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those regions, and Mohammedism rooted out. The 18th chap. moreover contains a prediction of the restoration of the Jews; and in the 19th we find that people happily seated in their own country, and professing the true religion, along with the Assyrians and the Egyptians. Hence it will follow, that the events related in the 19th cannot yet have received their accomplishment, inasmuch as the Jews are not yet restored. This conjecture of mine, that the 18th and 19th chapters of Isaiah form only different parts of one prophecy, is strongly confirmed by a parallel passage in Zephaniah. In his 18th chap. Isaiah speaks of the return of Israel from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; and in his 19th, celebrates the conversion of Egypt and Assyria. In a similar manner, Zephaniah speaks of turning "to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord," chap. iii. 9, which the marginal references of the Bible suppose to be the same event as the conversion of Egypt, and Assyria; and immediately afterwards adds, "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering." And, to prevent the possibility of a mistake, he concludes the chapter by assuring us, that he was speaking of the restoration of the Jews: "At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes."

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Thus have I endeavoured by comparing scripture with scripture, to establish what I conceive to be the true purport of these remarkable prophecies: but the precise period when God shall be pleased to accomplish them remains yet concealed in the divine counsels. Nevertheless every Christian must believe, that the time will come, "when the fulness of the gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved."

G. S. F.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

YOUR correspondent Honestas objects to the term, "People of God,"

as applied to believers under the present dispensation, and asserts that the apostles in no instance make use of it, to designate converted gentiles. It appears to me that Paul in his epistle to the Romans, referring to the prophecy in Hosea, chapter 2d, verse 23d, very clearly explains it as belonging to Christians. *"Even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, as he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her, beloved, which was not beloved; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people; there they shall be called the children of the living God." Also in 2d Corinthians, 6th chapter, from the 16th to the 18th verse, where the address is expressly to Gentiles: again, Titus ii. 14. "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."Peter, in his 1st Epistle, 2d chap. 10th verse, speaks of a "peculiar people," and quotes Hosea. These passages, however they may primarily respect the Jews, certainly are not confined to them. If so, we must suppose that the coming of the Saviour was entirely on their account: it is assigned as the reason for his being called Jesus, Matthew i. 21. For he shall save his people from their sins." Limit this term to the Hebrews, and where is the salvation of Gentile sinners to be found?

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EMMA.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

IT will scarcely be denied, that some whose names stand foremost on the lists of theologic fame, have been little influenced by those very truths, which they have laboured, and frequently with triumphant success, both to elucidate and defend. Such writers have given their days and nights to the study of the sacred canon, while their souls have reaped no practical benefit; and though the student has risen from his labour, an acute and luminous commentator and critic, yet, if conduct be the test of principle, incapacharacter of a Christian. By what ble of exhibiting any just claim to the allurement, sir, are those speculative

* Romans ix. 24-26.

divines to whom I advert, induced to consume the midnight oil over a book, wherein the essential difference between scientific theology and practical religion is so clearly ascertained, and so impressively urged on the conscience? Permit me to transcribe an answer to this enquiry, from the writings of an English divine, who flourished in the seventeenth cen

tury.

"Sometimes the sinner seeketh his happiness and content in largeness of knowledge, much learning, and curious speculation about the nature of the creatures, yea, and about God himself. But perhaps it will be found, that these are near of the same nature with sensitive delights. For it is not the excellency or goodness of God himself that delighteth them; but the novelty of the thing, and the agitation of their own imagination, phantasie, and intellect thereupon, which is naturally desirous to be actuated, and employed, as receiving thereby some seeming addition to its own perfection: and that, not as from God, who is the object of their knowledge, but as from the mere enlargement of knowledge in itself; or, which is far worse, they make the study of God and divine things, which they delight in, but subservient to some base inferior object: and so though they delight in studying and knowing God, and heaven, and scripture, yet not in God as God, or the chief good; nor in heaven, as heaven; nor out of any true saving love to God; but either because, as some preachers, they make a gainful trade of it, by teaching others, or because it is an honour to know these things, and be able to discourse of them, and a dishonour to be ignorant or at best, as I said before, they desire to know God, and divine truths, out of a delight in the novelty, and actuating, and natural elevation of the understanding hereby. It is one thing to delight in knowing, and another to delight in the thing known. An ungodly man may delight in studying and knowing several axioms or truths concerning God, but he never delighteth in God himself. So a studious man desires to know what hell is, and where, and many truths concerning it: but he desireth not hell itself, nor delighteth in it. A godly man desireth to know the nature and danger of sin, and Satan's

