contributions to the Lord's poor, and to his cause. The religion they profess saved them from waste and sloth, and introduced them to habits of industry and economy; and having formed their characters, it opened their way to connexions and confidence, and to increasing income. They began their charitable exertion saccording to their humble means; but as these means increased, they did not in proportion increase their contributions. Hence the liberality of some professors bears no decent, not to say Christian, proportion to their income. Acting thus, they unavoidably become covetous. The habits that grace had created are thus perverted; and the perversion first injures, and then destroys, personal piety. Covetousness, which is idolatry, blinds the mind, and hardens the heart; and though it does not always exclude them and their evil influences from the visible church on earth, the covetous cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Mrs. Wood did not act so. Her economy was most exemplary; but she was benevolent and generous. The poor and afflicted had a large share of her tenderness. If she could not adequately relieve them herself, she would beg of others in order to remove distress; but the whole was done with delicacy towards the afflicted, that their feelings might not be wounded. The beneficence of others rejoiced her heart, but did not prevent her from doing what she could. A few months before her last illness she employed a friend to forward a sum of money to one of her earliest Christian associates, then far distant, but who, she feared, if still surviving, had not, like herself, the comforts of life. On consulting with this friend as to some cases around them, she told him of one on which she wished to have his opinion; adding that, having the amount of ten pounds then by her, she would gladly divide with the party in question that amount. How much more than they at present do in the exercise of charity, might many Christians perform! Their increased benevolence would augment their own comfort, as well as the comfort of others; and it might save the property of them and theirs from the withering blast of God's righteous providence. God loveth a cheerful giver;" and "he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." So Mrs. Wood found. Though her still surviving and venerated partner and herself were in humble circumstances through life, yet they have enjoyed every surrounding comfort their hearts desired; and their temporal blessings have all been elevated and enriched by the prospect and the anticipation of eternal enjoyments. DIVINITY. THE GIFT OF TONGUES. THE use of this gift was two-fold. It was to be a sign, and a means of edification. Thus the speaking of new tongues is mentioned by the Lord among the signs which should follow those who believed; and St. Paul says that tongues are a sign to unbelievers. We cannot conceive of a greater miracle than for illiterate men, who were hardly capable of speaking their own language with correctness, and never once turned their attention to any other for the purpose of mastering it, in an instant, to understand and speak so many, and that on no ordinary subjects, but the great mysteries of God, in reference to which all human reason is naturally blind, and every mortal tongue, till touched by fire from the altar of God, is altogether mute. The church is edified by prophecyings. To prophesy, in the language of holy writ, means, not only to foretel what is future, but also to announce, as from the mouth of God, any part of his truth and will. When St. Peter defended the Apostles against the charge of drunkenness, he told the people that what they then witnessed was the fulfilment of an ancient prediction, which declared that God would pour out of his Spirit upon all flesh, without any distinction of sex or of age; and that the sons and daughters of the church should prophesy. When therefore any one speaks of the great things of God, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, in any tongue, if that be understood, it is prophecy: if he speak it in a strange tongue, it is also a sign: if those who hear it do not understand the tongue, it is a sign only. Such was the use of the gift in question. But there were not wanting men who abused it for purely ostentatious purposes, while they neglected that which would have contributed to edification. To speak in an intelligible and popular manner was deemed but a low and ordinary thing; while it was thought a great and wonderful matter to give utterance to their conceptions in a strange language. But there was no need of a sign to those who already believed; and to attempt merely to excite their wonder by the exercise of the most excellent gift was vain. The Apostle, therefore, justly reproved such profitless ostentation. That determined enemy of all vain-glory preferred the humble talent of speaking to the church's edification, to the greatest power of producing mere wonderment. Men cannot cast a greater slur upon the Christian name, than by vaunting of gifts which they merely use to gain the applause of others. Those who even prophesy in the name of Christ, so as to promote the