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-A - - ' : - " - 1 ' -.!.!'.-! " ' r ' ; . - " - ' ; : - ; " ; ; ; f : , ' , . - : t " " - -- : , ; it. ' ...... " - " t " " ' - ' ' -. t . .. . - I !; ' '.'I-.'?'" " . fME BIBLICAL s r i S WTO --Hi . DEVOTBD TO REIilCIpX; MOUALITy, UTERATURC, ,AXD CBSDBAI IXTELLIGKNC C ,' T. Meredith -'Editor, VOL; V NO 44. RALEIGH, SATURDAY, .NOVEMBER 2, 18.i9. BMCORJij) . i - . . . - . " . . ...... . ' ' - " . . 1 1 - , - '. ' ' WHOLE NO1. 24ft! , : TEH 315 . ' ! The Recorder & TVatchman is pubSished every Sat urday, at $2 50 per annum, if paid within sir months, or 3 it paid subsequently to that period. Any persoa who will become responsible for six copies, or who will forward the names of .six subscri bers shall be entitled to a seventh coi-v gratis. . No subs.'riptioa wilt be received fur less than one tear, unless paid ia advance j and no discontmnance will be allowed until arrearages are paid. Persons wishing to discontinue will be expected to give notice to that effect prior to the commencement of anew yeir; otherwise,' they will be considered as re ponsibie far the ensaingjtwelve months. All communications pxcept those of agents who act gratuitously, to secure attention, must be rpsT paid. - AH remutances regularly made to our address by MAiLjShail Ds at our ri$k. ; Ad?i'rtisements aot incompatible with the objects of the Recorder, will te inserted on the usual terms. 1 From the Conference Journal. OUR PROTESTANT FOREFATHERS. The' Lollards Lord Cobham, and the sufferers under -the statute of burning heretics. The death of WycliflT, which took place' in .1334, checked, but did not crush, the springing plant of Reformation.- Elis codes, his opinions, and his principles, were circulated by his follow ers, who were called Lollards; but why so call ed, we cannot satisfactorily explain. In spite of .every attempt to keep them down, the Lollard Protestants increased in humbers, and spread from one country to another. Most of their tenets were directed against the doctrines and posses: sions of the Romish Church. They had ample cause to declaim.against doctrines which dishon ored God and enslaved men: and against posses sions held in Et.gland, in great part by foreign ers and all under the tenure of a foreigner's per mission, at the will of the Pope. The Romanists knew the weakness of their cause too well.to trust their defence to argument and. preaching ; there fore they obtained an act of parliament, in 1399, under which they were empowered to burn ihe heretics. This act is called the statute de Herer iico Comburendo. i. e. for the burning of here tics. What a parliament! What a state of things! What a picture of popery 1 Here is no concealment! The object of the bill was open ly professed to burn heretics! The preamble of the act runs in this style. "Whereus divers unauthorized preachers go about teaching new doctrines and heretical opinions, making' con venticles and confederacies, holding schools,, writ ing books, misinforming' the people, and daily committing enormities too horrible to be heard. &c. it , then enacts, "Therefore, if any person so convicted shall refuse to abjure such preach ings, doctrines, opinions, schools, and informa tions, he shall be burnt on a high place before the people, that such punishment may strike ter ror into the minds of ethers." This account cf the proceeding is copied from a Roman Catholic history of it (Dr. libgard's.) Observe, therefore, under the Roman jCatholic establishment in this country, when the; Papists were in power, (that establishment and that power against which Protestants are ; so! called for protesting,) men were to be burnt for teaching new doctrines and heretical opinions, j making conventicles and con--ij ederacies, teaching schools, writing books, and misinforming the people ! The Act of Parliament specifies no other drime; for the charge "of daily committing enormities too horrible to be heard" means nothing: if! any enormity had really been committed by the Lollard Protestants, their ad versaries would have been-toe glad to state it ful ly and by name,, to justify the severity of this Burninsr Act. But this statute was not rigid enojah. therefore the House of commons, whicn 4 was full of Roman Catholics in that day, pett tioned the King, that "when any man or woman was taken and imprisoned for Lollardism, he might be instantly put on his answer, and