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OF GENERAL

GOD, ON

OCCURRENCES INTERESTING ΤΟ FEAR THOSE WHO OF THEIR ACCOUNT INFLUENCE ON RELIGION, OR ON PUBLIC MORALS AND HAPPINESS.

(To be continued occasionally.)

No. 1.-GENERAL PRINCIPLES. EPIDEMIC IN SPAIN, &C.-TURKISH EMPIRE.-WESTERN EUROPE, &c.

"The MOST HIGH ruleth in the kingdoms of men."-This is the foundation and the corner-stone of Religion, and accordingly the most astonishing demonstrations of this great truth have occurred in all ages; and they have been often of such a nature as to arouse the attention of the most careless. To that guiding pillar which marshals and leads onward all human affairs, it is a part of the duty of the churches of CHRIST to be always attentive; for lessons of instruction, or signs of hope, to them, are often indicated by the direction of its course, and the increasing brightness of its manifestation. We live in a period of the last days, in which, as might be expected from the nearer approach of that kingdom which cannot be moved," there is a more intimate connexion observable between the dispensations of general Providence and the establishment of the spiritual empire of CHRIST; and Religion itself, not as it is supposed to consist in this, or that, or the other profession, but in its true principles, and the efforts of its zeal and charity, is now taking its place so strenuously in human affairs, that it forces itself into the notice and calculations of those to whom their management has been intrusted. We expect this to go on. The interests of nations and those of true Christianity will become more obviously blended, and the voice of its friends will be heard

more frequently and more emphatically, both in connsel and admonition, in all that concerns the welfare of individual states, and the human race at large.

A variety of events must, in such a state of things, in the domestic concerns of our own country, and in the world, be now continually transpiring, to which the attention of

those who love our LORD, and "wait for his appearing," will, and ought to be directed. The politician may be left to ruminate within the narrow limits of the sphere of those things which pertain only to the civil concerns of men; but the enlightened mind of a Christian will look higher and farther.

He will view with proper suspicion, whatever affects, by a vain philosophy, to accomplish that for the moral benefit of man, which is linked, by an immutable decree of Heaven, with its own direct operations by the Gospel ; he will mark with interest whatever professes to promote, by legitimate means, the extending influence of religion in a christian country; and he will reverently fix his eyes upon those signs of gracious visitation to the nations of the earth, which, in marked and eminent providences, beam occasionally through the dark horizon in which they are enveloped, in the hope of catching the dawn of that" day-spring from on high," which, he knows from the word of his GOD, must at length, after so long a night, break upon every part of the world.

In the occasional RETROSPECT of occurrences connected with morals and religion, which will be introduced into the Third Series of this Work, we shall endeavour to assist such views; to point out, from time to time, the duties of all true Christians respecting them, or the lessons of admonition, and the holy visions of hope, which they present. And should some of the subjects to which we may direct the attention of our readers, be occasionally the same which may occupy the thoughts and pens of mere politicians, we shall strip them of their relations to temporary interests, and consider them only as they rest upon some immutable principle of the truth and the purposes of God.

The first subject of this kind which occurs to us, as worthy to be thus presented to our readers, is that awful waste of human life which has, during the last few months, occurred in Spain, and some other parts of Europe, by a malignant Epidemic, which has defied the power of medical skill, and depopulated whole districts. It is by such interpositions as these, that the terrible majesty of GoD is made manifest to those who have offended him, and that the inhabitants of the world are called "to learn righteousness." Those who have suffered were not "sinners above all the Galileans;" but when all are guilty, the divine judgments which fall, now here, and now there, are intended to warn all of that awful power and justice which we so often offend. He has only to loose, in part, his hold on the elements, and immediately storms, and inundations, and earthquakes, betoken the universal confusion which would ensue, were his restraining hand entirely withdrawn. He has only to stay that healing process, in part, by which our atmosphere is purified, and life is empoisoned in its very fountain. Let us, therefore, warned by these occasional occurrences, "fear before him ;" and let it be one subject of those grateful songs with which we commence the new year, that, in the year which is past, our country has been preserved from these depopulating desolations.

