seldom taken place. Presiding on the occasion, | We number fifteen, and I hope we shall shortly we invited brethren from the different churches have some more additions. May we dwell to deliver addresses; and poor and illiterate together in love, thus endeavouring to keep the though they might be, for the most part, yet they unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Yours were well able to speak of Christianity as re- in the same glorious hope, vealed in the New Testament the remedial W. S. SCOTT. system of love given to the world for the salvation of men. Like the primitive disciples, they had tasted, and handled, and felt of the good word of life; and this heavenly truth and consolation-this fountain of the water of life was springing up in each heart, and beaming in each countenance-a sure foretaste of that eternal life which was with the Father, but ma DORNOCK, JANUARY 3, 1849.-I am happy to inform the brethren, that since my last communication to the HARBINGER, we have introduced one on a confession of faith that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the Saviour of the world, by baptism into his death for the remission of sins. This nifested to us in these last days by his Son sister has been a member of the Independent Jesus Christ our Lord. For want of labourers church at Annan; but having discovered that to proclaim the gospel, the additions during the infant sprinkling is a tradition of men, she inpast year have not kept pace with the ardent formed her minister of this conviction, when he desires of the brethren. Still we are not left appeared astonished, and asked for her proof. without witnesses being raised up, and additions She had lately come from Ayrshire, and knew made to the churches. Several have recently nothing regarding our brethren. The minister been added to the church at Bulwell; and du- informed her of something respecting us at ring the last month two have been baptized, Dornock, stating that we were the worst kind and one restored to his former standing, among remission of sins. Well, if this is the worst of Baptists, because we baptized only for the the brethren in Nottingham. On reviewing the past, and regarding the present and the fu- that can be said of us, we are in good company. ture, the brethren seemed determined to add to Simon Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, with their faith courage, and the eleven and their associates, about one hunChristian virtue, hoping that the year 1849 will be more dis- dred and twenty, stood up and taught this doctinguished for the exhibition of faith, hope, and trine to the many thousands that were in Jerulove, than any preceding one since the Refor-salem. Paul says he taught the same things mation commenced. every J. W. WIGAN, JANUARY 17TH, 1849.- Since I wrote to you we have had four baptisms into Christ, one on the 17th, 25th, 26th, and 31st of December. I pray God that we may all be sanctified, body, soul, and spirit-that we may be of one mind, all speaking the same thing that we may be perfectly joined together in love and unity. We purpose to open our new meeting-room the second Lord's day in February, and shall be most happy to see you with us on the occasion. It is the wish of all the brethren that you should be here. From your's in the good hope, T. Coop. [It is my intention, if the Lord will, to comply with the invitation of the brethren at Wigan, and visit them on the second Lord's Day in February.-J. W.] CHOLDERTON, NEAR MARLBOROUGH, WILTS, 14TH JANUARY, 1849.-As you thought proper, in your last number, to give the readers of the HARBINGER Some information relative to the little congregation of Christians meeting together at this place, it perhaps may not be uninteresting to some to be informed, that during the past week we have immersed eight more individuals for the remission of all past sins, thus introducing them into the kingdom of Jesus Christ on the earth. Several were from among the Primitive Methodists, and some had not made any previous profession. as Peter, James, and John-and we believe it. This is better company even than Calvin, Wesley, or Morrison. We entreat these persons to beware how they speak lightly of the commands of Jesus, and to remember what he has said of all who do so-"Whosoever shall violate, or teach others to violate even the least of these my commandments, shall be of no esteem in the reign of heaven." Now either those who abide by this infant sprinkling are right, and we are wrong, or the reverse of this is the case -for things that differ cannot be identical; and as there is only ONE BAPTISM, we are willing, with the New Testament in our hands, the example of Jesus, and the first converts to his religion, to abide the issue for life everlasting, or for death eternal. I may state that our sister just added is highly esteemed, and will be a great help in the reformation for which we plead. Blessed be our heavenly Father! Your brother in the good hope, J. F. GLASGOW, JANUARY, 1849.-I have nothing particular to say, save that we had two lately added to the church by confession and immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus. A. P. MOREE (IRELAND.)