Your Brother,

ABRAM C. SMITH.

Meriden, Conn., January 13, 1837.

Dear Brother Noyes :-. . . Waiting on God, and acting in obedience to the leadings of his spirit is with me a practical matter. It is my business, and my whole business. Though I have been out of work for some days, I have been busy in watching the motion of the needle. If you know of fifty dollars that can be had, or of any business that is appropriate, I should like to hear from you.

Yours in the gospel of Jesus Christ,

DAVID HARRISON.

Putney, January 15, 1837.

Dear Brother :-"Though the vision tarry long, wait for it; it will come." I need not tell you why I have delayed writing so long, and why I am yet in the same circumstances as when we were together, save that I am out of debt. You understand the seeming coquetry of our Beloved, and know the terms on which I trust Him. I thank God that I have the same confidence for you as for myself.

After we parted I went to New York with a view to finding employment or the means in some way of refunding the money borrowed at New Haven and of assisting you. I was led, however, to Newark, and compelled (you know how) to spend several months with Brother Smith, pursuing the same train of thought and discussion which I commenced with you. Many times I inquired of the Lord if I might not go to work, or write to you, and as often the answer was:

"Be quiet; he that believeth shall not make haste." I came to this place in November, and am wintering at my father's on such terms as you may suppose must exist between me and an unbeliever, receiving friendly treatment as a man but not known as a son of God and a brother of the saints.

On receipt of your letter I made inquiries of a machinist in this place, who is also a disciple, concerning employment for you. He thinks he will be in a condition to employ several persons in the spring, but not at present. There is an augur factory in Chesterfield, a town adjoining this, but I have had no opportunity of learning their occasions for work. I sent a

The present winter is doubtless a time of sore tribulation to many. I see the saints "laying off and on" like the distressed ships at the entrance of New York harbor waiting for pilots; and I would advise them all, if I could, to make a bold push and "run in" at all events. For one I have passed the Hook. My soul is moored with an anchor sure and steadfast, the anchor of Hope; and I am willing to do what I can as a pilot to others. Yea, I will lay down my life for the brethren, and God has made me "mighty to save." But, you know, a pilot must have the helm, and I find few who are willing to give their vessels into the hands of such a stripling. And I desire not that they should, until that stripling is manifestly declared to be the right hand of the Son of God. As necessity is the mother of invention, so it is the mother of faith. I therefore rejoice in the necessity which will ere long work full confidence in God-such confidence as will permit him to save his people "in a way they have not known."

Write, if you wish to hear from me.

Yours in the Lord,

J.H. NOYES.

I returned from Newark to Putney in November 1836, and remained at my father's during the following winter. At this time I commenced in earnest the enterprise of repairing the disasters of Perfectionism, and establishing it on a permanent foundation; not by preaching and stirring up excitement over a large field, as we had done at the beginning, nor by laboring to reorganize and discipline broken and corrupted regiments, as I had done at Prospect, but by devoting myself to the patient instruction of a few simple-minded, unpretending believers chiefly belonging to my father's family. I had now come to regard the quality of the proselytes of holiness as more important than their quantity; and the quality which I preferred was not that meteoric brightness which I had so often seen miserably extinguished, but sober and even timid honesty. This I found in the little circle of believers at Putney; and the Bible school, which I commenced among them in the winter of 1836-7, proved to be to me and to the cause of holiness the beginning of better days.

Late in the fall of 1836 John returned to Putney.

It required more courage at that time to profess salvation from sin than it does now. Harriet, George and I, though called Perfectionists, had never made

John is much the same. Sometimes I think he has perhaps done all his work in the way of preaching; at others I think he will preach the everlasting gospel with a power greater than anything he has yet done. I have some interesting conversation with him, but my long discipline only proves that like the law he can enlighten and condemn, but cannot give peace to the troubled mind nor renew and purify the heart.

If you think it best, will you not with your disciples

Putney, January 1837.

Dear Mrs. Crawford :-In consequence of some things that were said and feelings that were excited at our late interview I think I am led to write to you, and sketch down some of the operations through which God has been pleased to make me pass since.

The manner and power, with which John spoke to me and produced such a sensation in all, I believe, who were present, were but a small specimen of what I have been through quite a number of times both last winter and this. It was the distress and conflict which he saw the necessity of my case required, and the feelings of nature and flesh, that so preyed upon his spirits last winter and at last made him quit and run away. For myself I would be like "a bird shot down," with scarcely the breath of life in me sometimes for a day or two, and then by the subsequent seeking for help from God come to a better spirit, and we would be quite happy and in good fellowship till my puffing would require another reproof.

Last Sunday his rebuke produced in me a feeling

The contest with my feelings was kept up all the afternoon not to think hard of John; but at length my only fears were that his feelings might retort, and he be induced to take back something. But I found I had no reason for any fears of this kind, for I knew

it. And indeed the firmness which he has manifested on all such occasions is to me one of the strongest evidences that he is of the Lord. "Cursed is he that doeth the Lord's work deceitfully; cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from blood," said the prophet.

In the evening John came upstairs, Morgan with him. By his manner it was plain he had some doubts whether I would receive him. He said he wished to have something more decisive, and in the presence of those there he would make some propositions to me for that purpose. (These I will give you another time.) When I told him what my feelings were toward him, he said: "That's good." We had a long and interesting talk upon things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and all were affected, and all expressed our feelings in prayer and supplication with thanks-giving to God.

Putney, January 1837.

Dear Mrs. Noyes :-I feel to thank you much for your communication to me yesterday. I was deeply interested in the account of your experience the past week. The rebukes you received in my presence last Sunday I took to myself. I felt that I was altogether without the wedding garment, and that I could not bear the scrutinizing gaze of the master of the feast. I feel that I need rebukes, or something more powerful than I have had, to stimulate me and to bring me

Putney, January 10, 1837.

This is the glorious gospel of the blessed God, that it brings us into a living union with the living God, makes us one with Christ and "sons of God without rebuke." That I know all this as experimentally as some do, I do not say. I have believed, and therefore have I spoken. I say to you frankly, that I believe John has received the "glorious gospel"

-that a testimony has already gone forth from him, which will shake the church and the world-that God is preparing him to go forward with the testimony-and that this confession of Christ, which receives him as a Savior from sin and all evil, will be the test which will separate the righteous from the wicked. Already do I see plain indications that a separation of spirit is taking place between those who receive this doctrine and those who reject it. . . . The time, I believe, is not far distant, when Christians will not be judged by the same rule as those that have gone before. If we have more light and higher motives set before us, we must act consistently with that light. Forgetting the things that are behind we must press forward toward the prize 0f the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. . . . I know that the dearest earthly relations will be dissolved and every interest and worldly attachment converged into one common mass. Like the children of one common family the children of God will have no exclusive interests.

Putney, March 15, 1837.

Dear Mrs. Crawford :-John left us this morning for Chesterfield. From there he expects to go to Lowell, Andover, Boston, perhaps New York. He left us with very different feelings from what he did last spring. He seems quite satisfied with his winter's work, fully believing he will see an abundant fruit of his labors. He left much in charge for the church (as he calls it here), that we hold fast our profession and truly seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness. .

Though I cannot yet say that I have that inward testimony, which seems and no doubt is the only thing that cm give perfect peace and righteousness, yet I feel as if I were fed, as it were, day by day with the heavenly manna.

Westminster, June 15, 1837.

Dear Mrs. Crawford :-. . . I joyed to hear of Mrs. Williams, that she was still keeping her face Zionward, (I feel assured God will manifest himself to such, even though they wait long), of our friends of East Putney, that they increase with the increase of God, of John, of Mrs. Hayes, (her child-like spirit is lovely), and of yourself, dear Mrs. Crawford, although your advance may not be perceptible to you. From the very fact that it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God bath prepared for those who love him, it is not to be expected that at first sight we should recognize this

If the Lord wills, I would see your face. I would be used b57 him as a means of exciting you to strive earnestly for the faith delivered to the saints; and for this purpose I would joyfully give you a detail of my progress in truth, or something that might be useful to Mrs. Williams. But when I attempt it, I can only say that I am becoming a fool in what the world calls wisdom; I am becoming rude and savage in what is termed politeness and refinement. I am devoid of all feeling in the eyes of those who love kindred and friends more than God. I am a blasphemer to the Pharisee. In short my path lies directly across the world's.

Yours in love,

H.A. HOLTON.

This crucial winter of 1836-7 Joanna spent at Chesterfield, New Hampshire, visiting in the home of her older sister, Mary Mead. Just after Harriet, Charlotte and George made their public profession of salvation from sin she wrote the following note to her mother:

Chesterfield, February 10, 1837.

Dear Mother :-. . . I do not know when I shall be at home; perhaps sometime in March. I should like to see you all very much, but do not expect we should agree exactly in sentiment, and perhaps it is as well on the whole for all of us that I am away. I can not get much out of George. Tell Harriet I could not discover perfection in her note. I hope you are all right, but think it possible you may be deceived. .

Love to all. Your affectionate daughter,

JOANNA.
 

About the middle of March, as he was leaving home for an extended trip, Noyes went to Chesterfield and called on Mary and Joanna. Of his interview Charlotte says:

"From Mary he met no opposition, and nothing

'You cannot think how I love myself!' The conversion of this beloved sister was a joyful surprise to us, and brought wonder and dismay to the church in Putney of which she was a member and to a large circle of worldly friends.