have such judgment as he deserved, for an example to others of such wicked sect, that they might soon cease from their wicked preachings, and keep themselves to the Christian faith. r r; Popery and Protestantism now began fairly tq display their opposite characters in England at the religious trials and executions which took place. In 1400, William Sautre, rector of Lynn, in Norfolk, after begging that he might be per- mniea to aispute peiore me Lioras anu commons ; oa the subject of religion, was brought to trial, and burnt on charges of which the following .. were the principal: "He saith that he will not worship the cross on which Christ suffered, 1 but only Christ that suffered upon the cross :" al so, "that he wotjld sooner worship a temporal king than the aforesaid wooden cross:" also, "that every priest and djeacon is more bound to. preach the word of God, than : to say the canonical hours." also, "thai after pronouncing of the sacra mental words of the body of Christ, the bread re maineth of the same nature that it was before, nei therdoes it cease to be bread." Soon afterwards, John Badley was committed to the Games for no greater crime than this avow al : "After the consecration the' bread remaineth thesame material! bread which it was before nev ertheless, it is a sign or sacrament of the living God. I believe he omnipotent God in Trinity to be One. Butnf every consecrated host be the Lord's body, then there are twenty thousand gods in England." j ; ,:,;;,-.,": t";; In 1417, during Henry V.'s reign, the cele brated Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, was roasted alive by a slow fire, after having been condemned as a heretic; or to use the words of his sentence, which sets forth Popery and Pro - testantism in contra distinction, because "we have, found him not only an evident heretic in his own person, buf also a mighty maintainer of other heretics, against the faith and religion of the ho ly and universal Church of Rome; namely, a bout the two sacraments ofthe aluir and of pen- t "I T ance, oesiaes me lope s power ana pngrim- ases. The offences of which Lord Cobham was guil- ty, were bis maintenance of a great number of itinerant preachers in many parts ofthe country j his care in col lectin?, transcribing, and circula ting the. works of Wvcliff among the common people, and more especially his zeal in having copies of WyclifFs Bible multiplied at a very great expense to nimseii. j From, the Gospel Messenger.: y HADES OR THE INTERMEDIATE . j ; STATE. . -j a The; Rubric prefixed to the Creed in Qur A merican i Prayer Book, says,' that "any CKurche3 may omit the words: 'He descended into hell' or may, instead of them, use the words, He went into the place af departed spirits, which are con sidered as words ofthe same meaning in the creed." As these words involve a principte of application and deep concern to every individual, 1 propose to bestow upon them a short examina tion, j And the more am 1 urged to do so, from the fact that very few christians at the present day seem to recognise the truth which thev con tain, or indeed, to have any knowledge even of its existence. - ' : What doctrine does this language then teach By a (reference to the creed it will be perceived that the Rubric is a directitn concerning the pro fessionof Christ's descents nto hell. For such was the doctrine of the belief almost from the times of its earliest composition, and it has been retained and perpetuated in our Church, as well by the creed itself, as by the language of the third (Article, which declares, that Vas Christ died for us, and was burried; so also is it to be believed, that he went down into hell.'! We have already said, that this language is almost co eval with ike .first, publication ofthe creed. But the doctrine which it teaches, is much older than the creed itself. For in the New Tastament w read.ps a quotation from the sixteenth Psalm ; "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy-One to see corruption.' But as the soul of the Messiah could not remain in hell, unless it was actually there;, nor could it be there, unless it had first descended; so it ne cessarily follows, that the truth conveyed by this language of the creed rests upon the sure founda tion of Scripture, viz. that Christ descended into hell, j , : - - -;:f "f But what is the sense of this declaration? -Some, jivho have been unabfe to obviate