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tion was so great at times as to occasion his whole bed to shake. He would not allow the candles to be put out during the night, nor would he be left alone for a minute. I had always to ring the bell for one of the servants to be in the room, before he would allow me to leave it. He struggled hard to appear composed even before me; but to one who frequently heard his involuntary breathings of remorse and frightful startings, it was no difficult matter to determine that all was not right within. This continued and increased until he became insensible."

INTELLIGENCE.

PROTRACTED MEETINGS.-A Convention of 12 Ministers from New Hampshire, and 21 Ministers from Vermont, was recently held, at which, says the Vermont Chronicle, "It was universally thought, that at a protracted meeting, there should be a great deal of instructive preaching; that in the words of one of the resolutions, "the great truths of the gospel, which are the fundamental principles of Christian experience," should be insisted on. It was considered important that these should be exhibited, not as they sometimes stand in formal treatises on Theology, but just as they lie in the experience of Christians. And the greater the degree of excitement, the greater quantity of such instruction is demanded and the more imperious is the demand for it. "Another point much insisted on was, that prayer should actually be prayer, the offering up of our desires to God,'-and not an address to men, or an exhibition before men. The danger of this fault exists whenever one man attempts to pray aloud in the presence of another. It is every where a great fault, but no where greater than at such meetings. Every attempt to produce excitement, otherwise than by a clear and plain exhibition of divine truth, was decidedly condemned. It was thought that there was a tendency, in some places to multiply these meetings excessively; and that ministers ought resolutely to guard against being called away from their studies and pastoral labors to attend them to the injury of their own people, and their own minds."

IMPORTANT RESOLUTIONS.-The Berkshire County Bible Society, Mass. which contributed $2,000 for two successive years towards the general supply, and recently $1140 more as a free donation to the American Bible Society, afterwards adopted the following resolution:

Resolved, That this society receives the intelligence of the intention of the Parent Society to afford liberal assistance towards the printing and publishing of the holy scriptures in the language of the Sandwich Islands, the kingdom of Burmah, the country near Bombay, of Greece, and in the Mohawk language, with sincere and enlarged satisfaction; and that we will faithfully and diligently exert ourselves to furnish our full share of the necessary means for carrying this desirable object into effect.

PREVALENCE OF CRIME.-The Rev. Dr. Cathcart, pastor of the Presbyterian church in York, Pa. has communicated in the Magazine of the German Reformed church, the results of an account kept during one year, of all the inurders that came under his observation in reading various periodicals.

The account has been kept for one year, commencing on the first day of January, 1831, and to his surprise, the number amounts to 109,

among which are some of the most appalling kind, such as parents by their children, and children by their parents, husbands by their wives, and wives by their husbands, and several others of the most atrocious kind.

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND.-The ship Maria Theresa arrived at this port brought intelligence of the removal to Otaheite of the inhabitants of Pitcairn's Island. The scarcity of water and other means of subsis tence was the reason of their removal. These people were noted for their morality, the simplicity of their manners, and for the happiness which they enjoyed in their former state. It is to be feared that their intercourse with the inhabitants of Otaheite will be injurious to their morals, and of consequence detrimental to their happiness. It is said, however, that Capt. Hill, an English gentleman,-who sailed from this port in the Wm. Thompson with the intention of visiting the Sandwich and other Islands of the Pacific, for the purpose of furthering the Missionary cause,-gave it as his opinion that the removal was expedient, and necessary to their comfort.-New Bed. Reg. July, 1881.

AGENTS.

RHODE-ISLAND. Providence-William Marshall & Co. No. 12, Market-square. Pawtucket, (North Providence)-Joseph McIntire, Bookseller.

MASSACHUSETTS. Boston-Dea. James Loring, Bookseller, No. 132, Washington-street. Taunton-Deacon John Reed. New-Bedford-Stephen Potter. Reading-James Weston Jr. AmherstThomas Hervy. Falmouth-Capt. Silas Weeks.

CONNECTICUT. Ashford-Rev. Israel G. Rose.
NEW-YORK. Paris-Charles Simmons.

All those ministers, who receive the Magazine, are authorized and requested to act as agents.

Published at Rehoboth Village. Mass. by Rev. Otis Thompson, Editor and Proprietor.

POSTAGE OF THIS PAPER.-Under 100 miles, 1 cent: Over 100 miles

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EDMUND ANTHONY, Taunton, Mass, will execute BOOK

PRINTING in good style and on reasonable terms. Office a

few doors west of Taunton Bank.

April, 1832.

HOPKINSIAN MAGAZINE.

VOL. IV.]

April 30, 1832.

SERMON.

[Concluded from page 358.]

[NO. 6.

