• Essay I.
• Essay II.
• Essay III.

FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER,

NEW SERIES.

VOLUME III.-----NUMBER 1.

B E T H A N Y, VA. JANUARY, 1839.

      THE immediate, proper, and practical intention of the Christian Institution is personal holiness, or a life entirely devoted to God--a life of fervent love to him, of sincere delight in him, of profound reverence for his glorious authority, of gratitude for his ineffable kindness, of admiration and adoration of his infinite excellencies: with a hearty and unlimited determination, to do his will on earth as it is done in heaven;--that is, with a prompt, unwearied, and delightful constancy. In order to provide for and secure this divine intention, it enjoins the constant and diligent use of the holy scriptures, not only for private personal instruction and comfort, but also for family education, and church edification, as the proper and necessary means divinely appointed for those blissful purposes; that by these the heaven-born Christian might be perfect, completely fitted for every good work." And as the divine word is the grand comprehensive means of personal sanctification, the diligent and proper use of it becomes indispensably necessary, for all that would enjoy this highly distinguishing and blissful privilege. We say, the diligent and proper use of it; for there is but one right way of doing any thing. Therefore, we may so use the scriptures as to abuse them: and this, we fear, too often happens. However, we do not think it necessary to our present purpose to attempt to describe or enumerate the various ways, in which the sacred oracles have been, or may be misused; but rather to ascertain the only correct and proper use of them; which will, in the mean time, answer every desirable purpose to those who wish to enjoy a life of holiness,--the supreme and blissful end for which they were graciously given. Now to make the proper use of any thing, we must use it for the very [41] purpose for which it was intended, and also in the proper manner to answer that purpose. Therefore, that we may enjoy the provisions of the holy scriptures for the blissful purpose for which they were intended, we must carefully and constantly advert to their direct and obvious intention, that so we may receive the instructions they were designed to communicate for said purpose. Wherefore we should distinctly and duly consider their moral and religious documents, that by a distinct and intelligent apprehension of these, we might be duly furnished for a life of holiness. Now these, we presume, may be evidently reduced to the following topics, viz.--1st. The knowledge of God. 2d. Of man. 3d. Of sin. 4th. Of the Saviour. 5th. Of his salvation. 6th. Of the principle and means of enjoying it. 7th. Of its blissful effects and consequences. That these are the grand comprehensive doctrinal topics, which the scriptures were specially designed to teach; and that in the knowledge, belief, and practical influence of these consists our present salvation, is evident both from the express contents of the Book, and also from the explicit intention of the salvation it exhibits; which is to turn men to God, and thus to fit them for heaven: see John xvii. 3, 17., with 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17., and Acts xxvi. 17, 18. "This is the life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.--Holy Father, sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.--All holy scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works.--The people, and the Gentiles to whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins. and an inheritance among the sanctified, through faith that is in me."

      The means with the end being thus distinctly before us, what remains but that we make the proper intentional use of them? Wherefore, as oft as we open the blessed Book, it should be with the precise and real intention of acquiring a more perfect knowledge of these all-important topics; that so we might still be adding to our faith, and to the invigoration of those divine principles whence proceeds a life of holiness, and without the vigorous exercise of which it cannot be maintained. For surely, our love of God, which is the radical principle of all holiness, cannot exceed our knowledge of his character; and this must consist in our knowledge of his works of creation, of legislation and government;--of redemption, reconciliation, salvation, and ultimate glorification of guilty, apostate, rebellious human; and of the ultimate destiny of Satan and his guilty associates, whether angelic or human, For all these are the effects of his sovereign will, and so afford us a transcendant display of his glorious attributes--the essential properties of his nature, viz.--His knowledge, power, wisdom, goodness; justice, truth, holiness; love, mercy, and condescension;--his self-existence, independence, eternity, immensity, and immutability. And while, in the mean time, we are thus happily engaged in learning and contemplating the divine character, we also learn our own; we become truly acquainted with our origin, our nature, condition and destiny;--with the heinous nature, ruinous effects, and terrible consequences of sin; and, of course, with our inexpressible need of the [42] Saviour, which the love of God has graciously provided; and with the suitable adaptation of his salvation to our actual condition; and with the principle and means of enjoying it for our present relief and deliverance; and, lastly, with its blissful and glorious effects and consequences which go to fill the believing soul with "joy unspeakable and full of glory." But it is not only necessary that we devoutly and studiously read and search the scriptures for the express purpose of acquiring this saving knowledge, but also that we perseveringly abound in these exercises: because we have not only to learn those things once for all, as we do the common arts and sciences for secular purposes; but to live upon them--to feed and feast our souls with the daily and diligent consideration of them, that so we may enjoy the heaven upon earth divinely intended for our present happiness; and thus be prepared for the enjoyment of a blissful immortality.