the di rect application of this passage to our Saviour, have endeavored to.' show,' that it .means' 'nothing more! than burial, from the soppbsed circa" ia-' stance, that the term hell is in the Bible occasion ally employed tot designate the grave. But Dr. Campbell has shown in an elaborate dissertation on the subject, that such was not the original sense of the term; nor do any ofthe passages in which it occurs whether figurative or literal ad mit of a full and proper interpretation with such a signification attached to it. In the text alrea dy quoted, such a sense would convict the sacred writer of the veriest tautology ; and to the can did mind there must appear nn evident distinc tion in his language between the corruption of the body in the grave, and the remaining or the soaliin Hades. But waiving the authority of , this text for the present, the xense ofthe Church cannot admit of a doubt; , For aftek saying in the creed, that Christ was crucified, dead and burried, it would not surely have been guilty of the folly of adding "he descended into hell," if the phrase meant nothing more than had been before , expressed. Still less would! the compil ers of our articles have committed the gross ab surdity of adding a distinct article to assure us that j Christ went down into he!, if by that ex pression they irtended nothing more than his death and burial. For they had already twice before ajserted that he was both dead and; bu ried. . : ; : ! A' -yyr,y-i-''-i: As this sense cannot be at all maintained, oth er writers, prompted by a desire to give coher ence andcompleteness to their (.heoretic system, have been led into an opposite extreme, and have maintained the extravagant position that our Sa viour actually went do vyn to hell, and underwent the very agonies, and torments of the damned.- Calym uses the strongest language to express this view. It was necessary, he says, for Christ to feel the seventy of Divine vengeanee, to strug gle with all the forces of hell, and to be agonized with, the horror oj eternal aeamtas noy, actual contact and experience." 7 And (so with the Scotch concession : "hesuffered his humanity to be"punished with a most cruel death, feeling in himself the anger and severe judgement" of Chnst, even as if he had been in the extreme tor- ments of hell."f V '- But patient consideration win evince to us that this interpretation is utterly unfounded. It is true, indeed, that in virtue of his being the in nocent victim on waose head were laid all. the sins of the world, our. Lord did suffer in our stead, and in some awful and mysterious sense endured the vengeance of "Almighty Justice. But he, could not have suffered the precise a mount or nature of the punishment lo be under gone by the wicked. For as he wis without guile and holy in heart, so he could not have had the consciousness of guilt. But this is one of the bitterest ingredientsjn the cup of the sin ner's doom. To know tha't of iiis own free will hei committed acts of crime, despised warnings, condemned autority, returned evil for good, and refused to be swayed by divine love, even by the love of God incarnate; this, consciousness it is which will harrow up the soul of the sinner, with an agony more keen. than his welterings in theJsitrgeof fire, and will awaken groans more deep than those ofthe scorpion's lash. Yet who will say that Christ ever experienced such a feel ing as this? Who will affirm that his spotless Actsii: 27. v i Preliminary Dissertation?, Diss. vi. pt. 2. soul was ever conscious of remorse? Impossi ble!! He knew, and alvyays affirmed, that his sufferings were undergone in the behalf of others,- that he gave his life'a ransom for many and boldly challenged 'the fiercest of his accus ers, if possible, to convince him of sin.' Our Sa viour then could never have suffered from this feeling. The very supposition seems to be im pious. But again : the sinner feels that he is the enemy of God, and in perditioirbecomes the vic tim of hopeless despair. With fiis own hand be has, barred, the door of mercy to preVent hisen? trance into heaven ; hope has taken her everlast ing flight, and the key which unlocks the gate of peace is dropped Into the. bottomless abvs3. De spair now with all its tormenting: agonies, takes possession of the lost. soul. Who can believe that Jesus 'ever endured such a foeliug as this? Was he ever deprived of the animating -influences of