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rent to human nature, it would have appeared superfluous that any law, human or divine, should have been issued, had not the innumerable examples of its perpetration proved that such is the fallen character of mankind, that there is no crime whatever which, under certain circumstances and temptations, may not be committed. Every nation that ever existed has accordingly found it necessary to enact severe laws against murder; and the supreme Legislator himself has denounced it with the severest marks of his infinite displeasure. The Sixth Commandment prohibits it by name, and death is commanded to be the punishment for its commission; a punishment which most even of those who disapprove of capital punishment in other cases, have acknowledged to be both just and necessary. The law of God denounces the crime with minute specification, under whatever circumstances it may be committed. And the crime thus denounced in the word of God, has in all ages been remarkably punished by his Divine providence. And so very general in all parts of the world has been the presumption of the providential interference of the Almighty for the punishment of the crime of murder, that the barbarians of Melita considered the viper which fastened on the hand of St. Paul, a Divine messenger of wrath against a murderer, "whom, though he had escaped the sea, vengeance would not suffer to live."

The annals of all ages are replete with illustrations of the remarkable interference of the providence of God for the detection and punishment of this crime; nor can a devout mind read even our ordinary journals without tracing most unexpected and extraordinary manifestations of this Divine interposition. Frequently, when no other clue to the scene of blood could be discovered, and when secrecy and solitude have appeared to stamp oblivion on the deed, the Omniscient Judge has revealed it by filling the heart of the murderer with terrors which have compelled him either directly to confess his crime, or to utter such startling contradictions, or such words of fearful and mysterious import, as have led to its detection and punishment.

Nor is this the climax of Divine wrath against this crime; for the most terrific sentence of all is, that when all the company of heaven are gather ed together in eternal glory, "without

are murderers;" who, ejected from the mansions of heaven, "shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."

But writing, as "Christian observers," and addressing our remarks to those who neither have, nor are ever likely to have, any temptation to the direct commission of a crime, the very name of which is terrific and revolting, it is necessary that we should turn from the mere letter of the law to its spirit and intention, as explained by our Lord himself, in his Sermon on the Mount. Viewed in

this light, it is far from being a superfluous petition which our church puts into our lips, after reading the commands and prohibitions of the Decalogue; "Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law."-The facts which have lately transpired relative to the atrocious crime which has called from us these reflections, shew how fatally one vice is linked to another; and impress on the mind most powerfully our Lord's exposition of the full and ample signification of the several precepts of God's law, in their mutual connexion, and the successive stages of their violation. "Ye have heard," said our Lord, "that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."

The spirit of this command clearly and peremptorily forbids every species of cruelty in thought, word, or deed. And here we cannot but particularlyspecify, in allusion to the late disclosures, the murderous tendency of those prize-fights, and other brutal sports, which, to the disgrace of our nation, are still permitted to be practised with impunity among us, in contempt of the laws of the land, and to the grief of every humane and Christian mind. Is it surprising that men inured to the virtual breach of the Sixth Commandment, by a familiarity with scenes of cruelty and blood, should be prepared, under the influence of strong temptations, to perpetrate any deed of darkness which passion or cupidity may incite them to attempt? Nor can we acquit the dreadful trade of war, even when most

justifiable, of the same pernicious tendency.