The present state of the Ottoman Empire, in all its bearings, is a subject in which the Christian is far more interested, and can expatiate in a much more noble range of thought, than those who have no lights but those of human policy. In it there is mercy solemnly invested in the darkness of lowering judgment. The guilt of corrupting religion, and departing from the faith and purity of the Gospel, was never made so conspicuous as in the overthrow of the Western empire by the Goths, and the subversion of the seat of Eastern Christianity by the Turks. Not four centuries have elapsed since this vial was poured upon Constantinople, and since the last of the CONSTANTINES fell in the breach of a capital, where CHRIST had been so

long named with but mock and unreal honours,-the worship of the lip, and not of the heart. A three days' massacre, and the sale of 60,000 of the christian inhabitants as slaves, completed the controversy which their incensed LORD had been long carrying on, against them who called him "Lord, but did not the things which he had commanded;" and that church has ever since been left to languish under the insulting oppressions of those, who hate them even for "his name's sake." The dawn of the rescue of this branch of the family of CHRIST, chastized but not forsaken, has appeared. On one side there has arisen a vast empire, Russia, professing the same faith; and in which rapidly increasing power is, we may trust, destined ultimately to be sanctified by the influence of vital godliness, which, by the circulation of the Scriptures, and the faithful preaching of able and evangelical preachers in some parts of that empire, begins to exert its power. In the Ottoman Empire itself, the cruelties which have been inflicted upon the Greeks, have pro-voked a resistance, which, whether successful or not immediately, sufficiently warrants the conclusion, that no amalgamation of elements so discordant, and malign to each other, can take place, and that the Mahometan power, reared in blood, must perish in like manner. How wonderfully must the present state of that once proud Antichrist, which so long "defied the armies of the living God," now existing only by an obvious and patient sufferance on the part of Christian States, establish our belief in that "sure word of prophecy," which predicts the total and terrible downfall of every power which has set itself against the Lord, and against his Anointed.” We may live to witness that event, as far as the main prop and stay of the Mahometan imposture is concerned; but if not, who can see the wane of its crescent, without anticipating the time when it shall be blotted out of the horizon, and give place to those cheering signs and prelusive constellations, which harbinger the period when "the LORD shall appear in his glory," to build up,

VOL. 1. New Series. JANUARY, 1822.

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as to churches whose foundations were laid by Apostles and primitive Evangelists, the "wastes of many generations."

If thus we may anticipate, that "a great door and effectual" is beginning to open in the East, for the re-promulgation of truth, in countries covered with Arabian darkness, hope expands a scene as bright as to the Latin Church, which has involved itself so long in ignorance, by a voluntary hiding of the Scriptures from the people, and by its intolerant and persecuting spirit. The process to this will probably be terrible. One of the effects of converting religion into ceremony and superstition, is to destroy moral principle among the people at large, and to generate positive infidelity among the better informed. Violent factions, civil wars, and oscillations from one extreme of opinion and policy to another, destructive to every ancient institution, as the heavings of the soil in an earthquake to the strongest and most stately structures, will probably take place; but the present state of things throughout the Kingdom of the Beast, as well as that of the False Prophet, exhibits, in awful grandeur, the march of general Providence, first to punish and then to save. The tendency of the whole is most obvious, at whatever distance

of time the expected and designed mercy may commence its course of healing and benediction. The Inquisitions in Spain and Portugal have had their interior horrors disclosed to public gaze and execration; and principles have been asserted which must ultimately be favourable to religious freedom. The vast South-American Empire is breaking up, and the rule of Rome there must henceforward be more precarious. Thus "the way of the Lord is preparing;" nor need we wonder at the commotions which must necessarily take place to make his paths straight." They, as well as the great end, are the subject of prophecy: "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill be made low;" and the "glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

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RELIGIOUS AND MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

HOME NOTICES. PENZANCE CIRCUIT.-We insert with pleasure an extract of a recent letter, from the REV. JOHN WATERHOUSE :

"In Penzance, we have a noiseless revival. The overwhelming power of divine grace is felt in almost every meeting. One class has had fourteen new members this quarter; and others one, two, three, four, &c. The revival began amongst the class leaders; they meet every Tuesday morning at six o'clock, for prayer. There is a general expectation of an out-pouring of the SPIRIT."

