ing their tombs, and when they lie down in them they cease to dream. The key of the sepulchre lies useless by the side of the moul dering arm. The heavens may smile in gladness, but their blue spots are unnoticed in the grave. Spring may renew the foliage of the willow, or autumn may cover the earth with yellow leaves, but to them who sleep in death, the rise of a kingdom is no more than the vernal birth of a flower, and the decay of an empire, no more than the autumnal fall of a leaf. Thunder is no more heard in the grave, than the sheep bell at the evening hour

"The storm that wrecks the winter's sky, No more disturbs their deep repose Than summer evening's latest sigh

That shuts the rose."

But look away from the grave to that eternity in which men will speedily be involved, and we need not wonder that the apostle should have been wrought upon by affection for the multitudes he addressed. We may suppose, for a moment, that the existence of all men is to end with their natural life; then would there be no necessity, comparatively, for the extension of the Christian system. Then might the apostle have continued with propriety at the feet of his Jewish master, and wrought sedulously in the mine of Hebrew Learning. He might have continued to be the favourite of the tribe of Benjamin, or the idol of an unbelieving nation. But Christianity had so influenced him as to fill his heart with exuberant tenderness to men, simply because men were immortal. Under this influence, in defiance of the vengeance of kings, he shed the tints of holiness, taken

* We know of no better didactic poem than the Grave, by Blair, of Athelstaneford. It is severely handled by the trans

lator of Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew Poetry. Were criticism our object, it would be easy to show that the animadversions of the translator are groundless.

*

from objects within the veil on high, over the vast spaces of the Roman empire. That empire then comprehended the northern shores of Africa; it encircled the waves of the Persian gulf and the Caspian sea: it coursed through the snows of Scandinavia, and clasped in its gigantic arms the pillars of Hercules. To one and the same metropolis, on the Tiber, the Druid sent forward his sylvan hatchet, the Lydian collected his offering from the sands of Pactolus, and the Jew from the bed of the Jordan: and last but not least, Athens entwined her olive wreath around the brows of the Cæsars. But it is clear that Christianity introduced rapid changes into the religious systems of the empire. In the time of Pliny, the temples of Paganism were emptied of worshippers, and in introducing these changes, Paul had no slight agency. His affections were not what Byron calls a fountain watering the desert. He has those among his successors in the ministry, even at this day, who are willing to copy his example. They watch for souls in the far off wilderness, while the clarion of renown is sounding aloud the ascension of others to the hill of fame. These men are happy, though they have given up the lucrative employments of life. Men take pains, with a view to gain inferior objects. The miner is buried for years from the sight of his fellow men, the mariner visits all climes, and the Indian hunts whole moons together in search of game. Why then should the ministry plead exemption from toils? Why this anxiety about the place where we labour, rather than about the fideli ty with which we labour? all this, too, when the nightfall of death is precipitating itself upon the people.

Having indulged in these gene

See Gibbon's History, and Bishop Watson's Reply.

ral views, we shall state definitely, what this rule requires of the ministry. It requires the consecration of intellectual gifts to the good of the human species. A man who has become eminent may find some difficulty in occasionally laying aside his learning, that he may be useful to the ignorant. Any one can see that it would be more difficult in a man of commanding intellect, like Bishop Horseley,* to comply with this rule, than for a man of the comparatively moderate abilities by which Bishop Wilson was distinguished. He who could call Sir Joseph Banks a mere amateur in science, must have had no common view of his own understanding. But however large the attainments of a minister, it is his duty to devote these attainments to usefulness. There is no person more worthy to be shunned than the advocate of Christianity who becomes stately from applause. On the contrary, there is no object more worthy of veneration than the minister whose studies are all consecrated to the good of men. Such a minister was Watts, of whom it was said, that he hurried, with all his attainments, to the service of the sanctuary.t

This rule requires the ministry to be watchful over their conduct. They ought to adopt any course of action which is likely to draw men to give attention to their eternal interests. We mean, certainly, any conduct which does not involve in it the absence of principle. Far be it from us to approve the determination of those ministers, who, from incorrect views of this rule, join in the revels of the

*Warburton was a man of strong intellect, but he advises Doddridge to write no more practical works. His words are "The learned claim you."

This rule ought, at least to some good degree, to subdue the prejudices of the ministry.* They are subject to like passions with other

men.