-Two or three have recently been baptized and added to the small congregation in this place, which now numbers seventeen members. Blessed be the name of the Lord. OBITUARIES. NEWTON STEWART, JAN. 5, 1849. — As a church we are living in the greatest harmony. Our Gracious Father hath in his wisdom and love seen fit to take two of our little number to himself. First, Brother Crauford, my father, aged 57 years. He was a very plain, humble, sterlingly honest man, unassuming in his man ners, a genuine follower of his Lord, and very zealous in his cause. He was the means of bringing several to a knowledge of the truth, and died rejoicing in the bright hope of the gospel; indeed his death-bed exhortations have made many think who have hitherto been thoughtless. He died very much regretted by the church and the world.-Sister McTaggart died soon after my father. She was an humble disciple of Jesus, and beloved by all. They have gone to their rest, and their works follow But, in the midst of our afflictions, the Lord has been graciously pleased to raise up others in their stead: one male, of great promise, and two females, have put on Christ Jesus; and a brother has come to live in this town. We have hope of more being added shortly. Your's in hope of life eternal, them. W. M. CRAUFORD, NOTTINGHAM. During the past month a young brother, William Mathews, aged 17, who made the good confession when Brother Campbell was in Nottingham, has been removed by death. It appeared remarkable to the deceased, that he should have confessed the Saviour, and a lingering pulmonary disease so soon after commence its steady and irresistible work. He was sensible to the last, and fully acquiesced in the will of his Heavenly Father. Loughborough.—On Thursday, the 18th of January, Sister Swann, aged 65, a member of the church at Loughborough, fell asleep in Jesus. Her faith and hope were firm to the end. DEATH OF MRS. M. B. EWING.-Another of the Bethany family is gone. Margaret B. Ewing, consort of John O. Ewing, of Nashville, and the oldest child of Alexander Campbell, by his second marriage, has been numbered with the dead on earth and united to the living in heaven. On the 4th Lord's day of October and the 22nd of the month, about half past 8 o'clock, p.m. after a lingering consumption, she bade adieu to earth and breathed her last. Only in her 20th year, and to all human appearance full of promise for many years, we may truly mourn her as a blossom untimely cut off and withered ere its full unfolding. It is not for us to scan the inscrutable ways of our God, nor to apply the measure of our weak and blinded affection to the mysteries of his providence; but in the early removal of those so full of promise and so blessed with the means of usefulness, we cannot but see the ordinary standards of human life overthrown, and feel that in the purposes of God there is a height and depth-a length and breadth neither to be reached nor embraced by any finite intelligence. Though this sad bereavement has fallen so unexpectedly upon many of Mrs. Ewing's friends, for more than a year a growing conviction rested upon her own mind that her days on earth would be few. In the midst of so much to make life attractive-with a husband thought of gloom, and, in the latter months of but too devoted, friends anxious to dispel every her trial, an infant boy just learning to interpret and return her smile, no wonder if she had closed her ears to the unwelcome monitor, speaking only in the silence of her own feelings the warning of death, and listened alone to the fonder illusions of hope. But she did not so. In the quiet reflections of her own soul, the realities of another world found ever welcome audience; and thus the promises of that better life, which is through Chrst, gained silently ready to embrace them. Towards the close of but steadily upon her heart, till she seemed alher illness, when her body, worn and enfeebled by long wasting, seemed asleep to the surrounding world, the whisperings of her spirit showed it was intent upon heavenly visions and absorbed with scenes, which by faith we know open to the rapture of those who fall asleep in the Lord. When her lips scarcely moved, and she semed in all else asleep, she could often be heard reciting that glorious vision, The smiling millions rise and sing, The Grand Assize is come! You everlasting doors, fly wide, The church is glorious as a bride, And Jesus takes her home. The joys of heav'n will never end; All glory to the sinner's Friend! Roll on, you happy scenes! This was no enthusiasm, but the tempered zcal of a triumphant faith in a mind remarkable for philosophic calmness and strength. By degrees and through long and patiently borne afflictions she had raised herself to it; and how rich the reward of her perseverance! Indeed, she seemed especially averse to every excessive display of feeling, whether of grief or joy, and would frequently express the wish that all might be calm and perfectly resigned to the will of God. Her confidence was that of a strong mind staid upon the convictions of a clear and enlightened judgment, trained and matured under thorough parental culture to the highest exercises of reason and faith. Her last and heaviest conflict was