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mercy, extended even to the chief of sinners. And the believing soul will invariably find that this view of the plan of salvation will have a more sanctifying influence, will more incline it to hate and avoid all sin, and inspire it with a stronger desire and a firmer purpose to obey all the commands of God, than can be derived from all legal terrors, or from any other source. Here then, precious youth, is the gospel plan of salvation, and the gospel mystery of sanctification. Here is the use of the moral law of God, and the method in which every believer, while he loves and honours and endeavours in all things to obey the law, as he always must, will still see that he can neither have peace of conscience, nor any confidence toward God, but as he pleads and trusts the finished, the perfect righteousness, of the Lord Jesus Christ-In this way then, renouncing every other, seek salvation-and seek it till in Christ you find it, to your present satisfaction and your eternal well being. Amen.

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points. They often use the beneficial or destructive changes, both in the natural and political world, as types and images of the prosperous and calamitous events which they predict; the chastisements which they threaten; the rewards which they promise; the spiritual provisions of grace, and the deplorable consequences of sin which they unfold. They describe the glory, the benefits, and the progress of the kingdom which the Messiah was to establish, in language and phraseology borrowed from the existing condition of the nation; from their religious services and customs; from their temporal desires, and from the views and anticipations of their kings and dignitaries." And how could they do otherwise, situated as they were, and writing for such purposes? Their prophecies, to be intelligible, and to produce effect, must be adapted to the manners, modes of thinking, and intelligence of the times in which they lived. With the illuminations of heaven beaming on their minds, every thing around them appeared in its proper light. The splendour of royalty would not captivate their fancies; the bias of publick sentiment would not mislead their judgments; nor would the witchery of popular admiration, nor the dread of popular displeasure, divert them for a moment from the straight-forward path of rectitude and duty. Most of them lived and acted, taught and wrote, in disastrous times. When idolatry and immoralities of every name were generally prevalent among all classes of the people-when political convulsions were rending

the kingdom, and wasting its energies, and arming brother against brother-when the judgments of the offended God of Israel were falling heavily upon them, and making terrible desolations-the prophet would ascend his watchtower at the bidding of Jehovah, and survey the affecting scene,

spread like a map before him, and characterized by all the accurate delineations and shadings of truth. With the heart of a pious patriot, guarding jealously his country's honour, or sinking with despondency in view of its degradation, or swelling with indignation against the idolatry and infatuation of its rulers, or watching with still deeper interest the fortunes of the ark of God and the institutions of religion, every view would awaken emotion, and rouse his intellectual powers to the highest efforts of genius-to that noble enthusiasm which, in orators and poets of other schools, is admired as the acme of perfection, and deemed an unquestionable title to all the rewards of genius. Sometimes we find them revolving the history of former times, and the providential leadings and characteristick events, which had marked the early separation and progress of their patriarchal ancestry, and drawing from these sources impressive lessons of instruction for their contemporaries. Here all the promises of future prosperity made to the patriarchs would rise to view, in affecting contrast with the present aspect of affairs, all verging to ruin. Hence encouragement and hope would naturally be lighted up in their bosoms, that, though an appalling storm was lowering, or a dark night gathering fast upon them, yet another morning would follow, when the light of a brighter and a longer day would shine upon their country. "It is difficult," says a distinguished Swiss theologian,* "to say where, amid such hopes, the elevation of native genius terminated, and gave place to a higher illumina tion. Methinks they were often lost in each other. Aspirations after higher perfection, (that divine principle in man) would become hope would become faith, when

awakened by those promises, and sustained by contemplating and comparing them together; and this faith, by intense meditation on the promises, and an inflexible regard to the Rewarder of those who seek him, would stimulate to vigorous exertions to penetrate the manifold veil of sensuous imagery which surrounded them. And now a higher light begins to beam upon the soul: faith gives place to the spirit of prophecy. With his mind firmly fixed on Jehovah, and elevated with the grand ideas inspired by a clear and circumstantial review of those divine leadings, he saw or was shown; he heard-or was told, what should come to pass in future times. And now, it is rather Jehovah than the man, who speaks; and yet, in reality, the man also expresses his own thoughts and emotions: all he says is accommodated to the present condition of the nation, and accords with the series and systematick train of ancient dispensations; yet his thoughts and emotions are now so entirely in harmony with the divine plan, as it is to be developed in future ages, and the terms and phraseology suggested are so perfectly appropriate to the design, that the speaker himself must be astonished, and must recognise God's thoughts in his mind, and God's word in his mouth. The Lord sustains his spirit in this elevation, and prevents its relapsing to its natural tone. Image after image crowds upon his mind; not in confusion, but all in accordance with the divine plan, and all tending to the illustration of the prin

