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goodness, he may allot to us. The guilt of our sins being by his atoning sacrifice removed, the ills of this wintery life seem to lose their weight on our shoulders. The mind becomes strong to bear; gratitude for the sacrifice of the cross animates the heart to endure the hardest trials, while the joy set before us raises the heart above the things that are seen, and makes the soul to spring forward from under the burden, in the full assurance that our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Now, my soul," Unto him that loved thee, and hath washed thee from thy sins in his own blood, be glory and dominion for ever! Amen."

PHILO-CHRISTOS.

As an APPENDIX to the above ESSAY, the Editor begs leave to subjoin the following Extract from a very interesting Conversation between Mr. BOSWELL and that literary Colossus Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON, whose sentiments, though not uniformly evangelical, were strongly in favour of this great doctrine of ATONEMENT

"I TALKED to him of original sin, in consequence of the fall of man, and of the atonement made by our Saviour. After some conversation, which he desired me to remember, he, at my request, dictated to me as follows:

"With respect to original sin, the enquiry is not necessary for whatever is the cause of human corruption, men are evidently and confessedly so corrupt, that all the laws of Heaven and Earth are insufficient to restrain them from crimes. Whatever difficulty there may be in the conception of vicarious punish. ments, it is an opinion which has had possession of mankind in all ages. There is no nation that has not used the practice of sacrifices. Whoever, therefore, denies the propriety of vicarious punishments, holds an opinion which the sentiments and practice of mankind have contradicted from the beginning of the world. The great sacrifice for the sins of mankind was offered at the death of the Messiah, who is called in Scripture, “The Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." To judge of the reasonableness of the scheme of redemption, it must be considered as necessary to the government of the universe, that God should make known his perpetual and irreconcileable detestation of moral evil. He might indeed punish, and punish only the offenders; but as the end of punishment is not revenge of crimes, but propagation of virtue, it was more becoming the divine clemency to find another manner of proceeding, less des structive to man, and at least equally powerful to promote goodness. The end of punishment is to reclaim and war. That punishment will both reclaim and warn, which shews evidently

such abhorrence of sin in God as may deter us from it, or strike us with vengeance when we have committed it. This is effected by vicarious punishment. Nothing could more testify the opposition between the nature of God and moral evil, or more am ply display his justice to men and angels, to all orders and successions of beings, than that it was necessary for the highest and purest nature, even for Divinity itself, to pacify the demands of vengeance by a painful death, of which the natural effect will be, that when Justice is appeased, there is a proper place for the exercise of Mercy. The peculiar doctrine of Christianity is, that of an universal sacrifice and perpetual propitiation. Other prophets only proclaimed the will and the threatenings of God; Christ satisfied his justice.'

Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. iii, p. 288–290.

In perfect conformity to this, were the sentiments of our great epic poet, MILTON, who puts into the lips of Deity the following sublime language:-Speaking of Man, foreviewed as fallen, he says,

"Die he, or Justice must; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay

The rigid satisfaction, death for death!

Say, heavenly pow'rs, where shall we find such love?
Which of you will be mortal to redeem

Man's mortal crime, the just th’unjust to save?"

PAR. LOST, B. IIÀ

ON SCRIPTURAL PREACHING.

THE great business of a minister of the gospel is to explain and to enforce the truths contained in the word of God. This is the only method by which those desirable effects can be secured, to the promotion of which he professes to dedicate his time and talents. He must allow, that his attempts to promote the best interests of bis fellow-creatures, will be available only so far as they are accompanied by the energy of the Divine Spirit. The great question then is, In what way may that indispensable blessing be reasonably and confidently expected? Now, the truth of the gospel is that alone which God has promised to render efficacious to the conversion of sinners, and to the edification of believers; and it is that alone which, in its own nature, is adapted to answer these purposes. The display of the grace and love of God, through a crucified Saviour, is calculated to cherish every holy

disposition in the hearts of the disciples of Jesus; it is the cons tinued source of their love, joy, peace, and hope, the constant spring of that obedience which is the genuine expression of those delightful feelings.

We are not, however, to rest contented with a knowledge of those plain and fundamental truths of the gospel which may be considered as "the first principles of the doctrine of Christ ;" we should feel desirous of "going on to perfection;" of having a clear and consistent view of the whole system of revealed truth; for we may be assured, that our growth in grace will be in exact proportion to our growth in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There is no erroneous idea that a Chris tian can adopt, more hostile to his improvement, than the notion (alas! that it is so common) that he may make advances in holi ness, while he ceases to make advances in knowledge. To the man who has adopted this sentiment, the Scriptures will be but of little further use. He may indeed haye recourse to them oc casionally, as a school-boy has to a lesson he has already learned, in order to refresh his memory; but he will not study them diligently, as if he expected to find much additional and valuable instruction. A great part, perhaps the far greater part, of the Scriptures will be of no value at all; he might be deprived of it, and be conscious of no loss. When he goes to the house of God, to hear the preaching of his word, he neither expects, nor desires, to receive by the sermon any new light on any doc trine of the gospel. If his feelings are agreeably moved by the forcible language, or animated address of the speaker, his object is gained; he returns home pronouncing a high encomium on the popular preacher. He is apt to grow weary of attending the ministry of one man, and longs to hear a variety, which, he con tends is far preferable to a stated ministry: and so it is on his principles; for some variety the human mind must have, if possible; and if it is indifferent about a variety of matter, it will be so much the more eager to obtain some variety in the manner of delivery. But the intelligent and serious hearer, who wishes to have unfolded to his view the whole compass of scriptural truth, may be expected to have recourse to a stated ministry. But is it likely that he will thus be able to obtain the advantages he desires? In many places, blessed be God, he may! But it is a lamentable fact, that there are preachers who will exceedingly disappoint his expectations. Their sermons prove that they are not diligent and laborious students of the Scriptures. They do not take sufficient pains to lead their people into the whole of revealed truth. They dwell chicfly upon some favourite view of some particular doctrines, to the blame ble neglect of many others equally important, so that the man of God is far from being, by their means, thoroughly instructed and furnished.

