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27 How

to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished!

87. Revelation.

All truth is from the sempiternal source

Of light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome,
Drew from the stream below. More favour'd, we
Drink, when we choose it, at the fountain-head.
5 To them it flow'd much mingled and defil'd
With hurtful error, prejudice, and dreams
Illusive of philosophy, so call'd,

But falsely. Sages after sages strove
In vain to filter off a crystal draught

10 Pure from the lees, which often more enhanc'd
The thirst than slak'd it, and not seldom bred
Intoxication and delirium wild.

In vain they push'd inquiry to the birth

And spring-time of the world; ask'd, Whence is man?

15 Why form'd at all? and wherefore as he is?

Where must he find his Maker? with what rites
Adore him? Will he hear, accept, and bless?
Or does he sit regardless of his works?

Has man within him an immortal seed?
20 Or does the tomb take all? If he survive
His ashes, where? and in what weal or wo?
Knots worthy of solution, which alone

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A Deity could solve. Their answers, vague
And all at random, fabulous and dark,

25 Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life,
Defective and unsanction'd, prov'd too weak

To bind the roving appetite, and lead
Blind nature to a God not yet reveal'd.
Tis Revelation satisfies all doubts,
30 Explains all mysteries except her own,
And so illuminates the path of life,

That fools discover it, and stray no more.
Now tell me, dignified and sapient sir,
My man of morals, nurtur'd in the shades
35 Of Academus--is this false or true?

Is Christ the able teacher, or the schools?
If Christ, then why resort at ev'ry turn
To Athens or to Rome, for wisdom short
Of man's occasions, when in him reside

40 Grace, knowledge, comfort-—an unfathom'd store?
How oft, when Paul has serv'd us with a text,
Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully preach'd?
Men, that, if now alive, would sit content
And humble learners of a Saviour's worth,

45 Preach it who might. Such was their love of truth, Their thirst of knowledge, and their candour too!

88.

Daniel 9: 3-19.

Cowper.

DAN. ix.—3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: 4 And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; 5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: 6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are afar off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. 80 Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him; 10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is pour

ed upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. 12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us : yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth. 14 Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. 15 And now, O Lord, our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

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The assumption that our cause is declining is utterly gratuitous. We think it not difficult to prove that the distinctive principles we so much venerate, never swayed so powerful an influence over the destinies of the 5 human race, as at this very moment. Point us to those nations of the earth to whom moral and intellectual cultivation, inexhaustible resources, progress in arts and

sagacity in counsil, have assigned the highest rank in political importance, and you point us to nations, whose 10 religious opinions are most closely allied to those we cherish. Besides, when was there a period, since the days of the Apostles, in which so many converts have been made to these principles as have been made, both from christian and pagan nations, within the last five 15 and twenty years. Never did the people of the saints of the Most High look so much like going forth in serious earnest, to take possession of the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven as at this very day.

20

But suppose the cause did seem declining, we should see no reason to relax our exertions, for Jesus Christ has said, preach the gospel to every creature, and appearances, whether prosperous or adverse, alter not the obligation to obey a positive command of Almighty God, 25 Again, suppose all that is affirmed were true.

If it must be, let it be. Let the dark cloud of infidelity overspread Europe, cross the ocean, and cover our beloved land--let nation after nation swerve from the faith--let iniquity abound, and the love of many wax cold, even 30 until there is on the face of this earth, but one pure church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ-all we ask is, that we may be members of that one church. God grant that we may throw ourselves into this Thermopyla of the moral universe.

35

But even then, we should have no fear that the church of God would be exterminated. We would call to re

hand of the Most was once a time,

membrance the years of the right High. We would recollect there when the whole church of Christ, not only could be, 40 but actually was gathered with one accord in one place. It was then that that place was shaken, as with a rushing mighty wind, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. That same day, three thousand were added to the Lord. Soon, we hear, they have filled Jerusalem 45 with their doctrine.--The church has commenced her march--Samaria has with one accord believed the gospel--Antioch has become obedient to the faith--the name of Christ has been proclaimed throughout Asia

Minor--the temples of the gods, as though smitten by 50 an invisible hand, are deserted--the citizens of Ephesus cry out in despair, Great is Diana of the Ephesians-licentious Corinth is purified by the preaching of Christ crucified. Persecution puts forth her arm to arrest the spreading superstition, but the progress of the faith can55 not be stayed. The church of God advances unhurt amidst rocks and dungeons, persecutions and deathshe has entered Italy, and appears before the walls of the Eternal City-idolatry falls prostrate at her approach -her ensign floats in triumph over the capitol-she has 60 placed upon her brow the diadem of the Cæsars.

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Wayland.

90. The events of Providence promotive of the end of Missions.

Little did Julius Cæsar imagine, when the white cliffs of Britain, glittering in the sun, excited his ambition and drew him across the Channel, for what purpose he disembarked his legions on our coast; but we know that it was to open a door through which the Gospel might enter our beloved country. Little did the spirit of commercial enterprise imagine, when urged only by its thirst for gold, it fixed its establishments at the mouth of the Hoogley or on the banks of the Ganges, that it 10 was sent thither as the forerunner of Christian Missionaries. Little does the genius of war imagine, when impelling its mad votaries to new contests, that Christianity is following at a distance, in the rear of victorious armies, to plant her stations on the fields of their en15 campment, to bear away the best of the spoils, and assume the dominion which other potentates have lost. Little did Columbus imagine, when with a heart big with mighty projects, he walked in silence on the shores of Andalusia, and watched the star of evening down the 20 western sky, who it was that dictated the purpose to explore the region which she went nightly to visit on the other side of the Atlantic. We, however, live at a time when all these events are clearly seen to connect themselves with the grand purpose of Jehovah, "to bring

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