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and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. These declarations lead not to stoical insensibility. No persons are more warm in their friendships than pious holy men. Scarcely ever was there an individual of greater decision than Henry Martyn, but it was a decision blended with the finest sensibility. He reminds us of some angel whose wing is bold and untiring, but who bends with a lowly soul, before the throne of his Sovereign, and he who wept, when surveying for the last time, the shores of his native land, was destined amidst unexampled difficulties, to deposit in eastern deserts, the beautiful germs of their moral renovation.

But if Christianity demand sacrifices in her ministers and followers, it is not without presenting a rich compensation. She contrasts the shortness of the present with the ages of futurity. What is our life? it is even as a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. My days have departed like a shepherd's tent. All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of grass. Thus does she teach us the vanity of time, but pours over this contracted state of being the light of eternity, unfolding at the same time wreaths of glory for the Christian soldier, woven by those pure spirits who inhabit around the throne of God.

Waving however all those pure enjoyments, which flow to the heart from the prospect of the future, Christianity gives present consolation. Let the heart be kept glowing with love to Christ and filled with a sense of his presence, then a desert or an island of the deep, teems with comforts more than can be numbered.

Should He command me to the farthest verge

Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes,

Rivers unknown to song, where first the

sun

Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam

Flames on the Atlantic isles, 'tis nought

to me

Since God is ever present, ever felt In the void waste, as in the city full.

With such views, it becomes the ministry to act. Success waits on the footsteps of every herald of salvation, who keeps his heart disengaged from the world. The Moravian missionaries have accomplished much in the lapse of a few years. They have reared in the depths of the wilderness living monuments to their Saviour, and a hundred forests have borne witness to their diligence and devotion.

Attracted by the love of fame or gold, thousands make present sacrifices. They leave their homes and every object that the heart holds dear. Shall the follower of a Redeemer, indulge slothfulness in the midst of all that enterprise exhibited around him, by the men of the world? Conscious we are that these remarks have been often made, but it will be necessary to repeat them, till the last hut of the moral wilderness shall feel the light of the gospel.

The present system of education has no small agency in fostering local attachments. Children are not reared on the noble principles of the gospel, which seems to pass beyond the limits of place and country. With what apparent delight do aged persons recur to the scenes of childhood. The minds of the young become insensibly fixed on the seats and walks of those who have gone before them in life, and the range of affection towards the families of our world, becomes narrowed into a circle that comprehends but a few. If but a small share of the diligence which parents use in teaching children to promote their own little interests, were employed in spreading before them the map of a lost world, much more good would be likely to result. In that map they would behold cities,

now the strong holds of error, where the gospel once shone with the purest brilliancy; countries covered all over with Mahommedan delusion, and whole continents filled up with savages who know not the way to life eternal, with only here and there some green spots, reclaimed by men of missionary spirit.

Nothing, however, contributes so much to nourish the pleasing associations of the mind as poetry, which renders engaging whatever it touches. It casts renewed attractions round our dwellings, sheds gleams of felicity over our mountains and glens, and deepens the shade of our native groves. She paints to the life, whatever interests the heart, and blends her colours with all the tender associations of the mind. If the bard sojourn in distant countries, it is to assemble their charms to make out a perfect picture for his native land. We may detect something of this spirit even in the strains of Hebrew poetry. The Hebrews, says an elegant critic,* were a simple people of husbandmen and shepherds, with no commercial pursuits, or foreign intercourse, to withdraw their attachment from their native soil. Their lands, which were equally divided among the heads of families, could not, without difficulty, be alienated from their possessors, and, if alienated, were always allowed to be reclaimed at the return of the jubilee. These circumstances

were

strong contributives to the growth of those local affections and patriotic prejudices which give an ardent and heartfelt character to poetry.

It may not be improper to remark here, that at times when we are the least conscious of it, the heart may be insensibly gliding away from a fixed attachment to the person of the Saviour. There is a charm in science, and a fascination in the pursuits of elegant literature, which insensibly steals on the affections.

Campbell's Lect. on Poetry.

But it is possible to consecrate the researches of science, with each embellishment of taste, to the service of our Redeemer. Never was there a poet who touched the harp more skilfully than Cowper. Whether he portray the vices of a city population, or linger in contemplation on rural objects, it is evident that a master handles the lyre. He has drawn us nearer to our firesides. His graphic pencil has imparted fresh interest to our villas, gardens, woods, and waterfalls. Yet Cowper was a Christian, and this is his highest praise, that, more than any other poet, he has laid in a divine sanctity, with the most deeply cherished associations of the mind.