Soon after this Joanna returned to her home in New Haven. During the few weeks of her stay with us she gave evidence of a genuine change of spirit. She met in the circle of believers in Putney a young woman who had formerly been haughty and ambitious like herself. As leaders and rivals in society there had been something like jealousy and coldness between them. But now the power of truth had swept away their pride, and love and humility had taken its place. One of the first things Joanna did was by confession of her fault to seek and obtain reconciliation with this woman."

New York, May 4, 1837.Dear Sister Joanna -Your letter came to hand this morning, and I assure you it was more valuable to me than the money it contained, although I had just spent my last sixpence. I am persuaded that your reconciliation to the gospel of salvation from sin will finally reconcile you to my conduct; and I commend you most hopefully to God and to the word of his grace for a knowledge of the way of truth without the least concern for your views of my character. I doubt not that I am as great a wonder to myself as I am to you, and the time has been when I was ready to murmur at the Lord's dealings with me, because I understood them not. It seemed as if he had determined to make me as hateful as possible in the eyes of the world. My best apology for the offense I have given you and others is this: During the past three years I have not been my own master. The God, whose I am and whom I serve, is the proper respondent to every accusation against me. To me he has fully justified himself in respect to my works, and in due time I know he will satisfy every honest mind. I cannot now attempt a vindication of myself, for a big book would not suffice for such an undertaking. I will only say that in my own consciousness I am the reverse of a false prophet, a sheep in wolf's clothing.

Joanna, I love your masculine, independent temperament; only give it full scope by setting the whole world at naught for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and you and I will yet be happy together. But oh, beware of pride, self-will, independence in

Yours truly,

J.H. NOYES.

I think there is an increasing interest here, especially in the family. Joanna has written to John. Her views are perfectly congenial with his. . . . In a meeting last evening at Lydia's Mr. Morgan said it seemed to him perfectly absurd that he should ever commit

Putney, May 25, 1837.

Dear Harriet -"There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." I have lately experienced something of this joy. A week ago this evening some dear friends spent an hour or two with me, among whom was Mrs. Hayes.* She appeared to be very desirous of learning the truth, and very teachable. The Lord gave me strength to communicate with her as I had never done with any one before. I felt that she would soon be delivered from bondage, and for two or three days I was filled with such joy that I did not know what it meant. On Sunday evening we met at my brother James's. Mrs. Hayes came in, and confessed Christ a whole Savior, and she now testifies that she cannot sin, because she is born of GOD. I know not why it is, but I can see her spirit as I never have that of any other person. She is indeed lovely.

New Haven, July 26, 1837.

My dear Friends -If you have received Samuel's letter, it will not be necessary for me to apologize for my long silence, but you will have learned that I have been sick, and will readily excuse me. .

I should like to tell you something what my feelings have been during my sickness with regard to that

That is, Joanna.-G. W. N.

I have neither seen nor heard anything of John. I hope, if you do, you will write me. I am sure he has one friend who will never leave nor forsake him. Let us comfort ourselves with that. .

Yours affectionately,

JOANNA HAYES.

New Haven, August 17, 1837.

Dear Sister :-. . We have had a delightful excursion to Saratoga. . . . My health is perfectly restored. They seem to be going on from strength to strength at Putney in Perfectionism. I hardly know where I am. What are you thinking about it now? Oh, for light and guidance! . .

Yours affectionately,

JOANNA HAYES.

New Haven, August 21, 1837.My dear Friends -I hope you do not think, because I write so seldom, that I do not remember you. I assure you, if you do harbor such a thought, you are very much mistaken, for I do not know that I ever thought of you more than I have this summer, or felt a greater desire to see you and to know what you were doing and thinking. I dream about you almost every night, and often and often in imagination look in upon you, sitting in that "Prophet's chamber," reading the Bible, or conversing upon the amazing truths revealed in it, or in some other way improving the time. And do you not think I should like to join you? I should indeed, and when I think of it, the scenes in which I am engaged here lose much of their interest in comparison.

I wrote you something about my exercises when I was sick. I have felt much the same since. I cannot find within me that assurance of being free from sin that I experienced before I left home; but I do not give up the hope that I shall again feel as I did then. I do believe that the true children of God may attain to perfect holiness, and that some have already done so, and that the time is coming when all will. But whether we are to wait for his time or not, I do not know. It seems to me that, when the kingdom of God is come on earth, those who are sincere in their search for the truth will come out strong and unmoved by everything within and without that can assail them; that they will be upheld by the power of God and be kept in perfect peace.

I heard or saw nothing of John. Do you know anything about him? We stopped at the Astor House in New York, and while I was enjoying its splendors I could not but think that John might be in the city without a place to lay his head.

Love to all. Yours affectionately,

JOANNA.

 In less than a month after writing this letter Joanna sailed with her husband to the West Indies. Her departure was sudden and unexpected, and the prospect of leaving her beloved home, perhaps forever, and going to live in a distant and dangerous climate caused her to look earnestly to God for direction. On the morning she sailed she opened her Bible at random, and this passage met her eye: "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." "This," said she, "is my promise!"

During the long voyage she was in fine health and spirits. Arriving at Trinidad she and her husband were happy in the prospect of living together at last in their own home. A bad fever was raging in the

About the middle of March 1837 Noyes again set forth in knight-errant style to look after the interests of the cause in other fields.

Newark, N. J., March 30, 1837.

Dear Mother :-The course and end of my journey were according to my expectations. . . . At Boston I called at the antislavery office, and found Garrison, Stanton, Whittier and other choice spirits warmly engaged in a dispute about political matters. I heard them quietly, and when the meeting broke up I introduced myself to Garrison. He spoke with great interest of The Perfectionist; said his mind was heaving on the subjects of holiness and the kingdom of heaven, and he would devote himself to them as soon as he could get antislavery off his hands. I spoke to him especially on the subject of government, and found him, as I expected, ripe for the loyalty of heaven.

In my passage from Providence to New York God gave me a view of his wonders in the mighty ocean. We started in a storm, which became so furious that we were forced to lie still at Newport six hours.

After two days' contention with the waters we arrived safely at New York. Next day I came to this place, and directly found myself again exposed to the mercy of God in a new way. A malignant attack of scarlet fever, which is at work in this place, threatened to prostrate me. While my throat was sore I took nothing but cold water in my mouth. By the faithful application of this I soon put out the fire in that quarter; then I drank milk and ate oranges and oysters, as I had an appetite. When the fever burned I soaked my feet in cold water, and when it was hottest I stripped myself and washed my whole body in cold water. So the fire was soon extinguished, and thank God I am now at the end of a week better than I was before. I walked the streets every day, though I was thin as a shadow, and pursued my studies as usual. I am glad I was not at home on this occasion, as I have reason to believe that you would have been frightened and nervous. But I shall teach you in due time to laugh at diseases and so conquer them. The same God who cured me of the pestilence shall be honored in my recovery from every blow of him that

Mr. Smith is about moving his family up the North River. I shall remain with him a day or two longer, and then go where the door opens. Probably I shall remain in this region till after the May anniversaries. I am sweetly exposed to the mercy of God in respect to money matters, and shall be till the spirit of the Day of Pentecost reigns in the world. "They that wait on the Lord shall not be confounded world without end."

Finney, who has been corresponding with some of the brethren here, sent for and received the whole of The Perfectionist. He and Leavitt thought at first they would write against it, but concluded to let it alone.

New York is heaving on the subject of holiness and of money. As money goes down, holiness goes up. This great people among whom I circulate is full of the elements of heaven and hell. Those elements cannot long remain together. Heaven must begin on earth soon or hell will. Thanks be to God the event is not doubtful.

Write, if you please, to this place. Yours,

J.H. NOYES.

During the spring and summer of 1837 there was an unmistakable drift toward conciliation between the Perfectionists as represented by Noyes and the church and reform leaders. Noyes on his part made overtures to Gerrit Smith, and even went so far as to offer

A few days after his interview with Garrison Noyes wrote him as follows:

"You said your mind was heaving on certain momentous subjects, and you only waited to set antislavery in the sunshine before you turned your mind toward those subjects. Allow me to suggest that you will set antislavery in the sunshine only by making it tributary to holiness; and you will most assuredly throw it into the shade which now covers Colonization, if you suffer it to occupy the ground in your own mind or in others' which ought to be occupied by universal emancipation from sin. All the abhorrence which now falls upon slavery, intemperance, lewdness and every other species of vice will in due time be gathered into one volume of victorious wrath against sin. I wait for that time as for the day of battle, regarding all the previous movements as only fencing-schools or at best as the preliminary skirmishes which precede a general engagement. I counsel you and the people that are with you, if you love the post of honor, the forefront of the hottest battle of righteousness, to set your faces toward perfect holiness. Your station is

J.H. NOYES."

Soon after receiving this communication Garrison read extracts from it at a public meeting in Rhode Island, and spoke favorably of its sentiments; and on October 20th, 1837, he published it in The Liberator, omitting only Noyes's signature. The impression made by Noyes's visit and letter may be seen in the following paragraph from a letter which Garrison wrote a few weeks later to H. C. Wright:

"I shall endeavor, Deo volente, to be in New York the week preceding the anniversary meeting. If we can find time, we will then freely interchange our religious views. My own are very simple, but they make havoc of all sects, and rites, and ordinances of the priesthood of every name and order. Let me utter a startling assertion in your ear. There is nothing more offensive to the religionists of the day than practical holiness; and the doctrine that total abstinence from sin in this life is not only commanded but necessarily obtainable they hate with a perfect hatred, and stigmatize entire freedom from sin as a delusion of the devil! Nevertheless, 'He that is born of God cannot commit sin,' 'He that committeth sin is of the devil.'