Contriving the death of others, as did David in the case of Uriah, is a breach, even to the letter, of the Sixth Commandment. And what shall we say of the murderous traffic in slaves-that wholesale mart of coldblooded massacre? What shall we say of self-murder-murder in which the murderer is the victim, and leaves himself no space for hope or repentance? What shall we say of duelling that most deliberate murder, in which the perpetrator proceeds to the fieldwith the full intention either of committing the crime, or of becoming its victim? But the law of God proceeds yet further. It forbids every unfeeling act, every cruel disposition. Thus, in the sight of God, the master who wilfully wears down his slave to a premature death, the welcome adjunct to a bitter care-worn life, is not less truly a murderer than the direct assassin. The man, again, who in dulges passionate anger; the man who harbours a desire to injure another in his person, property, or reputation, incurs, according to Scripture, the guilt of murder. And the reason, is plain; for all the malevolent dispositions are closely,connected in their existence and operation. Often has envy led to murder-as in the case of Cain, who slew his brother Abel, becauseGod had accepted his brother's sacrifice, and rejected his own; or in the case of Joseph's brethren, who plotted his murder, and commuted it only for that next worst lot,perpetual slavery,because they envied his superior honours. Revenge, likewise, has, in innumerable instances, led to murder-as in the case of Esau's intended murder of Jacob, who had wickedly provoked him by an act of gross insincerity and injustice. Hatred, also, a vice nearly allied to envy and revenge, is so clearly included under the prohibition, that an Apostle expressly asserts,that “whoso ever hateth his brother is a murderer." But we should not feel that we had laid before our readers the full spirit of the prohibition, or had exhibited the whole of the warning arising out of the late awful occurrences, if we

did not proceed yet one step further; including not only the malevolent vices, but many others, in the range of our remarks. We are not forward to credit every newspaper story respecting the late alleged conspiracy; but one point appears most clear, that murder was, in this case, but one among the baleful brood of a whole nest of vices. Gaming, drunkenness, dissipation, covetousness, brutal sports, Sabbath-breaking, swearing, and evil company, appear to have been linked together. Now the Scriptures have warned us, by striking examples, of the concatenation in which murder, like most other crimes, is found conjoined with, and consequent upon, sins not at first sight allied to it. It was a licentious glance that hurried David on to murder; it was pride that led Haman to plot the death of Mordecai, because he did not bow to him with submission; it was covetousness that caused the murder of Naboth, for the sake of his vineyard; and which led to the direst murder ever committed on this polluted globe, for the paltry bribe of thirty pieces of silver. Are we, then, obtruding unnecessary suggestions, when, iu conclusion, we most earnestly entreat all who have shuddered at the late occurrence, our younger readers in particular, to look to the state of the heart, "out of which proceed murders," as well as all other crimes, to "flee youthful lusts, which war against the soul;" to beware of the indulgence of anger, contempt, contumely, and all that is implied in the epithet, "Thou fool;" to shun evil company, wicked example, and frivolous and expensive habits of life, not less than the grosser temptations of drunkenness, gaming, and other acknowledged enormities;--and, as scriptural prohibitions imply corresponding commands, to exercise all the mild and gentle virtues of Christianity; to confer benefits; to forgive injuries; to love their neighbour as themselves: in short," putting away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil-speaking, to be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us?”

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

H. S.; CELEBS; S. H.; A TRUE PATRIOT; J. C.; X. Y. Z.; J. W.; E. B. ; G. S.; and CLERICUS, are under consideration.

R. B.'s letter, on the inconveniences of reading the Act against Profane Swearing during Divine Service, is happily unnecessary, as the clause which required the reading was repealed last session of Parliament.

CHRISTIAN OBSERVER.

No. 264.]

DECEMBER, 1823. [No. 12. Vol. XXIII.

RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

For the Christian Observer.

THE CHARACTERISTICS AND HARBINGERS OF MESSIAH'S GLORY.

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T was predicted before the birth of our blessed Lord, "He shall be great;" a prophecy to all appearance, at that time, little likely to be accomplished. The circumstances attending his infancy, his early life, and his riper manhood were not such as, to the eye of the world, betokened greatness. Even the moral greatness of his conduct, and the supernatural greatness of his miracles, were, in the opinions of the majority of his contemporaries, degraded by the humble exterior of his condition; and "is not this the Carpenter's Son "was thought a sufficient counterpoise to the infinite Majesty which beamed forth in his heavenly doctrines and his all-perfect life. Yet, in truth, never was a prophecy more conspicuously verified; or, so to speak, never did a prophecy receive such accumulated accessions of verification, through successive ages, all tending to exalt the greatness of the Messiah to the most eminent pitch of majesty and dominion.

