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and which must be referred to a meeting of rulers; not, perhaps, from the difficulty of the case, but because there is needed an interposition of a body which presides over the whole. Such superior courts are a bond of union in the church, and necessary to maintain general order.

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III. That when an assembly of the church takes up any cause, they should adopt all proper methods for coming to a righteous decision. This Synod had obtained no revelation from God upon the case brought up from Antioch, but they do not decline to take up the reference; "the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter." It was a reference, and the commissioners from Antioch were admitted as members of the court to take part in the discussion. At first the assembly were far from being of one mind. There was much disputing;" but every one seems to have been heard patiently and attentively. The mode of argument followed by those whose opinions were adopted is before us; and we find that they grounded their judgment upon the doctrine which God was blessing to the church, and the accordance of the judgment with the Old Testament scriptures. This patient judicious discussion appears to have been blessed in overcoming opposition, and in bringing the assembly to an unanimous decision. This procedure was so judicious, and is so suitable to our circumstances, that it ought to be followed; and its success in this instance encourages us to hope, that, if the church keep in the way of duty, God will guide her to righteous and comfortable decisions.

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IV. That when a general assembly of the church, guided by reason and the word of God, come to a decision on any matter of doctrine or duty, it is a law to the church over which it presides. Into the nature of the decision in this cause it is not necessary to enter; but it is evident that it was obligatory. It is admitted to be bur

densome, but obedience to it was necessary; which plainly intimates that it was not optional merely, but had the authority of the Synod. It was delivered to the churches as a decree to be kept, which was ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. It was ordained, which teaches that it was a solemn judicial appointment. It was a decree to be kept, a judgment by which the churches. were to be guided. When it was read to the members of the church at Antioch, "they rejoiced for the consolation," regarding it as a settlement of the matter in dispute--as a termination of the controversy. In the cities to which Paul delivered it, it was received as an article in their creed, and as setting at rest the matter in dispute. "So were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily." Indeed the assembly could not look on it in any other light than as authoritative, and obligatory on the churches. They say, "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.' Whatever seems good to the Holy, the Omniscient Spirit, the promised Director of the Church, must be good in itself, and must seem good to all who are endowed with the wisdom which descendeth from above. All should hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Indeed, the letter of the Synod could not well have more than it has of judicial ecclesiastical authority, and less of that brotherly advice which the churches might consider and follow, or depart from, as they judged proper. It was given by the rulers, and it was received by the churches as a judicial settlement of a matter very important to the interests of religion.

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But to some it may appear presumptuous to speak of modern church courts as standing on the same ground as the meeting at Jerusalem; and to speak of their decisions as "seeming good to the Holy Ghost and to them," would be considered as impiety. No

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church rulers who have wisdom will put themselves in competition with those extraordinary men, who, upon particular occasions, were inspired by the Spirit of God, and exercised a singular power in the church; but when those men were, without any immediate direction that we hear of from heaven, met along with others to settle an important point, in which a speedy determination was requisite, and God gave subsequent evidence that he approved of their procedure, did they not set an example which, on proper occasions, should be followed? And where is the impiety of church courts saying now, that their judgment seems good to the Holy Ghost?" If it can be shown plainly that it is founded on the word which the Holy Ghost has given, it must seem good to him. If such a case should occur as that which Paul decided for the Corinthians, who would hesitate to say that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost to deliver the transgressor to Satan? Should any church member maintain any damnable doctrine, or persist in any flagrant immorality, there is no doubt that it seems good to the Holy Ghost that he should be cast out of the church. Indeed, it seems very questionable if any class of church rulers should pronounce censures solemnly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, unless they are warranted to say that "it seems good to the Holy Ghost." Nothing should be imposed on the church with regard to doctrine, or worship, or duty, except what is important in itself, and plainly taught in the Scriptures; and there can be no impropriety in saying, respecting what is found in the Divine Word, that "it seems good to the Holy Ghost."

