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fellowship of the Spirit which, under Christ, is common to the many-to all the family of God-of which the apostle spoke. The best definition of the word communion which I can give, is, union in that which is commom. Wherever there is union in that which is common, there is communion. As the glory of the Lord equally filled all the tabernacle and the temple, so the Spirit of God animates, consoles, and refreshes the whole body of Christ. These consolations, joys, and refreshments from the presence of the Lord, the apostle imprecated upon all the Corinthian converts. He wished them a full fellowship, an equal participation of those measures of the Holy Spirit which belonged to the body of Christ as such. The three greatest blessings which Paul could invoke on the Corinthians, were, "the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit." These are not one and the same idea; but three distinct ideas-as distinct as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He that enjoys the favour of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, has all the fulness of God, and is as blessed as mortal man can be.

Into these relations to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit we are immersed; for the Lord commanded the believers to be immersed into the name of the Holy Spirit as well as into the name of the Father and the Son. To be immersed into the name of the Holy Spirit, prepares for the enjoyment of this communion; as being immersed into the Father introduces into the enjoyment of the love of God; and as immersion into the name of Jesus Christ introduces us into the favour of the Lord Jesus. This love, grace, and communion are the superlative glory of the Christian institution. They are equally apprehensible, though in their nature and modes of development incomprehensible. It is the duty, honour, and privilege of christians to enjoy all that into which they are immersed. There is as much wisdom or folly in disparaging the communion of the Holy Spirit, as in undervaluing the love of God or the favour of Jesus Christ,

There is also as much reason, and scripture, and honour in being immersed into the Holy Spirit, as into the name of the Lord Jesus. Should any one think that the communion of the Holy Spirit has ceased, he may as well imagine that the love of God has ceased and that the favour of Jesus Chris is extinct. If he cannot comprehend the one, he cannot comprehend the other. But as we are immersed into the name of the Holy Spirit, we must look for and constantly

426 THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.-NO. VII.

expect the communion of that Spirit, as well as the love of God and the favour of Jesus Christ our Lord.

There yet remains the phrase "sanctification of the Spirit." This understood, I presume the whole New Testament phraseology on the subject of the Spirit will be easily understood by every attentive reader. The original phrase is hagiasmos pneumatos, and is found only in 2 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Peter 1, 2. In both places it appears to refer to the sanctification of the spirit of believers. It is literally rendered "sanctification (or holiness) of spirit." There is no article in the original, and no epithet that suggests the Holy Spirit in either passage. God has chosen men to salvation through (or by) holiness of spirit; not through the holiness of his Spirit, but through the holiness of their spirit. When Jesus prayed (John xvii.) for the sanctification or holiness of his disciples, it was through the truth: "Sanctify them through the truth; thy word is truth." The belief of the truth is, therefore, by Paul, associated with this holiness or sanctification of spirit. The Spirit of God is frequently denominated in these days," the sanctifier." Let it be granted that it is the Spirit that sanctifies or separates men to God, still it must be argued from the record that he sanctifies them only through the truth or gospel believed. A sanctified unbeliever is inconceivable; and, as "without holiness (or sanctification of spirit) no man can see the Lord;" so, without faith, there can be no holiness, and no action acceptable to God.

All persons sanctified to God to any high office or function, were anointed, and thus consecrated to his special service. So all christians, being priests, are anointed or sanctified by the Holy Spirit through the obedience of the truth and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, cleansing their conscience from dead works to serve the living God. In this we find the secret of the most usual epithet of the Spirit. It is the Spirit of holiness, because it is the Spirit of truth. It is the Holy Spirit, because by its influences it makes us holy; and these influences which sanctify are always by and through the truth. When God chose men to salvation, it was through sanctification of spirit; and as means to this, it was through the belief of the truth. We shall now attend to any queries upon these premises. A. C.

We have now presented our readers with seven essays on the " Gift of the Holy Spirit," from the pen of brother Campbell; six of which appear in the present volume, and

QUERIES AND REPLIES.

427

one in vol. iv. We recommend these essays, with several others already given, on "The work of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of men," to the especial notice of our brethren; also the essays on "Perfection," by brother Walter Scott; some of which, in our judgment, are exquisite; and for which we are much obliged to the writer. Several articles on "Individual" and "Church Perfection," with others on "New Government and New Society," by the same brother, will be inserted in the next volume, if the Lord permit. J. W.

QUERY.

Beloved Brother,-WILL you favour me by answering my question in the next number of the Christian Messenger? The question is as follows:-That if the prophets testified that the Messiah should come of the seed of Abraham, as also the apostles only proved that Jesus was that Messiah whom the prophets spoke of, because he came of the seed of Abraham, (Gal. iii. 16; Rom. i. 3, 4,) which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead, what authority have we, from the Scriptures, to sanction our endeavouring continually to prove that Christ. is the Messiah by Gen. iii. 15?

