the uttermost. If you can tell whether you are hot or cold, whether you are in the house or in the street, why can you not tell likewise whether your trust is in him or in yourself, or whether your supreme desire is fixed upon him or upon the world? If Jesus, and the salvation which he accomplished and reveals, be your hope and your choice, why then allow suggestions to the contrary, why indulge doubts and suspicions that all this may be in vain? You will do well to maintain a jealousy of your own heart, and of the subtlety of Satan, and the deceitfulnes of sin; but by no means give way to unbelief. These principles are sometimes mistaken for each other; though the one is the fruit of God's Spirit, the other of our own; and their effects are as different as their nature. The one makes us humble, the other sullen. Jealousy increases circumspection and diligence in the use of means; unbelief produces sloth and impatience, and says, Why should I wait upon the Lord any longer? The matter may be brought to a short issue. We were once blind: do we now see? Then the Lord has opened our eyes. We could not do it for ourselves. Again: Have we spiritual desires? Then he gave them, for once we had them not. If we give him the glory of the work, we may take the comfort of it. For he is not changeable. He will not convince us of our want and misery; shew us his own fulness; invite, encourage, yea, constrain us to apply to him for relief, and then shut the door of his mercy against us. He will not teach us to flee to him for refuge, and inspire us with a confidence in his protection, and then give us up to the will of our enemies. Surely, if we are made willing to be saved, he is much more willing to save us. Why else did he leave his glory, and wear the form of a servant, and die upon the cross? But why do I run on thus, when I am verily per suaded, from what I have observed and beard from you, that you are scarcely half in earnest, when you start the objections which I am seriously opposing as if you felt them in all their force? "I am much obliged to you for the book of geography. In the map at the beginning, how small does the distance appear between Eugland and Russia; between P and O. Like different hamlets in the same parish, or like houses at different ends of the same street, the mind can travel between them, in less than the twinkling of an eye. If two places are both very near to a third, they certainly cannot be far from each other. Now the Throne of Grace is a point equally near, and very near to all believers, whether in the East or in the West. However to sense divided and separated by seas and mountains, or by names and forms, there they all meet. I hope, therefore, to be often with you, and to feel that you are with me. What a noble connexion bas the believer! How does the Savi. our's love expand the soul to take in all who love his name and image, and to hold communion with them wherever they are placed, especially where there is a personal knowledge, and the love of the Spirit is cemented and heightened by the endearments of friendship. Thus I trust we are united, so that neither Baltic nor Atlantic, Alps nor Andes, neither absence nor distance, can break or even weaken the connexion the Lord himself has formed." "I am ambitious to be the first, at least one of the first, to address a letter to you by your new name. And therefore it is chiefly to please myself that I write this evening, when I have so little time at command. "I beg you to present my affectionate respects, with Mrs. Newton's, to Mr. W, and to tell him, that though my letters will be directed to you, as I have not French enough to correspond with him, I shall always consider myself as writing to him likewise. You are both one, in the eye of the law, and in the sight of the Lord. It is my prayer that you may be always one in affection and in aims; fellow-helpers, and fellow heirs of the hope of eternal life. You have nothing now to do, but to study jointly to please the Lord, and, in subordination to him, to please each other. "How happy is the domestic union, when strengthened daily by new endearments and obligations, and cemented by the blessing of our gracious Saviour! To speak of it in a temporal view only, it affords comfort and satisfaction, which unspeakably outweigh the noisy, empty, pretended pleasures of a life of dissipation and vanity, according to the course of the world....... "So much was written last night, when I was weary, and in great haste. The Sabbath is now come; the first Sabbath Mrs. W– ever saw. I know not where you will spend it; but wherever you are, I wish you the Lord's presence. Oh, how do some of our people in this parish prize the Sabbath! It is, in a manner, their only comfortable time--then they leave their cares, crosses, and poverty, at home, and find an amends for all in the ordinances of Divine grace. I believe some of them, poor as they are, would not voluntarily be absent from the house of God one Sabbath, for a great deal of what the world has to bribe them with. There they see his glory, hear his voice, feel his power, taste his sweetuess, find the savour of his name as precious ointment, and thus have all their spiritual senses exercised and gratified. They have not the notice of men, but they have the ear of the King of kings. They know how to draw nigh to him, and they know that he draws nigh to them! Who then shall say they are poor? Rather, they are the truly rich. Who shall call them mean? They are the wise and honourable of the earth." "I have little particular to write, having pretty well emptied my stores in conversation while you were here. We shall hope to hear of you now and then, as you are passing along, and especially upon your safe arrival in F———. It seems the French privateers lately snapt up one of the packets; but the