It has been made a question how far poetry may be applied to sacred subjects, and whether religion does not entirely reject poetical ornaments. There is, indeed, a majesty in religion, which seems at a great distance from the inventions of men, and nothing can be more out of place, in hymns constructed for popular use, than the gay decorations of fancy. Nevertheless we should be sorry to embrace, in all its latitude, the opinion of a great critic* on this subject, or to think that poetry is not destined to perform important services for religion.

In the opinion of Sir W. Jones, the greatest orientalist of his day, the highest strains of poetical composition are to be found in the Bible. In proof of this we may appeal to the songs of Moses and Deborah, and to the civ and to the cvII psalms. Had the psalms, or the book of Job, or some parts of the prophets, been the productions of any old heathen bard, the intense curiosity of the learned would be diligently applied to their investigation.

It would not be difficult to trace the history of this art from the dawn of revelation, with a view of showing that its finest materials have

* See Johnson's Lives of Watts and Waller.

been drawn from the scriptures. But the present state of the art gives evidence that sacred themes are the legitimate province of the poet. Is it fanciful then, to anticipate a period when there shall be a still deeper reformation in our national strains; when the mythology of the ancients shall be less venerable in the view of our youth; when the war song shall give place to the hymn of gratitude, and poetry shall contribute its benign influence to the cause of religion.

In connexion with this subject it may be proper to remark, that the associations of the young are often tinctured by romances and novels. Nothing fires the imagination so quickly as reading about castles and chateaus in the forests,country seats, and the thousand nameless objects which enter into the wild descriptions of a picturesque writer. În this way so many are disappointed in their estimation of life. They fancy many more pleasures in existence than they find on trial, and thus contract a distaste for solid happiness. Perhaps our Bible classes will go a great way in correcting this taste, for even intellectually considered, the Bible is the most entertaining of all books.

T. B. BALCH.

ON THE WARS OF OUR INDIAN

TRIBES.

It has afforded the Christian public great delight to hear of the arrival of the two Osage Mission Families, at their respective places of future residence and labour. They have endured the trials of a long and fatiguing journey; and each company has buried two of their companions on the way; but probably had they remained quietly in their native homes, as large a proportion of them would have sickened and died. Certain it is, that some small families in this healthy region, and living under the most

favourable circumstances, have experienced, during the last summer, more sickness than either the Great or the Little Osage Mission Family. This should encourage our dear missionary friends; for their health. and lives are in the hands of our al

mighty Redeemer; and they shall, if he pleases, be vigorous in any clime, and under all the privations to which he call them. may The most discouraging and afflictive circumstance at present known relative to our Osage missions, is the impending war between the Cherokees of the Arkansas, and the Little Osages. On this subject, the superintendant of the Union station, the Rev. Mr. Vail, has offered some remarks, which ought to excite the attention of our fellow Christians in the United States. He asks, if it would not be wise and proper for our national government to interfere for the prevention of wars between the Indian tribes. We apprehend that it would; and that such an interference would meet with the approbation of all our moral and religious fellow citizens. Indeed, none could oppose such a measure, unless they were influenced by the cruel and wicked desire that the Indian tribes should mutually destroy each other, and thereby desolate the lands which they now occupy.

As to the right of our government to put the strong hand of power on all the Indian nations, and say to them, and say to them, "you shall no longer wage war among yourselves;" we have no question: for to us it would seem a strange anomaly in national policy and law, that there should be various tribes. of people within our territorial bounds, independent of the sovereign power extending over the same limits. If any portion of our territory and its inhabitants is exempt from national control, why may not half or the whole of it, be equally exempt; and so present us with a government without a loca

tion, without limits, and without subjects.

It may be objected, that the Indians do not enjoy the privileges of citizens, and therefore ought not to be subjected to the restraints of government. But it may be replied, that the slaves within our borders are no more in the possession of all the privileges of citizens than the Indians: are the slaves, then, not the subjects of our national government? May the slaves with impunity, and without restraint, wage war among themselves? Shall one tribe of Africans in our land, commence hostilities against another, without being compelled to desist by the military force of our country?

So far as our Indian neighbours are qualified for the enjoyment of civil privileges, let them be accorded to them: we say the same of the negro slaves: but if war is to be declared any where within the limits of these United States, let our government be a party to it, on one side or the other. If such a determination were known to the savages of our western wilderness, they would soon bury their hatchets and scalping knives. The arts. of civilization and the blessed work of Christianizing the aborigines might then rapidly progress, and our red brethren in time would be fitted to participate in all the blessings of freemen. E. S. E.

FOR THE PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE.

