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der himself accessible to them in that state, in order to reclaim them, or they never would have been saved by him, but must still have remained under their loss.

The miracle of turning water into wine, on that particular occasion, which is the only instance we have on record, and doubtless the only one which ever took place, was for a far more important purpose than to sanction matrimony or promote intemperance. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and "manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him."* By this he showed forth the divine authority of his mission, proved his God-like power, and confirmed the faith of his followers. But this was not all: It was designed and eminently calculated to be a figurative representation of his own spiritual marriage at the period of his second coming, and of that heavenly wine, which he afterwards spoke to his disciples of drinking with them, in his Father's Kingdom.t

Objection 9. This doctrine of celibacy, if generally admitted, would overthrow the institution of matrimony; the consequences of which would be very shocking to society. Abolish this institution, and all those civil and religious ties which bind families together, would be severed at once. The legal descent of inheritance, the property of heirs, and the ties of consanguinity would be no longer known. Those social connections which unite husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and on which depends the very foundation of human society, would be entirely destroyed, and mankind would soon be reduced to a state of anarchy and confusion.

Answer. This objection, if applied to mankind in a natural state, would indeed appear formidable; but when applied to the followers of Christ, it is more specious than solid. As an objection against the doctrine of christian celibacy maintained by the United Society, it is without foundation. That practical celibacy and christian continence, which we consider as the great privilege of the true followers of Christ, in this day of his second appearing, is very far from interfering with any useful institution of civil society. The children of this world and the followers of Christ are two distinct orders of people. "The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage;" and have a natural right to all the civil institutions of the country to which they belong, so long as they are subject to its laws and ordinances. "But they who shall "be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection "from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage." The followers of Christ are governed by the law of Christ, which is a law of justice and holiness; and so long as they do not interfere with the civil institutions of men, they cannot be chargeable with severing the bonds of civil society.

* John ii. 11.

See Matt. xxvi. 29. & Rev. xix: 7, 9.

Luke xx. 24, 35:

We consider matrimony to be a civil institution, and as such, it is both useful and necessary for mankind in their natural state; but it does not belong to the true followers of Christ; and for tuat reason they have nothing to do with it. As members of a christian institution, established by the law of Christ, and wholly unconnected with the civil, political and religious institutions of the world, it is inconsistent with our christian faith to interfere with any of their concerns. But at the same time, we are perfectly willing that every such institution, which produces any beneficial influence on its members, should be freely supported by those to whom it belongs, and whose concern it is to support it; and it is right and just that all people should act their own faith in this, as well as in all other matters.

The apostle Paul taught the Corinthians that it was "better to marry than to burn ;" and we have ever acknowledged it better to marry than to do worse. We readily admit that the institution of marriage is useful in its place; because it has a tendency to prevent many evils in society which could not otherwise be avoided. And for mankind, in their present state, it is absolutely necessary; because without it, the excesses of lawless lust would destroy every vestige of good order in society, and produce confusion and ruin among the human race. We will even admit that marriage is honorable in a state of nature, where the parties enter into it from honorable and conscientious motives, and are honestly and sincerely united in their endeavors to make an honorable use of it. But its frequent, fraudulent and shameful abuses are disgraceful to the parties, and cast a shameful blot upon the institution itself.

But tho we acknowledge the marriage institution to be both useful and necessary for the world in its present state; yet for the followers of Christ, who are called to forsake the course of the world, and to crucify the flesh with all its affections and lusts, it is neither necessary nor useful, but the contrary; it therefore forms no part of their duty, and can have no place among them. Their union is spiritual, and needs no fleshly support; their parentage is spiritual, and produces no fleshly offspring; their relation as brethren and sisters is spiritual, and can have no dependence on fleshly relation; their inheritance is spiritual, and cannot be controlled by human laws and institutions. Their temporal property, which is necessary for the support of the body while in this life, is regulated by a sacred compact, being, by mutual agreement, consecrated to religious uses, for the benefit of the whole body; and as such, it descends to their spiritual heirs in the same united capacity. So that all those difficulties concerning temporal property, so common among natural heirs, are prevented by the very nature of the institution, and, unless its rights are infringed upon by lawless usurpers from without, the descent of inheritance occasions no uneasi ness to the Society.

This spiritual relation in the church of Christ, is produced by "the law of the Spirit of life." It is the relation claimed by Jesus Christ, and he acknowledged no other. "Whosoever shall do "the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my broth66 er and sister and mother."* This relation is governed by the law of Christ, which is a law of righteousness and peace; and this law which governs the church of Christ, supersedes the necessity of human laws and human institutions to regulate its own internal concerns. And we have found by experience, that this law is a superior remedy against all those scenes of confusion and disorder, which are so common in the domestic circle, under a state of matrimony; and that it is more eminently calculated to promote the true spirit of union and harmony in society, than all the laws and institutions of matrimony, or any other law or institution ever devised by man.

CHAPTER IV.

The figurative import of Circumcision and other ceremonies under the law.

As Circumcision was an important institution given to Abraham, as the typical father of the faithful, and was continued to his posterity, as a primary and abiding institution, through all the law and the prophets, until the coming of Jesus Christ, it will be necessary to make some remarks upon this subject.