And their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost.-JOB, 11. 20. AGREEABLY to the plan proposed, a description of secure sinners has been given; and it has been shown, how it comes to pass, that they entertain hopes of future happiness. It now remains to show,

III. That secure sinners will find it extremely painful to give up their false hopes. It is certain they must sooner or later give them up. They are built upon false grounds; and when those grounds are taken away, their hopes must expire. So it is represented in the text. "Their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost." That is, their hope shall certainly die. This is the general representation of scripture. The Bible represents secure sinners as constantly liable to lose their delusive hopes of the divine favor. There are two ways by which their hopes may be destroyed. One is, by genuine conviction. Thus the three thousand on the day of Penticost lost their hopes. And thus Paul tells us he lost his hopes. "I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." All secure sinners are liable to lose their hopes in this way; and they must lose their hopes in this way, in order to be saved. They must come to Christ weary and heavy laden, despairing of salvation in any other way. But if they maintain their false hopes through life and are never awakened and convinced by the influences of the divine Spirit; yet death will certainly put an end to their delusion, and destroy their hopes forever. We read, "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness; but the righteous hath hope in his death." We read, "The desire of the wicked shall perish." And Job demands, "What is the hope of the hypocrite, when God taketh away his soul?" Zophar appears to have reference to death, in the text, when he says "The hope of the

wicked is as the giving up of the ghost." Death will strip all sinners of the false hopes they indulged in this life, and fix them in a state of endless despair. So that it is certain, that secure sinners will sooner or later experience the loss of all their fond and delusive expectations of eternal happiness. And whenever they shall be constrained to renounce their hopes, it will be like giving up the ghost, and more distressing than death itself. For,"

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1. When their hopes shall be destroyed, their sense of guilt will be increased. When they find that they have mistaken the character of God, the nature of the Gospel, and the state of their own minds; sin will revive, and the enmity of their hearts will be kindled into a flame of opposition to all those objects, which they once imagined they loved, or at least, did not hate. A clear discovery of the awful justice of God, of the dreadful denunciations of the gospel against the impenitent, and of the total corruption of their own hearts, will fill their souls with a keen sense of their infinite guilt and ill desert in the sight of God, and of all holy beings. They will feel, that they deserve the hatred and displeasure of God, of Christ, of saints, of angels, and even of all those who once loved them. Hence their giving up their hope, will be giving up themselves to the most distressing exercises of mind, that they are capable of feeling. When their hopes are gone, there will be nothing to prevent their pondering upon their guilt and wretchedness. They will be constrained to see their sins in their nature, number, and awful aggravations, and to anticipate a state of eternal enmity and opposition to God, to all his works, and to all his creatures. When convinced sinners, in this life, give up their hopes, their souls are filled with anguish and distress. They feel the power of sin, the weight of guilt, and the bitterness of eternal death. But when death destroys their hopes, their views are clearer, and their pains are greater. They feel themselves in the presence and in the hand of God, whose frowns are more than they can support. Their hands and their hearts feel them, and they are constrained to sink deeper and deeper in the bottomless pit.

destroyed, their This will make So long as men

2. When the hopes of the wicked shall be desires of happiness will remain and increase. the loss of their hopes extremely distressing. hope for future happiness, they can cheerfully endure present misery; but when the hopes of happiness in a future and eter

nal state, are lost, all is lost, and the mind is left in extreme distress. It is the hope of secure sinners, that gives them so much ease and satisfaction in passing through the scenes of he present life. But only let them be constrained to give up heir hopes of all future good, and they will sink in as deep Histress, as Esau, when he lost his birthright. For the less men expect future and eternal happiness, the more they desire t. This we see exemplified by all sinners under awakenings and convictions. Their desires of happiness in a future state, are extremely strong and extremely distressing. What then must be the distress of those, who lose their hopes by death, and have their desires of eternal happiness awakened, by findng themselves plunged in eternal despair! The damned will never lose their desires after happiness. When they reflect upon the joys and blessedness of heaven, and that eternal weight of good, which is the portion of saints and angels; their desires of endless felicity will be painfully enflamed. O, how will they long for rest and happiness! But the loss of their hopes will render them an eternal prey to their strong and fruitless desires. Desires unsatisfied will be a principal source of their endless torments in the regions of despair. The most secure sinners, who trifle with eternal realities, will find it as distressing as death, to lose their hopes; because this will awaken the most painful desires, of future and eternal happi

ness.

3. It will be extremely distressing to secure sinners to lose their hopes, because it will subject them to the dread of eternal misery. Those who make light of hell, and disbelieve or despise future punishments, will find that they are unable to support the thought of lying down in eternal sorrow. And this thought will take fast hold of their minds, whenever they lose their hopes of heaven. Many indeed could bear the thought of losing heaven, if the unavoidable consequence were not, that they must suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. But who can endure the idea of " dwelling with devouring fire? or with everlasting burnings?" As hope goes, fear comes; and when all hope is gone, the fear of eternal destruction seizes the minds of sinners. And when they are constrained to relinquish their hopes, they are equally constrained to suffer the fears of eternal misery. Our Saviour, who perfectly knew what it was for sinners to give up their hopes, and yield to despair, has painted their distress in the most lively colors.

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