While in New York at this time Noyes heard a discourse by Charles G. Finney, the evangelist, which indicated openness of mind on the subject of salvation from sin, and wrote him a brief note in reference to it. Mr. Finney replied:

"New York, April 3, 1837.

"Dear Brother Noyes -I have this moment received and read your letter, and thank you for it. I have often heard of you, and of your extravagances of course. But, precious brother, I have learned not to be frightened if it is rumored that anyone has received any light which I have not myself. You speak as if you thought it doubtful whether I would correspond with such an one as you. Now it is true that I have supposed from report that you carried some of your views too far, but whether this is true or false I should consider it a great privilege to possess myself thoroughly of your views. My engagements are such that I cannot enter into anything like a lengthy correspondence with any one; but it would give me extreme pleasure to see and converse with you. I have inquired after you this winter, but have not been able to learn where you were. You are well acquainted with my beloved brother Boyle. I had hoped to see him, and have a full explanation of his views, but believe that he has gone west. I am expecting to leave the city in a short time, i.e. a week from

"I think I am anxiously inquiring after truth; and although I am at last aware that I need and can have but one teacher, yet it would be a great satisfaction to me to hear from your own lips 'what thou thinkest, for as concerning this way, I know that it is every-where spoken against.' You have had time to weigh and turn over and over your past experience and have, I hope, candor enough to declare the whole truth in regard to the present state of your feelings and views. I have heard so often, and as I supposed so correctly, that you had been deranged, that I have believed it. I do not mean that I supposed you are so now, but that your first excitement upset you, and drove you into some extravagances. Now brother, I should like in the warmth of Christian love to converse this matter over with you, and learn whether you have discovered any hidden rocks on the coast, and dangerous quicksands upon which an inexperienced navigator is in danger of falling. I have no fear of the doctrine of holiness-perfect, instantaneous. perpetual holiness: and know full well that like justification sanctification is to be received by faith, and that we are as much at liberty and as much bound 'to reckon ourselves dead unto sin' as unto damnation.

'I am reading as occasion offers The Perfectionist, a copy of which I have by me. I suppose that contains your views. I have as yet read but little for want of time, and must defer my further perusal of it until

"Your brother,

"C. G. FINNEY."

"Immediately upon the receipt of this letter," says Noyes, "I went to New York and had an interview of several hours with Mr. Finney. He received my conversation in the spirit which his letter manifests, and I rejoice that I have an opportunity of publicly testifying that the candor and kindness of his behavior toward me was surpassingly beautiful and refreshing. In the course of our conversation he bore witness repeatedly and with warmth that he perceived in me no indications of insanity, and I left him with a reanimated hope of gaining for myself and for the gospel which I preach that public confidence without which testimony is powerless. I regarded him as the representative of a large and prominent body of professing Christians, and his letter as an expression of friendship and a demand for testimony not merely from an individual but from the most efficient, if not the most numerous division of the American church."

Still another indication of the drift of influential sentiment at this time toward Perfectionism came to light years afterward, when the letters of the Beecher familv were published. In 1837 Lyman Beecher was President of the Lane Theological Seminar)', and the recognized dean of American ministers; and his sons and daughters, all of exceptional ability, were engaged in pastoral and literary work in different parts of the

"Brother George's Perfectionism is a curious matter, and lies in a nutshell. That a Christian can be perfect is evident, else God commands impossibilities. Whether they ever are or not, who can decide? Does a man think himself perfect? Amen. I hope he is not mistaken. So long as he behaves well, let him pass for immaculate. If he does not behave properly, he deceives himself. If you ask, 'Have I attained,' I say, Ask God. The more you try to decide, and the nearer you come to an affirmative, the more probable Is it you are deceived. The heart is deceitful; who can know it?"

"I wish, George, you could be here a while and help me. . . . We have grown almost strangers to each other since you groped off to Rochester, and I would fain have some of our long talks again. As to Perfectionism, I am not greatly troubled with the fact of it in myself, or the doctrine of it in you; for I feel sure that, if you give yourself time and prayer, you will settle down right, whatever the right may be; and I rejoice on this account, that your judgment has led

"Dear Brother George :-As to Perfectionism, Brother Charles ' 'spresses my mind 'xactly,' and I trust you will duly appreciate the patriarchal, paternal, grandfatherly, and most judicious counsel of Brother Henry. Brother Charles's advice as to faith, and Brother Henry's as to works on this perfection matter are just the thing according to the best judgment of your dutiful brother."

"I am quite amused with the sympathy of all my brothers, and their fatherly advice touching Perfectionism, as if I were on the verge of a great precipice; hut I trust in Him that is able to keep me from falling."

On his return to Newark after his interview with Finney, Noyes was sought out and given the right hand of fellowship by Beman, author of a widely-read book entitled The Kingdom of God at Hand, and by William Green, an intimate associate of Finney and husband of the editress of The Advocate of Moral Reform. A few days later Green invited him to his house in New York, and gave him a happy home for several weeks. All these evidences of friendship

 This candid and friendly attitude on the part of Garrison, Finney and others in the spring of 1837, as well as the successful formation the preceding winter of a substantial Perfectionist church at Putney in spite of the prevailing anti-organization ideas, brought Noyes to the opinion that the time was ripe for a new forward move. Accordingly on the 20th of August in that year we find him at Ithaca, New York, issuing the first number of a periodical called The Witness. This proved to be the beginning of a series of publications under various titles extending through more than forty years.

I was led into this region by many singular and manifest tokens of God's will. I had long desired to traverse the central and western parts of New York, because I regarded them as the birth-place of many of the mightiest moral and political movements of the times in which we live. Yet I had never found a fit occasion for the visit, and was waiting for an introduction. Soon after my residence with Mr. Green in New York City Jarvis Rider, a young man from Deruyter, Madison County, New York, came to my boarding-house desiring conversation with me. We

The Witness will be published in the form and style of which this paper is a sample. Its character will correspond to its title. I present myself before the Court which shall hear and try my testimony not as an editorial adventurer or a volunteer champion, but as a simple witness for the truth, summoned by the subpoena and bound by the oath which God administers to all who speak in his name: to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in relation to the great controversy between him and the human race. .

And now, beloved reader, I ask you not to become a subscriber to this paper for my sake. I look to God and not to my subscription list for support and countenance. "The laborer is worthy of his hire," but he should be paid by his employer, not by his fellow-servants. . . . I have so fully proved the faithfulness of my employer, that I have not the least anxiety about the future either in respect to my spiritual or temporal necessities. . . . As a witness I can promise for the amount of my testimony, because I know how long a story I have to tell; but I cannot promise as to times and seasons, because I must testify not at such regular intervals as I or my readers may wish, but at such times as the Court shall order. As God is a just judge, I know he will never order me to testify without giving me the means. Whenever therefore my means fail, I receive an order to keep silence. But I am fully determined to give my subscribers sooner or later

As a lover of Jesus Christ I am bound to serve his people, not indeed with self-defeating officiousness but with self-sacrificing promptness. I shall therefore take for granted at a venture that there are many who, like Mr. Finney, "have no fear of the doctrine of holiness, perfect, instantaneous, perpetual holiness." who would "like in the warmth of Christian love to converse this matter over," though they have not yet professed the attainment. To such as thus "have an ear to hear" I offer my service with a joyful willingness to communicate whatsoever I have learned about the "rocks and quicksands of the coast" by several years of perilous and stormy experience.

I confess I have long anticipated and desired the ministry upon which I am now entering. But especially since the publication of The Perfectionist ceased, I have sought the opportunity which is now presented

[Here follows a list containing twenty titles.] For these alone I am responsible; these contain at least a skeleton of my present views; by these I am willing that my qualifications for the present undertaking should be judged. .

From what has been said it will be perceived that the object of the present publication is twofold, first to meet the demands of those who are honestly inquiring the "way of holiness," and then to combat the errors of those who "hold the truth in unrighteousness."

The Witness will not be confined in the scope of its discussions within the limits usually occupied by religious periodicals. I shall regard none of the topics which may properly interest the human mind as forbidden ground. I have long traversed unshackled the broad field of universal truth, and have learned to scale or trample down the fences with which that field has been disfigured by scientific fools. As an inhabitant and with others a joint proprietor of the universe,

"In that day shall the deaf hear the word of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off, that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought." Isaiah 29: 18-21.

I set this passage at the head of my paper, that I may as far as possible forestall and prevent offenses. I know that the meek and the poor in spirit will find in the past and following pages food convenient for them; and I know with equal certainty that such as watch for iniquity and are disposed to make a man an offender for a word will find fatal stumbling-blocks. To the first I bid a welcome to the joy which God has

Incontinent benevolence is, in my view, the cause of a great part of the sufferings of the saints. I mean that kind of benevolence which cannot scrutinize and reject the flatteries of hypocrites, which shrinks from inflicting the just penalty of guilt, which hopes where hope is vain and therefore injurious, which would fain love righteousness without hating iniquity. This has been the chief cause of my sufferings. By reason of ignorance and false education I have suffered my heart to bleed for reprobates, till I was almost too weak to do any good to God's people. Such benevolence accomplishes nothing but the desolation of its subjects. It is a breach in the spirit, by which the heart's blood is poured out not a sacrifice unto God, but a libation to that mother of abominations, who is described as being "drunk with the blood of the saints." I judge by my own recovery, that God is about to "bind up the breach of his people, and heal the stroke of their wound."

