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profane historians. The general agreement of the copies of the Old Testament, which we have now in our hands, with those of the earliest times, is placed beyond the reach of controversy by the Greek translation of the Septuagint, made several ages prior to the birth of Christ, an invaluable monument still in our possession, and which was open to the inspection not only of the Jews, but of the most learned and inquisitive heathen nations. Grounding its truth on such a basis, the Old Testament elevates its tone, and verifies its claim by the pure theology exclusively taught in it, by the comprehensive system of morals which it exhibited amidst the profound obscurity and scepticism in which the world was enveloped, and rests its highest pretensions to a divine original, on the stupendous miracles wrought by its agents, and the numerous, explicit, and verified predictions of its prophets.

We return now to the object directly before us, which is to trace the connection of the history of this period with the establishment of Christianity. This may be done by considering the general indications of God's future designs which were given during this period; the gradual light which was cast upon them by subsequent discoveries; and the arrangements of providence, by which the world was brought into that state, in which, agreeably to the declarations of the prophets, it was to be found at the coming of Christ.

1. We consider the general indications of God's future designs which were given during this period. Of these, the first and most general is found in Gen. iii. 14, 15. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life, and I will put en

mity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." In figured language, appropriate to the purposes of ancient prophecy, this oracle states the divine intention of destroying the usurpation of the serpent over the human race by means of a human agent, who should derive his power to achieve this great work from the immediate co-operation of God himself: it is the germ whence all succeeding prophecies have sprung, and whose development has produced all the endless ramifications of events which constitute the history of man. In Gen. ix. 26, is contained a rapid sketch of the future fates of mankind, connected with a further indication of the promised deliverer, in which his descent from Shem, the second of the sons of Noah, is specified. Additional declarations of his approach, and more definite limitations of the line whence he should spring, are contained in the promises originally given to Abram, and successively confirmed to Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, and Solomon. Closely connected with the ancient oracles which we have now reviewed, were the peculiar forms of religion established among the Jews. These forms embraced not only the purpose of maintaining the knowledge, and worship of the true God inviolate among the Jewish people, but were so constructed, as, in a vast variety of instances, to presignify the religion which in the last ages of the world was intended completely to supersede every other. Hence, is to be derived the chief significance of the various rites of the tabernacle and temple services; of the vestments and unction of the priests; of the numerous sacrifices and offerings, and of the costly utensils and splendid apparatus of this singular institution. In no other view do the ceremonies of Judaism appear wor

thy of their heavenly origin. Separated from their connexion with Christianity they are altogether puerile and fantastic; but regarded as the significant symbols of the religion of Christ, they approve themselves to our scrutiny as the appointments of a Being infinitely wise and good.

In contemplating these general and comprehensive indications of God's future designs, a question naturally arises of this kind: did the persons to whom they were originally given fully comprehend the several particulars which were comprised in them? or had they only a general and indistinct conception of the subjects thus announced to them? We may, I am of opinion, determine with certainty, that they had not a clear and explicit notion of the meaning of these predictions and significant rites, which were not sufficiently developed to communicate this clear knowledge. But this concession by no means invalidates their application to the establishment of Christianity, nor does it form any ground for supposing either, that at the time when they were delivered, they had no such meaning as we ascribe to them, or that God, their great author, was unacquainted with his own institutions. These were ever present to his infinite mind with all possible clearness, and in all their vast extent, but were fully understood by men, only as succeeding revelations, or subsequent events, gradually removed the obscurity in which they were designedly involved. That the subordinate agents employed to construct the several parts of a complicated engine are ignorant of the use of those parts, and of their adaptation to the purpose which is to be effected, by their union and due arrangement, forms no reason for supposing either, that no such use or adaptation exists, or that the engineer himself is deficient in the skill requisite for the completion of CONG. MAG. No. 49.

his undertaking. When the whole is accomplished, then in the perfection of the work, and the due subordination of all the parts to the whole, the energy and science of the master mind will be dişcerned, which could originate the design, and execute it by means of instruments unconscious of the purpose of him who employed them.