This remark may be illustrated by a reference to some of the circumstances which constituted, and still constitute, and will continue to constitute, this greatness; and upon the survey may be grounded certain hopeful anticipations to which the present circumstances of the church of Christ strongly point the atten tion of Christians; anticipations glowing with the splendours of that approaching glory upon earth, and CHRIST. OBSERY. No. 264,

that final glory in heaven, which form the climax of the Redeemer's mediatorial and regal exaltation.

Our Lord's incarnation, and the circumstances of his mortal life, obscured for a time his greatness to the dim eye of human intelligence. Thoughtless observers beheld not in him any ray of his Divinity; and to such "there was no form or comeliness in him, no beauty that they should desire him." They witnessed only the despised obscurity of his parentage; the degradation of the infant manger; the proverbial odium of Nazareth and Galilee; the visage marred; the cheek smitten; the flesh torn with scourges; the majestic brow lacerated with thorns; the hands distended on the ignominious cross; the feet riven with nails; the side pierced with the Roman spear. They saw his " agony and bloody sweat," they heard his lamentations; they beheld him expire. Where, during these scenes, appeared his predicted greatness? "Despised and rejected of men;" the favourite mark for the finger of scorn and infamy to point at; hunted down by relentless persecution; and exhibited in his sufferings as a public spectacle, not of pity or affection, but of derision and contumely;where was the predicted greatness? Yet great he was; great, not merely in the heroic magnanimity of suffering virtue, but with an exaltation of attributes which no earth-born virtue might dare to arrogate. He was great in that uncreated existence which from eternity he had enjoyed in the bosom of the Al mighty Father. His chief dignity was not that he was "the Son of

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David;" that in his veins, by maternal descent, flowed the blood of patriarchs and kings; but that he was "David's Lord," "the Son of the Highest," existing in his incommunicable nature "in the form of God, and equal with God," at the very time when, by a mysterious conjunction," he took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man." His greatness had been exhibited in that creative energy by which he made the worlds; in that power which gave birth to innumerable seraphs, and those infinite attributes which tuned to praise and wonder their heavenly melodies. His was omniscience, and his immutability; his the wisdom of unerring providence; his the benignity of universal goodness; his the supremacy of unlimited do

minion.

Such was his primeval greatness. But that greatness was now to assume new features; or rather it was to display itself in new scenes and before new spectators. Here, however, it is more difficult for the distorted vision of sinful man to trace the full lineaments of his greatness. Eternity-immensity-infinity-dilate the human mind, even to a painful sublimity; but the greatness of "God with us," of "God manifest in the flesh," strikes less forcibly the proud gaze of beings accustomed to measure greatness by the perverted apprehensions of fallen humanity. But what say the Scriptures of eternal truth? The angel who predicted his birth to Mary, spoke of him as "holy;" the angel who foretold it to Joseph, announced his name as "Jesus," because he should "save his people from their sins." Here, then, without seeking interminably amidst the thicklyelustered glories which constituted his greatness, may we discern two of those characteristics, which, to angelic conceptions at least, well vindicated his pre-eminent title to that distinction. He was holy, and he was merciful;-how holy it ts not for sinful, how merciful it is not

for selfish, beings competently to understand. These, like his other attributes, drew their all-perfect colours from a brighter world, and cannot be scanned by the analogy of those feeble virtues which bear the same names in the degenerate soil of the human heart.

