-not Let us enter in, but, “Let us draw | sentatively there in the names which the near," &c. High Priest wore, and received from thence the response of the Urim and Thummim as of that word of God which is for ever settled in heaven. The whole service, especially on the day of atonement, was to the believing portion of their members a means of grace and spiritual benefit, and not a mere ceremonial; and we hear them expressing such language as, "When shall I come and appear before God?" without the idea of entering personally into the Holy of Holies. If it be admitted that we have clearer views than they had, I question whether we have more devout feelings, nor need we wish for a more advanced position than that in which we have access to a throne of grace, for such is earth below; and to God, who heareth prayer, all flesh may come, and to the temple where the incense of prayer and praise is continually presented. To the true believer, the door of the tabernacle, or the foot of the ladder, often proves, as aforetime, the house of God and the gate of heaven. T. SLATER. If this be correct as to the verbal explanation, the sentiment of the whole passage would be this: Not that the church has assumed a different position, nor that the relative position of earth and heaven has undergone a change; but that the congregation worships in a new and lively manner since the truth has been made perceptible, that heaven is not to be propitiated by animal sacrifices, nor entered by any other than a High Priest who is immaculate and who ever liveth. If the services in which the congregation is engaged present a different view now than they did formerly, it is in this, that, in their approach to the temple or tabernacle, they are not treading in the footsteps of Aaron, but of Christ, their Advocate and Surety, and that they come with an increase of faith and hope, in consequence of the things prefigured having been verified, and external forms and ceremonies having been removed. Under the Mosaic economy, we see a congregation assembled at the door of the tabernacle, bringing their various offerings; but the faith of the Christian church, relieved from this duty, points to the one Sacrifice, whereby the saints, or sanctified, are for ever made perfect. By the slaughter of the victims at the altar was taught the nature, malignity, and desert of sin; at the cross, the same truth comes home to the conscience. As the High Priest presented the blood in the Holy Place within the vail, sprinkling it upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy seat, so, with richer blood, Christ has entered the Holy of Holies, there to plead for us in God's presence. Meanwhile the congregation, awakened by such a soul-stirring spectacle as the sacrifice of Christ presents, to a consciousness of sin and concern for forgiveness, awaits, in the exercise of repentance and faith, that pardon and benediction which the High Priest bestows. On the part of the people, no nearer approach is needed than to the door by which Christ has been seen to enter, and through which he has passed into heaven. Looking at the ancient The constitution of Baptist churches, church, we shall see that their faith and hope always went farther than the outer and their fondness for statistics, give precincts of the sanctuary. The objects within the vail were those on which their minds rested; they even appeared repre LORD'S-DAY LECTURES. School" has propounded two queries MR. EDITOR,—“A Baptist of the Old First, It would be hard to say that all which are somewhat objectionable :who approve of "these novel proceedings" are not serious Christians; and, second, It would be invidious to publish comments on the religious character or motives of the parties concerned.* we are to know men by their fruits, it will be of real service to the cause of religion to ascertain the actual amount of good done, and I send a few statistics, which Yet as much as they have surprised myself. may enlighten your readers as They refer to the church, the pastor of which has the credit of originating this style of preaching; and the example has been selected not only because his popularity has led to many similar attempts, field and most successful in its cultivabut because he has been longest in the tion. * [We quite agree with our correspondent, yet we think he has slightly misapprehended the queries to which he adverts.