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EDITORIAL. W 3.1,..1,. BEEBE, Editor. To Correspondents. —Many of our brethren who Lave heretofoie written for publication in the Mes senger, seem to have forgotten us altogether, in the confusion attending the terrible war now going on in our country. In a time of great calamity in the na tion of Israel, similar to the present with us, when they called the proud happy, and they that wrought wickedness were set up,, and such as tempted God were even delivered; “ then they that feared the lord spake often one to another ;” and can we afford to lose sight of each other in this wilderness of sin ? Brethren Mitchell, Patman, and others, who wish the paper supported, you must not leave all the contribu tions to its columns to be furnished by our imme diate neighbors. The Brethren Montgomery and Purington have geneiously furnished us with a very liberal amount of matter for our columns, and we hope they will not grow weary in well-doing; still we desire to hear from other brethren and sisters, some of whom formerly favored us with occasional articles, and others who could do so easily. We were very glad indeed to receive the article in this number from Bro. Power, as also the note from Bro. Hassel, of North Carolina, which showed that he had not forgotten us. We hope both these brethren particu larly will let us hear from them eften. By the way, Bro. Power, where are those essays of which you spoke in a former letter, and which we requested you to forward us ? Remarks on Rom. xi. 17--2&L This text, on which Sister E. F. Wilson requests our comment, is only a small portion of the-Apostle’s argument concerning the rejection of national Israel in the manifestation of Go*S mercy to Israel, or the church of Christ, who stand justify before God in the of their Redeemer, which argument runs through the ninth to the twelfth chapters of this epistle inclusive. He takes particular care, while he shows the- expiration of the limitations of the old covenant, to the Gentile disciples against the error of supposing that all the Israelites were irrecoverably lost, which might tend to make them despise their Jewish brethren. In the course of his argument he introduces this figure of grafting,- which was, doubtless, familiar with them, to illus trate the relationship which exists between the Gen tile members of the church and those of Jewish de scent naturally. As in literal grafting, the relation ship is changed entirely, so that the branch which is grafted into another tree becomes a part of the tree into whieh it is inserted; so in the church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but the members are all one in Christ Jesus, and members one of another. This is the extent of the application of the illustration in tended in the text. Literally, men graft a superior branch upon an inferior stock; but that this is not the sense in which the Apostle uses the figure, is evident from the 18th to the 21st verses of this chapter, as also from Ps. xiv. 3, and the quotation of the same in this epistle, chapter iii. 10. Neither is it the meaning of the Apostle that the Gentiles were improved into fit sub jects for heaven by being grafted into the stock of Israel; for in the preceding portion of this chapter he eays, “ Israel [that is, as a whole nation,] hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election [the spiritual seed of Abraham] hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded*” 80 U TII ER N BAPTIST MESSENGER. The spiritual Israel comprises everyone of that family who have received like precious faith with faithful Abraham, and they are united by the most sacred of all ties, that of a common parentage spiritu ally. This seed is that which is justified in the Lord, and not in themselves, as it is written, “ In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.”—lsa. xlv. 25. As those disciples, to whom this letter was written, were Gentiles, they were conf parable to the branches of the wild olive tree, in contrast with the natural Israelites, who possessed great advantages over them in nlany ways, but chief; ly, because to the Jews were committed of God, or the sacred Scriptures which contained 4he : written word of truth, which was, a3 the Psalmist, “a lamp to their Hence had always been accustomed to look jtvith a sort of contempt on the less favored Gentiles. But when the gospel church was instituted it abolished all the old distinctions between Jew and Gentile, bond and free, rich and poor, so far as their church standing is concerned. Ihe natural effect of this leveling pro cess was to place its subjects in an entirely new po sition relatively so each other, so that it was neces sary that those who had previously held high posi tions should be taught that “except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;” and the poor in spirit have the assurance that the kingdom of heaven is theirs’. Yet, to guard them against errors in their estimation of their liberties or privileges, as well as to clearly define their respective duties, Paul labors in this, as in all his letters, to explain clearly all those points .be misunderstood: On the subject of the course pursued by the A*postls in preaching the gospel among the G<?ntfles* Paul said to tho Jews, — “ It wus necessary the word of God should first have been spoken to you ; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting ‘TiiJ, 10, we turn to the* Gentiles.” Those GentiM who could receive the words of truth as stolen by the Apostles, were the spiritual seed of Israel to whqpi the promise properly not all Israel which are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are children ; but In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are tho children of the flesh, these vc not the children of God; hut the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” This is the substance of the Apostle’s proposition for the illustration of which all that io included in these three chapters is his argu ment, in whichHhe text is introduced to make it plain that it was not in accordance with the common usage among men, hut upon the higher principle of God’s sovereignty that the Gentiles were grafted into the church of Christ, as the objects of divine favor, and recipients of grace. The Gentile believers, in com mon with the rest of* the human family, had a cor rupt and sinful nature, which was prone to be puffed up with pride ; and under the influence of this spirit they were very liable to become exalted in view of the distinguishing mercy by which they had been grafted into the manifest spiritual family, and made partakers with the saints in the high privileges of the. church of Christ. Hence, the admomition in cluded in the text, “ Be not high Rinded, but fear.” Some may be disposed to wrest the remark appended to this caution of the Apostle into a warrant for their darling idea of the possible apostacy of the saints ; but this is obviously an erroneous understanding from the very text itself. The rejection of national Israej was not a final casting away of all that people ; but as it is written, “ Though the number of the children of Israel life as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.”—Rom. ix. 27, and Isa. x. 22, 23. Recollect that the text assigns the reason of the rejection of those who were cast away as leing unbe lief, whereas the cause of all men being condemned ‘ to the death which never dies, is sin. This proves conclusively that the casting away here spoken of is not in reference to the final perishing of the souls of such as werg cast away ; but rather it must be un derstood as pferring to something of a temporal na ture. The casting away of the Jews was the with drawal from them of the light of the gospel church privileges. As in the case of national Israel, those j*ho were found murmuring against God -were still Israelites, ven though they died literally for their wickedness, so the spiritual Israelites may expe rience a death as to their enjoyment of their divine inheritance, but though .that is the most terrible punishment that'can be irffiictcd on them, the assu rance remains firm as over that not even Death shall be able tfl separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. viii. 38, 39. But if tfciß. elect of God among that most highly fa vored natidfc, whose are the faihers, and of whom, as concerning %ie flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forevermore; if they even were not spared, hut suffered the just reward of their unbelief in being left to the darkness which their carnal minds loved, we may well take to ourselves the Apostle’s admonition, “Be not high minded, but fear.” Not that the saints are to pass their life-time in continual terror. The fear enjoined upon the saints is that filial fear with which a dutiful child re gards its parents, that fear of the Lord which is the of wisdom, which is founded in supreme love WBod, and regard to his honor and glory. This fear is rather a fear of disgracing the profession of godliness by an unworthy course of conduct than the dread of the penalty or punishment clue to transgres sion ; so tlicw the saints, while they serve their Lord, can shag— “ Not by the terrors of a slave Do we perform his will; But with the newest powers we have His sweet commands fulfill.” t We have thus jriven a brief sketch of our views of • this subject, which are submitted to Sister •and our readers generally with all deference to the views of those yaftose minds may be better instructed on the subject*than our” own. CJf tho truth of the general principles advanced in this article we have no doubt, though they might have been better ex pressed by more gifted pens. May the God of all grace bless these remarks as far as is in accordance with his truth, and pardon anything erroneous, and finally lead us into a perfect knowledge of all truth, is our pray ex', for Jesus’ sake. Amen. receipts! [From April 2 to. April 12.] GEORGIA.—Mrs. S. Edwards, 1; Mrs. M. M. Newsom, 1; Elizabeth J. Bellflower, 1; J. W. Com mander 2; Eld. W. S. Jarrell, (to March 15,1862,) 2; Mrs. A. E. Hardy, 1; K. Branam, 4; C. Bostic, 1; Piety Brooks, 1 ;T. McKenney, 1; J. Cagle, 1; John Keen, sr., 1, $17,00 ALABAMA.—John Hendrick, 6,70; John Whitaker, 2, 8,70 TEXAS.*—EId. H. L. Power, 1, 1,00 Total, $26,70 15