It is so obvious as hardly to require remark, that these efforts of human intellect and faith, preparatory to the higher communications of prophetick inspiration, can only apply to a part of the revelations made by the prophets; for in many instances it is evident, that the voice or the visions of God came unexpectedly upon them, without the least regard, so far as we are informed, to any I. I. Hess, Von Dem Reiche Gottes. previous preparation on the part of the

Vol. i. p. 369.

prophet.

cipal object before his mind, presenting it to his view in the most sensible light, and thus rendering it, without the least diminution of its truth, a picture-a spirited ode -a prophecy. Transported through many revolutions, (for which the occasion or hint is always taken from the existing circumstances of the nation,) far into future times, the mind of the prophet, from its elevated point of observation, sees both the present and the future in their sensibly true and just connection; and by this means every thing which he says under the influence of this inspiration possesses an internal appropriateness, which distinguishes prophecy, as wide as the heavens, from the dreams of the imagination. In fact, however high his spirit may soar, however far into futurity it may penetrate, still a most appropriate reference to the existing condition of affairs pervades all his ideas: the prophet still maintains the character of a true Israelite, who boldly declares to the king, to the priesthood, to the nation, and to their enemies, precisely what is best adapted to instruct, to admonish, or to shame them. All his representations are rational in the highest degree; and even where he takes his loftiest flight, he never loses sight of the actual condition of affairs among his people. Properly speaking, indeed, it is the present, almost always, which occupies the spirit and the heart of the prophet; but even in the present he sees the future. He announces what Jehovah thinks of the present; but since the thoughts of Jehovah on the religious and moral condition of the nation embrace, at the same time, views of the future, inasmuch as he always contemplates the present in connection with the future; consequently, these thoughts are genuine prophecies: and the prophet thinks and speaks of passing events in prophetick tone and manner."

If there is any truth in this view

of prophetick inspiration and its productions, it will be readily perceived what a broad foundation is laid for a double sense-a spiritual or prophetick signification, concealed from the view of the cursory observer, beneath an apparently exclusive attention to present objects and passing events. And does not the actual appearance of the prophecies, to a very considerable extent, verify the representation? How large a portion of the prophetick books is occupied with the characters, and circumstances, and conduct, and immediate prospects of the Jews, or the Israelites, or their neighbours? If, then, we find no meaning here, beyond the simple expression of the letter, the great body of these divine communications must be antiquated, and nearly obsolete; and the measure of their importance is frittered. down, to the mere amount of their historical notices and occasional illustrations of the principles of God's moral government. We may admire the poetry, and the patriotism, and the wisdom of these inspired teachers-we may gather from them some lessons of moral and political wisdom, but they will prove, with a few exceptions, of little more importance for the nourishment of faith, or any other purpose of Christian edification, than the rhapsodies of Homer, or the dialogues of Plato: for, comparatively, few and brief are the instances, and, if we mistake not, almost exclusively confined to Isaiah, in which the prophet becomes so intensely interested in spiritual objects-in the future glories of the Messiah's kingdom-as to lose sight of present objects, and passing events, and unfold openly and literally the riches of the coming grace; and even in these instances, his diction, his imagery, his modes of thinking and illustrating, are so profoundly Israelitish, as to keep up a continual reference to the present, and form a strong bond of

connection in the mind of the reader, between the theocracy, under which the prophet lived, and the glorious dispensation which he predicted. "Non valde multis locis, (to use the emphatick language of the distinguished Ernesti,*) prophetias de Christo credimus esse xara pnτov et xupias propositas: Enimvero ex altera parte fatendum et defendendum est, prophetias mysticas esse permultas; nec ullo modo concesserim, eas esse illis, præsertim apud Christianum leviores." While, therefore, the few, which apply expressly to Christ and the interests of his kingdom, and the provisions of his grace, stand forth more brightly to the Christian's view, and apply more directly to his edification, the many, which Ernesti calls mystical, though perhaps requiring deeper study and a larger measure of spiritual illumination, are richly fraught, like a well furnished storehouse, with various provisions of grace, in a form well adapted to invigorate and improve the spiritual mind, and edify the Christian church, in all the stages of its progressive history. For this purpose they were cast into their present form by the Spirit, and recorded by the hand of inspiration -for this preserved and transmitted to the present times by providential kindness; constituting a rich treasure, well worth all the labour and attention requisite to elicit and appropriate them.

