ON THE NEW YEAR. THE expiration of the old year, and the commencement of the new one, are too generally seasons of mere dissipation and festivity. Let us pause, and dedicate a little time to serious meditation. It is wise to reflect on the past, and to contemplate the future. Behind us, we survey an unbroken train of mercies, reaching from our birth to the present moment; and before us, a succession of blessings, secured by the promises of GOD, and stretching into eternity. A considerable portion of our life is gone for ever. A year has just elapsed;-a year that was big with events. To thousands it was joyful or melancholy, fatal or glorious. As it rolled along, many pleasing prospects were clouded, and many towering hopes laid prostrate in the dust; many were driven away in their wickedness, and many saints were admitted into everlasting life.We should sit in judgment on ourselves, and try, at the bar of Scripture and of conscience, our actions, words, thoughts, pursuits, and principles. A frequent anticipation of the day of judgment will divest that solemn period of its horrors. In the course of the year just concluded, our Heavenly Father conferred on us innumerable favours; some of which were unobserved; others were noticed, but not acknowledged; and few have been properly improved. Some of the most valuable gave us pain, and excited, perhaps, our dissatisfaction. Yet affliction is a treasure of inestimable worth. It is promised to the Christian as a blessing, not denounced against him as a curse. If it please the LORD to afflict us, shall it displease us to be afflicted? Some he deprived of their property, others of their health, and others of friends whom they loved as their own souls. Such losses are undoubtedly severe, but those were only temporal comforts. They were lent, not given; and Goo, when he lent, reserved to himself the power of resuming them. Shall we relinquish them in sullen silence, or lowering discontent? Shall we not, as we return them, acknowledge his goodness, which allowed us to retain them so long, and enabled us to derive from them so many and such varied pleasures? And if he has diminished the stock of our happiness, how large a portion of it still remains! The spiritual wealth of the believer is unimpaired, for salvation is intended as a gift, not a loan. Christians can say, CHRIST is my Redeemer, GoD is my Father, the HOLY SPIRIT is my Sanctifier, the promises are my portion, heaven is my inheritance, life and death are my privileges. And shall they complain of suffering a few privations and inconveniences, which are included in the covenant of grace, and allotted to them for their good? Cold and insensible is the heart which can view the conduct of God without glowing with gratitude and love. He has watched over us, and secured us from harm; he has borne with our folly, perverseness, and unthankfulness; supplied our wants in the most seasonable time, and suitable manner; soothed our griefs ; and when his Providence obscured our worldly prospects, his Grace bas opened to us the boundless prospect of glory in the skies. Moments journey fast, but mercies faster. Each instant brings with it a multitude of blessings. The importance of time arises out of its connexion with eternity. In itself, it is of little worth: but considered as the foundation on which the structure of our everlasting happiness must be reated, it acquires inestimable value. GOD, whose bounty is in all other respects unlimited, is very parsimonious of time. He deals it out by moments, withdrawing the first before he gives the second, retaining the third in his own hands, and leaving it quite uncertain whether he will give it or not. The year on which we have just entered may be our last. That it will be so to millions is certain; that it may be so to us is not improbable. Our transition from the cares and amusements of the present life is nearer, perhaps, than we suspect. But why should Christians fear to die? Death will terminate their sorrows and imperfections, expand their opening graces to instant maturity, translate them to heaven, and place them before the throne of GOD. The Sun of Righteousness invests the clouds which hang over the grave with a soft and not unpleasing lustre; their obscurity is almost melted, and they are become semitransparent. The opening year addresses each of us in silent but expressive language, Prepare to meet thy God." Let sinners bear and tremble. The benefits which flow from the Atonement will endure for ever; but it is in this life only that we can obtain a title to them and while the wicked are multiplying their crimes, and the feeble-minded are halting between two opinions, time is flying, life contracting, ordinances decreasing, death advancing, judgment approaching, and the power of sin growing stronger and stronger! London. Y. Z. REMARKS ON THE IMPORT OF THE WORD *TXH, IN MATT. xvi. 26. -“ IT has been sometimes contended, that the word vxn, “soul," in this passage, should be rendered "life" "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own life; or what shall a man give in exchange for his life." Let the following reasons for preferring the common translation be carefully considered. 