to give up the two beings whom she most tenderly loved on earth; but this, too, was conducted in the silence of her own feelings, and commiting them to the Lord, she prepared for departure. At her own request, the morning before she expired, with a few Christian friends, she calmly, intelligibly, and with much devotional feeling, partook of the loaf and cup for the last time. Without a groan or struggle, her spirit departed; she expired but as one falling asleep. W. K. P. THOUGHTS ON AFFLICTION. | Father, and that he chastises 66 us not for his pleasure, but for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness;" that he is the Physician of our diseased souls, and often puts the bitter but medicinal cup into our hands, that he might "purge our impurities." The wonderful, the exquisite, and the effectual adaptation of the glorious truths and gracious promises of the Bible, (glorious and gracious for that to the afflicted, has often appeared to very reason) in imparting consolation us in the light of a powerful and con "MAN is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." He comes into the world crying, and his days, many or few, are too often passed in pain, and consumed with griefs. There is no exemption. If we only knew our neighbour's cares as well as our own, we should often see that we are not afflicted beyond what is common to man. Trouble is every man's companion-a comrade none can cut. Grief dwells in the cottage with the peasant, and sojourns with the prince in the palace-wanders with the home-clusive argument in behalf of its healess beggar, and reigns with the sceptred king. Sorrow has, in fact, a dominion wide as death; and for the same reason, "because all have sinned." We have read of a country where, when a child is born, it is addressed thus "Thou art come into the world to suffer endure and be silent." Alas, how many, how incessant are the woes of man! Yes, "How many feel this very moment death, And all the sad varieties of pain." How do we reconcile this state of things with what the Scriptures say of Jehovah? "He doth not willingly afflict, nor grieve the children of men." Let the Deist furnish us with a solution of this problem let him try to loose this more than "Gordian knot." "There is an infinitely wise, and good, and all-merciful God, and yet the world he has made is filled with pain!" Aye, let him solve this riddle if he can! On his own principles he never will; for it will not do to tell us, as one of these wise men says, "that of all possible worlds this is the best." In the Christian sense of the expression so it is; but in the deistical, it yields no satisfaction to the reflecting mind: for, from the Almighty we are entitled to look for perfection, Let the light of Scripture shine upon this question, and all its difficulties fly like the shadows of the night before the rising sun. There we learn that God is our Heavenly G venly origin. As the poet beautifully says Omnipotence alone Can heal the wound he gave Can point the brimful, grief-worn eye "Unless in thy most perfect law I should have perished quite when as HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS. It is good for me that I was afflicted.--DAVID. Who sends or stops them all? Nor grieve the sons of men;" Has pleasure in our pain. Our Heavenly Sire his offspring, oft (No. III. Vol. II. Third Series. Our soul's Physician-oft He marks And makes us drink the bitter draught, In God confide-for He is wise, And will not spare, save when he should, As well as do His will; He loves us when He smiles, and when If thus we drink the bitter cup, The sweet shall all repay, When these dark nights shall brighten up If thus we suffer, soon our pains Shall all our sins destroy; And every tear we shed, become D. L. In various religious circles of the present day, when discussing theological topics, it is customary to appeal to conscience, sincerity, conscientiousness, &c. for decision as to the correctness or incorrectness of our theory | and practice of Christianity. It has been said but with what propriety we shall not pause to determinethat a correct theory will always produce correct practice. We have thought, for some time past, that a few reflections, explanatory of the proper application of these terms, might be useful and edifying to our readers. These noble attributes, or virtues of the mind, are frequently introduced, even by some of our brethren and especially by those who have been recently converted to the truth as possessing a power which, in their estimation, ought to put an end to all controversy. Hence, how constantly do we hear the remark, "My conscience forbids me to do this, or that," in connection with Christianity. Yet, at the same time, there may, or there may not be, any law on the subject. The feelings of one individual tell him, that he must have "tee-total" wine at the Lord's table-the conscience of another that he must have unleavened breadwhile a third says, there is no need either for bread or wine of any kind, for the institution is to be attended to mentally, or in the spirit—" and my own conscience must decide this for me, against all opposing brethren.” Indeed, from the earnest and solemn manner in which