to tell his mental agitations, of the sorrows or joys he has experienced, in order to baptism; but that with repentance, and an honest and hearty confession of his belief in the Lord Jesus, he should be baptized for the remission of sins (through the blood of Jesus) and the reception of the Holy Spirit, as declared by Peter on the day of Pentecost. And that believers in Christ, so baptized, should first give themselves to God and to one another for his sake, and choose from among themselves men possessing such qualifications as are pointed out in the scriptures for overseers and servants of the church; and assemble on every first day of the week, if possible, for the social worship of God, and for their own edification by reading the scriptures, preaching, teaching, prayers, praises, exhortations, breaking of bread in commemoration of the Saviour, and contributing according to their ability and the necessities of the congrega.

tion.

And now, brethren, after hearing this brief statement of my views, if you can give me the letter I requested, I should receive it as a favor; but if not, and you think me wrong in any particular, I sincerely desire you would condescend to a feeble sister, and point out wherein in writing, and by scriptural arguments set me right; for I wish above all things to obey Christ and to do his will, and to see my brethren and sisters walking in the truth as it is in him. EMMA REYNOLDS.

February 4, 1830.

The following is an exact copy of the answer to the above letter, written by one of the Deacons of the church, something more than a year after the first was sent to the church:

"Answer to sister Reynolds' Letter.

1st. Of Faith. Faith, you say, comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Granted; but the difference between us seems to be this: You contend that it is the word, written or oral, as the case may be, testifying of the facts concerning Jesus Christ, and believed and followed by obedience, that constitutes the faith necessary for salvation. We contend that the word there spoken of by Paul is the Spirit of God, or the power of God, in giving the hearing ear and the understanding heart, operating, as said the Prophet, "like a refiner's fire," &c. Here it is said by the Apostle to be "Christ the hope of glory" formed in the soul, which is expressed in many ways in the scriptures, such as these, "begotten of God," "begotten unto a lively hope." It is also said to be a new creation-"created anew in Christ," "created unto good works." It is also said to be a quickening-"you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." Hence we contend that it is not a mere persuasion that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but a transforming of the mind and will, which is followed by hearty obedience to the commands and ordinances of the gospel, attended with a reformation of life, love to God and to the church of God, and a spirit of benevolence towards the human family at large. 2d. You say that there is no experience, or, as you term it, "mental agitations of mind," called for in the word of God. The Psalmist David appears to have had some things to tell, for he says, "Draw near unto me, all ye that fear the Lord, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul." We are told also in the word of God, that "as face answers to face in water, so the heart of man to man." We know not how we shall learn that a person's mind is changed from the love of sin to the love of holiness, without manifesting it in words: for we are of opinion we should be more puzzled to find scripture for propounding a person till be shews his sincerity by his works, than we should to shew that they related their feelings while under the operation of the Spirit. And here we would note, lest we should be misunderstood with regard to the order of the gospel, that we believe the operation of the Spirit is absolutely necessary to constitute genuine faith, although the peculiar gift of the Holy Ghost, which caused to speak with tongues, was in one instance received after baptism to wit, the twelve brethren; but at the house of Cornelius it appears

to have been otherwise; for, says Peter, "who can forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we," referring, no doubt, to the day of Pentecost; for it appears from Peter's account of this transaction at the house of Cornelius, that they spake with tongues and prophesied.

3d. Communion every Lord's day seems to be an article with you that cannot be dispensed with. Where you find scripture for such a precept God only knows; for we confess if it is in the word of God, it has escaped our notice; but for expedience' sake we believe the church of Christ ought to have set times for this ordinance, but not so frequent as to make it contemptible; for the observing of days, and times, and ordinances, to the neglect of the more weightier matters of the law-to wit, judgment, mercy, and faith, we conceive would be a wide deviation from the plain and known principles of the gospel.'» Here is another specimen of the spirit of orthodoxy from the cold regions of Vermont. Numerous occurrences of this sort are already before our readers, and many more before us that they never saw nor heard. It is, perhaps, necessary occasionally to remind our readers of what is doing under the influence of sectarianism. I will not offer so great an indignity to the intelligence of the reader, as to make a single remark on the degrees of intelligence in the scriptures, and of devotion to the Saviour and his institutions, exhibited in the letters of this sister and the Deacon. It is a fair average of the times on both sides, and will serve for the meridian of every synagogue, from Vermont to Florida!

EDITOR.