2. We now direct our attention to the gradual light, which was cast upon these general indications of God's designs by subsequent discoveries. These discoveries were made by additional predictions, delivered by a succession of prophets, which continued about seven hundred years, from the times of Samuel down to the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. They contained numerous particulars relating to the person and character of the promised Saviour, and intimations of the time when he should appear. The state of the world, and especially of the Jewish nation at the advent of the Messiah, were also comprehended in them, together with the place of his birth, and many circumstances attendant upon it. The reception which he himself, and his doctrines, should experience, the sufferings he should undergo, and the final establishment and triumph of his cause over all the opposition against which it should have to contend, constituted also the subjects of many prophetic declarations. These predictions were delivered in various modes, suited to the degree of information which God designed to communicate to the persons who lived at the times in which they were delivered, and yet, for the most part, were so enveloped in the obscurity necessarily attendant upon symbolical language and figurative expressions, as to elude every attempt clearly to unfold their meaning, before the periods of their fulfilment arrived. Many of these predictions, moreover, were

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delivered by the prophets in abrupt and unconnected sentences, combined with oracles predicting the rise and fall of states, empires, and individual princes. This method of delivery, while it effected the purpose of a partial concealment, attached also to these predictions 'the highest interest and importance, by the evidence in support of the mission and authentic character of the prophets, arising from the continued fulfilment of many of their predictions. That such effects, respecting the characters both of the prophets and of their predictions, were produced, is apparent from the high estimation in which they were ever holden by the Jewish people, even during the times of their apostacy from the religion which was supported by these ministers of God: and that a gradual increase of light was communicated by these oracles, is equally apparent from the increased knowledge actually possessed, as the times drew near in which they were to receive their full accomplishment.

3. We must now proceed to consider the arrangements of Providence, by which the world was brought into that state, in which, agreeably to the declarations of the prophets, it was to be found at the coming of Christ. It is well known to every one, who is in the smallest degree conversant with ancient history, that at the birth of Christ the principal states and kingdoms of the world were comprehended under that vast system of dominion called the Roman empire. This government, limited at first by the walls of an insignificant city in Italy, had gradually extended its power over the most populous and potent nations of the earth. It had consolidated into one body a very large proportion of the members which had succes sively formed the Chaldean, the Persian, and the Grecian empires. It had carried its victorious arms into Palestine, and reduced the

Jewish nation to a state of entire subjection to its sway. The land of Judea formed a portion of a Roman province, and was governed, during the period of Christ's ministry, by Pontius Pilate, a Roman procurator. That this condition of human affairs was the natural effect of the passions of men, and produced immediately by their agency, is perfectly consistent with the belief that it took place in entire agreement with the counsels of heaven. The voluntary actions of men fall as completely under the superintendance, and are as much regulated by the control of providence, as the motions and arrangements of those masses of unconscious matter which compose the several parts of the universe. The moral necessity which connects the volitions of the intellectual creation with the purposes of the first cause, is as fixed and immutable as that physical necessity which binds in one immense concatenation the orbits of the stars and the courses of nature. This is not the subject of our discussion. It is questioned alone by Atheists and Epicureans. Every admission of the consummate perfection of God involves this as its necessary consequence. What we have to do, is to show that such a state of human affairs had been sketched by the hand of prophecy long ere it actually came into existence. For this purpose, we appeal to the predictions of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, and of Ezekiel, in which the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar and of Cyrus were traced with unerring precision: we refer to the sublime visions of Daniel, wherein the characteristic properties of the Grecian and Roman empires, together with the future fates of the Jewish people, were distinctly pourtrayed: and we finally allege, as the grand object to which all the prophetic enunciations tend, that which was promulgated by Haggai, "Yet once

it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come."

Thus terminates our inquiry, necessarily brief and imperfect, into the connexion of the history of the early ages with the appearance of Christ among men. As the result, we maintain that the establishment of Christianity was no fortuitous event, but that it took place in strict unison with the predictions of the Old Testament Scriptures, and was the consummation of a plan arranged by infinite wisdom, and embracing whatever is interesting in the history of mankind.

(To be continued.)

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ADDITIONS TO THE MEMOIR OF
THE REV. T. N. TOLLER.
ACCOUNT OF THE FUNERAL.

