as they were, such a miracle of vengeance was inflicted on them to deter posterity from the like presumption."

We take the above from a tract, Published by Burns of Portman Street-entitled "Obedience to Spiritual Governors." And we inform our Rochdale readers, that Mr. Holden at our request keeps specimens of several of the excellent tracts issued by this spirited Church Publisher.

BAPTIST TESTIMONY TO THE CLERGY.

The subjoined testimony is sent by a correspondent, who informs us that it is taken from a work entitled "Dissenters recalled to their duties and interest by a Clergyman."

66

MR. HUGHES, BAPTIST MINISTER, AND LATE SECRETARY TO THE BIBLE SOCIETY.

"From my extensive intercourse with Christians of all denominations, I have come to the full conviction, that there are no body of persons in the nation among whom the spirit of the Gospel is so consistently exhibited, as among the pious members and ministers of the Established Church. The piety in that quarter is of a better cast, more deep, more solid, more simple, more SCRIPTURAL, less shewy, than in any other."

Is it not to be deplored that the body of which one, so competent to judge, could so speak, and of which many candid members even now think and speak, respecting those Pastors, whose primitive, not to say apostolic, order is undeniable, should be so carried away with sectarian envy and political partisanship, as to put forth such a document as the "Baptist Circular?" We have already shewn some of its characteristics, and as we proceed with it shall exhibit

more.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have been obliged by the press of matter to postpone to the next, Z's, interesting letter; also our remarks on the Baptist Circular.

London:-Messrs. Rivington.

Rochdale-Frinted and Sold by T. Holden; S. Ashworth; and all Booksellers.

No. 2.

FEBRUARY, 1843.

PRICE TWO-PENCE,

(TO BE CONTINUED MONTHLY.)

VOL. 2.

Common Sense, or Every-body's Magazine.

EDITORS

REV. J. E. N. MOLESWORTH, D. D.

REV, W. N. MOLESWORTH.

Fine Sense, and Exalted Sense, are not half so useful as
COMMON SENSE.-Dean Swift.

CHURCH HISTORY.

(CHAP. II. continued from page 6, Vol. II.)

Our third principal feature, in the establishment of the Jewish National Church, is the Priesthood. Herein, as in the cases of the sacrifices and the Tabernacle, we observe God taking the appointment and regulation entirely into His own hands, He does not give either the priests themselves, or the people to whom they were to minister, the slightest pretence for supposing, that they were to take upon themselves the choice of the person, or possessed authority to confer the office.

In every part of the transaction the Allwise ruler and legislator of the Jewish Church acts upon the principle afterwards adopted and asserted by Christ, and most emphatically laid down, as a fundamental and indisputable maxim, by St. Paul. Even Jesus himself did not enter upon His ministry, till He was publicly called by God. He quotes His own example to illustrate the authority, by which he gave them their commission-" As my Father hath sent me, so send I you." (John xx, 21). And St.

Paul's reference to this case is yet more conclusive, both because he alludes to the uniformity of principle, under the Mosaic as well as the Christian dispensation; and also because he denies, in the most decisive manner, any power vested in man, to judge of his own fitness for the office of the ministry, or to set up any scheme of appointment by his fellow men, against that which had been determined upon by the Lord. He speaks of it as a settled rule, upon which no man could then think of raising a question, that the only source from which the ministerial commission can be derived, must be the authoritative direction and delegation of God himself. He expressly lays down the maxim that "No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as Aaron was. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest, but he that said unto Him, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee." (Heb. v, 4-5). So it was decreed and settled with respect to the Jewish Priesthood. The Priests did not pretend to set themselves up as such, in virtue of any supposed inward light or feelings, or any fancied or even real qualifications. Neither did the people assume to themselves a right of private judgment in such a matter. They did not consider themselves justified in forming themselves into sects, and calling every such sect a Church, and choosing their own Priests. They knew very well that this was God's province, and was settled and regulated by Him. First, He chose for this purpose Aaron and his sons'; then he provided for the succession by ordaining that the Priesthood should be open to none but Aaron's descendants. The Priests, therefore, in after ages, claimed authority to minister in the name of the Lord, not by asserting any inward light, not by asserting that they were men qualified and mentally capable of the office, neither

by popular election, nor by receiving their commission from others, who had not themselves any commission from God; but by the public rule laid down by God-tracing their descent and succession from the family of Aaron. Their genealogies— their succession from Aaron, were the only authority required, or given, for their "taking this honor." The highest and ablest of their people, daring to take this office without this title by succession, would have been guilty of a sin of the deepest die; and have roused the indignation of the country, not less than the wrath of God. What would have been their astonishment, had the principle of modern times been promulgated that the ministry and ambassadorship of the Lord is to be taken by the lowest ranters, or conferred by every variety of sect, and in every variety of form and rule that imagination can suggest? How would the fickle and perverse people, who requested their prophets "to speak unto them smooth things and prophecy deceits," have risen in their demands, if these prophets were to be the creatures of their will? if some men, without the Divine commission, could confer the office of ministering the sacraments and of being "stewards of the mysteries" of God, why not all? If all then call one singly-every one, however ignorant, however low, however empty-might make his neighbour or himself a priest. What a system when examined by the test of even common sense. It is ridiculous. But when examined by the test of God's own ordinances and proceedings, by the directions and example of Jesus, by the practice and precepts of the Apostles, by the ancient and uniform custom and tradition of the Church, then it becomes no longer ridiculous, but awfully presumptuous, profane, and sinful.

And

We are dealing rather with the principles and outlines of Church History, than with particu

lars. We, therefore, do not enter into a description of the dress and employments of the Priests, adapted as they were to the peculiar circumstances of the Jewish Church.

We may observe, however, that far from regarding national endowments for the Priesthood of the National Church as unlawful, God saw the usefulness, nay the absolute necessity of rendering them independent of the caprices of those to whom they were to minister. God gives no sanction to what is called in these days the "voluntary system." He would not leave the Ministers of the Church at the mercy of those whom they were to examine, to rebuke, or exhort, and who are to bring the sacrifices. He gave them ample endowments: no less than thirteen cities, each with its suburbs and pastures to a considerable extent, (one thousand cubits suburbs and two thousand pastures), were given to them for their support. They were moreover not incapacitated from holding lands or goods, which, independently of the national endowment, they might acquire by purchase. Horne, in his "Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures," cites as cases in point, "that Abiathar bad an estate of his own at Anathoth, to which Solomon banished and confined him (1st Kings, 1, 26); and the prophet Jeremiah, who was also a priest, purchased a field of his uncle's son in his own town (Jer. xxx11, 8, 9.) He further mentions divers sources of maintenance which were, under the Jewish code, compulsorily ordained by express laws. "Their maintenance (he says) was derived from the tithes offered by the Levites out of the tithes by them received, from the first fruits, from the first clip of wool when the sheep were shorn, from the offerings made in the temples, and from their share of the sin-offerings and thanksgiving-offerings sacrificed in the temple, of which several parts were appropriated to the