With this introduction Noyes lays before the reader his renunciation letter to Charles H. Weld, the correspondence by which he broke fellowship with Latourette, a description of the character and career of T. R.

The third number of The Witness concludes with the following address:

Beloved, as I am a Yankee by birth, I will take the liberty to guess your thoughts after reading this paper. Peradventure you are saying to yourself: "This is a strange fellow. What to make of all this cutting and slashing and boasting and recklessness I cannot tell. Is the man seeking his own exaltation by casting others down? Truly he has chosen a strange way to win favor. I fear he is an impostor." To these thoughts I answer, I commend you for your caution, and shall rejoice if the suspicious appearance of this paper increases it. Herein I differ from most of those who say they are apostles; I give you full liberty to judge for yourself, exhorting you again to beware of false prophets. If I fail to commend myself to your under

 __________
*See Chapter XXIX.

Whatever may be your reception of my efforts, you will never turn me from the labor of love which God has set before me, for my rule of action is Paul's:

"I will most gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." My affection toward you is predominantly subjective, and therefore not dependent on objective encouragement. The love of Jesus is too mighty to be foiled by indifference or rejection or even enmity. Nothing but reciprocal and equal love can assuage its restlessness and absorb its energy'.

Putney, December 28, 1835.

Dear Sister: – Notwithstanding the evil surmisings which I am aware will arise in many minds in consequence of your receiving a communication from such a person as myself I am constrained by the golden rule-"Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do even so to them"-to address you without ceremony. I know too well the power of the grace of God to believe that your peace has been materially disturbed by the reports you have heard concerning my feelings toward you. Yet I do believe that a frank disclosure of some of the "many things," to which I alluded at our last interview, would in some measure relieve your mind, or at least gratify an innocent curiosity. I would not stumble any of God's little ones by premature exposures of his dealings with me. Rather let my name be covered with infamy for the little time that must pass before the kingdom of God shall come. Yet I love the light, and when God permits me from time to time to uncover any portion of the record of my consciousness and memory, I taste a joy which foretells the feast which will be spread for us when "we shall know as we are known."

Let it be distinctly understood at tile outset, that I

Previous to my acquaintance with you my heart had never yielded to the claim of woman. I had devoted myself to the Lord with the purpose never to be married. When I received the gospel in which I now stand, that purpose with many other positive engagements was swept away. Before I saw you I knew that the Lord's will, not mine would be done in this matter. In the darkness of that memorable period you arose like a morning-star to my soul. By the manifest providence of God we were thrown together in circumstances of exceeding interest. Continued acquaintance increased my respect and affection for you, and I confess without shame that I loved you as I never loved another, for reasons which I never saw in any other. In these circumstances the thought of marriage was unavoidable. But remaining self-

In thus frankly declaring my love be assured I confess no bondage. I can tear you from my bosom again at the bidding of God, and again I say, if you are permitted to marry another, herein I rejoice and will rejoice, praying that you and yours may be blessed of God. Still I have the right and the will to love you as the workmanship of God, as my sister, as my neighbor, as myself. I ask no more till God shall make you know that he has joined us in an immortal marriage, and that what God hath joined together man cannot put asunder.

Your brother,

J. H. NOYES.

The defection of Abigail Merwin was a staggering blow to Noyes. lie naturally felt that before taking such a radical step she should have given him an opportunity to explain whatever might be troubling her. He did not however immediately take the initiative in seeking her, partly because of distrust and partly because he felt that it was for her to make the advance. Thus the six months of his service on the paper at New Haven slipped by with no explanations on either side.

But he could not forget her. His round of duty led him daily across an open park on which fronted

After his change of view at Prospect in the summer of 1835 Noyes called on Miss Merwin, hoping for reconciliation. He was politely received. She claimed to be still a Perfectionist, and to have confidence in his religious character. He soon called on her again, and had much conversation with her. But just at this time reports were being circulated about Noyes's conflict with Charles H. Weld, and Miss Merwin seemed embarrassed and prejudiced. Her father was bitterly opposed, and told Noyes that he did not wish him to continue his attentions. Noyes never saw her after-ward.

Miss Merwin had formerly been engaged to a Mr. Platt, and after the interview that has been described she wrote to him. This led to a re-engagement. In September 1835 a friend with whom Noyes was walk-mg pointed out Mr. Platt, and said, "That is the man to whom Miss Merwin is engaged." It was a dagger at Noyes's heart. But he recovered himself, and always afterward felt reconciled.

To 'his letter of December 28, 1835, Noyes received no reply. On the other hand months passed and nothing came of Miss Merwin's engagement to Mr. Platt. It even became rumored among her friends that she was still unsettled in mind.

The following summer, while Noyes was in New

After this Noyes left New Haven. At last in the early part of January 1837 he received the long-awaited news of Miss Merwin's marriage. Subsequently he learned that Mr. and Mrs. Platt had gone to reside at Ithaca, New York, where Mr. Platt was engaged as a teacher in the Ithaca Academy.

In a dispute with his mother as to his motives in going to Ithaca, Noyes wrote January 21, 1841:

"I went for the purpose on the one hand of starting the paper and the kingdom of God in the center of New York State, and on the other of pursuing and confronting Abigail Merwin, who had deserted her post as my helper."

The issue between the faithfulness of God and the unfaithfulness of Satan is being tried in the case of Abigail Merwin. I came by Providence and her request into the relation of pastor to her, and this in a more solemn and decisive way than I could by any formality such as the churches use. This relation imposes duties on me that are wholly irrespective of her subsequent choice. If God Placed me in that rela-

After God had taught me the faithfulness that never gives up, I acted faithfully as Abigail Merwin's pastor. I held on to her and sought her not for my own pleasure but as a lover of her soul. I called upon her until her father dismissed me from the house. When I learned that she was engaged, I wrote her a letter giving her the best word of counsel that I had. When she married and moved to Ithaca, I followed her. I stayed there as long as she did.

You perceive I have the prospect of being stationary for one year at least. This, I doubt not, will be a matter of rejoicing to you and to all who have bewailed my vagabond propensities. I am situated in the most celestial part of a most celestial village. So you will say yourself, should you take a notion to come here. If my business enlarges, as I have some reason to expect, I shall make room here for helpers, and I want such as will be bold and firm. I merely suggest this for consideration. Perhaps you will say I am at my old trade of building air-castles. Be it so. "Charity hopeth all things." One thing is certain: I am happily embarking according to the manifest will of God in a bona fide matter-of-fact employment, and 'hitherto hath the Lord helped me." My sky is cloudless.

Good-bye. Yours etc.,

Your paper looks well for the progress of truth. As I am abundantly aware that no efforts according to the wisdom of this world will do anything for it, I feel as if my strength will be to sit still, and let it work for itself. .

Horatio is expecting to start for Michigan the last of September and, Providence permitting, he will come to you. As it will be very convenient for me to send shirts or anything of that kind, I shall probably send some, unless forbidden. .

Your father is, as you would suppose, much gratified with your undertaking. I think he fails, but he is much engaged on his farm and in other ways. He says: "Tell him to be cautious in money matters. A shoemaker must not go beyond his last." He will send five dollars now for papers to be sent to Aunt Sophia and several others of our acquaintance. . .

Besides he insists on keeping two numbers not to lend. . .

I saw Mr. Cutler today. He thinks there will he several subscriptions on the Street. . . . Morgan was

Dear Brother -I have just received The Witness, for which I thank God more than for anything and everything else I have lived to see ... dear man, go on! My prayer is for you and all the elect of God.

Dear-I can only say "brother" with feelings similar to those a child would have towards an elder brother arrived at manhood. On receiving The Witness I felt desirous to write and send you a "love token," but for several reasons delayed it. Maria Clark is now with me on her way to Boston expecting to go within a few weeks to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to become a teacher. . . . She needed the money I was going to enclose, so I have delayed my letter until more was provided. Mrs. Crawford speaks of some who, "when put to the test, are found wanting" ;yet

Maria says you are situated where you can over-look us all. I believe her, yet I feel a desire to speak to you of what I have been learning of late. A few weeks since I was emptied of that kind of knowledge which puffeth up, and I have since desired to be filled again only with that which edifieth. . . . I see before me a heavenly disinterestedness, where self-will is slain. . . . I wish to be reproved; certainly I shall rejoice to receive a printed letter from you once in two weeks. . . . No matter if I do not know where I am; I desire to be made what the Lord would have me to be.

This afternoon while thinking of receiving The Witness from you I desired that your spirit might be written upon my heart. I ask a hard, a great thing. Perhaps I may be laying out a way of my own; if so, I know the Lord will overthrow it and choose his own method of drawing me into himself.

the Lord. .

* In this letter to Noyes Miss Holton enclosed eighty dollars.-G. W. N.

Your father would be willing to advance any sum, but you know his ideas of security. He thinks the friends of truth will sustain it, but it is such a new way of doing business-to buy the truth and sell it not - that I hardly know.

Hariet and Charlotte are gone over to the East Part. Several there have wished to subscribe. While Horatio and I were consulting as to what was best to be done, I saw a stranger at the gate with a budget under his arm. He came to the front door and introduced himself as Mr. Palmer, your brother editor. He inquired quickly for you-had not heard a word, since he left you in New York. He is at this moment in the parlor reading your papers and letters, as much

Enclosed are twenty dollars with the names of the subscribers. .

government for western Perfectionism, and we supposed of course that Dutton, Patten and many others

there would welcome the paper. I sent the papers, but Rider was compelled to leave Utica before they arrived, having no place to lay his head. George Dutton however engaged to take the papers from the office and distribute them. After waiting several weeks without a word from Utica I thought it expedient to go there and spy out the land. Accordingly on Tuesday I took the stage, arrived there at night, in the morning called at the post-office, found the papers and my letter to Rider remaining in the office, immediately went on board a canal boat, and returned here by way of the lake bringing back the spoil. On

Give my love to all who love the Lord Jesus, and write me, if you please. I send you the papers.