way, and wiles in temptations: but he doth not therefore desire sin, and temptation itself. So a wicked man may desire to know the nature of grace, and Christ, and glory: and yet not desire grace, and Christ, and glory. It is one thing to terminate a man's desire and delight in bare knowledge, or the esteem, and self advancement that accrues thereby; and another thing to terminate it in the thing which we desire to know, making knowledge but a means to its fruition. The acts of the understanding are but preparatory to the acts of the will, and so are but imperfect initial acts of the soul, as having a further end than their own proper object; and therefore it is, that philosophers place no moral habits in the understanding, but all in the will; for till they come to the will, (though they be in a large sense morally good or evil, virtuous or vicious, yet) they are but so in an imperfect kind and sense: and therefore they call such habits only intellectual."

When the Marquis of Rosny was appointed, by Henry the Fourth of France, his ambassador to the court of London on the death of Queen Elizabeth, the elder Servin presented his son to that nobleman, and begged that he would use his endeavours to make him a man of some worth and honesty. Young Servin was a prodigy of genius and understanding; and among his extraordinary attainments it is recorded, that, "in theology he was so well skilled, that he was an excellent preacher, whenever he had a mind to exert that talent, and an able disputant, for and against the reformed religion, indifferently." Yet in this very man, says the illustrious historian,* "might be found all the vices contrary to nature, honour, religion, and society: the truth of which he himself evinced with his last breath, for he died in the flower of his age, perfectly corrupted by his debaucheries, and expired with a glass in his hand, cursing and denying God."

Is not this anecdote an illustration, in some measure of the extract? I am, Sir, &c.

OEDIPUS.

*Sully's Memoirs, book xiv.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

THE great effect of example is generally allowed, and therefore it is highly important that we should let slip no proper opportunity of obtaining for ourselves, and of affording to others, the benefits which may be derived from contemplating the characters and conduct of eminent christians. Those enjoy this advantage in the highest degree, who have the happiness of being personally acquainted with such ornaments of the gospel of Christ. But it may be extended in no small measure to others by conversation or by writing; and conversation and writing are seldom so well employed, or so generally acceptable, as when the christian graces of some good man are happily pourtrayed for the edifi'cation and gratification of those, who never knew him.

In proportion, however, as any one feels a pleasure in hearing or reading descriptions of the manners and conduct of those, whose light, as followers of Jesus Christ, has shone before men with the greatest lustre, he must be jealous of any circumstances which tend to sully the beauty of the picture, and much more jealous of such as may mislead some persons, and place offences in the way of others.

Now, sir, you and most of your readers must have observed, that anecdotes of eminent christians are not always judiciously selected. What is somewhat eccentric, and in some view or other on the verge of a fault, if not absolutely faulty, is most striking, and therefore is most frequently remembered, and related or publishied, while the ordinary and every day proceedings of a good man are apt to be thrown into the back ground, and seldom mentioned. These last are the parts of his life, which present a true picture of his soul; and if pourtrayed with truth and in vivid colours, would be excellent guides to others in their christian course: while the more striking and brilliant circumstances which often form the sub'ject of anecdotes, are too frequently unfit examples for the general imitation of religious persons, and extremely liable to be misunderstool and misrepresented by persons of an opposite character. I confess, sir, I generally feel a little apprehension, when a lively man of a sanguine dis

position begins to relate a religious anecdote in company; and my apprehension is the greater, the more he seems pleased with the story he is about to give us, and the more his intercourse has been confined to the religious circle to which he belongs. One of this description, partly from an honest affection and veneration for the entinent person to whom the anecdote relates, and partly perhaps from a love of anecdote, and a desire of attracting attention, will frequently repeat a saying, or describe a proceeding of a good man, with strong marks of admiration, which, instead of throwing any lustre on the characters whom it is intended to honour, stands itself in need of a candid interpretation to shield it from censure. But though the warm and the lively are most subject to this fault, it is by no means confined to them; and christians of every description will do well to beware of it.

