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are most naturally interpreted as the language of serious and awakened irony. Some of the terms are such as will not bear to be explained of that innocent cheerfulness and chastened indulgence, which alone could be directly recommended either to childhood, or youth, or manhood. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth. Take thy pleasure. Pursue whatever course inclination suggests to thee. Trouble not thyself with reflections or with anticipations; but yield to present impulses, and spend a merry life. Give thyself no concern about what may please God. Please thyself. Withhold not thy heart from any joy. Follow the tide of thy pas

17, "The kingdom of God is not "6
meat and drink: but righteousness and
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
From these words it has been argued,
that the bread and wine taken as meat
and drink at the Lord's table, are fo-
reign to every question pertaining to
the kingdom of God. "The taking of
mere words," observes Bishop White,
"without reference to the design of
them, is a fruitful source of error.-
The design of the apostle in the above,
was to disparage arbitrary and use
less distinctions concerning meats and
drinks. Putting this, and also putting
the present question (concerning ordi-
nances) out of view, he could never
have said, that the use of meats and
of drinks had nothing to do with the
kingdom of God: for in that case,
what becomes of the demands of tem-
perance? As to the meat and drink
of the Eucharist, none say that they
are the kingdom of God-or the
church: although Christians generally
say, that the use of those elements in
an act of religious worship, is a tie of
their association.'

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3. The last passage I shall now notice, occurs in Eccles. xi. 9, " Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that, for all these things, God will bring thee to judg ment." The design of the preacher, in the discourse from this text, was to show that cheerfulness is not only not contrary to the dictates of inspiration, but that it is expressly enjoined. This none will deny,-but the cheerfulness there recommended is very different, I apprehend, from that spoken of in this passage. We are commanded to rejoice in the Lord,' to show our thankfulness for the various mercies of creation, preservation, and redemption, by pealms and hymns and spiritual songs: this passage, on the contrary, has reference to the pleasures of sin. The remarks of Dr. Wardlaw, in his Lectures on Ecclesiastes, are well worth recording. These words, he observes,

Lectures and Dissertations on the Catechism, p. 370.

sions.

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And if

- thy pulse's madd'ning play Will send thee pleasure's devious way,'

do not check it: mind not moderating and reducing it: let it bound in thy veins; and give thy youthful desires their full measure of gratification.”

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"That Solomon means more than mere merriment, mere cheerful, unso licitous, lighthearted jollity,-that he means the pleasures of sin,-is evident from the phrases which follow:-' and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. The ways of a man's heart, in Scripture language, do not mean the ways of the renewed heart, but the ways to which he is led by the dispositions and tendencies of the heart unregenerated (unrenewed) by the grace of God: For the iniquity of his covetousness,' says God concerning rebellious Israel, I was wroth, and smote him: I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.' To' walk in the sight of the eyes,' is to pursue whatever the eyes look upon as desirable. We naturally fix our eyes on that which we value and wish for, and avert them from that which we dislike. The eyes thus become the index of the affections. Ezekiel's wife is denomi nated the desire of his eyes.' Seeking with eagerness the precarious treasures of the world, is 'setting the eyes. upon that which is not.' The 'lust of the eye' is associated with the lust of

:

the flesh and the pride of life.' And in the second chapter of this book, Solomon expresses the unrestrained gratification which he gave to all his propensities in these words: Whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them: I withheld not mine heart from any joy.' It is one of the prayers of his pious father, Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.' ***** "Enjoy thyself, then, says Solomon. Let thy heart follow thine eye, and thine eye thy heart. Rove at pleasure amidst all the scenes of youthful indulgence. While the days of thy youth' continue, give the reins to thy lusts, and satiate thyself with whatever thy heart fancies."

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This is counsel, which the young would like very well to understand as But so given them in good earnest. given, it would be counsel very inconsistent with the whole tenor and design of this book. Solomon takes a higher aim. His object is, to entice the young to purer and nobler and more lasting joys and he immediately checks the indulgences of time by pointing to eternity. He draws in the rein, which he seemed to throw loose. He damps the fire, which he appeared to kindle. He exhibits a youth, giving himself up to all the gaieties, and all the licentious pleasures of the world, and in the midst of the scene of mirth and revelry, he suddenly startles his ear, and thrills his heart with the summons to the tribanal of God: Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes: BUT KNOW THOU that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.'

'God

of thyself. Thine own personal concern in the transactions of that day, will be as sure, as if thou wert to be the sole culprit, the only prisoner at the bar-as if all creatures were swept from existence but thyself. • Know thou' this. Be assured of it. has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness.' Let conscience speak freely, and it will ratify the assurances of his word. Laugh not at the warning. I know that young men are disposed to treat every thought of such a subject as a gloomy intruder on their pleasures: I know that the problem of happiness is, how such thoughts may be most effectually and constantly excluded from the mind: and I know that the man who ventures to suggest them, exposes himself to be proscribed as rude, and stigmatized as fanatical. But O beware. Listen to friendly admonition. What you are tempted to laugh at now, you will find a dread reality in the end."*

ERNESTI.

