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1807.] Genuine Religion the best Friend of the People. 575

sinners are freed from the curse of the law, filled with light and comfort, and interested in the great salvation, should, with utmost care, describe the temper, with which sinners believe in Christ. That faith ought to be explained, which is the gift of God, the fruit of sanctifying grace. It should be represented, as essential to the believer's character, that he cordially approves both the precept and penalty of that divine law, which the Saviour loved and honoured; and that he unfeignedly justify the holy administration of God; saying, "thou art just when thou speakest, and clear when thou judgest." Without unreserved approbation of the righteousness of God in the moral law, we cannot receive pardon and salvation, as of grace.

The peculiar nature of Christian consolation and joy, as well as of faith, ought to be described. The joy, which persons may derive from the belief, that their sins are forgiven and their happiness secure, is not the first and highest joy of the newborn soul. Genuine Christian joy arises from a new and spiritual discovery of the excellent character and government of God, particularly from a clear view and sincere admiration of that most glorious and amiable display of his moral perfections, which is made in redemption by Christ. Such joy may be properly denominated, joy in the Lord. On this point the excellent tract before us is not wholly unexceptionable. When speaking of the comfort and holiness which are the effects of regeneration, the author says;

"The Spirit fills them with peace

and joy, by bearing witness, that God hath accepted them through his be loved Son; that his anger is turned away; that he hath adopted them into his family, and given them not only the honourable title, but all the inestimable privileges of children. Thus through views of God, as a reconciled Father, through the prospect of immortal joys, and through noble elevations above this miserable world, they go on their way rejoicing.”

To readers in general the joy of the true convert is not in this place clearly distinguished from the joy of the deluded enthusiast, or the self-righteous pharisee. We would not expunge from the list of a Christian's consolations a humble hope, that God's anger is turned away, that he is accepted of God through Christ, adopted into his family, and entitled to eternal glory. But it is demonstrable, that this cannot be his principal consolation, and that his purest, divinest joy always depends on direct apprehensions of God's moral excellence.

In other parts the author of this pamphlet describes the work of the Spirit in a more discriminating manner, and declares, "the wide difference be- . tween those self-abasing convictions of the Spirit, which are connected with salvation, and the remonstrances of natural conscience in unrenewed men."

For variety and importance of matter and excellence of style, we remember not to have seen any tract comparable with this. Part I. exhibits the nature of religion, doctrinal, experimental, and practical. This part is divided into three chapters; the first, on the principles of religion; the second, on the experience of religion; the third, on the practical influence of religion.

Part II. shows the importance of religion to the usefulness and happiness of the people. Part III. describes the means best calculated for promoting the knowledge and spirit of religion. The following extracts afford useful specimens of this tract. While recommending the duty of religious meditation in retirement, the author writes thus; "The want of religious knowledge, and habitual neglect of serious consideration, proves the ruin of thousands. What real or persevering religion can be expected from an uninformed, undisciplined, unthinking mind? And how unavailing must be all the means of grace, if men will not allow themselves leisure to examine their real state before God, to ponder the things which belong to their salvation, and to meditate on the all-important doctrines, promises, and precepts of Scripture? Some attention is necessary to give the objects of sense their full force; these are ever present, and their influence is powerful; but of what is unseen and everlasting, a more fixed recollection is indispensably necessary: this, in some measure, removes the distance between heaven and earth; brings spiritual objects near to the believing, reflecting mind; increases that faith which is the substance of things hoped for ; and derives from these unseen realities, far nobler joy than can be obtained from the most inviting pleasures of sin.

deemed; contemplate their joys and their employments, and long to be united with the just made perfect, and with the innumerable company of angels. Above all, let the medita tions on God the Redeemer be sweet unto your thoughts. Contemplate your heavenly Father's mercy and faithfulness, his infinite glory, and his condescending care. Look unto Jesus, the author of eternal redemption: admire his transcendent excellence, his sufhe hath purchased, the mediation, he ferings and triumphs, the blessings now accomplishes, and the happiness prepared for all his followers."

The following observations, found in the concluding address to parents, are very impressive.

"Too many parents, in the inferior stations of life, foolishly suppose, that if they can procure food and raiment for their children, they have sufficiently discharged their duty, and that their early days are far more usefully employed in earning a little pittance, than in learning to read the Scriptures.

"Cruel parents! is it thus you care for the souls of your offspring? Is it thus you prepare them for acting an honourable part in life? And is it thus you fortify them against the dangerous temptations of an ensnaring world? How false have you proved to your trust! and how regardless of the divine requirements! Your children are uneducated; and are likely to remain unprincipled through life: they will soon be beyond the reach of your instruction, under the dominion of others, and engaged in the service of their masters; may it not be feared, that there they will act a wretched part, until their intemperance, dishonesty, and fraud, are detected, and they themselves loaded with infamy and disgrace? To you, their parents, will be greatly owing their vices, and their miseries. You taught them not, in early days, to dread the path of the destroyer: you implanted not in their early minds the seeds of religious knowledge; nay, you cruelly unfitted them for acquiring that knowledge, by withholding from them the blessing of education."