The effects which the practice I am now censuring is apt to produce, are such as every real disciple of Jesus Christ must deeply deplore. As the imitation of what is eccentric and of a dubious nature, and suited perhaps only to very particular characters or very particular circumstances, is always more easy, and more gratifying to the imagination, than the imitation of plain and simple excellence, the young and the injudicious are very likely to be led astray, while the feelings of those, who have not yet forsaken the world, but shew a disposition to attend to religion, receive a shock, which they do not easily overcome, and the cavilling and profane spirit of the hater of real godliness finds an ample field for declamation and censure. Cicero tells us, I think, that, before he pleaded a cause, he always took upon himself, in his private study, three distinct characters, namely, those of his client, of his opponent, and of the judge who was to decide; he considered very fully what impression every circumstance of the case, and every argument he could use, would make on each of them; and his conduct was guided by the lights which he obtained from this general view of the whole business. I wish, that religious people would act in a similar manner before they relate or publish religious anecdotes, and consider

well, what is their intrinsic merit, and what effects are likely to be produced by them.

rather, would not in this case the life of Jesus have been a powerful engine, with which malevolence would have assailed divine truth; a stronghold of error; and a cover, under which the violence and extravagance of carnal passions, assuming the name of religion, would have sheltered themselves from attack?

It would be well for those, who are fond of the brilliant and the eccentric in religion, and with unshrinking boldness (I had almost said rash hardihood) brave all consequences in publishing abroad those passages in a good man's life, which may indeed be the most striking proofs of his christian attainments, but which are likely to appear to common observers of a somewhat dubious complexion, to study the great plainness and simplicity of the conduct of Christ. If a due allowance be made for what was necessarily peculiar to himself as Son of God, and Saviour of mankind, how little is the course he pursued calculated to strike the imagination, and to push virtue (if I may be allowed the expression) to the verge of vice! how careful was he, so "to provide things honest in the sight of all men," that even sceptics and infidels have been able to find few or no subjects for censure in his life; and his example has very seldom misled his real followers, or been quoted by such as pretended to be so in vindication of what was blameable. On the contrary, the character and conduct of our blessed Saviour have been the great stumbling block of infidels. Few have been so hardy as to make a direct attack upon them, and some (among whom J. J. Rousseau holds a very distinguished place) have been constrained to give them the warmest praise. Among christians, they have been the great light by which perverse and presumptuous man, ever prone to go astray in practice, whatever he may possess in principle, has been brought back to the right path. They have been, under God, the touchstone, by which, more than by any other, errors in spirit and conduct have been rectified, and hypocrisy detected. But would they have answered these blessed purposes, if they had not been marked by a moderation and a simplicity, which preclude misconception, and bid defiance to misrepresentation; or if, in the histories given us by the evangelists, the prominent features in the life of our Saviour had consisted of such extraordinary speeches and proceedings, as too frequently form the subject of IAM, like yourself, a steady friend of the anecdotes under consideration; or the Church of England. I not only CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 25.