hope? Did he not even in the garden of Gethsoinane declare that he could summon to his aid more than twelve leeions of anrrels? He could hot then, have suffered the feelinqr of despair which is part ofthe soul's torments in j hell. Another feature ofthe suffering there i?, that it will be eternal. But Christ's sufferings were not eternal. Andt therefore, they were not the same as are to be those of the condemned. Viewed in any light we may please, indeed, the sufferings! of ' Christ .cannot be considered as identical with those of the lost in hell. And consequently, this interpretation of the Article cannot be correct.; !, ' V We are then led back to the Rubric already quoted for the true sense oftne expression; it is, that he went to the place of departed spirits.-- J nis is a perpetuation of the old Catholic doc trine of an intermediate state. That is, the bid Catholic Church taught, and our Church still teaches us to believe, that there is an intermedi ate state in which all the souls of the dead are to remain until the resurrection. They are not taken at once to their places of final-destination ; neither to supreme happiness, nor to the lowest ""misery. But in the intermediate state, the pious and faithful enjoy foretastes of that bliss which awaits them; the wicked undergo the beginning of their eternal torments. The first are not per fectly happy ; the latter are visited with a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indig nation, which shall devour the adversaries. This view is made necessary by the doctrines of the resurrection and the judgement. For, as we believe, that neither perfect joy, nor perfect sor- f-corporealexsslence ; so are we ass urea that these states are, not to bo, entered opon until auer the resurreciion. But if any one should affirm that they can, we are then left to, inquire, why i3 the resurreciion of the body taught ? Wherein con sists the necessity of such a resurreciion? Iftho soul can enjoy supreme felicity without The bo dy, why shoufd a body be given to it after death ? Would it not rather be an incumbrance than a blessing? And can we suppose that a soul, which has for ages, or rritHionv 'iof ages, been worshipping'beneath the throne of.God, burning in the blaze of his pory, and ranging through jout the bounds of hi? dotnthions, would be pleas ed lo return and unite itself onc mere with the body which has for the same lengthof time been mouldering i.i the (last ? , Would not such a de mand 6a the "part ofthe Almighty "appear rather as a punishment that a favor ? f And yet if there be no intermediate st ile, if the disembodied soul be susceptible of the highest happiness, and enter I upon such enjoyment immediately jifter death : then this will have, to be the fate- of every faithful, soul departed in the Lord.T But this makes the doctrine of,the, resurrection to be. un necessary and vain. I . . Nor doe3 it harmonize any belter with the doctrine! of a future judgement. For if the soul be adjudged to its final abode immediately after the death of the body, why should there be an other and a final judgement? It is in Heaven . why should it be brought down to be judged a gain? Or it is in hell; why should it be called up to be condemned ? But on the supposition of an intermediate 'slate, all these doctrines har monise and form together a consistent vhole. ! After death the body is co'nsigned to : corruption, the soul dtfs-iendato Hadei Here commence its rewards of punishments. If a believer in Christ, is washed in that fountain which was opened up for sin and for.tincleanness in the house of David, and sanctified by the Spirit of holiness, peace and joy are its portion, and . its visions of glory are bright with promise. : Bat if sinful and unbeliev ing, it begins then to be visited with a part of those torments which await it as the full measure of the second death. Here all the dead remain until the rei;n of grace shall be rmled, until God shall close the administration of thiog ia this world. ! Then shall the living be changed in -the twinklini? of an eve. and the dead-shall be raised incorruptible, each "to be united to us expecting soul: then shall the judgment be set, and the books be opened, hen shall be heard the solemn sentence: "Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning; ofthe world, depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and nil atgels." Then shall each be