"Retire, therefore, by yourselves, into the fields or the closet, to meditate on heavenly themes; contemplate what hath been, what is, and what shall be hereafter. Mark the ways of Providence; and trace, with admiring acknowledgment, the doing of the Lord to yourselves, your family, and your kindred. Look forward to future, but certain and approaching scenes: an expiring world, a general judgment, an unalterable state. How must these solemn prospects moderate your eagerness for the passing fashions of the world, and quicken your progress towards Zion. MediThe careful and devout attate on heaven, as the land of rest, and the sure inheritance of all the re- tention of parents to the follow

ing directions would greatly as sist them in the religious educa tion of their children.

"For fulfilling this duty, by a method easy to yourselves, and advantageous to your family, let me recommend to your attention the venerable Assembly's Catechism. It contains a valuable and comprehensive summary of the Protestant religion: in it the sublime doctrines of Christiani. ty, its glorious privileges, and its pure precepts, are stated with accuracy, arranged in order, and expressed in language as plain as the subject will admit. Cause your children and servants to learn this catechism; explain its meaning; and allot proper seasons for examining their progress in the knowledge of Christian principles.

"No season can be more suitable for this profitable employment, and none can be more convenient, than the evening of the Lord's day: you are not then fatigued with labour, nor encumbered by the interruptions of worldly business. That sacred day is appropriated for the purposes of obtaining and imparting heavenly knowledge; its precious hours must not be squandered in the circle of friends, nor in business, nor in recrea tions: these are allowed in six succeeding days of each revolving week: one day of seven is the day of God; he claims it for his own; he separates it for himself; and wills not that its hallowed joys should be molested or abridged. He commands his people

to keep it holy, as a day of peculiar intercourse with heaven; and to seek their delight in those spiritual duties which become the followers of a risen Saviour. Every man, therefore, who bears the Christian name, ought to venerate the Sabbath. But heads of families, in busy or inferior stations, may particularly prize this day of sacred rest; and ought carefully to guard against the misimprovement of its valuable hours. The duties of the closet must neither be omitted nor superficially performed: the duties of the sanctuary, if attended with reverence, will yield sublimest satisfaction: yet let not these exclude the delightful exercises of family instruction and devotion; if these are omitted; if you only are well employed: if the members of your family are not attended to, they will increase, by their bad example, that general profanation of the Sabbath which you so justly lament. Suffer, therefore, the word of exhortation. On every returning evening of that hallowed day, convene your children, domestics, and servants; recommend religion to their attention and esteem; inquire into their conduct, and devotions, during the former part of the day; remind them of what they heard in the house of God; examine if they have committed to memory what you for merly appointed; commend the diligent; encourage to farther improvement; and close this profitable duty with suitable counsels, and with the de lightful solemnities of family worship.

Religious Intelligence.

INTELLIGENCE RESPECTING THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

(Continued from p. 483.) Extract of a Letter from a Roman

Catholic Clergyman in Swabia. "I FEEL the highest regard for the wise and prudent zeal of the English Bible Committee, because it is my own desire to see the pure and genuine word of God spread, and am so entirely against all corruption of this invaluable treasure, that I my Vol. II. No. 12. BB b b

self would prevent it by all means in my power. As the degeneracy of all outward churches is so great and general, and still threatens to become greater and more general, I comfort myself with this, that the Lord is retiring into the inner temple, and more gloriously building up the invisible church. At least he does not sit idle at the right hand of his Father, nor can he lose his suit: whatever may now be the appearance, he must finally be the gainer. Our duty however is this, to pray more earnestly than ever: let thy kingdom come!

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and, Lord abide with us, for it is towards evening. Dr. Sailer, (who by his truly evangelical instructions and writings has proved a great blessing to the Roman Catholics in Germany) thus expresses himself in his last so firmly book: Christianity is founded on its own basis, that after it has outlived the times of persecution, after it has remained unshaken in the age of superstition, it will also outlive this age of infidelity and contempt Therefore we cannot sufficiently rejoice, that we are privileged to serve such a Master, who is infinitely superior to all his enemies, who has the victory in his hands, ever since the world has stood, who finally shall put all enemies under his feet, at whose name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord. Nor shall we be able sufficiently to know and to appreciate all the excellencies of the kingdom of Christ, and the exalted dignity of his person: never shall we be able fully to comprehend the favour and happiness vouchsafed to them who shall be partakers of the kingdom of God through faith in Christ. Would not even our blessed Lord and Saviour himself rejoice to see the fraternal union which subsists between us, the interest which we mutually take in each other, and the sincerity of our wish to see all our brethren become partakers of the same blessings? Yes, Lord let thy kingdom come, and be extended further and further. May our blessed Lord and Saviour daily more become that which he is made of God unto us, Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption; yea may he become our all in all, and we fruitful branches in him the living vine. May light and life and love be multiplied in us, and may the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the love of God and his dear Son Jesus Christ."

-

Extract from an Advertisement of the
Roman Catholic Bible Society at Rat-
isbon, to the Christians of that Per-
suasion throughout Germany.
"To those who value the Doctrine of
Jesus.

