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volition of the Deity: it was not by a mighty exertion of Omnipotence: it was by giving up his own Son to be a propitiation for the sins of the world. We said before, that the life of the world was derived from death. It was the death of Jesus of which we spake. The cross on which he expired, watered by his blood, is fruitful of eternal salvation to all those who conform themselves to the requirements of that plan on which the Gospel proposes to

save man.

But how does the death of Jesus bring life to the world? How is man, through him, made to triumph over death? Had he been a mere creature, no matter of what dignity or worth, he could not have procured this benefit for man by his death; and for these reasons:-1. He would have had nothing to offer to satisfy the claims of law and justice against man,--because the whole ability of the creature, of every creature, is evidently due to the constant service of the Creator; and, therefore, can have no merit, imputable to another. 2. No creature has life inherently and independently; and, consequently, had Jesus been a creature, he could not have accomplished the salvation of man by his death for he himself would, in that case, have either remained the prisoner of death, or have been dependent on another for his resurrection. But he was not a mere creature. In his person were united, in a manner inscrutable to man, the proper natures of God and man, of Creator and creature:--the one could suffer and die,--the other could impart virtue and merit to those sufferings and that death, available to the salvation of man; and could resume the life which had been laid down. It is not for man to explain or to understand the particulars of this most important transaction. He cannot comprehend the manner of that incarnation of Deity upon which the whole efficacy of this beneficent scheme was based; nor the reason why the sufferings and death of Jesus redound to the salvation of man; nor how the resurrection of Jesus secures the resurrection of the dead of Adam's family. Nor is it important that we should comprehend these matters. It is enough for all the purposes of faith and comfort, that we are made acquainted with the facts themselves. A more important inquiry is, 'By what means we may secure to ourselves the benefits of this scheme in their full extent? This is an inquiry to the last degree important to every individual: but, unfortunately, too many will turn away from this inquiry, because it leads to no new discovery. The answer must be the same which has been reiterated till it has palled upon the taste of the fastidious,-till it has become stale and uninteresting to the lover of novelty. This is, however, a case of quite too much importance to permit us the liberty of disguising or embellishing the truth, with a view to pleasing the imagination. The old directions, 'Repent and believe the Gospel!' are the only ones which would not betray the inquirer to perdition. However tasteless from repetition, however revolting to pride and self-love,

these directions must be heard and followed; or, as sure as there is a just God in heaven, we must be damned. Death will remain our inveterate, our invincible, our eternal foe. By 'repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,'-a repentance arising from conscience of sin, and sorrow for having sinned, and showing itself in humility, confession, reformation, and seeking God in the means of grace;-faith that relies on Christ for salvation, trusts the word of God, works by love, purifies the heart, and creates the soul anew in Christ Jesus;-by this repentance and faith, man, with reference to what concerns his salvation, becomes identified with the omnipotence of his Redeemer; and, having overcome his spiritual foes as they arose against him, he is enabled to conquer the last that assails him,--God gives him the victory over death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You, my brethren, wish for this victory: you say, with Balaam, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.' But are you willing to have it on the terms prescribed in the Gospel? Hitherto many of you have not been thus willing. Hitherto you have obstinately rejected the counsel of God against yourselves, or carelessly neglected the great salvation offered you through Jesus Christ. Perhaps the example of one you knew,-one dear to many of you, a neighbor, a brother, a friend, may have more success with you than the most forcible reasonings, or the most authoritative precepts. Such an example I am now to propose to you. You knew Samuel L. Winston too intimately for it to be necessary to enter into a detail of his history. You knew him when he was of the world, devoted to its interests, directed by its maxims, and controlled by its opinions and customs; and you have known him since the important epoch when, renouncing the world, he became the pledged follower of Jesus Christ. I will not presume that rigid scrutiny into his character, even during the latter period, would have found it faultless :-he himself would have decided more humbly with regard to his course :—but this I am happily able to say, that, late in life, when in full and constant expectation of his appearing before the bar of Him whose knowledge of all things is perfect, who loveth truth and hateth iniquity, he did assure a friend that, from that time when, by uniting himself to the Church, he publicly announced to the world his purpose of being a Christian, he had never, for a moment, swerved from that purpose.

There is one part of his conversation with that friend which deserves to be especially noted. His friend having observed to him, that as he had been travelling, his opportunities of religious improvement had been small, and his exposure to temptation greater than in ordinary circumstances; and having intimated the inquiry whether his soul had not, consequently, suffered loss, he replied to this intimation, that, during his journeyings, he had, as much as possible, avoided contact with the world, by obtaining a

private apartment; and, where he could not do this, by retiring into himself:-that, consequently, he had not suffered loss.' Now, let it be remarked, that necessary intercourse with the world, any more than an intercourse which aims at the religious advantage of the world, does not place the Christian without the pale of Divine protection; and, therefore, though a man be and live thus IN the world, he is not or it, nor corrupted by it: whereas, that Christian who chooses his pursuits and associations in the world, naturally subjects himself to its influence; and, by violating a plain command of God, alienates the Divine protection; and, imbibing the spirit, adopting the maxims, and submitting to the customs of the world, to which he has united himself, he loses the life of religion from his soul, remits the strictness of external performances, indulges in conformity to the world, and, in short, renounces the profession as well as the practice of godliness, and becomes twofold more the child of perdition than he was before he embraced religion. It was a conviction of the danger of voluntary and needless intercourse with the world, which suggested to our deceased friend the precaution to which he imputed the impunity with which he passed through scenes usually so pernicious to unwary Christians. And O! how many fatal instances exist of shipwreck of faith and a good conscience from a disregard of the apostle's injunction to come out from among the wicked and to be separate!' Are there not many, even in this congregation, conscious that they are now on the broad road to damnation, who can trace their fall from grace and their return to the ways of sin principally, if not entirely, to their needless connection with the world, and to their criminal friendship for it? Be warned, then, Christians, young Christians especially, against mixing with the world on any other than strictly Christian principles. Know that whoever is a 'friend of the world is an enemy to God.' Use the same precaution to which our lamented friend ascribed his safety, while necessarily in the world. Fear not the imputation of singularity. You must, in reference to the world, be singular, or you must be damned. There is no other alternative.