Taking the whole history into view, we cannot help considering it as intended to give instruction respecting the administration of the church. It was surely meant to teach something more than that converts from

heathenism were not to be subjected to circumcision and the observance of the law of Moses. Paul afterwards taught this truth by inspiration from heaven, in language the strongest and most solemn. But here, in passing a temporary judgment on the subject, an account is given us so full and particular, of the matter being referred, taken up, discussed, decided, and delivered to the churches for their direction, as leads to the belief that it was intended to teach us how important matters of general concern to the church should be managed. Complaints may be made of an uncertainty whether the officebearers of the church were all present, and if they were warranted to act as representatives of the whole society. In the state in which the church then was, it is surprising that this had so much the character of a general assembly; and the way in which their sentence was given, and acquiesced in, shows that they legislated for the church at large. We look to other places of the New Tes tament for information about the office of the eldership, and the way in which men were to be elected to it; and here we find Peter,who says of himself, "who also am an elder," with his brethren of the apostleship, sitting in an assembly with the other elders, judging along with them without any official superiority,-teaching us how the eldership should proceed in assemblies. Where else in the Word of God have we such distinct instructions about the government of the church? It is a subject on which God speaks less fully than on many others; and it is gratifying to find such direct authority for the forma tion of church courts, the great doctrine of the right of church members to elect their own office-bearers is not more distinctly ascertained.

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When thus we find an assembly convened, composed apparently of all the office-bearers in the church who were best fitted to give judgment; at

which private church members were present, but took no part in the diseussion and decision; when a distinct reference was made to them of a cause from a regularly organized church, which they took up and judged by reasons drawn from observation and experience, and the testimony of scripture; when they passed a sentence on the case which was obligatory on the churches, and was obeyed by them, there can be no hesitation in deciding what plan of church government this supports. It is the procedure of a Presbyterian assembly; it gives no countenance to diocesan Episcopacy. Apostles them

selves, men of extraordinary gifts and extraordinary power in the church, consult along with the elders, and assume not any superior authority; all exercise an equality of power. The pretended successors of the apostles, who act as lords over God's heritage, assume a power which apostles, on this occasion, thought not proper to exercise. The passage is still more opposed to Independency; for the private members of the church are not even members of this assembly, they are only mentioned as joining in the salutation to the churches, and perhaps in the choice of the commissioners.

BOTANICAL THEOLOGY-THE BEING OF GOD.

(Concluded.)

BY THE REV. DAVID SMITH.

ON a fine summer day, an unexpected shower drove two or three little parties into a cottage, for temporary shelter. A Bible and a bouquet of flowers lay upon the table. A shrewd-looking man, one of the company, approached the table; he was an infidel. He opened the Bible; then closed it again with a smile that was mingled with derision. He then took up the bouquet. "This suits me best," said he, with an exulting air, "for it has no mystery; I can understand it. Its colours are fair, and its scent delightful." Saying this, he pulled a flower from the bouquet, and stuck it in his bosom.

A pause succeeded; but it was soon broken by an old gentleman, whose meek and mercy-loving face was grateful to gaze upon, and whose grey hair entitled him to respect. He had heard the observation of the infidel, and felt anxious to counteract its influence. Advancing to the table, he also took up the bouquet. "How beauteous in his gifts," said

he, "is the Father of Mercies! This bouquet is delightful. How delicately formed are these beautiful flowers! how rich are their varied tints, and how sweet is the fragrance they exhale! But shall we forego the joy of inhaling their fragrance, and the delight of gazing upon their beauty, because we cannot explain the hidden mysteries of their existence ? We know not how the dry, husky, unsightly seed, when set in the ground, could start up into such glorious forms; we cannot tell how it is, that from the same soil such different stems should spring, and on the same flower such varied tints appear; nor know we why some of the fairest and sweetest of flowers should be thickly pointed with thorns. These things are mysteries; but, if we wait till we can comprehend them, the flowers will fade away; for their life is short. Let us gaze, then, on their beauty, and inhale their fragrance while we may.

"And why should we not?" con

tinued he, putting down the bouquet and taking up the Bible-"why should we not use the Word of God in the same way? Mysteries it has, deep and awful mysteries, which its Almighty Author alone can explain. But shall we waste our short lives in brooding over them, and neglect the greater part, which is quite plain, and overlook the manifold mercies it proffers for our acceptance? Let us leave, then, all mysteries, both of nature and grace, till it shall please God to unravel them to our understanding; and, in the mean time, let us, while rejoicing that God's works and word both show that he is the wonderful' gracefully place the glowing flowers of the bouquet in our bosoms, and the gracious consolations of the Bible in our hearts."

In the spirit of this beautiful little narrative, extracted from one of the Religious Tract Society's publications, we have endeavoured, in the preceding papers, to lead the attention from vegetable nature to nature's God, and to apply the principles furnished by the Word of God to his works, We have in this way considered, in succession, the material elements of which a plant consists, the mechanical organization which belongs to it, and the chemical processes which go on in it; and have seen, as we proceeded, not only much to admire, but much to astonish. The least of God's works are "great and marvellous." We cannot take the simplest plant, nor the simplest part of the simplest plant-not even the most common blade of grass-and say there is no mystery here. It is God's manner, in all his works, to enfold himself in mystery. The words are as applicable to God in connexion with a flower as with a sun; "Who by searching can find out God, or who can find out the Almighty unto perfection?" Mystery, we may say in deed, is the footprint of Deity; that could hardly be divine which we could fully comprehend.

