O God, be a stumbling block in his way. If it can be consistent with thy holy will, let us both live to promote the cause of the dear Redeemer. Even so, Amen." Thus closed her Journal: and whoever shall attentively remark the change which it indicates in the mind of the author, will perhaps discover an interesting sense of her own unworthiness; and an interested engagedness for the salvation of others. And these are traits, illustrative of christian character. The christian knows more of the evil of sin and of the plague of his own heart than others; he is therefore disposed to speak of himself in terms of abasement and selfloathing. But, reader, do not thence conclude, that he is further from true happiness and enjoyment than other men. If any unregenerate person, shall read this journal, let him inquire, whether he ever had peace and joy, lik t which the writer experience. Do you ask, What was the foundation of her joy? It was God: Loving him supremely, she could hate and abhor her own character, and yet be happy, because her happiness did not flow from the views which she had of herself; but from the views which she had of her God. Soon after recording the last entry in her journal, she was taken sick with the fever of the country. From this attack she never entirely recovered. Her feeble frame was unable to endure the trial which yet awaited her, and on the seventh day of February 1824, she fell asleep, we trust in Jesus, to be for ever with him in glory. Her last illness was short and distressing. Two days before her death, she became very much distressed in view of her sinfulness and stupidity; she thought she did not realize her own guiltiness before God as she ought. She remained in this state of mind until the evening before she died, when she observed to those, who waited upon her, that she had enjoyed some moments of relief and happiness, and very soon, to use the language of her husband, 'she became the most composed and happy being I ever saw.' Her physicians had requested that she might be kept as quiet as possible; but it was with great regret, she said, that she was prevented from talking as much as she pleased. It was the last oppor tunity she should ever enjoy of warning those around her.-The lowest place in heaven was all she desired or expected, and even that was infinitely more than she felt that she deserved. Thus, in the 21st year of her age, died this interesting and pious lady. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Attleborough, Feb. 1826. For the Christian Magazine. Is not a sin a punishment, since the subject of it must be miserable, according to the divine constitution or nature of things? I am disposed to answer this question in the negative. For, 1. If sin be a punishment, then punishment and the desert of pun.. ishment are the same; which is absurd. Desert of punishment, is as distinct from punishment, as a cause is from its effect. As a cause must exist anterior to its effect, so the desert of punishment must exist anterior to punishment, or else it is unjust. Could God have punished Adam before he deserved punishment? Could he have deserved it before he she did not realize her own guilti ness before God as she ought. She remained in this state of mind until the evening before she died, when she observed to those, who waited upon her, that she had enjoyed some moments of relief and happiness, and very soon, to use the language of her husband, she became the most composed and happy being I ever saw.' Her physicians had requested that she might be kept as quiet as possible; but it was with great regret, she said,, that she was prevented from talking as much as she pleased. It was the last oppor tunity she should ever enjoy of warning those around her. The lowest place in heaven was all she desired or expected, and even that was infinitely more than she felt that she deserved. Thus, in the 21st year of her age, died this interesting and pious lady. O God, be a stumbling block in his way. If it can be consistent with thy holy will, let us both live to promote the cause of the dear Redeemer. Even so, Amen." Thus closed her Journal: and whoever shall attentively remark the change which it indicates in the mind of the author, will perhaps discover an interesting sense of her own unworthiness; and an interested engagedness for the salvation of others. And these are traits, illustrative of christian character. The christian knows more of the evil of sin and of the plague of his own heart than others; he is therefore disposed to speak of himself in terms of abasement and selfloathing. But, reader, do not thence conclude, that he is further from true happiness and enjoyment than other men. If any unregenerate person, shall read this journal, let him inquire, whether he ever had peace and joy, lik nt which the writer experience. Do you ask, What was the foundation of her joy! It was God: Loving him supremely, she could hate and abhor her own character, and yet be happy, because her happiness did not flow from the views which she had of herself; but from the views which she had of her God. Soon after recording the last entry in her journal, she was taken sick with the fever of the coun- 1. If sin be a punishment, then Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Attleborough, Feb. 1826. had sinned? Could his first sin, therefore, have been a punishment? But, 2. Allowing that sin, according to the divine constitution and nature of things, is necessarily connected with punishment; yet sin and punishment may not be the same. Sin may be