Matthew, where our Lord adds respecting His Church, that 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it :' i. e., that nothing should ever be able to destroy it. The visible Church, therefore, will continue to exist at all times to the end of the world. But how long did the Church at Jerusalem exist on Mr. Frey's hypothesis? that is, if no society is a Church of Christ which has within its pale persons who are not the real spiritual children of God, &c. Our chronologers generally fix the date of the death of Ananias and Sapphira either the same year on which our Lord was crucified, or the year following. Therefore, on Mr. Frey's principle, the machinations of the devil destroyed this glorious Gospel Church in less than one year from its commencement. As for the Church at Samaria, on Mr. F.'s principle, it never had an existence; it was only a 'congregation, composed of good and bad.' Now at the time of Ananias' and Sapphira's death, the Church at Jerusalem was the only Christian society in the world; and therefore either Mr. Frey has inculcated a false principle concerning the nature and constitution of the visible Church, or the promise of Christ has failed, and the truth of his declaration was falsified in a very few years after it was made, and several years before it was written by St. Matthew. To assert the latter would be to blaspheme both our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy religion, which neither Mr. F. nor any other sincere Christian can willingly do ;

and therefore, the principle inculcated by Mr. F. in his description of the visible Church of Christ is wholly indefensible.

In 1 Cor. i, 2, &c, Paul addresses himself to a visible society, which he denominates 'the Church of God which is at Corinth.' He says of these, that they were sanctified; that is, as I understand him, visibly consecrated to the service of God. This agrees with what he immediately adds, 'called to be saints;' that is, to be holy persons, or laid under special obligation to be holy, by being brought into a visible covenant relation to God. That this is the apostle's meaning is evident from the fact that he declares of some of the members of this very Church that they were carnal or unholy persons; and in chap. v, 1, &c, he lets them know that he had been informed of their harboring and keeping, within their pale, a very bad man, who had been guilty of incest. This is but one example which may be adduced in proof that the Church at Corinth was not entirely composed of the spiritual children of God. Surely no man, who will be at the pains of examining this epistle with candor and impartiality, can believe that all the members of the Corinthian Church were believers in Mr. Frey's sense; that they were all holy or spiritually regenerated persons. Either, therefore, Mr. Frey has mistaken the nature and constitution of the visible Church of God, or the Apostle Paul did not understand it : for Paul calls that a Church of God, which, according to Mr. F., does not agree with the nature and constitution of such a Church. Was the incestuous Corinthian a true believer and a regenerate child of God? or were those members of that Church, who got drunk at the holy sacrament, (see chap. xi, 21,) the dear children of God, holy, and believers at that very time? or those who are said to be deceived, to have their manners, that is, their lives corrupted by evil instructions, to be asleep in sin, and shamefully ignorant of God; (see chap. xv, 33, 34;) were these genuine Christians? Yet all these were members of the Church of God at Corinth.

If we turn our attention to the second epistle, we shall find similar evidence respecting the character of some members of the Church of God at Corinth. In chap. xiii, 2, Paul speaks of certain sinners who were within the pale of this Church; and in verse fifth he exhorts the members of the Church generally to examine themselves, that they may know whether they are in the faith of Christ or not: and he plainly intimates that these sinners were reprobates: not, however, reprobates from eternity, but such as were then the children of the devil, although within the pale of the visible Church of Christ. Nothing can be more certain, therefore, than that the society at Corinth, which Paul calls the Church of God,' was not such a Church as that described by the Rev. Mr. Frey. Let Mr. F. read the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, and then inform us whether the Churches of Galatia' were Churches of Christ or of antichrist. Paul pronounces upon these Churches the apostolic

benediction, Grace unto you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins," &c; (chap. i, 2, 3;) and in chap. ii, 26, says, "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ,' &c. And in chap. v, 1, he exhorts them to 'stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.' But notwithstanding this he says to them, in chap. i, 6, &c, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel,' &c. And in chap. iii, 1, O FOOLISH Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you.' And in chap. iv, 19, 20, My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.' And again, chap. v, 4, Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.' Who, therefore, that reads this epistle with attention, can believe that the members of these Churches were either all saints or all sinners? And who, except the Rev. J. S. C. F. Frey, would undertake to describe the nature and constitution of the visible Church' in such a manner as to unchurch all these Churches of Christ, for having unregenerate, unbelieving, and disobedient members belonging to them?