I confess, sir, that the general complexion of the religious anecdotes, which I have sometimes heard when in company, and the warm approbation with which they have been received, has more than once put me in mind of an epigram of Martial, in which a whimsical character is introduced, gravely taking credit for his absurdities, because he could father them all on great men. He plagued his friends with bad verses: oh, but in this he copied Cicero. Other instances of the same kind are given, which I do not distinctly remember. I have feared lest the young applauders of such anecdotes should make like unfortunate attempts to emulate ome one or other of the great pillars of the church in the last and in the present age. Why do not those, who give us some account of eminent christians, exercise their powers of description in placing before our eyes those tranquil scenes, in which the soul without an effort displays the heavenly graces, with which she is endowed? Why do they not, for instance, paint a good man's method, manners, and countenance, when instructing his children; when conducting the religious exercises of his family; when conversing with a sick or afflicted neighbour or dependant; or when talking upon religious subjects in an easy and serene manner during a quiet walk with a friend? Do not such scenes convey more solid instruction than the extraordinary occurrences which are so often made the subject of anecdotes? And do they not possess a beauty and a grace far more likely to attract the soul of the hearer by sympathy to a love of the spiritual life, while they possess the great advantage of not being liable to be misunderstood or misrepresented? B. T.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

D

value her doctrines, but highly revere her mode of worship, and am pained whenever I observe any thing indecorous in the manner of conducting

it.

I consider the clergy as persons of great candour and liberality of mind, so that I am not apprehensive of giving offence to any of them, or of subjecting you, sir, to any censure, if I be permitted, through your valuable miscellany, to animadvert on a circumstance or two which occasionally give me uneasiness.

In Churches where I hear, with admiration and delight, the genuine truths of the Gospel delivered with energy and solemnity, and enforced in plain and affectionate language on the conscience, I am not always equally satisfied with the manner in which the devotions of the congregation are conducted. The readingdesk seems not to exhibit the seriousness of the pulpit; nor are either the prayers offered up, or the lessons read, with sufficient solemnity of manner. The liturgy of our Church is not only the admiration of those that use it, but of many candid persons among the Dissenters; and when the service is read distinctly, audibly, and seriously, it can hardly fail of being impressive. It is an unworthy and mischievous notion to consider the prayers merely as a preamble to the sermon; and it is surely of importance that the clergy should endeavour to correct this idea, which, if I mistake not, they will best do by charging it upon themselves not only to deliver the word, but to conduct the worship, with due solemnity and seri

ousness of manner.

It has happened to me, Mr. Editor, to be present where an extemporary prayer has been used before the sermon. I will not now pass an opinion on the necessity or propriety of this after the very copious and spiritual prayers which have been offered up in the use of the liturgy. What I have to reprehend is thisthe extemporary prayer has been presented in a very serious and impressive manner, but the Lord's Prayer, with which it has been concluded, has been repeated with that rapidity and apparent indifference which would have merited correction in a schoolboy. I determined to tell the Christian.Observer.

M T. H.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I AM the daughter and widow of a clergyman, and was carefully instructed both by my father and husband in the doctrines of the Church of England, as those, which were delivered by Christ and his Apostles. About twelve months ago I had the heavy misfortune to lose my husband, whose affection had endeared him to me, and whose piety and benevolence had entitled him to the respect and esteem of his flock. He was succeeded in the living of the parish, in which I still reside, by a gentleman whose behaviour both in and out of the pulpit does credit to his character and profession. He has the strongest claims upon my gratitude, not only for his kindness to me, but for the respectful terms in which he constantly mentions my deceased husband; yet he has been the cause of more uneasiness to me than I ever experienced from any other quarter. The circumstance to which I allude is this: about a fortnight ago, after a long conversation with him on religious subjects, he concluded with saying, with a most impressive seriousness, I am sorry, my good lady, to find that you are an Arminian. Before I had time to recover from my surprize at this unexpected observation and the tone in which it was made, the entrance of some visitors prevented my asking the meaning of it; our rector took his leave, and has since been absent from the parish on business of pressing importance, which will probably detain him some weeks. My anxiety, however, to obtain a solution of what had so much perplexed me, induced me to ask an explanation of a friend; but all the information which I could obtain from him was, that our rector was a Calvinist, and if I wished to know what this, or the term Arminian meant, he recommended me to write to the Christian Observer. Of the person to whom I was thus referred I professed igno rance, but my friend assured me, that such a person existed, and that if I would address a letter to him he would undertake to forward it.

Now, sir, what I am most anxious to know is this, whether the epithet Arminian implies that I am not a Christian; for nothing, I confess, would give me deeper concern than to be considered by so respectable a

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