that they should use great plainness of speech, than it is for those who transact the concerns of jects and results depending between God and the sinner, or the eternal consequences of their variance or reconciliation of less im of states and kingdoms? Mankind always consider it essential to be explicit in their dealings with one another. The physician considers it not only prudent, but neeessary to have his prescriptions un attorney to make known the worst of the case. Why, then, should ministers of the gospel, the ambassadors of God to men, be guilty of those quibbling artifices to conceal the truth, of which men, in any other business or profession, would be utterly ashained? Paul as certainly prudent, to say the least, when he used great plainness of speech, and laboured by all means to make himself understood., himself in stronger terms, or in those that were more plain. It was well known what was meant by being accursed from Christ-earthly sovereigns? Are the subIt was well known that nothing short of eternal evil could in any degree answer to the apostle's meaning. Even now, it requires all the art, and labour, and sophis-portance than the petty concerns try, of learned divines and celebrated commentators, to explain away the translation. When Paul wished to express the sinfulness of mankind by nature, he always used such language as exhibited the most awful picture of human de-derstood. We always wish the pravity. Indeed, there were no expressions pertaining to that copious language, in which the apostle usually preached or wrote, that were so explicit, or could have so forcibly conveyed his meaning, as those which he used to inculcate the doctrine of the gospel.Paul ever meant to make himself understood; and very seldom, if ever, failed to accomplish his object. Now it cannot be denied, that Paul was prudent in using Such a preacher was Paul. He "great plainness of speech." Just counted the cost, or probable conso far as any minister is misunder-sequences of the undertaking; he stood by his hearers, he preaches to them in an unknown tongue. But just so far as he preaches in an unknown tongue, he labours in vain, and spends his strength for nought. When the ambassador is sent to a foreign court, his mission is worse than lost, unless he can make the will of his sovereign understood. Who could ever effect a treaty between two belligerent powers, uniess the ambassadors were explicit in their propositions ? An ambassador, who partially conceals, or gives the message of his sovereign a different colouring, is guilty, not only of imprudence, but of gross presumption. But ministers of the But ministers of the gospel are ambassadors from God Is it of less importance to men. gave himself cordially and wholly to the work; he neve. suffered probable nor real consequences to turn him aside from the path of duty; he endeavoured to preach 86 the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth;" he adopted his discourses to the state of his hearers; and he used " great plainness of speech," endeavouring by all means to make himself understood. It is easy to see that these qualifications constituted the apostle not only an eminently prudent, but an eminently use and faithful preacher of the gospel. His character. as a preacher, forins a mirror in which every minister ought to see his own face, and never forget what manner of person he is. QUESTIONS. FOR THE HOPKINSIAN MAGAZINE, Mr. Editor, FOR THE HOPKINSIAN MAGAZINE. Mr. Editor, Our Saviour says (Matth. xii. In upbraiding the cities of Judah for their impenitence and un-40) For as Jonas was three days belief, our Lord said (Matth. xi. and three nights in the whale's 21) Wo unto thee, Cherosin! belly, so shall the Son of man be wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if three days and three nights in the the mighty works which were done heart of the earth." But, if in you had been done in Tyre and Christ was crucified on Friday, Sidon, they would have repented and rose from the dead on the long ago, in sackcloth and ashes," morning of Lord's day, according But, if human depravity, in every to sacred record; how does it apage, and in all places, is the same; pear that his prediction was fulon what ground could it be said,alled? i. e. How does it appear, that Tyre and Sidon “ would have that He lay "in the heart of the repnted," if they had enjoyed earth" any more than a part of those privileges which Chorazin three days, and two nights? An and Bethsaida did enjoy, but reanswer from yourself, or a correspented not? pondent, would gratify 66 MATHETES. ROGATOR. From the Evangelist. ON A FALSE GOSPEL. wolf, or the dove from the vulture; and the result may be the doing of many a kind action, as well as Is there not sometimes proclaim the exercise of many a kind and ed a gospel, which gives a mista- amiable affection, and still there ken view of the character of man? may be the practice of sin, the There are those who dress up habit of a daily and constant viohuman nature in garbs of inno-lation of the divine law, a prompt cence. They find men capable rejection of all the overtures of the of kind, and generous, and hon-gospel, and a disgust for the duourable feelings; they find them ties of a secret and cordial piety. true, and honest, and tender, and You may readily recognize the faithful; and they pronounce it features of a polished and fashionimpossible, that there should be able infidelity, and may mark hid, behind the whole, a heart offence taken at the character of destitute of the love of God God, and the doctrines of revelaHence they controvert that plain tion, at the scruples of a welland humbling testimony of heav-disciplined conscience, and still en, that the carnal mind is enmity againstGod, is not subject to his law, neither indeed can be. But whether such a gospel does not essentially misrepresent the truth of God, the last great day will tell. There may be an amiable disposition, a tareness and mildness, such as distinguishes the lamb from the - there may be high pretensions of kindness, rectitude and piety. Men will weep under the sound of the gospel, and seem the veriest converts to the truths you utter, and the affections you enforce, and the duties you enjoin; and ere they have passed the threshold of the sanctuary, may vent their i spleen against the man who reach ed their sensibilities, and drew forth while they are off their guard, their reluctant testimony to the gospel he announced. There may be in men, unsanctified, much that it would be base not to admire, and envious not to praise; and still we may have indubitable evidence, that in the same bosom, there beats a heart hostile to God, and holiness and heaven. And shall we conceal from them the whole truth? Shall we tell them that all is well; that in pleasing man, who looketh on the outward appearance, they may gather evidence to themselves, that they