the subject, that they merely indicate the first principles of one of its departments. But it may please God by them to excite a direct inquiry to rectify misapprehension; and thus, in some small measure, to contribute to that faith in the Spirit of Christ which honoureth him, and which he would honour by making the church once more to manifest HIM as HE manifested the FATHER.

"The Apostle, after directing the Corinthians regarding other matters connected with their worshipping assemblies, commences a new subject at chap. xii. 1 with these words, 'Now, concerning spirituals (vevμatikwv), brethren, I would not have you ignorant.' He then reminds them, verse 2, of the condition of utter alienation from God out of which they had been brought to the light of the Gospel. The third verse of the chapter shews the connexion between this remembrance and the subject on which he is about to instruct them. Wherefore,' says he, (namely, because of the grossness of their former mental habits, and of their ideas regarding Deity), I give you to understand, that no man, speaking in the Spirit of God, called Jesus anathema; and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, except in the Holy Spirit.' These words cannot apply to a man's speaking in the exercise of his natural understanding. Such a man may say that Jesus is Lord, without intending to speak a truth, without knowing the meaning of his words; he may say so with such knowledge, and with such intention, without its being the Holy Spirit, and not he, that speaketh. But for what purpose is the law thus laid down? The same for which John writes (1 John iv. 1), 'Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits;' giving, as Paul does, a great truth, the acknowledgment of which shall be the test of the Spirit. The truth given by John, as a test, is, Jesus Christ come in the flesh, as the Lordship of Jesus is that mentioned by Paul. John introduces this rule with the remark, We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.' It was therefore given, in order that, in a matter so important as the ascertaining that they possessed the earnest of the purchased inheritance, the evidence that God was in them, they might not be deluded by other and hostile spiritual powers. It is not the trial of a man, nor of the disposition of a man, of which either of the Apostles writes; they speak of cases in which it is not doubted that a spirit is present, and they direct to means of determining whether that spirit be indeed the Lord's. The rest of that chapter (1 Cor. xii.) being occupied with the doctrine that there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; with the description of these gifts, and the completeness of Christ's body, as constituted by this unity in this diversity; it is closed with

"* See v. 10. See also on this great subject Eph. iv. 4-16."

the exhortation zealously to desire the best gifts; reminding them, at the same time, that something is still better,-charity, the end of the commandment; charity, which eternity shall never leave out of date; while prophecies, while tongues, while knowledge, shall serve their temporary purposes, and, when that which is perfect is come, shall vanish away. As, however, the exhortation to follow the best gifts served but to introduce the higher commendation of charity, so now from the supremacy of charity he returns to the value of those gifts, and the duty of earnestly seeking them. They are now (I Cor. xiv. 1) called TVενμаTIKα, spirituals, as the twelfth chapter introduced them under the same title. This is important, as shewing that some things are spirituals, in a sense in which charity is not a spiritual; and as therefore leading to inquire into the distinguishing characteristics of those gifts, which causes the appropriation of this name to them. In the first verse, he exhorts them to prefer prophecy to other spiritual gifts. This accords with two enumerations contained in chap. xii., vers. 28 and 29, in both of which prophets are mentioned next to apostles; while in the twentyeighth verse the apostolic gift is said to be, emphatically, "prov, the first, and the prophetic, devrεPOV, the second.

"In vers. 2 and 3 of chap. xiv. he assigns the reason for the preference of this gift (probably including also that of teaching, see chap. xii. 28) to the gift of tongues. It is, because a man speaking in a tongue does not speak to man, for none understands him, although in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

"This is the character of the gift of tongues taken by itself. It is not speaking to men. It is not intelligible to men (v.3); and accordingly, in chap. xii. ver. 10, the interpretation of tongues is mentioned as a gift distinct from that of kinds of tongues, and bestowed (aλλ) upon a different person. And in this consists the superiority of prophesying: it is speaking to men, to edification, to exhortation, and comfort. Verse 4, He that speaks with tongues edifieth himself;' and again, in verse 5, interpretation is mentioned as necessary in order to tongues edifying the church; in a form of expression which shews the perfect distinctness of the two gifts, tongues and interpretations. Verses 6, 7, 8, confirm the evidence of the insufficiency of the former gift in itself to edify, that is, to build up in knowledge; and in ver. 9 he tells them, that they speak to the air in speaking by this gift unintelligible words. The practical principle on which he reasons with them is stated in ver. 12, that in their zeal for spiritual gifts the object ought to be the edifying of the church: the conclusion is, that he who possesses this gift of tongues should pray for the distinct and additional gift of interpretation (ver. 13). The reason follows in ver. 14, in these remarkable words: If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth,

but my mind (vec) is without the fruit thereof (akaρrоç).' He would therefore desire (ver. 15) to add to prayer and to singing with the Spirit, the other gift of prayer and singing with the mind. In vers. 16 and 17 a new instance is given of the unfruitfulness of the gift of tongues, considered by itself. In ver. 19 he avers his preference of the power of uttering five words (dia Te voos) through his own mind (that is, with the intelligence and sympathy of his mind joined to that which was uttered by the foreign spiritual power, and which might have been uttered entirely without his sympathy or intelligence), to the uttering ten thousand words merely by the gift of tongues.