privateers act under a higher commission than they are aware of, and I am sure they cannot touch the vessel you embark in, without the express permission of Him who rules the universe. And I trust he will not give them leave, without such wise and weighty reasons as would be quite satisfactory to us, if we knew them. And though we cannot expect to know his reasons in every dispensation, we know enough to satisfy us that he does all things well. I hope and believe you will go very safely, and that goodness and mercy will accompany you all the way to Pand all the days of your life. "How valuable is that promise, Prov. iii. 5, 6! If we can but trust in Him whose wisdom is unerring and power infinite, we have no more to do but simply follow his leading. Every event is then a messenger of his will to us, and every moment an acceptable time, in which we may ask and receive whatever is necessary for our support, comfort, and guidance. The great difficulty is to cease from leaning to our understanding; but He can enable us to do this likewise. Whatever he points out to us as our duty or privilege in a way of precept, it is our wisdom to return to him, and spread before him in a way of petition. It is his part to work in us, first to will aud then to do of his own good pleasure, and we are never so strong as when we are most sensible of our own weakness, and, under that conviction, entreat him, and depend upon him to do all in us, and all for us. Such a frame of spirit engages the assistance of his mighty power, which worketh effectually, so that mountains sink into plains before it." (To be continued.) To the Editor of the Christian Observer. It will be esteemed a particular favour, if some of your respectable correspondents will communicate, through the medium of your miscellany, an opinion on the texts undermentioned, as to the extent of the propagation of the Gospel. Matthew xxiv. 14; Romans x. 18; Colossians i. 6, 23, &c. Authors differ widely on this subject. Dr. South says; "The world may be divided into thirty parts, of which nineteen are Paparts, of which nineteen are Pagans, six Mahometans and Jews, and only five are Christians.' Burkitt says, "all the world" has had the Gospel: Robinson, "all the known world:" Beveridge, "all but America:" Hammond, Horne, and Doddridge, "the habitable world." Burnet says it has been partially promulgated; and Tillotson says, "to the known world." Now how is this diversity of sentiment to be reconciled? The question is, Has the Gospel been generally propagated? And have the nations afterwards apostatized? Or has it been spread only through the Roman empire? And is it not to be sent to all the world till after the restoration of the Jews? A solution of this question would render an important service to CONTEMPLATOR. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. IN your last Number but one (page 560), a correspondent offers a new translation of Gen. iii. 22, 23. Without inquiring into the merits of the proposed reading, and admitting that the passage has puzzled many persons, I am still in clined to think that it may be sa tisfactorily explained as it stands in our authorised version. The difficulty is in the latter clause of the 22d verse, which certainly is incomplete, but may, I conceive, be made perfect, by supplying the words Let us take heed, or some such expression: the reading would "And the Lord God said, then be, of us, to know good and evil: and Behold, the man is become as one forth his hand, and take also of the now, let us take heed lest he put tree of life,and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him till the ground from whence he was forth from the garden of Eden, to taken." The ellipsis here proposed to be supplied is by no means unusual before in Hebrew, and is agreeable to the construction of its corresponding word () in Greek, as instances of both are to be found in the Old and New Testament. In the former I would re fer your readers, among other passages, to Gen. xlii. 4; 2 Kings x. 23, and particularly to Job xxxvi. 18, where our translators have sup“Because there plied the ellipsis, is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke.” And in the New Testament we have, Matt. XXV. 9, "But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest (μl) there be not enough for us and you." And again, Rom. xi. 21, "For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest (ww) he also spare not you." If you consider the above observations deserving attention, you will much oblige me by their insertion. J. O. Z. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THE following excellent passage from the valuable writings of an old divine having greatly benefited me in reading, I am induced to send it, with two or three slight verbal alterations, for insertion in your work. I fear the duty of meditation is one in which the present race of Christians are sadly deficient. 26 Junez R. H. S. eb. "It is one great duty of Christians to meditate on the word of God, and such matters as are contained therein. "Let us inquire what meditation is, because the practice and know ledge of the duty is almost become a stranger to us. Before I can define, I must distinguish it. Meditation is occasional, or set and so lemn. 1. "Occasional meditation is an act by which the soul derives spiritual benefit from every object it is conversant about. A piously disposed heart is like an alembic: it can distil useful thoughts out of all things it meets with. As it sees all things in God, so it sees God in all things. Thus Christ, at Jacob's well, discourses of the well of life; (John iv ;)—at the miracle of the loaves, discourses of manna; (John vi;)-at the feast of tabernacles, of living waters; (John vii;)—at the Pharisee's supper, discourses of eating bread in the kingdom of God; (Luke xiv. 15.) There