Imatges de pàgina
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many ages, treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath. At length, the storm, which had been collecting and thickening, for many ages, burst; but not, let it be noticed, on the heads of the innocent. If less righteous blood had been shed in the nation, destruction would either have been delayed, or else, have been accompanied with less severity; still the ruin was, by no means, disproportionate to the guilt of that generation, on which it fell. Justice requires that no creature be punished more than he deserves; but it does not require, that all be punished to the extent of their deserts. It has been taken for granted, that the generation, which experienced the effects of divine wrath, agreeably to our Lord's declaration, had deserved the judgments, which they felt. Surely then they did not cease to deserve them, because their predecessors had been treated with a degree of lenity, which they did not deserve.

Suppose a man extremely profligate lives in a virtuous nation; another person of similar character lives in a nation, the individuals of which resemble himself. The first nation, we will suppose, feels no national judgments; of course, the sinner, who dwells in it, has no part in any general calamity. The other sinner partakes in the wars, earthquakes, or pestilence, with which an offended God scourges the people with whom he is united. While this latter sinner feels no calamities, which he might not justly feel, were he insulated, is he treated unjustly, because another sinner, of the same moral character, lives at his ease? Divine justice will prevent every one from suffering more than his sins deserve: but whether each individual shall suffer as much as he deserves, may depend on his connexions, or a thousand circumstances foreign to his moral character.

LEIGHTON.

Selections.

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ter the defection of the ten tribes, according to the LXX. Isdalen, Jews, signify subjects of the kingdom of Judah, (as 2 Kings xiv. 6. xxv, 25. Jer. xxxii. 12. xxxiv. 9. xxxviii. 19. xl. 11.) But after the Babylonish captivity, the name, Izdais, or Jews, was extended to all the descendants of Israel, who retained the Jewish religion, whether they be longed to the two, or to the ten tribes, whether they returned to Judea, (as no doubt some of the ten as well as of the two tribes

did) or not. For as the learned hovah. In like manner Christ
himself speaks of the apostate
unbelieving Jews of Asia Minor;
which say they are Jews, Izdais,
i. e. the true confessors or wor-
shippers of God, but are not,
Rev. ii. 9, iii. 9. And St. Luke
makes a similar allusion to the
import of the traitor's name,
Luke xxii. 47. He that was call-
ed Judas, iedas, a confessor of Je-
hovah; but was far from deserv-
ing that glorious appellation.
Parkhurst.

bishop Newton has well observ-
ed, it appears from the book of
Esther, that there were great
numbers of Jews, (Izdator) in all
the hundred twenty and sev-
en provinces of the kingdom of
Ahasuerus, or Artaxerxes Lon-
gimanus, king of Persia, and
they could not all be of the two
tribes of Judah and Benjamin,
who had refused to return to
Jerusalem with their brethren;
they must many of them have been
the descendants of the ten tribes,
whom the kings of Assyria had
carried away captive; but yet
they are all spoken of as one and
the same people, and all without
distinction are denominated Jews.
(ladator.) See Esther iii. 6. xiii. 4.
iii. 8. v. 9. xi. 17. ix. 2, and fol-
lowing verses.

In this extensive sense the word is applied in the New Testament. See Acts ii. 5, 8-11. Comp. Acts xxvi. 7. James i. 1.

Further, the name of the patriarch Judah, from which the Jews were called, Igdao, means a confessor of Jehovah: Hence the apostle distinguishes, Rom. ii. 29, 30, between him who is a Jew outwardly, and him who is a Jew inwardly. By the former, he means a person descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, according to the flesh, and observing the outward ordinances of the Mosaic law, but destitute of the faith of Abraham, and not believing in his seed Christ; by him who is a Jew .inwardly he intends one, who, whether Jew or Gentile by natu-ral descent, is a child of Abraham by a lively faith in Christ, the promised Seed, (see Rom. iv. 16, Gal. iii. 7, 29) and consequently is a true confessor of Je

MORNING PRAYER FOR A FAM-
ILY.

