1 Harbinger, Aug. 1, '63. MONEY IN THE CHURCH. Phil. i. 5, Κοινωνία εις το ευαγγελιον. Fellowship for the gospel, and not "in the gospel,” as in the Common Version. The Greek commentators understood the phrase to refer to the contributions of money sent by the Philippian church to Paul, whereby he was enabled to preach the gospel to the Thessalonians without expense. Heb. xiii. 16, "To do good and to fellowship forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." To make fellowship by contributing, that those who need may have in common with those who possess, is intended. This is one of the acceptable sacrifices of the Christian priesthood common to all. Koîvwvías (in this text) brings contribution into view. The verb Kovovéw (when transitive) signifies "to impart”. to share with others." Hence when the noun is rendered by a verbal construction the same signification is to be preserved. II. FELLOWSHIP of God, of the Son of God and of the Spirit, which may denote that fellowship in divine things gifted to us by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, or that joint participation indicated by such sayings asWhosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also." 1 Cor. i. 9, "Called unto the fellowship of his Son." 2 Cor. xiii. 14, "Fellowship of the Holy Ghost." 1 John i. 3, "Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." 1 John i. 6," If we say we have fellowship with him.” III. FELLOWSHIP of the blood and body of the Lord. 1 Cor. x. 16, "Is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ ?" IV. FELLOWSHIP in various items in which the church had common participation, as 2 Cor. vi. 14, Fellowship in light. Eph. iii. 9, "The fellowshsp of the mystery." Phil. iii. 10, "The fellowship of his sufferings." 1 John i. 7, "Fellowship one with another." 66 V. The sign of FELLOWSHIP. Gal. ii. 9, The right hand of fellowship." 66 289 The English reader has now the entire currency of this word before him, and can therefore approach the question, "What is the fellowship of Acts ii. 42?" with some amount of confidence. Let him remember the emphatic reading of the Greek, "They continued steadfastly in THE Apostles doctrine, and in THE fellowship, and in THE breaking of THE bread, and in THE prayers." What then was THE FELLOWSHIP" in which they continued? It was not fellowship in the blood and body of Christ, for that is additionally and expressly named. It was not fellowship in the holy doctrine of the Apostles, nor in the prayers of the church, for the same reason. What remains to which the word is applied? That fellowship of our first sectionfellowship in money, or that which money procures, to which joint participation we find the word again and again applied. But can we prove that in the Jerusalem church they contributed to a common treasury in connection with the breaking of the bread? The Gentile churches were required to do so, and the Jerusalem church did attend steadfastly to the fellowship, and their so doing is associated with the commemoration of the Lord's death and the prayers of the church. Then we know they had a common fund. There was great need, and those who had estates sold them and placed the money in the keeping of the Apostles, who were the first deacons, and who made distribution according to need. How they presented their gifts is not stated, and there is neither commandment nor example as to whether it should be by plate, box, bag, or by each giving into the hands of deacons or persons appointed to receive. All this each church is left to determine for itself. The only intimation is "that they brought the money and laid it at the Apostles' feet," by which we do not understand an actual putting upon the ground, but merely that to them they surrendered their gifts. If it be said that the instances named refer to seasons of special need, it may be answered that special cases furnish the rule for all like occasions. The speciality was that some brethren were in need and others had wherewith to help them, and the manner of proceeding shews that help by weekly contribution is not to be confined to the members of the church in which the contribution is made but to extend far and wide, to the bounds of the necessity. If any find a time when money is not needed to support, or aid, the aged, sick, and needy (including the preachers of the Gospel, who subject themselves to a voluntary poverty by relinquishing professions and trades to proffer the true riches to the perishing) then we will not complain if they discontinue the contribution. But such a day will not come on this side the Lord's return. Harbinger, Aug. 1, '63. tles, it was open giving-it was known how much they brought, and hence the case of Ananias. We have no command specially to provide appliances to render it impossible to know upon any occasion what individuals have contributed, as though it were sinful to have it known that a brother had (like some of whom Paul speaks) given even beyond his ability. Still the less ostentation, the less parade, and perhaps the less publicity the better. But in all these matters our duty is to abide by every apostolic command and example, and on any point to which command and example do not reach to proclaim liberty for every church and every member. But anything short of viola tion of apostolic rule is preferable to having in a church one weekly collection for all purposes, producing a miserable average of threepence per week from each member, when six times that sum would not amount to more than a tenth of the income of the church. If this much is admitted and it be objected that certain other expenses, such as printing, rent of meeting-house, &c. should not be taken from that fellowship which is for the poor saints, but should be collected from those members who