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the former Island. A serious invasion of Portugal will probably be soon attempted. It appears that several British ships of the line are now in the port of Lisbon; and the last accounts state, that a considerable fleet is under sailing orders from a British port, to join the force already before the Portuguese capital, with a view to attack it, if Spain should take part in the expected contest.

Greece, it appears, is in a state only less calamitous than when it was invaded by the Turks. The party of the late chief Capo d'Istrias, have pushed their measures till the patriots, as they are called, have arrayed themselves in arms, to oppose the partizans of the late authorities. A civil war is threatened, if it has not commenced. In the mean time, it is stated, that the Great Powers, without consulting either party, have appointed a Regent for Greece, who is yet a minor, and whose guardians are to exercise the powers of government in that unhappy country, till the minor is of age.

We hear nothing further in regard to the war between the Turkish Sultan and the Pacha of Egypt.

From ASIA we have nothing to report.

AFRICA is becoming a very interesting portion of our globe. It would seem as if this large and long benighted part of the earth, was likely before many years to exhibit a change, greatly for the better. The piratical powers on the coast of the Mediterranean are broken down and rendered inefficient by the conquest of Algiers. On the eastern part of the continent, the Pacha of Egypt is making changes for the better, though far short of what could be wished. On the south, the British colony is pushing far into the interior; and the blessed missionaries are extending their operations even far beyond the frontier of the colony, and with an encouraging success. But it is on the western coast that the brightest prospect appears. Liberia and Sierra Leone, under the patronage of the United States and Britain, are destined, we verily believe, to put an end, eventually, to the horrible traffick in the bodies and souls of men. The last arrivals from Liberia, bring the most cheering accounts of the prosperity of the AfricoAmerican colony there. Health is enjoyed and enterprise is active, and the adjacent native tribes are courting the favour and friendship of the colony. Schools and churches are established, and nothing now seems to hinder the rapid extension of the colony, both along the coast and into the interior, but the want of a more efficient patronage from our country; and this we think cannot much longer be withheld.

AMERICA.

On the western coast of the southern part of our continent, the infant republicks existing there, are in a fluctuating state; yet, at present, not at war; and on the whole, we would hope, making some progress toward order and happiness. On the opposite coast, Buenos Ayres was, at the last accounts, rejoicing at the conclusion of the civil war, which has long existed, with less or greater activity, in the United Provinces. The Brazils, the deserted empire of Don Pedro, are still in a state of great agitation. Colombia, it is hoped, is likely to be tranquillized-only temporarily we fear. Mexico is embroiled in a civil war-but not as yet sanguinary. Central America is suffering more than any of her sister republicks, by the inveterate and mortal hatred to each other of the factions by which the country is continually distracted. The parties are, or have been, so nearly equal in power, that war has been incessant for years past; and when it is likely to terminate no one can tell.

In the United States we enjoy peace and outward prosperity; and if we are not a happy people, it must be our own fault. The breaking up of the last unusually severe winter, has produced inundations on several of our large rivers, especially in our western country, destructive of much property and some lives-and the number of deaths during the last four or five months-occasioned by influenza, scarlet fever, meazles and their consequences-is larger than we recollect at the same season of the year, on any former occasion. Our Congress is busily employed; and yet making but little progress, as seems to us, in bringing the important concerns of the session, to a state of maturity. All the great measures-the tariff, the bank, the representation bill, &c.— are still under consideration. It appears that the state of Georgia is, at present, determined not to subunit to the award of the Supreme Court, in the case of the missionaries. But we hope that on reflection, the folly, the infatuation, the incalculable evils, of resisting the general government, and thus destroying the Federal Union, will become so evident, that actual resistance will not be made. If it shall, all will suffer; but do not our southern brethren see that they have more at stake, and will be in more immediate and imminent peril than we of the north? May the same kind Providence which has hitherto saved our country in many a fearful crisis, still watch over us for good; and bring to a happy termination the present unpropitious controversy.

ERRATA in our last Number. Page 89, 2d col. line 18 from bot. for is read are. 115, 2d col. line 15, for publication read periodical. 116, 1st col. line 24, from bot, dele the word only. 136, line 18 from bot. for Saviour read Sovereign.

THE

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

MAY, 1832.

Religious Communications.

LECTURES ON THE SHORTER CATE- Spirit." Neither the reading nor

CHISM OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES ADDRESSED

TO YOUTH.

LECTURE LXVII.