is a holy chemistry and art, that a Christian has to turn water into wine; brass into gold; to make earthly occasions and objects minister spiritual and heavenly thoughts. Jehovah trained up the old church, by types and ceremonies, that the things they ordinarily conversed with might put them in mind of God and Christ, their duties and dangers and sins. Our Lord, in the New Testament, taught by parables and similitudes, taken from ordinary functions and offices among men, in order, perhaps, that in every trade and calling, we might be employed in our worldly business with a heavenly mind: that whether in the shop, or at the loom, or in the field, we might still think of Christ, and grace, and heaven. There is a parable of the merchant-man, a parable of the sower, a parable of the man calling his servants to an account, &c. &c.; in order that upon all these occasions we might learn to wind up, as it were, our minds, and extract some spiritual use from our common affairs. Thus the creatures lift up our souls to the Creator. David had his nightly meditation, (Psalm viii. 3.) When I consider the heavens, the work of thy hands, the moon, and the stars, which thou hast made. The sun is not mentioned, but in Psalm xix. 5, there is a morning meditation; for he describes the sun coming out of his chambers in the East, and displaying his beams like a cloth of gold upon the world. A holy heart cannot want an object to lead him to the meditation of God's power, and goodness, and glory, and wise providence, who has made, and doth order all things according to the counsel of his will. There is much practical divinity in the very bosom of nature, if we had the skill to find it out. Job bids us, Ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee, or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. They speak by means of our thoughts. 2. "There is set and solemn meditation. Now this is of several sorts, or rather, there are several parts of the same exercise. "There is a reflexive meditation, which is nothing but a solemn conference between a man and his own heart. (Psalm iv. 4.) Commune with your own heart, and be still. When we have withdrawn ourselves from company, that the mind may return upon itself to consider what we are, what we have been, what straits and temptations we have passed through, how we overcame them, how we passed from death to life; this is a necessary, but a very difficult part of meditation. What can be more against self-love and worldly ease, than for a man to be his own accuser and judge? All our arts and devices are to avoid our own company, and to run away from ourselves. basilisk, it is fabled, dies by seeing himself in a mirror: and a guilty man cannot endure to see his own The natural face in the glass of the word of God. The worldly man chokes his soul with business, lest, for want of work, the mind, like a mill, should run back upon itself. The voluptuous person melts away his days in pleasure, and charms his soul in a deep sleep with the potion of outward delights, lest it should awake and talk with him. Well, then, it is necessary we should take some time to discourse with ourselves; to ask of our souls, what we have been, what we are, what we have done, what shall become of us to all eternity! Jer. viii. 6. No man asketh of himself, What have I done? You would think it strange that two men should converse every day for forty or fifty years, and yet all that while not know any thing of each other's character and destination. Now this is too often the case between us and our own souls: we live a long time in the world, and yet are strangers to ourselves. "There is a meditation which is more direct; namely, when we exercise our minds in the word of God, and the matters contained therein. This is two-fold; dogmatical or practical. The former is the searching out of a truth in order to obtain knowledge, proving what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. This is study, and differs from meditation in the object, and supposes the matter we search after to be unknown either in whole or in part whereas practical meditation is the inculcation or whetting of a known truth upon the soul: and it differs in its object. The object of study is information, and the end of meditation is practice, or a working upon the affections. Study is like a winter sun, that shines, but warms not; but meditation is like blowing up the fire, where we do not mind the blaze, but the heat. The end of study is to hoard up truth; the end of meditation to lay it forth in conference or holy conversation. In study, we are rather like vintners, THE Apostle appeals to the Corinthians as to persons well acquainted with the fundamental articles of Christianity;-Ye knows but recollecting the ignorance and carelessness of the human mind, he takes an opportunity, at the same time, of reminding them of what they could not but have already heard. We also, like them, have had ample opportunities of learning the great doctrines that are necessary to salvation: we have even been baptized into the Christian faith; we have professed to fight manfully ander the banners of Christ, and to continue his faithful servants and soldiers unto our lives' end: but, alas! how often do we seem wholly unconscious of these things, and treat them as if of no importance whatever! How often. do we crucify the Son of God, afresh, and put him to an open, shame! How often do we do despite to the Spirit of his grace, and trample his richest mercies beneath our feet; and that not for want of knowing better, for we cannot but be aware of the numerous claims on our love and gratitude, but for want of being really impressed: with the truths which we acknow ledge and understand! With a view to correct this too-common forgetfulness, let us humbly pray to God for his presence and bless 粒子 |