1. The substitution of the word "life," for "soul," and the refer ring of the whole passage to the loss of temporal existence, evidently takes away all the sublimity of the doctrine. It degrades this portion of Scripture from the rank it was before thought to hold, as a truth of the most momentous import, as well as of the most vivid and convincing clearness; and reduces it to the level of a mere truism, of which neither the force nor propriety is very appa rent. 2. It is at variance with the scope of the preceding discourse, in which the SAVIOUR exhorts his disciples to undervalue life itself, when it comes in competition with their allegiance to him. But nothing can be more foreign to this purpose, than to represent human life as of the greatest earthly importance. 3. It is equally at variance with what follows; "For the SON OF MAN shall come in the glory of his FATHER, and then shall he reward every man according to his works." That there ought to be a connexion between this reference to a future judgment, and the loss of that valuable possession mentioned before, under the name of x, is plain from the use of the conjunction yag, "for." This connexion immediately appears, if we understand the preceding words as intended to point out the value of "the soul;" but it defies all common ingenuity to see any connexion, if the word be translated "life." In justice to the subject, it should be observed, that what has induced some Critics to hesitate concerning the meaning of this passage, appears to be, (1,) That the Greek word, in the New Testament, bas often the But this can meaning of "life." prove nothing, because, at least as often, it signifies the soul, the spiritual part of our nature. (2.) It must be allowed, that the same word is properly rendered "life," in close connexion with the passage under consideration; viz. in the 25th verse, "Whoever will save his life, Jux, shall lose it." But, in reply, it may be said, that even in the 25th verse there is, in all probability, an intimation of the two-fold meaning of the word. It may be paraphrased thus:-"Whoever, by sinful compliances, in times of persecution, will save his life, rny uxny aurov, shall lose, auтny [TM Vuxny, taken in its more solemn meaning,] his soul." No great stress need be laid on this interpretation. It is not necessary to the argument; but it appears to express what actually occurred. It seems to me more probable than the supposition, that the unfaithful disciples of CHRIST should, through their apostasy, lose their lives by the very means which they used to preserve them. Apostasy, we know, was, in general, the preservation of the life, but the loss of the soul. Δ. A STRANGE OCCURRENCE. THE following Anecdote is said, in a respectable Publication, to be "a well-authenticated fact." It is adduced as an instance of something which, we confess, we do not very distinctly comprehend, called "the sympathetic affinity of individuals." That there may possibly exist some sort of occult sympathies in nature, which are not vet well understood, we are not here called either to admit or to deny. Still less are we disposed boldly to discredit every fact, for which science, at present, is unable to account, or which cannot be referred to any recognized class of natural phenomena; for nothing can be more unreasonable than such obstinate incredulity, either in philosophy or religion. The fact itself is interesting. Perhaps, after all, it might be an instance of the special interposition of GOD; and was not one of the mysteries of nature, so much as of Providence. It is as follows: "When the COUNT DE LA TOUR LAUDRE' was in London, we believe as Ambassador from Louis XIII., a young shoemaker, in taking his measure, became strangely agitated, was seized with a violent hemorrhage at the nose, and fainted away. This was considered at first as accidental; but when the man returned, to fit on the shoes after they were made, he was immediately, on approaching the COUNT, again affected as before. DE LA TOUR was much struck with the circumstance; for at that time the doctrine of sympathies was more in vogue than at present. He inquired into the history of the young man; and learned that he was born in France, but taken at a tender age to Bohemia, and afterwards to Holland, whence he had come to England. The COUNT was the more