provide a ship, and to make every arrangement and provision possible, for those here present, and others from New-England, who are about to embark for Africa, and who has generously determined to accompany them in their voyage. The Lord, dear Sir, has signally smiled on your exertions. Great will be the gratification and solace of the people of colour in having you with them, and you may be of important benefit in determining, after your arrival, the lines and circumstances of their settlement. And on your return, for which we humbly pray, you may, from what you shall have seen, be able to give an account, which will recommend the settlement, and promote the benevolent object of the society, in whose service you have been engaged; and thus gratify, far beyond what you would otherwise be able to do, the benevolent wishes of your own heart. Dear brother, farewell. May the Lord accompany you with his protection and blessing; and still exceed, as he has done, your highest expectations!

by the saints, as one of the greatest of trials. Yet there is much reason for encouragement. "We are all strangers and pilgrims on earth; and after a little time the places which know us, will know us no more for ever." We have all duties to perform; and it should be our object, and it is our only ultimate interest, to be faithful in them.

You are called in divine Providence to remove to a distant land. Yet you are not without the prospect of many temporal advantages. In the place to which you are going the soil is fertile and easy of cultivation, the climate is mild and favourable to health; there are facilities for commerce. The society in which you will be placed is united and affectionate; the government under which you will live, though strict, is mild and paternal, and you will enjoy under it the rights of citizens. Provision will be made for your defence and for the supply of your wants in health and in sickness. But what is chiefly to be regarded, you will be faBut what shall I say to those voured with Christian instruction whom I am now to address for the and the ordinances of the gospel, last time? I feel that the occasion and will have equal rights in all has a great mixture of grief with church privileges and proceedings. joy. No one can look on those You will live in the vicinity of whom he is to see no more, but those whom you naturally consider with eyes suffused with tears. In your brethren. You may be of this manner, your friends present, incalculable advantage in dissuadlament your departure. But the ing them from those cruel wars in occasion must be, in some respects, which it is their object to obtain still more afflicting to you. There captives, to sell them into bondage; is even something sorrowful in leav- in dissuading them from the horriing the place in which one has been ble practice of sacrificing their sons brought up-in leaving the haven at the funeral of kings, or on certain which he has been accustomed to superstitious occasions. You may be consider his home in leaving the instrumental of teaching them to rescenes with which he has been con- spect life and liberty and their doversant, and the connexions in gen- mestic and social relations; of eral he has formed, not with the teaching them the value of their hope of returning to them again. gold and ivory and other precious This has ever been considered, even commodities, of teaching them to

engage in works of industry, agriculture, manufactures and commerce, and of rendering them respectable and flourishing as a people.

As necessary to these benefits, you are to recommend the gospel to them to attempt by your temper and conduct to remove their prejudices against those who are called Christians: you are to faTour every attempt for their instruction, for their reformation, for their conversion to the truthearnestly desiring that the light of the gospel may extend over all the kingdoms and tribes of Africa, and that every individual may enjoy its blessings and rejoice in its hopes.

Some of you, two, if not more, are natives of that country; and in early life were torn from your weeping, or slaughtered relatives and friends, and brought in a confined vessel to a land whose language and customs were strange to you, where you were sold as slaves. But those clouds of consternation and misery are fast passing away, and to you are over forever. How different is your situation now from what it was then? You are now free: you are blessed with Christian light and Christian liberty-you stand in the midst of a Christian congregation, who sympathise in your sufferings, who unite in their wishes and prayers for your peace and prosperity. Though you are returning to Africa not in that vigour with which you left it, yet you return with the judgment and discretion of age, and the experience of the riches of grace; and though you cannot hope long to continue your labours for the benefit of the settlers, your exertions and prayers for the wel fare of Africa; yet you have this to animate you while you live, and to cheer you in your dying hour,

the assurance that your labour shall not be in vain: that the work in which you are engaged shall prosper: for the Lord hath promised, that Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hand unto God. This encouragement is applicable and is adapted to the whole company.— Contemplating our separation, be exhorted to indulge no selfish feelings, nor any wrong expectations. These will mar your happiness, and impair your usefulness. On your passage, cultivate an affectionate, obliging disposition. Regard the advice of the agent, and be in subjection one to another. On your arrival in Liberia, submit to the laws of the settlement. The order and prosperity of society depend on a due subordination in its members.-Give an example of good citizens and of Christians.

With this advice and the encouragement suggested, we bid you farewell: a long farewell.- May the Lord be with you and bless you.

Weep not. There is rather recson to rejoice. This is an occasion which many humane and pious men have desired to see; but were not permitted to witness.How, with a multitude of others, would the pious and benevolent. Hopkins have rejoiced to behold such an occasion as the present? He doubtless is acquainted with it, together with the saints in heaven, who take an active interest in every measure to promote the gospel, and rejoice in the increasing and extending lustre of gospel light.

