the soul, that has a covenant interest in his friendship and faithfulness. But,

3. God is to be enjoyed perfectly and eternally, by all who make the glorifying and enjoying of Him their chief end. This is expressly stated, in the answer we consider, as that at which we ought constantly to aim. The present is but the bud of being-the smallest part, the incipient stage of our existence. Time, in comparison with eternity, is as nothing. We ought, therefore, to renounce every temporal gratification. and pleasure that is inconsistent with preparation for a happy eternity; and to disregard all pain, and privation, and suffering, which we may be called to endure, in making such preparation-in performing duty, or in showing resignation to the will of God. Heaven is, indeed, in all cases begun on earth. The temper that qualifies for heaven must be implanted here; and a foretaste of its joys is, in some measure, known by every Christian believer. But in his present state, all is imperfect, broken, and of short duration. Soon however, he will escape from this state of trial, pass beyond the reach of all his enemies, rise an immaculate spirit to the presence of his Saviour-the bosom of his God-and there he will enjoy an interminable existence, in the full fruition of his Creator's love, and an unceasing showing forth of his glory.

Two short reflections, on what you have heard, will close the present discussion.

1. If man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, what a view does this give us of the actual state of the world, and the general pursuits of mankind? Alas! how few of them-how few, even among those who live under the light of the gospel-are aiming at the glory of God and the enjoyment of Him, as the great concern of life, the governing motive of all they do? Are not a very large majority aiming at every thing else, rather than at this? Do they often even think of this? Are they not eagerly pursuing every worldly object, every temporal concern-often the merest toys and trifles, to the total neglect and disregard of this great

end of their being; which yet they must be brought to regard, or be lost forever. Is it to be wondered at, that those who know the worth of the soul are so much in earnest-nay, is it not wonderful that they are not much more in earnest-to bring this deluded throng to consideration, and to "turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;" that they escape the awful and impending danger to which they are exposed. But,

2. Bring this subject, my dear youth, home to yourselves. Who of you have-and who of you have not-made it your chief end, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever? Those of you who have not-whose consciences tell you that you have not ought to be reminded-and let me, in faithfulness and tenderness, tell you plainly, that hitherto you have lived worse than in vain. The chief end of your existence-the very purpose for which you were sent into the world-you have entirely neglected and disregarded. Such neglect and disregard, even on the supposition that you have been chargeable with no flagrant vice, nay on the supposition that you have exhibited an amiable example before the world-such neglect and disregard of God and of the best interests of your immortal souls, renders you unspeakably guilty in his sight. It places you in the fearful situation of living, while thus you remain, under his constant displeasure; and in danger of being cut off in your sins and rendered miserable forever. Be intreated therefore to consider your situation; to think of the reasonableness of devoting yourselves to God-of your sacred obligations to do so; and of the safety and happiness of the state in which you will be found, if you make it your chief end to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Implore the aids of divine grace, to enable you humbly and firmly to form, and to carry into effect, the resolution, that henceforth you will endeavour to act as becomes your rational, moral, and immortal nature-that you will regard and live for eternity more than for time.

you

But I rejoice in having reason to believe that some of have already devoted yourselves, unfeignedly and unreserved

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ly, to the glory and service of God. Thrice happy youth! you can never be thankful enough for that rich grace which has inclined you, in the morning of life, to make this dedication. Be not high minded but fear. Study to adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things. Endeavour to keep your chief end constantly in view, through the whole of your subsequent life-assured that the more fully you do this -the more steadily and unreservedly you seek to glorify God-the more true happiness you will enjoy; the more useful you will be in the world, and the more exalted will be that state of endless felicity on which you will enter, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life. Amen.

NOTE.--The author is willing to place in a note, what he could not conveniently introduce into the lecture. In Exodus xxxii. 31-33, we thus read-" And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." Scott's admirable commentary on this passage is in the following words:

"The meaning of this vehement language has been much disputed: and some contend, that he expressed his willingness to be blotted out of the book of life, and so finally to perish, provided this might be accepted as an atonement for the sin of his people; and they put the same construction on the words used by St. Paul, on something of a similar occasion. But this interpretation seems inadmissible: for the spiritual law of God only requires us to 'love our neighbours as ourselves;' not more than ourselves, which surely is implied, in being willing to be for ever miserable, either for their temporal or eternal salvation. Even Christ, of whom Moses is supposed to have been a type in this proffer, was only willing for our salvation to die a temporal death, with every possible circumstance of inward and outward suffering; not to be eternally miserable: and the apostle says, 'We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren;' not that we ought to devote our souls to destruction for them. No doubt zeal for the honour of God glowed in the heart of Moses, when he thus expressed himself; and perhaps he could not conceive, how that could be secured and manifested, either by destroying or sparing his people. But it should be remembered, that not only final misery, but final desperate

