which God sent Israel to fight with fections as they might be made known X. 26. But these are only a sample of the lump of these despiteful sinners, that might be produced from the word of God, to show the nature of the sin. The word presumptuous seems to stagger us, but the scripture 64 is the best interpreter, and shows us than those that die in ignorance of these things: better they had never known the way of righteousness, 2 Peter ii, 21. 3rd. The state such are left, in under the curse of God, past feeling any real sorrow for sin, given up to a hard heart, and a reprobate mind, filled with all unrighteousness, full of envy, baters of God, Rom. i. 29, 30. As the disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of love, so those, like Judas, are filled with the spirit of the devil, which is envy, for after he received the sop, Satan entered into him, took full possession of him, and he went out and betrayed Jesus, out of envy, because he had marked out or told him the truth, and when God sent his wrath into his conscience, he brought back the money to the high priest, confessed his sin, and said, I have betrayed innocent blood; but he never went to Jesus the great High Priest, the only sacrifice for sin, this he rejected, and there remained no other so he went to his own place; like Cain they may see their end, and say in a fit of rebellion, my punishment is greater than I can bear, or greater than I ought to bear; as many do charge God with injustice for sending men to hell for ever, for a few sins, as they term it; so like Balaam they may see their distance and say, "I shall behold him, but not nigh," and may want to die the death of the righteous, but not desire to live his life, so with the Pharisees of old, they were left in a state of hardness and hatred, and Jesus said, Fill ye up the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell, Matt. xxiii. 32. seeing ye reject me, the only way of escape, so when they were charged by Stephen, with resisting the Holy Ghost, they were cut to the heart, and yet gnashed on him, with their teeth, Acts vii. 51, 54, and were left as despisers of the gospel, to wonder and perish, Acts xiii. 44; so many sin wilfully or despitefully after they have received some knowledge of the truth, and like the stony ground hearers, have felt some emotions of joy from the word, and afterwards hate the people they professed to love; and pour contempt on all spiritual religion and them that are led by the Spirit, and the more they are reproved by them, the more they hate them. I will now try to prove that the children of God cannot commit this sin, either before regeneration or after, God forbid I should speak lightly of sin, but it every sin committed against the light of conscience, is presumption in a scripture point of view, the psalmist need not have said," Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins," but, pardon them, or deliver me out of them; but it is plain to me the scripture term, presumptous sin, is committing it out of hatred to a holy God and his holy word, and his Spirit. Now the children of God cannot commit this sin before regenerated, for want of light, though their natural enmity may be so stirred up as to act very cruel to the children of God, and they may feel a hatred to them. See Saul of Tarsus, what he did, and Jesus took it as done against himself, though he did not know who he was striving against, but thought he was doing God service, Acts xxiv. 9; and when the Lord appeared to him and shewed him whom he was sinning against, he dropped the weapons of rebellion, and cried, Who art thou, Lord," fled to him for shelter, and found a refuge from the storm, and tells Timothy, he obtained mercy, because he did it ignorantly in unbelief; now if he had had the light Judas had, his would have been the unpardonable sin. Neither can a child of God commit this sin, after called, because the seed which is incorruptible, that is, the word of God, abides in him. It is true many of the saints sinned griev. ously and against light, that is, they knew they were doing wrong; but as Hannah said, "God is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed," and they are weighed by the motive, 1 Sam. ii. 3. Abraham sinned against light in denying his wife, yet it was not maliciously, neither from ill will to God or his beloved wife, but for fear of being put to death for her sake. Aaron also, for fear of offending the people, who said, "Make us gods, to go before us," but it was not out of ill will to God, and this was his reply to Moses, when he expostulated with him Thou knowest the people that they are set in mischief," Exod. xxxii. 