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>> In now proceeding in the last place, and in conclusion, to call attention to the vital principle operating in plants as an argument for the being of God, we come to the most mysterious department of all in vegetable nature. Mystery is every where, but here we are in the very heart and centre of mystery. Still, like all the other mysteries of God, this mystery is replete with indications of intelligence. Though wheels are within wheels," they are "full of eyes." We see the divine light clearly shining through the darkness. In fact, there is very visibly, the wisdom of God in the mystery. We have referred, in our former illustrations, to a house in which mechanical operations and chemical processes went on. These, as we have seen, unequivocally argue intelligence and prove design. But were there, in the supposed house, besides, such a principle included as would form a perpetually moving and constantly adjusting power, rendering the machinery self-acting and the chemical apparatus self-working, and thus dispensing with human superintendence altogether, we would at once consider it, even though we could not understand it, an additional evidence of the intelligence and skill of the original constructor. This we would reckon the highest triumph of art; the consummation of construc tive skill. But this there is not. However far machinery and chemistry have been carried, they cannot do alone. There must be an engineer in every manufactory; a chemist in every laboratory. But what there is not in art there is in nature. In every plant there is a presiding principle, or, as some prefer calling it, an active governing quality, always in operation; in consequence of which the mechanical actions and chemical processes go on, not only without intermission, but in varying accommodation to the constantly varying cir cumstances of the plant. This principle or quality we call life.

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But what is life? What is the nature of this mysterious agent, which, even in the lowly vegetable, seems endowed almost with some of the attributes of intelligence? The question is more easily put than answered. We can see obviously enough what it is not. It is plainly not mechanical in its nature. Though mechanical ingenuity has gone far in imitating the form and appearance, and even motions of living beings, it has made no approach to the production of the quality of life. The matter with which it works is as dead and inert as ever. As little is life chemical in its nature as it is mechanical. Chemistry not only cannot make a living plant, but it cannot make a living grain of wheat, or a living seed of barley." Science,” as a writer in Chambers' Journal remarks, can analyse these, but by no synthetical process imitate them. In vain it compounds the elements oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon in the exact proportions of the grain. The chemist cannot make food, even with all its materials at his command. His art is confined to ascertaining the nature and properties of that which has been subjected to the mysterious laws of vitality." In short, it is obvious also, that life cannot be a combination of mechanical and chemical power. Unite these as you may, vary them as you may, you can only have mechanical and chemical results. The effect cannot transcend the cause. What is mechanical can generate only what is mechanical, and what is chemical can be the parent only of what is chemical. Thus far, negatively, all is plain....

We can proceed, however, a step beyond this-we can see obviously enough what life does. The operations of the vital principle are visible to the senses, We see, for example, how it enables the plant to resist those laws of chemical affinity, the tendency of which is to resolve all bodies into their primitive elements. Every

kind of dead matter, organic or inor, ganic, when left to itself, tends to decay and dissolution. But this tendency in living matter is, by the vital force inherent in it, overborne, and counteracted. While the atmosphere decomposes the surface of the hardest rock, it produces no impression on the tenderest twig so long as vitality remains. We see still further how life, whether we call it a principle or a quality, enables the plant, within certain assignable limits, to right itself when any disorder has been introduced into its economy, and to repair any wastes or injuries that may have been inflicted upon it. Fracture a stone, or break a piece of crystal, and the injury remains permanent : no effort is put forth to re-unite the parts. But in plants, when wounded, a healing process is forthwith commenced; as any one may see when a branch is cut, or a portion of the bark removed. The vis medicatrix, which, in the animal economy, is acknowledged to be such an unequivocal function of vitality, is not less palpable in the vegetable than it is in the animal. In short, we see how life enables the plant to carry forward all its varied functions of nutrition, growth, respiration, and reproduction. It causes the vessels to act, the sap to circulate, and the varied secretions in their due order and measure to take place. While it continues, these processes go on; but let it become extinct, and though every thing else remains the same, all these processes will stop together. What was before organized matter, will become immediately subject to the same laws, and exhibit the same phenomena as dead unorganized matter.

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