are able to give― we answer, that if those who are able please to present it as part of their weekly offering we see no reason against their doing so, and if the church can be induced to give in this way we know of no better-Some have insisted that the Lord rebut if the want is not thus met, and cannot be, and if members are willing to provide for it by free-will offerings, bestowed at other times and in other ways, we can find no law against so doing and would rather it were thus accomplished than left undone. There are those who say, "But the giving must be in secret." This cannot be proven. But did not the Lord, himself, say, "When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly?" Yes! And he said at the same time, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father in secret." But yet the persons who say "Giving must be in secret" pray in public whenever they meet around the Lord's table and on many other occasions. The Lord's words were against giving to be seen of men, and open giving with that motive is sinful. But without that motive giving, either in secret or public, is accep table to God. When the first Christians brought their money to the Apos quires from every member at least onetenth of his income. We cannot believe it. To take this proportion from the widow who, for self and child has but ten shillings per week, would be cruel. But those who say that a church of average numbers and ordinary cir cumstances giving less than a tenth of its income falls short of its duty may be very near the mark. A return to primitive Christianity without primitive liberality is mere cant and pharisaism. We have not now to suffer by stripes and prisons. Our fathers have groaned and bled and we enjoy the rest they have bought for us, and if in view of what they and what God and Christ have done for us we will not deny ourselves, so as to present to the Lord something like a respectable and acceptable proportion of the good which He commits to our control, then we had better give up and go to our own place, where, perhaps, we shall find company of the Judas and Cretian stamp in abundance. We have, then, no objection to the fullest investigation of this subject. Hence the letter above is given, and more may follow. ITEMS OF NEWS. CHELSEA, PILTDOWN, BRIGHTON, &C. After I had left Liverpool for Birmingham Bro. Greenwell passed on from Bir ED. mingham to Liverpool, to be there several Lord's days, including the one following my departure, and from Liverpool to move Harbinger, Aug. 1, '63. ITEMS OF NEWS. on to the North. In a few days he report. ed the delivery of discourses and immersions in two chapels lent for the purpose. After having arranged with brethren to take the preaching services in the Temperance hall, Birmingham, for four weeks ensuing, I found myself on Lord's day, June 28, addressing the church in Sidney Hall, Chelsea, London. It is about twelve months since I last visited that church and I am much pleased at the evidence of advancement. Brother Exley's labors there have been productive of truly happy results, both in building up and enlarging the church. In the evening I proclaimed the gospel to a good company, and on the Thursday evening following, and also on Lord's day, July 5, I had most attentive congregations. During the week one who had heard us some four times confessed his faith and was immersed. Lord's day, July 12, found me with the church in Piltdown, where familiar faces, warm hearts, and ready hands (after an absence of nine years) gave me a hearty welcome. This church has not increased in number, but under temptation and great difficulty it has maintained the standing taken thirteen years ago, when, upon my first visits, the whole church renounced its one-man ministry and otherwise unscriptural order, and embraced the ways of the apostolic churches. An occasional visit from a ready, competent, and judicious brother would now be of much service. I regret that previous arrangements compelled me to limit my stay to one Lord's day. Morning and afternoon I addressed good compa nies in the chapel. In the evening I preached the gospel at Chailey, five miles distant. Here my pulpit was a grass covered bank, sheltered on the opposite side by spreading trees. Forms and chairs were brought from a neighboring inn, horses were removed from carts and seats were thus formed, while numbers reclined on Nature's carpet of green. In all we had a large assembly, and perhaps I may venture to say that I never addressed one more attentive. Not a voice, save that of the speaker, was heard-even the wind declined to sigh, and the trees moved not their hands. The pleasures of the day were augmented by the moving of the waters when, under the blue vault, a female went down into that Piltdown baptistry which covers some seven acres. On the Monday and Tues. day evenings I discoursed to brethren and others in the chapel, and on the Wednesday male my way to Brighton, to arrange for some little effort in that important town. On the morning of July 19, I met in the house of Bro. Bates fifteen brethren, to commemorate that death by which we live. In the afternoon, upon a place named "The Level," I proclaimed the gospel. 