      Wherefore, to realize and secure this heavenly enjoyment, we should not only make it our solemn intention and constant practice to search the scriptures daily, to ascertain the amount of the instruction they afford, upon each of the aforesaid topics; but we should also exercise ourselves unto godliness in frequent meditation and religious conversation on those all-important subjects, as well as in the conscientious performance of all good works; that in so doing, we may familiarize and enjoy the salvation of God. "Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord;--who meditates on his law day and night;--that he doth shall prosper." "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes: the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing in the heart. More to be desired are they than gold; yea, than much fine gold; sweeter than honey dropping from the honeycomb;--in the keeping of them there is a great reward."--"O how I love thy law! It is my study all the day. I have more understanding than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation." "Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." "I found thy word, and I did eat it; it was the joy and rejoicing of my heart." "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly," "As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." With those important items of the divine testimony, so expressly declarative of the peculiarly advantageous and highly blissful effects of making the proper use of the holy scriptures, we close this introductory essay upon the benign intention of our holy religion, with the pleasing hope that it may excite both the reader and the writer, to a more abundant use of the sacred oracles.

THOMAS CAMPBELL. [43]      

[The Millennial Harbinger (January 1839): 41-43.]

FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER,

NEW SERIES.

VOLUME III.-----NUMBER II.

B E T H A N Y, VA. FEBRUARY, 1839.

      IN the preceding essay upon this deeply interesting subject, it is assumed that the benign and blissful intention of Christianity is personal holiness; or a life entirely devoted to God. Now this assumption is not merely predicated upon the express declaration of the divine testimony, that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord;" though this most expressly establishes the truth of the assumption. For if holiness alone can qualify us for the enjoyment of the divine presence, then surely the acquisition of it is, and must be, the primary and proper intention of an institution, the professed object of which is, to save us from our sins, to reconcile us to God, and so to prepare us for heaven. But that this is its proper and primary intention, is, moreover, demonstrably evinced in the exhibition of its radical, constituent, and formative principles; namely, the peculiar delight and sublime intentions of the divine philanthropy, as expressed and manifested in man's original creation, and highly dignified station; but still more strikingly after his ungrateful and inexcusable apostacy, in the divine procedure for his redemption, reconciliation, and exaltation to the most complete and intimate enjoyment of the divine presence and glory. See Gen. i. 26 and ii. 8, 9, 15, 17.; Psalm viii. 5.; Heb. ii. 6.; Phil. ii. 9.; John iii. 16.; Rom. iii. 24, 25, 26. and v. 6, 8, 9, 10 and viii. 26.; Gal. iv. 4, 5, 6., Rom. v. 5 and viii. 16, 17., Eph. ii. 22.; Rev. iii. 21. and xxi. 7.; John v. 4.; Rev. i. 5, 6. What a transcendant display of the divine philanthropy is exhibited in the above quotations! Yet these are but a small portion of the divine testimony upon this transcendantly great, blissful, and glorious subject. And as if all that has been divinely spoken and done in favor of man, from his creation till his final consummation in the divine image and glory, were insufficient to express the intensely deep and inconceivable interest that God has taken in our nature, condition, and destiny, mankind are represented as the special object of the divine love, complacency and delight from everlasting. See Prov. viii. 12, 17, 22, 23, 30, 31.; Jeremiah xxxi. 3.: Matthew xxv. 34.: John xvii. 5, 24.; Eph. i. 3, 4,; 2 Tim. i. 9.; Titus i. 2 ; 1 Peter i. 20.; Rev. xvii. 8.--I, wisdom, dwell with prudence. By me kings reign and princes decree justice. I love them that fear me; and they that seek me early shall find me.--The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning ere ever the earth was.--Then was I by him as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always [92] before him; rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you. Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation or the world. Father, glorify thy Son with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee, before the world was: for thou lovedst me before the foundation or the world. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love. Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.--For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things--but with the precious blood of Christ, who verily was foreordained before the foundation or the world; but was manifested in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.--They that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world; when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

