things we patiently acquiefce. | immortal glory and happiness ? We do not in general prefume to I attribute all the falfe reafon. fault the ways of providence to using on this fubject to improper on these accounts. But we can- views of the human character.. not fubmit to have our hearts He who believes himself to be by changed by the power of divine nature in fome good degree as he grace, without exclaiming, our li- fhould be, will of courfe deny any berty is invaded. It should not be particular divine agency in renew forgotten that as foon as grace is ing the heart and in fanctifying implanted in the heart it becomes the affections-he will condemn an active principle. It is perfect it as depriving him of moral li ly congenial with the taite and berty. He will confider himfelf, wifhes of the fubject. So far if he has not attained, as capable from his endeavoring to extirpate of attaining to the state of a good it, he defires that it may have a man, and by confequence his prigreater and more predominant in- vileges. Or if he brings to his Auence. He loves that which he aid the affiftance of the divine fpionce hated, and he difcerns a glo- rit, he will treat it rather as the ry in divine things to which be promifed reward of his imperfect fore he was a ftranger. Were a obedience, than as the free gift man on a fudden to have his taste of God to the unworthy; and changed, in refpect to fome arti- while he is forced to admit that cle of food, which he had always the gift of a Saviour was an act loathed, so as to have it become of grace, he will claim to himself delicious and agreeable to him, the merit of having made the apwould he complain that his liberty plication of the atonement, to his had been abridged-that his tafte own heart. had been improperly affected that a power had been exerted over him to his prejudice; or would he blefs the power which had been exerted to enlarge the fphere of his enjoyment, and his capacity to receive good? Would the blind man to whom our Saviour restored fight, have complained, had it been done without his importunity, or even knowledge that Jefus was near him? And leaft of all fhould we complain that deity can give to us a power to become his fons; that he can, and that he fometimes does adorn us with moral beauty; that he can reinftamp his image on our fouls; that he can give to us tender and benevolent feelings; that he can affimilate us to himfelf in the temper of our minds; and in confequence thereof render it confiftent to bestow on us VOL. IV. No. 1. But he who believes himself by nature to be wholly deftitute of holiness as an enemy to his creator-as entirely bent on evilas devoid of any thing like a principle of obedience-who fees that he is fet on his own deftruction, without any inclination to change. his habits, or his feelings, will never condemn the doctrine of regeneration by the agency of the. fpirit of truth: he will rejoice that a being fuperior to himself, of unwilling can make him will ing, and that divine mercy can accomplish that for him, which he has no defire toaccomplish himself. On the origin of evil, it be comes us to fpeak with diffidence, and not to be wife beyond what is written. This we know, that however it may be overruled to the greater good of the univerfe, it is in its nature offenfive to God. D I chufe neither to say that he is who sheds his bleffings around us The fpirit of curiofity is ever awake to devife imperfections in the divine government, and there by to furnish pretexts to abandon and to forfake it. No fubject has been drawn into more frequent difcuffions than the origin of fin; on none have arguments a priori been more unfatisfactory; from none have conclufions been fo wicked. A little modefty would have filenced much impertinence; and an appeal to the common fen timents of mankind given us complete fatisfaction. The whole world is a mystery. Wherever we look around us we behold wonders which we cannot comprehend: Møft that we know is what we fee and feel. When we fin we are confcious of guilt, and we look forward to the iffue with concern. When we do our duty, we have a witnefs within us of the rectitude of our intentions, and we rejoice at the approbation which heaven gives. When we travel farther than this into the defigns of him who fuffers us to do evil, we go afide from the pathof duty; and unless our attention be diverted from prying into the deep things of God, to endeavour to feek his mercy by repentance, we fhall receive the reward of thofe who wonder and defpife and perifh. A LAYMAN. EXTRACT from a Sermon delivered at HARTFORD, on the Eve I ning of May 12th 1803, by the Rev. ELIJAH WATERMAN, of WINDHAM, at the request of the TRUSTEES of the