pursuit of the kingdom of heaven. I was struck with the information, and from that time my mind became more thoughtful than ever. Not long after, those persons were propounded for admission into the church. My heart then rose within me. I felt myself injured. I thought that God had imparted his grace to those who had not sought it with halt the assiduity that I had done, and whose lives had not been so blameless as mine. I thought I could rejoice that they had found mercy, but felt that I was wronged in being left behind.It was now that I began to taste the wormwood and the gall. The thunders of Mount Sinai sounded in my ears, and, for a short time, made me tremble. My terrors, however, soon subsided, and I found myself borne down under an insupport better exemplified that precept; In your patience possess ye your souls. As she lived, so she died. Her death, which took place on the 25th of March, 1812, was a scene of composure, of peace, and of joy. Convinced that her sickness would prove mortal, she remarked; "It is a great thing to die. Do not think I feel alarmed. I am willing to die. I have no merits to plead. Oh no. My life contains nothing to be depended on. I am the chief of sinners. I have no hope, but in the sovereign, free grace of God." At another time, she observed; "I am now pained with thirst, but I hope to be shortly with my Savior, drinking at the streams which flow at his right hand. And yet it surprises me, that I can entertain such hopes." On the day of her death, she said; "If I covet any thing more, it is,able weight of sin. I thought my convicthat I may be able to speak more for God. I have but a short time to continue. God is very good. For two days I have not been able to weep. I cannot shed a tear. I believe I shall NEVER shed another." tions had all left me, and that God had given me up to stupidity and hardness of heart. I ardently wished and prayed that my former distress might return, and concluded I had sinned away the day of grace, when it was suggested to me by a friend, that the greater the crimes of the repent Among her private papers was found the following, which shews her early attention to that religion which was ever af-ing sinner, the greater would be the dister the object of her life, and her support, comfort and joy in death. "Being taught, with the first dawnings of reason, in an impressive and solemn manner, the distinction between virtue and vice, and the consequences of each, my mind became exceeding tender, at the age of five or six years, I felt myself a sinner, and exposed to the awful punishment of everlasting fire. At times, my mind was exceedingly distressed. Being told that God not only took cognizance of all my actions, but was perfectly acquainted with every thought of my heart, I secretly wished for a retreat, where I might escape his penetrating eye; but was taught to believe no such place could be found. I made strong resolutions of obedience, but alas! found myself incapable of observing them. My anxiety was not perpetual, but was very often diverted by childish amusements; and, as I grew older, I grew more inattentive; though the practice of self-examination and secret devotion was never entirely forsaken. At the age of eighteen, and about the first of March, 1793, for a particular reason, but without any special seriousness on my mind, I came to a determination to lay aside every other book, and attend only to the reading of the Bible. I felt no material change in my views for some weeks; when, being one evening in a large circle of youths, our minister came in, and after solemnly recommending to us the choice of the one thing needful, concluded with observing, that several of our gay young friends had already hopefully set out in play of sovereign grace in his salvation. The consideration of this afforded a ray of hope to my desponding heart. I said to myself; God is a sovereign. He has mercy on none, because he has any complacency in them. Who knows but he may magnify the riches of his grace in saving just such a poor, depraved, sinful creature as I am? I cannot, I must not despair. I will not give over seeking; I can but perish at last. For several weeks, my mind was deeply oppressed and almost overwhelmed with a sense of my exceeding sinfulness. I felt the force of these words of the poet, which were continually in my mind; "No bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast, "Not only my actual sins were set in order before me; but more especially the entire depravity of my nature was felt. My own heart appeared like a viper in my bosom; deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. I said to myself; Who can fathom the depths of its iniqui ty? I felt it would be just in God, to cast me off forever, and assign my portion with those miserable beings, who are shut up to all eternity in the regions of despair and unutterable woe. As yet, I could see no peculiar excellency in the character of Christ. I was told, indeed I had ever been taught, that I must renouuce my own righteousness and rely only on that of a Savior. But alas! I knew not what it meant. To my dark understanding these were words almost without meaning. Sometime in the month of June, or July, I realized an alteration in my views, but so gradual, or rather so faint, was the light which first broke in upon my mind, that I cannot fix with precision upon the day, the important day, when the daystar arose in my heart, when the prey was taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive restored. Indeed, whether Christ was ever formed in my heart, I could never say with any great degree of confidence. But that I had views and exercises entirely different from any I had ever experienced before, I can never admit a doubt. It is imprinted on my memory as with a sunbeam. Then, if I was not deceived, the character of God appeared very excellent, infinitely glorious. His perfections shone with resplendent lustre in every surrounding_object. In the meanest of his works I thought I