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J. F. DAGG, Editor.
VOL HXL—New Series, VoL 20.
rmr jkbz r iwr s •
1. Tan Cbeisii-c* U a weekly publication.—
Fifty numbers in the year are mailed to each subscriber
for I* 50, or $2 Q 0 in advance.
ft. Discontinuance may be ordered by the subscriber* j
ist the close of any year, prodded all orreuroyc.t home
%etn paid; or by the Editor, at his discretion, whenever
btore than one year's subscription is due.
3. Any person who remits $lO in advance for five
hew subscribers, may receive the paper for one year.
.4. Any minister of the gospel who remits $3 in ad
vance for four new subscribers, may receive the paper ,
one year.
5. Communication! should be addressed, roeT-r*n>, to
X\e Christian. Index: those which relate to advertise
jr.ruti, to Sir. James T. Wain.
MINISTERIAL SUPPORT.
llow shall it be raised? By means of
free seats and contribution boxes? This
method, to say nothing of its precarious
ness, places the minister much on a level j
with the penny lecturer or wandering piper, i
whose tenure on the sustenance of life is
regulated by the maxim, “No song, no sup
per.” It may serve a good purpose, tem
porarily, in certain circumstances, where
the other customs of a people are of a
corresponding character; but in orderly,
thriving, intelligent communities, its inevi
table tendency must always be, to sink the
character of the ministry, anil bring the
public services of religion into contempt.
Shall it be raised by annual subscrip
tions, eked out by donation visits? This
method, though superior to the other, places
both the minister, the people, and the
public services of religion, in false and
often embarrassing positions. The enlight
ened, liberal, and devoted friends of reli
gion, may suliscribe and pay, not r.3 a gift
or personal favor to their minister, but in
the discharge of God’s just claim upon
them to support liis worship, believing
that the laborer is worthy of his reward.
But others subscribe to his support more
from persuasion than from principle, more
from regard to public opinion than to the
will of God, more to be pleased than to be
J profited, more from the influence of world
ly than of spiritual motives; and such
men regard their subscriptions as personal
riev., aCtwjwjiig-io-iircrr n)n* O. ui-.iwra-lii
the preacher. Such men regard the min
istry not so much a divine institution for
the good of mankind, as a necessary evil,
or burden,'Which must bo borne, to keep
check. They believe that
have been worth mors
Alne’-eh. ifChrb-G r ~
that i
■without rtrrgftjus worship, any community i
■will sooiiAink into vice and confusion, and ;
they .vail subscribe to the support of the j
Christian ministry as the most effectual ,
means to prevent such evils.
Where this system is adopted, the min
ister is employed on condition that he shall
{flense God, the church, and the world; at
east that portion of it who subscribe, or
would subscribe to his support, if pleased.
It soon conies to be generally understood j
that he musl please all parties. If he fails j
to tie this, he is regarded as deficient in j
his duty. Unlike any other puMie servant
w officer, he is held under obligation to
satisfy, not the majority, but every indi
vidual. If some covetous, purse-proud,
conceited man of wealth withdraws his
subscription, assigning, as every such man
knows how to do, some dissatisfaction with !
the minister as the reason, the latter is
often blamed when he ought to be com
mended. Not unfreqwently is a useful
minister driven from his proper field of
labor by a very few individuals who are
always telling what liberal things they
would do if the church would only settle
the right in an.
No minister of the Gospel ought to be
Iflaced in a position disadvantageous to
iis success, What would lie thought of a
proposal to place any other class of men
who are called to the service of the public,
in a similar position? to provide for the
support of our judges, public attorneys,
public officers, or assessors, by voluntary
subscription? or even for the salaries of
[bank ox railroad officers, by the individu
al contributions of those individuals who
might be willing to reward their services?
have the ministers of the -Gospel
.-done, that they should be made a special
exception to all rules for the election and
support of public men, by being placed in
the position of gentlemanly paupers, who
have some claim on the charities of their
hearers? If they do not seek to please all
their hearers, they are blamed; if they do
seek to please them, they are men-pleasers,
and of course unworthy ministers. The
tendency of the system is, to make ministers
either sycophants or misanthropes, ready
to cringe and flatter to obtain the priest’s
office that they may eat a piece of bread,
or, when ooeasion serves, to quit a p-ositiou
eo embarrassing in disgust.