I am somewhat confirmed in my belief that the gospel in its fullness has been received by but few from the fact that many, who gave a more decided testimony last year, do not seem by their own confession to be so much in advance of others as they were. Miss Holton said in a letter to Mrs. Crawford, that she did not feel herself in advance of her. . . . Mr. Palmer went over to the East Part twice, and said of them, that he thought they had a good deal of faith, but they needed discipline. He said of Miss Clark, that she was a modern miracle. He said you were above ordinary contingencies; expressed great confidence:

wished much Horatio to be with you. Though desiring to hear from you before he left, he was obliged to depart before the last paper came. He went over the hill on foot towards Albany. .

I have not seen any one since the last paper came. but I shall he mistaken, if there is not a sensation made by it in the minds of some. Your father says:

"What does John mean by thus flying from one thing to another? I do not understand it." Harriet says:

"I have read it over four times already." When I express my astonishment at your temerity and uncompromising attitude, Charlotte says: "He has faith for

For myself, while I am not wholly free from feelings on your account, I am very conscious that my only way is to set my face fully toward the Lord, and not think of husband or children, though they are removed to the uttermost parts of the earth. The declaration, "Woe to him that abolishes the law of the apostasy before he stands in the holiness of the resurrection," expresses a great deal and fences out any that might take advantage of your liberty.

Mrs. Campbell's testimony concerning the last paper will, I doubt not, be the testimony of all the pure in heart, that it "improves by acquaintance." This is the distinguishing nature of God's works. The Bible is like a chestnut in its burr: the meat is inside of a "sword turning every way."

Tell Horatio to come and pay his debts as well as collect them. I want to see him awake and put on strength. No half-way work will stand in the day of the Lord of Hosts. Let him and all others be sure, that I am indeed a man of war, and let them say, Amen.

After years of experience and study Noyes at last redefined salvation from sin with a view to excluding legality on the one side and antinomianism on the other. "Absolute personal liberty," he said, "is essential to holiness. That is Paul's doctrine. But in Paul's doctrine as a whole there are a thousand safeguards against antinomianism which the liberty-maniacs know nothing about." The discriminations by which he aimed to escape this Scylla and Charybdis of religious experience may be seen in the quotations that follow, and in the chart on page 382.

In the epistle to the Romans Paul sums up the system of theology which he calls his gospel in the comprehensive saying: "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

The idea of the law's coming to an end is frightful only when disjoined from that which Paul constantly connects with it, namely, consequent righteousness. Persons whose experience has never given them a clear and strong conception of the power of love naturally imagine that the end of the law is necessarily the end

It must be borne in mind that the abolishment of the Mosaic code is not the abolishment of the will of God that men should love Himself and each other, but only of a particular legal form of expressing and enforcing that will. To illustrate: Suppose the Legislature of Vermont to be annihilated by a sudden revolution, and its whole code of laws to be thus abolished. Would that be an abolishment of all the moral truth contained in that code? Would it leave the people of Vermont at liberty to steal and murder with impunity and with a good conscience? The nature of things remaining the same, the nature and necessity of virtuous conduct would remain the same, though tile authority of the local legislature and the specific penalties of their code should be removed. So the abolishment of the whole Mosaic institute (which as compared with the eternal foundations of moral truth is but a local legislature) does not affect the value and necessity of love to God and man. But it enables God to approach men as a father instead of a law-giver, and thus by love and truth to put the righteousness of the law into their hearts.

We may take a view of the whole matter by another illustration: Suppose a family of children in the ah-

To the question, what then is the purpose of the law, we answer:

First, the law was an enclosure, which, while it by

Second, the Mosaic code, though abolished as an instrument of government, yet stands on record as a glorious development of truth. While we cannot give It the place of Christ as our sanctifier and judge, we may still interrogate it as a witness; for, though we are not under the law, we are under love and truth, and the truth contained in the record of the law is an important part of the instrumentality of the gospel. Indeed the information conveyed by the law concerning the holiness of God, the standard of character necessary to man's acceptance by him, and the wrath which awaits ungodliness is the very platform on which the gospel is erected.

Having disposed of the law we now inquire, what are God's instruments of government in the kingdom of Christ. And first of all we name the love of God. In the life and death of Christ God set man a perfect example of love. That example, lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness in the sight of sinners, is a spiritual power far mightier than the law.

Next in importance is faith. By this the love of God is accepted by the individual, and applied to the sanctification of passion and the direction of outward conduct.

A third influence by which God governs men in the

A fourth element of discipline in the kingdom of

In almost every instance where the work of salvation is spoken of in the New Testament it is ascribed to a twofold agency, instruction addressed to the understanding, and love renewing the heart. The gospel is a dispensation not of love alone, as antinomian Perfectionists maintain, nor of love and law, as legal Perfectionists maintain, but of love and truth accord-lug to the word of God. In thus conjoining love with truth we lay a foundation for all those measures which were employed in the Primitive Church for the outward education and correction of believers and make the inculcation of sound doctrine a full counterpart and safe successor of the law.

A class of enthusiasts early appeared among Perfectionists, whose grand object seemed to be not to grow in righteousness but in testimony. Beginning with the glorious but much perverted doctrine that our salvation is finished in Christ these wordy champions made themselves and others partly believe, that all the victories which Christ won in his course from the

This kind of testimony reached the crisis of its excess in the latter part of 1835. When the enthusiasts proceeded, as was natural, from extravagant words to extravagant deeds, a reaction began. Some of them fled back to legal piety, some became sober and devoted servants of Mammon, some sought refuge and excite-

Ill-informed persons may imagine that the above is a description of the whole body of Perfectionists. But I have had an opportunity of knowing that there are and have been from the beginning some sober ones among the inebriates, who, while they believe and rejoice in the doctrines of Perfectionism, are slow and cautious in their application of them, whose object is really holiness and not liberty under the cloak of holiness, who think more of deeds than of words. Believers of this sort have been steadily advancing in knowledge and strength, while they have seen the boasters around them again and again scattered and cast down.

To the sober I may address the language of exhortation without fear of offense, and to them I say:

Beware of boasting Perfectionists. Look carefully for that hidden treasure, charity, without which angel-tongues are nothing. Remember that "the meek shall inherit the earth." Our judgment is yet to come, how-ever much the vain-glorious and the unprincipled may believe and teach that it is past. It is as true now as it ever was, that they who may justly hope to have boldness in the day of judgment are such as in this present time fear God and withdraw from the disorderly.

I can not listen to the counsel of those who condemn printing altogether as though it were necessarily a car-

The grand argument for this sweeping renunciation of instrumentality is its supposed tendency to exalt the Creator and abase the creature by putting away ordinary means and leaving God to work in some unprecedented way or without means altogether. Against this I contend that God has found a way in time past to work his will by means which commend themselves to common sense, and even to put honor upon men without giving his glory to another. He may do so again. And further, it is evident that means have been and may be used to the very end that "all the haughtiness of man may be brought low, and the Lord alone exalted." When Paul was prostrated on the plains of Damascus by the glory of Christ, and asked from the dust, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" the reply was, "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." Ananias, an obscure disciple, was chosen to teach and commission the chief apostle; and who can doubt that Paul was more abased by this ordinary and humble instrumentality than he could have been by a direct communication from Christ himself? The creature stands in greater danger of exalting himself against the Creator when he insists upon receiving only immediate revelations than when he meekly consents to sit at the feet of a beggar or a fool.

"As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man:

how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever; but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."-John 8: 30-36.

Christ in this passage addressed persons who were properly said to have believed on him, but he did not regard them as already children of God. They were merely candidates for salvation from sin, and afterward he plainly told them that they were wicked men.

Nor did Christ regard mere incipient faith as a sure pledge of salvation. He did not say to those who believed on him, "You are converted, and therefore your salvation is secure." But he said: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." It is evident from the subsequent account that many of these believers did soon fall away and become bitter enemies of Christ. The dividing line between those who have security of salvation and those who have not lies between those who are free from sin and those who are not. After saying, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin," thus determining

The dispute between Methodists and Calvinists about the "perseverance of the saints" might be adjusted by introducing the above distinctions. Methodists prove by appeal to a variety of texts that the promises of salvation are conditional. So indeed they are to the subjects of the first conversion. 'If ye continue in my word . . . ye shall know the truth." This "if" everywhere confronts those who are in a state of sinful discipleship. On the other hand Calvinists prove by appeal to an equal variety of texts that the promises of salvation are unconditional. Again we say, So indeed they are to the subjects of the second conversion. "The Son abideth ever." "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." While the first conversion is liable to failure because it is chiefly the work of man's will, the second is forever sure because it is chiefly the work of God.

In like manner the chief dispute between Perfectionists and the churches might be adjusted by recurrence to the above theory. On the one hand Perfectionists insist that the primitive believers were perfectly holy. This is a truth which can never be successfully assailed so long as it is limited in its application to those who had advanced from incipient discipleship to a full apprehension of the gospel of Christ. On the other hand the churches insist that the primitive believers were carnal. This is a truth equally unassailable if it is restricted to those who were "babes in Christ." The mistake of Perfectionists is in allowing only one class of believers and that the highest. The mistake of the churches is in allowing only one class of believers and that the lowest.