salvation of others, thereby contribute nothing towards their own, but only expose themselves to heavier punishment, when that is done without charity and humility. We must not, however, depreciate the gift of tongues under the pretext of aiming at the edification of the church. Because we ought to speak in a familiar and intelligible way, and not a language our hearers cannot understand, many despise all languages but their own, and would deem it a sinful waste of time to learn any other. But though the Apostle would have the teachers of the church to speak so as to be understood by those who hear them, he by no means overlooks the real utility of other tongues. The language we use must depend upon the capacity of those whom we address. In writing to the Corinthians, whose language was Greek, he does not scruple to use the words maran atha, which were to them an unknown tongue. He judged it right to give them that expressive watch-word of the Christian soldier; as, by inquiring after its meaning, they might not only understand, but get it more deeply imprinted in their memory. On inquiry, they would find that it meant, Our Lord cometh;" and thus be more expressively reminded that they also had a Sovereign, to whom they were bound, as by a military oath; and those who were not friends to him ought to be esteemed none of theirs, but anathema. That was a word of their own, and would be well understood by them. The Apostle might have thus spoken where it would have been out of place, and not at all in accordance with the design of the gift of tongues. Thus, when things are chanted in the Popish Church in Latin, and some even in Greek and Hebrew, by those who know not what they say, any more than the people who hear them, the thing is nothing better than a glaring and absurd abuse. The gift of tongues was evidently granted to the Apostles, because they had been commanded to go into "all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." The Holy Ghost, therefore, who gave them a perfect knowledge of what they were to preach, at the same time gave them the power of making themselves understood by all nations. Thus the church was armed for the war, by which the world was to be subdued to the Redeemer's gracious sway. This may lead some to conclude that, however necessary the gift of tongues might be then, the necessity has long ceased. And, it must be allowed that, for many ages past, there has not been a single teacher in the church, to whom the faculty of speaking with tongues was instantaneously given, as it was to the Apostles. Miracles ought not always to be demanded. It is an evil and adulterous generation that seeks a sign, after such evident, convincing, and numerous signs have already been given. Faith has the firmest ground it can desire to fix its foot upon; and infidelity is left wholly without excuse. In the twelfth century, Bernard had good reason to express himself as follows:-" If we must speak out, that manifestation of the Spirit was made for us rather than for the Apostles. For, to what other end could the languages of the Gentiles be necessary to them, except that we Gentiles might be converted by their ministry?" Doubtless it was as great a miracle that God manifested in the flesh was believed on in the world, as that he was preached among the Gentiles. We who live in a still later period of time have, in addition to that, many other facts before us, which go to confirm our faith, even more fully than any that were witnessed by the Apostles and Fathers of the church. We have seen, and known, and despised the second Nimrod, whom the Spirit of prophecy said should come in the last times, and oppress and murder the saints of God. We have beheld, with exultation, some of the nations spurn at his usurpations, and unite to prevent the burial of the bodies of God's witnesses. We have marked their resurrection from the dead, and ascension to heaven, that they might reign in the church, and put their enemies to flight. We have also seen the nations filled with VOL. XIV. Third Series. APRIL, 1835. S rage and confusion, when smitten and consumed as with the fire of heaven. But, though we need not miracles such as those witnessed by the Apostles, nor can we pretend to that extraordinary power of speaking with new tongues which was conferred upon them; yet has the gift of tongues been ever continued in the church, in its ordinary exercise; and was never more abundant than at this day, as far as it is necessary for edification. Prophecy must ever continue in the church, for it must ever be taught by the word of God. "If any man speak," says Saint Peter, "let him speak as the oracles of God." Nothing ought to be heard in the house of God but what he has said; and, if possible, nothing he has said ought to be omitted. The oracles of God now exist in a great variety of idioms; and, among all the nations who profess to believe them, the sacred languages are not spoken by any of them as their native tongues. This makes it very necessary that the gift of interpretation should be cherished and exercised in the church. What the Apostle calls" kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues," are two