If any suppose that this precariousness
of a minister’s bread, depending on keep
ing m the good graces of every man in Ins
congregation, is favorable to the increase
of his piety, their philosophy of man’s
spiritual nature must be ft very singular
Those who hold this philosophy
sboultest it first on themselves. If euch
a posfon in society should be founS to
promo their spirituality, let it be tlor
onghhriedon the ministry. For if mya
i isters nbe starved or frightened out of
I their Aive depravity, it is a mat lu
ll ccveryVhieh ought to be speedily tied
tr people.
tElje Cljristiau
Tliissystem places the conscientious chris- j
tian in the embarrassing necessity of being j
his own assessor. He knows tliat the di- j
vine law requires him to give for the sup- !
port of public worship, “according as ue j
i3 able;” “as the Lord hath prospered j
him;” but he is liable, from generosity or
from pride to do more than his proportion,
or by covetousness or misunderstanding,
to do less. It injures the covetous man,
by allowing him to go on in his covetous
ness. It tends to divide and alienate breth
ren from each other. It prevents church
es from acting as the bonis of Christ, ae
they are required to do, so that, in one
important department of Christian duty,
each one claims the right to act in disre
gard to the judgment of his brethren.
But the worst fruit of this anomalous in
dividualism where the most perfect frater
nal affiliation is required, is, it places the
public worship of God in a false and dis
paraging position. Is it, indeed the duty
of Christians to sustain the worship of God?
Is it a received doctrine, that this worship
is, and of right ought to lie, one of the
stated, permanent operations of human
society, to the end oft he world? Is it so,
that 0-od and man have a just claim that
Christian worship shall be sustained? Then
why not give it a recognized place? Why
treat it as a temporary thing, a respecta
ble poor relation, or a beggar? Why de
grade it below public schools, highways,
and pubii: pauper institutions? Why com
pel the worship of God to go round, annu
ally, to beg subscriptions of the charitable
to keep it from extinction? If Christians
believe in the duly of sustaining the wor
ship of God, why not openly confess it, by
assuming its burdens according to the equi
table principle laid down in the scriptures,
and thus exalt it to its true position? How
many generations more ought to be trained
up under a system which teaches, by im
plication, such mischievous error; which,
under the semblance of voluntariness, is
but the specious shift of covetousness?
******
The best method of procuring the funds
necessary for the support of public wor
iurnis most nearly to the equitable prlhcV
pie laid down in the scriptures: “Every
man shall give as he is able, according to
the Messing of the Lord thy God which
he hath given thee.” This is the principle
laid down fir the divine respecting
support of tiie worship of
God. It needs no argument to enforce its
authority. It commends itself to tho con
science and common sense of every man.
It is simple equity. No one but a covet
ous man, or a tool, can fail to perceive or
to acknowledge its justice. The apostle
recommends the application of the same
principles to the charitable collections < f ibe
churches; a principle which the church at
Antioch had adopted for the same purpose
eighteen years before. If this is the true
principle to be applied to charitable giving,
much more should it be applied to the i
raising of funds for our own public benefit.
Is its application to the latter purpose, it
is a principle of ecclesiastical law; in its
duty and obligation, to be urged by the
lo.ve of Christ, and enforced by the consid
eration that each will reap in proportion
as lie sows, after which it must be left to
the individual conscience of every Chris
tian.
Tliis principle may be appplied by as- j
s vssing each member, cither according to j
his income or according to tiie amount of j
property in his possession. Either of these j
methods will perhaps approximate as near \
to absolute justice as the imperfection of
all human affairs will allow; for it is not
to he expected that any principle, however
faultless in the abstract, can tie perfectly
exemplified in practice, or if it were, that
its application would give satisfaction in
all cases. But if any church member should
refuse to pay his just proportion, it would
be such manifest covetousness, as to de
mand his expulsion from the fellowship of
saints.
