loving hearts they fell at his feet. The change was vast; but it was speedily effected, and in this simple way. They came into the church knowing scarcely any thing respecting the true religion, save that same touching story. The Old Testament Scriptures they perhaps had never seen, certainly never read. In order to attain any thing like the stature of men, they had to be taught what these reveal-a very important part of the history of redemption. More especially had they to learn, the peculiar doctrines and spirit and duties of Christianity, as exemplified and inculcated by Christ himself. Oral instruction was perhaps the only, at all events the best method of teaching that could be employed. Hence the necessity of inspired teachers. Competent uninspired teachers were not to be found. For, to say nothing of the fact that Christians were gathered mostly from the poor and illiterate, whence could the most learned and talented inform themselves sufficiently in regard to the New Religion! The Gospels and the Epistles were not then written, or, if written, were not in general circulation. The Apostles were burdened with labours of other kinds too abundant to allow of a sufficient number of teachers being duly indoctrinated by them.-Nor was it in the power of the Apostles, charged, as they were, with the general supervision of the primitive Churches, to remain with particular churches long enough to perform the work of the didacxados themselves.-Inspired teachers then were indispensable. How salutary must have been their influence-not only in the positive infusion of knowledge respecting the doctrines and duties of Christianity; but also in guarding against the admixture of the false with the true, and the inroads of errour in other shapes, to which the primitive Churches, owing to the previous characters, associations and habits of their members, and to the powerful and beguiling influences always at work in the world. around them, were so fearfully exposed.

Invaluable, however, as were the instructions of the ddárxan, their efforts could not wholly avail to the maintenance of purity in faith and life. The weight of example and temptation without, so corrupt was the state of Heathen society, was too great to be successfully resisted by their quiet teachings. Although in consequence of the faithful discharge of their functions, the "meliora" were approved, through the assault of outward seduction, or the promptings of inward

passion, the "deteriora" were followed, and some of their fellow-Christians-perchance the whole (particular) Church -were in imminent danger of wandering from the fold, and perhaps of ultimate apostacy. Then it was necessary that the delinquents should hear a voice more thrilling than theirs. At this juncture, the Prophet's sympathies are powerfully wrought upon. He contemplates the peril of his brethrenof the Church-and starts back with indignation, with grief, with terrour. He longs to exert himself to arrest the danger. Suddenly" the hand of the Lord" is upon him. The secret motives and designs of his brethren are more fully disclosed to him, and with acute and divinely imparted foresight he vividly beholds all the consequences of their past and prospective procedures. His emotions are still more intensely excited. At length, impelled irresistibly by the Divine Spirit, his bosom full of burning emotion, but his intellectual eye clearly and intently surveying all the crime and peril of the case, fixing itself also upon the means fittest to accomplish the recovery of his sinning brethren, he addresses them in heart-stirring accents of mingled rebuke and threatening, of grief and love, which, as the voice of God, penetrate the inmost depths of their souls. Their repentings are enkin dled, the storm passes away, the horizon is again cloudless and serene. Or, from the pressure of outward persecution or inward perplexities, there is despondency in the hearts of some of his brethren. This suffered to remain, (its causes in that troublous time could not but do so,) it might prove hardly less prejudicial to the interests of the Church, than the other source of difficulty. Delightful in this instance the work of the Prophet, as distressful in the other! He is allowed to gaze at glorious scenes in the future history of the Church. Even the veil which separates this from the invisible world is torn away, and his undazzled though enraptured eye, lingeringly rests upon all the effulgent attractions of the Heav enly State. And now, with emotions elevated to the highest point, but yet with his intellectual and rational powers in full exercise, and fully appreciating and sympathising with the condition and feelings of his dejected brethren, he communicates to them his own bright visions. Gloom and despondency flee away to their appropriate dwelling-place in the realm of "chaos and old night."-Or there is a more vast and sublime end to be effected. The Prophet Agabus goes through with his symbolic procedure, and utters his pre

diction-and there is exhibited, for the ennobling and rejoi cing of the universal Church down to the end of time, and for the gratification of its divine Head, the sublime spectacle of a Paul, unmanned not by the entreaties and tears of affection which his pre-eminent excellencies had elicited, daunted not in the certain prospect of incarceration and death, but exclaiming with inimitable pathos, "What mean ye to weep and break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus." Acts 21: 10-13.

Besides the Charismata which have now been enumerated, pertaining to the ministration of the word, there are some others, the design of which was, to secure a judicial administration of Ecclesiastical concerns. One class of these, the κυβερνήσεις, was bestowed upon the πρεσβύτερα οι ἐπίσκοποι, and qualified them for the governmental supervision of the churches. A second species of Charismata under this genus was conferred upon the Deacons, and were entitled kupas. It was their province to superintend the outward concerns of the churches, provide and prepare places of assembly, and especially to relieve the wants of the poor, and minister to the necessities of the sick, those both of body and of spirit.