      Now, is it not demonstrably evident, that nothing short or a captivating, constraining, overwhelming love to God, can be the effect of a realizing belief of the above items of the divine testimony? And, if so, surely holiness is,and necessarily must be, the immediate, just, and proper intention of an institution originating from, and founded in, the existence and developement of the astonishing truths contained in the above quotations. For what is holiness but the love of God?--That is the love of the divine character as displayed in the creation, government, and disposal of his rational creatures: and especially of his highly favored creature man; in his procedure towards whom, he has given the greatest possible display or his infinite abhorrence of sin, that deadly moral evil, which destroys the happiness of his rational creatures, wherever it happens to take place; wherefore his hatred of it must necessarily be proportioned to his love or them.

      In order, then, to our realizing this captivating display or the divine philanthropy, let us seriously consider the above items or the divine testimony, which go to present man as the supreme object or the divine attachment and attention--"Angels, Authorities, Principalities, and Powers being made subject to the Son or Man; who is exalted far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:--made higher than the heavens:--who has ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things:" that is, all hearts:--things being put under his feet as the Head of his body, the church; which, of course, is thereby exalted with him to a joint participation of his glory; as is expressly declared in the above quotations. Now, realizing these things, must we not supremely love Him, who first loved us? For, as saith the Apostle, "We love God because he first loved us." And again--"The love of Christ constrains us to live (entirely devoted) to Him, who died for us; wherefore we labor that we may be accepted of him. It is manifestly, therefore, this constraining influence of the love of God, and of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, as exhibited in the divine testimony, which is the very principle of that holiness without which none can please and enjoy the Lord; nor live entirely devoted to him.

T. C.      

[The Millennial Harbinger (February 1839): 92-93.]

FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER,

NEW SERIES.

VOLUME III.-----NUMBER V.

B E T H A N Y, VA. MAY, 1839.

      IN the close of our second essay upon this all-important subject we have considered it as manifestly proved, "that the constraining influence of the love of God the Father, and of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, as exhibited in the divine testimony, is the very principle of that holiness without which none can please and enjoy the LORD; nor live entirely devoted to him."

      We now proceed to show that this genuine holiness, this entire self-devotion, is not only the native and necessary offspring of the love of God, as expressly commanded: (see Luke x. 27. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind:") but that it is also most expressly and unequivocally enjoined; and that both negatively and positively: see Luke xiv. 26, 27, 33; Rom. xiv. 7, 8; 1 Cor. x. 31; 2 Cor. xi. 2; Col. iii. 17. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters; yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."--"Whoever he be of you, that forsakes not all that he has, cannot be my disciple."--"None of us lives to himself, and no [Christian] man dies to himself. For whether we live, we live to the Lord; and whether we die, we die to the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."--"Whether, therefore, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."--"I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ."--"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." Now what demands and injunctions can be more comprehensive--more decisively exclusive in their requirements of an entire devotedness, than these contained in the above citations?

      Moreover, it is also evident that this entire self-devotion naturally and necessarily flows from the New Covenant relation in which we [216] stand to God as our Father-to Christ as our Redeemer, our Lord and Saviour--and to the Holy Spirit as the immediate Author of our spiritual life; and of our salvation from under the deadly influence and dominion of sin. We shall, therefore, proceed to advert to these things briefly and particularly.