The special glory of the Primitive Church was that it bridged over the whole chasm between a sinful world and heaven. It was not a starving settlement at the foot of Mount Zion, where men only hoped to reach the top after death; nor yet was it an armed and frowning fortress on the top of that Mount, where a favored few gloried in their exaltation while they repulsed from them a world of sinners. But it was a "way of holiness" reaching from the very foot to the very top of Zion, easily accessible to the world at one end and opening into the glories of eternity at the other. On it the ransomed of the Lord of every grade of faith found footing and help for their whole journev from earth to heaven. Wesley and his associates

The conclusion which Noyes reached in the above paragraph marks the transition from his distinctively religious experience to his social experience. It therefore marks the appropriate point for bringing the present narrative to a close. The narrative of his career as a social architect and builder will be taken up in a future book.

In the foregoing Chapters Noyes's Conception of the apostolic doctrine of perfection has been presented. That the reader may obtain a view of Noyes's theory in its historical perspective, the various perfection theories which have been developed in the Christian church since the apostolic age will now be briefly traced.

Notwithstanding the large space which tile doctrine of perfection occupied in the minds of the apostles, by the end of the first century A. D. it was almost forgotten. In the writings of the Church Fathers of that period we find only vague echoes of apostolic teaching with no real understanding of its meaning, and it is evident that all vital interest in the subject had ceased. Our starting point therefore is one of virtual vacuity.

With the opening of the second century the problem of perfection began again to occupy men's thoughts, but it had become so far altered as to be unrecognizable. The Gnostics held a doctrine of per-

____________

* For many particulars of the various perfection schemes the author is indebted to the summary by Frederic Platt in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, article Perfection; also to Rufus M. Jones's book entitled Studies in Mystical Religion.

The Pelagians at the beginning of the fifth century, while continuing to subordinate the agency of Christ in the attainment of perfection, broke completely away from the mystical point of view. They taught that perfection was the crowning achievement of the human will, using only the natural means of grace. It consisted essentially in the perfect adjustment of the human organism to its appointed environment, and was to be sought chiefly through education, although the teachings and example of Christ were important aids. As illustrations of perfection in the sense understood by them they pointed to the Old Testament saints, Abraham, Noah, Enoch and Abel.

Augustine in the vehemence of his reaction against Pelagianism reinstated Christ as the prime agency in perfection. Man of himself, he maintained, could do nothing; divine grace working through Christ could do anything. But Augustine, while admitting that perfection was possible since divine grace was irresisti-

Following the lead of Augustine, for nearly five hundred years perfection was viewed as conformity to the laws and ordinances of the church. But since these laws consisted of the absolute moral law scaled down in various ways to the level of fallen human nature, perfection according to this view was quite possible. One might even be more than perfect, and by works of supererogation lay up a store of merit for others.

In John Scotus Erigena (850 A. D.) perfection became again mystical, as in the Gnostic system; this time however not dualistic but pantheistic. His central position was the absolute unity and wholeness of God. Evil was merely absence of God; sin merely ignorance of the truth. The remedy for both lay in absorption into the being of God, by which all deficiencies were filled up and disappeared. This idea did not immediately bear fruit in claims of mystical perfection, but lay fallow for a time, awaiting more favorable conditions of growth.

Meanwhile there was a recrudescence of the dualistic-ascetic theory of perfection. The Cathari in the eleventh century, like the Gnostics, believed in the fundamental antagonism of spirit and matter, and held that perfection consisted in escape from everything pertaining to the material world. With this view they

The development commenced by John Scotus Erigena was continued at the end of the twelfth century by Amaury of Bene, who taught the identity of believers with Christ through the operation of the Holy Ghost. He returned also to the Montanist conception of progressive revelation, asserting that God the Father governed in the Jewish era through law, that God the Son governed during an intermediate era through the sacraments, and that the Holy Ghost in a final revelation made men actual members of Christ, and thus abolished the laws and sacraments which in the preceding eras were necessary instruments of government.

A popularized form of the pantheistic teachings of John Scotus Erigena and Amaury of Bene became extensively current during the Middle Ages. The Beguines and Beghards, and the Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit believed that God was the source and end of all things, and that every person by elevation of thought could so open himself to the divine influx as to become all God, thus attaining perfection. A prominent element in this pantheistic perfection was always Amaury's idea of freedom from law. Some even adopted the view that a man who was thus identified with God could not sin, do what he would: either the acts of his body were God's acts, or they could in no way affect his spirit, which was swallowed up in
 

The Anabaptists at the time of the Reformation may be mentioned as in some sort claiming perfection. They returned to the Augustinian standpoint, regarding perfection as the result of divine grace working through Christ. But they broke away from Augustine's sacerdotalism. They sought the aid of divine grace not through the church but through a direct personal relation to God. They also made much of the brotherhood of man, some of the groups even going so far as to institute communism of property. Thus they gave to the search for perfection an ethical turn, which was distinctly new.

The Familists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries pushed still farther in the direction of an ethical perfection. Their founder, Henry Nicholas, made a special point of seeking a perfection which was not merely imputed or forensic, but one which manifested itself in righteous acts done by the individual himself; and he organized his followers into communities with the purpose of making them full members of Christ. Antinomianism however had already appeared in some of the mystical sects, and dread of this led the Familists to set up again obedience to the external law as an essential element in perfection.

The next step in the development of the doctrine was taken by the early Arminians in about the year 1600. They asserted the possibility of perfection in this life, and based it, after the manner of Augustine, wholly on the grace of God. They distinguished three different degrees of perfection: first, that of begin-

Following the Arminians, the Quakers in about I 65o took the ground that a regenerate person might become so dead to the world and so subjected to the truth as to overcome temptations to transgress the law of God. While they held an exceptionally spiritual view of religion and for that reason discarded many outward rites, yet they believed that the law as laid down in the Scriptures was still binding. Like the Arminians they admitted the possibility of "falling from grace," and they asserted also the possibility of a further growth in grace after perfection had been attained.

In the eighteenth century, as a result of the labors and teachings of John Wesley, a great stride was taken in the doctrine of perfection. Wesley gave sharper definition to phases of the subject which before had been vague, and brought into view for the first time the basic importance of obedience to the law of love. The main features of his system are the following:

I. Obedience to Christ's law of perfect love to God and man, the one law to which a Christian is subject, is what constitutes perfection. It is consistent with involuntary ignorance and error, and hence can be called sinless only if sin is defined as a voluntary transgression of a known law.

3. Perfection is viewed from the Augustinian standpoint as wrought in the soul by divine grace through faith, which is in itself the gift of God; but the Pelagian insistence upon the part played by the individual is recognized by maintaining that this faith is never given unless diligently sought by all the outward means which God has ordained.

4. While the actual attainment of perfection is regarded as necessarily the work of a moment, yet it is admitted, as in the Quaker system, that there is a gradual preparation before, and a gradual growth after the moment of attainment.

5. At first Wesley believed that perfection once attained could never be lost; but he learned by observation of those about him to recognize, with the Arminians, the possibility of a "fall from grace," and accordingly retracted the earlier statements in which his original view was expressed.

6. The attainment of perfection is attested by a twofold evidence: the internal evidence of the presence of the Spirit of God, and the external evidence of entire freedom from sin. The internal evidence however is susceptible of intermission and of varying degrees of certainty.

7. Perfection, though possible in this life, is a rare experience. It usually comes, if at all, just before death. Weslev advised extreme caution in making a

The New York Perfectionists, as we have said, were Wesleyan in origin and resembled the Wesleyans in nearly all of the characteristic features mentioned above. Their chief contributions to the development of the subject were, that they gave to the doctrine a more prominent position than any of their predecessors, that they were more free in professing perfection, and that they laid more stress on the necessity of faith as a means of its attainment.

Notwithstanding the emergence of the doctrine of perfection into sufficient prominence to justify the name "Perfectionist," all the advocates of perfection thus far considered, however much they differed as to the relative importance of the doctrine, agreed in assigning to it a more or less subordinate position.

The final step in the development of the doctrine of perfection was influenced by the course which New England theology had been taking for nearly a hundred years. Jonathan Edwards, the founder of the system, was a passionate believer in the Calvinistic doctrine of

We are now in a position to see Noyes's theory in its historical perspective:

He followed the line of Augustine in teaching that

He agreed with Wesley's general definition of perfection as obedience to Christ's law of perfect love to God and man, a state which was consistent with involuntary ignorance and error.

He went beyond Wesley and approximated the position of the medieval mystics in the completeness of his detachment from the law of statutes and ordinances. Wesley in theory virtually held that the law of love included the statute law, and in practice he and his followers remained almost as conscience-bound by the statute law as the legalistic sects froni which they had conic out. Noyes on the other hand maintained stoutly the freedom of mature believers from all outward law; but he allowed this freedom only to those who were genuinely saved from sin, and as an offset to law he brought into operation the machinery of personal leadership and mutual instruction.

He concurred with Wesley and the Quakers in the general view that there was a gradual preparation before, and a gradual growth after the attainment of perfection; but he defined more clearly than they the two-fold agency, spiritual and intelectual, by which regeneration was brought about.

He agreed with the New York Perfectionists in the fundamental importance which he assigned to faith as

He accepted Wesley's formulation of the twofold evidence, internal and external, by which the attainment of perfection in any individual case was attested.