rewarded or punished according to the deeds done in the body: and then, not before, shall the wi-ked go away into everlasting punish ment, but the righteous into life eternal. This view gives consistency to the vvhola system of Christianity ; gives to each doctrine its appropriate position, and of the whole forms a beautiful har mony, i : . ; ;; ' - " This view! was prevalent among the Jews, es pecially amon? the Pharisees, as may be seen in the antiquities of Joephu$, and more paiiicular ly id his disco,ir4e concerning Hades.t 1 hough YVarburtori seem to think that this fragment is not genuine.; Even the Greek and Roman My thology furnish trace of the same doctrine. r , TJnde etiam nnum oportuit i-uni inferorum copiis aeterneque tnortw horrore, quasi consertis manibus, luctari. Instiw Lib. ii. c. xvi. I lO.t Sec aUj Wit sius oa the Cteed, Dissert, xvii. ''Hie locus esf,4partes ubi se via findit in ambos. Dextera, qua; Dilis tnagni suh mojaia tendit ; Hac iter Elysium nobis:. at Iteva malorum -Exeicel pcenas, el ad impia Tartara .mittit.5-. r ; And as they are supposed to have derived many of the irreligious sentitrlents from the "Jews, so their views are not unimportant to teach us what the Jews believed. ' v . : ; ' From the 4fTeacher Taught,'; ON THE DUTIES AND AtlELAT13NS OF JHJfisTES3 -"' - : r--Vr-' -. , -'. :- OF THE GOSPEL TO SOHDAY SCHOOLS. ; t We shall never know how rich a boon Hea ven has bestowed on the world in tlhe Institution of Sunday-schools till the motto of Christendom in relation to them shall be Action, general ac lion, constant action, action in all the relations of In the section on the organiaition of schools we have already expressed at some length our views of this subject. , A - There can be no. question that ministers and officers of Churches, and the whole body ofthe elder members of our Churches, both male and female, are ranch less generally engaged in the prosecution of Sunday-school labor than Could be desired and expected. '. We do not mean by-this that ministers or other officers ofchurches should all take classes, and engage to be regular atten dants on the, exercises ofthe schools. This in some cases might not be practicable; but there are office connected will) , the school and its supportwhich they miffht well fill; and if they only regularly visited the place of teaching, and thus practically showed. their interest in the pro gress of affairs there, the effect would be most ob .vious and salutary.' -h.---f ' . J W. f We are not disposed to attribute the appaient willingness of the Church,- and her officers to leave the Sunday school to itself, to indifference or carelesness on their part. Of two things ,we are persuaded : I. That where .ministers and Churches have entered with Zeal and spirit into the oversight atd labor of Sunday-schools, the utmost harmony and kind feeling have prevailed and great prosperity has attended the institution: and, 2. That verv often such oversight and la bor are forborne from the impression (unfounded as it may be) that they are not desired, or might be esteemed offisious. - : ' r u; :- i f Ewry truly; pious" & intelligent Sabbath-school teacher will desire to act under tbe inspection, as well as with the entire and cordial approbation, not only ofthe parent,whose children he iosuuets, -Wt-jit ike. nuniter ie-wUote-courejjatin he '.la- bors.and whose auxiliary he desires to be ingather ing and feJiair, the lambs of the flock of Christ. So far from considering such inspection an in terference, or such co-operalion an indication of a waut of confidence, those teachers who are every way best qualified for the work, will feel their hearts cheered and iheir hands gr ally strengtnen- eu oy tr. ir win encourage them in ail their ea dearors to teach their children the fear tf the Lord, and it will stimulate them to greater dihgence in .qualifying themse'vea for the work, and will aninate their supplications for the blessing ofGod upon their eaorts. The work ol training up the rising generation for the service arid glory of God, without interfer ing with parental and individual obligation, or is any wav diminishing the mighty sumo? it, is the duty of the Church, the whole Church of Christ ; nor can she transfer her Solemn responsibility , to other h.vuds. To neglect her duty and to leave her work to oiheis, will be to batray Jier trust, thin hxr xa::ks, coud her glories,dry up the