These two sorts of Charismata also were rendered needful by the peculiar circumstances of the Primitive Church. Had its governing officers not been possessed of extraordinary wisdom and prudence, many unworthy members would have received a nominal admission into the fold of Christ. Unless they had been continually under the guidance of such men, the primitive Churches would doubtless much sooner have engrafted upon the simple form of church polity, which appropriately belongs to Christianity, those unhallowed and ambitious imitations of the kingdoms of this world, and those heathenish rites and usages which were its curse in after centuries. There was necessary, too, a supernatural judgement and discrimination, in order to the exercise of a salutary and equitable care of the poor and the sick, of whom so many were found in the primitive Churches.

A last class of supernaturally endowed persons, consisted of those who had the power of working miracles. A part of these seem to have possessed only the power to heal ordinary diseases, while the endowments of the rest enabled them to cast out devils, and perform other kinds of miracles.

*Macknight translates the pypara dvráμewv of 1 Cor. 12: 10, " in workings of powers," supposing it to refer to the prerogative of conferring VOL. IV.

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The indispensableness of these, as of all the other Charismata, to the primitive laborers in the propagation of Christianity must have arisen from the unique character of the times which, in this connexion, demands a closer inspection, not only as to its manifestations, but also as to its root. At present it is acknowledged practicable, on all hands, to effect the promulgation of the gospel, without miraculous aids: and, indeed, their co-operation is rather deprecated than desired: for it seems befitting, that, in all ordinary circumstances, the truth should prevail by its own might, strengthened only by the inward operations of the Spirit. The peculiar feature of the Apostolic Age,-which also marked that of Christ's abode on earth, stands out too prominently, to admit of a moment's doubt in respect to it. As the kingdom of Heaven appeared in an outwardly feeble and incipient form, so the kingdom of Darkness exhibited itself at its culminating point, and in its full potency. The Arch-Fiend had previously, through the cruel edict of Herod, attempted (like his bestial representative in the case of the infant Hercules) to strangle the young Jesus in his cradle. Now, in the Apostolic Age, he attempts the same thing in respect to the religion he came to originate. And while the previous history of the world had been such as to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, we cannot but think it was such as also to expose the world, in the Messianic and Apostolic times, peculiarly to the assaults of Satan. It felt itself wretched and helpless. A thousand methods of moral and physical renovation had been tried, but all had been futile. And there was an almost universal degradation of spirit, and in those countries, at least, where the Gospel was first to be propagated, a prevalent morbidness of body. And there was consequently in the universal heart a sense of despondency, almost of despair, and a craving for redemption, which made the Messiah emphatically "the desire of all nations." But yet, this same Charismata, with which the Apostles were invested. And after a more careful examination of his arguments, than we had bestowed upon them when the above was written, we feel strongly inclined to depart from the common rendering. The strict etymological meaning of ivepyew and its derivatives is certainly preferable in the majority of cases where they are used. Dr. Macknight is evidently in errour when he says that coyío is never used in the sense of rot-for such is its meaning unquestionably in Phil. 2: 13, in the second of the two cases where it is there used. But yet "inwork" seems to us often the preferable meaning, and, for the reasons that Dr. Macknight alleges, particularly in this passage. Then the Xapiopara lapárov would include the power of expelling demons. But Neander, Flatt, and Robinson (see Lexicon on the word) prefer, indeed seem to know no other than the rendering of the text.

craving for redemption was far from involving a clear knowledge of the sort of deliverer needed. It prompted its subjects to lay hold of any new means of rescue, real or pretended, that should offer itself. Hence the easy prevalence of fanaticism and superstition. And although there was much of this while our Saviour remained on earth, it had a far wider sway after his ascension. While on earth, he himself was the grand mark at which the Fiendish Power aimed its poisonous shafts. But after he had again seated himself at the Father's right hand, where they could not reach him, man in his naked and defenceless state, became the object of assault, and was made the dupe of every sort of imposture. Among the Jews, (as Christ predicted,) one and another asserted Messianic claims to the delusion and ruin of their adherents. Among the Gentiles, sorcery and magic were extensively practised for the removal of disease, and the support of idolatrous falsehood and absurdity. In every way, the Father of lies was exerting himself to the full measure of his vast energies: and the outward and sensuous, always predominant enough over the inward and spiritual, in their influence upon man, became, in the Apostolic Age, almost the sole avenue to the heart.

The frame of mind generally prevalent among men was, therefore, such as imperatively to demand the power to work miracles, in the presence of any one who would catch their attention, engage their feelings, and initiate them into the doctrines of a new religion.

Such, we think, must have been some of the principal reasons operative with the great Head of the Church for endowing the Apostles and primitive Christians with the power of working miracles. It was not, that the native constitution of the human mind was such, that their testimony respecting the facts and truths of the Christian religion could not otherwise be believed. The first preachers of the

* Comp. Neander, Gesch. der Ch. Rel. u. Kirche, B. 1, § 63.

+ A similar statement may with equal truth be made respecting our Saviour's miracles.-They may be regarded under three distinct aspects:

In the first place as fulfilling in a very important particular, the Messianic predictions of the Old Testament. Thus regarded, they must be acknowledged to have been absolutely indispensable to produce (among the Jews at least) conviction of his Messiahship.

Our Saviour's miracles may, secondly, be contemplated as exhibitions of Divine benevolence. And without them as such, we freely confess that his claims to be the Son of God, appearing in the flesh to redeem the world, could not have been substantiated. If the sick had been suffered to