ALMIGHTY and ever living
God! we acknowledge ourselves
bound, by innumerable obliga-
tions, to praise and adore, to love
and serve thee. From thee we
have received our being. Thon
art our constant preserver and
bountiful benefactor: the source
of every present enjoyment, and
the spring of all our future hopes.
Thou hast also, in thine infinite
condescension, been pleased to
look down with pity on our fal-
len race, and freely to offer sal-
us through Jesus
vation to
Christ. We adore thee for the
knowledge of thy will, for the
promises of thy mercy and grace,
and for the joyful prospect of
eternal life so clearly revealed in
thy holy word.

Possess our

minds, O Lord, with such a deep sense and firm persuasion of the important truths which are there made known to us, as shall powerfully influence and regulate all our thoughts, words, and actions.

But while we celebrate thy goodness towards us, we have cause to be ashamed of our own conduct. We have great reason,

serious and diligent in our preparation for death and judgment.

We desire this morning to offer thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving for the watchful care of thy Providence exercised over us during the past night. We laid us down to sleep, and, bless

O Lord, to be humbled before thee on account of the coldness and insensibility of our hearts; the disorder and irregularity of our lives; and the prevalence of worldly and carnal affections within us. Too often have we indulged the passions and appetites which we ought to have op-ed be thy name, we have arisen posed and subdued, and have in safety. May the lives which left our duty unperformed: and thou hast mercifully prolonged we find a daily occasion to la- be devoted entirely to thy serment our proreness to corrupt vice. Graciously continue thy inclinations and sinful lusts, and protection and favour to us this our reluctance to the practice of day. Save us from sin, we beseech what is agreeable to thy will. thee, and from all other evils, O Lord, be merciful to us mise- if it be thy blessed will. Enable rable sinners, and forgive us for us faithfully to perform every relthy Son Jesus Christ's sake. ative duty under an abiding sense Produce in us deep and unfeign of thy presence, and of our aced repentance for our manifold countableness to thee. May we, transgressions; and a lively faith. in that Saviour, who hath died for our sins, and risen again for our justification. And may thy pardoning mercy be accompanied with the sanctifying influence of thy Holy Spirit, that we may no more sin against thee; but may live from henceforth as becomes the redeemed of the Lord and the candidates fora happy immortality. Put thy fear into our hearts that we may never more depart from thee. May thy blessed will set bounds to our desires, and regulate all our passions. May our affections be fixed, not on present objects, but on those which are unseen and eternal. Convince us more effectually of the vanity of this world and its utter insufficiency to make us happy; of the vile ness of sin and its tendency to make us forever miserable; of the value of our souls, and the awfulness of that everlasting state on the borders of which we are standing and may we be

a family, dwell together in peace and unity. May we put away from us every angry and discordant passion; and love ing thee with a supreme affection, may we love each other with pure hearts fervently. Preserve us, O Lord, from the influence of those temptations to which we are daily exposed. Make us duly sensible of our own weakness, that our hearts may be raised to thee in humble and fervent supplications for the needful supplies of grace and strength. When we are in com> pany, may it be our care to do and to receive as much good as possible. When we are alone, may we remember that our heav enly Father is with us; and may this thought excite in us an earnest desire to act as in thy sight.

Bless, we pray thee, the President of these United States, and all other officers of the Federal Government, and all rulers and magistrates in the several States

in the Union. Save us from the evil designs of all our enemies, forgive our national sins, and preserve to us the blessings of peace. May all mankind be visited with the light of the gospel; and may its influence be more widely diffused in this land. In tender mercy regard all who are in affliction of whatever kind. Grant unto our dear friends and relations every blessing which thou knowest to be needful for them. May they and we experience thy favour in this life, and in the world to come, life everlasting.

We offer up these our imperfect prayers, in the name of our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ. Our Father, &c.

FRAGMENT.

TRUE RELIGION.

