Truly the infidels have cause to look big, and despise the followers of Jesus Christ! Pray, sir," said a young man to the late Dr. Black, in the presence his God." Although his temporal circumstances were very moderate, although he had sons and daughters to provide for, and slender means of doing it, he felt not a moment's uneasiness of a juvenile company, at the Leave thy fatherless children Dr.'s own table, "Pray sir, how with me; I will preserve them did Mr. Hume die ?" "Mr. alive; and let thy widows trust Hume," answered the sceptical in me, was, in his estimation, a chymist, with an air of great better security for their support, significance, "Mr. Hume died, than any inheritance in lands or as he lived, a philosopher." Dr. lucre. And as to death itself Black himself has aided Dr.Smith who but one filled with hopes in telling us what the death of a full of immortality," could use philosopher is. It has taught such language as this,-"A us, if nothing before did, that christian's death is the best part the pathetic exclamation, "Let of his existence"-" Blessed be my soul be with the philosoGod! eternal rest is at hand." phers," belongs to one who is a stranger to truth and happiness. If they resemble Mr. Hume, we will most devoutly exclaim, "Furthest from them is best." Let our souls be with the christians! with the humble believers in that Jesus who is "the resurrection and the life." Let them be with Samuel Finley; let them not be with David Hume! "O I shall triumph over every foe," (he meant sin, satan, death, the grave,) the Lord hath given me the victory-I exult; I triumph! Now I know that it is impossible that faith should not triumph over earth and hell"-"Lord Jesus, into thy hands I commit my spirit; I do it with confidence; I do it with full assurance. I know that thou wilt keep that which I have committed unto thee." We appeal to all the world, whether any thing like this, any thing that deserves so much as to be named in comparison, ever fell from the lips of an infidel? How poor, how mean, how miserable, does he look, when brought to the contrast! Let the reader review again the situation of Dr. Finley, ponder his words, and mark their spirit; and then let him go back to Mr. Hume's "diversion"-to his correcting his atheistical writings for a new edition-to his "books of amusement"-to his 66 game of whist"-to his insipid raillery about Charon and his boat! We cannot close these strictures, without again reminding the reader, that no instance of composure in death is to be found more favorable to the infidel boast, than the instance of Mr. Hume. And yet, how jejune and forlorn does he appear, in comparison of Dr. Fin ley. The latter longs for his departure, "as the hireling pants for the evening shade ;" and when it comes, he pours around him his kindly benedictions; his eye beams with celestial brillian. cy; he shouts, Salvation! and is away to "the bosom of his Father and his God." But in the other all is blank. No joy sparkles in his eye: no hope swells his bosom ; an unmeaning smile is on his countenance, and frigid ridicule dishonors his lips. Be it never forgotten, that no infidels die in triumph! The utmost to which they pretend, is dying with calmness. Even this rarely happens; and, the scripture being judge, it is a part of their accursedness. It imparts the deeper horror to the surprise of the eternal world. But, if you reverse the picture, and ask how many infidels close their career in anguish, in distraction, in a fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the ADVERSARIES? how endless is the train of wretches, how piercing their cry! That arch blasphemer, Voltaire, left the world with hell anticipated and we hear so frequently of his disciples "going to their own place" in a similar manner, that the dreadful narratives lose their effect by repetition. It was quite recently that a youth in the state of New-York, who had been debauched by the ribaldrous impiety of Paine, yielded up the ghost with dire imprecations on the hour when he first saw an infidel book, and on the mur. derer who first put it into his hand. But who ever heard of a dying man's cursing the day in which he believed in Jesus? While such an instance, we are bold to assert, never occurred, nothing is more common than the peaceful death of them who have tasted that the Lord is gracious." They who see practical christianity in those retreats which the eye of a profane philosopher seldom penetrates, could easily fill a long record of dying beds softened with that bland submission, and cheered with that victorious hope, which threw so heavenly a lustre round the bed of Dr. Finley. These things carry with them their own recommendation to the conscience which is not yet "scared as with a hot iron." If our pages fall into the hands of the young, we affectionately entreat them to "remember their Creator in the days of their youth;" to make their calling and their election sure," before they be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Rich are the tints of that beauty, and sweet the fragrance of those blossoms, on which, in the morning of life, the Lord our God sheds down the dews of his blessing. You would not wish to be associated with infidels in their death-shun the contagion of their principles while you are in spirits and in health. Your hearts cannot but sigh, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his" cast in then, your lot with him; choose for your own God, the God of Samuel Finley; and like him, you shall have "hope in your death;" like him, you shall be had in everlasting remembrance," when "the memo. ry of the wicked shall rot." VOL. I. New Series. 21 RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS. ON THE ORIGINAL TEMPTATION AND FALL. SCARCELY shall we find, in the whole inspired volume, a passage more solemn and affecting, more admonitory and instruc tive, than the first six verses of the third chapter of Genesis. This passage declares to us the origin of that universal de pravi. ty of our race, of which the sages of the pagan world have never been able to give any satisfactory account. It comprises the history of "that dreadful fall which brought death into the world, and all our woes." carries us up to that awful event, which gave occasion for the introduction of the astonishing plan of redeeming mercy; which rendered necessary the death of the Son of God, with the whole vast series of events connected with it; and the consequences of which will be felt in all parts of the universe to the remotest periods of eternity. It The present design is, not to develope at large, all the great and solemn truths, comprised or implied in this passage; but to give a concise and connected view of that fatal temptation, which issued in the first apostacy of man, and to improve it for instruction and warning. Immediately after their creation, the first parents of our race were placed in the garden of Eden, surrounded with all the delights, which earth in its highest perfection could yield, crowned with glory and honor, and happy in the enjoyment of the peculiar favor of heaven. But all their bliss they held on the tenure of perfect obedience to their beneficent Creator; and for the trial of their