enmity to God, is implied in the proposal, if thus understood; and it is wonderful that any man should think, a willingness to be eternally wicked and a desperate hater of God, can spring from love to him, and be a proper expression of zeal for his glory!—If, therefore, Moses referred to this proposal, when he said, 'Peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin;' the words may be thus paraphrased; 'O Lord, instead of destroying Israel as a sacrifice to thy justice, and making of me a great nation, let me be the sacrifice, and spare them: and if it may not consist with thy glory to spare them otherwise, and my death may suffice for that purpose, exclude me from Canaan, and take me out of life, in any way thou seest good, that my people may be preserved and thy name glorified.'-But perhaps he only meant to say, 'If my people must be destroyed, cut me off also, and let me not survive or witness their destruction. The expression, 'blot me out of thy book,' is an allusion to the affairs of men, which is used in various senses in the scriptures, as may be seen by the marginal references.-Whatever Moses meant by the request, the Lord did not accede to it, at least on that occasion; but only answered, that he would 'blot those who had sinned out of his book;' that is, he would punish the guilty, not the innocent; yet, when Moses afterwards offended God, and was excluded from Canaan while his people inherited it, this request may seem to have been remembered against him.

“The Lord, in commanding Moses to lead the people to Canaan, and in promising that his angel should go before him, intimated that he would not immediately pour out his vengeance upon them to destroy them: but at the same time he declared, that this national violation of the covenant should be remembered against them, when their other crimes should induce him to visit them in anger. The Jews have to this day a saying current among them to this effect, That all the calamities which have ever since befallen the nation, have in them a measure of the Lord's indignation for the sin of the golden calf. We are not informed in what manner He plagued the people at this time; but they felt sensibly the effects of his displeasure in some way or other and it is particularly to be noticed, that however Aaron endeavoured to exculpate himself, and many things have since been urged in his excuse, yet God expressly mentioned him, as a principal agent in this heinous transgression of Israel."

It will be perceived that the sentiments of the author are in full accordance with those of this able divine and commentator; and that Dr. Scott has also taken occasion to speak of the other text to which reference has been made, and to give his judgment that it affords no countenance to the opinion controverted. But in regard to this latter text, the author has long been of the opinion, that it only needs to be fairly translated from the original, to show that it has no relation whatever to the subject in dispute. The text is found Rom. ix. 3, and stands in the original thus—Ηὐχόμεν γας αὐτος ἐγὼ αναθεμα

ειναι απο τοῦ Χριστου υπέρ των άδελφων μου, των συγγενων μου κατὰ σαρκα. The first part of this verse, in which the whole difficulty lies, our translators render-"For I could wish myself accursed from Christ"-Is this a just translation? Let those decide who have any tolerable acquaintance with the Greek language. (1) Huxóun, is not in the subjunctive or potential mood-I could wish; but in the imperfect tense of the indicative-I wished or did wish. If the word nxoμn had been accompanied with the potential conjunction av, it might have the force or meaning of the potential mood. Of such a rendering of verbs in the indicative, when accompanied with this conjunction, our translation of the New Testament exhibits a number of unexceptionable examples. But in the text under consideration, this conjunction is not found; and therefore, unless the manifest sense of the passage had indispensably demanded it, you ought not to have been translated, I could wish; but, agreeably to its proper import, I wished or did wish-referring not to the present, but to a former state of the apostle's mind. This correct translation of uxoμ is given by Arias Montanus, "obtabam enim ipse ego;” and by our countryman, Charles Thomson-" for I, even I myself, wished." (2) It happens that this verb, in the very mood and tense, in which it is found in the text we are considering, is read in one other place in the New Testament, Acts xxvii. 29-nuxovto inμegav yeverbas-rightly rendered by our translators, they wished for the day. But why should ηύχοντο be rendered they wished in this text, and ηυχόμην, I could wish, in Rom. ix. 3? It is believed that no satisfactory reason can be assigned for this variation: and this belief is strengthened, by considering how the sense of the former passage would have been sunk and almost destroyed, if it had been translated like the latter-It would surely have been a very flat expression, to have said of a ship's crew in a dark and tempestuous night, and every moment in danger of destruction, that "they could have wished for the day." Yet this would have been the very same kind of translation as that of the text we consider. (3) In another respect, as well as in