It will be painful to think of him as Lawgiver; for such thoughts will remind us, that we have broken his law. It will be painful to think of his holiness; for if he is holy, he must hate our sins, and be angry with us, as sinners:-of his justice and truth; for these perfections make it necessary that he should fulfil his threatenings and punish us for our sins. It will be painful to think of his omniscience; for this perfection makes him acquainted with our most secret offences, and renders it impossible to conceal them from his view :-of his omnipresence; for the constant presence of an invisible witness must be disagreeable to those, who wish to indulge their sinful propensities. It will be painful to think of his power; for it enables him to restrain or destroy, as he pleases :-of his sovereignty; for sinners always hate to see themselves in the hands of a sovereign God of his eternity and immutability; for from his possessing these perfections it follows, that he will never alter the threatenings, which he has denounced against sinners, and that he will always live to execute them. It will be painful to think of him as Judge; for we shall feel, that, as sinners, we have no reason to expect a favorable sentence from his lips. It will even be painful to think of the perfect goodness and excellence of his character; for his goodness leaves us without excuse in rebelling against him, and makes our sins appear exceedingly sinful. Thus it is evident, that the consciousness of sin committed and guilt contracted must render the government, and all the perfections of God, objects of terror and anxiety to the sinner; and, of course, the recollection of them must to him be painful.”

In what follows, we have a graphic and most animating description of the conflict at present carried on between the friends of truth and of God, and the votaries of the prince of darkness.

"Before every enemy can be put under our Saviour's feet, many exertions must be made, much treasure expended, and many battles fought. Satan, the prince and god of this world, will not resign his usurped dominion without a struggle. The more clearly he perceives that his time is short, the greater will be his wrath, and the more violent his efforts. During that portion of time, which yet remains, the war which he has long waged with the Captain of our salvation, will be carried on with unexampled fury. If you would survey the progress and result of this war, cast your eyes over the world, which is to be at once the field of battle, and the prize of victory. See the earth filled with strong holds and high places, in which the prince of darkness has fortified and made himself strong against the Almighty. See all the hosts of hell, and a large proportion of the inhabitants, the power, the wealth, the talents, and influence of the world ranged under his infernal standard. See his whole artillery of falsehoods, sophistries, objections, temptations, and persecution, brought into the field, to be employed against the cause of truth. See ten thousand pens, and ten times ten thousand tongues, hurling his poisoned darts among its friends. On the other hand, see the comparatively small band of our Saviour's faithful soldiers drawn up in opposing ranks, and advancing to the assault,

clothed in panoply divine, the banner waving over their heads, while in their hands they wield unsheathed the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, the only weapon which they are allowed, or wish, to employ. The charge is sounded, the assault is made, the battle is joined,-far and wide its fury rages; over mountains and plains, over islands and continents, extends the long line of conflict; for a time, alternate victory and defeat wait on either side. Now, exulting acclamations from the Christian army proclaim the fall of some strong hold of Satan. Anon, infuriated shouts from the opposing ranks announce to the world, that the cause of Christ is losing ground, or that some Christian standard-bearer is fallen. Meanwhile, far above the noise and tumult of the battle, the Captain of our salvation sits serene, issuing his commands, directing the motions of his followers, sending seasonable aid to such as are ready to faint, and occasionally causing to be seen the lighting down of his own glorious arm, before which whole squadrons fall, or fly, or yield themselves willing captives. Feeble, and yet more feeble still, gradually becomes the opposition of his foes. Loud, and yet louder still, rise the triumphant acclamations of his friends, till at length the cry of Victory! victory! resounds from earth to heaven; and, Victory! victory! is echoed back from heaven to earth. The warfare ceases, the prize is won,-all enemies are put under the conquering Saviour's feet; the whole earth, with joy, receives her king; and his kingdom, which consists in righteousness, and peace, and holy joy, becomes co-extensive with the world."