WHEN the mind is not only conscientiously but affectionately religious; when it not only fears God as the Almighty Sovereign, but loves and confides in him as the all gracious Father; not only inferred to be such from the beauty and benignity apparent in the works of nature, but rationally understood to be such, from the discoveries of divine grace in the word of God; and let us add, no less rationally felt to be such, from the transforming influence of that word on the heart; then acts of devotion are no longer a penance, but a resource and refreshment, insomuch that the voluptuary would as soon relinquish those gratifications for which he lives, as the devout Christian would give up his daily intercourse with his Maker. But it is not in stated acts merely that

such devotion lives; it is an habitual sentiment, which diffuses itself through the whole life, purifying, exalting, and tranquilizing every part of it; smoothing the most rugged paths, making the yoke of duty easy, and the burden of care light. It is as a perennial spring in the very centre of the heart, to which the wearied spirit betakes itself for refreshment and repose.

Mrs. H. More.

ANECDOTE.

WHO that reads the following anecdote of the late celebrated king of Prussia, can envy his greatness? Nay, who does not abhor the hardness and barbarity of his heart? Who does not see the malignant moral effects, which result from infidel philosophy?

"Intending to make, in the night, an important movement in his camp, which was in sight of the enemy, he gave orders, that by eight o'clock all the lights in the camp should be put out, on pain of death. The moment that the time was past, he walked out himself to see whether all were dark. He found a light in the tent of Capt. Zietern, which he entered just as the officer was folding up a letter. Zietern knew him, and instantly fell on his knees to entreat his mercy. The king asked, to whom he had been writing. He said it was a letter to his wife, which he had retained the candle these few minutes beyond the time in order to finish. The king coolly or dered him to rise, and write one line more, which he should dictate. This line was to inform his wife, without any explana

tion, that by such an hour the next day, he should be a dead man. The letter was then sealed, and dispatched as it had been intended; and the next day, the Captain was executed.

"Nothing is said as to the justice of the punishment itself. But

GENTLEMEN,

this cool barbarity to the affection both of the officer and his wife, was enough to brand his character indelibly. It proved how little the philosopher and the hero was susceptible of such an affection, or capable of sympathizing with its pains." [Foster's Essays

Miscellaneous.

To the Editors of the Panoplist. May 18, 1807. You will probably gratify a number of your readers, by publishing the following strictures on Moore's Poems from the "Eclectic Re

view." The manner, in which they are written, will secure the attention of every man, possessed of learning or morals. I wish, how. ever, particularly to recommend them to the attention, and to the consciences also, of those American Editors of Newspapers, who have employed their pens, so freely, in commending the effusions of this man. Should they only unlearn that silly admiration of foreigners, which prompts them to caress and flatter, indiscriminately, men who have scarcely any other claim to their respect; the benefit will not be small. I hope, however, that this will not be the only advantage; and that they will also acquire a full conviction of the extreme impropriety of lending their own reputation to give credit, and currency, to efforts, calculated for no other end, but to debauch the morals of mankind. He, who contributes his endeavours to spread poison through a community, is an accessary to all the guilt of his principal, and chargeable, in a secondary degree, with all the deplorable consequences, of which his principal is the I am yours, &c.

cause.

X.

Epistles, Odes, and other Poems, by Thomas Moore, Esq. 4to. pp. 341. Carpenter. 1806. THOMAS MOORE, ci-devant THOMAS LITTLE, and soidisant

ANACREON, holds that strange opinion, that Reviewers are "accountable beings," though he writes as if he were accountable neither to God nor man. Our readers know what a tremendous risk one of the most formidable of our brethren has incurred, by presuming to reprobate the publication of these poems,-less, indeed, as a personal crime, than as a public nuisance. Unawed, however, by so awful a warning, and neither daring, nor deprecating, Mr. Moore's displeasure, we shall speak as freely of this gay volume, as if the author were neither a man of honour nor a gentleman, but as sincere a coward

as

the writer of this article has the courage to avow him

self.

When Mr. Moore tells us that he has been " tempted by the liberal offers of his bookseller," without which "seasonable in ducement these poems very possibly would never have been submitted to the world," we regret, not only the poet's necessity, but the bookseller's liberality. Surely Mr. M. does not thus brand the character of his bookseller, as an apology for himself! If he degrades himself to be a literary pimp, is it any

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