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taken place, but victory has uniformly declared in favour of the British. The Burmans are brave, but they cannot contend with any advantage against the military tacticks and discipline of Europe. We expect, however, there will be a sanguinary conflict in their defence of the capital of their empire.

AFRICA.

The enterprising travellers from Britain are endeavouring, with unabated vigour, to explore the interior of this vast continent. We have been very sensibly affected with the accounts we have lately seen of the sale of Christian slaves at Tunis. It is the opprobrium of all Christendom that the Barbary states are suffered to carry on this abominable traffick. Yet European vessels are principally employed in bringing the slaves from Greece to this detestable market. No less than eighty-six have lately been brought to Tunis in this manner. They were a part of the unhappy inhabitants of Scio, who could not be disposed of in the glutted markets of Turkey, but commanded a high price at Tunis. The subject is too shocking and disgusting to dwell on.

AMERICA.

Our southern neighbours, since the victories of Bolivar in Peru, have been freed from the confusion and distress of war; and are all of them, we believe, making more or less progress in forming and settling their civil institutions. An active Christian missionary has lately completed a translation of the New Testament into the Peruvian tongue, which it is expected will speedily be published at Lima. We hope that South America may be well replenished with Bibles, before the pestilential influence of the Pope shall have reached thither, to prevent their circulation.

UNITED STATES.-Since the publication of our last number, a President of the United States has retired from office, and his successor has been inaugurated. The administration of President Monroe was, on the whole, eminently happy and successful. He has deserved well of his country, for his long, faithful, and important services; and it has been with regret that we have seen it stated, that in going into the shade of retirement, he goes to bankruptcy and poverty. We hope that publick justice will permit the allowance of all his accounts, which he submitted to a committee of Congress. We follow him with our prayers, that whatever may be his worldly circumstances, he may in his retirement be preparing for a richer inheritance and higher honours, than any which this world can confer.-The inaugural address of President Adams, was every thing that we could wish it. We do not see in what respect it could have been better. It was dignified, conciliatory, intelligent, comprehensive without being prolix, chaste in composition, and concluding admirably, with a recognition of his entire dependance on God, expressed in the very language of inspiration. His cabinet consists of Mr. Clay of Kentucky, Secretary of State; Mr. Rush of Pennsylvania, (now in London or on his return) Secretary of the Treasury; Mr. Barbour of Virginia, Secretary of War; Mr. Southard of New Jersey, Secretary of the Navy, and Mr. Wirt of Virginia, Attorney General-Mr. Clay has addressed a very able letter to his former constituents in Kentucky, explanatory of his views and motives in voting for Mr. Adams as President. Among many other topicks he notices his unhappy CARD. He admits that "he ought not to have put in it the last paragraph," which contains a virtual challenge to a duel; and declares also, that "no man holds in deeper abhorrence" than he, the practice of duelling. Yet (alas! for the inconsistency,) he might "by inevitable circumstances" still be "forced" to fight a duel "It is an affair of feeling, about which we cannot, although we should reason. Its true corrective will be found when all shall unite, as all ought to unite, in its unqualified proscription." We must declare that we consider this apology even worse than the offence. Yet it is the usual apology-much like that which Hamilton and Decatur offered. But offer it whoever may, it is both absurd and wicked. When will "all unite" in an "unqualified proscription" of duelling, while men in eminent stations practise it?-Never-They are the very men who prolong the evil, and the chief guilt of it lies at their door. And can any thing be more absurd than to affirm that we cannot reason, about a matter in regard to which we ought to reason? This is all but a contradiction in terms. If we cannot reason, we are under no obligation to reason. We are insane, and reason is out of the question. Such talk, on any other topick, would subject a man to ridicule and scorn-We think our country owes its thanks to Commodore Rodgers, who, in opposition to this tide of fashionable but destructive sentiment, has issued orders to all the officers under his command, strictly forbidding duelling on any occasion; declaring that he will punish it rigorously, and

denouncing the whole practice in unqualified terms. This is consistent, manly, and noble. A few such examples as this, in men of high military rank and of tried bra. very, would have the most happy effect. We rejoice that our President has never been a duellist, and if under his administration, and by his influence, the practice should be banished from our country, it would form for him the richest and brightest jewel in his crown of glory. That this event may be realized, and that an administration, happily commenced, may be prosperous throughout, should be the subject of prayer, with all who love their country and their God.

To Subscribers and Correspondents.

The Editor of the Christian Advocate, and his son who conducts all its mercantile concerns, have removed to No. 150, Pine-street, Philadelphia. This notice is given, that all who make communications for the Advocate, whether literary, or pecuniary, or requesting to become subscribers, or relinquishing their subscriptions, may know in what manner to direct their letters, parcels, or friends.

It is respectfully suggested to distant subscribers, who have not yet paid for the Christian Advocate of last year-and the number of these is considerable-that they will have a favourable opportunity to make their remittances, by the clergy and laity of the Presbyterian church, who shall come to Philadelphia as members of the next General Assembly.-Payments in advance may be forwarded in the same manner.