-ED.] "Increase by letter and profession" is not quoted, because that source of augmentation is no new gain. "Restoration" is not mentioned, because, during the whole eight years, not one backslider has been restored. Among the hundreds of thousands who have heard this gentleman's lectures, there must have been some wanderers from his own or some other Baptist fold, but none have been brought back. "Five shillings and costs" has no connection with Pentecosts. the school, the results of his labours may be obtained by finding the number of baptisms-less a per centage due to the teachers. Now the baptisms for the last four years at the chapel in question do not give 23 per cent upon the annual average numbers of the school, and with this low rate of increase leave not a single baptism to be set off on account of the pastor's success in the congregation. If the conversions that have taken place are really his "joy and crown," what must we think of the school? If they are the fruit of the labours and prayers of the teachers, what must we think of the pastor? One other fact should be noticed. It appears that by the last return, the increase and decrease exactly balanced each other, and no particular cause of decrease is stated beyond the ordinary items of change. So that 398 members, including 70 teachers, and possessing a school of 688 young persons, under a minister whose popularity is immense, and whose congregations on all occasions are limited only by the capacities of the building, can do no more than keep their numbers from decay. Such are the fruits of “Barnumism." O thou that art named the house of Jacob! is this the Spirit of the Lord? are these His doings? I am, dear Sir, A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER. Jan. 12, 1858. 66 SHALL THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION BE- Magazine. SIR,-I sincerely sympathize with the sentiments and projected movement of our friends, noticed in your last magazine. The subject of believers' baptism by immersion, as an ordinance of God preliminary to church-fellowship, has long occupied my mind, and I have never been able to arrive at any conclusion than this: For the first four years, it will be seen, the baptisms steadily increased; for the last four years they have as steadily diminished. It may be only an accident, but it is singular that this change should To the Editor of the Primitive Church coincide so exactly with the adoption of "Barnumism" as an improved method of preaching the gospel. But the question remains How many of these baptisms, representing conversions, are fairly due to the pastor. In a large school, with godly teachers, the baptisms ought to average four per cent, annually: when they fall below this average for a series of years, the teachers and pastor are not watching for souls as they that must give account. In small churches, where there is almost no congregation, conversions from the school are sometimes due to the zeal of the pastor alone, but, generally, they are the result of combined effort. Where there is a large congregation, and the minister takes no direct interest in that God has so ordained it, and that man has therefore no power to alter, postpone, or dispense with it. I have no fear that the truth of God will ever fail, but I confess that appearances induce me to fear that our English churches will soon cease to uphold and represent it in its integrity. Churches, nominally Baptist, not only allow the order appointed net Fascing via r bestiaren, and if dey 17 Wcial rescos de their con Set mey Hood tring them firth now, and cerny care given them 10 19 JOU since. The pulpit will not adomi so good a position to our delegates as the puttom The very novelty of advocating baptism from the platform will be an inducement to many to attend, wile the pectral ground and otherwise unoccupied time will afford the opportu nity of attendance. It remains, however, to choose the fit persons for the fit places,—a choice which needs discrimination, and will of necessity devolve on those who may be selected for governing the whole machinery of this most important movement. W. I. M. Poetry. The English Scriptures Revised. Parts containing Job, Ephesians, and a portion of the Hebrews.-New York,-and Trübner and Co., 12, Paternoster-row. In a former number (November 1857) one of the parts of this great undertaking passed under our review, and we took occasion at that time to give it a strong, indeed an almost unqualified recommendation. We now repeat that recommendation, for whatever exceptions we may be disposed to take to some few of the renderings, we regard the work as one whose claims to public patronage increase with every fresh issue of its progressive parts. In the majority of instances the revised version is a marked improvement upon our own familiar and highly-valued one; and it frequently supplies in the revised text either a new light altogether, or a clearer representation of the one with which we have long had a substantial acquaintance. Yet in some important cases we are bound in candour to take exception to the revision of the text by the new translators. To go no farther than the three parts now before us, we find the passage in Job ii. 9, where that Patriarch's wife taunts her afflicted husband for his patient integrity, translated by the words "Bless God and die!" Now not to insist on the obvious inconsistency between the address of the wife when so translated, and Job's reply in verse 10,-nor to encumber these pages with a useless array of quotations from the learned languages,—it is enough to remark that the spirit of the wife's address was not that of sarcasm, but that of rebellion against God, in consequence of the unparalleled afflictions which he had permitted to fall on their family and estate. With this the impiety of the advice fully agrees; and so it was viewed by the earliest of our