      1. And first, with respect to our New Covenant relation to God as our Father, it is written, Matth. vi. 9. "When you pray, say, Our Father who art in heaven." Now this is the first time that the professing people are divinely and explicitly taught thus to address God. And be it observed, that it is by his only begotten Son, addressing his professed disciples, the acknowledged children of the New Covenant: Jer. xxxi. 34. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:--I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:--For they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Wherefore it is to such only that it is divinely commanded so to pray; and therefore it is exclusively their privilege so to do; for as such they are exclusively begotten of God. John i. 12, 13; James i. 18; 1 John v. 1; Rom. xii. 13. "To as many as received him, he gave power to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."--"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures."--Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God."--"'No man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit." Such are, therefore, exhorted to be followers--imitators of God, as "dear children;" and to "walk in love as Christ also loved them." And the Apostle to the Romans exhorts such for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, to co-operate with him for certain important purposes; thereby plainly alleging the paramount influence of these divine motives. And, indeed, what truly dutiful son is there, that is not supremely devoted to the will of his father while he abides in the family! Our Lord, who is the divinely appointed pattern of his people in this, as in all his other imitable perfections, gives us to understand, that it was his very meat and drink to do the will of his heavenly Father. It was his primary purpose--the sole, actuating, formative principle of his whole life, in this world, so to do. Moreover, though he was the only begotten of the Father, yet was he also his most devoted servant. Isai. xlii.; Luke xxii. 42; John xviii. 11; Phil. ii. 7; Heb. v. 8, 9. "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delights."--"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."--"The cup that my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?"--"Being in the form of God--he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant--he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross."--"Though he was a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered: and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him." And what is his final, his comprehensive consummative command, to all that would partake with him in the enjoyment of his salvation! Is it not, "If any one will [217] come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me?" Matth. xvi. 24. And again, John xii. 26. "If any will serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any Man serve me, him will my Father honor."--"If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." 2 Tim. ii. The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through sufferings. Heb. ii. 10.

      2. Hence our New Covenant relations to the Father, and to the Son, lay us under infinite and insuperable obligations to be, and to feel, intensely and entirely devoted to the love and obedience of both:--of the Father, for giving his son, his only begotten son, to suffer and die for our sins:--of the Son, for his voluntary submission to inconceivable and tremendous sufferings for our salvation. Nor is there any embarrassing difficulty in adjusting those distinct claims of supreme and infinite obligation; for the economical and essential unity of the divine claimants completely obviate this: for he who loves, honors, and obeys the Son, in so doing honors and obeys the Father who sent him: whose final and consummative command to his children is, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Matth. xvii. 5. "For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son: that all should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." John v. 22, 23.

      3. Nor is our devotion and submission to the Holy Spirit, in his official dictations by the holy Apostles and Prophets, (who all spoke as they were moved by him,) less imperative and obligatory; or less consistent with our supreme love and absolute devotion to the Father, and to the Son, for he proceeds from both; being the authoritative messenger and efficient agent of both;--our divine Regenerator, Tutor, and immediate Advocate; so that whoever rejects or blasphemes him in the execution of his new covenant office, rejects both the Father and the Son; and, of course--the enjoyment of the great salvation which they have provided. See John iii. 5; and xiv. 16; and xv. 26; and xvi. 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16; Acts v. 32; Rom. viii. 9, 14, 16, 17, 26, 27; Gal. iv. 6; Eph. iv. 30; 1 Thess. v. 19; Heb. vi. 4; Isai. lxiii. 10. "Except a man be born of water and Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."--"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth."--"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father--the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me."--"I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you; and when he is come, he will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all the truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you. All things that the Father has are mine."--"And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Spirit, which God has given to them that obey him."--"Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."--"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.--The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint [218] heirs with Christ."--"Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with inarticulate groanings. And he that searches the hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God."--"And, because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father."--"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption."--"Quench not the Spirit."--"For it it impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance."--"They rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them."--"All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven to men."--"Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come."

      Now realizing the whole of these premises, this new covenant revelation of the Divinity (as every intelligent Christian must necessary do) can any thing short of supreme love to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and entire self devotion to the divine will, possess the mind of such a believer? Or, can a person, indeed, be a Christian at all, without this supreme love and devotion? Most certainly not: for without this state of mind he is not saved from his sins.--He loves something more than he does his heavenly Father, his gracious Saviour, his divine Regenerator and Sanctifier. There is something else he loves better--some others he would rather please. And can such a person be a Christian? The term Christian, is here taken in his proper scriptural sense--that is, "a new creature:" "for if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."