stream of her richest merci?, and call down the displeas ure of her insulted Lord. . ? - We regard it as one of the? most interesting and peculiar feature of the Sunday?acbool system, that it provides a place in whichi the services bi laymen mav be most elfiientfy employed for the buifdins up of the Redeemer's kingdom without encroaching in any manner upon the rights or province of his appointed ministers. And it is other officers of Chuichcs would interest them selves in the plaus and proceedings ot the Sunday-school, giving to them a prominent place a mons: the objects of inquiry and interest, and re irirJing them, in works as well as in words, as the h pe and stay! and crowning grace of the Cnurch ;and if, on the other hand,' the; Sunday school would look to the Church and her ministry for counsel and co operation, and herish towards them a spirit of unvarying kindness & confidence, there is reason ! to believe that the relations jo! botlv would ba greatly improved. 11 It tsthroush the teachers chieQy that the in fljence of a faithful discreet, intelligent ministry is fell upon the school,and it is the ministry chiefly who give the tone to the Sunday-school feeling of the Church. I: Is a matter of the first importance, therefore, that all thesj parties should understand and advance the1 common interest. All of us arc but subordinate agents in tho prosecution cf the ,work. and we should rejoice tltat the institution we chrisli, is so maniiesiiy sustained ana pros pered by the unchangeable B?ing on whose prom ises the Church itself rests her hope of final tri umph and glory- . ; " ; f PltE-EMlNEN'CS OP THE lilBLE IN PRODTJ- ; CING HOLINESS. ; , But there is a caution that is not out of place while speaking of the Bible as the means of holi ness. If it id not by the learning nnd wisdom of this world that the soul is filled for hpaven, no tnore is it by the!" mere learning and literature of th? Bible. There is reason to fear the cases are notfenr, in which tho Bible is regarded more as a volume to be described and eulogizedand as furnishing topics of intellectual research, than as a directory lo heaven, and a guide to immor tality. 'The letter killeth." Biblical learning is not piety. A; man may be ai profound critic, An ofiifw rnntrn vprsialist. an able expositor; his inquiries and reasoning may discover un enlar-j another feature, perhaps not less interesunrr than I peculiar, ihatiielnQuenceof the Church and her " : ,i - ! 7 l VTr a fa sn ministry' can b brought to bear fully and happily "a,!'a .scourseof u.inva, ed lecellence uporl upon the Sundaysciiooll without: any undue in- the infiuenceof: modern infideuty! remarks, that terference. , If, on the one hand, Ministers and "infidelity loos, the universe: of safl finished and ged and. comprehensive acauaintari 4. wlfN ff, sacred volume- he may empjov ail resources in the promotion of biblical knowledge - and ret : be at-heart a stranger to the sar.ciiing power of truth. '.,'-:." . j?-'jdTliis Sold vralks of: theoretical Icience he: may'never once visit the garden or?t he cross. . Or he might gaze upon them for half? a centarv with his present vision, and never discover the great "mystery of godlines.v ' The rirsths cf the ' Bibie are comprehended bythe hebxt To- be destitute of theinglve" to be Iind to ils transformingglories. "He that ItfvH not know eth not God. for God is lo-e." . The 'gospel is d ' revelation of love, . Christianity is Jdve embodi ed in its purest form. . And love can e compre-r bended only by love. I look upon! no small por-tion-oflhe biblical'cr.tici?m of the present age as acurse to the Church. Such is alj the Ration alism of Germany, and such is the modem Uni tarianis'm of our own land. It is a-cbeerlesi re- gion, where the Rose of Sharon never W bleak and wintry sky, where no ray sfcom the Sun of righteodsnes visits the sterile sopj How can the branches flourish where not efen a rool is found but- is artfully nhclasped, o rudely torn from the Living Vine? , As soon rarght you ex- pectthe feeblest infanlto live and tfifive eradled amid the mountain snows, as the genius of Chris- v tianity to flourish in such a clime. 