distinct gifts; for one person will more readily speak in a strange tongue, and another will display a greater aptitude to explain what has been thus spoken in a familiar and popular manner. Both these gifts, however, relate to diversities of language, and both were conferred upon the Apostles in the gift of tongues. Both were of the same use; only, the former was also a sign. Interpretation is both in order to, and is, prophecy. It is in order to prophecy because he who prophesies must first know the mind of God, either from God himself, or from some interpreter of the mind of God. It cannot otherwise be announced by him in faith, and with a full assurance that it is the mind of God. Without that certainty, he can only deliver his own opinion, and must guess; and may, perhaps, rave and show himself to be a demoniac rather than a prophet. It is prophecy : because, as those who brought forth to public view what the Spirit of God inwardly dictated to them manifestly acted under God; so likewise do those who interpret their words in faith, according to the measure of the gift of Christ conferred on them for that purpose. Saint Peter assigns the same place in the church to interpretation that he does to prophecy. Both tend equally to edification; and the object of both is the declaration of the mind of God. Saint Chrysostom also put interpretation on a level with prophecy; and other teachers, equally celebrated, have taken the same view of these things. Should any, notwithstanding all this, be disposed to deny that Jerome, Luther, Junius, and other meritorious individuals, performed the work of Prophets in translating the Scriptures, we must maintain, in opposition to their denial, that any faithful interpreter of the word of God, not only better merits the name of a prophet than any of those who load the church with their own speculations; or, as Jerome says, come stuffed with extraneous learning, apply incongruous texts to their own fancies, and pervert the proper meaning of the word of God, by forcing it to speak according to their pleasure but he merits that sacred name better than even the man who, resting his faith on any interpreter, draws from his words, as if they were the very words of God, things otherwise true and salutary; for such a one rather repeats the prophecy of the interpreter he follows, by adopting and explaining his words, than prophesies himself. In the preservation and cultivation of the gift of interpretation in the church, the providence of God has been most conspicuous. Thus the Jews during their captivity in Chaldea became accustomed to the use of a language different from their own; and had lost so much of their own, that it became necessary, on their return to Judea, for Ezra the Scribe, to explain, as well as read to them, the words of the law of God. It is highly probable that he interpreted such words as had fallen into disuse. So, when the Greeks had extended their dominion over the Jews, and the people of God had become accustomed to their language, the Greek version of the Scriptures was produced, or at least completed, for their use. Jerome tells us that the Seventy-two interpreters, from whom that version takes its name, only translated the Pentateuch. Whoever were its authors, it is certain that it came into general use; and the Evangelists and Apostles have accordingly quoted from it, where it does not materially deviate from the sense of the original. It was also read, both publicly and privately, by the Greek Church for many hundreds of years. Others, as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, published their translations in the same language. These, however, did not acquire the same respect; either because the faith of their authors was suspected; or because the Septuagint had gained possession of the public mind, and was by many deemed of equal authority with the original, on account of the fabulous notion which prevailed respecting the miraculous agreement of all the translations of the Seventy-two elders, though produced by them in separate cells. This also prevented the Christians, for a long time, from exercising the gift of interpretation as they ought to have done. Origen stood alone, when he ventured on correcting the translations then in use by comparing them with each other, and with the original text. He laboured in that good work with great industry, and was followed by Pamphilius, Eusebius, and Lucian. The general indolence of the Greek Church of that age, in reference to such an important work, was highly reprehensible; when it is considered that they possessed great facilities for its successful prosecution. It is highly probable that they would have suffered the Hebrew Scriptures to perish altogether, had not God taken care to prevent so great a calamity by means of the Jews, a race of unbelievers, who formerly were prone to disregard the law of God, but were now most tenacious of its preservation, though against themselves. The Latin Church anciently made use of several versions of the Scriptures; and yet one appears to have had the preference. The persecutions to which the Christians of the West were exposed, their want of inter |