Such was his purity that, though "in all points tempted like as we are," he was "without sin;" though condescending to hold intercourse with the vilest ranks of society, for their spiritual welfare, he was "holy, harmless, and undefiled;" his heathen judge could not but exclaim, "What evil hath he done?" the malefactor who expired by his side attested, "He hath done nothing amiss;" the centurion who attended his crucifixion bore witness" that "he was a righteous man;" the prince of this world himself, versed in all the assailable weaknesses of human nature, "found nothing in him;"an Apostle, who had witnessed his domestic privacies as well as his public life, maintained, even to martyrdom, that he was the Holy One and the Just;" another, who had communed with him upon earth, bore record by immediate inspiration from Heaven, that "he was without sin;" while the songs of angels, the grateful anthems of the redeemed, and the attestations of Divinity itself, all bear ample record to the immaculate sanctity of the incarnate Son of God.

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Still less can we speak adequately of the greatness of his mercy; for his whole embassy was a display of that celestial attribute. Though rich, he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be rich. He came to burst our chains; to rescue us from the dominion of sin and satan; and to restore us to the liberty of the sons of God. He came to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. He came to blot out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us; to reconcile us to his Father by the sacrifice of himself; to instruct us by his life; to

atone for our sins byhis death; to open the gates of heaven for us by his ascension; to intercede for ever for us at the right hand of God, and to send down his Holy Spirit to convert and sanctify our hearts. In these splendid acts of mercy, carried to the bitterest self-devotion, there is an exaltation of greatness which outvies our conceptions, renders poor our astonishment, and casts into shade the brightest fervours of our gratitude. So utterly remote from all we could have preconceived, so replete with unprecedented mysteries of glory, was this self-denying course of mercy, that its very magnitude has been the strongest argument which its despisers could urge against its truth; to the Jews it was a stumblingblock, and to the Greeks foolishness; but, to those who believe, it is, in truth, "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

I pass by other illustrations of the incarnate Saviour's greatness. I pass by the wisdom with which he spake; the power which he displayed, the blending virtues which constituted his character. I further pass by the illustrious accession made to the display of his greatness, when, descending into the territories of death, bound as a captive, he, with an arm of uncontrollable vigour, burst the gates of the grave, and rose with the trophies of a conqueror. I pass by that exalted exhibition of Divine greatness, when, having thus finished his self-imposed achievements, having risen a victor over death and hell, he ascended on high, leading captivity captive, and assumed his eternal session at the right hand of God. I pass over the unutterable greatness of that moment when cherubim and seraphim, and the first fruits of the spirits of the just, saved by the anticipated sacrifice of his cross, and made perfect in glory, reverently pressed forward with celestial applauses to welcome and adore the returned Deliverer; when, casting their immortal crowns at his feet,

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and echoing aloud the anthems of paradise, they beheld him invested with his eternal and unalienable dignities, and adding to them the dearly-purchased trophies of his mediatorial crown.

Passing by scenes like these, let us descend again to our own imperfect world, to watch the development of the predicted greatness, after the period of his ascension. Glorious was the vestige of it which we discern on the day of Pentecost, when the descent of the Holy Spirit

that promised gift of the New Testament, as the Messiah himself was of the Old-proclaimed his exaltation to heaven, and the establishment of the new dispensation of his kingdom upon earth. From that moment the glories of his eross have never been wholly eclipsed, even in the partial vision of mankind; and often have they broken forth with the effulgence of a noon-tide sun. Persecution and

martyrdom, it is true, have, in va rious ages, thinned the ranks of the church militant of thousands of its most faithful followers, while superstition, worldly prosperity, and licentious ease have destroyed still more; yet, amidst all, that church still survives, and has extended its nominal boundaries throughout the most enlightened and civilized portions of the world, and its real saving dominion in the hearts of innumerable converts from age to age.

Still, this is hitherto but a partial empire: but a holier, a brighter day is approaching; a day described in the predictions of holy writ in the most glowing figures, and fraught, in the expectations of the servants of Christ, with images of transcendent glory. "Of his kingdom there shall be no end." He reigned before the foundation of the world in his Divine Majesty ; he reigned in paradise, in the patriarchal ages, and in the era of the Mosaic dispensation, in his anticipated mediatorial dominion; he now reigns in that dominion, as confirmed upon the cross, and unfolded through suc

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