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Brother Winston was apprized that he was near his end. was not disgusted at life, he was not weary of the world: but he was reconciled to die. I should,' he said to the friend alluded to above, 'I should like to remain longer with my little family, but I am prepared and willing to die.' It was natural, it was virtuous to wish to remain with his family, to comfort them, to protect them, and especially to train up his children, whom he had solemnly dedicated to God, in the ways of godliness: but it was to rise above nature, and to attain to the sublime of Christian virtue, to be willing to leave objects so dear, in obedience to the Divine mandate, and thus to rise superior to all fear of death, all dread of judgment, and thus calmly, confidently, and joyfully, to enter the valley and shadow of death.

Nor was the triumph of Christian temper shown by our friend in this victory over the fear of death alone. One who watched his sufferings with almost unexampled vigilance and perseverance has assured me that, during his long-protracted and agonizing sufferings, nothing like a murmur ever escaped his lips; and another, who saw much of his sufferings, spoke with admiration of the sweetness of temper, the humility and the gratitude which he displayed to those who ministered to him in his affliction. Confidence in God, love to him, to his people and to mankind, resignation to the Divine will, patience under sufferings, peace of conscience, hope of glory, and joy in God, were fruits of that religion which he had nourished in his heart, which were now gathered in full maturity, affording ample evidence of the goodness of the tree which produced them.

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And can we doubt, with these evidences before us, the final safety and happiness of our friend? Can we doubt the triumph of one who entered upon his conflict with the last enemy thus armed and thus sustained? No we cannot, we do not doubt it. We sorrow for our loss of a near relation, a dear friend; and it is right we should sorrow; 'twere worse than brutal not to do so: but 'we sorrow not as those without hope.' We sorrow not for him. Death to him was a discharge from a perilous war-the end of longcontinued and severe affliction-the beginning of full, unspeakable, eternal felicity. He might have said,-in effect he did say, Weep not for me: but weep for yourselves and your children.' I shall overcome through the blood of the Lamb;' and, having thus overcome, I shall sit down with Jesus in his throne, as he overcame and is set down with his Father in his throne.' He will say to me, Well done, good and faithful servant! enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' There the wicked cease from troubling; there the weary are at rest.' 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day.' Then 'weep not for me, but weep for yourselves,' whom I leave in an enemy's land, in a region of sin and sorrow, where, in order to make your calling and election sure, you must pass through many fiery trials, many sore and hazardous conflicts. Iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold,' you shall be tempted, scorned, persecuted: but, if you have entered upon the Christian course, and if you 'endure to the end, you shall be saved.' Weep for yourselves; you especially whom I leave in your sins. For you there is no hope but in the most poignant sorrow, working repentance, casting down all proud imaginations, stripping you of all dependence on yourselves, bringing you, humbled, stricken, heart-broken, to the feet of Jesus in that faith which, 'renouncing all, both righteous and unrighteous deeds,' casts you, with full and exclusive confidence, upon the merits of Jesus Christ for salvation.

Such was the language of the facts in the death scene of our beloved brother Winston. And will you be deaf to this appeal, as you have been to so many others? Will you, who this day feel the intimacy of your relationship to the deceased in the grief his loss has excited, reject the admonition that sounds as it were from his just closing tomb? If ever again you see the face of that neighbor, brother, father, friend, and husband, with pleasure, prepare to meet your God.' Then, soon, O how soon! will you meet him, with a pleasure now utterly inconceivable as well as indescribable-a pleasure heightened by the assurance that that meeting is never to be succeeded by separation.

'Who meet on that delightful shore,

Shall never part again.'

HISTORY OF METHODIST MISSIONS.

Authentic History of the Missions under the care of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. BY NATHAN BANGS, D. D. New-York, Published by J. Emory & B. Waugh, for the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1832. 12mo, pp. 258.

THE announcement of this publication, so long expected, was greeted by the Church with no ordinary satisfaction. It is now more than three years since the public were informed that such a history was contemplated, and the friends of Methodism and its missions, in the United States and elsewhere, have been eagerly expecting its appearance. The reviewer is among those who regard the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church as an institution possessing high and holy claims to the attention and liberality of the friends of the Redeemer's kingdom of every denomination; and one whose organization, progress, and success, need only be known to be every where appreciated and amply sustained. He therefore hailed the publication of the present history, as one calculated to supply a desideratum to the Church and to the world; and he has risen from its perusal with a conviction that it cannot be read without intense interest, and hopes it may obtain a circulation commensurate with its intrinsic value.

As an introduction to this history of our own missions, the author has very appropriately presented the reader with a brief outline of the origin and progress of missionary labor among the Protestants in different parts of the world, both among Christian and Heathen nations. And without any invidious distinction between the various missionary enterprises which have been prosecuted since the reformation, all of which have been laudable and useful, one cannot help remarking the prominent part which Dr. Coke and the other Wesleyan Methodists have performed, and the astonishing success which has ever attended their labors. Nor can it be overlooked, that the missions commenced by Dr. Coke in 1786,

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