We have received a note, not written we think with the best temper, with the signature of A Subscriber, complaining grievously that we have neither published nor invited a memoir of a deceased brother clergyman. We can assure the writer of the note that we loved and honoured that brother while he lived, and have very sincerely lamented his death; and that the unworthy motives, which he insinuates might influ. ence us in not inviting a memoir, are strangers to our bosom.-We wonder they should ever have occurred to the mind of A Subscriber. The sole cause of what is deemed our neglect was-the time that had elapsed since the decease of the lamented brother, rendered it, we supposed, useless to invite an obituary article in regard to him. But if A Subscriber, or any other individual, will send us a well written article of this kind, it shall still have a ready insertion. It is, in most cases, utterly impracticable for the editor of a miscellany to prepare such memoirs himself. They require a knowledge of facts and dates, which he cannot often possess or obtain. We ex ceedingly wish that the Christian Advocate should be a repository for memorials of eminent Christians. No articles are more acceptable or useful. But while they should not be prolix, they ought to contain more than a meagre statement of name, birth, and burial. It is long since Mr. Addison justly remarked, in a number of the Spectator, that it is a tacit satire on the deceased, to record on his monumental stone, nothing more than that he lived and-died. We have refused but one obituary article, and that merely because we thought it not worthy of its subject.

There is no part of the duty incumbent on the editors of religious miscellanies more unpleasant, than to refuse to publish communications well intended, and on important subjects, but not written with the ability which the subjects demand. This unwelcome duty we shall have to perform, in regard to a series of papers proposed to be sent us on the vastly important subject of missions; unless on seeing a second number, we should find it more nearly approximating what it ought to be, than we have found the first which we have already received.

∞ Since the extracts of letters from Betsy Stockton were in type, we have received a second Journal of the Rev. Mr. Stewart, of which we shall give some inte. resting parts in our next number.

THE

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

MAY, 1825.

Keligious Communications.

LECTURES ON THE SHORTER CATECHISM OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES-ADDRESSED TO YOUTH.

LECTURE XIV.

The subject of the present lecture is thus expressed in our catechism"When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death."

As it is my wish in this course of lectures, to touch, at least cursorily, on as many topicks as I properly can, a knowledge of which may be of use in the study of the scripture, I shall here say a few words on the garden of Eden.-It is proper to take notice of it here, if we notice it at all. Few subjects have given rise to more fanciful speculations, than the question where the garden of Eden' was situated. It appears, however the general deluge notwithstanding that it was the intention of Moses to mark out the place, in such manner that his cotemporaries might know distinctly its location. But the face of the earth has been so changed by a variety of causes, since the time of Moses, that it is not possible to find any place, at present, which fully answers to the Mosaick description. In the land of Chaldea, we find the names of two of the four rivers mentioned by Moses, as having their source in the garden of Eden-These are, the Euphrates and the Hidde VOL. III. Ch. Adv.

kel or Tigris. At some distance below the conflux of these two rivers, and not far from the head of what is now called the Persian Gulf, we may, I think, with the most probability, fix the site of the garden of Eden. A little below this site, the stream formed by the junction of the Euphrates and Hiddekel, is again parted; and the eastern branch may have been the Gihon, and the western the Pison, of Moses.

The garden of Eden, in its primitive state, was a place of exquisite beauty, and calculated for affording every kind of pleasure and enjoyment to sinless man. It is sometimes called Paradise-the Greek term for a garden or enclosure; borrowed, it is supposed, from the Persian, and which, in the New Testament, is sometimes used to denote the heavenly state itself.

The terrestrial Paradise produced all manner of pleasant fruit; and the business of our first parents was, to dress and keep this garden. It is worthy of your notice and remembrance, that even in a state of innocence, man was formed for industry, and not for idleness. The garden, indeed, produced its fruit spontaneously-To till the ground, in order to obtain its increase, was a part of the curse inflicted for transgression. But to preserve and dress the gar den, so as to keep it in its pristine order and beauty, and to gather its fruit, was the employment of man in innocence.

2 B

In this garden there were two remarkable trees,-the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. These have been considered as the two sacraments, appointed for man before his fall-the seals of the covenant of works; the one to be received, the other to be avoided. Their nature we shall more particularly consider in the sequel.

Let us now proceed to consider the first clause in the answer of the cate chism-" When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him."

The Hebrew word n (Berith,) and the Greek Ann (Diatheke,) which very often occur in the holy scriptures, and of which I have heretofore taken some notice, are, by our translators, commonly rendered by the English word covenant. This word covenant, however, in the scriptural sense of it, is not exactly the same which it bears in secular transactions. A covenant among men, has been defined-"A mutual, free compact and agreement, betwixt two parties, upon express terms or conditions." Notwithstanding, however, the infinite distance between God and man, it appears that our Creator has always treated with our race in the way of covenant. It is, indeed, true, that the mere will of God, when made known to man, must be a law to him, whether man approve or disapprove of that will. But as, from the infinite perfection and goodness of the Deity, it can never happen that he would require of man any thing but what was perfectly reasonable and right, so he has been pleased to take the consent of man to his equitable proposals; that man might be bound, not only by abstract duty and authority, but by his own consent and stipulation.