But notwithstanding all the embarrass
ments winch fall to the lot of Christian
ministers, even in this happy land, they
may well exclaim, on comparing their con
dition with that of their brethren in other
lands, “Truly the lilies are fallen to us in
f leasant places; we have a goodly heritage.”
n no other country on earth can the min
isters of religion say, “The government lets
vs alone.” They can preach when they
please, where they please, what they please,
how they please, and to whom they please, :
if they-can get hearers; no man forbiding,
so long as they infringe on no man’s civil
rights. They*can ilo it without fear of in
quisitions,, dungeons, racks, or fines. No
rude policeman or daring priest dares to
break up their assemblies; no ignorant.,
lawless mob will presume to pelt or hiss
them;no bigoted, pampered, national priest
hood looks down upon them with scorn;
but they have as full access to every class
of people as the imperfect state of human
society will allow. In a word, theirs is
freedom compared with which the boasted
privileges of the denizens of the “Eternal
City” was but vassalage.
And what is more, they have not the
stolid ignorance of the brutalized hordes
of European tyranny to encounter, but
each minister .may address as numerous
and as intelligent audiences as he is quali
fied to please and to instruct. Never was
such a soul-inspiring field spread before
Peuflchi, Georgia, Thursday; April 22, 1852.
the ministers of Christ! It’ they do not
labor with the alacrity of overflowing gr.it
itu le, such as in any" other work would be
counted enthusiasm, they must be blind to
the glorious prospoct before them! O,
what would Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and
Paul, and John, and John “Wickliffe, and
William Tindal, and John lluss. and John
Knox, and John Runyan, and Roger Wil
liams, and Oncken, and a host of apostles
and missionary worthies in all ages, have
given for this double honor, of holding an
ambassador’s credentials faun heaven, re
cognized and protected on earth by a gov
ernment of enlightened freemen! How
would their hearts have leaped to improve
such perfect liberty in so rich a field!
Let ministers and private Christians re
member their exalted position. “Many
prophets and kings have desired to e-ee tiie
things which ye see, and have not seen
them.” You ought to be model churches
and ministers for the whole world.— Cro
well.
OBJECTIONS TO MISSIONS.
“Attention to foreign missions draws ths attention of
the members of cliur. iiea from the cultivation of piety
in their own hearts.”
If obedience to the commands of Go'l
makes us fall away in piety, then, atten
tion to missions has this effect. But in the
path of obedience, and only in this path,
will our souls be blest. If we do not obey
the commands of God, what promise have
we of his assistance? We profess to trust
in Jesus for salvation. Ou what grounds
can we exercise this trust, if we neglect his
last command? God has commanded us
to pray, to read his word, to attend his
smcttiary. Would the professor of reli
gion trust in Jesus, while living in the ne
glect of these? Has he the right to take
Christ as his Saviour, while living in the
neglect of duty? The duty of spreading the
gospel is us clearly commanded, as is any
of the duties to which we have alluded.—
Experience confirms the teachings of reve
lation with regard to the commandments
ofGod.—“ln keeping them, there is .great
reward.”
God promises blessJflca r . T ffli-Vni-n away
tliy foot from the Sabbath, from doing tjiy
pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sab
bath a delight, the holy of the Lord, hon
orable; and shujj. honor him, tu/
AU+r-e :roF iltiding thi'iia own
Pleasure, nor speaking thine own words;
tnon shall thou delight thyself in the Lord;
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high
places of the earth, and feed thee with the
heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mont h
of the Lord hath spoken it.”
If it be admitted, that to spread the gos
pel is the duty of the people of God, we
should be at once satisfied, that the per
formance of this duty wiil not hinder our
“growth in grace.” God commands us to
do nothing which will prove injurious to
our piety. The more we look at the ob
jection, the more strange does it appear to
| ns.