obedience, one tree of their garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was expressly interdicted, under the penalty of death. How long they held their integrity, and enjoyed the felicities of their primeval state, as the spirit of inspiration did not see fit to record, we are furnished with no means, by which to determine. The supposition, though perhaps a prevalent one, that their fatal transgression was on the very day of their creation, appears to have no solid foundation, and may well be considered as very improbable. It would seem reasonable to suppose that the all wise Creator would not suffer them to be assailed by the subtile tempter, until opportunity had been given them for some improved acquaintance with things around them, for some rational reflection on the circumstances of their situation, and for some enlarged experience of the happiness to be enjoyed in a life of obedience and devotion. Nor can it be concluded, that this was not the case, either from the silence of the sacred history, as to any thing which took place between their divinely solemnized marriage and the fatal temptation by which they fell, or from the obvious fact, that their first child was not born, until after their fall. But to know how long man continued in his original state of innocence cannot be of any real im. portance; it much more deeply concerns us to know, by what means he fell from that blissful state. Now the serpent, says the sacred historian, was more subtile than any beast of the field,which the Lord God had made; and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. The serpent is here mentioned as being the tempter, by whose superior subtilty our first mother was beguiled. But on comparing with this other parts of the divine word, we clearly learn, that an evil spirit, called the Devil and Satan, was the real actor, and the animal, called the serpent, only the instrument, in that fatal affair. By the scriptures we are informed that some of the angelic hosts, whose original state was holy and blessed, near the throne of God in heaven, proudly rebelled against their Maker, and for their rebellion were expelled from their first habitation, and cast down to hell. The fall of the angels, though repeatedly alluded to in the scriptures, is no where particularly described. On what occasion they fell, or in what their particular sin consisted, is not declared; yet the opinion is not an improbable one, that their fall was on occasion of some special revelation to them of God's great design respecting mankind. Neither are we informed how long they kept their first estate, or at what particular period their rebellion commenced. When the foundations of 66 the mornthe earth were laid, ing stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Angels, therefore, existed before this world was creat ed; but how long before we are not warranted to say; neither have we any information from which we can certainly conclude, whether the fall of angels was antecedent, or subsequent, to the It is reasona. creation of man. ble, however, to suppose, unless there be some decisive proof to the contrary, that events of such vast consequence to the universe, and attended with so many important circumstances, as the creation and fall of angels, and the creation and fall of man, did not all take place within so short a space of time, as a very few days. After their expulsion from heaven, the fallen angels, with Satan at their head, still at en mity with God, and become desperate in the certain expectation were doubtless of eternal wo, disposed to do all in their power to counteract the great designs of God, and to disturb and destroy the happiness of all holy beings. "The beauty of the new created world, the glory of God, and the happiness of man" may well be supposed to have "excited their envy and their rage, and suggested to Satan the malicious design of ruining the whole." For this dreadful pur. pose, that he might the more surely succeed, he concealed himself in the subtile serpent, and made upon our first mother, when alone, his unsuspected attack. And in allusion to this he is called in scripture, "the old Serpent," and "the Dra. gon." It is not improbable, that, in their state of primeval innocence and bliss, when the whole animal creation was submissive to their will, and obsequious to their wishes, Adam and Eve had noticed with pleasure and fond partiality the superior sagacity and address of the serpent, and that the serpent, pleased with their caresses, was accustomed to play and fawn around them with great familiarity. This might naturally suggest to Satan the fatal device of using this animal as an instrument for effecting his diabolical design. But how is it to be accounted for, that the woman should enter, so freely, as it appears she did, into a conversation with the serpent, without any marks of suspicion or even of surprise at his powers of speech? However different in other respects the serpent might have been before the temptation and fall, from what he has been since; yet the power of speech was undoubtedly a gift, with which he was not naturally endowed. By some, however, it has been supposed, that on this sad occasion, the serpent, employed by the infer. nal adversary, appeared so beautiful and resplendent, as to induce the innocent Eve to receive him as a friendly angel, and listen to him as a messenger from heaven. In support of this opinion it is alleged, that the fiery serpents of the east, which are remarkable for their beauty and shining appearance, are, in the original language of scripture, called seraphim, the very name given in Isaiah to the heavenly worshippers; and that the apostle, in the same chapter, in which he says, that "the serpent be guiled Eve by his subtilty," ob. serves also, that "Satan is transformed into an angel of light."* But if this hypothesis be thought to excuse the criminal conduct of our first mother, farther than is warranted by the word of God; it is at least not unlikely, that Satan might have the address, to make her believe, that it was by eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree, that the serpent had acquired, in so eminent a degree, as he seemed to display, the faculties both of reason and speech; and that, impressed with this belief, she not only conversed with him without surprise, but was also prepared to give credit to him, when he told her, that, if she and her husband would cat, they should become as gods. Be this, however, as it may, as invisible spirits, both good and bad, are naturally unem bodied, and therefore when they converse with mankind must assume some body either real or apparent, it is evident that in assuming the body of the serpent, on this fatal occasion, Satan discovered very great sagacity. To have come to our first parents without disguise, and openly declared to them who he was, and what was his business with them, would not have answered his purpose. It would at once have put them on their guard, and rendered them deaf to all his temptations. He craf. tily, therefore, assumed the body of the serpent, and, thus disguised, proceeded, unsuspected, to the accomplishment of his purpose. And he said unto the woman, * Scott & Commentary. |