On the Reverence required in singing Psalms.

It

In order to reform the custom, which has prevailed, of SITTING, while the Psalms are sung, in the publick service of God; it is necessary to observe, that the church has, in all ages, appointed the reverent practice of STANDING, in singing praises to God. plainly appears from several passages of Scripture, that this was the practice of the Jewish church. 2 Chron. vii. 6: "And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord, which David the king had made to praise the Lord, because his mercy endureth for_ever, when David praised by their ministry: and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood."-Nehemiah ix. 5: "Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless

Go on, "This is very solemn. Pursue thy career of young man. pleasure. Give thy heart all its desires: but-count the cost. Anticipate what is before thee. Remember, thou hast an account to give. Think of the awful realities of a coming judgment: and then, with these before thine eyes, follow thy present course, if thou canst. Thou mayest have many companions, in thy career of thoughtlessness and sensuality. But, O forget not, God will bring thee into judgment.' Think delphia, 1822.

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* Wardlaw's Lectures, p. 512-515. Phila

July, 1823.] Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania. 217

the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise." And, whenever the angels are said to sing praises to God, (as in the visions of Isaiah, vi. 2, 3, and St. John,) they are represented as STANDING: "In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."-Revelations vii. 9, 10: "After this, I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands: And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."-xv. 2, 3, 4: "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest." One of the fathers, (St. Basil,) describing the practice of the church, in his time, says, "the people rising from prayer, STAND up to sing psalms." And, as WE STAND up, with reverence, in conformity to the Rubric, to praise God, when the psalms are read, we ought to do the same when they are sung. And in doing this we stand up; not only to signify, but to forward the lifting up of our mind at the same time. For as on the one hand, if our souls be really lifted up to contemplate and praise VOL. VII.

God, our bodies will naturally rise in that erect posture, which is natural to, and most becometh man; so, on the other hand, the raising up of our bodies helps towards the raising up of our souls too, by putting us in mind of that high and heavenly work we are about; wherein, according to our weak capacities, we join with saints and angels above in praising God now, as we hope to do hereafter in their blessed. company for evermore.

The foregoing was published by order of the venerable Society in London for promoting Christian Knowledge. We add the following passages :

Psalm cxxxiv. 1:"Bless ye stand in the house of the Lord."Psalm cxxxv. 1, 2: "Praise ye the Lord-ye that stand in the house of the Lord." [Ed. Ch. Journal.

Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania.

FROM the eleventh annual report of the trustees of this society, read at the meeting of the society on the sixth of January, 1823, we make the following

extracts.

"The board having at the commencement of the year appropriated 500 dollars to the committee of mis sions, immediate exertions were made to obtain zealous labourers in this vineyard of our Lord. Inquiries were made in various quarters with but little success, and several months rolled away before the services of even one clergyman could be secured. On the 12th of April the Rev. Moses P. Bennet left Philadelphia for Greensburg and Kittanning, under the direction of the board, and has continued to the present time to of ficiate two-thirds of his time at the former place, and the remaining one-third at the latter, with very encouraging prospects of success. These places were visited by the Rev. Mr. Thompson, of Pittsburg, early in the spring. He was the first Episcopal clergyman we believe that was ever at Kittanning. Here, about 45 miles from Pittsburg, he found many families attached to the church. He continued two days with

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218

Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvánia. [Nó 7.

them, preached twice in the courthouse, and baptized four adults and nineteen children. Greensburg is on the great road leading to Pittsburg, and is 36 miles east of that city, and about the same distance from Kittanning. In the last letter received from Mr. Bennet he states, that the congregation at Greensburg have taken immediate measures to be incorporated, and that they have commenced a subscription for the purpose of building a church, which he thinks will undoubtedly be erected during next summer. Here. in November, the holy sacrament of the Lord's sup per was administered, for the first time, to fifteen communicants. Forty-two persons, of whom sixteen were adults, have been baptized at the two places since the commencement of his ministry,"

"The Rev. S. Sitgreaves, commence ed his ministrations in the interesting village of Wilkesbarre, on the 19th of June. The course of services he has since gone through has been the following. On Sunday morning he preached in the common meeting-house in Wilkesbarre, and in the afternoon he usually preached in some of the neighbouring villages in Plymouth, situated five miles below the town on the opposite side of the river-in the plains, a few miles above-but most frequently in Hanover, seven miles below, on the same side of the Susquehannah with Wilkesbarre. On Wednesday evenings he lectured to a Bible class of twentyfive, and on Thursday evenings he performed divine service in the courthouse. The congregations have been, to the present period, sensibly increas ing in numbers, in attention to the service, in participating in the responses, and in complying with our usages.— When he arrived here the congregation were engaged in raising the frame of their new church, which advanced with rapidity to its completion in November. On the 17th of that month it was first occupied, and has been named St. Stephen's. A concourse of people, greater than the building could contain, assembled from all parts of the vicinity, and even from the northern borders of the diocess. The event was memorable and joyful. Few who have not been

placed in similar situations can readily form a conception of the emotions of an Episcopalian, who, having been separated from those services, by which he had been received into the congregation of Christ's flock, which had been the nurture of his youth and the attachment of his riper years, is, after a long deprivation, at length restored to the church of his fathers; within whose sacred walls he may pay his last devotions, and which he can bequeath an invaluable legacy to his children. On this day Mr. S. was assisted in the services by the Rev. Mr. Rodney, who delivered a discourse, and administered the Lord's supper to twenty-seven communicants, some of whom had not communed in the church since the revolution."