translators, who, it should be remembered, were among the most industrious and competent of sacred linguists that ever lived. Their more correct rendering and comment (Ed. 1599) run in these words, "Blaspheme God, and die. For death was appointed to the blasphemer, and so she meant, that he should soone be rid out of his paine." With this rendering the Septuagint also agrees. "Do thou speak some word against the Lord, and die." Noyes also translates the expression thus "Renounce God and die." The same word oceurs in chap. i 5, 11,— chap. ii. 5, and 1 Kings xxi. 10, and might with just as much propriety, be rendered in each of those passages "bless" or "blessed," as in the case before us. We need only add that such a translation of the Hebrew word in those places, would be scarcely less than ridiculous and absurd, and we regret that in this otherwise excellent revision the rendering should have been, in any instance, so obvious a departure from the spirit of the original. In reference to one other important passage, we take exception to the revised version on the ground that while the new translation has parted with the verbiage of the dear old English version, it has given us nothing better in exchange. Let our readers turn to the precious text in Hebrews iv. 16, and compare the sonorous and noble rendering of their own translation with the following from the new, "Let us therefore come with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace for seasonable help." Would they part with the old for the new? Even on the score of perspicuity the older version is decidedly preferable, while for the strong manly Saxon of the closing line it is beyond comparison superior to the new. Yet with these exceptions before us we cannot but rejoice in the success of any affort that aims to liberate the church from "state control." Religion owes nothing but disgrace to political interference on its behalf; and in few instances from the days of Constantine down to the present period, has the kingdom of the Redeemer appeared among mankind in its true character, or with its native energy. Perpetually trammelled by the patronage of ungodly States, -encumbered with a worldly wealth which pledges it to render back an equally carnal compensation in a prostrate creed and a prostituted conscience, the State Church resembles the ancient temple, with its " moneychangers," to whom the Redeemer will once more apply "a scourge of small cords" and drive them forth as polluters of his house. Whatever tends to prepare for that purifying process deserves the enlarged support of all true Christians, and this we believe to be the case with the Liberator. Foreign. DENMARK. Entelligence. Mindstrup, Hveisel Sogn, per Veile, MR. J. C. WOOLLACOTT: MY DEAR BROTHER, I thank you for your letter of the 18th inst., with the enclosed bank post bill for £35, which has safely reached me, and I hasten to acknowledge the receipt. As I expected to hear from you, I have delayed writing, which I hope you will excuse. Nov. 3, I left Copenhagen for Jutland, where I have been labouring till now. I have visited various places, and preached the word. At Veile, a door for usefulness appears to be opened. There are several Christian men with whom I have become acquainted, and who, I think, will ere long feel it their duty and privilege to follow the Lord in baptism. They have withdrawn from the Established Church, and renounce infant sprinkling as unscriptural, to which they have been led through searching the Scriptures and conversing with us. At Christmas, some of them attended our meetings in the country, though they were held at a distance of nearly twenty English miles from Veile, and they had to walk most of the way, and were witnesses to our celebration of the Lord's-supper. They felt much satisfied and, I think, edified; and, I doubt not, felt a strong desire to sit down with us at the Lord's-table. Before I left Copenhagen, a young man applied for baptism, and has now been baptized and added to the church. He has attended our meetings for several years, (his mother is a member of the Zealand church) and already, a year or two ago, he requested to be baptized, but the church, finding that his conduct gave no sufficient evidence of true conversion, he was refused baptism. He is a cooper by trade, and, as such, went with a vessel on a long voyage. He returned last summer, and attended our meetings again regularly, and it appeared that a change for the better had taken place with him. I have had a letter from Copenhagen, from which it appears that the brother referred to in my last, respecting the Sabbath question, has not yet been excluded from the church. I hope he may be gained. I did observe the Editor's note in the Primitive Church Magazine. I feel much obliged to him for it; and as he is so kind as to give his opinion, I should very much wish him to favour me with his opinion on another question. If a member of a church forms a connexion and enters into marriage with an unbeliever, is the church justified in excluding such a member? And, supposing the church speak to him about it, and he acknowledge that he has done |