Near the close of the volume we find a Sermon, in which the author endeavors to prove that the saints in heaven will be made equal to the angels. Towards the conclusion of the discourse, the audience are addressed as follows:

"My brethren, consider what is the language of your profession, what you say to the world, when you approach the table of your Lord, or perform any other act which indicates that you consider yourselves as the disciples of Jesus Christ. On every such occasion, you do in effect say, I profess to be one of those, to whom all the promises of the Gospel are made; one of those who are styled children and heirs of God. As one of this number, I expect soon to be called to mingle with the angels, and to be made, in every respect, their equal. When I shall be exalted to this state is uncertain. It may be to-morrow. It may be the next hour; for there is but a step between me and death, and, consequently, but a step between me and an angel's seat. Such, O professed disciples of Christ, is the lofty, and, as it must appear to the world, assuming language of your profession. And can you utter such language, will shame allow you to utter it, without attempting to live in a corresponding manner! If you do indeed look for such things, what manner of persons ought you to be, in all holy conversation and godliness! How far ought you to live above the world! How dead should you be to all earthly objects and pursuits! What spirituality of temper, what heavenly mindedness, should you feel and exhibit! What can be more obvious, more undeniable, than the conclusion, that, if you hope to be made equal to the angels hereafter, you ought to imitate, so far as is

His

practicable, angels now. That you may be induced to imitate them, and to climb with greater diligence and alacrity the steep ascent before you, let me persuade you to fix your eyes upon its summit. A dense impenetrable cloud appears, indeed, to conceal it from mortal eyes; but inspiration speaks, and the cloud is dissipated ; faith presents her glass, and the sun-bright summit is seen. On him, who sits enthroned upon it, you cannot indeed gaze. glories, though you shall see them unveiled hereafter, are too insufferably dazzling for mortal eyes to sustain. But contemplate the resplendent forms, which float around him in an atmosphere of pure celestial light. See their bodies, resembling sun-beams seven times refined. See their countenances, beaming with intelligence, purity, benevolence and felicity. Through their transparent bodies look in, and contemplate the souls which inhabit them, expanded to the full dimensions of angelic minds, bearing the perfect image of their God, and reflecting his glories, as the polished mirror reflects the glories of the noonday sun. This, O Christian, is what thou shalt hereafter be. These dazzling forms were once sinful dust and ashes, like thyself. But grace, free, rich, sovereign, almighty grace, has made them what they now are. It has washed, and justified, and sanctified, and brought them to glory. And to the same glory, O Christian, it is bringing thee. And canst thou then sleep, canst thou slumber, canst thou be slothful, canst thou complain of the difficulties which attend, of the obstacles which oppose, thy ascent to such glory and felicity as this? Olet gratitude, let duty, let shame, if nothing else, forbid. Lift up, ye embryo angels, lift up the heads which hang down, and let the drooping spirit revive. Read, hear, meditate with prayer, deny yourselves, mortify sin but a little longer, and you shall mount up, not on eagles', but on angels' wings, and know what is meant by being made equal to resplendent intelligences.

"To impenitent sinners this subject, taken in connexion with other parts of revelation, is a subject of most solemn and awful import. They too possess faculties, which render them capable of being made equal to the angels; but these faculties will only serve, if they remain impenitent and unholy, to sink them down to a dreadful equality with the fallen angels, the spirits of disobedience, for whom the fires of hell are prepared, and to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness and eternal despair. And are these things so? Is it true, that, before a century shall have passed away, all the souls, who now fill this house, will be angels or demons, and fixed forever in heaven or hell? Yes, my hearers, it is true. It is as certain, as that there is a God; as certain, as that we are here. O, then, in what language can we describe, how can we adequately conceive of, the folly, the madness, of sinners, of those who neglect the great salvation. In less than a century, and, with respect to most of them, in much less than half that time, the question, which of the two opposite states shall be theirs, is to be decided. Yes, my immortal hearers, in a few years will be forever decided the question, whether your vast and almost boundless capacities shall be filled with happiness, or with misery; whether the noble faculties, which

God has given you, shall blossom and expand in heaven, or be scorched and withered in hell; in a word, whether you shall brighten ! into angels, or blacken into fiends. And while this question is in suspense; a question which might convulse the thrones of heaven, and throw the universe into agonies of anxiety, how are you, who are most nearly concerned in it, employed? In some childish, worldly scheme of temporal aggrandizement; or in laboring to amass wealth, which you can possess but for an hour, or, perhaps, in a round of frivolous amusements and dissipation? Yes,-let earth blush, let heaven weep to hear it, these, these, are the employments, in which immortal beings choose to spend their hours of salvation, to pass away the time, till the great question is decided. Well may inspiration declare, as it does, that the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and that madness is in their hearts while they live. And well may we exclaim, in the language of inspiration, O, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!"

NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

1. The Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures asserted, and the principles of their composition investigated, with a view to the refutation of all objections to their Divinity; in six Lectures, (very greatly enlarged,) delivered at Albion Hall, London Wall; with an Appendix illustrative and critical. By Rev. S. Noble. From the London Edition. Boston, 1828. pp. 508.