Revelation asserts, and experience
proves, that in doing good to others, we
are benefitted ourselves. The Lord by the
mouth of the prophet Isaiah, tells the peo
ple of Israel what they might expect if
they pay attention to the wants of the dis
tressed: “Then shall thy light break forth
as the morning, and thine health shall
spring forth speedily; and thy righteous
ness shall go before thee; th i glory of the
Lord shall be th v reward. Then sluiltthou
; call and the Lord shall answer. Thou
| sliult cry, and he shall say: Hero lain.
; If thou take away from the midst of thee
the yoke, the putting forth of the finger,
and speaking vanity; .and if thou draw out
thy soul to tli 3 hungry and satisfy the af
flicted soul; ihen shall thy light rise in ob
scurity, and thy darkness bo ns the noon
day; and the Lord shall guide thee contin
ually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and
make fat thy bones; and thou shall be like
a watered garden, and like a spring of wa
ter, whose waters fail not.”
None can doubt tlio piety of the Psalm
ist. Ilis psalms speak tiie language of
one who enjoyed much communion with
God. There .are no psalms which he has
written, that are apparently written with
a warmer heart, than those which relate to
the increase of piety in the world. It was
not with a cold heart that the 67th psalm
was penned. Any one that reads it will
he compelled to acknowledge this.
It remains yet to bo proved, that those
churches are the coldest who do the most
i for the spiritual good of the heathen.—
The experience of churches testifies quite
to the contrary. — Home do Tor. Jour.
STRAY PENCILINGS.
It is very easy to throw the .drapery of
sentimentality around the dying bed, and
to idealize heaven and .the spirits passing.
The marble cheek, the death damps on the
brow, and whispered farewells to all the
soul holds dear, may give pathos to the ro
mance and open a wide field for the nov
elist jmd poet to display their graceful
fancies. But. how unlike is all this to
bringing thoughts of death t-o our own
hearts.
To die is something more than to fade
like the flowers. It is to feel the lifo
breath freezing on the lips and eternity un
folding to the vision; it is to feel the lifj
tide ebbing in our veins, and to know th it
we 6hall soon be ushered into the pres, n e
of the Eternal. Ido not wonder thatjpen
THE TRUTH IN LfWE.
shrink Iran death, but I do marvel that
they should so wrap it in poetical delu
sions, It is something more than a death
less aqul holding its pale vigils over a dy
ing casket it is the unveiled spirit coming
into the presence of Him, on whom never
mortal looked and lived—a lingering fare
well to a cherished form ere it flies to the
judgment seat ofGod.
And her.vcn it seems to me, is some
thing more than the Lome of the idul—the
laud of flowers and sunshine. The Scrn
dittarttrifixelieved it one wide hunting
ground, where they might drink beer from
the skulls of their enemies, and surely the
heaven ol'the modern sentimentalist is not
j more ridiculous and sensual. They who
: love the dreamy moon-light, and the sol
| cir.ii iHars, will therefrom fashion their
pictures of the spirit-land. The lover of
sweet sounds, one who has never felt the
spirit-birth, might hope to find there an
gel voices and exquisite harmony of tone,
while the scholar looks forward to it as to
the home of expansive intelligence. The
moafser, heart-broken and weary, dreams
of that far away land where her dear ones
dwell. So it is, with earthly threads we
are wont to weave the tissue ot'heaven.
Lul to the devoted Christian the one ab
sorbing idea will be that God is there. —
How can they who never bowed the knee
in prayer or folt their hearts glow with
| love as they communed with their Father
j in secret, speak ofthe glories of that better
j land. Yet how many a heroine, whose
j only virtue was beauty or pride of birth,
lias been carried by novelists safely across
the river of death and landed in the Chris
ti.uiVelysiutn. Oh! the false theology of
our fashionable literature! The true Chris
tian poet seeks not to idealize, but rever
ently, balf-tremblingly, speaks ofthe spir
it passing and its home in the skies. To
die happy we must not merely cultivate a
love fi the beautiful, we must have faith
in Jesus Christ.
Reader, wouldst thou be a child of hea
ven ?_ Go to God in prayer and live in
such nearness to Him that von can almost
•t.g,]i r. they fuld ..
your weary Uea/i wirTr -o wian ,o.t
be a child of God, and thus an heir of hea
ven Linwood.