please God, who looketh on the heart? efactors of society, promised them immortality. Now, what do you think of that gospel, which leaves the buman character, thus affected with moral corruption, whole and sound? What do you think of that gospel, which sends away the multitude of the ungodly, doubting whether they need to be born again, and high in the hope, that a little care will soon qualify them to stand accepted with God? What do you think of that gospel, which dismisses the prayerless, and the proud, and the vain, and the worldly, to enjoy their good opinion of themselves, and feed quietly, and sleep sweetly, while the wrath of God abideth on them? Would it be a pleasant reflection at last, to remember, that you had lived and died the trumpeter of such a gospel? That you had sewed pillows under all armholes, and daubed with untempered mor tar, and said to the wicked, it shall be well with you, and had thus cradled their fears to sleep, till their day of mercy was past forever? Would you like to be convicted, in the last day, of having been the herald of such a gospel? Or, would you rather offend, Soon their whole character must be known. They must stand before the omniscient God, and all their heart be opened, and their life be read. They have been kind, and neighbourly, and pitiful, and generous to their fellows; but they have robbed God. They have wept at the tale of distress, but have never shed a tear at the cross. They have believed man, and have spoken truth to him, but have made God a liar. There has never been a moment, when their feelings and their deport-if it must be so, all this gay, and ment were the most religious, and their hopes of heaven the most profound, when some other object, beside God, had not the high and distinct ascendancy in their affections. They were kind and courteous to men, but they would brow beat the anathemas of the divine Jaw, and parry every thrust of the gospel, and live without reflection, and without prayer, and without repentance. God was not in all their thoughts, nor his religion in their lips, nor his throne in their hearts, while perhaps their fame, as the friends of the poor, the patrons of virtue, and the ben proud, and prayerless multitude of self-deceivers, and bring poverty and reproach upon yourself, as the advocate of a superstitious, and unsocial, and unpolished, and barbarous piety? In a short time, their last assault will have been made, their last falsehood corrected, their last cavil answered, their last sneer stifled, and then, who will stand the highest in honour before a congregated world: the man who made the trumpet of the gospel give an uncertain sound, by which he soothed and flattered, and destroyed his fellow-men, or the man who delivered the whole counsel of God, who lashed the sleeping conscience, and finally disobliged and offended the carnal minded worldlings of his flock, till they starved him from his labours ? Religious Antelligence, REVIVALS. Extract of a letter from Rev. Erastus Kent. a missionary, to his employers, dated Lockport, Jan. 31st. Lockport is a very flourishing village of Niag ara county, N. Y. which has suddenly risen upon the Erie canal. Providence has uniformly smiled on every effort, however feeble, to promote the cause of Christ in this village. The Society is in a flourishing condition, and an unbroken chain of propitious circumstances has conspired to render it so; such as the liberality of people in supporting the gospel; the number and character of the church collected from so many churches in this country and of Europe, the remarkable coincidence of sentiment and warmth of brotherly love, the harmony that has without exception existed between different denominations, and above all, the precious revival of religion which we have enjoyed for the last two months, and do still enjoy. You will not wonder, that in a place like this there should be grievous backsliders, nor that a work of God's spirit should cause such to tremble. Not only those, however, but even the most exemplary and consistent professors have been shaken and sifted. Many of them have been thrown into darkness for days, and finally have experienced light and joy, which resembled the exercises of a new convert in his earliest love. "If we could say nothing more of this revival than of its effects in the church and among backsliders, that had never before united with C. A. D. us, it has produced such unity and brotherly affection, and such increase of prayer and effort for Zion's prosperity, as would lay us under everlasting obligation to the God of all grace. But this is not all.-There is a great excitement among impenitent sinners. We have heard and do still hear persons enquiring what they shall do to be saved. We have heard of ten in a week for the first time venturing to express a hope that their peace was made with God. And we hear them pray and hear them tell to others what God has done for their souls. Blessed are the eyes that see those things which we see. 66 "I have not room to go into particulars, but I would mention that two individuals have publicly renounced infidel principles, which they once embraced; nor must I omit to note, that God has put the seal of his approbation on the Sabbath School, in which three children and at least twelve scholars are already indulging the hope of pardon.-Weekly meetings for prayer and conference are held by the brethren of the church in four school districts from two to five miles round us, and these have already been crowned with a blessing in extending the good work of grace." Mirror. A correspondent informs us, that a season of revival is now enjoyed in Dr. Jones' society, Farmington, Ohio, which has already From the (Lon.) Evangelical Magazine. THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD. GREAT GOD, how bright thy glories shine, In all thy attributes divine, Secure, immutable: Urobangeable in all thy ways, The object of eternal praise In heaven-and fear in hell. Revolving years confirm thy pow'r, Declares thy promise sure. Thou only dost endure. Thy word, thy record, speaks of thee As from and to eternity Unalter'bly the same; The first great cause of all-and last, As does the present, so the past, Thy endless years proclaim. The seasons in succession roil, POETRY. Harvest with golden train, The heavenly bodies moving round, All-all in heav'n, in earth, in air, Th' eternal truth abroad, That he who made them all, is he, Here then we take our stand-and here, Our anchor hope retain; Nature may heave her last deep groanBut mid her drear expiring moan, The promises remain. While order reigns throughout the Stamp'd with inviolable truth, whole In pleasing harmony, The law thyself hath fixed must stand, Until reversed by thy command; And nature's self shall die. Summer, winter, day and night, Seed time and (0 regaling sight!) To hoary age from lisping youth, J. YOUNG. |