THE HARBINGER PROSCRIBED. NEVER was there a more vigilant, determined, and untiring opposition to any religious paper, published on this continent, as far as we are advised, than at this time to this paper. It has been denounced from the pulpit and the press-by associations, conferences, and councils--and is now persecuted from house to house. Some persons are so beset by the teachers of their own vicinities that they are afraid to be known as subscribers. It is not uncommon for persons to be visited and to be besought and commanded not to take it, by those who are in authority with the people for orthodoxy and piety.. What does this mean? Does it not loudly proclaim the inability of those who proscribe, to refute of those who denounce, to reason against it? He who calls in the aid of the civil magistrate to support orthodoxy, and he that relies upon deerees of councils to sustain his faith, are equally bold, intelligent, and honest guides of public sent ment. The teacher who prohibits his people from reading the Harbinger, may be sincere and zealous, but surely he proclaims his imbecility to refute it. A victory gained over any one in this way, is an honor to the vanquished, and a disgrace to the conqueror, if sense he have to feel it. What hero ever boasted of having conquered a manacled and fettered antagonist? The rejoicings of such are like the joys of the Philistines over Sampson shorn and blind. The joy of the Philistines was but for a moment-Sampson, shorn and blind, overcame the strength and glory of that people. If the friends of reformation, and of free and full discussion, were only half as vigilant, active, and determined as our opponents, each year would count three in the progress of truth and liberty. EDITOR.

NEW SCHISMS

Another Schism in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and one a-forming in the Presbyterian Church of the United States. THE waxing and waning of the moon, the ebbing and flowing of the fides, the rising and setting of the Sun, will as soon be subject to the decrees of synods and councils, as the human mind in this our day and generation. The reign of Sanhedrims over the understanding, conscience, and estates of men, is now in its dotage, or the constitu tional advisers of hierarchs would dissuade them from such folly, But when did hierarchs and tyrants reform, or forego their authority over the persons of men? Of all the Bishops of England, whether present in person, or by proxy, in the late Parliament, but ONE voted for the Reform Bill. Illustrious proof of clerical stability when estates and honors are at stake! The magnetic needle is not truer to the pole, that a churchman's conscience to his god. If all the Parliament of England had been Bishops what sanguine prospects of reform might all Englishmen entertain!

But the citizens must reform the political governments of the world, and the laity must hold the priesthood in good keeping. The clergy will not yield to the growing intelligence of the times. They yet dream that they can wield the same sceptre which their fathers wielded some two centuries ago. Gentlemen, it is utterly impossible. Their subjects are not your subjects, your friends themselves being judges. The spell is broken, and you can neither seal their eyes, their ears, nor their lips.

Every mail brings us intelligence of the shakings of the sects. They, like the sea, cannot rest. Nothing but heaven-descended truth can stand before that mighty spirit which has gone forth.

Ecclesiastical potentates, the rulers of the darkness of this world, vainly imagine that castles, and gates, and bars of iron can confine spirits. If they have not such a conceit, why attempt to stop or oppose that mighty spirit which is every where asking, What is truth? Truth is acknowledged, on all hands, to be mighty; and that spirit which admires it, or is descended from it, must be a mighty spirit. But what can be done by those opposed to reformation but spue out the reformers. They pain the body politic, and must be ejected.

The Presbyterian Church of Scotland, at its last General Assembly, excommunicated no less than four "heretics," after deposing them from their office-Messrs. Irving, M'Clean, Scott, and Campbell, all Ministers of the high Kirk of Scotland. The same church, in these United States, is on the verge of a mighty earthquake. Some are threatened with excommunication; but there are so many "heretics" crept in among the orthodox in this church, in open defiance of the all-penetrating and all-uniting creed of Westminster, that a division of the sect is in contemplation. Several meetings and measures have been resorted to as preparatory to such an event.

The Church of England, where it has no regium donum, nor tithes to unite its ministry, is falling to pieces; and is now, in this country,

upon the eve of an explosion. We all know the history of the Metho dists, Quakers, and Baptists, and what their creeds have done to unite them in opinion and co-operation. But the iron and the clay will not cement. The legs of Daniel's august beast are crumbling, and the stone will soon grind it to powder.

The truth alone will stand; for it alone can stand alone. Error is lame. It wants two crutches-the Pope and the King, or their vicegerents. May the good Lord bless every man who loves his truth, and speed the efforts of all who contend for it according to their measures of light and sincerity! Amen! EDITOR.

NEWS FROM MASON COUNTY, KENTUCKY.

[We solicit correspondence from all those who can give us a history of the progress of reform, as we wish to give summaries for the information of our readers.]

THE following letter, from one of the most indefatigable and successful proclaimers of the apostolic gospel, contains much useful information, besides the pleasing intelligence of the success attendant on the ancient gospel when ably and faithfully exhibited. We hope that both preachers and the brethren generally will profit from the useful hints which it contains:Editor.