J?4MEH JONES AND THE PARSON-
Farmer Jones was one morning stand
ing near the way-side on a small field con
nected with his farm, which, to the passer
by, had all the appearance of great barren
ness, when parson Anderson, coming up
on horseback, exchanged sulutiuns with
the farmer. \
“Busy, I so.c, with your farming opera
tions, this bright morning,” said the par
son.
“Not very busy at this moment,” said
Mr. Jones; “1 am bothered to know what
to do with this patch of ground, which has
never brought, me a dollar.”
“Yes, I see,” replied Mr. Anderson, “it
does not look very promising, but the good
seed that has been sown there must, 1 sup
pose, sooner qr later, come up.”
“Good seed sown there! why no seed
lias been sown that I know otybrfive years
past, and as it did not come ftp at the usu
al time, when it was sown, it would be a
strange tiling to expect it to appear now.
We farmers do not look for crops five years
after date,” said Mr. Jones laughing.
“Ah, I sae,’Uaid the parson, “I am roll
er ignorant about these matters; but I was
told that you a field in which you say
good seed was planted ten years ago, and
yet the neighbors say you arok’ct looking
for tbe harvest, although as yet, there is
no appearance of “blade, car, or full corn
I in the ear.” ,
1 “You were told, Mr. Anderson—and
pray who t old you I was such a fool as all
that? When I plant, I expect growth the
first season, and if it fails then, I plant
again. Who ever heard of good seed grow
ing after it had been lying ten years dead
in the ground?”
“Well I must confess,” said Mr. Ander
son, “what you say appears reasonable,!
but as good eider Thomas told me, IjhoughjJ
I would mention it. He might lmve had
some other meaning, li'so, perhaps you|
can find it out. Good morning, sir, I must
go on my way.
Farmer Jones stood pondering for a
while, when a thought Cashed across his
mind which he found it very difficult to
get rid of. The truth was, that ten years
before, farmer Jones had professed to lie
converted and had joined the church. —
From that time until the time of the above
interview, none had been able to see him
in the growth of the good seed. He had
indeed, been pretty regular in attending
church, although he confessed that sitting
still in his pew always made him feel drow
sy, so that tie did not very well know what
the minister was talking about. It wasob
servod, too, that Mr. Jones seldom had any
change about him when collections were
made for religious purposes, and although
very well to do in tne world, his contribu
tion for the minister’s support was very
srfrall. He .could never see the good of
prayer meetings and Sunday schools, and
: such likedhingj. He considered money
I spent in subscribing for a religious newspa
per was so rajich thrown away. If he ob
served family worship, no one ever found
it out; and if he prayed at all, he must
; have dopojt very secretly. No one .bad
heard him instructing his sons and daugh
ters, or urging upon them the importance
of attending to the concerns of their souls.
They were accordingly growing up with
out the fear of God. Indeed, *hia was a
very irreligious family, not one particle bet j
ter than if their father had never joined the I
church. He was, however, a very active
man, and could go about anything in which
he was interested with a right good will
and a strong hand. He believed the scrip
tures, at least so fir as this, that he.knew
“that the hand ofthe diligent malreth rich,”
and he was every year becoming richer be
cause he worked ibr it. He never looked
for a crop where he Lad not sown seed, and
lie was not the fool to wait ten yearn for a
harvest! While now he stood on his bar
ren patch, the words of parson Anderson
worried him, and one thought followed an
other, so quickly and painfully, that ho
could not avoid the conclusion, that his
irreligious and unproductive ]ills was the
thing alluded to by the parson. lie did
not sleep easy that night. lie began to
view things in another light, and the result
was, as we hear, that good seed was then
sown in his heart, which was watered by
tbe dews of heaven, and it sprouted at once,
and farmer Jones became anew man, and
his family a very different family.—Pres
byterian.
THE TOWER OF WOISAN.
