least two years afterwards, according to the most approved Bible chronology.

Ephraim. Do then, Father Olympas, give us your reason for this; for in truth I never before had my attention called to the point, and I confess I do not comprehend it.

Olympas. I do not say that he did not believe the first promise; for he did believe it. Nor do I say that his belief of it was not counted to him for righteousness. But the question with me is,— Why Moses appended this declaration to the second rather than to the first promise; why he was constrained to note the fact in the latter case rather than in the former? The reason, in my judgment, is,-that as a sinner is, and can only be, justified by faith in God—a faith simply relying upon the truth and faithfulness of God-it was allimportant that an occasion should be selected, or a case of such importance chosen, as would set this faith before the human mind in the strongest possible light. Now, as the promise of blessing the human race by a descendant of Abraham was much more easy of belief, than that Abraham should have descendants as numerous as the stars, or as countless as the sands of the sea, it was infinitely benevolent and wise, in setting forth the character and value of this evangelical principle of righteousness and salvation to a sinful world, to select for its promulgation a case the strongest and most evident in the history of man. Such is the case selected. No such faith was ever reported on earth as that of an old man and his barren wife, he eighty and she seventy years old, believing on a simple declaration that they would become the parents of untold millions? Now, if justifying, sanctifying and saving faith, when reduced to its characteristic elements, be a clear apprehension of an unwavering confidence in the power and veracity of God to do whatsoever he says, though it should be infinitely above and beyond all human experience, what development of it in the history of mankind equals that of an old man childless at eighty, and his wife barren at seventy, on being told that he should be the father of nations, and have children innumerable as the stars of heaven, as countless as the sands of the sea, at the moment of its annunciation, saying,-I believe it, Lord, as though they were all present before me? If ever there was an occasion in the history of man more or equally suitable to illustrate and commend the faith of God's elect, we can only say we have never read nor heard of it. This then is, in my judgment, the reason why the inspired Apostles select this case by way of illustration of the principle called faith-of that faith which God accounts or imputes to a sinner for righteousness.

Clement. I am greatly interested in this development of faith. It shows still more clearly the confusion formerly in my own mind, and which I occasionally see in the minds of others. There is much said of the essence of faith, of the principle of faith as wrought in the heart, and of the object of faith as transferred to us by an act of sovereign power or grace, as the justifying consideration, all of which I have endeavored to believe and to comprehend; but I never could fully repose in these abstractions. Faith itself is, indeed, in one sense, a principle. So is hope; so is love. But it is the thing believed, the thing hoped, the thing loved, that moves us. And as for all essences, they are the abstractions and distillations of doctors of physic, of metaphysics, or of divinity, and intoxicate rather than invigorate the minds of men.

- Olympas. True, very true; but while on the subject of faith, we must not forget that it is "imputed to us for righteousness." Now, as before observed, it is so by grace; and, therefore, it is not a work of merit. True, things said to be imputed to us in the scriptures are said to be our own, and not transferred to us. We might, as others have done, by an induction of every passage in the Old Testament in which the Hebrew word ghashav, Gen. xv. 6, or, as others pronounce it, hhasahbh, occurs, show that what is our own act is often imputed to us, nay, almost always, wherever the word is used. It is, therefore, a work of grace on God's part, to account to us our faith for righteousness, and this because of the sacrifice, the merit and dignity of his son, our Redeemer.

Ephraim. David's description of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works, makes the imputation of righteousness equal to forgiveness, or non-imputation of sin, and this again confirms your former objections on this subject.

Olympas. And Paul, pertinently to this view of the subject, asks,-Cometh this blessedness upon the circumcision exclusively, or upon the uncircumcision also? and proves the Jewish assumption to be a great fallacy for Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised. He was then justified, both before circumcision, and before the law of ten commands was given. And thus he is the father or grand prototype of all the justified by faith-Jews or Greeks. The promise, also, of the inheritance of Canaan, was given to Abraham through faith, and not through the works of law. Therefore, as no Jew entered Canaan by keeping the law of Moses. but through the promise made to Abraham and believed by him, so through faith in God's promises to the Messiah, we enter heaven by

faith, and thus the promise is made sure to Jew and Greek by faith. We have time only for another remark on the last part of this chapter. Read it, Sarah.

"For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things that be not, as though they were; who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations: according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God: And being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him: but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him who raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead, who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."

Clement. I am fully confirmed in your views of faith from the eulogy which Paul here expresses on the faith of Abraham, proving most conclusively, as I think, that Gen. xv. 6, was selected rather than Gen. xii. 3, to unfold to us the model faith of the Patriarch, as better adapted to unfold the mystery of faith than any act of faith recorded in the Bible. Being not weak in faith, he makes no account of physical difficulties, the laws of nature, the general course of Providence. "He staggers not," has not one misgiving, implicitly and cordially relying upon God's faithfulness and power. He considers not the natural unfitness of all things personal in himself and in Sarah his wife; but strong in faith, gives glory to the power of God, who calls the things that are not as though they were. Against all human experience and all the ordinary hopes of men, he reposes, in full assurance upon the absolute certainty of the promised honors and glories of nations, and princes, and kings without number, hereafter to spring from her body. But we must leve to be said something more on this subject for another lesson.