He held that perfection once attained was forever secure. His teaching on this point resembled the Calvinistic doctrine of the "perseverance of the saints"; but he differed from the Calvinists in dividing believers into two classes, those who were saved from sin and those who were not, and in allowing security only to the former class.

He reverted to the Montanus-Amaury theory of a progressive revelation, but instead of regarding religious experience as a series of discontinuous jumps corresponding to successive revelations such as those of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, he viewed it as a continuous evolution from a rudimentary beginning to a consummation of perfect holiness, first in a Jewish dispensation, then in a Gentile dispensation, the second coming of Christ at the end of the apostolic age being the dividing line. The fact of Christ's past second Coming with its corollary of perfection attained by the Primitive Church as the fruit of a complete cycle of religious experience Noyes believed to be the chief ground of confidence that perfection was now attainable.

Finally, he looked upon perfection not as a mere

Having reached the conclusion that the teachings of the church were erroneous upon two subjects of such vital importance as the second coming of Christ and salvation from sin, Noyes could not feel confidence in his theological foundations until he had reexamined all the traditional creeds. For three and a half years following his conversion to Perfectionism he was wholly absorbed in the initial development of the new faith, and the task of theological reconstruction was necessarily postponed. But in August 1837, as we have seen, he commenced the publication of The Witness, and in this and in subsequent periodicals during the next ten years he worked out a system of theology which may fairly be called complete. The various articles embodying his beliefs were collected and published in 1847 in a book of five hundred pages entitled The Berean. From this volume the following outline is derived:

There are several kinds of belief, a belief of the imagination, of testimony, of the reason, and of the senses. Besides these there is another kind, which may be called spiritual belief. One spirit can present itself to the perceptions of another, and communicate

While we duly value all the lower evidences of Bible-religion, we are convinced that the belief which is caused by these evidences is but the precursor and auxiliary of spiritual belief. Here is the advantage which the believer in God may claim over all other disciples of truth. From all the sophistries of "the disputers of this world" he can appeal to the evidence of his own internal perceptions.

The process by which believers usually arrive at a solid assurance of the existence of God is this: First they hear of him from their parents and teachers (and it has been God's care from the beginning to provide this first means of instruction). Thus their minds are preoccupied with a persuasion of his existence. Then they read the book, which contains the record of his past manifestations to mankind and gives them directions for approaching him. Finally they follow those directions and ascertain that there is a God by actual communion with him.

As the Bible is the record of God's past communications with men, so it is the most valuable external means of his continued communications. The primitive gospel, opened by the atonement, is kept open to the world not by a church, nor a set of ordinances, nor a line of successors to the apostles, but by the Bible. By the Bible Christ and the apostles yet live and speak on earth.

The Bible being the representative of Christ's king-

The Jews kept God's records till the advent of Christ. They refused to take charge of the New Testament, and he gave their office to the Roman Church. The new secretary kept the Bible safely, but he "kept it laid up in a napkin." The Reformation gave the Bible into the hands of the Protestant churches, and at the same time the invention of printing made its suppression thenceforth impossible. The Protestant churches have drawn the Bible to and fro in their sectarian differences, but it must be acknowledged to their honor that they have cherished a zeal for biblical investigation and have scattered the Bible without comment over a great part of the earth.

The Old Testament as it is today existed when Christ was on earth, and he assumed it as the basis of his own religious system. The New Testament is the work of his accredited agents. The Bible therefore will stand or fall with Christ, and Christ will stand or fall with the Bible. Whoever loves Christ loves the Bible as a whole and knows that it is a vehicle of light and life.

Having ascertained that the Bible is the word of God, the question arises, who shall be our instructor in that word. The Catholic answers, the church by its traditions and the teachings of its priests. The Protestant answers, we need no instructor; the Bible itself is the sufficient rule of faith and practice. We answer, inspiration.

We are not among those who refer everything to spiritual influence. It is true of the interpreter of the Bible that the more knowledge he has the better. But we believe that divine illumination and spiritual experience are by far the most essential qualifications for interpreting the word of God. The Bible is no revelation to those who can not read; it is a revelation of certain introductory truths to those who can only read; it is a revelation of much curious wisdom to those who can read with the help of human learning; it is a revelation of the deep things of God to those who can read with the help of inspiration.

The ultimate cause of all evil is an uncreated evil being, as the ultimate cause of all good is an uncreated good being.

If it be said that evil is nothing but good in disguise, we answer that no evil is good or can be turned to good in any other than a relative sense. Inoculation for the kine-pox is good because it is a preventive of the small-pox. But if there were no small-pox, men would not take the kine-pox and call it good. The chastisements which men suffer from the hand of God are good as being curatives or preventives of greater moral miseries, but in any other sense they are only

evil.

Furthermore, the theory that evil is a legitimate

The existence and antagonism of good and evil are not the results but the antecedents and motives of God's purpose in creation. The universe was manifestly created for the purpose of furnishing a battlefield whereon the Son of God and the Devil might come to a decisive conflict. From the fact that God might have abstained from creation it follows that his purpose in a certain sense extends to every particular of the great conflict. But his part in an evil event is merely to determine its time and circumstances. A general for the purpose of ultimately destroying the enemy might open to him the barriers of his own territory and allow for a time a devastating invasion. In such a case it might be said that the general actually purposed the movements of the enemy. In the same sense it may be said that God purposes the movements ments of the Devil in this world, but not his existence and wickedness, which make those purposes necessary.

We believe that the goodness of God in the gift of redemption can never be appreciated so long as it is viewed through the medium of a theology which teaches that good and evil spring ultimately from the same fountain. The Bible teaches that the redemption

In the first chapters of the Bible we find clear intimations of a plurality of persons in the godhead. The Hebrew word which is translated "God" in Genesis I : I, etc., is in the plural form. The plural pronouns "us" and "our" are so intermingled with the singular pronouns "he" and "his" in Genesis I :26, 27, that we can see no propriety in the language except on the supposition that there is at once unity and plurality in the constitution of God. The singular and plural pronouns are intermingled in the language concerning the first man in the same manner as they are intermingled in the language concerning God. Furthermore, it is declared that God "made man in His own image"; and from what follows this declaration it clearly appears that the word "man" in this case includes two persons, male and female.

In the New Testament we have an account of a person in human form professing to be not the entire godhead, but the Son of God. We do not believe that

The moment we begin to interrogate nature in relation to her parentage, we have proof as broad as the universe that the godhead is a duality; for every link in the chain of life from the lowest vegetable to the highest animal is a duality. If we find two elements in all the streams of life, why should we not infer that the same two elements are in the Fountain?

God created heaven and earth not out of nothing, but out of substantial though chaotic material which existed from eternity.*

The foregoing theory of the origin of evil leads to new views of the nature and extent of human depravity. As the source of all evil in this world is an uncreated evil being, it is evident that the ultimate principle of corruption in mankind is spiritual. Men are wicked because they are enveloped in the spirit

__________

* Noyes's dualism, it will be observed, is complex. First, there is the all-embracing duality of spirit and matter, which are not antagonistic, as in the Gnostic system, but friendly. Then, on the spiritual side there is the antagonistic duality of God and Satan. Possession of matter is the object of their strife, and creation is an invasion of the material universe. Next, the good power is itself a duality consisting of the Father and the Son; and for aught Noyes says to the contrary the evil power also might be dual. Finally, the principle of dualism runs through all the descending series of life in combination with matter as exhibited in creation.-G. W. N.

But we learn from Christ's parable of the sower, that there is an original difference in the character of men. Some are depraved not in their original spirit, but by combination with and subjection to the Devil. Others are depraved not only by combination with and subjection to the Devil, but by original identity with him. The distinctive character of the two classes is evinced by the fact that the former have an ear for the word of God, while the latter have not.

If there is an original difference in the spiritual nature of men, how can they properly be treated as free moral agents? Jn order to answer this question we must define free moral agency. A free moral agent is a being who has power to act and knowledge of the right and wrong of actions. So Paul lays his foundation. It is not necessary that a person should have a good disposition, or be free from an evil one, in order to constitute him a free moral agent responsible for his actions. If it were, God could not be regarded as a free moral agent, for his propensity to righteousness is all-controlling and unchangeable. As God with such a propensity is yet a praiseworthy free moral agent, because he has the power and knowledge requisite to do evil as well as good, so the Devil with an all-controlling and unchangeable propensity to unrighteousness is yet a free moral agent worthy of condemnation, because he has the requisite power and knowledge to do good as well as evil. If men have power to do wrong, they have power to do right; for so far as natural power is concerned it is as easy

The foregoing views reveal the grounds of election and reprobation. "Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." What did God foreknow about those whom he predestinated? He foreknew them as the seed of the Son of man, "having ears to hear" his word; and for this reason he wrote their names in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Reprobation too is based on foreknowledge of original character; and in this there is nothing arbitrary or unjust, because his decrees of this kind are predicated on the necessity resulting from the existence of uncreated evil. What-ever odium attaches to the fact of the reprobation of the wicked must at last be laid upon the Devil, whose eternal wickedness is the foundation of all the evils which disfigure the creation of God.*

_________

* If reincarnation is possible only when a spirit fits a body somewhat as a key fits a lock, evolution or stirpiculture or both may have so altered the physical, moral, and intellectual constitution of mankind as to make reincarnation of the wicked increasingly difficult. In fact the "seed of the Devil" may in this manner have been already bred out of the human race. Denial of access to matter brought about by progressive modification of key and lock may well be the "lake of fire" in which, according to Rev. 20:10, the Devil and his angels are to be forever confined.-G. W. N.

