TO YOUTH.

LECTURE XXXIV.

(Continued from p. 339.) The next clause of our Catechism states, that believers "shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment"-The day of judgment will immediately succeed to the resurrection. Of this day I have spoken, generally, in a former lecture; and do not mean again to go into a particular description of the circumstances of it, further than is necessary to il lustrate the answer before us. It will be a day of unutterable vengeance and terror to the wicked; but a day of complete redemption and of holy joy and triumph to believers. They shall then be "openly acknowledged and acquitted."That is, Christ shall then openly, before the assembled universe, own or acknowledge these for his chosen people, and as the blessed of his Father, for whom the kingdom of heaven is prepared.

In like manner, he shall acquit them; that is, he will not only vindicate them from all the calumnies, slanders, and aspersions, which have been cast upon them in this world, and "bring forth their righteousness as the light, and their judgment as the noon-day;" but VOL. VI.-Gh. Adv.

publish that forgiveness. In this life, when believers are justified, on their union with Christ, they are indeed acquitted before God, from all the demands of the law: But as to men, this is done secretly; it is unknown to them; the whole transaction is out of the view of the world;-nay, it is sometimes not known even to believers themselves. But at the day of judgment, there shall be an open declaration, before God, angels and men, pronounced in the most publick and solemn manner, that each of these believers is justified by God:That he has acquitted them from the sentence of condemnation; that for the righteousness' sake of Christ, imputed to them and received by faith alone, all their sins have been pardoned; that they are accepted as righteous in his sight, and are entitled to an eternity of happiness. This will be done for the greater display of the grace and glory of God; for the greater comfort and honour of the saints; and for the greater shame and confusion of their enemies, and the enemies of God. To afford a suitable occasion for this publick declaration and manifestation of the goodness of God in the redemption of his people; to exhibit their true character, and acknowledge and

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honour them as his, before angels and men; and to expose the wicked in their true character, with equal publicity, and clothe them with ineffable shame and contempt -these seem to be some of the chief purposes for which the day of judgment is appointed.

It is added in the answer before us, that after the judgment, believers shall be made perfectly blessed, in the full enjoying of God to all eternity."

To be perfectly blessed is to be entirely free from all pain or uneasiness, and in full possession of all the happiness of which the soul is capable; and this, we are assured will be the happy lot of all who shall be acquitted in the final judgment. Not that we are to suppose that all glorified spirits will enjoy an equal degree of happiness. In the passage already cited, we are reminded that "One star differeth from another star in glory"-and that "so also is the resurrection of the dead." There will be different degrees of happiness among the saints,according to their different capacities, their attainments in grace, and their labours of love in the present life. But all will be satisfiedCast a thousand vessels of different capacities into the ocean-all will be full, and equally full, yet no two will contain the same quantity. By this similitude, the future state of the blessed has been often illustrated.

Our Catechism instructs us that this happiness of the blessed, will arise from "the full enjoying of God to all eternity." God alone is adequate to satisfy the desires, or to constitute the chief good, of an immortal soul. No finite, no created being, indeed, can comprehend God-Extend what is finite as far as imagination can reach, still there is an immeasurable distance between it and what is infinite. Hence it is plain, that all holy and happy beings may be enlarging their capacities for the en

joyment of God to all eternity, and yet find him the same inexhaustible fountain that they did at first. Every glorified spirit will have such a perfect knowledge of him, as shall have no measure set to it, but what arises from the finite capacity of the creature;-and this finite capacity shall still enlarge, and still be filled.

We have reason to believe that an object of great delight to the bodily eyes of the redeemed in heaven will be, that glorious body which is united to the person of the Son of God. The glory of the man Christ Jesus, will be unspeakably superior to the glory of all the saints-They indeed will shine forth as the sun, but "the Lamb shall be the light" itself of the heavenly city: And on him shall every eye turn with admiring and adoring rapture, beholding in him the Redeemer to whom they owe their all ; and seeing in the nature which he wears, the indissoluble bond of union between God and them.

