ters, before he had sat long with || hap it was to go home with him, them, they would look to hear him were sure of having another serurging Brethren, the Lord Jesus mon by the way. takes much notice of what is done and said among his ministers when they are together. Come, let us pray before we part.' He was a mighty and a happy man, that had his quiver full of these heavenly arrows of ejaculatory prayer; and when he was never so straitly besieged by human occurrences, yet he fastened the wishes of his devout soul unto them, and very dexterous-selves, as a principal means of ly shot them up to heaven over the head of all.

"His observance of the Sabbath was remarkable. He knew that our whole religion fares according to our Sabbaths; that poor Sabbaths make poor Christians; and that a strictness in our Sabbaths, inspires a vigour into all our other duties. Hence, in his work among the Indians, he brought them by a particular article, to bind them

confirming them in Christianity, To remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy, as long as we live. For himself, the sun did not set, the evening before the Sabbath, till he had begun his preparations for it. Every day was a sort of Sabbath to him; but the Sabbath-day was with him a type and foretaste of heaven; nor would you hear any thing drop from his lips on that day but the milk and honey of that country, in which there yet remaineth a rest for the people of God.

"In serious and savoury discourse, his tongue was like the pen of a ready writer. He was, indeed, sufficiently pleasant and witty in conversation; but he had a remarkable gravity mixed with it, and a singular skill in raising some holy observations out of whatever matter of discourse lay before him. Doubtless he imposed it as a law upon himself, that he would leave something of God and heaven and religion with all that should come near him, so that in all places his company was attended with majes-plary. ty and reverence.

"He was a mighty Student of the Bible. It was unto him as his necessary food; nor would he, upon easy terms, have gone one day together without using a portion of the scriptures as an antidote against the infection of temptation, and would prescribe this to others.

"He had a high reverence for the house of God. If ever any man could, he might pretend unto that evidence of uprightness, Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house. It is hardly conceivable, how, in the midst of so many studies, and labours, as he was engaged in at home, he could possibly repair so frequently to the ministry of others. Here he expressed a diligent attention by a watchful and wakeful posture, and by turning to the texts quoted by the preacher; and they whose good

"His mortification was exem

Never did I see a person more dead to all the sinful pleasures of this life. He became so nailed unto the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the grandeurs of this world were unto him just what they would be to a dying man. Early from his bed, and abstemious in his diet, he endeavoured to draw others to partake with him in the pleasures which he derived therefrom. When especially he thought the countenance of a minister showed that he made much of himself, he would say, Study mortification, brother! Study mortification Modest in his own apparel, when he once saw some scholars, whom he thought a little too gaudy in their clothes; Humiliamini, Juvenes, humiliamini, (away with your vanities, young men, away with your vanities ;) was his immediate compliment to them.

"His charity was a star of the

sive.

first magnitude in the bright con- || peace.-When he heard any minisstellation of his virtues, and the ters complain, that such and such rays of it were various and exten- in their flocks were too difficult for them, the strain of his answer still was Brother, compass them!' and, Brother, learn the meaning of these three little words-Bear, Forbear, Forgive.' Nay, his love of peace sometimes almost made him to sacrifice right itself. When there was laid before an assembly of ministers a bundle of papers, which contained certain matters of contention between some persons, which our Eliot thought should rather unite with an amnesty on all their former quarrels, he, with some imitation of what Constantine did on a similar occasion, hastily threw the papers into the fire before them all, and immediately said, Brethren, wonder not at what I have done; I did it on my knees this morning before I came among you.

"His liberality went much beyond the proportion of his little estate in the world; and he would, with a forcible importunity, press his neighbours to join with him in his acts of beneficence. The poor counted him their father; and repaired unto him with a filial confidence, in all their necessities. So great was Mr. Eliot's charity, that his salary was often distributed for the relief of his needy neighbours so soon after the period at which he received it, that before another period arrived, his own family were straitened for the comforts of life. One day the Parish Treasurer on paying the money for salary due, which he put into a handkerchief, in order to prevent Mr. Eliot from giving away his money before he got home, tied the ends of the handkerchief in as many hard knots as he could. The good man received his handkerchief, and took leave of the Treasurer. He immediately went to the house of a sick and necessitous family. On entering, he gave them his blessing, and told them God had sent them some relief. The sufferers with tears of gratitude welcomed their pious benefactor, who with moistened eyes began to untie the knots in his handkerchief. After many efforts to get at his money, and impatient at the perplexity and delay, he gave the handkerchief and all the money to the mother of the family, saying with a trembling accent ; 66 Here, my dear, take it ; I believe the Lord designs it all for you. And when his age had unfitted him for almost all employment, he would sometimes answer when asked how he did; Alas! my understanding leaves me; my memory fails me; but I thank God my charity holds out still. I find that rather grow than fail.