291 There were three other preachers within hearing distance, and the commingling of voices in metres long, short, and common, produced music more peculiar than agree. able. At first and for a good time, I had the smallest company, but by the time of conclusion getting on for a thousand persons were gathered round, to whom I said a few things which, it is likely, they had never before heard. On Monday evening according to announcement I lectured in the large Town hall upon Christianity, the Reformation and the Apostacy. The hearers were more numerous than we could have reasonably expected. The audience appeared highly respectable, and above the average in intelligence. Marked attention was only interrupted by expressions of approbation, and a vote of thanks proposed by Mr. Paul Fausket, a well known preacher, and seconded by another teacher of religion was generally adopted. At the close there was a demand for copies of "The Reformation: our Position and Duty," and greetings and enquiries would have detained us some considerable time, but the hall keeper, who seemed to think that we had remained long enough, somewhat abruptly ordered us out. Could I remain in Brighton, or even fre quently visit it, there can be no doubt that considerable result would follow. I should have added that since the early part of last May six have been immersed at Piltdown. Since I left Birmingham one immersion is reported. D. KING. CHRISTIAN SUFFERING IN AMERICA. In the South, a man who will not rave against the government must look out if he would preserve his life. The following is from the American Christian Review — "By request of the widow of the deceased, and in harmony with my feelings, I am seated to speak a word of the death of our beloved brother Daniel Waits, who was murdered in his own house, on the night of the 31st March, 1863, at Scott's Station, in Harrison co. Ky. A band of four or five murderers him. Daniel Waits was one of the best men in called him up from his bed and deliberately shot Harrison county. He was a decided Union man, but peaceable and conservative, and highly respected, and even loved, by many whose sympathies are Southern. But the crowning excellence of his character is, that he was a Christian-'the highest style of man.' "Daniel Waits had been a member of the church at Indian Creek for about twenty-two years, and an fore the 5th Lord's day in March I went to Indian elder of it most of that time. On the Saturday beCreek, where I met Bro. Waits and several others, whom I had not seen for some years. On Lord's day morning a large congregation convened, and with it Brother and Sister Waits. I preached to a very attentive and interested audience, and after meeting bade Bro. Waits farewell, promising to go to his house, all things concurring, at my next visit in May. Ah! little did I, or he, or his friends then think that in little more than forty-eight hours he would be murdered in his own house. When I heard of it I was overwhelmed. Oh, thought I, how will the church do without Bro. Waits' prayers, exhortation, counsel help in every way? But if I felt it, and the church felt his loss deeply, how must his wife and his uear connections have felt it? Oh the loneliness and sadness of that night to her heart! She has lost a friend indeed, and has no child on whom to fix her affections. JOHN ROGERS." "But my country! Oh my native, dearly-loved country! And has it come to this, that piety, and virtue, and peaceableness are no securities for property or life? Can we not heartily say with the weeping prophet, when he looked upon the desolations of his country, Oh! that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people?' God have mercy upon us. In some parts of the North, it is to be feared that life and liberty are not much more safe. The following letter cannot apply to the North generally, because we have accounts of preaching efforts, of great success, from which all politics are excluded, but the condition seems to be fearful in some parts. A letter from Canada dated June 12, 1863, speaks as under "Dear Brother King,—Colenso is only speaking in candor that which a great number of the popular churches of the day believe in their hearts. I have been expecting this battle to commence for some time. Infidelity will shew its head in the views of many of the most prominent members of the popular churches soon, and who is to meet them? Only those who stand on the Bible alone. Let us stand fast, brother. The truth is mighty our weapons are mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. I have just heard most distressing intelligence from the United States. The items are Harbinger, Aug. 1, '63. addressed will be imprisoned - i. e. if anything is OBITUARY. ELIZABETH JONES. We record with a deep sense of loss the removal of our beloved sister, the wife of Bro. James Jones, late of Wrexham, more recently of Liverpool, on the 13th April. She was immersed in Chester in the year 1837, and has preserved a character blameless in A the estimation of all who knew her. warm and earnest love to the Saviour made it the dearest object of her life to be found amongst his people, especially on the First day of the week. Sickness and prostration through the week scarcely ever prevented her finding her place at the Lord's table in time to exchange salutations with the earliest comers. It was a common thing to see her frail and attenuated form clinging with a tendril grasp to the arm of her husband, and thus walking two or three miles on the Lord's day morning. That her example may be long treasured by the church as a heritage, and that for many years to come it may live before us as an incentive to diligence in the Lord's vineyard, is our fervent prayer. G. Y. T. WILLIAM WESTALL. Died, on June 29, 1863, William Westall, in the 27th year of his age. He was baptized Nov. 6, 1851, at Chewbent, after an almost too horrible to repeat. Our brethren are be address by Bro. F. Hill, and was connectcoming victims, upon whom the most atrocious deeds are performed. Oh! Brother King, what are ed with the church in Leigh some eight we to think of a nation-a government-which will years, from whence he removed to Wigan, allow such horrible deeds, such heinous crimes to be where he remained till his death. He has perpetrated with its approbation? Our brethren, in the main, do not fight-won't discuss the war ques- left