The Mosaick account of what was done in constituting the original moral state of man is very short; and much has been written and said, in a controversy whether it was properly a covenant transaction, or not. But by comparing the statement made by Moses, with other parts of the sacred

writings, it appears that, so far as any transaction between the Creator and the creature can properly be called a covenant, this certainly was one. In covenant transactions among men, the parties indeed must be both free and equal; and in this respect, as already hinted, the sense of the term covenant, in the dealings of God with his creatures, must be somewhat different from its import in regard to their dealings with each other. Yet all the substantial parts of a covenant are manifestly found in the case before us. Infinitely holy, just, and good, it was impossible that the Creator should propose to Adam any thing but what was, in the highest degree, equitable: And while Adam was perfectly holy, it was in like manner impossible that he should not freely choose, and entirely approve, of the equitable proposal of his Maker; and bind himself to obedience by every obligation or sanction that was required. This was accordingly done; and thus a covenant was formed, between God and man in a state of innocence.

This is called in the catechism "a covenant of life." It is also often called, the covenant of works, from the condition of it-which was obedience or works. Man, in all he did, or in all his works, was to obey his Maker. It is called the covenant of life, because life-eternal life-was the promise of the covenant, on the part of God. If man was perfectly obedient, his Maker promised him an endless life of perfect happiness, as his reward. We cannot indeed conceive, that any innocent moral being, under the government of God, should ever have been miserable. But the promise of eternal life to Adam, if he remained faithful, during the period of his probation, insured to him a higher measure or degree of happiness, than any which could have been claimed or expected, if God had not promised it to him by covenant. There was grace, therefore, on the part of God, even in the covenant of works-grace in the Creator condescending to treat at all with

his creature in the way of covenant; and grace in covenanting to raise him to a higher state of happiness, if obedient, than that to which he could otherwise ever have risen. This strikingly shows the equity of the penal part of the covenant-the infliction of such an awful punishment, as was the consequence of disobedience.

The promise of life is indeed not explicitly announced, in the very compendious account, given us in Genesis, of man's original state: but it is clearly implied and intimated in the threatening. The threatening, or penalty, ran thus-"In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Here the implication distinctly is, if thou eatest not thereof, thou shalt surely live. And the same truth is abundantly taught in other parts of scripture.

The life promised to man on obedience, included "the continuance of his natural life, consisting in the union of his soul and body; the continuance also of his spiritual life, consisting in the favour of God; and his entering on eternal life in heaven, after he had passed through the time of his trial upon earth."

Here it may be proper to consider what was the probable use, and special design, of "the tree of life." We know that Adam was not permitted to eat of it, after his fall. If he had not fallen, the probability is, that when his period of probation was ended, he was then to eat of it, as the seal of his immortality; and afterwards to have been glorified, both in body and in soul, and to have been no more exposed to the danger of falling: but as he did not continue faithful, he was not permitted to take this symbol and seal of his fidelity. Bishop Horne, in a very ingenious discourse on the tree of life, has made this statement more probable, from a comparison of several parts of scripture, than you would readily suppose.*

Let us now consider, more particularly, that the condition of the covenant of life, or of works, on the part of man, was perfect obedience. Man was fully qualified and competent to render such an obedience: for the moral law of God,--the rule of duty, of good and suitable conduct towards both God and man,-was written on his heart. In other words, "he had a full knowledge of his duty, a full natural and moral ability to perform it, and a perfectly holy disposition of heart, whereby he was sweetly inclined to obedience. This complete furniture being given him by his Maker, his obedience was required to be perfect. He was to keep the whole law of God, both in heart and in life, with a faultless exactness. He was to believe whatever God should reveal, and he was to do whatsoever God should command. The whole will of his Maker, which he perfectly knew to be most excellent, was to be the rule by which his affections were to be guided, and his conduct to be directed, without the smallest deviation. As the test of this sinless obedience, man was to forbear eating of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil."--Be not, my young friends, of the number of those who show their ignorance of their Bible, by foolishly and profanely talking about the loss of Paradise, by the eating of an apple. The scripture no where informs us, and consequently it can never be known, what kind of fruit it was, which was borne by the forbidden tree. We are only told, that "the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise."

An inquiry of more importance is why this tree received the name it bore-why it was called "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" I answer-"by the law is the knowledge of sin." By the very prohibition to eat of this tree, man was taught that it was good to obey, and evil to disobey. The knowledge of the good

*See note, at the end of the portion of of obedience, and the evil of disobe. the lecture given in this number.

dience, was intimated and inculcated,

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