CELIBACY.

"It is not good for man to he alone," was the language of God, when he first created him. Accordingly, he made for him "a help mete." This doctrine was believed and acted upon from the creation until the church of Rome discovered that celibacy was a holier state than matrimony. The priests who officiated at the altar under the old Dispensation, were required to he holy; but they vere never forbidden to marry. The apostles of Christ were expected to be "examples of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in purity;" (1 Tim. 4: 12;) yet they claimed the right "to lead about a sister, a wife," and the "brethren of the Lord and Cephas" exercised that right. 1 Cor. 9:5. It is rather remarkable, that Jesus Christ should have cho-son a married man for the first Pope; for Peter certainly had a wife. "And Simon's wife** mother was taken with a great fever." Luke 4: 38. It is true, Paul recommended in time of persecution, that those who could safely do so, should remain single: "I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress; I say, that it is good for a man so to be." 1 Cor. 7: 26. Yet in the verse preceding he says, "Now concerning virgins / have no commandment of the Lord;''' and so wrell was he acquainted with human nature, that after having said "It is good for a man not to touch a woman," he immedi-1*