interested by this narration, because a child of his sister, who died in giving it birth, had been stolen and never heard of; and he began to think that there was something providential in the phenomena which he had witnessed in the young man. He, in consequence, directed inquiries to be instituted, and, in the end, traced effectually and completely that the youth was his nephew; established his right to the title and estates of the BARON DE VESIUS, the husband of his sister; and in perpetual commemoration of the event, founded an hospital at Rochelle, which Louis XIII., in 1637, endowed with particular privileges." DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENTS, ERECTED IN THE CITY-ROAD CHAPEL, LONDON, IN MEMORY OF THE REV. JOHN WESLEY, THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY, THE REV. JOHN W. FLETCHER, AND THE REV. DR. Coke. MONUMENTS having recently been erected to the memory of the late DR. COKE, and MR. FLETCHER, and those of MR. JOHN WESLEY and MR. CHARLES WESLEY having been considerably improved, some description of the sculpture, and copies of the inscriptions, have been requested by several of our subscribers. The new Monuments are placed under those of MR. JOHN WESLEY and MR. CHARLES WESLEY; which, as many of our readers will recollect, are situated within the CommunionRecess, one on each side of the Altar, in the City-Road Chapel, London. That to the memory of DR. COKE is composed of a white marble Tablet, bearing the inscription, upon a ground of dove-coloured marble, surmounted by statuary. On the right hand is the figure of a NEGRO, pointing to the following words, on an expanded scroll, " Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God,"— DR. COKE's favourite text when he pleaded the cause of Missions in the pulpit, and expressive also of the great success of the Missions so long superintended by him, among the Negroes in the West India Colonies, in the United States of America, and on their native Continent. Beneath this incription is another passage of Scripture, "And the Isles shall wait for his Law," which is explained by the figure on the left, a native of CEYLON, in the costume of the country, sitting, and perusing with apparent earnestness a Volume, which, by the characters on the open page, is designated to be a copy of the NEW TESTAMENT, translated into the CINGALESE;-thus justly connecting the extensive and successful Wesleyan Mission in Ceylon with the memory of him by whom it was planned; and who died on his passage to that long-desired scene of the labours of his closing life, leaving his companions to take up the mantle of his zeal, and to prosecute to completion the work which he was only permitted to commence. A Medallion below the Tablet represents the SUN setting in the waves of the Ocean;-an appropriate emblem of the termination of the career of one, who had diffused the light of evangelical truth in so many parts of this benighted world. The inscription on the Tablet is as follows: Sacred to the Memory of THE REV. THOMAS COKE, LL.D., Who was born at Brecon, the ix. of September, MDCCXLVII, and died the 111. of May MDCCCXIV. After a zealous Ministry of several years in the Established Church, He gave up himself, A.D. MDCCLXXVI, to the direction of the REV. JOHN WESLEY, M.A., And did the work of an Evangelist, with much success, in various parts of Great Britain and Ireland. He was appointed, A.D. MDCCLXXIV, the first Superintendent of the "Methodist Episcopal Church" in America. To him, also, were confided the Foreign Missions of the Methodists, In support of which he expended nearly all bis patrimonial fortune, And encountered toils and self-denials, which the christian world beheld with admiration. By the blessing of GOD on the Missions to the Negroes in the West Indies, commenced by him, A.D. MDCCLXXVI, Fifteen Thousand Persons had been formed, before his death, into religious Societies, And a foundation laid for the civilization and salvation of that degraded class of human beings. To the Negro race upon their native continent, as well as in the islands of their bondage, His compassions were extended; And he set the first example, in modern days, of efforts for the spiritual emancipation of Western Africa. After crossing the Atlantic eighteen times, in the service of the souls of men, His unwearied spirit was stirred within him to take a part in the noble enterprize of evangelizing British India; And he sailed from England, A.D. MDCCCXIII, as the Leader of the first Methodist Missionaries sent to Ceylon. But this "burning and shining light," which, in the Western world, had guided thousands into the paths of peace, Had now fulfilled its course; and suddenly, yet rich in evening splendour, sunk into the shadows of mortality. He