This work is a labored attempt to affix a secondary and spiritual sense to the sacred writings, according to what is termed "the science of analogies; founded, we presume, on the principles of the late Emanuel Swedenborg, although the name of Swedenborg is not mentioned. The author is evidently a man of general intelligence and learning, who, so far as style is concerned, is capable of writing well. Nor is his book destitute of pertinent and useful observations, especially in the first Lecture. But we must be excused if we cannot perceive the reason or the authority for most of his mystical interpretations. There is no doubt a sufficient resemblance between certain external and internal objects, to lay a foundation for the use of metaphor, and other figures of speech. But that this resemblance or analogy is universal, so that to every word in the Bible is attached some hidden and spiritual sense, we shall need a new revelation, and one of better claims than that of Swedenborg, before we venture to affirm.

That the public may not depend on our judgement in this affair, we shall extract a few of Mr. Noble's interpretations, which our readers are at liberty to adopt if they choose.

The story of the ark being sent home by the Philistines, recorded in 1 Sam. ch. v. and vi., is thus explained.

"The ark, under the Israelitish Dispensation, was a symbol of the Divine Presence, which none but the truly good can endure, and they not too near;

and which causes the lusts cherished by the wicked more openly to become their tormentors. The Philistines represent those who exalt faith above charity, making the former everything, and the latter of no account; which was the reason of their continual wars with the Israelites, who represent the true church, or those who cherish faith in union with charity. The idol Dagon is the religion of those who are represented by the Philistines. The emerods with which they were smitten, are symbols of the appetites of the natural man, which, when separated from spiritual affections, as is done by those who do not apply their faith to the purification of their lives, are unclean. The mice, by which the land was devastated, are images of the lust of destroying by false interpretation the spiritual nourishment which the church derives from the Word of God, as is done by those who separate faith from charity. The emerods of gold exhibit the natural appetites as purified and made good. The golden mice symbolize the healing of the tendency to false interpretation effected by admitting a regard to goodness; for of this, as we shall see in the next example, gold is an emblem. The cows are types of the natural man, in regard to such good qualities as he possesses. Their lowing by the way expresses the repugnance of the natural man to the process of conversion. And the offering of them up for a burnt offering, typifies that restoration of order which takes place in the mind, when the natural affections are submitted to the Lord." pp. 134, 135.

In explaining the geography of Palestine and the surrounding regions, the author observes,

"In this map, the land of Israel is considered as the central region which, is the seat of all the truly spiritual affections and perceptions of the human mind. So, following the law of Analogy, the countries situated around the land of Canaan will represent the subordinate mental powers and faculties. We will illustrate this by one or two examples.

"The great neighbor of Israel-the type of the spiritual part of the mindon one side, was Egypt; which represents what belongs entirely to the natural man, but, specifically, the Science or Knowledge of the natural man, with the faculty for acquiring it: and the powerful state which bordered upon Israel on the other side, was Assyria; which represents the Rational Faculty, and the Reasoning Powers in general. Now as Science and Reasoning, when separated from all regard to religion, or to true religion, and placed in opposition to it, are two of its most dangerous enemies; therefore we read so much of the troubles which these two nations brought upon the Israelites." pp. 191, 192.

The following is from our author's exegesis of the narrative of the crucifixion of Christ.

"The Lord was betrayed by Judas, because Judas represents the very lowest principle in the constitution of fallen human nature, that of mere selfishness. The chief priests and elders, being the leading characters of the Jewish church, may be viewed as personifying its ruling sentiments in regard to charity and faith; and these being contrary to the love of God and to all genuine faith, and thus such as reject and destroy the truth of the Word, it was by the chief priests and elders that the Son of man was apprehended and first condemned; and his being afterwards condemned by Pilate, who was a Gentile, at their accusation and instigation, shews how the Word rejected by those who do not profess to belong to the church, but merely to follow the law of nature. The Lord's being scourged and smitten on the head with a reed, were exact figures of the treatment which the Word receives from those who reject it: and as a crown is an emblem of wisdom, and thorns of pernicious false sentiments, his being crowned with thorns expressively symbolized the manner in which the wisdom of the Word is falsified and perverted. The dividing of his outer garments into four parts among the soldiers was indicative of the complete dissipation of the truths of the letter of the Word; but the preserving of his vesture or inner garment entire, represented that its spiritual sense could not be thus injured, being sheltered from common observation; and their casting lots for it, afforded an apt image of the conjecture and debate of which the spiritual sense, or, what is the same thing, the truth itself, becomes the subject, when all right understanding of the Word is lost." pp. 358, 359.