Under God, (says the Rev. Dr. Xott,) I
owe my early education—nay, rll that I
have been or am, to the tutorage of a pious
mother. It was—peace to her sainted spir
it-—it was her monitory voice, that first
taught my young heart to feel that there
was danger in the intoxicating cup, r.nd
that safety lay in abstinence.
And as no one is more indebted than
myself to the kind influence in question,
so no one more fully realizes how decisive
ly it bears upon the destinies of others.
Full well 1 know, that by woman came
the apostasy of Adam, and by woman the
recovery through Jesus. It was woman
that imbued the miud and formed the
character of Moses, Israel’s deliverer. It
ivasjvflmaß that led the chyir. jindpeggy
ion which went forth to celebrate wUh .tim
brels-, on the Aajuk-v -,-f ttfcTuTT’ Scn, tot
cvVuirow of I’Larauh. It was a woman
that put Sisera topflight, and composed tiie
song of Deborah and Barak the son of Ahi
noam, and judged in righteousness for
years the tribes of Israel. It was a woman
that defeated the wicked counsels of Ha
man, delivered righteous Mordecai, and
saved a whole people from their utter des
olation. _
And not now to Epenk of Semiramis of
Babylon, of Catherine of Russia, or of those
j queens of England whose joyous reigns
constitute the brightest period of British
history, or her, the young and lovely, the
patron of learning and morals who now
adorns the throne of the seagirt isles—not
to speak of these, there are others of more
sacred character, of whom it were admissi
ble even now to speak.
The sceptre .of empire is not the scc-plre
that best befits the hand of woman, nor is
the .field of carnage her field of glory.—
Home, sweet home, is her theatre of ac
tion, pedestal of beauty, and the throne of
her power. Or if seen abroad, she is’seen
to the beat advantage when on errands of
love, and wearing her robe of mercy.
It was not woman who slept during the
agonies of Gethacmane: it was not woman
who denied her Lord at the palace of Cai
aphas: it was not woman that deserted his
cross on the hill of Calvary. But it was
woman that dared to testify her respect for
his corpse., that procured spices for em
balming it, and that was found last at
night and first in the morning at his sep
ulchre. Time has neither impaired her
kindness, shaken her constancy, nor
changed her character.
Now, as formerly, she is most ready to
enter and most reluctant to leave the abode
of misery. Now, as formerly, i.sdicroffice,
and well it has been sustained, to stay the
fainting head, wipe from the dim eye the
L tear of anguish, and from the cold forehead
[ the dew of death.
I THE TRIAL OF PROSPERITY.
• Adversity n not the greatest trial to
which a man can lie subjected—by no
means. Some indeed sink under it, and
abandon themselves to vice and degrada
tion. Some in t lie extremity of their cow
ardice, rush to suicide. But, to many, the
school of adversity is one of healthful dis
cipline. It is often the great school of self
reliance and exertion, the means of laying
deeper and broader foundations for* the
structure of character and fortune. Many
men of affluence look back to curly losses
and disappointments as ths school in which
they learned the way to prosperity. Many
who have arisen to fame ana power, gath
ered strength for the towering career, in
their early struggle with obstacles which,
to the timid and indolent, would have been
the eed of all .endoavore. They have loo
come groat, because they. ©£countered and
overcame great difficulties. Seims edver
sity Been, to many others, a.Borje.of truer
greatness, and c f bettor blessings than sny
or all worldly prosperity. It hss taught
them, not only.self-reliance, (which, in its
I proper .sense, it is desirable to have,) but it
: has also taught them to trust in God.—
| Thousands now living, and thousands who
J are in the world of light, look back to the
J. TANARUS, BLAIN. Printer J
time when earthly expectations
oil’ -when sickness, bereavements, JHHR
<-r severe trials of some kind
the ellhetual means of turning their ■HHjj
fr.-rn objects of earth!y nm&H
that they- might enter upon the*pursn^H
enduring riches. No, afflictions and
versitiee are not the worst things that
happen. To ons that has drooped under
the pressure of adversity, thousands ham
fallen under ‘hr heavier trial of prosoeri-
Os those who are so early abroad in their
fields, or in their shops and stores, and who
.toil so diligently from year to year, the
mass are intent “on the “accumulation of
riches. The student, who toils so assidu
ously, night and day the statesman,
u hose every energy is bent and concentra
ted to one point—the warrior, who pants
for the battle-field, and is first in every
place of danger—these all soek high places
of earthly aggrandizement c-f some* kind.