6

The attention of Mr. Frey is directed also to the Epistle of Jude, which appears to have been written to the Christian Churches in general. In verse 4, Jude says, 'For there are certain men crept in,' that is, into the Christian Churches, unawares, who were before of old ordained (or described) to this condemnation; ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and (or even) our Lord Jesus Christ.' Of these persons he says, (verse 12,) These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you,' &c. These bad men, therefore, were members of the visible Church, for none but such as were members would have been suffered to be present, and partake with the members of the Church in their religious feasts. But, not to dwell on these examples, let us turn our attention to the seven Churches of Asia, as described by the great Head of the Church Himself. In Rev. i, 19, 20, John is commanded to 'write -the mystery,' or allegorical representation, of the seven stars, which (says "the first and the last, that liveth, and was dead," &c,) thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches; and the seven candlesticks, which thou sawest, are the seven Churches.' In chap. ii, 1, the great Head of the Church represents Himself as holding the seven stars or angels of the Churches in His own right hand; a proof that He acknowledged them to be His minis

ters. And He also represents Himself as walking in the midst of these Churches; which also is proof that He acknowledged them to belong to Himself. But were all the members of these Churches born of God, true believers, and determined, in dependence on the grace of God, to live lives of obedience to all the commandments of Christ? What, those who were said to be fallen? who were called upon to repent, and do their first works, with the threatening of Christ that he would destroy them unless they repented? (see, chap. ii, 5.) Or were those members of the Church of Pergamos, who held to the corrupt doctrines of the Nicolaitanes, and were guilty of practices similar to those of the Israelites who were debauched by the Moabitish women, the dear children of God, spiritually born of God, true believers, and obedient to the commandments of Christ? What, the very persons who held to certain principles, and were guilty of practices, which Christ declares, 'I hate? (see ver. 14, 15.) Was that woman Jezebel, the false prophetess, and her adherents who committed adultery, and were threatened with death for their crimes, by the immediate judgment of God, all this time the dear children of God? (see ver. 20-23.) Again, were the greater part of the members of the Church of Sardis true spiritual Christians? Christ said of them that they had a name, that they lived and were dead; He exhorts them to repent, and threatens them with sudden destruction if they continued impenitent, while at the same time, He makes honorable mention of the piety of a few. (See chap. iii, 1-4.) And what shall we say concerning the Church of Laodicea, in which there does not appear to have been any honorable exception? They deceived themselves with a false confidence, accounting themselves to be spiritually rich; while they were poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked: that is, entirely devoid of true evangelical righteousness, and grossly ignorant of evangelical truth. But still Christ loved them, counselled and reproved them, and made the greatest promise to them, on condition of their overcoming their evil nature and their spiritual enemies, that was made to any of these Churches. But he threatens them also, I will spue thee out of my mouth,' that is, I will separate thee from myself. A proof that they were still a Church of Christ, but that they would not long continue to be such without a general and speedy repentance and reformation.

Now from these Scripture authorities I am compelled to believe that the nature and constitution of the visible Church of God is a very different thing from what it is represented to be by the Rev. Joseph Samuel C. F. Frey, in the description which he has given of it, in his book on Christian Baptism." There is one additional item in Mr. Frey's description of the nature and constitution of the visible Church, which may receive a passing notice, viz. In speaking of the application of the Greek word ecclesia in the Scriptures, he says, it is used for a congregation, i. e., a number of persons meeting together for the purpose of worshipping

God, similar to our congregations.' Now, by the phrase 'our congregations,' I understand Mr. Frey to mean Anti-pedobaptist congregations; and in this sense I deny that one of the assemblies noticed in the passages which have been adduced in this discussion, was similar to their congregations. Anti-pedobaptist congregations are not only composed of persons of different characters, but also of some who are and others who are not in visible covenant relation to God. Every body knows that all those who make a part of an Anti-pedobaptist congregation, and have been educated among them, except their Church members, are unbaptized, and therefore without the pale of the visible covenant of Christ whereas, all the persons composing the assemblies spoken of in the passages which I have quoted in the preceding discussion, both from the Old and the New Testaments, were persons in visible covenant with God. There is, therefore, a very great dissimilarity between these assemblies, mentioned in these scriptures, and Anti-pedobaptist congregations; inasmuch as the former were all members of the visible Church of God, while many of the latter are not. Mr. F.'s qualifying expressions, viz. 'composed of good and bad,' therefore, will add nothing to his cause, seeing that we have abundant proof in the Scriptures in support of a different view of the nature and constitution of the visible Church of God from that which he has given us.

*

Thus, if I am not under a mistake, it is made sufficiently evident that the definition of a visible Church of God with which we set out in this inquiry is agreeable to the tenor of the Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testaments; and that Mr. Frey's description of the nature and constitution of the visible Church is inconsistent with the word of God; and that his assertion, that there was no visible Church of God in existence under any of the Old Testament dispensations is entirely groundless. That the evangelical covenant is the same as the Abrahamic covenant, and that the Abrahamic Church is the same with the Christian Church, only under a different dispensation, I have proved elsewhere, [see Sermon on Christian Baptism,] and therefore I shall here close my present remarks on this subject.

PROGRESS OF THE INDIAN CHOLERA.*

THAT God governs the world is admitted by all believers in Divine revelation. That He governs it by a particular providence

Cholera, comes from the Greek yxon, which signifies bile, because it is attended with vomiting and purging of bile-hence called also Diarrhea cholerica. The present disease, as is well known, is generally preceded by a moderate diarrhæa, called its premonitory symptoms, and if seasonably attended to, the more severe stage of the cholera may generally be avoided. In order to distinguish the peculiar character of the present disease, some of our physicians have called it Cholera Asphyxia-the latter word signifying without a pulse-because in a collapsed state the patient has no perceptible pulse.