His charity led him also to||

6

"His resignation to the will of God was very great. Some afflictions befel him, especially when he was called to follow his hopeful and worthy sons, some of them desirable preachers, to their graves; but he sacrificed them like another Abraham with such a sacred indifference, as made all the spectators to say, This could not be done without the fear of God!' yea, he bore all his trials with admirable patience, and seemed loth to have any will of his own, that should not be wholly melted and moulded into the will of his heavenly Father.

"When sinking at sea, the boat in which he was having been upset by a larger vessel, and he imagined. he had but one more breath to draw in this world, it was, The will of the Lord be done!"

"He arrived, indeed, at a remarkable health of soul; and he was kept in a blessed measure, clear of those distempers which too often disorder the most of men. By living near to God and dwelling as under the shadow of the Almighty, he contracted a more ex

quisite sense of mind than is usual among Christians. If he said of any affair, I cannot bless it!' it was worse to it than the most inauspicious presages in the world." Such is the picture of this exalted man, drawn by one who had the advantage of long and intimate converse with him, and exhibited before multitudes, who were the most competent judges of its fideli

ty. His attention was wholly taken up with his professional duties. He left the management of his temporal concerns altogether with his wife.

Mather says, that one day some of his own cattle stood before the door; his wife, to try him, asked him whose they were; she found as she had expected, that he knew nothing of the matter.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

EXPOSITION OF ROMANS IX. 3.

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

To ascertain the import of the || least, was the advent of the Mesabove passage, it will be necessary siah. Now, in consequence of their to consider its connexion with the stupidity and perverseness in recontext, and compare it with paral-jecting and crucifying Him, who is lel passages, as well as to examine the original.

over all, God blessed forever, they were to be cut off from the Church The Apostle introduces the sub- of God, their altar deserted, their ject with the greatest solemnity. temple demolished, their holy city I say the truth in Christ, I lie trodden down and destroyed, and not, my conscience also bearing they become a proverb and a bye me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I word among all nations, until the have great heaviness and continual fulness of the Gentiles be come in. sorrow in my heart." What was the Considering the natural relation, cause of this heaviness and sorrow in which the apostle stood to them, of heart? It arose from the appre-all this could not fail most deeply hension of what was to befal the to affect his benevolent heart. NotJews, his natural, but not his spir-withstanding all the marks of vioitual brethren. For ages they had been God's peculiar people, to whom pertaineth the adoption, by which they, as a nation, became his chosen people; and the glory, which was the shechinah, or symbol of his divine presence; and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose were the fathers, and of whom, concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Long had they been the only true Church of God in the world, and received the greatest marks of his compassion ate regard, of which the last, and unhappily for them esteemed the ||

lence and abuse he had received from them after his conversion to Christianity, he entertained none but the most affectionate and benevolent feelings for them; and for the sincerity and acuteness of his grief on their account, he gave not only his solemn asseveration; but what would he not do, and what would he not willingly suffer, could he instrumentally save them from the disgrace and ruin that awaited them! could he but persuade them to embrace that Ŝaviour, whom they had despised and crucified! Brethren, my heart's desire, and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

I could wish, that myself were ac- ||of men, shall be redeemed but cursed from Christ for my breth-shall surely be put to death.

Charem is also applied to the city of Jericho, Joshua vi. 17. And the city shall be accursed, (anathematized,) even it, and all, omnia, all things, that are therein, to the Lord: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. Verse 18th. And ye, in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed

ren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, rather than see them shut out of the kingdom of Christ, and the doors of the church closed against them by their unbelief, and they have no share in the spiritual services, the precious promises, and joyful hope of the gospel. Such ardent piety, and such affectionate sentiments, were a most solemn and powerful appeal to the heart and conscience of his Jewish breth-thing, (anathema,) lest ye make ren, well calculated to lessen their yourselves accursed, or anathemaanimosity toward the apostle, and tize yourselves, when ye take of to persuade them to be reconciled the accursed thing, (anathema,) and unto God. make the camp of Israel a curse, (anathema,) and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, were to be consecrated, (kedesh,) holiness, to the Lord; these came into the treasu

Einai anathema apo tou Christou, as translated in our English version, to be accursed from Christ, conveys no very definite idea, especially to the English reader, and consequently has occasioned much ||ry of the Lord, and were set apart perplexity. If the obscurity of the passage under consideration may in some measure be removed, and the importance of going to the fountain of biblical knowledge be presented to those, who have op-sheep, and ass, with the edge of portunity, two important objects will be gained.

for the service of the tabernacle. Verse 21st, And they utterly destroyed, (anathematized,) all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old; and ox, and

the sword. Chapter viith, verse 1st, But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing,(anathema :) for Achan took of the accursed thing, (anathema ;) and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.