Suppose they attain their object. They at
tain an eminence which is immeasurably
more trying to every.higher interest, than ,
the worst adversity and afflictions that ever
befell the child of sorrow. Few ever pas*
saihly through the ordeal of greatness or (
wealth, without harm to the soul. Os all
I dangers, those which arc calculated to take
1 from us a feeling of humility and depen
dence, are the dangers to be most earnest
ly deprecated. If worldly prosperity lies
in the way which Providence has marked 1
nut for us, we are not to turn out of the
way to avoid it. Neither are we to turn
out cf the plain way of duty to seek it; nor -
does it become us to L-e very anxious to
find that it lies in our way. \\ hoover has
it, needs more than ordinary measures of
grace to keep him from spiritual ruin.
Reader, commune with your own hearty
and see if its most holy aspirations
breathed forth when you have kjftffvotir
tations from the world— ro ]igioui
of worldly crosses is earnestly
Net after firfira., to *• “SS?
■ ■
’ with any eakth.lv{rood. great
i things for thyself s” seek tuSmnot.
bELRCTED OEMS,
mow MATTHEW MEADE’s “ALMOST CnKISTIAN.”
As many go to heaven by the very gates
of hell, so there are those who go tohell by
the gates of heaven. Remember Caper
naum's case, and tremble.
Most men are good Christians in the
verdict of their own opinions, but the law
allows lio man to be a witness in his own
case.
The heart of a man is the greatest cheat
and imposter in the world; God himself
states it: “The heart is deceitful above all
things.”
The life of holiness is the only excellent
life; it is the life of saints and angels in
heaven, it is the life of God in himself. .
Covetousness is called idolatry, when it
! chooses the world for its God.
Oh! consider- —eternity is r.o dream;
hell, and the worm that never dies, is no
melancholy conceit; heaven is no feigned
Elysian.
A man must die, that would live; ho
must be empty that would be full; he must
bo lost that would be saved; he must have
nothing that would have all things; ho
must be blind that would have illumina
tion; he must be condemned that would
have redemption; so he must be a fool that
would be a Christian. “If any man among
you seem to be wise, let him become a fool
that he may be wise.”
The saint may be cast down very.near
to hell, and yet shall never come there;
and the hypocrite may be lifted up very
near to Leaven, and yet never come there.
For the.paint at worst, is really a believer;
agd the hypocrite at best is really a sinner.
As the disciples when Christ told them,
“one of you snail betray me,” they that
were innocent suspected themselves most,
and cried out, “Master is it I?” So mock
chrisfians, when they Lear sinners reproved,
or the hypocrite laid open in the ministry
j of the word., presently cry out, “Is it IP*
The least measure of true gvs.ee is as
I saving as the greatest; it saves, as surely,
: though not 60 comfortably.
Christ keeps faith in the soul, and faith
i keeps the 6oul in Christ; and so “we aro
kept by the power of God, through
unto salvation.” /
We suspect that man to be text dfo r to
a bankrupt that never casts tip/a
counts, nor looks Over his books* “ vo
suspect that man to bo 1
never searches or dealswith hia.owa heart.
When we .see a man 6iek, and yet not
; sensible, wo conclude the tokens cf death
| are upon him. So when sinner* have no
i sense of thoir spiritual condition, it is plain
| that they aro dead in sin; the tokens cf
eternal rieatk are upon them.
He that is a professor ,af religion mcrdl v
for custom Bake, when ‘it pampers, with
never hsa martyr for jCLrisrs Bc'ky, <v,tea
religion jufflacs.— JPrea. Herail.
SJgTTher® never appears more than Svo
or six men of genius in an age; but if they
were united the world ccula not .stand be
fore them.— shctft. | • *
Number 17.