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(Extract from a Letter.) THE funeral of Mr. T. took place on Thursday morning, March 8th, and was attended by all the ministers in the Northamptonshire Association, and by most, if not all, the dissenting ministers of every denomination, in the neighbourhood, and by some clergymen. The pall was supported by two clergymen and four other ministers, of the Independent, Baptist, and Methodist connexions; rector of the parish, and the other ministers engaged in the public services of the day, preceded the

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nomination, united in dropping their tears into the grave of him whom they all loved and esteemed. To his family, his friends, and his religious connexions, and to the town at large, his loss is irreparable. Never was a mourning more sincere and universal.The service was opened by a prayer by Mr. Horsey, of Northampton; Mr. Edwards, of Northampton, delivered a funeral oration; and Mr. John Hall, the Baptist minister of this town, con- › cluded in prayer. The several parts of the service, were highly appropriate and affecting. The body was then committed to the silent grave-the assembly dispersed, and at three o'clock met again, when a funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Robert Hall, of Leicester, to such a multitude as we have seldom witnessed. The text was from Hebrews, the 13th chapter, and 7th verse. The preacher, with all that elegance and pathos with which he is so highly gifted, T. in terms so just and affecting, pourtrayed the character of Mr.

that

and

every heart was interested, the same time, his appeal to the conevery eye wet with tears; at

sciences of those who had been so

long blessed with such a minister, was irresistibly impressive. Application has been made to him to publish the sermon, but at present he has not complied.

corpse, and a very long train of SPEECH OF MR. TOLLER

ministers, and the respectable inhabitants of this town † and neighbourhood followed uninvited, all anxious to pay the last tribute of respect to a man so highly beloved. A considerable part of the shops were shut up, and business was suspended. All ranks, of every de

The reader is requested to correct an error in our last article upon Mr. Tat p. 618, in the second column, October 25 and 26, should be February 25 and 26. + Kettering.

AT

THE FORMATION OF THE NOR-
THAMPTONSHIRE BIBLE SO-›

CIETY.

(The Duke of Grafton, President.) (MR. TOLLER was perhaps the Bible Society had in the county most popular advocate that the of Northampton. His speeches, distinguished by simplicity, ingenuity, piety, and apt illustration, and delivered in a manner very impressive, and altogether his own, were generally interesting, and often fas

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cinating and delightful to very numerous auditories. The following was delivered at the formation of the County Society.)

"Uniformity of opinion on religious subjects, is, without question, in the abstract, a very desirable thing; but those who are most aware of the weakness of human nature, the limitation of the human faculties, and the prejudices to which we are all more or less liable, will be least sanguine in their expectations on this head. Surely, then, it is important, that what is wanting in uniformity of sentiment should be compensated, as far as may be, by unity of spirit.

"Now, nothing appears so well calculated to draw Christians together, as the junction of zeal and exertion amongst different ranks and denominations, in pursuit of some grand absorbing object, which shall throw lesser differences into the shade, and carry all before it by the mere weight of intrinsic merit. On these grounds, the British and Foreign Bible Society appears to me to be, without exception, the best human institution in existence, and every argument which is adduced in favour of other religious institutions will support this; and no objection which is made to others, will justly apply to this.

"Any cause which would re commend itself to the patronage of a pious and reflecting mind, must have three prominent qualities, viz. lawfulness, probability of success, and utility. As to the first of these, there can be but one opinion in the present instance. If there be any undertaking under heaven, which must be supposed to be agreeable to the will of God, surely it is that which is intended to diffuse those writings of which he himself is the author, and which he has communicated to the world for the general and exclusive benefit of the human species as such. As to probability

of success, such an undertaking may not answer in the mode, or with the rapidity, or, in certain particular cases, which we may be ready to prescribe, or anxiously wish for; but the nature of the cause, and the character of its great Patron, must insure its success, though to an extent wholly indefinite as to us, upon the principle, that the rising sun will infallibly produce a salubrious effect on the face of nature, and the descending rain carry a fertilizing influence to the face of the earth; though, owing to subordinate causes, the degree of effect may be incapable of calculation by human wisdom. Here we have an express passage to our hand: 'as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and water the earth, so shall my word be; it shall not return void, but accomplish that which I please.'-The utility of dispersing the Scriptures is not only obvious, but the extent of that utility is illimitable, and that both individually and generally. When you bestow common blessings on others, you know all that they can do for them. Give a poor man food, raiment, a comfortable home, and you can form a full estimate of the value of those blessings; and could you make him a present of a gold-mine, though apparently an inexhaustible blessing, yet, beyond the means of procuring him the comforts of life, it might prove little more than a source of cares and snares to him. But when you put a Bible into his hand, you give him the golden key, which, if properly applied, will unlock the riches of the universe to him; you impart an inheritance to him, which, in proportion as it is received and prized, will descend to his children, not only to the third or fourth,but the thousandth generation, and still remain unimpaired.

"In a general sense, likewise, the utility of this institution is unlimited. It has been said, by a great

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