22. Truly this was a grievous sin in God's high preist, and the Lord was angry with him, to have destroyed him, had not Moses prayed for him, Deut. ix. 20. But Moses had no scriptural authority to pray for any who sinned presumptuously. Peter also sinned very basely, but not out of enmity to God or Christ, but Satan got him in his sieve and fear of death prevailed and caused his fall: had he possessed the malice of Judas, his would have been the sin unto death, but Jesus's look brake his heart, and he went out and wept bitterly, fled to him in confession, and for pardon, and not like Judas to the high priest; and it is to him every poor child of God flees in guilt and distress for pardon, though he may be dreadfully afraid he has sinned beyond the reach of mercy, and through Satan's temptations, think his the unpar lonable sin, for this is his grand aim, to inject awful thoughts into the poor soul, and then try to persuade it, they are its own, when the poor struggling creature can say at the very time, I hate vain thoughts," yet cannot get rid of them. have found, times without number, particularly at the beginning of my christian life. When quite a youth, I was reading of this sin against the Holy Ghost, an aged person said, That can never be forgiven. I wondered what the sin could be, and This I though I lived an abandoned life for many years after, yet the fear of having committed it, never entirely left me, but caused frequent uneasiness, especially after I was brought to feel my lost estate, and for some weeks before the Lord delivered me, I was continually tempted to say something blasphemous against the blessed. Spirit, why, I could not tell, though it appeared at times as though something would break from my lips. This filled me with sore distress, yet the Lord preserved me, and brought me to believe on his dear Son, and for some time to rejoice in his love. I thought my troubles were over, but another storm was at hand, and I expected my poor vessel must have sunk, for Satan told me, I had been guilty of this crime, by having such dreadful thoughts against God; I sank in deep waters for some time, till the Lord appeared again, my God of hope, and then that cloud removed for ever. It is now about thirty years ago. Should these remarks prove profitable to any poor tried soul, the Lord will have the glory; the letter is rather prolix, but I could not explain my meaning in fewer words. If you think it worth inserting in your "Spiritual Magazine" it is at your service. Your's sincerely for Christ's sake, A FRAGMENT. IN the first of the Bible translations in this kingdom, we find that verse in Exod. xv. 26, which in the after translation now used in churcles, is rendered," for I am the Lord that healeth thee;" is rendered, "for I am the Lord thy surgeon." And there is somewhat very beautiful and striking in the name and of fice of a surgeon, when applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us look at it a moment. A surgeon is, or ought to be, a man of wisdom in his profession, of ability, of promptness to administer relief, and of a very tender and feeling heart: and how very blessedly doth the Lord Jesus Christ answer all these points: yea, and every other which can endear him as the Jehovah Rophe to his people. Jesus is of singular wisdom in his profession; for he is wisdom himself, "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." None indeed but the Lord Jesus Christ can discover our multiform diseases, or make application of the suitable remedy to all. Jesus alone hath ability to heal; for nothing short of his blood can cleanse from all sin, and his righteousness gives strength to the sinner. And who so prompt to administer to the numberless wants of his redeemed? For he saith, he is always near at hand to help in time of need. And who so tender, so feeling, and of an heart to sympathize with his people, as Jesus? And who then doth not enter into the peculiar beauty of this translation which is here so blessedly rendered?" For I am the Lord thy surgeon." Who doth, or will not, see a somewhat peculiarly sweet, and applicable to the name, when Jesus saith, I am the Lord, the Lord thy surgeon. Hail, thou glorious Jehovah Rophe! Be thou the Lord that healeth me! POETRY. CHRIST'S DEATH AND VICTORY. JESUS his precious blood hath shed, He bore their load of guilt and wrath, Jehovah in that solemn hour," On Christ did all his vengeance pour, 'T is finished! on the cross, he cried, Victorious o'er the grave. Jesus, with strength and glory crowned, By faith we now can eat his flesh, My soul, what canst thou say to this, Ah, if the Saviour was not mine, And what but God the Spirit's grace, Of Jesus' blood to make me whole, Jesus I know hath ransomed me My debts he there paid down. Oh sweet, transporting sound. I soon shall quit this wilderness To join the blood-wash'd throng; To the great sacred Three in One: We there shall sweetly sing W. GENDle. LEBANON LEAVES. And the Lord looked upon him " Judges vi. 14. 'Twas a dark time! Usurpers ruled the land; oppression walked Haughty and high, and when the fields were reaped, The fields' possessors must in secret thresh, Lest tyrants steal their food. Thus Gideon chose The wine-press for his barn; and while he threshed Fearful, he saw a stranger 'neath an oak Watching him at his labour. Lid it not seem Derision to address the trembling youth, Urge many wherefores, and ask many signs;- The Angel of the covenant, who oft In various forms, his Israel visited, and now A stranger 'neath the oak, rebuked him not, |