It is generally acknowledged that the ceremonies under the law were typical of gospel ordinances; that they were figures or shadows of something to be fulfilled in substance under the gospel; and that these "carnal ordinances," as the apostle calls them, plainly pointed to the spiritual work of Christ in his first or second appearance, or both. But among all the types of the law, none could be

more important than that of circumcision, not only because it was the first, and the foundation of all the rest; but also because it was the very seal of the covenant of promise given to Abraham, and typified a most important institution to be given to the faithful children of God in the latter day, and which was to be a peculiar mark of distinction between them and the rest of mankind.

A figure, to constitute a real type, must have a proper resemblance to the substance which it is designed to prefigure; otherwise it is not a type. It was therefore necessary that the institution of circumcision should bear a real analogy to that gospel institution which it was intended to point out. It is a prevailing opinion among many who consider water baptism as a gospel institution, that it was designed to supply the place of circumcision under the

*Matt. sii. 50%

law; some indeed suppose that circumcision was a type of water baptism. In this however, there must appear an obvious inconsistency for there is no kind of analogy between baptism and circumcision; and water baptism itself, was but a type of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This appears evident from John's own testimony: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he "that cometh after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not "worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and "with fire." Therefore, to say that circumcision was a type of baptism, is nothing less than calling it a type of a type, which is an absurdity.

The circumcision of the male in the flesh of his foreskin, was a significant mark of mortification in that particular member of the flesh in which is found the seat of its carnal pleasures. This seal of the typical covenant made with Abraham, was the most lively figure ever given to man, of the mortification of the very source of iniquity, by the spiritual work of Christ, and of the complete destruction of that carnal pleasure received from that source, in the act of sexual coition.

As circumcision was the seal of the covenant of promise to Abraham and his posterity, under the law; and as none were considered as God's covenant people without this seal, whatever degree of conformity they might observe in other respects; so it was a very plain manifestation that the seal of the covenant in Christ, was to consist in the cutting off, and total rejection of fleshly lust, by a life of self-denial and the cross. This is the very foundation of the true cross of Christ, and the separating line between "the children of this world," who "marry and are given in marriage," and "the children of the resurrection," who "neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like unto the angels ;" because they live a spiritual life. And without this seal, this distinguishing mark of the cross of Christ, no soul can be in the real covenant of Christ, revealed in this day, whatever profession he may make, or whatever duties he may perform, in other respects.

This figure is so obvious and striking, that it seems as tho none could mistake it, excepting those who are blinded by an obstinate determination to maintain the carnal life of the flesh, at all events. There is nothing else to which circumcision, as a type, can bear any consistent analogy. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." But as the law was only figurative of spiritual things, and not the real substance; therefore if its types do not bear a plain resemblance to their antitypes, then it is in vain to seek by them to find the knowledge of sin. Man has been too long imposed upon by false systems and imaginary theories, which have no foundation in truth, nor any consistency in themselves. Certainly a figure of so much importance as circumcision evidently was, under the law,

ought to be well considered by those who profess to be under the light of the gospel; lest, unhappily, they lose both the knowledge and the benefit of the most important principles of the gospel.

Let those who consider water-baptism to be the antitype of circumcision, (for if it was substituted under the gospel in lieu of circumcision, it must be the antitype,) consider also, that upon this principle, the antitype is not so mortifying to the flesh, nor so deep and lasting as the type. This clearly involves the absurdity of making the shadow of a substance more substantial than the substance itself. What figure could have been formed, under the law, to represent more plainly the cutting off and rejection of the carnal works of the flesh, under the gospel, than outward circumcision, or cutting off the foreskin of the flesh? This not only wounded the flesh in such a manner that the mark remained visible ever after; but it took blood, which is the life of the flesh, from that very member in which is found the seat and center of all the pleasures of lust.

The object of the covenant with Abraham, which was established and confirmed by this seal, was to show that under the gospel dispensation, the everlasting seal of the spiritual covenant, which was to distinguish Christ's chosen people from all others, must be that cross which destroys the life of fleshly lust. "For he is not 66 a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision "which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew which is one in66 wardly and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and "not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."* This then is the true seal which hath praise of God, but not of men for nothing is so opposite to the natural inclinations of fallen man as this seal, which is, in very deed, the cross against the lust of the flesh.

It may perhaps be objected that circumcision, when compared with this cross, is not a perfect figure; because males only were the subjects of circumcision; and therefore it could not properly typify that cross, which seems to be enjoined on females as well as males. True indeed, males only were the subjects of circumcision; but if sexual coition ceases in the male, it must cease in the female of course.

But there was another legal ceremony respecting women, which was sufficient to balance the cross of circumcision in the male, and which was not only a confirmation of the impure nature of the works of generation, but an evident token that these works were to be excluded from the church of Christ, which is the spiritual sanctuary of God. A woman who brought forth a male child, was counted unclean, under the law, seven days; and on the eighth day the child was to be circumcised. And even then, the

Rom. ii. 28, 29.

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