REPLY.

E. T.

THERE is a little mistake in the wording of your question, my brother. I cannot prove "that Christ is the Messiah," because the word Christ, which means anointed, is the interpretation of the word Messiah, see John i. 41. The apostles did not labour to prove that Christ was Messiah, but that "Jesus whom they preached is the Christ or Messiah."-Acts xvii. 3.

Your question will be then, why do we attempt to prove Jesus to be the Christ or Messiah by Gen. iii. 15. seeing the apostles only proved him to be the seed of Abraham? Here again is a mistake. None that I know ever attempt to prove Jesus to be the Christ by Gen. iii. 15.; but the point to be proved is whether Jesus be the seed of the woman spoken of in Gen. iii. 15; this is to be proved not by Gen. iii. 15, but by other parts of the word of God.

The promise in Gen. iii. 15, is, that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. Now this promise was given before the woman had any offspring; and as the pro

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QUERIES AND REPLIES.

mise did not say who or which of her offspring it should be, and as her offspring soon became "greatly multiplied," it became a matter of the greatest importance that something definite should be known whereby the true line of descent might be traced, and the liability of imposition diminished. Accordingly, the Lord chose out Abraham because of his fidelity, and said to him, " In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed": which seed, Paul says, is Christ. Gal. iii. 16. Abraham, however, had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, from whom two very distinct races of people have descended, it became therefore necessary to know through which of these the promised seed was to be expected: and the Lord said to Abraham,“In Isaac shall thy seed be called." It is again repeated to Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 4, 5; also to Jacob xxviii. 14, of whose twelve sons Judah is marked out, Gen. xlix. 10; and thus on to David. So that in tracing the descent of Jesus we travel up the stream through David, Jacob, Isaac, on to Abraham, beyond which we need not to go, for if we prove him to be the promised seed of Abraham, we prove that in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed, or in other words, "he shall bruise the serpent's head."

J. F.

Query. How did Christ preach to the spirits in prison? 1 Pet. iii. 19; also iv. 6. JAMES DONALSON.

[As we have an answer to this question from the pen of brother Crihfield, a better than which we could not write, we shall here give it in reply to brother Donalson.-J. W.]

I will paraphrase the two places referred to. First, "For Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the spirit; by which" spirit " he went," through the instrumentality of Noah, "a preacher of righteousness, and preached to the spirits in prison." These spirits were in prison and the proclamation was made to them, while formerly they were disobedient-when once the long suffering of God waited for them to reform "in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing." God had decreed that the years of man on the earth should be but "one hundred and twenty." "While the ark was preparing" was the entire space of their prison; and so soon as the ship was finished the whole ungodly race were taken and executed. The word translated prison-phulakee-means confinement. The an

tediluvians were confined within the space of time above

imentioned, which was their prison. That this is the true state of the case is evident from the fact, that they were preached to while in prison and in the days of Noah.

""

Second, "Because for this cause," namely, that Christ is ready to judge the living and the dead, "the gospel was preached to them that are dead, that they might," having heard the gospel while alive, "be judged after" the same manner that " men who are I now in the flesh" and hear the gospel shall be judged. When the gospel was preached to them who are now dead, the object was that they might "live according to God in the Spirit." Had the antediluvians so lived, they would have escaped the signal destruction which overtook them. A. CRIHFIEld.

CONCLUSION.

We have now brought to a close the fifth volume of this work, and we take this opportunity of answering the pressing inquiry of many of our beloved brethren, "Shall you continue"? by saying, it is our intention so to do, God willing. Perhaps this announcement may please some; one thing we do know, it will disappoint many, especially those who predicted when number 2, of vol. I. appeared, it could not live six months.

Those who have read this work will scarcely need to be told that our desire has been to disentangle the laws of Jesus our King, which, if obeyed, bring eternal life, from the vain and profitless traditions of men, which, alas! with the great mass of mankind pass current as the pure truth of heaven. This we say has been our desire; how far this desired object has been effected, cannot yet be told; but if even ten intelligent individuals have been emancipated from the shackles of sectarianism, and have been led to know and obey the truth, so as by IT to be made free, who would not say go on! But we rejoice to know that not ten only, but some scores of tens have, since the Christian Messenger delivered its first message, been brought into this liberty; we therefore take courage, and shall commence another volume, trusting every brother and sister who believes this work calculated to effect this desirable object will aid its circulation to the utmost of their ability.

We wish to encourage and promote freedom of speech and thought on all matters pertaining to the religion of Jesus; providing this liberty shall stop on this side licentiousness, otherwise we cannot promise to follow. Each one has a