VILLAGE PREACHING.-The following paragraphs of a letter from the REV. J. MASON, sen., to a friend, describe the commencement and success of Village Preaching in some new places. We

have requested permission to copy them, because they exhibit a specimen of our regular and ordinary procedure in our country circuits. New societies have been recently formed by some other christian denominations, for operations to which they have thought it right to give the attractive title of Home Missions. To the diffusion of truth and boli ness, by the agency of any societies, we are cordial well-wishers. The field is large enough for us all. But it ought to be remembered, that such operations have always been carried on by our Connexion on a large scale; and that they form, in fact, an integral part of our very system of Itinerancy, to which every Methodist Minister is accustomed through life, and which he is pledged continually to extend, in the neighbour

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hood of his station, by breaking up fresh ground, and opening as many new scenes of evangelical labour as possible. This glory, we trust, will never depart from that we "preach the Gospel to the poor," and take pains to carry it to those who, in the first instance, will not make application for it to us. On such enterprises, by whomsoever conducted, may God command his blessing! Mr. MASON States as follows:

"Brampton is a large village, near Huntingdon, in which a building, used as a barn, has been fitted up, which was opened on the 11th of November. The place was well filled with attentive hearers, who contributed liberally towards defraying the expense. All the sittings have since been taken; and more are wanted. Many not only hear with serious attention, but, we believe, are feeling the Gospel to be the power of GOD unto salvation.

"Stukely is a village, three miles from Huntingdon. One of our hearers at Alconbury, residing there, being awakened to a serious concern for the salvation of his own soul, soon became solicitous for the salvation of his neighbours. He first requested that a prayer-meeting might be held in his house; and afterwards desired a sermon occasionally. The attention of the people was excited; and such was their eagerness to hear the words of eternal life, that they pressed through a road hardly passable, frequently sinking to the tops of their shoes in the mire. The house being far too small to contain those who wished to hear, a barn has been fitted up, which was opened on the 2d of December; when a collection was made to defray the expense, toward which the people contributed liberally, considering their poverty. The sittings are all taken; and we have a pleasing prospect of success."

SPECIAL PRAYER FOR THE MORE ABUNDANT OUT-pouring of tHE HOLY SPIRIT. In the last volume of our Second Series, we had repeated occasion to advert to the efforts which have recently been made by an excellent Clergyman, the REV. J. H. STEWART, and others, to fix the attention of Christians on this important duty. We understand that a New Edition of MR. STEWART'S valuable Pamphlet, of which in that volume we gave large Extracts, is now published. And we are happy to learn that, during the last summer, meetings were held in various parts of England and Scotland, some of which were attended by a considerable number of pious Ministers of the two National Establishments, and of other Denominations, for

the purpose of conversing on the subject, and of devising the most effectual methods of stimulating their respective flocks to more regular and fervent supplications for those copious effusions of Divine Grace, on which the hopes of the Church and of the world so essentially depend. In several instances, the Ministers present agreed to preach expressly on the subject at stated intervals; and to remember it, distinctly and at large, in the devotional exercises of their own closets and families, on one convenient day in every week.-We earnestly hope that the interest, already excited, will not be suffered to evaporate; but that it will become more general and intense, among all true Christians.

FOREIGN.

NICE. In the year 1820, a Meeting was held of British subjects, resident at Nice, when it was resolved, that a permanent place of Worship, for Protestants' visiting that town, was highly desirable, and that application should be immediately made to the Sardinian Goverument for that purpose. The unsettled state of that country caused some delay in the prosecution of this object. But we are able to state, that the sanction of Government has now been obtained; ground has been purchased; and the foundation-stone of the Chapel was laid on the 18th of Sept. 1821. It was to be completed by the 1st of this month. The ground and building are expected to cost about 13007-We mention this circumstance with much pleasure, because we understand that this will be the first Protestant church built in Italy.-May the number soon be increased!

JERUSALEM.One of the Missionaries of the AMERICAN BOARD OF MISSIONS is now at Jerusalem, distributing the Scriptures and useful tracts. This is among the singular events of the present day. A christian minister, from a part of the world, the existence of which was not known to the first Preachers of the Gospel, is re-kindling the light of their holy doctrine in the very place from which it first emanated. In reference to this enterprise, what christian heart does not say, with more than ordinary fervour, "O LORD, Send now prosperity!"