The Hebrew word, charem, which in the Latin Vulgate is rendered anathema, was applied to persons, animals, and things, devoted to God according to the ceremonial law, and not afterward to be redeemed, nor applied to any other These passages are adduced to use. Leviticus xxvii. 21. But the shew how anathema is used in the field, when it goeth out in the ju- Old Testament; and from these bilee, shall be holy unto the Lord, it appears, that the term does not as a field devoted, (anathema ;) of itself necessarily express or imand the possession thereof shall be ply an imprecation, or malediction; the priest's. Again, 28th and 29th but the meaning of the term must, verses. No devoted thing, (anath-like almost all others, be deterema,) that a man shall devote, (anathematize,) unto the Lord of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing (anathema) is most holy unto the Lord. None devoted (anathematized,) which shall be devoted (anathematized)

mined by its application, or the connexion, in which it is used. When inanimate things were devoted to God, or anathematized, they were solemnly consecrated to him by a vow, which could not be revoked, and ever after they were to be exclusively applied to his service. When persons or animals.

were thus devoted to God, they || construction be admitted, the apos

could not be redeemed; but were to be put to death. In this respect they were typical of Christ, and taught the absolute necessity of the great and only effectual sacrifice for sin, made by his death. When God anathematized the wicked, they were utterly destroyed, and their destruction was an awful representation of his displeasure at sin, and an awful though imperfect representation of the final and everlasting destruction of the ungodly.

tle was willing, or could be willing, to be doomed to eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, whom he ardently loved; he could relinquish the joys of heaven, and with the enemies of Christ endure the torments of endless and keen despair for his brethren, the Jews. He could not intend to be so understood, because he well knew the thing to be inconsistent and impossible. Inconsistent, because it is written, the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Inconsistent, because his eternal banishment from God could be of no service to the Jews. The blood of Christ alone can atone for sin. Inconsistent, because men are not often more benevolent than they ought to be; whereas, if such were the wish of the apostle, he must stand forth as a solitary, and most astonishing instance of disinterested benevolence. Such an instance of benevolence, as God has never required, because it is impossible

Greek and Latin authors have used the term anathema in the sense of Exitio eterno destinatus, doomed to eternal destruction, of sepositus, separated from, or set apart as something vile and execrable, though not eternally, and of seorsum ponere, to place upward. From the foregoing data we must gather the apostle's meaning in the passage at the head of this article. Did he express a wish merely to be devoted to the service of God, and to the work of an apostle, on account of his affection for the Jews? Did he express a willing-in the nature of things. Impossiness to be eternally separated from Christ? Or did he mean a temporary separation from him? Or lastly, was he willing to be devoted to God, so as to include the suffering of death? In 1 Cor. xvi. 22, he says, If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maran-atha. The Imperative mood is here put for the future of the Indicative, he will be accursed, when God shall come to judgment; and eternal destruction is undoubtedly intended. After the final judgment the wicked shall, indeed, go away into everlasting punishment. But can this be the apostle's meaning in the 9th of Romans? Euchomeen, the Indicative put for the Optative Mood, euchoimen, I could wish to be accursed from Christ, &c. As to be accursed from Christ stands connected with the wish of the apostle, if this

ble, because the soul, that draws its life and comfort from the presence of God, and rejoices in infinite purity, cannot desire to be forever banished from him, and to associate with the great enemy of all righteousness and his kindred spirits, where, instead of joining the heavenly anthem of blessing and honour to his divine Redeemer, he must hate and execrate him for ever. Impossible, because it cannot be, that a person should be both reconciled and unreconciled to God at the same time..

If the apostle could not wish to be eternally miserable, could he not wish to be separated from Christ for a season? If we adopt this construction, we are led to inquire, in what sense could the apostle wish to be separated from Christ even for a short time ? could he wish to be deprived of