who have experienced it, can know what a consolation and satisfaction there is, in an assured belief that every present and every future event, will be ordered by an almighty, and an infinitely wise and good Beingand ordered for the greatest good of the soul, that has a covenant interest in his friendship and faithful ness. But,

3. God is to be enjoyed perfectly and eternally, by all who make the glorifying and enjoying of Him their chief end. This is expressly stated, in the answer we consider, as that at which we ought constantly to aim. The present is but the bud of being -the smallest part, the incipient stage of our existence. Time, in comparison with eternity, is as no thing. We ought, therefore, to renounce every gratification and pleasure here, inconsistent with preparation for a happy eternity; and to disregard all pain, and privation, and suffering, which we may be called to endure, in making such preparationin performing duty, or in showing resignation to the will of God. Heaven is, indeed, in all cases begun on earth. The temper that qualifies for heaven, must be implanted here; and a foretaste of its joys is, in some measure, known by every Christian believer. But all, in his present state, is imperfect, broken, and of short duration. Soon, however, he will escape from this state of trial, pass beyond the reach of all his enemies, rise an immaculate spirit to the presence of his Saviour-the bosom of his God-and there he will enjoy an interminable existence, in the full fruition of the love, and an unceasing showing forth of his Creator's glory. Two short reflections, on what you have heard, will close the present discussion.

1. If man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, what a view does this give us of the actual state of the world, and the general pursuits of mankind? Alas! how few of them-how few, even among those who live under the light of the gos

pel-are aiming at the glory of God and the enjoyment of Him, as the great concern of life-the governing motive of all they do? Are not a very large majority aiming at every thing else, rather than at this? Do they often even think of this? Are they not eagerly pursuing every worldly object-every temporary concern-often the merest toys and trifles, to the total neglect and disregard of this great end of their being; which yet they must be brought to regard, or be lost forever. Is it to be wondered at, that those who know the worth of the soul, are so much in earnest-nay, is it not wonderful that they are not much more in earnest― to bring this deluded throng to consideration, and to "turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;" that they may escape the awful and impending danger to which they are exposed. But,

2. Bring this subject, my dear youth, home to yourselves. Who of you have-and who of you have not

made it your chief end, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever? Those of you who have not-whose consciences tell you that you have not-ought to be reminded, and let me, in faithfulness and tenderness, tell you plainly, that hitherto you have lived worse than in vain. The chief end of your existence-the very purpose for which you were sent into the world-you have entirely neglected and disregarded. Such neglect and disregard, even on the supposition that you have been chargeable with no flagrant vice, nay on the supposition that you have exhibited an amiable example before the world-such neglect and disregard of God, and of the best interests of your immortal souls, renders you unspeakably guilty in his sight. It places you in the fearful situation of living, while thus you remain, under his constant displeasure; and in danger of being cut off in your sins and rendered miserable forever. Be intreated therefore to consider your

situation; to think of the reasonableness of devoting yourselves to God-of your sacred obligations to do so; and of the safety and happiness of the state in which you will be found, if you make it your chief end to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever. Implore the aids of divine grace to enable you humbly and firmly to form, and to carry into effect, the resolution, that henceforth you will endeavour to act as becomes your rational, moral, and immortal nature-that you will regard and live for eternity more than for time. But I rejoice in having reason to believe that some of you have already devoted yourselves, unfeign edly and unreservedly, to the glory and service of God. Thrice happy youth! you can never be thankful enough for that rich grace which has inclined you, in the morning of life, to make this dedication. Be not high minded but fear. Study to Study to adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things. Endeavour to keep your chief end constantly in view, through the whole of your subsequent life-assured that the more fully you do this-the more steadily and unreservedly you seek to glorify God, the more true happiness you will enjoy, the more useful you will be in the world, and the more exalted will be that state of endless felicity on which you will enter, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life.

Amen.