A. C.

THERE IS A GOD.

MR. EDITOR-I was, this morning, contemplating upon the Newtonian theory of the motions of the planetary worlds, and was struck more forcibly than ever with the wonderful wisdom of the Being that could devise such a system. We say nothing now of the power required to keep this system in operation, and that through myriads of ages. This is immense, incomprehensible, almighty.

The unthinking are apt to suppose that the solar system is kept in operation by a simple law which is called attraction, and that there was no extraordinary wisdom necessary to devise it. Nothing is farther from the truth. Let us consider for a moment the nature of this law. Newton supposed, and proved as far as the subject is susceptible of proof, that the earth is acted upon by two forces; the force of the sun's attraction, and that produced by the circular motion of the earth around the sun. The former force decreases as the square of the distance of the earth from the sun increases; so that if the earth, instead of 95,000,000 of miles from the sun, were 180,000,000, it would be attracted by a force only one-fourth as great as it now is. Supposing the centrifugal force of the earth to be what it is actually, the earth would depart from the sun in a curve resembling the parabola till it came in contact with some other body attracting it more powerfully than the sun. Long before this contact, the absence of the genial light and heat of the great luminary would depopulate the earth, and the violence of the shock at the time of the contact with another body, would destroy the previous form of both and produce a universal chaos.

On the other hand, let us suppose that the earth were one half its present distance from the sun, and the centrifugal force what it now is, the attractive force of the sun being no longer counterbalanced by the centrifugal force, the earth would seek the sun in a curve line similar to that previously spoken of, and finally would consummate the "wreck of matter and the crush of worlds," by contact with the great luminary.

Who then, thought I, has so adapted one force to the other, that when the one increases the other increases in the same degree and by the same law! Who has placed the earth at such a distance from the sun, that a given velocity should produce a centrifugal momentum just sufficient to counteract the attractive force of the sun? Or, if you will, who gave the earth a momentum, in a direction at right angles with the direction of the attractive force of the sun, just sufficient to counterbalance this attractive force? Had the distance been a line more or a line less, the earth could not have travelled in its present orbit. Had the centrifugal momentum been an ounce greater or an ounce less, the same result could not have been obtained. Let the Atheist tell us how many times, according to the calculation of chances, would have been required to fix the earth in its present orbit!

But this is not all. Not only the earth, but all the other planets

revolve about the sun, according to the law of attraction, counterbalanced by the centrifugal momentum. Now, the specific gravity of these is not uniform, and the problem becomes still more complicated. As the centrifugal momentum equals the product of the the mass by the velocity, and as the mass equals the product of the bulk by the specific gravity, we have, in regulating the velocity of a planet in order to fix it in its orbit, to know its distance from the sun, its specific gravity, and its bulk. Nor must these be merely approximated. A variation of the smallest fraction, ever thrown away by the nicest mathematician, would derange the whole plan and destroy the solar system.

Granting then, that poor, weak, insignificant man, had the power to project the vast worlds into space, how far would he yet be from constructing the universe. To almighty power must be joined infinite wisdom. Oh, then, all-wise Ruler, as well as Creator of the universe, I can but adore. Thy wisdom is unfathomable by my limited understanding. I have caught a glimpse of the light that is emitted from thy throne, but it only shows me in what darkness I dwell. The feeble conception I have formed of thy wisdom only shows me my own folly. I have contemplated omniscience without comprehending it, but I have understood sufficient to make me feel humiliated at my own ignorance. In thy wisdom I see reflected my own folly; in thy power my own weakness. And can it be that thou who measurest the heavens with a span hast thought of me? "What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?" Can it be that thou hast redeemed me from doubt and from darkness by the sacrifice of the son of thy bosom? I am overwhelmed with wonder and amazement at the consideration of thy goodness, as well as of thy wisdom and power.

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 3, 1849.

ERASTUS Everett.

PROTESTANT AND POPISH DISTRICTS OF IRELAND.

The following statistics of poverty in the Protestant and Popish Districts of Ireland, are furnished by Dr. Dill and the Rev. Jonąthan Simpson, of the Irish Delegation:

True religion, as it improves our spiritual condition, must proportionally improve our temporal, because it implants and cherishes those virtues and habits which lead to temporal improvement.Righteousness has invariably been found to exalt a nation-and this not more because of God's direct blessing on those who fear him, than because piety and prosperity, as a general rule, are to each other as cause and effect. We proceed to show how wonderfully this principle is illustrated in Ireland, by proving that as is the Protestantism so is the prosperity, and as is the Popery, so is the poverty of every province, county, and district of that country.

First, taking Ireland as a whole, it is one of the most intensely Popish countries in the world! According to the last report of the Poor Law Commissioners, there were 800,000 last year relieved in Ireland by the poor rates, and 200,000 more by the British Relief Association, making one million of paupers in public charity, out of a SERIES III-VOL. VI.

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