1 t tremble at recommending the literature of the Bible, lest I should dojit at the expense of its spirituality. . I venerate the scriptures for their historical re : search, for their literary merit, fijn their legal and political wisdom, and for thcif lofty princiJ v pies of liberty and morality ; but"! venerate therri unspeakably more because they are 'Ahe wisdom of God and the power of a God tosalfation.' ' Let otheris win the laurels to whicrt human sci ence tnayi aspire; be hours to goidejthe wander ing to the feet of the Saviou r ; to lead them to his cross; to strew the cypress over ihe tomb wherd he--as laid ; and there on that hiliowed spot-,. wih them" to renew ohr, faith and our dero tion 1 - i : i -' "i ,i - '- - - But what is the character of the religion of which the Scriptures are thus inltfu mental?-- - There is a beauty and sublimity in rt4spirit which . throw all other religions into thehfide.. , . . ! r . If there is a system of trnth which is most bb-1 viously intended and fitted to refinjs and exalt the human character, that system is 1M be found ia the sacred Scriptures. . .When tbe fod of heaveri ; unfolded his purpose of forming a people to. Jits -praise, and giving them a.characfer that should" correspond with the elevated! .principles oUM$ own spiritual kingdom, he uttered his design in the following strong and emphatic! language. "A new heart will I give you, a 44 a new.spirit will I put within you : and I will'take away tho stony heart out of your flesh, and flfwill give you an heart of flesh. " And I will putlnjy spirit with in' vou." What amazing truths lie concealed under such a design? The character which the Bible forms is formed upon the ihighest model." And what is that model ? Is it tHel insensibility, the asperities, the anger, the priaV, the egotism, the worldliness which are so nathfal to men? Is it the cold indifference of a stoical philosophy? Is it the affected tranquility and uilgoverned vo luptuousness ofthe disciples of Epicures? Is it the rank, and wealth, and scepiic'isfn of the Aca demics? ! Is it the intellectual rashhessand mor- al phantoms of the modern philosophists of Eu rope ? No, it is none of these. These haveJiad their day, and done what they cpqldto exercise the foul fiend from ther human hjeirt, and left it morecorrupt and wicked than before. The Auj, thorof this great and venerated book, by "this in strumentality, imparts to men his- own spirit j forms them in ht3 own image ; communicates to them the elements of his own diptrie excellence h is a character never understood by the world before, and one which none, even 1lhe princes of consummate excellence, even in .idea. The ad miration of perfect wisdom and goodness for which we are formed, and which kindles such unspeakable rapture in the; sou Ifinding in the regions of scepticism nothing to'wtiich it correS-, ponds, droop and languishes, . The idea of dei- ' ty is composed ofthe richest elements. In the character of a benevolent Parenthnd Almighty Ruler, it embraces whateve r is vi4erable in wis- -dom, whatever is awful ia auihofify," whatever is touching in goodness. Humaihj excellence is blended with many imperfectionsj .arid seen un der many limitatians. It is be,held ohlya de- tached and separate portions, norjeiver appears in any one character whole and brtire.. So that when ih imitation of the Stoic?, jjivjo wish to forra out of these fragments the notion! of-a perfectly wise and good man, we know itisa mere fiction of the mind, without any real being in whom it is embodied and realized. In llfef belief of a'De ity, these conception are reduced to reality : the scattered rays of an ideal excellence are concen- . trated, and become the real attributes of that be- . ing with whomtye stand in thejnearest relation who sits supreme at the head of (lib universe.and pervades all nature with his presence." Although in nothing does man fallen and Unregenerate now resemble this exalted portrait, .y is it the great design of the Bible to recover and restore him to this pristine integrity; to ejevate him above his moral debasement, and re-invest; him with the moral dignity, which shall ultimately make him ."like unto the angels." and "perfect as his Father in heaven is perfect." . -r i Da Spring. ' '. . ARCnsiSIIOP LEIOlitOK. y If there could be an intermediate epace between inspired and uninspired wiitings'jthat space would be occunipd hv T.oiThinn. Nn show firipamini no appearance or ostentatious display ofclcqucace -' j 1
The Biblical Recorder (Raleigh, N.C.)
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Nov. 2, 1839, edition 1
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