It may not be irrelevant here to remark, that this view of prophecy exhibits the broad line of distinction, between the prophetick double sense, and the ambiguity of pagan oracles. The failure, on the part of Christian writers, to draw this line distinctly, has given occasion. to the enemies of revealed truth to confound them together, and out of the combination to forge wea

⚫ Narrat. Crit. de Interp. Proph. Messianarum, &c. in Opusc. Theol. quoted in Doederlein's Institutio Theol. Chris, vol. ii. sec. 228.

pons for assailing the Bible and its advocates.* Oracular indications of the future have prevailed more or less in most heathen nations, but especially among the Greeks and Romans, who were accustomed to consult their oracles on every occasion of interest or importance, publick or private, making it a prominent part of their religious creed. Here a Jupiter and there an Apollo reared their magnificent temples, and demanded the costly sacrifices and splendid gifts of the noble and wealthy, who could purchase, at any price, the knowledge of the futuret-here an oracular cave, and there a gloomy shrine, offered to the poor and the unfortunate the fortunes of their coming days, on easier terms. Multiplied and varied as the ever varying fancies of men, were the means employed to lift the veil, which hides futurity from mortal eyes. The dreams of the night, the entrails of the victim slain at the altar, the movements and the songs of birds, and the appearances of the heavens, were sedulously investigated for their well or ill fated omens. "The manner of delivering oracles varied in different places and at different times: in some places they were revealed by interpreters, as at Delphi; and in others the gods themselves were supposed to answer viva voce, by dreams, or by lots." Not unfre

A single specimen may be given from Voltaire's Remarks on Pascal's Thoughts, in his own words, "Celui, qui donne deux sens a ses paroles, veut tromper les hommes, et cette duplicité est toujours punie par les lois. Comment donc pouvesvous sans rougir admettre en Dieu ce qu'on punit et ce qu'on deteste dans les hommes.-Que, dis-je, avec quel mepris et avec quel indignation ne traitez-vous pas les oracles des payens, parce qu'ils avoient deux sens."-Mosheim's Preface to Büsching's Vitringa.

† Homeri Hymnus in Apoll. 287 & seq. For a curious description of one of these shrines, see E. D. Clarke's Travels. Vol. iv. p. 168.-N. Y. Ed.

§ Robinson's Archæologia Græca, B. iii. ch. 7.

THE

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

JANUARY, 1827.

Religious Communications.

THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE'S "FORGET
ME NOT."

This is the season in which it is usual for friends to present to each other a memorial, or token of remembrance, for which the single French term Souvenir, is used by some, and by others the English phrase, Forget me not. Let the Christian Advocate then, present to his friendly readers a FORGET ME NOT mindful himself, and reminding them, that an Advocate is one who speaks, not for himself, but for him whose cause he pleads, and whose claims he urges.

Forget me not, is the injunction of the Father of mercies, addressed emphatically to the young. "Remember Now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them." Reflect, beloved youth, and you will be convinced, that this command of the Most High is as reasonable and benevolent, as it is authoritative and obligatory. Can any thing be more rational, than that the opening faculties of the mind should be consecrated, in all their vigour and freshness, to the love and service of Him who bestowed them all? In all the bright visions of futurity which your imaginations delight to create, can fancy itself pourtray any thing so desirable, as an allotment to be chosen by a Being of inVOL. V. Ch. Adv.

finite wisdom, power and goodness

That HE should select for you the whole course of life, guide and guard you through it, and assure to you its termination in an eternity of bliss? Now, this will actually be done-it will be found, not an illusive picture of the imagination, but a substantial and blessed reality, if you remember your Creator in the days of your youth; if you consecrate to your Maker and Redeemer the morning of life. His own unfailing declarations are"They that seek me early shall find me-Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace-Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come-All things work together for good to them that love God -All things are yours-whether life or death, or things present or things to come; all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Can the madness of that folly be described, which would sacrifice what is here promised

promised in words of eternal truth-for vanities fleeting as the meteor, and empty as the wind. Nothing that is worthy of your rational and immortal nature is prohibited by him, who demands your hearts and your obedience. His

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yoke is easy and his burden is light." Forget him not-Every sentiment of gratitude unites with every consideration of interest, to A

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