died on the voyage; and his remains were committed to the great deep, until the sea shall give up her dead. His days were past; but his purposes were not broken off: the work which he had planned has been made to prosper; And through the preaching of the Gospel, the circulation of the Scriptures in the native tongues, And the establishment of Christian Schools, Many once-deluded Cingalese have exchanged the wretchedness of an atheistic creed, And the worship of idols and of devils, for the light and comfort of the true religion. The same love of CHRIST, which made him long the advocate and the pattern of exertion in behalf of foreign lands, Constrained him also to works of pious charity at home. Into many neglected districts of England, Wales, and Ireland, The means of grace were carried by his private bounty, or through his public influence, And his "praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches." This Monument was erected A.D. MDCCCXXII, at the personal expense of the Methodist Ministers and Missionaries, As a record of their respectful gratitude for the disinterested services, the eminent usefulness, And the long-tried and faithful attachment, of their now glorified Friend. "He that winneth souls is wise." MR. FLETCHER'S Monument corresponds with that of DR. COKE; and is placed opposite to it, immediately under that of MR. JOHN WESLEY. The sculpture, above the Tablet, is a representation of the ARK OF THE COVENANT,—an emblem of MR. FLETCHER'S evangelical and contemplative piety, and of his intimate communion with Gop. At one side are Volumes, on which are inscribed CHECKS," and "PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL," in reference to his defence of the Truth against the Anti nomian heresy, and to his well-known work on the Character of the Great Apostle of the Gentiles; and on the other, an expanded scroll, with the motto "With meekness of wisdom," indicating at once the ability of his writings, and the christian spirit in which controversy was conducted by him. This is also emblematically represented in the Medallion below, on which the mild and peaceful Dove is seen hovering over a scroll and pens, the instruments of composition. The inscription on the Tablet is: Sacred to the Memory of THE REV. JOHN WILLIAM DE LA FLECHERE, Vicar of Madeley, in Shropshire; Born at Nyon, in Switzerland, the XII. of September, A.D. MDCCXXIX, Died the xiv. of August, MDCCLXXXV: A man eminent for Genius, Eloquence, and Theological Learning; Still more distinguished for sanctity of Manners, and the virtues of primitive Christianity. And of those gracious rights with which it invests all who believe, He had "boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of JESUS," And in reverent and transporting contemplations,-the habit of his devout and hallowed spirit,There dwelt as beneath the wings of the Cherubim, Bebolding "the glory of Gon, in the face of JESUS CHRIST," and was "changed into the same image; " Teaching by his own attainments, more than even by his writings, the fulness of evangelical promises, And with what intimacy of communion man may walk with GOD. He was the friend and coadjutor of the REV. JOHN WESLEY, Whose apostolic views of the Doctrines of General Redemption, Justification by Faith, And Christian Perfection, he successfully defended; Leaving to future ages an able exposition of "the truth which is according to godliness," And erecting an impregnable rampart against Pharisaic and Antinomian Error, In a series of works, distinguished by the beauty of their style, by force of argument, And by a gentle and catholic spirit; affording an edifying example of "speaking the truth in love," In a long and ardent controversy. For twenty-five years the parish of Madeley was the scene of his unexampled pastoral labours; And he was there interred, amidst the tears and lamentations of Thousands, The testimony of their hearts to his exalted piety, and to his unwearied exertions for their salvation : But his memory triumphed over death; And his saintly example exerts increasing influence in the Churches of CHRIST, In token of their veneration for his Character, And in gratitude for the services rendered by him to the cause of Truth, The other Monuments are not wholly new; but the Tablets have been re-lettered, and placed upon a new and enlarged ground of Black Marble, surmounted with emblematic sculpture. In that of MR. JOHN WESLEY, powerful Rays of Light break forth from a cloud upon that part of the surface of a Globe, on which is drawn the geographical outline of the British Islands, the United States of America, the British American Colonies, and the West India Islands, marking the scenes of his extraordinary personal labours, or those parts of the earth which have hither |