NOTE.-The author is willing to place in a note, what he could not conveniently introduce into the lecture. In Exodus xxxii. 31-33, we thus read-" And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin: and if not, blot me I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." Scott's admirable commentary on

"The meaning of this vehement language has been much disputed: and some contend, that he expressed his willingness

to be blotted out of the book of life, and be accepted as an atonement for the sin so finally to perish, provided this might of his people; and they put the same construction on the words used by St. Paul, on something of a similar occasion. But this interpretation seems inadmissiquires us to love our neighbours as our. ble for the spiritual law of God only reselves; not more than ourselves, which surely is implied, in being willing to be for ever miserable, either for their temporal or eternal salvation. Even Christ, of whom Moses is supposed to have been a our salvation to die a temporal death, with type in this proffer, was only willing for every possible circumstance of inward and outward suffering; not to be eternally miserable: and the apostle says, "We ought to lay down our lives for the bresouls to destruction for them.-No doubt thren;' not that we ought to devote our zeal for the honour of God glowed in the heart of Moses, when he thus expressed himself; and perhaps he could not conceive, how that could be secured and ma

nifested, either by destroying or sparing

his people. But it should be remembered, that not only final misery, but final desperate enmity to God, is implied in the proposal, if thus understood; and it is wonderful that any man should think, a wildesperate hater of God, can spring from lingness to be eternally wicked and a love to him, and be a proper expression of zeal for his glory!-If, therefore, Moses referred to this proposal, when he said, Peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin;' the words may be thus paraphrased; O Lord, instead of destroying İsrael as a sacrifice to thy justice, and making of me a great nation, let me be the sacrifice, and spare them: and if it may not consist with thy glory to spare them otherwise, and my death may suffice and take me out of life, in any way thou for that purpose, e e, exclude me from Canaan, seest good, that my people may be preserved and thy name glorified.'-But perhaps he only meant to say, 'If my people must be destroyed, cut me off also, and let me not survive or witness their de

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struction.'-The expression, blot me out of thy book,' is an allusion to the affairs of men, which is used in various senses in the Scriptures, as may be seen by the marginal references. Whatever Moses accede to it, at least on that occasion; but meant by the request, the Lord did not only answered, that he would 'blot those who had sinned out of his book;' that is.

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a is seen to have in the exactly similar sentence which has just been quoted. In that sentence this Greek verb, signifying to wish, governs the noun which is the subject of the wish, in the accusative case-nuxovro nuɛgav YEVE-they wished for the day. But in the passage we consider ηυχομην γαρ εγω αυτος αναθεμα είναι απο του Χριστου-the words εγο αυτος, which our translators render myself, and make the subject of the wish, are not in the accusative case, but in the nominative. With what propriety is the apostle here represented as making himself yw avros-the subject of his wish? According to the translators' own rendering in the other passage, they should have represented avabμ-a substantive in the accusative case-as the subject of this wish: i. e. they should have represented the apostle as wishing an anathema, or a curse, from Christ; and not as wishing himself accursed from Christ. It occurs, indeed, that the translators may have viewed the strict rendering of this passage to be this-"For I myself wished to be an anathema from Christ"-and that they considered the translation they have given as an equivalent. If this were so, it may justly be remarked that they have in this instance translated much more freely than they usually do, and differently, as we have seen, from what they did in a similar instance, and so, moreover, as not really to give the sense of the passage, nor in the manner which best agrees with the structure of the original language. On the whole, let the words yw autos be considered as the nominative to uxoμny, and let this word have its proper government of avada in the accusative, followed by the infinitive mood vas, and this followed by ano TOU XEITOU, and let these words, preceded by the conjunction yag, be strictly renderedWe shall then have a translation corresponding exactly with that of Acts xxvii. 29, and the only one, it is believed, which can be considered as correct. It will stand thus-"For - I myself did wish an anathema (or a

curse) from Christ"-In regard to the rest of the verse there is no dispute.