could trace the finger of a God. I did not, at that time, have so distinct views of the character of Christ, as Mediator, as some have expressed, and as I humbly hope I have since experienced; but felt myself at times so swallowed up with the perfections of the ONE GOD, that I hud little or no concern for my own personal safety. I felt that I was in his hands, whose decisions are infinitely just, and that I had nothing to fear. I thought it a source of inexpressible joy, that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth; and these words were, for several days, in my mouth; The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice. I was astonished that I could have remained so long blind to the beauties of his character. I felt a strong desire that the whole world should taste and see that the Lord was good. But these comfortable frames were comparatively short in their duration; for by far the greater part of the time my mind was enveloped in thick darkness, and God was pleased to leave me to the cruel tortures of the grand enemy of all true peace in the mind of man. For two or three days, I seemed to be given up to all the buffet ugs which the malice of Satan could inflict. Unutterable blasphemies against that Being, whom. I thought I adored with my whole heart, were now perpetually the subject of my thoughts. My situation of mind was then indescribably miserable.' I viewed these dreadful suggestions as the sontaneous production of a wicked heart. Iew not what to do. In the midst of my trouble I took up a book, entitled Cases of Conscience, in which the author observes, that wicked thoughts, if reject ed and abhorred, will not be placed to our account, but are chargeable only to the father of lies, and properly called the fiery darts of Satan. This afforded me relief. I recollected these words of inspiration; Resist the devil and he will flee from you. I gave myself to prayer and to meditation of the Scriptures, and soon found the above passage verified. Tranquillity soon became the innate of my bosom, and I humbly trust I had joy and peace in believing. The great fundamen tal doctrines of the Gospel, in which I had been educated, and taught specalatively to believe, I now felt to be an unfailing source of comfort. I saw a beauty I never discovered in them before; and though I could not fully comprehend them, yet I felt a persuasion that what I knew not then, I should know hereafter. In the month of September, the same year, I made a public profession of my faith in Christ, and his doctrines, and was received into full communion in the church, in my native place. Since which, I have seen much of the workings of my wicked heart, and have been left to fear, that I should one day fall irretrievably by those dreadful corruptions. There is no truth, of which I feel more forcibly convinced, than that salvation is wholly of grace; that poor, apostate man can never have any ground to hope for salvation from any works of righteousness which he has done; but if he is saved, it must be by the mercy of God through a Mediator. Free grace will be the highest note he can sound through eternity. Not unto me, not unto me, but unto thy name give glory." TO CORRESPONDENTS. A LAY BROTHER will see that we have compressed the substance of his two communications into one, The publication of them has not been delayed from indiference to their contents. We are obliged to the person, who some time ago sent us a letter from a daughter in England to her father in America. The intelligence which it contains, except what is of a personal nature, has been laid before the American public. A correct copy of the letter from Dr. Buckminster, which was inserted in the last volume of the Panoplist, p. 220, has been handed to us. The variations are not sufficiently important to require the republication of the letter; though they exemplify the fact, that the alterations of a manuscript, in passing through the hands of several careless transcribers, will be surprisingly numerous. THE PANOPLIST, AND MISSIONARY MAGAZINE. No. 7. OCTOBER, (PART I) 1813. VOL. IX. RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS. WE have been repeatedly requested to insert in our work the following Advice and Exhortation, by the Rev. Dr. Green, as containing great practical wisdom; the fruit of much study, strict observation of the world, and a familiar acquaintance with the Scriptures; the whole exhibited in the most affectionate, engaging, and solemn manner. The recommendation of the standards of doctrine and government of the Presbyterian church, which is found in an early stage of the Advice, &c., has been censured as setting up other standards over the Scriptures, or in addition to them; but it is evident from the whole passage taken together, that Dr. Green recommended these standards only as "fully warranted by Scripture," in his opinion. ED. ADVICE AND EXHORTATION AD- My Dear People, On the dissolution of the pastoral relation which I have sustained to you for more than five and twenty years, I am now to offer you my parting advice and exhortation. These I choose to deliver to you from the press, rather than from the pulpit, for several reasons, but especially for this, that you may possess them permanently, and be able to consult them deliberately, and VOL. IX. to review them often-that they may, perhaps, admonish and profit you, when the lips which have so often addresed you, shall be silent forever, and the hand which here records my last counsel shall have mouldered into dust. It does not seem unreasonable to hope, that what I may say on this occasion will claim your special attention and remembrance, since it is likely to be dictated by more than an usual solicitude to discharge my own duty, and to promote your best interests. Allow me, then to speak to you in a style of great freedom and plainnessas a father to his children. You have, I think, a right to be told the reasons why I have consented to leave you-They may all be resolved into this-I have