The instrumentality of the word of God in the conversion and subsequent edification of sinners, is to be the subject of discussion in the present lecture, on the following answer of our catechism, viz."The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ, under which it is our high and peculiar privilege to live, is a dispensation of the Spirit-It is so in a more eminent degree, by far, than the preceding patriarchal and Mosaick dispensations. Our catechism, as we have heretofore seen, teaches us, that—“We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit." The application of the finished work of the Redeemer to his elect people, both before and after their conversion, belongs officially to God the Holy GhostThey are "born of the Spirit," and all their graces are graces of the Ch. Adv.-VOL. X.

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the preaching of the word, would ever become effectual to the salvation of a single soul, if they were not made so by the powerful influence of the blessed Spirit. This is a truth never to be overlooked or forgotten. The word of God is called the "sword of the Spirit;" and as a sword can effect nothing without a hand to wield it, so the word of God itself remains wholly inoperative, in the matter of our salvation, till it is taken into the hand of the Spirit, and applied by his almighty energy, to the purpose for which it has been provided. Yet, on the other hand, it must be kept in mind, that the Holy Spirit does not, ordinarily, work any saving change in the hearts of adult persons, without the word; and hence the unspeakable importance that the word should be carefully read and faithfully preached.

It is scarcely necessary to remark, that by "the word," in the answer before us, we are to understand the whole revealed will of God contained in the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments. No part of this word is superfluous; although, as I have heretofore shown, some portions of it are more practical than others, and on that account ought to be more frequently perused, and more 2 A.

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diligently studied. But it is an error which cannot be committed without suffering loss, to omit the attentive and repeated reading of the whole of the sacred scriptures In ordinary circumstances, a portion of the sacred volume ought to be read daily, by every individual who possesses it, and is able to read it. This practice has sometimes been blessed to the conversion of unsanctified men; although perhaps adopted at first as a matter of education, or merely as constituting a good and useful habit. But it is a practice which no professing Christian should fail to adopt, and carefully maintain. Its omission, I hesitate not to say, is a neglect of a very important mean of cherishing a lively and comfortable state of religion in the soul. The sacred scriptures ought also to be read daily in every Christian household, in connexion with family prayer; and it is a good custom to read from the Old Testament and the New, alternately: and if a short commentary, with some practical observations, such as appear in Scott's Family Bible, or Doddridge's Family Expositor, be read in connexion with the sacred text, it may serve to illustrate, and more deeply to impress divine truth, on the minds of all who compose the family circle. The reading of a portion of holy writ ought, likewise, in my judgment, to form an indispensable part of every publick exercise of religious worship in the house of God. He is wont to honour his own word, and no words of men ought to supplant it in his sanctuary. A single text-a short sentence of inspired truth shall sometimes go with an authority, and a power, and an effect, to the conscience and heart of a hearer, beyond any thing, or every thing else, that can be uttered. And although, happily, many more can now peruse the Bible for themselves, than were able to do so some years

since, yet probably, in most of our large promiscuous assemblies, there are still some who cannot read; and there certainly are many who read the holy book by far too seldom and too little. But if there were not an individual of either of these classes, God's word, as already intimated, should be an inseparable part of his publick worship. To the people of God it is always precious, and always new; and a text which has been read a hundred times, shall, on a new hearing, present some new view of divine truth, or come with a power and sweetness never known before.

But the catechism teaches us, that "especially the preaching of the word," is made an effectual means of convincing, converting, and edifying those who hear it. Inspiration itself testifies, that "faith cometh by hearing," and all experience, from the days of the apostle who wrote these words, to the present hour, bears witness to the truth of his declaration. Probably a hundred, perhaps a thousand converts, have, in every age, been made by the ear, for one that has been made by the eye. In the matter of edification, after conversion, the proportion may have been less, but I believe it has always been great, in favour of the side of hearing, beyond that of reading. Those who can hear, are not only more numerous than those who can read, but the attention cured and the impression produced, by the human voice and the appearance and manner of a living speaker, are far greater than is ordinarily made by truth, however pertinently stated, when it is to be received from a book, or a manuscript, with nothing to enforce it but its own naked, inherent excellence. But what is chiefly to be regarded, in relation to the point before us, is, that the preaching of the gospel is God's appointed and especial ordinance for the conver