It may now be asked, what is the meaning of the whole verse? I answer, that it is at least evident that the meaning is not that which is communicated by the common translation-it is evident that the apostle is not here speaking of the state of his mind when he wrote the epistle, but of what it had been long before, in his unconverted state. While he was in that deplorable state, and "exceedingly mad" against the Redeemer and his disciples, he had "wished for an anathema," or a curse, "from Christ, for," or concerning, "his brethren, his kindred according to the flesh." To what specifick act, or acts, he might here have reference, he does not inform us-He elsewhere tells us, however, that he had been a blasphemer, as well as a persecutor, and injurious. We also know that he was brought up and had his residence at Jerusalem, and that he was there at the martyrdom of Stephen, and "kept the raiment" of those who slew him. This event took place a short time, probably within a year, after the crucifixion of our Lord. Is any thing more probable than that the apostle, then a young and ardent pharisee, and devoted to all the measures and views of the Jewish priesthood, was one of those who invoked upon themselves the awful curse"his blood be upon us and upon our children?" Or if he did not join in the cry, at the very time, that hearing of it, as he certainly would, he had openly and often expressed his approbation of it, and thus made himself a party to it? And is it not probable that, together with his general character as a blasphemer, he might have this dreadful act partiticularly in view? If so, it not only gives great force to the text, but great strength and point to the whole context-Well might he, in recollection of all this, have "great heaviness and constant sorrow in his heart;" because "on his brethren, his kindred according to the flesh," he

had invoked the awful anathema which he now saw abiding on them. He had, by the immeasurable grace of God and the miraculous interposition of the Saviour, been delivered from the curse himself. But he saw that the most of them were still under it, and likely so to remain: and, in contemplating their guilty and impenitent state, he could call God to witness, that he felt "great heaviness and constant sorrow of heart." Nor was this alleviated, but greatly aggravated, when he recollected that the people, now reduced to this awful situation, were once the peculiar people of God-"Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all God blessed forever.

Amen."

The author is not willing to close this extended note, in which he has attempted to correct what he conscientiously believes to be an error in the common English version of the New Testament, without remarking, that he is not among those who believe that version to be very faulty, and of course to need very frequent corrections. On the contrary he considers it as one of the very best translations that ever was, or ever can be made; and he has never seen any other English version, even of a single book of this part of the sacred volume, which, taken as a whole, he thought equal to the vulgar version. Yet to suppose that this version, the work of fallible men, is absolutely perfect, is an extreme on the other side. Nothing but the original is perfect. If it can be shown that, in a few instances, the eminently learned, and upright, and pious men, who formed the vulgar version, have, through that imperfection which cleaves to every thing human, not given the best rendering of a particular phrase or passage, let this be candidly shown; and if it be satisfactorily shown, a service is certainly

rendered to the cause of truth. Whether this has been done, in the present instance, let competent judges decide.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. DISSERTATION ON THE GENUINENESS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT,

The authenticity of a book refers to the credibility of the facts related in it; its genuineness to the question, whether it was written by the persons to whom it is ascribed. latter is the question now before us: -whether the books which we now

The

have bound up in the volume of the New Testament, were written by the persons whose names they bear?

From Eusebius, who lived in the early part of the fourth century, we learn that, as early as the time of Origen, who flourished about a century earlier, the books of the New Testament were divided into two classes; one of which he calls evay yɛxia avalięgna, or oμμv, and the other ευαγγελια αντιλεγόμενα.* The former of these, which consisted of the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen epistles of Paul,omitting the epistle to the Hebrews; -one of Peter, and one of John, he says were universally received by the church as genuine; and had never, as far as he had learned, been disputed, as being the productions of the writers whose names they bear. The latter division comprehending the remaining books of the New Testament, which are now considered canonical, had been disputed; but were afterwards received into the canon, and considered as possessing similar, if not equal authority, to the ooroysμeva.

It is obvious that the evidence for the genuineness of all the undisputed books, may be considered as resting upon the same foundation; and they may therefore be regarded in this dissertation as one work-an entire whole; and it is to the evidence for