SEVEN ASIATIC CHURCHES.-The REV. MESSRS. PARSONS and FISK, Missionaries of the AMERICAN BOARD, have lately visited the places where these celebrated Churches once flourished. Their account is deeply affecting. We shall probably insert it, entire, in our next number.

INCREASED AUDIBILITY OF SOUNDS IN AN ATMOSPHERE INTENSELY COLD.CAPTAIN PARRY, during his late Expedition to the Arctic Regions, had several proofs of this fact. He says that it was very common to hear at the distance of a mile, or more, persons talking together at the ordinary pitch of voice; and that one day he heard a man singing to himself as he walked along the beach at even a greater distance than that.-This fact has been explained by the entire stillness of the air; being unagitated by any of those currents which are produced in the atmosphere of more temperate climates by the mixture of its differently heated portions, in their tendency to find their level, and restore the general equilibrium.

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EFFECT OF COLD ON THE MENTAL FACULTIES. A party having been sent out in quest of some men who had been led too far from the ships by their cagerness to secure a wounded stag, CAPTAIN PARRY desired two young midshipmen, who seem to have conducted the search, to come into his cabin, that he might make inquiries about an individual who had not yet been found. "When I sent for them," says CAPT. P. into my cabin, they looked wild, spoke thick and indistinctly, and it was impossible to draw from them a rational answer to any of our questions. After being on board a short time, the mental faculties appeared gradually to return with the returning circulation, and it was not till then that a looker-on could easily persuade himself but that they had been drinking too freely.-I have more than once seen our people in a state, so exactly resembling that of the most stupid intoxication, that I should certainly have charged them with that offence, had I not been quite sure, that no possible means were afforded them on Melville Island, to procure any thing stronger than snow-water.'

EDUCATION OF MECHANICS.-A school has been established in Edinburgh, for the purpose of imparting to Mechanics the philosophical principles on which their respective trades are founded. Two hundred members have already enrolled themselves.-A scientific school has, for some time, been instituted at Glasgow, under the superintendence of DR. URE, who gives lectures on the various branches of science that can be conducive to the improvement of the artizan.-Such Institutions, if judiciously conducted by able men, promise much utility. The improvement of valuable arts, by the

increased intelligence of the artizan, and the maintenance of the superiority of our various manufactures, when brought into competition with those of other countries, are among the smallest of their probable results. The taste for useful knowledge, thus excited among a respectable and important class of the community, may have a good moral effect; by substituting intellectual for low and sensual enjoyments, and an improving occupation of their leisure-hours, in pursuits directly connected with their proper business, for the indulgences of the pot-house, or the mischievous study of seditious and demoralizing publications. Religion, we know, is "the principal thing" to be relied on, for such purposes; but auxiliary plans are not, in their place, to be despised.

CHEMICAL AGENCY BY THE MAGNET. MR. J. MURRAY states that he has succeeded in decomposing by the Magnet every Metallic Salt to which he has applied it. One instance of this fact, so interesting to science, we quote for the sake of its practical tendency." A solution of permuriat of mercury was, by the magnet, soon reduced into running or metallic mercury. Hence, fine steelfilings magnetized, and administered in syrup, will be an admirable antidote to corrosive sublimate."

COMMON SENSE EXPLAINED." He must be a poor creature indeed," says a lively writer, "whose practical convictions do not, in almost all cases, outrun his deliberate understanding, or who does not feel and know much more than he can give a reason for. Hence the distinction between eloquence and wisdom, between ingenuity and common sense. A man may be dexterous and able in explaining the grounds of his opinion, and yet may be a mere sophist, because he only sees one half of a subject. Another may feel the whole weight of a question; nothing relating to it may be lost upon him; and yet he may be unable to give any account of the manner in which it affects him, or to drag his reasons from their silent lurking places. This last will be a wise man, though neither a logician nor a rhetorician.Common sense is the just result of the sum total of such unconscious impressions, in the ordinary occurrences of life, as they are treasured up by the memory, and called out by the occasion.

Genius and taste depend much upon the same principle, exercised on loftier ground, and in more unusual combinations."

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