some parties make their appeal to the above virtues, or attributes of mind, we might almost conclude that they were given instead of divine law, to be the great arbitrators of right or wrong among the children of men, or the disciples of the Lord. This, however, is not the case. Appeals to such arbitrators for the obtaining of a correct judgment in reference to the things of this life, would be truly ridiculous in the estimation of every intelligent mind. To the law and to the testimony, if we speak not according to this, it is because of our remaining ignorance and unbelief, or want of candour to confess the truth when presented to the mind. We hear, repeatedly, of religious cases of conscience, or pious scruples of conscience. Now what are they? Scruple-derived from the Latin word scrupulus, a little hard stone-signifies that which gives pain to the mind, as a stone does to the foot in walking. These cases, or scruples of conscience, are seldom of more importance than this little stone. They are often founded in personal conceits, or mere human opinions, which form no part of the Apostles' doctrine-of the fellowship-of the breaking of breador of the worship of the congregation and therefore, ought to be removed with the same ease and dispatch as a small stone which inconveniences us when walking. Again, sincerity is often introduced as another judge and lawgiver to the church and to the world- - of course we mean the pious world: so that if a person be sincere and benevolent, notwithstanding that he be ignorant of, and consequently disobedient to, divine commands, all is right, because of the exhibition of these virtues. Nor does it matter, in the opinion of some, what may be the character of the belief entertained, providing the conduct be in conformity with the standard of civilized society, or that of the sect to which the party may belong! But is not this a sandy foundation on which to rest for eternity? (Mat. vii. 21-29.) Nothing inherent in man, or that emanates from man, can possibly possess the sanction of law in matters of religion; if so, all communications from heaven would be nonentities. Sincerity of motive, and enlarged benevolence, may both exist, without any operation of the faith, hope, or love, required by the gospel. Again, conscience (Latin conscientia, from consciens) — signifies that by which a man becomes conscious to himself of right and wrong. This attribute of the mind is not a law, but a witness, and is called into exercise by a thought, word, look, or action, personally or relatively. A man of enlightened, upright, candid, judgment, becomes conscious instantly of right or wrong. But his mind is not measured by feeling, but by righteous enactments, whether human or divine. The conscience of an ignorant, disingenuous, and stubbornminded man, will allow of his doing many things sincerely contrary even to the name of Jesus; and therefore, while in that state, he can never obtain salvation. The candid and heroic Saul of Tarsus had to be converted to the belief that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and to submit to the institution appointed by Him, before he became child-like, or enjoyed the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of a glorious salvation by resurrection from the dead, into the presence and likeness of his Divine Lord and Master. "Conscience (says the Deist) is my guide; "and it is also mine (says the ill-informed Christian)—I shall think and act for myself." Now these two persons only differ in this respectthe Deist makes conscience his idol, falling down and worshipping it as his deity; whilst the ignorant disciple of Christ worships it as a mediator between God and himself. But idol as it is, conscience is not to be trusted. It is often an arrant liar. It has taught every religion, and espoused every civil policy. it has outraged every moral principle, and legalized every crime. Paul, though a cruel blasphemer, and subsequently a Christian apostle, truly said, shortly before his death, "I have lived in all good conscience before God unto this day." As a guide, therefore, none can be more uncertain than conscience, nor can any be more unsafe. Men may have consciences without revelation, and were conscience a sufficient guide, revelation would be unnecessary. How, then, can a Christian plead the guidance of conscience? The sacred writings are his guide-"a lamp that shineth in a dark place" the only guide in this dark and ignorant world. When, then, the Bible speaks, conscience must be silent, or, in a moment, assent to the teaching. The gospel is given to bring down lofty conceits, and vain imaginings, and everything that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into subjection to the obedience of Christ. Every disciple, in this state of mind, will cease regarding his conscience as the standard of right and wrong either to himself or others. "What, then, it may be asked, is conscience? It is a feeling, an emotion of pain or of pleasure, which instinctively arises in every human breast, upon the violation of, or compliance with, principles of right acknowledged by the individual. Conscience, when under the influence of truth, light, and candour, witnesses |