MISSIONARY SOCIETY of CONNECTICUT. SHALL have an excufe in my own confcience, and I truft in the view of him who has lifted up his standard to the Gentiles, if in the remaining part of this difcourfe I exclufively plead the cause of the heathen tribes, and refpectfully attempt to remove the objections thrown in the way of propagating the gofpel among them. Firft. It is objected, by an infidel spirit, that the gofpel contains myfteries which impede its propagation among the heathen. Some who make this objection plaufibly pretend that they wish to chriftianize the heathen, but then their plan is to preach only moral principles without the fanctions of the grofpel. They would keep out of view the turpitude of fin, the corruptions of the human heart, and the dignified character of the Saviour. Naked morality fhould be propagated without a foundation to fupport, or a motive to influence. Laying their deadly axe at the root of the tree of life, cutting off the divinity of Chrift, the healing leaves wither, and the fruit perifhes. And while they pretend to chriftianize the heathen, they rather become heathen themfelves. But experience has fufficiently fhown this objection to be futile. The Chriftian religion has been propagated with all its effential doctrines and mysterious facts, among the ignorant, barbarous, and thofe who were deeply rooted in the fuperftition of idolatry. Indeed wherever the Chrif tian religion has been preached with fuccefs, it has been done by those who held that God was manifeft in the flesh to take away fin; and even where Miffionaries have propagated their own tradi ditions, they have grounded thefe on, and recommended them by the fundamental truths of the gospel. Indeed the cold apathy of the Socinians and the unbelief of fuch as make this objection, leave no room for any motive for exertion; the foul and its falvation are of no importance in theireftimation; they do not treat man as in a state of probation, preparatory for a bet ter world, they merely aim to produce in men a decent exterior, and such persons do not become Miffionaries to spread Christianity in any form among the Pagans. It it is true, judgment should guide and prudence direct as to the best mode of opening the Gofpel and its effential truths to the minds of the ignorant and prejudiced; but God forbid, that we fhould pare away the gofpel to the nar row views of human wisdom, that we should hefitate to declare in a decifive manner the whole coun fel of God. Christ crucified as God in the flesh has been preached unto the Gentiles, and fo has he been believed on in the world. Again. It is objected that the expenfe of Miffionaries to the natives is more than we can bear. This objection generally comes from thofe whofe covetoufness is dolatry; but no people, in pro portion to their numbers, are more able to contribute to the fupport of Miffionaries than the inhabitants of Connecticut. Bleffed with the good effects of that gofpel which was the hope and glory of our fathers, God has given abundantly into our hands the means of holding out the cup of Salvation to the heathen tribes. Had we a fenfe of our duty, and of the grace of God, how fmall would be the burden of fupporting a number of Miffionaries among the natives; and of educating in our fchools all the children which could be procured from them for that purpofe? If we looked on this caufe as the cause of Chrift, who became poor that we through his poverty might become rich, we fhould not then magnify difficulties and catch at plaufible pretexts for excufing our floth, and through very covetoufnefs leave the heathen on our borders to perifh in their fins, without carrying them the bread and the water of life. But another and more formiCable objection ftill is brought forward, in which a confidence is placed that it is immoveable. It is that the experiment has been tried, the gofpel has been preached to them and they will not reteive it, therefore all exertions in miflions to them is expenfe and labor in wain. we fhould find a moft encouraging motive from their fuccefs, to proceed with vigor in declaring to the Indian tribes the word of life. Where the gospel has been perfeveringly and ftatedly preached among them, the number of converts has been beyond expectation, and if the advance of truth has been flow it has never been ineffectual. Were our exertions in any measure in proportion to the importance of the object, and the means God has given us, we might realize more extenfive effects, notwithstanding all the ftrength of habits and the peculiarities of difpofition, which to the eye of human reafon throw themfelves in the way of the gofpel's fpreading among the heathen of this land. If we lift up our