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"These statements,' says Mr. Sitgreaves, present to the view a flour ishing condition of the interests of the church in this quarter and I trust and believe, that the progress of genuine piety has kept pace with the outward prosperity of the church.

"The share which I have had in producing these results, is to me a source of much pleasure; and I trust the society will derive from a review of its part, the gratification to which it is entitled. Its bounty has contributed to bless a numerous population-to establish permanently the institutions of our church, and to extend the influence of true religion; and St. Stephen's stands another monument of the utility of the society. It was the society's missionaries who first awoke the dormant predilections of the Episcopalians in this valley. It was the society's missionaries who fostered these attachments-and it was the society's missionaries who have brought them to their maturity. And if other instances were wanting to establish the merits of the institution, this case alone would be sufficient to furnish it a passport to the warmest interest and generous patronage of all true Episcopalians.” ”

Annexed to, the above report are some appropriate remarks of the Rev. Mr. De Lancey, which accompanied his motion for the acceptance and publication of the report, and which we

deem worthy of preservation in this Journal.

"Sir, in proposing the resolution, that the report which has just been read be accepted, and ordered to be printed,' I beg leave to submit a few remarks to the consideration of this meeting in reference to the operations of this society, and more especially to its claims upon our attachment and beneficence.

"It would be trespassing too greatly upon the time and patience of yourself and those around me, to enter into minute details of its proceedings, and to set before you each individual instance in which it has come with a blessing to them that were ready to perish; but I trust it may not be deemed entirely without interest to offer some general statements respecting its operations. I do this, Sir, the more confidently, because I know that to the venerable and revered person who presides over this institution, there must come up the remembrance of a day when it might be said with a melancholy emphasis, that gross darkness' rested upon the interests of our church, not only in this, but in every diocess in our country-a day of heavy desolation-when the yine yard of the Lord was given up a prey to the wild beasts of the desert, its hedges destroyed, its fences broken down, its winepresses demolished, and its fruits and its flowers trodden under foot. Your mind will naturally revert to the stormy days of our revolutionary struggle, when the dark torrent of even a necessary war had not only overwhelmed the church, but had well nigh obliterated the very landmarks of all religion. To convince you of the utility of this society (were argument necessary to that purpose), I need only recall to your recollection the fact, that at one time there was but a single clergyman of our church within the present diocess of Pennsylvania; and then direct your eye to the numerous flocks which are now within her folds, under the superintendence of more than thirty shepherds. By you, Sir, who can say in reference to the desolation of our Zion,

Quæque ipse miserrima vidi,
Et quorum pars magna fui,'

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the importance of this society will be readily acknowledged; and I trust there will be no difficulty in convincing others of its utility. Let them only cast their eyes to those quarters where its influ ence has been exerted, and they will see the evidences of its value in the sanctuaries which its funds have aided in erecting-in the congregations which its missionaries have collected in the knowledge which its books have diffused-in the moral improvement which it has effected, and in the spiritual and eternal hopes which it has excited and nourished. Its course has indeed been, not like the rushing torrent, which arrests attention by its impetuosity and its noise, but like the gentle rivulet, the banks of which are the green pastures of plenty, whilst its pure and wholesome waters, in their meandering progress, enrich the land and beautify the prospect. I would appeal in support of these statements of the utility of our society, to those of you who have been led by business or pleasure to the distant sections of the diocess. I would ask you if its labours, during the period of its existence, have been entirely in vain. I would ask if you have not met with vestiges of its usefulness in the progress of your travels. I would ask if the diocess presents to the eye, the same extent of melancholy blank, which it did when the society commenced its operations. I know beforehand what will be your answers to these questions. You will tell me of churches built, of congregations gathered, of ministers setled, of people improved, of sanctua ries filled, of the Gospel preached, and of thousands walking in the ways of God, in places where, but a few years since, you had witnessed the unchecked operations of ungodliness-where you had seen the tavern as the only sanctuary frequented by the people, profanity its worship, and riot, intemperance, and gambling its unhallowed ceremonies. I am not, Sir, uttering idle and empty declamation. For the correctness of this (which, as to many places, I may call) faintly drawn picture, I appeal boldly to those of you who have seen the original; and if any one present refuse to admit the fairness of this representation, I would ask him to tura

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