      4. Again--Does not our Lord in the close of his sermon on the mount, Matth. vii. 26, expressly declare, That every one who hears his sayings, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:--That when the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, it fell, and great was the fall of it? Now does not this show the indispensable necessity of being governed by his sayings--of reducing them all to practice, if we would enjoy his salvation? And what does he say in said discourse respecting the attributes of character that constitute the approved subjects of his kingdom? See Matthew, 5th chapter, from the 3d to the 17th verse. And what from the 21st verse to the end of said chapter--against gratuitous anger--reproachful language--living in a state of irreconciliation with an offended brother;--against cherishing impure desires--unlawfully divorcing a wife;--using profane language--retaliation and revenge? And what--his injunctions to liberality in giving and lending--to love our enemies--to pray for them that hate, despitefully use, and persecute us; that so we may be conformed to the example and will of our heavenly Father? And what in the 6th chapter--against religious ostentation in almsgiving, fasting, and prayer? And also against laying up treasures on earth--against an evil eye, or indulging in inconsistent views, attempting to serve two masters---God and Mammon? Also, against all manner of anxiety about the necessaries of life--and the preferring of any thing before the possession and enjoyment of the kingdom of God and his righteousness? And, in the 7th chapter--against presumptuous and rash judgment;--censuring and correcting a brother, while neglecting to correct and reform ourselves?--And what his gracious encouragements to importunity and perseverance in prayer.--to do to all, as we would have [219] them do to us:--to enter in at the strait gate, and to walk in the narrow way of self-denying obedience, as the only way to heaven, out of which no one can be his disciple? Yes, does he not expressly declare, that none can, or ever will, be acknowledged as his genuine followers, his true disciples, but only such as bring forth the good fruits of impartial universal obedience to all his precepts? See from the 21st verse to the end of the chapter.

      But to follow this out, by a complete induction of all the particulars, enjoined and forbidden, would lead us to the investigation of every page to the end of the Book. This, however, is not our intention; and would he as impracticable to our present limits, as it is unnecessary to our present purpose; which, in the mean time, is only to show the absolute and indispensable necessity of universal self-denying obedience, in order to the constitution of Christian character; and which, indeed, is but another name for personal holiness, or entire devotion to God. Now for this purpose we think the scriptures above quoted are amply sufficient, though they fall far short of an express detail of the full amount of the Christian obedience which they comprehensively and virtually inculcate: the close and studious investigation of the whole Bible will be necessary to this.

      Upon the whole, let it be duly observed and understood, that this intense and entire devotion, thus divinely inculcated, does not consist in the sensible excitement of the passions, nor in the impassioned exercise of the affections, excited to ecstacies by artificial means, addressed either to the imagination, or to the senses: but is the grave, serious, and sober effect, of the due scriptural conviction and consideration of the great fundamental truths of the gospel; namely, the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, the remission of sins, the adoption of sons, the fellowship of the Spirit, the glorious resurrection, and the blissful immortality, which the blessed gospel presents to our faith and to our hope. For it is written, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life.--You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though be was rich; being in the form of God, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power; yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins;--that we might receive the adoption of sons:--and because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba--Father. When Christ our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory:--who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body.--We know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him,--that we shall see him as he is.--And so we shall be ever with the Lord.--For he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him, also freely give us all things."--Now let us hear what is, and must be, the genuine devotional effect of the knowledge and belief of these blissful and glorious promises. See 2 Cor. v. 9. 14. "We labor that we may be accepted of him. For the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live to themselves, but to him, who died and rose again for them." Can any words be more expressive, or any sentiment more effective, of an entire self-devotion, than the above? Or is it possible that any thing else could be the effect of a real belief of the above premises?

THOMAS CAMPBELL.       [220]

[The Millennial Harbinger (May 1839): 216-220.]

      Thomas Campbell's "The Direct and Immediate Intention of the Christian Institution" was first published in The Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 3 (New Series), No. 1, January 1839; No. 2, February 1839; No. 5, May 1839. The electronic version of the three-part essay has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1839), pp. 41-43, 92-93, 216-220.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. I have let stand variations and inconsistencies in the author's (or editor's) use of italics, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in the essay. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 92:     Titus i 1; 1 Peter i 20; [ Titus i. 1; 1 Peter i. 20;
            in the beginntng [ in the beginning
 p. 93:     loving kindnes [ loving kindness
 p. 217:    "If any one wil [ "If any one will
 p. 218:    13, 14, 15, 15; [ 13, 14, 15, 16;
 p. 220:    our sskes [ our sakes
            vile bady, [ vile body,
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 17 February 1998.
Updated 9 July 2003.