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Psalm ciii. 8, 9. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide; neither will he keep his anger forever.??

Jer. iii. 12. "For I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep auger forever."

Lamen. iii. 31, 32, 33 "For the Lord will not cast off forever; but tho he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."

Ezekiel xvi. 42. "So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry."

REMARKS.

The above passages borrow much of their phraseology from the actions and passions of men Such expressions as, my fury, my jealousy, I will be quiet, &c. we are not to understand as literally true of God, as we understand them when applied to man. They express analogous ideas, so far as is consistent with the divine perfections.

We find the above passages much in favor of universal salvation from the idea that they all represent mercy as superabundant. The following remarks on the first passage are taken from the Commentary of Dr. Adam Clarke.

"Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. This necessarily implies-if the children walk in the steps of their fathers. For no man can be condemned by divine justice for a crime of which he was never guilty, see Ezek. xviii. Idolatry is however particularly intended; and visiting sins of this kind,. refers principally to national judgements. By withdrawing the divine protection, the idolatrous Israelites were delivered up into the hands of their enemies, from whom, the gods in whom they trusted, could not ⚫ deliver them. This, God did to the third and fourth generation, i. e. successively; as may be seen in every

part of the Jewish history, and particularly in the book of Judges. And this, at last, because the grand, and the only effectual and lasting means, in his hand, of their final deliverance from idolatry; for it is well known that after the Babylonish captivity, the Israelites were so completely saved from idolatry, as never to have disgraced themselves by it, as they had formerly done. These national judgements thus continued from generation to generation, appear to be what are designed by the words in the text, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children, &c.

"Verse 6. And shewing mercy unto thousands. Mark: even those who love God, and keep his commandments, merit nothing from him; and therefore the salvation and blessedness which these enjoy, come from the mercy of God. Shewing mercy, &c. What a disproportion between the works of justice and mercy! Justice works to the third or fourth, mercy to thousands of generations."

One of the aforenamed texts says, "the Lord will not keep anger forever." What is this but saying his judgements or punishments will come to an end: We repeat, whatever his anger, or the afflictions thereby occasioned may be, his mercy is superabundant, and prevails in the end. "Ye have heard of the patience of Job," says a divine writer, "and seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy."

MR. EDITOR,

For the Christian Repository.

By admitting the following statements in your periodical publication you will much oblige your friend. For some years past, I have been a member of the Calvinistic Baptist Church in Sutton, N. H. but in consequence of a difficulty between myself and Elder Nathan Ames, the present pastor of that Church, concerning the upsetting of a Mr. Fifield's beehive, the Church have severed me from their communion by

excommunication, and, as I conceive, wrongfully, In the upsetting of the aforenamed beehive, there were certain persons implicated, among whom was my son. Others concluded it was upset by hogs. In consequence of contradictory statements made by Elder Ames, as I regret to have occasion to say, I believe Elder Ames and the Church found themselves in difficulty, and have taken the course they have, tending so much to the injury of my character. I have hitherto sought for redress of grievances, and sought in vain. As the last resort, I would hereby inform my brethren and the public, when all other means of a proper adjustment of these difficulties fail, I have fully concluded to lay these transactions before the public, with suitable testimony to vindicate my injured character. It is my sincere wish that these difficulties may be settled in a gospel manner; and I trust I stand ready to acknowledge my faults, so far as I am convinced of them, in the light of the understanding which my benevolent Creator has given me.

EZEKIEL LITTLE.

EXTRACT FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NORTHERN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSALISTS.

The members of the Northern Association of Universalists met in Council, according to appointment, at the house of Mr. JOSIAH SIMONDS, in Whiting, County of Addison, Vermont, on Tuesday evening, the last of September, 1823; and after uniting in solemn and devout prayer with Br. Loveland, organized by choosing,

Br. S. C. LOVELAND, Moderator.

Br. R. BARTLETT, Clerk.

Br. D. SKINNER, Assistant Clerk.

Appointed Brs. J. BABBIT, A. KINSMAN, and S. C. LOVELAND, a Committee, to receive requests for letters of fellowship, or ordination, if any there be.

Adjourned till 8 o'clock, Wednesday Morning.

Prayer by Br. R. Bartlett.

Wednesday Morning, met and opened the business of the Council, by uniting in prayer with Br. A. Priest.

Proceeded to read the letters from the several Churches and Societies in fellowship with this Association, and found them expressing good tidings of good.

Order of Public Service for Wednesday.

MORNING SERVICE.

Introductory prayer, by Br. R. Bartlett.

Sermon, Br. D. Skinner. Text, Genesis xxviii. 12. "And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and, behold, the angels of God ascend ing and descending on it."

Concluding prayer, Br. A. Priest.

AFTERNOON SERVICE.

Introductory prayer by Br. L. Willis.

Sermon, Br. S. C. Loveland. Text, Matt. xxii. 37, 38, 39. "Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like anto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Concluding prayer, Br. C. R. Marsh.

EVENING SERVICE.

Introductory prayer, Br. S. C. Loveland.

Sermon, Br. L. Willis. Text, Deut. xxxiii. 16, 17. "Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh."

Concluding prayer, Br. J. Babbit.

Attended to the report of ministering brethren, appointed last year to visit and represent the present state of the Churches and Societies belonging to this Association, who gave us joyful and refreshing tidings.

Adjourned till 8 o'clock, Thursday.

Thursday morning-met according to adjournment, and opened the business of the council, by uniting in solemn and devout prayer with Br. R. Bartlett.

Attended to a report of the committee appointed to receive requests for letters of fellowship, and ordination, who reported in favor of ordaining Brs. Asa Priest, Dolphus Skinner, Lemuel Willis, and Charles R. Marsh.

This report was accepted.

Arrangement of the Public Exercises for Thursday.

MORNING SERVICE.

Introductory prayer by Br. D. Skinker.

Sermon by Br. A. Kinsman. Text, Matthew x. 7. "And, as ye go, preach."

Concluding prayer by Br. L. Willis.

AFTERNOON SERVICE.

Introductory prayer by Br. S. C. Loveland.

Sermon by Br. R. Bartlett. Text, James iii. 17. "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

Consecrating prayer by Br. J. Babbit.

Delivery of the Scriptures and charge by Br. S. C. Loveland.
Right hand of fellowship by Br. A. Kinsman.
Concluding prayer by Br. R. Bartlett.

Attended on the report of a committee from the General Convention.

Adjourned the Association to meet at Whitehall, (N. Y.) on the first Wednesday and Thursday in October, 1824. Prayer by Br. L. Willis.

SAMUEL C. LOVELAND, Moderator.
ROBERT BARTLETT, Clerk.

DOLPHUS SKINNER, Assistant Clerk,

MISCELLANEOUS.

The sermons contained in this volume are from the pen of Br. Edward Turner, except the one in the first number. We trust they will be read with interest and satisfaction.

Mr. Ezekiel Little, whose notice to his once Baptist brethren is inserted in this number, has been a member of the church from which he has been excommunicated, for some years; and with good reputation has sustained both offices of deacon and clerk of that church. We have only to say further, we hope the wrong, in this matter, will fall where it ought, and an amicable settlement follow.

This number brings us to the close of the present volume. To the patronizers of this work, the Editør

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