distinct from what is inseparably connected with it. Shame is a natural consequence of sin; but who will say, that sin and shame are one and the same thing? Sin and remorse of conscience are, connected in nature; but is there no essential difference between them? So sin and eternal wretchedness are connected together by the divine constitution; but who can believe that they are both alike? If sin is a punishment because it is inseparably connected with misery; then, for the same reason, holiness, under certain circumstances, may be a punishment. In a time of persecution for righteousness' sake, a man who has holiness sufficient to keep the faith, must of necessity burn at the stake. But who can suppose that holiness in this case, becomes a punishment, merely because it happens to be insepably connected with it? I may add, punishment. Punishment is pain or natural evil inflicted upon a rational creature for sin. Therefore the loss of sight might have been a punishment to Adam, had God inflicted it upon him for sin, but not otherwise. Adam's first sin, indeed, taken in connexion with the divine constitution, was an evil or disadvantage; that is, it would have been better for him, if no sinful volition had been produced in him; yet, since it could not have come upon him for any previous guilt, so it could not not be considered as a punishment. It is a disadvantage to mankind, that they all came into the world depraved, in consequence of Adam's first sin; yet since their first sinful volitions are produced in them, not for any antecedent guilt of their own, so their native depravity cannot be considered as a punishment. Hence allowing sin to be an evil or disadvantage, as connected with the nature of things, and the divine constitution; yet it has nothing in it, of the nature of a punishment. ISAIAH. For the Christian Magazine. 3. That notwithstanding sin, THE OBLIGATION OF MEN TO ACKNOWL taken in connexion with the nature of things, and the divine constitution, may be an evil or disadvantage to a creature, yet it is no punishment. God may subject an innocent creature to an evil or disadvantage, though not to a punishment. God might have subjected man in innocency to the evil or disadvantage of blindness; because what he had given him in sovereignty, he might in sovereignty have taken away. But, in that case, the loss of sight would not have been a EDGE AND BLESS GOD UNDER BOTH Ir is generally thought that man- I. It is the duty of men to de knowledge God, under both the smiles and frowns of his providence. God is the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things. He rules in the kingdom of nature, providence, and grace. He causes all the revolutions of the sun, moon, and stars, and all the motions and changes which take place in the earth. He controls all the views, purposes, and actions of men. No good or evil can come to them, but under bis direction, and by virtue of his influence. "Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." "Affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground." "Is there evil in the city," saith the prophet," and the Lord hath not done it?" Yea God himself claims the prerogative of sending good and evil upon mankind, according to his own sovereign pleasure. "I am the Lord, and there is none else. 1 form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things." God always sends good and evil, according to his original purpose and appointment. And for this reason he says to the afflicted, "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." Since God guides all the wheels of providence, and governs all secondary causes; all good and evil are to be traced up to his holy, wise, and sovereign hand. He is to be acknowledged as the dispenser of all the good and evil, which mankind experience, through all the stages and vicissitudes of life. Neither mercies, nor afflictions come to them by chance; but are sent by God, who has a right to give, or deny, or take away, as seemeth good in his sight. Accordingly good men have always looked through secondary causes in the dispensations of his providence, and ascribed the good they enjoyed, and the evils they suffered, to the hand and heart of God. Though Job knew that his great prosperity had been in a measure owing to his own care, activity, and diligence, and to the labour and pains of his servants, and to the aid of his fellow men; yet he acknowledges that God made him rich, and gave him all the good things he had enjoyed. And though he knew that Satan and wicked men had been concerned in slaying his flocks, and herds, and servants ; yet he ascribes all his calamities to the agency of the first and supreme Cause of all things. He says, without a single exception, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." And again he says, with peculiar tenderness and sensibility," Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. "" Joseph, in reviewing both the adversity, and prosperity, which he had experienced, through the astonishing scenes which he had passed, ascribes them all to the overruling hand of God. "So now it was not you," says he to his brethren, that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharoah, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." Thus it becomes all men to acknowledge God, in all the good and evil they experience, whether he gives, denies, or takes away, with or without the instrumentality of second causes. For God is as really and constantly concerned in ordering the circumstances and conditions of one person as of another. |