a widow, one child, a widowed mother, tion-wish to preach the gospel of Christ in peace; and a large circle of friends to deplore his but alas! they are imprisoned, shot, and maltreated departure, and he has also left an example in various ways. I am now in Toronto, and there are many here who tell what they have seen and suf-worthy of imitation by all young disci. fered. They are persons of high standing-one a ples. Having received the truth early in judge, one an A.B., &c. The talented Bro. Hopson life, he devoted his hours after daily labor has been in close confinement in prison nearly two years. One brother, supposed to be M. E. L. is to improvement in reading, writing, and breaking stones. A sister just come says her hus- the acquisition of knowledge, and this band fled from the house of her father. The sol- with considerable success. In giving himdiers came and shot her father, a defenceless old self up to the truth he followed the examman, in the arm, then in one thigh, and then in the ples set by his ancestors, who for more than one hundred and fifty years have contended for the faith once delivered to the saints. He was a man of few words, but he lived in the enjoyment of the favor of God and walked in the light of his countenance. Three months back he was attacked by bronchitis, followed by inflammation, and though he suffered much he was cheered by the joyful hope of a resurrection unto life eternal, by which he was sustained in confidence and resignation. other. He begged for inercy. Then they walked up to him and fired five or six bullets into his body, destroyed or pillaged his property, and left. The poor old man had done nothing. Our brethren are not allowed peace, because they will not preach or talk about the war. When they hold religious meet ings among themselves, North and South (politically) meet together. The soldiers will come in and compel them to have a Union flag over the head of the speaker. They are not allowed to write to each other, especially when the letters come to Canada, without being opened, and if anything in the letters appears objectionable to the Lincoln Government, the writer is imprisoned. And if letters from Canada are found addressed to any of them, the person W. T. Harbinger, Sept. 1, '63. HALLUCINATIONS. SEPTEMBER, 1863. HALLUCINATIONS. APPARITIONS, spectres, signs, and dreams seem to control and direct the conduct of a large class of mankind. No age has been free from one delusion or the other. Reason and Revelation are exotic plants to the larger portion of the world. Fanaticism and error are indigenous to this earth. From time immemorial true religion has had to contend against phantasies, and allusions, and ecstacies, and dreams, and visions. Our own age has by no means been free from these moral and social disorders. The gospel of Christ has been fearfully infected by their foul contact. Superstition has, to a large extent, neutralized the purity and power of God's Revelation. Bible intelligence has, however, dispelled many superstitious notions with marked effect, so that there are good grounds to hope that the day of sights, and scenes, and spectres will soon pass away. Sensuous evidence, in the matter of conversion (such as disordered imaginings, spiritual incubations, spontaneous regenerations, angelic interpositions, and holy reveries), is instantly rejected, as belonging to the mystic times of past generations. Bible preaching, Bible translation, Bible investigation, and Bible reading, are sifting out every human abomination. It is found that a conversion that does not result from a conviction of God's revealed truth, is no conversion at all. I have been led to indulge these reflections by reading an article in the Eclectic Magazine entitled, " Illusions and Hallucinations," in which a very satisfactory solution is given of the causes of so many mental and moral disorders. This writer in the British Quarterly declines discussing the religious aspect by saying: “We have already noticed the influence of the prevalent belief of any age Y 293 in producing or determining the nature of hallucinations. It will readily be conceived how inordinately powerful is the effect of unrestrained religious enthusiasm, especially when aided by ignorance, superstition, and the unnatural restraints of a secluded or conventual life. But we have designedly refrained from discussing the hallucinations so produced, except in the most incidental manner." But for the benefit of religious zealots, and for the enlightenment of fanatical bigots, as well as for the sake of our common humanity, he should have dwelt upon this part of his subject in an especial manner. And although he does not himself make the application as we would like, he, nevertheless, presents the principles and explanations in such a manner that the meanest capacity may know what he is driving at. The author does not deny the phænomena of hallucinations-which may all be accounted for on psychological principles-but he shews that they all have an earthly origin, and have no connection whatever with the spirit world. He presents quite a variety of forms in which illusions and hallucinations make their appearance, but I must content myself on one or two forms. I will here quote a paragraph: "The determining causes of hallucinations naturally divide themselves into two classes, the moral and the physical. As predisposing causes, the former, the moral, are the powerful; they are also chiefly concerned in the direct production of such delusions as occur in an epidemic form. In these cases the hallucinations are transmitted by the influence of educational and social ideas, by the force of example, and by a true moral contagion. Profound preoccupation of the thoughts and prolonged concentration of the mind on one |