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We live in a day when it becomes us to be equal every way to our adversaries. This we never can be, if we cherish a contempt for liberal science. Infidelity lifts her standard, and advances, with daring front, to 115 'defy the armies of the living God.' Distinguished

talents rally around her ensign. The charms of eloquence, the force of reason, the majesty of literature, the light of science, are all enlisted under her banner; are all opposed to the truth as it is in Jesus.' Let us, 120 in reliance upon divine aid, meet them upon equal terms, contend with them on their own ground, turn against them their own weapons! Let us meet them in the plain, or upon the mountain; let us ascend to their elevation, or stoop to their level ! Let us oppose sci125 ence to science, eloquence to eloquence, light to light, energy to energy ! Let us prove that we are their equals in intellect, their colleagues in literature: but that, in addition to this, 'One is our master, even Christ,— that we have a more sure word of prophecy,'--and 130 that our light, borrowed from the fountain of illumination, will shine with undiminished lustre, when their lamp, fed only by perishable, precarious supplies, shall be for ever extinguished!

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One Sunday, as I travelled through the county of Orange, my eye was caught by a cluster of horses tied near a ruinous, old, wooden house, in the forest, not far from the road-side. Having frequently seen such ob5 jects before, in travelling through these states, I had no difficulty in understanding that this was a place of religious worship. Devotion alone should have stopped me, to join in the duties of the congregation; but I must confess, that curiosity to hear the preacher of such 10 a wilderness, was not the least of my motives.

On entering the house, I was struck with his preternatural appearance. He was a tall and very spare old man-his head, which was covered with a white linen cap; his shrivelled hands, and his voice, were all shaken

15 under the influence of a palsy, and a few moments ascertained to me that he was perfectly blind. The first emotions which touched my breast, were those of mingled pity and veneration. But ah! How soon were all my feelings changed! It was a day of the administra20 tion of the sacrament, and his subject, of course, was the passion of our Savior. I had heard the subject handled a thousand times; I had thought it exhausted long ago. Little did I suppose, that in the wild woods of America, I was to meet with a man whose eloquence 25 would give to this topic, a new and more sublime pathos than I had ever before witnessed.

As he descended from the pulpit, to distribute the mystic symbol, there was a peculiar, a more than human solemnity in his air and manner, which made my 30 blood run cold, and my whole frame to shiver.

He

then drew a picture of the sufferings of our Savior— his trial before Pilate-his ascent up Calvary-his crucifixion-and his death. I knew the whole history; but never, until then, had I heard the circumstances so 35 selected, so arranged, so colored ! It was all new; and I seemed to have heard it for the first time in my life. His enunciation was so deliberate, that his voice trembled on every syllable; and every heart in the assembly trembled in unison.

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His peculiar phrases, had that force of description, that the original scene appeared to be, at that moment, acting before our eyes. We saw the very faces of the Jews-the staring, frightful distortions of malice and rage. We saw the buffet-my soul kindled with a 45 flame of indignation, and my hands were involuntarily and convulsively clenched. But when he came to touch the patience, the forgiving meekness of our Savior-when he drew, to the life, his blessed eyes streaming in tears to heaven-his voice breathing to God, a 50 soft and gentle prayer of pardon on his enemies, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,"the voice of the preacher, which had all along faultered, grew fainter and fainter, until his utterance being entirely obstructed by the force of his feelings, he rais 55 ed his handkerchief to his eyes, and burst into a loud

27 How

to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished!

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All truth is from the sempiternal source

Of light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome,
Drew from the stream below. More favor'd, we
Drink, when we choose it, at the fountain-head.
5 To them it flow'd much mingled and defil'd
With hurtful error, prejudice, and dreams
Illusive of philosophy, so call'd,

But falsely. Sages after sages strove

In vain to filter off a crystal draught

10 Pure from the lees, which often more enhanc'd The thirst than slak'd it, and not seldom bred Intoxication and delirium wild.

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In vain they push'd inquiry to the birth

And spring-time of the world; ask'd, Whence is man?

15 Why form'd at all? and wherefore as he is?

Where must he find his Maker? with what rites
Adore him? Will he hear, accept, and bless?
Or does he sit regardless of his works?

Has man within him an immortal seed?
20 Or does the tomb take all? If he survive
His ashes, where? and in what weal or wo?
Knots worthy of solution, which alone

A deity could solve. Their answers, vague
And all at random, fabulous and dark,

25 Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life,
Defective and unsanction'd, prov'd too weak

To bind the roving appetite, and lead

Blind nature to a God not yet reveal'd.
'Tis Revelation satisfies all doubts,
30 Explains all mysteries except her own,
And so illuminates the path of life,

That fools discover it, and stray no more.
Now tell me, dignified and sapient sir,
My man of morals, nurtur'd in the shades
35 Of Academus-is this false or true ?

Is Christ the able teacher, or the schools?
If Christ, then why resort at ev'ry turn
To Athens or to Rome, for wisdom short
Of man's occasions, when in him reside

40 Grace, knowledge, comfort-an unfathom'd store?
How oft, when Paul has serv'd us with a text,
Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully preach'd?
Men that, if now alive, would sit content
And humbly learners of a Savior's worth,

45 Preach it who might. Such was their love of truth,
Their thirst of knowledge, and their candor too!

Cowper.

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DAN. ix.-3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fastings, and sackcloth, and ashes: 4 And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; 5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: 6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are afar off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. 8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is pour

27 How

to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished!

87. Revelation.

All truth is from the sempiternal source

Of light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome,
Drew from the stream below. More favor'd, we
Drink, when we choose it, at the fountain-head.
5 To them it flow'd much mingled and defil'd
With hurtful error, prejudice, and dreams
Illusive of philosophy, so call'd,

But falsely. Sages after sages strove

In vain to filter off a crystal draught

10 Pure from the lees, which often more enhanc'd The thirst than slak'd it, and not seldom bred Intoxication and delirium wild.

In vain they push'd inquiry to the birth

And spring-time of the world; ask'd, Whence is man? 15 Why form'd at all? and wherefore as he is ?

Where must he find his Maker? with what rites
Adore him? Will he hear, accept, and bless?
Or does he sit regardless of his works?
Has man within him an immortal seed?
20 Or does the tomb take all? If he survive
His ashes, where? and in what weal or wo?
Knots worthy of solution, which alone

A deity could solve. Their answers, vague
And all at random, fabulous and dark,

25 Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life,
Defective and unsanction'd, prov'd too weak

To bind the roving appetite, and lead
Blind nature to a God not yet reveal'd.
'Tis Revelation satisfies all doubts,
30 Explains all mysteries except her own,
And so illuminates the path of life,

That fools discover it, and stray no more.
Now tell me, dignified and sapient sir,
My man of morals, nurtur'd in the shades
35 Of Academus-is this false or true?

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