Minerva, Mason Co. Ky. Dec. 14, 1831. BROTHER CAMPBELL-BELIEVING that you are at all times pleased to hear of the prosperity of the best of causes-the cause of New Testament truth-- hasten to lay before you some facts, calculated to interest and please 3 ᎤᏘ .

Since the latter part of last July there have been one hundred and thirty persons immersed within the narrow limits of my travels. I say, narrow limits, because I do not deem it expedient, in order to preach the gospel to sinners for their permanent benefit, to travel through a large extent of territory. By doing so, preachers often squander their energies, and do but little good; especially if they immerse persons, and leave t em, without forming them into congregations Besides, the minds of the people must be instructed, to some extent, in the principles o christianity, before they can obey the gospel; and this cannot be done by a teacher who is incessantly upon the wing! I have, for these reasons, confined my travels within very narrow limits; the conse quence of which is that all the above named converts are now members of reforming congregations. With the exception of a few visits to places not very far distant, my labors have, since last Spring, been confined to a part of Mason county, bordering on the Ohio river; and it is within this district that the greater part of these disciples were made. Some, however, were made in Bracken, an adjoining county; and some in Brown county, Ohio.

I have recently visited the reforming congregations in Clinton county, Ohio. They were, I think, with the exception of one small congregation, doing well. This congregation unfortunately retained several mystic spiritualizers, who have given the disciples much trouble by the introduction into the congregation of some customs and doctrines, the inventions of men. Within the bounds of the congregations in Clinton county, about 40 persons have been immersed since last Spring. The disciples break the loaf on every Lord's day, frequently without the aid of a preacher; and also attend to the other duties and privileges of the Lord's house. Several of them, I was informed, begin to speak in their congregations with good effect! May the Lord bless them, and may their labors be a blessing to many.

The principles of reformation contemplated by the New Testament, have, before they can fully take effect, several obstacles to remove; not the least of which is a habit contracted under sectarian systems, of spending the Lord's day improperly: hence it is frequently difficult to persuade the disciples to assemble on every Lord's day. I trust, however, that this bad habit will gradually wear away under the constant friction of truth. It does seem to me to be a fact so obvious, that persons who have good christian feelings, will prefer the house of the Lord on the Lord's day, before all other places, that I cannot, I will not deny myself the privilege of anticipating a period not far distant, when we shall see christians on every Lord's day morning hastening to the Lord's house, and crowding around the Lord's table to celebrate a monument of never-dying love-the death of Jesus! How much more compatible this with their high vocation and with the dignity of the christian character than those pursuits on which many who absent themselves from the house of the Lord place their affections!! There are several congregations in this county (Mason) which break the loaf on every Lord's day.

Your

I was much pleased to see in the 11th No. vol. 2 of the Harbinger, some conclusive arguments against re-baptism. Many of our brethren have been a good deal perplexed with this subject-not knowing whether their first baptismu was valid-having not been baptized expressly for the remission of sins. arguments against re-baptism will, I-trust, be fully satisfactory to those persons. Is it not strange that men of good common sense, not to say high intellectual endowments, cannot understand that persons within the kingdom of Jesus are not to be baptized? "How," say they, "are persons who have been baptized for the remission of sins, to obtain the remission of those sins which they shall commit subsequently to their baptism? Must they not continue to receive remission by subsequent baptisms?" No: the truth of this matter is as easy of apprehension to the unprejudiced, as is any, the most plain proposition! Bap. tism is an institution for remission for those who have never entered the kingdom, and who believe with hearts unto righteousness; but within the kingdom remission is obtained through a confession of our sins unto God. "If we" (christians) "confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” Yours in the good hope,

AYLETT RAINES.

RICHMOND HERALD-NEW DEFINITIONS.

A WRITER in the Religious Herald, Richmond, Va, under date of the 16th December, after saying sundry things at loose ends, without any perceivable regard to language, logic, or the plainest apostolic expressions, thus concludes his dissertation upon horn of water" and "the washing of regeneration:"-"May not," says he, "the expressions born of water and washing of regeneration, washing of water by the word, be each intended to represent the purity of life flowing from the reception of a new spirit given of God through

Christ?"

We shall test his definition by substituting it for the phrase defined, which all men, who know any thing of the laws of interpretation, affirm to be a just and fair test of a definition. The texts referred to will then read, "Except a man be born of purity of life and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." Titus iii. 5. "God has saved us not by purity of life which we had attained, but by purity of life and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." And "he has sanctified the church by purity of life by the word!!" In this way are the readers of the Herald taught the meaning of scriptural phrases.