banner in the name of the Lord our God, fhall we doubt of fuccefs? To go againft human probabilities where God has commanded, is to go depending on HIM who fays Lo I AM with you. In preaching to the Gentiles we muft expect difficulties, and in winning fouls to Chrift, refiftance. But in this minifterial bufinefs of our Lord we are not to act after the wif dom of men, nor to calculate on means in themselves. Here to confer with flesh and blood about the perils and hardships of the wildernefs, the roving and favage tem per of the natives and the obfti nacy of their habits, is only to raife lions in the way; it is to abandon our confidence, to caft away our promife, to leave the grace of God, the power and prefence of Jefus out of the account; and without thefe we shall be wanting indeed. But let us remember that we ourfelves are defcended from That the gofpel has not been received by the natives with that readinefs which the propagators of it defired is true, but this is not a truth peculiar to the prefent time. It was the fame in the days of the Apoftles, and has been in every fucceffive attempt to fpread the gofpel. And could we number the multitude that have been brought to the knowJedge of the Savior by the preach-ancettors, who were without God, ing of the Mayhews, Eliot, Brain- and ftrangers to the covenant of ard, and others in this country, promife; they worshipped evil fpira But its, and facrificed unto idols, and I go for them-let them alone, for had not thofe Miffionaries who felt the value of fouls, gone forth with their lives in their hands preaching Chrift crucified, we fhould doubtlefs have been in dark. nefs and the fhadow of death. But now how manifold are the mercies which we enjoy in that religion which drives away the glooms of ignorance by the light of life and immortality? A difpenfation of the gofpel is committed unto us, and a woe in. deed will be against us if we preach it not to the heathen in our land. Their perifhing fouls have long implored, have long de, manded our exertions-but we have been cold and regardless of their condition, and have made none or feeble and doubting efforts to repel the wiles, or to oppofe the triumphs of Satan. With the means of falvation in our hands, we have seen them perishing in their own blood, and have turned away and paffed by on the other fide; this we have done, this .we are ftill doing in the face of fuch a promife as this, "For I will," faith the Lord, "extend peace to Zion like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like an overflowing ftream, and the heathen fhall know that I am God, and there is none else that cxercifeth loving kindness and righteoufnefs in the earth." Shall we turn over our bibles and read fuch promifes, and yet fold our hands and say the time is not come-the heathen will not hear, nor receive the knowledge of the Saviour crucified? But may we not afk, what if the Son of God, when about covenanting to be a mediator for finners, had, in the view of their obftinacy, rejection and cruel treatment of him, faid, No, I will not they will defpife my words, mock and crucify me; I will leave them to perish in their own fins. no; the bowels of the compaffionate Saviour were melted in love, his repentings were kindled together and he fays, how shall I give thee up, Ofinner? How fhall I leave thee to eternal deathhow fhall I caft thee off forever, without offering thee life, even at the expenfe of my own? The cup of the bitternefs of God's wrath was wrung out before the Son, and in the view of all his fufferings. He took it freelyhe drank it-and Oh, for us, he drank it all, without a murmur ! And fhall we who have tafted that the Lord is gracious, be cold and lifelefs in reaching out the cup of falvation to the heathen? Will it be an excufe before the Saviour, that they would not accept? No, our duty is to preach to them the gofpel, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. If we are faithful, and ftill it is a favor of death to them, the fin will lie at their door. Let us labor in faith to prepare a high way in the defert for our God, that Jefus in paffing by, may give fight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and life to the dead; that he who is the fpiritual rock may open the ftream in the wilderness and pour its water among all the tribes ; that they may go out with joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and the hills breaking forth into finging, and the trees of the field clapping their hands, becaufe instead of the thorn comes the fir tree, and inftead of the brier the myrtle. Before the promises of God, all objections muft vanish. Let the eye of faith look back and mark the progrefs the gofpel has |