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sion and edification of mankind. Hence, this is the instrumentality which he will chiefly bless; and on his blessing, the whole efficiency of all means, intended for the spiritual benefit of mankind, entirely depends. No matter what may be our estimate of the natural adaptedness of any means to promote our soul's welfare; if we put it in place of God's ordinance, we have reason to expect that he will not bless, but frown upon it; and if so, nothing beneficial, but something injurious, will be the certain result. Those therefore who "forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is"-those who seldom or never enter a place of publick worship, under the pretence that they can read a better sermon at home than they can hear at church, or that they can be more devout in private than in publick, have no reason to expect the divine blessing, on their arrogant substitution of their own invention for God's appointment. When sickness, or any other sufficient hindrance to an attendance on the preached word, meets us in the providence of God, we then indeed have reason to hope that our retirement may be made a little sanctuary to us, in the use of reading, meditation, and prayer. This, doubtless, the people of God have often experienced. But the avoidance of hearing the word preached, when it is a matter of voluntary choice, I am convinced is never blessed; and I certainly never knew an individual, with whom this was habitual, that gave any rational evidence whatever of practical piety. It follows likewise, from what we are considering, that in our endeavours to send the gospel to any unevangelized place, or to the world at large, nothing can supercede the necessity, or take the place of the preached word, with any prospect of general success. Other instrumentalities may, and

must be used-They are indispensable, as auxiliaries, but the preached word must still be the principal means. That converts are made, yea,

numerous converts when taken collectively, by reading the Bible and religious tracts, I readily and joyfully admit. But if the Bible were faithfully translated into every language under heaven

and we ought to desire, and pray, and labour, and give liberally of our substance, that it may be so translated-and if every individual of our race had a copy, and could read it freely, with expository and hortatory publications to any amount-all this would not form an adequate substitute for God's ordinance of a preached gospel. It would still be necessary to the conversion of the world, that a host of well-informed, devoted, apostolick preachers of the word, should go forth to every nation and tribe of our sin-ruined world. Oral instruction, as already shown, ever has been, and from the nature of man and of human society it ever must be, the principal and most efficient method of communicating information to the ignorant, and of stirring up the well-informed, by refreshing their minds with what they know, and urging them to act agreeably to what they believe and profess. The divine ordinance of a

preached gospel is, therefore, manifestly adapted to the constitution which God has given us. We can, in this instance, clearly see the fitness of the means appointed by God, to the end contemplated, or the effect intended to be produced; although his appointment, plainly revealed, would be obligatory, if its fitness were not discernible by us. I have dwelt longer on this topick than I should have done, if I had not thought that there is perceptible at present, in the laudable zeal which prevails to establish and patronize benevolent institutions, some danger of not giving its due prominence and im

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As angels use, the gospel whispers peace. He 'stablishes the strong, restores the weak,

Reclaims the wanderer, binds the broken heart,

And armed himself in panoply complete
Of heavenly temper, furnishes with arms,
Bright as his own, and trains, by every
rule

Of holy discipline, to glorious war,
The sacramental host of God's elect."

It is only, indeed, when the gospel is purely preached, that we have any reason to expect that the Spirit of God will render it effcetual to the salvation of those that hear it. If the great and peculiar doctrines of the gospel are kept back, disguised, misrepresented, or but slightly noticed; or if abstract, philosophical, moral, or metaphysical speculations, take the place of the plain, pungent, and practical exhibitions of evangelical truth; or if a stilted style, or a florid eloquence, demonstrate that he who occupies the sacred desk, is aiming rather to preach himself than Christ Jesus; if, in a word, the whole counsel of God is not declared with simplicity and fidelity, the saving effects of a preached gospel are not likely to appear. But if sound doctrine be preached plainly, faithfully, sincerely, wisely, zealously, diligently, and perseveringly, God the Spirit will, in his own best time, and to such a degree as in his holy soverignty he may see to be right,

bless it to the conviction and conversion of sinners, and the edification of saints. This he has always done; and this he may still be expected to do. The promise is sure

"My word shall not return unto me void." At one time, some careless individuals, here and there in a congregation, will be effectually awakened, convinced of their sinful and undone state, and be eventually led to Christ Jesus, as the only refuge and hope of the soul. At another time or place, the influences of the Holy Ghost will descend on all around, like the rain or dew of heaven; and a glorious and general revival of pure On religion will be witnessed. every side, the anxious inquiry will be heard-"What shall we do to be saved;" conviction of sin will be pungent, deep, and genuine; conversions will be multipled exceedingly; and a great company of believers will be added to the Lord and to his church. O that such a display of God's grace and mercy as this, might be witnessed among you, my beloved youth! O that you might all be seen pressing into the kingdom of God, and taking it by a holy violence!

But it must not be forgotten, that after converts-genuine converts have been gathered into the church, they still need to be built up in holiness and comfort, through faith unto salvation." This I fear is, at the present time, not duly considered. Not long since, I was told of a minister of the gospel whose labours had been remarkably blest, in a congregation of which he had been the pastor, and who assigned it as the principal reason for his being willing to accept a call which he had received to another charge, that where he had been labouring, there were few or no sinners remaining to be converted. Now, I am ready to admit that the great Head of the church distributes his gifts to his ministering servants

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