Socie of you are brought to an occasion which you have long desired, for which you have waited and prayed, but could scarcely hope to see, that of going under the best advantages to promote the Gospel in Africa. Go, then, our friends, and may the Lord grant us

grace to fulfil our duties in our respective stations and relations, and to be faithful unto death: and when we meet again, may it be in Zion above, to which the ransomed of the Lord shall return with songs and everlasting joy. And to the Lord be glory and praise forever. AMEN.

For the Hopkinsian Magazine.
AN ILLUSTRATION OF ROMANS xi. 36.
Of him, and through him, and
to him, are all things.—

[Concluded from page 36.]

INFERENCES.

1. If all things are of God, in the sense explained; then he might have foreknown all things from eternity. Knowledge is ever founded on certainty. That which is contingent or uncertain, may be conjectured, but cannot be known. It is absurd to suppose, that any thing should have been foreknown, which was not certainly future.— But, when God existed alone, what was there, without himself, to render certain the future existence of any thing or event? And what was there within himself, to render future things and events certain, besides his determinations or decrees? Whatever he determined should be, it was certain would be. And as all things are consequent upon his decrees, and were included in the eternal counsel of his will, he might know as infallibly, in eternity, all that would be in time, as he now knows what is, or has been. By knowing all his own designs, he necessarily knew all his own works: and by knowing all his own works, he necessarily knew all creat"Known ures, things and events. unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world" But if there had been any thing, great or small, good or evil, which God did

not determine, it would have been impossible for him to foreknow it. This is only saying, that he could no foreknow, what was uncertain, and was not therefore, capable of being The the object of knowledge. knowledge of God, like all his perfections, is incomprehensible; and he may have ways of knowing things, of which we can form no conception but it is not speaking dishonourably of his omniscience. to say, that he cannot know that, which is not, has not been, and may

never be.

:

Though God's foreknowledge and his decrees are distinguishable, as the one precedes the other, in the order of nature, and his decrees are the foundation of his foreknowledge; yet they are inseparably connected, as much as cause and effect. Whatever God decreed, he must have foreknown; and whatever he foreknew, he must have decreed.

2. If all things are of God; then he might have been perfectly happy in eternity. Before God commenced the work of creation, he had a minute and comprehensive view of all his works, from the beginning to the end, and saw them all, as certainly future. Hence he enjoyed all his works as much, in eternity, as he does now, or will, after the final consummation.

But, if God had not determined, or decreed, all things; it is impossible to see, how he could have been perfectly happy from eternity.— Those things, which were not decreed, must have been uncertain, and unforeseen; and could therefore have given God no pleasure, until they actually came to pass.Upon this supposition, both the knowledge and happiness of the Creator, are changeable, and constantly increasing, as his creatures come into existence and the events

of time transpire. The universality and immutability of his counsel, is the only ground of his perfect and unchangeable blessedness. 3. If all things are of God, then all things display his glory. The glory of God consists in his perfections. That any created thing should display his glory; it is necessary, not only that he should have mle it, but that he should have designed it. Upon supposition there are created things, which God has made inadvertently, or undesignedly; those things may afford evidence of his power, but make no display of his wisdom and goodness. The skill and benevolence of God appear in his works, no farther than they are the result of his counsel. But, as his counsel, or eternal purpose, comprehended all things; so all things display his glory. "By the things that are made, are clearly seen, his eternal power and Godhead." All the power, wisdom and goodness, apparent in the works of creation, are to be attributed to him, who drew the great scheme of all his works, before the world began-" who saw the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done," and was able to say, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."

4. If all things are through God, in the sense explained; then every thing that exists, exhibits evidence of his being. If it implies an absurdity, to suppose, that any thing, material, or immaterial, besides God himself, should come into existence without creative power; then one object affords as real and substantial evidence of the being of God, as another. An atom affords as real evidence of the Divine existence as a world: a worm-as an angel.

But, on the other hand, if it be supposed, that any one thing, however small and inconsiderable, might come into being wit' out creative, almighty power; all evidence of the divine existence, arising from his works, would be subverted. If one particle of dust might come into being without creative power ; so might another, and another, yea, all the particles that compose the world, and all the worlds that roll.' If an insect might start into life, without the inspiration of the Almighty; so might a lion or a man. What evidence, then, remains, that 'He, who made all things, is God?'And, if the evidence of the Divine being, arising from the works of creation, be subverted; there remains only a metaphysical and dubious argument, to prove the existence of God. To deny the operation of the Divine hand in any creature or thing, is to step upon atheistical ground, where all is darkness, perplexity and doubt.

5. If all things are through God, in the sense illustrated; we may hence learn the nature and extent of divine providence. All, except atheists, acknowledge, that God exercises a providence over the works of his hands. But there is a diversity of opinions, even among professed Christians, respecting the nature and extent of divine providence. Some suppose, that the providence of God consists in his upholding the things which he has made; or at most, in his limiting ' and restraining their motions and actions. Some suppose, that the providence of God, is concerned only in things and events of great magnitude and of good tendency.

But, if all things are through God, then his providence can be nothing more nor less than his ag in