Another glaring defect, with which not a few preachers of the present day are chargeable, is this: They discover very little solicitude to ascertain the real meaning and design of the passages of Scripture which they select for their texts, and which they adduce in proof or illustration of the positions they advance. They frequently take very little pains to examine the whole passage in its connection, but treat it rather as a detached fragment: which, by this uniform usage, may appear to convey a sentiment never intended by the inspired writer. They take very unjustifiable liberties in accommodating a passage to their particular purpose; which may perhaps be as remote from the real design of the place as the cast is from the west. The conse quences of such a mode of preaching are pernicious in the extreme it frustrates, as far as it is adopted, the very design of the gospel ministry, which was stated in the commencement of this paper to be, the explaining and enforcing of the truths con tained in the word of God. Now a person may attend this unscriptural kind of preaching month after month, and year after year, without being led into more accurate and extensive views of divine truth. And does not matter of fact lamentably substantiate this charge? Are there not very many persons to be found in Christian churches who have attended such kind of preaching for ten, twenty, or thirty years, without gaining much additional information, and whose deficiency is to be imputed, in a great measure, to the defects of the ministers they have heard?

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Other sad consequences will result from want of due attention on the part of the minister, to ascertain the precise meaning of Scripture, and from his indulging in fanciful interpretations of texts. By the one of these, his hearers will be led to neglect the werd of God; and by the other to pervert it. If the minister take no trouble to collect from the context the real design of the passage, the people may imagine it is unnecessary for them to take any pains about it; and, in many cases, they may be led to despair of being at all able, of themselves, to arrive at the true sense of Scripture; and thus their own judgment being suspended, they are prepared to receive any construction which may be given them by their teachers. If the minister take the liberty of bending and twisting texts to suit his own purpose, many of his hearers will take care not to be at all his inferiors in the art of accommodation and perversion, but will soon discover themselves adepts, and even rivals. Let those then who profess to expound the word of God, be much on their guard, lest any of these pernicious consequences be chargeable upon them.

PHILO BIBLOS.

THE MILLENNIUM.

The following concise account of the Millennium is taken from the Noter. which accompany an excellent Sermon, preached before the New York Missionary Society, April 3, 1804, by the Rev. Dr. Livingston; and which, it is presumed, will be acceptable to many of your readers, who would wish to see a short, plain, and rational view of that interesting period, to which, it is hoped, the extraordinary exertions of the Chris tian world are now tending.

P. B.

THE Millennium has been mentioned in the discourse, and considered as a point to which our calculations refer: it may, therefore, be expected that some observations should be made upon its nature, its commencement, and duration.

1. With respect to its nature; or, what is meant by the Millennium. The term is composed of two Latin words, which signify a thousand years. It is taken from Rev. xx. where this number of years is repeated six times in describing the same period. During the first ages of the church, the doctrine of the Millennium was familiar and acceptable. Under the gloomy reign of Antichrist it seemed nearly to be forgotten; and some extravagant sentiments of wild enthusiasts, who occasionally revived it, rendered the very name disreputable and odious. But with the revival of religion and learning at the Reformation, when the study of the sacred Scriptures was encouraged, the attention of the churches was again turned to this important subject; and as that blessed period approaches, it becomes the object of more serious inquiry to the Lord's people, who are waiting for his salvation.

All Christians believe that an exceeding prosperous and excellent state of the church is expressly foretold; and that this is reserved for the last days, or the closing period of the New Testament dispensation. But as to what will constitute that state, or wherein its distinguishing properties will consist, all Christians are not so unanimous.

Various sentiments respecting the Millennium have been advanced, agreeably to the different rules of exposition, and differ ent views respecting the order of events, which have been adopted. Some of these are fanciful, and the fruit of an unlicensed imagination; others are supported by ingenious arguments, and advocated by writers whose celebrity command respect. It is not practicable here to enumerate all these, much less to attempt to refute them.

Those who contend for a literal meaning in every prediction," and refuse to admit any hieroglyphics, symbols, or figures in the prophecies, have formed ideas of the Millennium which would, in a great measure, change not only the moral but the physical state of the world. In this view, among other important events,

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