But the blissful sight of God in heaven, is something more than any external, visible glory, of what kind soever. The scriptures assure us that his people "shall see God," and "see him as he is." The saints in heaven will see God-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Not with their bodily eyes, in respect to which God is invisible; but with the eyes of the understanding-being blessed with the most perfect, full and clear knowledge of him and of divine things, of which their capacities are capable. Here they only "see through a glass darkly, but then face to face:" Here it is only by glimpses, and short passing views, that they behold any of his glory; but there they shall eternally, and without interruption, delight their souls with visions of him: They shall for ever contemplate his infinite love, his unchangeable truth, and his wonderful works, with the ut most complacency and delight.

They shall have a clear, distinct, and assured view, of the love which he bore to them from eternity; and will bear to them forever more. The revelations of glory will be a complete commentary on the Bible That blessed book will be far better and more extensively understood by the saints in heaven, than it ever was on earth.

As the word, so the works of God, will then be more perfectly known than they could be in this world. The knowledge of all the material creation, and of all sensitive beings, will then be brought to perfection, and it will be seen that "in wisdom he hath made them all." Believers will also then see the chequered web of Divine Providence completely unravelled; and that there was a necessity for all the trials and afflictions of this mortal state. But the chief matter of their eternal admiration will be, the glorious work of redemption. They will for ever wonder and praise, and praise and wonder, while they contemplate the depths of wisdom and love, of goodness and holiness, of mercy and justice, of power and grace, which shine through the whole of that glorious device.

All the knowledge of the saints in heaven, will be accompanied with the highest and purest pleasure and delight of their holy souls. God will fully and freely communicate himself to them; the enjoyment of him will go as far as their most enlarged capacities can reach. He will admit them to a holy, unrestrained intercourse and familiarity with himself. In the language of scripture, he will "walk in them:"His fulness shall ever stand open to them; there shall be no vail between him and them; but they shall behold him in immediate vision. From this free communication, and full participation of the Divine goodness in heaven, there will result a perfect likeness, according to their measure, of the blessed God, in the saints who be

hold his face: And this will be accompanied by joy unspeakableWe shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Joy inconceivable will arise, not only from what is possessed, but from what shall be eternally in prospect. The saints will know that their blessedness is to be endless-strictly eternal. The enjoyment of God will produce no satiety. It will be fresh and new, through the round of wasteless ages-But we are lost and overwhelmed in the contemplation.

My dear youth-The blessedness of which I have been speaking is that to which I seek to lead you, in all the instruction which I endeavour to communicate, and in all the exhortations I address to you, in these lectures on your Catechism. Yes, the ultimate object of all is to lead you to heaven; that God in Christ may be glorified in you, and that you may share with saints and seraphs, in all that unutterable and inconceivable bliss to which your attention has just been directed. O that I could impress it on your minds-0, rather, that God by his Spirit would effectually impress it on your consciences and hearts, that this is a personal concern to every individual of you. This heavenly happiness is set before each of you, as an object for which you are to strive, and which you must obtain, or, failing to obtain it, sink to all the horrors of the pit of eternal perdition. Is it not worthy of all attention, and of all effort, and of all earnestness in prayer for the aids of Almighty grace-to escape from hell and to rise to heaven? How manifest, and how dreadful, is the infatuating power of sin, that a rational creature should need much persuasion, and that all persuasion should so often be in vain, to avoid inconceivable and interminable misery, and to secure eternal and ever increasing felicity? O let it be the present resolution of every one of you, that you will,

from this moment, strive to break away from all the spells of this moral fatuity; that you will no longer listen to the syren song of sinful pleasure; that you will not lose heaven by delaying for another hour to seek it, with all the energies of your souls. Form the resolution in the strength of God, and may his grace crown your endeavours with success. Amen.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. THE PUBLICK READING OF THE SCRIPTURES.

It is declared in The Directory for Worship of the Presbyterian Church, Chap. III. Sect. 1 and 2, that "the reading of the holy scriptures in the congregation is a part of the publick worship of God, and ought to be performed by the ministers and teachers. But how large a portion shall be read at once, is left to the discretion of every minister. However, in each service, he ought to read at least one chapter; and more, when the chapters are short, and the connexion requires it. He may, when he thinks expedient, expound any part of what is read, always having regard to the time-that neither reading, singing, praying, and preaching, nor any other ordinance, be disproportionate, the one to the other, nor the whole rendered too short, or too tedious."