"Dear Brethren and Sisters in Christ!
"It is desirable, that the Holy
Scriptures of the New Testament.

could be put into the hands of many
at a low price.
pious Christians
Thereby they would be comforted in
their afflictions, strengthened in their
trials, and more preserved from the
temptations of the world. Many ex-
cellent souls do not find in the public
religious instruction that for which
they hunger; are also often in the
confessional only judged for their out-
ward deeds, without being led to an
acknowledgment of their inward cor-
ruption, and to faith the blood of
Jesus their Redeemer: if these could
read the Holy Scriptures of the New
Testament in the quiet time of holi
days, their faith in the simple doc-
trines from the mouth of Jesus Christ
would, by the mercy of their Saviour,
be thereby enlivened; and the Lord's
gifts in the Holy Spirit be quickened
in them. They would hear the voice
of the Father in their inward part,
which leads them to their Saviour, of
They shall be
which Christ saith:
all taught of God; and whosoever
hath learned of the Father, and re-
ceiveth it, cometh unto me.'

"From these considerations bas arisen, in the minds of some clergymen, a wish to set on foot a cheap German edition of the New Testament, for the use of many pious Christians, the Repository thereof to be at Ratisbon, in the Ecclesiastical Seminary, as a central place in Germany.

"I hereby give this intelligence to some known confessors of Christ, with a request that they will consider the matter before the Lord, recommend it to him in prayer; and if he is pleased to afford them any opportunity to contribute in any way toward it, that they will not neglect it. Christian poverty and love have accomplished greater things in the world than the power and riches of the world could do.

"O Lord! Redeemer of our souls! Shepherd of the small despised flock! do with this work as may please thee. Thy kingdom proceeds an incessant pace in a still small way, and those who oppose it can do nothing against it, but become thy footstool, and contribute to the rest of thy feet in the peace of thy people. If it please thee, let thy holy history, the history of thy childhood, of thy ministry, of thy suf fering, and of the victory of the Holy Spirit in the apostles and firstlings of

the Christian Church, come into the hands of thy little ones for their comfort and confirmation."

Extract of a Letter from a respectable

Lutheran Minister in Esthonia. "As you made some inquiries respecting the state of the Bible in the Russian Empire, permit me now to return you the following answer :-

"Among the poorer classes of our. countrymen the Holy Scriptures are so scarce, that perhaps out of 100 families hardly five will be found in possession of a Bible or New Testa

ment.

"The scarcer Bibles are, the more diligently they are read by the people when they can obtain them.

"Throughout the whole province of Esthonia there is a great want of Bibles, chiefly among the Swedish and Esthonian peasants.

"There is in general neither a public nor private institution for the express purpose of relieving this want by a gratuitous or cheap distribution of Bibles, except a few small legacies, which have been left to some churches for supplying the schools with Bibles.

"Many, who are destitute of the Bible, express a great desire after this treasure, which desire is increas. ed, when they find it in the possession of others.

"I have not a moment's doubt, that here a Society of respectable Clergymen and other pious Christians might be formed for the express purpose of spreading the Bible more generally.

"I feel the less hesitation in saying that such a Society might be estab. Lished, because among the 50 or 60 clergymen in this country, as also among the private gentlemen in Lapponia, several are known to me as men who feel the most lively interest in enlightening the mind, and meliorating the state and condition of their fellow-creatures, by faith in Christ.

"Permit me now, reverend and dear Sir, to accompany this information with a humble petition to the British and Foreign Bible Society kindly to remember the 50 country parishes in Esthonia, which contain at least 15,000 families, and to assist

them with a pecuniary aid, in order that the whole Bible, or at least a part of it, may be gratuitously or cheaply distributed to the many indigent persons who are at present destitute of this treasure.

"In the mean while I shall endeav our to form a Bible Society in our parts; and should it please the British and Foreign Bible Society to lend us their generous aid in procuring a fund for such an institution, I have not a moment's doubt, that many gentlemen in our parts would thereby be excited to take an active part in such a benevolent design."

--

INDIA.

Ch. Ob.

Extract of a Letter from F. Marshman to the Rev. Dr. Green, Philadel phia, dated Serampore, November 4th, 1806.

REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,

You will be pleased to hear that the Lord has not forsaken us; but still continues to own our humble and weak efforts to promote his cause in this land. Within about twenty months past we have baptized nearly fifty of those who once bowed down to dumb idols, the greater part of whom, by their walk and conversation, afford us a degree of pleasure peculiar, perhaps, to persons in our circumstances.

We have, also, the happiness of seeing not a few of them our helpers in the work of the Lord. Had you been present this evening you would have felt pleasure of no common kind, while joining with us in giving the parting benediction to six native brethren, going out to carry the news of life to their perishing fellow country

men.

It will be acceptable to the friends of God and man, with you, to hear that their generous exertions to forward the translations of the Sacred Scriptures into the Indian languages, are not in vain. The Lord is greatly enlarging us in this work, and that in such a manner as leaves no doubt whether it be his hand or not. The New Testament, in five languages, is now in the press; the Bengalee, the Hindoosthanee, the Mahratta, the Orissa, and the Sangskrit languages; and translations in five others are go. Among ing forward successfully. these the goodness of God respecting

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