"It is hoped that the following verses, 22-25, will be found intelligible by any one who understands the principles deduced from the former part of the chapter-namely, that, in spiritual gifts, the Spirit is a power distinct from the mind, including in the latter the intelligence and sympathy of him who exercises the gift; that the gift of tongues is an illustration of this principle in a peculiar manner, being, when considered in itself, the Spirit's utterance, through the organs of a man, of a language which he understands not, and which it requires another gift (whether resident in himself or in another person) to convey the sense of to the hearers; and that while the Spirit may thus act through a man, leaving his mind unfruitful (v. 14), the Spirit may also act (dia Tov voos) through the mind;' that is, with the intelligence and sympathy of him who possesses the gift.

"The 25th verse represents the church as fulfilling the end of her being, when men, beholding her gifts, are made to worship God, and report that God is in her of a truth. This accords with our Saviour's declaration to the Samaritan woman, that the temple worship of Jerusalem, as well as of Mount Gerizzim, should cease, when the true worshippers worshipped the Father in spirit and in truth: this is marked as a change, as a crisis, by his expression, the hour cometh, and now is' (John iv. 23). The hour having come, the Apostle addresses the church as the temple of the living God, the temple of the Holy Ghost. In her were men to see God; as our Lord saith (Matt. v. 16), 'that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. In her was the world to see the authority of Christ, according to the words of his prayer (John xvii. 21—23), That they all may be one; as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.' In her, as the Apostle here shews us, the world was to worship a present God;

the gift received for men being that the Lord God should dwell amongst them; the church being that living temple which Solomon's prefigured, and in which his dedication prayer should have been fulfilled.

"In ver. 26 the Apostle rebukes them for the disorderly exercise of their gifts; proving, in addition to what has been already stated, that the possession of power divinely communicated by no means implied Divine wisdom in the use of it. From ver. 27 to the end of the chapter he is occupied in laying down rules for an orderly and profitable use of the gifts: first, requiring that tongues should be accompanied with interpretation; and if no interpreter were present, that the possessor of the gift should keep silence. Verses 29-33 inclusive, relate to the exercise of prophecy, and are chiefly remarkable as containing the principle, that the spirits, the inspiring divine power of the prophets, are subject to the prophets-i. e. do not act upon them by compulsion, or take from them their responsibility as to the manner and occasion of exercising their gifts;-the remainder of the chapter reminding them that God is not the God of confusion, but of peace, and requires accordingly that all things be done decently and in order.

"It is manifest, that, when God does vouchsafe to his church the restoration of her original endowment, any obstinate error regarding the nature of the gift of the Holy Ghost will be a fatal obstacle to our recognising His appearance. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.'

Having seen what was the mode in which the Spirit was manifested in the commencement of this dispensation, we are better prepared to examine into the revival of this manifestation which is said to have taken place in the west of Scotland. And the first point to be ascertained is, whether any thing supernatural at all has really taken place; and, secondly, the character

of it.

With regard to the first point, there is some difficulty, at this distance, of obtaining accurate evidence to satisfy ourselves; and still more difficulty, even if we were satisfied, in communicating the grounds of our decision to the reader, because the validity of the evidence must greatly depend upon the character of the witness; and further, because we are not justified in publishing the names of the parties from whom much of our information has been derived. A letter, however, has appeared in the London newspapers, copied from a Scotch paper, which we believe to be genuine, and therefore there can be no impropriety in re-printing it here.

"Letter from Mary Campbell, to the Rev. John Campbell, of Row, dated Fernicary, 4th April.

"My dear servant of the Lord Jesus Christ,-In attempting

to state to you the circumstances connected with my being raised up, I feel my need of being dwelt in by the Holy Ghost, yea, mightily dwelt in, in order to enable me to give unto the Lord the glory due to his great name, for so glorious a manifestation of his power and love.

"On the Saturday previous to my restoration to health, I was very ill, suffering from pain in my chest and breathlessness. On the Sabbath, I was very ill, and lay for several hours in a state of insensibility, but was considerably relieved towards the evening; in answer, I have no doubt, to the prayers of some dear Christian friends, who were with me. About eight o'clock, the Lord began to pour down his Spirit copiously upon us (for they had all by this time assembled in my room for the purpose of prayer). This downpouring continued till about ten o'clock, when I felt so strengthened, by the mighty power of God, as to be able to walk through the room several times. So long as I exercised faith in the almighty power of God, I felt my strength increase; as it is said, Be it unto thee according to thy faith.' But I soon began to think of my own weakness, and, losing sight of the power of God, felt returning pain and feebleness. Next day I was worse than I had been for several weeks previous (the agony of Saturday excepted). On Tuesday I was no better. On Wednesday I did not feel quite so languid, but was suffering some pain from breathing and palpitation of my heart. Two individuals, who saw me about four hours before my recovery, said, that I would never be strong; that I was not to expect a miracle to be wrought upon me; and that it was quite foolish, in one who was in such a poor state of health, even to speak or to think of going to the heathen. I told them that they would see and hear of miracles very soon. And no sooner were they gone, than I was constrained of the Spirit to go and ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, to stretch forth his hand to heal, and that mighty signs and wonders might again be done in the name of his holy child Jesus. The thing I was enabled to ask in faith, doubting nothing, which was, that next morning I might have some miracle to inform them of. It was not long after until I received dear brother James Macdonald's letter, giving an account of his sister's being raised up, and commanding me to rise and walk. I had scarcely read the first page, when I became quite overpowered, and laid it aside for a few minutes; but I had no rest in my mind until I took it up again, and began to read. As I read, every word came home with power, and when I came to the command to arise, it came home with a power which no words can describe; it was felt to be indeed the voice of Christ; it was such a voice as could not be resisted; a mighty power was instantaneously exerted upon me: I just felt as if I had been lifted from off the earth, and all my diseases taken