sed to point it out in Deut. xxx. 6. To have our hearts circumcised, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our souls, that we may live. This was something more than natural life, for all who were addressed enjoyed that. Nor was it to them to whom given, only figuratively; it was to us through them :-for the land of Canaan was only a figure of the great and glorious reign of peace.-Isaiah also tells the remedy. "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children." This is a declaration to the church, by the great head of it. Jeremiah tells us, or, the Lord by him, xxiv. 7. "I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the "Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be "their God: and they shall return unto me with their "whole heart."-None can be bold enough to say this was ever fulfilled.—xxx. 22. "And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."-xxxi. 33. "After "those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their "inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will "be their God, and they shall be my people;" ver. 34, "and they shall teach no more every man his neigh 66 bour, and every man his brother, saying KNOW THE "LORD; for they shall all know me, from the least of "them, unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I re"member no more." xxxii. 40. "I will put my fear "in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Ezek. xi. 19, 20. "I will give them one heart and put "a new spirit in them, and will take the stony heart "out of them, and give them a heart of flesh; that "they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinan ces, and do them: and they shall be my people, and "I will be their God." xxxvi. 25, 27. xxx. vii. 26, 27. "My tabernacle shall be with them, yea, I will be "their God, and they shall be my people. Zechariah, "xiii. 8, 9. Two parts therein shall be cut off and die, "but the third part shall be left therein. And I will "bring the third part through the fire, and will refine "them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is "tried; they shall call on my name, and I will hear “them; 1 will say, it is my people, and they shall say, "The Lord is my GOD." This shall satisfy me for the present, in showing the remedy; and here I must beg leave to venture on an understanding of the two-thirds that shall be cut off, and die,—namely, that it is idolaters and infidels, they that are perseveringly such.-There is a lapse for repentance, and turning;-but the remaining third are not to expect pleasant things;-for, as the gold is purified by the furnace, so must they be by affliction. But, let such look for the reward set before them,-let such say with Paul, "These lighter afflictions, which are "but for a moment, work out for us a far more exceed"ing and eternal weight of Glory." Bewildered with religious contentions in the early part of life, I laid the subject aside, and occasionally visited different places of worship, on Sabbath days. I continued to collect books on theological subjects, modern and ancient, some two hundred years old, intending, when I had acquired a competence, to resume the study. But my pursuits in life prevented the use of them; and for the last thirty years have never read a single volume. I mention this to show I set up no pretension to knowledge from reading or study; nor, indeed, do I make pretension to any thing, but what every simple observer of passing events, that reflects on them, may acquire.-I am therefore unable to quote any learned authors, to support what I may advance. But being passed the age allotted for man to live, under the present state of things, I feel a reluctance at leaving the world, without showing the opinion I acquired whilst here. In further supporting what I have asserted, that the consequence given to popular preachers, by the congregations of the divided professors, creates idolatry, and that idolatry begets infidelity, I observe, one error as naturally begets another, as a father doth a son. There are among professors that are truly sincere and good intentioned, a sort of semi-believers ;-they take credit to themselves for faith, and by reading and studying scriptures they strive to add practice. Such very frequently finding something contained therein, not reducible to their reason, give some fanciful interpretations to it. And this they think a refinement of their understanding. I once heard a person distinguished for piety say, such an event as the general deluge never took place, literally, because there could never be an accumulation of water sufficient.Others dwell on David's killing Goliah with a pebble stone. The miraculous dividing of the red sea, and the waters being made a wall for the Israelites, and then closing on the Egyptians. Sampson burning the Philistine's corn, by fire-brands at foxes tails-killing a thousand with the jaw-bone of an ass-pulling down their temple with his hands.-Gideon's conquest over the Midianites, with lamps and pitchers, and numberless other things, which the zeal of these semibelievers, to reconcile revelation to reason, say, are metaphorically, figuratively, or spiritually, to be understood. And thus while they reason, intentionally to produce faith in the rationalist, they strengthen op position by the weakness of their argument, and often furnish weapons against themselves; and have their own faith thereby destroyed. My simplicity inclines me to believe, that Omnipotence is equal to much greater things than these ;-and if I had a doubt of the deluge, I should doubt the whole, and lay the Bible on the shelf, no more to use it. Having, with young Elihu, undertaken to show "mine opinion," I commence with the creation-It is, I suppose, universally believed in this country, that there exists a Supreme Being, who is the mighty former and ruler of all things,-that he is the maker of all animated beings, omniscient himself, he could not be deficient in wisdom; and, being omnipotent, he could not be wanting in power; all his works must be, like himself, perfection. Among the beings formed, he must have made Lucifer, if it be allowed that there is such a being in existence. How the workmanship of God, that was originally perfect, could become imperfect, is past the wisdom of man to discover. Amidst all the mighty efforts of the learned, none has presumed to give us an account of the origin of sin.Yet all must know it exists, and existed in that heaven, to which all the pious leaders send their hearers when they die; many of whom have lived on earth more like beasts and birds of prey, by their anti-christian divisions, than like human beings; but it is common to extort from them a confession that they die in peace with all the world :-yea, verily, when they can no longer wage war. So did Napoleon at St. Helena. But let them return to life, and him to power, and both would probably war more furiously than ever. It is good to die in peace with all, but much better to live 80,—and that time must come. - -- Under this state of rebellion among celestials, we are taught our earth was founded. And that in six days God completed the work, and rested on the seventh day. My opinion on this is, that God created all men that were destined to inhabit this earth; or he could not have finished his work. The soul is the man ;-the body is the tenement it inhabits,-the vehicle of action. And, for the production of that generative power was given to man. But God, in wisdom, saw fit to subject the world to the temptation of these fallen angels; and without fortifying them with any peculiar strength to resist, without (at least as far as we know) any information of the existence of such a rebellious race. This certainly staggers the reason of blind mortals, we want a why and wherefore for all these things; and we may not be long before we have it, to our surprise. I have not a doubt when this why and wherefore are given they will, to use a strong expression, petrify human reason.-Our wonder and astonishment at the unbounded wisdom, mercy, and goodness of God, will fill us with that rapture, love, and praise, which can be equalled only by the sense of shame and debasement we shall be in at our review of own petty pride, and the high conceit we have had of self; at our vanity, false reasoning, and criminal pursuits. While innocence reigned, all was beauty, happiness, harmony, and peace ;-but when transgression entered, the fair face of nature was deformed: happiness and peace were destroyed. The image of God retired from man, and he continued on earth, existing only with animal life, and thus he continues to exist to the fresent day. This opinion, I well know, will set the heads of all |