In their intercouse with society, they meet with diversity of opinion, and have often to encounter conflicting sentiments. The church is divided into many branches. We would not inculcate that latitudinarianism for

which our times are distinguished. If we love any thing, it is that part of the church in which we were born. Still, the heart of the minister must love all, if he would gain some. There is a flush on his af

dices too easily. Robertson became the * Some ministers surrender their preju correspondent of infidels. But nothing better could be expected of the man who writes, in one of his letters, that he would prefer giving up the ministry, that he might exclusively devote himself to historical literature. Swift must have looked like a stray sheep in the pulpit. Sterne was fond of the race-field. Alas, poor Yorick! Maturin said that his sermons sold badly, and therefore he wrote novels that would sell. H. Martyn, L. Richmond, and Wolfe, surrendered prejudices, but not their prejudices against

vice.

fections, wider than that which spreads itself over an evening sky. He may not be a follower of Wesley, but Wesley left the footprints of his zeal on our southern sands. He may not be a follower of Luther, but Luther dismembered the compact realms of the Pope. He may not be a follower of Cranmer, but the fires which consumed him are always gleaming on the page of England's eventful story. He may not be a follower of Calvin, but the Genevese reformer influenced all the cabinets of Europe, and Mont Blanc is not more lofty in nature than was his genius in morals.

The people may be broken into denominations, but Bishop Burnet, after journeying on the continent, said, that among them all, he found good and pious men of different sects of Christians. We cannot feel any thing but what is expressed in the sentiment of the poet :

"Distinct as the billows, but one as the sea."

This apostolick rule requires of the ministry to aim at the salvation of all men. We may find an illustration of its influence, in that zeal which prompts many to undertake perilous missionary labours. Difficult these labours certainly must be, but when Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, he was rewarded by the fragrant spices of India. Happy men! they overtake the Arab on his oasis. They meet the Persian in his citron grove. They bend in company

The writer can sincerely recommend to the reader a little work, entitled Hints on Missions, by James Douglas, Esq. He is not prepared to acquiesce in all the views of that distinguished author, but the literary reader will be gratified by the novel and ingenious discussions of his work. These Hints are not to be less valued, because they come from a layman. Addison, Boyle, and Beattie, declined the clerical office, because, as laymen, their testimony in favour of Christianity, might appear

more disinterested.

For the Christian Advocate.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT
OF ATONEMENT.

The notion of an atonement for, adr

sin in the abstract, or that Christ's d obedience unto death was not vical of rious, but a general and indefinite th exhibition of the righteousness of rec God, is wholly inadmissible. Bes cause

1. It is irreconcilable with the th plain and reiterated testimonies of t scripture.

2. It removes no difficulties, all the leged to belong to the contrary Tus scheme, but increases them in numect ber and magnitude.

1. It is irreconcilable with scrips ture, which teaches variously an explicitly, that Christ's obedienc unto death was vicarious. Thi the whole system of sacrifice plain se ly taught, and was designed t teach. We take it as admitted, that sacrifice was of divine institu tion, and designed to prefigure the death of Christ. "Without shed ding of blood is no remission ;" and the benefit had special respect to the person, or persons, for whom the offering was made. Every pious offerer connected with his sacrifice the confession of his sins, and thus obtained the remission which his sacrifice was the instituted means of obtaining. Substi

tution and death for death were obviously represented, in a manner intelligible, and strongly emphatical. None but the guilty offered, and on their behalf was the offering made. If not vicarious, why this special designation? why required of them on account of their sins, and with a particular confession of their sins? The prophetick scriptures on this point, speak in perfect accordance with what the whole sacrificial system exhibited. Messiah "was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities"" he made his soul an offering for sin"-"the Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all." And in accordance with these statements is the application made of them by Christ and his apostles. His "body was broken for us" "his blood shed for many for the remission of sins"-" we have redemption through his blood." His blood is recognized as the meritorious cause of that redemption. "He once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust." Sins were the direct procuring cause of his sufferings; and in the room and stead of the unjust did he suffer.

2. This scheme of indefinite atonement removes no difficulties attending the contrary scheme, but increases them in number and magnitude.

It is agreed on all hands, that there is a departure from the regular course of strict justice, which

*

would have been the execution of the threatened penalty on sinners themselves. The question then is, what view of this matter is most in accordance with scripture language on this subject, and supposes the least deviation from the regular and undiverted course of justice? We hesitate not to answer-It is that which considers Christ's obedience unto death as strictly and truly vicarious. In this case a person, sui juris, who has "power to lay down his life, and power to take it up again," voluntarily submits to bear the punishment deserved by man; and justice so far yields, as to admit this voluntary substitution. This admission is all that differs from strict justice. In the obedience and death of the substitute, the law is magnified and made honourable, and vindictive justice has its full penal effect. The threatened curse is in full measure executed, and the sinner's debt is paid to the uttermost farthing. The believer who pleads this atonement is justified by a righteousness perfectly commensurate with law and justice. There has been rendered for him, by the admission and consent of justice, the full measure of obedience and suffering which were due: so that God is just both when he pardons,

and when he bestows on the believer eternal life, as the reward of perfect righteousness; and justification is in fact what the very term denotes-an adjudging of a moral agent to the full rewards of righteousness, in consideration of the demands of that law being fully satisfied, under which he was placed. Christ is to him "the end of law for righteousness." Neither does his escape from punishment, nor his possession of eternal life, rob the law of God; but "grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by

2 I

EDITOR.