(a) The Law.-The recovery of man from the power of the Devil is accomplished by Christ. But mercy is for the lost; and as the mercy of the gospel must be desired and embraced by the sinner in order to become available, it is necessary not only that men should be lost, but also that they should be sensible of the fact. The law effects this preparation for the gospel, first by revealing, and then by increasing sin, thus leaving no way of escape but through Christ.

(b) The Atonement.-Throughout Christ's life on earth there was a desperate conflict between the divine nature on the one hand and the spirit of the Devil on the other, with human nature for the battlefield. At the commencement of Christ's ministry the Devil made a personal attempt to seduce him into sin. After plying him with temptations similar to those by which Adam fell, and others more subtle and mighty, with every advantage that could give them force, the tempter was compelled to quit the field baffled and dismayed. Christ followed up this victory by a proclamation of the gospel and an outpouring of the spirit of life. The seventy disciples, whom he commissioned to go abroad through the land, "returned, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." In the final battle of the cross the Devil and the Son of God met face to face, the strength of each was tried to the uttermost, and the Devil was overcome and cast out. Thus Christ became what the Devil had been before, "the prince of this world."

"Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. . . . As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me."

Christ's nature while in this world was twofold. As to the interior of his being he was the Son of God, that existed from eternity with the Father; at the same time he had a material body, which was born of a woman. To which of these parts does lie refer in calling himself the "bread of life"? Most clearly the former, for he says expressly, "The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven" ; and this declaration he repeats subsequently not less than four times.

By what process are we to "eat the flesh" and "drink the blood" of Christ? As it is not the material flesh and blood that is to be received, so it can not be the material body that is to eat and drink. The food and

In exact accordance with this exposition Christ in the conclusion of his discourse specifies the form in which his flesh and blood is conveyed. Since the thing received in the act of believing is a proposition, it follows that Christ's word is the vehicle of his flesh and blood. And so he explains himself. He says: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

As food gives its nature to the body that receives it. so the spiritual flesh and blood of Christ, received through his word by faith, communicates its nature to the spirit of the believer. And as Christ in his spiritual nature is the ever-living Son of God, the believer, being identified with him, becomes a son of God and partaker of the eternal life of the Father.

Every person who has been enlightened by the word of God finds that he has a spiritual nature which is superior to his intellectual, and that to be led by the spirit is better than to lean to his own understanding. One who has but just learned this lesson naturally

First, there is no necessary repugnance between our spiritual and intellectual natures; they can work peaceably in the same yoke and accomplish much more than either alone.

Second, persons who have received the spirit of God may yet need to be instructed and exhorted even with reference to the exercise of their spiritual gifts.

Third, those who are led by the spirit of God, though they can not come under law, may yet come under rules, and may act acceptably under the conjoint influence of internal impulses and external regulations.

Fourth, spiritual persons can and should restrain themselves from disorderly action and exercise common sense even under the impulses of the spirit; and those who say that they are compelled by the spirit of God to do things of a disorderly character are in a great error.

Fifth, the Primitive Church, though possessing the gifts of the Spirit, established and maintained a system of mutual instruction, which proved an effectual substitute for the law.

First, the spiritual man has a loving heart Carnal believers may have many of the external gifts of the Spirit; but only the spiritual have that loving heart which "suffereth long, and is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in inquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things; never faileth." This unquestionably is the grand attainment which divides the full-born son of God from the "babe in Christ." It should be noticed that charity, as Paul describes it, is distinguished not only from the gift of utterance, revelations, and wonder-working faith, but even from that which is commonly accounted charity, that is, benevolence to the poor, and from self-sacrificing devotion. Indeed it is far from being that outward bound, bustling quality of character which usually passes for religious benevolence. Its elements are mostly negative. The idea of "doing good" is not very prominent in it, but as Paul says of it in another place "it worketh no ill." It is just that quality which fits a man to live in social contact with his fellow men without giving offense and without taking offense. It implies a thorough extinction of selfishness, a perfect appreciation of the interests of others and of the value of peace, and a quiet reliance on the faithfulness of eternal love.

Second, the spiritual man has a renewed mind. His intellect is not only under the influence of that spirit which "searcheth thc deep things of God," but is

Third, the spiritual man has an unquenchable desire for progress. Paul was certainly a fit representative of the spiritual class. Let us see what was his state of mind. He says: "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ; . . . that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. . . . Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." \\Tas there ever a more vivid expression of God-like ambition? The apostle adds: "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded."

The apostles, prophets, and believers, who were gathered into the spiritual world during the period immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, are certainly risen from the dead and associated with Christ. This no one who believes that Christ came the second time according to his promise will deny.

The invisible Primitive Church is in reality what the Roman Church assumes to be, the holy, apostolic, catholic mother-church. It is not like the old Jewish Church, changeable and transmissive. The priests under the law were many, "because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death." But Christ, "because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." Though he died, he is risen from the dead, and still lives with entire ability to wield all power in heaven and on earth. For the very same reason the priesthood of the apostles and prophets is unchangeable. They are risen with him, and still live fully competent to share in the administration of his kingdom. Christ gave "the power of the keys" to his apostles, but they never gave it to any successors. After eighteen hundred years of sinless experience they are today better qualified to decide the destinies of men than they were when on earth. They are our judges; and we shall all find at last that there is no entrance into the holy city but through the twelve apostolic gates.

The Primitive Church is a political as well as ecclesiastical organization. When God laid its foundations, he gave the world its capital. When he set his Son upon the throne, he established a political nucleus, which will ultimately gather about itself in federal union all the nations of the earth or dash them in pieces.

God's original covenant with Abraham contained the following promises: to give him an innumerable seed; to give them the land of Canaan; to be a God to him and his seed; to bless him and his seed; to bless in him all families of the earth.

As the first covenant pertained primarily to the Jews, so also did the new covenant. Christ, who came to establish the new covenant, said expressly, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel"; and he instructed his disciples in their first mission to "go not into the way of the Gentiles," but to "go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Up to the time of Paul's conversion there had been no preaching to the Gentiles, and Paul, though he was the apostle to the Gentiles, acted in all cases according to the foregoing instructions of Christ, preaching first to the Jews and turning to the Gentiles only when rejected by the Jews.

It Is evident that God's covenant with Abraham remains still in force unless there is explicit evidence to the contrary. No such evidence is found in the Bible or in the history of the Jews. When the people of Israel had greatly provoked the anger of God by their apostasy, the voices of the prophets were heard predicting desolation; yet looking beyond the period of calamity they foretold that in the last days the scattered house of Israel should return and be built up; that Jerusalem should then be called "the faithful city"; that the Gentiles should "come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising"; and that out of Zion should "go forth the law, and the word of the

We do not however subscribe to the theory that the conversion of the Jews is the next thing in order. The gospel of salvation from sin requires preparation on the part of those to whom it comes. God did not bring it into the world till he had trained a nation by a long course of moral discipline to receive it. When the material which the legal discipline of the Jews and the civilization of the Greeks and Romans had made ready was used up, the work of the gospel ceased and a second dispensation of law took its place. As we approach the end of the second dispensation, we may anticipate the order in which the nations will be brought into Christ by observing their comparative advancement in legal morality and civilization. The leading Gentile nations are now clearly in advance of the Jews in these prerequisites. The single circumstance that these nations receive the whole of the Bible while the Jews reject the New Testament is a sufficient index of their superior preparation. The Jews stand next, because they acknowledge a large portion of the Bible. The Mohammedans occupy an intermediate position between the Jews and the Pagans, as they believe in one God and receive more or less of the Old Testament. Last on the scale of sus-

The completed church then will consist of five distinct departments, the Jewish part of the Primitive Church, the Gentile part of the Primitive Church, the Gentiles now farthest advanced in preparation for the gospel, the mass of the Jewish nation, and the mass of Mohammedans and Pagans. Conceiving the church in the form of a tree, the two Gentile departments will occupy the middle part of the trunk, and the two Jewish departments the extremities. A Jewish root takes hold on God, and a Jewish portion of the trunk takes hold on the mass of nations.

One of the most interesting points in relation to the last dispensation of Christ is, that this world is to be given to Christ. Nothing but such a conquest can fulfill the predictions of the Bible and give propriety to the great drama which will then be finished. The angel swears that the mystery of God should be finished, "as he hath declared to his servants, the prophets." What are the declarations of God to the prophets concerning the catastrophe of this world's history? The following extracts will answer:

"It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above

"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. . . . It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

The glorious hope, which fills the foreground of the prospect of those who wait for the finishing of the mystery of God, is presented in this passage of

Isaiah:

"In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things. . . . And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

And John describing his vision of "the holy city,

"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."

It is clear from the New Testament descriptions, that the New Jerusalem is not a city to be hereafter instituted, but one long ago established, the place into which the primitive saints passed either by death or by change at the second coming, and where they met the Father, Son, and holy angels. This organization is to be revealed ultimately in this world. Its distinctive character when revealed will not be changed. It will still be the home of angels and just men made perfect, entirely exempt from sin and death. Yet it does not appear that it will at once embrace the whole population of the world. On the contrary John represents it as a city standing in the midst of the nations, accessible to them and shedding its healing influence over them, but not including them within its walls. "The kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut." Yet the prophecy immediately and emphatically adds, "There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth." But "they that do his commandments" may enter in through the gates into the city, and have the right to the fruit of the tree of life.