Brief Review of a Debate on Christian Baptism, between Mr. John Walker, a Minister of the Secession, and Mr. Alexander Campbell, a Minister of the Baptist Church; in three Letters to a Friend.

(Continued from page 495.) Having thus examined all the instances of Christian baptism that are mentioned with any degree of detail in the New Testament, you

will have perceived that there is not a circumstance attending any one of them that favours immersion ; and you will also have perceived with what caution Mr. C.'s assertions and conclusions on this point are to be received. In p. 141, when summing up his arguments in favour of immersion, he mentions this one : "the places where this rite was administered-in rivers, and where there was much water." There is no river, nor even much water mentioned in any of them, the baptism by John excepted. The three thousand on the day of Pentecost were baptized in the city of Jerusalem, where there was no river, nor even much water; Saul in the city of Damascus, and in the house of Judas; Cornelius and his friends in Cornelius's house; and you and the reader will draw the conclusion whether the jailer and his household were baptized in the prison, or elsewhere. I have intentionally postponed a consideration of Christ's baptism by John, to this place, because it had not the most remote resemblance in its design to John's baptism as administered to the Jews; nor yet to the baptism afterwards appointed by himself; and to reason from it, with respect to either the nature or mode of Christian baptism, is something worse than preposterous. John's baptism was a baptism unto repentance, or a mean designed to produce repentance; and Christian baptism was a mean appointed for obtaining "the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost:" and I need not tell you, that to say that Christ was baptized that he might obtain repentance, and the remission of sins, would be blasphemy of a very atrocious kind. What was it then? It was his solemn inauguration to his priestly office. The Jewish high priest was a type of him in this respect; and hence we find Jehovah, in the 40th chapter of Exodus, giving Moses this charge, respecting the inauguration of Aaron and his

that he

sons to this important office. "And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and thou shalt wash them with water. And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy gar ments, and anoint and sanctify him, minister unto me in the may priest's office." Now the whole of this typical transaction was exactly fulfilled in Christ's baptism, or his being washed with water by John. When Jesus was baptized, we are told, that Jerusalem, and all Judea, and the region round about Jordan, had resorted to John's baptismhere then was the congregation of Israel. And when he was baptized, the Spirit of God, prefigured by the holy anointing oil, descended like a dove, and lighted upon him. Then, and not till then, did he enter upon his mediatorial office, which is an additional proof of the propriety of the explication I have given to that memorable transaction. And here I cannot but observe, that those ministers who call upon their hearers to go down into the water in imitation of Christ; and those persons who say they have followed their Lord and master in his baptism, know not what they are saying. I would only farther remark on this point, that as the Jewish high priests were washed with water before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, we may safely infer that it was not by immersion, as we do not read of any sufficient bath provided for the purpose; and that the type might be fulfilled in all its parts, another fair inference follows, that Jesus was not baptized by immersion; and to this I would add, that here is another instance of the verb baptizo being used in another sense than "to immerse."

I shall only notice another argument of Mr. W.'s on this point, with Mr. C.'s reply. As a proof that pouring or sprinkling, are scriptural modes of applying water in baptism, Mr. W., says Mr. C., p. 124, argued, that baptism had not only a refer

ence to the Spirit's influences, which are frequently said to be "poured out:" but to the blood of Christ, which is called "the blood of sprinkling." Mr. C. admits that water in baptism is an emblem of the Spirit's influences; but denies that it is an emblem of the blood of Christ. I admit that it is not so, directly, but indirectly, it is; as it was in consequence of Christ's obedience unto death, that the Spirit's influences are given for the purpose of regeneration and future holiness. And that it is so, is evident from the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost" Be baptized every one

of

you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Here the obtaining the remission of sins, the consequence of receiving the blood of Christ by faith, and the renewing influences of the Spirit are conjoined by the apostle, and urged as an argument to induce the Jews to submit to the ordinance of baptism. But although Mr. C. admits that water in baptism is an emblem of the Spirit's influences; yet he tells us, that "when baptism is spoken of in relation to the influence of the Holy Spirit, it denotes the overwhelming influences of that almighty agent, in consequence of which all the faculties of the mind are imbued by it." The overwhelming influences of the Spirit is not a scripture expression, and you may be ready to ask what he means by it. I will not positively say that he means the same thing as immersing; but as he pleads for baptism by immersion, and as immersion is a being literally overwhelmed in water, and is so termed by Baptist writers; then I may suppose that he means the same thing as being immersed in the Spirit's influences. But why not use the word immersed in the Spirit's influences. That would have startled, and had an unfavourable effect on the reader of the Bible, who has met with the words, "the blood of sprinkling"

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