been made to believe, that I should resist the plain intimation of duty in the Providence of God, if I did not yield to the call which takes me from you. My settled expectation certainly was, to live and die in your service. But a minister of the Gospel is, in a peculiar degree, not his own: He is devoted to the service of Christ in the Gospel, and is bound to forego his own inclinations and plans, whenever the Master and the cause which have a commanding 37 claim upon him, require him to make the sacrifice. This sacrifice, therefore, it was not for me to refuse and it seemed the less difficult to make it when I reflected, that you had already had the services (I wish they had been more valuable) of my best and most vigorous days; and that if I should remain with you, the gradually increasing depression of my voice would, probably, before long, render me incapable of satisfying you with my pulpit addresses. On the other hand, if I were at all capable of filling the sphere of usefulness to which I was called, it was, in the estimation of competent judges, of greater extent and importance than the pastoral charge of congregation whatsoever. These, are in substance, the considerations which have induced me to accept the unexpected appointment which separates me from you; and I hope they will satisfy the candid and considerate. To satisfy such I would not be without concern; remembering nevertheless, that the responsibility which most demands my regard, is not to man, but to God-not to you, but to our common Lord. Ì. I shall first call your attention to some duties specially incumbent on you in consequence of my removal; and which will be incumbent, as often as one or both of your pastors shall be removed, whether it be by death or otherwise-At such times abhor the thought of deserting the congregation to which you have belonged, if not urged to it by the most absolute necessity. At other times it may be more allowable to make a new elec tion of the religious society with which you will be connected; mindful however, that a person who, at any time is given to change in this particular, is not likely to be either a steadfast or a growing Christian. Under a conviction of this truth, I have never encouragrd, in a single instance, even those advances which have sometimes been made by members of other congregations, to join that of which I was pastor But when a congregation is what we denominate vacant, it is then with it a time of necessity. It needs all its strength and resources of every kind, and its members should consider it as highly dishonorable and unchristian to forsake it, unless compelled by motives of a truly conscientious kind. Let me also remind you, that at such a season it is not only peculiarly important to hold together as a society, but also to cultivate real harmony and unanimity among yourselves. To keep together only to contend, is worse than to separate. The preservation of the peace of the church is ever, indeed, an object of such high importance, that the man who disturbs it can never be considered in any other light, than as either very criminal or very unfortunate, unless the purity of the church itself indispensably calls for the interruption of its quiet. But as the evil of controversies and contentions in a particular congregation, is of the very worst consequence when it is vacant, this evil is then to be specially deprecated and avoided. Remember, peculiarly applicable to the case as before us, the admonition of Solomon* "The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with " Divisions in all societies, but most of all in religious societies, are easily begun, but extremely difficult to end. Guard, therefore, with a truly religious vigilance against the beginnings of them. Indulge in no irritating and censorious language; have no parties or cabals; withdraw not your confidence from your elders, or from others whose fidelity you have proved; be ready to make personal concessions for the general good; let all feel the importance of yielding something to the convenience and opinions of others; keep in mind the great and well known principle that the major ity must govern and the minority submit; learn to acquiesce in some things which you could wish were otherwise ordered. In a word, and that the authoritative word of inspiration- "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus-Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless, and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the *Prov. xvii, 14. †Philip. ü, 3, 4, 5--14, 15, 16. word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain." Before dismissing this topic, there is one thing more which I must by no means omit.It is, that nothing will more contribute to your being "at peace among yourselves," both when vacant and at other times, than keeping strictly to the principles and forms of the Presbyterian Church, as laid down in our public standards of doctrine and government. By these standard, try carefully all doctrines, and conduct scrupulously alt your proceedings. Esteem it no hardship or oppression-esteem it as an unspeakable privilege and advantage, that these standards are given for your direction and control: In this light, I most seriously assure you I regard them, after all I have read, heard, and seen, relative to the doctrines, discipline, and order of the Church of Christ. It is my solemn and deliberate conviction, that the system we have adopted, is not only fully warranted by Scripture, but most admirably adapted to the state of society this country, and, indeed, to the principles of human nature itself. It secures liberty, and it ensures order-abide by it closely, and it will be your guide and your shield.* in II. The choice of a minister of the Gospel, is the next point, in order, which demands your attention. The members of a church and congregation, while *I would recommend that every family in the congregation make it a point of Christian duty to keep a copy of our Cana fession of Faith, &c. |