In the pastoral letter of the General Assembly of the last year, to the churches under their care, they say-"We do therefore most earnestly exhort all ministers of the Gospel, to read the word of God to their people, according to the order prescribed in the Directory for Worship, and to make it their main business to expound the Bible, and set it in its full meaning before the people." It thus appears that the pubTick reading of the Holy Scriptures

"in each service" of the sanctuary, is enjoined by the standards of our church, and by its supreme judicatory.

How important the duty thus enjoined, and how much neglected, are points that deserve the profound attention of every presbytery, and of every minister belonging to the Presbyterian church in the United States.

The presbytery within whose bounds the writer of this paper resides, has done its duty, in regard to the subject under consideration, by requiring, in an act formally passed and published, that "in the publick services of the afternoon and evening, as well as in the morning service of every Sabbath, and on other special occasions, they [the ministers of the gospel belonging to the presbytery] read, at least one chapter in the Old or in the New Testament-or one in both."

The neglect of the duty contemplated, notwithstanding the requisitions and exhortations to which reference has been made, is, in many parts of our church, strikingly and mournfully great. It is seldom, in some places, that one word of the sacred scriptures, except the text, is read in the service of the afternoon or evening; and often, very often, is the reading of the Bible omitted also in the service of the morning. And why? Is it because the reading of the word of God is of less importance than either singing, praying, or preaching; or is it regarded by the church as less instructive? Were either of the above exercises to be omitted, what would be said by the members of our church? Would not the omission be followed by immediate and pointed censure? Would it not be considered as a culpable mutilation of the publick worship of God?

In Presbyterians, the neglect we consider is peculiarly inconsistent. Who have been more zealous than they, in establishing and supporting

Bible societies?-Who more active and unwearied in their efforts to circulate the Bible? Who have written or pleaded more eloquently than they in favour of the Bible cause? To Presbyterians the publick are indebted chiefly, for the institution and support of the American Bible Society. In this State (New Jersey) the circulation of the Bible has, for many years, devolved almost exclusively on Presbyterians (English and Dutch), and to them are we indebted for the patriotick resolution-(now accomplished through their efforts)-of supplying every destitute family in the State with a copy of the sacred scriptures. Whence is it then, that, with all this zeal in favour of the circulation of the Bible, the saered volume is so sparingly read in the services of our church?

This subject certainly claims a serious attention, and there is unquestionably much room for amendment among the churches of our denomination. We fall far short of our Episcopalian brethren in this respect. With them there is no discretion allowed to the officiating minister. He must read the lessons appointed for each day; and these lessons embrace four distinct parts of the sacred scriptures, at every service.

To the great body of hearers in every publick meeting, this is highly important; for in every such meeting it is probable that not more than one-fourth of the congregation statedly read the scriptures at home. The cares of the world, want of inclination, or want of time and opportunity, are pleaded as reasons for the omission of this duty in private. So that whatever knowledge this class of hearers obtain of the Bible, they get it from hearing portions of it read on the Sabbath.

But there is another class who cannot read. This class, although at present not very numerous in some parts of our country, in others is very considerable; and

with them the publick reading of the scriptures is all important. Unless they hear the Bible from the pulpit they seldom hear any part of it.

But even with those who are in the habit of reading the scriptures at home, the publick reading of them is very important. Their truths come with such a weight and influence from the sacred desk, especially when well read, that lasting impressions are made, even on the best educated minds. And if it be, as we believe it is, the appointment of God to honour the truths of his own word, and ordinarily nothing else, who can estimate the importance of reading a portion of it publickly? Who can tell what blessings may follow the faithful performance of this duty; and what withholding of a blessing from those who neglect it?

If these remarks are just and deserving of attention, it is hoped, wherever they are read, whether by pastors or people, they will produce their desired effect.

To adult Christians they are peculiarly applicable. By the institution of Sabbath schools and Bible classes, the rising generation are growing up under the happy influence of Bible instruction. But these sacred truths will soon fade from their memories, unless often recalled by the publick as well as the private reading of the scriptures. We all require "line upon line-precept upon precept." We require not merely to have the scriptures read, but expounded-to have the doctrines they contain pressed faithfully on the consciences of hearers, and so frequently brought to their recollections as to produce a practical and controlling influence on the habits and life of every professor of Christianity.

In a word-if according to our Confession of Faith The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either