make converts by much speaking. An irksome truth becomes more so by being unseasonably urged. Besides, wordy people are set down as loving to hear themselves talk; and novices are proud to gain proselytes before they are established themselves in the truth, or know their own religion. But in victory over pride, anger, and all wickedness; in steadfastly observing every rule of holy living laid down by our Saviour; in courteous behaviour to all men; in calmly urging the word of God, when some favourable opportunity presents of bearing testimony to the truth. In these things you cannot exceed. Wait patiently, and you will by such irreproachable and wise conduct, stop the mouth of prejudice, and win over some to come forth and live a Christian life, as you do.

I wish you much of the presence and peace of God in your soul; in your practice and temper, much steadiness and love; and a gracious answer to your prayers for your friends, relations, and fellowsinners. May we remember each other before God; beseeching him, that we may strongly recommend his truth and service, by great usefulness, till we are for ever with him.

From yours, &c.

H. VENN.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN's MAGAZINE.

CHURCH OF GOD.

No. XI.

Officers.

A COMMUNITY so large, and yet so compact ;

formed, preserved, and perpetuated with so much eare; directed to so high an end; and furnished with principles of such universal application, as we have proved the church of God to be, requires a suitable regimen. God is the God of order: no order can be kept up any where without government; and no government can exist without officers to administer it. Our next inquiry, therefore, relates to the officers whom Christ hath appointed.

viz.

In the Apostolical church were the following:

1. APOSTLES,-1 Cor. xii. 28. 2. PROPHETS,-Rom. xii. 6.

Eph. iv. 11.

Eph. iv. 11.

1 Cor. xii. 28.

3. EVANGELISTS,-Eph. iv. 11.

4. PASTORS and TEACHERS,-Ibid. Acts xiii. 1. who ruled,

who also laboured in word and 1 Tim. v. 17. doctrine,

5. ELDERS, who " ruled" without "labouring

in word and doctrine,"

6. DEACONS,Acts vi. 1-6.

—Ibid.

-Acts vi. 1-6. 1 Tim. iii. 8.

It is evident that the great object of all these offices was the religious education of the world. We mean, that they were intended to instruct mankind in the knowledge of divine truth; to inspire them with pure principles and spiritual affections; to form their individual and social habits to practical holiness, and moral order; in one word, to render them " meet for the inheritance of the saints in light."

It is also evident, that some of these offices were only temporary. Which of them were designed to be permanent, and in what form, is an inquiry which we must postpone till we shall have settled a previous question.

It has been, and still is, a received belief among almost all who profess Christianity, that the Redeemer has instituted a regular ministry to be perpetuated in an order of men specially set apart and commis. sioned by his authority, for the purpose of inculcating the doctrines and duties of Christianity; and that no man may lawfully enter upon its functions without an official warrant from them who are themselves already in office.

Others contend that this whole system is of human origin; is founded either in ignorance or in fraud; and militates directly against the nature and privileges of the Christian church.

Others again, attempt a middle course; allowing the general principle of a ministry, but leaving the application of it at large; and conceiving the exercise of gifts with the approbation of the church, that is, a number of professing Christians met together for public worship, to be a valid and sufficient call. To clear up this matter, let us consider,

1. What the scriptures have determined concerning the fact in dispute: and

2. What are the uses, qualifications, and mode of preserving, a standing ministry.

1. As to the fact. These things are worthy of regard:

up

1st. It is undeniable, that from the time God set his church in her organized form, (and even before,) until the Christian dispensation, there was an order of men consecrated, by his own appointment, to the exclusive work of directing her worship, and presiding over her interests: insomuch that no man, but one of themselves, not even a crowned head, might meddle with their functions; nor undertake, in any way, to be a public teacher of religion, without an immediate call from heaven attested by miraculous evidence.

2d. The ancient prophets, "who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," foretold that the same principle should be acted upon in the days o the Messiah. Thus in Isa. lxvi. 21. I will also take of them for PRIESTS and for LEVITES, saith JEHOVAH-and Dan. xiii. 3. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. The word rendered "wise," signifies "teachers," whose business, and, according as they are blessed of God, whose happiness, it is to turn men unto righteousness. Our Lord himself has used the term in the same sense, as indeed it was a very common signification among the people of the East: Behold I send you prophets, and wISE MEN, and scribes. Matt. xxiii. 34. The force of the argument is, that these predictions contemplate events which were to take place in the Christian economy; and without which they could not be fulfilled. The passage from Isaiah refers to the "new heavens and the new earth" which the Lord should make: consequently, to New Testament times: And not only so, but to their most illustrious period-the restoration of the Jews, and the glory of the latter day. "Priests

and Levites," to perform services similar to those under the old economy, there can be none; because the end of those services being accomplished, their further continuance is impossible; and the economy itself has vanished away. Yet the prediction and the promise must be fulfilled and can mean nothing less than this, that as the Priests and the Levites were appointed of God to minister in holy things during the former dispensation, and in a manner suited to its peculiar character; so there should be appointed of God, under the new dispensation, a ministry corresponding to its peculiar character; which ministry should flourish even in those days when the most copious effusion of the divine Spirit should seem to render it the least necessary. And this is a full answer to the objection brought from the promise that all Zion's children shall be taught of God and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying," know the Lord:" for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. Jer. xxxi. 34.

We say that an objection drawn from such passages against a Christian ministry, as regular and exclusive as the ministry of the Levitical Law, is of no weight:

For in the first place, they are not more full and explicit than those passages which promise such a ministry and as both are true, no interpretation can be admitted of one, which shall contradict the other.

Secondly. If the objection is well-founded, it sweeps away not only a standing ministry; but all religious instruction in every shape: prohibiting even parents to "bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;" and putting under a bushel the very light of the "gifted brethren"-which would be rather lamentable.